USA > Maine > Hancock County > Blue Hill > Settlement and progress of the town of Bluehill, Maine : an historical address by R.G.F. Candage, at Bluehill Falls, September 7th, 1886 > Part 2
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NEWPORT March 6th 1775.
Made Choice of Capt Joseph Wood as Moderator, John Peters as Town Clerk, Lieut. Nicholas Holt, Capt. Joseph
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Wood, and John Peters as Selectmen. Capt. Joseph Wood, Joshua Horton, Zebediah Shattuck Survairs of Lumber.
Capt. Peter Parker, Lieut. Nicholas Holt and Mr. Jona- than Day as Survairs of highways.
Voted to work two days on highways.
Made Choice of Mr. Thomas Coggins, Mr. Jonathan Day, Juner, and Ezekiel Osgood, Juner, to provide a minister for this season.
At the adjourned Meeting, April 3, 1775.
Made Choice of Joseph Wood, Nicholas Holt and Thomas Coggins as a Committy to treat with Number four People conserning hiring a minister together this Season.
Voted to ajourn to the house of Mr. David Carlton the 2d monday in may to see Something abought making the hour Something better, the People are to meet at Eight o'Clock in the morning. The Disturbance Between Brittan and America Prevented the meeting in According to Ajourn- ment.
NEWPORT, July 17, 1775.
Att a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town aforesaid.
Voted that Lieut. Nicholas Holt, Joshua Horton and John Peters be Delegates to meet Delegates of other Towns, Islands and Districts, at the house of Mr. John Been's of Frenchman's Bay, 20th inst., to Act on any thing they shall think Proper on said Day.
But as to whether they met or acted upon anything " Proper " or otherwise, the record is silent.
LINCOLN S.S. To Joseph Wood, Sir Agreable to a Resolve of the Great and General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay held at Water town febr. 15 1776, this is to order and Direct you to warn a meeting of the In-
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habitants of Bluehill Bay to meet at the house of Joseph Wood aforesaid on Thursday the Twenty Eight of March at one oclock in the After Noon then and there to Chuse a Com- mitty of Inspection Correspondence and Safety agreable to Said Resolve.
Given under my hand and Seal at Majebeguiduce this Ninth Day of March Anno Domini 1776.
JOHN BAKEMAN Justice Peace.
N.B.
It is expected by the General Court that no Person will be chosen into any office, but such as have ever been real friend to the united Colonies. Pursuant to this warrant I do notifie all the Inhabitants of Bluehill Bay to meet at the time and Place above mentioned. Mach 28 1776.
JOSEPH WOOD.
This is the first time Bluehill Bay is mentioned in the Book of Records. After this Bluehill Bay is the name by which the place is designated until October, 1788, when the Town
Voted to Desire the Court to Call the name of this Town when Incorporated by the Name of Bluehill.
The meeting in accordance with John Bakeman's and Joseph Wood's notice was held March 28, 1776, and
Chose Joseph Wood Moderator, Joshua Horton, Nathan Parker and David Carlton a Committy of Correspondence. John Peters, Zebediah Shattuck and John Roundy a Commit- ty of Safety.
At the Annual Meeting March 3, 1777, Joseph Wood was chosen Moderater; John Peters, Town Clerk; Joseph Wood,
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Peter Parker, and Zebediah Shattuck, Selectmen ; Joseph Wood, Peter Parker and John Roundy, a Committy of Safety.
March 2, 1778, Joseph Wood chosen Moderater ; John Peters, town Clerk ; Nicholas Holt, Zebediah Shattuck and Robert Parker, Selectmen ; John Roundy, Nathan Parker and John Peters, a Committy of Safety.
March 1, 1779, Joseph Wood, Moderater, John Peters, Town Clerk ; Joseph Wood, John Peters and Zebediah Shattuck, Selectmen and Committy of Safety ; David Carlton, Nathan Parker and James Candage, Surveyors of highways. Voted to lay out a road from Mr. Hinckley's to No. 4; and another over Beach Hill, where the Selectmen think most convenient. The meeting then disolved.
Then this statement is entered upon the records :
By reason of the War we have had no Meetings from the year 1779 to 1784.
This brings us to the end of the war of the Revolu- tion.
At a meeting of the town held Oct. 9, 1788, John Roundy, Moderator : -
Voted to send a Petition to Court to see if they will remit our taxes, and to Desire the Court to Call the name of this Town when incorporated by the name of Bluehill. "
On the 30th day of January, 1789, the town was in- corporated by act of the Massachusetts Legislature, and received the name of Bluehill, which it has ever since held. In the same year Sedgwick was incorpo- rated Jan. 12, the 59th town to be chartered in the
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District of Maine, Islesboro the 61st, Bluehill 62d, Deer Isle 63d, Trenton 65th, Gouldsborough 66th, Sullivan 67th, Mt. Desert 68th and Vinalhaven 71st. All of the above were then within the County of Han- cock.
At the March Meeting, 1789, John Roundy, Moder- ator; John Peters, Town Clerk; Jonathan Darling, Joshua Horton and Phinehas Osgood, Selectmen ; Edward Carlton, Robert Parker, John Roundy, Phine- has Osgood, and Jonathan Clay, Surveyors of High- ways; Joseph Wood and Joshua Horton, Surveyors of Lumber; Phinehas Osgood and Joseph Wood, Sur- veyors of the Fish Course. These were the officers of the town the first year of its incorporation.
Voted to give one days [work] towards clearing the fish course round the West end of Mr. Carlton's Mill Dam, at notice of the Surveyors.
Carlton's Mill was afterwards known as Allen's Mill.
Voted to go the fifth day of May to clear a road from Blue- hill to No. 6, (now Surry) : -
Having thus examined the Records from the first settlement to the incorporation of the town, let us now examine briefly its church history. The early settlers of Bluehill had been reared in Massachusetts, under the influence of the schools and religious institutions and Puritan preachers of their time. They brought with them a loving regard for the Bible, the Sabbath, the
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Christian ministry, and their value in the training of their families. So we find them early taking steps to secure the preaching of the Gospel, " in order, " as they phrased it, " that their children should not grow up like the heathen." Six years after the first landing, they voted " to raise money to hire a person for to preach the Gospel to us and for to pay his board." Ten years from the time the settlement began, October 7th, 1772, the first church was gathered, consisting of fourteen members. The March meeting of 1772 was notified to assemble at the meeting house ; so it appears that they had a place for public worship in the vicinity of the tide mills at this early date. They were assisted in the ser- vice of the church by the Rev. Daniel Little, a mission- ary from Wells, Me.
The nearest church, at the time this was formed, was at Phippsburg, and the next nearest at Bruns- wick. The Bluehill Church was the Twenty-fourth Congregational Church in the District of Maine, but whether there were any of other denominations I have not been able to ascertain. The confession of faith and covenant was signed by eight men, and the wives of six of them were voted into the privileges and under the watch of the church. From the founding of the church in 1772 to the coming of Rev. Jonathan Fisher in 1794, there were twelve different ministers who preached and labored with them.
The house of worship at the Falls did not long meet the wants of the church. In 1790 the town passed a
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vote in regard to the new meeting house. It will be remembered that at that early day, the town was the parish and the parish the town, hence the action taken by the town in regard to matters of public worship. In 1791 the former vote was reconsidered, and another location chosen, and the size of the new house fixed at 50 by 40 feet, and one hundred pounds voted for building it. In 1792 another slight change was made in the location, and a vote was passed dividing the town into classes for building the house. At a meet- ing in 1792 " the Selectmen were empowered to procure one barrel of rum, also molasses and sugar enough for framing and raising the meeting house."
It was said that every man, woman, and child in town attended this raising. A wag was uncharitable enough to suggest that the reason they were all there was on account of that barrel of rum. At any rate there has doubtless been a considerable change in the temperance sentiment of the town since that time.
July 13, 1796, Rev. Jonathan Fisher was ordained, and became the pastor of the Bluehill Congregational Church. The meeting house was not finished at that time, as the ordination services are said to have been held in an open field, nearly opposite the present Town Hall; the Rev. Peter Powers, of Deer Isle, preached the sermon.
The terms of Mr. Fisher's settlement were : a minis- ter's lot of three hundred acres of wild land, two hun- dred dollars in cash, and a barn 30 by 40 feet as a
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settlement. His annual salary was two hundred dollars in cash, the clearing of five acres of land, and cutting and hauling fifteen cords of wood for the first ten years. After that two hundred dollars, and thirty cords of wood yearly, with a vacation of five Sabbaths each year.
The whole of his salary did not amount to more than three hundred dollars, yet on this sum he lived com- fortably and reared a family. But he and his good wife knew how to economize.
In 1797, the year after the. pews were sold at public auction, it is recorded that there was a great revival in this place, and in the churches at Sedgwick, Deer Isle, and Mt. Desert. The result at Bluehill was that fifty-seven persons joined the church under the pastoral care of the Rev. Jonathan Fisher. In 1804-5 a change came over some of the people of this town and vicinity in regard to the ordinance of baptism. The church at Sedgwick, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Daniel Merrill, an educated and devout man, met with this change, and with their pastor were baptised by immersion, and were formed into a Baptist Church. The Rev. Mr. Merrill was reordained as its pastor, and continued to preach in the same house and to the same people.
In 1805 twenty-eight members of Mr. Fisher's church at Bluehill seceded, being dissatisfied with their bap- tism. February 13, 1806, seventeen of them were formed into a Baptist Church, and held meetings by themselves. Others followed, until forty-seven mem-
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bers of Mr. Fisher's church withdrew and united with the Baptist Church.
These are said to have been days of great trial to Mr. Fisher, as nearly all of the seceding members had been converted and brought into the church under his preach- ing. These were days when denominational feeling was unyielding and rancorous; but it is said, to the honor of Mr. Fisher, that he was not known to express an unkind word against, or reflection upon, any Chris- tian brother for the course he had taken ; and he was known to pray fervently and devoutly for the blessing of God on the new church which had sprung from among his own people.
Let us all rejoice that at this day, Christians, though differing in forms of church government, yet holding to the essential points of the Gospel, may live together in the same community in Christian charity and love, and respect each other as brethren.
In 1816 there was another revival, many were con- verted, forty-seven were added to Mr. Fisher's church, and a much larger number were gathered into the Bap- tist Church. In the year 1834 another revival was the means of adding forty-two to the Congregational Church, and also a large number to the Baptist Church.
In the year 1837, Mr. Fisher, being then advanced in years, gave place to a younger man, Mr. Albert Cole, to be the pastor, after a long and faithful service of over forty years in the church. Mr. Fisher was a graduate of Harvard College, came to Bluehill when the town
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was small, labored forty-one years, and left upon the people the stamp of his piety and individuality, which aided greatly in making this an intelligent and intellec- tual community.
It may be a new and interesting fact to some present to learn that Father Fisher was licensed to preach in Brookline, Mass., the town where I reside, and that he was a college friend of the Rev. John Pierce, D.D., who, for nearly fifty years, was the settled minister over the first Parish of that town (Unitarian), and that be- tween them existed a life-long friendship.
Very largely through his influence, the Bluehill Academy was incorporated in 1803, over which he watched and labored to promote its prosperity and usefulness as a seat of learning, not only for this town, but for the vicinity. That it has done much for the intellectual cultivation of the people, and given to them a standing as a cultivated, intelligent community, no one will deny who is conversant with its history.
The church which was built in the last century, after much planning and with much sacrifice by the early settlers, was modeled after the Old South Church in Boston, as I have been informed, having square pews, a gallery round three sides, a high pulpit with flights of steps leading up to it, and sounding board over it. In summer, when the windows were open during service, the wind would move the sounding-board, which was suspended by a rope from the ceiling, and, as a boy, I
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have looked at it and wondered what would be the con- sequence if the rope should break, and the sounding- board should fall upon the head of the then venerable Father Fisher. Perhaps my mind ought to have been occupied with other things, but I found that, as a boy, my thoughts were not under proper control, as doubt- less many of more mature years have learned in their experience.
The sounding-board held its place, however, until the first Sabbath of 1841, nearly four years after the pastoral care of the church had passed into the hands of Rev. Albert Cole, when the building was totally destroyed by fire. The present Congregational church edifice was erected in 1843.
The Baptist Church in this town was formed Feb. 13th, 1806, consisting of thirty members (including those who came from the Congregational Church,) at its organization. In 1807 its members sent the follow- ing petition to the Massachusetts General Court : -
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court as- sembled ; - The Petition of the Subscribers, Inhabitants of the Town of Blue Hill, humbly Show that we belong to the denomination of Christians known by the name of Baptists, and that we have for almost two years kept up and Supported the Worship of God among ourselves, neither disturbing or Interfering with others who do not believe as we do : and not- withstanding we do not, nor cannot Conscientiously attend on the preaching of the Congregational Minister Settled in this
T S b a
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Town, we are Taxed and Compelled to pay towards his Stated Salary, which we conceive to be a burden grievous to be borne, and Contrary to the principle which ought to govern all the professed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We therefore wish (in order to be delivered from this burden and that we may have our own money to Support such a preached Gospel as we believe to be agreeable to the word of God) to be incorporated into a Baptist Society, with all the privileges with other Religious Incorporated Societies and as in duty bound will ever pray. Signed
JEREMIAH STOVER
PETER PARKER, JR.
SAMUEL MORSE
JOSHUA PARKER
SETH KIMBALL
MARTHA FRIEND
SPENCER TREWORGY
ISAIAH HINKLEY
HENRY DORITY
WILLIAM JOHNSON
JOHN BURNHAM
JOHN OSGOOD
JOHN CANDAGE
BENJAMIN BUNKER
ANDREW WOOD
BENJAMIN FRIEND
PHILLIP HEWINS
ASA CLOUGH
AMOS ALLEN
JOHN ROUNDY
EBENEZER HINKLEY
ISAAC INGALLS
ABRAHAM TREWORGY
BLUEHILL, Dec 24, 1807.
What answer, if any, the General Court returned to this petition I have not learned.
The first pastor of this church was John Roundy, the son of John Roundy the first settler, and a younger brother of the grandmother of him who now addresses you. '
He held the pastoral care and charge of the church from 1809 to March, 1821, when he was dismissed and became pastor of the church in Penobscot ; later he was employed as a missionary by the Maine Baptist Home Missionary Society, and spent the remainder of his days of usefulness in that service. He lived to a great age, being 90 or upwards at the time of his death.
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The Bluehill Baptist Church had a steady and healthy growth, numbering upon its records in 1816, ten years after it was gathered, two hundred members that were then, or had been connected with it.
The Baptist Church edifice, I am informed, was erected in the year 1817.
In August, 1825, a Baptist Church was formed on Bluehill Neck, consisting of fourteen members who had withdrawn from the church at Bluehill for that purpose. The present church on the Neck is a Free Baptist Church, organized some twenty-five years ago; the church founded in 1825 having been disorganized.
Some forty or more years ago - I do not have the exact date - a Methodist Church was formed in the town, which held regular meetings for a time, but it had a short life, as it did not find the place an encouraging field of labor.
A Baptist Church was formed at East Bluehill in recent times, and they have a fine church edifice suffi- cient and suitable for their requirements.
The foregoing is a mere outline of the church his- tory of the town, which, it is to be hoped, may be filled in and enlarged upon at a future time.
The work of the churches, with the academy, has exerted a great influence in forming the mental, moral, and religious character and standing of the people of the town.
But the work of the district schools should not be omitted in mentioning the agencies that have been im-
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portant in moulding the character and in elevating the condition of the people. The early settlers were aware of the benefits to be derived from a system of training their children in the elementary branches of education, and so we find that early in the history of the town they appropriated money to hire teachers, to build school houses, and to firmly establish the common school sys- tem in the town. I, for one, have great respect for their wisdom and forethought in this matter. The work done in the " little red school-houses" of the town and of the country has never received that full share of commendation to which it is entitled. I have great respect for the " little red school-houses " - and I am sorry to see that a change has been made in the color of their paint in later years - for there was laid for me the foundation of what little education I possess, and through them, and by what I received from the academy, I have been enabled to accomplish in life whatever I have done worth accomplishing.
I bring to mind the days when Father Fisher was one of the school committee, and I a boy in the school, and how I was instructed to take off my hat and make my manners to him when we met on the street. Yes, and I bring to mind, too, the flogging I received from a school teacher. You older persons present will re- member that flogging was deemed to be as necessary a part of every well-regulated school as the course of study, and perhaps more so. I then thought that the punishment I received was unjust, and maturer years
1149149
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and judgment have failed to work in me an opposite opinion. I mentally resolved that when I should be large enough I would thrash him in return if a favorable opportunity offered. In 1850, I drove one day from the Falls to the village, and on the way overtook and in- vited my old teacher to ride with me, and he accepted. When comfortably seated by my side, I asked if he knew me; he said he did not. I told him my name, that I went to school to him, that he thrashed me as I thought without just cause. The old man said he did not remember anything about it, which I readily be- lieved, for he had flogged hundreds of boys and girls in his day. I said to him, "I promised myself to thrash you when I should be large enough to do it:"-the
old man grew uneasy in his seat. I said, "I am now large and strong enough to flog a dozen men of your age and infirmities, but don't be in the least alarmed, I shall not harm a hair of your head." The old gentle- man felt at ease after that, and we had a pleasant chat the rest of the way to the village, where we parted never to meet again in this life.
He was a type of the old-time school-master, of whom the boys and girls of the present day know nothing by their own experience ; and it is well they do not, for it was a hard and difficult task to flog intelligence into the brains of the ordinary child of those days.
An incident was related to me some years ago, which illustrated the character of the people of Bluehill a hun- dred years ago or less. At that time Hancock County
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comprised not only its present territory, but what is now Waldo and Penobscot Counties. A sheriff came to Bluehill to arrest one of its inhabitants and lodge him in jail for debt. The citizens learned what his errand was, and gathered together to talk the matter over. They discussed the matter, and agreed that to have one of their townsmen arrested and put in jail for debt would be a lasting disgrace to the town. The result was that they raised among themselves the amount of the debt, paid it over to the sheriff, and saved the good name of their townsman, and preserved the honor of the town. These men who exhibited such a high regard for the honor and good name of their town, were part of the early settlers, in whose honor we are met to-day, and in whom we feel a just pride.
ยท The early settlers and their descendants, notwith- standing their zealous care for church and state, did not relax their energies in the direction of subduing the forests, clearing and cultivating the soil, erecting dwellings and barns from time to time as their needs required, which brought the town to the prosperous condition in which we behold it to-day. They not only did that, but they did more; they erected saw and grist mills, built, manned, and freighted fleets of vessels,*
It is recorded that on January 23, 1768, "Capt. Russ sailed for the West Indies, being the first who ever sailed from this place for that part of the world. " The cargo of his vessel was lumber, no doubt; but what the name of his vessel was, her size, rig, &c., and where she and Capt. Russ hailed from, we do not know.
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opened up and worked quarries of granite, from which have been taken stone to be erected into imposing structures, that now beautify and adorn many of the cities of our land ; built, fitted out, and manned fleets of fishing vessels, and displayed an energy and perse- verance in these undertakings worthy of the success they have achieved. We should expect the children of such parentage to inherit the activities and tendencies of their sires, and improve upon the foundations laid for them, and we are not disappointed in that respect. Of the mining interests of the town I am not prepared to speak at this time; they are too recent to take up any part of our attention for to-day.
The sons and daughters of Bluehill, and of other towns in Maine, have not only won for themselves hon- orable mention at home, but they are to be found as citizens of different States,* from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the North Eastern boundary of Maine to Texas, and, by their sturdy energies and their hon- esty of character, have helped to mold our modern civ- ilization and to build up our great country. They, like the early settlers of this region, have sought for them- selves homes far removed from their ancestral hearth- stones, and have carried with them the principles which were here taught them, and have exerted an influence
* W. Preston Wood, a descendant of Joseph Wood, of the fifth genera- tion, and Mabel (Candage) Wood, his wife, a descendant of John Roundy, of the fifth generation, are now residents of Orange Park, Florida.
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for good which has not been lost to the country at large.
"A good name, " said Solomon, " is rather to be de- sired than great riches"; and the man, be he old or young, who wins for himself a name for honest, moral worth, and for upright Christian character, gains a noble position for himself, and a large legacy for his posterity, though he may possess very little of this world's goods.
Not many of the descendants of this town have won great distinction and honors among their fellow-men, nor was it to be expected they would. It is the mass that make a state, a country, and a nation. There are few towering intellects and leaders in a community of educated, intelligent people. But it is a great gain to every community to be educated and intelligent. A few, however, have acquired honors and distinction, who are descended from the people of this town ; for in- stance, the present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this State, Hon. John A. Peters, whose father was born here, and whose grandfather was a man of mark, and highly respected among the first settlers. And there are others who might be mentioned, if time would permit.
Our ancestors had respect for character, and so should we; and they could not have expressed it in a stronger way than they did, when they voted " to hire a person to preach the Gospel to us, in order that their children should not grow up like the heathen. "
I am aware that there is a tendency among those
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claiming to represent Young America at the present time, to characterize the teachings of our forefathers as "old fogyism." But it will be a sad day for this country and for the world, when the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and of the Gospel are outgrown.
The citizens of Bluehill, among their other character- istics, have never been lacking in patriotism and in love of country. Christopher Osgood, one of its first set- tlers, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army at the battle of Bunker Hill, and another, Nehemiah Hinckley, served through the war, and was honorably discharged at West Point at its close. Col. Nathan Parker was an officer in the Provincial army at the siege and fall of Louisburg. A number were in the service during the war with great Britain in 1812-15; and Mr. Crockett, who formerly lived on the Neck, was impressed on board a British man-of-war, where he was made to serve against his will ; and it is to the credit of the town that when there was likely to be a war with Great Britain, respecting the North Eastern Boundary dispute, a large number went to the Aroostook to defend the territory of their State from invasion and spoliation.
John Arnold, a citizen of the town, was engaged in the field during the Mexican war, and several were engaged in the transport service in aid of that war.
In the great Civil War of 1861-65, the people of Bluehill were loyal to the cause of the Union, and did good service on land and sea in putting down the Rebellion. A more honorable record than that of
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the citizens of this town was not made any where. The Gazetteer of Maine states that Bluehill furnished 196 men in defence of the Union, and paid out in bounties to the enlisted men some $18,000 in money ! I feel a just sense of pride in my native place as I rehearse to you the honorable part her citizens have taken to defend their country from the assaults of foreign and domestic foes. And I feel a pride in her people, who, by their energy and perseverance, caused to be cut by a citizen of the town, from a native block of granite, the beautiful and appropriate monument which has been set up in yonder cemetery in memory of those brave men from Bluehill, who laid down their lives for their country! I feel I ought to bare my head as I pass it, out of respect for the men whose death it commemorates, for the deeds of daring and of valor performed by them and by their comrades still living, of which it speaks to every beholder, in language mute, but full of eloquence and pathos.
It is well we have gathered here to-day to study the history of our town, and the lives and characters of our townsmen, -what they did for us, what examples they set us, and how we may profit by them.
It is well for us, and especially so for the young, to be taught by a review of the historical events which we have so briefly recounted, that service for others is hon- orable and elevating; that the greatest benefactors have been those, who, without expectation of reward, have performed the greatest service; that honest toil, even
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when those who come after us shall reap its benefits, is not degrading, but is manly, and will bring a sure re- ward.
The centennial anniversary of the town's incorpora- tion will occur on the 30th of January, 1889, a little more than two years hence, and it is to be hoped that arrangements will early be effected to celebrate it in an appropriate and becoming manner. I trust, too, that measures will be taken to have a history of the town published, for which there are abundant materials and talent to carry forward the work; but it requires money to meet the expense of publication, which must be raised in some way. I think I could name the per- son who would be willing to undertake its publication, provided proper aid and support should be given him. It is also to be hoped that the citizens will be aroused to aid in the work, by the gathering together of family histories and biographies, and other interesting mat- ter in regard to the early settlers, and the progress made by the community, which, if neglected, would in a few years be lost, but which can now be collected and preserved.
It would be a commendable undertaking for the per- sons gathered here to form themselves into the Bluehill Historical Society, having for its purpose the collection and preservation of all historical matter bearing upon the settlement and progress of the town and vicinity, and to provide a place of safe deposit for the same.
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In furtherance of these suggestions, let me ask, why an annual clam-bake, of which this may be called the first, should not be held on this spot, at which the citizens of Bluehill and vicinity may assemble, and spend a day of profit and pleasure together.
And now, what has been to me a pleasing task is finished. I regret for your sakes, however, that it did not fall to the lot of one more able and better equipped for the work.
Every one who has had experience in culling his- torical data for his use, has encountered difficulty in deciding what to select and what to reject, and such has been my case.
If, however, this shall prove to be the means of awakening you to a deeper interest in the matters touched upon, I shall feel well paid for the time and labor bestowed upon it.
Thanking you for the kind and considerate attention you have accorded to me, I close with renewed feelings of friendship for you all, with affection for my native town, with great respect for the lives and char- acter of its founders, and with becoming pride in its history and in its historical associations.
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