USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > Sketches of the history of the town of Camden, Maine; including incidental references to the neighboring places and adjacent waters > Part 6
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* Ward became a fruit dealer in Boston, and in 1799 was the owner of his store, and afterwards became wealthy.
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come over and join him. The vessel in which his brother embarked was lost, and he perished. After remaining here two years after this sad event, and feeling himself to be alone in the world, and being still a single man, and having acquired a handsome property, he concluded to return to his native country.
Dergen was succeeded by Benjamin, and Joseph Cushing. On nearly the same site, Belcher Sylvester subsequently erected the building now used by Sewall Conant as a paint-shop.
The first physician in town was Dr. Isaac Barnard, who came here in about the year 1787. He married a Miss Tollman, and after living at the barbor five or six years, here moved to the river. He afterwards shifted his quarters to different places, continuing but a short time in the same town.
Before approaching the time of the incorporation of the town, we will glance at the various names that have been applied to the different localities, &c., in and about Camden. We have deemed it proper, though seemingly out of place at this period of our Sketches, to reserve for one number, our remarks upon this subject.
The name of Megunticook first demands our notice. As before remarked, (in No. IV.) the place now designated as the Hurbor, or Camden proper, was known at the time the early settlers came here, by the name of Negunticook, (as it is written on the oldest charts, and records now before us,) or Megunti- cook, as it is now written. We have shown that at an earlier period the name of Mecaddacut was applied to the same locality. The appellation of Mecaddacut appears to have been bestowed by the Wawenocks, while that of Megunticook was given it by the Tarratines. The former tribe was supplanted by the latter, which fact may account for the change in the name. There is an interesting legend relating to the origin of different Indian names in this vicinity, which is worth repeating in this place. As we find it well told in Sibley's History of Union, p. 4, we give it in his words : " There is a tradition that several Indians came from the East on a hunting and fishing excursion. At the harbor in Lincolnville they caught some ducks, and called the place Duck Trap. They proceeded with their ducks to Cam-
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den, which they called Me-gun-ti-cook, because there they began to cook them. On arriving at Friendship, they broke their cooking pot, and called the place Me-dun-cook. Pro- ceeding up the St. George's, they came to Sunnybec Pond, which they named Sunny-bake, because they were obliged to cook their fish and food in the sun on the rocks." This does very well for a fable, and as such we will let it pass, without further comment.
In an article on the definition of Indian names in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections IV., p. 106, a writer locates Mecaddacut down by Owl's Head, as does also Williamson, in his History of Maine, vol. i, p. 95. But, on Smith's map, * which was first published in 1616, it is located on the site now occupied by Camden, as may also be seen by recurring to his " Generall Historie of Virginia and the Summer Isles," page 205, ed. of 1626. It appears evident, however, that the name at times was applied indiscriminately to the region between Camden and Owl's Head. Mr. Sibley, t in speaking of this subject, says " Bedabedec may have designated the coast, and included the Penobscot Hills, and Owl's Head. When it is considered that Indians, giving to the consonants a soft or obscure sound, do not enunciate them distinctly, that Smith gives the name as it sounded to his English ears, and Champlain as it sounded to the French, it is not improbable that Bedabedec and Medam- battec, and Mecaddacut are meant to represent the same Indian word." Basing our opinion upon Smith's representation as alluded to above, and the quotation we have given in article No. II., we take it for granted that Mecaddacut was the name of the locality of Camden at the time represented.
In the article before alluded to in the Mass. Hist. Coll., IV., p. 106, the definition of Megunitcook is given as meaning "large bay." In speaking on the terminal syllable in this word, the late David Crockett, of Rockland, who had acquired a good knowledge of the language of the Penobscot Indians, says that, " cook is a compound word, and means haven or harbor ;
" Smith's map will also be found in the Mass. His. Coll., vol. iif., 3d series.
t Hist. of Union, p. 21.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN.
and the other part of the compound word designates something which is distinctive in the harbor." * Eaton in his Annals of Warren, p. 134, says that Megunticook signifies " great swells of the sea." Frances Sogabason, an Old Town Indian, gives the same definition, as does also Sogabason Neptune. Other authorities might be cited, but these are sufficient to establish the meaning of the word. The name is very applicably given to our harbor, for during a storm the " great swells of the sea " are an object of remark. The name is also applied to the stream and one of the mountains, and in former years (a before shown) Lincolnville, or Canaan Pond, went by the same appellation. From a statement made by Lewis Ogier a unm. ber of years ago, embodied in a short sketch now before us, we learn that the name was sometimes pronounced Mar-tac-a-ma- coose, and is thus spelled. James Thorndike says that the first settlers and Indians as far back as his memory goes, used to pronounce it Netuc-hama-coose. Sogabason Neptune pro- nounces it Me-gun-tar-cook-accent on the third syllable.
Mount Batty, t the nearest mountain to the Harbor village,- being about three fourths of a mile from the Post Office,- derived its name from Betsey Richards, wife of James Richards, the pioneer settler. She always used to call it her mountain, to designate it from the others, and thus the early settlers used to call it Batty's mountain, or Mt. Batty, which name it still retains. # As Wm. McGlathry once owned a principal part of this mountain, some old persons still call it by the name of MeGlathry's, which is superseded by the name before men- tioned.
Mount Megunticook, north of, and adjoining Mt. Batty, is sometimes called the Dillingham mountain, as Dillingham used to reside near the base of it. ยง Of the other mountains, we shall speak in another place.
The name of Chickawakie has but recently been bestowed
* Hist. of Union, p. 4, note.
+ Dr. Jackson, in His Report on the Geology of Maine, p. 56, gives the height of Mt. Batty as 1322 feet.
# Thus designated in Will. Hist. Maine, 1., p. 95, and ii., p. 551.
; Dr. Jackson, (ibid.) gives the height of Mt. Megunticook as 1457 feet.
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upon Tolman's Pond, and is said to signify in the Indian language, " sweet water." The oldest Indians with whom we have conversed, are ignorant of the name, which was given, we believe, by certain citizens of Rockland. * These are the only names we think of, that demand a notice at this time ; others will be alluded to hereafter.
Up to the year 1790 there was not a passable road in the plantation of Camden of the length of three miles. There had been a foot path extending from St. George to Sandy Point, (in Prospect.) which was first indicated by spotted trees,-but there was no road which could be traveled a series of miles in any vehicle. Travelling was principally performed on foot, and after a bridle path was worn sufficiently for the purpose, short journeys were made on horseback. On the 10th of Nov., 1790, a road was laid out extending from Thomaston (Rockland) to Camden Harbor, and thence to " Little Duck- trap ;" it appears, however, not to have been completed until 1797. We believe the road above Little Ducktrap + was completed about the same time. This was the first road in Camden of which we have any account.
At the time when the roads were traced by spotted trees, the following sad event occurred: A stranger, in traveling towards Ducktrap during one of the winter months, halted at the house of Robt. Thorndike, where he took supper. His
* While speaking of Indian names, we will here put upon record a few names which we obtained from Sogabason Neptune, an old Penobscot Indian, who piloted Gen. Knox through this section when roads were indicated by spotted trees. He is now 89 years of age, and his memory is apparently unimpaired. The dialect of his fathers is being numbered among the things that were; soon, all that remains to tell the tale of the "poor Indian," will be a few memorials that may be preserved in cabinets or recorded with the pen. We will here give a few of the words, with their definitions: Megunticook, large sea; Chebogardinac, a high hill; Wardjou, a hill; Neguassabem, large pond; Neguassabemacese, small pond; Naraguagus, (the name of a river near Thomaston.)
+ Ducktrap is said to have derived its name from the inlet below the bridge, which is so contracted as to form a strait, near which sportsmen used to lie in ambush while the game was scared up by others. The ducks in their flight would zeek egress through the strait, and thus become game for the huntsman. Hence the origin of the word.
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business being urgent, he declined the hospitalities tendered to him to tarry over night, and continued his journey. It appears he missed the path and wandered into a meadow, and becom- ing benumbed with the cold, he sat down, and yielding to the feelings of drowsiness that proves fatal to those thus overcome by its spell, he fell into that sleep that knows no waking.
In the following spring he was found by the settlers in a situation corresponding with the above facts.
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Number SI.
Camden plantation-[NOTE: Lincoln, Hancock and Waldo Counties.] -Negunticook-Camden Incorporated-Origin of the name-Extract from Lord Camden's speech-First Town Meeting-names of officers chosen -- Number of votes polled-Impeunding of swine-The first bridge-Mr. MeGlathry contracts to build one at the foot of the stream-Disagree- ment-Final adjustment of the case-Persons warned out of Town-The first School House-Money raised for School-School Teachers.
U T P to the year 1791 Camden was only known as a plan- tation, defined as being in the County of Hancock,* Province of Maine, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The appellation of Negunticook, t or Megunticook, up to this time was sometimes given to the whole plantation, but generally it was applied to the settlement at the harbor, of which place the name is most happily suggestive.
On the 17th of February, 1791, " the plantation of Cambden" became incorporated as the 72d town in the State.
*Camden was within the precincta of Lincoln County until that of Hancock was established, June 25, 1780, when it became included in the latter county. Camden continued in Hancock until 1791. and before steps were taken for the incorporation of the town. our citizens petitioned the General Court for to be set off to Lincoln. Their petition was not granted until several months after the town became incorporated. The General Court was opposed to the prayer of said petitioners, but finally it was granted, and in Dec., 1792, we find Camden defined as being in Lincoln. When in Hancock. our people used to attend Court at Penobscot (Castine) but after the change occurred, the place of assizes was Waldoboro, which was the shire town of Lincoln from the year 1796 to the year 1800, when Wiscasset became the seat of judicature in its stead. Camden re- mained in Lincoln until Waldo County was incorporated, July 4, 1827, at which time it was annexed to the latter, of which Belfast became the shire town.
t We observe in the Records of the town that the name of Negunticook was thus spelled up to the year 1724, and from documents we have examined in the Maag. State House, we find the practice of thus spelling it continued up to the year 1727.
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The name of Camden * was bestowed upon the township by the Twenty Associates, as we learn from an article in the Mass. His. Coll., vol. ii .. 3d series, p. 228, and also from a plan of the township now before us, bearing date of Sept., 1768. The name is said to have been given it in honor of Lord Camden. a parliamentary friend of the colonists prior to, and during the revolutionary war. During the war, measures were proposed by parliament, and enunciated by the king in his proclamation. that the subjugation of the colonists be accom- plished by inciting the Indians to wage against them their most cruel kinds of warfare. This most tyrannical measure of the Crown met with earnest opposition from the Earl of Chatham, Col. Barre, and others, at which times Lord Camden arose, and in speaking against the barbarous scheme, said, " It ought to be damned,-it holds forth a war of revenge such as Moloch in Pandemonium advised; and it would fix an inveterate hatred in Americans against the very name of English- men, which will be left a legacy from father to son, to the latest posterity !" Such is a sample of the man from whom Camden derived its name. t
The first town meeting was held at the inn of Peter Ott, on the 4th of April, 1791. The officers there chosen were Wm. Gregory. moderator ; John Harkness, town clerk ; John Hark- ness, 1st selectman, Wm. Gregory, 2d selectman, Wm. McGlath- ry, 3d selectman ; Paul Thorndike, constable; Nathaniel Pal- mer, tax collector ; Joseph Eaton, treasurer ; Jas. Richards, Robt. Thorndike, and David Nutt, surveyors of lumber, &c. Five men were likewise chosen as Tythingmen : (these person- ages were a terror to Sabbath breakers,) and two to the distinguished office of hog reeves. After disposing of the ordi- nary town business, they then proceeded to vote for Wm. Lithgow, Esq .. for Representative to Congress. Being no opposition candidate presented, he received thirty-two votes.
*The name is spelt Cambden on the town records up to the year 1300, when the present mode of spelling it was adopted. The misnomer was continued as late as 1903, at which time we find it on the title page of a printed sermon.
+ There are now 15 places in the United States of the name of Camden.
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John Hancock for Governor, and Samuel Adams for Lieut. Governor, received twenty-six votes each.
At a town meeting held the ensuing June,-for they were held as occasion required, sometimes three or four times a year,-an article was inserted in the warrant for the meeting "to See if the Town Will build a Pound & Chuse a Pound. keeper." Also "to See if the Town Will Lett hoggs Run at Large With Rings & Sheep Without a Sheppard." When said articles were acted upon, it was voted to build a pound, and that it be made "tight enough to Stop Pigs a Month old." As the impounding of swine did not seem to give entire satis- faction. it was voted next year that they .. Should Go at Large if yoked & Ringed."
The first bridge that was used to cross Megunticook stream with, at the Harbor, consisted of a jam of logs, situated just back of James Richards' grist and saw mill. A bridge was afterwards erected on the stream just back of Mr. Chase's blacksmith shop. This bridge getting out of repair, it was voted, May 7th, 1792, that instead of repairing it, a new one should be built. Wm. McGlathry undertook to fulfill the . contract for 12 pounds and 10 shillings. The outlet of the stream was then on the spot now occupied by Crabtree's grist mill flume,-at the north end of the Woolen Factory ; and the original northerly bank was uniform with the part now to be seen just back of the Me-srs. Mansfields' blacksmith shop. After Mr. MeG. had completed the abutments of the bridge, -at the foot of the stream, just back of the grist mill,-some complaint was made, by which a town meeting was called, and the contract revoked. Mr. MeG. appears, however, to have fulfilled the contract, and a road was opened which the selectmen had surveyed and laid out on a line with the bridge, which was below, and parallel with the present road, -- Main street. After the bridge was completed, the objections raised, were, that it was too high, and frail, as teams would make it sway while crossing it. and being without a substan- tial railing, it was regarded as highly unsafe. Mr. MeG. afterward demandel compensation for building said bridge, but the town voted. ( April 2, 1798,) " not to pay " him " for the bridge."
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN.
In the ensuing October, the "bridge question," (since, like then, regarded as a verata quaestio, as will be discovered by some future antiquarian, when he shall recur to the year of our Lord 1856.) was settled by passing the following vote : " Voted, to pay Wm. MeGlathry, Esq., * for the Bridge built a cross Negunticook stream; which $20 was due from him for highway tax ; provided he will give a full discharge ' for sd. bridge." (Town Records, p. 79.) We presume the question was settled agreeably to said proviso, as it is not again alluded to in the Town Records.
We are informed that the stream was spanned by a bridge where the present one now stands, as early as 1795, but as the Town Records are very indefinite about it, we cannot speak of it with positiveness.
There was a law in force at this time, (1792,) by which the Selectmen were authorized to warn all new comers or transient persons out of town who had not made application to the proper town authorities for the purpose of becoming permanent residents. On a precept now before us, which was duly served Jan. 2d, 1792, we find the names of twenty-two men. women and children who were thus " warned out of town." Among the number are several who were afterwards accounted as being among the first citizens of the town, in wealth and respectability. We believe only three cases are thus recorded. t This custom, which appears to have had its origin in the old countries, is still arbitrarily observed in some portions of England, where the poorer classes alone suffer from its effects. # The object of this custom, or law, was to prevent persons becoming chargeable as paupers to any place, we suppose. At this time there was but one pauper in town, and she was kept for several years by different persons for 10s. per week.
The first school house of which we have any knowledge,
* About the year 1735-99 Mr. McGlathry moved to Frankfort, where his merita made him one of the leading men of that town, as they did in Camden.
t See Town Records, p. 22, 28 and 30.
: Soo Cobden's White Slaves of England, p. 251 and 252.
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was situated on Capt. Jesse Hosmer's land, at the corner of Wood and Elm streets. It was a frame building, a part of which now comprises the dwelling house of Mr. Coburn Tyler. The first allusion to a school in the Town Records. is April 2, 1702, when 5 pounds was voted for said object. The follow- ing year, (Mar. 4, 1703,) 20 pounds was voted for the same purpose : March 3, 1794. the appropriation was 30 pounds. The-school-master during the latter year was Asa Hosmer : his successors were Robert Portersfield and Benj. Stetson. As Mr. Hosmer came here about the year 1786-7, it is quite probable that he was about the first school-master employed by the town. Such is the earliest record we have of the institution that " teaches young ideas how to shoot." and of the instructors connected with the same.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN.
Number XII.
Qualifications for voters-Preaching-Scarcity of Ministers-Town fined for not having a settled Minister-Military affairs-State separation ques. tion-Post Office established-First Post Master-Mail Carrier-Town Meetings-Town expenses-School and Ministerial lots donated to the Town-The Foote House-Names of transient Preachers-Rev. Paul Coffin's description of Camden-Social Library-I'roposition to build a Meeting House-Political affairs-Parish Tax-Non-conformists protest against being assessed-Separation question again-Masonic affairs- Taxes collected " for nothing"-Proposition to divide the Town-The old Meeting House.
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I TN the town records, under date of March 22, 1794, we find the qualifications for voters are given, with which our present liberal laws are in happy contrast. As the hour of meeting was also remarkably different from the time observed at the present day, we will quote the entire notice :
"The free-holders, and other inhabitants of said Town, of twenty-one years and upwards, having a freehold estate within the Commonwealth of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate to the value of sixty pounds, to meet at Mr. Peter Ott's on Monday. the 7th day of April next. at 12 of the clock at noon, to give in their votes for a Governor," &c.
Up to the year 1794 there had been no stated preaching in town ; but once in a great while religious teachers would chance to stop here while passing through the place ; and thus the inhabitants of Camden would occasionally have the privilege of listening to the words of life. On the occasion of the arrival of any preacher, the news was soon disseminated throughout the town, when a good sized and attentive congre- gation would soon be gathered together to enjoy the rare privilege of listening to a sermon. The scarcity of ministers in this section of Maine near this time may be known by an extract from a letter written by the Hon. Gen. Lincoln, relating
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to the .. Religious State of the Eastern Counties of the District of Maine," dated at Boston, Feb. 10, 1790, where it says : " There are not more than three ordained ministers from Penobscot river to Passamaquoddy, an extent of more than one hundred miles." *
At this time (1794) there was a law in force in the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts making it finable for any town to be without a " gospel minister." As said law was infracted by this town, we find inserted in a warrant for a town meeting, dated June 21, 1704, the following article: "To see what the town will do in regard to an indictment against them for neglecting for the space of three years last past to procure and maintain as the law obliges a settled ordained minister."t At said meeting the following action was taken upon the question : " Voted, that Mr. David Blodget and Mr. Sam'l MeLaughlin be a committee to draw up a petition for to lay before the Supreme Court next to be holden at Hallowell, against paying a fine for not having a minister for three years past."; The question was contested by the town at the next Supreme Judicial Court. but the decision there given, was in vindication of the law, and the town was mulcted in full," 2 pounds, 14 shillings and 6 pence."
By an act of the General Court, June 22, 1793, a new impetus was given to the Militia law, and by an improvement in the system and discipline, an increased interest was taken in military affairs throughout the Province of Maine. Gen. Wm. Lithgow, of Hallowell, was then we think, Major General of the Lincoln. or 8th Division, in which the Camilen company was embraced. On a warrant for a town meeting under date of Aug. 28, 1794, we find the following articles relating to the subject : " To see what sum of money the town will vote to pay the act soldiers now called for, or what the town will relative thereto." "To see what sum of money the town will vote to purchase a town stock of arms and ammunition, or what the town will act relative theretc."
* Mass. Hist. Coll. IV., 155.
t Town Records, p. 46.
$ 1bid.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN.
When the town meeting convened, the 9th of the ensuing month, the following action was taken on the aforesaid articles : " Voted to pay the minute men $8 a month with the Con- tinental pay. for the time they are in the service, besides clothing." " Voted, to pay the minute men three shillings a day for every day they train." " Voted, to raise 36 pounds for to purchase a town stock of arms and ammunition." *
In the above warrant the following article is inserted : " To see if the Town will send a representative to Portland in regard of a separate State ;" but it was concluded not to then rebel against the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but to endeavor to quash the incipient feeling of discontent by refusing to send a representative to said convention.
During this year a Post Office was established in town ; and Joseph Eaton was appointed postmaster. The office was in the old Eaton house, the cellar of which is now to be seen on Eaton's Point. George Russell. ot Castine, was then the mail-carrier, and before the post office was established here he used to carry the letters, &c., in a yellow colored handkerchief, but, at this time he carried the - mail in a leather bag on his back. He used to perform his route from St. George to Sandy Point about once a week. After the roads were opened the postman rode horseback, and when within about half a mile of the office he used to give the premonition of his approach by sounding a post horn. Mr. Eaton was succeeded by John Hathaway as postmaster, who, in turn, was succeeded by Benj. Cushing.
At this time, the town meetings were sometimes held at Goose River. (at Peter Ott's tavern, on the place where Mr. Jefferson Smith now lives,) and at other times at the Harbor; and as it was deemed practicable to have them held at the above places alternately, we find at a meeting in Nov. it was " Voted, To have the Town meetings half the time at Negun- ticook for the futer."
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