USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 3
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The presentations were made by Mr. John E. Nelson and Hon. Chas. F. Johnson. The other ushers were: Frank J. Good- ridge, Dr. J. L. Fortier, Albert F. Drummond, Dennis M. Bangs, Charles A. Redington, George A. Kennison, Dr. J. Frederick Hill, Frederick J. Arnold, William A. Smith, Harry Dubois,
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Horatio R. Dunham, Harvey D. Eaton, Frank W. Alden, Charles J. Clukey, William Fogarty, Elwood T. Wyman, Dr. John G. Towne, Dr. E. E. Goodrich, Henry Darrah.
For nearly two hours a constant stream of guests passed along the line and grasped the hand of each of the receiving committee.
TUESDAY.
The last day of the celebration was as brilliant and successful in point of the spectacular as the others were from a literary and social standpoint. Tuesday forenoon at 10.05 o'clock was the time appointed for the civic, military, trade, and industrial parade. It would not have been surprising if such an hetero- geneous column as made up this procession should have been anywhere from a half an hour to an hour late in starting, but surely if such had been the case all would have felt a jar in the otherwise absolute precision of the entire celebration. Fortu- nately the chief marshal, Dr. F. C. Thayer, felt the incongruity of such a delay beforehand, and had the ability to prevent it. The procession began to move at exactly the appointed time, and the whole parade passed off as smoothly as though it had been drilled for weeks.
The line of march was as follows: Elm street, to Center, to Pleasant, to Western avenue, to Elm, to Spring, to Gold, to Main, to Water, to Silver, to Main, to College avenue, to Depot Square, to Main, to Elm, to Monument Park where the parade was dismissed. -
The length of the parade was such that any extended descrip- tion of each of its separate attractions would require all the pages that this volume contains. Yet it will always be of interest to the friends of Waterville to have a brief record of this proces- sion, sufficiently detailed to convey some impression of the inge- nuity of the many men and women who contributed so lavishly of their means and skill to make this parade a truly magnificent affair, such a record was found in the Waterville Sentinel of Wednesday, June 25th, and is copied here with but slight and unimportant omissions which lack of space compels.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
THE PARADE.
Platoon of police.
Dr. Frederick C. Thayer, chief marshal, and staff. Adjutant and Chief of Staff, Dana P. Foster.
The staff : Dr. A. Joly, Lowell G. Salisbury, Ernest E. Decker, Cyrus W. Davis, Horatio D. Bates, Dr. J. F. Hill, Dr. L. G. Bunker, George S. Dolloff, Howard B. Snell, George H. Groder, Elwood T. Wyman, Hascall S. Hall, Dr. E. E. Goodrich.
Elm City Guards, mounted, Capt. Ray Blanchard.
First Division.
Hall's Military Band.
Dr. L. G. Bunker, chief of division, with two aids.
Centennial float, "Fair Waterville."
Co. H., Infantry, Second Regiment, N. G. S. M., Capt. A. T. Shurtleff.
Battalion Second Regiment, Patriarchs Militant, Maj. Evander Gilpatrick, commanding.
Canton Halifax.
Canton Augusta.
Society Union Lafayette, Gedeon Picher, commander.
Float showing the first meeting of Gen. Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. Two stalwart figures in the dress of two centuries ago amicably conferring across a table.
Ancient Order of United Workmen, Uniform Rank, Edwin Towne commanding.
Waterville Cadets, uniformed, Capt. George E. Tolman.
W. S. Heath Post, No. 14, G. A. R., in carriages, Department Commander James L. Merrick in first carriage.
Second Division.
Knights of Pythias Second Regiment Band.
George S. Dolloff, chief with two aids.
Uniform Rank, K. P., E. J. Brown, captain.
Float representing Damon and Pythias in classic robes grasp- ing each other's hand with the mystic grip.
St. John Baptist Society, Michael Morin, commander.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Float containing a dainty little maiden in white, the cross and banner of the order in one hand and the other resting lovingly in the fleece of a snowy white lamb.
The Bricklayer's Union, Joseph Preault, president.
Allan Williams, deputy. The masons marched in well kept ranks clad in white duck suits. These were followed by a float showing bricklayers and masons of Union No. 8 busily at work on a structure of brick and granite.
Union St. Joseph, Jules Gamach, commander, showing the carpenter at work at the bench.
Third Division.
George Groder, chief, with two aids.
Float, "The Village School," a representation of a red brick schoolhouse, green yard and white fence.
Carriages with invited guests and Waterville city government. Members of the Centennial executive committee.
C. H. Nelson driving the famous Nelson, 2.09.
Horses from Sunnyside Farm, driven by young ladies, two mounted, handsomely arrayed.
H. R. Mitchell, the florist, had a beautiful float, consisting of a monster basket of flowers, tied with white ribbons and streamers.
E. S. Dunn, the tailor, had a beautifully decorated cart in the flower section.
Fourth Division.
Howard B. Snell, chief, with two aids.
Waterville Bicycle Club with floats of four bicycles abreast drawing a chariot.
The club followed in double rank of decorated wheels.
Olympia Band of Augusta.
Then came the trades display, complete and beautiful, and made up as follows :
Otten, the baker, had a handsome display of thirteen men in white duck with white top hats, carrying white canes. Then came a brick oven hard at work and after that Fleischman & Co's. team, followed by the Otten delivery wagons and a big float of "Uneeda's," with four girls on the corners, tossing National biscuits into the crowd.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
W. B. Arnold, hardware and plumbing.
L. H. Soper put in a beautiful float in yellow and white on which rode nine girls. The sides and ends of the float formed open oval panels and the effect was charming.
The Hollingsworth & Whitney Company had a notable exhibit drawn by six powerful horses. The lower part of the float was made up of the various kinds of paper their mills turn out and on the top of all was a giant roll of paper 148 inches wide, weigh- ing 5,250 pounds and measuring seven and one-half miles in length.
The Florence fruit store, four teams.
Singer Sewing Machine Company, one team.
Standard Oil Company, one tank.
J. J. Pray, carriages and harnesses.
The Bay View Hotel, one carriage.
The Dickinson City Harness Store, three floats, one with bicycles and one with trunks.
Allen & Pollard, groceries, delivery wagon and float with forty barrels of flour.
Redington & Co., two teams, one a float with a parlor suit and the other piled high with rich carpeting.
Young & Chalmers had four decorated ice carts of the present, followed by an ante-diluvian rig labelled "the ice cart of 1850."
Whitcomb & Cannon advertised their meats with an elaborate and tasty collection of garnished loins and quarters, the team being driven by a boy in white.
Blanchard, the music dealer, livened the waits with a phono- graph which was working overtime on the wagon seat.
Proctor & Bowie of Winslow, had a float showing a modern kitchen, followed by a float advertising Sun Proof paints and containing an excellent miniature of the block house at Fort Halifax.
G. S. Flood & Co., coal cart decorated in green and white.
H. C. Haskell, grocer, one team.
Wardwell Brothers had a beautiful float in red and white, a courtly array with a high throne filled by a queen in red and white, with a white parasol, while below her sat the beauties of the court, all in white. The effect was unusually attractive.
Pomerleau had a schooner-rigged float filled with school chil- dren, the sails of the vessel furnishing advertising space.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
P. P. Herbst had a handsome float driven by two Indian war- riors, eight men being busily engaged making cigars.
S. A. and A. B. Green had their coal wagons filled with anthra- cite and decorated with flowers and bunting.
E. W. Drake, assistant superintendent of the International Correspondence School of Scranton, Pa., made a good hit with his Resolution Club in parade.
Dunham, the clothier, set forth the changes in the dress of the American in the four centuries past, each period being repre- sented by a youth in the attire of that time.
Cunningham & Smith had a big white shoe on their float filled with so many children they didn't know what to do. A clown did the driving.
Armour & Co., had a yellow wagon filled with their products, surmounted by a monster ham.
The Maine Central market had a tea and coffee wagon filled to the brim.
Clukey & Libby Co., had four representations, including twenty-four boys in gray dusters with red advertising umbrellas ; a float with twelve young ladies in white with white and rose sunshades, the team being decorated with 500 poppies and drawn by four gray horses with white harnesses.
G. S. Dolloff & Co., had a float representing "Our Defenders- The Men Behind the Guns." The float contained a five-inch brass cannon manned by four jackies in white.
The Whittemore Furniture Company had a float in green and garnet filled with couches of their manufacture.
Arthur Daviau, a decorated grocery wagon.
The Ticonic Mineral Spring Company had a float of the forest primeval with a bark tepee and a trio of dusky braves in their blankets, followed by one of the delivery carts.
H. C. Shores, milk and cream.
H. L. Emery's dry goods float represented a big round daisy made of dainty little girls in white with damsels in yellow form- ing the center.
The Vigue Harness & Carriage Company had a four-horse float with a bicycle carriage and show window horse of shining proportions.
The Lovering Hair Store had two pretty little misses in a pony cart, shaded by a rose trimmed parasol.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
J. L. Light, grocery wagon.
Waterville Steam Dye House, two teams.
Golden Oil Company, Henry Tucker, one team.
Union Farm Creamery, two teams, the latter filled with young porkers.
W. P. Stewart & Co., grocers, two teams.
Atherton Furniture Company, a wagon-load of attractive goods.
A float representing the old ferry boat of commerce, filled with boys.
E. G. Grondin, clothier, a float in which a Chinee washerman was making the ringer hum.
Fifth Division.
Payne's Second Regiment Band, Lewiston.
George F. Davies, chief engineer, of Waterville fire depart- ment, as chief of division, with two aids.
Waterville steamer No. I.
Hose Truck No. I.
Hook and Ladder No. I.
Hose Company No. 2.
Hose Company No. 3.
Hose Company No. 4.
Columbia racing team and reel.
1 The "Bloomer."
Carriages with ex-chiefs of the Waterville fire department.
The summary of the parade is given as follows: Time in passing a given point, 38 minutes ; number of floats, 95; number men on foot, 594; number men on horses, 35; number bands, 4; number carriages, 22 ; number men on bicycles, 22. To the eye- witness the procession was one that will linger long in memory.
TUESDAY AFTERNOON.
Although Tuesday forenoon's parade was, in point of display, the high water mark of the celebration, yet the vast multitude of visitors which had come with the intention of enjoying a long
1. The Bloomer was a reproduction of Waterville's first fire engine bought in 1810.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
day of festivities was not to be left without entertainment. In the afternoon the contests by the fire companies, directed by Chief Engineer George F. Davies; the sports, under the direc- tion of Dr. C. W. Abbott, consisting of the baseball game between the Waterville city team and Colby, and the balloon ascension on the college campus, were amply sufficient to keep the spectator occupied and interested ; and in the evening the concert by Hall's Military Band on Elmwood Park formed a fitting close to the celebration.
No accident of any kind occurred to mar the pleasure of the occasion. As the railroads sold about twenty thousand Water- ville tickets, it is a conservative estimate that at least twenty-five thousand people visited the city during the centennial. Many estimated the number as high as thirty-five thousand. The good work in advertising done by Chairman Dr. J. Frederick Hill, the interest of Maine in Waterville, and the central location of the city all contributed to this satisfactory result. There was no drunkenness, disorder or even incivility upon the streets. The labors of the centennial committee and of its efficient chairman, Dr. Thayer, were abundantly successful. The public spirit and the civic patriotism of the citizens were increased and their love was quickened for the fair city in which they dwell. Perhaps the most appropriate characterization of the whole celebration would be, that it was in every way worthy of the city under whose auspices it took place and whose birth day it celebrated.
CHAPTER II.
TECONNET AND WINSLOW.
By REV. EDWIN CAREY WHITTEMORE.
One hundred years have passed since on June 23, 1802, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts incorporated the town of Waterville. Today under conditions which place her among the most favored of the cities of New England, Waterville gathers her citizens, calls back those whom unkind fortune has compelled to reside elsewhere, reviews the ascending path of her prosperity and with tender thoughts of those whose life work has been given to the past, faces the future with confidence and with hope. Appropriate is the place ( Monument Park) in which we are convened. On one side, this noble building and the nobler name which it bears, stand for discipline, education, sound preparation for life. In the center of the park as in our history, stands the Soldiers' Monument, the perpetual memorial to the patriotism of those sons of Waterville who died that the nation might live, and over yonder is a Christian church. These three, education, patriotism, religion, have determined the char- acter of the town's civil life and when sound and productive busi- ness, as represented by the stores and the great manufactories beside Ticonic Falls is added, the foundation of permanent pros- perity is complete.
In order, however, the better to understand and the more highly to appreciate the century which we celebrate, a glance should be given to the centuries which were before it. If Assiminasqua, the eloquent orator of old Teconnet could speak to
Note. Chapters II and III were delivered in part, as the historical address at the celebration of the centennial of Waterville June 23, 1902.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
us today, he would narrate events more thrilling than those which living man can tell though it is ours to record the unmerited disaster, tragedy and annihilation of his race.
In 1497, five years after the discovery of America by Colum- bus, Henry VII of England sent an expedition to these shores. John Cabot was in command and with him was his son Sebastian. The expedition reached Labrador, June 24, 1497, and after cruis- ing along the coast for three hundred leagues returned to Eng- land. The next year, 1498, Sebastian Cabot sailed along the whole coast of Maine and across Massachusetts bay.1 He was disappointed in the matter of finding a course to China but on his discoveries England established a claim to the whole country from Labrador to New York.
In 1534 Jaques Cartier under commission of Francis I. of France, discovered the St. Lawrence river and took possession of all adjacent territory in the name of France, thus beginning the rival claims which were to vex the country for two hundred years.
Under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland August 3, 1583, "in a very formal and solemn manner." On the return voyage his vessel of only ten tons, foundered and Sir Humphrey and all on board were lost.
In 1603 sailing from Milford Haven, April 10, Martin Pring entered Penobscot bay on the 7th of June. He describes the country and its products in enthusiastic terms but as he found no sassafras, he shaped his course for Massachusetts.
The same year ( 1603) King Henry IV of France granted to Sieur De Monts the whole of North America between 40° and 46° north, viz: the territory between Cape Breton and the Hudson river which was named Acadia. Samuel Champlain was the' most eminent man connected with the De Monts expedition. He explored the entire Maine coast 2 and his very accurate maps were published in Paris in 1613. July 6, 1604, De Monts and Champlain had ascended the Sheepscot river and had come out into the Kennebec proceeding as far as Merrymeeting bay. The
1. See Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot. London, 1832.
2. "Coasting Voyages in the Gulf of Maine, made in the years 1604-5 and 6, by Samuel Champlain." By Gen. John Marshall Brown. Coll. Me. Historical Society. Vol. VII, pp. 242-243.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Indians were friendly and informed Champlain that the Kenne- bec and the Chaudiere were the great route to the north, also that the Indians in this section cultivated the soil. Champlain set up a cross on the bank of the river and formally claimed the territory as a part of Acadia. This was the first claim made to Kennebec territory and it is worthy of note that it was made by the father of French colonization in America, Governor of New France and founder of Quebec, Samuel Champlain. In his writ- ings we find for the first time the name Quinebequi applied to the river, the name signifies dragons or monsters and referred to the monsters whose writhings vexed the waters at the Hell Gate in the Sheepscot. The expedition of Capt. George Waymouth, which sailed from the Downs on March 31st, 1605, anchored off Monhegan May 17th. After considerable exploration, the claim- ing of territory for England and the kidnapping of five Indians, Capt. Waymouth sailed for home. The claim has been made that he entered and explored the Kennebec river,1 but the weight of evidence is against it.2 The same year, 1605, Champlain was again in the Kennebec and heard of a vessel six leagues away which had captured or killed five natives, evidently Waymouth's.
Captains Hanham and Pring under the patronage of Sir John Popham explored the Sagadahoc in 1606 and were probably the first Englishmen to enter the river.3
The year 1607 is notable for the founding of the first English Colony in New England under Popham and Gilbert at the mouth of the Kennebec river, called the Popham Colony. The expedi- tion which was supported by some of the greatest men in Eng- land sailed May 31st, 1607.
August 19, 1607, the site for a plantation was chosen and forti- fications were begun. The colony was planned on a large scale and officers were appointed. Worship was instituted according to the forms of the English church. September 23d, the colonists sent an exploring expedition up the river and on Sunday the 27th, they were at Vassalboro, where they set up a cross. On Decem- ber 13 Gov. Geo. Popham made a glowing report of the pros- pects of the colony: this has been called the first state paper
1. John McKeen in Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., vol. 5, pp. 307-340.
2. "Rosier's True Relation" by Henry Sweetser Burrage, vol. III of the publica- tion of the Gorges Society. Portland, 1887.
3. Thayer. "The Sagadahoc Colony." Gorges Society, vol. IV.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
written in America. At that time the colonists were busy build- ing the "Virginia," a vessel "about some thirty tonne ;" thus the first wooden ship built in America by colonists, was built in a Kennebec yard. The severity of the winter (1608) the harsh treatment of the Indians by the colonists which provoked repris- als, the death of Gov. Geo. Popham and the return of Gilbert to England caused the failure of the colony in 1608.
In 1609 the Jesuits Biard and Masse established a mission at Mount Desert and two years later Biencourt and Biard were at the Kennebec. The Cannibas, the Indians of the valley "received the reverend father with respect and cordiality"1 and the first Catholic service was held near the Sheepscot.
In 1614 Capt. John Smith of Virginia fame came with two vessels to the Kennebec on a trading expedition. Though he spent most of his time in fishing for whales, yet in his book he says "We got for trifles, eleven thousand beaver, one hundred martens and as many otters. We took and cured forty thousand fish, corned or in pickle."" Capt. Smith gave to the country between the Hudson river and New-foundland the name of New England. After Capt. Smith's departure, his subordinate, Capt. Thomas Hunt, who delayed to complete his cargo, kidnapped twenty-four natives whom he conveyed to Spain and sold into slavery at one hundred dollars each.
One of the most destructive wars which this state has ever known broke out auong the Indians themselves in 1615. The Indians of the Penobscot and the East were arrayed against those of the Kennebec and the West. For two years the conflict raged with all the horrible cruelty of savage warfare. It was immedi- ately followed by a pestilence, which annihilated many tribes and nearly depopulated New England.
November 3, 1620 King James I granted to the "Council of Plymouth in the County of Devon" successors to the Plymouth Co. of 1603, the "New England Charter." The council included the Duke of Lenox, the Earl of Arundel, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Francis Popham, Raleigh Gilbert and others. The territory con- veyed was all the land in North America between the 40th and 48th parallel of latitude. Thus when the Pilgrims landed at
1. Governor Lincoln's Papers. Me. Hist. Soc. Coll. vol. I, p. 429.
2. Description of New England by Capt. John Smith. London, 1616.
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Plymouth in December of 1620 the territory was already the property of another corporation.
In 1625 the Plymouth Council granted to Gorges and Mason and others all the territory between the Kennebec and the Merri- mac which was termed the "Province of Laconia." The same year, according to Gov. Bradford, the Pilgrims of Plymouth, "after harveste they sende out a boats load of corne, 40 or 50 leagues to ye eastward, up a river called Kenibeck." After refer- ring to their hardships he concludes, "But God preserved them and gave them good success for they brought home 700 pounds of beaver besides some other furrs, having litle or nothing els but this corne which themselves had raised out of ye earth. This viage was made by Mr. Winslow and some of ye old standards for seamen they had none."1
January 13, 1629 a grant was made by the Plymouth Council to the Pilgrim Colony called the Plymouth or Kennebec Patent.2 It conveyed exclusive rights to a territory fifteen miles wide on either side of the Kennebec river extending from Topsham to the Wessarunsett river at Cornville; the patent received the previous year having been "so strate and ill bounded as they were faine to renew and inlarge it."3
They now erected a trading house "up above on ye river in ye most convenientest place for trade,"4 probably at Cushnoc (Augusta).
The Plymouth Council discouraged by its losses and by the persistence of its enemies held its last meeting April 25, 1635 and surrendered its charter to the King. He appointed his Privy Councillors, Lords Commissioners of all his American Planta- tions. This board appointed Sir Ferdinando Gorges Governor General of New England.
The Council, before its dissolution had divided its territory into twelve royal provinces and assigned these to its members by lot. The third and fourth lots covering the entire territory between the Kennebec and the Piscataqua, fell to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and was called New Somersetshire. Sir F. Gorges,
1. Bradford's History of Plimoth Plantation. Boston, 1898, p. 247.
2. Hazlitt Coll. p. 298-303.
3. Bradford, p. 280.
4. Bradford, p. 280.
3
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HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
detained by an accident to the vessel which was to convey him to his new government, never set foot in New England.
On the third of April, 1639, the King conferred upon Sir Fer- dinando Gorges yet more extensive territory and vice regal power over what was called "the Province of Maine." It could hardly be regarded a limitation of his rights that the Lord Proprietor was to give to the King a fifth of the profit arising from the pearl fishings, and from gold and silver mines. Full executive powers were given and the right of legislation in connection with the citizens. The Lord Proprietor was to give deeds and titles to land, erect courts and appoint officers. The English church was established. The Lord Proprietor Gorges had sent over his nephew William Gorges as Governor who established his capital at Saco and opened court there March 28, 1636. As there were at the time no settlements on the Kennebec, the government of Gorges was not exercised here, but the Pilgrim Colony main- tained their rights to a monopoly of the trade with the Indians.
The Indians of the Kennebec.
The French gave the name Abenaquiois to all the Indians east of the Connecticut river, but the name became gradually restric- ted to the dwellers in the Kennebec valley. These Indians bore also the name Canibas, or Narhantsouaks. Before the great Indian war of 1615 it appears that the Bashaba or great chief who lived on the Penobscot exercised a kind of general sover- eignty over all the Maine tribes : later, the chief of the Kennebecs dwelt on Swan Island. The tribe extended from Merrymeeting bay to Moosehead lake and enjoyed in the forests, the fertile meadows, the rivers teeming with fish and affording a broad highway for their canoes, an ideal place for Indian habitation. In the winter the Indians retired to the woods and lakes further north where they found it easy to secure the moose and deer in the deep snow. With the coming of spring they descended the rivers in time to secure the salmon, shad and alewives; in the summer they had their scanty harvests and the berries and wild fruits of the forest. Several important Indian villages were on the river. At Fort Hill, Winslow, was a large village extending along the banks of the Sebasticook and of the Kennebec for nearly a mile. Mr. F. F. Graves who has carefully searched the
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