USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
546
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Another convention was held at Concord on the same sub- ject, October 6, 1779, whose recommendations received the sanction of the town, and the like proceedings were had as in the former case. But they were alike ineffectual, except to give a very brief check to a prevailing and an unavoidable evil. So also was the law of 1780 making the bills of the new emis- sion a tender in payment of all debts, and was therefore soon after repealed. A material change was not produced until 1781, when a bright glow was thrown over our military and financial operations by effective aid from the French in men and money, which brought large supplies of specie into the country and crowned our arms with brilliant success at sea and on land. Most of the old paper had been taken up by govern- ment and its place supplied by a new emission, which sus- tained its value more firmly than the former issue. In August, 1781, Mr. Smith remarks, "there is only hard money passing," but he adds, "and little of that;" it however was a certain standard of value and gave steadiness to prices ; paper cur- rency had sunk almost out of sight. Wood at that time he quotes at two dollars a cord.
The war was now drawing to a close, but still the burdens were severe and heavy, and probably pressed more heavily in consequence of the less need there seemed to be of continued exertion. Although hostilities actually ceased in America, after the surrender of Cornwallis, yet the indications from Eng- land continued to be of a hostile character and to threaten a further and more vigorous prosecution of the war, until public opinion produced a change of administration in the spring of
hats thirty-five pounds apiece,* peas and beans six pounds a bushel. (For a scale of depreciation see note page 531.) The average price of beef in paper for 1777 was seven pence a pound and of corn eight shillings a bushel ; in 1779 the average had risen by the depreciation to six shillings a pound for beef, and five pounds twelve shillings a bushel for corn.
* Under March 24, 1780, Mr. Smith says, "Young Musscy asks five hundred i.e. above eleven hundred pounds for a hat. Laborers thirty a day ".
.-
547
PEACE-THE FISHERIES.
1782. From that time varying prospects of rest and the un- steady progress of the negotiations kept up a feverish excite- ment in the public mind, until the acknowledgment of our independence and the final ratification cast their broad and bright beams over our wearied and distressed country,
One subject of deep interest relating to the negotiations of peace engaged the minds of the people of Massachusetts, this was the protection of the fisheries, which had contributed largely to the prosperity of our State; and notwithstanding Congress had given general instructions to their ambassadors, the anxiety of our people lest this important interest should be overlooked or not receive its due regard, induced them to act specially on the subject. With a view to bring it fully before the government, a meeting was held by the inhabitants of Boston on the occasion, and circulars were transmitted to other towns to insure a united expression to the General Court regarding this valuable branch of their industry. A meeting was held in this town January 7, 1782, at which the following resolutions were passed : "Voted, in answer to a letter from Boston, that this town fully approve and still adhere to the original princi- ple upon which the United States first had recourse to arms. Voted, that those principles as understood by this town were the security of our just and natural rights. Voted, that one of those rights, and that an important one, is the privilege of the fishery. Voted, unanimously, that Stephen Hall, our repre- sentative to the General Court, be directed and he hereby is directed to use his utmost endeavors at the approaching ses- sion of said court, that an application be made from the whole court to the Honorable Congress, requesting that they would direct their commissioners for negotiating a peace to make the right of the United States to the fishery an indispensable article of treaty, without which a peace should not be concluded."1 How successfully the negotiation terminated in this particular we need not mention.
1 Town Records.
548
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
On the 31st of March, 1783, news was brought to this town from Boston, of the conclusion of peace, and on the 4th of April, a hand-bill containing a confirmation of the happy event having been received, the people gave loose to their joy. Mr. Smith says, "they had a mad day of rejoicing, firing cannon incessantly from morning to night among the houses, and ended in killing Mr. Rollins."1
News was received April 26 of the ratification of the prelim- inary articles of peace, with a proclamation for the cessation of hostilities. The first day of May was appointed for a public celebration of the joyous occasion, at which time a discourse was preached by Rev. Mr. Browne of Stroudwater, accompan- ied by a contribution for the poor and a public dinner.2 In the course of the day several rounds of cannon, thirteen at each round, were fired, and the whole passed off without any cir- cumstance to disturb the joy and heartfelt satisfaction of the truly happy occasion.
Samuel Rollins was accidentally killed by the bursting of a cannon ; he was forty years old, and lived near the corner of Congress and Brown streets. He was born in New Market, N. H. He left two sons and two daughters by his wife, Bethiah Robbins, from Ipswich. His eldest son, James, married Polly In- gersoll of Back Cove; the youngest son died unmarried in the W. I. The el lest daughter, Hannah, married Capt. Thomas Roach in 1789; she died in Portland, a widow, October 27, 1851, aged seventy-nine. The other daughter married Ebenezer Cobb, of Gorham. Capt. Roach was of French extraction, original name, LaRoche ; their son James H. died about 1860.
2 Sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents were collected. The definitive treaty was signed September 3, 1783.
CHAPTER XX.
REVIVAL OF THE TOWN-BUILDINGS ERECTED-NUMBER OF DWELLING-HOUSES AND POPULATION- COMMERCE-STORES AND TRADE-WHARVES-LIGHT-HOUSE-BANKS-COMMERCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS.
After the destruction of the village upon the Neck in 1775, but little exertion was made until the war was over to build up the waste places. Those persons who had been deprived of their dwellings, had generally sought refuge in the country; and many continued there until hostilities ceased ; some did not return at all.' Some however, whose business required it,
1 Among these were Stephen Longfellow, who moved to Gorham, Benjamin Mussey, who moved to Standish, and Hugh and William Owen, who moved to Brunswick. Mr. Massey came from Newbury, a young man, and like most of our other enterprising inhabitants, he was a mechanic, a hatter. About 1745 he married Abigail, a daughter of William Weeks, by whom he had ten children. At the commencement of our difficulties with Great Britain, he took an active part in the cause of liberty, and acted on several important committees. He lived near the corner of Temple street, where a block of stores built by his son John now stands. He died in Standish in 1787, aged sixty-six. He is the an- cestor of all of the name here. Mr. Mussey'schildren were Daniel, John, Theo- dore, Edmund, Abigail, married to Daniel How, Sarah, married to John Phil- brook of Standish, Esther, and Mary, died unmarried, and Williamn. These are all dead. Daniel, John, and Mrs. How lived in Portland, and died there leaving children. Mrs. Martin Gove is the only survivor of Mrs. How's family, and John and Charles Mussey, the only surviving children of Capt. John, who died in 1823, aged seventy-two. The stores, called "Mussey's Row," standing on the ancestral lot, having been greatly injured by fire, have been renovated and modernized by John, son of Capt. John, and grandson of Benjamin, by whom the whole of this valuable property is now owned.
550
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
remained among the ruins and supplied themselves with hab- itations. The first house after the conflagration, was erected by Joseph H. Ingraham in Fore street, in 1777, nearly opposite where the mariners' church now stands ; and although it was a small two-story house, it excited considerable curiosity and interest, and was considered a rash undertaking in the exposed state of the town. Mr. Ingraham kept his silver-smith's shop in one part of the building which stood by a brook that came down from a pond and swamp where Federal street is ; some additions were made to it in subsequent years and the whole was taken down in 1828 for modern improvements. There were at the time it was built but five houses above it and two below it on Fore street. The two below still remain, viz., B. Proctor's in the rear of the brick store between Lime and Sil- ver streets, and the Barr house corner of Franklin street. Only one remains above and that stands in the rear of buildings corner of Fore and Plum street. Very few ventured to follow Mr. Ingraham's example, and at the close of the war, the town looked but little better than a ruin, the naked chimneys of many of the consumed buildings were then standing, monu- ments of the desolation. But soon as the notes of peace came booming over the sea and were echoed from our thousand hills, accessions to the population were rapidly made, and a sud- den impulse was given to business and the restoration of the town.1 In 1784 forty-one dwelling-houses, ten stores, and seven shops were erected,2 and in 1785, thirty-three dwelling-houses
1 "April 10, 1784. This place fills up very fast. There lately came here Mr. Hopkins (Thomas) Robison (Thomas) Vaughan (Wm.) Clark (Jonas)and Codman (Stephen). April 12. The trade of the place surprisingly increases. Strangers, traders, and others crowd in among us surprisingly."-Smith's Journal. Mr. Smith observed, after the people begun to rebuild the houses, that by the bless- ing of God the town might be restored to its former condition in about fifty years. The good man did not anticipate the immense impulse which was to be given to our progress by free institutions. He lived to see it in more than its former glory.
2 Nine of the houses were in India street, ten in Fore street, and five in Mid- dle street.
551
NEW BUILDINGS.
were built; these were all of wood except Gen. Wadsworth's on Main street, which was commenced in 1785 and was the . first ever constructed wholly of brick in this town ; a third story has been added within a few years, and it is now occu- pied by a daughter of Gen. Wadsworth and a daughter of his son-in-law, Stephen Longfellow. This was a great undertak- ing with the limited experience of our mechanics, and was two years in building.1
The next brick building was erected by Benjamin Woodman, on the corner of Fore and Silver streets in 1786, and the third by Ebenezer Storer on the corner of Temple and Federal streets in 1791, which now forms part of the Elm tavern, they were both two stories high.2 In 1792, Woodbury Storer and Ralph Cross built two-story brick houses in Free street, upon each of which a third story has been added ; Peter War- ren built another in Fore street, adjoining Woodman's. At the close of 1792, so much progress had been made in build-
1 Previous to the war the only attempts to use brick were in John Butler's house in India street and John Greenwood's, afterward Joseph Jewett's in Middle street, both of which had brick ends. Butler's house was burnt in the sack of the town; Greenwood's survived until about 1858, when it gave place to Wood's. marble hotel. Greenwood was a cabinet-maker, son of Isaac Greenwood, Prof of Mathematics in Harvard. College. He bought the lot of the Proctor heirs in 1772, for twenty-six pounds, equal to fifty-six dollars, and sold it with the house, then unfinished, in 1783, to Joseph Jewett, for five hundred pounds, equal on the scale of depreciation to one hundred and thirty-seven silver dollars. Mr. Jewett moved to Portland from Scarborough in November, 1786, and opened a store in the eastern lower room of the house, where he carried on a large busi- ness ; his wife, a Mclaughlin of the Scotch-Irish stock, rendering him most ef- fective assistance. Mr. Jewett died July 15, 1796, leaving a large family, viz., William James C., a graduate of Harvard, 1800, Joseph Scott, Luther, George, and Sarah. Joseph, George, and Sarah only survive. Mr. Jewett and his brothers, Rev. Caleb of Gorham, and Deacon James of Portland, were descended from Joseph Jewett; who came from Yorkshire, England, and settled in Rowley, Massachusetts.
2 Benjamin Woodman married Mary Freeman in 1781, and died in 1787, aged thirty-seven, leaving one son, John, who died in 1832, aged fifty, unmarried.
552
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
ing that the number of dwelling-houses which had been erected since the conflagration was two hundred and thirty-four ; the whole number then upon the Neck was three hundred and thirty-four, being one hundred and four more than there were before the town was burnt. Of these, five were of brick and the others of wood, some with brick ends, two stories, high and built in good taste.1
Dr. Edward Watts, who owned a large tract of land extend- ing from Main to Spring street, had Free street and that part of Brown street which lies between Free and Congress, opened through his land in 1784, and commenced selling house lots. Brown street was called Watts lane, and Free, Windmill lane. John Goodwin, who came here from Plymouth in 1784, pur- chased a lot, and the same year commenced building a house, on the corner of Free and South streets, where Mr. Shurtleft's house now stands. At that time there was no house on that side of the way between his and Mr. Frost's at Stroudwater bridge. The next house built on this street was by Capt. Eben- ezer Davis, on the corner of Brown and Free streets; the lot is now occupied by his son, Charles S .? The land above this
1 Among these were Capt. Stone's in Middle street, built 1784, now occupied by Albert Newhall's heirs; James Jewett's in Middle street, 1784; William Jenks' in Willow, 1784; Thomas Hopkin's in Middle street, 1784, burnt a few years ago; Capt. Stephenson's fronting the beach, 1784; Capt. Sandford's, corner of India and Congress streets, 1784; John Kent's in Middle street, 1786, now John M. Woods; John Fox's in Fore street, 1786; Josiah Cox's Middle street, 1791; E. Kel- logg's in Free street, 1792; Benjamin Stone's, 1791. Mr. Jewett's was removed about 1856, to make room for the block of stores built by John M. Wood. Mr. Cox's was taken away by Mr. Wood to make improvements on his homestead ; it stood on the corner of Middle and Pearl streets. Mr. Kellogg's house on Free street, occupied by William Willis, and also Benjamin Stone's tavern-house, were destroyed by a fire, October 12, 1842, which swept away all the buildings from Congress to Free street on both sides of Brown street. Of the above mentioned houses remaining in 1864, are the Newhall house, the Jenks house on Willow street, the Stephenson, Fox, and Sandford houses all unaltered. The Kent house has been thoroughly modernized.
2 Captain Davis was a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts, he had served with reputation in the army of the revolution, and came here in 1784 or 1785; he died
553
BUILDINGS ERECTED.
lot to near where Union Hall is, was a potatoe field; where that hall and other brick buildings now stand was a frog pond and swamp in which whortleberry bushes were standing four or five feet high in 1790. Of so little value was this land in 1794, that the whole heater, including the land on which the block of brick buildings between Congress and Free streets stands, was offered for thirty dollars and refused on the idea that it would never be suitable for buildings.
At the close of 1799, there were four hundred and fifty-nine dwelling-houses in town ; the three following years one hund- red and seventeen were erected, which made the whole num- ber on the first of January, 1803, five hundred and seventy-six, of which twenty-six were constructed of brick, and some of them the most splendid edifices which had then or have since been erected in Maine.1 This rapid increase is unexampled in the annals of New England previous to this time, although the subsequent history of our country has furnished instances of even more rapid advancement. The dwelling-houses con- tinually increased ; at the commencement of 1805, they were six hundred and twenty-two, and notwithstanding the com- mercial embarrassments of the next five years, the number
1 Two of these houses were built by Hugh and Stephen McLellan, in High street, which had then lately been opened, at an expense of over twenty thousand dol- lars each. In 1797 there were four hundred and nine houses, two hundred and eighty-eight barns and outbuildings, eighty-six mechanic shops, seventy-eight stores and shops, five offices, three rope factories, two distilleries, four meeting- houses, two school-houses, a court-house and jail.
in November, 1799, aged forty-five. He was a gentleman of fine personal ap- pearance and manners. He continued to wear the cocked hat and small clothes of the old school. He was a member of the society of Cincinnati, to which his son succeeded, and became president of the Massachusetts branch. Capt. Davis married Mehitabel Griffin, July 28, 1787. Charles was the only issue of the marriage. The house built by Capt, Davis, greatly damaged in the fire of 1842, was subsequently removed, repaired, and now stands at the corner of Oak and Congress streets.
36
554
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
on the first of January, 1810, was seven hundred and three. In the next ten years they did not advance so rapidly as in the preceding period, and were returned by the assessors, in 1820, at only seven hundred, which must have been consid- erably under the true number ; following the proportion of population they would be eight hundred and forty-nine. In 1830 they were ten hundred and seventy-six.
The growth of the population is indicated by the increase of dwelling-houses. In 1790 that of Portland, which had then been incorporated as a separate town, was two thousand two hundred and forty ; 1800 it was three thousand seven hundred and four ;1 1810, seven thousand one hundred and sixty-nine ; in 1820, eight thousand five hundred and eighty-one, embrac- ing one thousand five hundred and seven families, of which were three hundred and thirty-seven widows, one hundred and one persons of seventy years of age, thirty-two over eighty, and one woman one hundred and three. In 1830 the population was twelve thousand six hundred and one .?
The rapid increase of dwelling-houses and of population is an indication of the advance and prosperity of trade. No for- eign commerce was carried on during the war; some advan- tage was derived to the people by the occasional arrival of a prize, the fitting out of privateers belonging to other places, and the supply of the soldiers. The first store opened after
1 The remaining part of Falmouth in 1790, contained two thousand nine hund- red and ninety-one inhabitants, and in 1800 three thousand four hundred and twenty-two, and Cape Elizabeth, which in 1790, had a population of one thousand three hundred and fifty-five, had fallen in 1800 to one thousand two hundred and seventy-five. But it rallied, and in 1860 it was three thousand two hundred and eighty-one.
2 This included three hundred and seventeen upon the islands, viz., Long Island twenty-six families, one hundred and forty-six souls ; Peake's, thirteeen fami- lies, seventy inhabitants ; House, three families, twenty-four inhabitants ; Little Chebeag, three families, twenty-one inhabitants; Hog, two families, eighteen in- habitants; Bangs's, one family, fourteen inhabitants ; Jewell's, one family, twelve inhabitants; Crotch, one family, seven inhabitants ; Cow, one family, five inhab- itants.
555
TRADE AND TRADERS.
the destruction of the town was in Fore street by Nathaniel Deering ; it was upon a small scale suited to the depressed cir- cumstances of the town, and, according to a common usage of that day, was kept by his wife. Here, and in his industrious habits, and the considerable estate inherited by his wife from her father, Deacon Milk, was laid the foundation of the large estate he left to his children. A few other small shops were opened during the war where articles of common necessity were sold. But as soon as the war was over, trade started at once into full activity. In June, 1783, two large ships came here to load, one of them a mast ship, the first of the kind since 1775. Early in 1784, a number of enterprising persons moved into town, who brought capital which was much needed, and went largely into business. Among these was Thomas Hopkins from Axminster, England, who opened a store in Fore street, Thomas Robison in Congress street, Jonas Clark in Ex- change street,1 and Stephen Codman, first on Titcomb's wharf, and then in India street.
In 1785 the following persons, in addition to those just men- tioned, were engaged in trade here; John Butler, Thomas Cumming, and Abraham Osgood in India street ; James Fos- dick, Dr. Edward Watts, Thomas B. Waite, stationery, and John Baker, saddlery, etc., in Middle street; Robison, Edgar,2
1 Mr. Clark did not long continue here, he offered his stock for sale Decem- ber, 1785, and soon after moved to Kennebunk. Mr. Clark was Judge of Pro- bate for York county from 1818 to 1828. . He married Sarah, eldest daughter of Dr. Edward Watts of this town. Stephen Codman did not continue here many years, he returned to Boston ; his wife was Hannah, daughter of Thomas Robi- son, whom he married November 20, 1788; his sons, Henry and Edward, were born here, Henry, September 1, 1787, Edward, July 26, 1790. Henry graduated at Harvard College, 1808, was a lawyer and died in Boston, 1853.
2Mr. Edgar came here with his family in August, 1784, and this firm soon commenced a large business in the house now occupied as a boarding house by the Misses Jones, corner of Park and Congress streets; they opened a distillery on Robison's wharf, and purchased the large tract of land from Congress street to Fore river, through which Ann, now Park street, was opened in 1788. The part- nership was dissolved June 1, 1786. John May from Boston, afterward traded in the same store.
556
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
and Reed, and Peleg Wadsworth in Congress street; Harding and Shaw, David Smith, who came from Nova Scotia, in a store in Fore street, near the head of Union wharf which, he styled in his advertisement, "the west end of the town." Fabre and Dunn in Clay Cove, and Lemuel Weeks on Deering and Ingra- ham's wharf.1 The traders at that time kept general assort- ments of merchandise, which were disposed of by barter for the principal articles of country produce or manufacture, as lumber, pot and pearl ashes, flax seed, etc., which were ship- ped to England and the West Indies, to pay for their im- portations.2 In 1802, John Jenks in Jones' row, and Abijah Cheever in Mussey's row, advertised black and white beaver hats imported from London. Abraham Osgood came from London. Between this time and the close of 1792, numerous additions were made to the traders ; Stephen Deblois, father of our respected fellow-citizen Thomas A. Deblois, came from Bos-
1 The following persons were licensed as retailers October, 1785; Joseph Green- leaf, Samuel Martin, Joseph Parsons, James Fosdick, Stephen McLellan, John Bagley, John Kent, Nathaniel Atkins, John Jolly, Jesse Partridge, Thomas Sand- ford, And. P. Frost, Jonathan Bryant, Peleg Wadsworth, Stephen Harding, Will- iam Brown, Joseph Mclellan & Son, William Tate, Ebenezer Owen, James Jew- ett, Lemuel Weeks, John Quinby, John Archer, William Waite, Samuel Butts, Eliphalet Deane, Thomas Cumming, John Baker, Woodbury Storer, David Stod- dard, William Frost, Josiah Cox, William Purinton, Daniel Mussey, Stephen Waite, Ebenezer Davis, James Webb, Richard Codman, Jr., Samuel Bryant, James Means, Josiah Tucker, Haggett & Moulton, Nathaniel Fosdick, John Hobby, James Poole, and David Smith. Those in italics did not keep upon the Neck.
2 In 1798, orfabout that time, the precise date I cannot ascertain, the ship "Grand Turk" bound from India to Salem, was wrecked at the mouth of our harbor, and her valuable cargo, consisting of silks, teas, and other rich merchan- dise from the east, was scattered upon the shores of Cape Elizabeth and the islands, as we have recently witnessed in the case of the ship Bohemian. An old lady, who well remembers the scene, observed to me that silk dresses then abounded upon the backs of persons who had never worn the article before, and the best teas and spices found places 'on tables before strangers to those luxu- ries. The Grand Turk was built in Salem in 1791, by E. H. Derby, the wealth- iest man in that town, and the largest ship which had to that time been built there. She was one hundred and twenty feet long, thirty-two feet beam, and five hundred and sixty-four tons burthen.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.