The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine, Part 55

Author: Willis, William, 1794-1870. cn
Publication date: 1865
Publisher: Portland, Bailey & Noyes
Number of Pages: 966

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 55

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).

volumes of the Maine Reports, twenty-first to the twenty-ninth, are characterized by great clearness of statement and simplicity of language, and present the points in issue and the law upon them, with sound learning and directness of application. This esteemed gentleman is living in 1864, at East Bridgewater Massachusetts, his native town, in the eighty-ninth year of his age, and is the oldest surviving member of the Bar of Maine. Samuel Thatcher of Brewer, four months his junior in age, is about a year his senior at the bar.

The following members of the Cumberland Bar have received the honorary title of LL. D.

Isaac Parker,

Harvard, 1814.

Prentiss Mellen,

Harvard, 1820.

Bowdoin, 1820.

Bowdoin, 1828.

Stephen Longfellow, William P. Preble,

Bowdoin, 1829.

Ashur Ware,

Bowdoin, 1837.

Simon Greenleaf,

Harvard, 1834.

Ezekiel Whitman, Brown, 1848.

Ether Shepley,

Amherst, 1845. Bowdoin, 1843. Dartmouth. Bowdoin, 1844.

Charles S. Daveis,

George Evans, William P. Fessenden, Harvard, 1864.

Bowdoin, 1847. Bowdoin, 1858.

It was formerly the custom, but long since disused, for persons admitted to the bar, to treat the judges and the lawyers on the occasion; this was called "the colt's tail." Chief Justice Mellen was admitted to the bar in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1788, having read law in the office of Shearjashub Bourne, Esq., in the old colony ; the judges and lawyers commemorated the event at the expense of the young attorney in copious libations of punch.

635

LAWYERS OF THE CUMBERLAND BAR.

rows ; one associate justice of the Supreme Court of Massa- chusetts, Parker ; one chief justice of the Common Pleas, Whitman ; one associate, John Frothingham; one solicitor general of Massachusetts, Davis ; one attorney general, Drum- mond ; one judge of the District Court of the United States, Ware ; five judges of Probate, Parris, Potter, Pierce, Barrows, Waterman ; four registers of Probate, Southgate, Appleton, Bradford, Holden ; three clerks of the United States Courts, Mussey, Preble, Emery ; three United States senators, Mellen, Parris, Fessenden ; one United States ambassador, Preble ; one United States secretary of the treasury, W. P. Fessenden ; thirteen representatives in Congress, Whitman, Bradbury, Longfellow, Anderson, Orr, Albert Smith, W. P. Fessenden, F. O. J. Smith, Dunlap, N. S. Littlefield, M. M'Donald, J. Ap- pleton, Sweat ; two reporters of decisions of the Supreme Court, Greenleaf and John M. Adams, and one professor of law in Harvard College, Simon Greenleaf ; beside numerous sena- tors and representatives in the State Legislature, and six mayors of Portland, Emerson, Anderson, Parris, McCobb, Willis, and Howard.

There have been but few capital trials in this county. The first which ever took place here was in July, 1772, when one Goodwin was tried and convicted of murder. He was charged with throwing a man overboard from a boat in Casco Bay. There existed some doubt of his guilt and he was reprieved three times, but was afterward executed on the 12th of No- vember, 1772. A great concourse of people, excited by the novelty of the scene, was collected on the occasion, said to have been the largest ever assembled in town. Mr. Clark of Cape Elizabeth, preached a lecture to the multitude, in the presence of the prisoner, and prayed at the gallows.

The next capital trial which took place here, was that of George Pierce of Otisfield for the murder of John McIntosh of the same town in 1789. He was tried in July, 1790, and con-

636

HISTORY OF PORTLAND.

victed of manslaughter, it being satisfactorily proved to the court and jury that the death was occasioned in self-defense.1

The next case of this nature was that of Thomas Bird and Hans Hanson, one an Englishman, the other a Swede, for mur- der and piracy. They had murdered the master of a small sloop of about thirty tons burden, on the coast of Africa in 1789, and came in her to this bay, where they commenced a traffic with the inhabitants of Cape Elizabeth. Information having been given to the naval officer of this port that a foreign vessel was anchored in Cape Cove, he proceeded there to seize her, but she put to sea before he could accomplish his object ; two vessels were then fitted out from this town, manned by volunteers, which came up with her, and brought her into port, on the 28th of July. An examination was had before the Supreme Court which was then here, and they were bound over for trial.

Subsequent to this, the jurisdiction of maritime causes hav- ing been yielded by the States to the United States, the trial was had in the District Court held in this town in May, 1790, and was the first criminal trial which had taken place in that court.2 The prisoners were defended by John Frothingham

1 Mr. Pierce was at work upon a harrow, when McIntosh came up and wished him to go to his cornfield and see the damage done by his, McIntosh's horse. Mr. Pierce declined going, and words ensued, rendered sharper by a previous quarrel, when McIntosh made toward Pierce with clenched fists, and Pierce lifting up his hands to resist him, struck him a blow on his head with a mallet, which occasioned his death.

2 The first district judge, David Sewall, was appointed in September, 1789, and the court first met in December following ; Henry Dearborn was marshal, William Lithgow, district attorney, and Henry Sewall, clerk. There have been but three judges in that court, viz.,'Sewall, Parris, and Ware, and three clerks, Henry Sewall, John Mussey, and W. P. Preble, Jr. At the court held in June, 1792, a trial took place against Skinner and al. for being concerned in the slave trade. Judgment was rendered against the defendants for fitting out a ship and importing thirteen slaves ; for fitting out the ship they were fined two hundred pounds, and fifty pounds for each of the slaves imported. John May of this town, was prosecutor, who received half of the fine.

Judge Sewall held the office until 1818, when he was succeeded by Albion K.

637

CAPITAL TRIALS.

and William Symmes; and to gratify public curiosity which was much excited, the trial was had in the meeting-house of the first parish ; at the close of the first day, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty against Bird, but acquitted Hanson who was a boy nineteen years old. Sentence of death was im- pressively pronounced by Judge Sewall, and the unhappy man. was executed on the 25th of June following ; having been the first execution under the laws of the United States.

At the July term, 1791, two boys, James Tool and Francis Hilton, one eighteen and the other sixteen years of age, were tried for arson; they were charged with setting fire to the dwelling-house of William Widgery of New Gloucester, in the night time, by which it was consumed with all its contents. One of the boys had confessed that they committed the crime to revenge themselves on Mr. Widgery for flogging them. They were defended by the late Chief Justice Parsons, who procured their acquittal on the ground that the confession was extorted, and not voluntary ; there being no other direct evidence against them.

In July, 1798, Jeremiah Pote of Falmouth, was tried and convicted for the murder of his wife. The crime was commit- ted in a fit of jealousy, and he was sentenced to be executed in August, but the time was extended to September, on ac- count of his sickness .? He died in prison before the time ap-

! The execution took place on Bramhall's hill at the meeting of the roads from Back Cove and Stroudwater where the guide-post stood. Three or four thou- sand people were present.

2 He was the son of Gamaliel, and grandson of William Pote, the ancestor of all of that name here, who was admitted an inhabitant of the town in 1728, and built the two-story house near Woodford's Corner, on the old road from Portland, in which the Rev. Mr. Browne lived and died. William came from Marblehead, and had seven sons; William, Samuel, Jeremiah, Gamaliel, Elisha, Thomas, and Greenfield.

Parris, who having been chosen governor of the State in 1821, resigned the judge- ship, and Ashur Ware was appointed, who has ably administered the office to the present time, forty-two years.

638

HISTORY OF PORTLAND.

pointed for his execution arrived. He killed his wife with a shovel, and was supposed at the time to have been intoxicated.

In May, 1808, Joseph Drew of Westbrook, was tried for the murder of Ebenezer Parker, a deputy sheriff, by striking a blow with a club upon his head, of which he died in the course of a week. The court was held in the meeting-house of the second parish, and after a long and laborious trial, he was con- victed and sentenced to be executed. The sentence was car- ried into effect on Munjoy's hill, July 21, of the same year.1

The only executions for capital offenses which have taken place in this county, have been those of Goodwin, Bird, and Drew. There have been several convictions for capital crimes which sent the guilty parties to the State Prison, subject, as the law now stands, to imprisonment for life, unless the chief magis- trate of the State, after the lapse of one year from the convic- tion, shall issue his warrant for the execution.2

1 Drew was a blacksmith in Saccarappa; Quinby, a debtor, of whom the sher- iff was in pursuit, had concealed himself in Drew's shop. Drew undertook to resist the process, and protect his friend, in doing which, the crime was com- mitted that cost him his life.

2 Chief Justice Mellen has remarked that in an acquaintance of forty-five years in courts of justice, he never knew but one Quaker brought before a judi- cial tribunal for a criminal offense. This tribute from that able and experienced jurist is high commendation to the moral qualities of that worthy sect.

CHAPTER XXIII.

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS AFTER THE REVOLUTION-EPISCOPAL SOCIETY-FIRST PARISH-SEPARATION OF THE FIRST PARISH-SECOND PARISH IN PORTLAND-MR. KELLOGG SETTLED .- FIRST PARISH- DEATH OF MR. SMITH-MR. NICHOLS ORDAINED-DEATH OF DR. DEANE-SECOND PARISH-MR. PAYSON ORDAINED-HIS DEATH AND SUCCESSOR-THIRD PARISH-CHAPEL SOCIETY-THIRD PARISH -HIGH STREET CHURCH - STATE STREET - WEST CHAPEL - ABYSSINIAN - METHODIST SOCIETY- BAPTISTS-CHRISTIANS-UNIVERSALISTS-SWEDENBORGIANS-ROMAN CATHOLICS-MARINER'S CHURCH -BETHEL.

At the commencement of the revolutionary war, there were but two religious societies on the neck ; the old parish and the episcopal church. Both were shaken to their foundations by the disastrous events of the war ; the episcopal society suffered most, as the principal supporters of that order adhered to the royal government and left the country, their pastor, Mr. Wis- well, being the first to set the example. The ministers of the other parish also left town, and the people of both societies were scattered abroad. Mr. Smith went to Windham and resided with his son Peter, and Mr. Deane retreated to Gorham where he built a house on a place called Pitchwood Hill, and which he afterward dignified in song.1 . They held meetings on the Neck occasionally in 1776, and Mr. Smith returned to town in the spring of 1777. Mr. Deane, who often came to town to perform his clerical duties, did not return permanently until

1 Mr. Deane's poem called "Pitchwood Hill" was published, as well as some other poetry of his, but he does not appear to have been very deeply inspired by the tuneful sisters. To the credit of the author it must be added, that it was clandestinely published without his knowledge.

640

HISTORY OF PORTLAND.

March, 1782. Many inhabitants moved into the neighboring towns, who were allowed by resolve of the General Court to pay their taxes during their temporary absence for the support of the ministry in the first parish of Falmouth.

The religious services of the Church of England were wholly suspended during the war; in 1785 they were revived, and Mr. Parker who came here in that year as a schoolmaster, was employed to read prayers to the society. He continued the ser- vice about two years in a hired room and was succeeded by Thomas Oxnard in 1787, who continued as reader until 1792. He had designed to go to England to take orders, but having engaged in a correspondence with Mr. Belsham of London, Dr. Freeman of Boston, and others, he imbibed unitarian views of religion, and not being able to satisfy his society of their truth, he was dismissed, and gave up his intention of preach- ing.1 The society erected a church by subscription in 1787 on the corner of Middle and Church streets, where they held their meetings until 1803, when the brick church in School street, called St. Paul's Church, now occupied by them, was completed. In 1791, the society was incorporated by the name of "The Episcopal Church in the town of Portland," and then con- sisted of forty-one male members .?

After Mr. Oxnard was dismissed, the pulpit was supplied about four of the nine succeeding years by Joseph Hooper and Rev. Joseph Warren ;3 during the remainder of the time until

1 He died in this town, May 20, 1799, aged fifty-nine. His wife was daughter of Gen. Preble, by whom he had several children .- See Biographical notices.

2 The church erected in 1787 was consecrated July 15 of that year, Mr. Fisher of Salem, officiating on the occasion. It was a wooden building; divested of its tower it was removed to Federal street, where it was first occupied by the methodist society, then successively as a currier's and cabinet maker's shop, as a livery stable, and is now in the rear of Mr. Clapp's brick block, as a wheel- wright shop.

3 Mr. Warren came here from Gardiner, and removed to one of the southern States in 1799.

EPISCOPAL SOCIETY.

1801, there was no regular preaching. In the latter year, the Rev. Timothy Hilliard of Cambridge was employed, and con- tinued the stated preacher of the society until 1809.1 From this time there was no ministry of any kind for more than five years, and the members were scattered among other societies. In 1817 the Rev. Gideon W. Olney was employed a few months, and was succeeded in 1818 by Rev. Petrus S. Tenbroeck, who was instituted rector in 1819, being the first ever regularly instituted to that office over the society. He continued to discharge the pastoral duties with great fidelity until his con- nection with the society was dissolved in 1831.2 After the resignation of Mr. Tenbroeck, they had only occasional preach- ing until toward the close of 1832, when a temporary engage- ment was made with Rev. George W. Chapman, who continued

about two years. On the 8th November, 1835, the Rev. Alexander H. Vinton commenced an engagement of about six months, and was followed by Rev. Thomas M. Clark, Jr., for three months. In September, the Rev. John N. French en- tered upon his duties as rector, and continued to officiate until December, 1839, when he resigned. These last three distin- guished preachers found more favorable settlements in large cities, Mr. Vinton and Mr. Clark in Boston, and Mr. French in Washington. It was during the ministry of Mr. French, that the society was re-organized ; the old St. Paul's had be- come embarrassed in its affairs, and made an effort to extricate itself by the formation of a new 'society and taking a new

1 Mr. Hilliard graduated at Cambridge in 1793; he was son of Timothy IIil- liard, minister of that town. He moved to Gorham, where he died in 1842. His wife was niece of Mrs. Col. Tyng, and that excellent lady bequeathed her property to Mrs. Hilliard and her children.

2 Mr. Tenbroeck was from New York ; at the commencement of his ministry the number of communicants did not exceed twelve, at its close they were fifty- nine, in sixty families. His Sunday-school contained ninety-six pupils under twenty-eight teachers. He died in Danvers, Mass., January, 1849, aged fifty- seven, leaving a large family by his wife, the eldest daughter of Levi Cutter of Portland.

642

HISTORY OF PORTLAND.

name. In 1839 St. Stephen's Parish was organized under an act of incorporation, and received a conveyance of all the property of St. Paul's, which was dissolved in October, 1841. The new society, on January 15, 1840, installed the Rev. James Pratt as rector, who continued for eighteen years suc- cessfully ministering to a large congregation, when in Novem- ber, 1858, he was dismissed at his own request to take charge of the society of the Rev. Mr. Tyng, of Philadelphia, whose sudden death deprived them of an eloquent and popular pastor. Mr. Pratt's was the longest pastorate which had existed in that church. The Rev. Roger S. Howard succeeded Mr. Pratt and continued two years, and was followed by the Rev. William Stevens Perry, who resigned in November, 1863, preaching his farewell sermon on the twenty-ninth day of that month. The Rev. A. Dalton, lately of St. John's church, Bangor, immediately followed Mr. Perry, and is the present rector. The parish has, in 1864, two hundred and forty families, nearly three hundred communicants, a Sunday-school of two hundred and forty pupils, and twenty-four teachers. In 1856, the old St. Paul's church, erected in 1803, was entirely re-modeled and enlarged at an expense of over fifteen thousand dollars by the parish of St. Stephen, which now occupies the building.

· St. Paul's Parish had to struggle with many embarrassments. Before the war of the revolution, it was in quite a flourishing condition, was aided by the influence of government, and many of the principal men of the town for rank and property, were numbered among its members ; but that event made a sad inroad upon it, and it never recovered its former standing. The most flourishing period of its history after the war, was about 1800 ; it was then sustained by Col. Waite, the Fosdicks, Messrs. Thurlo, Motley, Symmes, Col. Tyng, and other men of property, to whose exertions the society was indebted for the neat and handsome church which belonged to it. But as the early supporters of the cause left the stage of action, their

643

ST. LUKE'S PARISH.

places were not supplied by the succeeding generation. At the commencement of 1833, the number of families belonging to the society, was sixty, beside about twenty gentlemen with- out families ; the number of communicants fifty-five.

The growth of the city at its westerly end, and the increas- ing numbers who preferred the Episcopal form of worship, induced several gentlemen in 1851, to establish a new Epis- copal church in that part of the town. A corporation was formed under the general statute, April 19 of that year, and a meeting was called of persons favorable to the design, signed by James T. McCobb, H. W. Hersey, John Merrill, Reuben Ordway, Josiah S. Little, E. P. Gerrish, Charles B. Merrill, Edward E. Upham, J. T. Smith, E. C. Andrews, N. P. Rich- ardson, Frederic Davis, and S. A. Merrill. They proceeded to organize a society, and made choice of Right Rev. Horatio Southgate, who had been missionary bishop of Constantinople, as their rector. He continued to officiate at Union Hall which had been conveniently arranged for the purpose, until his resignation May 1, 1852. Rev. Benjamin H. Paddock officiated two months as rector in 1853, and was succeeded in April, 1854, in the rectorship by Rev. Alexander Burgess, the present pastor. The society became so prosperous, that in the summer of 1854, they commenced the construction of the beautiful stone church which they now occupy near the corner of State and Congress streets, the corner stone of which was laid August 9, 1854, and which was consecrated to its sacred uses - July 1, 1855. It is furnished with a fine bell weighing over three thousand pounds, and an excellent organ.

At the organization of the society it had but twenty-three communicants ; there have since been added five hundred and thirty-three, and the present number, 1864, is two hundred and seventy-six. The number of confirmations has been two hundred and thirty-four, and of baptisms four hundred and seventeen.

The officers of the church for the year 1864, are, George

6 44

HISTORY OF PORTLAND.

E. B. Jackson, and N. P. Richardson, wardens ; Henry W. Hersey, clerk; George E. Small, treasurer ; and eleven vestry- men. The society is in a flourishing condition, and the church edifice a fine specimen of architectural beauty, and an orna- ment to the city.

It was sometime after the close of the war, before the first parish could collect its scattered members and recover itself from the absolute depression to which its fortunes had been reduced. They were at this time in peculiarly unfortunate circumstances, having two ministers to support, and in arrears to them both for past labors. They had done what they could to support public worship, but they were lamentably poor and dispirited ; dissatisfaction began to exhibit itself in the parish, and in addition to their outward embarrassments, they had to contend with a powerful and increasing opposition among themselves. In 1782 they voted one hundred pounds to each of the ministers for his services that year and the year before, together with the contributions which were weekly collected. In 1783 the parish applied to both ministers to relinquish a portion of their salaries in regard to the extreme pressure of the times, and to accept of a limited sum in full compensation for arrearages. Dr. Deane declined acceding to the proposal.1

1 The Dr. conveyed his views to the parish in a letter, of which the following is a copy.

Gentlemen of the First Parish in Falmouth :

"I have been so sensible of the sufferings of this parish ever since the com- mencement of the war, that I have exerted myself by all fit and possible means to lighten your expense in supporting public worship and instruction, and have endeavored to promote your spiritual welfare to the best of my power. And as your sufferings were by far the greatest in the former part of the war, then was the time when I gave up the most of what the parish had established for my support. But now when we look on the war as almost ended, and have great reason to think hostilities have ceased on this continent, I hope you will call to mind my past difficulties and sufferings, and how large a share I have borne with you in the public troubles, and do by me as you would be willing to be done to in the like circumstances. You will recollect that all the reward I have received and am to receive in lieu of my salary for eight years last past,

645

FIRST PARISH.

The salaries paid to the two ministers from the time of Dr. Deane's settlement in 1764 until 1775, had been one hundred pounds each ; in 1775, in consequence of the losses sustained by the war, they relinquished the whole of their salaries, and the year after accepted of seventy pounds each ; in 1777 and 1778, they were again raised to one hundred pounds each. But the war continuing to exhaust the resources of the people, they felt unable to sustain this expenditure, and the amount was reduced to one hundred pounds, to be equally divided un- til 1783, when after the correspondence we have before noticed; the salaries were raised to seventy-five pounds each, at which they continued until 1792, when Dr. Deane's was advanced to one hundred pounds and remained so during his life, with the addition of fifty-one dollars and sixty-six cents annually after

does not amount to more than three hundred pounds, and that this sum will not purchase near so much of the necessaries of life, as it would before the war. I trust you do not wish me to relinquish so much of my salary as to oblige me to discontinue my services among you. But I imagine the true reason of the mo- tion you now make me, is a mistaken idea of my circumstances. I have already sunk hundreds of pounds of my real estate, and I can see no reason why I should go on to sink the remainder. I wish for no more than a bare living in reward of my constant endeavors to do that for which I was called and ordained to my ministry. Yea, I will accept of less than so much, and I think the most of you are sensible that one hundred pounds paid mostly in goods and work at the prices now current here, is quite inadequate to the support of even a small family, with any degree of elegance or decency. I may add, that if you should see your way clear to pay your ministers their full salaries, it will not make, I suppose, a higher rate than the last was. But if after what I have said, you are still desirous of an abatement, I will propose to you one of the following : Either pay me seventy-five pounds for the year 1783, or deduct the whole of my nett income for all my lands out of one hundred pounds and pay me the, remainder as my salary for said year; only let the deduction be made by judicious and impartial men. I mention this last method because some persons have endeavored to make my income believed to be greater than it is, that so the people may be led to do little or nothing towards my support. Wishing grace, mercy, and peace may be multiplied unto you, I remain your servant for Jesus' sake."

646

HISTORY OF PORTLAND.

1797, for a release of his interest in the parsonage at that time sold.

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.

The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine, Part 55

Author: Willis, William, 1794-1870. cn Publication date: 1865 Publisher: Portland, Bailey & Noyes Number of Pages: 966

Author: Willis, William, 1794-1870. cn
Publication date: 1865
Publisher: Portland, Bailey & Noyes
Number of Pages: 966