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 66
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1 In 1829 there were twelve town meetings, and still more in 1828.
and one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one dollars, afterward sold to the United States in 1849 for one hundred and forty-nine thousand dollars, and wholly destroyed by fire January 8, 1854.
The amount received in 1864 from ordinary sources and applied to current expenses of the city, was three hundred and seventy-two thousand two hundred and six dollars-from loans two hundred and fifty-six thousand two hund- red dollars. The whole expenditures were six hundred and twenty-one thousand two hundred and fourteen dollars, which included payment of temporary loar s two hundred and sixty-five thousand one hundred and ninety dollars.
The war has caused the great increase in the taxes of the years 1863-18€4 over those of 1860, to which the large State tax assessed upon Portland of one hundred and seventy-four thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars, has added to its burden. The city pays nearly one-eighth part of the whole State tax, and five-ninths of the whole county tax.
The valuation has kept pace with the increase of taxes, in 1831 it was two million nine hundred and sixty-two thousand thirty-six dollars, in 1832, three million one hundred and forty-four thousand five hundred and seventy-two do'- lars, in 1840, eight millions one hundred and eight thousand one hundred and ninety dollars. But at this time and to 1850, property for the purposes of taxa- tion was valued by the assessors at only about one-half of its fair cash value, in order that, in the decennial apportionment by the State, Portland should not be assessed at an inordinate rate, which it ever has been. The country towns adopted a similar principle, greatly undervaluing their estates, in the hope of escaping with slight taxation; in 1850 the valuation was thirteen million three hundred and sixty-four thousand two hundred and thirty-eight dollars; in 1860, twenty-two million seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars ; in 1864, twenty-six million nine hundred and fifty-three thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine dollars. Increase of valuation in fourteen years eleven million seven hundred and forty-six thousand nine hundred and sixty-two dollars; in- crease of taxes in fourteen years two hundred and seventy-seven thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight dollars ; yearly average, nineteen thousand eight hundred and forty-seven dollars.
765
CITY GOVERNMENT.
respectable inhabitants, requesting them to call a town meeting "to see if the inhabitants would take measures for adopting a city government for said town." On this application a meet- ing was held on the 30th of August following, and the subject was committed to fifteen gentlemen for consideration and in- quiry, who made a report in November, unfavorable to an alteration in the form of government, but recommended a change in the existing laws so far as to clothe the selectmen with power to appoint police officers and constables, and to lay out and establish streets, and conferring upon one person to be called the commissioner of streets, all the duties of surveyors of highways within the town. This report was accepted and the committee was instructed to petition the legislature for an act in conformity to the principles of their report. This result did not however meet the expectations and wishes of a large number of our inhabitants, and a remonstrance against the passage of the proposed law signed by four hundred and thirty- nine persons, was presented to the legislature. But the act passed, notwithstanding the remonstrance, with a condition however annexed, that it should be accepted by the town within one year from its passage ; in compliance with this condition it was laid before the town in April following and rejected by a large majority.1
This interesting question was not permitted to rest here ; in the course of the same year it was again brought before the town, and on the 12th of October a committee was chosen to prepare the form of a bill to constitute a city government, for the consideration of the inhabitants. The committee made their report on the 7th of December, which was discussed and amended during a whole day, and underwent a very severe opposition. The objections went to the whole bill and not to
1. The seeming inconsistency in adopting the report of the committee and then rejecting the law based upon it, is explained by a fact stated in the remon- strance, that at the meeting which accepted the report only fifteen legal voters attended.
768
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
by the room we have already occupied to adopt this condensed mode of presenting interesting details, wherever it may be done consistently with a fair development of our subject. The popu- lation had advanced in the ten years from 1820 to 1830, forty- eight per cent which gives an annual ratio of increase of four and four-fifths per cent, or an average of four hundred and two persons a year. The average natural increase of the State was supposed to be about three and one-third per cent a year ; prob- ably in this town the proportion of increase in the population by emigration is greater than the general average of the State, and we may therefore state the average of the annual natural increase at three per cent, and that by emigration at one and four-fifths per cent, or the relative numbers at two hundred and fifty-four and one hundred and fifty a year. The average natural increase of the whole United States was estimated at three per cent.
POPULATION OF PORTLAND ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1830.
Under 5 y'rs
of age.
Between 5
and 10.
Between 10
and 15.
Between 15
and 20.
Between 20
and 30.
Between 30
and 40.
Between 40
and 50.
Between 50
and 60.
and 70.
and 80.
Between 80
and 90.
+ Over 90.
TOTAL.
Males,
818
659
618
721
1,354
736
422
255
103 40 8 5,741
Females, 844 679
664
851
1,607 844 510
302
164 57 24 0 6,546
12,287
Free colored persons,
314
12,601
The total includes five persons deaf and dumb, two blind, and four hundred and nine aliens.
Population in 1820, eight thousand five hundred and eighty- one.
In 1830 the number of polls was two thousand two hundred and ninety-six; the number of persons supported in whole or part by the town was one hundred and eighty, and the average expense for the support of each was thirty-three dollars and ninety-four cents. Dwelling-houses one thousand and seventy- six, barns five hundred and seven, stores and shops for the sale of merchandise two hundred and eighty, ware-houses one
Between Co
Between 70
FEATHERSI
JIM THOMPSON.
HOUSE
BANK
Published by Bailey & Noves Portland.
CARPETING ELATHERS MATSE
TERNI
Photographed by G.M. Howe.
MIDDLE STREET PORTLAND ME 1844.
769
POPULATION STATISTICS.
hundred and nineteen, offices and shops for other purposes than the sale of merchandise three hundred and five, manu- factories of tin-plate eight, of brass and iron three, of clocks, watches, and jewelry four, of coaches and chaises six, printing offices four, containing ten presses, tanneries six, ropewalks five, distilleries seven, furnaces for casting iron two, marble and stone cutting one, brick-yards seven, ship-yards three, superficial feet of wharf four hundred and nine thousand six hundred and fifty-three, horses one hundred and seventy-five, cows three hundred and eighty-seven, oxen twenty-six, coaches sixteen, chaises one hundred and one.
From the valuation returns there were in 1830, in this State, forty-three thousand nine hundred and forty-three dwelling- houses, forty-one thousand four hundred and forty-one barns, four thousand five hundred and fifty-three shops and stores, thirty-one printing offices, five hundred and sixty-one grist- mills, nine hundred and seventy-five saw-mills, two hundred and five fulling-mills, three hundred and ninc carding machines, six ropewalks, twelve distilleries, six woolen factories, three cotton factories, one powder mill, and nine paper mills.
In 1840 the population of Portland was fifteen thousand two hundred and eighteen, of which six thousand eight hund- red and thirty were white males, seven thousand nine hund- red and thirty-six white females, two hundred and four colored males, and one hundred and ninety-eight colored females. In 1847 there were in town twenty clergymen, twenty-two phy- sicians, seven dentists, and forty-three lawyers, which in 1860 liad increased to twenty-four clergymen, twelve dentists, sixty- four lawyers, and forty physicians.
In 1850 the population was twenty thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, embraced in three thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven families, living in two thousand seven hund- red and twenty-eight houses, being an average of seven three- fifths individuals to a house. In 1860 the population was twenty-six thousand three hundred and forty-two, of which
770
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
twelve thousand three hundred and forty-nine were males, thirteen thousand six hundred and seventy-five females, three hundred and eighteen colored, showing a falling off in the colored population of eighty-four since 1840, being at the rate of four and one-fifth persons a year. In 1840, Portland was the twenty-first city in the Union in point of population, in 1850 the twenty-fifth, in 1860 the thirty-third. Its increase in population over 1850 was twenty-six and a half per cent.
In 1850 the whole number of dwellings in Maine was ninety-five thousand eight hundred and two, occupied on an average by 6.09 persons ; in 1860 they had increased to one hundred and fifteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, having 5.41 to eacli dwelling.
In 1860 the whole number of dwellings in Portland were four thousand and three, containing five thousand four hund- red and ninety-two families, being an average of one and three-eighths family to a dwelling, and 6.58 individuals to a family. Ward number one, covering Munjoy's hill, has the largest number of families, being one thousand and eighty-eight, occupying seven hundred and twenty-three dwellings, the next largest is number seven at the other extremity of the city, one thousand and forty-eight families in seven hundred and ninety-five tenements, showing the principal increase of the city to have been at its extremities. In fact it is within twenty years that Munjoy and Bramhall have begun to be improved for residences.
The census of 1860 discloses the singular fact that Maine is represented by her native born people in every State and terri- tory in the Union. The number shown by the census is one hundred and nineteen thousand eight hundred and seventy- four, which is a little over a fifth part of her resident popula- tion. And it may with truth be asserted that wherever she is represented, her natives are among the most enterprising and intelligent of the people among whom they reside. The larg- est number in any State was in Massachusetts, which had forty-
CARPET WARE ADOM'S
WIL
Pho CA EXR
ished by Bailey & Noyes, Portland.
Photographed by G. M. Howe.
MIDDLE STREET PORTLAND, MA 1883.
771
DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.
three thousand and thirty-one, while New Hampshire had eleven thousand four hundred and five, California nine thou- sand eight hundred and sixty-four, Minnesota six thousand four hundred and thirty; Wisconsin eight thousand four hund- red and sixty-seven, and New York five thousand seven hund- red and ninety-four ; while in South Carolina there were but ninety-six, North Carolina ninety-nine, showing that her sympa- thies do not run with the south. She had received but thirty thousand six hundred and thirty-six from other States, of which thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-two were from Massachusetts, and twelve thousand three hundred and sixty- six from New Hampshire.
NUMBER OF DEATHS AND MARRIAGES AT DIFFERENT PERIODS
IN PORTLAND.
Deaths. Marriages.
Deaths.
Marriages.
Deaths.
Mar. Births.
1768,
14
1778,
8
5
1789,
17
15
1769,
27
1779,
8
2
1790,
14
3
1770,
21
1780,
7
2
1791,
14
7
1771,
32
1781,
10
9
1800,
110
61
200
1772,
31
16
1782,
21
11
1801,
104
67
300
1773,
67
23
1783,
19
10
1803,
105
115
250
1774,
39
27
1784,
37
10
1805,
157
110
1775,
37
14
1785,
25
15
1831,
226
1776,
24
10
1786,
29
17
1832,
3001
1777,
14
8
1788,
11
4
The following table is an approximation to the number of marriages in Portland for a few recent years as indicated by the intentions recorded, viz: In 1857, two hundred and seventy ; 1858, two hundred and ninety-seven ; 1859, three hundred and twenty-four ; 1860, three hundred and fifty- six ; 1861, three hundred and fifty ; 1862, three hundred and fifty ; 1863, three hundred and seventy-eight. Of the num- ber of births which annually occur in the city we have no means of determining with accuracy as no record is kept of
1 Males one hundred and fifty-two, females one hundred and forty-eight, in- cluding fourteen foreigners and twenty-two colored persons.
772
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
them. By the careful calculation of statistics in Europe the average number is set down as four births to one marriage. In this country where marriages take place earlier, and are more prolific, we may assume the proportion of births to mar- riages to be as four and a half to one. On this basis the aver- age for the seven years preceding 1864, of the number of births annually, would be one thousand four hundred and ninety-four.
The deaths in Portland annually for a period of six years prior to April 1, 1863, were as follows :
1858,
Males 313. Females 259, Still-born and unknown 51,
Total 653
1859,
66 250,
272,
36, 558
1860, 66 249,
233
30,
512
1861,
254
262,
66
66
13,
561
1862,
301,
344,
66
60
33, 60 678
1863,
346,
66 312,
66
43,
701
This gives an average of one death to near forty-six of the population for the six years, estimating the average population at twenty-eight thousand. The greatest number of deaths is of children under five years old, being in 1862 two hundred and seventy-five, and in 1863 three hundred and twelve, a fearful mortality among those who have scarcely entered on the career of life, and yet a similar proportion, about two-fifths of the whole number, is found everywhere to be the rule. Of the deaths in 1862, four were over ninety, one being ninety- six ; in 1863, five were over ninety, sixteen between eighty and ninety, thirty-four between seventy and eighty, and these are the common proportions in the city. Diseases of the breath- ing organs are the most fatal in our climate ; of consumption, lungs, and croup, two hundred and fifteen died in 1862, and . one hundred and ninety-four in 1863, being an average of nearly one-third of all the deaths in the two years.
The advantages which in early days our new country held out for employment, encouraged immigration, and the popula- tion was almost wholly made up by accessions from the more thickly peopled parts of Massachusetts. To the county of Essex
120
blished by Bailey & Noves Portland.
Photographed by G. M. Howe.
MIDDLE STREET PORTLAND, M' 1363,
773
IMMIGRATION.
particularly, in the early as well as more recent period of our history, the town is indebted for large portions of its popula- tion.1 Middlesex, Suffolk, and the Old Colony were not without their contributions. But the people did not come from such widely different sources as to produce any difficulty of amalgamation, or any striking diversity of manners. They formed one people, and brought with them the steady habits and good principles of those from whom they had separated. There were some accessions before the revolution made to our population from the other side of the Atlantic ;? the immigrants readily incorporated themselves with our people and form a substantial part of the population. Since the revolution the numbers by immigration have increased more rapidly, espe- cially from Great Britain, but not sufficiently to destroy the uniformity which characterizes our population, nor to disturb the harmony of our community.3
From 1820 the number of immigrants who arrived in the United States rapidly increased. In 1820 only eight thousand three hundred and eighty-five came over ; in 1830 twenty-three thousand three hundred and twenty-two; in 1840 eighty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-six ; in 1850 three hundred
1 The following are some of the families which emigrated from Essex : Ap- pleton, Baker, Bartlett, Bradbury, Bailey, Bagley, Carter, Chase, Coffin, Chad- wick, Cross, Davis, Dole, Emerson, Haskell, Huse, Ingersoll, Ilsley, Kent, Kimball, Knight, Longfellow, Lovitt, Lowell, Little, Moody, Morse, Merrill, Mussey, Newall, Noyes, Nowell, Osgood, Pearson, Pettingill, Poor, Proctor, Plumer, Pike, Pote, Richardson, Riggs, Sawyer, Sewall, Somerby, Swett, Titcomb, Tolman, Tucker, Thurlo, Waite, Webster, Weed, Willis, Winship, Wheeler.
2 The Rosses, McLellans, Armstrongs, Mains, Johnsons, Robinsons, Pagans, Wildridges, Cummings.
3 Among the enterprising men who came to Portland after the war, and before the close of the century, and whose posterity remain, were Boyds, Becketts, Chadwicks, Chase, Deblois, Dows, Fosdick, Greely, Harris, Hopkins, God- dard, How, Evans, Horton, Hussey, Jewetts, Radfords, Robison, Storers, Wadsworth.
7 74
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
and ten thousand six hundred and four ; in 1860 one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred and forty ; of these sixty per cent were males, eight per cent were five years old.and under, twenty-one per cent between twenty and twenty-five, fifty-four per cent between twenty and forty years old. In the five years from 1855 to 1860 the number of aliens who arrived with the intention of settling in the country, was seven hundred and eighty-one thousand six hundred and eighty-six. Of the alien passengers who arrived in the United States in forty-one years ending with 1860, seven hundred and sixty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven were farmers, four hundred and seven thousand five hundred and twenty-four were mechanics, and eight hundred and seventy-two thousand three hundred and seventeen were laborers.
In Maine the foreign population in 1860 was thirty-seven thousand four hundred and fifty-three ; of which fifteen thou- sand two hundred and ninety were from Ireland, seventeen thousand five hundred and forty from the British Provinces, probably the larger portion Irish, England sent two thousand six hundred and seventy-seven.
In Portland the foreign population in 1860 was three thou- sand nine hundred and eight, nearly fifteen per cent of the whole, of whom one hundred and eighty-eight were from Eng- land, two thousand six hundred and twenty-seven from Ireland, eighty-four from Scotland, eight hundred and sixty-three from the British Provinces, thirty-six from the German States, four- teen from France, and ninety-six from other foreign States.
It cannot have escaped observation that one of the principal sources of our wealth has been the lumber trade. We have seen on the revival of the town in the early part of the last century, how intimately the progress of the town was connect- ed with the operations in timber. Before the revolution our commerce was sustained almost wholly by the large ships from England which loaded here with masts, spars, and boards for the mother country, and by ship building. The West India
775
COMMERCE.
business was then comparatively small, employing but few ves- sels of inferior size. After the revolution our trade had to form new channels, and the employment of our own naviga- tion was to give new activity to all the springs of industry and wealth. We find therefore that the enterprise of the people arose to the emergency ; and in a few years our ships were floating on every ocean, becoming the carriers of southern as well as northern produce, and bringing back the money and commodities of other countries. The trade to the West Indies, supported by our lumber, increased vastly, and direct voyages were made in larger vessels than had before been employed, which received in exchange for the growth of our forests and our seas, sugar, molasses, and rum, the triple products of the cane. This trade has contributed mainly to the advancement and prosperity of the town, has nourished a hardy race of sea- men, and formed a people among the most active and enter- prising of any in the United States.
The great changes which have taken place in the customs and manners of society since the revolution, must deeply im- press the mind of a reflecting observer. These have extended not only to the outward forms of things, but to the habits of thought and to the very principles of character. The moral re- volution has been as signal and striking as the political one ; it upturned the old landmarks of antiquated and hereditary cus- toms and the obedience to mere authority, and established in their stead a more simple and just rule of action ; it set up reason and common sense, and a true equality, in the place of a factitious and conventional state of society which unrelent- ingly required a submission to its stern dictates ; which made an unnatural distinction in moral power, and elevated the rich knave or fool to the station that humble and despised merit would have better graced. The age of realities succeeded that of forms.
These peculiarities have been destroyed by the silent and gradual operation of public opinion ; the spirit which arose in
776
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
the new world is spreading with the same effect over the old. Freedom of opinion is asserting a just sway, and it is only now to be feared that the principle will be carried too far, that au- thority will lose all its influence, and that reason and a just es- timate of human rights will not be sufficient restraint upon the passions of men. The experiment is going on, and unless edu- cation, an early and sound moral education, go on with it, which will enlighten and strengthen the public mind, it will fail of success. The feelings and passions must be placed un- der the charge of moral principle, or we may expect an age of licentiousness to succeed one of authority and rigid discipline. We may be said now to be in the transition state of society. The present terrible civil war which is shaking the country and its institutions to their lowest depths, will produce a change which we cannot now anticipate. It has developed resources and called forth efforts, which no one foresaw.
Distinctions of rank among different classes of the commu- nity, a part of the old system, prevailed very much before the revolution and were preserved in the dress as well as in the forms of society. But the deference attached to robes of office and the formality of official station have all fled before the genius of our republican institutions ; we look now upon the man and not upon his garments nor upon the post to which chance may have elevated him. In the circle of our little town, the lines were drawn with much strictness. The higher classes were called the quality, and were composed of persons not en gaged in mechanic employments. We now occasionally find some old persons whose memory recurs with longing deliglit to the days in which these formal distinctions held uncontrolled sway.
In our town the persons who were distinguished by the cocked hat, the bush wig, and the red cloak, the envied marks of distinction, were the Waldos, the Rev. Mr. Smith's family, Enoch Freeman, Brigadier Preble, Alexander Ross, Stephen Longfellow, Dr. Coffin, Moses Pearson, Richard Codman, Ben-
777
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS
jamin Titcomb, William Tyng, Theophilus Bradbury, David Wyer, and perhaps some others. The fashionable color of clothes among this class was drab ; the coats were made with large cuffs reaching to the elbows, and low collars. All classes wore breeches which had not the advantage of being kept up as in modern times by suspenders ; the dandies of that day wore embroidered silk vests with long pocket flaps and ruffles on their breasts and over their hands. Most of those above mentioned were engaged in trade, and the nieans of none were sufficiently ample to enable them to live without engaging in some employ- ment. Still the pride of their caste was maintained, and although the cloak and perhaps the wig may have been laid aside in the dust and hurry of business, they were scrupulously retained when abroad. Wigs were quite an expensive article of dress, and had to be renewed about as often as the coat and breeches. The Rev. Mr. Smith says, "August, 1765, had a new wig and clothes," and again in 1769, "had a new wig, a rich one, and hat ; had my superfine black clothes." And some entries in Mr. Deane's Diary let us into the cost of this decoration of the outer man: "1766, January 25, wig sixteen pounds seventeen shillings and six pence." "1769, December 22, sent to S. Parkman a jo and a pistareen to buy a wig ;" on the 28th of the same month the Dr. says, "received my new buckskin breeches."1 We may form some idea of the minis- terial dress from these brief notices. The same absurdity of dress was carried into the clothing of children. I find a memo- randum on an account book of Enoch Freeman under date February 25, 1754, as follows :
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