USA > Maine > York County > The history of York county, Maine, and a rambling narrative about the town of Eliot and its mother-town old Kittery with personal reminiscences; an address delivered by Ralph Sylvester Bartlett at exercises held in Eliot, Maine, August 29, 1936 > Part 2
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do I remember Parson Chandler himself. He was a rare man, and one who, once seen and known, even slightly, would never be forgotten. I never saw a man, ex- cept my own father, for whom I had such reverence as I had for him. I knew him from my very earliest recollection until his death on August 9, 1829. He might well be called "The Old Man Eloquent.' During the early part of Parson Chandler's residence in Eliot, Daniel Webster was practising law in Portsmouth. They soon not only became acquainted but were from the beginning the firmest of friends. Daniel Webster once said of him 'if I could have the eloquence of speech and the voice of Parson Chandler, I should consider it the greatest boon that could be conferred upon me.' When Mr. Webster's first child, Fletcher, was a babe, he invited Parson Chandler to his home to christen him. He gave him for that ser- vice a very nice surplice,-a loose garment with flowing sleeves, such as then gen- erally worn in the pulpit by the clergy, and afterwards he always wore it at church service. Parson Chandler was not only attractively eloquent in his pulpit, but the doctrine of his sermon was always sound. He was also a scientific farmer and gardner. His neighbors (many of them marketmen) hardly dared vie with him in getting early vegetables into market. Ministers in those days worked as well as preached."
Mr. Shapleigh continuing wrote: "I will mention another interest of his which brought him quite a revenue. Eighty years ago (remember, Mr. Shapleigh wrote this article in 1894) wild pigeons were very plentiful, especially at grain harvest. Their meat was much sought after for table use. Parson Chandler in- vented a new method of taking them. Instead of shooting or snaring them, he made a large linen netting, measuring yards in length and breadth, the meshes of which would admit a pigeon's head, but not his body. This he stretched upon a light iron frame. He would take it upon his grain stubble, where the pigeons would naturally go for their food, and there would set the net on one edge, lean- ing a little toward the ground. Throwing a little extra grain by the side of the net, he would wait in ambush until a flock of birds had collected under it, when he would drop it upon them, and in that way take large numbers of them alive. This was preferable to killing them, and he always found a quick and profitable mar- ket in Portsmouth.
Parson Chandler died suddenly, and was buried opposite the old Parsonage. Visiting his grave you may read this inscription: - 'In memory of Samuel Chandler, Harvard 1790, Ordained October 17, 1792, closed in triumph a laborious and successful ministry August 9, 1829, aged 64 years. With a strong, discriminating, active mind, he united the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. As a pastor he was faithful, devoted, affectionate; as the head of a family he was revered; as a friend, beloved; as a man, respected'." What epitaph could have been worded more appropriately to mark the sacred spot where Parson Chandler's remains now lie. And how grateful we should be that James Bartlett Shapleigh, who was my father's cousin, and whose son, Fred Russell Shapleigh, was my col-
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lege room-mate at Dartmouth, should have written and left to posterity such a living pen-picture of one who was loved more dearly than perhaps any former resident of Eliot. I can now see that courteous old gentleman-James Bartlett Shapleigh-who always had a kind word for the children, come driving into the yard of our old home with his horse and buggy, giving the reins a toss and, with- out hitching his horse, coming forward to greet us.
Parson Chandler's oldest daughter, Mary Ann, married Dr. Caleb Emery, one of the most prominent men of his day. When Dr. Emery began the practice of medicine here in 1809, the town was still Kittery. In 1814 he built, and sub- sequently lived in until his death, the house on Old Road now owned and occu- pied by my sister, Miss Elizabeth M. Bartlett, who has graciously allowed me to share it with her as my home in Eliot, also. Dr. Emery died February 16, 1831, at the age of forty-three years, his wife and six children surviving him. Hannah, the youngest daughter of Parson Chandler, married James Waldron Shapleigh of Eliot, the father of Dr. Elisha B. Shapleigh, a graduate of Yale, who studied medicine with Dr. Theodore Jewett, father of Sarah Orne Jewett, and afterwards settled in Philadelphia, where he held a high position in his profession. It was quite natural, therefore, that the late Chandler Shapleigh of Eliot, brother of Dr. Elisha B. Shapleigh, should have been named after Parson Chandler. One of our fellow townsmen of today was also named after Parson Chandler. I refer to my good neighbor, Chandler E. Spinney, who lives on Old Road quite near where Parson Chandler lived.
In June, 1713, Kittery was divided into two Parishes, and down to 1810 that portion of Kittery, now Eliot, which included Sturgeon Creek, was known as the Second, or Upper Parish of Kittery, as I have previously stated. At that time this Second Parish was often called "The Garden of Kittery."
Differences arose between these sections of the town, and at a meeting held April 27, 1809, it was voted to petition the General Court of Massachusetts sitting in Boston that the Second Parish be incorporated into a town. The Act of In- corporation was passed and duly approved on March 1, 1810. The Warrant for the first town meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Eliot, which was held at the Congregational Meeting House on Monday, March 19, 1810, was issued March 8, 1810, under the hand of Andrew Pepperrell Fernald, Esquire, Justice of the Peace, who was a Representative to the General Court, and who had been largely instrumental in securing the incorporation. It is interesting to note that at the present time we have serving upon our Board of Selectmen in Eliot, Wil- liam Pepperrell Fernald, a direct descendent of the Andrew Pepperrell Fernald, Esquire, who so prominently identified himself with the movement to set off and incorporate as a town that part of Kittery which is now Eliot.
We are indebted to the late Col. Francis Keefe for procuring from the ar- chives of the State House in Boston, complete copies, attested by the Secretary of
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the Commonwealth, of all documents relating to the incorporation of Eliot, which were published in full in the pages of OLD ELIOT.
It is often asked, "How did the town happen to be given the name Eliot?" A newspaper item recently stated that the forebears of the late President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University came from the town of Eliot, intimating that perhaps the name may have been derived from that source. Questioning the truth of this statement, I took the matter up with Rev. Samuel A. Eliot of the Arlington Street Church, Boston, a son of the late President Eliot, and in a letter to me he states-"None of my Eliot forebears came from York County-we are Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk folk in the Bay Colony." In the pages of OLD ELIOT it is stated that our town of Eliot takes its name from Robert Eliot of Kit- tery, a graduate of Harvard in 1701, who was a son of Robert Eliot of New Castle, a Member of the Provincial Council of New Hampshire. This undoubt- edly is the correct source of the name given our town.
(With the enormous immigration into America since Eliot became a town, and the countless changes brought about by our highly developed civilization, it is rather remarkable, I think, that within the limits of our town there should still be living and bearing the old family name the descendants of so many of the families which date back to early colonial days. I have been away from my na- tive town so many years that I am not as familiar as I should be with the names of descendants of colonial families still living in Eliot and bearing the family name, but I do know that we have living here at the present day descendants of the early settlers bearing such well-known family names as ;- Frost, Paul, Fer- nald, Dixon, Lord, Hammond, Raitt, Staples, Emery, Shapleigh, Spinney, Adling- ton, Brooks, Bartlett, Cole, Clark, Dame, Frye, Furbish, Goodwin, Kennard, Hill, Hodgdon, Leach, Leighton, Libbey, Hanscom, Junkins, Moulton, Payne, Boyce, Butler, Cook, Downing, Lord, Morrill, Neal, Plaisted, Gould, Remick, Rogers, Rowe, Stacey, Tetherly, Trefethen, Tobey, Tucker, Worster, and perhaps other names not recalled, but which nevertheless are none the less worthy of being included in this list.
Eliot has the good fortune of having a few of its old houses still standing, but most of the old roofs that gave shelter to the homes that were life-centers in the early day have long since fallen. Among the old houses still left in Eliot, none can approach in interest the old Frost Garrison. It has come down through many generations of the Frost family, descendants of Major Charles Frost, (1631- 1697), famous Indian fighter, to the present owner, Martin Frost, who lives in the large two story house, built in 1730 by Col. John Frost, who was a grandson of Major Charles Frost. These historically interesting buildings, situated on the east side of the town near the York line, are annually visited by throngs of peo- ple coming from widely scattered localities. The Garrison stands close to the two story house in which Mr. Frost and his family live. Its sides are hewn logs, firm- ly pinned together, and it is in a fine state of preservation.
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Another old house in Eliot with which I am familiar is the hand-hewn, oak timbered, two-story colonial house situated near the Eliot Depot, which was built by my great-great-great grandfather, Captain Nathan Bartlett, about the year 1740. This house has been the home of six successive generations of the Bartlett family, the last of the family to occupy the house being my uncle, the late James W. Bartlett, who died in 1915.
Captain Nathan Bartlett, a great grandson of Richard Bartlett of Newbury, Massachusetts, the original Bartlett ancestor who came from England to Ameri- ca in 1635, was born in Newbury, December 23, 1691, and moved to that part of Kittery, now Eliot, in 1713. On March 10, 1714, he married Shuah, daughter of Captain John Heard and Phoebe Littlefield Heard. The tragic death of Phoebe Littlefield Heard at Ambush Rock on Sunday, July 4, 1697, when she and her companions, Major Charles Frost and Dennis Downing, were taken by surprise and massacred by the Indians, as they were returning on horse-back from attend- ing divine service in the Parish of Unity, now South Berwick, is a tale that has thrilled children at the fireside for generations. Tradition has it that at the dis- charge of the Indians' muskets, Phoebe Heard was thrown from the horse on which she and her husband were returning home from attending church. She ran to a stump near-by in order that she might remount, but the stump being rotten, broke under her feet and she fell. She hastened to another stump, which also was rotten and broke. The Indians were then close upon them, and she begged her husband to escape for their childrens' sake, and leave her to her fate. As the horse sprang forward with her husband mounted upon it, he saw her struck down by a tomahawk and fall dead at the feet of the Indians. Captain John Heard reached home in time to save his children. Ever since Ambush Rock has been an historic spot. It is on the northerly side of the road leading pas,t Frost's Hill to South Berwick about half a mile from Rosemary Cottage. A bronze tablet marks the spot. The house in which I was born, built by my father, Syl- vester Bartlett (1822-1901), and now owned and occupied by my brother, C. Ed- ward Bartlett, stands upon the site of the old John Heard Garrison, where John Heard lived at the time his wife met her tragic fate. The remains of Phoebe Littlefield Heard lie buried in the ancient burying-ground in the field opposite the old Bartlett homestead, the burial-place of the Heard family, two early genera- tions of the Bartlett family, and two daughters of Dr. Edmund Coffin, who mar- ried Shuah, daughter of Captain Nathan Bartlett. The graves, when I was a boy, were marked with ordinary field stones, in some of which initials had been crudely cut. Today there stands in this ancient burying-ground a large boulder with a bronze tablet, upon which are inscribed the names of those buried there.
Near the East Eliot Methodist Meeting House, on the southeasterly slope of Raitt's Hill, stands another old house, the home of Miss Annie E. Raitt, my cousin. This large two story house, still in good repair, was built about 1740 by Eliot Frost, grandson of Major Charles Frost, who married his cousin, Miriam Frost,
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daughter of Honorable John Frost of Newcastle, N. H., whose wife was Mary Pepperrell, a sister of Sir William Pepperrell.
This was the home of Eliot Frost until his death in 1745. Two years later his widow married Capt. Alexander Raitt, a ship-master and ship-owner, who came from Scotland in his own ship and settled in Kittery about 1745, and there- upon the house built by Eliot Frost became the home of the original ancestor of the Raitt family in America, who was the great-great grandfather of Miss Annie E. Raitt, the present owner, and the great grandfather of my mother, Clementine Raitt Bartlett. (1830-1911). What impressed me most about this house when I was quite young was the running water in the kitchen, which came from a spring further up on the hill. Nearly every Sunday in those days, after church service, my mother took me with her to this house to have a visit with her brother, Jefferson Raitt, and his wife, Sarah, parents of the present owner, whose home it then was, and I rarely missed an opportunity to have a drink of that cold running water. which came bubbling into the kitchen from the near-by spring. Even today the water continues to run from that old spring on the hill down into the kitchen, the convenience of which can easily be appreciated, as that part of Eliot is still wait- ing for the installation of a water supply such as other parts of the town have long enjoyed.
There are other old houses now standing in Eliot which deserve mention, but time has not permitted me to prepare their history.
When I was a very young boy nearly ready to enter the country school, the original first school house in District No. 3, which was our family's District where later I attended school, was destroyed by fire. I have a distinct recol- lection of that old school building, as my sister Elizabeth and Mrs. William L. Hobbs attended private school held there a short time before it burned. Horace Parker was the teacher, and our "hired-man"-Joseph H. Butler-frequently took me with him when he drove to the school house on stormy days to bring Lizzie Hill (Mrs. Hobbs' maiden name) and my sister home.
I have here today the original agreement which was drafted in connection with the building of this first school house in District No. 3, which anyone inter- ested may see at the close of my remarks.
This agreement is in the handwriting of the one who prepared it,-John Heard Bartlett, son of Captain Nathan Bartlett, a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1747, the first of the name Bartlett to graduate at Harvard. He lived in what is now East Eliot, at the foot of Bartlett's Hill, in a house he built about 1750, the original of which, remodelled at the close of the last century, is now the home of his direct descendant, William Shapleigh Bartlett.
In the Parish Records, written by Rev. John Rogers, an item reads: "Dec. 5, 1754, John Heard Bartlett, who had a Liberal Education at Harvard College, re- ceived in full communion." In the Town Records, he is referred to as "A Re- nowned Schoolmaster." He held the office of Trial Justice, and was clerk of the
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Judicial Court. In 1757 he was a lieutenant in Sir William Pepperrell's Regi- ment called The Blue Troop of Horse. In 1773 Dartmouth College deferred upon him the degree of A.M.
The School House Agreement reads :---
"Kittery, January 9, 1793.
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that we, whose names are hereunto annexed as subscribers mutually and jointly agree to and with each other to build a school house and to set sd house on the Great Rock Hill on the north- erly side of the road on land given by Simon Frost for that purpose; and said house to be twenty-five feet in length and nineteen feet in wedth, an to be completely furnished by and to have two windows in the foreside, two in the end, and one in the back side, fifteen squares each, and to be seated with plank, and well plastered with lime, for the purpose of continuing a school for the benefit of our children, servants and others, to them and their heirs forever; and the School Master or Mistress must have the approbation of one third of the proprietors or committee of five persons, chosen annually, for the government of said school, before they keep said school; and those only to pay the costs of the school that send their children or servants. And when we have our part of the Town School, then the said house to be occupied in the same way as other Town Schools are. And fur- thermore we agree that no one of us shall be permitted to open or shut the doors of sd house against the others or to separate any part thereof against the publick benefit intended in the above agreement. We furthermore agree that any society or people may have meetings in said house for the worship of God, they having consent of the School Committee, and to account with said committee if any dam- age is done to said house. And we whose names are here signed against the sum subcribed, promise to pay unto our School Committee on demand the sum sub- scribed for as witness our hands.
To one Doleres worth of bordes or timber
Samuel Emery
James Neal
£1.13
John Raitt
£1.
Daniel Bartlet
£2.
James Neal, Junr.
£2.
John Jordan
£ s.8
John Hd. Bartlet
£5.
(There are several other subscribers to this agreement whose names are so mutilated they cannot be read).
The ravages of time have not been responsible for the damaged condition or destruction of some of our old landmarks. This is not the time or place perhaps to criticise the acts of thoughtless or wanton persons. I ask your indulgence, however, in permitting me to say that I consider it most unfortunate that the OLD
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POUND in East Eliot-one of our interesting old landmarks-has been prac- tically demolished, and the stones of its old walls used for road building.
The traditions which cluster about AMBUSH ROCK, undoubtedly our most ancient landmark, make it perhaps the most outstanding spot of historical interest in Eliot. In early youth we school children were in the habit of climbing upon this rock to see what we were told were imprints of feet worn in the stone by the bare feet of the Indians. In later years the rock was partially destroyed by drilling and blasting. Under the supervision of Dr. Willis, however, this damage was repaired as well as possible, and on July 4, 1897, the 200th anniver- sary of the tragic massacre by the Indians, appropriate public exercises were held there by the Eliot Historical Society in dedication of a marble tablet,-the first marking of this historic spot. It was not long, though, before the marble tablet was shattered and irreparably damaged by stones thrown at it.
In 1915 this "Plymouth Rock of Eliot" was marked with a tablet of bronze, and granite posts with iron chains strung between were erected to guard the old landmark. Nevertheless, within a few years most of the chains were torn from the posts and carried away, and the lettering on the bronze tablet was disfigured by wanton acts of destruction.
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Eliot still has within its boundaries old landmarks which give the town a background of historical interest in keeping with its former existence as a part of Old Kittery, the oldest town in Maine. They are a heritage from our forebears. We are proud of them. Let us treasure them and hold them inviolate. In their preservation, let us emulate the example set by the former citizens of Eliot whose memory we today are honoring.
We now pass on to pleasanter subjects. On a bitter cold winter's day in the year 1842 a romance had its beginning in Eliot which later was destined to play an important part in the life of our town, and to add greatly to its fame. On that day there appeared in Eliot a young Dartmouth student, whom the world was yet to acknowledge as the electrician who was to invent the fire alarm to be used in Boston; the man who was to light his house with electricity thirty years before any other home was thus lighted ;- the man, too, who was to carry passengers in electric cars across public halls in Dover, Portsmouth, Saco, Biddeford and Portland forty years before any such cars ran through the streets. This young student had come down from Boscawen to Portsmouth, and from there across the Piscataqua and up the Eliot road afoot, in search of a winter school. His face was ruddy from the stinging cold and blustering wind, and he was without an overcoat, which was not often worn by youths of that day. In a home where the mother was bringing a plate of hot soup to the table sat Hannah Tobey Shap- leigh, then a girl of eighteen. This was before the days of tramps, or of very much travel. Young Hannah, catching sight of the stranger, said: "O mother, such a frozen looking fellow is going by. Do let us ask him in to share our hot soup." "Yes, child," said the mother. Out the door bounded the girl to invite
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the stranger in. As she reached the gate, she lost her courage, and, quicker than she went out, bounded back into the house. The young student saw the maiden, and, when he reached the home of the only person in Eliot he knew, where he spent the night, he told how a young girl in a neighboring house started to come out to the road as he was coming along, but became abashed upon seeing him, and darted back into the house. The next morning in church a new voice was heard among the men in the singing-seats, and Hannah, who was there, was greatly surprised when she found out that this new voice was coming from the lad who the day before just missed sharing with them her mother's hot soup. The young Dartmouth student, unsuccessful in finding a school to teach for the winter, went into the office of a civil engineer in Portsmouth, but it was not long before the trustees of the Eliot Academy invited him to take charge of their school. The in- vitation was gratefully accepted, and on the morning of Monday, March 1, 1843, Moses Gerrish Farmer began teaching his first term of school, in Eliot. A little later the young people started an evening drawing school, and Hannah attended it. It soon was discovered that Moses, the teacher, was bestowing upon Hannah, the pupil, marked attention. The attraction grew stronger and stronger, their engagement was announced to their relatives and friends, and on Christmas eve- ning in 1844 Hannah Tobey Shapleigh became the wife of Moses Gerrish Far- mer. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Josiah B. Clark, the Eliot pastor at that time. The young couple went to Dover, N. H. to live, as Mr. Farmer was then teaching school there. It was not long, though, before his brains and hands were busy with mechanical and electrical appliances. In 1845 he already was de- veloping the electro-magnetic motor; and in 1846-7 his electric engine and car were made. From that time on Moses Gerrish Farmer led a very active life, which brought him in contact with the very best minds in America. Perhaps his longest stay in any one place during the years he was making such strides in his profession was at the Torpedo Station, at Newport, Rhode Island, where he re- mained from 1873 to 1881, the first six years of which found him busily engaged in experimental work and developing his many discoveries and inventions in the chemical and electrical laboratories erected during his early residence there.
In 1881 Professor Farmer and his family came back to Eliot to live in "Bit- tersweet," as the home was called, and with them came Francis Keefe, later a Colonel on the Staff of our late distiguished Son of Eliot,-Governor John F. Hill, who in so many ways did much for his native town. Col. Keefe , before coming to Eliot, had for many years been associated with Professor Farmer in his work. The return of this well-known family to spend their remaining days in Eliot, bringing with them the man of culture, with an attractive personality, as was represented in the person of Francis Keefe, marks the beginning of various important undertakings in our town, all largely instigated and actively supported by these new residents, which eventually brought the town of Eliot into greater prominence. Who, living back in the eighties, does not remember the familiar
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sight of Miss Sarah J. Farmer, the Professor's daughter, driving along the country roads of Eliot in her dog cart, with her large dog "Barry" following on? Miss Farmer from the outset was active in planning for Eliot's welfare. The town then was fortunate in having public spirited citizens, who lost no time in joining with Miss Farmer and Col. Keefe in organizing the Eliot Library Association. The Association held two Mid-Summer Fetes, which brought together people of prominence, and left a mark of distinction upon the old town. The first Fete was held August 21 and 22, 1888, in the field owned by Professor Farmer oppo- site his home in Eliot. The large tent used for the occasion was made for Presi- dent Arthur's reception at Daniel Webster's old home in Marshfield, Massachu- setts. The tent presented a gay and animated scene, as one entered, with its at- tractive booths, artistically arranged, attended by young women and young men dressed in the national costume of various foreign countries. Exceptionally fine music was furnished by the then celebrated Hungarian Gypsy Band, which was playing that summer at the Hotel Wentworth in New Castle. The Salem Brass Band, led by P. S. Gilmore, also furnished excellent programs, and the South Ber- wick Cadet Band contributed its part to the gaiety of the occasion. The exercises were opened with a prayer offered by the Rev. Henry Hovey, then pastor of St. John's Church in Portsmouth. Addresses were delivered by two well-known resi- dents of Cambridge, Massachusetts,-The Reverend A. P. Peabody and Mrs. Amelia C. Thorp, mother of Mrs. Ole Bull, who also was present on the occasion. The Rev. William A. McGinley of Portsmouth, and P. J. Galvin, Esquire, of New- port Rhode Island, made stirring addresses. On August 14th and 15th in 1889, the Eliot Library Association sponsored a second Mid-Summer Fete, in aid of a Pub- lic Library, the building for which was yet to be constructed. This Fete was held in the same place as the Fete previously held, and it was of the same general character. The address on the opening day was delivered by the venerable Bos- ton Unitarian divine-the Reverend Edward Everett Hale,-and music was fur- nished by the Salem Brass Band and the South Berwick Cadet Band. These two gala occasions, which some here today doubtless attended and pleasantly recall, were of great benefit to the town of Eliot in bringing her people more closely to- gether in working for a common cause. Eliot then was beginning to take on added prominence among the towns of the county, and the neighboring towns and cities across the Piscataqua.
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