USA > Maine > Waldo County > Stockton Springs > The story of Stockton Springs, Maine > Part 4
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Melvin Edgar Colcord, eldest son of Josiah and Martha Jane Colcord, was born in Prospect, Maine, November 7, 1844.
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He married Roxanna Larabee Cleaves, March 31, 1866. Rox- anna was born September 14, 1844. Capt. Melvin Colcord followed the sea for forty years. Melvin and Roxanna had the following children: Marietta (who died at sea of small-pox at the age of four years); Lizzie B., Evelyn L., Edgar M., Arthur B. and Ethel M.
Lizzie B. went to sea with her parents until she was eight years old. She came home to enter school and lived with her grandparents. All of the other children went to sea with their parents until they were of school age. Edgar M. married Clara Mudgett, daughter of Rufus and Ada (Lafolley) Mudgett, November 15, 1906. They had two children: Melvin (who died in youth), and Ada Roxanna who married Lewis Piper of Bel- fast. Arthur B. married Alice Apt of Eastport. They had three children: Arthur, Jr., Doris and Harold.
Thomas Shute Blanchard, son of Thomas 4, was born at Stockton, Maine, August 1800. He died September 21, 1841. He was a merchant mariner. He married Harriet, daughter of James and Lydia Treat. Harriet was born in Prospect, June 28, 1807. She died in St. Paul, Minnesota, January 10, 1889. Harriet was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Gov. Robert Treat of Conn. Her mother was the daughter of Oliver and Lydia Bucknell Parker. Her father was the son of Lt. Joshua Treat. Children of Thomas and Harriet Blanchard were: Orella, born December 8, 1826, died February 3, 1852. She married Rev. Jerome Harris; Maria Treat Blanchard, born December 22, 1828, married Josiah French Hichborn, Nov- ember 5, 1855; James Treat Blanchard, born January 28, 1831, died July 18, 1857, at Havana, Cuba. He was a sea captain. Lydia Levena Blanchard, born March 8, 1833, died January 10, 1852; Alvah Parker Blanchard; Susan J. Blanchard, born July 23, 1837; and Sarah A. Blanchard, born October 23, 1839.
Alvah Parker Blanchard, second son of Thomas and Harriet Blanchard, was born in Stockton, Maine, April 12, 1835. He married Elizabeth D., daughter of John and Elizabeth Dickey
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Griffin, October 9, 1859. Elizabeth was born July 3, 1836. Alvah Blanchard was a ship owner.
James Alvah Blanchard, son of Capt. Alvah P. and Eliz- abeth Blanchard, was born in Stockton, November 13, 1862. He went to sea with his father. Later he moved to New York but returned to Stockton after he retired from the sea. He married Mary E., daughter of Capt. Melbourne P. and Clara (Lambert) Smith, of Orrington, Maine, June 16, 1886. They had three children: Maurice Alvah, born July 26, 1887; Edna, born May 5, 1893; and Agnes, born August 13, 1889, who died December 11, 1889.
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CHAPTER III Life in the Good Old Days
We often hear so much said about the "Good Old Days", but actually life was hard. Most of the settlers were very poor. One old account states, "The times were hard indeed. Pro- visions were scarce and dear. Few men ate flesh more than one day a week, the year around; and many not that, but now and then a little venison. Many could not break their fasts till clam banks had supplied them. Bread corn was scarce and when they had it, they were obliged to go to Castine, Belfast, or even Camden to have it ground."
At Fort Pownal the truck house was maintained for the pur- pose of trade with the Indians and the settlers. From the ac- count book at the fort, the Wast Book, the following prices were taken :* molasses $5.00 per gallon; cotton-wool $5.00 per pound; shoes $15.00 per pair; tea $15.00 per pound; corn $10.00 per bushel; coffee $3.75 per pound; tobacco $1.85 per pound; wine $10.00 per gallon; West Indian rum $10.00 per gallon; New England rum $5.00 per gallon; vinegar $3.75 per gallon, and other things priced accordingly.
The old-timers bought alcoholic liquors freely in spite of the price, for one third of the charges on some pages of the Wast Book were for rum.
James Stowers wrote in his Journal, "My parents had about $1700 in Continental money when they were married in 1781. It soon failed. I have heard my mother say that she gave forty dollars for a calico dress; four dollars for a steel thimble; and other things at the same rate."
The prices were given in pounds and shillings but the author converted them to dollars and cents.
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He continued, "There was little wheat flour, most of our bread and puddings were made of Indian corn meal. The first settlers, for want of mills to grind their corn, had to pound it. They made mortars of yellow birch or rock maple. They dug out the end of a piece of wood to the depth of eight inches and made the inside very smooth. The cavity was large enough to hold a quart of corn.
A pestle was made of equally hard wood; smooth and fitted to the cavity. It had a handle on the opposite end which was wielded by the strong arm of some boy or girl. When pounded the corn was called Samp. After the corn was pounded, it was winnowed. The coarse was used for puddings; the finest for bread. The bread was made by mixing the corn with hot water. The mixture was spread on plates or small hardwood boards, ten inches long and six inches wide, and baked."
Later the settlers took their corn to Bagaduce, Belfast or Camden to have it ground. The first grist mill was in Belfast. It was built in 1785.
Baking was done in iron bake kettles which were hung over the fire on cranes or in iron spiders or Dutch ovens which were set in front of the fireplace. These were used for baking meat, bread, pork and beans. Potatoes and corn were roasted in the coals. A few homes had outdoor ovens which were used once a week. Later the frame houses had brick ovens. These were used usually once a week. Corn was a staple food in those days. A common breakfast was corn bread or corn pudding with milk. Bean broth with corn bread was often the main meal.
All kinds of game was plentiful. Wild animals were hunted and trapped for food and fur. Fish were plentiful and clams were often the mainstay of the poor man's diet.
After the early eighteen hundreds, life became a little easier. Land had been cleared, so that more food could be raised. Also, domestic animals and fowl were raised.
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Foods which were raised were: potatoes (shenangoes, long reds, and Jackson whites), apples, turnips, squash, beets, car- rots, parsnips, onions and cabbage. The only fruits were wild. Wild strawberries sold for five or six cents a quart. Many of the apples were ground and made into cider and vinegar. The cider was stored in barrels and it was prevented from becoming hard by having mustard added to it. Wine was made from currants. Beef, lamb, veal and chickens were raised. Beef sold for ten cents a pound; veal and lamb were sold for six cents a pound; chickens were six and eight cents a pound; geese were sold at twenty-five cents each; eggs were eight and ten cents a dozen.
Each early settler built a cabin and often a hovel for the cattle, also a hog house. The log houses were much alike. They were usually built on the shore. They were twenty-six feet long and fourteen feet wide. They had a chimney in the center. The logs of the cabins were notched at the corners so they would lay near together. The logs extended three feet beyond the corners of the cabin for a finish. The open spaces between the logs were filled with clay mortar. Before winter set in, moss was gathered and stuffed into every chink to keep out the wind and snow. There was usually one window on the south side of the cabin. There was one door on the front of the house. There were two rooms, one used for the cook room and dining room; the other used as a parlor and sleeping room for the parents. The children slept "up chamber" which was reached by a ladder in the front entry. The center chimney was built of common stones, laid in clay and mortar as high as the beams, then carried out through the roof. Above the roof, the chimney was made of sticks about two inches square. These were split from rift spruce or pine. The sticks were laid in clay mortar into which short-cut straw was worked to make it tough. Near the top of the stone work, a hole was made to put a pole through. From this pole chains were suspended, so that kettles and pots could be hung over the fire. The householder was always careful to replace weak poles or cross bars at the
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time of hog slaughtering, when water to scald the hogs had to be heated. There was a fireplace in each room. The hearths were made of flat stones. On one side of the chimney was the front entry; on the other side of the chimney was a cupboard for kettles, pots and pans. Fireplaces and brick ovens served the needs of the settlers for many years for heat and cooking. Sheet-iron, hot-air stoves were not used until 1845. About 1845, furnaces and coal were introduced.
Fishing provided a living for many families. In 1820 the amount of thirty thousand dollars was taken in shad, salmon and alewives from weirs in the town of Prospect. Shad sold at ten cents a pound; salmon at five to ten cents a pound. The fish were caught in half-tide weirs. These were made across the three small coves on the west and north sides of Fort Point Cove. They were made by driving stakes three feet apart across the cove from shore to shore. The height of the weir came up to half tide. Fine brush was woven in among the stakes. Shad, alewives and occasionally a salmon came up the cove and got caught on the inside of the weir as the tide ebbed. Many barrels were taken at some tides. Later trap weirs were built of high water hedges, as they were called. The first high water hedge weir was built in 1811 at Marsh Bay. In 1812 four were built. One was in Long Cove, southwest of Brig- adier's Island; one was in Samuel Shute's cove; one in John Staples' cove; and one at Henry Black's shore.
James Stowers wrote, "My brother Nathaniel and I fished for many years up to 1860. I have taken 525 shad, 3 salmon, and two barrels of alewives from one weir on one tide. At one time I took 16 salmon on one weir at one tide."
As few fields were cleared to raise hay in the early days, most of the hay was cut in marshes. Again quoting James Stowers, "It was at the Meadow that the early settlers obtained their hay. They also got hay farther up the river at another marsh. The hay was brought together on poles or drawn by oxen. It was put up in stacks of two or three tons. At foddering time, it was drawn from the side of the stack with a hook. On
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the front of the hovel one of the logs was left out, about three feet from the ground, so the hay might be put in to the cattle."
Water was obtained from wells, brooks and springs. When frame houses were built, a portion of the cellar was walled in for a cistern. When it rained, water was caught in the roof gutters which were connected with the cistern by gutter troughs. This water was used for bathing and laundry.
Soft soap was made at home by the thrifty housewives. Hard wood ashes were saved in barrels; also, all waste grease was saved. The ashes were wet which caused lye to form. The lye was drawn off and mixed with the fat and potash; then cooked. This was done out of doors. The resulting product was a dark amber, semi-solid mixture. This soap could be used for everything except bathing. A few years later the soft-soap man called in every community. He collected the ashes which the housewives had saved through the winter. For each barrel of ashes received, he gave a certain quantity of soap.
The mother of the household had to do a great part of the doctoring for her family. Herbs were used as medicine. They were gathered in season, dried and hung in bunches until needed. Then they were steeped in water and prepared in various ways. Tansy, pennyroyal, thoroughwort, catnip, carraway, wild cherry bark, and other common herbs and barks were standard remedies in every home. Many youngsters of my generation have "not so fond" memories of home-made medicinal brews. Bags filled with tansy or camphor were fastened to the long underwear in the winter and had to be worn constantly to ward off attacks of "worms" and all forms of disease. The charms never worked but faith in them never wavered. Chapters could be written on this subject alone, not to mention all the superstitions concerning every phrase of living and health in which the majority of our ancestors believed.
Diphtheria, smallpox, cholera, cholera morbus, and typhoid were all dreaded diseases. Infants often died young of digestive
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ailments. Williamson, in his History of Belfast, speaks of an outbreak of cholera in 1849; of smallpox epidemics which raged in the spring of 1819 and in May and June of 1861. He also mentioned epidemics of measles and dysentery. The first smallpox vaccinations given in thi's locality were given in Bel- fast in 1810.
Social life was gay and lively and probably more fun than that which we enjoy today. The whole community got to- gether for house-raisings, corn huskings, social visiting, dancing, coasting and skating parties, "sings", quilting bees, singing schools and other such activities. After the Civil War, baseball was introduced. The people of this town have always taken a great interest in this sport. We have produced players that were among the best. If there had been such a thing as talent scouts in years past, there is no doubt that many of the young men would have made the big teams.
A Stockton resident, A. H. Sodon, and two of his associates owned the Boston National Ball Club. Later that club was renamed the Boston Braves.
Clothing was mostly home-made. The women knit all the mittens and stockings by hand. The other articles of clothing were made by the women of the family or by the village dress- maker. I have heard my grandmother tell that in the early settlement there was only one cambric needle. It was woven carefully into a piece of cloth when not in use, so it wouldn't be lost. It was loaned to one woman who sewed her husband's best shirts, which were elaborate affairs with small tucks, etc., then it was passed on to the next neighbor. It went the rounds from house to house until each housewife had finished her sew- ing. By that time it had made the rounds, it was time to start all over again. The shoes were made by the circuit cobbler who paid an annual visit to each community. He brought his kit with him and remained with each family until he had made shoes for each member. Many men now living can remember the copper-toed boots of their childhood and the daily struggle with the boot-jack. Children went barefoot whenever possible
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to save their precious shoes. Older people tell of going bare- foot to Sabbath School when they were children. They carried their shoes, stockings and a damp cloth. When they had reached their destination, they wiped off their feet and dressed them. The shoes and stockings were removed again after Sabbath School and carried home. People were frugal in those days. Waste was a cardinal sin. Possessions were hard to get and were carefully kept. Nothing was thrown away or wasted. They verily lived up to the motto of "Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or go without."*
The first shoemaker in these parts settled in Belfast about 1800.
Household furnishings were simple and often the furniture was homemade. Cloth for clothing and household furnishings were woven at home. Wool was spun into yarn at home, also. Quilts were handsewn from scraps of cloth. Corn husks or straw was stuffed into ticks for mattresses. These ticks were topped by fat feather beds which were ticks stuffed with the feathers of fowl, especially geese. However, some of the fami- lies brought beautiful pieces of furniture and furnishings with them from their former homes. Henry Black's family brought to their new home a grandfather clock, andirons, tongs, silver- ware, brass candlesticks and other gracious household things. Mrs. Grace Stone of Sandy Point has the brass candlesticks. She is a descendent of Henry Black. Another member of the Black family has the grandfather clock. Mr. and Mrs. George H. Hopkins, both who can trace their lineage to Robert Hich- born, own a pair of brass candlesticks. On the bottoms the letter "R" is stamped. This "R" is the stamp of authenticity as the handiwork of Paul Revere. Also, they own a grand- father clock-an heirloom of the Hichborn family. The clock was made by Edward Faulkner of London, prior to 1735.
Boys and girls were trained for the life that they would live. Stowers says, "Boys were raised to care for horses; saw and split wood; to hoe, weed and plant gardens; shovel snow; and to
* Calvin Coolidge
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use all sorts of tools." The girls were taught knitting, sewing, spinning, weaving, cooking and all other household chores.
The early settlers suffered from the rigors of the Maine winters. In several places in this book will be found references to the weather. Sometimes the bay was frozen over for months. April 1, 1875, a horse and sleigh crossed from Castine to Belfast on Penobscot Bay. The ice was a foot thick. The ice brought in from the family ponds for the family ice-house was often three feet thick.
The following is the story of the Big Gale which was recorded in old records:
In September 1869, Zetham Shute, Captain Rufus Harriman, Rufus Harriman, Jr., James Nickerson and Frank Staples planned to make a trip to Cranberry Islands in a small schooner, named the "Moby Dick." Capt. Harriman was the master of this schooner. A few hours before they were to sail, Zetham Shute decided not to go. He claimed he had had a premonition that bad luck would befall them. The schooner sailed and reached Cranberry Island where she was anchored off shore. The Big Gale struck on September 8, 1869. The "Moby Dick" was badly damaged and started to sink. Rufus Harriman, Jr. and James Nickerson climbed the foremast and hung on through the night. In the morning they were rescued by another boat. Capt. Rufus Harriman and Frank Staples were drowned. Their bodies were later recovered.
This gale blew down fruit trees in the town. A house that was being built in Stockton village was blown down. Thirty- five schooners loaded with lumber and building materials en- route to the Boston market put into Fort Point Cove to ride out the gale. They were all driven ashore and damaged. Some of them were totally wrecked.
The above mentioned Capt. Rufus Harriman was one of the local people who often dug for the hidden pirate treasure. His favorite digging spot was in an Indian clam-shell heap at what is now Devereaux's Cove.
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Much has been told of the Indians molesting the early settler of this region. However, the Indians were never unfriendly to the settlers of this town. They were a nuisance in many ways. They often appeared in the settlement to beg for food. Older residents tell of remembering when they were children how their mothers rushed to get in the family wash if Indians were sighted. They would help themselves to the clothing when they got the chance.
There is an anecdote concerning the Zetham French family and the Indians which illustrates the fact that the Indians were not hostile-only hungry:
The Zetham French family lived at the shore in Sandy Point. One Sunday the parents went to church services. They left the oldest daughter, Elizabeth, at home to care for the younger children. Some Indians came to the house while Mr. and Mrs. French were gone and tried to enter the house. Elizabeth hid her younger brothers and sisters thinking that the Indians might harm them. She managed to keep the Indians from entering the house until her parents returned. When the parents got home, they found that the Indians were hungry and only wanted the food that Elizabeth was cooking for the family. After the Indians were fed, they went on their way peacefully.
The early forms of transportation was on foot or by water in canoe or barque. Some horses and oxen were used. As life grew easier, great pride was taken in carriage-horses and a family's affluence was judged by the kind of horse or horses which a family owned, and by the splendor of the equipage. By 1907 one of the favorite forms of amusement was buckboard rides. About 1906, the automobile put in its appearance in this locality. It was amusing to read in old newsclippings that as many as four of these new automobiles passed through our town in a single week. In 1906, the town voted that the speed for automobiles should be not more than six miles per hour. The first automobile was owned by Herman Hichborn. By 1910, four people in the town owned automobiles. They were: Herman Hichborn, Dr. Edward Britto, Herbert Hopkins and Frank L. Marston.
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CHAPTER IV Mail
Before the Revolution, because there were no roads, traveling in eastern Maine was done by water. There were some trails through the woods marked by spotted trees. After the Rev- olution, the travelers began to use the trails more. They travel- ed by foot and on horseback. Until 1800 there was no other way to reach the interior towns except on foot. James Stowers stated in his Journal, "In 1800 a road had been made from Bel- fast to Buckstown Ferry but it was a very poor road, hardly a knoll hoed down."
A mail route was started in 1793 between Wiscasset and Castine. The route passed through Camden, Belfast, and Sandy Point, which was then a part of Prospect.
Prospect was one of the first three post offices to be estab- lished. The other two were Belfast and Ducktrap .* The Prospect post office was established January 1, 1794, with Ben- jamin Shute, Jr. as postmaster. The post office was in a log cabin near the shore at French's Point. Mr. Shute was post- master from the time the first post office was established until 1824.
According to family records, Mr. Shute attended school only three months, yet he was a good penman and mathe- matician. He was noted locally as a musician. He and his father, Benjamin, Sr., were good violinists. The young and the middle-aged gathered at his home to dance and play games. The music was furnished by the Shute gentlemen.
* The postmaster at Belfast was James Nesmith. The postmaster at Ducktrap was Joseph Adams.
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Prior to 1800, the mail was carried by a mail carrier who was called "The Post". He carried the mail in a small leather sack slung under his arm and held in place by a strap over the other shoulder. He traveled along a footpath which followed the old Indian trail along the shore.
From Benjamin Shute's house the mail was carried across the Penobscot River by ferry to Penobscot and Bagaduce, now Castine.
As the amount of mail increased, it was strapped to the rear of the saddle of the horse that the mail carrier rode. "The Post" had a tin horn which he blew when he approached a post office. Later as the mail increased in amount, it was car- ried in a sack lashed to the back of a horse which was driven before the postman. The mail was carried in this way until 1820.
Letters were not stamped in those days. They were stamped with a number to designate the amount of postage paid. They were cancelled by the postman's initials or by two lines drawn through the stamp. There were no envelopes. The letter was folded and sealed with wax. Stamps were first used in 1840, but not in this town until 1864. Collectors started stamp col- lections in 1841. The stamped envelope came into use in 1853; but, according to an item in an old Republican Journal, they were not well liked. The Journal states, "The new stamped envelopes are a very cheaply got up affair, and they are ob- jected to for having the card of the maker, a stationer, upon the flap where they are sealed".
"The Post" passed through once in two weeks. In 1798 a route for mail was from Ducktrap (Lincolnville) to Narra- guagus (Cherryfield). The post rider left Ducktrap every Saturday, at two in the afternoon and reached Narraguagus on the following Tuesday. The route passed through Belfast, Prospect, Frankfort, Buckstown, Castine, Bluehill, Trenton, Sullivan and Gouldsborough. This service increased to twice a week in 1812. Later the mail was carried by stage-coach.
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The first stagecoach between Portland, Belfast and Bangor was established in 1825. It passed through three times a week. The fare from Belfast to Bangor was two dollars. The first mail received in Belfast by train was December 23, 1870. A ferry was established from Prospect to Bucksport in 1840. A steam ferry was established in 1871.
October 21, 1824, Nathaniel Stowers was appointed post- master. He lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Jean Mac- farlan. He was postmaster for forty-two years. He held town offices as selectman, assessor of taxes, overseer of the poor, and surveyor of lumber. He taught for many years in the public schools. He was superintendent of the Sabbath School for forty years; also Deacon of the Congregational Church for many years.
The name of the post office, when Mr. Stowers became post- master, was Prospect. The name of the office was changed to Sandy Point on March 23, 1857 to Sandypoint on May 5, 1894; and again to Sandy Point on December 1, 1948.
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