USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Sidney > The town register : Sidney, Vassalboro, China, Albion, 1908 : A local history directory and family register combined with a Maine reference manual > Part 3
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Vassalboro > The town register : Sidney, Vassalboro, China, Albion, 1908 : A local history directory and family register combined with a Maine reference manual > Part 3
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > China > The town register : Sidney, Vassalboro, China, Albion, 1908 : A local history directory and family register combined with a Maine reference manual > Part 3
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Albion > The town register : Sidney, Vassalboro, China, Albion, 1908 : A local history directory and family register combined with a Maine reference manual > Part 3
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).
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by Massachusetts, and by 1660 all Maine west of the Penobscot was claimed and retained in spite of royal orders from Charles II. The region east of the Penobscot was then and for many years later held by the French, whose claims, indeed, covered the territory westward to the Kennebec.
From 1675 to 1759 a series of Indian wars, six in all, devas- tated Maine, checking the tide of immigration, costing many hundreds of lives and ending at last, as such a warfare had to end, in the practical extermination of the Maine red men. The Indians had given a welcome to the early explorers and settlers which was wholly friendly, but in the course of a century they had suffered many wrongs. Their lands were taken, they were cheated in trade, the game was killed off and some of the Indians were even kidnapped and sold as slaves in Europe. Their con- tact with the English had brought them only degradation and injustice. Thus when King Philip's war began in Massachu- setts in 1675 it was not long before the Maine Indians were drawn into it, though it was with reluctance that the peaceful Abenakis of the Kennebec region joined the other more warlike tribes at whose hands they had often suffered. At this time it", is estimated that between 5000 and 6000 people lived along the coast of Maine, of whom less than 1000 were east of the Ken- nebec. No fewer than 300 English lives were sacrificed in Maine and most of the settlements were abandoned and deso- lated before peace came in 1678.
This first war was wholly between the Indians and the Eng- lish settlers. All of the remaining Indian wars were incidental to the long and bloody struggle between the French and English for the possession of this part of the continent, a struggle in which the Indians were always the active allies of the French who had never stolen their land or cheated them in trade and who had won them through the zeal of the Jesuit missionaries. To follow these wars would be tedious detail. No one of them was as bloody as the first war had been, for the settlements were
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better protected by garrisons of soldiers from Massachusetts and the English had become more wary of surprises and ambus- cades. Still the fourth of these wars, usually known as Love- well's war, 1722-25, cost the lives of fully 200 English soldiers and settlers.
During the third and fourth wars the English sent numerous expeditions against the Jesuit missionary, Sebastian Rale, whose headquarters were at Norridgewock and who had carried on for over 30 years the work which the pioneer missionary of Maine, Gabriel Druillettes, had begun in the Kennebec valley in 1646 with the sanction of the English. Beyond doubt Father Rale used his great influence to keep the Indians loyal to the French, but the English accused him of encouraging uprisings and giving countenance to Indian savagery. Four winter expe- ditions failed in their main purpose, but in the summer of 1724 a force of 200 English soldiers succeeded in surprising the Norridgewock village. A great part of the Indians were killed and the village was completely destroyed. Father Rale was shot with the rest and the scalp was torn from his white head to be exhibited in triumph in Boston. , The power of the Ken- nebec Indians was broken and they never recovered from this crushing blow. Most of the survivors fled to the eastward or northward to Quebec.
The struggle between England and France continued and many of the blows of the battle fell upon Maine. It was a Maine man, William Pepperell of Kittery, who led the expe- dition in 1745 which captured Louisburg on Cape Breton, the chief stronghold of the French in America next to Quebec. Many hundred Maine soldiers and sailors were with this expe- dition, and also with the expedition of 1755 which drove the French from Acadia and that of 1758 which captured Louisburg a second time. A force of 400 French and Indians attacked the forts at St. George and Friendship in 1758, but failed to capture
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them, and this was the last blow struck against the English by the Indians of Maine.
In 1754, as outposts to guard the disputed border, the English built three strong forts along the Kennebec, Fort Shirley to replace Fort Richmond which had been built in 1718, Fort Western on the site of the old Plymouth trading post at Kous- sinoc and Fort Halifax at Teconnet or Winslow. These were never attacked and after a few years they were dismantled and abandoned, while settlements sprang up around them. The capture of Quebec in 1758 put an end to the long warfare, and with the welcome arrival of peace the tide of immigration from Massachusetts and Great Britain poured along the coast of Maine and up the river valleys.
Maine's part in the war for independence is a splendid chap- ter in its history. When the news came from Lexington and Concord in April, 1775, a company was formed at York and at once hurried to Boston. A Maine regiment, raised by Col. Scammon of Saco, participated in the battle of Bunker Hill. The first naval battle of the war was the capture in May, 1775, of the armed British sloop Margaretta by the intrepid patriots of Machias who refused to obey the British command that they take down the village Liberty pole. In the late fall of 1775 occurred the expedition of Arnold with 1100 troops up the Ken- nebec and through the wilderness in the attempt to capture Quebec and win Canada to the side of the colonies. In October of the same year Portland, then a town of 2000 people, was bombarded and burned by a British fleet of four vessels under Capt. Mowatt. The British held the Penobscot through the war, with their headquarters at Castine, and eastern Maine was the scene of several important expeditions and engagements. But the patriots of Machias and vicinity remained unsubdued, and in 1783 the treaty of peace recognized the St. Croix, instead of the Penobscot, as the eastern boundary of Maine. It has been estimated that Maine contributed over 7000 soldiers to the
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American army during the war, and of this number about 1100 shared with Washington the hardships of that memorable winter at Valley Forge.
Hardly had peace been declared in 1783 before the movement began for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, a move- ment which was not crowned with success until 1820, 37 years later. It was at first a minority movement, but the arguments for separation became stronger as Maine grew in population and desired more the dignity and privileges of separate state- hood. Then there was a political reason, as Massachusetts was strongly Federalist while Maine was in sympathy with the oppo- site party. The first vote of the people of Maine on the subject was taken in 1792 when 2,084 votes were cast in favor of sepa- ration and 2,438 against it. It is worthy of note, however, that in 83 of the 89 towns which made returns there was a majority in favor of separation. The six towns opposing separation were all in York county, and their overwhelming majority against it was large enough to more than overcome the majorities of the 83 towns favoring separation.
There were numerous petitions sent to the General Court during the following dozen years and several conventions were held, but the next vote was not taken until 1807 when 3,370 votes were cast for separation and 9,404 against. Plainly the movement was losing ground, but the War of 1812 greatly strengthened it and when the third vote was taken in 1816 there were 10,584 votes for separation and 6,491 against it. In the next year another vote resulted 11,969 for separation and 10,347 against it. The fifth and final vote in 1819 resulted 17,091 for and 7,132 opposed. Every town in Maine gave a majority for separation. In the meantime there had been no end of lively discussion in both Maine and Massachusetts and many debates in the General Court. The people of Massachusetts were very unwilling at first to allow the separation, but finally left the decision wholly with Maine. There was still the struggle in
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Congress, but under a compromise Maine was admitted as a free state to offset the admission of Missouri, and on March 15, 1820, the separation from Massachusetts became complete.
A constitutional convention was at once held in Portland and only 796 votes were cast in the new State against the constitution there drawn up. William King of Bath became the first Gov- . ernor, receiving 21,083 votes of the 22,014 cast. The tempo- rary seat of government was Portland and in 1827 Augusta was made the permanent capital, other places which presented claims for the honor being Belfast, Wiscasset, Brunswick and Hallo- well. When Maine became a State in 1820 its population was 298,335 and it contained nine counties and 236 towns. The population in 1790 was 96,540; in 1800 it was 151,719, and in 1810 it was 228,705. At each census since Maine's admission as a State its census has been as follows: 1830, 399,455; 1840, 501,793 ; 1850, 583,169; 1860, 628,279; 1870, 626,915; 1880, 648,936; 1890, 661,086; 1900, 694,466. In 1900 Maine ranked 30th among the States of the Union in population.
In the second war with Great Britain Maine bore an important part. A Maine man, Gen. Henry Dearborn of Gardiner, was at first the commander-in-chief of the national army, and -Maine's quota of the troops called for was 2,500 men. The famous naval battle in which the American brig Enterprise captured the Brit- ish brig Boxer, occurred Sept. 5, 1813, off the mouth of the Kennebec. The British early invaded eastern Maine, capturing Eastport, Castine, Belfast, Machias, Frankfort, Hampden, Ban- gor and other towns. The few companies of militia could offer little resistance to the thousands of British regulars. At Bangor the enemy burned 14 vessels, carried others away and plun- dered much public and private property. Although the treaty of peace was signed Dec. 24, 1814, the British did not evacuate Castine until the following April. The "cold year" of 1816 was almost as much of a blow to Maine as the war had been. There was snow in every month, the crops were complete fail-
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ures and it is estimated that about 15,000 people moved out of the State, most of them going westward to Ohio.
After Maine's admission to the Union in 1820 prosperity reigned and the State made substantial progress. The first event of general historic interest was the dispute over the north- eastern boundary, commonly called the "Aroostook War" or "Madawaska War." The line had long been in dispute and was the cause of frequent quarrels among the settlers and lum- bermen of the St. John and St. Croix region. The officials sent to the border by the authorities of Maine and New Brunswick in 1839 came into collision. The militia was called out and there was a mustering of forces by both sides, but through the intercession of Gen. Scott, the head of the United States army, who came to Augusta for the purpose, it was decided to refer the question to arbitration, and thus the threatened bloodshed was averted. By the Ashburton treaty of 1842, Daniel Webster being the American commissioner, the line was fixed greatly to the advantage of Maine, and the State received $200,000 as reimbursement for the expenses incurred in defending the integ- rity of American territory. After the signing of this treaty in 1842 the small body of United States troops which had been kept at Houlton since 1826 was withdrawn and the post aban- doned.
After years of temperance agitation Maine led the way in legislation on this subject. In 1851 Governor Hubbard signed the famous "Maine Law" which had been drawn by Mayor Neal Dow of Portland and passed by the Legislature through his efforts. This was the first prohibition law, enacted by any state, and after being made more stringent in later years its principle was embodied in the fifth amendment to the constitution which was adopted in 1884. In recent years there have been vigorous assaults upon Maine's prohibition policy and attempts to have the question of constitutional prohibition resubmitted to the people, but without success.
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No state in the Union had a more glorious record in the Civil War than Maine. From Bull Run, where one-fourth of the Federal troops were volunteers from Maine, to Appomattox, where Gen. Chamberlain of Maine received the sword of Lee in surrender, the sons of Maine were always at the front and did their part. No state in proportion to its population sent more men to the defense of the Union. Over 70,000 Maine men enlisted under the old flag. There were over 30 full regi- ments of infantry, two of cavalry, one double regiment of heavy artillery, several batteries and hundreds of men who went into the navy, and when the regiments after long service were deci- mated by battle and disease they were recruited again and again. No regiments had heavier losses in battle than some of those from Maine. Maine regiments were the first to carry back the flag to South Carolina and Texas. No Maine regiment lost its colors in dishonor, or brought them back with any other stain upon them than the life blood of their defenders. The State has no more precious possession than those returned Maine battleflags which are treasured at the State House in Augusta.
The financial burden which the war imposed upon Maine is indicated by the growth of the bonded debt of the State from $700,000 in 1860 to over $6,100,000 in 1866, while in every town and city the debt burden was similarly increased. . Moreover, there was such a drain upon the State that its population act- ually decreased in the decade from 1860 to 1870, a misfortune which overtook no other Northern state except New Hampshire. But no figures of troops furnished or of losses in battle, no statistics of increasing debt or decreasing population can meas- ure what those four years of war meant to the patriotic people of Maine-the sorrow, the sacrifice and the suffering, the deso- lated homes and the broken lives.
As to the political history of Maine it may be said briefly that in the early years the State was usually Democratic, and only once, in 1840, was its electoral vote cast for the Whig presi-
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dential candidate. Since the formation of the Republican party in 1856, a movement in which Maine took a leading part, the State has been emphatically Republican at every presidential election, and also at every gubernatorial election except those of 1878 and 1880 when a fusion of the Democrats and the Green- back party succeeded in electing their candidate for Governor. The Governor chosen in 1878 was Alonzo Garcelon of Lewis- ton, and in 1879, when another election was held, Governor Garcelon, desirous of gaining the Legislature for his party, seized every opportunity afforded by the irregular way in which the election returns were then handled to refuse certificates to Republican candidates and seat Democrats in their place. In this way a Democratic majority was secured and the Legislature was organized. The Republicans, gaining possession of the State [ House, organized a rival body, and proceeded to elect Daniel F. Davis as Governor since no candidate had received a majority at the polls. Feeling was intense throughout the State and Augusta became an armed camp. Peace was preserved by the militia until a decision of the Supreme Court established the legality of the Republican Legislature: This affair of the "State Steal" or "Count Out," as it is referred to, was a crisis in the history of Maine and it is little less than a miracle that bloodshed was averted. In 1880 the system of annual elections was given up and the present system of biennial elections adopted.
In the years that have passed since the Civil War Maine has enjoyed a progress that has been steady and substantial. The gain in population has not been great, only about 100,000 in 40 years, for this State, in common with the others of New Eng- land, has suffered from a declining birthrate among the old stock and has seen for many years a continuous procession of its sons and daughters departing for the great cities and for all sections of the West. Factors in the increase of population have been the Swedish immigration to Aroostook and the influx
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of French Canadians to the manufacturing centers. The for- mer began in 1870, through the efforts of Hon. W. W. Thomas, Jr., of Portland, and the hardy, industrious and sober Scandi- navians, with their descendants, have been an important factor in the development of the great Aroostook region. The earliest European element, not English, to be introduced was the German colony brought in by Samuel Waldo who, in 1739, founded the town of Waldoboro. The Irish began to come in as laborers a century later with the beginnings of railroad con- struction. The Canadian immigrants have confined themselves largely to the cotton manufacturing centers of Lewiston, Bidde- ford, Augusta and Waterville. In this connection it is of inter- est to note that of the 15,878 births in Maine in 1907, 9,452 were the children of American parents and 3,265 the children of for- eig-born parents, while in 2,891 cases one of the parents was foreign-born. In the same year there were 11,427 deaths in the State, 6,498 marriages and 787 divorces.
The material prosperity of Maine is indicated by the State valuation for 1907 which was given by the State assessors as $354,516,848. This was a gain of $72,640,047 in the preceding decade. Of the valuation in 1907 about 45 per cent was in the 20 cities of the State. In 1907 the 52 savings banks of Maine held deposits of $85,382,447, representing the savings of 225,346 depositors. This takes no account of the many millions depos- ited in the savings departments of the trust companies and national banks. It is an eloquent evidence of the thrift and industry of our Maine people and is a showing which few states can approach. Ten years earlier the 52 savings banks had deposits of $57,476,895 in the names of 163,115 depositors. The bonded debt of the State, which was $6,100,000 at the close of the Civil War, has been reduced to $334,000 in 1908 and will soon be wholly wiped out. Of the 521 municipalities of the State-20 cities, 428 towns and 73 plantations-280 are in 1908
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without a dollar of municipal debt and a large share of the others are nearly free from debt.
The shipbuilding industry which was so important on our coast for generations, and in which Maine long held first place among the states, has declined in recent years, and the cutting of ice for export is no longer a thriving business. Along other industrial lines, however, there has been increasing prosperity. The development of the pulp and paper business has been followed by more extensive operations in the Maine woods. Although forests still cover about three-fourths of the area of Maine, the primeval growth of pine for which the State was famed has long since disappeared. It is the vast spruce tracts that supply the great pulp mills and the many saw mills on the rivers of the State. There are also extensive manufactures in hardwood. Agriculture is on a far better basis than in earlier years, and much more attention is paid to dairying, orcharding and potato raising. Over 95 per cent of Maine's 60,000, farms are owned by the men who till them. Maine ranks second among the states in granite production and high in its general mineral resources. In its fisheries it has more persons employed than any other New England state, nearly 20,000 according to the latest figures. Cotton mills are the leading industries in several cities on the Saco, Androscoggin and Kennebec, and woolen mills, lumber mills, shoe factories and general manu- facturing establishments prosper in all parts of the State, though only a very small part of the water power is yet utilized. The steam railroads of the State, which began in 1836 with the little road from Bangor to Old Town, have in 1908 a total of 2,145 miles and there are also 384 miles of electric road.
The development of Maine's summer resort business within the past generation and the increasing appreciation of the value of its fish and game resources have been an important factor in the prosperity of the State. Maine, with its unrivaled summer climate, its 3,000 miles of magnificent coast line, its 1,600 beau-
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tiful lakes, its 5,000 rivers and streams, its vast and unbroken forests, its rugged mountains and its many picturesque villages among the hills and ponds, has won the name of "the nation's summer playground," and thousands upon thousands of vaca- tionists and tourists, hunters and fishermen, seekers for rest and lovers of Nature at her best are thronging within our borders each summer, adding many millions of dollars yearly to the rev- enues of our people. There are summer colonies all along the coast and at a hundred inland points, and the names of scores of Maine's summer resorts are familiar throughout the land. This annual invasion of summer visitors is solving in large measure the "abandoned farm" problem of a few years ago.
From the earliest colonial times the cause of education has been dear to the hearts of the people of Maine. When the State was admitted in 1820 there were 24 incorporated academies within its borders and others were established later. Many of these, the oldest and strongest, survive, though the free high school law, which dates from 1873, proved a death blow to a large part of the academies. One of the first laws of the new State was that requiring every town to raise not less than 40 cents annually per inhabitant for school purposes. The State has long had a compulsory attendance law covering the ages from 7 to 15, and few states have a lower rate of illiteracy. The old district plan of school supervision has given way to town management and to management by two or more towns uniting for the purpose. In 1907 the whole number of those of school age in the State, 5 years to 21, was 209,950; the num- ber of different scholars registered in the public schools during the year was 131,671. There were 3,989 public schoolhouses in the State and the estimated value of the school property was $6,151,746. The amount expended on the public schools of the State in 1907 was $2,040,285. There were 4,698 female teach- ers and 460 male teachers employed. The State maintains Normal schools at Farmington, Castine, Gorham and Presque
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Isle and there are Normal departments at several seminaries and institutes. The institutions of higher education are Bowdoin College at Brunswick, dating from 1794; Colby College, which was established as Waterville College in 1820; Bates College at Lewiston, established in 1863, and the University of Maine at Orono which has developed from the Maine State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts which was established in 1868. There are also the Bangor Theological Seminary at Bangor, dating from 1814, and St. Mary's College at Van Buren, established in 1887.
But the greatest glory of Maine is not in its civil history, its military record, its political institutions, its industrial develop- ment, its educational progress, its material prosperity, its wealth of resources or its natural attractions. These things are themes for chapters in the story of our State, and the knowledge of them makes us love it more, but the proudest boast of Maine is the sons it has given to the world. These are the real test of a state's greatness, and measured by such a test the State of Maine has justified its motto of "Dirigo." Let us mention briefly a few of the great names that Maine can claim, names which the world knows and which the passing years will not dim.
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To statesmanship and the great realm of public affairs Maine has given Sir William Phipps, George Evans, Sargent Prentiss, Jonathan Cilley, William Pitt Fessenden, John A. Andrew, Hannibal Hamlin, Lot M. Morrill, the Washburn brothers, Hugh McCullogh, James G. Blaine, Nathan Clifford, Luther Severance, Thomas B. Reed, Nelson Dingley, Jr., Melville Wes- ton Fuller, William P. Frye, Eugene Hale, Charles E. Littlefield, John D. Long, Alfred E. Buck, United States minister to Japan, W. W. Thomas, Jr., long our minister to Sweden, Frank S. Black, governor of New York, DeAlva S. Alexander, the senior in service of the present New York congressional delegation, Senators Felch of Michigan, Grover of Oregon, Washburn of
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Minnesota, Gibson of Montana and Perkins of California, Gov- ernor Dole of Hawaii, Governor Pingree of Michigan, and scores of others who have attained eminence in public office in this and in many other states as governors, as members of Con- gress, as judges and in various offices of distinction. No other state ever produced such a family as the Washburn family of Livermore. This one family gave to the public service one ยท United States senator, four members of Congress from four different states, two foreign ministers, two governors of two different states, one major general in the army and one captain in the navy.
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