USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Freeport > Three centuries of Freeport, Maine > Part 17
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Mr. Townsend's home was in the old village of Mast Land- ing, but his active duties of later life were in the Square where he maintained his office as surveyor and justice.
One of the best known merchants of post civil war days was William A. Davis. His partnership with William Gore links him with the older days when the firm name was Holbrook & Gore. When Edmund B. Mallet bought the business Mr. Davis remained as one of the managers. After Mr. Mallet closed out Mr. Davis formed a partnership with Stephen Mitchell, under the name of W. A. Davis & Co.
A tale has come down to us of the time when Mr. Davis was town treasurer. In those days the state paid a bounty of $1.00 on each seal's nose and this payment was made through the town treasurer. One day two Indians came to Mr. Davis with two hundred and five of these noses, which they said had come from the vicinity of islands not belonging to Freeport. When payment was refused, the Indians changed their story and said that the seals had been killed about French's and Bustin's Is- lands. This change of story appeared suspicious to Mr. Davis and he at once consulted experts on the matter. The latter de- cided that the noses in question were not as nature had made them but had been manufactured from those parts of the seals' bodies whereon bristles grew. The making of artificial seal
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Some Short Biographies
noses must have been quite a paying industry for the Indians about that time, for it is said that other towns paid heavy bounties that year, probably because their treasurers were not so keen as Mr. Davis.
Henry Lyman Koopman was born in Freeport, July 1, 1860, in the first house on the righthand side of the Ward Town road after leaving United States Highway 1. This house, built in 1799, has been remodeled inside and is now owned by Harry Noble.
Mr. Koopman was one of three to graduate in the first class of Freeport High School, 1876, and entered Colby University, now Colby College, that fall, graduating in the class of 1880. From 1880 to 1891 he was connected with the libraries of Cornell, Columbia, Rutgers and the University of Vermont. In 1892 and 1893 he was at Harvard University, earning his Master's degree and then for thirty-seven years was librarian of Brown University. Upon retirement he became editorial writer for The Providence Journal until his death, December 27, 1938. Mr. Koopman left a number of published volumes of prose and poetry. Some of his poems were written for and read at public happenings in Freeport, two of which are quoted in this book.
Of William H. Stockbridge, who was killed by a train at Freeport Station in February, 1903, it was said by W. R. Chap- man, of the Maine Musical Festivals, that he was one of the very best musicians that Maine has ever produced. Mr. Stock- bridge was soloist, conductor and teacher, in which capacity he is said to have excelled and maintained a studio in Portland.
Edward Clarence Plummer, a native of Freeport, at his death in 1932 left a $5,000 Educational Trust Fund to Freeport High School for the encouragement of scholarship. Mr. Plum- mer was born here November 23, 1863, and although he lived only a few years in Freeport, he never lost his interest in the town where four generations of his family had lived. Like the men of many of Freeport's families, his father and grandfather were ship carpenters and during his boyhood in Yarmouth he saw the last of wooden shipbuilding in this vicinity. Quite naturally then as a man he was interested in shipping and be- came Vice-Chairman of the Shipping Board, in which capacity he did his utmost to revive our moribund commerce.
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
The first of the Freeport Plummers, Jeremiah, came from Portland. His son, also Jeremiah, built among others the brig Shamrock, just where is not known. Mr. Plummer says of this second Jeremiah (his grandfather), that he was like some of those men pictured by Elijah Kellogg, a natural mechanic and a workman skilled in the use of all kinds of tools. When in the 1850's he had acquired a competence and had seen his sons settled on their portions of the large farm which had come to the family as a section of the Brown family grant, he began to enjoy himself according to his own ideas. He built a large joiner's shop where he made carts, wheels and pungs, at times varying this with finer cabinetwork which he did for himself and his neighbors. In his blacksmith shop where he shod oxen and did the ordinary jobs of ironwork, he also had a turning lathe on which he made four poster beds. There was a small stream flowing through his pasture and upon it he built a little mill and equipped it with an up and down saw. With this out- fit he sawed boards and material for picket and rail fences as well as carts and sleds.
When death caused Jeremiah Plummer to lay aside his tools his son, Solomon H. Plummer who was also the father of E. C. Plummer, went to live in the homestead and remained there until the problem of educating his six children arose. As the schools were better in Yarmouth than in Ward Town and the shipyards offered an opportunity for employment, Mr. Plum- mer moved his family to that place. While the rest of Edward C. Plummer's life was spent away from Freeport, he never lost interest in his native town.
Fifty or more years ago Rev. Daniel Lane was a prominent figure in the religious life of the town. A former pastor of the Congregational denomination and educator, the field of his life work was Iowa to which he and his wife went from Freeport when he was graduated from theological school. At the close of his active life he returned to Freeport and here made his home until the year of his death.
Keosauqua, Iowa, was the scene of his first pastorate which began in 1844 with a membership of five. Out of his salary of $400 he contributed $120 towards a church building and so inspired his parishioners that the building was erected and dedicated without debt.
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Some Short Biographies
In Freeport Rev. and Mrs. Lane are still remembered by the older people and especially by former neighbors at Porter's Landing where they lived. Mr. Lane died in 1889 and his wife a few years later.
XXXI ORGANIZATIONS
T HE G. W. Randall Post No. 98 G. A. R., was organized as the J. A. Fessenden Post on October 10, 1885, by Silas Adams of Waterville, as Assistant Adjutant-General, with twenty-two charter members, as follows: J. H. Banks, C. M. Chase, - -- Everett, G. W. Warren, P. W. Wing, T. J. Mann, J. D. Curtis, A. J. Soule, S. E. Cushing, Henry Green, Albion Allen, B. C. Allen, E. C. Banks, W. H. Stockbridge, B. F. Soule, Andrew Brackett, J. M. Bishop, Albert Ward, Albion Ward, G. M. Townsend and Eben Patterson.
In 1899 the name was changed to the present one in honor of Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Randall, the highest ranking officer from Freeport. Colonel Randall enlisted as a private in the 25th Maine Volunteers on September 8, 1862, and on the seventeenth was elected Captain of Company G of that regi- ment. He served with his regiment in Virginia until the expi- ration of its term of service and was mustered out at Portland on the eleventh of July, 1863. In August of that year he was au- thorized by Governor Coburn to raise a company for a new regiment, to be commanded by Colonel Francis Fessenden, and on the seventh of November he was again mustered into service as Captain of Company E, 30th Maine Regiment. He served with that regiment through all its engagements, partici- pating in the Red River campaign and, at the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, was severely wounded. In June, 1864, he was promoted to Major and in July, 1865, was further promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy and served in that capacity until mustered out. He was afterward breveted Major-General. He later took part in civil life as selectman, member of the legis- lature and of the Governor's Council, dying in Richmond, Virginia, in 1897.
Many of the Freeport men served in the 25th or 30th and some in both. The largest number of members in the Post was seventy-two, in 1903 there were forty-seven. By 1906 the mem- bership had been reduced to thirty-five and 1939 there are but two veterans surviving in Freeport. Both of them are well along in the nineties.
The Post met the first and third Saturdays of each month in
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Organizations
quarters provided in the town hall, until lack of surviving members caused a cessation of activities. From the establish- ment of Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) by General Logan, the members decorated the graves of their comrades as long as they were able.
The Women's Relief Corps, formed in connection with the Post, is still active.
The monument which stands in the park on the Bow Street side of the town hall, honors the largest body of men which Freeport has contributed to any of the wars waged by this country since its beginning. This memorial commemorates the ideals for which they fought, even though none of their names are carved upon it. The statue is clothed in the uniform of the infantryman of that war and the cannon mounted before it may have been field guns assigned to one of the great armies, though their history has become lost. Originally these guns are said to have belonged to the Yarmouth Post of the G. A. R. The shells supplied by the government to accompany the cannon are of a different calibre, but were dangerous missiles when they represented the highest development of projectiles.
The committee appointed for the erection of this monu- ment was made up of Otis L. Coffin, L. D. Huntress and George A. Miller. Mr. Coffin is still active at his home at Por- ter's Landing and is often seen in the village, although ninety- six years old. The commander of the G. A. R. Post at the time of the dedication of the monument, Floris E. Gould, passed away during the winter of 1939. While one other veteran makes his home in Freeport, at least a part of the time, he did not enter the service from this town.
Dedication of the monument occurred on May 26, 1906, and shared space in the newspapers with the Bartol Library, which was dedicated the same day. G. W. Randall Post No. 98, G. A. R. under Post Commander Floris E. Gould, conducted the exercises and the orator of the day was General Joshua L. Chamberlain, one time President of Bowdoin College and Governor of Maine. It would be possible to quote from an ab- stract of the speech which General Chamberlain made that day, but the General himself meant so much more to the listening veterans than what he said, that it is not amiss to tell some- thing of the man.
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
In 1862 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 20th Maine Volunteers and so distinguished himself in action that he became Colonel. At Gettysburg he and the 20th Maine held the left of the line and captured Round Top. So important was the part which they played that the regiment received the per- sonal and official thanks of brigade, division and corps com- manders and Colonel Chamberlain was recommended for pro- motion to the rank of Brigadier-General. Although Colonel Chamberlain served as Brigadier, this recommendation was not acted upon until June 18, 1864, when at the close of an ac- tion in which he was severely wounded he was promoted upon the field by General Grant, an unprecedented act. In com- mand of a division, he was in the last struggle at Appomattox and was delegated by General Grant to receive the formal sur- render of Lee's army.
Even the Harraseeket Band which furnished music on the day of dedication was of Civil War origin, for it was founded by a veteran in 1867, as is told on another page.
A charter was granted the J. Arthur Stowell Post, No. 83, by the American Legion on January 16, 1920, with a charter membership of sixteen veterans of the World War. The name of the Post was given in honor of J. Arthur Stowell, who died at Xivery, in France, under circumstances which caused the award of a decoration by the French government.
We give the official statement: "Stowell, Arthur J. (De- ceased), 69811, Private Headquarters Company, 103rd Infan- try, 26th Division, French Croix de Guerre with gilt star, under Order No. 1145 'D' dated November 9, 1918, French Armies of the North and Northeast, with the following cita- tion: 'He volunteered as litter bearer and displayed the great- est indifference to danger in giving aid to his comrades under a most violent bombardment. Was mortally wounded in ac- complishing this mission.' "
J. Arthur Stowell was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Stowell, of Freeport, and at the time of his enlistment was a student at Colby College, having fitted at Freeport High School. In the official records his name is incorrectly given as Arthur J. Stowell.
Since its foundation the Legion Post has taken on the duties of the G. A. R. in deorating and caring for not only their own com- rades' graves but for those of the veterans of other wars as well.
J. Arthur Stowell, for whom Legion Post is named
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Organizations
The Freeport Park Association which held its first annual fair and exhibition in the fall of 1895, had its grounds on Pleas- ant Street, a short distance from Main Street on the lefthand side. Each year there was a display of farm products, fruit, veg- etables and stock, also rugs, quilts, preserves, etc., for the best of which prizes were awarded. Interest in horse racing was quite general at that time and there were many excellent horses entered each year in the trotting events. The race track is still visible, although all buildings have disappeared. Shares in this Association were $10.00 each, but in 1903 they were re- duced to $1.50. The following list of officers for that year and their titles, indicates the various attractions of the fair:
President, HARRY MERRILL Vice-President, F. S. SOULE
Secretary, BENJAMIN COFFIN Treasurer, W. A. DAVIS
Directors: HARRY MERRILL, S. H. FITTS, RALPH MERRILL, JOHN LUNT, H. L. COFFIN
Division Superintendents
Hall, G. A. MILLER, MRS. L. A. CHANDLER
Grounds, HARRY MERRILL
Horses, E. F. MORTON
Stock, H. J. DAVIS
Tickets, S. H. FITTS
Grand Stand, RALPH MERRILL
Marshal, H. L. COFFIN
Track, E. H. MORTON
In 1905 The Freeport Agricultural Society was organized to take the place of the Freeport Park Association and the fair which was held was the eleventh in Freeport.
Freeport Lodge of Masons was chartered in 1816 by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and was separated from that jurisdiction when the Grand Lodge of Maine was chartered in 1820.
Many of the original members were master mariners, who from their foreign contacts no doubt learned to appreciate the value of membership. In fact, we learn that one local captain, Joseph Porter, received his degrees in Liverpool, England, in
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
1807. As the records of Freeport Lodge include his name, he probably changed his affiliations.
There was an unreasoning and unreasonable hostility to Masonry a hundred years ago, which caused many lodges to surrender their charters, but that of Freeport Lodge was re- tained and the members met and continued their organization. Fire, however, consumed both records and charter when their hall was destroyed in 1844, so that in 1847 it became necessary to obtain another charter and start anew.
The first meeting place was at Mast Landing in the ell of the large dwelling now standing between the bridges. Beside the hall on Main Street, burned in 1844, there were several other places where meetings were held up to 1874, when the Lodge built the present hall on the corner of Middle and Mechanic Streets. In his report for 1874 Deputy District Grand Master, James H. Hayes says of this hall: "that it compared favorably with any of its size in the State."
Harraseeket Grange Number 9 Patrons of Husbandry is the successor of the first Grange organized in Cumberland County. This Grange was chartered March 24, 1874, at North Freeport in a hall over the store of H. Ward & Brother, then located on the Ward Town road, beyond the Free Will Baptist Church. Four years later a change was made to the store build- ing of David Townsend near the Durham line. Soon interest waned and the charter was turned back to the State Grange.
In 1901 the Grange was reorganized in Freeport village and for nearly twenty years met in the hall of the Knights of Pythias. Again attendance dropped and meetings for a few years were held at the residence of Past Master J. T. Griffin. About 1923 Harraseeket Grange moved back to Pythias Hall, where it still remains. Since that time the membership has approached three hundred and the Grange has experienced prosperity. Otis Coffin is the oldest member in Cumberland County Pomona.
The Freeport Woman's Club was organized September, 1922, as the Business and Professional Women's Club, reorgan- ized under the title of Freeport Woman's Club September, 1926, and federated October, 1926. It has today a membership of about sixty.
The Club is divided into departments, one of which, the Village Improvement Department, has helped to build side-
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Organizations
walks, taken an active part in a street cleaning campaign and has made and maintains a park on Bow Street. The Service De- partment is a social service unit, while the Educational Depart- ment assists the schools by the giving of prizes, books or equip- ment. The Garden Department sponsors an annual "Cleanup Day" and as a part of its work has improved several places in the village with landscaping. Each year a flower show is held under its auspices in the rooms maintained by the Club. These quarters are sublet by the House Department, frequently at no charge when used for community betterment.
There is also a Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and a Lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Freeport.
Freeporters of years ago were musically inclined. When the Civil War was over one of the returned veterans, Henry Miller, organized a band of the following members: Henry Miller, In- structor, Henry Davis, Leader, Frank Davis, Ansel Davis, Will Davis, Harris Cushing, Dana Cushing, Henry Cushing, Ed Soule, E. S. Soule, George E. Soule, George A. Soule, John Kendall, Charles Chase, Benjamin Chandler, Jerry Talbot, El- roy Libby and Harlan Dennison, which was known as the Harraseeket Band.
A bandstand was built in front of the present Oxnard or Sylvester Block and frequent concerts were given. The band made a striking appearance in uniforms of blue frock coats, gold striped trousers and caps with white plumes. In the eighties features of political campaigns were torchlight parades with plenty of music.
A second band was organized under the leadership of Sam- uel Cushing in 1880, but both were disbanded in the late 1880's.
The Harraseeket Band was revived in 1906 with the follow- ing membership: H. E. Davis, G. A. Davis, J. F. Davis, B. F. Davis, Charles S. Davis, Henry Cushing, William Soule, Clar- ence Soule, Melvin Soule, Edward Griffin, Charles Chase, Charles Fisher, Herman Fisher, Fred Soule, Marshall Bond, Levi Patterson, Clifford Mitchell.
An early unit of the Freeport Fire Department was known as the Freeport Hook and Ladder Company. This Company appears to have contemplated disbanding in 1852, according to the following notice:
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine "April 6, 1852
Members of the Freeport Hook and Ladder Co. are re- quested to meet at their House in Freeport on Tuesday the 13th at 6 P.M. for the following:
1 To choose a chairman for said meeting.
2 To choose a clerk for said meeting.
3 To choose a committee to find and make an inventory of all property belonging to said Company.
4 To instruct said committee on any subject thought best.
5 To see if the Company will sell their house and all other property belonging to them.
6 To see if a committee will divide the money the pro- ceeds of the sale of their property or take any other course to dispose of the same.
Freeport, April 6, 1852 SETH BAILEY, JR., Per Order."
XXXII
RELIGION
E are told that the early settlers favored the Episcopal faith and since the charter granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason stipulated that the Episcopal Church should be the state church of the Province of Maine it may be inferred that any receiving grants from them were probably of that faith.
William Morrill, a clergyman, was appointed to superintend the setting up of the established church, but was reported to be "ineffectual." Other clergymen served in the Province but the Indian wars drove them out and the power of Massachusetts, which obtained control in 1652, prevented further activity on the part of the Church of England.
Under Massachusetts law every town above a certain popula- tion must support a minister by taxation and provide a minis- terial lot. In many towns, newly settled, a farm was also re- served to become the permanent property of the first settled pastor. The early pastors were usually graduates of Harvard or of English or Scotch universities. As a rule they were well fitted for the leading place which a minister occupied, since he was a town official. Usually they were Congregationalists, but some were Presbyterian.
Freeport shared in the ministrations of pastors of North Yar- mouth until 1789, then supported her own by general taxation, until the admission of Maine to statehood did away with com- pulsory support. The Congregational church continued to tax its own membership for some years and even now the church uses the same form in the warrant for the parish meetings as the town does in that for town meetings. Before 1820 Baptists, Methodists and Universalists were living in Freeport and in some instances taxed for the support of a denomination with which they were not in sympathy.
However, the historian Williamson states that in Maine church membership was never a requisite of citizenship.
Congregational meetinghouses were built by the towns un- til after Maine became independent. It is said that the last was built about 1816 in Winslow, in the part locally termed "The Fort." The early meetinghouse in Freeport, built in 1774, was
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
also built by the town, but its successors in 1818 and 1895 were erected by the denomination. Adoption of the state constitu- tion in 1820 automatically severed all connection between church and state, for that document favored neither creed nor color.
Reforms should begin in the church if there is fault there. Nowhere is that better illustrated than in the attitude of the Freeport Congregational church in the temperance cause. When the second minister of the church, Rev. Samuel Veazie, was installed on December 10, 1806, the visiting brothers were entertained according to the prevailing custom, which in- cluded satisfying hunger and thirst as well as providing lodg- ings for man and beast. There is a bill in existence rendered by Robert Kendall, which shows the cost and extent of that enter- tainment. It is as follows:
To 26 suppers $ 8-66
15 lodgings 1-88
23 breakfasts
7-66
crackers, cheese & cyder
6-25
31 dinners
15-50
14 lodgings
1-75
15 breakfasts 5-00
segars 3-50
To 16 horses to hay from Tues. to Wed. $24-00
4 horses Wed. 1-50
31/2 bu. of Proender 7-00
18 pints wine 9-00
brandy
6-75
rum
3-50
gin
2-25
4 dozzen bitters
2-00
$106.20
From Monday night to Wednesday morning "mine host" charged $106.20 for all forms of entertainment. The faithful horses received attention to the value of $32.50, while the liquor and tobacco bill, not including "cyder," was $27.00. Such was the custom and we do not presume to criticize.
However, twenty-seven years later the same church voted to
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Religion
exclude from membership all who sold intoxicating liquors or used them, except as a medicine.
On February 14, 1789, Freeport was made a distinct parish by order of the Massachusetts authorities and December 21 of
.
F. Gross
Congregational Church, 1889
the same year the First Congregational church was organized. A part of the original members came from the church at North Yarmouth, so this old society might well be called the daughter of the North Yarmouth society.
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
The first pastor, Rev. Alfred Johnson, was installed Decem- ber 21, 1789, and served about sixteen years. The second pas- tor, Rev. Samuel Veazie, served from 1806 to 1809. In the lat- ter year while ill in bed on a winter night the house caught fire and although he was removed to safety did not survive the ex- posure. The records he had kept during his ministry were also destroyed in the fire.
During the pastorate of Rev. Enos Merrill, from 1816 to 1830, the original meetinghouse, said to have been built in 1774 and located in Yarmouth Street, near the old burying ground, was torn down with the intention of building again on the same spot. But in May, 1818, however, a new house was raised nearer the centre of the village. When just finished it was destroyed by fire and though much discouraged the parish be- gan again to build. In September of the same year the frame of the second meetinghouse was raised and on February 25, 1819, this new building was finished. Prominent in carrying forward the work were the Porter families, for whom Porter's Landing was named.
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