USA > Maine > Hancock County > Traditions and records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert island, Maine > Part 26
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In 1816 Joseph Higgins married Betsey Hamor and settled on lot No. 5 near where E. B. Higgins now lives. He after- wards purchased lot No. 6. In 1817 Samuel Higgins married Lavina Snow and settled on lot No. 1 of said town land. In 1815 Ephraim Higgins sold out to James and William Hamor and the next year moved to the town of Fairfield, Kennebec County. About the same time Prince Mayo sold out to Thomas Mayo and moved to Pittsfield in the same county. With these two exceptions I believe, the original settlers spent their lives and died where they first settled.
In 1817 Wm. Hamor married Experience Mayo and settled on the Ephraim Higgins place. After this, a few years, James
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Hamor sold his part of all the land he owned on Town Hill to Thomas Knowles. These were the first settlers of Town Hill, a hardy, resolute set of men and women, who went into the wilder- ness, built themselves homes, working and faring hard for the benefit of their posterity as well as themselves.
T. H. in Bar Harbor Record, 1888-9.
Town Hill received its name from a tract of land consisting of 450 acres claimed by the town of Mount Desert when the whole Island was included in one town. It came into possession of Eden when that town was set off from Mount Desert and in- corporated as a town. The proceeds from the sale of this land were to be a fund and the interest used "for support of the gospel and schools."
HALL QUARRY
Hall Quarry is situated on the western shore of Somes Sound between Somesville and Southwest Harbor. These quarries be- gan operation in 1870 under Cyrus J. Hall of Belfast who carried on the granite business the remainder of his life. He is credited with inventing the stone-cutting saw and the remains of the first one may still be seen. Unfortunately this saw was not a com- mercial success as it used an expensive abrasive and present day saws use something less costly.
The texture of Mount Desert granite is very fine and it takes a high and lasting polish. Many well known buildings have been constructed with this stone, a few of which are: the Bank of Commerce at St. Louis, the Omaha Court House, the piers and approaches to Manhattan Bridge, the lower part of the Philadelphia Custom House, the United States Mint at Phila- delphia, including the stone lions which guard the entrance, and a number of the government buildings at Washington, D. C. Some of this granite has also been used in the building at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.
It is said that in the early days of the operation of the Quar- ries, before their product had become well known, two young
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Philadelphia contractors were studying plans for a building in their city whose specifications called for "Somes Sound granite." The young men, never having heard of Somes Sound, concluded that it meant "some sound granite" and although somewhat puz- zled by the expression, made their bids accordingly, only to learn their mistake after their bid had been accepted at a much lower figure than other bidders who understood the meaning of the phrase.
At the present time the quarries are not in operation but in the decade between 1880 and 1890 nearly 800 men were employed there and the little settlement was a busy place. The use of cement came into common practice and now the great derricks are idle except as small contracts for stone come in from time to time.
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND PEOPLE HELPED TO BUY MOUNT VERNON
It has been forgotten by many that the whole country con- tributed to the fund for the purchase of Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, as a national shrine and that the people of Mount Desert Island did their part.
Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham of Philadelphia was National Regent of the Association and Mrs. Abba Isabelle Little of Port- land was Regent for Maine. Mrs. Charles Jarvis of Ellsworth had charge of the work for Hancock County and when illness in her family made it impossible for her to carry out her plans, Mr. Jarvis took it up and collected the funds for her.
The scheme for purchasing Mount Vernon originated with a patriotic woman of Virginia, who organized the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. On April 6, 1858, a contract was signed between John A. Washington, proprietor of Mount Vernon, and the Regent of the Association, by which the Mansion and Tomb of Washington and 200 acres of land were to become the prop- erty of the nation.
The title was to be held by the Association and the property transferred on the payment of $200,000. All interest on said sum to be remitted should the whole amount be paid on the 22nd of February, 1859, the anniversary of the birth of the Father
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of his Country. The property had been allowed to fall into decay and the additional sum of $300,000 was necessary for re- pairs, improvements and preservation of the estate. The hero- ism of that band of women in assuming such a responsibility as the collecting of such a sum of money, is worthy of great admi- ration. The nation owes them a debt of gratitude for preserv- ing to posterity such a patriotic shrine. Branches were formed in all the States of the Union and money collected from all parts of the country until the necessary sum had been obtained and paid and Mount Vernon was the property of the Nation. The towns in Hancock County subscribed as follows :
Trenton, pop. 1205, sub. $68.10 Otis, pop. 124, sub. $6.60 Tremont, pop. 1425, sub. $59.30 Cranberry Isles, pop. 283, sub. $11.00 Surry, pop. 1189, sub. $46.05 Ellsworth, pop. 4009, sub. $150.00 Total, $341.05
Other subscriptions not credited, swelled the fund to $389.20, which was the sum donated by Hancock County toward the pur- chase of Washington's home at Mount Vernon. Following are the names of the subscribers from the western section of Mount Desert Island :
Mrs. Nancy C. Cousins, Mrs. Harriet M. Benson, Miss Irene B. Cousins, Miss Henrietta L. Tinker, Mrs. Joan H. Lurvey, Mary A. Newbury, Mrs. Rachel C. Allen, Levi B. Wyman, Mrs. Rachel Carroll, Miss Marion Wyman, Mrs. Abigail Gilley, Miss Ann Maria Thurston, Mrs. Mary M. Higgins, Miss Susan Gott, Mrs. Betsey B. Tucker, Mrs. Lewis Freeman, Mrs. Hannah C. Durgain, Colin McRea, Mrs. Mary A. Clark, Miss Lillian Dur- gain, J. Lewis Martin, Mrs. Mary Hodgkins, Miss Freelove M. Martin, Mrs. Lydia Newman, Miss L. Rosetta Martin, Mrs. Catharine Newman, Mrs. Amos Eaton, Mrs. Dolly Newman, William G. Mitchell, Mrs. Hannah C. Haynes, Rhoda R. Rich, Mrs. Emma King, Isiphena M. Holden, Mrs. Abraham Richard- son, Members of Tremont Lodge F. and A. M., Mrs. Frances Mullen, Mrs. A. K. P. Lunt, Moses Richardson, B. B. Reed, James Newbury, S. Webster, James Crockett, C. Robbins, John
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T. Crockett, J. R. Lunt, Miss Ada J. Crockett, Miss Hannah Lopaus, Angus MacDonald, Miss Phebe C. Lopaus, Amanda B. Tinker, Miss Mary Jane Heath, Mrs. Joseph B. Rummill, Miss Mary Murphy, Mrs. Stephen Billings, Mrs. Alfred Harper, Joshua Sawyer, Caleb H. Sawyer, J. B. Walls, Miss Angie S. Ober, Mrs. Rachel A. Fuller, Mrs. William Heath, Master Lewis F. Sawyer.
The women who acted as collectors in Tremont, which then included Southwest Harbor, were Mrs. Cousins, Mrs. Durgain, Mrs. Holden, Mrs. Lunt and Miss Heath.
It gives us an added interest in Mt. Vernon to know that this small section of our great country gave a bit to make possible its purchase and preservation.
SONG AND STORY
"LEGEND IS THE MOTHER OF HISTORY."
"AND THESE ARE ANCIENT THINGS" - - - I Chron. 4-22 "ASK NOW OF THE DAYS THAT ARE PAST WHICH WERE BEFORE THEE." Deut. 4: 32
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HOW SHALL WE PRONOUNCE MOUNT DESERT?
The following poem was published in the Mount Desert Herald in 1882. It deals with the generation-old argument as to whether the accent is placed on the first or the last syllable of the second word in the name of the Island.
A terrible row Is started just now, Which shows William Shakespeare quite lame is, In trying to show (Though better we know) That nothing at all in a name is.
The trouble is this : An aesthetic miss (She is reckoned somewhere in the thirties)
Who has been there, 'tis guessed,
Does loudly protest That the name of the place Mount Desert is.
"Not so", says a chap, Giving table a rap; His feelings are badly, he says, hurt. And outraged his ears, Except when he hears The proper pronouncing Mount Desert.
"You're wrong", says a Third ; "Yes, both on my word ; The name from the French, I declare is, And therefore", says he, " 'Tis as plain as can be The correct way to speak it Dazair is.
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"Och, whilst now", says Pat
"Phut wud yez be at? It's mesilf shure, I think that worst is hurt; Me cousin's been there
And, faith, I can shwear
She towld me the name was Mount Dissert."
THE STORY OF ISABEL ASBELL or THE WRECK OF THE GRAND DESIGN
Seawall, at the southwestern point of Mount Desert Island, is a place visited every summer by thousands of tourists as the full beauty and power of the ocean can be seen on the rocks and ledges on which the foam-crested waves break, even in the days of greatest calm. Perhaps no chapter in the history of Mount Desert Island has more of tragedy than that of the wreck of the ship Grand Design on the Seawall shore in October of the year 1739.
The Grand Design was a ship of two or three hundred tons, which sailed in the spring of that year from Londonderry, Ire- land, with about two hundred passengers on board who were people of wealth and position, many of whom had with them their bond servants. They were bound for Philadelphia to join friends and relatives who had written glowing accounts of the New World and the opportunities to be found there. The cargo was of costly cloth and furnishings in addition to the effects of the passengers, many of whom had with them fine furniture and household treasures.
Among the passengers were two young couples from the north of Ireland; Jack and Isabel Asbell Galloway and David and Mary Scherer. The Galloways had with them their infant son. From these two women the story of the wreck has come down through their descendants.
According to the recollections of these unfortunate young women, the voyage began auspiciously with pleasant weather and high hopes for the future. The two couples had been friends from childhood and the women were less than twenty years old and the husbands but a few years older.
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Their birthplace was near the Giant's Causeway in northern Ireland and the Asbells were descendants of the Scotch Presby- terian settlers. The child of the Galloways was named Robert, for his father's brother who had been impressed in the English navy at an early age and from which he had escaped and fled to America where he had prospered. He had written to his brother Jack, urging him to come to Philadelphia and make his fortune in the New World. Accordingly the young couple and their friends, the Scherers, had taken passage in the Grand Design and sailed in June from Londonderry.
Tales of the happy days on shipboard at the first of the voy- age were told in after years by the two survivors; stories of games, singing and anticipation of life in the new land that made the days pass swiftly.
But as the time passed, storms and adverse winds came up and after some weeks, the captain was forced to admit that he had lost his reckoning and knew not where they were heading. He knew that they must be far off their course and when the worst storm they had yet encountered broke in fury, the hatches were battened down and the terrified passengers huddled together in misery, awaiting the end. Amid the turmoil of the raging storm they lifted their voices in a hymn and sang :
"O God, our help in ages past Our hope for years to come, Our shelter in the stormy blast, And our eternal home."
In the crash of the storm, the raging of winds and waters, the Grand Design struck on the rockbound shores of the south- ern part of Mount Desert Island near what is now known as Ship Harbor and Wonderland. The crew and passengers took to the boats and managed to get to the land, but found it indeed "a stern and rockbound coast." The next morning showed them a scene of wondrous beauty of mountain and sea, but 'their ship was a wreck and they were alone on a desolate coast with the chill of winter upon them.
It seems that all the ship's company of more than two hun- dred souls was saved from the sea and cast on the rough and
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rocky shores of what is now called Seawall. They had but a small store of food, several of their party were women, they knew not the length of the cold season and they were not pre- pared for extreme cold weather. One has but to look at the shores on this part of Mount Desert Island to appreciate the desolation of their situation to which the approaching winter added its terrors.
As soon as the storm abated the men set themselves to salv- age everything possible from the wrecked ship and to build a shelter. The second morning they counselled together and set their bond servants free that all might have equal opportunity. They explored their surroundings and found that they were on an island which was connected with the mainland by a bar which could be passed at low tide. They also made sure that there was no settlement near them and no sign of any occupation by civilized folk. They made their camps as warm as possible, doled out small portions of their food and eked out the supply with clams and fish.
As they knew it would be impossible to spend the winter in this desolate place with their scanty food supply, a hundred of the young, unmarried men volunteered to start out to find a settlement and bring help. So, with the Captain as leader they started out and the brave little band was never heard of again. Their fate can only be a matter of conjecture. Those left behind occupied themselves in strengthening their camps, covering them with the canvas of the ship's sails. They investigated the ship's stores which they had saved and found plenty of blankets and clothing which they divided equally. They explored the vicinity and placed a flag made of a red flannel petticoat on the highest cliff hoping that it might attract the attention of some passing ship. But alas, the European fishing vessels that came to the New England shores in summer had all returned across the sea with their fare and there was small chance of any craft sailing in winter along those bleak and inhospitable shores.
They built ovens of stones for cooking and to heat the cabins, using flat stones for the purpose. Tradition relates one small experience : David and Mary had opened a keg of bacon and were cooking some slices on a large flat rock which David had placed on the red-hot coals when the rock exploded, scattering
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the fragments in all directions, though, luckily, no one was hurt. They laughingly recalled that the same thing had happened be- fore in their childhood days when they were cooking a picnic supper near the Giant's Causeway "under the Giant's bridge" in northern Ireland. Both women in after years told the incident to their grandchildren.
Winter came on, bitter with storms of sleet and snow, the ice sheeted the shores and made it impossible to dig the clams that had made a large part of their food since their landing. Heavy snows came and drifted deep in the woods surrounding them. In her old age Isabel Galloway used to relate these events over and over again. She told of the religious services which the little band held together, and of the beauty of the scene after a snowstorm which, even in their dire extremity, made an impres- sion. In February came a thaw and hope raised itself in their breasts as they supposed the summer was near. But the hope died when the bitter cold once more settled down upon them.
The members of the little company began to succumb from scanty and unaccustomed food, cold and exhaustion and were buried near the cabins. One and then another passed. During the warm wave a few Indians had visited them and exchanged dried venison for cloth. The Indians were friendly but knew no English so they could get no information from them.
The two young husbands had denied themselves food to give an extra amount to their wives and they grew weaker. Jack gave a whole web of fine Irish linen to an Indian for one wild duck which he insisted that his wife, who was nursing her baby, should eat.
One morning Jack did not awake and David soon followed, so soon that the young wives, tearless in their terrible grief, prepared with their own hands one grave where they laid them to rest. The faithful dog which the Galloways had brought with them from their old home, was found dead on the grave the next morning. To add to their misery, the Indians had stolen their tools and implements and they were forced to use their hands for digging the clams on which they subsisted from the frozen sands.
In March more Indians came and among them was one who spoke some English. He offered to take a letter to the settle-
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ment which he said was "far up the coast." So a letter was written telling of their plight and asking that help be sent them. Isabel Galloway, telling her story over and over in the chimney corner in her old age, would say that at this time her child "nursed blood instead of milk" but the little one throve in spite of the hardships. In the "Annals of Warren" by Cyrus Eaton, speaking of the early settlement of Warren and vicinity it says : "About this time (1740) letters were brought by the Indians from some shipwrecked persons on Mount Desert Island, who were suffering every extremity and dying of hunger. The Indians had given them what little aid they could and now came with letters to this settlement and that at Damariscotta for fur- ther assistance. Measures were immediately concerted by the people of those two places and a vessel with provisions des- patched to their relief.
They proved to be passengers from the north of Ireland, who had embarked in the ship Grand Design of two or three hundred tons, bound to Pennsylvania, which was driven ashore and wrecked in a violent storm." Then follows a description of the sufferings of the survivors and continues: "The vessel that came to their relief brought some provisions, but, as she was sometime detained, they arrived at St. George's in a famishing condition. Going on shore at Pleasant Point where there was then only one log house, they were received with all the hos- pitality the place could afford. Many of them were richly clad with the remnants of their wardrobes and the fine cloth that had escaped the wreck; but now, in the extremity of their hunger they were ready to snatch half-roasted potatoes from the ashes into lawn aprons and silk dresses and devour them without plate, knife or fork. Mrs. Galloway imagined before landing, because being burdened with a child that no one would be willing to receive her; but here she found herself provided with a bed whilst the rest were glad to sleep on the floor and in hovels as they could. Before landing she had inquired what kind of people had settled here and hearing they were Irish exclaimed, "Alas, I shan't be able to speak to them for I don't know a word of the Irish language." She was now rejoiced to find the inhabi- tants as ignorant of that language as herself, being all from the north of Ireland and of Scottish descent.
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The rescued women had suffered such privations and agonies that their rescuers thought them advanced in years and were greatly astonished to find that, after a few weeks of good food and rest, instead of being old and decrepit as they supposed, the women were "young and comely." It must be remembered that the two women whose histories have been preserved, Isabel Galloway and Mary Scherer, were less than twenty years of age.
The "Annals of Warren" goes on to say: "Sixteen of these persons went to the settlement up the river, the rest to Pemaquid, Sheepscot and Damariscotta."
The news of the shipwreck spread among the settlements and many came to offer aid from their own scanty stores. "Young and comely" women were rare in this new land at that time and many of the young settlers were unmarried men who were look- ing for a helpmate. There was little room in the humble homes of those days for a superfluous person and when two young men, Archibald Gamble and a youth by the name of McCarter offered themselves in marriage to Isabel and Mary respectively, their offers were accepted and the young women remained in the settle- ment. Indeed, they could do nothing else as they had lost all in the shipwreck, Isabel was an orphan with no relatives and Mary's people were in faraway Ireland with communication diffi- cult. The "Annals" records that "their sufferings had bound them together in the closest ties of friendship and they were ever after extremely affectionate and intimate, more so than any two sisters; and though they could never meet without embrac- ing and weeping, it was always a day of rejoicing when either of them came to visit the other."
The child of Mrs. Galloway was sent for later by his uncle in Philadelphia, who, when he had heard the story of events, took offense at the mother for marrying again so soon, but she declined the offer of a home for her boy until he should grow up and decide for himself. He was afterwards lost at sea.
From one of these women are descended the Coombses and the Creightons in Thomaston and the Bucklins in Warren; and from the other the McCarters in Cushing. Both women had large families of children and the descendants of Mrs. Gamble have been traced and recorded in a book called the Genealogy of the Gamble Family or The Mount Desert Widow by Greenleaf and Jonathan P. Cilley.
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Mrs. Gamble seemed born for a life of extraordinary adven- ture. Her second husband, Archibald Gamble, was of good fam- ily, born in the north of Ireland in Derry County. He started with his brothers Thomas and William and his sister Mary for America, but on the point of sailing he was impressed into the British service with his brother Thomas. He finally escaped from this enforced servitude and came to Virginia, thence to Londonderry, N. H., thence to Pemaquid and in 1736 removed to Upper St. George's, now Warren, Maine, and located on Lot 40 near his sister, Mary Gamble Starrett. Here he cleared a piece of ground, planted his potato patch which he fertilized with sea- weed, and built his log house. By industry and economy he added to his possessions and became one of the prominent citi- zens of the settlement. He married Mrs. Galloway in 1742 or 43.
About 1757 Mrs. Gamble started as a passenger in a sloop commanded by Capt. John Watson, to make a visit to New Hampshire, probably to her husband's relatives.
They anchored near Pleasant Point and the captain sent two men ashore for water. They were seized by Indians concealed there and held as prisoners. The captain, not suspecting this, went in his wherry to look for them when they did not return to the ship. He was ordered by the Indians to come ashore and when he did not comply he was instantly killed by a musket ball. The only persons now left on board were Mrs. Gamble and an old man. When night approached the Indians attempted to board the sloop, but the old man took his station on deck with what muskets there were on board and with the aid of Mrs. Gamble, who loaded them as fast as he discharged them, kept the Indians at bay until they finally withdrew and help came to them from the settlement.
Archibald Gamble, after a life of many adventures with the Indians, met his death in sight of his home in the winter of 1779, while hauling hay across the Georges River. He and his team broke through the ice, and, chilled and suffocated by the winter water, died a short time after his rescue. A large rock in the river marks the place of this occurrence.
In the year 1909 some workmen were digging in a place near what was said to be the site of the first log church built in the town of Warren, Maine, and they unearthed some stone slabs
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from a depth of several feet, which were rudely inscribed with the names of several of the pioneers of the settlement. Among these were the names of Archibald and Isabel Gamble and John and Mary McCarter. Descendants of these families purchased the plot and erected suitable memorials.
This is one of the tragic chapters of the history of Mount Desert Island, and though nearly two hundred years have passed since the events recorded here, those who know the story often recall it as they stop to watch the breakers on the ledges at Sea- wall. William Herrick of Southwest Harbor, who died some years ago at a great age, said that when he was a boy the graves of the Grand Design passengers could be found on the eastern side of Ship Harbor. Time has completely obliterated them now.
The story of Isabel Asbell has been written in blank verse by a direct descendant, Mrs. Julia Allen Gray of California, and through her generosity copies of her book have been placed in the public libraries at Southwest Harbor and Bernard.
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