USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Wiscasset > Wiscasset in Pownalborough; a history of the shire town and the salient historical features of the territory between the Sheepscot and Kennebec rivers > Part 28
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per order, HEZ PACKARD.
It was voted to accept the above report and that the Rev. Hezekiah Packard, Daniel Quinnam, Nathaniel Coffin, Joseph Lowell, Jr., Hon. Jeremiah Bailey, John H. Sheppard, and Moses Shaw, Esquires, be a committee to carry the same into effect, and was signed by Joshua Hilton, town clerk.
John Hannibal Sheppard, Esq., advertised for an instructor who was quali- fied to teach the monitorial town school in this place. A month later the Lincoln Intelligencer announced that Mr. J. L. Parkhurst of Portland had been engaged to take charge of this school.
For a time the monitorial school system was crowned with success but it was short lived.
The Lucas Bequest
John Lucas of Boston, on March 8, 1792, gave a deed to one hundred and eleven acres of land lying on the upper end of Jeremy Squam Island, the use and income of which was to be applied to schools for the benefit of the poor children of Wiscasset Point; the East Parish of Pownalborough being ap- pointed as trustee. Details as to the administration of this bequest are lacking, but it is fair to assume that when the separation occurred in the East Parish, neither faction assumed the responsibility of the Westport land. The deed6 runs thus:
Know all men by these presents that I John Lucas of Boston in the County of Suffolk & Commonwealth of Massachusetts Esquire in consideration of the friendship I have for the poor children that are or may be at Wiscasset Point in the town of Pownalborough & County of Lincoln & Commonwealth aforesaid have given granted bargained sold con- veyed and confirmed and by these presents do give grant bargain sell convey and con- firm unto the East Parish of Pownalborough in their corporate capacity a certain piece or lot of land lying & being in Edgecombe in the County of Lincoln aforesaid on Jeremy Squam Island numbered thirty four on the Plan of said Island belonging to the proprie- tors and contains one hundred & eleven Acres and one hundred rods formerly allotted to the late Charles Frost of Falmough Esquire deceased and is bounded as follows viz Northerly on a small lot of land being the upper end of said Island & formerly sold by the Wiscasset Company to Joseph Decker Easterly on Sheepscott River southerly on Lot No
6. Lincoln County Registry of Deeds, Book 30, p. 11.
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33 allotted to the Heirs of said Charles Frost and westerly on Sheepscott Back River as may more fully appear by reference to the said Proprietors Plan of said Island taken by Nathaniel Donnell in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and forty four said lot of land was conveyed to the said Lucas by Ephraim May in the year seventeen hundred and seventy four and recorded in the Registry of Deeds in the County of Lincoln aforesaid Lib II fol 40 & 41 the premises aforesaid were recovered by said Lucas from Joseph Decker at Supreme Court at Pownalborough July seventeen hundred and Ninety.
To have and to hold the above bargained premises with all their privileges and appur- tenances to the Parish aforesaid forever to the sole use & for this only purpose that is to say to maintain or support a school mistress or mistresses for teaching Poor Children of that part of Pownalborough called Wiscassett Point the alphabet to spell & read English and the said peace or parcel of land to rent or hire out on good security for any term of years not longer than seven years at a time and out of the same rents from time to time and at all times hereafter to keep up support & maintain such school mistress or mistresses and it is the express intent of said John Lucas that neither the said Parish nor any person appointed by them shall have any power or authority to sell or convey away the said tract of land and thereby frustrate or defeat the intention of the said John Lucas herein expressed and to for and upon no other use interest or purpose whatsoever the premises and direction of the donation aforesaid shall be under the government of three persons living at Wiscassett Point aforesaid to be chosen annually by said Parish and I the said John Lucas do for my- self my Heirs Executors and Administrators, covenant & engage to and with the said Parish that at the time of the delivery hereof I am lawfully seized in fee simple of the above Bargained premises and that the same are free of all incumbrances that I have good right to convey the same to the Parish aforesaid and that I and my Heirs will Warrant & De- fend the above bargained premises to the said Parish as aforesaid against the lawful claims of all persons.
In witness whereof I the said John Lucas & Hannah my wife in Testimony that she re- leases all her right in the above bargained premises have hereunto set our hands and seals this eighth day of March seventeen hundred & Ninety two.
JOHN LUCAS & a seal HANNAH LUCAS & a seal
Witnessed by
JOHN PAGE JAMES FOSTER.
It is on record, however, that in 1823, an Act was passed in Portland "by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled" to establish a school fund in Wiscasset, and the trustees previously chosen by the town of Wiscasset were "authorized to sell and convey a lot of land belonging to said town situated on Jeremy Squam Island in the town of Edgecomb, which was conveyed to said town of Wiscasset by John Lucas of Boston, for the use and support of schools in said town."
It appears that a few years later some of this tract was purchased by Gardi-
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ner Gove, and that there then stood on this land the Decker house7 which he floated across the Sheepscot river on gundalows and hauled to its present loca- tion.
In the Lincoln Republican issued at Wiscasset, Saturday, April 27, 1844, ap- pears the following notice of a foreclosure of a mortgage:
Whereas Gardiner Gove of Edgecomb, in the County of Lincoln and State of Maine, by his deed of mortgage dated July 1Ith A.D. 1836, and recorded in the Registry of Deeds for the Middle District in Lincoln County, Vol. 166-page 115-conveyed to Ed- mund Dana of Wiscasset in said County, in his capacity of Treasurer of the Trustees of the Wiscasset School Fund, a certain lot of land situated in Jeremy Squam, once West- port - bounded N. Westerly by the waters of Wiscasset Bay, South West by the Decker lot, S. Easterly by Sheepscot River and N. Easterly by land formerly of Abiel Wood, as by reference to said Deed appears - to secure the payment of certain sums of money men- tioned in the condition of said deed, which condition in said mortgage being broken, the said Trustees of the Wiscasset School Fund claim a foreclosure of said mortgage; and hereby give notice accordingly.
EDMUND DANA, Trustees DANIEL CARR, of the
JOHN BAKER,
Wiscasset
ELISHA M'KENNEY, School Fund.
This tract of land with its mortgages and foreclosures appears to have caused much litigation.
Private Schools
Many private schools have flourished in Wiscasset, although at the present time the graded schools are the only ones which exist. Among those which have been run in town are the following:
Mrs. Greenleaf of Boston had a private school in 1804.
Miss Clark had a small private school for young children in 1812.
Milton Pierce had an academy for young ladies and gentlemen in 1822.
I. W. Page ran an evening school in 1822.
Miss M. F. Tinkham had a seminary for young ladies in 1823.
Mrs. I. Coffin taught a private school in town in 1832.
Miss Peggy Waters ran a private school in 1840 on Water Street in the house now occupied by Frank Haggett.
Ellis Spear had a private school in 1857 in the bank building, now the Wiscas- set Public Library. At the time of the Civil War he enlisted, and never re-
7. This is the house which is known as the "Marie Antoinette house."
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turned to Wiscasset as a teacher. He was later commissioner of patents in Washington.
The Misses Elizabeth and Ann Parker carried on a private school in the bank building in 1858. This was a very popular place of education and lasted for many years. The girls would try to raise the curtains on the western side so as to see the stage coach drive into town at noon.
Mrs. Morton had a private school in her house at the corner of Warren and Federal Streets, but the house in which she lived was afterward burned.
Susan Brown taught school in 1859 in the Joshua Hilton house, now the home of Mrs. Nash.
Mahala Plummer had a school on Water Street in a small building a little north of the Crossman shoe store, in 1860. This building has since been torn down. It was demolished when the property was sold to Mr. Frank Gray. Rev. Edward Bradley, a former rector of St. Philip's Church, opened a school here in 1868, called St. Philip's Church School, but owing to sectarian jealousies it lasted but two terms, when he moved away from Wiscasset.
Miss Mary Young had a private school in 1876.
Mrs. Izetta Taylor ran a private school in 1885.
Miss Taylor had a school in the Marston block on the south side of Main Street, near the present store of John Southard. It was in the wooden block belonging to Joshua Marston which was burned in the fire of 1870. The Rundlett block of brick was built on its site.
Miss Emma Clapp had a private school in her house on the Common in 1880.
About 1865, school was held in a building on Garrison Hill which was once the dwelling-house of the patriot, Timothy Parsons. This house was built be- fore the Revolution. Soon after the Town House was burned, in 1860, this building was purchased for a Town Hall, and during the Civil War was used as a drilling place for the Home Guard, a company which had been organized in anticipation of an attack by the Confederates. The Garrison Hill School con- tinued to be housed here until the building was bought by the Masons in 1910.
More modern school-houses have since supplanted the old town schools. These were built principally with a fund of three thousand dollars, left to the town through the generosity of Miss Ann Hinckley Bailey, the last surviving daughter of Hon. Jeremiah Bailey, a prominent lawyer and judge who prac- ticed his profession in Wiscasset for over half a century. He was Judge of Pro- bate of Lincoln County from 1817 to 1834, and was a member of the twenty- fourth Congress, having been elected in 1835. This fund which was to be
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known as the Jeremiah Bailey Fund, was augmented by a gift of one thousand dollars from Mrs. George W. Nichols, in memory of her husband, who, at one time, published the Lincoln Patriot, was Judge of Probate, and afterward the clerk of a court in Boston.
Another gift of one thousand dollars, was made by Alexander Johnston Cunningham of Casper, Wyoming, a former resident of this town. The town appropriated sufficient funds to complete the building which cost ten thousand dollars, and it was opened in September, 1910.
There are now six schools in the township of Wiscasset.8 The two principal school buildings are located on Federal Street, and are known as the Academy, built in 1923, and the Grammar School, built in 1908. Other buildings are located in the North District, the South District, Birch Point and Lowelltown.
8. 1932.
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XII Pownalborough in the Revolution
O NE or two facts appearing on our town records1 exemplify the state of feeling in the country and the attitude of Pownalborough at the begin- ning of the Revolution.
At a meeting of the freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Pownalborough Duly warned and Legally assembled at the house of Samuel Goodwin, Esq., on the western side of said town on the 18th day of May 1775 the following votes were passed and person chosen viz:
I. Jonathan Bowman Esq. moderator.
2. Voted to send one member to represent said town in provential Congress to be Holden at Watertown on the 3 Ist of May inst.
Voted that Timothy Langdon Be member for the purpose a Bove.
3. Voted to allow Said member Six Shillings Pr Day for His Service and Expenses while Sitting; and allow Him four Days to Go and four Days to Return.
At a meeting held on Thursday June 22, 1775, the following votes were passed and persons chosen, viz:
I. Thomas Rice Esq. Moderator.
2. Voted to choose a commite consisting of five Persons Viz: Michel Seve (y), Thomas Rice, John Decker, Jr., Edmund Bridge, Obadiah Call and the above Commite Be Impowered to purchase in Behalf and on the credit of the town such corn and Bread as may be thought Best and Least Expensive.
3. Voted that the above Committee to procure provisions Bread and Corn Be a Com- mittee of Correspondence.
At a town meeting of the freeholders and Other Inhabitants of the Town of Pownal- borough verbally warned and Legally assembled at the House of Capt. Henry Hodges on the East Side of said town on munday the tenth of July 1775 the following votes were passed and Person Chosen Viz:
I. Voted to send one member to the Great and General Court to be holden at Water- town uppon wensday the Nineteenth Day of July instant. Voted that Thomas Rice Esq. Be the member for the above Purpose.
2. Voted that Cpt. John Decker Be a committy man for this town for Stationing the three Companeys of Soldiers on the Sea Coast which are to be Raised agreeable to the Result of the Congress.
I. Town Record Book, Vol. I & II, pages 38 et seq.
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To vote in town meeting that they meet at the meeting house in the East side of the town on munday the fourth Day of September next at two of the Clock in the after Noon to vote on the following articles Viz:
I. To choose a moderator for said meeting.
2. To see if the town approve of the proceedings of Ebenezer Whittier, Timothy Langdon or timothy Persons or any of the Committy of Inspection on the East Side of the Town.
3. To see if the town will Dismis the old and Choose a New Committee of Inspec- tion on the East side of said town.
At the meeting Jonathan Williamson was chosen moderator; it was "voted unanimous that they do not approve of the proceedings of the committee of Inspection on the East Side of Sd Town."
And it was "voted unanimously to Dismiss the old Committee of Inspec- tion" and the following eight persons were chosen for the new committee of inspection:
Thomas Rice, Esq.
Moses Carlton
John Bointon
Abraham Nason
John Groves Jeremiah Dolton
Jonathan Spafford
Abijah Dickenson
Voted: (March 12, 1776) That it be earnestly recommended to all persons to do all in their power to manufacture saltpeter.
On April 20, 1776, it was
Voted to send two Delegates to the County Congress to be held at Wiscassett on the fourth Wednesday of April Instant and that they together or either of them be Im- powered to Represent This town at Sd Congress and in case only one is permitted to Set that then the delegate for the western side shall be the person.
3. Choose Jonathan Bowman and Thomas Rice Esqrs Delegates for said town for the purposes set forth in the Warrant.
Lincoln Ss To the Constable of the Town of Pownalborough in said county or any or either of them Greeting.
Pursuant to a precept to an [d ] directed from the Sheriff of the County of Lincoln These are in the name of the Government of Massachusetts Bay to will and Require you to warn the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of pownalborough Qualified by Law to vote for representatives to assemble and Meet at the Dwelling-house of Mr. Edmund Bridge in said Town on Tuesday the twenty-eighth day of May Instant at two O'clock in the afternoon for the following purpose Viz. to Elect and depute one or more persons to serve for and Represent them in a Great and General Court or assembly ap- pointed to be convened held and kept for the Governments Service at the Meeting house
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in Watertown upon Wednesday the 29th day of May Instant and so De Die in Diem, During their session or sessions.
Given under our hands and Seals this 24 day of May A.D. 1776.
Selectmen JONATHAN BOWMAN
MOSES CARLETON
CHARLES CUSHING - of said Town the major part
Said meeting May 28, 1776.
By virtue of the warrant, etc. The following votes were passed and persons chosen Viz:
I. To choose two Representatives to attend the Great and General Court to be held at Watertown on the 29th of this Instant May to attend one at a time.
2. Voted Charles Cushing and Thomas Rice Esqrs. for said Representatives to repre- sent the Town of Pownalborough the present year.
3. Voted That the persons chosen to represent this town be instructed that if the con- tinental Congress shall declare the Colonies Independent of Great Britain that they join in any Measures that shall be thought proper for Sd purpose.
This was nine days before the introduction of the first resolution in Congress looking to such a declaration.
The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson, signed by order and in behalf of the Congress by John Hancock the presiding officer, and attested by Charles Thompson, secretary, was promulgated to the country. It was read at the head of the army, in legislative halls and from hundreds of pulpits. A new nation had sprung into existence; the colonies had become states; that which had been loyalty had become treason and that which had been treason became allegiance to an established government.
The Executive Council of Massachusetts, having received official notice of the proceedings in Congress, passed the following order:
In Council, July 17, 1776.
Ordered: That the Declaration of Independence be printed and a copy sent to the ministers of each parish of every denomination within this State, and that they severally be required to read the same to their respective congregations as soon as divine service is ended in the afternoon, on the first Lord's day after they shall have received it, and after such publication thereof to deliver the said declaration to the clerks of their several towns or districts, who are hereby required to record the same in their Town or Parish Books there to remain as a perpetual memorial thereof.
In the name and by order of the Council,
R. DERBY, Jun., President A true copy, Attest: JOHN AVERY, Dep. Secy.
The Declaration of Independence was accordingly read from the pulpit of the East Parish Church by Rev. Thomas Moore, October 13, 1776, who re-
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turned the document to Edmund Bridge, town clerk, and in his handwriting it may still be seen on the record book of Wiscasset.
That the recorded campaigns of history fought by soldiers on the field of battle are not the only struggles to which belligerent nations are subjected during an exhausting war, is amply attested by the petition of Edmund Bridge in behalf of the people of Pownalborough to the Provisional Congress at Watertown. This document furnishes abundant evidence of the hardship and peril endured by our ancestors, inhabitants of the then frontier, during their heroic fight for the rights to which they were entitled under the provincial charter and for the subsequent independence of the colonies.
The extent of tilled land hereabouts was then very limited. The inhabitants depended largely upon the Boston market as a source of food supply as well as for manufactured products. Their native commercial resources were restricted to the rough output of the forest, such as wood, spars, timber and lumber, while their inadequate food supply was wrested from the stony soil, the clam banks, or game from the vanishing forests.
The Act of Parliament blockading the port of Boston had been put in force in June, 1774. The effect of the act and the sturdy patriotism of Edmund Bridge, backed by the other men of Pownalborough, in refusing to supply General Gage with firewood and lumber, had been to cut off their principal source of food supply. Separated, as we are, from those crude times by the lapse of a century and a half, it is difficult to estimate the magnitude of the sacrifice. Their nearest market was controlled by the British army; their granaries were exhausted and their families in danger of perishing by famine. Thus began the fight for food.
A town meeting was held Thursday, June 22, 1775, in the meeting-house on the east side of the town, at which Thomas Rice was chosen moderator. It was
Voted to choose a Committee consisting of five Persons viz: Michael Sevey, Thomas Rice, John Decker, Jr., Edmund Bridge and Obadiah Call and that the above Com- mittee be empowered to purchase in behalf and on the credit of the Town such Corn & Bread as may be Brought in & if Land Carriage to Obtain the same Be thought Necessary to consult & assist with any other town or towns to Effect the Same in such a way as shall Be thought Best and least Expensive.
Voted that the above Committee to procure Bread & Corn Be a Committee of Cor- respondence.
Of the members of this committee, Sevey, Rice and Decker were from Wis-
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casset Point, while Bridge and Call lived in the west precinct, now Dresden. They had a baffling problem to solve.
The letter written by Bridge and sent to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress tells its own story.
Plunged in the deepest distress and in danger of perishing by famine from the want of provisions, we cannot support the clamors of wives and children for bread. To you, gentlemen, next to Heaven, we address our prayers for support. The inhabitants of Pownalborough in the midst of calamity, have been applied to by Gen. Gage. He offers to supply us with provisions if we will engage to send his troops a supply of fuel. We can- not comply with his demands. We would not contribute to the support of the enemies of our country. Pray direct us what course to pursue. Give us bread and we will cheerfully sacrifice our lives our all, in the common cause. And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.
EDMUND BRIDGE.
Watertown, July 11, 1775.
Edmund Bridge, who signed the petition and presented it to Congress was, at that time, a selectman of this town. His associates on the board were John Page of Wiscasset Point and Asa Smith from the north precinct, now Alna.
At a town meeting which had been held on March 9, 1773, the townsfolk had listened to a circular letter received by the selectmen of Pownalborough from the Boston Committee of Correspondence, complaining of infringe- ments made on the constitutional rights of this province and other provinces of America. Whereupon a committee was chosen consisting of Capt. Jonathan Williamson, Thomas Rice, Abiel Wood, John Page and Timothy Langdon to take the letter into consideration, draft a reply and report at an adjourned meeting which was held three weeks later. Accordingly, at the meeting of March thirty-first, the committee presented a very dispassionate, modest and able communication believed to have been written by Timothy Langdon, ac- cepted by the town and signed by the town clerk, David Silvester, in which they place themselves squarely upon the provincial charter as their guaranty of their rights and privileges as the rule and measure of the King's conduct towards the colonies and of their obedience and duty towards him.
To the Committee of Correspondence, &c at Boston
Gentlemen
We acknowledge the Receipt of your Printed Letter with a Pamphlet in which you have stated our Rights as Christians and as Colonists, and enumerated sundery Infringe- ments made on those Rights - We sincearly thank you for your Vigilance and Care of our Common Priviledges, and hope you will Give farther Warning if the Dangers in-
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crease. Our Infant state and Great Distance from the metropolis of the Province. We think may Well Apologize for our being thus late in returning an Answer to your Letter - the Same reason will also induce us to be modest in Our Reply - We think it Duty however to offer our sentiments in this matter, if modestly, yet with so much Boldness and sense of Right, as to Discover ourselves not wholly unworthy the Freedom we are contending for.
We Profess ourselves Friends to Government rightly understood & Practiced; for from thence the most important Blessings of Life are Derived & insured to us; and to the English Constitution in Particular, as we apparehend there is in it, such a nice Ballance of Prerogative in the Crown & liberty in the People, as will, without Encroachments on either side, render both Honorable easey & Happy.
'Tis said Power is of an Encroaching Nature, if so, there is much greater Reason to fear the Crown will arrogate to itself a More Extensive Perogative than was defined in the original Compact, than that the People will claim those Priviledges that do not of Right belong to them, as that, is under the Care of Persons onley, whose sole Business it is to Watch over, nurse, and Defend it with the advantages of the Nations Purse & Honors to aid and support it; these are in the hands of the many Naturally undesigning & quiet, and without the means & Oppertuity of Extending them - How highly esteemed by the People then, should they be, who have ginerously exerted themselves in stating defining & defending their rights and Liberties? This the Town of Boston, this Gentlemen you have Done.
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