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 40
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politician, too, was the father, who succeeded Deacon Cook as collector of customs. At the early meetings of the society might be heard the quaint Irish brogue of McCrate's kinswoman, the showily dressed Miss Betty O'Dee, the daughter of Johnny O'Dee, a Fore Street trader. In the same locality lived Mrs. Wyman Bradbury Sevey, who was Sarah Spring from the adjoining town of Dresden. Madam Jemima Hues, a member of the Elwell family of Cape Ann, lived on the north side of Main Street (near the present brick bank building). Her daughter Abigail, the wife of John Babson, a printer and one of the publishers of the Eastern Repository, the Wiscasset newspaper of the time, was another founder of the Society and for fifty-eight years a member.
Some of the other founders were Mrs. Abigail Stacy, Miss Abigail Stacy, Miss Ann Clough, Mrs. Joseph Christophers, Miss Sarah Bridge, Miss Jane Paine, a connection of the Hues family, who afterwards married John Gleason, Esq., of Thomaston; and Miss Catherine Williams of Chelsea, the only non-resident founder.
A prominent man among the inhabitants of the town and one of Wiscas- set's original proprietors was Col. John Kingsbury, and it appears that there has been no year in the history of the Society that his descendants have not been represented in its membership.
Adam's Ale
The Wiscasset Aqueduct Company of 1802 was formed to supply the town and vessels with pure water from a spring at the Washington Groves place which was led through white pine logs to the property of Josiah Brad- bury (later occupied by Millard Lewis) opposite the present post-office.
For boring these logs special augers were constructed a little over half the log length and a man bored from each end until they met in the center of the log. In Hall's field, now Evergreen Cemetery, it branched into three pipe lines extending in different directions.
When the water was at last turned on, a post-rider on horseback started at top speed from Groves' farm to see if he could outride the flow of water. He winded his horse in his haste to get to the Point but the water did not reach town for three days afterward.
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That this white pine was durable is proved by the fact that in very recent years when the streets have been repaired the old log water line has still been found to be in good condition.
The Birch Point Aqueduct is older than any one now living knows. It can be traced from the place of Will Grover to the land once occupied by the Sturgis mill, and is thought to have been built by Jonathan Williamson or Silas Lee at the time when a town or city bearing the name of Whitehaven was projected at that spot. This aqueduct passes the house of Alex Grover beyond which there is a wooden joint. It was run by gravity feed to the mill site. It has long since been destroyed but its course can still be traced.
The Holbrook's Island aqueduct supplied the Stinson & Clark mill with water from a spring near the home of Emery Gibbs by a line of pipe which was buried in the flats from a place near the old county road to the south- western side of that island. This, too, has gone to ruin and can barely be traced now even at low tide.
Pure water10 has been obtained from the Nute spring on the Alna Road near Langdon's Hill, from the Indian spring at Frenchman's Cove at Birch Point, whose waters were supposed by the Indians to possess medicinal qualities, and from the Gypsy spring.
In 1916, the Wiscasset Water Company was inaugurated and since that time Wiscasset has been furnished with water supplied by Ward's brook.
Before the advent of town water the water witch, or witch hazel fork of a tree was invariably used to locate the private wells which supplied the drinking water for the town.
Gipsy Spring
A short distance south of this village, at the cross-road known as Four Corners, a discontinued county road of corduroy extends westerly and con- nects the present state road with the two old stage roads to Bath. It was called Meadow Way. Just south of Sevey Hill at the Four Corners, is a slight eminence dubbed Gipsy Hill, because the gipsies, who have made an- nual pilgrimages to this spot for generations, always camped there.
10. Three centuries ago water was not considered a wholesome drink for Englishmen. Sir Thomas Elyot in his Castle of Health, 1541, wrote of Cornish men, "many of the poorer sort, which never or seldom drink any other drink, be notwithstanding, strong of body and live well until they be of great age," but in spite of the Cornish men, Elyot is very certain that "there be in water causes of divers diseases, as of swelling of spleen and liver."
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About seven hundred feet from the intersection of the state road and Meadow Road on the north side of the latter, lies Gipsy spring, where they watered their horses and quenched their thirst. Water from this source was thought by many of the oldest inhabitants to be of peerless quality and purity.
But the wanderers who frequented Gipsy spring were not the glittering, bespangled Tzigany, descendants of the outcast Samer, who according to an ancient tradition, was a goldsmith and the maker of the Golden Calf in the desert, and whose children became soothsayers, snake-charmers and magi- cians. The gipsies who came to Wiscasset were just stray vagabonds belong- ing to a tatterdemalion band, some of whom were half-breed Indians. The men traded horses and the women sold sweet grass baskets and told for- tunes. All one had to do was to "cross the palm with silver" in order to have his destiny revealed.
When these gipsies came they traveled like the Gilbertines in closed carts which were not unlike prairie wagons, whose torn hoods were bespattered with bright colored patches. Their wagons were drawn by fine horses, for the Romany people have ever been good judges of horse-flesh as well as excellent farriers. Following in their wake were brutes and brats and drabs, such as mangy dogs and dirty children. They tarried for a night or two and then resumed their wanderings. Romance is declining and now these no- mads come in Ford cars and drink town water from a tap in a rest house.
Tradition has it that "Narragansett Indians have quaffed the Gipsy Spring." In view of the fact that during King Philip's War the Maine In- dians were reinforced from the west by the Narragansetts, some of whom were captured, this tradition undoubtedly had an authentic foundation.
The Spring of the Water Fairies
The Indian spring at Frenchman's Cove has already been mentioned, as a place where the Wawenock Indians congregated at certain seasons of the year to drink from the spring which they believed to hold enchanted or medicated water. This was called by the natives, "oonahgemessuk weegeet," or the abiding place of the Water Fairies.
It is said to have possessed certain saline qualities due to inundations dur- ing a run of high tides when the river overflowed its banks, and this chloride of sodium was regarded by the Indians as a health-giving beverage.
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This spring is located in Back River near to the Indian trail which led from Long Ledge to Birch Point. The land on which it is situated is owned by Mrs. John E. McKenney.
Wiscasset Cemeteries
The pioneers who came here during the first half of the eighteenth cen- tury, were for the most part buried on their own farms, often the only clearing for miles about, and near their homes where surviving relatives could protect their graves.
With the development of community rights came the Common Burying Ground, and as time advanced and the demand for burial lots increased, new graveyards were required, so that we now have five cemeteries in this town where lie the men of yesteryear. They are the Ancient Cemetery on Fed- eral Street, the earliest and most interesting; the burial ground in the south district afterward incorporated in Woodlawn Cemetery; Evergreen Ceme- tery on Hodge Street; Greenlawn, which is west of the town and approached by Bradford Street, or as it is locally and aptly called Hardscrabble Road; and the Nason Cemetery on the middle stage road to Bath, which was for a time a private burial ground.
The earliest record of any action by the town in caring for the cemetery was made in 1767, when it was voted "To fence the Burying Place on Whiscasick Point." In 1831, the town voted to accept a deed
from the heirs of Nymphas Stacy, senior, of a gore of land to be used as a Burying Ground on the southwesterly side of the Central Burying Ground [Ancient Cemetery] in Wiscasset, the said heirs reserving to themselves and heirs forever, the exclusive use for a family burying ground that part of said gore bounded thus:
beginning one rod and five links from the North East corner of said gore, then running South Westerly on the Street three rods to the South Easterly corner thereof, then run- ning on the cross street North Westerly four rods, thence Northeast to the Northerly side of said gore where it adjoins the present central burying ground then in a straight line to the first mentioned bounds. The Town to be at the expense of fencing and keeping in fence, said gore, the heirs of said Stacy, and their heirs in the exclusive possession of said part of said gore not to enclose the same with a fence, or in any other manner.
In 1853, in consideration of David S. Blagden having built up an abut- ment and erected a fence at the southeast end of the old burial ground ad- joining his lot, the town leased to him, his heirs and assigns, for so long a
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time as said abutment and fence should be maintained and kept in repair, the land contained in an angle at the easterly end of the burying ground and lying easterly of the abutment and fence.
While the oldest lettered headstone bears the date of 1739, it is likely that burials were made there at earlier dates, for Mary Silvester, the wife of Joshua Silvester, who resided here as early as the year 1739, stated that she was told that there were children buried there before she came here.
The stone mentioned marks the grave of a man, who was drowned by the capsizing of his canoe by a bear in the river near Wiscasset. The inscription reads thus :
Here lyes the Body of M' JOSHUA POOL Late of Gloster Aged 39 Years Decd. June 27th 1739.
A note contained in a very interesting record relative to this cemetery, made many years ago by the late Thomas B. Johnston, is here quoted:
Mr. Joshua Pool was a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was drowned in the Sheepscot River on the 27th day of June, 1739. The stone at the head of his grave is the oldest headstone in this town. The writer having his attention drawn to it by its great age, watched its gradual decay for several years, and finally caused the grave to be built up, the ground around it to be put in good order, the stone to be recut and set on a stone foundation of great solidity. The stone was reset on the 25th day of August, Anno Domini, 1866, having withstood the hand of time and the severity of the climate 127 years.
Mr. Johnston wrote further that, at the same time he caused the inscription on the freestone slab marking the Silvester tomb to be restored. This recalls a story of an old resident of the town called Old Hussey. It chanced that when Hussey was away on a visit, a friend questioned him concerning Wis- casset, and to the question "What public buildings are there in Wiscasset, Mr. Hussey?" the old man replied: "Oh, there's the old meetin'-'ous, an' the court-'ous, an' the jail-'ous and the school-'ous, and Squire Silvester's Tomb." The inscription on Squire Silvester's tomb may be of interest:
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Here lies entombed the mortal part of DAVID SILVESTER, EsQ. He was a worthy citizen and many years A Magistrate who distributed Justice and promoted peace among his fellowmen. From the earliest institution of the Society untill his death, he was Master of LINCOLN LODGE. Humanity mourns over the tomb of a faithful votary. But religion declares he is not dead ; but sleepeth. He is not lost; but gone before. Obit. Feb. 25th, 1798. Ætat. 56
This tomb being for many years the only tomb in Wiscasset, it was, after the removal of the Silvester family from the town and their abandonment of its care, occasionally used by the citizens as a receiving tomb.
To continue from Mr. Johnston's record:
Years passed by. Another cemetery having been laid out by the Town, this tomb was no longer used, and gradually fell into decay. It became much dilapidated. Time fled apace and Lincoln Lodge, called to labor, rose up and put the tomb of its honored Master in thorough repair. This was done in the year of Our Lord, 1864.
Twenty-six of the gravestones in this cemetery mark graves of members of the Wiscasset Fire Society. They are the following:
Francis Cook Thomas McCrate Capt. Silas Payson
Wyman Bradbury Sevey
Samuel Kelton Jonas G. Brooks
Nymphas Stacy
General David Payson Nathan Clark, Jr.
Capt. William M. Boyd
Capt. William Nickels
John Stacy
Col. David Payson, Jr.
Nymphas Stacy, 3rd
Joshua Damon
Major Moses Carlton, Jr.
Capt. Samuel Miller
Robert P. Owen
Capt. Henry Hodge William Stacy
Abner Plummer
Major Seth Tinkham
William Taylor
John Babson, 2nd.
Col. Ezekiel Cutter
John Babson
The epitaphs and emblems engraved on some of these stones which mark the graves of early settlers are worthy of mention. On that of Colonel Pay- son appears an eye, representing the Deity; an arrow, representing Death; a
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trumpet, representing the Resurrection; and an angel, representing Immor- tality.
On that of Thomas McCrate is seen a winged hour-glass, an emblem of human life and the rapidity of its flight.
On that of Nathan Clark, Jr., appears a cloudy canopy with rays sur- rounding a winged globe, an Egyptian symbol of the son of a Deity.
The quaintly phrased epitaph of Maj. Seth Tinkham runs thus:
Yorick, alas! Let Memory drop a tear, A man of social worth lies buried here. . Mid all his frailties in this world below, His heart was kind, he felt for other's woe,
O'er failings past let Charity arise,
He died in Christ - to live in brighter skies.
Here reposes All that is mortal of JOSEPH TINKHAM, EsQ. who died Nov1. 3d 1802 Aet. 49
That emanation of Deity! that pure ethereal spark! which awakened in his bosom the tender love of Husband, the affection of a Parent, the kindness of a Friend, the hospitality of a neighbor, the virtuous dignity of a Man! has joined its immaculate origin to blaze unsullied through the rounds of Eternity. .. . .
In the Ancient Cemetery was interred the body of Rev. Thomas Moore, the first pastor of the First Parish Church. He died in Pittston and his re- mains were brought here for burial. His grave is still unmarked.11 His burial took place May 16, 1795.
Among the many worthy settlers here entombed lies Deacon Nymphas Stacy's son, Nymphas, who had seven wives and died a widower.
The little book compiled by Thomas B. Johnston indicates that there are unmarked graves, the exact location of which is now unknown. The follow- ing copy of a note made by him is cited as an example:
John Acorn committed suicide by hanging himself in the woods just back of the Town, during a heavy snowstorm during the evening of 2nd Nov. 1826. His body was not dis- covered and taken down until the following April. His remains were buried on a ridge or knoll in the easternmost part of the old Cemetery.
There is no inscription marking the Acorn grave.
II. In 1935 the Wiscasset Cemetery Association erected a tombstone to the first minister of the First Parish Church of Wiscasset.
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A note made by Mr. Johnston in 1869 reads:
In this year was hewn down an ancient Willow Tree which grew a short distance from the North West corner of the cemetery. In its growth it had inclosed a part of the gravestone of Mrs. Sarah Pitt. It was one of the four trees planted by John Kingsbury, Sr., assisted by a friend, and so placed as to form a square of about fifteen yards in diam- eter. This tree was the southwest of the square, the other three died before the writer's re- membrance, probably as early as 1820. The writer received this information from Mr. Kingsbury.
At the advanced age of ninety-five years and nine months John Kings- bury, the rigger and grave-digger, was gathered to his fathers, and the Johnston record indicates that this grave was made beside those of his kin- dred in the burying place where he had so often used the spade, but it is still unmarked.
Another old inhabitant of whose virtues neither marble shaft nor bronze tablet bears record was mentioned by Mr. Johnston who wrote:
John Matson was a sailor of the old school. He was a man of varied and curious ex- perience, had sailed to every quarter of the Globe, and acquired some knowledge of many languages. He lived honourable but died in poverty, yet respected by all who knew him.
A few months before John Matson's death, which occurred December 15, 1870, just before the second great fire in Wiscasset, some incidents of his life were noticed in the Seaside Oracle, the local newspaper of that year, under the title, "Our Oldest Inhabitant," from which the following is quoted:
The subject of this sketch is Mr. John Matson. He is nearly 89 years of age, and is remarkably smart for a person of his years. We see him daily in our walks about town, and it is with a feeling of wonder that we hear him relate incidents of his daily life as minutely as though they happened but yesterday.
On the 22nd of April, 1801, he said to us, as we conversed with him today, "I was on board the brig Greyhound, Capt. Moffit, then owned by Billy Gray12 of Boston, lying off the harbor of Copenhagen, when the city was bombarded by Lord Nelson and Admiral Parker." 13 He said that he and the rest of the crew witnessed the engagement from the rigging of the brig. He also mentioned that Wiscasset had a representative on board the British Fleet in the person of Mr. Lepoldt.
The veteran Matson was born in Glensburg, Denmark; came to this country in an American ship, at the age of five years, located in Wiscasset, and has lived here ever since,
12. Hon. William Gray.
13. In 1801 the Danish fleet was destroyed in the roadstead by the English under Nelson.
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except when at sea. He delights to tell of the old times and relates with a cheerful counte- nance and a merry twinkle of the eye, the numberless anecdotes of the men, who in years gone by, were the great men of the Town, - speaking familiarly of persons whose names even, are unknown to the present generation.
He has always been blessed with good health, and in mind is apparently as young as when he sailed "On board the Greyhound" in days of yore.
Two tombstones in the Smith lot are of peculiar interest. Twenty years before Tennyson published Locksley Hall we find upon the gravestones of husband and wife the use of the sun and moon as symbols.
Woman is the lesser man, and all thy passions, matched with mine, Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine - ---
In Memory of MANASSEH SMITH, EsQ. Born in Leominster, Mass., Dec. 25, 1748 graduated at Harvard College 1775; was Chaplain in the Revolutionary Army; Clerk of S. Court of Jud. of Mass., settled in this town in the practise of Law 1788; & declining public offices, devoted himself to the duties of his profession, happiness of his family & offices of piety Died May 2, 1823.
Above this, carved in marble, is a full-faced sun having above it the Latin inscription, Oriturus occidit-"He sinks destined to rise." Carved above the epitaph to his wife is a half moon with the Latin inscription, Solem aspec- tat et sequitur-"She looks at and follows the sun"; and the epitaph is as follows:
In Memory of MRS. HANNAH SMITH She was the daughter of Rev. Daniel Emerson, of Holles, N. H., born Oct. 11, 1745, married to Manassah Smith Feb. 17, 1774, and died his widow, April 16, 1825. They were pious parents of eight filial children; lived examplars of benevolence & Charity, & died in the Christian's hope of a happy immortality. [ 396 ]
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In this graveyard is also buried
EZEKIEL AVERILL one of Washington's body guards, died Feb. 20, 1850, aged 95 years 8 mos. JOHN STUART, Esq." born in England died Dec. 22, 1838, aged 87 years.
John Stuart was brought over from England by Capt. Josiah Goddard, in a cask, when he had to flee from that country for writing against Parlia- ment. His wife and daughter came in the same vessel under pretense of be- ing wife and daughter of Captain Goddard.
Another quaint epitaph is that of
RELIEF HARRIMAN wife of Nathan Clark, Jr. died May 24, 1832. Aged 35 years. Peace! what do tears avail? Death, take her to thine arms In all her stainless charms, and with her fly
To heavenly haunts, where clad in brightness The angels lie ! Wilt bear her there, O Death in all her whiteness? REPLY, REPLY!
Near the center of the Ancient Cemetery is a square inclosure surrounded by an iron fence within which a marble shaft marks the burial place of Hon. Samuel Sewall, who died in this town while attending court in the old court house. Inscriptions are on all four sides of the monument; that on the eastern side is as follows:
ERECTED by the members of the bar practicing in the Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth to express their veneration of the Character of the Hon. SAMUEL SEWALL late Chief Justice of the said COURT who died suddenly in this Place on the 8th of June 1814 Aet. 56 [ 397 ]
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South face:
Hon. SAMUEL SEWALL
Filius Samuelis Arm.
F. Rev. Joseph S. T. D.
F. Hon. Samuelis F. Henrici Arm.
F. Henrici Arm.
F. Henrici Gen.
The west face bears a Latin inscription and that of the north face is as follows:
The remains of Chief Justice Sewall having been here interred afterwards were removed and deposited in his family Tomb at Marblehead. Robt Hope Fecit. Boston
Evergreen Cemetery
This cemetery was first known as the Hall Cemetery. It is situated in a field just west of Hodge Street and the entrance is from that thoroughfare. This land was purchased by the town from Daniel Rines in 1845. Joseph Lambert, the sexton, was the first person to open a grave in this cemetery in 1847. The older stones now standing in this burial ground have been moved from other graveyards.
It was through this land that the white pine logs of the Wiscasset Aqueduct Company of 1803, were laid, when the company made a conduit for the conveyance of pure water "for inhabitants and seamen" from Ward's brook nearby the house of Washington Groves, where the ruins of the old dam may still be seen, to the shore at the Millard Lewis place west of the post- office, which was then a convenient place for vessels to obtain their supply of drinking water. These logs have never been removed, a fact which ex- plains the reason why, even at this late date, there are so many burial lots unfit for use because of the water seeping through.
The name of Evergreen Cemetery was given to this burial place by Alexander Johnston who also named Greenlawn and the Ancient Ceme- teries. The receiving tomb is near the entrance of Evergreen Cemetery.
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The soldiers buried in Evergreen Cemetery are the following:
Rev. Hezekiah Packard, a soldier of the Revolution. Captain Edwin M. Smith, killed at Fairoaks.
Elias Duley Wilmot Blake
Warren W. Sheldon
William Munsey
A. F. Hall
James H. Maloy
William Southard
Alfred H. Albee
William H. Hamlin
Bradford Y. Dana
Converse Pottle
Edward Farnham, Jr.
Andrew Dorrithy
William Hamlin
Alden Farnham
The monuments of Judge Silas Lee, Rev. Hezekiah Packard, Hon. Or- chard Cook and Mr. James Whittier are in this cemetery, although each of them was first buried elsewhere and their gravestones moved to this place. James Whittier was engaged to be married to Mary Lee, a daughter of Jonas Lee of Concord, Massachusetts. She was visiting her uncle Silas Lee in Wiscasset when she was stricken with typhus fever and died February 14, 1795, in her twentieth year. James Whittier never recovered from the shock occasioned by her death and the waters of bitterness swept over his soul. Thus his tombstone reads:
Mr. JAMES WHITTIER son Capt. Eben'. Whittier & Elizh his wife who died April 17, 1798 of a consumption on a passage to the West Indies Aged 25 The disease which terminated his existence, originated in the death of his fair and betrothed friend who lies interred near this Monument In life they loved, in death they are not divided.
This lonely, broken headstone was found buried from sight in ground that once belonged to Hon. Silas Lee, where he had a private burial place and where Mary Lee was originally buried. Many years ago the Lees removed all those who were buried here, and so James Whittier's stone was rescued from oblivion and placed in a family lot in Evergreen Cemetery.
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