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 54
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The choice of Jeremiah Bailey, Esq., and the vote of the town in 1816, was a Federalist victory in Wiscasset, although in the district, the political lines were about one-third Federalist and two-thirds Democratic. While the
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vote in the whole district was 11,969 in favor and 10,347 against separation, final action was postponed until 1819, when petitions from seventy towns were presented to Governor Brooks, who, in August of that year announced that there were a sufficient number of votes for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts.
Much of the opposition to separation was removed that same year when Congress, dividing the east coast of the United States into two great dis- tricts, abolished the regulation which made each state a district for entering and clearing vessels, and would have required coasting vessels from the ports of Maine as a separate state to enter and clear on every trip to or from Boston. As a consequence, the separation measures were carried forward by large majorities that year, and a constitution was framed by a convention which met at Portland in October, being ratified by town meetings in De- cember, and Maine applied for admission to the Union. Owing to the con- test in Congress over the admission of Missouri, the question of the admis- sion of Maine became almost a national issue and it was said that "Maine rode into the Union on the back of the Missouri Compromise."
At the town meeting held at the Wiscasset meeting-house on May 10, 1819, Samuel E. Smith, Esq., and Erastus Foote, Esq., were elected repre- sentatives to the General Court at Boston-for Wiscasset, if it saw fit, could then send two representatives to that body. The town instructed such repre- sentatives "in case the question of Separation be brought before the Legisla- ture during the current year, to act in behalf of the town in favour of Sep- aration, & to use all proper exertions to effect the same upon just and hon- ourable terms." At a meeting on July twenty-sixth of that same year, after voting for a representative to Congress for the third eastern district,
The Inhabitants brought in their votes upon this question, Viz: Is it expedient that the District of Maine become a Separate & Independent State upon the terms and con- ditions provided in an Act relating to Separation of the District of Maine from Massa- chusetts Proper, & forming the same into a Separate and Independent State?
The whole number of votes cast was 157, of which IOI were Yeas and 56 Nays.
And then on September 19, 1819, there was a
"choice of Delegates from other towns in the District of Maine in Convention at the Court House in Portland in the County of Cumberland on the second Monday of October for the purpose of forming a Constitution or Frame of Government for the
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said District & for other purposes expressed in an Act of the Legislature of the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts passed on the nineteenth day of June last, entitled, An Act relating to the separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts proper & form- ing the same into a separate and independent State."
The delegates so chosen were Hon. Abiel Wood and Warren Rice, Esq.
The final act, that of December 6, 1819, in "giving in their votes in writ- ing, expressing their approbation or disapprobation of the Constitution pre- pared by the Convention of Delegates, assembled at Portland, on the second Monday of October last" when the whole number given in being fifty- seven, fifty-two were in favor of the Constitution and five were opposed.
When the convention of the Province of Maine met at Portland to form a state constitution the delegates adopted among other features of the old Massachusetts constitution, a clause denying Roman Catholics the right to hold office. On the morning after this clause was adopted the chairman of the convention discovered on his desk a sealed envelope which, when opened, was found to contain a valid and logical argument against the dis- criminating clause. No name was signed to it, but so convincing were the reasons set forth that the chairman read it to the convention and the anti- Catholic clause, being reconsidered, was by an unanimous vote stricken out.
When many years after the death of Edward Kavanagh,2 which occurred June 21, 1844, his papers were examined by Maj. William Dickey, of Damariscotta, the original manuscript was found in Kavanagh's handwrit- ing, indorsed on the back by Bishop Fenwick, an early Catholic priest of New England and an intimate friend of Kavanagh.
Edward Kavanagh wrote the article while finishing his education at Montreal, but not daring to trust entirely to his own judgment he sent it to
2. Kavanagh was a remarkable man and a great scholar. He graduated at St. Mary's, Baltimore, in 1813. He adopted the law as his profession and was entrusted with offices in both town and county. In 1828 he was elected secretary of the Senate of Maine, then sitting in Portland. The next year he was a member of the Maine Senate from Lincoln County. In 1830 he was elected a repre- sentative to Congress and in 1832 he was returned there by a large majority. In 1835 he was ap- pointed by President Jackson chargé d'affaires to Lisbon where he remained until 1841. After his return, in 1842, he was elected to the State Senate and re-elected the following year, when he was chosen president of that body. During the session of 1843, Gov. John Fairfield was elected to the United States Senate, so Mr. Kavanagh, by virtue of his office as president of the State Senate, be- came acting governor for the remainder of the year. He was one of the commissioners from Maine on the Northeastern Boundary settlement in 1842, where his fluency in the French language proved to be of great value.
Edward Kavanagh was the son of James Kavanagh who was born in the town of New Ross, Wexford county, Ireland, and who came to Newcastle soon after 178 1 and owned land and mills at the outlet of Damariscotta Pond, where with his partner Cottrill an extensive business was carried on. In their shipping interests the firm of Kavanagh & Cottrill was closely identified with Wiscasset.
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Bishop Fenwick for approval. Sanction received, it was sent to the conven- tion with fruitful results.
The debates in the convention of delegates who formed the constitution of our state are of notable interest, for there were very able men in that body. Of more local interest, however, is the choosing of the title, "state" or "commonwealth," by which the former District of Maine should hence- forth be called.
On October 12, 1819, it was "Resolved, that a Committee consisting of nine members be appointed to consider and report to the Convention a proper style and title for the new State."
Abiel Wood of Wiscasset was a member of that committee, but not Ste- phen Parsons of Edgecomb. On October fourteenth, "Agreeably to assign- ment the Convention took up the report of the style and title of the new State." That report is not printed but from the debate it is certain that the title "Commonwealth of Maine" was favored. A member moved to post- pone the debate "until the Committee on the Constitution should make their Report," but that motion was lost, whereupon a member "moved that the report might be accepted. Then Mr. (Stephen) Parsons of Edgecomb, moved to amend the report, by striking out the word "Commonwealth," and inserting "State," on account of the saving of time and expense in writ- ing and printing.3 And the motion to strike out "Commonwealth" prevailed; 1 19 being in favor and 113 against it.
The debaters appear to have been a bit mixed in their ideas as to the sig- nificance of the words "state" and "commonwealth," though they have been used indifferently in this country for three centuries with no distinction be- tween them.
There was apparently considerable opposition to the name of "Maine" being used, while that of "Columbus" was proposed instead, and also that of "Ligonia," but strangest of all was the proposal of Mr. Jarvis, viz:
Mr. Jarvis, of Surry, hoped the motion (to strike out Maine) would prevail; and there was one word, which upon the principle of economy, would be a good substitute. It was an old name, and might be found in the Bible, and was composed of two letters, which were A-j.4
Either for that reason or for some other, Mr. Leonard Jarvis of Surry "did not sign the Constitution."
3. It will be remembered that at that time type was laboriously set by hand.
4. The Debates, Resolutions, and other Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates .. . for the purpose of forming a Constitution for the State of Maine by Jeremiah Perley, p. 51.
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The consensus of opinion is that if it were not a mere jest on the part of Mr. Jarvis the present inhabitants of this state owe to Mr. Parsons and his majority, a vote of thanks for rescuing them from the "State of Ai."
In January, 1820, Governor Brooks said in his message to the General Court: "The connection between Maine and Massachusetts has been main- tained to mutual satisfaction and advantage, but the time of separation is at hand. Conformable to the Act of June 19th, last, the 15th of March next will terminate forever the political unity of Massachusetts proper and the District of Maine, and that District, which is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, will assume her rank as an Independent State in the American Confederacy." And on the last named date Maine took her place as the twenty-third star on the American flag.5
The Choice of the Capital
On the admission of Maine into the Union, Portland became the seat of government and continued as such until 1831. Accordingly the first legis- lature met at Portland, and while it was generally understood that the leg- islature would sit there for five or possibly ten years until satisfactory ar- rangements could be made for its removal elsewhere, it was universally be- lieved that the capital would not be permanently located in that town.
In 1821 a committee appointed to recommend a place for the meeting of the next legislature favored Hallowell on account of its central position, but a resolve providing that the next legislature should meet at Hallowell failed to pass either house.
The year following, Dr. Daniel Rose, formerly of Wiscasset but then of Thomaston, Benjamin Green of South Berwick and John Chandler of Mon- mouth were appointed a committee "to visit such towns as they deem proper" and report a location for the capital. In this capacity they visited Portland, Brunswick, Hallowell, Augusta, Belfast, and Wiscasset, each of which places offered excellent sites free of cost. The committee reported® that should the capital be located on the coast "Wiscasset is entitled to a de- cided preference, on account of its more central situation, the facility with which it might be defended in case of invasion, and the safe and easy access to it by water." The committee, however, recommended that Augusta be
5. For much of the above data, I am indebted to Albert Matthews, Esq., of Boston.
6. Report of the Committee to the Legislature, January 17, 1823.
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chosen as the capital and that the State House be erected on Weston Hill.
So after full discussion by five successive legislatures of the question of the permanent location of the seat of government, Augusta was definitely decided upon, though Lincoln County strongly advocated Wiscasset.
The plan for building the State House (a copy of the Bullfinch capitol on Beacon Hill in Boston) was adopted in 1829 and the first legislature met in the completed capitol, January 4, 1832, at which time Samuel E. Smith of Wiscasset was governor of the state of Maine.
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XXI Wiscasset Newspapers
T THE first newspaper in Maine was The Master William which was writ- ten, not printed, on the island of St. Croix during the winter of 1604- 1605, by members of the de Monts expedition and passed around to help the colonists while away the tedious hours of that long, cold winter. Wis- casset was the third town in Maine to establish printing.
1796-1798. Wiscasset Telegraph was owned and published by Joseph N. Russell and Henry Hoskins. The first issue was December, 1796.
It was made up of four pages 21 by 18 inches, and was the pioneer paper of Lincoln County.
1797-1798. Wiscasset Argus was a weekly established December 23, 1797, by Laugh- ton and Rhoades. The American Antiquarian Society has the issue of January 6, 1798.
1803-1807. Eastern Repository was a weekly established June 16, 1803, by John Babson and Enoch Rust. It was dissolved September 7, 1807. It printed in 1804 a sermon by Rev. Kiah Bailey; an oration pronounced at Wiscasset July 4, 1804, in commemoration of American Independence, by Rev. Alden Bradford; an introductory address by the Lincoln & Kennebec Religious Tract Society in 1804; Two Discourses on Family Worship by Rev. Heze- kiah Packard, preached in Wiscasset February twelfth; an oration on the Fourth of July, by Hon. Jeremiah Bailey, 1805; a sermon delivered by Rev. Alden Bradford to the Congregational Society at Thomaston, 1807; and an address to the public by Benjamin Trumbull, D.D., 1807.
1807-1808. Republican was a weekly established September 23, 1807, by Thomas Loring. In 1808 he printed the address by Alden Bradford at the open- ing of the Academy in Wiscasset; also Joshua Cushman's Fourth of July oration. The last issue located is that of January 27, 1808.
1820-1821. Lincoln Telegraph was a weekly established by Samuel B. Dana, April 27, 1820, with the old type and press of Babson and Rust. It lasted eighteen months.
1821-1827. Lincoln Intelligencer was a weekly first published by John Dorr, later by Amos C. Tappan who was succeeded by J. Crowell.1
1830-1832. The Yankee was established by Erastus Brooks who was afterward the editor of the New York Express. In 1832 Henry M. Hewes succeeded Brooks as editor of The Yankee.
1. Early newspapers taken from A Bibliography of Maine Imprints, by R. Webb Noyes, 1930.
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1832-1834. Citizen was a weekly paper published by Anson Herrick, and lived but a year or two. His printing office was in Lincoln Hall.
1841-1843. The Lincoln County Republican was established by Joseph B. Frith.
1844-1845. The Lincoln Republican was established by Joseph B. Frith.
1845- The Yankee was edited by Joseph B. Frith.
1859-1860. The Wiscasset Herald was established by Charles A. J. Farrar and Joseph Wood.
1869-1876. The Seaside Oracle was owned and published by Joseph Wood. It was a versatile journal filled with local history and clean literature. It was es- tablished January, 1869. The last issue located is December 30, 1876.
1881-1891. The Lilliputian was owned and edited by Charles E. Emerson. Its first issue bore the date of May seventh.
1891-1919. The Sheepscot Echo was owned and edited by Charles E. Emerson. It merged in January, 1919, with the Lincoln County News which is pub- lished in Damariscotta by Samuel H. Erskine.
Since 1919 there has been no newspaper in Wiscasset.
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XXII
Railroads
The Knox & Lincoln Railroad
T THE Knox & Lincoln Railroad, which was built from Woolwich to Rockland in 1870-1871, a distance of forty-eight miles, completed the last lap of the system connecting Boston with Rockland. In order to make this journey, at that time, it was necessary to travel over four railroads. There were two roads from Boston to Portland, the Eastern and the Boston & Maine; from Portland to Bangor, via Brunswick, ran the Maine Central Railroad; while from Brunswick to Bath was the Androscoggin Railroad. When the cars reached the Kennebec River, the trains were broken and the cars shifted on to a ferry-boat which carried them to the opposite, or Wool- wich, shore,1 from which place to Rockland the journey was completed over the newly built Knox & Lincoln Railroad.
This last railroad was built almost entirely by city and town subscriptions and its cost was far greater than at first estimated, it being actually $57,000 per mile, and that at a time when labor was inexpensive.
Many persons felt that the initial mistake was made in the choice of a ferry crossing at Bath instead of a bridge at Richmond. When the road was surveyed from Wiscasset to Richmond, after the people of Rockland and other eastern towns had subscribed generously to the stock of the railroad which was to cross the Kennebec at Richmond by a bridge and there connect with the Maine Central, a delegation of business men from Bath inter- viewed the prominent promoters of the scheme from Wiscasset to Rock- land. By offering a large amount of stock subscriptions and municipal loans, "enough" it was said at the time, "to build the road from Bath to Wiscas- set," they succeeded in diverting the road from its proposed terminus at Richmond, taking it via expensive bridges, deep rock cuttings and costly ferry to Bath, thereby greatly increasing the cost of construction. It impov- erished Wiscasset.2
I. This ferry existed until 1928, when the Carlton bridge was built, from which date all traffic, foot, train and vehicular, has crossed the Kennebec River over this bridge.
2. At Wiscasset, the length of the railroad bridge from the foot of Main Street to Clark's Point IS 4,100 feet, about four-fifths of a mile. The total length of pile bridging from Pottle's Cove to Clark's Point is 8, 100 feet or a little over a mile and a half.
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It was jestingly said by the engineers of this railroad that, "when they came to a swamp they bridged it; when they came to a ledge they blasted it; but when they came to a cow, they went around it."
Work on the construction of the Knox and Lincoln Railroad was begun in September, 1868. The first regular train on this road was run from Bath to Wiscasset, May 1, 1871,3 and the first passenger train went through to Waldoboro on the morning of August twenty-eighth of that year. The track layers reached the depot in Rockland Sunday, October 29, 1871. The first train which arrived that day consisted of five platform cars drawn by a loco- motive, bringing ties, material for turn-table, water tank, and other railroad necessities. The first passenger train arrived there from Bath, on Tuesday, October thirty-first, and consisted of a baggage car and three passenger cars drawn by a new locomotive. The cars were crowded with passengers includ- ing a delegation to the Knox & Lincoln Musical Association and a large number of people had gathered on the platform to meet them.
The first train to come to Wiscasset from Bath was in charge of W. L. White, conductor, Edward Hamlin, engineer, and George E. Woodbury, baggage master. Rufus Rideout, conductor, is said to have taken the first train over the entire route, as he did the last train of the Knox & Lincoln, taking it over the night of September 30, 1891, before it was leased to the Maine Central. Not only that, but it chanced that he ran the first train brought over those rails after the transfer had been made February 20, 1901, when the Knox & Lincoln was merged with the Maine Central.4
President Grant and his party passed through Wiscasset, August 15, 1873, on their way to Rockland. A special train was run for his accommo- dation, in charge of Conductor Woodbury, and the President's car was called the Mystic. With the President were his children, Nellie, Ulysses and Jesse, also General Babcock, Senator Boutwell, District-Attorney Sanger, United States Marshal Usher, Postmaster Burt, Governor Perham, James G. Blaine, and others. The train stopped at the station for a few minutes, long enough for the President to make his appearance on the rear platform where he was introduced to the assembled citizens by the Hon. James G. Blaine, who simply said: "The President of the United States."
3. Josiah Winship Trott Albee and his bride, Evie Wilder Clapp started on their wedding jour- ney April 12, 1871 and were the only passengers on the first train out of Wiscasset on the Knox & Lincoln Railroad. This was before regular train service began. (Statement of their daughter Louise Racicot.)
4. Dates given by C. H. Priest, Superintendent.
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The Knox & Lincoln Railroad was not a financial success. The town of Wiscasset took the bonds and the town of Wiscasset went bankrupt. Such was the peculiar legal status of the community that should a creditor of the town choose to sue it he could recover judgment against it, and could levy upon any piece of property in the town and have it sold at auction. Obvi- ously no one would bid against him; he would have to bid it in himself; but as soon as he acquired title thereto the former owner, who under the statutes had a right to sue the new holder, and claim the difference between what he paid and a fair valuation of the property, together with interest at twelve per cent from the date of the first sale upon this difference. This did not however, prevent another bondholder from coming along and obtaining judgment and levying upon the same piece of real estate. So little satisfac- tion could be obtained from legal proceedings that real estate remained pretty much as it was.
During this irregular period, property holders were chary of an outlay on improvements lest their houses attract creditors and confiscation ensue. And so it came about that this period of adversity saved the little village from all of the horrors of the day, such as cupolas, dormer and bay win- dows, mansard roofs and piazzas, all of which excresences were then in vogue, and preserved instead its colonial architecture intact, and that today is the chief charm of the town.
But the loaning of the town's credit proved too heavy a burden for the little hamlet and its failure caused retrenchment in the homes of its sup- porters. Some years later, however, when the Knox & Lincoln Railroad went into the hands of the Maine Central Railroad, the town's share of the purchase price was sufficient to so reduce the remaining municipal debt that Wiscasset recovered and prosperity reigned once more.
The Wiscasset & Quebec Railroad
In the early days of railroads," as long ago as 1836, before the Grand Trunk was contemplated, a reconnaisance for a railroad from Wiscasset to Quebec was made by Colonel Long of the United States Army. The line thus laid down was two hundred forty-six miles in length.
5. The first locomotives built were used in hauling coal from the mines in the north of England. "Puffing Billy" the pioneer engine of 1813 worked for many years carrying coal from Newcastle.
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This old Indian route had been made known to the French explorers by the natives as early as 1604, as the shortest way to Canada, i. e. by the upper reaches of the Kennebec, the Dead River, thence down the Chaudière to the St. Lawrence. Were this railroad established, Wiscasset would become the winter port of the St. Lawrence and the large output of timber from the Canadian forests and grain from the great northwest, would traverse this course on its way to the London market, by a comparatively short ocean route.
In the early fifties before the Maine Central was projected, this magnifi- cent dream existed, but owing to a dearth of capital, failed in its realization.
A charter was granted in the spring of 1854 to the Wiscasset & Quebec Railroad Company, and Acts additional thereto authorized the construction of a railroad from Wiscasset, Maine, to the boundary line between the State of Maine and the Province of Quebec, either alone or in connection with the Messalonkee & Kennebec Railroad. At the boundary line it was to con- nect with, and be met by, the Point Levis & Kennebec Railway, following for the greater part of the distance the Chaudière River. The entire distance from Quebec to Wiscasset by the proposed route was two hundred forty-one miles. For some time after this concession was granted a renewal of the charter was obtained from the legislature every two years until the charter rights were reduced and it was decided to build a narrow gauge road to the same objective point. The line so planned would have been ninety-two miles shorter than the route from Quebec to Portland via the Grand Trunk.
William Atkinson of Embden was one of the chief promoters of the Wis- casset & Quebec Railroad, and he worked long and earnestly for its comple- tion, but the numerous surveys, outlays and pourparlers came to naught. At a meeting of the Wiscasset & Moosehead Lake Railroad held at the Lincoln County court house, September 7, 1874, Wiscasset voted to loan its credit in aid of a railroad to be built from that town to "a point on the west side of the Kennebec River between the south line of Gardiner and the north line of Augusta" to the amount of $ 1 50,000, and to subscribe to the capital stock of the company $ 14,000.
By the year 1892 it looked as though Wiscasset would indeed become the winter port of the St. Lawrence region, for the construction of a two-foot gauge railroad was begun, and rails for that purpose were brought here by the Wiscasset schooners, Sheepscot and Mavooshen. It was planned to build the road to Albion, a distance of forty-three and one-half miles, thence to
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