History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A.D. 1605; with family genealogies, etc

Front matter

HISTORY OF THOMASTON, ROCKLAND, AND SOUTH THOMASTON, MAINE, FROM THEIR FIRST EXPLORATION, A. I). 1605 ; WITH FAMILY GENEALOGIES. By CYRUS EATON: Cor. Member os the Mass. Hist. Society, also of the Wisconsin Hist. Sooiety, and Member Elect of the Maine Hist. Society. " Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost." — John, 6, 12. IN TWO VOLUMES. vol . I . HALLOWELL : MASTERS, SMITH & CO., PRINTERS. 1865. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by Cyrus Eaton, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maine. ERRATA. Page 8, line 31, for N. W. read S. W. " 31, " 42, •' these, " then. " 323, " 16, " excitement, " religious excitement " 351, " 6, occurs an error, taken from the papers of the day, which the modesty of Dr. Levensaler makes him peculiarly desirous of having corrected ; therefore instead of Medical Director of the Southern Department, read one of the Medical Examining Board at Beaufort, S. C. Page 417, line 11, for according, read according to.

PREFATORY. To the people of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, this work, executed under the pressure of many difficulties, sorrows, and anxieties, both public and domestic, is now humbly presented by the author and his devoted as sistant, as the only return they can make for the generous patronage, uniform kindness, and ready hospitality, every where extended to them, — without which, under the circumstances, they could hardly have had the confidence and spirit to persevere in the arduous undertaking. If it shall be found a faithful and impartial transcript of the past, and reasonably free from those errors which necessarily result from the ex amination and collation of so many facts and documents no where to be found in print and with no living interpreter, for the most part, to elucidate, it will have accomplished the ut most expectations of the author.

If in any instance it should fail in this, he hopes the generous reader will pardon, and im pute it rather to lack of ability than to any wilful negligence or sinister purpose. From the public at large, the author can hardly expect the favor bestowed upon his former publication of the kind, which in some respects was less local in its character. Should any complaint be made that the present work in its appearance and arrangement in the form of annals, too faithfully follows in the track of its predecessor, it may be well to explain that such was the wish and stipulation of the Thomaston Natural History Society under whose auspices the work was originally commenced and continued till the almost total dissolution of that Society by death and the calls of the supervening war. Those portions of the early history of Thomaston which had been forestalled in the Annals of Warren, are now more lightly passed over to make room for additional particulars, or varied by more liberal quotations from the actors and cotemporary writers.

Chapter I. Situation

TOPOGEArHY, ETC. The territory to whose history the present work is particularly devoted, constituting the original town of Thomaston, from which South Thomaston and Rockland have since been separated, is most advantageously situated between the western entrance of Penobscot Bay on the east and St. George's River on the west, in the county of Knox, and State of Maine. It lies, according to the observation of Dr. C. T. Jackson, made in 1838 at the house of Hon. J. Ruggles, in 43° 56' 12" North latitude, and according to Capt. G. Prince,* nearly in 69° 2' West longitude; containing about 20,950 acres of various but generally fertile soil. Its surface is agreeably diversified ; in some parts, gently undulating ; in others, hilly and mountainous ; and in yet others, especially in South Thomaston, broken and rocky, exhibiting strong marks of the ancient and long continued warfare, during the geologic ages, between land and water, cliff and billow, in ternal heat and external glacier.

Approached from the ocean, the first object which attracts attention is Owl's Heads in * This gentleman makes the latitude to be 44 deg. 5 min 45 sec. at the residence of C. Prince. Esq , whilst Sullivan, in his Topographical description of Thomaston, 1794, puts it down as 44 deg. 20 min., and Holland, as 44 deg. 8 min. f This name, so descriptive of the object, is said, by a writer in the Belfast Republican Journal of Dec. 16, 1853, to have been first given by Thos. Pownal, who was governor of the Province from 1757 to 1760; but this could hardly be, as the name had obtained currency earli/ in 1757 and is mentioned that year in the journals of Capts. Freeman and Remilly, as will appear under that date. By others it is asserted that the name is of Indian origin, and expressed in their language by a perfectly synonymous word, Mecadacut.

Vol. I. South Thomaston — a bluff point of trap rock extending far into the water, with its commodious Owl's Head Harbor on the south, and its more spacious Owl's Head Bay, which makes up to and forms the harbor of Rockland on the north. This headland, which at the place where the light-house stands rises to the height of 81 feetf 10 inches, has been, from the earliest discoveries, a noted land-mark for seamen, as it had been, before, to the Indians. Its excellent harbor is a common refuge in storms for vessels both from the Penobscot waters and the more eastern shores ; some hundreds of which frequently take shelter here, and their passing sails in fair weather are often too numerous for the light-keeper to enum erate and record. The passage through, however, from Owl's Head to White Head, is a dangerous one to strangers, on ac count of sunken ledges.

Owl's Head Bay or Rockland Harbor is capacious, deep, and sufficiently safe from storms except those from the east, from which it might easily be defended by an artificial break water. This harbor with its shore-built city, canopied by day with the terebin thine smoke and illuminated by night with the brilliant fires of its innumerable lime-kilns, presents a pleasing appearance from the water ; and, seen from the oak-crowned heights in its rear, is full of magnificence and beauty, said, by some, to be second only to the far-famed bay of Naples. On the right of the beholder in the latter situation, stretches a viooded promontory abruptly ending in Owl's Head, with its light-house tower, " White as the angel wing of hope, Firm as the rock from which it springs ;' in front, and terminating the distant view over the bay, rises a line of picturesque islands ; and to the left, stretching calmly and fearlessly out into the ocean, is the verdant penin sula of Jameson's Point ; whilst still farther to the north the view is closed by the bald and rugged brow of old Megunti cook in Camden.

Approached by the river of St. George's, as was done by the first discoverers and by all who visited the territory for many generations afterwards, the land directly in front of the beholder appears sitting gracefully upon the waters, slowly rising and crowned with the majestic Madambettox to wel come his approach. Here, in an elevated but comparatively level situation, with its fine air, elegant houses and churches, and its abundance of shade trees, fronted by the mansion of the late Gen. Knox conspicuous ever even in its decay, stands the beautiful village of Thomaston, acknowledged by strangers to be one of the pleasantest places in Maine. To the S. E. of this, lie the green farms of South Thomas ton, whose principal village, though not far distant, is con cealed from view by a high ridge of land, and situated on a beautiful stream of its own, called the Wessaweskeag.

When first explored, the region was, for the most part, covered with a heavy growth of timber ; varying in different localities from the stately pine to the oak, the ash, elm, and hemlock. Some eminences were covered with the denser foliage of the beech, maple, and birch, whilst the swamps and low grounds formed almost impenetrable thickets of fra grant spruce and fir. The principal elevation, and only one dignified with the name of mountain, is that mentioned by early writers as Madambettox, Mathebestick, or Methebesec,* as differently pronounced by the aboriginal tribes, and at present known, from its different occupants, as Dodge's or Marsh's Mountain. Its height above the sea-level reaches 558 feet; it is situated in the northern part of Rockland, and commands a magnificent view both of sea and land.

The soil especially on the top and western slope is very fertile, being derived from the decay of the micaceous and other slates of which the mountain is mostly composed. The plumbago and black oxide of manganese found here have been frequently mistaken for coal, of which, however, there are no real indications. By far the most important and extensive mineral in the place is the lime-stone ; which, notwithstanding the immense quantities it has been yielding for a century past, still seems absolutely inexhaustible. The principal mass or bed of this mineral extends from George's River near the State Prison in a N. Easterly direction, through Thomaston and Rockland to Jameson's Point and Chikawauka Pond. It is said to be about a mile in width, cropping out in various places, and dipping or inclining to the horizon at an angle of some 45° or more.

Another extensive and parallel bed containing the Meadow quarries, lies N. W. of this, and others, less known, * Massahesec means, according to Judge C. E. Potter, in Vol. IV., Me. Hist. Coll. niuch-pond-place ; — much; nipe, pond, ni omitted and s put in for sound's sake; and alike, place. But, according to Mary, daughter of the old Penobscot chief Neptune, it is formed by combination and contraction as follows; — Mad, great, om, am, or um, suckers, which, with the besec or betticks, according to Potter, would make it mean Great sucker-pond-place, implying that the pond was named first, and its name transferred to the adjoining mountain. Medomac and Mcdumcook are probably of kindred origin and signification. make their appearance in South Thomaston at the Marsh, on the Brown lot, and at Ash Point.

Wherever found, it lies between strata of talcose, micaceous, and argillaceous slates ; which, except where interrupted and broken through by trap, .form the foundations upon which the diluvial deposit of greater or less depth rests. Granite also in some places makes its appearance ; a good quarry of which in South Thomaston has been worked to some extent on the McLoon farm near the E. bank of the Wessaweskeag, a specimen of which may be seen in the Cilley monument at Elm Grove Cemetery. It is still more abundant on the neighboring islands ; from one of which, Dix Island, large quantities have been exported, and known at New York and other places as Rockland granite, being usually carried in Rockland vessels. Other minerals of less importance, such as iron ore, plum bago, beautiful crystals of quartz, calcareous spar, sulphuret of iron, and garnets, are found in different localities.

The only lake or pond of any magnitude in the whole ter ritory, is that known in early times as Madambettox Pond, later as Tolman's, and more recently as Chikawauka Lake. This is a deep, pure, crystal sheet of water, 210 acres in ex tent, situated one-half in Rockland, and the other half in Camden. It is much resorted to by sportsmen, anglers, and parties of pleasure. It constitutes a never failing reservoir, furnishing an inexhaustible supply to the river that is its out let, and to the city whose enterprising citizens have conducted its purifying waters to almost every dwelling. The whole tract is well watered, not only by the St. George's river, ocean, and bay before mentioned, but by numerous brooks and larger streams, the principal of which are the Wessaweskeag and Mill Rivers. The natural features of the Wessaweskeag stream, make it stand, forth pre-eminently as a tide-water power, unrivaled in the State, especially if we take into consideration the capacity of the pond, and the shortness of the dam.

From the old mill site, near where the bridge crosses the stream, the pond extends in length quite two miles ; in full tides forming an area of between three and four hundred acres. A hard hornblende granite or sienite ledge forms the bed of the river from above the old mill site to below the bridge, with a tolerably even surface which prevents the possibility of its gullying out, — a circumstance of the highest importance in a mill site. A dam of 70 or 80 rods extent, running to a point on the E. side of the river, would form a capacious ebb or waste pond into which factory mills might empty their expended waters, while the great pond above was being re plenished twice in every 24 hours by the flood tides of the ocean. The flow of the tides in the river is usually from six to twelve feet ; giving an average head of water of nine feet.

This river is never affected by freshets ; being, aside from the tide waters, an insignificant, shallow, and sluggish stream. It rises in the borders of Rockland, running south through the Great Marsh to the bridge and wharves in the present village of South Thomaston, thence S. Easterly a mile and a half to the ocean waters of the Muscle Ridge channel. Near Cherry-tree Point, at the mouth of the river, is a safe anchor age in four fathoms ; as well as another less than a quarter of a mile from the lower deep hole inside the mouth of the river, where large vessels lie afloat as safe almost as in a dock. Vessels drawing twelve feet of water will float at the village wharves in a full course of tides. About a half mile below are the Narrows, resembling those of the St. George's River, and which are a place of some interest from the rapid rush of waters at half tide.

There is no regular run of fish in this river; but bass and sea-shad are caught sometimes in large quantities, and occasionally a few alewives ; which, in early times, with salmon, shad, herring, smelts, whitings, and eels, were abundant. Mill River, one of the principal branches of the St. George's, lies within the limits of the ancient town, traversing what is now Rockland and Thomaston. Its main branch issues from Chikawauka Pond, runs a tortuous but generally S. Westerly course, meeting the tide waters at the dam below Mill River Bridge in Thomaston. It is navigable for vessels of 150 tons and drawing not more than eight feet of water, as far as Blackington's wharf, a little below the dam. About a mile above the bridge it receives the Northern Branch, which, rising near Madambettox mountain, passes through Muddy Pond, and, receiving some smaller streams near Sherer's saw, stave, and shingle mill, takes a general south erly course to its junction in the present town of Thomaston below N. E. Clark's mill, formerly Jacob Ulmer's, and re cently purchased by the Rockland Water Works Company.

Mill river, fed by so large a pond, holds out well for its size in time of drought and has many valuable mill sites, nearly all of which are or have been in one way or another im proved, but have been lately purchased also by the same Company to avoid litigation for damages, occasioned by its use of the Chikawauka water. This stream, now seldom frequented by alewives, is supposed to have formerly abounded I* with' them as far up as Chikawauka Pond ; but, from the early erection of a saw-mill by Brigadier Waldo, near the present mills at the bridge, they were shut out at an early period and the run broken up. They began, however, to re visit the place, and in seasons when the dams were carried away made some increase in their numbers. But by the multiplication of dams and the neglect of the town to open them in the proper season, they have long since disappeared, and few people can remember ever having seen any there.

The smelts, however, continue their annual visits, are caught in the same abundance and eaten with the same relish as by the savages and pioneer settlers centuries ago. Bordering _>oth sides of this river are the celebrated Meadows, original!}' 'an extensive glade in the forest much resorted to by the moose and deer as well as the neat stock of the early settlers, and now valuable appendages to many of the best farms, and giving name to one of the finest portions of both Thomaston and Rockland. How these Meadows were originally formed, what has been the action of floods and fires, frosts and freshets, beaver-dams, and other agencies, — are subjects upon which the limits of this work will not allow the writer to enter. A few facts, however, in relation to this and other parts of the town, may be given to prove that " since the fathers fell asleep, all things" do not "continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

About a quarter of a mile from the left margin of Mill River near the site of the clothing mill, at the head of a gully, Simeon Blood, Senior, in digging a well, discovered, at the depth of about thirty feet from the surface, some small masses of matter resembling stones with earth adhering to them. These, on examination, proved to be frogs ; and one of them, when warmed by the sun and air, hopped off with the usual agility of the species. They were probably, whilst hibernating in the mud, covered over by a deposit of earth brought by a flood or current of water, and buried too deep for the ensuing Spring to reach and re-animate ; but at what epoch, and by how many successive deposits of earth, who shall pretend to say?* In 1853, as Thos. Gould, Esq., of Winchester, N. H., then on a visit to his son in this place, was watching the opera tions in the Fulling-mifi lime quarry, he saw the workmen blast out from the solidutedge, 1 8 or 20 feet below the surface, a black and at first perfectly torpid toad.

This soon showed signs of life, ajid, during his temporary absence, * Messrs. Ja*nte£ Morse, Wm. H. Blood, &o. hopped away, as the workmen said, and was not again found, — leaving only a cavity in the rock to mark the prison house of this remnant of the ante-diluvian world.* In several places in what is called the Ulmer district, when ever the earth is perforated to the proper depth, a bed of blue clay, much resembling flats' mud, is found; beneath which is a never failing supply of water, which, when reached, rises in some spots to, and even above, the surface of the ground. In different places not far from the banks of Oyster River, and also on land of Capt. S. M. Shibles, shells of the bival vular species have been found well preserved and deeply im bedded in banks of solid clay. In 1855, a fire broke out in a dense thicket of stunted evergreens, upon a piece of low, sunken land, half a mile north of the State Prison, belonging to J. D. Barnard ; and consumed all of them.

After a great length of time, the fire was extinguished by drenching rains ; when Mr. Barnard commenced the work of " clearing;" and, after removing the scattered remnants from the surface, to his great surprise came in contact with a buried body of heavy lumber, strewn promiscuously, to the depth of four or five feet. Some of the trees were twenty feet in length and measured a foot and a half in diameter at the base, with roots diminished in about the same proportion with the trunks, both as uniformly tapering as though whittled down with a knife; still there were no marks of any cutting instruments about them. This deposit overspread an area of five or six acres ; and the quantity removed (which proved the very best of fuel, when dry) was nearly two hundred cords. It had much the ap pearance of having undergone a partial petrifaction.

Many of the trunks were used for enclosing the lot, and are still to be seen. Their condition, when found, cannot be accounted for under any other hypothesis than that they were for a long time acted upon by troubled waters. f As late as 1839, during a violent storm of rain and wind which occurred Aug 31st, a point of land containing about half an acre, covered with a thick growth of cat-tail flags whose roots were usually a foot or two submerged, by some means became detached from the adjoining land at the upper part of Wheaton's mill-pond, Mill River, and floated majesti cally down the same amid the wonder and admiration of the crowds which collected in spite of the rain to witness the * Communication of A. P. Gould, Esq. t Communication of Dr. M. R. Ludwig. novel scene. This floating island finally brought up against the land on the north of the bridge, after a voyage of about a quarter of a mile, and remained there some time an inter esting object much frequented by delighted boys and curious observers.

Besides the prominent features already described, the shores of this ancient town, both on the ocean and river sides, were conveniently diversified and indented with points, coves, and inlets, which may be cursorily enumerated. Jame son's Point, on the borders of Camden, is a considerable pro jection separating Clam Cove in that town from Rockland harbor ; from thence southerly to Ulmer's Point is an inden tation early named Lermond's Cove, but called by the Indians Cataivamteak, or Great-landing-place. Proceeding on, we pass Crockett's Point and Ingraham's Point; all in the present city of Rockland, to the Head of the Bay, South Thomaston. Here the shore bends easterly at less than a right angle, to the extremity of Owl's Head; from which a line drawn north-westerly to Jameson's Point will enclose Owl's Head Bay or Rockland harbor including the points and coves before mentioned.

Doubling the promontory south westerly through Owl's Head Harbor, we pass on the left Munroe's Island, containing 180 acres, which derives its name from Hugh Munroe, who early settled and spent his days there, and Sheep Island of 74 acres ; both woody and at present if not generally uninhabited. Continuing in the same direction, we come to Ash Point and the small Island of that name, so called from the trees which formerly abounded there ; thence, more westerly, we approach the mouth of the Wessaweskeag between Spalding's Point on the N. E. and Thorndike Point on the N. W., having passed on the right the peninsula of Ballyhac, and, within the river's mouth, Spalding's Island, if island it may be called, which at low water is united to the main land or Spalding's Point. From hence to the town of St. George, there is no prominent landmark.

On the George's River side, passing rfp, we find Simonton's Point jutting boldly out and forming the lower boundary of the broad expanse or basin usually denominated the Bay. Near this point are Cat Island and Church's Rock, which received their names from a practical joke of some sailors who, having among them one by the name of Church whom they usually made a butt of, offered to bet when bantering him on his want of strength, that the cat on board could out-pull him. The bet being accepted and judges ap pointed, Church was placed upon the rock and the cat upon the island, with a line attached to each. The dupe not per ceiving that the line, in a loop of which the cat's neck was inserted, extended further on into the hands of three or four stout fellows, feeling sure of victory braced himself up for a strong pull, when the word was given, and he was instantly plunged backward into the briny element.

So, he got a ducking, his companions a laugh, and the island and rock their names. Above the Bay and at the exit of Mill River, are extensive fiats, capable, if properly diked, of becoming one of the finest pieces of land in the region. Here, opposite the mouth of Mill River, is what is called "the Turn," where a pier or beacon has been erected to assist vessels in their passage up and down, and where the river's channel bends N. Westerly at a right angle. Passing up, in a W. or N. W. direction, we leave the village portion of Thomaston with its wharves, ship-yards, and the Knox mansion, on our right, and on our left the commanding height of Watson's Point, till a short distance above the toll-bridge we come to the Narrows. Here the course of the river by another right angle shifts to the S. W. through a passage so confined between precipitous ledges as to cause a violent rush of water at every tide, presenting an exhilerating spectacle to the beholder, and a for midable obstruction to the coasting vessels, which, formerly, before the lumber failed, used to pass constantly to and from the landings in Warren.

From the head of these Narrows, the course of the river is again N. Westerly, to the original bounds of "Warren ; shortly above which it receives the waters of Oyster River, which stream several times crosses the old line of Thomaston, and the Eastern branch of which, after leaving Camden, lies almost wholly within the ancient town, now Thomaston and Rockland. The climate of the place is generally allowed to be a healthy one ; but from the lack of records few data are found from which to deduce any very accurate results. Ac cording to the published returns of the city undertaker of Rockland for the last five years, the mortality compared with the number of inhabitants given in the 8th census, is as follows, viz.: — 1858, 106 deaths, equal to one in every 69 in habitants; in 1859, 83, or one in 88; in 1860, 102, or one in 72; in 1861, 111, or one in 66; and in 1862, 103, or one in 71 ; making a total in five years of 505, and the very fa vorable yearly average of one in 73.

This, being a list of interments only, does not of course include those who have died at sea and in foreign lands, except when brought home for burial. During the same years, according to a private list kept by Hon. B. Fales, in which it is not improbable that many infants may have escaped his notice, the number of deaths in Thomaston was in 1858, 43, or one in 72; in 1859, 17, or one in 181; in 1860, 11, or one in 280; in 1861, 44, or one in 70; and in 1862, 46, or one in 67; making a total in five years of 161, and the still more favorable yearly average of one in 96. No list of deaths in South Thomaston having been found, no comparison can of course be made. Probably the different sections of the old town differ but little in the health and longevity of the people; though an opinion is somewhat prevalent that Rockland, especially the lime-burning district, is in a great measure ex empt from diphtheria, and perhaps other putrid diseases, on account of the copious exhalations of carbonic acid from the lime-kilns.

When in 1832 the cholera had caused a wide spread panic through the country, the people there were told by an aged man from Waldoboro', of German descent, that they need have no fear, " the cholera can't come here, while the lime-kilns are kept going." But what foundation there is for this idea remains to be tested. Rockland is more ex posed to the easterly winds, and Thomaston to the south westerly; both of which being surcharged with vapor from the ocean are very trying in the colder months to feeble con stitutions. Epidemics sometimes prevail in one of the three municipalities, whilst the others are exempt, and vice versa. For the only register of the weather which the author has been able to find kept in either of the sections, the reader is referred to Table XI. The primitive people who frequented these woods and waters, as far as we can judge from the absence of burying grounds and other memorials, had no permanent residence in this particular locality.

Few monuments of their existence here have come to our knowledge, though formerly frequent ing the Fort in such great numbers. A stone instrument, worked out in the form of a wedge, was found, not many years back, in the garden of Mr. Stetson in Knox street, Thomaston ; and other stone instruments, such as mortars, chisels, arrow and spear heads, have been picked up in dif ferent places. On the eastern bank of the George's, at the head of the Narrows, was found, stuck in among the earth and rocks, an iron tomahawk or hatchet, formed, not with the modern eye common to our axes, but with one made by drawing out and turning over the head of the instrument, after the manner of the French at the time of their earliest explorations and settlements in this country, and which were the first, it is said, to supersede among the Indians the use of those made by themselves of stone.

On the Gilchrist farm in St. George, opposite the old stone garrison house in Cush ing, many years ago, a gun-barrel and lock, together with a human skeleton, were found embedded in the mould near the surface of the ground ; but whether belonging to some Indian, or white man, no evidence remained to determine. At the mouth of the Wessaweskeag some arrow heads and other in struments of stone have been picked up at different times ; and at that village, on the farm of Asa Coombs, Esq., a flat piece of soft granite, some two or three feet across, was found with several figures of arrows carved on its sides to the depth of one-eighth of an inch or more. On Spalding's Island, Capt. H. Spalding remembers to have frequently found skulls and iron tomahawks. On Dix Island, which lies about three miles distant, an ancient burying-ground was recently dis covered, in which many skeletons, much decayed, seem to have been buried in a circle, with their feet pointing inwards toward the centre, though in somewhat confused and indis tinct condition from decay and time.