Old Hallowell on the Kennebec

Preface

(^I^BtHE purpose of this volume is to tell the story of the old / "i town of Hallowell from the time of its earliest settle- ^"^ ment to its incorporation as a city in 1852, and to give ^^^ a picture of the life of the people at that period when Hallowell was at the height of its commercial prosperity and famous as a social and literary center. The book contains biographical sketches of the eminent founders of the town, and of the notable men and women who maintained its moral, intellectual, and social status; and also presents a record of those institutions that contributed to the general upbuilding of the community.

It has long been conceded, by recognized authorities, that the early annals of Hallowell are of remarkable interest and of unusual historic value. Therefore, with the hope that these veritable yet romantic records may appeal to the sons and daughters of the Kennebec valley, wherever they may be, and also to the general reader who would enjoy for a season the characteristic atmosphere of an exceptionally favored old New England town, this story, as illumined by the traditions of the fathers, is now inscribed upon these pages.

To those loyal friends of Old Hallowell, to whom I am indebted for the use of valuable family papers, manuscript letters, copies of rare old portraits, and for most cordial encouragement in the making of the book, appreciative acknowledgments are here gratefully rendered. To Miss Annie F. Page and Miss Sophia B. Oilman, who have placed the resources of the Hubbard Free Library and their own invaluable collections of local historical matter at my disposal, and who have given me their constant personal assistance in my researches, an expression of gratitude is here especially due. To all of those lovers and friends of the old town from whom messages of enthusiastic interest in my work have frequently been received, I this day send out, with the story of Old Hallowell, thanks — and greeting!

E. H. N.

Augusta, Maine.

November 25, 1909.

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Preface vii

Table of Contents ix

II The First Settlers

"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places." — Psalms xvi : 6.

^^■rHERE is no more beautiful view on the shores of the /"i Kennebec river than that from the top of Powder ^rL House hill in Hallowell. Standing where its gray ^^^ granite ledges creep out amidst the grasses which are fringed, in early summer, with tilting scarlet columbine, or, later in the season, with graceful tufts of golden-rod, one looks upon a picture of unusual charm and beauty. To the north, like a giant sentinel, rises the bold wooded crest of Howard hill. To the south lies the Cascade pond, glistening in the sunlight, and sending its waters eastward, over the cascades and rapids of the Vaughan stream, to meet the blue waves of the Kennebec. Before us rise the church spires amidst tall elms and maples ; and, below, at the feet of the ancient town, the river — the " Long-Land-Water " — as the Indians fittingly named it, flows majestically on past its old moss-grown wharves and grassy islands, and then sweeps around in a picturesque curve and follows its course to the sea.

Close behind us, founded on the immovable rocks, is that time-honored landmark, the old brick powder house, with its one mysterious door barred with iron and carved with the monograms, initials, and cabalistic signs that register the visitors of a century. " Over the river," as we always said in our childhood, the banks of Chelsea Heights rise steeply from the water's edge. Away at the north, the chimneys and turrets of the gray stone hospital emerge above the trees suggestive of some old English castle ; and thence the undulating hills sweep on until lost in the mists of the horizon.

Every son and daughter of Hallowell knows this picture of the "fair olden city on the river's shore." We see it in our

1 6 Old Halloxvell on the Kennebec

dreams, and with closed eyelids in our waking hours ; and to-day, as we turn our thoughts backward to the founding of Hallowell a century and a half ago, it is difficult to shut out the familiar scene and recall the time when these shores of the Kennebec were an unbroken forest.

Even at this early period, however, the place must have seemed to the " first comers " an ideal location for a town ; and its natural advantages were at once apparent to the early settlers on the Kennebec. The shores of the river valley from the time of the Pilgrim traders had been known for their fertility and natural productiveness ; the waters of the river were filled with salmon and other delicious fish ; the waterpower of the stream that here dashed wildly down through the forest was a guarantee for future sawmills and other necessary manufactories. Here was the head of the tide and of a broad waterway for the ships from the sea. Moreover, at this period, the Kennebec was regarded as the natural outlet of Canada, and visions of the time when there should be a grand inland route of traffic and travel from Montreal and Quebec, via the Kennebec, to the sea, had always had a prominent part in the plans of the promoters of the river settlements. For these reasons, a town well located in this vicinity might confidently look forward to a permanent and ever increasing prosperity. Accordingly, at the close of the French and Indian wars, when peace and security became assured, the Plymouth proprietors on the Kennebec offered their lands for sale on the most liberal terms in order to induce settlers to come to this region.

In the year 1754, Fort Western was erected on the east bank of the Kennebec, and garrisoned with twenty men under the command of Captain James Howard, Around the fort a few small log houses were soon built, but until the year 1762, which must ever stand prominent in our local history, no dwelling of any sort existed within what are now the limits of Hallowell.

It was on the third of May of this momentous year, 1762, that Deacon Pease Clark and his wife, with their son, Peter

The First Settlers ly

Clark, and his wife and one little child, landed upon the shore of the Kennebec and made a path for themselves to the spot where the old cotton factory now stands in Hallowell. No hearth fire burned for their welcome ; no door opened at their coming; no home stood ready to receive them. And so the intrepid Pease Clark and his son Peter took the one rude cart which they had brought with them and turned it bottom upwards. Then, with their brave wives and the one little child, they crept under it and passed the night. In the morning they arose and began the settlement of Hallowell.

The Clarks had evidently not come to this new country entirely ignorant of its location and requirements. According to family tradition, Peter Clark, the son of Pease Clark, had been a lieutenant in charge of a company of sixty soldiers, probably a part of Gen. Shirley's force, sent to guard the workmen who built Fort Western in 1754. Peter Clark, being pleased with the country and the terms offered to settlers, first induced his father to make a prospecting trip to the Kennebec valley, after which, they both decided to establish a home here for themselves and their families. Pease Clark secured a grant of land of one hundred acres, fifty rods wide and one mile long extending through what is now the central part of Hallowell. His son Peter was granted an adjoining lot at the south.

The first efforts of the Clarks were devoted to making a small clearing and to the erection of a temporary dwelling. They then planted corn and rye upon the burnt land. Before the snows of the following winter fell, these energetic first settlers had hewn timber, procured boards and planks from the mill at Cobbossee, and built a comfortable frame house of two stories in front and one at the rear, according to the fashion of the times; and ever after that, the hospitable doors of the Clark house stood open to welcome all newcomers to this locality.

Probably no thought of founding a city, small or great, entered into the heads of the Clarks at the time of their coming to the Kennebec; but they unconsciously carried out the first great fundamental principle of civic history, namely, that the establishment of the individual home is the true foundation of the commonwealth. Pease Clark now rightfully bears the distinction of having been the father of the present city of Hallowell; while to James Howard, the first settler at Fort Western, is accorded the honor of having been the founder of Augusta.

As we look back to the arrival of Pease Clark and his family in this newly-opened country, we can easily imagine the intense interest with which they regarded the other newcomers who were destined to be their neighbors and fellow-townsmen ; and our own interest is warmly excited in these first families of old Hallowell. An old chart, made from Winslow's plan of Cushnoc in 1761, gives us an excellent idea of the division of the territory and the location of the new settlers. Fort Western, occupied by Captain James Howard and his family, stood two miles above the Clarks' clearing and on the opposite side of the river. Three sons of Pease Clark, who soon followed their father to the Kennebec, settled above the fort. A fourth brother, David Clark, received lot 15 on the west side of the river, and a sister, the widow of Asa Fiske of Providence, afterwards married to David Hancock, settled on lot 29 on the west side. A nearer neighbor of the Clarks at the north was Josiah French who kept an inn where is now the intersection of Green and Grove streets in Augusta; Ephraim Cowan lived on the lot where the State House now stands, and Samuel Howard, whose estate included Howard Hill, located a little farther to the south; but these lots were not within the present limits of Hallowell. Here the land was divided into two large sections of 32,000 acres each, extending from the river to Cobbossee Great Pond. Lot 23 was owned by Dr. Sylvester Gardiner and lot 22, by Benjamin Hallowell. Out of these large sections, Pease Clark and Peter Clark had received adjoining corner lots bordering on the river. Their nearest and only neighbors on the south were Jonathan and Job Philbrook two miles below in the present town of Farmingdale. With the exception of the Philbrooks, there were no

The First Settlers 19

other settlers on the west side of the Kennebec between the Clarks and the Cobbossee stream in Gardiner.

On the east side of the river, near the southern boundaryline, was the lot of Samuel Bullen, who was prominent in the records as town constable. Lot 7, on what is now the beautiful "intervale," was granted to James Cocks (or Cox), of Boston.

Next, on the chart, we find the lots of Benjamin, Nathan, and Daniel Davis. Jonathan Davenport, who is well remembered as the first town clerk of Hallowell, settled on the adjoining grant. Ezekiel Page and his son Ezekiel Junior received lots 19 and 21. Moses and Seth Greeley settled on what has in recent years been known as the Arsenal lot. Daniel Hilton, a young soldier, who enlisted under Captain Howard for service at Fort Western, obtained lot 30. He afterwards sold this land to Daniel Thomas, who kept the first tavern on the east side of the river. Daniel and Edward Savage, two of the most enterprising settlers of this period, received grants in 1768 and 1769; but they had been for some years previous at the Fort.

One of the most remarkable of these early settlers whose name should also be preserved, was John Gilley, an Irishman from Cork. He came to this country in 1755 and enlisted as a soldier at Fort Western. He was at that time believed to be seven or eight years older than Captain James Howard. He attained an extraordinary longevity, and at his death, according to the estimate of his contemporaries, he was one hundred and twenty-four years of age. He enjoyed perfect health and was active in mind and body long after his one hundredth birthday. Judge Weston states that "the late Dr. Benjamin Vaughan of Hallowell, was interested to make an examination of John Gilley, from which he became satisfied that his age was not overstated." ' Gilley married Dorcas Brown and had a large family of children. His name was given to Gilley's Point a locality famous as an ancient Indian burying-ground.

All of the above-mentioned men were located on the Kennebec, in 1763, or earlier. They may be regarded as the pioneer settlers of Hallowell. They were the brave souls who

* North's History of Augusta, p. 93.

20 Old Hallowcll on the Kennebec

ventured their all in a new and almost unknown country. They cleared the forests, planted the cornfields, and literally blazed the trail for future generations.

The every-day life of these pioneer settlers was marked, even in the most prosperous families, by hardship, privation, and self-sacrifice. The first sawmill within the limits of ancient Hallowell, was built by James Howard on the Ellis or Riggs brook, at some distance above Fort Western, about 1769. In 1772, William and Samuel Howard built another mill on the same stream; and very soon afterwards, in 1773, a third mill was erected by the Savage brothers. The nearest gristmill was at Gardinerstown, on the Cobbossee stream ; and all the "grist" was carried on the shoulders of the men over a foot-path through the forest, or in boats down the Kennebec. Even the inhabitants of Norridgewock and Canaan at this time, brought all their corn down the river in canoes to the mill at Cobbossee.

The settlers worked energetically and perseveringly, and the land was soon cleared and cultivated to the distance of half a mile from the river. In the adjoining forests, the bear still ranged, and frequently made destructive raids on the cornfields of the farmers. Terrifying rumors, and sometimes a glimpse of wolves and the dread lonp-cervier, often alarmed the men as well as the women and children. The houses of the period, with a few notable exceptions, were built of logs. Huge fire-places, scantily supplied with cooking utensils, tested the housewife's art, and doubtless at times sorely tried her patience. As there were no roads, the social intercourse of the people must have been very limited; and our sympathies constantly revert to the women and children who naturally suffered most from their isolated location, and restricted circumstances.

There was, moreover, for the first decade after the coming of Pease Clark and his immediate followers, no opportunity for religious service on the Sabbath. The people, consequently, lacked both the social and religious uplift that comes from laying aside the work-a-day cares of life and going in clean attire and goodly company to the house of God. The Clarks

The First Settlers 2i

especially must have missed the privileges of the sanctuary, for they had been prominent members of the first Congregational church at Attleboro, Mass., where they worshiped under the ministrations of Rev. Habijah Weld, a pastor "distinguished for his usefulness and highly respected both at home and abroad." ' That they thus felt the deprivation of the Sabbath services is shown by the efforts made by Pease Clark to establish religious worship at the new settlement on the Kennebec. From the earliest town records, kept by Jonathan Davenport, we learn that "at a meeting of the inhabitants of Kennebec river, Cobbiseconte and upwards, held at the house of Mr. Pease Clark, Feb. ist, 1763, articles of agreement were entered into to procure preaching. A committee was appointed to raise money for the purpose. The minister to divide his time between Cobbiseconte and Fort Western, or upwards as is most convenient."

The committee evidently made an effort to perform the duties assigned to them, for in April, 1763, the first public religious services were held at Fort Western. They were conducted by an Episcopal minister, the Rev. Jacob Bailey, from Pownalborough.

With this exception, the efforts of the people to secure preaching seem to have been without effect for we learn of no more public religious services at Hallowell until 1773.

But notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the early settlers were so inspired with hope, courage, and public spirit that, in 1771, they appealed to the legislature for incorporation as a town. The act was passed April 26, 1771. The new town contained ninety square miles of territory and included what is now Hallowell, Augusta, Chelsea, and the greater part of Manchester and Farmingdale. At the time of its incorporation it was represented by ninety-nine taxable polls. The town was named Hallowell in honor of Mr. Benjamin Hallowell, a wealthy Boston merchant, and one of the Plymouth proprietors.

A town meeting, called by James Howard, was held at

' Hutory 0/ Attleboro.

Fort Western, May 22, 1771, of which the following record was duly made :

At a meeting of the Freeholders and other inhabitants of this town att Fort western being the first Town Meeting after we ware Incorporated and the town made choice of Deacon peas Clark for the Moderator and the following officers to serve the town for the year Ensuing Viz. Jonathan Davenport Town Clerk Constable Samuel Bullen Selectmen peas Clark James Howard Esq & Jonathan Davenport Town Treasurer James Howard Esq — Wardens Samuel Howard & Samuel Babcock — tythingmen Daniel Savage peter Hopkins— Deer Reeves Jonathan Davenport & moses Greley — Fence Viewers — adam Carson Benjamin White— Hog Reeves abijah Read Ebenezer Davenport & Emerson Smith— surveyers of High ways Ezekiel page Peter Clark peter Hopkins abisha Cowing & Daniel Cobb — surveyors of Boards shingles and timber James Cocks Edward Savage — ^James Howard Esq is appointed to provide a town Book at the town charge In order to keep the town Records.

The above extract is copied from the Records of Hallowell, No. I. p. I. It bears the date of May 22, 1771, and is the first entry made after the incorporation of the town. The record is inscribed in the hand writing of the first town clerk of Hallowell, Mr. Jonathan Davenport. The writer is guiltless of punctuation marks, save a few dashes, and is not always consistent in his use of capitals; but his handwriting is excellent, his spelling generally correct, — "peas" Clark being a most delectable exception.

At the annual meeting in 1772, Captain James Cocks was chosen moderator and Jonathan Davenport, clerk. The first acts of the town provided for roads on each side of the river from one end of the town to the other. Thirty-six pounds were raised towards clearing the roads, and fifteen pounds for schooling and preaching. The selectmen were instructed to petition the Plymouth proprietors for "a ministerial lot, also a lot for a meeting-house and a training-field."

From this first list of town of^cers, we learn who were the principal men of the settlement at the time of the incorporation of the town in 1771. The names of these brave "first settlers" should have an honored place in the history of "Old Hallowell." Their story is necessarily fragmentary, and can be gathered

The First Settlers 23

only bit by bit from the old records. Nevertheless, they were very real characters, keenly alive in their day and generation; and could we now call together that first town-meeting of 1771, we should all, I think, without difficulty, recognize Pease Clark, Moderator, Jonathan Davenport, Town Clerk, James Howard, Esq., Treasurer, and all the other old-time dignitaries who, having endured the perils and hardships of "planting" the town in the primeval wilderness, were now rewarded by public recognition and the emoluments of office.

The life-story of Pease Clark remains especially identified with that part of Old Hallowell of which he was the first settler; and his name will long be remembered and honored in the community which he founded. The early records show that he was a man of ability, integrity, and public spirit. He had a prominent part in public affairs at the time of the incorporation of the town, and was zealous in his efforts for the public welfare.

Deacon Pease Clark has been characterized as "a pious man, just and honorable in his dealings." He erected his altar in the wilderness and there dwelt, with his sons and daughters, around him, like a veritable patriarch of old. He lived to see his home surrounded by other pleasant dwellings, with fruitful gardens and orchards on the sloping hillsides; and his own fertile fields became the inheritance of his descendants. He was a worthy representative of that sturdy, indomitable class of pioneers who, with faith in God and their fellow-men, cleared the forests for the dwelling place of succeeding generations.

Pease Clark died in January, 1782. His life-work was fittingly commemorated in a funeral sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Eaton of Winthrop, from the not inappropriate text : Instead of the thorn shall come tip the fir-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name that shall not be cut off.

In the old burying-ground in Hallowell, there is a large table-shaped tomb, covered with moss and lichens, and yellowed by the rain and sunshine of more than a hundred years. It stands in a picturesque spot overlooking the blue water-course of the Kennebec and the curving river shore shut in and sheltered by the point of Bombahook. This was the fair domain chosen by Hallowell's first settler for his home; and it is fitting that Deacon Pease Clark, whose name is carven on this ancient tomb, should here rest beside the Kennebec.

Another most worthy monument to the memory of Deacon Pease Clark is the Hallowell City Building. This noble memorial edifice was erected by Mrs. Eliza Clark Lowell, in honor of her revered ancestor, and presented to the city of Hallowell in 1899. A marble tablet in its entrance hall bears this inscription :

This Building Is The

Gift Of

Eliza Clark Lowell

A Lineal Descendant Of

Deacon Pease Clark

The First Settler Of Hallowell

Ill

"They lived, loved, wrought, and died; and left a legacy cherished by their children."

— Reminisce7ices of Hallozvell.

^^■j^HE town of Hallowell, from the time of its incorporation / J in 1771 to its division in 1797, had the unusual !^^^ experience of developing into two distinct villages. The settlement at Fort Western dated from 1754; that at Bombahook, from the coming of Pease Clark in 1762. The upper village was commonly called the Fort; the lower village, the Hook. The formation of two villages, each around its own center, was the natural result of certain local advantages, but it was quite unpremeditated by the early settlers; and for the first quarter of a century there was a warm community of interests between the Hook and Fort. All the settlers shared alike in the same hardships, struggles, aspirations, and achievements. Their interests were mutual, and all measures adopted were for the common good. Therefore, in recalling the early history of the town, we must bear in mind that the present sister cities of Hallowell and Augusta were, for a quarter of a century, one and the same town, bearing the incorporated name of Hallowell.

During the years of the Revolutionary war, the progress and development of the town was somewhat checked, but, with the return of peace, renewed prosperity came to the valley of the Kennebec, and a number of new settlers arrived at Hallowell who will always be remembered among the early promoters and benefactors of the town. Some of the most active and influential of these new settlers located around the Fort. The upper village therefore first felt the stimulating effects of the business energy and capital thus introduced into the community ; and, although this volume is to be especially devoted to the story of the famous old town that grew up around the Hook, we must now pause to pay a brief tribute to the leading men of the Fort, since these men were prominent among the makers of Hallowell before the division of the Mother-Town, and also influential in the shaping of its destiny at the critical period of its existence in 1797. After the division of the town, the settlers around Fort Western loyally devoted all their energies to the upbuilding of the locality which they had chosen for their home ; but before the aspirations of Fort and Hook diverged, the men of the Fort shared in the common interests of both sections which together made the town of Hallowell.

The individual characters of these men are so strongly impressed upon our local history that it would be an easy task for the artist of to-day to draw their pictures for posterity. Even a few brief strokes of the pen will render them recognizable upon these pages.

The name of James Howard, the first and only commander of Fort Western, stands at the head of the list of early settlers. Captain Howard came with his family to the Fort in 1754, and was for many years the most influential and prominent man in the community.

It is stated, in the History of Augusta {p2igt 86), that James Howard was "a highly respectable gentleman who came from the north of Ireland," and that he was "of Scotch descent." This assertion, has been frequently repeated by local historians, but it is evidently incorrect ; for family records and traditions supported by historic evidence, which are still in the possession of the descendants of James Howard, show that he was of English ancestry and descended from a cadet of the house of Howard now represented in England by the Duke of Norfolk.

The statements of the author of the History of Augusta, in regard to the origin of James Howard were apparently based on a superficial impression derived from the fact that in 1735, this "highly respectable gentleman" appears on the Waldo Patent at St. George's in company with a Scotch-Irish colony. But Eaton, in his Annals of Warren (page 49), states that

James Howard was one of seven men who "had been previously deputed by their associates in Boston and vicinity to select a place for settlement;" and it is claimed by an exact and experienced genealogist of the Howard family, ' that at the time of the settlement of the Waldo Patent, James Howard was an English gentleman living in Boston, that he went to St. George's river in an official capacity, and that, although he settled there with the colony of Scotch-Irish, he was not of their nationality.

James Howard certainly proved himself to be a man of parts and well qualified for the position of a leader; and his descendants possessed those qualities of mind and character that we are accustomed to ascribe to good English birth and breeding. In 1770, after Fort Western was no longer used as a house of defense, James Howard built for himself, about a mile farther north, on Governor Shirley's "cut road," the fine and spacious mansion long known as the "Great House." Here a most generous hospitality was dispensed. It was said that the fire was never allowed to go out on the hearth of the Howard house ; and in 1775, Dr. Senter writes of the Howards as "an exceeding polite and opulent family."

The most notable company ever assembled around the "opulent" board of the Howards, was entertained by the master and mistress of the Great House in September, 1775. This was when Colonel Benedict Arnold and his officers made a brief sojourn at Fort Western on their fateful journey to Quebec. In this remarkable assemblage there were a number of men whose names will ever live in the history of our country. Two of the most brilliant of these guests have, unfortunately, left the saddest records. Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr were then brave and patriotic young soldiers with an apparently splendid future before them, but died with a shadow upon their fame. With them, came Captain Henry Dearborn, afterwards famous in the Revolutionary war and in the service of the country; also Major Meigs, Captain John Joseph Henry, Adjutant Febiger, known in the army as "Old Denmark," Major Ward, Lieutenant Colonel Green, Chaplain Spring of

' Mrs. Martha Gordon Banks of New York.

Newburyport, and Dr. Senter, the surgeon of the regiment. Other officers were entertained at the fort by Colonel William Howard. The army of over a thousand men was quartered upon the grounds of the fort or stationed in tents upon the river shores. This was a momentous day at Fort Western and many tales and traditions of the festivities on this occasion have come down to us. '

The mistress of the Great House, Mrs. Mary Howard, died August 22, 1778. On January i, 1781, Captain James Howard married Susanna Cony, widow of Lieutenant Samuel Cony. James Howard died May 14, 1787. The children of Captain James and Mary Howard were: John, b. 1733; Samuel, b. 1735; Margaret, b. October 25, 1738; William, b. 1740. The children of Captain James and Susanna Howard were: Isabella, b. 1781; James, b. 1783.

Captain Samuel Howard, a son of Captain James, was a master mariner. He married Sarah Lithgow, a daughter of Colonel William Lithgow, who was "famed for her beauty from Fort Halifax to Boston town." Colonel William Howard married his cousin Martha, daughter of Lieutenant Samuel Howard, and resided all his life in the old Fort. These two brothers were largely engaged in the lumber business and built up a prosperous trade between the Kennebec and Boston. They both became wealthy and influential men.