ANDROSCOGGIN HISTORY June 1994 Newsletter of the
Androscoggin Historical Society No. 12


Contributed by Androscoggin Historical Society
http://www.rootsweb.com/~meandrhs
Copyright. All rights reserved.
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AHS OFFICERS ELECTED At our annual meeting on May
24, 1994, new officers elected were Leslie M.
Eastman as the new president of the Society and
Richard H. Trafton as Attorney. Other officers were
re-elected as follows: Aubrey B. Palmer, Jr., Vice
President; Robert L. Taylor, Executive Secretary;
Robert C. Beliveau, Curator; Ingrid Dutch, Recording
Secretary; Alma Palmer, Membership Secretary; and
Susan Sturgis, Treasurer.

The members of the Board of Directors for 1994-1995
are Gridley Barrows, Harold Dutch, Natalie G. Foye,
Franklin Goss, Douglas I. Hodgkin, Eva Labonte,
Merton Leavitt, Walter L. Perry, Warren B. Randall,
Mary M. Riley, Norman E. Rose, Dwight L. Tripp, Jr.,
Arthur Vanier, Gordon V. Windle, and David C. Young.

Former president Douglas Hodgkin continues as the
newsletter editor.

POLAND SPRING PRESERVATION SOCIETY by Harold Dutch


The Maine State Building and All Souls Chapel, on
the grounds of the Poland Spring Resort, opened for
the season on Memorial Day Weekend.

The Maine State Building displays artifacts and
pictures of the famous resort, the Ricker family of
innkeepers, and the 1893 World's Columbian
Exposition in Chicago where the building was first
erected. All Souls Chapel, built in 1912, contains a
Skinner Pipe Organ and beautifully crafted stained
glass windows.

The buildings are maintained by the Poland Spring
Preservation Society. Open hours through June are
Saturdays and Sundays, 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
Starting in July, the buildings are open every day,
same hours. A one dollar donation is requested,
which goes toward restoration and maintenance.

Again this year, the Society presents twelve musical
programs at All Souls Chapel, starting June 6.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT FIRST PRESIDENT TO VISIT
LEWISTON-AUBURN by Douglas I. Hodgkin

As part of a New England tour, on August 26, 1902,
President Theodore Roosevelt became the first
incumbent president to come to Lewiston and Auburn.
Only Presidents Polk, Grant, and Benjamin Harrison
had visited Maine while in office. TR arrived at the
Auburn railroad station at 5:47 P.M. with "the Vice-
President," Senator William P. Frye of Lewiston.
(Roosevelt had become President upon William
McKinley's death; under the succession law then,
Frye as president of the Senate was next in line.)

Senator Frye introduced Mayor McGillicuddy of
Lewiston and Mayor Eveleth of Auburn to the
President. Then members of the President's party and
leading citizens of the twin cities boarded eleven
carriages for the procession along Court, Main, and
Lisbon Streets to the Lewiston city park. Buildings
along the way had been decorated, and "every spot
that the eye could reach held a human being. . . .
Everywhere that the President passed there were
cheers on cheers" from a crowd estimated at 20,000.

At the park, the President addressed another 10,000.
His speech contained many references to the Civil
War and contrasted simpler times with "our latter-
day industrial civilization." He emphasized the
virtues of American workers and good citizens.

Then the presidential party rode to the lower depot
near Main and Lincoln Streets. During the fifteen-
minute wait, one man said, "The people of Lewiston
and Auburn have given us a better reception than we
have received in any other place in Maine. The
people appreciated the President's remarks more here
than they did anywhere in New England."

After having left the President in Auburn, the train
went to Leeds Junction and then through Sabattus and
Crowley's Junction to come up to Lewiston at the
lower depot, a distance of about thirty miles. At
7:30 P.M. the train departed for Brunswick, with
President Roosevelt "standing on the rear platform,
bowing and waving his hand to a cheering throng."

BAKERSTOWN'S PETITION FOR TAX EXEMPTION

George C. Wing, Jr., submitted the following to the
Lewiston Evening Journal, November 12, 1938:

As is well known, the . . . towns of Poland and
Minot and the City of Auburn were included in a
grant by the Province of Massachusetts Bay, dated in
1765, to Samuel Gerrish and others of a tract of
land known as Bakerstown. The hardships suffered by
early settlers is not understood or appreciated.

One burden which they suffered, in common with their
descendants, was that of taxation. Instead of asking
for less tax or a reduction in rate or valuation
they made bold to ask for relief from all tax
burden. . . .

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tax Act of 1788
provided in order to answer the exigencies of
government that the Treasury of the Commonwealth be
supplied with a sum of 1500 pounds and four
shillings; that each town, district, plantation
within the Commonwealth be assessed and pay the
several sums with which they stood charged on a
schedule made a part of the Act. Bakerstown was
charged as their proportion of the total tax with
the sum of 34 pounds 16 shillings and one pence.

Jan. 8, 1789, the inhabitants of Bakerstown
presented a petition for relief from taxes . . . .

"The Petition in Behalf of the Inhabitants of
Bakerstown so called in the County of Cumberland
humbly sheweth:

"That about the year 1765, A Grant was made . . . to
a number of Gentlemen (who from that Time have born
the name of the grantees or Proprietors of said
Bakerstown) with this proviso Viz that the Grantees
within Six years then next coming Settle thirty
Familys in said Town (or Plantation) Build a House
for public Worship, and Settle a learned protestant
Minister, and lay out one Sixty fourth part of said
Tract for the use of the first Minister, and one
Sixty fourth part for a Grammar-school, and one
Sixty fourth part for the use of Harvard College c.
c.

Which conditions have never yet been complied with
nor in any one Instance performed by the said
Grantees, excepting only in regard to the Setling of
a Number of Families, Some of whom after having with
great Labor and Fatigue made considerable
Improvements have been turned off the same by some
of said Proprietors (so called) and others put onto
the Same, without any kind of Recompence;
Notwithstanding, after having been called upon by
the said General Court sometime in the year 1779 to
fulfill the conditions aforesaid, they the said
Grantees then had three years more allowed, for the
fulfilment thereof. . . .

Sometime in the year 1784 [the inhabitants] were
called upon for their proportionable parts of public
Taxes, and thereupon preferred their Petition to the
then Honorable General Court of this Commonwealth
praying to be relieved from Taxes c whereupon a
committee was appointed to repair to said Bakerstown
and view, enquire and Examine in Regard to the
Circumstances of said Inhabitants, which said
Committee having examined c Reported to the
Honorable General Court aforesaid among other things
that the said Inhabitants were not of sufficient
ability to pay Taxes, and ought therefore to be
accepted in the Honorable House of Representatives,
but for ought your Petitioner knows, has never yet
been acted upon by the Honorable Senate. In the
meanwhile they have still been called upon and have
in fact paid considerable Taxes; But in Case they
must be burthened with all their Taxes that have
arisen since they were first called upon therefor as
afores their Circumstances being much the same as
when the said Committee Reported as aforesaid, or at
most but very little better, they must be entirely
ruined, for their whole Interest will be but little,
if anything, more than sufficient to discharge the
same.

And your Petitioners further beg leave to acquaint
Your Honors that so long as they continue in their
present State, laboring under various Disadvantages,
under no Regulations, Having neither Order nor
Discipline, civil, nor Religious, and but very few
of them any real Title to their Improvements, and
liable to be dispossessed whenever the rightousness
of the Soil shall please, they esteem it a great
hardship to be burthened with any Taxes at all. Tho'
in case they may be quieted in the Possession of
their Improvements and put under proper Regulations
they hope for the future to be able, and if so,
shall be fond of contributing their share of public
Taxes.

"Whereupon Your Petitioners humbly pray Your Honors
to take these Matters under your wise and Judicious
consideration, and inasmuch as the said Grantees
have forfeited their Claims to the Lands contained
in said conditional Grant, make provision for said
Inhabitants being Intitled to the Right of soil, or
in Case said Grantees Shall not be adjudged to have
forfeited said Grant oblige them forthwith or as
soon as may be to fulfil the conditions aforesaid
that your Petitioners may be in a Condition to be of
Use to the community of which they are a part by
contributing their proportionable parts of the
public Tax for the Support of government. Meanwhile
your Petitioners further humbly pray to be relieved
from all past Taxes, Or that your Honors will
otherwise provide for their Relief as your Honors in
Your superior Wisdom shall think proper. . . . Dated
the 8th day of January A. D. 1789. Moses Emery,
Samuel Sevill Jr., Edward Jumper, Solomon Wilcut,
Israel Bray, Jobe Tucker, Benj. Lane".

On this petition the Commonwealth acted as follows:
"Moses Emery in behalf of Bakerstown Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. In the House of Representatives Febr.
4, 1789 on petition of Moses Emery and others of
Bakerstown Praying to have their taxes abated,
Resolved that their petition Lay over to the first
sessions of the Next sitting of the General Court
the Treasurer Be Directed to stay his Execution till
the first of July next."

AHS HISTORY PART 9 by Harold Dutch

The officers for 1979-80, as listed in our last
issue, were reelected for 1980-81. Two longtime,
active members of the Society passed away in 1980:
Ralph Skinner on October 1, noted historian, writer,
and commentator; and Harry Rowe on December 23,
president of the Society for ten years and active
director until his death.

The directors recommended that annual dues be raised
to $3.00 and that an assistant curator, assistant
librarian, and acquisition secretary be added to the
board, but the minutes do not record that any of
these recommendations were adopted. In fact,
"assistant curator" had been added as an officer in
1979.

Gordon Windle became president in 1981, with Gridley
Barrows as vice president. Leon Norris, Robert
Beliveau, Geneva Kirk, Ethelyn Penley, Jane Norris,
and Willis Trafton were reelected, and all served
two more years.

Douglas Hodgkin was named to the board in 1982;
Harold Dutch, in 1983. At the 1983 meeting, Leon
Norris announced that the museum rooms had had a
"face lift" with the help of Auburn Boy Scout Troop
111. Work included painting and laying a carpet.

In November 1983, new bylaws were adopted, major
changes being that the directors now had the
authority to "set and reset" dues, the officers and
twelve other members made up the board, and all
members of the finance committee must be members of
the board and have authority to inspect and change
all investment funds. The new bylaws were amended
the following year to allow a bank trust
arrangement, with the finance committee controlling
the overall investment, and to change program
meeting months, dropping January and adding
September, a schedule still in effect.

There were two changes in the officers for 1984-85:
Aubrey (Bob) Palmer was elected vice president;
Leslie Wight, recording secretary. That year, the
Society received the Harry W. Rowe Award from the
Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums for
outstanding contributions to state and local
history. We were presented a plaque and $100.00.

In April of 1985, Leon and Jane Norris, due to
personal commitments, resigned their offices of
executive secretary-curator and treasurer, the
resignations regretfully accepted.


WEBSTER'S TOWN HISTORIAN: BENJAMIN DOLE BRYENT by
Robert Taylor

Benjamin Dole Bryent was a tall, slightly-stooping
old man, with a bald head, gray beard and refined
face, who always dressed plainly but neatly, and was
once a familiar figure in the village of Lisbon. He
was born in 1815, a native of Webster, now known as
Sabattus, and died 1887 in Lisbon at the age of 71
years.

He was known as a philosopher, poet, scientist,
historian -- a sort of a natural genius. He had a
remarkable mind and spoke five languages. He was a
student of books, a writer of manuscripts, a man
with always a busy mind, yet he was quite eccentric,
as he never went into society and had no companions.
It was said that his room had been lined with bugs,
butterflies, odd pieces of rock and dried moss; that
he "was a great hand" to read the old records of the
town of Webster; and that he asked many questions,
but said little about himself.

He wrote uncounted manuscripts, which ranged all the
way from versification to lively histories about his
friends, neighbors, and his native Webster. Indeed,
this singular old man with the dreamy air was an
authority on the affairs of Webster village from the
earliest days of its founding right down to the time
of his death. Dole Bryent was an inveterate diarist.
Unfortunately, his record books or journals became
scattered after his death. Three of his journals are
in the collection of the Androscoggin Historical
Society, their content ranging all the way from bits
of genealogy to neighborhood gossip, for nothing
escaped his eye. All of his writings are extremely
interesting. In one of his bound journals he traced
at considerable length the family histories of his
own Davis and Bryent lines as well as other
neighborhood families in Webster.

Mr. Bryent's pen was devoted for the most part to
local history, and his lengthy account of the
history of Webster is included in the celebrated
Atlas of Androscoggin County published in 1873. Most
of the known information on Webster (now Sabattus)
can be attributed to Benjamin Dole Bryent.

THE JOURNAL OF OLIVER HUBBARD BROWN

In our February 1994 newsletter, we presented the
diary of Anne Susan Jumper. AHS also has the journal
of her husband, Oliver Hubbard Brown, with
occasional entries from 1850 to 1854. During this
time he lived in Boston, Mass., and South Bridgton,
Maine; married 20 March 1851; and lived in East
Auburn and Minot. The editor has supplied words in
place of Hubbard's shorthand symbols. [in East
Auburn] Apr. 30, 1851. Have [been away] yesterday +
today, t o Turner -- 'Uncle' B's, where lay one in
the bloom of youth + loveliness, wasting under that
scourge to N.E. -- Consumption.

May 1. Spring's gala-day has come again. Though the
morning was dull, damp and rainy, the bright warm
sun appeared before sinking to his western bed. No
doubt many a young, buoyant heart has [been] made
sad today by the unpropitious state [of the]
weather, still we must rejoice in the opening of May
-- the Month of Months.

May 24. Began to day the use of Iodine c upon my
knee, according to prescription of Drs Kilborn +
Oakes, who think "palliatives" [have been] used long
enough, and [that it is] now time to use something
more powerful.

July 17. Dropped in to see the physician, who said
[that one] probable reason why the lameness +
tenderness continued so long in my knee was a
serofulous tendency in my system.

Aug. 5. By the direction [of the] Physician I am to
commence showering my knee tonight [with] cold
water.

[in Minot]

Dec. 23. The teacher of our District School came to
board with us to day -- thus increasing our little
family. It seems not a little strange -- instead of
teaching away and boarding among strangers, to have
a stranger teacher board [with us].

Dec. 26. Wrote to Hon. E. M. Thurston, Sec. of the
Board of Education, in reference to the disparity in
the length of our common schools.

June 11, 1852. Part of yesterday + to day I have
been at work on [the] public highway. It seems quite
a step, gained in my strength yet it seems no less
strange that I have a tax to work out.

Oct. 13. My knee seems to let me do most anything
now a days, if I am careful, as I most surely try to
be. Have been gathering apples to day, for Mr.
Jacobs. Quite a new thing for me and I ought to be
thankful for increasing strength.

Nov. 23. Carried in my first case of shoes, without
having much fault found -- only to show me how to do
the next better. My earnings are small, but steady
employment will keep me [from] idleness -- the
parent of much mischief besides letting [my] knee
have rest.

Dec. 3. Darkness and sorrow have been surrounding
us, but light and joy have returned, for Annie, the
"wife of my bosom," lives. Yes. Annie lives, but
that little mound in our Church Yard denotes her
sufferings. . . .

Mar. 14, 1853. Town Meeting today, and the friends
of Law + Order attained a complete triumph, blotting
out -- in part at least -- the stain of the previous
year. [Brown was also elected to the school
committee.]

May 3. Examined Miss Wilson to teach in school
district No. 11. She was young, diffident and
embarrased, so that she failed to do herself justice
-- as I should judge.

Aug. 11. Hot as it was, I visited the school at West
Minot. A more strict discipline would doubtless have
been attended with greater success.

[Several additional entries contain Brown's accounts
of visits as a school committee member to various
schools with his evaluations of the teachers.]