BROWSINGS BY THE EDITOR IN HIS OWN LIBRARY. Sprague's Journal of Maine History Vol. 6 May, June, July 1918 No. 1 page 34-38 BROWSINGS BY THE EDITOR IN HIS OWN LIBRARY. Since we began the work of editing the journal we have received scores of letters seeking information as to what books should be selected for a course of reading in early Maine History. These have come from public school scholars and from teachers and col- lege students, from club women, clergymen and Maine people in different walks of life. We have cheerfully answered them as well as our limited knowledge would permit and have always urged that they begin with the first voyagers and explorers of the Maine coast: Champlain, de Monts, Martin Pring, Waymouth, etc. (1603-5) and the Popham Colony (1607). If one is in the State Library at Augusta, or the library of the Maine Historical Society at Portland one can delve more deeply in this lore than in the private libraries of the State. And yet in browsing in our own little library we find much that is authoritative and instructive along these lines. Mrs. H. G. Rowe in the preface to her charming book: "Retold Tales of the Hills and Shores of Maine," (Bangor 1892) says: An Irish matron, one of the honored foremothers of our Pine Tree State, when asked by a passing traveller what crops she expected to raise upon the sandy, 'boulder strewn soil of her little sea bordered farm, replied: Craps is it? Faith but I'll be after raisen a Governor or two, wid maybe a Gineral or a Jedge, an a hanfull o' brave byes thrown in f'r ballast, that'll make these woods an' swamps laugh wid a harvest sich as the ould worrld niver dramed ov. Thims the craps that wid God's blissin, w 'll be after sindin to the worrld's mill one of these days. The woman who uttered these brave words is called by Mrs. Rowe "Bridget" Sullivan, the place Berwick in the historic county of York, Maine, and the time subsequent to 1723. For it was in the latter year when William Sullivan and his wife migrated to Maine from Ireand.(1) He was a highly educated man, well skilled in classical literature, and a teacher of the classics. He died in Berwick, in 1796, at the age of 105 years. His three sons John, Ebenezer, and James were men of note in their day. The former was a lawyer, Major General in the Revo- lution, member of the Continental Congress, Attorney General of New Hampshire, member of the Federal Constitution Convention, and judge of the U. S. District Court. James was born in Berwick, in 1774. He was a lawyer com- mencing practice in Georgetown, Maine, but two years later he removed to Biddeford, Maine, where he remained for -a few years and then located in Massachusetts. Willis (2) says of him: From the commencement of the Revolution to the close of his life, in 1808 he was constantly in official stations, as member of the legislature, commissary of the troops, judge of the Superior Court, Attorney General, and commissioner of the United States. He also engaged largely in literary labors, was the prime mover in organizing the Massachusetts Historical Society and was its first president. He was Maine's first historian. He wrote: "The History of the District of Maine." Printed by 1. Thomas and E. T. Andrews, Fausts Statue NO. 45, Newbury Street, Boston, 1795 " it contains 421 pages and is today a most valuable work for the student of Maine's colonial history. The next most important work in the development of history in this direction was "The History of the State of Maine; I from its First Discovery, A. D. 1602, to The Separation, A. D. 1820" by William D. Williamson, (3) published in 1832, in two volumes contain- ing 1,376 pages. Mr. Williamson was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, July 31, 1779, and died May 27, 1847. He was a lawyer and as soon as he was admitted to the bar began practice in 1804, at Bangor, then a town in Hancock County. He was a man of great activities as a publicist and political leader. He held various eminent official positions while Maine was under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and later when Maine became a State. He was the first and sole Senator from the new County of Penobscot, became president of the Maine Senate and was thus acting Governor of Maine in place of Governor King who resigned. He was the first representative in Congress from the Bangor congressional district. Although his life was a busy one in State and public affairs he was a profound student of Maine colonial history and devoted much time to research and literary pursuits. If he had never achieved any other accomplishment his history of Maine would have made his fame secure. James Sullivan and William Durkee Williamson were the pion- eers in this work. Many others have since done great service but Abbot and Varney and all the other writers have built upon the solid foundation laid by them in the first days of our republic. In exploring the Maine historical field the work and collections of the Maine Historical Society is a beacon light whose rays pene- trate many nooks and corners overlooked by the founders. , This society was organized and hold its first meeting in the city of Portland, April 11, 1822, in accordance with an act of the Maine Legislature, passed February 4th of that year. Its first president was Albion K. Parris, Governor of Maine, 1822-1827. Its first volume of Collections was published in 1831, and was printed by Day, Fraser & Co., Exchange St., Portland, Maine. The first paper in this book is part one of the History of Portland by William Willis, containing 242 pages. Other important items it) this volume are "Montresor's journal" and "Arnold's Letters." Colonel Montresor, an officer of Engineers in the British Service was employed by his government in 176o, to explore the country from Quebec into the interior of Maine and report thereon. This is his report in the form of a "journal." This manuscript together with the original letters of Arnold while on his Quebec expedition-, were for a time in the possession of Colonel Aaron Burr who was one of the most famous and picturesque personages of the Revolu- tionary period and the last days of the eighteenth and first days ~f the nineteenth centuries. He was tried for treason and conspiracy against The American government in a Federal court presided over by John Marshall and acquitted. His life story is one of the most romantic ones in Ameri- can history. William Willis, one of the earliest and most active members ant, officers of the society chanced to have an acquaintance with Burr, and was on intimate terms with some of his close friends. It has been frequently stated that Colonel Burr having enemies in the New York Historical Society did. not intend that these valuable papers should ever become the property of that society and hence it was an easy matter for Mr. Willis to secure them for the Maine society which he did. In the introductory to these (page 341 presumably written by Mr. Willis, the writer says that it was Montresor's journal that first suggested to Arnold the route to be pursued through Maine. It was perhaps unfortunate for the success of this expedition that he did not follow in the footsteps of Joseph Chadwick, who, in 1764, was employed by the Massachusetts Colony to explore the country from the Penobscot to Quebec. By his report and its accompanying map it appears that he went first to Fort Pownal, thence up the Penobscot to Old Town, there employing Indian guides who led him up the Piscataquis to Moose- head Lake and thence to Quebec by a very safe and comfortable route.(3) This society has published twenty-two volumes of Collections and twenty-four volumes of a "Documentary History of Maine." The first volume of this series is devoted to a "History of the Discovery of Maine," by J. H. Kohl with an appendix on the voyages of the Cabot's, by M. D. Avezac, of Paris. It was edited by William Willis and published in 1869. The work of publishing a documentary history of Maine had its inception in the Maine Historical Society as early as 1863, when the Maine legislature passed the following resolve which was approved March 17, 1863: Resolved. That the governor be hereby authorized to procure copies of original documents in the British State paper office in regard to the early history of Maine, the same to, be deposited! in the state library; and the sum of four hundred dollars is hereby appropriated for this purpose out of any money not otherwise appropriated; the governor to appoint, if need be, at his discretion an agent for the purpose of accomplishing the objects of this resolve; provided, that the entire expenditure shall not exceed, the amount of the above appropriation. In view of the fact that since then some Maine legislature in- cluding that of 1917, have ruthlessly slaughtered these and similar appropriations, and adopted a parsimonious and antagonistic policy, regarding them it would be well to bear in mind that this first be-, ginning was made when Maine and the whole country were in the throes of the Civil War. This appropriation was used chiefly as Mr. Willis says in making a preliminary investigation" of the subject. In 1867 the governor and council were authorized to contract with the society for the publication, annually, of a volume contain- ing the earliest documents, charters, and other state papers "illus- trating the history of Maine." The first result of this wise and liberal attitude by the state to- wards historical research was the volume under consideration. At this time the reverend Dr. Leonard Woods had resigned the presidency of Bowdoin College and was commissioned by the gov ernor as agent to attend to the duties above mentioned and there upon visited Europe for that purpose. The fruits of his efforts appear in the first two volumes. While in Germany he met Dr. Kohl, who reputation as a traveler, author, and cartographer, was eminent in this country as well as Europe. In 1854, he came to America, where he traveled four years, dur- ing which time he prepared for the government of the United States a series of maps relating to the early voyagers and explorers of America. Thus Dr. Woods fortunately secured his services ill building a great foundation for Maine historical research. At this time Dr. Woods discovered the original manuscript of Hakluyt's "Discourse on western planting" which had been lost to the world for three hundred years. This valuable document edited and arranged by him constitutes the second volume of this series. The "Baxter Manuscripts" begin with the fourth volume. Twenty-one volumes have thus far been published. It would not be easy to estimate the historical value of this collection. They contain charters, grants, letters, contracts, petitions, and every piece, of writing relating directly or collaterally to the history of Maine, that the Honorable James Phinney Baxter was able to discover in State archives in London, Paris, Boston, Canada, Washington, etc. In fact he made a world wide search for this material which will be preserved for all times in these and two or three other forth-com- ing volumes. Mr. Baxter has long been Maine's leading historical writer. But if he had never done else than this work it would ever have been an enduring monument to his memory. (1) William Willis' History of the Lawyers of Maine( Portland, 1863) p. 97. (2) Ibid. p. 95-6. (3) See Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 133-5. (3) Bangor Hist. 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