that of the Union river. It enters the purchase in No. 24 East Division, in which it is proposed to erect a mill if a seat can be found for which purpose a person is now employed to view the river during the present winter. A communication, by a road, is likewise proposed to be made from this mill seat, when found, to the great road that leads thro' the Pleasant river settlement in No. 12. The distance will perhaps be eight miles. On the Eastern branch of the same river, Machias, it is likewise proposed to erect a mill in No. 19, East Division; by thus having possession of the two great avenues of the forest a property is preserved far beyond any present estimation. There cannot be a doubt that for years past the inhabitants of Machias have plundered from the lands of the purchase on these two rivers, such quantities of timber, that if the proportion to the proprietors had been fairly accounted for could not be less than from one to two thousand dollars annually. Meddebumps lake in No. 16, East division, issues a stream called Dennie's river that empties into North Cobscook Bay. On this river in No. 2* Lincoln has mills; and as the shores of this lake abound in excellent timber, it will probably find its way to the mills below; if this should take place, the same measures should be pursued with this river as with the others. The only avenue by which the forest can be plundered that is left unnoticed, is the Schoodic. This, in a short time must be a large one. Whether it would be best to improve a part of the mill seat in No. 6, which is now occupied by some person of St. Stephens, New Brunswick, or to erect a mill on the rapids in No, 7, or on the Western Branch, before it comes to the lake, is a subject that had better be left to a future view of the county to determine; but that some such measure should be pursued there cannot be a doubt. Jan'y 1798. GENERAL COURT RECORDS. Extracts from the Report of "The Committee on the subject of unappropriated lands in the Counties of Cumberland and Lincoln," submitted March 24th, 1786. "In the course of the preceeding year, seven Townships were laid out between Schoodic, with a number of Islands; and also a Townshipt on the east side of Penobscot river, between No. 1 and the head of the tide, which closes the survey of the whole coast, from the head of the tide on Penobscot, to the head of the tide on Schoodic River, and up the Schoodic above the head of the tide, about twenty-four miles, making in the whole twenty-eight Townships on the east side of Union River, besides the Islands beforementioned, the survey of which is now completed." * Now Dennysville. + Now Orrington and Brewer THE STORY OF THE PENOBSCOT BAR. (READ BY HON. JOHN E. GODFREY, AT A DINNER GIVEN TO HON. FREDERICK H. ALLEN, JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE BENCH LAW SCHOOL AT HARVARD COLLEGE.) (Contributed by Joseph Williamson, Esq., of Belfast.) "The story of Penobscot Bar Should it ever be written- That so much mirth created. The gleam in Allen G-n's eye That saw but law in Judge's brain, The happy turns of An1 To loose a legal knot: And any kind of Evidence To save a case from pot. The equitable bills of H-'s12 Drawn with fondest science, That woke the wonder of the Bar, And petrified his clients. Unruffled T-n's13 anecdote The Governor's14 rebuttingThe quips, the quirks, the quidities Of handsome J- -8 Cg15 And Baskahegan H-n's16, who A hunting of a tail, Went cruising round Penobscot Bay The wit of H-ch" indigenous, The poet with the laurel crown," The pleasure that we had in Paine20 1 Hon. David Perham. Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1822 to 1839. He died May 31, 1845, aged 65. Peleg Chandler, who resided in Bangor from 1826 until his death, Jan. 18, 1847, aged 73. 3 Benjamin Orr, of Brunswick, probably the ablest advocate who ever resided in Maine. He frequently argued important causes at Bangor. He died Sept. 5, 1828. 4 Erastus Foote, of Wiscasset, Attorney General from 1820 to 1832; died 1836. 5. Jonathan P. Rogers. A man of remarkable ability. Coming to Bangor in 1827, he remained there about fourteen years. He died at Boston in 1846, at the age of 45. 6 Albert G. Jewett. In practice at Bangor from 1829 to 1815. For five years he was County Attorney. Died in Belfast. 7 Jacob McGaw. He settled in Bangor in 1805, and continued in active practice for thirty years. He died in 1867, aged 88. 8 William D. Williamson. In practice at Bangor from 1807 until his death in 1846. 9 Allen Gilman. He was the earliest lawyer in Bangor, where he resided from 1801 until his death, April 7, 1846. 10 Probably a continuation of Gilman. 11 John Appleton. The venerable Ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who at the ripe age of 86, continues in good health and strength. 12 Frederick Hobbs. He practised in Bangor from 1836 until his death in 1854, and was a well known equity lawyer. 13 Thornton McGaw. He died in 1859, aged 60, having resided in Bangor thirty-five years. 14 Edward Kent. Governor of Maine 1838 and 1841. He came to Bangor in 1827, and died there in 1877. 15 Jonas Cutting. Justice of the Supreme Court and a resident of Bangor from 1831 until his death, Aug. 19, 1876. 16 Elijah L. Hamlin. He came to Bangor from Columbia in 1835, and held many positions of public trust until his death in 1872. 17 Nathaniel Hatch. His admission to the bar was in 1826. In 1869, resided in Washington, D. C. he 19 John B. Hill. He resided in Bangor from 1831 until a few years before his death in 1886. He was an erudite lawyer. In a lecture before the Bangor Lyceum he attacked Swedenborgianism with great severity. In another lecture upon "Magic," he related an anecdote of a conversation between a mother and her child, which revealed some physical peculiarities of the cherub, as depicted upon ancient tombstones, to the great amusement of his audience. 20 Albert W. Paine, who continues in the same active practice which he commenced fifty-three years ago. Except Chief Justice Appleton, he is the only survivor of those referred to in the foregoing lines. 21 George P. Sewall, of Oldtown. He died there in 1882, after a professional life of fifty years. ACADIA. "The district of Maine, at the time of the charter of William and Mary in the Year 1692, was held under two appellations; that part which lies between Piscataqua river, and Kennebec river, was known by the name of the Province of Maine; that part which lies between St Croix and Kennebec, was called by the ancient French name of Acadia, and both these names were preserved in that charter.', -Sullivan's history of Maine, page 12. THE SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS IN ORRINGTON (AND BREWER) PRIOR TO 1785. CONTRIBUTED BY DR. JOHN F. PRATT, FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES. A state of the settlement called by the name of New Worcester, commencing at the northermost line of a township known by the name of No. 1, on the east said of Penobscot River and running up sd. river according to the Plan annexed, sd. settlement being laid out in the year 1771, at the expense of the inhabitants. The men's names, the number of acres claimed by each, the time when first settled and by whom, with the bounds, the number of rods on the river, the number of souls in each family, taken by a majority of inhabitants at a regular meeting held in said settlement the seventh day of March, 1785, for the purpose of stating the claims to a committee from the General Court of this Commonwealth. AYERS, INMAN, MCPHETRES, TOURTILLOT, LITTLEFIELD. Very little have geneaologists written of the annals of the laboring classes. I make here a new departure. new departure. These men named in this article were the typical pioneers on the Upper Penobscot. They were lumbermen, with farming as a small adjunct. Wherever you went on Penobscot waters and heard the sound of the axe, the cross cut saw, the "cant dog," the "pick hand spike," and where you saw the ox teams, (horses were not then used in the woods,) there you found these men and their descendants skillful choppers, teamsters, swampers, boat men, Rods on river. Men. Women. Children. Souls. |