Radio Script #826

Little Talks on Common Things
December 28, 1969

It has never been clear why the institution opened in Waterville in 1818 primarily to train Baptist ministers soon emphasized its college functions over its theological, and by 1830 had given up its theological department altogether. We do know that in the 1860’s President James P. Champlin deplored the fact that the change took place so early. In an address which he made in 1868 he made it fully clear that he regarded the early action as a mistake. He said that, if the old Maine literary and Theological Institution had held longer to its original purpose of training ministers, at least long enough for the affections of all Baptists in Maine to become firmly attached to the school, a demand for a college might well have developed and Waterville College would not have suffered the neglect it felt from the denomination. By that time, Champlin agreed, the rapidly growing number of Baptist churches in Maine would have been supplied with pastors graduating from the Waterville school, and the people would then have rallied strongly around the college as well as the theological seminary.

Recently I ran across a paper read to the Maine Historical Society in 1889 by the Baptist leader and historian, Henry Burrage. In that address Burrage said:

“In 1821 the Maine Legislature granted to the new Maine literary and Theological Institution collegiate powers, including the right to grant degrees — authority which its original charter had not granted — and the legislature gave the institution the new name of Waterville College.” Burrage continued: “I am inclined to believe that the change was effected by Dr. Jeremiah Chaplin, who had started theological classes in 1818, and in 1821 became the first president of Waterville College. A college graduate, he knew the value of a collegiate course as a preparation for theological studies, and he decided that the work he had to do could best be performed by giving the institution a collegiate character.” Then Burrage made this rather doleful statement: “There were those among the trustees who deplored the change, and in many parts of the state, among churches and ministers, there was disappointment. Support of the new institution was indeed jeopardized.”

As for leadership in the change being attributed to Chaplin, Burrage may well have been right. No one can be sure what lay behind the change, especially 150 years afterward. But, from the meager evidence available, I am inclined to believe that influences upon Chaplin may have been quite as important as his own convictions in making the change from a theological seminary to a college. One strong supporter and early trustee, the man who guided the bill for the school’s charter through the Massachusetts senate, was William King, Maine’s first governor,

It was King who signed the legislative act granting degree privileges and changing the name to Waterville College. Though not himself a college graduate, King had been an early and influential trustee of Bowdoin, and his letters to Chaplin and fellow Waterville trustees make it clear that King, especially after his unfortunate break with Bowdoin, wanted to see a rival, degree-granting college firmly established in Maine.

Interestingly enough, King’s political enemy, the Federalist General Alford Richardson of Portland, held exactly the same view about the Waterville school. While in the early 19th century Baptists were not strong supporters of education — at least not nearly so good supporters as were the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians — there were a few strong Baptist leaders like Richardson who believed that while a theological school was all well and good, what the Baptists most needed in Maine was an institution of college grade such as had already been established by the Baptists at Brown.

So, whatever may have been the case about President Chaplin’s own part in the change — and he certainly must have approved it, if he did not originate it -it is well to remember that two laymen on that board predominated by ministers played a prominent part. Those two laymen, both bearing the title of General, one a staunch Federalist. the other a top-flight Jeffersonian Democrat, had much to say about the Maine Literary and Theological Institution becoming Waterville College. William King and Alford Richardson may indeed have been active in the change.

From time to time Miss Arline Mason of Albion has sent me interesting items. From her I recently received a letter written in 1864 concerning aid for a soldier’s family in the Civil War. The letter was written to Adjt. Gen. Hodsdon in Augusta by Albert C. Waterman in behalf of his brother, Lewis Waterman of Hope, Maine. The letter said: “I will now state in writing what I told you about my brother concerning state aid. Lewis Waterman is about 47 years of age, his wife about the same. Both are much broken in health. He has no property. His oldest son is at home and is a cripple. He has two daughters, one 17, the other 12. Within four years he lost three sons. The only son to survive, Lewis A. Waterman, when a lad of 18, enlisted in the 8th Maine Regiment of Volunteers. Last spring the boy reenlisted and is now a sergeant. When he was at home last spring, the lad bought a little place and partly paid for it, putting his parents to live there. When the boy first enlisted, the selectmen paid or drew for the parents state aid, but for about two years now the family has had none. For some reason of their own, the selectmen refused to pay this aid. I have had to give my brother money to keep him from becoming a public charge. This winter he has called on me for money to save the little place that his son bought. I appeal to you now in behalf of my brother.”

I quote that old letter on this program to show how differently the families of Civil War soldiers were treated than is now the case in what has become close to a welfare state. In the 1860’s there were many deserving cases that suffered the same neglect as did the disabled parents of Sgt. Lewis Waterman. What irony that this soldier lived in a town named Hope!

I like to keep reminding you about Maine’s old trolley lines. Lewiston opened its first such line almost a decade before Waterville. In 1881 the Lewiston and Auburn Horse Railroad went into operation. It at first ran from Perryville in Auburn across the bridge .and up Lewiston’s Main Street and along Lisbon Street. In 1883 the line was extended to Lake Grove. In a folder advertising the road in 1884, that place is described as follows: “Lake Grove is a beautiful spot on the border of Lake Auburn, three miles distant from Lewiston, and has been expressly fitted up by the Lewiston and Auburn Horse Railroad Co. for excursion purposes. It is surrounded on every side by fine scenery. There is a full view of Lake Auburn, the most beautiful body of water in Maine, upon which ply two fine steamers. Nearby is the delightful Lake Auburn Mineral Spring, with its neat and trim hotel and tasty surroundings, shady walks and drives — all designed to please the most fastidious. Boating, fishing and gunning are added attractions which make this a first class summer resort. In the grove itself are shady nooks, seats, swings, croquet grounds, and a fine pavilion.”

About their excursions, the Horse Railroad had this to say: “Our Sunday excursions are especially planned for those whose labors keep them indoors during the week. A delightful sail on the Lake, following the smooth ride to its shore in the pure air of summer, wi,” give renewed health and energy and enable one to carryon the next week’s labor with better spirit. Evening excursions leaving at 7:00 p.m. afford a pleasant after-tea ride to the Lake and a beautiful sunset view. Every Lake Grove car connects at the head of Lisbon Street with all city cars. Cars will run for the accomodation of churches on the Sabbath. Remember also that on Sunday, after 12:30 p.m., cars leave the head of Lisbon Street for Lake Grove every thirty minutes.”

I was recently asked what was the reason for Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated expedition in 1775, interest in which has recently been vitally revived by the Arnold Expedition Historical Society.

The answer to that question is authentically contained in a letter written by the commander who ordered the expedition. On September 21, 1775 George Washington wrote from his headquarters in Cambridge to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia: “I now inform the Honorable Congress that, encouraged by the repeated declarations of the Canadians and Indians, and urged by their requests, I have detached Col. Arnold with 1,000 men to penetrate into Canada by way of the Kennebec, and if possible to make himself master of Quebec.”

In a paper read before the Maine Historical Society in 1887, William Allen, the historian of Norridgewock, said of the Vassalboro-Winslow part of that expedition: “Two guides were employed when the expedition reached Fort Halifax, Nehemiah Getchell and John Horne, an aged and gray-headed Irishman. It was on September 24”, continued Allen, “that the expedition reached Fort Halifax, situated on a point of land in the town of Winslow, opposite Waterville, which is formed by the junction of the Sebasticook and the Kennebec. The fort there consisted of old blockhouses and a stockade, abandoned and already in a ruinous condition when Arnold arrived. There was, however, a family near by, from which Arnold obtained a barrel of salmon in exchange for a barrel of salt pork.”

In light of that statement of Allen’s about Fort Halifax in 1775, it is interesting to see what that explorer, John Montressor, had to say about the place when he came to it. sailing down the river 14 years earlier in 1761. Montressor wrote: “Fort Halifax was built by Gov. Shirley in 1754 to curb the Indians and cover the frontier of New England. It stands on the east bank of the Kennebec at its junction with the Sebasticook. It is built in the form of a square, its defense a bad palisade. There are two blockhouses in which some guns are mounted, but as the fort is dominated by rising ground behind it, they have been obliged to erect two other blockhouses and to clear the woods for some distance around. The fort is garrisoned by a company of New Englanders and is supplied from the settlement at Fort Western below.”

And with that salute to old Fort Halifax we must say goodbye until next week.

Year: 1969