Radio Script #864

Little Talks on Common Things
October 25, 1970

Recent years have seen the publication of splendid histories of several Maine towns. Phippsburg, Pittsfield, Richmond. Cape Elizabeth and Bridgton have been among the towns so honored during the past five years. Now in the fall of 1970, come from press two town histories of significance, honoring the towns of Livermore and Clinton. Let me tell you a bit about those two books today.

Reginald Sturtevant of Livermore Falls, for many years head of the Livermore Falls Trust Company, of which his father was the founder, was, like his father, a graduate of Colby College, and later served as chairman of the Colby trustees. Although in poor health for several years, “Stibe”, as his friends called him, persisted in his local historical research. The result is a distinguished history of a Maine town.

Mr. Sturtevant’s heroic persistence is attested in the foreword of the book, inserted by the publisher. It says: “Where he could, perhaps, at one time have completed this work in a matter of months, two severely disabling strokes resulted in the laborious, nearly insurmountable task of preparing it over a period of years. With boundless determination and a will to do his best with the God-given talents remaining at his disposal, Mr. Sturtevant overcame the formidable obstacles of paralysis of his right side, including his right hand. He learned to write with his left hand and regained some control of speech by tedious therapy.”

A sample of Mr. Sturtevant’s clear, forceful style is found in the way he tells how the town of Livermore started: “The events directly connected with the founding of Livermore really began in the year 1770. The District of Maine was in bad shape — all but six settlements were destroyed, and the Indians were elusive enemies, striking when least expected, then fading into the forest. They were aided by the French who furnished them arms and ammunition, and often joined them in their raids. In 1710 the capture of Port Royal had made Nova Scotia a British possession. To compensate the New Englanders who took part in that expedition, the Massachusetts government made grants of land. As early as 1743, sixty such participants living in or near Waltham secured the grant of a township in Maine, but a new survey revealed the fact that the land was not in Maine at all, but across the line in New Hampshire, over which Massachusetts had no jurisdiction. Matters dragged along until 1770, when Major Samuel Livermore headed a group to petition for a new grant. On June 11, 1771 the General Court granted to the petitioners ‘a township of 6 3/4 square miles, in some of the unappropriated lands in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to the eastward of Saco River, and adjoining some former grant, on condition that the proprietors settle 60 families within seven years, build a house for the worship of God, settle a learned Protestant minister, and layout 1/64 part for the first settled minister, 1/64 for the ministry, 1/64 for the use of schools, and 1/64 for the use of Harvard College. Elijah Livermore and Elisha Harrington were sent with instructions to take a boat and pilot at Brunswick Falls and proceed up the Androscoggin River as far as Rocky-mico, and if the land is good, adjoin it to my former grant, layout a township 9 miles long and 5 miles wide. The two explorers selected 30,200 acres of land lying on both sides of the Androscoggin, adjoining the already granted Sylvester township that later became the town of Turner.”

Having told, in much more detail, how the settlers came and developed the area, Mr. Sturtevant got on with the story of what eventually became the three separate towns of Livermore, East Livermore, and Livermore Falls.

Previously on the program I have mentioned Livermore’s most famous family, the Washburn brothers. By all standards the most distinguished brothers ever produced in Maine, those Washburns deserve repeated mention. Israel and Martha Washburn, early residents of Livermore, had seven sons, all of whom achieved national fame.

The oldest, Israel Jr., studied law and began practice in Bangor. He was elected to Congress for five successive terms and was Maine’s first Civil War Governor, having been one of the founders of the Republican Party in Maine. The second son, Algernon Sidney, born in 1814, began his career as a merchant in Boston. He turned to banking and became president of the Hallowell bank. He became noted for his daily wear of frock coat and flowing tie. The third son, Elihu, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840 and served in Congress for seven terms. An officer in the Civil War, he was present at Appomatox when Grant and Lee signed the papers of the Confederate surrender, and he was given the inkstand used by the two generals on that historic occasion. Appointed Ambassador to France by President Grant, Elihu held that post for eight years. He was a pallbearer at Abraham Lincoln’s funeral. The fourth son, Cadwallader, started the practice of law in the little town of Mineral Point, Wisconsin. By 1855 he owned a bank and was a leading business man in that part of the state. In 1855 he was elected to Congress where he served with his brothers Israel and Elihu, the only instance in U.S. history when three brothers have been in Congress at the same time. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Cadwallader Washburn was commissioned a colonel, recruited and commanded a regiment of Wisconsin cavalry. Soon commissioned a Brigadier General, he commanded the Army of Occupation at Memphis. After the war he served as Governor of Wisconsin.

Cadwallader’s business renown was as great as his political and military fame. Many persons of my age remember Gold Medal Flour. We sold many barrels of it in my father’s store in Bridgton. It was made by the Washburn Crosby Co. of Minneapolis. That company was started by Cadwallader Washburn, and long after his death still retained the Washburn name. Cadwallader Washburn had arrived in Wisconsin with only five dollars. When he died in 1882, he left an estate of three million.

The fifth son, Charles, graduated from Bowdoin in 1848. and was lured to California in the gold rush. Unsuccessful in the mines, Charles became owner and editor of a newspaper. He so ardently supported the new Republican party that Pres. Lincoln appointed him Minister to Paraguay. He later wrote a history of that South American country. He invented a typewriter and sold the patent rights to the Remington Company.

The sixth Washburn son was Samuel. Taking to the sea, he became, at the age of 20, master of a merchant ship, plying between Boston and New Orleans. In the Civil War he served in the Union Navy, rising to the rank of captain. After the war he returned to Livermore and supervised his father’s extensive farm.

The seventh son, William Drew Washburn, also graduated from Bowdoin. He went to Minnesota as a surveyor, but like his brothers soon turned to politics, served two years in the state legislature, then became Surveyor General of the state. His knowledge thus obtained of land values led him to profitable purchase and sale of vast acreage in Minnesota. William was the leading promoter of the Sault-Sainte Marie Canal. His crowning political achievement was his election as U.S. Senator from Minnesota after serving three terms in the House of Representatives.

They were indeed a remarkable group, those seven Washburn brothers from Livermore, Maine.

I have been astounded by the number of retired army officers who are interested in state and local history. One whom many of my listeners know is Col. Harvey Doane Eaton, Jr., of North Cornville, whose interest in historical lore, especially of the Kennebec Valley, is increasing. Now there comes from the press another town history written brilliantly by a retired general. It is the History of Clinton by Major General Carleton Fisher, a native of that town who, since his retirement from a long career of military service. has made his home in Winthrop.

Already the author of “Vital Records of Clinton”, published several years ago, General Fisher has devoted five years of diligent research to this history of the Maine town that celebrated the sesquicentennial of its incorporation a few months ago. This book is especially notable for its complete coverage of Clinton families. In the course of his research General Fisher visited every home still standing in the town. His search of records has included not only the town books, but the registry of deeds, the U.S. War Department and hundreds of private papers. Most fascinating are the 60 illustrations interspersed through the pages.

The town of Clinton was favored from its earliest settlement by its location on two rivers. Along its west border ran the Kennebec; along the east was the Sebasticook. Let us see how General Fisher tells it: “The Great River, as the settlers called the Kennebec, had played an important part in the fur trade during the colonial period and was a main route of travel for those going farther up into Maine’s interior. It was only natural that its shores should attract pioneers. Travel up the river was not easy in the local area, as the river rises about 75 feet at the southwest corner of Clinton above the surface of tidewater at Augusta. Its great strength meant that the early settlers could not harness its power. While the Sebasticook is considerably smaller than the Kennebec, it became more important to the pioneers. It too had its handicaps, for at Clinton Village it was 118 feet above the tidewater. Between Benton Falls and the Sebasticook outlet at Winslow there is no natural fall and water travel up the river to Benton Falls was easy until the dam created the present artificial fall at Winslow. The river was easily dammed, and even the earliest settlers made it work for them.”

Then note how General Fisher turns his readers from the rivers to the soil: “While water made the land accessible and provided power, it was land the pioneers were seeking. The soil is in general clay loam, fine for farming. But when the settlers first came, it was not what was in the soil, but what was on it, that counted. The forests were their main goal. It was the forests that supplied timber, not only to build houses, barns, boats, wagons, and furniture, but also to provide a commodity to barter for the things the pioneers could not grow or make.”

In like fashion General Fisher proceeds to tell the story of 150 years of this central Maine town.

Those two 1970 Maine histories are significant additions to the many books that tell us about Maine communities. It is my personal pleasure to know intimately both of the authors.

Year: 1970