Radio Script #890
Little Talks on Common Things
April 25, 1971
In the early years of the 19th century, a prominent citizen of Belgrade was John Rockwood, at various times a selectman, clerk and treasurer of the town. Thanks to the courtesy of Mrs. Jeanette Rockwood Long of Los Angeles, great granddaughter of the Belgrade pioneer, I have been able to examine some of the Rockwood family papers, including an account book kept by John Rockwood in 1803-04.
As a justice of the peace, though not a professional attorney, Rockwood was called upon to settle many estates, and this particular account book is filled with such cases. He served a writ for Robert Whitehouse against John Dudley and collected a fee of $1.19. That was in October, 1803. Two months later, the day after Christmas, he set down this charge against Joseph Allerton: “to writ against you for Joel Proctor that you agreed to pay me for”. Another charge was “writing letters for Nathan Pinkham to Littlefield, 24 cents”.
Women were often involved in Rockwood’s cases: “March 10, 1804 – taking examination of Betsy Dow for Elizabeth Dow, and issuing warrant thereon, $1.00.”
In September, 1804 Rockwood charged David Stevens 75 cents for use of a horse to go to Waterville.
Liquid refreshment was sometimes involved in Rockwood’s cases. In connection with a writ for Samuel Fall against Edward Merchant, Rockwood charged Fall 12 cents for a gill of rum and 15 cents for a gill of brandy. In Jonah Davenport’s case against Benjamin Furbush, the liquid quantity was gal. rum 83 cents, and 2 gal. cider 25 cents.
Here are the itemized charges Rockwood made to Andrew Kimball: “Writ and entry, Kimball vs. Lowe 1.18; summons on plea 50 cents; summons against Lowe 25 cents; letter to Daniel Chauncy 25 cents.”
The account with Solomon Hoxie was even larger: “Taking acknowledgement of deed 17 cents; writ vs. Joseph Bickford 57 cents; summons against Bickford 25 cents; paid Obadiah Longley for you 1.57; writ vs. Daniel Fish 1.00; writ vs. Samuel Ellis 1.00; two bundles of stakes 12 cents.”
The Crowell family of Oakland appears in Rockwood’s accounts: “Sept. 15, 1804, Manoah Crowell – taking examination of your daughter 1.00; journey to James Farnham’s for purpose of examining Oliver Stevens 1.50.”
That some of Rockwood’s cases turned out well is shown by his simple charge to Samuel Stewart: “My cost and two actions favorable to you, 3.68.”
He charged Abraham Wellman only 50 cents for making a ruling in dispute between Wellman and Samuel Hill, but in connection with the case Wellman was charged 25 cents for a pint of rum.
For some reason, not clear to us who read the account after 160 years, besides 50 cents for a horse to Sidney and 67 cents for a horse to Basford Corner, Philip Warren was charged 1.50 for oxen to haul hay to Pollard’s.
Like everyone else of that day, Rockwood often took his pay in commodities. Among his credits are a bushel wheat 75 cents; a pair of shoes 1.35; a pen knife 25 cents; 8t pounds of potash 82 cents.
The last record in the old book is Rockwood’s account against Rufus Barton. After itemizing several writs, summonses and examinations, it contains this item: “Being called to sign note with you and going with you to bind property to back up your note, 2.00.” Then comes this final clincher: “For all my trouble 4.00.”
Other of the Rockwood papers show that in the early years of the 19th century, John was called upon for extraordinary services. On January 9, 1807 a resident of Belgrade wrote Rockwood a short letter from Haverhill, N.H. This is what it said: “I expect by this time you have heard of my situation, but it is not so bad as may be expected. I have a very comfortable room and a very nice man for a keeper, but it is still a prison, which makes me shudder every time I hear the grating on the door. I wish to write to my wife, but I do not think it is best at present. Therefore I must trouble you to go and see her. If she has not heard of my being caught in a log trap, I wish you would tell her that you have heard from me and I shall be home in the course of two or three weeks. I have sent to Northport to my friends and expect to hear from them by tomorrow’s post. If she has heard of my hard fortune, I must leave you to act your own judgment, as it is almost impossible to collect my thoughts. Joseph Cutter.”
It would be interesting to know whether and when that Belgrade wife found out that her husband was in jail.
James, one of John Rockwood’s sons, sought his fortune in South America, and on August 8, 1832 he wrote to his father from Buenos Aires. Let us see what he had to say to folks in Belgrade from that faraway land 138 years ago.
“Dear and Honored Father: I received your letter dated April 15 via New York about a fortnight since, and it gave me much satisfaction to hear that you are all alive and in good health. It is the first news from home that I have received since I have been here, except for one letter dated six months after I left home. If you received my last, you probably think I was somewhat in a passion when I wrote it. I had written as I did after many vessels had arrived from Boston, but brought no answers to any of my letters. You will forgive me if I thought I was neglected and forgotten. I am very glad to find the case is different and I confess I was wrong.
“The times are passable here at present, but business is not very good and you will probably have heard of the difficulty between the U.S. and this government about the Falkland Islands. A minister has now arrived from the U.S. and it is expected the affair will be amicably adjusted.
“Last summer (winter with you) I was somewhat out of health and went about a hundred miles into the interior of this country. I remained there two months and returned well and hearty. I might fill a quire of paper in describing the curiosities of this country (or rather the want of them); however, I will leave that to tell you when we meet.
“Suffice to say that, instead of passing miles of hills and valleys, forests and plains, homes and villages, rivers, churches, stages, and other signs of civilization, which I would meet in going a similar distance at home, our route here led over long-extended plain without a sign that would remind me of our own country. However, the air is salubrious and healthy.
“I have not received the letter you say Hiram sent me via Boston. You say Nancy is married and has moved away. I suppose Hiram is also married. About John and Lorina you say nothing.
“I cannot tell you when I shall return home. I may be at home in six months or a year or five years according to circumstances. Up to the present I have made but little more than enough money to pay my expenses.
“Please write me a long letter and tell me about the folks and about my old friends. I want to know who Hiram, John and Sally Tebbetts married and where they live. I often think of my friends at Augusta and Hallowell. How is my old master Pollard getting along?
“We have had a mild winter so far with no frost and a great deal of rain, a sure sign of a fruitful summer. That you and all the family may be preserved in health till we meet again is the constant prayer of your dutiful son, James.”
That interesting letter deserves a few words of explanation. In the first place, it was not unusual for the younger son of a large family, in the first half of the 19th century, to seek his fortune far from home. William Bryant of Fairfield had a son who, a few years after James Rockwood went to South America, went even farther away to Australia. At the age of 16 William Heath, son of the early Waterville lawyer Solyman Heath, sailed around the world on his own without parent or relative going along. And young Heath earned his way as he went working several months for a factory in China and nearly a year for a trader on the island of Mauritius.
The next point to strike us about that letter from South America is how mail was sent abroad in 1832. There was no direct international mail between the Americas. Although letters were no longer entrusted to an individual sea captain for delivery, as had been the usual method in the 18th century, they were still addressed via a particular American port – in the case of letters from New England, usually via Boston or New York. The letter would then be placed on a ship for the port nearest the residence of the addressee in the foreign land and delivered at some designated place, such as the American embassy or consulate, where the addressee would call for it. Now note how long it took for such a letter to reach South America from Belgrade, Maine. James Rockwood’s letter dated August 8, 1832 says that only two weeks earlier he had received from home a letter dated April 15. And note that this was the first letter the boy had received for many months.
Another interesting point is that, when he was younger, James was apparently apprenticed to some man in the Augusta area. He asks, “How is my old master Pollard getting along?”
It is clear that James Rockwood had never seen the American prairies. All he knew as the topography of his own country were the rolling hills and wooded slopes of Maine. If he had seen Iowa and Kansas, he would not have considered the flat pampas of Argentina so strange.
One senses, in this letter from the boy in Buenos Aires, a genuine homesickness that is typical of most such letters, and there were many such that came to Maine families. Those faraway sons wanted news from home, and most of all they yearned for the day when they would be at home again, whether, as James Rockwood says, that day might be six months, a year or even five years in the future.
Year: 1971