Radio Script #348
Little Talks On Common Things
September 29, 1957
One of Maine’s celebrated fami lies is the Carver fami Iy of Searsport, which has been connected with that town’s fine record in shiobui Iding almost since the beginning of the community in 1770.
At the height of its glory, Searsport boasted eight shipyards. It was said to be at one time the home of one-tenth of al I the sea captains in the entire American merchant marine, and Searsport people wi I I proudly tel I you that this town produced more shipmasters than anv other town of its size in all the world.
In Searsport were born several generations of the Carver fami Iy, al f either men of the sea or bui Iders of ships. From 1800 to 1820 they bui It and sai led the sloop and topsai I schooners which dominated the coastal trade from Eastport to Cape HatTeras. During the next twenty years, unti I 1840~ their larger bri9s and schooners carried Maine products to the Gulf ports and the West Indies. After 1840 Searsport’s big square riggers began to go over distant seas, around Cape Horn to our own west coast, and by al I known routes to India, China and Japan. After the Ci vi I War there was a revi va I of Ameri can sh i pp i ng. ca II i n9 for wooden ships of large size, and the shal low beaches of Searsport could not compete with the deeper launching sites at Bath and Rockport.
John Carver, the most prominent of the fami Iy’s shipbui Iders, was born in Searsport in 1799, the eighth generation of the Carver fami Iv in America. Inheriting a shipbui Iding tradition, John and his six brothers al I became sea captains.
The first vessel launched from Captain John’s Searsport yard was the schooner Boston, which took the water for the first time in 1824. In succeeding years John, his sons and his grandsons, bui It 55 vessels schooners~ brigs, barks and ships. John Carver himself bui It 39 of those 55 vessels. The largest vessel ever bui It in Searsport was the ful I-rigged ship Wi Iliam H. Connor, of 1,500 tons, launched from the Carver yard in 1877. Whpt was considered the fastest schooner in the coasta I packet trade was the r,,1exi can, bu i I t by Carver in 1833. That ship was so fast and so well known that she was twice rebui It, first at Belfast in 1848, and again at Winterport in 1872. She was sti I I in service as late as 1895.
Models of ships bui It by the Carvers, as wei I as ships from other Searsport yards, may be seen at Penobscot Marine Museum, which stands right on Rbute 1 in Searsport Vi I lage. There the lovers of the town’s glorious past have recreated a picture of the old shipbui Iding days, when her shipyards teemed with men and her harbor was fi I led with tal I-masted vessels bound for the seven seas.
In the museum the visitor sees 270 photographs of Searsport sea captains, a number no other Maine port, not even Bath, can exceed.
From time to Time I have presented on this program letters or recollections of Maine soldiers in the Civi I War, but I don’t think I have ever before talked about a Civil War soldier who was responsible for government property. Such a man was Captain George Hussey of Vassalboro, who was an officer in the Quartermaster Corps.
It was more Than 18 months after Lee’s surrender at Appomatox before Capt. Hussey made his final settlement with the government. On November 8, 1866 the Treasury DepartmenT wrote to Hussey: “Your return of c J oth i ng and equi page appertaining to Company E, First ~4aine Cavalry! for the months of Apri I, May._ June and J u I y, 1865, has been rece i ved, exami ned and found correct. If But Hussey had gone to a lot of trouble and had consumed a lot of time before he got that letter of final clearance. In October, 1865 the Ouartermaster General’s Office notified Hussey that a number of disputed points in his records sti I I needed to be cleaned up. Hussey was told that he must furnish further evidence concerning his reported loss of four horses in Apri I and the loss of one horse in July. Hussey admitted that he had received two horses from Lt. J. H. Russell, Army Quartermaster, and two from C. Taylor, Captain of the First Ma i ne Cava I ry.
Eventually Hussey satisfied his superiors that the hOrses had actually been lost, and through no fault of his own; and in August, 1866 the Quartermaster General notified the Maine officer that his accounts had finally been approved and had been sent to the Treasury Department for settlement.
The Hussey papers are now the property of Fred Oliver of South China. Among them is a summons to Hussey to sit as a member of a mi litary court martial. It reads: “Petersbury, Va., June 4, 1865. Special Order No. 13. A general court marti a lis hereby appoi nted to convene in the ci ty of Petersbury, Va. on ~~onday June 5, 1865 at 10 0 ‘c lock A.M., or as soon thereafter as p racti ca I, for the trial of such business as may properly come before it. Capt. L. E. Carter 7 10th New York Arti Ilery, is appointed Judge Advocate. n The order then proceeds to name the eight officers of the court, among whom was Captain Hussey. The final words of the order sound very much like an apology for asking those eight officers to serve. I t says: !TNo other of fi cers than those named can be assemb led without manifest injury to the service. Court wi II sit without regard to hours.if It would be interesting to know what military cases came before the court martial on which George Hussey of Vassalboro sat at Petersbury, Va. 92 years ago, but concerning that the Hussey papers are si lent.
It was eighty years ago in June, 1877, when another Vassalboro man, A. C. Eaton, sent a cargo to New York. What Maine shippers were up against in those days is revealed in a letter Eaton received from the New York company to whom the shipment was consigned. They wrote: ftyou wi II find herewith account of sale of load delivered by boat WILLIAM ROBERTS. This load was sold originally at 12i cents, al I landed at one place. After two weeks were out, parties beaan hauling and carting. The lumber was soaking wet, very heavy; and could not be used unti I pi led and dried out. They stopped and sent for us. We made the best settlement we coul d under the ci rcumstances, whi ch was better than to put the I umber on the open market.”
Now let us see what Eaton got out of that deal, as revealed in the account accompanying the firm’s letter. The load consisted chiefly of 12·foot joists, more than 10,000 of them. The consignee had sold 2,700 for 12t cents each~ the price Hussey had expected for all. 6,700 went for 11t cents, the rest for 8, 7t and 6 cents. The total sales amounted to $1,290. The firm claimed a commission of 8%, interest charges of $33, and freight charges had amounted to $355. That made t~tal deductions of $490; so that all Hussey got for those 10,000 joists and same 1,200 wal I strips was $800, or an average of 8¢ apiece for 10,000 big joists.
Now back for a few mi nutes to Vassa I boro’ s Capta in George Hussey. I n ~~ay. 1883 he rece i ved from a man in Carro I I, New Hamp sh i re a lette r wh i ch f hope you find as interesting as I have found it. So, without further comment, let me read you that letter, just as John Decker of Carroll wrote it to Capt. Hussey of Vassalboro 74 years ago: “Dear Si r: I have applied for a pension. I suppose you wi II remember that I was in your Company and that I was a pri soner on ee I Ie I s land. I was taken prisoner on October 21, 1863 and was he Id unti I March 21, 1864. need not tell you what I suffered there. It is a matter of history.
“Ever since then I have been troub led with rheumati sm and piles. A fte r fro/ return to my regiment I was able to be on duty most of the time, but found it very pai nful. I just state these facts to refresh your memory. When they ordered me to get testimony of an officer, I did not know where to address you or any other commissioned officer of the Company. So I wrote to a friend in Fort Fairfield, who got for me an affadavit signed by Sgt. Gray of Company E and Sgt. MacDougall of Company K, stating as above that I was sometimes put on light duty or left” in camp on account of my disabi lity. But they were not satisfied with that and said I must get a statement from a commissioned officer. Myattorney sent me your address and also that of Captain Putnam and Lt. Tobie. But Putnam had resigned before I was a prisoner and I never had much acquaintance with Tobie, so I had to apply to you.
“Now if you wi II please fi II out the enclosed blank in accordance with the above facts, as far as your rremory serves, you wi II do rre a great favor. I enclose one do II ar to pay for tak i ng the affadavi t and trust to your good will for the rest”.
Now what is important about that letter is that it is typical of thousands of simi lar missives written by suffering and aggrieved veterans of the Civi I War. Nearly twenty years after the war was over, here was a veteran in New Hampshire, finally tracking down one of his company officers in Vassalboro~ Maine, trying to get that officer to do what? To endorse the veteran’s humble application for a pension because of disabi lities incurred whi Ie he was undergoing the horrors of the notorious Confederate prison camp on ~lle Island.
We are grateful that our government and our citizens learned something from the experience of the Civi I War prisoners. The country did a little better by its veterans of World War I, but it was left for World War I I to produce the previ,ously unheard of G. I. Bill of Rights, with its educational benefits, its loans; and other features. Qui te in contrast was the lot of the Ci vi I War veteran.
He even had to emp loy an attorney, or one of those fellows called a pension agent”, to secure his rights to a disabi lity pension.
Not long ago I saw a copy of a very old newspaper, the Independent Chronicle, published in Boston on January 1, 1784. In that paper my eye fell on an advertisement which I think you wi II agree with me has historic significance. !-ere is what that ad says:
“At my place of business, directly opposite the Liberty Pole, South End, Boston, in addition to my former stock, I have imported in the Brig RosamonQ, Captain Lowe, and in the Hope, Captain Pierson, a very elegant assortment of plated ware, cons i st”i ng of teapots, pi ai n and chased, butter boats, gob lets .. gi It inside, salts with glasses, gi It inside, beakers, soup ladles, sugar and mi Ik basins, sugar baskets, dish cases with lamp, ink stands, tea caddy, and candlesticks. All priced to attract the purchaser. Paul Revere.”
On this program I have previously talked about the Waldo Patent and the settlement of Germans at Broad Bay. know many of you listeners must have visited Montpelier, the faithful reproduction at Thomaston of the mansion bui It by Genera I Henry Knox, the Revo I uti onary hero and our nati on’s fi rst Secretary of \Alar. Toni ght I want to te I I you how J-enry Knox came into possess i on of the vast Waldo lands. It is a story of Yankee ingenuity and alertness.
Through a land grant previously made by the Counci I of Plymouth in England, John Leverett, President of Harvard College, became in 1720 the sole proprietor of what was ca lied t”he Muscongus Patent ,over 900 square mi les of I and between the Muscongus and t”he Penobscot ri vers. Busy with co I lege affa irs, Leverett had no time to attend t”o the development of his Maine lands; so he took nine partners and formed the Ten Associates. But these men were busy merchants of Boston; so to induce settlers they took in twenty others’, and the whole group became known as the Thi rty Associ ates. Two of the I ast to joi n were Jonathan and Cornelius Waldo of Boston.
A lot of trouble ensued about confl icting charters and undetermined rights. So, in 1730, Samuel Waldo, 34 year old son of Jonathan, was sent to England on behalf of the proprietors. He was able to secure royal confirmation of their rights. In payment” for this valuable service,the Thirty Associates gave Samuel Waldo outright one-half of the patent, 300,000 of the 600,000 acres. Later he secured from the last twenty associates 100~OOO m~ acres, and finally he bought out the original ten associates. By 1732 Samuel Waldo owned five-sixths of the who Ie patent, or 500,000 acres;;
A daughter of Samuel Waldo married Thomas Flucker, and to him, after Samuel’s death, Waldo’s eldest son sold two of the patent’s five shares. In Boston, just before the Revolution, a struggling young bookseller was near bankruptcy when he attracted the favorab Ie attenti on of Lucy, daughter of Th,omas F I ucke r. That bookseller was Henry Knox. Within a year he had married Lucy Flucker, but al I was not rosy. Like most of Boston’s prominent and wealthy citizens, the Fluckers were Tories. Young Henry Knox decided to cast his lot with the revolutionists.
When Britain lost the war, Thomas Flucker suffered the same fate as Sylvester Gardiner and many another man with Maine lands. He saw his property confiscated and placed in the hands of the Judge of Probate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Mrs. Knox owned one-fifth of the patent as inheritance from her mother. As late as 1790 her father’s two-fifths were sti I I at the disposal of the Judge of Probate. Henry Knox was then in Phi ladelphia, serving as Secretary of War, but he intended soon to resign. News reached him that the agent of the Probate Judge was getti ng through, and Knox saw at once ~ i f he cou I d get the appoi nt?’ ment, he might get contro I of the Wa I do lands. So off wen t Knox to Boston, where he proceeded to cu Iti vate certa i n i nf I uenti a I members of the Great and General Court, with the result that he was indeed appointed agent, with complete authority to sell the confiscated Maine lands of his father-in-law, Thomas F I ucker.
Knox at once put through a clever scheme. On July 2, 1791, as probate agent, he sold to Oliver Smith of Boston Flucker’s two-fifths right in the Waldo Patent for $5,000. In August Smith transferred title to Henry Jackson for $5,100, and in September Jackson sol d it to renry Kn,ox hi mse I f for $5,200. Smith and Jackson had each made $100 without any effort at al I, and Henry Knox now control led three-fifths of the lands, the two-fifths he had just bought and the one-fifth belonging to his wife. What did Knox get for his $5,2001 He got 200,000 acres, and that price of 2.6 cents an acre is mighty cheap by anybody’s reckoning. Two years later Knox bought from various owners the remaining twofifths, and when he bui It Montpelier in 1794, he was the sole proprietor of the Waldo Patent’s half mi I Ii ion acres.
Year: 1957