Radio Script #535

Little Talks on Common Things

April 22, 1962

I truly appreciate it when listeners point out errors on this program. What is the only way we can correct the mistakes and keep the record strai.ght. Recently, talking about the Waterville Centennial in 1902, I said not a single automobile appeared in the parade. That was true, so far as the collection of photographs recently received was concerned. But those photographs just happen to be incomplete.

Mrs. Virgie Getchell of Winter Street tells me that at least four autos appeared in that parade, including the Stanley Steamer owned by lawyer Hussey, the man who lived in the gingerbread house at the corner of College Avenue and Union Street, and who put in the ornate mosiac sidewalk in front of his residence.

But the automobile Mrs. Getchell remembers best is the one she helped to decorate for tne parade and in whicn she rode on that eventful day in 1902. It was a Knox car owned by the elder Dr. Abbott, and it was in that very year of 1902 that his son, Dr. Henry Abbott, graduated from Waterville High School. Six persons rode in that gaily decorated Knox as it puffed its way in the Centennial parade. On the front seat were young Henry Abbott and his sister Mary, later Mrs. John Stobie. Seated in the back compartment, with its rear door and buggy-like steps, were Ida Proctor, Jennie Vose, and the two Noyes sisters, Carrie and Virgie. Those four girls later became respectively, Mrs. Boston, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Ervin and Mrs. Getchell.

From time to time on this program I have mentioned Waterville’s GAR post, named for William S. Heath, who was killed at the Battle of Gaines Mill in 1862. Recently I saw a little folder giving a complete roster of the members of that post from its organization in 1874 to the time of publication of the folder in 1890. Some of the names are well remembered: Isaac Bangs of the 20th Maine, L. A. Dow of the 21st, W. H. Gilman of the 30th, Col. Francis Heath of the 19th, J. S. Merrick of the same regiment, H. H. Percival, J. R. Pollard, H. E. Spaulding, and that redoubtable veteran of Libby Prison, Sebastian Vose.

In 1890 the officers of William S. Heath Post were Perham Heald, commander; J. L. Merrick, senior vice commander; A. O. Libby, quartermaster; O. L. Richardson, chaplain; and D. P. Stowell, surgeon. The post met every Thursday evening, convening at 7:30 in the winter and at 8 o’clock in the summer. In 1874 the first commander had been Col. Francis Heath, brother of the man for whom the post was named.

In 1892 Waterville seems to have had an organization called the City Hospital, and it evidently got the better of the city government on a controversial matter anyhow here is what Fred Clair, in his capacity of City Solicitor, reported to the mayor and council on December 7, 1892: “In the matter of the City against the City Hospital for rent of City Hall, I have seen the Hospital people and they say they have a bill against the City of $42 for care of a pauper, and if we sue them, they will sue us. I think we had better drop the matter.”

The Civil War brought hard times to many a Maine town, and Waterville was no.exception. Of course allover the North — in Maine as well as in other states — there were men who made a lot of money from army contracts, but most people were hard hit and the municipal treasuries were especially depleted. That was because the towns had the obligation to care for soldiers’ families while the bread Winners were in the army. That burden cost Waterville more than $50,000, only a part of which was ever recompensed by state or federal government. Old records at City Hall reveal what happened, and I want to bring a few of those records to your attention tonight.

As early as August 21, 1861 Mrs. Mary A. Day signed the following receipt·: “Received of the Town of Waterville $19.50 on account of my husband’s services in the army from May 21 to August 21.” On Nov. ~O, 1861 William Lincoln, merchant, was given a town order for $9.21 for supplies to the same Mrs. Day, at a rate which he had been told must not exceed $1.50 a week. At the same time Lincoln was paid $23.14 for supplies furnished to the wife and children of soldier Henry Barney.

During the last three months of 1862 alone, Dr. Webb gave service and medicine to soldiers’ families amounting to $135. For the whole year of 1862 the Waterville archives contain more than 300 receipts for such services and supplies. Delano Davis got $9.75 for his son’s army services, and John Waters got the same amount for his son George. The town paid James P. Hill $15 for enlisting men in one of the companies. Some of the amounts paid were really sizeable. To B. F. Otis for supplies to soldiers’ families, $91.75; to John Caffrey for the same, $108.75; to William Hatch, $54.42; and to David Webb, the largest amount of all, $146.45.

Beginning in the summer of .1861 that sort of thing went on until late in 1865, when the last of the discharged soldiers finally returned home. Altogether it put the town of Waterville into deep debt from which it did not emerge until the Lockwood Mills brought new prosperity to the old town.

In these days when the Federal Government takes so many cents from every dollar we earn, historians like to remind us that once just once in American history the national government had not a debt, but a surplus, and that surplus was distributed to the states. That happened just 125 years ago, in the year 1837. Maine, like most of the other states, decided to distribute its share of the surplus to all the towns in the state. It was at least partially understood that the towns would use the money for municipal purposes of benefit to all inhabitants. But some of the towns decided to distribute the money directly to the people, and Waterville was one of those towns. Preserved at the Waterville City Hall are the original receipts, more than a thousand of them, signed by the recipients of that windfall. Because there was some question of the legality of distribution to the citizens rather than direct use by the municipality, the printed receipt forms were carefully worded. This is what they said: “Waterville, August 5, 1837. Received of the Town of Waterville dollars and cents, which I agree to repay whenever the State shall call the portion of Surplus Money deposited with said town, with one percent interest.”

The Waterville distribution was two dollars to every resident, that is two dollars to every man, woman and child in the community. That is why we find receipts signed for varying amounts, since the head of a household got the money for all of its members.

That a high percentage of illiteracy prevailed in Waterville as late as 1837 is shown by the large number of receipts signed with a cross, and then designated “So and so, His Mark” , and the signature of a witness. One man who thus signed with a cross, because he could not write his name, was the substantial land owner and Revolutionary soldier, John Cool. His sister, Aunt Hannah Cool, the herb doctor and ministering angel to the sick, likewise could not read or write. John Cool’s mark on the old receipt got him $4.00; Aunt Hannah’s brought her $2.00. Some of Waterville’s leading citizens had substantial families in 1837. Thus the prominent Lemuel Dunbar collected $14 from the federal surplus. ,Reward Sturtevant, out at Ten Lots, got $20, and the prosperous farmer, Peletiah Soule, received the same amount.

The Crowells in West Waterville, now Oakland, were a big family. Hallett and Hiram Crowell each got $18. hat amount went also to David Combs, Asa Emerson and Josiah Morrill. Four Redingtons together received $28. The largest  amount to anyone householder was $22 paid to Stephen Tozer. There were in fact no fewer than 16 Tozers who signed receipts for that federal surplus, four of whom had to sign with a cross.

Two sons of the old surveyor and builder of Waterville’s first saw mill, John McKechnie, shared in the HS37 windfall. Alexander McKechnie collected §10 and his brother Thurlow got $6. Seven receipts are signed by the members of the shipbuilding family of Moor. The one who reached greatest prominence, Wyman B.S. Moor, later a U. S. Senator, was then a young unmarried man who got only $2.00, but other members of the family got as much as ten dollars each. Kenelum Marstoo who made matches near the present site of the pumping station on Western Avenue, collected $12, while his brothers Oliver, William and Joseph got respectively $16, $14 and $10. Still living in 1837 was Abijah Smith, who gave part of the land that now makes the common in front of City Hall. His share of the surplus was $8. The same amount went to Deacon William Stevens, who less than thirty years later would lose two sons in the Civil War. Of course the Stackpoles were represented. James Stackpole, Jr. got $4. The largest family share went to his mother, Susan Stackpole, $14. Five other Stackpoles shared directly in the surplus.

On the old receipts appear the names of several men closely connected with old Waterville College, now Colby. Justin H. Loomis, the professor of chemistry, who ten years later would discover poison in the stomach of the murdered Ed Mathews, got his one-man share of the surplus, just two dollars. Franklin Merriam, the first of five generations of Merriams to attend Colby, also received two dollars. Martin B. Anderson, who a few years later would become the founder of the University of Rochester, picked up his two dollars. John M. Foster, first of five generations of Colby Fosters, did better; he got twelve dollars. You may be sure that one payment of eight dollars was thankfully received. What was paid to Hobert E. Pattison, President of Waterville College, whose salary was then only $600 a year, and usually in arrears.

Of course the Appleton family was represented, though Dr. Moses Appleton, by that time an aged man, was limited to $4. The venerable Simeon Mathews got $14, but John Mathews went him two dollars better at $16. The Penny family, with their memorable given names, was not forgotten. Peletiah Penny got $8 and Salathiel $2. Five other Pennys also shared in the harvest of those surplus funds.

Altogether it must have been a big day for Waterville, that fifth of August, 1837, when every man, woman and child in town got $2 from out-of-debt, in-the-pocket, rich Uncle Sam.

Year: 1962