Radio Script #812

Little Talks on Common Things

September 21, 1969

I want to devote today’s program to the town of Sidney. The first grant of land in what is now that town was made by the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase to John Marsh in 1763, eight years before the incorporation of the town of Vassalboro. of which Sidney was at first a part. Not until 1792 was Sidney set off from Vassalboro as a separate town.

Other early settlers were Abial Lovejoy and Levi Powers. The latter soon sold his place to Jethro Gardner, who in turn sold to a German immigrant named Anthony Faught. When Kingsbury published his History of Kennebec County in 1892, Charles and James Faught, grandsons of the immigrant, were still living on the original Faught farm.

The first principal village in the town was West Sidney, because it was on the stage road from Augusta to Farmington. Here was the first store, a trading point for some 30 surrounding families. It was first operated by James Shorey about the time of the Revolutionary War, and through the years by many successors. At West Sidney also was the first tavern in the town, kept by John Partridge.

What we have known in recent years as Tanner’s Corner, at the junction of the River Road and the Dinsmore Road, was a century and a quarter ago called Sherman’s Corner, because nearby were the home and store of Captain James Sherman. That man’s title came from no militia company. Rather unusual for an inland dweller, he was an active sea captain, commanding a vessel right at the time when he made his home in Sidney.

Thanks to Miss Grace Tanner, a nurse at Thayer Hospital, I have seen a letter to Captain Sherman, which reveals that the ship he commanded in 1848 was actually a whaler. The letter was written by the ship owners in New Bedford to Capt. Sherman on July 25, 1848. It was addressed to Capt. James Sherman of the Ship Trinolen, Bremen, Germany. Let us now have it word for word: “Dear Sir – By the last steamer we have advices that the Germans and Danes have agreed to an armistice for three months. Consequently you will have no difficulty in going to Bremen with the Trinolen. We were very sorry to find that the ship left one of her whaleboats with a full set of oars. But the shipkeeper advises us that it was the poorest boat and that you have two full sets of oars on board the ship. We were disappointed to learn that your second mate, Mr. Andrews, was anxious to come ashore. and we only regret that you have not sent him. Still we are confident that, after he gets clear of the effects of liquor. he will be found a first rate man.

“We have strong hopes that you will get some whale oil on your passage out, and after you land your cargo, we hope you will leave Bremen with a determination for a long cruise for sperm oil, and we request you to procure anything you may need to enable you to do so. Provisions can be got as cheap in Bremen as here, and should you need a whaleboat, we think you will have no difficulty getting one from Mr. Kerniskan. Should any of your crew leave, you can easily get men. If you think it in our interest to have a larger crew than you left here with, it is our wish that you ship them on the same conditions. We recommend your putting into the ship about 50,000 bricks for ballast and to purchase first rate oil casks and fill them with water for any more ballast the ship may require. You will purchase no more casks than you are obliged to, as they are worth no ITIOre than one cent a gallon here.

“Should anything have occurred since you left here to cause you to abandon the idea of whaling after you land your cargo, we advise your taking passengers to New York and such freight as you can get. In this matter you will be governed by advice of your consignees. We are fearful the ship’s deck will be hardly tight enough for the comfort of passengers.

“We are very truly yours, J. Dunbar.

“P.S. The young Phenix sailed from Hobart, Tasmania as a cruise ship in good order. Expense of repairs only about $500.”

Enclosed with the family’s preservation of the letter were several bills addressed to Captain Sherman while he was in foreign ports. One is from C. Zonmenwald of Amsterdam. Because it is in Dutch, a language with which I am not familiar, I could not distinguish the three items on that bill, except the English word brick is obvious. He was loading some of the brick ballast recommended by the ship’s owners. The whole bill came to 62 Dutch gilder. Another bill, rendered by G. Grossdelt of Brussels is in English. It included 1 brown “Cloath”, six pairs of socks. two blankets. and one umbrella; all amounting to $28 in American money. A third bill was presented at Bremen by C. Hut-Fabrik. Written in German. it translates into one gray summer coat, and the lining for one great coat. One bill presented by Carl of Bremen. charged Sherman interest of $1.39.

By the turn of the century 70 years ago there were a considerable number of people living on the River Road in Sidney. Between the Waterville and Augusta lines. on the Sidney section of that road, the 1904 Register gave the names of 72 families. Descendants of the early settlers included Greenwood Faught, Arthur Drummond, Isaac Bowman, George Hamlin. Enos Moore, Moses Sawtelle and Bartelle Taylor.

We have already noted that the first Sidney store was at West Sidney. But merchants were not long in coming to the River Road. Half a century before Capt. Sherman had opened his store at Tanner’s Corner, Darwin Howard and a Mr. Sawyer went into partnership in a store near the ferry landing opposite Getchells Corner. About 1850 the store was given up and the building turned into a tannery. Kingsbury’s history tells us of a Sidney store bill made out in 1798 to a local Methodist elder. One of its items was five gallons of rum. The elder had to have a good supply because he entertained all the Methodist ministers who came to Sidney.

I don’t think I have said much on this program about the Pond Road in Sidney. That is the road on which is now situated the famous music camp. Its first settler was Moses Sawtelle, who later moved to the River Road. He agreed to pay for his original grant of three quarter sections in coon skins “taken as they run”. Kingsbury adds: “His seven sons settled near him, and that accounts for the frequency of the name Sawtelle in Sidney.”

Members of the Methodist denomination well know that the great proponent of Methodism in America was Jesse Lee, but I suspect few of our local Methodists are aware that Jesse Lee preached in Sidney on January 29, 1794. He then and there organized one of the Methodist classes and affiliated it with the Readfield circuit. In 1809 Rev. Ebenezer Newell, then in charge of the Hallowell circuit, preached in Sidney, where ‘he met Miss Nancy Butterfield and liked her so much that he kept on preaching in Sidney until Nancy agreed to marry him. Then both departed for greener pastures.

Where is Sidney’s oldest cemetery? It is on the bank of the Kennebec, about a quarter of a mile below Hastings Brook, in an area known a century ago as the Old Plain. It was located on what was at the time the Abial Lovejoy farm, and is believed to contain the graves of more than 100 early settlers. In 1890 the small part that, through the years, had not been plowed over plainly showed the forms of many graves and had remaining a single broken slate slab inscribed “Elizabeth Mi 11 i ner, 1785” •

On the Pond Road Moses Sawtelle started a burying ground several years before 1800. The place was enlarged and fenced in 1822. One mile south is the Longley cemetery, established in 1802 by Nehemiah Longley, ancestor of Edmund Longley, a present prominent citizen of Waterville.

Building was cheap in the old days. The Sidney Town House at the Center built in 1825, cost $500.

Who were Sidney’s first town officials in 1792? The selectmen were Flint Barton, Moses Hastings and Moses Sawtelle. Town clerk was Ichabod Thomas, treasurer John Woodcock.

Sidney had an early Masonic Lodge. Rural Lodge No. 53, Free and Accepted Masons, was instituted on April 25, 1827. The first master was Ezra Going. After a few years, because the number was so small, the charter was surrendered, but it was restored in 1862 with William Shaw as master. The Masonic Hall at the Center was built in 1887 at a cost of $900. In the earlier years the Masonic meetings had been held in the upper story of Howard & Sawyer’s store at Hastings Stream on the River Road.

It was so unusual to have a German immigrant among the English settlers of this area that it is well for us to know a bit more about that Faught family of Sidney. Philip Faught came to America from the Rhine Valley and landed in Boston in 1751. Five years later he came to Old Pownalborough (now Dresden) where a number of German families had settled under inducements from Sylvester Gardiner, head of the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase. Philip’s son Frederick came up the river to Sidney and there made his home. There in 1786 Frederick Faught, Jr. was born. He settled on the Middle Road, about a mile south of Bacon’s Corner, where he spent the rest of his life, dying in 1861. He and his wife had ten children, eight of whom lived to maturity. His son Albert remained on the home place, where his sons Herman and Frank were born.

Of the Faughts who left Sidney the one with the most spectacular career was FrederickJr.~ son Luther who, while still in his teens, went to Atlanta, Georgia and made money as a manufacturer. The Civil War swept away his fortune and he moved to Philadelphia, where he built up another fortune in the manufacture of wheels for railway cars. One of his inventions was the Faught increase contraction chill, a device called by railroad men one of the most important improvements to rolling stock, increasing the safety and strength of car wheels.

Luther’s brother George also left Sidney in his teens. In Boston he learned the tailor’s trade and in 1820 was located on Boston’s Winter Street as senior partner in the firm of Faught and Hovey. He made annual trips to Europe for purchases of fine cloth.

Probably George Faught was like many another Sidney native, for Kingsbury says of him: “He has never forgotten his native town and his interest in its success and development has been shown in a substantial manner.”

And with that salute to the Town of Sidney, we must say Good-by until next week.

Year: 1969