Radio Script #915

Little Talks on Common Things
January 9, 1972

In 1850, a well known school in Central Maine was Clinton Academy. It was not located in what is now Clinton Village, but at Benton Falls, then a part of Clinton. When the town of Benton was first separated from Clinton, it was called Sebasticook. So the catalog of the old academy for the year 1850 carries the title “Clinton Academy, Sebasticook, Maine”. Chairman of the trustees was Robert Fletcher of Winslow, the secretary was the Rev. Hobart Richardson of Sebasticook and the treasurer was Ebenezer Davis of Fairfield. That the school catered to a wide area is shown by the distribution of the other eleven trustees. Only two of them were from Clinton. Others were from Vassalboro, Lincolnville, Pittston, Bristol, Brewer, and even as far away as Calais.

The academy principal was the Rev. Daniel Thurston and he had only one assistant, his wife Mrs. Ann Thurston. In the directory of students, the catalog listed the two sexes separately, 44 boys and 58 girls. That enrollment of 102 was very good for any Maine academy in the middle of the 19th century.

Despite the wide distribution of the trustees, the Clinton Academy students came almost entirely from the towns of Sebasticook and Winslow. Except for one boy from Clinton, all the male students came from those two towns. Of the 58 girls there were three from Clinton, one from Madison and all the rest from Sebasticook and Winslow. As one who knows anything about the old community of Benton Falls might well suspect, the commonest name in the student list was Hinds. There were six of them: Amos, Asher, Albert, Susan H., and Susan N. There were five Smileys, four Reeds, and three Wards. Other well remembered families were represented by James Flagg and Rufus Learned.

It is interesting to note some of the textbooks used at Clinton Academy 120 years ago. Boys and girls then had to memorize such tomes as Weld’s Book of Parsing, Mitchell’s Geography, and Webster’s Grammar. The class students were thoroughly drilled in Andrew’s Latin Grammar, Sophocles’ Greek Grammar, the Greek New Testament, and they made daily use of both Latin and Greek Lexicons, as well as translating long passages from Sallust, Cicero, Virgil, Herodotus and Homer. Surprisingly, for so early a date, Clinton Academy taught French, using Surevilleg French Grammar and a Life of Washington in French.

Arithmetic was continued from the common school into the academy years, with reliance on the widely used Greenleaf text. Similar books were used for Algebra and Geometry, but also included in the long list were textbooks on Drawing and Measurements, Surveying, and Navigation. The sciences were represented by Johnston’s Chemistry, Cutler’s Anatomy and Physiology. The book dealing with what we now call Physics was Comstock’s Natural Philosophy, and a text on Astronomy was Burritt’s Geography of the Heavens, a rather badly worded title, since the first syllable of the word geography is the root geo, the Greek word for Earth.

The mid-century academy often taught subjects which we commonly associate with a college curriculum. Hence we should not be surprised to find on Clinton Academy’s published list of textbooks such items as Waylands’ Moral Science, Upham’s Mental Philosophy, Watts on the Mind, Hodge’s Logic, and Goodrich and Willard’s Universal History.

Expenses were low at all Maine Academies in 1880. At Clinton Academy ,each of the three courses was priced differently. Tuition for what was called The Common English Branches (what later was called the General Course) was $2.50 a term or $7.50 a year. For what was called the Higher English Branches, a course that included Algebra, Geometry and Surveying, some science, but no Latin or Greek, the rate was $3.50 a term, or $10.50 a year. For the Course called Languages, (later called the Classical Course) designed to prepare for college, the cost was $4.00 a term, or $12.00 a year.

Under the heading “Remarks”, the Clinton Academy catalog had this to say: “This institution is under the supervision of a board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the East Maine Conference. It is located in a very retired and pleasant village, free from the vices and enticing allurements that corrupt the morals of students in other places. The entire government of this institution is committed to the principal, and he will make the course of study practicable and thorough. He will bestow unwearied attention upon those to teach in the common schools and those preparing for college, while at the same time furnishing every facility to all students, whatever their purpose. It is desired that all should be present at the beginning of the term, for experience has taught us that those who enter later cannot be benefitted in equal proportion.”

That 1850 issue of the Clinton Academy catalog, the contents of which I have just discussed in some detail, came to my attention through the courtesy of Mrs. Martin Young of Benton, a teacher in the Winslow schools. In the house in which the Youngs live on the so-called Bangor Road from Winslow through Benton to Clinton there are preserved many interesting manuscripts and documents, mostly dealing with the region of old Sebasticook, now the town of Benton, but some of them concerning Sidney. Let me now tell you about a few of those old handwritten manuscripts.

One of special interest is called a Statement of Obligation dated April 8, 1843. The best way to describe it is to quote its own exact words. “Know all men by these presents, that I, Moses Sawtelle of Sidney, do hereby obligate myself to my two younger sisters, Susan and Harriet Sawtelle as follows: That they, or either of them, as long as single, have a home in my house, which was my father’s, in that part of it which is now occupied by my mother, it being the south part , to have all the privileges of occupancy of said part which my mother may be disposed to grant them. If they, or either of them, shall live single after my mother’s death, they or either of them shall have the privilege of occupying the south room on the first floor of said house (sometimes called the sitting room) and the south bedroom in the chamber of the house; also the privilege of baking for their own use in the oven and the use of as much of the cellar as is needed to keep their food.

“I further agree to furnish each of my sisters with a bureau when they shall need it, the said bureau to be worth not less than $12. Whenever either of my sisters shall marry, this obligation in respect to her shall cease and be void. Except for the bureau referred to, this obligation pertains only to place of residence, and does not include furniture, food, or clothing.”

The father of the man who made that arrangement for his unmarried sisters had, only two months earlier, in February 1843, put his son in the position that rather obligated him to make the arrangement. The father, Moses Sawtelle, Sr., signed the following brief statement: “I, Moses Sawtelle of Sidney, in consideration of his obligating himself to pay all my debts, do hereby convey to my son, Moses Howard Sawtelle, all my personal property of every description, consisting of stock such as horses, oxen, cows, sheep, farm utensils, carriages, harnesses, household furniture etc.”

One interesting manuscript dealing with Benton concerned a controversy over the town accounts in 1858. The document reads: “The undersigned, a committee appointed by the town of Benton at the March meeting in 1858, for the purpose of settling with Crosby Hinds, former treasurer of the town, have had a hearing on the matters in controversy, and after examining the books of the treasurer and the selectmen, and hearing the parties, your committee submits the following report: We find charged the town $1636.09, on which there is no controversy. For error in footing Page 34, we find due to Crosby Hinds $5.67. Previously due to him for cost of advertising real estate for sale to pay taxes $13.27. Travel and expenses to pay $5.00 from the town to Ruel Williams in Augusta, and also to pay note due to T. Price in Waterville and A. Crosby in Albion – $15.00. Due Crosby for collecting and disbursing, $16.73. Comparing the real estate book with the treasurer’s book we find due from Crosby Hinds to the town $ 5.87; also due for his interest in certain real estate $13.80 and other items due from him to the town $48.16. We therefore find a balance between what the town owes Hinds and what Hinds owes the town to be $32.93, which Hinds owes to the town of Benton.”

Now the explanation for all that rigamarole lies in the easy-going way town business was conducted between the annual or special town meetings. There is no intimation of any dishonesty in this old Benton document. In fact, Crosby Hinds was known well as a scrupulously upright man. That is why the townspeople chose him as the town treasurer. But taxes come in so slowly, often in several installments from a single tax payer, that a treasurer often met some of the town bills out of his own pocket, in a kind of anticipation of taxes. So at the end of a year, it wasn’t easy for a treasurer to explain all his transacting, though the items were accurately and diligently set down in his accounts. In this case it is quite possible that a difference of opinion arose over whether the treasurer was in debt to the town, or the town to the treasurer and in good Maine fashion, the town meeting authorized an ad hoc committee to find out.

Another paper in this old collection concerns what is now the town of Oakland, and this too involved a controversy of the kind all too common 125 years ago. It was about a boundary dispute that had been referred to the official fence viewers. It reads: “Pursuant to the request of Granville Pullen and George Ricker, both of Waterville, and the respective parts of fence which each shall build and maintain – after sufficient notice, we met the parties on the premises, and after full hearing and careful measurements, we hereby establish a line beginning at the south side of the road leading from Waterville Village to West Waterville, at a cedar stake at the SW corner of the stone wall on the west end of Ricker’s field. (Then follows the other bounds). We decree that George Ricker shall build 40 rods on the part next to the road and that Granville Pullen shall build the remainder of the fence on this line, 40 rods, each henceforth to maintain his own 40 rods of fence.”

Next week I want to tell you more about those old manuscripts at the Martin Young home in Benton.

Year: 1972