Radio Script #964
Little Talks on Common Things
March 11, 1973
I am delighted whenever I have opportunity to examine old newspapers. I mean newspapers published at least 100 years ago. If they date back to nearly 150 years, so much the better. So today I want to tell you about some Maine newspapers that came from the press in the 1820’s and 1830’s. First some items from two issues of the Bangor Register, one dated March 18, 1824, the other March 30, 1826.
The 1824 issue contained an item of national news that had historic significance. The Marquis de Lafayette, the French nobleman who had been a hero of the American Revolution, was soon coming to the U.S. to participate in the laying of the cornerstone of Bunker Hill Monument. Congress had passed a resolution and it was the wording of that resolution that the Bangor Register published. It said: “Whenever the President shall be informed of the time when the Marquis de Lafayette may be ready to embark from France, he shall be provided with a U.S. naval vessel with suitable accommodation to bring him to U.S.”
In those long ago days before our present welfare state, it was no joke to get deep into debt. In 1824, according to an item in the Register, the Maine Legislature passed a law decreeing that, whenever a person took the poor debtor’s oath, the State could seize any or all of his property, including the last stick of furniture in his house, to partially discharge the debt.
A hundred and fifty years ago people had not given up the old colonial New England custom of fast days. Gov. Albion K. Parris declared such a day of fasting, public humiliation and prayer for April 1, 1824. His proclamation said: “Let us entreat God to bless the citizens of this state on their fisheries, manufactures and commerce, all lawful enterprises and labors, to save us from famine and pestilence, conflagration and war, to smile upon our colleges, academies and schools, to bless the ministrations of the Gospel, and vouchsafe the means of knowledge and salvation to every family and every soul. We urgently request that, on the appointed day, all labor be suspended and the day be devoted entirely to religious solemnities.”
Counterfeiting was common early in the nineteenth century. This warning appeared in 1824 in the Bangor Register. “Citizens of Bangor and Penobscot County are warned that there are in circulation counterfeit $5 bills on the Agricultural Bank of Pittsfield, which may be easily detected by comparing them with true ones.”
When mortgaged property was seized, it was often advertised in the local press. So this ad appeared in the 1824 Register. “Taken in execution of debt and will be sold at public auction on April 8, 1824, at Towle and Person’s Store in Sebec, all the right and interest of Daniel Cook in a lot of land in Milo and the dwelling house thereon.”
As is always true of old newspapers, the ads are more revealing of the times than are the news items. Let us look at a few in that 1824 Maine paper. “For rent – a well known farm in Eddington, exclusive of the widow’s dower. Will be rented for one year to the highest bidder at the home of Jonathan Sibley on March 24, 1824.”
“Mrs. S. D. Norcross has recently opened a school in the house in Bangor opposite Dr. Rich’s house. There she teaches an elegant branch of embroidery, the most approved and neatest style.”
“At the store of Abraham Wheelbright , the public will find apples and cider of the first quality, good mackerel, clean pork, coarse and fine salt, and fine colored calico.”
“Shaw and Sawyer Harnesses and trunks, sleigh bells, bridles, martingales, portmanteaus and saddle bags. Old chaises, repaired on short notice.”
“Farmers and mechanics are invited to purchase at $2 per acre better land than any in the Old Colony, and establish themselves in a thriving new town at the confluence of the Piscataquis and Penobscot rivers. It is about 25 miles above Bangor and 15 miles below Dover and Foxcroft. There are already more than 30 settled families. Purchasers may still have the choice of rich, intervale lots on the Piscataquis.”
Now we turn to a later issue of the same paper, the Bangor Register for March 30, 1826.
In that year the Maine Land Agent was authorized to sell certain of the public lands at auction, demanding half the price in cash and the rest in three annual installments.
Another legislative act divided the big area of the town of Machias into three towns: West Machias, East Machias and Machiasport.
Two columns in that Bangor paper were devoted to the smoldering dispute over the northeast boundary. The paper commented on the situation along the upper St. John River. “Some of the settlers in the disputed territory say they would prefer to live under our government because they have little confidence in the British government. The New Brunswick government states that it is now granting some permits; otherwise the settlers will simply steal the timber. We must now publish to the world that the State of Maine is unable to protect its own property. We must either destroy it, or let squatters have it on their own terms.”
That issue of the Register told about a severe flood on the Kennebec. “Water flooded the lower part of Hallowell village and flowed six feet deep into stores and warehouses near the town landing. Mr. Tenney’s potash kiln was carried away. Three vessels at Shepherd’s Wharf were pulled loose and were last seen lying in the ice near Gardiner. The water was so high that boats were rowed into houses through the front windows. Two large ice houses on Mr. Gardiner’s Wharf were swept away. We have just learned that, further up the river, about 150 feet of the Waterville bridge was carried away.”
The 1820’s were a time when all sorts of public projects were financed by lottery. In that 1826 issue of the Bangor Register, a lottery was advertised to build a bridge at Sullivan. Six thousand tickets were to be sold at $10 each, and a total of 2373 prizes were to be distributed. The first prize – a whooping $10,000, the second $2,000, six of $1,000 each, ten of $500, fifty of $100, fifty of $50, one hundred of $20 and 2175 of $10 each. The ad said that 6,000 numbered slips would be placed on a wheel and the numbers drawn by turning the wheel. Lottery tickets for the Cumberland and Oxford Canal sold at $5 a piece. A person could also buy half, quarter, or eighth of a ticket.
There was always business in Maine lands in those days. The ad in the 1826 Register said: “Written, sealed bids will be received at the Office of Wilmot Wood in Bangor for all burnt timber on land belonging to Maine and Massachusetts north of the land running west from the monument between the east branch of the Penobscot River and Sebec Stream, either by the thousand feet or by tracks. Terms, one-third cash at time of sale, the remainder by government notes payable at six and twelve months with interest.”
There was another similar ad in this same paper: “Settlers’ lots for sale. On township 1 and 2, Old Indian Purchase, lots of 100 acres each on the Penobscot River or on the Bennock Road, now owned by Thorndike and Thatcher. Their nearness to Bangor, the value of the timber on them, the good soil for grass and grain, and the facilities to market make these lots especially attractive. ”
Especially interesting to me is that reference to the Bennock Road. That was a road running west from the Penobscot River through the tract that had been granted in 1815 by the Massachusetts Legislature to the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, the school that later became Colby College.
Another old paper that recently came to my attention was the issue of the Portland Argus for March 14, 1825. One curious item does not concern Maine at all, but rather far away England and the greatest writer in all English literature, William Shakespeare. The item said: “An old manuscript has been found in the Bodlem Library which states that on April 12, 1605, a meeting of Surrey magistrates considered the application of Mr. William Shakespeare for renewal of a license to operate the Globe Theatre on Bank Side. The manuscript says, “Sir Thomas Holmes felt reluctant to grant the renewal because Mr. Shakespeare had written and presented at the Globe a play called Henry VIII.” In that play Mr. Shakespeare had represented our late revered sovereign as trying to get a divorce from Queen Catherine by corrupt and unjust artifices. He had also represented the Prime Minister as levying cruel and abusive taxes in His Majesty’s name. These were circumstances tending to levy our revered sovereign’s memory into contempt, and are very painful to his daughter, our present beloved sovereign Elizabeth. At the magistrates’ meeting Mr. Shakespeare admitted writing and presenting the play, but contended that his deliverance of Henry VIII was accurate and attested by every account of that monarch’s life. Mr. Shakespeare’s partners, Mr. Hennings and Lord Arundel vowed they would guard against any such repetition in the future. Finally the chairman informed Mr. Shakespeare that his license would be renewed for one year, but cautioned him against portraying on the stage this character of kings, ministers, and courtiers who had not been dead at least 100 years.”
The paper announced the new cabinet of President John Quincy Adams. Secretary of State would be Henry Clay of Kentucky, of Treasury Richard Rush of Pennsylvania, of War James Barbour of Virginia. The Argus observed: “We cannot forbear to express our disapproval of Maine voters who supported Mr. Crawford in preference to Mr. Adams. Mr. Crawford is a murderer, a duelist, a base intriguer, a paragon of immorality and wickedness.”
Again we note that life in the vicinity of Portland in 1825 is revealed by some of the Argus ads.
“Wanted to charter: a good, strong, substantial schooner of 80 to 90 tons. ”
“Atwood and Cran have just received 12 hogsheads of leaf tobacco and 100 kegs of snuff.”
“Alpheus Shaw has for sale potash kettles of superior quality.”
“Smitt and Axnard will pay highest prices for good quality flax seed.”
“W. Noble , blacksmith, has made and will sell scale beams, balances and steelyards and ratchets for cleaning flax and hemp.”
Year: 1973