Radio Script #1036

Little Talks on Common Things
January 26, 1975

It is generally known by anyone who has delved, even in a cursory way, into Kennebec history, that the wealthy promoter, land owner and manufacturer, Sylvester Gardiner, left the bulk of his large estate to his grandson, Robert Hallowell, whose mother was Gardiner’s daughter. It has often been alleged that this was done by the old doctor because he became estranged from his own children, and thus skipped a generation in disposing of most of his vast Maine lands.

That is not quite correct. It is true that Gardiner did become severely disappointed by his oldest son John, although there was some reconciliation before the old pioneer died. However, there was no such alienation from another son, William, who, had he lived, would have had a huge inheritance.

Sylvester Gardiner’s will, dated April 25, 1786, made the following bequest: “To my two sons-in-law, Robert Hallowell and Oliver Whipple, all my Cobbosseecontee tract of land at Gardinerston, upon special trust, for the purpose of the sole use and benefit of my son William Gardiner during his life, and afterward to his heirs. In default of such issue I give and devise all the aforementioned premises to my grandson Robert Hallowell and his heirs.”

It turned out that William Gardiner never married and died without issue.

So the grandson inherited that huge tract of land. What did Sylvester Gardiner have against his son John? The doctor, who
made a fortune in Boston investments before he formed the company known as Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase in 1749, was a staunch supporter of the Church of England, and in politics was so firm a Tory and supporter of the King that, during the American Revolution he fled to England. John Gardiner left the Church of England and became an early Boston Unitarian. The old doctor was infuriated, and set up a trust of his major land holdings for another son William at the same time having in mind as alternate inheritor, the five-year old grandson of whom he had become extremely fond. Although there was no such provision in his will, Dr. Gardiner had a firm understanding with the child’s mother that, in case William should have no heirs and Robert Hallowell be the eventual inheritor, that the boy’s name would be legally changed from Robert Hallowell to Robert Hallowell Gardiner.

Therefore, on March 11, 1802, the Massachusetts Legislature passed the following private act: “Robert Hallowell the Younger of Boston, gentlemen, shall be allowed to take the name of Robert Hallowell Gardiner.” The young man became 21 years of age in 1803.

The Gardiner will was dated, as I have said, on April 25, 1786. Less than a month later, on May 12, a codicil showed some relenting of the old doctor in respect to his oldest son John. The codicil said: “My house and lot in Boston, which belonged to my late father-in-law, John Gibson, also one-half of my Pownalborough farm, to my son William Gardiner, and the remaining half of the Pownalboro farm to be divided equally between my grandson William Gardiner and my granddaughter Ann, both of whom are children of my son, John Gardiner, said farm being on the Eastern River.”

What do we know about the Maine pioneer Sylvester Gardiner himself? Contrary to what many persons have supposed because of his connection with England and his flight there during the Revolution, he was a native of this country, born in Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1707. By his brother-in-law., Dr. McSparran, Sylvester was educated for the profession of medicine. He was sent to Europe, where he studied medicine for eight years in England and France. Returning to America, he settled in Boston and became a prominent physician.

He established a firm for the importation of medicinal drugs and soon made a large amount of money, which he invested in increasing acres of real estate in various parts of the then huge province of Massachusetts. Before the Revolution, his Maine lands alone exceeded 100,000 acres. He became the largest investor in the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase, the company he organized in 1749, to purchase from the heirs of the four men, who had bought it from the Plymouth Colony in 1661, the huge tract of land 15 miles on each side of the Kennebec from the north line of Woolwich on Merrymeeting Bay to the falls at Madison.

Dr. Gardiner developed farms and established settlers, at first in old Pownalborough, now the towns of Pittston, Dresden, and Richmond. But it was the Cobbosseecontee that attracted him for manufacturing, because of its steep power sites. There he erected large mills and brought so many settlers for both manufacturing and agriculture that there developed an
enterprising village that eventually became the City of Gardiner.

Dr. Gardiner’s adherence to the cause of the King, when the American Revolution broke out, made him decide to leave Boston when the British garrison evacuated in the spring of 1776. He at first went to Halifax with the British Army, but soon sailed on to England. His American property was confiscated, including his Kennebec lands, but the Attorney General of Massachusetts found the case had been presented illegally, and instituted new proceedings against Dr. Gardiner. Before those long drawn-out legal proceedings could be concluded, the war was over and the Treaty of Paris had been signed. Gardiner heirs were thus able to reclaim the property.

If the initial suit had not contained legal flaws, the property would have gone out of the family, and Maine’s great land-owner of the early 19th century, the grandson Robert Hallowell Gardiner, might never have been heard of in Maine history.

The old doctor did himself return to New England, but not in Maine. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1786.

What about the Gardiner lands? In 1754, five years after he had organized the company to purchase that huge tract 30 miles wide from Merrymeeting Bay to Madison, Dr. Gardiner himself secured title to the power rights at the falls and most of the land that now constitutes the City of Gardiner. The place was at once called Gardinerston. There the doctor erected a gristmill, two sawmills, a fulling mill, a potash kiln, wharves, warehouses, stores, and many dwellings, and nearby he cleared an extensive farm.

In what is now the town of Dresden, Dr. Gardiner received another grant of 400 acres. In 1759 he got another large tract on the Sheepscot River. The historian Hanson wrote: “By 1770 Dr. Gardiner owned most of Gardinerston and Pittston, as well as thousands of acres in other parts of old Kennebec.”

William Gardiner, for whom the Kennebec lands were held in trust after the doctor died, passed away himself in 1802. That was when Robert Hallowell inherited the property, and explains why it was the date of his changing his name to Robert Hallowell Gardiner.

Dr. Gardiner’s son William had come to the Kennebec soon after the Dr. began to develop Gardinerston, and there William lived for the rest of his life. He never married, though he lived in what was called the Gardiner Great House and employed a housekeeper.

When Robert Hallowell Gardiner became 21 years old in 1803, he was already the largest tax payer in Gardinerston. In this year the place, separated from the parent town of Pittston and became Gardiner. Robert’s tax headed the list at $175.

Twenty years later, two years after Maine became a separate state, Robert established the Gardiner Lyceum, intending to make it a college. That proved to be too grand a scheme, for Maine’s two existing colleges, Bowdoin and Waterville, (now Colby) seemed sufficient to meet the need.

When Gardiner became a city in 1850, Robert Hallowell Gardiner was the first mayor. How his property had increased in value during the preceding half-century is shown by the fact that Robert’s personal tax had risen to $1,157, and in addition his Gardiner Steam Mill paid a tax of $120.

Neighbors of the Gardiners were the Colburns, a family made famous by its participation in Arnold’s expedition to Quebec in 1775. In 1761, four brothers named Colburn came to the Kennebec from Barnstable, Mass., and settled on the east side of the river above Pownalboro Court House in what became Pittston. Of these brothers the most prosperous was Reuben Colburn. In 1763 he bought from the Purchase Proprietor, James Bowdoin, a large tract, 1-1/2 miles along the river, and five miles wide. Much remodeled and renovated, the mansion house that he built on the height above the river still stands about half way between Randolph and Dresden Mills. On the shore below the house he set up a shipyard, where he constructed some dozen coast-wise sailing craft. It was his reputation as a shipbuilder that caused George Washington to turn to Colburn and have him build 200 bateaux to outfit the Arnold expedition. The old Colburn Mansion is now the headquarters and museum of the Arnold Expedition Historical Society.

Now as we close, lets look at prices charged by a dealer in early factory-made shoes here in Waterville in 1860. Of course local shoemakers were still making footwear at that time, but factory shoes had begun to be common. This dealer offered women’s oxfords for $1.50 a pair, ladies’ high laced boots for $1.60, men’s work shoes for $1.20 and men’s dress shoes for $2.50. Four-buckle overshoes cost $2, and a pair of rubbers 50 cents. Ordinary rubber boots could be had for $1.50, and long hip boots for $3. The same merchant offered ladies’ seamless, black stockings, three pairs for 29 cents, and stockings of the finest cotton, 3 pairs for 71 cents. Men’s fleeced lined undershirts were 40¢, and drawers were the same price. A woman’s woolen union suit cost 75 cents. Shoe laces were 25 cents for a dozen pairs.

Another Waterville merchant, in that same year 1860, had darning needles for 5¢, a work basket with assortment of needles, pins, thread, and other accessories for 55¢. Ribbon could be had for one cent a yard, but the best and widest cost 25¢. If a girl wanted to be really dolled out, she could get an ostrich feather for $1.20, a hat for $1.50, and a parasol for 90¢. If a man wished to put on airs, he could get a big curved briar pipe for $2. If one were interested in the occult, a ouiji board cost 75¢; for another kind of interest there were five dice and a cup for a quarter, and a box of 100 poker chips for 75¢.

And with that bow to the price of poker and raffling equipment just before the Civil War, we must say goodbye until next week.

Year: 1975