Not long ago George Humphry, Secretary of the Treasury in President Eisenhower’s cabinet,said something worth our serious attentfon~We have gotten so into the habit of looking to Uncle Sam to cure, by legislation or by handouts, a II of our economi c I lis, that It is good for us to ponder Secretary Humphry’s words:<\/p>\n
“The success or fal I ure of our economy depends ch i ef Iy upon our people themselves — upon businessmen, laborers, farmers — everybody in America. The on Iy th i ng that government can do is to provi de a fert i Ie fie I d to work In; but the thing that makes America go is the individual effort of 160 million people, all trying to do a little more for each generat”lon. The cumulative effect of all that work, by all those people, is the thing that has made America what I tis today. II<\/p>\n
When the early New England academies were founded, it was customary for the legislature to endow them with grants of land. Because many Massachusetts academies were established before 1820, when Maine became a separate state, and because most of the avai lable Massachusetts land, during the spread of theacademy system, was sit”uated in the District of Maine, a lot of academies In what is st! II Massachusetts owned considerable land in Maine.The theory of t”he grants was that the academy trustees could se II the land to settlers and turn the proceeds into invested endowment. When Maine became a separate state, all of the grants, both private and institutional, formerly granted by the Massachusetts legislature were confirmed by the terms of separation. So it happened for a long time after 1820 schools far away around Boston and even out in the Connecticut va Ileyand in the Berksh I res owned land in Mal ne.<\/p>\n
The earliest such grant was of 23,000 acres in Stetson to Leicester Academy in 1793, and late in the same year a simi lar grant in Exeter to Marblehead Academy. It is interesting to note, however, that In the same year of 1793 two academi es act ua I I Y situated in Ma i ne rece i ved grants. Ha I lowe II Academy got 23,000 acres In Harmony and Washington Academy the same acreage in Cutler. In light of the interest which a prominent Watervi lIe citizen, Harvey Eaton, always showed in Somerset Academy at Athens, it interests us to learn that the earl iest grant of land In that region was to another Maine school, Berwick Academy, which got 23,000 acres in Athens In 1794.<\/p>\n
other Massach usetts schoo Is wh i ch had grants in Ma i ne were W I II i ams Co II ege with I and i n Ga r I and and Li tt leton, Ph i ” ips Andove r with ha I f the tcwn of Greenwood, Dummer Academy with half of Woodstock, Groton Academy with 11,000 acres in Linneus, Framingham Academy with the same in Hodgdon, Deerfield Academy with a grant at Westfield, Day’s Academy in Wrentham land on the east side of Moosehead Lake, and Sandwich Academy the southern half of Township No.2 in Range 1 in Somerset County north of Bingham’s Kennebec Purchase.<\/p>\n
Besides Hallowell, Washington and Berwick Academies, other Maine schools to profit by land grants before 1820 were the academies at Fryeburg, Portland, Bridgewater, Hampden, Newcastle, Blue Hi II, Gorham, Bath, Limerick, Belfast, Hebron, Monson, Monmouth, Canaan and Bridgton. Some of these received grants near their sites, but others were far removed. Portland Academy, for instance, got land in Bridgewater. far up in Aroostook. Blue Hi II’s grant was in Wash-I ngton County beyond Mach i as. Heb ron Academy’s I and was in Mons}on; Be I fas t Academy’s in Ludlow; Monmouth got 10,000 acres in Ripley and nine sma I I islandS in the Androscoggin River.<\/p>\n
The Massachusetts legislature was generous with Bowdoin College. Within two years of granting the charter, the legislature granted to Bowdoin In 1796 92,000 acres in Sebec, Foxcroft, Gui I ford and Abbott, and later in the same year added 20,000 acres in Dixmont. 23,000 acres in Etna were added in 1006. The Massachusetts grant to Colby was made in 1815 , two years after the charter and three years before Jeremi ah Chap lin actua Ily opened the college for instruction. Under that grant the Maine literary and Theological InstItution (Colby’s original name) got 29,000 acres in Township 3, on the west side of the Penobscot River, part of Indian Island. I suppose the founding fathers of Colby thought that pretty small pickings corrpared with Bowdoin’s 135,000 acres.<\/p>\n
The oldest of what might be called the modern maps of Maine, and therefore not including the crude charts of Captain John Smith and other early explorers, nor The partial and very inaccurate maps before the Revolution, was a big wall map, 54 by 39 inches, made by Osgood Carleton of Boston in 1789. It shows Maine with only four counties: Cumberland, Lincoln, Hancock and Washington, and thus was made during the short time when al I of the state west of the Androscoggin was called Cumberland County, although York County had been named much earl ier.<\/p>\n
The indignation of York residents at having their county absorbed into Cumberland probably had a lot to do with the short life of the combined county. It was very soon split into two counties, York and Cumberland. To my surprise this map carries the name Portland, with Falmouth also marked nearby. I believe Portland was stili called Falmouth, at least in letters and diaries, after 1789, but probably not long after, because, in Longfellow’s early boyhood, in the second decade of the century, the name Portland was well estab lished. The map shows Hallowell and Vassalboro, but no Winslow, although Canaan is clearly marked. Between the junction of the Sebasticook and the Kennebec and the place marked Canaan is another marked Hancock. It seems to be about where Hi nck ley is now si tuated. Can any I I stener th row any I ight concern”:’I n9 a p I ace once ca lIed Hancock on the Kennebec?<\/p>\n
East of the Kennebec the only settlements named at all are Penobscot, Gouldsboro and Machias. The map maker took a lot more pains to indicate Islands, capes and bays. Beginning at the New Hampshi re line and going east we find the designations of Saco River, Cape Elizabeth, Pemaquld Point, Deer Isle, Burnt Island, Mount Desert Rock (this may be meant for either Matinicus or Monhegan — we cannot be sure which), Mount Desert itself, Grand Manan and Passamaquoddy Bay. was surpri sed to see good 01 d Sebago lake ca lied Botago Pond, and Moosehead Lake Is actually spelled t-busehead Lake. Is this a misspelling or was It the original name? I don’t think so, because on any good, map Maine’s biggest lake is shaped much like the head of a moose.<\/p>\n
Someone ought to make a thorough study of the French-Canadi an contribution to Maine. Soma work has been done in this field, but very little has been published. The best job in depicting the history and Influence of the FrenchCanadian community of Waterville, unfortunately, has never been put into printed form. Its author, however, has kindly let me read a typed copy. It is the work of Albert C. Fecteau, a Waterville native, who -is nCM teaching at the Coburn School. It was presented by Mr. Fecteau in partial fulfi Ilment of his degree of Masters of Arts in History at the Un i vers i ty of Mal ne in 1952. For his study Mr. Fecteau used every ava i I ab Ie source — books in Eng I i sh and in French, articles in magazines and newspapers, original documents (especial\/y letters) and personal interv;iews with individuals. Some of the unusual material uti I Ized by Mr. Fecteau includes the activity sheets of Cercle Dramatique, parish records of Saint Francis de Sales, personnel, records of the lockwood- Dutchess Company, correspondence between Bishop Bacon and Father Nycol in in 1859, an unpublished history of the Second Baptist Church, and the record book of la Bienfaisance st. Jean Baptiste d’ Amerique in the 1870’s.<\/p>\n
Unlike many other investigators, Mr. Fecteau is careful not to attribute the migrations from French Canada into Maine to any single source. He says:<\/p>\n
“The migration was induced by a variety of reasons: geographical proximity, colonial struggles and seasonal opportunities. Lumber camps and farms, canals and rai I roads, quarries and brickyards, river and lake steamers — all were clamoring for manpower in the growing republic to the south, and Quebec had\u00a0 more than an ample supply. There was no single cause of the movement. Motives varied according to circumstances and individuals. For some it was the desire for adventure. Others sought greater freedom, both rei igious and pol itical. The gener:al prevai ling causes, however, were the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, the search for a better standard of living, and the unfavorable political and social conditions in rural Quebec.”<\/p>\n
Mr. Fecteau shows that the fl rst permanent sett lement of French-speak Ing people in Maine came as a result of the expulsion of the Acadlans from Nova Scotia, a tragedy made famous by Longfellow’s “Evangeline”. Some of those displaced people settled in the St. John Valley, where their descendants still predomi nate. That was a I most exact Iy 200 years ago, in 1755. A Ithough Mal ne has rece i ved French-Canadi an immi grants from many parts of Quebec and New Brunswick, and significant numbers from the Gaspe and the islands off the mouth of the st. lawrence, by far the greater number of the French-Canadians in Maine have come here from lower Quebec, from the rural areas between the St. lawrence and the Un i ted States border. Mr. Fecteau ca I I s the road th rough Jackman into Canada the HKennebec Road!!. That is the road I once talked about on this program — the road bui It under the supervision of Uncle Jim Jackman. It was called the “Canada Road”, not only by Uncle Jim and the laborers bui Iding it, but in the official records of the Maine legislature. In Canada it was doubtless known as the ItKennebec Road”, because it led down to the Kennebec, but in the States it was just the opposite; it led up to Canada and was thus the “Canada Road”. Mr. Fecteau’s point is that the bui Iding of that road In 1832 faci I itated migration and caused increasing numbers of French people to seek better living conditions in Maine.<\/p>\n
As most of our ci tl zens of French descent proudly knON, the fl rst FrenchCanadian settler in Watervi lie was Jean-Baptlste Mathieu, who came down the old Indian trail to Shirley, Maine in 1820. After working in lumber camps in that region, he opened up a business of trucking foodstuffs to lumb.er camps and vi II ages, ma i nta i n i ng a route from Bangor to Jackman, by wh i ch he fo II owed the old stage I ine from Bangor to Skowhegan, then up the river to Solon and Bingham, then up the Canada route through The Forks to Jackman. During his first years in Maine, Jean Mathieu often visited Waterville, and In 1827 he decided to make his permanent home here. He bought a tiny frame house in Fairfield, moved it to what was knewn as The Plains on Water Street in Watervi lIe, where he renovated and en larged It. Though many ti mes renovated and greatly enlarged, this house sti” stands on the very spot where Jean Mathieu placed it 127 years ago, at 134 Water Street, and is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Davi s. Mr. Fecteau explains hON that section of Watervi lIe <\/em>developed not into a section of factory tenements, but into many privately owned homes, even though the owners were at first very poor. Much of this happy expansion of fam; Iyowned homes was the work of Frederi ck Pooler. who came to Watervi lie in 1848 and became an extensive real estate owner. His property, popularly known as “Pointe a Petit”, comprised a large part of the Plains. He proceeded to cut up his big estate into lots and sell them to his fellON Canadians on very favorab Ie terms. For $50 a purchaser got a good sized lot, usually covered with trees, out of which he bui It a house. From the memory of older inhabitants Mr. Fecteau learned hCkl <\/em>those houses were bui It. He says: “Four large, we I I set trees were chosen and marked as comer posts for the new structure. Those trees were left standing Just as they were, except for the loss of top and branches. The house was then bu I I t around those four pill ars, often with wooden pegs used i nstead of nails. The result was a very rough affair, as tools were scarce and out-dated, and bui Idlng material was scanty. Once bui It, with the assistance of the whole neighborhood, the house was white-washed, with color added to the whitewash for treating the Inside walls.”<\/p>\n From very humble beginnings these people from French Canada rose to places of prominence in the community. Their children and grandchildren haw gone to the schools and col leges along with those of English and other national stocks. Proud as they rightfully are of their Gallic heritage, they have gradually through the years come to be thought of and to think of themselves, not as Franco-Americans, but as Just Americans — as thoroughly and as loyally American as any whose ancestors came over in the Mayflcwer.<\/p>\n Year: 1954<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #220, broadcast on March 28, 1954<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[749,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}