One of Maine’s celebrated fami lies is the Carver fami Iy of Searsport, which\u00a0has been connected with that town’s fine record in shiobui Iding almost since the\u00a0beginning of the community in 1770.<\/p>\n
At the height of its glory, Searsport boasted eight shipyards. It was said\u00a0to be at one time the home of one-tenth of al I the sea captains in the entire\u00a0American merchant marine, and Searsport people wi I I proudly tel I you that this\u00a0town produced more shipmasters than anv other town of its size in all the world.<\/p>\n
In Searsport were born several generations of the Carver fami Iy, al f either\u00a0men of the sea or bui Iders of ships. From 1800 to 1820 they bui It and sai led\u00a0the sloop and topsai I schooners which dominated the coastal trade from Eastport\u00a0to Cape HatTeras. During the next twenty years, unti I 1840~ their larger bri9s\u00a0and schooners carried Maine products to the Gulf ports and the West Indies. After\u00a01840 Searsport’s big square riggers began to go over distant seas, around\u00a0Cape Horn to our own west coast, and by al I known routes to India, China and\u00a0Japan. After the Ci vi I War there was a revi va I of Ameri can sh i pp i ng. ca II i n9\u00a0for wooden ships of large size, and the shal low beaches of Searsport could not\u00a0compete with the deeper launching sites at Bath and Rockport.<\/p>\n
John Carver, the most prominent of the fami Iy’s shipbui Iders, was born in\u00a0Searsport in 1799, the eighth generation of the Carver fami Iv in America. Inheriting\u00a0a shipbui Iding tradition, John and his six brothers al I became sea captains.<\/p>\n
The first vessel launched from Captain John’s Searsport yard was the\u00a0schooner Boston, which took the water for the first time in 1824. In succeeding\u00a0years John, his sons and his grandsons, bui It 55 vessels schooners~ brigs,\u00a0barks and ships. John Carver himself bui It 39 of those 55 vessels. The largest\u00a0vessel ever bui It in Searsport was the ful I-rigged ship Wi Iliam H. Connor, of\u00a01,500 tons, launched from the Carver yard in 1877. Whpt was considered the\u00a0fastest schooner in the coasta I packet trade was the r,,1exi can, bu i I t by Carver\u00a0in 1833. That ship was so fast and so well known that she was twice rebui It,\u00a0first at Belfast in 1848, and again at Winterport in 1872. She was sti I I in\u00a0service as late as 1895.<\/p>\n
Models of ships bui It by the Carvers, as wei I as ships from other Searsport\u00a0yards, may be seen at Penobscot Marine Museum, which stands right on Rbute\u00a01 in Searsport Vi I lage. There the lovers of the town’s glorious past have recreated\u00a0a picture of the old shipbui Iding days, when her shipyards teemed with\u00a0men and her harbor was fi I led with tal I-masted vessels bound for the seven seas.<\/p>\n
In the museum the visitor sees 270 photographs of Searsport sea captains, a\u00a0number no other Maine port, not even Bath, can exceed.<\/p>\n
From time to Time I have presented on this program letters or recollections\u00a0of Maine soldiers in the Civi I War, but I don’t think I have ever before talked\u00a0about a Civil War soldier who was responsible for government property. Such a\u00a0man was Captain George Hussey of Vassalboro, who was an officer in the Quartermaster\u00a0Corps.<\/p>\n
It was more Than 18 months after Lee’s surrender at Appomatox before Capt.\u00a0Hussey made his final settlement with the government. On November 8, 1866 the\u00a0Treasury DepartmenT wrote to Hussey: “Your return of c J oth i ng and equi page appertaining\u00a0to Company E, First ~4aine Cavalry! for the months of Apri I, May._ June\u00a0and J u I y, 1865, has been rece i ved, exami ned and found correct. If\u00a0But Hussey had gone to a lot of trouble and had consumed a lot of time before\u00a0he got that letter of final clearance. In October, 1865 the Ouartermaster\u00a0General’s Office notified Hussey that a number of disputed points in his records\u00a0sti I I needed to be cleaned up. Hussey was told that he must furnish further\u00a0evidence concerning his reported loss of four horses in Apri I and the loss\u00a0of one horse in July. Hussey admitted that he had received two horses from Lt.\u00a0J. H. Russell, Army Quartermaster, and two from C. Taylor, Captain of the First\u00a0Ma i ne Cava I ry.<\/p>\n
Eventually Hussey satisfied his superiors that the hOrses had actually been\u00a0lost, and through no fault of his own; and in August, 1866 the Quartermaster\u00a0General notified the Maine officer that his accounts had finally been approved\u00a0and had been sent to the Treasury Department for settlement.<\/p>\n
The Hussey papers are now the property of Fred Oliver of South China. Among\u00a0them is a summons to Hussey to sit as a member of a mi litary court martial. It\u00a0reads: “Petersbury, Va., June 4, 1865. Special Order No. 13. A general court\u00a0marti a lis hereby appoi nted to convene in the ci ty of Petersbury, Va. on ~~onday\u00a0June 5, 1865 at 10 0 ‘c lock A.M., or as soon thereafter as p racti ca I, for the\u00a0trial of such business as may properly come before it. Capt. L. E. Carter 7 10th\u00a0New York Arti Ilery, is appointed Judge Advocate. n The order then proceeds to\u00a0name the eight officers of the court, among whom was Captain Hussey. The final\u00a0words of the order sound very much like an apology for asking those eight officers\u00a0to serve. I t says: !TNo other of fi cers than those named can be assemb led\u00a0without manifest injury to the service. Court wi II sit without regard to hours.if\u00a0It would be interesting to know what military cases came before the court\u00a0martial on which George Hussey of Vassalboro sat at Petersbury, Va. 92 years ago,\u00a0but concerning that the Hussey papers are si lent.<\/p>\n
It was eighty years ago in June, 1877, when another Vassalboro man, A. C.\u00a0Eaton, sent a cargo to New York. What Maine shippers were up against in those\u00a0days is revealed in a letter Eaton received from the New York company to whom\u00a0the shipment was consigned. They wrote: ftyou wi II find herewith account of\u00a0sale of load delivered by boat WILLIAM ROBERTS. This load was sold originally\u00a0at 12i <\/em>cents, al I landed at one place. After two weeks were out, parties beaan\u00a0hauling and carting. The lumber was soaking wet, very heavy; and could not be\u00a0used unti I pi led and dried out. They stopped and sent for us. We made the best\u00a0settlement we coul d under the ci rcumstances, whi ch was better than to put the\u00a0I umber on the open market.”<\/p>\n Now let us see what Eaton got out of that deal, as revealed in the account\u00a0accompanying the firm’s letter. The load consisted chiefly of 12\u00b7foot joists,\u00a0more than 10,000 of them. The consignee had sold 2,700 for 12t cents each~\u00a0the price Hussey had expected for all. 6,700 went for 11t cents, the rest for\u00a08, 7t and 6 cents. The total sales amounted to $1,290. The firm claimed a\u00a0commission of 8%, interest charges of $33, and freight charges had amounted\u00a0to $355. That made t~tal deductions of $490; so that all Hussey got for those\u00a010,000 joists and same 1,200 wal I strips was $800, or an average of 8\u00a2 apiece\u00a0for 10,000 big joists.<\/p>\n Now back for a few mi nutes to Vassa I boro’ s Capta in George Hussey. I n ~~ay.\u00a01883 he rece i ved from a man in Carro I I, New Hamp sh i re a lette r wh i ch f hope you\u00a0find as interesting as I have found it. So, without further comment, let me\u00a0read you that letter, just as John Decker of Carroll wrote it to Capt. Hussey\u00a0of Vassalboro 74 years ago: “Dear Si r: I have applied for a pension. I suppose\u00a0you wi II remember that I was in your Company and that I was a pri soner on ee I Ie\u00a0I s land. I was taken prisoner on October 21, 1863 and was he Id unti I March 21,\u00a01864. need not tell you what I suffered there. It is a matter of history.<\/p>\n “Ever since then I have been troub led with rheumati sm and piles. A fte r fro\/\u00a0return to my regiment I was able to be on duty most of the time, but found it\u00a0very pai nful. I just state these facts to refresh your memory. When they ordered\u00a0me to get testimony of an officer, I did not know where to address you or any\u00a0other commissioned officer of the Company. So I wrote to a friend in Fort Fairfield,\u00a0who got for me an affadavit signed by Sgt. Gray of Company E and Sgt.\u00a0MacDougall of Company K, stating as above that I was sometimes put on light\u00a0duty or left” in camp on account of my disabi lity. But they were not satisfied\u00a0with that and said I must get a statement from a commissioned officer. Myattorney\u00a0sent me your address and also that of Captain Putnam and Lt. Tobie. But\u00a0Putnam had resigned before I was a prisoner and I never had much acquaintance\u00a0with Tobie, so I had to apply to you.<\/p>\n “Now if you wi II please fi II out the enclosed blank in accordance with the\u00a0above facts, as far as your rremory serves, you wi II do rre a great favor. I enclose\u00a0one do II ar to pay for tak i ng the affadavi t and trust to your good will\u00a0for the rest”.<\/p>\n Now what is important about that letter is that it is typical of thousands\u00a0of simi lar missives written by suffering and aggrieved veterans of the Civi I\u00a0War. Nearly twenty years after the war was over, here was a veteran in New\u00a0Hampshire, finally tracking down one of his company officers in Vassalboro~\u00a0Maine, trying to get that officer to do what? To endorse the veteran’s humble\u00a0application for a pension because of disabi lities incurred whi Ie he was undergoing\u00a0the horrors of the notorious Confederate prison camp on ~lle Island.<\/p>\n We are grateful that our government and our citizens learned something from\u00a0the experience of the Civi I War prisoners. The country did a little better by\u00a0its veterans of World War I, but it was left for World War I I to produce the\u00a0previ,ously unheard of G. I. Bill of Rights, with its educational benefits, its\u00a0loans; and other features. Qui te in contrast was the lot of the Ci vi I War veteran.<\/p>\n He even had to emp loy an attorney, or one of those fellows called a pension\u00a0agent”, to secure his rights to a disabi lity pension.<\/p>\n Not long ago I saw a copy of a very old newspaper, the Independent Chronicle,\u00a0published in Boston on January 1, 1784. In that paper my eye fell on an\u00a0advertisement which I think you wi II agree with me has historic significance.\u00a0!-ere is what that ad says:<\/p>\n “At my place of business, directly opposite the Liberty Pole, South End,\u00a0Boston, in addition to my former stock, I have imported in the Brig RosamonQ,\u00a0Captain Lowe, and in the Hope, Captain Pierson, a very elegant assortment of\u00a0plated ware, cons i st”i ng of teapots, pi ai n and chased, butter boats, gob lets ..\u00a0gi It inside, salts with glasses, gi It inside, beakers, soup ladles, sugar and\u00a0mi Ik basins, sugar baskets, dish cases with lamp, ink stands, tea caddy, and\u00a0candlesticks. All priced to attract the purchaser. Paul Revere.”<\/p>\n On this program I have previously talked about the Waldo Patent and the\u00a0settlement of Germans at Broad Bay. know many of you listeners must have\u00a0visited Montpelier, the faithful reproduction at Thomaston of the mansion bui It\u00a0by Genera I Henry Knox, the Revo I uti onary hero and our nati on’s fi rst Secretary\u00a0of \\Alar. Toni ght I want to te I I you how J-enry Knox came into possess i on of the\u00a0vast Waldo lands. It is a story of Yankee ingenuity and alertness.<\/p>\n Through a land grant previously made by the Counci I of Plymouth in England,\u00a0John Leverett, President of Harvard College, became in 1720 the sole proprietor\u00a0of what was ca lied t”he Muscongus Patent ,over 900 square mi les of I and between\u00a0the Muscongus and t”he Penobscot ri vers. Busy with co I lege affa irs, Leverett had\u00a0no time to attend t”o the development of his Maine lands; so he took nine partners\u00a0and formed the Ten Associates. But these men were busy merchants of Boston;\u00a0so to induce settlers they took in twenty others’, and the whole group became\u00a0known as the Thi rty Associ ates. Two of the I ast to joi n were Jonathan and\u00a0Cornelius Waldo of Boston.<\/p>\n A lot of trouble ensued about confl icting charters and undetermined rights.\u00a0So, in 1730, Samuel Waldo, 34 year old son of Jonathan, was sent to England on\u00a0behalf of the proprietors. He was able to secure royal confirmation of their\u00a0rights. In payment” for this valuable service,the Thirty Associates gave Samuel\u00a0Waldo outright one-half of the patent, 300,000 of the 600,000 acres. Later he\u00a0secured from the last twenty associates 100~OOO m~ acres, and finally he\u00a0bought out the original ten associates. By 1732 Samuel Waldo owned five-sixths\u00a0of the who Ie patent, or 500,000 acres;;<\/p>\n A daughter of Samuel Waldo married Thomas Flucker, and to him, after Samuel’s\u00a0death, Waldo’s eldest son sold two of the patent’s five shares. In Boston,\u00a0just before the Revolution, a struggling young bookseller was near bankruptcy\u00a0when he attracted the favorab Ie attenti on of Lucy, daughter of Th,omas F I ucke r.\u00a0That bookseller was Henry Knox. Within a year he had married Lucy Flucker, but\u00a0al I was not rosy. Like most of Boston’s prominent and wealthy citizens, the\u00a0Fluckers were Tories. Young Henry Knox decided to cast his lot with the revolutionists.<\/p>\n When Britain lost the war, Thomas Flucker suffered the same fate\u00a0as Sylvester Gardiner and many another man with Maine lands. He saw his property\u00a0confiscated and placed in the hands of the Judge of Probate of the Commonwealth\u00a0of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n Mrs. Knox owned one-fifth of the patent as inheritance from her mother. As\u00a0late as 1790 her father’s two-fifths were sti I I at the disposal of the Judge of\u00a0Probate. Henry Knox was then in Phi ladelphia, serving as Secretary of War, but\u00a0he intended soon to resign. News reached him that the agent of the Probate\u00a0Judge was getti ng through, and Knox saw at once ~ i f he cou I d get the appoi nt?’\u00a0ment, he might get contro I of the Wa I do lands. So off wen t Knox to Boston,\u00a0where he proceeded to cu Iti vate certa i n i nf I uenti a I members of the Great and\u00a0General Court, with the result that he was indeed appointed agent, with complete\u00a0authority to sell the confiscated Maine lands of his father-in-law, Thomas\u00a0F I ucker.<\/p>\n Knox at once put through a clever scheme. On July 2, 1791, as probate\u00a0agent, he sold to Oliver Smith of Boston Flucker’s two-fifths right in the Waldo\u00a0Patent for $5,000. In August Smith transferred title to Henry Jackson for\u00a0$5,100, and in September Jackson sol d it to renry Kn,ox hi mse I f for $5,200. Smith\u00a0and Jackson had each made $100 without any effort at al I, and Henry Knox now\u00a0control led three-fifths of the lands, the two-fifths he had just bought and the\u00a0one-fifth belonging to his wife. What did Knox get for his $5,2001 He got\u00a0200,000 acres, and that price of 2.6 cents an acre is mighty cheap by anybody’s\u00a0reckoning. Two years later Knox bought from various owners the remaining twofifths,\u00a0and when he bui It Montpelier in 1794, he was the sole proprietor of the\u00a0Waldo Patent’s half mi I Ii ion acres.<\/p>\n Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #348, Broadcast on September 29, 1957<\/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":[761,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766"}],"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=7766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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