During the past summer it was my privi lege to talk with Brother Eloi Gerard,\u00a0a French Canadian priest who has done a life-time of work on the genealogies\u00a0<\/em>of fami lies in the several parishes near Ste. Marie de ESauce,. on the highway\u00a0from Jackman to Quebec. That is the part of Canada from wh i ch came many of\u00a0Watervi lie’s French Canadian fami lies, who wi II be interested in one or anoTher\u00a0of the eleven big volumes into which Brother Eloi has patiently collected The\u00a0numerous fami I y lines.<\/p>\n In ttKennebec YesterdaysTr I have told the story of Jim Jackman’s building of\u00a0the Canada road in 1828. That was what Mai ne peop Ie ca lied the road from The\u00a0Forks to The Canadian line. Brother Eloi has given me information about the\u00a0bui Iding of the Canadian section of that road which connected Boston and Port-\u00a0I and with The Ci ty of Quebec.<\/p>\n He says the first road planned from Levis on the south side of the St.\u00a0Lawrence opposite the City of Quebec, to the vii lages down toward the American\u00a0line, was called in the plans the Justinian Road, named\/for Father Justine; a\u00a0Recollet priest ministering to the first parishes of Ste. !v1arie and St. Joseph\u00a0in Baauce County_ The plan was made by that priest himself as early as 1758. It\u00a0was laid out and bui It by the people along the route by their own labor wiThout\u00a0governmenT support unti I 1813. By small aid from the government during the next\u00a0seven years, the road was comp I eted to St. Georges. In 1829 the Quebec gove rnment\u00a0voted for the construction of what they cal led the Kennebec Road. From\u00a0the earliest times the Abnakis had told the French settlers that this was The\u00a0shortest route from the Kennebec River to Quebec. The road was bui It and opened\u00a0in 1830 through to the Maine border, where it met the Canadian Road bui It\u00a0by James Jackman two years earl ier.<\/p>\n Brother Eloi ~el Is me that in 1833 the road was made an official post road\u00a0for ma i I between Ebston and Quebec. In 1835 Samue I tbugh, who he I d the franchise \u00a0for transpor~ation of the mail by stage over the road, formed a partnership\u00a0with Jonathan Spaulding of Skowhegan, and the Hough-Spaulding stage carried\u00a0the mail for many years. The trip took originally 4t days, but by steady improvements\u00a0in the road itself, in the construction of vehicles, and in the use\u00a0of faster horses, it was eventua I I Y reduced to 2t days.<\/p>\n The Roman Catholic listeners to this program wi II be especially interested\u00a0in what Brother E 10 i te II s me about an ear Iy priest who vi sited the Watervi lie\u00a0French in 1841. Brother Eloi unfortunately has not given me the priest’s name,\u00a0but he was the first parish priest of St. Georges in Eaauce County, Quebec. I-e\u00a0extended his minis~ry down the Canada Road into the Maine communities where\u00a0French people from Quebec had settled — Jackman, Skowhegan, Watervi I Ie and Augusta.<\/p>\n On August 1, 1841 th~t priest wrote a letter to his bishop, the text of\u00a0which Brother Eloi has kindly sent me in translation. The priest wrote:<\/p>\n Ifl\u00a0have visited Kennebec, Skowhegan, Watervi I Ie and Augusta. I have spent 63\u00a0louis from the funds of the Propagation of the Faith, and 3 louis 15 chelins of\u00a0my own money. I left st. Georges on July 12 with a young man and arrived 10\u00a0_~_Ieagues from St. Georges on the Kennebec Road the fi rst day. I slept at the\u00a0hotel of Joseph Nadeau in a village where there are nine families. The next\u00a0day we travelled 25 leagues without seeing anybody. The next day, after a long\u00a0journey of 40 leagues, reached Skowhegan. At the home of a Canadian I said\u00a0Mass, found 12 fami lies, confessed 24 adults and 12 chi Idren, and made 11 bapti\u00a0sms. On J u I y 16 I rece i ved a great recepti on at Wate rvi I Ie 0 boarded at\u00a0J. B. Mathieu’s and preached a mission for four days. I taught catechism to\u00a0847 chi Idren, said Mass at 8 o’clock, the sermon and confession ti II midnight. \u00a0I confessed 100 adults, made 36 baptisms, 7 solemnal communions. On the way to\u00a0Augusta, about six leagues from Watervi I Ie, I said Mass in a chapel which had\u00a0belonged to the Protestants and had been purchased by the Catholics four years\u00a0ago. I confessed 16 persons, i ncl udi ng two fami I ies from Quebec. Everywhere\u00a0warned our peop Ie to avoi d mere ci vi I marri age: before the squi res. IT<\/p>\n That di I igent priest was surely a worthy follower of the renowned Father\u00a0Dui Ilettes,and that even more famous Father Ras Ie, who had mi ni stered to the\u00a0Abnaki, i nd i ans more than a century ear Ii er.<\/p>\n We do not have to go back into the 18th century to find instances of Maine\u00a0peop Ie I i vi ng under primiti ve condi ti ons. I n ~?Kennebec YesterdaysH I have related\u00a0the privations suffered by the fami Iy of Elihu Bowerman when they settled\u00a0in their crude cabin in North Fairfield. Recently I saw a letter written in\u00a01825 from another part of Maine, and I want to share the contents with you\u00a0toni ght.<\/p>\n Over in the northern part of Oxford County .. near the New Hampsh ire line, is\u00a0the little town of Stoneham. Incorporated in 1834, it had in 1850 nearly 500\u00a0inhabitants. Today its population has shrunk to less than 300. Before the town\u00a0was incorporated, the region was known as the Batchelder Grant. To that sparsely\u00a0settled region, where there were only half a dozen fami I ies, a young woman\u00a0named Sarah Cooley AI len went with her husband to found a wi Iderness home in\u00a01825.<\/p>\n On May 15 she wrote to her mother, back in Portland, about her experience\u00a0in early Apri I when, returning home, she had to break a mi Ie of road through\u00a0knee-deep snow. She wrote: HThere was such a hard crust it would almost bear:\u00a0but not quite. I got a shocking cold. I got al I my crockery home safe, but a\u00a0week ago the cat broke the Ii tt Ie butter p I ate. I was p rope r sorry.”<\/p>\n Mrs. A lien wanted her mother to be sure to contact Mrs. Euni ce Fox. because\u00a0the latter had promised to have a bundle of something to give Mrs. AI len\u00a0when Mr. Allen came to Portland for his molasses. Mrs. Allen added: TTl wish\u00a0you would ask her to send me a little rice to make some porridge. have nothing\u00a0but some Indian meal that is good enough, but I would rather have a little\u00a0rice if I can get some. One day we were out of meal and there was not a fami Iy\u00a0on the Grant that had any. Yesterday I used the last of my sugar. never sit\u00a0down to our s imp Ie mea I s but I th ink of the good th j ngs we had to eat in Portland.”<\/p>\n Mrs. A I len then turned to more cheerfu I top i cs. She assured her mot be r\u00a0that the sheep had nice fleeces and had produced four lively lambs. Her husband\u00a0had already sown five bushels of wheat and rye and had two more bushels to sow.<\/p>\n She said that, as soon as that job was done, husband Elisha would set out for\u00a0Portland for the cherished molasses and other provisions. Mrs. Allen didn’t relish\u00a0the idea of her husband’s absence, for she wrote: “I don’t know what’\u00a0would do if anything should happen whi Ie he is gone, but trust al I wi I I be\u00a0we I I \u2022 ” S he added, “Do you remembe r the logwood you gave me ‘as t wi nte r? I wish\u00a0you would put it in one of the bags and send it up to me. am going to send\u00a0you a few dried apples. We have three trees and hope for a good crop next fall.<\/p>\n Elisha has cleaned up all smooth around the house and has sown it all ,down to\u00a0grass. I hope soon we can cut hay enough to keep our stock without buying any.\u00a0I have pieced up another qui It and qu i I ted its i nce I came here. I pieced it\u00a0up out of everyth i ng that was ca I i co about the house. A week ago I went to\u00a0Wate rford and got some sp inn i ng. I have sp un 13 doub Ie ske ins, a II linen.<\/p>\n Twe I ve years later th is woman wrote another letter, th is ti me to her si ster\u00a0in Port I and. Duri ng those twe I ve years the Batche I de r Grant had become the town\u00a0of Stoneham, and Sa’rah now I ived near a I ittle vi I I age with store and grist\u00a0mi I I. She wrote that her husband had just gone to Waterford for a load of apples,\u00a0and that he was going to make barrel shook that winter in a shop at the\u00a0end of the house. She had some bad news. Mr. Sawyer’s catt Ie had broken into\u00a0their garden and had eaten the cabbages. What was worse, one of their best\u00a0sheep had been found in the woods with her throat cut. The thief had taken the\u00a0sheep out of the barn and had left the door open.<\/p>\n The leTter goes on to pay respects to certai n di sl iked members of the fami\u00a0I y~ “Emi I y wrote a letter to mother but never sa i d anyth i ng about me. She\u00a0said she had been in Portland a number of times but had not cal led to see you.\u00a0I am sorry TO think a relation I never saw but a few times should act so? but\u00a0can’t help it. I have heard that Uncle Nathan’s wife said the day after he\u00a0died,\u00a0it in\u00a0that at last she had her neck out from under the yoke and never would get\u00a0again. Albert is sti II courting Sally. All the fellers is courting because\u00a0the weather is ti me I y. n<\/p>\n Times were much better for Sarah than they had been in 1825, for she wrote:<\/p>\n nTh is part of the state is fu II of p rovi si ons wh i ch can be bought for a do I I ar\u00a0a bushe I. Fo I ks never ra i sed better crops for many years.”<\/p>\n We I I, That shows us what a difference a few years made in the pioneer settlements\u00a0of Maine.<\/p>\n Unti I I recent I y saw an 01 d noti ce for a carta in town meeti ng in the Kennebec\u00a0Valley, I did not know that at one time town meeting and state election\u00a0were sometimes held on the same day. That was before Maine became a separate\u00a0state. In March, 1807 the selectmen of Clinton ordered constables Nathan Brown\u00a0and Tri a I Ha II to summons those meeti ngs in the fo II owi <\/em>ng words:<\/p>\n “In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts you are hereby required\u00a0to notify and warn all the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of\u00a0C linton to assemb Ie at the Schoo I House near M-. Robert Phi Ibrook, in sai d\u00a0Clinton, on Monday the sixth day of Apri I next, at nine of the clock in the\u00a0forenoon, to give i n the i r vote s for gove rnor , lie utenant gove rnor, an done\u00a0senator. Also you are required to notify and warn the same freeholders and\u00a0inhabitants to assemble at the same place at one o’clock in the afternoon of\u00a0the same day for the purpose of the following bus iness: (1) To choose a moderator\u00a0to regu I ate and govern sa i d meeti ng. (2) To choose a cl erk and a I f other\u00a0officers necessary TO serve in said town the ensuing year. (3) To see what sum\u00a0of money the town wi I I ra i se for the preach i ng of the gospe I ~ fo r the support\u00a0of the schools, the support of the poor, and to repair the highways and bridges.\u00a0(4) To see if the Town will vote to raisera sum of money for repairing the\u00a0bridge across the Sebasticook near Clark and Heald, or act\u00b7otherwise thereon\u00a0as the town sha II agree. ( 5) To gi ve ; n votes for county taxes. (6) To see if\u00a0the town will vote TO let swine go at large the ensuing year.”<\/p>\n When we get to argui ng about whether we ought to have state and nati onal\u00a0elections on different days in Maine, let’s remember that there was a time when\u00a0the fruga I peop Ie of C f i nton cast the i r town votes and the i r sta’te votes on the\u00a0same day.<\/p>\n Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #349, Broadcast on October 6, 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\/7770"}],"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=7770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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