\nOver the years of this program there has been occasional mention of the first attempted settlement in Maine, the Weymouth colony at the mouth of the Kennebec in 1607. It is time we told you more about that historic enterprise, and that we shall now do.<\/p>\n
What is known today about exploration that preceded that colony at the mouth of the Kennebec comes chiefly from a contemporary account by William Strachey of Plymouth, England, which he wrote in 1608, within a year of the colony’s founding. Discovered in the British Museum late in the 19th century, it was published in the Collections of the Maine Historical Society (Series 1, Vol. 3).<\/p>\n
Strachey says that Weymouth had made a voyage to the Maine coast in 1606, and had s.ailed up the Kennebec as far as Merrymeeting Bay. He reported, “The river trends westward into the main.” By “main” he meant the mainland. But the Kennebec does not trend westward as one goes up toward its source, but rather northeastward. Weymouth must have explored the Androscoggin, perhaps as far as Brunswick Falls, for that certainly was his westward river.<\/p>\n
Weymouth took the names of Kennebec geographic places from the Indians except for Merrymeeting Bay, which got an English name later because it was the meeting place of the Kennebec and the Androscoggin. Weymouth learned that from the bay to the ocean the river had a different name from the two that joined at the Bay. Those two, though spelled quite differently in Strachey’s account, were close enough to the modern spellings of Kennebec and Androscoggin to identify those rivers, but the name of the combined stream below the Bay was the Sagadahoc. Strachey wrote: “To take possession of this land and goodly river for His Majesty, Captain Weymouth went up the river in his barge, and where it began to narrow he set up a cross with the King’s inscription on it.”<\/p>\n
Today we do not know where Weymouth erected that cross. It could have been at Brunswick on the Androscoggin or with equal plausibility at Ticonic Falls, where now is the City of Waterville.<\/p>\n
Strachey had access to an account by Humphrey Gilbert, who accompanied Weymouth in 1606. It said: “Captain Gilbert, with 19 others, departed in his shallop from the ship, on September 23, 1606, to go up the Sagadahoc. They sailed for two days and on the evening of the second landed on the bank, where they found fertile land. The next morning they sailed even farther up the river and came to a flat, low island, where was a great cataract or fall of water, which runs on both sides of the island. On the island they found a great store of grapes, both red and white, good hops and berries. They hauled their boat by a strong rope through the rapids and went another league before camping for the night. At the camp site they observed several savages across the river, who spoke to them in broken English. Then the savages departed.”<\/p>\n
While we can by no means be certain of the identity of the places mentioned in that passage, it seems likely that the island was Swan Island near the present town of Richmond, because it is by far the largest island between Merrymeeting Bay and Ticonic Falls. Whether Gilbert- got above the present site of Augusta, however, we cannot claim with any certainty, but the reference to hauling the boat through the rapids could easily apply to the rips at Vassalboro, and the island may have been one of the smaller ones above, not below Augusta.<\/p>\n
The account taken from Gilbert’s narrative has some further interesting items. On Sept. 26, at the above mentioned campsite, they were approached by a canoe, in which was a chief and four other Indians. The chief said he was Lord of the River Sagadahoc and that his name was Sabbatis. Capt. Gilbert presented him with some trifling gifts. The chief put one of Gilbert’s men in his canoe with Indians to assure the chief’s safety in Gilbert’s boat. Thus, with a white man in the Indian canoe and a red man in the English boat, both had hostages.<\/p>\n
The canoe made better progress up the river than did the shallop, which was slowed by shallow water. The shallop finally landed, and its crew went on foot to find the Indians. After a tedious march they came upon the Indian camp, to find there not the mere crew of the canoe with their white hostage, but at least fifty able Indians, very strong and tall, all of them in war paint and armed with bows and arrows. However, after the chief who came with Gilbert had talked with them, they became friendly. The English showed them beads, knives and copper implements, of which they seemed very fond.<\/p>\n
On the land, Gilbert found an abundance of spruce trees large enough for ship’s masts, as well as many other trees of oak and walnut. In the river was an abundance of fish. Near the banks were quantities of grapes, and by the river-side were shells of pearl. At this place, Gilbert erected a cross, then returned down the river.<\/p>\n
By Sept. 29, he was back at the wooden fort he had built at the mouth of the Kennebec.<\/p>\n
Where was the Indian village where Gilbert found 50 armed warriors? If it was above Swan Island, as indicated, it may have been near Augusta or at the well known Indian campsite at Ticonic Falls in Waterville. It is doubtful that Gilbert ever got up as far as Old Point, which in the 17th century was the largest Indian village above Swan Island at Richmond.<\/p>\n
This program has long ago discussed Maine’s part in the use of surplus money distributed by the Federal Government in 1837. Recently, I had a chance to examine some of the acts of the Maine Legislature dealing with that windfall.<\/p>\n
Today, when there is such an enormous national debt, it is hard to imagine the condition of the federal treasury 138 years ago, when the government had such a large surplus that they decided to distribute part of it to the states in proportion to each state’s population.<\/p>\n
It was left to each state to decide what it would do with its share of the money. As early as January 7, 1837, when the Maine Legislature had been in session only a few days, it voted to elect a committee, composed of one man from each county, to see what means should be taken for disposition of the surplus revenue soon to be received. That was done two weeks before the Legislature took any action of acceptance, for it was not until January 20 that they voted to accept the portion of the public money apportioned to the State of Maine.<\/p>\n
Many proposals for the use of the money were presented to the solons at Augusta. On January 25, Samuel Wright and 108 other persons petitioned that the money be used to construct a railroad from the N. H. line continued through Maine. The petition was referred to a committee, where it died. On the last day of January, Rep. Jones of Ellsworth presented a bill that
\nmet with more approval. He proposed that the money be apportioned to all towns in the state in proportion to population.<\/p>\n
On February 9, the State Treasurer reported to the Legislature that he had received the first of three promised installments of the federal surplus, and that this first payment amounted to $318,612. On February 16 the Senate concurred with the House in favor of the Jones bill.<\/p>\n
Some of the towns proposed to loan their share of the money and use the interest for public purposes. To make that legal, the Legislature voted that the towns were authorized to loan the money on ample and safe security, and apply the interest to support of the common schools.<\/p>\n
In 1837, checks and drafts on banks were very rare. Most business transactions were conducted by using specie, that is coined metal. Paper money was distrusted and often went at substantial discount. On March 17, the Legislature ordered the State Treasurer to inform them of the expense of obtaining the necessary specie, in order to carry out the approved distribution to the towns.<\/p>\n
The money had come to the Treasurer in the form of a draft on the Federal Treasury, and it had been deposited in several Maine banks. The Treasurer told the Legislature that he had arranged with those banks to accept the State’s draft for specie, which the banks agreed to have ready on demand. So far as the records reveal, no money was sent from Augusta to any Maine town. The town treasurers had to go to Augusta and personally get the gold and silver coins that made the town’s share. Preserved in the State Archives are many
\nsuch receipts.<\/p>\n
Those were the days when it was common practice to carry large quantities of coins by stage or buggy, or even on horseback in saddle bags. There was little fear of robbery, because it was at least a quarter of a century before the train robbers of the West made transportation of money hazardous.<\/p>\n
When the Centennial History of Waterville was published in 1902, William Mathews, the town’s most noted author wrote for that history a chapter entitled “Recollections of Waterville in the Olden Time.” It covered the years from 1825 to 1850. Mathews had graduated from Colby in 1835 and not until 15 years later did he leave his native town for a career in Boston and other cities.<\/p>\n
A part of Mathews’ story deals with the transportation of money, this time of bank notes, not coins. Mathews wrote: “In January, 1837, when I was a student at Harvard Law School, it took me six days of the Christmas vacation to go back in the mail stage from Waterville to Boston. We encountered such a furious snow storm that we had to stop for two days at a small country inn, packed to overflow with travellers of all ages and callings. As I had, in a capacious outside pocket of my overcoat, a package five or six inches thick, certain bank bills amounting to $4,000 entrusted to me by the Ticonic Bank of Waterville, to be delivered to the Suffolk bank in Boston the situation was very unpleasant. Fortunately, I found a Waterville College student whom I knew among the inn’s guests, and he was my bedfellow. After those two days’ delay, we pushed on, sometimes riding in the pung, sometimes wading along behind it, to Brunswick. The next morning we rode on the crust of the deep snow that covered all fences to Portland. There I got the mail stage for Boston, and after 17 more hours arrived at the Eastern Stage Tavern in that city. I was very much relieved to turn in the money promptly at the Suffolk Bank.”<\/p>\n
And with that salute to the transfer of money long ago, we must say goodbye until next week.<\/p>\n
Year: 1975<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1059, Broadcast on October 5, 1975<\/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":[42942,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9571"}],"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=9571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}