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Notes on the History 
 of Waterford 
 
 Maine 
 
 Edited by 
 
 THOMAS HOVEY GAGE, Jr. 
 
 n 
 
 Worcester, Massachusetts 
 1913 
 

 Gu. 
 
 ««!l 14 fStl 
 
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 I have collected in these pages early descriptions of 
 Waterford, Maine, accounts of incidents in its 
 history and notices of a few of its inhabitants, 
 which have heretofore been inaccessible or unpub- 
 lished. A few explanatory notes have been added. 
 
 I have also compiled a partial bibliography of 
 ^'Artemus Ward," the first to be collected. 
 
 The four copies from the Massachusetts Archives 
 with those that appear in Warren^ s excellent 
 History of Waterford, complete the printing of all 
 important matter in the Archives. 
 
 T. H. G. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Waterford, 1803 . . 
 An Evening Walk, 1830 
 Waterford, 1850 . . 
 
 The Water Cure, 1847 
 Rev. Lincoln Ripley . 
 
 Rev. Lincoln Ripley 
 
 . Rev. Thomas T. Stone 
 
 Daniel Chaplin 
 
 . Elizabeth P. Peabody 
 . . Thomas H. Gage 
 
 William Warren Greene, M. D. . Thomas H. Gage 
 
 Mary Moody Emerson . . Elizabeth P. Peabody 
 
 Address at the one hundredth anniversary of 
 
 the incorporation of the Town . Thomas H. Gage 
 
 Copies of Papers in Massachusetts Archives 
 
 Partial bibliography, "Artemus Ward." 
 
A DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF 
 WATERFORD, IN THE COUNTY 
 OF YORK 
 
 By Rev. Lincoln Ripley 
 
 August, 18031 
 
 SITUATION AND LIMITS. 
 
 Waterford is an inland town in the Countyjof 
 York, district of Maine. It lies between 44 degrees 
 and 44 degrees 8' north latitude, and between 70 
 degrees 35' and 70 degrees 45' west longitude from 
 London. It is distant seventy miles north from 
 York, twenty northeast from the Academy at 
 Fryeburg, forty-five northwest from Portland, and 
 fifty west from Bowdoin College in Brunswick. It 
 is bounded north by Oxford and Norway', east by 
 Norway and part of Otisfield, southeast by Otis- 
 field, south by Bridgeton, southwest by Lovell, 
 west by the same, and northwest by part of the 
 state lands. The town was originally seven miles 
 and a half long, and seven wide. It was laid out in 
 the year 1774 by Capt. Joseph Frye, of Fryeburg, 
 Mr. Jabez Brown, of Stow, and Mr. , of 
 
 Marlborough. When the town was incorporated, 
 March 2, 1797, three tiers of lots, each containing 
 one hundred and sixty acres, were annexed to other 
 
 1 Collections | of the | Massachusetts | Historical Society | 
 Vol. IX I Boston I . . . 1804. Page 137. 
 
8 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 tracts of land, which together compose the promis- 
 ing town of Norway, in the County of Cumberland. 
 Since this separation, Waterford is seven miles 
 long, extending from north to south, 25 degrees 
 east and six miles in width. 
 
 HISTORY OF FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 On the 10th of October, 1775, Mr. David 
 Mc. Quain, a young man from Boston, having by 
 his industry obtained about one hundred and fifty 
 dollars, boldy ventured into the wilderness and 
 took up his residence in the easterly part of Water- 
 ford with no companion but his dog. His first 
 purchase was one lot of land, for which he gave 
 forty dollars. On the approach of winter he 
 retreated to the milder regions whence he came. 
 In the spring, 1776, he revisited his lonely cottage. 
 Again he sought winter quarters in the circle of 
 his connexions; but in the spring of 1777, he left 
 all his former acquaintances, became a steady cul- 
 tivator of his own soil, and has never since revisited 
 the place of his nativity. As the wilderness around 
 him was a residence of moose, bears and deer, he 
 could generally obtain a supply of some kind of 
 venison. After raising domestick animals, having 
 no household furniture, except a pail, a dish, and 
 a spoon, nis method of scalding his pork was to 
 fill a trough with water, and then to put in heated 
 stones until the water would scald. 
 
 Mr. Mc. Quain continues in a state of celibacy, 
 without any female person in his house or any 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 9 
 
 housekeeper but himself. He now owns eight 
 hundred acres of land in one body, besides some 
 outlands. He improves one hundred and sixty 
 acres, and keeps forty head of cattle. His cows 
 would afford a profitable dairy, if he had a dairy 
 woman; but at present he finds it most advanta- 
 geous to give the milk to his hogs; and in the year 
 1802, he fattened no less than thirty-three hundred- 
 weight of good pork. He has a flourishing orchard 
 whose fruit yields plenty of cider for himself and 
 his labourers, besides many generous draughts for 
 those who visit him. Necessary attention to his 
 house and farm has confined him generally at 
 home, and prevented a disposition to seek society 
 abroad. Notwithstanding the peculiar disadvan- 
 tages of his solitary condition, he has acquired by 
 honest industry a handsome property, and pays 
 almost double the taxes of any of his townsmen. 
 
 Five or six years after Mr. Mc. Quain settled in 
 Waterford, three other men came hither with their 
 families; but unable to support their families com- 
 fortably in the wilderness, they found it expedient 
 to tread back their steps to an inhabited country. 
 One of the same families again made a fruitless 
 attempt to become naturalized to the place. In 
 May, 1783, Messrs. Daniel Barker, Jonathan 
 Robbins, Israel Hale, Asaph Brown, Europe 
 Hamlin, and America Hamlin, with a few others, 
 without any families, but with enterprising spirits, 
 came and boldy pitched their wooden tents among 
 the trees, and on their several lots began to expose 
 to full view of the sun the uncultivated soil. Most 
 of them in two or three years introduced their 
 
10 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 families to participate with them in their toils and 
 hopeful prospects. The greater part of them 
 retain their first inheritance, and some of them 
 liberally enjoy the well earned fruits of their early 
 labours. 
 
 On the 8th of September in the same year, Mr. 
 Phillip Hor, originally from Taunton, last from 
 Brookfield, came into town to seek a lot of land 
 which he had previously bought. The next June 
 two of his sons came with him to make preparation 
 for the removal of his family. On the approach of 
 winter he returned to Brookfield, leaving his sons 
 to brave the severities of a long winter in the wil- 
 derness, or to let themselves in some more inhabited 
 town to procure necessaries for the ensuing season. 
 In June, 1785, Mr. Hor, with more courage than 
 property, returned to Waterford with his wife, who 
 originated from Norton, and with the remainder of 
 his family. Urged by necessity, prompted by sense 
 of duty, and supported by the consolations of 
 religion, this pious couple with six children passed 
 through almost incredible scenes of suffering. The 
 principal part of their household effects was brought 
 several miles on the shoulders of those who con- 
 ducted them from Bridgeton to this place. Disap- 
 pointed of provision previously engaged, and of a 
 log-hut in which they were to have lived one season 
 on a plat of ground not their own, they were 
 obliged to shelter themselves in a cottage whose 
 floor and covering consisted of the bark of trees. 
 This was their only habitation during the space of 
 nearly two years. For a whole year they were 
 destitute of even a cow. Their nighest neighbour 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 11 
 
 in the summer season was three miles distant; and 
 six weeks of the following winter passed, in which 
 the family saw no human being beside themselves. 
 A dog was the only domestick animal they possessed, 
 and on his fidelity in some measure depended their 
 safety. At Bridgeton was the nearest corn mill. 
 To obta'n meal therefore, they had either to carry 
 grain on their backs twelve miles, or first travel 
 that distance to borrow an horse, carry their grain 
 the next day, return their horse. Having received 
 a religious education, it was a serious trial to them 
 to be deprived of the publick ministration of the 
 gospel. For some time Mrs. Hor was the only 
 inhabitant of Waterf ord who was in full communion 
 with any christian church. Her husband and two 
 sons, who first came to the town, have since glad- 
 dened her heart by becoming members of the same 
 body; and the joy she has expressed on beholding 
 the divine word and ordinances here statedly 
 administered, bore some resemblance to that of 
 good old Simeon when he embraced the infant 
 Saviour. 
 
 Three months after the arrival of this family, 
 Mr. Ohver Hapgood and wife emigrated hither from 
 Stow. Their eldest son and first child was the 
 first ever known by the present inhabitants to 
 have been born in Waterford. To this child was 
 given, as a birth privilege, a tract of land contain- 
 ing fifty acres, which now awaits his age of man- 
 hood, and which, lying near the centre of the town, 
 promises a pleasant and valuable settlement. In 
 March, 1786, Messrs. Nathaniel Chamberlain and 
 John Chamberlain came into town from Westford. 
 
12 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 FACE OF THE COUNTRY, SOIL, PRODUCE AND EXPORTS. 
 
 The land in Waterford, like that in the adjacent 
 towns, is uneven. It may properly be called a land 
 of hills and vallies. The hills, however, are not so 
 high as to be unfit for cultivation. Rising gradu- 
 ally, they afford pleasant prospects, and, with the 
 vallies, are calculated for good settlements. The 
 timber on what is usually termed hard-wood-land 
 principally consists of beech, birch, rock and white 
 maple, red oak and whitQ ash. On the low, or what 
 is commonly called black land, the timber is chiefly' 
 white and Norway pine, spruce and hemlock. 
 
 Having no thermometer except what nature has 
 furnished in the sensibility of the human frame, we 
 are unable to form an exact comparison between 
 the state of the cHmate here and that in the vicinity 
 of Boston. The probability is, that there are a few 
 days in the year, in which both heat and cold are 
 more intense in this place, than in either Boston or 
 Worcester. 
 
 Contrary to the opinion formerly entertained of 
 this part of the country, the soil is fertile; and by 
 judicious culture amply rewards the labours of the 
 husbandman. The land is good for all kinds of 
 grain raised in New England, though it is not so 
 friendly to the growth of wheat as the more level 
 land which lies in the neighborhood of large rivers. 
 The upland yields to the mower a desirable burden, 
 and to the cattle excellent grazing. Fruit trees of 
 different kinds are cultivated with success. Many 
 might begin to make cider, if the expense of mills 
 and the demand for apples to be otherwise used, did 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 13 
 
 not prevent them. But the ambition of the people, 
 and the numerous and flourishing young orchards 
 in town afford reason to hope that we shall soon 
 have a competency of both apples and cider. 
 
 Potatoes of various kinds and of a good quality 
 are here made profitable for man and beast. There 
 is scarcely a better soil in any part of New England 
 for the cultivation of esculent roots and herbs. 
 A taste for ordinary horticulture is not uncommon 
 among us; and though we live at a distance from 
 market, there are several persons who begin to make 
 their gardens profitable to their families and also 
 to raise a surplussage of vegetables for their less 
 favored neighbors. 
 
 In good seasons, some of the inhabitants make 
 their own sugar, molasses and vinegar of the juice 
 of the maple. As the land becomes more cultivated 
 they are more dependent on the W. I. islands. It 
 is an unfavorable circumstance, that the first 
 growth of maple, as also of other trees, does not 
 extend its roots into the earth sufficiently deep to 
 secure the trees when they become exposed to heavy 
 winds. To remedy this disadvantage in regard to 
 future generations, it becomes the present culti- 
 vators of the soil to set out young orchards of 
 maple trees in the most convenient places, having 
 care to preserve such a distance between the trees 
 as that the depth of the roots may ordinarily 
 ensure their safety. 
 
 Beside the timber, of which no small quantity is 
 annually rafted down the river, articles of exporta- 
 tion from which some profit is derived, and more 
 expected, are beef, pork, butter, cheese, rye, Indian- 
 
14 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 corn, hops, onions, sole-shoes, barrels and firkins. 
 To this list potash might have been lately added, 
 but the making of it is at present neglected. 
 
 RIVERS, STREAMS, PONDS AND CANAL. 
 
 The unevenness of our land occasions numerous 
 springs and brooks. Generally the town in this 
 respect is highly favored There are here also 
 thirteen ponds, which not onlyvariegate the scenery 
 of the place, but afford plenty of fish, of which the 
 most delicate kinds are the pike and salmon trout. 
 Through the north and east sides of the town runs 
 the Songo or Crooked River, on both whose sides 
 are valuable lots of timber. What renders this 
 river a peculiar privilege is, timber is drawn onto 
 it when frozen in the winter, and in the spring con- 
 ducted down the current into the great Sabago 
 pond, and thence to the Sacarappa mills, near 
 Portland. 
 
 The most important benefit, however, relative 
 to water carriage, is the opening of a canal from the 
 centre of this town to Portland, which the people 
 of Waterford contemplate as an event that will 
 probably take place not many years hence. The 
 situation of the ponds is highly favorable to such 
 an enterprise. As neither the exact distance of 
 the course which the canal must take, nor the 
 descent of the ground has been ascertained; and as 
 they who are best acquainted with these circum- 
 stances are wholly unacquainted with the history 
 of canals, no person has ventured to make an 
 estimate of the expense of the undertaking. It 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 15 
 
 has, however, been conjectured that fifty thousand 
 dollars would effect it. It is almost certain that 
 such a plan, whenever it shall be accomphshed, 
 will increase the number of saw-mills in Waterford, 
 and give the inhabitants opportunity of sawing 
 their own timber; will multiply the sources and 
 facilitate the operations of trade; enhance the 
 value of our lands; and greatly conduce the popu- 
 lation and prosperity of the town. 
 
 ARTS, ARTIFICERS AND CURIOSITIES. 
 
 There have been three brick-yards in the place; 
 but the clay of the oldest is now exhausted. There 
 is yet reason to expect a supply, and perhaps longer 
 experience in the art of brick-making will augment 
 the apparent value of our bricks. 
 
 Lime-kilns are not yet known among us. A 
 kind of stone has been noticed which bears some 
 resemblance to lime-stone; but none that is genuine 
 has been found. Neither are there here any coal- 
 beds, except such as are made by the process of 
 fire; and the furrows of the field and the labours of 
 honest commonwealthsmen are the richest mines 
 and minerals which are known in this vicinity. To 
 these sources of health and independence all classes 
 of people are cordially invited. 
 
 There is a general supply of mechanicks in town. 
 A saddler, hatter and clothier are exceptions. For 
 ingenious men who are wiUing to live by their pro- 
 fessions there is still encouragement in many of 
 the common arts. 
 
16 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 There is at present one tavern keeper only in 
 town.^ Other inhabitants occasionally entertain 
 travelers. 
 
 In one of the ponds there is found a white clay of 
 a yellowish cast, which, when burned, baked, or only 
 dried, makes good chalk.- Carpenters prefer it on 
 account of its softness to that which is imported. 
 Whether it may not be converted into whiting and 
 made an useful ingredient in paints; or whether 
 pipes or porcelain may not be made of it is yet to 
 be determined. 
 
 ROADS. 
 
 It is but justice to remark that the inhabitants 
 have distinguished themselves by a laudable 
 ambition to make the roads through town conven- 
 ient for themselves and comfortable for travelers. 
 The sum of five hundred dollars is annually appro- 
 priated to the mending of high-ways; and their 
 appearance is in some measure characteristick of 
 the industrious disposition of the people. 
 
 MILITIA. 
 
 In the autumn of 1799 the militia of this town 
 were called upon to choose their first officers, and, 
 
 1 Eli Longley. 
 
 ^ On the shore of Duck Pond is a deposit of infusorial earth. 
 It is not a clay but a very fine white earth resembling magnesia, 
 composed largely of the microscopic silicious shells of organ- 
 isms called diatoms. It is used for polishing metals and as an 
 absorbent in making explosives with nitro-glycerine, e.g., 
 dynamite. It is sometimes called "fossil flour" and "Tripoli 
 powder." 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 17 
 
 in conformity to the laws of our country, to com- 
 mence their annual military exercises. They 
 accordingly assembled on the common and amicably 
 elected Dr. Stephen Cummings, captain; Mr. Seth 
 Wheeler, lieutenant; and Mr. James Bobbins, 
 ensign, of their Company. After the inferiour 
 officers were chosen, a respectable company of able 
 bodied soldiers, consisting of seventy-two rank 
 and file, appeared before the door of Mr. Eli 
 Longley, where, by the desire of the captain, a 
 prayer was made by the pastor of the parish. 
 
 In September, 1801, a company of horse was 
 formed from the militia companies of Bridgeton 
 and Waterford, under Captain Kimball, Lieu- 
 tenant Bobbins and Cornet Smith. 
 
 NUMBER OF FAMILIES, RATEABLE POLLS, AND HOUSES. 
 
 On the first of May, 1801, there were in Water- 
 ford one hundred and three families and six hun- 
 dred and five inhabitants. May 1, 1803, there 
 were one hundred and eleven families, one hundred 
 and forty-five rateable polls, and six hundred and 
 sixty-eight souls. The number of rateable polls 
 in March, 1786, was fourteen. 
 
 The number of dwelling houses in town is one 
 hundred and seven. Six of them are of two stories, 
 eighty-six low framed, and fifteen are log houses. 
 Some of the second class of houses are small, 
 others are ordinary, and there is not a finished 
 house in the place. There are about eighty framed 
 barns; and a building has been lately erected for a 
 store. 
 
18 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 CIVIL OFFICERS. PROFESSIONAL MEN. LEARNING. 
 
 Of the original proprietors, Mr. Nathaniel 
 Chamberlain, now merchant in Portland, was 
 clerk. The first selectmen after the town was 
 incorporated were: Lieut. Africa Hamlin, who was 
 likewise the first town-clerk; and Messrs. Daniel 
 Chaplin and Solomon Stone. These men were 
 appointed assessors also, and took the first valua- 
 tion of the town. Mr. Eli Longley was the first 
 town-treasurer. The first justice of the peace, who 
 received his commission in 1799, was Eber Rice, 
 Esq.; and the first deputy sheriff, Mr. Hannibal 
 Hamlin. 
 
 No attorney has hitherto become an inhabitant 
 of the town; but one of an academick education is 
 soon expected.^ We have two physicians, though 
 the place is considered remarkably healthful.^ 
 The only person of a collegiate education in town 
 is the writer of this, who was graduated at Dart- 
 mouth College in 1796. 
 
 As the original inhabitants, and indeed a large 
 proportion of the present inhabitants, emigrated 
 from the counties of Worcester and Middlesex, 
 they, like their ancestors, are emulous of educating 
 properly the rising generation. To further an object 
 of such immense importance, the town has already 
 built no less than six school-houses. Instead of 
 employing instructors and instructresses, who 
 
 1 Henry Farwell came in 1806. 
 
 ^ Dr. Stephen Cummings, the first physician, removed to 
 Portland about 1800. Dr. Samuel Crombie and Dr. Luke 
 Lincoln were the next in practice. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 19 
 
 themselves have need to be instructed in the first 
 principles of literature, the town begins to pay 
 strict regard to the laws of the commonwealth 
 respecting the qualifications of male and female 
 teachers, and the inspection of schools. It has also 
 adopted an uniform selection of school books for 
 its children and youth, who manifest laudable 
 ambition to understand the English language, and 
 to profit by their advantages. 
 
 RELIGION, HOUSE OF WORSHIP, ETC. 
 
 Although many new settlements in this part of 
 the country abound with sectaries, there has hith- 
 erto been no appearance of more than one religious 
 society in Waterford, which is Congregational. A 
 few individuals profess themselves Baptists; but 
 the serious of these, so far from trying to cause 
 divisions among their fellow christians, seem dis- 
 posed to attend constantly on the publick institu- 
 tions of religion with the Congregationalists. 
 
 Not many candidates for the ministry were 
 employed as preachers in Waterford, before its 
 inhabitants invited their present pastor to settle 
 among them. For his pecuniary encouragement 
 they offered him fifty pounds settlement, in addi- 
 tion to a right of land reserved by the proprietors 
 for that purpose, and an annual salary, which, for a 
 new town, was decent. This invitation was 
 accepted by the pastor elect, who was accordingly 
 ordained Oct. 2, 1799. The ministers of the 
 ordaining council were: Rev. William Fessenden 
 of Fryeburg; Rev. Ezra Ripley of Concord; Rev. 
 
20 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 Nathan Church of Bridgeton; Rev. Samuel Hidden 
 of Tamworth; Rev. Daniel Marrett of Standish; 
 and Rev. John Simpkins of Brewster. 
 
 Previously to the ordination a church was 
 embodied, consisting of eight male members, who 
 received into their fellowship their pastor elect by 
 recommendation from the church in Barre. Eleven 
 other men were admitted into the church at the 
 same time. Oct. 11, the church held a meet- 
 ing and unanimously chose for their deacons 
 Messrs. John Nurse, Stephen Jewett and Ehpraim 
 Chamberlain. On the 20th. of the same month, 
 after the admission of four female members, 
 the Lord's supper was, for the first time, admin- 
 istered to the church of Christ in Waterford. In 
 addition to the twenty members forming the church 
 at the time of ordination, before the close of the 
 same year, 1799, twenty-five other persons became 
 members. . Of these, seven were previously mem- 
 bers of other churches. The church received an 
 addition of nine members in 1800, and of nine more 
 in 1801. Some of these persons had been commu- 
 nicants in other churches. No addition has been 
 made to the church since 1801; but she has lost 
 three by death and two by removal; her present 
 number is therefore fifty-eight. 
 
 In the year 1801 a good frame, 50 by 46 feet, 
 was erected for a meeting-house in the centre of 
 the town.^ In the summer of 1802 it was covered 
 and enclosed, and it will probably be completed by 
 
 1 This was taken down after the church at the Flat was 
 built and was in part reconstructed in the present Town House. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 21 
 
 the middle of Ocober, next. The pew ground has 
 been sold for more than two thousand dollars. 
 Three thousand dollars perhaps will meet the 
 whole expense of finishing the house. 
 
 BAPTISMS. MARRIAGES. DEATHS. 
 
 Before the settlement of a minister, twelve chil- 
 dren and youths had been baptized in the place 
 by missionaries and neighboring clergymen. In 
 1799, after ordination, the pastor baptized thirty- 
 seven persons, one of whom was forty years old. 
 There have been often three and four, and in one 
 instance there were nineteen children presented 
 for baptism at once. The number of baptisms in 
 1800 was twenty-one; in 1801, fourteen; in 1802, 
 seven; and hitherto in the present year, three. All 
 the baptisms since the town was inhabited amount 
 to ninety-four. Though it is a matter of joyful 
 reflection that so many in a new town have been 
 initiated into Christ's visible church, it is yet a 
 melancholy truth that a far greater number of 
 persons remain unbaptized. 
 
 Twelve marriages also had been solemnized in 
 town previously to Oct. 2, 1799. Since that 
 period there have been married nineteen couples. 
 The whole number of marriages, 31. 
 
 It appears by our bills of mortality that fifty- 
 four persons have died in Waterford since its first 
 settlement. In the winter 1797, 8, the place was 
 more sickly through the prevalence of the canker,^ 
 
 ^ Scarlet fever probably; possibly diphtheria. 
 
22 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 than it ever has been with any disease. The 
 number of children and young persons who died 
 that winter, is said to be thirteen. Since the com- 
 mencement of the year 1799 the number of deaths 
 annually has been as follows: In 1799, six; in 1800, 
 four; in 1801, six; in 1802, five; and since the 
 beginning of the current year, five; the whole 
 number, twenty-six. Of this number, twelve were 
 young children and infants; five youths; four 
 middleaged persons; four past the meridian of 
 life, and one upwards of three-score and ten years. 
 During the four last years more persons who have 
 reached and exceeded the meridian of life appear to 
 have fallen victims to consumption than to any 
 other disease. Several infants have died with fits; 
 but among children and young people, the canker, 
 accompanied sometimes with other complaints, 
 has been the most prevalent and fatal disorder. 
 
AN EVENING WALK.i 
 
 I took it last summer with two or three of my 
 school-mates and our teacher. It was in Water- 
 ford.^ You remember the Flat, as they call it; it 
 was about two miles from the Flat, on a hill which 
 rises above it to the north, and from which we could 
 see much of the town, besides many other places 
 about it. We first went to a beautiful grove in a 
 pasture near a quarter of a mile from the road; then 
 we turned back and went up the hill to the west. 
 The land where the grove has grown up, was all 
 cleared once; but the owner let the trees cover it 
 again, and I wished men would do so oftener. For 
 it is a very jfine place; the trees do not stand too 
 thick; the ground was strewed with leaves, which 
 fell in the fall, with fresh grass and wild flowers 
 springing up among them; the grass and green 
 shrubs grew everywhere around. There were 
 many rocks in the grove, where the sheep would 
 go at noon, and lie down on them under the shade. 
 The cattle would sleep there, too, and be cool 
 when the sun was high and the air heated. A 
 
 ^ Sketches | of | Oxford County j by Thomas T. Stone, | 
 Pastor of the Church in Andover | Approved by the Com- 
 mittee of the M. S. S. Union | Portland, | by Shirley and 
 Hyde, | 1830. | Page 71. 
 
 Thomas Tread well Stone, see page 76. 
 
 ^ The walk must have been up through the Plummer 
 neighborhood. 
 
24 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 little brook out of which they would drink, flowed 
 in a valley near the shade. There were places also 
 where the children used to play; they would make 
 two or three parties; one party would go to a large 
 rock over which the trees hung their branches for a 
 roof, and the others to rocks not far off; or they 
 would find where two or three trees rose from one 
 root and left an open place between their trunks; 
 and here they would sit as if they were families, or 
 visit from one house, as they called it, to another. 
 Just to the north there is a farm with the house 
 standing alone near a large orchard; a good man 
 who once owned and took care of it, became poor, 
 and, after he was old and his wife dead, gave it 
 up and went out of his neighborhood and town — 
 to die. Higher up the hill we saw the chimney 
 and roof of another farm-house; and to the south 
 and east we looked on many farms and houses, 
 hills, valleys, ponds and forests. All was calm and 
 pleasant, as the sun went down among bright- 
 edged clouds. 
 
 We went thence to the hill.^ The trees were all 
 cleared off, the land was well fenced, the corn and 
 the grass were green, and they were just beginning 
 to mow. West of this hill beyond a long and wet 
 valley, there is a ridge of high land, in some places 
 wooded, and in other open, and showing the fields 
 beyond. We saw large hills and mountains; some 
 burnt over by the fires, with dead and black 
 trunks rising high in the air, and others covered 
 with green and branching trees. A broad, winding 
 
 1 Beech Hill. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 25 
 
 valley, through which a stream they call Crooked 
 river bends its way through the town, spread 
 between us and the mountains. The valley was 
 not so lively and pleasant as the upland. One 
 reason, our teacher said, is that the pine leaves are 
 of a darker and gloomier hue than the leaves of 
 the beech, the maple and the birch, and that the 
 valley is full of pines, but the hills bore trees of 
 brighter foliage. We turned our eyes from the 
 north and saw a wide southern prospect. We saw 
 the meeting-house^, and one or two houses near it, 
 surrounded with poplars, and beyond, a mountain- 
 rising gradually from the hill on which they stand 
 till it ends on its south-eastern side in broken 
 cliffs, or rather rocks piled on each other, with 
 trees growing between the broken heaps. A plain 
 and a pond are beneath the rough mountain side. 
 Here is a small village,^ but it was hidden from us 
 by the higher lands behind it. The pond* was in 
 signt; so were the woods which sometimes touched 
 the verge of it, and the new openings through them 
 and the beautiful farms which rose beyond. A 
 large pond^ was at the eastward; it had its head 
 in low land covered with dark pine and fir; it 
 spreads to the south between fine, even farms on 
 the west, and cultivated hills on the south and east. 
 The eastern hill was cleared earlier than any other 
 
 1 The old church on the hill. 
 
 2 Mt. Tire'm. 
 
 3 The Flat. 
 
 * Tom Pond. 
 
 ^Long Pond or McWain Pond. 
 
26 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 part of the town; one M' Wayne lived on it for 
 years without wife or child or even a friend within 
 six Of eight miles. He was alone when he opened 
 the forest, — alone night and day. He died in sight 
 of large and growing neighborhoods. 
 
 The sun was down; the stars began to rise in 
 the sky; before the light had gone in the west, the 
 full moon arose. We could see the fields still, and 
 the hills and the waters, but there was a dimness 
 over them; the sounds of labor were still; the 
 herds and the flocks were laid down to sleep; the 
 scenes which seemed rough and broken by day 
 were even and gentle beneath the thin haze of 
 evening. I looked on the great earth and the 
 arching sky with its stars and moon. I could not 
 wish to speak; I was thinking of God. 
 
DANIEL CHAPLIN'S DESCRIPTION.^ 
 
 WATERFORD. 
 
 Waterford, Oxford Co., Maine.— This is an 
 undulating town, watered by 13 ponds; sev- 
 eral of them beautiful sheets of pure water. Hence 
 its name. Songo or Crooked River meanders 
 through the Northern and Eastern parts of the 
 town affording several good Mill sites; as do also 
 the streams issuing to and from several of the 
 ponds. There are in the town 7 sawmills— 4 grist 
 mills — 4 shingle machines — several stave and clap- 
 board machines — 2 carriage shops — 2 iron foun- 
 deries — A plaster mill, and a fulling and carding 
 mill — 5 Blacksmiths shops — 7 shoe shops and 6 
 merchants stores. There are several eminences 
 in town; the most noted are Bear mountain, 
 Hawk m.ountain, Mount Tire'm, Mount Reho,- 
 ancl Bald pate. Bear mountain presents a bold 
 granite precipice of several hundred feet, facing 
 the S. W., rising up almost perpendicularly from 
 the pond of its name, between which has been 
 
 1 Daniel Chaplin, the surveyor, made the first published map 
 of Waterford. This description of the town was intended 
 for an edition of Hayward's New England Gazetteer which 
 was not issued. 
 
 -Southwest of Bald Pate and rising above Chaplin's Pond. 
 A shout from across the pond gives a fine echo; hence its 
 name. 
 
28 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 made the Bear Mountain road, noted as a great 
 thoroughfare between Lancaster, N. H., and 
 Portland, Me. Hawk Mountain is composed also 
 of granite and presents a lofty mural escarpement, 
 showing the appearance of a slide from the cliff. 
 Mount Tire'm rises abruptly from West side of 
 the center village, presenting a striking contrast in 
 the scenery. Beech-hill has an extensive base, and 
 is the highest elevation in town. From these 
 nountains the view is extensive and sublime, 
 embracing all the prominent objects between the 
 Ocean and the White mountains in N. H. 
 
 The soil of Waterford is generally fertile, pre- 
 senting a great variety, favorable to the produc- 
 tion of Wheat, Rye, Indian corn, Oats, Potatoes 
 and grass. Some of the hills afford the best 
 grazing land in the country. 
 
 Dr. C. T. Jackson says: "I obtained specimens 
 of the most remarkable soils in my rout, and exam- 
 ined particularly those obtained in Waterford, 
 where the farms are in a thriving condition, and 
 were clothed with heavy crops of wheat and other 
 grain." 
 
 There are three religious societies, viz. : a Con- 
 gregational, Methodist, and a Universalist, each of 
 which have new and commodious houses of worship. 
 
 There are three small villages: South Water- 
 ford, where there are beautiful mill sites; the Flat, 
 on the North-margin of Thomas pond, on a beau- 
 tiful alluvial plane, here is the Hydropathic insti- 
 tution. Congregational meeting house. Town house, 
 and a Tannery and 2 stores; North Waterford on 
 the Western bank of Songo River, where there is a 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 29 
 
 concentration of public travel and a valuable 
 water-power. Waterford is bounded North by 
 Albany and Stoneham; South by Bridgton and 
 Harrison; East by Norway and West by Lowell 
 and Sweden. The town is 7^ miles long and 6f 
 miles wide. Ratable Polls, 314; estimated popu- 
 lation in 1850, 1600—44 miles N. N. W. from 
 Portland — 58 S. W. from Augusta; and 14 m. W. 
 of Paris. 
 
 Waterford, Feb. 1, 1850. 
 
 Mr. Gage,^ Sir, I have written the foregoing as 
 a description of Waterford. I am aware of the 
 difficulty graduating a description of suitable 
 length, for a work like the N. England Gazetteer. 
 You will consult Mr. Hayward and you are at 
 liberty to condense, or make alterations. Some 
 more statistics not now at hand may be found on 
 my map of Waterford at Tapan and Bradford's, 
 221 Washington St., Boston, where you will call 
 and examine if you think expedient. 
 
 I am pleased to hear that Mr. Hayward is revising 
 his Gazetteer. More definite descriptions should 
 be given of the country towns, especially, than we 
 find in such works generally. Should you wish 
 any further information, please write and I will 
 cheerfully respond. 
 
 Respectfully Yours, 
 
 Daniel Chaplin. 
 
 ^Thomas H. Gage of Waterford, then a student in the 
 Harvard Medical School Boston. 
 
30 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 Note. 
 
 Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, was commis- 
 sioned in 1836 by Massachusetts and Maine to 
 make a geographical survey of public lands Vjelong- 
 ing jointly to these states and also to make a 
 geographical survey of Maine. 
 
 He made three reports. 
 
 In his second report, covering the survey of 
 1837, he mentions Waterford as follows: 
 
 "The route from Parsonfield to Denmark, and 
 from thence to Waterford, is very picturesque, and 
 of an Alpine character, presenting groups of moun- 
 tains rising abruptly, one behind the other, in the 
 distance, while small but beautiful lakes are seen 
 here and there amid an amphitheatre of hills. An 
 artist would find ample scope for his pencil in 
 sketching this interesting panorama. 
 
 "At Waterford we called upon Mr. William 
 Coolidge,^ who shewed us great hospitality and 
 guided me to a number of localities worthy of 
 examination. i 
 
 "On Major Stone's^ farm, Mr. E. L. Hamlin 
 discovered many years ago a curious rock, composed 
 of phosphate of lime and quartz. Also a fine 
 crystal of richly colored amethyst. It was not 
 attached to rock, and probably was out of place, 
 since no more have since been discovered there. 
 Mr. Coolidge presented me with a mass of lepidu- 
 lite like that of Paris which he found upon his farm. 
 
 ' William Coolidge and Major Theodore Stone both lived 
 east of Tom Pond. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 31 
 
 "Hawk Mountain is composed of granite, and 
 presents a lofty mural escarpment, shewing the 
 appearance of a slide from the cliff. This precipice 
 is cut across by a huge but inaccessible dyke that 
 may be seen from the road below. 
 
 "I obtained specimens of all the most remark- 
 able soils on my route, and examined particularly 
 those obtained in Waterford, where the farms are 
 in thriving condition, and were clothed with heavy 
 crops of wheat and other grain." 
 
 Later in the same report he gives "A Chemical 
 Analysis of Soil from Major Stone's Farm, Water- 
 ford." "This soil is remarkably productive and is 
 in a high state of cultivation." He comments on 
 the common practice among farmers to make use 
 of peat, pond mud or muck to the injury of the soil; 
 in one instance he observed in Waterford that a 
 portion of a field on which this substance was 
 placed presented a dwarfish and sickly yellow 
 growth of Indian corn, while that part of the field 
 not treated by it was covered with a most luxuriant 
 and healthy growth of the same corn. He also 
 mentions a deposit of peat "in the town of Water- 
 ford in Oxford County on the CooHdge Farm." 
 
 In his catalogue of geological specimens in the 
 State Cabinet, Maine, he mentions No. 809, 
 phosphate of lime, Waterford; No. 606, quartz 
 crystals; No. 690, lepidulite from a boulder in 
 Waterford; No. 522, granite, Waterford. 
 
THE WATER CURE. 
 
 ELIZABETH P. PEABODY's' LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN 
 REGISTER, MAY 1, 1847. 
 
 For the Register. 
 My Dear Friend: I see that Mr. F.^ has suc- 
 ceeded in his design of engaging Dr. Kittredge to 
 go to Waterford, and they have got out their 
 prospectus, which I send you herewith. In many 
 respects I think this establishment will be superior 
 to all the other hydropathic establishments. No 
 one can spring from a more disinterested spirit. 
 Though I hope it will make money, mercenary 
 considerations did not originate it. Mr. F. felt 
 that the Water Cure gave him a new hope of hfe, 
 when he had the best reasons for believing the old 
 one was expiring. From a feeble stock — he is a 
 
 'Elizabeth Palmer Peabody born May 16, 1804; passed 
 her early life in Salem; taught in Boston 1822-1849; studied 
 Greek with Emerson; assistant to Bronson Alcott and Dr. 
 Channing; one of her sisters married Nathaniel Hawthorne; 
 another married Horace Mann; introduced kindergarten sys- 
 tem of instruction into the United States; edited and published 
 much; died Jan. 3, 1894. A frequent visitor in Waterford. 
 See the commemoration of the centenary of her birth in 
 Kindergarten Review, May, 1904. 
 
 2 Mr. Calvin Farrar graduated at Bowdoin College, 1834, 
 and entered upon a course in Theology at Cambridge. He 
 experienced so much benefit from the "Water Cure" at 
 Brattleboro, that he was led to establish one at Waterford 
 which proved successful for a few years. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 33 
 
 very example of ruddy health — he looks as if 
 disease never touched him, and he says he feels so. 
 He saw his native town had the greatest advan- 
 tages of scenery and water, and he cast his eyes 
 on Dr. Kittredge. — Then Dr. Kittredge is in a 
 flourishing practice. He gives up the certainty of a 
 large income from an extensive practice, gained 
 while he was an allopathic physician, and retained 
 since he became hydropathic, by his success in 
 that mode, under all the disadvantages of his 
 present situation in Lynn. I know no similar 
 instance of a disinterested sacrifice; for Dr. K. is 
 not of the temperament of Mr. F. and his faith 
 borrows nothing from constitutional sanguineness. 
 He goes because he believes it to be his duty to 
 give himself the water privileges of Waterford; 
 and with no expectation of being better off in a 
 pecuniary way. Now I must speak of Waterford. 
 You know I was there several weeks last summer. 
 It is a spot of wonderful beauty— there are four 
 villages — each of which lies round a lake of its own 
 and under mountains of its own. The mountains 
 are abrupt and wooded to their tops, with splendid 
 rocks upon them. I went up one, from which I 
 could see that long chain of lakes, including the 
 Sebago, which extend — I should think forty miles 
 or more, opening into each other, and upon which 
 there is to be a chain of steamboats next summer. 
 But that was but one view from the mountain, 
 which I circumambulated entirely, and from every 
 side overlooked a magnificent prospect. Such a 
 line of mountains circled the horizon! — their 
 forms — their tints, I shall never forget. The harvest 
 
34 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 was just in — not quite in. The very beauty of 
 these prospects is enough to cure patients of a 
 certain temperament of any "ill that flesh is heir 
 to," nor need you go up mountains to see this 
 beauty. The roads themselves present, at every 
 point, the most beautiful landscapes. I rode a 
 good deal with one of the inhabitants,^ who is as 
 near an elemental being as any other mortal creature 
 I ever knew, who was a kind of human expression of 
 the scenery, which she loved as if she was part and 
 parcel of it — as she is. We were well matched; for 
 she loved to show as I to see. The second day I 
 was there, she carried me to a house from whose 
 door I could see seven huge lakes— and such 
 enchanting woods — sweeping over hills and down 
 dales with a gorgeousness of color that would have 
 put Allston into despair. Nay, he could not have 
 looked at it — for he told me once that there were 
 scenes he had not strength of body or mind to look 
 at, they so overflowed with suggestions of beauty. 
 I thought of this one day when I was riding with 
 my friend from South to North Waterford, and we 
 passed along a road which overlooked a valley, in 
 which two old ladies lived, who certainly had the 
 bower which of all I ever saw best imaged the 
 richness we imagine of primeval Paradise. That 
 day I went to the house where the Rev. Mr. Stone 
 of Salem was born and bred.- It is very high — 
 very near heaven — and I am sure I could not but 
 think that to such a devout nature, that place 
 
 'Probably Miss Hannah Haskins. 
 ''Stone hill, Gambo District. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 35 
 
 must have been such a teacher as no foreign Uni- 
 versity could compare to, and teach him 
 
 "more of men 
 Than all the Sages can." 
 
 Another advantage. The people seem to have 
 been formed by their scenery. I saw nothing that 
 looked like poverty. But all was keen industry and 
 cheerful sobriety; I found poetic genius there, 
 "plain living, and high thinking," and it seemed 
 to me a higher order of thought prevailed there 
 than in any country place I ever saw. All the 
 people are farmers, and I saw no vulgarity. I took 
 tea at houses where no domestics were kept, and 
 there was elegance and refinement, for there was 
 simplicity and self-respect and gentle manners. 
 The strange delusion of Millerism has spread much 
 in this vicinity. I never had seen any of its vic- 
 tims before, and was struck with a certain poetic 
 beauty of these people, who were "waiting for the 
 bridegroom," who were "tarrying in the anti- 
 chamber," having "sealed them consecrate from 
 all work." To be sure my common sense told me 
 that there would be a reaction, bye-and-bye, which 
 would be felt in their rural wealth, their health, 
 and their soundness of mind, and to the great peril 
 of all three. 
 
 But this is digression. My point is, go to 
 Waterford. Brattleborough is beautiful, exceed- 
 ingly; I know — But Waterford lakes surpass those 
 of Brattleboro' meadows; and Chesterfield moun- 
 tain is but one, while the mountains in and about 
 Waterford are legion. Finally, it is cheaper than 
 
36 HISTORY OF WATERFORD • 
 
 any one else: a consideration to poor students. 
 Would I could go with you and lave myself in 
 those satin waters, and lift up my eyes again to 
 those beautiful skies, and upon those grand land- 
 scapes. I told you Waterford had its poets. I 
 send you one piece that is in point with my subject. 
 
REV. LINCOLN RIPLEY 
 
 By Thomas H. Gage 
 
 Worcester, Mass., Aug. 16, 1899. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Warren: I wish to thank you for 
 your kind and interesting letter of the 8th inst., 
 and to express my deep regret that I cannot be 
 present at the celebration of the hundredth anni- 
 versary of the formation of the church in Water- 
 ford. I should like to hear what will be said on 
 the occasion, and should very much enjoy meeting 
 the people who will be there. 
 
 I note your suggestion that I might send a letter 
 to be read, and your nint that I might say some- 
 thing of Mr. Ripley, and I only wish that I might 
 do both in a manner befitting the occasion and the 
 subject. Mr. Ripley was certainly a remarkable 
 man, and was as certainly a very important factor 
 in the early religious and social life and development 
 of the town. In a sense I remember him well. And 
 yet my remembrances are, I fear, too imperfect 
 and too much disconnected to give satisfaction or 
 pleasure to an audience looking for correct and 
 comprehensive information upon so interesting a 
 subject. Nevertheless partly because of your 
 intimation that something of the sort may be 
 expected of me, and partly because it is a pleasure 
 to recall the little I can of so important a personage 
 
38 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 > 
 
 I am tempted to send you a few disjointed remi- 
 niscences. 
 
 And first I wish to correct what I think is an 
 error with regard to his birthplace. It is said in 
 the history of Waterford that he was a native of 
 Barre, Mass., and I must confess that I had myself, 
 until quite recently, supposed this to be the fact. 
 I knew that his father lived in Barre, and that the 
 historian of that town, the Rev. James Thompson, 
 claimed the Rev. Lincoln Ripley as one of its 
 college graduates, and so, without giving the 
 subject much thought I had taken it for granted 
 that he was born there. But now I believe this to 
 have been a mistake, and for the following reasons. 
 
 The historians of both Barre and Concord, Mass., 
 devote, properly, a very considerable space to a 
 sketch of his more widely known and distinguished 
 brother, Rev. Dr. Ezra Ripley, who was for much 
 more than half a century the pastor of the church 
 in Concord, and who died there in 1841 at the age 
 of 90. Now Dr. Ezra Ripley was born in Pomfret, 
 Conn., in 1751, and is said by all his biographers to 
 have removed with his parents to Barre, Mass., in 
 1767, when he was 16 years old. This therefore 
 fixes the time of the arrival of the family in Barre, 
 and, as we know that our Mr. Ripley must have 
 been born about the year 1761, for he was almost 
 97 when he died, in 1858, we are, I think, justified 
 in concluding that his birthplace was Pomfret and 
 not Barre. 
 
 Of his father, so far as I am aware, very little is 
 known, but of his mother we learn from a foot- 
 note to Rev. Dr. Thompson's historical discourse 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 39 
 
 at the centennial celebration of the incorporation 
 of the town of Barre, that there is in the south 
 burial place of the town a tombstone which bears 
 the following inscription: "In memory of Mrs. 
 Lydia Burnett, who was first consort of Mr. Noah 
 Ripley, by whom she had 8 sons and 11 daughters, 
 of whom 17 lived to have families. Her descend- 
 ants at her death were 97 grandchildren, and 106 
 great-grandchildren. She died June 17, 1816, aged 
 91 years. 'Many daughters have done virtu- 
 ously, but thou excellest.' " In this connection 
 it may be proper to remark that Mr. Ripley has 
 been often quoted as saying that he had never 
 in his life seen his brothers and sisters all together. 
 
 Mr. Ripley began his studies late. He was 36 
 when he graduated at Dartmouth and 39 when he 
 was ordained to the ministry, and installed over 
 the church he had been instrumental in gathering 
 in Waterford. That he should have been so much 
 belated seems at this distance of time quite unac- 
 countable, especially in view of the fact that his 
 brother Ezra had graduated at Harvard at the age 
 of 25, and had been already, when Lincoln was 
 installed, a settled pastor for almost twenty years. 
 But whatever may have been the cause of the 
 delay it was more than compensated for by the 
 zeal and determination with which he at once 
 entered upon the work of his long and useful life. 
 He had been in Waterford on Missionary service 
 in 1797 and 1798, but he came to stay in 1799, and 
 when he came to stay Mrs. Ripley came with him. 
 
 Mrs. Ripley was the eldest daughter of the Rev. 
 William and Phebe Bliss Emerson. Her father 
 
40 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 was the minister of the church in Concord at the 
 outbreak of the Revolution. He was a staunch 
 patriot and preached resistance to tyrants from his 
 pulpit. He saw from his own doorstep on the 
 morning of the 19th of April, 1775, the bloody 
 fight at the old North Bridge, and was with diffi- 
 culty held back by friends from a participation in 
 the struggle. Later, when the war was fully on, 
 he relinquished his pulpit, entered the army, 
 marched with the troops as chaplain to Fort 
 Ticonderoga, fell ill, was honorably discharged, 
 started for his home and died before he reached 
 it. His daughter, who became Mrs. Ripley was 
 a lady of rare accomplishments and remarkable 
 sweetness of character. Her coming was an event 
 of no small significance in its bearing upon the 
 social, moral and religious life of the then small 
 and struggling church and community. 
 
 Mr. Ripley was in stature below the medium 
 height, but he was vigorous and strong, and of 
 great physical endurance. He cultivated his land 
 with his own hands, and he cultivated it well. He 
 was a good farmer. His crops were abundant. His 
 dairy was the finest in town, and his sheep were of 
 the best. His fruit and his garden were second to 
 none. I doubt not there are apple trees in town 
 that still bear the fruit of scions grafted by his hand. 
 
 In countenance and in manner he was always 
 grave and serious. But he was not austere. There 
 was no sourness, nor even sternness in his nature. 
 His heart was tender, and his habit benevolent. 
 His house and his hand were open to the poor. His 
 heart was full of sympathy with the afflicted and 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 41 
 
 the sorrowing. He loved his fellowmen, and sought 
 not alone their spiritual but their temporal welfare. 
 
 He never indulged himself in levity, and never 
 even in light or trifling speech. I more than half 
 believe he never knowingly spoke an idle word. 
 There lingers in my mind no remembrance of even 
 a playful mood with children. 
 
 He was a rigid observer of the Sabbath. He 
 would neither do himself any work on the Sabbath 
 that could have been done on the previous day, or 
 that could be postponed to the next, nor allow any 
 member of his household to do it. No cooking, 
 and no care of domestic animals, except such as 
 was necessary to prevent suffering, was permitted. 
 He shaved on Saturday afternoon, so that it might 
 be unnecessary on Sunday. The day was given 
 up entirely to religious exercises and worship. 
 Neither business nor other worldly subjects were 
 spoken of. I do not believe any one ever men- 
 tioned such matters in his presence, or that any one 
 who knew him would have the thought of doing it. 
 
 Mr. Ripley was entirely lo^^al to his successor, 
 the Rev. Mr. Douglass. Their relations were 
 cordial and intimate. He was the latter's most 
 faithful and efficient coadjutor. It was a very 
 common custom with him to rise in his olace in 
 church at some appropriate stage in the Sabbath 
 exercises, and address some earnest words to the 
 audience, either of the nature of exhortation, or 
 by Avay of emphasizing some thought in Mr. 
 Douglass' sermon which had particularly impressed 
 him. A communion service rarely passed without 
 some such impromptu action on his part. He was 
 
42 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 always impressive, and was always listened to by 
 the entire audience with respect. 
 
 He was conservative. He disliked innovation, 
 religious or political, and he hated contention. In 
 the matter of slavery he was for colonization 
 rather than abolition, as being in his judgment the 
 more just, the safer and the more peaceful way. 
 His political predilections in the early part of the 
 century were with the Federalists, and he thought 
 the war of 1812 iniquitous. I imagine he looked 
 with no dissatisfaction or marked displeasure upon 
 the doings of the Hartford Convention. 
 
 As a minister, Mr. Ripley's distinguishing char- 
 acteristic was a zeal that knew no abatement, and 
 that never wearied, for the spiritual welfare of his 
 people. The conversion of all who were not yet 
 within the fold of the church was the object of his 
 persistent pursuit, and that not alone by the influ- 
 ence of preaching and example, but by that of 
 personal effort and solicitation. Indeed a favorite 
 method with him was that of direct personal appeal 
 to individuals. He labored assiduously in private 
 with those whom he desired to bring to Christ. 
 And he chose especially, as the objects of his 
 appeals and intercedings, men of prominence, par- 
 ticularly professional, whose conversion and exam- 
 ple might, he thought, have weight and influence 
 in the community. I have heard of many instances 
 of this direct dealing, upon religious subjects, with 
 prominent and even distinguished persons. A pro- 
 fessional gentleman who lived many years in Har- 
 rison, and who is now dead, once gave me a very 
 graphic account of Mr. Ripley's personal labors 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 43 
 
 with him. Interviews had been frequent and 
 prolonged, and very earnest, and, to an extent, 
 encouraging to Mr. Ripley, and yet not decisive. 
 At last the good man resolved upon one more and a 
 final effort, with a determination not to abandon 
 the field until his purpose was accomplished. He 
 visited the gentleman at his house, spent the 
 afternoon, the evening, and the night — a sleepless 
 night for both — a night of prayer and close personal 
 dealing. The gentleman was in distress, walking 
 the house in an agony of mind, Father Ripley 
 meanwhile guiding, leading, praying and sympa- 
 thizing, until when it was almost morning (as it 
 was described to me), a sudden relief came to the 
 troubled spirit, and a joyous comfort from believ- 
 ing in Christ. This gentleman always felt that he 
 owed his spiritual birth to Mr. Ripley, and retained 
 to the end of his life an affectionate, almost filial, 
 and always grateful remembrance of him. His 
 subsequent character and Christian career were 
 certainly ail that Mr. Ripley could have desired. 
 
 I should like to speak of Mr. Ripley's love of 
 missions, and of the pinching economies he would 
 practice to save money for the cause, and I should 
 be glad to say something of his interest in educa- 
 tion; but this letter is already too long, and I must 
 content myself with a bare allusion which may 
 perhaps serve to illustrate both these prominent 
 features of his character. There is in the early 
 history of the church in Waterford, and, indeed, 
 in the early history of the town, a remarkable and 
 an honorable record of the great contribution made 
 by our fathers to the Christian ministry, and inci- 
 
44 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 dentally to missions. Seven of their sons/ who 
 had been in the early years of the present century 
 borne in the arms of their mothers to the old church 
 on the hill for baptism, were given opportunities 
 for a liberal education and became, all of them, 
 ministers of the gospel. All rose to eminence in 
 their profession, and six of them became so dis- 
 tinguished as scholars as to receive honorary degrees 
 of Doctor of Divinity. One, at least, received the 
 additional distinction of Doctor of Laws. All 
 gained a more or less world-wide fame, and all were 
 blessed with long and useful lives, and abundant 
 honors. Now I do not believe that all this came 
 about by chance. I believe there was a human 
 influence, working with intelligence and system, 
 and far reaching purpose for the accomplishing of 
 great results, and that this influence reached the 
 minds and shaped the plans of the noble fathers 
 and mothers who had just associated themselves 
 together in a Christian church. And I believe that 
 this human influence, which under God brought 
 about such great things, was exerted by the young 
 and zealous pastor of the new church. It requires 
 no stretch of my imagination to see in it all the 
 work of the hand, and heart, and brain of Lincoln 
 Ripley. 
 
 I am, my dear Mr. Warren, very truly yours, 
 
 THOMAS H. GAGE. 
 ^ See page 76. 
 
WILLIAM WARREN GREENE.i 
 
 FROM AN ADDRESS BY THOMAS H. GAGE, PRESIDENT 
 OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY, TO 
 THE MEMBERS OF THE BERKSHIRE MED- 
 ICAL SOCIETY, PITTSFIELD, 1886. 
 
 Twenty-three years ago I attended here the 
 annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical 
 Society. It was a dehghtful occasion, enjoyable 
 in every way. The weather was the finest in June, 
 and your far-famed scenery was seen at its very 
 best. The hospitalities of the people were un- 
 bounded and every one, guest and host ahke, was 
 happy. I met here then a young man, a personal 
 friend of mine from boyhood. I had not met him 
 before in many years, and strange as it may seem, 
 I never met him afterward. He and I were natives 
 of the same small town, among the rugged hills of 
 
 1 William Warren Greene was born in North Waterford, 
 March 1, 1831. He received his education at Bethel Academy, 
 Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass., and the Univer- 
 sity of Michigan where he received the degree of M. D., 1855. 
 He taught the first high school in Waterford; practiced med- 
 icine in North Waterford for two and one-half years, then 
 removed to Gray, Me., and later to Pittsfield, Mass. In 
 1868 he removed to Portland. He served a few months as 
 volunteer surgeon; was Professor of Surgery in the University 
 of Michigan, Berkshire Medical College, Long Island College 
 Hospital and in the Medical School of Maine. He died at 
 sea Sept. 10, 1881, on his return from the First International 
 Medical Congress at London. 
 
46 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 Maine. I had known well his father and his 
 mother and his medical preceptor, and all his ante- 
 cedents. He was then a resident of this beautiful 
 town, a teacher in its medical school and a member 
 of the committee of arrangements for that great 
 anniversary meeting. He was rapidly rising to the 
 high position he so long afterward occupied as a 
 magnetic teacher, and as a bold, skillful and 
 accomplished surgeon. You know the story of his 
 brilliant life; how he passed from post to post of 
 honor, and responsibility and usefulness as lec- 
 turer upon the art he loved; how winning and 
 attractive he was, and how the friendship of the 
 old and of the young clung to him everywhere. 
 You know how widely spread his fame became, 
 attracting to him important and difficult cases 
 from far and near; and how the unprecedented 
 boldness and brilliancy of his operations drew to 
 him the attention and the acquaintance of the pro- 
 fession in foreign lands. You know all the details 
 of that last journey across the ocean and his mem- 
 orable participation in the work of the great 
 international medical congress; and you know the 
 rest, the return voyage, the fatal illness and the 
 burial in the sea. But I have thought that per- 
 haps you might not know, although the story has 
 been often partly told, all the circumstances of his 
 €arly life and how the "elements" came to be 
 
 "So mixed in him, that nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world: This was a man." 
 
 and that possibly I might be able to supply some- 
 thing that would interest you and help to make the 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 47 
 
 narrative more complete. There is a natural and 
 praise-worthy desire to learn the antecedents of one 
 in whom we have been deeply interested, or who has 
 distinguished himself, and there is especially a wish 
 to know something of the influences that contrib- 
 uted to the formation of his character. With 
 regard to eminent persons such information is 
 always sought and the smallest items of information 
 are often the most welcome contributions. What 
 a fascination attracts to the story of the life of Dr. 
 Nathan Smith — his obscure birth, the privations, 
 the dangers, the courage of his early youth, the 
 dawn of his purpose to become a physician and the 
 unconquerable perseverance and will by which he 
 at last achieved the object of his ambition. And 
 so with regard to the person to whom I have 
 alluded. His remarkable success in his profession 
 — the result not only of learning and industrious 
 application but of an intuitive and inborn adapta- 
 tion to the requirements, and his uncommon power 
 to win the confidence and the love of men, make 
 everything that discloses the sources of his gifts 
 of interest to those who knew and appreciated him. 
 Dr. William Warren Greene was born in the 
 year 1831, in the town of Waterford and state of 
 Maine, and some idea of the seclusion and the 
 remoteness of the spot w^here he spent his childhood 
 may be gathered from the facts that the whole 
 population in the town in 1830 was but 1,123, and 
 that his father's house was in one of its most remote 
 and sparsely settled portions. The place of his 
 birth must have been distant at least five miles 
 from any village or church and hardly less than 
 
48 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 a mile from the nearest district school house. But 
 it was in the midst of natural scenery as grand and 
 as inspiring as any that New England can boast, 
 even in her most favored localities. He came of 
 some of the very best and staunchest of ancestral 
 stock; the races that mingled in him in both lines 
 of descent had been distinguished through many 
 generations for enterprise and courage, for physical 
 vigor, for intellectual force and for positive con- 
 viction and strong religious views. 
 
 On the paternal side, his great-grandfather, 
 Lieut. Thomas Greene, was a pioneer settler of the 
 town, moving from Rowley in this state with his 
 whole family of eight children, at a time when the 
 region was a wilderness with no openings or roads 
 and no paths to guide the traveller but the Indian 
 trails. He made his home within a mile of the spot 
 where the subject of this notice was born, and in 
 or near the very place his descendants of the same 
 name still live. He brought with him a sterUng 
 reputation. He had been an officer in the French 
 and Indian war of 1755, and in the army of the 
 Revolution. History relates of him that he was 
 famous for his courage and enthusiasm in battle; 
 and tradition has it that he once led his regiment 
 to victory after its commander had fled. He lived 
 to a great age, and, in his new home, was a prom- 
 inent and useful citizen. Of his paternal grand- 
 father I know nothing but that he died by an acci- 
 dent; but of his father I can speak from personal 
 recollection. 
 
 Capt. Jacob H. Greene was a farmer, and some- 
 thing of a mechanic. His means were very limited. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 49 
 
 The rugged soil he tilled gave little more than a 
 bare subsistence for his large family — no surplus. 
 He was a man of pleasing address and dignified 
 appearance; not educated, but a reader, and well 
 informed and thoughtful. Upon some of the great 
 subjects that even in those early days were deeply 
 agitating the religious public of New England, he 
 was thoroughly posted, and held very decided and 
 radical views. Of these one was that of slavery, 
 and he was a strong abolitionist long before it 
 became common or fashionable. 
 
 He was a decidedly and a consistently religious 
 man, punctilliously attending public worship on 
 the Sabbatn, with his whole family, undeterred and 
 undaunted by the heat of summer or the cold of 
 winter, and unprevented by the distance to be 
 travelled, or the badness of the roads. 1 remember 
 well Capt. Greene's full pew at church, and the 
 young Dr. Greene, that was to be, as a boy. 
 
 On the maternal side Dr. Greene's great-grand- 
 father was Gen. Joseph Frye, who was the original 
 grantee and the pioneer settler of the beautiful 
 town of Fryeburg on the Saco River. It was from 
 him that the town received its name. Gen. Frye 
 belonged to a family, many of whom were distin- 
 guished. He was born in Andover, Mass., in 1711, 
 was justice of the peace, representative in the gen- 
 eral court, and otherwise useful in the affairs of his 
 native town. He served in the French and Indian 
 war and was at the siege of Louisburg. He was the 
 colonel of a Massachusetts regiment at the unfor- 
 tunate capture of Fort William Henry, on Lake 
 George, by Montcalm, in 1757, and with the rest 
 
50 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 of the brave garrison who surrendered there was 
 subjected to the unspeakable indignities and cruel- 
 ties of the French commander's allies. The his- 
 torian of Andover relates some striking anecdotes 
 of the dangers he encountered and of the prowess 
 he displayed upon that memorable occasion. He 
 was a major-general in the Revolutionary war, and 
 served for a time with the troops at Cambridge 
 under General Washington. He died in Fryeburg 
 at an advanced age. 
 
 Dr. Greene's mother, the grand-daughter of 
 this Gen. Frye, was born in Fryeburg, in the house 
 her great ancestor built. I remember her as a very 
 affable, vivacious and pleasing person, winning and 
 graceful in her manner and intelligent, loving chil- 
 dren and loved by them, and particularly devoted 
 to the welfare and advancement of her own. 
 
 It was under such circumstances as these, as to 
 time and place, and with such physical and moral 
 forces uniting in him, that Greene was born. Of 
 his early education and of the development of his 
 character I have little occasion to speak, for the 
 story has been often told, and his friends know it 
 by heart. The struggle with poverty, the meagre 
 opportunities, the necessity for becoming a teacher 
 while yet a boy, the heroic spirit, and the buoyant 
 courage that never failed — all these are known. 
 
 I should Hke, however, if I could, to go on and 
 speak of the invaluable assistance rendered in his 
 preparation for the study of his profession by his 
 kinsman on the father's side, the Rev. Dr. "William 
 Warren, whose fame as a preacher, teacher and 
 writer lingers yet in all the New England churches, 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 51 
 
 and who early recognized the genius of the boy, 
 becoming at once and thenceforward his tutor, 
 adviser, patron and friend. I should like to do ttiis 
 because I have no doubt that this influence was a 
 determining and a controlling one in the 3^oung 
 man's life, and that it served to supply to a great 
 extent at least, the place of those greater oppor- 
 tunities in the schools, frcm which, by lack of 
 means, he was debarred. For Dr. Warren cer- 
 tainly could, and doubtless did, furnish to him 
 many of the advantages of a liberal education. I 
 should like to continue also and say something of 
 his medical preceptor,' with whom I was well 
 acquainted, and who was my friend as long as he 
 lived; something of his real merits, for he had 
 them, and something of his faults, for he had them 
 also. I should like to give you an idea of the 
 unpropitious circumstances under which that med- 
 ical life began which was destined to make so 
 prominent a feature in the surgical history of New 
 England. 
 
 But I forbear. I have already detained you 
 longer than I intended and I only hope I have not 
 wearied you. I could not visit this scene of my 
 distinguished townsman's early and brilliant pro- 
 fessional career without availing myself of the 
 opportunity to pay the tribute of an affectionate 
 regard to his memory, and I could not speak of 
 him without saying something of those worthy and 
 excellent people whose lives and whose characters 
 are in my mind so inseparably interwoven with his. 
 
 iDr. S. C. Hunkins. 
 
A TRIBUTE TO MARY MOODY EMERSON^ 
 
 By ELIZABETH P. PEABODY. 
 
 THE LATE MISS MARY MOODY EMER- 
 SON. A late paper has the announcement that 
 Miss Mary Moody Emerson died at the age of 88 
 in WiUiamsburg, New York, May 1st, 1863, after 
 a long winter entering upon an eternal spring. 
 
 Miss Emerson was certainly a wonderfully 
 intellectual woman. From her youth she had been 
 a profound student of such writers as Dr. Price 
 and Dr. Samuel Clark, who shaped her metaphys- 
 ical and theological creed; and she valued im- 
 mensely the dogmas of the spiritual philosophy, 
 and of the Arian sect. Yet it seemed to us that 
 she valued any dogmas for others, rather than for 
 herself, conscious as she was of that power of 
 thinking, which, as she once said of adequate con- 
 versation, "makes the soul." 
 
 1 Mary Moody Emerson, the wonderful aunt and corre- 
 spondent of Ralph Waldo Emerson, was a sister of Mrs. 
 Lincoln Ripley and of Mrs. Robert Haskins, both of Water- 
 ford. With the latter she owned "Ehn Vale" just east of 
 Mutiny brook at South Waterford and lived there many 
 years. Ralph Waldo Emerson has written an account of her 
 in his Biographical Sketches. Some of her correspondence 
 with him appears in his "Journals." Her own diaries and 
 journals are in existence but have never been published. She 
 was brilliant and bold intellectually and most eccentric in 
 speech, dress and conduct. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 55 
 
 She had a great heart, although she was not 
 tender, Hke most women; for it was her theory that 
 what was noble and prevailing in human nature was 
 to be brought out by provocation rather than by 
 nursing. The womanly qualities of wife and 
 mother were never developed in her. But she had 
 great love. The anti-slavery sentiment was the 
 counterpart of her religious devotion, a flaming 
 fire; and the champions of the slave awoke in her 
 an enthusiasm akin to worship. She looked upon 
 genius also as God's best gift to humanity; and 
 whenever she discovered it she worshipped it as the 
 inspiration of God. Sometimes, in her all devour- 
 ing desire to find this indwelhng divinity, she was 
 deceived by false appearances, and she was not 
 easily undeceived by the testimony of another. 
 
 But if she had an opportunity for personal 
 examination, no sham could stand before her. She 
 seemed hard — was hard— upon those who dis- 
 appointed her in this regard, and was not very 
 tolerant of the concentrated mediocrity of people 
 in general. Even when she found genius, she 
 sometimes put it to hard trials; she liked to test it, 
 and where there was a tender and delicate temper- 
 ament, she would miss of what she was seeking 
 sometimes, because she shocked it to death. 
 
 But there was something inspiring in her high 
 tone. She could flatter genius least of all. The 
 only treatment she thought worthy of it was the 
 defiance which brings out its lightnings. 
 
 She was not without sentiment— the union of 
 thought with feeling; but was so far removed from 
 
56 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 what we call sentimental, that she impressed some 
 persons as having no affection. 
 
 This was a great mistake; her affections were 
 deep, but she wished to be convinced of the integ- 
 rity of her friends, and their disinterested devotion 
 to truth. She hated to be flattered and coaxed 
 herself, and was always on the qui vive lest she 
 should be cajoled from her uncompromising inde- 
 pendence. She was jealous — not only of the 
 affected and conventional — but of the common, 
 which Schiller, in Wallenstein, speaks of as the 
 most potent enemy to life. The natural language 
 of her spirit was that of Matthew Arnold, in that 
 fine sonnet, where the world is boasting of its 
 triumphs over 
 
 — so many rages lulled, 
 So many fiery spirits cooled down, 
 
 So many valors long undulled, 
 That yielded at last to "her frown" — 
 
 and he replies: 
 
 "Hast thou so keen a poison? Let me be 
 Keener to slay thee, lest thou poison me!" 
 
 She commanded the homage of her illustrious 
 nephews, to whose early nurture and education 
 she gave not merely the mental but the physical 
 energies of the meridian of her life — no small sac- 
 rifice in a person of her peculiar turn of mind, for 
 she thought nothing vitally important but what 
 was manifestly "making the soul." 
 
 One of them has said of her, that to their youth, 
 "her residence in the family was an element as 
 great as Greece or Rome." Any woman of whom 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 57 
 
 such a thing could be said by such a person might 
 feel it was worth while to have lived amid all the 
 disturbing influences of this "workday world," 
 however much she might personally en'oy — con- 
 templation. 
 
 "That day without night." We trust that in 
 specific form we may be allowed to drink some of 
 those draughts which they have found, as they 
 have confessed, "so poetic and so potent," and 
 which may still be drawn from her letters and 
 journals. 
 
 But many a less nearly related person, who has 
 met Miss Emerson, and been roused by one of 
 her stirring questions as to "the secret of (their) 
 devotion," will be thrilled at the mention of her 
 death, with the feeling that a strong angel has 
 joined the heavenly choir, not without having 
 challenged them in her passage, with the watch- 
 words of immortality. 
 
 E. P. P. 
 
ADDRESS OF THOMAS H. GAGE 
 
 ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORA- 
 TION OF THE TOWN. 
 
 Mr. President, arid People of Waterford: 
 
 I am glad to be here upon this very interesting 
 occasion. I am glad to have a small share in cele- 
 brating with you the hundredth anniversary of 
 Waterford's advent into the family of Massachu- 
 setts towns. The day and the event are worthy of 
 commemoration. And, to pause for a moment at 
 this point in the town's progress for a look back- 
 ward over the ways by which we and our fathers 
 have been led, and forward, with such vision as we 
 may, to what lies before, is a form of commemo- 
 ration agreeable to our feelings, and appropriate 
 to the occasion. But if for me, in the few minutes 
 I shall occupy, the retrospective view shall seem 
 to engage almost wholly my attention, something 
 must be pardoned to long absence and very little 
 knowledge of present conditions or future needs. 
 
 I am very fond of Waterford. I am proud of my 
 birth-place, of its great and surpassingly lovely 
 natural attractions, of its history, of the character 
 of its early settlers, and of their descendants; proud 
 of the distinctions that have come to those de- 
 scendants at home and abroad, and of the honors 
 they have reflected upon their native town. But 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 59 
 
 I am particularly proud of that remarkable gene- 
 ration of men and women who were active upon 
 the sta^e of affairs in the days of my boyhood, sixty 
 years ago. Better or worthier people than they, it 
 has never been my privilege to know, and I am glad 
 of an opportunity to pay the small tribute of my 
 respect and affection to their memory. Intelligent 
 and intellectually vigorous, hospitable, neighborly, 
 kind to the poor, and to those in distress, and withal 
 God-fearing, and God-loving, they constituted a 
 community of the very best New England type. 
 Much given to reading and reflection, and scrupu- 
 lously conscientious with regard to their obligations 
 to each other, and to the world, they grasped the 
 great moral, religious, and political questions of the 
 time in which they lived with a force, and discussed 
 them with a clearness of insight, nowhere surpassed. 
 Their treatment of the subjects of temperance and 
 anti-slavery were especially marked by the courage 
 of decided conviction and almost the zeal of the 
 martyrs. I love to recall the righteous indignation 
 of the sturdy abolitionist. I suppose no other moral 
 question ever so thoroughly stirred the hearts and 
 the consciences of New England men and women 
 as that of slavery. 
 
 Waterford was settled mainly by men and women 
 from the old Massachusetts counties of Worcester, 
 Middlesex, and Essex; and these people were of 
 the purest English extraction, direct descendants 
 from original Puritan stock, and thoroughly imbued 
 with the religious and political ideas of the Puritans. 
 With them, therefore, paramount objects were to 
 make provision for the education of their children. 
 
60 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 and to establish and maintain the stated worship 
 of God. Nor did they deem their duty done when 
 they had provided for tliemselves and their offspring. 
 Their religious aims extended to and embraced a 
 larger sphere. And they began very early to make 
 provision for a Christian ministry in other com- 
 munities, and even in far off heathen lands. To 
 this end they gave of the best they had, their sons 
 and their daughters, cheerfully sacrificing upon the 
 altar of religion their means, their comfort, and 
 their happiness. 
 
 It was to this self-sacrificing devotion to religion, 
 and to liberal education, that Waterford owed its 
 pre-eminent influence among'smaller New England 
 towns in the Christian world of sixty to eighty 
 years ago. It was this that gave to the Christian 
 ministry, and the world, such eminent scholars 
 and divines as Stone, Hamlin, Warren, Haskins, 
 Jewett, Haskell, Knight, and others, whose re- 
 putation and achievements have reflected so im- 
 perishable a lustre upon their ancestry and the 
 place of their birth. What other small and com- 
 paratively obscure New England town, remote 
 from educational centres, whose hardy inhabitants 
 extracted but a scanty living from a stubborn soil, 
 ever made such a contribution to the service of God 
 and humanity in a single generation as this? 
 Thomas Treadwell Stone, son of an original incorpo- 
 rator, life-long student, philosopher, profound think- 
 er, distinguished author, and eminent Unitarian di- 
 vine, of whose scholarship, high attainments, and 
 Christian graces Senator Hoar of Massachusetts has 
 recently spoken to me in most enthusiastic terms; 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 61 
 
 Cyrus Hamlin, son of one of the earliest proprietors, 
 missionary, educator, statesman, diplomatist, and 
 eminent man of affairs, an acknowledged authority 
 in both hemispheres upon the vexed "Eastern 
 Question" of the relations of Turkey to Russia, 
 Armenia, Greece, and, indeed, to all of Europe; 
 William Warren, son of a pioneer settler, of com- 
 manding presence, an intellectual giant, a leader of 
 men, and a tower of strength in Congregational 
 New England; Samuel Moody Haskins, son of one 
 of the earliest comers, and grandson of Rev. William 
 Emerson of revolutionary fame, devoted rector, 
 who still at a great age, with scarcely abated 
 strength, remains the beloved and venerated pastor 
 of the prominent church where his ministry began ; 
 Lyman Jewett, son of one of the early settlers, 
 missionary to India, learned in the ancient lan- 
 guages, and translator of the Scriptures into the 
 Telugu tongue; Haskell, Knight, and others, loved 
 and honored in the churches, and long since passed 
 to their reward.^ I think this a remarkable record 
 for any town. But when I consider that these emi- 
 nent clergymen were all the sons of pioneer settlers 
 of a small, remote, poor Massachusetts town, with 
 none of the ordinary facilities for education, and 
 that six out of the seven named became so distin- 
 guished as scholars as to receive the honorary de- 
 gree of D. D., and one of them, at least, that of 
 LL. D., it seems to me more than remarkable; it 
 seems wonderful. I do not believe, all things con- 
 sidered, the record can be surpassed, if equalled, 
 anywhere. 
 
 ^ See note at end of address. 
 
62 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 But the contributions of Waterford to the so- 
 called learned professions have not been to the 
 clerical alone. It has been liberal to the legal as 
 well. It claims as its sons, Henry Carter, distin- 
 guished lawyer, and incorruptible judge, long a resi- 
 dent of Massachusetts, some of whose judicial 
 dicisions, sustained, as they have been by the 
 highest tribunals, have been famous ; Elbridge Gerry, 
 eminent member of the Portland bar, who, while still 
 a resident of his native town, represented his dis- 
 trict in the Congress of the United States; A. S. 
 Kimball, our distinguished and accomplished presi- 
 dent to-day, whose graceful service upon a similar 
 occasion twenty-two years ago is still fresh in our 
 memory; and others of whom, unfortunately, I 
 have little knowledge. 
 
 And then, too, in the medical profession Water- 
 ford claims the distinction of having been the birth- 
 place of that remarkable genius Dr. William War- 
 ren Greene, brilhant surgeon, fascinating teacher 
 and lecturer, of magnetic presence and winsome 
 ways, who, as professor of surgery in four medical 
 schools, has left an enduring impression upon the 
 medical times in which he lived. The attachment 
 of students, and of his medical associates, to Dr. 
 Greene was very remarkable. A few years ago it 
 became my official duty, as president of the Massa- 
 chusetts Medical Society, to visit district medical 
 organizations in various parts of the Common- 
 wealth, and among them the Berkshire Societ}' 
 which met in Pittsfield ; and as I was casting about 
 for a subject that might possibly interest my audi- 
 ence it occurred to me that Pittsfield was the scene 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 63 
 
 of Greene's earliest fame, that there he began his 
 career as teacher of Surgery, and as a bold and bril- 
 liant Operator, and that there he made his first and 
 warmest professional attachments; and so I deter- 
 mined to speak of him, to claim him as my towns- 
 man, to give some idea of his remote and secluded 
 birthplace, of his excellent parentage, of his meagre 
 opportunities for early education, and of the steps 
 by which n;s disadvantages were finally overcome. 
 The subject pleased my hearers and gained their 
 close attention. The gentlemen I addressed were 
 glad to hear of Greene, and to know more than they 
 had known before of his antecedents, and the praise 
 for him that followed my remarks made me prouder 
 than ever of the distinction he had reflected upon 
 his and my native town. 
 
 I wish I could go on to speak at some length of 
 other exceedingly meritorious sons of Waterford, 
 whose career in the profession of m.edicine has been 
 an honor to themselves and to the place of their 
 birth; of Douglass,^ worthy son of the great pastor; 
 of Carlton,- son of Dea. Carlton of blessed mem- 
 ory; of Houghton,^ long a practitioner here, and 
 afterward in Portland; and of the Horrs;* all of 
 whom have distinguished themselves in the com- 
 munities in which they have lived. But time for- 
 bids, and forbids me too the privilege of mention- 
 
 ' Dr. John A. Douglass of Amesbury, Mass. 
 - Dr. Charles M. Carlton of Norwich, Conn. 
 ' Dr. Lewis W. Houghton. 
 
 * Dr. William H. Horr and Dr. Orrin A. Horr, sons of Wil- 
 liam Horr. Dr. Jacob L. Horr, son of Stephen Horr. 
 
64 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 ing, as I would like, some of the more prominent, 
 determining influences which have led so many of 
 the sons of this secluded but beautiful town to 
 choose, in the past, the learned profession. I 
 should like to speak, if I had time, of what I con- 
 ceive to have been the direct and indirect influence 
 in this direction of the Rev. Mr. Ripley and Mrs. 
 Ripley, and of the Rev. Mr. Douglass and his ex- 
 cellent wife. I have some doubt whether the people 
 of the present generation fully appreciate the debt 
 of gratitude Waterford owes to these remarkable 
 persons. What they did to promote the interests 
 of the town, and to inspire in its sons and daughters 
 a love of virtue and of learning, can hardly be over- 
 stated. Of this I should like to say more but 
 cannot. I must proceed to other topics. 
 
 I am expected to indulge somewhat in reminis- 
 cence, a task to which I am not at all disinclined. 
 And yet when I reflect that whatever of reminis- 
 cence I have to offer will only be the imperfect 
 recollections of childhood and very early youth, I 
 am oppressed with a fear that my efforts in that 
 direction will hardly equal your reasonable ex- 
 pectations. At all events before I proceed I think 
 I ought to "qualify," using the word in its legal 
 sense. You know when a lawyer puts a witness on 
 the stand the court compels him to show by some 
 preliminary questions that his witness is competent, 
 and this they call "qualifying." So I must make 
 it appear to you that I am, or why I think I am, 
 competent to the task I now undertake. 
 
 Well it comes about in this way. My father was 
 a physician in Waterford sixty years ago. He 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 65 
 
 settled here in 1815, at the age of twenty-four, and 
 rode over the hills and valleys of this and neigh- 
 boring towns, in winter and summer, storms and 
 sunshine, by night and by day, until he died in 
 1842, at the age of fifty, literally worn out. He was 
 a man of strong character, and of clear and decided 
 opinions upon all subjects. Nor was he at all averse 
 to maintaining and defending his opinion. In town, 
 church, and parish alTairs, he was especially inter- 
 ested, prominent and influential. He had a hand 
 in almost every public event. Now until I was 
 eight years old I was his only son, and, until I was 
 eleven or twelve, I was his very frequent if not con- 
 stant companion on his long and weary rides. This 
 gave me an opportunity to become, for a child, 
 very familiar with people, houses, and localities in 
 all parts of the town, and to some extent with the 
 various subjects which were then agitating the 
 community. I heard these latter constantly dis- 
 cussed. 
 
 It is to these circumstances, and to these alone, 
 I owe whatever right I have to speak of things so 
 long ago. 
 
 II 
 
 I took my first ride behind a steam locomotive, 
 in Waterford, sixty-three years ago, and I rode on 
 a platform car. The circumstances were these: 
 Mr. Cyrus Hamlin, then a student in Bowdoin 
 College, who, to high qualities as a scholar, added 
 rare mechanical genius, cultivated by a previous 
 apprenticeship to the trade of silversmith, had 
 been requested by the faculty of the college to 
 
66 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 make a steam locomotive to be used in illustrating 
 before the classes the application of steam as a 
 propelling power. To this request had been added 
 the inducement — to him a very important con- 
 sideration — of pecuniary compensation. The task, 
 thus imposed, he had finished. The machine he 
 had made had been successfully used for its in- 
 tended purpose. It had, indeed, excited wide- 
 spread interest, and had received high commenda- 
 tion, and its success gave Mr. Hamlin a natural 
 desire to bring it to Waterford, to show to his moth- 
 er and friends. This he did, if my memory serves 
 me, in the spring of 1834, exhibiting it in the din- 
 ing room of his mother's house. Friends were in- 
 vited, and among them my father, who, when he 
 went, took me along, then scarcely eight years old. 
 I distinctly remember how the room looked, full 
 of steam with dripping walls and ceiling, and how 
 at the proper time my father took his stand on the 
 little platform raised on trucks, with me between 
 his knees, and how the queer looking engine trun- 
 dled us about the room. So let it be by all means 
 remembered, if the great "iron horse" ever reaches 
 Waterford, that one of the first exhibitions of steam 
 locomotion in Maine was successfully made in this 
 town sixty three years ago under the auspices of the 
 Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin. 
 
 A proposition some sixty years ago to build a 
 new Methodist meeting house in this town gave 
 rise to a serious contention in that excellent denomi- 
 nation. Before that the Methodists had wor- 
 shipped in a secluded spot on the Sweden road, just 
 west of Mutiny corner. Their meeting house was 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 67 
 
 a low wooden structure, with a rather flat roof, 
 ifcsexteriorunclapboarded, blackened and weather- 
 beaten; its interior cheerless and bare, with hard 
 plank benches, no adornment of any kind, and no 
 conveniences for a choir. In this uncomfortable 
 house the hardy, devout worshippers had gathered 
 from far and near for many long years. But there 
 grew up a party that wanted something better, a 
 building more centrally located, in the village, with 
 modern conveniences, and attractions. They con- 
 tended that if the ordinances of religion were to 
 reach the masses, the house of worship should be 
 conveniently located, that it should be made with- 
 in and without attractive to the eye, that it should 
 be comfortable for the attendants, and that it 
 should provide, to gratify the ear of the worship- 
 pers, suitable accommodations for vocal and in- 
 strumental music. To all of which it was objected 
 by those who did not think a change necessary, 
 that to the devout and humble worshipper religious 
 service should be its own attraction, that all the 
 so-called comforts and conveniences were of the 
 world, worldly, and only served to distract atten- 
 tion from things of more importance, and that to 
 make provision for such musical entertainment as 
 was suggested would be: 
 
 "To heap the shrine of luxury and pride 
 With incense kindled at the muses' flame." 
 
 Along these lines the battle waged with varying 
 fortune until at last the friends of innovation 
 triumphed. A new house, built on a conspicuous 
 and convenient site in the villiage, was made archi- 
 
68 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 tecturally attractive without, and neat and com- 
 modious within, and the divisions caused by the 
 contest were apparently closed. But the victorious 
 party was not yet allowed to enjoy unchallenged 
 the fruit of its triumph. When all was done the 
 opposition sent one parting shot. A stern uncom- 
 promising objector put this advertisement in a 
 local paper: — ^"Lost somewhere in the town of 
 Waterford the Methodist Platform. Whosoever 
 will return the same shall be rewarded with a crown 
 of glory that fadeth not away." But the shot fell 
 harmless. The article lost does not seem to have 
 been recovered. No one appears to have claimed 
 the reward; — perhaps because of a doubt whether 
 the advertising party would be able to deliver it. 
 But be this as it may, the renovated and rehabili- 
 tated church has remained ever since a power for 
 good, and a blessing in the community. 
 
 Ill 
 
 I wonder how many persons within the sound of 
 my voice remember Professor John Abbot, a 
 quaint and interesting old gentleman who was an 
 occasional resident here sixty years ago. 
 
 Professor Abbot was an educated man, a grad- 
 uate of Harvard College, aad had been a tutor 
 there. He was a well dressed, dignified appearing 
 old gentleman, a little wrong in his head at times, 
 apt to be irritable, and always a terror to boys. 
 Yet he rendered the town a service for which it 
 owed him many years a debt of gratitude. He 
 built, or caused to be built, an "observatory" at the 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 69 
 
 top of Mt. Tire'm. I suppose all remember three 
 great boulders that stand in a cluster at the very 
 highest point of the mountain. Well Professor 
 Abbot built a platform over those rocks, of thick 
 heavy plank, supported upon large, stout timbers, 
 guarded by a strong railing, supplied with seats, 
 and approached by a long flight of steps; and this 
 platform which outlived the storms and winds of 
 many winters, always went under the name of 
 Professor Abbot's "observatory." The mountain 
 then was entirely bald and bare at the summit 
 For an area of a hundred acres or more there was 
 no sign of vegetation except a few stunted blue- 
 berry bushes, so that there was nothing to obstruct 
 the vision, and, from the "observatory" to East, 
 West, North and South was had one of the grandest 
 and most extensive views imaginable. The place 
 was a great resort during the summer months for 
 young and old. Young people especially visited 
 it from far and near; and almost every one seemed 
 moved to carve his or her name upon the wood, so 
 that the platform came in time to be literally 
 covered with these rude inscriptions. 
 
 But the observatory is gone, and the beautiful 
 view is now cut off by a heavy growth of trees. The 
 boulders alone remain. It would be a very shrewd 
 and sensible move on the part of Waterford people 
 to rebuild the old Abbot "observatory," or to 
 erect one more durable over these boulders, and 
 to cut away the trees from the summit, so as to 
 restore the unsurpassed view we had from there 
 sixty years ago. To have such an attraction within 
 
70 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 fifteen minutes walk of the village would be a very- 
 drawing card for summer visitors.^ 
 
 IV 
 
 Any picture of Waterford, as it was sixty years 
 ago, with Miss Mary Moody Emerson left out 
 would be imperfect. Not that she was particularlj'^ 
 prominent in the town's activities, but because of 
 her interesting personality, and her connection 
 with a famous family. 
 
 The Rev. William Emerson of Concord, Mass., 
 was an ardent patriot of the revolutionary period. 
 He preached resistance to tyranny from his pulpit, 
 and was only prevented by the earnest solicita- 
 tions of friends from active participation in the 
 fight at the North Bridge, Concord, on the 19th 
 of April, 1775. As it was he witnessed it from his 
 own house, and became fired with enthusiasm of 
 the hour, only, as it proved, to give his life an early 
 sacrifice. He entered the service, went with the 
 army to Ticonderoga as chaplain, was seized with a 
 fever, and died before he could reach home. He 
 
 ^ John Abbot graduated at Harvard College 1784; was a 
 tutor there 1787-1792; studied for the ministry; engaged in 
 business in Portland ; professor of ancient languages, Bowdoin 
 College, for 14 years; then became a trustee and treasurer of 
 the College; ill health compelled him to resign and he came to 
 Waterford to live with his nephew Rev. John A. Douglass; 
 he was afterwards in the McLean Asj'Ium and died at Andover 
 aged 84. 
 
 His peculiar habits and manners; his long service at Bow- 
 doin as professor, librarian, trustee or treasurer, and his 
 unquestioned virtues made him a marked figure in College 
 life. He was intei'ested in farming and horticulture. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 71 
 
 left four children, one, a son, who became a very 
 distinguished Unitarian minister in Boston, and 
 three daughters, all of whom, Mrs. Robert Haskins, 
 Mrs. Lincoln Ripley, and Miss Mary Moody, be- 
 came at a very early date permanent residents of 
 Waterford. 
 
 The last of these, Miss Emerson, was a person 
 of the most exalted character, and of great in- 
 tellectual power and capacity. She was wholly 
 engaged in literary pursuits. Books were her con- 
 stant companions, and correspondence her pas- 
 time. And yet it was not the common affairs of 
 life with which she was concerned. Her thoughts 
 and her studies were of the soul, its destiny, and 
 its relations to the future, and to God. She seemed 
 to be Hving in a higher and more ethereal sphere 
 than the ordinary, and to be occupied wholly with 
 the sublimities of the divine and eternal. And she 
 had no sympathy, or even patience with slow plod- 
 ding and self satisfied mediocrity in anybody. 
 
 As a conversationalist she was entertaining, 
 witty, and brilliant, and yet her conversation was 
 always upon great themes, never commonplace or 
 gossipy. She was outspoken in speech, and plain 
 even to bluntness, never hesitating for politeness' 
 sake to expose and attack a weak or unguarded 
 point in an adversary's argument. The wise and 
 the wary stood in awe of her. 
 
 In person Miss Emerson was very slender and 
 extremely delicate, with a small, tnin, soft hand, and 
 a fair, pale face into which, under the excitement 
 of animated conversation or discussion, the color 
 would come and make it handsome. In youth and 
 
72 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 health I think she must have been beautiful. But 
 as I remember her she was past middle life and had 
 long been an invalid. 
 
 In matters of dress, her taste, if such it could be 
 properly called, was severely simple. I think she 
 almost literally obeyed the divine injunction to 
 "take no thought what ye shall put on." She 
 scorned fashion and show, and when she went 
 abroad often appeared in habiliments so extremely 
 unconventional as to excite the merriment of 
 thoughtless and inconsiderate persons. And yet not- 
 withstanding this idiosyncrasy, such was the per- 
 fect dignity of her bearing and the universal ap- 
 preciation of her superior character, all admired 
 and respected her. 
 
 She was fond of her distinguished nephews, the 
 sons of her brother William, and they, in turn, were 
 devoted to her. Ralph Waldo Emerson, often in 
 his earlier life, visited her at her Waterford home, 
 and all his biographers attribute great influence to 
 her in the formation and development of his char- 
 acter. 
 
 Miss Emerson has been recently brought to my 
 mind very vividly by an interesting circumstance. 
 A friend placed in my hands a few months ago a 
 little book, beautifully got up, entitled Daily 
 Strength for Daily Needs, the design of which is to 
 afford for every day in the year a special thought 
 for that day's reflection. For each day there is a 
 scriptural, poetical, and prose quotation. The 
 two latter are designed to continue and emphasize 
 the scriptural thought, and are carefully selected 
 from the most celebrated authors of ancient and 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 73 
 
 modern times. The prose quotations, especially, 
 represent a wide range of brilliant writers; and what 
 was my surprise as I looked them over to find the 
 name of Mary Moody Emerson. Not that it sur- 
 prised me to find her in such exalted company, for 
 I never had a doubt of her right to a place among 
 literary and learned celebrities, but because I did 
 not know of any publications of hers from which 
 such apt quotations could be made. But the sur- 
 prise was a delight. It was the agreeable sensation 
 of meeting a dear and well remembered friend of 
 my boyhood under unexpected and peculiarly 
 pleasant circumstances, and at once called up very 
 forcibly these imperfect reminiscences of Miss 
 Emerson in her relation to Waterford. 
 
 A public improvement, first proposed about the 
 time of which we are speaking, the discussions of 
 which, in the progress of events, involved the whole 
 town in a most exciting controversy, was that of 
 the "valley road," known to-day as the North 
 Waterford road from this village. Before that 
 time all travel to the north part of the town had 
 been over the hill by way of the old meeting house 
 and the so-called 'Tlummer neighborhood," a 
 route tedious to travel, by reason of the steep hills, 
 in summer, and in winter inclement and sometimes 
 impassable by reason of deep and drifting snow. It 
 was to overcome these inconveniences, and obtain 
 easier grades, with less exposure to the fierce winds 
 of winter, that the promoters of the "Valley Road" 
 
74 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 brought forward their project. That it should 
 have been opposed by the thrifty farmers along the 
 old hill route, who saw that they were to be side- 
 tracked by the proposed change, was not at all to 
 be wondered at, nor was it strange that opposition 
 should come from those in remoter parts of the 
 town who were not to be directly benefited by the 
 scheme, and were consequently unwillingly to be 
 burdened with the expense, nor yet that objection 
 should come from that considerable class in every 
 community who oppose any proposition that takes 
 money from the public treasury. At all events 
 agitation and excitement were intense for several 
 years. Feeling ran high and the controversy was 
 bitter. But the projectors of the new route tri- 
 umphed. The road was built, and has now for 
 sixty years, as a public convenience, approved the 
 wisdom and foresight of its promotors. I very much 
 doubt however whether even the proposition to 
 build the new trolley road has caused as much 
 excitement. 
 
 VI 
 
 But of all the public events in any way connected 
 with the period of my life to which I am alluding 
 none is more vividly impressed upon my memory 
 than the abandonment of the old meeting house on 
 the hill which was town property, and the building 
 of a new church for the Congregational Society. 
 
 I shall not attempt to give a detailed account of 
 the great struggle, which ended at last in the erec- 
 tion of the present neat and beautiful structure, in 
 which we are now assembled. There was great 
 
HISTOEY OF WATERFORD 75 
 
 excitement, intense feeling, and a bitter controversy 
 that lasted some years. The contest was over 
 location, not at all with reference to the advisability 
 of building. Many of the wealthier and more liber- 
 al supporters of the church and society lived in the 
 northerly part of the town and stoutly resisted the 
 selection of a site farther removed from their houses 
 than that of the old meeting house, — especially a 
 removal to this village. There were times when a 
 disruption of the society seemed imminent. But 
 calmer counsels finally prevailed. Active opposi- 
 tion to the selection of the present site ceased, and 
 to outward appearance, at least, there came to be a 
 general acquiescence in the arrangement as it now 
 exists. 
 
 I remember well the rejoicings and the congrat- 
 ulations when the work was finished, and some of 
 the great preparations for the dedication. I remem- 
 ber rehearsal upon rehearsal of the anthem that 
 was to be the central musical feature in the pro- 
 gram of exercises. And I remember the great per- 
 formance. The day was a notable one and there 
 was a large audience. It seems to me I can almost 
 see now Mr. Sanders at the bass-viol, Capt. Chap- 
 lin at the great double-bass, and Enoch Perry with 
 his flute, and that I can hear Miss Eliza Ann 
 Hamlin's sharp ringing soprano, Luther Houghton's 
 sonorous, musical tenor, and Robert L. Allen's 
 deep, sweet, melodious bass, as the words rang out, 
 "Lift up your heads, Oh! ye gates ; and be ye lifted up, 
 ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall 
 come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, 
 strong and mighty." I seem to see a vast audience 
 
76 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 standing with their faces turned to the choir, and 
 the good pastor leaning at his desk in rapt atten- 
 tion. Only this of that great service I recall. No- 
 thing more. Now how changed! The instruments 
 are relegated to the things of the past. The per- 
 formers are gone. The voices that I heard are still 
 and silent in the grave. Even the choir loft itself 
 is closed forever. The beloved pastor is at rest, 
 and has gone to his long and rich reward. And of 
 the audience that I saw few, very few, remain to 
 recall with me the incidents of the day. But the 
 church, the structure that our fathers built, re- 
 mains; and, with each recurring Sabbath morn, at 
 the summons of the sweet toned bell, the people 
 gather as they did of old, to find it still, as then, 
 the temple of the living God, the very gate of 
 heaven. 
 
 Note. 
 
 Thomas Treadwell Stone, son of Solomon and Hep- 
 zibah (Treadwell) Stone, was born at Waterford Feb. 9th, 
 ISOl; graduated at Bowdoin College, 1820, where his room 
 mate was Jacob Abbot, the author of the RoHo Books; settled 
 over the church in Andover, Maine, 1824-30; Preceptor of 
 Bridgton Academy, 1830-32; Congregational Church, East 
 Machias, Me., 1832-46; First Parish, Salem, Mass., 1846-52; 
 Bolton, Mass, 1852-60; died at Bohon Nov. 13th, 1895. He 
 received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Bowdoin, 1868; 
 was an early abolitionist and lectured for the Anti-Slavery Soci- 
 ety of Massachusetts; published "Sermons." 1854; ''Sermons 
 on War," 1829; "Oxford County Sketches," 1830; delivered a 
 course of lectures on English Literature before the Lowell 
 Institute; was a member of the Transcendental Club with 
 Emerson, James Freeman Clark, George Ripley, Margaret 
 Fuller, Theodore Parker and F. H. Hedge. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 77 
 
 Isaac Knight was born in Waterford, Dec. 29th, 1802; 
 graduated at Bowdoin College, 1829; settled at Hill, N. H., 
 1831-37; Franklin, X. H., 1837-48; Fisherville, N. H., 1848-50. 
 Died July 25, 1850. 
 
 William Warren was born at Waterford Oct. 20th, 1806; 
 entered Bowdoin College with the class of 1837 after a course 
 at Phillips Exeter; Andover Theological Seminary, 1838; 
 settled at Windham, 'Me., 1839-49; at Upton, Mass., 1849-56; 
 District Secretary- for Northern New England of American 
 Board of Foreign Missions; A. M., Bowdoin College, 1858; 
 D. D., Bowdoin College, 1870. Died Jan., 1879. 
 
 Published "Household Consecration." "The Spirit's 
 Sword." "Twelve Years among the Children." "These for 
 Those." 
 
 Cyrus Hamlin was born at Waterford, Jan. 5th, 1811; 
 apprenticed to a silver.smith, Portland, 1827; studied at Bridg- 
 ton Academy and graduated from Bowdoin College, 1834; 
 completed his theological studies at Bangor Seminaiy, 1837; 
 preached in Portland and Worcester; began Missionary work 
 in Constantinople, 1839; President of Robert College, 1860; 
 professor in Bangor Seminary, 1877-80; President of Middle- 
 bury College, 1880-85; D. D., Bowdoin College, 1854; S. T. D., 
 Harvard University, 1861; LL. D., New York University, 
 1870; died at Portland Aug. 8th, 1900. 
 
 Lyman Jew^tt, the youngest of nine sons of Nathan and 
 Hannah (Emerson) Jcwett, v\as born at Waterford, March 
 9th, 1813; removed to Buckfield when he was 8 j-ears old; 
 came to Boston, 1832, and became a member of what is now 
 Clarendon street church ; studied at Worcester Academy ; A. B., 
 Brown University, 1843; Newton Theological School, 1846; 
 preached in Webster, Mass., 1846-1848; ordained at Boston, 
 1848, and went to the Telugu Mission, India; in India until 
 1886; was a member of the Bible Translation Committee in 
 Madras; translated the New Testament into Telugu and was 
 the author of a commentary on Matthew's Gospel in Telugu; 
 D. D., Brown University, 1872; died at Fitchburg, Jan. 17th, 
 1897. 
 
 S.\muel Moody Haskins born at Waterford May 25th, 
 1813; graduated from Union College, 1836; graduated at 
 
78 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 General Theological Seminary, 1839, and became Rector of 
 St. Mark's, Brooklyn, where he remained 61 years, dying 
 March 7th, 1900; received the degree D. D. from Union 
 College, 1862. 
 
 "Dr. Haskins was over six feet in height, of noble command- 
 ing presence and grave dignified demeanor. Mentally he was 
 always the same, calm, reliable and cheerful. No one ever saw 
 him angry or excited." 
 
 Samuel Haskill, to whom reference is made, was the son 
 of John and Thirza Stone Haskill, who were married in 
 Waterford, 1805 ; some of their children were born in Waterford, 
 but Samuel was born at North Bridgton, March 20th, 1818. 
 He prepared for college at Shurtleff College, Alton, 111. , and 
 at the Connecticut Literary Institute, Suffield, Conn., and 
 graduated at Brown University, 1845, and in Theology at 
 the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, 1847. He 
 was settled at Detroit, 1847-52; Kalamazoo, Mich., 1852-71; 
 Ann Arbor, 1871-88; was associate editor Christian Herald, 
 1888-90; professor of Bible Study, Kalamazoo College, 1890- 
 98. D. D., Madison University, 1867; author of "Heroes and 
 Hierarchs" and has published historical pamphlets and dis- 
 courses; died at Kalamazoo, July 4th, 1900. 
 
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES. 
 
 PETITION OF EPHRAIM CHAMBERLAIN & ORS OF 
 WATERFORD, 1796. 
 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
 
 To the Honorable the Senate and the Honorable 
 the House of Representatives in General Cort 
 Assembled. 
 
 Agreeable to an Order of this Honorable Cort 
 of the 27th of January last dyrecting the Inhabi- 
 tants of the Plantation of Waterford to appear and 
 shew cause if any they have, why the Petition of 
 Stephen Jewett and others praying that the 
 Plantation of Waterford might be incorporated 
 by the name of Waterford with the exception of 
 the three Eastermost Tears of lots might not be 
 granted — 
 
 We the Subscribers Inhabitants of the Planta- 
 tion of Waterford offer the following reasons why 
 the above mentioned prayer may not be granted. 
 
 lly Because the roads happily convean the 
 present Center whare as any one will be incon- 
 venient occasioned by ponds &c. 
 
 21y Because there is a River runing through 
 said Plantation which will cause the Inhabitants 
 to build Two extensive Bridges with little more 
 than One Tear of lots opposite said Bridges Joining 
 the three above mentioned Tears of lots — 
 
80 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 31y Because the owners of the Soil of the Three 
 tears of lots (excepting about five lots) own farms 
 and other Landed property in said Plantation and 
 we pray that they might not be sepperated. 
 
 41y Because the thirty and One Signers of 
 the above mentioned Petition living on the west 
 and northwest part of the Plantation wish to get 
 set off one fifth part of the Plantation for no reason 
 than to convean themselves with the Public build- 
 ings here after to be erected — wareas they do not 
 own one Inch of the Three above mentioned Tears 
 of lots, and own but about Twenty tow Lots of 
 land, and whereas the Owners of One Hundred and 
 Eighty two lort of Land are opposd to the prayer 
 of the above mentioned Petition. 
 
 These being our reasons and at the same time 
 Praying that the Plantation of Waterford might 
 be Incorporated by the name of Waterford, agrea- 
 ble to the boundaries or plan herewith presented. 
 We humble conceive will be amply sufficient to 
 prevent the above mentioned prayer from being 
 granted we however gladly submit them to your 
 Honours better Judgment — and as in duty bound 
 will ever Pray 
 
 Waterford. April the 22d 1796— 
 
 Ephraim Chamberlin 
 Colman B. Watson 
 Asa Johnson John Jewel 
 
 Malbory Kingman Jacob Gibson 
 
 Abijah Brown William Brown 
 
 David Mcwain Joseph Barker 
 
 Joseph Killgore Solomon Stone 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 81 
 
 Benja Killgore Jonathan Whitney 
 
 Isaac Smith Phineas Whitney 
 
 Stephen Sanderson John Nurse 
 
 Ebenezer Moulton Joel Stone 
 
 Josiah Shaw James H. Robbing 
 
 Africa HamHn Benjamin Hale 
 
 Jonathan Longley Daniel Barker 
 
 Moses Stone Eli Longley 
 
 Asaph Brown Silas Brown 
 
 David Hammond America Hamlin 
 
 Elijah Swan Joel Atherton 
 
 Jonathan Bobbins John Atherton 
 
 Oliver Hapgood Zechariah Fletcher 
 Thads Brown 
 
 In the House of Represents May 31 1796 
 
 Read & committed to the 
 standg Committee on applications for Incorpora- 
 tion of towns &c to hear the parties & report 
 
 Sent up for Concurrence 
 Edw. H, Robbins Spkr. 
 
 Note. Warren's History of Waterford contains an account 
 of the incorporation of the town. 
 
 TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSA- 
 CHUSETTS IN GENERAL COURT ASSEMBLED 
 
 Your petitioners being a Committee appointed 
 by the town of Waterford in the County of York — 
 Humbly sheweth That the County line as estab- 
 lished by the old province Law divides the Town 
 of Waterford, leaving about one fourth part in 
 
82 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 the County of Cumberland, and the remainder 
 in the County of York. . . That about two 
 years since, said Town was Incorporated in the 
 County of York — before which time the Inhabi- 
 tants had allways supposed the Township lay 
 mostly in the County of Cumberland, in conse- 
 quence of which all actions at Law were com- 
 mensed. . . Deeds recorded. . . And Es- 
 tates settled in the County of Cumberland — 
 That by the said Incorporating Act, the Inhabitants 
 of said Town are laid under many disadvantages, 
 as the distance from the Shire Town in the County 
 of York is about Ninety Miles, whereas the distance 
 from the Shire Town in the County of Cumberland 
 is not more than Fifty Miles. . And as 
 
 Portland is the only maratime Town with which 
 the Inhabitants of Waterford have any dealings, 
 they have frequent occasions to travel there on the 
 common concerns of Life, for which reason their 
 Law matters might be transacted at Portland 
 with little more than half the Expense it could be 
 at York where they have no other business but 
 that of the Law. . . Therefore the prayer of 
 your Petitioners is that the whole of the Town of 
 Waterford may be annexed to the County of Cum- 
 berland . . or that your petitioners may 
 relieved in such other manner, as your Honours 
 shall think best ... and as in duty bound 
 shall ever Pray. 
 
 Stephen Cummings 
 Thadeus Brown 
 America Hamlin 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 83 
 
 In Senate June 7th 1799. Read and committed 
 to the , standing Committee on applications for 
 the incorporation of Towns to hear the parties 
 and report. 
 
 Sent down for concurrence 
 
 John C. Jones Prest. pro tern 
 
 In the House of Represents June 8, 1799. Read 
 
 and Concurred Edwd H. Robbins, Spkr. 
 
 Note. Until 1760 the County of York included the whole 
 Province of Maine. In that year the counties of Cumberland 
 and Lincoln were established. Oxford County was not 
 established until 1805. The foregoing petition explains the 
 use of "Cumberland" in the petition printed page 62, War- 
 ren's History. Old maps show the town divided by the 
 County line which ran North and South; the Westerly and 
 larger part in York County, the Easterly in Cumberland. 
 
 The House and Senate concurred in sending the petition 
 to a committee; no further action seems to have been taken. 
 
 TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES IN GENERAL COURT ASSEMBLED. 
 
 the petition of the Inhabitants of the town of 
 Waterford by their Committee humbly sheweth — 
 that on the sixth day of April last at a legal 
 Meeting of said inhabitants, we Eber Rice, Solomon 
 Stone and Thadeus Brown were chosen a Committee 
 to address your honors on the following subject: 
 (viz) that whereas the proprietors of said town did 
 reserve the twenty-first right of land in said toAvii- 
 ship for the use of Schools, it being the full com- 
 plement of land reserved in the grant of said town 
 for that purpose that the same vests in a wild 
 uncultivated State, that by a sale of said land the 
 
84 HISTORY OF WATERFORD 
 
 said town would receive Great and singular ad- 
 vantage, as well as the public at large, as some of 
 the lands were they to be disposed of to individuals, 
 would be put under immediate cultivation and of 
 course would afford assistance in defraying internal 
 as well as governmental Expenses; therefore your 
 petitioners humbly pray that your honors would 
 grant liberty to said town of Waterford to sell the 
 aforesaid right of land and appropriate the income 
 thereof to such a use as was intended by the grant 
 thereof (viz) for schools, and as in duty bound will 
 ever pray. 
 
 Eber Rice 
 
 Solomon Stone } Committee 
 
 Thads Brown 
 
 Waterford, May 26, A. D. 1801 
 
 PETITION OF TOWN OF WATERFORD 
 
 TO THE HONORABLE SENATE AND THE HONORABLE 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN GENERAL COURT 
 ASSEMBLED AT BOSTON IN JAN'y A. D. 1806 
 
 The undersigned chosen a committee by the 
 inhabitants of the town Waterford to remonstrate 
 to your honours against the town of Fryburgh 
 being a half shire town. 
 
 Humbly Sheweth: That we are deeply impressed 
 with a sense of the impolliey and inconveniency of 
 Fryburgh being made a half shire town; viewing 
 the measure not calculated to promote the welfare 
 of the county of Oxford but on the contrary to 
 divide and distract the interests of the same; and 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 85 
 
 presuming that "well founded and powerful 
 objections" will be presented to your honours from 
 sources highly respectable against Fryburgh l)eing 
 establishd a half shire, we forbear being more 
 particular but submit the matter to your honours 
 in full confidence that you will do right— And we as 
 in duty bound will ever pray — 
 
 Jona Stone 1 
 
 America Hamlin V Committee 
 
 Jona Houghton J 
 
 Waterford Deer. 9th 1805 
 
 Note. In 180G the County of Oxford was divided into two 
 districts for the recording of deeds; the eastern Registry at 
 Paris and the Western at Fryeburg. 
 
A PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY, 'ARTEMUS 
 
 WARD.'* 
 
 Chamber's Journal, Vol. 42, p. 357, 1865. "Artemus Ward." 
 Quarterly Review, Vol. 122, p. 224, 1866. "Yankee Humor." 
 Every Saturday, Vol. 2, p. 765, 1866. "Artemus Ward in 
 
 London." 
 Every Saturday, Vol. 3, p. 457, 1867. "Artemus Ward." 
 
 These two articles appeared respectively in the Spectator 
 and London Review. 
 
 Scribner's, Vol. 16, p. 785, 1878. "Artemus Ward at Cleve- 
 land," by C. L.. Ruthrauff. 
 Scribner's, Vol. 21, p. 144, 1880. "Artemus Ward," by E. S. 
 
 Nadal, illustrated. 
 Scribner's, Vol. 22, p. 46, 1881. "Artemus Ward; his Home 
 
 and Family," by Don C. Seitz, illustrated. 
 Good Words, Vol. 23, p. 174 and 266, 1882; "Artemus Ward." 
 
 A sketch from life by H. R. Haweis, M. A. 
 Littell's Living Age, Vol. 177, p. 301, 1888. "Artemus Ward" 
 
 from "Time." 
 Overland Monthly, Vol. 18, p. 54, 1891. "The Real Artemus 
 
 Ward," by Enoch Knight. 
 Century, Vol. 46, p. 132, 1893. "Relics of Artemus Ward," 
 
 by Don C. Seitz, illustrated. 
 The Bookman, Vol. 8, p. 563, 1899. "The First Books of Some 
 
 American Authors," by Luther S. Livingston, illustrated. 
 New England Magazine, Vol. 22, p. 726, 1900. "Maine in 
 
 Literature," by William L Cole, illustrated. 
 Century, Vol. 63, p. 151, 1901. "Recollections of Artemus 
 
 Ward," James F. Ryder. P. 45 "Retrospect of American 
 
 Humor," by W. P. Trent, illustrated. 
 
 ♦Charles F. Bhowne, "Artemus Ward," was born at Waterford, April 
 20th, 1834. It is interesting to note that Seba Sniitli, "Major Jaelc Down- 
 ing" was born in Buckfield, 1792, and lived for a time at North Bridgton. 
 
HISTORY OF WATERFORD 87 
 
 Putnam's Monthly, Vol. , p. 599, Feb., 1907. Charles F. 
 
 Browne "Artemus Ward," Enoch Knight, illustrated. 
 Pine Tree Magazine, Vol. 6, p. 241, 1906. "To Artemus Ward 
 in Elysium," by Harry Lyman Koopman. 
 
 "My Own Story" John Townsend Trowbridge, Houghton 
 Mifflin & Co., 1903, page 181. 
 
 "Artemus Ward's Best Stories," with introduction by 
 William D. Howells, edited by Clifton Johnson and illustrated 
 by Frank A. Nankivell, Harper's, 1912. 
 
 Artemus Ward's complete works have been jjublished in 
 England by Chatto & Windus, and in the United States by 
 G. W. Dillingham Co., New York 
 
 The Early American Humorists. Boston, Small May- 
 nard & Co., 1907. 
 
 American Humorists. H. R. Haweis, N. Y. and 
 London, Funk & Wagnalls Co. 
 
 Th Bentzon; Litterature et Mocurs Etrangercs Etudes. 
 Paris 18S2. Vol. 2, p. 38. 
 
 E. S. Nadal; Essays at Home and Elsewhere, London, 
 1882. p. U6. 
 
 Albert B^gelow Paine; ]\Lark Twain a Biography, 1912. 
 Vol. 1 p. 2'38 et seq. 
 
 Practical Jokes with Artemus Ward including the story 
 of the Man who fought Cats, by Mark Twain, and other 
 Humorists. London, John Camden Hotten, 1872. 
 
 Artemus Ward, His Book, N. Y., Carleton, 1864. 
 
 Artemus Ward, His Travels, N. Y., Carleton, 1865. 
 
 Artemus Ward in London, N. Y., Carleton, 1867. 
 
 Artemus Ward, His Travels Among the Mormons, London, 
 John Camden Hotten, 1865. 
 
 Artemus Ward's Lecture (as delivered at the Egyptian 
 Hall, London), London, Hotten, N. Y., Carleton, 1869. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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