CHAPTER IX. CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION, AND PROGRESS OF THE TOWN TO 1790. HAVING thus followed the fortunes of a distinguished officer and actor in the Revolutionary events of this place, we return to 1781. At the annual meeting in March, the town voted " that the highways be repaired by a Rate the present year," a thing the people had refused or neglected to do for the three preceding years, probably preferring to turn out voluntarily, at the call of the surveyor, or to leave their ways unmended till the close of the war. The amount raised was voted in silver currency, to be paid in work at the rate of 6s. a day for a man, and 3s. for a yoke of oxen; a proof that the paper money was so far depreciated and variable as to be no longer serviceable even as a standard of value, The three recruits for the army assigned to Thomaston in December preceding, not having been otherwise provided for, the selectmen, April 16th, divided the inhabitants into three separate classes, and gave a list of their names to Col. Wheaton, "being the only commanding Officer known to them." These classes, it seems, neglected to procure the men required; and, Jan. 22, 1782, the sum of £385, 8s. 6d. was assessed upon them as an equivalent, each deficiency being set at £128, 9s. 6d. This, with the other taxes probably not yet liquidated, gave rise to a town meeting in the same month; when J. Simonton, Capt. N. Fales, and Atwood Fales were chosen a committee to petition the General Court for a redress of grievances; money was furnished by individuals; and Col. Wheaton forthwith despatched to Boston with a petition which, seconded by his personal influence, it was hoped might be successful. The expense advanced, £12, was subsequently refunded from the town treasury; and in May the town decided to be again represented in the General Court. Business continued depressed. Coasting was well nigh annihilated; fishing, except in rivers and harbors, had become too precarious to be much ventured upon; and the only resources left to the inhabitants were agriculture and the manufacture of salt. This last business was carried on to a considerable extent, even as far up George's River as Watson's Point, where, according to the books of Capt. James Watson, 298 bushels were made and sold by him this season. It was also made to a small extent by Bachelder and other dwellers on the seashore and at Wessaweskeag, and more largely by Coombs, Keating, and others, at the latter place. The unpropitious seasous seem to have continued discouraging to advances in agriculture; there being a fall of two or three feet of snow, this year, late in April. To add to the misery of the times, depredations by the refugees upon their own countrymen and neighbors still abounded and increased. The British continuing to occupy at Penobscot, and, since the withdrawal of Wadsworth, no permanent force being left here as a check, this petty warfare, as well as illicit traffic, was now, in this vicinity, carried to its greatest height. Injuries, on each side, were complained of and retaliated. Brother was arrayed against brother, neighbor against neighbor. Tories openly engaged in predatory exploits were known to be frequently on shore and lurking in concealment among those who favored the royal cause; so that no one knew when his family and property were free from danger. Messrs. Keating, Coombs, Mathews, Bridges, and Orbeton of Wessaweskeag, had purchased a small schooner with the proceeds of salt, for the manufacture of which they had carried wood to the salt-works on their own shoulders, and had sent her to Boston under the command of Capt. D. Crouch, with a cargo of that article procured in the same laborious way. On her return, however, with a scanty store of provisions and other necessaries for support of their families, she was captured off Monhegan by the two notorious tories, John Long and Benj. Bradford, accompanied by some Scotchmen from Castine, in a shaving-mill. Thus these men not only lost the proceeds of their hard labor, but had the mortification of finding the cargo, on which they depended for their winter stores, was brought to their own river and delivered over in payment of a debt, which one of the captors owed to a wealthy neighbor and townsman. This affair was attended with many aggravating circumstances, which long rankled in the breasts of the sufferers, and the bitter memory of which nothing but the subsequent power of religion could overcome.* An extreme instance of British audacity occurred also, about this time, in the eastern part of the town, now Rockland; in which the dwellinghouse of John Perry was burnt to the ground. Whilst residing on one of the Fox Islands, Mr. Perry, like the other inhabitants, being exposed to attacks from either party and sure of protection from neither, * Rice Rowell, MS. papers of H. P. Coombs, &c. had remained professedly neutral. His ardent attachment to the American cause could not however well be concealed; and, especially after the British had in 1779 obtained a foothold there, his property had frequently suffered by petty marauders. Vexed by repeated injuries, and discovering one day a party of two filling their bags with his ears of green corn, he took his gun, went down to the shore, and, lying in wait near their boat, shot them dead as they returned with their booty. After this summary vengeance, he could expect no mercy; so, having had his house on the island fired and consumed by them and finding his life in jeopardy, Mr. Perry removed to the main and dwelt in a small house built by Caleb Barrows at Blackington's Corner, on the farm and near the present dwelling of Mr. Otis Barrows. This, his enemies ferreted out; and, approaching the house, demanded of his family the surrender of his person. Being told he was not at home, and being denied all knowledge of his whereabouts, they, suspecting him to be concealed within, forbade the removal of a single article by the inmates, and, setting fire, reduced the house with all its contents to ashes. Mr. Perry returned to the island after the war; but several members of his family have since become active and valued residents of Rockland.* But this demoralizing state of things was soon to receive a check. The glorious triumph of the American arms at Yorktown, in the capture of the entire British army under Cornwallis, cheered the heart of every patriot, and was celebrated by a national Thanksgiving on the 13th of December. Though hostilities did not cease for more than a year, this may be considered the closing act of the Revolution; and the single recruit for the army imposed upon this town, in March following, was the last ever required of it for that war. 1782. The town, this year, returned to its old system of repairing the highways by voluntary contributions of labor; or as the record stands, "voted to do nothing." The same policy was continued till 1786. The second election, under the new constitution, for Governor, Lieut. Governor, and Senators, which occurred this year, April 1st, was duly notified in this town, but no meeting was held; and it would seem that the people here refused to take any part in the gubernatorial elections prior to 1788; unless there were a neglect to record, or ignorance of its necessity. The latter is possible; as, on the 30th of the * Mrs. Hannah Watson, Com. of Mrs. K. C. Perry, &c. same month, the record reads thus: "Voted and Chose the Hon. Thomas Rice, Esq., Register of Deeds, non. cont." What influence such a vote was expected to have in an election extending through the county, it is difficult to conceive. At a town meeting on the 8th of October, "a resolve of the General Court of the 4th of July preceding, together with a circular letter from the Commissioners," was communicated to the inhabitants. Symptoms of uneasiness in regard to the management of fiscal affairs, appear in the action of the town in this and the following year, 1783; when an entire change was made in town affairs, and D. Fales excluded from every office except that of sealer of weights and measures. A committee was appointed to settle with the agent of the beef-tax of 1780; another, "to inspect into the accounts of the town;" and the treasurer was instructed "to sue the delinquent Constables for the arrears of Rates in their hands." Several other votes, in regard to similar matters, were passed during the year; but their purport is not easy to be gathered, on account of the negligent manner in which they were kept by the town clerk. His imperfect, disjoined, and sometimes duplicate though differing, minutes, were, subsequently, by order of the town, copied into the book by Dr. Fales; who seems to have taken some pains and sly satisfaction in copying, verbatim, all the peculiarities of orthography and punctuation abounding in some of the more curious documents;especially a notice commencing as follows: "We the Committee chosen by the town of Thomaston to Reseue and Examen the aCounts and Demands that ane Parson hase against the Town Sines it Was inCorprated give notes that We will aTend the Bisenes on Thursday the 11th Day of Desember next at one of the Clock in the afternone," &c. The committee of inspection appears to have met with difficulty in executing its trust; as another meeting was called, Sept. 11th, for the purpose of considering "the Complaints of the Inhabitants of the Town of Thomaston respecting the burdensome Taxes laid on the town by our late Assessors which has already been laid before the town at our last March meeting and the Town at that meeting chose a committee to inspect into the Matter and those that have Demands on the Town (as the Committee reports) have refused to give the Satisfaction that they have requested by order of the Town, and the Assessors still refuse to render an Account to the committee the Reasons why the Tax-bill is so large," &c., &c., through four other distinct articles relating to the same subject. At a meeting in November it was voted to choose "a Man But to carry a Petition to the General Court to get Liberty to choose a Representative in the Room of Mason Wheaton, Esq., and to take care of a Petition that shall be sent by the Town;" and O. Robbins was chosen for that purpose. neither the nature of this petition, nor any reason for superseding their representative, appears. At the same time the town, voted that "the selectmen shall prevent any person or persons from setting up any Mill or Dam on the highways of the town." The vote was then reiterated that "all persons that do not bring in their accounts by the time set by the Committee, shall ever be exempted,"-probably meaning excluded from presenting them afterwards. The meeting was then adjourned to January, when the selectmen were directed to send a remonstrance against the petition of Warren for taking twenty-five rods of land from Thomaston. Though the Revolutionary struggle was now over, politics and the spirit of watchfulness were not allowed to slumber. The all-important "committee of correspondence, inspection, and safety," which had been annually chosen by the town since its incorporation, this year consisted of Capt. I. Lovett, E. Snow, and Jeremiah Tolman. But a town meeting was held, July 3d, to take a communication from the town of Boston in regard to the "absentees" into consideration, and choose " a committee of safety for a particular business." The particular business is not specified, but probably related to the same subject, and may have been designed to be kept secret. The new committee chosen were Capt. N. Fales, Lieut. R. Jameson, Comfort Barrows, O. Robbins, and D. Morse; and it was voted that "this town be agreed with the town of Boston to deal with the Absentees as the law directs;" also, to enjoin upon "their Committee to Ideal with the Absentees as the town of Boston has done." Whilst the town was thus busy in looking into pecuniary and secular matters, it was not wholly unmindful of the more important claims of religious instruction. For this purpose, or for schools, it does not appear that anything thus far had been actually expended. But, May 5th of this year, a vote was passed "to hire a minister of the Gospel for three Months," and E. Snow was appointed to provide such minister. On the 11th July of this year, Isaiah Tolman, in consideration of the want thereof, conveyed as a gift to the town one acre of land for a burying-ground, "situated on a Hill within his farm, for the use of the inhabitants and such others as may have occasion to use the same" for that purpose. His deed is recorded, surrounded by a black border, on the 48th |