during the heat of the controversy which ended in the Revolution; and, ardently espousing the cause of the people, it is not strange that his boyish errors should be remembered and his character darkly painted by the enemies of political and religious liberty. Accordingly we find him thus noticed in 1775, by Rev. Jacob Bailey-an Episcopalian clergyman and missionary, long stationed in Pownalboro', living in that part since named Dresden, till obliged, in 1779, by his tory principles to take refuge in Nova Scotia. "About the beginning of this summer, one Whiting was engaged to officiate at the court-house. This fellow, now 19 or 20 years of age, had been extremely notorious for his vicious and idle conduct, having first been expelled from the college at Cambridge, and afterwards (it is reported) obliged to flee from the seminary at Providence for stealing the president's horse. He had been employed for some time as a schoolmaster in Kennebeck, but was represented as a person disposed to ridicule both religion and virtue, yet, pretending to a sudden and miraculous conversion, and assuming uncommon zeal in the cause of liberty, he is conceived to be an happy instrument of carrying on the blessed work of ruining the Church; and though it is af firmed that he boldly preached the sermons of President Davies and other writers of a sprightly and fanatical turn, yet he was highly caressed by our leaders, and extolled as an angel from heaven to proclaim the everlasting Gospel; .. all who were inclined to favor the present commotions attended his vociferations." Mr. Whiting was subsequently ordained at Newcastle, where he had the gratification of publicly reading the declaration of independence, in 1776, from his pulpit; but was now, at the time of his engagement here, located at Warren. The Baptist church, having now purged itself of what it deemed heresy, had, as before mentioned, invited Elder Elisha Snow to become its pastor; and he was accordingly ordained Sept. 27, 1794. Under the labors of this, their second pastor, the church was greatly established in doctrine, and considerably, though not rapidly, increased in numbers. He was, especially to those who were pleased with doctrinal discussion, an interesting preacher; and, from his abrupt energy of expression, apt illustration, and unflinching perseverance in adhering to a point regardless of consequences, however startling, seldom failed to gain the attention of every hearer. Those who differed from him were sometimes amused; while those who agreed, were edified and confirmed in their sentiments. As a disciplinarian, he was strict; and, though re markable for abruptness of speech, he was exceedingly affable and kind in his intercourse with his people. In discussion, however, he was too impetuous and overbearing for fairness; anticipating the arguments of an adversary before. they were fully enunciated, and confusing rather than convincing him, by a witty reply, when he could not find a reasonable one. In this, his only successful competitor was his old and still welcome employee, John Sullivan. To illustrate these traits in both, a few anecdotes may as well be given here as any where. ar', Sullivan," said he, on one occasion, "I saw you at my meeting in the forenoon, I suppose you have been to hear Mr. Whiting since." "Yes." "Which did you like best?" "I liked you best." "Ah! how is this?" said Snow, "Whiting is a man of learning, and is said to be an elegant scholar. “That's it—that is the very reason," said the sturdy catholic, "Whiting is a man of learning and a man of sense; I wouldn't give a copper to hear him preach." On another occasion Snow related the circumstance of his making a trip to Boston, and, whilst wind-bound at Falmouth, visiting an old acquaintance and intimate friend, whom he found very poor and destitute. After returning, he frequently thought he had done wrong in not tendering him some assistance. He still wished to do it, but hesitated and delayed. After a time his cattle got lost in the woods and baffled all his efforts to find them. At length he inwardly resolved, he said, that if the Lord would restore his cattle, he would make a present of one hundred dollars to his destitute friend. That night, his cattle returned of their own accord; and he performed his resolution. His friend was grateful for the gift, but Snow cut short his acknowledgments by saying, "not a word of thanks to me, it is only the Lord's money." Right," said Sullivan, after listening attentively to the story, " you did right; perfectly right; you wouldn't trust the Lord, but made sure of your cattle first." 66 if you An objector to Mr. Snow's doctrine of original sin and the exposure of all men to everlasting punishment on account of Adam's transgression, earnestly inquired "would you, as a magistrate, condemn me for a theft my father committed before I was born?" Certainly;" was the reply, "if were found with the stolen property about you." On one occasion, however, his argument was amusingly arrested by a dog, as Balaam's purpose was, by an ass. Conversing at a friend's table, one day, upon the perseverance of the saints and the full assurance of heaven to a man once converted, he said, taking up a morsel of meat with his fork, "I feel just as sure of going to heaven, as I am of swallowing this piece of meat." So saying, he raised it towards his mouth; but it fell from the fork to the floor, and the dog instantly seized and devoured it. 'Wife," said the pastor on returning one day after conversing with a woman of a perverse and troublesome disposition, then under concern of mind, "wife, wife, I've got good news. Ah," said she, "what is it?" "Why," he replied, "the devil is about to lose his oldest daughter!" At the close of the sermon one day, he said, “I have at length finished what I have to say to Christians; and now, sinners, what shall I say to you? Nothing! Not one word. Let God do his own work! and so sat down, making a deep impression on every hearer. A draft of militia, in consequence of Indian hostilities in the western country and the unsettled state of affairs with England, having been made, (to be ready for actual service at a minute's warning, and hence called "minute-men,") the town voted, Nov. 3, 1794, "that the Minute Men be allowed six shillings each for their past services," and that they "be allowed two pounds eight shillings per month, if called into actual service." This was in addition, probably, to the pay allowed by the general government. How many were drafted from this town is not known, as they were never called for; the Indians having been defeated by Gen. Wayne, Aug. 20th, and the difficulties with England settled, Nov. 19th, by a commercial treaty. This year was remarkable for an extensive and severe frost as late as the 17th of June,* and so copious that it might be gathered up into snowballs. Corn and all the small fruits were cut off. The grass crop was also so scanty in consequence of cold and dry weather, that travellers in the succeeding April found it difficult to obtain hay for their horses. 1795. Doctors Dodge and Bernard, with Ephraim Snow, who had been chosen in 1794 to inquire into the state of the treasury, were, on their neglecting to report, this year continued a committee for that purpose. Dea. Brown was reelected treasurer; but the vote was soon after reconsidered and Dr. Fales chosen in his room, with instructions to call on the collectors for settlement, and, in case of their failing to settle within two months after notice, to issue execution against any delinquent. As yet, no mail had penetrated so far east as Thomaston; * Not May, as erroneously printed in Annals of Warren. and probably few or no newspapers were read in the place, except those occasionally brought by the coasters. The most eastern post office was at Wiscasset, to which a mail from Portland was brought twice a month. In 1793, however, Geo. Russell of Castine was hired by private individuals to go from Castine to Wiscasset to bring letters and newspapers to the several towns between those places. He went on foot once a fortnight, and carried his mail at first in a yellow silk handkerchief, afterwards in saddle-bags. As letters for people here at this time were received and given out at Col. Wheaton's, he has been traditionally handed down as the first postmaster of Thomaston; but the first legal postmaster, appointed and recognised by Government, was his son, James D. Wheaton, the present year, 1795; when, on a petition of inhabitants of this and other towns interested, postmasters. were appointed, the Thomaston Post Office and others established, and the mail sent officially once a week on horseback. The earliest official mail-carrier recollected, was one Clark of Camden, a shoemaker and bachelor, who was subject to constitutional fits of sleepiness, so intense as to cause him to slumber for miles, while his faithful horse pursued the accustomed route. He was succeeded by Winchester Farnham of the same town, a tanner. The first appointments, prior to 1806, cannot be ascertained at Washington in consequence of the loss by fire of the three first books of the Department in 1836; but Thomaston's first postmaster, James D. Wheaton, was probably appointed in May, as his first returns to the General Post Office were made July 1, 1795. He either kept the office in the grist-mill or his dwellinghouse, holding it till Nov. 1799, when he was succeeded by David Fales (2d); since which, the succession of postmasters has been, James D. Wheaton re-appointed, June 30, 1806; Hezekiah Prince, March 8, 1821; James D. Wheaton, re-appointed, April 15, 1823; John M. Gates, Feb. 16, 1837; Edwin Rose, Dec. 8, 1838; John M. Gates, re-appointed, May 24, 1841; Samuel Fuller, May 24, 1845; Shubael Waldo, Nov. 12, 1846; Asa C. Fuller, May 15, 1849; Ambrose Lermond, June 11, 1853; and Edward W. Robinson, April 30, 1861. The income of this office, the only one in the present town of Thomaston, for the year ending March 30, 1863, was $2020,20.* The several votes passed and committees raised some nine or ten years previous, in regard to providing a meeting-house * Hon. A. H. Hodgman, Locke's Hist. of Camden, Returns, &c., in General Post Office, Washington. by the town, in its parish capacity, having proved abortive, individual exertion seems to have taken up and accomplished what the town had apparently abandoned for some time. A subscription paper was got up as early as Jan. 16, 1792; but two or three years seem to have elapsed between its earliest and latest signatures. The names and sums subscribed were as follows: Mason Wheaton, £6, lawful money; Oliver Robbins, £6; David Fales, Jr., £9; David Creighton, £3; Samuel Brown, £9; Israel Loveitt, £10; Phinehas Butler, £4; Wm. Lackey, £3; Josiah Reed, £12; David Fales, £10; Jas. Brown, £6; John Butler, £4; Wm..Gregory, £2 10s.; Daniel Morse, £6; Spencer Vose, £6; John M. Wight, £1 4s.; Jas. Stackpole, £12; John Dillaway, £5; David Jenks, £9; Henry Knox, if built in the course of the year 1795, £40, and the glass for the house; John Bridges, £4; Oliver Robbins, £9; Jos. Coombs, £9; Walter Hatch, £7 10s.; David Fisk, £4 10s.; Nat. Woodcock, £5; Wm. Watson, £4; Isaac Spear, £3 10s.; Finley Kelloch, £6; Isaac Bernard, £6; Nathan Parsons, £6; and John Handley, £7 10s.* In consequence of this subscription, the frame of the first house of worship in the town, and therefore usually styled the Town or Congregational Meeting-house, was this year erected. It was located on the hill east of Mill river, upon a piece of ground conveyed May 2, 1796, by Capt. D. Fales. (2d) to D. Fales, Esq., and other proprietors containing forty-six rods and one-half, being 116 feet front by 109 feet in depth, for the consideration of $40. The building appears to have been 50 feet in width and probably about the same in length; exclusive of two projecting wings or porches in front, between which was an open court leading to the main entrance into the body of the building below, and covered over by an arch or platform extending from wing to wing, upon which was erected a belfry surmounted by a tall and elegant steeple. The house was furnished with capacious galleries upon three sides, one in front for the singers; the other two having common seats forward for all who chose to occupy them, and a tier of wall pews in the rear. These galleries were approached by staircases which occupied the two porches. The pulpit, in the opposite end, was elevated, according to the custom which prevailed in those times of two-storied churches; and an echo was provided to send the preacher's voice downwards to the pews below, in the form * Original paper drawn up by Dr. Fales, now in possession of Hon. Beder Fales. |