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McKellar of St. George, and Otis Wentworth of Hope, were long missed and mourned, but no tidings of their fate were ever received. It is singular that, three years after, a mahogany chest, navigator, and atlas, left on board a St. George. vessel by some Portuguese sailors who deserted after receiving advance pay at Vera Cruz, were brought home and recognised as having belonged to the three several officers of the Maine; but how obtained by them has ever remained a mystery.*

1845. The spring of 1845 opened with the prospect of an unusually busy season; the construction of no less than 17 vessels at the three villages being contemplated. In West Thomaston some 15 or 20 dwellings were in process of building, while, at the East village, innumerable houses, stores, and kilns were going up-so that it was already predicted “that the kilns on City Point would meet those at the South End, and make one mile of uninterrupted lime kilns." It was estimated that in one day alone, the 21st of April, more than 10,000 lime casks were brought to market, which, at 14 cents, amounted to $1400. Two new lime quarries were opened, one by Col. Dwight, and the other by Mr. Jacobs, giving greater facilities to the limeburners at West Thomaston. The annual product of the lime business in the whole town was estimated at 633,600 casks, amounting, when carried to market, at 85 cents per cask, to $538,560; consuming 2000 kegs of powder at $2,75 per keg, 42,768 cords of wood at $3 per cord, and employing 100 quarry-men, 50 teamsters, and 150 kiln-tenders, eight months in a year, whose wages were computed at $73,800.†

The South Thomaston Post Office, at Wessa weskeag, or, South Thomaston, as that part of the town now began to be called, was, February 19th of this year, established, and Archibald McKellar, Jr. appointed its first post-master. The office has since been filled by Ezekiel D. Hall, March 14, 1855; Miss Eliza Spalding, March 17, 1856; Allen F. Martin, Aug. 12, 1856; and Ezekiel D. Hall, Aug. 10, 1861, resigned in 1864.1

On the 10th July, Sylvester Fales, a very industrious and promising young man, engaged in blasting rock in the lime quarry near Brown's corner, was instantly killed by the explosion of the charge from which he was in the act of with

*Hon. G. Thorndike, Rockland Gazette, &c. Lime Rock Gazette, 1846.

Records Post Office Department, Washington.

drawing the priming-wire. Fusing tubes had not yet come into use, but this was said to be the second instance here known of an explosion caused by mere friction in withdrawing the wire. It was immediately followed, however, August 8th, by a third instance which proved equally fatal to Daniel Donavan, an Irishman, aged 54 years, employed in the quarry of Daniel Morse, his body, like that of Mr. Fales, being shockingly mangled. On the 6th June, a son of Capt. R. Bramhall, together with another boy, whose name we have been unable to ascertain, was drowned at East Thomaston. The house, barn and out-buildings of Capt. Edward Lermond in W. Thomaston, with a portion of his furniture, were burned on the night of July 4th. They were those built by Wm. Killsa when trading at Oyster River, about 1821, their site being now occupied by the house of John Peterson. The fire was first discovered by two Warren lads, tending a lime kiln, who, with much trouble, roused the bewildered inmates; its origin was supposed to be from some defect in an oven. Insurance, $1700. On the 22d Sept. following, the house of Samuel H. Fales was also in part consumed by fire; and, in the first week of November, a lime shed at East Thomaston, containing 1200 casks of lime belonging to Jos. Hewett and Wm. Perry, was burnt in consequence of water reaching the lime.

Some difficulty was experienced in the choice of representatives this year. Amid a multitude of candidates, Oliver B. Brown obtained a majority on the second trial; but the contest for his colleague went on for five weeks longer, when, on the seventh trial, Atwood Levensaler was elected.

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The Washingtonian movement having done its work and in a great measure subsided, a new effort was now made against the gigantic evil by a portion of the citizens of West Thomaston, who associated themselves under the name of "West Thomaston Temperance Union." The society organized, December 26th, by choosing M. R. Ludwig, president, and N. Liscomb, secretary. Another society was organized at Mill River, February 1846, on the same tee-total pledge, but with an express disclaimer of any legal interference with the business of rumsellers, with an admittance fee of 50 cents, and a weekly payment of 25 cents. This was called the Temperance Club; and its first officers were N. Liscomb, C. Wormell, T. H. Smith, and C. Prince. Its funds were to be profitably invested, and any member breaking his pledge was to forfeit his interest in them. These funds being, the first year, invested in two gondolas, it obtained the name of the Gondola

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Society. The Sons of Temperance had now begun to be an active organization. Of these, the Lime Rock Division, No. 16, was organized at East Thomaston, December 1845, and the officers chosen, January 1846, were J. B. Sears, J. Fogg, S. Partridge, J. C. Cochran, D. Warren, A. C. Spalding, H. Paine, D. M. Mitchell, D. Cowing, G. Filmar, S. C. Fessenden, and J. C. Perry. The Kedron Division, No. 25, was organized at West Thomaston, March 11, 1846, with M. R. Ludwig, A. Rice, A. Perkins, Willard Fales, Jr., Simon Robinson, J. Catland, J. S. Catland, G. Gay, S. Mitchell, B. D. Metcalf, and L. B. Allen, officers. The Hyperion Division, No. 151, was instituted at Rockland, April 27, 1850; and its first officers were H. Merriam, E. W. Pendleton, K. C. Perry, C. L. Allen, D. M. James, B. B. Thomas, J. J. Perry, Calvin Hall, Charles Babbage, Lorenzo Hall, B. Philbrook and J. Porter. These still maintain their organization and activity with the exception perhaps of Kedron, in Thomaston, whose place has been lately supplied by the Wadsworth Division, No. 35, organized June 5, 1861, by installation of Rev. Wm. J. Wilson, A. Perkins, B. Jackson, Wm. M. Hathorn, A. C. Strout, A. W. Tenny, Wm. Bumps, Rev. L. D. Hill, L. Copeland, E. Copeland, E. Walsh, and E. S. Fales. 1846. The town, March 9th, refused to authorize licenses, voted not to refund certain $50 fines for violation of the license law, and to instruct the selectmen to go on and prosecute. The Sons continued very active, having frequent celebrations and addresses in town, and, Oct. 20th, the Maine Union, No. 1, of the Daughters of Temperance, conformably to charter from the Grand Union at New York, was organized at East Thomaston, M. J. Haskell and eleven others being chosen officers. Under a new Act, licenses were granted in this and the following year to two or three individuals to sell strong liquors for medicinal and mechanical purposes only.

At this time in South Thomaston there was not a place where ardent spirits were retailed; and the rapidly increasing prosperity of the place attested the advantage of this state of things. One large ship and other vessels were on the stocks, ten or twelve houses and stores were erecting, new lime kilns were building, the wharves and banks of the river were darkened with kiln-wood, and the lime to be burnt was estimated at not less than 30,000 casks. A grant was this year obtained by Messrs. Joseph and Almond Newhall, Joshua Bart lett, and their associates, to erect a dam across the tide wa ters of Wessaweskeag River near where the bridge crosses it. This was done, and a saw and grist-mill built the follow

ing year. At West Thomaston ship-building was very prosperous. Some improvements were made in the navigation of Mill River, by removing obstructions in the channel, driving piles, and erecting beacons at suitable places along its margin. The side-walks were rebuilt six feet wide by W. K. Stevens; and the passion for ornamental trees seems this year to have arrived at its acme, some 2000 rock-maples, elms, and other forest trees having been planted in the three last weeks of April. The Georges Canal Company, with a capital of from $50,000 to $100,000, was incorporated, July 2d, for rendering navigable the upper waters of the Georges River. The work was expected to add much to the business of West Thomaston, and many citizens subscribed liberally. But, after an expenditure of $80,000 and more, the produce brought down was much less than expected, some of the works proved defective and had to be repaired, the property was attached for the debts of the company, and the whole concern, after being sold to a second company, proved a failure and was finally abandoned.

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At East Thomaston, the LIME ROCK, since changed to ROCKLAND GAZETTE, a weekly paper, commenced its successful career, on Thursday, Jan. 22. It was published at first by Lewis Richardson and John Porter, the former of whom withdrew in August, 1847, and the latter has remained connected with it, either as partner or principal, down to the present time; his son being now associate publisher. Independent in politics, it has been liberally patronised from the first, numbering, according to the census, 1200 subscribIts first editor was James Fogg, till the autumn of 1846, succeeded by Dr. Albert Shaw, from 1847 till his removal to Bath; by M. P. Williams, to Jan. 28, 1850, who has since been editor and proprietor of the Hudson Gazette, a democratic paper in Hudson, N. Y. in Hudson, N. Y.; by A. D. Nichols, from Jan. 31, 1850, to Feb. 25, 1853; by Wakefield G. Frye, from Feb. 25, 1853, to March 19, 1857; and by Z. Pope Vose, a talented son of Rockland, from March 19, 1857, up to the present time. Other signs of successful enterprise were apparent in East Thomaston. New buildings, some of them of brick, four and five stories high, were going up; the Commercial Hotel, on Main street, was re-built by J. T. and W. Berry, and kept by them till 1851; and new and expensive wharves were constructed, one 500 and more feet long, back of Crockett's Pt., for which, the following year, an Act of incorporation was obtained by Messrs. Cole, Lovejoy, Wiggin, and Crockett.

So rapid was the growth of the place from

the influx of laborers, tradesmen, and men of business, that much complaint was made of want of buildings for their accommodation. The steamers Bangor, Penobscot, Governor, and Huntress, touched regularly at the port, and, on the last week of March, no less than 33 vessels arrived and 19 departed, besides some 50 or 60 sail engaged in freighting kilnwood from the eastern ports and islands.*

The East and South Thomaston Fire and Marine Insurance Company was created by the incorporation of sundry persons of Camden and those two sections of Thomaston, Aug. 10th, with a capital of $50,000. The company's office was to be kept in East Thomaston; was located in the Lime Rock Bank; and still remains one of the prosperous institutions of Rockland; its name having been changed in 1853, to the Lime Rock Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Its first president was Knott Crockett, who was succeeded by Iddo K. Kimball, and Charles R. Mallard has been its only secretary.

Thomaston mariners at this time were found in almost every commercial mart, near or remote. The following protest from one of them appeared in the Richmond Times this season. "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights. To all whom it may concern. I am here at the Metropolis of the Old Dominion, summoned to answer a warrant before his honor the mayor, for a charge of pilotage, by what is called a ‘Branch Pilot.' I have paid a pilot for conducting me from Hampton Roads up James River. James River. I sailed last from the port of New York under a coasting license which I humbly conceive entitles me to navigate the coast of Virginia and other States of the Union. Of this Branch Pilot I asked nothing, received nothing, and, of course, (without compulsion) do not mean to pay for nothing. As this is a matter which affects all who are interested in shipping, whether merchant or sailor, I invite their attention and co-operation in the steps to be taken before the Mayor on the 4th inst. I close by saying that if precedent should prevail against me, I shall seek an appeal and carry the matter to such court as may be necessary to ascertain the constitutionality of the law (if there be such a law) even should I have to incur the whole expense. I am a plain old man, have been in many a storm, and if I am wrecked in this my effort for Free Trade and Sailors' Rights, I know I have still a plank left which shall float over the seas of the free, which is often the home of the brave. Simon

* Lime Rock Gazette, &c.

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