THE HISTORY OF MAINE BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT REVISED THROUGHOUT AND FIVE CHAPTERS OF NEW MATTER ADDED BY LATE EDITOR OF THE PORTLAND TRANSCRIPT SECOND EDITION, ILLUSTRATED AUGUSTA, MAINE FUBLISHED FOR E. E. KNOWLES & CO. BY BROWN THURSTON COMPANY PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. It is seventeen years since the History of Maine was published, and more than twelve years it has been out of print, making it highly desirable that the growing interests of the state should be placed before the people. This edition has been under the careful supervision of Mr. Edward H. Elwell, than whom no man in the state was better fitted for the task. He had long been editor of the Portland Transcript, and was a critical observer of the topography, material, educational and political condition of Maine. Every page has been carefully scrutinized, corrections and additions made, and five new chapters added upon subjects not treated upon in the first edition. RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES, MORALS AND RELIGION, POPULATION, EDUCATION, POLITICS. The death of Mr. Elwell, shortly after completing this work is a loss and bereavement to every intelligent citi. zen of Maine. BROWN THURSTON COMPANY. PORTLAND, 1892. PREFACE. MAINE is the native state of the writer of this volume. Seventy years ago, in the year 1805, he was born in Brunswick, within sound. of the roar of the falls of the Androscoggin. His childhood was spent in Hallowell, then a small but thriving hamlet upon the banks of the Kennebec. In the halls of Bowdoin he received his collegiate education. In his maturer years he ever repaired, for recreation, to the parental home, then at Farmington in the beautiful and luxuriant valley of the Sandy River. In Maine he found the cradle of his infancy. There are the graves of his fathers. Upon its soil he has spent the happiest years of his life. To give a biographical sketch of his native state, of its birth, growth and maturity, has been with him a labor of love. It is not the object of this history to search out discoveries which have hitherto eluded the scrutiny of antiquarians, or to settle disputed questions which have arisen in reference to minute details in early days. He wishes to give a faithful and graphic record of the wondrous past,such a record as will be read with interest at every fireside. It is indeed an exciting story he has to tell,-of perilous adventures by sea and land, of struggles against the hardships of the wilderness, of terrible conflicts with a savage foe. In the rich libraries of Portland, Boston and New Haven, the writer has found ample material for his work. He has endeavored to give the reader his authority for every important statement he has made. Where there is irreconcilable discrepancy in the annals of the past, he has endeavored faithfully to give each side. The history commences with the landing of the Northmen upon our shores about a thousand years ago, and closes with the present grandeur of the State, when our prosperous Republic is about to celebrate the centennial anniversary of its existence as an independent nation. The writer has only to say, in conclusion, that he feels that this is one of the last labors of his long life. He has spared no pains to make this history as accurate as possible; and he now commends it to the kindly consideration of the sons and daughters of Maine. FAIRHAVEN, CONN, 1875. JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. |
