Harpswell Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2017 www.harpswellhistorical.org [email protected] www.facebook.com/harpswellhistoricalsociety The Harpswell Historical Society is dedicated to the discovery, identification, collection, preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of materials relating to the history of Harpswell and its people..

Johnson Harmon aggressive actions against English President’s Report Excerpted from A History of Harpswell, settlers. Dave Hackett At the Georgetown meeting, the Maine by Richard R. Wescott This past year has been a good Abnaki demanded specifically that one for our Society. A lot of good Johnson Harmon of York, Maine the settlements being made by the things have happened. We have had played an important role in the Pejepscot Proprietors around Mer- a few more visitors than in years early settlement of Merriconeag rymeeting Bay be withdrawn. The past. Artifacts regularly come to the [Harpswell] Neck, both as a set- Massachusetts delegates refused Museum, among them, a hooked rug tler and as an agent for the Pejep- to make any such pledge. In fact depicting the Basin Point Tide Mill, a scot Proprietors who, in the early they demanded and received four glass jar filled with wooden lobster eighteenth century, owned most of sachems as hostages for the Ab- pegs, and a Portland Cutter sleigh what is now Harpswell, Maine. He naki’s good behavior. (more about that in a bit), a wonder- was born in 1680 Father Râle, the Jesuit mission- ful tool collection, two school desks, The three winters from 1719- ary at the Norridgewock village one from the Orr’s Island School and 1722, with the permission of the of the Abnaki, who was militantly one from the old West Harpswell Pejepscot Proprietors who had opposed to the extension of British School and many more pieces of been granted Merriconeag Neck settlements in Maine, was angered our history. and nearby islands by the General by both the taking of the hostages Court, Harmon left his home on and the Massachusetts delegates’ Many people have found a con- the north side of the York River to stated intention to foster more nection to some of their ancestors go to the Neck to cut timber and English expansion up the Kennebec from the contents of our archives. firewood. River and along the shores of Mer- Our fund drive has had a higher In the summer of 1720 the rymeeting Bay. He demanded that total than in years past. General Court sent a delegation another conference be held the We acquired the Museum build- to meet with the Abnaki who gave following year at Brunswick where ing in 2000. At that time our Society assurances of their good inten- the Pejepscot Proprietors had built tions, but their killing and steal- Fort George as a strong point to Presidnt, continued on p. 4 ing of cattle and their threats to protect their settlements along the settlers along the Kennebec and Androscoggin River and Merry- Contents Androscoggin Rivers and around meeting Bay. Johnson Harmon...... 1 Casco Bay continued. In November, President’s Report...... 1 When the Massachusetts govern- Battle of Norridgewock...... 3 Harmon, who had been commis- ment agreed to the later meeting French & Indian Wars in Maine...... 3 sioned as a captain of a militia and sent a delegation to Brunswick, Some Snippets from company, was appointed by the Around the Country...... 5 Father Râle, in a militant display Bailey Island Library Hall...... 5 General Court to a new delegation of defiance, paraded a couple of Some tools acquired which had been created to meet hundred Abnaki warriors into the by the Society recently...... 6 with the natives at Georgetown on Can you recognize this building?...... 8 town. The conference was a com- Help Us Cut Our Costs...... 8 the lower Kennebec River to find Board Members...... 8 out why they were continuing their Harmon, continued on p. 2, col. 1 Harmon, continued from page 1 afternoon is unclear from the vari- cess directly to Governor Dummer plete failure, for Father Râle re- ous accounts of the battle by par- and the General Court. newed his demands that the British ticipants, but the village was over- Upon his arrival at the capital, abandon their encroachments upon run by the militia after some hard Harmon was invited by the Gover- the natives’ lands and release of skirmishing. At some point in the nor’s Council to give it an account all the hostages they held, and the melee, Lieutenant Richard Jaques, of the attack at Norridgewock, and English representatives, acting upon Harmon’s son-in-law, shot, killed, he gave them a brief report. After their instructions from the Massa- and scalped Father Râle. All told that meeting, under oath, Harmon chusetts government, refused flatly 26 or 28 of the natives were killed swore to the authenticity of the to make any such concessions and scalped and another thirty or scalps taken from the Abnaki and Frustrated by their inability to run forty were killed or drowned in the Father Râle to qualify his men to down the Abnaki away from their river as they fled. A young white receive the so-called scalp money principal village at Norridgewock, boy who had been taken captive in that the government paid for the in August 1724, Colonel Westbrook a native raid was freed. The follow- killing of hostile natives. After the ordered Captain Harmon’s and ing day, before they returned down required certification was given by Captain Jeremiah Moulton’s com- river, Harmon and Moulton had the Harmon, a warrant was issued to panies to attack again that bastion. bodies of the natives heaped into the treasurer to pay Harmon 100 Starting up the Kennebec River in a pile in the center of the village pounds as a reward for the killing seventeen whaleboats with 200 which was then put to the torch. of Father Râle. Each of his men men, Harmon and his father-in-law When Harmon and Moulton received a share of the scalp money Captain Moulton hoped apparently brought their forces back to Fal- which was computed on the basis to surprise the natives since the mouth and reported their victory of fifteen pounds for each adult English did not usually mount expe- to Colonel Westbrook, the town male scalp taken and eight pounds ditions during the summer months erupted in celebration even as ru- for each scalp taken from a woman for fear of illnesses erupting among mors spread that a native counter- or child. the militia. strike was already being organized. Johnson and Mary Harmon had As they approached Norridge- Colonel Westbrook in his report to moved to Merriconeag Neck in wock cautiously in the early after- Lieutenant Governor Dummer rec- October 1735, having sold for five noon, Harmon divided the militia. ommended that Harmon be com- shillings their house and the twelve He scouted through the cornfields missioned as a field grade officer acres upon which it was situated around the village looking for the as a reward for his victory. Harmon in York, along with the outbuild- enemy while Moulton led his men sailed the next day for Boston with ings, barns, wharves, orchards, and directly toward the center of the Colonel Westbrook’s dispatch in fences to their son Joseph who village. Exactly what happened that hand to report the expedition’s suc- would take over full ownership of the premises immediately after his father’s death. Six years after he and Mary moved to the Neck, perhaps be- cause he sensed that he was getting on in years - he was now 61 - Har- mon sold all his land and buildings on the Neck in 1741 to Joseph for seventy pounds in bills of credit. He and Mary moved back to York to live on the farm where he died a decade later on April 17, 1751.

Johnson Harmon and his men attack the Abnaki at Norridgewock, killing and scalping Father Râle.

Page 2 Battle of Norridge- Catholic proselytizing among the their way up the Kennebec River wock Abenaki (and thereby perceived toward their intended target. Aside Wikipedia French influence), and to allow the from destroying the village, Captain expansion of New England settle- Harmon was ordered to finally seize The Norridgewock Raid occurred ments into Abenaki territory and Father Sebastian Rale for his subver- in contested lands being fought over Acadia. New France defined this area sive activities among the Kennebec by England, France and the Wabanaki as starting at the Kennebec River in people. The approach of the Mas- Confederacy, during the colonial southern Maine. Other motivations sachusetts force was nearly betrayed frontier conflict referred to as Gov- for the raid included the special ₤100 when it encountered the family of a ernor Dummer’s War. Despite being scalp bounty placed on Râle’s head well-known and respected Kennebec called a ‘battle’ by some, the raid by the Massachusetts provincial as- sagamore known as Bomazeen while was essentially a massacre of Indians sembly and the bounty on Abenaki portaging around the falls in present by colonial British troops. Captains scalps offered by the colony during Skowhegan. Killing Bomazeen and Johnson Harmon, Jeremiah Moulton, the conflict. Casualties, depending his daughter, the force continued on and Richard Bourne (Brown) led a on the sources consulted, vary, but undetected with Bomazeen’s wife in force of two hundred colonial New most accounts record about eighty tow as a captive. Englanders, which attacked the Abenaki being killed. But both Eng- The expedition arrived unnoticed Abenaki village of Narantsouak, or lish and French accounts agree that before the village at Norridgewock Norridgewock, on the Kennebec the raid was a surprise nighttime on the afternoon of August 23. Ob- River; the current town of Norridge- attack on a civilian target, and they serving the village from a distance, wock, Maine developed near there. both also report that many of the Harmon and his men noted wisps The village was led by, among others, dead were unarmed when they were of smoke rising from the cornfields the sachems Bomazeen and Welák- killed, and those massacred included beyond the village. Hoping to ap- wansit, known to the English as Mog. many women and children. As a prehend people at work in the fields, The village’s Catholic mission was result of the raid, New Englanders Harmon with sixty men marched run by a French Jesuit priest, Father flooded into the lower Kennebec re- around the village toward the corn- Sébastien Râle. gion, establishing settlements there fields and the mouth of the Sandy The raid was undertaken to check in the wake of the war. River. Captain Jeremiah Moulton Abenaki power in the region, limit was given the task of taking the vil- French & Indian Wars lage. Moulton positioned two of his in Maine companies in ambush to prevent by Michael Dekker the people from escaping while he moved forward with his own com- Our Annual Meeting on September 20, 2017, featured Michael Dekker. Following pany to assault the village. Moulton’s is an excerpt from his book French and attack came as a complete surprise. Indian Wars in Maine (Military). Unarmed, as Moulton’s force entered Having unsuccessfully attempted the village, the men of Norridge- to destroy the principal village of the wock offered ineffective resistance Kennebec people at Norridgewock al- as the women, children and elderly ready during the war, Massachusetts fled for their lives. With the river launched another foray into the heart the only possible route of escape, of Maine in the summer of 1724. panicked people attempted to swim Hoping to catch the native popula- to the opposite shore or scramble tion at their village during the time aboard canoes, many of which had of their corn harvest, the expedition no paddles. They were pursued by pushed off from Fort Richmond to- Moulton’s men, who poured musket ward the end of August. In seventeen fire into the confused, huddled mass The memorial monument for Father whaleboats, 208 men in four compa- of people thronging the Kennebec. Sébastien Rale at the Norridgewock battle nies under the overall command of site in Madison, Maine. Captain Johnson Harmon threaded Dekker, continued on p. 4, col. 3

Page 3 President, continued from page 1 students. The Society’s newest build- Dekker, continued from p. 3 ing is behind the school, a duplex held very few artifacts, whereas at When the killing was done, Mouton outhouse (it is ready for business, so this time we are filled to the point and Harmon, who returned from the to speak). Centennial Hall had the cel- that we must find more storage cornfield finding it devoid of people, lar bulkhead rebuilt, the back of the space. It speaks very well to the set fire to the village. building was painted, a new heater stewardship and place the Harpswell (courtesy of Harpswell Community It is impossible to provide a firm Historical Society has in the fabric of Theater) and new wiring and shelving estimate on the number of Nor- the Town of Harpswell. was installed in the hall’s tiny kitchen. ridgewock who lost their lives in the We have had good events in the The second floor of the Museum was assault. Perhaps as many as eighty past year. On Memorial Day, Centen- repaired, repainted and rewired, and men, women and children, young nial Hall was filled with military uni- new gutters on the museum fixed a and old alike, perished that day, forms and mementos from Harpswell number leaks into the building. The many of whom drowned, their bod- veterans. The veterans’ Group had windows on the south side were re- ies drifting down the Kennebec with their luncheon in the hall and it was paired and painted. Bars were added the current. Among the bodies that a great event. Many thanks both to to the windows in the main display littered the village itself was that of and from our veterans. The 4th of room for security. Father Sebastian Rale. Moulton had July was well received, to hear the specifically ordered his men to take There are many interesting and angry patriots (we very much want Rale alive, but in the chaos of the on- unusual things in our collection, one to remove King George) deliver our slaught, Rale was killed and scalped. recent arrival is a Portland Cutter Declaration of Independence at the The expedition returned to Fort sleigh. Portland Cutter is a style of place where it was first read, is both Richmond on August 27 with twenty- sleigh. It was purchased well over a fine civics lesson and a way to eight scalps, three redeemed English 100 years ago by a man who then bring the true meaning of the 4th. captives and four native prisoners. moved to northern Maine to become Harpswell Day was a rip roaring suc- Of the twenty-eight scalps, only six a school teacher. It sat in a barn still cess, it was done as a joint event with belonged to adult males; the other in its packing crate for many years. the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust. twenty-two belonged to women The barn eventually leaked on it over We had many fine craftsmen plying or children. Harmon was lauded as a long time causing a lot of rot. We their trades. I was both surprised and a hero upon his return to Boston, plan to remove it from its crate for heartened by the amount and very and Samuel Penhallow of Arrowsic the first time, repair and restore it great interest of the children of our proclaimed the attack “the greatest as part of our Subsistence Workshop town. I heard many comments that victory we have obtained in the three and someone will have the first ride day, the vast majority asked, please or four last wars.” For the people of in a sleigh with quite a past! will you do this again next year. The Norridgewock, the attack was an answer is a resounding YES. At our unmitigated disaster. In grief, the Halloween Spirit walk in the old shattered remnants of their people Graveyard we found some wonder- removed themselves to the security ful Spirits connecting with some very of St. Francis and the French. spirited young people. The annual In Mr. Dekker’s talk and the discussion tree lighting at Centennial Hall was afterward he emphasized that there was done with the collaboration of the considerable brutality on both sides of the struggle. Indeed, Johnson Harmon Harpswell Garden Club with fine and other men had survived a terrible caroling and great refreshments. Our attack by Indians when they lived in York Society has good working relation- several years earlier. He cautioned that ships with many organizations. Many one should not judge the actions of people thanks to other organizations as well from another era. as many thanks from other organiza- tions, as it should be. Much work was done to our build- ings. Work on the interior of the District #2 School made it ready for Page 4 Some Snippets from Around the Country Bailey Island Library Hall Petersburg Times (SA : 1887 - 1919) Fri 26 Jan 1894 Page 2 An Appreciation Cats and Dogs. HIS DOG STOPPED THE LEAK. Way back at the start of the twen- tieth century, on a small island off the coast of Maine, a group of schoolgirls longed for a special spot where books could be read and tales could be told, where stories and secrets could come alive. They wanted a fertile and nourish- ing place, like the generous ocean that yielded its bounty to the lob- stermen who were their fathers and brothers. Through fortitude and fund-rais- ing their wish grew wings, attracting support from folks both near and far. Cambridge Chronicle August 19, 1914 And so it came to be-Bailey Island Library Hall! For more than a century it’s held its ground, keeping watch over the cove, enduring brutal winds and win- ter storms, and beckoning summer every year to spread its warm and glowing light through its open doors and palladian windows. Famed and honored, lovingly cared for, Library Hall still stands tall and proud, in proper homage to dreams come true. The Mingo Club is pleased to sub- mit materials on the following topics to The Harpswell Historical Society. History of Island Life (1600’s through mid-1900’s) Early Mingo Club Founders & The Origin of the Name “MINGO” Bailey Island Library Hall: Design and Architecture Carl Jung and the Bailey Island Connection National Historic Registration of Bailey Island Library Hall Mingo Club Minutes It is interesting that this is news, and that it took 10 hours to drive from (September 7, 1909-April 27, Cambridge to Portland. Also, they do not use words such as automobile, drive 1953) Lending Library Records (1949- or car, but call it the “machine” or “motored.” 1959)

Page 5 Amador Ledger, (Jackson, CA),Volume 1901, Number 24, 24 Some tools acquired May 1901 by the Society recently How many can you identify? 1

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Cambridge Sentinel, Volume XXII, Number 22, 4 August 1928 3

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Page 6 6 12 1. This is a cooper’s adz for making barrels. 2. This is for making hooked rugs. 3. This is a bait box for lobster traps. 4. This is a krauter for slicing cab- bage for sauerkraut. 7 5. This is the top and bottom of a 13 cigar mold. 6. This is a froe which is used for splitting shingles out of a block of wood or making splints for basket 8 weaving. 7. This is a snow knocker, which is used to knock the snow from horse’s hooves. It was kept on the 14 harness. 8. This is a cow bell. 9. This is a needle for knitting trap heads. 10. This is a lipped adz. The curve is for cross grain cutting. It takes off chips. In an adz the blade is perpendicular to the handle. It is 15 used mostly for ship building. 11. This is a broad hewing axe for 9 squaring timbers. This is a left- handed axe because it is sharp- ened on the left side and flat on the right. 12. This is a bow roller for tub trawl- ing for ground fish. A trawl is a long length of rope with a hook every fifteen feet and a buoy on either end which is left out overnight. 10 13. This is a pair of ice skates which are attached to boots with leather 16 straps. 14. These are models of a clam basket and lobster pot made by Herbert Doughty. 15. This is a laundry washer. Grab the handle, pull it around and let go. It is spring loaded and “auto- matically” agitates. It was built 5 about 1900. 5 16. This is the label on the laundry 1 washer. Note that the label prom- 17 ises that the washer will “save womens (sic) lives.” 17. We do not know what this does, although we know that it is not for caulking. Please, if you know, let us know. Page 7 Help Us Cut Our Costs A big thank you to the one hun- dred four people who have agreed to receive their newsletter by email. We appeal to readers to send their email addresses to harpshis- [email protected] so they can receive their HHS newsletter by email. It would help us save postage, printing expenses, and time for the people who must individually fold, address, stamp, and mail each hard copy. You will receive the newsletter in color, too. Thank you! Can you recognize this building? It is still standing, although it has been added to. You can find the answer Board Members on our website at www.harpswellhistorical.org or on our Facebook page at Sam Alexander, Steve Black, Dave www.facebook.com/HarpswellHistoricalSociety or by calling Burr Taylor at Hackett, Daniel McMahon, Ann Stan-

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