Barrett Potter, Laywer & Politican

Reprinted below is the first portion of the obituary of Barrett Potter from the August 26, 1926 issue of The Brunswick Record. I have contributed additional information in brackets throughout.

"DEATH OF HONORABLE BARRETT POTTER
"Distinguished Attorney Passes Away at Home Thursday Night

"Had Represented Town in Legislature, Served as State Senator, Was Secretary of Bowdoin College Trustees, and Head of Two Banks in Town. Wisdom and Learning Recognized by Prominent Men.

"Hon. Barrett Potter, able attorney, leader in town affairs, a man, whose wisdom and sound judgment has for many years been recognized in business and political circles throughout the State, died at his home on Maine street Thursday night, after a brief illness, following a heart attack. Mr. Potter was born in Readfield April 19, 1857, the son of Rev. Daniel F. Potter. His father was graduated from Bowdoin in ’41. His mother was before her marriage, Miss A.[lvina] A. Cram of Mt. Vernon.

"He is survived by two sisters, Miss Caroline Potter and Miss May Potter, both of Brunswick. [None of the siblings, Barrett included, ever married. They lived together at their 240 Maine Street home, built for them by John Calvin Stevens from 1893-1894.]

Photo of Barrett Potter which was printed with his obituary in the August 26, 1926 issue of The Brunswick Record.

"After graduating from the Brunswick High school Mr. Potter finished preparatory studies at Phillips-Exeter Academy, entered Bowdoin College and was graduated in the class of 1878, receiving his A.B. degree in 1878 and his A.M. degree in 1881. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, was managing editor of the Bowdoin Orient from 1876 to 1877 and the Bugle in 1878; received ex tempore Essay prize in 1877; 1st Essay prize in 1878; was class orator in 1878 and also salutatorian. He was appointed to deliver the English oration at commencement in 1881.

"He was a fine athlete and always took an interest in college sports. He has kept in touch with athletic affairs of his own college as well as of others and had a personal acquaintance with many of the athletic instructors in larger institutions. Mike Murphy, famous trainer of the University of Pennsylvania, was one of his personal friends.

"In the Spring following his graduation Mr. Potter became principal of Calais High school and held that position for three years, from 1879-1882. He was instructor in rhetoric and history at Bowdoin College from 1883 to 1885, at the same time pursuing his study of law with Weston Thompson. He was admitted to the Cumberland bar in 1886 and has since occupied an office in Brunswick.

"Mr. Potter was in the Maine Legislature from 1903-1904; a member of the Senate from 1905-1906; secretary of Board of Trustees and ex-officio Overseer of Bowdoin College from 1894 until his death.

[Barrett Potter was also a member of several Brunswick organizations. In addition to being a member of "The Club", he was also a charter member of the Pejepscot Historical Society, founded in 1888.]

"At the time of his death Mr. Potter was President of the Union National Bank and of the Brunswick Savings Institution.

"Mr. Potter had always been active in advocating the rights of the municipality. He was a notable case for the town in the suit of the Brunswick Gas Light Company vs. The Brunswick Village Corporation. The company alleged the destruction of its pipes in the streets when the sewer was laid. The case went to the Law court twice and the final decision was a victory for Mr. Potter who defended the village corporation.

"In the legislature Mr. Potter was a member of the judiciary committee and made a name for himself there by the able way in which he handled the Brunswick water bill and defended the interests of the town in the Bull Rock bridge matter. He took part in many of the more important measure brought before the House and gained the reputation of being one of the most convincing and forceful debaters in that body.

"While a State Senator the Augusta correspondent of the Lewiston Journal complimented him as follows: ‘Over in the Senate they like to hear Senator Barrett Potter of Brunswick. At once a joy and terror to the hearts of reporters is he, for he is easily the premier of the Senate spell binders. His methods are different from those of all the others. He stands up in his seat, seldom taking a step, usually with his glasses in his right hand and some paper or something like it in his left. Occasionally he varies this by resting the left hand on his desk throughout the entire speech, but this is seldom. Every gesture which he makes is with his right finger and every point appears to be made emphatic by those glasses. Mr. Potter is not a rapid speaker, though he is not slow. But he talks steadily and evenly. His speed is uniform from beginning to end. His voice is full, at the same time pleasant and his enunciation is perfect. It is in this respect that his is the joy of the reporters. There is not an easier speaker to report than Mr. Potter. But there is one thing about him which makes him the terror of these same newspaper men. It is the abundance of figures which he always has at his tongue’s end and which he is constantly using. They are what they dread, for no matter how carefully the speaker may utter them, there is more danger in getting twisted reporting two sets of numbers made in a speech than in handling five hundred words of ordinary matter.’

"At the 3rd annual meeting of the Maine State League of Loan and Building Association held in Augusta, January 22, 1903, Hon. Barrett Potter ably presented a paper on a most important matter regarding ‘The Interest paid Loan and Building Association.’

"On March 15, 1906, he wrote a letter to the Press Agent of the Maine Referendum League giving his reasons for voting against initiative and referendum. This letter was replied to by Senator E.S. Clark who was for the initiative and referendum. Both letters were published at the time. He later made an important speech in regard to the resolve in favor of a referendum. In 1907 he was called to address the committee on education on the University of Maine question as to whether the University should serve the economical needs of the State of not. Mr. Potter believed in the affirmative.

"Mr. Potter was a member of the Brunswick Golf club and was frequently seen on the links. In golf as in all matters of life he exhibited his good sportsmanship. He was a genial, likable companion, and while a man whose natural dignity of bearing tended to make him appear austere, he was found by those who enjoyed his acquaintanceship, to be most sociable and his courtesy was admirable indeed.

"Mr. Potter was always a staunch republican. His religious preferences were those of a Congregationalist and he was a member of the parish of the Congregational church [the First Parish Church].

Barrett Potter's grave in Pine Grove Cemetery, located in the third row from the right.

"The funeral was held from the residence Sunday afternoon, very impressive service being conducted by Chauncey W. Goodrich, D.D., a former pastor of the First Congregational church. Interment was at Pine Grove cemetery. The bearers were Dr. Oscar Davies of Augusta, Hon. Frederick A. Fisher of Lowell, Mass., Hartley C. Baxter, Dr. Charles S.F. Lincoln, Thomas H. Riley, Robert D. Perry, G. Allen Howe and Samuel A. Melcher...[Barrett himself was actually a pallbearer at the funeral of Joshua L. Chamberlain in 1914.]"

Many thanks to Ann Frey, who helped research Barrett Potter for this project.

Sources:
Cleaveland, Nehemiah. History of Bowdoin College, with Biographical Sketches of its Graduates. Boston: James Ripley Osgood & Company, 1882.
"Death of Honorable Barrett Potter." The Brunswick Record. 26 August 1926.
"The Final Arrangements." Daily Eastern Argus. 27 February 1914. From website "To the Limits of the Soul's Ideal: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's Funeral."
General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine, 1794-1912.
Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1912.
Historic Preservation Survey of 240 Maine Street. Pejepscot Historical Society.

Mary G. Gilman, the Librarian

The woman who would permanently change the Brunswick library was born in town on July 11, 1865 to Charles J. Gilman (1824-1901) and Alice McKeen Dunlap (1827-1905). Mary G. Gilman had a lot to live up to in her parents. Her mother was a granddaughter of Rev. Joseph McKeen, the first president of Bowdoin College, and her father served as a U.S. Representative. Considering all this, it is no surprise that Mary later developed a keen interest and passion for history.

A colored postcard of the Curtis Memorial Library, circa 1925. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1984.45.f.

Mary appears to have been a very bright girl, graduating from Brunswick High School in 1884. After this, she studied to become a librarian under Professor George T. Little at the Bowdoin College Library. At Bowdoin, Mary learned the essentials of librarianship, including cataloging skills. After the first librarian of the Brunswick Public Library, Lyman Smith, decided to move on in 1895, Mary was hired to replace him with a starting salary of $6 per week. Almost immediately, Mary went to work transforming the library into a thriving local resource.

Mary G. Gilman (seated on the right, holding a book) reading to the Wildflower Club, a group of local children. Photograph from Helmreich's A History of the Public Library in Brunswick, Maine.

Among Mary's many innovative ideas for the library were those focused on teachers and children. She encouraged local teachers to utilize the library's resources and even established a separate department within the library for education. For children, she had a completely new room created within the library, which became extremely popular with the local youth.

But Mary Gilman did not stop at teachers and children--she wanted the library to be accessible to all Brunswick residents. She took out books on travel, history and essays and placed them on a librarian's table so visitors would have easy access to them. She also created a "traveling library", where batches of 50 books at a time were sent to outlying areas of Brunswick (like Mere Point). This way, those who could not or did not go into town often had a chance to check out a book. For the same reason, she opened up the library late on Saturdays, so that those who did live far out had plenty of time to get to the library. And responding to the increase in Franco-Americans in the area, Mary also had several hundred books in French purchased for the library.

But Mary Gilman had passions outside of her beloved library. She was a member of the First Parish Church and secretary of the Pejepscot Historical Society. As the "last surviving member of one of the town's oldest families", Mary had a true passion for history ("Miss Gilman, Last of Family, Dies"). Many letters, to and from Gilman, in the collection of the Pejepscot Historical Society attest to this fact. Mary was always eager to research the questions of locals and visitors alike. Louise R. Helmreich's book A History of the Public Library in Brunswick, Maine relates a story about what happened when Gilman heard that a Brunswick High School reading list recommended Gone With The Wind as a historical novel. Gilman apparently thought the book inappropriate for high schoolers, and the book was removed from the reading list after she had "a very definite conversation with the Principal."(Helmreich, 45)

The grave of Mary G. Gilman, located in third row from the right. Gilman died on October 7, 1940 "after a short illness" at her home at 14 Union Street ("Miss Gilman, Last of Family, Dies"). She was 75 years old.

Mary G. Gilman managed the Brunswick Public Library during some of the organization's most important years. During her tenure from 1895 to 1940, she oversaw the library change names from the Brunswick Public Library to Curtis Memorial Library in 1904; personally instituted the Dewey Decimal system in 1936; and watched as her hard work took a one-room library in the town hall building and move it to a building of its own on Pleasant Street. It is not surprising, then, that in her history of the library Louise Helmreich states that "Many individuals through the years had helped to make the Brunswick library a part of the community. None have contributed more to this end than Miss Mary Gilman. She was not only herself a vital part of the library, but she made the library a vital part of the town." (47)

Sources:
Helmriech, Louise R. A History of the Public Library in Brunswick, Maine. Brunswick: J.G. French & Son, 1976.
"Miss Gilman, Last of Family, Dies." The Brunswick Record. 10 October 1940.

The Clockmaker: James Cary, Jr.

Not long after the Revolutionary War, James Cary, Sr. and his wife moved from Boston to Brunswick. There James Cary, Sr. became the town's first gunsmith--a vital role in the young town. He and his wife lived in a house at the corner of Maine and Mason Streets, where their son, James Cary, Jr., was born on July 22, 1790.

James Cary, Jr. photographed at the age of 72 in 1862. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1726.15.b.

In 1805, when he was just 15 year old, James Jr. served as an apprentice to Robert Eastman in Belfast, Maine. With Eastman, and possibly another clock-maker named Bisbee, Cary learned the trade of making clocks. A year later, Eastman moved to Brunswick and there Cary later became his partner, forming the business Eastman & Cary. Wheeler & Wheeler states that in 1809, when Cary was just 19, he bought out Eastman's share of the business and owned the clock-making enterprise outright. Interestingly, at first Cary ran his Brunswick business out of the same house he was born in, at the corner of Maine and Mason Streets. He remained at this location even after the building burned down in 1853, rebuilding on the site and working there until his death in 1865.

The face of a grandfather clock made by James Cary, now in the collection of the Pejepscot Historical Society (acc# OH 620). Above the number "6" on the dial you can see Cary's signature (click the photo to see a larger image).

On July 16, 1816, Cary married Mary Oakman, from Pittston, Maine. Around 1826 the couple had a house built at 11 Federal Street. Though Mary and James had 3 daughters and 2 sons together, only 2 daughters--Mary Ann & Hannah Elizabeth--survived to adulthood.

Outside of Brunswick, James Cary Jr.'s fame stemmed from one of his students--Aaron L. Dennison. In 1830, Dennison (1812-1895), the son of Col. Andrew Dennison, studied clock-making under Cary and was later extremely successful as a jeweler in Boston. Dennison invented machines to standardize the production of gears and introduced the idea of interchangeable parts to pocket watches, earning him the title "father of American mass-production watch-making."

A pocket watch (right) and accompanying case (left) made by James Cary, Jr. from the Pejepscot Historical Society collection (acc# OH 729). Inside the watch case is James Cary's label--click the image for a larger view.

Cary, however, should not be defined by his role in Aaron Dennison's life. Indeed, Cary was one of Brunswick's most prominent citizens. In business, he never limited himself to clock-making, and also took on the titles gunsmith (like his father), goldsmith and silversmith. Cary even sold medicine out of his shop. He was also very involved in the local community, serving as a member of the local Masonic fraternity and as vice-president of both the Nucleus Club and the Brunswick & Topsham Athenaeum. Cary attended the First Parish Church with his wife and was, like many of his neighbors, at first a Whig and later a Republican.

The grave of James Cary, Jr. in Pine Grove Cemetery, located in the second row from the right.

James Cary, Jr. died in Brunswick on August 25, 1865 at the age of 75. Though his obituary does not list a cause of death, it does state that "for a man of his years, borne down by disease, he was one of the most remarkable we ever knew." Clearly, James Cary left a mark on Brunswick that ran far beyond any of the accomplishments of Aaron Dennison.

Sources:
Booker, Ira P. "James Cary." Collections of the Pejepscot Historical Society, vol. 1, part 1. Lewiston: Journal Office, 1889.
"Constitution, Rules and Orders, By-Laws and Library regulations of the Nucleus Club." Brunswick: Griffin, 1830. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2009.343.
"Dennison, Aaron Lufkin." National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, Inc. website.
Historic Preservation Survey card for 11 Federal Street. Pejepscot Historical Society.
Morgan, Calvin E. "James Cary Jr." Revised 2007. From the Pejepscot Historical Society collection, acc# 2009.233.
Tenney, A.G. Obituary of James Cary, Jr. Brunswick Telegraph. 1 September 1865.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Dr. Edward Beecher Mason

Below is the full obituary of Edward Beecher Mason, D.D., published in the October 4, 1907 issue of The Brunswick Record. In brackets, I have added information about Dr. Mason, who led the First Parish Church from 1890 to 1903.

Undated photograph of Dr. Edward Beecher Mason by Brunswick photographer A.O. Reed. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1979.36.27.

"DEATH OF DR. EDWARD B. MASON

Widely Known, Much Beloved Clergyman, Was Former Pastor of First Parish Church"

"Dr. Edward Beecher Mason, formerly pastor of the First Parish church, died on Tuesday morning at his home on College street in this town, after a long illness. His death was due to a disease of the larynx from which he had suffered for about five years. His voice was impaired to such an extent that he gave up his pastorate and preaching in 1902. During the past year his general health became seriously affected, and last spring he submitted to a surgical operation. This gave him little relief but served to prolong his life through the summer. For many weeks he knew that his life was nearing its end, and although voiceless and weakened by his illness he was sustained by a wonderful courage even to the end.

"Few men have ever lived in Brunswick who were more beloved than Dr. Mason.

"The funeral was held yesterday afternoon, brief services at the home at 2:30 o’clock and another service at the First Parish church at 3:00 o’clock, both being conducted by the pastor, Rev. Herbert A. Jump. During the half hour from 2:30 to 3:00 the church bell was tolled 69 strokes, one for each year of his age.

"In the church, the pastor read portions of Scripture and a part of Browning’s poem, Abt Vogler. Miss Mary Ward at the organ played selections which had been favorites of Dr. Mason, the Pastoral Interlude and Come Unto Me, from Handel’s Messiah, and a Chorale from Bach. The bearers were Prof. William A. Houghton, Prof. Henry Johnson, Prof. George T. Little and Prof. F.E. Woodruff. Ushers were chosen from the deacons of the church.

"Brief services were held at the grave. Interment was in a portion of what has been known as the Abbott lot in Pine Grove cemetery.

"Dr. Mason was born in Cincinnati on March 7, 1838. His father, Timothy B. Mason, was a life-long friend of Dr. Lyman Beecher, having charge of his choir when he lived in Boston and in 1835 accompanied this noted preacher to Cincinnati where Dr. Beecher was president of Lane Seminary. [His mother was Abigail (Hall) Mason.]

"The Mason family, descendants of Robert Mason, a member of John Winthrop’s company who settled the town of Roxbury, Mass., in 1630, is one of the most distinguished in New England.

"Dr. Lowell Mason, whose fame as a composer is widely known, was Dr. Mason’s uncle, and William Mason, the eminent New York pianist, is his cousin. Members of the same family were pioneers in the manufacture of pianos and organ in New England. [Ashby's History of the First Parish Church mentions that Mason and his family had a gift for music: "They had the knack of playing almost every musical instrument. They were particularly interested in singing..."(360) Dr. Mason himself was very interested in hymns, and one of his first projects upon arriving at First Parish Church was to choose and purchase a new hymnal (Ashby, 374-375).]

"Although born in Ohio Dr. Mason was virtually a New Englander. His father and four generations before him were born in the town of Medfield, Mass., and the family still holds property there. A previous ancestor was one of the original landholders in Dedham, Mass.

Undated photograph of the First Parish Church taken from across Maine Street, where Dr. Mason preached from 1890 to 1903. Note that the streets are unpaved. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1993.22.70.836.

"In his career as a clergyman Dr. Mason was a pastor of only five churches, and had he chosen he could have remained a life time in his first pastorate. He was educated at Knox College, Gambia, O.H., and at Farmers College in Cincinnati, graduating from the latter in 1858 with the highest honors. Farmers College is no longer in existence, but its alumni included such men as Murat Halstead and [President] Benjamin Harrison. Three years later, in the summer of 1861, Dr. Mason graduated from Andover Theological Seminary.

"He went from Andover to Ravenna, Ohio, where he remained 12 years. The people of Ravenna became strongly attached to the young pastor, and when he was called by the Fourth Presbyterian church of Indianapolis, the people of the church and town made every effort to retain him. They offered to make a life contract to keep him in Ravenna. The pastors of the Methodist church, the Catholic church, the Disciples church and the Episcopal church signed a note expressing their assurance of high personal esteem and requesting, if consistent with his sense of duty, that he should not separate from them. Two hundred women marched to his house and read a paper protesting against his going away, and a meeting of citizens expressed the same sentiment. Twenty years later they asked him to return.

"Dr. Mason delayed his answer to the call from Indianapolis, but in March, 1873, decided to accept. He had known Garfield in Ravenna, and in Indianapolis, as a member of the literary club, he was associated with such men as Benjamin Harrison and Thomas A. Hendricks.

"In the spring on 1878 Dr. Mason was called to Detroit where he became pastor of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian church. This was a very large and wealthy church, and greatly interested in philanthropic work and missions.

"Mr. Mason received the degree of D.D., from Miami University while he was in Detroit, it being the result of a commencement address delivered before the student sin the summer of 1881.

"Having remained in Detroit about four years Dr. Mason had a desire to return to New England, and receiving a call from the Congregational church at Arlington, Mass., he accepted that pastorate. There he worked hard for six years, until his health broke down. Among other things he rebuilt the church at Arlington, and it may be mentioned that he wrote a hymn which was sung at the dedication to music which he composed.

"In 1888 on account of shattered health Dr. Mason was given a leave of absence, but seeing little prospect of being able to resume the work at Arlington, he resigned in February 1889. As a member of the Monday club in Boston, Dr. Mason had contributed forty sermons to their published series.

"The call that brought Dr. Mason to Brunswick was extended to him on February 26, 1890. He accepted on April 4, and began his work here on May 4th of that year. At his installation the sermon was preached by Rd. Alexander McKenzie of Cambridge.

"His work in Brunswick during a pastorate of 13 years gave him the same pleasure that he found in Ravenna, and his usefulness and influence here has been far-reaching. In the physical up-building of the First Parish church it will be remembered that he built the chapel, and the room back of the pulpit at a cost of about $6000, and the memorial winds that beautify the walls of the church were put in while he was pastor. Among them is one which bears the inscriptions 'The Sunday School; to Its Founders and Promoters. 1812-1898.'

"Among the most notable addresses he has given are: 'A Memorial to Garfield,' delivered in Detroit; five Lenten addresses before the three Congregational churches in Bangor; and a memorial sermon on Rev. Edward G. Guild, a man greatly beloved in this town, who died Nov. 6, 1899. Dr. Mason is the author of a volume of sermons entitled 'The Ten Laws' published by Anson D.F. Randolph of New York.

The tablet gravestone of Dr. Edward Beecher Mason, who is buried with his wife, Myra, and their daughter, Maud. His grave is located near the end of the second row from the right.

"He was married on July 15, 1863 to Miss Myra Campbell [1838-1916], who is a member of the distinguished family known as the Cherry Valley Campbells of New York. He is survived also by a son, Edward C., who graduated from Harvard and now practices law in Boston; and a daughter, Miss Maud [1868-1962], who lives in Brunswick. [The Masons lived at the home they built in 1903-1904 at 24 College Street (Ashby, 378). According to Ashby, Mason died at his home 5 years to the day after he formally resigned from First Parish Church.]"

Sources:
Ashby, Thompson Eldridge. A History of the First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine. Brunswick: J.H. French and Son, 1969.
"Death of Dr. Edward B. Mason." The Brunswick Record. 4 October 1907.
"Edward Beecher Mason." From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1737.5 (pamphlet 361).

The Politician: Robert Pinckney Dunlap

In Robert Pinckney Dunlap, Brunswick could hardly have asked for a more devoted native son. Born in a house on Lincoln Street on August 17, 1794, Dunlap would go on to be the first governor to hail from Brunswick. Dunlap remained involved with his hometown for life, devoting himself to its college, church, fraternal organizations and government.

The second youngest of 9 children, Dunlap came from a prominent Brunswick family--his father John was a town representative at the Massachusetts General Court (Maine was not yet a separate state), and his grandfather--Rev. Robert Dunlap--was the first minister to settle in town. Dunlap was prepared for college by a private tutor in Topsham, and later graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1815. He studied law for three years under Benjamin Orr in Brunswick and Ebenezer Morely in Newburyport, Massachusetts before being admitted to the bar in 1818. He returned to Brunswick to practice law.

Portrait of R.P. Dunlap by George Swift (husband of Matilda Dennison Swift), 1895. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 84.

Judging from his resume, Dunlap preferred being a politician to practicing law. Described as "an old-school Democrat", his first elected position was as a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1821, where he stayed until 1823 (Wheeler & Wheeler, 732). Next, he switched to the Maine Senate, serving from 1824 to 1832, during which time Dunlap served as its president for 4 years. Dunlap was elected in 1833 to serve as Maine's eleventh governor, a position he held for four terms (incidentally, this was the same number of terms Joshua L. Chamberlain served), longer than any other governor besides Albion K. Parris. After he left office in 1838 he took a brief respite from politics, before returning to serve in the United States House of Representatives for 4 years, from 1843 to 1847. Like Joshua L. Chamberlain, he served as Collector of Customs at Portland from 1848-1849. In total, Dunlap served 32 years in public office.

Despite a political career which took him from Augusta to Washington, D.C., Dunlap remained involved with Brunswick. In 1825 he married Lydia Chapman (1793-1868), with whom he had 3 sons and a daughter. The family lived in an impressive house at 27 Federal Street, which was probably built by Samuel Melcher III around 1825 or 1826. After serving as Collector of Customs, Dunlap was Brunswick's postmaster from 1853 to 1857. Dunlap was also involved in Bowdoin College, where he served as an Overseer from 1821 until his death--he spent the last 16 years of his life as the President of the Board.

27 Federal Street, the home of Robert P. Dunlap, circa 1860. This was the only 3-story Federal style home on the street until it burned on June 17, 1999. The site is now a vacant lot. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1989.24.1.

Besides Bowdoin College, Dunlap could also claim involvement in another great Brunswick institution, the First Parish Church. He converted to Congregationalism during the Second Great Awakening, joining the church in July, 1834. There, his family sat in pew #27, a pew which would doubly earn its title as "The Governor's Pew" when the family of Joshua L. Chamberlain later sat there. Near the end of his life, Dunlap served as a church deacon. Dunlap was also a leader of the Freemasons and a member of the American Bible Society. Like many of his fellow Mainers, he supported the temperance movement.

Monument to Robert P. Dunlap, which sits over his grave at the front of the 3rd row from the right. The white panel pictured here is dedicated to his role as a member of the Masonic Fraternity.

Wheeler and Wheeler report that when Robert P. Dunlap died after a week-long illness of typhoid on October 20, 1859, "His burial was accompanied with more ceremony and was more fully attended than that of any other which has ever occurred in town." (733) Four years later, a monument to Dunlap's life was under development. The April 3, 1863 issue of the Brunswick Telegraph reported that famed Portland sculptor Franklin Simmons was in Brunswick "to obtain portraits, photographs, &c., of the late Governor, to aid him in executing the bust, which is to surmount the monument". Below this bust, the monument contains three panels: one about his role with the Masons, one about his political career, and one about his family. Respectively, these panels were paid for by the state's Masons, the state legislature and Dunlap's wife and children. In the end, Dunlap's grave cost $1,000 (about $17,000 today) for the bust alone and about $100 (about $1,700 today) for each panel. Local cemetery expert Barbara Desmarais reports that, ironically, Robert P. Dunlap never wanted a monument, preferring instead a simple gravestone.

Sources:
Ashby, Thompson Eldridge. A History of the First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine. Brunswick: J.H. French and Son, 1969.
"Dunlap, Robert Pinckney, (1794-1859)." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website.
General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine, 1794-1912.
Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1912.
"Maine Governor Robert Pinckney Dunlap." National Governor's Association website.
Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, vol. 4. Portland, Maine: S.M. Watson, 1887.
Shipman, William D. The Early Architecture of Bowdoin College and Brunswick, Maine. J.H. French & Son: 1985.
Tenney, A.G. "Monument to Hon. R.P. Dunlap." Brunswick Telegraph. 3 April 1863.
Tenney, A.G. "The Dunlap Monument." Brunswick Telegraph. 7 August 1863.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Dorothy "Aunt Dolly" Giddings

Of the 119 people who had their biographies printed in Wheeler & Wheeler's 1878 book History of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell, Dorothy Giddings has the distinction of being the only woman. What did Dorothy--or "Dolly" as she was usually known--do to leave such an impression on the town?*

Dolly was born in Exeter, New Hampshire in January 1785, the second of the five children of Gen. Nathaniel Giddings (1760-?) and Anna Folsom (1762-1794). Through her mother, Dolly was related to Sarah Ann Folsom, the first wife of Rev. George E. Adams and the adoptive mother of Fanny Chamberlain. It appears that Dolly's father died while she was still young, because she was later sent to live with her grandfather and after that her uncle, Rev. Rowland, a pastor of the First Congregational Church in Exeter. In 1812 at the age of 27, Dolly first came to Brunswick and lived with Captain Richard Toppan, a relative of hers by marriage. For the next three years, she opened a private school and later lived with Bowdoin College President Jesse Appleton and his family. In 1815, Dolly left Brunswick to live with her sister Polly Bailey in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where she continued to teach.

In 1818 Dolly Giddings returned to Maine, but in a most challenging manner. Thanks to funds from an unidentified "Boston gentleman", Dolly decided to open up and teach at a mission near Foxcroft and Brownville, Maine. There, she lived in a crude log cabin without a door, while teaching the youth of the area and even acting as a nurse to the sick, "exert[ing] her skill in the knowledge of disease" (Wheeler & Wheeler, 744). Once, when poverty in the area became overwhelming, Dolly travelled 250 miles on horseback to solicit help from her friends, returning to Foxcroft & Brownville with desperately needed supplies.

The Dr. Alfred Mitchell house, which stands at the corner of Park Row and Green Streets at the site of Dolly Gidding's first store in Brunswick, which she operated with her sister Harriet Boardman. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2008.93.

Dolly was finally torn away from the Maine wilderness when she heard that her sister in Newburyport was dying. Never able to turn away from someone in need of help, in 1824 Dolly went to Massachusetts to be by Polly's side. After this, Dolly moved back to Brunswick with her other married sister, Harriet Boardman, where the two opened up a millinery store on the corner of Green Street and Park Row. About five years later the sisters relocated their store to the corner of Maine and Mason Streets. Eventually, Harriet opened up a store of her own in the Dunlap Block (the same space later occupied by B.G. Dennison) and Dolly moved across the street to the corner of Maine and O'Brien (now Cumberland) Streets. She lived and worked at this location until her death.

Advertisement for a sale at Dolly Gidding's store, dated June 19, 1840. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH.1412.

Wheeler and Wheeler's biography of Dolly describes her Maine & O'Brien Street store: "Her stock was always large and of superior quality, and comprised not only of millinery goods, but almost every conceivable article of feminine apparel. Her counters and shelves were piled promiscuously with all sorts of articles and apparently in the greatest disorder, yet she could always quickly find any desired article, no matter how deeply it might be covered with other things." (588) John Furbish, another contemporary of Dolly's, described her store as a "land mark" (sic). Dolly also spent each of her last 46 years deeply involved with the Sunday School at the First Parish Church. Her renowned kindness and generosity led to her home being a known sanctuary for the poor and the ill.

The gravestone of Dorthy "Dolly" Giddings, located near the back of the sixth row from the right.

Dolly Giddings died on October 31, 1870 at age 85. Prof. Alpheus Spring Packard supplied the eulogy at Dolly's service at the First Parish Church, which was reprinted in her obituary in the Brunswick Telegraph. Packard ended his speech by saying "It needed not these statements to show that one departed friend was a woman of no common mould. Energy, decision, determination, a deep foundation of benevolence, strong individuality of character, were unmistakably revealing themselves in her daily life".

*This question really should be, "What didn't the hundreds of other women who had lived in Brunswick up until 1878 do to not deserve their biographies printed in the book?"

Sources:
Chapman, Jacob. A Genealogy of the Folsom Family: John Folsom and His Descendents, 1615-1882. Concord, N.H.: The Republican Press Assoication, 1882.

Furbish, John. Facts About Brunswick, Maine. Curtis Memorial Library website.

Tenney, A.G. Dorothy Gidding's obituary. Brunswick Telegraph. 11 November 1870.

Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Phebe Ann Jacobs, Freed Slave

Phebe Ann Jacobs was born a slave on the Beverwyck plantation in 1785. She wasn't born in Virginia, in Georgia, or one of the Carolinas. Phebe wasn't born in the South at all, but Morris County, New Jersey. Phebe was probably the daughter* of the farm workers and domestic slaves who were brought from the Danish West Indies to America by the plantation's owner, General Lucas von Beverhoudt. While she was still a young girl, Phebe became the servant of Maria Malleville Wheelock.

First page of Narrative of Phebe Ann Jacobs, by Phebe Lord Upham. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, pamphlet 227.

By 1817, Phebe had joined a church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, beginning her life-long devotion to Christianity. Maria, the granddaughter of Dartmouth College founder Eleazar Wheelock, married William Allen and, in 1820, Jacobs and the Allen family moved to Brunswick. There, William Allen became the third president of Bowdoin College. In 1823, Phebe and Maria joined the First Parish Church. Just five years later, Maria Allen died, drastically changing Phebe's future. It seems she may have stayed on in the Allen household until William Allen resigned the presidency and moved in 1839, when Phebe became independent.

Though it is unclear exactly when she became free--one source says the Wheelocks paid for her freedom when they first bought her--they may have felt pressure to free her once they moved her to New England, where abolitionist sentiments were more popular. Either way, when the Allens left Brunswick, Phebe bought a small house of her own, earning money as a laundress and seamstress for Bowdoin College students and faculty.

Phebe is remembered best for her pious nature. She studied her Bible religiously and and was a staple at prayer meetings and church services. Phebe's religious devotion was commemorated after her death in Phebe Lord Upham's pamphlet Narrative of Phebe Ann Jacobs, published by the American Tract Society.

The grave of Phebe Ann Jacobs, which reads: "Born a slave. For about 40 years a faithful friend in the families of Pres. Wheelock and Pres. Allen. An eminent Christian beloved and honored. Died, Feb. 27, 1850, Aet. 64."
Phebe is buried in the Allen family plot near the front of the second row from the right.

Phebe Ann Jacobs died on February 28, 1850, and is described in Narrative of Phebe Ann Jacobs:

"The next morning Phebe's body was found in her bed, cold and lifeless; her eyes calmly closed, the mouth shut, her hands placed by her side, her candle burnt out, her Testament and spectacles by the bedside, the door of her house unbolted; no smoke ascended from her cottage, and Phebe was not--God took her." (page 7)

"The wife of [Rev. George E. Adams] died the same night with Phebe, and perhaps at the same hour of the night...To die with Phebe was a privilege; and the pastor remarked on this occasion, that if his wife had been permitted to choose a companion to accompany her through the 'dark valley,' and into the open portals of heaven, she would have chosen Phebe." (page 8, emphasis in original)

Phebe's funeral was attended by Brunswick's most prominent citizens, and the Allen family even traveled from 200 miles away to pay their respects to their former servent. Her service was held in the First Parish Church, the church she held so close to her heart. Professor Alpheus Spring Packard, Dr. Lincoln, and former governor Robert Pinckney Dunlap helped carry her coffin to Pine Grove Cemetery, where she lays today.

*Phebe had a brother and sister, Peggy and John.

Learn more about the Beverwyck plantation here.

Sources:
Price, H.H. & Gerald E. Talbot, eds. Maine's Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People. Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury Publishers, 2006.
"Story of Phebe Jacobs." The Lewiston Daily Sun. 2 May 1923.
Upham, Phebe Lord. Narrative of Phebe Ann Jacobs. American Tract Society, no. 536. Pejepscot Historical Society, pamphlet 227.

Many thanks to the indispensable Barbara Desmarais for sharing her Phebe expertise with me!

Phebe & Thomas C. Upham: the Rabble Rousers

Phebe Lord, the woman who would become one of the greatest thorns in the side of her Congregational minister, was born on March 20, 1804 to Nathaniel Lord and Phebe Walker. When Phebe was 8, her family moved to Kennebunkport, where her father was known as the richest man in the county.

Shortly before her marriage to Thomas C. Upham, her family’s wealth afforded Phebe a trip to New York City, where she was painted by the renowned American artist Gilbert Stuart. Stuart, who had painted the Founding Fathers and thus earned the title “The Father of American Portraiture”, was 70 at the time and afflicted with partial paralysis. Yet he was reportedly so enamored with the beautiful Phebe that he had longed for the opportunity to paint her. The resulting portrait now finds it home among many other Stuart portraits at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. But Gilbert Stuart was not the only person who had fallen in love with Phebe Lord.

Engraving of Thomas C. Upham from a daguerrotype, by J.C. Buttre. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1972.a.

Phebe’s future husband, Thomas C. Upham, was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire on January 30, 1799 to a state congressman. He earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Dartmouth (1818 and 1821, respectively) after preparing for college at Gilmantown Academy. After Dartmouth, he studied theology and became a pastor in Rochester, New Hampshire, where his family had relocated while he was a boy. After serving his parish for just 1 year, Upham earned a position at Bowdoin College as the college’s first professor of Mental & Moral Philosophy, a subject he would teach until he left the school in 1867. One year after joining the college faculty, Thomas C. Upham married Phebe Lord on May 18, 1825.

At Bowdoin, Upham was known as “one of the greatest detectives on the faculty”, able to sniff out a student’s mischievousness. Though he was noted for being painfully shy, during his lifetime Upham was able to raise for than $70,000 for the school (approximately $1 million today, adjusted for inflation). He also wrote the enormously successful book Mental Philosophy, which went though 57 editions in just 73 years.

The Upham family home at 179 Park Row, circa 1870. The building, which was probably designed by Samuel Melcher III, is now the local Elks Lodge. When it was built in 1817 it was one of the town's costliest houses to construct. Note the terraced lawn, which still exists today. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 2153.1

One of the Upham’s greatest claims to fame was his role in persuading Calvin Stowe to join the Bowdoin faculty. Stowe brought along his wife, Harriet Beecher, who instantly befriended Phebe. After Harriet’s ill-fated arrival in Brunswick (for more information, see the blog post about William Smyth), Phebe lent Harriet bedding, helped arrange for a housekeeper and showed her around Brunswick. It was while sitting in the Upham family pew (#23) at the First Parish Church that, in March of 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe had a vision which inspired her to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Like Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Uphams passionately believed that slavery should be abolished. The Uphams, like William Smyth, used their home as a stop on the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe herself records that she sent an escaping slave to the Uphams, who fed, sheltered, and gave the slave money. Thomas C. Upham was a proponent of the “Back-To-Africa”, or colonization, movement. He believed that American slaves should be returned to African countries like Liberia. Upham served as the vice president of the American Colonization Society and even contributed an impressive $1,000 to the cause (approximately $14,000 today).

Like we have seen in so many of his contemporaries, however, Thomas C. Upham did not limit himself to one cause. He was a supporter of temperance and was among the first people to sign the Brunswick temperance pledge. Upham also opposed capital punishment, which was not abolished in Maine until after his death. Thomas C. Upham was also a strong supporter of the peace movement, a belief he had developed during the War of 1812. He supported the cause for peace by serving as the vice president of the American Peace Society and publishing many works championing peace under the pseudonym “Perier”.

Thomas C. Upham appears to best known for his role in helping to legitimize the holiness movement.* Followers in the holiness movement believe that though the body was corruptible, it was possible to attain full salvation while on earth. Around 1839 Upham became the first man to attend the meetings of Phoebe Palmer, an early practitioner of the movement. Impressed by what he learned, he helped popularize the movement, which some historian argue influenced the structure of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But it appears that Upham did not stumble upon Phoebe Palmer by himself—rather, it was his wife Phebe who urged him to visit a meeting.

Rev. George E. Adams of the First Parish Church, who often butted heads with Phebe Upham. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc#1726.1e.

Like her husband, Phebe Upham was passionately devoted to what she believed in. An outspoken woman herself, Phebe balked at the rule preventing women from speaking in church meetings. Thanks to the fact that Rev. George Adams, the adoptive father of Frances Caroline Adams Chamberlain and pastor of the First Parish Church, kept an exhaustive journal, we know that Phebe would often visit Adams to argue her case. She would apparently often charge into the reverend’s study unannounced and uninvited and engage Adams in heated arguments over the rule.

In addition to her feminist causes, Phebe was also a writer. She wrote a booklet about the life of Phebe Ann Jacobs, a freed slave living in Brunswick, for the American Tract Society. Several scholars have noted parallels between his booklet and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and believe the booklet also inspired Stowe. Phebe accomplished all of this while raising her 6 adopted children (4 boys and 2 girls) at the Upham home at 179 Park Row.

Thomas C. Upham left Bowdoin College in 1867 and he and Phebe relocated to her hometown of Kennebunkport. In 1872, while visiting his brother in New York City, Thomas suffered a stroke. He died on April 2 and his body was brought back to Brunswick. His funeral was held in the First Parish Church on April 4, 5 years to the day of Prof. William Smyth’s death—in recognition of this fact, both services featured the same song, “Who Are These in Bright Array”. Prof. Alpheus Spring Packard presided over the service.

Phebe continued to live out her life in New York City, often visiting her children. She died there peacefully on March 18, 1882. A Brunswick newspaper describes her death:
“On Saturday the servant took up a lunch to Mrs. Upham’s room, finding her seated, and apparently as well as usual. Two hours later the servant went to her room, to found the tea spilled upon the carpet, the lunch untasted, and Mrs. Upham seated in her chair with her head reclining to one side; a closer observation showed that she was dead, having passed away in that interval of two hours, with no eye to watch her, but evidently without a struggle” (Tenney, Phebe Upham’s obituary, 2).

The Upham monument in Pine Grove Cemetery, located just past the grave of Parker Cleaveland. Though only Thomas's dates and initials are inscribed on the stone, newspaper articles indicate that Phebe is buried here as well. Her obituary in the March 24, 1882 Brunswick Telegraph ends "She has come back at last, and rests beneath our whispering pines in the lot in our village cemetery, where rest the remains of her husband."

*The Salvation Army began as a result of the holiness movement.

Sources:
Calhoun, Charles C. A Small College in Maine: Two Hundred Years of Bowdoin. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1993.
Cheetham, Mark. Facts and Legends Concerning the Underground Railroad in Topsham and Brunswick Maine website.
Fuchs, Alfred H. “The Psychology of Thomas Upham.” Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology, Vol. 4. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2000.
General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine, 1794-1912.
Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1912.
“Old College Professors: Reminiscences of Famous Educators and Told by an Augusta Citizen”. Brunswick Telegraph. No date, circa 1880. Pejepscot Historical Society Research Files.
Packard, Alpheus Spring. Address on the Life and Character of Thomas C. Upham, D.D. Brunswick: Joseph Griffin, 1873.
“Phoebe [sic] Upham Had Role in Writing of Famous Book”. Lewiston Evening Journal Magazine. 10 November 1973.
Tenney, A.G. “Death of Professor Thomas C. Upham.” Brunswick Telegraph. 5 April 1872.
Tenney, A.G. “Funeral of Prof. Upham.” Brunswick Telegraph. 12 April 1872.
Tenney, A.G. Phebe Upham’s obituary. Brunswick Telegraph. 24 March 1882.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

William Smyth: Abolitionist, Education Reformer & Amateur Architect

William Smyth in an undated photo. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1969.a.

William Smyth seems like one of the busiest people in Brunswick. Smyth had many pet causes which he felt passionately about, and has left a lasting mark on many of Brunswick’s institutions, such as the school system, Bowdoin College and the First Parish Church.

Smyth’s biographers consistently refer to his childhood as a difficult one. He was born on either the 1st or 2nd of February in 1797 (his grave cites the 2nd, but several other sources say it was the 1st), in Pittston, Maine. While he was still young, Smyth’s family moved to Wiscasset, where his father worked as a ship carpenter and Smyth befriended a young Alpheus Spring Packard. To help support his poor family, Smyth joined the army and served in the War of 1812 as a quartermaster-sergeant in a regiment stationed near the mouth of the Kennebec River. By 1815 he had lost both of his parents, and was left to support his brother and sister by teaching at Wiscasset schools and later at Gorham Academy.

Possessing a thirst for knowledge, Smyth entered Bowdoin College as a member of the junior class in 1820. He suffered from poor eyesight, so roommates and friends would read Smyth’s assignments to him each night. Nevertheless, Smyth overcame his relative poverty—he often ate just bread & water to save money—and eye problems to graduate at the head of his class in 1822. After graduation Smyth taught for a few years before returning to his alma mater as Greek tutor. In 1825 he gained an assistant professorship in both mathematics and natural philosophy. He would later become a full professor of both subjects. William Smyth is credited with introducing the blackboard to Bowdoin College, an innovation which caused students who had already taken his algebra course to (voluntarily!) re-enroll and repeat the subject. Smyth married Harriet Porter Coffin in 1827 and lived in the Smyth-Packard House for over 40 years with his lifelong friend, Alpheus S. Packard.

The Smyth-Packard House at 6-8 College Street, William Smyth's home for over 40 years. Smyth also used his home to hide slaves escaping to Canada. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1978.10.a.

If he were alive today, William Smyth would certainly be considered an activist. He was a charter member of Brunswick’s Temperance Society, but is perhaps most celebrated for his abolitionist views. He helped found the state’s first antislavery society in 1834, and later served on the Board of Managers for the American Anti-Slavery Society. In March 1838, Smyth served as the first editor of The Advocate of Freedom, an abolitionist newspaper published in Brunswick. That same year he served as a delegate at the meeting of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society in Augusta. One biography states that Smyth “never swerved, -no, not for an hour,- from his allegiance to the cause of human freedom and the rights of man” (Wheeler & Wheeler, 806). Smyth’s home even served as a stop on the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves headed to Canada.

Smyth also has an interesting tie to most famous abolitionist to ever live in Brunswick. Harriet Beecher Stowe, wife of a newly hired Bowdoin professor, arrived in Bath with her children on May 25, 1850. As Stowe reports in this letter to her husband, Prof. William Smyth was supposed to met her in Bath and escort her to her Brunswick lodgings:

“Proff Smith had written that he should be at the landing to wait on me to the cars—It was a drenching running rain & fog when the boat stopped. Proff Smyth was there umbrella in hand waiting in anxious expectation he says—but I also waited on board the boat hoping to hear somebody enquire for me—I waited till all the baggage was taken out & seeing or hearing no one I went on shore & took a hack & was driven up to the [street] cars took my ticket saw my baggage put in & then waited patiently for the cars to go off—Meanwhile Mr. Smith after rambling over the boat in search of me came to the cars in despair to go back to Brunswick…He went into the front car—I & the children into the back & in fifteen minutes we were in Bath—I wondered when I got there that nobody came to the cars to look for me—he got out [in Brunswick] quite disappointed & walked up to Mrs. Upham’s who had her breakfast table all waiting announced the [grim?] fact that I was not coming & then directly on the heels of this while he & Mrs. Upham were wondering over their coffee what could have become of me I came bad & baggage to the door—What way did you come was the astonished cry—From Bath says I quite cool—Impossible says Proff Smyth how could you have got there you were certainly not on the Bath boat—But indeed I was says I--& then such a laugh as Mrs Upham & Mary & Susan railed on the poor Professor—it has been a standing joke ever since—he laughs and shakes his sides talks about it incessantly himself—begs nobody will mention it to him—for it hurts his feelings to have it alluded to—What was the matter yet remains a mystery—I am quite sure that I stood a long time in a very conspicuous situation with my children drawn up before me--& he is sure that he came on board—looked every where & did not see me.” (Harriet Beecher Stowe, quoted in Calhoun, 151-152).

Perhaps in an effort to atone for the misunderstanding, Smyth helped plant a garden and found a cow for Stowe.

Brunswick's first high school, completed in 1851. Note that there are separate entrances for boys (on the right) and girls (on the left). From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 2119.c.

Smyth was also a passionate advocate of educational reform. Before Smyth led the charge, Brunswick’s school system was actually three completely separate districts where students of all ages and intellectual abilities learned together. It was Smyth who pushed for the town’s school system to be unified, and called for the graded separation of pupils into a primary, elementary and high school. Involved in the town school committee for 17 years, Smyth also designed the first Brunswick high school, which stood where Hawthorne School, at the corner of Federal & Green Streets, is today. This, along with his tireless efforts on behalf of the town’s schools, earned him the title “Father of the Brunswick High School.”

The First Parish Church, aka "The Church on the Hill", showing the spire which Smyth designed. The spire only lasted from 1845 to 1866, when it was blown off in a windstorm. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2008.382.2.b.

Smyth’s role in the building of the first Brunswick high school was his first experience with erecting a major Brunswick edifice. On February 15, 1845, it was Smyth who made the motion to build a new Congregational church. Smyth, “working like a galley slave”, served as the construction manager and kept constant correspondence with the building’s architect Richard Upjohn (Tenney, 1). Upjohn, who also designed New York City’s Trinity Church, never came to see the church while it was being built. After the First Parish Church building was completed, it was Smyth who drew the plans for a spire which was added in 1848.

Bowdoin College's Memorial Hall, circa 1890. The building is now more commonly known as Pickard Theater and is the summer home of the Maine State Music Theater. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1978.10.l.

But William Smyth’s was not quite done as a builder & designer. On September 1, 1865, the Brunswick Telegraph reported that Smyth was seeking donations for a new Bowdoin College building, to be dedicated alumni who fought in the Civil War. Over the next 3 years, Smyth managed to raise an impressive $20,000 (about $320,000 today) for the new building, Memorial Hall, while only charging the college $4.17 for his travel expenses. Smyth also had a role in the design in the building—he wanted an architect to design the exterior while he was responsible for the interior. Surviving correspondence suggests that Smyth was a rather difficult person to work with.

William Smyth's monument. The Smyth family plot in Pine Grove Cemetery is located just past the Chamberlain family plot, on the right.

The Memorial Hall project would prove to be Smyth’s last. He spent the morning of the day he died overseeing the laying of the building’s foundation, but suffered an apparent heart attack and died at his home around 2:30 PM on April 4, 1868. His obituary reports that Smyth had repeatedly stated that “he desired no other inscription upon his tombstone than the simple words—‘The friend of the Children’” (Tenney, 1).

Sources:
Ashby, Thompson Eldridge. A History of the First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine. Brunswick: J.H. French and Son, 1969.
Calhoun, Charles C. A Small College in Maine: Two Hundred Years of Bowdoin. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1993.
Cheetham, Mark. Facts and Legends Concerning the Underground Railroad in Topsham and Brunswick Maine website.
Cleaveland, Nehemiah. History of Bowdoin College, with Biographical Sketches of its Graduates. Boston: James Ripley Osgood & Company, 1882.
General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine, 1794-1912. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1912.
Hatch, Louis C. The History of Bowdoin College. Portland, Maine: Loring, Short & Harmon, 1927.
“Memorial Hall”. Brunswick Telegraph. 1 September 1865.
Tenney, A.G. “Prof. William Smyth, D.D.” Brunswick Telegraph. 10 April 1868.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Frances Adams Chamberlain: Death & Funeral

Below are three transcribed newspaper articles: Fanny Chamberlain’s obituary, an article about her funeral, and the beautiful eulogy given by Rev. E.B. Mason at her service.

Fanny Chamberlain’s obituary, as printed in the

October 20, 1905 issue of The Brunswick Record

DEATH OF MRS. CHAMBERLAIN

Mrs. Frances (Adams) Chamberlain, wife of Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, passed away on Wednesday night at her home in this town. She was about 80 years of age. They had been looking forward to the celebration of their golden wedding in December next. She was the daughter of Asher Adams, one of the old Boston merchants, and Amelia Wyllys of Hartford, Conn., whose home was the old Wyllys mansion of Charter Oaks fame. She was a lineal descendant of Mabel Harlakenden, known as “the Princess of New England,” being in fact of the blood royal. She was a member of the family, regarded as an adopted daughter, of her cousin, Rev. Dr. George E. Adams, pastor of the First Parish church in Brunswick. She was a rare and gifted woman, and had opportunities in life to be active in wide and varied spheres. During her husband’s governorship of Maine and presidency of Bowdoin College, her generous hospitalities and especially her personal interest of a large number of young men, students of the college, she endeared herself to many who cherish the memory with grateful affection. Mrs. Chamberlain lost her eye-sight several years ago, and has since suffered very greatly from a combination of diseases, which she had borne with admirable patience. She will be widely missed and deeply mourned. She leaves a son, Harold Wyllys Chamberlain of Brunswick, and a daughter, Mrs. Horace G. Allen of Boston.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., at her late home on Maine street.

Photo of the First Parish Church, taken during the brief period between 1848 and 1866 when the church had a spire. The spire was blown off in a windstorm and fell onto Maine Street--no one was injured. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2008.383.3.b.

Description of Fanny’s funeral, from the

October 23, 1905 Lewiston Daily Evening Journal

TRIBUTES TO MRS. CHAMBERLAIN, BRUNSWICK, ME., Oct. 24 (Special).—Saturday the funeral of Mrs. J.L. Chamberlain was held in Brunswick. Only family and intimate friends attended the prayers at the house at half after two in the afternoon.

From the home the remains were carried to the Congregational church where the funeral service was held. The officiating clergymen was Dr. Mason, who was a pastor of the college church for over forty years and he was assisted by the present pastor, Rev. Mr. Jump, who offered the opening and closing prayers.

“Sun of My Soul,” one of Mrs. Chamberlain’s favorite songs, was given at the beginning of the service, and at the close the organist played magnificently, “The Land of the Leal.”

Mrs. Chamberlain passed away on Wednesday night. Only the Sunday previous she went for a drive. On Monday it was noticed that she wad suffering from a cold and on Tuesday she was much worse. This hastened her death, the indirect cause of which, no doubt, was the injury to her hip, received last August as the result of a fall.

Besides her husband, Mrs. Chamberlain is survived by two children, Mrs. Horace Allen of Boston and Mr. Harold Wyllys Chamberlain of Brunswick and three littler grand-children, all the daughters of Mrs. Allen.

Mrs. Chamberlain, who was seventy-seven years of age [sic; she was actually 80], has been totally blind for the past five years and for several years previous to that, was partially blind. Her husband and son have been especially devoted to her during her years of affliction. Even after her blindness Mrs. Chamberlain played beautifully upon the piano and not only from memory for she also improvised.

In speaking of her a friends said: “Mrs. Chamberlain had a fund of funny stories and of quaint sayings. She was young and bright in spirit, even to her last. She was cultured and intellectual and an artist in painting as well as in music. But better than all her versatile talents was her dear, true strong, loving heart.”

One of her dearest friends spoke to the Journal reporter of Mrs. Chamberlain’s wonderful faculty of entertaining a large company of people easily and with no apparent effort, making everyone feel that he was a part of the happy circle.

It will be remembered that Mrs. Chamberlain, who was formerly Miss Fannie Adams, was adopted by her father’s brother, Dr. Adams of Brunswick, when but a child. The officiating clergyman at the funeral services told the story of her life in a series of word pictures, the first of which described the beautiful little girl with her great, observant brown eyes, as she came up the aisle of the old white church, on the first Sunday after the adoption by Dr. and Mrs. Adams.

He carried her through her girlhood to young womanhood when she had the care of the singing in the church and played the organ for eight years. Then he told how she became interested in a young man in the college and later gave her heart to him and the scene of her marriage which was solemnized by her adopted father, was pictures. Then he described her as a mother and never, said he, was there a more devoted mother than she. Then he pictures the time when her husband was made governor of the State and “this same little Fannie Adams” performed the duties she was called upon to perform with such marked ability and acceptability.

Then to the time Mr. Chamberlain was made president of Bowdoin College when she was still “the same little Fannie Adams,” and the students came to her with their joys and sorrows, wrong doings and love affairs. Whatever happened, she always took the part of the student, being almost a mother to them.

Then he told of her blindness when he came with faltering step up the aisle of the church, leaning upon the arm of her husband and followed by her son, and then, sweetest of all, of her last years.

Colored postcard showing the interior of the First Parish Church. The Chamberlain family sat in pew #64. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1982.97.418.6.

Rev. E.B. Mason’s eulogy, printed in the

October 27, 1905 issue of The Brunswick Record

MRS. CHAMBERLAIN’S FUNERAL

Eloquent Tribute Made by Rev. Dr. E.B. Mason in the Congregational Church

It is the prerogative of man, as an intelligent being, with memory and imagination, to banish the present and recall the past; to summon before him the faces and forms of things and persons that were long ago, and live over again the experiences of other times. We can blot out in a moment the town as it is, with trolley cars, new buildings and dwelling houses; the splendid structures on Bowdoin College campus, the Science and Art buildings, Hubbard hall and even Memorial hall, and see in place of them a quaint beautiful New England village with its simple life and scholarly ways.

It is on a Sunday morning. The “past rises before us like a dream.” We are in the old church which once stood on the sire of the present edifice. We see a square prim New England meeting house, with galleries around three sides, and windows screened by green blinds. Outside the streets are quiet and empty, save for the people on their way to morning service. The door opens and a father mother and little girl softly enter the sacred place. Little Fanny Adams has come from her home in Boston, to live with her cousin George, who loves children, and longs to have one in his house. The little girl grew up, listened to her adopted father, your honored pastor, Dr. Adams, preaching Sabbath after Sabbath, and became a part of Brunswick life.

Years have passed away, this impressive church, which always deeply affected her, has risen on the site of the old meeting house, and each Sabbath morning, there is seated at the organ, a young woman who loves music, and knows how to lead the congregation in its public and solemn worship. Soft strains breathe forth or swell into loud triumphant chords, while the people sit and reverently wait for the uttered words of prayer praise and religious instruction. Once more Fanny Adams is taking her part in the church life, and for years continues to render this important service to the congregation.

Among the members of the choir, and for a time leader of the choir, is a young man between whom and the organist grows a beautiful friendship, which ripens into warm deep love, and which we know now was to last for half a century.

A third picture rises before is like a vision. It is a wedding. The bride and groom walk slowly up the aisle, and stand before this altar while the solemn words are spoken, which make them husband and wife. The picture is easily filled out. All its details come back. We see the throng of friends, and hear the thrilling organ notes, and the full melodious voice of the minister, as he recited the impressive and touching marriage service. Fanny Adams again goes out of the church, and this time as the bride of the young man who helped her in the singing of the choir.

Forty or more years elapse, and we are in the Congregational church, on almost any Sunday evening, when the door slowly opens and three persons carefully enter; a father, a mother, and a son. They move cautiously down the aisle, at almost a creeping pace, and we soon see that the mother is totally blind. A devoted son and husband support her at every step, and seat themselves by her side. She sits motionless during the service, and at its close smiles brightly on friends who stop with a word of greeting, before being led back to the other side of the street, and the home made as comfortable as love can make it, but always in darkness. Those who fill in the events between four scenes described, can rehearse the story of a strong useful and beautiful life.

I have not alluded to other incidents outside this building, her experiences in the war, the days in Augusta as governor’s wife, with receptions and social obligations; nor the college life when her husband was president of Bowdoin College, and students gathered in their home, or came to her with their troubles and questions for sympathy and direction; for the home life which is too sacred for strangers to meddle with; nor her regretted inability to unite with the church, because of a scrupulous conscience which could not assent to propositions beyond comprehension.

Enough, however has been said, and we turn from the days of yore to the ‘Land o’ the leal.’ We forget the past, and summon the future. Memory gives place to vision. It is not a new life but the same life enriched and enlarged, which is projected on into scenes of indescribable brightness and grandeur.

Immortality is an experience like love, or marriage, or any other part of the life lived by reasonable beings. It is not a deduction, for arguments crumble to pieces and fall like a house of cars, but it is an experience, an achievement, an attainment. Some accomplish immortality in this world, and are already passed from death unto life, but others, perhaps most people, learn its meaning, and feel its power only in the world to come. They move on into brightness, while we watch the departing glow. It is an experience not of the body, which moulders away and disappears in the corruption of the grave; it is an experience not of the mind, for learning never comes to a knowledge of God, or eternal life, but it is an experience of the spirit, of the human spirit, blended with the Divine Spirit, and becoming a part of the imperishable. While everything is an experience of God, either a walk in the morning, a song sung from the heart, a piece played on the organ, a friend met in the darkness, yet the supreme experience is the experience of love and immortality with the Eternal Father. That little Fanny Adams, who appeared one Sunday morning in this church seventy or more years ago, who later played your organ, was married before your altar, and worshipped here on Sunday evenings with her husband and son, has gone into the bright and glorious life and light which is immortality and joy and peace. Old and tried friends have brought in for the last time her mortal body, and will lay it in the grave, but her spirit, with its music, and brilliant gifts, and memories of the past, and treasures gathered in this world, has gone to God who gave it, and will abide with Him forever.

The services were held on Saturday afternoon in the Congregational church, and were conducted by Rev. H.A. Jump, assisted by Dr. E.B. Mason.

The singing was by a quartet of Bowdoin students.

The bearers were Prof. Franklin C. Robinson, Capt. Lemuel H. Stover, James W. Crawford, Prof. Henry Johnson, Prof. William A. Houghton and Emery A. Crawford. Interment was at Pine Grove Cemetery.