Victorian Women & Death

Looking at the statistics, it is no surprise that during the Victorian* era, women were more associated with death than men. In every single year of the Victorian era in America, the majority of women did not live long enough to see all their children grow up. In fact, it was not until 1920 when more than half of women were able to complete what we now consider a normal life cycle. Thanks primarily to the dangers of childbirth, in 1830 less than a quarter of the women in the U.S. lived long enough to see their children grow up (Green, 166). Women became associated with death not only because it seemed to target them more than men, but also because of their spiritual, emotional and domestic roles in society.

A statue of a mourning woman sits atop the monument to Captain John and Harriet S. Johnson Bishop in Pine Grove Cemetery. This grave is located near the front of the ninth row from the right.

Since colonial America, women have made up the bulk of churchgoers. By the 1870s--though priests and pastors and reverends were all men--women were the ones filling the pews and "engag[ing] in religious introspection" (Corbett, 165). Additionally, religious rhetoric increasingly posed the commercial against the religious. Because men (who held jobs as bankers and businessmen) embodied the commercial, it is no surprise that women, almost by default, became the symbol of religion. Because death was such a religious issue, the more women became associated with religion, they more they became associated with death.

In addition to religion, women were associated with emotions. Women were the major consumers of romantic and emotional literature (Corbett, 165). Because death was, and of course still is, a very emotional experience, women once again were connected to death. This association even affected mourning art. As we have already seen, mourning scenes commonly featured weeping women. In Pine Grove Cemetery, statuary featuring mourning women are among the most striking funerary art found there.

Another statue of a mourning woman in Pine Grove Cemetery. This gorgeous example is at the monument dedicated to the Williams family, located near the end of the ninth row from the right.

Victorian American women were also defined by their domesticity. A stroll through any old cemetery can reveal this. As Katharine T. Corbett points out, the graves of women refer to them as "wife of" and "mother of", whereas their male children and husbands were rarely identified in relation to women, such as "husband of" or "son of". Though the epitaphs of men would praise their business acumen, bravery or accomplishments, those of women focused on their domestic skills, labeling them good, kind mothers and wives.

But how does this female cult of domesticity relate to death? Long before the advent of funeral parlors, death was very much a domestic issue. When a loved one died, their body was cleaned, dressed and prepared by the family. The funeral itself usually took place at home, not in a church or funeral home. For example, after the 1895 death of prominent Brunswick resident Alfred Skolfield (of the Skolfield-Whittier House) the family held his funeral in the formal parlor of their home. It was not until late in the 1800s that the utilization of a funeral parlor became common among the bereaved.

The Woodside family plot, located in Pine Grove Cemetery in the front of the second row from the right.

In her article titled "Called Home: Finding Women's History in Nineteenth-Century Cemeteries", Katharine T. Corbett argues that women's domestic roles extended into death. After all, she points out, what are cemeteries but "cities of the dead", filled with family plots that are arranged like houses upon a street? The Woodside family plot pictured above serves as an excellent example of the similarities between the home and the family cemetery plot. There are "walls" marking the edge of the plot--there are even front steps leading into it, just as there are front steps leading to a home. In both life and death, women found their role to be situated in the home.


*The Victorian era is defined as lasting from 1837 to 1901, when the Queen for whom the era is named ruled England.

Sources:
Corbett, Katharine T. "Called Home: Finding Women's History in Nineteenth-Century Cemeteries." From Her Past Around Us: Interpreting Sites For Women's History. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company, 2003.
Green, Harvey. The Light of the Hone: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983.
Pejepscot Historical Society. Skolfield-Whittier House tour manual. 2009.

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).

Maine's First Printer: Rev. Benjamin Titcomb

Benjamin Titcomb was born on July 26, 1761 in Portland (which was then Falmouth), Maine. Relatively little is known about his youth. He was the fourth son of Deacon Benjamin and Ann Titcomb and studied at Dummer Academy in Massachusetts.

Detail from the monument of Rev. Benjamin Titcomb in Pine Grove Cemetery, which proclaims him "The first Printer in Maine."

Benjamin's fame came from his desire to see a newspaper printed in Portland. Having served as a printing apprentice in Massachusetts, he began to investigate the feasibility of printing a newspaper of his own and partnered with Thomas B. Wait. On January 1, 1785, at the age of 23, Titcomb printed the Falmouth Gazette and Weekly Advertiser. Not only was the first newspaper printed in Maine, it was the first piece of paper printed at the first printing office in the state.

The partnership between Wait and Titcomb dissolved by the next year, but Titcomb continued to work in publishing until 1798. Though he and his wife were Congregationalists, he made a rather interesting career move and began to preach to a new Baptist society group in Portland, becoming ordained in 1801. Some of the first meetings of their group were in Titcomb's own home. After the village Baptist Society was founded in Brunswick in 1803, Titcomb was called here in 1804 as their pastor. Titcomb preached at the Baptist church in Maquoit, and by 1825 there were over 100 members.

Rev. Benjamin Titcomb's home at 63 Federal Street. The house was built for him by Samuel Melcher III in 1806-1807 and cost about $2,000 (about $30,000 today). The house is more famous today as the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe--her husband Calvin and she lived there from 1850 to 1852. During Stowe's time, Benjamin Titcomb's son John was their landlord, and apparently a bad one. Stowe often wrote letters complaining about the poor condition of the home. Photo from the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 2152.3.

Apparently not all of the Baptist Society members agreed, however. In 1828 or 1829 a few of these people opened their own church on Federal Street as a branch of the Baptist church in Bath. Titcomb, who lived at 63 Federal Street, joined (or perhaps, led) them there, retiring at the age of 83. The Federal Street church "disappeared" after his retirement (Herring, 5).

Titcomb's grave in Pine Grove Cemetery, located near the rear of the third row from the right.

According to Wheeler & Wheeler, Titcomb also participated in the formation of Maine as a state separate from Massachusetts at an 1820 convention, beginning the meeting with prayer, and was an original trustee of Waterville College (now Colby College). Titcomb died at his Federal Street home on September 30, 1848 at the age of 87.

Nota bene: Titcomb was married, but I was unable to find any record of his wife's name. She must have been quite a woman--she and her husband had 13 children together.

Sources:
Cathcart, William. The Baptist Encyclopedia. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883.
Herring, Rev. C.M. Historical Discourse at the Semi-Centennial of the Berean Baptist Church of Brunswick. Brunswick: H.C. Upton, 1890. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1983.19.11.
"Maine's First Newspaper." Bulletin of the Maine State Library, vol. 4 no. 1. July 1916.
Shipman, William D. The Early Architecture of Bowdoin College and Brunswick, Maine. J.H. French & Son: 1985.

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

He's Number One!

We know relatively little about Major Lemuel Swift, and most of what we do know comes from Wheeler & Wheeler's History of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell. Born sometime in 1767, Swift "probably" descended from William Swift of Sandwich, England. (Wheeler & Wheeler, 856) According to the Wheelers, Lemuel Swift arrived in Brunswick in 1790 from New Bedford, Massachusetts. A year later, Swift had set up shop as a hatter on Maine Street, a profession he continued until his death.

The Swift-Forsaith House at 106 Maine Street, built for Lemuel Swift in 1794. This photo was taken in 1967, shortly before the building was razed. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1851.

A document at the Pejepscot Historical Society (acc# 2000.68) indicates that in 1802, Lemuel Swift was appointed as a captain of the militia. Sometime between then and his death he was most likely promoted to the rank of Major, the title with which Wheeler and Wheeler frequently refer to him. Swift also seems to have been a popular Brunswick resident, as in July 1803 he was appointed postmaster. Apparently Swift was unaware that he was up for the position, because he turned down the job. Swift was also a charter member of the Universalist Society of Brunswick in January, 1812.

Top: The family gravestone of the Swifts, located in the second row from the right.
Bottom: Though Lemuel is listed on the northern side of the stone, it appears that his original, simpler stone was not removed when the obelisk was added (or perhaps this slate stone was at Swift's original grave at another cemetery, and when he was moved to Pine Grove his relatives paid for a larger monument). Swift's smaller gravestone is seen here, leaning against the larger monument.

Despite his apparently high position in town, Lemuel Swift's name lives on for two reasons that he had relatively little control over: his home and his death. In 1794, he built his home at 106 Maine Street. The house, which became known as the Swift-Forsaith house, was home to his descendants for more than 130 years. When it was torn down in 1967, it was the oldest house on Maine Street. Lemuel Swift died on June 30, 1820--he was the first person to be buried in Pine Grove Cemetery.

Sources:
Commission appointing Lemuel Swift captain of militia. 18 September 1902. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2000.68.
Original Charter of the Universalist Society of Brunswick. 20 January 1812. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 109.
Shipman, William D. The Early Architecture of Bowdoin College and Brunswick, Maine. J.H. French & Son: 1985.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Special thanks to Ann Frey, who helped research Major Lemuel Swift.

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.

Lucky Number Seven: William DeWitt Hyde

The seventh president of Bowdoin College, William DeWitt Hyde, was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts on September 23, 1858. His parents were Eliza DeWitt and Joel Hyde, who was described by Hyde’s biographer as half farmer and half industrialist. Whatever Joel was, he must have done alright by his family. William attended Exeter Academy and then Harvard, where he helped found the Harvard Philosophical Society, graduating in the class of 1879. Hyde decided to pursue religion as a career, and graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in 1882. He had no way of knowing that his list of accolades would eventually contain honorary degrees from Bowdoin, Harvard, Syracuse and Dartmouth.

William DeWitt Hyde, the seventh president of Bowdoin College, photographed circa 1910. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1992.42.3.

While studying at Andover, Hyde met Prudence Phillips, the daughter of a New York City grain merchant. After he graduated from seminary in 1882 and became ordained in September of 1883, Hyde took the position of pastor at the Paterson, New Jersey Congregational church. On November 6 of the same year he married Prudence. The couple would eventually have three children: William & Elizabeth, a set of twins who died at age 2 weeks, and George, who became a lawyer.

Not two years after taking this job, however, Hyde was lured away from New Jersey for a greater challenge. Bowdoin College had been searching for a new president for 2 years after the resignation of Joshua L. Chamberlain. Though individuals like Alpheus Spring Packard had served in the interim, the college desperately needed someone more permanent. Egbert C. Smyth, a Bowdoin trustee and the son of William Smyth, began to petition that Hyde be hired not only for the presidency, but also as the new professor of mental & moral philosophy. Smyth was ultimately successful, and Hyde became the college’s youngest president before he had turned 27.

Despite his age, Hyde had shown great promise and had excellent recommendations. And, luckily for him, he lived up to the hype. Hyde reinvigorated and revived Bowdoin, taking, as Charles C. Calhoun described it, “the disadvantages of the old-fashioned college—its small size, rural isolation, tradition of piety, and fondness for professors who taught by force of personality more than by intellectual example—and turned them into virtues” (Calhoun, 197). By his tenth year in office, “the boy president”, as Hyde was called, had doubled the college’s enrollment (Burnett, 111). It was during his stead that Whittier Field, Hubbard Hall, the Walker Art Building and Searles Science Building were all constructed. Hyde raised professor’s salaries and made major changes to the curriculum as well, dropping Greek and Latin as requirements for graduation.

A postcard image of Hubbard Hall, the college's library until 1965, when the Hawthrone-Longfellow Library was completed. A portion of Hubbard Hall is now used as the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1982.97.298.6.

At the age of just 49, Hyde suffered what his biographer Charles T. Burnett called a nervous breakdown. Hyde suffered from fainting spells and examinations suggested he had a weakened heart (Hyde, ironically the head of the only medical school in Maine, hated physicians). He took a leave of absence and traveled to Europe for a period, but appears to never have fully recovered.

William DeWitt Hyde died on the morning of June 28, 1917 at age 58. His last words, said to his wife Prudence, were reportedly “Don’t worry, don’t worry about anything” (Burnett, 340). On July 4, 1917, the Boston Herald published an article by John Clair Minot, a former student of Hyde’s, titled “The Burial of a Great Teacher”. Minot described Hyde’s burial in a grave just past

“After Mr. [Thompson Eldridge] Ashby had read the committal service, in a flower-bordered grave in the shade of a little tree of thick foliage we left the sleeping teacher. Close by sleep four others of the seven men* who have been at the head of Bowdoin since it was chartered in 1794, and several of those who have been loyal associated on the faculty. No lovelier setting could be imagined—the sunshine flooding the cemetery, the whispering pines thick around it, one little bird singing in a tree near by, and the hushed and uncovered groups in whose hearts the sense of loss was mastered by a proud memory of what had been and an unfaltering belief in what survives” (Minot, quoted in Burnett, 341-342).

When Hyde became president of Bowdoin College, there were only 119 students enrolled, but by the time of his death, there were nearly 500. Though his life was short, William DeWitt Hyde left a lasting impression on Bowdoin College, helping to transforming the school into the success it is today.

Hyde's grave in Pine Grove, located just past the granite-curbed lot where William Smyth is buried (you can see the curbing on the right side of this photo). Hyde is buried with is wife, Prudence.

*Only three previous Bowdoin presidents are buried near Hyde: Joseph McKeen, Jesse Appleton, & Joshua L. Chamberlain. The three other presidents that preceeded Hyde are William Allen, Leonard Woods, Jr., and Samuel Harris—none of whom are buried in Pine Grove Cemetery. Minot may be under the belief that William Allen was buried near Hyde because Allen’s first wife, Maria Wheelock Allen, is.

Sources:
Bowdoin College. Agency History/Biographical Note. George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives website.
Burnett, Charles T. Hyde of Bowdoin: A Biography of William DeWitt Hyde. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931.
Calhoun, Charles C. A Small College in Maine: Two Hundred Years of Bowdoin. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1993.
Hale, Edward. “William DeWitt Hyde.” The Harvard Graduate’s Magazine. Vol. 26, September 1917, pages 36-39.
Hatch, Louis C. The History of Bowdoin College. Portland, Maine: Loring, Short & Harmon, 1927.

Alpheus Spring Packard, A True Son of Bowdoin

Crayon portrait of Alpheus Spring Packard by M. Crawford, 1884.
From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 2183.

Alpheus Spring Packard sets the bar for involvement in one’s alma mater. Named after his maternal grandfather, Packard was born on December 23, 1798 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts to Rev. Hezekiah Packard and Mary Spring. Alpheus certainly had much to live up to in his father, who was a 1787 graduate of Harvard and classmate and friend of the 6th president of the United States, John Quincy Adams. In a June 21, 1843 letter (now in the collection of the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1767.1) from John Quincy Adams to Alpheus, Adams writes that “I should not hesitate to accept the invitation” to visit Brunswick “by the cheering promise of meeting once more, and under your hospitable roof, taking again by the hand by long honoured and ever cherished classmate and brother of the [Phi Beta Kappa] Society your venerable father.” Unfortunately, Adams’ health prevented him from making the journey. Hezekiah Packard was also a Revolutionary War veteran who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill (you can read Hezekiah’s memoir, which was published by Alpheus and his siblings, here). In 1802 the family moved from Massachusetts to Wiscasset, Maine, where Hezekiah preached until 1830.

As a young man, Alpheus was reportedly no slacker. According to his father, at the age of 10 Alpheus only spent about 30 minutes a week playing. The rest of his time was spent studying and reading, especially the Classic languages of Greek and Latin. Bowdoin College historian Louis C. Hatch writes that not only was Alpheus’s father well-read, but that his mother, Mary, “used to put a copy of Pope’s Odyssey at the end of her wool-carding machine and read a line when she reached the book as she paced back and forth winding the wool” (51). Alpheus’s studious nature gained him easy admission to Bowdoin College, where he and all 5 of his brothers went to school. Undoubtedly, their father’s membership on the Bowdoin Governing Board had something to do with this.

Alpheus earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1816 and Master’s degree from Bowdoin in 1819, then spent the next 3 years teaching in several Maine towns using the skills he had picked up as a language and math tutor at Bowdoin. In 1824 he finally joined the faculty as a professor of Latin & Greek, but would go on to teach rhetoric & oratory, literature and religion. Apparently not content with just teaching at Bowdoin, Alpheus also served as the college librarian from 1869 to 1881 and as acting president from 1883-1884 after Joshua L. Chamberlain resigned and before William DeWitt Hyde was hired in 1885.

Packard's two leather fire buckets, used to carry sand to put out oil fires. Note that each are individually numbered and labeled with his name. From the Pejepscot Historical Society collection, acc# OH 1314 & 1315.

Alpheus did not limit himself to the college, however. He could boast involvement in Brunswick’s First Parish Church, the Brunswick School Committee, and the town’s temperance movement. He was also involved in Brunswick’s Washington Fire Club, a precursor to the fire department. In addition to his membership in the historical societies of England and New York, in 1828 Packard became a member of the then-6-year-old Maine Historical Society, later serving as the organization’s secretary. Alpheus also was involved in the anti-slavery movement, particularly the New England Emigrant Aid Company, an organization dedicated to ensuring the new state of Kansas would be a free one. The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the citizens of Kansas to vote for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. Thus, the New England Emigrant Aid Company was formed to relocate thousands of free-staters to Kansas, tipping the vote in their favor. Thanks in part to the efforts of Alpheus, 728 Mainers moved to Kansas by 1860 and it became a free state.

In 1827, Alpheus married Frances E. Appleton, the daughter of Bowdoin president Jesse Appleton. Later, Alpheus would publish two volumes of Jesse Appleton’s collected sermons and other works. Alpheus and his wife would have 4 sons and one daughter (including Alpheus Spring, Jr., a noted entomologist & paleontologist) before Frances died in 1839. In 1844 Alpheus married again, this time to the widow Mrs. Caroline W. McLellan of Portland. Together, they had one son. He was lifelong friend of fellow Bowdoin professor William Smyth, with whom he grew up with in Wiscasset. The pair, who were both married in 1827, built the Smyth-Packard house together at 6-8 College Street, living as neighbors for many years.

The Smyth-Packard House at 6-8 College St., now the Russwurm African-American Center. Form the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1978.10a.

Despite his lasting legacy with many other interests and causes, Alpheus Spring Packard will forever be most strongly linked to his alma mater. In 1860 he received the honorary degree of D.D. from the college. Nine years later he celebrated his 50th year as a Bowdoin alumni with a dinner thrown by some of his famous students, including former U.S. President Franklin Pierce. At this dinner he was presented with a sum of $1,220, which is approximately $20,000 today. Many historians cite Packard as the longest-serving faculty member of Bowdoin, and possibly of any American college, with a total of 64 years. At the 1875 Bowdoin Commencement, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow mentioned Packard, Longfellow’s only living Bowdoin professor, in his famous poem “Morituri Salutamus”:

“Not so the teachers who in earlier days
Led our bewildered feet through learning's maze;
They answer us--alas! what have I said?
What greetings come there from the voiceless dead?
What salutation, welcome, or reply?
What pressure from the hands that lifeless lie?
They are no longer here; they all are gone
Into the land of shadows,--all save one.
Honor and reverence, and the good repute
That follows faithful service as its fruit,
Be unto him, whom living we salute.”

Packard's grave in Pine Grove Cemetery. The symbols next to the years of his birth & death are alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

Just one week after resigning his office as the college president, Alpheus traveled to Squirrel Island, Maine to hear a friend of his speak. He suffered a heart attack there on July 13, 1884 and died not long after. He was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, just south of his father-in-law, Jesse Appleton. At his funeral, former student Joshua L. Chamberlain read a poem by Samuel V. Cole dedicated to Packard, which begins:

“Ah! But yesterday we saw him in the old familiar place
Where he welcomed all as children with his old-time country grace;
But we knew not it was Heaven that was shining on his face.

Light was nearer than we thought it, for today we come and find
He has passed beyond the shadow that had made our eyes so blind
And his more than fourscore summers are a golden trail behind.”

Sources:
Adams, John Quincy letter to Alpheus S. Packard. 21 June 1843. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1767.1.
Ashby, Thompson Eldridge. A History of the First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine. Brunswick: J.H. French and Son, 1969.
Bowdoin College. Agency History/Biographical Note. George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives website.
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.
Cole, Samuel V. Poem read at Alpheus S. Packard’s funeral. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2000.17a.
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.
“Hezekiah Packard”. Virtual American Biographies website.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Morituri Salutamus”.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Rev. Jesse & Elizabeth Appleton: Parents of a First Lady

Continuing past the grave of the Bowdoin’s first president, Joseph McKeen, a visitor to Pine Grove Cemetery comes upon several members of the Appleton family. The Appletons—Rev. Jesse, his wife Elizabeth, and their children—would have a long and lasting impression upon the college, beginning with Jesse’s inauguration as the second president after McKeen’s death in 1807.

Engraving of Rev. Jesse Appleton from Wheeler & Wheeler's History of Brunswick.

Jesse was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on November 17, 1772, the son of a farmer. Thanks to the help of a brother, Jesse was able to pay his way through school, eventually graduating—like Joseph McKeen did—from Dartmouth, in 1792. Then, like McKeen, he spent several years both teaching and studying theology before ultimately settling in Hampton, New Hampshire as the pastor of the local Congregational Church, where he was ordained in February of 1797. Jesse’s initial salary included 90£, the keep of his horse, and 20£ worth of food. In 1800 he married Elizabeth Means (born 1799) of Amherst, New Hampshire, the daughter of the wealthy Colonel Robert and Mary (McGregor). The couple would go on to have six children who survived to adulthood.

Jesse spent ten years preaching in Hampton, publishing frequently and garnering quite a reputation as a theologian. He was particularly involved in the Second Great Awakening and believed that anyone could achieve salvation. After Joseph McKeen’s death in July, Jesse was elected in September, 1807 as the college’s next president, and was inaugurated in December.

Jesse’s presidency is characterized by his strict work ethic, which some historians argue is directly responsible for his death. Jesse would often stay up late into the night and then awake at 4 a.m., gaining only 3 or 4 hours of sleep. A tall, thin man, he would also regularly skip meals, so as to have more time to complete his work. Opinions on the effectiveness of Appleton’s presidency seem mixed; some argue that he was quite successful at alleviating the college’s financial issues, while others, such as Louis C. Hatch, complain that Jesse was “anxious over-much” (Hatch, 38) and was too negative and fearful. Despite these accusations, Jesse’s reported final words are full of hope: “God has taken care of the college, and God will take care of the college” (quoted in Hatch, 41). Jesse Appleton died on November 12, 1819, probably of tuberculosis, just 5 days short of his 47th birthday.

Jesse Appleton's grave. The Latin inscription is very worn; an English translation can be found here.

The college, once again, paid for the burial of their president. As another memorial to Jesse, Appleton Hall was named after him in 1847. After her husband’s death, Elizabeth moved her family back to New Hampshire and lived with her brother, Robert. Frances, her second eldest, would eventually marry Bowdon College professor Alpheus Spring Packard in 1827 before her early death in June 1839 at age 25—she, too, is laid to rest in Pine Grove. The most famous of the Appleton children—Jane, the third eldest—would later marry Franklin Pierce on November 19, 1834. Coincidentally, the couple met in New Hampshire though Pierce entered Bowdoin College the year after the Appleton family left it. Franklin Pierce would later go on to become the 14th President of the United States, apparently much to Jane’s chagrin.

Elizabeth Means Appleton's grave. Jesse's grave can be seen directly to its left.

Elizabeth died on October 29, 1844 and was laid to rest next to her husband. Her monument is a gorgeous urn, a common symbol for death. Inscribed on the south side of the base is Revelation 14:13: “I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”

Sources:
Bowdoin College. "Agency History/Biographical Note". George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives website.
Calhoun, Charles C. A Small College in Maine: Two Hundred Years of Bowdoin. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1993.
Cleaveland, Nehemiah. History of Bowdoin College, with Biographical Sketches of its Graduates. Boston: James Ripley Osgood & Company, 1882.
Hatch, Louis C. The History of Bowdoin College. Portland, Maine: Loring, Short & Harmon, 1927.
Johnson, Allen ed. “Rev. Jesse Appleton: Nov. 17, 1772 - Nov. 12, 1819” Dictionary of American Biography. 1928.
Tardiff, Olive. “Jane Appleton Pierce.” Lane Memorial Library website. 11 June 2009.
Venzke, Jane Walter & Craig Paul. “The President’s Wife, Jane Means Appleton Pierce: A Woman of Her Time.” Historical New Hampshire website.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.

Bowdoin's First President: Rev. Joseph McKeen

Most people who visit the Pine Grove Cemetery do so to see the grave of Civil War hero Joshua L. Chamberlain, and they end up walking right by the grave of Rev. Joseph McKeen. McKeen’s grave, which is inscribed entirely in Latin, is certainly a tougher read than Chamberlain’s. But both men were veterans, and both were presidents of Bowdoin College—and both have interesting stories to be told.

Engraving of Rev. Joseph McKeen, from Wheeler & Wheeler's History of Brunswick

Reverend Joseph McKeen was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire on October 15, 1757. He earned three degrees from Dartmouth College over a period of 30 years—a Bachelor of Arts in 1774, a Master of Arts in 1777 and a (honorary) Doctor of Divinity in 1804. McKeen opened a school in his hometown at which he taught for eight years before studying divinity, after which he then returned to teaching at Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In August of 1778 he served 25 days in Gale’s New Hampshire Regiment as a sergeant during the Revolutionary War, and probably participated in the events leading up to the Battle of Rhode Island.

Transcription of the agreement signed by members of Gale's Regiment when they enlisted

McKeen’s longest term of employment, however, was as a Congregational preacher in Beverly, Massachusetts. Ordained on May 11, 1785, McKeen spent the next 17 years of his life in Beverly, marrying Alice Anderson and together raising their family of three sons and two daughters (several of his children will be featured in posts of their own on this blog later on). McKeen was passionate about his Congregational roots—he once referred to Maine’s itinerant Baptist and Methodist preachers “illiterate vagrants who understood neither what they say nor whereof they affirm” (quoted in Kirkland, 32).

In 1802, the young college in Brunswick, Maine was able to lure McKeen north, and he was inducted as the college’s first president on September 2. Bowdoin College was then a very small school—there were but eight students and one professor. There was also only one building, Massachusetts Hall, where McKeen and his family lived with the students. To call the students together, McKeen would simply tap his cane on the banister.

According to college historian Louis C. Hatch, McKeen’s early Bowdoin students were certainly no less rambunctious than they are today. McKeen and the professors would act as “detective-policemen” (Hatch, 25) and punish students caught doing everything from unnecessarily riding on a Sunday (for a fine of $1), to playing cards, to stealing & butchering a Brunswick resident’s geese, owning and using firearms & fireworks and lighting bonfires. Even future Maine governor Robert P. Dunlap (who is also buried in Pine Grove) was punished for skipping chapel. McKeen, who also taught mathematics at the college, conferred the first six Bowdoin graduates with their degrees.

McKeen's grave as it appears today. An English translation of the Latin transcription can be read here (this source mistakenly translated his birth year as 1742).

But a long presidency was not in the cards for McKeen. Afflicted with what was then called “dropsy”, which was probably edema due to congestive heart failure, McKeen died in Brunswick on July 15, 1807, after serving the college nearly 5 years. Bowdoin College contributed $300 (approximately $4,500 today) to McKeen’s family to help cover his burial and $100 to pay for a “table tombstone of white and Egyptian marble” (Flanagan, 14). The college also paid for the monument’s repairs in 1829 and 1842.

Sources:
Bowdoin College. "Agency History/Biographical Note". George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives website.
Calhoun, Charles C. A Small College in Maine: Two Hundred Years of Bowdoin. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1993.
Chapman, George T. Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, From the First graduation in 1771 to the Present Time, with a Brief History of the Institution. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1867.
Flanagan, Teresa M. Mourning on the Pejepscot. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1992.
Hatch, Louis C. The History of Bowdoin College. Portland, Maine: Loring, Short & Harmon, 1927.
Kirkland, Edward Chase. Brunswick’s Golden Age. Lewiston, Maine: C. Parker Loring, 1941.
Wheeler, George Augustus & Henry Warren. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, Including the Ancient Territory Known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878.