Alexander Thompson & Mourning Scenes

The death of a loved one in 18th and 19th century America had an effect we wouldn't usually expect today: the production of beautiful artwork. One example of unusual mourning art has already been explored in this blog, but today we turn our focus to mourning scenes.

Mourning scenes, or mourning pictures, are an early example of the sentimentalization of mourning, the practice of beautifying death which emerged in the 1800s. Young women, particularly schoolgirls, were instructed in the art of the mourning scene. A mourning scene was typically embroidered and/or painted with watercolors onto silk or linen. During the early and mid-1800s, these materials were quite expensive. Thus, mourning scenes were more commonly found hanging from the walls of upper-class homes.

Alexander Thompson, the subject of a mourning scene in the collection of the Pejepscot Historical Society, was born in Arundel on August 27, 1757. He served in the Revolutionary War for 4 years and 2 months. After marrying Lydia Wildes on April 8, 1784, the couple rode on horseback up the coast to a farm in Topsham. There, Alexander became a prominent member of the community, serving as a selectman for 6 years. In 1794, he was also a founding member of the Baptist Religious Society in Topsham. Alexander and Lydia would have 9 children together before he died on February 23, 1820. Lydia, born in 1764, would go on to live to the impressive age of 93.

Alexander Thompson's grave in Pine Grove Cemetery, located near the front of the fifth row from the right.

After his death, someone--probably one of his daughters--painted a mourning scene in Alexander's honor. Pictured below, it is in many ways an example of a typical mourning scene. In it, two women are depicted next to an urn monument which reads: "Sacred to the memory of Alex Thompson, Feb. 23, 1820. Aged 64. Mindless of love and friendship, cold he lies, deaf and unthinking clay." Behind them, a weeping willow towers over them, alongside an idyllic scene of nature and sprawling countryside.

Mourning scene for Alexander Thompson painted in watercolors on paper. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 101.

Thompson's mourning scene contains three elements common to this type of mourning art. The first is the urn on the pedestal, an image which had long been a symbol of death. Ancient Greeks had used urns to hold the ashes of their dead, and classical images had become quite popular in newly-founded America. The second element is the inclusion of mourners, which were almost always women. In Thompson's mourning scene, the two women depicted both wear Empire gowns in Regency fashion, another reflection of the classical style which was very much in vogue.

Finally, the image includes a weeping willow, whose very name reflects mourning and death. Author Teresa Flanagan points out that though weeping willows were often found in the cemeteries of New England, they were relatively uncommon in the Pejepscot region which included Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell. Despite this, the tree's association with death made them a key element in mourning pictures like Thompson's. Interestingly, willows were often planted in cemeteries because of the large volumes of water they are able to absorb, which prevented the cemetery from flooding. As I wrote about last week, trees like willows have the additional benefit of purifying groundwater near cemeteries.

Another mourning scene from the collection of the Pejepscot Historical Society also contains many of these common elements. This time, the subject of mourning is Sylvia Dean Hall (circa 1768-1794). Sylvia's daughter, Betsy (born 1790 in Norton, Massachusetts), created this mourning scene of ink on silk with embroidery probably around 1807 or 1808 at Mary Blach's school in Providence, Rhode Island. Betsy chose to depict herself, her brother and her father (John Hall, Jr.) at the time of her mother's death, rather than the time the mourning scene was produced. In June 1820, Betsy married Brunswick native Leavitt Taylor Jackson and relocated here, bringing the mourning scene with her.

Mourning scene for Sylvia Dean Hall, by her daughter, Betsy Hall Jackson, ink on silk, circa 1807-1808. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 108.

Just as in the later Thompson mourning scene, the Hall mourning scene depicts an urn on a pedestal, a weeping willow and a peaceful nature scene. The biggest difference between the two images is the inclusion of three figures in the Hall image, and two of them male, rather than the classic weeping female. Betsy Ring, the curator at the Rhode Island Historical Society during the 1980s, believes this to be the only example from Mary Blach's school where three figures are depicted.

Mourning scene lithograph by Nathaniel Currier. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1977.1.6.

Though the materials--silk, paint, linen--to produce mourning scenes (as well as the instruction to do so) were expensive, in time they became accessible to ordinary Americans. Another example from the collection of the Pejepscot Historical Society shows us that mournng scenes did become mass-produced as time went on. Above is a print by Nathaniel Currier (1812-1888), of Currier & Ives fame. The print contains the classic elements of an urn on a pedestal, a mourning woman and a weeping willow. But if you look closely (click the photo for a larger view), you can see that the names of the deceased on the monument has been added in pen. By the end of the 1800s, no longer was artful mourning exclusive to the wealthy. Beautifying death had become a democratic endeavor.

Sources:

Flanagan, Teresa M. Mourning on the Pejepscot. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1992.

Green, Harvey. The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 2003.

"Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1830." Exhibit of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983-1984.

Sinnett, Rev. Charles N. Our Thompson Family in Maine, New Hampshire and the West. Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Printing Company, 1907.

Wajda, Shirley & Helen Sheumaker, eds. Material Culture in America: Understanding Everyday Life. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2007.

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.

Colonel Andrew Dennison & the Paper Boxes

Colonel Andrew Dennison was, quite literally, the father of the Dennison Manufacturing Company. He was born in Freeport on February 22, 1786. In 1807 he married Lydia Lufkin (1788-1848), who was also from Freeport. Andrew was a cobbler, and after the birth of their first 4 children, Lydia and Andrew moved to Topsham in either 1816 or 1817 so that Andrew could practice his trade. In 1824, they relocated across the river to Brunswick. The couple would go on to have an astonishing 10 children together (there are some sources which say they actually had 15 children, but I found no evidence to support this).

The only known image of Colonel Andrew Dennison. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc#1993.22.71.179.

Not surprisingly, Andrew often had a difficult time earning enough money to support his large family. He served as a sergeant of a regiment stationed at Fort Preble during the War of 1812. Yet he did not earn his title until he became a colonel of the Maine state militia. Andrew also served as the Deputy Sheriff of Cumberland County and tried at his hand at farming and local politics, with little success. In the early 1840s Andrew considered moving out of Brunswick to try his luck elsewhere, but ultimately decided to stay put.

Then, Andrew’s oldest son (and his third child) Aaron, a Boston watchmaker, enlisted his Brunswick family to make boxes for him in the fall of 1844. Aaron was so unimpressed with the quality of the jewelry boxes he had been receiving from overseas, he decided to have his family make them for him. The story goes that Aaron would travel to New York, purchase the box-making supplies, sent them to Brunswick where Andrew and his daughters Julia and Matilda would assemble them, and then the finished product would be shipped back to Aaron, who in turn would use and sell them to other jewelers.

The Dennison home on Everett Street in Brunswick, where the first boxes were produced. The home served as the main "factory" from 1844 to 1851. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1993.22.70.788.

The boxes became popular almost immediately. The family began producing them in a room in the second floor of their house, with Andrew cutting the plasterboard by hand at his cobbler’s bench and Julia and Matilda folding and pasting them together. Eventually, Andrew got fed up with the slow process of cutting the boxes by hand and designed a machine to do it for him. The result was the first box cutting machine ever made, which was utilized by the company for many years thereafter.

At first, the Dennison box company was shared by Andrew, Aaron and Andrew’s 3rd oldest son (his sixth born child), Eliphalet, who was more commonly known as E.W. By 1850, Aaron had decided to focus on his watch-making and decided to sell his portion of the business to his brother E.W. With this development, E.W. and his father began to butt heads over issues such as box quality and price, and Aaron was often forced to serve as a mediator between the two. At one point, Andrew even threatened to take the business away from E.W.

In 1850, E.W. wanted to move production of the boxes from Brunswick to Roxbury, Massachusetts, but Andrew balked at this proposition. E.W. eventually conceded. By this time, the company had moved their factory from the Dennison homestead to the second floor of the Poland Block building on Maine Street, where the company employed about 30 people. By 1855, Andrew had had enough bickering with E.W., and decided to sell his portion of the company to E.W. on February 1 for $8,000, with an additional $1,000. The Dennison Manufacturing Company would eventually become the largest box company in the United States and would branch out to make many other products. In 1990, the company merged with Avery to become Avery Dennison, a leading producer of office supplies.

The gravestone of Colonel Andrew Dennison, located 5 lots from the back in the first row on the right.

Freshly retired and no longer worried about money, Andrew lived out the rest of his life in leisure. After Lydia died in 1848 he remarried and traveled often. His obituary describes him as an early supporter of the causes of temperance and anti-slavery. One of Andrew's greatest passions, however, was time keeping—perhaps where his son Aaron got his passion for watches. He actively campaigned for accurate time keeping in Brunswick, and helped procure the town clock and bell at the Mason Street Church. In addition, he frequently visited the college sundial to ensure that his own watch was correct. In his last years, Andrew apparently was still quite active in mind and body. After a brief unidentified illness, he died on July 3, 1869 at the age of 83, as, according to John Furbish, one of the town’s oldest citizens.

Sources:
Andrew Dennison’s obituary. Brunswick Telegraph. 9 July 1869.
Dennison Beginnings: 1840-1878. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2003.12.
Dennison Manufacturing Company. Fifty Years, 1844-1894. New York: Charles F. Bloom, 1894. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2009.172.
Furbish, John. Facts About Brunswick, Maine. Curtis Memorial Library website.
Leighton, Brian. “The Dennison Manufacturing Company: Its Beginning and Progress.” University of Maine, 1976. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1978.59.
Rogers, Grace M. The Dennison Family of North Yarmouth and Freeport, Maine. Exeter, NH: 1906.
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.

Joshua L. Chamberlain: Pine Grove's Most Famous Resident

The cemetery lot just past the grave of Alpheus Spring Packard belongs to the family of Joshua L. Chamberlain. Chamberlain’s grave is undoubtedly the most famous (and the most visited) grave in Pine Grove. People from all over the globe travel here to pay their respects to the Civil War hero, and often leave a memento behind. Pennies, which bear the silhouette of the “Great Emancipator” Abraham Lincoln, are often left on Chamberlain’s grave in appreciation of his heroism.

Chamberlain's footstone in October 1994, covered with pennies. This footstone was added long after Chamberlain's death to commemorate his Medal of Honor.

Much more has been written about Chamberlain’s life than can ever be covered in a blog post, but here is a brief biography. Chamberlain was born in Brewer, Maine on September 8, 1828. He attended Bowdoin College and served as the choir conductor of the First Parish Church, where he met the pastor’s adopted daughter, Frances “Fanny” Caroline Adams. The two courted while Chamberlain graduated from Bowdoin in 1852 and then studied at the Bangor Theological Seminary. In 1855, after completing his studies, Chamberlain and Fanny were married at the First Parish Church on December 7th. He and Fanny would have 5 children, though only Grace (“Daisy”) and Harold would survive to adulthood. While living in what is now a museum dedicated to him, Chamberlain took a position as professor of rhetoric and oratory at Bowdoin in 1856.

Joshua L. Chamberlain wearing the uniform of a Brigadier General, which dates the photo to sometime between June 18, 1864 and March 29, 1865. From the Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 1992.41.1.

In August of 1862 he became Lt. Colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry and in July 1863 famously fought and defended Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg—actions for which he received the Medal of Honor 30 years later. Due to his bravery in the Civil War, Chamberlain was made a Major General. After returning home, he became Governor of Maine for 4 consecutive 1-year terms. Interestingly, Chamberlain and the other Maine governor buried in Pine Grove (Robert P. Dunlap) both served a record 4 terms, exceeded only by Albion K. Parris’ 5 terms as Maine governor. After his governorship, Chamberlain served as president of Bowdoin College from 1871 to 1883. In 1900 he was appointed by President William McKinley as the Surveyor of Customs for the port of Portland. He died in his Portland home at age 85 on February 24, 1914, just after 9:30 am with his beloved daughter by his side.

Chamberlain is often referred to as the last person to die of wounds inflicted during the Civil War. Chamberlain was severely wounded at the Siege of Petersburg on June 18, 1864—so badly so that many (including Chamberlain himself, who wrote a deeply moving “goodbye” letter to Fanny from what he thought was his deathbed) believed he would die. He did recover, but the wound plagued him for the rest of his life. Not long before his death, he contracted a cold which local newspapers cite as aggravating his condition.

Photos of Chamberlain's Portland funeral procession from the Portland Evening Press. The top image shows the procession leaving City Hall, and the bottom image shows the procession enterting downtown Portland.

Because he died in Portland, Chamberlain received two funerals. The first was held at the Portland City Hall on Friday, February 27 at 10 am and attended by 2,000-5,000 people (accounts differ). After a brief service “in accordance with the well-known principles of Gen. Chamberlain who hated all ostentation” (Portland Daily Press, 26 February 1914), Chamberlain’s body lay in state for a period, his sword resting on the coffin, and then a military escort brought the flag-draped casket to the train station. Ralph Owen Brewster served as an usher during the Portland service and among the pallbearers was Chamberlain’s long-time doctor & friend Abner O. Shaw, who tended Chamberlain’s Petersburg wound during the battle.

When Chamberlain’s body arrived in Brunswick on a special train the next day, the entire Bowdoin student body escorted it to the First Parish Church. When they arrived, the Bowdoin students went into the church first, followed by members of the local GAR post, who “formed an aisle thru which the flag-draped casket was carried” (Lewiston Evening Journal, 29 February 1914). Out of respect for the dead, Brunswick businesses closed and Bowdoin cancelled all classes and events. During the service, Sue Winchell played a cell solo of “If With All Your Hearts” and “Largo” and Inez Perry Turner sang “Abide With Me” and “Nearer My God to Thee.” Bowdoin President William DeWitt Hyde delivered the eulogy, at one point quoting Chamberlain’s famous words spoken at the dedication of the 20th Maine monument at Gettysburg: “In great deeds, something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger…”

Chamberlain had requested a simple gravestone, which bears only his name and the years of his birth and death. Note that the pennies on top of this grave have been arranged to spell out "20th", the famous Maine regiment Chamberlain led.

Chamberlain historian Alice Trulock describes the events as the procession left the church for Chamberlain's final resting place: "The casket was then borne from the church to the sound of the organ playing Chopin's 'Funeral March.' Out the Bath Road the great, sad procession wended its way easterly the short distance to Pine Grove Cemetery. There the mourners stood with uncovered heads as the National Guard escort fired a suite of three volleys. Then the body of Maine's great hero was consigned to the earth a few yards from a stand of stately pine trees behind Bowdoin College." (Trulock, 379).

Sources:
“Chamberlain Association”. The Colonial. March 1914. Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# OH 1707.
"Every Honor Accorded Maine’s Dead Soldier, Statesman, Scholar”. Lewiston Evening Journal, 29 February 1914.
“The Final Arrangements.” The Daily Eastern Argus. 27 February 1914.
“Funeral Gen. Chamberlain”. Portland Daily Press. 26 February 1914.
“Simple Services”. The Daily Eastern Argus. 26 February 1914.

Trulock, Alice Rains. In The Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain & the American Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.
“Was Notable Gathering”. Portland Daily Press. 28 February 1914.

To learn more, follow the links for transcribed newspaper articles about Chamberlain's death and funeral.

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.