Old News from Southern Maine

Old News from Southern Maine offers interesting episodes in York County history. Such as when Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's honeymoon cruise was interrupted by gawkers.

They were spotted off Isle of Shoals on June 6th by two New York press planes. The next day the Mouette tied up for gas and provisions at Hartley Philbrick’s fish wharf in York, Maine. Try as he might, Hartley could not engage Mr. Lindbergh in meaningful conversation. While they were loading supplies in relative silence, a 13 year old girl recognized Lindy and ran off to spread the word at the town’s high school graduation celebration. Within minutes, more than 100 people crowded onto Philbrick’s wharf to get a snapshot of the elusive aviator.

Proposed Maine Counties

Following up on this list of Maine towns proposed but never incorporated, here are some Maine counties that never came to be:

• Waterford County (1796) — Proposed nine years before the incorporation of Oxford County, it would have comprised the "northerly part of the county of York and the northwesterly part of the county of Cumberland."
• Casco County (1835) — No details are available, but the name suggests a bifurcation of Cumberland County.
• Mattanawcook County (1841) — To be taken from the northern part of Penobscot County (several towns in this section would be annexed to Aroostook County in 1843).
• Androscoggin County (1846) — To be formed from the eastern part of Oxford and the western part of Franklin County. The name would be used for a county created in 1854 from parts of Cumberland, Kennebec, Oxford and Lincoln Counties.
• Sebasticook County (1848) — The residents of Albion remonstrated against it.
• Ticonic County (1852) — To be created from parts of Kennebec, Waldo and Somerset Counties.
• Kings County (1853) — The residences of petition and remonstrance signers suggest that this would have included many of the same towns as Sagadahoc County, established in 1854.

Portland Native Nominated for Oscar

Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick is a Portland native and Deering High graduate.

At Deering High, Kendrick's former drama teacher, Kathleen Harris, wasn't surprised by the Oscar nomination.

"Maybe I should be, but when she came to my drama class as a freshman or sophomore, she had already been on Broadway. And she has truly worked for everything she's gotten," Harris said. "She always did well at memorizing, improvisation, and she was always just one of the kids. Just a delightful kid. She never talked about things she had done unless someone asked her."

When she was 12, Kendrick played the kid sister in a revival of "High Society" on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award. [Link]

Proposed Maine Towns

Among the introduced legislation found in the Maine Legislative Index are the petitions of Mainers seeking to create new towns. Here are a few proposed towns that ended up in the legislative graveyard:

• Brutus (1822) — To be set off from part of Chesterville.
• Truxton (1822) — The town now known as Hudson would be incorporated as Kirkland in 1825, and adopt its current name in 1855.
• New York (1829) — To be made from a piece of Old York.
• Maineport (1830) — To be created from part of Prospect.
• London (1832) — To be composed of parts of Carthage, Wilton and Dixfield.
• Weskerangan (1841) — Clinton would have been divided under this proposal.
• Genoa (1849) — Proposed by residents of Belfast Academy Grant in Aroostook County. They would be incorporated as Ludlow in 1864.
• Louisville (1854) — Proposed by the residents of what is now Magalloway Plantation.
• Umbagog (1854) — This was Upton's first attempt at incorporation. They succeeded in 1860.
• Madocawando (1861) — To be created by dividing Penobscot. Madocawando was a Penobscot sachem who made peace with the English in 1676.

Previously: Rejected Town Names

Pvt. Eben E. Smith of Eastbrook

I just blogged over on the Maine Genealogy Network about Eben E. Smith—one of only 11 Union soldiers to survive an amputation at the hip joint. (Images somewhat NSFW.)

Lewiston Newspaper Archives Online

Google News Archive now has digitized copies of Lewiston newspapers going back to 1861. Here are the links to search the Lewiston Daily Sun (1890-1989), the Lewiston Evening Journal (later the Lewiston Journal) (1861-1989), the Lewiston Saturday Journal (1870-1929), and the Lewiston Sun-Journal (2005-2006). Or just use this link to search all the Lewiston papers.

Update: I have found that copies of the Sun Journal from 1989 to 2008 are available by adding [source:"sun" source:"journal" source:"google"] to the query.

Seth Sturtevant's Memories of Valley Forge

Seth Sturtevant of Sumner and Hartford served at Valley Forge, and for more than two years as a member of General George Washington's Life Guard. He sat down in about 1847 to write about his experiences:

Gen. Washington divided his men into parties of twelve, and ordered each party to build a hut for its own accommodation. These rude structures, sixteen feet long and fourteen feet wide, with walls six and a half feet high, were built of logs and lined with clay with rough chimneys. The officers' quarters were like these but a little larger. The weather became bitterly cold and the sufferings almost beyond endurance. Both Washington and Congress were powerless to provide new clothing. Our bare feet were through our worn-out shoes, nearly naked from the tattered remains of our only pair of stockings, our breeches hanging in strings, our faces thin from hunger, and a forsaken look on all. The horses died of starvation, and the men harnessed themselves to sleds and hauled their wood and scanty provisions.

Seth noted at the end of his account, "I write this statement of my life at the age of 87 years. With the few dates kept while in the service it has been written from memory and without the aid of glasses."

Chester Chase's Movies

YouTube user iomene has uploaded a great collection of 16mm films made by Chester Chase of Whitefield around 1950. Chase even attempted some aerial photography.

On a hazy summer day in the 1950's Chet Chase found a new opportunity to use his 16mm movie camera. Hank Markow offered to take Chet, Mike McCormick and Hack Olsen up for a spin around the skies of Whitefield. The little, 4 place, single engine plane must have found some "bumpy air" on that summer day, for it seems the camera is somewhat less than steady. Nevertheless, these remarkable images provide a new view of our town at a time when any moving pictures - let alone those from the sky - were rare.

The Eastport Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop

I totally missed the fifth annual Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop in Eastport on New Year's Eve.

The first drop will be the Canadian maple leaf, to honor Eastport’s Canadian neighbors. The giant sardine will be dropped at midnight — a nod to the area’s historic sardine fishing and canning past. [Link]

Fortunately, there's YouTube. The good stuff starts at 1:10.