The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-09-10
ANNALS OF BELFAST FOR HALE A CENTURY
BY AN OLD : ETH L II.
CHAPTER NANIII. (1S33.)


we're one. No rain fell until the twelfth of
March but in its stead came II series OF
snow storms. The Ntreme cold weather
and deep snow operated almost an embar-
90 on all teaming. Cordwood reached
the unusually high rice of $50 per cord E;
there was much suffering among the poor
in our village for lac!> Of an adequate sup
ply of fuel The market value of some
Of the produce Of Ike country was us fol
lows; corn per busl!el liz, rye l.25, but
ter per pound one shilling pork, round
hog, per pound 5 to Z cents, beef, on the
hoof, cents hay FER ton So to $40, pota-
toes per bushel IS cents. Early in May
abundant supplies came in the form OF
| salmon, shad and alewves; the price OF
salmon was at fir, as high as 10 to II
cents per pound, but soon fell to ten cents
| On the 23a OF January the schooner
| Bellino, Josiah Simpson, Master, Edward
| Patterson, Super elrgo, sailed for Gibral-
| tar and ports ON the Mediterranean. On
hcrreturn passage she touched at Havana !;
on her eighth day iom that port, the 10Th
| OF July, MI Patterson died after a few
| days sickness and lis body was committed
to the ocean sepulcl.e in which his father,
Capt Robert Patterson, was entombed
| less than three ye,rs before The Bellino
| arrived here on the 9th bringing the sad
intelligence Of hi death sad not only to
| his kindred but to the community at large,
OF which he was a general favoritc and
very promising member His age was
twenty eight.
Rev. Silas Mck,,n was installed Pastor
of the First Cong regational Church and
Society on the 9Th of February The
services We're ~ follows: Sermon by
Rev MI Root OF Dover, n H., Installing
Prayer, Blood OF Bucksport, Charge,
Pomeroy of Bangor, Right-ha of Eel
lowship, Thulston of Searsport, Address
to Church and Society. Tappan Of Augusta.
| The pastoral relation between Mr. McKeen
| and the church and society was dissolved
November 1G, ISL. He removed from
| this place to Bradford, VT, where he was
| installed as Pastor Of a church in that place
| and where he sin resides. His successor
was Rev f. G. Cutler who was installed in
| 1872.
| On the evening ii April 18th fire broke
| out in the thnd story OF a large wooden
| building called the Babel on the westerly
| side OF Main street about where the stores
now occupied by Mess. Manly +. Dodge,
| William G. Marshall! and b Z. Dinsmore
| and Son stand. The, fire had made con-
| siderable progress when it was discovered.
There was q prevailing sentiment that if
1.-The town pump had been out of order"
| and the tire-engme absent ON an excursion,
and the building as consequence, burned
to its foundation, there would have been
no cause tor regret except SO far as its
| owners sustained a loss 10y its destruction
In October following there was change
of ownership and it was raced by cutting
out the lowest story thereby reducing it
from three stories to two. 1t was finally
destroyed by fire in 1916.
In the night of the 10th the ,;,Wmill at
the Head Of the Tide known as urhrans
AIill was burned; the fire was occasl,..ed
it was said, by friction of the machinr.l .
On the 18th of June the old Merri;,..
house, so called. which stood ON the east
erly side of Main street, as then located,
at its junction with Front street, was re-
moved to the site on Front street, as now
located, which is now occupied by the
stores of Newell Mansfield and Il A.
knowlton After its removal it was oc-
cupied for several years as a store by F.
and f. L Morrill, 1t was built, prior to
1905. by Wiggln Merrill it was burned
in the fire OF 1868. The removal was re
garded as great improvement as it At
most entirely INSTRUCTED all view of Il c
water from Nesmith's Corner. 1t Is
owned previous to its removal by JOHN
Merriam, Esq, once member o the
Court Of Sessions Of the county and a
prominent magistrate of the place He
subsequently. about 1922, built a large
wooden house on Main street on HE west
erly portion of land now owned 10y the
United States; it was known in later days
as the Carney house. About The time the
United States made its purchase lhis house
was purchased by lion. james White and
removedto the premises on W ldo Avenue
then occupied by him, now occupied by
Mr. Alden ID. Chase. Nh. Merriam died
in this place in April 49,! aged titty-tiye.
On the Goth Of June the ;teamer Con
necticut bound to Portland touched here
bearing back from Bangor host Of land
SPECTATORS who had be-, there to attend
a large sale of public l,nds. Those were
the days when large portion of the popu
latlon in our large towns We're all agog
on speculation when men ordered pump
kin pine for breakfast '.granite quarry"
tor dinner and suppgd on ''water-priyi-
leges." The steamer stopped several
hours to afford opportunity tor passengers
to take look oNpi our then insignificant
little village Nc had but one livery
stable then and is proprietor put money
in his purse by letting his horses to the
strangers to ride round the place; tone
dollar an hour t,l horse" was his price,
provided you don't sweat him" There
was no great danger of any such result,
except as the consequence OF very I'M
moderate driving, ion the weather lor the
entire month was unusually cold. The
prevailing winds were from the northeast;
there were quite heavy irosts several
nights, we had one terrific thunder storm
and two hail storms Among the passen-
gers on the Connecticut WAS William i.
Fessenden, Esq. then a Young man, since
then one of Names ablee. representatives.
in the Senate Of the Unlrd States: the
compiler well remembers how much his
old college class-mata enjoyed his ride
through our streets and his frequent in
junction to the driver Of the ho.. e, don't
sweat him"
The Cholera excitement Of the ast year
prevailed during the summer portion of
this, but in modified form. There was
excitement, of course, because tn, 'eSti-
lclctWdA Ill CLOSER pioAlliiitS l" us " ftdi
cases being reported at Bangor ut it
was shorn of its worst element, terror.
The Board of Health resumed its du as
and gave public notice that on the 10Th IF
July the dwelling houses and premises ii
the village would be visited by them an
order to ascertain their situation as it re
spects cleanliness" The dwelling houses
and premises in the village" We're never
in more clearly condition, probably, than
they We're found to be on the day an
nounced tor the visitation of the Board
it is quite questionable whether they have
ever been in so good condition since that
day The pcslilence passed by us and
with the first fall trosts all was quiet on
the PassagasaWaukeag
The only public celebration of the Fourth
of July in town was at the Head of the
Tide. The exercises of the day were the
reading ofthe Declaration Of independence
by Mr.. Lewis +, Shepard, an Grafton by
Mr.. Henry W, Piper, and "a sumptuous
dinner prepared in Colburns best style" at
ha Iotn Nv II