The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-10-01
ANNALS W BELFAST F0E HALF A CENTURY.
BY AN OLD SETTLER.
CHAPTER XXI. (1S37.)

Inc WlllJeT Vi ILLS year is memorable
for its snow storms. Snow fell, the wind
blowing gale all the while, during five
days of the first week in January. At
noon of the Sth the mail arrived six days
overdue As late as the 25th of February
the snow in the woods lay four feet deep
on a level; there We're drifts in the roads
six and seven feet deep, through which
avenues and canals were cut very much
after the fashion of 1878.
A ''Citizens Watch was organized
early in this year and was maintained
through the winter 1t was a purely vol
untary association The watch for each
night consisted of six. one Of whom WAS
constituted Captain of the Watch. who
earned his laurels by providing suitable
entertainment for his subordinates.
The Rev. Alfred johnson, father of the
Hon. X. Z, johnson and the late Judge
johnson, died January 18th, aged seventy.
lie was born at Plainfield, Conn era du-
ated at Dartmouth, with the highest honors
OF his class in l1S3, was ordained to the
ministry at treeport, in this State, in De
cember 1889, and continued to reside there
until he came to this place and was in
stalled Pastor of the First Congregational
Church in September 1903. His pastoral
relation terminated in 1878 He was no
ordinary man. under other circumstances,
i'll some broader field he would have been
recognized as a power. Had he been born
in a country where Roman Catholicism
was the prevailing religious creed and
educated to the priesthood, II mitre would
not have been beyond his grasp. Had he
been born in Scotland, and in the days OF
4
4 whit behind the noblest and most fear
less OF their devoted leaders no voice
would have ring from hill-top and valley
louder and clearer than his there would
have been no hand reader than his, il
need called, to WELD THE sword Of the
Lord and Of Gideon He was bold
strong thinker, % thoroughly fearless and
Independent man lie was man of
commanding presence, Of great physical
power, and endowed with Il voice that
when occasion called. rang like Il trumpet,
For many wears he was called to exercise
the office OF ( haplain ut our military mus
tiers. No onr who ever saw him on those
occasions, as the compiler of these annals
often did when he was i boy, can forget
him rs he stood there, the central point
of the hollow square. his broad massive
brow uncovered his herculean form loom
ing up above all around him, his voice
ringing ont far above and beyond the
crowd awed ~ silence rs he poured forth
his PRAYER for the soldiers that they might
put on the whole armor Of God-that they
might stand having their loins girt about
with truth-haying on the breast plate of
taking the shield of faith
the helmet OF salvation, the sword ot the
Spirit and having done ALTO, stand :,
1t was a scene worthy the pencil of the
artist.
Mr. johnson was a learned man in his
profession; too learned probably, for the
congregation to which he ministered He
could not have been, could he have made
the effort, a sensational preacher; he could
not have toyed with tropes and figures.
He was a man of stubborn facts; and in
his dealings with them he was a Boaner-
ges He had not the art to make his
hearers weep; but he had the power to
make them trembIe. Perhaps in these our
days the art is preferable to the power If
so it need only be added that it is we'll
that his labors ceased when they did
The steamer Bangor made her first APP
pearance for the season in our waters ON
the second OF April. going up the river no
farther than Frankfort on account of the
ice She continued her trips regularly
through the summer.
At the annual spring meeting, April
18th, Nathaniel Nj Lowney Isaac Allard
and Aryida Hayford, Jr., We're chosen
Selectmen, David W. Lothrop, Clerk
James White, Treasurer The meeting
was very fully attended, the exciting
cause being the disposal OF the towns
proportion OF the Surplus Revenue -
which under an Act Of Congress had been
apportionnd among the States A vote
passed by large majority to distribute
the portion coming to this town among
vid" accordingly William Salmond was
appointed to make the distribution and it
was commenced on the 18th of June
On the 2Gth Of April Nh Isaac T. Brown,
Of the firm of Brown and Nickerson, man
highly esteemed for integrity OF character,
respected and beloved in his social and
domestic relations, committed suicide he
was about thirty years Of age. He had
been for some months suffering from par
tial alteration of mind, superinduced by
bodily disease the burden had become
heavier than he could bear and he sank
under it,
At an election held May Sth Hon Hugh
j. Anderson was elected Representative
in Congress from this district over Alfred
Marshall, nominated at the famous Knox
Convention, and all others The whole
number of votes in this place was co.
1870 OF which We're for Mir Anderson. I'M
mediately after his election he resigned
his office OF Clerk OF the Courts and Ma
thaniel NJ Lowney, Esq, was appointed
his successor. Mr.. Lowney's appointment
vacated the office Of Register Of Probate
and William ii Burill, Esq, was appoint
ed Register.
In the afternoon Of the It'll of May
James Enright, a shoemaker by trade,
who had resided in this place tor about
fifteen years, committed suicide by hang
ing himself on the limb Of + tree on the
eastern side OF the river Ne was about
forty five years old.
On the 18th Of May the Office Of the Re
publican Journal was removed from Viii
liamsOn's Block ON Main street to rooms
III the second story Of the wooden building
at the south end of Phoenix Row now oc-
cupied by N & Prescott and Go. On the
Sth of June the journal made broad It's
phylactery by adding one column to each
page in width and two inches to each
column in length; the addition being
equal to six columns Of the former size
The Old firm of + and f. / Morrill, sus-
pended payment in other words failed,
on the 18th of June. The event was not
altogether unanticipated although upon a
large number IN this town and vicinity
the blow fell heavily and Unexpectedly
Col Morrill,, the senior partner, a native
of Methuen, Mass, had been in business
here for many years and had been the
means OF furnishing employment for a
large number Of operatives and promot-
ing many public enterprises. tie was
an active, enterprising, public-spirited,
business man. visionary perhaps in many
of his schemes and too prone TO venture
beyond his financial depth; notwithstand-
ing the losses which his failure entailed
ON many of his townsmeu, it is not known
that the imputation Of dishonesty ever at
tached to him. 1t was through his agency.
and III no small measure at his cost, that
the lower portion OF Main street at its
iunnti6p with Front atrant IuaO Ui1apnJ