Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-04-09
Continued from first page.)

ont . cargo of oak slaves and pine lum-
Der there. Not intending to settle, he
put up no buildings, but the harbor
was long afterwards known as Lermond's
Cove Its Indian name was Cataw amteag,
signifying great landing place, As parties
coming down the bay in canoes usually land
ed there, either to avoid the tedious passage
round Owls Head in their course along the
shore, or to proceed to St. Georges for the
purpose of trading, fishing, or passing down
on their way westward. The place was per-
manently settled about 1863 by Isaiah Tolman,
Jonathan Spear, Jonathan Crockett. David
Watson, James Fales. Ichabod and Comfort
Barrows, John Lindsey, Constant Rankin,
Jonathan Smith and John Godding, who
erected log huts and began to clear up their
farms for agriculture" Lindsey's was the
first house built in the center of the present
city, and stood very near the site Of til,
present postoffice, recently erected by the
United States.
But from the nature and the language Of
the accounts in Mr.. Copeland's ledger, we
got some glimpse of the employments, mate
rails of dress, and domestic life Of his
neighbors. The earliest entries recorded are
in 1863, in which he gives "Charles Lisner"
credit for COW at f33 20 and sundry
English and West India goods, costing f5l :
8: IS also in 1854 one pair ''leatber breeches,"
"check," a comb, ''osnaburgs," ''buckram"
and s'black fancy" On the contrary he
charges Mr.. Listner with serving numerous
writs, showing that men failed to pay their
debts and that litigation was as prevalent in
those times az now. He also charges him
with 1000 bricks and with the services OF
man ''helping him to get some lime" John
Martin Shepherd is charged with the services
Of several writs, with tobacco, lime, cash
l. .s~1 H.
as follows: ''By bleeding me. ) shillings."
"By a vomii, Q shillings." Mr.. Ebenezer
Sumner is credited with dressing hides and
with leather. In 1865 boards were worth ~
shillings per hundred. Corn was worth 30
shillings per bushel; tobacco, ) shillings
pence per pound. About this time
confusion came into the currency and
we find "lawful money" "old tenor "
and "silver" used as explanatory terms in
connection with accounts. We occasionally
find charge for rum in small quantities. "a
mug Of toddy,' or "a mug Of flip" but in the
earlier accounts in all previous to 1880,
these items, as far as we have been able to
examine, seems to be absent, which probably
indicates an increasing demand and sale of
liquors, as the settlement grew, and the abil-
ity to afford tho qualification of bad appetites
increased. But in order that our greenback
friends may have practical illustration Of
plentiful and cheap paper currency, we will
quote a few prices in 1880: Two pairs of
sleeve buttons, e. lG; ? beaver hats, f720;
III lbs. of coffee, f3lj 49, barrel of sugar,
f22S IA; | ream of paper, fl00 | dozen
primers and dozen spelling books, f7J; ;
dozen almanacks, f4j 6 lbs. of tea, fl40 IS
bag of coffee in 1881 is credited to James
Boice at slO30, paper. The foregoing were
wholesale prices. Ia 1880 we find spelling
books charged to Nathan Bucklin at $50
apiece paper shllings in silver. But
this will suffice. of the few scattering fami-
lies which made their homes in the settlement
of "St Georges one hundred and nineteen
years ago, when Mr.. Copeland arrived there,
and if those which followed within very few
years, the descendants continued to occupy
tho land, and their names are nearly all found
some Of them very numerously among the
80 900 people Of Knox county. Those orisi-
nal settlers were hardy, energetic and per-
sistent people. They not only held the pos
sessions which they had taken, against the
savages and the wild beasts, but sometimes
with starvation almost face To face. They
were loyal to the core, and tories had no toll
Grafton among them They punished crimes
among them severely, in one case, at least
with "ten stripes, well laid on" Some of
their examples might be studied to advantage
10y the present generation, while in many
respects we have progressed beyond them in
that which embellishes and ennobles life
RockidRd Free Press.