The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-11-22
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
List of Recent Contributions to the
society's Collection.
Several Interesting Papers Read Be-
fore the Society.

The fall meeting of the Historical Society
was held yesterday in the society's room in
the Baxter Building. President Baxter
called the meeting to order and read a letter
from Postmaster Palmer enclosing one to
the firm of Smith & Deane, historians, Port
land. Mr. Palmer said that as both mem
bers of the firm were beyond the reach of
letter carriers he thought the Historical So
clety the proper BODY to take charge of the
letter. 1t contained request for informa-
tion concerning Smith & Deane's Journal,
and was written by lady in Lowell.
LIBRARIANS REPORT.
The librarian and cabinet keeper. Mr. n
w. Bryant presented his annual report an.
noupclng accessions as follows:
as, sixty X volumes Of New Church writings, from
ster. - WV
The history of the celebration of the 1Ooih an.
nv OF me adoption Of the constitution, from
IN, Inc history Of Medford, Mass, from the Public
Library OF Medford
The descendants of John Whitman of Wey.
mouth, from John M. Adams
a. collection OF the Guide Books distributed by
the Maine Central Railroad Company, from F. L.
The fifth volume of Tutchins Obseryators Lon
don, 1907, from John j. Ger IRISH.
Thirty-two Early New England Sermons. from
Ancient Landmarks of Dover N. H., from Miss
NJ. z. Thompson.
Volume 9th Of Schoolcrafts Indian Tribes from,
History Of the State Normal School at Farming
ton, from G. Q. Purington.
The old Baptist Church in Cornish Me- from L.
w. Small
DR.. Deane's Fleetwood Hill and Amess Alma
nae for 1742, from William Bradsh.
The.Dred Scott Decision, Tribute to ID. r. Cur
It's, Sem-Centennial Settlement of Iowa. and
Thornton Academy Rejuvenated, all from George
The Opdyck Genealogy, from @. w. Opdyke.
Twenty annual reports of the City of Bdaeford,
from Ferguson Haines.
Memorial Volumes to Wood and Hendricks,
from Lewis Pierce.
The Opinion Of Judge Story, Allen VS.. McKeen,
Fifty miscellaneous volumes. from the Misses
MFR. B axter's Lecture on the Early Voyages to
America, from the Rhode Island Historical So
ciety
An early edition of Baiey's English Dictionary,
from Rev. Amasa Loring.
Other valuable contributions have been re-
ceived from the New. Jersey Historical So
w. Hall, Capt. j. d. Dexter, Messrs. Ira
and Stephen Berry, Prof. Geo. T. Little,
Rev. A. K. p. Small. Deacon E. f. Duren,
the Massachusetts Historical Society. Ameri-
can Philosophical Society, DIR. Samuel A.
Green, Edmund NJ. Barton, Joseph w. Por-
ter, Thomas b. Reed, Appleton Morgan, Dr.
Jno. +. Pratt.
Our collection of Maine pamphlets does
not increase as it ought. Members of the
society in distant parts of the State should
make collections OF their towns pamphlets
for our use.
The accessions to the cabinet are as fol
lows:
A large photograph in frame of John Neal taken
about 1860.
From Mrs. Caroline G. Kurdish, early Portland
newspapers.
The arrangements for the reception of President
Monroe in Portland, 1917, and other interesting
broadsldes from Chas. B. Rogers.
A fragment of stone from Barney Castle, near
Cork, Ireland, from James Herbert.
A small wooden linen chest from Sweden, 1924
| from A. johnson.
A pair OF large shoe buckles and several broad
swords. from Charles o. Haskell.
Several small picture frames aud portraits from
A mintOn tile of the old church at bingham
from Stephen Marsh.
An old English carpenters hammer from Thos.
The commission of Thomas Baker as Lieut.
Colonel signed by Gov. John Brooks in 1916 from
Mrs. Carolina G: Kurdish.
Bronze bas-relief modelled by Paul Akers in
1853 from John Sparrow.
Mrs. Preble's tax bill in 1916 from w. II. An
derson.
A fragment of marble tablet taken from the
Merrill.
Photographs of President Harrison and party
affair Harbor, of the Alden monument in tn )
Eastern cemetery, Portland, and several portrait
photographs from M. F. King.
A political broadside addressed to the Repub.
licans OF Hancock county and advocating the
election OF VIM. King as governor, Leonard
Jarvis and George Ulmer as senators from L. G..
A collection of documents and OF Turkish coins
from Mrs. L. D. M. Sweat.
Early bank notes from Charles Davis, .Jr.
Medal OF the Pilgrim monument at Plymouth,
from Rev. H. s. Burrage.
An early plan Of the Milliken estate at scarboro
A section Of a stalactite from the Luray cavern
in Virginia from J: M. Stafford.
An oil painting !by H. b: Brown of the F. O. j
the gift of the artist,
Rev. III. S. Burrage. d. D., read a paper
on "The beginnings of Waterville college,
and sketch of the first president, Rev.
jeremiah Chaplin, d. D." he said
In 176S Baptist churches were established
at North Berwick and Gorham but it was
not until after the Revolution that they in
creased much in numbers or strength. The
pastors for the first period were unlearned
men who worked on their farms during the
week and preached on Sundays. As time
went on the general average of intelligence
increased and the idea of a theological
school was preached by Rev. Sylyanus
Boardman In 1907. The result was that the
Baptist association took action and in 1918
obtained charter from the, general court,
under the title of the president and Trus-
tees Of the Maine Literary and Theological
Institution" The legislature also granted
the institution township, comprising what
are now the towns of Argyle and Alton.
The site was not satisfactory and the truS-
tees cast about for a better. Inducements
for locations were offered by Harrington,
Bloomfield and Waterville and the last
named was finally selected. In 1918 Rev
Jeremiah Chaplin, d. d.. was placed at the
head of the institution. He went to Water.
hQOan N tod
where the Elmwond hotel now stands. He
remained there until a residence was COM
pleted for him in 1919 la the site of Memo
rial hail. An extended biography of DR.
CHAPLIN was given, including interesting &C
counts of some of the notable events of the
early years of the college, and the political
troubles into which it was unwittingly
plunged from time TO time.
Hon. Joseph Williamson of Belfast read Q
paper concerning recently published pam
phlet In the French language, consisting Of
an unsigned letter descriptive of the early
life of Mons. Putrincourt's colony at Port
Royal, now Annapolis, N. S. The letter is
thought to be one of Marc Lescarbots, as il
contains passages strikingly similar to others
in his published works, notably his recipe
flies with long legs, and the malaria which
combined to make life miserable for the Port
Royal colonists. Rev. DIR. Dalton and Hon
Geo. f. Talbot discussed this paper.
The next paper, also read by Mr.. William
son, was an account of "the first publication
written in Maine, with an account of it:
| author, Rev. Samuel Moody of Agamenticus
| 1t was sermon-lecture entitled 1.-THE Vain
Youth Summoned to Appear at Christ:
| Bar" Mr.. Williamson gave an interesting
| sketch of the life of the eccentric preacher
| closing with list of his published works.
Mr. George F. Emery then read memorial
of Cyrus Wo0dman, which he said was prop
erly in the form of report by committee
appointed at the annual meeting consisting
Of Lewis Pierce, Edward Fl. Elwell an0
George f. Emery. 1t was a careful review
Of Mr.. Woodman's life and graceful Tribute
to his sterling qualities.
DR.. w. B. Lapham of Augusta and John
Marshall Brown. Esq, added tributes tc
Mr.. Woodman's memory to the report. 7-fsr
The closing paper OF the afternoon session
was San account eff John Parker" by Mr..
Parker M. Reed of Bath. There were three
John Parkers who are prominent in the an
nails of the, lower Kennebec, each one Illus
tricus in his time as timber merchant
landlord and pioneer In the fisheries. The
first John Parker, came to Biddeford, Me-
from Biddeford. England, at some time be-
tween 1926 and 1854. He bought of the sag
more, Robin hood, Parker's island, now the
town of Georgetown, and carried ON large
business enterprises there and on the REICH
boring islands. John Parker, No. 2, was a
son of the first he came to America as