The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-08-08
includes most ali. GUESS 'lAat

BY the common law a woman lost bo,
legal identity by marriage She could moi
onerst nolG Of possess any property, and marriage
operatea eauso as an absolute gift of all of hel
all that she had was his. Such was the law
OF this State when Uncle Abner was elected
to the Legislature of 1874. When that ses.
sion OF the Legislature closed there was a
Jaw upon our statute books securing to
married women their rights in property.
So far as am able to learn, this is the
hrst law that was ever enacted giving To
married women the legal right to POSSESS
their own property.
HIS WORK AS COMMISSIONERS.
| When Uncle Abner was elected conntv
commissioner of Waldo county in 1S47. the
| county had no court house or Jail worthy
| the name. At the close of his term of ser
wee SIX years later, Waldo county had a
court house and Jail which were said at
the time to be equal to any in the State,
They have served their purpose well and
still stand as monuments to the faithful and
efficient service of the officers who caused
them to be built.
The office of county commissioner was a
very important one at the time Uncle b.
ner served upon the board. The county of
Waldo at that time included Appleton,
Hope and Camden, in addition to the terri
tory now embraced within the limits of that
county. This was during the period of the
county's greatest development. Farms were
being cleared and buildings erected, and
roads had to be built to enable the settlers
to reach the marts of trade and commerce
of course they all wanted public roads.
nave examined the records and find that
at the first meeting of the county commits
sioners after Uncle Abner's election, %
petitions for roads were acted upon, and at
the August term, 1S49, 81 petitions for the
laying out, altering and disseminating of
highways, and for increase of damages
were filed. There was something doing be-
fore the board Of county commissioners in
those days. The duties of their office took
them to all parts of the county and brought
them III contact with the people of all sec
tons Probably no man was then better
known personally throughout the length
and breadth of the county than the man in
whose honor we have met today. The
many roads which Uncle Abner helped to
lay out in the county of Waldo attest his
wisdom and good judgment, and are lasting
memorials of his faithful public service.
The presence of this great throng of peo-
pie, assembled to do him honor, bear the
place of his birth and in the town where his
long lie has been spent, speaks louder than
any words that can utter, of the rectitude
OF his life, his worth as man, and the es-
teen in which he is held by those who have
known him longest and best.
we congratulate Uncle Abner that he is
100 years young, rather than 100 years old,
today. We congratulate him that he has
borne the spirit of youth through the years
| OF age and has kept in close companionship
with old and young through the years We
congratulate him upon the life he has lived,
the good work he has done, the friends he
has made, and upon his sons and their
families who have done so much to make
his declining years so happy. Well might
Uncle Abner respond to the congratula-
tions of his many friends in the words
ipQ int tha h
of the ancient sage, Rabbi Ben Ezra:
Grow old along with me!
The best is vet to be,
The last of life for which the first was made"