Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-05-18
Summer Henry Needham.

I thank the Bethel correspondent Of
the Democrat for the information given
regarding the place of birth of Sumner
Henry Needham. Since reading what
the correspondent says, have looked at
William B. Lapham's Centennial His
tory of Norway" and l find that that
work also says that Needham was born
in Norway. Lapham, after giving the
date of Needh hams birth, says that "His
parents subsequently moved to Green
wood, and later to Bethel" and accord
ing to Lapham, the youngest of their
nine children was born in Bethel and the
other eight in Norway, whereas the
Democrats correspondent says that the
removal was from, instead of to Bethel,
and that the youngest child was born 10
Norway and the other eight in Bethel.
People are generally inclined to regard
statements in books as more reliable
than those in newspapers, but l know
that Lapham's books contain some mis-
statements, and perhaps In the case OF
this discrepancy between him and the
Democrats correspondent, the cor
respondent is right and Laphsm wrong.
As one example of the misstatements to
be found In Lapham's books, on page $50
of his "History of Bethel he says that
David Hammons, who was member of
the National House of representatives
from Maine in the thirtieth Congress
QS47-1S49) and who afterwards removed
from Lowell to Bethel and died In the
latter town, was a native of Bethel,
whereas on page PSI of the same work
Lapham says that Hammons was ma
tive of Cornish both which conflicting
statements cannot, of course, be correct.
The correspondent of the Democrat
says that Needham was the first native
of Maine Ito give his life for his coun-
try" 10 the Civil War, but that state
ment is not correct. Needham lived
eight days after being wounded BY the
mob, dying on April 81, 1851, but Addi-
son Otis Whitney, native of Waldo,
Me-, and fellow member with Needham
of the Sixth Massachusetts, Regiment,
was killed on the spot by the same mob
that MORALLY wounded Needham, thus
losing his life eight days before Need
ham. In my communication to the
Democrat of April 8, I stated that, of
the four members of the regiment who
we're killed or MORALLY wounded by the
mob, Needham is supposed to have been
the first to fall, which statement made
on the authority of page 40 of Chaplain
John Wesley Hanson's Historical
Sketch of the Old Sixth Regiment" On
the 18th of last month bronze tablet in
honor of Charles A. Taylor; one Of the
four members of the regiment who lost
their lives through the attack of the
mob upon 1t, was affixed to the monu-
ment which on June II, 1855, was dedi-
Gated in Lowell, Mass, In honor of
Luther Crawford Ladd and Addison
Otis Whitney, two members of the regl-
ment who were killed by the mob, and
this tablet was dedicated on the 10th of
last month. The inscription on this tab
let states that, of the four soldiers who
met their death at the hands OF the
mob, Taylor was "the first to fall" but
many people think that 1t Is impossible
to determine which of the four was first
struck down, and that, consequently,
the inscription on the tablet should say
that Taylor was Zone of the first to fall"
instead of "the first to fall" The Sixth
Massachusetts, Regiment left Boston on
April II, 1851, not on April Is
INQUIRER.
n. n INN