Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-09-18
JuDGE HALE'S ADDRESS
4, cente nnisl Celebration Of First congrega-
t,oual Church of Ellsworth, Thursday,
Sept. IL. 1912.

gisworth;
utsa great honor, and II lie certainly a very
.rsat pleasure, to be with my friends In Els
18th. and In this church--my old friends, my
,.ss,ons friends--to help TO celebrate this one
s,,syedth birthday Of this church.
,thfs celebration your pastor has asked
10 speak of the influence Of Congregation
s,,sr, in its development in New England. It
s.,s thoughtful German student who began
~. hook upon travels In the East by saying
MAT he had never been there. fear have
-. much better fitting to speak on this great
s.b,ect. so fftly suggested by this occasion.
!, would be much more adequately presented
nv Mr.. Mathews, your pastor. who Is well
Irown throughout the State as a thorough
s.uaeut Of church history, or by some other
CLERGYMAN whose life has been spent in
church studies.
lam glad. however, to prese mt those aspects
=, the subject which seem clear and perhaps
almost obvious to the mind Of the layman,
AND az, going to approach the subject along
,hs road which leads by this church. and
,hrough the town OF Ellsworth town have
loved all my life.
LIE. as take passing look at the picture OF
,hs founding Of this church hundred years
ago, and at the setting of the picture In Ellis
worth and Ia the State. Ellsworth had been
an Incorporated town only twelve years. The
arst settlers came here in i7s3, when Gov.
sullivan, in his history, says there were
only about 10000 people in the Maine dis
trict. They came from Richmond's island,
Riddeford, scarboro and Falmouth. and made
their homes upon the Union river.
MeIatish Jordan, one OF the fou nders OF this
church csme at that time. Theodore Jones
came then and settled upon the Milliken lot
where this church now stands, and where the
whole OF the village was afterwards built.
have seen the plan made by MIR. Deane In 1910
which shows the houses and lots. During the
same year there was tried Mt Castine, the shire
town o! the county. the case Of Jarvis VS.. Jones,
involving the title of what was afterwards a
large part Of the village OF Ellsworth.
Ellsworth did not become the shire town Of
the county until 1888. Castine had repre-
sented the civilization of this part OF the
country; she was held by the British two
wears later than when this church was es-
tabiished-from September. 1914, to April, 1878.
The British had held It before from i77s to
lTss, during the Revolution. Previous to that
time, Castine land in fact the whole civiliza-
tion Of this vicinity had been French civ
ilitation, broken only by Puritan settle
ment at castine from 1929 to 1885.
The only county road when this church was
formed had been laid out but few years be-
fore from surry to Ellsworth, and on to Sui
Ivan. The county was new. Hancock aud
Washington counties were taken from Lin
coin county In 1853, Cumberland and Lincoln
having been formed In 1890, and taken from
York county, which embraced the whole
Gorges domain; by the Massachusetts, Bay
charter, in 1891. York extended over what is
now the whole Of the State. And these four
counties made up Maine. This was the State
that appears upon the map in Gov. suilivan's
history Of Maine, published in l7s5.
In the very year when Ellsworth was
settled, the treaty OF Paris had been made,
which closed the door of French contention.
and settled forever the fear of Indian de-
predations In the Maine towns.
Let US look at what was happening in this
year of 1919. Caleb Strong was governor
This town sent Moses Adams as It's repre-
sentative to the general court. 1t had sent
but one representative before, aud that was
John Peters. ir. Only four more followed be-
fore Maine became stase-George Herbert,
John G.. Deane, Jesse Dutton and Charles
Jarvis.
settlement Its population in lTs5, accord
ing 70 sullivan, numbered about 10000.
There were no cities. Portland. set off
from Falmouth In 1875, was not made city
until 1882. The whole country was in a state
OF melancholy and almost of collapse. The
shadow OF the old embargo was upon it.
There was what Woodrow Wilson. in his
history, called ian unlookei-for disorder of
nd N ha,e nj
matter OF policy. He called the war against
Great Britain. which had just been declared
in June. "a clumsy, foolhardy and haphazard
war;" although, providentially. 1t proved to
be supplementary war of independence, es-
tablishing the union of the states and their
complete freedom from Great Britain.
wish had time to tell the story of the men
OF Ellsworth Of that day. can speak OF only
two or three: Melatiah Jordan, of this
church, was the great-great- grandson OF Rev.
Robert Jordan, the first Jordan in this
country; tho second clergyman of the church
Of England. who came.to Maine under Georges.
Richard Gibson was the first, but he remained
only two or three years, so that Robert Jordan
is the irst clergyman who made distinct
career In Maine.
His ancestors were men OF prominence in
Ballot college. oxford; ordained at Exeter.
and settled in spurwink in 1910. He became
one of the governing magistrates of Maine
under Gorges- His son, Dominicus, was one
OF the trustees to whom the town OF Falmouth
was decided in 1884. He was a great Indian
fighter, and was killed by the Indians in 1908
Melatiah's father, Samuel, lived in Bidde-
ford, graduated from Harvard college in 1850,
was seleetman of the town. and representa-
tive to the general court. After Melatiah
went to the Union river. he served in the
militia in the Revolutionary war. In 1883, by
appointment of President Washington, he be-
came the irst collector of customs in French
mans Bay district, and held the Office until
his death in December, 1918.
A Maine historian says he was magistrate,
Northumberland of militia, and for years
the most prominent man in his community.
He was a man of unquestioned integrity and
born leader Of men. He married Elizabeth
Jellison, of Ellsworth, in 1870. Sally, his
seventh child, married Andrew Peters. From
Melatiah Jordan came a line of good men and