The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-08-21
Annals of Belfast tor Half a
Century.
BY AN OLD SETTLER
(Hon. VIM. G. Crosby.)
CHAPTER XVIII. 1888.

severe one No rain fell until the twelfth
of March, but in its. stead came series
of snow storms. The extreme cold
weather and deep snow operated almost
an embargo on all teaming. Cordwood
reached the unusually high price of So. SO
per cord: there was much suffering
among the poor in our village for lack
of an adequate supply of fuel. The
market value of some of the produce OF
the country was as follows: corn per
bushel SLIP. rye, SIPS, butter per
pound. one shilling, pork, round hog, per
pound to cents; beef, on the hoof, 5
cents, hay per ton, $S to $40, potatoes
per bushel 25 cents. Early IL May
abundant supplies came in the form of
of salmon was at first as high as Is to
II cents per pound, but soon fell to ten
cents.
On the 23d of January the schooner
Bellino, Joseph Simpson, Master, Ed
ward Patterson, Supercargo, sailed for
Gibraltar and ports on the Mediterran-
can. On her return passage she touch
ed at Havana; on her eighth day from
that port, the 18th of uly, Mr.. Patter
son died after few days sickness and
his body was committed to the ocean
sepulchre in which his father, Capt Rob-
ert Patterson, was entombed less than
three years before The Bellino arrived
here on the 9th bringing the sad intelli-
gence of his death; sad not only to his
kindred but to the community at large,
of which he was a general favorite and
very promising member His age was
twenty-eight.
Rev. Silas Mckeen was installed Pas
tor of the First Congregational Church
and Society on the 9th of February.
The services were as follows: Sermon
by Rev. Mr.. Root: of Dover, N H., In
stalling Prayer, Blood of Bucksport,
Charge, Pomeroy of Bangor, Right
hand of Fellowship, Thurston of Sears
port. Address to Church and Society,
Tappan Of Augusta. The pastoral re-
lation between Mr. Mckeen and the
church and society was dissolved No
vember Is, 1S41. He removed from this
place to Bradford, VT, where he was in
stalled as Pastor of a church in that
place and where he still resides. His
successor was Rev. E. G. Cutler who
was installed in 1912.
On the evening of April 10th a fire
broke out in the third story of a large
wooden building called the Babel, on the
westerly side of Main street about where
the stores now occupied by Mess. Manly
E. Dodge, William c. Marshall and B.
c. Dinsmore and Son stand The fire
had made considerable progress when ii
was discovered. There was prevailing
sentiment that if ''the town pump had
been out of order" and the fire-engine
absent on an excursion, and the building
as d consequence, burned to its founda-
ton, there would have been no cause for
regret except so far as its owners sus-
tanned d loss by its destruction. In Oc-
tober following there was a change of
ownership and it was RACED by cutting
out the lowest story thereby reducing it
from three stories to two. 1t was finally
destroyed by ire in 1916
In the night of the 18th the sawmill
at The Head Of the Tide known as Coch-
rams Mill was burned; the fire Was oc-
machinery.
On the 12-h of June the old Merriam
house, SO called, which stood on the east
erly side of Main street, as then located.
at its junction with Front street, was
removed to che site on Front street, as
now located, which is now occupied by
the stores of Newell Mansfield and F. A
knowlton. After its removal it was oc-
cupied for several years as a store by P.
and E. 7. Merrill. L was built, prior to
1905, by Wiggin Merrill: it was burned
in the fire of 1865. The removal was re-
garded as great improvement as it al
most entirely obstructed all view of the
water from Nesmith's Corner. 1t was
owned previous to it's removal by John
Merriam, ESQ.,, once member of the
Court of Sessions of the county and a
prominent magistrate of the place He
subsequently, about 1922, built a large
wooden house on Main street on the
westerly portion of land now owned by
the United States; it was known in later
days as the Carney house. About the
time the Unired States made it's DUR
chase this house was purchased by Hon.
James White and removed to the prem.
ises on Waldo Avenue then occupied by
him, now occupied by Mr.. Alden D.
Chase. Mr.. Merriam died in this place
in April 1892, aged fifty-fve
On the Goth of June the steamer Con-
necticut bound to Portland touched here.
bearing back from Bangor host of land
spectators who had been there to attend
large sale of public lands. Those were
the days when large portion of the
population in our large towns were all
agog on speculation; when men ordered
pumpkin pine" for breakfast, "granite
nuarry' for dinner and summed m ttu for