2019 Kennebec-Androscoggin-River Valleys

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Maine’s History Magazine Volume 28 | Issue 2 | 2019

15,000 Circulation

Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Farmington’s Jacob Abbott

One of the 19th century’s most prolific writers

Auburn’s Irving Isaacson The first Cold War spy

Smelting The Ice

When the Kennebec freezes over

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Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Inside This Edition

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Maine’s History Magazine 3 It Makes No Never Mind James Nalley 8 Monmouth’s Andrew Tozier A forgotten hero of the 20th Maine Charles Francis 15 Auburn’s Irving Isaacson The first Cold War spy James Nalley 18 The Form Of Fate Sculptor Franklin Simmons set his roots in Lewiston-Auburn Derek Brou 21 Lewiston’s Dr. Bernard Lown Living joyfully and wisely Charles Francis 25 Smelting The Ice When the Kennebec freezes over Jeffrey Bradley 30 Local Newspaper Columns The social media of the early 1900s Sally Furber Nelson 38 Farmington’s Jacob Abbott One of the 19th century’s most prolific writers James Nalley 42 Sugar Season In The Kennebec River Valley The story of Alcide Jalbert Thomas J. Roth 47 Skowhegan’s Activist Legacy Stephen and Louise Coburn remembered Charles Francis

Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Publisher & Editor Jim Burch

Layout & Design Liana Merdan

Advertising & Sales Manager Tim Maxfield

Advertising & Sales Jennifer Bakst Dennis Burch Dan Coyne Tim Maxfield

Field Representatives Jim Caron Jim Main

Office Manager

Liana Merdan

Contributing Writers Jeffrey Bradley Derek Brou Charles Francis James Nalley Sally Furber Nelson Thomas J. Roth Brian Swartz

Published Annually by CreMark, Inc. 10 Exchange Street, Suite 208 Portland, Maine 04101 Ph (207) 874-7720 info@discovermainemagazine.com www.discovermainemagazine.com Discover Maine Magazine is distributed to town offices, chambers of commerce, financial institutions, fraternal organizations, barber shops, beauty salons, hospitals and medical offices, newsstands, grocery and convenience stores, hardware stores, lumber companies, motels, restaurants and other locations throughout this part of Maine.

NO PART of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from CreMark, Inc. | Copyright © 2019, CreMark, Inc.

SUBSCRIPTION FORM ON PAGE 54

Front Cover Photo:

50 The Farmington Reunion In Virginia Civil War drove a wedge between neighbors Brian Swartz

Harold’s Auto Sales, 76 Washington St. in Auburn.

Item # LB2010.9.122965 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org All photos in Discover Maine’s Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys edition show Maine as it used to be, and many are from local citizens who love this part of Maine.

Photos are also provided from our collaboration with the Maine Historical Society and the Penobscot Marine Museum.

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It Makes No Never Mind

by James Nalley

B

y the time this edition is published, the temperatures will have dropped and the snow will have piled to substantial heights. Naturally, such conditions will divide the population into those that hide indoors and those that enjoy the snowy landscape. For the latter, there are some important tips to remember. First, it is vital to stay hydrated. In fact, when exerting energy in the cold, our bodies lose moisture in every breath. According to guide Tim Smith of the Jack Mountain Bushcraft School in Maine, he ensures that “all of his clients drink plenty of water,” since the air is “drier than the Sahara Desert.” Moreover, having the necessary fluids (i.e., water, not the fabled whiskey or rum) in the body actually aids circulation and increases body warmth.

Second, it is important to cover your head and wear layers. Of course, there is the well-known saying that one “loses 80 percent of ones’ body heat out of the head alone.” Well, according to a study published by Indiana University in 2008, it is a myth. However, it is important to cover the head and ears, the latter of which are the first to become frostbitten if uncovered. As

for the layers, they range from simple wool or synthetic blends to bank-breaking Gore-Tex jackets, but as stated by guide Todd Flagg of Good Life Adventures in Maine, it is important to “never wear cotton, since they hold moisture and won’t dry out.”

Third, it is important to NOT sweat. In fact, clothes soaked in sweat can become an issue, since water conducts heat, thus pulling vital heat away from the body. According to Smith, “the goal is to exercise just fast enough so you don’t sweat.” In this regard, if you are cross-country skiing or building snow forts, and you begin to feel sweaty, then it is important to remove a layer of clothing because it will prevent the body from producing cold-inducing sweat.

Fourth, for those with poor circulation, especially in the feet, Smith mentioned an interesting remedy: dousing the socks with kitchen spices. For instance, he “adds some cayenne pepper in their socks. It will irritate the skin, substantially increasing blood flow.” Considering the possible negative effects of this particular approach, perhaps extra socks and hand warmers will suffice.

Finally, for those that prefer enjoying

the cold and closing the day with a good brew, there are many establishments to choose from, including the Cushnoc Brewing Company in Augusta, Two Gramps Brewing Company in Gardiner, the Oak Pond and Bigelow Brewing Companies in Skowhegan, Hallowell’s The Liberal Cup, which presents a constant rotation of craft beers, and The Quarry Tap Room, which has been dubbed “Maine’s deepest watering hole.”

Well, try to stay warm and let me close with the following jest: As a bird was flying in the freezing cold, its wings froze and it fell into a large field. Then, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As it wallowed in the dung, the bird thawed out and began singing for joy. After a passing cat came to investigate the sounds, it found the bird in the pile of dung and promptly ate it.

There are three morals of this story: 1) Not everyone who sh*ts on you is your enemy; 2) Not everyone who gets you out of sh*t is your friend; and 3) When you are in deep sh*t, keep your mouth shut!

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Early view of the Bailey Bros. store in East Poland. Item # LB2007.1.105583 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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View of the Congregational Church in Gray. Item # LB2007.1.100926 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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Do You Enjoy Writing?

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View of the Grand Trunk rail station in East Poland.

Item # LB2007.1.112600 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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Three young nurses outside Central Maine General Hospital in Lewiston, ca. 1923 (from left to right: Etta Wallace, Agnes Shearer, and Alice Phillips.) Item # 104360 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Monmouth’s Andrew Tozier A forgotten hero of the 20th Maine

by Charles Francis

“

In the very deepest of the struggle while our shattered line had pressed the enemy well below their first point of contact….. I saw through a sudden rift in the thick smoke our colors standing alone.”

The above words are a part of Joshua Chamberlain’s recollections of the struggle for the control of Little Round Top, a struggle which the bulk of Civil War historians consider the turning point of the Battle of Gettysburg and therefore the turning point of the War Between the States.

Chamberlain continues his recollections, saying that as the smoke cleared, he saw that the center of the 20th Maine

line had been completely decimated. In fact, he was only able to identify two members of the color guard still standing. One of them was the Color Sergeant, Andrew Tozier, who stood there, “His color-staff planted in the ground at his side, the upper part clasped in his elbow, so holding the flag upright, with musket and cartridges seized from a fallen comrade at his side he was defending his sacred trust in the manner of the songs of chivalry.”

At this point in the struggle for possession of Little Round Top, the 20th Maine had already repulsed five assaults and had run out of ammunition.

Chamberlain then gave his famous or-

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der of “bayonets” and the remaining members of the regiment that were able leapt forward so surprising the Confederates that there was a mass surrender.

Later Chamberlain would say that it was Sergeant Tozier’s example that led him to give his order. Still later, Chamberlain would recommend Andrew Tozier for the Congressional Medal of Honor. The medal would be awarded on August 13, 1898.

Four members of the 20th Maine received Congressional Medals of Honor. Chamberlain was one. Another was Walter Morrill, the regiment’s last commander. The other two are 1st Lieutenant Albert Fernald of Winterport and

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Andrew Tozier.

The Civil War careers of Joshua Chamberlain and Walter Morrill have been well-documented. Among other things both have been the subject of biographies. Fernald and Tozier, however, are an entirely different matter.

Virtually nothing has been written of them. In fact, while Fernald is interred in his hometown of Winterport, where the local American Legion Post honors his memory each Memorial Day, Tozier’s hometown cannot even do this as his remains lie in Litchfield.

The fact that next to nothing has been written on Andrew Tozier is one of the great ironies of the Civil War, for better than anyone else Tozier’s actions at Little Round Top could be said to emerge from the smoke of Little Round Top, with the outcome of the conflict between North and South still very much in doubt. Afterwards, it was only a matter of time until the North proved victorious.

JW AWNING CO.

Andrew Tozier was born in Monmouth on February 11, 1838. The town had been named, at the time of its incorporation in 1792, for the Revolutionary Battle of Monmouth. It may have been this Revolutionary War tradition that led Andrew Tozier to the Union Army.

Regardless, he did end up in the 20th Maine, although it is not even clear how this came about as one source suggests that he may have been in the 3rd Maine before joining the 20th.

In fact, even Tozier’s Medal of Honor citation does not say exactly where he was when he entered the Union Army. It states that he entered at either Bangor or Plymouth. (It is quite possible that a recruiter out of Bangor visited Plymouth looking for volunteers and recruited Tozier there.) At some point, however, Tozier became the 20th Maine’s Color Sergeant.

Color Sergeant was one of the most important regimental positions. The Color Sergeant was the key figure that

soldiers centered on to get an idea of where the rest of their regiment was.

For this reason, the Color Sergeant was one of the most vulnerable positions that a soldier could have for the simple reason that the enemy would concentrate its fire on him and the flag in order to disrupt the opposing force’s organization. In other words, only the very bravest men became color sergeants.

And this is what Andrew Tozier was.

When the 20th Maine began its bayonet charge down Little Round Top, Andrew Tozier was in the very forefront of the charge. At that point he no longer carried the musket he had picked up from a downed comrade, so, unlike the other soldiers who had bayonets, he was completely unarmed. The only other person who was similarly unarmed was Joshua Chamberlain, who ran at his side, brandishing a pistol.

From the moment Joshua Chamberlain saw the 20th Maine’s regimental

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(cont. on page 10)

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(cont. from page 9) color sergeant emerge from the smoke of Little Round Top, Andrew Tozier stepped onto the pages of history.

Sometime after the close of the Civil War, Tozier moved to Litchfield, where he lived on a small farm until his death in March 28, 1910. He carried the marks of some of his wartime experiences with him, including a lost finger, a ball in the leg which never emerged, and a scar on his temple from another shot.

Andrew Tozier, the Monmouth man who inspired Joshua Chamberlain to order his famous charge, is buried in the Litchfield Plains Cemetery.

Perhaps sometime in the future a Civil War scholar will decide to write Color Sergeant Andrew Tozier “a song of chivalry” of his own. * Other businesses in this area are featured in the color section.

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Early logging scene on the Kennebec River in Augusta. Item # LB2007.1.104057 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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The Gardiner Coliseum, decorated for Gardiner’s semi-centennial celebrations in 1899. Item # 6002 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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The “Oaklands” in Gardiner, ca. 1962. The granite house was built for Robert Hallowell Gardiner by architect Richard Upjohn between 1835-1837. Item # 13047 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

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Georgina Shaylor on the far right, with two unidentified girls, during a summer vacation at Forest Lake in Gray, ca. 1925. Item # 74256 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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Auburn’s Irving Isaacson

by James Nalley

The first cold war spy

A

mong the many soldiers that served in World War II and were lucky enough to return home, there were those whose duties did not garner the attention of the media until well after the war. One such example was Irving Isaacson, who initially enlisted as a private in the National Guard, but eventually served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS; the wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II). This unassuming young man was subsequently commando-trained to parachute behind enemy lines and help the Dutch resistance in Holland. During the Cold War, Isaacson

Irving Isaacson - photo courtesy of the Albert & Burpee Funeral Home via AP)

(cont. on page 16)

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and a colleague wandered throughout Eastern Germany in order to spy on the Russians. As the first “Cold War spy,” his detailed reports made it onto the desk of President Harry Truman.

Born in Auburn on August 7, 1915, Isaacson was part of a small Jewish community in the Lewiston-Auburn area of Maine. He graduated from the brand-new Lewiston High School in 1932 and earned his bachelor’s degree (as a proud “townie”) from Bates College in 1936. During his time at Bates, he was active in the Brooks Quimby Debate Council, and his debate partner was Edmund Muskie, who eventually

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16

(cont. from page 15) went on to become the 58th Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter.

After graduating from Bates College, Isaacson attended Harvard Law School and received his law degree in 1939.

Although he was ready to practice law, the looming war had drawn his attention, much like many other men of his age. According to Isaacson, he did the “romantic thing” and enlisted as a private in the National Guard, well before the United States had initiated the draft in November 1940.

Due to his education and qualifications, Isaacson was immediately sent to U.S. Army Officer Candidate School (Class No. 11), after which he trained as a communications officer and was sent to England as a replacement officer for projected D-Day casualties in 1944. However, he unexpectedly re-

ceived orders to report to the English headquarters of the OSS, which was the wartime predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although he initially believed that the orders were sent in error, Isaacson accepted them and was trained in commando tactics.

He was subsequently promoted to captain and sent to Holland in order to help the Dutch resistance. According to his son, Mark Isaacson, “He loved working at the OSS. He was attracted by adventure, the lack of clear rules, and the ability to act on his own.”

In 1945, when the war in Europe ended, Isaacson (on his own initiative) moved to Eastern Germany, near the border of the Russian and American zones. At that time, he and his friend, Staff Sergeant Fred Switgall, initiated their plan to “spy on the Soviets.” Isaac-

Cong�at�lations Aubur�!

son (who could speak German, French, Yiddish, and Dutch) and Switgall (who was fluent in several languages, including Russian) traveled throughout Eastern Europe, drinking vodka, fraternizing with Russian officers, and collecting information regarding the movements of Soviet troops. As stated earlier, their detailed reports reached the desk of President Truman. In one instance, Isaacson produced a 24-page intelligence report titled, “1,600 miles of territory and 1,000 years of misery.”

At the time, it was the first hard intelligence from the area since 1939.

It was also in 1945 that Isaacson met Jutka Magyar, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the slave labor camp in Hessich-Lichtenau.

He courted Jutka in German, French, and eventually English. They were mar-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com ried in the destroyed city of Nuremberg on December 24, 1945. Judith would eventually return to Maine with Isaacson, after which she would go on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics, and serve as the Dean of Women and Dean of Students at Bates College. The recipient of three honorary degrees, she was inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 2004.

The couple was married for 70 years.

When asked how long they were married, Isaacson (according to his family members) always responded, “Not long enough.”

Like many men who returned from the European front, Isaacson left military service, settled into home life, and found work. In his case, he joined his father in the law firm of Brann and Isaacson, where he practiced corporate

and commercial law. He eventually represented well-known organizations such as the United Egg Producers and L.L. Bean.

Aside from his law practice and family life, Isaacson was a writer and a blacksmith/metalworker. Regarding the latter, he loved tools and “hammering hot metal.” As stated in the notice by the Albert & Burpee Funeral Home, “He was never without a project… and he rarely owned a canoe or boat he had not built. He even welded his children’s jungle gym in his shop.” As for his writing, he published several legal manuals, including the “Manual for Conservation Officers” and “Legal Driving.” However, it was his 2001 Memoirs of an Amateur Spy: The Story of the First OSS Spy in the Cold War with the Russians that received wide-

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spread attention. In the book, Isaacson describes his transformation from a combat-trained infantry officer into a major espionage agent, “with a lovely romance” added along the way.

On March 28, 2018, Irving Isaacson died at the age of 102 and was subsequently buried at the Beth Jacob Cemetery in Auburn. In regard to his longevity, his daughter stated that he had three reasons: he never worried; he never complained; and he loved strength training. This outlook was also apparent in his candid and unpretentious memoir. For instance, he frequently belittled the notion that spies during World War II were brilliant masterminds of deception and intrigue. According to Isaacson, “To the contrary, we were total amateurs, but we didn’t care, and it didn’t seem to matter.”

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The Form Of Fate Sculptor Franklin Simmons set his roots in Lewiston-Auburn

by Derek Brou n the American Cemetery in Rome lies the seventy-three-year-old remains of one of Lewiston’s favorite sons. Franklin Simmons, a sculptor of great fame and notoriety, spent his adolescence among the halls of the Lewiston public schools and later at the Maine State Seminary which became Bate College, and though he spent the last 45 years of his life in Rome, he always said that Lewiston was his home.

As a testament, replicas of his most important works along with a fund for their transportation from his studio in Rome and for their maintenance were

I

willed to Maine by the artist.

So great was his art, in fact, that he was twice decorated by the Kings of Italy in his lifetime. He was revered by the greatest sculptors and painters of the 19th and 20th Centuries, who made Rome the center for their artistic works.

And even before that time, before he had left the United State for Florence many years earlier to study his art, he had been well-known to some of the greatest men of American government in Washington at the time. He had been commissioned to sculpt such men as General Grant, Generals Sherman and

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Sheridan, Governor Pierrepont of West Virginia, and Governor Morton of Indiana. And this great talent, this genius of form, had its beginnings in Lewiston.

Born in Webster (now Sabattus) January 11th, 1839, his parents moved to Lewiston when he was a boy. He went to the public school there and to the seminary. He had first lessons in Latin from Frank Dingley, who was the editor of the Lewiston Journal at the time. Their friendship was fast, and the respect that Simmons had for his teacher was to last till the elder’s death.

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com He had also made the acquaintance of the Reverend George Knox, pastor of the Baptist Church, and they also became great friends. Both Knox and Dingley saw at once the genius of Franklin Simmons. It was evident in his earliest attempts in pastel and with cameo figures. He was already sculpting figures at the age of eighteen. They gave him support and encouragement, but Simmons felt he had to earn a living apart from his passion.

He went to work for one of the town’s cotton mills for a time, in the counting room. It is said that this employment was less than successful either for the young Simmons or for his employers. He was putting most of his effort and all of his thought into a work which was to be entitled “The Newsboy.” The daily drudgery of the job

free time reading the Classics of ancient Greece and Rome. He was fascinated by the Renaissance sculptors and painters and felt that he would someday visit the ancient Italian country. However, fate would bring him down another path for the moment.

With his first two important public pieces, the Soldiers Monument for the Lewiston town park, and the statue of Edward Little for the Little Institute in Auburn, his fame grew such that he was brought to the Nation’s capital. He spent 5 years there and in that time had sculpted some of the most important figures of his day. Increasingly though, he was frustrated with his own lack of growth in his art and decided in the summer of 1867 to finally make the trip to Florence to study with the teachers of the traditional Neoclassical school. (cont. on page 20)

grew beyond what he could bare and he quit.

“The Newsboy” had elicited praise from the artistic world, and so, left without an income, having no desire to pursue one outside of his art any longer, and with the patronage and support of his friends, Simmons left Lewiston at age 22 for Brunswick, where he was commissioned to make busts for President Woods and Professor Packard of Bowdoin College. He was subsequently called on to do more busts, and earned enough to open a studio over the Pejepscot Bank in Brunswick. Business boomed and so did his name. Not long after, he was asked to do a bust for Governor Dunlap in marble for his monument in Pine Grove Cemetery.

The young Simmons was becoming more skillful all the time. He spent his

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(cont. from page 19) He made great stride in the year he stayed there, both in his art and in his fame. The following summer he left Florence for Rome, where he would take his place among the finest sculptors in the world.

Always a temporary resident, he was taken with the heart of the Italian people. He traveled back and forth across the Atlantic making portrait busts for prominent and distinguished statesmen in America and in Europe. During this time he completed the most important public works of his career. Among them are the Longfellow statue; the Statue of the Republic in Portland; the Equestrian Statue of Logan; the Peace Monument; the statue of Alexander Hamilton; Valley Forge; Jochebed and her child Moses; Penelope; Medusa; Paris and Helen; Benjamin and His Cup; and The Promised Land. His last

1870 Civil War Memorial in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park

work, Hercules and Alcestis was said to be his finest work, his “Swan Song,”

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the work that an artist spends his life preparing for. It was completed just weeks before his death on December 6, 1913.

He had stayed in Rome because that’s where his work needed to be, but all the while felt at home only in Maine. In his will, he mentions his home of Lewiston and the lifelong friends he had made there. Indeed he left a legacy for a scholarship to Colby College in the name of his friend Mr. Knox who had been a trustee there when it was still called Waterville College. He had sacrificed that home for his one true passion, his art, and had completed the purpose he felt he was born for, but died there, apart from his home. Over his grave stands a replica of one of his own works: the Angel of the Resurrection, perhaps as a reminder not to let passion consume one’s life.

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Lewiston’s Dr. Bernard Lown Living joyfully and wisely

by Charles Francis

B

ernard Lown has been called “the heart doctor with an extra big heart.” Those who know of Dr. Lown’s contributions to the field of cardiovascular medicine will smile at this play on words. Those who have been directly affected by any of the myriad of advances in cardiovascular medicine attributed to Dr. Lown will find special meaning in this tidbit of journalistic tropes, figurative language.

In 2007 it was proposed that South Bridge joining the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn be named for Bernard Lown. Naming the bridge for Dr. Lown would be a way of memorializing Lown’s contributions to medicine and world peace.

In 1961 Dr. Lown introduced direct current electrical stimulation for normalizing heart rhythm, the use of the defibrillator. Irregular heart rhythm is a cause of death. Twenty-four years later, in 1985, the Nobel Prize committee announced Bernard Lown’s name as one of two recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Lown and Evgueni Chazov, Director General of the Cardiovascular Institute of the USSR, the other recipient of the prize, founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. One may consider Bernard Lown a wise man. While the nature of wisdom is subject to conjecture and connotation, a careful and studious appraisal

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A study of Bernard Lown’s life to date would seem to indicate that what happens to human beings – at the very least and in part – are the result of fame and fortune. Some might argue that fate and fortune have no place in western Judaic/Christian tradition. That they are pagan concepts. That would be for theologians and perhaps philosophers to debate. Solomon of the Old Testament may offer a view on the matter, though. (cont. on page 22)

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(cont. from page 21) The Wisdom of Solomon 2:1-9 ends “…let us leave tokens of joyfulness in every pace: for this is our portion, and our lot in this.” The Wisdom of Solomon is found in Ecclesiastics.

Some consider Ecclesiastics, along with the Book of Job, the wisest sections of the Bible. There are those who see the Book of Job and Ecclesiastics as annihilation wisdom, as fate, fortune and mortality as being irrevocably woven together. Bernard Lown would seem to have been dealing with annihilation all his life. Dealing with heart stoppage and making a statement on nuclear war certainly confront annihilation. More than that, Bernard Lown’s early life, before he came to central Maine, would seem the most fortuitous avoidance of annihilation.

Bernard Lown moved to Maine when he was thirteen in 1935. The Lown family came to Maine From Lithuania. Bernard Lown was born in

that Baltic country in 1921. The Lown family was Jewish. Lown’s grandfather, a rabbi, died when his synagogue burned. Lown escaped Europe ahead of the Holocaust.

Lown attended high school in Lewiston, where an uncle, the owner of Lown Show, lived. He then went on to the University of Maine where he studied zoology, graduating with honors.

He studied cardiology at Boston’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and at Harvard Medical School, subsequently joining the medical school staff.

In 1950 Dr. Lown determined that excessive potassium loss adversely affects heart rhythm, to a degree that may be life-threatening. Dr. Lown’s initial work dealt with diuretic loss of potassium. This work led to studies on athletic endeavor and potassium loss.

In 1961 Dr. Lown founded and served as first president of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Physicians

for Social Responsibility is made up of medical and public health professionals devoted to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, to stopping and reversing global warming and to stopping and reversing the toxic degradation of the environment. That same year Dr. Lown developed the direct current (DC) defibrillator.

From the standpoint of the lay person, most every advance in cardiovascular medicine is in some way related to research and developments Bernard Lown had a hand in. These developments include the use of lidocaine to prevent cardiac failure, setting forth the basic procedures for patients with heart attacks in coronary care facilities and establishing the relationship between psychological trauma and death, to name a few.

Dr. Lown is also active in third world countries being able to utilize modern communication systems in the de-

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velopment of their medical programs.

He founded SATELLIFE, the use of satellite technology to beam medical information to developing countries, and ProCor, a medical sharing internet program.

With all these interests, it seems incredible that Bernard Lown has found time to write articles and even a book directed at educating the common reader in matters medical.

Bernard Lown’s The Lost Art of Healing was published in 1996. Its sections include “Hearing the Patient,” “The Art of Doctoring,” “The Rewards of Doctoring” and “The Art of Being a Patient.” It is wisdom writing in the same way that the Wisdom of Solomon is wisdom writing. The Lost Art of Healing is a joyful book. It is joyful in the sense of Ecclesiastics. It is a token of joyfulness.

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Smelting The Ice When the Kennebec freezes over

by Jeffrey Bradley inter ice fishing for rainbow smelt on the frozen Kennebec River finds Mainers squatting for hours to catch these fish and fry and eat them whole. The tradition of smelts in the Pine Tree State diet includes putting them in Italian-American Christmas Eve dinners and their eggs in sushi.

Rainbow smelt are hardy little fish the size of your hand, slender with a pointy head, enormous staring eyes, and a pale-yellow silverish belly. They sport colorful streaks down both their sides. If able to evade predators, they can live for 6 years or more. Once abundant up and down the Eastern seaboard,

W

now they’re practically extinct below the Chesapeake Bay. Fished by Maine men for generations, they’re taken through the ice in winter or by dip net in the spring. Once filling wagonloads,

habitat disruption, warming oceans and shifting food sources have put smelt populations into jeopardy. Preferring shallower water, they stay offshore until the cooling temperatures bring them into sheltering bays, harbors and estuaries. Cold weather will drive them upriver to spawn. Harvests once topped a million pounds annually but were already by 1849 in serious decline; Maine’s last commercial catches ended during the 1940s. As a prized table fish smelt have long held great cultural, ecological and economic significance.

Protective measures recently helped to increase their numbers and today they remain a popular and important part of (cont. on page 26)

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(cont. from page 25) the recreational fishing industry.

Warm-weather fishing is easy; ice fishing not so much. You must want to! First thing you need is ice enough to hold you. Then comes finding that sweet spot to drill down or chop through to drop a line into the water. Next is the waiting. Lots of waiting. But Maine’s so-called “hard-water season” simply abounds with fish awaiting to be hauled out, and not so many fishermen around to do the hauling. Trout, cusk, bass, perch and landlocked salmon are just a few of the species netted, but the absolute hands-down favorite is the smelts.

Fishing through the ice can be as simple as dressing in layers with a good pair of boots and dragging a sled behind for toting your gear, or as high-end as renting a sumptuous lakefront cottage with all the amenities that includes a guide for locating your fish. Most Mainers will opt for the barebones but cozy shanty rented from any number of fishing camps that dot the Kennebec

River near Randolph, Pittston, Albion, Chelsea and Hallowell. Inside, a heater, a stove — even a TV, if you care to splurge — awaits. However, you’ll get to enjoy the superb sunny winter weather and no doubt have plenty of fish to take home for dinner.

The standard four-man fishing shack comes with electricity and lighting usually consisting of an overhead bulb and one suspended over each trough. (A makeshift aluminum foil lampshade helps to direct the light away from your eyes and down the hole.) All that’s left, really, is finding a place to cut up the bait and keeping the stove hot. Before hitting the ice, though, it’s best to bone up on the fishing regulations and make sure your licenses are up-to-date.

Tides run for 6 hours, and nights are considered the best for smelting — some Mainers even maintain it’s the most fun you can have on a wintry evening. Night time fishing can get a little

rowdy and the language a little salty but then, it’s just guys fishin’.

Incoming and outgoing tides both have their supporters but starting to fish at the end of a low tide cycle gives you a few minutes extra advantage. Smelt seem to be at somehow their bitingest in moving water, and little swirls denote their hungry passage. Still, a lot will depend on the time and tide.

A cheap and simple “jiggy stick” can work wonders but they’re prone to ferocious tangling. More frequently a spinning reel is mounted on a lightweight jig pole. Oddly enough, jigs being flicked up and down in the narrow confines of a shed can leave the impression of the fishermen being so many harp players plucking their strings as they peer down into the cold dark water.

Sandworms are the preferred live bait, but clams and shrimp will do.

Experienced fishermen put a gobbet of fresh worm chunk on each hook of

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their jigs.

Keep in mind that not every year produces a bonanza and that warm snaps with lots of rain will end your season quickest. In 2016 the ice was too slushy to put any shacks out at all, although last year the fishing rebounded nicely. Still, there’s no point in dwelling when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate: usually a good run of fishing lasts right through the end of March.

One of the greatest joys of ice fishing for smelt is getting to eat them right away. Deep fried in oil, breaded and salted, and cooked in a cast iron skillet, they come out as crispy crunchy morsels. Going in two or three at a time, it’s a fishy treat that’s one of the best-kept eating secrets in Maine. Even better is putting in some sliced-up kielbasa, which the old-timers will chuckle counts as one of your vegetable servings.

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Early view of the post office in Fairfield Center. Item # LB2007.1.100730 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com

The Elizabeth S. Marco nurses home at the Maine Sanitarium in Fairfield. Item # LB2007.1.100725 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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Local Newspaper Columns The social media of the early 1900s

by Sally Furber Nelson

T

oday we keep in touch with friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, and other forms of social media. Although these were not available a hundred and fifteen years ago, small town residents throughout Maine could read about their neighbors in local newspapers of the day.

Mrs. Lucie E. Crowell was the local correspondent for the Brown’s Corner section of Canaan from 1885 to 1903.

Copies of these columns give us insight into life in rural Maine during this period. Her columns are well-written, sometimes humorous, and representative of the concerns and interests of the

time.

Canaan was, and still is, a rural community where most of the people are engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Many of her columns report on this aspect of life.

Last week we paid a visit to the farm of Messrs. Chase and Crowell of Canaan; they are farmers up to the improvements of the times, like many of our Clinton farmers. They showed us a pair of pure-blooded Hereford steers, one six months old, girl four feet, four inches, the other four months old, girl four feet, three inches. How is that for a pair of calves? Mr. Chase said he had sold some large oxen first and last, and

we judge he will have another yoke.

H. L. Purinton lost a good cow, last week.

Mrs. M. E. Ricker set 39 eggs at three sittings from which 38 little chicks were hatched.

W. O. Chase has leased the A. D. Brown farm for the year.

Several good colts have been foaled in this vicinity recently. C. B. Chase and Frank Hubbard have very fine ones.

Our venerable townsman, Mr. Orren Hubbard, gives us the following item of interest for publication. On a recent visit to his daughter, Mrs. Fred Moody of East Skowhegan, he gleaned the following statement, that Mrs. Moody has

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com made during the past four years 10,500 pounds of butter, doing a greater part of the churning herself and feeding with her own hands the skim milk to calves, colts, and pigs. The amount of butter which she is making per week now is 100 pounds, with the expectation of having the milk of thirteen heifers added to her dairy during the season. Mr. Hubbard is about 82 years and well preserved. He expects soon to go to Sherman Station, Braggville, Me., to pass the summer with another daughter, Mrs. Frank Robinson, whose husband is extensively engaged in the manufacture of lumber.

Weather was a constant concern.

Mrs. Crowell writes about both snow storms, thunder storms, and even a cyclone.

Mrs. Sadie Reynolds of Burnham had a sad experience one night of the storm last week. She had driven from Unity and when near Slab City the horse got stuck in the snow, the thill

was broken, and she was unable to proceed. She shouted many times, but no one came to her assistance. By a great effort she dragged herself to Walter Hubbard’s house which is unoccupied.

After forcing an entrance, she found matches and at last got a fire going in the stove. Her horse had followed, and she dug the snow from the barn door and found a shelter for it. Her clothing was wet and frozen, and, hanging her skirt near the fire, laid her shivering body down upon a bed which had been left there. After a while the smell of something burning aroused her, to find her gown burned to a crisp and nearly setting the house on fire. She remained there until the next noon without food, when she was rescued by men who were breaking roads.

The high wind of Monday hindered the farmers very much in getting their hay. Some suspended work entirely because of it. Corn and garden crops were considerably damaged.

During the heavy thunder shower of last Thursday, the lightning played havoc among the telephone instruments on this line, burning out the fuse at the Central, also at Amasa Burrill’s and Chas. Burrill’s while at I. Crowell’s greater damage was done causing considerable expense to the company. Repairs were promptly made, and all is in good working order. Each patron is so well pleased and finds it such a convenience that they consider it a household necessity and would be loathe to part with it. It is hoped that the line may be extended to Hartland soon. The sooner the farmers along the line manifest an interest in it the sooner they will get it.

[1895] Reading of a cyclone in the far West and being in the center of one in Maine produces very different sensations as we realized Wednesday, June 27th, amid breaking glass, crashing buildings and falling trees. About 2 o’clock p.m., a heavy cloud which from its breezy appearance denoted (cont. on page 32)

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(cont. from page 31) wind, came up rapidly, breaking with terrific violence in a line about threefourths of a mile wide, bearing destruction in its wake. Among the first to suffer was Henry Richardson, who had a barn blown down and a heifer killed by lightning on the edge of E. Skowhegan. Passing there it injured the crops and fruit trees of A. Richardson & Son, Wallace Ireland and Wm. Ames. Very large hail at G. E. Taylor’s spoiled his growing crops and broke out glass in all the buildings on the west and north.

Three chimneys were blown down and a part of the roof from the ell at Chas.

Fitzgerald’s; a part of the roof from F. G. Penney’s barn and a large amount of glass broken. Much damage was also done to the L. Ames house. The house of Mrs. Ruth Moore was partially unroofed, and the property of G. W. Lambert injured. A small stable belonging to Dexter Holt was blown down, injuring his horse so that it had to be

killed. Much damage was done to F. B. Foster, his house injured, and barn demolished. A large shade tree in front of I. J. Foster’s lies prostrate. Glass was broken, and gardens destroyed for I. M. Booker, Alonzo Reynolds and Frank Boston. The large barn of George A. Williams barely escaped destruction, the one across the way belonging to R. B. Williams being demolished. The barns of Josiah Fernald, G. H. Foster and E. S. Foster were badly wrenched and injured, and much glass was broken at F. D. Getchell’s. The roof was partly blown from the schoolhouse, the teacher, Miss Lottie Jewell, and scholars escaping through the windows amid the pelting hail and rain, the nearest dwelling affording but poor shelter, being deluged with rain and broken glass, but fortunately no one was injured. The large barn of S. Edmunds was unroofed and a smaller one removed from its foundation several feet, a large shade

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com These local columns often told of community activities.

Mrs. Eunice Church is stopping with Mrs. John Drew for the winter.

There will be a Christmas tree with a short entertainment at Brown’s Corner, on the evening of Dec. 24. All are cordially invited.

Olive Humphrey will teach in the Rand district in Hartland. Maymie Peavey has been assigned teacher at Brown’s Corner, Blanche Hall in the Drew district, and Effie Crowell the “Slab City” school. The schools will begin April 28.

Sam Rowe and family of Skowhegan have recently moved into this neighborhood. Who next?

Walter Wheeler who has been very sick with rheumatic fever is still confined to his bed.

I Crowell & Son finished driving logs on Tuesday and have moved home.

Bills are out for an entertainment to be given by the pupils of the high school at Town Hall Friday evening, Jan. 27th, followed by a dance, with music by the Imperial Orchestra of Skowhegan. Refreshments will be served.

Selden Fitzgerald, who has been working in Fairfield this summer, came home sick last week and is now dangerously ill with typhoid fever.

Miss Annie Lancaster of Skowhegan is spending the vacation with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Lancaster.

Misses May and Emma Goodwin arrived home Saturday from Massachusetts from their summer vacation.

There was a pleasant gathering on Thursday last at the house of Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Moody in Skowhegan.

There were present two grandparents, Orin Hubbard and Joseph Moody, aged 83 and 82 years, respectively, George Hubbard and family, Frank Hubbard

and family of this town and Mrs. A. R. Blaisdell and family of Corinna, making twenty in all. Mrs. Moody soon prepared a bountiful dinner and the day was most delightfully spent amid the flowers and fruits of Maple Dale farm.

Sunday evening about 25 friends of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Fitzgerald gathered at their pleasant home to wish them a pleasant trip across the continent to the Pacific coast, whither they will start on Tuesday of this week to be present at the National Encampment of the G. A. R. held in San Francisco, August 17 to 22. Also, a pleasant visit among relatives in different parts of the State, and a safe return at the expiration of their tickets, which are limited to Oct. 15.

Mr. Fitzgerald spent quite several years in California when a young man and married his wife there. This trip will be a great pleasure to both as Mrs. Fitzgerald will visit her near relatives and the (cont. on page 34)

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Mrs. O. M. Chase is entertaining the mumps.

Cecil Lancaster is canvassing this week for nursery stock in Hartland.

Henry Crowell was at North Hartland last week surveying for several parties there.

It was a big time and a crowd of 300 assembled at grange hall, Canaan, Thursday evening, May 14. Neighbors’ Night was well patronized by several different granges. Skowhegan came fully 150 strong, bringing good cheer and smiling faces. Their degree team instructed a class of 12 in third and fourth degrees, occupying the chairs, and furnished a fine program. Clinton grange was there, or at least 30 or 40 of them. Victor and Pittsfield were represented also. A bountiful harvest feast was served after which the visitors enjoyed a march and the game of “Tucker,” and the hours were small when all wended their way homeward by the light of the waning moon.

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(cont. from page 33) scenes of her youth for the first time in 26 years.

We are glad to learn that Mrs. Springer of Hartland, who was thrown from her carriage on Saturday, seems to be suffering no serious injuries. She is badly bruised and quite lame, but no bones are broken.

We saw some very old people at the grange hall on Veteran’s Day. One, Mrs. Orie Fitzgerald, told your correspondent that she was past 93 years.

She seemed to be wonderfully well preserved and was much interested in the exercises of the day. Without doubt she remembered well the day when her son marched away with the boys in blue. Comrade Furber and wife of Clinton are very infirm and many more who answered when their names were called can not expect to meet with their friends on earth many years more but must answer the roll call to come up higher and mingle with the comrades and friends who have gone before.

Weddings and anniversaries are celebrated in these local columns.

There was a quiet wedding Tuesday evening, June 13, by Rev. O. M. Chase, the contracting parties being Mr. Ripley Chase and Mrs. Sarah L. Crommett.

Both are well known in the vicinity and their many friends wish them much happiness.

Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Lancaster celebrated the 35th anniversary of their marriage recently. A large company of friends were present, and a pleasant evening was passed. Many useful gifts were brought which will ever be a pleasant reminder of the friends who contributed to that happy occasion.

Death notices often included many details of the lives of those lost.

The funeral of Mrs. Laura Tilton, whose unexpected death occurred April 8, was largely attended by sympathetic friends on Thursday afternoon. Rev. O. M. Chase officiated. Mrs. Tilton had

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com many warm friends in this vicinity who deeply mourn her sudden death. Her husband and little daughter Maude are almost inconsolable at their loss. Her age was 32 years.

The people of this community were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Miss Velma Ramsdell, which occurred at Cornville on Monday, Jan. 16 where she had been teaching since last August. Her winter term closed Friday, Jan. 6th, at which time she contracted a severe cold which developed rapidly into pneumonia, so that she was unable to reach home. Her father and sister Sylvia were with her constantly during her sickness. The deceased was a highly respected young lady, a member of Canaan grange, and her loss will be keenly felt, not only in the grange but among her young friends, where she was very popular. Services were held from her late home at South Canaan Thursday, Jan. 19th, attended by Rev. Mr. Jackson. Among the many

handsome floral tributes was a beautiful wreath given by the present and former members of Canaan high school, of which she had formerly been a member. The grief-stricken family have the heartfelt sympathy of all.

The death of an old resident of this town, Mr. Alonzo Wyman on Wednesday the 23rd last, was a surprise to many, as his last illness was short. He was sick but a few days and many of his friends had not heard of it. His sudden illness and death was doubtless due to the culmination of several physical ailments which for many years have caused him much discomfiture and suffering at times, together with his advanced age, 82 years. He was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, a member of the 13th Me. Vol. His disabilities were contracted while in the army and he has been a sufferer for many years. A liberal pension was granted to him which enabled him to live comfortably and enjoy his long life. Mr. Wyman moved from

Clinton with his family and has lived most of the town since in this town. His first wife died six years ago. A second one, Mrs. Eliza Davis Wyman survives him. Three sons, Lorenzo Wyman of Alpena, Mich., Samuel and John Wyman of this town, and two daughters, Mrs. Lizzie Allen of Canaan, and Mrs. Carrie Damon of Hartland. He had many acquaintances and friends who have long been familiar with him as he made his daily rounds and many there are who will miss “Uncle Lonny.” His funeral occurred on Friday afternoon and although the weather was very unpropitious the schoolhouse was packed to overflowing. Rev. Virgil Sweetland of Palmyra spoke words of comfort and comrades of the G. A. R. with relatives followed him to his last resting place in the little cemetery on the hillside by the side of the wife of his youth.

The social media of today may be faster and more widely available but it (cont. on page 36)

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(cont. from page 35) is also more ephemeral. What we read on Facebook today is gone by tomorrow and will not be available for our grandchildren to read. The neighborhood columns, on the other hand, are often still available after more than one hundred and fifteen years.

Mrs. Lucie E. Crowell’s scrapbook which contains these columns as well as many more newspaper clippings of that period was donated to the Canaan Historical Society. Their museum is currently being catalogued and items will be available when the organization is more complete. Contact the Canaan Historical Society at canaanme@ gmail.com for more information.

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Early view of the Androscoggin River from Livermore Falls. Item # LB2007.1.101243 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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Farmington’s Jacob Abbott One of the 19th century’s most prolific writers

by James Nalley

R

egarding the children’s literature authors of the 19th century, the list is extensive. Prominent examples include Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, the traditional tales of the Brothers Grimm, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. However, all these writers were based in Europe. Meanwhile, the most well-known children’s books in the United States, such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, were written after the turn of the 20th century.

Although he is somewhat obscured by the names, Maine-born Jacob Abbott

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com Abbott’s Institute from 1843 to 1851, which he founded with his two brothers, John Stevens Abbott and Gorham Dummer Abbott. During that time, they also founded the Mount Vernon School for Boys in New York City.

Aside from his busy schedule as a teacher and administrator, Abbott’s interest was writing. According to the Baldwin Children’s Project, “Abbott and each of his four brothers graduated from Bowdoin College, studied theology, and became teachers or ministers.”

Three of the five boys became authors, and with his brother John Charles, Jacob authored the widely read, 32-volume Makers of History biographical series (1848-1861). This particular series was even praised by Abraham Lincoln, who, in a letter written to the Abbotts, stated: “I want to thank you and your (cont. on page 40)

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(cont. from page 39) brother for Abbott’s series of histories.

I have not education enough to appreciate the profound works of voluminous historians, and if I had, I have no time to read them. But your series give me, in brief compass, just that knowledge of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the greatest interest. To them, I am indebted for about all the historical knowledge that I have.”

Within a few years of their publication, the biographies had become standard reference works and they were readily available in libraries throughout the United States.

Although he wrote several books that were mainly religious or moralistic in nature, it was not until the 1830s that he wrote the first of his well-known Rollo series: The Little Scholar Learning to Talk. A Picture Book for Rollo (later

reissued as Rollo Learning to Talk). As stated in the article Rollo on Rollo by G. Silver Rollo, “The book originated when T. H. Carter, a Boston-based book agent “unearthed an assortment of engravings which he thought could be used as illustrations,” after which Abbott turned them into book form.

Although Rollo Holiday is not mentioned until the final lines of the book, he obviously becomes the main character of the popular series that followed.

At that time, Abbott was paid $150 for the book, which was published by John Allen and Company.

Eventually, the 14-book Rollo series (1835-1842) became the first multi-volume children’s series involving a central character. According to the Henry Altemus Publishing Company, “These moralistic little tales, printed by nu-

merous publishing houses well into the 20th century, were a massive success.”

Regarding their moralistic nature, the Boston Public Library stated, “Rollo is a headstrong, but curious young boy who rescues baby birds, stands up to bullies, and learns to listen to adults.

Throughout the series, his emotional growth progresses, as he determines his relationship with nature, culture, and God.” In 1837, Abbot resigned his post as a pastor in Roxbury, Massachusetts (for health reasons), and returned to Farmington with his family. With his accumulated wealth from writing, he bought some land across the street from his father’s house and built a home called “Little Blue,” where he would eventually write the “Jonas” books. This series featured a character

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from the “Rollo” series who served as a mentor and guide to Rollo. According to the preface of Jonas on a Farm in Summer, the book was written “not merely to interest…the juvenile reader, but to give him instruction, by exemplifying the principles of honest integrity, and plain practical good sense.” In addition to these series, Abbott wrote approximately 30 additional children’s books as well as articles regarding education and religion for the young, all of which were solely directed at parents and teachers.

Interestingly, despite writing the most widely read books about childrearing in the United States, Abbott’s views have been somewhat controversial. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, Abbott believed that, if a child did not bow to parental au-

thority, then the parents were advised to use corporal punishment. In addition, he wrote, “Taking a wide view of the field, I think there may be several cases in which a resort to the infliction of physical pain as the only available means of establishing authority.” He added, “Complete, absolute, unquestioned authority can often be obtained most forcefully by this form of punishment.”

In 1848, Abbott embarked on the first of many trips to Europe, which resulted in the 10-volume Rollo’s Tour in Europe (1853-1858) series. As stated earlier, Abbott and his brother John eventually wrote the Makers of History series, of which Jacob wrote 22 of the 32 volumes. The biographical series was a great success and its solidified Abbott’s significance as a writer. In

1870, Abbott returned to Farmington, where he lived in his father’s former house “Few Acres,” since “Little Blue” had become a boarding school. He died peacefully in Farmington on October 31, 1879 at the age of 75. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Auburn, Maine. As for the many lessons in Abbott’s works, perhaps the final words of Rollo at Play still ring true today: “When a boy allows himself to get into bad company, he does not know how many troubles he plunges himself into.”

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Sugar Season In The Kennebec River Valley

by Thomas J. Roth

The story of Alcide Jalbert

I

n 1937 in northern Maine, things were as they always had been for the Jalbert family. For more than 30 years, the large compilation of brothers and sisters and their families occupied much of what is known as Bowman Township, above The Forks. The parents of these siblings migrated in from Quebec at the turn of the century and brought with them their skills as woodcutters and oxen drivers, as well as families of sportsmen who loved to hunt, fish and trap. All in all, there were about 30 Jalberts living in and around The Forks in the fertile Kennebec River Valley.

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Alcide Jalbert, a young man of 20, was, perhaps, the most “woodsy” of the bunch. Although the family worked in the forest for much of the year, Alcide was usually off on some sort of adventure. In the summer, he was hiking into one of the many remote ponds to uncover the homemade canoes that he kept stashed so that he could fish as long as the mood suited him. His favorite haunt was Pierce Pond. Located but a few miles from the swift Kennebec River, Pierce Pond was one of the top destinations in Maine for visiting sportsmen with fat wallets and the desire to fish. Alcide would hike from his

house through the woods for days until he reached the shore of Pierce Pond where his canoe was hidden. He would uncover it and load it to the gunwales with his gear. He would then paddle it to the nearest sporting camp in grand fashion, appearing like one of Lewis and Clark’s scouts. Looking as he did, as if he was made from the forest and lakes, he had no trouble hiring on as a guide for a well-playing sport.

Once summer was over, Alcide turned to readying his traps and hunting deer. Beginning in late September, he would take enough deer to keep his family through the harshest of winters.

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com It made no difference, doe or buck, open season or closed. Like many woods families, young Jalbert hunted for food, along with the sport that accompanied the more noble task.

Once winter arrived, Alcide was off to trap beaver, staying on his long trap line for weeks at a time. His mother would remark, in her broken English, that it was like a celebration each time he made it home. Working a trap line in the deep woods was a lonely and dangerous job, but Alcide lived for the solitude and peace he found. When there was too much snow on the ground to trap, Alcide returned to wait the winter out with his family.

Many would assume that this cycle of following the game and the seasons would repeat itself when summer rolled around. But a magical thing occurred each spring that kept him tightly tied to home. Spring in the north woods marked the maple sugar season and no one derived more pleasure from draw-

ing sap and making syrup than young Jalbert. Whether it was his sweet tooth or the loneliness of being on the prowl for so long, only Alcide knew what drew him to that liquid gold.

Being a trapper, Alcide loved having the ability to use his skills in the woods to find and outwit a mink, beaver or fisher. Fur brought a steady wage for Alcide, which further cemented his interest in taking nature’s bounty. Perhaps, he thought, “that the maple sugar draws me in the same way. I must locate the trees, use my knowledge to tap into them, and work hard to render the clear sap into a delicious syrup.”

Once the days were warm and the nights were cool, Alcide Jalbert would open up the family sugar house, located in the woods near Otter Pond, and went to work. First, all of the tin pails were cleaned, then Alcide set out with a sled and a team of oxen to wind his way through the maple grove where the family drew its sap. The trail through

the woods was wide and clear from past years. The whole loop was more than two miles long and the oxen knew it like their own stalls. When he came to a tree, he would use his brace and bit to bore a hole into the bark. He would then hammer a metal spout into the tree and hang a covered pail to catch the slow-flowing sap. Once the pails were set, it was back to the shack for the hard work of hauling in firewood to keep the evaporator going.

The Jalberts did not have an elaborate set up. They relied on the heat of the fire under the large steel pan that was filled with sap and eventually boiled down to make syrup. Alcide’s keen eye and sense of taste would tell him when the light brown syrup was ready. Ever since he was a child, he loved the allure of the remote sugar shack, utilized only in the early spring.

His favorite treat as a youngster occurred when an uncle or cousin would (cont. on page 44)

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(cont. from page 43) take a hot ladle-full of syrup and pour it onto the clean, cold snow outside, making a long, thin brown ribbon of syrup.

In a matter of moments, the syrup hardened into taffy-like consistency and the children would nearly lose their teeth while chomping and pulling on it.

The Jalbert table had other uses for syrup and included it in every meal. In the morning, Alcide’s mother would fry up thin buttered crepes for breakfast. The family would cover their plates with the pancake-like treats and smother them with syrup from the clay jug that always sat on the table. Come noontime, the family would arrive from all over for dinner. Some family member had been in the woods cutting trees, others had been at one of the many barns tending to the oxen. The women of the family were usually in the kitchen of one home working on knitting or food preparation. At the noontime

meal, baked beans flavored with maple syrup was a staple item, so was meat pie and ham slices. Whatever they ate, the maple syrup usually covered it, or was at least on the plate as a condiment.

The evening meal, consumed late in the day when all the family had returned from their work, was usually a hearty meal of meat and potatoes. A common feast was a venison roast, courtesy of Alcide and his Winchester lever-action rifle. Homemade yeast rolls and boiled potatoes, along with canned beans or beets rounded out the spread. The rolls were usually split and lined with butter, then smothered with maple syrup. No one loved the sweet syrup like Alcide, who often remarked that he could drink the maple nectar as if it were water.

Alcide and his family made enough syrup to meet their needs and sold the rest to local merchants to sell to those less industrious souls. The sugar sea-

son, like most of Maine’s seasons, was a short one. It was followed by fishing season and then hunting season and then trapping season. Although known by his family as an expert woodsman, young Alcide Jalbert secretly thought of himself as the “Sugar King” of the north woods. As he fished and hunted and traveled the remote woods until age took the spring out of his step, he often daydreamed of those carefree days in the sugar shack and the steamy, sweet smell of the sap. No one knows if those maples are still standing, but it is likely that their seeds have generated new growth that is producing sap for industrious souls like Alcide. Perhaps even one of his descendants is working in the maple grove, following the family tradition of making sweet syrup. Chance are that whoever this distant relative is, they are an avid sportsman or woman, with a sweet-tooth to boot!

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Early view of the Kennebec River in Skowhegan. Item # LB2007.1.103174 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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Skowhegan’s Activist Legacy Stephen and Louise Coburn remembered

by Charles Francis

S

kowhegan on the banks of the Kennebec can lay claim to having more than its fair share of influential residents. Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to be nominated for the presidency by a major political party. Charles Coffin was the first president of General Electric. Sculptor Bernard Langlais did much of his work there and humorist Artemis Ward lived there for a time. Then there is the remarkable Coburn family.

Abner Coburn was one of Maine’s Civil War governors. Abner and his brother Philander were Maine timber barons in the truest sense of the word, having learned the business from their father Eleazer Coburn, a long time

Maine State Timber Surveyor. At one time the Skowhegan-based Coburn Brothers Company controlled 700 square miles of Maine timberland. In addition, the brothers either jointly or alone were involved in businesses ranging from a steamship line on Moosehead Lake, to banks to the fabulous Forks hotel. Moreover, both have gone down in Maine history for the generous financial contributions they made not only to their own home town but to such institutions as the University of Maine and Colby College. There are two other Coburns who stand out in the history of Skowhegan, however. They are Stephen Coburn and his daughter Louise.

Stephen Coburn was one of the important figures at the Washington Peace Conference, the last attempt to avert the War Between the States. He was also a noted educator who served on the Maine Board of Education at the time when the Maine legislature was taking its first tentative steps towards funding a system of free public high schools.

Louise Coburn was one of the first female graduates of Colby College.

Among other things she was a leader in the struggle for equal educational opportunity for women as well as a recognized authority on the flora of Maine and a historian.

Stephen Coburn was born in Skow-

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(cont. on page 48)

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(cont. from page 47) hegan — or as it was then known Bloomfield — in 1817. His parents were Eleazer and Mary (Weston) Coburn. He attended academies in both Waterville and China before enrolling in Waterville College, as Colby was then known. After graduating from college in 1839, he secured a position teaching school in Tarboro, North Carolina. This experience would later make him one of the few Mainers of national importance with first hand understanding and knowledge of conditions in the South, a circumstance which made him one of the key figures in the Washington Peace Conference of 1861.

In 1840, Coburn returned to Maine to become principal of Bloomfield Academy. He stayed in that position for four years, while studying for the Bar at Harvard University at the same time. In 1845 he opened his own law office in Skowhegan.

In 1849 and 1850, Coburn was a

Stephen Coburn

member of the Maine State Board of Education. As such he worked actively for the establishment of a free high school system for the state. While it did not come until well after the Civil War, Coburn’s efforts set the groundwork for the Free High Act of 1873 being passed by the Republican controlled legislature.

In 1853 Coburn married Helen Sophia Miller of Turner. In 1856 their daughter Louise Helen Coburn was born.

Coburn, along with such Maine political luminaries as Hannibal Hamlin and James G. Blaine, was a founder of the Maine Republican Party. In 1860, he was elected to Congress to fill out Israel Washburn’s term. (Washburn had resigned to run for governor.) It was at this time that Coburn took a leading role in the hopeless attempt to avert the Civil War. Stephen Coburn did not seek elect-

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com ed office again after his partial term in Washington. He returned to his Skowhegan law practice and served as Skowhegan postmaster from 1868 to 1877.

Louise Helen Coburn followed in her father’s footsteps by applying to Colby College. As such she was very much a ground breaker. Even given that the Coburn family had already begun to contribute to the college, Louise Coburn was required to take a day long oral examination centering on her knowledge of Greek and Latin in order to enroll. It was not a practice required of male applicants. Nevertheless, she became the second woman to graduate from the school.

As a student as well as an alumnae, Louise Coburn was a supporter of equal treatment for women at Colby. While she was attending the college she helped found Sigma Kappa, the school’s first sorority. It eventually became a national organization. She

also went on to become the first woman president of the Colby Alumnae Association. As such she was a major fund raiser for the college.

When Colby trustees proposed ending its coeducational program in 1890 by creating a separate woman’s division, Coburn opposed the move. However, she was unsuccessful in getting the trustees to reverse their decision.

She did accept a position on an oversight committee for the new division.

She then used it to get the first women appointed as full professors at Colby.

In 1911 she became Colby’s first female trustee.

Louise Coburn studied botany while in college. She and Katherine Furbish (of Furbish Lousewort fame) were recognized as the two major authorities on Maine flora in the early twentieth century. Coburn was a long time editor of the Maine Naturalist. In addition, she also produced a two-volume history of

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the Skowhegan area, Skowhegan on the Kennebec.

Stephen Coburn died in 1882. He drowned in the Kennebec. Louise Helen Coburn died in 1949. At the time of her death Colby still had not returned to a coeducational system.

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The Farmington Reunion in Virginia Civil War drove a wedge between neighbors

by Brian Swartz

A

fter sawing timber harvested in Franklin County, the father of Farmington’s famous poetess literally “went South” to saw logs in southern Virginia — and the Civil War caught up with him in his new home.

Thomas Chase was the father of Elizabeth Anne Chase, born in Strong on October 9, 1832. Just 12 years earlier, Thomas Chase was operating a sawmill on the Sandy River at Farmington Falls when a flood swept away the building and its contents and machinery.

Later educated at Farmington Academy, Elizabeth Anne Chase started writing with the pseudonym “Florence Percy” when she was 15 and in 1855

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published Forest Buds, a collection of her poems.

When the Civil War began in April 1861, Elizabeth Anne and Florence Percy were well-known among Farmington literati. Her father, however, had vanished, and apparently not many people really cared about his whereabouts.

Many Farmington-area men joined the army and went off to war. Henry C. Hall of Starks enlisted in the 1st Maine Cavalry Regiment in autumn 1861; by April 1865 he was a major commanding a battalion comprising several Maine cavalry companies.

Levi H. Daggett was a 21-year-old New Sharon farmer when he also joined the 1st Maine Cavalry in fall 1861. He

was the first lieutenant of Company I when the regiment chased after Robert E. Lee and his retreating Army of Northern Virginia in early April 1865.

Hall, Daggett, and the 1st Maine Cav fought at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The Maine cavalrymen hung around the area for a while afterwards, at least long enough for Daggett to receive a promotion to captain.

A few days after Lee’ surrender, “a white-haired old man, leaning on a long staff, came into camp and inquired if we were really Maine men,” according to Hall. The elderly man “said he had heard that we were” from Maine.

“We informed him that we were veritable ‘Down East’ Yankees,” Hall

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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com recalled. If he “had any longing sentiments of secession still clinging to him, we would willingly aid him in removing them.”

The old men claimed “he was a Union man and always had been, and a State of Maine man at that.”

The announcement surprised the Maine cavalrymen clustering around the old fellow, who then claimed “he was a native of Farmington, in Franklin County.”

That news convinced some listening troopers the elderly gent might be telling the truth, because what native of Appomattox County in Virginia would have heard of Farmington in northwestern Maine? Word spread through the camp, and some Franklin County residents strolled over to meet the possible Maine transplant.

Up stepped Levi Daggett. Listening for a while, he suddenly recognized the

old man.

“You’re Thomas Chase,” Daggett probably said.

Thomas Chase the camp visitor certainly was. Not long before the war began, he had moved to Appomattox and “settled on a tract of timber land about a mile distant” from Appomattox Court House, according to Hall.

Politics, not a poor economy, had brought him to Virginia. Describing himself as “an ardent pro-slavery Democrat,” Chase explained that “the abolitionists in his section” of Maine “made the political atmosphere so warm he was unable to endure it.” Chase decided to move to “a more congenial clime, where he could enjoy and practice his political religion with none to molest or annoy,” according to Hall.

Just like he had on the Sandy River decades earlier, Chase built a sawmill “on a small stream” running across his

wood lot. He planned to cut and saw the yellow pine growing around him, but “the war came on and terminated his plans of operation.”

His problem was not that the Confederacy did not need lumber, but that he was a Unionist who revered “the old flag.” Confederate authorities seized his sawmill, failed to pay him for it, and drafted “his only son.”

Chase claimed he lived with his second wife (not Elizabeth Anne’s mother) and two daughters, around 16 and 18 years old. Chase’s son had deserted the Confederate army and fled to Maine.

Then, when Chase continued expressing his loyalty to the United States, he was “threatened with imprisonment” and “subjected to personal insults and abuse.”

The Franklin County men gathered about Chase talked with him about (cont. on page 52)

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(cont. from page 51) his daughter, still known by some as “Florence Percy,” and her famous 1859 poem, Rock Me to Sleep, Mother.

Shaking hands all around with the “sons of his earlier friends and neighbors” in Maine, Chase walked away with his “heart light and step elastic” because “he had seen Maine men that day,” Hall said.

But something did not quite ring true with Chase’s tale. The Farmington-area troopers nosed around Appomattox Court House and “made some inquiries of the citizens … who knew him,” Hall noted.

To their consternation, the Franklin County soldiers learned that Thomas Chase, while “very kind and neighborly,” was among “the earliest and most violent advocates of secession in the whole … of Virginia,” Hall discovered.

In fact, Chase had lobbied for 1,000 militiamen with whom he would capture Fort Monroe even before the Virginia

legislature had voted on whether to secede from the Union.

“We were also informed that his fears of violence and of imprisonment never existed, that they were merely inventions to win our sympathy and to cover his great sins,” Hall said.

Thomas Chase and his family occasionally visited the 1st Maine Cavalry’s camp, and the Farmington-area soldiers politely and firmly told “him that he had imposed upon us” with his false tales, Hall noted.

In time the Maine troopers rode away from Appomattox Court House.

Chase “and his family manifested deep regret and sincere sorrow” at the regiment’s departure, Hall admitted. The soldiers rode away with “a feeling of sadness” in their hearts because Chase “was old and poor, feeble and friendless.”

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Aerial view of the Colby College campus from Mayflower Hill. Item # LB2010.9.117704 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org

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DIRECTORY OF ADVERTISERS BUSINESS

PAGE

3D Home Improvements .................................................................28 A1 Diner .........................................................................................26 ABC Pool & Spa Center .......................................................................8 Above and Beyond, LLC ....................................................................23 ACV Enviro .......................................................................................31 ADA Fence Company, Inc. ...............................................................32 Advantage Insurance .......................................................................38 Affordable Well Drilling Excavation & Forestry ................................23 Alyson’s Salon N Spa .........................................................................37 American Awards Inc. .....................................................................25 Ameriprise Financial ........................................................................25 Androscoggin Title Company ...........................................................19 Apex Mobile Pressure Washing .....................................................34 Augusta Civic Center ........................................................................10 Bear Mountain Heating & Cooling ...................................................45 Belgrade Regional Health Center .....................................................6 Bemis Construction .........................................................................46 Bessey Insurance .............................................................................38 Bethel Family Health Center ............................................................6 Bingham Area Health Center .............................................................6 Blanchet Builders, L.L.C. .................................................................30 Blanchette Moving & Storage Co. .....................................................5 Bob’s Cash Fuel ................................................................................52 Bolster’s Rubbish & Recycling .........................................................46 Bookkeeping Plus ..............................................................................5 Brenda Fontaine.com .......................................................................18 Broderick Construction ....................................................................39 Bryant Stove & Music, Inc. ..............................................................12 Buen Apetito Mexican Grill .............................................................33 C&S Market .....................................................................................10 Camp Security Plus Property Management & Construction .............27 CCC Construction ............................................................................24 Cedar Mountain Cupolas ..................................................................14 Central Maine Community College ...................................................16 Central Maine Disposal .....................................................................29 Central Tire Co. Inc. ...........................................................................32 Chim Chiminey Chimney Sweep .......................................................9 Chuck Wagon Restaurant .................................................................36 Clark Auto Parts ...............................................................................53 Clean Like A Dream ............................................................................7 Complete Denture Center .................................................................40 Copp Excavating ...............................................................................14 Country K9 & Cats ............................................................................45 Cushing Construction .......................................................................36 Custom Carvings by Josh Landry ......................................................42 D.C. Thomas Logging & Firewood ...................................................30 Daggett’s Garage Sales, Service & Towing .......................................51 Damboise Garage ............................................................................29 Damon’s Beverage & Redemption - Waterville ...............................48 Damon’s Beverage Mart - Augusta ..................................................10 Daryl Horak Logging ........................................................................28 Dave’s Diner .....................................................................................11 Davidson’s Fleet Parts ......................................................................48 Design Architectural Heating ..........................................................22 Downtown Diner ..............................................................................10 Ed Hodsdon Masonry, Inc. ................................................................9 Elmer’s Barn & Antique Mall ............................................................12 Engine 5 Bakehouse .........................................................................48 EverClean Water Treatment Systems ...............................................30 Fairfield Antiques Mall ......................................................................4 Family Pet Connection & Grooming .................................................46 Farmington Farmers Union & Union Rental ......................................51 Farmington Ford ..............................................................................40 Fike’s Custom Cutting .......................................................................36 Fine Line Gun Shop ...........................................................................4 Fine Line Paving & Grading .............................................................42 Finley Funeral Home .......................................................................50 Fireside Stove Shop and Fireplace Center .........................................15 Fleet Service ...................................................................................27 Fontaine Real Estate Group .............................................................18 Four Winds Too Lobster Co. & Redemption .....................................49 Franco Center ...................................................................................22 Franklin Chrysler ..............................................................................40 Franklin Savings Bank ........................................................................5 Franklin-Somerset Federal Credit Union ...........................................6 Fuller Logging ..................................................................................32 G&G Cash Fuels .................................................................................23 Gamache & Lessard Co. Custom Window Treatments .......................19 Gardiner Apothecary ........................................................................26 Gendron’s Seafood ...........................................................................21 Generators of Maine Inc. .................................................................35 George’s Banana Stand ....................................................................30

BUSINESS PAGE Giberson Funeral Home ....................................................................42

Goggin’s IGA ....................................................................................12 Graphic Explosion Screen Printed Apparel ......................................21 Gray Family Vision Centers................................................................14 Greenwood Orchards Farmstand & Bakery .......................................38 Greg’s Auto Repair ............................................................................48 Gridiron Restaurant & Sports Pub ...................................................21 Hammond Lumber Company ..........................................................35 Hardys Motorsports ..........................................................................52 Harris Drug Store ............................................................................43 Healthy Healing Counseling, Inc. ......................................................34 HealthReach Community Health Centers ...........................................6 High Tide Low Tide Seafood .............................................................41 Hight Family of Dealerships ...............................................................3 Hillman’s Bakery .............................................................................46 Historic Pittston Farm ......................................................................44 Hodgdon Well Drilling, Inc. ................................................................6 Home Auto Group ............................................................................40 Huber Associates, P.A. .....................................................................19 Image Auto Body .............................................................................52 J.R. Nunes & Sons Excavation ...........................................................40 J.T. Reid’s Gun Shop ..........................................................................3 Jackman-Moose River Chamber of Commerce .................................53 Jay Salisbury Heating and Air Conditioning ......................................34 Jean Castonguay Excavating .............................................................38 Jimmy’s Shop ‘N Save .......................................................................53 Jim’s Heating & Plumbing ................................................................52 Johnny Castonguay Logging & Trucking ..........................................36 JRB Auto Body .................................................................................38 JT’s Finest Kind Saw .......................................................................41 JW Awning Co. ...................................................................................9 Kennebec Metal Recycling ...............................................................47 Kennebec Montessori School ...........................................................28 Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce ........................................25 Kim’s Garage & 24 Hour Towing Service ...........................................45 Kirkpatrick’s Service & Repair .........................................................10 Knowles Mechanical Inc. ..................................................................28 Konopka & Son Home Improvements .............................................40 Kramers Inc. .....................................................................................35 KSW Federal Credit Union ................................................................47 K.V. Tax Service, Inc. .........................................................................11 La Fleur’s Restaurant ........................................................................39 Ladd’s Plumbing ..............................................................................27 Lakeview Lumber Co. ......................................................................45 Lambert’s Auto Body ......................................................................41 Laney’s Pit Stop ..............................................................................31 Langlois’ Auto Body & Auto Sales .....................................................20 Larsen’s Jewelry ...............................................................................47 Lavallee’s Garage ..............................................................................53 Law Office of Brian Condon, Jr, Esq. .................................................24 Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce ...................15 Lewiston House of Pizza ..................................................................22 Lincoln Street Radiator Shop ............................................................21 Linkletter & Sons, Inc. .......................................................................4 Lisbon Community Federal Credit Union ..........................................23 Lisbon Hair Studio ..........................................................................23 Long Green Variety ..........................................................................50 LP Poirier & Son Inc., Excavation ......................................................20 Luce’s Meats & Maple ....................................................................42 Lyn’s Spring Service, Inc. .................................................................15 Macomber, Farr & Whitten ..............................................................11 Madison Area Health Center .............................................................6 Main Street Mercantile Co ................................................................24 Maine Family Federal Credit Union ..................................................8 Maine Historical Society ....................................................................7 Maine Instrument Flight ..................................................................24 Maine Pellet Sales LLC .......................................................................8 Mama Bear’s Den .............................................................................43 Maple Leaf Self Storage ....................................................................49 Marston Industrial Services Inc. .......................................................29 Mary’s Massage & Bodywork ...........................................................33 Maynard’s in Maine .........................................................................44 McAllister Accounting And Tax Services ............................................50 McNaughton Bros. Construction .......................................................25 McNaughton Construction ...............................................................35 Mechanics Savings Bank ..................................................................17 Memorial Guard LLC .........................................................................37 Merle Lloyd & Sons Earthwork Contractors .....................................52 Ming Lee Chinese Restaurant ...........................................................34 Mobile Home Parts Unlimited Sales & Service .................................27 Mobile Home Parts Unlimited Camper Supplies & Accessories .........28 Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial ............................................16 Monkitree Art • Craft • Design ..........................................................26

BUSINESS

PAGE

Monmouth Federal Credit Union .....................................................23 Montello Heights Retirement Community .......................................22 Moosehead Motorsports ..................................................................43 Moosehead Sled Repair & Rentals, LLC ..............................................44 Mother India ....................................................................................20 Motor Supply Co. ...............................................................................3 Mount Saint Joseph Residence & Rehabilitation ...............................33 Mt. Abram Regional Health Center .....................................................6 Mt. Blue Drug ...................................................................................41 Nathan Brillard Logging ..................................................................27 Niedner’s Floor Finishing ..................................................................50 Northeast Laboratory Services ..........................................................3 Northland Custom Flooring Kitchen & Bath ...................................39 Old Ford Antiques & Collectibles .....................................................51 Otis Federal Credit Union ..................................................................50 Our Village Market ...........................................................................51 Oxford Casino & Hotel ..........................................................back cover P&P Roofing .....................................................................................26 Pasta’z Italian Cuisine ......................................................................27 Pat’s Pizza - Auburn ..........................................................................20 Paws and Claws ................................................................................49 Payroll Management, Inc. ................................................................7 Pearl’s Roofing & Construction .........................................................29 Penobscot Marine Museum .............................................................13 Perkins Management ......................................................................32 Phil Carter’s Garage ..........................................................................46 Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab Comfort Shoe & Footcare Center ................37 Pitcher Perfect Tire Service ..............................................................40 Prime Financial Inc. Financial Services & Insurance ..........................33 R&B’s Home Source ........................................................................41 R.B. Rose Plumbing and Heating ....................................................12 R.E. Lowell Lumber Inc. ...................................................................24 R.F. Automotive Repair ....................................................................49 Randy’s Full Service Auto Repair, LLC ................................................31 Rangeley Family Medicine .................................................................6 Redington-Fairview General Hospital ..............................................31 Residential Mortage Service Inc. / Debbie Bodwell ........................15 Rick’s Repair .....................................................................................47 River Road Variety ............................................................................26 R.J. Energy Services, Inc. ....................................................................9 Rockwood Snowmobile Rentals .......................................................44 Ron’s Transmissions ...........................................................................9 Roy Brothers Excavation ...................................................................16 Sackett & Brake Survey, Inc. .............................................................47 Sarah J. Dunckel & Associates .........................................................25 Shawn’s Drywall & Home Improvements .........................................27 Smile Again Dentures, Inc. ..............................................................22 Solon Corner Market .........................................................................30 Sprague & Curtis Real Estate ............................................................24 Sterling Electric ................................................................................39 Stratton Plaza Hotel & Traitor Lounge ...............................................4 Strong Area Health Center ..................................................................6 Styling Dog Grooming Boutique .......................................................8 Tardiff Timber, Sand, Gravel & Excavation ........................................12 Taylor’s Drug Store ..........................................................................41 The Korner Store & Deli ...................................................................34 The Meadows ....................................................................................9 The Sterling Inn Bed & Breakfast ......................................................43 Thompson’s Restaurant ...................................................................42 Town of Farmington ........................................................................39 Trash Guyz ........................................................................................15 Tree Top Mechanical, LLC ..................................................................44 Tri-State Staffing ..............................................................................11 Tri-State Steel ...................................................................................19 Tuttles Auto Sales ............................................................................50 Valley Arbor Care ..............................................................................46 Vasvary Electric ...............................................................................11 VintageMaineImages.com ..................................................................7 Warren Brothers Construction .........................................................48 Weber Insurance ..............................................................................38 Weber Insurance Group ....................................................................38 Weeks & Sons Well Drilling ..............................................................48 Western Maine Family Health Center ................................................6 Whittemore & Sons Outdoor Power Equipment ................................32 Wilson Funeral Home .........................................................................7 Windsor Preventive Dental Care .......................................................27 Winslow Supply, Inc. ........................................................................45 Winterport Dragway ........................................................................29 Woodlawn Rehab & Nursing Center .................................................32 Wood-Mizer of Maine .......................................................................49 Woody’s Bar & Grill ...........................................................................43 WTVL Taxi ........................................................................................47

56

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