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In the summer of 1878, the Baptist church and people in
Foxcroft and Dover were without a supply, and were inviting
candidates. They were informed that a young man
calling himself Carlisle M. Steadman, from Province
of New Brunswick, was at Georgetown, waiting a call to some
field of labor. He reported himself to be the son of a
Baptist minister, an educated and ordained clergyman of that
order. when asked for his credentials, he replied that
he had such, but had left them in the Province, and he
exhibited certain letters from Baptist clergymen, which
showed that he had been known to them as a Baptist preacher.
Herein commenced a grave mistake. Had they required
fair testimonials of his ministerial standing, as every
church should do, before making any engagement with a
stranger, it would have saved them and the community from
serious and prolonged difficulties.
He preached a few Sabbaths on trial, impressed some
favorably, others loss so. He had a marked foreign
accent; his utterance was rapid and often indistinct; his
pronunciation of many words was entirely barbarous.
Those who caught his discourses, pronounced them able but in
the routine of his public services, prayer occupied a very
small place. A certain show of smartness attracted the
curious, and some of the drifting class were drawn to hear
him. A permanent stay was proposed, though they could
not raise the salary that he wanted. He stated
to the committee that he had a wife then in Georgetown,
Maine, who was an accomplished
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organist, and if he remained, she could play the church
organ, in place of the paid organist, and thus increase
their contributions for his support.
An engagement was concluded for one year, and on the 9th of
September he set off, as he pretended, for the Province, to
get a horse and other things that he had left there,
expecting his wife to meet him at Newport, on his return,
and come to Foxcroft with him. The next day, a
dispatch directed to him from Bath, signed J. A. s., was
received at Foxcroft, announcing that his wife had been
thrown from a carriage, and was in an insensible state, and,
the next day, another came, saying that she was dead.
His sympathizing people sent messages to places on the way
to the Province, to intercept him, and waited in painful
suspense. In a few days, a letter from Mr. Steadman
reached on of his people, written in Georgetown, saying that
he heard the affecting news in St. John, had hurried to that
place to find his dear dead and buried, and that he would
soon return to Foxcroft. He reached there Saturday
evening, but professed to be so overcome with sorrow, that
he could not preach the next day. In other ways he
showed his deep affliction, and alluded to it in his pulpit
services. But his grief soon subsided. His
demeanor was far from being grave and ministerial.
As a preacher, he violated ministerial and denominational
courtesy, but this was silently endured. His confiding
friends, procuring the assistance of a civilian, obtained an
appointment from the Governor, for him to solemnize
marriages, and he did not hesitate to administer the
sacraments of the church. In December, he began to
show a peculiar interest in a successful female school
teacher, alleging as a reason that she resembled his
departed Nellie. This was reciprocated; the
attachment rapidly ripened; and in February, not six months
after the alleged death of his wife, they were married.
It was conceded that he preached able sermons, but many
wondered when he prepared them, and the suspicion of
plagiarism was sometimes expressed.
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RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT
LOW'S BRIDGE.
At Low's Bridge
there is a flag station, about midway between Dover and
Guilford depots. At this, freight was hauled to be
loaded. As there was no side track, cars were often
left on the main track, to be pushed up by the next train to
the nearest turnout, and to be passed there.
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those three cars upon the main track, and by the engineer
and others forgetting it." The damage to the railroad
property was from two to three thousand dollars.
ANECDOTES.
The late Eld. Williaml Oakes, long a resident in
Sangerville, but then living in the same vicinity as the
Westons (Canaan, now Skowhegan), related many years
ago the adventures of a certain survey party, with which he
was connected. They came up to the Penobscot and
Piscataquis, bringing their provisions in a batteau, from
Bangor, and evidently run the line between the sixth and
seventh ranges, regarding a part of which, Mr. Oaks
was summoned to court as a witness on a pending lawsuit.
They became short of provisions. Their hard-bread had
broken and crumbled badly in transportation. They
broke up as soon as possible, each starting for the Kennebec
settlement, through the woods, by himself. Yet they
all came out safe, though fatigued and hungry, within a half
mile of each other, and within a half hour of the same time.
This was the Elder's own language, possible, but very
remarkable. He also remarked that his dog was nearly
exhausted, and would have famished sooner than he himself.
UNCLE JOHN AND THE BEAR.
Among the early settlers of Guilford, was a good-natured
rough-hewed man, hardy and athletic, hot wanting in ordinary
personal courage, not especially daring, who was familiarly
called Uncle John. The evening of a certain
summer day, he spent at a neighbor's, and while busy in
chit-chat, the shades of night covered both field and
forest. From the woods near by, the scream of a bear
was heard, and Uncle John just then was not fond of
that kind of music. After waiting awhile, with the
hope that the bear would wander away, he resisted the
importunities of his neighbors to spend the night with them,
as his folks would be alarmed. He fixed up and lighted
a torch, and with his large, resolute dog, at a
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late hour, started for home. When about half way
through a piece of woods that he must pass, he espied the
head of a large bear lifted above the log that lay beside
his foot-path. His dog, brave and robust, dashed at
him with a loud, defiant
THE COLONEL AND THE
ENSIGN.
The fifth
regiment was mustering in Garland. The companies on
Piscataquis river were not called out, as their battalion
then mustered in Dover. But certain persons from those
companies attended as spectators. In the afternoon, by
a certain evolution, the main guard was swept out of its
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Pg. 204.
PROFESSIONAL AND
EDUCATED MEN.
The following
residents of this county are college graduates.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE.
| Wm. S.
Sewell, Sangerville, |
1834 |
| Josiah
Crosby, Atkinson |
1835 |
| Thos. D.
Sturtevant, Blanchard |
1841. |
| Henry S.
Loring, Guilford, |
1843 |
| Freeland S.
Holmes, Foxcroft, |
1854 |
|
| Counsel
Greely, Dover, |
1854 |
| Cyrus H.
Carleton, Sangerville, |
1856 |
| Edwin P.
Parker, Dover, |
1856 |
| George N.
Jackson, Foxcroft |
1859 |
| Mark Pitman,
Barnard |
1859 |
| David R.
Straw Jr., Guilford |
1859 |
|
Collins
Stevens, Harvey Davis, H. O. Pratt, Evarts S. Pillsbury,
David N. Greeley, of Foxcroft; Henry Folsom, Monson,
Frank W. Chadbourne and John F. Robinson, Dover,
entered this college, but did not complete the full course.
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COLBY UNIVERSITY.
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