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Jonesport’s Centennial Celebration Festivities honored all who ever lived here
Hancock-Washington-Penobscot Counties
Jonesport’s Centennial Celebration
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Festivities honored all who ever lived here
by Brian Swartz
Throw a party in Jonesport and they will come — as the celebration tossed in honor of the town’s centennial proved.
After Britain won the French and Indian War in 1763 more settlers drifted ashore on the District of Maine’s far eastern coast. Families settled on the mainland and offshore islands. Settlement was particularly focused on where the Chandler and Indian rivers reached the sea.
Those rivers flowed across the 48,000 acres granted to land speculators, including John C. Jones in 1789. The entire parcel became the Town of Jonesborough on March 4, 1809. Twenty-three years later, people living along Moosabec Reach petitioned the Maine Legislature to incorporate a new town that would be split out of Jonesborough. The legislature authorized the formation of Jonesport on February 3, 1832 — and Beals would split off from Jonesport in April of 1925.
Rather than celebrate Jonesport’s centennial during a frigid February, residents opted to celebrate on Labor Day weekend, the last ‘summer’ weekend in Maine. “Under ideal weather conditions … the crowd started coming early” on Saturday, September 3, 1932, noted the News-Observer of Machias.
For the past weeks, newspaper advertisements and handbills had ballyhooed the big party. “Probably the largest crowd of visitors ever to be here” packed Main Street as the morning wore on. Activity focused on the area between the opera house, the practically brand new Peabody Memorial Library, and the town ballfield at which Passamaquoddies had camped.
Orono and Jonesport baseball teams kicked off the official events with a 10 a.m. game, won by the visitors. The Passamaquoddies sold their exquisitely-made baskets, and vendors occupying “the large number of tents, stands, and shows … vied with each other in selling candy floss, ice cream sandwiches,” or “offering a shot at the dolls. The good food and the very reasonable prices were appreciated by the visiting
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public,” the News-Observer commented.
After lunch people started gathering for “the historical parade.” Led by parade marshal Bart Tucker who was clad “in full Indian costume” and riding “a spirited horse,” the parade kicked off at 1:30 p.m. The parade traveled along a Main Street lined with spectators. The Jonesport Band provided “joyous music,” and “a long line of cars passed in review.”
Jonesport residents went all out decorating the floats, “many … historical” in theme. Replete “with fireplace, churn, spinning wheel, and two old ladies in their favorite rockers,” an “old colonial room” went past, as did “a hayrack load of modern girls in beach pajamas.” One float featured a Passamaquoddy camp with Indians “gathered about the burning campfire.” Other Passamaquoddies paddled “a graceful canoe.”
Reflecting Jonesport’s traditional focus on the sea, at least one lobster dory “with traps aboard and the oilskin-clad fisherman a-rowing” traveled along Main Street. There was “a fullsized pinky with mast, cabin, pilot, and all, sailing majestically along.”
People laughed as “an open-air hearse” carried past them the “neatly boxed” body of “‘Old Man Depression’ … with only his boots showing, and carrying the legend, ‘to be cremated after the parade.’”
Afterward, people gathered on the library’s lawn to dedicate “a handsome brick granite memorial” erected for the centennial. The Jonesport Band played “an opening selection, and Elder Newman Wilson, who chaired the Jonesport Centennial Committee, made the opening remarks. Addison resident Clayton H. Small spoke on behalf of Addison summer residents Frank T. and Anna S. Mayer Lang who had funded the monument. The Langs owned an Addison granite quarry. Anna Lang wrote
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to Small on Monday, August 24th and offered “Jonesport a monument or slab to commemorate” the centennial. She envisioned the monument “as a companion piece” to the veterans’ monument set up next to the library some years earlier. The Langs telegraphed the monument’s design to their quarry and granite-workers immediately started carving a piece of black granite. Another source suggests the monument was still being carved on September 3rd, but the dedication ceremony went ahead with or without the actual stone, It stands to this day as “an eloquent reminder of the growth of the town from its earliest beginnings,” noted Small in speaking for the Langs.
The Dennysville and Jonesport baseball teams battled that afternoon amidst “the good humor of the crowd and the players.” Dennysville took an early lead but the Jonesport team “commenced to play ball” late in the game, the News-Observer reported. “Replete (cont. on page 24)
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(cont. from page 23) with heavy hitting, good base running, and spectacular catching,” the game saw the Jonesport boys stage “a whirlwind finish” with two outs “in the last of the ninth.” Losing 6-5, the local boys shook hands with their Dennysville opponents.
On Saturday evening the Jonesport Opera House “was packed to capacity by a crowd bent on enjoying a perfect ending to a perfect day.” Passamaquoddies conducted traditional tribal dances on stage, a duo and a quartet sang separately. Among the speakers were former Governor Ralph O. Brewster and John Utterback. Both were running for Congress, Brewster as a Republican and Utterback as a Democrat. They “both gave very inspiring patriotic addresses,” but Machias lawyer Oscar Dunbar stole the show by delivering “a fine historical reading on Jonesport.” His talk “was exceedingly pleasing and educational to the audience,” according
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to the News-Observer. After circulating through the crowd all day, the reporter commented, “It seems as though, after all, the chief charm about the day was the meeting of so many friends and acquaintances. “It seemed as though everyone who had ever claimed Jonesport as his habitation was back for this occasion,” he noted.
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People Of The Dawn — 1610-1675
by Kenneth Smith
On September 20, 1621, King James I of England gave a huge chunk of North American real estate he didn’t own (from Cape Sable to the St. Croix River, back to the St. John River, called New Scotland or Nova Scotia) to his Secretary of State, Sir William Alexander. Sir William sent a group of Scots, who themselves had been forcibly expelled from the Highlands, to roust out French settlers, most of whom were shipped to Virginia. The native resident landowners who had dwelt in the St. Croix Valley for several thousand years were not consulted by King James.
Alexander did nothing with this Maine-Maritime territory for 10 years. In 1632 it was returned to the French according to the terms of the Treaty of St. Germain. The French didn’t own these lands either.
Treaties on parchment bearing wax seals were struck about every decade, trading ownership back and forth. In the interim, both powers ignored them and attacked each other’s settlements and trading posts with vigor. Confusion and chaos reigned as friction between Catholics and Protestants, various European merchants and banking interests, and political intrigues between France and England festered.
The prizes were fish, fir, timber, and land. Initially, Passamaquoddy and other area tribes welcomed and assisted the Europeans and in many instances were instrumental in their very survival. Natives had the natural resources and were willing to share some of the land. They welcomed the iron tools, guns, traps, cookware, and blankets, but actions of the whites at first confused then disenchanted them.
Europeans viewed this area as a howling wilderness, yet the region had been settled for thousands of years, first by the Red Paint People who vanished, and later by the Lenni Lenape, or “original people.” Historians estimate that across New England there were thirty distinct tribes of Algonquin stock. The Etechmins and Abanakis dwelt in (cont. on page 26)
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(cont. from page 25) Maine. Etechmins (‘the men’) were referred to as seafarers and lived in the land between the St. John and Penobscot Rivers. Openangas occupied the Passamaquoddy Bay area, and the Merechites dwelt along the St. John.
In 1615 it was estimated that these three tribes could collectively field 5,000 fighting men. Early on they could have driven the English back into the sea. Peaceable by nature, they chose not to do so. The Passamaquoddy (dawnlanders), slow to anger, were reluctant to war on either the French or English, preferring to attack their traditional foes, the Mohawks. These fierce Mohawks who lived to their west routinely raided their clans. In fact, U.S. Route 1, which meanders up coastal Washington County, was once part of the Mohawk Trail.
Early English settlers described area Indians as “well-made persons with acute senses and keen perceptions.. grave and taciturn, hospitable, generous, grateful for favors but never forgetting an injury.” One English surveyor stated, “They are numerous, valiant and ingenious… attaining eminence in painting, carving, and drawing pictures of men, beasts, and birds.” This was high praise from the aloof English, who generally viewed the rest of humanity as inferior.
Through choice and design, the French chose to meld with the natives, living with them, accepting their customs and lifestyle and intermarrying. Their black-robed Jesuit priests converted many to Catholicism. Bonds of trust were established that did not exist between the Indians and English.
Still, these Native Americans maintained neutrality, refusing to become pawns of either of the then great powers. Given that they were exposed to
the cajolery of the cleverest diplomats on earth, and baited with trade goods and promises, this was a remarkable feat.
From 1621 to 1624, 140 ships crowded with English immigrants arrived at New England ports. Whites soon outnumbered the red men 10 to 1. Unfortunately, we brought our diseases, to which the natives had no natural immunity. Chicken and smallpox, tuberculosis, measles, and mumps ravaged them. The introduction of rum was no less devastating.
Englishmen viewed the scattered Indian bands as wandering nomads, which they were not. Each spring, clans planted squash, beans, and corn, speared salmon, and netted alewives and eels. Summers were spent on the coast to escape insects and enjoy clams, mussels, oysters, lobsters, fish, and berry harvests. Joined by other clans,
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week-long family reunions were held, featuring clam bakes and bean-hole beans. While the women and children gathered and dried seafood, the men ventured far out to sea in log dugouts to spear swordfish.
Come fall, the dawnlanders would canoe back up river to their winter quarters, harvesting spring-planted crops and preparing for winter. Hunters and trappers took to the woods, bringing back moose and furs. After the harvest a two-week feast of thanksgiving was held, featuring song, dance, and turkey. During winter storm lulls, the young men went forth on snowshoes to hunt, trap, and ice fish. Winter was a time for the tribe to adjudicate problems and conflicts (major crime was unheard of). Each tribe was governed by a Sagamore, who took advice from a council of sachems, or wise men. Having no written code of laws, each case was decided on its own merits, in light of tradition and overall tribal benefits. Shamans, medicine men (often women), did double duty as healers and religious leaders.
For 65 years, from 1610 to 1675, the Passamaquoddy kept the peace, while the terrible culture clash between white and red man took its toll. Imagine if some foreign power took control of our lands today and told us we should no longer speak English, practice our faith, or retain our form of government. Suppose we had to change our dress and lifestyle and were forced to leave our homes. This is just some of what Native Americans dealt with.
It took Europeans just a century to decimate a happy people and a system which had functioned smoothly for thousands of years. Today, 300 years later, the People of the Dawn are in the process of reclaiming their culture.
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