FA’s Bicentennial

Celebrating FOXCROFT ACADEMY'S BICENTENNIAL

THROUGHOUT ITS 200 YEAR HISTORY, FOXCROFT ACADEMY HAS BEEN SUSTAINED BY THE GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT OF ITS COMMUNITY.

Chartered by the Maine Legislature on January 31,1823, the Academy was established just a few years after the incorporation of the town of Foxcroft itself. From modest beginnings in a wood frame building for which the town appropriated $100.00, the school now occupies a beautiful 125-acre campus with a full complement of academic, athletic, and residential facilities.

FA’s bicentennial is a major milestone, marking a point in time to reflect on our past, to remember those who have come before us, and to look forward to a bright and promising future. Our bicentennial committee is already hard at work planning activities and events to help celebrate our remarkable success. We will kick things off next spring with the grand opening of our new indoor track and multi-purpose field house.

While we are still in the early stages of planning for the bicentennial celebration, we know that preparing for these events and getting things right will require a great deal of time and energy by many in our community. We hope you will join us in celebrating this special occasion and honoring Foxcroft Academy’s first 200 years.

FEATURE

James Stuart Holmes Esq.

BY KEVIN LINUS STITHAM CLASS OF 1970

AS PART OF OUR BICENTENNIAL celebration, Foxcroft Academy will be publishing a collection of essays reflecting on the school’s 200 year history. In his preview on James Holmes, FA’s first preceptor at the time of its founding, Kevin Stitham shares a quick biographical sketch of Holmes and some of his early contributions to Foxcroft Academy and the Town of Dover-Foxcroft.

The spirit of what would become Foxcroft Academy sprang from the vision and drive of one man, James Stuart Holmes Esq. And the real start of Foxcroft Academy took place 5 months before the incorporation date. It all started in the Fall of 1822 when Holmes gathered some local older students and taught them some high school subjects.

Holmes was born on 11/13/1792 in the town of Hebron Maine. He was the eldest son. Attending local schools, he then attended Hebron Academy. He then went to Brown University (he was a classmate and friend of Horace Mann – they would correspond for many years) and graduated in 1819. Upon graduation he went to Paris Hill, Maine and read law at the office of Enoch Lincoln Esq. He formed a friendship with the young Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which would continue throughout his life. In 1822 he was admitted to the Maine Bar and moved to Foxcroft, Maine (then part of Penobscot County). His two brothers (Salmon and Cyrus) had moved to Foxcoft in 1818. In the fall of 1822 he opened his law office (on the approximate site of the Gulf gas station in 2018). As he was building his practice, that same fall he also taught in the old town house a school of high school classes to some students. He hoped that he might foster interest in starting an actual high school. He succeeded and on 1/31/1823 Foxcroft Academy was incorporated by the Maine Legislature, and a small grant of land was made to it. James was the first Preceptor, serving for just its first term (Fall of 1823). Holmes was also one of the original trustees (he was the first secretary); he remained on the board of trustees until his death on 12/30/1879 – a span of 56 years. His dedication to the academy was such that he attended every single academical examination of the students and every single board of trustees’ meetings through 1878, after which he was too feeble.

Holmes was the second attorney to set up practice in what would later become Piscataquis County. The first attorney was David Agry [Aigrey?] who came to Sebec, Maine just a few months before Holmes came to Foxcroft. However, Agry did not practice here long before he moved his practice to Orono. Accordingly, Holmes came to be considered to be the first attorney

in the area. On 8/4/1829 he married Jane Shaw Patten. They would have 8 children. Up until about 1838 or 1839 he had a very active and lucrative law practice. He was considered the equal of the best attorneys who practiced in the area. In the fall of 1836 James S. Wiley started to read law in the Holmes Law Office. Upon his admission to the Bar, he formed a partnership with Holmes. This lasted for a few years, then Attorney Wiley struck out on his own and opened his own office in Dover in Union Square.

Attorney J.S. Sprague cryptically wrote of Holmes: The organization

of the new county of Piscataquis [note it was incorporated on 3/23/1838, partly from Somerset, but mostly from Penobscot] produced radical changes in the legal business in this region and the fraternity as well. It introduced new men with new methods and narrowed the field of labor. From this time onward, his practice declined until he entirely disappeared from the scenes of a former active life and his retirement became

permanent. But in 1843 he represented for no charge Israel D a m o n a n d o t h e r A d v e n t i s t s (Millerites) before justice of the peace Moses Scott in Atkinson at their arraignment. For 4 days he argued persuasively and movingly for religious freedom and toleration – at the end of the proceedings the prisoners were discharged.

In 1838 he was the first chairman of the newly created Piscataquis County Board of Commissioners. He served many years on the Foxcroft school committee. Ultimately, he retired from appearing in the courtroom, but he continued to do “chamber” work in his office. And as Lowell wrote: A natural

scholar, and enjoying the deep penetrating p r o c e s s e s o f t h e s t u d e n t , he continued to delve in philosophical research, and to cultivate his classical taste, -- reading Latin and Greek to the close of his life.

O n 1 / 1 5 / 1 8 8 0 A u g u s t u s G. Lebroke Esq. wrote:

Mr. Holmes was a lawyer of the old school, educated at a time when special pleadings with all

MR. HOLMES WAS A LAWYER OF THE OLD SCHOOL, EDUCATED AT A TIME WHEN SPECIAL PLEADINGS WITH ALL THEIR EXACTIONS AND SUBTLETIES WERE IN FULL VOGUE. QUACKERY IN ACTIVE LAW PRACTICE WAS THEN NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE. HE HAD AT ONE TIME, AND ESPECIALLY BEFORE 1838, UP TO WHICH TIME THIS COUNTY WAS A PART OF PENOBSCOT, A LARGER AND MORE LUCRATIVE PRACTICE THAN ANY OTHER LAWYER EVER HAD.

AUGUSTUS G. LEBROKE ESQ, 1880

their exactions and subtleties were in full vogue. Quackery in active law practice was then next to impossible. He had at one time, and especially before 1838, up to which time this county was a part of Penobscot, a larger and more lucrative practice than any other lawyer ever had. He was successful in the proper sense of the term … Mr. Holmes’ legal knowledge was not the reflection from inferior minds. He sought learning from the maxims of the civil law, Roman jurisprudence and from the great masters of the profession on the continent as well as from those great moulders and architects of the English law … He sought for principles and disliked empiricism.

Mary Chandler Lowell, M.D. J.M. was born on 1/18/1863. She lived across the street from Esquire Holmes, who she considered to be her best friend. She would grow up to become perhaps the most impressive graduate of Foxcroft Academy in its history for she obtained not only her medical degree but also her legal degree – and as a local historian she would rival John Sprague Esq. In her 1935 history Old Foxcroft Maine this doctor and lawyer provides her warm memory of the Squire in 1872 which may reveal the essence of this man. At this time, she was 9 years old; he was 80 years old. Her school teacher asked her to write a paper on the history of Foxcroft so she went to Holmes’ home:

Rushing into his study, with much slamming of doors and clanging of latches, I pounced upon the arm of his chair and with one hand in his grey beard pulled his face around to my gaze – not without many exclamations from him – and said, “Now, Esquire Holmes, what do you think my teacher wants me to do?”

“Take a whipping, as I think you deserve this minute.”

“Oh, please, Esquire Holmes, stop your fooling and guess.”

“But I never guess. What is it?”

“Write a composition about the history of Foxcroft! Do you think we can?” “We? Did she include me?”

“Well, n-no, not exactly, but, Esquire Holmes, don’t you think you could be decent (a smile came over his face) and help me? Why, I don’t even know how to begin.”

“Are you obliged to write it tonight, young lady?”

“No sir, but you know that if I feel that I’ve got to do a thing, I like to do it and have it over.”

“There, there (for I was pulling his whiskers unmercifully), you come over early tomorrow and we’ll make a start.” …

Morning came … Across the street I rushed to be met at the door by the “old squire” with hat and cane, to take a walk. It should be stated that the old gentleman was very lame, and was making an unusual effort to encourage and assist me. Slowly, the dear old friend, with my hand in his, limped along under a barrage of questions, in no way disconcerting to him. Not once did he omit the oldtime courtesy and doffing of hat to a lady, or the genial “Good morning, how are you, Sir?” to the men we met.