Dexter High School - Signet Yearbook (Dexter, ME)

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12 THE SIGNET The only New England men of early times ever knighted, were two Maine men, Sir William Pepperell and Sir William Phipps. Sir Hiram Maxim is also a Maine man. In patriotic acts and impulses Maine has ever been a leader. It was Colonel William Pepperell, a Maine man, with 4,000 sons of the Pine Tree State, who captured Louisberg, the Gibraltar of America- On the same night that news was re- ceived'of the battle of Lexington, Maine men started for Massachusetts. They fought at Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights. , The iirst naval battle of the Revolu- tionary war was fought in Machias Harbor, Maine. One morning in June a British vessel, the Margaretta came into Machias Harbor. The commander of the Margaretta ordered that a liber- ty pole which the people had erected should be taken down or he would fire upon the town. The men held a meeting in the woods to discuss the situation. Benjamin Foster stepped across a small brook calling on all who were in favor of seiz- ing the ship to follow him- In a short time every man had crossed over. The Margaretta learned of her dan- ger and dropped down the river. Thomas O'Brien took possession of a sloop called the Unity and mustered a volunteer crew of about 40. Foster went to East River and secured a schooner and crew there but it ran aground and was unable to participate in the fight. The Unity pursued the Margaretta, shots were exchanged and a man on the Unity was killed. Finally Captain O'- Brien ran the bowsprit of the Unity through the mainsail of the Margaretta and 20 of his men armed only with pitchforks, rushed upon her deck. The commander and several men were killed and then the ship surrendered. John O'Brien estimated the British loss at 10 killed and 10 wounded. Of the 20 men one was killed and two wounded. The Margaretta was refitted and named the Machias Liberty. ' ' During the terrible winter at Valley Forge 1,008 of the 10,000 men there were from Maine and Maine was the first state after Pennsylvania, in which Valley Forge is located, to erect a mon- ument there. The first Secretary of War of the United States, was a Maine man, Gener- al Henry Knox. Maine was not in sympathy with the war of 1812, but more soldiers came from Maine according to its population, than from any other state and the Com- mander-in-Chief, General Dearborn, was a Maine man. Commodore Preble, who commanded the expeditions against the Barbary States was a Maine man. He was the first officer to receive a vote of thanks from Congress after the adoption of the Constitution. The first to respond to Lincoln's call for troops was a Maine company and the man who had the honor to receive the surrender of General Lee's army, was a Maine man, General Joshua L. Chamberlain. Maine was the only state that did not lose a battle Hag during the Civil war and Maine captured more battle flags than any other state. Maine also fur- nished more soldiers according to her population than any other state. The vice president of the United States at

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WWWWWWWWWWWWWVWWWVWW I HISTORY of DEXTER LL citizens of Maine are proud of their state and they would be A more proud if they knew more of its history, for Maine has the most enviable one of any state in the Union. In studying its history we find that it's motto, I lead is well chosen and typical of Maine's past history and career. y The first permanent settlement in New England was made, not at Ply- mouth in 1622, but at Castine in 1611. In 1622 the starving people of Plymouth obtained a shipload of provisions and supplies from Pemaquid and other places in Maine. Castine claims the distinc- tion of having been held .by five differ- ent nationalities, the Indians, the French, the Dutch, the English, and the Americans- The first city in America was in Maine. It was called Georgiana and was founded by Ferdinando Gorges. He secured a grant of 24,000 acres, on both sides of York river, and establish- ed a colony there. Gorges' long thwart- ed ambition demanded a great success for his colony. He inaugurated a mini- ature old world city, with all its formal civil government and its many officials. But the city was not destined to live long. Sir Ferdinando Gorges died and while his son, Thomas, was abroad in Europe the city was -sacrificed to the ambition of the Massachusetts Bay Company. It was then sold to another company and when Thomas Gorges re- turned its civic splendor had all depart- ed. It remained a town, however, and it exists today under the name of York. The first seed sown and the first crop raised north of Florida was in Maine in the year 1605. The first English ship to be built in America was built in Maine in 1607, the same year that the first settlement was made in Virginia. The first bill of exchange which was also a conveyance of real estate, was given in Maine in 1623 and the first deed of real estate was drawn up in Maine in 1625.

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THE SIGNET 13 this time Hannibal Hamlin, was a Maine man. He was a close friend of Lincoln. Later he was minister to Spain. We, as citizens of Maine, should be extremely proud of its history and should take pride in helping to make it live up to its motto I lead. But let ug not forget ,in our love for our native state and our pride in her history that our first duty and our greatest love is due to that of which Maine is only a part, the United States of America. CHAPTER TWO IX score years ago the site of our S present thriving town of Dex- ter was a trackless forest. Wild animals roamed over its hills and valleys. Indians built -- their wigwams and planted their corn on the shores of Lake Was- sookeag. The only means of transpor- tation was the pack horse in summer and the hand sled in winter, as the wil- derness was broken only by trails or footpaths. Today the citizens are hap- py and prosperous in their homes, rear- ing their children in plenty and peace, and enjoying all modern pleasures and conveniences. This great change is due to the sturdy courage and persist- ent vigor of the first White settlers. After the Revolutionary war, Mas- sachusetts had no money to pay her war debt, but she did have plenty of Wildland, so she granted to every man who had served three years in the war, the choice of twenty dollars in money, or two hundred acres of land in Maine, which was then a province of Massachu- setts. By the year 1785, although many grants had been made to deserving in- dividuals and land had been sold to sol- diers for one dollar per acre, only twelve towns had been laid out east of the Penobscot river. To promote other settlements and to raise money for her treasury Massachusetts in 1786 con- trived a land lottery, 2,720 tickets were issued at Q60 each, entitling each holder to a prize consisting of tracts of land lying between the Penobscot and'St. Croix rivers and varying in extent from one-half mile to six miles square. A large number of tickets remained un- sold after the drawing and these were bought by William Bingham of Phila- delphia, who in a short time owned above two million acres of land in Maine, which had cost him on an aver- age of twelve and one-half cents per acre. These results being unsatisfactory to Massachusetts she had the land survey- ed and laid out into twenty-one town- ships among which was the present township of Dexter. These townships were put into the hands ofthe commit- tee for the sale of Eastern lands, for the purpose of selling them and increasing their population. In March 1794 James Bridge of Au- gusta purchased from the Common- wealth of Massachusetts the present township of Dexter. He soon sold it to Charles Vaughn, who was acting for a -company in Massachusetts. Vaughn was unable to meet the conditions in- volved in the purchase of this land and Dexter passed through several hands before Andrew Cragie of Cambridge, I