Standish High School - Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Standish, ME)

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In 1787 a petition was made for a school house and sixty pounds was appropriated for that purpose. In 1848, by an act of the state legislature, an academy was established. The first principal was Thomas Talbot. The oldest house in town, for erly possessed by Enock Blake, at present is owned by Rufus E. Gray. On the same day when news was received of the battle of Lexington, two beautiful trees were planted, one by Ephraim Jones, the other by Squire William Thompson. These trees now stand in front of the houses owned by E. W. Dolloff and Ethel Nelson respectively. Here is recorded an event of interest connected with the Narrett homestead. In the war of 1812, when it was thousht Portland would be taken by the British, the money from the banks was transported from there to Standish and kept in Person Narrett's parlor. Six yoke of oxen were employed to hawl the coin, and its weight was so great that extra care was taken to strengthen the foundation of the house. The locks that were put on the doors at that time still remain. The struggles and successes of our ancestors should inspire us to he' sr living in the present. Winifred Marean '36 Horses were first brought to America by the Spaniards. Cortes brought horses to Mexico and it is known that De Soto abandoned a large number near Texas. Indians took very read ily to horseback riding and the horses used by them were des cendants of the Spanish animals. Before the advent of rubber, bread crumbs were used to erase pencil marks. ' '

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1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Facts about Standish Until was thisdtown was called Pearson Town. It 1 was then incorporated as UStandishW in honor of Niles Stan- dish. , , At this time, it was voted to build a fort. This, thu' first structure of any kind in Standish, was occupied for the first time during the winter of 1754-55, the first year of the French and Indian War. It served as a place of ref- uge for the early inhabitants when they were harassed by Indians, as they frequently were. For several years, a famous hunter, John McGill, lived in it. In 1769 it was torn down, and the first church was . built in its place. I 1 ' . Two hundred acres of land were offered to any man who would settle in the town and build a saw mill. This offer Ebenezer Shaw, of Hampton, N.H., accepted in 1763, came to Standish in that year, and built the mill where now are Shaw's Mills. The first house was built by Josiah Shaw, The first tavern also was built by Josiah Shaw. The first blacksmith shop was opened near Standish Corner in 1775 by James Woody. The first corn mill was built by Thomas Shaw in 1782. , The first water mill was built in 1792 by Timothy Higgins on land now owned by Norman Smith. ' There is some controversy as to who was the first white child born in Standish. According to some author Uities, it was Phebe Freeman, born January 13, 1761, whereas from other sources we find it was Judith Philbrick, born August 27, 1763. Sargent Shaw and Annie Thompson were the first couple joined in marriage. The ceremony was performed by John Dean, Esq., on September 14, 1786. The first baptism recorded was that of Mary Freeman in 1769. The first Post Office at Standish Corner was maintained in the store which is now owned by Orin Dolloff. John Lowell was first post master. .

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THE TWIN ARTS The origin of shorthand is largely a matter of conjec- tureg its evolution has extended over many centuries. It would be possible to quote voluminously. from various authorities to prove that the Romans were indebted to the Greeks for the art of shorthand writing. We know that in ancient times the Greeks had Uquick writersn and nwriters by signs.n The art is said to have passed from Greece to Egypt, when Alexandria was virtually a Greek colony, and thence it was carried to Romer Some historians point to the frequent journeyings of Cicero, accompanied by his faithful secretary, Tiro, to Alexandria, and suggest that the latter became acquainted with the Greek form of quick writing and carried it back to Rome. It is a plausible theory, and there has been much controversy over it between the French and German shorthand historians and writers on historical subjects. Definite and indisputable evidence of the use of short- hand in the form of characters before the Christian Era is recorded by Plutarch, who mentions that in the debate in the Roman Senate on the Catilinian conspiracy, 65 B. C., the orations of Cicero and Cato were reported in Sh0Pth90d. Plutarch attributes to Cicero the inven- tion of shorthand, but there is no doubt that the credit for orieinetihg the first system of shorthand known to us belonrs to Tiro, who vas a freedman of Cicero. Like many slaves of that time, Tiro was highly educated, and, on receivinr his freedom from Cicero, he adopted two-thirds of his master's name and became known as Marcus Tullius Tiro. In reportinr the Roman Senate, it is said that Tire stationed about forty shorthand writers in different parts of the Curia, who wrote down on their tablets what they could. Some of the stenoaraphers were trained to take down the first parts of sentences and others to write the closing words. Tue transcripts were afterwards pierced together into connestsd discourse. The writing was done on tablets that were covered with a layer of wax. The edges of the wax tablets were raised to allow their being closed without injury to the writing. The tablets were fastened together at the corners, thus forming a kind of book, and as many as twenty tablets could be so fastened. When the book consisted of two tablets only, it was called a diploma, and the official appointments conferring public office were in that formg hence our word Udiploma.W The Roman shorthand characters were called notae and the shorthand writers notarii, from which our modern word A nnotaryn is derived. The instrument used for writing was a stylus, which was about the size of an ordinary