Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Waterville-Winslow, the separation

by Roland D. Hallee

In 1786 on petition to the governor, the plantations of Hancock (Clinton) and Canaan were relieved of their taxes assessed upon them by Winslow on account of their “greate povertie and inabilities.”

Winslow was slowly becoming prosperous. The farms were productive, several grist and saw mills were in operation. The river afforded means for conveying the lumber to market, while its fisheries supplied both food and an important article of trade. In 1791 there were 81 polls in town and George Warren, Winslow’s first lawyer, had begun business. In the same year he petitioned the General Court for authority to conduct a lottery for the building of a bridge across the Sebasticook. An article in the warrant to set off the territory of Winslow on the west side of the Kennebec, was at last approved by a vote of 13-7. The smallness of the vote probably prevented any further action.

In 1793, however, perhaps to remove the grievance which had caused the desire for separation two collectors were appointed of whom one, Asa Emerson, was to serve for the west side of the river, and that town meetings would be held alternatively. On February 10, 1794, at town meeting was held at John McKechnie’s house, it was voted to build a meeting house on the east side of the Kennebec, on land donated by Arthur Lithgow, Esq.

The same year two names appear in town records which were to hold a large place there for many years. Rev. Joshua Cushman and Elnathan Sherwin. At a meeting held at the house of Elnathan Sherwin on the site of Silas Redington place, Sherwin Street, Rev. Cushman was invited to settle in the town as religious instructor. Cushman had already seen much of life. Born in 1759 at Halifax, he served with distinction in the Revolutionary Army and endured the hardships of Valley Forge. He graduated from Harvard in 1788 with John Quincy Adams. At the age of 36, he was now ready to enter the ministry. He proved himself a man of high character, great ability as a preacher and a politician of no mean degree. In addition to 20 years service as pastor in Winslow, he served both branches of the legislature of Massachusetts, was then a member of Congress for three terms where he made a decided impression, and was a member of the Maine Legislature when he died. The constitution and agreement for a religious society under which he began work, which was supposed to come from his pen, was very liberal, so that his society has been termed the first Unitarian Church in America. The ecclesiastical council for the ordination of Cushman was enthusiastically received.

Legend has it that the name Waterville was chosen because the committee could not come to a consensus on a name. It is said the seven men involved all wanted the town to be named after them.

Twenty of the town’s leading citizens were formed into a committee to conduct the council to the large stand of evergreen erected on The Plains, where the meeting was to be held. March 7, 1796, the town voted to build a meeting house on the hill near or in Ticonic village. The next day it was voted to build another on the Lithgow lot in Winslow, the previous vote had been reconsidered. The committee for the west side was Nehemiah Getchell, James Stackpole Jr., John Pierce, Obadiah Williams, Reuben Kidder. The committee reported on March 16 that the meeting houses should be erected. Dr. Obadiah Williams generously offered to the town the present city hall park (Castonguay Square) as a location for the meeting house. Then Asa Emerson and David Pattee, who lived by the Messalonskee Stream – Emerson Stream as it was known back then – petitioned for the house to be built at a more central location. Their petition was not granted. The house was not completed for many years. About 60 pages of the first volume of Waterville records are taken up with pew deeds and many more with meeting house business.

The first town meeting was held in the new meeting house on June 23, 1798. Meanwhile, questions of division had been constantly before the public. For years the matter of separation of Maine from Massachusetts had been agitated and vote after vote was taken in its favor. The division of Lincoln County and the establishment of Kennebec County took place on February 20, 1799. The dividing of the town usually had the river as the dividing line. However, one time, the line being one mile west of the river was discussed, and voted on numerous times. The practice of holding town meetings alternately on both sides of the river was not satisfactory. There was no bridge across the Kennebec River and petitions and grievances to the General Court, resulted in the court dividing the two towns. It was determined that two collectors and a double set of town officials was not conducive to harmony.

On December 28, 1801, the town voted to petition the General Court to set off that part of the town which laid on the western side of the Kennebec River and to incorporate it into a separate town. A committee was appointed, consisting of Reuben Kidder, Thomas Rice, Josiah Hayden, Nehemiah G. Parker and Asa Soule for the purpose of separation. When the time came for separation, the mother and daughter parted without a quarrel. In the petition, it was decided the dividing line would be down the middle of the river, with the eastern side retaining the name of Winslow, and the town to the west would be named Waterville.