Clara Hapgood Nash, admitted to the Maine bar at Machias in 1872, was the first woman in New England, and only about the fifth in the country, to achieve that status. It was not until 1899 that a law was passed in Maine prohibiting discrimination in the admission of attorneys to the bar based on…
Social and Political Organization An important unit of social organization was the band, a loosely organized collection of people, frequently related family members, who occupied a particular tract of land, moved and camped together, and felt a common identity, including a name for themselves. Several bands comprised a tribe, which, like the band, was loosely…
In 2010 the three counties in which Indian reservations exist had the largest proportion of Native American residents. Washington leads with 4.5 percent of the county’s population. Aroostook (1.5%) and Penobscot (.9%) follow. The Native American population statewide is 0.6%. County Percent Washington 4.5% Aroostook 1.5% Penobscot 0.9% Piscataquis 0.6% Kennebec 0.5% Somerset 0.5% Androscoggin…
(1904-1995) was a self-sufficient organic farmer and author whose life with her husband, Scott Nearing, struck a powerful chord with thousands of people. Later labeled the “back-to-the-land movement,” generations of people, some disenfranchised by McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, and the greed of modern society, adopted new values exemplified by the Nearings and others. These included…
(1899-1988) was a prominent sculptor, painter, and printmaker, born on September 23, 1899, in Pereyaslav, Russia. At the age of five, she came to Rockland with her mother, older brother, and younger sister to join her father, Isaac Berliawsky, who had immigrated a few years earlier. Although she took the commercial course at Rockland High…
The history of the early press in Maine is marked by a decided lack of stability. Publishers often started a newspaper, formed a partnership, then moved on to begin another paper. Some of the papers endured, but few in their original form; many disappeared after several years. Almost one hundred years after New England’s first…
(1798-1864) was born on June 18, 1798 in Readfield and became a millwright and a mechanic. He later moved to Dixfield where he developed several inventions. According to Stover in Eminent Mainers, they included a threshing and separating machine, a nail-making machine, patented in 1824, an accelerated spinner for hand-woven wool, patented in 1835, a…
(1857-1914) was born on the family farm in Farmington as Lillian Bayard Norton. According to one observer, she was “America’s first and most glamorous opera singer to attain true international prominence.” After the financial failure of the farm and, two years later, the tavern they bought, her family moved to Boston in 1864. Eventually Lillian…
November 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1892 First publication of the newspaper Saturday Sun in Portland, published by Libby & Smith. 1897 First publication of the newspaper Daily News in…
November 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1799 Birth date of U.S. Senator (1833-1836) Ether Shepley, a justice of the Supreme Court of Maine and its Chief Justice (1848-1855). 1828 Birth…
November 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1652 York County established; incorporation of the town of Kittery 1788 Incorporation of the town of Nobleborough, now Nobleboro 1862 James G. Blaine purchases…
November 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1776 Incorporation of the town of Warren 1837 Fearless, anti-slavery journalist Elijah Lovejoy, killed by a mob in Illinois in 1837, is later inducted…
Edgar Wilson Nye, a descendent of Benjamin Nye who came from England in 1635, was an American humorist born in the town of Shirley. He moved to Wisconsin with his family when he was two. Nye was a satirist and comic lecturer, who founded the Laramie, Wyoming Boomerang newspaper in 1881. He became famous writing…
(c1740-1816) succeeded in living her life according to Wabanaki traditions and, for the most part, on ancestral land because she was savvy enough to learn how to adapt to the encroaching white settlers and their way of life without assimilating into their culture. Her strength and independent nature enabled her to make a life for…
October 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 “In recognition of the value and importance of firefighters, the State designates the first Saturday in October as Firefighter’s Recognition Day.” (1 MRSA…
October 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1874 Birth date of Maine House member and U.S. Senator (1917-1941) Frederick Hale. 1918 Monsignor McDonough (MMc) warns “Although the Spanish Influenza has…
October 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1775 Benedict Arnold expedition to attack Quebec begins portage across the Great Carry from the Kennebec to the Dead River. 1819 Maine’s constitutional…
October 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1851 Jonathan G. Hunton of Readfield, Governor of Maine 1830-1831, dies. 1861 Cape Elizabeth-built vessel Grenada is captured by Confederate raiders. 1918 Rumford…
October 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Poetry Day “recommending that in the week following schools, churches, libraries, clubs and organizations, the newspapers, radio and television give recognition to the…
October 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1775 The Benedict Arnold expedition to Quebec crosses West Carry Pond and arrives at the Dead River. 1806 Birth date of U.S. Senator…