[from “1918 Pandemic Influenza in Maine.” Maine Department of Health and Human Services.(edited for length and clarity)]* Tuesday, October 1 On account of the epidemic of Spanish influenza and the fact that five students who arrived this morning were found to be afflicted with the disease, the opening of Colby College has been postponed for…
[from “1918 Pandemic Influenza in Maine.” Maine Department of Health and Human Services.(edited for length and clarity)]* Saturday, September 7 The first soldier at Camp Devens near Boston becomes ill with influenza. Just 35 miles northwest of Boston this camp, like so many other military camps, was hurriedly erected in the summer of 1917, just…
is a college located in Castine created primarily to educate and train students for service in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Former Governor Kenneth M. Curtis, once its President, is a distinguished graduate. According to the statute establishing Maine Merchant Marine Day each May 22nd, “The purpose of commemorating the United States Merchant Marines is to…
Mane had U.S. Marshals even before it became a state. From a letter to U.S. Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, on their request, from the U.S. General Accounting Office in 2003: The U.S. Marshal Service was created by the first Congress in the Judiciary Act of 1789. U.S. Marshals were placed in…
One of the more shameful episodes in Maine history is the treatment of the black residents of Malaga Island, in the New Meadows River just off Phippsburg. Benjamin Darling, a freed slave, bought the nearby Horse Island in 1794. His son Isaac sold it and probably moved to the unoccupied Malaga Island in 1847. According…
March 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 1790 Birth date of Benjamin White, Jr., who became the first Democratic Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, in which…
March 25 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 Maple Sunday is the 4th Sunday in March. 1636 Incorporation of the town of Agamenticus, now the town of York…
March 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 Maple Sunday is the 4th Sunday in March. 1819 Birth date in Woodstock of Sidney Perham, a U.S. Congressman and Governor…
March 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 Maple Sunday is the 4th Sunday in March. 1893 Ballot law of 1891 is amended to create the “Big Box” format, making it…
March 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 1787 Incorporation of the towns of Limerick and Waterborough 1792 Incorporation of the town of Hebron 1802 Incorporation of…
Alfred Marshall (ca. 1797-1868) a U.S. Representative, was born in New Hampshire about 1797. A member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1827, 1828, 1834, and 1835, he served as a general in the Maine State militia. Marshall was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1843), later serving…
(c1665-1717) was named Pidianiske at birth by her parents who were Wabanaki Indians, which translates to “People Of The Dawn,” because they believed that the sun’s early light reaches the banks of the Penobscot River first, before it touches anywhere else. The Wabanaki lived there for hundreds of years. The life of Molly Mathilde is…
(1840-1916) was born in Sangerville February 5, 1840 and was famous for inventing the machine gun, ironically a “sanguinary” (bloody) instrument of warfare. Among other things, he invented smokeless powder for guns, a gas generator, a gas headlight for locomotives, automatic steam and vacuum pumps, and engine governors. According to Maine: A Guide Downeast, In…
Primarily from a digitized version of an article from The New York Times’s print archive. May Craig, whose hats and tart questions to Presidents and politicians, made her one of the country’s best‐known news women for several decades. She was almost as famous for her flowered hats as for her penetrating and persistent questioning at Presidential…
Abbot Vaughan Meader (1936-2004) was born in Waterville on March 20, 1936, using Vaughn Meader as his professional name in the entertainment industry. After his father’s death he was, according to his wife, sent to a brutal children’s home in Massachusetts. Thereafter he attended several schools, including five high schools, before graduating. Meader was best…
Jessica U. Meir (1977- ) born in Caribou, was selected by NASA in 2013. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Brown University, a Master of Science in Space Studies from the International Space University, and a Doctorate in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD). From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Meir…
(1892-1950) was born in Rockland on February 22, 1892 and moved to Camden with her family when she was twelve, graduated from Camden High School, then from Vassar College. Her mother, divorced, had little money for her three daughters, but encouraged reading and music in them. With no prospects of affording college, Edna read her…
Mary Pelagie (1775-1867) an early 19th century Native American Penobscot woman, strove to live an autonomous life in an era in which there were numerous hindrances and hardships associated with womanhood. Existing in the late 18th to early 19th century was difficult for a woman in Maine and it was certainly a struggle surviving the…
1903 Birth, July 21 on Gott’s Island at the mouth of Blue Hill Bay. 1917 Goes to the mainland; stays with relatives while attending Ellsworth High School. 1921 Graduates from Ellsworth High, attends New York State College for Teachers in Albany. Her writing talent is recognized and encouraged by an English professor. 1925 After college,…
“These are feature films with Maine-related themes or locations. Please note that many titles are not known to survive, or are not available.” — Karan Sheldon, Northeast Historic Film As the Earth Turns, 1934 Back to the Woods, 1918 Beans of Egypt Maine, The, 1994 Bed and Breakfast, 1992 Behind the Door, 1919 Behind Masks,…