born in Nauskeag (now Woolwich), a ship tradesman in Arrowsic, then governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, he commanded several military expeditions against the French in Canada. As governor, he pardoned those who were accused in the Salem witch trials.
“In the fall of 1620 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth during a disagreeable storm, and, noting the excellent opportunity for future misery, began to erect a number of rude cabins.” — Bill Nye Members of the Plymouth Colony began trading with fishermen and Indians in Maine within a few years of their arrival in 1620.…
(1761-1807) was born in Falmouth, now Portland, on August 15, 1761 and has been called the “Father of the American Navy.” He played a decisive role in keeping the waters of Maine safe from Barbary pirates as Commander of U.S. naval forces during much of the Tripolitan War, 1801-1805. On March 2, 1818, in the…
The following winners have Maine roots from birth or residence. Author Year Category Title Laura E. Richards 1917 Biography Julia Ward Howe Booth Tarkington 1919 Literature The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 1922 Literature Alice Adams Edwin Arlington Robinson 1922 Poetry Collected Poems Owen Davis 1923 Drama Icebound Edna St. Vincent Millay 1923 Poetry The Harp…
was a Jesuit priest killed by the British in an attack on the Native American village in Norridgewock on August 23, 1724. Born January 28, 1657* in France, he attended college then taught Greek at Nimes in Southern France. There he learned of the need for missionaries in Canada to serve the Indian population and…
A Freudian analyst born in Austria in 1897, Reich was trying to prove the energetic reality of the “Libido” which Sigmund Freud had coined. He worked on his own version of biophysics for many years but by 1933 he left Germany as Hitler’s Nazi regime and the threat to his own well-being increased. After moving…
Selected Works Happy the Land (1946/1998) Start of the Trail (1949) My Neck of the Woods (1950) Trail to the North (1952) Only Parent (1953) Innocence Under the Elms (1955) The Coast of Maine (1956/1962/1970/1975/1993) Peninsula (1958/1971) First Book of The Early Settlers (1959) First Book of New World Explorers (1960) First Book of The…
Selected Works Sketches and Scraps (1881) Five Mice in a Mouse Trap (1881) The Joyous Story of Toto (1885) Toto’s Merry Winter (1887) Queen Hildegarde (1889) In My Nursery (1890) Captain January (1890) Hildegarde’s Holiday (1891) Hildegarde’s Home (1892) Melody (1893) Glimpses of the French Court (1893) When I Was Your Age (1894) Marie (1894)…
Selected Works Arundel : A Chronicle of the Province of Maine and of the Secret Expedition led by Benedict Arnold against Quebec (1930) The Battle of Cowpens: The Great Morale-Builder (1957) Black Magic : an account of its beneficial use in Italy, of its perversion in Bavaria, and of certain tendencies which might necessitate its…
Amaranth (1934) Avon’s Harvest (1921) Captain Craig: A Book Of Poems (1903) Cavender’s House (1929) The Children of the Night: a Book of Poems (1897) Dionysus In Doubt : A Book Of Poems (1925) The First Seven Years (1930) Fortunatus (1928) The Glory Of The Nightingales (1930) I Make No Measure Of The Words They…
(1924-1993), born in Madison on October 9, 1924, grew up to be the second U.S. “winged” astronaut, that is the second to fly higher that 50 miles. A test pilot in the United State Air Force (USAF), he flew the rocket plane known as the X-15, in which he attained an altitude of 54 miles…
Richard Russo, a resident of Camden won the Pulitzer Prize “for distinguished fiction by an American author,” in 2002 for Empire Falls, about a declining mill town in Maine. According to an article in the Bangor Daily News, Russo reportedly said “This is a book about class and it happens to be set in Maine.…
(1590?-1655) was the Indian sagamore, from the Pemaquid area, who in 1621 was visiting chief Massasoit when he surprised the Pilgrims of Plymouth with the words, “Much welcome, Englishmen.” According to Isaacson, “He explained that he was a sachem and had learned the language from Englishmen engaged in fishing off Monhegan, and named many boat…
Sarah H. Sampson (1832-1907) was an energetic woman who used her social and political connections to support her special public projects. This redoubtable lady came to Washington, D.C. to be near her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. W. Sampson of the 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry at the time of the Civil War. She occupied her…
(1957- ) Olympic gold medalist, and marathon runner, was born on May 16, 1957 in Cape Elizabeth. She started running track at Cape Elizabeth High School before entering Bowdoin College where she excelled in a variety of athletics before she started long-distance running as physical therapy for a broken leg she suffered while skiing. She…
[May 3, 1912 – July 16, 1995] Poet Eleanor Marie (May) Sarton was born in Belgium. Her family moved to England as World War I threatened, then to Boston in 1915 As an adult she published poetry and traveled widely in Europe and in the United States, earning accolades for her work. Eventually she moved…
William Wingate Sewall (1845-1930), a Maine guide and log driver, was the first white child born in Island Falls, April 13, 1845. His parents had come from southern Maine: father Levi Sewall from Phippsburg, born in 1800 and Mother Rebecca Alexander from Harpswell, born in 1810. Each are 211 miles from Island Falls by Interstate …
by Leonard Brooks, Director, Shaker Museum and Shaker Library September 2, 2012 The story of the Shakers begins in the Manchester area of England in the 1740s. One of the early leaders of the Shaker church was Ann Lees or Mother Ann as she became called. Mother Ann was the Shaker leader who brought the…
Damariscotta Shell Midden (1886) Shell middens or shell heaps, are scattered along the Maine coast giving evidence of the lifestyles of its ancient inhabitants. A “midden” is a refuse…
Frank Thomas Siebert, Jr. (1912-1998) was a student of the Penobscot Indians’ language and drafted an Penobscot dictionary in 1984 which contained nearly 15,000 entries of this Native American tribe’s vocabulary. Siebert was a pathologist, self-taught linguist and collector of books on North American Indians and the American frontier. He was dedicated to preserving the…