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Down
East Tales IV
A-CHS MEETING October 21, 1980 (Tape 2)
Transcribed by Alta Flynt altaf@world-net.net
(Names and other words that could not be transcribed are in italics. Unknown
voices are referred to as "man" or "woman." Comments,
explanations, and additional names are in parentheses.)
Jane Dudley: This is October 21, 1980 at Pocomoonshine Lake. We are in the
Dudley's cabin and this is Jane Dudley speaking. We are gathered here at
the Alexander-Crawford Historical Society board members, and also regular
members and we have with us Ellen Fenlason of Danforth, wife of Harold Fenlason.
Harold's family goes back very far in our Alexander- Crawford community.
We also have Ruth Dwelly here to tell us about what she has discovered on
Breakneck Mountain. And, we have other members here who are going to join
in on this conversation. Ellen, why don't you start?
Ellen Fenlason: I'd be glad to. I think that you might be interested in
the early, early start of, oh, you know, of the first baby in Alexander.
When Machias was settled, there were 16 original settlers. One of them was
Samuel Scott. He was married to Susan Perry, and they had a large family:
Nathaniel, Sarah, Rosemond, Samuel, Wallace, Jesse, William, Mark, John,
Pamela, and Perry. They were born in Machias. When the boys grew up, evidently
most of them went into the lumbering business. Frank Fenlasson told me the
name of the man who had a lumbering operation in Alexander and unfortunately
I can't give that to you. Mark, one of Wallace's sons - by the way, Wallace
was on the - in the battles of Margaretta. He's your hero as such.
Mark married a Sally Elsmore. She was the daughter of Moses Elsmore. Now,
there was a Ephraim and Anna Andrews and they had a daughter, Lydia. Lydia
married this Moses Elsmore. And, Sally was one of their daughters. Sally
married Mark Fenlason. They were married in Machias, and I have the intentions,
the 20th of October - the 20th of October in 1812. But, there seems to be
some confusion between the date that they were married and their intentions,
and I have found quite a few mistakes in that so don't start counting because
I'm not sure exactly when Sally and Mark were married but they were married.
Sally Fenlason, the first child was born in Machias. She married a Rowland
Cushing Dudley who came from Winslow, Maine, and they had one, two, three,
four, five, six, nine children. I don't know whether she came to Alexander
when Mark and Sally came or not. But, in your microfilm we find that - the
Alexander film starts with the first child who was born here in Alexander,
a Freeman Putnam Fenlason. He was born June fourth - either 14th or 15th.
I believe 1814.
Jane Dudley: Isn't that great.
Ellen Fenlason: Now, when they came to Alexander, you see, they started
with Freeman. Then they had Mary Ann Fenlason, a Daniel Alan Fenlason, and
one of his children or grandchildren married into the Vose family.
We had Lydia Fenlason, Nancy Fenlason. We had a Mark Harris Fenlason. He
was born in 1825 and he married a Getchell girl and they moved out to Minnesota,
and I have all of their history from a lady out there, Alice Fenlason who
is related to Freeman's brother. We have Ruth Ellen, Hannah Fenlason and
a Moses Cilla Fenlason. Now, Sally could have been gone from the
family when this was recorded because in your Alexander microfilm on page
66, it lists the family but it doesn't include Sally. I looked it over and
saw that Sally evidently was married when her father died. In 1840 the record
- the census say Mark - er, Sal, Mark's widow, and I found out at the courthouse
that Mark died in May of 1838. He was about 50 and Sally was left with this
large family. Freeman had married. Let's see. He married in Alexander by
the Reverend George Childs November 2, 1837. You see that was just before
his father died, but the rest of the children evidently were with Sally.
The youngest was this Moses who was six years old. Sally must have been
very poor because she didn't put Mark's will into probate until 1844, and
I have - I got down to the courthouse the records of this probate. I don't
have the will, but I have the people that were appointed to take an inventory
of the goods that were left, and I have the actual inventory. This would
give you an idea of this poor little family. They had three hardwood bedsteads
worth three dollars; a writing desk worth a dollar; a timepiece, three dollars;
a half dozen chairs, fifty cents; a dining room table, a dollar fifty; a
light stand, looks like 37 and ½ cents; a cupboard, a dollar fifty;
two wooden chests, fifty cents; a small looking glass, seventeen cents;
two feather beds, eight dollars; two quilts, two dollars, two comforters,
fifty cents; quantity of cooking ware, a dollar; a big kettle, fifty cents;
and this is one tea something and that was fifty cents. Then we had six
pair of sheets for a dollar; a loom, eight dollars; a small wheel, two dollars;
a brass kettle, one dollar; a pair of shovels and tongs, seventy
five cents. And, the grand total of Sally's worldly goods according to the
inventory was $45.09 and a half cents.
Jane Dudley: Ellen, we have an antique dealer here who is a member, Mary
Williams, and I wonder if all this was gathered together, Mary, what would
it be worth today.
Mary Williams: I don't think you could buy it at that price.
Ellen Fenlason: So, Sally evidently stayed here, stayed around here and
probably went to live with one of her children. I haven't checked. There
are many Sally Fenlasons around, but the family was in the area and that
takes care of that family. Let's go back to Freeman Putnam Fenlason. He
married Harriet Newell Dunne, and I told you, he was married November the
second 1837 by the Reverend George Childs, and that was in Alexander. And
the children, Myra Adelaide - on the 1850 census she was called Maria, and
that was in 1839, November the fourth. And, then there's an Elvira Evelyn,
but on the 1850 census that was listed as Alvin E., so I don't know whether
it was male or female. I didn't check the "m" or the "f."
Charles Weston, and I found out that some of his relatives went to - in
the Boston area. Harold knew one of them and then there was a Barbara who
was from that family. She was married to some doctor. Then this Harris Freeman.
He was the one that moved out to Minneapolis and the woman out there sent
me the complete history of that family out there. They went - let me see
if I can find it. I assume that these folks must have come along the Seneca
Turnpike Road to Chicago and then to LaCross. From LaCross they would have
come up the Mississippi River by boat to St. Paul Minnesota.
Jane Dudley: Ellen, what year was that?
Ellen Fenlason: Now - at least I'm guessing that Alinda is a Getchell because
Mark, Harris Mark Fenlason came west to Minnesota in 1852.
Jane Dudley: 1852.
Ellen Fenlason: And, then she was very kind and sent me this. She told me
that for years and years her family thought that Mark must have had a quarrel
with his family because they had never heard anything about his relatives,
and someone wrote to me - I think a man down in Belfast heard of Harold's
name through legislature and he said, "would you help?" I became
interested and so I dug it up and I sent this information to this Alice
Fenlason in Minneapolis and she was delighted and she said that she had
so much trouble getting records out of Wesley, and that was to her proof
that her grandparent had moved out there.
Jane Dudley: Now, do you know where the house was where the first baby was
born?
Ellen Fenlason: No, I don't. I was hoping that when you did this work up
on this hill that you would find out because evidently they must have settled
somewhere close together. It was a lumbering - - -
Jane Dudley: You spoke about a lumbering company that Frank Fenlason was
not able to supply that - - -
Ellen Fenlason: He told me the name but (few words spoken by both women
at the same time and can't be understood)
Jane Dudley: I wonder if Jack might know. You might ask him. Jack?
Ellen Fenlason: I think that I could find out from Mr. Fenlason because
he seemed to know it quickly and he said that a lot of them had gone out
of that area.
Jane Dudley: Could we get up to that well on Breakneck? This is very exciting
to me.
Ellen Fenlason: When I saw in the paper that you were interested in a well,
I remembered that in my notes I had seen a microfilm that this Ruben Tuttle
Fenlason had died in an attempt to rescue Joel Gooch from a well, and that's
in your microfilm. Evidently that was so important that they put that in.
So, when I went back over my records trying to decide about this, I discovered
that it was another brother of Mark's who had this - Ruben T. Now, Mark
had a brother Wallace Fenlason, named after his father and grandparents
way back. He married a Deborah Gooch in 1791 and she was a daughter of Ebenezer
and Betsey Gooch, and they had three children and one of them, James Gooch
Fenlason married a Jane Blyther in 1801 and they had a number of children.
One of them was Ruben T. Now, all of the other children have dates when
they were born, but after this Ruben T. there was died in `37, `38, whatever
it was.
Jane Dudley: 18 - - -
Ellen Fenlason: No, I'm sorry. That was when he was probably born. He died
August the tenth 1852. So, I presume that was the one that made the rescue.
I checked the other Gooch families from the bicentennial edition that Machias
put out and Deborah had a brother Joel. So, then I started looking things
Wallace Fenlason had three children, James, and he had a son Ruben as well
as another Wallace. Now, I checked the Ruben Fenlason family and he married
a Deborah Gooch born in 1814, it listed his family, but then he evidently
married a second time and there was a small child in the family. And, there's
no more record of this Ruben T. either. I also found that this second wife
married the same year, in 1852 to another Fenlason, a James Fenlason. Now,
I'm going back to check my microfilm and on the Joel Gooch to see when he
died.
Jane Dudley: Ellen, you said you thought that he was a boy.
Ellen Fenlason: Yes, my first impression was from microfilm that it was
a Ruben Tuttle, a son of James Fenlason who would be a grandson - must be
Mark - uh Freeman's nephew as far as I could - - -
Jane Dudley: Freeman's nephew.
Ellen Fenlason: It was Freeman's nephew that I think - - -
Jane Dudley: We're back to Freeman.
Ellen Fenlason: But if it wasn't Freeman's nephew, it had to be Freeman's
uncle, and I'm going to check that out before I say - - -
Jane Dudley: Well, if it were Freeman's uncle, he still was 14 when he died.
Ellen Fenlason: No, the uncle, the uncle would not be.
Jane Dudley: He would not be.
Ellen Fenlason: But, just looking at the fact that this man didn't show
up on the next census, unless he moved away.
(Tape stops and starts again.)
Jack Dudley: This is Jack Dudley talking. At the meetings of the Alexander
Historical Society the question of the story of the drowning that took place
in a well on Breakneck back 150 years or so ago was discussed a number of
times. Various people gave different accounts as they had been handed down
over the many years. Harold and Ellen Fenlason of Danforth, Maine did some
research on this matter. The following account which I am about to read
was found by Mr. and Mrs. Fenlason. This article comes from the Calais Advertiser.
The date is August 12, 1852. I will now read the article. "Fatal occurrence
from inhaling noxious vapor in a well. On Tuesday last an inquest was held
by coroner, D. K. Chase upon view of the bodies of John S. Philips, Joel
Gooch, and R. T. Fenlason of Alexander which were taken lifeless from the
bottom of the well near the dwelling of Mr. Philips. We are indebted to
the coroner for the following statement which is the substance of the testimony
taken at the inquest. On Monday the 9th, instant, Mr. Philips had the water
all bailed out of his well which was about 30 feet deep and had not been
used for a year or more, and he went down into the well and cleaned it and
put fire to a handful of straw and threw it down to burn up, as he said,
the unpleasant smell. On Tuesday morning he went down into the well to get
a few pieces of boards which were left in the day before. When he had descended
nearly to the bottom, his feet slipped from the rocks and he pitched forward
and sunk down into a kind of sitting posture, his head and shoulders resting
against the wall. His son, a lad about 12 years old who had watched his
father, ran to the house and told his mother that there was trouble with
his father in the well. Mrs. P., knowing that Mr. P. had formerly been troubled
with fits supposed he was then in one. She went in one direction and sent
the boy in another for help. Mr. Joel Gooch, the nearest neighbor, arrived
at the well first and went down to assist Mr. Philips. He reached the bottom,
took hold of Mr. P., raised him up a little and spoke to him. He then looked
up and hallooed to those looking down. Can you hear me? And, repeated the
same three times, then uttered a faint groan and sank down powerless. Mr.
John Gooch, brother of Joel, arrived next and immediately descended to help
his brother. He took hold of him and spoke to him, but found he was just
breathing his last, and feeling himself much exhausted, he made haste to
get out, and his strength barely supported him until he reached the surface
where he fell prostrate on the ground, and was for a time completely exhausted.
Mr. Ruben T. Fenlason, nephew of Gooch, came to the spot soon after John
had got out and though warned of the danger, he insisted on going down and
taking the end of a long rope he went rapidly down stepping on the rocks
on each side of the well, made the rope secure around his uncle's body and
then began to falter, but was aroused by those at the mouth of the well,
and he made an effort to ascend, but his strength failing him when about
two thirds of the way up, he pitched forward and fell head downward to the
bottom. No hope was now left of getting either of them out alive and no
other attempt was made to go down into the well. The body of Gooch was drawn
out by the rope which Fenlason had put around him and a grapple was made
of an old pitch fork with which the bodies were laid out. A lighted candle
was lowered down the well and would burn dimly seven feet down but would
go out at nine feet. The jury was composed of John Springer, James S. Bush,
Luke Stephenson, J. Stephenson, John Perkins, Robert L. Tyler, and their
verdict was that the deceased came to their deaths by inhaling the gas or
noxious vapor which had accumulated in the well. Each of the deceased had
left a wife and children and many friends to mourn their loss." Now,
in the paper, the Calais Advertiser that came out the following week - -
-
Jane Dudley: What was the date of that issue that you just read?
Jack Dudley: The one that I read, I gave it at the very beginning. August
12, 1852. The following week this appeared in the Advertiser, Calais Advertiser.
"In the account we gave of the fatal occurrence in Alexander last week,
it was stated that the water in the well had not been used for over a year
which was not the fact, as it had been constantly used up to the time they
undertook to clean it, and over 20 pailfuls of water had been taken out
of it a few minutes before Mr. Philips went down into it." Now, this
account, which was the account of the coroner's jury and inquest held at
that time back in August of 1852 obviously would be a true account of what
happened there.
Jane Dudley: Thank you, Jack.
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