The Maine Historical Magazine Volume 8 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1894 edition. Excerpt: ... name of the town was given in honor of Major-General John Thomas, who was sent by Congress to take command of Montgomery and Arnold's ill-starred army in Canada, where he died in 1776, soon after his arrival. We repudiate the argument which would trace the name to a less pure and honorable source than "this beloved son of liberty, whose remains are resting on the frontier of our country, in an unrecorded grave." From the close of the Revolution until 1795 the town enjoyed a quiet and unostentatious prosperity. New settlers of high character gradually occupied different parts of the town, and by slow degrees the ravages of war were repaired. Lime burning, no longer a monopoly of the patentees, was largely and profitably carried on. The most exciting episode of this period was a great revival, under the ministrations of Elder Case, one of the Baptist pioneers of the State, who, coming here early in 1784, and finding but one of his faith, was able soon to form a church of near fifty members, the first church formed in the town, and and with one exception the first Baptist church in the State. Services were held in barns during the summers and in dwelling houses in winter. The first meeting-house--that on the hill east of Mill river, --was not erected until 1796. Up to this time the greater part of the town was covered with a heavy growth of timber, with here and there straggling clearings, having low, unpainted houses, mostly built of logs. The roads were hardly passable for wheeled vehicles. Beech-Woods was a heary growth of beech, from which was a dense forest down to Main street. South Thomaston was the largest settlement, while Rockland was not even a village, being reached only by private way leading from the Camden road. The year 1795 is...