Meeting Dates
Apr 26 '07
Minutes for Apr 26, 2007
Present: Sue Carlson, Ros Strong, Ruth Bryant, Jo Cameron, Cathy Orne, Marsha Potter, Zibette Dean, Rose-Marie Ballard.
President Sue Carlson opened the meeting. The minutes of the March 22, 2007 meeting were approved. Treasurer Ruth Bryant reported a new membership and $2.07 in interest; with an expenditure of $2.00. The current balance is $3,146.28. The EHS voted unanimously to receive the Treasurer's report.
Sue presented three acquisitions from James Thomas, son of the late Wilhelmina Thomas, who has been going through his mother's belongings. They are three temporary metal grave markers provided by different funeral parlors. We were disappointed to hear the new owner of the property will probably tear down the existing Cape and other buildings.
Sue also reported she has experimented with "fixing" the EHS reproductions of the 1857 Edgecomb map, but the substance smells of acetone something awful. Do this outdoors!
Rose-Marie said the final edition of the Edgecomb Historic Building Survey has been held up by printing problems. The original, with original photographs, will be kept at the State Archives. A copy including the pictures will be kept at the Town Hall; a copy of the text alone will be held by the EHS.
Plans were made for an EHS/FOFE table to be set up at the Annual Town Meeting, which will be held in the Town Hall Saturday, May 19, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. or until done.
A letter was received from Mr. Edward Brooks, III, promoting his book Patriotic Sacrifices of Valor Remembered, a History of Mainers' Involvement in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Jo said that if it contains any information about Rear Admiral John A. Merry, it might be of interest.
Following the business meeting, we adjourned to the school library to continue the inventory of the EHS Collection. In the top drawer of the 2-drawer file cabinet is a box containing Katherine Chase Owens' research materials for her Edgecomb history. In the bottom drawer, a large number of early tax records from the 19th through early 20th centuries, when taxes were paid on personal property including livestock, and as the years progressed, early radios and other technological apparatus. Also gone through were a back file of Edgecomb Town Reports, the earliest from 1913, through 2003. A policy decision was made to keep all duplicates of the early reports through 1950, and from there on, no more than 2 copies.
History to come: As we worked, we exchanged experiences of the recent "Patriots' Day Storm" of April 2007! Road wash-outs, power outages, trees down and other excitements with which we can enthrall the younger generations.
In the evening, we regrouped at the Town Hall to hear Tom Desjardin speak about his new book, Through A Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold's March to Quebec (St. Martin's Press, 2006). This lecture was attended by nearly 20 people, very encouraging for a new kind of event for the EHS. Tom led us along the icy Kennebec in ill-constructed long boats of green timber, to wind through "The Great Carrying Place" between the Kennebec and the Charier Rivers, eating our moccasins as food supplies fell overboard or spoiled, then to be confronted by the farthest northern stretch of the Appalachian Mountains and the unknown Spider Lake, shaped like a baseball mitt, before we could get to the granite crag dominated by the citadel of Quebec! Unlike past histories of this exploit, Tom went through the culminating battles, his thesis being that by draining off British strength in the north, Benedict Arnold succeeded in delaying their plan to come down the St. Lawrence River to join with other forces in a three-pronged campaign which if successful would probably have ended the Revolution and kept us as a crown colony to this day.
Respectfully submitted,
Joanna M. Cameron
Secretary