HISTORY OF CASTINE: The BATTLE LINE of FOUR NATIONS
by George A. Wheeler, M.D.
A history of Castine, Penobscot, and Brooksville, Maine, revised in 1923 from the author’s two earlier histories of the area. A limited number of these books were discovered packed away by the family. A few of the books had tiny insect holes along the spine and so all the books were isolated for a period of time. The family is now making them available through the Wilson Museum. This history is one of the two most referenced books on local history and, until now, quite difficult to find. Privately printed, Cornwall, New York. 1923. Hardcover, 444 pages; 6 in. (w) x 9 in. (h), some illustrations and an index.
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MAJABIGWADUCE Castine, Penobscot, Brooksville
by Ellenore W. Doudiet.
“Majabigwaduce: Castine, Penobscot, Brooksville is not a history in the usual sense of the word; it is, rather, an attempt to show the life of the early settlement and of the towns which grew from it; to understand the lives of the inhabitants, if possible through their own words. A large portion relates to the Castine Peninsula; this is, in part, because the Peninsula has been the most active area and, in part, because material available to the author, in general, is that given by residents of the Peninsula to the Castine Scientific Society. Of this material the most extensive collection is that of the Stevens family, originating with Joseph Lowe Stevens, who came to Castine in 1819. The Stevens collection consists of maps, pictures, manuscripts and printed material relating to the three towns and covers the period 1760 to 1910.” [Excerpt from the Preface.]
This wonderful book, one of the two most referenced histories of this area, is extensively illustrated with images of old photographs, maps, and documents. Includes a bibliography. Published by the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum. Castine, Maine. 1978. Hardcover w/ book-jacket, 116 pages; 8 ½ in. (h) x 11 in. (w). Library of Congress #: 77-086163.
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JULIET BOWES CORBETT Letters of Friends and Relatives
Edited by Ellenore W. Doudiet.
“Throughout [the author] relied on Kate Ellen Johnson’s scrap book of clippings, wedding invitations and notices, on family diaries and memoranda and on the memory of Georgia Johnson Wilson’s rare reminiscences: for Corbett relationships on The Descendants of Robert Corbett of Weymouth, Massachusetts compiled by Melvin C. Corbett, privately printed; for Corbettsville, Binghamton and the Susquehanna River on the Directory of Broome and Tioga Counties 1872-073, compiled and published by Hamilton Child, Syracuse, 1873, and on the History of Broome County edited by H.P. Smith published by D. Mason, Syracuse, New York 1885; for Great Bend, Hallstead and the DuBois family on the Centennial History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania by Rhamanathus M. Stoker., Philadelphia, 1887; for the Williams family A Tree of Life by Marshall H. Williams, privately printed.” [Excerpt from the Notes.]
Published by the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum, Castine, Maine. 1995. Hardcover. 139 pages: Size: 8 ½ in. (h) x 11 in. (w). Library of Congress #: 95-67689.
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ANN ELIZA BIRKBECK WILSON/ Letters of Friends and Relatives
Edited by Ellenore W. Doudiet
“Among those noted in the Letters are: George Birkbeck (1794 - 1832) and Sarah Wood Birkbeck (1795-1869), their children Ann Eliza, Emmeline, Georgianna (Sis), Alexander, John, George and William. Ann Eliza Birkbeck and Thomas Wilson had one child, John; Emmeline and Thomas Bunker had ten children including George, Josephine, Sarah, Albert, Grace and Florence; Georgianna and Edward Crabb(e) had five children including Ella, Lulu and Linda; Edward’s brother George W. Crabb married a beautiful mulatto and had several children, they moved from Brooklyn to Louisiana; Alexander and Mary (May) Tracy Birkbeck had three sons, Thomas, Edward and Ernest who died when young; John and Laura Rust Birkbeck had three daughters, Rosita, Emily and Georgianna (Georgie); George and Annie Birkbeck had (?) children including young George.
Also noted are David Cartwright (1799-1891) and Elizabeth Ceely (Ceeley) Cartwright (1803-1869), they had nine children including Emily, Harriet, Ellen, Thomas, Irene, Martha, Cassine and Fanny. Irene married Charles Woodbridge, they had three children, Charley, Lester and Bessie. Cassine married John Birkbeck Wilson, they had three sons Edward, John Howard and Arthur.
In Castine we meet Mrs. Williams, her sister Etta Sellers, the two young Williams boys, Fred and Harry, Fred’s wife Alice Corbett Williams, Alice’s parents, her sisters, brother, aunts and a cousin Georgia Johnson who married John Howard Wilson. The Corbetts background has appeared in other books - in Juliet Bowes Corbett and the Descendents of Robert Corbett.” [Excerpt from the Notes.]
Published by the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum, Castine, Maine. 1996. Hardcover. 165 pages: 8½ in. (h) x 11 in. (w). Library of Congress: # 96-86756.
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LEM A New England Village Boy
A Castine Boyhood Remembered
Lem is a novel based on the author’s boyhood in Castine, Maine. Noah Brooks was born on October 25, 1830, in Castine, the youngest of eight children. After losing both his parents at the age of seven, Noah was cared for by his sisters. Ten years later he began his travels, generally westward, but eventually returned to his beloved native town where he wrote Lem.
Brooks had a wonderful ability to express the attitudes of the times. In the following example, he must have well-remembered his own feelings at age eight, when, in 1838, Castine lost its position as shire-town to Ellsworth:
“It was a sad day for the boys of the village when, the county-seat having been moved to another town, that dear old bell, to whose music they had so long listened, was taken down and carried away. Lem, from a convenient perch on top of the Parker house, sat and watched the men, with ropes and blocks, taking down the bell from the court-house belfry. Once it was rolled over in its downward course, and it gave forth a muffled note as its iron tongue hit the bronze lips of the bell. It was a sorrowful cry and Lem, choking down a sob which he felt rising in his throat, shook his small fist at the workmen and said, “I’d like to lick you!” Lem, in his battles, which were many, did not always take a person of his size. And that, perhaps, was the reason why he often came out of the skirmish second-best.”
Reprint of the 1903 edition - Published by the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum, Castine, Maine. 1988. Foreword by Ellenore W. Doudiet. New illustrations and maps by Ellenore W. Doudiet and Patricia Hutchins. Paperback. 301 pages; 5 in. (w) x 7¼ in (h).
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STEAMBOAT LORE of the Penobscot
by John M. Richardson
An informal story of steam navigation in Maine’s Penobscot region, pictorially presented by John M. Richardson with a Foreword by Ben Ames Williams. This fifth edition printed in 2000 was first issued in 1941. Richardson acknowledges this as a composite work of many lovers of the steamboat: Elwin M. Eldredge, R. Loring Graham, Edward Rowe Snow, Sidney L. Winslow, W. H. Ballard, Capt. Rosswell Eaton, Capt. John G. Snow, Prof. C. Bradford Mitchell, Maryon Garrison, and others.
A limited number of these have been given by the family to the Wilson Museum; all proceeds from the sales are donated to the Museum.
Privately printed, Kennebec Journal Print Shop. 2000. Paperback, 205 pages; 7 in. (w) x 10 (h); profuse illustrations, well indexed.
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Castine from Hospital Island, 1855.
Print made from Fitz Hugh Lane’s 1855 lithograph. Reproduced 1977 by the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum, Castine, Maine. 21 in. (h) x 32 in. (w).
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1889 CASTINE Maine.
Print of a detailed and imaginative 1889 map of Castine, including the proposed-but-never-realized Castine & Bangor Railroad. Reproduced 1977 by the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum, Castine, Maine. 23 in. (h) x 35 in. (w).
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Sketch of the Position of Castine in the Bay of Penobscot with references
drawn by Capt. Bonneycastle, Royal Engineers
Color print of a historically significant map of Castine during the second British occupation of the town, September 1814 - April 1815 showing the positions of civilian structures, as well as military placements. Printed for the Castine Scientific Society, Wilson Museum, Castine, Maine. 20 in. (h) x 24 in. (w).
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