China TIF committee discusses third amendment to program

by Mary Grow

Three members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee discussed the third amendment to the town’s TIF program, which they intend to ask the select board to present to voters at the Nov. 5 local election.

China’s TIF income is from taxes Central Maine Power Company pays on its transmission line through China and on its South China substation. The town’s 2024-25 tax rate will determine how much the TIF fund receives in the current fiscal year.

China select board members expect to have the information they need to set the tax rate at their Aug. 12 meeting. TIF committee members therefore scheduled an Aug. 19 meeting, expecting to have final figures for the revised plan.

The draft plan calls for TIF funding for one new project, seven on-going ones and matching funds for grants.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood explained that the new project, labeled “Causeway, Phase Two,” will follow up on changes made at the head of China Lake’s east basin with earlier TIF funding. Those included a new bridge with sidewalks, improved boat docks and more parking.

A second phase would include extending the sidewalk farther west and adding one or more docks where people can fish and swim away from the boat landing. Currently, committee members said, people fish from and swim around the boat docks, creating a potentially dangerous situation.

The projects scheduled to continue to receive TIF funding are: improvements at the South China boat landing, aimed at reducing erosion into China Lake; economic development programs; economic development events, like the just-completed China Community Days celebration; marketing China as a business location; environmental improvements; trails maintenance and improvements; and expanded broadband service.

Committee member Jamie Pitney, who drafted the revisions, said state rules allow TIF dollars to be used to match “certain grants.” Since China has not used this category, he is unsure what types of grants are included.

The revised plan deletes funding for two underused and unused projects, the revolving loan fund intended to assist small businesses and the job training program.

Resident Joann Austin attended the Aug. 5 meeting to ask about TIF-supported cultural events. Committee members could not immediately think of any such projects that would meet state TIF requirements.

Committee chairman Brent Chesley and member Lucas Adams thanked Pitney for drafting the 57-page plan. Assuming voters approve it in November, it will be forwarded to state officials in the Department of Economic and Community Development for their approval. If accepted, it will replace China’s current Second Amended TIF Program, approved in 2021.

China planners have new mass gathering ordinance ready for select board

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members decided at their July 30 meeting that they have a proposed new town ordinance ready to forward to select board members.

The document is titled “Mass Gathering Ordinance” and is intended to regulate events that bring 500 or more people to a site, in order to protect nearby residents and participants. Board members began discussion at their July 9 meeting (see the July 18 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

Board chairman Toni Wall said the title is based on state law. Board members are working from an ordinance that Vassalboro voters narrowly rejected three years ago, adapted to fit China.

Much of the July 30 discussion focused on the application process – what information someone planning to hold a large gathering, like an outdoor concert or a road race, needs to provide. Planners agreed requiring an application three months before the event was scheduled to start was reasonable.

They included a required public hearing to collect comments before acting on an application.

The ordinance, if recommended by the select board and approved by voters (perhaps on Nov. 5), would not apply to pre-existing venues where gatherings are normally held.

The ordinance, if recommended by the select board and approved by voters (perhaps on Nov. 5), would not apply to pre-existing venues where gatherings are normally held. Board members agreed it would not affect most ongoing events, from church fairs and fire department fund-raisers to the annual China Community Days celebration.

Vassalboro’s ordinance was drafted in response to a planned country music festival on private property. The festival was never held.

Wall said she would forward the draft ordinance to town attorney Amanda Meader for her review before it goes to the select board.

Planning board members had one other piece of business July 30, a revised plan for Novel Energy Systems’ solar development on Parmenter Hill Road, approved last fall. Codes Enforcement Officer Nicholas French said Novel Energy has had to buy a different type of solar panel, which requires a different configuration.

There is no change in the size of the area panels will cover, or in buffers or other aspects of the project that affect neighboring lots, French said.

Board members unanimously approved the revised plan.

The next regular China planning board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13.

PHOTO: Summer beauty

Emily and James Poulin, of South China, photographed this female black swallowtail butterfly.

EVENTS: Learn about the art of rug hooking at Chapman-Hall House

Chapman-Hall House

Textile artist Kathie Hills will demonstrate and discuss the art and craft of hooking rugs at the historic Chapman-Hall House, on Sunday, August 11, from noon to 4 p.m. Her demonstration is free and open to the public.

Hills will demonstrate the craft and exhibit pieces she has created after learning rug hooking from LaVerne Dickson and Margorie Freeman, local women known for their mastery of this functional art form. A member of the Waldoboro Historical Society, she is well versed in the history of hooked rugs and their significance to Waldoboro.

On permanent display at the Chapman-Hall House are 12 antique hooked rugs, two of which show designs in the early stages of development.

Also included in the exhibit is a copy of the 1884 E.S. Frost Rug Patterns catalog. Edward Sands Frost, of Biddeford, was famous for selling canvases printed with pattern designs for various size rugs, as well as foot stool covers and slippers. Only a few pattern illustrations are printed in the catalog, which offers for sale nearly 200 canvases at prices ranging from 15 cents to $1.25.

The Chapman-Hall House is located at 270 Main Street, Damariscotta.

For more information about the Lincoln County Historical Association visit www.lincolncountyhistory.org and Facebook at Lincoln County Historical Association Maine.

Cassidy’s birthday book drive to support Local Little Libraries

Peyton Belyeu checks out the books in the ShineOnCass Lending Library, where free books are available to kids attending summer and after-school care programs at Alfond Youth and Community Center, in Waterville. Photo in background is Cassidy Charette. (photo courtesy of Monica Charette)

by Monica Charette

ShineOnCass Foundation invites the community to join “Cassidy’s Birthday Book Drive” to help shine a light on childhood literacy and inspire reading. The ShineOnCass Foundation, named and created in memory of Cassidy Charette, will collect children’s books during the month of August to help fill the shelves of local Little Free Libraries. Volunteers will deliver donated books on what would be Cassidy’s 27 birthday on August 31.

A registered Little Free Library, located at 93 Water Street, in Waterville, is among more than a dozen “take a book, share a book” free libraries located throughout central Maine. ShineOnCass Foundation is collecting books for Little Free Libraries during the month of August and will distribute donations on Cassidy Charette’s birthday, August 31. For a list of local Little Free Libraries, visit shineoncass.org. (photo courtesy of Monica Charette)

A Little Free Library is a “take a book, share a book” free book exchange in communities nationally and internationally. Thousands of Little Free Libraries, owned and supported by volunteer stewards, are located in communities in over 120 countries. More than a dozen Little Free Libraries are located in central Maine, including a ShineOnCass Lending Library for children at the Alfond Youth and Community Center in Waterville. A list of local Little Free Library locations can be found on the ShineOnCass website, shineoncass.org.

“Our mission is to make books accessible for kids, expand their knowledge, and inspire future readers,” says Monica Charette, Cassidy’s mother and executive director of the ShineOnCass Foundation. Cassidy, a 17-year-old Oakland resident who died in a hayride accident in 2014, was an avid reader, youth mentor, and a lifelong community volunteer.

“We believe expanding literacy access to local families is a meaningful way to celebrate the day Cassidy was born, by giving back and sharing her love for reading with kids.”

New and gently used books for children and young adults can be donated all month at Camden National Bank, at 51 Main Street, in Oakland, or at 258 Kennedy Memorial Drive, in Waterville. Books will be distributed to Little Free Libraries on Cassidy’s birthday on August 31.

For more information about Cassidy’s Birthday Book Drive or the ShineOnCass Foundation, visit shineoncass.org.

Issue for August 1, 2024

Issue for August 1, 2024

Celebrating 36 years of local news

Cruisin’ for a Cure car show raises over $21,000 for Maine Children’s Cancer program

The 10th Annual Cruisin’ for A Cure Car Show, hosted by New Dimensions Federal Credit Union, on June 1, 2024, was a huge success! Held at the Robert LaFleur Airport, the event saw 168 car owners and enthusiasts as well as hundreds of spectators come together for a day filled with classic cars and community spirit, all in support of a great cause…

Unique Hawai’ian public supper at Vassalboro Methodist Church

The Vassalboro United Methodist Church (VUMC) monthly public supper is taking a twist on Saturday, August 17, from their traditional menu. One of the organizers, Simone Antworth said, “We had been thinking for some time about offering pulled pork as an alternative and when we realized that Hawai’i is celebrating 65 years of statehood in August we decided to honor Hawai’i by offering some of their traditional foods this time”…

Town News

First responders receive $17,500 grant from blue ribbon commission

VASSALBORO – Money was a major theme at the July 25 Vassalboro select board meeting, and for once, some was coming in instead of going out….

Planners OK water district shoreland zoning permit in 15 minutes

VASSALBORO – Vassalboro Planning Board members needed only a quarter-hour-long July 23 meeting to approve the Kennebec Water District’s application for a shoreland zoning permit on Outlet Stream near the KWD plant on Route 32…

Town revaluation puts property values near 100 percent

CHINA – China select board members heard information at their July 29 meeting that they hope will let them set the 2024-25 local tax rate at their Aug. 12 meeting…

LETTERS: Will not seek re-election

from Janet Preston (China Select Board) – I would like to thank the residents of China for supporting me over the last five years in my role on the select board. I have learned a lot about local government and have enjoyed representing your interests. However, I will not be seeking another term. Nomination papers are now available for the November election at the Town Office, and I encourage you to get involved and run for my spot. It’s time for some new faces…

Name that film!

Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to The Maine Film Center, in Waterville: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is August 8, 2024.

Webber’s Pond comic

Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by a local central Maine resident (click on the thumbnail to enlarge)…

AYCC holds first summer camp games

WATERVILLE – The Inaugural Summer Camp Olympics 2024 event held , Friday, July 26, was fantastic, according to Ken Walsh, chief executive officer, at the Alfond Youth and Community Center, in Waterville…

China Historical Society Museum open to public Saturday during China Community Days

CHINA – To help promote this year’s China Days celebration, the China Historical Society’s Museum will be open for exploration on Saturday, August 3, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. This facility, located in the old town hall, on Lakeview Drive, contains for the present time the society’s collection of artifacts, documents and memorabilia…

Local happenings

EVENTS: China Community Days schedule of events Friday, August 2 – Sunday, August 4

CHINA – Schedule for China Community Days this weekend!…

EVENTS: Windsor Fair set for Aug. 24 – Sept. 2

WINDSOR – Maine’s second largest agricultural fair will be offering harness racing, Rockwell Amusements Midway, exhibition hall, historical museum, livestock, demo derbies, truck/tractor/livestock pull events, live music, agricultural education and more…

EVENTS: Sidney Masons to hold annual pig roast

SIDNEY – The Ancient Free and Accepted Masons invite the public to their third annual “Pig Roast”. Last year’s event was met with such enthusiasm; they decided to repeat this year. Rural Lodge #53, of Sidney, was established in 1827 and has always maintained a strong community presence…

EVENTS: Kennebec Land Trust hosts annual celebration of land conservation

CENTRAL ME – Join the Kennebec Land Trust (KLT) to celebrate another successful year of advancing land conservation throughout the Kennebec River and Lakes Region! Founded in 1988, KLT has conserved over 7,700 acres and constructed more than 58 miles of trails on KLT lands…

EVENTS: A Capital Read gets underway in Augusta

AUGUSTA – The Friends of Lithgow Library are happy to announce that our 2024 A Capital Read selection is Tess Gerritsen’s The Spy Coast. A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past in this fresh take on the spy thriller in Gerritsen’s latest book…

EVENTS: Food, Fun, and Friends meet at the community cookout

PALERMO – The fun begins at 4 p.m., on Saturday, August 3, at 26 Veterans Way, in Palermo, as people gather for a celebration of summer in the Palermo Community Garden behind the gray mobile home…

EVENTS: “No Spring Chickens” & prizes at Democratic lobster bake

WALDOBORO – “No Spring Chickens” – Two chicks with guitars, dynamic vocals, and lush harmonies” – will provide music during the Lincoln County Democratic Committee (LCDC) Family Fun Day Lobster Bake on Sunday, Aug. 4, in Waldoboro…

EVENTS: 53rd annual blueberry festival set for Aug. 10

WINSLOW – One of Maine’s all-time most popular, beloved, and downright yummy summer events – Winslow’s annual Blueberry Festival – is coming this year on Saturday, August 10, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., to Winslow Congregational Church, 12 Lithgow Street, Winslow. Admission to the festival grounds is FREE…

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Annual chicken BBQ, rummage sale in So. China

So.CHINA – The South China Community Church, 246 Village St., in South China, will be having their annual chicken BBQ on Saturday, August 10, from 11 a.m. until they run out. The menu includes chicken, beans, coleslaw, potato salad, pickles and a roll for $12. To pre-order, call Darlene at 717-682-8364. Rummage sale and the Cookie Walk will run from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m… and many other local events!

Obituaries

CHINA ­­– Dominque Madeline Andrews, 23, passed away suddenly of natural causes on July 22, 2024 at home. She was born November 23, 2000, a daughter of Richard L. Andrews Jr. and Michelle M. (Qualey) Andrews…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Sidney (new)

SIDNEY HISTORY — The town on the west bank of the Kennebec River south of Waterville that is now Sidney began as part of Vassalboro, the town on the east bank… by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Waterville

WATERVILLE HISTORY — Waterville, now a city, started as the part of Winslow on the west bank of the Kennebec River. In the 1902 centennial history, editor and writer Edwin Carey Whittemore traced Winslow/ Waterville’s origin from Native American settlements onward… by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Fairfield

FAIRFIELD HISTORY — This article brings readers to Fairfield, northernmost of the four municipalities in this series on the west bank of the Kennebec River. Fairfield is across the river from Benton and Clinton. Fairfield is one of the two towns in the series outside Kennebec County; it is far enough north to be in Somerset County… by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Albion

ALBION HISTORY — Of the town and city names your writer has explored in this subseries, none has yet been as frustrating as the Town of Albion. Sources agree on names and dates. In 1802, Freetown Plantation was incorporated, including most of present-day Albion and the northern end of what is now the separate town of China… by Mary Grow

Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!

DEADLINE: Wednesday, August 15, 2024

Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Hannaford Supermarket! Email your answer to townline@townline.org or through our Contact page. Include your name and address with your answer. Use “Common Ground” in the subject!

Previous winner: Nancy Marston, Weeks Mills

Town Line Original Columnists

Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee | For some reason, this summer, I am getting more and more questions about poison ivy. Where is it? What does it look like? What do you do about it and how do you treat it?…

THE BEST VIEW

by Norma Best Boucher | “Hey, great shoes!” I hear a man yell across the convenience store parking lot. “Thanks!” I answer loudly as I look around for the person with the compliment…

VETERANS CORNER

by Gary Kennedy | First I will apologize to our readers as I had promised to continue my VA series but for some reason I have misplaced two articles. I will start today by briefly defining some of the questions asked of me and then elaborate on a particular issue. We can do this each week. Thousands of subscribers read this column so I am very sure we are bound to eventually cross paths with your question…

SMALL SPACE GARDENING

by Melinda Myers | There never seems to be enough room for all the plants you want to grow. If space allows, create new garden beds to expand your planting space and increase the beauty of your landscape…

FOR YOUR HEALTH

HEALTH | You generally won’t need to see your doctor to be diagnosed with a poison ivy rash. If you go to a clinic, your doctor will likely diagnose your rash by looking at it. You usually won’t need further testing…

EVENTS: China Community Days schedule of events Friday, August 2 – Sunday, August 4

2024 China Community Days Schedule (click to open in new window) PDF

THE BEST VIEW: “Make My Day”

by Norma Best Boucher

“Hey, great shoes!” I hear a man yell across the convenience store parking lot.

“Thanks!” I answer loudly as I look around for the person with the compliment.

There he is, a thin, old man with a scraggly white beard sitting in an old beat-up red truck.

“I like them shoes!” he adds in a deep Southern drawl as he drives away.

He made my day.

I like these shoes, too. In fact, they are my “this is going to be a great day” bright yellow Crocs shoes. On a sunny day they complete a matching outfit with the brightness of the sun; on a personally questionable day they put an extra bit of sunshine in my attitude; and on a cloudy day such as today they are a slice of sunshine breaking up the gray of the day.

Besides, these yellow shoes also show a certain pizzazz against the water in the puddles I am forced to wade. And…plastic shoes are waterproof to boot, pun intended.

This incident causes me to think about compliments in general and how they make us feel. I remember hearing my mother say, “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.” Through trials and many errors, I now accept her warning.

A compliment that I will always remember was when my kindergarten teacher told me I had shiny blonde hair. My father was a tow head blond, and my mother was a beautiful brunette. My hair color was in-between and what people called dirty blonde.

At five years old I thought dirty blonde sounded not very pretty, so when my teacher asked me to ask my mother what shampoo she used to make my hair so shiny, I found out and proudly announced that she used an egg shampoo.

Many years later after I had taught for several years, I saw that kindergarten teacher in a jewelry store. I introduced myself.

Apparently, we had been one of her first classes. She remembered my name and, as unbelievable as it sounds, asked, “Didn’t you have blonde hair?”

I felt the glow of her original compliment once again.

When I was young, my family rented a camp on China Lake. There was a young woman who lived in another camp nearby. She was Native American and had beautiful long black hair and pretty eyes.

I never knew her name. I called her “The Pretty Lady.”

We rented that camp for several summers. The Pretty Lady got married and stayed at the camp with her husband and her mother. I quietly accompanied my mother whenever she visited the family. My mother had told her what I called her, so I remained shy about talking to her

Many years later when I was much older, I saw this woman in a grocery store. She had short black hair, but her face was unmistakable. She had seemed so much older than I when I was young, but I realized that she had been a very young woman, newlywed, when I knew her.

I walked down the aisle to speak with her. “You don’t know me and probably won’t remember me, but when I was young, my family rented a camp near you. I used to call you The Pretty Lady.”

She gave me a questioning look and asked, “You recognized me?”

“Oh, yes,” I told her. I should have added but didn’t, “You are just as pretty as ever.”

She looked straight at me, and with the same soft smile and pretty eyes, she answered, “I remember.”

After I retired from teaching, I worked several years at a bookstore. Because I had taught high school English students, the managers decided that I would make a good facilitator for their new young children’s programs.

Not having taught little children before, I called upon a professional preschool teacher I knew for advice. She told me to read them a story, give them snacks, and let them glue and glitter something, and I would be a success.

My first group of preschoolers came through. There were nine four-year-olds and one three-year-old. I was told the three-year-old was very precocious and fit right in with the older children.

After I read them the story, we had a very animated question and answer discussion. The three-year-old sat very quietly listening and watching the other children’s actions. Ending the talk, I asked if there were any more questions.

The three-year-old raised her hand.

“Yes. What is your question?” I asked.

This beautiful little girl with short legs dangling from a too big chair responded, “My name is Sylvie.”

She held up three fingers. “I’m three years old.”

She pointed to her foot. “I have new shoes, and I came to school to have fun.”

I waited a few seconds taking in her innocence and candor. Then I did what every lawyer says never to do. I asked a question for which I did not know the answer.

“Wonderful, Sylvie, and are you having fun today?” I asked.

Sylvie scrunched up her face in deep thought. Then she relaxed, smiled, and answered, “Yes!”

She made my day.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Sidney

by Mary Grow

The town on the west bank of the Kennebec River south of Waterville that is now Sidney began as part of Vassalboro, the town on the east bank.

There seems to be unanimous agreement among historians that Sidney was incorporated as a separate town on Jan. 30, 1792, and that it was named after the British courtier, man of letters and soldier Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586). (See box.)

The historians your writer found are equally unanimous in their silence on two topics: why Sidney separated from Vassalboro, and why the new town was named in honor of a 200-years-dead Englishman.

Two important sources your writer consulted are Alma Pierce Robbins’ 1971 history of Vassalboro and Alice Hammond’s 1992 history of Sidney. Both wrote about the Native Americans who lived along that stretch of the Kennebec and the Europeans who supplanted them.

Hammond, focused on the west bank of the river, repeated two legends about the Natives, one that indicated that swimming across Messalonskee Lake was a test of hardihood for young Natives, boys and girls alike.

Messalonskee Lake, aka Snow Pond, was once entirely in western Sidney and is now shared by Sidney and Belgrade, the next town west. It is more than eight miles long and makes up about the northern two-thirds of Sidney’s west boundary.

Hammond, again quoting the collector of legends, wrote that the name Messalonskee came from the Native word “muskalog,” or giant pike (still known as a muskellunge or muskie). Wikipedia says the alternate name Snow Pond recognizes Philip Snow, a settler there in 1774.

(Another important wet area is the Great Sidney Bog, in the southern end of town. In William D. Williamson’s 1832 History of the District of Maine, he wrote that Sidney covered 20,000 acres, “of which 1,000 is a bog.”

(Hammond, in 1992, said the bog covered 640 acres, two-thirds in Sidney and the rest in Augusta. An on-line State of Maine website calls the bog an area of statewide ecological significance, a 605-acre example of a Raised Level Bog.)

In her Vassalboro history, Robbins gave the 1761 survey by Nathan Winslow as the Kennebec Proprietors’ action that spurred settlement on the Vassalboro section of the Kennebec. Early family names she mentioned include Bacon, Faught, Lovejoy and Marsh.

“The land transactions in Vassalboro were in the beginning more active on the west side of the river,” Robbins wrote. One reason she gave was the streams that flowed into the Kennebec from the west and were dammed to provide water power for sawmills and grist mills.

Henry Kingsbury, in his Kennebec County history, gave a second reason, Sidney’s “superior attractions for settlement.”

“After inspecting the adjacent sections on either side, an observer must have been agreeably impressed, then as now, with its comparatively level surface and the infrequency of rugged hills and still more rugged rocks,” he wrote.

For the prospective farmer, he continued, “The soil on the eastern half, that borders the river, is very favorable for cultivation and the production of grain and grass, but not as well adapted to fruit trees as the western half, in which apples are a staple crop.”

He also praised the “variety and enormous growth” of the forests, which kept mills busy “for more than half a century”; and recognized the value of the river as a transportation artery for farm and forest products.

After Vassalboro was incorporated on April 26, 1771, Robbins wrote that the first town meeting was held May 22, 1771, at James Bacon’s. She described him as “physician and innkeeper.” He is referred to in various sources as Dr. James Bacon and as James H. Bacon; your writer thinks these references are all to the same man.

Robbins did not say on which side of the Kennebec James Bacon had his tavern. Michael Denis, in his extensive Bacon genealogy, says it was on the west – Sidney – side; and your writer has found supporting evidence.

Dr. James Bacon was born June 30, 1738, in Billerica, Massachusetts. On Sept. 23, 1764, in Hallowell, he married Abigail Marsh, born in Menden, Massachusetts, Nov. 24, 1747. Her father, John Marsh, had come to what would become Sidney in 1760; in 1763, Denis wrote, Bacon received a land grant in future Sidney.

Between 1767 and 1790, Familysearch says, the James Bacons had seven daughters and three sons (other sources list fewer children). They named their oldest daughter, who was born in 1767 and died in 1812, Abigail. Her birthplace is given as Kennebec, Maine, and she married a Vassalboro man in 1786.

The oldest son was James Josiah Bacon, born in 1770 and died in 1834. Familysearch says he was born in Vassalboro and married a Vassalboro woman in 1791.

At least four of James and Abigail’s children were born in Sidney, according to Familysearch. They were Sarah B., born in 1775 (and died in Sidney); Lydia, born in 1781 (and died in Sidney); William Marsh, born Sept. 22, 1782 (and was married and died in Sidney); and Ebenezer, born in 1788. Hannah, born in Maine about 1778, died in Sidney (Find a Grave has a photo of her gravestone in Sidney’s Field Cemetery; it says she died June 11, 1867, age 89).

James Bacon’s older brother, Ebenezer Bacon, was definitely a Sidney resident. Robbins cited a July 14, 1773, deed to him from the Kennebec Proprietors for 500 acres “lying on the West side of the Kennebec River.”

Ebenezer Bacon was born in Bedford, Massachusetts, on Sept. 15, 1736, and married Abigail Farwell (1734-1817), in Boston, in 1762. She was the widow of Levi Richardson, whom she had married in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1753.

Ebenezer and Abigail had at least two daughters and two sons, born between Jan. 1, 1763 and Aug. 23, 1770; Familysearch says all four were born in Sidney. The older boy was Ebenezer Bacon Jr., born in 1765; the younger girl, born in 1770, was Abigail.

The senior Ebenezer died Feb. 12, 1798, in Sidney. Abigail died in Vassalboro in September 1817.

Robbins summarized what she considered major actions at that first Vassalboro town meeting in 1771, and at following ones. Among decisions pertinent to Sidney were a spring 1773 vote to provide “a burying ground on each side of the river”; and a November 1773 decision to build a meeting house on the “west side of the river.”

In 1786, she wrote, without further explanation: “Talk of separating the Town by the river began, the east side to keep the incorporation.” A few paragraphs later, Robbins wrote, “In 1793 the accounts between the Towns of Sidney and Vassalborough were adjusted, and Vassalborough became the east side of the Kennebec River.”

When Alice Hammond took up the story of Sidney as a separate town, she described the 1761 survey by Nathan Winslow that laid out three tiers of lots on either shore of the Kennebec. In 1774, she continued, John Jones surveyed two more tiers west of the original three, “completing the survey from the Kennebec River west to Lake Messalonskee.”

Between the two surveys was a narrow strip, called a gore (many Maine towns had gores). The gore, too, was divided into lots. Hammond wrote that one of its six sections, including five of its 56 lots, was named the Bacon Tract .

Hammond found copies of land deeds from the 1770s at the Kennebec Registry of Deeds in Augusta. She listed some of the early Sidney landowners as Dr. James Bacon, Ebenezer Bacon, Abiel (alternately spelled Abial in the early documents she cited) Lovejoy, and John Marsh.

She then reprinted a Feb. 26, 1892, Kennebec Journal article listing early Sidney settlers, in recognition of the town’s 100th anniversary.

This list includes William Bacon (Sept. 22, 1782 – Oct. 15, 1852), James and Abigail’s son. The newspaper writer said:

“Mr. Bacon kept a tavern in the house that sits where Carlos Hammond now [1892] lives and it is said used to dispense ‘New England rum’ at a ‘four pence ha’penny’ a glass. It was from him that Bacon’s Corner takes its name.”

An on-line map shows Bacon’s Corner in south central Sidney, west of Interstate 95, the four-way intersection of Dinsmore and Shepherd roads with Middle Road.

Sidney’s first town meeting, Hammond said, was called by Abial Lovejoy, constable, at David Smiley’s. Smiley she described as an “inn keeper on the River Road,” the closest to the Kennebec of several north-south roads through Sidney.

Hammond did not date the first meeting, but it was early in 1792, because the second one was in May of that year, she said. Voters at that meeting chose a four-man committee to settle accounts with Vassalboro.

Hammond said nothing more about the committee, but apparently its work succeeded, since Robbins was able to report that the towns’ accounts were settled in 1793.

Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney

Wikipedia’s long article on Sir Philip Sidney calls him a “poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age.”

He was born Nov. 30, 1554, at Penshurst Place, a still-standing medieval castle 32 miles southwest of London. The house, built in 1341, had been in the family since 1552, when King Edward VI granted it to Sidney’s grandfather.

Sidney was the oldest of at least three children. Educated at Christ Church, part of Oxford University, he went on his first diplomatic mission at age 18, one of a delegation that failed to arrange a marriage between Queen Elizabeth and a son of the French King Henry II.

(Readers may remember that Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 to 1603, was known as “the virgin queen” – she never did marry.)

After three years in Europe, Sidney returned to England where, Wikipedia says, he occupied himself with “politics and art,” including terms in Parliament in the 1580s. Simultaneously he was active in the military, fighting for the Protestant cause in Ireland in 1575 and 1576 and in the Netherlands in 1585 and 1586.

His literary works included a collection of poems, a romance and a critical work on poetry. The Wikipedia writer considered the last two influential in the subsequent development of English literature.

Queen Elizabeth knighted Sidney in 1583. The same year, he married Frances Walshingham, 16-year-old daughter of the Queen’s principal secretary; they named their daughter, born in 1585, Elizabeth.

On Sept. 22, 1586, Sidney was wounded at the Battle of Zutphen in the Netherlands, where English troops were supporting Dutch Protestants against Spanish Catholics. He died of gangrene on Oct. 17, aged 31.

Main sources

Denis, Michael J., Families of Oakland, Maine December 2023 found on line.
Hammond, Alice, History of Sidney Maine 1792-1992 (1992).
Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892).
Robbins, Alma Pierce, History of Vassalborough Maine 1771 1971 n.d. (1971).

Websites, miscellaneous.

China Historical Society Museum open to public Saturday during China Community Days

The interior of the China History Museum.

To help promote this year’s China Days celebration, the China Historical Society’s Museum will be open for exploration on Saturday, August 3, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. This facility, located in the old town hall, on Lakeview Drive, contains for the present time the society’s collection of artifacts, documents and memorabilia, and is a vast treasure of the town’s history. Any and all are welcome to visit and they will be pleased to show you the space and its contents. You may even discover a part of your own family’s past. Hope to see you there!