Selected Publications

Boothbay Region Historical Sketches (volume I)

The first volume of the book series, Boothbay Region Historical Sketches came out in April 1995. It is 192 pages long and includes 35 articles that have been in our popular column in the Boothbay Register. The book includes an index with more than a 1,000 names and 50 maps and photos. Multiple authors contributed to the book which is divided into five geographic sections: Sheepscot River Islands, Dover and Back River, West Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, East Boothbay; and a section entitled, "On the Water."

All articles are by Barbara Rumsey unless otherwise noted.

Chapter Titles

Highlights of Boothbay History

Section I: Sheepscot River Islands

The Old Oak Tree and the Mill on Barters Island, Parts I and II

Kimballtown, Parts I and II

Summer 1905, on Sawyers Island, Parts I and II, by Evelyn Hodgdon

Recollections of Indiantown Island, 1919-1929, Parts I and II, by Helen Little Hall

The S. G. Hodgdon Store and the Trevett Post Office, by Cathy Campbell

Section II: Dover and Back River

The Early History of the Dover Section of Boothbay, by John Welsh III

Michael Sinnett's Misadventures, by John Heyl

Ovens Mouth

Section III: West Harbor

Henry Curtis and West Harbor in 1666

The Heirship Road Map, Parts I and II

A West Harbor Feldspar Quarry, by Alden Stickney

Section IV: Boothbay Harbor

The Boothbay Harbor Fountain

Beaths and Wells in Boothbay Harbor

Time and Money, by Mark Voight

Will T. Marr and the Harbor in the Teens, Parts I and II, by Asa Tupper Sr.

World War II by Earl Leavitt

Section V: East Boothbay

East Boothbay Before 1826, Parts I and II

East Boothbay in 1668, Parts I and II

Henry Champnoise's 1679 Will

Seaveys and Shipyards, Parts I and II

Those Old Place Names

Section VI: On The Water

The Steamboat Era, by Alden Stickney

The Dory

The Great Pogy Era, Parts I and II, by Carl R. Griffin III

Section VII: Background

Profile of the Boothbay Region Historical Society

A Personal View of Local History

Notes on the Authors

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Boothbay Region Historical Sketches, Volume II

This second volume of Sketches included 56 more articles from the column. The subject matter ranges from: the creation of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the region brickyards, vanished features, Linekin Neck, the region in the 1840s and in the 1910s, profiles of some of our residents, and more.

Barbara Rumsey wrote most of the articles, while Asa Tupper Sr., Jim Stevens, and Alden Stickney provided four of them. The book is softcover, 288 pages long, with 55 illustrations: 13 maps, 36 photos, and six drawings or documents. Trustee emeritus Alden P. Stickney drew many small sketches specifically for the book in order to enliven the text.

Chapter Titles

Section I: The Creation of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor

Boothbay's Carrying Places

The Origin of the Name "Boothbay"

The Division of the Towns

Section II: Vanished Features

Boothbay Beasts

Bare and Rocky Boothbay

Horse Troughs

Boothbay's Old Willows

The Ice Boom of 1890, by the Boothbay Register

Section III: The War of 1812, The Civil War

Boothbay in the War of 1812 by Elizabeth F. Reed

Joseph Beath's July 1814 Letter

The Cannon on Sawyers Island

Benaiah Dolloff of Company K, 19th Maine

James Oliver Seavey on the Rappahannock

James E. Beath of Company E, 4th Maine, by Charlotte M. Beath

The Civil War Monument

Section IV: Boothbay in the 1840s

Boothbay in 1840

The 1840 Boothbay Census

Section V: Boothbay Brickyards

Boothbay Brickyards

The Morrison Brickyard

The Damariscotta River Block Plant and Brickyard

Section VI: Linekin Neck

The Holbrook Store in the 1860s

1880s Linekin, by Simeon Van Horn, Alberta V. Shute

Little River in the 1920s and 1850s

Section VII: The 1910s in the Boothbay Region

Household Life in Boothbay Harbor, 1915

1916 through the Boothbay Register

The Great Freeze of 1918

The Flu Epidemic of 1918

Section VIII: Some Memorable Townspeople

Richard Otis, by Jim Stevens

Photographers of the Boothbay Region by Alden Stickney

Winfield Thompson by Alden Stickney

Dr. James M. Todd, One of Boothbay Harbor's Great Benefactors by Asa Tupper, Sr.

Asa Tupper, Sr.

Sonny Hodgdon

Lincoln Giles

Hazel McCobb Poore

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Colonial Boothbay, Mid-1600s to 1775

Barbara Rumsey's book, Colonial Boothbay, Mid-1600s to 1775, is the first comprehensive study of Boothbay's colonial history. The struggle of the settlers to acquire, define, and control their land is analyzed through the use of primary sources.

Section 1 profiles the English settlers who pioneered at 1600s Winnegance, as Boothbay was then called. Included are both known colonists, such as Champnois and Curtis, as well as obscure settlers, all driven out in 1689. Featured also is the identification of nearby 1600s sites, such as Corbin's Sound and Two Bacon Marsh.

Section 2 covers the 1730 Scotch-Irish resettlement of Townsend, as Boothbay was then called, and its development through incorporation as Boothbay in 1764 and to the eve of the Revolution.

Binding the two sections together are the Montgomerys of 1700s East Boothbay. Colonial Boothbay is seen through the lens of the Montgomerys, who serve as carriers of information about another age and profilers of their own age. The suit brought by prior landowners, the Champnois family, against the Montgomerys preserved knowledge of the 1600s settlers. And the matters that dominate the area's 1700s history�the reliance on standing timber, class conflict, and lack of clear land title �converge in the Montgomery family. Their fight for autonomy, battling enemies, absent proprietors such as the Kennebec Proprietors, neighbors, and family members, reflects the fight of all Boothbay settlers to establish themselves and endure.

According to Rumsey, "My favorite period is the 1600s, but there is little documented about many of the region's earliest settlers." And it is there that the attraction lies for Rumsey. "I�ve always liked to solve mysteries, and, when you are interested in history, there are built-in mysteries everywhere."

It was through a 1736 court case that Rumsey made the two discoveries that pleased her the most. During one of her visits to the Maine State Archives Rumsey came upon a court document wherein a Pierce from Round Pond deposed that his father built a gristmill for Champnois in what is now East Boothbay in the mid-1600s. "So I could establish that the tide mill there, run by the Montgomerys, Murrays and finally the Hodgdons, predated the 1700s and had gone back to the previous century."

"No historian I know of had identified the true location of Two Bacon Marsh, a 1600s site in this area. So I was also delighted with the discovery of its true location," continued Rumsey, "at Salt Marsh Cove in Edgecomb. Champnois owned from Ocean Point all the way up to Salt Marsh Cove�about seven miles." As with the gristmill information, the Two Bacon Marsh's location was contained in the Champnois-Montgomery case.

"When I wrote the first book I knew I would keep writing with East Boothbay the focus." The first East Boothbay book, printed in 1995, dealt principally with the nineteenth-century Hodgdon shipyard and mill and the development of the village in that period. "This book profiles the region's colonial history principally through East Boothbay eyes, so it is the second volume of 'The East Boothbay Series,' explained Rumsey. "My favorite Boothbay figure is also one of the major figures in the book�Sarah Montgomery, who died in 1772. Whether chasing the Linekins with a broomstick or conducting her own court case, she had all the traits necessary to making it on the frontier�an outstanding, colorful woman. Even if you love local history, it can get a little humdrum at times�she certainly livened things up and made the writing more enjoyable for me."

"My main reason for writing is not because I like to write. I write because I like to do research. I think it would be almost irresponsible to do research and to let it fall away and not record it. If it's locked in only one head, it's as though it had never been done."

The 320-page paperback book contains thirty-four maps and photos. The appendices include the text of original documents cited in the body of the book and all existing lists that identify local pre-Revolutionary Boothbay settlers. The book's price is $16.80 including tax. Those in Maine should send $18.80 (tax and shipping included), and those out of state should send $18 (shipping included).

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Historical Society Produces Book of Historical Photographs

        Our newest book, Boothbay Region Revisited, is a pictorial history of the peninsula, principally focusing on Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor. This publishing enterprise, our first book devoted to photographs, is being undertaken in collaboration with Arcadia Publishing of Portsmouth, N. H.

        The book, which contains archival photographs of the region, along with explanatory text, is divided into eight chapters, each depicting an aspect of life here in earlier days. The chapters cover such topics as shipbuilding, summer communities, marine trades ashore, and commerce. Photographs and captions capture how people lived, worked, and played, and they include notable scenes, buildings, and people.

        Barbara Rumsey, BRHS director, was in charge of the project and a team of volunteers worked helping select photographs and write text. The 200 photographs in the book are culled mostly from the historical society's collection of more than 10,000. Volunteers working on the book were: Judy Cook, Doreen Dun, Jim Hunt, Andy Matthews, Faith Meyer, Robert Rice, Cathy Sherrill, Alden Stickney and Peggy Voight. Arcadia published, printed, and marketed the finished book. The historical society will receive royalty payments.

        The book, with an all-new selection of photographs, is Arcadia's second publication on Boothbay (the first was published in 1995) and the first with the historical society. Another Arcadia book on the Damariscotta River also includes a short section on Boothbay. Under the title "Images of America," Arcadia Publishing has produced pictorial histories of dozens of communities in the New England area and more than 2,000 titles worldwide.

Boothbay Region Revisited Order Form

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Boothbay, Maine Marriage Intentions, 1766-1904, Fred Bennett

Fred Bennett of Ontario spent untold hours creating a database of all Boothbay marriage intentions from 1766 to 1904. Fred principally used as sources Greene's 1766-1820 list of intentions in his 1906 history and Elizabeth F. Reed's never-published 1820-1904 list. Fred's work is laid out in five different formats: by date, man's last name, woman's last maiden name, man's first name, and woman's first name.
Fred generously donated all his labor and did the legwork to get the books bound. Bound with a plastic GBC spine, the work is 230 pages long and costs $21.20. With shipping, it is $23.20 for Maine residents, while it is $22 for out-of-state shipments.

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