SPRING CLEANUP DAY AT THE EAST DEERING/GRAND TRUNK CEMETERY

Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideal.

Sir William Gladstone 

     Sunday, April 24th  was the fifth annual Spring Cleanup Day at the East Deering/Grand Trunk Cemetery.  It was a bright, but cool afternoon.  The daffodils greeted all that came to participate. 

 I want to share photos of the day as a way of chronicling the continued efforts to preserve this small remnant of Portland's history.  In comparison to other ancient cemeteries in the city, this one suffered the most damage, and little remains of the gravestones that once memorialized those who were buried here by loving family members. 

     Throughout the graveyard were scattered bits of slate and field stones, some rather large with no markings, no inscribed names or eulogizing words.  None-the-less, these bits and pieces were once important monuments.  During the afternoon, in the process of raking up leaves, broken twigs and the never ending glass that seems to come to the surface every Spring, the remnants were placed in a pile to be buried and marked so that they will remain in the cemetery no longer scattered or tossed away.

     It was a good day!  It is to be noted  that the project begun by Samantha Allshouse and Kayla Theriault over six years ago continues whenever people gather to offer their care and support.  Portland Girl Scouts have continued this legacy and offer their service each Spring and Fall.  We are so grateful to them, their families and the Friends of the Grand Trunk Cemetery.  Many thanks to Robert McMann and the Portland Cemeteries for loaning us rakes, gloves and bags and for their continued encouragement over the years.

     

A new generation:  Kayla Theriault's little son Jacob checking out the chipmunk's hole.

Twenty bags of leaves were gathered, and additional piles were left for pickup.

Girl Scouts with their parents and Grandparents participated.

Picking up the never-ending glass shards.

Yes, that's me.

Norma Sawyer

My husband, Joel, tackles the right side of the cemetery.

The Grand Trunk Veterans' Memorial

Three generations of Girl Scouts.

Benjamin Sawyer, direct descendant of Anthony Sawyer who is interred here.

     It was a good day, with good people whose efforts are appreciated and a tribute to those interred at this cemetery.  For those of you who follow this blog from 'Away', if you are ever in Portland, we hope you will take a little time from your schedule to visit the cemetery behind the Presumpscot School in Portland.  It's a lovely place for a family walk or sitting on a bench and reflecting.  Hopefully, someday soon we will have the street signs installed so that people will more easily be able to know where the cemetery is located.

Patriots' Day 2016

Governor Frederic T. Greenheige, of Massachusetts proclaimed the first celebration of Patriots' Day in 1894, replacing the traditional Fast Day as a public holiday.  It was originally celebrated on April 19th to commemorate the date of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, which initiated the fight for independence from Britain, and the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  Maine, originally part of Massachusetts, replaced the Fast Day in 1907 and established the day as a public holiday.

Today, the holiday may may not hold the same significance in the light of more recent events in our Nation; namely 911. Except for the occasional re-enactments, the Boston Marathon, and here in Portland, the Patriots' Day race, we have a holiday from school and work.  I would, however, like to remember our own Patriots .....

 the men who left home and farm to join in the fight for freedom and whose efforts resulted in the establishment of America as an independent Nation. They are: Lieut. Crispus Graves, Pvt. Simon Davis, Pvt. Joseph Lunt and Pvt. John Sawyer, Jr.

    John Sawyer, Jr. whose memorial marker indicates his service in the War of 1812, also served as a very young man at the Penobscot Expedition during the Revolutionary War.  If readers are interested in knowing more about these men, you will find information about them in earlier postings on this blog.  Their contribution should be celebrated and not forgotten.

     Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Maine's renowned poet, wrote a poem we may remember from our childhood:  The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.  I'd like to include it here.

Longfellow  at the publishing of the poem in 1860 in The Atlantic under the title:The Landlord's Tale, Paul Revere's Ride

     I found some wonderful renditions of the poem on U Tube you might enjoy.  As I read recently, the significance of the poem is not the legendary ride, but the fact that brave men, and the families that supported them, believed in a noble cause and were willing to defend that cause at any cost.

     On July 4, 1837, at the completion of The Battle Monument, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the Concord Hymn which was sung on that day's celebration.

The entire hymn to follow:

     Spring is finally here:  I think!.  The daffodils, planted last fall and the previous autumns at the Grand Trunk Cemetery,  are not yet fully in bloom.  However, next Sunday afternoon, Friends of the Grand Trunk Cemetery and the Portland Girl Scouts will join together for our annual Spring Cleanup of the cemetery.  This is our sixth year and we hope to be joined by neighbors, friends and families in a continued effort to honor those early settlers of the East Deering Village by beautifying and preserving this little remnant of Portland's history.  So is you are so inclined, bring a rake and join us!

     Enjoy your Patriots' Day holiday however you celebrate.  Remember those for whom it is named.

     I came across Mr. David Manchester's speech delivered at the Dedication Ceremony of the memorial stone for Joseph Lunt and thought it appropriate to include here on the celebration of Patriots' Day 2016:  a reflection for the day.

Thank you, also, Lieut. Crispus Graves

This flag was carried in battle by soldiers from New England and
has been placed at the memorial markers of
our Revolutionary War Veterans

Crispus Graves, 1816 - 1879

The Graves School

Musings

    "The evil that men do, lives after them,

the good is oft interred with their bones."

     While I'm sure readers recognize this quote from Anthony's speech at the funeral of Julius Cesar, it has been popping up in my thoughts as I have thought about writing this post. 

     What of the 150 or so men, women and children buried at the East Deering/Grand Trunk Cemetery whose names and records have been lost over time.  What of their lives, their contribution to the story of the city of Portland? Has their 'goodness' been buried with their bones? 

     Many cemeteries read like stone journals; pages in the history of a people, place and time.  I am so grateful to the people and organizations like Maine Old Cemetery Association, Maine Genealogical Society, our Maine Historical Society, and the individual towns and cities with their Historical Societies; friends groups like Spirits Alive and Friends of Evergreen Cemetery for their commitment and work to preserve history for our future. 

     Since beginning this blog dedicated to the reclamation of the old East Deering Cemetery, and to keeping alive whatever stories there are left of those folks who settled here, I am always surprised and excited when new pieces of the tapestry reveal themselves.  Such is the case in point.

      On August 31, 2013, I published a post entitled:  Crispus Graves, Hermit of East Deering Village,  about the eccentric, but kindly man who, resided in East Deering with his brother Ebenezer Graves until his death on March 15, 1879.  Recently, I have found some wonderful additions to his story that I hope readers of this blog will find as intriguing as I have.  

     Crispus Graves was born in 1816, the famous year without a summer.  "Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death" was an expression used in a number of accounts of the cold summers from 1811 - 1817, but the summer of 1816, is recorded in the annals of New England as "The Year There Was No Summer."  Spring was late and very dry.  The growing season in Maine, from late spring to early fall was effected by damaging and prolonged cold waves that devastated crops on the vine and in the fields.  Wide-spread snow falls were experienced from Northern and central New England to New York and even, in one account I read, to Chambersburg, PA. where my daughter, Rachel lives. 

   The Portland  Eastern Argus   reported a snowfall  in Portland on July 4, 1816, as between 9 and 12 inches.  The corn crop, a staple for the diets of humans and animals was destroyed.  In many areas of Maine, people headed out west, having lost their animals and crops.  It was a difficult time, despite the hardiness of the Maine farmers.  

I found this Image depicting the poverty and migration during the Summer of 1816

     If readers are interested in knowing more about the Summer of 1816, check out the following:

http://www.milbridgehistoricalsociety.org/previous/no_summer.html,

http://www.mainestory.info/maine-stories/winter.html, and

http://www.islandnet.com/-see/weather/history/1816.htm.  This was the year Crispus Graves was born to Andrew and Tabitha Cutter Graves, the second oldest child of four, and the grandson of Lieut. Crispus Graves, Revolutionary War veteran.

     Crispus Graves was a farmer, and cared for his elderly father Andrew until his death.  In his later years, he gained the reputation as a hermit, living with his brother Eben, five years his senior,  until his own death at the age of sixty-three.  What is amazing is how his gift to the town of Falmouth came about and how it has lived on to this very day.

Please note the highlighted area.  Crispus Graves' property next to Crispus Sawyer,
 also a resident of the GTC.

     Crispus Graves died on March 15, 1879 and according to his will, left the remainder of his estate to the town of Falmouth, District 5 school.  I recently discovered and read the wonderful little book by former school teacher Charlotte Bridgham Wallace and illustrated by her husband Donald Wallace called:  E Pluribus Unum: A Story of Falmouth, Maine, published in 1976 for the bicentennial of our nation's independence.  

Charlotte Wallace

     Charlottte Wallaces's book contains the history of Falmouth from its origin as a settlement in the larger district, through its separation and establishment as the town we know as Falmouth today.  She incorporates information about each of the neighborhoods.  Here is where I discovered in the section on Presumpscot Falls this wonderful story about our Crispus Graves.

     According to legend, the children of the District 5 school were very taken by the kindly gentleman who took such and interest in them, but the children in his own neighborhood of East Deering would throw stones at his horse as he passed by.  Could this be why he willed his estate to the town of Falmouth?  

     According to his will, Crispus Graves provided for the care of his brother, Ebenezer until his death in September 1884.  It reads as follows:

I give and bequeath to school district #5, in the town of Falmouth, all the residue of my estate, both real and personal, whatever the same may be found for the purpose of educating children of said district.

     Mrs. Wallace included images of the old school houses in her book, among them is the Graves School, so named for the benefactor, Crispus Graves.

The first school in the Pleaasnt Hill area was a red brick building called the Presumpscot School.  It was torn down and replaced by a new wooden school built about 1885 from a legacy of Crispus Graves.  Legend has it that Graves would drive by in his carriage and stop to talk to the children.  Because he was so impressed by thei politeness, he willed money to the District to be used for their benefit.  The new school was called the Graves School.  At one time, the building housed four primary rooms on the first floor and four grammar school rooms on the second flour.  Trustees were elected to take care of the 'Crispus Graves Fund'.  The trustees sold the school to the town in 1897 for $1200.  A bell was installed by the town after the students solicited funds around the area.  The bell was ordered by the teacher, Miss Anna Colley about 1910 - 12.  In 1947, the school was discontinued, and another small, two room schoolhouse was built across the street.  This school closed in 1975.  A small park:  the Graves Park is on the site today.

Today the Graves' School is now a private residence.
The school bell tolled at the bicentennial celebration in 1976.

     The State Legislature's action instituting the Crispus Graves Fund for the benefit of educating children.

     Apparently, a small portion of the fund established by the Trustees was designated for graduates living in the Presumpscot Falls area.  Each graduate received $10.00 as a nominal gift in memory of Crispus Graves. I wondered if the fund still existed and called the Superintendent's office to find out.  They were unaware that such a fund still existed and assumed it had been depleted long ago.  Yesterday, however, I visited the Falmouth Historical Society office in their new site on 60 Woods Road,  and was delighted to find that last year, nearly 136 years after his death, the Crispus Graves Fund was given to the Falmouth Historical Society and there still remained the amount of $1000.  Kudos to the trustees and the town of Falmouth for taking such good care.

     The good that some men do during their lifetime does live after them as it has in the case of Crispus Graves.

I hope readers enjoy these wonderful photographs that I found at the Falmouth Historical Society of some of the children who attended the Grave School.  I'm sure, Mr. Graves would be pleased.

     

     Finally, someone sent me this piece and I want to share it for all you searchers and seekers out there.