Name/Title
Leather Fire Buck | Eastport Fire Company, Eastport, Maine, 1822Description
Stephen H. Appleby
BIRTH
1812
Halifax, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, Canada
DEATH
14 Nov 1856 (aged 43–44)
Eastport, Washington County, Maine, USA
BURIAL
Hillside Cemetery
Eastport, Washington County, Maine, USA
PLOT
East, Sect. C Lot #40
From Eastport Sentinel, February 26, 1890:
An Old-time Eastport Institution.
Whoever remembers Eastport away back half a century or more, will recall a favorite article of hall decoration which greeted the visitor on opening the front doors of many of the principal houses in town. These were leathern buckets hanging in pairs, bearing upon them besides the name of the owner, that of the Always Ready, Eastport, or Franklin Fire Club, showing to which of these protective organizations the head of the house belonged. The oldest of these clubs was the “Always Ready.” I remember to have seen a pair of buckets marked John N. Peavey 1811. Captain Peavey must have been an original member and this the date of the organization.
At that time just after the setting off of Lubec, the town took the first steps for efficient protection against fire. In 1811 J.N. Peavey, Wm. Hills, Eben Steele, Wm. Coney, E.T. Bucknam, Oliver Shead and J.L. B. Green were chosen firewards, and for several years afterwards such as the only form of municipal organization for that purpose. The insignia of a foreword’s office was a tall red staff with a gilt top. At an alarm of fire the official seized his staff and rushed out, using it to assert his authority, sometimes pushing or driving unready individuals into line to pass water. The rest of th eyear it stood peacefully in the front entry. The one I remember was used up on the back of one of those ingenious cows then allowed to run at large, the terror of housekeepers, as with their horns they could open the best contrived gate fastening, annd this one was making havoc among the rose bushes under the front yard elms.
The fire clubs were voluntary organizations, social as well as protective. Their outfit consisted of a pair of leathern buckets marked with the name of the owner as well as his club, two stout canvass bags for removing goods, and a bed key. The old fashioned bedstead, held together by screws and crossed by a course network of cords, required a peculiar shaped key to take it apart, and in the regular spring and fall house cleanings it was found very convenient to borrow this key out of the fire bucket in the front entry. It was thus apt to get mislaid, and the club committees in their regular round of inspection of apparatus, were likely to find a deficiency of bed keys. Not the least attractive feature of the club life was the annual dinner at one of the hotels.
It is regretted that no documents relating to the early history fo the Always Ready Club have been preserved. It was probably quiescent during the time of the British occupation, and took on new life when the town woke up after the departure of the foreign troops. The purchase of the engines Exertion and Franklin was a step forward, but the social features of the fire clubs insured their continuance. They were formed on a pattern common in cities and large towns in other parts of the country, were limited in membership, and additions could only be made to fill vacancies by death, removal from town or other cause, so they grew to be somewhat exclusive, and the new clubs were formed to meet a natural demand.
By the favor of our townsman, Mr. B. L. Chadbourne, I have been enabled to examine the later records of the Always Ready Club, which have been preserved among the papers of his father, the late I.R. Chadbourne Esq., for many years a prominent member of the organization. The earliest accessible list of members is dated in 1824 as follows:
J.D. Weston, Aaron Hayden,
Jona. Bartlett, John Burgin,
John Swett, Solomon RIce,
Benjamin King, Sam’l B. Wadsworth,
Alpheus Pine, Leonard Pierce,
Jacob Penniman, Daniel Kilby
John Woodman, I.R. Chadbourne,
Samuel Wheeler, Seward Bucknam,
Wooster Tuttle, Warren Hathaway,
John L. Storer, John Norton,
James Kimball, Anthony Brooks,
Benjamin Bucknam, Ezra Whitney,
The other clubs were of later formation, probably after the surrender of the island, and from the following documents found in the same collection of papers we get the names.
Members of the Franklin Fire Society in Eastport, July 2, 1822:
Henry T. Emery, Thomas Rogers,
George Hobbs, Wm. M. Brooks,
Isaac Hobbs, Jonathan Buck,
Frederick Hobbs, Nath’l F. Deerinng,
Joseph Burton, Ezekiel Foster,
Charles Peavey, Micajah Hawkes,
Rich’d M. Bartlett, Chas. H. Hathaway,
Jonnas Gleason, Sam’l Rice,
John Shaw, Spencer Tinkham,
Edward Illsley, William Eustis,
Joseph C. Noyes, Elijah D. Green,
Benjamin Folsom, Joshua Veazy,
Darius Pierce, Neal D. Shaw,
Wm. Shackford, Timothy Pillsbury.
Annexed you have a list of the members of the Franklin Fire Society furnished by your request:
Your ob’t Servt.
Nath’l F. Deering, Sec
J.D. Weston, Esq., Sec’y
Always Ready Fire Club, Eastport.
List of members of the Eastport Fire Club July 2, 1822:
Jerry Burgin, William Delesdernier,
Daniel Garland, Darius Olmstead,
Edward Williams, Ethiel Olmstead,
Benj. Smith, N.P. Page,
Thomas Green, E. Richardson,
N.F. Fosdick, Levi Ingols,
Stephen Boardman, Gilman Lamprey,
Samuel Stevens, O.S. Livermore,
John Burgin, Jr. Caleb Chase,
Owen Hinkley,
The company is not yet full, twenty five is the number.
Your ob’t Servt.
Levi Ingols, Sec.
The Sect’y of the
Always Ready Fire Club.
The Always Ready Club seems to have been limited to twenty four members. In 1824 Ezra Whitney withdrew and Levi Ingols was chosen in his place. It was three years before another vacancy occurred and in 1827 Wm. J. Read, Mr. Chadbourne’s law partner, was elected on the resignation fo James Kimball. In 1829 John Patterson, Abel Stevens and Jesse Gleason became members; Joseph C. Noyes, Isaac Hobbs and Jonathan Buck in 1831; James W. Ripley, Lorenzo Sbeine and Charles Brooks in 1832; and Ezekiel Foster in 1833. In 1834 Ebenezer Steele and Alpheus Pine were made honorary members, and Sullivan S. Rawson, Francis M. Sabine and L.G. Mickels chosen to fill vacancies; Wm. Mabee and Charles Peavey joined in 1835, John L. Bowman in 1837, Leonard Shaw in 1838 and Robert Huston, John Shackford and Samuel A. Morse in 1839. Judge Burgin appears to have been regularly chosen moderator, as was J. Weston Secretary and Treasurer, until his decease, when Joseph C. Noyes became his successor. A Committee of three was also regularly chosen, whose duty it was to go from house to house and examine the condition of the member’s equipments. I remember to have seen some of these gentlemen on their rounds. A number of these reports are among the papers preserved. In one made by Mr. Sabine he styles himself a warden of the club. A report made by Mr. Gleason is given below. The name of the offending committeeman is not divulged.
“As one of the committee I have attended to the duty assigned them and get leave to submit the following report:
Jona. D. Weston. deficient one bucket
Abel Stevens, “ bed key
L. Sabine, “ bed key
Gen. Ripley, “ bags and key
buckets not lettered.
And would further report one of your committee is out of town, who has been every efficient of his duty, made the first quarter’s examination in my absence. The other member of your committee who is entirely at leisure, nothing to occupy his time or mind, was called upon but utterly refused to do any part of the duty. I therefore must report him as having treated the club with disrespect.
Jesse Gleason, Com. A.R.F.C.”
Eastport, 6th Jan. 1834.
The letter of another who must have been one of the founders fo the club, giving the excuse for non attendance at the annual dinner, is worthy of a place in this sketch:
“Brethen, I hope you will not take it amiss to receive my assessment. I think by your creed I have no right for an abatement. I do not grudge your dinner but hope you will take it with a good will, although I am detained at home by the effects of calomel. Seward Bucknam,
Testday, 4th Jan. 1825.
P.S. I think this is the first time that I was ever absent on an anniversary when on the island. S.B.”
These annual dinners were evidently favorite occasions of festivity, and the officers of the garrison at Fort Sullivan were usually invited to be present. John Swettt and Alpheus pine were early members, and at first the dinners were served at the hotels of one or the other. Later at other public houses kept by Wm. Hume, John S. Sloan, Thomas rogers, L.G. Mickel, Charles Brooks and Wm. Mabee. At first the assessment for dinner was $1.00 afterwards $1.25 and $1.50. There was also another assessment of 12 1/2 cts., probably for incidentals.
The club evidently held other property for in 1824 it was voted “to give the ladders and fire apparatus to the town of Eastport, the town to pay any outstanding bill put them in order.” Apparently this vote was not carried into effect for the next year it was voted, ‘that John Norton be a committee to ascertain that the present fire ladders are in good order, annd if not, to procure six good ladders annd place them in proper stations.”
In January 1832 it was “voted that each member provide himself with a pair of creepers;” probably some recent slippery experience had shown the. Necessity of such provision. About that time the store and goods of J. W. Jones, sutler at fort Sullivan, were destroyed by fire. By and by the intern in the organization began to die out, other and more efficient means for putting out fires had been supplied, the growth of the temperance movement had weakened the attractions of the annual dinners, and about 1842 the organization seems to have been abandoned.
Of the members of the Always Ready Fire Club it is not known that any survive. William M. Brooks of Roxbury, Massachusetts, whose name appears in the list of members of the Franklin Fire Club in 1822, is still living in his ninety-seventh year. Perhaps somewhere may be preserved samples of the old leathern buckets which, as was said at the beginning, was a favorite hall ornament in Eastport houses two generations ago.
Quoddy. [William Henry Kilby]
