William Berry
Lapham
Local Historian and Genealogist
by Stanley Russell Howe
William
Berry Lapham 1828-1894
William Berry Lapham (1828-1894) was one of the most prolific compilers
of local history and genealogy that Maine produced during the latter
half of the 19th century. Not only did he complete five local
histories of Oxford County towns, but he also assembled some
twenty-five genealogical works. In addition, he led an active
life as a soldier, physician, postmaster, local official, state
legislator, editor, and social reformer.
Born in Greenwood, Maine, 27 August 1828, where his family was
temporarily residing, he moved to nearby Bethel when he was only a few
months old. Here he spent his formative years. He later
recalled some of these memories in his History of Bethel in 1891: “All of
my early associations are with Bethel and her people. It was
there that I attended the common school and the academy, and the school
house still standing, where I first attended, is the same in which I
first tried to teach. I have been familiar with Bethel for more
than half its years. I remember the days of lumbering
stage-coaches, and mails only once a week, of the hard times for
farmers for want of a near market, of the great scarcity of money, and
of the enforced economy in household expenditures. I have
witnessed all the great changes brought about by the introduction of
railways, the telegraph and the telephone, and the application of steam
power for propelling machinery. I was acquainted with some of the
early settlers, and when a boy, I heard from the lips of Nathaniel
Segar, the story of the captivity. Of the second generation, I
was acquainted with most of them, in all parts of the town . . .
. My interest in the dear old town is unabated, for whatever
changes may have taken place in population, the river, the crystal
brooks, the broad intervales, the hills and mountains and all the
varied scenery remain the same, and after the lapse of all these years
can be called in review at will.”
During his youth, according to his own account, he worked on various
farms, and managed to graduate from Gould Academy and enter Colby
University (now College) in 1851. His comment on his early
educational opportunities was that they were “limited.” Lapham
did not remain to graduate, but later was awarded an honorary degree
from Colby in 1874.
After leaving college, he read medicine with Dr. Almon Twitchell on
Church Street in Bethel, attended lectures at the Maine Medical School,
and at Dartmouth College, and finished his medical education in New
York in 1856. Following completion of his M.D. degree, he began
his medical practice at Bryant Pond village in the town of Woodstock,
where he also served as postmaster, school official, and tax
collector. He was a
charter member of the Jefferson Lodge of Masons and District Deputy
Grand Master of the 16th Masonic District; he also served two terms in
the 18th District as well.
When the Civil War began in 1861, he
volunteered and was given permission to recruit a company in short
order. The Federal Government, believing in Lapham’s words, “it
had all the men needed to subdue the rebellion,” disbanded the company
as was the case with several others raised during this period in
Maine. During the winter of 1861-62, he assisted
with hospitals in Augusta, and regiments without medical staff.
Finally in 1862, he enlisted as a private in the 23rd Maine Regiment,
receiving promotion to Commissary Sergeant, then to Second and
subsequently to First Lieutenant of Company F. Following service
with the 23rd, he aided in recruiting the 7th Maine Battery.
Eventually he was mustered into the service as Senior First
Lieutenant. He served with this battery during the remainder of
the war, participating in several of the battles of the Army of the
Potomac, to the surrender of the Confederate armies and the close of
the war in 1865. With the cessation of hostilities, Lapham was
appointed to the rank of Assistant Quartermaster. He was then
ordered to duty in Vermont, and mustered out on 30 October 1865 as a
Brevet Major.
After being released from the Army, he returned to Bryant Pond to
resume his medical practice. Here he became the Worthy Chief of
the Lodge of Good Templars and, as a result, became a strong temperance
advocate. At this time, he also
entered the political arena, becoming a member of the Maine House of
Representatives in 1867. The following year he received
appointment to the Board of Trustees of the Maine Insane Hospital,
serving in that capacity for six years, the last four as president of
the Board. During this period, he assumed command of the Grand
Army of the Republic Post (G.A.R.) in Bryant Pond. Since he was
spending so much time in Augusta, he decided to move there in June
1871. He soon became involved in positions in that city. In
1872, he assumed the post of general and news editor of the Maine
Farmer, a position once held by his former teacher at Gould
Academy, Dr. N. T. True. Later, he was agricultural editor of the
publication. Lapham was elected as commander of the Seth William
G.A.R. post in Augusta. He also took on the responsibilities as
medical director for the G.A.R. Department of Maine.
Becoming intensely interested in genealogy, Lapham became a member of
the Maine Historical Society, the New England Historic Genealogical
Society, the Prince Society, an honorary member of the Weymouth,
Massachusetts, Historical Society, and a corresponding member of the
Royal Society of Great Britain. In Augusta, he became a
member of the Maine Press Association, the Society for the Preservation
of Cruelty to Animals, and the secretary and a director of the library
of that city.
In 1866, he married Cynthia Perham of Woodstock. They had three
daughters. It was at this point of his life (in his
early forties) that he began his career as a writer and editor while
completing a study of the Lapham family in 1873. Besides his work
for the Maine Farmer, he
founded in 1875 The Maine
Genealogist and Biographer, a quarterly which lasted for three
years. This
experience apparently whetted his appetite for research in local and
family history. During this period, he published genealogies of
the Bisbee, Ricker, Tilden, and Chase families.
Dr. Lapham’s first town history, History
of Woodstock, appeared in 1882. It was soon followed by History of Paris (which he
co-authored with Silas Maxim), History
of Norway (1886), History of
Rumford
(1890), and History of Bethel
(1891). Concurrently, he also completed genealogical studies of
the Bradbury, Knox, Hazelton, Clason, and Hill families, as well as a
sketch of Hallowell and a volume of war memoirs, Recollection of the War of the Rebellion
(1892). He died in Togus Veterans Home of acute diabetes on 22
February 1894 at the age of sixty-five. At the time of his death
he was at work on a history of Kittery. He was buried in Lakeside
Cemetery in Bryant Pond.
At Lapham's funeral, Rev. H. S. Whitman said of him: “It was here that
many of us came to know and love him. That strong, earnest,
intense personality made a deep impression upon my young life, by the
force of his positive convictions and aggressive earnestness, he soon
became a leader of men. He threw his soul into all the life
issues of the day and took a manly stand for what he believed to be the
truth and the right. He had enemies to be sure. What man of
force has not? An eminent United States Senator has said, 'A man
who makes no enemies is never a positive force.' He took his
position on questions as they came up, and was always ready to defend
it with all his power. He was a strong, affectionate, generous
man, a man of convictions and courage.”
In May 1894, Charles E. Nash wrote of him in a talk before the Maine
Historical Society: “In all of Dr. Lapham’s investigations, he was
painstaking, critical, and conscientious, insuring to his published
work a remarkable degree of accuracy and corresponding rank as
historical authority. He was a ready and fertile writer,
commanding a style of composition that is delightfully simple and
direct, and as little influenced by the play of fancy or imagination as
the terse prescriptions which he penned for his patients in the days of
his medical practice.”
To place Dr. Lapham within the historical frame of reference in regard
to the state of history in his day, it may be fruitful to examine
briefly the context and tradition in which he worked.
The first historians in what is today the United States were the
Puritans who saw history and wrote it as a “working out” of God’s will
upon human beings. In other words, theirs was a history that was
highly theological and frequently contained numerous biblical
references, analogies, and moral judgments reflecting the Puritan
concept that they were God’s “Chosen People” destined to establish in
America the Christian ideal of the “City on the Hill.” These
historians were
succeeded by the so-called patrician historians, such as Francis
Parkman, George Bancroft, and Henry Adams, men of learning and leisure,
who wrote history from an elitist point of view and who were often
highly nationalist in bias.
The rise of the professional historian came in the latter half of the
19th century with the breakdown of the classical curriculum and the
emergence of the elective system. The rise of the Ph.D. degree
also fostered this development. In 1884, the
American Historical Association was founded; its Review would appear in 1895.
Also significant was the formation of the Mississippi Valley Historical
Association (1907); in 1964, it became the Organization of American
Historians. Historians associated with the founding of these two
organizations were among those pioneering professional historians who
tried hard to apply the principles of science to human behavior, which
is not always easy, as Homo sapiens are not usually so predictable.
The current view of historical writing mandates that practitioners of
the historical craft should write as interestingly and objectively as
possible, supporting all viewpoints with a careful analysis of all
available evidence while eliminating as much as practical all prejudice
and preconceptions.
With this in mind, it is possible to consider the interest in local and
regional history that began to flower in the latter half of the 19th
century. Most writers in this genre were in the
tradition of the patrician historians. They were primarily
clergymen, retired soldiers, doctors and professional people, who wrote
with all the predilections of class viewpoint that one might anticipate
from persons of that background. They appeared heavily influenced
by the tenor of their times. In some ways, these
chroniclers of the past are a good study model for today’s historians
as they often mirrored their times in less self-conscious ways than the
national historians, who tended to be more introspective.
The last twenty-five years of the 19th century brought a golden age in
local history as the wounds of the Civil War began to heal and the
national centenary celebration launched the colonial revival
movement. During this era, the past came to be
romanticized. Anglo-Saxons began to search out their
genealogical antecedents in response to the swelling number of
immigrants to America. This tended to reassure those born in this
nation of their superiority and special place in its founding, while
reminding the immigrants of their station in national life. Some
of those who were native-born believed that the absorption of so many
immigrants at once would dilute what they considered
“Americanism.” Industrial violence in the late 19th century,
epitomized by the Haymarket riot and other disruptive events, lent
momentum to the idea that foreigners were somehow alien to American
values. The rise of the pledge of allegiance, the founding of
both the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, and other
patriotic movements and practices were among the responses by some who
were intent on making certain all foreigners arriving on these shores
would become 100% American. The emphasis on
native-born heredity and status came to be important to some elements
of the U.S. population since America had inherited no European
aristocracy. Because of this perceived deficiency, one had to be
created in the opinion of some American citizens.
It was into that atmosphere that local historians of Lapham’s era did
their research and wrote their histories. Various generalizations
may apply to most of the writing in this genre. Clio’s servants
of the era often relied on hearsay evidence for their historical
compositions, wary and even contemptuous of the rules of evidence and
verification. They often plagiarized freely from other sources
and based their work on a narrow base of references. It was not
uncommon for them to change the text of a document that did not fit
their purposes. In a number of cases, they possessed and
advocated ideas of racial superiority and inferiority, particularly
toward Indians and other minorities. In many instances, they
focused on a narrow view of history, chiefly political in emphasis,
thereby neglecting social, intellectual and economic aspects of the
historical process. They were primarily collectors of information
accompanied by little or no analysis. These historians of
Lapham’s time frequently introduced personal opinions and perspectives
into the text, often without qualifying remarks. Many of these
historians were motivated by family pride or a desire to achieve some
form of immortality. Not infrequently, they infused their
historical writing with the idea that a good Christian life based on
sobriety and self-discipline would lead to the best of lives and become
the surest guarantee of success. Finally, these historians
commonly exaggerated the qualities of settings and the achievements of
individuals. The use of superlatives and the instances of local
pride were often excessive.
What, then, can we learn about Lapham’s work in relation to the
observations listed above? On the question of relying on
personal recollections, impressions, as well as hearsay evidence,
Lapham, for example, on page 435 of his Bethel history observed that
wolves were prevalent based on his personal recollection of sixty years
before. He also recalls numerous legends, and we have only his
word as our source in many cases. When discussing individuals
such as Israel Kimball, Jr., Lapham wrote: “It is always a pleasure to
speak of such a man as Israel Kimball, Jr., because pleasant things can
be said of him without fear of adverse comment and without exposing the
writer to the charge of favoritism. Such men are the salt of the
earth, and the world is better that they have lived. He was
honest, industrious, frugal, and thrifty. He had an abundance of
charity, but he bestowed it with discrimination and judgment. He
despised shams in whatever form they were presented. He excelled
in everything he undertook . . . . His wife Sarah Webber Kimball
was a most excellent woman, a model Christian mother, and an ornament
to her sex.” It appears clear also that Lapham admired him
because Kimball reflected his position on the temperance issue.
Regarding a tendency to plagiarize, he had no qualms about quoting Dr.
True’s earlier Bethel history extensively and often without
attribution. Concerning the limited sources question,
Lapham must be found guilty. He relied mainly upon town records
and personal recollections. There is no or little evidence of
broad reading of newspapers, diaries, letters, and other documentary
evidence to support his contentions. At least in one case, Lapham
changed the text of a document. In his history of Rumford, Lapham
altered Rev. Daniel Gould’s History
of
1826 when he incorporated it into his work.
Throughout his historical writing, one finds frequent reference to race
that was so typical of that era. Moreover, Lapham often made
value judgments in regard to Indians, referring to them as “treacherous
and savage.” A good example of
his personal views being evident in his historical writing appears in
the account he composed regarding Consider Cole in his Bethel history:
“Consider Cole was a Greenwood man, but he was often at Bethel Hill,
and when there, provided he had the means to gratify his insatiable
appetite for drink, he was sure to become intoxicated. On one
occasion he crept into the school house which stood near Robertson’s
shop [now the site of the Bethel House on Main Street], intending to
spend the night there. It was a bitter cold night, and seeing him
enter I followed him. He was camped upon the floor, and when I
entered, he lifted his head, and resting upon his hand, his elbow on
the floor, he peered into my face and said, ‘Are you the school
committee? If you be, won’t you have glass set in the windows to keep
out the wind.’ I took him to the tavern where he obtained his
drink, and by a little coaxing and a few threats of prosecution,
induced the landlord to take care of him for the night. At
another time, I with another, found him late at night in a horse shed,
upon the ground, in a drunk stupor. It was a bitter night and
glittering stars looked coldly down upon the snow-clad earth. We
raised him up, and each taking an arm, walked him off toward warmer
quarters. As we were going along, he turned upon me, and having
some idea were he might be going or ought to go, with a drunken leer,
he enquired, ‘Be you the devil?’ Our interference on this
occasion doubtless saved his life for he could not have outlived that
frigid night. Consider enlisted and went to the war and never
returned, which was, perhaps, just as well. He could not resist
an appetite long indulged and which was hereditary. His father,
lying before an open fire in a drunken sleep, was roasted alive, and
the whole family were slaves to the intoxicating cup. Consider
and his brother did not marry, and the family has become
instinct.” The bias is so obvious here that one can perhaps hear
Lapham saying in regard to this Cole family, “Hooray! The problem
is over since the family no longer exists.”
Lapham’s views on the temperance issue are also evident in a letter he
wrote from Augusta on 20 July 1890 to the Oxford Advertiser and printed in
the 5
August 1890 issue of that paper. In discussing the town of his
birth, he wrote: “Greenwood
City had an unsavory reputation for many years in the olden time, when
rum was sold in quantities, and there were frequent gatherings of the
yeomanry round about, who indulged in wrestling, pitching quoits, horse
racing, and sometimes in fighting.”
In a series of articles in the Oxford
Advertiser in 1887, Lapham, using the pen name “Index,” recorded
information on the history of his birthplace. While doing so, he
did
not miss an opportunity to elaborate more fully on the growing
popularity of rum in Locke Mills, a village in the town of Greenwood:
“A large trade was soon carried on and a hogshead would not supply the
weekly demand. The business was too good for one man to have a
monopoly
long and soon another store was opened of the same character.
Then a
tavern did a remunerative business in dealing out the poison that
‘stole men’s brains’ for a number of years.” In summary, Lapham
wrote
that “the reign of rum in Locke’s [the name was later shortened to
Locke] Mills covered a period of about twelve years and during
that time did a great amount of harm.” He cited mortgages issued
during
this period and never paid, adding, “Not only was the money wasted by
being exchanged for rum but valuable time was lost in loafing about the
village, and under the influence of liquor men were often persuaded to
buy things that they did not need; in this way the account was run up
and then it must be secured.” In conclusion, he noted that
“enlightened public sentiment has driven the [liquor] business from the
rural towns into the dark corner of the cities and large
villages, where this and kindred crimes ever have and probably ever
will be committed.”
Lapham was very definitely moved by family considerations and a desire
for immortality. His sketch of his life in his Woodstock history
is
detailed. He also wrote the volume on his role in the Civil War
expressly for his progeny, to be certain that they would not forget his
service to the Union cause.
In his descriptions of places, Dr. Lapham was effusive in his praise of
the local color. He reflected enormous pride in his discussion of
his
early years in Bethel, but was not so approving of the town of his
birth, believing that the people of his birthplace (Greenwood) were not
as temperate as he might expect them to be.
Some of Lapham’s historical writing was also performed for monetary
gain. His Rumford history was most notably assembled for
money. As a
result, it is perhaps the weakest of his five major histories, since he
appears to have had little personal connection with the town. All
of his
publications netted him some income, but he struggled financially most
of his life.
Despite all these shortcomings, Lapham’s histories are particularly
strong in their notation of geographic features as well as the detailed
descriptions of local flora and fauna. In this role, he clearly
understood particular aspects of the historical craft when he quoted
Edmund Burke to declare that writing of the past helps “to attend to
the neglected and to remember the forgotten.”
In summation, Lapham’s histories and genealogies are still consulted to
this day because he recorded so much information that would otherwise
have been lost. He was well aware of John Quincy Adams’
observation
that “posterity delights in details.” Researchers in Maine
history are
all the richer for his labors.
