The other day Mrs. Di Vece, my wife, returned home with a bag of assorted things she bought at the Wiscasset Antique Mall. “Look what I found for you!” she said. “See, it’s a book called "BAR-BITS" and there’re some really interesting stories in it about the Lincoln County Courthouse.” Honestly, I’d never heard of the book, or its author. To be frank, Bar Bits sounded like something I’d order at my favorite watering hole like jalapeño poppers, or fried pickles. The book actually turned out to be a pleasant surprise. About the size of a paperback, it has a picture of the historic courthouse on its manila cover along with the author’s name, Katherine M.E. Fredricks. A slim volume, just 74 pages, the title page inside states it was compiled from, “Old Court Records in Lincoln County, Maine -Authorized and published by the County Commissioners of Lincoln County.”  

There’s no copyright date but I’m sure it was compiled and published about 1960. I tried, but couldn’t find any information on Ms. Fredricks, the author. To her credit she did a nice job with this book. She begins with a succinct, but informative history of Lincoln County. Established in 1760, she tells us Lincoln County was in fact the third county formed in the Territory of Maine following the formation of York and Cumberland counties. Lincoln County, she continues, was named by Thomas Pownal, the colonial governor overseeing Massachusetts, Maine and the Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick and Novia Scotia. I learned too, Gov. Pownal named his newly formed county after Lincoln, England, the place of his birth.

Lincoln County’s first seat of government, Ms. Fredricks continues, was situated in Pownalborough (now Dresden) located in a white, wood-framed courthouse overlooking the Kennebec River. The building which is open to tours is maintained by the Lincoln County Historical Association. The county seat was later moved to Wiscasset; the familiar red brick courthouse overlooking the town common was completed in 1824 and is still in use today. Court records, Fredricks adds, stretch back over two centuries. It’s from these archives she compiled her book with the support of the county commissioners.

One early case she writes about concerns “theft of a cow with force and arms” during the winter of 1788. This may sound trivial now but in those times theft of livestock was a serious matter. After hearing the case the jury sided with the plaintiff issuing a guilty verdict. Following a second trial the accused was ordered to pay restitution to the cow’s rightful owner of nine pounds, three shillings in addition to court costs of one pound, eight shillings.

Another case in the fall of 1813 concerns Nancy McKenney, age 48, of Bath who was described as having a “dark complexion, black hair and being thick set.” After giving birth “in secret” to a male child her fatherless infant was discovered dead in a bog. Pleading guilty to to the crime, the court sentenced her to “solitary imprisonment for 10 days” then be confined to hard labor for two years at the State prison in Charlestown, Massachuetts.

Early in the spring of 1809 an unwed woman, Mary Allen of Dresden, accused Jethro Hatch of being the father of her child. After hearing the evidence the presiding magistrate sided with her ordering the accused father to pay $8 dollars to the plaintiff. Furthermore the Court ordered “said Hatch to pay the sum of 67 cents per week for support of said child…”

Continuing on, in 1799 David Hildreth was found guilty of “riot” that is to say brawling, or otherwise disturbing the public peace. The court ordered him to be placed for one hour upon the town gallows with a rope around his neck to be followed by a one-year  sentence in prison. Yeoman Hildreth was further ordered to pay all costs associated with his prosecution. The punishment of having a guilty party sit on the gallows with a hangman’s noose placed around his neck was often followed by a public whipping of 10 or more lashes.

Among the more serious offeneses was arson. In 1836, one William W. Temple was found guilty of delibertly setting fire to a meeting house (the author doesn’t say where this was) only that that the accused was sentenced to life in prison.

Ensign Worthing, “a boy ten years of age” was apprehended for breaking into a store in July 1846 and sentenced to one month in jail. Master Worthing apparently didn’t learn his lesson. He committed a second offense of a similar nature resulting in a 6-year sentence to the State prison. In a different court term a man convicted of rape was “released on furnishing bonds,” while another found guilty of killing a goose was sentenced to serve a month in jail. 

Ms. Fredrick often fails to include the place where an offense took place, or for that matter where the accused was from. An exception is the October 21, 1802 case of Joseph Brashire of Patricktown Plantation. It seems Brashire was arrested and charged with “unlawfully cohabiting with Betsey Brun”. The author omitted the sentence so we’re left to wonder what if anything the court decided. Patricktown Plantation was an earlier name for the town of Somerville.

John McDonald, 18 of Boston, was tried at the Lincoln County Courthouse (no date given) and found guilty of piracy on the high seas. He was sentenced to life in prison, which sounds harsh but was better than death by hanging, the more common sentence for piracy in the 18th century. 

There’s more but we’ll end with the case of Oliver Hooper, age 15, “a small boy” accused of murdering “Mama Slaughton” March 13, 1830. After weighing the evidence Master Hooper was acquitted by the Supreme Judicial Court, May 27, 1830. What’s interesting to me about this case and the others is how quickly they came to trial. The Hooper case involving an alleged murder was resolved in a little over a month after the charges were filed. Today it takes months, sometimes years for a murder case to come to trial. 

In the opening pages Ms. Fredricks writes, “One of the most interesting features of Lincoln County is found in the variety of people who settled here and the fact that generally they chose to keep to themselves. The Dutch, English, Irish, Scots, French and Germans all had a part in building the county, but they were prone to choose different sections in which to establish themselves. The native character,” she continues, “can be noted in the descendants of each group, and with complete regularity the original names appear, a few anglicized, but most untouched.” Although there’s been a fair amount of people from away who have settled in Lincoln County since the 1960s, some of what Ms. Fredrickson observed remains true today. 

Original copies of “Bar-Bits” by Katherine M.E. Fredricks are kind of scarce; although I see there’s a 2021 reprint of it available to purchase online. Because this book is not copyrighted, and considered of scholarly significance, it can also be downloaded and read for free. It’s an easy read too, I’d recommend it.  

Phil Di Vece earned a B.A. in journalism studies from Colorado State University and a M.A. in journalism at the University of South Florida. He is the author of three Wiscasset books and is a frequent news contributor to the Boothbay Register-Wiscasset Newspaper. He resides in Wiscasset. Contact him at pdivece@roadrunner.com