Last time I wrote about the known early residents on the Andersen house site, on the corner of Andersen Road and Ocean Point Road, with its great view south to the mill pond and Linekin Bay. Long lines of sight to navigable water were important to early residents in a sparsely settled area. Such a vantage allowed both residents and travelers by boat to see each other—lifelines for settlers to the outside world and for travelers. And a power source, such as the mill pond, needed monitoring to detect trouble early.

I explained the Andersen site's use for a log house in the 1700s by a member of East Boothbay's founding family, the Montgomerys. I wrote about Caleb Hodgdon's arrival in the 1820s and his buying tracts of land and refurbishing the Montgomery (later Murray) tidemill and one of the shipyards. He acted as a magnet for any number of men from other towns to come here to work and live. One man was Stephen Sawyer, from Mt. Desert, who bought 23 acres in 1818 and built a timber-framed cape on that parcel in 1834. It also had an ell with another cape attached to it later.

Sawyer to Thorp

In 1836 Sawyer sold out to the Thorps, tanners from the west side of town on the Sheepscot, but he didn't leave the village though he owned no house. I believe the Thorps bought his 23 acres and house to harvest the wood, particularly the oaks for their tannin in the bark. (Much later in the 1800s and to the present, when timber was the goal, only stumpage, the rights to the timber, was bought.) I imagine much of the timber not wanted by the Thorps went through the village tidal sawmill and into local houses. The whole region has been cut over repeatedly since Euramericans settled here. Cutting for personal use was constant and selling stumpage was a popular way to raise money in a cash-poor town.

Only one of the Thorps was briefly taxed as a resident in the village in 1847. Perhaps they hired Sawyer, Johnny-on-the-spot, to be of some help in cutting the lot off, though Sawyer could have been renting. He ended up buying a house and land in 1844 on present day Lincoln Street, 1,000 feet east of his prior location.

Hagan to Seavey

The Thorps kept the land for 17 years, when they sold out to Miles Hagan in 1853. Miles Hagan, who had come from Georgetown in 1836, lived in at least two village houses before 1853, the Oakman's near the post office and Jack Murray's near the corner store. Miles, a housebuilder, then lived in the Andersen house and was placed there on the 1857 map. Ten years later his daughter Rinda married James Oliver Seavey, the son of one of three brothers who moved here in 1832 from Kennebunkport. The family men were almost all skilled shipbuilders: sparmakers, pumpmakers, blockmakers, shipyard owners, and riggers. James Oliver, as he was always called, was a Civil War vet who wrote wonderful letters home, a sparmaker, and a beloved village figure who led singing schools, aided by his wife who played piano. Miles Hagan turned the house (but not the acreage) over to Rinda in 1868, and he built south across the road, now Fulmer. That house has a steep gable, which has made me wonder if Miles built all the houses in the village with steep gables and dormers. The Andersen house continued to be taxed to Hagan or his heirs to the mid-1880s when I stopped checking. At Miles's death in 1881, acreage around the house finally went to Rinda. Perhaps Miles believed he was protecting Rinda by keeping property in his name. I thank Holly Fulmer for her help with Miles Hagan matters.

Next time: the last installment.