Happy 250th, America!
The U.S.’s semiquincentennial—the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—is a wonderful opportunity to tell the tale of North Yarmouth’s own copy of this foundational document. Here’s the story.
The Declaration was signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. Copies were immediately printed and within weeks were sent to each colonial town in our new, upstart nation. One copy came to North Yarmouth—and on August 19, 1776 citizens heard it read by Rev. Tristram Gilman, minister of the Meetinghouse Under the Ledge, in present-day Yarmouth (now gone). At the time, churches often functioned as literal meeting places for each town, and Rev. Gilman read the Declaration from the pulpit.
Town Clerk David Mitchell excitedly entered the words of the document into the official town record. Years later, historian William Rowe took a look at that important entry and commented that Mitchell “In his enthusiasm [used] in bold letters with some attempt at fanciful arrangements.”
Anger and frustration boil over in the Declaration. For years, King George III had ignored, misjudged, oppressed, and punished the upstart populace of the colonies, and they had clearly had enough of him. They famously itemized twenty-seven grievances, stating that the King had opposed the very purpose of governance by imposing laws deemed necessary for the public good. The Declaration states that
“A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
War followed, lasting five long years. During this time, around 150 North Yarmouth men, supported by their families at home, are documented to have served in the Continental army.
With the defeat of the British, the United States officially became a new nation on September 3, 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The Declaration was and is one of the foundational documents of the nation.
North Yarmouth’s Declaration of Independence is now safely and securely housed for the town at Maine State Archives.
And how did it get there? Here’s the second part of the story.
You would think that each precious copy of the Declaration would have been treasured and preserved by all colonial towns … but today, in present-day Maine, it seems only four copies have survived: one in Wiscasset, now in private hands, one housed at Maine Historical Society, one found in Hallowell, and our North Yarmouth copy.
To start, it’s about the actual existence of the document. We are indebted to David Mitchell, North Yarmouth’s town clerk from 1762-1796—34 years! Mitchell set the standard for preserving the historical record, saving and carefully labeling all correspondence and town records. While most of Maine’s towns have lost their early records, ours exist. Mitchell’s letters and records were bundled and stored in the attic of North Yarmouth’s original town office, the 1853 Old Town House.
Next, this story is about possession.
North Yarmouth originally included the modern towns of Cumberland including Chebeague Island), Freeport, Pownal, and parts of Brunswick and Harpswell. These towns all split off from North Yarmouth over the years until the last one, Yarmouth, finally seceded in 1849. And as part of the settlement with Yarmouth, our town retained possession of all ancient, original records because we retained the name North Yarmouth. And the Declaration was part of those records.
Preservation is another key part of this story. In the 1960s all ancient town records were transferred over to our new town office (now the Fire and Rescue building). And in the early 1980s, North Yarmouth Historical Society (NYHS) volunteers dove into the project of preservation. These early documents were identified and organized, thanks to the efforts of several town residents, including Ursula Baier and Nellie Leighton.
In April, 1999, Nellie died. Nellie Winifred Smith was a founding president of NYHS, teacher, genealogist, and researcher with deep knowledge of the town’s history. She was a familiar face at the town office as she worked with the ancient records; she often took a raft of them home to her black gambrel house (at the corner of The Lane and Route 9) to continue cataloging and researching.
Next comes Luck. When Nellie’s estate was going through the appraisal process, town documents turned up among her personal papers—and among them was North Yarmouth’s copy of the Declaration of Independence. Although it was put up for sale, auctioneer Kaja Veilleux notified Maine State Archivist James Henderson. Even though it was bought for $99,000 the State intervened, insisting that the Declaration was not personally owned by Nellie, but was a town document. The Declaration was carefully stored in a safe deposit box, and a court case ensued.
Finally, restoration to the town. The state—and North Yarmouth—won the case. The crucial evidence came directly from our town records. An identifying “16” on the back of the document showed that it was part of a series of papers numbered by Town Clerk David Mitchell back in the 1700s … and in the town records collection, “16” was missing. When the evidence seemed clear, the purchasers agreed to the return.
The Maine State Archives made a compelling case for securely housing this precious document in their holdings up in Augusta. And that that is where you will find it today. We are indebted to them for their stewardship of this priceless document!