Austin
Marriner lived a simple life on the
hill in Millertown. He was born in
1846 in the house built by his
grandfather, Joseph Mariner. The
land was homesteaded before the
incorporation of the Town of
Lincolnville in 1802. It was then
called New Canaan. The Bible
describes the Land of Canaan, as a
good land, a land of plenty, of
grain, fruit and honey. The old farm
had provided a good living for the
generations who had lived there. The
Mariners [as it had been spelled in
the old days] had come up from Bath
[now Maine] about 1777. Naler,
Austin’s great-grandfather, with his
sons, Jonathan and Philip, settled
on adjoining lands. Philip left his
homestead early, moving to
Searsmont.
Naler had
built a log cabin behind the present
house. The indentation was still
visible in the ground. The property
passed from Naler and Ruth Mariner
to their son Joseph Mariner, who in
turn passed it on the William and
Sarah (Jackson) Marriner. Austin had
inherited it from his father,
William, intending to pass it on to
a son, but that was not to be.
Though
the house was situated on a hill,
the farm land and fields were flat.
Over the years, clearing the fields
of rock, to plant crops, the long
stone walls had evolved.
Many of
the neighbors were related, all
descendants of the early settlers of
the town. Austin brought his bride,
Callie Clark, from down on Clark’s
Corner to the farm in 1873, after
being married by J. D. Tucker, Esq.
It was nine years before their only
child, Annie Maria was born. Austin
enjoyed teasing Annie, calling her
“Annie ‘Ria”.
Austin was
an active farmer, planting crops as
well as many kinds of apple and pear
trees, which he took great pride in.
He made barrels in his cooper shop,
on rainy days, and in cold, wintry
weather. He shipped his apples and
farm produce on the Boston Steamers
for Massachusetts markets in his
well-made barrels. He also made
casks for the lime industry and his
own cider-vinegar production. Austin
himself was a temperance man, who
did not indulge in alcohol.
Austin
was known as being a strong-willed
and stubborn man. His son-in-law,
Rich, told the story of Austin and
his horse Bill. Rich said that
Austin led the horse from his stall
in the barn to the watering trough
twice a day. If Bill did not drink,
he would not have water for the rest
of the day. It seems that Bill was
as ornery as Austin. When Bill
refused to drink, Austin pushed his
head into the trough. Bill still
didn’t drink, so Austin held his
head down until he did drink. Rich
said that the old saying, “You can
lead a horse to water but you can’t
make him drink” wasn’t so. Austin
proved that “you can make him
drink”.
Austin
had a sawmill in the former Farmer’s
Pride District, now called the
Grange. He sawed out long lumber,
staves and barrel headings,
employing several local men. He
later sold his mill to Gould, who
had settled in the area.
Austin
had heard about a movement that
started in the mid-western part of
the country, by an activist, Oliver
Hudson Kelley, called The Grange.
The theory of Kelley was that
farmers, scattered across the
Nation, needed a national
organization to represent them at
State and local levels. Farmers were
the backbone of the country, and
were being taken advantage of by
merchants, who would buy their
goods, and in turn sold them
supplies to keep their farms running
smoothly. The shipping companies
also took advantage of the farmers.
Kelley and
friends organized a fraternal group
called the Order of Patrons of
Husbandry, commonly called ‘The
Grange‘, taken from a Latin word
meaning grain or granary. Austin was
a enterprising, progressive farmer
who believed in the tenets of the
fledgling secret society.
The
Granges began organizing in Maine,
about 1874. Mystic Grange in Belmont
organized and built a large hall and
Grange store in 1876. Farmer’s Pride
Grange in upper Lincolnville
organized about the same time, near
the Northport town line. Austin had
attended the local Granges. Farmer’s
Pride Grange had an active
membership, but had the misfortune
to have their hall burn in 1901.
Many of their members came from
Northport, making it more convenient
for them to join and attend the
Grange in that town.
Twenty-seven
of Austin’s neighbors and friends
met in the Old Town House on April
28th 1898 for the purpose
of organizing a Grange to be called
Tranquility, the 344th
Grange in the State of Maine. Austin
was installed as the first Master of
the Grange, an office which he held
in 1898, 1899 and 1900. Annie kept
the log book. A few of former
Farmer’s Pride members joined with
them.
About
a years after organization,
Tranquility felt the need to have a
hall of their own. John C. and Eva
J. Dean, who lived down the road
from Austin, owned a piece of
property about a mile from the
Centre. They offered it to the
Grange for $50. The group raised
money, working and saving until they
had enough to start their own
building in 1903. It was a large
Gabriel-roofed building, which the
members were extremely proud of.
The
beautiful large hall was completed
in the late summer of 1904, having
volunteer material and labor, as
well as paid carpenters, with J. S.
Miller as the foreman. David McCobb
served as Master.
But their
joy was short-lived. The building
burned nearly to the ground. Arne
Knight, who lived close to the hall,
raced up bareback on his horse.
Others gathered at the scene.
Because the windows had only been
pegged in, the men braved the heat,
pulling out windows, chairs, tables
and benches. The Grange members were
just thankful that no one had been
seriously hurt in the conflagration.
The
hardy group again met at the Town
House, where their meager building
materials were stored. Some wanted
to give up the idea of having their
own hall. Austin was among those who
vowed to press forward.
Once
again, after cleaning up the debris,
the stout-hearted group hired
carpenters and workers, as well as
volunteering as much of their time
as could be spared from the home
farms. The women kept the food
coming, with encouraging words.
Austin, Caroline, Annie and her
husband, Rich Lermond put in as much
time as possible It was late Spring,
and there was much to do at home on
the farm.
The
second building was smaller than the
first. The farmers could not spare a
lot of their hard-earned profits to
put back into the building. The hall
was nearly ready for the plasterers
to finish the inside, when the
unspeakable happened. On the 25th
day of May, 1908, came the word, the
Grange is burning. Tranquility was
not all tranquil. Austin and Callie
drove down to the spot where they
had all worked so hard for so long,
now just a pile of burning embers.
Austin’s heart was breaking, Callie
held back the tears. Their daughter,
Annie with her husband Richard, and
three little girls, Mildred, Callie
and Mary drove in behind them in
their buggy. Annie wept openly. It
had all seemed so fruitless.
This time
the fire was obviously of a
suspicious origin. All of the
evidence pointed to one of their
neighbors, and a relative of
Callie’s. Surely, no one could
dislike the group that much. The
case was taken to court, but
apparently nothing came of the
accusations.
In
the early Fall of 1908, the
disheartening task of rebuilding
Tranquility Grange Hall commenced.
The carpenters and volunteer
builders worked through the fall and
winter. In January of 1909, the
beautiful new edifice was ready for
the hardy group to settle into.
Instead of plastered walls and
ceilings, the group had installed
lovely pressed metal. The ceiling
was domed with a striking metal
design which had been tastefully
painted with multiple colors.
Austin
was a member of the famed
Lincolnville Band, founded by Dr. B.
F. Young, who had been selling
organs at the time. Young, while
traveling about the countryside in
his business, had happened upon some
old brass instruments. Dr. Young was
very talented, teaching the young
men in his Youngtown neighborhood to
play, many of whom were Youngs and
Heals.
Austin’s
grandmother was Abigail Heal. He,
too, inherited some of the musical
ability. In 1879, they organized as
a band with fifteen members. As the
little band grew, they were called
upon to play for dances, political
rallies, and boating excursions.
They decided that it was time for
them to have uniforms. Around town,
many of the old Civil War veterans
had uniforms which they no longer
needed or wanted. They were modified
to fit the members. Now when they
played, they were all clad in classy
royal-blue uniforms.
The
Band was well received everywhere,
but never more so, as when they
headed up a Grand Army delegation,
playing at the Encampment in Boston
around 1890. Amasa Heal later wrote
abut the event, refreshing the
memories of those who attended. They
were the only band that sang as they
played and marched, receiving encore
after encore. There were eighty
bands present, some very large.
Lincolnville Band had seventeen
members attending that day.
When
they stopped before the President’s
stand and sang, “The Vacant Chair”,
the ovation rang through the
rafters, stealing the show, and
bringing them praise in the Boston
newspapers. Relatives and friends
from the Boston Area kept sending
them newspaper clippings about the
Lincolnville Band.
Austin
had joined and was a member in good
standing of the Mt. Battie Lodge, I.
O. O. F. in Camden, as well as his
Grange membership. Austin’s cousin,
Allen Miller, and he were both
active Democrats, attending the
State Convention in Augusta
together. They also attended
meetings of the State Grange there.
In
the Spring of 1915, Austin came down
sick with the influenza, from which
he never fully recovered. Effie
Dickey reported in her newspaper
column in 1916, “Like a bolt from a
clear sky came the news over the
phone on Wednesday, Feb. 9th,
announcing the death of Mr. Austin
Marriner, who sustained a shock on
that morning from which he never
rallied. His attending physician,
Dr. E. F. Gould, when called said
that death was but a matter of a few
hours, and he died at noon.”
She
also reported, “He was an honest and
upright citizen, strong in his ideas
and convictions, and no member of
the community could be more widely
missed. He was deeply interested in
all public and town affairs, and in
politics was a staunch Democrat.”
Austin’s
funeral was held in the home where
he had been born, lived his entire
life, and died. The funeral was well
attended with a display of beautiful
floral tributes. Rev. Sylvanus E.
Frohock officiated at the funeral.
Austin was laid to rest in the Union
Cemetery, where his parents, grand
and great-grandparents rested,
beside his beloved Callie, who had
died in 1905, at the age of
fifty-one years. He was sixty-nine
years of age, living life to the
fullest and making a difference in
the town settled by his forefathers.