Deed research

[Benson Gray]

Deeds appear to be yet another resource in my ongoing search for obscure canoe manufacturing trivia. The Penobscot County Registry of Deeds office at http://penobscotdeeds.com/ has some interesting information as shown below in the attached deeds.

The Indian Old Town Canoe Company factory on Middle Street was purchased by Herbert Gray, George Gray, and George Richardson on October 23rd, 1901. The building was probably built shortly after the Keith Shoe Company purchased this lot on May 29th, 1895 for $600.

The White Canoe Company factory on Water Street was purchased by E. M. White and Ernest L. Hinkley on October 1st, 1909 for $5000. Their prior use of that factory must have been some sort of a rental or lease arrangement since the seller appears to have held it since 1835. White purchased a residential lot in Old Town during 1897. It is also interesting that White and Granville M. Gray jointly purchased a camp on Pushaw Lake in 1894. Granville was described as a hunter, guide, and taxidermist. He was an uncle to Fred White so there may be a family connection. This is not a name that I recognize from my family tree.

The Carleton Canoe Company factory / saw mill on the river at Steam Mill Point was purchased by Guy E. Carleton on October 11th, 1883 for $550. He added the lot on the old County Road (a.k.a. Main Street) on November 8th, 1889 for $300.

The Morris Canoe Company factory in Veazie was purchased by Bertie N. Morris on May 6th, 1891 for $675. Evan H. Gerrish purchased a residential lot in Bangor during 1884 but he must have been renting his commercial space since I could find no deed for that.

Let me know if you have any questions. Fun stuff,

Benson

 

[pklonowski]

Great find, Benson!

 

[1905Gerrish]

Benson,

Curious about the White residential lot you mention above purchased in 1897. I don't see the deed in what you attached. It seems before the factory was built in 1902, White moved from another location in OT in the Wing Block per the article I uncovered. By what I can find is that was considered the Main Street area of OT, which appears to be only one Street over from Water Street? In 1895 he was still building in Pushaw in his family's barn but there is talk of him moving to OT and out of Pushaw, so folks don't have to commute.

What I am getting at by searching out this info is a way to date these canoes with different metal tags and addresses on them.

Zack

 

[Benson Gray]

Curious about the White residential lot you mention above purchased in 1897.

The deed is attached below showing that he purchased the lot on June 26th, 1897 and the Old Town Enterprise article from September 10th, 1898 describes the house being built. His address was number 41 South Fourth Street but this street was renumbered a few years ago. Have you found a White tag with an address other than Water Street as shown below? Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson

 

[1905Gerrish]

Thanks for the info again. As for a tag as pictured above, I have not found a White with another address other than Water Street, but I was aware of a couple styles.

The upper center on the attached map shows the address you supplied. A reasonable assumption would be this was not where White had a shop and was building before he opened a rather large 3 story factory on Water Street. I was hoping to find a reasonable connection in the vicinity of Fourth Street South and Water Street to incorporate additional years of build being at Fourth Street South.

After researching Wing Block, it was discovered that two brother by the last name Wing, owned a building on Water Street which I assume incorporated a city block. I could find when White started occupying the building, but it was at least 1896. I am attaching the earliest article I could find mentioning the Wing Block. I did see in an article that in 1897, 50 canoes were expected to be made for the season. Certainly, ramping up production from his family's barn pre-1895.

A reasonable assumption for now is White canoes with Water Street tags could be either built at either location. I am aware of a few that have earlier build features and tended to believe were a bit earlier than 1902 timeframe (large factory). This now makes sense that the canoes are pre-1900.

Zack

 

[Benson Gray]

E. M. White's house is now number 402 Fourth Street as shown at the first link below. This is a residential area so he was probably not doing any significant canoe building there. Sam Gray of the Old Town Canoe company also lived of Fourth Street and occasionally stored canoes in his back yard as shown at the second link below.

Benson

Street View of 402 Fourth St · Google Maps

402 Fourth St, Old Town, ME 04468

maps.app.goo.gl

Post in thread 'Social Media Images'

Oct 24, 2019

This was originally posted on February 28th, 2019 but should probably also be saved here for reference.

Extra Storage: The Old Town Canoe Company would occasionally run out of space to store canoes at the factory while the filler cured. Sam Gray's back yard is one place where canoes would be stacked for storage. His children would help by going out to sweep them off when it snowed. This picture is not dated but these boys were born in 1912 and 1913 so it was not too many years after that. #wcha #canoe #woodencanoeheritageassociation #woodencanoe #oldtowncanoe #oldtownmaine

• Benson Gray

•