Bits and pieces toward a biography of ROGER ALTON GRAY, and his wife MINERVA ALLEN SHARMAN, of Wesley, Maine. Compiled by Stephen L. Robbins; a 1980 draft was read and corrected by Minerva Gray about 1981. Any information recorded or received after 1981 still needs to be added. Except for the published sources cited, most of this information came from interviews with Minerva (Sharman) Gray and communications from other family members. Electronic text version prepared by Stephen L. Robbins during December 2002.
Steamboats and Excursions on the St. Croix River.
The old steamboat wharf in Robbinston was located just south of the site of the Syndicate Packing Company (which later became Seacoast Packing Company). It was here that, about 1903, Minerva had her first steamboat ride on the Henry F. Eaton, and went to St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The Henry F. Eaton "was owned in Calais, and they sold out to Eastern Steamship Company .... [which] had it fixed around and changed the name to the St. Andrews.... I can't seem to remember when that changed names. Well anyway it was the same boat. Run from Calais to Eastport. Went down every day, and then it would meet up with the Boston boat. The Governor Cobb and the Calvin Austin, they were the outside boats, and they run from Boston, to Saint John, stopped at Eastport. The one on the Saint Croix, the Henry F. Eaton, made connections with it; but that went every day. I used to get on it in Calais, when there going to the Academy, and come down to Robbinston. I'd get on at Robbinston, come back to Calais. But usually we'd drive, with a team."
Minerva had gone on the steamboat many times between Robbinston and Calais, but on it just several times to St. Andrews, New Brunswick (on excursions), once to Eastport, Maine and three times to St. George, New Brunswick (on excursions).
Once when they went to St. George, the Calais Band was aboard and playing. Going into St. George River, it was shaped like an "S" but had an extra curve. There was a very high ledge at the mouth of the river. The river was narrow, but deep. A t one point there was a skow tied across the river, connected to each side with ropes as big as a quarter in thickness. The steamboat captain wasn't going to bother to stop the steamboat, so he plowed right through those ropes. At the dock, being the third boat from the wharf, the passengers had to step onto two other boats in order to get to the wharf. There were six in Minerva's party.
Minerva, her sister Ruth, and their cousin Annie Bearman got off the boat. At the street, they turned left and "walked up street to a store to buy a lunch, as we had not carried one with us. All that we could buy were cookies [, and they] were, too, all that the store keeper had left. His sales of food for lunches that day were unusually good, and he soon had sold all he had. Next customer to us was a large man from Calais. He got nothing; likewise others who probably came in later. Going home on the boat, our bunch of girls met up again with the man from Calais. We had some cookies left in the bag, so offered them to him. He seemed pleased to get them."
Minerva always liked to go on the cruises, especially times when they'd have a band on board which played as they crossed the river. The music sounded much better on the water, because it seemed to carry across the water and echo. For that mater, Minerva recalled, that music also sounded good when heard from shore.
Motor Boat Cruises.
When Minerva was young, she and her friends would often go on cruises in motor boats (today [i.e., in 197-], she guessed they would call them yachts) to the dances or to the "pictures" at St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Minerva remembered going at least twice, though, to St. George, New Brunswick on the steamboat.
One time, she went with a bunch of people to see pictures at St. Andrews. Minerva remembered that Annie Bearman and Uncle Dave Sherman were both with her on the boat before it left from shore in Robbinston. Minerva went in either Roland Jollotte's [spelling?] boat or Harry Brooks' boat. Ruth was about to get aboard, but when she heard someone say that there were too many people for the boat, she decided not to go. Ruth feared that the boat would be overloaded, so she turned around and went back home. But it didn't bother Minerva; she knew the boys who were driving the boat, and trusted them. The boat started out, and there was another boat load of young people from Robbinston going to come behind them.
Well, the boat Minerva was on, it turned out, had no flashlight and no fog horn, and the night was foggy. Halfway to St. Andrews, the motor stalled, and they couldn't get it started again. And there they were in the fog, in the middle of the river, with no light and no horn. Well, what were they going to do? They knew the other boat would soon be coming along and might be near enough to hear them. Everybody in the boat hollered together, hoping the other boat would hear them. "And some of the girls began singing, but I didn't because I can't sing," Minerva remembered. The other boat, being on a similar course, was able to hear them, above the noise of their own motor, and decided to see what was wrong. That second boat towed the first one to St. Andrews.
"I guess some of the boys thought they maybe could stay and fix the engine, so we went along to the pictures, just as if nothing happened."
Afterwards, they had only one boat working. But it was still foggy, and it had come on to rain. So it was decided that the boys would go across to Robbinston that night, and in the morning would come back to St. Andrews to pick up the girls.
"Annie was with me and I wanted Uncle Dave to stay with us, so he did. Josephine Summers, Helen Hitchcock, Eddie Mahar and either Jenny Hayward or Mildred Quinn were with me, and we got Josephine's boyfriend to stay."
As the boat was shoving off. Minerva hollered, asking if someone would stop by her parents' in Robbinston to tell them why she wouldn't be home until the next morning -- and someone said that they would. It was about midnight, and her parents would already be in bed.
Well, the boys no more than started out when somehow, Johnny Hayward got his arm caught in the motor, and the fly wheel broke his arm. The boat came back to St. Andrews so he could see the doctor about his arm.
Minerva's party went over to Helen (Trimble) Rigby's house. Helen "was from Robbinston, and we knew her. We knocked on the door, but they were asleep and didn't hear us. So then we began to walk down the street, trying to think of someone else here we might stay with. Someone said we'd better try to find a room in a hotel. So we came up to the Maple Leaf Hotel, which we knew had some rooms, run by a lady and her husband."
It was in the middle of the night, after midnight. A man and his wife came out; they were both red-headed and looked alike. They heard the story and said, "Well," they said, "how many of the young people were there," and they counted them up. They said that they had two rooms -- one big one with two beds, and one smaller one with one bed. It was decided that Eddie Mahar and Uncle Dave would take the small room, and the girls would take the big room.
Minerva recalled that they didn't get any sleep at all that night, but the girls really didn't mind it. They stayed awake the whole night and talked, and had a good time. It was a real adventure for them.
Rowboats and Seals.
After Minerva had graduated from Calais Academy, she was visiting once with a friend at Red Beach. She met up with several girls there, Evadner Cook and Lenora Wilson, and they decided to take a rowboat across to Doucet Island. On the way over they were followed by a group of seals, swimming behind and alongside the boat with just the heads above water. Minerva voiced her concern that the seals might swim too close, get up against the side of the boat and upset it. Lenora Wilson said "No," that the seals were just following and waiting for someone to throw them some food. (Minerva had never seen seals while riding on steamboats on the St. Croix River).
On Doucet Island, the girls visited Mr. Ingalls, the lighthouse-keeper. He told Minerva that the seals were harmless, and that at low tide they often came onto the Island's beach to sun themselves. (The lighthouse on Doucet Island burned in 1979 or 1980).