Luther Cary: Boy Soldier, Doctor, Farmer and Judge
Luther Cary was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1761, the descendent of one of the
early Plymouth Colonists. He did not migrate to Turner until 1798, when,
together with his wife and several children, he followed his brother Ezra,
who had begun farming in Turner around 1776. Another brother, Daniel,
joined Ezra and Luther in 1800. In this, the Cary brothers duplicated
a tendency common to all early settlers in Maine. They tended to come
to a particular locality in groups of relatives, close neighbors, in-laws
and friends. Although we have not traced the pre-existing links by marriage
between the first families in Turner, it is highly probable that the Cary
brothers were related to some of these other families; certainly Carys
would intermarry with them in the years to come.
Luther was a veteran of the American Revolution. Like many soldiers of his time,
he apparently never bothered to keep, or had somehow lost, any documentary
proof of his service, such as his discharge papers. By the 1830's Maine
had become a State, and now the Legislature was trying to finalize the
disposition of all the public lands, or "public lots" that the State
had acquired as part of the process of separation from Massachusetts.
These public lots were located in the northern part of the State, in
Aroostook county.
The Legislature hit upon the idea of awarding parcels of this land as land grants or
"bounty" to Maine soldiers of the Revolution, a traditional way of providing
some compensation for military service in addition to the rather meager
pensions awarded by the government. A series of resolves was passed
by the Legislature in 1835 - 1836; and those soldiers who had no proof
of their service, and who had therefore never received any pension,
were allowed to go before a judge and swear out a legal deposition describing
their service. They had to provide eyewitnesses to their service; and
if the judge was not convinced, he could turn them down then and there.
Although it must have been a nuisance for these men, we are fortunate
to have their depositions, because they provide us with first-hand accounts
of what these old heroes did in that long-ago war!
Before coming to Turner, Luther Cary had studied medicine with a Doctor James Freeland
of Sutton, Massachusetts (there were few, if any, medical schools at
the time). He was known by one and all in Turner as "Doctor Cary," and
in addition to his medical practice, he also served as a judge of the
Androscoggin Court of Common Pleas for many years. These activities
did not stop him from pursuing a keen interest in experimental agriculture.
From the 1830s on, the State had encouraged Mainers to engage in the cultivation of
silkworms, hoping that the domestic production of silk might result
in an industry that could compete with Chinese silk; or even the silk
factories of France and England, where production of this luxury seemed
to be thriving. In 1836, the Legislature had authorized the payment
of bounties of 5 cents for silkworm cocoons raised and 50 cents for
every pound of silk "reeled" from the cocoons, in an effort to further
encourage the manufacture of silk. Unfortunately, silkworms will eat
nothing but the leaves of mulberry trees; and some folks claimed to
have difficulty growing mulberry trees in our cold climate.
Luther, his nephew Francis Cary, and two others named John Dillingham and Timothy Sudden
were undaunted, however. They had successfully maintained a sizable
stand of mulberry trees in Turner, and in 1841, they had a bright idea:
why shouldn't the Legislature authorize a bounty on mulberry trees!
That would surely encourage more people to get into the silk business!
They petitioned
the Legislature to do this very thing - and to get their point across,
they attached a swatch of silk thread that they had manufactured from
Turner silkworms.
