Gideon Mayo Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection is arranged in three series: papers of Gideon Mayo, papers of Charles W. Mayo, Gideon Mayo's son, and papers of George H. Hamlin. The Gideon Mayo series is arranged in five sub-series: correspondence, legal records, financial records, company records, and personal and miscellaneous material.
The Gideon Mayo papers begin with incoming correspondence, 1846-1876, primarily concerning financing and running the sawmills and other properties of Mayo and his business partners, especially Courtlandt Palmer and S.D. Dakin. Other letters deal with efforts to finance and build the Penobscot Railroad; correspondents include Israel Washburn, Jr. and John A. Poor, an early advocate of building railroads in Maine.
The legal records include deeds, 1827-1874; leases for mills and equipment, 1849-1871; agreements to sell Mayo saws and other equipment, 1850-1853; and writs issued to Mayo and his partners, 1848-1872. The financial records sub-series contains information about accounts settled, 1837-1867; bills for business expenses and equipment, 1839-1879; receipts, 1840-1876; and notes issued and paid, 1836-1876. These two sub-series give a clear picture of the financial and physical difficulties involved in establishing and running businesses and railroads in mid-19th century Maine.
The company records sub-series gives more detailed information about Mayo's various business ventures, especially his involvement in lumbering and sawmills. This series ends with various personal papers, including a folder of recommendations for Mayo as collector of the port of Bangor and a file of his records as pension agent.
The papers of Charles W. Mayo, Gideon Mayo's son, deal primarily with his activities as administrator of his father's estate, as well as personal and family matters. They include incoming correspondence, 1876-1882; probate and legal documents; an inventory of Gideon Mayo's estate; and bills and claims against that estate, 1876-1878.
The papers of George H. Hamlin are a mix of personal and business records. His incoming correspondence, 1876-1912, includes information about forming the Alumni Association for the Maine State College, the promotion in 1896 of an engineering experiment station bill similar to the Hatch Act for agriculture, and letters concerning his involvement in lumbering activities. Also included in this series is a group of questionnaires Hamlin sent in 1894 to selectmen and road commissioners in Maine asking about town financing for roads, wages paid to maintain roads, difficulties in keeping roads in good repair, etc.
Dates
- Creation: 1827-1920
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1846-1876
Creator
- Mayo, Gideon, 1808-1876 (Person)
Restrictions on Access
Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.
Use Restrictions
Information on literary rights available in the Library.
Biographical Note
Gideon Mayo was born in 1808 and lived in Orono, Maine. He was involved in various businesses in the Orono area and served as agent for several sawmills on the Stillwater River, including the Basin Mills, the Island Mills, and the Orono Manufacturing Company. Several of the major investors and directors in these companies were located in New York City and included Courtlandt Palmer, Charles Gould, Rutherford Moody, George H. Ford and Samuel D. Dakin. Insurance documents in the collection describe the Basin Mills as sawmills containing "four gangs, eight single saws, two circulars, four edgers, two lath machines and running gear; a one story building containing a shingle machine and a clapboard machine, and a two story workshop." The Orono Manufacturing Company consisted of sawmills and water-power on the lower dam at Ayers Island on the Stillwater River in Orono.
Mayo also became involved in the 1850s in founding and financing the Penobscot Railroad Company and served as a member of the Board of Directors and as president of the company. This railroad, approximately 15 miles long, ran from the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor to a terminus on the north shore of the Stillwater River in Orono to its final terminus at Milford, Maine. Mayo also served as a director of the Old Town and Lincoln Railroad Company, and he and his partners had interests in wharf property, primarily the Roberts Wharf in Bangor.
Mayo was recommended in 1865 to become collector of the port of Bangor but instead became pension agent for the United States Bureau of Pensions at Bangor in the late 1860s and 1870s.
Gideon Mayo was married to Martha A.H. Mayo and had several children, including Charles W., Edward P., Henry, Elbridge G., and Annie. Mayo died in 1876.
The collection also contains a small amount of material belonging to George H. Hamlin; Mayo and Hamlin may have been relatives by marriage. George Hamlin was born in Sidney, Maine, in 1850. He graduated in 1873 from the Maine State College, now the University of Maine, in the Department of Civil Engineering. After graduating, he became a tutor in the department and in 1880 was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering. He was treasurer of the college from 1889 to 1896 and was active in the Alumni Association. He also had a general engineering business and was an advocate for the development of good roads in the state of Maine.
George Hamlin married Annie M. Mayo in 1877 and had four children, only two of whom, Charles Mayo and George Harold Hamlin, lived into adulthood.
Extent
5 cubic feet (5 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Records from Mayo's involvement in various businesses in the Orono, Maine area and as an agent for several sawmills on the Stillwater River, including the Basin Mills, the Island Mills, and the Orono Manufacturing Company.
Organization of the Records
The collection is arranged in three series: papers of Gideon Mayo, papers of Charles W. Mayo, Gideon Mayo's son, and papers of George H. Hamlin. The Gideon Mayo series is arranged in five sub-series: correspondence, legal records, financial records, company records, and personal and miscellaneous material.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Gideon Mayo papers were purchased by the University of Maine Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections in 1987.
Processing Information
The collection has been re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes.
Subject
- Mayo, Charles W. (Charles William), 1898-1968 (Person)
- Hamlin, George H. (Person)
- Orono Manufacturing Company (Organization)
- Penobscot Railroad Company (Organization)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Gideon Mayo Papers
- Status
- Box And Folder List Available
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for uncoded script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Repository
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono ME 04469-5729 United States
207-581-1686