Gideon Mayo Papers

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.