May 26, 2009 at 6:00 P.M. * Annual Dinner: High Street Congregational Church, Auburn *
· May 26, 2009 at 7 P.M.* Location: High Street Congregational Church, Auburn *
Speaker: Local author: Douglas I Hodgkin Topic: The Settlers versus Col. Josiah Little * It has become necessary to change the announced topic of the Androscoggin Historical Society’s lecture on Tuesday, May 26. Local author Douglas I. Hodgkin will speak about 
“The Settlers versus Col. Josiah Little” at 7:00 P.M. at the High Street Congregational Church in Auburn. Did you ever think about frontier life in Androscoggin County? During the late 1700s, new settlers were busily establishing their homes and farms here. However, besides the hardships of carving out a living in a wilderness and surviving our cold winters, the settlers also faced the usual frontier problems of conflicting land claims and establishing law and order. Col. Josiah Little, the father of Edward Little, was a Pejepscot Proprietor. He demanded payments for land and for rents from those he viewed as squatters. The settlers fought back, including acts of violence, property destruction, and intimidation. Hodgkin will draw much of his information from his research on Lewiston history published in his new book, Frontier to Industrial City: Lewiston Town Politics, 1768 to 1863. The talk will include descriptions of incidents throughout what is now Androscoggin County, including Minot, Danville, and other towns, as well as Lewiston. A professor emeritus of Bates College, Hodgkin is a native of Lewiston who received his education at Lewiston High School and at Yale and Duke Universities. He has authored several works on Lewiston history, including Lewiston Memories, The Grange at Crowley’s Junction, and Fractured Family. He is editor of the Androscoggin Historical Society newsletter and a member of Lewiston’s Historic Preservation Review Board.
Mr. Hodgkin at Maine Half Marathon about a mile from finish line. Photo courtesy of David Colby Young
Prof. Hodgkin was to give this talk last Oct 2008, but he had an illness after finishing the Maine Half Marathon a few weeks before he was going to give his talk. Many of you know Douglas Hodgkin for his running and perhaps some day he will turn to do a race once again.