Island Falls and the KKK

Qui perd sa langue perd sa foi…


I have choses the Women of the Klux Klux Klan Seal from Houlton, Maine as my Maine Memory Network primary source.  The reason I have chosen this is my desire to understand why my forbearers stopped speaking French and practicing their Catholic Faith. Although there is no way to be certain that the activity of the Ku Klux Klan in the Southern Aroostook area was, in fact, the sole reason for this behavior, the presence of anti-Franco and anti-Catholic sentiment may have had a profound effect on my Acadian relatives as they made their home in Island Falls in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Prior to their relocation in Southern Aroostook, my relatives had lived in heavily French Catholic Van Buren, located in the St. John River Valley, home of many Acadian families.  The Martins, like many other Acadians, settled the area after being deported by the British in 1755 from Nova Scotia and other settlements in Maritime Canada. Their loss of both their Catholic and French identity poses an interesting question that Nativist sentiment of the time could partially answer.

The seal of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan of Houlton, a subgroup of the Aroostook Klan is from the Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum, in Houlton, Maine. It is used in embossing papers, perhaps for official purposes, such as membership and correspondence with other Klan groups. It has a braided, circular raised edge, with the word “Women of the Ku Klux Klan, Aroostook Klan “, and “ No. 21” separated by a shield with a cross inside it, the letters “K,K,K” and the letter “W” on the cross’s top. Another word, “Klan” is above the cross, and “Houlton, Maine” below it. The word Klan appears three times on the seal.

According to “Acadian Culture in Maine”, a website developed by the University of Maine at Ft. Kent, “discussion of Maine Acadian worldview is always influenced by who is asking about the subject and of whom; the respective age, gender, and educational and economic status of each person involved in the discussion; what community each is from; whether they have experienced stigmatization based on ethnic, religious or linguistic affiliation; and the context and language in which the discussion is conducted.” This set of criteria is important to consider how Acadians living in Island Falls saw the anti-French/Catholic activities in the Houlton area of the 1920’s and how it affected them. Given this background, demonstrations of anti-Franco/Catholic prejudice were widely known in Maine. One, the tarring and feathering in the community of Ellsworth of Jesuit priest John Bapst in 1854 shows that Nativist sentiment was already present in Maine before the year 1920. The choice to name the new Bangor Catholic High School in 1928 by Monsignor Nelligan and Father Houlihan as a "tribute in recognition of the great works of the pioneering priest" (Maine Memory Network) suggests resistance to ant-Catholic forces in the area. Indeed, Milo, Maine, located between Bangor and Houlton, saw the first daylight parade if the Klan in Maine and New England in 1923. That same year, a rally was held in some woods in Waterville, drawing some 15,000 people.( Lewiston Daily Sun, August 27, 1923.)

Certain Maine politicians were also sympathetic to the Klan cause, including Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, James G. Blaine, who ran for President in 1884. During that campaign, an important Blaine supporter commented that the opposing Democrat party was characterized by “rum, Romanism & rebellion”. Blaine was defeated narrowly by Grover Cleveland. (Summers, Mark (2000). Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.)

The Maine Klan was overseen by F. Eugene Farnsworth, who hailed from the Downeast town of Columbia Falls. Farnsworth, often accompanied by Protestant Clergy, toured Maine and held large rallies, specifically targeting the growth of Catholic Schools in Maine.  Large influxes of Canadian workers flooded Saco, Biddeford, Lewiston and paper towns such as Millinocket, seeking work.  This growing Catholic influence was particularly concerning to Farnsworth. His answer to this was to strengthen the moral influence of the home. What better way to do this than to enlist women? Mrs. Gertrude Witham was promoted to Major Kleagle (recruiter) of the Maine Chapter of the KKK. Witham’s efforts were thwarted, however, when it became known that several  Klanswomen were actually foreign-born, from Canada.  

Farnsworth’s dismissal of these women and subsequent financial finagling, specifically in fees charged women Klan member, eventually resulted in his resignation as King Kleagle of Maine. (Richard, Mark Paul (2010). "'Why Don’t You Be a Klansman?' Anglo-Canadian Support for the Ku Klux Klan Movement in 1920s New England.". American Review of Canadian Studies 4: 508–516. doi:10.1080/02722011.2010.519396.)

Island Falls in the 1920’s was a bustling town with a bark grinding mill, tannery, lumber mills, pulp drives and hotels, halls and entertainments for itinerant workers and townspeople. Some of the entertainment of the day was holding a parade or ball game; opportunity for  the community of outlying farmers and local townsfolk to gather and socialize. One such gathering occurred in the year 1924, on July the 12th.  The Maine Memory Network page, obtained from the Cary Library reads as follows: “Notations on the album page where this photograph is found state, "The park where we watched the Houlton ball team beat I.F." and "The KKK at Island Falls July 12, 1924." The Houlton Times of 1924-07-16 , under "News From Island Falls and Patten" states: The Orangemen's celebration which has been looked forward to with so much interest for several weeks was most successful in every way....There were the most Orangemen ever seen here in a parade, many different lodges being represented. The Orangemen were followed by about one hundred members of the Ku Klux Klan from different towns, and as they appeared in their white robes and masks they were greeted with much enthusiasm all along the line of march..... Two ball games were played between Island Falls and Houlton both were won by the latter team." In this photo the Klan is seen marching across the ballfield.”

Orangemen, a Protestant Fraternal order, commemorate the victory of William of Orange’s Protestant forces over those of Catholic James II, in the year 1690. In heavily Scot-Irish Southern Aroostook, the sense of cultural pride ran deep. The report of this day’s festivities are included in the Town of Island Fall’s Centennial Commemorative book, compiled by Nina Sawyer in the year 1972. Missing from that account, however, is the mention that members of the Ku Klux Klan were present in the same parade. (Island Falls 1872-1972, Nina G. Sawyer, 1972.)

What did my Great-great-grandfather, Theophile Martin, and his wife, Florence Durpeau think of this show? The antagonism of the time as well as the memory the sheer number of Orangemen, who walked with five thousand people on July 13, 1903,( Sawyer, 110) must have been an influence on him, because he changed his name to an Anglicized version of Theophile, “Tofield”. By this name, he is known to my entire family.

That the seal of the WKKK has been saved by the Aroostook Historical and Art Museum is both a good thing and a bad thing. Was it saved by a sympathetic member and passed down through that family until it rested where it is, or was it unearthed in an attic, it’s worth debated, then donated, with the hope that finally the dark past of proud Southern Aroostook could come to light? For this Acadienne, more research must be done, but this seal and accompanying images from Maine Memory Network have added more pieces of the recovery puzzle. Je me souviens! L’Acadie toujours!

Expanded version of a paper I did for my Maine History class in May of 2015