In late June of 1862 there must have been many Waterville families nervously waiting to receive letters from their boys, husbands, or friends.

Maine regiments were fighting the Confederates for control of the South’s capital, Richmond, Virginia. Two of those families lived near each other and were related through a marriage. One of their homes was owned by both families.

That home remains today, much as it looked then, on its site on the corner of Front and Appleton streets. It is scheduled to be torn down for a housing development. The history of two families and their home thus especially deserves to be told and remembered.

Two brothers, Francis ”Frank” Heath and William S. Heath, and their friend, James H. Plaisted, had signed up for the “Rebellion” within a few days after President Lincoln had called for 75,000 volunteers. The Heath brothers, both graduates of Waterville College (as Colby College was known then) Frank in 1858 and William in 1855, would have had in mind the bloody death of Elijah Lovejoy, an 1826 graduate of Waterville College, by anti-abolitionist residents. The capture of John Brown by the U.S. Marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee and Brown’s subsequent execution in December, 1859 had raised Brown to martyrdom in the eyes of many northerners and gave them another reason to sign up for the war.

Our three young Waterville men were quickly mustered into the 3^rd Maine at Augusta, June 4, 1861, and with practically no military training were thrust into battle at Bull Run (First Manassas) on July 21. Bloody battlefields became their classrooms, where dead comrades were left where they fell and where the scourge of deadly diseases killed twice as many as the enemy.

They had all left the comforts of homes that successful families provided. James had grown up in the house on Front Street that his father, Dr. Samuel Plaisted, and his mother, Mary Jane Appleton, built around 1830 on a portion of land owned by his grandfather, Dr. Moses Appleton. In 1860 James’ father died of epilepsy, and a year later James marched off to war for nine months of service. His widowed mother sold her homestead to Solyman Heath in 1865 and moved the family near the corner of Elm and Main streets.

Solyman and Emily Redington Heath drew the war-ravaged families together into the spacious home that still stands at 60 Front St. Frank Heath had survived the war, but during his service, his wife, Caroline Moor, died of consumption, leaving an infant son. His brother, William, remained in Gaines Mill, Virginia, buried along with 900 other union soldiers killed by a tidal wave of Confederates that swept over the union entrenchments at Boatswains Creek.

In 1862 the news of William’s death would also be painfully felt in the Plaisted home. In 1856 Frank’s brother, Aaron Appleton Plaisted, had married Emily C. Heath, sister of the two Heath brothers. William’s youngest child, less than 2 years old, died 10 months after his father. Only three months after the baby’s death, William’s widow, 25-year-old Maria Moor, died, leaving two orphans to be raised by the Heaths.

Frank Heath lived at 60 Front St. until his death in 1897. Frank served as a member of both the House and Senate of Maine. He is credited with bringing one of the first pulp mills to Maine, at Benton Falls and Skowhegan. Both the Heaths and the Plaisteds were on the committee to erect that bronze “citizen soldier” in Veteran’s Park. The Plaisteds and Appletons were among those who formed the Waterville Library Association and gave eight acres of land to Pine Grove Cemetery.

The house was passed down through the family until sold in 1997 and converted into offices. Despite these changes the Federal-Greek Revival-style home maintains a dignified presence on the corner of Front and Appleton. It looks remarkably the same now as it did in photographs of the home believed to have been taken around 1855 and on the assessor’s card of 1935.

Although it has been altered, and thus not eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, many 19^th and 20^th century homes in Waterville retain their historic facades hidden beneath later layers and retain their structural integrity. These homes could be restored, if only someone cared to invest in them. Buildings can be re-purposed or moved to other locations to give way to the pressing needs of today’s challenges. Historic districts recognize local history, even with homes covered with vinyl siding and vinyl windows.

Thank the Plaisted-Appleton family when you visit the library or walk through Pine Grove Cemetery. When you pass by the Heath home and the city’s Veteran’s Park, remember William Heath lying forever at Gaines Mill.

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