Dr. Silvester Gardiner was an extraordinary individual, both in his time and through the lens of history. Born in 1708, he was the first New Englander to receive a medical education in Europe. But his entrepreneurial leanings soon eclipsed his medical practice, and he invested with other Boston merchants in a million-and-a-half-acre tract of land in Maine, known as the Kennebec Purchase.
In telling his story, biographer Olivia Coolidge traces the early settlement of Maine, from the first settlers struggling to survive bitter winters in crude huts, to the gradual establishment of trade, sawmills, gristmills, and other commerce, then attempts to increase the population with immigrants and instill civilization through the firm hands of religion, government, and Dr. Gardiner. This outstanding biography paints a vivid portrait, lively with detail, of a dynamic man and his imprint on the Kennebec River Valley.
Olivia Coolidge was a very successful children's author for thirty years, with twenty-nine books published. She was also the recipient of the 1963 Newbery Award for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children. Coolidge wrote Dr. Silvester Gardiner's biography during the 1960s, but her publisher preferred that she stay with children's literature, so the book was never published. The manuscript resurfaced, and Olivia Coolidge, then ninety-one, generously donated it to the Gardiner Library Association for publication. Danny Smith, who edited the manuscript and prepared its introduction, bibliography, and a genealogy, is a historian in the city of Gardiner.
Did you find this review helpful?