Perry Painting A painting by John Richard Perry, Sr., from which lithographs like this one were made, shows the first bridge to Edgecomb.

Paul Grover says there's a sign hanging in the Wiscasset town office that probably belongs to his family, but he's content to let it stay there.

It lists the tolls to cross the first bridge from Wiscasset to Edgecomb, 3,333 feet long, built in 1847. The tolls are broken down according to number of people, number of animals, and number and type of conveyance: "For each coach, chariot, sleigh, phaeton or other carriage of pleasure drawn by two horses - four cents" (the same wording, with four horses, is six cents).

What puzzles him is how it came to be donated to the town of Wiscasset - and when, and why. No one at the town office seemed to know when we inquired last week.

The "who" is known - a small brass plaque in the lower corner of the sign says it was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Neal Creamer. Longtime resident Susan Blagden said she remembers Neal and Betty Creamer. They were residents of Edgecomb. Mr. Creamer was quite the stunt pilot, and a well-known local historian who had compiled a substantial post card collection.

Ben Rines, Jr. remembers the sign was not on the wall when he served as a selectman in 1976, but by the early 1980s, it had been installed.

Rines said he didn't know the Creamers, but remembers his late father, Ben Rines, Sr., saying, "If there is anything worth doing, Neal Creamer has done it."

Grover has a copy of the notice that was printed when residents petitioned the state for money to "repair and preserve" the bridge. The notice says prior to the 1847 construction of the bridge, there was a ferry service, "operated by horse power," an operation branded in the notice as "expensive and unreliable."

"Public convenience and necessity demanded a bridge," the notice says. So, the sum of $18,000 was raised, "in shares of the par value of $100 each," after which the money was spent and the bridge was built.

Until the Knox & Lincoln Railroad was built in 1869, "the bridge received a considerable income from the stage line running between Bath and Rockland," and being comparatively new, "the proprietors were able to keep it in repair and pay occasional moderate dividends from the earnings."

However, after the rail line came through, the income from tolls on the bridge dropped, and after 1869 no more dividends were paid. The stock had "a nominal value" and by 1886 the proprietors were in debt a whopping $326.

It was apparently at this time that Paul Grover's ancestor arrived on the scene.

The notice says "Mr. J. C. Budd became the owner of a controlling interest in the capital stock, and having established a store at the western end of the bridge in connection with his business, maintained the bridge in connection with his business…"

And who was Mr. J.C. Budd?

It goes like this. Paul Grover's mother was Velma Bailey Grover. Velma Bailey Grover's mother was Daisy Budd, the daughter of J.C. Budd.

But alas, the notice says, "Tolls received being insufficient, J.C. Budd failed in 1893 and the stock passed out of his control…"

A view of how the village of Wiscasset would have looked while the bridge was in place is depicted in a 2002 painting by artist John Richard Perry, Sr., from which 950 lithographs were made.

Last month The Wiscasset Public Library announced that a limited number of them had been donated to the library, which the library was selling for $20 each. A press release about the lithographs sent out by the library said the view of the village was "scrupulously researched and authentic in all details."

Paul Grover was one of the first to buy not one, but two lithographs, numbers 326 and 327.

But Grover thinks the research on one detail in the painting is in error. A cart in the foreground of the painting says "James Grover Grocer" on the side of it. As far as Paul Grover knows, James Grover never owned a grocery store. But, he says the real authority on the Grover genealogy is his niece, Hope Coulombe, who lives in Brunswick.

"As far as I have been able to determine, James Grover was a brick maker," she said. "But I do know that one of our ancestors, Richard Tucker, was a grocer in 1870."

No matter - it's a great view of days gone by, and Paul Grover is proud of the role his ancestors played in the growth of the town.

As for the toll sign in the municipal meeting room, he's happy the sign is being preserved and displayed in a public place.