Did the people of Phippsburg Maine really burn down Malaga Island?

Answer 1

NO. The State of Maine hired a used to blacksmith to go to the island and determine if the people were "feeble minded" or not. He also decided who should be sent to The Maine School for the Feeble Minded. The state sent 6 or 7 people there, as well as the bodies they exhumed off the island. 5 of the 7 died in that school, 4 of them children. These people were not feeble minded as they had a school on the island and they could read and write just as well as the town and city kids. My Great Grandmother was born and went to school on the island. The folks who werent' "feeble minded" were evicted, many tried to seek shelter on the mainland, and were usually turned out because the state had given them such a bad reputation. Others floated their houses down the river and lived on them for a while. When the island was empty, the State hired people to go and burn all the houses that remained standing. So in answer to your question, Phippsburg did not do it, the Governor of the State of Maine and his council did it.