USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bremen > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 1
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
Gc 974.102 B77j 1686553
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 1853
C
PROF. NAT. SCIENCE WES. UNIVERSITY.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownsof00john_0
A HISTORY
OF THE TOWNS OF -
BRISTOL AND BREMEN
ME.
IN THE
STATE OF MAINE,
INCLUDING THE PEMAQUID SETTLEMENT.
BT
JOIIN JOHNSTON, LL.D.,
A NATIVE OF BRISTOL, AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, MIDDLETOWN, CONN., AND COR. MEM. OF THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
49.20
ALBANY, N. Y .: JOEL MUNSELL. 1873.
1686553.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873 By JOHN JOHNSTON,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, in Washington.
-
PREFACE.
0 This work, though belonging to that class denominated local histories, to a considerable extent, describes events and transactions more or less intimately connected with the early history of the whole north Atlantic coast. This is true at least of much of the first part. In preparing the work the author has considered himself as particularly addressing the citizens of the place, most of them the neighbors and friends of his youth, or their direct descendants; and in the belief that they would be particularly interested, like himself, in the ancient history of their native place, much labor has been expended on this part and much space allotted to it, though it becomes necessary, as a consequence, to exclude considerable matter relating to modern times that had been prepared, and, were it possible, would gladly have been included. To have merely described the transactions that took place here would have been comparatively an easy task; but to show the real import- ance and significance of these transactions, required a wider range of view, and an examination of their relations to events simultaneously transpiring in other places on the coast, and even in Europe.
Free use has been made of every source of information within the author's reach, but all important statements, as far as possible, have been traced to their original sources. That immense receptacle of original documents pertaining to the early history of New England, the Massachusetts Archives, contained in some 240 or more volumes, and preserved in the State House in Boston, was explored quite thoroughly, and with considerable profit, as the attentive reader will not fail to observe.
iv
PREFACE.
Mr. Thornton's " Ancient Pemaquid " . (Muine Hist. Soc. Col., Vol. V), served as an excellent guide in the author's researches; but it is proper to say that much of the ground had been explored before that work was published.
The author has supposed it a special duty to give a plain and unbiassed account of persons and events coming under consideration, but he has not hesitated to express an opinion in any case where it seemed to be called for. If, on some not unimportant points, his opinions are found to differ essentially from those expressed by others, it has not been because of a desire to be peculiar, or because of any want of respect toward the views of those differing from him, but only because, in his own judgment, the incontrovertible facts required it.
Extracts from original documents and letters have been freely introduced, in the belief that we thus get a more vivid and faithful picture of the persons and events described. These extracts are always given exactly as they are found in the originals, without any attempt to correct errors whether in orthography or grammar. In some cases the authors were really illiterate, but this is not to be inferred because of peculiarities observed in their modes of spelling words, or peculiar modes of expression. In those early times great diversity in the modes of spelling words, including even proper names, was allowed. The same person would at different times use different modes of spelling his own name.
The author takes pleasure in expressing his obligations to many friends who have, in different ways, aided him in the preparation and publication of the work; but to none has he been under more obligation than to those old friends of his boyhood, William and James H. Hackelton, Esys., and Hon. Arnold Blaney, without whose coopera- tion it probably would never have been given to the public. Many others also have extended kindly aid in different modes, but the names are too many to be inserted here. The author's researches have been carried on, more or
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V
PREFACE.
loss in nearly all the larger public libraries in New England and the city of New York, and in all of them, without exception, he has found the librarians and their assistants kind and obliging, and ready to afford all the facilities in their power. The same remark will apply to several of the clerks in the secretary's office in Boston, but especially to Mr. H. J. Coolidge, who has long occupied a desk there, and who seemed never wearied by the repeated calls made upon him.
Only a small part of the material collected for the work has in reality been used in its preparation. As is known to many of the citizens, much material had been collected with the design of preparing pedigrees of many of the older families ; but it was found that space could not be allowed for them, without unduly extending the size of the volume.
The islands near the coast were considered of much greater relative importance in the early times than at present; and a separate chapter devoted to their history was prepared, but necessarily excluded for the same reason. A
-
THE AUTHOR.
MIDDLETOWN, CT., Oct. 1, 1873.
DIRECTIONS TO BINDER.
/
Portrait of Author, to face Title.
Map, .
p. 1
Portrait of Com. Samuel Tucker,
364
Hon. Arnold Blaney,
389
Hon. James Erskine,'
497
Capt. John Fossett, 442
Col. Samuel T. Hinds, 446
66 Thomas Johnston, 499
--
1
CORRECTIONS, &c.
Page 63. Near the bottom, for "Cape Newagen (Boothbay)" read Cape New- agen (Southport).
Page 82. For "Bignyduce " read Biguyduce. This was the ancient name for the present Castine. It was always pronounced Bagaduce, and often so written.
Page 85. Second line of second paragraph. For " their cause " read this cause.
Page SS. Near the middle of the page for " forward " read formal. .
Page 89. Note. For " but there is not," read but is there not.
Page 106. Last line of first paragraph. For "rivers " read wives.
Page 174. For " Abenaquises " read Abenaques.
Page 252. Note at bottom. For " St. John's Tower " read St. John's Toone.
Page 258. Near middle. For " 1636 and 1637" read 1726 and 1727.
Page 316. Near middle. For " storm " read stern.
Page 318. Near middle of page ; Strike out the word " sic."
Page 332. For the name "Gondy " here, and in one or two other places, read Goudy.
Page 335. The name "William,2" near middle of the page should be in small capitals, like the names JAMES," ANNIE,? &c., and in the same perpen- dicular line with them. He married not Mary Goudy (printed Gondy) but Mary Clark.
Page 445. Note. For " (1707 and 1737)" read (1737 and 1747).
Page 460. Near top of page. For " 1854" read 1864.
OUR MAP.
The map here given is peculiar, but will not be unacceptable to the people of the place. It represents the place with the pre- sent roads and some modern improvements, but contains the names only of those known to reside here in 1751. It was the intention, at first, to insert the names of the present residents, in the manner of the recent county maps; but the size of a map that is to be inserted in a book is necessarily limited, and because of the small space it was found impossible to introduce the names legibly. Most of the names were taken from North's map, prepared for the Kennebec proprietors, in December of the year mentioned ; but the names of all others have been added whose places of residence were known. North's map did not include the eastern part of the town, for the reason that the Kennebec proprietor's claim did not extend east of the Pemaquid river and ponds. (Note, page 329).
REFERENCES.
In the references to authorities in the notes the usual abbre- viations are used, and will need no special explanations, except in a single instance. Lincoln Report, or Lin. Rep., 1811, indicates a very important document, now very rare, entitled " Order of both branches of the Legislature of Massachusetts, to appoint Commissioners to investigate the Causes of the Difficulties in the County of Lincoln, and the report of the Commissioners thereon, with the documents in support thereof, Boston, 1811."
SALT BAY
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BRISTOLAND BREMEN, ME.
MONHEGAN I
HISTORY
OF
BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
CHAPTER I.
General Description of the Place -- Minerals - Geology.
The two townships of Bristol and Bremen occupy nearly the whole of the peninsula lying between the Damariscotta river on the west and the Muscongus sound and bay on the east, and lave on the north the towns of Damariscotta, Nobleboro, and Waldoboro. The territory is in the south part of Lincoln county, in the state of Maine; and the southern point, extend- ing several miles into the Atlantic ocean, forms a prominent head-land, long known to navigators on the coast as Pemaquid point. A light-house was erected on the point in 1824.
Three miles north of the extreme point, on the west side, is Pemaquid harbor, which, being easily accessible and very safe for ships at all seasons of the year, was in early times, and in fact still is a place of frequent resort by vessels sailing on the coast. West of the point, and extending some distance south of it, is Rutherford's island, so named, it is said, from Rev. Robert Ru- therford, who came here as chaplain to Governor Duubar in 1720, and probably resided for a time on the island. It is con- noeted with the main-land by a stone bridge.
The name Pemaquid first occurs in Strachey's account of the Popham 1 expedition, in 1607, and designates the harbor already mentioned; and an indefinite territory in the vicinity. The name is to be understood as the English rendering of an Indiau
' Maine Hist. Coll., III, 206 ; Memorial Volume of the Popham Celebration, p. 257.
1
2
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
word more or less resembling it in sound, but the true pronun- ciation of which cannot now be determined.1 .
By accurate determinations of the officers of the United States coast survey, the light-house is found to be in 43º 51' N. lat. and 69º 29' W. long.
On the south, from the point, the view of the Atlantic is en- tirely unobstrueted, but to the south-east and east lic the large island of Monhegan, and the cluster of smaller islands, called the Georges or St. Georges islands.
From the point where the light-house stands, the coast extends north-north-east ten or twelve miles nearly in a straight line to Greenland cove in the town of Bremen. Nearly three miles from the southern point of the peninsula on the east side is New Harbor, which with Back cove, the two uniting at their mouth, forin two considerable indentations into the land which serve as valuable harbors for the many small vessels always engaged here in the fishing business.
Round pond is another small harbor still further north, formed by an indentation from Muscongus bay, having Mus- congus island stretched two miles or more in a north and south direction in front of its mouth, and effectually protecting it from the winds and waves to which it would otherwise be exposed from the east.
Another small indentation, a mile or more north of Round pond, constitutes Muscongus harbor, so called, into which a small stream empties from Mascongus pond.2
Broad cove in the north-eastern part of Bremen, separating it in part from Waldoboro, is often mentioned in documents pertaining to the ancient history of this region. It is some fifteen miles from the light-house on the point, and formerly con- stituted the north-eastern boundary of the town of Bristol.
1 The name is found in twenty or more forms among English and French writers. Williamson (Ilist. of Maine, I, p. 57), and others after him (Maine Hist. Coll., IV, p. 108, and Eaton, An. Warren, p. 18), suppose the real Indian name was Pemaquid- eag or Pemaquina, and probably signified long point, but by others this explana- tion is not accepted. The late Rev. Dr. Ballard of Brunswick, thought the word to mean crooked ricer, or at the crooked river, which however does not seem to be particularly appropriate to the place ( U. S. Coast Surcey, 1868, p. 245). Pem- aquin, Penmiquid, Pemequit, Pemekuit, Pemquet, Pemkuit. Pemquet, Pemskitit, Punquid, Paraquid, Pinkuit, Penkuit, Paincuit, Pencoit, Pemhaeng. Pemahery, are other methods of spelling and pronouncing the name actually found among the old writers.
2 Probably a corruption of the old Indian name, Remobseus or Seremobscus.
.
3
1
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
West of Pemaquid point, and lying between it and Ruther- ford's island, is Jeha's bay, containing several small islands, and connected with it is John's river,1 which is only an arm of the sea, extending a few miles northward into the land.
Damariscotta river, the Tamiscot of Heylin, 1645, constitutes the western boundary both of Bristol, and the town of Damaris- cotta. The tide flows up this river some eighteen miles or more to the village known as Damariscotta Mills. On the opposite or west side of the Damariscotta river are the towns of Boothbay, Edgecomb, and Newcastle.
Besides the islands which have already been incidentally men- tioned, there are several others usually considered as belonging to Bristol, which were in early times considered of some import- ance, and even contained some families as settlers, as the Da- mariscove islands, which constitute a group lying several miles south west of Pemaquid point. Further notice will be taken of them hereafter.
The only stream of importance in Bristol is the Pemaquid river, which takes its rise beyond the northern limits of the town in several ponds, lying partly in the towns of Nobleboro, and Damariscotta, and partly between these towns and the town of Bremen. One of these, called Pemaquid pond is some six miles in length, and a mile wide at the broadest place. It lies partly in Nobleboro, and serves in part as a natural bound- ary between Damariscotta and Bremen. Biscay pond connects with the former on the south ; it serves as a natural boundary on the north between Bremen and Damariscotta, and, on the south, between Bremen and Bristol: Several smaller ponds are connected with the two just named by small streams, as Muddy pond and Little pond in Damariscotta, Duckpuddle pond, lying between Waldoboro and Nobleboro, and McCurdy pond in Bremen.
Pemaquid river has several falls in its course which afford sites for mills and factories; but unfortunately, the supply of water, though plentiful in the wet season, is liable to fail en- tirely in seasons of drought. The lower falls on the stream, at the Falls village, occur just. above the point where the fresh water of the stream empties into the tide water of the bay, two
1 John's river, John's bay, and John's island, are names probably derived from Smith's map of 1614, in which the name, St. John Towne is placed near this lo- cality. - Muss. Hist. Coll., [3], VIII, Map.
4
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
miles above the site of the old fort. Here probably the first mille were erected in all this region ; but no account of them has come down to us. Here on the east side of the stream are still to be found the remains of an old canal, which begins just where the country road now is, and extends downward many rods, keeping at about the same level on the bank, and having several lateral or side canals apparently for conveying water to mill-wheels situated there.1
The falls at the Mills village furnish good sites for mills, which have not been neglected; and farther down the stream, in the Fountain neighborhood, are other falls, on which mills have been erected, but the descent of the water is not sufficient, to allow any considerable accumulation of power.
Muscongus stream originates in Muscongus pond in Bremen ; and, running southerly only a few hundred rods, empties into Muscongus harbor. There are two falls on the stream.
In both the Pemaquid and the Muscongus streams the early settlers were accustomed to take large quantities of alewives and shad in the spring of the year, but only a very few are now caught. In fact, no shad have been taken for many years, but the alewives still return each spring, in small numbers, to make their ascent to the ponds above, where they deposit their spawn.
The geology of Bristol and neighboring towns is decidedly granitic; the rocks are what geologists call metamorphic, being mostly gneiss and mica-slate; but they are traversed, in many places, by veins of granite, which occasionally forms large masses, and is advantageously quarried for building purposes.
These rocks lie mostly in parallel ridges in the direction of N. N. E., and W. S. W ; in fact, on nearly the whole east- ern shore, from the light-house at the point, to the northern limit of the town, the further encroachment of the sea is pre- vented by a barrier of rock. Indeed it is these rocky barriers, which give to the coast of this part of the state of Maine its present conformation, the earth having been removed by the con- stant dashing of the waves, wherever it has not been protected by the immovable rocks. That part of the coast of Maine be- tween the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers is not unlike the fingers of the hand, being made so by the parallel ridges of rock, which, more or less covered with soil, extend down into
1 Popham Memorial Volume, p. 273.
5
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
the ocean, the tide flowing up many miles between them in the rivers Sheepscott, Damariscotta, Muscongus, and St. George.
The township of Bristol is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Pemaquid stream, each part having its separate ridge of underlying rock. In the eastern part, the rock shows itself at the surface almost continuously from south to north quite to the northern line of Bremen ; but, in the western part, the rock is more concealed by the overlying soil.
The eastern shore of Bristol, and adjacent islands afford ex- cellent opportunities for the study of those rocks, which are kept bare by the constant dashing of the waves. Dr. Jack- son 1 gives a very good description of their appearance in some places, visited by him, in the course of his survey of the state. " At the extremity of Pemaquid point, which is a long rocky promontory, there are some remarkable geological phenomena. The rocks are generally gneiss and mica slate, the strata running N. 43° E., S. 43º W, while the dip is N. W. or S. E., according to the time of disruption and fracture, produced by the upturn- ing strata, which was effected by the huge beds and veins of granite.
At the extreme point, below the light-house, may be seen a remarkable instance of this violent intrusion of a granite vein, the strata of mica slate having been turned completely over by the injected vein. Here we remark the contortions of the mica slate, and the curve where it was bent over by the upheaving and overturning veins of granite. The vein is from twelve to thirty feet wide, and runs N. 30° E., S. 30° W. On its eastern side, the strata of mica slate dip S. E. 60° and on its western side N. W. 60°. Huge masses of the protruding granite have been broken off, and removed from thirty to fifty yards to the westward. One of those blocks measures eighteen feet square ; another is twenty-five feet long by eight feet wide, the former being thirty yards and the latter fifty yards from the parent vein."
Cases similar to these may be seen at other places on the point, and north along the eastern shore, and on the shores of the adjacent islands.
Dr. Jackson describes an interesting dyke of trap or basalt (as he calls it), on the estate of Mr. Joshua House, now in the town of Damariscotta, and just north of the line of Bristol. It is near a granite vein, and shows itself again on the shore of
1 Geology of Muine, 3d Annual Report, p. 58.
6
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
Biscay pond.1 The rock is decidedly columnar in its struc- ture, and forms a vein or dyke in the granite from twelve to thirty feet in width. Probably, by careful examination, it may be traced much further back to the north-west and the south- east.
Another well characterized vein or dyke of basalt occurs at Pemaquid harbor, and in fact constitutes the wall or promon- tory of rock on the west side which so perfectly protects the harbor on the south. No visitor can fail to notice the different color and appearance of this rock from the surrounding granite and gneiss. It is of a dark gray color, where it has been long exposed to the weather, but is often of a beautiful blue or green when recently broken. Its texture is compact and hard; and unlike the gneiss and mica slate it is fractured with equal faci- lity in every direction, showing that it is not crystaline. It gene- rally withstands the action of the weather better than the granite rocks; and it seems to be in consequence of this that the rocky promontory, alluded to at the harbor is preserved in its present form. This projection from the western side is often called the Barbican, by early writers ; and, as we shall hereafter see, many important transactions have taken place upon it.2
On the east side there is no appearance of the dyke in the immediate vicinity, but two miles or more to the north-east, near the head of Longcove there are distinct traces of it, and also half a mile further in the same direction on the eastern shore, north of Long-cove point. Here the trap rock occurs in large masses and has been known in the neighborhood as the indigo rocks, from the supposed resemblance of the cubical masses to lumps of indigo, as it is often purchased. Persons examining it at this point may easily be deceived as to its true character, from the fact that the vein, though preserving its true characteristics, is nearly horizontal, having been intruded be- tween the nearly horizontal strata of the inclosing metamorphic rocks. Over a surface of many square rods, one side of the vein is entirely exposed, the overlying stratum of gneiss having been removed by the action of the waves. On the shore, both north and south of the trap vein, for a distance of several rods, detached masses of the trap are found in abundance ; and on the west side of the point, the smooth blue pebbles, frequently occurring and so
1 Geology of Maine, 8.1 Annual Report, p, 29.
2 Popham Memorial, p. 64.
7
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
easily distinguished from the granite pebbles, are to be referred to the same origin.1
These dykes or veins of trap are often very extensive, and if the proper examination should be made in a south-western direc- tion from Pemaquid harbor even into the township of Boothbay or farther, it is quite probable that traces of it would be dis- covered.
There is appearance of trap in the road near Round pond, a short distance south of Mr. David Chamberlain's, but it is not known whether it makes a part of a dyke.
The soil of all this region is, of course, granitic, but in some places it is light and sandy, while in others, clay abounds. In many places, clay suitable for making brick is abundant, and the inhabitants have for many years manufactured bricks in suffi- cient quantity for their own use. At the present time, many are also made for the Boston and other markets. The cultivated fields are of limited extent because of the broken nature of the surface, and the frequent protrusion of the underlying rocks. In some places the granitic rocks rise considerably above the general level, and are only partly covered by soil. Nearly all these hills were originally covered with a stunted growth of trees ; and sometimes, where the first growth has been removed, it has been succeeded by a second, in which the prevailing species will almost always be different from those of the first. As a ge- neral rule, applicable to other parts of North America, as well as to this, when the primitive forest is composed mostly of deci- duous trees, as the oak, maple, beech, etc., the growth succeed- ing will be made up mostly of coniferæ, as the spruce, pine, fir, and other evergreens. Many interesting facts bearing on this topic, so often discussed by naturalists, might be collected here."
The true metamorphic rocks, as are most of this region, sel- dom contain interesting mineral species, but in the granite, and especially the quartz veins, that always traverse them, they are sometimes, of frequent occurrence. Unfortunately, no public or other works have been undertaken here, requiring extensive excavation in the rocky masses so as to bring into view their hidden contents ; but a few species are known to present them-
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