USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Cousins and Littlejohn's islands, 1645-1893 > Part 1
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Cousins and Littlejohn's islands, 1645-1893 > Part 1
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Gc 974.1 K15c 1281081
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01083 6952
COUSINS AND
LITTLEJOHN'S ISLANDS
MAINE
1645 - 1893
KATHERINE PRESCOTT KASTER
KEY MAP OF HOUSES ON COUSINS AND LITTLEJOHNS ISLANDS (See Preface)
BLANEYS POINT
1281081
I (A,B) CORNFIELD
SANDY POINT
POINT
LIT (A,B)
·+V
· V
+Long. 70°08'W Lat. 43 46 N
: VI (A,B)
· VII (A,B)
: XIX
.VIII
.
X
XX
.XI
·IX
XXI
.XXIIL
XIII
777
XVI
SPRUCE POINT
PREFACE
This brief history of Cousins and Littlejohn's Islands runs from the first record of them in 1645, when they were bought by John Cousins, to 1893 when the first subdivision was started which led to the Islands becoming summer re- sorts. From that time on there have been so many persons here having a wide range in interests and doing many differ- ent things that it would be very difficult to write about these recent years.
The history has all too few anecdotes about the earlier inhabitants as for the most part they did nothing that was recorded for future generations to enjoy. I have included nearly all stories that I could find, omitting only those which might be resented by living persons. In some cases a little more information about persons is included in the genealogy.
A novel feature is the set of "KNOWN INHABITANTS" scattered throughout the text. These lists contain the names and ages of the members of the families living in the various houses at approximately 10 year intervals. The roman nu- meral at the head of each family stands for one of the houses as shown on the key map, page i. When it is known that a house has been rebuilt on nearly the same site, the letter A is used for the first house and the letter B for the new one. There are the following chances of error in these lists :
a. The family may have moved to the mainland before selling the property, in which case the house was vacant or inhabited by someone of whom there is no record. Where I know this to be possible, I have put question marks.
b. There may have been others living with the families, of whom there is no record. There certainly were servants and others in some of the houses.
c. Some of the children may have died young and their deaths not been recorded. If I have reason to suspect this to be the case I have put question marks.
ii
d. It is not always possible to tell when the children left for homes of their own. The dates of the marriages are not always given and unless I have records of their children I don't know when they left. I have assumed in such cases that they didn't marry before the age of 18 and were gone before they were 25.
e. Apparently houses were built before the land was sold to the new owner, in a few instances. For example, there is record of the Pettingills living on Littlejohn's in 1800 al- though no one of that name owned land there so early nor is there record of any house at that time. I have assumed that they built and lived in what is now known as the "Melrose House" because Lucy Pettingill married. David Hill who owned it in 1808 and who lived there for the rest of his life. Also, Lorenzo Hamilton built the Ridge House 10 years be- fore buying the property on which it stands.
The information included in both the history and the genealogies has been compiled from so many different sourc- es that the chance of error is great. In most cases, however, information has come from more than one source, or from an unquestionable authority so that it may be presumed to be correct. The least reliable basis is personal recollection and this may have caused mistakes in the names of wives and children and in dates, when no vital records have been available. Corrections and additions will be gratefully re- ceived.
The framework of the history is the complete set of property transfers as recorded in "York County Deeds" for the period up to 1735 and in the Cumberland County Regis- try of Deeds for the period from 1760 to the present time. For 1735 to 1760 there are no records in existence, having been destroyed by fire. To this framework has been added material garnered from court records, town histories, family histories, vital records of all kinds, Yarmouth town records and personal recollections. The complete list is too long to
iii
be given here, but mention should be made of two books which have been of greatest assistance. Old Times North Yarmouth compiled by Mr. Corliss and The Descendants of Edward Small by Miss L. Underhill.
There is a serious omission in this History - there is no index. I have made this omission after considerable thought for the reason that, as the History will have a very small dis- tribution, every added page means an important addition to the cost of printing. I want to keep the price at a reasonable figure which necessitates omitting the indices and some of the genealogies. A longer genealogy, complete with index, will be prepared to supplement the copies of the History sent to libraries.
I take pleasure in extending my thanks to the many friends here on the islands, in Yarmouth and elsewhere who have given me information and assistance. Space permits mention of only three by name: the late Capt. John Drink- water, Mr. Gilbert Hamilton and Mr. William H. Rowe. I have also been aided by the Librarians of the Maine Histori- cal Society of Portland, Maine, of the Sutter Library in the San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, California, and of other libraries.
iv
CHAPTER I
The first attempt at settlement of what is now Maine was made in 1607 when a colony numbering 120 under George Popham (c. 1550-1608) was sent out by the Ply- mouth Company which had received a grant of land from King James I in 1606. This colony lasted only one year and nothing further was done until "1620 when the Council for New England, the successor of the Plymouth Company, ob- tained a grant of the country between latitudes 40° and 48º. Two years later Sir Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason (1586-1635) received from the Council a grant of the terri- tory between the Merrimac and the Kennebec Rivers for 60 miles inland, under the name of 'Province of Maine.' In 1629 they divided their possession, Gorges taking the portion be- tween the Piscataqua and the Kennebec" and Mason the rest .*
This region was then inhabited by Indians belonging to the Kennebec tribes and called Abnakies or Wabanaikies meaning Eastlanders or "People of the Morning". They had no permanent settlements in the immediate vicinity of Yar- mouth but spent many months of the year in the neighbor- hood hunting the abundant game and digging clams. The latter must have been a principal part of their diet judging from the immense shell heaps which have been found on Littlejohn's Island and elsewhere. They supplemented their meat diet with corn which they raised near Sandy Point on Cousins Island. On Lane's Island is the site of a cemetery.
The Indians' name for the Bay - Casco, from Aucocisco "The Land of the Blue Heron" - is still used as is Westcus- togo, their name for Royal's River. But other names are all but forgotten: Sisquisic is Cousins River; Susquesong, Cousins Island; Pemasong, Littlejohn's Island.
* Encyclopedia Brittanica 14th Edition: Maine: History.
1
A few white settlers were in and around Casco Bay in 1630 among whom were probably William Royal and John Phillips who had taken lands in what was called Westgosto- gua or Westcustogo.
"The Council for New England surrendered its charter in 1635 but in the division of its territory Gorges retained the portion previously granted to him, renaming it the 'County of New Somersetshire', and he immediately began the administration of government, setting up in 1635 or 1636 a court at Saco."
In the meantime, the Council of Plymouth had granted to John Dy and others the "Province of Lygonia", known also as the "Plough Patent" from the name of the ship in which the colonists arrived in 1631. This patent extended north from Cape Porpoise as far as Casco Bay and so did not include Westcustogo. However, the agent of the province, Alexander Rigby, upon the instigation of George Cleeves, bought up, in 1643, certain of the lands belonging to Gorges. Thereupon Cleeves was commissioned Deputy Governor by and under Rigby. They exceeded the bounds of their patent setting up claims as far east as the Sagadahoc, which re- sulted in disputes and strife between the Rigby and Gorges factions lasting many years. When Gorges died in 1647, Rigby established for the whole region a General Assembly of which Cleeves was the acting head.
A few years later the Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed the northern provinces, and all the towns had submitted by 1659. However, in the following year a nephew of Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges petitioned King Charles II to restore the Province to him as heir to Sir Ferdinando. The King ordered the Massachusetts Bay Colony to do so, but it was not until 1677 that the dispute was finally settled by the Colony buy- ing the Province for £1250.
Meanwhile settlement had been progressing. As early as 1640 George Felt lived in a stone garrison at Broad Cove,
2
behind Prince's Point. He and Phillips and Royal formed the nucleus of the small settlement called Westcustogo, a word which, according to some etymologists, means "the clear tidal stream" as applied to Royal's River ibelow the falls. One of the early settlers was John Cousins who, in 1645, was living on a 300-acre farm on the neck of high land between the eastern and western branches of the river which bears his name.
Cousins was born in England in 1596 and came to Fal- mouth (now Portland) where he was living in 1631. He was one of Cleeves' assistants in the government of Lygonia and was a man "much esteemed for his integrity and diligence". He was not without faults, however, as on February 7, 1636/7 it was "ordered that Mr. Arthur Brown and Mr. Arthur Mackworth shall cause John Cosens to give full satis- faction to an Indian for wrongs done to him." The nature of the wrongs is not disclosed. He was on jury duty three times in 1640 and he deposed in a case of slander concerning the wife of John Winter.
Cousins went to Westcustogo probably about 1641 where he bought his farm on the Cousins River. He also bought the two islands, then called Hogg Islands, now known as Cousins and Littlejohn's Islands, by a deed dated April 8, 1645 from Richard Vines, Steward General and Councillor for Sir Ferdinando Gorges. This is the first record of the islands. Probably because of the previously mentioned dis- pute between the Gorges and Rigby factions, Cousins took the precaution of obtaining a deed from Cleeves also, on June 22, 1647.
John Cousins served as one of the Assembly under Cleeves in 1648, while the latter was deputy-president of Lygonia, his name appearing under his mark on a decree against the Trelawny estate in favor of Robert Jordan by which all the possessions of Trelawny in Maine were lost to his heirs.
3
We can picture John Cousins, a man of about fifty years, with a wife but no family (although it is said by some that Isaac Cousins who was killed by the Indians at Wells may have been his son), living in his fairly large house on Cous- ins River. He would row or sail down the river with the ebb tide and, landing at Blaney's or Cornfield Point, proceed to cut down the great trees which are said to have covered the islands in those days. He must have built some small block house to use in case of an Indian attack and his gun could never have been far from his hand. When the clearing was finished he brought in a barge, or perhaps swam to Sandy Point, yokes of oxen with which to pull stumps and plow his cleared fields. He kept other cattle and hogs on the islands, and received sixpence per pound for his pork. At harvest time he brought down some children from the settlement to help with gathering the corn. One of these was Rachel Carlile. Another may have been Hannah, the daughter of his friend Richard Bray to whom he sold one half of both is- lands for £25 in 1650.
Of Bray little is known. There are records of one or more Richard Brays as follows: A Richard Bray was in Dover in 1657, in Casco in 1658, was gunners' mate at a fort in Boston in 1687 ; he describes himself in 1670 as "of Bos- ton, formerly of Casco Bay"; he was in York in 1676, 1693, 1696. Of our man we do know that he owned 60 acres which he bought of Thomas Drake which lay between the planta- tions of Richard Carter and of John Mayne. He had a wife Rebecca (or "Rebella" as it is spelled in the deeds) and four children: John, Nathaniel, Samuel (who died before 1678) and Mrs. Hannah Hazeltine. He was on trial juries in 1666.
The Brays and a William Wise, of whom nothing further is known, pastured cattle on the Islands and may have lived here.
In 1665-6 Cousins was a constable of "Westquotoqua", and was apparently over-zealous as on November 7, 1665 he
4
was "presented for informing one of the Grayn Jury men that Elline Redding the wife of Thomas Redding of the same Towne aforesaid, did say that Ann Lane had two or three bastards & alsoe that she stoole laces & putt it in her sleave & the said constable proved not his complaynt." However, later on Elline Redding was "admonished". Furthermore, in 1678 Nicholas Cole and Ellner Redding testified that John Bray and Ann Lane, daughter of James Lane, were never legally married but had lived together as man and wife. Richard Bray deposed that he had never given his consent to a marriage between his son John and Ann Lane. These depositions may have been recorded to aid Richard Bray in preventing property of John from going to Ann. He had given John one half of his half share in the two islands in 1669 with the understanding that if John died the property should go to another son, Nathaniel. But both John and Na- thaniel were killed by the Indians in 1675, and the property went back to Richard.
In 1666 John Cousins was on the Grand Jury.
An amusing sidelight on this first settler is found in the court records for 1667. He was indicted by William Haynes for playing cards on the Sabbath and he indicted Haynes as a common liar, but in both cases there was insufficient proof so both actions were dismissed.
In April 1668, Richard Bray and John Cousins were among those who signed petitions addressed to the General Court of Massachusetts Bay asking that they be taken under the government of that Colony.
At the outbreak of King Philip's war, in 1675, the inhab- itants of the town were forced to flee and the buildings were burned by the Indians. In the first fighting John Cousins was wounded in the hand and the Bray boys were killed while trying to rescue their cattle in the woods on the Is- lands.
5
Cousins went to York where he visited Mrs. Mary Say- ward the widow of Henry Sayward, who dressed his wounds. As he was then about eighty years old, he decided to remain in York and let Mrs. Sayward care for him until his death. In return for this care and for the funeral charges, he gave her his remaining half share in the two islands. The last records we have of him are two depositions dated respective- ly June 26, 1682 concerning Richard Carter and May 14, 1683 concerning Nicholas Shapleigh. In the latter year he was aged about 87, and he died later that same year.
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CHAPTER II
When peace was declared, in 1678, many of the settlers returned to their homes, and two years later Governor Dan- forth of Massachusetts confirmed to Joseph Phippen, Francis Neale and others a plantation at the bottom of Casco Bay, on a river called "Smegustagoe", and two islands adjacent, the name to be North Yarmouth.
In 1679 Richard Bray had sold his half share of the two islands to George Pearson, a merchant who had recently come to Maine from Boston. Pearson's wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John Wheelwright and niece of the famous Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. He had three sons of whom the youngest, Thomas, was probably born in North Yarmouth. He also had two grandsons, Joseph and Hammond Pearson, who inherited a small share in his property. George Pearson was associated with Lt. Anthony Brackett and George Inger- sol, Sr. in 1681, as commissioner on the resettlement of the town. His title was "Surveyor" and he was at one time Town Recorder. A year after the signing of the deed, Thomas Kemble, John Howman and John Alden testified to the trans- fer.
Three years later, on June 26, 1682 Mrs. Sayward en- , tered a claim to the land deeded to her by John Cousins. In September 1684 Edward Stephens testified that he saw a deed of sale which John Cousins had from Richard Vines. From such indications we come to a realization that there was a more or less continuous struggle among the owners of the property in the region to establish and uphold their rights. One of the causes of trouble was the fact that the chief of the Indians of the region, Robinhood, had given deeds to much of the territory. The principal unsuccessful contestant for the two Islands was Vines Ellacott.
Ellacott, a grandson of Richard Vines (Steward General of Sir Ferdinando Gorges), embarked from London on the
7
Ship "Supply" on May 24, 1679 and came to New England. He petitioned Governor Edmond Andros for "an Island in Casco Bay anciently called Hogg Island and since Coussens his Island, containing by computation seven hundred acres", which he claimed from his grandfather. On July 16, 1688 a warrant was issued by order of his Excellency "to prepare a grant of a certain Island called Hogg Island lying in Casco Bay and containing about 1300 (!) acres according to the survey thereof" to Mr. Vines Ellacott. On August 3, 1688 Ellacott and his wife Rebecca sold to William Stoughton of Dorchester for £260 "all of Hogg Island formerly Cousins" containing 1346 (!) acres together with buildings, etc., 18 head of neat cattle, 30 swine, ploughs, etc. "to the only prop- er use benefit & behoofe of the Hon. the Governor & Com- pany of the Corporation in London for the Propagation of the Gospel to the Indians in New England," William Stough- ton paying "unto the King the sum of ten shilings currant money of New England per annum." Stoughton then leased it to Ellacott for two years at the rate of £20/16 per year. At or before the expiration of the two years the property was to be returned to Ellacott upon the payment of £260.
The Indians regarded the plantation at North Yarmouth as a violation of treaties and on the banks of the Westcusto- go blood was first shed in King William's war, 1689-97. Al- though John Royal's house was a fort, the inhabitants fled to Jewell's Island, from which they were carried by vessel to Boston.
The whole region lay uninhabited for many years and it was not until 1716 that anyone took any further interest in the Islands. In that year Thomas Pearson sold his share of his late father's equity to Timothy Thornton for £60. This was not quite half of both Islands because Joseph and Ham- mond Pearson had interests in this half which they sold later for 20 shillings. Thornton mortgaged the property to James Bowdoine of Boston.
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SAYWARD
Henry Sayward (or Saywood) was of Hampton in 1646, of Portsmouth in 1650 and soon after was at York where he was constable in 1664. He married Mary -. He died about 1679. They had :
i. Samuel who took oath of allegiance in 1681 and who died before 1692.
ii. James who had a son James Jr.
iii. Sarah who married Joseph Young. They had :
YOUNG
a. Joseph Jr.
b. Mary who married Abraham Battin, a fisherman. iv. Mary who married Nathaniel Bray. He was appar- ently not the son of Richard Bray of Westcustogo. They had :
BRAY
a. Nathaniel Jr.
v. Hannah who married John Preble who died before 1692. They had :
PREBLE
a. Jonathan who married Rebecca
b. Abraham.
vi. Jonathan who married Mary Rishworth. He died before 1689 and Mary married second - Plais- ted. They had :
SAYWARD
a. Joseph
b. John
c. Susannah who married Abraham Preble.
vii. John who took oath of allegiance in 1681 and died before 1712. He had: SAYWARD®
a. John Jr.
b. Hannah.
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Next year Jonathan Preble of Georgetown, millwright, grandson of Mrs. Mary Sayward, began to buy up the inter- ests in the Sayward half of the Islands. From an account in the History of the Town of Gloucester and other sources, the accompanying account of the Sayward family has been pre- pared. All of those living in 1717-1726 had sold their rights to Jonathan Preble with the exception of Nathaniel Bray and James Sayward. Apparently none of this family ever lived on the Islands. It is to be noted that Nathaniel Bray's share was in the Sayward half and not the Bray half.
A detail of the history of the Islands is found in the Journal of Rev. Joseph Baxter under the date of August 5, 1717, where we read that "about 3 of the clock came to an- chor at ye Great Chebeag. Judge Sewal went on shoar upon Cousins Island and before the Governor and divers other gentlemen took possession of the Island for ye Indian Cor- poration." This may be a consequence of Ellacott's deed and lease.
Two months after this occurance Timothy Thornton leased to William and Caleb Pratt "as much of Cousins Is- land as they shall fence and inclose the first year" and "what land they shall fence afterward", the lease to run for twelve years. They were to plant crops, cut wood and make an or- chard, Thornton to find and send the trees. At the end of the term they were to be paid for whatever buildings they should have erected, and for other improvements. Nothing further is known of these Pratts except that they apparently lived on Cousins for at least four years.
Timothy Thornton sold to Samuel White of Boston one eighth of both Islands on May 31, 1720 for £100 and another eighth on July 29, 1721 for £100. He also sold to White one half of the lease of the Pratts. White was to have the bene- fit of the rents from the Pratts from October 30, 1717 to the expiration of the lease. White also bought 60 acres on the mainland from Thornton and owned land at Mare Point. He drew lot number 71 in North Yarmouth in 1726.
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Thornton died in 1726 at the age of 79 and left his prop- erty to his son Ebenezer who was in the lumber business in Watertown, Massachusetts. Ebenezer sold the property to Joseph Belcher, yeoman, of Boston for £195, on April 19, 1727. This Belcher can not be placed with certainty. Per- haps he was that son of Joseph3 (Jeremiah2, Joseph1) and Hannah Belcher, who was born in 1698, died in 1744 and was a housewright of Boston. He did not keep the property long. He sold half of it in 1729 to Samuel Bucknam Jr., coaster, and the other half to Benjamin Blaney in 1731 for £150 and £160, respectively.
Therefore, in 1726 at the time plans for resettlement of the town were in progress, the two islands were owned by three grandsons of Mrs. Sayward: Jonathan Preble, James Sayward and Nathaniel Bray, Jr., and by Ebenezer Thorn- ton, Samuel White, Joseph and Hammond Pearson. Thornton and White held the major portion of the Bray half. Appar- ently none of these owners lived on the islands, the only in- habitants of whom we have any record being the Pratts. As the Islands were held in common and undivided by their sev- eral owners it is now impossible to say where the Pratts lived or what part of the Islands they cultivated. It is pos- sible that they were the ones who put in the drainage ditches in the north field on Littlejohn's. (See page 37.)
During the next few years (1727-33) depositions and testaments were obtained of persons who had lived in North Yarmouth in the early days, as to the ownership of the Is- lands : Rachel Carlile had gathered corn for Cousins ; Hannah (Bray) Hazeltine knew that Cousins had owned and lived on the Islands as well as her father and brothers; John Lane knew John Cousins and Richard Bray well, and knew that they had claimed the Islands and lived there until driven away by the Indians, and Moses Felt knew that Cousins and Bray possessed the Islands by building, planting and improv- ing them until driven off by the Indians.
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CHAPTER III
Meanwhile plans were progressing for the resettlement of the town of North Yarmouth. The General Court of Massachusetts had ordered in 1722, in response to a petition from the heirs of several of the earlier settlers among whom were Timothy and Ebenezer Thornton, Samuel White and James Sayward, that the settlement should again be at- tempted. A committee was appointed to take the necessary measures. They agreed among other things to meet at the house of Mr. James Parker, at North Yarmouth on Wednes- day the fourteenth day of September 1726 and the "ancient proprietors" were to be notified to bring in their claims. Other meetings followed resulting in the ordering of a sur- vey, a division of the lots, and that a "platt thereof be Re- turned to the Committee." In November Jeremiah Moulton was appointed surveyor, and the order was given of public notice to all persons who "deem themselves Proprietors in any of the Lands within the said Township by any Former Grant or other right or title."
The new settlers convened at the house of James Parker on May 16, 1727 and drew their homesteads. Among those who drew proprietors lots at that time were Phineas Jones No. 13, Richard Bray's assignes No. 17, Samuel White No. 71, Jacob Mitchell No. 91.
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