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STON UNIVERSITY
BOSTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
BC
1
-
GEN. ISAAC ROYALL.
HISTORY
OF
DURHAM, MAINE
WITH
GENEALOGICAL NOTES.
BY EVERETT S. STACKPOLE.
PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF TOWN.
LEWISTON: PRESS OF LEWISTON JOURNAL COMPANY. 1 899.
F 29 DF E11
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
Preface.
I. Origin of Royalsborough. I
II. Some of the Founders and First Settlers 8
III. Organization and Incorporation
20
IV. Roads, Ferries, and Bridges
27
V. Ecclesiastical History 43
VI. Schools. 77
VII. Industries and Trades 82
VIII. Military Record. 88
IX. A Few out of Many. 105
X. Historical Miscellany 120
XI. Centennial.
I37
XII. Genealogical Notes 148
Appendix
201
Indices
305
ILLUSTRATIONS
Gen. Isaac Royall ..
Frontispiece Opposite page 2
Looking North from Union Church.
66
5
Josiah Little
66
66
IO
Autograph Letter of Major Charles Gerrish
66
66
13
The Oldest House in Durham
66
16
View on the Androscoggin.
66
66
3I
The Little Red School House
66
41
Rev. Jacob Herrick.
66
48
Sarah (Webster) Herrick.
66
66
52
Methodist Episcopal Church
58
Union Church.
61
..
61
Free Baptist Church.
6:
..
62
Friends' Meeting House
63
Rev. Samuel Newell.
66
64
Rev. Jonathan Tracy.
..
67
Rev. John Miller
69
Rev. George Plummer
70
Rev. Frederick Howard Eveleth, D.D.
71
Rev. Everett S. Stackpole
66
73
Rev. Charles Henry Stackpole.
75
School House at South West Bend.
66
66
79
The Stone Mill.
.6
82
South West Bend.
66
66
87
Rev. Allen H. Cobb.
66
105
Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr
66
106
Thomas Estes.
66
108
Col. William R. G. Estes
66
Julius Edwin Eveleth
66
IIO
66
33
Map of Durham
66
51
Congregational Church.
60
Rev. Moses Hanscom.
66
68
Nathan Douglas.
66
. .
..
Plan of Royalsboroughi.
vi
HISTORY OF DURHAM
Joseph Marriner Gerrish
. Opposite page III
John Jordan Gerrish.
66
66 II2
Hon. William H. Newell.
66
II5
William B. Newell
I17
Dr. Alexander M. Parker
Joseph Plummer.
66
I20
Edward Plummer
66
I20
Jacob H. Roak
I21
Hon. William D. Roak.
I2I
Alfred Roberts.
66
I22
Annie J. (Fitz) Roberts
66
66
123
James Strout.
66
:
124
William Harrison Thomas.
66
I26
Waitstill Webber
66
127
Dr. William Riley Wright
60
128
Durham Fair.
66
134
A Rustic Bridge
66
I42
View of Durham from Mountfort's Hill.
66
155
Sewall Cushing.
165
Lorenzo Day.
66
172
James H. Eveleth
66
..
182
William Gerrish
189
Zebulon King Harmon.
196
Jacob Herrick, Jr.
60
200
Jotham Johnson
66
203
Sarah (Miller) (Jordan) Dingley
..
207
Secomb Jordan.
6.
06
208
Charles Emery Knight.
66 6
200
Jonathan Libby.
66
217
Jonathan C. Merrill.
219
William Miller
66
220
John Miller
222
=
124
Dr. David B. Strout.
66
125
139
Looking Down the River.
66
147
David Bowie.
169
Cornelius Douglas
66 66
200
Abigail (Scott) Herrick.
60
213
Eliza (Swett) Macomber.
66
119
Samuel Owen Stackpole
122
Howe Weeks
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
Israel Mitchell
Opposite page 224
Ebenezer Newell.
227
Fred Webster Newell.
66
228
John D. Osgood.
66
.6
231
Washington Parker
235
Henry Plummer.
238
Algernon M. Roak.
66
66
243
The Stackpole Homestead.
249
David Dunning Stackpole.
66
251
William Stackpole.
252
Elisha Stetson, Jr
66
253
Jonathan Strout.
66
256
James Strout, Jr
66
257
Revillo M. Strout.
66
258
Woodbury Thomas.
"
263
Joanna (Roberts) Turner
66
66
270
David Vining
66
275
Emery S. Warren.
279
Ai Waterhouse.
280
Residence of Charles W. Webber
16
282
Joseph Webster.
66
..
283
Benjamin Weeks, Jr
66
284
Barnard Williams
66
287
PREFACE.
The preparation of this History has been a labor and a delight. It has been impossible to cite authority for every statement, yet nothing has been stated without good evidence. The principal sources have been the Town Records of Royalsborough and Durham, well preserved; the Church Records, of which there are only fragments; manuscript Records of the Pejepscot Co .; Archives of Massachusetts; Military Rolls; Family Registers; old Diaries and Account Books; and the "traditions of the elders" which memory has been gathering forty years. All the published Histories of Towns in Maine and of many in N. H. and Mass. have been diligently examined. Maine Wills and York Deeds have been studied. The County Records at Portland and Alfred have been searched; likewise the Records of Lewiston, Lisbon, Topsham, Brunswick, Harpswell, Georgetown, Freeport, No. Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Saco, Kittery, Berwick, Gorham, Windham, and of Dover, N. H. Every History of Maine has been consulted. The publications of the Maine Historical Society and various genealogical Magazines have been utilized. Notes have been exchanged with several authors who are preparing Histories of Towns and of Families. In fact 110 pains have been spared in seeking information from every known source.
The assistance of the following persons is cheerfully acknowledged: William D. Roak, who for many years has been collecting material for a History of Durham; Benjamin F. Nason, who preserved in writing valuable traditions; Dr. David B. Strout, who left several historical manuscripts; Charles W. Webber, whose capacious memory holds most of the lore and family history of So. Durham; Josiah H. Williams, whose historical sketch in Androscoggin County Atlas has been helpful; William H. Thomas, whose aid in business management has been of great value; and a very large number of others, whose letters have contained useful information and encouragement.
Not the least important and interesting feature of this volume is the portraits and illustrations, which have largely been furnished by the generosity of friends. The endeavor has been to present as good results as the art of the engraver could produce from defective daguerreotypes, tin-types and photographs collected. The credit is due to the Suffolk Engraving Company of Boston.
It is believed that the History will be of especial service to Genealogists, since all the births, marriages and deaths found in Durhanı Town Records down to 1840 are either interwoven with the genealogies or appended at the end of the volume. This may save many a journey to Durham and much labor to the Town Clerk. Special effort has been made to secure accuracy and fulness. In a few cases the Town Records have been corrected by indisputable evidence from private sources.
I. ORIGIN OF ROYALSBOROUGH
Can any good come out of Nazareth? Can anything of interest be said about a small country town? Read and see. A place possesses historical interest not because of its size, produc- tions, wealth and natural beauty, but because of the character and deeds of its natives and citizens. The highest praise of any town is to point to noble men and say, "These were born there."' So it is believed that something good and of public interest may be written of Durham. It should also be remembered that Durham was not always side-tracked by surrounding railroads. The highway of commerce for the back towns once ran through it and made the "County Road" and "South West Bend" con- spicuous in the eyes of travelers. Durham contained a prosper- ous village and was the trading center for a region stretching twenty miles or more northward, at a time when Lewiston and Auburn had no industrial and commercial importance.
And yet it must not be concluded that Durham is an ancient town. When we read of settlers in North Yarmouth and Bruns- wick before 1640, we wonder that no adventurer built his log- house in Durham earlier than 1763, so far as history records. The first settlers of Maine kept pretty close to the coast and along navigable streams, thus to have easy communication by means of sailing vessels and to provide defense and a way of possible retreat, if attacked by hostile Indians. The inland was exploited somewhat for ship-timber, but farmers found equally good soil in pleasanter and safer surroundings. It was not till the Indian wars had ceased that farming lands became market- able in the inland regions of Maine. So it happened that the soil of Durham was rarely pressed by the feet of the pale faces for many years after, in 1690, Major Church led his little army from Maquoit Bay along the westerly side of the Androscoggin to the capture of the Indian fort near Drummond Street, in what was long afterward called "Goff's Town" and is the present city of Auburn. As they marched up over the hill at South West Bend,
2
HISTORY OF DURHAM
did they pause, as travelers always do now, to note the long stretch of water, the beautiful island and the loveliness of the Androscoggin valley? The arts of civilization have enriched the scene, but even then the view must have been one long remem- bered.
The facts which led to the settlement of Durham may be briefly stated, since they have been amply set forth elsewhere.1 In 1620 James I. granted a charter to forty "noblemen, knights and gentlemen," called the Council of Plymouth. This Council granted, 16 June 1632, a patent to Thomas Purchase and George Way of land on both sides of the Androscoggin River, extending from the mouth in Merrymeeting Bay upward to indefinite northern limits. Way never lived on the grant, but Purchase spent many years in Brunswick and probably dwelt for a time at Lisbon Falls, fishing and trading with the Indians. All the lands of Purchase and Way were bought by Richard Wharton in 1683, and the purchase was confirmed and enlarged by deed given, 7 July 1684, by six Indian chiefs, Warumbee, Darumkine, Wihikermet, Domhegon, Nehonogasset and Numbenemet. Of these Warumbee, or Worumbo, was the most important, and is said by some to have had his fort in Durham, just opposite Lisbon Falls, but it is quite certain that his fort was the one above mentioned. The lands purchased of these chiefs extended to "five miles above the uppermost Falls in Androscoggin River," and three miles west of the river, following its course. There were conflicting claims, especially to the part of this pur- chase lying between the Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers. The case was in litigation for over a century. Various com- promises were made, and the final adjudication was made by the Court of Massachusetts in 1814.
Wharton died in 1693 in England. Ephraim Savage of Bos- ton administered his estate and sold, 5 Nov. 1714, for £140, all these lands of Wharton to Thomas Hutchinson, Adam Winthrop, John Watts, David Jeffries, Stephen Minot, Oliver Noyes and John Ruck, all of Boston, and to John Wentworth of Ports- mouth. These were the original Pejepscot proprietors.2 Their lands embraced the present towns of Lewiston, Greene, a part
1See Wheeler's Hist. of Brunswick.
2York Deeds Book VIII. Fols. 56-8.
LOOKING NORTH FROM UNION CHURCH.
3
HISTORY OF DURHAM
of Lisbon, parts of Poland and Minot, Auburn, Durham, Bruns- wick, Harpswell, Topsham, Bowdoin and a part of Leeds. According to a survey made by Phineas Jones in 1731, they comprised about 450,543 acres. The price paid was less than a cent for six acres. The company claimed also Bowdoinham and Richmond, but this claim was relinquished. Some wanted to claim as far up the river as Rumford Falls.
The agent of the Pejepscot Proprietors up to 1731 was Asa Heath of Brunswick. Then Benjamin Larrabee succeeded him, and in 1757 Belcher Noyes of Boston was chosen clerk and held office till his death in 1787. Josiah Little succeeded him and had much to do with the early settlement of the town.
It is not known just when or by whom it was first proposed to lay out the new town of Royalston, as Durham was first called. The earliest mention that has come to my knowledge is in a deed, given by Belcher Noyes to David Dunning of Brunswick, dated Nov. 14, 1761. It conveys to said Dunning, for £33, "I-16 of land to be laid out for a new township six miles square, being part of a tract purchased by Pejepscot proprietors from Ephraim Savage, administrator of Richard Wharton, Esq., late of Bos- ton." Stephen Getchell of New Meadows, Brunswick, made a survey of Royalston in April, 1762. His bill was £22, s8. Noyes in May, 1762, wrote a letter in which he declares himself sorry that Getchell was employed, says his previous work has been found to be erroneous and calls him "a poor, miserable, shuffling fellow, indebted to every one."1 It was later found that Getchell's plan was incorrect, and a new one was made by Joseph Noyes of Falmouth. His plan was dated 22 May 1766, as an old deed shows. This also needed correction and John Brown's plan dates 23 Nov. 1767.2
At a meeting of the proprietors, held in Boston May 28, 1765, the name of the proposed town was changed by vote from Royalston to Royalsborough, doubtless because of the incorpora-
"Not too much credit is to be given to Noyes' comments upon persons associated with him. He seems to have been a little soured. Aug. II. 1770 he wrote to Enoch Freeman thus: "Bagley has greatly imposed upon me and turns out a deceitful fellow; there's no trust to be placed in him." Again, June 24, 1771, he writes to Freeman, "Dunning has been all his days a great trespasser and a secret enemy to our interests." -- See Pejepscot Records.
"See deed given to Andrew Pinkham.
4
HISTORY OF DURHAM
tion in 1765, of a town in Massachusetts called Royalston, also in honor of Col. Isaac Royal.
The bounds of the proposed town, as set forth in first deeds given, were "To begin at the Northeast corner of the town of North Yarmouth, from thence to Androscoggin River, and down said river to the Northeast corner of the Township of Brunswick, and on the Northwest line of said Brunswick to extend to North Yarmouth line, and on said line on a Northwest course to the forementioned bounds, including land granted to Jonathan Bagley, Esq." July 1, 1766, Bagley transferred the "Gore," which he had received by grant of the Court of Massachusetts, to the proprietors, though the agreement so to do must have been made several years earlier.
June 3, 1767, a division of ninety-six lots was made by lot among the proprietors, sixty-two lots having been reserved, the sale of which was to be for the encouragement of the settlement. The ninety-six lots were divided into eight parcels of twelve lots each. The owners at that time were :
Samuel Waterhouse,
I-8
=
12 lots.
Belcher Noyes,
1-16
-
6 lots.
David Dunning,
I-16
=
6 lots.
Jonathan Bagley,
I-16
=
6 lots.
Moses Little,
I-16
=
6 lots.
Jeremiah Moulton,
I-16
6 lots.
Enoch Freeman,
1-32
3 lots.
Heirs of Lydia Skinner,
1-32
3 lots.
Gov. Benning Wentworth,
I-8
12 lots.
Isaac Royal, Esq. ,
5-24
=
20 lots.
Heirs of Hannah Fairwether,
I-8
=
12 lots.
Heirs of Joseph Wadsworth,
I-24
4 lots.
These were the original owners of Durham. Not many of them figured in the history of the town. Samuel Waterhouse sold his share to Isaac Royal, who seems to have purchased other shares also, for in 1796 his heirs were taxed for thirty-four lots, chiefly in the northwest part of the town. Gov. Wentworth's share was sold by his heir, Michael Wentworth, to Jonathan Bagley Jan. 7, 1772.
The reader is referred to "A copy of the Plan of Durham as taken from a plan copied by Jacob Herrick, Jr., from a plan copied by Joseph M. Gerrish from Capt. Joseph Frye's Plan copied from Noyes's Original Plan of said Town, laid down by
North 45° West 7 Miles and 40 Rods Qu North Yarmouth Ling N. Gloucester 144 acres".
O
No. 158
/37
136
115
114
93
92
15
90
M
15 7
138
135
116
113
94
89
156
139
134
/17
1/2
950
8.8
155
140
133
118
/11
96
87
86
15 4
14 1
132
119
110
15
0
85
4
153
142
131
120
109
98
84
152
143
130
/21
108
35
83
82
151
144
129
T22
107
100
81
150
145
128
/23
106
101
8
Bridge
Jung's Estary
Subaltis Ruer
John Gushing's 500 Acres
Mortals
3. Osgood :44
Farrar
Minister 68
67
66
65
64
63
62
54
55
5 €
5 7
58
59
61
Ten Wells 95 acres ;.
5 3
52
Personays 51
50
49
48
47
3 7
3 8
Parsonage 39 School
40
41
42
43
46
Ten
36
3 5
3 4
Jos. Noyes's 800 acres
45
Falls
Finner,
31
3 2
33
44
.
. County Road
EstesEs S5 acres Un Gerrish
200 acres Sold Gapt. Gerrish
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
95
John
/ 7
18
20
21
22
Bagley
16
/5
14
13
12
10
9
Zucker Road
Prouts Gore
No.1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
South 45. West 4 Miles on Brunswick Ling
NOYES'S PLAN OF ROYALSBOROUGH, 1766.
Gervets Factory
148
147
126
125
104
103
73
74
69 70
71
72
· 75.
76
77
78
Tracy's Island
GurITEPS 75 AVIES .
124
105
/02
80
79
60
Bridge
MitE
95 à
sp330 .06 EJ00Acres
23
Olando Bagley
146
127
Aerts
Androscoggin Rua
A
PerEpscot
5
HISTORY OF DURHAM
a scale of 160 Rods to an inch. Durham, March 27th A. D., 1833, Ivory Warren." It is evident that the part of Durham as surveyed by Joseph Noyes of Falmouth and slightly corrected by John Brown is as it was originally drawn. The southwest corner called "Bagley's Gore," was not surveyed at that time, but was surveyed by Amos Davis,1 as an old deed shows, probably in 1781. In O. Israel Bagley's Account Book is the following entry : "Orlando Bagiey, Det. 1781, to vittles and drink when his men was a running out the goor." This Amos Davis was the same man who about this time surveyed Bakerstown, now Poland. Bagley's Gore, as drawn in this Plan, must be as it was about 1780. John Cushing received the deed for his 500 acres in 1786, his wife having received it in the will of her late father, Jonathan Bagley, in 1780. Ichabod March of Amesbury, Mass., purchased 5 Oct. 1775, thirty acres of the northeasterly side of the Gore, marked "March" on the Plan. Weed's 100 acres were bought by Joshua Weed of Amesbury, 25 Dec. 1780, and sold to Josiah Burnham, 15 Feb. 1791. Levi Wells was doubtless a relative of the wife of Jonathan Bagley. There is no evidence that he ever lived in Royalsborough. "Morrill's 80 acres" were bought by Archilaus Morrill of Col. Bagley, and sold by Green Morrill to William True, Sept. 3, 1785. "Jos. Noyes's 800 acres" were bought by him in 1766. He knew, as surveyor, where the meadow land lay and chose as good as there was in the new township. He was a prominent man in the history of Portland, born Sept. 14, 1740, died Oct. 13, 1795. He was town Treasurer, Selectman and member of Mass. Gen. Court. "Prout's Gore" was granted to Timothy Prout in 1737. It was claimed, at least the corner of it that appears on this map, by both Durham and Freeport. While the question was in dispute the Selectmen of the two towns agreed that the "Quaker Road" mentioned in a deed as early as 1779, should be the dividing line between the towns for purposes of taxation.
The original plan of a town six miles square was modified greatly. Thompsonsborough and Little River Plantation, after- wards united into Lisbon, got the east side of the Androscoggin.
.
1Amos Davis, born May 12, 1741, in Gloucester, Mass., moved from New Gloucester to Lewiston in 1774. He was a farmer, surveyor and shoe-maker. He died 20 March 1815, leaving four sons and a daughter. He was a leading member of the Friends' Society.
6
HISTORY OF DURHAM
Freeport got the corner called Prout's Gore. The northwest corner, two miles and twenty-one rods by eighty-six rods was set off to New Gloucester. The northern boundary was at first a few rods north of where it is now. About 1804 it was moved up to the northern limit of Dingley's (now Orin Libby's) farm, and in 1815 brought back to its present position. These changes leave a few rods of the northern tier of lots in the present city of Auburn, the southern part of which was formerly called "Pejepscot Gore."
March 3, 1768, the proprietors held a meeting in Boston and appointed Jonathan Bagley, Moses Little and Belcher Noyes a committee to "bring forward the settlement of said New Town- ship and to procure Settlers," and Belcher Noyes was empow- ered to execute deeds to the settlers. The first deeds were executed Nov. 12, 1770. It is certain that some of the purchasers jad already been living on their lots several years, and some not mentioned in the list of original purchasers were settlers in Royalsborough earlier than 1776, as Josiah Day, Josiah Dunn, John Getchell, Ezekiel Jones, Batchelder Ring, Hugh and Robert Getchell. Charles Hill, John and Stephen Randall, Edmund Lane, Joseph and Samuel York, Joshua Babb, Eben- ezer Roberts, Benjamin Vining, Elias Davis, John Hoyt, Judah Chandler, Thomas Pearson, Micah and David Dyer, Jonathan Armstrong, Hugh Marwick, John Parker, Samuel Smith, Orlando Bagley, O. Israel Bagley.
ORIGINAL PURCHASERS OF LOTS IN ROYALS- BOROUGH.
All the following were of Royalsborough except Jonathan Bagley of Amesbury, Mass. The price paid for most of the lots was 13 pounds 6 shillings and 8 pence. Nos. 4, 28, 32, and 72 cost 26 pounds 13 shillings and 4 pence. Lots 58 and 83 were valucd at 30 pounds.
Lot. Name.
5 Stephen Clase,
Date. Nov. 12, 1770. 66
12 John Bliffin,
13. John Dean, Jr.,
I5 Nathaniel Gerrish,
17 Stephen Hart,
18 Caleb Estes,
66
7
HISTORY OF DURHAM
3I
Charles Gerrish, Jr.,
Nov. 12, 1770.
53
Phineas Frost,
57 Charles Gerrish,
66
104 Nathan Lewis,
6 Edward Estes,
June 10, 1771. 66
14
Patrick Welch,
16 Samuel Clough,
58
Jonathan Bagley,
66 Dec. 7, 1771.
83
2 Thomas Coffin,
Dec. 10, 1771.
4 Noah Jones,
33 William Gerrish,
67
3
Joseph Estes,
Dec. 10, 1776.
28
Cornelius Douglas,
19
Samuel Green,
32
Vincent Roberts,
38 Stephen Weston,
69 John Cushing,
66
72
Ichabod Frost, 66
66
80
66
24, 29, 41, 46, 49, and 59 were deeded, Dec. 10, 1776, to Joseph Noyes of Falmouth for services as Surveyor of the Town- ship.
Rachael Cobb,1 widow of Ebenezer, and Lemuel Sawyer of Cape Elizabeth, purchased lot 103, Dec. 12, 1777.
1Married in Cape Elizabeth 22 Nov. 1770, Ebenezer Cobb, Jr. and Rachel Sawyer.
John Dean (or Dain)
8
HISTORY OF DURHAM
II. SOME OF THE FOUNDERS AND FIRST SETTLERS
The reader will here wish to know something about the lives and character of the founders and first settlers of the town. Much will be said in the chapter on Genealogical History. Here only a few persons can be mentioned. The early settlers were not the offcasts of Europe, but were descendants from the best families of England, Scotland and Ireland. Their lineages can be traced, in most cases, back to the earliest settlers of Mass. and the coast towns of York and Cumberland Counties, and not a few clear back to the Norman Conquest. Col. Bagley brought many of his neighbors from Amesbury and adjacent towns. North Yarmouth and Harpswell furnished a good num- ber, and after the Revolution Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough poured in a large colony, especially into the northwest part of the town. They were men of sterling character, honest, indus- trious, intelligent, religious and patriotic, in short, men of hard muscle and sense.
GEN. ISAAC ROYALL, for whom the plantation of Royals- borough was named, was descended from "William Ryall Cooper and Cleever of Tymber," who settled at Salem about 1629. As early as 1635 he was at Casco Bay. March 27, 1643, he bought of Sir Ferdinando Gorges 250 acres and an island of 30 acres, confirming his title three years later by purchasing the same of a rival claimant, Col. Alexander Rigby. His house had already been built on the south side of Royall's River, near its mouth, in North Yarmouth. He married Phebe Green and died at Dorchester, Mass., 15 June 1675. His son William died there 7 Nov. 1724, aged 85 years. William's oldest son, Isaac, was born in North Yarmouth in 1672 and married, I July 1697, Eliza- beth, daughter of Asaph Eliot and widow of one Oliver. He resided for forty years at Antigua, W. I., carrying on trade between that place and Boston. He purchased, 26 Dec. 1732, of the heirs of Lieut .- Gov. Usher, an estate of 500 acres in Med- ford, Mass. The house, still standing, was built by Usher and remodeled and enlarged by Royal, and was one of the most
9
HISTORY OF DURHAM
elegant residences of the time in the suburbs of Boston. It was once the headquarters of Gen. Washington. Isaac Royall died at Medford 7 June, 1739.
Isaac, Jr., his only son, was probably born at Antigua about 1719. He married 27 March 1738, Elizabeth McIntosh. He was made Brig .- Gen. in 1761, the first American to bear that title. He was a Councillor of the Province from 1751 to 1774. April 16, 1775 three days before the battle of Lexington, he left Medford for parts unknown. He sought at Salem passage to Antigua, but failing in this he sailed to Halifax, where he lingered about a year, hoping that the War would be ended. His sympa- thies were with the Colonies, yet he was afraid to break with England, resign his office and endanger his estates. He had received grants of land under the Crown. He owned large tracts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as in Maine. In May 1776 he sailed to England. A daughter, the wife of the second Sir William Pepperell of Kittery, sailed with him and died on the passage. He wrote from Halifax to his agent in Med- ford, giving him instruction concerning his slaves : "Stephen and George might be sold for £50, Hagar for £30, Mira for £25. As to Betsey and her daughter Nancy, the former may tarry or take hier freedoni as she may choose, and Nancy you may put out to some good family by the year." He added "I shall leave North America with great reluctance, but my health and business require it ; and I hope through the goodness of God, if my life is spared, to be able to return again soon." He took up his abode in Kensington, Middlesex, where he died of small-pox, 16 Oct. 1781. He was buried at Froyle, Hampshire, Eng.
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