USA > Maine > York County > Kennebunkport > History of Kennebunk Port, from its first discovery by Bartholomew Gosnold, May 14, 1602, to A. D. 1837 > Part 1
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Brad bury
HISTORY
OF
KENNEBUNK PORT,
FROM
ITS FIRST DISCOVERY
BY
BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD,
MAY 14, 1602, TO A. D. 1837.
BY CHARLES BRADBURY.
KENNEBUNK : PRINTED BY JAMES K. REMICH.
1837.
V
[COPY OF A VOTE OF THE TOWN OF KENNEBUNK PORT.]
KENNEBUNK PORT, APRIL 3, 1837.
VOTED .... That the Selectmen be authorized to subscribe for five hundred copies of Bradbury's History of Kennebunk- port, for distribution among the several Families, and draw on the Treasurer for the payment.
A true copy-ATTEST,
JOSHUA HERRICK, Town Clerk.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations. 1896
3452
PREFACE.
UNDER a government like ours, where every man is re- quired to take a part in the administration of public affairs, either at the ballot box, or in the halls of legislation, it is of the utmost importance that all should possess some knowl- edge of the science of government. In order to this, the study of history is indispensably necessary. By observing the causes of the various changes from prosperity to adver- sity, from poverty to wealth, from order to anarchy, from freedom to despotism, and all the revolutions that are con- stantly in operation, we can profit by the wisdom, and take warning from the errors of our predecessors. As every one has a more direct agency in the management of town affairs, the history of his own town ought to become his first study. In attending to this, he necessarily becomes acquainted with the history of his own state and country, which ultimately leads him to the knowledge of the history of the whole world. It cannot, however, be expected that the history of a town of so little importance as Kennebunk- port, particularly while under the names of Cape-Porpoise and Arundel, can contain much matter of interest, even to its own inhabitants, much less to general readers.
In treating upon the early history of the town, it is to be regretted that so little is known of the events and circumstan- ces connected with its first settlement, and of the troubles of the early inhabitants with the natives of the country. There is not a town in the state, perhaps in the union, the history of which cannot be more distinctly traced than that of Kennebunk-port ; and it is therefore impossible to give a topographical description of it, previous to the time from which the town records have been preserved, without in- corporating with it much of the general history of the state.
4
PREFACE.
The total loss or absence of town records for nearly a century after its first settlement, the poverty of its first in- habitants, the deficiency of enlightened men, with whose history that of the town would have become identical, and the entire want of traditional accounts, leave only the unfre- quent observations of early journalists, and the few scat- tered notices on the state and province records, from which to compile a history of the town.
Having had occasion to search early records, many facts and incidents were noticed, which, although of themselves but of little consequence except what their remoteness gave them, the compiler of this work was induced to col- lect ; and, having presented them to his townsmen in a course of lectures, he was influenced by his friends, at a time of leisure, to extend his researches and prepare the work for publication. In undertaking the task, he was well aware that he could not be remunerated for his time and expenses, as the gross amount of sales of as large an edition as could reasonably be expected to be effected, even if written with much more talent than he can pretend to, would not give him a support during the time he was actually employed in collecting materials for the work. Believing, however, that no person qualified for the task would give the time necessary to the completion of so unprofitable an undertaking ; that many facts, which only remain in the memories of a few of the oldest inhabitants, would soon be lost if not immediately preserved ; and that several manuscripts, now shattered and almost illegible from time, would in all probability soon be destroyed ; he allowed himself to be persuaded to an employment, for which his previous occupation had not qualified him.
As before remarked, the annals of a town like this, noted only for its want of note, can contain but little matter interesting to the public ; yet as it was an early settled and one of the first incorporated places in Maine, the few iso- lated, unimportant events here collected, were thought worth preserving. Such as they are, they are offered without an attempt to give them a fictitious value by aiming at embellishment, but only with a desire to repre-
5
· PREFACE.
sent them with accuracy :- " accuracy being the sine-qua- non in local histories ; and a history not accurate, is, in other words, no history."*
As a native of the town, the writer would have been pleased to represent his predecessors as more enlightened, and of more consideration in the world, than a rigid adherence to truth would justify. While he disclaims, however, making them hold a more prominent place in society than facts would warrant, he also denies having withheld anything favorable to their reputation.
Having himself, in reading history, found it difficult to carry the mind back after having made some considerable progress, he has attempted, even at the expense of connec- tion, to maintain a strict chronological arrangement.
In proportion as a town is unimportant, is the labor of hunting up the trifling incidents which constitute its history. The compiler can therefore say, with the author of a much more valuable town history, that " the early records and documents in the offices of the secretaries of the commonwealth, and of the county, and the private papers of individuals, and various other scattered fragments of traditionary manuscript and printed history, have with great labor been consulted."+ If the following pages, however, prove acceptable to his fellow citizens, or interest- ing to the rising generation, the writer will feel sufficiently compensated for his trouble. As he is not an author by profession, and will never appear in that character again, he asks the indulgence of the public, for the nu- merous faults of manner with which the production undoubtedly abounds. C. B.
Kennebunk-port, August 15, 1837.
*North American Review. tShattuck's Hist. Concord.
HISTORY
OF
KENNEBUNK PORT.
-
CHAPTER I.
Early voyages to North America .... Voyages of Cabot, Corte- real, Verrazzana, and others .... Gosnold discovers Cape Porpoise .... Martin Pring and others visit the coast of Maine .... John Smith surveys the coast and names Cape Porpoise .... Indian War .... Epidemic .... New England Patent .... Laconia .... York settled .... Lygonia Patent .... Saco Patent .... Cape Por- poise settled .... Jenkins killed .... Patent of New Somersetshire .... Court at Saco .... Lawsuit of Scadlock and Howell .... Con- flicting Grants.
IN order to give color to their respective claims to portions of this country, each of the different European powers, claimed for its own subjects, the honour of first discovering North America. *It has been asserted . that Biron, a Norman, accidentally discovered a coun- try, in the year 1001, which was afterwards called Winland, supposed to be a part of Newfoundland.
#The Chronicles of Wales report, " that Madock, sonne of Owen Quinneth, Prince of Wales," came to North America in 1170. ¿ It is said the " Fryer of Lynn," by his knowledge of the black art came to this country, in 1360, and went to the North pole.
§Keith says, that in 1484, Alonzo Sanches of Huel- va, in a small ship, with fifteen persons, was accident- ally driven on the American coast. Five only sur- vived, who on their return, landed on the Island of
*Belknap. Also Edinburgh Encyclopedia,
+Smith's Hist. Virginia. #Ibid.
§ This statement is made upon the authority of De la Vega. See Mather's Magnalia, vol. i. p. 42.
8
HISTORY OF
[FROM 1497
Tarcera, and died at the house of Christopher Colum- bus ; from whom he first obtained the information, which led to his voyage to America.
The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, of Co- penhagen, (Denmark) are now publishing a volume of American Antiquities, of which they say, that the Ice- landic and other Scandinavian manuscripts, from which it is compiled, " comprise testimony the most authentic and irrefragable, to the fact, that North America was actually discovered by the Northmen towards the close of the tenth century, visited by them repeatedly during the eleventh and twelfth, (some of them settling there as colonists,) re-discovered towards the close of the thirteenth, and again repeated- ly resorted to in the course of the fourteenth ; and that the christian religion was established there, not only among the Scandinavian emigrants, but, in all proba- bility, likewise among other tribes previously, or, at all events, then seated in those regions."*
These accounts, however, have heretofore been but little regarded, and it has been generally conceded that John Cabot, a Venitian, first discovered North Ameri- ca in 1497, five years after the discovery of the country by Columbus.
Cabot, with his three sons, sailed on a voyage of discovery, by virtue of a grant from Henry VII. King of England, authorizing him to take possession of all countries of " the heathen and infidels," which had not been discovered by Europeans. He expected, by steering far North, to find a N. W. passage to India, but after sailing to the fifty-sixth degree of North latitude, and finding the land still extending north- ward, he returned, and landed near New Brunswick.
In May, 1498, Sebastian Cabot, who had accompan- icd his father to America the year before, made a second voyage. It is said, without sufficient authority, however, that he sailed along the coast of the United States as far as Maryland or North Carolina.
+Gasper Cortereal, by order of the King of Portugal, made a voyage to North America in 1500. He carried home more than fifty Indians and sold them for slaves.
*Prospectus of the work.
t Bancroft's Hist. U. S.
9
KENNEBUNK PORT.
TO 1542.]
Sebastian Cabot made a third voyage, in 1502, and carried home three Newfoundland Indians and pre- sented them to Henry VII. It is said he made further discoveries, in 1514, of all the coast of America from Cape Florida to Newfoundland, and called the land Baccalaos .*
Francis, King of France, in the year 1523, sent out Verrazzana, a Florentine, on discoveries. He came over in a vessel called the Dolphin, and discovered land in 1524 and claimed to have sailed along the whole coast of New England, and to have entered the harbor of New York.t
In 1527, Henry VIII. of England sent two ships to make discoveries in the new world, one of which was cast away near Newfoundland, and the other arrived at St. Johns. The number of vessels visiting North America had considerably increased, and there were, at one time this season, twelve fishing vessels at New- foundland.
James Cartier, a Frenchman, made a voyage in 1534, from St. Malo to Newfoundland, and went far- ther North than Verrazzana. He made another voyage with three ships the year following, and a third in 1540.
Henry VIII. sent out another expedition in 1536, under the command of Mr. Horn of London. They suffered so much from sickness and famine, that they were obliged to kill some of their company for food, and were only preserved from starvation by robbing a French vessel that arrived in the Bay of St. John.
Francis, Lord of Roberval, made a voyage in 1542, and is supposed by some to have entered Massachusetts Bay.į
Gold and silver being the object of the first adventur- ers, but little attention was paid to the discoveries in North America, by the English, after the death of Henry. They had their expectations so highly raised, that they could not content themselves with acquiring wealth by the comparatively slow process of traffic, and they sought eagerly for the precious metals in every part of the country that had been discovered.
*Hackluit's voyages. t Bancroft. ¿Bancroft.
-
10
HISTORY OF
[FROM 1542
Having been disappointed in their hopes, they employ- ed the next thirty years in seeking for a North-east passage to India, while the Spanish, French and Portu- guese enjoyed exclusively the fishery of Newfoundland. They however commenced the fishing business in 1560, but did not carry it on to the same extent that the French did, who, in 1578, had one hundred and fifty sail employed.
The English continued to turn their attention princi- pally to procuring gold, silver, and furs; and large quantities of sassafras, which was thought to be a cer- tain cure for the plague, were also collected. * A great number of spiders being observed at Hudson's Bay, they loaded several vessels with earth in hopes of find- ing gold mixed with it, these animals being thought to abound in gold regions. On their arrival in England, fifteen other vessels were despatched for the same purpose.
In 1576, Martin Frobisher, in the service of Eliz- abeth, made another attempt to find a North-west passage. He seized some of the natives and carried them off. He made two other voyages in 1577 and 1578.
In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert made a voyage, also under the orders of Elizabeth. All the land he might discover was granted to him and his heirs forev- er, he giving to Elizabeth and her successors one fifth part of the gold and silver ore which should be found therein. He took possession of Newfoundland, and then sailed southerly, claiming the country as he passed along. On account of the total loss of his vessel and crew on their return, it is not certainly known how far he came southward, but it is supposed no farther than Nova Scotia.t The next year Elizabeth gave the same powers to the enterprising Sir Walter Raleigh, but he went further South and attempted to settle Virginia.
In 1585, John Davis, with the Moonshine and two other vessels, under Gilbert's patent, went in search of a N. W. passage. He made two other voyages soon after.
*Hackluit's Coll. Voyages.
tHutchinson's History of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, page 1 .- Also Sullivan, page 51.
11
KENNEBUNK PORT.
TO 1602.]
John White went to Virginia, under Raleigh in 1587, and George White in 1590. Several adventurers came over soon after ;- M. Ravillon in 1591, after oil and morse's teeth ;- Capt. Strong, in the Marygold, and George Drake in 1593 ;- the Grace, Capt. Wyet, in 1594 ;- and the Hopewell, and Chancewell in 1597 ; the latter of which was cast away. In 1598 the Marquis de la Roche attempted to make a settle- ment on the Isle of Sable with a company of convicts.
All voyagers had heretofore crossed the Atlantic by going to the Southward by the way of the Canaries and West Indies, and again steering Northwardly .* Bartholomew Gosnold, an English navigator, was the first person who deviated from the old route. He sailed from Falmouth, March 26th, 1602, with a com- pany of thirty-two persons, and steering as near West by compass as the wind would permit, made land May 14th, at or about the forty third degree of north latitude, which he called Mavoshen, it being the Indian name of the country. This was probably the first land discovered in that part of North America since called New England, for there is no evidence that either of the Cabots, Verrazzana, or Roberval ever visited this coast. There had been no journals of their voyages preserved, nor any description of the land giv- en, that would warrant the supposition that they visited this part of the country.
The only accounts of the voyages of the Cabots, are, ta doubtful memorandum on the margin of a chart used by one of them during his voyage, and what some one, whose name is not known, related as coming from themselves. Historians do not even agree as to the person who made the discovery, nor as to the time when it was made. Some say it was John in 1496,į others that it was Sebastian in 1498,6 and others, that the latter discovered it as late as 1514.|| The proba- bility, however, is that neither of them ever saw any part
*See Williamson, vol.i. p. 185. Folsom, p. 10, Robertson and oth- ers, who say Gosnold was the first person who made a direct pas- sage across the Atlantic. In Ree's Cyclopedia, it is said, howev- er, that John Cabot, in 1498, " after sailing some weeks due West," discovered Newfoundland.
tSullivan, p. 46. #Prince's Annals. § Bancroft, and Ree's Cyclop. ||Hackluit.
12
HISTORY OF
[A. D. 1602.
of New England, and that the claim was only set up by the English, in order to preclude that of the French, who pretended to have discovered it before Gosnold. Joselin says that in 1602, " the North part of Virginia i. e. New England was farther discovered by Capt. Gosnold, and some will have him to be the first dis- coverer." Hutchinson also says, " it is not certain that any European had been in New England before."
It is not certainly known what part of the country Gosnold first saw, some supposing it was near Nahant and that he landed the next morning at Cape Cod,* and others thinking he discovered land near the Kenne- bec and landed on Cape Ann.t The probability, however, is that neither of these suppositions is correct, but that the land first discovered was either Cape Porpoise, or some other point of land in the neighbor- hood of Wells Bay. The following " Relation of Captain Gosnols Voyage, began the six and twentieth of March, 1602, as delivered by Gabriel Archer, a gentleman in said voyage," is taken from " Purchas his Pilgrims," a collection of voyages and travels. Gosnold had a company of " thirty persons, whereof eight mariners and sailors, twelve purposing upon the Discovery to return with the ship for England, the rest remain there for population." " The four- teenth (of May) about six in the morning, we discover- ed land that lay North,-the northerly point we called the Northland ; which to another rock upon the same lying twelve leagues west, that we called Savage Rock ; (because the savages first shewed themselves there) five leagues toward said rock is an out point of woodie ground, the trees thereof very high and straight, from the rock east north east. From the same rock came toward us a Biscay Shallop with sail and oars, having eight persons in it, whom we supposed at first to be
*Bancroft's Hist. U. S., and Thacher's Hist. Plymouth.
tHubbard in his History of New England, says " Capt. Gosnold, possibly more by the guidance of Providence than any special art acquired of man, on the 14th of May, (1602,) made land in lat. of 43 deg. where he was presently welcomed by eight Salvages in one of their Shallops,-he weighed anchor and stood to the southward, and next morning landed in Cape Ann." See also Williamson vol.i. p. 184.
13
KENNEBUNK PCRT.
A. D. 1602.]
christians distressed. But approaching us neere, wee perceived them to be savages. These coming within call, hayled us, and wee answered them after signs of peace, and a long speech by one of them made, they came boldly aboard us, being all naked saving about their shoulders certaine loose deer skins and neere their wastes seale skins tied fast like to Irish Demmie trow- sers. One that seemed to be their commander wore a wastecoat of black work, a pair of breeches, cloth stockings, shoose, hat and band, and one or two more had a few things made by some christians. These with a piece of chalk, described the coasts there abouts and could name Placentia of the New-found-land, they spake divers christian words, and seemed to understand much more than we for want of language could com- prehend. These people are in colour swart, their hair is long up tyed with a knot in the part of behind the head. They paint their bodies which are strong and well proportioned. £ These much desired our longer stay, but finding ourselves short of our purposed place, wee set sail westwards leaving them and their coast. About sixteen leagues S. W. from thence, wee perceiv- ed in that course two small islands, the one lying east from savage rock, the other to the southwards of it, the coast we left was full of goodly woods, faire plains, with little green round hills above the cliffs appearing unto us, which are indifferently raised, but all rockie, and of shining stones, which might have persuaded us a longer stay there.
" The fifteenth day we had again sight of land which made ahead being as we tho't an island by rea- son of a large sound that appeared westward, between it and the mayne, for coming to the west end thereof, we did perceive a large opening, we called it *Shole- hope : neer this Cape we came to anchor in fifteen fadome, where we took great store of Cod fish, for which we altered the name and called it Cape Cod. Here we saw skulls of herrings, mackerels, and other small fish in great abundance. This is a low sandie shore, but without danger, also we came to anchor in sixteen fadome faire by the land in lat. 42 degrees.
*Shoal Haven, or Harbor.
B
14
HISTORY OF
[FROM 1602
This Cape is well neer a mile broad and lieth north east by east."*
From this account, there can be but little doubt that the Cape, to which Gosnold gave the name of Cape Cod, was the same one which now bears that name.t It is also nearly certain that the land first discovered, could not have been near Nahant, as a westerly course from that place would have carried the vessel on to the land in Boston Bay ; and they did not even sail along the shore, but directly from it, leaving the savages " and their coast." If they sailed in a direct line from Nahant to Cape Cod, which would have been in an easterly direction, there are no Islands corresponding with those described by Mr. Archer. On the other hand, they could not have been so far to the Eastward as Kennebec, as they could not have had time to run to Cape Cod, in their dull sailing craft ;¿ nor does the latitude given, about 43, agree with that part of the coast. Although the latitude of Cape Cod, as given by Gosnold, was nearly correct, yet but little dependence can be placed upon his observations, on account of the very imperfect nautical instruments then in use. Sub- sequent navigators however assert, that he uniformly marked places about half a degree too low,|| which, if correct, would make the latitude of the land first seen, correspond, very nearly, with that of Cape Porpoise. The supposition, founded on this agreement of latitude, that Cape Porpoise was Captain Gosnold's Northland, and the Savage Rock, which was judged to lay twelve leagues West of it, was the Nubble, near Cape Ned- dock, which is surrounded at high water, is almost reduced to a certainty, by the description of the passage to Cape Cod. In leaving the coast in a South-west- erly direction, they must have passed near Boon Island, which is to the eastward of the Nubble, and in sight of the Isles of Shoals, which are to the southward of it, and which at a distance might be mistaken for a single Island.
*Capt. Gosnold did not succeed in making a settlement. He continued, however, to visit North America every season, till 1607, when he died in Virginia.
tThacher's Hist. Plymouth, page 1.
#They had fifty days passage from Plymouth.
|| Williamson, vol. i. p. 185.
15
KENNEBUNK PORT.
To 1605.]
The distance, too, from Cape Neddock to Cape Cod, is as great as they would have been likely to make in one day.
Mr. Williamson, Belknap and several other writers have supposed that the Indians must have obtained their clothes from some fishermen, who had been ac- cidentally driven on the coast ; but from their knowl- edge of European languages, and their acquaintance with the harbors of Newfoundland, it is much more probable that they were eastern Indians making an excursion to the westward, as is still their practice.
Some have thought that Gosnold's crew landed on the first discovered land, but from Mr. Archer's account of the voyage, it would appear that they did not. There may however be some doubt as to his meaning, for it would be natural to suppose, that after a long confine- ment on ship board, they would have availed them- selves of the first opportunity to visit the land.
If Gosnold did not land in any part of Maine, its shores were certainly visited the following year [1603] by Martin Pring, who equipped two vessels, the Speed- well, a ship of fifty tons, with a crew of thirty men and boys ; and the Discoverer, a bark of twenty-six tons, carrying fourteen persons. He sailed from Milford Haven, April 10th, 1603, and made land June 7th, near Penobscot ; and afterwards sailed as far as the Piscata- qua. He went a short distance up Kennebunk river, " and found no people, but signs of fires where they had been."
The next year [1604] De Monts visited the coast of Maine, and took possession of several places for the King of France. The year following [1605] George Weymouth was sent on a voyage of discovery, by Lord Arundel of Warder. He sailed up a beautiful river in latitude 43, 20, which is nearly the latitude of Ken- nebunk river. Belknap says, " in this latitude no part of the American coast lies except Cape Porpoise, where is only a boat harbour. The rivers nearest to it are on the South, Kennebunk, a tide river of no great extent, terminating in a brook ; and on the North, Saco, the navigation of which is obstructed by a bar at its mouth, and by a fall at the distance of six or seven miles from the sea. Neither of these could be the river described in Weymouth's Journal. His
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