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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Gg
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01088 2212
Old Prouts Neck -
BY AUGUSTUS F. MOULTON
MEMBER OF MAINE HISTORICAL, SOCIETY AND AMERICAN HISTORICAL, ASSOCIATION
I might, perhaps, leave something so written to after times as they should not willingly let it die .- JOHN MILTON.
PORTLAND, ME .: MARKS PRINTING HOUSE 1924
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 1
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1766779
AUGUSTUS F. MOULTON
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Moulton, Augustus Freedom, 184S ---
841754 Old Prouts Neck, by Augustus F. Moulton ... Port- land, Me., Marks printing house, 192 1. 123 p. front. (port. ) 7 pl. 20!"".
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1. Prouts Neck, Me. 1. 'Title.
24 -... 167 .
Library of Congress - Cony 2. .
F29.196M18
Copyright.A SOCH ..... MAMA
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COPYRIGHTED 1924 AUGUSTUS F. MOULTON
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FOREWORD.
The purpose of this little book is to give from the best obtainable sources an account of a locality which, with its vicissitudes, presents in a fairly complete form a picture of the early times when Maine in its beginnings lived under a King. The conversation of old people of a former genera- tion was replete with traditionary tales of striking events when pioneers were engaged in the experi- ment of developing a wilderness and making of it a people's empire. No history of the colonial period omits statements concerning the attempt to transplant to these shores the old world methods of royalistic and aristocratic prerogative, exem- plified in its fullness by the Gorges Palatinate of Maine, with references also to the untried con- ception of popular government which had its prin- cipal planting in Puritan Massachusetts. The Cammock Patent anticipated by several years the Palatinate charter and was confirmed by Gorges. The sources of information are found in random references made in many books and records, sup- plemented by old folk lore persistently repeated, and which is deemed reliable. These disconnected relations are here brought together, making a con-
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FOREWORD
secutive narration. The ending of the long con- test between New France and New England, in which Prouts Neck had its part, changed the his- tory of a continent. It has seemed altogether worth while to put into permanent form, so as to be preserved, this record of old days which other- wise might, and probably would, be dissipated and lost.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
I. BLACK POINT AND PROUTS NECK 7
II. THE CAMMOCK PATENT, 13
III. THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOC- ELYN, 20
IV. THE GENERAL SITUATION, 33
V. SCOTTOW AND THE INDIAN WARS 41
VI. TROUBLES IN PEACE AND TROUBLES IN WAR, . 55
VII. THE SECOND SETTLEMENT, . 65
VIII. THIS BECOMES PROUTS NECK, 81
IX. IN THE LIBBY OCCUPATION, 95
X. LOCATIONS AND HISTORICAL PLANS 101
ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING PAGE
PROUTS NECK ABOUT 1870, 13
THE BATHING BEACH, 33
GARRISON COVE AT FULL TIDE, 41
PROUTS NECK ROCKS, SOUTHERLY, 81
PROUTS NECK HOUSE, 1870, 95
THE EASTERN COVE,
110
WALK TO THE SANCTUARY, . 120 .
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OLD PROUTS NECK.
I. BLACK POINT AND PROUTS NECK.
THE little rocky peninsula situated on the southerly coast of Maine, known as Prouts Neck, has a history that in variety and interest is not excelled by any other spot upon the Atlantic coast. Its story gives a conspicuous illustration of the effort made to establish in America a civilization that should be based upon the idea of the divine right of kings, and which should make per- petual the feudal conception of aristocracy and class privilege based upon union of church and state.
The Gorges Palatinate of Maine, as exemplified here, was intended to be an influential factor for the suppression of the republican tendencies of the Puritan col-
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OLD PROUTS NECK
ony upon Massachusetts Bay. This purpose would have been successful had it not been for the Parliamentary revolt which resulted in establishing, for a time, the English Com- monwealth and the Protectorate of Crom- well. The story of this small locality, therefore, is to some extent a reflection of happenings which changed the political com- plexion of a great nation and the character of its government.
In the earliest references made to this part of Scarborough it commonly is called Black Point. The reason for giving it this name is not very apparent, but when it is considered that the first viewpoint was wholly from the ocean, it seems quite likely that this, being a rather level region cov- ered with a mixed growth of trees, ap- peared darker in color than the pine-clad hill of Blue Point uplifted against the west- ern sky. The whole locality retained the name of Black Point until it was united with "Blew Point, Stratton's Islands and the parts thereto adjacent" in 1658 and became
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BLACK POINT AND PROUTS NECK
a part of Scarborough. It is known that ships visited this locality long before any regular settlements were attempted. These vessels were small and were upon private adventures, having no occasion to make public reports. In the logs of ships of Brit- tany and other places, there are found accounts of voyages, fares of fish taken and trading done along this coast soon after its exploitation by French and English navi- gators, who followed quite promptly after Columbus made the discovery.
Prouts Neck and the broad estuary of the Scarborough River made a convenient landing place for curing fish and for inter- course with the natives. The grant from the Plymouth Council to Captain Thomas Cam- mock, in 1631, of a tract of fifteen hundred acres, which included the Neck, was one of the earliest of the patents issued by the Council for New England.
The conveyance to Cammock is said to have come about in manner narrated in a well-confirmed and quite romantic tale. It
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OLD PROUTS NECK
is a matter of record that Robert Rich, second Earl of Warwick, was President of the Council for New England, commonly called the Plymouth Company, which was authorized by King James to make allot- ments of land, and that Thomas Cammock was his nephew. The story is that the old Earl, father of Robert and the Lady Frances, his sister, had for an attendant one Captain Thomas Cammock, said to be the hand- somest and most winsome man in England. Lady Frances and the young captain, not- withstanding the disparity of rank, fell deeply in love with each other. One fine day they rode out in the suite of the old Earl, of course upon a white horse, the lady occupy- ing a pillion behind Cammock. True love had to have its way, and an elopement was whispered. Watching for an opportunity and putting spurs to the horse they made for Farnbridge Ferry, several miles away, and the Earl's escort, when they found them missing, started in pursuit after the fugitives.
Reaching the ferry the lovers discovered
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BLACK POINT AND PROUTS NECK
that the boat was gone and the river swollen and turbulent. Cammock told the lady he could not risk her life by attempting to swim the river with his steed. Lady Frances, with the bold blood of the Warwicks in her veins, demanded that he go on, declaring they would live or die together. They took the water, and when the Earl, with his suite, arrived at the bank they were half way across. The call of the horses behind made that of the intrepid riders attempt to turn about, but in spite of danger they kept him upon his course and safely reached the oppo- site shore. Without delay they speeded to Malden, found a minister and were wedded. The deed was done, and the old Earl, the father of the bride, when after much delay he found the parties, recreant but unabashed, was so greatly impressed with the boldness and the gallantry of the event that instead of punishment he gave them his blessing.
Lady Frances, however, by marrying below her station had forfeited her rank. This Thomas and Lady Frances were father and
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mother of our Thomas of the Cammock grant. However much they loved each other, the class distinctions could not be ignored and the social relations were un- comfortable. For this reason, it is said that Robert, second Earl of Warwick, when he came to the title, gave to his nephew, Cap- tain Thomas Cammock, second, the beau- tiful peninsula of Prouts Neck with two and a half square miles of territory adjacent, reaching along the shore to the Spurwink and including the harbor and landing on the Scarborough River, and made the redoubt- able captain demesne lord of the place with feudal aristocratic privileges and authority appertaining.
Concerning the origin of Madame Mar- garet, the wife of Captain Thomas Cammock, little definite is known. All references to her, however, indicate that she was a fine, gracious and capable lady and managed her baronial household in most attractive and commendable fashion.
PROUTS NECK ABOUT 1870
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THE CAMMOCK PATENT.
THE bounds of the original Cammock
patent, though named only in general terms, are quite definitely known. Legal controversies arose which required careful surveys to determine lines of ownership and the Court files still preserve the plans used in evidence. The frequency of the refer- ences to the place give an idea of its early importance. The limits of the fifteen hun- dred acres began on the Owascoag, Black Point, Scarborough River, as it was consecu- tively called, at the Black Rocks; thence following the river southerly to the bay ; thence around the Prouts Neck peninsula, and continuing by the shore northeasterly, past the Atlantic House and Kirkwood House premises and Higgins Beach, to the Spurwink River near the location where was the Ambrose Boaden ferrying place; thence
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OLD PROUTS NECK
northwesterly up the Spurwink River past Mitchell's grove to the entrance of the west- erly branch of the river; thence southwest- erly on a direct line to the house at the Black Rocks and place of beginning. The Neck proper contains about one hundred and twelve acres.
The story of Prouts Neck is perhaps best told by tracing the line of ownership in con- secutive order from its English beginning. After the discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492, Pope Alexander VI, by virtue of his prerogative, issued a bull giving nearly all of the newly discovered heathen lands to the Spanish sovereign. Under this title Spain claimed the continent and, being mistress of the seas, kept others away for nearly a cen- tury. The defeat of the Great Armada by the English, in 1588, broke her power upon the ocean, and France and England set up for themselves rival claims to the northern portion, based upon discovery and occupa- tion. In 1606, by authority of King James of England, a joint stock company of loyal
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THE CAMMOCK PATENT
and patriotic gentlemen was organized for the purpose of establishing colonies in America. This was composed of two prac- tically separate organizations, one commonly called the London Company and the other the Plymouth Company. In 1620 a sepa- rate patent was issued to the Plymouth Company and this patent is the origin of titles in New England.
It should be noted that in all monarchical countries the original possessory right to lands was vested in the sovereign himself. Blackstone and Coke state this to be the common and universal law. In 1622 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason ob- tained from the Council for New England a grant of the land lying between the Merri- mac and the Sagadahoc or Kennebec Rivers. In 1629 they made division, Mason taking New Hampshire and Gorges the part be- tween the Piscataqua and the Kennebec. In 1635 the Great Council for New England dissolved, first regranting to Gorges in sev- eralty the Maine province, and this grant
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was confirmed by King James. Thus Gorges became proprietor of the land, but with no certain authority for government. He forthwith gave to Thomas Cammock confirmation of his patent of 1631, with all the feudal rights appertaining to him as its demesne lord. Soon after, in 1639, King Charles supplemented the grant to Gorges by issuing to him the celebrated patent of the Palatinate of Maine, which included sanction of government and more of power and authority, it is said, than was ever delegated by an English sovereign to a subject.
Cammock had business interests at Piscat- aqua and did not establish his residence in Maine for a couple of years. The location of the house which he built is not positively known, but pretty certainly it was at the Ferry Rock Point on the westerly end of the Country Club grounds at the mouth of the Scarborough River. The old landing just beyond, about at the location of the present dilapidated wharf, was a place better
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THE CAMMOCK PATENT
adapted for loading and unloading vessels than any along the abrupt shores of the Neck. Although not reputed to be arbi- trary or controversial, Cammock was posi- tive in asserting his feudal rights of lordship and did not allow fishing, fowling or tres- passing upon his preserves without permis- sion, but this he was, upon request, ready to give. "He never denyed," he said "any that come with leave or in a fayre way with acknowledgment." He had a tenantry of planters who settled around him, and others "to whom he appointed lotts of land, for which he had fees and rents." The Indians were "gentle and well disposed." Shipping was profitable and trading by barter with the natives, to whom hatchets were objects of supreme desire and glass beads were as attractive as diamonds are to us, was very much worth while.
Soon after Cammock's removal to this patent he was joined by his former com- panion and friend from Piscataqua, Henry" Jocelyn. Thomas and Margaret Cammock
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OLD PROUTS NECK
seem to have been good entertainers. John Jocelyn, a brother of Henry, came from England and remained with them for more than a year. Later, after the decease of Thomas Cammock, he came again, and upon his return to his English home published a book, which he called "The Voyages of John Jocelyn Gent." He tells of frequent ships that came, some of them quite large, two referred to being of three hundred tons burden with complements of forty-eight sailors. He tells quaintly of remarkable things. Once he went through the woods and thought he had discovered a gray pine- apple which proved to be a hornet's nest, and his examination produced very uncom- fortable results. He saw troublesome wolves and great snakes. The most wonderful of his stories are those which he received from neighboring gentlemen who called at the house and told, perhaps over their cups, of what they had heard-of a great sea serpent coiled up like a cable on a rock; of the encounter of Michael Mitton of Casco with
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THE CAMMOCK PATENT
a triton or mermaid; of a remarkable litter of pigs, twenty-five in number. This and other things the author cautiously declares "he will neither impeach nor inforce."
Captain Cammock made a visit to Eng- land in 1638, when domestic troubles were gathering there. In 1640 he made a com- bined will and deed by which he gave, with the free consent of Margaret, his wife, all and several his estate to her, said Margaret, for her lifetime, then to go outright to "his well-beloved friend, Henry Jocelyn." -
While on a voyage to the West Indies, in 1643, Thomas Cammock died at Barbadoes. First and last he was a loyal supporter of royalty with its principles and its privileges, and of Church of England Episcopalianism. At his decease, after twelve years of honor- able proprietorship, the lands, leasehold rights and properties of the patent passed, with all the appurtenances thereof, to his widow, Margaret Cammock. He had no children and his legal heirs were in England.
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III. THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOCELYN.
TT is a rather common belief that under
English law women could not own prop- erty or do business independently. This idea comes from misapprehension. The un- married woman, spinster or widow, had no restrictions in such matters except such as came from social prejudice. But, as to the married woman, there was a decided differ- ence. The family was regarded as the unit, and the husband was considered its proper representative. When, therefore, a woman married, unless some other arrangement was previously made, her real estate went "under coverture." The husband had sole right of control and management of that. Her per- sonal estate became his outright. But, as there were no stocks or bonds and pratti- cally nothing of personal investment char-
0556 Ip
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THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOCELYN
acter, this generally was of little account. The furniture, spoons, "ketells" and feather beds were ordinarily the principal articles. When the husband died the coverture was removed, and the real property came back to the widow free from the incumbrance.
These conditions could be arranged by so-called ante-nuptial contracts and by wills. An agreement regarding property made before marriage was and still is legally bind- ing. In the older English novels it will be noted that when the course of true love resulted in an engagement, the parties went promptly to a notary to draw up the "settle- ment papers." For the same reason the making of wills was almost universal. Only the few cases of neglect or accident came under the general law of descent.
Scarborough had striking examples of feminine ownership. Over on Blue Point Eleanor Bailey was a planter and a member of the planters' combination. If the tradi- tion is correct, she was a forceful individual and could hold her own with the best of
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them. Later Madame Elizabeth Dearing was owner and manager of the extensive Nonsuch farm. With her servants, white and black, she carried on this establishment. Her reputation while living was of the best, and long after her decease was a fragrant memory. Her funeral was attended by a great concourse almost like that of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of our Civil War President. Her black servant, Hagar, mar- ried Captain Prout's black Cæsar, and the names of their children appear on the record of baptisms in the old Black Point church.
Henry Jocelyn, gent, the "well - beloved friend" of Thomas Cammock, was for a while general manager for Margaret. The ten- antry was largely composed of rude fisher- men, sawmill workers and farm laborers, and pioneer conditions were unstable. Madame Cammock was a true woman, and it was not long before she discovered that for herself the position of queen of a household was preferable to that of lady palatine with pro- prietary rights. Jocelyn had high qualities
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THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOCELYN
for a good husband. There was a wedding at the mansion, and Henry Jocelyn, instead of being the remainder man after her life estate, became proprietor and manager in fact of the Cammock patent.
The disorders in England arising from the contest between King and Parliament were soon reflected in disagreements around Prouts Neck. King Charles asserted his divine right to rule, to grant monopolies and raise ship money, without any interven- tion of a people's parliament. The Com- mons, upon their part, asserted their privilege under Magna Charta to participate in pub- lic affairs. The grants and patents in New England had been issued by virtue of the royal prerogative alone. In 1640 a parlia- ment was called and soon dissolved, and in the same year there was summoned the Long Parliament. Two years later, just prior to the decease of Cammock, the English Civil War began. Old Sir Ferdinando Gorges, loyal to his King and to his own beliefs, joined the royal standard. The period of
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OLD PROUTS NECK
quiet in Maine, as well as in England, was at an end.
George Cleeve at Casco Neck, now Port- land, and John Winter, Trelawney's man at Cape Elizabeth, were at loggerheads about the boundaries of their respective patents, and the possessory rights of Jocelyn at Black Point and the Neck became involved. Prior to the Gorges concession and his palatinate grant the Plymouth Council, in its zeal for settlement and want of geographical knowl- edge, had issued to certain promoters title to a large territory by name of the Province of Lygonia, and this included the whole of the Cammock-Jocelyn premises. Parlia- ment was in full control. Cleeve went to England. Through his influence Alexander Rigby, for whom Rigby Park is named, pur- chased the Lygonia Patent with its govern- mental powers. Cleeve came back in 1643 as the deputized Governor of Lygonia. Jocelyn's title was superseded and the pro- prietorship was upside down. The new Governor demanded submission. The place,
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THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOCELYN
however, was largely royalist in sympathy. Their selfish interests as well as their reli- gious and loyal feelings made them, so far as they dared, supporters of the Cammock claim, which had been derived from Gorges and the King. Jocelyn retained his fine residence at the Ferry Rock, but the place and the people were in a state of civil com- motion. It became a question of Republi- can against Royalist, of Puritan against Episcopalian.
The tide of affairs in England at first seemed to be in favor of King Charles. In 1645 the adherents of Gorges, in their Gen- eral Court for the Province of Maine, chose Henry Jocelyn Governor. So far as the Province of Maine had a capital, it was then located at the Ferry Rocks. George Cleeve, on the other hand, retained his title as Gov- ernor of Lygonia, and his residence was at Casco or Portland Neck. The general con- dition was near that of civil war.
The fortunes of the English King soon waned and did not revive. The Parliament
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OLD PROUTS NECK
assumed the sovereignty. In 1647 the com- mittee on plantations, after due hearing and deliberation, made decision that the Rigby- Lygonia patent, being prior in date to that of Gorges, conveyed the title and was valid. Legally this disrupted the foundations of the Cammock grant and the conveyance to Jocelyn as well. There remained only the permissive right of occupation, and this was not disturbed. The decision had come from what was then the highest authority of the realm and the contestants accepted the situ- ation with the best grace they could assume.
The rival factions apparently realized, how- ever, that to obtain any settled condition they must unite in behalf of the common weal. Deputy Governor Cleeve proceeded to organ- ize anew the Province of Lygonia in a spirit of concession. In 1648 a court was held at Black Point, quite likely at the Jocelyn mansion, by three judges, Governor George Cleeve, the militant parson, Robert Jordan, and the deposed Governor, Henry Jocelyn in an effort to disentangle legal complications,
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THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOCELYN
but no record remains to show what was done except that harmonious relations were established.
The situation was indeed complicated and difficult. The southern boundary of the re- established Province of Lygonia was Cape Porpoise and the Kennebunk River. Henry Jocelyn, Governor of the Province of Maine, resided outside of its limits as determined, so a new man, Godfrey, was chosen in his place. The leasehold system of land titles remained as the only legal form. The un- certainties of the situation amounted almost to anarchy. Cleeve, Deputy President and Governor of Lygonia, went again to England to interview the Parliament, which was up- held by Cromwell and his Ironsides.
Then Massachusetts, the strong and sys- tematic Puritan province, intervened both upon its own initiative and by invitation. Her northern boundary, expressed in her charter, extended to an east and west line three miles beyond the Merrimac River "and every part thereof." At the time it
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was given no one knew that the course of that river turns north and that it has its source in the White Mountains. A literal compliance with the limit nominated in the instrument gave a line taking in southern Maine about to the latitude of the city of Bath. Cleeve resisted, Jocelyn resisted, Jordan of the Trelawney patent resisted, Governor Godfrey for the Gorges heir re- sisted also, but, Episcopalians as they were, they concluded upon reflection that Puritan stability was preferable to disorder.
Finally, in 1658, they came to "a free and comfortable close." By mutual agreement existing rights in Maine were recognized. Black Point, Blue Point and Stratton's Islands were thenceforth to be called Scar- borough. Henry Jocelyn, Robert Jordan, George Cleeve, Henry Watts and Francis Neale were made Commissioners for Massa- chusetts with large powers. Though exist- ing property rights were to be recognized and continued as they were, it was not easy for two different systems to go along to-
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THE OCCUPATION OF HENRY JOCELYN
gether. In the stronger colony the pioneers and land owners organized town meetings and held their homes by individual right and title. Her laws, imported to Maine, were not adapted to leasehold tenure.
The years of disorder and attention to public duties had been disastrous in a finan- cial way to the proprietor of the Cammock patent. The receipt of rents from the ten- antry had grown small or had ceased alto- gether. New people had come, and in many cases had taken up favorable locations with- out leave. Dunstan Landing as a port was nearer the region of the best timber lands. The visits of ships at the Scarborough River wharf had become rare. Even the bene- fits expected to be realized from Massachu- setts statute regulations did not materialize, because her authority was contested from abroad before there was time to make it effective.
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