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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT
PORTER
AS A PORTION OF MAINE:
ITS SETTLEMENT, ETC.
BY THOMAS MOULTON.
... BY !!! COPYRIGHT GRES :
LIS. JVC ...
375 L 1879.
CITY OF WASHINGTON
PORTLAND, ME. : PUBLISHED BY HOYT, FOGG & DONHAM. B. THURSTON & CO., PRINTERS. 1879.
2
F 29 P&M9 copy 2
COPYRIGHTED 1879. HOYT, FOGG & DONIIAM.
PREFACE.
HISTORY, even that of a township in the back-woods of Maine, should have for its object the improvement of the reader.
His entertainment, too, is certainly desirable, but not at the ex- pense of that higher purpose. Of the success of this little volume in either direction, it is for others to judge.
It was not proposed to confine the following pages exclusively to the township first named Porterfield, but to introduce various subjects relating more particularly to the Pine-tree State, of which this town- ship forms a part. The writer, until recently, had no intention of calling for the services of the printer. He did intend, after obtaining the materials thought desirable, to arrange them in manuscript for himself and such friends as might have the curiosity to look over them in that form.
The individuals now living, who in childhood were familiar with the faces of our first settlers, are rapidly passing away, and soon but a meager tradition of these pioneers will remain.
If, by these pages, some memorials of them worthy of record, shall be saved from oblivion, the labor of the writer will not be wholly in vain.
Porter, Me., June 1, 1879.
T. MOULTON.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Deed of Porterfield, from Committee of Mass. to Hill and others .. 7
Title to Maine, how acquired by Massachusetts. 10
Discovery and settlement of Maine 14
Situation, area, and climate of. 15
Climate of Maine and Illinois compared.
16
State valuation, and population in 1870, by counties
16
Population of Maine and of the United States in 1790, 1800, etc .. . PORTERFIELD, settlement of.
17 7
Families of early settlers in.
19
Plantation records.
28
Incidents of the times
31 39
Timber lands
40
Church organizations.
42 43
Town records
46
Representative districts.
48
Mills and bridges in, population and valuation of.
49
Town debt, currency, post-office, and registry of deeds. 49
Names of the soldiers of the Revolution, war of 1812, etc., resid- ing in. 52
In memoriam 52
Plantation and town officers, and Representatives to the Legisla- ture.
75
Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States
78
Governors from year of settlement, and Senators from the Oxford County district. 79
U. S. Senators and Representatives to Congress from this (2d) dis- trict. 82
Cabinet officers who have been residents of Maine. 83
State and town vote for Governor, and town vote for Representa- tive, when a resident of. 84
Marriages recorded by town clerk, from the incorporation to 1833. 87
Marriages, later record of, to March 1, 1858 90
1
PORTER, incorporation of.
Soldiers of the Revolution, war of 1812, etc., furnished by
PORTERFIELD.
THE territory which now embraces the town of Porter (except about 120 acres of Cutler's grant) and the western portion of Brownfield, was conveyed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by deed to certain persons as follows : " Know all men by these presents that we whose names are undersigned and seals affixed, appointed by the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a committee with full power to sell and convey the unappropriated lands of the said Commonwealth lying within the counties of York, Cumberland, and Lincoln, for and in consideration of the sum of five hundred and sixty-four pounds, lawful money, paid to us for the use of the said Commonwealth, by Jere- miah Hill, of Biddeford, in the county of York, Esq., and his associates hereafter named, pursuant to the contract made with them some years since, the receipt whereof we do here- by acknowledge, have given, granted, bargained, sold, and conveyed, and by these presents do, in behalf of the said Commonwealth, give, grant, bargain, sell, and convey to the said Jeremiah Hill and his associates, viz. : Aaron Porter, of said Biddeford, physician, Thomas Cutts and Nathaniel Scammon, both of Pepperellboro', in said county of York, esquires, Seth Storer, of said Pepperellboro', merchant, and James Coffin, of said Pepperellboro', yeoman, Caleb Emery, of Sanford, in said county of York, esquire, William Emery,
8
HISTORY OF PORTER.
of said Sanford, and Nathaniel Merrill, of Fryeburg, in said county of York, yeomen, a township, being a tract of land lying in the county of York aforesaid, now called ' Porter- field,' [so-called for the above-named Dr. Porter] as the same was surveyed by Samuel Titcomb in the month of Novem- ber, A.D. 1789, containing about eighteen thousand and six hundred acres, including ponds, etc., lying between the riv- ers Saco and Great Ossipee, in the county of York, bounded as follows, viz. : beginning at a pitch pine tree, standing on the line of New Hampshire and on the north side of said Ossipee river, thence running on said line north eight degrees east, nine miles one hundred and twenty rods to a beech tree standing at the west corner of Brownfield, thence bounded by said Brown- field, north seventy-eight degrees east, five hundred and fifty- two rods to a pitch pine tree, thence south twenty-eight degrees east, seven hundred and sixty rods to a hemlock tree standing near the south-west side of a small stream called Shepard's river, being the northerly corner of Timothy Cutler's land, thence bounded by said Cutler's land, south sixty-two degrees west, nine hundred and fifty rods, thence south twenty-eight degrees east, two miles, thence north sixty-two degrees east, nine hundred and fifty rods to said Brownfield line, thence running on said Brownfield line south twenty-eight degrees east, seventy rods to a pitch pine tree, thence south eighteen degrees west, nine hundred and eighty rods to a poplar tree, thence south seven degrees east, seven hundred rods to a maple tree standing by the north side of said Ossipee river, thence running up and by said Ossipee river until it intersects first- mentioned bounds, excepting and reserving four lots of three hundred and twenty acres each for public uses, viz .: one for the first settled minister, one for the use of the ministry, one for the use of schools, and one for the future appropriation of the General Court, the said lots to average in goodness and situation with the other lands in the said township, and also
9
HISTORY OF PORTER.
excepting and reserving for the disposition of government one hundred acres of said land for each of the following set- tlers who settled thereon before the first day of January A.D. 1784, laid out or to be laid out, so as best to include such settlers' improvements and be least injurious to the adjoining lands, viz. : John Libby, Meshach Libby, Stephen Libby, and James Rankins. [The deed to these four settlers and this to the proprietors were signed by the same committee. The settlers' deed was dated June 16, 1792, and is now in the possession of M. S. Moulton.] To have and to hold the afore-granted premises to the said Jeremiah and his asso- ciates as tenants in common, in the following proportions, viz. : to the said Jeremiah Hill two fifteenth parts, to the said Aaron Porter six fifteenth parts, to the said Thomas Cutts one fifteenth part, to the said Nathaniel Scammon one fifteenth part, to the said Seth Storer one fifteenth part, to the said James Coffin one fifteenth part, to the said Caleb Emery one fifteenth part, to the said William Emery one fifteenth part, to the said Nathaniel Merrill one fifteenth part. To them and their several heirs and assigns respectively, in the proportions aforesaid. And we the said Committee, in behalf of the Commonwealth aforesaid, do covenant and agree with the said Jeremiah Hill and his said associates, that the said Commonwealth shall warrant and defend the afore- granted premises, saving the exceptions and reservations aforesaid, to them, their heirs and assigns forever, in the proportions aforesaid, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons.
In testimony whereof the said committee have hereunto set their hands and seals this twenty-fourth day of Septem- ber, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety- three. NATH'L WELLS, [L.S.]
Signed, sealed, and delivered, in presence of us,
LEO. JARVIS, [L.s.]
TIMOTHY NEWELL,
JOHN READ, [L.S.]
THOMAS WALCUT. 2
·
10
HISTORY OF PORTER.
SUFFOLK, SS., Boston, Sept. 25, 1793.
Personally appeared Nath'l Wells, Leo. Jarvis, and John Read, esquires, and acknowledged this instrument to be their act and deed.
Before me, SAMUEL COOPER, Justice of the Peace.
A true copy, examined, and compared. Recorded March 27, 1799, Lib. 64, fol's, 60, 65."
TITLE TO MAINE, HOW ACQUIRED BY MASSACHUSETTS.
A full and impartial history of the means by which Massa- chusetts acquired title to these lands, would be read with much interest by our townsmen, but the limits of this work will only allow a brief statement of the most important inci- dents connected therewith. I give the facts as stated by his- torians of ability to separate the chaff from the wheat, and of integrity to state the truth, and nothing but the truth.
In 1620, James I, king of England, granted to the Coun- cil of Plymouth, a company in the county of Devon, Eng- land, all the territory, from ocean to ocean, lying between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, to be known by the name of New England in America. This grant included, of course, the whole territory within the lim- its of Maine. In 1622 the Plymouth Company granted to Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason the territory lying between the Merrimac and Kennebec rivers. In 1629 Gorges and Mason divided their possessions, Gorges taking all east of the Piscataqua, and Mason, all west. In 1635 the Plymouth Company divided their grant among the propri- etors, and that portion lying between the Piscataqua and Kennebec rivers was awarded to Gorges, who, amid his em- barrassments occasioned by restless Frenchmen and encroach- ing Puritans, sought from king Charles I, and received in 1639, a new charter confirming his former claims to the ter- ritory between the Piscataqua and Kennebec rivers, and
11
HISTORY OF PORTER.
extending one hundred and twenty miles inland. This terri- tory was then for the first time called " The Province of Maine." Prior to this time, Gorges called his grant New Somersetshire.
As early as 1658 Massachusetts assumed jurisdiction over a portion of this territory, and, at length, over the whole State. She did not merely assume jurisdiction, but was pre- pared to use a more effective weapon than the pen. In 1663 she sent her mandate to the people of Maine, requiring them to give obedience to her laws. Soon after, she ordered here a military force of cavalry and infantry. This force proceeded to York, where a court established by Gorges was in session, drove the judge and his assistants from the court-house, im- prisoned the commander of the local militia, and threatened the judge and all who favored the Gorges' interest. Minis- ters of the gospel were seized and imprisoned for preaching doctrines distasteful to the ruling powers of Massachusetts. Other kindred acts need not here be stated.
Some plausible reason was to be found, or rather invented, for such high-handed aggressions. The Massachusetts char- ter established its northern boundary "three miles north of the Merrimac." These words plainly mean that its northern boundary was three miles beyond the river at its month. This point was well known to the grantors and grantees, but the region three miles beyond the head-waters of the Merri- mac was a terra incognita-unknown alike to both the king and council, and to the grantees. In fact, all, before this time, were agreed in the interpretation here stated; but after Maine had been seized, in order to justify the wrong, a new interpretation must be devised. They found that the river, about thirty miles from its mouth, turns from its general di- rection, and making nearly a right angle, stretches to the north. So, tracing up the river to find its source among the hills and mountains, and following the lessening stream until
12
HISTORY OF PORTER.
vision keen can no longer discern a tiny ripple or sign of moisture, they thread the wilderness three weary miles further to the north, and there the goal of their search is at- tained. Thence, a course due east is said to have been taken until the shore of the Atlantic was reached. The northern line of their grant is established, and a territory embracing nearly all of new Hampshire, and a large and valuable por- tion of Maine is, de facto and de jure, theirs. So much shrewdness can hardly be excelled at the present day by our experts in sharp practices. Acquiescence on the part of the Maine colonists could hardly have been expected. An appeal was at once made to the crown. The king in council decided in 1677 that the north line of the Massachusetts colony was three miles from the north bank of the Merrimac at its mouth, and that the province of Maine, both as to soil and government, was the rightful property of the Gorges' heirs.
Thus baffled, Massachusetts was by no means disposed to yield, even to the king. Forthwith, her agent hastened to England, found a grandson of Ferdinando Gorges, paid him the vast sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds for his in- terest in his grandfather's American possessions (a sum but little more than double that paid to Massachusetts by Hill and his associates for the plantation of Porterfield), and so, whatever the value of his inheritance, willing or unwilling to make sale of it, he received his mess of pottage. The agent having returned, possession under the spurious title was duly proclaimed. On the accession to the throne of William and Mary, who were known to be not unfriendly to the Massa- chusetts' colonists, a royal charter was applied for, and in 1691 granted. The colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Maine, Sagadahoc, and Acadia were, by this charter, consol- idated under one title, " The Province of Massachusetts Bay." Former charters were utterly ignored, the doctrine that might makes right, prevailed, and Maine, not Gorges' grant alone, became an appendage to Massachusetts.
13
HISTORY OF PORTER.
When Massachusetts attempted to subjugate Maine by military force, she claimed no title to any part of it from Gorges or his heirs. On the contrary, she imprisoned offi- cers who had been appointed by Gorges, and threatened all who favored his interest. How, then, could the contract with the grandson, made more than twenty years after her military raid into Maine, in the least degree justify the wrongs inflicted by her upon our people ? It seems, at this late day, that the advantages to be derived from the charter of William and Mary, rather than justification, solely governed her action. If the charter was granted in consequence of the purchase from Gorges' grandson, the twelve hundred and fifty pounds swelled to millions of dollars. Be this as it may, the gain to Massachusetts from the charter, and the consequent loss to Maine, was several millions of dollars.
The following is an extract from the speech of Mr. Blaine, made in the U. S. Senate, session of 1877-78 :
" Mr. Dawes calls Maine the daughter of Massachusetts. Let us for a moment examine her authority to claim such a parentage. She had early and gradually extended her moth- erly jurisdiction over the northern part of Maine, against the wishes and protest of the inhabitants, especially those east of Saco, who were Episcopalians. It is immaterial whether they ' came seeking commercial advantage or to worship God,' so long as we know they did worship him on every returning Sabbathı day in the beautiful liturgy of the English church, read in the chapel at Richmond's Island, in 1635, first by Rev. Richard Gibson, a graduate of Cambridge, England, and after him, by Rev. Robert Jordan, whose baptismal font of bell-metal has been preserved by his descendants to the present time. There the boats flocked from all the region round, 'like doves to their windows.' These good men were forbidden by Massachusetts to exercise their ministerial functions, and were imprisoned for so doing. The jurisdiction of Massa-
14
HISTORY OF PORTER.
chusetts was annulled by the king in 1676. Then she sent her agent, John Usher, to England, to negotiate with the grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was dead, for the purchase of his right to the soil, which was accomplished, in 1677, for twelve hundred and fifty pounds. Yet the English government denied the right of the purchaser to govern the district, and not until 1691 did the Massachusetts Colony finally throttle the Episcopalians of the territory of what is now Cumberland county, which was settled at the same time as Boston. Then she swallowed Maine and Nova Scotia at one gulp, and her governor fitted out an expedition to take Quebec for an outpost, but the elements were against him. Our District of Maine remained unassimilated in the capa- cious maw, a century and a quarter, yet I think the so-called mother is entitled to some credit for her saying to us, go in peace, which was her only motherly act. Can the old Bay State claim parentage with propriety when we are as old as herself, and came under her guardianship by our own weak- ness and the cupidity of the heir of the good Sir Ferdinando Gorges ? "
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT.
The first discovery of the coast of Maine, says the Hon. William Willis, was made by the Northmen as early as the year 990. In 1498, 1524, 1525, 1527, and 1556, the coast was visited or seen by various adventurers from Europe. The first attempt at settlement was made as early as 1604 by the French, but was abandoned the next year. Other un- successful attempts followed.
The time of the first permanent settlement is not with certainty known. The same historian states that Gorges and Mason in 1623 planted a colony at the mouth of the Pis- cataqua, in the present town of Kittery, which was the first occupation of the mainland in Maine. Ex-governor Cham-
15
HISTORY OF PORTER.
berlain, in his centennial address, considers 1607 and 1608 as the time, and the region of the Sagadahoc, as the place, when and where the permanent settlement of Maine began.
In 1630 the Piscataqua settlement, it is said, contained a population of 200, Agamenticus (York) 150, Saco 175, and all the territory between the Piscataqua and Penobscot, 1500 white people. The first court established in Maine was at Saco in 1636, and there was a general court at the same place in 1640. In 1641 Gorges organized a capital at Aga- menticus, naming it Georgianna, the first chartered city in America.
Of the distinguished men of our country in the early period of its history, Maine furnished, as natives or settlers upon her soil, her full quota. Among these were Sir William Phipps, the first governor of Massachusetts, born at Woolwich, Maine, in 1651 ; James Sullivan, another governor of Massachusetts, distinguished as a jurist as well as a statesman, born at Ber- wick in 1744; Gen. John Sullivan, of revolutionary fame, and member of the first Continental Congress ; Gen. Henry Knox, a favorite of Washington, and his first Secretary of War; Gen. Henry Dearborn, Jefferson's first Secretary of War; Rufus King, a statesman and diplomatist; Gen. Jed- ediah, and Commodore Edward Preble ; Commodore Tuck- er; Gen. Peleg Wadsworth; and George Thatcher, the judge and statesman.
SITUATION AND AREA.
The State lies between 42º 57' and 47° 30' north latitude, and between 5° 45' and 10° 10' east longitude from Wash- ington. Its area is 32,000 square miles, or 20,480,000 acres. Its greatest length from the mouth of the Piscataqua to its most northern point is 320 miles. Its greatest width from the Atlantic to Canada line is 160 miles ; and a straight line from the mouth of the Piscataqua to Quoddy Head is 250 miles.
16
HISTORY OF PORTER.
CLIMATE.
The annual average temperature at Portland for 32 years (from 1825 to 1857) was 43° 23'. The highest point at- tained was 100° 5'; the lowest, Jan 24, 1857, 25° below zero. At Northfield, Vt., the mercury fell to 40° below ; at Au- gusta, 42° below ; at Dartmouth College, 30° below ; and at Bangor 44° below.
THE CLIMATE OF MAINE AND ILILNOIS FOR THE YEAR 1874, COMPARED.
According to meteorological records kept at Porter, Me., and at Xenia, Clay Co., Ill., the average height of the mer- cury at sunrise, as indicated by the thermometer, was
At Porter. At Xenia.
At Porter. At Xenia.
For January. . . 19º 42' and 32° 27'
" February. . 14° 47' "
30° 6'
August. . .. 51º 56' 66 68° 19'
March. .22° 8' 66 35° 13'
66 Septem'r. . 50° 29' 66 59° 6'
April. 26° 18' 38° 36'
October ... 36º 17' 66 46° 58'
May ... .41º 54' 66 56° 31'
66 November.25° 40' 66 38° 20'
" June .53º 5C' 66° 56'
66 December. 13º 21' 31° 48'
The average for the year at Porter was 34° 30', at Xenia 47° 56'.
STATE VALUATION AND POPULATION BY COUNTIES FOR THE YEAR 1870.
Counties.
When Incorporated.
Valuation.
Population.
Androscoggin
.1854
$17,592,555
. 35,866
Aroostook.
1839
4,992.285.
.29,609
Cumberland ..
1760
48,942,323.
.82,021
Franklin.
1838.
5,791,659
18,807
Hancock
1789
7,554,073. . 36,495
Kennebec
1799.
21,004,034.
.53,203
Knox.
1860.
10,507,542.
. 30,823
Lincoln.
1760
6,857,610.
25,597
Oxford
1805
9,894,166.
. 33,488
Penobscot.
1816
22,697,948.
. 75,150
Piscataquis
1838
4,857,280.
. 14,403
Sagadahoc.
1854.
11,041,340.
18,803
Somerset.
1809
10,990,609
.34,611
Waldo.
1827
10,090,581
. 34,522
Washington
1789
9,566,038
.43,343
York.
22,442,875.
. 60,174
Total
$224,822,918.
626,915
*The first court within the limits of Maine was established by Gorges at Saco in 1636. He also established a General Court there in 1640. A Court of Common Pleas in 1659, and a Supreme Court in 1699 were granted by Massachusetts to the county.
For July. ... .. 57º 44' and 70° 58'
17
HISTORY OF PORTER.
Valuation of the United States in 1870, $30,068,518,507.
As this total of $224,822,918 does not include property exempt by law from taxation, and as the assessors of no town knowingly render to the State for taxation a valuation ex- cessively high, the aggregate wealth of the State was many millions more than these figures indicate.
POPULATION OF MAINE AND OF THE UNITED STATES, IN SUCCESSIVE DECADES.
1790
1800
1810
1830
Maine.
05.540. . .
151.719. ..
228,705.
1820 298,335.
399,455
United States. . 3,929,827. .. 5,305,937. .. 7,239,814. .. 9,638,191. .. 12,866,020
1840
1850
1860
1870
Maine.
501,793 ..
583,169. .
628,279. .
626.915
United States 17,069,453 .. 23,191,876 .. 31,367,080 .. 38,925,598
According to Behm and Wagner's statistics, the total pop- ulation of the earth is 1,439,145,300, Europe 312,398,500, Asia 831,000,000, Africa 205, 219,500, Australasia and Poly- nesia 4,411,300, and America 86,116,000.
The plantation of Porterfield, as bought by Hill and his associates, is sufficiently described in the committee's deed to them ; but the plantation as incorporated in 1802 included, in addition, Cutler's grant of 3,800 acres. After the convey- ance to Hill and his associate proprietors, John Wingate was appointed by them surveyor of the tract ; and when his sur- veys and plan of the same had been completed (each lot be- ing marked on the plan with the name of its owner), they formally agreed that this plan " should govern them in all respects, and should be used in evidence in all cases respect- ing any part of the premises." Three well executed copies of this plan are owned in town, one by the town.
In that part of Porterfield embraced within the limits of Porter as incorporated, the first settlement was made by Meshach Libby, from Pittsfield, N. H., in 1781. In a short time he was followed by his father, John Libby, and his brother Stephen, also from Pittsfield. Michael Floyd came
.
+
18
HISTORY OF PORTER.
next. These were the only settlers until 1787, when Ben- jamin Bickford, Benjamin Bickford, jr., and Samuel Bick- ford, from Rochester, N. H., and Benjamin Ellenwood, from Groton, Mass., were added to their number. Mr. Ellenwood resided here about ten years, and then left with his family. In about 1791 David Allord, Job Allord, Joseph Clark, and Moses Drown, from Rochester, became settlers. May 22, 1792, David Moulton, from Hampton, N. H., purchased a farm in the plantation, but did not move in until April 27, 1793. The settlement of Benjamin Bickford, jr., David and Job Allord, Clark, and Drown, continued but a few years.
By the terms of the deed to Hill and others, four lots were reserved to those settling thereon before the first day of Jan- uary, 1784; to Meshach Libby the lot sold by him to David Moulton, and now owned by Moses S. Moulton ; to Jolin Libby a lot now owned by William T. Taylor, who, with his son Simeon, lived on it until the death of the father about 1804; to Stephen Libby the lot, the northern part of which is now owned by Meshach Mason and sons and by George WV. Ridlon ; and to James Rankins the lot for many years (from 1793 to 1817) owned and occupied by Daniel Knowles, and by the late Daniel Towle from 1817 to 1872.
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