USA > Maine > York County > The history of York county, Maine, and a rambling narrative about the town of Eliot and its mother-town old Kittery with personal reminiscences; an address delivered by Ralph Sylvester Bartlett at exercises held in Eliot, Maine, August 29, 1936 > Part 1
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Gc 974.101 Y8ba 1773114
M. L.
REYNOLDS INFTOPICAL GENEALOCY LOLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01796 8840
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THE HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE
THE HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE
and a Rambling Narrative about the TOWN of ELIOT and its mother-town OLD KITTERY with Personal Reminiscences
An Address delivered by Ralph Sylvester Bartlett at Exercises held in Eliot Maine August 29 1936 in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of York County in the Province of Maine
Copyright 1938 by Ralph Sylvester Bartlett
1773114 SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL, Baronet
From portrait by John Smibert (1688-1751), belonging to Kenneth Pepperrell Budd, of New York.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Citizens: I deeply appreciate the honor of being invited to address you this afternoon upon such an interest- ing subject as the history of York County and our Town of Eliot. We are gath- ered here today to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of York County. Its record has been notable. Many of the earliest events in American his- tory have taken place within its boundaries. It was in 1636 that Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who had been granted a patent to the land in Maine, sent his nephew, William Gorges, from England to organize and govern it. Sir Ferdinando named the territory New Somersetshire, and its seat of government was established in the year 1636 at what is now the city of Saco, and an official court for the region was created there that same year. It is this event we today celebrate. Sir Ferdinando Gorges never did reach the American shore. The new ship, specially built to bring him here with all the pomp and ceremony that befitted an intended Governor-Gen- eral of all New England, was irreparably damaged as it struck the water at its launching. Sir Ferdinando, in fact, never ruled as the Governor-General. His representatives carried on his affairs in America. In 1639 he received a new charter which established the name of the province as Maine, the name it has ever since had. Thereupon he immediately proceeded to put into effect his idea of a model government. His nephew, William, was succeeded by Sir Ferdinan- do's cousin, Thomas Gorges, whose title was Deputy Governor and Keeper of the Provincial Seal. In 1641 the capital was moved to what then was the settle- ment of Agamenticus, and here was established the ctiy of Gorgeana, the first incorporated city in America. Its location and area were almost exactly the same as that of the present town of York. Thus York was the first incorporated city in America. It had a mayor, twelve aldermen, twenty-four councilmen and two courts. The city had a corporate seal, had power to erect fortifications, and was authorized to become the seat of a Bishop of the Church of England. It was planned to develop this city into a great New World metropolis, but with the crumbling of the reign of King Charles it became in 1652 a part of Massachu- setts, the very colony it was designed to rule. Massachusetts, thereupon, to de- stroy all association with the despised Georges, changed the name of New Somer- setshire to Yorkshire (now the County of York), and gave the city of Gorgeana the name of York.
What is now York County had been settled and had played an active part in early American History long before its establishment as New Somer- setshire. As early as 1602 it had been visited by Captain Gosnold during his exploration of the North Atlantic coast. In 1606 it had been granted as a small part of a charter to the Plymouth Company. In 1614 the renowned Captain John
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Smith spent several weeks exploring and mapping its coast line. In 1616 it was officially settled by Dr. Richard Vines, close friend of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who had sent the doctor at the head of a group of men to spend a winter on the Maine coast and ascertain the severity of New England winters. Dr. Vines settled at what is now known as Biddeford Pool, then called Winter Harbor, and was deeply impressed with the healthful climate of the territory. He reported to his superior that "not one of them ever felt their head to ache while they stayed there." It was on the strength of this report that the later permanent coloniza- tion of New England was begun. Thus the Biddeford Pool settlement was an important event at the very beginning of American history. In 1622 the coast was visited by Captain Christopher Levett, and the same year the partnership of Gorges and Mason was established as proprietors of the land from the Merri- mac to the Kennebec River, in the vicinity of what is now the city of Bath, Maine, approximately fifty miles east of the present eastern boundary of York County. In 1629 Mason and Gorges divided their territories, and the latter took the sec- tion which now comprises York County and southwestern Maine. It is interest- ing to note that what is now declared to be one of the richest recreational regions in the United States was sold in 1677 to Massachusetts by the younger Sir Fer- dinando Gorges for £1,250, the equivalent of about six thousand dollars.
The early development of York County, like other parts of America, was along the coast, but after 1775 the inland towns began to be built up by the ac- cession of grants to returning Revolutionary war veterans.
Our mother-town Kittery, originally known as Piscataqua, was settled in 1623. It was the first town to be organized in Maine, a distinction in which we in Eliot, then a part of Kittery, of course share.
One of the earliest settlers in what is now Kittery was Alexander Shapleigh, a merchant and ship-owner, and agent for Sir Ferdinando Gorges. He was born in England, in that portion of Kingswear, Devonshire, called Kittery Point, the name it still bears. It is on the river Dart, opposite Dartmouth. Alexander Shap- leigh came to America in his own ship "Benediction," about the year 1635, and gave the name "Kittery Point" to the place where he settled on the Piscataqua. Here he is said to have built the first house. From this source Kittery received its name. Dr. Edward Everett Shapleigh, the well-known physician of Kittery, traces his descent from Alexander Shapleigh, as do the Shapleighs in Eliot and other parts of New England. The prominent Shapleigh families in St. Louis, Missouri, are also direct descendants of that early settler from Kittery Point, in Kingswear, Devonshire, who played such an important part in the early settle- ment of Kittery.
Within the limits of the town of Kittery, of which the town of Eliot was a part until 1810, there have taken place more events of world interest than any other York County town. Indeed, few communities in America can surpass it in this respect.
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First, it was the birthplace and home of Sir William Pepperrell, who com- manded the Colonial Forces and captured Louisburg in 1745, the loss of which marked the end of the French dominion in America. In recognition of this ser- vice, he was made a Baronet and General of the Army by King George II, honors never before conferred on a Colonial. The house in which Sir William was' born, built in 1682, is still in a good state of preservation. His body is buried in the Family Tomb-lot of the Pepperrells at Kittery Point.
The continental warship "Ranger," commanded by John Paul Jones, was built in Kittery in 1777. On February 13, 1778, in the Bay of Quiberon, France, her flag, said to have been made by the women of Kittery from their petticoats, received the first salute in Europe ever given to the American flag. It there re-, ceived the salute of the French Admiral.
The famous "Kearsarge," whose battle with the "Alabama" off the coast of Cherbourg, France, during the Civil War is one of the most thrilling pages in American history, was also built in Kittery.
The United States Navy Yard was established in Kittery in 1806, while the present town of Eliot was a part of Kittery. It is one of the oldest Navy Yards in the United States, and has been the scene of events of world-wide interest. It was here that the Russo-Japanese Peace Conference was held in 1905, during the ad- ministration of Theodore Roosevelt, and the peace treaty between these two war- ring nations was signed here.
Here also, in 1898, Admiral Cevera and his men, captured in the battle of Santiago, Cuba, were held prisoners at the close of the Spanish-American War. I recall witnessing from Gerrish's Island the sailing of the ship "Rome" which took these prisoners back to Spain.
When General A. W. Greely and the survivors of his ill-fated Arctic Expedi- tion were rescued at the point of starvation in 1884, it was to Kittery that they returned. I well remember the tremendous ovation they received in Ports- mouth where, it was claimed, there was one of the largest Naval Reviews, attended by the Secretary of the Navy, ever held up to that time in America. Commodore Stephen Decatur, early hero of the American Navy, lived in Kittery, as do his descendants today. Admiral Farragut died in the Commandant's house at the Navy Yard in 1870. Kittery was the only town in the Province of Maine to be honored by a visit from George Washington.
In our neighboring town of York, settled in 1624, which originally was an Indian settlement called Agamenticus, the first English house was built in 1630. When it was chartered by Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1641 as the first English city in North America under the name of Gorgeana, Thomas Gorges, Sir Ferdi- nando's cousin, was its first Mayor. 'Yorkshire County originally included the entire Province of Maine. York was the shire town, and when the name was changed from Yorkshire County to County of York, the shire town continued to be York until 1806, when Alfred became the shire town.
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Sewall's Bridge across York River was the first pile draw bridge in America. It was built in 1761. The old jail (Old Gaol) at York Village was built in 1653. The first troops to leave the Province of Maine to volunteer in the Revolution marched from the Village Green at York on the morning of April 21, 1775.
Alfred, the present county seat, settled in 1764, has the distinction of having in its custody the oldest continuous court records in the United States, dating back to 1635, and continuing without interruption to the present time. These records include the original grant to Sir Ferdinando Gorges by King Charles of England of the vast territory lying between the present southern boundary of New Hamp- shire and the Kennebec River.
I had the honor of subscribing my name to those records when, although I had previously engaged in practice there, I was formally admitted to the York County Bar, at a special session of the Supreme Judicial Court held by Mr. Jus- tice Thaxter in the new Court House in Alfred on February 11, 1935. It was in- teresting to see written upon those records the autographs of the long line of lawyers admitted to the York County Bar from early Colonial Days down to the present time, the names of some of whom are familiar names in American his- tory.
Before I proceed further, I wish to say a few words about those officials of York County who had charge of the planning and construction of the new Court House in Alfred, which was completed in 1934, and also about the men who did the work. They have delivered to the County an imposing building, admirably planned, construction work and material of best quality, with well lighted and properly ventilated rooms furnished in good taste, everything arranged for the convenience of the various courts and County Offices housed in the building,- all a model of thoughtful planning and efficient construction, and built with the tax-payers' money without graft. The County is indeed to be congratulated upon having had such reliable and competent officials and men intrusted with the work. This fine building holds in its vaults these priceless archives of the past. May it long stand in that beautiful shire town of Alfred, which has a dignity and back- ground befitting the prominent position it holds in the County.
The town of Berwick, originally the northern part of Kittery, was incorpo- rated in 1713. What are now the towns of South Berwick and North Berwick were a part of Berwick during its first years of existence. Its name came from Berwick, a seaport town on the border of England and Scotland, where some of its pioneers were born. It has the distinction of having had the first saw mill in New England, but the spot where it was located was at Great Works, which now is in the town of South Berwick. Old Berwick furnished more soldiers for the American Revolution than any other town in the Maine Province. It was the birthplace of two men prominent in the Revolution, the Sullivan brothers, both friends of George Washington, John, a General in the war and a Governor of
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New Hampshire, and James, a leader at the bar, Governor of Massachusetts and · a staunch defender of national liberties.
Biddeford, the larger of the two only cities in York County, was settled a few years after 1616, when Dr. Richard Vines, close friend of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, spent a winter at what is now Biddeford Pool to test the winter climate of the Maine coast. It is named from a town in England from which some of its sett- lers emigrated, but in England the name is spelled "Bideford." It was incorpo- rated as a city in 1855.
Kennebunk was permanently settled in 1718, when still a part of Wells. It was incorporated as to town in 1820, the year Maine was separated from Massa- chusetts.
Saco, the smaller of the two cities in York County, had its first permanent settlement in 1631. Five years later the first seat of government was established there, and an official court created, which marked the founding of what is now York County. At one time the town bore the name "Pepperrellboro," in memory of Sir William Pepperrell, but in 1805 it was changed to Saco, from the name of the river which divides it from Biddeford. Saco became a city in 1867.
South Berwick, originally a part of Kittery, was settled in 1623. It was first known as "The Parish of Unity." It was incorporated in 1814, four years after Eliot became an independent town.
Wells, which includes the village of Ogunquit, was first settled by people of Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1640. First known by the Indian name "Webhan- net," it was given the name Wells from the English town of that name. It was incorporated in 1653.
There are other towns in York County which are associated with interesting historical events of early colonial days, and I regret that time does not permit me to refer to them.
Now let us turn to what naturally interests the people here this afternoon more than anything I have thus far touched upon, and that is the history of our town of Eliot.
We are fortunate that so much valuable history of the town was gathered and published in OLD ELIOT, a magazine devoted to the history and biography of the Upper, or Second Parish of Kittery, which is now Eliot.
Under the leadership of Dr. John L. M. Willis, as Editor, there were pub- lished under the auspices of the Eliot Historical Society, during the years of 1897 to 1909, nine volumes of the most valuable records of historical interest ever published concerning our town of Eliot. 'For this undertaking alone, our town is forever indebted to Dr. Willis. Throughout his busy life he did much for the welfare of Eliot, and as the years pass on his memory will be cherished with greater and greater appreciation.
In editing OLD ELIOT, Dr. Willis had the able assistance of the Rev. Au- gustin Caldwell, who examined all the manuscript, corrected the proof, printed
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the volumes, and frequently himself prepared valuable papers for publication.
Col. Francis Keefe, with his ready pen, often responded with an account of some special historical event, and Nathan Goold, then Librarian of the Maine Historical Society, a descendent of an old Eliot family, also contributed import- ant material.
Our mother-town Kittery furnished three well-known contributors-all now deceased :- Lieut. Oliver Philbrick Remick, United States Engineer Corps, author of "Kittery and Eliot, Maine, in the American Revolution," Alexander Dennett, and Moses A. Safford.
Each of these men prepared important records of the early history of Old Kittery, which were published in OLD ELIOT, and the painstaking work they did in perpetuating the history of the old town of Kittery is still being worthily car- ried on there by its public spirited citizens, members of the Kittery Historical Society, of which Judge James Waldron Remick is president.
Prominent in this connection are Judge Justin H. Shaw, Dr. Edward Everett Shapleigh, Rev. Edward H. Newcomb, James H. Walker, Stephen Decatur, Bur- nell E. Frisbee, Elmer J. Burnham, Ralph Dennett, Miss Rosamond Thaxter, Miss Mabel I. Jenkins and others, including summer residents living at Kittery Point, prominent among whom are John M. Howells, the well-known architect, Frank W. Benson, the artist, and Manning Emery, oldest of them all, and, in the younger set, Major Judson Hannigan, son of a contemporary and friend of mine at the Boston Bar.
The late Moses A. Safford created such a lasting inspiration for performing good deeds in everything affecting the interests of Old Kittery that it now is firmly implanted in his daughter, Mrs. Mary Safford Wildes, of Kittery, and also in his son, Dr. Moses Victor Safford, of Boston, who was a college-mate of mine at Dartmouth. And the Kittery Press, recently started under the Editorship of Hor- ace Mitchell, is rendering an excellent service through its publication of articles of historical interest which is bound to instil in its readers a greater love and rev- erence for the old historic town.
An event of outstanding importance is the meeting called by Dr. Willis at his home on the winter's evening of February 8, 1897, to which were invited all interested in organizing an Eliot Historical Society, which has been previously referred to, for the purpose, as Dr. Willis stated it, "of focalizing and perpetuat- ing the names, memories, traditions, records, etc., of the North Parish of Kittery, -- now our own town of Eliot." The call met with a ready response, and upon the evening appointed the Eliot Historical Society was organized, and the follow- ing officers were chosen. J. L. M. Willis, M.D., President; Francis Keefe, First Vice President; Elizabeth M. Bartlett, Second Vice President; Rev. Augustin Cald- well, Recording and Corresponding Secretary; Alfred Bartlett, Treasurer; Execu- tive Committee :- Rev. Andrew L. Chase, Samuel L. Adlington, Frank Alphonso Staples, Albert Lord and William Linwood Fernald. Many papers were pre-
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pared and read before the monthly meetings of the Society, which were held at the homes of various members, and these papers were published in OLD ELIOT.
Among the contributors of articles for publication in OLD ELIOT, aside from those already mentioned, the names appear of William L. Fernald, James P. Baxter of Portland, Maine, Samuel L. Adlington, Albert Lord, George A. Ham- mond, whose son, the late G. Everett Hammond was deeply interested in the publication, George W. Frost of Washington, D. C., Ichabod Cole, George B. Leighton of St. Louis, Missouri, Joseph H. Dixon, who was a frequent contribu- tor, Elizabeth M. Bartlett, Henry W. Fernald, Rev. A. L. Chase, Alpheus A. Han- scom of Manchester, N. H., Charles A. Shapleigh of Lebanon, Maine, Alfred Bartlett, Mary L. Spinney, and others.
The papers published in OLD ELIOT were the result of original research into records of the past, and were prepared with great care. Due to the foresight and perseverance of Dr. Willis in originating this publication, these valuable rec- ords are now preserved for all time, and fortunate is the person whose library con- tains these priceless volumes of OLD ELIOT, in which is published the Journal which William Fogg for so many years kept containing the genealogies of Eliot and Kittery families, and which he was still compiling at the time of his death on September 13, 1859. William Fogg was born in that part of Kittery, now Eliot, November 3, 1790, in the house on Old Road until recently occupied by the late Charles E. Foye. A bronze tablet marks the birthplace. It was in this house that the Eliot Historical Society had its quarters. To William Fogg, more than to any other person, we are indebted for a knowledge of our ancestors in Eliot. In fact, no person other than he, so far as has been discovered, has ever prepared records of our town's history, or genealogies of our early families. His fondness for historical research increased with his advancing years, and there was scarcely a family in town during his lifetime that missed the good fortune of hav- ing him gratuitously prepare its genealogical record. In all his research work, he paid the strictest fidelity to the records he consulted, and that in itself makes doubly valuable the voluminous records he has handed down to us through their publication in OLD ELIOT. William Fogg held many town offices. He was also for several terms the Representative from Eliot to the Legislature. He served as Postmaster of Eliot, and Captain James Tobey twice each week brought the mails from Portsmouth to the Eliot Post Office, which at that time was located in the home of the Postmaster. In this connection, it is well to remember that the first railroad through the town of Eliot was built by the Portsmouth, Saco and Portland Railroad Company in 1841, the Eliot station for several years in the beginning being a flag station only.
William Fogg in 1839 was one of the founders of Eliot Academy, the site of which is marked with a bronze tablet. His father, in 1804, gave to the town of Kittery the lot upon which the near-by District No. 5 school house in Eliot now stands. The present school house was preceded by a building originally
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erected upon the same site by the town of Kittery, and it was in this first school house that the Rev. Samuel Chandler began his many years of teaching in his par- ish and town, which established his fame as a teacher, as it already had been es- tablished as a divine in the pulpit. Parson Chandler, as he was affectionately called, was revered by his townsmen as were but few men of his day. Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, February 16, 1766, and graduated at Harvard in 1790, he was ordained as Congregational minister in that part of Kittery, now Eliot, on October 17, 1792. He was a preacher of exceptional prominence, and was con- sidered by his friend, Daniel Webster, one of the most eloquent men of his time.
We have from the pen of the late James Bartlett Shapleigh of Great Falls, now Somersworth, New Hampshire, written in 1894 and later published in OLD ELIOT, "Some Recollections of Parson Chandler," which are well worth refer- ring to in this address. Mr. Shapleigh wrote :- "I recollect with distinctness the location, the exterior and interior of the old Meeting-House (where Parson Chandler preached); and the relative position of the horse sheds ... also the Par- son's house, which was where John Leighton Emery now lives. (The present residence of Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Coristine). A broad walk through his gar- den, filled on either side with beautiful flowers, extended directly from the end of his house to the Church across the road. The Church, perhaps fifty feet square, faced the east, with two entrances,-one in front with a portico over it, and one in the northerly end, with a porch, two stories in height, in which were the stairs leading to the galleries. Two sets of windows, one above the other, large windows with small sized glass, and a large arched window in the rear of the pulpit. There were square pews all around the wall of the meeting-house, elevated one step from the floor. A broad aisle ran from the front door to the pulpit, and a narrower aisle ran around in front of these pews. The enclosed cen- ter was occupied in part with pews, and perhaps half a dozen long slips, without doors, called FREE PEWS. These were occupied by the church members at the Communion Service. The pews were square with seats around the sides, and the families when seated were facing each other. A part of the occupants sat with their backs to the minister. When standing during prayers, there was not room for the comfort and ease of the family. To overcome this, the seats were hung with hinges, so they could be raised and leaned against the wall of the pews, thus enlarging the standing room. At the close of the prayers these seats would be let down upon their rests, not always gently, but more like the firing of an undrilled company of militia, and the noise was about as loud. The pupit was elevated to nearly the level of the floor of the gallery. The seats of the Elders and Deacons were in front of the pulpit. The Communion table was a table-leaf hung in front of the Deacons' seat, and raised only at Communion Service. A. large sounding board was hung to the ceiling over the minister's head. The gal- lery had seats on three sides, and the choir occupied the side facing the pulpit." And then Mr. Shapleigh goes on to write :- "But more distinctly than all else
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