USA > Maine > A brief history of Maine > Part 3
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COLONIES AND COLONISTS.
freebooters. The little squadron consisted of four vessels, and carried fifty men. It cruised three weeks in search of the pirates; but they had become fright- ened, and fled. They left behind them a message for the authorities, which read in this way: "We now proceed southward, -- never shall hurt any more of your countrymen,-rather be sunk than taken. For- tune le Garde."
14. Bull seems to have been more prudent than most of his class, for he never allowed his crew to become drunken. At the hour when good captains had even- ing prayer he would say to his men, "Now we'll have a story and a song." But he met with his deserts at last. Having gained some riches, he returned to Eng- land, where his crimes were found out, and he was tried and executed.
Soon after New Scotland became the property of France, that government sent over General Razilla as governor ; and his deputy over the region between St. Croix and the Penobscot was M. D'Aulney. This gentleman made his residence at Biguyduce, (now Castine) where he had a fort, mill, and a fine farm. When Razilla died D'Aulney claimed to be his suc- cessor against M. La Tour, who was the owner of a large part of what is now New Brunswick. D'Aul- ney was a Catholic, and La Tour was a Hugnenot ; therefore D'Anlney received the support of French ecclesiasties, while La Tour obtained private aid from the English. Consequently D'Aulney manifested all the hostility toward the English that was consistent with his safety. At last he captured La Tour's fort at St. John's; carrying Madame La Tour away to his own fort, where he kept her a close prisoner until she died. Soon after D'Anlney died also ; and his enemy, La Tour, married his widow, and succeeded to his possessions.
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
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What territory did the king grant to the New England Company ? To whom did the New England Company grant New Scotland ? What points in Maine were inhabited before 1820? What name was given to the territory of Gorges and Mason ? In what year was the first governor sent over? Where did the Plymouth colony establish trading houses ? In what year was the division of Laco- nia made? What boundary did this division fix? What were some of the most notable patents? When was New Scotland ceded to France? What did France call the country ?
CHAPTER V.
1. In 1635 the New England Company was dissolv- ed. Its territory was divided into twelve provinces, of which four were within the present limits of Maine. The first embraced the region between the St. Croix and Penobscot rivers, and was named the County of Canada, and assigned to Sir William Alexander; the second, lying between the Penobscot and Kennebec, was given to the Duke of York; the third embraced the land between the Kennebec and the Androseog- gin ; while the fourth extended to the Piscataqua. Both the last were given to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and by him named New Somersetshire; and in 1636 he sent over his nephew, William Gorges, as governor of this province. This gentleman chose for assistants Richard Bonython, of Saco, Thomas Cammock and Henry Joscelyn, of Black Point in Scarborough, Thomas Purchas, of Pejepscot (Brunswick ), Edward Godfrey and Thomas Lewis, of the Piscataqua river settlements.
2. The first session of court was held at the house of Richard Bonython in Saco. An action was tried con- cerning a cornfield, and another of debt. Among the laws they made, was one relating to "mischievous In
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dians," and others in regard to drunkenness, and the sale of intoxicating liquors. The last prohibited the sale of any strong drink except a small quantity just after dinner. The settlers, it is said, had fallen into the habit of drinking too much ; and this first govern- ment of Gorges was wise enough to restrain a practice so dangerous to the prosperity of the young State.
The new country was now found to afford secure homes and a comfortable support ; and so many Eng- lish were emigrating that King Charles began to be alarmed. At one time he detained some emigrant vessels in port for several weeks, to the great distress of the passengers. He next ordered that no subject should leave the realm without taking the oaths of allegiance and religious supremacy. As he wished to secure to himself some profit from these New England subjects, he ordained that no colonist should entertain a stranger or admit any person as a household tenant without a license from the crown.
3. The colonists, especially the Puritans, were rep- resented as being rebellious, and unworthy of conti- dence ; therefore the king instituted a general govern- ment for New England, and appointed Sir Ferdinando Gorges as governor. A ship was nearly ready to bring him over, when, as the builders were at work upon her side, she turned bottom upward. This mis- fortune delayed the voyage; and other difficulties succeeded, so that Gorges never visited the country for whose settlement he had labored so long.
His nephew, the governor of New Somersetshire, soon returned to England; and Gorges offered the management of his province to the Puritans, but it was declined. In 1639 he procured a charter from the king making him proprietary lord of the province, with full power of government therein. This grant extended from the Piscataqua river eastward to the Kennebec, thence north and west to Dead river and Umbagog lake. The name of the territory under the
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
1639
new charter was changed to "Maine," in honor of the Queen, whose patrimonial estate as Princess of France, was the French province of Muyne.
4. By this charter no person had a right to trade, hold property, or reside within the province, except by permission of the proprietor ; and he was entitled to a quitrent from the settlers of sixpence an acre yearly. For the government of his province he chose a deputy governor, chancellor, marshal, treasurer, admiral, mas- ter of ordnance, and secretary. These sat each month as a court of justice ; and, joined with eight deputies elected by the people, they formed a legislative assem- bly, which levied the taxes and made laws.
The first general court for the province of Maine was held at Saco in June, 1640. George Burdet, the chief man of the Agamenticus plantation, was fined forty-five pounds for lewdness, breaking the peace, and slanderous speaking ; John Lander was fined two shil- lings for "swearing two oaths;" Ivory Puddington was fined for being drunk at Mrs. Tyms; and John Smith for running away from his master, was sen- tenced to be whipped and sent back. Perhaps Smith was an apprentice learning a trade, or he might have been sold for a certain time to pay a debt -possibly to pay his passage across the seas; for they had such a custom in those old days.
5. Yet most of those who now came to Maine brought money with them, as well as their furniture and the implements of their trade. Many came to fill the land, and had their stock to buy; so the domestic ani- mals raised by the older settlers brought them a hand- some price -a good yoke of oxen often selling for fitty pounds sterling. Money was scarce, too; and all kinds of grain, with sheep, goats and pigs, were con- sidered as good, if not legal, tender. The people had to pay in money or furs for clothes, which were then mostly brought from England; so after a while it was found best to raise flax and wool, from which, with the
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POLITICS AND CIVIL AFFAIRS.
great hand looms, they wove the strong cloth for bed- ding and wearing apparel. Until about this time, too, all the meal and flour used were brought from Eng- land, or ground in the mills at Boston or at Sheepscot; so there was a great demand for more mills for grain, as well as for cutting lumber. This demand was fur- ther increased by the opening of a trade in lumber with the West Indies; while the settlers could now have molasses, sugar, coffee, spices, and other tropical products, which they had before done mostly without.
6. All these advantages tended to a rapid increase of the settlements; and Gorges was rejoiced at the pros- pect of a rich reward for his years of labor. With the eye of hope he saw in his province of Maine a noble inheritance for his children and children's children. He selected the plantation of Agamenticus for his capi- tal; and, in 1642, he made it a city, naming it for himself, Gorgeana. It comprised twenty-one square miles on the north side of the York river and on the sea. The city had a mayor, aldermen, and coun- cilmen, together with sargeants, (policemen) whose badge was a white rod. Yet Gorgeana never had even three hundred inhabitants ; and, ten years later, it was changed to the town of York.
7. But reverses now began to overtake Gorges. Emigration fell off, so there were few to take up land or to buy cattle of the settlers; and business became very dull. Then the Lygonia, or "Plough Patent," was revived, though it really had become void. After the failure of the colony it fell into the hands of Sir Alex- ander Rigby, who set up his own goverment in the territory. Gorges held his province by the king's charter; but Rigby was favored by Parliament, which was now bitterly opposed to the king; and though Rigby was finally obliged to abandon the claim, he obtained the profits of the territory for several years. Thus was Gorges robbed of more than half his sea- coast.
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
1645
OLD APPLE TREE AT YORK, PLANTED 1629.
On the Piscataqua, at the other side of his province, the settlers entered into a compact that they would not be subject to his government; for, being Puritans, they were unwilling to live under a charter which required them to be subject to the church of England. Yet Gorges never insisted that his people should wor- ship in the English form, but allowed freedom of con- science to all; and the Puritans, with the Baptist and the Quaker, whom they persecuted, alike found refuge from royalty and from each other in the province of Maine.
8. A. civil war now broke out in England; and Gorges, who had received many favors from his sover eign, took his part against Cromwell's party. King Charles lost his canse, and Gorges was thrown into prison. . Ile was now over seventy years old; and,
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1647
POLITICS AND CIVIL AFFAIRS.
worn out by misfortune and hardship, he died in 1647, soon after his release.
He had ever been the earnest advocate of settle- ments in America, and the constant friend of the colo- nists: and for these reasons he is very properly called the. "Father of American Colonization." For more than forty years he had fostered the settlements on our coasts, his chief motives being in his own simple but noble words,-"The enlargement of the christian faith, the support of justice, and the love of peace."
Into how many provinces was Maine divided in 1635? Which of these were given to Gorges? What was Gorges' province called ? Where was the first court held? Who was now ap- pointed governor of New England? Did he ever come to this country ? What was his province called under the king's charter? Where did the settlers obtain clothes, meal and flour ? What did they export to the West Indies? What city did Gorges found for his capital ? To what was it afterward changed ? What title has sometimes been applied to Gorges ?
CHAPTER VI.
1. At the death of Gorges in 1617 the present terri- tory of Maine was under six governments, all entirely independent of each other. The whole country east of the Penobscot was held by the French ; while west of that river was, first, the Muscongus Patent, then the Pemaquid, next the Kennebec, then the Lygonia, or "Plough Patent,"-and, lastly, the remnant of Gorges' Province of Maine. So many governments, each jealous of the other, caused much disorder in the country ; for evil doers in one province or patent took refuge in another, and thus, too often, escaped the punishment due to their offenses.
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
1634
2. Once a magistrate of Plymouth, named John Alden, was arrested in the streets of Boston on the charge of murdering a man on the Kennebec River. John was a Pilgrim boy, one of the company who came over in the Mayflower -and the first person, it is said, to spring ashore when they landed. He is the same John Alden of whom Longfellow tells us in the "Courtship of Miles Standish." . Perhaps you will re- member that Standish, the Puritan warrior, sent his friend John Alden to court the fair Priscilla for him. John was then young and ruddy; and it is no wonder that when he plead the cause of the doughty widower, the blushing maiden should exclaim, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John ?" And no doubt all will remember that after a while John did speak for him- self; and that Priscilla became his wife, and rode home after the wedding on a white bull, which John led by a rope.
3. The Plymouth colony, you know, had the ex- . clusive right of trade on this river ;* and when in 1634 a vessel from New Hampshire came there to trade, this Jolin Alden, who was then in charge of the col- ony affairs in the region, ordered it away. Instead of obeying, the captain (whose name was Haskins) brought his vessel still farther up the river ; therefore Alden sent some men to cut the ropes by which she was moored. They had severed one, when Haskins, seizing a musket, swore that if a man of them touched the other he would shoot him. The boatmen had too much courage to neglect their duty for a mere threat; and one raised his axe to strike, but before it could fall the angry captain had shot him dead. A moment later Captain Haskins fell in his turn, pierced by a bullet from a comrade of the man he had killed. The Plymouth folk advocated Alden's cause ; and finally the Bay magistrates pronounced the act "justifiable homicide." So there was no one punished.
* The Kennebec.
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1652
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COUNTIES, CUSTOMS AND CHARACTERS.
4. Thomas Purchas, who lived at the head of New Meadow River in Brunswick, (then Pejepscot) owned an extensive tract of land on both sides of the An- droscoggin River. He had opened a trading house at this point about the year 1625; but becoming fear- ful of the Indians around him, he, in 1639, put his territory under the government of Massachusetts for protection.
5. Indeed, this government was so often called upon for arbitration and protection, that its chief men began to contrive how they might obtain more com- plete control of the eastern settlements. On examin- ing their charter the magistrates thought that its words would allow them to take the source of the Merrimac river as the northern extremity of their territory, instead of the mouth of that river, which had before been considered the limit. So their sur- veyors presently found the new boundary to be a direct line from the northern part of Winnipesaukee Lake to the mouth of the Presumpscot river ; and, behold, Gorges' province of Maine, the Lygonia Pa- tent and Mason's grant of New Hampshire were under the Puritan charter !
6. In 1652 the commissioners appointed by Massa- chusetts came into the province of Maine to set up their government. A meeting was called in Gorgcana to consider the change. The authorities of the province were there, headed by Governor Godfrey; and on the other hand sat the commissioners. The governor har- rangued the people against submission ; the commis- sioners replied, promising that there should be no interference with religious worship nor with the estates of the settlers. When the question was referred to the people, to the great astonishment of the governor, every vote beside his own was in favor of Massachu- setts.
7. Thus all went smoothly with the Bay colony's pro- ject in the western part of the province of Maine; but
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
1652
when it came to the collection of taxes, there was trouble in Lygonia. The foremost to resist the col- lecting officers was John Bonython of Saco. He fur- thermore wrote a defiant letter to the General Court, denying the right of Massachusetts within the Lygonia Patent. He seems in this action only to have stood up for the rights of the proprietor of the patent ; yet he was declared an outlaw by the Massachusetts mag- istrates, and a price set upon his body. But no doubt he was a bold, perhaps an unscrupulous man; for when he died some person wrote this couplet on his tombstone for an epitaph :---
"Here lies Bonython, sagamore of Saco ; He lived a rogue and died a knave, and went to Hobomoko."
S. The province of Maine was now made a county of Massachusetts under the name of Yorkshire, and sent two delegates to the General Court, as the legislature of Massachusetts was called. A court was held in the county twice a year, alternately at Kittery and York. A part of the magistrates were chosen by the General Court, and others by the people of the county; and besides trying civil and criminal cases, these were au- thorized to appoint three commissioners in each town to decide petty cases.
9. A militia was organized the same as in Massa- chusetts. The smallest division was the "trainband," which consisted of not fewer than fifty-four men nor more than two hundred. Its officers were a captain, lieutenant and ensign, and a sergeant for the pikemen. The sergeant was armed with a halberd,-a weapon formed by the combination of an axe and spear, and set on a long handle. The other officers wore swords and pistols; and the chief officers carried "partisans," which are colored rods, indicating leadership. The
soldiers were armed with pikes and muskets. The pike, or spear, was a staff about ten feet in length with a sharp point of metal; but sometimes, instead
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1652
CUSTOMS, COUNTIES AND CHARACTERS.
of a proper spear head, they tied on a stout knife or a piece of scythe. Men of large stature were always chosen for pikemen; and there were twice as many musketeers as pikemen in a trainband. Some mus- kets had matchlocks, but most had the flintlock. Each musketeer, at trainings, carried a crotched stick called a rest, on which the gun was laid in taking aim.
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10. In fighting Indians the soldiers must be good marksmen ; for generally these foes scattered widely apart, or hid behind stumps, stones and trees. Mas- sachusetts had already been through one Indian war, when her forces destroyed the Pequots; and she knew now how to meet savages. Each soldier wore about him a bandoleer, containing little leather boxes for powder and bullets. Some of them wore corselets of iron, which covered the breast and stomach; while others had their coats thickly padded with cotton to protect them from arrows. They must have been queer looking soldiers, plated with iron and stuffed with cotton, -- no two being dressed alike; yet they were men of courage, daring to face the scalping sav- age in his forest ambush. But when it really came to figliting savages, the pikes, breastplates and stuffing were all abandoned ; nothing but guns, hatchets and knives or swords were of any service. At first there was company training every Saturday, but after a few months they were less frequent. All males, from stout men of forty-five down to beardless boys of six- teen, were enrolled in the militia; and I have no doubt that the boy soldiers enjoyed "training-day" greatly. Yet they had for a long time no music but a drum; neither had they bright colored uniforms, nor shining arms to relieve the sombre appearance of the ranks.
11. On training as on other days our brave force- fathers had regard to the Great Being who presides over all the affairs of men; and prayer was offered at the opening of the day's drill and at the close. But
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HISTORY OF MAINE ..
1652
on training days there was also an unusual draft on the barrels and butts of West India rum and Holland gin, which were kept in almost every shop; for the law against dealers was not then strictly enforced; but if any became drunken and quarrelsome, they were set in the stocks, where the fit might wear itself harm- lessly out.
12. These instruments were usually ready, and nigh at hand. For there were four or five things which the good people of those days placed as near the center of their settlements as possible; and these were the church, the graveyard, the school-house and the stocks. Usually, also, there were a whipping post, a pillory and a ducking stool. The last was quite an amusing instrument. It consisted of a long plank suspended near the middle, and having a chair fas- tened on the end overhanging a pool of water. When the offender was tied in place the light end of the plank was let go, and the chair with its occupant splashed in the water.
13. The penalty for a great number of crimes was death; for lesser ones there were whipping, cropping the ears, and branding with a hot iron. There was not much imprisonment in those times, for the very good reason that criminals did not choose to stay in the weak jails. But the people of Maine were not the makers of these laws, and they were not here car- ried to such extremes as in Massachusetts.
14. The people of Maine, too, were allowed to vote without becoming members of the Puritan church ; vet the promise made to them at their union with Massachusetts that there should be entire freedom of worship, was not fully carried out. The Rev. Robert Jordon, at this time the only Episcopal minister in the province, was persecuted for baptizing children and performing other duties belonging to his pastorate ; while the Baptists and Friends were fined and whip- ped. Cromwell favored the Puritans; but when Charles II. came to the throne he at once ordered
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1652
CUSTOMS, COUNTIES AND CHARACTERS.
Massachusetts to cease interfering in religious matters. Then all societies again had freedom to observe the christian ordinances in the manner which their con- sciences approved.
15. But I must not close the present chapter with- out telling you something about the Rev. John Brock, a noted Puritan minister of this period. The Isles of Shoals, then a part of Maine, were the scene of his labors for many years; and his influence over the isl- anders and the fishermen who frequented their shores was very excellent. He had a happy talent in con- versation, his sermons were animated, and his faith was very remarkable. A fisherman of his parish had been wont generously to use his boat in helping the inhabitants of other islands in the group to the one on which public worship was held; but one day in a vio- lent storm the boat broke away from its fastenings and was lost. While the poor man was lamenting it, Mr. Brock said to him, "Go home contented, good sir; I'll mention the matter to the Lord ;- to-morrow you may expect to find your boat." This boat had been of such service to the poor that the good minis- ter felt that its recovery might properly be made the subject of prayer ; and, sure enough, the next day the boat was brought up on the flukes of an anchor. Many other quite interesting things were done by him during his ministry at this and other places, some of which are told us by Rev. Cotton Mather in his "Magnalia."
How many separate governments existed in Maine in 1647 ? What incident happened on the Kennebec ? What government tried this case ? What proprietor in Maine put himself under the protection of Massachusetts? By what means did Massachusetts extend her jurisdiction over Maine ? Where did the Massachu- setts officers meet with difficulty ? What troublesome person led . the opposition ? Into what county was the province of Maine now made? What arms did the militia bear ? What was done with those who became drunken ? What objects were usually to be found near the center of a Puritan settlement ?
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
1654
CHAPTER VII.
1. The principal reason why the inhabitants of Maine submitted to become a part of Massachusetts, was that every one feared a war with the Indians, and thought if they yielded readily to the wishes of their powerful neighbor they would receive the more assistance from her.
England was at this time at war with Holland ; and it was believed that the Dutch were inciting the Indi- ans to rise against the English colonies. The Massa- chusetts magistrates wrote to the Dutch governor at Manhattan about the matter, and he wrote back indig- nantly denying the charge, and regretting that they should put any confidence in the statements of the natives. Yet the magistrates were not satisfied, and applied to the British government for aid to drive the Dutch away. After several months the ships came ; and five hundred men were enlisted in the colonies to operate with them against Manhattan. Before the ex- pedition set out England and Holland had made peace with each other ; and Cromwell, the Lord Protector, ordered the forces to take possession of Acadia. This was really the point of greatest danger from the Indi- ans; for the French had been selling them guns and hatchets, and inciting them to hatred towards the English. The enterprise was therefore very pleasing to the people of Maine.
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