USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bremen > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 5
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
2 Ropublished in Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d. Series, vol. III ; and in Palfrey's Hist. New England, vol. I.
"One account says 24, another 27, and another 30.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
was able to make a sale of a part of them, at about one hundred dollars a piece ; but by the intrusion of some monks, the sale of the others was prevented. One of them, Squanto or Tasquantum, found his way back, and, early after the arrival of the May Flower in the harbor of Plymouth, introduced himself to the Pilgrims in the most friendly manner. Subsequently he did them much good service in various ways, and never betrayed the trust reposed in him. 1
This act of treachery, on the part of Hunt, greatly exaspe- rated the natives against the English, and laid the foundation for that hatred which led to those disastrous Indian wars of later times.
After this visit of Capt. Smith to our shores, he showed his appreciation of the country by his efforts to establish a perma- nent colony somewhere in this immediate vicinity, but all his labors and sacrifices proved in vain. Two expeditions, fitted out under his charge, in the years 1615 and 1616 were entirely unsuccessful, though not because of any fault of his.
In 1616, Smith published his Description of New England with a map of the coast, from the mouth of the Penobscot to cape Cod, for which he had collected the necessary materials during his visit on the coast just described. He dedicated the work " To the High Hopeful Charles, Prince of Great Britain," afterwards Charles I., requesting him to change " the barbarous names for such English, as posterity may say, Prince Charles was their godfather."? This the Prince condescended to do, for thirty or more places; and several of the names suggested by him are still retained, as Charles river near Boston, Cape Ann, (he called it Cape Anna), and Cape Elizabeth. In this work, the name, "New England " is first applied to this part of the continent, but it was given by Smith himself, aud not by the Prince as has sometimes been said. The Prince named Pema- quid, St. John's town, and Monhegan (he called) Barty island.
Three years before this visit of Capt. Smith, another outrage, similar to that of Capt. Weymouth, had been committed upon
1 Georges names Tasquantum as one of the three Indians brought to England by Weymouth, who afterwards came into his hands; but as the name is not on Rosier's list (p. 26), it is plain that he makes a mistake. (Me. Hist. Coll., II, 17). Tasquantum may have been in George's hands, but he was taken to England by Hunt, and not by Weymouth.
2 Muss. Hist. Coll., 3d, VI., p. 95.
----
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
the unsuspecting natives, tending to foster in their minds that intense hatred for the English, which at length became a settled passion. In the summer of 1611, Capt. Edward Harlow cruis- ing on this coast, called at Monhegan, and either here or some- where, probably in this vicinity, seized three natives who had come on board for the sake of trade, and carried two of them off, one having escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the shore. He then sailed to Cape Cod, where he kidnapped three more, taking the five with him to England.1
CHAPTER VII.
A fierce war among the, natives, followed by a destructive pestilence - Several Englishmen, sent ont by Sir F. Gorges, spend a winter in the country - Voyage of Capt. Dermer in pursuit of Rocroft, and cruise along the coast from Monhegan to Virginia - Levett's voyage (1615-1623).
The memorable voyage of Smith, followed as it was, by his description of the country, and especially the publication of his map of the coast, constitutes an important epoch in the history of this part of the continent. But events still more important, in the form of war and pestilence, were immediately to follow, of which however, it is to be regretted, we have only very meagre accounts. In the year 1615-probably early in the year-a fierce war broke out between the Tarratines, in the eastern part of Maine, and the tribes living on the Merrimac and Piscataqua, which was carried on with great fury until some of the tribes were nearly annihilated. The cause of this war cannot now be fully ascertained; but it appears that the Tarratines began it on ac- count ofsome treachery, real or supposed, on the part of the tribes living at the westward, but acknowledging the supremacy of the saine great monarch or bashaba. Hubbard" says "those that were seated more eastward about Pemmaquid and Kennebecke were called Tarratines ; betwixt whom and those that lived about Paseataqua, Merrimack, and Agawam, now called Ipswich, had arisen some deadly fued, upon the account of some treachery used by those western Indians against the others ; so as every year they were afraid of being surprised by them."
: Prince, p. 33; Will: Hist. Maine, I, p. 207.
" Muss. Ilist. Coll., xv, 80.
6
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
This war continued, it is believed, about two years; and though in the end the Tarratines claimed the victory, the results were about equally disastrous to both parties. During its progress, the great bashaba of the Penobscot was slain; and from the fact that we hear no more of such a ruler in this region, it is probable that bis family was destroyed, and the dynasty effectually broken up. Levett,1 in 1623, does indeed speak of the great sagamore of the cast country, but it does not appear that after the time of this war, any one is spoken of by the title of bashaba.
Though the war is supposed to have terminated in 1617, we shall hereafter see that the onmity between the Tarratines, and the Indians residing in the eastern part of Massachusetts, was continued many years later, and sometimes broke out in acts of hostility.
The other important event, alluded to above, was a dreadful pestilence, which commenced its ravages amongst the natives about the time the war closed, or even before, and continued at different places on the coast for several years.
The Tarratines in the east, and the Narragansets in the west, were not affected by it, or not seriously; but all the tribes living between these suffered great loss, and some of them were nearly exterminated. Capt. Dermer, who sailed along the coast in 1619, found some places which, a few years before, were considered populous, now almost destitute of inhabitants; and some he saw afflicted with bad sores, who had recovered from the disease. In some places so many died that the survivors were unable, or afraid, to bury them, and their bones were to be seen years afterwards still bleaching upon the surface.
It would be interesting to determine, if possible, the nature of this destructive pestilence, but probably it was something pecu- liar to these people, and is not recognized among the diseases of civilized life. Some have supposed that it was the small pox, but others have claimed that the symptoms, which however cannot now be very accurately known, more resembled those of yellow fever ; either of which, perhaps, in the entire absence of capable physicians, as was the case here, might be capable of producing similar disastrous results. It is interesting to know that some Englishmen, who lived with the Indians during the winter, were unaffected by the disease, whatever it was. A fact
1 Maine Hist. Coll., 11, 72.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
mentioned by Hutchinson,1 may aid us in forming an opinion on the subject. In the beginning of October, 1763, a destruc- tive pestilence, sometimes called the plague, broke out among the Indians of Martha's Vineyard, and so dreadful were its ravages that in the following January only 85 individuals remained of the whole tribe, which at the beginning numbered 320. And of these survivors, 15 had been absent during the prevalence of the disease.
For two years previous to this time the crops had been very deficient, and the Indians had been obliged to live upon the meanest kinds of food ; and during the summer of this year they had been without any thing of a farinaceous kind, except what they could gather at the time from the fields. The consequence was, the large quantities of green food consumed by them, in connection with their peculiar mode of life, prepared them for the peculiarly destructive sickness which followed. It is remarkable that in this case the English people, living on the same island, were not effected by the disease.
This great diminution of the native population of our coast, was considered, at the time, as a providential interference favoring the colonization of the country, by Europeans ; and in the patent of New England, granted by the King of England, Nov. 3, 1620, the extraordinary effects of this pestilence are re- ferred to as a reason for the course he saw fit to take in regard to it. " We have been further given certainly to know, that within these late years, there hath, by God's visitation, reigned a wonderful plague amongst the savages there heretofore in- habiting, in a manner to the utter destruction, devastation and depopulation of that whole territory, so as there is not left, for many leagues together, in a manner, any that do claim or chal- lenge any kind of interest therein ; whereby we in our judg- ment, etc." 2
Though the tribes of this region are not specifically men- tioned, in connection with either of these disastrous events, there is no reason to suppose that they escaped their ravages; and the negative fact that the names of the few with whom we have heretofore become acquainted no more appear, may be con- sidered significant of their fate.
1 History of Massachusetts, I, p. 39, 3d edition.
2 For references to the authorities on this interesting subject, see an admirable note in Young's Chronicles of Plymouth, p. 183.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
The fisheries on the coast of New England had become so well established at this period, that ships from England were every year on this coast, but few records of their doings have come down to us. They, however, remained only during the season of fishing, all returning to Europe in the autumn. In 1616, Sir F'. Georges, on his own responsibility, sent a party under Mr. Richard Vines, a man who had previously made several voyages to the coast, for the purpose of taking fish and trading with the natives ; and it was especially stipulated that they should spend the winter in the country. This they did, living mostly with the natives about the mouth of the Saco river, and were uniformly treated with kindness.
It was during this winter the dreadful pestilence prevailed on this coast ; and these were the only white men, so far as we know, who were brought in actual contact with the fearful malady. How or when they returned is not stated ; but two years afterwards, in 1618, one Edward Rocroft, who had been sent on an expedition by the Plymouth company, having had a quarrel with some of his men, put three of them ashore at Saco, where they were left to take care of themselves.
These men by some means found their way, late in the sea- son, to Monhegan, where it is said they passed a miserable winter. Here they were found in the spring of 1619, by Capt. Dermer, whom the Plymouth company had sent out to act in conjunction with Rocroft, and, at the same time, to use means for conciliating the natives, who, under their continued ill treatment, were becoming exceedingly hostile. Before Dermer's arrival Rocroft, without orders, had sailed for Virginia, where, as it afterwards appeared, he was killed in a quarrel with one of his own countrymen. Dermer therefore delayed a few weeks at Monhegan, until his men could load his ship with fish and furs, himself with a few men in the meantime making an excursion in an open boat to the west as far as Massachusetts. Returning to Monhegan, with two Frenchmen, whom he had rescued from a captivity of two years among the Indians, he despatched the ship1 to England; and then in his open boat, of five tons, and six or seven men, started for Virginia. On his voyage south he passed through Long Island sound and the East river, into New York harbor, and so on by way of Sandy hook; being un-
1 It is pleasing to know that this ship made a very successful voyage, and both her owners and sailors were well rewarded for their enterprise.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
questionably the first man who ever sailed from Maine to Vir- ginia by this route; but not the first (as by some claimed), to discover that Long island is not a part of the main land.
It will be seen from the facts above related, that there must have been considerable business transacted at Monhegan dur- ing the spring and summer of 1619; and probably from this time the island was permanently occupied, at least until the breaking out of the first general Indian war.1
There is sufficient reason found in the unfriendly feelings of the natives at this time, to account for the fact that this busi- ness was transacted on an island like Monhegan rather than on the main ; but it is possible that the settlement at Pemaquid harbor also commenced about this time, perhaps this same year.
Rocroft was a scoundrel, and died in an ignoble quarrel ; but Dermer was a true man, and ever faithful to the trust imposed in him. His efforts to conciliate the natives were sincere, and apparently attended with some success, but he at length died of wounds received at their hands. Re- turning from Virginia to the coast of Massachusetts, he was attacked by the Indians, and several of his men killed; and he himself only escaped with some severe wounds, of which he afterwards died in Virginia. By some however, it is said, he died, not of his wounds, but of disease contracted in the country.
Up to this time the Plymouth company had failed to establish a colony in North Virginia, and they therefore petitioned the king (James I,) for a new charter with enlarged powers. Such a charter was granted on the 3d of November, 1620, which gave to the Plymouth company, in fee simple, the whole country of North America, from ocean to occan, between the parallels of 40 and 48 degrees of north latitude - a magnificent present truly ! 2
They were also to have complete civil jurisdiction - the right to appoint governors, magistrates and other authorities for the colony, and to enact laws needful for the administration of justice. To them were to belong the exclusive right of trade, and of taking fish within their territorial limits.
1 Thornton, Maine ITist. Coll., vol. v, p. 164.
' This corporation, consisting of " forty noblemen, knights, and gentlemen resid- ing in England," is often designated as the Plymouth council, or the Council of Plymouth ; and is not to be confounded with the Plymouth colony, which was established at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in Dec., 1620.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
Under this charter Capt. Robert Gorges, son of Sir F. Gorges, was immediately appointed governor general of the territory, and came to reside at Plymouth, having associated with him- self as counsellors several other gentlemen, among whom was Christopher Levett, Esq., who also embarked for the country and arrived in the autumn. This gentleman was his majesty's woodward for Somersetshire, and just as he was about to sail, was made a member of the council for New England. He had interested himself in the company to the amount of one hun- dred and ten pounds, and received a grant of six thousand acres of land. He spent several months in the country, in search of a proper place to commence his plantation.1
Landing first at the " Isle of Shoulds," [Shoals] he came next to the new settlement at Piscataqua (Portsmouth, N. H.), where he met Gov. Gorges, and remained a month, and then with two boats and several men made an excursion to the east- ward, as far as Capmanwagan, now Southport. Here he remained several days, not deeming it advisable to go farther east for the reason that he "had heard that Pemaquid, Capmauwagan, and Monhiggon were granted to others." From this place he returned to the westward, and finally selected a site for his proposed plantation, to which he gave the name of York, probably near the present place of this name.
At Capinanwagan Levett met the Indian sagamore, Samo- set (or Somerset as often written), whose interesting character we shall have occasion soon to notice more fully. With many others of the natives Samoset was preparing to go to Pemaquid, with " some store of beaver coats and skins to trade with one Mr. Witheridge, a master of a ship of Bastable" [Barnstable, Mass. ], which then lay at Pemaquid ; but Levett so ingratiated himself with these " children of nature," and especially with Samoset, that they proposed to bestow upon him their stock of furs gra- tuitously - no doubt however expectinga generousreturn. This he honorably declined, but at length secured by purchase " all except one coat and two skins, which they reserved to pay an old debt with; but they, staying all that night, had them stolen from them." In the morning great complaint was made to Levett, but when he showed a disposition to aid them in discover- ing the culprit, they intimated that such interference was not desired.2
I Muine Hist. Coll. v., p. 167.
2 Idem, II, p. SS, and v., p. 168.
3
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ILISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
Levett from this place returned with some of the natives to the site of his proposed plantation, which however was not destined to become a success Gorges remained in the country only until the spring of 1624, when he returned to Eng- land, of course resigning his office as governor.
Those who came out with Gorges to form a part of his colony now separated, some returning with him to England and others going to Virginia.1
A very considerable business was now transacted on this coast, connected entirely with the fisheries and the fur trade, which centered chiefly at Monhegan and Pemaquid. At both places a very considerable and busy population was found in the summer season, and very possibly also some in the winter, though we have no positive evidence of the fact. Of the amount of business done on the coast we can form some opinion from the number of ships annually sailing here from Europe. In 1614, when Capt. Smith lay in the harbor at Monhegan, "right against him on the main was a ship of Sir Francis Popham," which had been accustomed to trade there for several years pre- viously.
In succeeding years, the same business was continued by many others; and it has been determined that between the years 1607 and 1622, no less than "109 ships entered and cleared from the harbors of Pemaquid and its dependencies, where they did more or less business in the discharge and re- ceipt of cargoes and commerce with Europe."?
The English ships employed in transporting emigrants to Vir- ginia, with their necessary supplies, found it for their interest, on their return, to call on this coast and obtain such return cargoes of fish and furs, as the constantly increasing business of the country was able to afford.
In the spring of the year 1622, the people of the new settle- ment at Plymouth, Mass., were saved from starvation by a timely supply of bread obtained from the fishing-fleet in this region ; and the next year the people of Weston's settlement at Weymouth sent an expedition here for the same purpose, and probably with the same success.3
1 Hubbard, Mass. ITist. Coll., 2d series, vol. v., p. 90.
? Brunswick Telegraph, July 19, 1872.
3 Young's Chronicles of Plymouth, p. 203 ; Prince, I, p. 118.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
CHIAPTER VIII.
The Plymouth Patent of June 1st, 1621, in the name of John Peirce. Richard Pearce, son of John Peirce, and his father-in-law, John Brown, become perma- nent settlers at Pemaquid -- Statement of Samuel Welles of Boston - Brown's purchase of two Indian sagamores - Abraham Shurte purchases Monhegan for Aldsworth and Elbridge (1620-25).
We come now to a period in the history of this place concern- ing some points of which there is much obscurity, not to say mystery.
It is well known that when the Plymouth colony arrived on the coast of Massachusetts, in November, 1620, they were with- out a charter, or rather the charter they had obtained from the London or South Virginia company was useless, for the reason that they had come so far to the north as to be beyond the jurisdiction of that company. They, therefore, by the return of the Mayflower, made application for a charter from the Plymouth or North Virginia company ; or, rather to the successors of this company now styled the Council for New England, or Plymouth Council on whose territory they found themselves located.
This charter was readily granted, and was issued June 1, 1621, in the name of John Peirce, " citizen and clothworker of London," and his associates. It was brought to Plymouth in the ship Fortune, which arrived in Nov., 1621.1 That it thus came into the possession of the colony is certain, but it does not appear that they ever made any use of it. The same patent or charter, however, long subsequently, was made use of by de- scendants of Peirce as the basis of a claim to lands at Pemaquid, which was prosecuted with vigor.
This patent was of a singular character, mentioning no metes and bounds, but simply reciting the fact that a settlement had been commenced in New England; it gave to John Peirce and his associates, and his and their heirs and assigus, one hundred acres of " grownd" for every person who should be transported by them and continue in the country three years, with a long detail of limitations, restrictions and conditions. And inasmuch as churches, schools, hospitals, bridges, etc., were to be built, fifteen hundred acres, additional to that above provided for, were
1 Bradford, Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th series, In, p. 107; Prince, 1, 114; Muss.' IFist. Coll., 4th series, II, ISS ; Proceedings of the Am. Antiquarian, Soc. for 1867, p. 53.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
given to the undertakers for these purposes. So, also, on certain other conditions, every emigrant was to have fifty more acres allotted to him, after a settlement should be fairly begun, and due return made of their transactions. Power was at the same time given to enact necessary laws and appoint necessary officers for the government of the colony, and to exclude all intruders.
Less than a year after the issuing of this patent (April 20th, 1622), Mr. Peirce, in some way, unfairly, as was charged by his associates, obtained another patent which produced considerable dissatisfaction, but in May, 1623, the difficulty was settled, and Peirce resigned the patent to the company for the consideration of 500 pounds.
Some months before thus closing his connection with the colony, he had at great expense fitted out the ship Paragon, and dispatched her with many passengers for the new settle. ment; but being forced back by the weather, he, at great addi- tional expense, again fitted her for sea, and embarked in her himself with one hundred and nine passengers. Unfortunately, after making half the distance across the Atlantic, she was again obliged to return, and Peirce's name no more appears in connection with the Plymouth colony.
But only a few years later than this, a Mr. Richard Pearce, who is claimed to have been a son of John Peirce, is found as. a permanent resident of Pemaquid, or rather Muscongus ; and after the lapse of a century or more, some of his descendants laid claim to a large tract of land here, basing their claim in part upon this very patent of June 1st, 1621.
The subject is very fully presented in the following document of Samuel Welles of Boston :
"This may certify all concerned, that I have in my hand, a certain patent, signed by the Earl of Warwick, and several other members of the Council of Plymouth, in England, dated June 1st, 1621, about three years after the patent constituting the Council of Plymouth for ordering the affairs and settlement of New England, that is, of land between the 40th and 48th degrees of north latitude. The sum and substance of this patent of June Ist, 1621, is a grant to one John Pierce, a citizen of London, of liberty to come and settle in New England, with divers privileges in such place as he or his associates should choose under certain limitations of not
4 Mass. Hist. Coll., Ir., p. 157; Bradford, 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., III. p. 139.
Prince, New England, I, p. 136 ; Palfrey's Hist. N. E., I, p. 210.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
interfering with other grants, or settling within ten miles of any other settlement, unless on the opposite side of some great navigable river, and on return made, to have further grants and privileges. Now, as I am informed, and hear it is agreed on all hands, Mr. Pierce came over and here settled, that is, at a place called Broad Bay, and there his pos- terity continued above one hundred years ; some time after the settlement was begun, one Mr. Brown made a purchase of a large tract of land of the natives ; and as Mr. Pierce's was the most ancient grant thereabout, they united the grant from home with the purchase of the natives, and it is said that the Indians have ever acknowledged the justice of our claims and never would barn Pierce's house, even though he left it. *
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