USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > Centennial history of Norway, Oxford County, Maine, 1786-1886, including an account of the early grants and purchases, sketches of the grantees, early settlers, and prominent residents, etc., with genealogical registers, and an appendix > Part 2
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In 1620 a charter was granted to forty English noblemen, knights and gentlemen, who were denominated "The Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, England, for planting, ruling, and governing New England in America." This grant embraced the terri- tory between the fortieth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, and in length " throughout the mainland from sea to sea." This charter, which continued in force for fourteen years, was the foundation of the numerous subsequent patents by which the country was divided, and its settlements and colonies located. Meanwhile, the French were press- ing their claims, and pushing settlements along the coast in the direc- tion of the Kennebec. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a member of the Plymouth Council, and especially interested in Maine affairs, found that the charter was defective, as it included only half the bay of Cha- leur ; he therefore procured from the Council a conveyance unto Sir William Sterling, whereby a large portion of the northern section of the country was assigned to him, and which was enlarged and confirmed, so as to embrace the greater part of Acadia. The intention of Lord Sterling was to settle the territory with Scotch Presbyterians to neu- tralize the efforts of the French Jesuits in that region.
In 1622 Gorges and Captain John Mason procured for themselves a patent of all the territory between the rivers of Merrimac and Sagada-
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
hoc, and extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the rivers of Canada. This they called the Province of Laconia. The interior of the State was still unexplored, and that it was unknown is manifest by the terms in which grants of territory were made. Some of the smaller grants of Maine territory, with the names of the grantees and the dates when made, are given below. These grants were made by the Plymouth Council in its eagerness to have the country settled, and the same ter- ritory was sometimes granted to two or three different parties. This gave rise to much future litigation.
1630. A deed to Thomas Lewis and Richard Bonython of a tract of land on the north side of Saco River, four miles along the coast and eight miles into the main-land. Also a deed of the same description to John Oldham and Richard Vines, on the south side of the river, the whole tract being eight miles square.
1630. The Muscongus Grant, afterward known as the Waldo Patent. This was issued to Beauchamp and Leverett of England, and extended on the seaboard between the Muscongus and Penobscot Rivers, and as far north as would embrace a territory equal to thirty miles square.
1630. Lygonia, or the Plow Patent, so called because the vessel which brought the colonists over was called the " Plow." This grant extended from Kennebunk to Harpswell, including right of soil and of govern- ment. In 1643, this patent was transferred to Colonel Rigby, an Eng- lish lawyer, whose contest with Gorges lasted forty years.
1631. Black Point to Thomas Cammock. This is the basis of land titles in Scarborough.
1631. Pejypscot Patent to Richard Bradshaw, fifteen hundred acres on the north side of the river, " not granted previously to any other."
. 1631. Agamenticus, twelve thousand acres to Edward Godfrey-the present town of York.
1631. Richmond's Island and fifteen hundred acres at Spurwink, to Walter Bagnall.
1631. Cape Porpoise to John Stratton.
1632. The tract between Cammock's Patent and the river and bay of Casco, to Trelawny and Goodyear.
1632. Pemaquid Patent, twelve thousand acres along the coast, and the islands three leagues into the ocean, with right of government.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
1632. Way and Purchase Patent, a tract on the river Pejepscot, now the Androscoggin, now the town of Brunswick, etc.
Then came the surrender of the charter and the proposed division of the territory. Lord Sterling was to have the country from the Ken- nebec to the St. Croix, and it was called Canada. Gorges' domain extended from the Kennebec to the Piscataqua, and was named New Somersetshire. In 1639, Gorges applied for a new charter, which was granted by Charles the First, confirming his former grant, and extend- ing twice as far into the main-land. 3 He called this new grant the Province of Maine. Gorges established a government at York, which he named Gorgiana, with a chief magistrate and a court, but this was not of long continuance. The territory assigned to Lord Sterling, sub- sequently fell into the hands of the Duke of York, and was, for a time, attached to and became a part of the Dutch possessions, under the name of County of Cornwall. The Duke of York, who became James the Second of England, continued to claim his Maine territory for some twenty-five years, until he ascended the throne. The Plymouth Council granted a patent to Governor Winthrop and his associates in 1628, and the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, was established and settled in 1630.
This charter to the Winthrop Colony was very elastic, or at least was made so by the grantees, and when that colony desired to absorb addi- tional Maine territory, all that was necessary was to run a line around it and then set up a claim to it. Encroachments were made from time to time, until the whole was absorbed. In 1652, the limit was at York and Saco; four years later, it was at Falmouth. The next year, an action was commenced against Thomas Purchase at Brunswick, but he resisted, and won his case in the courts. Then a new line was run, and an island in Penobscot Bay was declared the legitimate bounds. There was a thriving settlement at Pemaquid, and Massachusetts cov- eted it. It made no difference that this territory was claimed by the Duke of York, who had purchased it of Lord Sterling in 1663. Massa- chusetts set up a Court at Pemaquid in 1674, and called the country the County of Devonshire. After the Duke of York became King of England, the territory was annexed to Massachusetts. The eastern limit of the District of Maine was first fixed at the Sagadahoc River,
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
the name by which the Kennebec below Merrymeeting Bay was once called, then at the Penobscot, and finally at the St. Croix, as at the present time. The contest for Acadia, as this eastern territory was once called, as being the door to Canada by way of the St. Lawrence, was long and bloody. Its importance as a vantage-ground may be understood in the frequency with which it changed hands. It was in 1632 ceded to the French by the treaty of St. Germains; in 1655, it was repossessed by the English by conquest; in 1667, it was again ceded to the French by the treaty of Breda ; in 1690, it was recon- quered by the English under Sir William Phipps, a Maine man; in 1691, it was united to the Province of the Massachusetts Bay by the charter of William and Mary; in 1696, it was virtually repossessed by the French, when Massachusetts surrendered it back to the Crown of England; in 1697, it reverted to France by the treaty of Ryswick; in 1713, it was ceded to England by the treaty of Utrecht; in 1755, the Acadians, who still maintained allegiance to France, were expelled ; in 1759, it was confirmed to England at the capitulation of Louisburg and Quebec.
The Gorges interest in the territory of Maine did not quietly submit to Massachusetts' encroachments, and the quarrel waxed so bitter that it attracted attention in England. Commissioners were sent over to inquire into it, and on their report the Court of High Chancery, sitting in England, rendered a decision confirming the grant to Gorges, and establishing the line to the westward of the territory claimed by him. Massachusetts, not to be foiled in her attempts upon the Province of Maine, then tried the power of money, and the heir of Gorges sold his entire right in the property for the paltry sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds. This was in 1677, but seven years later, the charter of the Massachusetts Bay was declared forfeited by the King of England, and a copy was served on the government in Boston, a short time after. After the death of King Charles, and the accession of James, Andros was sent to Massachusetts as royal governor, and there were troublous times in that province. James abdicated in 1688, and William and Mary ascended the throne. In 1691, a royal charter was granted which united the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth Colony, and the Province of Maine, including Acadia, into one province, and under the
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
title of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. . Sir William Phipps, a Maine born man, was made governor.
During Philip's war, which broke out in 1675, all the settlements in Maine were destroyed by the Indians. Desolation reigned everywhere. After the death of Philip, and the destruction of his Indians, the colo- nies hoped for peace, but in this they were disappointed. War soon after broke out between France and England, and the colonists were the greatest sufferers. York, Berwick, and some other towns in Maine which had been resettled, were again destroyed. Queen Anne's war soon followed, and hostilities were almost continuous for many years. Louisburg, the French stronghold in Nova Scotia, was captured by troops in command of William Pepperell, a Maine man, in 1745, which was a staggering blow, but the end did not come until 1759, when Quebec, the headquarters of the Jesuits, and of French authority in this country, was yielded up to the English army, composed largely of colonists, under brave Wolfe, on the Plains of Abraham. The extinc- tion of French authority in Canada was the beginning of a new and prosperous era in the history of Maine. New settlements were com- menced in the interior along the banks of our principal rivers, deserted towns were repeopled, and the hum of industry was everywhere heard. Fryeburg, on the Saco, was settled in 1762; Bethel, on the Andro- scoggin, in 1774; Norridgewock, on the Kennebec, in 1773 ; and Bangor, on the Penobscot, in 1769. Between these several points, which formed the interior outposts, to the sea, new settlements were everywhere springing up.
And now, in the midst of a general prosperity, the war of the revolu- tion burst upon the country. This put a stop to all progress for eight years. Many Maine citizens joined the ranks of the patriot army, and many who were just on the point of coming to Maine, abandoned it for the time being, and went to the war. At the close of the war, the tide of emigration turned toward the eastward with great force. Massachusetts had little money with which to reward her soldiers, but she had a plenty of land which was bestowed with a generous and liberal hand. Then it was that North Yarmouth, New Gloucester, and Gray became the rally- ing points for settlers who were on their way to Oxford County territory. Towns rapidly filled up, and, among others, Norway was peopled. In
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
1788, the Federal Constitution was adopted. In 1789, a large number of Maine towns were incorporated. A census taken this year, gave the District of Maine a population of ninety-six thousand, five hundred and forty. In 1800, the population had increased to one hundred and fifty- one thousand, seven hundred and nineteen; in 1810, it was two hun- dred and twenty-eight thousand, six hundred and ninety-four. Then the question of separation began to be talked over, and the agitation of the subject in some form, was almost constant, from that time to 1820, when it was effected. The refractory course of the government of Massa- chusetts toward the general government, during the war of 1812-15, was highly displeasing to the people of Maine, and there is no doubt that separation was accelerated thereby. Massachusetts placed no obstacles in the way. The convention to form a constitution for the State met in Portland on the 11th of October, 1819. It completed its work, and adjourned October 29th, and re-assembled January 5th, to count the vote thrown upon its adoption. The whole number in favor was nine thousand and fifty ; there opposed, seven hundred and eighty- six. An election was held, and William King, who had presided over the constitutional convention, was elected governor.
Previous to 1760, and subsequent to 1691, the County of York com- prised the entire District of Maine. That year two new counties were formed. York had its present limits, except it had a few western Oxford County towns; Cumberland extended from York to the Androscoggin River, and northwardly, to include several of the present towns of Oxford and Androscoggin Counties, and Lincoln County included the balance of the State. Washington and Hancock were organized in 1789, Kennebec in 1799, Oxford in 1805, Somerset in 1809, Penobscot in 1816, Franklin and Piscataquis in 1838, Waldo in 1827, Aroostook in 1839, Androscoggin and Sagadahoc in 1854, and Knox in 1860. The State of Maine is situated between 43° 6', and 47° 27' 33" north lat- itude, and between 66° 56' 48", and 71° 6' 41" of west longitude. Its extreme length is three hundred and three miles, and its breadth two hundred and eighty-eight miles. Its area is thirty-one thousand, five hundred square miles. Its coast line is two thousand, four hundred and eighty-six miles in length, and its numerous inlets and bays afford numerous harbors for commercial purposes. Our population has stead-
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
ily increased since the separation from Massachusetts, notwithstanding our important contributions, in recent years, to the population of the West. Our agricultural resources have largely developed, new industries have sprung up in various directions, sufficient to give remunerative employment to all those willing and able to work. Our educational system is equal to the best, and, to sum up, we have a thrifty, intel- ligent, and a happy population. Maine has contributed her share to the public expenses, and to the public defence, and, as a State, has never been derelict in duty in any particular. God bless the good State of Maine !
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF THE GRANT AND PURCHASES.
THE lands bordering on the east, south, and west of what is now the town of Norway were granted and confirmed several years before any of the tracts which compose this town were granted, the only exceptions being the three tiers taken from Waterford, and the gore lying south of these three tiers. The town of Waterford, once called Waterford Plantation, including the three tiers incorporated with Norway, was granted to John Gardner and others in 1774, in · lieu of a township granted to John Whitman and others in 1735, for services rendered by their ancestors in the invasion of Canada in 1690, but which, on the settlement of the State lines, proved to be in New Hampshire. Hebron, which formerly included Oxford, was granted in 1778 to Alex- ander Sheppard jr., of Newton, Massachusetts, for services in survey- ing the public lands and making a map of Maine. Otisfield, which at first embraced a large part of Harrison, was granted in 1777 to Nathaniel Gorham and others, whose ancestors had served in the Canada expedi- tion. Townships granted for such reasons were called Canada town- ships. Paris was granted to Joshua Fuller and associates in 1772, in lieu of a grant to Samuel Jackson and others in 1735, which proved to be in New Hampshire. The territory lying north of Norway, as far as to Bethel south line, had not been disposed of by the Commonwealth at the time the first grant within the present town of Norway was made.
A glance at the map of Oxford County shows that the tract of land left, after the grants around it had been made, minus the Waterford three tiers which were added when the town was incorporated, and also minus the gore lying at the south of the Waterford three tiers which was not annexed to the town till 1821, was somewhat irregular in shape, being wider on the north line, and growing gradually narrower toward the south, the south line itself being quite crooked from the irregular outlines of the townships lying at the south. The reason of the some-
II
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
what wedge-shape in which the tract was left, was due to the fact that Paris west line and Waterford east were not run on the same degree, the former being north fourteen degrees west, and the latter north twenty-five degrees west, so that the farther these lines were extended toward the south, the nearer they would approach each other.
A history of each of the component parts of the town comes next in order, and these embrace Lee's Grant, Rust's Purchase or Rustfield, Cummings' First and Second Purchase, the Waterford three tiers, and the small gore at the south of the Waterford tiers, called Philips, and also Rust's Gore. The documentary evidence which follows goes to show that, in 1780, the General Court of Massachusetts granted to Hon. Arthur Lee, of Virginia, six thousand acres of land of the unappropriated lands east of Saco River, and appointed a committee of three persons specified to locate the same and return a plan thereof to the General Court. It will be seen that this grant of land was in compensation for services rendered by Mr. Lee as agent for the Province in London, at the time of the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, and subse- quently. The committee did not return a plan of the grant until 1785, when a resolve was passed confirming it to Mr. Lee, and describing it by metes and bounds. The committee began at a point a little south- erly of the center of the west line of Paris, then called Number Four, and followed on Paris line northwardly, as far as they pleased, then struck across north, seventy-six degrees west, to what they supposed to be the Waterford east line. Then following southerly, on what they probably supposed to be Waterford east line, about the same distance as was run on Paris line, they struck across to the place begun at. By an error, the north line did not extend to Waterford east line by about five hundred rods, and as the westerly line of Lee's Grant was run on the same degree as the Waterford line, it left a strip of the same width, the entire length of Lee's Grant, and between that and Waterford. Lee's Grant was to contain six thousand acres, due allowance to be made for the "swag" of the chain and for water surface. Why the committee selected the land here does not appear, and why they did not take the six thousand acres from the southerly side of this tract seems very strange. As it was, they took the northerly part, and, as they supposed, from Paris to Waterford, which would leave a tract of land not large
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
enough for a town belonging to the commonwealth, and entirely sur- rounded by appropriated lands.
At the death of Hon. Arthur Lee in 1792, Lee's Grant became the property of Francis Lightfoot Lee, nephew of Arthur, to whom it was devised. After a few years, he sold it to his kinsman Ludwell Lee, who sold it to Edward Little of Newbury, Massachusetts, afterward of Auburn, Maine, from whom the settlers received their title deeds, with the single exception of Jacob Tubbs, who squatted on the territory and subsequently purchased his land of Francis Lightfoot Lee. The grants, deeds, and other documents which follow, will furnish all needed information upon these subjects.
The next in order is Rust's Purchase, or Rustfield. In 1786, Henry Rust, of Salem, Massachusetts, bought of the committee for the sale of eastern lands, a tract of land containing six thousand acres, more or less, bounded by Paris on the east, by Waterford on the west, by the south line of Lee's Grant extended to Waterford line on the north, and by Hebron and Otisfield and the small gore often referred to, on the south and southwest. The title deeds of the early settlers, several of whom were squatters, came from Henry Rust. Three of his sons, Henry jr., John and Joseph, subsequently settled on the Purchase, and became influential citizens of town and county.
There was still the strip of land lying between Lee's Grant and Waterford, which the surveyors of Lee's Grant had left out by mistake, which still belonged to the commonwealth, and, in 1788, Jonathan Cummings, of Andover, Massachusetts, purchased of the Massachusetts committee the northerly part of this strip, which was found to contain two thousand, eight hundred and eighty acres. It is said that the pro- prietor of Rustfield claimed the southerly end of the tract; but, if he did, he yielded his claim, for, in 1790, Cummings purchased the balance down to Rustfield line, containing six hundred and eighty acres. In running out his first purchase, in order to make up his three miles, Cummings extended his bounds north of Lee's north line, which makes the first jog in the north line of Norway. The proprietor of Cum- mings' Purchases never came here to live; but two of his sons did, and by building mills and roads, and clearing up large areas of land, greatly contributed to the growth of the settlement. The title deeds of early
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
settlers on these tracts were from Jonathan Cummings, " blacksmith," of Andover.
The Waterford three tiers, which were incorporated into Norway, belonged to the plantation of Waterford, but never to the town ; for when Waterford was incorporated, these three tiers were left out. The rejection, or rather the leaving out of these three tiers when Waterford was incorporated, grew out of trouble about locating the meeting-house in that town, a matter which was found troublesome to settle by many of the towns of that period. A petition, signed by a large number of residents of Waterford Plantation, was presented to the General Court in 1795, asking for an act of incorporation, "excepting the three most eastermost tiers of lots with the settlers that are on any of them, it is our prayer that they may be set to and incorporated with the settlers of Cummings' Purchase." A counter petition was sent immediately after, about as numerously signed, asking for an act of incorporation, " refer- ence being had to the confirmation of the grant of the town for the bounds of the same." The prayer of the first petition was granted, and the town of Waterford was duly incorporated, leaving off the three east- erly tiers of lots. But these lots were not long left out in the cold, for Waterford was incorporated March 2d, 1796, as the one hundred and eleventh town in the State, and Norway, on the 9th of the same month, as the one hundred and twelfth. The Waterford three tiers extended a little farther north than the Cummings' First Purchase, and this made the second jog in the north line of the town.
The Waterford three tiers did not extend as far south as Rustfield, and, as Rustfield was bounded on the southwest by an extension of the easterly line of the Waterford three tiers, there was still left an irregular shaped tract of about seventeen hundred acres, not yet incorporated into any town. In the act of incorporation it is called Philips Gore, and by the late David Noyes it was called Rust's Gore. In 1821, it was annexed to Norway by an act which also established a portion of the county line between Oxford and Cumberland.
Since the act of incorporation, the northerly and westerly lines of Norway have remained unchanged ; the southerly line has been changed only by the annexation of the gore, and the easterly line by a set-off from Paris to Norway and a return of a portion of the territory to Paris.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
The set-off from Paris to Norway occurred in 1859, when, by an act of the legislature, lots numbered six, seven, and eight, in the first range of lots in Paris were set off from Paris and annexed to Norway. This gave rise to a very animated controversy during the two following sessions of the legislature, and in 1861, a compromise was effected, by which all that part of lots numbered six, seven, and eight in the first or westerly range of lots in Paris before the set-off of 1859, which lay easterly and southerly of the following described line, were taken from Norway and re-annexed to Paris; " beginning in the northerly line of said lot number eight, and at the center of the old Rumford Road, so called; thence following said center southerly till it intersects the road from Norway to South Paris ; thence in a straight line through the agricultural grounds to the southeast corner thereof; thence in a straight line to the north- easterly corner of Titus O. Brown's homestead farm, so called ; thence on the easterly line of his said farm to the Little Androscoggin River, and thence by said river westerly to the original line between Norway and Paris."
Sa. 65 West. 480 Rails
So. 65 West. 480 Trods.
So. 76° West. 1104 Hours.
2020 Rods.
CUMMING'S IST PURCHASE
LEE'S
6000
RANT AGRES.
No. 25° West
1G8 .Lods.
CUMMING'S PURCHASE. 680 ACRES.
Lake
WATERFORD THREE TIERS"
Little Pennesseen -wassee
1504 Hods.
No. 76 East. 780 Rode
Biver
ACRES.
Crooked
Rod.s.
No. 65 Eaist 4,80
PHILLIPS' OR RUST'S GORE
1700 ACRES.
So. 25° East. 624+ Rods.
No. 54 East 1074 hods.
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