USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 15
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 15
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 15
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In 1868 it was voted that petitioners for new roads should pay all expenses incurred when the roads asked for were not approved by the town. The county commissioners having been appealed to by the residents of Barter's Island, and upon a hearing having granted a ferry, the town, at a special meet- ing in November, voted to build a bridge on to that island in lieu of the ferry decreed by the commissioners. This action, however, in the spring of 1869, was reconsidered, whereby the town had voted to build a bridge from Barter's Island to the mainland, north of Hodgdon's Island, and it now voted to build a bridge from Barter's to Hodgdon's Island.
Boothbay having been made a port of delivery, resolutions were passed in 1871 and spread upon the records, extending
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
thanks to Senators Blaine and Hamlin and Col. Orin McFadden for their efforts. In 1872 the road easterly from the marine railway was built. Five hundred dollars was appropriated to procure a survey for a railroad to intersect the Knox and Lin- coln Railroad, and Luther Maddocks, George B. Kenniston and Alden Blossom were chosen a committee for the purpose. In 1873 fifteen hundred dollars was raised for rebuilding Hodgdon's Island bridge. An effort to get a high school building at the Harbor was defeated. In 1874 roads were accepted on the north and west sides of Barter's Island. School districts 1 and 7 united for the purpose of maintaining a sys- tem of free graded schools,1 and the next year districts 3 and 12, at East Boothbay, united for the same purpose. As an outcome of the union of districts 3 and 12, a town meeting was called which erected a district midway between the two villages, known as No. 12, with the old red schoolhouse as their building, which continued until after the division of the town.
In 1875 it was voted to sell the town's bonds to an amount not exceeding $25,000 for the purpose of paying the town debt, $2,000 of this amount to fall due in five years, and ten per cent. of the remainder to be paid annually thereafter. In 1877 Boothbay appropriated one hundred and seventy-five dol- lars to assist in grading and purchasing cable to meet one-half the expense of a ferry to Southport. George B. Kenniston, Chapman N. Reed and John Montgomery were chosen a com- mittee to investigate the expense of and obtain designs for a soldiers' monument. A road from John Grimes' house to Ocean Point was accepted, five hundred dollars appropriated for its building, and the contract awarded to William Kennis- ton. A road was built from Allen Lewis' old place to the lobster factory, and a road across the land of Isaac Pinkham.
In 1878 an appropriation of two thousand dollars was made for a soldiers' monument and the former committee, with the board of selectmen, was authorized to purchase, locate and set the same. The road from the store of Miles Pierce to the house of T. J. Emerson was built. By a vote of eighty-three
1. School district No. 1 appeared at the Harbor after the island of Cape Newagen became incorporated as Townsend. Previously it had existed there. The Boothbay districts were then revised and Nos. 1 and 7 were at this time the districts on either side of the Harbor.
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to sixty-three, at a special meeting in May, the town refused to buy fire apparatus for Boothbay Harbor. In 1879 the town contracted with the Maine Ice Company to pay them two hun- dred dollars annually for the term of ten years for the exclu- sive use of a road across the company's dam at Campbell's Cove, the company to keep the road and dam in good order, and the town to have a further free use for twenty years. The first free high school appropriation was made in 1880 of two hundred and fifty dollars. The streets at the Harbor were straightened, from the old schoolhouse to the store of D. W. Hodgdon, and from Joseph Chambers' house to the Wilson store. A road was accepted from the schoolhouse in No. 5 to the house of William Bennett. The lockup lot, so-called, was given to the Engine Company and one hundred dollars to assist in building an engine house. In 1881 abatements of tax were generally made on property formerly engaged in the porgy oil business, now rendered nearly worthless from scarcity of fish. Permission was granted the Boothbay Telegraph and Telephone Company to run lines from the Harbor to East Boothbay and to the Knickerbocker Works. It was voted to forever reserve for a public park the land at Boothbay Center, south of Maho- ney's and Welch's lots, and bounded on the east and south by the town road and on the west by the county road. In 1882 the Mahoney lot was purchased and an exchange made for the Welch lot, and both were added to the north end of the Com- mon. Cross Street at the Harbor was built. In 1883 and 1884 town action was simply routine. In 1885 the vault was added to the townhouse at a cost of five hundred dollars, and the Jason Pinkham lot at the Center was repurchased. In 1886 the following roads were built : from Townsend Marine Railway to house of Frank Albee; from Martin Brewer's house to house of George Brewer, 2d, near Echo Lake; and straightening the street from the Wilson store to the store of K. H. Richards ; the street was broadened from the Second Congregational Church to the residence of I. C. Sherman.
In 1887 the town had printed a special report containing the inventory and valuation of polls and estates as of record, April, that year. It included a summary statement of the town's financial standing, a schedule of vessel property owned
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
in town, and was a work of much value, bringing to the atten- tion of the citizens many omissions and irregularities of valua- tion. After being four times refused by town action, the county commissioners, on appeal, ordered Mcclintock Street, at the Harbor, built that year. The same season roads were built from the town way to Paradise Point; from Horace Pinkham's to John H. Welsh's, ending at the town way near the house of Charles Rush; from the steamboat landing at Ocean Point to the road leading to John Grimes' house. At the last annual meeting before division, in 1888, roads were accepted from West Street to the house of Levi Burns; from near the house of Allen Lewis, on Atlantic Street, to the fac- tory of the Winslow Packing Company; from the house of Payson Tibbetts, Back River, to the Isaac Hutchings' place, Dover; from the house of Granville J. Seavey, East Booth- bay ; and widening and straightening the road at West Harbor from Mill Cove to Campbell's Cove.
While the author trusts his readers may appreciate this chapter for what it contains, he is well aware that many impor- tant acts of the town have either been treated in a cursory manner or omitted altogether. While imperfect work should bear its share for all shortcomings, it must be remembered that this chapter is made up from the records as they exist, and much that makes the clearest imprint on the memory as it is passing in a deliberative assembly, like a town meeting, shows but slightly in the record ; and much that causes a great amount of preliminary discussion scarcely appears thereon. Perhaps no more fitting place will appear to draw attention to town action in the construction of roads than the present. The road system in any locality, from the date of colonization to the present, is controlled by the same variety of conditions that influence its citizens. The longer the stretch of time between the one point and the other the more complex become the duties of the investigator. A century and a quarter practically intervenes between 1764 and 1888. Boothbay had during that time belonged to two States and assisted in fighting through three wars, in two of which she became an object of attack by
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
the enemy. Her colonists settled along the shore, at favorable spots, knowing but little about, and deriving but little from, the interior of the town. Her citizens for a long term of years obtained their support from the sea. To roads they were to some extent indifferent. One citizen, born in 1814, has related to the author that, when of suitable age to possess a general acquaintance over town, there were but four residents who owned a riding wagon. The only highway ratings in the matter of wages for team labor, showing in the records up to 1860, were for oxen. Roads, from the most primitive condi- tions until they reach perfection, present simply an example of evolution, governed by the wants and requirements of the pop- ulation. The leading industries of a people have a controlling influence over them. With these thoughts, founded upon the facts, there seems little wonder that roads were so totally neg- lected in early times and have become so great an expense in later years.
There was much road action in Boothbay's early meetings, but roads which were accepted, in most cases, were mere bridle paths, cut off by gates and bars, and entirely impassable for a modern carriage. The author has noted many instances, in the earlier records, where a road was laid out, reported and regularly accepted, and the presumption would be natural that building followed, when to his surprise the same road, a few years later, is again before a meeting for acceptance. This occurs several times in some instances, until it becomes bewil- dering as to what the eventual action of the town was. It is in cases of this kind, where the subject is befogged by irregular town action, where most omissions occur.
In this chapter municipal action has been almost entirely omitted at four material periods : during the Revolutionary War, again in the War of 1812, the part relating to military action from 1861 to 1865, and the particular votes upon which the petitioners based their action in 1888. In each of the fore- going instances town proceedings have been withheld from the mass presented, to make in each case a separate chapter. The municipal record, therefore, closes with 1888, the year of the water contest and the last of united municipal action of the mainland of Boothbay.
CHAPTER XI. LAND CLAIMS AND CLAIMANTS.
T' HE foundation of the claims1 and the manner of their descent will first be given that the reader may proceed with a clearer understanding of the difficulties experi- enced by the settlers in Lincoln County, and particularly those of Boothbay.
1 .- The Brown claim is founded on the purchase by John Brown, of New Harbor, July 15, 1625, from the two Wawe- noc sagamores, Capt. John Somerset and Unnongoit, of the tract described as follows :
"Beginning at Pemaquid Falls and so running a direct course to the head of New Harbor, and thence to the south end of Muscongus Island, and so running five and twenty miles into the country north and by east, and thence eight miles northwest and by west, and then turning and running south and by west to Pemaquid where first begun."
The consideration for this purchase was fifty beaver skins. These limits would include, as now constituted, all of Noble- boro, Damariscotta, Bremen and Jefferson, and the greater part of Bristol and Newcastle. John Brown died about 1670, in either a place very near where Damariscotta Village stands, or in Boston, at the home of his son. He left three children, John Brown, Jr., Elizabeth, who married Richard Pierce, of Marblehead, and Margaret, who married Sander Gould. In 1660 Brown deeded to Gould and his wife a tract eight miles square, nearly in the center of his purchase. The Goulds had
1. Reference to the land troubles experienced by the settlers may be made to Will. Hist. Me. II, 623; Cushman's Sheepscot, Chapters I, II, V, VII, XVI, XVII, XIX, XX, XXI; Johnson's Pemaquid, Chapters XXXV, XXXVI; but more largely than from any of the foregoing may the leading facts, as well as the general conditions, be obtained from the printed report of the commission appointed to adjust the dif- ficulties in 1811; this report is, however, very rare, there being but few in existence.
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LAND CLAIMS AND CLAIMANTS.
three daughters, Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth. Margaret married William Stilson, who was killed by the Indians, but left two children, James and Margaret, who the next century made claim of the lands. The daughter, Margaret Stilson, married William Hilton, who was killed by the Indians, but to whom the larger part of those bearing the name of Hilton in this part of the State trace their descent. The old Indian deed of Brown's was recorded at Charlestown, Mass., December 26, 1720, and at the York registry, in Maine, August 3, 1739. It is supposed the deed was burned in the Boston courthouse in 1748.
2. - The Drowne claim descended from the Pemaquid pat- ent to Aldsworth and Elbridge, February 20, 1631. Elbridge received it entire by survivorship. In time it was inherited by his son John, and he devised it to his brother Thomas, who lived at Pemaquid and held early courts there. In 1650 Thomas mortgaged Damariscove and Monhegan to Richard Russell, selling one-half of the patent to Paul White for £200. They, jointly, in 1653, conveyed their interests to Richard Russell and Nicholas Davidson. Russell then sold Davidson his share, and Shem Drowne, marrying an heir of Davidson and obtaining power of attorney from the other heirs, came into possession of the claim and worked it for a revenue many years. The Drowne claim embraced all of the present towns of Bristol, Bremen and Damariscotta, with a part of Newcastle and Nobleboro.
3. - The Tappan claim covered nearly all of the present towns of Newcastle and Damariscotta, extended to Edgecomb and included a part of Nobleboro, also in the vicinity of Mount Sweague (now Montsweag in Woolwich), and, perhaps, more on the west of Sheepscot River. This claim rested upon three deeds from Indian sagamores to Walter Phillips, in 1661, 1662 and 1674. Phillips conveyed all his right and title in the property, in 1702, to Rev. Christopher Tappan, of New- bury, Mass. Tappan had one son and three daughters. On September 11, 1746, he deeded one-fourth of his property to his son, and September 16th, shortly before his death, con- veyed the remainder jointly to his daughters. Besides his purchase of Phillips, Tappan bought out the heirs of Mason
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
and Gent and some others on the Sheepscot. He sent parties to take possession and live upon his lands in 1718. He made efforts to purchase claims of heirs of other settlers, who had been driven out by the Indians the previous century, but failed to do so.
4. - The Noble1 claim, which was a source of great annoy- ance to the early inhabitants of Boothbay, rested upon the fol- lowing : Mary, daughter of Sander and Margaret (Brown) Gould, married John Coats ; they had one child, a son, Prin- sent Coats. He sold his claim, whatever it might amount to, to William Noble, mentioning, in particular, the eight-mile- square tract. He, doubtless, had retained his interest in this as the others of the family, and his mother's share was a one- third interest. This descended by will from Noble to his heirs, and they were very active in pressing their claims, in many instances where there was no semblance of likelihood that they ever extended, even if they had an equity anywhere.
5. - The Vaughn claim originated with William Vaughn, who established himself at Damariscotta Mills in Dunbar's time. His connection there has been previously referred to. It has also been mentioned that the century before there lived at Damariscotta and Newcastle, as now known, four families : Walter Phillips and John Taylor on the Newcastle side, and John Brown, Jr., and Robert Scott on the east side. It has also been noted that Phillips conveyed his interests to Tappan. Now Vaughn sought out all the heirs he could find of Taylor, Brown and Scott and purchased their interests. John Brown, Jr., sold on October 30, 1734, a large tract east and south of the present village of Damariscotta, and the following year, on December 8th, made a further deed of all he had conveyed the previous year and, in addition, the whole of the old John Brown tract, regardless of the rights of any of the other heirs of his grandfather. In 1741 Tappan brought an action of ejectment against Vaughn, but judgment was given for the defendant, and on appeal judgment was confirmed by the Superior Court of York County.
1. James Noble was the heir of William, who purchased the claim of Prinsent Coats. In 1765 James Noble married the widow of William Vaughn, with whom the Vaughn claim originated. The town of Nobleboro, much against the wishes of its inhabitants. took its name when incorporated, November 20, 1788, from Arthur Noble. heir of James.
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6. - The Hathorne claim depended upon the deed of Robin Hood to Henry Curtiss, in 1666, of the west side of the penin- sula between the Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers, which became Boothbay ninety-eight years later. Curtiss conveyed his interests to one Hathorne, whose heirs kept the claim alive and annoyed the settlers greatly with it. Hathorne's heirs evidently laid claim to the whole of Boothbay, but on account of rival claimants withdrew to the west side of the town.
7. - The Plymouth Company's 1 interests on the Kennebec became vested in a body or company of men known as the Kennebec Purchasers. Silvester Gardiner got several of the Townsend settlers to take deeds of him, also he and others of his company leased lands on Linekin Neck. By observing the petition for incorporation by the Townsend settlers, it may be noted that it is endorsed by "the proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase from the late colony of New Plymouth, Silv. Gardi- ner, James Pitts, Benjamin Hallowell, William Taylor, Ger- shom Flagg."
Reading between the lines of this petition, it is apparent that this group of wealthy landholders on the Kennebec held a whip suspended over the heads of the Townsend inhabitants.
8 .- The Ludgate claim was confined entirely to the Booth- bay lands. It conflicted with that of Hathorne and that of derivation through the Plymouth Company as well. It was represented by John Ludgate, of Boston, and had descended to him by the will of one Champnoi, who was probably a descendant of Henry Curtis. In September, 1737, he laid out lots about the water front of fifty acres each, reserved ten acres for a church, training field and burying ground, and ordered that the first settled minister should share equally in the meadows with the first settlers. One hundred acres was to be given the first minister, and an additional one hundred acres for the use and support of the ministry. The fifty-acre lots were offered on terms of credit to the settlers, with the condi- tions that, from the second payment, one hundred pounds might be appropriated toward building a church, and thirty pounds thereafter, annually, from the payments to aid in sup-
1. An excellent idea may be obtained of all facts relating to the Kennebec Purchase, in an article by Robert Hallowell Gardiner, in Me. Hist. Coll., Vol. II, pp. 269-294.
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
porting a minister. William McCobb's deposition reinforces the facts here presented, but throws no further light on them. The plan he saw in 1770, or later, was probably the old one made in 1737. It is doubtful if Ludgate ever effected many, if any, sales.
By examining the bounds of the various claims it will be seen that in the afflicted towns, at the north and east of our own, the Brown, Drowne, Tappan, Vaughn and Noble claims conflicted, either by overlapping one another or covering entire the same tract ; while in the towns of Boothbay alone, the claims of Noble, Hathorne, Ludgate and the Kennebec- Proprietors, practically, all claimed the same territory. It appears that Hathorne and Ludgate settled their differences by Hathorne confining himself to the western part while Ludgate took the eastern. No compromise between claimants, other than this, appeared. Noble seems to be coupled with the Hathorne interests at times, and from his activity and inclina- tion for that kind of work, it may be that additional to his own claims, which were stretched into this locality without the semblance of a reason for doing so, he may have purchased an interest in Hathorne's or it may have been given him upon a plan of percentage, the Hathorne claimants recognizing his ability and success in blackmailing the destitute inhabitants.
The reader may find particular references to these hard- ships in the depositions which have appeared in a former chapter. Previous to incorporation the oppression existed, but of that we have no record except in the depositions mentioned. As the country became settled and improved these claims were pressed with increased energy for the reason that there was a larger field to work and more revenue to be harvested. Town action in Boothbay occurred at three periods as follows :
"Voted that the town will stand by one another to stand a law-sute with the proprietors if any of them is sued by Hathorne's clamers impowering James Noble to sue the inhab- itants within the lines mentioned excepting those persons that has taken under above sd clamers meaning all the inhabitants. to the Eastward of Cambels Cove so called and Cambels pond so called and from thence to the Oven's mouth so called all inhabitants that has not tied them Selves to sd Nobel by
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writing or any other way is to be in due proportion in sute against him the sd hathorne and nobel. "1
The above vote, besides showing the oppression of the land claimants, also shows a peculiar method of doing town busi- ness. No appropriation is here made to be assessed for a purpose ; but a vote is taken, evidently understood by those voting, to make a certain element legally liable to a contri- bution. In 1777 all the town voted to defend any person against the prosecutions threatened by the land claimants against certain individual inhabitants ; and again, in 1787, the Hathorne claimants pressed so many of the people with threats of suits of ejectment, that the town, at its annual meeting, chose William McCobb, Capt. John Borland and Capt. John Reed to defend individuals at the expense of the town.
As time wore on the land troubles steadily increased. The heirs, in each successive generation, were becoming more numerous, and even pretenders appeared, looking upon the rural population of this little cluster of towns as an easy prey for their peculations. The greater number of claimants lived in Massachusetts. It was a rare thing that any of their suits were pressed to trial. They were mostly brought in the nature of a bluff, knowing the natural fear and dread in which the inhabitants stood of the law and legal action. There is but little doubt that the proprietors themselves realized their own weakness, inasmuch as they seldom clashed with each other, though their claims were everywhere overlapping or covering the identical tracts of land. Many instances are recorded where some proprietor induced some one to take a deed under him, when the party thus purchasing would be almost immediately sued by another claimant.
A survey of the property was necessary upon which to sustain an action, and at last the people, goaded to despera- tion, took the matter into their own hands and decided to allow no more surveys to be made. Bands of citizens collected wherever it was proposed to run a line, and surveyors, fearing to come into collision with the people in their existing state of mind, desisted from the purpose. The claimants were con- veniently located and subtle enough in their plans to make a
1. Town records, 1769.
12
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
favorable impression upon the General Court. At that dis- tance from the scene of trouble it was plausibly presented that these heirs of just claims were being wronged of their rightful inheritances by a set of squatters, who, as a last resort, by riotous action, with force and arms, were even obstructing land surveyors in the duties to which they were appointed by the Court.
Through this influence, on March 6, 1810, a law was passed, entitled " An Act for the more speedy and effectual sup- pression of tumults in the Commonwealth. " This law author- ized any judge of the Supreme Court, in certain circumstances, when the regular administration of the law was obstructed, to call out, in his discretion, a sufficient force of militia to sup- press the riot or tumult and restore order.
Two test cases were brought that year, probably by collusion between the plaintiffs. One was James Noble vs. John Hall, of Nobleboro, founded on the Brown claim, through the Goulds, to the eight-mile-square lot ; and the other was Eliot G. Vaughn vs. Nathaniel Thompson, of Nobleboro, based on the Brown claim, through the original deed of 1625. If the latter should be held valid the other certainly would be, and if it was not held valid the other might be. James Malcomb, of Cushing, was appointed surveyor by the Court and duly sworn on August 25th. On the 27th he went to Hall's to commence the survey, accompanied by Noble's agent. While searching for a corner bound at which to commence they were confronted by a band of some fifty or sixty inhabitants, headed by that old Revolutionary hero, Com. Samuel Tucker, who was then sixty-three years old and spokesman for the party. He demanded their authority, whereupon the Court order was produced. Tucker denounced it as a forgery, told them that no court would order a survey without giving notice to all parties whose lands were affected; that if Hall's farm was taken from him, perhaps his (Tucker's) would be taken next, and that would never occur until it had been enriched by the last drop of blood in his veins. He then issued his ultimatum, that the town of Bristol had decided to have no lines ruu, and if they persisted their instruments would be taken away from them. Giving up the effort they turned to leave town, and
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