USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 16
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 16
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 16
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LAND CLAIMS AND CLAIMANTS.
were escorted out of it by Com. Tucker, William and Thomas Burns,1 and others. On the way toward Damariscotta Mills a party was met, who stated that about 100 men near that place were congregated and that they stated that they were on the lookout for land proprietors.
Statements were made to the Court at once and it ordered a draft, principally from Boothbay and vicinity, of 500 men, under their proper officers, to be held in readiness to march at short notice. It is said that representatives from Bristol at once came to Boothbay and interviewed the drafted men as to their views. The agents of Bristol were assured by the Booth- bay contingent that if they had to fight they should choose which side to fight on.
About this time the entire District of Maine was highly excited over an occurrence at Malta, now Windsor. There the Kennebec Proprietors were pressing their claims against a poor and needy community. While making a survey in that place on September 8, 1809, Paul Chadwick was shot and killed. Seven of the party who did the shooting were at once arrested and lodged in the Augusta jail. Their sympathizers, from all the locality about Malta, disguised as Indians, besieged the jail and tried to rescue the prisoners. The militia were called out to guard the jail. The judges ordered an extra session of the court to try the prisoners for murder at an early date. The trial lasted a fortnight ; the evidence was direct as well as circumstantial, and of the strongest character, including that of one of the prisoners, who, evidently frightened and advised, turned State's evidence. Notwithstanding this, all were acquitted. The fact of this acquittal against evidence and the fear to depend upon the Boothbay militia against their brethren in distress, residing in the neighboring towns of Nobleboro and Bristol, went far toward precipitating the issue,
1. The report made by Vaughn and Malcomb to the Court stated that Tucker told them regardless of his years he could still wield a sword or pull a trigger; and that both William and Thomas Burns declared they would shoot the first person who at- tempted to run a line on their land, no matter what court they might have an order from. This William Burns, for his last marriage, married Margaret, widow of William McClintock and daughter of William Fullerton, of Boothbay. The McClin- tock children, one of whom was John, who founded the Boothbay family were reared by Burns.
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
out of which an adjustment came and the existing troubles subsided.1
The following winter the General Court repealed the obnoxious law permitting a single judge to call out the militia, and passed a resolution directing the Governor to appoint a commission of three members, whose duties should be to take into consideration his message to the two branches of the Leg- islature, in relation to the disturbances in Lincoln County, also to consider the memorials of the inhabitants of the towns of Bristol, Edgecomb, Nobleboro, Newcastle and Boothbay, then pending before the General Court. The commissioners were directed to go to the county of Lincoln empowered to send for such persons and papers as they deemed necessary, and to give notice of the time and place of their meetings to the selectmen of the towns mentioned.
The Governor appointed on this commission Hon. Perez Morton, a prominent lawyer in Boston, Jonathan Smith, Jr., and Thomas B. Adams. They met at the house of Dr. Josiah Myrick, Newcastle, on April 29th. John M. McFarland, then one of the Boothbay board of selectmen, with William McCobb and Dr. Daniel Rose, represented Boothbay. William McCobb was chosen chairman of the assemblage of town committees. A sub-committeee to represent and conduct the case for the inhabitants was chosen, of which Doctor Rose was selected chairman. Just three weeks were spent upon the case. Many depositions were taken, by which means much of the early his- tory of this locality has been rescued from oblivion. Nearly every part of the disputed territory was visited and a report with recommendations followed to the General Court. In place of a miserable set of squatters, preferring mob rule to law and order, the commission reported that churches, well- supported, existed in each of the towns; that schools were numerous and well-supported, and that the country had been settled nearly a century; that the people were thrifty, well- ordered, industrious, and had, by industry, made comfortable
1. The defendants in this case were David Lynn. Jabez Meigs, Elijah Barton. Prince Cain, Nathaniel Lynn, Ansel Meigs and Adam Pitts. The trial was commenced November 16, 1809, before Judges Sedgwick, Sewall, Thatcher and Parker. Jury- men were entirely chosen from Somerset and Kennebec Counties. This trial excited great interest everywhere in Maine and Massachusetts. It appeared in book form January, 1810, from the press of Ezekiel Goodale, Hallowell.
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LAND CLAIMS AND CLAIMANTS.
homes for themselves. They recommended that, from the facts obtained by them, another commission should be appointed to determine what, if any, ownership existed in the claimants, and that if any was found to exist that they be awarded wild land in the District to satisfy the amount determined, and that the settlers on the lands in dispute be unmolested.
Accordingly, June 11, 1811, the Governor alluded favor- ably to the report in his message and the new commissioners selected were Hon. Jeremiah Smith, Exeter, N. H., William H. Woodward, Hanover, N. H., and Hon. David Howell, Providence, R. I. By this decision a full township of land was given the Kennebec Proprietors, and half a township to claimants under the Drowne claim. The Brown, Tappan, Noble and Vaughn claims were extinguished as never having had any foundation in either law or equity, while the Hathorne and Ludgate claims were declared obsolete.
I add to this hasty sketch of long and weighty troubles, which bore upon our early inhabitants, a valuable deposition, taken of the venerable William McCobb, before the commis- sion in 1811 and but four years before his decease.
WILLIAM McCOBB'S DEPOSITION.
William McCobb, of Boothbay, testified : That he is sixty- nine years of age. That the first claimants of Boothbay since his remembrance, about the year 1775, was the Plymouth Company. A Major Goodwin, as their agent, came about that time and brought a surveyor with him. He said he was willing to quiet the old settlers under Dunbar with an hundred acres each. He brought with him Indian deeds, grants and plans to show that the Company's claim extended to the sea. After Goodwin went away another agent of the Plymouth Company, Doctor McKecknie, settled in town. Many people took deeds under Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, who claimed under the Plymouth Company - among others there were Andrew and Ephraim McFarland, and four or five more. The witness further testified that the next claimant was Major James Noble, who claimed under one Hathorne, by virtue of a deed from Robin Hood to Henry Curtis, and from Curtis to Hathorne. Noble offered to quiet all old settlers in their possessions, in case they would give up the rest of their land. About the year 1766 or 1767 in one part of Boothbay Noble convened the inhabitants, made proposals, but they refused to do any-
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
thing ; afterward, as witness was informed, he went into the other part of the town, and asserted that the inhabitants gen- erally had agreed to settle and had taken deeds. Under this impression a number were persuaded to compromise with Noble, and they gave their notes. Noble gave them each a stipulation, that on paying £13 6s 8d, the amount of the notes, he would give a deed. The witness believes that none of the notes were ever paid, or deeds given, and never knew of any person being called on for his note.
About thirty to forty years ago, witness testified that he saw a survey of a part of Boothbay, under a claim denominated the Ludgate claim, who derived his title from one Champnoi, under a will. Hathorne and Ludgate came down and made a division, and Hathorne took one side of the town and Ludgate the other. Ludgate made great professions, if people would buy of him, that he would build a meeting house and give every settler fifty acres, but he never did either. The claims of Hathorne and Ludgate did not extend to Edgecomb, but there was another Tappan claim which did extend to Edge- comb. The witness further testified that the Plymouth Com- pany gave leases to people on Linekin's Neck in Boothbay.
REV. JOHN MURRAY. 1742-1793.
CHAPTER XII. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
T O JUSTLY comprehend any historical situation it is nec- essary to understand the existing predominating beliefs of the people and the conditions surrounding them at the particular period. Nearly one and one-half centuries have elapsed since the occurrences enumerated in the early part of this chapter. Religious belief was then more direct and simple than at present. There was less diversity of opinion then than now, but the opinions of that epoch were tenaciously held. Church attendance was then believed to be a necessity, if pos- sible, and the efforts to attend, in some cases of which we have record, seem well-nigh incredible. Ministers assiduously attended to their duties, against many adverse conditions, for a very small pecuniary compensation ; and yet, to raise those slight salaries, at the time, was a greater burden than to con- tribute to the larger expenses of the present. But regardless of the strain upon the parish it was usually accomplished, as matters always are that carry with them the sense of duty. The efficacy of prayer, -the intercession and response, direct and immediate, -the foreordination of events, the special providences were all tenets of faith which are largely modified at the present day.
There were in Maine about the middle of the eighteenth century but few in religious beliefs outside of the Congrega- tionalists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. The latter, how- ever, were not as numerous nor as diversified in settlement over the State as either of the former. Those localities where the inhabitants were principally of Scotch descent were gen- erally Presbyterian in their earliest history.
The first Presbytery in New England was established at Londonderry, N. H., April 16, 1745, called the Boston Pres- bytery. The first Presbyterian Church in New England had
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
been gathered in the same town, in 1719, by the Rev. James McGregor, both pastor and people being of Scotch-Irish blood, and immigrants then recently from Ireland. In 1775 this Boston Presbytery was divided into three, known as the eastern or Salem, the middle or Londonderry, the western or Palmer. These were organized at Londonderry, September 4, 1776, into a paramount body known as the Synod of New England. But this body declined until 1782, when it became again a single one, known as the Salem Presbytery, and its last meeting was held at Gray, Maine, September 14, 1791. The principal churches of this denomination in Maine were gathered in the towns of Boothbay, Bristol, Brunswick, Cam- den, Georgetown, Gray, Newcastle, Scarborough, Topsham, Turner, Warren and Windham. At the date last given they had lost their sectarian character and, within a few years, became Congregational, the two denominations differing but little in either faith or customs.
The earliest mentioned minister about the Kennebec, or east of it, was the Rev. Joseph Baxter, a Congregationalist, who accompanied Governor Shute to Arrowsic in 1717 for the purpose of holding a conference with the Canibas Indians. He preached there, at intervals, until 1721. No other is recorded until 1734, when, at the same place, the Rev. William McClanethan, a Presbyterian, commenced his labors and con- tinued, irregularly, for ten years. Congregationalists and Presbyterians were about evenly balanced in numbers in Georgetown, and, not being able to support two churches, nor to agree on one, they were without religious worship much of the time. At last the right man came in Rev. Ezekiel Emer- son, who was ordained July 1, 1765, and a successful pastor- ate was conducted for fourteen years.
Rev. Robert Rutherford, who came into the country under Dunbar, preached at the fort at Pemaquid and in the houses and barns about Harrington, Walpole, Townsend and New- castle until 1735, when he settled at Brunswick. The Rev. Robert Dunlap, born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, in 1715, receiving his degree and license to preach at the age of nineteen, embarked for America in 1736. The vessel he came in was wrecked on Isle of Sable, but he and a few others
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reached the Isle of Canso. He then went to Cape Ann and Boston. From there he came to Nobleboro, Maine. Next he came to Townsend, where he lived awhile and preached, like Rutherford, in the houses and barns of the plantation. He next went to Sheepscot and finally, in 1746, was ordained as the first pastor at Brunswick, where he preached for thirteen years, afterward living out his days in that town.
Rev. Alexander Boyd came to New England in 1748, and preached for a time in Georgetown, but the two denominations could not harmonize on him, so he went to Newcastle, where he was ordained at the Sheepscot church, but under great objection from part of the people, and a condition that it was not to be understood that his pastorate extended to the Dam- ariscotta side of the town. He, like the others mentioned, preached occasionally at Townsend. Mr. Boyd was an elo- quent, ready speaker and attracted congregations wherever he appeared ; but he was unsuccessful in his calling, as he bred dissensions in all his charges. He labored under the further disadvantage of a blemished reputation, brought about by an irregular marriage before he left Scotland, and desertion of his wife when he came to America. There may have been others who occasionally preached to the inhabitants of old Townsend, but no records of such instances that are trust- worthy. Tradition was general at the beginning of the nine- teenth century that George Whitefield, that renowned and shining light of Methodism, preached to the early Townsend settlers, which is not improbable.
As mentioned in an earlier chapter, the population of Townsend received many accessions from the westward,-from about York, Kittery, Kennebunkport, Portsmouth and Dover during and immediately after the close of the French and Indian War. These families were of English descent, for the most part, and included the names of Kelley, Bryer, Carlisle, Giles, Tibbetts, Hutchings, Storer, Barter, Matthews, Lewis, Kenney, Morrison, Pinkham, Crommett, Lamson, Decker, Avery, Clark and others. Previous to this the inhabitants had been nearly all of Scotch descent, through the Scotch- Irish immigration in Dunbar's time. This Scotch element were all of the Presbyterian faith, but the newcomers were a
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
devout and religiously inclined people, divided, however, into several sects.
If the Townsend settlers had other objects in obtaining incorporation they were not expressed. The paramount rea- son given was that the gospel might be settled among them. They were stirred to action in this matter early in 1764, by an occurrence late in the preceding year. The venerable Andrew Reed, whose wife was Jean Murray, had kept in- formed of their nephew in Antrim, Ireland, left behind them in their native town when they came to America. This nephew was John Murray, who was born May 22, 1742, and was now twenty-one years of age. He had been duly inducted into the sacerdotal office according to the usages of the church to which he belonged. No formal installation was necessary as a prerequisite to his administration of Christian ordinances. Thus being a probationer his position was such that a connec- tion with any church might be made by a union in covenant, and with a parish by contract.
Upon the urgent solicitation of his American relatives he landed in New York late in the fall of 1763 and came to Townsend at once. Here he preached several times in differ- ent parts of the plantation at the houses. His fame as a devout and eloquent preacher went before him and people flocked to hear him. The desire became immediately unanimous that he should settle with them as pastor. A meeting was held at the Harbor, December 22, 1763, at the house of John Beath, and five leading citizens pledged him a salary of ninety pounds a year sterling. But he declined to accept on the ground that by being without town form or government the place was an undesirable one in which to settle. He admitted their apparent necessities, and appeared pleased at his acquaintance with the people, but was inflexible in his determination. He concluded while among them, and so stated, that it was his intention to return to Ireland at once. He took leave of his eastern friends in February, promising them if he ever returned to America he would settle with them.
While making a tarry in New York he made some public appearance and his genius and ability were at once recognized. Influences were brought to bear upon him of such strength
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
that he changed his intentions and was received under the care of the New York Presbytery. In May, 1765, he was settled as the successor of the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, in the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia.
Boothbay, having been incorporated the fall previous, was organizing in her new capacity about the time of Mr. Murray's Philadelphia settlement, and about this time the inhabitants, who had so much admired him when among them, learned of his location. During the preceding year (1764) it seems that they had written to him and he to them, but it was thought the correspondence in both cases had been intercepted by inter- ested parties. At any rate the letters never reached their des- tination. Communication at length being established, the set- tlers set forth the fact of their new condition, and insisted upon the fulfillment of the promise he had made them. The old church records contain in full the long and complex story of the petitioners to the western Presbytery for the release of Mr. Murray, for he was now willing to take up the Boothbay charge if a release from Philadelphia could be obtained. They tell of the reluctance of his Philadelphia parish to part with him, and the aid they obtained from New York in trying to influence his continued settlement with them. Capt. Andrew McFarland, John Beath and Mr. Murray's cousins, Capts. Andrew and Paul Reed, made several trips to Boston, and at last interested the Rev. John Morehead, of that city, to aid them. After every technicality had been exhausted he was released and came to Boothbay immediately, much to the regret of the parish from which he had severed his connection. In the few months of his pastorate there more had united with that church than during the entire settlement of his predeces- sor, Tennent.
The new church at Boothbay was practically completed when he arrived in 1766. Its raising had occurred September 27, 1765, and its dedication took place July 28, 1766, when he assumed pastoral charge of the parish. The organization was not entirely completed and the church officers ordained until September 20, 1767. On Sunday, April 13, 1767, they cele- brated for the first time the service of the Lord's Supper. The first church officers were as follows : William Moore, Robert Murray, John Beath and Nehemiah Harrenden were ruling
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
elders ; Israel Davis, Samuel Adams, Ephraim McFarland were deacons ; Mr. Murray was moderator and John Beath, scribe. The date, July 28, 1766, is the one recognized as the ecclesias- itcal beginning in Boothbay, and is the proper anniversary day.
The old, worn book of records tells us of the membership at organization as follows : "The names of the persons thus incorporated, some of whom were absent at the time, but afterward fully acceded to all that was done," were
Men.
Women.
Robert Murray,
Sarah Davis,
William Moore,
Elizabeth Pierce,
John Beath,
Jane Reed,
William Fullerton,
Jane Moore,
Samuel McCobbe,
Margaret Beath,
William McCulloch,
Janet Fullerton,
Samuel Adams,
Mary McCobb,
John Murray,
Janet McCulloch,
Samuel Pierce, John Wheeler, John Reed.
Sarah Reed,
Mary McCulloch,
Margaret Fullerton,
Margery Reed,
Elizabeth Beath,
Mary Beath, Mary Reed,
Elizabeth Boyd,
Mary McKown,
Hannah Marshall,
Rhoda Davis,
Martha Wiley.
The foregoing names were received by letter soon after the following persons were received by profession.
Men.
Andrew Reed,
Women. Elizabeth McFarland,
Ephraim McFarland,
Sarah Adams,
Israel Davis,
Mary Reed,
William Davis,
Anne Murray,
William McCobb, Benjamin Thomas,
Martha Reed,
*James Blanchard, Andrew McFarland,
Rachel McCobb,
Mary Reed,
Margaret McFarland,
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
David Reed,
Elizabeth Merry,
Thomas Boyd,
Alice Wiley,
George Boyd,
Margaret McGuire, Elizabeth Gilmore,
John McCobb,
Thomas Tully,
*William Burns,
*Mary Winslow, Sarah Boyd,
*James Hilton, Nathaniel Rawlins, Nehemiah Harrenden, Jr.,
*Mary Allen, Margaret Boyd,
David Decker,
*Hannah Burns, Marianne Fullerton,
Enoch Avery,
Mary Boyd,
John Ingraham, William Reed,
Lydia Rawlins,
Patrick McKown,
*Mary McCurdy, Martha Harrenden, Sarah Tibbetts,
*Robert Given,
*Hezekiah Eggleson,
Margaret Decker,
*Patrick Kincaid, Joseph Irwine, Simeon Rush,
Mary Caldwell, Jane Reed,
*Mary Kincaid, Sarah Reed,
* Anne McMullan,
*Mary Stetson, Ruth Maddocks,
*Mary Carter,
*Hannah Fling,
*Margaret McFadden, Jane Montgomery.
In the winter or early spring of 1767 occurred the great revival, an account of which finds a descriptive place in the works of all who have written upon the early ecclesiastical his- tory of Maine. Mr. Murray was the sole inspiration of the movement. We have no record of assistance being given him either in its origin or continuance. Extracts from his diary show the vital, energetic character of the man and his deep solicitude for others. His powers did not end in his oratory, but he was an active, faithful pastor in every sense. William-
* Members thus designated are not thought to have been residents of Boothbay, and are nearly all recognized as names in Bristol.
*Henry Hunter,
*Thomas Clark.
Martha Day,
John Leishman,
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
son well says : "A minister whose piety was an incense both at the fireside and the altar." The desire for his ministrations spread from Boothbay to the surrounding towns, and, after the work of revival had been well advanced at home, he went in March, 1767, to the surrounding towns as a field of con- quest. The old record tells us :
"Beginning at Squam and free town, he visited Pownal- borough and Sheepscut, the head of the tide, Walpole, Har- rington, &c., and during the space of two weeks, which this tour took up, he preached every day, and the work of God was glorious."
The list of baptisms which followed in the summer months, and which stands recorded in this old record book in his hand- writing, included Pleasant Cove, Sheepscot, Hopkins, Walpole, Pemaquid, Harrington, Muscongus, Broad Cove, Damariscove and Georgetown. Day and evening, for several months, his lodgings as well as his church were filled with anxious souls, we are told, until past midnight, sometimes until two and three o'clock in the morning, and this condition existed in the towns he visited as well as at home. If we may believe contemporary writers, or Greenleaf, Williamson and others who wrote of it from fifty to seventy-five years later, we must conclude that the Lincoln County revival of 1767, led by the Rev. John Murray, surpassed anything else of the kind that had occurred in the history of Maine.
But Mr. Murray's powers were not all in his magnetic oratory. He was a scholar and an earnest student, and his powers and influence extended into other fields of usefulness besides the church. He will appear again to our readers in the chapter on the Revolutionary War. At an unusually early age he entered the University of Edinburgh, from which he graduated with high honors. His familiarity with the book from which he preached was to many a wonder; but it was no miracle, - it simply showed his great mental power for reten- tion of facts, and to that were added the qualities of an attentive student. This power, though uncommon, is often exemplified by individuals in all the professions. Mr. Murray, however, had all the requisites of a great man. His mind being stored with all that was best, he possessed the faculties necessary to
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handle and display his knowledge to advantage : a faultless elocution, a complete command of language, an earnest pur- pose, ready thoughts, and the capacity to combine and mar- shal to advantage all that was within him.
A case in point occurred once at Brunswick. Mr. Murray was well under way in his sermon, when some remark dis- pleased Judge Hinkley, one of his hearers, a descendant of the Plymouth Pilgrims, and said to be a disputatious, overbearing man, who generally opposed the Scotch-Irish of that town and church. The Judge stepped boldly into the broad, center aisle and asked the preacher if he "knew in whose presence he stood." "Yes," replied Mr. Murray, "in the presence of a Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas." "Then," said the Judge, "I will say to you, as the Lord said unto Elijah, ' What doest thou here,' John Murray?" Instantly Mr. Murray repeated Elijah's answer (1 Kings xix. 10), dropped the thread of his regular discourse, and, making this impromptu passage his text, spoke for an hour with an eloquence that captivated his hearers.
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