USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 8
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 8
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 8
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At the May term of the General Court at Boston an order declared the name of the new county to be Devon, and Lieut. Thomas Gardiner was appointed Treasurer of the county. The following orders were issued :
" Richard Olliver, of Monheghen, is nominated and ap- pointed to be, recorder and clerke of the courts of this county, who took the oath accordingly."
" Thomas Humphries, cunstable at Saggerdehock and Ken- nebec; Robert Gammon, of Capenawaghen, William Walters of Dameralls cove John Dolling of Monheghen, took theire oaths as cunstables allsoe Thº Cox of Pemmaquid : took his oath allsoe."
"The Grandjurimen tooke their oathes allsoe, according to law for their severall places as followeth,-
" Robbert Edmunds, Ambrosse Hanewell, John Verrine of Saggerdehoke.
John Wriford, Elias trick, John Pride of Dammeralls cove.
"George Bickford : Reynold Kelley of Monheghen.
"John Cole of Pemaquid."
" The Cunstables & Grand Jury men abovesd tooke the oath of fidelity (only John Pride tooke his oath at Salem) as alsoe these psons following present Inhabitants.
" Capt. Edmund Pattishall, Ichabod Wisswall,
Richard Oliver, William Bickford,
Edward Barton,
Richard Hill,
Henry Curtis,2 Richard Warren,
Francis Brown,
henry Stoakes,
Wm Denbo,
Edward Dorr,
Jno Dare,
George Burnett,
Nico Osbourne, David Oliver, Emanuel Witchalls,
Jno Cock,
Thos Parker,
Tho Phillips,
1. Johnson's Pemaquid, p. 111; Rec. Mass. V, pp. 5-17; Will. Hist. Me. I, 443.
2. Henry Curtis is the party who bought the west side of Boothbay in 1666 of Menawormet. Italics indicate those who lived at either Cape Newagen, Damariscove or Corbin's Sound.
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GROWTH AND GOVERNMENT.
Tho Helman,
Nico Carary,
Jno Parker,
Nico Denning,
Edward Cole,
Jno Wildgoose,
Tho Parnell,
Aaron Beard,
Gregory Lansberry,
Abra Clark,
Tho Coxe Jun" ,
Henry Curtis Jun",
Shadrick Cox,
Richard Cox,
Richd Pearce Jun,
Robert Cawley,
Tho Adger,
Richd Bradway,
Richd Bucknell,
Wm Edwards,
Tho Cox,
Wm Waters,
Wm Welcone,
Jno Bessell,
Peter Collins,
Richd Glass,
Tho Phillips,
Hen. Palmer,
Jnº Palmer Jun",
Phillip Brye,
Wm Phillips,
Jnº Stover,
Jnº Palmer sen",
Robt Edmunds,
James Widger,
Tho Haels,
Jnº Gingden,
Nico Vallack,
Jnº Selman,
William Trout,
Nico Heale,
Geo Bucknell,
Wm Cox,
Thº Cox."
" The Constables of each place in this County were ordered to call the inhabitants togthr and to Read or cause to be read the Laws of this Jurisdiction unto ym in Convenient time."
"These psons ffollowing are Nominated and approved as Sargeants & Corporalls to Exercise Millitary Discipline to ye Inhabitants in the severall places according to law ffor Saga- dehoc and Kennebec Tho : Humphrys Sargeant and James Middleton Corporall."
" ffor Damarells Cove and Hippocrass, Jnº Bessell Sargeant & William Trout Corporall. ffor Monheghen John Dolling Sargeant & he to choose his Corporall therc."
ffor Cape bone Waggon Robt Gamon Sargeant & to choose his Corporall there."
"These persons ffollowing are chosen to be Clarkes of the Writs in severall places vizt
"In Sagadchock & Kennebeck Tho : Humphryes
" In Monheghan Richard Oliver
" In Damcrells Cove William Walters
" In Capebonewaggon Robbert Gamon."
" The persons following are appointed & have liberty to keepe houses of publique intertaynemente & are to be provided with permits &c accordingly and to retayle beere wyne & liquors in ye Severall places for the yeere Ensueing according to Law
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
" ffor Monheghen Jnº Dolling
"ffor Saggadehock & Kennebeck William Cock
"ffor Damarells Cove John Wriford
"ffor Capebonewagon Edward Barton
"ffor Pemequid Jnº. Cole alsoe Lieft Gardiner to his fish- ermen & Jnº Earthy
" ffor Corbin Sound George Bucknell."
"It is Ordered That warrants be issued out for ye levying of twenty pounds uppon the Inhabitants of this county for Court charges, Law bookes, Constables Staves &c vizt upon Saggadehock & Kennebec four pounds upon Monheghen five pounds xs upon Cape bone Waggon three pounds xs uppon Dammerell's Cove & hippocras five pounds, and on Pemyquid 40s and that the Commission's where any is with the grand Jury men and constable in each place shall equally Levy the same on ye psons & estates of ye Severall inhabitants to be col- lected by ye Constables & delivered to Lieftent Tho : Gardiner treasurer of the County.
"Humphry Davie p Order." 1
Of the above twenty pounds levied on the entire county it will be noted that Damariscove and Hippocras paid exactly one-fourth of the amount, the Kennebec settlement paid less than these islands, while Cape Newagen ranked above Pema- quid. Monhegan alone was as much as Damariscove. This, doubtless, is an accurate key to estimating the proportion of population at that period. There are, however, several other indications corroborative of the above assessment. This does away with an impression, long believed by some to be errone- ous, that Pemaquid, besides being the central point and having the fort, the court, and otherwise being the point of chief importance east of the Kennebec, also held the greater part of the population and taxable property. It is plainly evident that such an idea is incorrect. When the locality petitioned Massachusetts to extend her government over them the num- ber of petitioners was less in Pemaquid and Sheepscot than in any of the other places, and there are several other indications in the same line.
Commissioners, in a sense corresponding to the present trial justice, were appointed to hear cases with jurisdiction not exceeding £10. This was to save the expense and effort of
1. The matter above produced is largely from Me. His. Col., Doc. Ser. IV, 344-48; Also do. First Ser. V, 239-243; Johnson's Pemaquid, pp. 110-112.
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GROWTH AND GOVERNMENT.
holding court in this then distant region. The court was to convene annually, but there is no record of any session in 1675, and while a record exists for convening a court at Pem- aquid on the "third second day of July," which meant the third Monday, no record of such a session has been found. There was a well-grounded reason for these omissions, as we shall see in the following chapter.
CHAPTER VI. THE INDIAN WARS.
I IN JUNE, 1675, there were thirteen settlements, or planta- tions, in Maine, as follows: 1, Kittery, including the settlements about the mouth of the Piscataqua ; 2, York ; 3, Wells; 4, Cape Porpoise; 5, Saco, on both sides of the river ; 6, Scarborough ; 7, Falmouth, including the peninsula, Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Westbrook; 8, Pejepscot, including the lower Androscoggin settlements and Maquoit on Casco Bay ; 9, the plantations of Kennebec and Sagadahoc, including Cushnoc and Arrowsic; 10, Sheepscot and Cape Newagen ; 11, Damariscotta River, or New Dartmouth, since New Castle, the Damariscove group of islands and Corbin's Sound; 12, Pemaquid; 13, Monhegan, George's Islands and the opposite settlements on the mainland. The other settle- ments were east of the Penobscot, at Biguyduce (Castine), Eggemoggin Reach (Sedgwick), Mount Desert, Machias and Schoodic, composed entirely of French, probably not exceed- ing seventy-five persons.1
To be more minute in relation to our immediate settlements, it may be said that there were at this time four settlements in the territory that became Boothbay nearly a century later. The one at Damariscove was the largest, being about one-fourth of Cornwall County, as we have seen by the assessment. Cape Newagen, by this assessment, shows to have been about three- fifths that of Damariscove. There were a few families at Cor- bin's Sound, probably two on Hippocras, and Henry Curtis somewhere on the west side, bordering on the Sheepscot. He also had a son, Henry, Junior, appearing on various docu- ments. A small settlement, called Widgin's, or Widgor's, was
1. The general story of the Indian Wars in more or less detail, the particular facts presented varying with each author according to the field covered by him, appears in several Maine publications. To obtain about all the information to be had upon the subject the following references may be cited : Will. Hist, Me., Vol. 1; Eaton's Annals of Warren; Johnson's Pemaquid; Wheeler's Hist. of Brunswick, Topsham and Harps- well, and the Maine Hist. Society's Collection.
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THE INDIAN WARS.
located somewhere on the shore, probably either Spruce Point or Mckown's Point, presumably the former. The settler for whom this place was named was, probably, James Widgor. The application of the Sagadahoc petitioners, which has appeared in the preceding chapter, was undoubtedly brought about by an existing fear of French domination, on one hand, and an impression, on the other, that the government of James' ducal province of Cornwall, which was only an appendage of his New York grant, would amount to nothing in the matter of either system or strength. These people, as well as those of the Province of Maine, and both the Massachusetts and Plymonth Colonies, were all composed of nearly pure-bred English stock. One old writer says that the New England coast at the close of the seventeenth century was peopled with as pure-bred English stock as England herself. Therefore, while a loose and irregular life might be the one led in the main, where neither clergy nor legal restraints were in evidence, still there was an underlying tendency toward Protestantism and an equally deep-seated prejudice against Romanism. Hence the fear of French encroachments and a desire to rush under the wing of Massachusetts, which was steadily growing strong and populous.
At the breaking out of King Philip's War, June 24, 1675, at Swanzea, Massachusetts, the English population of Maine and Sagadahoc exceeded 6,000, while the native population, both Abenaques and Etechemins, was from 15,000 to 18,000. The reason for the outbreak at this particular time is only explainable in a general way. It was the breaking out of a long smouldering fire, the culmination of troubles long fer- mented, and in Philip the leader came, as is usually the case, fitted in all ways to head the movement. The actual colonists, realizing the dangers constantly about them, had been careful and discreet, in the main, in their intercourse with the natives. Some avaricious ones engaged in trade had overshot the mark in driving hard bargains; but the greatest irritant was the course pursued by vessels' crews, fishing and otherwise engaged, which were only occasionally on the coast. By some of these the Indians were first made drunk, or by some deceit enticed aboard, then kidnapped and sold into slavery, at either the
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
West Indies or in Spain. Another serious provocation was the treatment of the native women. Further than this, the Indians looked on with suspicion to the clearing of land by axe and fire, the erection of fortifications and the advance of civilization generally.
Within twenty days of the attack on Swanzca the Indians of Maine and Sagadahoc, at places 250 miles distant, were growing turbulent. It is evident that the Maine Indians were reinforced from the westward, for Narragansetts were captured in Maine during the war. The war in Massachusetts lasted until August 12, 1676, when it was broken by the death of Philip. He was shot at his old home, Mount Hope, to which he had just returned, by a friendly Indian fighting in the English ranks under Captain Church. Two bullets brought him to the earth, where he fell upon his face in some mud and water he was running through to elude his pursuers. His hands were cut off and carried in triumph to Boston as a trophy to the Bay colonists ; while his head was severed and raised upon a pole and borne to Plymouth for that Colony to view, the day being devoted to a public thanksgiving. The leading men under Philip, who surrendered, for the most part fared badly. Watascompanun and Captain Tom were hung in Boston. Matoonas was sentenced to hang, but his friends, looking upon hanging as an ignoble death for a chief, begged the privilege to shoot him themselves, which was accorded. Three leading Nipmucks were later hung in Boston, and a Narragansett chief shot in Rhode Island. Tispaquin and Anna- won, two of Philip's principal men, were taken to Plymouth and there beheaded. Four out of seven identified as being parties who set fire to Plymouth were hung. Of 200 prisoners captured by Major Waldron, at Dover, and sent to Boston for trial, seven ringleaders were hung and the remainder sold into slavery at Bermuda; among them was Philip's son. Massa- chusetts lost during the war 600 men, 1,200 houses, 8,000 cattle, and the cost otherwise was £150,000. The Indians lost 3,000 lives.
But while Massachusetts cleared herself in about fourteen months the Indian spirit was unsubdued. Marauding parties came into Maine, where the population was less and where they
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THE INDIAN WARS.
could obtain arms and ammunition from the French. Soon after the death of Philip the war was waged in Maine and Sagadahoc fiercer than ever. It lasted until the treaty of peace at Casco, April 12, 1678.
The war in Maine broke out by an attack on Thomas Pur- chas, a trader, living about six miles below where Brunswick now stands, on September 5, 1675. Settlers in Falmouth were attacked the 12th, where a family, Wakefield by name, was murdered, some being burned with their house and the rest horribly tortured and their remains mutilated. Soon after this a battle at New Meadows River occurred, where two Indians were shot ; but the latter came off victorious, putting to flight some twenty-five whites and capturing two boat loads of corn. Scarborough was burned on the 20th. Attacks on Saco and Wells immediately followed. The Sagadahoc territory was the last to be attacked, though the weakest places existed there. This was largely due to the efforts of Abraham Shurte, then at the age of eighty-three or more, who, by pacific policies, held off the impending catastrophe.
That portion of the State now composing York County was harassed in nearly every neighborhood repeatedly. No one knew when it was safe to move in any direction, for behind any bunch of bushes or cliff of ledge the murderous savage might be lurking in his war paint. The Indians were at a great advantage. They had no houses or homes to lose. What would undo the white settler would not affect them in the least. The forest, lake or stream was equally their home. They could endure any privation and travel across country at surprising speed, appearing in a locality one day and striking an unex- pected blow many miles from there the next. Every white habitation was known to them and none were overlooked in this war of destruction.
The day following Philip's fall Woolwich was destroyed and Arrowsic burned. The attack at Woolwich was made at Stinson's Point, upon the house of Richard Hammond, a trader. A young girl escaped and, following footpaths, reached the neighborhood of Sheepscot Farms, about twelve miles distant, and alarmed the inhabitants. She told the settlers as she was fleeing from the house, unseen by the savages, she heard loud
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
blows within. This was true, for Hammond, Samuel Smith and Joshua Grant were killed, and sixteen others taken cap- tives. After finishing their depredations at Woolwich they divided themselves into two bands ; one ascended the Kennebec to where Francis Card lived and took captives him and his family, while the others went in their canoes by night to Arrowsic. They made a silent landing on the southeasterly part of that island, near where the settlement and fort were situated. A few crawled along beneath the walls of the garri- son and the others ambushed behind a large cliff, all, however, being able to note the movements of the sentinel. He retired from his post that night earlier than usual and was not relieved. Unknown to him, he was followed through the gate inside the fortress. All rushed in with a wild war whoop, closing the portholes and engaging in a hand-to-hand conflict as fast as the surprised inmates appeared. A bloody fight ensued, sev- eral falling on each side, but the odds were too great and the remnant of the English fled through a back exit toward the shore. Just as the boats were reached Captain Lake was killed ; Captain Davis was also shot down, but not fatally. He secreted himself in a crevice in the ledge, from which, in a weak condition, he escaped two days later.
Clark and Lake had at Arrowsic one of the largest and most expensive establishments along the coast. It consisted of a mansion house, built af er an English model, many out- buildings, a mill and the fortifications. The whole had cost several thousand pounds and a long term of years of enter- prising industry. Thirty-five persons were either killed or captured at this attack ; about a dozen escaped. After the Woolwich girl reached and alarmed the upper Sheepscot settle- ment, that community, with all possible haste, left homes, live stock, crops-all they possessed in the world-and fled down the river, arousing any by-settler to his danger, reaching Cape Newagen in a few hours and there taking refuge in the fort. The people on the Damariscotta likewise fied down their river and across to Pemaquid, joined by the Corbin's Sound neighborhood. From Pemaquid all tried to make Monhegan, but adverse winds prevented and they landed on Damariscove. Upon reaching that island a few persons were found there who
THE OAK GROVE HOUSE,-W. H. Reed, Prop.
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THE INDIAN WARS.
had fled from Arrowsic and along Casco Bay. Those who had reached Newagen, feeling insecure, after a short tarry, also went to Damariscove. About 300 were then gathered there, in flight from all the surrounding country, and this has been thought to be a fairly correct key to the amount of population in the locality at that time. In about two hours after the last had reached the island, Hubbard tells us that they "saw all the other islands, Widgin's, Corbin's Sound, New Harbor and Pemaquid, all on fire."
Being informed they could expect no help from Boston, and feeling insecure on Damariscove, they quit that place and went in different vessels to various places at the westward, mostly, however, to Boston, Salem or Piscataqua. Before sailing some of them visited another island in the vicinity and there found two dead bodies, the ashes of the buildings just burned and the carcasses of the cattle which the destroyers had slaughtered. Exactly what island this may have been is uncertain, but, presumably, Hippocras ; for two families had been living there by the records just previous to the war, and no other island, except Damariscove, where they were then in exile, is mentioned as being inhabited. There are other rea- sons for this presumption ; persons living on that island might not have received the alarm, and, if they did, might have fan- cied theniselves secure in their location. Further than this, it was near Damariscove, for parties had time to go there when preparing in haste to depart for the west.
Jewell's Island was attacked September 2d, but several of the Indians were killed and forced to beat a retreat. Many who had escaped from the eastern settlements to Boston and other points to the westward obtained arms and ammunition there and immediately started on a march back into Maine. One hundred and thirty English and forty friendly Natick Indians reached Cocheco (Dover, N. H.), where they met Major Waldron with more men. Just then they met a force of 400 Indians. Though secretly hostile, they showed no belligerent spirit and seemed disposed to parley with Waldron. He proposed a sham fight, with the understanding that each side should fire over the heads of the opposing force. The Indians fired as understood, but the English held their fire and
7
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
then ordered the Indians to ground their arms and took them into custody. A culling process was instituted and about half the number were at once released; but 200 were sent by a vessel to Boston for trial, and it was of these that it has been before mentioned that seven were hung and the remainder sold to Bermuda. Cape Neddock settlement was destroyed Sep- tember 25th and about forty whites killed. Black Point was attacked and surrendered. By the middle of February, 1677, Waldron had reached Mere Point, Brunswick, and a little later came to Arrowsie, where part of his force was left to fortify, and he with the rest kept on to Pemaquid in two vessels. Several sachems were found there and with them Waldron went ashore and held a truce. Hostilities were suspended and both sides were supposed to meet without arms ; but Waldron espied the point of a lance protruding from under a board and at once charged them with treachery. A tumult ensued. One squaw caught up a bundle of guns and ran for the woods. A hand-to-hand fight followed, while from signaling a well- equipped reinforcement came to the aid of the English from the vessels. A canoe was overturned and five or six Indians were drowned; as many more were killed ashore in the fight besides the chief, Mallatawando.
In this battle Waldron preserved all of his own goods, captured 1,000 pounds of beef and other articles, besides a number of prisoners. Among these was a sister of the Chief Madockawando, an Indian woman of great beauty and influence in her tribe. Also Megunnaway, an old chief and one of the most desperate, long-time offenders among the race. He had been concerned in the murder of Thomas Bracket and his neighbors, and several other of the most atrocious murders in the war. When it was learned whom they had captured, with- out trial, he was taken out and shot on Pemaquid ground.
Waldron, on his return to Boston, stopped and built a gar- rison on the Woolwich side, opposite Arrowsic, and left Cap- tain Davis with forty men to guard it. They found Captain Lake's body perfectly preserved by cold and took it to Boston for burial. . A little later a part of the garrison went over to Arrowsic to bury the dead who were killed some seven months before. They anticipated no danger, for no Indians had been
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THE INDIAN WARS.
seen for some time in the vicinity, but no sooner had the place been reached than they were fired upon from ambush, their retreat to the boats cut off and nine of them shot down on the spot. About the same date seven were killed in the town of York from an ambush. Battles at York, Wells and Black Point occurred that spring, and then there seemed a lull in hostilities, but not peace until the treaty at Casco, April 12, 1678. Altogether 260 settlers were known to have been killed or carried away into captivity, over 150 captured and afterward released, the settlements of Cape Neddock, Casco, Arrowsic, Pemaquid, Scarborough and other places burned. The cost of the war was about £8,000 besides all losses.
A letter from Francis Lovelace, Governor of New York, under the Duke of York, was sent the inhabitants of Pema- quid, bearing date February 16, 1672. In it he asked them as to the nature of government they desired, and the general tone of the letter indicated a spirit desirous of consultation on Eastern affairs. While Lovelace was the second Governor of New York, which was the Duke's principal grant, no attention had been given Sagadahoc, which his commissioners had vis- ited in 1665, bestowing upon it the name of Cornwall, and then reporting as to the insignificance of the territory and the vicious tendency of its inhabitants. It had been absolutely ignored until the receipt of this letter, if it ever was received, for the only record the public has of it is that to be found in the Albany archives. If received it may not have been answered, but a suspicious circumstance exists in the fact that Lovelace sent this epistle in February, and in May, following, the Pemaquid Colony petitioned the Massachusetts Government to extend itself over them. The letter may have stimulated this action. Sir Edmund Andros succeeded Lovelace as Gov- ernor of the Duke's dominions in 1674. No aid was extended the settlement in its perilous position by Andros, but after its destruction, September 8, 1676, the following resolution was recorded :
"Resolved, To send a sloop to Piscataway, Salem and Bos- ton to invite and bring as many of the Inhabitants particularly ffishermen, as will come driven from the Duke's Terrytoryes and parts Eastward, and to supply them with land in any part of Government they shall chuse."
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
The sloop came on from New York, but returned without passengers. General Court convened at Boston the October following, and the second day of the session passed a resolution denouncing the action of the Duke's New York Government as a mean attempt to gain population at the expense of the east, which that country could not afford to lose ; and made provision to send 150 men to Sagadahoc to protect that coun- try against the French and Indians. On June 9, 1677, it was decided by Governor Andros to take possession at once of the Sagadahoc territory, and on the 13th four vessels sailed with lumber and other material to build a redoubt at Pemaquid. Before leaving New York their instructions were, if for any reason they could not land at Pemaquid, then to make a tem- porary lodgment "upon Cape Anowagon, Damerell's Cove, Monhigan or other adjacent islands."
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