USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 13
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 13
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 13
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" Then the votes were brought in for the proposed form of govern- ment, and there appeared to be for said form three, and against said form seventy five." This vote was in regard to a proposed new con- stitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which was not rat- ified by the towns in consequence of several serious defects contained in it.
At a meeting held June 2, Aaron Hinkley, William Stanwood, Jr., and Captain Curtis were chosen " to give our Representative Instruc- tions." What these instructions were has not been ascertained. A vote was also passed at this meeting that the one hundred and fifty- eight dollars given, as an additional bounty, to the five men who went into the service, agreeably to a resolve of the General Court, of April 20, 1778, should be paid by a tax on the polls and estates of the west end of the town. The only explanation of this vote which we can sug- gest is, that the east end of the town may have furnished the five men called for, and should therefore be exempt from paying any bounty.
At a meeting held on the tenth of June, the town voted " to lay out the Commons agreeable to the minutes that were read, viz., Sd Commons to be bounded on the head of Middle Bay lots and to extend northerly between and adjoining upon the lots that front upon the twelve rod road and the lots that front upon Mericonege marshes, and upon the lots that front upon New Meadows river, until 1,000 acres be completed." Captain James Thompson protested against this vote, probably for fear lest the Commons might encroach upon his lot. A committee was chosen, however, to lay out the land in conformity with this vote, and Stephen Getchell was chosen surveyor.
1 Brunswick Records, in Pejepscot Collection.
127
MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
At a meeting held on the 10th of September, it was voted " that such shirts as are fit to be sent to our brethren in the army be 48/ each ; that good shoes for said service be 54/ , each pair; that good stock- ings for said service be 30/, each pair."
At a meeting held December 25, the town voted to accept of the survey of the Commons as laid out by the committee chosen the pre- vions May, but not to accept a deed of them from Noyes, if made according to Hinkley's survey. A committee was chosen to consult with the proprietors' agent in regard to the matter.
[1779.] Brigadier Thompson, William Stanwood, and Doctor Dunken were chosen a committee to supply the families of those men who went from this town into the Continental service with such neces- saries as they might need. The town also voted an appropriation of £200 for that purpose. James Elliot, Jr., Samuel Dunlap, Samuel Stanwood, Jr., Thomas Godfrey, and Stephen Pennell were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety.
The selectmen were, at this meeting, instructed to procure a deed of the Commons, and the committee chosen to lay out the Commons were directed to complete their work as speedily as possibly. The selectmen were also instructed to take effectual means to secure, for the benefit of the town, the growth of lumber on the Commons.
Thomas Pennell was allowed £4 8s., " it being for so much Counter- feit Money he took in part of his tax in the year 1776."
Four prisoners - probably British soldiers - were taken care of in Brunswick this year, and the town consequently voted the following sums as compensation to those having charge of them : -
To Captain Dunlap Thompson
£6 8s. Od.
4 4 0
" Lieutenant Berry
1 4 0
" Mr. John Dunning
2 14 0
The sum of three pounds was also voted to JJacob Anderson for ser- vices in carrying shirts, shoes, and stockings to Portland.
At a special meeting in August, the town voted its approval of the transactions of the convention held at Concord on the fourteenth of July preceding. The object of that convention was to establish a State price-current, and to adopt other measures to prevent monopoly, extortion, and unfair dealing, and spirited resolutions were passed, fixing the prices of several articles of merchandise.1
1 History of Concord, Mass., p. 122.
128
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
Aaron Hinkley, William Stanwood, Thomas Skolfield, Joseph Cur- tis, and Deacon Stanwood were chosen a committee " to set the prices on the articles in the town and carry the resolution into effect." They were also directed to inform the committee of the town of Boston con- cerning the action taken in this matter by Brunswick.
At a meeting on the ninth of November, an account of the proceed- ings of the convention held at Concord in the previous month was read, and it was thereupon unanimously voted, " to stand by the proceedings of said convention," and Aaron Hinkley, Deacon Stanwood, Thomas Skolfield, Captain Curtis, and Captain William Stanwood were elected a committee " to see said resolutions put into execution." The con- vention referred to was held at Concord on the sixth of October, at which a revision of the price-current adopted at the July convention was made, and resolutions were passed relating to trade, currency, etc. County and town meetings were recommended to carry these resolutions into effect.1
[1780.] At the annual meeting in March, 1780, the following appropriations were voted : The sum of $4,050 for highways, and to pay out of this thirty dollars per day for the labor of each man, twenty-five dollars for each pair of oxen, and five dollars for each cart, £12 to William Spear for his services for two years as sexton of the west meeting-house, and twenty-five dollars per day as compensation to the selectmen, " they to find themselves and paper."
The town at this time elected Brigadier Thompson as its agent to the General Court, in conformity with a resolve of that body, passed December 4, 1779.
At a meeting held May 15th, the town postponed voting in regard to a change of the State Constitution until the next meeting. Proba- bly the next meeting of the town occurred too late for the vote of Brunswick to have any effect, since no vote of the kind was recorded at any subsequent meeting this year.
About this time a circular letter was received from Jere Powell, President of the General Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, desiring, in urgent terms, the town to furnish its proportion of blankets needed for the army at once,2 as called for, amongst other things, by a resolve of that body passed the previous year.
The town accordingly voted to furnish the blankets and other articles and " to allow for each pair of good shoes, such as the agent will receive so much of the present currency as will purchase seven
1 History of Concord, Mass , p. 122,
2 Pejepscot Papers.
129
MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
pecks of Indian corn, and for stockings of the like quality, the value of five pecks of corn, and for shirts the same price as of shoes, and for blankets - them that are good - the value of four bushels in said currency."
At a meeting held September 4th, the town cast its first vote for governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lieutenant-governor, and senator. Whom the town voted for as governor is not men- tioned, but undoubtedly it was John Hancock. Honorable Samuel Adams received a majority of eleven votes as lieutenant-governor, and John Lewis, Esquire, fourteen votes as senator. Honorable James Bowdoin received three votes as lieutenant-governor.
At a meeting in October, Brigadier Thompson, Doctor Dunken, and John Given were chosen as a committee to procure the beef which had been demanded by the General Court for the supply of the army. They were instructed that, if they were unable to procure the whole amount, they should, with the selectmen, make known to the General Court the reasons why they were unable to furnish all, and were authorized to make up the deficiency in the amount, in money. The selectinen were instructed to assess sufficient to cover the amount paid out by this committee.
[17$1.] At the annual meeting in March, 1781, the selectmen were directed to inform the General Court that the resolve of Decem- ber 4, 1780, concerning beef, was not received in season for the town to comply with its requirements.
At a meeting held on the nineteenth of July, the town voted to comply with the last requisition of the General Court, in regard to furnishing beef for the army, and to raise £204, cash, to procure the beef. A committee was also chosen to obtain the beef.
At a meeting held on the twenty-fifth of December, Samuel Stan- wood, Captain William Stanwood, Jr., William Woodside, Aaron Hinkley, Doctor Samuel Dunken, and Captain James Curtis were chosen a committee to prepare a petition to the General Court, " con- cerning our present circumstances and our inability of paying our taxes in specie, and to lay the petition before our March meeting, for approbation or amendment."
[1782.] The above-mentioned petition was presented to the town at its annual meeting in March, 1782, and adopted. At this meeting Samuel Woodward, Jacob Anderson, and Samuel Stanwood, Jr., were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety. This was the last time such a committee was raised by the town.
At a meeting in June, it was voted that " the several classes in 9
130
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
this town procure the three men called for by the General Court with- out delay." To promote the enlistment of soldiers, the town was divided into districts, which are designated above as " classes."
Wolves must have become very troublesome at this time, for the town, at this meeting, offered a bounty of 20s. for each and every grown wolf killed within its limits, and 40s. to every person who would make pits or traps for their destruction.
On January 2, 1783, the following petition to have the town excused from paying a fine, for not furnishing the three men called for in 1782, was presented to the legislature by a committee of the town : --
"TO THE HONOURABLE THE SENATE & HONOURABLE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- TIVES OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACUSETTS IN GENERAL COURT TO BE ASSEMBLED ON THE LAST WEDNESDAY OF JANUARY 1783.
"THE PETITION OF US SUBSCRIBERS (BEING A COMMITTEE CHOSEN BY THE FREE HOLDERS AND OTHER INHABITANTS OF THIS TOWN OF BRUNSWICK IN THE COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND REGULARLY ASSEMBLED),
HUMBLY SHEWETH,
" That whereas the Inhabitants of this Town have exerted themselves to the utmost of their power, in answering all requisitions that has been required of them During the present warr, but could not procure the last three men which was required for want of money ; and whereas we understand that we have been overated in our taxations for some years past, both for men, money, & Beef, we Humbly pray yr Hon's to Excuse us from the fine that is laid on us for said three men - Your Hon's cannot be Ignorant of our Circumstances in these parts - How our Coast is (almost continually) Invested with the Enemy Depriving us of our Vessels & Substance, So as we cannot gett to markett such commodities as we could spare. " We are well assured that the farr Greater part of the Inhabitants here would be willing to suffer, and has suffered, in order to help on the present occation but for want of a Markett Cash is exceeding scarce among us - and many has & are moving back into the wilderness, because they cannot pay their taxes, therefore we Humbly pray that we may be eased of the above men- tioned fine but as for the average part we mean to endeavour to pay as soon as possible but If executions should be issued out against us suddently, it would (we fear) Discourage the poor Inhabitants very much, therefore Relying on your Hon's great wisdom, to consider our Circumstances, not Doubting but that you will Endeavour to promote our Wellfare & Happiness in these parts as well as in the other parts
131
MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
of this commonwealth, And your Humble Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray.1
"THOS. SKOLFIELD JAMES CURTIS SAM'LL STANDWOOD NATII'L LARRABEE
Committee.
" BRUNSWICK, Jany 2d 1783."
In answer to this petition the legislature passed a resolve, which was approved by the governor, excusing the town from payment of any fine, provided they would pay into the treasury of the Common- wealth the sum of £185 4s 1}d., which was the average price paid for the enlistment of three men.2
The town this year voted to pay Brigadier Thompson £30 16s. 3d. for his services as delegate to the Provincial Congress in the years 1774 and 1775. Reverend Mr. Miller, Nathaniel Larrabee, Thomas Skolfield, Deacon Dunning, and Captain Gross were chosen a commit- tee to answer a letter which had been received from the Committee of Correspondence of Boston. Their answer was as follows : -
"At a legal Town meeting held in Brunswick, on Thursday, the 26th of June, 1783, in answer to your letter respecting the return of the Refugees and Conspirators who endeavored to deprive us of our rights and privileges by joining with the King of Great Britain, it is the unanimous opinion of this town that they ought never to be suffered to return but to be excluded from having lot or portion in any of the United States of America."
November 20th, of this year, the Pejepscot proprietors gave to the town a deed of the town Commons. (See chapter on Public Lands, Roads, etc. )
[1784.] At the annual meeting in March, 1784, the town voted to take no action upon the article in the warrant concerning paying Brigadier Thompson's demands for expenses incurred in hiring men to serve in the army in the year 1781. He had probably acted in the matter on his own responsibility, and the town did not consider itself legally bound to repay him. The selectmen were, at this time, instructed to take proper care of the town Commons, and to dispose of the lumber on them as they might think to be for the best ad- vantage of the town.
[1785 ] In 1785 William Owen was elected representative to the General Court, and it was voted that in case that body refused to receive him in that capacity, he was to act as the town's agent to
1 Pejepscot Pupers.
2 Massachusetts Records, Vol. 44, . 413
132
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
answer the Topsham petition. This petition was the renewal of a former one, to have the islands in the Androscoggin River annexed to Topsham.
[1786.] At a special meeting in January, 1786, a committee was chosen to petition the General Court for some abatement of the town's assessment in the next State tax. The town voted to hold every alternate town meeting at the east meeting-house. A resolution was adopted that it was the unanimous desire of the town that a canal be cut through from New Meadows River to Merrymeeting Bay. It was also voted to be the unanimous wish of the town that the counties of York, Cumberland, and Lincoln be made a separate State, and Aaron Hinkley was elected a delegate to a convention to be held at Portland (Falmouth) for the consideration of this subject.
[1787.] The town this year again voted in favor of making York, Cumberland, and Lincoln Counties a separate State.
At a meeting held on the eighteenth of December, the town voted - twenty-three to seven-" to accept of the proposed form of Gov- ernment for the United States as it now stands," and Captain Jolin Dunlap was elected a delegate to an assembly which was to meet at the State House in Boston, on the second Wednesday in January, 1788, for its adoption or rejection on the part of Massachusetts. This was the vote of Brunswick on the question of the acceptance, by the States, of the Constitution of the United States.
[1788.] At the annual town meeting in 1788, Captain John Peter- son, Deacon Dunning, and Nathaniel Larrabee were chosen a commit- tee to petition the General Court for a modification of the "Fish Act."
The town very injudiciously voted to lease one hundred acres of the Commons to William Marriner, and the selectmen were authorized to lease as much more to other parties as might be desired. A vote was passed this year, that all future town meetings should be held at the west meeting-house.
On the eighteenth of December, the town, for the first time, voted for Presidential electors, and Honorable Dummer Sewall and Samuel Freeman received a majority of the votes cast.
[1789.] The town this year decided to hold one annual meeting out of three at the east end of the town, and to hold all its other meetings alternately at the east and west ends.
[1790.] This year Benjamin Chase, his family and estate, were set off from the town of Freeport and annexed to the town of Brunswick. 1
1 Massachusetts Special Laws, 1, p. 277.
133
MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
[1791 ] The vote for representative to Congress in November. 1790, seems to have been in some way illegal, as a special meeting was called January 25, 1791, for the purpose of another election, at which General Lithgow received a majority of eighteen votes.
At the annual meeting this year, a committee was chosen to locate a canal from Maquoit Bay to the Androscoggin River, but the town afterwards reconsidered the vote.
An address from the senators and representatives in the district of Maine was read, and the town then voted - seventy-one to twenty- five - in favor of a separate State.
[1792.] The town, in 1792, voted against the separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts, by a vote of sixty-one to sixteen.
[1793.] In 1793 the town voted that the selectmen should be instructed to take an account of the paper-money in Captain Stan- wood's hands, and direct him to dispose of it in the best manner he could, and deposit the proceeds in the town treasury.
The town also voted to dismiss the article in the warrant, concern- ing building a new meeting-house.
[1794.] In 1794, the question of making the District of Maine into a State was again voted on. The vote stood four in favor and thirty- five against so doing.
The town also voted " to allow Nathaniel Larrabee five pounds in full for his past service as town clerk, which is twenty-eight years."
The town this year voted, unanimously, "in favor of revising the Constitution." Whether it was the State or national Constitution is not specified. It was, perhaps, the latter. as the eleventh article of the Constitution of the United States was offered in Congress in 1794, and probably was not presented to the State, for ratification or rejec- tion, much earlier than this.
[1795.] The town again, in 1795, voted - sixty-three to twenty- three - against the formation of a new State.
[1796.] " At a very full and respectable meeting of the town of Brunswick, legally assembled the fourteenth day of May, 1796, for the sole purpose of taking into consideration the state of our public affairs with respect to the treaty between Great Britain and America, voted unanimously to support the Constitution of the United States."
[1797.] The town, in 1797, again voted against the formation of a new State.
[1798.] In 1798 it was voted by the town that the selectmen should give a deed of the two hundred acres of land which the town
134
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
had previously voted for the benefit of Bowdoin College, and they were instructed, if necessary, to petition the General Court for the requisite authority.
A committee was also chosen " to settle some accounts disputable between the Baptist and Congregational societies in this town."
At a meeting held in October to consider in regard to the formation of a new county from several of the towns in Cumberland and Lin- coln Counties, the town voted to send Nathaniel Larrabee as a dele- gate to a convention to be held in Hallowell, with instructions to vote against the project of a new county, unless Brunswick could be made the shire town.
[1799.] In 1799 the town, although there was no war, raised one fifth as large an amount of money for gunpowder as it did for schools ; thirty pounds being appropriated for the former and one hundred and fifty pounds for the latter.
[1802.] Appropriations by the town in 1802 were $1,000 for schools, and three hundred and fifty dollars for contingent expenses. This year men were allowed for labor on the highway one dollar per day, and sixty-six cents per day for each pair of oxen.
[1806.] The town, in 1806, appointed a committee to consult with the towns of Durham and Freeport, to see if they would join with Brunswick in building a workhouse or a poorhouse, and upon what terms they would do so.
[1807.] The records do not state what the decision of these towns was, but it may be inferred from the vote of Brunswick, in 1807, to build a house for the town poor, which should be thirty-six feet long, twenty feet wide, and two stories high. The town voted to have it located in the vicinity of Samuel Beals's,1 and appropriated two hun- dred and seventy-five dollars to finish the outside.
[1808.] In 1808 the town voted that at the annual meetings in March, April, and May, every legal voter should take his seat in the meeting-house, and there remain until the moderator of the meeting should by name call upon him to come forward and put in his vote. This rather dilatory method of voting was, undoubtedly, tried as a remedy for the disorderly conduct so often prevalent at municipal meetings.
A committee was chosen this year to apply to the Pejepscot proprie- tors for permission to sell and dispose of the town Commons, ministry and school lots, " and marsh," the interest of such sales to be appro-
1 It stood on the lot in the rear of Mrs. Frances Owen's residence, on Federal Street.
135
MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK.
priated for the use of schools, or in such other way as the town should think proper. As no answer to any request of this kind can be found in the town records, or in the Pejepscot Papers or Records, it is suffi- ciently evident that no such permission was ever granted.
The effect of the Embargo Law, passed in Congress on the previous December, was severely felt throughout New England, and Brunswick formed no exception. The town therefore voted to present a respect- ful petition to the President of the United States praying him to sus- pend the law laying an embargo, either wholly or in part.
The selectmen were also requested to transmit to the selectmen of the town of Boston a copy of the proceedings of the town of Bruns- wick, and to assure them of their cordial co-operation with the inhab- itants of that metropolis in any constitutional measures necessary to obtain a removal or alleviation of the grievances they suffered from a suspension of commerce.
[1809.] On January 23. 1809, the town adopted the following reso- lutions : -
"Ist. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this town do consider the Act of Congress laying a permanent embargo as directly repugnant to the spirit of the Constitution of the United States and the several sup- plementary acts, but especially the act passed on the sixth of January inst., as alarming violations of the express provisions of that Constitu- tion ; that they tend directly to the annihilation of the revenue, while they greatly increase the expenses of the United States ; to produce . and daily aggravate distress among the great body of the people, and if long continued to excite domestic convulsions.
"2d. Resolved, That the last act of Congress designed to enforce the embargo, when its utter inutility either as a measure of precaution or as a measure of coercion, upon those belligerents whose decrees and orders effect our commerce, is acknowleged by all, forces upon us the apprehension that the embargo originated in the will of that Emperor who has declared that he will compel the United States to take part in the war either as friends or allies.
"3d. Resolved, That we believe it is the intention of the adminis- tration to unite with France in a war against Great Britain, a war which we deprecate as neither just, necessary or wise ; since we are persuaded that all matters of dispute between the United States and that government might by sincere and honorable negotiation be ami- cably settled and a friendly commercial intercourse re-established on principles mutually advantageous.
"4th. Resolved, That the organization of a large military force in
136
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
a time of peace, for purposes concealed from the people, excites in our minds the most alarming apprehensions, while the unlimited powers vested in the President and in officers of his appointment for enforcing the Embargo Laws present to our astonished view the monstrous image of a military despotism, erected by the rulers of a free republic and the property, the liberty, and even the lives of citizens placed under the control of numerous petty tyrants in defiance of the express. provisions of the Constitution of the United States and in contempt of the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.
" 5th. Resolved, That deeply afflicted by the evils incident to the embargo, but infinitely more distressed by these violations of our dearest rights, we will by every constitutional and peaceable measure seek the redress of our wrongs, declaring at the same time our deter- mination to refrain from all violent opposition to the laws under which we suffer, and to discountenance such opposition in others.
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