USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 4
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 4
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
After the passage of the preceding votes, the proprietors proceeded to draw lots for their respective choices, with the following results : -
Lot No. 2 fell to John Wentworth, Esq.
3 6 Mr. Stephen Minot.
4 " Thomas Hutchinson, Esq.
60 5 " Oliver Noyes.
60 6 4 Mr. John Ruck.
66 7 46 David Jeffries, Esq.
66
8 " John Watts, Esq.
The above lots were called the FIRST DIVISION.
It was then voted that there should be eight lots laid out on Small Point Neck, etc., and that these lots should be called their SECOND DIVISION.2
At a meeting of the proprietors, held on the 13th of November fol- lowing, it was agreed that they should give Captain Nowell a deed of
1 Pejepscot Records.
2 Ibid.
29
PEJEPSCOT PROPRIETORS. SETTLEMENTS UNDER THEM.
five hundred acres of land within the township of Topsham, on the condition that he would build a house there and dwell there for the next five years, and that he would not leave except by consent of the proprietors, and on condition that the land allotted him should be so laid out as not to interfere with the plan of the town. As no other reference is made to Captain Nowell in the Pejepscot Papers, it is not probable that the conditions were fulfilled.
[1717.] On the third of May, 1717, Brunswick was, by vote of the General Court of Massachusetts, constituted a township, and the Pejepscot proprietors, with a view to the settlement of the town, "Voted : That all persons that shall offer themselves and be Excepted Inhabitants of the said Town And have a Lott of Land Laid out to them in Sª Township of ninety five Acres as also five acres of meadow in some Convenient place They building an house on Each Lott so Taken up within one year next after their taking up the Sª Lotts & Dwelling upon & improvin their Lands for the Terme of Three Yeares, And having their Said Lands Discribed & recorded in this Town Book by a Clerk Leagually Chosen & sworne It shall be accounted a Sure Lawfull Title of an absolute State of Inheritance in fee To them their Heirs & assignes forever, Provided nevertheless If any of ye before recited Conditions are not Complyed with by the said Inhabitants according to ye True intent thereof That then ye Sª Lotts of Land Shall be wholly forfited to ye use of the Sª Proprietors as fully as Ever here to fore any thing in this Book Recorded notwithstanding." 1
At a meeting of the proprietors, June 13, 1717, Lieutenant Heath was instructed to survey and make a plot of each of the proprietor's lots. It was also voted that the township of Topsham be likewise surveyed and plotted in an oblong square, if the land would allow it, fronting on Merrymeeting Bay, so as to leave about two hundred acres, and that this town plat be laid out into fifty lots, each lot to be twenty rods wide.
It was also decided at this meeting to have a general plan of the whole territory made as soon as might be. The proprietors also desired Mr. Hutchinson to write to a friend in England for a copy of the patent to Purchase and Way, and to send it to them, well attested, as soon as possible.2 The document is not on file with the Pejepscot Papers, and it is probable that it was never obtained.
At a meeting of the proprietors, June 17, 1717. it was "Voted, That a mile and a half upwards from Potts's Neck, and the other prongs
1 Brunswick Records, in Pejepscot Collections. 2 Pejepscot. Records.
30
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND IIARPSWELL.
of Merryconeag Neck, be left on the lower end of said Merryconeag Neck. for a Town or Fishing Settlement, the rest of said Neck to be divided in eight parts equal in Front, to run across said Neck, in par- alel lines, from the North West to the South East side, according to the bearing of the said land, the Lowest Lott to be No. 1.
" The Lotts being fairly drawn came out as follows, viz. : - No. 1. David Jeffries.
2. John Watts.
3. John Ruck.
4. Adam Winthrop.
5. John Wentworth.
6. Oliver Noyes.
7. Stephen Minott.
8. Thomas Hutchinson." 1
[1718.] At a meeting of the proprietors, held April 23, 1718, it was " Resolved : That whereas it will tend much to the advantage of the Settlements for each Partner to settle his Severall Lotts laid out to him, and that it may be a means of preventing Troublesome dis- putes, we agree, as soon as may be conveniently, to build upon our Severall Divisions and to put them under Improvement."
[1719.] The next reference to this subject that has been found is in the proceedings of a meeting of the inhabitants and a committee of the Pejepscot proprietors, held May 8, 1719.
At this meeting a vote was passed, " That all Persons who have or Shall Take up any Lott or Lotts in Brunswick & Shall for ye space of halfe a year neglect to put Forward Building on & improving the sd Land Shall be Liable to be forever Deprived of their Lott or Lotts ; By the vote of this sd Town." The land for a town commonage was granted by the proprietors at this time, but the vote passed will be given in connection with that subject.
[1731.] In 1731 Phineas Jones was employed to survey the lands and make plans. He found Brunswick and the lands above, on both sides of the Androscoggin River, to be 480,543 acres, Merriconeag Neck to be 4.670 acres, and Sebascodegan Island to be 5,790 acres. He made his survey in the winter season with five or six assistants, protected from the Indians by a file of soldiers. They selected the. winter because there were fewer Indians about, and also because, the ponds and brooks being frozen, they could travel over them. In deep snow they could use snow-shoes.2
1 Pejepscot Papers. 2 McKeen, MSS. Lecture.
31
PEJEPSCOT PROPRIETORS. SETTLEMENTS UNDER THEM.
Joseph Heath, Esquire, had been up to this time the agent and clerk of the company, but June 30, of this year, Captain Benjamin Larrabee was appointed agent, and the record book, containing the doings of the settlers, was transferred to him.1 The proprietor, also, on the twelfth of July, 1737, gave John Booker, of New Meadows, the power of attorney to keep all unauthorized persons from settling upon Sebascodegan Island, or from cutting wood or timber or hay there, and to seize upon and ship to Boston any timber or wood cut there without permission, one half the proceeds to go to Booker for his ser- vices, and the other half to the proprietors.2
The proprietors at the same time gave the power of attorney to Colonel Johnson Harmon, of Merriconeag, for the purpose of keeping off intruders from the Neck.3
July 16, 1737, the proprietors gave Benjamin Larrabee full power of attorney to execute deeds to the settlers in Brunswick and Tops- ham.4
In a letter of instructions to Larrabee, dated two days later, the following information was given in regard to the prices of the lots, and as to his duties : -
" The first settlers were to pay but five pounds for each hundred acres -Since that, Giveen and those near him were to pay Sixteen pounds for each hundred acres-Some that have more lately taken Lotts at Brunswick Road Ten pounds for each hundred Acres, those at Topsham and New Meadows Twenty five pounds for each hundred acres -
" As fast as you can receive money for the deeds you execute we would have you apply it to discharge the debts of the propriety viz : Mr. Pearse the Carpenter and Mr. Wakefield the Glazier for Bruns- wick Meeting house.
" If the Lotts at Brunswick Road to Maquoit and Topsham are not all filled up or granted you may go on to grant them on as good Terms as you can for the Proprietors - not lower than Ten pounds in Bruns- wick and Twenty five pounds in Topsham." 5
[1739.] In June, 1739, Mr. Larrabee sent a representation to the proprietors of the difficulties the settlers labored under, in regard to paying for their lots in money, and the proprietors agreed that they might send the pay for their lots in wood or timber, to Boston, without charge.6
[1741.] At a meeting of the proprietors held at the "Sun" tav-
1 Pejepscot Records. 2 Pejepscot Papers. 8 Ibid.
4 Pejepscot Records.
5 Ibid.
6 Brunswick Records in Pejepscot Collection.
32
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
ern, Boston, April 22, 1741, it was voted that the following instruc- tions be given to their partner, Henry Gibbs, to act upon while he was at Brunswick : -
" [1.] Whereas the Lotts were laid out but 20 rods wide from Fort George to Maquoit, the inhabitants complain they are too long and narrow, therefore for Accommodation of the settlers it is now pro- posed that they be 30 rods wide & to be laid out on one Side of the Road and to be one hundred acres exclusive of the marsh & to be valued at Fourteen pounds p Lott.
" [2.] Att every 10th Lott a Road of four rods wide to be laid out the whole length of said Lott if it fall out convenient. The County Road if any be laid out to be laid down on the Town plan & to be reckoned as one of said Roads and in case the Lott next said Road be more than 30 Rods wide yet to run an equal length with the rest & it be left to be appropriated as shall be Judged Most for the Interest of the Propriety.
" [3.] The Lotts on the East side of the Road to Maquoit to be Forty Rods wide as the Land will allow because the Land is not so good & necessary roads to be on that side.
" [4.] We are willing that a Priviledge be granted to such as will undertake to build a Grist Mill at a little stream near the Fort." 1
The stream referred to in the preceding paragraph had its source in the swamp which formerly existed where the depot is now. This swamp extended as far east as the mall, as far north as Pleasant street, and westerly beyond Union Street. The brook ran along be- tween Union and Maine Streets, passing back of the factory store and entering the river about where the factory is now. After the swamp was filled and drained, of course the brook no longer existed.
[1750.] At a meeting of the Pejepscot proprietors, held July 9, 1750, it was voted that an advertisement should be posted upon the meeting-house at Brunswick, stating that it was the intention of the proprietors to defend the inhabitants of Brunswick and the neighbor- ing towns in the propriety, in their possessions, and that any person who should be so imprudent as to take up land under any other title, would be prosecuted. At the same meeting it was also voted to dis- pose of the vacant land at New Meadows, viz., that extending from Charles Casida's lot to Wigwam Point, exclusive, for the most that it would bring, and out of the proceeds of the sale to pay the expense of finishing the meeting-house in Brunswick. The remainder was to be
1 Brunswick Records in Pejepscot Collection.
33
PEJEPSCOT PROPRIETORS. SETTLEMENTS UNDER THEM.
kept subject to the order of the proprietors.1 A note at the bottom of the above entry in the records says, " Not accepted by the Town."
[1751.] On March 19th of this year, 1751, a letter was sent to the selectmen of Brunswick, by the proprietors, recommending that no one should take a title of land from the Plymouth Company, and promising them that if any of the inhabitants of Brunswick or Tops- ham should be molested or disturbed by that company, the proprietors would stand by them and indemnify them against the Plymouth Com- pany's claim.2
This letter, however, seems not to have fully satisfied all the set- tlers, as some few did take up land under titles derived from the Plymouth Company. Learning this fact, the proprietors, at a meeting held April 15, voted, " to unite in defence of their Title to the Lands comprehended in said Township, and that an advertisement be forth- with printed, Cautioning all persons against making any Encroachment, Strip, or Waste, on any Land belonging to this Propriety, as they will answer it to the utmost perill of the Law."3 In addition to this vote the proprietors, at a meeting held May 15, in order to show to all interested the exact bounds of the several lots, voted that the several deeds, or sufficient extracts from them, should be at once printed at the company's expense. 4
The people of Topsham not having, at this time, the advantage of a local government, were apparently inclined to do about as they pleased, without reference to the proprietors, and some lawless acts were undoubtedly committed by them. The following letter from Belcher Noyes, the proprietors' clerk, to Adam Hunter, of Topsham, will show what some of these acts were : -
" BOSTON, May 12, 1753.
" MR. ADAM HUNTER:
" I wrote you last fall by Ste Gatchell to which have never had any answer from you, the Proposal made us by Capt. Willson is quite mean & unworthy any notice, I am sorry to hear your People have so generally combined in the old Trade of destroying the Lumber on Je Proprietors Interest this is very Abusive Treatment & convinces us you have no Regard to the Laws of God and man, for such a small frontier Settlem' to live in such an abandoned State in the open viola- tion of all Law, will expose you to the vengeance due to such Behaviour & it will one day fall heavy on your Heads.
1 Brunswick Records in Pejepscot Collection.
2 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
3
₴4
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
" For shame then be persuaded to leave of such actions, Topsham is become the Reproach of everybody. The Donlaps & Willsons are famous in this Trade. I should be glad when you come to Boston you might come prepared wh some scheme to render your settlmt capa- ble of a better Improvement & encourage the Increase of Inhabitants.
"I enclose you a plan Delineating ye Bounds of the Plymouth Claim & our answer to their Remarks on said Plan I pray you would peruse the same & give me your sentiments in so doing you will oblige,
" yours to serve
"B. NOYES." 1
[1757.] At a meeting of the proprietors, held May 31, 1757, Belcher Noyes was chosen clerk, and in the following June, treasurer and collector of taxes. At the meeting in June, a committee was chosen to conclude an agreement with the proprietors of the Kennebec purchase. It was also voted that the proposals from the Plymouth Company, for the accommodation of the disputes between them, should be accepted.
At a meeting of the Pejepscot proprietors, held at the Exchange tavern in Boston, on Wednesday, June 8, the subject of an agreement with the Plymouth Company was debated and decided upon.
[1758.] The deeds of the Pejepscot proprietors to the Plymouth proprietors, and of the latter to the former, were made and executed, in accordance with the above-mentioned agreement, on February 20, 1758.2
[1760.] The people of Topsham, at this time, are still at opposi- tion with the proprietors, as appears from a letter of Belcher Noyes, their clerk, to E. Freeman, dated July 30, in which he states that there are some in Topsham who deny the title of the Pejepscot Com- pany, the ringleaders being Captain Adam Hunter and Captain Thomas Wilson. He further states that there are " pyrates " there, who have made their living out of the proprietors by destroying the lumber, and that " none so guilty as this said Hunter who has gott an estate out of those woods." He says also that Mr. Gibbs had sold his right to one John Merrill, of Arundell, who would go down in the fall.3
[1761.] At a meeting held Oct. 8, 1761, Enoch Freeman, Esq., was desired and empowered to have a regular plan made of the township of Topsham, and to have the lots for settling so delineated that it
1 Pejepscot Papers. 2 Pejepscot Papers. Records.
8 Pejepscot Papers.
35
PEJEPSCOT PROPRIETORS. SETTLEMENTS UNDER THEM 1136991
could be known what land remained undisposed of. He was to make the line between the Plymouth and Pejepscot Companies' lands the boundary of his survey, and was to have the lands plotted by a skilful surveyor, into lots of one hundred acres each, so far as the land would admit. At the same meeting, he and Belcher Noyes were empowered to dispose of the settling lots in Topsham that were not already taken up, and to apply the proceeds towards finishing the meeting-house, the frame of which was already raised. At this meeting authority was given to Belcher Noyes " to execute a Deed of the old Stone Fort, with the Buildings and Land adjacent, in the Town of Brunswick, in behalf of this Propriety, viz. The one half to Jere- miah Moulton Esq. The other half to Capt. David Dunning ; they paying unto the said Belcher Noyes the sum of one hundred and thirty three pounds six shillings and eight pence, lawful money, - for which sum he is to account with the Proprietors. Also, the privilege of the stream at the Falls, and its appurtenances." 1
[1762.] At a meeting of the proprietors, June 3, 1762, it was voted to sell to Stephen Staples one hundred acres of land above the Cathance Mill, in Topsham, for five shillings and four pence per acre, and to apply the money towards finishing the meeting-house. It was likewise voted to sell to William Patten sixty-six acres of land situ- ated in a gore of land on Cathance River - it being the balance of the land belonging to Cathance Mill -for whatever price could be obtained.2
In a letter from Belcher Noyes, dated October, 1762, and written to some unknown person, reference is made to the encroachments of the Plymouth Company upon the settlers at Topsham. In this letter he says : -
"The Plymouth Company have at the last session of our General Court gott a Tract of Land without Inhabitants, incorporated into a Township by the Name of Bowdoinham, the Bounds of which are enclosed. This takes off a small part of Topsham and some few families on Cathance Point, and by this means they have crowded themselves on us, contrary to their agreement. This was perfected before I knew anything of it. The People of Topsham are uneasy that their township is not laid out."
[1763.] The trouble between the settlers at Topsham and the Pejepscot proprietors has not yet been quieted. Mr. Belcher Noyes writes to Mr. Freeman that "Capt. Wilson is at the head of this Rebellion - you will find him a very troublesome fellow."3 In another
1 Brunswick Records in Pejepscot Collection.
8 Pejepscot Pupers.
2 Pejepscot Records, 1, p. 216.
36
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
letter, dated June 22, 1763, and probably to the same person, he says, referring to a meeting of the committees of the Plymouth and Pejep- scot Companies to settle the dividing line between their respective ter- ritories, that the former, " in order to induce us to a complyance with their construction of the matter, produced a delusive plan taken by their surveyor, whereby the points of land called Summerset Point and Pleasant Point were so laid down as to persuade us, if they could. that they made the mouth of Cathance river." He says, moreover,
that the Plymouth Company " intend to make a point of it and to force us to a complyance and by the fixing the southerly line of Bow- doinham I take it we are foreclosed and must submit to their terms." He concludes .by saying that this land " we have lost absolutely by our neglect in the survey of Topsham and getting the same incor- porated which has been settled 30 years ago."1
There are numerous letters from the proprietors' clerk, all complain- ing of the delay in completing the plan of Topsham.2
This survey was made by Stephen Gatchell, whom Noyes describes as " a poor, miserable, shufling fellow and indebted to everyone." It was completed Oct. 28 of this year.3 It took Gatchell forty-seven days to perform this work with the aid of three assistants. He charged for his work £25 1s. 4d.
The inhabitants of Topsham, having suffered long enough from the rival claims of the Plymouth and Pejepscot Companies, from taxation by the town of Brunswick, and from the want of power to control whatever turbulent element there might be amongst them, decided to apply for an Act of incorporation as a town, and accordingly a petition was this year sent to the General Court, praying for the passage of such an Act.
[1766.] On May 29, 1766, an agreement was made between the Kennebec and Pejepscot proprietors, whereby the southerly line of the township of Bowdoinham was made the line between the territory of the two companies, and as compensation for which the former proprie- tors granted to the latter five hundred acres of land " to be hereafter agreed upon." They also allowed one hundred and ninety acres of land in the possession of John Fulton, on Cathance Point. On June 11, it was mutually agreed that in lieu of the five hundred acres to be allowed to the Pejepscot proprietors, they should have " 400 acres as laid out on Cobbasecontee Pond, in Pond Town, so called." This agreement, as amended, was duly and legally confirmed by both par- ties, June 17, 1766.4
1 Pejepscot Papers. 2 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
37
PEJEPSCOT PROPRIETORS. SETTLEMENTS UNDER TIIEM
[1787.] At a meeting of the Pejepscot proprietors, held Aug. 13, 1787, Josiah Little was elected as their clerk, in place of Belcher Noyes, deceased.1
[1799.] On the 3d of May, of this year, Josiah Little, Esquire, was chosen by the Pejepscot proprietors as their agent, to take care of their undivided interest in the town of Brunswick ; to prosecute any trespassers ; or to dispose of any or all of the property as he should judge to be most for their interest.2
SETTLEMENTS UNDER THE PROPRIETORS.
The efforts made by the Pejepscot proprietors to settle their lands were, for the most part, quite successful, though the rapidity with which settlers came in varied very much at different times. Many of these earlier settlers, it is said, ran away from England, and upon their arrival in this country changed their names.
Between 1717 and 1722 forty-one persons are known to have settled in Brunswick, and there were doubtless others whose names have not been preserved. Many of these settlers, however, forfeited their lots in consequence of their non-fulfilment of the required con- ditions. In 1722 the fourth Indian, or Lovewell's, war commenced, and the situation of the settlers here became so disagreeable that they nearly all abandoned their homes, and it was not until about 1730 that the settlement was renewed.
Those who are known to have remained are John Minot, Andrew Dunning and his sons, William Woodside and Ebenezer Stanwood and their sons, William Simpson and David Giveen and sons, of Bruns- wick ; and Lieutenant Eaton, John Vincent, Thomas Thorn, James Ross, John Malcom, James McFarland, William Stinson, James, Isaac, and John Hunter, of Topsham. The most of these had garrisons.3
David Giveen, mentioned above, had been living at Mair Point, but about 1727 he bought three hundred acres of land at Middle Bay of the proprietors, and moved to the latter place. 4
On June 30, 1733, the proprietors granted to Benjamin Larrabee, gratis, a lot of land in Brunswick, - one hundred acres, - on certain specified conditions of improvement and tenancy.5
In September of the following year, Samuel Woodward paid Ben- jamin Larrabee, agent for the proprietors, £5 towards the purchase of a lot of one hundred acres, situated between Captain Woodside's land and Bungamunganeck, the conditions of the sale being that Woodward was to build a suitable dwelling-house on the lot, and clear
1 Pejepscot Records.
& McKeen, MSS. Lectures. 4 Ibid.
2 Ibid.
5 Pejepscot Records, 1, p. 117.
38
HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
and inhabit it by the last of the following May (1735), and to pay £13 additional, or forfeit the £5 already paid ; and if there were not one hundred acres in the lot specified, it was to be made up elsewhere.1
In the year 1738 the township of Brunswick was incorporated as a body politic by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a consider- able increase at once took place in the number of new settlers. On June 27, 1739, there were thirty-nine individuals who had recently come into possession of lots at New Meadows.2 Whether all these persons actually lived upon their lots is unknown, but doubtless the greater number did. There were also, at this time, in other parts of the town, twenty-nine 3 individuals who were either new settlers or the sons of early settlers who had now become of age.
In June, 1740, the proprieters voted to give Benjamin Larrabee a lease of the lands adjacent to Fort George, and also the privilege of the salmon fishery, on such terms as might be agreed upon by-the com- mittee, to whom all such matters were referred.4 Larrabee was at this time the agent of the proprietors, and probably the terms agreed upon with the committee were quite liberal. The following list of the land deeds issued by him, while agent, will prove interesting in this connection : -
MEMO OF ALL DEEDS ON RECORD MADE BY BENJAMIN LARA- BEE ESQ AS ATTORNEY TO THE PROPRS OF BRUNSWICK AND TOPSHAM.5
Names of the Persons to whom Benj. Larabee Esq atty &c. sold.
Quantity of acres sold,
The time when sold.
The consid- eration.
1 Nathan Adams.
100 acres
March 9th 1737
£25
0
0
2 John Adams
100
March 9th 1737
25
0
0
3 William Malcome
200
March 6th 1737
10
0
0
4 Robert Spear
200
March 29th 1738
32 0
0
5 William Spear
203
April 11th 1738
26 0
0
6 John Malcome
100
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.