USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 3
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockport > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 3
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In 1620 King James I chartered the Council of Plymouth, consisting of forty gentlemen, among whom was Sir Ferdinando Gorges whose name is so intimately associated with the early history of the Maine coast, and granted to it all land between the fortieth and the forty-eighth parallels of north latitude which com- prises all the territory lying between Philadelphia and the Bay of Chaleur. This council had a somewhat brief existence, but prior to its dissolution it made various grants, to different adven- turers, of the Maine territory lying west of the Penobscot river. One of these grants, made March 13, 1629, to John Beauchamp of London and Thomas Leverett of Boston (England), was styled the Muscongus or Lincolnshire Grant. This grant em- braced the land lying between the Muscongus and Penobscot rivers, and extended back from the seaboard to a line far enough north to give it a superficial area equal to nine hundred square miles. It included nearly the whole of the present Knox and Waldo counties, and a part of Lincoln. It was granted without any consideration being paid by the grantees, and the only reservations to the king made by the granting power, were the rights of government and "one fifth part of all such Oar of Gold and Silver as should be gotten out and obtained in or upon such Premises." The object of making these grants without consideration was to get settlements started in the country, which by their growth would enhance the value of adjacent sections.
The scope of this history does not warrant our going into the many details that have been given in other historical books and papers relative to the Muscongus Grant, nor in following the
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
history of the various conflicting charters of Maine territory granted by James I to the aforesaid Council of Plymouth; by Charles I to Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1639; by Charles II to the Duke of York in 1674, etc. Suffice it to say that through all the changes that the government of this territory passed from the date of the Muscongus Grant to the present time the land titles that grew out of it and the "Waldo Patent " that succeed- ed it, have always been upheld unimpeached and unquestioned.
On the death of Beauchamp, his co-patentee, Leverett, by right of survivorship, succeeded to the whole grant and for several years continued to administer its affairs. He died in 1650, and by the English law of primogeniture, his eldest son, John Lev- erett, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, succeeded him. From him it descended to Hudson, his son, and in 1714, to the son of Hudson, President John Leverett, of Harvard College.
Of the two original patentees, Beauchamp never came to America and died a short time after receiving the grant from the Plymouth Council. Leverett who was a man of distinction in the English Boston, came to Boston in America in 1633, where he was selectman, etc., and his descendants for several generations, were men of mark, culture and ability in the colony, and the title of all the land in this section was in the family for a long period of time. Notwithstanding this the name of Beauchamp is a familiar one in this county today, it being perpetuated by the point of land in Rockport, known as Beauchamp Point; while the illustrious name of Leverett, though applied for a short time to Jameson's Point in Rockland, has, so far as this section is con- cerned, long been lost in obscurity and we now seldom hear it mentioned.
In 1719 President Leverett decided to undertake the re- occupation and settlement of the grant, which had previously been ravaged by Indian wars, which that year were happily ended. He found the undertaking one of great magnitude and beset with some difficulties. Among other troubles were certain clouds
25
THE MUSCONGUS GRANT
upon his title due to conflicting though probably invalid claims of other parties.
In 1694 Governor Phips purchased of Madockawando, sachem of the Penobscot tribe, the Tarratines' title to a large tract of land included within the limits of the Muscongus Grant. The Indians disavowed their chief's right to make this conveyance, but to avoid controversy and quiet his title, Leverett divided his holding into ten shares, granting one share to Spencer Phips, the heir of the governor. The other nine shares were apportioned as follows : to a son of Governor Bradford, one share, to extinguish some intervening claim; to Elisha Cook, two shares; to Nathaniel Hibbard, Hannah Davis, Rebecca Lloyd and Sarah Byfield, one share each, the same being descendants of Thomas Leverett ; and the remaining two shares he retained himself. The above persons were henceforth styled the "Ten Proprietors." During the same year these proprietors associated with them twenty others termed the "Twenty Associates," 1 (among whom were Jonathan and Cornelius Waldo, the father and the brother of Gen. Samuel Waldo), and admitted them into the company as tenants in com- mon under mutual obligations to procure settlers for two towns, of eighty families each. 2
Shortly after the granting of the Muscongus patent, in 1630, Edward Ashley, agent of the patentees, and William Pierce, his
1. The names of the "Twenty Associates" were, Jahleel Benton, John Clark, Samuel Brown, Thomas Fitch, Adam Winthrop, Samuel Thaxter, Oliver Noyes, Stephen Minot, Anthony Stoddard, Thomas Westbrook, Thomas Smith, Jose Appleton and Thomas Fairwether, Henry Franklin, Gilbert Bent and Benjamin Bronsdon, William Clark, John Oulton, Jonathan Waldo, Cornelius Waldo, John Smith and John Jeffries, twenty-two individuals in all - but as Appleton and Fairwether, and Bent and Bronsdon were partners in the transaction, the two partnerships were each reckoned as one of the associates, thus making Twenty Associates.
2. The grant from the Plymouth Council to Beauchamp and Leverett; the Indian deed from Madockawando to Sir William Phips; the release of Spencer Phips to John Leverett; the deed of John Leverett to the "Ten Proprietors;" and the deeds between the "Ten Proprietors " and "Twenty Associates," are printed, in the order mentioned, in York Deeds, Book X, Fol. 237 to 244 inclusive.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
assistant, came from England and established a trading post on the St. Georges river at what is now Thomaston, which is regarded as the first settlement in any part of the grant. This post was broken up by the outbreaking of King Philip's war. Hencefor- ward until 1719, the territory comprising the grant was in a state of desolation, but immediately after the "Ten Proprietors" and "Twenty Associates " united in the ownership of the grant, two settlements were begun which afterwards became the towns of Thomaston and Warren. They were destroyed by the Indians shortly afterwards, the strength of the two block houses, erected at Thomaston, alone preventing the total extinction of the settle- ment. From that time settlements began to grow and flourish in the southern portion of the grant, but no settlement was made in Camden or Rockport until more than forty years later.
27
THE WALDO PATENT
CHAPTER V.
THE WALDO PATENT AND TWENTY ASSOCIATES.
While the strongest efforts were being put forth by the own- ers of the grant, after peace had been declared with the Indians, to get the country settled, and after they had engaged a minister, of the gospel and 120 families to come here as settlers, they met with an unforeseen difficulty in the aggression of one David Dunbar who claimed, as "Surveyor General of the King's Woods," a reservation of all pine trees in Maine having a diameter of over two feet, as masts for the British navy. "Clothed with the royal authority Dunbar seems to have reversed the Scriptural language and regarded every man infamous according as he had lifted up axes against the thick trees.'"' 1 He is also said to have forbidden any settlements to be made except on condition of receiving titles from him. With an armed force he drove the settlers away, seized their timber and destroyed- their sawmills. The interests of the proprietors were so damaged by his exactions that they chose as their agent, Samuel Waldo of Boston, the son of one of the Associates and a "gentleman of good capacity and great activity," and sent him to London to undertake to get Dunbar's authority revoked. So ably and per- sistently did Waldo represent the interests of his clients, that he
1 Collection of the Maine Historical Society, Vol. IX. p.80. Paper on Brig. Gen. Samuel Waldo, by Joseph Williamson.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
succeeded, in 1731, in getting the "Surveyor" removed, and the rights of the Proprietors guaranteed for the future. On his return to America, as a remuneration for his expenses and val- uable services, the Thirty Proprietors joined in conveying to him one half of the grant. The estimated area of the whole grant was 600,000 acres, so the thirty original proprietors had 300,000 acres left, and the "Ten Proprietors" and "Twenty Associates," as the two companies were distinguished, agreed to divide the remainder between them in the proportion of 100,000 acres for the "Ten " and 200,000 acres for the "Twenty." Later the "Twenty Associates" in return for being released by Waldo from certain obligations to procure settlement, agreed to take their share in 100,000 acres to be selected by them from whatever part of the grant they might desire. They selected a tract which was to be five and one-quarter miles wide on the coast, and extend back thirty miles into the interior, but the survey was long de- layed and when made in 1768, it was found that about twenty miles back from the shore it infringed upon the Plymouth Patent, therefore a portion of what is now the town of Liberty, and the whole of the present town of Montville were added to complete the requisite number of acres. Thus Montville, a part of Liberty and the towns of Appleton, Hope and Camden made up the territory known as the land of the "Twenty Associates of the Lincolnshire Company," as the company was called. The surveys were not made until some nine years after Gen. Waldo's death and were the result of a meeting of the surviving "Asso- ciates " and the heirs of some of the others being called on Sept. 6, 1766, at which a committee was chosen to confer with the heirs of Gen. Waldo. This committee subsequently report- ed that the Waldo heirs were willing to carry out the original understanding, and the following gentlemen were authorized to execute deeds1 of indenture with the said heirs, viz: Hon. Benjamin
1 The deeds of Waldo heirs and the " Twenty Associates" are recorded in the Lincoln Records of Knox County, Vol. I, at the Knox County Registry of Deeds.
29
THE WALDO PATENT
Lynde, Hon. James Bowdoin, Robert Treat Payne, Esq., and Messrs. Henry Liddle and Nath'l Appleton.
The "Ten Proprietors" believing that the grant extended as far north as Bangor, selected as their part of it, Frankfort, Hamp- den, and a portion of Swanville, Monroe and Bangor; but final surveys of the grant established the fact that it did not reach farther than the northern line of Frankfort, reducing the number of acres of the "Ten Proprietors" to about 43,000. Some resolves were subsequently passed and promises made relative to making up to the "Ten Proprietors" their loss caused by the survey, but nothing resulted and they never received anything in satisfaction of said loss. The rest of the Muscongus Grant (including that part of Lincolnville that was shortly afterwards annexed to Camden ), containing some 400,000 acres, was finally set off in severalty to the Waldo heirs, and was known as the "Waldo Patent."
Gen. Waldo was a man of commanding ability, enterprising and energetic, and did much to hasten the growth of this region. He made strong efforts to colonize the grant, of which he was the chief proprietor. Among other things that he did with that end in view, was to circulate advertisements in the German lan- guage throughout Germany, at different times, offering induce- ments to the people of that country to settle in Maine. 1
In one of his proclamations published in the German Impe- rial Post, March 23, 1753, he speaks of our climate, etc., as follows: "The climate is acknowledged to be healthy, and the soil exceedingly fruitful, since the wood which grows there is mostly oak, beech, ash, maple, and the like, and it yields all manner of fruit as in Germany, but hemp and flax in greater perfection. Also there is much game in the woods, and many fish in the streams, and everyone is permitted to hunt and fish."
1 Copies of Gen. Waldo's terms of settlement, advertisement and letters, relative to the matter of German emigration to this section, are recorded in the Lincoln Records of Knox County, Vol. I.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
These efforts brought forty families from Brunswick and Saxony in 1740, who settled at Broad Bay. They were joined by sixty more families in September, 1753. These Germans laid the found- ation of the town of Waldoboro, and their descendants make up a very large proportion of the present population of that town. On the 23d of May, 1759, while exploring the Penobscot river above Bangor, Gen. Waldo died suddenly of apoplexy. His body was interred at Fort Point with military honors, by the expedition which he had accompanied to the Penobscot to estab- lish a fort at the mouth of the river. His remains were shortly afterwards taken to Boston where they now repose in King's Chapel burying ground.
Gen. Waldo left four children, one of whom, Hannah, was the wife of Thomas Flucker, Secretary of the Province. By purchase and inheritance all the Waldo Patent became the prop- erty of Hannah Flucker and her husband and her brother Francis.
The story of Lucy Flucker, the daughter of Thomas and Hannah, is well known. This daughter of an aristocratic tory family, insisted upon marrying, against the wishes of her kindred, the young Boston bookseller, Henry Knox, who was noted for his patriotic proclivities. When the Revolution broke out this strong-minded young woman smuggled her husband's sword out of Boston concealed in the folds of her dress, and followed his fortunes through all the vicissitudes of the war. In the meantime all her loyalist relatives had fled to England, and their property had been confiscated by the commonwealth. After the close of the war Mrs. Knox occupied a high position in her native country, while the members of her exiled family were reduced to depend- ence upon the British government for support.
In November, 1785, the commonwealth, by order of the General Court, quit-claimed its interest in the Waldo Patent 1 to Washington's favorite general, then the distinguished Secretary
1 Deed of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to Henry Knox, and other deeds to Knox of the Waklo Patent are recorded in the Lincoln Records of Knox County, Vol. 2.
31
THE WALDO PATENT
of War, and through the inheritance of a portion of the estate by his wife, and the purchase by him of the interests of his wife's relatives, he became sole proprietor of the whole Waldo Patent. 1
In 1793 Gen. Knox sent workmen from Boston, under the superintendence of an architect, who erected at Thomaston a spacious mansion of brick. It was of three stories, including a brick basement and was surmounted by a fourth cupola-like story, in the roof. There were also erected farm buildings, stables and many other out-buildings. This magnificent mansion erected at the cost of $50,000, was completed in 1794. It was superbly located on the bank of the St. Georges river, commanding a magnificent view. Its site was a short distance southerly of the present railroad station at Thomaston, the station building being one of the out-buildings of the estate. When his mansion was completed Gen. Knox, with his family, came from Philadelphia to make his permanent home on his Maine estate which he had named "Montpelier," having previously resigned his position in President Washington's cabinet. Here he entertained sumptuous- ly and dispensed unstinted hospitality until his death which occurred October 25, 1806. His remains lie in the cemetery at Thomaston with only a modest monument to mark the spot. His splendid mansion was, in after years, allowed to fall into decay and finally, about thirty-five years ago, was totally demolished. It
1 Mr. Locke, on page 23 of his Sketches of the History of Camdeu, on the authority of Dr. B. J. Porter, states that "after the Revolutionary war was over, Gen. Knox went to the General Court of Massachusetts to have his titles con- firmed and obtain, if he could, a share of the sequestrated portion of his wife's relatives' claims. He arrived on the day of the adjournment of the Court, and as many representatives had not left Boston, he collected quite a number of them together, and gave them a sumptuous supper, after which they were in a pretty good mood to accede to his proposals. We have been credibly informed that a committee was formed by these members, when a bill was soon framed, which ultimated in his favor. - - Thus the Gen- eral, by his adroit manœuvering, principally, came into possession of the confiscated title of the absentees, to which, in fact, he had no right above that of any other citizen." There is, so far as we know, no documentary authority for the above statement, and it has been vigorously denied. There seems to be hardly sufficient foundation for it to be considered absolutely . authentic.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
is today a source of much regret that this noble old mansion was not preserved as a monument to the memory of the great soldier who lived and died in our neighboring town, and who will always have a place in history as one of the foremost among those grand characters of the Revolution who assisted in the establish- ment of our great Republic.
From the foregoing account of the descent of the Waldo patent and grant to the "Twenty Associates," it is seen that the land titles of the original town of Camden finally came from two sources, viz .: the title of all land lying northeasterly of the "Twenty Associates' line," being derived from Gen. Knox, and all southwesterly of that line (including part of Camden and all of Rockport ) being derived from the "Twenty Associates." Gen. Knox sold the land in the northerly part of the town, from 1798 to shortly before his death, to Benj. Cushing, Joshua and Lemuel Dillingham, William and Joseph Eaton, Joseph Sherman, Benj., Joshua and Bazeleel Palmer and others, and from them the titles have come down to the present owners, in nearly every case without any break in the records. The "Twenty Associates," beginning in 1768 and extending over a period of some thirty years, from time to time authorized their clerks to sell the land in Camden owned by them, which was done, sometimes at private sale and sometimes at auction. In 1769 and for several years afterwards they issued "permits " to settle upon their land, with the promise to convey to the settlers the land taken up. One of these "permits," issued to William Gregory, reads as follows : 1
BOSTON, May 5, 1769.
PERMISSION TO SETTLE IN THE TOWN OF CAMBDEN.
Whereas, you, William Gregory, have manifested to the Committee of the Propriety, called the Twenty Associates of the Lincolnshire Company, your desire to become a settler in the Town of Cambden, now settling near St. Georges River. I have made a choice of number four as laid down in the Plan of said Township. You are hereby permitted to enter on said Lot num-
1. Lincoln Records of Knox County, Vol. 3, page 244.
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THE WALDO PATENT
ber four and to begin a settlement, provided you do within six months from the date hereof- otherwise this permission to be void, and if you, to all intents and purposes, do perform the conditions of settlement as expressed and mentioned in the proprietors' proposals, herewith given you, according to the full intent and meaning of them, then in that case, you shall have good warrantee Deed of said Lot number four, with all the im- provements thereon, subject, however, to such restrictions and duties as are particularly mentioned in the said Proposals.
By order of the Proprietors' Committee. NATH'L APPLETON, Clerk.
Another "permit" was issued to Abraham Ogier and reads as follows :
BOSTON, June 28th, 1773.
At a meeting of the standing committee of the Proprietors, called the Twenty Associates of the Lincolnshire Company, voted - Whereas, Mr. Abraham Ogier had encouragement, some time past, to come from Quebec and settle upon a front lot in Cambden, which he now applies for, but all those lots being taken up and settled, it is therefore voted, that the said Ogier be permitted to settle upon lot number thirty-three, on Beauchamp Neck, upon the following conditions, viz .: Said Ogier shall perform and do all the duties which other settlers in said town are obliged to do and perform, as mentioned and expressed in the printed condi- tions of settlement for settling the Town ; and, in addition thereto, he shall work two days extraordinary in each year, on the roads and ministerial lot in said Town, so long as the settlers by Articles are obliged to work thereon.
A true copy- Attest : NATH'L APPLETON, Pro's Clerk.
This is to certify that said Abraham Ogier hath performed all the aforesaid conditions, as witness our hands.
ROBERT THORNDIKE, SAM'L MCLAUGHLIN, JOHN GROOS, JAMES MINOT.
This "permit" was not recorded until July 22, 1806. 1 This was the beginning of the title in the Ogier family of
1. Lincoln Records of Knox County, Vol. 7, page 72.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
the land since known as the "Ogier Farm," and shows one method adopted by the settlers of presenting evidence to the Proprietors that they had fulfilled the conditions of the proposals and were entitled to deeds of their land. The "Associates" also disposed of large tracts to William Molineaux, including "Beauchamp Neck," a tract of 500 acres ; to Robert Thorndike ; to Charles Barrett ; to William Minot; to Joseph Pierce, various lots, at different times, including Negro Island "for faithful ser- vices as Clerk of the Company," and to many others. From these original purchasers and their assigns have descended to us in unbroken succession for the most part, the remaining Camden and all the Rockport land titles.
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THE FIRST SETTLERS
1136799
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
While settlements were early made on the southern coast of the Muscongus grant, and that region was often visited by adven- turers and voyagers from Europe and from other parts of the American coast, we have no authentic account of visits being paid to our vicinity, after those already recorded, until 1696, although both before and after that date it would be strange if some transient fisherman or trader did not occasionally touch the
coast. In 1696, Capt. Benj. Church made his fourth expedition against the eastern Indians, who, controlled by Baron de Castine, were in the service of the French and at war with the English. He anchored his vessel at Monhegan, and leaving with his men at night in a whale boat, arrived at Owl's Head in the morning. Finding no Indians there they continued their way up the Penob- scot, and came to "Mathebestuck hills," 1 where they "landed and hid their boats." It was not until after the middle of the eighteenth century, however, that white people began to come this way to any account. During the French and Indian war Capt. Blaisdell of Newburyport, while in pursuit of Indians, saw
1. The words Mathebestuck and Mecaddacut are said to be different forms of the same Indian word representing the country about Camden. Probably it is the same as the name Madambettox or Methebesec, applied to Dodge's Mountain in Rockland. Massabesec is another form of the word, and is said to mean " much pond place." Also the names Medumcook and Medomac are probably of kindred origin and meaning.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
several on the island at the entrance of Rockport harbor. He gave them pursuit and they disappeared into the forest on Beau- champ Point. He is said, from this incident, to have given the island the name of "Indian Island " by which it is known at the present day. 1 These infrequent visits caused by war ,or accident, were succeeded by more frequent ones in the late sixties when men came to the Megunticook region for lumber or ship timber and after staying long enough to get a cargo, sailed away; but beautiful as was the scenery, and favorable as was the situation, no one came here to make a permanent settlement until 1769. For more than a century and a half after Pring, Waymouth and Smith beheld our mountains, forests and shores, our primeval woods continued the home of wild beasts and savage men, our lakes continued to reflect, unchanged, the forms of the ancient oak and pine trees, our streams continued to leap unfettered to the sea and the waves of ocean continued their undisturbed centuries-old dash against the rocks along our shores. All this time
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