History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 66

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780

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UNIVERSALIST MEETING-HOUSES.

The first church edifice erected by the Universalists was situated on Federal Street, opposite the present high school building, on the lot now owned by the Unitarians. It was built in 1828, and cost about $700, which in those days was quite a sum of money. Mr. Anthony C. Raymond built the house chiefly at his own expense. When com- pleted he sold pews to fifteen persons, and subsequently a few more pews were disposed of, but he was always the principal owner. The house was dedicated Nov. 24, 1829. In 1847 or 1848 the building was sold to the Maquoit Baptist Society, and it was removed to the junction of the old Harpswell and Mair Point roads, where it received the name of the Forest Church. In 1875 it was sold to the Grangers, moved back to the village, and placed at Union Street and Gilman Avenue, where it is used as a hall.

The second church building erected by the Universalists was what is now known as the Mason Street church. It was built in 1816, the basement of the building and the land being the exclusive property of Mr. John L. Swift. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. E. G. Brooks, of Bath (now Rev. Dr. Brooks, of the Church of the Mes- siah, Philadelphia). The prayer of consecration was offered by Rev. George Bates, of Turner, recently deceased. Other parts of the services were performed by Rev. Giles Bailey, the pastor, by Rev. Seth Stetson, and by Rev. W. C. George. The town-clock and bell on this building were purchased chiefly by subscription by citizens of Brunswick and Topsham in 1847, the town of Brunswick appropri- ating, however, the sum of $200 towards the purchase of the clock. Col. Andrew Dennison was the most prominently connected with the movement, and the subject was started by him. Ile transacted the business, and the bills were made in his name as agent for the town. A bell weighing 1700 pounds was purchased of Henry N. Hooper & Co, of Boston, but it was unsatisfactory in tone, and was re- turned. Another bell was then purchased of George II. Holbrook, of East Medway, Mass., weighing 1794 pounds, and costing $479.57. The same bell is now in use. The clock was purchased of Howard & Davis, Boston. It cost, including dial, hands, ete., and expenses of freight and putting up, $340.30.

METHODIST CHURCHI.

The Methodist church on Pleasant Street is the only one ever erected by that denomination in Brunswick. It was built in 1866. They had previously worshiped in the building ou Federal Street, which they bought of the Baptists.

The new edifice on Pleasant Street was begun in the spring of 1866, and was completed in December of the same year. It cost, with the lot, $9000. Nearly the whole amount was raised by voluntary subscription and by the sale of pews. There was, however, a debt of $1000, which was finally paid in the year 1872.

On Dec. 5, 1866, the chapel was dedicated with the following services :

Invocation, by Rev. E. A. Helmershausen ; address, by Rev. J. Colby ; hymn (964th ), by Rev. L. D. Wardwell ; prayer, by Rev. D. B. Randall; reading of Scriptures, by Rev. C. C. Cone ; hymn (968th), by Rev. Mark Trafton ;

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sermon, by the same, followed by an offertory, psalm of con- secration, presentation, declaration, prayer of consecration, anthem, doxology, and benediction.

In 1875 the church was thoroughly repaired, some marked improvements made, and the lot inclosed with a handsome and durable fence. The cost of these repairs and improvements was about $650, which was promptly paid.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCHI (EPISCOPAL).

This church was erected in 1844 and 1845, from plans furnished by Richard Upjohn, architect, of New York. The cost of the building and land was about $4000, most of which was contributed by friends in Rhode Island, New York, and Philadelphia. It was consecrated, according to the use and liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, on Friday, July 11, 1845.

The deed of donation was read by Rev. Thomas F. Fales, rector of the parish, and the sentence of consecration, by Rev. Robert B. Hall, of the Diocese of Rhode Island. Morning prayer was conducted by Rev. Messrs. James Pratt, of Portland, and Alexander Burgess, of Augusta. The rector read the ante-communion service, assisted by Rev. R. B. Hall, who read the epistle, and Rev. Francis Peck, of the Diocese of Maryland, who read the gospel. The consecration sermon was preached by Bishop Henshaw, of Rhode Island.

Various changes have been made in the church. In 1858 the present arched ceiling was put in, under the open- timbered roof, to improve the acoustic properties of the building. Changes were made in the chancel furniture, but the most noticeable improvements were made by Rev. Mr. Taylor, in August, 1873, which have made the church so beautiful. The memorial window to Bishop Burgess was placed in the chancel in 1868, and that to Rev. Dr. Ballard in November, 1871.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

GEN. JOSIIUA L. CHAMBERLAIN

was born in Brewer, near the city of Bangor, in September, 1828. Ilis father's family came to this country from Eng- land, but the family traditions claim a descent from the Tancarvilles and Montmorencies, of Normandy, in France. In his mother's family the Huguenot and the Puritan ele- ments were mingled. His ancestors on the father's side held military commissions in the war of 1812, the Revo- Ition, and the French and Indian wars.

The parents of Joshua L. gave him the best education the State afforded. After having received a careful train- ing in the public and private schools at home, and in the military school of Major Whiting, at Ellsworth, he entered Bowdoin College and graduated in 1852, having taken the highest honors. He then studied for three years at Bangor Theological Seminary, devoting himself especially to the oriental languages and theology. During this time he was also supervisor of public schools in his native town. His " Masters Oration" at Bowdoin, in 1855, attracted so much attention that he was appointed a special instructor in

Logie and Natural Theology, and the year afterwards was made Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory. His proficiency in the French and German languages was such that he was placed in charge of those languages for two years, and in 1861 was elected Professor of Modern Languages. In the summer of 1862 leave of absence was granted him to visit Europe. The civil war, however, being then at its darkest period he tendered his resignation as professor, and, offering his services to the government, was commissioned lieuten- ant-colonel of the 20th Maine Volunteers on the 8th of August, 1862. This regiment was sent to share the event- ful fortunes of the Army of the Potomac. From that time his history is well known. It is sufficient to say here that he was in all the battles, skirmishes, and movements of that army until the close of the war, constantly at the front, always in important and responsible positions, and often in conspicuous ones. He was made a general on the field, his promotion being announced in orders by Gen. Grant, sanctioned by President Lincoln, and immediately ratified by the Senate. It was his fortune also to com- mand the parade at the surrender of the arms and colors of Lee's army at Appomattox Court-house. He was several times wounded,-once so severely that he was given up for dead, and his survival is almost without parallel.

At the breaking up of the army he was assigned to a new command, with the offer of permanent retention in the service with full rank of colonel, and the brevet of major- general, which was his volunteer rank. He declined this preferment, and returned to his home, suffering under an accumulation of wounds, when the college at once re- elected him to the chair of Rhetoric and Oratory. In 1866 he was chosen Governor of Maine by the largest majority ever given up to that time, and was re-elected to this office for four successive terms. Ilis conservative ideas and his rigid impartiality in treating questions which came before him, involving party interests, seemed to lose him favor with some of his party ; and his declining to seize the opportu- nity to secure an election to the United States Senate-an office believed to be easily within his reach-alienated many friends, who thought his notions of personal honor were too nice and scrupulous for a successful party leader.

In 1871 he was elected president of Bowdoin College, and shortly afterwards Professor of Mental and Moral Phil- osophy. This latter chair he resigned in 1879, in order to devote himself more largely to the general interests of the college and to the political and social sciences, for which there was no established provision. He is now giving lec- tures on political economy, political ethics, and public law.

He has given many public orations and addresses,-that before the Society of the Army of the Potomac at its or- ganization in 1866, and the address on Maine's Place in History, at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876, having attracted most attention. He is much sought as an orator or lecturer for special occasions, and sometimes takes part in political affairs, where he is prominent among the more conservative members of his party.

In 1878 he was appointed United States commissioner to the Paris Exposition, and was charged with the preparation of a report on education in Europe, which has not yet been published.

J. L. Chamberlain

CAPE ELIZABETH.

DESCRIPTION AND BOUNDARIES.

CAPE ELIZABETH is a peninsula projecting south ward into the Atlantic Ocean, and forming the western headland of Casco Bay. As a town or municipality it takes its name from the cape which constitutes the southern end of the peninsula ; and is bounded north by the towns of Westbrook and Deering, and by Fore River and Portland Harbor, east by Casco Bay, south by the Atlantic Ocean, and west by the Spurwink River and Scarborough. The town em- braces Richmond Island, the earliest settled portion of this whole region of country, and several small islets off its southern coast, viz., the Sisters, Stephen's Rock, Ram Island, Chimney Rock, and the Brothers. The light-houses and coast-features of the cape are described in the general chapter on topography. The town contains an area of about 13,000 acres. Being nearly surrounded by tide-water, Cape Elizabeth has no interior sewers for its drainage, its boundary lines being Fore River on the north, which separates it from Portland, and the Spurwink, which bounds it on the west to its first principal fork, which is a small tributary with two branches lying wholly on the west side of the town. Trout Brook flows northeast into Portland Harbor at Knightville; and Pond Creek in the northeast enters Fore River at Ligonia. There are two ponds, called Great and Small Ponds, lying in the southern part of the town. The Eastern Railroad, crossing Fore River at Turner's Island, passes southwestward through the town, on its way from Portland to Saco, Portsmouth, and Boston.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The earliest settlement within Cape Elizabeth, as we have elsewhere stated, was on Richmond Island, a place which for many years, when there were but few huts on the main- land, was the principal harbor, fishing-station, and com- mercial port of this coast. Walter Bagnall, called " Great Walt," some time in the year 1628, established himself upon the island for the purpose of trading with the Indians. Winthrop says, " He lived alone upon the island three years, and had accumulated £400, mostly in goods, by his trade with the Indians, whom he had much wronged." His conduct so exasperated the natives that they put an end to his life, and to that of a companion who seems then to have been associated with him, Oct. 3, 1631, burnt his house and plundered his property. Thus ended the first com- mercial transactions on the island, but, as we shall see farther on, they were soon renewed and carried on by another party on a much larger and more respectable scale.

GRANT TO TRELAWNY AND GOODYEARE.

The first grant of land in Cape Elizabeth was made by the Plymouth Council, Dec. 1, 1631, to Robert Trelawny

and Moses Goodyeare, merchants of Plymouth, England. The grant comprised the whole of what is now the town of Cape Elizabeth, including Richmond Island. The patentees appointed John Winter, who was then in this country, their principal agent. A copy of the grant was immediately sent to him, and on the 21st of July, 1632, he was put in pos- session of the tract by Richard Vines, of Saco, one of the persons appointed by the grantors for that purpose.

There were at that time settled upon the territory near the mouth of the Spurwink River, George Cleaves and Richard Tucker, who had established themselves there in 1630. They had selected one of the most valuable spots in the tract, and claimed to hold against Winter 2000 acres of land, with their improvements, of which, however, they were forcibly dispossessed. Cleaves, in 1640, when regular courts were established by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, brought an action of trespass against Winter, to recover damages for the removal ; and in his declaration he stated his title as follows : "joining himself in partnership with Richard Tucker, then of Spurwink, who had also a right of in- heritance there, the which he bought and purchased for a valuable consideration of Richard Bradshaw, who was for- merlic settled there by Capt. Walter Neale, by virtue of a commission to him given by some of the lords patentees, and soe as appeareth the said Richard Tucker was lawfully possessed of a right of inheritance at and in the said Spur- wink. Alsoe, the plaintiff further declareth that he join- ing his right by promise and possession with his partner's right by purchase and possession, and soe being account- able to his said partner, they both agreed to joyne their rights together, and there to build, plante, and continue, which when the plaintiff had done, and was there settled for two years or thereaboutes, this defendant, John Winter, came and pretended an interest there, by virtue of a suc- ceeding pattent surrupticionslie obtained, and soe by force of arms expelled and thrust away the plaint. from his house, lands, and goods."

The verdict in this case was as follows: "The jury find for the plaint. the house and land inclosed, containing fonre acres or thereaboute, joyning with the said house, and give him eighty pounds for damage, and twelve shillings and six pence for the cost of the Courte."

It appears from the above statement of Cleaves that Richard Bradshaw, from whom Tucker purchased his place at Spurwink, must have been the first settler on the main- land of Cape Elizabeth, as Walter Bagnall was the first on Richmond Island. It is stated that Bradshaw " was settled here by Capt. Walter Neale," but the date is not given. Walter Neale arrived in this country in the spring of 1630, and returned in the summer of 1633. He came out as Governor of the company at l'iscataqua, now Portsmouth,

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N. II. It must have been before his visit to this country that he settled Bradshaw at Spurwink, sending him out from England ; for Tucker, who bought his claim, settled here in 1630.

COMMERCE OF THE ISLAND.

Jocelyn, in 1638, says that Winter employed 60 men in the fishing business. The trade in beaver this year in this neighborhood was also very successful ; the government of Plymouth Colony procured at their trading-house on the Kennebee 20 hogsheads, which was sent to England. This was a principal article of commerce in the early settle- ment of the country ; it was a sort of circulating medium or standard of valne among the white people and natives, and remittances to the mother-country were made by it. About the year 1640 the price of it in Casco was from 6. to 8 shillings a pound, and it was received in payment for commodities and labor. Winter, in 1640, was complained of for trying to keep down the price to 6 shillings.

In the spring of 1635, a ship of 80 tons and a pinnace of 10 tons arrived at Richmond Island. In 1636, Mr. Trelawny alone is mentioned as proprietor of the patent, and March 26th of that year he committed the full govern- ment of the plantation to Mr. Winter, who appears after that time to have had an interest of one-tenth in the speeu- lation, and in addition to his proportion of the profits, he was to receive from the general fund " forty pounds per an- num in money for his personal care and charge." After this time the business of the plantation was pursued with great activity until the death of Trelawny, which took place in 1644. They employed the ship " Agnes," the bark " Richmond," the ships " Hercules" and " Margery," and one other, whose name is not mentioned. In 1638, Mr. Trelawny sent a ship of 300 tons to the island, laden with wine. This was probably the proceeds of a cargo of fish sent to Spain or Portugal.

The merchandise sent to the proprietor in England con- sisted principally of pipe-staves, beaver, fish, and oil. In 1639, Winter sent in the bark " Richmond" 6000 pipe-staves, which were valued here at 8 pounds 8 shillings a thousand. Some shipments were made directly from the plantation to Spain, and a profitable intercourse seenis to have been car- ried on for the proprietors a number of years, until it was suspended by the death of Trelawny. After that time the want of capital, probably, prevented Winter from employ- ing ships on his own account, and Trelawny's heir was but a child of six or seven years old. The commercial character of the plantation declined from that time, and the trade gradually sought other channels, until the mouth of the Spurwink and Richmond Island became entirely deserted. Their mercantile prosperity is now only to be found among the perishable and almost perished memorials of a by-gone age.

OPERATIONS OF ROBERT JORDAN.

Robert Jordan was the principal landed proprietor in Cape Elizabeth, and the lands here are chiefly held under his grants at this time. His earliest conveyances were to Joseph Phippen, Sampson Penley, Robert and Thomas Staniford, Ralph Turner, and some others along the north- ern part of the town ; but he retained possession of Spur-

wink and nearly all the southern part, containing the marshes and the most valuable land. He was not content with the large tract over which his title was undisputed, but sought for many years to extend his domain to the Presumpscot River on the north and cast. He was thus brought into a long controversy with George Cleaves and his tenants, who held and occupied the land on the Neck and vicinity, which was continued during his life. Jordan was a man of enterprise, and by proposing to the inhabi- tants of this part of Falmouth that he desired to occupy certain portions of the land for the purpose of building mills and making other public improvements, alike bene- ficial to all, he secured to an appeal which he addressed to them June 28, 1658, quite a large number of signatures of citizens consenting to allow him to have peaceable posses- sion. The names of these persons were Robert Corbin, Thomas Grinley, John Sears, Thomas Haines, Francis Neale, Michael Mitton, Nathaniel Wallis, Nicholas White, William Ryall, Jane Maeworth, Thomas Morrice, James Andrews, Gyles Roberts, Richard Martin, Sampson Penley, and Joseph Phippen.

The controversy between Cleaves and Jordan was carried into the first court which appears to have been held in the county after the submission of Falmouth and Scarborough to the authority of Massachusetts. This was on the 4th of July, 1659. The first action was brought by Cleaves against Jordan for breach of the arbitration bond entered into by Cleaves and John Winter in 1640, by which they bound themselves in the sum of £1000 to abide the award of referees on the subject of the disputed title to lands. This action was withdrawn. At the same court Cleaves entered another action against Jordan, " for making de- mands of certain lands purchased by great sums of money, and possessed by order of former grants these twenty-seven years." This action called forth proof of the original title, and Jordan introduced the certificate of part of the judges who tried the action in 1640 between Cleaves and Winter, taken soon after that trial, of which the following is an ex- tract : " That which Mr. Cleaves and the jury took for Casco River to be but a creek into which we saw but one little brook to run, but the other which Mr. Trelawny takes for Casco River to be the river, it hath its issue out of a great pond named Sabadock ; the river is of a reason- able depth and breadth, by the relation of the ancient in- habitants and natives, ever to have been called Casco River." This is signed by Thomas Gorges, Henry Jocelyn, and Richard Vines. Jordan also introduced the deposition of Roger Willine, taken Dec. 7, 1658, in which he says that "about 21 or 22 years agone he helped to row up the river which runneth by Mrs. Jane Macworth's, to ye falls called Casco Falls, Mr. Richard Vines, Mr. Arthur Macworth, Mr. John Winter, Mr. Henry Abilie, with divers others whom he hath forgotten, where he saw Mr. Richard Vines deliver unto Mr. John Winter possession of the lands and falls there, by turf and twig." On the other hand, Cleaves relied on his deeds and possession ; but the jury found for Jordan. Jordan also recovered judgment against him iu an action of debt for £10 10s.

Cleaves attributed his ill success in the county court to the fact that Jordan himself was one of the judges ; he

MRS. EBEN N. PERRY.

EBEN N. PERRY.

( PHOTOS BY J. H. LAMSON )

RESIDENCE OF EBEN N. PERRY, CAPE ELIZABETH, ME.

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therefore sought redress by a petition to the General Court, May 24, 1661. But neither under this petition nor another, presented by him the following year, did he obtain any satisfaction. The matter was left in controversy till it was finally settled by the grandson of Robert Jordan and the " new proprietors" of Falmouth, in 1728.

During the first Indian war, 1765, an attack was made on the settlement at Spurwink. Mr. Robert Jordan had barely time to escape from his house, when it was destroyed with all its contents, and he removed to Great Island, now New Castle, in the Piscataqua River. He ended his active life at Portsmouth, N. IT., in 1679, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. His will was made at Great Island, January 28th, and proved July 1, 1679. He had lost the use of his hands before his death, and was unable to sign his will. HIe left a widow, Sarah, the only daughter of John Winter, and six sons, viz., John, Robert, Dominicus, Jedediah, Samuel, and Jeremiah. In his will be confirmed to his sons John and Robert the land that he had previously eon- veyed to them, which was situated in Cape Elizabeth. To his son John he conveyed Richmond Island, Jan. 25, 1677, as the administrator of Winter, who had given it to his grandson as a legacy. In his will he bequeathed to his wife the old plantation at Spurwink, consisting of 1000 acres, and lying between the lands of his sons John and Dominieus, and also the Nonsuch farm in Scarborough, con- taining 2000 acres. To Dominicus he bequeathed 1000 acres at Spurwink, adjoining the old plantation ; to Jede- diah 1000 acres, and to Samuel 1100 aeres, both at Spur- wink.

For more than thirty years Robert Jordan occupied a large space in the affairs of the town and the province. Ile was an active, enterprising man, and placed by educa- tion above the mass of the people with whom he connected himself. Although he came to this county as a minister, the eugrossing concerns of business seemed to have turned his attention entirely away from that pursuit .* His pos- terity for many years exercised very great influence in the concerns of the town, aud long maintained a high standing in the province.

John and Robert did not fix their permanent residences here; the former married Elizabeth, daughter of Elias Stileman, of Portsmouth, in 1677 or 1678, and Robert conveyed to Nathaniel Fryer, of Portsmouth, July 14, 1679, the land in Cape Elizabeth which he received of his father.

The first Dominieus was killed by the Indians in 1703; his eldest son, Dominicus, was thirteen years a captive in Canada, and ran away. His name frequently oceurs in the later transactions of the town; he attained the rank of major, and died in 1749, aged sixty-six. llis sou Domin- icus died in 1788, aged seventy-two; the fourth Domin- icus was at the time of his death the oldest man in the town.

Dominieus Jordan, third son of Robert Jordan, married Ilannah, a daughter of Ralph Tristram, of Saco, as carly

as 1683, and lived at Spurwink. By her he had Domin- iens, born in 1681; Mary Ann, Samuel, Nathaniel, Han- nah (married to Joseph Calef, of Boston), and Elizabeth, married to Humphrey Scamman, of Saco. Capt. Jordan was killed in the war of 1703 by the Indians, and his wife and family were carried to Canada. They were all restored by Mary Ann, to whom the name of Arabella was given by her French masters. She married in Canada, where she was living in 1760, and never returned. The eldest son, Dominiens, escaped after a residence there of several years, and was an active and useful man in the subsequent affairs of this part of the country. He was the progenitor of a numerous race, part of whom now occupy the paternal estate. Nathaniel also established himself on his hered- itary estate, which was finally divided among the heirs in 1754. Samuel and Elizabeth lived in Saco, where their posterity still remain and hold respectable rank.

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History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 66

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 780

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780