USA > Maine > York County > Kennebunkport > History of Kennebunk Port, from its first discovery by Bartholomew Gosnold, May 14, 1602, to A. D. 1837 > Part 14
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*" An honest Indian deacon at Natick, being asked the reason why when their young men were educated in English families and become acquainted with their habits and manners, on returning to their tribe they immediately became idle, indolent drunkards ? the deacon replied, ' Tucks will be tucks for all old hen be hatch em."-Thacher's Hist. Plymouth.
The daughter of Capt. Sam, of the Saco tribe, chose to remain with the English .- Williamson, vol. ii. p. 272.
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HISTORY OF [A. D. 1760.
of wealth and the miseries of poverty,-this wish to accumulate property beyond the capacity of enjoyment, although in itself an undesirable state of individual feeling, yet, in the aggregate, has been undoubtedly the means of advancing, not only wealth and knowledge, but even of promoting happiness itself in the world at large. From this class was our own happy and flour- ishing state colonized ; and by them are our new states and settlements peopled ; our ships, seeking wealth in every part of the globe, manned ; the bowels of the earth and the dense forests ransacked, to obtain that rank in society that wealth always gives ; and our coun- try raised to its present elevated stand amongst the na- tions of the earth.
The savage, not knowing or conceiving of enjoy- ments superior to his own, lacks that motive for exer- tion, which would raise him from his primitive state. The nearer he is to a state of nature, the less desirous is he of changing his situation. Children of the poor- est and most degraded classes in society, amongst the whites, who are brought up in a state of starvation, suf- fering, and ignorance, are the most unwilling to change their condition in life. They cannot conceive of any enjoyments unconnected with home and its associations. They cannot be made to understand the value of com- forts which they have never realized ; and are unwil- ling to leave their accustomed haunts, and form new habits and connections, for the purpose of enjoying pleasures, of which they have no conception, and which to them are but visionary.
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KENNEBUNK PORT.
A. D. 1760.]
CHAPTER VII.
Three counties in Maine ..... Census ..... Valuation ..... Slaves ..... Stampt Act .... Mr. Hovey dismissed .... Contention in the par- ish .... Meeting house burnt ... New one built ... Council called .... Mr. Hovey and his people censured .... Mr. Moody settled .... Revolutionary war .... Fight at Cape Porpoise .... Capt. Burn- ham killed .... Schools and education .... Mr. Thompson .... Poor Arundel.
MAINE, which had always been one county, was now [1760] divided into three ; Cumberland and Lincoln being taken from York. Jurors, who had heretofore been chosen in town meetings, were, by an act of the General Court, now for the first time drawn from boxes .*
By a new valuation, [1761] the Provincial tax of the County of York, was £38 15s. 6d.t The popula- tion of Arundel was about 600 ; and the taxable polls were 127. This and the following year were noted for the great droughts, and extensive fires in the woods. The road, from near where the observatory is, to Cape Porpoise, was located in 1762; and it was the first road laid out in the town, the true distances and courses of which were given. In consequence of diffi- culties in the parish, the meeting house at the Cape was purposely burnt in 1763; and the town voted to build a new one, 55 feet long and 45 feet wide, on Burbank's hill.į
A census of the inhabitants of Maine was taken, in 1764, by order of the General Court of Massachusetts. Maine contained about 24,000 inhabitants, and the
* Williamson's Hist. vol. ii. p. 349. Jurors continued to be chosen in Arundel till 1772.
t The following is the apportionment of the tax on the towns in the County of York. £. s. d. £. s. d.
York 9-3-5 Wells 4-17-00 Narraganset.
Kittery 9-10-82 Arundel 2 -- 9-104 No. 1. (Buxton )
Berwick 7-10-9 Biddeford 4-11-11 11s. 10d.
# The meeting house was enlarged in 1797. 0
-
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HISTORY OF
[FROM 1764
county of York 11,145. There were in Arundel, 127 houses, 138 families, 833 white inhabitants, and five negroes. Slavery * was tolerated in Massachusetts till about the time of the war of the revolution, when it was abolished. But a few of the inhabitants of Arundel were able to hold slaves. Mr. Prentice bought the first one owned in town, in 1734. Mr. Hovey also owned one, and probably sold him in 1747.1 Robert Cleaves, Thomas Wiswall, Samuel Hutchins, John Fairfield, Gideon Walker, Andrew Brown, and Jona- than Stone, each owned a slave. Several of them were living in the town, but a few years since, the last two of whom died in the poor house, of which the son of the former master of one of them was an inmate.
The year 1765 is memorable for the passage of the Stampt-act, which, from the violent opposition it en- countered in this country, was repealed the following year. In 1767,¿ however, a duty was imposed on tea, glass, and several other articles, which ultimately led to the revolutionary war.
Mr. Hovey, who had been the settled minister of the town for twenty seven years, was dismissed in 1768. As the connection between Mr. Hovey and the town, was productive of much contention and bad feeling, and unfortunate in its termination, it may not perhaps be uninteresting to give a connected account of the difficulties between him and his parishioners. After his settlement, he continued to preach for several years to the general satisfaction of the town. As the money of the Province depreciated, they continued to increase his salary nominally, till &450 old tenor, were worth
* There was no express act of the Legislature, abolishing slave- ry ; but in 1783, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, decided that the declaration in the Bill of Rights, that "all men are born free and equal," virtually annulled the right to hold slaves.
t"'Oct. 21. My negro ran away .- Nov. 1. My negro living at I carried him to Boston." Mr. Hovey does not men- tion him again after this date. In the Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. it is said there were two male, and one female slaves in Arundel in 1754. The female belonged to Jonathan Stone, and was appraised at £300 old tenor in the inventory of his estate, in 1756.
The distance from Boston to Falmouth was measured in 1767, and mile stones erected.
159
.
KENNEBUNK PORT.
TO 1768.]
but £60 lawful, or $200. The inhabitants on Saco road and near Kennebunk river, having become more numerous, and not wishing to travel so far as Cape Porpoise to meeting, called a town meeting,* in 1747, to obtain the consent of the town, to be set off from Mr. Hovey's society and be allowed to form a new parish with some of the inhabitants of the western part of Wells, or Kennebunk. Not being able to obtain the consent of the town, they petitioned the General Court, in 1749, for the same object.t The petition was rejected, on account of the opposition it met with from the inhabitants of the Cape, who were still a majority of the town. They likewise refused to try for a north west line from the mouth of Kennebunk river, as the western limits of the town, which, it was said, the members of the General Court intimated might readily be obtained. This would have brought Mr. Little's, or the second parish in Wells, which was incorporated this year,¿ within the limits of Arundel.
These unjust and impolitic measures so irritated the petitioners, that at the next town meeting, they, togeth- er with some who had become followers of the cele-
* There is no notice of this meeting on the town records, but Mr. Hovey, under date of Jan. 15, says, "The people at the" (some words illegible) " uneasy vexatious cur, had a town meeting to be set off."
t This petition does not appear on the Massachusetts records. The town, however, chose Jonathan Stone, agent, to oppose " the petition which Soum of the Inhabitants of the Town of Arundel, living nere the River of Kennebunk, have Put into the Grat and General Court, Praying that they may be set off from the Lower part of the Town of Arundel to joyn Som of the Inhabitants of the Town of Wells, and to be a Parrish by themselves."
The following scarcely legible extract is from Mr. Hovey's Journal. " May 8, 1749. Samuel Little - - - - Kennebunkerg sabbath day - - - - last fall went away. People have pe- titioned General Court to be a parish."
#" Jan. 1, 1750 Yesterday the Kennebunkers began their meeting, and Mr. Mirriam, schoolmaster of Wells, preached. He took his degree last year. He is from Concord, and about the age of twenty five. - 21st. Daniel Little employed by the Kennebunkers as a minister --- - 29th. Daniel Little at my house, I gone to visit Alltimes sick."-Mr. H. Journal.
The Meeting house was on the spot, on which the house of Mrs. Eliza Killham now is.
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HISTORY OF
[A. D. 1768.
brated George Whitefield,* and other disaffected per- sons, succeeded in obtaining a vote not to give Mr. Hovey any thing additional to his original ££180 old tenor, which was now worth but about thirty three dollars. There having been a new emission of money, at the time of his settlement, which by law was a ten- der in payment of debts, Mr. Hovey did not anticipate the subsequent depreciation, and did not, like his pre- decessor, fix the value of his salary on a metallic basis; and he could not therefore obtain immediate relief. Being naturally a passionate man, he did not submit to this injustice and indignity, with that patience and resignation becoming his calling, but animadverted rather severely upon their conduct. This only served to widen the breach, and subjected him to the neglect of many of his parishioners, and to the petty malice of the more vindictive.t
Matters remained in this unhappy state for several years, sometimes the town allowing Mr. Hovey a fair compensation, and sometimes refusing, as his friends or opponents happened to prevail at the town meetings. At length, 1758, Mr. Hovey recommended calling a council to propose terms of separation, but the town would not agree to it. He however proceeded to call one himself, which censured the conduct of a portion
* Whitefield first visited Maine in 1741. He soon after return- ed to England, but made a second visit in 1744. Some of the settled ministers approved of his course, and aided him in promot- ing the revivals of religion, which were sure to follow his preach- ing. Others were violently opposed to him, on account of the division caused in many churches, by his appearance. Mr. Hovey was of the latter class. Mr. Whitefield however preached in Mr ... Hovey's meeting house. In his journal, June 9th, 1747, he says, " Mr. Whitefield preached, and Hutchin's wife buried after the lecture."
In Smith's journal, January 24, 1745, it is said, " Great and pre- vailing clamors every where against Mr. Whitfield. Feb. 18. Ministers meeting relating to Mr. Whitfield. Present Messrs. Thompson, Jefferds, Hovey, M. Morrill and inyself ; had much of uneasiness."
t " Took boys to cypher, who were to find my wood ; and never worse off, no wood found me by the people, and by the 11th of March almost out ".
" My cows all let loose in the barn, and the stanchions put in their places again by some illminded person."-Journal ..
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KENNEBUNK PORT.
A. D. 1768.]
of the town and church, and"advised them to give Mr. Hovey a deed of his house and land, which they had heretofore neglected to do. , The inhabitants, not being intimidated by ecclesiastical anathemas, refused to give him either a fair compensation, or allow him to leave his situation, unless he would give up his house and land. Finally, [1762] the inhabitants of the upper part of the town, endeavored to have the old meeting house removed, or a new one built nearer the centre of population. This they were unable to effect; and hopeless of having their just cause of complaint remov- ed, some of them had recourse to a singular expedient to end the controversy. Two boys, instigated by older persons, on the night of the 28th of April, 1763, set fire to the meeting house, and it was entirely consumed. The town chose a committee " to settle with them for the damage they had done the town," but refused to prosecute them, on account of the severity of the pun- ishment, if convicted. Some of the pew owners, how- ever, brought actions against the fathers of the young men, and recovered of them the value of their pews.
This method of looseing the gordian knot, still more inflamed the combatants. A new controversy arose between the two parts of the town, relative to the loca- tion of a new house. A vote was obtained to build it on Burbank's hill, a few rods west of Mr. Burbank's house, but the people from the eastern part of the town protested against the vote. They contended that Burbank's hill was too far from the centre of popula- tion, and that the meeting ordering it there was illegal, the inhabitants not having had fair notice. Those in favor of this location, offered to refer the matter to disinterested men, and Richworth Jordan and Jeremi- ah Hill of Saco, and Joseph Sawyer of Wells, were chosen to select a spot on which to erect the house. They decided in favor of Burbank's hill, and the house was accordingly erected [1764] where it now stands,
* It was for some time supposed, that the meeting house was burnt by accident. There had been a lecture the afternoon previ- ous to its being burnt, and Deacon Robinson was supposed to . have done it with his pipe. A sister of one of the boys, not fully enjoying this act of revenge while it was attributed to accident, imparted the secret to a friend, who made it public.
O o
162
HISTORY OF"
[A. D. 1768.
The quarrel however did not end here. Those op- posed to the location, still contended the whole proceeding was illegal, and that a majority of the town was opposed to it. At another meeting, when the question was put, to see if the town would reconsider. the vote relating to building the house on Burbank's hill, the moderator, who was opposed to the location, declared the vote in the affirmative, and refused to try the other side of the question, although there was a large majority opposed to the reconsideration. The committee for building the house, sued the town and recovered ; [1765] and the house was afterwards fin- ished with the money arising from the sale of pews.
This question was a test of the relative strength of the two parts of the town ; and Cape Porpoise, which from the first settlement of the town, had been the most populous, now lost its ascendency, which it has never regained. The meeting house controversy being settled, they now renewed their warfare with their pastor. A committee was chosen to consult with him upon terms of separation. Not being able to agree, a council was called, [1768] consisting of the ministers and delegates from the church in Biddeford, the first and second churches in Kittery, the first and second in York, and the first and second in Wells. Mr. Morrill was chosen moderator, and Mr. Hemmenway scribe. They reported that it. was " expedient for the Rev. John Hovey to ask his dismission upon conditions that the town give him a deed of his real estate ;- that he and Mrs. Hovey, and all his estate be exempted from taxation during his natural life ;- that no disagreeable town office be imposed upon him, and give him fifty acres of land :- this appearing necessary to us, for the restoration of peace to this long divided people, and the advancement of the pure religion of Jesus Christ : And now sincerely lamenting the unhappy and unchristian divisions, which have for years past prevailed in this town, and the alienation of affection of pastor and people from. each. other, which must in its necessary consequences be to the highest degree prejudicial to the interest of Christ's kingdom, and a great reproach to the Christian profession; we advise all parties impar- tially to review their past conduct, and deeply humble
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KENNEBUNK PORT.
A. D. 1768.]
themselves before God for what they shall find amiss, and that for the future all bitterness, wrath, clamour, and evil speaking be put away with all malice, and that they be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as they would hope for the forgiveness of God ;- And we judge that the pastor has been guilty of conducting in a manner unbecoming the dignity and: sanctity of his station ; yet it appears to us that his tri- als and temptations, by the faulty behaviour of some of his people towards him, have been very great :- and we judge that the unhappy state and circumstances of this church and town for some years past, have been greatly occasioned by the culpable neglect of this peo- ple in not complying with the advice of the last eccle- siastical council :- we therefore earnestly recommend it to the town to comply with the above conditions, that Mr. Hovey's pastoral. relations may be dissolved, and proper steps taken for a happy and peaceable settlement of a gospel minister among them."
Before this council every trivial transgression, every hasty expression, and every circumstance distorted by malice and slander, which had been hoarded for years, was brought against Mr. Hovey .* His natural irrita- bility, however, gave his enemies too many opportunities to record hasty expressions, and imprudent acts against him. The town agreed to the terms of the council, and Mr. Hovey was dismissed August 16th, 1768 .- They however neglected to pay the arrearages due him, till the Rev. Silas Moody urged it as an objection to his settling in the town. They then [1771] referred the matter to a committee, who found there was a bal- ance due him of £133 lawful money. This they neglected to pay, and Mr. Hovey's heirs sued for it twelve years afterwards, but it was not fully paid till the year 1800.
Daniel Hovey, who resided in Ipswich in 1637, and
*The following may serve as specimens. One day undertaking to kill a calf, instead of cutting the animal's throat as was the usual way, he cut its head off with an axe. This, to use the language of one of his deacons, " was a cursed piece of cruelty, wholly unpar- donable in a minister."
His having by mistake taken another person's bag of meal from: the mill.instead of his own, was charged against him as theft ..
164
HISTORY OF
[FROM 1768
and who died April 29th, 1695, was father of John Hovey of Cambridge, and grandfather of the Mr. Ho- vey of Arundel.
The latter, was born in Cambridge, and graduated in 1725. He was a man of respectable talents, and, to judge from his writings that were preserved some time after his death, of good acquirements. He wrote a splendid hand, and was well acquainted with business, nearly all the deeds and contracts of the day being drawn up by him. A professorship had been offered him at Cambridge before his settlement in this town. The insufficiency of his salary, however, compelled him to occupy the time on his farm,* which ought to have been dedicated to the duties of his profession. He kept a diary, which has so frequently been referred to in this work, from the time of his settlement till his death, but unfortunately much the larger part of it has been lost. He noted every event, the state of the weather, business, politics, news, births, deaths, mar- riages, affairs of the town, and matters relating to the church. If the whole of it had been preserved, it would of itself for the time have furnished a perfect his- tory of the town.
Mr. Hovey's first wife was Elizabeth Mussey of Cambridge, who died soon after their marriage. He afterwards married Susannah Swett of York, sister of Mrs. Prentice, who survived him. He lived several years after his dismission. In returning from a visit to his friends in Plymouth, in 1774, he came to Biddeford by water, and lodged at the house of Col. Richworth Jordan. After having been in his chamber for some
*Mr. Hovey gives many directions for farming and gardening in his journal. He says, people ought to " graft on the increase of the moon in the winter, but inoculation will do till the middle of July. The manner of operation is to take a sprout of the present year, and inclose it in the rind of another tree. Grafting may be by boring a hole aslope into the heart of a tree, and stopping out the wind and rain with moss and clay. Pears and apples will grow on beech, willow and thorn. Peaches grow best grafted on beech, or thorns. Pomegranates on willow, ash, or plumbtrees. Cherries will grow on peach, and peach on cherries. Mulberries will grow on beech, and so will chestnuts, or on wallnuts. Pears and apples grow well on poplars ;- and wallnuts on ash ; - grapes on a cherry, or Elm tree ;- wild blackberries on red cherry trees."
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KENNEBUNK PORT.
TO 1771.]
time without extinguishing his light, some of the fami- ly entered his apartment, and found him sitting in his chair partly undressed, apparently having been dead some considerable time.
The controversy between Great Britain and her American Colonies now [1768] assumed a serious aspect. The selectmen of Boston sent circulars to those of other towns, calling a convention of delegates to meet at Faneuil Hall, Boston, Sept. 22, to deliberate upon the state of affairs. The inhabitants of Arundel readily responded to this invitation, and James Burn- ham was chosen delegate.
The business of the town had much declined at this time ; the only vessel owned here, was a small sloop be- longing to Thomas Perkins.
After Mr. Hovey's dismission, Mr. Hathaway preach- ed a short time, and was succeeded by the Rev. Abner Johnson [1769.] Mr. Bond preached a short time after Mr. Johnson went away, and the year following [1770] the town gave the Rev. Silas Moody a call. They offered him a salary of £80, [$267] and a gratuity of £140, [$466] towards building him a house. Mr. Moody, in his answer to the invitation, replied that " the unanimity which appears in the church and town with regard to my tarrying here, I cannot but ac- knowledge demands my serious consideration ; and did all other things appear equally encouraging, I should not have remained so long in suspense about complying with your invitation. Some civil and ecclesiastical affairs in this place, are not in so happy a situation as I wish they were ; but the sense which the people seem to have of the necessity of their being regulated, and the worth and importance of peace and love, it is hoped, will be a motive for them to see that they are settled in the most friendly manner, and as soon as may be." The remainder of his reply, related to the state of his health, which he said was " very weak," and which unfitted him for enduring "the hardships and fatigues which a strong constitution might bear with," and the manner in which his salary was to be paid, if he accept- ed their invitation. His terms were not agreed to immediately, but after some delay, were accepted, [1771] and Mr. Moody sent the following letter.
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HISTORY OF
[FROM 1771
" To the Church of Christ in Arundel, and to the Inhab- itants of said Town,-Greeting.
When I received an invitation from you to settle in the work of the Gospel ministry with you, the difficul- ties then subsisting were very discouraging to me. Though they are not now wholly removed, yet your unanimity with regard to my tarrying here, and the desire you express of rectifying what is amiss, that you may live in love and unity, give me some encourage- ment to accept of the call you have given me. Trusting in Him who ruleth over all, to direct, and hoping that you will use the means that christian prudence shall dictate, which may be conducive to your own felicity and my comfort, I hereby give my consent to settle with you in the work of the Gospel ministry upon the encouragement you have given me to carry on that work :- namely that you pay me the one half of the settlement money in twelve months from the date of . your town meeting, held on the 22d day of May last past, and the other half within six months following, accord- ing to the votes of the town ; and that you pay the salary, the one half in every six months during my pastoral relation to you.
Wishing that the God of all Grace would bless you and me, that we be mutual blessings to each other ; that I may faithfully discharge the sacred office of the Gos- pel ministry ; that you may live in love one to another, as becomes christians. Your Friend and Servant,
SILAS MOODY."
A county road was this year laid out from Wells to Biddeford, beginning at the east end of Durrell's bridge, and terminating at Biddeford line. The road passed " near a bridge at the tail of Brown's mill," and " near the house of Jonathan Stone." This was undoubtedly the road to Biddeford lower meeting house, which, Folsom says, was laid out in 1750 .*
The first custom-house in Maine was established in 1771, at Falmouth, (Portland) for the collection of the duties on teas. The officers were however unable to make any collections, and were severely handled by
*The part of the road through the town of Biddeford was laid out in 1709.
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KENNEBUNK PORT.
TO 1775.]
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