History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 24

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100

USA > Maine > Penobscot County > History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 24

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

mation the making of these grants, without any pecuni- ary terms or conditions.

About the same time, two "ranging parties," in the in- terest of public-land operations, were employed by the Government to explore the Penobscot and St. Croix waters.

THE EDDY GRANT.

In 1785 Colonel Jonathan Eddy, of Norton, Massa- chusetts, but a resident near Fort Cumberland, at the head of Chignecto Bay, Nova Scotia, before the Revolu- tion, and his companions in a courageous exploit at the outbreak of the war, they having become refugees after the struggle closed, were recommended by Congress to the consideration of the State of Massachusetts. The Commonwealth accordingly granted to Colonel Eddy and nineteen others of the refugees, by an act of June 14, 1785, tracts of various size on the east side of the Penobscot, in the neighborhood of the head of tide- water. Altogether they made up 9,000 acres and now constitute the major part of the town of Eddington, which is named from Colonel Eddy. The grants were conditioned that each grantee should erect a dwelling on his lot within two years after the concession, and that the place should be immediately settled.

The islands in Penobscot Bay were surveyed about this time, and the settlers thereon allowed their lots for a merely nominal consideration, making them in effect free grants from the State Government, on account of sufferings and privations during the Revolution. A minister was also employed by the State, to preach dur- ing half the year in the destitute plantations of Lincoln county, then including the present Penobscot, who was to be paid out of the State tax derived from the inhabi- tants.

THE EASTERN LANDS.

These were originally regarded as including the large ungrånted tracts lying in the present counties of Penob- scot, Washington, Somerset and Oxford, belonging to the State. The first Commissioners of Eastern Lands were Jedediah Preble, of Falmouth, Jonathan Greenleaf, of New Gloucester, David Sewall, of York, John Lewis, of North Yarmouth, and William Lithgow, of George- town. They were appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts, May 1, 1781, with duties, according to Mr. Williamson, "to inquire into all the encroachments upon the wild, unappropriated lands of the State, to ex- amine the rights and pretexts of claimants, and to pros- ecute obstinate intruders and trespassers, yet liquidate fair adjustments with all such as were disposed to do right, upon principles of equity, good faith, and duty." There was beginning to be, it seems, considerable tim- ber-stealing from the public lands.

This commission resigned its powers three years after- wards, having done arduous and faithful service ; and in March, 1784, Samuel Phillips, jr., of Roxbury, Nathan- iel Wells, of Wells, and Nathan Dane, of Beverly, were appointed a new commission, with enlarged powers. "These were instructed by the General Court to inquire into all trespasses, illegal entries, and encroachments upon the public lands; to ascertain how far grantees

had complied with their engagements, and what were the limits of the tracts owned or claimed by the Indian tribes ; and to report the expediency of employing skil- ful surveyors to run out six townships on the river St. Croix, four on the west side of Penobscot, above the Waldo Patent, and all the territory on the eastern side of the latter river between the Indian lands and the twelve townships conditionally granted before the war. For these purposes they were directed to send one of their number to visit this District, in person." The Com- mission was authorized to offer an actual settler a tract of 150 acres anywhere upon the navigable waters of Maine at the rate of one dollar per acre, or to give him outright as much as 100 acres elsewhere, if he would make a clearing of sixteen acres thereon within four years. A State land office was now opened; General Rufus Put- nam was appointed Surveyor-General, and the public lands were advertised for sale in quantities to suit pur- chasers.

By June, 1795, parcels of Eastern lands had been sold to the value of two hundred and sixty-nine thousand dollars, and a contract made for the purchase from the Government of 2,839,453 acres more, with a reservation of 103,680 acres for masts. 431,000 acres had been granted for the encouragement of literature "and for other useful and humane purposes," and yet 8,700,000 acres were left. Nearly one-third of these were sold, or granted for various public purposes, during the next twenty years; and in 1816 it was believed but about 6,- 000,000 were still in the hands of the Commonwealth. More exactly, there were in Maine 6,596,480 acres of public land still unsold, of which about five millions were in Penobscot county.

GRANTS . FOR SCHOOLS.

A number of the grants mentioned as made "for the encouragement of literature" came into Penobscot county. The act of incorporation of Bowdoin College, in June, 1794, gave for its foundation five full townships of unappropriated lands-saving three lots of three hun- dred and twenty acres apiece in each-upon every one of which fifteen families were to be settled within twelve years. The College committee selected Dixmont, in this county, and the four townships now Sebec, Foxcroft, Guilford, and Abbott, in Piscataquis county. Etna and part of Plymouth were afterwards acquired by Bowdoin college. Marblehead academy secured Exeter, Leicester Academy Stetson Plantation, and Williams College Garland and Lee. Bridgeton Academy got Maxfield, Warren Academy a township in the Waldo Patent, and Waterville College a large part of township three, in the west side of the Penobscot. Hopkins Academy Grant, fifty miles north of Bangor, still retains that name.

The total grants to literary institutions in the present State of Massachusetts amounted to 354,230 acres; in Maine 490,545 acres. Some thousands of acres were also granted for other purposes; as, in the Penobscot region, 5,760 to the proprietors of the Duck-trap bridge, to aid in building that work. A part of Kingman, in this county, was included in the grant for building the bridge. Newburg, in Penobscot, it should be added,

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

is on part of the large tract granted to General Knox for his military services. By 1816, 617,257 acres of public lands had been sold in Penobscot county, at an average of thirty-four cents per acre, or a total sum of $210,- 400.13. The acres remaining unsold in incorporated towns and plantations of the District numbered 487,040; in those not incorporated or settled, 1,281,860 acres were owned by private persons-the Indians, however, held 460,000; and 6,233,400 were still owned by the State. The total acreage of the District of Maine was then 8,- 003, 100.

ORIGINAL PROPRIETORSHIP.

The following list of townships in the Penobscot Val- ley, with their acreage of public lands alienated in each by the year 1820, and their original proprietors, is de- rived from Greenleaf's Survey of the State of Maine, published in 1829:

TOWNSHIPS. ACRES.

ORIGINAL TITLES.

Brewer.

.23,708

Moses Knapp et al.

Orrington.

11,759

Brown & Fowler.

Carmel.

22,623.

M. Kinsley.

Corinth.

23,010.

. John Peck.

Charleston 24,794

John Lowell.

Dixmont

21,284

Bowdoin College.

Dutton [Glenburn]

22,692

. H. Jackson.

Dexter

25,522

. Amos Bond et al.

Exeter

22,682.

Marblehead Academy.

Eddington.

9,834.

Jonathan Eddy et al.

Etna.

25,708

Bowdoin College.

Garland.

22, 536

Williams College.

Jarvis Gore [Clifton].

15,000

Leonard Jarvis et al.

Kirkland [Hudson].

.23,085

H. Jackson.

Levant

22,325.

William Wetmore.

Maxfield

10,950

Bridgeton Academy.

Newport

21, 104

David Green.

Orono.

21,946.

Settlers et al.

Sunkhaze Pl. [ Milford]. 13,139.

No. 4 E. of Penobscot 3,795. .

.J. Brackett et al.

Stetson Plantation .23,040.

Leicester Academy.

No. 1, 6th R

23,040

J. P. Boyd.

No. 3, 8th R.

11,220

W. C. Whitney et al.

No. 5, 9th R.

23,040

Town of Boston.

No. 2, 2d R., N. of lottery lands11, 220

J. E. Foxcroft.

No. 3, 2d R. "

3,040.

Williams College.

No.6, 9th R., N. of Waldo pat. 11, 520.

. Warren Academy.

No. 7, 4th R

23,040

. Thos. Munkhouse.

Gore adj. Eddington.

1,000. .

T. Harding.

No. I, W. side Penobscot. 505.

.Settlers.

Nos. 2 & 3,

· 5,000

.John Bennock.

Rem. of No. 3, . . 29, 164.

. Waterville College.

No. 4 (Orono). 9,303

.Sundry.

No. 1, E. of Penobscot. 961.

Settlers et al.

Coldstream Pl .. 5,000.

Joseph Treat.

No.6,4th R., N. of lotteryl'nds. 5,760.

Proprietors Duck-trap Bridge

"LOTTERY LANDS."

The mention of these in the above table, as well as the general interest and importance of their place in the early land history of the State, justifies a notice of them here. The close of the war of the Revolution left Mas- sachusetts heavily in debt, and it was resolved, as we have seen, to raise money by the sale of the unsettled lands in Maine. Sales through the land office dragged, however, and in 1786 it was resolved to organize a lot- tery for the disposal of fifty townships, between the Penobscot and the Passamaquoddy. Tickets to the number of 2,720, each for a tract of land, of size varying from a quarter-section, or half a mile square, to an entire township, in a specified township, were put on sale at

the uniform price of sixty pounds apiece, for which payment might be made in the notes or evidences of in- debtedness given by the State to its soldiers, or in any other of its public securities. Had all been sold the avails would have been £163,200. The lands were not yet sufficiently in demand, however, from the general ignorance concerning their value and the poverty pro- duced by the war; and only 437 tickets were purchased, bringing £26,220, or $87,400, into the State Treasury. The drawing took place in March, 1786, under the management of the Eastern Lands Commission, and 165,280 acres were found to have been drawn, at an average price of fifty-two cents per acre. The Govern- ment subsequently exchanged other lands with those purchasers who had drawn a whole township, or its equivalent. Mr. Williamson thus describes the property drawn :

These townships were Nos. 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, I, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7=15 in the east division ; and numbers from 14 to 43, both in- clusive=30 in the middle division ; and Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6=5 in the northern division, beginning at the northwest corner of No. 3, at Union River, thence north 30 miles, and including one tier north of the end of that line, except the corner township; thence east to the Schoodic [St. Croix]; then southerly through Denny's River to Orange- town; thence westerly back of Machias, Columbia, etc., to the first corner mentioned.

The townships drawn, and their inhabitants, were to be exempted from taxation for fifteen years. Neverthe- less the scheme was not an eminent success. Mr. Wil- liamson says that "if this project drew in a large amount of the public securities, it did not promote the settlement of Maine." The lottery land business was stopped, and straight sales were relied upon by the State thereafter. About 1795 an era of speculation in Eastern lands set in, and in that year the State stopped the sales for a time. Grants were liberally made, however, during the last decade of the century, for educational and other purposes, as we have noticed. Some lands thus appro- priated were bought back at once by the State; others were held and sold by the grantees. The land market thus soon became glutted.

From each township sold by the State there were re- served four lots of 320 acres each-one for the State, one for the first minister of the gospel whom the people voted to settle, one for the ministerial fund provided for the support of the said minister, and one for the common school fund. The purchasers of townships were required to secure a certain number of actual settlers upon each by a specified time, under pain of forfeiture. Some buyers obtained an extension of time from the General Court.

By the close of the last century a vast breadth of the wild lands of the State had been surveyed. Between 1785 and 1810 a great number of acres were sold (more than three and one-half millions of acres, or the equiva- lent of 150 townships, were transferred by sale or gift by 1795); but the settlement of the District was not greatly promoted. The prices obtained, too, were very low, until 1820 averaging but 20 cents per acre. By that year 739,428 acres in Penobscot county had been settled or incorporated, with an average population of twelve persons to the square mile.

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

THE BINGHAM PURCHASE

demands a brief notice. Present at the drawing of the lottery, probably, in March, 1786, was Mr. William Bing- ham, of Philadelphia, a man of large wealth and enter- prising views. He relieved the State of such of the lottery lands as were not drawn by ticket-holders, and also purchased of the latter many of their prize lots. These constitute the famous "Bingham Purchase," in which some of the lands of Penobscot county lie. Mr. Williamson, writing about 1830, says: "The heirs own another large tract in Maine-2,350,000 acres in all."

THE "BURNT LANDS,"

according to Morse's Universal Geography, edition of 1819, which cites the Rev. Mr. May as authority, ex- tended "from near Penobscot river fifty or sixty miles in a westerly direction, and south of those high clusters of mountains which pass under the names of Abema, the Sisters, and Spencer mountains. The breadth of these lands is very irregular; perhaps ten miles may be con- sidered as the mean breadth. The trees on this exten- sive tract were first prostrated by some violent tempest, which happened about the year 1795. The general face of these lands is level, and the tempest must have poured over the mountains like water over a dam, for the bodies of the trees fell from the north, in which direc- tion the mountains lie. This extensive tract was set on fire (whether by lightning or by the carelessness of the hunters, or through design, for the convenience of hunt- ing, is uncertain) about the year 1803, at the time the inhabitants first began to settle on those ranges of town- ships which lie north of the Waldo patent, and spread over the whole tract. A fire was again kindled on this tract in the summer of 1811, but being baffled by shift- ing winds and finally extinguished by rain, it continued its ravages but a few days and spread over but few miles of territory. But the trunks of trees, the outsides of which are now reduced to coal, and the combustibles an- nually accumulated from the leaves of decayed veget- ables, from such a body of timber as that a fire, in any dry time and fanning wind, would renew and extend its ravages over the whole tract. The face of Nature has been laid bare by conflagrations. The hills, ponds, and streams are no longer embowered, as in the wilderness, but are laid open to the eye of the beholder from chosen eminences. The appearance of the whole country, in the season of vegetation, is not unlike that of a culti- vated country, but we can nowhere behold the dwellings of men or the shelters of animals nurtured by his care, but are left to fancy them in rocks, which have the ap- pearance of the abodes of men at a distance. The margins of a few of the rivers, where the land was low and marshy, are lined with its ancient growth, which keeps the eye from tiring with the uniformity of the prospect. Multitudes of animals must have perished, the bones of which have been discovered."

AT THE SEPARATION

of Maine from Massachusetts, the act of 1820 provided that the public lands in the district remaining unsold should be surveyed and divided equally between the

States. The first division under this arrangement was made December 28, 1822. The old Indian Purchase on the Penobscot was divided according to the act. The reserved lots in the townships of Corinth, Newport, Dutton (Glenburn), Kirkland (Hudson), Orrington, Co- rinna, and No. 1, Range 6, were assigned to Massachu- setts; those in Charleston, Carmel, Jarvis Gore (Clifton), and No. 3, Range 8, were turned over to Maine. There were subsequently other divisions.

THE INDIAN LANDS.

The transfer of these by treaty has been sufficiently noticed, for the purposes of this History, in our chapter on the Indians of Maine. The following observations, however, inadvertently omitted in that place, may be fitly given here. They are from the authorship of the Hon. John E. Godfrey, in his valuable article on The Ancient Penobscots, contributed to the seventh volume of the Maine Historical Collections. He is treating in this of the arrangements with the Penobscots:

The Indians, however, afterwards claimed title to the territory six miles wide, on both sides of the river, above the thirty miles relin- quished in 1796, to an indefinite extent, and assumed to sell the timber from it. To prevent this, the Government of Massachusetts appointed another commission, in 1818, consisting of Edward H. Robbins, Dan- iel Davis, and Mark L. Hill, who met Governor Etienne, Lieutenant- Governor Neptune, Captain Francis, and other chiefs of the tribe-in all twenty-seven-on the 24th of June, at Bangor.

A Masonic celebration occurred at this time, and it was deemed ex- pedient by the municipal officers to make the occasion memorable by a general celebration. Accordingly, they provided for a holiday and a procession. The Freemasons gave the Commissioners a dinner at Lumbert's then famous hotel, on Hancock street; after which the pro- cession, consisting of the municipal officers, magistrates of the county, military officers, Rev. Thomas Williams, strangers, and citizens, escorted them to the court-house ["ancient city hall"], where a large audience of ladies and gentlemen was assembled. The chiefs, who were rather noble looking sons of the forest and showily dressed, accompanied by General John Blake [Indian agent], Major Treat, and Captain Webster, afterwards entered the .honse. As they entered, the Commissioners arose to receive them. Solicitor General Davis-who, tradition says, had a kindly regard for the fairer portion of the tribe- addressed them. Lieutenant-Governor Neptune, a chief of command- ing figure, of great dignity of manner, and extensive influence among his people, made the reply. The result of the conference was that Massachusetts obtained a release of all the Indians' interest in the terri- tory, excepting four townships, six miles square, two contiguous to the nine townships formerly released, and two near the mouth of the Mat- tawamkeag River-one on each side of the Penobscot and opposite each other-which, with the islands in the river above Oldtown Falls, were to belong to the Indians, for occupation, forever. As compensa- tion for this relinquishment, the Commissioners agreed that the Indi- ans should have also, for occupation, two acres of land in Brewer, opposite Kenduskeag Point; to employ a suitable man to teach them husbandry; to repair their church at Oldtown; to deliver there in Octo- ber yearly, 500 bushels of corn, 15 barrels of flour, 7 barrels of clear pork, I hogshead of molasses, 100 yards of broadcloth (of blue and red), 50 blankets, 100 pounds of gunpowder, 400 pounds of shot, 150 pounds of tobacco, 6 boxes of chocolate, and $50 in silver. At the time they made them a present of I six-pound gun, I swivel, I box of pipes, 50 knives, 6 brass kettles, 200 yards of calico, 2 drums, 4 fifes, and 300 yards of ribbon. An annual stipend of $350 was appropriated by the Government for their religious teacher.

After the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, Maine assumed the obligations of Massachusetts to the Indians, and renewed the treaty at the conrt-house, in Bangor, on the 17th of August, 1820.

The Commissioner on the part of Maine was Hon. Lathrop Lewis. The first meeting was on the 15th of August, when the Commissioner made the proposition that Maine would take upon itself the obligations of Massachusetts, provided the tribe would release Massachusetts. The chiefs-who were the same who made the last treaty with Massa- chusetts-took time to consider. On the 17th the conference was

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

renewed. The chiefs were dressed in scarlet coats or robes, ornament- ed with silver brooches and with beads, after the Indian mode of that day, and made quite a distinguished appearance. Captain Francis made a speech, and, in behalf of the tribe, accepted the proposition of Commissioner Lewis, to which Colonel Lewis replied. After the treaty was signed, Colonel Lewis presented from Governor King to Governor Etienne and Lieutenant-Governor Neptune, a fine piece of scarlet broad-cloth, for each a coat. To each of the other chiefs he gave a silver breast-plate, upon which was engraved the arms of the State of Maine. The presents were received with great apparent pleasure.

We conclude this chapter with some notes on the growth of Penobscot county. The progress of settlement and the increase of population in the Province have already been noted, to the year 1769, when the founda- tions of civilization were laid at Bangor. Mr. William- son has an interesting note concerning this period. Un- der the date of 1768 he writes:

The increase and extension of settlements in the Penobscot country had become so affronting to the Tarratines that some of them began to utter bold threats against their progress. Hence the Gover- nor told the House that a chaplain ought to be under constant pay at Fort Pownall, who might preach to the settlers in the audience of the Indians; "for," added he, "there is no minister of. the Gospel within a circle of 100 miles' diameter, now generally peopled, though but thinly; and the settlers of themselves are unable to maintain one." Nay, if the claim to the territory eastward of Penobscot river were to be maintained against the natives, and the improvement of it pro- moted by an enterprising population, the fortress, he said, must be made a more respectable establishment. Happily agreeing with him in his Eastern politics, the General Court augmented the garrison from twelve to twenty men, and provided for the support of a chaplain, at the ex- - pense of £4 by the month.

During the previous year the enterprising Governor had had his eye upon the promotion of settlement in the Penobscot country. The same historian says:

Animated by a perspective of the Penobscot country filled with peo- ple, the Governor told the General Court, during their winter session, that "a great many families" stood ready to remove thither and settle, provided there were no obstacles in the way of their obtaining a title to the lands. The subject was popular, and he urged its importance upon their consideration with earnestness, believing that permanent settle- ments there would become supports essential to the strength and inter- ests of the Province.

In 1795, with a view to the more rapid settlement of the Eastern lands, the "Massachusetts Society for the Aid of Emigrants" was formed.

A "truck-house" had previously, in 1760, been estab- lished at the Fort, which did a large business, and yielded the Government considerable profit. The commander of the Fort was "truck-master." This was the same year that Lieutenant Joshua Treat settled near Fort Pownall.

THE POPULATION

of the county in 1790 (that is, the portion of the State now constituting the county) was 1, 154; in 1800, 3,009; in 1810, 7,831; 1820, 13,870; 1830, 22,962; 1840, 46,049; 1850, 63,089; 1860, 72,737; 1870, 75,150; 1880, 70,478. In 1870 the population was the largest of any county in the State except Cumberland.

The number of polls in the county in 1880 was 17,407-largest of any in the State except Cumberland; and its estates had an assessed valuation of $22,697,890 in 1870, and $21,408,151 ten years later. The county has now fifty-five towns, one city, and seven incorporated plantations-the largest number of towns of any county in the State.

The following table presents a comparative view of the growth of the several parts of the county during the last hundred years :

TOWNS.

1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

Alton ..

252

531

508

419

Argyle

338

379

307

287

Bangor

*567

277

850 1221 2868 8627

I4432

16407

18289

16855

Bradford

I296

1558

1487

1460

Bradley

796

844

866

829

Brewer.

+477

786 1341

1049 1078 1736

2628

2835

3214

3170

Burlington

481

578

553

536

Carmel

I225

1273

1350

1220

Carroll

470

632

625

Charleston.

210

344

859 1269

1283

1430

1191

340

318

350

362

Clifton

185

306

307

348

350

Corinna.

155@

1597

1513

1503

Corinth

189

296

712 1308

1600

1790

1462

1333

Dexter.

1948

2363

2875

2563

Dixmont

337

515

945 1498

1605

1442

1309

1132

Drew Plantation.

IIO

205

276

405

595

696

856

776

746

Enfield.

Etna .

194

362

745

802

849

844

895

Exeter

140

583 1438 2052

1853

1783

1434

1274

Garland

236

275

621 1065

1247

1498

1306

I211

$Glenburn

207

664

905

741

656

621

68 /

Greenfield

359

317

Hampden

904 1279 1478

3195

3085

3068

291/

Hermon

179

277 535 1042

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 24

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co. Number of Pages: 1100

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100