USA > Maine > York County > Saco > History of Saco and Biddeford, with notices of other early settlements, and of proprietary governments, in Maine, including the provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia > Part 23
USA > Maine > York County > Biddeford > History of Saco and Biddeford, with notices of other early settlements, and of proprietary governments, in Maine, including the provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia > Part 23
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*The Pepperell half of the island was purchased by Col Cutts 1774, for about $1100; he had previously bought Sellea's 1-16, and an equal proportion from MeIntire, of York, probably Elden's share. Other small parts were conveyed to him at different times, by the Berrys or their assigns, and the Scamman heirs.
tHis father, James Armstrong, and his brother in law, Robert Means, were among the presbyterian emigrants from Ireland, and settled at Falmouth 1718. Mr. Means subsequently removed to this town, having purchased an estate at Old Orchard, where he died 1769, aged seventy nine years. He had two sons, Thomas and John ; the former settled at Flying point, (Casco bay,) now in Freeport, where he was unfortunately killed by the Indians 1756. (Sullivan. 190. Smith's Journal.) John died at Old Orchard 1776, leaving five sons : John. Robert, James, Thomas, and George ; the third of whom commanded a company during the last four years of the revolution- ary war, and has since lived at Stroudwater village, Westbrook.
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John Hurley, a tailor, was here at the same time. Pep- perell sold him a house lot below Warren's, where he probably built the house, afterwards Bradstreet's, in which Capt. Morrill now lives. He remained but a few years. Isaac Whitney, housewright, purchased a house lot situa- ted between Warren and Hurley, from Sir William 1752. Two years after he sold to Mr. Warren the lot, "together with a house standing thereon." Gershom Billings, a tailor, was here 1750, when he worked in a small shop that stood where the stone block of Messrs. Andrews and Scamman has been recently built. He married a daughi- ter of deacon Wingate, 1764, and lived in the house formerly Dr. White's, which he' purchased. Mr. Bil- lings was afterwards chosen deacon of the first church on the east side of the river, and finally removed to Buxton. John Kendrick, a well known shoemaker, bought a house- lot of Pepperell, now a part of the Cleaves hotel premi- ses, 1752. He at first built a small house on this lot, in which he lived many years. Kendrick died 1825, aged ninety five. John Fitts, a chairmaker, had a shop next above Bradstreet, 1760. Francis Tucker, a hatter, from Portsmouth, was here 1762. His house was on Main street, nearly opposite Saco Bank. He died 1790, aged ninety .*
In 1755, the following persons were taxed for the item of faculty, on the list committed to the constable of the east side of the river : Donald Cummings 5s. 7d. ; S. Dennet 4s. ; S. Warren 3s. 9d. ; J. Kendrick 2s. ; J. Hurley 2s. ; Isaac Whitney 1s. 10d .; John Armstrong. ' Is. 103d. In 1762, Thomas Cutt 12s. ; S. Warren 12s .; 3. Dennet 12s. ; A. Bradstreet 10s. ; Capt. Thos. Don- nell 10s. ; David King 5s. ; Francis Tucker 5s.
The way laid out by the partners 1718, from the mill to the middle line, was made a highway 1754, and ex-
*The Pepperell house, already mentioned, was a place of resort at that period for the lovers of punch, flip and sampson, (the latter a beverage composed of rum, cider, &c ) A book is preserved con- taining charges against sundry persons, who frequented the house in 1750 The following are specimens of the items : 1 bowl Punch 7s. (old tenor) 1 mug Sampson 6s. 6d .; 1 mug Flip 5s .; 2 qts. Syder 5s .; 1 Leamon 2s. 3d.
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tended to the Scarborough line ; it is now the post road to Portland. Up to that date the travelling was contin- . ued on the lower road, crossing the Ferry near the mouth of the river, and another at Blue-point .* The return of the jury is as follows : "Nov. 2, 1754. We the sub- scribers being a jury summoned and sworn to lay out a highway in as direct a course as may be, from Biddeford lower falls, on the eastern side of Saco river, to Dunston in the town of Scarboro'; having viewed the land, do lay out the same as follows, viz. beginning at Saco ferry on the eastern side of said river, next below the lower falls aforesaid at an elm tree, at the middle of the ferry place, and running as the road now goeth, from thence north sixty degrees west, twenty seven rods, thence north west by north twenty four rods, to the garrison or fort so called, thence, running north east between the lands of Sir William Pepperell, and the heirs of Mr. James Scamman deceased, five hundred and forty rods crossing over Goose fair river to a white oak tree marked ; and from thence north fifteen degrees east, two hundred and forty rods by marked trees and thence north forty degrees east fifty four rods crossing over Little river to the banks on the northeast side of said river, thence north nine de- grees east twenty six rods by mark'd trees, from thence northeast two hundred and sixty rods to the southwest side of Foxwell's millpond, and thence northeast cros- sing the millpond, one hundred and eighty two rods to the town line between the towns of Biddeford and Scarboro', the said road for the space of ten rods joining on the south- west side of said mill pond to be five rods wide, and all on the southeast side of said line for the advantage of joining a bridge, and in all other parts to be four rods
* * The last person who had charge of the Ferry at Blue-point, was Mr. Abraham Tyler, who died a few years since at an advanced age. He came from Andover, Mass. and married in this town, 1743. His wife was one of the two children, Elizabeth and Andrew, "heirs of Mrs. Hannah Brown," (see p. 254,) grand children of Capt. Scam- man, by whom both were adopted after the early decease of their parents. Andrew settled at Kennebunk-port, where his descendants are numerous and respectable. This family of Browns had an ex- tensive right to lands in Scarboro', derived from their ancestor, Mr. Andrew Brown, who purchased from George Cleaves 1655.
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- wide." The same jury, Rich. King, Esq. of Scarboro', foreman, laid out the Buxton road, four rods wide, of which the return bears the same date as the preceding ..
CHAPTER VI.
The town passed a vote at the March meeting, 1752, to erect a new meetinghouse on the land of Matthew Pat- ten, to which thirty persons, chiefly resident on the eas- tern side of the river, entered their dissent. And in April following, the inhabitants on that side obtained the consent of the town to be set off as a distinct parish. The meetinghouse was in consequence not built at the charge of the town, but by the subscriptions of the in- habitants on the western side. The committee to super- intend the building of it, was composed of Rishworth Jor- dan, Esq., Jos. Tarbox, Jos. Dyer, Benj. Hooper, and Jere. Hill. It was completed 1759, by Mr. Nathaniel Perkins, master builder, and is now known as the lower meetinghouse in Biddeford.
In the meantime, the eastern Parish set about erecting a meetinghouse for their own accommodation, on a piece of land granted them by Sir William Pepperell. The donation was made 1752, and consisted of four acres, "for building a meetinghouse, for a burying place, and for set- ting up a schoolhouse, and for no other use or end what- ever." The frame of the house was soon after erected, and the town was desired to finish it, which they voted to do, March, 1754 ; but in October following, the vote was rescinded. At a meeting the next month, a proposi- tion was made to raise a sum, one half of which should be appropriated towards completing the house, and the remainder for repairing the old house on the west side, which was rejected ; but the town granted £26 13s. 4d., "to hire a preacher for the winter season on the east side," and appointed Amos Chase, Samuel Scamman, and Ben- jamin Hooper, a committee for this purpose. Three years after, 1757, the town passed the following vote :
23*
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"That the meeting house now erected on the east side of the river be a meetinghouse for the public worship on said side, and be finished by the inhabitants of said side at their own cost and charge." And Mr. Morrill was permitted to preach there one third part of his time the year ensuing. Mr. Edmund Moody, of Kittery, an ex- perienced workman, was employed to finish this house, which stood until recently a few rods below the present meetinghouse of the Second Parish. The desk was partially supplied by Rev. Mr. Morrill, until 1761, when the services of Mr. JOHN FAIRFIELD, a candidate for the ministry, were obtained. Mr. Fairfield preached his first sermon on a temporary engagement, 23 August, 1761. He continued till Nov. 11, boarding at first with Mr. Jas. Gray, and afterwards with Capt. Tristram Jordan. He resumed his labors in January, 1762, and continued, with a short intermission in the summer of that year, until his settlement.
In 1760, the limits of York County, which extended from New Hampshire to Nova Scotia, were reduced by the erection of two new counties, Cumberland and Lin- coln. The east line of the County remains as it was then established, except that it has been curtailed on the north.
The inhabitants on the east side of the river had at length become so numerous, that they petitioned the Gen- eral Court for a separate act of incorporation. This was obtained in June, 1762* : when it was "enacted by the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives, that all the lands in the Town of Biddeford lying on the East side of Saco River in the County of York, together with an Island in the said River commonly called and known .by the name of Indian Island, be, and hereby is, erected into a separate and distinct District by the name of PEP- PERRELLBOROUGH, bounded with the same bounds as the Town of Biddeford now is on the East side of Saco river ; and that the said District be, and hereby is inves- ted with all the privileges, powers and immunities that Towns in this Province by Law do or may enjoy, that of
"See Appendix F. for a copy of the entire Act.
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sending a Representative to the General Assembly only excepted,' &c.
The name of Pepperrellborough was retained by the town until 1805, when the old and more convenient de- signation, SACO, was substituted, on the petition of the town, by an act of the Legislature. This name had, in- deed, never been out of popular use.
The first district or town meeting was holden in July, when Tristram Jordan, Amos Chase, and Robert Patter- son, jr. were chosen selectmen, and Tristram Jordan clerk. At a subsequent meeting, Aug. 7, a committee was appointed, consisting of Lieut. Samuel Banks, R. Patterson, jr., Jas. McLellan, and Ebenezer Ayer, who were authorized to invite Rev. John Fairfield to settle in the work of the ministry, and to offer him a salary of £600, old tenor, equivalent to £80 lawful, ($266,66) "if they could not agree for a less sum." The meeting having been adjourned to Aug. 24, it was then voted to allow Mr. Fairfield a settlement of £1000, old tenor, ($444,44), that he might provide himself with a parson- age. These terms were accepted by Mr. Fairfield, who returned his answer Sept. 24. The following persons united themselves, into a church society, Octo. 13, ob- serving a solemn fast on that day : Robert Patterson, Robert Edgecomb, Samuel Banks, Magnus Ridlon, Thos. Edgecomb, Tristram Jordan, Amos Chase, R. Patterson jr. Andrew Bradstreet, Gershom Billings. Messrs. Chase and Patterson, sen. were subsequently elected deacons, but the latter declining the office, Mr. Billings was chosen in his stead. The ordination of Mr. Fairfield took place Octo. 27, 1762, when the following churches were re- presented : the first church in Boston, (of which the pastor elect was a member,) the church in Biddeford, Ist and 2d churches in Wells, 2d church in Scarborough, Ist church in Falmouth, the church in Windham. Rev. Mr. Morrill presided in the Council. The exercises of the ordination were conducted by the pastors of neigh- boring churches in the following order : Rev. Mr. Elvins, of Scarboro', offered the introductory prayer ; Rev. Mr. Morrill delivered the sermon, from Luke, xii, 42. Mr. Fairfield then read his answer to the invitation of the
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town ; Rev. Mr. Morrill made the ordaining prayer, and gave the charge, assisted in the imposition of hands by Rev. Peter Smith of Windham ; Rev. Daniel Little, of the 2d church in Wells (Kennebunk) extended the right hand of fellowship ; Rev. Moses Hemmenway, of the first church in Wells, offered the concluding prayer ; after which the newly ordained pastor read Psalm 123, and pronounced the blessing .*
The Rev. John Fairfield was a descendant of John Fairfield, a puritan, who was admitted a member of the church at Salem 1639, and freeman of the Colony the succeeding year. William Fairfield, Esq. a grandson of the latter, was the representative of Wenham, near Sa- lem, in the General Court 27 years, nine of which he presided as speaker of the House. He died 1742, in the eighty first year of his age: His oldest son, William, set- tled in Boston, where he died 1770, leaving six chil- dren, the second of whom was our minister. The latter graduated at Harvard College 1757, and was engaged as a teacher at Manchester and Roxbury, Mass. until he commenced preaching, Feb. 1760. Before his engage- ment at this place, Mr. Fairfield supplied the desk at Leominster, Mass. nearly five months, 1760; and sub- sequently preached in the warehouse at Arrowsick, Georgetown ; in the First Parish of Scarboro'; and at Dunstable, Mass. Previously to his settlement, 20 July, 1762, he was married to Mrs. Mary, daughter of Capt. Ichabod Goodwin, and widow of Foxwell Curtis Cutts, Esq. of Berwick.t Soon after his settlement, Mr. Fair-
*Mr. Ebenezer Ayer provided a dinner on this occasion at the ex- pense of the town, of which ninety persons partook. Mr. Ayer charged at the rate of 10s. old tenor, or 24 coppers per head. The following articles were purchased for the entertainment, at the an- nexed prices : 1} bus. turnips £1 4s. 2 bus potatoes £2 5s. Sixty four pds. beef £4 16s. 6 pds. plums £25s. Pepper and Spice £1 '8s. Two geese £2 One turkey and one other fowl £1 7d Two turkeys £1 10. Seventeen pds. pork £4 5s Four fowls £1 4d. Cabbage 18s. 133 pds. butter £4 18s. 11 pds. sugar £2 15s. 6 pds. plums £25s. 54 pds flour £3 ls. 25 pds. pork £6 5s. One barrel beer £2 Two galls. rum £4 10s. Two qts. brandy #1 2s. Cd. Two bus. rye and indian meal £3. (Old Tenor, or about 50 cts. to the £.) Eight cooks and waiters were employed on the occasion.
tMr. Fairfield recorded in a private journal the death of a son of Mr. Cutts, in the following manner : "1766, May 3d. At six o'clock
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field built the house now occupied by Mr. William Dee- ring. His amiable consort died . 16 April, 1774, at the age of thirty seven ; leaving a family of six children, five of whom were daughters, and all at a tender age. Mr. Fairfield was twice subsequently married.
The town affairs present nothing of particular interest after this date until the commencement of the revolu- tionary struggle. In the meantime, several professional gentlemen settled in the villages at the Falls, attracted doubtless by their growing importance, and the fair pros- pect of a continued increase in the amount of business. Of this number was JAMES SULLIVAN, subsequently dis- tinguished as a Judge of the Supreme Court, and Governor of the Commonwealth. Mr. Sullivan was a native of Ber- wick, where his parents settled early in that century, hav- ing emigrated to New England from Limerick, Ire- land. His father was long employed as an instructer at Berwick, and, possessing a familiar acquaintance with the higher branches of learning, bestowed on his sons, (of whom there were four,) the only patrimony in his gift, but more valuable than any other, a good education. He designed them, however, for the labors of a farm, in which James was actually employed until a late period of his youth, when, fortunately for society, of which he was destined to prove so bright an ornament, an accidental in- jury withdrew him from the further pursuit of that occupa- tion. His steps were then turned into a track that led to a wider sphere of usefulness, for which his native powers of mind peculiarly fitted him. He studied law with his brother, Gen. John Sullivan, at Durham, N. H. and opened an office in Biddeford 1769. He purchased a
morning died my son Samuel Cutt, aged 7 years perhaps to one min. ute, of the Nervous Fever, who laid 10 days in a senseless Frame, and never spake till Death put a Period to his Days. May this Pro- vidence be sanctified to us all who are exercised with it to our spiritu- al Good. He wasdecently interred on Sabbath Evening at 7 o'clock the 4th Instant. At the Funeral were the following Persons to whom for their Special services we gave Gloves. Mr. Morrill Chaplain ; Doct. Cummings, Physician. Bearers, William Patterson, John Morrill, Joseph Morrill, John Chase, sons of R. Patterson jr , Rev. Moses Morrill, and Rev. (Josiah) Chase of Spruce Creek, (Kittery.)" Then follow the names of the watchers, and several other persons, in all thirty two, to whom gloves were given.
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small one story house, containing only two rooms, in which he lived three or four years ; but afterwards built a hand- some front of two stories, the same now occupied by Ed- mund Ceffin, Esq. His office stood in a corner of the garden adjacent to his house. No regular attorney had previously settled on Saco river ; the litigated business having been wholly managed by lawyers residing in dis- tant towns, who were in the habit of riding the circuits of the courts. Mr. Sullivan speedily rose into favor and ex- tensive practice, aided by popular manners and a close ap- plication to the business of his profession. "His accom- modating disposition," says a cotemporary resident in town, "made him much beloved. Necessity in early life brought him acquainted with labor of almost every kind ; the axe, the saw, the shovel, the plough, he handled equally with any one, and superior to most men, and with such willing resolution that none went before him. He would fall a tree equal to any, and lift as much. The town of Limerick was located 1772, in which he had a share, and the proprietors honored him with the name, [being that of the town from which his father emigrated. ] In 1774, litigation had ceased, the courts were suspended, and his case, would with most men have been gloomy in the extreme ; not so with him, however. He took his axe, week's provisions, and blanket, frock and trowsers, and went with the other settlers, to Limerick, (for most of them went from Saco,) and commenced falling trees to reduce his lands to a state of cultivation, for the sup- port of himself and family. On Saturday evenings, he returned (the distance was nearly thirty miles,) as black and as cheerful 'as the natives when they return from a successful hunt. The business of the country, however, soon required his energies."
Three physicians settled in Biddeford, and one in Pep- perrellborough, before the death of Dr. Cummings. Dr. Abiathar Alden, one of the former, came about 1765, from the Old Colony. He was only remarkable for his tory principles, which finally lost him the small portion of practice he at first possessed. Dr. John Jackson, from Portsmouth, resided in Biddeford about the same time. He remained only a short period.
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Aaron Porter, M. D. from Boxford, Mass. settled in Biddeford 1773, and soon acquired an extensive practice, which he retained until his removal (1810) to Portland, where he now resides. Dr. Porter studied with the late Thomas Kittredge, M. D. of Andover, whose father, Dr. John Kittredge, an eminent surgeon, was often employed in this quarter .* Benj. Hooper, Esq. built that year the house now occupied by Capt. Samuel Emery, attached to which was the office of Dr. Porter, directly opposite Mr. Sullivan's. The hardships encountered by Dr. Por- ter in his early practice, are well described in the follow- ing extract from a communication on the subject with which he has favoured us. "At that period, most of the country was new, unsettled, and wilderness. Although Saco was settled and inhabited from 1629, yet the set- tlements were altogether by the Sea or on the margin of the River, or about a mill, so that all the lands round a- bout remained a wilderness. In this wilderness country, without experience it is hard to conceive what difficulties, dangers and hardships a young Physician must suffer in his professional business, riding necessarily in stormy, dark nights, on bad roads, bye paths, pole bridges, or none at all, trees and bushes sweeping across the way. Add to these, deer skipping, wolves howling, foxes yel- ping, owls screaming ; music not the most agreeable in a dark winter's night to a traveller. Before this a few years the people had begun to move out and cultivate and settle on the wilderness lands, and were necessarily with- out roads ; by paths of course were used, and to attend these scattered settlements for many miles around in their sicknesses, was the worst of the practice. Thus it con- tinued much the same through all the revolutionary war. My professional business commenced in 1773. Dr. John Jackson had removed to Portsmouth ; Dr. Alden's prac- tice left him ; Dr. Fairfield went into other business ; Dr. Cummings was drowned 1 April, 1774 ; thus nearly all the practice came under my care. Arundel and Kenne-
*In 1756, our inhabitants voted to pay Dr. J. Kittredge £8 10s. lawful. "for boarding and dressing of James Treworgy, servant of Thos. Dyer's." Bills for horse hire, on account of Treworgy, were agreed to be paid at the same time.
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bunk having no physician during the Revolution, that practice also fell to me. Anticipating as I did through the year 1774, that the threatening aspect of affairs be- tween us and Great Britain would not be soon accom- modated, I provided for the worst as respected my busi- ness and living. Medicines already began to be scarce, for none had been imported from the British for several months ; having a little credit in Boston and a little cash on hand, I improved both to the extent of my power, and procured medicines of the best quality enough to last ten years. Thus stored with these necessaries, having no family to support, (and by the by matrimony was scared out of the land, few or none dared undertake it,) I was placed in easy circumstances, for that day at least. At that time Hollis, Lyman, Alfred, and the country round was wilderness ; some few scattering settlements were beginning to be made in those places."
Dr. Porter was married, 1777,. to Paulina, second daughter of Richard King, Esq. of Scarboro'. Of their twelve children, barn in Biddeford, four are now decea- sed, one of whom, Moses, graduated at Harvard Coll. 1799, died 1802. The Doctor built, 1785, the house now occupied by Mr. James Maxwell, at first consis- ting of two stories, to which a third was added 1800.
Dr. Josiah Fairfield, a cousin of the minister, came to Pepperrellboro' about 1770. He soon relinquished the practice of medicine for mercantile business, and during the war was engaged in fitting out privateers. Dr. Fair- field purchased the house formerly Dr. White's, where be lived, "respected and useful," in the words of his epitaph, "as a man, a physician and a magistrate." He died of consumption 1794, aged forty seven years.
The principal magistrate in Biddeford, at that period, was Hon. Rishworth Jordan, who lived in the lower part of the town, in the house now occupied by his youngest son, R. T. Jordan, Esq. Early in the war, he was raised to the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, of which he subsequently became chief justice, and was univer- sally esteemed for his able and upright discharge of the duties of that office. For more than half a century, Judge Jordan took an active and prominent part in the af-
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fairs of the town, enjoying the unlimited respect and con- fidence of the inhabitants. He married Abigail, daugh- ther of Col. Timothy Gerrish, of Kittery, 1742. Of their ten children, six were daughters; Olive, the eldest, was married to Dr. Daniel Peirce, a physician, of Kittery, 1765 ; Abigail, to William Vaughan, Esq. of Portsmouth, 1768; Sarah, to Capt. Paul Junkins, of York, 1769; Mary, to Col. Joseph Morrill, now of Saco, 1772 ; Eliza- beth, to Mr. Benjamin Nason, jr. of Peppo. 1784 ; Jane, to Mr. William Shannon of Dover, N. H. 1809. Capt. Junkins removed to Pepperrellboro', and lived in a house nearly opposite that of Josiah Calef, Esq., where the old road from Gray's met the ferry road. The point in the river previously called Pipe Stave, was known as Jun- kins's point after the captain settled in that vicinity. Judge Jordan died 1808, in the 89th year of his age ; having survived Capt. S. Jordan, his father, sixty six years .*
A great improvement was made prior to the revolu- tion in the facilities of communication between the two towns, by the laying out of new roads and the erection of bridges across the river. Travellers continued to ford the mouth of Kennebunk river, and to take advantage of the seashore, where it was practicable, until all apprehen- sion of danger from the Indians was removed. The road to Kennebunk-port, which strikes the Winter Harbor road near the lower meetinghouse in Biddeford, was laid out about 1750 ; and it was not until several years after that date, that the present mail route to Kennebunk was at- tempted. The dense and long extent of forest, formerly known as "Saco woods," through which it must have necessarily passed, prevented the early laying out of this road ; and until a comparatively recent period, the stories of wolves, wildcats, and even catamounts, reputed to have attacked individuals in those formidable woods, have occa- sioned some uneasiness to the timid traveller.t
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