USA > Maine > Knox County > South Thomaston > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 7
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockland > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 7
USA > Maine > Knox County > South Thomaston > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
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HISTORY OF THOMASTON,
ed by these presents, in the manner following : - that is to say, to build thereon a dwelling house of eighteen feet square at the least within six months from the date hereof, and continually dwell therein either in his own person or by a tenant the full term of three years from building the same, and, within the space of two years next en- suing the date hereof, ciear and subdue four acres of said land: now know ye, that in consideration thereof, and also of rent herein after reserved, the said Samuel Waldo hath given and granted and by these presents doth give and grant unto the said Thomas Kirpatrick, all that certain tract of upland situate lying and being at a place called St. George's River, in the Eastern parts of this Province, containing ninety acres, being butted and bounded, viz. : - beginning at a stake on the Eastern side of the Western river so called, and thence running down said river forty rods to a stake ; and from said two stakes to run into the Country a course north 32º E. till ninety acres of upland and swamp be made up ; the said lot being number 49, and lies be- tween Moses Young and John Kirpatrick's lots, and the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders thereof, and all the estate, right, title, inheritance, claim, and demand whatsoever of him, the said Samuel Waldo, of, in, and to the same. To have and to hold the said ninety acres of land and premises herein before granted with all and singular the appur'ces unto the said Thomas Kirpatrick, his heirs and assigns, to the use and behoof of him, the said Thomas Kirpatrick, his heirs and assigns forever, yielding and paying there- for yearly and every year, on the twenty-ninth day of September, unto the said Samuel Waldo, his heirs and assigns, the rent of one Pepper corn, if the same shall be lawfully demanded ; Provided, always, nevertheless, and these presents are upon this condition, that if the said Thomas Kirpatrick, his heirs and assigns, shall not build thereon a dwelling house of at least eighteen feet square within six months from the date hereof, and [constantly] dwell therein, either in his own person or by a tenant, the full term of three years from building the same, and within the space of two years next ensuing, clear and sub- due four acres of said land, then in such case and immediately from and after the said Thomas Kirpatrick, his heirs and assigns, making default in any of the above named particulars to be done and per- formed on his and their part, the present deed and the estate hereby granted, shall cease, determine, and be void, and it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Samuel Waldo, his heirs and assigns, into the said ninety acres of land, or any part thereof, in the name of the whole to re-enter and to hold the same as in his and their first and former estate before the making of these presents, any thing herein contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding ; and the said Samuel Waldo the aforesaid ninety acres of land and prem- ises hereby granted unto the said Thomas Kirpatrick, his heirs and assigns, against him, the said Samuel Waldo, his heirs and assigns, by these presents doth covenant forever to warrant and defend.
" In witness whereof, the said Samuel Waldo hath hereunto set his hand and seal, the eighteenth day of June, in the ninth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., and in the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and thirty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, in
presence of PAUL GERRISH, JNO. GUTTERIDGE.
SA'L WALDO.
Seal.
1
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
"SUFFOLK, SS. - Boston, July 8th, 1735, Mr. Samuel Waldo per- sonally appearing, acknowledged the foregoing instrument to be his free act and deed. Coram, H. HALL, Jus. Pacis."*
Besides and below the lots already mentioned, was a tract extending from the lowermost of them along the bank of the George's to the Eastern or Mill River branch, including the mill privilege, the land about the fort known as the Fort- farm, the lime-stone quarry at the present Prison, and the kilns at the river shore, all which, as well as the lime-quar- ries and mill sites generally, were reserved by the Proprie- tor for his own use or that of his tenants and employees. At this Mill River privilege, Mr. Waldo this season re-built the saw-mill, placing it at or near the site of Wheaton's, now Counce's grist-mill. He was here, in person, again in Novem- ber, and held a second conference with the Indians, whom he thought well reconciled to his proceedings.
1736. But, however unable to withstand his arguments and diplomatic skill, these simple denizens of the forest could not but understand the effect of what they saw with their eyes. . Waldo's mill and dam at Mill River, together with the preparations for another at the upper falls in what is now Warren, they could not but foresee would wholly cut off or greatly interfere with their highly prized salmon, shad, and alewife fisheries. Accordingly, marking a tree on the shore at the head of tide waters on the present Crawford lot in Warren, they positively forbade all intrusions of the whites above it; and, sending a delegation to Boston, June 25th, 1736, with Capt. Gyles for their interpreter, they represented to the General Court that they had never consented to let Englishmen build houses above the tide waters of the St. George's ; and yet Mr. Waldo and his people were encroach- ing upon Indians' lands and rights to a fearful extent; and they could no longer endure the sight of such flagrant wrongs. In spite of the active opposition of Waldo, the report of a committee favorable to the Indians' claims was accepted. July 3d; settlements farther up the river were forbidden till the lands were fairly purchased; presents worth £100 were sent to the tribe; and their delegates returned home well satisfied. Such was the general tranquillity after this, that the garrison here was reduced to one commissioned officer and ten sentinels. Capt. Gyles continued in command, and John Noyes was re-elected truck-master.
* York Records, Register's Office, Book 22, page 156-7.
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HISTORY OF THOMASTON,
The five settlers included in this town, as well as their up river associates, with whom they continued to act, this year recommenced or continued clearing operations, secured hay, brought a few cattle probably from Harrington, a name im- posed by Dunbar on Femaquid now Bristol, and in the an- tumn removed their families to their new dwellings, or rather log cabins, in this wilderness which Thomaston still was in spite of the 106 years that had elapsed since the first trading- house was built on its soil. These, like those who came with them to what is now Warren, were all from the northern and Protestant portion of Ireland, and were, in that country, called Scotch, because they or their ancestors emigrated thither from Scotland, but here, Irish or Scotch-Irish, though having little affinity with the native Celtic Irish, who are mostly of the Roman Catholic religion and speak a dif- ferent dialect. The Alexanders came from Londonderry in 1719, with the first settlers of Londonderry in N. H. North had been employed as a surveyor at Pemaquid and Kennebec before coming here, and may have come over in 1718 with those of his countrymen brought by Robert Temple and located on the castern side of the Kennebec River. It is not known, with certainty, from what place in Ireland the Kil- patricks came. The name seems to have been common in Colrain. There was among the early Scotch-Irish emigrants a Thomas Kilpatrick from that city who settled first in Wells and removed to Biddeford, where he died in 1762, at the age of 88 years, leaving one daughter and nine sons; but if it were true, as stated, that these " all lived to have families," those of the settlement here could not have been of that fam- ' ily, as they, viz .: Thomas, John, and Andrew, another brother who settled in what is now Warren, lived and died unmarried. Their sister Elizabeth, who came with them, and kept house for her brother Thomas, had one child, John Shib- les, born at Pemaquid in 1732, whose father she had left in the old country, preferring to follow the fortunes of her three brothers in the new. She, (Miss Lizzie, as her brother al- ways called her,) was remembered by those living but a few years back, as a fine, well-bred lady, though then aged and crippled from an injured hip. The birth of her son fixes the time of her arrival. and renders it probable that the family came over directly from Ireland and tirst landed at Pemaquid, about 1732. Her descendants are the only relics here, of this ancient family. The elder Alexander had both wife and children; as it was his lady who, on her husband's election to the office of Captain in 1739, served up the boiled and
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
buttered leaves instead of the broth made from a pound of tea . assigned to the assembled women of the settlement whilst he outside of his log cabin was refreshing the men who had elected him with the, gallon of rum, which, with the equally famed but here before unknown article of tea, he had pur- chased for the occasion at the truck-house. John Alexander appears to have had children, also, and both families removed or at least disappeared during or soon after the Indian war of 1744; their posterity being found in Providence and Attle- boro', in 1780. Of Young nothing is positively known; but it is probable he removed or died early. John Young who settled above in Warren, perhaps a brother, seems to have come from Pennsylvania with his son-in-law Kelloch.
Here then, in these five families, emigrants from green Erin or the brown heaths of Scotland, behold the infant Thomaston, yet unchristened, nursed by a wealthy patron and guarded by a dozen soldiers, quietly stretched in her cradle or reposing on the lap and nestling in the arms of the stronger settlement above. Children were probably born in these families; but as no records remain and tradition is si- lent, it is impossible to tell which of them is entitled to the honor of being Thomaston's first-born. Since the Annals of Warren were published the true date of the birth of Archibald Robinson, the first white child born on the river, has been fixed by record evidence as Jan. 31, 1737, -on a lot in the borders of Cushing and Warren.
1740. From this circumstance it appears that Waldo had located one settler, probably a few others, on the western bank below the Narrows, in Cushing and perhaps also on Watson's Point. Moses Robinson, father of the above named Archibald, having some knowledge of roots, herbs, and the use of the lancet, and hence called Doctor, resided there on the lot afterwards inherited by the said Archibald and his posterity ; although he also early took up a lot, num- ber 22, farther up the river in Warren, whither he removed and which still remains with his descendants there. Capt. Andrew Robinson, probably a brother of the doctor, was also here, employed about the government works. Capt. Gyles was still in command of them; and, June 13th, 1740, on his petition to the General Court representing that "he had caught and caused to be killed three Grown Wolves within seven miles of the fort," was allowed the usual bounty of £4, old tenor, on each wolf. Other persons were employed here by Mr. Waldo, either in the manufacturing of lime, the cut- ting of lumber, and working the saw-mill, or in building a Vor .. I. . 5
50
HISTORY OF THOMASTON,
grist-mill, which he this year erected a little above the present bridge at Oyster River, and the meeting-house which accord- ing to his contract he now built on the west bank of the George's, further up, in what is now Warren. This gentle- man, having. this year been appointed to the command of one of the two brigades into which the militia of York county, embracing the whole of Maine, was now divided, is hence- forth better known as Brigadier Waldo, and still resided in Boston,*
Some apprehension of war being felt, Gov. Belcher repre- sented to the General Court that the works at this post, ac- cording to information received from Capt. Gyles and others, were too ruinous to be repaired, and earnestly recommended" that a strong fortress should be built of stone and mortar; but the House dissented and asked him to put the same in a good defensible state by rebuilding with timber. This work was accordingly commenced under direction of Capt. Andrew Robinson, before mentioned; who seems to have had the en- tire control of the business independent of Capt. Gyles, which perhaps gave rise to the tradition of his having for a time commanded the garrison. The following letter of the Gover- nor may throw some light upon the matter.
"Capt. Robinson, I have yours of the 9th inst., and am well pleased you are getting on with the repairs of the gar- rison and wharf. I have now wrote Capt. Gyles that he gives a general order for your having the oxen and gundola as often as you send for them and without delays, and that he should encourage the men to work at easy wages since they have the pay and subsistence of the Province, and in general to do all he can to forward the work, so you'll let me know; if he does not I shall take it ill, as I shall, very much so, if the men have any just cause to say they are hardly or unreasonably dealt by in any respect; perhaps they may complain without cause.
" I depend you'll be so prudent while you are in the service as to make all things easy between you and the captain, for he must and shall be supported in his command. The sooner you can get the work completed the better-altho' there is no French war at present, yet we may hear so sooner than we expect. I am, Sir, your ready friend, J. Belcher. Boston, May 29th, 1741."}
* Not removing to Falmouth, as stated in the Annals of Warren, p. 57. His son of the same name settled there : which led to the error.
t Original in Secretary's Office, Boston.
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
1741-3. Mr. Noyes, having been so long annually elected to superintend the traffic with the Indians at this fort, was, July 31st, 1741, superseded by the election of John Dennis as truck-master. The settlers here, fearing that Indian hostilities were about to ensue, (ainoug other un- friendly symptoms an ox belonging to one of the upper set- tlers having been killed by them,) took this year, 1741, the precaution to secure their possessions by getting their deeds, and also Waldo's contract for settling them, recorded in the register's office at York, the shire town of the county. About this time, also, Brigadier Waldo formed another settlement, called the LOWER TOWN of St. George's, on the western side of the river extending from the lot of Dr. Robinson before mentioned, quite down to the mouth of the river and shore of the ocean; giving about 40 lots to as many settlers, on terms nearly or quite similar to those of the upper settlement. Of these forty, however, a considerable portion, like those in the upper settlement, were taken in behalf of children, or minors, reducing the number of families actually settled probably be- low thirty. These two settlements constituted the two towns which the Patentees had early contemplated, and which Brig. Waldo was now anxious to see incorporated as such. Ac- cordingly we find petitions to that effect, presented by him as "attorney to sundry inhabitants upon St. George's River," were, March 29th, 1742, considered by the General Court and referred to the next May session. But that body in those days was extremely cautious of incorporating new towns in remote places, without being satisfied that the inhabitants were capable of defending themselves against Indian assaults, and of maintaining a gospel minister of the faith and order so zealously cherished by the parent colony; and, the ap- proaching war engrossing attention, nothing was done.
Capt. Andrew Robinson, on the 2d of Jan., 1742, prayed that a committee of the General Court might be appointed to audit his accounts for work done here; but, in the spring or summer of the same year, while still diligently employed in rebuilding the fort, he died of disease, and was buried near by. Gov. Shirley, with a committee in August, made a visit here and reported to the General Court, September 3d, that "at St. George's I found the new Fort well piqueted and, so far as it was proceeded in, faithfully performed. Capt. Rob- inson who first undertook it being dead and considerable ma- terials being provided by him which was not used in his life- time, by the advice of the committee, and to save an expense which would have arisen by dismissing these workmen who
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HISTORY OF THOMASTON.
were well capable of compleating it, I ordered them to pro- ceed with all despatch in finishing the fortification, that (if possible) it may be perfected before winter." For this pur- pose, £300 were appropriated. The Governor also spoke in sigh terms of the lands about this river, "as so rich and adapted to produce all kinds of grain, that, if well settled and cultivated, as they are now begun to be" they might be useful in supplying the Boston market. He also spoke of a conference which he held here with the Indians, who contrary to their former practice came with the British instead of the French colors at the bow of their canoes, and appeared in favor of continuing at peace; and in compliance with their request he earnestly recommended that a truck-master should be appointed who understood their language, and that all at- tempts to encroach upon their rights and means of subsistence should be rigidly suppressed. Accordingly, on the 9th Sep- tember, 1742, Jabez Bradbury of Newbury, (a son of Wymond Bradbury, grandson on his mother's side of Rev. John Cotton of Plymouth, and great grandson of Rev. John Cotton of Boston,) now near fifty years of age, and who had previously been truck-master at Fort Richmond, was chosen to that of- fice here. Whether he was expert in the Indian language or not is doubtful. Joseph Beane, who had been an interpreter at different places for 17 years, was it seems at the fort here at this time, and June 4th, 1743, petitioned " in his advanced age" that his pay, f6 a month, might be enlarged. This was done, and £2, 10s. of the new emission currency, granted ; and in a petition to the same effect the following year he is still styled " Indian interpreter of St. George's truck-house." The Governor reminded the General Court this year, June 17th, that a considerable sum, £85, 7s. 8d., was still due the estate of Gapt. Andrew Robinson for materials and work on the buildings at the fort, and that a further sum was wanting to complete the works. This having been referred to the next session and again urged by the Governor, the Court ap- propriated £100 that the overseers of the work might com- plete the same before winter; and, Nov. 11th, an additional £100 was added. Bradbury also seems to have been ap- pointed to succeed Capt. Gyles as commander of the garrison, which was now, 1743, increased by the addition of 13 men. In this garrison of 25 men, Win. Lithgow was lieutenant and armorer. There does not appear to have been any surgeon or chaplain at the establishment; as private John Davis, after being taken sick about the time of Robinson's decease, was carried to Boston for medical treatment and there died. The
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
name of one other soldier, James Evans of Berwick, has sur- vived the wreck of years, by means of a petition from that town that part of his wages might be withheld for the main- tenance of his idiot child there. Capt. Bradbury also held a justice's commission, as Capt. Gyies had before. The latter, when about giving up his command here of seventeen years continuance, petitioned, March 22d, 1742, that the General Court would allow his pay as Indian interpreter to continue during his life-time; but this, after debate, was refused. He appears to have been a judicious and faithful officer, pub- lished in 1736 a narrative of his captivity, and was living as late as 1753 in Roxbury, Mass.
In 1743, a small settlement was made at Meduncook, now Friendship, by emigrants of English extraction and puritan faith from Plymouth, Cape Elizabeth, and other western places. These, with the addition of others during the war that followed, amounted in 1754 to 22 families; viz. : - those of Samuel, Alexander, and Paul Jameson; Abial and Sedate Wadsworth; Joshua Bradford; Zachariah, Griffith, Samuel, and John Davis; Mr. Lawry; Wellington Gay and his two brothers; Capt. Cushing; Nat. Bartlett; John Demorse; John Bickmore; Cornelius Morton; and Elijah, James, and Zenas Cook. They first settled on the eastern side of the harbor, and, eleven years later at the commencement of the last Indian war, erected a block-house on the island, or penin- sula, of about eight acres, which still bears the name of Gar- rison Island.
1744. France having joined with Spain in declaring war against England, March 15th, 1744, and Indian troubles be- coming imminent, preparations were made to strengthen the frontier posts and the settlers encouraged to remain and de- fend themselves. For this purpose town privileges were deemed necessary; and we find, March 6th, " a petition of the settlers and inhabitants of the upper part of St. George's River, commonly called Lincoln, containing seven and a half miles square, praying to be erected into a township." This was looked upon with favor; but the Council and House dis- agreeing whether such town should be allowed. a representa- tive or not, nothing was accomplished. Had this measure prevailed, the new town would have embraced what is now Warren and the greater part of Thomaston and Rockland.
Great pains were taken to prevent the Penobscots from joining with the eastern Indians who had already commenced hostilities in Nova Scotia. At the same time the garrison here was increased to 40 men, and of the 100 scouts ordered
5*
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HISTORY OF THOMASTON,
to be enlisted for the protection of the eastern frontier, during the winter of 1744-5, "fourteen at Capt. Vaughan's block- house (Damariscotta) were to scout to Broad Bay," (now Waldoboro',) " and 14 at the head of Broad Bay to scout to the block-house at St. George's River." The settlers here, under their captain, Henry Alexander, were taken into the service and received pay from June 15th, 1744, to March 1st, 1745; their wages amounting in all to £442, 9s, 2d .*
1745. These scouts, June 14th, were ordered to be con- tinued till the first of November; but a committee of the General Court reported, June 22d, "that some of the officers and soldiers in the public service, especially at George's River, &c., have been very negligent as to scouting;" that some were not otherwise known to be in the service than by coming for their rations; and that soldiers sent thither have been released for money, and the inhabitants of the place en- listed in their room " who have only followed their own pri- vate business." Thus early were jealousy and discontent manifested between the colony or its representatives on the one part, and those who enjoyed, even in this remote post, the pay and patronage of the royal governor, on the other.
In the celebrated expedition of this year against Louisburg, in which Brigadier Waldo took a distinguished part. many of the settlers on this river enlisted; and from this diminution of their numbers and the danger of Indian hostilities, be- coming every day more threatening, many others were in- duced to remove or take up their abode in the fort. Of those previously mentioned as settling in the limits of Thom- aston, North removed to Pemaquid, and took command of the fort there, occasionally acting as a surveyor; Capt. Alex- ander, with some half dozen others from up the river, sought refuge with friends and countrymen in Massachusetts; while Thomas Kilpatrick remained and united with others in ener- getic measures for the general defence. Independent of the Governmental establishment at the Fort, the inhabitants at their own expense built near the northern end of the present toll bridge a Block-house, so termed, constructed of heavy timber, with projections and loop-holes at each corner, plat- form and parapet at the roof, and other contrivances, by means of which a few men might repel the assaults of a much superior number. The command of this was assigned to Lieut. Benjamin Burton of this river, immediately on his re- turn hither from the capture of Louisburg, which took place
* Council Records.
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
June 16th of this year, and in which he had acquired consid- erable credit. His father, as it is said, but more probably grandfather, a native of Wales, was in Cromwell's army when he reduced Ireland to subjection under the Commonwealth. At the close of that war, he probably settled in the northern part of that island. At any rate, our Lieut. Benjamin Bur- ton, his descendant, had seen in that country Waldo's adver- tisement, or proclamation as it was called, offering lands in the Waldo patent to actual settlers without price, and, at the age of 21 years, induced his father to embark with him and many others for this country. All of them, except the old gentleman his father, who died on the passage, arrived safely and landed at St. George's River in 1736. Finding employ- ment here, or spending a time in examining other localities settled by their countrymen, they finally joined with others in settling the Lower town of St. George's, (now Cushing,) in 1741 as before mentioned. How many men Lieut. Bur- ton, or Captain, as he began to be styled, had under him at this time is uncertain; the number probably differing at dif- ferent times according to the danger apprehended.
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