USA > Maine > York County > History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5
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"It is ordered by this Court that the Worshipfall Thos. Gorges and Edward Godfrey Councellors of this Province shall order all the Inbabitants from Piscatiqna to Kennebunk, which have any children unbaptized, that as soon as a minister is settled in any of their plan- tations, they bring their said children to Baptism, and if any shall refuse to submit to the said order, that then the partie so refusing shall be summoned to answer this their contempt at the next General Court to be holdeu in this province."
Upon the establishment of the Gorges government the province was divided into two districts east and west of the Kennebunk River. The western gradually acquired the name of York and the eastern was commonly ealled Somer- set, or New Somerset. For the former, terms of the Infe- rior Court were appointed to be holden at Agamentiens three times a year, and for the latter three terms annually at Saco. It was also ordered that henceforth there shall be one General Court holden at Saco for the whole province of Maine every year on the 25th of June, or on the next day, if that should fall on the Sabbath. Other sessions of the General Court could be convened at the discretion of the Council. The Inferior Courts had no jurisdiction in capi- tal felonies nor in civil actions involving titles to lands.
The energetic measures of the administration gave general satisfaction throughout the province, excepting in the settle- ment upon the northern bank of Piscataqua, where some dis- content appears to have prevailed. Disinclined to acknowledge the jurisdiction of Gorges' charter, yet complaining of the great evils they had suffered from the want of civil govern- ment, they entered into a social compact Oct. 22, 1640, and by articles to which Richard and William Waldron, Thomas Larkham, and thirty-eight others were subscribers, com- bined themselves into a body politic for the free exercise and preservation of their civil rights. They professed to be the king's loyal subjects, and said they should observe his laws in connection with those of their own making till he should give them further orders .* The compact soon fell asunder, and we find the leaders of this pure democracy, Waldron and Larkham, soon after at Dover, N. H., where they probably went to participate in a government more liberal than that of Gorges.
Sir Ferdinando, in his special patronage of Agamenticus, gave it a charter of incorporation, by which he erected it into a borough. It embraced the territory three miles every way from the "church, chapel, or oratory of the plantation," and invested the " burgesses" or inhabitants with powers to elect annually a mayor and eight aldermen, and to hold estate to any amount. Thomas Gorges was first mayor, and the aldermen were Edward Godfrey, Roger
: Ilazen, p. 482; Hubbard's New England, p. 222.
22
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.
Garde, George Puddington, Bartholomew Barnett, Edward Johnson, Arthur Bragdon, Henry Simpson, and John Rogers. The mayor and the board were authorized to make by-laws, to erect fortifications, and to hold courts in the " Town Hall" once in three weeks, for the trial of misde- meanors and all civil causes.
The inhabitants, in the enjoyment of these exclusive privileges, were jealous of the jurisdiction of the General Court, and when that body convened at Saco in June, 1641, and was opened by the deputy Governor, and councilors Vines, Bonython, Jocelyn, and Godfrey, three of the alder- men and a delegate from the burgesses appeared and pre- sented a special memorial, declarative of their corporate rights and duties, giving assent to the authority of the gen- eral government of Gorges, and at the same time protesting against any infringement of their borough-privileges. The memorial is as follows, copied from the York Records :
" Leaf 19. Whereas, livers privileges have heretofore bin granted to the Patentees aud Inhabitants of Agamenticus, as by several pat- ents doth and may appear, we whose names are here subscribed, being deputed for and in hehalf of the said Inhabitants, do in behalf of our- selves and those we are deputed for protest as followeth : That our appearance at this Court shall be uo prejudice to any grants or privi- leges which we now enjoy or ought to enjoy by Virtue of the said Patents or otherwise, and that whatsoever we shall do or transact in this Court shall be, saving this Protestation. Notwithstanding we do humbly acknowledge his Majesty's Grant of the Provincial Patent to Sir Ferdinaudo Gorges, and humbly submit ourselves thereunto so far as by law we are bound. We also desire that a copy of this Prot- estation may be taken by some Notary or other officer of this Court, here to be recorded.
" EDW. JOHNSON, GEO. PUDDINGTON, " JOHN BAKER, BARTHO'W BARNETT, " Deputies for the Inhabitants of Agamenticus.
"It was ordered at this Court by Richard Vines, Richard Bony- thon, Henry Jocelyn, and Edward Godfrey, Esq'rs, Councilors for this Province, that the Government now established in Agamenticus shall so remain until such time as the said Councilors have Certified the Lord of the Province thereof and heard again from him Concern- ing his further pleasure therein."
Sir Ferdinando's " further pleasure therein" proved to be the enlargement of the corporate privileges of Agamen- ticus. Determined now to erect the borough into a city, he executed another and more perfect charter, March 1, 1641, by which he incorporated a territory of twenty-one square miles, and the inhabitants upon it, into a body politie, conferring upon it the dignity of his own name,- " Gorgeana." The territory of the city " lay, in the form of a parallelogram, on the northern side of the river Aga- menticus, extending up seven miles from its mouth, and a league upon the sea-shore." The government consisted of a mayor, twelve aldermen, twenty-four common councilmen, and a recorder, elected annnally, March 25th, by the free- holders. The mayor and aldermeu were ex-officio justices, and had the appointment of four sergeants, whose insignia of office was a white rod, and whose duty it was to serve all judicial processes. The first city mayor was Edward Godfrey ; the aldermen were probably those under the for- mer charter .* Mr. Godfrey affirmed that " he had been a promoter of this colony of New England from A.D. 1609, and above thirty-two years an adventurer in that design."
The population of Gorgeana at this time consisted of about three hundred souls, but Gorges was actuated by great ex-
pectations and generous designs : his ambition was to found a prosperous and successful colony, and to organize and establish a capital commensurate with his general plan of government. To this end he labored earnestly, adopted the policy which he thought best adapted to promote the general welfare, and expended liberally of his own private fortune to build up settlements, and to increase the com- merce of the province. If he erred, it was in not perceiving more clearly the signs of the times in which he lived, and the tendency, both in England and in the colonies, to a more liberal and democratic system of government than that which he had so laboriously and ingeniously planned. But he was a loyalist, and a zealous churchman, and had already taken part on the side of the king, in the struggle going on in the mother-country.
" More than ten years the city of Gorgeana acted in a corporate capacity, making some grants of land, and man- aging affairs in a manner most beneficial to the interests of the people. As the mother-country was in a revolutionary state, the Province of Maine might have been an asylum for loyalists and Episcopalians, and some such, without doubt, emigrated from the flames of civil war enkindled in England. But the provincial government was not suffi- ciently settled, energetic, and methodical to secure confidence to a great extent." The revolution in England added largely to the accessions of wealth and population in the colonies. Massachusetts rose rapidly to an ascendency in her political character over the other colonies. New Hamp- shire sought an alliance with her in 1642, and was admitted to a political union, which lasted thirty-eight years. The first portion of Maine which submitted to her jurisdiction was the Pejepscot tract, or grant, which was assigned to her Governor, John Winthrop, by conveyance from Thomas Purchase, executed Aug. 22, 1639. In this instrument was conceded to the government of Massachusetts the same power and jurisdiction as she possessed within the limits of her own charter, and, in return, the protection of the gov- ernment was pledged to Purchase and his associates.
The acts of the Massachusetts Colony were viewed by many of the malcontents of Maine as unwarranted stretches of power, and often, in repayment for their severe strictures, some of them received retaliatory treatment, but too severe. A sermon, preached by Rev. Mr. Larkham, of Dover, New Hampshire (then under Massachusetts), against hirelings, was an evident aim at Rev. Richard Gibson, of Maine, and gave him great umbrage. He was an Episcopalian, a good scholar, a popular speaker, and highly esteemed as a min- ister, especially by the settlers and fishermen at Richmond's Island, and on the Isles of Shoals, among whom he had been for some time preaching. He, in reply, wrote an insulting letter to Mr. Larkham, and likewise accused Mas- sachusetts of usurpation in endeavoring to rule over the Isles of Shoals. In this state of irritation Gibson provoked the islanders, in 1642, to revolt, and submit to Gorges' government, several of the cluster being included in his charter. But he was glad to escape the indignation of that colony by making an humble acknowledgment, and, per- haps, promising that the islanders should be urged by him to return to their allegiance.t
t Hubbard's New England, p. 331; quoted by Williamson.
* 1 Williamson, p. 289.
23
GOVERNMENT UNDER ALEXANDER RIGBY.
On the 19th of May, 1643, while the English House of Commons was peculiarly favorable to the Republican and Puritau portion of the colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven seized the opportunity to form a confederacy, by which they entered into a compact to afford each other mutual advice and assistance on all necessary occasions. Among the reasons assigned for this union were the dependent condition of the colonists; the vicinity of the Dutch and French, who were inclined to make encroachments ; the hostile appearance of the neigh- boring Indians ; the commencement of civil contests in the parent country ; the impracticability of obtaining from thence suitable aid in any emergency ; and the union al- ready formed by the sacred ties of religion .* The Province of Maine, being under rulers of Episcopal tenets, could not be admitted to this union.
Governor Gorges was far from taking pleasure in the present aspect of his provincial affairs. The renewal of difficulties with the French, the restlessness of the Indians, and, above all, the revival of the proprietary claim to Ly- gonia, all served to render his situation anything but encouraging, and he resolved to retire from the government at the end of the three years for which he had been com- missioned.
CHAPTER V.
GOVERNMENT UNDER ALEXANDER RIGBY.
Purchase of the Lygonia Patent-George Cleaves, Deputy President -Conflict between the Rigby and Gorges Governments-Contro- versy decided in favor of Rigby-General Assembly of the Province of Lygonia-Life and Character of Sir Ferdinando Gorges.
THE success of the Republicans in England, in 1643, brought again Lygonia, or the Plough patent, into notice. The eastern parts of the territory had been progressively settling thirteen years, and several places within its limits had become of considerable importance. Alexander Rigby, a high Republican, and member of the Long Parliament, became the purchaser of the original grant and charter, in the full determination to assume possession of the country and of the reins of government. He commissioned George Cleaves, then in England, his deputy president, and directed him to immediately take upon himself the administration of affairs. Cleaves had been for thirteen years a resident at Spurwink and on Falmouth Neck, now Portland, and was well aware of the resistance he might have to encounter from the Gorges government, which had for six or seven years exercised undisputed jurisdiction over Lygonia. Cleaves, however, had calculated on the assistance of Massachusetts to establish him in power; and accordingly, on arriving in Boston, in 1644, he submitted the matter to the advice of the magistrates, and besought their inter- position. They prudently declined to interfere in the affair. Cleaves returned to Falmouth Neck, and about this time Governor Gorges returned to England.t
Cleaves called a convention, and organized a form of government at Casco. But his every movement encoun- tered the unqualified opposition of the Gorges government. Vines convened the Council at Saco : in the consideration of the subject, they thought the patent of Lygonia could possess no powers of government since the dissolution of the charter, whereas Gorges had ohtained a royal charter from his majesty, and by his officers and agents had exer- cised a continued jurisdiction over the province for many years.
On the other hand, Cleaves could show the original patent to Dye and others, executed in 1630, a possession taken soon afterwards under it, a deed of the late assign- ment to Rigby, and satisfactory evidence that, when the Plymouth Council was dissolved, there was a reservation of all prior grants and existing rights. Still, to avoid a rup- ture, he sent his friend Tucker to Saco with a proposal of submitting the controversy to the magistrates of Massa- chusetts, and abiding their decision till a final one should arrive from England. Vines had the messenger arrested and thrown into prison, and he was not permitted to depart till he had given bonds for his good behavior and his ap- pearance at the next court at Saco.
The course of Vines in this respect was severely censured. Cleaves made a representation of the facts to the Massa- chusetts authorities, and requested them to espouse his cause. He and the chief men of Rigby's province also sent to the commissioners of the united colonies a written proposition, signed by some thirty, in which they requested that Lygonia might become a member of the confederacy. This was objected to on several grounds. The province of Lygonia, they said, had no settled and well-organized gov- ernment. She had not complied with an important article of the confederation, which was that no colony while ad- hering to the Episcopal Church communion of England could be admitted to membership. Rigby himself was a zealous Episcopalian and a friend to the hierarchy, although a good Republican commoner in Parliament, and most of his provincials were of the same sentiments.]
At length-both parties agreeing to submit the contro- versy to their arbitrament-the Massachusetts magistrates appointed June 3, 1645. as a day for hearing the case. Cleaves and Tucker appeared in behalf of Rigby, and Jocelyn and Robinson in defense of the Gorges govern- ment. The trial was before a jury, duly impaneled. Cleaves was unable to show a sufficient assigument to Rigby, the one produced being executed by a minority of the patentees ; nor could he make it appear by legal proof that the terri- tory in controversy fell within Rigby's patent. The de- fendants were in a similar predicament, for they could only produce a copy of Gorges' charter, attested by witnesses, without any verification upon oath or official certificate. The court, therefore, dismissed the cause, advising the dis- putants to live in peace till a decision could come from the proper authorities. The contest remained undecided for two years.§
* This union lasted forty years.
+ The government residence of Gorges while in the province was about a mile above Trafton's Ferry, near Gorges' Point ; the cellar of his dwelling-house remains to this day.
į "The Province of Maine was not admitted into the confederacy ; the people ran a different course from us both in the ministry and in civil administration."- Winthrop's Journal, p. 275.
¿ Hubbard, 270; Sullivan, 314; Williamson, 298.
24
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.
After the retirement of Thomas Gorges, Sir Ferdinando appointed no successor, leaving his province to the manage- ment of his Council.
" He himself, though now more than seventy years of age, had joined the army of the crown in the civil wars, and was with Prince Rupert the last year of the famous siege of Bristol; and when that city was taken by the Parliament forces, Gorges was plundered and thrown into confinement."
In 1644, Richard Vines was elected deputy Governor. He presided in the General Court held at Saco in August, 1645, at which session five members of the Council were present, viz., Henry Jocelyn, Richard Bonython, Nicholas Shap- leigh, Francis Robinson, and Roger Garde.
At the Court of Elections, held at Saco, Oct. 21, 1645, only three of the standing councilors were present, viz., Richard Vines, deputy Governor, Richard Bonython, aud Henry Jocelyn. The board, to the number of seven, was filled by election, Francis Robinson, Arthur Macworth, Edward Small, and Abraham Preble being chosen.
At this session the following order was adopted :
"Ordered by the General Court that, whereas, we have not heard of late from the Hon. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, knight, lord proprietor of this province of Mayne, for a full establishment of Government within the said Province for our peace and safety, this 21st of Oct., 1645, have chosen for our Deputy Governour, Richard Vines, Esq .. for one whole year, and order yearly to choose a Deputy Governour ; and further order that, in case the said Richard Vives, Esq., should depart the country before the year be expired, then we nominate and choose Henry Joselin, Esq., Deputy Governour in his place and stead.
"William Waldron, Recorder for the Province of Mayne, chosen and sworn for one year."#
The tax laid upon the province by the court at this ses- sion was £4 11s., in the apportionment of which they as- signed to the Piscataqua plantation £2 10s. ; to Gorgeana, £1; to Saco, 11s .; and to Casco, 10s. It appears from this that the General Court still held jurisdiction from Piscataqua to Casco.
We quote from the records of this session the action of the court in the case of John Bonython, who had set at defiance the authority of law, and offered violent resistance to the officers sent to arrest him :
"21st of Oct., 1645, at Saco. Ordered, that whereas, John Boni- thon, of Saco, in the Province of Mayne, hath been summoned divers time, in his Majesty's name, to appear at our Courts, and ha'h refused, threatening to kill and slay any person that should lay hands on him, whereupon the law hath laid its due proceedings to an outlary, and divers julgments, executions, and warrants of the good behaviour, against him. We therefore, at a General Court assembled, adjudge the said Jobn Bonithon outlawed and incapable of any of his majes- tey's laws, and proclaim him a Rebell.
"Ordered, hy concent of the Court, that if Mr. John Bonithon be taken, that he be sent to Boston to answer such things as shall there be brought against him.
"Ordered, for the charges of the General Court at Saco, for the Province of Mayne, 21st of Oct., 1645 : Saco to pay IIs. ; Casco, 10x .; Gorgiana, £I : Piscataqua, £2 108. Total, £4 118."
Two law cases which occurred at this session may be worthy of mention. One was an action of account pre- sented by John Trelawny, of Piscataqua, for services in the fisheries at Richmond's Island, against John Winter, a trader there; the other was a suit by Edward Godfrey, of Agamenticus, one of the Council, to recover £20 awarded him by the High Court of Star Chamber, in England,
# York Records, Book A, leaf 33.
against George Cleaves, the deputy President of Lygonia, resident at Casco, now Portland. Both judgments were for the plaintiffs.
The decision of the authorities in England, which Cleaves and his associates had been waiting for nearly two years, had now arrived, and the paramount authority of the gov- ernment of Gorges within the Rigby patent was at an end. The subject had been referred to the Governor-Gen- eral and Commissioners of the American Plantations, who made their report in March, 1646. They decided " that Alexander Rigby, in virtue of the deed and documents adduced, is the rightful owner and proprietor, in fee-sim- ple, of the territory or province of Lygonia; being a tract of land forty miles in length and forty miles in breadth, lying on the south side of the Sagadahock, and adjoining unto the great ocean or sea called Mare del Nort ; and in him is settled the right of planting, ruling, ordering, and governing it."
Thus the government of Cleaves, under Rigby, was au- thoritatively installed, the commissioners ordering all the inhabitants of the province "to yield obedience to the constitution of government," and directing "the Governor of Massachusetts, in case of any resistance, to afford the officers appointed by said Rigby all suitable assistance."
" According to this decision," says Williamson, "the river Kenne- bunk proved to be the divisional line between the two provinces; and the only remaining settlements within Gorges' charter were those of Wells, Gorgeana, Piscataqua, and the northern Isles of Shoals. No decision could be more unwelcome and offending to the adherents of Gorges. If the land-titles of settlers under him within the patent of Lygonia were not thereby put at hazard, three of his councilors, Vines, Jocelyn, and Bonython, and several other officers, fell within Righy's jurisdiction, and must either yield allegiance to his govern- ment or leave their estates and homes. To resist would only expose them to the coercive power of Massachusetts, which, they had reason to believe, she would be hy no means displeased to exercise. Hence Henry Jocelyn prepared to remove to Pemaquid, and some others did actually quit the province."
In October, 1645, Richard Vines sold his estate to Rob- ert Childs, and returned to England, whence he proceeded to Barbadocs. He was a high royalist, and was deeply chagrined and disappointed at the unfortunate turn affairs had taken both in England and in the province. He had been one of the earliest and most zealons promoters of the colony, having first come over in 1609, and been constantly in the country for thirty years. His residence was near Winter Harbor, on the sea-shore.
Henry Jocelyn succeeded Vines as deputy Governor, and presided over the court held at Wells, July 6, 1646 ; pres- ent, Richard Bonython and Edward Godfrey, commissioners; Henry Boade, Bazil Parker, and Abraham Preble, assist- ants .; It appears from this that some change had been made in the style of the officers of this conrt ; they are no longer called " Councilors for Sir Ferdinando Gorges," but "Com- missioners." Williamson says a court was convened at Wells this year " to revive and organize a new administra- tion, lately so mutulated and crippled," which " elected - Godfrey, Governor; Richard Leader, Nicholas Shap- leigh, Thomas Withers, and Edward Rishworth, Council- lors,-the latter being appointed also Recorder." There may have been a movement of this kind, in the absence of
+ York Records, Book A.
25
GOVERNMENT UNDER ALEXANDER RIGBY.
Jocelyn, prior to the session of the court on July 6th, but Jocelyn had been appointed by the court the successor of Vines, in case of the removal of the latter from the coun- try, and the records show that he was in his place as dep- uty Governor, at the session of the court, as above, on the 6th of July, 1646. The following is from the record of a court held in June the following year :
"June 30, 1647 .- The Indictment of Charles Frost.
" Whereas, there was slain Warwick Heard, of Sturgeon Creek, by Charles Frost, does stand here presented and Indicted, that he Felon- iously contrary to the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity did the 23d day of March last with a fowling- piece murder the said Warwick Heard ; having uot the fear of God before his eyes. You are therefore to inquire whether it was wilfully done with malice pretence, quarrell, or by accident or unawares, or misadventure.
" The Jury find that Charles Frost did kill Warwick Heard hy mis- adventure. And Charles Frost quit by proclamation."
At the Court of Elections, Oct. 20, 1647, no changes in the officers of government are mentioned. Great care was taken of the public interests, and the people enjoyed con- siderable prosperity. One memorable act was passed by this court, viz., the incorporation of the Piscataqua plan- tations into a town by the name of Kittery, which embraced the present towns of Kittery, North and South Berwick, and Eliot. It was the first incorporated town in Maine, Gorgeana being a city not a town. The town records begin March 19, 1648 .*
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