USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 22
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 22
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EXECUTION OF TONY, A NEGRO, 1756
A Negro named Tony, living with his master in Kit- tery, murdered the young daughter of the family by throwing her down the well. He said that he did it to bring himself to the gallows, so that he would bring an end to his alleged hard usage. Asked why he did not kill himself instead, he said that it would be wicked. Under the circumstances he was accommodated by a conviction for wilful murder in June 1756 and on July 29 following, the sentence was carried out at the usual place. "He behaved very penitently," as was reported.
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CHAPTER XV THE MILLING INDUSTRY
NEW MILL CREEK
In the second chapter of this volume extended reference has been made to the establishment of the first sawmill in York, on the south side, and the possibility that it was the earliest tide mill in America. Following the death of Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1647 and the abandonment, by his heirs, of any active control of his interests here, the temporary suspension of his milling plant is probable, but the actual situation is obscured by the lack of any records bearing on the subject. That this condition was remedied by the residents on the north side of the river will appear by a recital of what took place in the short period follow- ing his death.
In October 1651, Edward Rishworth, formerly of Exeter and Hampton, came to York to reside as successor to Basil Parker, the deceased Recorder of the Province, and he brought with him the spirit of enterprise which easily made him one of the leading citizens of the town for the next half century. Scarcely had he arrived before he applied for and received from the Provincial authorities "free liberty to erect & set up a Mill or Mills at Cape Nut- tacke River or some other Convenient Place not already granted; with timber privileges" for an area of three miles up the river, and land in fee simple, when the mills should be erected (York Deeds i, 15). The quitrent was sixpence per thousand "for every thousand he cutts." In 1652, whether from deterioration of the plant on Old Mill Creek, which is more probable, or from the need of additional sawing facilities, Governor Godfrey entered into negoti- ations with William Ellingham and Hugh Gale, then of Kittery, to erect a new or an additional mill on Gorges Creek. As previously related these millwrights with other allied mechanics, carpenters and smiths, entered into an engagement with Godfrey and the Townsmen, in con- sideration of two land grants in April of that year, to erect a sawmill This was completed by June following and an additional grant was given them on the southeast bank
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HISTORY OF YORK
of Gorges Creek. They had not only built the first mill under the original arrangement, but "do intend to erect more mills," as the instrument reads (York Deeds i, 20). Because of this activity "Mr Gorges his Creek" became known thenceforth as New Mill Creek, a name which it carried for the next half century. Ellingham and Gale enlisted the financial and personal support of two wealthy merchants of Boston, Henry Webb and Capt. Thomas Clark, and the new Recorder of the Province, Edward Rishworth. Indeed, it is probable that Rishworth was the real moving spirit behind this new activity, as he con- tinued to be identified with the milling industry up to the time of his death. The town entered into formal agree- ment with these five undertakers "for the inlargeing and Necessary Compleating of the former Grant." They were given a large tract of land bordering on Old Mill Creek, on its upper side, "and so to run alonge by and next the verge of the said River (of York) till it come to a small Creek or Cove, next below Goose Cove, which is, in dis- tance, about a mile or thereabouts from the aforesaid Ould Mill Creek, running back into the Mayne towards Kittery, the full Proportion of one Mile in distance, upon a straight line." (Town Records i, 30). This grant was virtually a lease during their occupancy of the premises for mill purposes. In addition they were granted the right to cut one thousand pine trees at the head of Gorges Creek, provided the Corn Mill be maintained and a yearly rental of £12 sterling paid to the town. This was effected Jan- uary 23, 1653, and by that time two sawmills had been completed for business under the grant (York Deeds i, 25, 35, 36; xii, 215). For years this land grant was a constant source of litigation as to its metes and bounds, even into the next century. It was held under mortgage by non- residents most of the time, owing to the financial troubles of the succeeding operators. Ellingham and Gale did not long continue in the ownership or management of this enterprise. They sold their shares, the former to Webb1 and the latter to Clark and Rishworth. Two "freshet" mills were forthwith added to the plant, "above the falls" of Gorges Creek. It is probable that Rishworth became
1 Webb was one of the wealthiest business men of Boston at that time. He died in 1660, leaving an estate of nearly eight thousand pounds, equal in our money at the present time to about $250,000. His descendants held an interest in the land grant as late as 1727, when they sold out to Thomas Pickering.
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THE MILLING INDUSTRY
the local manager for his partners, though he was not a practical millwright. This arrangement continued about three years, when Rishworth disposed of his interest to Clark, leaving the latter and Webb in control. This was when York's famous millwright, Henry Sayward, was induced to leave Little Harbor (Rye) in 1658 and take up the mill business in this town. Rishworth had known Sayward in Hampton and was the means of bringing him to York. This new factor in the industrial life of York invested it immediately with the vigor and courage of his venturesome spirit. He was granted on July 4, 1658, a house lot of twelve acres on the southeast side of the New Mill Creek, and thence for the next twenty years he directed with restless energy the development of this and other mill enterprises, both here and in other towns of the Province.1 He became a partner with Webb and Clark, operating the mills on a profit-sharing basis. The hum of his two saws at every tide broke the sylvan stillness of this region, and the noise of his other three mills on the Creek made the New Mill Stream the busy section of York while he lived there. In 1669, some time before October, the work of ten years went up in smoke. His mills were destroyed by fire and he lost "about a thousand pounds," according to his recital of this misfortune in a petition to the General Court. (Mass. Arch. lix, 114.) Nothing daunted, he rebuilt within the next ten years a turning mill, a sawmill and two corn mills.2 This mis- fortune, in reality, only spurred him to extend his enter- prises, and he built a new sawmill on Cape Neddick River, probably under the Rishworth grant previously mentioned (Deeds ii, 130). Of his other activities in the milling business elsewhere it is not necessary to write at length, as the story belongs to Wells and North Yarmouth, where he branched out in pioneer style and eventually found himself deeply entangled in mortgages and other legal snarls. To crown his business misfortunes the Indian troubles of 1675-76 helped to bring him to bankruptcy
1 In 1661 he had 50 acres more granted to him adjoining his home lot, and in 1667 three hundred acres on the west side, a mile in length, one hundred and fifty rods wide, on the lower side of Old Mill Creek (Town Records i, 26, 34; comp., Deeds i, 107; ii, 162) " In September 1687 Judge Sewall made a trip to York in company with Mr. Richard Martyn of Portsmouth and made the following entry in his diary: "Rode then to York through very bad way, Jno. Broughton, Pilot. Saw Mr. Sawyers singular saw mill. Lodg'd at Cous. Dumers with Mr. Martyn" (Diary i, 189). Probably a tidal mill run with an undershot wheel was a curiosity to the Judge.
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HISTORY OF YORK
(Bourne, History of Wells and Kennebunk). In 1679 the dreams and schemes of this energetic spirit were termi- nated by death, and his affairs, not yet adjusted, drifted into a confused eddy of conflicting creditors claiming priority of interest. Administration of his estate was prevented for a while by the Boston mortgagees, and "cautions" were recorded against appraising the prop- erty. Clark claimed two-thirds of it and Webb the other. The widow undertook to continue the operation of the mills and became the defendant in various suits brought by the creditors. His kinsman Samuel Sayward of Ipswich, who came to the assistance of Mrs. Sayward, was pros- ecuted for trespass in refusing to leave the mill, when ordered. The same legal bombardment met her in Wells and North Yarmouth. The Clerk of the Writs was finally authorized to have an inventory made, and on April 6, 1680, she was appointed Administratrix of the estate (York Deeds iii, 40, 43, 44, 55; comp. Court Records, 1680). The inventory was made in two sections, the "Mansion" with movables in 1679, and the mill property the follow- ing year, doubtless to satisfy legal tangles. The mill prop- erty, as listed, consisted of a turning mill, a sawmill and two corn mills, valued at £216, and real estate on both sides of the river at £33, but how much was equity for the widow is not known. Mrs. Sayward, a daughter of Joseph Peasley of Haverhill, proved herself an energetic successor to her husband, and carried on till her death ten years later.1 Litigation, like a Nemesis, hung over the titles to his lands and timber rights to plague the pur- chasers well into the next century, but they are too numer- ous to recite. For one reason and another the name of Sayward and his mills became a living memory to three generations of the townspeople through these recurring litigations.
CORN MILLS
As late as 1639 there was no gristmill operated by wind or water power in the town, nor in fact in any plantation on the Maine coast, and none nearer than the "Bay."
1 In a letter dated February 3, 1679-80, Jonathan Curwen of Salem, one of the mortgagees, wrote to Joseph Storer of Wells: "Pray advise the mill-men to be very carefull in keeping the mills ... for I hear Mrs. Sayward hath taken possession of York mills again. Though I fear her not only I would prevent needless troubles," (Curwen Mss.).
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THE MILLING INDUSTRY
The settlers were obliged to transport their corn to Boston for grinding, as we have evidence of it seven years pre- viously, when Godfrey made a voyage thither with grain to the mill.1 It is clear that sawmills held first place in the consideration of the settlers and promoters of planta- tions, and they were content to pound their corn in mor- tars, with iron pestles or stones, or grind it with small hand mills for individual use.2 There is no known proof that this lack of a gristmill was remedied for a number of years after this date. Gorges in his "Brief Relation," written sometime before 1647, speaks of a "corn mill" in the Province, but whether here or elsewhere is uncertain, though it is reasonable to suppose that it was located here with his other mill. On June 25, 1652, William Ellingham and Hugh Gale, Millwrights of Kittery, were granted land on the south side of Gorges Creek by Governor Godfrey as part of an agreement to erect new corn mills in the town.3 In December following a number of persons, known to be mechanics, were granted lots by the town, on the northwest side of this creek, for the undoubted purpose of operating not only the new sawmills, but to supply the needs of the growing settlement in the matter of gristmills.4 Construction was begun at once, and in the following month (January 1653) the "corn mill is accord- ingly finished."" A dam was built across the creek at the S bend in what is now known as Sayward's Point, and the mill was located on the southeast side of the stream. The remains of the dam may be seen to this day at the site. In consideration of the grant by Godfrey of fifty acres6 and of the town grant of twenty acres the principals,
1 Winthrop, Journal, October 1632. The windmill at Newtown, now Cambridge, which was removed to Boston in August 1632 seems to have been the first corn mill in that Colony. In a letter from Winter to Trelawny, dated July 10, 1639, he says: "I want a myll to grind English graine: yt is a great trouble & hindrance of tyme to go 30 leags to myll to grind yt: heare is never a myll in all the Country but in the bay." (Trelawny Papers, 142.)
? "I do heare they have hand mylls made in England," wrote Winter in 1639, "that goeth wth stones that will grind English Corne wheat & barley . .. our steele mylls ar worren out smooth . . . they ar 4 dayes to grind a hoghed of malt & I cannot (get) them mended heare-about." (Ibid.) The first mill at Plymouth, set up in 1621, was one that "beat" the corn, instead of grinding it.
$ Ellingham and Gale had lately built a sawmill in Kittery, which they sold in December 1651 (Deeds i, 15).
4 John Davis, "the Smith" was one of these, and continued in the town for many years after.
5 Town Records i, 30.
6 Deeds i, 19.
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HISTORY OF YORK
Ellingham and Gale, agreed to erect this as a town mill.1 Evidently it was a red-letter day in the life of the little City of Gorgeana, when on June 25, the Worshipful Mayor, Abraham Preble, was called upon officially to witness livery and seisin of the premises.2
From the nature of the power, a tidal inlet, the lack of fall made it necessary to use an undershot wheel to operate the stones by this form of water power.
SAW-MILL-FAC-SIMILE FROM "VIRGINIA TRULY VALURD," BY EDWARD WILLIAMS, 1650.
AN UNDERSHOT SAWMILL OF SAYWARD'S TIME
When these new mills on the north side of the river went into operation the original tidal mill on the south side, built by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, had been employed since 1634, and it kept them company continuously at each ebb tide during nearly three score years. Thus matters remained in the milling industry until the massacre of
1 Ibid., xii, 266; Hugh Gale in Deeds i, 17 gives an excellent symbolic illustration of his occupation in making a representation of a mill-wheel for "his mark."
2 Ibid. i, 19. He signed as "Maior."
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THE MILLING INDUSTRY
1692 which palsied every activity of the townspeople, except to struggle for existence under the protection of an armed garrison. There was no business for the sawmills as no one was building and the gristmill had doubtless become unserviceable from exposure to the elements. This opportunity to revive a once profitable industry was brought to the notice of John Pickering of Portsmouth, a practical miller of that town, and as a result of prelimi- nary negotiations, four years after the Massacre, he made the following proposal to the town to rebuild the corn mill :
Capt Pickerin's Letter to the Town To the Select Men of the Town of York
Gentlemen /
Having had discourse with Sundry of your Inhabitants relating to the Straight and necessity of your town for want of a corn Mill having had Sundry thoughte thereabout doe make you this offer (which I Judge all things considered is rashonall) which if you Judge Expedient, please to present to the Inhabitants in generall town Meeting as fol: Vizt / first I say this, if your town will give and confirm unto me and my heirs for ever the whole sole right and priviledge of the Mill Creeks where Mr Henry Saword built his Mills, as also all the towns Right and Intrust in those Lands and Medo and timber formerly granted by the town to Web, Clark, Rushford and Ellinggam and all priviledges to them belonging with the Arreredges of rent, I say then and on that condition I will be obledged, both me and my heires to erect a good Suffisient Corn Mill and for ever maintain the Same at my own proper cost for grinding the towns corn for the usuall Toll allowed through the Countrey / this I offer thoue I know I cannot have half the advan- tage those persons formerly had for what timber was near and con- venient is all gone besides I must forthwith lay out above 150 L and have nothing for many years for all the toll of your towns corn will not pay a mans wages this seven years for tending the Mill / however if this be taken up with and a Voate past by your Inhabitants for Impowering the Select men or some other Meet psons to enter into Articles with me on those conditions, shall on Notice from such Attend their Moshon / I further Add that in the mean time while I can Erect a Mill in your town I will always keep one of my Mills ready to grind your corn as you come /
Not else at present but await your resolve hereabout /
Soe remain Gentlemen, Yours to Serve
Dated this 20th of Febr 1695
John Pickerin.
Gentlemen I also ad and desire you to take care that if I should want timber for building the Mill that I may have it on any mans land where I can find it most convenient as also 2 days work of each man in Town as I shall have occasion about the Mill and Dam, with libertie to build sd Mill or Mills where I pleas in York / (T. R. i, 137; Deeds vi, 82.)
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HISTORY OF YORK
A meeting of the townsmen was called immediately to act on this offer and it was unanimously
Votted at A Legall Town Meeting in York the 18th of March 169f Complyance With the within preposals /
That Mr. Samuel Doniel Leut Abram Preble Senr Arthur Bragdon Senr and Joseph Weare, them or the Major part of them: are here by fully and Absolutely Impowered in behalfe of the said Town to Enter Into Covenant with John Pickerin Senr of pochmo: in the be halfe of this town for the arrecting and Maintaining of a Corne Mill for Grinding sd Townes Corne for the Usall Towle taken throw the Cuntry: and to confirme unto him the said Pickerin and his heirs &c for ener all those Lands, timber Trees, Stream and Streams of Watters, both Salt and Fresh in those Cricks where Mill or Mills hath bin formerly bulte by Elengham and Gale or Saward:
(T. R. i, p. 138.)
With the deliberation which characterized all business transactions of the town authorities it took the committee nearly two years to formulate an agreement with John Pickering and James Plaisted of this town, whom he had taken in as a partner in the business. The contract, as signed by the committee, Pickering and Plaisted, recited the following terms and was dated December 19, 1697:
I. The rights and privileges of the "crick" and land adjacent where Ellingham, Gale, Webb, Clark, Rishworth and Sayward formerly operated their mills were renewed to the applicants, with all the timber standing, growing or lying on said land, to erect a corn mill in perpetuity "and for noe other use, intent or purpose what so ever."
2. In consideration of this grant the applicants were obligated to erect at their own cost "A good suffisant Corn Mill and ceep and Maintain the same for Grinding the hole inhabitances of the town Corn for the usal tool taken throw the Cuntry." It was to be built by the last of July next and in case it should be burnt or destroyed it should be replaced within one year.
3. The townsmen agreed to have all their corn ground at the Pickering mill as long as he and his partner fulfilled their contract to maintain the mill.
4. As pledges of the good faith of the contracting parties each was bound to the other in the sum of £500 for the true performance of the contract / (Deeds vi, 83).
It is presumed that the corn mill was built on time as agreed, but the mill wheels had scarcely begun to turn before the ghosts of former owners of the ancient mill
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THE MILLING INDUSTRY
privilege on Gorges Creek arose to baffle the new owners. The heir of Capt. Thomas Clark, who owned two-thirds interest in the property acquired of Ellingham and Gale, claimed their ancient rights. Pickering had bought Plaisted's interest and was left to face the contest alone. Major Elisha Hutchinson, who had married Clark's only daughter, intervened in her behalf and sued for her two- thirds interest. Pickering appealed to the town for some kind of relief, in a letter addressed to the officials under date of November 16, 1698, as follows:
John Pickerin Informing the town that hee is Greatly damnified as to Major Hutchinson and his Copartenors Laying Claim to those Lands granted to sd Pickerin on Condition of bulding a mill in the town & saith he shall, as he fears Lous all that sd Land and proeposing to the town for there whol Right in all the Lands & Medoes or thach ground from the head of the Cove below Robert Youngs hous up to sd Youngs now fence & so Round as the Creek and River runeth down to Rowling Youngs bounds /
The town doe give and grant unto the sd Pickerin and his hairs forever all their Right: to and in all that track of Land Marsh or thatch ground, not hindering or medling with any former grant made by the town to any other person or persons formerly: but that thay stand in the sam Capasaty as granted: it is Likwis to be understood sd Pickerin doth except of this in Satisfaction: for the abovesd Land Claimed by Major Hutchinson and partnors, but not for any otheir thing between the town and said Pickerin / (T. R. i, 104.)
Seven years passed before a compromise was effected, and on November 3, 1705, Pickering agreed to pay Hutchinson sixty-three pounds for the two-thirds interest represented by the Clarke heirs in the mill privileges on Gorges Creek (Deeds vii, 82-83).1 With this difficulty out of the way the Pickering mill ground corn for the towns- people for the next fifteen years until a new difficulty disturbed their relations.
Meanwhile the residents of York, gradually freed from the necessity of going armed against the Indians, had time to utilize the many streams in the town for power, usually to saw timber, but although no record exists to show the installation of a gristmill, yet in 1720 Pickering entered suit against the town for breach of contract, alleging that "the hole inhabitantes of the towns Corn was not brought to his mill for grinding." Capt. Peter Nowell, Samuel Came and Joseph Moulton were empowered to appear at
1 It was not until 1727 that the Webb heirs sold their one-third interest to Thomas, grandson of John Pickering (Deeds xii, 266).
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HISTORY OF YORK
the Inferior Court of Common Pleas to answer this com- plaint. The senior Pickering died in 1721, and left this suit as an inheritance to his grandson Thomas, who was prosecuting it eight years later. In 1745 Thomas Picker- ing of Portsmouth, millwright, being "bound to sea" made his will in which he bequeathed to his son Daniel "All my privelidge at York: and all the marish that I have any wright or title to ajacent on the Mill Creek or millpond" (N. H. Wills i, 255). As far as known these mills had not been running for a long time and a surveyor's map of 1762 records "the remains of an old dam" where once the Pickering mills were busy at each ebb tide.
But Pickering was nearing the end of a long and busy life in the milling business. He made his will June 21, 1720, which was proved May 15, 1721, and in the inventory of his York property a total of £412-05-00 represented his mills, real estate and timber privileges (York Probate iii, 80, 106-7, 230-1). He had given by deed to his son John who predeceased him "my corn & saw mill at York" which he now bequeathed to his grandson Thomas Picker- ing as heir of John deceased. He provided that his York property should be sold to settle the intestate estate of his son John and pay his son's debts. On May 25, 1732, the grandson Thomas sold the Pickering mills and all his rights in York to John Preble, Jedediah Preble, Jeremiah Moulton and John Bradbury (Deeds xv, 49; xvi, 65).
About 1720 several of the residents of Scituate Row, who had inherited the territory known as Scituate Plains, with its marshes and brook, built a sawmill on that stream and later constructed a dam to make an artificial pond there (Ibid. xi, 120).
THE SAWMILL AT SCITUATE (Abandoned)
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THE MILLING INDUSTRY
MEETING HOUSE CREEK
At the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century all of the natural water power of the various streams in the town had been preempted or utilized. These have been noticed in their appropriate local chapters. As a last resort a number of the leading citizens formed a pool to dam Meeting House Creek to produce tidal power on that trickling stream convenient to the harbor. This inlet had been used in the days of the earliest settlement as a "landing" or dock for the small craft of the period, and the remains of the piles are visible at low water on the southwest bank, just below the bridge. This company was organized to convert it into a mill pond on January 25, 1725-26, and consisted of Johnson Harmon, Joseph Sayward, Samuel Came, Richard Milbury, Joseph Holt, Jonathan Bane, Caleb Preble, Joseph Weare, Nathaniel Donnell, Jr., John Harmon, Samuel Milbury, Joseph Banks, Samuel Black, Benjamin Stone, Samuel Sewall, William Grow, Abiel Goodwin, Samuel Clarke and Eben- ezer Colburn. A dam with sluices was erected across its mouth, which remains to this day, and both a sawmill and a gristmill were installed on the southwest end of the dam (Ibid. xii, 369; xiii, 34). The various changes of owner- ship are too numerous to be detailed, but a considerable portion of the shares gravitated into the possession of Jonathan Sayward who bequeathed them to his grandson Jonathan Sayward Barrell in 1793, and the name of Bar- rell's Mill Pond survived into the last century.
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