USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 6
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 6
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We have made diligent enquiry respecting the premises and duly Con- sidered the same and are fully of Opinion that the said District ought to be divided, and that it would be greatly beneficial to the inhabitants to have the District divided in two parts: Whereupon we have Con- sidered the extent of Territory and Number of inhabitants, and have fixed the division line as follows, viz .: beginning at York River, at the line between Harrises land and Barsham Allens land, and from thence to run a Southwest Course to Kittery line (T. R. ii, 277).
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HISTORY OF YORK
In Kemory of SAMUEL SEWALL KOq
Pour goderetions in . lineal defoment diftent fra Beory Sevall Baq Sometime Mayor of Coventry in 0 England Thofe grandfather deary Firf cme to # England 1634 For penetration found judgment and wiedas Remarkable. Mven to hofpitality. the .widow aod fetherlafs he relieved
And protected. Various offices Civil Military and Kolostastia
Tith Honour & reput et 1 co
Ba fuftained. Plous exemplary and devout On the 28th of April A. D. 1769
It is presumed that this proposed division was adopted, al- though the action on it is not recorded. In 1860 there were three school houses on this side of the river. No. 2 was situated near Rogers' Cove, No. 3 between Blaisdell and Goodale opposite the Brick Yard, and No. 6 near Scotland Bridge.
BEECH HILL CEMETERY
In 1735 Deacon Aged LXXXI Be died Rie feven furviving fone with the approbation Joseph Holt executed a deed of trust to of his four daughters Thio stone NA. Nathaniel Whitney, Erected Let Brotherly Love Continue Samuel Sewall, Sam- uel Adams, Samuel Bragdon, Christo- pher Pottle and Ralph Farnham, "in consideration that there is no convenient place near unto us & our Neighbors appointed for a Burying Place." He conveyed to them "One Quarter of an Acre lying on the North East side of the Highway that runs through my Land whereon I Dwell six and one half Poles by the said Way." It was given not only for the grantees but "for all that shall see cause to Make use of the same with the Grantees" (Deeds xvii, 268). It is near the foot of Beech Hill and has been used since that date as a public cemetery. The most notice- able stone in it is the large slate one put there to com- memorate the death of Samuel Sewall.
GARRISON HOUSES
As far as known the inhabitants on this side of the river had little or no trouble with the Indians. They were mostly domiciled below the Old Mill Creek and the main river afforded them a practically complete barrier to
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THE DEMESNE OF THE YOUNGER GORGES
incursions of the savages except in great force. This never happened as the Massacre of 1692 was an illustration of their caution and strategy not to cross the river to reach this side. It was good military tactics. It is believed that the only resident of this side taken by the Indians was Charles Trafton captured in May 1693, although it is not known that he was living with his father at the time. This natural protection was self-evident, yet the continual attacks of the Indians on the town for a period of thirty years gave them no assurance of immunity when they might appear in great numbers. It is said that the Raynes family put their house in a defensive condition after the Massacre, and in 1711 it was designated as a "garrison" for one family numbering twelve persons.
...
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SKETCH OF OLD RAYNES GARRISON Contributed by the late Elizabeth S. Raynes
There were three other houses on this side so designated in the same year, viz .:
I. Edward Beale, to accommodate three families numbering twenty-four persons, including five soldiers.
2. Josiah Main, to accommodate two families with two men, numbering ten persons and two soldiers.
3. James Allen, to accommodate four families num- bering twenty persons, including four men.
This did not mean that these were houses specially
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HISTORY OF YORK
built for the purpose with an overhanging second story, according to popular misconception, but houses already existing and, large enough to give extra accommodations convenient to the several neighborhoods. The Beale house was near the lower ferry, the Main's house was on Elijah's Neck, and the Allen house above Old Mill Creek.
In 1708 William Beale of the other Beale family, not related, was given permission to build a garrison and to keep the upper (Trafton) ferry.
BARRELL'S GROVE
When that gay young blade, Nathaniel Barrell of Portsmouth, came to York courting the beautiful Sally Sayward he unwittingly began to lay the foundations of a magnificent colonial home on the south side should his suit be successful. It ran the usual course of true love with occasional ripples. He had his hours of doubt as to her constancy, and in a letter to him in one of these harrow- ing spells she wrote:
Romantick as you Intimate my conduct to you has been, I shall never require any proofs of your affection Inconsistent with the Christian and the Gentleman. Pray be so great a novelty as a Rational Lover for the future & let no Chimera of your fragrant Invention wreck your quiet. I am your
Delia
P.S. Excuse Tatitology & Impertenance if you can read this, if not bring it to York & I will stand Linguister.
At last the prize he sought was his and the engagement was heralded in the town on November 6, 1758, as its most important news item. Preparations for the wedding, which was to follow shortly, were made and on Thursday, November 23, 1758, all the "quality" of the town and friends from Portsmouth were present to grace the occa- sion. We have no description of this brilliant event, which took place in Judge Sayward's mansion, then considered the finest residence in York. Rev. Isaac Lyman pro- nounced the distinguished couple man and wife, and amid the congratulations of the many guests, toasts to their happiness were drank as they left for their wedding journey to Portsmouth, which was to be their future home. But not for long, as it proved, as the hospitable Judge could not easily consider separation as permanent with his only daughter, the pride of his life. A grand-daughter had
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THE DEMESNE OF THE YOUNGER GORGES
been born to them October 1, 1759, christened Sally Say- ward Barrell, and the next year Mr. Barrell announced his purpose to visit England to attend to important family business. The Judge determined to provide them with an estate in York suitable to their social position and Sally Barrell came back to her old home to await the consum- mation of this project which should establish his daughter as chatelaine of a mansion more distinguished than his own.
The older portion of York gave no room for such an estate as he designed and he turned to the south side where broad acres offered a site for them after the ideals of Eng- lish manors. He found what he desired above Old Mill Creek and about 1760 he bought of the heirs of Andrew Grover, the tract on which the Barrell mansion is now situated. It had a small house on it, but the present house, the largest in town, three and a half stories and otherwise ample in proportion, was erected by him for his daughter.
If Nathaniel Barrell reached England on October 30, 1760, he was a witness to a change in the monarchy as the second George died that day and his famous successor, George III, succeeded to the throne. It is a part of the family tradition that he became a favored friend of the new monarch. Meanwhile at home his father-in-law was rising in political preferment. Doubtless Mrs. Barrell wrote to her husband shortly after his appointment in November, 1761, that her father had been made one of the Justices of the Provincial Court. Barrell's father-in- law was now a wearer of the ermine and when the wanderer turned his face homeward he brought with him as souvenirs of his sojourn in England a sword and a mirror in a beauti- fully carved frame, both of which are said to have been presented to him by King George. They are now part of the valued possessions of the family mansion.
In order to furnish the Judge with the mark of gentility needed by every gentleman to establish his quality, he visited the College of Heralds in the summer of 1762 and secured from one of the Heralds "the arms of Jonathan Sayward, Esqr. of Old York in the Province of the Massa- chusetts Bay in New England, merchant," painted on vellum, which he had framed at a cost of thirty-two shill- ings and sixpence sterling. As a companion piece he secured a like painting of the coat of arms of the Barrell
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HISTORY OF YORK
family and these two works of heraldic illumination now adorn the walls of the ancient residence. No doubt the Judge was pleasantly impressed with this thoughtful gift of his son-in-law who thus supplied him with this badge of honor. It is not known how he arrived at the arms which he selected as they are the arms of the Seward family of Devon, and it has been shown that the Judge's ancestors originated in Essex and were in no known way connected with the Devon family of Seward.
From this time forth Nathaniel Barrell attended indus- triously to his duties as husband and proceeded to raise a family of ten more children who came in regular procession, the last of whom (born November 24, 1780) was named George Guelph, presumably after the family name of the King who had honored him with his friendship.
The return of Nathaniel Barrell from England is recorded by John Bradbury in his diary as "to the great joy of his friends," and it can be believed that it was cele- brated in his new home with all the elegance of Provincial hospitality with its picturesque costumes and the generous flow of wines and punches accompanied by dancing and music. With this background it is easy to understand that Nathaniel Barrell and his father-in-law were not in sym- pathy with the "embattled farmers" and the "mob" who were responsible for the Boston Tea Party. To be an aristocrat was probably natural for Barrell and an acquired taste for the Judge, but both of them came to be pro- nounced Tories and were under suspicion during the Revo- lution and obliged to maintain a discreet submergence of themselves and their views. There is a story that Barrell was scheduled for arrest and when the officers came to arrest him and were pleasantly entertained with the best that the house afforded, he escaped the indignity of con- finement by an unscheduled exit through a rear door. It is evident, however, that with the success of the Colonies and independence secured, he accepted philosophically the situation imposed on him and whatever his disappointment he gave his allegiance to the new republic. As evidence of this in 1794 he represented York in the General Court of Massachusetts. The death of his wife April 23, 1805, prob- ably influenced his withdrawal from public life.
After his return from England Mr. Barrell became a follower of the teachings of Rev. Robert Sandeman, a
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THE DEMESNE OF THE YOUNGER GORGES
Scottish Elder, who came to New England to promulgate the doctrines of his father-in-law, John Glass. Rev. Mr. Sandeman (a native of Perth, Scotland) was invited to Boston in 1764 and soon had a large following among whom were Colburn Barrell and Walter Barrell, brothers of Nathaniel, and when his daughter Ruth was born (1765), Nathaniel and his wife took her to Boston for baptism by this new religious prophet.1 The Judge records in his diary under date of June 22:
My daughter Barrell delivered of a daughter. She is since baptized by the name of Ruth. Mr. Sandeman baptized her in the presence of his Church after they had regaled themselves with Dinner, Wine & Punch. Returned from Boston about the 28th Day.
When Mrs. Barrell died all of her nine surviving chil- dren had reached maturity and had married in York. The most noted of them was her first daughter, Sally Sayward Barrell, of whose literary achievements mention is made elsewhere (Chapter XXVI of this volume). As a widower Nathaniel Barrell spent the remainder of his long life on the family acres of the Grove, maintaining its reputation for hospitality as long as he was able to preside over these social amenities. A fine copy of the Oxford Bible of the eighteenth century is a part of the treasures of this house from which it is said he was accustomed to read the Scrip- tures to his children and to those of his neighbors who gathered at his house on Sundays when he was unable to attend church by reason of his infirmities. He died April 3, 1831 at the great age of ninety-nine years. The estate and mansion descended to his son John, whose son Charles Colburn Barrell, born January 12, 1817, succeeded him. The latter died in 1899 and two of his children, a brother and sister, still occupy the ancestral hall. This house remains as it was in the day of Nathaniel and Sally and does not recognize the improvements of modern life. Candles still illumine the great rooms and light the guests to their bed chambers. The old-time hospitality is dis- pensed with all the trained ease and grace of the family traditions. The present generation has the blood of the
1 Mr. Sandeman's followers erected a meeting house for him at Portsmouth, but his doctrines did not make much further progress. He died in Danbury, Conn., six years later. Among the distinctive practices of the "Glassites," as they were called, were community of goods, abstinence from animal food and from things strangled; love feasts and weekly celebration of the Communion. It is said that the last of his disciples died in 1829 in Boston.
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HISTORY OF YORK
Saywards, Lymans, Kingsburys and by intermarriage with the Sewalls, Moodys and Emersons is now thoroughly fixed in the traditions of York as one of its outstanding families. The genealogy of the family will be found in Volume III of this history.
TAVERNS
William Hilton, who had been combining the two occupations of "mine host" of the inn and ferryman in Kittery, did not apparently do so when he settled in York. Whether, after his death, this double function was under- taken by the ferrymen who succeeded him does not appear in the records. It would seem that there was no reason for an inn on the south side as there were two conveniently situated across the river.
Thomas Trafton was undoubtedly the first inn-keeper on this side. He had established a ferry, where Rice's Bridge now spans the stream, to accommodate the traffic which came across the post road that had come into use as an additional highway to and from Sayward's mills. Travelers who reached the river late at night by the Beech Ridge road required an inn, and he applied for a license in 1695 and was allowed to retail liquor in 1698. He prob- ably continued to keep an ordinary until his death (about 1707), and his son Zaccheus followed him. In 1719 his younger son Charles was licensed to maintain a tavern at this place.
OLD MILL CREEK
The inception and installation of the milling industry on the south side of the river of Agamenticus is of national historic interest, for it is probable that the first sawmill here was also the first one to be operated by tidal power in the United States. This little inlet also has the further dis- tinction of furnishing the motive power for milling pur- poses continuously for nearly three hundred years. Within the present century the stones of the gristmill were still grinding corn at the upper end of Old Mill Creek, as they had done for a hundred and fifty years. The remains of the dam and the ruins of these once busy mills can yet be located by the curious.
In the early Summer of 1634 Gorges and Mason, antici- pating the building requirements of their growing prov-
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THE DEMESNE OF THE YOUNGER GORGES
inces, "sent to Pascataquack and Aguamenticus two saw-mills to be erected in each place one," (Winthrop, Journal i, 129). They were brought in the Pied Cow, which reached her destination July 8 and by the twenty- second "the carpenters began about the mill(s)," (Gibbons to Mason). The one designed for "Pascataquack" was erected on the Assabenbedick (Great Works) River at Newichawannock, now South Berwick, and was run by an overshot wheel as the mill was above tidewater.
The mill for "Aguamenticus" was set up on the tidal inlet now known as Old Mill Creek. As there was not sufficient fall here to furnish power, a dam with gates was erected to impound the flood waters of each tide, and when the ebb flow began it was released to turn an undershot wheel. It is probable that Bartholomew Barnard, the car- penter, John Ingleby, the sawyer, and perhaps Robert Knight, the mason, were three of the artisans sent out by Gorges for erecting this mill, but who operated it for the Lord Proprietor is not known. Presumably it was running regularly during his lifetime. It had an almost inexhaust- ible virgin forest to furnish it material. Great oaks and magnificent pines and firs fed it. Noble masts for the King's Navy floated down to the sea from the headwaters of these two rivers, "and amongst the rest that admired Mast which came over some time last year (1664) con- taining neere 30 Tunes of Timber, " (Br. Mus. Mss.). The departure of Thomas Gorges for England in 1643 and the removal of Barnard and Ingleby to Boston, following the death of Sir Ferdinando in 1647, completed the eclipse of his interests here and left his property without effective control. It is probable that this mill ceased to operate for a number of years, and that the establishment of new mills across the river on Gorges Creek became a necessity in 1651, as elsewhere explained (Chapter XV).
The descent of this property is partially involved in the frenzied real estate speculations of Rishworth and his mortgages. Like some of his dealings, there is no record to tell of his manipulations, but in some way Elisha Hutchin- son, his relative, came into possession of a large tract on both sides of Old Mill Creek (Deeds vii, 96), and another Hutchinson relative, Eliakim, also had a lien on this property. The latter released a part of it to James Plaisted, probably when Pickering took him into partner-
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HISTORY OF YORK
ship, and made a further concession in 1707 (Ibid. viii, 66), as son-in-law of Rishworth. Pickering bought out Plaisted's interest and thus acquired title to a part of the Old Mill Creek where he rebuilt the sawmill. By two separate deeds, October 29, 1706, and November 2, 1710, he sold his mill to Joseph Moulton, reserving the right to erect a corn mill on the Creek, if occasion required (Ibid.
MILL ON THE OLD MILL CREEK From descriptions furnished Author
vii, 64, 164). This mill was still in his possession in 1719 but how much longer is not known. Subsequent owner- ship is difficult to trace, but it was last in the possession of the late Charles C. Barrell and was dismantled about 1900, having ceased to be of practical value in modern life.
About 1700 Thomas Trafton built a fulling mill on a tributary of Old Mill Creek, now known as the Dolly Gordon brook, but then as the Fulling Mill brook.
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CHAPTER III "MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
(SCOTLAND, PAYNETON AND BRIXHAM)
It is the purpose of this chapter to deal with the large tract to the extreme north of the ancient settlements "up river," which extended from Bass Creek to the Berwick line. It will be remembered that the Grand Patent extended into the country seven miles from the shore, but while this was made effective in respect to the western part of Agamenticus, even exceeding the limit of seven miles, yet on the eastern boundary where it joined Wells it did not measure much more than six miles. With the uncertain geographies of the period it was not practicable for men in London who had never been here to grant tracts of land with any topographical accuracy or boundaries. So in the development of the Grand Patent for colonists the vast area of wilderness to the northwest of Bass Creek was merely divided in 1641 on paper for future use. Most of this territory fell to William Hooke, as shown in Vol- ume I, Chapter XII, and came to be known in common parlance as "Mr. Hooke's Farm" for he undoubtedly made an attempt, before and after he left the town, to put it to some profitable use by tenant workers. Of course only a very small part was actually cultivated by him. That this section was not used solely for agriculture is evidenced by the fact that a Gallows Point existed here as early as 1661, about where the Second Meeting House was built. The then almost unexplored forest land to the northeast had no actual settlers and for a century was con- sidered "common land." That part of the Grand Patent of Agamenticus situated to the north of Bass Creek and now called "Scotland" was not originally settled by the "Highland" prisoners. It came to be so-called because of their later preponderance there.
In the division of 1641 there were six shares above Bass Creek to the northwest limits of the Patent and these were allotted to the several persons shown in Volume I, Chapter XII dealing with that subject. In 1653, a year after the Usurpation, the town began to grant tracts of
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HISTORY OF YORK
land in this region several years before the first Scotch prisoner arrived in York. The first grantees were William Dixon, Thomas Curtis, Richard Banks, Rowland Young, John Alcock, Arthur Bragdon. and Matthew Austin, but they did not live on or improve these lots. The Dixon lot of twenty acres passed to his heirs, the Banks lot to his brother-in-law Curtis; the Young lot to Daniel Dill; the Alcock lot to Arthur Bragdon; and the Matthew Austin lot was held by him for many years.
John Alcock of the Lower Town was the earliest resi- dent of the harbor section to venture into this primeval forest. In 1643 he bought of William Hooke "fivety acres Neare the Marshes" (Deeds i, 98), but that did not com- prise his holdings there. He owned more, probably in "dividends" not recorded, as he sold considerably in excess of that to several persons from time to time during his life.
Major Thomas Clarke, a rich merchant of Boston, who had his mortgages on property in various towns of the Province and invested in the Ellingham and Gale Mills on New Mill Creek in 1652, had his finger in the development of the property in this region. In 1660 Mrs. Elinor Hooke, widow of Col. Walter Norton and of William Hooke, and mother of William Hooke, Jr., sold fifty acres of upland and twelve acres of marsh in the section described as "along by the river" but without stating further bound- aries. On May 7, 1664, Richard Banks sold to Clarke twenty acres "neare unto that land wch was formerly Mr. Hookes Farm." On the same day John Twisden sold twenty acres at the same place adjoining the Bankes lot (Deeds i, 151). This had been granted to them in 1645 as "adjoyneing the Meddows & next to the fivety Acers of John Allcocke" but no bounds or other description were given (Ibid. i, 101). Clarke employed tenants to cultivate this "farm" on shares. It was inevitable that confusion should occur and conflicting claims arise. When Major John Davis sold a lot in that area in 1684 he inserted a clause "saving harmeless from all others; Is to bee under- stood as from Major Clarke and his successors" (Ibid. iv, 30). Clarke died with these holdings in his possession, and it was not until about 1705 that his son-in-law Elisha Hutchinson began to dispose of his interests. His wealth made his "claims" formidable clouds on titles. His name appears last in 1707 when "Major Clark's marsh " is given
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"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
as a bound (Deeds vii, 68). These lots ran northward from Bass Creek.
Thomas Moulton was the first actual settler in "Scot- land," having purchased seventy acres of John Alcock March 22, 1654-5 (Deeds i, 63), and on this land was "a small building" which was undoubtedly used as a dwelling house. Here Moulton lived with his wife and young family for two years until January 22, 1656-7, when he sold it to Alexander Maxwell (Ibid. i, 63), and took up his residence on Gorges Neck which he occupied for the rest of his life. The exact location of the house and lot can be proximately identified as part of the original grounds of the Second Meeting House on the southwest side of the road. With the departure of Moulton the first Scotchman was mon- arch of all he surveyed from Bass Creek upward.
Of these Highlanders special mention has been made (Volume I, Chapter XVIII), and the further development of this section by English settlers, who came to York in the last quarter of the century, will explain their share in its progress. Some of them were sons of the founders of the town, while new faces from elsewhere added to the population. In this work the two elder sons of Arthur Bragdon the emigrant, Thomas and Arthur, Junior, were the earliest to make homes there, and for more than two centuries and a half their descendants have occupied their original lots. The first Arthur died there in 1678 at the residence of his son Thomas. Farther up the river the marshy land at the head-waters of the "River of Agmen- ticus," beginning at the "partings," was granted in small lots to each settler. The minister was included in this gradual division, at first personally, but later a share of six acres was given to "The Ministry." Parson Hull claimed his grant of twenty acres as personal property, and was sued for detention of it in 1646 and lost his case. In the arbitration of 1654, when Godfrey's patent rights were adjudicated by Massachusetts, he was allowed to retain "the Neck of Land partly compassed about with the River" as drawn by him in 1641 at the first division of the Patent. Salt hay that could be harvested on this over- flowed land was of prime importance to the settlers, as it was of particular food value for their cattle. For this rea- son appraisals of marsh property in this town showed that it was worth, on the average, about £2-10 per acre, while
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