USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 7
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
.
69
HISTORY OF YORK
upland, or meadow, was listed at less than £I-o-o per acre in the inventories of the seventeenth century.
This tidal river also afforded an excellent opportunity for the building and launching of small craft, schooners and the peculiar types of vessels used by the colonists. The Bragdons, according to tradition, had a shipyard on the east bank of the stream, probably below the site of the old Scotland Bridge, and from scattering circumstantial evidence it is probable that a number of small vessels were launched there. Husbandry occupied but a small part of their time, except in the spring and fall, and the interven- ing periods could be easily filled by the neighbors skilled in the use of tools under the direction of a master ship- builder. Fairly large vessels came up the river to moor at Scotland Bridge, within the knowledge of living persons. The simultaneous deaths of five men, in 1690, as related in Volume I, page 284, suggests that they were attacked and killed together by the Indians while at work in the shipyard.
As far as known this was the only industry in this part of the town. It was naturally devoted to husbandry and offers none of the activities of the waterfront in furnishing material for the chronicler. The gradual development of "Mr. Hooke's Farm" into the hamlets of Scotland, Payne- ton and Brixham depended on the influx of settlers from time to time, and those families which became identified with them are here recorded. The growth was slower than in the territory bordering on the shore and lower part of the river.
WILLIAM ROANS
He came to this part of the town about 1660 as a tenant on the farm of Major Thomas Clark, probably run- ning it on shares. Shortly after, about 1662, he married Mary, daughter of John Parker (Deeds vi, 176). For a second wife he married Mrs. Wilmot (Lamsytt) Start, widow of Edward, before October 7, 1673. He was killed April 7, 1677, during an Indian attack on York. Inventory of his estate was taken the same month and listed pro- perty valued at £23-19-00, consisting of personal goods only (Deeds v, 21). His two children, Elizabeth and Hester, were brought up by their grandfather John Parker.
70
-
VIEW OF BRIXHAM, DEVON From which Brixham in York derived its name
"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
JAMES WARREN
He was a resident of Kittery, living in the Parish of Unity, and is said to have come from Berwick, England. On October 6, 1662, he bought of John Davis a parcel of land "near the bridge" granted by the town to him in 1652 containing about forty acres (Deeds iv, 159), but it is doubtful that he occupied this purchase. He may have cultivated it and harvested whatever crops he planted. He retained this property forty years until his death in 1702 and by his will of December 9 that year, he bequeathed to his son Gilbert "all that tract of land which I bought of John Davis Lying in the Township of Yorke" (Me. Wills, 138). The son sold this real estate in 1707 to Daniel MacIntire of York (Deeds vii, 68), from whom it passed into this family by inheritance as Daniel was unmarried and died intestate.
JOHN FROST
As a John Frost witnessed a deed at Squamscott, now Exeter, in 1663 (N. H. Deeds ii, 79b), and an Arthur Cham (Came) had a land grant in the same town in 1664, it is a safe assumption that the John Frost and Arthur Came, who appeared in York in the Scotland District as neigh- bors a few years later, settled first in Exeter after their arrival in New England. Of the origin of John Frost there is definite information identifying him as the John Frost of Brixham, England who married December 2, 1643, Rose, daughter of Leonard and Elizabeth Cruse, that being the Christian name of his wife who came to York with him. Arthur Came's wife bore the unusual name of Violet, and thus we have the curious combination of a Rose and Violet living as neighbors in York.
On October 12, 1663, the town granted to John Frost, fisherman, ten acres of land on the southwest side at the river's mouth (Deeds iii, 25), but he sold this land eleven years later (Ibid. ii, 160), having received from the town, January 18, 1668-9, "a tract of fifty Acres ... Lying on the other side of York Bridge ... near halfe a mile in dis- tance from the Bridg . . . and Eight Score Pooles Back into the Country upon a West North West Line." (T. R. i, 257.) He was living on this property until April 7, 1677, when he, with six neighbors, was killed during an Indian attack on the town (Sewall Diary i, 41), leaving a widow
71
HISTORY OF YORK
and at least three children. Alexander Maxwell, who had married his daughter Agnes, induced his brother-in-law John Frost, then living at the Isle of Shoals, to take up residence in York on land given to him by Maxwell. Administration of the estate of John, Sr., was granted July 2, 1677, to his two sons, John and Philip, and division of the property was made November 14, 1678, to the widow, two sons and the daughter, Agnes Maxwell. His estate was called "Bricksome" after his home parish. The widow, Rose Frost, "did live for seven or eight years or more" after her husband's death with her son Philip in the town, for which he was to have the property; and he "had Abundance of Trouble & Difficulty with his sd Mother, she being lame & decrepit & otherwise very Troublesome" (Deeds xii, 352).
The sons John and Philip Frost continued to reside in the town for a number of years after the death of their father, but were driven away by the Indian troubles. William Shaw, who married the daughter of the latter, became a settler here. The genealogy of this family appears in Volume III of this history.
ROBERT SOWDEN
This settler undoubtedly came from Devon, probably Paignton, and had a grant of land March 18, 1671-2 adjoining John Frost (T. R. i, 43). He was doubtless drawn here by a prior acquaintance with Frost in England. His residence was in the Brixham region and he was living there as late as 1691 (Deeds v, 57). It is not known what became of him, but his property came into the possession of William Young before 1717.
JOHN HOY
Fogn Hoy He had a land grant in 1674 adjoining Robert Sowden in Brixham and probably came from Devonshire. He was a Selectman 1684, Appraiser 1690, and had died before 1719 when Capt. David Robert- son, as chief creditor, was administrator of his estate (T. R. i, 334-5). John Hoy, probably his son, married July 4, 1728 Sarah Clark in Boston. Robertson sold the property in 1719 and 1723 to John Smith and Josiah
72
"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
Bridges (Deeds xi, 106; xii, 69). He stated that Hoy had "Planted an Orchard" on the land.
WILLIAM YOUNG
The Andrew Everest grant of fifty acres from the town in 1667 was sold in 1681 to Benjamin Curtis (Deeds iii, 89), and by him in 1684 to William Young, then called of York, a glazier (Ibid. iv, 31). Young had an additional grant the next year from the town "the breadth of his house lott" but it was not laid out until 1717, and in 1720 then of Salem, he sold it to Peter Nowell (Ibid. x, 85). Nothing further is known of him or his family, if any existed.
ROBERT OLIVER
He was the son of James Oliver. Robert was born in Ternent, Scotland, June 10, 1671 (Mss. "Births of the Upper Parish in York"). He may be the Robert Oliver who is found at Falmouth in 1689 and had been driven off during the Indian wars (Willis, Portland, 306). He had acquired land on the northwest branch of York River, adjoining the Bell Marsh Brook, in the Brixham region, by purchase of Alexander Maxwell before 1702, but the deed is not of record. In 1703 the town granted him twenty acres at Huckleberry Plain (T. R. i, 49, 205). In 17II he received a further grant of eight acres, "if he reside in this Town three years next coming." He was chosen Hog-reeve in 1725 and in 1729 was given liberty to keep gates on the town way between the country road and the river (T. R. ii, 35). His descendants were living in the hamlet known as "New Boston" a century ago and their unoccupied houses left to the elements are all that remains of that settlement.
WILLIAM WORMWOOD
A person of this name was witness January 10, 1639-40, when Lander and Billine divided the property near Brave Boat Harbor (Deeds i, 9), and seemed to have had an inter- est in the property which he sold to Robert Mendum before 1647 (Ibid. i, 12). At that time he was of the Isles of Shoals and was a plaintiff against various persons in the New Hampshire courts 1648-1651 (N. H. Deeds i, 56, 63, 71, 90). Goody Wormwood of York was in a list of debtors 1650 to Robert Button of Boston. In the same year she
73
HISTORY OF YORK
was ordered to be brought to Boston from the Isles of Shoals to answer unspecified charges (Mass. Col. Rec. ii, 199). Jane, wife of William Wormwood, was convicted as a "common scold" and he was likewise adjudged a "com- mon swarrer and turbulent person." He died in 1687 and presumably they were parents of William Wormwood who appeared in York in 1685 as grantee of a lot for firewood in the Scotland district. It is probable that he was a car- penter or shipwright and carried on his trade at the Brag- don shipyard in Scotland. With three Bragdons and James Freethy he was killed by the Indians in an attack on York early in October 1690 and his estate was inven- toried with the other victims, and the amount returned showed that he left property to the value of £25-07-06 (Deeds v, 53). He left a widow Mary, and possibly John Wormwood fined in court 1694 was a son.
JOHN LINSCOTT
He came here from Portsmouth before 1690, as in that year a charge of anticipating the marriage ceremony was lodged against him and he underwent corporal punish- ment for this breach of the moral code (Deeds v, pt. ii, 5). He received a grant of twenty acres in 1691 which was laid out in Brixham "near York bridge ... which lyeth between the land of William Shaw and the Northwest branch of sd York river." He settled on part of the Henry Donnell grant of eighty-five acres, made by the town in 1685 (Deeds vii, 229). Samuel Donnell, as executor of the estate of his father, sold eighty-two acres of this grant on Bell Marsh Brook, in 1716, to Peter Nowell (Ibid. viii, 181). About 1689 John Linscott married Lydia, daughter of Henry Milberry, and died in December 1712. His son John and brother-in-law, Richard Milberry, were appointed administrators of his estate. The genealogy of this family appears in Volume III of this history.
ALEXANDER THOMPSON
He was the son of William Thompson of Dover and Kittery, born about 1671, and with six brothers and sisters was left an orphan at the age of six years. He bought the William Freethy lot at Brixham, about forty acres origi- nally granted by the town, March 18, 1671-2, "near the (York) bridge" and sold by Freethy to Jeremiah Moulton
74
:
1
!
FALMOUTHI, CORNWALL Where Peter Nowell was born, 1673
"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
April 24, 1688 (Deeds ix, 63). Moulton sold to Thompson July 12, 1708 (Ibid. ix, 64), and it descended to his chil- dren at his decease. He married Anna Curtis, daughter of Thomas Curtis of York, and he was probably induced by his brother-in-law, Benjamin Curtis, to settle here. Alexander Thompson died July 13, 1720 and his estate was administered by his widow. A genealogy of this family appears in Volume III of this history.
PETER NOWELL
The ancestor of the Nowell family of York came here from Salem where he had settled a few years earlier and followed the trade of a blacksmith. He was the second son of Roger and Mary (Rosenbach) Nowell, baptized Novem- ber 9, 1673, at Falmouth, County Cornwall. He probably came to York in 1695 as attached to the garrison here, as "Sergeant Nowell" is mentioned in 1696 in the military records of that date. He at once began a long life of real estate transactions on February 18, 1694-5, when he bought ten acres of land in Scotland, and in the next forty- five years he was a party in over seventy transfers of property. He held the usual number of minor town offices : was Selectman 1713, 1714, 1715, 1717, 1720, 1722, 1724, 1725, 1728, 1730; Deputy to the General Court, 1724; and Moderator 1727 and 1739. He married in 1701 Sarah, daughter of Peter and Mary (Puddington) Weare by whom he had ten children. He married (2) Mrs. Mary Preble, February 19, 1730, but there was no issue. The tombstone of his first wife, formerly standing, on the Bragdon farm in Scotland, thus recounted her virtues :
Here lies the precious dust of Mrs. Sarah Nowell late virtuous consort of Capt. Peter Nowell: a pattern of modesty & sobriety Prudence & diligence Truth & faithfulness Emminent for serious and undissembled Devotion in the Solemn Worship of God, Adorning her Profession by a blameless Faithfull conversation. Who departed this life in the well-grounded hope of a better, Sept. 29, 1729 in the 53rd year of her age.
The genealogy of this family appears in Volume III of this history.
WILLIAM SHAW
He was son of John Shaw, a tailor of Malden, and was born December 25, 1668. His father married Elizabeth
75
HISTORY OF YORK
Ramsdell, August 12, 1674, and is thus connected with that family who came to this town some years after Shaw settled here.
The first record of this settler in York is in 1699 when he was granted thirty acres which was laid out on Bell Marsh Brook. He was a Fence Viewer in 1703; Surveyor of Highways 1707 and 1721; Juror 1708; Constable 1713; and Grand Juror 1717. In 1735 he petitioned for and was granted three pounds by the town but the reason was not given. The lot of land given to John Frost in 1669 was laid out to him on both sides of the road from York Bridge to Berwick "as he stands related to said Frost's estate" (T. R. i, 259). Shaw had married Agnes, daughter of Philip and Martha (Rankin) Frost and granddaughter of John Frost. A genealogy of this family appears in Volume III of this history.
JOHN GAREY
This settler came to Brixham at or before 1719, prob- ably with his future father-in-law, and was then called a laborer (Deeds xi, 100). He was son of John and Sarah
JOHN GAREY HOUSE Bell Marsh, Brixham, built about 1720
(Wills) "Geer" of Kittery who had a land grant in that town 1694 and the father was a Grand Juror same year and died before 1712 leaving a widow, two sons and two daughters. In 1723 John "Geerey" and Charles White, also called a laborer, bought thirty-one acres of Arthur
76
"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
Bragdon, Sr., in the Bell Marsh portion of Brixham. There he built his house as shown in the illustration on page 76 and raised a family of nine children. He married Abigail, daughter of Alexander and Anna (Curtis) Thompson about 1720. A genealogy of this family appears in Volume III of this history.
HENRY BEEDLE
Henry Beedle was an early settler in the Bell Marsh region, coming here about 1713 from Amesbury. He was son of Robert of that town and possibly connected with the Robert Beadle, one of the earliest settlers of Kittery (Stackpole 96). He received a land grant of twenty acres in 1713 conditioned on settlement here which he fulfilled, and in 1720 he had a further grant of twelve acres "on the bank of Bass Cove Brook" which he sold in 1732 to Thomas Cooke (Deeds xv, 98). No further record of him appears in the town, but his two sons Ithamar and Eleazer continued residence here and their descendants were living in York in the middle of the last century.
THE WITHAMS
Three sons of Peter Witham, Jr. of Kittery, John, Andrew and Daniel, took up land in Bell Marsh Brook region north of the Agamenticus Hills about 1725 and the record of the several families, as long as they remained in York, will appear in Volume III of this history.
NATHANIEL RAMSDELL
He was son of John Ramsdell of Boxford and came to York about 1710 where he received early the next year a grant of twenty acres "on the north westward of Agemen- ticus Great hill" (T. R. i, 264). He married the same year Mary, daughter of John Linscott. His descendants have lived in York ever since and a genealogy of the family will appear in Volume III of this history.
THE SECOND (SCOTLAND) PARISH 1722-1922
The inhabitants of Scotland were obliged to travel between three and four miles to reach the old Meeting
77
HISTORY OF YORK
House at the village and it would have been a violation of the spirit of the law, which punished absence from Sab- bath service, to indict these distant dwellers in that local- ity for failure to attend church. It became evident that a new parish must be organized to remedy this situation now becoming more acute with the steady growth of that sec- tion. The first move was made in town meeting March IO, 1718-19, when it was "Votted that the Inhabitance above the Mill Creek have Liberty to build a Meeting house if they will build it upon there on Cost and Charge." That the Scotland people accepted this privilege is evident from casual references in various documents of the period. In 1722 "the new Meeting house" is mentioned (Deeds xi, 154), and on February 29, 1724, Rev. Joseph Moody recorded the important event: "We met the first time in the new Meeting house at Scotland" (Diary). This defi- nite statement by the future pastor corrects errors by pre- vious writers which place the opening at a much later date. (Moody p. 224.) The building was only roofed in at that time and in 1727 was not entirely finished. In that year the town had voted £40 to complete the interior.
As the First Parish is indebted to Edward Godfrey for its earliest gift of land as the beginning of its financial endowment so the "Scotland" parish owes its landed resources to the bequest of Alexander Maxwell, the first Scotchman in York. By his will of 1706 he bequeathed half his lands and marsh in Scotland "to the church " after the decease of his wife, and the other half to Parson Moody. The testator was childless. It is not known when his widow died as she was a second wife and much younger, but it is probable that she survived up to the time when the church building was started. Joseph Moody had built his own house on a part of the Maxwell land facing the country road. As a dutiful son he had laid his civic honors down and on November 29, 1732 was ordained pastor of this new church.
The boundaries of the parish were defined December 27, 1731, at a special town meeting called for the purpose:
Voted that the Inhabitants of the Upper End of this Town, viz .: Those that do or shall inhabit above, or to the Northwest of the Mill Creek on the Southwest side of York River: & on the North-east side of sd River above or to the Northwest of Bass Cove, so a Strait Line from Capt. Cames Grist Mill, to the Middle Point between Baker's
78
"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
Spring & the Marked Trees at the Country Road, in the Bounds between Wells and York. Have hereby granted to them, the free Con- sent of this Town to be set off, a distinct Parish, if the Honorable Gen- eral Court shall see meet so to order./
In order to help the new parish set up housekeeping the town also gave it one hundred acres as a ministerial lot in the Stated Commons, "Provided they & their Minister quit their Interest in the Ministerial Land & Marsh that now is." A petition for incorporation was accordingly drawn up and signed.
The General Court in 1732 passed the Enabling Act, and the Second Parish became a legal fact thenceforth, and the new organization was launched with favoring winds, the blessing of Parson Moody and the gift of his brilliant son as its first pastor.
Its first business was to settle the titles of the ministerial lands in that part of the town. The records give the award of a joint committee:
Whereas the Subscribers was chosen a Committee by the Church & the Reverend Mr. Samuel Moody to Divide the Estate of Mr. Alex- and Maxwell late of York Dece'd and Accordingly we met on the Day of the Date hereof upon said Land which Lies in York at a Place called Scotland & have Laid out unto the abovesd Mr Moody Eight Acres of Land Bounded as follows viz
Begin at the North West Corner of Mr Grants Land & runs North West by the Country Road Twenty Rods to a Heap of Rocks & from thence runs South West Fifty Eight Rods to a White Oak Tree marked Four Sides standing by Mr. Joseph Moultons Marsh and from thence runs by sd Moultons Marsh to the South West Corner of Mr. Grants Land & from thence runs by sd Grants Land to the Place First began with Two Acres lying on the North West Side of sd Field Bounded as follows vizt: begins at the Eastward Corner of John McIntires Home Lot and runs by sd Lot South Westwardly Thirty Six Rods to a Stake drove into the Ground standing One Rod to the South West & by South Side of a Bunch of Small Red Oak Trees & from thence Runs South East Ten Rods & an Half to a Red Oak Stake drove into the Ground and from thence runs North East & by North Thirty Four Rods to the Country Road at a Stake standing Three Rods to the South Eastward of the Eastward Corner of the Meeting House & from thence by the Country Road to the Place first began at Excepting & reserving out of the said Bounds a Quarter of an Acre of Land whereon the Meeting House now stands/ & we also allow unto the abovesd Mr Moody One Acre of Marsh lying in the North West Branch of York River & all the Rest of the sd Field which the Two First mentioned Lots was taken out of with the Quarter of an Acre of Land that was above reserv'd & all the Land & Marsh on the South West Branch of
79
HISTORY OF YORK
York River that belonged to the Estate of the abovesd Maxwell to be for the Use of the Church/
RICHARD MILBERRY SAMUEL CAME
JER. MOULTON
Committee
Laid out by us
PETER NOWEL
Aug't 25, 1732
JOSEPH MOULTON JOHN HARMON
At a Meeting of the'First Church in York April 13, 1733 the within written Return of the Committee Chosen by the Church of York & their Minister to make a Division of the Land & Marsh given by Mr Alexr Maxwell to the Church & Min'r in his last Will & Testa- ment was read to the First Church of York abovesd & it was unani- mously Voted that sd Return be accepted & that the Division made by the Subscribers within named be Confirmed.
SAMUEL MOODY Pastor
At a Meeting of the Second Church in York April 20, 1733 The within Return of the Committee within Subscribing was Read & there- upon Voted that the same be Accepted & the Division therein men- tioned confirmed/
JOSEPH MOODY Pastor
I the Subscriber in my Private Capacity as a Partie &c do hereby Acknowledge that as I acted in the Choice of the Committee so I do approve of accept & Confirm what the said Com'tee have done in the Division made as within Expressed/
SAMUELL MOODY
On May 18, 1733 Rev. Samuel Moody for Thirty Pounds sold the above parcel of land "which contains Two acres & whereon the sd Joseph Moodys House & Barn now stand" to his son Joseph. (York Deeds xvi, 207.)
REV. JOSEPH MOODY
The story of the first pastor of the Scotland Church, because of its strange historic character, demands unusual space for its proper recital. He has become even better known to the general public than his locally famous father.
He was born in 1700, the eldest son of Samuel and Hannah (Sewall) Moody. His mother was of distinguished colonial lineage, closely related to Chief Justice Sewall and to the influential Dummer family of Newbury. He was graduated at Harvard with high honors when eighteen years of age and early displayed unusual talent that presaged a brilliant career. It is known that as a young
80
"MR. HOOKE'S FARM"
man he became deeply smitten with the charms of the beautiful Mary Hirst, a daughter of Grove Hirst of Bos- ton, and paid earnest court for her hand in marriage. He had as a rival the gallant and elegant captain, William Pepperrell, and in this competition the lady gave her heart to the future baronet, much to the chagrin and dis- appointment of Moody.
Pepperrell was married in 1722, and, if Moody's dis- appointment extended to permanent grief he must have overcome it in two years as on November II, 1724, he married Lucy, daughter of Rev. John White of Gloucester, and there is no evidence that his family life was unsatis- factory. With the prestige of his father who had become well known throughout the Province and the influence of his relatives in Massachusetts, which enabled him to secure preferment in the town and Province, he became Town Clerk in 1723, Register of Deeds for the county; and in 1730 when but thirty years of age he was appointed Judge of the Court of Sessions, and a career suited to his talents seemed to open up before him with higher honors. He was essentially a man of the world in its best signifi- cance. This distinction aroused no gratifying response from his father who could only think of his ability as wasted in public service. His literary ability, resting on his classical education, seemed to his insistent father that it should be employed in the construction of sermons for the salvation of souls. He lost no opportunity to urge this upon his brilliant son and at last overcame the natural reluctance which Joseph had to abandon his chosen career. It was a cruel decision which he had to make but, with filial piety, he yielded to his masterful father. Resigning all his civil offices he bade farewell to the ambitions of his manhood to become pastor of the Second Church in this town and that was the beginning of his tragedy. He had laid down the mantle of a position to which he was fitted and found himself robed in the gown of a profession for which he felt himself unsuited. It was an age of religious introspection and listening to the still, small voice of con- science. While he may have easily composed sermons with ready and copious flow of language and expressed his ideas in polished style and carried the burden of the long prayer with ease of diction, yet his mind was undoubtedly wrestling always with the sense of futility of his efforts.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.