USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 9
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 9
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A CLANSMAN OF THE HILLS (From a photograph)
He married Anna, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Allen of Berwick, October 25, 1745. She was baptized April 22, 1725, and among their children was their eldest son and heir of the Clan who was christened David, and as he succeeded to the chieftainship of the Clan he became known as "King David" and he exercised almost auto- cratic authority over the various branches of the family
95
HISTORY OF YORK
during his lifetime. According to tradition, they were a close corporation in local affairs, looking after the interests of their section, voting as a unit and transacting business for the welfare of the family as a whole. A local annalist states: "that it was a unique scene when King David marshalled the Clan and in the lead of fifteen or more teams loaded with chestnut and oak wood passed through Cape Neddick Village to the Landing where it was to be shipped to market. Returning in the same order of march they went back rejoicing in the so-called good cheer of those days." (Moody, Handbook, p. 53.) As may be sup- posed, they were considered a peculiar people by the native element and their brogue helped not a little to emphasize this view. As time passed and the new genera- tions became assimilated these peculiarities were lost and although living by themselves in a remote and almost inaccessible part of town they established themselves as citizens of sterling character. A genealogy of the family will appear in Volume III of this history.
THE WINN NEIGHBORHOOD
The terrain from Sasanoa's Mount eastward to the Wells line did not invite settlements. It is a hilly region covered with dense woods two hundred or more feet above the sea level and dotted with marshes. The extreme northeast corner bounds contain the Tatnock Marshes and Baker's Spring, the ancient landmarks at that point which were set off on February 15, 1834, to South Berwick. In 1667 Capt. John Davis had a grant from the town of fifty acres "where he can find it," and in 1701 Abraham Preble, Jr., had a grant of ten acres of swamp or meadow land, also "where he can find it." A part of Davis' grant was laid out in 1721 and described as near Baker's Spring on a brook that emptied into the Ogunquit River. It is not believed that Allen, who bought a part of the Davis tract in 1721, lived on this land, but Preble sold his grant of ten acres to Josiah Winn of Wells and it is certain that. he or his immediate descendants settled on this property, as several families of that surname are found early in a group living in that corner of York hugging the Wells border (Deeds x, 22). The families of Stephen, Ivory, Aaron, Oliver, Joshua, Joseph and Calvin Winn in 1850 lived in this hamlet. With the families of Boston, Kim-
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HISTORY OF YORK
during his lifetime. According to tradition, they were a close corporation in local affairs, looking after the interests of their section, voting as a unit and transacting business for the welfare of the family as a whole. A local annalist states: "that it was a unique scene when King David marshalled the Clan and in the lead of fifteen or more teams loaded with chestnut and oak wood passed through Cape Neddick Village to the Landing where it was to be shipped to market. Returning in the same order of march they went back rejoicing in the so-called good cheer of those days." (Moody, Handbook, p. 53.) As may be sup- posed, they were considered a peculiar people by the native element and their brogue helped not a little to emphasize this view. As time passed and the new genera- tions became assimilated these peculiarities were lost and although living by themselves in a remote and almost inaccessible part of town they established themselves as citizens of sterling character. A genealogy of the family will appear in Volume III of this history.
THE WINN NEIGHBORHOOD
The terrain from Sasanoa's Mount eastward to the Wells line did not invite settlements. It is a hilly region covered with dense woods two hundred or more feet above the sea level and dotted with marshes. The extreme northeast corner bounds contain the Tatnock Marshes and Baker's Spring, the ancient landmarks at that point which were set off on February 15, 1834, to South Berwick. In 1667 Capt. John Davis had a grant from the town of fifty acres "where he can find it," and in 1701 Abraham Preble, Jr., had a grant of ten acres of swamp or meadow land, also "where he can find it." A part of Davis' grant was laid out in 1721 and described as near Baker's Spring on a brook that emptied into the Ogunquit River. It is not believed that Allen, who bought a part of the Davis tract in 1721, lived on this land, but Preble sold his grant of ten acres to Josiah Winn of Wells and it is certain that he or his immediate descendants settled on this property, as several families of that surname are found early in a group living in that corner of York hugging the Wells border (Deeds x, 22). The families of Stephen, Ivory, Aaron, Oliver, Joshua, Joseph and Calvin Winn in 1850 lived in this hamlet. With the families of Boston, Kim-
96
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THE HILL COUNTRY OF SASANOA
ball, Perkins and Wilson adding seven to the number they made up an isolated community in that section of the hill country eighty years ago. They were not connected by family ties to York nor were they associated in a business way with the town. Their nearest neighbors were in Wells or in what later became South Berwick.
In 1790 the Winn neighborhood was a part of the Cape Neddick School District. They were ten miles from York Harbor as the crow flies, and as late as 1800 at least thirteen miles of grinding dirt roads had to be traversed by way of Cape Neddick to reach the town hall.
THE VILLAGE OF TATNOCK
This settlement at the extreme northern boundary of the town was also as alien in interest as it was remote topographically to ancient York. It was from the first a self-contained community. In 1790 a school was kept there for three months in the year, as it had become "School District No. 7" joined with the. Agamenticus settlement. The two probably shared the time of the teacher. Tatnock was separated from Agamenticus by a densely wooded region without roads, a condition that has changed but little in the succeeding centuries. It is now a thriving hamlet in the territory of our northern neighbor.
The principal settlers of this area were John Hasty and his son Joseph, several twigs of the Moulton tree grown on York soil, Joseph Kilgore and other branches of the Winns and Kimballs. They were largely engaged in utilizing the water power of the streams that emptied into the Great Works River, but as that story belongs to another town further details are omitted.
THE SOUTH BERWICK TRIANGLE
When the State in 1834 amputated a triangular seg- ment from the northwest part of York to add to the town of South Berwick it transferred a number of families long connected with York to the newer township. This change was without violence to neighborly interests as these families were associated with Berwick by actual contact rather than with York. Their descendants have been identified with South Berwick for a century and properly belong to its historian, but as they were originally natives of York these brief references to them will be recorded
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HISTORY OF YORK
here. The list which follows is probably not complete but is presented with that caution.
Aaron Abbott and his son Aaron were residents of this triangle before 1800. They may have been son and grand- son of John Abbott of Berwick.
Elijah and Daniel Blaisdell, sons of Ebenezer and Lydia (Webber) Blaisdell, born in 1740 and 1743, respectively, were the earliest of their family to settle in this region on the dividing line between the two towns.
John Emery (son of Simon) and Shem Emery (born 1760) son of Japhet of Berwick were residents of this tri- angle before it was set off. Shem married Keziah, a daughter of John Emery, for his first wife and later Martha Tibbets. Daniel Emery and others of his family were there as early as 1768 and held many minor offices prior to 1800.
John Hasty, son of James Hasty, was born April 20, 1706, at Omerban, parish of Clough, County Antrim, Ire- land. He married Jeannette Deecky, daughter of Joseph of County Derry, who was born August 22, 1706. (Mss. "Births of the Upper Parish in York"). He is probably the John Hasty who appears in Berwick in 1734 (Deeds xvii, 304). He appeared in York at some time before 1749, in which year he was chosen a Surveyor of Highways. In 1753 his house in this section of the town is mentioned. Amos Hasty and Nathan Hasty were recorded as heads of families in the Census of York for 1810. The name still exists in South Berwick. The early members of the family operated a sawmill on the brook bearing their name.
Ephraim Joy, son of Ephraim and Sarah (Walker) Joy, born 1740, settled in this region in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and in the early part of the next cen- tury Samuel, Ephraim and James Joy and their families were still residents.
Andrew Neal, son of Andrew Neal of Berwick, born 1743, was also resident of this territory as early as 1772. He married Jane Hubbard of Wells July 25, 1778, and he and his son Andrew, Jr., had homes there in 1810.
Edward Walker, probably related to Ephraim Joy, was living in this area, according to the Census of 1790, but nothing has been learned of his origin although a Walker family was resident early in Kittery.
Weymouth was also living there in 1794 but identification has not been made. A family of this name was long resident in Kittery from its early settlement.
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CHAPTER V STORY OF THE MEETING HOUSES
THE FIRST CHAPEL OR ORATORY 1636
The earliest reference to the building of a house of worship in the town is found in the following order from Province records of 1636, as follows:
"The said officer [of Agamenticus] to distrane one those that doe not or have not paid what they be assessed to the meting house."
The location of this first building erected for church pur- poses in York was probably on the land now covered by "The Emerson." This supposition is based on a reference in the land records (Deeds vii, 149), in which the "old burying place" is mentioned as located in the lane leading from the road to the river. As yards for burial purposes always adjoined the church building it is more than a strong presumption that this universal English custom was followed here, as it was elsewhere in New England. Legal evidence of this view is to be found in the transfers of this property. In some way, not of record, Ezekiel Rogers of Ipswich became mortgagee of it, probably dur- ing the lifetime of Rishworth, and on July 23, 1694, he conveyed his interest in it for £130 to Jeremiah Moulton, Senior. In this instrument he specified "Church Privi- ledges" among the things granted with the land. No other deed of land in York at that period contains such a clause, and it is interpreted as having reference to the ancient uses to which the ground was put, but later abandoned (Deeds iv, 109). This land was in Hooke's division. Confirma- tion of this identification has recently come to light (1925) through some excavations for a cellar located about one hundred feet in the rear of "The Emerson" and about the same distance from Clark's Lane. Bones of several adults and children were uncovered in the process of dig- ging the foundations for a house to be set there. The area excavated was not large, but what was opened leaves no doubt that this was part of the "old burying place" men- tioned in 1710, which must have extended to the lane for
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HISTORY OF YORK
its frontage. As churches were generally built on the main highways in New England as in Old England, the logical place for it would be on the corner of Clark's Lane with the "acre" for the dead directly in the rear.
Nothing whatever is known about this first meeting house, as to size, material, or design, or its ultimate fate. As the first settlers were located near the river mouth it was a natural and convenient place for it. Doubtless it was a crude affair, which became inadequate as the town grew and new comers took up land around Meeting House Creek and on Ferry Neck. When superseded by the sec- ond structure in 1667 it may have been converted to other uses, or the material employed for the new meeting house, while the land reverted to its former owner. The first borough charter of Agamenticus refers to it in 1641 as the central point for fixing the town limits. It is not likely that such a formal document would have named the "chapel or oratory," if it were not already built. This designation is used in England for small houses of worship which are subordinate to a parish church in an adminis- trative area. Within these vanished walls the early clergy- men settled here in the first thirty years of the town's beginnings, read the service of the English Prayer Book, or later conducted meetings according to the Puritan order of religious exercises. Here the first children born in the town were baptized, the first marriages solemnized, and from it the first dead were taken to the adjoining "God's Acre." Those rough-hewn wooden walls and rafters echoed the pious exhortations of Thompson, Burdett, Ward, Hull, Norcross, Emerson and Dummer in succession, and doubt- less the notorious Hugh Peters, who visited here several times, turned his hour glass over on the pulpit as he expounded his schismatic doctrines in the hope of convert- ing these churchmen of Gorgeana to his Puritanic theology.
SECOND MEETING HOUSE, 1667
The town is indebted to Edward Godfrey for the land on which the second meeting house and parsonage were located, together with the minister's marsh lot up the river. The buildings were on his division of the Patent set off to him in 1641, and on this land held to the present day, under his original title, the church edifice, parsonage and burial ground are located.
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E
1
SECOND CHURCH BUILDING ON MEETING HOUSE CREEK
STORY OF THE MEETING HOUSES
The existence of a "chapel or oratory" in 1636 (which is only an old term for the "meeting house" of New Eng- land) has been discussed, and its location indicated to have been on the river front. As Godfrey did not then own land in that region, nor later, it follows that this first structure was not on his land. The name "Meeting House Creek" does not occur in the town records for many years after the second meeting house was built, showing that this new house of 1667 gave it the name it bears. In Godfrey's deed of 1650 to George Parker, the northwest bounds were next to the "minister's house," but no mention is made of a meeting house. As both were on the same lot in Par- son Moody's time, it is clear that the first "chapel" was not located there. The second meeting house, which we are considering, was built on the land originally reserved for a parsonage, and probably for a new church, when- ever it should be required. (Deeds xiv, 144.) The loca- tion of the old church was becoming decentralized in the passing years as new settlers arrived and took up lots as far distant as Bass Creek, and this parsonage lot offered a convenient site.
From a fragment of the town records, preserved else- where, it is learned that a town meeting was held on Octo- ber 19, 1665, at which "these persons ware chosen Select- men, vizt, Peter Weare, Henry Sayward, John Twisden, Philip Adams, Thomas Curtis. To which selectmen Mr. Edward Rishworth is joyned to Bargaine with Henry Sayward to build a Sufficient Meeting House for this Towns use and for Strangers." (Suffolk Court Mss. 693.) It seems a clear inference that the coming of Mr. Dummer as pastor this year precipitated this decision to abandon the old "chapel or oratory" which had served them for thirty years, and provide a new meeting house for the new minister, and it may well have been one of the conditions of his acceptance that such an improvement be made. The first building must have been not only inadequate in capacity, but much dilapidated by reason of age and the elements after years of use.
This committee reached an agreement with Sayward on March 2, 1665-6, by which a building forty by twenty-eight, of fifteen feet stud were specified as the dimensions. It was "to have two diamiters, one at each end & a Compleate Turret on the Topp," but both English and American
IOI
HISTORY OF YORK
lexicographers have been unable to furnish an architec- tural definition for "diamiter" and it must be left unex- plained. The "turret" was the cupola or belfry. From the specifications it was evidently to be made of entirely new material, the only part of the "oulde meeting house" to be utilized was the seats. It was to be completed by August 1666, except the turret and diameters and seats, for which May 14, 1667 was a limit, under his bond, which was later extended to August 31, 1667, by mutual agreement. The full text of this interesting contract follows:
Articles of agreement made between the Selectmen of the Town of Yorke on the one Party & Henery Sayword of the sayd Town Mill- wright, on the other party/
I: The sayd Henery Sayword doth hereby Ingage himselfe, & his Assignes, unto the Townsmen in the behalfe of the sayd Town, to build or cause to bee built for the Town of Yorke, a good sufficient meeteing house of the dementions as followth/ Twenty eight foote in breadth & Sixteen foote stoode between Joynts: to have two diamiters, one at each end & a Compleate Turret on the Topp & a pullpet Con- venient for the minister, with a Table fit for the sayd house/
2: The sayd Meeteing house is to bee sufficiently Flored with good two Inch planke & thoroughly finished with Convenient seates, sut- able for an house of such a proportion, whereof the two fore seats, the one for men, the other for the wimine, to bee made with barresters/ 3: The sayd Hene: Sayword doth ingage him selfe to Inclose the sayd Meeteing house with good sound planke slabbs three Inches thicke, & to Batten the sd planke sufficiently on the out side & to civer It with good inch boards on the topp, & with Inch & 14 boards underneath, & to make two sufficient doores in the sayd house & eight or tenn win- dows, Which shall be most necessary, onely the Towne is to find nayls & glass for all the sayd house/
4: Hee doth further promisse to helpe to raft down the Tymber, When the frame is ready to bee brought down to the Towne, & to send one or two hands If neede require to helpe down with the raft, when the Town doth send up for the same/
5: Henery Sayword doth Ingage to secure those Marshes of Edw: Rishworths in the ould Mill Cricke, as alsoe those Marshes on that side of the River belonging to the Town from any damage which may accrew from him selfe or any others that shall draw Tymber for him, by his or there oxens treadeing or eating up of the same/
6: Hee the sayd Sayword doth further Ingage him selfe that the sayd house according to its severall dementions as above expressed, shall bee begune & finished at or before the last of August next Insewing (onely the Turrett, the place whereof in the meane tyme hee is to make tite by Inclosure) with the dyameters, & some part of the seats, wch hee hath lyberty to make & finish untill the 14: May follow(ing) 1667: for the true Prformance of the Premisses, all & every part thereof, I the sayd Henery Sayword doe Ingage my selfe & my Assignes In a bond of Two hundred pounds unto the Select men of the Town of Yorke/
IO2
STORY OF THE MEETING HOUSES
Upon Henery Sayword his building & finishing of the meeteing house & prformance of such other Conditions as are here with expressed, Wee the Selectmen of the Town of Yorke doe Ingage our selves in the Towns behalfe to make good unto the sayd Sayword, or his Assigns these Considerations following/
(Here follows grants of lands, timber rights for a term of years, to Sayward).
6ly Wee doe likewise promiss to remove the seats from the ould Meete- ing house to the new at the Towns charge: w(he)n being removed Hene: Sayword doth Ingage to place them there at his own Charge for the most convenience/
And further Wee the Select men as Intrusted for the Town, In the Towns behalfe doe Ingage in a bond of Two hundred prounds, unto Hene: Sayword upon the fulfilling of his Covenant & Conditions w(he)rby hee stands obledged to us, to Prforme our agreements as above mentioned unto the sayd Sayword/
In testimony w(he)rof I have here unto put my hand & Seale this 2und day of March, In the seaventeenth yeare of our soveraign Lord the King, Charles the 2und 1665
HENRY SAYWORD (his seale)
Sealed signed & delivered In the Prsence of
Samuell Wheelwright Samuell Austine
Wee the Selectmen of the Town of Yorke & Henery Sayword doe mutually agree, Conclude & stand to this Covenant made about build- ing the meeteing house in all Prticulars there in mentioned to all Intents & purposes, onely doe Consent that the tyme for the building of the sd house shall bee Inlarged unto the last day of August next Insewing, at wch tyme according to the former conditions mentioned in the Covenant above sayd is to bee done & finished, as witness my hand this 8th day of June 1667
I further agree that for feare of the want of nayls that the house must bee done with stoods/
Witnesses William Hooke Thoms Withers
HENERY SAYWORD
The contract price for this construction was £120 and Sayward entered into a bond of £200 to fulfill his obliga- tion under its terms.
If the construction was completed according to the time set, August 31 fell on Sunday that year, and it can be supposed that the first service was held that day, and Mr. Dummer preached the dedicatory sermon from some appropriate text. In due time the lands and timber rights accruing to Sayward, as part of the contract were surveyed and laid out to him by Peter Weare, then town lot layer
IO3
HISTORY OF YORK
(Deeds x, 246). For thirteen years the new building answered all needs as related to seating accommodations, but in 1680 the growth of population demanded additional seats, and this need was filled by the construction of three galleries, around the sides and end, reached by two stairs, "one for the men & another for the wimine," and provided with three rows of seats in each part, and an additional bench in the middle or end portion. The floor seats were to be rearranged and increased.
At a Court held at York July 1, 1679, the condition of the meeting house was under consideration, and the follow- ing action was taken:
The Court being censible of the great indecency & unsuitableness of the Meeteing house in the Town of Yorke by reason of Its liing open to the weather & the Misccheefe of birds & swallows getting into it
ordered that the selectmen of the town take means to make it "tight and secure from such annoyance," within six months. As the Courts were held in this building the Judges were averse to having their deliberations inter- rupted by chirpings from the feathered tribe. The Wor- shipful Joseph Dudley was sitting on the bench at this session.
The town entered into an agreement on December 10, 1680, with John Sayward, in consideration of certain grants of land and timber rights for milling purposes, as else- where described, to make these various alterations and additions to the interior of the meeting house built by his father fifteen years previously. These changes are set forth in the following contract made with him:
I. First that the sd Sayward shall build or cause to bee built at the meeting house at Yorke three sufficient Gallerys with three Con- venient seats in each Gallery & one beanch besids in the hyest Roume, in every gallery If the sd Conveniency of Roume will beare it/ the fronture seate hee is to make with barresters & too peyre of stayres to go up into the Gallerys, one for the men & another for the wimine/ 2: The sd John Sayword stands engaged to seate the sd Meeteing house below with Convenient Seates, too seats to (be) barrested below, One for men & the other for wimine/ & repayreing of the defects that are in the ould seates/ & by makeing & Adding so many new Seats more, as shall be necessary for the full & decent seateing of the whoole house/ Whish worke in makeing Gallerys & seateing the lower part of the sayd house, is by John Sayword to bee done & finished at his own proper Charge (nayles onely excepted) which the Town is Ingagd to
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STORY OF THE MEETING HOUSES
provide very speedily at or before the last of October next Insewing, Anno: Dom: 1681: as witness our hands the 10th of December 1680/
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