USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 1 > Part 5
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
on the west bank of the Medomak. It remained a source of acute trouble to the founding fathers on our "west side" down to the hour of final adjudication in 1811.
By far the most important for our area of all these early voy- ages came about in 1605. It was made by Captain George Wey- mouth. He sailed from Ratcliffe, England, on March 5, 1605, with a crew of twenty-nine men in the ship Archangel. Among the members of the ship's company was one James Rosier, the chroni- cler of the voyage. Rosier has left a very complete account of this exploration in the book known as Rosier's Relation.4 This is a fasci- nating account of the survey made by Weymouth, and it includes a detailed narrative of all important things seen and done. In fact, it gives us the first authentic picture of this general area and of the people who were living here. The account of this exploration by Weymouth cannot be told in any way more effective than by drawing excerpts from Rosier's narrative which pertain to this district. The ship's landfall in the new world was made amid the sands and shoals of Cape Cod. Not daring to anchor there, they sailed north, seeking land with bolder water. Rosier relates:
We much desired land and sought for it. Friday, the 17th of May, about six o'clock at night we descried the land .. . but because it blew a great gale of winde, the sea very high and neere night, not fit to come upon an unknown coast, we stood off until two o'clocke in the morning, being Saturday; then standing in with it again, we descried it by eight o'clocke in the morning, being northeast from us. It appeared a meane high land, as we after found it, being but an island of some six miles in compasse, but I hope the most fortunate ever yet discovered.
The island was "woody, grown with firre, birch, oke and beech, as farre as saw along the shore; and so likely to be within. On the verge grow gooseberries, strawberries, wild pease, and wild rose bushes. The water issued forth down the rocky cliffes in many places; and much fowle of divers kinds breed upon the shores and rocks."
At two o'clock that day, they landed and Monhegan became the first land in New England on which, according to recorded history, white man ever set foot. Rosier continues:
From hence we might discerne the maine land from the west-south- west to the east-north-east and a great way ... up into the maine we might discern very high mountaines, though the maine seemed but low land. The next day being Whit-Sunday; because we rode too much open to the sea and windes, we weyed anker about twelve a clocke, and came along to the other islands more adjoyning to the maine, and in the rode directly with the mountaines, about three leagues from the first island where we had ankered.
4Printed for the Georges Society (Portland, Me., 1887).
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Early Explorers
Here a small boat was manned to approach the shore, make soundings and seek "a safe place for our shippe to ride in; in the meanwhile we kept aloofe at sea, having given them in the boat a token to weffe in the ship, if he found a convenient harbor; which it pleased God to send us, farre beyond our expectations, in a most safe berth defended from all windes." In gratitude Weymouth named this harbor "Pentecost." It was among the Georges Islands which can be seen from the chart as the group next east of Mon-
The First Recorded Meeting between White Men and Red Men in New England. Allen's Island, Muscongus Bay May 30, 1605.
hegan. On the largest of this group, now known as Allen's Island, they set up "a crosse upon the shore side upon the rockes." This was an act, Rosier adds, "never omitted by any christian explorer." The next week was spent in exploring the islands and the adjacent coast around the mouth of the St. Georges River.
It was not until the afternoon of May 30th that Weymouth and his men learned aught of the inhabitants of this new land. On this day they discerned, in the distance, several canoes paddled by Indians. They were undoubtedly braves or warriors of the Wewenoc tribe who were away hunting, or who had come out
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
from their summer encampment on the mainland. Rosier thus describes their visit:
This day about five o'clocke in the afternoon, we in the shippe espied three canoes coming towards us, which went to the island ajoining, where they went ashore, and very quickly had made a fire, about which they stood beholding our ship; to whom we made signes with our hands and hats, weffing unto them to come unto us, because we had not seen any of the people yet. They sent one canoe with three men, one of which, when they came neere unto us, spake in his language very lowd and boldly; seeming as though he would know why we were there, and by pointing with his oare towards the sea, we conjectured he meant we should be gone.
What these red men thought and what this red man said in this first interchange of words between the two races will never be known. His words may indeed have been portentous of a future of long, dark, and bloody years.
Gradually the crew of the Archangel enticed the savages into intercourse and showed them the use of such articles as combs, mirrors, and knives. They also made them gifts of cheap rings, bracelets, and peacock feathers, until in the course of time they "seemed all very civil and merrie," and finally came aboard the ship. Here an active barter took place, the merest gaudy trifles being exchanged for valuable furs. Rosier writes: "I traded with the savages all the fore noone ... for knives, glasses, combs, and other trifles to the value of foure or five shillings. We had 40 good beaver skins, sables, and other small skins." The Indians apparently were eager to continue this trade and importuned the white men in the sign language to accompany them to their houses where they evidently had a much larger supply of furs which they wished to offer in trade.
The Rosier narrative continues:
Munday the third of June ... they came about our ship, earnestly by signs desiring that we should go with them along to the maine. Our capitaine manned the light-horseman with as many men as he could well, which were about fifteene with rowers and all; and we went along with them. Two of their canoas they sent away before, and they which lay aboard us all night, kept company with us to direct us. . .. They in their canoe with three oares, would at their will go ahead of us and about us, when we rowed with eight oares strong; such was their swiftnesse.
They finally reached a little point of land where the Indians on shore had kindled their fires. Here the savages wanted the crew of the "light-horseman" to land, but the latter feared treachery, and there was delay. In the end one of the Englishmen, Owen Griffin, went ashore to look the situation over; and one savage came aboard the pinnace as a token of good faith. When Griffin returned
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Early Explorers
to the boat, he reported that there were on the shore "two hundred and eighty-three savages, everyone with his bowe and arrowes," and "not anything to exchange at all." The English alleged that they felt treachery, for Rosier adds they "would have drawn us up further into a little narrowe nooke of a river for their furres as they pretended." This "narrowe nooke of a river" was, in all probability, the present New Harbor. The treachery which Rosier alleged the Englishmen sensed may have been merely a verbal screen to justify their own nefarious objective of capturing some of these savages, for Rosier continues: "Wherefore after good advice taken we determined so soone as we could to take some of them, least (being suspitious we had discovered their plots) they should absent themselves from us." With this design they made five savages prisoners. Three were lured on board the boats, and two were taken by force on the shore. This probably took place somewhat later as they would hardly have attempted it at this time, in the face of so superior a force. The first known act of aggression committed by the whites against the red man in New England, this event probably took place on one of the Georges Islands. The names of these Indian captives were Tahenedo, "a sagamo or commander," Amoret, Skidwarres, and Maneddo, "gentlemen," and Saffacomoit, "a servant." They were taken by Weymouth to England. Samuel de Champlain, in his account of a voyage along the coast in the same year, states that he was told by Anasou, an Indian, that the English "had killed five savages under the cover of friendship."" This was the first step taken by the English to lay the foundation of a hatred which was to endure upwards of two centuries and was, again and again, to drench the very ground with the blood of their own countrymen.
It is true, however, that these five captives did contribute in a very direct way to plans for settling this area which were shortly to be initiated in England; for on Weymouth's return to his native country Sir Ferdinando Gorges became interested in him and his captives, three of whom he took into his own family. These cap- tives, said Gorges, "must be acknowledged the means under God of putting on foot and giving life to all our plantations." They acquired some knowledge of English and told Sir Ferdinando of the "goodly rivers," and "stately harbors" of America, of the different tribes of savages, of their locations and their ways of life. From this time on, Gorges became the leading figure in western England in promoting American exploration and settlement. The savages were treated with the greatest dignity and kindness. Ta- henedo returned to Pemaquid in 1606 with Captain Martin Pring of Bristol, England. Skidwarres returned with George Popham
5Brief Narration, Colls. Me. Hist. Soc., II, 17.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
the next year. Maneddo and Saffacomoit, with Captain Henry Challons, were captured by the Spaniards on their trip across. Saffacomoit was recovered later, but the fate of his companion was never known. Gorges bemoaned the loss of these wild guests who contributed so markedly in England to the interest in their homeland.
After the seizure of the five natives, Weymouth lingered for a few weeks longer in Muscongus waters. On June 11, 1605, he ascended the St. Georges River for a second time and marched with some of his men across the country for four miles in the direction of the Camden Hills, hoping to reach these mountains. The day was so hot and their armor so heavy that they soon became weary of "so tidious and laborsom a travel," and returned to their light-horseman. The next day they resumed their explora- tion of the river and searched particularly for that "part of the river which trended westward into the maine." At the end of the day the cross was set up, and the crew returned to their ship. On Sunday, June 16th, "the winde being faire," the Archangel set sail for England.
Weymouth's voyage had been sponsored by the Earl of Southampton, a friend of William Shakespeare, and Thomas Arun- del, Baron of Wardour, the Earl's son-in-law. Its purpose had been to explore the coast and to locate a site suitable for a plantation. Muscongus Bay, as such a site, is described by Rosier as "answer- able to the intent of our discovery, being fit for any nation to inhabit." In view of the grant of this area to De Monts by Henry IV of France, it was realized that the French were becoming active on the coast; and it was desired to know just what they were doing in order to counteract any possible plan from that quarter. In fact, just two weeks after Weymouth had headed back for England, Champlain rounded Pemaquid Point and sailed on to Mount Desert. It was in part on this voyage that France based her later claim to this portion of the new world, and it was in part on Weymouth's voyage that England based her claim to the same identical section.6 The captured savages and Rosier's narrative served to dramatize these discoveries and claims in the imaginations of many Englishmen. Interest was stimulated thereby and plans were formulated to give substance to the British claim. Gorges became the leading figure in this movement; and his in- terest in colonizing projects, conceived at this time, ended only with his life. The thoughts of other prominent English merchants and noblemen began to turn westward with similar intent. This
"Shortly after 1621, in view of the representations of the French Ambassador apro- pos of the grant of Acadia to Sir Wm. Alexander, James I commanded Gorges to defend the claims of England. Gorges based the claim on the discoveries of the Cabots, the voyage of Weymouth and others, and on the possession and settle- ment of Popham on the Kennebec.
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Early Explorers
took substance in 1606 when a joint stock company was formed with the object of planting two colonies on the American coast. As the first of these two projects had its headquarters in London, it became known as the London Company; and the second, which was backed by west England men, became known as the Plymouth Company. It is this latter company and its plans and policies which is the more closely connected with our history.
In 1607 the Plymouth Company embarked on its first colonial venture. Under its direction there was organized an expedition in charge of George Popham, a nephew of Chief Justice Popham, and Raleigh Gilbert, the son of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Its two ships were the Mary and John and the Gift of God. The two vessels carried a total of one hundred and twenty planters. On June 1, 1607, they sailed from Plymouth Harbor. The ships soon became separated. On July 31st the Mary and John made her landfall off Nova Scotia and came to anchor in 44° 30' north latitude. From this position she proceeded southward along the coast and on August 5th sighted the Blue Hills of Camden - "three heigh mountains that lye in upon the mainland near unto the ryver of Sagadahock." The next day they found "three other illands . .. and about ten of the clok att nyght . .. recovered them." The early morning sun revealed the cross of Weymouth upon the lonely shore and they knew they had reached haven among the Georges Islands.7
In the days immediately following, while the ships were lying at anchor at Allen's Island, certain excursions of an explora- tory character were made in adjacent waters which merit recog- nition here as a part of the earliest history of this area. They were doubtless made in the quest of a desirable location for the planting of the colony. The first of these trips was to the westward and to Pemaquid.
The next day, Sunday, August 9th, the explorers were back at Allen's Island and held the first religious service of a Christian nature ever conducted in New England. This service was in the open on the shore "wheare the crosse standeth. Thear we heard a sermon delyvered unto us by our preacher,8 giving God thanks for our happy metinge and saffe aryvall into the country ... . "9 So it was that the first Christian worship ever held in New England took place in our district.10 It antedated the devotions of the Plymouth Pilgrims by a full thirteen years.
On Monday, August 10th, Captain Popham in his shallop with thirty men, and Captain Raleigh Gilbert in his ship's boat with
"Strachey's Account, Colls. Me. Hist. Soe., III, 283.
8 Richard Seymour.
9Henry Burrage, The Beginnings of Colonial Maine (Portland, 1914), p. 72.
10This spot has since been appropriately marked by the Episcopal Church as the site of its first service of worship in the New World.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
twenty men, rounded Pemaquid Point and "sailed towards the ryver of Pemaquid."
The English camped that night on the western shore of the inner harbor. The next day they rejoined their ships at Allen's Island and on August 12th sailed for the mouth of the Kennebec where they began their ill-starred settlement at Popham. As this enterprise is beyond the geographical range of our district, their activities will not be followed. It simply remains for us to clarify somewhat the historical facts implied in those few days of explora- tion, from August 8th to August 12th, in the land area of Muscon- gus Bay.
The two visits to Pemaquid by men of the Popham expedi- tion were made, in the first place, by landing at New Harbor and marching across the peninsula to the beach; and secondly, by rounding the Point and coming up off the Indian village at the beach. Weymouth had progressed only as far as New Harbor and had not dared to accompany the savages overland to their village, where doubtless were the larger store of furs and tobacco which they had desired to use in trade. We are safe then in inferring that the village at Pemaquid Beach was there in 1605. These facts would clearly indicate that this was the summer site of at least one of the prehistoric Indian settlements in our area.
In the meantime European vessels were becoming commoner on the Maine coast. In passing, incidental reference may be made to Henrik Hudson who in 1609 cruised in the waters of Muscongus Bay in sailing from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. There is, however, need to consider in any detail only one more feat of exploration in our area. This preceded the period of earliest settlement by only a few years. It was the most detailed and extended of all and was made by no less famous a personage than Captain John Smith, who was unquestionably the most versatile and picturesque personality connected with early American exploration and settlement. He was a soldier, sailor, administrator, and author. His Description of New England starts in abruptly as follows:
In the month of April 1614 with two ships of London, of a few marchants, I chanced to arrive in New England, a parte of Ameryca, at the Isle of Monahiggan, in 431/2 degrees northerly latitude, - our plot was there to take whales and make tryalls of a myne of gold and copper. If those failed, fish and furres was then our refuge. . .. Monahiggan is a round Isle, and close by it Monanis, betwixt which is a small harbor where we rid.
Whales, gold, and copper apparently were not forthcoming, so Smith set his men to fishing in Monhegan waters, and "whilst the sailors fished, myselfe with eight or nine others of them might best be spared; ranging the coast in a small boat, wee got for trifles
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Early Explorers
neer 1100 bever skinnes, 100 martins, and neer as many otters; and the most of them within the distance of twenty leagues. .. . We ranged the coast both East and West much furder." Smith traded, studied the country and its contours closely in the interest of map making, fraternized with the Indians, and formulated plans for settling and holding the country permanently. "The savages," he says, "have entreated me to inhabit if I will." Such a plan became definite in 1615 in his projected second voyage when he was supplied with sixteen men for this purpose. The place of projected settlement in New England is not entirely clear in his Description, but it seems to have been somewhere in Muscongus Bay, where he had arranged with the Wewenocs to have them furnish him territory and aid in return for protection, for he states: "I had concluded to inhabit and defend them against the Tara- tines."11 He knew Tahenedo, whom he called Dohoday, and had been able to win his confidence along with that of the other Indians at the Pemaquid village.
The maine assisstance next to God to this small number, was my acquaintance amongst the salvages, especially with Dohoday, one of their greatest Lords, who had lived long in England12 .... by the meanes of this proud salvage, I did not doubt but quickly to have got that credit amongst the rest of the salvages,13 and their alliance, to have as many of them as I desired in any designe I intended, and that trade also which they had by such kind of exchange of their countrey commodities, which with both ease and securitie might then have been used with them and divers others.
On July 18th Smith set sail for England in one of his two ships, his mind filled with designs for a return and a settlement in this area which he had found so profitable and so pleasant. But Captain John Smith was destined never to return. Three times he essayed it. The first attempt was frustrated by a tempest which dismasted his ship; in the second venture he was captured by French pirates; and in the third he was held windbound in Plymouth Harbor for three months, whereupon he was deserted by his backers and never again did he sail to American waters. But for these fateful events one cannot but wonder what might have happened. Beyond question Smith knew how to make colonial enterprises succeed. Had he been able to return, it might easily have come to pass that the first permanent settlement in New England would have been planted somewhere on the shores of Muscongus Bay. As it turned out Smith turned to publicity work. He wrote his history, travelled up and down England, familiarizing
11 Probably the Penobscot Indians.
12This is the last reference in history to Tahenedo. It is not improbable that he fell a victim in the war of 1612-17, or in the pestilence immediately following this war. 13The Wewenocs.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
the public with the New England he knew, and completed his map (1616), the crude lines of which show the areas he had sailed and the contours he had studied. In his Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England . . . he explains that
the most northern part I was at was the Bay of Penobscot. ... Segocket14 is the next, then Nufconcus, Pemaquid and Sagadahock. .. . But all this coast to Penobscot, and as farre as I could see eastward of it is nothing but such high, craggy, cliffy rocks and stoney iles that I wondered such great trees could growe upon so hard foundations. ... It is a countrie to affright rather than to delight one.
In the early years of the century prior to the voyage of Cap- tain John Smith, English fishermen had been visiting Maine waters annually. The number continued to increase, and this area soon became a mecca for this business. Smith wrote while his ship was lying at Monhegan: "Now all these ships till these last two yeares have been fishing within a square of two or three leagues." This square was largely delimited by the waters of Monhegan, easterly, and by Damariscove Island on the west. Through the activities of the fishermen and through the writings of Rosier and Smith, this district became the first part of New England really well known to Englishmen. In consequence its early settlement was inevitable. In fact, the first attempt at settlement had been made at Popham seven years before Smith ever reached these shores. The story of its disaster is a familiar tale. The next step was a matter of colonization following trade. It was the fisherman who took this step. Fish, after they were taken, had to be dried on shore. For this purpose some of the men had to live ashore. For such, habita- tions were necessary as well as buildings to house stores and supplies. At first such residences were but temporary summer quarters. The next step involved homes of a more permanent character. The case was, as William Cullen Bryant stated it in his Popular History two hundred years later: "They [the fisher- men ] stepped from the deck of a fishing smack and began the work of founding a republic by tending the rude stages where the fish were dried." The beginning of settlement made the land desir- able in the eyes of the great folk who might find profit in owning a growing land. So it is that our history enters its next phase, in which these shore areas with huge stretches of the back country were awarded by the crown claiming them to the companies and proprietors interested in development, trade, and settlements.
14St. Georges.
1242893
IV THE STAKING OF CLAIMS IN THE WALDOBOROUGH AREA
At the opening of the seventeenth century the very air was charged with schemes for growing rich in a thou- sand ventures connected with the commerce and settle- ments of expanding England.
CHARLES A. BEARD
B EFORE THE LAST IMPORTANT PIECE of exploration in the Waldo- borough area had been completed, the staking out of claims cov- ering this district had begun. The first move by the British in this direction was made in 1606 when James I issued a patent under the great seal which is generally known as the first Virginia Charter - the term Virginia at this time being applied loosely to the eastern coastal area of America. The London Company re- ceived the exclusive right to locate its first settlement between 34° and 38º north latitude, while the Plymouth Company received the exclusive right to plant their first settlement between 41º and 44° north latitude, that is, in the area reaching from the present Manhattan Island to Halifax. This was the first grant made by the British Crown from the land which it claimed in the New World. The grant made to the Frenchman, De Monts, as has been indicated, preceded this by a period of three years. The Waldoborough area lay within the range of both these grants made by the French and British crowns.
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