USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 1 > Part 6
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As students of American history we are familiar with the first colonizing venture of each company, the one at Jamestown, Virginia, and the one at Popham, Maine. Of the two groups settled under the charter issued by King James, the one in Virginia underwent years of suffering before the permanency of its venture became a certainty. At Popham on the Kennebec the tragedy was briefer, but tragedy there was. During that first winter the colony lost its leader, George Popham, by death, and its storehouse by fire. The following spring all the planters returned to England, and with their departure ended the first effort at settlement in Maine. For a number of years nothing more was done in the north
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
apart from trading and fishing which in the earliest years entailed only seasonal voyages to this coast. The accounts of Rosier, John Smith, and others, however, again stirred the English imagination relative to these parts; and by the beginning of the second decade of the century, new projects were simmering. In 1620 Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges, Sir Francis Popham, Raleigh Gilbert and associates - forty noblemen and gentlemen in all - secured a new charter from the Crown under the name of The Council for New England. Gorges was the moving and dominant figure in this group. Hence- forth Maine and its colonization became the major ambition of his life. The patent granted to the Council covered the territory between 40° and 48º north latitude, and already bore the name of New England, a term which had originated with Captain John Smith. What doubtless appealed most strongly to some of the associates was the fact that this charter gave them a virtual monopoly of the rich fisheries along the whole New England Coast.
The first permanent settlement within the charter limits of the Council was an accident and was made at Plymouth by the Pilgrims in 1620. Before leaving England the Pilgrims had secured a patent from the London Company authorizing them to settle within the limits of its grant; and their objective had been lands farther south, probably along the Delaware. As their grant was without force outside of Virginia, other arrangements had to be made both in securing a legal claim to the land and in establishing the forms of a civil government for a settlement in the area to which fate had led them. This condition led in the first place to the drafting of the famous Mayflower Compact as an immediate solution to the problem of government, and in the second place to an application to The Council for New England for a charter.
Their petition for a charter was sent to England by the Mayflower on her return trip and was readily granted. It was issued in the name of John Peirce, "citizen and cloth worker of London,"1 and a number of associates. It reached Plymouth in 1621 on the ship Fortune. This charter was a rather unique docu- ment. It recognized no metes and bounds, but stated simply that a settlement had been begun in New England, and conveyed to Peirce and his associates one hundred acres of land for every person who might be transported to New England by them, and who would continue in the country for a period of three years. Peirce, however, is related to this district in a way even more direct. It seems clear that he was interested either in securing a degree of control in the Plymouth venture, or else he had colonial
1This name is spelled variously as Peirce, Pierce and Pearce. See also Colls. Me. Hist. Soc. Doc. Ser., Ser. 2, VII, 45-53.
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The Staking of Claims
designs of his own, for without the knowledge of the Pilgrims he applied for and received on April 20, 1622, a second patent which superseded the first one. This move definitely jeopardized the title of the settlers at Plymouth. They clearly felt that they had been played false and at once demanded redress of the Council. A settlement of this difficulty was effected in 1623 on the basis of a payment of £500 to Peirce and a new charter confirming them in their location, and stating that "the surplus, [of land] that is to remain over and above by reason of the late grant [1622] the said Peirce to enjoy and make his best benefit of, as to him shall seem good."
If Peirce had hoped to secure a controlling voice in the affairs of the group at Plymouth, he was balked by this vigorous reaction of the Pilgrims to his plan. At this point the "London cloth worker" and his colonial schemes disappear completely from our history; but after the lapse of a brief time, a Richard Pearce, allegedly a son of John Peirce, emerges from the obscurity of the early history of this area as a resident of Muscongus. He married the daughter of John Brown of New Harbor, who in July 1625 allegedly purchased land of the two Indian sagamores, Samoset and Unongoit, which embraced parts of the present township of Waldoboro. One hundred and fifty years later the descendants of Brown and Pearce, basing their claims in part upon the Peirce patent of 1622 and in part on the Indian deed of 1625, asserted their right to the lands on the west bank of the Medomak at that time in the possession of Waldo's German immigrants.
It seems probable that John Brown, Richard Pearce, and others came to the Muscongus district shortly after 1623. They were possibly sent by the elder Peirce who may have wished to clinch his claim under the patent by even a very small settlement. These settlers may have been the men that Samoset had in mind when in 1623 he told Levett at Cape Newagen that there were white men in possession of land at Pemaquid.
This patent, issued to John Peirce and his associates in 1622, together with the alleged purchase of land on the western shore of Muscongus Bay by Brown in 1625, opens a chapter in the land troubles of the early settlers of Waldoborough which remained a fruitful source of controversy and litigation until finally settled by legislative fiat in 1813. This fact linked Brown closely to Waldoborough history for upwards of three-quarters of a century, hence the basis of his claim should be outlined in some detail. John Brown came to this district directly from Bristol, England, between 1623 and 1625. A son of Richard Brown of Barton Regis in Gloucester, England, he married Margaret, the daughter of Francis Hayward of Bristol, also in England. Brown, who was
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
commonly known as John Brown of New Harbor, mason, derives his prominence in our annals from his supposed purchase of land in our district from the Indians. The extent of the territory covered by this purchase is indicated on the map connected with this chapter.
For many years this Indian deed of John Brown's was re- garded as the first instrument of its kind drawn on American soil. The document, however, has in recent years occasioned doubts in the minds of historians. John Johnston calls attention to the fact that the deed was not recorded until after the lapse of one hundred and twenty years, and that it was then entered on the records at Charlestown, Massachusetts. He also cites it as being remarkable that thirty-five years after this transaction, that is, in the year 1660, the names on the Indian deed, Matthew Newman and William Cox, appear as witnesses to a deed from John Brown of New Harbor to Sander Gould and his wife, who was Brown's daughter.2 More recent studies of this document have led contemporary students of Maine history to the conclusion that it is a forgery perpetrated by certain of Brown's descendants to establish a claim to a considerable portion of the Muscongus area. The evidence is set forth in detail by Wilbur D. Spencer, and it appears conclusive.3 The document is in no sense precise as to its bounds and points from which bearings are given; but even when construed generally, it pushes the extreme northern boundary of the claim beyond the limits of the townships of Waldoborough and Jefferson to about the center of Washington. Its outline, sketched on the map in this chapter showing the original land grants, can naturally be no more definite than the instrument itself warrants. The validity of this claim is only an incidental and interesting factor in our history. Its sole importance arises from the fact that the descendants did enter and prosecute a claim based upon its provisions.4 This, along with other overlapping claims, constituted a momentous and destabilizing factor which was many years later replete with un- fortunate consequences in our history.
In the later disposition of the land in the Waldoborough area, the Brown claim had little more than nuisance significance. The real struggle lay between the two major grants apportioning the land in this district. Both these documents were issued just prior to 1635 - in the period of greatest activity on the part of The Council for New England. This timing was particularly propitious especially from the standpoint of those interested in colonization, for it was only a little earlier in this century that the
2History of Bristol, Bremen and Pemaquid.
3Pioneers on Maine Rivers (Portland, 1930).
"The later heirs in the eighteenth century exhibited an unusual degree of freedom and irresponsibility in selling and conveying lands in this area to all purchasers with little reference to specific metes and bounds.
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The Staking of Claims
Indian population in this and contiguous districts had been greatly reduced. First they were decimated by a relentless inter-tribal war. Following close on its heels came the great pestilence, which was most deadly in the regions west of the Penobscot. Captain Dermer, who explored along the coast a couple of years later, in 1619, found areas a few years before occupied by natives now entirely vacated. The bones of the dead were left bleaching on the ground for years in some places, as the living dared not bury them.
This diminution of savage strength was regarded as provi- dential by the English, as the Indians, even at this early date, were manifesting signs of acute suspicion due to continued mistreatment. As matters stood the very first settlers were given a respite from other than economic troubles in which to establish themselves. The fate of the Pilgrims at Plymouth might have been very different had they not found land cleared, unclaimed, and waiting for their first crops as a consequence of this plague. In England the attitude of those interested in American enterprises is re- flected clearly in the Patent of New England granted by James to Ferdinando Gorges and his associates on November 3, 1620, where it is written:
We have been further given certainly to know, that within these late years, there hath, by God's visitation, reigned a wonderful plague amongst the savages there heretofore inhabiting, in a manner to the ut- ter destruction, devastation and depopulation of that whole territory, so that is not left, for many leagues together, any that do claim or challenge any kind of interest therein.
Under such conditions The Council for New England became very active. It became even more active in the 1630's, when it realized that its life was destined to be short. On June 7, 1635, it was compelled to surrender its charter to the King. Before dis- solving, however, its members divided by lot among themselves all the territory remaining within the limits of the grant, appar- ently in the expectation that the King would confirm this arrange- ment. Of the thirteen recorded grants made of Maine territory within the Council's brief lifetime of fifteen years, three included territory within the Waldoborough area. The first of these, to John Peirce and his associates on June 1, 1621, has already been reviewed. The second was a grant to John Beauchamp of London and Thomas Leverett of Boston, England, on February 12, 1630. The latter was apparently a member of Cotton Mather's church in Boston, England, and may have come with Mather to Boston in New England in 1633 as he was on October of that year there chosen a ruling elder of the church. John Beauchamp, too, came to Boston, but at a later date.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
This grant was known as the Lincolnshire, or Muscongus, Patent. As it formed the basis of all the original allotments of land in Waldoborough, the document is here presented:
To all to whom this presented shall come greetings Know yee that the counsell established att Plimouth in the Countie of Devon for the planting ruleinge orderinge and governinge of New Englande in Amer- ica for Divers good Causes and Considerations them thereunto especially moveinge. Have given granted bargained souled infeoffed allotted and sett over and by these presents doe cleerly and absolutely give grant bargaine sell alien enfeoffe allott assigne and confirme unto John Beau- champe of London gent and Thomas Leverett of Boston in the Countie of Lincolne gent their heires assiciats and assignes All and singular those Landes and Tenements and hereditaments whatsoever with the appur- tenances thereof in New England aforesaide which are sittuate lyinge and beinge within or Betweene a place there commonly called or Knowne by the name of Musrongrus towarde the South or Southwest and a Straight Line extendinge from thence directly Tenn Leagues up into the Maine Lande and continend thence toward the greate Sea com- monly called the South Sea and the Utmost Limitte of the space of Tenn Leagues on the North and the North Easte of a river in New Englande aforesaide commonly called Penobscott towards the North Easte and the greate Sea commonly called the Westerne Ocean towards the Easte and a Straight and direct line extendinge from the most westerne parte and pointe of the said straighte line which extends from Muscongeus aforesaide towards the South sea to the uttermost Northerne Limitte of the said Tenn Leagues on the North side of the said River of Penobscott towards the weste and all Landes grounde wood soiles Rivers waters Fishings hereditaments proffitts commodities priviledges franchises and emoliments whatsoever situate lyinge and beinge ariseinge happeninge or remaing or which shall arise happen or remain within the Limittes and Boundes aforesaide or any of them Together with all said lande whatsoever and be within the space of Three miles of the saide Lande and premisses or any of them To HAVE AND TO HOLDE all and singularly the saide Lande Tenements and Hereditaments and premisses whatsoever with the appurtenances and every parte and parcell thereof unto the said John Beauchampe and Thomas Leverett their heires asso- ciats and Assigns forever to their only proper and absolute use and be- hoofe of the said John Beauchampe and Thomas Leverett their heires Associates and assignes for evermore To Be HOLDEN of the Kinges most excellent Majesty and successors as of his Manner of East Green- wich by Fealtie only and not in Capite nor by Lengthe of service YIELD- ING and PAYING unto his Majtie his heires and Successors the fifthe parte of ALL such Oare of gold and silver that shall be gotten and ob- tained in or upon the premisses or any parte thereof In WITNESS whereof the said Counsell established att Plimouth in the Countie of Devon for the plantinge ruleinge orderinge and governinge of New Englande in America have hereunto putt their Common Seale the thir- teenth day of March in the first yeare of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lorde Charles by the Grace of God Kinge of Englande Scotlande France and Irelande Defender of the Faithe &c. ANNO Domini 1629.5
R. WARWICKE
"Archives, Mass. Hist. Soc. (Boston, Mass.).
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The Staking of Claims
This document was drawn up by a group of men in England, not one of whom had ever been on the Maine coast, and with a map certainly no more detailed or accurate than the crude out- line published by Captain John Smith in 1616.6 Its every mark bespeaks vagueness and haste. It was based on no survey. In con- sequence its metes and bounds are ill-defined indeed. In the eight- eenth century they were construed as being from the seaboard between the Penobscot and Muscongus rivers to an unsurveyed line inland, running east and west, and as far north as would, without interfering with any other grant, embrace an area equal to thirty square miles. Despite the almost meaningless vagueness of this grant, its western bound was the only one ever successfully disputed. This arose from the looseness in early times with which the name Muscongus River was used. It was variously applied. Did it mean in the patent the present Medomak, or the small stream running into the sound at Muscongus, or was it the present Pemaquid River? It is highly doubtful if the hand that drafted this document could have given an answer to the question. Of these rivers, however, the Medomak was the only one of any importance by reason of size and became by court ruling the eventual western bound of the Muscongus Grant.
The original patent of Beauchamp and Leverett was purely a land grant and implied no powers of civil government. It was originally acquired for purposes of trade with the natives; and this was the first use ever made of it; for immediately after the acquisition the patentees appointed two agents, Edward Ashley and William Pierce, and dispatched them with five men to the St. Georges River where a truck house was built near the recently restored mansion of General Henry Knox. Here trade was in- augurated and carried on until the outbreak of King Philip's War (circa 1675) when the station was of necessity abandoned.
On the death of Beauchamp, Leverett, in the right of survivor- ship, succeeded to the whole patent. From him and wife, it passed in 1656 to his son, Captain John Leverett, who later became Governor of Massachusetts. Amid territorial shifts in this section at the close of each war between the English and the French, Leverett kept an eye on his eastern interests and maintained pos- session by his trade with the natives. In 1714 the patent descended to John Leverett, President of Harvard College, and a grandson of the original grantee.7 He seriously considered planting settlers
"This document and the alleged Samoset deed to John Brown are contemporaneous. A comparison of the style, diction, and orthography are most revealing.
"And after the death of the said John Leverett the same descended to and became the sole and absolute estate and property of his grandson and heir-at-law, John Leverett of Cambridge in the County of Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Bay, (the said Governor leaving no son). This inheritance was through Rebecca Lloyd, a daughter of Gov. Leverett. Lincoln Co. Reg. of Deeds (Wiscasset, Me.), Bk. 9, p. 220.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
on his grant; but feeling that the undertaking was too formidable for a single person, he associated others with himself and on August 14, 1719, divided the grant into ten shares. These were held by eight associates, as follows: John Bradford, twelve parts; Sarah Byfield, twelve parts; Elisha Cook, twenty-four parts; Han- nah Davies, twelve parts; Nathaniel Hubbard, twelve parts; John Leverett, twenty-four parts; James Oliver, twelve parts; Spencer Phips, twelve parts. The shares allotted to Spencer Phips, adopted son of Governor Sir William Phips, were in exchange for a title which Sir William had obtained from the Penobscot Chief, Ma- dockawando, in May 1694, of land on the St. Georges River as far up from the mouth as the lower falls or head of tide. By the absorption of this title the associates could claim unchallenged the Penobscot as their eastern bound.
In 1737 the Muscongus Grant was again divided, and others called the "Twenty Associates" were admitted into the Company as tenants in common, under mutual obligations for procuring settlers and making preparations for their accommodation.8 Among these twenty additional associates were Cornelius Waldo9 and Jonathan Waldo, the uncle and father of General Samuel. It was in this way that the Waldo family acquired a direct interest in the Muscongus Patent.
In the year 1729, while the grant was still in the hands of the eight associates, the effort to establish a settlement on the St. Georges River was renewed and an unexpected check received. It was at this same time that Colonel David Dunbar, a former colonel in the King's army, had received an appointment as Sur- veyor of the King's Woods in America, and through the aid in England of parties hostile to the Puritans, had also obtained a royal order under which the entire province of Sagadahoc was given into his hands; and he was directed to settle, superintend, and govern it, the only condition laid upon him being that he was enjoined to preserve 300,000 acres of the best oak and pine for the use of the Royal Navy. Dunbar was an able, positive, and energetic man; and through him the Muscongus Proprietors received a decided setback in their plans for a settlement. He forbade the Muscongus Proprietors proceeding on any other condition than that of taking deeds under him, a procedure which would of course have been an acknowledgment of the invalidity of their own claim.
In consequence of this position taken by Dunbar, petition and complaints against him were submitted to the General Court. A committee of this body made a full report on the claims of
8For indenture or Great Plan, containing names of all associates as well as map based on a survey of the Grant, see York Co. Reg. of Deeds (Alfred, Me.), Bk. 20, p. 109.
"There was a Cornelius in each generation, grandfather, uncle and cousin of Samuel. Waldo Genealogy, Arch. Am. Antiq. Soc. (Worcester, Mass.).
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The Staking of Claims
Massachusetts and on the conduct of Dunbar. A statement of the whole case was ordered to be presented to the Lords of Trade, and his dismissal was solicited. Samuel Waldo of Boston was sent to England to represent the interests of the colony in this case. His intercession was successful. On August 11, 1731, the King's attorney and solicitor general gave their opinion in favor of Massachusetts and the proprietors. On his return from this mis- sion, Waldo was granted a further substantial interest in the patent and from then on became the dominant proprietor. In the inden- ture of December 12, 1737, "Ninety Great Lotts, & all of the said Twenty Lotts are claimed by, & Belong to the Said Samuel Waldo, as assignee of the said Twenty two last named Associates of and in the said lands on the Main." Of the one hundred and twenty lots in the grant, Waldo at this time was in possession of one hundred and ten. The "Great Lotts" were located in the inland area of the grant, while the whole coastal district had been divided into smaller lots in order that each associate might have access to the sea. This indenture of 1737 shows Waldo in possession of the whole coastal area of the Patent, and of ninety of the one hundred of the larger inland lots. From this time on, the colonization of this area became a matter under the exclusive direction of Samuel Waldo.10
From his return from England in 1731, the Muscongus Patent had become Waldo's major interest, and a good part of his time was devoted to extending his control and to plans for the develop- ment of the project. It was as though he feared that his claim under the grant to the lands on the west side of the Medomak River and Muscongus Bay was in no sense either certain or secure. Only in the light of such misgivings on his part can we explain his purchase in 1733 of such lands from James Stilson, Jr., an heir of the dubious Brown claim.
On August 8, 1660, John Brown of New Harbor had con- veyed by a deed of gift to his son-in-law, Alexander Gould, and wife, a rather large section of land, known as the "eight mile square tract," which embraced a large area of the present town of Waldoboro -in fact, nearly the whole west bank of the Medomak from Broad Cove to Winslow's Mills and beyond. This is described in the deed as
a certain tract or parcel of land, lying in Broad Bay, beginning at a pine tree marked in the western most branch of the bay;11 from thence
1ºAn indenture of May 20, 1743, restates this division as follows: ". .. . whereas this John Leverett and the other associates and partners to the present number of thirty Contracted and Agreed with Mr. Samuel Waldo of Boston Merchant that he the sd. Waldo should fully complete the settlement of this Tract of Land and perform all the terms and conditions. In consideration whereof they gave and granted unto the said Waldo all the aforesaid Tract of Land and premises . . . except 100,000 acres thereof, which the Associates or Proprietors reserved to themselves." York Co. Deeds (Alfred, Maine), Bk. 24, pp. 35-36.
11The present Broad Cove.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
north northest by Muscongus River12 eight miles; from thence eight miles northwest and by west; from thence south southwest eight miles; from thence south, east and by east eight miles to the tree where it first began.
The Brown Claim 1625.
The Beauchamp Leverett Grant (Waldo Claim) 1629 -..
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