USA > Maine > Maine Public Lands 1781-1795 : claims, trespassers, and sales > Part 22
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99. Jackson and Flint -- Massachusetts Contract, July, 1791, William Bingham's Maine Lands, ed. Allis, p. 48; Cony to Wells, May 3, 1793, Eastern Lands, Box 18.
100. Agreement between Phillips, Jarvis and Read, a major part of the Committee, and Jackson and Flint for themselves and associates, April 18, 1792, Eastern Lands, Box 15.
101. Wells to Read, Sept. 14, 1791, Eastern Lands, Box 17. 102. Cony to Weston, April 6, 1793, Eastern Lands, Box 18.
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might be possible to lay out some satisfactory tracts -- and he suggested a few -- he was skeptical about the matter. To begin with there was not a very great supply of satisfactory trees. Too, the terrain was of a nature that made transportation difficult. Finally, there were the thieves who would be likely to steal the timber on
Cony wrote to Wells about this letter and any tract reserved. 103
agreed with Weston about it. 104 He said it was too late to write to Boston but he wanted the opinion of at least one other member of the Committee and if Wells disagreed with him and thought tracts should be reserved he would act immediately. Wells did agree however and wrote
as much to Jarvis. 195 He even added that in his opinion any reserved tract should not be on a large river. Apparently no reservation was made here.
In July of the same year Cony wrote that he understood there was a tract suitable for masts near Sebasticook, and that he thought it 106 ought to be laid out that year.
On March 2, 1795, Jackson wrote to Knox that Holland would tell him of two townships in the "back tract" that the Committee wanted 107 for masts, but added that they must not be allowed to have them.
103. Weston to Cony, April 26, 1793, Eastern Lands, Box 18.
104. Cony to Wells, May 3, 1793, Mass. Archives, Box 18.
105. Wells to Jarvis, May 15, 1793, Eastern Lands, Box 18.
106. Cony to Jarvis, July 10, 1793, Eastern Lands, Box 18.
107. Jackson to Knox, March 2, 1795, William Bingham's Maine Lands, ed. Allis, pp. 559=560.
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The 1795 report of the Committee states that 103,680 acres in 108 three tracts within the "back tract" had been reserved for masts.
THE ST. CROIX BOUNDARY
The eastern boundary of Maine was a matter of dispute during this period. The Land Committee had an opportunity to furnish the State with pertinent information on the problem from time to time - Rufus Putnam early took occasion to write a lengthy report giving his point of view on the subject. 109 It also pointed out the need for settling the question on occasion.
The peace treaty had definitely placed the boundary at the St. Croix River. But there were several rivers in that region, all of which had other local names, and there was disagreement as to just which one was meant.
This matter, of course, was one of real concern. A decision would have to be made before land could be sold in that area with a clear title. Knox wrote to Jackson to be sure to contract for no land north of the Schoodic River because if the British claim should hold that this was the St. Croix and therefore the national boundary they would 110 be in an embarrassing situation if they had holdings there. Furthermore,
108. Report of Committee, June 16, 1795, Table 24, p. 36, Eastern "ands, Box 49.
109. Mentioned in Putnam to Committee, May 14, 1785, Eastern Lands, Box 17; "Journal of Rufus Putnam, 1784" in Rufus Putnam Papers.
110. Knox to Jackson, Dec. 17, 1791, William Bingham's Maine Lands, ed. Allis, p. 59.
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until it was made, the settlements already in the area claimed by us would tend to be unenterprising. A doubt about being able to keep the land one was working on, plus the harassing of the British officials in their efforts to maintain jurisdiction over the area, would have a 111 stifling effect on initiative. Things went on in an unsettled state for some time. Finally in 1792 the Committee hired Titcomb and Lewis De LeDernier, a Swiss who had been settled in the region for some years, to make a trip of exploration of the so-called Schoodic River. A tour 112 of five weeks duration was made and a report turned in by the two men. Both men stated that they believed the eastern branch was more considerable as it extended farther back into the country and carried a larger volume of water. The Committee then suggested to the General Court that it was very important that this matter should be settled in order that it 113
would know more exactly how much State land there was to sell.
In 1793 a General Court committee chosen to consider the dispute gave the Land Committee a job to do, 114
and in 1794, Read delivered its 115 report which was concurred in by both houses.
lll. Petition of John Cooper, agent for Township Number Eight, to General Court with Mass. Resolve, June 18, 1791, Chap. 90
112. DeLeDernier to Jarvis, Aug. 10, 1792, Mass. Senate Document 1676; report of Titcomb, Mass. Senate Document 1676. 2
113. Report of Committee to General Court, March 20, 1793, Mass. Senate Document 1676, 3
114. Boston Gazette, June 17, 1797.
115. Boston Gazette, Feb. 3, 1794.
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In 1795 the Land Committee reported that there was at that time about 2,000,000 acres in this area that was still the subject of dispute 116
between Great Britain and the United States.
PENOBSCOT INDIANS
In 1775 the Provincial General Court had issued a decree forbidding White people to trespass on a sizable tract on both sides of the Penobscot River -- a tract held by the Tarratine, or Penobscot 117 Indians. These, of course, were some of the best lands in the State, and the demand for them by White settlers was great.
In June 1784, just a few months after its appointment, the Committee recommended to the General Court that a treaty be made with these people. 118
The next year it urged that the authenticity of 119 the Indians' title be determined. At one point Jonathan Eddy expressed the view that the Indians were not anxious to hold their 120 land on the Penobscot since they had an island there, and in June
116. Report of Committee, June 16, 1795, Table 24, p. 36, Eastern Lands, Box 49.
117. Williamson, The History of the State of Maine ... 1602 1820, II, 516.
118. Eastern Lands, Deeds, I, 38, June 1784. 119. Committee Report, June 1, 1785, in Eastern Lands, Deeds, I, 58-61.
120. Occasional information regarding Lincoln County lands (date uncertain), Nathan Dane Papers, 1163-1834 (Mass. Historical Society).
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of 1786 the Committee again strongly urged that the State make an 121
agreement with the Indians that would free this land for sale.
In August 1786 such a treaty was made and all the land up to the Metawankeag River on the east side and to the Piscataquis River on the west side with the exception of certain islands was relinguished to the 122 State. It seems quite possible that the reports of the Committee may have hastened this event.
121. Report of Committee, June 10, 1786, with Mass. Resolve, July 6, 1786, Chap. 91.
122. Committee to Stone, Oct. 20, 1786, Eastern Lands, Box 17.
1
CONCLUSION
In 1781 the General Court of the new State of Massachusetts launched a program for the administration of its unappropriated land in the District of Maine, a program which encompassed the clarification of pre-Revolutionary claims, the quieting of squatters, and the sale of the land that still belonged to the Commonwealth. Fourteen years later the Court ended a period by ordering the Land Committee which had been appointed in 1783 to stop selling those lands. During this period the Legislature and the Land Committees it appointed made significant progress in each of these fields.
The validity of many old claims was open to question. The determinations of their status and boundary lines required diligent re- search by the Land Committees, who delved into all the records they could find, and talked at length with the would-be proprietors and other people who had any knowledge of the subject. The 1785-86 report on the Plymouth Company claim gives an excellent picture of the work involved. In some cases the authorities took the view that the claimants should receive their land if there was good reason to believe that it had been granted to them, even though no record of the grant could be found or all the conditions required for confirmation had not been met. As a result the Court made important agreements with several companies before 1795. Once the boundary lines had been run the 1783 Committee was able to sell the neighboring land, which was some of the best at its disposal. However, some General Court members, reflecting the opinion of many citizens, were
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opposed to anything that bore the least resemblance to a feudal estate. This attitude blocked at least one large company's attempt to get a con- firmation, and, coupled with the fact that the Committees did not push all cases to a conclusion, left a number of questions unanswered at the end of the period.
The authorities again took a moderate and lenient attitude when they tackled the problems presented by squatters. There were a number of these people on the land and they were a handicap to the Committees' attempts to settle claims and sell lands. However, realizing that these illicit settlers had made an appreciable contribution to the Common- wealth, and sensing, probably, that the almost certain product of dispossession would be turmoil, the State at all times made plots available to them at no more than a nominal fee. Throughout the period the 1783 Committee provided about one thousand squatters with tracts of one hundred acres each -- the tracts on which they had settled either directly or through agreements made with proprietors. This served to forestall violence that repressive measures might easily have brought on.
The sale of land still the property of the Commonwealth was the third of the major phases of the land program; a desire to stimulate ec- onomic prosperity, a need to pay the public debt, a wish to speculate, and the pressure of overpopulation in settled acres were its environment. The land granting activities of the Provincial Government supplied a source of knowledge upon which the General Court drew heavily as it set up
367
regulations to govern sales. By adhering to these regulations, the Committees succeeded in making sales characterized by definite boundary lines and clear titles. Enjoying varying degrees of success throughout the period, the 1783 Committee was finally selling so much land that the General Court called an abrupt halt to sales in 1795. At that time purchasers had bought about four and a half million acres for a total of approximately two hundred eighty thousand pounds. The reasons for the stoppage of sales are not completely clear. However, an anti- pathy toward large type holding certainly played a part. It may be true, too, that the legislators felt that further sales would involve an unmanageable expansion of the State's responsibilities at this time. Basic to the success of this program was the fact that the General Court established definite procedures and placed the responsibility for their execution in the hands of specific non-overlapping groups, primarily the 1783 Land Committee, which had no other official assignment.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Official Records of the State of Massachusetts.
A main body of material used in this dissertation has been the voluminous papers relating to the Eastern Lands stored in a series of boxes in the Massachusetts Archives, State House, Boston. There are fifty-three of these boxes, covering the period from 1763 to 1868. Those listed below contain the papers of the years dealt with in this paper. These papers include letters from the Committee members to other Committee members, claimants, applicants, and surveyors, letters from these people to the Committee members, official Committee reports and notations regarding decisions made, instructions to surveyors, and accounts.
Box 1 Accounts, 1785-1794.
Box 2 Accounts, 1795-1833.
Box 8
Applications for Land, 1786-1853.
Box 9 Bonds, Contracts, Permits, etc., etc., 1784-1853; Copies of Resolves Relating to Eastern Lands.
Box 10 Papers Relating to Bakerstown, Belmont, Beauchamp and Leverett Claim, Bridgham, Bucktown, E. and W. Butterfield, Foxcroft, Hartford, Hiram, New Canaan, Pejepscot, Phillips Gore, Porterfield, Searsmont, and Sumner, 1786-1820.
Box 13 Instructions to Surveyors, 1784-1820.
Box 14 Papers Relating to Islands on the Coast of Maine and Lands East of Penobscot River, 1763-1853.
Box 15 Papers Relating to Jackson and Flint Purchase, 1791-1795; Agreement between Committee on Eastern Lands and Henry Dearborn et al. for Twelve Townships, 1792.
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277
Box 16 Papers Relating to Land Lottery, 1786-1791.
Box 17 Letters, 1783-1792.
Box 18 Letters, 1793-1802.
Box 46 Miscellaneous.
Box 48 Reports, 1786-1795.
Box 49 Report, June 16, 1795.
Box 52 Papers Relating to Lands in Sandy River Valley and Canada Road, 1786-1828; Papers Relating to Trespassers, 1794-1812.
Box 53 Papers Relating to Waldo Claim, 1784-1813.
The Acts and Resolves of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts concerning the Eastern Lands and the related papers filed with the originals in the Massachusetts Archives have also supplied a great deal of information. The petitions which prompted the legislation were especially helpful. The Acts and Resolves for the legislative years 1780-1805 are printed under the title, Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 13 vols. Boston, reprinted 1890-1898. Other official records also in the Massachusetts Archives are: Eastern Lands, Deeds, etc. 7 vols. 1783-1861 , House of Representative Documents, 1775 to date. Senate Documents, 1780 to date. Journal of the House of Representatives, 1780 to date. General Court Records. 73 vols (These volumes are numbered from I to LXVIII, but volume XVII ia composed of six parts).
I have used the records listed above which cover the years 1781-1795.
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II. Other Manuscript Collections.
Other manuscript collections which I have found useful are:
Nathan Dane Papers, 1663-1834. 15 boxes, Massachusetts Historical Society.
· Kennebec Purchase Proprietors' Records, III, 1768-1800, Maine Historical Society.
Kennebec Purchase Papers, 1786-1795, Maine Historical Society.
Henry Knox Papers, 1770-1828. 67 vols., 5 boxes, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Lincolnshire Company Records, 1766-1794. 1 folder, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Lincolnshire Company Miscellaneous Papers, 1717-1802. (in the William Hickling Prescott Papers). Massachusetts Historical Society.
Pejepscot Records, II, Records of Meetings of Proprietors, 1767-1818; IX, Titles of the Pejepscot Proprietors to Their Lands, as Stated by Josiah Little, February 7, 1797. Maine Historical Society.
Phillips, Samuel to Margaret Phillips, May 26, 1787, Chamberlain Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.
Rufus Putnam Papers, 3 vols., Marietta College Library, Marietta, Ohio (used in microfilm).
William Woodward (of Hanover, New Hampshire) Papers, 1774- 1818. Maine Historical Society.
Volume XVII, 1784-1796, of the Miscellaneous Bound Volumes of the Massachusetts Historical Society contains two items which I found important for my purposes : Extracts of Journal and Field Book of a Surveyor Lately Returned from Penobscot River, 1792. Little, Daniel to Samuel Phillips, February 18, 1788.
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III. Printed Sources.
Source materials in print which I have found useful are:
Lincoln, Benjamin, A Description of the Situation, Climate, Soil and Production of Certain Tracts of Land in the District of Maine and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Philadelphia, 1793. The author and place of publication are uncertain but this citation follows Charles Evans's American Bibliography (New York, 1942).
Lincoln, Benjamin to Daniel Little, February 10, 1790, Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections for the Year 1795, IV, 153-156.
William Bingham's Maine Lands, 1790-1820, Frederick S. Allis, Jr., ed. Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Publications, vols. XXXVI, XXXVII (1954).
IV. Newspapers.
Another important source has been newspapers. Two Boston journals: The Boston Gazette and the Country Journal, 1783-1795.
The Independent Chronicle, 1795.
and the sole Maine newspaper of the period:
Falmouth Gazette later the Cumberland Gazette and still later the Eastern Herald, 1785-1795 --
have been used intensively.
V. Periodicals.
The historical journals contain numerous documents and articles of interest to students of Maine History:
The Bangor Historical Magazine later The Maine Historical Magazine, vols. I and II, 1885-1887.
Sprague's Journal of Maine History, vol. V, 1917-1918; vol. VII, 1919-1920.
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VI. Maps.
I have found most useful Osgood Carleton's Map of the District of Maine, Massachusetts Compiled from Actual Surveys Made by the Order of the General Court and under the Inspection of Agents of Their Appointment. Boston, 1802.
VII. Local Histories.
Many local histories have been examined and a number have
provided information of importance. The following is a selective list:
Butler, Francis Gould, A History of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, from the Earliest Explorations to the Present Time, 1776-1885. Farmington, 1885.
Classon, O. B., "Early Settlers," History of Litchfield and an Account of Ots Centennial Celebration 1895. Augusta, 1897.
Cochrane, Harry M., History of Monmouth and Wales. 2 vols. East Winthrop, 1894.
Cushman, David Quimby, The History of Ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle Including Early Peraquid, Damariscotta, and Other Contiguous places, from the Earliest Discovery to the Present Time, together with a Genealogy of More Than Four Hundred Families. Bath, 1882.
Emery, Edwin, The History of Sanford, Maine, 1661-1900. William Morrell Emery, ed. Fall River, Massachusetts, 1901.
Farrow, John Pendleton, History of Islesborough, Maine. Bangor, 1893.
Lapham, William B., History of Bethel, Formerly Sudbury Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890; witha Brief Sketch of Hanover and Family Statistics, Augusta, Maine, 1891.
Lapham, William B. and Silas P. Maxim, History of Paris, Maine from Its Settlement to 1880: with a History of the Grants of 1736 and 1771, together with Personal Sketches, a Copious Genealogical Register and an Appendix. Paris, Maine, 1884.
7 81
Lapham, William B., History of Rumferd, Oxford County, Maine, from Its First Settlement in 1779, to the Present Time. Augusta, 1890.
North, James W., The History of Augusta from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time: with Notices of the Plymouth Company, and Settlements on the Kennebec; together with Biographical Sketches and Genealogical Register, Augusta, 1870.
Ridlon, G. T., Early Settlers of Harrison, Maine, with an Historical Sketch of the Settlement, Progress and Present Condition of the Town, Skowhegan, 1877.
Ridlon, G. T., Sr., Saco Valley Settlements and Families. Historical, Biographical, Genealogical, Traditional, and Legendary, Portland, Maine, 1895.
Sibley, John Langdon, A History of the Town of Union, in the County of Lincoln, Maine, to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, with a Family Register of the Settlers before the year 1800, and of their Descendants, Boston, 1851.
Spurr, William, Samuel, A History of Otisfield, Cumberland County, Vaine from the Original Grant to the Close of the Year 1944, Oxford, Maine, 1953. Compiled and published by the author.
Street, George E., Mount Desert: A History, Samuel A. Eliot, ed. New ed. Boston, 1926.
Walker, Ernest George, Embden Town of Yore: Olden Times and Families There and in Adjacent Towns. Skowhegan, Maine, 1929.
Wheeler, George Augustus, History of Castine, Penobscot, and Brooksville, Cornwall, New York, 1923.
Whitman, Charles Foster, A History of Norway, Maine, from the Earliest Settlements to the Close of the Year 1922. Norway, Maine, 1924.
VIII. Other Works.
Akagi, Roy Hidemichi, The Town Proprietors of the New England Colonies, A Study of Their Development, Organization, Activities and Controversies, 1620-1770. Philadelphia, 1924.
382
Bidwell, Percy wells, Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Transactions, XX (1916), 241-399.
Bond, Beverly W., Jr. "Rufus Putnam," Dictionary of American Biography, XV, 284-285.
Bullock, Charles Jesse, Historical Sketch of the Finances and Financial Policy of Massachusetts from 1780 to 1905. American Economic Association, Publications, 3rd. Ser., VIII, No. 2 (1907).
Collins, Edward Day, A History of Vermont, with Geological and Geographical Notes, Bibliography, Chronology, Maps, and Illustrations. Boston, 1903.
Dwight, Timothy, Travels in New England and New York, 4 vols. New Haven, 1822.
Greenleaf, Moses, A Statistical View of the District of Maine: More Especially with Reference to the Value and Importance of Its Interior. Addressed to the Consideration of the Legislators of Massachusetts. Boston, 1816.
Handlin, Oscar and Mary Flug, Commonwealth; A Study of the Role of Government in the American Economy: Massachusetts, 1774-1861. New York, 1947.
Kendall, Edward Augustus, Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States in the Year 1807 and 1808. 3 vols. New York, 1809.
Kidder, Frederick, Military Operations in Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia during the Revolution, Chiefly Compiled from the Letters and Journals of Colonel John Allan, with Notes and a Memoir of Col. John Allan. Albany, 1867.
La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, duc de, Travels Through the United States of North America, The Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797, with an Authentic Account of Lower Canada. H. Neuman, tr. 2 vols. London, 1799. Maine: A History. Louis Clinton Hatch, ed. 5 vols. Centennial ed. New York, 1919.
Mathews, Lois Kimball, The Expansion of New England: The Spread of New England Settlement and Institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865. Boston, 1909.
Moody, Robert E., "Moses Greenleaf", Dictionary of American Biography, VII, 582-583.
383
Morison, Samuel Eliot, "John Brooks, " Dictionary of American Biography, III, 79-81.
Horse, Anson Ely, The Federalist Party in Massachusetts to the Year 1800. Princeton, 1909.
Purcell, Richard Joseph, Connecticut in Transition, 1775-1818. Washington, 1918.
Putnam, Rufus, The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and Certain Official Papers and Correspondence, Rowena Buell, comp. and ed. Boston, 1903.
Quincy, Josiah, An Address Delivered at the Dedication of Dane Law College in Harvard University, October 23, 1832, Cambridge, 1832.
Robbins, Roy M., Our Landed Heritage: The Public Domain, 1776-1936. Princeton, 1942.
Smith, Edgar Crosby, "Our Eastern Boundary; The St. Croix River Controversy, " Maine: A History. Louis Clinton Hatch, ed. 5 vols. Centennial ed. New York, 1919, I, 83-104.
Sullivan, James, The History of Land Titles in Massachusetts, Boston, 1801.
Talleyrand, Perigord, Charles Maurice de, Talleyrand in America as a Financial Reporter, 1794-1796: Unpublished Letters and Memoirs. Hans Huth and William Pugh, trs. and eds. American Historical Association, Annual Report for the Year 1941, II.
Tappan, David, A Discourse, Delivered in the South Meeting House in Andover, before His Excellency the Governor, the Honorable Council, the President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at the Funeral of His Honor, Samuel Phillips, Esq., Late Lt. Gov. of Said Commonwealth, Feb. 15, 1802. Boston, 1802.
Taylor, John Lord, A Memoir of His Honor Samuel Phillips, LL, D. Boston, 1856.
Williamson, William D., The History of the State of Maine; from Its First Discovery, A. D. 1602 to the Separation, A.D. 1820, Inclusive, 2 vols., Hallowell, 1832.
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The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance he received from the several libraries he consulted. Because so much of the material was in the Massachusetts Archives, the people there were often asked for aid which they gave graciously in every case.
.
ABSTRACT
In 1781 the General Court of the new State of Massachusetts launched a program for the administration of its unappropriated land in the District of Maine, a program which encompassed three main phases: the clarification of pre-Revolutionary claims, the quieting of squatters, and the sale of the land that still belonged to the Commonwealth. Fourteen years later it ended a period by ordering the Land Committee which had been appointed in 1783 to stop selling those lands. During this period the Legislature and the Committees it appointed made significant progress in each of these fields.
Despite the fact that the Province Government had devised a particularly efficient land grant system, 1781 found claims in Maine confused - authorities which controlled the area before Massachusetts bought it had not always handled these grants well, and Massachusetts itself had not followed its own system closely immediately before the Revolution. The Land Committees and the General Court settled some claim disputes during this period, but some remained to be resolved in later years. A 1791 act, not tested thoroughly before the period ended, established a method of restoring improperly claimed land to the State.
The authorities again took a moderate and lenient attitude when they tackled the problems presented by squatters. There were a number of these people on the land and they were a handicap to the Committees' attempts to settle claims and sell lands. However, realizing that these
385
386
unlawful settlers had made an appreciable contribution to the Commonwealth, and sensing that the almost certain product of dispossession would be turmoil, the State at all times made plots available to them at no more than a nominal fee. During the period, the 1783 Committee provided about one thousand squatters with tracts of one hundred acres each - the tracts on which they had settled - either directly or through agreements made with proprietors. This served to forestall violence that repressive measures might easily have brought on.
The sale of land still the property of the Commonwealth was the third of the major phases of the land program; a desire to stimulate economic activity, a need to pay the public debt, a wish to speculate, and the pressure of overpopulation in settled areas were its environment. The land granting activities of the Provincial Government supplied a source of knowledge upon which the General Court drew heavily as it set up regulations to govern sales. By adhering to these regulations, the Committees succeeded in making sales characterized by definite boundary lines and clear titles. Enjoying varying degrees of success during the period, the 1783 Committee was finally selling so much land that the General Court called an abrupt halt to sales in 1795. At that time the Committee had sold or contracted to sell about four and a half million acres for a total of approximately two hundred eighty thousand pounds, Bingham's"back tract" excepted. The reasons for the stoppage of sales
387
are not completely clear. However, an antipathy toward large holdings certainly played a part. It may be true, too, that the legislators felt that further sales would involve an unmanageable expansion of the State's responsibilitet this time.
The Court was fortunate in finding for the 1783 Committee public spirited, hard working men, who followed the prescribed procedure conscientiously. To this unit, whose sole official responsibility was the administration of the public lands, must be attributed much of the success enjoyed by the land program.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
I was born in New Gloucester, Maine, August 13, 1919, the son of Donald Greenwood and Lillian Corbett Bridgham. My high school education was received at Pittsfield (Massachusetts) and Freeport (Mainc) High Schools, and ended with my graduation from Freeport in 1936. I was granted a bachelor of science degree from Gorham (Maine) State Teachers College in 1942, a master of education degree from Boston University in 1947, and a master of arts degree from Boston University in 1948. While at Boston University I was elected to Pi Gamma Mu, national honorary social science fraternity. History was my major subject throughout my college career. Most of my three years' service in World War II was spent as an Eighth Air Force medical corpsman in England. For three years I worked as a teacher in elementary schools in the northeastern part of the country. Since 1953 I have been employed by an aluminum fabrication plant in Baltimore, Maryland, where I am presently assigned to the purchasing department.
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