USA > Maine > Maine Public Lands 1781-1795 : claims, trespassers, and sales > Part 3
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a continuation of a practice that had been the custom in Province days.
In addition to the running of lines, the surveyors were also instructed to inspect the land as they worked and submit a complete report of their observations with their plans. Anything that had any bearing on the value of the land was to be mentioned.
One item of importance was the nature of the growth found there. What kind of trees did they see? Were they good for timber? These were the kinds of questions the answers to which anyone wishing to set a price on the land must know.
The terrain was another item of importance. The streams and the rocks, the hills and the flat lands were significant items of interest to anyone dealing with the business. Many buyers would plan to estab- lish farms and they would want land that was as easy to work as pos- sible. Steep hillsides and rock strewn acres would present no welcome to such a person but flat land, free of rocks and well watered, would attract him.
The quality of the soil was also to be mentioned. This was a matter of extreme importance to a farmer and would have a large part in determining the productivity of his labor.
Finally came the factors affecting the accessibility of the location. The men who settled there would be pioneers, able to rely
6. Mass. Resolve, Jan. 27, 1764, Chap. 243; Masa Resolve, June 11, 1771, Chap. 12.
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on themselves very largely to provide whatever they needed. But they still must have contact with the outside world. There were some necessary items which they could not make or grow, and there were some things they would make this wilderness produce which would have to be taken to market. Surveyors were directed to note the distance to settlements or navigable waters - most pioneer transportation was by water in this area.
The General Court instructed the Committee to finish its work in York County before the next session of the General Court, which was to be held in the fall. The Committee was also to "pursue and accomp- lish" if possible its work in Cumberland and Lincoln Counties, which comprised the rest of the District of Maine. When the General Court met at this next session, the Committee was to give it a report of its doings.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth was directed by this resolve to send each man on the Committee a copy of the resolve.
OCTOBER 28, 1783
In October, 1783 a General Court joint committee which had been studying the land situation with the purpose of making recommendations for a practical course of action presented a report to the General 7 Court. This report stated that it was its conclusion that the public
7. Preliminary paragraph to Mass. Resolve, Oct. 28, 1783, Chap. 102, Eastern Lands, Box 9, Bonds, Contracts, Permits, etc., etc., 1784-1853; Copies of Resolves Relating to Eastern Lands.
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land should be sold for government securities. It especially recom- mended that such of the land as could be formed into townships should be laid out as soon as possible and sold whenever it would bring a fair price and, when sold, had prospects of being settled within a reason- able time. Selling the land was now being given definite consideration. In order that the Legislature might know the value of these lands it suggested that it be a general rule that the surveyors make a com- plete report on them as had been required of the York County surveyors.
In response to this report the General Court passed a resolve on
October twenty-eight. 8 This resolve first dealt with the already existing Land Committee which had not been able to finish the work it had been given. Indeed, the problems of the whole District were too great for any one committee to handle within a reasonable period of time. Therefore, the General Court decided to separate the affairs in Lincoln County from those in the rest of the State and to allow the Committee to devote itself entirely to York and Cumberland Counties. In addition to the duties it already had, it was given two more responsibilities. One was a job that looked forward to a sales program. It was to have one or more towns laid out this time in Cumberland County if, in its best judgment, it was advisable. The Committee was now given the privilege of choosing the location of new towns within certain limits. In the second place it was to decide which lands would be best suited to be reserved for public uses and as a supply of timber for the government.
8. Mass. Resolve, Oct. 28, 1783, Chap. 102.
By timber was meant, no doubt, trees for masts as the State spent some little time and thought on finding a place for that purpose.
Lincoln County was taken care of by the creation of a new Committee. This Committee, with a few changes in membership along the way, handled almost entirely all of the land business in Maine until it 9 was dissolved in 1801.
It was given the same duties and powers that the other Committee had, along with special responsibilities dealing with specific conditions peculiar to its area.
In the first place it was to tackle the trespassing problem, inquiring into its extent and either coming to an agreement with the guilty parties or prosecuting them. In fact, the original draft dealt only with the trespassing question and stated that this resolve was thought necessary because trespassing was still taking place on state 10 land to a serious degree, particularly in Lincoln County.
Secondly, it was to investigate all former land grants of the Province or State. The first draft as drawn up by the Senate intended to limit this investigation to lands granted from a certain date onward, but the House amended this to include all grants made by the Province of Massachusetts Bay or since 1775. At first the Senate refused to approve such an amendment but the House remained adamant, and it was passed with that provision. The examination of the validity of the
9. Mass. Resolve, June 19, 1801, Chap. 46.
10. Original draft with Mass. Resolve, Oct. 28, 1783, Chap. 102.
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bounds claimed by persons holding property was to be given special emphasis.
Related to this work of making a definite location of the grant boundaries was the task of ascertaining the bounds of the preserve 11
which had been set aside for the Indians for hunting grounds in 1775.
This Committee was also to concern itself with a sales program. In this case it was not actually to lay out any townships as yet, but it was to consider the expediency of laying out some along the St. Croix River or wherever else it might think best.
In addition to the work it was to do with these problems of trespassing, claims clarification, and sales, it was also to decide which lands would be best suited to be reserved for public uses and as a supply of timber for the government.
To get things started at once one or more of the members of the Committee was to go to Lincoln County immediately and initiate pro- ceedings without delay. When first given an affirmative vote by the Senate this resolve directed that the Committee could delegate from one to three persons to go there to inquire into trespasses if it thought it necessary, but an accepted House amendment ordered a repre- sentation from the Committee itself to the scene.
The men appointed to this Committee were Nathaniel Wells of Wells, the only Maine resident of the three, Samuel Phillips of Andover,
11. Williamson, The History of the State of Maine ... 1820, II, 516.
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and Nathan Dane of Beverly. Each of them was to be furnished with a copy of this resolve by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
The General Court, of course, wished to be kept informed of the progress of the work, and therefore instructed the two Committees to make a report of their doings at each session of the General Court, pre- ferably at the beginning of the session. Their accounts were to be laid before the General Court for allowance and acceptance from time to time.
The Lincoln County Committee decided at once to publish a notice in a newspaper (Independent Chronicle) setting forth the purpose of its appointment and warning all persons against cutting any wood on govern- 12 ment property in the future. It also stated that a number of people had been appointed to detect and report any future trespassing, and that an attorney had been hired to prosecute such cases.
MARCH 24, 1784
In March of 1784 the York-Cumberland Committee made a report of its activities. 13 With this report it included a plan of all the unappropriated land belong to the State west of the Saco River and south of Little Ossipee River together with several grants made to private individuals at various times. It discussed settlers whom it had found who had no clear proof of their title to their land. However,
12. Eastern Lands, Deeds, I, 28, Oct. 29, 1783.
13. Report of 1781 Committee, March 10, 1784, as mentioned in Mass. Resolve, March 20, 1784, Chap. 164; Report of 1781 Committee, March 12, 1784 in Court Records.
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in all except one case it felt that these individuals did have a right- ful claim to their holdings. It also gave an account of its activity in laying out the land in York County.
After hearing this report the General Court directed this Committee to dispose of the one tract without any apparent title in such a manner as it thought would be for the best interests of the 14
state.
The unappropriated land that had been laid out (ten lots of one hundred fifty acres each and one of one hundred ninety tuo acres) was put in the hands of a new Committee of three men to sell. This is the first instance in which the State rade provisions to sell its land with a desire to sell the one major motivating factor -- previously a decision to sell had been closely involved with a desire to make a peaceable settlement with a trespasser. This Committee was given complete power to handle all phases of these transactions within the resolve requirements that the land be sold at public auction and that these auctions be advertised at certain specified times. The Committee handled the negotiations, closed the sale, collected the money, and delivered the deed.
MARCH 22, 1784.
In the meantime the Lincoln County Committee had been working on its assignment. Among other things it had looked into the question
14. Mass. Resolve, March 20, 1784, Chap. 164.
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of land grants, and had studied the past doings of the General Court and all other papers it could find on the subject. These had included a map by a man named Holland and some other general plans of the area. However, unfortunately there was "no accurate plan particulariy appli- cable to that country to be depended on." Now it was ready to report 15 its progress and make some recommendations to the legislature.
It had found that there were several large tracts claimed by certain groups, among them being the claims of the Plymouth Company, the heirs and assigns of Beauchamp and Leverett (the Waldo Claim), and those holding under the Drowne Claim. Most of these were based on ancient . grants or Indian deeds which meant that it would take some time to prepare a full report. However, it would do this as soon as possible. The Committee stated that it was its opinion that it would be wise to lay out some towns in the area, and suggested specifically that there be four on the western side of the Penobscot River, as many on its eastern side as the boundaries of the land granted to the Indians and the twelve townships conditionally granted on that side of the river would allow, and six along the western side of the St. Croix.
These townships, it thought, should be laid out by surveyors and chainmen appointed by whomever the General Court authorized to handle this business and sworn to the faithful performance of their duties. If other help was necessary, that, too, should be made avail- able. The surveyors were to follow the procedures already set up of
15. Report of Committee, March 19, 1784, with Mass. Resolve, March 22, 1784, Chap. 169. Eastern Lands, Deeds, I, 30, Jan. 1784.
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making a complete report of the areas they worked setting forth all the pertinent information they could gather.
Having advised the legislators to have these certain townships laid out the Committee went on to say:
. your Committee would beg leave to suggest, that for the purpose of preventing emigration from this into other states, and accelerating the settlement of the lands belonging to this commonwealth, it would be expedient to appoint some suitable persons to dispose of the lands before proposed to be laid out, to any subject of this or any other of the United States, who will pay therefor in specie securities due from this commonwealth .
The land sales program was gaining momentum.
Although this land was to be laid out in township units, it was thought that the expected clientele might not be able to buy the whole of a thirty six square mile tract. However, the men of the Committee believed that settlements should be made as soon as possible. Therefore, they recommended that plots ranging in size from one hundred acres to five hundred acres be conveyed by the agents of the State. Half of these townships that bordered on the river banks would be sold in plots of not more than five hundred acres to any one person at a price of not less than six shillings per acre. The rest of the towns that bordered on the river would have six thousand acres set aside to be sold in units of up to one hundred fifty acres to one person at a price considered reasonable by the state agents. In addition to the money payment re- quired, these purchasers of the second group were either to settle themselves or someone else on this property within one year after the deed was issued, "unavoidable casualties excepted." If the first group
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of towns found no ready buyers, they were to be sold in the same manner as the second. In those towns that did not have access directly to the river, three thousand acres was to be divided into tracts of one hundred acres each to be given to people who would settle there within one year of agreeing to do so and clear four acres a year for the first four years.
In each of these towns fifteen hundred acres were to be reserved for public uses, a practice carried over from provincial days.
As for the trespassers in Lincoln County, the Committee stated that as soon as the season was most favorable at least two of them were going there personally to reach agreements with those who had encroached on public lands.
The General Court considered this report and accepted it in all its details.
16 It then designated this Committee of Phillips, Dane, and Wells as the group to do this job and voted it a sum of not more than one hundred fifty pounds to meet its expenses.
Directly after this resolve was passed, the Committee made arrangements to run a notice in the Independent Chronicle for three successive issues stating that it would be in Brackett's Tavern in Boston on the first Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the following June to consider land claims in Lincoln County. All people claiming land there should present to the Committee or some of its members before that time the evidence supporting their claims. It was added that a prompt response to this notice would entitle the claimant to lenient
16. Mass. Resolve, March 22, 1784, Chap. 169.
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treatment should his claim be found invalid or if he proved to be a 17 trespasser who "shall speedily offer satisfaction therefore."
JUNE 23, 1784
By June of 1784 the Committee appointed in March to sell the York County strips was having trouble with several people who claimed portions of this land, even though the Committee of 1781 had reported only one. In answer to a number of petitions from persons asking to be quieted in some of this land, and to the request of the sales committee asking for directions concerning the problem, the General Court passed a resolve empowering the Committee to sell the parcels either at public or private sale depending upon the circumstances of the lots involved. In other words if someone was in possession of the land and agreed to buy it, the Committee could sell it to him without having to put it up at public auction as the March resolve had stipulated. This also gave the Committee the right to decide upon a fair price in such of these cases as were handled by private sale.
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JULY 9, 1784
In July the State took steps to expedite the land program. The Governor had called attention to the matter in a message to the General Court and that body had appointed a joint committee to consider his
17. Eastern Lands, Deeds I, 32-33, March 25, 1784.
18. Mass. Resolve, June 23, 1784, Chap. 34.
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remarks and make a report thereon. Subsequently, on July 9 the Court 20 passed a resolve dealing with the matters brought to its attention.
Feeling that the March resolve was too restrictive in specifying the exact number of towns to be laid out, the legislators instructed the Committee to lay out as many as it could in that season in whatever sec- tion of the country it considered best.
In order to hasten the sale of these townships surveyors were to run only their outside lines. No allowance was to be made for ponds, bogs, or meadows when measuring these towns, nor were the persons who bought them to be given anything to make up for these waste lands. The resolve contained the usual instructions with regard to surveying. Surveyors and chainmen were to be employed whenever the project required their services; they were to be under oath; and the sur- veyor was to make as full a report of the territory covered as possible.
The Committee was to give notice at once that these townships were in the process of being laid out, and when they were ready for the market, it was to announce that fact. At least one of the Committee members was to be present in or near the State House one or two days a week for six weeks successively before the opening of the winter session of the General Court to receive applications and carry on other
19. Report of Joint Committee with Mass. Resolve, July 9, 1784, Chap. 103.
20. Maas. Resolve, July 9, 1784, Chap. 103.
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necessary business, and the public was to be so informed.
Directions were given in the resolve for the guidance of the Committee in its work of making sales.
No restrictions were to be placed on the size of the plots to be sold. Rather it was to dispose of the land in tracts of whatever size in its opinion best served the interests of the State. The report of the joint committee had recommended that small quantities should be sold if enough people bought to make it seem probable that the township would be settled within a reasonable time, but the resolve itself used this more general wording.
The sale could be either a public or a private one; the Commit- tee was to decide which would be best for the State.
The Committee was to get the most it could for the land, and was to receive in payment not only the consolidated securities of the Commonwealth, but also the notes given by the State Treasurer to the Revolutionary soldiers that fall due in 1784, 1785, or 1786. The moneys received were to be deposited with the State Treasurer, who in turn vas to issue a duplicate receipt. One of these was to be lodged with the Secretary of State.
The Committee was to give deeds for whatever land it sold by virtue of this or any previous resolve.
21. Eastern Lands, Deeds, I, p. 43. An entry here shows that this was done. The inaugural opening was on the third Wednesday and Thursday of that November.
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In all cases involving land previously occupied, it was to fit its action to the peculiar circumstances of these cases. This was in line with the policy previously followed.
Reservations for public use were to be made in each town, but this time these various uses were nared and the amounts for each speci- fied. There were to be two hundred acres each for the ministry, the first settled minister, and the future use of the General Court (this last one to be near the center of town). Two hundred eighty acres were to be set aside for the grammar school. The Committee report had sug- gested two hundred acres for this use also, but the amount was increased 22 by the General Court as a whole. In province grants the fourth lot, now designated for the use of the General Court, was assigned to Harvard 23 College.
The General Court further told the Committee to decide upon some regular method for carrying on its business.
Also, the Committee was again told to submit a report to the next session of the General Court.
Some provisions were set forth in the preliminary draft of this resolve which did not find their way into the final legislation but 24 which represent some of the thinking of the time on the subject.
22. Report of joint committee with Mass. Resolve, July 9, 1784, Chap. 103.
23. e.g. Mass. Resolve, March 2, 1762, Chap. 401; Mass. Resolve Jan. 27, 1764, Chap. 243.
24. Rough draft with Mass. Resolve, July 9, 1784, Chap. 103.
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The area around the St. Croix River was still on the lawmakers' minds and a deleted clause of this resolve would have stipulated that three 25
of these towns should be laid out on that river. Another such clause called for the Committee to post bond before selling any land. A plan for a land office to provide a depository for plans of the area to which members of the General Court could rafer when the need arose was also in- cluded among the rejected portions of the original document. Finally, two members would have been added to the Committee, a land officer and a surveyor.
NOVEMBER 5, 1784
The Committee drev up and submitted to the General Court the plan of standard procedure for carrying on the Committee's operations called for by the July resolve. The recommendations made in it were approved by a resolve of November 5, 1784, and provided the basic policy for the work of the Lincoln County Committee until March 1788, when an ex- tensive revision was made. 26
In some cases the resolve provided that the Committee should continue in the paths it had been following. These included the exam- ination of claims and the investigation and treatment of trespassing on state property, settling with the individuals concerned in some cases
25. An unpassed Senate resolve dated July 8 had been designed to give the Committee the power to sell Grand Manan Island and its neighboring islands for the most it could get. Mass. Senate Document 239, July 8, 1784.
26. Mass. Resolve, Nov. 5, 1784, Chap. 45.
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and reporting the facts of the case to the General Court in others. The laying out of townships was to be continued and a report of their quality and location was to be made by the surveyor. The land that was laid out was to be sold in the manner prescribed by the July 9 resolve. In each township eight hundred eighty acres was to be reserved for further disposition by the State. The Committee was to keep on with the practice of giving periodic public notice that the land was being prepared for sale, or when such was the case that it was ready for sale at whatever terms had been decided upon.
Other sections of the resolve were the first official state- ment of policy already being followed or were directions for new practices.
Townships should be laid out bordering on the seacoast, a navigable river, or some previously located township, proceeding away from those first laid out in a regular manner.
A surveyor was to be added to the Committee to help in laying out the land and deciding upon a fair price for it. However, this man was not to be a full-fledged member. After accepting the suggestion that there be such a person on the Committee, the General Court named Rufus Putnam to the post.
In order that it might be seen at a glance just which lands had been laid out and just where they were located, the Committee was to have them drawn out on a plan with a scale of not more than three miles to the inch.
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An office was to be opened in or near the State House in Boston, and at least one member of the Committee was to be there the first and third Wednesday and Thursday of each month to receive proposals from anyone interested in making a purchase of land, and to give out inform- ation. Here, too, were to be kept the various plans of the region and a record of the doings of Government and of the Committee with regard to land matters.
At least two of the Committee (a quorum) were to hold meetings on the first Wednesday of each month and as much oftener as the business required to make final decisions on matters that had come up for action -- making final sales agreements, deciding what to do with trespassers, determining which claims were valid, and disposing of any other questions that presented themselves.
In the event that a decision regarding a question of land ownership had been made by the General Court but not respected by the other parties to the dispute, the Committee should appoint some com- petent person to prosecute the case before the law.
NOVEMBER 10, 1784
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