USA > Maine > York County > Kittery > Old Kittery and her families > Part 16
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On the twenty-fifth of the following September Rev. Isaac Hull of Boston organized a Baptist Church in Kittery with William Scriven, Elder, Humphrey Churchwood, Deacon, Robert Williams, John Morgrage, Richard Cutt, Timothy Davis, Leon- ard Drown, William Adams, Humphrey Axell, George Litten [Lydston] and several women as members. William Scriven removed to South Carolina and it is supposed that some of his flock went with him. It is certain, however, that of the above mentioned Williams, Morgrage, Cutt and Litten died in Kittery, and probably also Churchwood. Leonard Drown died in Boston.
William Scriven came from Somerton, England, and is first mentioned in a deed of land from Elizabeth Seely to him, 15 Nov. 1673. He married Bridget, daughter of Robert Cutt. 3 July 1774, and lived on the little point of land west of the Cutt-Whipple Garrison house, where the meetings of the Baptists were probably held. They suffered various persecutions. Scriven was pre- sented at Court, 6 July 1675, for not frequenting the public meet- ings on the Lord's day. The charge was not proven. He was constable in 1676. He was licensed to preach II Jan. 1682 at Boston, was imprisoned the same year for the expression of his
1Landmarks in Ancient Dover, N. H. p. 212.
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doctrinal opinions about infant baptism, was fined ten pounds and forbidden to hold any religious services at his house.
He with others resolved to leave Kittery and went to South Carolina, probably in 1684, where they settled on Cooper River, not far from Charleston. They called the place Somerton from his birthplace in England. Most of his church removed to Charleston and established a church there. He died at George- town, South Carolina, 10 Oct. 1713, leaving eleven children. He was born in 1629.
The First Christian Church of Kittery was incorporated as the First Baptist Church, since some of the legislators objected to
FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, KITTERY.
the name, on the ground that all religious denominations in this country are Christian. The name was changed to First Christian Church in 1842. This church was organized, 20 Nov. 1806, under the leadership of Ephraim Stinchfield and Moses Safford with a membership of fourteen. The first church edifice was built in 1807 on Tenney Hill, on the road to York by way of Braveboat Harbor. Moses Safford was its first pastor and con- tinued in that office till 27 April 1815. Mark Fernald was then chosen pastor and remained in office till his death, 30 Dec. 1851.
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His ministry was a very successful one, and his Autobiography is of great interest to those who wish to know minutely the history of this church. A new church built in 1842 was burned in 1849. The present church edifice, of which a cut is here presented, was dedicated 26 Jan. 1850.
The Second Christian Church of Kittery was organized 25 May 1843. In the summer of 1837 the meeting-house was built at the Foreside. Elder George M. Payne became the first pastor and served in that capacity fourteen years.
FREE BAPTIST CHURCH, KITTERY.
The Free Baptist Church at Kittery Point was organized at the house of Mrs. Susanna Fowler, 10 Nov. 1827, by Elder Henry Hobbs, with a membership of twelve. They worshiped in Braveboat Harbor school-house till their meeting-house was erected in 1828. Rev. Nathaniel Thurston was its first pastor .*
*Further particulars about the churches may be found in the History of York County. See also Coll. of Me. Hist. Society Vol. I. pp. 45-56. and Vol. V. p. 275-286, where Rev. Henry S. Burrage. D.D., has sketched the history of the early Baptists in Kittery.
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XII.
CHARACTER OF THE EARLY INHABITANTS.
The settlers of Kittery were almost all natives of England. A few came from Ireland, but their names and their religion indicate their English origin. Further proof of it is their language, for when the first emigrants were landing in Kittery, not more than one in ten of the inhabitants of Ireland could speak the English language. Scarcely a Roman Catholic could be found in Maine before 1799, when the first Roman Catholic Church in Maine was built at Newcastle. Some came from Scotland against their own will. At the battle of Dunbar, in 1651, Cromwell took some pris- oners, and not knowing anything better to do with them sent them to Boston, where they were sold to pay their passage. Some were to work seven years to gain their liberty. Some secured it sooner and a small colony of them came down to York and settled in the upper part of that town, which is called locally Scotland unto this day. Sullivan in his History of Maine mentions McIn- tire, Tucker and Maxwell as among these emigrants. Miss Sarah Orne Jewett adds the names of Leavitt and Bradwardine, or Bradeen.1 I venture to suggest the names of Warren, Grant and Hamilton" as in the same company. As for Tucker the name was more frequent than any other in Devonshire in the seven- teenth century, and I would rather look there than in Scotland for the ancestors of the Tucker family. Both Maxwell and McIntire had grants in Berwick before settling in York.
Almost nothing is known of the English origin of those who came in the colony of Capt. John Mason. The colony was prob- ably organized at London, where Mason married, lived for a time and died." I have found nothing in wills, deeds, or court
IN. E. Mag. Vol. X. p. 590. -Suffolk Deeds. I. 4. 5.
Since page seventeen of this book was printed the following certificate concerning Capt. John Mason has been brought to my attention. It con- firins what was only a probability to his biographer. It was recently
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records, to indicate the birthplace or place of residence in England of any of those who came over as servants of Mason. They were carpenters, millwrights and farm laborers, who came for no other motive than to better their financial condition.
A few were fishermen, as Billing and Lander. These with Jenkins are first found among the employes of John Winter at Richmond's Island.
The largest number probably came with Shapleigh from Devonshire. We know that Nicholas Frost, William Pepperrell, John Bray and others came from that county. Of all its towns Dartmouth was best represented in old Kittery. Hence came John Ameredeth, and the Shapleighs lived just across the River Dart, in Kingsweare. Doubtless others came with Shapleigh from this immediate vicinity. The illustration here presented shows from what a beautiful place adventurous men and women came to build them homes in the primeval forests of Kittery, for Dartmouth had been a seaport of importance for centuries before the emigrants left it. Here the fleet of Richard the Lion-hearted
obtained at the College of Heraldry in London, by Gov. John F. Hill of Maine.
"Captayne John Mason late Threasorer of the Army to our Sovereigne Lord King Charles, Departed this transitory life at the house of Mr. Wollaston in Foster Lane, London on the Twelfe day of December 1635 and being from thence conveyed to Westminster was there buried in the Abby Church on the XVth day of the same moneth in the North side towards the West ende thereof. He married Anne Da : of Edward Greene Refyner to the Kings Maty Mynte, by whom he had yssue one only Da : his sole heire named Anne maried to Joseph Tufton of Sussex, gent, who by her hath yssue two sonnes and two daughters, John Tufton his eldest sonne aged 7 yeares, at the tyme of his said grandfather's decease, and Robert 2d son two yeares olde, Anne eldest Da: of the saide Joseph by Anne his said Wife, aged nyne years and Mary his 2d Da : 3 yeares olde. This Certificate was taken by William Penson, Lancaster herauld. to be recorded in the Office of Armes, and the truth thereof is testified by Mr. Thomas Geeres, gent. one of the Procters of the Arches, was present at the Buriall of this defunct.
(Signed)
Tho: Geers
I hereby certify that the above written "Funeral Certificate" is faithfully extracted from the Records of the Heralds' College, London, and com- pared therewith by me this 5th Day of March, 1901.
(Signed).
G. AMBROSE LEE.
Bluemantle."
DARTMOUTH AND KINGSWEARE, ENGLAND.
DARTMOUTH FROM ABOVE WARFLEET.
CAP LESSI
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assembled to start on his crusade. Twelve miles up the River Dart is still the old Hall called Dartington, reminding us of the name Champernowne gave to his island home in Kittery. In the picture Dartmouth is on the left and a point of Kingsweare is seen on the right. Was this Kittery Point? I cannot say, but we know that there was a Kittery Point in Kingsweare. Here a brief description of the place may be of interest. "On the oppo- site side stands the beautiful village of Kingswear, from which the visitor can obtain a fine view of the town and harbor of Dart- mouth. Its church and in fact the whole village are memorials of extreme antiquity. An old rhyme runs thus :
When Dartmouth was a furey down, Kingswear was a market-town.
It presents a remarkably fine appearance to the beholder. The hills rise behind it in scarcely equalled grandeur, and their tops are crowned with wild, furze-clothed mounds. resembling the remains of an old Roman encampment. In passing the village the next object which presents itself is Kit- tery House, the seat of Gen. Roope, presenting a pretty appear- ance."1
From such. scenes as this came the pioneers of Maine. They left good English homes and cultivated society, braved the dangers of a voyage of two or three months in small vessels, denied themselves the luxuries and many of what we think to be the necessities of life, hewed for themselves plantations out of the forests, lived in log cabins with few articles of furniture, fought many long years against a wily and treacherous foe on every side and struggled from poverty up to plenty. Such men and women were of heroic stuff. Their energy, courage, industry, persist- ency and intelligence laid the foundations of a great state and civilization. In greatness of character the settlers in Maine and New Hampshire were not at all inferior to their brethren of Massachusetts. Historians have sung the praises of the Pilgrims and Puritans of Plymouth and Boston, while the settlers about the Pascataqua had no historian in their midst to emblazon their
1Butler's Guide to the Dart. p. 13. For the above citation, and for the picture of Dartmouth and Kingsweare I am indebted to Mrs. Henry M. Thompson of Lowell, Mass.
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characters and exploits. The religion of the pioneers of Massa- chusetts has been so much put in the front of history that some may have concluded that all the people who came to Massachu- setts towns were very pious and good and that they sought only freedom of worship. The truth is that not one out of ten of the twenty thousand that came to New England before the year 1650 came for religious motives. They came to get land and fish and lumber and minerals, in short to acquire wealth. This is the great motive that in all times has sent forth colonists.
No groups of religious people, organized as churches with pastors as leaders, settled in Maine, unless we except Parson Wheelwright and his followers in Wells, but the scattered settlers were not. therefore, irreligious. They came from religious com- munities. They, too, were Puritans in general principles, though they allowed themselves and others more liberty in the outward manifestations of religion. The picture that has been drawn and copied of the state of morals among the early settlers of Maine has no historic background in old Kittery. The following citation illustrates the way careless or prejudiced historians have written :
"Left to their own devices, with only spasmodic attempts to establish courts for the trial of offenders, it is not surprising that the inhabitants fell into a state of disorder, or that morals were at a low ebb. Little provision was made for the establishment of the institutions of religion, and none whatever for the educa- tion of the rising generation. Wearied with the strife of con- tending grantors, and finding protection from the savage foe only from Massachusetts, the settlers, though at first resisting, were glad in the end to accept the jurisdiction of that colony. With it came a stable and orderly form of government; with it came schools and churches, and in the end an improved state of morals. The disorderly element was brought under control, and Puritan institutions gave a new tone to society. "1
The charges here made against the earliest settlers of Maine are irreligion. immorality, ignorance and lawlessness. None of the charges are true so far as the settlers of old Kittery are con- cerned. and I have found no evidence that they are true of the settlers in Gorgeana, Wells, Saco. Scarborough and Falmouth.
Abbott's History of Maine, p. 538.
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At the very first courts were impossible and in general not needed. The settlers obeyed the common law of England. For settlement of land claims and inheritances principally, a court was established at Saco in 1636, and after 1640 all the people of Maine were amenable to courts regularly held. Maine did not wait for Massachusetts to give them a stable and orderly form of govern- ment. It governed itself both before and after the submission of its towns to nominal control of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There was good order among the settlers. The rights of person and property were respected. No protection from the savage foe was needed or received from Massachusetts. The settlers lived in peaceful relations with the Indians till political complications elsewhere stirred the Indians to hostility, and how grandly Mas- sachusetts protected Maine let the tragedies of Salmon Falls, Wells, Black Point and Falmouth tell.
Were the settlers and their children ignorant? Some of them had to make their mark, since schools at that time were not very common in England, but the next generation signed their names to deeds and wills. They had schools in private houses that are unrecorded. They had also religious worship, as has been shown in another chapter. Daniel Paul. Christopher Adams, William Everett, Nicholas Frost, William Leighton, William Godsoe and I know not how many more, were all sea captans. Such men did not allow their families to grow up in ignorance.
Were the earliest settlers immoral? What say the court records? There is not a charge of murder against any inhabitant of Kittery down to the year seventeen hundred and I know not how much later, only two cases of accidental manslaughter with acquittal. The body of one Robert Williams was found in the cellar of John Fabins on the east side of Spruce Creek, and the matter was investigated in the court at Portsmouth. During the first three-quarters of a century there were very few cases of assault, and these were usually the result of intoxication. Such remarkable lack of violence for so long a period speaks well for the character of the settlers. Their common privations and dan- gers made them protectors of one another.
In those days the use of alcoholic drinks was common among all classes. We are not surprised to learn in the records of court that some persons became intoxicated. Such cases were, how-
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ever, comparatively few, and the very names of the majority of those who were fined for intoxication are unknown in the sub- sequent history of the town, showing that many of the misde- meanors, for which some historians have given Maine a bad name, were committed by transient seamen and fishermen. The court records of every seaport present a similar showing down to the present time. There is no evidence whatever that the settlers of Kittery were addicted to drink more than those of Massachu- setts. Laws were made guarding and restricting the sale of liquors, and only a few were licensed to sell the same.
A careful study of the court records down to the year seven- teen hundred reveals not more than a dozen cases of petty larceny during all that time charged against the inhabitants of old Kit- tery, and several of these were small thefts committed by children. In this respect the record of the early settlers and their families cannot be surpassed by that of any other portion of New England.
It has been loosely said by some that adventurers came over here in the early days to escape due punishment for their offenses, that they took new names on arrivals, and changed their conduct with their names. I find absolutely nothing in tradition or in records of any sort to support this assertion. The origin of many of the families has been traced back to England, where their names extend back to near the time of the Norman conquest. The set- tlers of Kittery and of Maine and New Hampshire in general were honest, laborious, and God-fearing people. Their blood was as brave and pure as flowed in the veins of Englishmen.
The most frequent accusation against the children of the earliest settlers was that of belated marriage, for that is what it amounted to, since there was no proof of any misdemeanor except that a child was born too soon after marriage. Good sense would have let such parties alone, as it did later and still does. There is no evidence that the social evil was greater in those days than now : but in a sparse population every offense was noticed. Bas- tardy was very rare. The court records do not show half a dozen bad women in all Kittery down to the beginning of the eighteenth century, and one of these was sentenced to wear the letter A. It must be remembered that the purity of society in England was not then up to present standards, and that public opinion did not then condemn as it should a lack of chastity on the part of those
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affianced. Of gross immorality there were very few cases. Most young men were married at the age of twenty-one and young women at the age of eighteen. Large families were the rule rather than the exception. Children were not then an insupport- able expense, but in general they were sources of help to their parents. Boys and girls were brought up to work as a matter of necessity. There was no privileged and aristocratic class. All were about equally poor or equally rich. They did not miss the luxuries that were then unknown. The conditions that we would now think hard and almost cruel, created a brave and energetic set of men and women, of whom their more favored descendants ought to be proud. The old families of Kittery are now repre- sented in the high ranks of teachers, professional men and officers of state. For lofty character, enterprise, progress and noble liv- ing the people of no section of our country have a grander record.
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XIII.
THE NAVY YARD.
The two islands on which the navy yard is built were in the earliest times known as Puddington's Islands. It is thought that George Purington, who was living in York as early as 1640, was the first one who dwelt on these lands. He was not an owner, for 3 May 1645, Richard Vines, acting as agent for Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges, gave a perpetual lease of the islands to Thomas, son of Renald Fernald. The rent was two shillings and six pence yearly. The lease was practically a gift to the twelve- year-old son of Dr. Fernald for his father's sake. Thomas Fer- nald, 9 Sept. 1671, deeded the island next to the mainland to his brother William. This was then called "Lay Clayme" island, perhaps because Purington had laid claim to it. In 1806 this island was in the possession of Capt. William Dennett and was purchased of him by the United States government for $5,500. It then had but one house upon it and was a place for drying fish. It contains about sixty acres. About thirty years ago Seavey's Island. the old home of Thomas Fernald, was purchased by the government and added to the grounds of the navy yard.
The construction of naval vessels was carried on at the island north of these two, called originally Withers Island, then Lang- don's. and later Badger's. Here were built the Ranger, com- manded by Capt. John Paul Jones, and the frigate America of seventy-four guns, presented in 1782 to the French government. By 1826 the navy yard was well established in its present quarters and many wooden vessels were constructed here. While Benja- min Remick was naval constructor the line of battle ship "Ala- bama" was built, of seventy-four guns, now called the "New Hampshire" and still in the navy at New York; also the frigate "Santer" of forty-four guns, commenced in 1821 and launched in 1855. She was used for many years as a training ship for the midshipmen of the navy and is still in use at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. The frigate "Congress," fifty guns, launched 16
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Aug. 1841, cost four hundred thousand dollars. She was destroyed by the Confederate ram "Merrimac," 3 March 1862, at Hampton Roads, Va. The sloops of war, "Portsmouth" and "Saratoga,' 'were both built by Benjamin Remick in 1841-3, and both are in the navy to-day in constant use after sixty years of service. The "Saranac," the first steam vessel built at the Kit-
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tery yard, was launched by him in November, 1848. These were among the fastest ships of their day in the old navy.
The Kearsarge, which sunk the rebel privateer "Alabama," was built at this yard. The last ship built here was launched about twenty-five years ago.
Our first illustration shows the approach to the navy yard from Kittery Foreside. The view was taken from the roof of the hotel. It shows on the left a little of the recently constructed railroad bridge. The immense building on the right is the old Franklin ship house, built in 1820, two hundred and forty feet long by one hundred and thirty-one feet wide. It took its name from the frigate "Franklin" built here.
There are not less than one hundred buildings on the islands devoted to the purposes of war. The yard will be used for the repairing of naval vessels. The second illustration shows more
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KITTERY NAVY YARD, 1902.
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fully the large old ship house and on the extreme left the iron plating shop. There is a glimpse of Crooked Lane, and beyond it is the railroad winding through the Traip estate. The village of Kittery is spread out before us and away over the woods may be seen houses on the west side of Spruce Creek. A little glimpse of the Pascataqua appears in the distance on the left. The work of demolishing the oldest buildings to make room for something better is indicated in the foreground.
The next illustration shows the ship house and iron plating shop on the extreme right, the floating dry dock, the saluting battery on the wall of the timber dock to the right, and the naval store in front to the left. The island on the extreme left is now called Badger's, connected with the mainland by the bridge of the Electric Railroad. A fine residence has been built on its southern point by the late F. E. Rowell, Esq. There are a few scattered houses on this island and no traces of its former business activity. The little island near it is known as Squash Island. The bridge over the Pascataqua to Portsmouth is shown in the distance and the river winding up toward Long Reach. The second Christian Church is on the right of the picture and the spire of the Methodist Church near the center.
The floating dry dock, built in 1852, where many a warship has been repaired, is an immense wooden structure costing eight hundred thousand dollars, but it is now obsolete and will be abandoned as soon as the new dry dock shall be completed. The excavation for this is shown in the fourth illustration. It is being made in the channel that separated the two islands of the navy vard. Its depth is about forty feet, blasted out of the solid rock. It is seven hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred and thirty feet wile. Two traveling cranes are shown in the picture, with which the material of construction is handled. Coffer dams have been built at each end of the channel. This dock will be large enough to contain the largest ships of the world, and will make Kittery navy yard a permanent institution of the United States government. Its cost will be about twelve hundred thousand dollars. The stone mast house stands close by the exca- vation. The sheet of water beyond is Crooked Lane again with summer cottages all along its shore.
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The part of the navy yard known formerly as Seavey's Island contains the foundry and the naval hospital. Here were quartered the Spanish prisoners taken in the naval battle off Santiago, and here thirty-one of them are buried. The "Reina Mercedes," a Spanish cruiser captured in that fight, is now under- going repairs here and will be used as a training ship. Thus our government is getting ready to maintain peace, to do with kindred nations the police duty of the world.
The point of land which is directly opposite Pierce's Island has been an obstruction to the passage of the largest ships. The government is now blasting and mining for its removal at a cost of a million of dollars. This was called Henderson's Point from the fact that William Henderson, who married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Fernald in 1700, lived here. Thomas Fernald's house was near the southeastern point of the island, where a little ceme- tery is seen. Some broken slate tombstones may be found, and one inscription indicates the grave of Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Eastwick and daughter of Thomas Fernald.
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