USA > Maine > York County > Kittery > Old Kittery and her families > Part 2
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It would be hardly proper to publish a history of Kittery without biographical sketches of the two men who were the pro- moters of its settlement, notwithstanding so many excellent accounts of them have been already published. Neither Gorges
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nor Mason ever visited this region, according to general opinion, though it was asserted in a legal suit that they together made a voyage along the coast of Maine. Both spent many years and much money in planting colonies along the Pascataqua. and neither lived to see the fruits of his endeavors. While their associates soon became discouraged and withdrew from the enterprise, these two continued to plan and expend their money for the development of the plantations as long as they lived. Both were men of marked ability and of sterling character. Maine should honor herself by the erection of suitable memorials to Capt. John Mason at South Berwick and to Sir Ferdinando Gorges at York. The descendants of those whom these two men sent at their own expense to this country are scattered in great numbers throughout Maine and all the United States. Many of them still reside upon the lands which Gorges and Mason pur- chased at a great price. All such, together with the patriotic cit- izens of Maine, should unite to do tardy honor to the memories of these two great patriots and philanthropists.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges was the youngest son of Edward Gorges and the grandson of Sir Edmund Gorges and Lady Anne Howard. He was born in 1565, probably in Clerkenwell. He became a soldier early in life, and in 1588 was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, in the Low Countries. Three years later he was captain in the English forces sent to aid the King of France against the Leaguers. He was wounded in battle, and for gal- lantry and bravery was knighted by the commander of the English forces before the besieged city of Rouen, 8 Oct. 1591. In 1595 he was rewarded with the command of the Fort and also of the Isle of St. Nicholas at Plymouth, England. He held that position till 1629 with honor to himself and to the nation. It is said that the trivial circumstance of having seen some kidnapped aboriginal Americans in Plymouth first interested him in colon- ization schemes and so changed the tenor of his life. He formed the acquaintance of the leading men interested in the same sub- ject. In 1629 he resigned his post at Plymouth and retired to Ashton Phillips, in Somersetshire, where he devoted the remainder of his life to the furthering of his plantations in Maine. He wrote a narrative of the efforts of himself and his associates, which was published after his death. He was specially interested in the colony at York, first called Gorgeana,
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which was chartered as a city. Here lived two near relatives of his own name as Deputy Governors. A mere accident pre- vented him from executing his plan of visiting his Province of Maine. He died 14 May 1647.
Capt. John Mason was son of John Mason of King's Lynn, Norfolk County, England, who married Isabel Steed. He was baptized 14 Dec. 1586. There is some evidence that he was for a time a student at the University of Oxford. He married, 29 Oct. 1606, Anne, daughter of Edward Greene, of London, gold- smith. He became a captain in the English Navy and com- manded an expedition to the Hebrides in 1610, the expense of which he paid and was never reimbursed. He then became Gov- ernor of Newfoundland, where he remained about six years. He made a survey and map of the island and wrote "A Brief Dis- course of the Newfoundland," which was printed in 1620. In 1626 he was made Treasurer and Paymaster of the English armies employed in the wars with France and Spain. In 1634 he was appointed captain of the South Sea Castle, at Portsmouth, England. He was already Vice-President of the Great Council for New England. When Sir Ferdinandio Gorges was made Governor of New England, Mason was chosen as Vice-Admiral. All these offices show the esteem in which he was held and his executive ability. His relation to the plantations in Maine and New Hampshire are incidentally set forth elsewhere in this book. He died in December, 1635, and was buried, probably in West- minster Abbey. From his only child, Anne, who married Joseph Tufton, there are descendants living in America. He is justly styled the founder of New Hampshire. He might also be called, and more precisely, the Founder of the Berwicks, Maine. He was a Churchman, and hence was spoken of slightly by Winthrop and the Puritans of Massachusetts, but the Bay State can boast of no nobler founders than Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, wise, able, patriotic, self-sacrificing, and not without the religious spirit. as their letters and acts testify. It is time for the sons of Maine and of New Hampshire to quit singing the praises of the Puritan Fathers, who were not their fathers, and to magnify the deeds and characters of the great men who gave them "a local habitation and a name."1
See John Ward Dean's Capt. John Mason. and the collection of Masoniana in Vol. XXVIII. of N. H. State Papers.
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II. EARLIEST SETTLERS.
The honor of having first seen the shores of the Pascataqua is, doubtless, due to Martin Pring, who in 1603, sailing in the Speedwell and the Discoverer, coasted along the shores of Maine from the Penobscot and sailed up a river three or four leagues, probably to Quamphegan Falls. Particular mention was made. in the narrative of the voyage. of the beautiful groves and sundry sorts of beasts they saw, but no natives were seen to traffic with and so their stay was brief. They did not find, either, the medicinal sassafras of which they were in search. In 1614 Capt. John Smith of Pocahontas fame touched at a group of islands which he named for himself. the Smith Isles, but which some- how got the name, Isles of Shoals, as early as 1630. and have retained it. He, too, probably carried away some report of the river and its woode:1 banks. The fishermen learned earlier than we know that there was good fishing near the mouth of the Pas- cataqua, and the islands were manned, if not inhabited, when the mainland had only a few scattered settlers. For many years no woman was allowed to be a resident there.
There is no historical record of any settler at the mouth of the Pascataqua earlier than 1623. There is an indenture, dated 14 Dec. 1622, between David Thomson of Plymouth, England, and three merchants. Abraham Colmer, Nicholas Sherwill, and Leonard Pomery, which recounts that the Council for New England had granted six thousand acres of land to Thomson, 16 Oct. 1622. There has been found in the Public Record Office in London a Patent to David Thomson and two others "for a pt of Piscatawa river in New England." This shows that the name of the river was well known in London in 1622, and that prob- ably David Thomson had visited it. The point in the river may have been that which for some unexplained reason only a few years later was called Thompson's Point. The grant seems to have been an infringement upon that of Gorges and Mason, made two months carlier. This may be a reason why Thomson did not
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AND HER FAMILIES
remain long. The early accounts all call him a Scotchman, but the indenture names him as of Plymouth. His marriage to Amias Cole was recorded at Plymouth, 13 July 1613. He came over in 1623 and built a house at "Little Harbor," now Rye, N. H. The spot has been located at Odiorne's Point. Some say it was a stone house, afterward called Mason Hall. Only three or four companions came with him and the building of such a house as the first one in a wilderness was difficult if not improbable. Others think that the stone house may have been built later by workmen sent over by Mason. At any rate Thomson had a house of some kind and lived in it till 1626, when he moved to an island in Beston Harbor, which has since borne the name, Thompson's Island.' This had been granted to him by the Council at the same time with the six thousand acres. He died soon
"The General Court granted the above mentioned island to John, son of David Thomson. 10 May 1648. It is probable that he became of age a little before that time. In the first volume of Suffolk Deeds, under date 27 (2) 1650 is found the following: "John Thompson of London acknowledged himselfe indebted to Joseph Jackson & Hugh Browne of Bristoll mercht in the sume of one hundred & sixty three pounds six shillings to be pd to them or theire Assignes in merchantable Codd fish at price current at Marble heade or Isle of Sholes at or before the last of may 1651. at the rate of 30 Ryals p Kint binding himselfe Execut & administrators for pformance. & in speciall his Island called Thompsons Island by way of Mortgage. with warrantee to make good the mort- gage. dat :8 (2) 1650 & acknowledged 26 (2) 1650 before Increase Nowell
John Thompson & a seale.
Though said to be of London John Thompson was still in Boston and planned to deliver goods at the Isle of Shoals the following year. The Court Records of York County show that "John Tomson" was plaintiff and Thomas Withers defendant in a suit in 1650. Nicholas Frost was attorney for Tomson. The same year Francis Champernowne brought action against John Tomson for taking away a boat. The case was arbi- trated. This may have been the son of David Thomson. There are those who declare that he died in obscurity in Greenland. N. Il., and that descendants are now living. Ilis half-sister. Mary Maverick. married. & Dec. 1655. John Pal grave; and second. 20 Sept. 1660. Francis Ilooke. the magistrate of Kittery Point. It would not be strange if John Thompson lived in the vicinity. A John Thompson is mentioned in N. H. Court Records in 1600 and was a juryman, 10 July 1671. He seems to have been of Portsmouth. For all that is known about David Thompson see Proceedings of Mass. Hist. Society. 1976. pp. 358-371.
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after, leaving an infant son, John, and widow, who married Samuel Maverick of Noddle's Island, or East Boston.
Little is known about David Thomson's stay in New Hamp- shire. He was visited by Capt. Christopher Levett in 1623. When Walter Neal arrived in 1630 as the agent of Gorges and Mason, no rights of Thomson were recognized. He probably left because he learned that an earlier patent covered his posses- sions. His place could not have been much more than a fishing station, and his nearest and, so far as is known, only neighbors were ten miles or so up the river, at a place afterward called Dover Neck, where Edward Hilton and his brother William settled in 1623. If there were any fishermen's huts built on the eastern shore of the Pascataqua before 1631, there is no record of the fact. To be sure Williamson says, "Mention is also to be made at this time of the settlements commenced on the northerly banks of the Piscataqua and the river above. These were at Kittery Point, at Spruce Creek, at Sturgeon Creek ( Eliot ), at Quampeagan Falls (or the Parish of Unity ), and the ancient Newichawannock (or Berwick), some or all of which were seven years of age in 1631. being collectively called the Plantation of Piscataqua."1 He offers no authority for the statement. None has been found. I have not been able to discover any evidence whatever that there was a single settler within the bounds of old Kittery before 1631, unless it were William Hilton, who planted corn in Eliot at an early date. This fact will be mentioned later.
About the first of June, 1630, Captain Walter Neal arrived at Little Harbor, or Pascataqua, as it was often called, as Governor of Mason's Province. He found but few to govern. Ambrose Gibbons came at the same time as factor, or general manager of the plantation. Not all had forsaken the place with Thomson, and some servants came with Neal. He occupied the house left vacant by Thomson, and after three years returned to England. In 1631 came other servants and agents, among them Humphrey Chadbourne as chief carpenter. He built the Great House at Strawberry Bank. now Portsmouth. Capt. Thomas Cammock probably came with Chadbourne, the same who afterwards settled at Black Point, in Scarborough, but earlier may have lived in Eliot. Depositions indicate that Thomas Withers, Thomas Spencer, and Thomas Crockett came in 1630 or 1631.
Williamson's History of Maine. Vol. I. p. 244.
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The plantation at Newichawannock was begun probably in 1631. Ambrose Gibbons had charge. Mason and others wrote to him under date 5 Dec. 1632, "We praie you to take care of our house at Newichewanick, and to look well to our vines ; also, you may take some of our swine and goates, which we pray you to preserve." This implies that a house had been built some time before and vines planted. Here trade was carried on with the Indians, who sometimes came to the number of one hundred. A deposition shows that a piece of land was purchased of the Indians. It probably lay on both sides of the little Newichawan- nock River, called by the natives Assabenbeduck, and now known as the Great Works River. July 13, 1633, Gibbons wrote to Mason that Thomas Wannerton had charge of the house at Pas- cataqua or Little Harbor and had with him William Cooper, Ralph Gee. Roger Knight and wife, William Dermit and one boy. Not a large colony, but Neal had been ordered previously to dismiss his household and return to England for consultation. With Gibbons at Newichawannock there were his wife and daughter Rebecca, who later became the wife of Henry Sher- burne, Charles Knil or Neal, Stephen Kidder or Teddar, Thomas Clarke, and Thomas Crockett, who is sometimes miscalled Crock- wood. Gibbons was then planning to withdraw from the ser- vice of Mason and to settle at "Sanders Point," near Portsmouth. He frees his mind a little in this letter to Mason. "You com- plain of your returnes; you take the coorse to have little. A plantation must be furnished with cattle and good hire-hands, and necessaries for them, and not thinke the great lookes of men and many words will be a means to raise a plantation. Those that have been heare this three year, som of them have neither meat money nor cloathes-a great disparagment. 1 shall not need to speak of this : you shall hear of it by others. For myself. my wife and child and 4 men, we have but ยง a bb. of corne ; beefe and pork I have not had, but on peese this 3 months, nor beare this four months, for I have for two and twenty months had but two barrels of beare and two barrels and four booshel of malt ; our number commonly hath bin ten. 1 nor the servants have neither money nor clothes." No wonder that agents put on such short rations of beef, pork and beer should seek other employ- ment, and that servants without either money or clothes should
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help themselves to Capt. Mason's belongings soon after the news of his death reached them.
In 1634 the prospect brightened. The Pied Cow, that had made one or two trips before, came again with more live stock for the plantation. It brought also to Ambrose Gibbons "one hogshead of malt to make you some beare." His lamentation had not been unavailing. Mason wrote to Gibbons that stockings,
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COW COVE AND THE OLD WARREN FARM.
suits of clothes, sugar, raisins, wine, and other good things had been sent, and no satisfaction had been received therefor. He says, "I have disbursed a great deal of money in ye plantation. and never received one penny." The agent had sent back to England some furs and quantities of stone taken from about a mile below the Great House at Strawberry Bank, supposed to contain iron.
The Pied Cow arrived & July 1634. On the 13th "she cast ankor some halfe a mile from the falle: the 18th day the shippe unladen : the roth fell downe the river: the 22d the carpenters began about the mill: the 5th of August the iron stone taken in the ship." So wrote Gibbons to Mason. The vessel brought a
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fine breed of cattle, imported from Denmark. The place where they landed, half a mile below the falls, is known as Cow Cove unto this day. The carpenters who came over to build the mills were James Wall. William Chadbourne and Jobn Goddard. These were the first mills erected in New England, to be run by water, though there were windmills for grinding corn in New- town. now Cambridge, and in Plymouth a year or two carlier. Winthrop records that on the 18th of October, 1632, "Captain Cammock and one Mr. Godfrey, a merchant, came from Piscata- quack in Captain Neale his pinnace and brought 16 hogs heads of corn to the mill."" This was a long way to carry a grist. Wall, Chadbourne and Goddard came under a contract to work for Mason for five years," after which they were to have fifty acres of land on lease for the term of three lives, paying an annual rent of three bushels of corn. Mason's idea was to have a great estate or manor after the style of English lor 's, and to rent land to tenants. This is the reason, probably, why so few of those persons sert over by him settled in the vicinity of Newichawan- nock. They could get independent ownership of lands else- where for a small price. It was some time after Mason's death before squatters were bold enough to build houses for them- selves upon Mason's lands. Then those who could took deeds from Indian chiefs and as soon as possible had their claims con- firme ! by the town.
A deposition of James Wall is of sufficient interest to warrant its being printed again. "The deposition of James Wall, taken the 21 of the 3 month 1652. This Deponent sayeth that aboute the vear 1634, he with his partners William Chadbourne and John Goddarde, came over to New England upon the accompt of Cap- taine John Mason of London, and also for themselves, and well landed at Newichawannock upon certaine lands there which Mi. Geitslem | Henry Jocelyn| Captaine Mason's agente brought
Winthrop's Journal. p. 14.
April 14. 1653. Joseph Mason brought action. in Norfolk County Court. against John Goddard "for breach of covenant in net building a saw mill and a corne mill and keeping the same in repayer and worke the full time of five years next after his arivell and for not continewing in ye worke of ve ed covenant as doth more att large apperre. The Jurie finde for the plaintiff one hunder pounds Damage and cost of court. the execu- son respited for two months, for cost- two pounds eight shillings."
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them unto, with the ladinge of some goodes, and there they did builde upp at the fall there ( called by the Indian name Asbenbe- dick) for the use of Captaine Mason and ourselves one sawe mill and one stampinge mill for corne wch we did keep the space of three or foure years next after ; and further this deponent saith, he built one house upon the same lands, and soe did William Chadbourne an other & gave it to his sonne in law Thomas Spencer who now lives in it ; and this deponent also saith that we had peaceable and quiete possession of that land for the use of Captaine Mason afforesaid, and that the said agente did buy some planted ground of some of the Indians which they had planted upon the saidle land, and that Captaine Mason's agente's servants did break up and clear certain lands there and planted corne upon it and all this is to his best remembrance.
James Wall sworne whoe affirmed upon his oath that the pmises was true. Sworne before me.1
George Smyth."
The following deposition locates precisely the mills built by Mason :
"The deposition of Jeames Johnson, aged 50 years, or there- abouts : this deponent saith, that upon the steep fall beyond Thomas Spencer's house, there stood part of a Mill wch was said to be Capt. Mason's 16 years since, to the best of my remembrance & farther saith not.
"Taken before me the last of May, 1652.
Tho. Wiggin."
Henry Jocelyn became Governor of Mason's plantations after the departure of Walter Neal, and he declares that he had a grant of land on the east side of the Pascataqua, together with Thomas Wannerton and Capt. Thomas Cammock. He removed to Black Point soon after the death of Mason and became one of Deputy Governor Thomas Gorges' Councillors.
It is said that Humphrey Chadbourne succeeded Gibbons as steward at Newichawannock, but on what authority I know not. In 1638 Francis Norton of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was appointed by Mrs. Ann Mason as her agent for the management of all her property in America. After two years he departed from the Pascataqua and is said to have driven to Boston a
Massachusetts Archives, Vol. IIL. p. 444.
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hundred head of cattle.1 The servants were left to shift for themselves, and Francis Small deposed, 8 Sept. 1685, that after Norton had left the place "the other servants shared the residue of the goods and stock among them, which was left in that and the other plantations, and possessed themselves of the houses and lands." Certain deponents testified that Norton's driving away of the cattle was about 1645, but it was probably earlier, for Humphrey Chadbourne took a deed of Sagamore Rowles in May, 1643, and he would not be likely to do this before Mrs. Mason's agent hal relinquished the plantation.
PIPE STAVE LANDING.
The Names of Stewards and Servants sent by John Mason, Esq .. into this Province of New Hampshire.
'Feb. 13. 1652. Joseph Masen was plaintiff in an action. in Norfolk County Court. against Francis Norton "uppon accompt. for ye number of three and twenty head of cattell great and small, wch ye sayd Norton did receive from ye hands of Mr. Henry Jocelin our agent. as also other goods as milestones amounting to ye value of 30 pounds or 40 pounds sterling. as also for selling ye cattell of ye lands whereby we were displanted off our stock to our great damage." The plaintiff withdrew his action. This looks as though Norton immediately succeeded Henry Jocelyn.
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Under this heading the New England Historical and Gene- alogical Register published in 1848 the following names. It is said to be a copy of an old document. The origin of the docu- ment is not stated. There is good reason to believe that the list is reliable. It has been published many times. with some variations in the spelling.
Walter Neal. Steward.
Thomas Chatherton,
Ambrose Gibbins, Steward,
John Crowther.
Thomas Comock,
John Williams,
William Raymond,
Roger Knight,
Francis Williams,
Henry Sherburn,
George Vaughan,
Thomas Wonerton, Steward.
John Goddard. Thomas Furnold,
Hinry Jocelyn. Steward.
Thomas Withers.
Francis Norton. Steward,
Thomas Canney.
Sampson Lane. Steward,
John Symonds.
Reginald Furnald. Chirurgeon. John Peverly.
Ralph Gee, Henry Gee.
William Seavy.
William Cooper.
William Berry,
William Chadborn.
Jeremy Wolford,
ffrancis Matthews,
James Wall,
Ilumphrey Chadborn,
William Brockin,
William Chadborn Jr ..
Thomas Walford,
ffrancis Rand,
Thomas Moor.
James Johnson.
Joseph Beal.
Ant. Ellins.
llugh James.
Henry Baldwin,
Alexander Jones,
Thomas Spencer.
John Ault.
Thomas Furral,
William Bracket.
Thomas Ilerd,
James Newt,
Eight Danes.
Viventy Tivo Women.
Letters and papers reveal other names that should be added to the list. They are Thomas Blake. Thomas Clarke. Thomas Crockett. William Dermit. Stephen Kiddar or Teddar. and Chark's Knill or Neal.
The eight Danes, according to the deposition of Francis Small, were sent "to build mills, to saw timber, and tend them,
Henry Langstaff.
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and to make potashes." Their names are nowhere given, and whether they remained in New England or not is uncertain. A tradition, recordled among the papers of Hon. Mark Dennett, says three of them were "Bensore.1 Miller and Peterson."
How much we would give to know the names of the twenty-two women! One was the wife of Ambrose Gibbons, another the wife of Roger Knight. Another wife is mentioned in a letter, whose is not declared. It seems that all the rest became wives very soon after their arrival, for Gibbons wrote to Mason, 6 Aug. 1634. "a good husband with his wife to tend the cattle, and to make butter and cheese will be profitable; for maids they are soone gonne in this countrie." There were no long courtships. Delays were dangerous. The proposal was. doubtless, made at first sight. The women stepped from the deck of the Pied Cowe into a log cabin, after short ceremony before some Justice of the Peace, perhaps the Governor. There was no minister to tie the knot in those earliest days. "Little Beck" Gibbons, as she is lovingly called in letters, was the only child in the settlement. The women came not merely to keep house and play the lady. They helped to clear and plant the ground, and to build the cabin.
About the men named in the list something more definite is known, and the reader may be interested if the scattered notices are brought together.
CAPT. WALTER NEAL had been a soldier for some time before coming to Pascataqua in 1630. He was Governor of all New England east of Massachusetts, though he had but few people to govern. He built the earliest fortification on Great Island, now Newcastle. N. H. On his return to Eng- land in 1633 he was made Captain of the London Artillery Company, which office he retained till 1637. There is some trace of him at Plymouth. England, in 1639. Nothing is known of his origin, family, or subsequent career. \ Walter Neal. born 1633. is mentioned often as living in Greenland. N. H .. frem 1653 to 1702. from whom there are many descendants.
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