USA > Maine > York County > Kittery > Old Kittery and her families > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
Next west of John Pearce George Palmer bought one hundred acres of Walter Barefoot. Palmer and wife, Elizabeth, sold this to Dr. Henry Greenland, 15 Oct. 1666. This Green- land, born in 1628, as a deposition shows, was at Newbury, Mass., 1662-4, and was ordered to depart from the town. He lived at Kittery Point from 1666 to 1672, when he went to Piscataway, New Jersey, where a colony of Baptists had gone from the l'as- cataqua and carried the name with them in a modified form.1 Greenland seems to have been a political disturber. He was engaged in lawsuits with his neighbors and at last was tried at the house of John Bray and fined. He was banished from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts in 1672. His will names a son, Henry, and sons-in-law. Daniel Brynson, Cornelius Longfield, and Francis Brynson. His wife, Mary, was living in 1684. It seems from the following depositions' that she was accused of being a witch. They are of interest as illustrating the superstitious notions of the times and preceded by twenty years the famous witchcraft craze at Salem.
"The deposition of Deborah Lockwood, wife of Capt. Richard Lockwood & Deborah wife of John Phenix. These deponents
Whitehouse's Contributions 10 East Jersey History, pp. 401-4. Cour: Records of New Hampshire.
43
AND HER FAMILIES
testify that Mary Pearse did say when Alexander Jones did sail out of Piscattaqua River with Ellinor and Sarah Pearse and John Pearse about November or December last a violent storm did arise and Mary Greenland ye wife of Henry Greenland did then appear or ye devill in her likeness, that she was known by hir voice, namely, Mary Greenland & further saith ve sd Mary Pearse did say that hir father did se ye sd Mary Greenland start out of a bush wch made hir fathers haire stand on end for feare.
Taken ypon othe before ffrancis Raynes ye 18th of ffeberary, 1660."
"Deposition of Ann Lin ( Lynn) being sumoned saith that this deponent being at her mother Lockwoods house Mary Pears was there and this said Mary Pears was talk- ing about some witches that should be about Alixander Jones boat when they were going to the southward and Mary Pears did say after this discourse that her father going out to seeke his cowes that Mrs. Greenland did start out of a bush and did fright her father, or the devill in her likeness, and further saith not.
Taken opon oath before Mr. ffrancis Raynes 3 March 69/70."
Greenland sold his place at Kittery Point to William Broad, fisherman of the Isles of Shoals, 15 Oct. 1669. It was then bounded by land of Nicholas Shapleigh on the northwest and by land of Abraham Corbett on the southeast. Broad and wife Abi- gail sold it to Digory Jeffreys, 9 June 1670, and by him it was sokl to Roger Deering, 8 Sept. 1694. Digory Jeffreys was living on land adjacent in 1662 and then bought four acres of Nicholas Shapleigh, which Jeffreys and wife, Mary, sold. 5 June 1669, to John Moore, Senr., fisherman of Star Island. The lot included "two Necks or Islands." Jeffreys married for second wife. before 1683. Ann, widow of Thomas Crockett.
West of Jeffreys, or later Roger Deering's land, which his son-in-law. Robert Mitchell, occupied, is a large tract of land called the Point as early as 1651 and probably so called from the very beginning of its settlement. It was originally owned by Alexander Shapleigh, having been granted to him by Gorges, and was inherited by his son, Nicholas Shapleigh. The latter sold twelve acres "between the land of Thomas Langley and Digory Jefferies" to John Bray, shipwright, 29 Sept. 1662. Bray added to his lot, 20 Nov. 1666, by the purchase of twelve acres
44
OLD KITTERY
Spruce Creek
GUNNISON'S NECK
BREWHOUSE
WAREHOUSE POINT
CEME TERY
HUCH GUNNISON 1652
CHURCH
JOHN BILLING 1439
NICHOLAS
SHAPLEIGH 1635
FRANCIS HOOKE 1674
BACK COVE
CROCKETT'S NECK
FORT WILLIAM 1690 (NOM/ FORT MCCLARY)
CROCKETT'S COVE AND CREEK
THº LANGLEY 1662
WM PEPPERRELL 1032
JOHN BRAY 1662
# JOAN DEERING 1700
JOHN
MORE 1069
(GEORGE PALMER 1660 DIGORY JEFFREYS 1670
ISLAND MORE'S
JOHN PEARCE 1648
stoppt stone
DEERINGS
· ROGER DEERING 1672
.
FRANCIS CHAMPERNOWNE
KITTERY POINT, 1650 to 1700
POINT"
45
AND HIER FAMILIES
more from Job Alcock, who must have acquired it from Thomas Langley. It adjoined Bray's lot on the west, "twenty-seven Land veards by the water side." On it stood Langley's house, which was to be removed in the following April.' Bray gave one acre of it to his son-in-law, William Pepperrell, 17 Nov. 1682. It was the southwest corner, next to Langley's, running from the wharf and building yard to the road.
E
THE BRAY HOUSE.
The house built by John Bray. probably in 1662. is still standing and is the oldest house in Kittery. It is yet a comfortable dwell- ing-house, and its interior finish tells that it was once considered a home of luxury. The house was anciently larger than at pres- ent. and here in 1672 and 1673 John Bray kept a public house of entertainment and was directed by the Court to put up a sign. Somte have spoken of this as the birth-place of the mother of Sir William Pepperrell, but as she was born in 1660. it is more likely that she was born in Plymouth, England. There is no record of John Bray at Kittery before 1662. He was one of the pioneers in ship-building and laid a foundation for the future wealth of his son-in-law, William Pepperrell. An interesting okdl painting is shown in the Bray house. Some say it is a view of Kittery Point,
46
OLD KITTERY
in England : some think it is a picture of Louisburg. Here court was sometimes held in the old days before county buildings were known.
The house of Col. William Pepperrell will be described in another chapter. The Pepperrells kept buying land on all sides of them till they owned the greater part of the Point and much land elsewhere. The elder Pepperrell had a tannery west of his house and near the water, which gave the name to Tan House
FORT McCLARY.
Beach. The Park House is at present near the spot and takes its name from the small park in which the baronet kept some deer and moore.
Thomas Langley, who has been mentione.l. is called a mer- chant "of yo lland of barbadoes" in 1660. We find him settled in Kittery in 1662. next neighbor to Bray on the west. He took the oath of allegiance in 1680 and was living here in 1690. His wife. Hannah, witnessed a deed in 1675. Hannah Langley, probably a daughter. married John Brawn, Jr., in 1684. and in 1668 Joli Brawn and wife. Anna, sold a house and a small piece of land that belonged to the Langley estate to William l'epperrell. Langley
47
AND HER FAMILIES
must have owned a part of the land now occupied by Fort McClary, called Fort William as early as 1690. Fifty acres of the western part of this government reservation were granted to John Bray by the town. The grant bordered on land of Francis Hooke. The Fort was anciently a garrison house or Block House of wood. It has been rebuilt, doubtless, in imitation of the ancient structure. Huge blocks of granite lying about show that the government once planned an extensive fortress here, but the old methods of defense are now obsolete, and the fort is of little worth except as an ancient landmark. The soil about it is worthless and seems never to have been cultivated nor dwelt upon in the earliest days.
Francis Hooke bought of Nicholas Shapleigh, 4 Aug. 1674, three acres of land whereon was "a house or tenement formerly built possessed & enjoyed by Roger Russell." The strip of land ran from the river to "Back Cove" so called, a branch of Crockett's Cove, and was bounded by Shapleigh's land on east and west. A little later Hooke added seven acres more to his lot. A plan of his house and lot appears on the town records. He was a son of Humphrey Hooke, an alderman of the city of Bris- tol, England. He married. 20 Sept. 1662, Mary, widow of John Palgrave and daughter of Samuel and Amias ( Cole-Thompson ) Maverick of Noddle's Island, now East Boston. He lived at Winter Harbor, in Saco, before moving to Kittery Point. He was Justice of the Peace. County Treasurer, member of the Council and Judge of Probate and of the Court of Common Pleas. He was popular with all parties. It is written of him that "no other of that age in the province was so public-spirited and highly useful. none better beloved." He died 10 Jan. 1695. leaving no children. His widow lived here for some years, and in 1715 the property passed into the possession of William Pep- perrell.
Passing Francis Hooke's we arrive at "Warehouse Point." where the first settlement in the present town of Kittery was made. A Court record, dated 15 Oct. 1650, is as follows: "For- asmuch as the house at the river's mouth where Mr Shapleigh's father first built and Mr. William Hilton now dwelleth. in regard it was the first house there built and Mr. Shapleigh intendeth to build and enlarge it, and for further considerations it is thought fit it should from time to time be for a house of entertainment or
48
OLD KITTERY
ordinary, with this proviso, that the tenant be such an one as the inhabitants shall approve of."
William Hilton, brother of Edward Hilton, who settled at Dover Neck in 1623, was licensed to keep an ordinary here 27 June 1648. He had already been living here for some time, as the following deposition shows. Feb. 22, 1687-8, Frances, wife of Richard White, aged 70 years or thereabouts, deposed "that about forty-sixe years past ( 1642) shee lived in a house at Kit- tery poynt that stood then between the house that was Mr. Mor- gans & the house that Mr. Greenland afterward lived in, which house above sayd the deponent's husband, William Hilton, did hyer of Major Nicholas Shapleigh."
1
PHYLLIS' NOTCH.
At about the middle of Warchouse Point there is an opening in the rocky coast line and a pebbly beach, from which there is an easy ascent between cliffs of rock. It is a fine natural site for a ferry landing, and here, too, in later times ships were built. The place is now called "Phyllis" Notch." so named from a colored woman who once lived near by. As one stands at the opening of this notch. facing the water, on the left may be seen the site of the first house built in Kittery. Old residents say that the traces of a cellar were once more apparent than now. Here was a warehouse and the "ordinary" above mentioned. It was built
49
AND HER FAMILIES
by Alexander Shapleigh in 1635. Doubtless, fishermen's huts preceded this, but there is no record of such.
l Hilton was succeeded as tavern-keeper by Hugh Gunnison, who had married for his second wife Sarah, daughter of William Tilly and widow of Henry Lynn. Gunnison leased from Shap- leigh, 5 June 1651, for twenty-one years, five hundred acres of land "at the Point where Mr. William Hilton now (welleth" and "upwards towards Capt. Francis Champernowne's land." Sarah Lynn before her marriage to Hugh Gunnison in 1647 had been tenant for three or four years to Mr. Shapleigh "in an old house at the river's mouth at puscataquah." Here, in 1644, was made the deed by which Richard Vines conveyed six hundred acres at the head of Spruce Creek to Thomas Withers.1 Gunnison seems not to have met the conditions of the lease and did not remain long in Shapleigh's house. He bought of Robert Mendum, 15 July 1654, two houses situated upon the Point : also Mendum's land on the west side of the mouth of Spruce Creek where Men- dum and John White did plant and all the land that was given to said Mendum by the townsmen. This sale is recorded in the Court Records. Mendum had bought of Thomas Crockett, 21 Sept. 1747, a house and four acres, which Crockett had bought of William Wormwood and belonged originally to the estate of John Billing. This was, probably, the lot sold by Mendum to Gunnison. William Wormwood appears in 1683 as a settler on York River.
In a deed dated 24 Dec. 1662. Shapleigh describes a sale as follows: "A warehouse which is now in my possession & is Seit- tuate on a point of Land on ve Eastwd Side of Piscattaqua river month Comonly called and known by ve Name of ye warehouse point Together with a Tract of Land near Adjacent & thereto Adjoining Containing Twenty pole or rod or there about in length upon a Southwest & by west line runing from ye way that lyes by ve South end of Robert Wadleys fence to a certain point of rocks that lyes by ye river Side butting with ve warehouse So down to Low water mark & Seven pole in breadth or thereabo runinge upon a west & by north line from ve sd South Corner of Robert Wadleys fence down to Low water mark upon a Straight
Maine Hist. Coll. IV .. 108. 109.
-
50
OLD KITTERY
line into ye Cove within ye sd Warehouse point & is boundled by a ridge of rocks Lying by ye Side of ye sd Robert Wadleys fence."
This Robert Wadleigh was the son of John Wadleigh of Wells, Me., and later of Exeter, N. H. The following is found in the Court Records under date of 5 July 1661, "Whereas there is a demand for a house of entertainment at the place called the Poynt, where sometimes Hugh Gunnison did reside, and whereas there is a constant necessity for transportation across the Piscat- aqua River at that place, the Court orders that Robert Wadleigh keep an ordinary there and take charge of the ferry over to Capt. Pendleton's side." His license was renewed the following year, after which he disappeared from Kittery history. He was at Oyster River in 1666 and later at Exeter, N. H. He became a prominent man in New Hampshire, where he was Deputy, Com- missioner and Judge.
Robert Mendum was licensed to keep an ordinary at the Point as early as 1644 and was in the business in 1650. There seems to have been a lack of cordiality between his family and that of Hugh Gunnison, who was a rival in the tavern business, for the Court Records of 1650 declare that Goody Mendum was fined five pounds for saying. "The devil take Mr. Gullison and his wife." Hugh Gunnison continued to keep an ordinary and run a brew- house here at Warehouse Point and also near the church till his dleath in 1660. His widow married Capt. John Mitchell and later Surgeon Francis Morgan, who seems to have succeeded Henry Greenland as physician at the Point. Sarah Morgan was licensed to keep an ordinary at the Point in March, 1663-4, and Francis Morgan had a license 4 July 1671.
In 1654 William Reves testified that sixteen or seventeen years before, or about 1637. he heard a dispute between "John Treworthie and Phillip Swadn ( Swaddow ) Conserning the plase that John Treworthis howse then styd on which is at piscadeway river. at the harbres movthe near the howse whar hugh Gollisen last built. I heard Phillip Swaden say, whos land then it was, to John Treworthie, I give you byt leave to build your howse and to have fre egrasse and regras from the water side to your howse and to the sapit (saw-pit ) and not else."1 Match this with the
'Maine Hist. Coll. IV .. p. 106-7.
51
AND HER FAMILIES
following, dated 5 May 1636, when the agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges sold unto Edward Johnson "for the proper use of John Treworgy of Darthmouth Merchant" "500 Accors of Land bor- dering upon the North East Side of Pascataquacke River for ye extent of wch 500 Accors upon the River Side he is to have with and from the South East Coane (corner ) of Phillip Swaddens now Wigwam unto the Cricke which turns up to braue Boat Harbour." There was to be paid an annual rent of "100 of Mer- chandable Codde dride" and one-half the profits of a "ferre" that might be established.1 This shows that Phillip Swaddow was living here as early as 1636 and that he had his wigwam pre- cisely at the place where Alexander Shapleigh built the first house, for the land granted to Treworgy was the same as that granted to Shapleigh and took its bounds from the same point of departure. This was at "Warehouse Point." This is further confirmed by the following found in the first volume of Suffolk Deeds, folio 128. John Treworthie deposed, 25 Oct. 1650, "that the cellar wch is at Pascataway now standing neere the house weh William Hilton now lives in, did not any way belong to the land wch was bought by me for my Grandfather, Mr. Alexander Shapleigh."
Feb. 2, 1646, John Treworgy soll to Robert Mendum a "par- cel of land which his cellar was built upon and from his cellar unto his new house which now he hath built." The land between this point and Spruce Creek did not belong to Shapleigh but had been granted to other parties. Who were they?
The York Deeds have the following curious record, dated 10 Jan. 1639: John Billing and John Lander, who had been fisher- men in partnership, agree to divide their property. Billing was to have "the house which hath the Chimney in it being the West- erne End of the House & the Lofte over it And John Lander is to have the Chamber being the Easterne End of the House & the Lofte over it And John Billine is to have half the Land that is cleared & alreadie fenced & his part is to be bounded to the South And John Lander is to have the other Halfe bounded to the North & John Lander is to have one Halfe of the Shallop & all Things thereunto belonging And the said John Lander is to have the Starbord Side & John Billine to have the Larbord Side & the
1York Deeds, I .. 11.
52
OLD KITTERY
other Halfe thereunto belonging. And the said John Lander is to have free Egresse & Regresse to come to the Fire for his Uses so often as Occasion shall need And John Billine is to have One Halfe of the Land that is uncleared that doth belong unto the House & it is to lie bounded to the South And John Lander is to have the other bounded to the North And John Billine hath the old Sowe & two young Sutts And John Lander is to have the Little Sowe & two young Sutts." William Wormwood and John Reynolds witnessed the contract. Thus they were to live and fish together in love and harmony. Perhaps Billing got married about this time for he died not long after and left only one child John.
To show that they were not squatters we have a record found in the proceedings of York Court. It is dated 23 Feb. 1639. John Billing and John Lander, both of Piscataquack, fishermen, sold to Joseph Milles (Miles) eight acres of land situated upon Spruce Creek, conditioned that he should pay the grantees six pence an acre for each and every acre he should clear and plant upon, which rent was to be paid annually upon the feast day of Michael the Arch Angel. The record declares that they had the land from Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Miles sold his interest in this land to Thomas Crockett, planter, 16 Nov. 1647, and Crockett sold it to Rice Thomas Dec., 1647.
In 1645 Billing and Landers had, also, grants from Gorges of six acres of marsh at Brave Boat Harbor. That the above men- tioned eight acres were not the full extent of their real estate on Kittery Point is shown by a further Court record. Both Billing and Lander were deceased in 1646. They probably went off a-fishing and never came back. Billing's widow had married Rice Thomas before 6 March 1647, and she testified then that her late husband gave William Wormwood two acres and that John Lander gave Wormwood two acres. These four acres passed through several hands to Hugh Gunnison, as we have seen already.
In 1656 John Billing, Jr., and his mother, Mrs. Rice Thomas, sold to Thomas Crockett a house and land. "at the place Comonly called the Poynt, near the Harbours Mouth, a part of ye necke of Land on which Major Shapleighs store house stands on Which house & Land I had possession of a Inheritance, after ve decease
53
AND HER FAMILIES
of my father. John Billine Senjor, the former husband of my Mother the abovesd Elizabeth Tomass."
John Billing and John Lander were in the employ of John Winter in 1636 at Richmond Island. They both signed the "Grant of the Glebe" in Portsmouth in 1640, but it is evident that their habitation was at Kittery Point. Lander left no descendants so far as I have been able to learn, although in 1693 adminis- tration was granted to Elizabeth Lander on the estate of her husband. James Lander, late of Kittery.1 The descendants of Billings are numerous.
Thomas Crockett has been mentioned several times. He was in the employ of Ambrose Gibbons in 1633-4. A number of wit- nesses testified that Gorges granted him a neck of land within Spruce Creek about 1641. He lived at Warehouse Point and had land extending to the north shore of Kittery Point. The grant made to him by Gorges was "the Necke of Land that lyeth on the further side of the cricke that runs behind Mr. Gunnisons house." It "lyeth over against the field of Tho Crockett, within Spruce Creek." He lived at Kittery Point most of the time till later than 1658, though he was for a short time near the head of Braveboat Harbour and kept a ferry there. He had a grant of land in York in 1651 and signed the submission to Massachusetts in York in 1652. In 1667 he had built a house upon Crockett's Neck and was living there. - This Neck was divided among his sons and sons-in-law. His widow. Ann, married Rice Thomas. The descendants of Crockett are many.
Poor Rice Thomas, born in 1614, was working in a brew- house at Kittery Point as early as 1646. He shifted about from one house to another, was awhile at Braveboat Harbor, returned to the Point and died there in great poverty. In 1684 complaint was made to the Court that he was "very sick, weak, overrun with vermin and under deep suffering." The Selectmen were orderel to take speedy and effective means for his relief. There is no record of any descendants.
Abraham Corbett was a man of some prominence at the Point for a few years following 1667. He was a distiller. He came from Portsmouth and moved from Kittery to Sheepscot. Maine. He bought a house and a few acres of land near Warehouse
John Turner married Elizabeth Lander 28 Nov. 1604
54
OLD KITTERY
Point of Thomas Crockett and of his son, Ephraim, on which the old brew house stood, and bounded by land of Francis Morgan. He bought the part of the Champernowne estate lying on the mainland, over four hundred acres, and. 10 Sept. 1769, gave a trust deed of it to Henry Greenland and Walter Barefoot for the benefit of his wife, Alice, and children, John, Elizabeth and Alice. In 1672 the most of this was sold by Corbett to Nicholas Shap- leigh. The deeds show that Walter Knight and Rice Thomas were living about this time a little east of Champernowne's or Lockwood's house.
The first physician, or "chiurgeon," that history mentions at the Point was Henry Greenland. 1666. Next appeared Francis Morgan, fourth husband of her whose maiden name was Sarah Tilly. He is mentioned as late as 1673. At this time Kittery Point was a busy place. The land-owners, as we have seen, were not many, but there were evidently a number of small houses rented to fishermen and shipwrights. John Bray had established his ship-yard. His son-in-law, William Pepperrell, succeeded him in the business and launched many a vessel of sturdy oak and pine. Roger Deering carried on the same business. The brew house was one of the first buildings erected, it being a felt neces- sity for the new population. This was managed successively by Hilton. Gunnison, and Corbett. A ferry connected the Point with Great Island and Strawberry Bank, and the ferry boat sometimes ran up the Pascataqua to Sturgeon Creek and Dover Point. Kit- tery Point was on the highway of travel. A pathway called a road had been laid out to York as early as 1649. All eastern travel was along that road. Therefore the old Shapleigh House was a well patronized "ordinary," where home-made beer and West India rum were dispensed under restrictions of Court, which then as now did not always restrict. There must have been many fishermen living here, for Pepperrell is said to have had some- times a fleet of a hundred vessels on the Banks of Newfoundland. There were a number of saw-mills on the small streams that flow into Spruce Creek, which gave employment to many. The hunters and trappers brought in furs and sometimes scalps for sale. The Indians came here for trade and now and then clear onto the Point for less civil purposes. The main highway grad- nally was improved and streets were laid out leading down to the wharis. Elegant houses were built, like those of Champernowne,
55
AND HER FAMILIES
Bray. Pepperrell, and doubtless Francis Hooke, the magistrate. A new meeting-house took the place of the old one in 1671. and Jeremiah ilubbard and others here officiated. For a century or more Kittery Point was, perhaps, the most, active and prosperous place of business in the County of York, which was co-extensive with the Province of Maine.
WAREHOUSE POINT.
Passing Warehouse Point we come to the church, of which something is said in another chapter, and opposite it the ceme- tery. The ancient road ran pretty nearly straight on to the ferry at Spruce Creek. Just caff of the cemetery and separated from it by a street are the traces of an older private burial place. Pieces of broken headstones lie near the wall, and only one slate head- stene remains standing in the yard of Mr. Cutts. It is that of Mrs. Mary ( Rolling) Gunnison, wife of Elihu Gunnison 21. Why was she buried here? It is probable that this is the burial place of Hugh Gunnison an ! his descendants for at least two gen- orations, and that Hugh Gunnison lived near by. It is known that Francis Morgan, who married Gunnison's widow. lived here
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.