USA > Maine > York County > Kittery > Old Kittery and her families > Part 9
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1Daniel Davis witnessed a deed in 1648 and signed the submission to Massachusetts in 1652. His creek is probably Hill's Creek to-day.
"York Deeds XI. 112.
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AND HER FAMILIES
The lot next to Hill on the north was granted, I Nov. 1654, to Anthony Emery. Henry Pouning was then on his north and there was a certain cove between them. The house of Emery and a small piece of land had been bought by him of John White, 15 Nov. 16418. White moved a little north, as we shall see. He seems to have lived at Kittery Point and at Crooked Lane before moving to this region. Emery had kept an ordinary at Dover Neck as early as 1643 and he was licensed to keep one here in Kittery in 1650. His farmi passed to his son, James, who in 1673 sold it to Abraham Conley. John Morrell bought it of Conley, 27 July 1676, in exchange for land further north. This place has remained for more than two centuries in the Morrell family. Here was a ferry, in the old times, across to Nicholas Harford's on the Dover side. It was kept by Morrell and later by Harford. Henry Kirke and wife, Ruth, lived on a two-acre lot near by, which Morrell later added to his estate.
North of John Morrell was a lot of six acres granted by the town to Henry Pouning, 3 March 1651. He lived in Boston, where his family are recorded, and died about 1665. His widow. Elizabeth, and children, Sarah, Mary, Daniel, and Elizabeth, who had married Jonathan Bridgham, sold this lot, in 1684, to Jabez Jenkins. It was then thus bounded: "John White next Henry Pounding on the North, now in ye hands of Robert Allene, & the land formerly belonging to Anthony Emery, on ye South, now In the possession of John Morrall."' Jabez was the son of Rey- nold Jenkins, who has been mentioned several times. Reynold was in the service of John Winter at Richmond's Island as early as 1634. He was living here on the Newichawannock about 1640 and is mentioned in 1683. He was affiliated with the Quakers from the beginning of their preaching in Dover and Kittery, and he and neighboring Friends were more than once presented at Court for not attending the services of the church on the Lord's Day.
March 3. 1651. there was granted to John White a lot "next unto Pounings twenty-four rods by the water side and so backinto the woods unto the way that goes from cold harbour unto Stur- geon Creek." This "pcell of land and housing" was "assigned to William Thompson and his heirs forever at a town meeting at
York Deeds IV. 27.
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OLD KITTERY
Kittery by the above named White" 15 Oct. 1656.1 John and James Thompson, sons of William, sold this, 20 March 1708, to Francis Allen, and it has been held in the Allen family ever since. At the time of the last sale it was bounded "on the north with the land formerly belonging to Philip Benmore and Nicholas ffrost now in the possession of John Mor- rell Junr and on the South with the land of Jabez Jenkins," con- taining twenty acres.
Philip Benmore bought his lot of James Emery. Benmore's (laughter. Temperance, married Charles Adams, Jr., of Oyster River, who sold it, 26 March 1682, to John Morrell. Charles Adams, Senior, with a family of nine was killed by Indians soon after this sale. It appears that Temperance escaped, for she as a widow acknowledged the deed in 1696.
The lot next north was owned by Nicholas Frost, Jr., and passed from his heirs to Jabez Jenkins in 1696. North of this lot and reaching to the mouth of Sturgeon Creek was the old Frye homestead, where Adrian Frye was living, probably as early as 1663. the date when he is first mentioned as witness to a deed. His son, William, inherited the place, and sold ten acres of it, the point lying between the river and Sturgeon Creek, to Philip Pike, 4 April 1713. It was "commonly called Frys Point." and there was reserved "a burying Place of three Rod Long & Two Rod Wide fronting on Dover River." The original grants from Cammock's Creek to Sturgeon Creek were soon cut up into smaller lots and were transferred so often that it is difficult to trace them. We have tried to find the original settlers only. This was a busy place and more thickly settled than most parts of the town. The occasion of this was the mills on Cammock's and Sturgeon Creeks. Four ordinaries, or inns, are mentioned in this region, at Everett's, Maverick's. Emery's, and Jenkins'. The ferry at "Cold Harbour Point" and the road thereto from Stur- geon Creek are mentioned as early as 1651. These indicate the line of travel to and from Dover.
Old deeds refer to the whole river front from Emery's, later Morrell's, to the mouth of Sturgeon Creek as "Cold Harbour," "Cole Harbour." "Coole Harbor." and various other spellings. The small inns of England, where shelter without fire could be
Kittery Records.
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AND HER FAMILIES
found, were named "Cold Harbors." This name was, doubtless, applied to the ordinary which Anthony Emery was licensed to keep in 1650, in connection with his ferry. He may have hung out his sign with that name. Soon the name indicated a region and gradually it extended itself up as far as Sturgeon Creek, just as Thompson's Point moved about from one place to another, as we shall soon see. The location of the earliest house at Cold Harbor is shown by a cellar between an elm tree and the river bank. The ferry landing was perhaps twenty rods north of this and the road to it is still easily traced. The Morrell burial ground is on the northerly slope of a hill, southwest of the cellar.
The tract of swamp and upland, covered with pine timber, lying between Sturgeon Creek and a cove above it, was granted at an early date to merchants and lumbermen. Stephen Green- ham is one of the earliest mentioned, who had his "wigwam." or lumber camp, near "Greenham's Gutt," the little rivulet that empties into Mast Cove. John Wincoll declared that he bought Greenham's lot for "my brother." Thomas Broughton, and paid him six pounds therefor. The statement is found in the Records of the Supreme Court in Boston. William Ellingham was another who owned timber land here and built him a house near the mill on Sturgeon Creek. He married a daughter of Thomas Booth of York, sold out to Thomas Broughton, and is found later in York as a carpenter. Broughton carried on business here and at Quamphegan for some years. In 1651 the town made a grant to Nicholas Shapleigh of lumber in this tract. He erected mills and, lest the owners of land on Sturgeon Creek should be dam- aged. he gave a bond to the inhabitants "to keepe two Cannows on the up side of the sd Damme, for their transportation, & like- wise wn the sd inhabitants shall find thejre marshes to be over- flowne at any tyme, wn it may hurt them, upon notis from them, to take up the wast gates," and also to deliver boards to the inhab- itants at three shillings per hundred.1
All this land seems to have been regranted by the town a few years later. Many of the inhabitants of this region had a few acres of marsh here. A settler would have a grant of wooded upland in one place and a small amount of marsh land several miles distant in some cases. This was because grass and hay
1York Deeds I. 17.
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OLD KITTERY
MILL AT STURGEON CREEK, 1816-1896.
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AND HER FAMILIES
were scarce before much of the land had been cleared. A piece of swale grass or an old Indian corn field was a valuable acquisition.
The first settler that is known immediately north of the mouth of Sturgeon Creek was Christopher Banfield or Banefield. Hle married Grace, widow of Richard Miller, and later Sarah ( Libby-Tidy) Rogers. The earliest mention of him is in 1672, and he is called sergeant in 1700. He wrote his name and acted as a surveyor. On the occasion of his marriage to widow Rogers he deeded to John Tidy, her son by a former marriage, forty acres "on the Northwest side of Sturgeon Creek." "abutting on Newichawannock River." There is no record of Banfield's family. Samuel Banfield witnessed a deed in Kittery in 1709, and Hugh Banfield witnessed a will in Portsmouth in 1715.
John Tidy and his family lived here many years and gave their name to "Tidy's Swamp" near by. The surname has been long extinct. though there are many descendants. March 5, 1699, the town granted to John Morrell thirty acres north of Christopher Banfield's, fronting on the river seventeen poles. Morrell sold this to Tidy in 1710. John Hoyt then owned a piece of land east of this, the same who afterward lived in Newington, N. H.
It seems that Abraham Conley owned some marsh next above Tidy, three and a half acres of which he sold to Peter Wittum in 1672.
June 1. 1676, John and Jonathan Nason had a grant of one hundred acres of which John deeded his share to his nephew, Jonathan Nason. Jr., in 1702. It extended up to "the brook that runs into Mast Cove." "above Waymouths improved land." That is the brook that has been called "Greenham's Gutt." The cove is called. in the deed of 1676, "upper Mast Cove." probably to distinguish it from Mast Cove near Franks Fort and another just below Eliot Neck. Thirteen acres of the estate of Jonathan Nason, senior, were sold, 14 June 1703, to his son-in-law. Henry Snow. This bordered on Edward Waymouth's land. "lying at the hea.l of a creek commonly called by ve name of Mast Creek." which land had been previously owned by Anthony Emery and by James Emery.
Next above Jonathan Nason's, on the river, lying between Mast Cove and Creek and the next creek above. is a neck or point
I20
OLD KITTERY
of land of about fifty acres, which the Indian Sagamore, Rowles, sold, if it could be called a sale. to Katherine Treworgy, 3 Oct. 1651. "for two bottles of Liquor to me in hand paid." It was "commonly known by the name of Tomsons Poynt, an ould Corne ground which I the said Rowls have formerly made use of & improved."1 It was thereafter sometimes called "Trueworgy's Point." "lying between two Cricks." Katharine Treworgy mar- ried William Hilton and in 1674 sold this land to her son. Samuel Treworgy, who in turn deeded it to Richard Chick. His son, Richard, sold it to Peter Dixon, who sold it to Joseph Goold. I I July 1709. It was long the homestead of the Goold family.
The earliest mention of Thompson's Point in Kittery that I have found is in a town grant to Thomas Broughton. 4 Oct. 1650, of land above Sturgeon Creek extending "towards Tompson's Point." In the deed above cited it is said that the place long possessed by the Goold family was commonly known as Thomp- son's Point before 1651. Why was it so called ?
Thomas Gorges granted to Francis Williams and wife, Hellen, one thousand acres of land lying "on the northeast side of the River Pascattaquack over against Tompsons pointe, wch is bounded with the most northerly brooke or creeke commonly calle 1 the blacke creeke. next adioyneing to Sagamor Runacwitts old planting ground on the north. and from thence alongst the said River to run Downe towards the harbours mouth unto a creeke or cove next adiacent Amiciskeg point so called by the natives on the south, containing in length upon the said River aboute half a mile more or lesse." This was recorded 13 Ang. 1644, though it was probably written at an earlier date. Thomp- son's Point, then, in 1644, was over in Dover and on the southern shore where the Cochecho River joins the Newichawannock. "Thomsons point house" is found in the Dover tax list of 1648. Some have supposed that William Thompson lived there, but there is no statement to that effect, and William Thompson is not mentioned till 1656. The more probable supposition is that the point was named for David Thompson, the first settler at the mouth of the Pascataqua. He must have explored all this region and may have built a house here as well as at Little Harbor. At any rate the name. Thompson's Point, soon began to be applied to the point opposite. in Kittery. A little later the lots north of it
York Deeds III. 10.
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AND HIER FAMILIES
were located, in deeds, "near Thompson's Point." The next transfer located the lot "at Thompson's Point." And there was a special reason for this after 1656, for then Miles Thompson began to live just north of the "Black Creek," which thereafter was called Thompson's Brook, and the lot just south of the brook was called Thompson's Point. Thus the name migrated from New Hampshire to Maine and up the river. Thompson's Brook became the dividing line of the Parish of Unity, and later the boundary between Berwick and Eliot.
Francis Williams is said to have died in the Barbadoes soon after this grant was made to him. No one took possession, and so the town granted the land to other persons. It was laid out in lots of twenty-four rods breadth on the river. Next north of Joseph Goold lived John Neal and his son, Andrew. The land was originally granted to James Heard and Thomas Ethering- ton. It was bounded "on the south by lands granted unto one Mrs. Katherine Treworgie" and on the north by land "granted unto one William Ellingham." This was said in 1676, when James Heard's widow. Shuah, deeded the land to John Neal. When the latter gave it to his son Andrew in 1694. it was bounded "on the north by widow ffergusons."
The transfer of the next lot from William Ellingham to Daniel Ferguson is not on record, but Ferguson must have set- tled here before 1659. when "the creek by Daniel Ferguson's and Anthony Emery's" is mentioned. He and his neighbor. William Furbish, together bought land further inland of James Emery, in 1667. The dividing line between Ferguson and Furbish was laid out by referees in 1680. Both probably came from Dover. N. Il., where William Furbish is found1 as early as 1648.
North of Furbish was a lot of one hundred acres twenty-four rods wide, granted by the town to Major Charles Frost. 16 Dec. 1652. In 1664 Frost sold fifty acres of this to William and Richard Oliver, brothers and fishermen of the Isles of Shoals. It was described as "near unto the place called Tomson Poynt" and bounded "on the north with John Heards land and on the south with Will Furbish his land & on the east with marked trees." It passed through several hands to Thomas Rhodes, who had mar- ried a daughter of Miles Thompson and bought the Heard lot.
122
OLD KITTERY
above named, in 1680. A daughter of Rhodes married Samuel Shorey, and he at length got possession of all the land lying between William Furbish's farm and Thompson's Brook. Here the Shoreys lived for many generations. In John Heard's will it is declared that one John Ross had a house here before 1675, and he was to remain undisturbed in the possession of it so long as he lived.
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VIII.
THE PARISH OF UNITY.
We are approaching now to a distinct settlement. as we pass the mouth of Black Creek or Thompson's Brook, called later Shorey's Brook, with low lands and reedy marsh on both sides. What is now South Berwick was anciently called Newichawan- noch, Quamphegan, or the Parish of Unity, and later Berwick. The saw-mills on the Great Works River attracted settlers to that neighborhood and soon all the river lots were taken, up the river to Salmon Falls and down to Thompson's Brook. This took its name from Miles Thompson, to whom in 1656 was granted the first lot above it. The Thompson family dwelt here for many years.
His next neighbor on the north was Nicholas Hodsdon, who, June 16, 1674 bought of John Wincoll thirty acres which Wincoll had bought of John Heard in 1651. It had a dwelling house when bought by Hodsdon. It was bounded on the south by the lands of Miles Thompson and on the north by "Burch Brook & Cove," and on the east by "the highway that leadeth toward Sturgeon Cricke." In 1673 Hodsdon had bought of Peter Wittum forty acres just east of this river lot. He probably had had still earlier a grant from the town, adjoining the lot purchased. Hodsdon came from Watertown and earlier from Hingham, Mass., where he was living in 1635. He deeded his homestead to his son, Benoni, in 1678, except seven acres whereon his son-in-law, John Morrell, was then living. The deed mentions land of "Left Plaisted late deceased" on his northern border. In 1679 the forty acres bought of Wittum were deeded to Timothy Hodsdon.
Roger Paisted had his lot, 13 July 1669, from John Wincoll. to whom it was granted by the town in 1652. Lt. Elisha Plaisted inherited it and his widow, Elizabeth, sold it in 1693 to John Plaisted, senior. It was bounded on the south "with a brooke yt runs along by Nicholas Hodsdons land into birch point cove." and on the north by James Emery's house-lot, "being the length
1 2.4
OLD KITTERY
of the rest of the lots" and containing eighty acres. In another deed it is called "birchen point lot."1
Above Lt. Plaisted James Emery had a grant of fifty acres in 1654. "on the south side of Daniel Goodings Lott, bounded with the same Lyne according to order forty-eight rodd by the water sade." Emery sold this, 20 Jan. 1696. to Philip Hubbard, who
BIRCH POINT, FROM ELIOT BRIDGE.
had married a daughter of Daniel Goodwin. It was then bounded en the north by the land of Daniel Goodwin. Jr .. an.I by a "Small brook and valley which is a parting bounds between sol land and Daniel Stones land and from thence running as the fence now Stands to a tall white oak stump standing within Daniel Stone's Garrison."= The Hubbard Garrison House stood on the spot where Isaac Libby now lives. Mr. Libby has a num- ber of bullets, plowed up from the soil near his house. These are very suggestive.
Daniel Goodwin received his lot by town grant in 1654. It was divided among his sons Daniel and Moses and his son-in-law. Daniel Stone, who received five acres of the southwest corner.
York Deed- IV. 80.
York Deed- IV. 96.
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AND HER FAMILIES
The next lot of fifty acres "in the place where Barnet Squire had a loote formerly granted," was granted in 1654. to John Green, Sen., who, as we have seen, lived at first down by Franks Fort. In 1683 his widow, Julian, deeded this lot next to Good- win to her son-in-law, John Searle, to be divided between her grandsons, John Searle, Jr., and John, son of Nicholas Jellison, when they should become of age. John Searle, Jr., relinquished his claim to his father in 1707. There is no other mention of John Jellison. The Searle family seems to have departed early from Kittery.
"On the northwest side of John Green's," Thomas Abbot, who married Green's daughter, Elizabeth, had fifty acres. On the north and west sides were lands yet in common. By a vote of the town in 1652 the "fowling marshes" above Birch Point were declared to be common land. They extended from Birch Point to Peter Grant's Point. Here any inhabitant might cut hay and thatch grass. One Benjamin Waymouth of Dover, in 1700, car- ried off some thatch grass from this place, for which there was legal action against him for the recovery of five pounds. These "thatch Banks" were let by the town to John Cooper in 1710.
Next above Thomas Abbot was a lot granted to John Lamb, 15 July 1656. He sold it to James Emery, and Emery sold it to Peter Grant, 21 Oct. 1659.1 The Grants occupied this lot for many generations.
Above Peter Grant the next lot was that of John Taylor, granted in 1655, fifty acres "on the north side of John Lambs lott and called by the name of brisparns cove." It is called elsewhere "Onisiprus Cove." Taylor died about 1690, leaving a widow, Martha, and daughters, Mary; Katherine, who married Charles Cahan and administered his estate in 1688: Sarah, who married Elisha Clark : Deliverance, who married William Goodwin ; and Abigail, who married Moses Goodwin. The widow died about 1702. The farm passed to her son-in-law, William Goodwin, and long remained in the possession of the Goodwin family.
James Warren came next, whose lot was laid out 15 July 1656, "on the north side of John Taylor's lot." His daughter, Grizel, married Richard Otis, who was killed at the massacre of Cochecho in 1689. She was carried as a captive to Canada and there it is
1York Deeds III. 14.
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OLD KITTERY
recorded on her testimony that James Warren was a native of Berwick, Scotland, and that his wife, Margaret, was a native of Ireland. James Warren, Jr., became a leading citizen, being often selectman, commissioner, and surveyor. The name Warren has survived in Berwick until the present. Warren's estate fronted on Cow Cove, shown on page twenty-two.
Alexander Maxell received his grant of land the same day as Warren. Maxell settled in York and sold this grant to John Neal, who in 1662 sold twenty-five acres of it to Nathan Lord. Lord probably came over with Abraham Conley, whose daughter Judith was his first wife. This was before 1640. He is first mentioned as a signer of the submission to Massachusetts in 1652. He doubtless lived with Conley near Cold Harbor, and, after his marriage to Martha Everett, in the lower part of Berwick. east from the country road. The place is called "Mount Misery" in a (leed, referring presumably to Rocky Hill. called also Craggy Hill. The place of his later sojourn belonged to a region called "Old Fields," stretching south from Great Works River for some dis- tance. It was probably an old Indian planting ground. Here he had a garrison house, which long ago was demolished. The Lords are found still in Berwick and almost everywhere else, for they are very numerous and have borne an honored name.
Next north of Lord's were the two hundred acres of Richard Nason. Feb. 4, 1664. he sold to Nathan Lord nine acres, "adjoining unto Certain lands of ye sayd Lord, wch hath been & now is in the possession of ye sayd Lord," and "runs along by the head of the secund swampe on the southeast over the brooke," and "on the North & by East, directly from Richd Naysons Barne, it is bounded with Certen marked trees, marked with two letters R & N & is part of a great Prcell of land granted upto the sayd Richd Nayson by ye grant of the Town of Kittery."1 In 1694 Nason deeded this place to his sons, Benjamin and Baker. It was then bounded "on the south with the land of Widdow Lord" and on the North with the "lands that were late Thomas Spencers deceased," and on the west with the tide water. In 1654 Nason sold to George Leader for John Beex and Co. a strip of land four rods wide "beginning at pipe Stave poynt & soe downe along the river unto the next fresh water Cricke." It con-
1York Deeds III. 27.
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AND HER FAMILIES
tained "one acre more or less lying upon ye Side of the River commonly called Pipe staff point, formerly bought of Richard Nason." So it is described in 1687, in a deed from Robert Tufton Mason, grandson and heir of Capt. John Mason, to Eliakim Hutchinson of Boston. It is one of the oldest landmarks in old Kittery. It is mentioned in the Dover Town Records of 1639, and Richard Nason was living there at that date. The place is often mentioned as the Lower Landing or Pipe Stave Landing.
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THE NASON-HAMILTON ESTATE.
It was the head of navigation at low tide, and when Pipe Staves were the most common form of currency must have been a very busy place.
It awakens curiosity to find Richard Nason here in 1639 or earlier, in peaceful possession of a large tract of land adjoining to Mason's grant, yet never mentioned as one of the company sent over by Mason. He may have had charge of the Landing, then much in use. Col. Jonathan Hamilton lived here at the time of the American Revolution and built the house shown in the accom- panying illustration. Here is the opening scene in The Tory Lover, written by a gifted lady of the Parish of Unity, Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.
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OLD KITTERY
Next north of Richard Nason were the two hundred acres granted by the town to Thomas Spencer, but occupied by him long before the grant. In 1662 he deeded twelve acres of this to his son-in-law, Thomas Etherington, "bounded with the lands of Richd Nason on ye or nere ye South and West." adjoining unto lands of Daniel Goodwin on the North and East. The same day he gave to his son-in-law. John Gattinsby, twelve acres east of Etherington. Aug. 14. 1667, Spencer gave to his son-in-law, Daniel Goodwin, six acres "Wron his house & barne now stands." Oct. 20, 1663. he deeded to his son, William Spencer, land lying along the river. July 20, 1676, he deeded thirty acres to his son, Humphrey Spencer, east of Goodwin's land and bounded "on the northwest by the highway that leadeth toward York." This highway is called, in 1711, "The path that leads from Niche- wanock meeting house to York line," showing that roads in the early days were little more than bridle paths. The residue of Spencer's two hundred acres, the eastern part, furthest from the river. was given to Moses Spencer.
We have now arrived at the "Assabumbeducke River at New- gawanacke." so called in an inventory in 1669. This was the name given by the Indians, though it is oftener called, in old deeds, the Little Newichawannock. The mills built by Chad- bourne, Mason's agent. in 1634, after Mason's death fell into dis- use and then into misuse, for his servants appropriated to them- selves all that they could carry off. In 1651 the town granted to Richard and George Leader' the use of this mill privilege with .
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