USA > Maine > Pioneers on Maine rivers, with lists to 1651 > Part 19
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Levett appeared on the same day as a passenger with William Peirce in the Lyon and both held an early conference with the new governor which lasted for some time. There is no doubt
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that his responsibility as master of the vessel induced Peirce to have the matter decided forthwith. In fact, he had been lying in the harbor for several days.
The Lyon had been one of the first of the Winthrop fleet to reach New England that summer. The other, called the Mar and John, had discharged at Hull May 30.
Peirce, however, had arrived at Salem by way of Penobscot whither by previous agreement with Sherley in England he had promised to "bend" his course in consideration of a share in the future profits of Edward Ashley from the eastern Indian trade After that factor and his "five or six" subordinates with their goods had been landed at Machabitticus, the main cargo, to be delivered in Massachusetts, still remained on board. The prin- cipal consignee was the London Company which had chartered the vessel. The company's freight was to be unladen on the premises selected by Winthrop and his associates. The rest of the cargo, which belonged to Christopher Levett and Thomas Wright, was to be discharged at Salem.
Another conferee with Winthrop at Salem was Isaac Aller ton, who had returned from England with Peirce and was inter ested in the ventures of Wright at Casco, as well as Ashley's at Penobscot.
There is still extant in Suffolk files a very ancient document undated, unaddressed, unsubscribed and heretofore unpublished Although a scrap, it contains an allusion to early eastern affairs No particular importance has been attributed to it, but it must have related to the visit of Levett to Winthrop. Comparison with other specimens of the handwriting of Roger Conant poin unmistakably to him as its author. He had been recognized as the founder of Salem and its official monitor for four years.
The note was written in an advisory capacity and a careful transcription is appended. Who Wright's servant was canno now be determined, but the offence must have been committed at Casco during the previous year.
"The Planters Complayned against Mr. Wright for sending peces, and other prhebyted comodityes to trayd wth the Indyans
"To this John Milles hath sworne before Capt : Endycott and the rest who were joyned in Counsell wth him, that he saw Wrights servant trucke a fowlinge pece wth the Indyans.
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PRESUMPSCOT RIVER
"Allso Christo : Levett will take oth that Wright dyd so send, pieces raper blayds &c by him to so trayde wth the Indyans, and allso that he said to him that he had sent these things to be trayded to the Indyans, and would doe so again in spite of any should say nay to it.
"If for these things you please to make stay on his goods, I Conceve it is fitt that order be given to Captain Endycott to de- liver to Capt : Levett and the Company, what er they shall make appeare belongs to them, and to detayne the rest beinge all Wright's goods."f
A deposition of John Mills, taken for the Trelawney case in 1640, disclosed that he had frequented Casco Bay and Presump- scot River for fourteen years before the trial. While some of the jury were charged with remarking that they would as soon be- lieve a dog or an Indian, in this instance at least the witness had had the opportunity to be informed.
The disposition of Wright's consignment was not reported, but a decision must have been made before July 7, when the Lyon which had been freighted with live stock for Boston consignees had been unladen at Charlestown and sailed for Salem. Two weeks later Peirce had contracted with Charlestown authorities to return to Bristol at once for more supplies for the colony, which was in straitened circumstances.1
Servants of Wright came to New England in the Swift in the early summer of 1630 and occupied the deserted "house at Casko." The inmates mentioned were Thomas Alger and Ed- mund Baker, of Newton Ferrers, and Nicholas Rouse, of Wem- bley, England, where all were living ten years later.§
Another planter who was interested in the settlement of Casco was Arthur Mackworth. At an early date he had acquired title to land on the eastern side of Presumpscot River, known as Mackworth's Point, "by good Deed from the Indian Natives & Sr Ferdinando Gorges." The tract was called "Newton" and the owner's dwelling stood opposite the "house at Casko," which was located on Mackworth's Island .*
Captain John Wright, brother of the new owner at Casco and master of Ashley's shallop, who was to act as agent for his rela-
+ Suffolk Court Files, 26366.
# Savage's Winthrop. 1-448.
Me. Doc. Hist., 3-251.
York Deeds, 16-26.
scot, had the ade. heir o be rin- ered the st of mas ller- nter- 's at
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
tive also, was present at Saco when the first colonists took pos- session. Thomas Purchase, the subsequent patentee of Pejepscot, was in the company with Wright when possession was taken by Vines.
Wright's colonists did not remain long at Casco. The chief reason may have been the confiscation of his trading goods. Massachusetts magistrates argued that they had greater concern for the safety of the Eastern Country than those of New Ply- mouth on account of their proximity to the district and because their commerce was conducted in trading vessels rather than fortified stations.
By 1630, Levett had disposed of the residue of his interest in Casco territory to the Merchant Adventurers of Plymouth and had formed a trading partnership with John Boggust and Henry Lauson at Agawam (Ipswich) .
Soon after September 9, of that year, he embarked for England in the Gift of which John Brock was master. This vessel reached Bristol in November, but Levett had died during the voyage and was buried at sea. His personal effects had been administered and were delivered to his widow at that port January 22, 1630-1.1
John Winthrop, who had sent letters in the custody of the de- ceased passenger, and William Peirce, who as master of the Lyon had encountered Brock before December 1 in Bristol Harbor, com- plained that the mail on board the Gift had been opened without license. At that time both Massachusetts colonies did not hesitate to tamper with private correspondence, if by such means they could discover the political or business relations of unaffiliated planters.
Within three weeks after the departure of Levett Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered the abandonment of his plantation at Agawam and began prosecutions against Boggust, John Goalsworth and others for intoxication and doubtful misdemeanors. As a conse- quence most of the evicted tenants left the country and the colony took charge of the partnership property.
June 14, 1631, news of the death of Levett had been reported in Massachusetts for on that day the following court decree was issued by Endicott and a majority of the other influential planters associated with him in the council at Salem :
"It is ordered, that the constables of the sevall plantacons shall give notice to the creditrs of Capt. Levett, John Boggust & Henry
* Baxter's Levett, 76.
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Lauson, to be att the next Court, to make pfe of their debts, that they may receive satisfaccon for the same, soe farr as their goods will afford."}
Evidently, there was no dividend left for English claimants after the distribution of the estate to the creditors in New Eng- land, for, nearly two years later, the widow of Levett, then living in Exeter, England, requested Winthrop "to call for Captayne Endicotte and Mr. Conant to examine them" about some goods of Levett's which belonged "unto her & her children."§
Maverick was authority for the statement that the patent at Casco had been sold to "Mr Seeley Mr Jope and Company of Plimouth," known as the "Merchant Adventurers," of whom Moses Goodyear was a member .*
For many years the Merchant Adventurers had been interested in trade at Newfoundland and, incidentally, had become somewhat conversant with conditions on the Maine coast. The fishing and trading facilities at Casco were generally known in England, but the attention of Goodyear and his partner had been directed spe- cially to that section and they determined to obtain a patent with definite boundaries.
November 1, 1631, the mainland from Spurwink to Casco River was granted by the Council of Plymouth to Robert Trelawney and Moses Goodyear, merchants of Plymouth. The former pat- entee maintained later that the claim made by Cleave, that his land had been "formerly granted to one Levite, & by him to one Wright," pertained only to the house and island in Portland Har- bor. Trelawney also asserted that, so far as the mainland was con- cerned, the original patentee "never tooke that as parte of his pattent, but an Iland in that baye of Cascoe, and besids his pattent was Under a Condition to plante & inhabite within 7 yeares, which he never did, soe that if itt were parte, itt is forfaited longe since, & nowe by Pattent granted to mee & others."t
Under the date of June 14, 1632, John Wright, brother of the grantee, in company with Abraham Shurt, of Pemaquid, was reported to have been wrecked by an explosion at Pascataqua, in which his shallop and cargo were lost and one of his mariners was killed. The lading consisted of English commodities of consider-
į Mass. Col. Rec., 1-80.
§ 5 Mass. Hist. Col., 1-118.
Mass. Hist. Proc., 21-232 ; 5 Mass. Hist. Col., 1-501.
+ Me. Doc. Hist., 3-102.
cot, by
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
able value which had been left at Castine for Massachusetts con- signees. Wright died many years later at Agawam and there was no subsequent reference to him in Maine unless he was the owner of the Sankey lot in Biddeford.
July 21, of the same year, Thomas Alger and his associates had removed from Casco to Richmond Island, where they assumed charge of the premises for Trelawney during the first winter. The house at Casco was again abandoned.#
The next spring Governor Neal had occasion to go eastward as far as Pemaquid and he paid a visit to Black Point May 23, where he served peremptory notice upon Cleave and Tucker to vacate Spurwink which was claimed by Trelawney and Goodyear as a part of their territory. When Neal delivered the precept he gave the tenants the privilege of remaining on the premises until harvest.
Neal, who sailed from Boston for England August 15, 1633, stated in the "Relation" that "Cassica" was "at my Cominge away forsaken."§
Henry Jocelyn deposed, years afterward, that Cleave and Tucker were the first occupants of the tract of land which lies between Fore and Presumpscot rivers, known as Machegonne .*
The actual date of removal from Spurwink is not known, but June 25, 1640, Cleave alleged that he had been in possession at Machegonne "for these seaven yeares and upward." He must have meant that he had improved it by planting. ;
Hence, the first permanent settlement of Portland must have taken place in September or October, 1633. Oliver Weeks, an em- ploye of Cleave, assisted in transporting the household goods from Spurwink in a boat which had been borrowed from Winter at Richmond Island.
The records of the first session of court in Maine contained an account of a suit by William Royal against Cleave, which indi- cated that the plaintiff, who was a carpenter and had come to Massachusetts in 1629, had worked upon the buildings at Casco for the defendant and been debited with six weeks' "diet." An- other employe was George Taylor.##
March 30, 1635, Arthur Mackworth secured title to Mack- worth's Island and the point at Menickoe from Gorges as chief
# Me. Doc. Hist., 3-244, 17.
N. H. State Papers, 17-491.
Willis' Portland, 28.
+ Me. Doc. Hist., 3-208.
## Essex Rec., 2-25.
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proprietor of the district. It had been in the possession of the grantee for "many yeares" and was to be called Newton. It is sig- nificant that some of the tenants in "the house at Casko" in 1630 hailed from Newton Ferrers, England. Thomas Morton, who was a subscribing witness to this conveyance in England, obtained from Gorges-probably at the same time-a deed of the Clap- board Islands and 2,000 acres of the mainland adjacent.§
The location at Casco had begun to elicit favorable comment. Captain John Underhill, in his history of the Pequot War, pub- lished in England in 1638, alluded to the advantages of this part of Maine in the following comment: "Casko hath a famous bay, accommodated with a hundred islands, and is fit for plantation, and hath a river belonging to it, which doth afford fish in abun- dance, fowl also in great measure. So full of fowl it is, that strangers may be supplied with variety of fowl in an hour or two after their arrival, which knew not how to be relieved before. Because the place in general is so famous, and well known to all the world, and chiefly to our English nation (the most noblest of this Commonwealth), I therefore forbear many particulars which yet might be expressed."*
At the time of Underhill's account the most famous fowler in Casco Bay was Benjamin Atwell, who was located on Martin's Point on the west side of Presumpscot River. There is no doubt that this professional hunter was attracted to the locality because of the abundance of fish and wild fowl in that river. One of his customers was Winter, who required large quantities of provisions for his employes at Richmond Island.
Next to the homestead of Atwell, along the shore to the west- ward, was a lot occupied by Hugh Mosier and Thomas Wise, pre- viously of Saco. All land on the west side of the Presumpscot, including that of Atwell, Mosier and Wise, had been acquired from Gorges by Cleave and Tucker, who then lived on the point at Machegonne within the present limits of Portland. At the same time Arthur Mackworth had a dwelling upon land bought from the same proprietor on the eastern bank of the Presumpscot. He also owned the island before the mouth of that river.
In the dispute between Cleave and Trelawney in 1640, testi- mony was introduced to prove that the Presumpscot was the "River of Casco." The affiants, who were described as those who
§ York Deeds. 1-2. 1; Mass. Hist. Proc., 58-163.
* 3 Mass. Hist. Col., 6-14.
ed
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"did most frequent that place since the first discovery thereof," were William Gibbons, John Mills, Henry Watts and Arthur Brown, who had "known" that river since 1623, 1627, 1631 and 1634, respectively. John Cousins and Peter Garland, mariners, had also "known and frequented" Casco Bay for fourteen years. Other persons, who were then living in England and did not tes- tify, were Ambrose Bouden, of Holberton, John Taylor, of Jalme, and Bennett Wills, of Plymouth, who had fished with Winter in the Presumpscot thirteen years before the trial.
While the jury decided in favor of Cleave, the supreme court of appeal reversed the decision and reported that it had been clearly
Chalco River
PUTchefes River
Lenebeck River
Chasco
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CapeElizabeth
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CASCO 1653
CASCO, 1653
proven "by ye relation of ye Antient Inhabitants & Natives" that the Presumpscot had "Ever been Called Casco river."+
In spite of the adverse ruling Cleave, as deputy for Rigby, still continued to control the eastern situation. For a time his dictator- ship was unopposed. None of the Lygonia patentees had settled at
+ Me. Doc. Hist., 3-322 ; York Deeds, 8-244.
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Casco. Even Stephen Bachilor, who had contemplated service there as pastor in 1630, did not regard the field an attractive one when he was invited to assume the same position fourteen years later.}
After the submission of Casco to Massachusetts, in 1658, the old issue involving the identity of the "River of Casco" was raised in a new tribunal.
Then the contending parties were Cleave and Robert Jordan, who upon the decease of Winter had become the successor of Trelawney. The old decree of the justices was reaffirmed the next year, and Cleave again lost every vestige of title to Machegonne, which had been conferred upon him by dual peers.
When Maverick, in 1660, described the location of Levett's house as an island "lyeing before Casco River," he must have been familiar with the result of the prolonged litigation. However, there is other proof that Mackworth's Island was the site of Levett's house in Casco Bay.
An ancient deed definitely described the situation of "Old Casco," which was then more than a matter of tradition. It lay "Over Against" Hog Island "in Casco Bay in ye town of falmouth on ye Northeast Side of ye Coming in to Portland." The date of this conveyance was 1719, which marked the beginning of the period of resettlement of the Eastern Country. At that time the only English building left standing to the eastward of Black Point was a fish house upon Damariscove Island.§
The earliest mention of Portland as the name for Falmouth occurs in Waldron's report of the eastern expedition against the Indians, preserved by Hubbard in his account of the early wars with the natives and published in 1677.
THE FIRST ISLANDS OCCUPIED IN CASCO BAY.
Mackworth's Island contains about forty acres and was first occupied by Christopher Levett in 1623. It was given later to Arthur Mackworth by Gorges, with part of the mainland.
Cushing's, early known as Andrews, Bangs and Portland, Island contains 215 acres. There was a house upon it in 1668. Seven years later the place became a refuge for some of the inhabitants of Casco Bay who had escaped from the Indians on the mainland.
# 4 Mass. Hist. Col., 7-101.
§ York Deeds, 9-186.
a
nd
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House Island contains twenty-four acres. It was occupied at an early date by Sampson Penley and Nicholas White. An old house, acquired from the inhabitants, in 1661, by George Munjoy, was sold by his widow in 1683.
Pond, also called successively Michael's, Palmer and Peaks, Island contains 717 acres. Michael Mitten leased the premises from Cleave, as agent for Gorges, December 28, 1637.
Great Diamond, originally called Great Hog, Island contains 360 acres. It was granted to Cleave and Tucker January 27, 1636-7.
Long Island contains 800 acres. It was occupied by John Sears from Massachusetts in 1646 and sold by him in 1655.
Jewell's Island contains about 100 acres and lies on the outer rim of the Casco archipelago. The first known occupant was George Jewell who found it a safe and convenient fishing port. It was provided with stages and flakes. A mariner who gave his name to the northern sound was George Luxon, a fishing master from Barnstable. Before 1660 the place was utilized by Henry Donnell, the veteran fisherman of York.
Lower Clapboard Island contains about thirty acres and lies about a mile off the Falmouth shore near the eastern line of the town. It was claimed by Thomas Morton in his will of 1643, but was occupied by the Felt family before 1663.
Great and Little Chebeague Islands contain 300 and fifty- seven acres, respectively. The larger island was sold by Cleave to Walter Merry, of Boston, September 18, 1650.
Upper Clapboard Island contains about forty acres and lies in Cumberland. Morton claimed it in 1643, but it was first improved by Thomas Drake in connection with his plantation at Prince Point. It is now known as Sturdivant Island.
PIONEERS
ALGER, THOMAS, trader, living in "the house at Casko," 1630; Richmond Island, 1632-3; returned to England in the "Welcome" July 15, 1633; Newton Ferrers, England, 1640.
ATWELL, BENJAMIN, fowler at Presumpscot, 1640; widow Mary mar- ried Richard Martin of Scarborough; son Benjamin.
BAKER, EDMUND, trader, living in the house at Casco with Alger, 1630; Newton Ferrers, England, 1640.
BROWN, ARTHUR, merchant and partner of Arthur Mackworth at Pre- sumpscot, 1634-9; Winnegance (East Boothbay), 1640-1; York, 1642.
GARLAND, PETER, mariner, knew Presumpscot River, 1626; Malden,
1634-8; Dover, 1640; Boston, 1654; died at sea in the south; widow Elizabeth, born 1599; son John, born 1622.
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LEVETT, CHRISTOPHER, born at York, England, 1586; married Mercy, daughter of Robert More, 1608; mariner, built a house in Casco Bay, 1623; England, 1624-9; sold Casco plantation to Thomas Wright, of Bristol, 1629; Salem, 1630; embarked for England in the "Gift" in Sep- tember, 1630, but died and was buried at sea; widow Frances in Exeter, 1633; children by former wife, Sarah, born 1610, Rebecca, born 1612, Mary, born 1613, Jeremiah, born 1614, and Edith.
MACKWORTH, ARTHUR, merchant, had had possession at Presumpscot "many years" before 1635; partner of Arthur Brown; married Jane, widow of Samuel Andrews, as his second wife, 1637; died 1657; chil- dren, by first wife, Rebecca (Wharf) and Sarah (Adams).
MILLS, JOHN, planter, knew Presumpscot River, 1626; arrived at Rich- mond Island with Winter March 2, 1632-3; Spurwink, 1638; deceased 1664; widow Sarah; children James, John, Mary and Sarah.
MITTEN, MICHAEL, fowler at Diamond Island, 1637; married Elizabeth, daughter of George Cleave and settled on Fore River; died 1661; widow married Peter Harvey; children Ann (Brackett), Elizabeth (Clark). Martha (Graves), Mary (Brackett), Nathaniel and Sarah (Andrews). MOSES, JOHN, born 1616; apprentice of Cleave and Tucker at Casco, 1639-1646; wife Alice, 1648; wife Ann, 1667; Little Harbor, 1648-1686; children Aaron and Sarah.
MUNJOY, GEORGE, son of John of Abbotsham, near Bideford, born 1627; mariner at Casco, 1647, when he removed to Boston; sister Mary, wife of John Sanders, of Braintree; died 1681; widow Mary (Phillips) mar- ried Robert Lawrence and Stephen Cross; children John, born April 17, 1653; George, born April 21, 1656; Josiah, born April 4, 1658; Philip, Mary, Hephzibah, Pelatiah and Gershom, baptized at Dorchester, in 1662, 1665, 1673 and 1675, respectively.
PHIPPEN, JOSEPH, son of David and Sarah; seaman at Hingham, 1637; wife Dorothy Wood; Falmouth, 1650; Salem, 1655; died in July, 1687; children, born at Hingham, Joseph, August, 1642, Mary, March 5, 1643-4; born in Boston, Sarah, February 4, 1644-5, David, February 11, 1646-7, Joseph, April 30, 1649, and Elizabeth, June 10, 1652.
ROUSE, NICHOLAS, trader, living in the house at Casco with Alger, 1630; Wembley. England, 1640.
TAYLOR, GEORGE, born 1608; employe of Cleave and Tucker at Casco, 1635; married Margaret, widow of Philip Hingston, after 1662; de- ceased in 1686; son Andrew.
WILLS, BENNETT, fisherman, at Presumpscot with Winter, 1627; trading at Richmond Island, 1643.
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ROYAL RIVER
This stream flows through Yarmouth, about eight miles east of the Presumpscot, and was known to the natives as Westcustego.
In 1640, all of the territory extending westerly from the bank of Royal River, as far as Broad Cove, was in possession of John Phillips, the Welshman. About that date Phillips conveyed the western section adjoining the cove to George Felt, of Charlestown, who secured a confirmation of his title from Thomas Gorges in 1643 and continued to occupy the premises for more than forty years.
Phillips was a millwright and constructed on Pumgustuck Falls in Yarmouth the first sawmill in Eastern Maine. The mill was completed about 1645. A deed of land situated at York, dated June 8, 1646, disclosed the names of early residents near "Casco Mill." Those mentioned were John Smith and his wife Joan, as grantors, and Richard Carter, John Jackson, and William and Phebe Royal, as available witnesses .*
Soon after the sale to Felt the next lot to the eastward was acquired by Thomas Drake and transferred to Richard Martin ; it contained sixty acres and was known subsequently as Martin's Plantation. The residue of the land between that plantation and Royal River was purchased by Richard Carter about 1646 and sold to John Maine six years later. The extremity, now known as Parker's, was formerly called Maine's Point.f
Before 1665 Westcustego had been defined as a township by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and fifteen years later, at the close of the First Indian War, Maine's Point was approved as a site for the new village of North Yarmouth.
About a mile above the mouth of Royal River the Chusquisack enters it from the northeast. The principal fall on that tributary was styled "Susqussugg," which was merely another way of spell- ing the same word. By early visitors the stream was called "North," or "Cousins," River.
The first English owner of the tract situated in the northerly angle between the two branches of the Westcustego was William
* Aspinwall, 15; York Deeds, 1-32.
+ York Deeds, 12-316 ; 9-221.
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Royal, from whom it derived its present name. He was originally from Charlestown and had assisted George Cleave in the con- struction of his buildings at Machegonne. The concession com- prised about 250 acres and title to the premises, now known as Brown's Point, was confirmed to Royal by Thomas Gorges March 27, 1643. The grantee did not then reside upon that site.
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