USA > Maine > Pioneers on Maine rivers, with lists to 1651 > Part 21
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§ Am. Ant. Col., 1867-98.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
mills in lenkth and 20 millse in bredth, and sayeth that his one hand is not to your patten if it have anne more Wee can proquer nothinge under his hand, but in our heringe he gave order unto Mr. Aires to wright unto Capten Neyle of Pascatoway, that Bradshew and wee maight be bounded, that wee mayght not truble ech other, and hath given the Capten comand to serch your patten, what it is you have under my lords hand and his."*
Although Bradshaw may have lived previously at Salem or Cape Ann, under the administrations of the Dorchester Mer- chants and London Company, it is evident that he had not then located any definite territory in Maine. He may have been sta- tioned at Pejepscot with Purchase before the date of the forego- ing letter. If he came to Richmond Island with John Winter, he arrived in the country April 17, 1632, or just before the letter reached Massachusetts.
It is obvious that there was a difference of opinion as to the projection of Bradshaw's patent in Maine. Gorges, who had a map which delineated the earlier allotments, was convinced that it was too far inland to conflict with the twenty-mile limit of the Plough Patent.
Neal, who laid out the bounds in 1632, soon after described the patent as comprising the "Northeast side of Peckipscot River." The tract contained 1500 acres and extended two miles to the eastward of the head of Pejepscot River and one mile inland.
In spite of the clear description of the grant itself, George Cleave undertook, many years later, to base his title to a house and land at Spurwink River upon Bradshaw's proprietary right to territory in the Pejepscot region. He alleged that Neal gave the patentee possession of land at Spurwink which was "in- herited" afterwards by his partner Richard Tucker .;
But the house at the mouth of the Spurwink River, near Rich- mond Island, was constructed by Cleave several months before the concession was made to Bradshaw by the Council of Ply- mouth, and was then recognized as the only building on the main- land within the bounds of the grant to Trelawney and Goodyear. Cleave had based his right upon a mere promise of Gorges.
However, Bradshaw disappeared completely from New Eng-
* 4 Mass. Hist. Col., 7-93.
+ Me. Doc. Hist., 3-207.
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NEW MEADOWS AND PEJEPSCOT RIVERS
land records and no claim was asserted subsequently, by him or his heirs or assigns to any part of the district.
June 16, 1632, Purchase and Way, who were related by mar- riage, procured from the Council of Plymouth a grant "of cer- taine Lands in New England, called the River Bishopscott and all that Bounds and Limitts the Maine Land, adjoining to the said River to extend two myles : from the said River Northwards four myles, and from the house there to the Ocean Sea."}
After issuance the original document of title was deposited, for safe-keeping, with Sir Francis Ashley, of Dorchester, who had been recognized as the official head of the Dorchester Merchants.§
From the description contained in the patent itself it is plain that the house built by Purchase and Way had already been erected near Brunswick Falls at the head of navigation. While the concession extended to the seashore in Casco Bay, it did not include Merryconeag or Small Point.
The tract occupied by the pioneer had been cultivated by him before his patent was granted and his location was favorable for Indian trade. There were no competitors and he had easy access to Androscoggin and Kennebec rivers.
During 1632 Purchase returned to England with his young wife, who like Sir Christopher Gardiner, her former employer, had been decreed to banishment from the country by Massa- chusetts magistrates. The doughty knight had evaded his in- quisitors at Pejepscot for several months, but reached Bristol unexpectedly with the fishing ships about the middle of August. As the trip usually took two months, he may have sailed in July. It may be assumed that the host and his wife took passage in the same vessel.
November 26, of that year, Gardiner was given proprietary rights in New England by the Council of Plymouth, and Purchase was present at Dorchester, England, the following spring, for April 22 he executed certain "articles of agreement" with George Way. According to the heir of Way, the agreement related to a division of their patent in Maine, but permanent possession was not taken at Pejepscot until forty years before the First Indian War, or about 1635 .*
# Sainsbury's Col. Pap., 1-152.
§ Me. Hist. Col., 3-330.
York Deeds, 4-18.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
One of the early occupations at the plantation was raising colts, which were yarded upon a peninsula then known as Mare, now Mere, Point in Casco Bay. An employe on the premises was George Lewis.t
In the summer of 1636 Purchase appeared at the house at Newichawannock, then occupied by agents of the widow of Captain John Mason. There he sold a "great boat" to John Tre- worthy, who had arrived that spring from Dartmouth, England. Later, he instituted a suit against the purchaser for damages occasioned by his failure to keep the terms of the sale and com- plained that the delinquency of Treworthy had detained his three employes at Newichawannock and interfered with the harvesting of the hay crop at the Eastward, so that his live stock suffered for want of provender.#
Purchase was zealous in his attempts to maintain his vested territorial rights at Pejepscct. This was shown in more than one instance. September 20, 1633, Captain Thomas Young, of Lon- don, had been granted a special commission to explore the unin- habited parts of America. It was the broadest delegation of powers ever conferred by Charles First upon any individual. He was given full authority to provide a fleet, discover and trade in the country, establish fortified posts, seize vessels and dispose of prisoners summarily, at his discretion.§
What transpired in Maine was disclosed by Maverick in an interesting bit of early history. He described the results in these words : "One Captaine Young and 3 men with him in the Yeare 1636 went up the" (Sagadahoc) "River upon discovery and only by Carying their Canoes some few times, and not farr by Land came into Canada River very neare Kebeck Fort where by the French, Capt Young was taken, and carried for ffrance but his Company returned safe."*
Later, Young complained that he had been misled by the ad- vice of Purchase, whom he had met at Pejepscot or Sagadahoc, but there seems to have been no basis for such charge since the latter could not have been expected to be familiar with interior conditions of the country at that time. So far as known, the London explorer was the first European to trace the Kennebec
+ Me. Hist. Col .. 3-332.
$ Lechford, 153.
Hazard. 1-338.
Mass. Hist. Proc., 21-232.
249
NEW MEADOWS AND PEJEPSCOT RIVERS
River back to its source and reach the Saint Lawrence River through the deserted reaches of the intervening wilderness.
Purchase was in a peculiar position of disadvantage. While by virtue of his patent he was in possession of a comparatively small area, his extensive sea and river boundaries were exposed to the constant danger of trespass by strangers. His only abutter was Bradshaw, who was described in an English deposition, dated May 5, 1637, as a seafaring man, aged 41; his residence was at Saint Margaret's, Westminster, at that time ; his rights at Pejep- scot appear to have been absorbed by Purchase .;
July 3, 1637, Sir Ferdinando Gorges assigned to Sir Richard Edgecomb, of Mount Edgecomb in Devonshire, 8000 acres of land described as "lying between Sagadahock and Casco Bay." This concession had always been known to planters as Small Point, but was called Pejepscot Point by early navigators. It was bounded northerly by the premises of Purchase and Way.}
It has been claimed that the transaction between Gorges and Edgecomb represented a full settlement of debts due the latter at that time. Sir Richard died March 23, 1638-9. It is not known that he ever visited New England or made a survey at Small Point, which was anciently described as situated "near the lake of New Somerset, fifteen miles from Casco Bay." The lake al- luded to is now known as Merry Meeting Bay.
Eighty-one years after the date of the original grant to the nobleman, Nicholas Edgecomb, supposed to be an heir of the English proprietor, undertook to define the location and estab- lish the rights of other heirs-at-law in the tract at Small Point. Much of that territory had already been sold by the natives.
Because of the sharp tactics of his nearest competitors Pur- chase became involved in financial straits. Although he was a commissioner in the administration of Gorges, he sought pro- tection from his former colleagues outside the province. John White, of Dorchester, England, who had been a partner with George Way as one of the Dorchester Merchants, appealed to Governor Winthrop in these words :
"My neighbor, Mr Way of this place, who hath ben an hearty freind to N. Engl., hath servants in the Bay who as it seems are not soe indifferently respected in their lott as they ought to be.
+ N. Y. Gen. Biog. Rec., 47-76.
# Me. Doc. in Eng. Arch., 89.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
They desire to open their case to you, & I know you will doe them right."§
There is no doubt that this reference was made to Purchase and Way and their associates who were established early at Salem and Dorchester and first directed their affairs at the Eastward from those points.
Under date of May 10, 1639, Winthrop alluded in his history to a letter in which "One Mr. Ryall, having gotten a patent at Sagadahoc out of the grand patent, wrote our governour and tendered it to our government, so as we would send people to possess it."*
Later events show that the grant to which Royal referred was that obtained by Purchase at Pejepscot, which was situated within the Sagadahoc Country. It is apparent that the pro- ponent named had been selected by Purchase to make the first overtures of sale to the Massachusetts government. He had been an early resident of Charlestown and was intimate with the Bay magistrates.
The first offer was rejected, but July 22, following, Winthrop accepted the original proposition and secured from Purchase all of his territory at Pejepscot, except a few hundred acres, then in different stages of cultivation, and whatever additional forest land the grantor might wish to reclaim in seven years. Massa- chusetts was thereby invested with the right of civil control and colonization .¡
The Pejepscot Papers, so-called, contain many depositions which were taken for the purpose of determining the actual loca- tion of Purchase's house.
The pioneer built three dwellings during his sojourn at Pejep- scot. The first one was mentioned as a monument in the river boundary from the mouth of the Androscoggin to the sea. That river terminated in a "precipice" at Brunswick and the Pejep- scot extended from that point to Merry Meeting Bay. The orig- inal grant to Purchase was two miles wide on each side of the Androscoggin and maintained that width to the "Ocean Sea," where he claimed four miles of coast line.
In November, 1639, New Plymouth abandoned Cushnoc and Pejepscot became the frontier. Unfortunately, the Indians were
§ 5 Mass. Hist. Col., 1-253.
* Winthrop, 1-304.
# Mass. Col. Rec., 1-260.
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NEW MEADOWS AND PEJEPSCOT RIVERS
not the only "neighbors" who disturbed the tranquillity of Pur- chase. Late in that year Robert Morgan, of Pemaquid, James Smith, of Maquoit, and Arthur Brown and Robert Shute, of Winnegance, abstracted forty-four moose skins from the house at Pejepscot, where they had been left for safe-keeping by Saga- more Abbagadusset of Kennebec. Rather than endanger the lives of his wife and children, Purchase reimbursed the Indian for the confiscated property .¿
By 1640 the Pioneer of Pejepscot had determined to remove all of his personal property beyond jurisdiction of the Province of Maine. Many frivolous suits had been instituted against him in an unfriendly court where he had formerly undertaken to ad- minister justice to others. The political faction of Cleave, as well as that of the adherents of Vines, was hostile.
John Winthrop, who had accepted jurisdiction over the dis- trict of Pejepscot for his colony, was informed by Vines that he had heard "that Mr. Purches had carried away his cattell and other goodes, for the Massachusetts, and was intended to fetch away the rest with all speed."
During the absence of the proprietor Maine magistrates sent their marshal, Robert Sankey, from Saco to Pejepscot to obtain security for his appearance at court. The officer found only Robert Jordan, a minister who kept the house when the pro- prietor was away from home. He was a relative of Purchase who had lived in the country for two years. There was but one house at Pejepscot at that date, and after an attempt to obtain recog- nizance from the "neighbours," who were apparently indifferent, the marshal carried away 120 yards of Indian beads, called wam- pumpeag, as a pledge.§
August 3, 1640, recognizance was given by Purchase and Jordan for the appearance of the former at the next session of court. At that time one of the most serious charges preferred against the respondent was in the nature of a criminal action brought by Captain Thomas Young in the name of the King of England. The complainant claimed that the Pejepscot proprietor had interfered with his efforts to explore the country about Ken- nebec River in 1636, when he had penetrated the wilderness as far as Quebec and was captured by the French.
¿ Lechford, 219.
§ 4 Mass. Hist. Col., 7-339.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
The explorer had returned too late from captivity in France to enter his action against Purchase in the first Yorkshire Court which had ceased to function in 1637. Evidently he had been waiting four years for an opportunity to bring his suit in a local forum.
In this connection Vines had advised Winthrop: "At that present tyme I received a letter, with a greate complaint, from Capt : Thomas Young, how that Mr. Purches had endeavored to hinder his discoveries by many" (misleading) "suggestions, and he feares, to the overthrow of his designes, promising to produce many witnesses to prove it; and desired justice from our Court, for that the wrong was offred within our Province."*
The disposition of this case is not preserved in Maine records, but it may be presumed that the relief was inconsequential, if the action was prosecuted to the final stage of recovery.
September 9, 1640, Robert Knight, William Gibbons, William Royal and Robert Shute, Indian traders, testified in the court at Saco that the scales used by Purchase for weighing furs bought from them were not reliable. From a record of the case it ap- peared that Arthur Mackworth, who lived at the mouth of Pre- sumpscot River in Casco Bay, was a strong competitor in the wholesale fur industry.
In 1641, George Way died at his residence on North Street, in Dorchester, England. He left a widow Sarah and a son Eleazar. In the will he mentioned his friends William Derby and John White, who had been associated with himself and Purchase at Cape Ann in 1622. He disposed of a houselot at Dorchester, Massachusetts, and the proceeds of merchandise which had been consigned to Roger Clap, Henry Cogan, Thomas Ford and Stephen Taylor, at Dorchester and Salem. He owned cattle and corn in New England, but gave his "plantation, houses, land and ground in New Beshipscot," which he claimed as a partner of Thomas Purchase, to his son. It would appear that the first wife of Purchase had been a sister of the testator.t
The name "New Pejepscot" implied an older location, which had been established by the patentees nearer the sea. There is some indication that the first truck house was built at Maquoit. In 1643, after the prolonged period of litigation with his neigh- bors, the house then occupied by Purchase was destroyed by fire
* 4 Mass. Hist. Col., 7-338.
¡ N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., 43-151.
253
NEW MEADOWS AND PEJEPSCOT RIVERS
and his patent was burned with it. The pioneer constructed a small temporary structure near the old site, but later built a sub- stantial stone house above Brunswick Falls.}
This building marked the initial bound of Sagadahoc patent as defined by Cleave in 1648. At that time Henry Boade, of Cape Porpoise, complained to Winthrop about the unfairness of that survey in these words : "He cannot come neere us if he begin to take his measure according to his pattent wch is at Sakado-hec river the South west syd of yt; but he began at Mr Purchas's house at the river called Mengipscott river."§
Purchase was too powerful an antagonist to be ignored.
Trade with the Indians was never conducted according to any well defined code of ethics by Europeans. William Hubbard, who came from England to Ipswich in 1635, described the busi- ness relations between the settlers and natives in his narrative of the Indian Wars of New England published in 1677. On ac- count of his careful research, intimate connection with the colonists and obvious sincerity as a writer, he is entitled to full confidence. The State of Maine alone owes him an incalculable debt.
While Hubbard did not indicate definitely whom he meant in his use of the initial, the identity of the Pejepscot planter, who was then living, is apparent in the following sentence :
"The more sober and prudent of the Indians have always most bitterly complained of the Trading of strong Liquor in our Eng- lish, as well as in the French and Dutch, whose ordinary Cus- tome is first to make them, or suffer them to make themselves drunk with Liquors, and then to Trade with them, when they may easily be cheated both in what they bring to Trade, and in the Liquor itself, being one half or more nothing but Spring Water, which made one of the Amonoscoggin Indians once complain that he had given an hundred pound for Water drawn out of Mr. P. his well."
About 1654 Purchase acquired from the Indians extensive additions to his land at Pejepscot. The deed is lost but the native grantors acknowledged his title many years later. One of these was known as Derumkin, who may have been a lineal descendant from Mentaurmet, father of Robinhood, alias Manawormet, and
* Me. Hist. Col., 3-330 ; Pejepscot Papers.
§ Mass. Hist. Proc., 22-157.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
grandfather of Natahanada, Ramchock and Tussuck, all early residents on Kennebec River .*
The Purchase tract was bounded on the west by Bunganuck River and on the east by the Sagadahoc. It was defined on the south side by Casco Bay, Merryconeag and Small Point. The former peninsula was described as that "Necke of Land Called Mereconege, lying over against an Ysland Called Sebasco, alias Sequasco Diggin in Casco Bay in the province of Mayne" which was "bounded at the head or upper end with ye plaines, of pejip- scott, or land late belonging to or claimed by Mr Purchass, & on all other parts & sides * by the sault water."+
Small Point, which adjoined Sagadahoc River and had been granted to Sir Richard Edgecomb originally, passed eventually to English settlers through the medium of Indian conveyances.
To the northwestward the Pejepscot tract then ran "into the main land above twenty miles, four miles on each side of a small river, called Andros Coggan river, which by a precipice empties itself into the westernmost branch of Bay of Kennibeck."}
Purchase reared a family upon the Maine plantation, but his second wife died in Boston January 7, 1656, and there is evidence that his family was then resident there.
After the Indians had plundered the home of Purchase in September, 1675, his family fled with him to the westward as far as Presumpscot River, where the English settlers were marooned on an island in Casco Bay for several weeks. From this refuge, known as Andrews' Island, the surviving heads of the respective households directed an appeal for help to the Massachusetts government. This petition was not dated, but it bore the signa- tures or marks of Thomas Skillings, Thomas Purchase, Francis Neal, Abraham and Jonathan Adams, Elizabeth Harvey, Edward Barton, Dorcas Andrews and William Phillips.§
In answer to the appeal a vessel was sent to Casco "to bring off" the refugees. Purchase removed at that time to Lynn, where he died May 11, 1678, aged 101 years.
After twenty-six years of litigation by the devisees of Way to recover possession of the patentee's interest at Pejepscot, his son Eleazar Way sold his father's share, as established by judg-
* York Deeds, 4-14.
+ York Deeds, 3-127.
# Me. Doc. in Eng. Arch., 89.
§ Suffolk Court Files, 26061.
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NEW MEADOWS AND PEJEPSCOT RIVERS
ment of court, to Richard Wharton October 10, 1683. The heirs of Purchase disposed of their rights in the eastern plantation to the same grantee two years later.
A subsequent decision of the Massachusetts courts extended the Pejepscot tract from Brunswick Falls to Maquoit and from Merry Meeting Bay to Small Point Harbor. This territory was confirmed to Wharton, who maintained that the original pro- prietary grant had been enlarged by Indian concessions to Pur- chase about thirty years before.
An early settler at Small Point was John Parker, previously of Saco, who bought the point and Stage Island, lying in the river to the eastward, from the natives in 1648. The deed was lost.
New Damariscove Island lies off the Pejepscot shore. It con- tains 1000 acres and was settled by a mariner named Richard Potts in 1663, when he was in the employment of Clark and Lake at the Eastward. His wife Margaret was the widow of William Davis, an early settler at Woolwich. In 1676, while he was fish- ing from a boat near the mainland, his wife and children on the shore were captured, and some of them killed, by the Indians.
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IMPERIAL KENNEBEC
Majestic River of the North, Surging from the heart of Maine, Turning backward not again, But ever trending boldly forth- Ever bearing to the sea Thy tribute to immensity !
So, too, fares forth the State's new blood From each vale and mountain side, Hopeful, fearless and untried, To mingle with the world at flood- Falling, rising evermore, But always facing to the fore.
Flow on, Grand River of the State! Deep and strong and confident That in future you were meant To seek and emulate the great, Merging till the end of time In tuneful tides, full and sublime.
257
SAGADAHOC RIVER
SAGADAHOC RIVER
THE OLD EMPIRE OF MOASHAN OR MAWOOSHEN.
Maine once contained a vast Indian monarchy which extended, oastwise, from the Saco to Union River, a distance of 120 miles, and into the northern wilderness for 150 miles. This district, known as Moashan, was bounded on the west by Epistoman, on the east by the country of the Tarratines and on the north by a great wood called Senaglecounc.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
It was described in an indefinite way by Richard Hakluyt, who had obtained his information from discoveries of Bartholo- mew Gosnold in 1602, Martin Pring in 1603, George Waymouth in 1605, Pring, again, in 1606 and the Sagadahoc colonists in 1607 and 1608.
The district was represented by Gorges as "in a manner dreadful to the beholders, for it seemed but as a desert wilder- ness, replete only with a kind of savage people and overgrown trees." Captain Smith reported : "It is a Countrie rather to affright then delight one; and how to describe a more plaine spectacle of desolation or more barren I knowe not."
The form of government was monarchical and the ruler was styled Bashaba. He lived upon the Penobscot River in the vi- cinity of the present city of Bangor and his village was the fa- mous Norumbega visited by Spanish mariners.
Examination of Hakluyt's geographical description of this kingdom disclosed the large rivers, the number of dominant lords, known as sagamores, the names of their villages and their mili- tary census. A condensed outline of the main statistics has been appended.
River.
Village.
Sagamores. Wigwams.Men.
Shawakotoc (Saco),
Crokemago.
Ashamahaga (Wescustego), Agnagebcoc,
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Casherokenit,
70
240
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Kenebeke,
Apomhamen,
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100
Ketangheanycke,
Octoworthe,
90
330
Naragooc,
Cocockohamas,
50
150
Sebasticook,
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