USA > Maine > Pioneers on Maine rivers, with lists to 1651 > Part 4
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On the afternoon of August 13, in the same year, the James of Bristol anchored in the lee of "Hog Island," but Richard Mather, a clergyman bound for Boston in this vessel, reported that he had found no inhabitants at Monhegan and but few at Richmond Island. The fishing season was then over and he men- tioned no one as a resident at the Isle of Shoals, where all of the ship's passengers lodged on board their own vessel during that night.
The opening of 1636 presented a dismal outlook for New Eng- land planters. All of the settlements were nearly destitute, and supplies could not be secured to the southward where like con- ditions prevailed. In the crisis it was manifestly unsafe to de- pend wholly upon the surplus stores of the fishing ships and in
N. H. State Papers, 17-487. Winthrop, 1-464. N E. Hist. Gen. Reg., 8-137. Winthrop, 1-163.
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order to obtain adequate stocks from abroad it was necessary to get early communication with England. With this object in view Isaac Allerton was licensed by Massachusetts government to sail as far eastward as the French post at Penobscot "for ye better conveace of our letters."*
The result of this unseasonable voyage was disastrous for the messenger. In the words of the governor: "His bark was cast upon an island, and beat out her keel, and so lay ten days ; yet he gate help from Pemaquid, and mended her, and brought her home." He reached Boston before March 30, 1636 .;
At the beginning of the next month Allerton and Thomas Mayhew, as agent of Matthew Cradock at Medford, visited the Isle of Shoals to trade with the fishing masters, where they got "but little provisions, and at extreme rates, but six hogsheads of bread, and a few peas." The narrator added, "Some pork they brought, but so lean as I have not seen the like salted. The Indians killed up all their swine."
The trade conditions at the islands were described by May- hew himself in these words: "Touching my journey to Ile of Sholes to buy 80 hogsheads of provission, when I came I fownd noe such thinge as unto me for trueth was reported; to procure 8 hogsheads of bread I was fayne to lay out one hundred pownds in ruggs & coates unnecessaryly : and for pease I gott but 1 hogshead & 1."}
Presumably, Mayhew made the voyage from Medford in the bark Rebecca which had been named for Cradock's wife and be- longed to his plantation. The supplies were needed at Saco, where men were engaged in the clapboard industry, as well as in Massachusetts.
April 12, of the same year, it was regarded as a dispensation of Providence when the Charity from Dartmouth arrived in Bos- ton Harbor with supplies from England. Winthrop asserted that "The Lord * * * sent us a ship
* ** with provisions, but she put in at Pascataqua, and sold much there."
The cargo of this vessel belonged to Alexander Shapleigh, whose daughter Catherine Hilton, in a plea addressed to the Massachusetts authorities for the release of her younger brother Nicholas Shapleigh, alluded to the incident in 1674 in these
* Bradford, 2-221.
¡ Winthrop. 1-182.
# 4 Mass. Hist. Col., 7-31.
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words : "About 38 years since, in a time of great scarcity, in this land, our ffather layd out a good estate, for the supply of this Country, & the setleing some part of it, & in A season of there want, supplyed them soe reasonabley with provitions, that it was thanckfully accepted, and acknowledged by the Authority then in being."§
During the month following the arrival of the Charity, Thomas Bradbury, agent for Gorges, influenced by Shapleigh's benevolent treatment of the colonists, assigned to him the whole of Kittery Point, except the extremity, and valuable fishing privileges at the Isles of Shoals.
Under the direction of his grandson John Treworthy, Shap- leigh maintained "a fishing" at Hog Island for some years. A house for fishermen was erected at Kittery Point by Treworthy, who chartered the Bachelor for fishing purposes from the younger John Winthrop as early as 1637 and moored it in a cove near his building on the mainland.
By 1640 ownership of the island fishery had been acquired by James, father of John Treworthy, and the title was recognized officially by the magistrates of Yorkshire Court-of which the owner was a member-in a decree which described Thomas Wan- nerton as a resident of Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth) and his neighbors on the Isle of Shoals as fishermen that lived "near him upon the Island belonging to Mr. Treworthy."
Two of the tenants to whom reference was made must have been Stephen Crafford and William Seavey who had "Howses on the Ile of Sholes." These fishermen appear to have arrived to- gether in the Charles, of Bristol, which belonged to Gyles El- bridge and was licensed to sail from the home port July 21, 1639.
Most of their fellow passengers were bound for western points. The vessel was docked at Pascataqua for weeks. Seavey had been in the country before, but Crafford who brought his family had not been mentioned previously. Later, both owned dwellings on the mainland.
English mariners, although prohibited by early royal edict from trading on the coast, continued to transport surplus com- modities for exchange with the fishermen and Indians. In June, 1641, John Winter visited the islands to procure "pitch & som liquer Casks, & som other nessessaries," to complete his new
§ Me. Doc. Hist., 6-38.
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bark at Richmond Island. He found the ships were about ready to sail for England.
Crafford was drowned while on a fishing trip during the fol- lowing spring. Seavey's boat and servant were lost at the same time. The family of the deceased was maintained by Seavey, who as a partner in the houses at Hog Island administered the estate. Other residents on the island at that time were Thomas Trigs and Peter Turbett, who married a daughter of John San- ders, of Hampton. According to Winthrop, only two vessels fished at the islands that year, but Richard Gibson was employed by them as their pastor throughout the season. He returned to England on one of these ships .*
The unused houses owned by the partners on Hog Island may have been leased by Winter, who reported that fishing results had "proved well" for mariners who were "well provided for that place with good fishermen." Later, William Hingston, master of the Hercules, of Plymouth, left with Winter the keys of two small houses at the "Isle of Shoals," which had been vacated by his fishing crew at the end of the season .;
During the year 1642 Nicholas Shapleigh, merchant of Kings- weare, acquired all of the Maine estate which had belonged to his father, including the valuable fishing rights at Pascataqua and Hog Island, and in addition to numerous activities undertaken at Kittery and in Massachusetts, personally conducted a fishery at the Isle of Shoals for about a year, at the end of which period he appointed his nephew John Treworthy agent for New England and returned to Devonshire.}
In 1645, Richard Cummings and Thomas Turpin were resi- dent at Hog Island and the latter was designated constable, but soon removed to Portsmouth. John Seeley, from Kingstanton, England, was also described as a constable the same year. He, too, retired to the mainland subsequently, leaving his brothers George, Richard and William at Hog Island.§
Massachusetts merchants became interested in the fishing industry about the islands, but Treworthy as manager for his uncle refused to proceed in the business because his principal had neglected to send more boats and supplies from England as
* Winthrop, 2-21, 66.
+ Me. Doc. Hist., 3-336.
į Aspinwall, 185.
§ Aspinwall, 350; Mass. Arch., 3-215.
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originally agreed. The fishing shallops that remained were drawn up on the beach and beaten apart by the tides .*
However, on his own account, Treworthy made several un- profitable ventures along the coast and finally contracted to pro- vide part of a cargo of fish, valued at £1100, which Major Robert Sedgwick, of Charlestown, and Valentine Hill, of Boston, had agreed to procure for shipment from Cape Ann, Isle of Shoals and Monhegan. Delivery was to be completed by the middle of June, 1647, to Edward Wetheridge for the account of Thomas Tucker, of London, and Ferdinando Body and David Stephens, of Teneriffe, merchants.
In consequence of unusually bad weather the catch failed to meet expectations and reimbursement of the funds advanced to pay wages was demanded from the contractors. In compliance Treworthy gave Sedgwick a mortgage of all the property at the island with two furnished dwellings, a stage and flakes, seven shallops and provisions, as well as a ketch or pinnace at Pascata- qua "sometimes belonging unto this place a fishing."¡
June 19, 1647, Antiphas Maverick, of Pascataqua, sold to Henry Sherbourn "all my tittell and interest that I have or ever had in Hoge Illand at the Isle of Shoals to have two houses, one stage and the moreing places wch belong unto the stage or cove." From the similarity of descriptions it might be reasonably in- ferred that they covered the same property in the cases of this grantor and Treworthy.
In October, of the same year, complaint was made against John Reynolds that he had arrived at Hog Island from the main- land with a great stock of goats and hogs, which wasted the fish and polluted the common spring of water on that island, that was "the only relefe & subsistence of all the rest of the Illands." A further demand was made that his wife be removed from the island since her presence was contrary to an unwritten law that would exclude all women. To its credit, the court de- cided that Reynolds' wife could share his home, but that his live stock was a public menace. The consort of William Wormwood, who had had more or less controversy with her neighbors at Kittery, was ordered to be deported by Richard Cutt and John Cutting.
* Me. Doc. Hist., 6-5.
¡ York Deeds, 1-3, 9.
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At this time there were a few inhabitants on some of the New Hampshire islands, but they were fishermen who probably did not live on the premises during the winter season.
PIONEERS
ANGER, SAMPSON, fisherman at Isles of Shoals, 1640; York, 1640; wife Susanna, 1668; died 1691-4; widow Sarah married Arthur Hughes.
BALL, JOHN, born 1635; fisherman at the Isles of Shoals, 1649; York, 1650; Kittery, 1687-1694; wife Joanna, born 1646; children Elizabeth (Pettigrew) and John.
BATTEN, JOHN, fishing partner of William James and employe of William Brown, of Salem, at the Isles of Shoals, 1647; married Sarah, daughter of John Maine, and removed to Westcustego; children Abraham and John.
BICKFORD, JOHN, fisherman, 1647; Dover, taxed 1648-1661; died at Isles of Shoals, 1662; son John.
CADOGAN, RICHARD, born 1635; fisherman at the Isles of Shoals, 1648; York River, 1648; sold land at York by attorney, 1659; died at Charles- town November 5, 1695.
CRIMP, WILLIAM, fisherman at Isles of Shoals, 1649; deceased 1652.
CULLANE, MATTHEW, came from Ireland; lodged with his cousin Dermot Mahoney, of Boston; had no other relative in America; died at the Isles of Shoals December 25, 1650.
EDWARDS, OADES, formerly of Ipswich, died at the Isles of Shoals, 1651; left widow and brother, John Edwards, who was administrator.
GORRELL, PHILIP, fisherman at Isles of Shoals, 1649-1651.
HORRELL, HUMPHREY, fisherman; Isles of Shoals, 1650; Muscongus, 1653; estate in Beverly; widow Elizabeth; son Humphrey.
HUNKINS, HERCULES, or Archelaus, fisherman, at Hog Island, 1649; died at Star Island, leaving widow, 1659; children Ann, Benton and Mark.
KELLY, JOHN, attorney at the Isles of Shoals for Stephen Oliver, of Exeter, England; contract made jointly with John Treworthy, of Kings- weare, and Thomas Purchase, of Dorchester, February 27, 1647-8; may have been the father of Roger of the Isles of Shoals and of Reginald, of Monhegan.
MAVERICK, ANTIPHAS, son of John and brother of Moses of Marble- head and Samuel of Noddle's Island; removed from Isles of Shoals to Kittery, 1647; Exeter, 1661; died July 2, 1678; children Abigail (Gil- man) and Catherine (Paul).
NEWCOMB, ELIAS, fisherman at Isles of Shoals, 1649; bought half of Champernoone's Island, 1650.
PHILLIPS, THOMAS, fisherman at Isles of Shoals, 1642; Damariscove, 1649; Pemaquid, 1652; widow at Hippocras Island, 1671; children Thomas, born 1647, and probably William, of Pemaquid.
SEAVEY, WILLIAM, born 1601; fisherman at the Isles of Shoals, 1632; loaned passage money to Stephen Crafford on board the "Charles" of Bristol, 1639; Portsmouth, 1640; fishing at the Shoals, 1642; living 1676; children Elizabeth (Odiorne), John, Stephen and William.
SEELEY, JOHN, mariner at the Isles of Shoals, 1646; from Kingstanton, England, 1650; house on Doctor's Island in Salmon Falls River; died 1670; children, born in England, George, John, Richard, William, who died March 22, 1679-80, and Joanna (Topping), of London.
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TURBETT, PETER, fisherman at the Isles of Shoals, 1641; Cape Porpoise, 1653; died 1669; widow Sarah married Daniel Goodwin; children Eliza- beth (Banks), Hannah, John, born 1651, only one to leave issue, Nich- olas, Peter and Sarah.
TURPIN, THOMAS, fisherman and constable at the Isles of Shoals, 1647; removed to Portsmouth; drowned October 29, 1649; children Anne (En- dell), Elizabeth (Adams) and Jane (Leach).
WAY, THOMAS, fisherman at the Isles of Shoals, 1649; Cape Neddock, 1649-1651; Pemaquid, 1653.
THE LACONIA PLANTATIONS.
On account of the existence of many great lakes within it the territory granted to the Laconia Company by the Council of Plymouth November 17, 1629, was called the Province of La- conia. The description indicated a previous general knowledge of the region about Lake Champlain.
It comprised "All those lands & Countrys lying adjacent or bordering upon the great lake or lakes or rivers commonly called or knowen by ye name of ye river & lake or rivers & lakes of ye Irroquois a nation or nations of salvage people inhabiting up into ye landwards betwixt ye lines of west & North west con- ceived to passe or lead upwards from ye rivers of Sagadahock & Merrimack in ye Country of New England aforesd Together also wth ye lakes & rivers of ye Irroquois & other nations adjoyning ye midle part of wch lakes is scittuate & lying neerabout ye lati- tude of fourty four or fourty five degrees reckon'd from ye Equi- noctial line Northwards as alsoe all ye lands soyls & grounds wth in tenn miles of any part of ye said lakes or rivers on ye South or East part thereof, & from ye west end or sides of ye sd lakes & rivers soe farre forth to ye west as shall extend halfway into ye next great lake to ye West wards & from thence Northwards unto ye North side of ye maine river wch runeth from ye great & vast Westerne lakes & falleth unto ye river of Canada, includ- ing all ye Islands wth in ye precinct or perambulacon described. As alsoe * trade & traficque wth ye Solvages."*
Whence the English information was derived is not known, but it may have been secured from the Indians themselves.
The great lake is clearly depicted in ancient maps .;
The principal object of the grantees in obtaining this conces- sion was the right to trade with the Indians who, on account of
* N. H. State Papers, 17-476.
¡ Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova ; Mass. Arch., 11-61 ; Appendix C.
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PISCATAQUA RIVER
the abundance of fur bearing animals, were known to frequent localities like that described. Furthermore, the French fur trade upon the Saint Lawrence River was a matter of early knowledge and consideration by English adventurers.
Sauvages
Hurons.
Sauvages Molettes
Sauvages Etechemins
Lac des Iroquois
Sauvages Iroquois.
Monts
res
Sauvages Karitas
Baye de Kinibequi
Cas
Pescadoué
LACONIA
Under the date of April 10, 1630, Winthrop noted in his jour- nal the report that "the bark Warwick was taken by the Dun- kirkers, for she came single out of the Downs about fourteen days since, intending to come to us to the Wight, but was never heard of since. She was a pretty ship of about eighty tons and ten pieces of ordnance, and was set out by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Capt. Mason, and others, for discovery of the great lake in New England, so to have intercepted the trade of beaver."}
As a matter of fact, the Warwick, under commission of the Laconia Company, sailed from The Downs March 28, touched at. Plymouth April 8, and arrived safely at Pascataqua May 31, one year after the execution of the Wheelwright deed.§
The rumor circulated in Salem that the Warwick had been captured by pirates seemed credible, as in those days there was strenuous rivalry to reach New England. It is apparent that the Laconia expedition was under orders to anticipate, if possible, all other departures.
¿ Winthrop, 1-7. & N. H. State Papers, 1-62.
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The location of Pascataqua River had induced the belief that a feasible pinnace route could be found and maintained into the region of Laconia and the heart of Canada.
Upon arrival the employes of the Laconia Company occupied the house built by David Thompson at Little Harbor in 1623. Obviously, this building was the meeting place selected by John Oldham and the Laconia pioneers, since it was called "Rendez- vous" in later years. The structure was rebuilt of stone materials, fortified with cannon and styled the "Great House" and "Mason's Stone House."*
The names of Laconia employes were Thomas Blake, Thomas Cammock, William Cooper, Thomas Crockett, William Dermit (Dennett), Ralph Gee, Ambrose Gibbons, Edward Godfrey, Henry Jocelyn, Stephen Kidder, Roger Knight, Henry Langstaff, Charles and Walter Neal, John Reynolds, the physician, Thomas Spencer and Adrian Tucker.
Hubbard asserted that the colonists spent the summer and fall of their first year in preparation for the coming winter which was delayed but severe. December 14, Neal and three associates visited Massachusetts, where they were poorly entertained. With their return to Pascataqua and the disappearance of the last Eng- lish sail from the coast, the little band resigned itself to the prospect of its first New England winter in the wilderness, "far from neybers."
March 6, 1630-1, the Pide Cow, with men and supplies in charge of Captain Henry Keyes, sailed from Portsmouth, Eng- land, for Pascataqua. It was a vessel of only thirty tons capacity and June 25 its arrival at destination was announced in Boston where it was described as a "small English ship come thither with provisions and some Frenchmen to make salt.";
Francis Williams came in this vessel as overseer of the salt works and assigned to the Frenchmen a small rocky point or islet, containing only about one acre at that time and lying op- posite Eliot shore, still known as Frank's Fort, where they were engaged for a short time in an attempt to produce salt from sea water. This enterprise was intended to facilitate the curing of fish, but proved unsuccessful. The names of these employes of the Laconia Company were Peterfore, Charles and Labrisse.}
* N. H. State Papers, 17-552; 29-157, 163.
+ Winthrop, 1-56.
¿ Winthrop, 1-226; N. H. State Papers, 1-72.
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July 7, of this year, Edward Hilton took possession of his patent at Dover and transferred it to Thomas Wiggin, who had arrived, with Isaac Allerton by way of Saco, in the White Angel from Bristol. Wiggin was to act as sole agent for some Bristol merchants who had purchased the Hilton plantation. On an ancient map of this year the name of the plantation was desig- nated Bristol.
During the same month Neal arraigned Edward Ashley of Penobscot, who had been arrested for retailing arms and ammu- nition to the Indians contrary to royal edict. Captain Henry Keyes assisted in the investigation. The offender was transferred to England for further examination.
Realizing his need of greater authority in the administration of justice, Neal petitioned for and obtained a commission from the British government, which gave him jurisdiction as a chief magistrate from "Boston Patent" to Saint Croix River. He was afterwards recognized as governor of Maine territory.§
July 4, 1631, the Warwick which then belonged to Henry Gardiner and George Griffith, merchants of London, sailed from The Downs in command of Henry Fleet who had a commission from the Laconia Company to trade for one year. The master of the bark was John Dunton.
In the words of Fleet, this vessel "arrived in the harbor of Pascattouaie, the 9th of September, making some stay upon the coast of New England. From thence on Monday the 19th of Sep- tember, we sailed directly for Virginia." On his way south Fleet secured some trading goods at Massachusetts, as he had at Pas- cataqua, for which he was to make payment in Indian corn from Virginia.
A passenger in the Warwick was Thomas Wannerton who was then described as a "soldier for discoverie." He began the construction of a house at Strawberry Bank that fall. His loca- tion was later called Portsmouth after the port from which he had hailed.
The year when the Wannerton house was built may be fixed by reference to a deposition of Edward Colcord, of Dover, who stated that when he arrived in that part of the country in 1631, there were but three houses upon Pascataqua River .*
Me. Doc. in Eng. Arch., 81.
con* Hubbard, 219.
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PIONEERS ON MAINE RIVERS
He must have alluded to the "Rendezvous" of Neal at Little Harbor, the building occupied by Weston's colonists at Sanders' Point and the post of Edward Hilton at Dover Point, which Col- cord came to occupy as an employe of the Bristol Merchants.
Other passengers in the Warwick were Shadrach Miller and two "servants" engaged by the colony to cleave clapboards and pipe staves. The names of the servants were not given, but Lang- staff may have been one.
October 3, 1631, Walter Bagnall and his companion, who had lived on Richmond Island since the dissolution of Morton's Col- ony near Wessaguscus, were killed by Indians. The tragedy oc- curred in the evening and was the result of injudicious sales of liquor and English weapons to the natives. Further, it was claimed that Bagnall had been dishonest in his methods of trad- ing with them and had acquired wealth by reason of exorbitant profits.
Neal voyaged eastward in pursuit of the criminals who were reported to have lived in the vicinity of Presumpscot River, but he failed to apprehend anyone at that time. He did, however, secure from friendly Indians some evidence of the identity of the persons responsible, although he found none of them in the native villages on the coast.
The cases of Ashley and Bagnall illustrate the entire absence of any police protection or cooperation among the scattered Maine plantations. At that time, according to Maverick who was familiar with the true conditions in New England, there were no roads and but few boats, and without such means of transporta- tion strict enforcement of law was impossible.
From the situation then existent it is apparent that all of the small plantations in Maine were powerless to protect themselves against indignities of the savages, to say nothing of their inabil- ity to administer discipline in cases like those mentioned, where only a few members of a single tribe were implicated. George Cleave and Richard Tucker were living on the mainland near Richmond Island when Bagnall was murdered.
The hostility of the eastern Indians was again in evidence late in the year. Henry Way, a fur trader of Dorchester, sent his son and three men to the Eastward in a boat, to trade with the natives, but they were all murdered and the boat was de- stroyed. This event occurred at about the same time as the trag-
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PISCATAQUA RIVER
edy at Richmond Island in which Bagnall was killed and may have represented part of a concerted plan to exterminate all of the English planters.
However, it is more likely that conditions, for which former traders were responsible, had not improved materially since the report of Bradford, four years before, that it was then unsafe for coasters to remain long upon the eastern shores after the departure of English fishing crews at the end of each season.
William Wood was an early visitor to New England and was conversant with its affairs. He explained that the hostility in all cases was occasioned by new comers who had sold liquor to the Indians to obtain unfair advantages in trade. He believed that the practice had resulted in "many evill consequents, as disorder, quarrels, wrongs, unconscionable and forcive wresting of Beaver and Wampompeage : and from over-flowing Cups there hath beene a proceeding to revenge, murther and over-flowing of blood. As witnesse Maister Wayes Boate, which they sunke with stones, after they had killed his son, with three more."+
Way, like Richard Collicott, of Dorchester, was licensed by Massachusetts Bay Colony to trade with the natives for furs.
Since controversy had arisen between the employes of the Bristol Merchants and those of Laconia Company over the land on the south side of Great Bay, it became necessary for the lat- ter to secure title to the premises to prevent encroachment.
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