USA > Maine > Pioneers on Maine rivers, with lists to 1651 > Part 7
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The transaction itself cannot be construed as anything more than a settlement treaty or option for the period of ten years, for consummation of which both parties claimed advantages and in which the hope of protection from "the Tarratens, who yearly doth us damage" seemed an adequate consideration to the In- dians, who were aware that from such compacts benefits had accrued already to their neighbors in Massachusetts.
A reduction of New France by the Kirks, consummated July 19, 1629, gave a decided impetus to the prospects for colonization of Maine and New Hampshire. The victorious fleet reached Eng- land November 7 and ten days later the Laconia Company se- cured its grant of territorial jurisdiction over an immense tract located in the interior beyond Pascataqua River. The grants to Oldham and Vines and Lewis and Bonython at Saco, to Plymouth Colony at Cushnoc and to Beauchamp and Leverett at Penobscot, followed in a few months.
None of these concessions conflicted with the settlement com- pact with Wheelwright and his colleagues and some were in real conformity with it.
Wheelwright and the other grantees subsequently exercised their option at Squamscott (Exeter Falls), where they had taken
# York Deeds, 1-3, 6; 3-10.
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possession of marsh land as early as 1637, which was the year after their return to New England.
The boundary of this settlement on the Dover side was fixed at Lamprey River, known as Pocassock.
A list of those living in Exeter June 5, 1639, disclosed the fact that they were adherents of John Wheelwright who had removed thither from Massachusetts on account of religious oppression. §
NEWICHAWANNOCK (Berwick) .
It had been made a condition of the Laconia Grant that within three years from the date of issuance its proprietors should estab- lish "upon ye sd porc'ons of lands or some part thereof one fforte wth a competent guard & tenn ffamillyes at ye least of his Mats subjects resident & being in & upon ye same premises."
The location of Pascataqua River between the Merrimac and Sagadahoc early contributed to the belief that a feasible pinnace route could be found and maintained to the region of Laconia and into the heart of Canada, where the main fortress might be established.
It was known later, however, that the upper course of the Pascataqua did not suit the purposes of the company, because it was bent to the westward through Great Bay, parallel to the sea- coast, and at no point reached far inland. Hence, the only trading post ever constructed by the Laconia Company was stationed upon the Newichawannock River, as the northerly branch was known.
The location of Newichawannock House at the head of tide- water in this river, however impracticable it may now appear, was selected with the intention of establishing other posts far- ther inland to utilize the waterway into the interior. By this route it was proposed to intercept the Indian trade upon the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River.
Heretofore, no one has undertaken to fix the date of construc- tion of the first European dwelling at Newichawannock. It can, however, be determined with reasonable accuracy.
It was not until the summer of 1631 that the wife and daugh- ter of Ambrose Gibbons first arrived at Little Harbor from Eng- land, and two years later they were the only female occupants of
§ N. H. State Papers, 1-132.
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Newichawannock House. In a letter to the company, dated July 15, 1633, Gibbons asserted with emphasis that for twenty-two months previous he and his men had had but two barrels of beer and two barrels and four bushels of malt. Part of this period they had had no liquor at all. In his complaint he must have in- tended to comprehend the interval of his occupancy of the post at Newichawannock. This computation fixed the date of entry in September, 1631.
Gibbons claimed that his household had previously been ten, but when Neal left the plantation in 1633, it had been reduced to Charles Neal, Stephen Kidder, Thomas Crockett and Thomas Blake. Who the other three members of the family had been can not now be determined, but all of these men had had insufficient food and clothing for three years .*
The location of Newichawannock House has been a subject of inquiry for many years and it has been assumed to have been in Maine, upon the hypothesis that Newichawannock was identi- cal with Berwick. But this was not true. In the theory of Indian nomenclature the former embraced both sides of the northerly branch of the Pascataqua, because it was applied by the natives to the stream instead of the contiguous region. The name meant "My wigwam place."
Newichawannock River began a quarter of a mile below the mouth of Assabumbadock, or Great Works River, at a large stone in the bed of the stream, called by early settlers Newichawan- nock Rock, and extended upward to the source in Great East Pond.
The site of the post occupied by Gibbons may now be determ- ined with accuracy from ancient records and traces of occupation. The tract upon which it stood was not mentioned in the descrip- tion of Pascataqua Patent, which was issued November 3, 1631, to reimburse the Laconia Adventurers for the expense of opera- tions at Pascataqua in their attempts to develop the Laconia Dis- trict. They had already succeeded in manufacturing clapboards, pipe staves and lumber, cultivated extensive areas for corn and peas and undertaken to make salt for fishing purposes.
The construction of Newichawannock House was begun so late in 1631 that its existence may not have been known to the petitioners for the Pascataqua Patent in England. In fact, that
* N. H. State Papers, 1-81.
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concession only comprised a tract which extended westward from the mouth of Pascataqua River for five miles and inland as far as the southerly edge of the earlier grant to Edward Hilton. The other area on the Maine side of the same river was only three miles in width, but embraced the entire easterly bank as far into the interior as the Town of Acton. ¡
Newichawannock House stood upon the point of land that lies opposite the mouth of the Great Works River, in the Town of Rollinsford, New Hampshire. Proofs of this are to be found in English and colonial records of that state.
THE RIVER BELOW NEWICHAWANNOCK HOUSE
A letter from Laconia Company, dated December 5, 1632, con- ferred upon Gibbons full supervision at Newichawannock, but he had other plans for his own personal future. He was advised at that time: "You desire to settle yourself upon Sander's point. The adventurers are willing to pleasure you." This point was situated at the present approach to Great Island, between Little Harbor and the City of Portsmouth, and the only building then standing upon it was called "Strawberry Bank House" by the patentees. It could not have been built by the Laconia Company,
¡ N. H. State Papers, 17-479.
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since the testimony of William Seavey proved that the only house constructed by that company, or Captain Mason, on the south side of Pascataqua River, was that at Newichawannock.}
As the name indicated, this building must have been erected in 1623 by John Sanders and other refugees from Weston's plan- tation at Wessaguscus. In that year the account of Phineas Pratt, a straggling member who had been detained by sickness at New Plymouth, stated that he rejoined his companions at Pascataqua, and his subsequent reference to David Thompson as overseer of the "first" colony at Little Harbor indicated a second establish- ment at Sanders' Point. Gibbons may have been a member of Sanders' refugees. The only other dwelling in that vicinity was that built by Thomas Wannerton in 1631.
At any rate, the house at Sanders' Point had been put in the custody of Wannerton by the company's letter of 1632, but as soon as Gibbons was assured that it was to become his, which was early in the following June, he removed the corporate property from the premises to the other two houses, where it was inven- toried during the first two days of the next month. The only items then listed elsewhere were some swords and belts, which Wannerton had retained at his residence in Portsmouth, where he occupied the position of military dictator.
During the latter part of June, Gibbons visited "The Bay." At Salem he engaged John Pickering to remodel the vacant build- ing at Strawberry Bank as his future home. From what trans- pired later it was evident that the contractor resided on the prem- ises for more than a year while he was making the alterations.
December 6, 1633, the members of the Laconia Company met in London and divided all of their territory on the northeast side of Pascataqua River. By mutual agreement, the first three miles from the coast up the river were assigned to Gorges, the next three and three-quarters miles to Henry Gardiner, the next eight miles to George Griffith, Thomas Wannerton and Eleazar Eyre, and the last fifteen and one-quarter miles to Mason. The dispro- portionate length of the last share was due to its interior loca- tion and the necessity for landing facilities below the first fall.
The only houses mentioned in connection with this allotment were those at Pascataqua, Strawberry Bank and Newichawan- nock, all of which were located in New Hampshire. That none of
# N. H. State Papers, 17-522.
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them stood in Maine was evident from the fact that they were not excepted in any of the specific tracts assigned. Furthermore, Captain Mason himself, in his first letter to Gibbons, dated May 5, 1634, and signed by Gorges also, announced the recent division in these words : "Wee wth the consent of the rest of our partners have made a devision of all our Lands Lying on the north-east side of the harbor and River of Pascattaway."§
A distinct reference in the division places Newichawannock House "next to," or just above, "The Lowermost Falls" in the Newichawannock River. This first obstruction to tidewater, later called "Newichawannock Falls," was situated at the outlet of the Great Works River.
Recently, it was possible to find upon the premises where the fort stood bits of English pottery, hand-wrought nails and other evidences of early occupation by tenants of Newichawannock House. The fact that the spot has been undisturbed by city or village development and that the site has been lost to the public for many years may make the location more apparent today.
Unlike the sites of the Great House at Little Harbor and the Wannerton House at Portsmouth some definite proofs of the ancient post still persist. Since no other dwelling in Rollinsford antedated it, the spot should be marked by the State with an ap- propriate memorial .*
The main buildings consisted of a large mansion and store- house, fenced with a strong palisade and fortified with six guns, described in an inventory as two robenets, two murderers and two chambers. Gibbons reported that he had dug a well within the palisade and proposed to enclose it with timber.
His men were engaged "to pale in ground for corne and gar- den." He advised the company that, while it might expect him to maintain the post with fewer assistants, that was out of the question, since at times he entertained more than one hundred Indians and was situated "far from neybors." At that time his nearest neighbors were living at Dover, then called Bristol, in the westerly angle of the Newichawannock and Pascataqua rivers.
By the end of three years the Laconia proprietors had become discouraged. Their fishing ventures had yielded no profits and the fur trade, although of considerable volume, was conducted at
& N. H. State Papers. 29-55.
N. H. State Papers, 1-68 ; 2-525 ; 17-487; 29-51. 56 ; Dover Records. 1-S1.
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great expense. While some of their factors had been accused of dishonesty and lack of interest, the unsatisfactory results of the fishing industry were explained by Gibbons to have been due to the late arrivals of the fishing ships from London, whereas those hailing from Bristol and Barnstable came early and returned with full cargoes. Furthermore, there was no spirit of coopera- tion between colonists from London and those from the Western Ports.
Neal, as governor of the colony, was instructed to return to England forthwith and confer with the patentees about the ad- visability of continuing operations. He was ordered to discharge all employes at Little Harbor and Newichawannock and let them support themselves as best they might. Large tracts of land were given to Gibbons at Sanders' Point, and to Cammock, Wannerton and Jocelyn on the Eliot Shore opposite Bloody Point.
Cammock, who already had a dwelling upon his land in Eliot, and a clergyman by the name of Card removed their furniture to Newichawannock House and left the country for England in com- pany with Neal July 15, 1633 .;
Wannerton continued to reside in his house at Strawberry Bank and had supervision of the premises at Little Harbor for the company. Gibbons still retained charge at Newichawannock. Schedules of the property of the company were made at both posts, signed by both agents and delivered to Neal, and with his departure marked the end of corporate operations in this country. Later inventories, similarly endorsed, appear to have been spurious.
By the following spring Captain Mason had acquired the in- terests of several of the dissatisfied partners, including John Cot- ton's share in the company, and decided to develop his tract in severalty. To effect his purpose, he executed a contract, dated March 13, 1633-4, with three carpenters named William Chad- bourne, John Goddard and James Wall, who had agreed to re- main in the country for four years with their families and build houses for themselves and mills for him .¿
Elaborate plans were laid and no expense was spared by Ma- son to make the project a success. Gorges had made similar ar- rangements with carpenters and planters to build mills and houses for him upon his son's grant at Agamenticus.
¡ N. H. State Papers, 1-78.
* Mass. Arch., 3-437.
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Final preparations for colonization were completed about the first of May and the Pide Cow sailed from Portsmouth with the colonists, bearing letters from the proprietors to Gibbons and another, dated May 4, from Thomas Morton to William Jeffrey, of Wessaguscus.
Gibbons was advised by Gorges and Mason, "We have not onelie each of us shipped people present to plant uppon our owne lands, at our owne charges, but have given direction to invite and authoritie to receive such others as may be had to be tenants, to plant and live there, for the more speedie peopling of the countrie."§
Mason's individual message to Gibbons, who then occupied the premises, was : "You must afford my people some house roome in Newitchewanocke house, and the cowes and goates, wch are all mine, and 14 swine, with their increase, some grounds to be uppon, till we have some place provided upon my new divided lands."*
From the nature of his request it is evident that at that time there were none of these accommodations upon Mason's separate territory near Great Works and that the word "place," as used in the context, signified both shelter for the mechanics and pas- turage for the cattle. In the London contract it had been stipu- lated that each carpenter should be provided on the plantation with three cows, four pigs and four goats.
In the same letter from Gorges and Mason instructions were given to Gibbons to divide all of the personal property, which belonged to the Laconia Company, in proportion to their shares in the schedule presented to the proprietors by Neal upon his return to England the previous year. Half of all "saide matters," excluding "the cattell and suites of apparell and such other things as belong peculiarly to Capt. Mason," was to be delivered to Henry Jocelyn for the use of the new plantations about to be begun at Agamenticus and Newichawannock.
In due time Gibbons, who probably boarded the incoming ves- sel at Little Harbor, advised Mason that "The Pide-cow arrived the 8th of Julie; the 13th day she cast ankor some halfe a mile from the falle; the 18th day the shippe unladen; the 19th fell downe the river." The ship was discharged at Pipe Stave Land-
cx * N. H. State Papers, 1-88.
N. H. State Papers, 1-90.
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ing, less than a mile from Assabumbadock Falls (Great Works), and later proceeded with the colonists of Gorges to Agamenticus.i
In connection with the advent of the mechanics at Newicha- wannock, Gibbons assured Mason: "Yor carpenters are with me and I will further them the best I can." The new comers, incor- rectly transcribed from a deposition of Francis Small "eight Danes," instead of "eight hands," consisted of William Chad- bourne and his sons Humphrey and William, John Goddard, Henry Jocelyn, Thomas Spencer, James Wall and John Wilcocks. The full number is checked by reference to Jocelyn's receipt for household utensils which he had borrowed for their use from the stock of the Laconia Company.
The principal articles acknowledged to have been taken from that company's store July 20, 1634, which was the day following the departure of their vessel, were "one great iron kittle" for which Thomas Spencer was to be held accountable, some Irish blankets, one Kilkenney rug, one pair of sheets, one pintado cov- erlet, one brass kettle and seven spoons.
The items charged to the contractors were not fully specified until August 27, 1639, when Jocelyn, who had then removed to Black Point (Scarborough), endorsed them upon the original receipt with the explanation that they had been borrowed "for Capt. Mason's use, of Ambrose Gibbens" and had been "spent and worne out in his service."}
Upon arrival Humphrey Chadbourne was only a boy. Jocelyn, who was a son of Sir Thomas, of Kent, had not only agreed in his compact with the proprietor to act as Mason's agent, but to un- dertake the belated discovery of Laconia.§
Hence, at that late date the interior of the country had not been explored by the English, for even at that advanced post in the wilderness the Laconia factor could only advise Mason: "I prceive you have a great mynd for the lakes and I as great a will to assist you, if I had 2 horses and 3 men wth me, I would with God's helpe soone resolve you of the cituation of it, but not to live there myself."
Thomas Spencer was referred to many years later in the suit of Allen versus Humphrey Spencer, a grandson, as one who had
¡ N. H. State Papers, 1-92.
N. H. State Papers, 1-94.
$ N. E. Canaan, 98.
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been "Sent over a Servtt into this Country by Capt. John Mason & putt upon his Lands att the Eastwards."
While the appellee's answer did not directly controvert the allegation that Spencer was sent into the country by Mason, it did deny "that old father Spencer Gained his possession wrong- fully and that the Appellee or his predecessors ever paid any ffee or acknowledgmt to mr Mason, Sr ffardinando Gorge or the Appellant for the Lands in Controversie."*
It is evident from the import of these records that Spencer came with his father-in-law July 8, 1634, in the Pide Cow, and that in 1676 he had not lived in New England forty-six years as represented in the deposition framed for him by Edward Colcord, but that when he died December 15, 1681, he had lived continu- ously in South Berwick but forty-seven years. He had arrived in the country in 1630 and returned with Neal three years later .;
July 22, following their arrival, the carpenters began at Great Works the construction of the first water power gristmill in New England. It does not appear to have been completed.
Gibbons surrendered possession of the premises at Newicha- wannock to Jocelyn and removed to Sanders' Point, where his own house had been completed by Pickering. The account of the contractor with the owner, which was concurrent with but dis- tinct from that of the Laconia Company, was settled September 6. In it the latter was debited with three weeks' diet for Thomas Crockett, his employe who had left Newichawannock House soon after the arrival of the carpenters and boarded with Pickering while he was working at Sanders' Point.}
Jocelyn leased Newichawannock House from the Laconia Company, and it was in relation to the previous activities of that company and the occupation of its premises in Dover by Mason's new employes in 1634 that the New Hampshire commissioners afterwards alleged that "An house was hired in this province but the disbursements laid out were chiefly in the Neighboring Prov- ince of Meyn on the other side of the River, and for carrying on an Indian Trade in Laconia, in all wch" (Mason) "was but a partner, however" (his heir) "would appear amongst us as sole proprietor."§
* 2 Me. Hist. Col., 8-185, 187. Appendix D. N. H. State Papers, 1-71. 87. .V. H. State Papers, 17-552.
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Two of these commissioners, Elias Stileman and Richard Waldron, had lived in the province before the house was hired. The character of its occupancy would not readily escape notice. Where the house had stood was then known to the others by com- mon report.
In connection with what transpired immediately after Joce- lyn's advent, the deposition of James Wall, one of the mill me- chanics, is illuminating. His statement was sworn to before George Smith, a magistrate of Dover, and was recorded in the following form :
"This Deponent sayeth that aboute the year 1634, he with his partners William Chadbourne and John Goddarde, came over to New England upon the accompt of Captaine John Mason of Lon- don, and also for themselves, and were landed at Newichawan- nock, upon certaine lands there which Mr. Goieslen, Captaine Mason's agente brought them unto, with the ladinge of some goodes, and there they did builde upp at a fall there (called by the Indian name Ashbenbedick) for the use of Captaine Mason & ourselves, one sawe mill and one stampinge mill for corne wch we did keep the space of three or foure years next after; and further this deponent saith, he builte one house upon the same lands, and soe did William Chadbourne an other & gave it to his sonne in law Thomas Spencer who now lives in it; and this de- ponent also sayth that we had peaceable and quiete posession of that land for the use of Captaine Mason afforesaide, and that the said agent did buye some planted ground of some Indians which they had planted upon the saide land, and that Captaine Mason's agente's servants did breake up & cleare certain lands there and planted corne upon it."*
Jocelyn was recognized by Wall as Mason's agent, and since the principal died in November, 1635, he never had any other agent upon his lands at the Eastward. And so, in all subsequent allusions to such an official, either in Maine or Dover, Jocelyn must be regarded as the person intended.
Of the other servants sent to New England by Mason, some were dispatched to his lands in Massachusetts to the westward and others to Maine, in the later period, because of the political disturbances aroused by Bay magistrates among his constitu- ents. Both Gorges and the patentee of New Hampshire were
* Mass. Arch., 3-444.
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avowed enemies of the Winthrop colony, but tried to avoid inter- ference by development of their remoter territories.
It was destined, however, that the Western Colony should eventually overlap the Maine coast by adopting a legal fiction that the upper thread of the Merrimac should define its eastern boundary.
The houses erected by Chadbourne and Wall were the first to be built within the limits of the Berwicks. They were con- structed upon Brattle Street, which was the first road or cart path and led from the Lower Landing to the mill at Great Works.
The fields lying on both sides of this street were bought by Jocelyn from the natives. Upon some of this land the maize crop planted by the Indians in 1634 was then growing. The locality is called Old Fields to this day.
The dwelling built by William Chadbourne stood in the north- westerly angle of Brattle Street and the highway which leads from the mouth of the Great Works River to Eliot. Appurtenant to it were ten acres of land donated by Mason in accordance with the terms of the London contract, made with the three carpen- ters in the spring of 1634.
When Chadbourne left Berwick, about 1638, he gave his dwell- ing and land to his eldest daughter Patience, who had married Thomas Spencer. The house was the largest in the settlement and was conducted as a public tavern. When Spencer died in 1681 he left his homestead, still fenced as a ten-acre lot, to his eldest son William, who operated the mill at Great Works and built the Spencer Garrison. This was the largest fortified dwelling in the country at the time of the Second Indian War and accommodated one hundred persons. It stood upon the southerly side of Brattle Street opposite the tavern and the site is now occupied by the mansion of the late General Ichabod Goodwin's descendants.
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