USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland by the sea; an historical treatise > Part 3
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PORTLAND BY THE SEA
Cleeve resisted, and had then obtained a following sufficient to make it impracticable for Winter to enforce his contention. Gorges after receiving his grant of Maine in 1635 had in the following year, as has been stated, given to Cleeve definite con- veyance of Casco Neck and had made him his general agent, and it was formally consummated by delivery "with turf and twig," and Gorges therefore naturally supported his grantee's side of the case. Winter, however, harassed Cleeve and his occupants on the Neck with his intrusions. Gorges had not in his first conveyance received governmental powers, but a Court of so-called Commissioners with uncertain legal authority as- sembled at Saco in 1636, though it did no business of importance. In 1640, Gorges, having the pre- ceding year obtained his authoritative palatinate patent with full legal rights, a regular court was instituted at Saco. At this court Cleeve brought suit against Winter, demanding damages for his expulsion from his Spurwink occupation, and also setting out the interference of Winter with his Machegonne location. The judges were Thomas Gorges, Richard Vines, Richard Bonythorn, Ed- ward Godfrey and others, all royalists. In this case Cleeve received compensation for his having been driven from his Spurwink home, and decision was given further confirming his title to the Neck according to his leasehold deed from the said proprietor, Gorges. Richard Vines alone refused to concur. This would seem to have settled the matter, but the insistent and arrogant Winter
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THE CONTEST FOR CASCO NECK
declared that the evidence was insufficient and, disregarding it, continued his hostilities.
We now come again, necessarily, to a con- sideration of political affairs in England. King Charles was ruling there without a parliament and had incurred the heated resentment of his people by persistent assertion of his absolute right to govern according to his own royal will. He was obtaining revenue by sale of monopolies and enforced collection of ship money and was con- ducting affairs with total disregard of popular rights. A warlike attack by the Scots compelled the calling of the so-called Short Parliament in 1640. This was abruptly dissolved and then came the mecting of the Long Parliament and civil war. The commoners were the stronger and obtained control of affairs. Winter's encroachments upon Casco Neck continued despite the court's decision. Thereupon, Cleeve took a bold step and went himself to England. He was aware of the prior Lygonia grant which extended from the Kennebunk River forty miles northward to a line beyond Casco and which also conferred governmental authority. It was through his influence that Col. Alexander Rigby, then an officer in the parliamentary army, purchased of its owners this patent and gave to Cleeve the new grant of Casco Neck, including the Gorges increment, and made him Governor of the province. Cleeve returned apparently in triumph, but he found the disagreement between the royalists and the par- liamentary adherents here quite as violent as that in the old country. The territory between the
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Kennebunk and Piscataqua rivers was outside of the limits of the Lygonia patent, and an independent organization was continued there. Most of the prominent men of Maine were earnest royalists. Disorder and confusion prevailed and conditions were almost those of civil war. The contest in England was still undecided. In 1644 and 1645 the battles of Marston Moor and Edge- hill were fought with disastrous results to the royal forces and Charles became a prisoner. The parliament was then in full control and represented
the sovereignty of the nation. Application was then made to it for an authoritative determination of the disputed question regarding the lawful proprietorship of the Lygonia territory. When the decision, after what seems to have been careful consideration, had been duly rendered and it had been adjudicated by the highest English Court that the patent purchased by Rigby, being the earliest in date, was valid as against all others, further opposition appeared to be useless. Rec- ognizing their defeat and seeing the need of establishing law and order, most of the royalists yielded. Cleeve, with his commission as deputy president proceeded to organize the province of Lygonia. His conduct was conciliatory. Henry Jocelyn and Robert Jordan became associates with Cleeve himself as members of the new province court.
John Winter had died in 1645 and Jordan was made executor of his estate. The civil war had, as it appears, ruined Trelawney financially, and Jordan, as his representative and husband of
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THE CONTEST FOR CASCO NECK
Sarah, his daughter and heir, presented a large claim against his American estate. The court, with some degree of partiality, awarded the whole plantation and property to Jordan personally. He thus became the owner of the Cape Elizabeth. lands and appurtenances and thereafterwards man- aged it all ashisown. This wasin fact, though not in terms, a recognition of the status of occupation between Robert Jordan, proprietor of Cape Eliza- beth, and George Cleeve, proprietor of Casco. Later developments, however, showed that it was not a real concession. Aristocracy and repub- licanism, Episcopalianism and heterodoxy had not learned to be tolerant of each other.
While matters in Maine were tending to a more peaceful condition an entirely new phase was presented, arising from the assertion, to which reference has heretofore been made, by the strong colony of Massachusetts Bay that all of southern Maine so far as the mouth of the Kennebec River was by actual survey shown to be within its own chartered limits. The parties here were still in their feelings Englishmen, and they made appeal to the home land for redress. The sympathies of the Cromwell government were plainly with the Puritan colony and all the protesting elements felt compelled to yield. In the articles of sub- mission made with the Bay Colony it was pro- vided that different religious beliefs should be allowed and property holdings .. should not be disturbed. All the lands of the disagreeing par- ties were, however, united in one aggregation under the common name of Falmouth town.
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The contention for the possession of Casco Neck was by no means concluded. Litigation was renewed in the Colony Court which was established under Massachusetts laws. What was claimed to be a prejudiced finding in favor of Jordan was rendered and appealed from. Pending that appeal political changes in England, following the restoration of the monarchy there in 1660, upset the colonies and their courts here and the case seems to have had no official ending. George Cleeve died aged and broken in fortune. Robert Jordan was forced to leave his Spurwink home by the Indian hostilities which arose in 1676 and he died, an exile, in Newcastle, N. H.
The rivalry for Casco Neck, however, produced important results. In its final effect, it brought about the abolition of the dominance of both Cleeve and Jordan and went far in causing the transfer of ownership of the realty here, to the possession of those who were occupying and improving it. Gradually the old world idea of a class aristocracy with a system of tenantry was being forced to give way to the irrepressible new world conception of popular rights. The rise of the common people was acquiring a momentum which was destined to continue. The revolu- tionary changes which followed will be told more in detail in another chapter.
سلم
VI
MASSACHUSETTS OCCUPANCY AND ITS RESULTS.
T HE extension of the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts over Casco Neck and Maine made changes so fundamental and has withal been so much a matter of controversy that it properly requires independent consideration.
The interior of the country, at the time when separate territorial grants were being made by authority of the English King, had only to a slight extent been visited by white men. War- fare was the common business of the natives and they cautiously regarded every stranger as a probable enemy. Even when friendly they were sensitive to intrusions without permission upon their ancient domain. All the occupations that had been made in Maine at the time when Cleeve erected his cabin on Machegonne were upon islands and the immediate coast. The descrip- tions in the concessions or patents, therefore, were necessarily based upon indefinite reports of local- ities and names.
The charter granted to the Colony of Massa- chusetts Bay in 1628 included within its northern boundary line "all those lands and hereditaments whatever which lie and be within the space of three English miles to the northward of the said river Monomack, alias Merrimac, or to the north- ward of any and every part thereof," also "all
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lands, waters, ports, fishings and hereditaments whatsoever lying within said bounds and limits and every part and parcel thereof." This was the first definite New England grant. At this time it occurred to no one that the Merrimac River, after extending a considerable distance westerly, makes an abrupt turn to the north and finds its source in the White Mountains.
For a long time nothing occurred to draw attention to this colonial boundary, but a private suit in court concerning the title of some timber lands led to a critical examination of the boundary line given in the charter. The subject was carried before the General Court, which ordered an accu- rate survey of the limiting line to be made. A committee was appointed which traced the river to its source, and it was found that a course extended East and West from a point three miles above the terminal place so determined would take in Southern Maine, including Casco Bay.
Maine, and especially this vicinity, with dis- puted ownership and without certain laws or government, had been, except for a few intermit- tent years, in a condition of continuous disorder. A brief retrospective review shows the condition of affairs and shows also how English political changes were reflected here. At the time when Alexander Rigby purchased the Lygonia patent in 1643 and appointed Cleeve its governor the civil war in England was raging, and the royalists in Maine refused to recognize his authority. Events of importance followed in rapid succession. The formal parliamentary decision declaring Rigby
MASSACHUSETTS OCCUPANCY-ITS RESULTS 51
to be "the rightful owner and proprietor of the province of Lygonia," came in 1647. Even then the part of the province south of the Kennebunk River remained independent as the possession of Gorges. The same year the brave and loyal old Knight died, leaving that province without a head. The followers of Gorges there formed a "combination" or social compact and Edward Godfrey became acting governor, though they recognized the Gorges heir as proprietor. A brief period of comparative tranquility followed, the British King having been executed in 1649.
In 1650 Rigby died and opposition was resumed by the Episcopalians and royalists in Lygonia. In 1651 a considerable number of the people in the southern province on their own account sent a petition to parliament asking for the establishment of a government there. This seems to have been the first assertion of popular rights in Maine. This action, however, was strongly resented by the royalistic element. In 1652 Massachusetts with positiveness asserted her sovereignty up to the Clapboard Island rock. The common people quite generally were anxious to acknowledge the authority declared by the strong and organized colony. Robert Jordan of Spurwink, Henry Joce- lyn of Scarborough, Arthur Macworth of Casco and their followers, rigid Episcopalians, protested. Cleeve and his supporters in behalf of Lygonia, Jordan the opponent of puritanism, and Godfrey on the Gorges account, hostile to each other as they had been, joined in opposition. Massachusetts
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PORTLAND BY THE SEA
offered to "the planters" as the ones having real authority the rights and privileges of its laws.
In 1655 a large number of inhabitants in Saco and places southerly sent a petition to Oliver Cromwell, who in 1653 had become Lord Pro- tector of England, praying to be continued under the government of Massachusetts. The leaders at Black Point and Casco strenuously opposed such connection. Yet, in spite of the disrupted state of affairs, the attractions of the locality had induced the influx of a considerable number of immigrants. To these the situation had plainly become intolerable. The people had grown weary of the controversy and were demanding that they have a voice in public affairs. Then, as the record states, a meeting with Commissioners was held at the house of Robert Jordan at Spurwink July 13, 1658 and "a majority of the inhabitants of Black Point and Casco attended." There it is said, "after serious debate, the good hand of God guiding therein, by a joint consent we mutu- ally accorded in a free and comfortable close." The agreement was signed by twenty-nine per- sons, among whom were George Cleeve and Robert Jordan.
Old Falmouth, though not regularly incor- porated, was in these words given boundaries and a name: "Those places formerly called Spurwink and Casco Bay, from the East side of the Spur- wink River to the Clapboard Islands in Casco Bay, shall run back eight miles into the country, and henceforth shall be called by the name of Falmouth." The Lygonia province, after fifteen
MASSACHUSETTS OCCUPANCY-ITS RESULTS 53
troubled years, and the Gorges remnant of ter- ritory likewise automatically went out of com- mission. Thus it became a township with the general powers conferred by Massachusetts laws and with representation in the. General Court. George Cleeve, the heterodox, was the first deputy chosen. The Episcopalians had perforce yielded to untoward circumstances, but they were not content. The others submitted willingly and with feeling of relief. From that time our Portland was known as Falmouth Neck.
Order was established and with it new settlers came fast. The matter of land proprietorship, however, remained unadjusted, and this presented a most serious obstacle to progress. The Com- missioners had declared that "the change of gov- ernment hath made no change in any man's former right, whether in respect of lands, chattels, goods or any other estate whatsoever." George Cleeve, therefore, continued his occupation of Machegonne with its additions, and Robert Jordan retained all of present Cape Elizabeth and South Portland as his private possession. The whole district was created a county of Massachusetts by the name of Yorkshire, and a court of five associates was established, of whom Jordan was one, and with desire to promote concord all the members appointed were of the former royalist party.
The prominence of Falmouth Neck had in- creased with its development, but the Richmond Island and Spurwink settlement had been brought by the misfortunes of Trelawney, its former pro-
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moter, during the English revolution to a con- dition of complete collapse. Robert Jordan, zealous both in religious matters and in land speculations, again asserted the claim that the Presumpscot River was the true boundary line of his land and that the Neck belonged to him. He built one or more saw mills there and in 1658 issued an appeal to the inhabitants asking that they recognize him as proprietor, to which request a part of them assented. All of the people there occupied their holdings by virtue of deeds from Cleeve which gave leasehold tenure only with pay- ment to him of annual rents. Among those not assenting we find the well known names of George Munjoy, George Bramhall, Anthony Brackett and others. The fact that in the popular election which was held Cleeve was chosen the first deputy to the Massachusetts General Court, in spite of bitter party feeling, shows that the majority were with him.
On the record of the newly established Mas- sachusetts Court for the County of Yorkshire in 1659 we find an account of the suit of George Cleeve vs. Robert Jordan. The details are in- structive. It was first commenced upon a claim for damages for breach of the condition of the bond which had been given by John Winter, predecessor in title of Robert Jordan, binding him to accept the arbitration award made in 1640 whereby Cleeve was declared to be the lawful owner of the title to Machegonne. This first action, however, was discontinued, probably be- cause Jordan, though a grantee, might not be
MASSACHUSETTS OCCUPANCY-ITS RESULTS 55
holden under Winter's obligation. Then another suit was entered and prosecuted for interruption of title by making demands against the duly purchased and occupied lands of Cleeve. It is suggestive to note that this was a personal action by one claiming right as proprietor of land against another individual claimant. No reference was made to the inhabitants. It was a strife of land- lords merely, in which the tenantry could be only silent parties. Cleeve, though knowing the parti- san bias of the judges, was confident in his reliance upon the strength of his case. It certainly seemed ample. He asserted the fact of his first coming by virtue of the proclamation of King James that. bona fide settlers would be protected; that he had the verbal direct assurance of right from Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the representative of the Council of Plymouth; the confirmatory conveyance to him of the peninsula by Gorges after he obtained his title by royal grant; the award in his favor by the court of Associates here in 1640; the addi- tional grant by Rigby after the parliamentary decision in favor of the prior right and validity of the Lygonia patent; and in addition to these muniments of title his actual occupancy for twenty- seven years.
With the decease of Cromwell, however, in 1658, the English Protectorate had come to an end. The revival of loyalty to the banished King was intense here as well as in the old country. The Court was composed of aristocratic sympa- thizers and Church of England adherents who honestly believed in the ancient doctrine of divine
--
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right, and who deemed it good conscience to con- demn the wicked heresy of popular rights. There was no jury trial. Cleeve was "cast" and Jordan got a decision in his favor. It was indeed ob- viously unfair that a party in interest should be at the same time a defendant and a judge. The outcome of the suit brought ruin to the former Governor of Lygonia. His appeal to Massachu- setts was not even acted upon. He died in 1666, a broken and impoverished man. On the other hand the decision in favor of Jordan seems to have been an empty form. The people would obey neither the one claimant, or the other. Whatever power the Court may have had was ignored. The situation was one of practical anarchy with the assertion of agrarian right.
History was then in rapid process of making upon both sides of the ocean. The restoration of Charles II in 1660 had been brought about with general enthusiasm. The Protectorate was a hated reminiscence. The royalists in Maine an- nounced their secession from Massachusetts in 1662, and a petition was sent to the King praying that he assume his personal control. The Bay colony was ordered to withdraw in 1665. Col. Richard Nichols was sent as royal commissioner to investigate and take charge of affairs in the King's name, but he too was not obeyed. The application of the heir of Sir Ferdinando for reversal of the Rigby decision and re-establishment of the old Gorges charter was still pending. Town meetings continued to be held, although in some places the form of government by the people
MASSACHUSETTS OCCUPANCY-ITS RESULTS 57
called "a combination" was set up. The details are voluminous, but an outline is sufficient for general information.
The Gorges charter was pronounced valid and underlying by the King's Court in 1677. The Indian hostilities had then begun and young Ferdinando found that he had acquired not a princely domain but instead had become possessor of a battlefield in a wilderness. He sold his grandfather's palatinate patent with all its rights and powers to the Bay Colony for what would now be a moderate price for a single house lot. Falmouth continued its Massachusetts connec- tion, though interrupted by wars, by the King's personal domination and the vicissitudes of the second revolution in England, until the granting of the Province Charter by William and Mary united Maine with the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Thereafter the political fortunes of the two provinces went along together without discord.
The action of Massachusetts is often called unfair, but it must be remembered their survey was in accord with the wording of their carefully written charter. They were dealing too with people who did not pretend to have regard for the obligations of Kingly contracts, and, as Carlyle says of Cromwell's Protectorate, "They were not dancing a minuet." James Truslow Adams, by no means a friendly critic, declares that the first settlers were in no sense Americans. They were Englishmen with English associations, connections and habits of thought, and the New England disease of popular rights was infecting the rest
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PORTLAND BY THE SEA
of the Empire. "The Puritan colonies," he says, "were the only ones in which land could be owned in fee simple without quit rent or lord, and without the Massachusetts usurpation Maine would have been a country of absentee landlords."
The urge of the republican colony was more than a desire for territory or profit. They did not forget that Sir Ferdinando Gorges had actu- ally held a King's commission as Governor of all New England, with a capital city in Maine and a Church of England establishment having a bishop. It was the Massachusetts occupation that brought the town meeting and the allotment of land by the people.
3
VII
THE FIRST INDIAN WAR.
M ASSACHUSETTS by the purchase of the Gorges royal patent in 1677 had acquired an apparent, though not certain, title to Falmouth and the whole province of Maine. At the same time she had drawn upon herself the resentment of Charles II who had designed to create here for his favorite son by Lucy Walters, whom he had made Duke of Monmouth, a duke- dom of the old imperialistic sort, and would have done so except that he preferred to waste his merry days upon the superior attractions of the beauties of his court and with his dissolute courtiers.
In order to bring the story to that date it has seemed best to disregard temporarily another event of momentous local importance. This was the outbreak of hostilities on the part of the Indian tribes which for two years, namely, since 1675, had involved Maine and all New England in a life and death struggle for existence. These hos- tilities had begun suddenly and with but little of previous warning. For more than the lifetime of a generation the relations of the white man with the natives had been upon the whole amicable. It was doubtless the circumstances of existing Indian warfare that induced young Gorges to rid himself so cheaply of his grandfather's patrimony
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and which likewise had a cooling effect upon the anger of the King.
Many and various opinions have been expressed in regard to the cause or causes of the outbreak, but with much wider knowledge of the Indian character and of Indian politics than our fathers possessed, derived largely from the examination of the old French missionary and military written records by Francis Parkman, the fundamental reasons are apparent. It was the irrepressible conflict between two races of men who differed in mental characteristics, habits of thought and inherited manners of living. They had nothing in common and an amalgamation was impossible and not desired by either.
The natives were at the time of the discovery a people of the stone age, with no knowledge of iron implements and with bows and arrows for weapons. Warfare and hunting were the exclusive business of the men, while most of the other affairs of their ordinary life were considered to be within the sole province of the women. It is commonly represented that the members of the female sex were mere slaves and drudges. On the contrary they were quite largely the managers of such civil government as existed. They did the domestic work, if such it might be called, planting and serving the food and preparing the clothing, except the showy trappings of the other sex. Marriage, as we know it, was unknown, but they lived in pairs and were generally faithful to each other. If a man were to adopt for himself what custom had established as the vocation of the women he
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THE FIRST INDIAN WAR
would be regarded as "a squaw man" and an object of derision. In such case his feminine mate would contemptuously abandon him. In the camp fire councils the females customarily took an active part and the war booty and the captives were regularly turned over to them. Many examples are given of the adoption into the tribe of prisoners by the gentler sex as in the case of Pocahontas and Capt. John Smith. The warriors had much respect for women and no instance appears of an assault by them upon the honor of a female captive.
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