USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland city guide > Part 6
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Realizing the advantages and possibilities of the Falmouth area and un- willing to leave this section, Major Moody petitioned the General Court for permission for himself and fifteen men and their families to settle on The Neck,' stipulating that he would furnish arms and ammunitions at his own expense. This request was granted July 20, 1716, and Moody built a large house on the corner of the present Fore and Hancock streets. Benjamin Larrabee, formerly second in command at the fort, located at what is now Middle and Pearl streets, and Richard Wilmot chose a site where the street that now bears his name meets Congress Street.
During the early years of New England colonization haphazard settle-
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ments had so invited Indian depredations that the General Court passed a law in 1716 forbidding future settlement without its permission. It ap- pointed a commission to "lay out the town platts in a regular and defen- sible manner .... " After a delay of two years Falmouth's boundaries were redefined, the site approved, and on July 16, 1718, the town was officially incorporated. In compliance with the Massachusetts ruling, a town meeting was held the following March. Harvard-educated Joshua Moody, oldest son of Major Moody, was elected the first town clerk of the settlement, Dominicus Jordan, John Pritchard, William Scales, and Benjamin Skill- ings were chosen selectmen, Thomas Thomes became constable, and Jacob Collings and Samuel Proctor were appointed fence surveyors.
The first problem of the newly incorporated town was the solution of land right disputes. Back in 1684 Thomas Danforth as President of Maine had deeded to eight of the principal men of the town as trustees and to their heirs and assigns, all the land in Falmouth which had previously belonged to Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Newcomers to the second settlement, finding the town uninhabited, selected sites that pleased their fancy. With the return of some of the former proprietors, who had fled the settlement before the In- dian debacle, a continuance of the early land feuds ensued; the two factions were known as the Old and the New Proprietors. The erstwhile owners, finding settlers occupying their grants, were forced to abide by the decision of the New Proprietors-that the incorporation of Falmouth as a town gave to the New Proprietors the right and power to grant land. The Old Proprietors were in the minority, but whenever possible, the new government respected their land titles. Conciliation was the new order, and in due time matters were amicably adjusted.
"The Neck' settlement grew quickly; settlers came from other New Eng- land colonies, built their homes, and in 1718 Falmouth's population was in- creased by the arrival of its first real immigrants, 20 families who came from the north of Ireland in search of better economic advantages and re- ligious liberty. Streets were laid out; King Street, now India, was the first important thoroughfare. West of King Street ran three roads, aptly named according to their relative positions, the fore, the middle, and the back streets; two of these names still remain, but Back Street became successive- ly Queen and Congress Street. Ferry privileges were granted to John Pritchard as early as 1719 to operate a boat between Clay Cove and the Purpooduck [South Portland] shore.
Under the Puritan government of Massachusetts it was mandatory that
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towns support an established Congregational minister, and failure to do so meant being "presented at court." Falmouth had difficulty in finding an acceptable minister of this denomination who would become the permanent pastor, and it was not until 1725 that the town fathers invited the Reverend Thomas Smith to take charge of the First Parish. Smith had been recom- mended to the local officials by Harvard College, from which institution he had been graduated five years previous. Although he accepted the Falmouth pastorate, Smith waited two years before making the town his permanent residence. On March 6, 1727, the day of his ordination, he recorded in his now famous journal: "We are the first church that ever was settled east of Wells: may the gates of hell be never able to prevail against us. Amen."
The young minister found Falmouth with its 400 inhabitants a dismal contrast to the grandeur of colonial Boston, his birthplace. The First Parish Congregational meetinghouse in which he preached was a rude structure with glassless windows, and the interior had neither seats nor pulpit. Parson Smith's new home, however, seems to have been quite commodious for the time. Firewood was supplied, extra lots cleared and fenced, and Smith's salary was paid every six months, which, with the additional revenue from the "strangers' contribution" (collection), gave the Parson a very com- fortable living. His parishioners kept his pantry stocked with wild game, which was plentiful, and his cellar supplied with fine wines and liquors.
One of the recommendations of the General Court was " ... that Fifty Families more (at the least) than now are, be admitted as soon as may be, and settled in the most compact and defencible manner the Land will allow of." In 1727 Falmouth acted upon this suggestion and voted to admit all of good character upon payment of £10. The Old Proprietors objected strenuously to this town vote, but Falmouth was poor and felt the need of additional funds for its depleted treasury. About this time the headquarters of the royal mast industry was transferred from Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, to Falmouth, causing many new inhabitants to apply for residence in the town. Among the first to be admitted was Colonel Thomas Westbrook, the royal agent, who soon built Harrow House in Stroudwater, near the stream of the same name. He formed a partnership with Samuel Waldo, another new resident, and in 1738 they constructed the first dam across the Presumpscot River, the impounded waters supplying power for their newly erected sawmill. In the same year the Westbrook-Waldo partnership spon- sored the construction of a paper mill on the Stroudwater River, and West- brook first bridged Fore River. When his partner inherited the Waldo
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Patent Westbrook purchased heavily in this land development scheme, which caused his financial ruin in 1743. He died the next year, but his burial place was never revealed for fear the body would be taken for debt. It later years the city of Westbrook was named in his honor.
England paid good prices for Falmouth masts, and it was not long before the townspeople were engaged exclusively in lumbering. Shortsightedly, they overlooked the necessity of raising their own produce, preferring to import it from Boston and other coastal points. Many times their bare cupboards caused anxious eyes to peer hopefully down the harbor when storms at sea prevented the scheduled arrival of the provision boats. Parson Smith in his journal makes frequent references to famine conditions in the town. There were few gristmills, but sawmills began to appear on every available stream, and ships laden with oar-rafters, timber, and masts were constantly leaving the harbor. The mast industry caused improvement in already exist- ing roads and the building of additional highways. Tales of Falmouth's prosperity, filtering through New England, brought a steady influx of new settlers, until the conservative Old Proprietors lamented that people "came in like a flood."
In 1740 the meetinghouse of the First Parish, Congregational, was the only place of worship in Falmouth. By then it had become too small to ac- commodate Parson Smith's growing congregation, and despite determined opposition a new church was built on the site of the present Unitarian stone church on Congress Street. With church attendance obligatory, the people across the harbor on the Purpooduck side complained of the inconvenience of getting to the meetinghouse. After a successful appeal to the General Court in 1733 they built their own house of worship, which was synonymous with settling a new town; Cape Elizabeth was legally incorporated. The new parish was strongly Presbyterian, the majority of the people being Scotch- Irish immigrants who chose the Reverend Benjamin Allen as their pastor. This move was the forerunner of further separations from the mother church that caused Parson Smith to complain, "I have been discouraged about my enemies, they talk of a new meeting-house." In 1753 a petition of the New Casco people was granted, and that part of Falmouth on the east side of the Presumpscot River was set off as the New Casco Parish. The fourth, or Stroudwater Parish was established in 1765.
To comply with an earlier mandate of the Massachusetts Legislature re- quiring towns to support a schoolmaster for every 50 families, Falmouth be- gan to look for a suitable instructor. In 1733 the first school was opened
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with Robert Bayley in charge at an annual salary of £70. In April, 1745, Stephen Longfellow, great-grandfather of the poet, became the schoolmaster and for 15 years was the principal instructor in the town. By the middle of the 18th century Falmouth had attained considerable stature. Trade with such outlying towns as Windham, Gorham, Standish, New Gloucester, and North Yarmouth increased the business of 'The Neck.' A customs collec- tion district, the only one in Maine prior to the Revolution, was established in 1758 with Samuel Waldo, Jr., as collector. Prior to 1760 Maine consisted of only one district; that year the General Court organized two new coun- ties, Cumberland and Lincoln. The first term of the Superior Court was held on "The Neck' in 1760, and the records in the Registry of Deeds and of the Courts began that year.
Until the Paris treaty between the French and English was signed in 1763 the fortunes of Falmouth varied with the outbreak and settlement of inter- mittent wars. Indians had become such a menace that a bounty of £100 was offered for the scalp of any male Indian over twelve years of age. Hunting parties were organized for this purpose, and Parson Smith himself was not averse to increasing his revenue for he dutifully records in his Journal that he received his "part of scalp money." During Indian hostilities trade was re- strained, defense measures were enforced, male citizens were impressed into service, and people fled to the garrisons at rumors of the enemy's approach. Taxes were high, and money underwent violent fluctuations, causing an ex- orbitant rise in food prices. Indian treaties gave the settlers but momentary reprieves, and it was not until England and France concluded their peace negotiations that the savages ceased their maraudings.
Coincident with the imposition of the Sugar Act of 1764, was the growing antagonism when trade was limited to England, to be carried in English ships, and colonists were forced to pay duty on such articles as sugar, indi- go, coffee, wines, silks, and molasses. These decrees were ignored in Fal- mouth until the local collector seized Enoch Ilsley's rum and sugar for non- payment of revenue. This roused the latent mob spirit; the collector, Francis Waldo, who was visiting at the home of a friend, was held there until all of the seized merchandise had been safely hidden. When the first sugar- tax stamps arrived, Falmouth citizens seized them, tied them to a pole, paraded through town, and finally made a bonfire of them.
The strict enforcement of these English laws produced protesting colon- ial pamphleteers, and pamphlets printed in Boston were widely circulated in
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Falmouth, inflaming the local populace. News of the repeal of the Stamp Act reached "The Neck' May 16, 1766, via Captain Tate's mast ship, 30 days out of London, inspiring Parson Smith to jot down in his journal: "Our people are mad with drink and joy; bells ringing, drums beating, colors flying, the court house illuminated and some others, and a bonfire, and a deluge of drunkenness." In contrast was the local reaction on the occasion of the closing of the port of Boston and the revoking of the Massachusetts charter in 1774, when a muffled bell "tolled all day." Boston's plight pres- aged trouble in the colonies, and Falmouth citizens held a meeting in an- ticipation of the enforcement of English disciplinary measures. They had earlier in the year resolved not to import into Falmouth any taxable mer- chandise and had sent a letter to Boston applauding its Tea Party of De- cember 16, 1773. The day following the closing of the port of Boston an- other meeting was held in Falmouth at which it was voted to write to the towns in Massachusetts in the hope of enlarging their "non-importation" resolution. In September, 1774, Falmouth empowered Enoch Freeman, its representative to the Continental Congress, to agree to the 14 articles of as- sociation, one of which was the "non-importation, non-consumption, non- exportation" article. The town prepared defense measures, arranged for arms and ammunition, and enlisted minute-men, knowing from the trend of events that war was inevitable.
One of the earliest local violations of the non-importation agreement was the attempt of Captain Thomas Coulson, a Falmouth Tory, to land rigging, sails, and stores purchased in England for the outfitting of a large mast ship he had built in a shipyard on 'The Neck.' When the English ship carrying Coulson's supplies arrived in Falmouth early in April, 1775, the local inspection committee refused to allow them to be unloaded. This ac- tion angered Coulson, who appealed to Captain Henry Mowat in command of the Canceau, an English sloop of war. While the Canceau was lying in the harbor, Colonel Samuel Thompson of Brunswick came into the town with 50 men with the intention of destroying Mowat's ship. Thompson's plans, and even his presence, were unknown to the townspeople until he seized Captain Mowat, his physician, and John Wiswall, the local Episco- pal minister, as they were walking on Munjoy Hill. When news of their capture reached the Canceau, threats were immediately made to "lay the town in ashes" unless the prisoners were released. The captured trio was taken to Marston's Tavern, where they were detained until the town fathers
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prevailed upon Thompson to parole the prisoners until the following day. Two of the town's leading citizens, General Jedediah Preble and Colonel Enoch Freeman, offered themselves as hostages, guaranteeing the return of Mowat, his doctor, and John Wiswall, who then went aboard the Canceau.
The next morning, when Mowat and his companions failed to honor their parole, companies of raw soldiers numbering 600, came from near-by towns; the hostages, Preble and Freeman, were imprisoned, kept without food, and released only on their promise to supply rations for the militia. Meanwhile the soldiers had looted the homes of known Tories. Captain Coulson's house was commandeered as a barracks; vandalism ruled throughout the town, and Mowat sent word from the Canceau that the English guns would be turned upon 'The Neck.' As the mob spirit grew among the soldiers, the hysterical citizens began removing their possessions to safe places in the country. However, under the protecting guns of Mowat's ship, Captain Coulson rushed to completion the rigging of his new ship. By May both the Canceau and Coulson's ship sailed from the harbor. Almost immediate- ly Falmouth returned to comparative normalcy, prayers of thanksgiving were offered by the local clergy, the soldiery disbanded, and the citizens re- turned to their homes.
Following the Battle of Lexington in April, 1775, and in response to a Massachusetts resolve, there was a muster of all the militia companies on "The Neck.' The two companies from Falmouth, commanded by Captain Joshua Brackett and Captain David Bradish, left for Cambridge in July to join the Continental Army. At this time there were 230 homes on The Neck,' in addition to Parson Smith's meetinghouse and the new Episcopal church. A new courthouse stood on the corner of India and Middle streets, and wharves and stores had been built. The town was enjoying a period of prosperity and was the envy of every settlement east of Boston.
Although the spirit of rebellion was latent throughout New England, no local incident occurred during the summer of 1775 to inflame Falmouth's residents into open revolt against England. Therefore, when the Canceau, under the command of Captain Mowat, and four other English war ves- sels anchored off 'The Neck' in October, the residents felt that the craft were on a foraging expedition; although two companies of soldiers were sent to guard the islands where the livestock was pastured, no particular tension was created. Thus, 'The Neck's' inhabitants were amazed the next day as they watched Mowat's ships line up in attack formation before the town. Doctor Samuel Deane, Parson Smith's assistant, relates in his diary of that
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momentous day: "He came before it (the town) the 17th day of Oct. 1775, and near sunset, made known his infernal errand, by a flag with a letter full of bad English and worse spelling." Mowat's letter stated that he had been sent "to execute a just punishment on the town of Falmouth," and he went on to advise that two hours would be allowed "to remove the human specie" before Falmouth would be blasted by the cannon of his ships.
Mowat's messenger was followed by hundreds of townspeople who crowded into the town hall and listened to Theophilus Bradbury read the insolent phrases. Among those in the courtroom was the Reverend Jacob Bailey who later wrote to a friend, graphically describing the "frightful consternation," the "tumult, confusion, and bustle," the "repeated cries, shrieks, and lamentations," and the "melancholy uproar." However, in contrast to the hysteria displayed by the populace, some of the more practi- cal men favored sending a committee to Mowat to prevail upon him to de- sist in his threat to destroy Falmouth. This committee, composed of Doctor Nathaniel Coffin, General Jedediah Preble, and Robert Pagan, Episcopal- ians whom it was thought might influence Mowat, was dispatched to the Canceau. Remonstrance was of no avail, but Mowat capitulated to the ex- tent of advising them that if, by eight o'clock the following morning they deliver up their cannon, arms, and ammunition, he would endeavor to have the order rescinded. The people of Falmouth heard the committee's report and for the sake of the aged, the ailing, the women, and the children, per- mitted eight small guns to be delivered to Mowat's ship as a guaranty of the town's safety until morning. Through the night the inadequate roads were choked with vehicles of all sorts removing prized possessions. Bewilder- ment, anxiety, and fear rode with them through the night-sleep was a for- gotten luxury.
The next morning was calm and bright, and the hushed crowd in the meetinghouse spurned Mowat's terms in the face of certain destruction. The committee again visited the ship, prolonging the recital of the town's repu- diation in the hope of gaining additional time; impatiently Mowat dis- missed them at 8:30 and gave them 30 minutes to make shore and safety.
The Reverend Bailey's letter reveals that "at exactly half an hour after nine ... the cannon began to roar with incessant and tremendous fury." At noon ruin was still being poured on the defenseless town, and men from the ships landed with torches to spread the flames. At six o'clock the firing ceased; three-quarters of Falmouth was again ashes and smouldering ruins.
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"The Neck' Becomes the City of Portland
A week after the bombardment of 'The Neck' the Boston Essex Gazette inventoried the loss as follows: "the number of buildings, exclusive of dwelling houses destroyed, was 278, which with 136 houses makes the total number of buildings burnt 414." Also destroyed were St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the town house, and the library. Following the town's destruction, the business of Cumberland County was carried on in Widow Greele's tav- ern which had survived the bombardment. The exposed position of The Neck' offered little incentive to rebuild; British ships were in and out of the harbor for the duration of the Revolution, but there seemed to be noth- ing in the town to interest them.
However, the Mowat bombardment had its anticlimax. In November the Cerberus, a British ship, sailed into the harbor captained by John Symonds, who sent a letter ashore forbidding the refortifying of the town. Defiantly the townspeople appealed to the militia in the surrounding towns and rapidly threw up rough defenses on Munjoy Hill. Before the effectiveness of their guns could be tested upon the Cerberus Symonds sailed out of the harbor. The militia, eager to avenge the destruction of the town, remained on "The Neck,' crowding into the houses still standing. When Parson Smith rode in from Windham where he had fled during the bombardment, there was no accommodation for him. As late as the following April Smith recorded in his journal: "No lodging, eating nor horse keeping at Falmouth."
Early in 1776 an order came from Massachusetts to James Sullivan, com- missary of local troops and later Governor of Massachusetts, soliciting addi- tional soldiers for the Continental Army. Sullivan answered: "The four hundred men at Falmouth can never be raised, as every one who can leave home is gone or going to Cambridge. ... " Later he wrote: "If the General Court should order another reinforcement, they must draw upon this part of the province for women instead of men, and for knives and forks in- stead of arms." By December every fourth man of the local militia had been drafted for the Continental Army. In the following year the Massachusetts General Court commended "The Province of Maine and town of Falmouth in particular ... for being foremost of any part of this State in furnishing their quota of men for the army."
Although 'The Neck' was the general recruiting station for the troops, no battles were fought in or near Falmouth during the remainder of the Revolution. Instead, the jutting peninsula became a center of an entirely
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different phase of the Revolution-privateering. During 1776 a number of Salem merchants outfitted local ships for this purpose, the first of which was the Retrieve. This ship was soon taken by the English. The success of these privateers stimulated John Fox and other residents of 'The Neck' to equip the Fox, a vessel of only four iron guns, whose boarding pikes were scythes fitted to handles. The one substantial success of the Fox was a valu- able British cargo that more than repaid the original investment.
During the closing years of the Revolution Falmouth became more and more detached from actual warfare, although in 1779 the town and Cape Elizabeth sent two companies of men to assist an expedition which had come from Boston to dislodge the British from their strategic position on the Maine coast at Castine.
Along with the other colonies Falmouth suffered economically because of the war. Its commerce was stagnant. There were no luxuries, even neces- sities were difficult to obtain. By the middle of 1777 the new American cur- rency had depreciated 25 percent, causing local people to live from hand to mouth. In another two years wood in Falmouth was $20 a cord, corn meal $30 a bushel, molasses $16 a gallon, coffee $3 a pound, and Parson Smith was bewailing in his journal that a barrel of flour was more than his yearly salary. Wages had skyrocketed with the scarcity of men, and washerwomen received as much as ministers. About this time smallpox broke out in Fal- mouth; although the people were suspicious of the "new-fangled" serum, isolation of the infected in the pest house and inoculation controlled the epidemic. A very dry summer that ruined half the crops was just another adverse item with which the people had to contend.
Politically, separatism was in the air, with a growing sentiment among the residents of 'The Neck' that their section of Falmouth should become a separate township. Regarding this feeling William Willis comments: "ge- ographical division had always existed, and the people in the two parts, by the pursuit of different interests, and still more, by the secession from the ancient parish of most of the inhabitants who lived in the other sections of the town, had become gradually alienated from each other. ... " In May, 1783, this feeling reached its peak when separation of 'The Neck' from Fal- mouth was overwhelmingly favored in a general vote. A petition was sent to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and on the basis of the 1783 vote, "The Neck' was officially created a town on July 4, 1786, and named Port- land. According to the town's records, its boundaries "begin at the middle of the creek that runs into Round Marsh, thence northeast to Back Cove
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Creek, then across said Cove to Sandy Point, thence round by Casco Bay and Fore River to the first bounds, as well as the islands in said town .... "
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