USA > Maine > The beginnings of colonial Maine, 1602-1658 > Part 32
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But one day, still unknown, a sail was discovered approaching Richmond's island from the eastward. It awakened at once eager expectation, and all eyes were directed towards the newcomer. When at length the vessel sailed into the island harbor and the anchor was dropped, John Winter, we may well believe, was at the vessel's side and among the first to receive the tidings that she brought from the old England whence she came. How, we shall never know; but in some way, either by word of mouth, or by letter whose seal was hastily broken, John Winter heard of the
1 History of the Rebellion, folio ed., I, 349.
2 Trelawny Papers, 321, 322.
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blow that had fallen upon Robert Trelawny, and there was opened to him suddenly such a vision of conditions in England as he had not even dreamed of before. He had supposed that things were going "well", as Trelawny wrote. That they were not going as he would have them, he now clearly saw; and from that time John Winter walked under a shadow that darkened the rest of his days.
Possibly Winter found some encouragement in the thought that Trelawny's friends might be able in a short time to secure his release, and that business relations between Plymouth and Rich- mond's island might still be maintained. Indeed, by a petition addressed to the House of Commons, November 23, 1642, Tre- lawny attempted to secure his release. Evidently he had no political purposes in view, yet favorable action did not follow. In fact, in denying the petitioner's request, the Commons ordered that Robert Trelawny should be committed to Winchester House -the old bishop's palace at Winchester, then devoted by Parlia- ment to prison uses-"there to remain during the pleasure of the House".1 In all probability this was the second imprisonment to which Lord Clarendon referred in his mention of the Trelawny case. March 22, 1643, Trelawny presented to the House of Com- mons a second petition for his release, the petitioner expressing his readiness to furnish bail; but this added request was also refused.2
Among the Trelawny Papers there are Richmond's island accounts from July 10, 1641, to the last of June, 1643.3 Evidently in those years Winter continued to care for the Trelawny interests as hitherto, for the accounts show it ; but they show just as clearly that these were years in which business at the island, once so pros- perous, had greatly declined. It was under discouraging circum- stances, therefore, that Winter continued his labors. Then, too, the tidings that from time to time reached the island from England
1 Journal of the House of Commons, II, 854.
2 Ib., III, 14.
3 Trelawny Papers, 323-335, 344-362.
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ROBERT JORDAN AS WINTER'S SUCCESSOR.
were in no wise cheering. Trelawny's wife, a few days after the refusal of her husband's first petition for release, died at the Tre- lawny residence at Ham, and was laid to rest in the Trelawny vault in St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth. Depressed by this affliction, also by failing health, Robert Trelawny made his last will and testament August 24, 1643, a codicil following February 23, 1644.1 Doubtless life had lost all attractions for him, and not long after, certainly before the end of the year, he closed his career behind prison bars, and was buried no one knows when or where.
As one thinks of Robert Trelawny's sad and lonely death, the lines of an old ballad have a new application :
"And shall Trelawny die ? And shall Trelawny die ? Forty thousand Cornishmen Will know the reason why."
The ballad belongs to a later date than 1644, and its question has no reference to Robert Trelawny. If, however, the twice repeated question still rings in our ears as we recall Trelawny's sad end, and think of his unknown grave, it is to be remembered that war, even now, when so much is done to mitigate its evils, is a "dreaded instrument", and that civil war is the worst of all wars. Robert Trelawny suffered, as many another on both sides in the civil war in England suffered, suffering even unto death, and there were few, if any, to ask the reason why.
After the death of Robert Trelawny, business at Richmond's island still further declined. The Trelawny interests there, how- ever, were maintained, so far as can now be ascertained by John King, a merchant of London. An interesting glimpse of Winter and his family about this time is afforded in a letter from Winter to his married daughter, Mary Hooper, living in England. It is dated Richmond's island, June 13, 1644. Winter had not then heard of Robert Trelawny's death, for in his letter he informs his daughter that he had directed Mr. Robert Trelawny to pay her
1 Trelawny Papers, 450-456.
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fifteen pounds. "I pray demand it of him", he wrote; "whereof five pounds of it is a token from me sent unto you in token of my fatherly love unto you; forty shillings of it is a token sent unto you from your mother ; the other eight pound is for your sister Sara, whereof six pound of it she desired you would bestow in linen cloth for her of these sorts: some cloth of three quarters and half quarter broad, and some of it for neck cloths, and other some for pillow cloths, for she is now providing to keep a house. She hath been married this five months to one Mr. Robert Jordan, which is our minister. The other forty shillings she doth send unto you for a token".1
When this letter was written, Winter was evidently enjoying a measure of health calling for grateful mention. In all probability, however, it was not long continued. Trelawny's death, under circumstances so peculiar and distressing, doubtless laid upon Winter a heavy burden of sorrow, and may have hastened his own death. It is known only that sickness at length compelled him to withdraw from his usual occupations, and that some time in the year 1645, probably near the close of the year, Winter died, and was buried on the island which he made the center of Tre- lawny's interests in the province.
In the above quotation from Winter's letter, there is a state- ment that enables us to ascertain approximately the time when Robert Jordan married Sarah Winter. It was early in January, 1644. As Robert Jordan came to Richmond's island in 1641,2 it cannot be said that he made an early surrender to the charms of John Winter's daughter. The Trelawny Papers show that he was more expeditious, however, in placing himself on Winter's side in his attitude toward George Cleeve; for only a little more than a year after reaching the island and entering upon his religious work, Jordan addressed a letter3 to Robert Trelawny in which he represented himself as "employed at the request of Mr. Winter"
1 Trelawny Papers, 363.
2 Ib., 287.
8 Ib., 314-320.
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ROBERT JORDAN AS WINTER'S SUCCESSOR.
in the actions entered upon between him "and crafty Mr. Cleeve", and expressed the hope that Trelawny would look upon him "as a faithful agent therein". The letter shows that Jordan already not only had made himself familiar with Winter's aims and pur- poses in his contentions with George Cleeve, but had thrown him- self into the conflict with no less energy and far greater ability than John Winter possessed. He was not satisfied with a court decision that had recognized Cleeve's rightful possession of Machegonne. The verdict, he says, was "contrary to evidence", and when the matter came up again and was settled by arbitration in Cleeve's favor, Jordan, in making known this result to Tre- lawny, says the decision did not seem to him "to be reasonable law nor conscience", so completely thus early had he taken posi- tion as an ardent ally of Winter.
After John Winter's death, Robert Jordan, as Winter's son-in- law, took charge of the business interests at Richmond's island and vicinity. Those interests, as already mentioned, had declined before Winter's death. The period of decline continued. Neither fishing nor trading vessels came hither as formerly, and the scat- tered settlers anxiously awaited the issue of the civil war in Eng- land. So far as is known, the Trelawny heirs made no attempt whatever to look after their interests here. Probably the political upheaval in England at that time may account in part for this neglect. Then, too, it is to be remembered that John Trelawny, Robert Trelawny's son and heir, was less than ten years of age when his father died, and the duty of caring for his American interests rested upon those who had affairs of their own that engrossed their attention. Certainly, those who should have given thought and attention to Trelawny's interests on this side of the sea failed to do so, and so gave occasion for feelings at least of regret that have continued to find expression in the descendants of Robert Trelawny in successive generations to the present time.
This neglect was not overlooked by Robert Jordan. He knew the value of those interests, and saw the opportunity opening
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before him for acquiring in his own right the shore privileges and extensive territory covered by the Trelawny patent. As the executor of the estate of John Winter, Jordan attempted to open communication with Robert Trelawny's executors. This was a matter of considerable importance as from an examination of Winter's accounts it appeared that Trelawny was largely indebted to Winter. But Jordan's letters to the Trelawny executors brought no reply. Of course reply should have been made. If on account of the political crisis in England, and the business dis- turbances arising therefrom, the Trelawny executors were unable at that time to undertake the settlement of these accounts, they should have said so, and asked for delay until a more favorable opportunity should present itself. On the contrary, they adopted an attitude of silence, and Winter's estate remained unsettled, doubtless to the dissatisfaction of all parties concerned.
It was in this condition of things at Richmond's island that Cleeve, as deputy president of the Province of Lygonia, succeeded in securing the support of those who, after the death of Winter and the departure of Vines to Barbadoes, had been his most strenuous and even bitter opponents. Recognizing their defeat, and the importance of establishing law and order in the scattered settlements within the limits of the province, they laid aside their individual opinions and prejudices, accepted office in the new government and for awhile labored with Cleeve and his adherents for the advancement of common interests. In the court records of that period are documents signed by George Cleeve, Henry Josselyn and Robert Jordan, judges of the Province of Lygonia, and sitting side by side in harmonious relations.1
September 22, 1648, or about three years after Winter's death, Robert Jordan, having received from Trelawny's executors no response to his letters, presented a petition to the president, deputy president and the general assembly of the Province of Lygonia, in which he called attention to "his desperate condi- tion". As the executor of the estate of John Winter, he had
1 Early Records of Maine, I, 121.
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ROBERT JORDAN AS WINTER'S SUCCESSOR.
"emptied himself of his proper estate" in order to pay the lega- cies mentioned in Winter's will. Trelawny, at the time of his death, he said, was greatly indebted to Winter. Indeed, the larger part of Winter's estate, he claimed, was in the hands of the Tre- lawny executors ; but though by "persuasive letters" he had urged a settlement on their part, he had received no reply, and was left "without hope of any timely recovery" of what was due Winter from the Trelawny estate. Nor was this all. "Their intentions in appearance", he added, "are to deprive your petitioner of what he hath in his hands in common employment with them, and so to forbear all satisfaction of dues until the heir of the said Trelawny (being now about seven or eight years old) shall come to full age". The result, he said, would be "the destruction of your petitioner and his whole family". It would also be to "the prejudice of this growing commonwealth"; while if the petitioner "could obtain his rights", it was his desire "to employ his estate to the furtherance of public good, from which he is now disenabled". Jordan, therefore, asked for an examination of Winter's accounts by committee or otherwise, and that "upon the inventory thereof", the petitioner might have "secured and sequestered unto himself and for his singular use, what he hath of the said Trelawny in his hands, or at least so much as you shall find due from him to the petitioner".1
Robert Jordan's "proper estate" when he came to Richmond's island could not have been large, and, if we may infer from the meager pay credited to him in Winter's accounts, it is not likely that he was able to increase it while serving as minister at the island and in the vicinity. In paying Winter's bequests, there- fore-it is not known what they were, as Winter's will has not come down to us-any small amount would have drawn heavily upon Mr. Jordan's resources. Accordingly, the statement of his impoverishment is not to be taken seriously. Evidently, in mak- ing the statement, the petitioner had in view the members of the general assembly, and it was plainly his desire to set before them
1 Trelawny Papers, 365-368.
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at the outset as impressively as possible this view of his "desperate condition".
The petition, as may be inferred, was one in which the mem- bers of the general assembly of the province were much interested. With Trelawny's territory and interests in the possession of Rob- ert Jordan, they were persuaded that improvement in business mat- ters would follow not only at Richmond's island, but in the neigh- boring settlements. The petition was readily granted, and George Cleeve, William Royall, Richard Foxwell and Henry Watts, were appointed a committee to examine Winter's accounts as requested ; also to report at the next meeting of the assembly "the state of the thing petitioned for".1
The members of the committee proceeded to Richmond's island as directed and examined Winter's accounts, on which Jordan's claims rested. At the examination, the Trelawny heirs were not represented, and in all probability they had no such notice of the action of the assembly as would enable them to be represented. Indeed it is not known that they received any notice. The action of the assembly occurred September 12, 1648, and December 18, following, the committee having reported,2 it was ordered by the assembly3 that it should be lawful for the petitioner, "Robert Jordan, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, to retain, occupy to his and their proper use and profit, to convert all the goods, lands, cattle and chattels belonging to Robert Trelawny, deceased, within this province, from this day forward and forever against any claim or demand whatsoever by what party or parties soever".
In this way the Trelawny territory and the Trelawny interests on this side of the sea came into the immediate legal possession of Robert Jordan. In the order adopted by the assembly it was indeed added that the executors of Robert Trelawny should have the privilege of redeeming and releasing the Trelawny goods,
1 Trelawny Papers, 369.
2 Ib., 377-383.
8 Ib., 370, 371.
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ROBERT JORDAN AS WINTER'S SUCCESSOR.
lands, etc., "by the consent and allowance of the said Robert Jordan, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns". This redemption clause in the order, however, offered little hope to the Trelawny heirs. Robert Jordan and his successors, placed in possession of the Trelawny territory and interests in the Province of Lygonia, were likely to hold them, as was made to appear in the further unfoldings of proceedings with reference to Trelawny's American estate.
The order of the assembly giving Jordan possession of Tre- lawny's lands was signed by George Cleeve as deputy president of the Province of Lygonia. In his conflicts with Winter, Cleeve, in Robert Jordan, had found Winter's ablest and most resourceful ally ; and in placing Jordan in such a position of power and influ- ence as that which he now came to occupy he exhibited great repression of personal feeling. Under the circumstances he doubt- less thought it was for the general good that such a settlement should be made. He had occasion, however, to regret this action during the remainder of his troubled life. Reference has already been made to Winter's claim that Trelawny's patent embraced Machegonne, or Casco Neck, as the place came to be called. The claim was finally settled in court in Cleeve's favor. But Jordan, not long after he came into the possession of the Trelawny acres, furnished evidence that he had not forgotten this former claim in which he had supported Winter; and he at length commenced proceedings of an artful kind by which, having obtained the privi- lege of erecting a saw-mill on the Presumpscot river, he asserted a prior claim based on his possession of Trelawny's patent. More and more heavily Cleeve was now made to feel the blows that were struck by his younger antagonist.
The story of the wrongs that Cleeve suffered because of Jordan's efforts to maintain his claim to Casco Neck is a long one, and involves transactions extending beyond the limits of the period under review in this volume. Cleeve sought to obtain redress for his wrongs, but the death of Colonel Rigby, in 1650, deprived him of needed support. During the Commonwealth and the Pro-
23
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
tectorate, Massachusetts, having interests here of her own, was not inclined to listen to the contentions of rival claimants within her newly acquired jurisdiction. After the restoration of Charles II, added efforts on the part of Cleeve were useless. In fact, the king's commissioners, who came hither at the request of the royal- ist party in Maine for the purpose of advancing royalist interests in the province, declared the grants of territory made by Cleeve, on authority derived from Rigby, to be null and void. In this way all hope of redress was extinguished ; and not long after the announcement of this decision Cleeve found in the grave that peace of which he had known so little in his long and troubled life.1
Some time after the death of John Winter, Robert Jordan removed his family to the mainland and made his residence at Spurwink. Having yielded unwilling obedience to the authority of the Massachusetts bay colony, he was one of those who, on the
1 "George Cleeve has been criticised adversely by several writers who have been hasty in forming opinions based upon the careless remarks of a careless writer, or upon an insufficient study of his acts. In a time when men of upright lives were charged with wrong doing, the social conditions amid which they lived making such charges easy, the character of Cleeve appears exceptionally clean. Every charge on record against him has been noted in this brief account of his life and times, that the reader might be able to form an independent judgment of the correctness of this statement, by com- parison of his record with that of his contemporaries who have been com- mended for moral attainments by their biographers. That he was a man of great energy and perseverance, ready to take advantage of an opponent when in conflict ; aye, more, an ambitious and selfish man to the degree that most men since his time have been, we may justly admit. Such qualities, some of which are not consonant with the ideal Christian character, have been possessed by successful and honored men of all times, and, we may not uncharitably suppose are possessed by such men even in this more enlight- ened day ; but that he was an immoral or dishonest man we may not justly admit ; indeed, we may claim after a careful examination of such facts as have been preserved relating to his character, in connection with the tur- bulent times in which he played his part, that he stood morally above the average of the people about him." Baxter, George Cleeve, 210, 211. With Mr. Baxter's estimate of the character of George Cleeve, the writer of this volume is in entire agreement.
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restoration of Charles II, sought the king's assistance in establish- ing new governmental relations in the province, and with Josselyn and others of the royalist party was indicted in 1663 by the Massachusetts grand jury for renouncing the authority of the Bay colony. The arrival of the king's commissioners in the province in 1665 revived the hopes of Jordan and his royalist associates ; but it was only for a while. By prudent management in her rela- tions with the province, and also with the governmental party in England, Massachusetts succeeded in maintaining her authority, and opposition at length ceased.
In the second Indian war, Jordan left his home at Spurwink and established his residence at Great Island, now Newcastle, N. H., where he died in 1679. Through his will,1 which has come down to us, we get a glimpse of the broad lands that came into his possession by order of the general assembly of the province. To his wife, Sarah, he bequeathed three thousand acres, and to his sons, Dominicus, Jedediah and Samuel, he bequeathed thirty- one hundred acres. Repeated efforts at length were made by the Trelawny heirs to obtain possession of this large territory, but all their efforts were unsuccessful; so that "owing partly to many long minorities, or to the feeble and desultory manner in which the claims had been followed up, their posterity, under the statute of limitation, became debarred from all further attempt at recov- ery".2 This fact, however, has not destroyed the interest of the Trelawny heirs in matters connected with their family history here. As an evidence of their "Christian love and good will", they have presented to the Maine Historical Society, in recent years, the valuable, indeed priceless Trelawny Papers, which so often have been referred to in these pages, and which furnish so much information concerning affairs and conditions connected with the beginnings of colonial Maine.
1 York Deeds.
2 Trelawny Papers, Memoir, page xxviii.
CHAPTER XXI.
MASSACHUSETTS CLAIMS MAINE TERRITORY.
A T the close of the first half of the seventeenth century what is now the State of Maine included four distinct territorial divisions. The first was the comparatively small tract of country between the Piscataqua and Kennebunk rivers, the only remaining part of Sir Ferdinando Gorges' royal Province of Maine. The second division comprised the territory confirmed to Colonel Alexander Rigby after his purchase of the Lygonia or Plough patent, and known as the Province of Lygonia, extending from the Kennebunk river to the Kennebec. East of the Kennebec, forming the third division, was the tract of country that may be designated as the Sagadahoc territory, situated between the Ken- nebec and the Penobscot rivers. A fourth division, extending from the Penobscot eastward as far as the St. Croix river, was claimed by the French as included within their territorial limits. References to this claim occur in some of the preceding chapters. The claim itself reappears in the commission bestowed upon Aulnay by Louis XIV in February, 1647, the western boundary of France upon the Atlantic coast being carried in that commis- sion "as much and as far as can be as far as the Virginias".1 At that time the word "Virginias" was used as a designation of New England, and "Virginias" doubtless had that signification in Aulnay's commission. The rightfulness of the French claim was denied in England and by the English colonists on the American coast, and the determination to maintain England's right to the territory in dispute found frequent and forceful expression as has already appeared.
When the first half of the seventeenth century drew to a close,
1 Farnham Papers, I, 262.
1
ST. BUDEAUX CHURCH, NEAR PLYMOUTH, In which is the Sir Ferdinando Gorges Memorial.
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MASSACHUSETTS CLAIMS MAINE TERRITORY.
however, neither England nor the English colonists on the Atlan- tic seaboard were in a condition to maintain their territorial claims in opposition to the claims of France. The attempt to establish in England a new form of government, to take the place of that under which the people of England hath hitherto lived, was a work that was pressing and demanded the strongest possible endeavors on the part of those upon whom the arduous task now fell. The claim of England in opposition to the claim of France, however, was not yielded, but matters pertaining to territorial rights were for the present held in abeyance.
In the first three of these territorial divisions there was growth in the half century, but it was slow. Help that should have come to the colonists was not received. Gorges, the one domi- nant figure in the effort to develop colonial interests within these limits, was a strenuous supporter of Charles and the royal prerog- atives. Moreover, he had no sympathy with those who were opposed to the king and had brought about the great upheaval in which the king's overthrow was accomplished. The strong Puri- tan movement exerted no influence upon his wishes and hopes. What he desired to see, and what he aimed to create in his colon- izing efforts, was a New England, of which he, as governor gen- eral, should be the head. If Charles had yielded in his conflict with Parliament, and there had been no civil war in England, Gorges might have accomplished his purpose and have aided Archbishop Laud in his endeavor to establish the Anglican Church in New England. But Charles did not yield, and the civil war in its onward progress resulted in the destruction not only of the king's despotic rule, but of Gorges' feudal visions.
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