USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 15
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The jury of trials consisted of four persons from Saco, John Bonython, John Wakefield, John Leighton, and Richard Hitch- cock; one from Scarborough, William Sheldon; one from Cape Porpus, Morgan Howell ; two from Wescustogo, Richard Bray and John Maine ; and four from Falmouth, George Ingersoll, Anthony Brackett, Nathaniel Wallis, and Walter Gendall. The grand jury consisted of fourteen, of whom but two, John Wallis and Robert Corbin were of Falmouth. We propose to make a brief abstract from the record of this term, to give an idea of the administration of justice in that day, and to fur- nish some interesting details relating to the province. Francis Neale, "attorney for the town of Casco alias Falmouth," brought an action against Edward Rishworth for granting an execution against said town before judgment ; the plaintiff was
1 Westcustogo was the settlement next east of Falmouth, afterward called North Yarmouth.
12
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
nonsuited and twenty-one shillings cost allowed defendant be- cause the plaintiff's power of attorney appeared not to be valid, when he arrested defendant. "By consent of the defendant the action goeth forward ;" and the jury find for the plaintiff five pounds damage and cost. "This verdict not accepted by the court." The jury went out again and returned a verdict for plaintiff for three pounds. This was also rejected, and the court ordered Mr. Rishworth to appeal to his majesty's com- missioners. This case gives us a favorable example of the independence of the jury but an humble one of their influence; Rishworth was a member of the court, and the cause is appa- rently an attack upon his integrity.
"Several orders made at a Court holden at Casco, the 26th July, 1666, for the eastern division of this province."
"1. It is ordered that the selectmen, together with the con- stable of Casco alias Falmouth, hereby have, and shall have power to take the oversight of children and servants, and find- ing them disobedient and unruly to their parents, or masters, or overseers, they shall have power to give them such due cor- rection as they shall judge mete.1
"2. It is ordered that Mr George Munjoy shall henceforth have power to administer oaths in all matters of concernment unto any persons residing within the limits of the town of Casco ; he is likewise empowered to marry within the precincts of the said town, and to take a lawful oversight of all weights and measures, to see that they be according to the king's stand- ard, which is Winchester weights and measures, wherein if the said weights and measures be found false or faulty in the hands of any person or persons, then the said weights and measures to be forthwith destroyed.
"3. Persons damaged by unruly horses might complain to the next justice of the peace, who was required to summons
1 A similar power at the present day in the same sphere might not be without salutary effects.
.
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.
seven of his neighbors to appraise the damage, which was to be raised to treble the sum, and levied by distress. Any one jus- tice was also empowered to summon seven honest men for a jury living within said town, to try any action not exceeding forty shillings.
"It is concluded by this court that the last Thursday of this instant July, shall be set apart by all the inhabitants residing within this province, therein to humble and afflict our souls before the Lord.
"It is ordered that according to the act concluded in other places in the easternmost parts of this province against the trading of any liquors to the Indians, that the same act shall stand in force throughout all the limits of this province."
The order relating to the prison in Falmouth has been be- fore noticed. "It is hereby ordered and concluded that every justice of the peace residing within the limits of this province, shall have hereby power in the place where he liveth, upon any just complaint made out unto him or complaints against neg- lectors of the Sabbath by not attending God's public worship, or profaners thereof, against drunkards, cursers and swearers, or such like offences, upon consideration by the testimony of a grand juryman, or one sufficient witness to call to account and punish every such offender, according to the laws here es- tablished."
"Mr. George Cleeves binds himself in a bond of twenty pounds unto our sovereign lord the king, to be of good behaviour to- ward all men, especially toward such who at any time shall be ordered by authority to inflict any punishment upon his ser- vant Thomas Greensledge, for his disobedience or disorders.
"That whereas James Robinson, of Black Point, cooper, was indicted the 26th day of July, 1666, upon suspicion of mur- dering Christopher Collings, of Black Point, at his majesty's® court holden at Casco, and being then tried by the grand jury of this court and committed to us the jury of life and death, who find that the said Collings was slain by misadventure, and cul-
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND. ,
pable of his own death, and not upon any former malice, and therefore the said James Robinson not guilty of murder. Fore- man, Mr. Richard Colicott,1 2 Mr. Richard Pattishall,1 3 James Lane,2 4 James Gibbons,3 5 Edward Stevens,' 6 John Mayne,2 7 Thomas Stevens,1 8 John Wakefield,3 9 Alexander Thoits,1 10 Robert Gutch,' 11 Anthony Brackett,1 12 Wm. Cocke,' 13 Richard Bray,2 14 John Leighton,3 15 Robert Staniford,4 16 Richard Potts,1 17 Phineas Ryder,4 18 George Felt.2
The courts under the new government were divided into four kinds ; the highest was the General Assembly, next Courts of Pleas, Courts of quarter Sessions, and lastly Courts held by a single justice for the trial of causes under forty shillings. We cannot perceive that the General Assembly was held oft- ener than once a year, which was at Saco in May or June ; the Court of Pleas was probably held three times, and the quarter Sessions four times a year, in each division. At the term in July before noticed, an order was passed that "the next quarter session" should be held "on the second Tuesday of August next," and "the next Court of Pleas to be holden at Casco on the second Tuesday in November next." We perceive next year that the court was held at Casco on the first day of Octo- ber, from which circumstance in connection with the time of sitting the year before, we should infer that the times of hold- ing these courts were not fixed by law, but were determined by the court at each session. At the November term there were ten entries of civil actions. At the October term follow- ing there were twenty-one entries and thirty-two presentments by the grand jury. Of the latter, fourteen were against per- sons "for absenting themselves from meeting upon the Lord's
1 Those persons with this mark lived in the north-easterly part of the bay, on the islands in that region, and on the Kennebeck river.
2 Of North Yarmouth.
3 Of Saco.
4 Of Falmouth,
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.
day ;" against two of these, James Michimore and his wife, is this entry, "these persons pretend they go to hear Mr. Jordan, by an admonition they are discharged." Three were presented "for traveling on the Lord's day; " against one of whom, John Mosier, the following judgment is rendered : "John Mosier fined for his offence five shillings and officer's fees five shillings ; this ten shillings to be forthwith paid, and if afterwards by two evidences he can make it out that upon the Sabbath he traveled purposely as he pretends to look after Mr. Lane, who that day as the said Mosier pretended, was in danger of being drowned, then the said Mosier is to have his ten shillings returned to him again."' The following extracts have perpetuated the his- tory of a discord in the family of one of our early inhabitants, . the origin of which cannot be traced. "We present Julian Cloyes, wife to John Cloyes, for a tale-bearer from house to , house, setting difference between neighbors. Julian Cloyes, upon the court's examination, is found guilty of the offence, and is bound to her good behaviour unto the next court of Pleas at Casco, in a bond of five pounds, and John Cloyes and Peter Housing are her security." Again : "We indict Nathan- iel Cloyes and Abigail Williams upon the evidences of Thomas Cloyes and Sarah Housing for their misbehaviour toward their mother-in-law, Julian Cloyes. In reference to the presentments of Nathaniel Cloyes and Abigail Williams, touching their of- fences, it is ordered that they shall make a public acknowledg- ment of their fault done to their mother by their ill behaviour
1 Mosier was the son of Hugh Mosier, an early settler in Falmouth, but who afterward moved further up the bay. At the court in July, 1666, James Mosier, eldest son of Hugh, was appointed administrator of his father's estate, and John Mosier and James Lane were his sureties. James Lane came here with his fan- ily from Malden about 1658, settled on the east side of Cousins' river in Freeport; the point and island near it are still called by his name. [Savage conjectures that Hugh came over in the Jane from London and arrived in Boston, June 12, 1632, resided in Newport, R. I., awhile, where he married Rebecca, daughter of John Harndell of Newport, probably second wife. His son John moved to Long island, N. Y., where he was living 1683.]
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
toward her, before the next training at Casco, or to forfeit five pounds each person to the treasury, and for time to come to give in sufficient security for their good behaviour, to the next court of Pleas for this division unto our sovereign lord the king."
"Nathaniel Cloyes and Richard Potts to give a bond of ten pounds for the good behavior of Nathaniel and Jenkin Williams, and Francis Neale, the like bond for Abigail Williams."1
Some idea of the state of morals in the province may be formed from the following records: "Ellnor Bonython being examined by Esquire Jocelyn and Major Wm. Phillips, J. Pac., in reference to bastardy, but not finding on examination her owning of the reputed father of the child, do therefore- order that the said Ellnor Bonython, for her offence, shall either with- in one month from the 20th day of September, 1667, stand three Sabbath days in a white sheet in the public meeting or otherwise pay five pounds into the treasury of this division." "Which five pounds her father John Bonython engages to pay."2 Bonython himself had been guilty of many excesses ; and the vices of some of his children are properly attributable to the evil example of their parent. It may be recollected that we noticed a similar complaint against him in the former part
1 I have before given some account of the Cloyes family antecedent, Chapter 4, p. 156, my conjecture is that Abigail was a second wife of Cloyes, that she was a widow at the time of her marriage, and that Peter and Sarah Housing were her children by a former marriage. In 1673, Sarah Spurwell, daughter of Julian Cloyes, was charged with stealing goods from George Pearson of Boston, and bringing them to her mother, in Casco. Julian was born in 1620. The family I think came from Watertown, Massachusetts, after the submission to that govern- ment. Abigail Williams was probably the wife of Jenkin Williams. One of that name figures in the witch-tragedy at Salem, and is probably the same. A Sarah Cloyes also appears in the same scenes. [Peter Housing, in a petition to Gov. Andross for confirmation of title, says, That his father Peter Housing, was pos- sessed of one hundred and twenty acres west side of Presumpscot river, that he was killed before the Indian war, and his family forced from there, and since, his widow has sold one-half to Gustian John, a Frenchman.]
2 John Bonython was son of Richard, one of the original patentees of Saco.
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.
of this work. The simplicity of the punishment is only equal- led by the ease with which it was commuted. The fatherly care of the same court is displayed in their requirement in the following case. "We present George Garland and Sarah Mills for living together as man and wife, being never married, con- trary to the law of England. In reference to the more orderly living of the said Garland and Saralı Mills, and for putting off future inconveniences, which will necessarily ensue such incontinent courses ; It is therefore ordered that George Gar- land and Sarah Mills shall by the order of some justice of the peace in this province, or some minister, be married within the term of one month from the date hereof or otherwise they shall not fail to give in a sufficient bond of ten pounds for their good behavior to the next court of Pleas for this division." These persons lived in Scarborough. One other case of a more ag- gravated nature, relative to an inhabitant of Falmouth, will close this part of our subject. "We indict George Lewis upon the evidences of John Lewis, Elliner Lewis, and Anne Ross, for a person of wicked behavior as appeareth by oath to us, by his frequent attempting to commit folly and wickedness with his daughters. The court having considered the heighnous- ness of George Lewis his offences, do adjudge him to pay in five pounds to the treasury ; and to prevent his future miscar- riage, to give in twenty pounds' bond for his good behavior."
John Mosier and Phillip Lewis gave bond that said Lewis should be of good behavior, especially toward his two daughters, Anne Ross and Elliner Lewis, unto the next court of Pleas holden for the Eastern division." Elliner was the wife of John Lewis, eldest son of George, and Anne was the wife of James Ross, who was a shoe-maker and lived at Back Cove on land adjoining Lewis's. Phillip Lewis was also a son of George.
It cannot be disguised that the tone of morality in the pro- vince was at this time and had ever been at a low point. Many individuals and the government itself seem to have displayed an earnest desire to correct abuses and elevate the standard of
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
public morals; but the state of the province had always been unpropitious to the success of such endeavors. The popula- tion was composed of the greatest variety of materials ; a large part of it was dependent upon fishing and hung loosely on the community. This class of people, by the account of early voyagers was excessively dissipated and led a sort of lawless life. That part of the inhabitants which remained on shore was scattered along upon the coast communicating freely with those who lived upon the sea and partaking in a measure of their irregular habits, which were not counteracted by an uni- form administration of religious instruction. In addition to these causes the utmost confusion was produced by repeated changes of jurisdiction, which not only displaced the lreads of government, but subverted the laws themselves. For the first fifty years after the settlement of the country we may safely assert that there existed nothing like permanent institutions or laws. During this period no party exercised authority with- out being assailed by the sharp and persevering claims of oth- ers, who pretended a right to the sovereignty and soil. Amidst all these confusions and causes of irregularity, a high state of public morals was not to have been expected in the community; and although severe laws were occasionally passed and some- times were severely enforced, they were entirely unable to produce any permanent good effect upon the general sentiment and habits of the people. It was not until the government of Massachusetts was quietly settled under the new charter and her laws diffused over the whole province that a decidedly fa- vorable change was produced in the manners and morals of the inhabitants.
In the records of the court held in November, 1666, George Cleeves makes his appearance for the last time; the precise period of his death we have no means of determining; but in a deed from Anthony Brackett of land held in right of his wife, to whom Cleeves had conveyed it, dated January 2, 1671, he is mentioned as being dead. This event probably took place soon
CLEEVES' DEATH AND CHARACTER. 177
after the first date, November, 1666, or his name would doubt- less have appeared in some subsequent transactions. From the great age of his wife, which Cleeves himself stated in his memorial against Jordan in 1662, to have been eighty-seven,1 it may be inferred that he was very old at the time of his death. He had been in the country over thirty-six years ; was the first who planted in that part of Falmouth which lies north of Fore river, and was actively engaged in all the eventful scenes of its history from its settlement to the time of his death. The principal incidents of his life have been noticed in the progress of this work, and sufficient may have been said to exhibit a view of his character. He was a man undoubtedly of great activity and enterprise, and although some circumstances ap- pear in the history of his life, which throw a doubt upon his - moral principles, yet the medium through which we see them should be permitted in a degree to relieve the shadows. Cleeves lived continually in the midst of party, and was himself a parti- zan and a leader. It would be strange if he should not have been the subject of misrepresentation and calumny. In the latter part of his life he certainly fell into neglect, and although occasionally noticed, he did not rise, after his own administra- tion ended, into the rank of the higher magistrates. This how- ever may be accounted for partly by his advanced age and partly by having lost the sinews of power in the disposition of his prop- erty. At this distance of time and under these circumstances, it is difficult to form a just estimate of the character of our first settler : he now lies beneath the soil he first opened to the cheering influence of cultivation ; we ought not therefore to deepen the shades that hang over some transactions of his life, but to dwell on the palliating circumstances - to praise where we can, and only to blame where we must. He had to contend with difficulties inconceivable by those who are enjoying the rich fruits of the toil and care - the weary days and anxious nights, of the first settlers of our country.
! ".My wife being no less than fourscore and seven years of age."
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Cleeves left but one child, Elizabeth ; it does not appear that he ever had any other, certainly no son lived to perpetuate his name. His daughter married Michael Mitton, by whom his posterity teems upon the land which their ancestor first occu- pied. She lived until 1682, when she followed her father to the quiet mansion of the dead. Cleeves's wife was named Joan, the time of whose death is not known. Elizabeth Clark, a daughter of Michael Mitton, who lived to a great age, testified in 1728. "That her grandfather, Mr. George Cleeves, lived on his own estate at Falmouth, many years after the death of her father, Michael Mitton .*
Thomas Skillings, another inhabitant, died in 1667 ; by his will, dated November 14, 1666, and proved October 2, 1667, he made specific legacies to his sons, Thomas and John; to the former "one cow and a young steer and a calf," and "his fowles to be divided between them both ;" the remainder of his prop- erty he placed at the disposal of his wife, "during her widow's estate, and if she marry she shall have but one-third and the rest to be divided equally to all my children." From the lat- ter clause, it would seem probable that he had other children than those above mentioned, although no others are named in the will, nor can be traced by us. The inventory of his estate was taken by Phineas Ryder, George Ingersoll, and Nathaniel Wallis, his neighbors, and his property was enumerated and valued as follows: Housing and land, eighty pounds ; marsh, ten pounds ; four steers, twenty-two pounds ; five cows, twenty pounds ; three younger cattle, six pounds ; two calves, one pound ten shillings ; eleven pigs, three pounds six shillings ; wheat and peas in the barn, three pounds eight shillings ; eigh- teen bushels of wheat in the dwelling house, four pounds ten shillings ; six bushels Indian corn, one pound four shillings ; sixty pounds cotton wool, three pounds ; household furniture,
* [April 22, 1665, Cleeves conveyed to Munjoy his field lying near his now dwelling-house about six acres "as it is now fenced in." Cleeves as well as John Winter came from Plymouth, England.]
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THOMAS SKILLING'S DEATH AND FAMILY.
thirty-two pounds sixteen shillings ; making a total amount of one hundred eighty-six pounds fourteen shillings. We have presented the foregoing inventory, that some estimation may be formed of the situation of our settlers at that early period. Mr. Skillings could not be ranked among the first of our in- habitants in point of property, and yet it will be perceived that he had sufficient to render him independent; it gives us a favor- able view of the resources of the people in that day. Mr. Skil- lings is the common ancestor of all of that name, who now live in this town and vicinity. He was here as early as 1651, as appears by his witnessing a deed of that year from Cleeves ; in 1658, he purchased a farm at Back Cove, of George Cleeves, which he occupied till his death, and which continued many years after, in his family ; it adjoins, Mr. Deering's farm in Westbrook, and is about half a mile from Deering's bridge. His eldest son, Thomas, married Mary, daughter of George Lewis, who was born in Falmouth in 1654, by whom he had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, and died early.1 The second son, John; was an active and useful man many years in town, a carpenter by occupation. He had a grant of land upon the neck in 1680, and a large farm near Long creek, where he lived, and part of which is now occupied by some of his num- erous posterity. We shall have occasion to advert to this en- terprising inhabitant again in a subsequent part of our work, and shall therefore leave him for the present.
The government established by the king's commissioners in 1665, expired in 1668, its last general court having been held at Saco, May 29, of the latter year. The officers of it had re- ceived no support nor encouragement from England, and it possessed within itself no permanent principle nor power to
1 The widow afterward married Jotham Lewis, and for her third husband, Wilkins, and was living in Salem in 1732. [The Salem Records say, Thomas Skilling and wife, Deborah, had son Thomas, November, 1643. Against wife is a query? in the copy, General Register, vol. viii. p. 52, showing doubt as to wife's name, we suppose. ]
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
give sanction to its authority ; the laws were therefore feebly administered and the affairs of the province, consequently fell into confusion. The people again turned their eyes to Massa- chusetts, as a power willing and able to afford them relief. Application was made to that government for this purpose, and at the session of the general court in May, 1668, commissioners were appointed to repair to York, and hold a court there, on the first Tuesday of July. They also issued a proclamation, requiring the inhabitants to yield obedience to the laws of the colony, and commanded the secretary of state to send war- rants to the respective towns to choose jurors, constables, and other officers, for the service of the country, as the law re- quired.
The commissioners pursuant to their appointment, held a court at York, in July ; Jocelyn and the officers of his court, met there at the same time and protested against the authority of Massachusetts, and the proceedings of the commissioners. Some conflict took place between the two parties, which, as it is particularly recorded in the general histories of the day, we need not stop to notice. The commisioners of Massachusetts, proceeded firmly in the duties of their appointment, and Joce- lyn at length yielded the point with what grace he might. It was evident he was not supported by the people ; or in other words, his paper authority was not backed by physical force ; he therefore made a virtue of necessity. His brother, speaking of this transaction says : "As soon as the commissioners (the king's) were returned for England, the Massachusetts enter the province in a hostile manner, with a troop of horse and foot, and turned the judge' and his assistants off the bench, imprisoned the Major or commissioner of the Militia, threat- ened the Judge and some others that were faithful to Mr. Gorges' interest. I could discover many of the foul proceed- ings, but for some reasons which might be given, I conceive it
1 Henry Jocelyn.
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APPOINTMENTS AND APPROVAL OF OFFICERS.
not prudent to make report thereof to vulgar ears, et quæ supra nos nihil ad nos : only this I could wish, that there might be some consideration of the great losses, charge, and labor which hath been sustained by the Judge and some others, in uphold- ing the rights of Mr. Gorges and his sacred majesty's dominion against a many stubborn and delusive people."
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