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 25
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my hand this fixthe way of march annique. Domani 1688 wittner Peter
G2029 Bramhall
P
John hoffmann
large farm; some remains of the tannery may still be traced at the foot of the hill near Vaughan's bridge. His family, con- sisting of his widow, Martha, and children, Joseph, George, Hannah, and Joshua, after his death, which has before been noticed, moved to Plymouth colony.1 George was living in
NOTICES OF INHABITANTS.
291
22
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Hingham in 1733 ; Joseph was a wine-cooper in Boston, where he died without issue in 1716. Hannah married Jonathan Hall of Harwich ; Joshua returned to Falmouth in 1729, and settled upon his father's farm, where he remained until 1758, when he returned to Plymouth.
Thaddeus Clarke came from Ireland. He married Eliza- beth, the second daughter of Michael Mitton, about 1662, which is the earliest notice we have of him. Although a man of standing and enterprise, he had not much education, his signa- ture to instruments was made by a mark. He lived on the bank a little above the point on the Neck, to which he has left his name, where trace of the cellar of his house is still visible, [1831, but now obliterated by modern improvements.] His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Capt. Edward Tyng, anoth- er married a Harvey, and was a widow in Boston, 1719 ; his son Isaac was living in Framingham, Massachusetts, in 1718 ; his widow died in Boston in 1736, aged 92 years.
Thomas Cloice was the son of John and Julian Cloice. He married Susannah, a daughter of George Lewis, by whom he had three children, Thomas, who died in Boston before 1735, without issue ; George, who lived in Salem in 1735, and Han- nah. He had a house on the north side of Middle street, a few rods west of India street. A Sarah Cloice who was a conspic- uous object in the Salem witchcraft in 1692, was probably con- nected with this family. None of them returned to Falmouth.
John Corney was a laborer ; he lived one year in John In- gersoll's house and one year in Samuel Ingersoll's house, both on the Neck ; he had a sixty acre lot on Nonsuch Point ; he had a son Elisha, born 1668; they both subsequently lived in Gloucester, where the name is written Curney. He married Abigail Skillings, 1670, and had several children. He died 1725, aged 80. His wife died 1722, aged 70.
Ebenezer Davenport came to Falmouth about 1685, when he was about twenty-four years old, and lived on a farm east of Presumpscot river, near James Andrews, whose daughter he
293
NOTICES OF INHABITANTS.
married. On the destruction of the town he settled in Dor- chester, where he was living in 1735, aged seventy-four years. (See ante. page.)
Isaac Davis lived on a large farm at Stroudwater, north of Long Creek, but he had a house upon his lot in the village on the Neck. He had several children, of whom John was the eldest, born in 1660, who, with his brother Samuel, was living in Gloucester in 1733; James, another son, and the children of a daughter who married Fitts, were living in Ipswich the same year ; another daughter married Smith, whose son Rich- ard lived in Biddeford in 1720.
Lawrence Davis was a settler before the first war; during this war he remained in Ipswich, from which he returned about . 1681, and settled upon his farm at Purpooduck. His daugh- ter Rachel, born 1663, married Robert Haines for her first husband, and Wedgewood for her second, and lived with him in Hampton, N. H. Davis's son, Jacob, also settled at Purpoo- duck, where he had a family.
Silvanus Davis. Of the early part of the life of Mr. Davis and his connection with Falmouth, as much has been already exhibited as is consistent with our limits. On his return from captivity in 1690, he probably fixed his residence in Boston, where he died in 1703. He was appointed by the king a coun- selor for Sagadahoc under the charter of 1691. He left a widow but no issue ; by his will he gave to his wife the use of the "house he lately built at Nantasket," with the furniture during her life, and to the three daughters of James English, "in consideration of his intimacy and kindness" all his interest in lands in Casco bay, they giving to his wife five pounds each.
Henry Donnell, came from York and occupied Jewell's Island as a fishing stage about thirty years. He married a daughter of Thomas Reading, an early settler in Saco, but who after- ward moved into Casco bay, by whom he had sons, Henry and Samuel. They were subsequently inhabitants of York. Sam- uel became a counselor under the new charter, [a magistrate
294
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
and judge of the court of Common Pleas. He died March 9, 1718, aged seventy-two. His son Nathaniel, born November 18, 1689, died February 9, 1780, aged 91.]
James Freeze was killed by the Indians in 1689 ; probably a son of James of Salisbury, by wife Eliza, 1667; he left a son Jacob, who afterward lived in Hampton. Jonathan, George, and Joseph Freeze are stated to have been his heirs. [He had a three acre lot on the Neck "on the path that goes to Mr. Clark's."]
Philip Gammon was a fisherman and lived at Purpooduck. He married a daughter of John Parrott, also a settler in the same place. He was living in Portsmouth in 1734. There are persons of this name now in Cape Elizabeth, who probably de- scended from him.
John Gustin' bought land on Presumpscot river just above the falls, of Thomas Cloice, in 1686, and lived upon it. After the destruction of the town he lived at Lynn. He returned to Falmouth, where he died in 1719, leaving a widow, Elizabeth, and children, Samuel, John, Ebenezer, Thomas, David, Sarah, and Abigail.
Robert Haines lived at Purpooduck ; he married Rachel, daughter of Lawrence Davis, by whom he had one son, Thomas, who was his only heir, and was living in Hampton in 1733. His widow married a Wedgewood after the death of Haines, and was living at Hampton in 1747, aged eighty-four.
1 I have before intimated an opinion that this person is the same who received a grant from Danforth under the name of Augustine John, who was a Jerseyman. I am confirmed in that opinion by a fact stated by Peter Housing in a petition 1687, that his mother sold one-half of his father's farm on the west side of Pre- sumpscot river to "Gustian John, a Frenchman." Now Housing was connected by marriage with John Cloice, from whom he received land on the Presumpscot; and Thomas Cloice, son of John, who received the principal part of his father's land on the river conveyed to John Gustin sixty acres of it December 14, 1686. John Gustin subsequently claimed and his family occupied it, and his descend- ants live in that neighborhood to this day. We hear nothing afterward of Augus- tine John, except as a subscriber to a petition in 1689, in which his name is written "Gustan John." See a previous notice of this settler.
295
NOTICES OF INHABITANTS.
George Ingersoll. The Ingersolls having been repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing pages, and their origin noticed, we shall now add but few particulars relating to them. We have no doubt that all of the name who settled here descended from Richard, who arrived at Salem in 1629. The first George, the lieut., born 1618, survived the second desolation of the town, and was living in Salem in 1694, aged seventy-six. Beside the three children, George, Samuel, and one killed in the first war, he had in Gloucester, by his wife Elizabeth, Joseph, 1646, Eliza- beth, 1648, died 1649, Elizabeth 1651, Mary, 1657. In 1694 he sold to Timothy Lindall, of Salem, his house lot on the Neck, lying east of Exchange street and extending to the channel of Fore river. His son Samuel's house lot joined this on the east, . and he sold it to Mary Sargent in 1721; Samuel lived at Stroud- water between the river and "Davis's Mills." We do not know the time of George's death nor that of his son Samuel. George, Jr., was a shipwright; he moved to Boston after the fall of the town, but returned on its revival. He did not how- ever long remain here at that time, but returned to Boston, where he died before 1730. In 1687, he was living on one hundred acres at Stroudwater, possessed by him about twenty- six years. His son Daniel occupied his Danforth grant lying east of Willow street, which was confirmed to him by the town in 1721. Daniel was also a shipwright, and moved to Boston after a residence here of a few years. He sold his house lot to Moses Pearson in 1730, describing it as "his father's former possession." Part of this continues in the family of Pearson to this day [1831. It has long since passed into other hands and is now occupied as the Commercial Hotel.]
John Ingersoll, as we have seen, lived at Capisic, was son of George. On the breaking out of the war he moved to Kittery, where he died in 1716, leaving a widow Deborah, then aged seventy-one, and children Elisha, Nathaniel, John, Ephraim, Deborah, born 1668, and married to Benjamin Larrabee, Mary, married to -- Low, Rachel, wife of John Chapman, Abigail,
296
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
married to - Blacey, another daughter who died before him, who had been married to - Brown. His son Elisha, and son-in-law Chapman, came to Falmouth on the resettlement, and took possession of the farm.
Joseph Ingersoll was a joiner, son of George, and lived at Capisic ; he married a daughter of Mathew Coe. Danforth granted him a lot on the west side of Exchange street, on which he built a house. On the resettlement of the town his son Benjamin returned from Gloucester, where his father then resided, took possession of his father's grants, and became an active and useful inhabitant. In 1738, Benjamin sold four acres lying west of Exchange street, including his homestead to Phineas Jones, and moved to North Yarmouth. [Joseph died in Gloucester, March 12, 1718, aged seventy-two.
Samuel Ingersoll was a soldier in Philip's war. He was a shipwright and established himself in his trade in Gloucester. He had two sons by his wife Judith, in Gloucester, Nehemiah, 1705, Joel, 1709; his son Samuel married in Gloucester in 1708.]
Dominicus Jordan, third son of Robert Jordan, married Han- nah, a daughter of Ralph Tristram of Saco, as early as 1683, and lived at Spurwink. By her he had Dominicus, born in 1683, Mary Ann, Samuel, Nathaniel, Hannah, married to Joseph Calef of Boston, and Elizabeth married to Humphrey Scammon of Saco. Capt. Jordan was killed in the war of 1703 by the Indians, and his wife and family were carried to Canada. They were all restored but Mary Ann, to whom the name of Arabella was given by her French masters. She mar- ried in Canada, where she was living in 1760, and never re- turned. The eldest son, Dominicus, escaped after a residence of several years at Trois Rivieres, and was an active and useful man in the subsequent affairs of our town, as will be hereafter more particularly mentioned ; he was the progenitor of a num- erous race, part of whom now occupy the paternal estate. Nathaniel also established himself on his hereditary estate,
297
NOTICES OF INHABITANTS.
which was finally divided among the heirs in 1754. Samuel and Elizabeth lived in Saco, where their posterity still maintain a respectable rank.
Robert Lawrence, who was killed in the attack upon the fort in 1690, sustained the rank of captain. [He built a stone house on Munjoy's hill, near the cemetery, in which he lived, and which was used as a garrison in times of peril.] His wife was the widow of George Munjoy, by whom he entered into the possession of a large property here. It does not ap- pear that he left any offspring, and we have not been able to ascertain his origin. A long quarrel growing out of a disputed title, subsisted for many years between him and Silvanus Davis, which was terminated only by his death. His widow married Stephen Cross of Boston, for her third husband, and died in Boston in 1705.
Peter Morrell lived in India street; the date of the first deed to him of land here was in 1681; it was of a house lot from Thomas Mason ; he probably came here about that time. After his capture in 1690, his wife and children moved to Bev- erly, where they subsequently lived. His wife's name was Mary. Their daughter Mary, who married George Tuck, and was residing in Falmouth in 1734, in a deed of that year styles herself the only surviving child and heir of said Peter.
James Mariner probably came here from Dover : or James Marinell, whom I have supposed to be the same, as that name does not afterward occur in our records, came from that place and purchased land on the Neck, of Joseph Hodgsdon, in 1686. He was born in 1651, and was living in Boston in 1731. Some of the same name, and probably his children, were inhabitants of the last settlement.
Dennis Morough lived at Purpooduck, where he married Jane, the eldest daughter of Sampson Penley, an ancient set- tler. We find trace of but one son, who bore the name of his father and was living with him in Norwich, Connecticut, after
20
298
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
the war. In 1734, the son was an inhabitant of Coventry. None of the family returned here.
Jonathan Orris was a blacksmith, and lived east of India street. He does not appear to have left any children. His three brothers, Nathaniel of Barnstable, Experience of Brain- tree, and John of Boston, inherited his property. [He was living in Gloucester in 1691 and 1693.]
John Parrott, a fisherman, was a settler under Danforth, No male issue survived. His eldest daughter, Mary, married Philip Gammon ; another daughter, Sarah, married John Green, who lived in Newport, R. I., in 1738. There was a John Parrott in Rowley, 1643.
Sampson Penley was a settler before the first war, as early as 1658, and returned on the restoration of peace. We have been unable to ascertain when and where he died. He left a widow, Rachel, and three daughters: Jane, married to Den- nis Morough, Dorcas, to Hugh Willcott, and Mary, to Edward Bailey ; the latter was living in Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 1734, a widow. [Dorcas Willcott had a daughter Elizabeth, who married a Pringle, and who inherited her estate.]
James Ross was born in Falmouth, 1662, son of James ; he was taken prisoner with his father's family in 1676, and again in 1690. He was a shoemaker by trade and occupied his father's farm or part of it at Back Cove ; his mother was Ann, the eldest daughter of George Lewis. On his return from his second captivity he resided in Salem. His father was here about 1657. He was living in Salem, 1724.
John Skillings was the son of Thomas Skillings of Back Cove, the ancestor of all of the name in this neighborhood, who came here as early as 1651, and died 1667, leaving two sons, Thomas, born 1643, and John. During the first war he continued in Salem ; at its close he returned and entered with zeal and activity upon the improvement of his former as well as later possessions. He was a carpenter. His principal farm was at Stroudwater where he lived, about a mile north-west of
299
NOTICES OF INHABITANTS.
Long Creek. He also had seven acres on the Neck, where Center street now is, which he obtained, by exchange with Rev. George Burroughs in 1683, on which he had a house. [The lot which he conveyed to Burroughs in exchange, was the ninth west of Clay Cove, adjoining Samuel Ingersoll's lot.] His son Samuel, born in 1677, conveyed the Center street tract, about 1732, in parcels, to William Cotton and others, under whom it is now held. We have it from tradition that John Skillings died before he was forty years old, and that his widow and four children removed to Piscataqua. This would be about thetime of the second Indian war, of which he may have been a victim ; he was living in 1688. Samuel returned and established him- self at Long Creek.
Lewis and John Tucker were brothers, and lived on adjoin- ing farms east of Presumpscot river. The children of Lewis were Hugh of Kittery, fisherman, Lewis of Newcastle, N. H., Elizabeth, married to - Bragdon of Kittery, and Grace, mar- ried to Isaac Pierce of Boston, tailor. The first Lewis was was born 1643,
Ralph Turner was an ancient settler in Purpooduck ; he was here in 1659, and witnessed by his mark, a deed from Cleeves to Phillips in that year ; he lived on a farm of two hun- dred acres between Long and Barberry Creeks, on which in 1687, he had "a faire dwelling house and other improvements." His daughter Hannah, who married Thomas Holman, a shoe- maker, was living with her husband at Rehoboth in 1729, and styled herself "daughter and heir of Ralph Turner." He was chosen constable in 1670.
Edward Tyng came here as early as 1680, and soon after married Elizabeth a daughter of Thaddeus Clarke, and great- granddaughter George Cleeves. He was the second son of Ed- ward Tyng, who came to this country with his brother William, about 1636. The time of his birth is not known, probably 1649; his elder brother Jonathan was born in 1642. He owned a number of pieces of valuable land on the Neck, and
300
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
several houses; on a tract of forty-four acres, extending from Robison's Point to north of Main, now Congress street, and about seventy rods fronting the harbor, he had three dwelling houses in 1687, when it was surveyed under a patent from An- dross, in one of which he lived. The cellar of this house could be seen on York street, a little west of State street, 1840, but now, 1864, is obliterated. In 1680 and 1681, he commanded Fort Loyal, was one of the counselors or magistrates of Maine during the presidency of Mr. Danforth, and in 1686 was appoint- ed by the king one of the counselors of President Joseph Dud- ley, who married his sister, and of Gov. Andross. He was appointed Lt. Colonel by Andross, and had a command in the province of Sagadahoc, in 1688 or 1689. He was afterward com- missioned as Governor of Annapolis in N. S., and on his passage there, was captured by the French and carried to France, where he died. He had four children, Edward, born 1683, Jonathan, who died young, Mary, married to the Rev. John Fox of Wo- burn,1 and Elizabeth, married to a brother of Dr. Franklin. Wm. Tyng, late of Gorham, who was grandson of Edward, by his eldest son Edward, was the last survivor of the male poster- ity of the Tyng family in this country. William's father died in Boston, Sept 8, 1755, and his brother Edward died a bach- elor in England.
Wallis. Persons bearing this name in Falmouth were num- erous during the second settlement. The first of the name were Nathaniel and John, who were probably the ancestors of all the rest ; they were both here before the first war. Nathan- iel lived at Back Cove, and John on Purpooduck Point; John was one of the selectmen in 1681. In addition to these in the subsequent settlement, were Josiah, who was born in 1662, and was living in Gloucester, 1734, Benjamin, Joseph, and James, who was born 1670, were brothers, and lived at Purpooduck ;
1 Lineal descendants of this connection are now among our enterprising citi- zens, who may trace their origin in the male line to John Fox the martyr, and in the female to Cleeves, the first settler of Falmouth.
301
NOTICES OF INHABITANTS.
these were all sons of John ; they went to Gloucester after the destruction of the town, but returned again. Josiah's son John was an inhabitant of Cape Elizabeth in 1768, aged about sev- enty years ; a few of his descendants remain. Matthew Paul- ling and John Lane married daughters of John Wallis, and lived near him at Purpooduck Point in 1687. The first Nathaniel was born in 1632, and was living in Beverly, 1701; he had a son John, whose son John was a resident in Sher- burn, Massachusetts, in 1720 .*
Thomas Walter, with his wife Hannah, moved here from ยท Salem, about 1682, and settled at Purpooduck. His wife was then twenty-five years old, having been born in 1657. In 1732, his son William, then living in Boston, in a deed of his father's property in Falmouth, styled himself "his son and only heir."
Samuel Webber. There were several of the name of Web- ber inhabiting here during the second period of our history, among whom were Samuel, Thomas, and Joseph. Of the latter, we only know that he had grants of land from the town as a settler. Thomas married Mary, a sister of John Parker, a large landed proprietor on the Kennebec, where Thomas had lived before the first war. His family moved to Charlestown during the second war; he left a widow and several children, one of whom was named Joseph. Mary Webber was a peti- tioner to Andross for a patent in 1687, of land granted her by the town six years before. Samuel was here as early as August, 1681, when he received a grant'of the mill privilege on Long Creek, on which he erected the first mill which was built on that stream, and which he sold in 1685 to Silvanus Davis and John Skillings. He was a witness on the trial of George Bur- roughs in 1692 at Salem, and testified to his great strength.
*[John and Nathaniel Wallis were born in Cornwall, England. Nathaniel, 1632; he died in Beverly, Massachusetts, October 18, 1709. Margaret, his widow, died May 14, 1711, aged about eighty-one. Their children were Caleb, Joshua, John, and Mary. Mary married Pike.]
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
He died in York, 1716, leaving a widow, Deborah, and nine children, viz: Samuel, John, Thomas, Benjamin, Waitstil, Joseph, Mary, wife of Joseph Sayward, Deborah, and Dorcas. [Deborah was born in Gloucester, 1695. Two others, twins, Waitstil and Patience, were born in Gloucester in 1698. After this he moved to York.]
There was also a family of Yorks here ; Samuel, born 1678, and Benjamin, born 1680, were children and living here on the destruction of the town, as appears by depositions given by them in 1759; but we do not know who their father was. John York was one of the trustees of North Yarmouth in 1584, and it is not improbable that he was their ancestor. He was living in 1685, "on land which lieth in Casco bay in North Yarmouth, which was once possesesed by John Atwell, who bought the same of Richard Bray, Sen., and there he inhabited till drove off by the Heathen." On the breaking up of North Yarmouth, in 1688, he probably took refuge in Falmouth.
[The Yorks who came to Portland were probably descended from Richard York who lived in Dover in 1648. He died in 1674, leaving a widow, Elizabeth ; and Savage thinks was the the father of Benjamin, Edward, and John. Benjamin was first taxed in Dover in 1677. July 22, 1670, James, Thomas, and Samuel York purchased of the Indians a large tract of land on the east side of the Androscoggin river, and styled themselves planters. A James York lived in Braintree, Mas- sachusetts, where his son James was born, June 14, 1648, but moved to Connecticut, where he was made freeman, 1666. The son James living in Stonington, 1670, sold his estate in Boston, 1672, and died, 1678. Samuel who lived in Falmouth, in his deposition given in 1759, when he was eighty-one years old, says he lived in Falmouth seventy years ago. There was another Samuel in Gloucester, who died March 18, 1718, aged seventy-three, giving for his birth, 1645. He had by his wife Hannah, John, born 1695, and Thomas ; in his will, other children are named, as Samuel and Benjamin. This son Sam-
303
EARLY SETTLERS AND RESIDENCE.
uel was probably the settler in Falmouth, who was born in 1678, as was the Benjamin, born 1680. Samuel is supposed to have moved to Ipswich in 1689 or 1690, and "being arrived at old age," in 1767, made his will. Benjamin married Mary Giddings, 1704, and had six children born in Gloucester before 1728, in which year he was admitted an inhabitant of Falmouth. He had previously lived in Falmouth, before the Indian war of 1690, and was living there in 1759, when he was seventy- nine years old. We find on the Falmouth records the birth of Sarah, daughter of Benjamin and Mary York, April 6, 1724, and Joseph, son of same, August 6, 1728.]
We have not space to give a detailed account of all the set- tlers in Falmouth between the first and second wars, but we will now subjoin a catalogue of their names as far as we have been able to collect them. In the second war some families were probably entirely destroyed, others lost their male branch- es : in this way we may account for the fact that so few of the ancient names are found in our subsequent history.
NAMES.
RESIDENCE.
James Andrews,
New Casco, died in Boston, 1704.
*George Adams. Elisha Andrews,
New Casco, son of James.
son of Andrew of Scarborough.
Andrew Alger, Thomas Baker,
Back Cove, was taken prisoner by Indians. Purpooduck.
Henry Bailey,
Philip Barger.
Spurwink.
Peter Bowdoin,
Neck.
Stephen Boutineau, Anthony Brackett, George Bramhall,
Neck.
Philip Le Bretton,
Purpooduck.
John Brown, Sen., *John Branford.
Purpooduck.
Richard Broadridge,
Neck.
* [Several of the above names I have met with for the first and only time in a petition to the government in 1689, which is copied entire in chapter Ix, p. 267. They are styled in the petition "inhabitants of Falmouth," and although their names are not familiar, I am bound to believe that they speak truly; the names of such are marked by an asterisk.]
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