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 30
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1 Mr. Smith's Journal.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
In 1727, the tribes which had not been represented at the conference of the former year, notified the government of Mas- sachusetts of their desire to make a public confirmation of the peace. To this the Governor assented, and informed them that he would meet them at Falmouth, in July, for that pur- pose. Accordingly with a delegation from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, he met the tribes of Arreguntonocks, Wawenocks, Norridgewocks, and Penobscots in the place, when the articles of the peace were publicly and solemnly confirmed by the respective parties. There were over two hundred In- dians present, and more than forty gentlemen in the delega- tion from the two provinces. The conferences were held in a spacious tent on Munjoy's hill, where, on the close of the nego- ciations, a public dinner was provided at the expense of gov- ernment, of which both parties partook. Mr. Smith, in his Journal, says the Indians appeared "with French colors, and made a great show." This was the largest collection of peo- ple that had ever assembled in town, and the inhabitants were ill prepared in provisions and accommodations for so large an addition to their numbers; on their departure, Mr. Smith adds, "they left us quite bare and nothing of the country's produce left, only three bushels of corn and some small things."
This was considered a judicious treaty, and a long peace succeeded it, which was partly owing no doubt to the inroad which the war had made upon savage strength.1 Falmouth suffered less in this war than any which preceded it. It was the headquarters of the troops, and was thus secured from any direct attack. Its growth and prosperity were however entirely checked during its continuance, and its population was ren- dered more unsteady and degraded. The army had received supplies of men from among our inhabitants, and returned them,
1 Hutchinson, vol. ii. p. 287. The ratification may be found in New Hampshire Hist. Col., vol. ii. p. 260. It is said that the Indians lost at least one-third of their effective force in this war.
353
PERSONS ADMITTED PROPRIETORS.
and brought others, by no means improved by the service.1
The town which had been depressed during the war, imme- diately revived on the conclusion of peace. In the three years following, the number of persons who were admitted proprie- tors, was about one hundred and forty, among whom are found the ancestors of many of our present inhabitants.
In the autumn of 1725, Jeremiah Riggs and John Sawyer came here from Cape Aun with their families : they became useful inhabitants, and are the ancestors of a numerous race, who continue to reside among us.2 Sawyer settled at Purpoo- duck.3 Riggs lived first upon the Neck, but about 1735, he moved to Capisic on to the old John Ingersoll farm, where he pursued his trade, which was that of a tanner. He was great- grandson of Thomas Riggs, an inhabitant of Gloucester from 1658 to his death, and son of John Riggs and Ruth Wheeler, who had eleven children.4
1 Falmouth furnished over sixty men for the army. The expense of the war to Massachusetts and New Hampshire, was estimated at two hundred and forty- five thousand pounds, most of which was borne by Massachusetts.
2 Mr. Smith says of them "they were both good sort of men, errors excepted."
3 The three Sawyers, Isaac, John, and Jacob, who early came to this town from Gloucester, were brothers, sons of James Sawyer, a weaver, and Sarah, daughter of Thomas Bray. His, James's, father, was probably William, the first immigrant of the name to New England, about 1640. Isaac was born in 1684. Jacob, in 1687, and John it is thought earlier. John married Rebecca Standford in 1701, and had several children born in Gloucester. By wife Sarah, he had four children born in Falmouth, 1726 to 1735, viz., John, Sarah, Mary, and Re- becca. Isaac was married to Martha, in 1706, by whom he had several children. Jacob married Sarah Wallis in 1716, and had five children born in Gloucester before 1726, and two in Falmouth, viz., Jeremiah born May 14, 1728, and Wm., April 12, 1735 .- Babson's Gloucester; Falmouth Records.
4 He left four sons, Wheeler, Jeremiah, Joseph, and Stephen. John Jones, Esq. of Westbrook, married one of his granddaughters, and lives upon the same farm. It appears by a vote relating to the ferry in May, 1719, that a John Saw -. yer lived then at Purpooduck-the privilege of the ferry having been granted to him. The first Sawyer who came to this country, was William, who arrived in Salem about 1640, from England ; from that place he went to Newbury ; he was a baptist ; he had a son William, born in Newbury, 1655.
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354
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
In 1726, several other persons moved here from Cape Ann, among whom were Thomas Haskell, and John and William White ; the Whites were descendants of an ancient settler, and occupied the old possessions at Purpooduck. Haskell is the ancestor of the persons bearing that name now here, and was thirty-seven years old when he came ; in August, 1726, he bought a house lot on the corner of India and Fore streets, where he lived. He was selectman in 1731, and for several years one of the committee of the proprietors for laying out lands.1 Isaac Savage and Joseph Pride, the first emigrants of the name, also came this year with their families.
In 1727, the number of emigrants considerably increased, and some of them were men of property and character. Among these was Joshua Woodbury, the first of the name who settled here ; he established himself at Purpooduck, where some of his descendants still live ; others are among the enterprising inhabi- tants of this town.2 Eight persons, some of them having families, settled this year at Pond Cove, in Cape Elizabeth, where they built a garrison for their defense, and agreed to support each other in peace or war. Some who in that day filled a large space in the annals of the town, have left no living memorial to perpetuate their memory. Of these was Col. Thomas West- brook, who had been commander of the forces in the late war ; he came from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1727, and was admitted a proprietor on the payment of ten pounds. He was a very active and useful man, became a large proprietor of land, built mills, employed many men, and by his activity and capi- tal, essentially promoted the prosperity of the town. He fixed his residence at Stroudwater, in the neighborhood of which his
1 Thomas Haskell died in 1785, aged ninety-seven, he had ten children, sev- enty-nine grandchildren, and fifty-eight great-grandchildren. Thomas Haskell was connected with the Riggs family. His parents were Benjamin Haskell and Mary, daughter of Thomas Riggs of Gloucester .- Babson's Gloucester.
2 Mr. Smith says he "built a handsome house and barn, and was a man of great substance."
355
PERSONS ADMITTED PROPRIETORS.
estates were situated. Unfortunately he entered into large speculations in eastern lands with General Waldo and others, by which he was eventually ruined. In 1743, Waldo recov- ered judgment against him for ten thousand five hundred pounds, which he levied upon his property, and swept it nearly all away. He died in February, 1744; the fragments of his estate sold at auction in 1759, by Enoch Freeman, his admin- trator, amounted to six thousand four hundred and six pounds seventeen shillings and nine pence, O. T., equal to eight hun- dred and fifty pounds lawful money.1
Edward Shove was the same year admitted an inhabitant ; he came from Dighton, Mass., was the son of the Rev. George
1 He first lived on the hill which you ascend after crossing Stroudwater bridge ; he subsequently built a house on the other side of Stroudwater river, near where there is now a tanyard. In July, 1727, Mr Smith mentions that the Governor and his suite went up to the Colonel's to dinner.
A Thomas Westbrook, of Portsmouth, was appointed counselor of New Hamp- shire in 1716, and died in 1736. This was probably the father of our Colonel Westbrook. The Col. had the confidence of government, and received impor- tant military commands during the Indian wars, and afterward was its agent in securing and procuring masts for the royal navy. His speculations in land in this region began as early as 1719, when he purchased part of the Waldo patent; in 1728, Waldo conveyed to him sundry tracts of land in Falmouth, and imme- diately after he moved to this town. He built a house at Stroudwater, which in conformity to aristocratic usage in England, he named "Harrow House," and probably gave the name to Stroudwater, from a village of the same name on the river Frome, in England. His wife's name was Mary Sherburne, daughter of John Sherburne; he left no son; his daughter Elizabeth, married Richard Waldron of Portsmouth, long Secretary of New Hampshire, a grandson of Major Richard Waldron who was cruelly killed by the Indians at Dover, in 1689. His widow died in Portsmouth in 1748, aged seventy-five. Major Waldron of the U. S. army was her grandson. The town in which he lived justly perpetuates his name, and is the only memorial of him which remains among us.
I annex fac-similes of the signatures of these large land proprietors.
ENaldo
..
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Shove, minister of Taunton, and was born in October, 1680; he had a house lot granted him at the foot of Center street, where he lived. He had a family of nine children, all born before he came here, but none of them remained.'
In the latter part of 1726, Mr. Smith says, "I reckoned up the families in town, and found there were sixty-four, account- ing a man and his wife a family. There are likewise thirteen or fourteen young men marriageable, that have land in town and are inhabitants; and above thirty-eight fighting men."? From this statement we estimate the population of the whole town at about four hundred, at the close of 1726.
It became an object of immediate attention after the estab- lishment of a government in town, to provide for the regular exercise of religion. On the 28th of May, 1719, the town.ap- .pointed Major Moody to look out for a suitable minister, and voted to be at the charge of his transportation. In the follow- ing August they voted fifty-five pounds for the support of the minister the ensuing year, in addition to the sum he might receive from the strangers' contribution.3 The principal sum was to be raised by subscription ; in September it was voted that if the subscriptions were not sufficient to satisfy the min- ister, they would make it up to one pound five shillings a week by a rate; this would be equal to an allowance of sixty-five
1 "September 18. The town admitted five persons into the town. Among oth- ers, the town thought their wisdom to admit a number of gentlemen that stand their friends, viz : Mr. Shove, Capt. Walton, Mr. Powell, and Lewis. Some of them the town admitted are substantial men."-Smith's Journal, p. 17. These admissions were made by the new proprietors to strengthen their party. Seven persons were admitted in May, and twenty-three in August previous, under the ten pound vote.
? Smith's Journal, p. 51, 2d Ed.
3 It was then the practice and continued to be for many years to send round a box every Sabbath to collect a contribution from strangers; the money was gen- erally appropriated toward supporting the minister. This practice continued in the First Parish until 1801, when five pounds a year was allowed Dr. Deane, in- stead of the contribution, and the box then ceased its weekly round.
357
SELECTMEN PROCURE A MINISTER.
pounds a year. It does not appear whether any person was employed under these provisions. In 1720, the selectmen were requested to look out for a minister by writing to the President of the college, and in November following, the town voted a tax to pay the arrears of the minister's salary, and twenty shil- lings a week for the support of any minister. In January, 1721, a committee was raised to agree with the minister who was to come to town, "referring to his salary and continuance with us in the work of the ministry." This person was Jona- .. than Pierpont, who graduated at Harvard College in 1714. He was employed first for six months, but his engagement was renewed ; he continued here in 1722, and boarded with Major . Moody.1 But in the progress of the Indian war, the people were so miserably poor, that they were unable of themselves to support a minister. In April, 1723, they speak the following language : "Voted, that considering the present circumstances of the town, their inability wholly to maintain a minister of themselves, that some suitable person or persons be employed to agree with the minister at Black Point to preach with us half his time, and to know if the selectmen of Black Point be willing." We do not know what was the result of this appli- cation; the people however were not contented with the existing state of things, whatever it was, and early next year, February, 1724, made a renewed effort to be supplied. The selectmen
1 Mr. Pierpont was the eldest son of the Rev. Jonathan and Elizabeth (Angier) Pierpont of Reading, Massachusetts, and was born in that town, September 14, - 1695. He was chaplain and surgeon at Fort Richmond, on Kennebec river, in 1739. He afterward moved to Byfield, Massachusetts, and was living there with his wife Margaret at the time of his death, which took place in 1758. He left no issue. The first of the name who came to this country was James, who had been a merchant in London; he established himself in Ipswich, Massachusetts, prior to 1640. His son Robert graduated at Harvard College in 1685, became the minister at Roxbury, Massachusetts, and was the grandfather of the chaplain above mentioned. John, another son of James, settled in the ministry in New Haven, and was the ancestor of a distinguished race in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont. Among them is the Rev. John, late pastor of the Hollis street church in Boston, the poet, the scholar, and the christian gentleman.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
were empowered to write to some ministers in or about Boston to pray their assistance in procuring a suitable minister for the town.1
During all this time the poverty of the inhabitants had pre- vented them from completing a house of worship. In Febru- ary, 1720, they had voted to build a meeting-house as soon as possible, to be thirty-six feet in length, twenty-eight in breadth, and twenty feet stud; and Samuel Moody, Richard Collier, and John Sawyer were chosen a committee to superintend the work. But for want of funds, nothing material was done on the subject until the next year, when another order was passed authorizing them to go on with the undertaking, and a tax was assessed for the purpose to be paid in timber or such things as were produced in town. Some little activity in the work was caused by this vote, the timber was cut and placed upon a lot at the foot of Middle street ; the place for erecting the house was not designated until July 3,1721, when it was "voted, that the meeting-house frame should be raised there or thereabouts, where the timber now lies upon the rising ground, and that Wednesday the 12th day of this instant July, shall be the day to raise said frame." The memorable day came, and the frame of their first meeting-house, thirty-six by twenty-eight feet, which had been the subject of anxious solicitude for more than a year and a half, was at length raised on the corner formed by the north side of Middle and the west side of India street. Still the work went slowly on ; in May, 1722, it was voted that the
1 Previous to the settlement of Mr. Smith, several clergymen settled further west, occasionally officiated here. Mr. Smith says on the fly leaf of his Church Records, "1726. Before the ch. was gathered and a minister settled, the Rev. Mr. Fitch of Portsmouth, being occasionally with us, baptized the following children :" Here he enumerates the children baptized, viz., those of S. Proctor, Cummings, Doughty, Irish, Buxton, Brackett, etc. He adds, "The Rev. Mr. White of Gloucester being with us some time after, baptized a child of Mr. Brown's, named Elizabeth. The Rev. Mr. Eveleth (of Arundell now Kennebunk port) baptized two children, viz., a son and daughter of John and Lydia Trott, and a child of J. Cromwell, named Elizabeth."
359
*
PROGRESS OF THE MEETING-HOUSE.
meeting-house frame should be covered and inclosed, and that the money granted to the town by the General Court should be applied to discharge the expense of the meeting-house frame as far as it would go.1
A committee was raised February 4, 1724, "to get the clap- boards for the meeting-house at four pounds per thousand to be paid out of the town stock," and March 9, 1725, Major Moody and Benjamin York were chosen to agree with work- men to finish the outside of the meeting-house, and in August a tax was laid of ninety pounds for that and other town pur- poses. Nothing however was done to the interior of the house except laying a floor ; it was not even glazed. In this situa- tion, after more than five years from the commencement of the undertaking, was the house found by the Rev. Thomas Smith who arrived here to preach June 23, 1725. In the course of the summer of 1726, it was finished outside and glazed, the glass having been presented by Governor Wentworth of New Hamp- shire, whose visit here as one of the commissioners to treat with the Indians, gave him an opportunity to witness the for- lorn condition of the only house of public worship in this region. It was not however until February, 1728, that a vote was passed for finishing the interior arrangements, "so far as the pulpit and the seats below for the people's conveniency of sit- ting." Thus long was this humble building reaching even the moderate accommodation of giving the people the conveniency of sitting down. They were not employed eight years in
1 In 1722, the General Court, on petition of Dominicus Jordan on behalf of the inhabitants, granted forty pounds to the town to assist them in building the meeting-house. The persons employed in the work were Peter Walton, Benjamin Ingersoll, Mr. Millett, and "Ensign Robert Pierce." It was offered as an induce- ment to the legislature to make the grant toward building the meeting-house, that the soldiers would have some advantage from it: the petition sets forth "that they have a minister among them and have begun a meeting-house, but by reason of the troubles by the Indians, which have much impoverished them, they are unable to finish said building ; and the rather because the soldiers in the public service will have some benefit therefrom."
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
stretching a colonnade, or elevating and ornamenting a pedi- ment for the exterior decoration, nor in gorgeous displays of drapery and highly wrought, workmanship to beguile the mind from its devotional contemplations; but it was the effort of a poor and pious race to erect a mere shelter, where secured from the storm, they could offer up from the pure temple of their hearts, thanksgiving and praise. The style of this their first public building corresponded no doubt with their private dwellings, and probably as much superior to most of them as the means of the public were to those of any individual. There was not, we may safely conjecture, a two-story house in town at that time.
The minister, for the accommodation of the people on the south side of Fore river, preached at Purpooduck every third Sunday. The building used on these occasions was a log house, which had been built for the common purpose of a garri- son and a church, and is the only public edifice which we have known to have been ever placed by the inhabitants upon the point. It stood on the high ground, west of where the fort now stands; the burying-ground extended southerly to the shore of Simonton's Cove. Seats and glass were voted to be put into this fabric in February, 1728.
The arrival of Mr. Smith in 1725, who was then but twenty- three years old, commences a new era in the ecclesiastical affairs of the town. He graduated at Harvard College in 1720, and had commenced preaching in 1722; in 1723 he received a call to settle at Billingham, in the county of Norfolk, which he declined. When he came to Falmouth, he found Mr. Pier- pont preaching here ; he was a chaplain in the army, whose headquarters were on the Neck. The town is represented by Mr. Smith to have been in a sad state, every object bore the marks of poverty and wretchedness. The population was prin- cipally made up of soldiers and fishermen ; the Indian war had not yet closed; even the meeting-house upon which the people had exhausted their means, sightless windows, without
361
MR. SMITH'S ACCEPTANCE TO PREACH.
seats or pulpit, a mere shell, presented to the mind of a young aspirant for fame but miserable encouragement. For such a man, brought up in Boston, then the largest town on this con- tinent north of Mexico, to fix his destinies on this spot under such circumstances, required almost the zeal of an apostle and the courage of a martyr. That excellent man perceived here a large field for useful exertion ; he remained preaching until the 5th of September, and at the pressing solicitation of the people returned again in November. The contribution on one Sabbath was two pounds six shillings, equal to four hundred dollars a year, a large sum in those days. On the 26th of April, 1726, the people gave him an invitation to settle among them, and offered him a salary of seventy pounds, equal to two hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, for the first year, beside his board and the contribution of strangers, and prom- ised "to increase the same according to their ability and as their circumstances would allow, till he should be provided with an honorable maintainance." He deliberated a long time on this call, still continuing to preach to them, and January 23, 1727, gave an affirmative answer.1
This result was received by the people with great joy, and on the day that the reply was communicated, the town voted "to accept Mr. Smith's answer to settle with them, with all
1 Mr. Smith's acceptance. "Falmouth, January 23, 1726-7. Gentlemen :--- Sometime since, as a committee of this town, you acquainted me with the choice the inhabitants had made of me to settle among them as their minister. Since which I have had time to take the great affair into the most deliberate and seri- ous consideration, and after solemn address to heaven for counsel and direction, and the best advice of my friends, am determined to accept of this call and in- vitation, and do accordingly, with the most humble reliance on free grace, devote myself to the service of Christ in the ministry of the gospel among them, de- pending upon such a suitable and honorable provision for my support and mair - tainance, as by their free and generous proposals they have left me no room to doubt of. THOMAS SMITH.
To Major Samuel Moody, Esq., and
Mr. Benjamin York, to be communicated."
24
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
thankfulness, being universally satisfied therewithall," they also voted to supply him with fire-wood, to pay his salary every six months, to clear and fence the three acre lot given him and also the three acre lot adjoining, granted for the ministry.1 They had previously voted to build him a house, "forty feet long, twenty feet wide and sixteen feet stud, with a conven- ient kitchen on the back side," and they selected for its situation a lot on the north side of Congress street, directly fronting India street, the very spot now, 1864, occupied by the mansion house of the late Col. Joshua B. Osgood.
The ordination was appointed to take place on the 8th of March, and was anticipated with great interest, being the first event of the kind which had taken place in town or in this part of the country. "Major Moody was desired to entertain the messengers and ministers upon ordination day, the charge to be defrayed by the town, and John Sawyer desired to take care of their horses."? "Persons were also invited to send in free-will offerings of provisions." Captain Dominicus Jordan and Left. Jordan were appointed "to gather what provisions may be had at Spurwink ; Jonathan Cobb for Purpooduck, and Thomas Millett and Samuel Proctor for Casco side."
Agreeably to previous arrangements, the ordination took place on the 8th of March; the churches of Berwick, Wells, York, and Kittery being present, and assisting by their dele- gates and pastors. Mr. Moody of York made the first prayer ; Mr. Wise of Berwick preached the sermon and gave the right hand of fellowship; Mr. Newmarch of the first church in Kit-
1 These two lots extended from Congress street to Back Cove, and were next below where the meeting-house of the First Parish now stands; these lots ap- pear to have been covered with wood, as was most of the Neck at that time. The lot for the minister was exchanged by Mr. Smith for one near his residence, and came into the hands of Deacon Benjamin Titcomb; the other was sold in 1797 to Moses Titcomb, and on his death, descended to his heirs. The two extended from the lot on which the meeting-house stands to the county land.
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