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 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
5
INSEI
FOLD-(
OR M
HER
WEST CUSTOGO OR NORTH YARMOUTH
G Munjor's
purchase of the Inthians 1666
Sacarappa> Falls
Williams , Neale and Pele's
PISCATAQUIS RIVER
6491
Inấn Clovce 1665
Lowert
Falls
Jolını Phallışıs
1657
Humphrey Durham 1675
Y'aura gevend "
Auhar Wackelv 1075
Robert Greuson 1605
Jenkin Willunns 1615
Robert .Vicholson Mi.
John Nicholson.
squatterygusset (
Joseph Ingersoll 1674
formerly
Francis Neute 1638
Jas Andrews 1697
. Humphre Durhants, 1658
R.Secoinh . V6MS Jun Smith 1656
PRESUMPSCOT
Arthur Mnekworth . 1638
Gen Felt ITS
Musele Covi
HILL
1667
John Culliver (68)
John Carter 1005
NECI
lohn Harris, 168.
/Bartlett (5)
Peter Bowdoin 1685
1680
NUNIO ??
Geo. Ingersol's CornMEill Ity:)
Cowl
OR
DLAADVIVLỜI
toseph Puppen , 1630
That & Robert Stanford
Jotun Wallis 1658
Great Hog Island
Josuch & Nuth! White 1045
Spurwink River fog
Maiden Cove
River
Spurwink
VPUNTLAND NE AD-1976
SPURWINK
Saco
Robert Jordan 16+0
from
Casco 10
Pond Cove
Par't of Richmond's le Waties pugnall torg
ANCIENT FALMOUTH
Crotch Island
Broad Cove
CAPE ELIZABETH
FROM 1630 TO 1690. For Willis History of Portland. Bailey & Nayes, Portland, Min
Jewell's Island
Green Island's
Ebeneter Darrapart IGna
Lewis Tucker I005
Julia Tackve Inas
Elisha Andrews 1681
.Inmes Andrews, 100G
re Creek
ACK COVE'
ML
„lohu Leiris 16&7.said to NailN' Walles 1674 5
James loss, 1675
RIVER
Samuel Webber 1681
100, # 1670 ** 400 Acres 167 said to -John Shillings 1685 Fort of A Brackett
Gra Ingerxall
The King's Koud tu Scarborough
Hulph Turner
Brothers
House 1681
Cupboard It
RIVER
.Tulin Holmının
BAY
Hanse M
Pond, Michael, Mumyov & Palmer's
now Peak's Island,
Long Island
John Winter 1638
Portland, Andrews now Bang's Island
Roud
across
HAAKSE
Printens Rider, lda Crp. Ingersoll . 1658
Thes. Skillins . 1638
Wakely & Ge 1661
& Brook
Fali Cave Gro Lewis 1657
Yath' Wharf 1663
Y Mation - 1655
Parainud's Farm
CLEEF
farkwark,
YORFLOYAL ILER
MUN>
ning Haus
BLACK POINT
STARFORILY LEDGE
N. 15" W Eight Miles
HIVER
V 15 . W. Eigla Viles K- 95 Hody
AnnnonponginKills
RIVER
DUCK
FOLDOUT BLANK
CHAPTER III.
1540 to 1660.
BOUNDARIES AND NAME OF THE TOWN-INHABITANTS IN 1658, AND PLACES OF RESIDENCE-EARLY CON> VEYANCES-FIRST MILLS-SETTLERS AT BACK COVE-JORDAN'S CLAIM AND QUARREL WITH CLEEVES.
The limits of Falmouth were described in general terms in the compact with Massachusetts of 1658; they were afterward to be particularly marked out by the inhabitants themselves, or, in case of their neglect, the next county court was to ap- point commissioners for that purpose. This duty not having been performed, the general court at their session in May, 1659, appointed " Capt. Nicholas Shapleigh, Mr. Abraham Preble, Mr. Edward Rishworth, and Lt. John Saunders, to run the dividing lines," not only of Falmouth, but of Saco and Scar- borough. This committee attended to the service and reported " that the dividing line between Scarborough and Falmouth, shall be the first dividing branches of Spurwink river, from thence to run up into the country upon a due north-west line, until eight miles be extended ; and that the easterly bounds of Falmouth shall extend to the Clapboard islands, and from thence shall run upon a west line into the country, till eight miles be expired." 1 These boundaries are the same as at the present time, with the exception of the eastern line, which now runs north-west from the white rock, opposite Clapboard island, referred to in the survey of the eastern line of the province by
1 Return of the Committee.
96
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Massachusetts. A west line corresponded precisely with the exterior line of the province, as then claimed by that govern ment. The two side lines of the tract, are now parallel, both running north forty-five degrees west, a distance of over eigh miles from the sea ; the rear line is a few rods over ten miles long. The name which was given to this town, was borrowed from that of an ancient town in England, standing at the mouth of the river Fal, in Cornwall, and hence called Falmouth This river, after passing through a part of Cornwall, discharges itself into the British channel, forming at its mouth a spacious harbor. Several of our early settlers came from that neigh- borhood, and adopted the name in compliance with a natural and prevailing custom in the first age of our history of apply- ing the names which were familiar to them in the mother country to places which they occupied in this. Previous to this time, the plantation upon the Neck, and indeed all others in the bay, were called by the general name of Casco, or Casco bay, no boundaries were defined; but when a particular spot was intended to be designated, the local terms borrowed prin- cipally from the Indians were used, as Machegonne, Purpoo- duck,1 Capisic, Westcustogo, Spurwink, etc. These names continued to prevail many years, and some of them remain in familiar use at the present day.
Besides the thirteen persons who subscribed the submission to Massachusetts, the following were inhabitants of the town in 1658: James Andrews, Thomas Greenly or Greensledge, George Ingersoll, John Lewis, Jane Macworth, Joseph Phip- pen, Sampson Penley, Robert and Thomas Sanford or Stanford, and Nathaniel Wharff.
James Andrews was the son of Jane Macworth, by her for- mer husband, Samuel Andrews, and was born in 1635, proba- bly at Saco. Greensledge, in 1666, is called a servant of George Cleeves, we know nothing more of him than that he
1 Purpooduck was the aboriginal name for Spring Point, but it afterward was extended over the whole northern shore of Cape Elizabeth.
97
INHABITANTS AND PLACES OF RESIDENCE.
" as an inhabitant, June, 1658. We find George Ingersoll here as early as 1657, but are not able to determine the period of 14 7 arrival; he was born in 1618, and was probably the son of Richard Ingersoll, a Bedfordshire man, who with his family was sent to Capt. Endicott, in Salem, by the Massachusetts Company in 1629.1 John Lewis was the son of George ;? he received a grant of 100 acres of land at Back Cove from George Sleeves, June 26, 1657 ; his father had lived here at that time at least seventeen years, and had several children born previous to that period. Joseph Phippen was an inhabitant of Falmouth as early as 1650; he probably came from Boston, where several of that name were then living ; a David Phippen was admitted freeman of Massachusetts in 1636, and one by the name of Jo- seph in 1644 .* He purchased one hundred acres at Purpoo- duck, of Cleeves, September 30, 1650. Sampson Penley was here as early as June, 1658, we do not know where he came from, he lived many years in Falmouth, and raised a family here. We know nothing of the origin of the Stanfords, they were residing at Purpooduck in 1687, when in a petition to Andross, they stated that they had possessed land on the south side of Casco river thirty-five years. Nathaniel Wharff was
1 See the company's letter in Hazard, vol. i. p. 279.
2 George Lewis, who I have supposed was the father of our George, was a clothier. He came from Kent county, England, to Plymouth, before 1630, and moved to Scituate in 1634. He had a brother John, who took the freeman's oath in Scituate in 1637. Our conjecture receives some countenance from the similarity of names.
*[ The name of Phippen was originally Fitzpen and still exists in Cornwall, England. Joseph's father, David, was one of the thirty who with Rev. Peter Hobart settled Hingham, Mass. He was admitted an inhabitant of Boston in 1641, and died before 1653. Joseph had a house lot in Hingham granted him 1637 ; he lived in Boston in 1644. He married Dorcas Wood and had issue, Jo- seph, 1642, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, David, 1647, and Samuel. He died in Sa- lem about 1687. In England, the Jordans intermarried with this family. Robert Jordan, a merchant in Melcomb, is supposed to have married a Fitzpen or Phip- pen.]-ED.
98
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
married to Rebecca, eldest daughter of Jane Macworth, as early as March 28, 1658, at which time he received from Mrs. Macworth a conveyance of land near the mouth of Presumpscot river, where he afterward lived.1 In addition to these persons there then lived in the bay, John Cousins, near the mouth of Royall's river; Thomas Hains, at Marquoit; James Lanc, on the east side of Cousins' river ; Richard Bray, on Mains' point in North Yarmouth ; John Maine, at the same place ; James Parker, on the Kennebec river or its neighborhood ; William Royall, on the east side of Royall's river, near its mouth ; John Sears, probably on one of the islands. Besides thesc, there were Hugh Mosier, Thomas Morris, and Thomas Wise, who liv- ed some where in the bay at this time, but at what particular place, we are unable to determine; probably in North Yar- mouth.
The distribution of the inhabitants of Falmouth, in the sev- eral parts of the town is as follows : On the east side of Pre- sumpscot river, lived James Andrews, Jane Macworth, Francis Neale, and Nathaniel Wharff; on the west side of that river, Robert Corbin, John Phillips, Richard Martin,2 the settler at Martin's Point, opposide Macworth's Point; at Back Cove, George Ingersoll, George Lewis, John Lewis, and Nathaniel Wallis; on the Neck, lived George Cleeves, Michael Mitton, and Richard Tucker ; at Purpooduck, Joseph Phippen, Samp- son Penley, Thomas Staniford, Nicholas White, and probably John Wallis ; Robert Jordan is the only name we meet with from Spurwink ; Francis Small lived at Capisic, on a tract of land he purchased of the Indians.
The several parcels of land conveyed by Cleeves and Tucker, were invariably situated upon the margin of one of the rivers, or of the Back Cove. The earliest grants from them we meet with, were to Atwell, at Martin's Point, and to George Lewis,
1 York Records.
2 Martin married widow Atwell, and afterward occupied her farm.
99
EARLY CONVEYANCES.
at the entrance into Back Cove ; these were made before 1640, and probably after June 8, 1637, the date of their possession under Gorges' deed. The next conveyance we have discov- ered, was of two hundred acres at Back Cove, to Wise and Mosier, in 1640, between the land of Atwell and Lewis. We find no trace of any other conveyances from those persons until 1646, when they granted to John Moses, "now of Piscataqua river," "one hundred acres of land in Casco bay, adjoining unto land formerly granted unto George Lewis." in consideration of seven years service as an apprentice to them.1 Between the date of the two last mentioned conveyances, Cleeves went to England and procured his commission from Rigby, and also May 23, 1643, a title to the same tract which had been granted to him by Gorges.
For a number of years after this period, Cleeves was engaged in a controversy with the agents of Gorges for the maintenance of his power as the deputy of Rigby ; and after he was quietly established in his government, he soon became occupied in resisting the claim of Massachusetts. These employments, together with the continual opposition by which his adminis- tration was harrassed by discontented subjects, must have left him but little opportunity for the improvement of the large tract conveyed to himself and partner.
In 1650, May 1, he confirmed Peaks' Island to Michael Mit- ton, his son-in-law, under authority from Rigby, and January 1, 1651, by the same authority, he conveyed to him one hundred acres at Clark's Point, adjoining his dwelling-house, which Mitton "had possessed for ten years." February 24, 1651, he trans- ferred to him all that tract lying in Casco bay, granted to him by Alexander Rigby, which he describes as being "now in the possession of me the said Cleeves and other of my tenants," also all the utensils, household stuff in and about the house and buildings, with all his houses, buildings, "cattle as well as cows
1 York Records.
100
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
and calves and steers and swine, young and old, as also all other cattle and goods," and mentions as the consideration a sum of money, and also "that he the said Michael Mitton, shall at all time and times hereafter maintain and provide for me, the said George Cleeves, and for Joan, my now wife, good and sufficient meat and drink, apparel and lodging and physick and all other necessaries for the relief of this frail life for both of us, and the longest liver of both of us, as well as for other con- siderations me hereunto moving as well the marriage of my daughter as otherways." Although this deed appears to have been regularly executed, yet it probably never took effect, as we find Cleeves afterward, even the same year, making con- veyances of parcels of the same land ; the deed was not record- ed until 1717.
December 26, 1651, Cleeves conveyed to Nicholas Bartlett,* of Cape Porpus, "one hundred acres lying together in Casco bay, near unto the house of me, the said George Cleeves, to begin at the south-west side of the corn field, now employed for tillage and corn, by me the said Cleeves ; the bounds to begin at the small water lake, which runneth into the cove, near the said corn field, and is to run eightscore poles into the woods, and from the cove south-west by the water side toward the house of Michael Mitton, one hundred poles, together with so much marsh ground as is to be appointed to every other tenant for every hundred acres."' This description points out the situa- tion of the grant; it extended from Clay Cove to about where Union street now is, and included the whole width of the Neck.
* [Bartlett lived sometime in Scarborough.]
1 In the time of Gov. Andross, 1687, Bartlett petitioned for confirmation of this title, and represented that he bore arms for King Charles eight years, for most of which time he had no pay, especially the last three years he served in the Princes guard, and at last was forced to fly out of England for his life, poor and destitute; and in order to settle himself here, purchased land of Cleeves. That Danforth disposed of the land to other men who built upon it. He was then living in Salem .- York Records.
101
EARLY CONVEYANCES.
This tract was conveyed by Bartlett to John Higginson, Jr., of Salem, in 1700, and by Higginson's executors to John Smith of Boston in 1720, but it does not appear that it was ever oc- cupied by Bartlett or those who claimed under him. It is very certain that it was entirely disregarded by President Danforth in the settlement of the town in 1680.
On the 20th February, 1653, Cleeves being in England, re- ceived from Edward Rigby a grant of one thousand acres adjoining the land formerly granted to him, "beginning at the little falls in Casco river, and running westwardly three hun- dred and twenty poles, and five hundred poles southwardly." Possession was delivered by Mitton to Richard Tucker by the appointment, and for the use of Cleeves ; and July 18, 1658, Cleeves conveyed the same to Tucker for thirty pounds sterling. We hear nothing more of this title, and presume it died with Tucker.
These are the only conveyances we find from Cleeves pre- vious to 1657 ; after that time they are more frequent, owing probably to the increase of immigration. In May, 1657, he granted to "James Andrews, son of Samuel Andrews, citizen of London, deceased," one hundred acres of land at the upper end of the marsh on Fore river, near Capisic. 1 In this deed mention is made of a grant of one hundred acres next adjoin- ing, by Cleeves to his granddaughter, Ann Mitton ; we do not find the latter deed recorded, but the land is held under that title at the present day ; Ann Mitton having married Anthony Brackett, who occupied the estate and left the whole, or part of it, to his posterity .*
June 26, 1657, Cleeves conveyed to "John Lewis, eldest son of George Lewis, of Casco," one hundred acres bordering on his father's former grant of fifty acres. This was situated at Back Cove, not far from Tukey's bridge, and is part of the farm
1 York Records.
* [This forms part of the Deering farm at Back Cove.]
102
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
now owned by Henry Ilsley. * Lewis conveyed it to Nathaniel Wallis in 1674, who occupied it. November 20, of this year, Cleeves made another conveyance of fifty acres to George Lewis, lying southerly of his son John's grant, and extending to Fall Cove.
The earliest Indian deed we have met with of land in Fal- mouth, was made July 27, 1657, by Scitterygusset to Francis Small ; it runs thus : "Be it known unto all men that I, Scit- terygusset, of Casco Bay, Sagamore, do hereby firmly covenant, bargain, grant, and sell unto Francis Small, of the said Casco Bay, fisherman, his heirs, etc., all that upland and marshes at Capisic, lying up along the northern side of the river, unto the head thereof, and so to reach and extend unto the river side of Ammoncongan." The consideration for the conveyance of this large tract, about two miles in extent, was "one trading coat a year for Capisic, and one gallon of liquor a year for Ammoncongan."
We know but little of this Sagamore; Winthrop mentions him as the leader of the party which murdered Bagnall on Richmond's Island in 1631, and a creek near the mouth of Presumpscot river still perpetuates his name. What extent of territory he ruled over, or what distinguishing name his tribe bore, we have no means of ascertaining. We may, however, reasonably conjecture that his people spread between the An- droscoggin and Saco tribes, and occupied the river Presumpscot and the large ponds from which it has its source. Aucocisco, the name that Capt. John Smith and other early writers apply to the natives upon this bay, may be considered as belonging to this tribe, which may therefore be called the Aucocisco, or as the name is now used, the Casco tribe, of which Scittery- gusset was the chief Sagamore at this time.
The neighboring tribes had their appropriate appellations, and the name we have assumed, is the only one of those pre- served by the early writers, which remains unapplied.
* [In 1864, the Woodman farm is part of it.]
103
EARLY CONVEYANCES, FIRST MILLS.
At the date of this deed, Francis Small was thirty years old ; he settled on his purchase, where he remained several years, and afterward moved to Kittery, where he was living in 1683. In May, 1658, he sold half of the tract to John Phillips, of Boston, and it was subsequently improved by his son-in-law, George Munjoy, who made an additional purchase of the In- dians in 1666.
The natives had a large place cleared at Ammoncongan, on the north side of Presumpscot river, which they improved for planting, and which retained the name of the Indian planting ground for many years. The purchasers subsequently used it for the same purpose.
August 10, 1657, Cleeves conveyed to John Phillips fifty acres on the south-west side of the Presumpscot, adjoining the last falls on that river, and between "said mill falls and Rich- ard Martin's land." On the 3d of May, 1658, he conveyed to him fifty acres more, "adjoining the now dwelling house of said Phillips ;" in the latter deed, Phillips is described "of Casco Bay millwright." In 1662, Cleeves confirms to Phillips his former conveyances, speaking of them as containing two hun- dred and fifty acres with mill privileges, etc.' Phillips was a Welchman;2 he had previously lived on Broad bay, in North Yarmouth, on a place which he sold before 1643, to George Felt. It is presumed that he purchased the mill privileges be- fore mentioned for the purpose of pursuing his occupation. He had made previous purchases there, and Cleeves' confirmation speaks of a much larger quantity of land, than the deeds we have found convey. It is believed that Phillips established on the Presumpscot river the first mills ever erected there, or in- deed in any part of the town. In fact, mills were erected on no other part of that river for many years afterward, and not until they were in operation at Capisic, and at Barbary Creek,
1 York Records.
2 Felt's deposition. York Records.
104
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
in Cape Elizabeth. The first notice of mills in this town which we have met with, is in a deed dated June 8, 1646, in which is the following recitation : "I John Smith and Joane my wife, now living at Casko mill, under the government of Mr. George Cleeves, sell to Richard Bulgar of Boston, all that dwelling house which said John Smith hath in dowry with his wife Jo- ane situated in Agamenticus ;" the deed "was sealed and de- livered unto Mr. George Cleeves and Richard Tucker for the use of Richard Bulgar."3 We know of no place in the town which unites so many probabilities in favor of the location of the first mill as the lower falls on the Presumpscot, and there- fore presume that Smith must have lived near that spot. In a description of land at Back Cove, between Fall Brook and the Presumpscot, accompanied by a survey made in 1687, we find the land and dwelling house of a John Smith referred to; if this be the same Smith and the place where he lived in 1646, we should have no hesitation in determining that the territory which Smith mentions under the name of "Casko Mill," was situated around the lower falls of the Presumpscot. The name of Smith was as common in the early history of the country as it is at the present day. Captain John Smith we have before mentioned as one of our first visitors; another John Smith was one of the earliest settlers at Saco; he was born in 1612, and was a carpenter by trade ; in 1685, he gave his deposition in which he described himself as John Smith, Senior, said he was seventy-three years old, and "forty years agone was mar- shal under Mr. George Cleeves ;" Thomas Smith and a John Smith were jurymen in 1640; Richard Smith witnesseth the possession of Black Point to Cammock, in 1633, and William Smyth of Black Point, planter, died in March, 1676, aged 88, having bequeathed his property to his brother Richard of West- chester, England. The John Smith of Casko Mill, does not occur again in our records, and we have no means of distin- guishing him from the numerous others of his name.
3 York Records.
105
EARLY CONVEYANCES.
There were two persons of the name of John Phillips who frequently appear in our early transactions; one was deacon John Phillips of Boston, a merchant, whose only daughter, Mary, married George Munjoy, a distinguished inhabitant of Falmouth ; he became a large purchaser of land here, although never a permanent resident; he died in 1683, in Boston. The other was John Phillips, the millwright, who lived here many years and until driven away in the Indian war, when he moved to Kittery, where he died without issue; he was born in 1607, and was living in 1684.
We meet with the names of George Ingersoll and Robert Corbin for the first time in 1657 ; in 1685, Ingersoll testified that about twenty-eight years since, Robert Corbin cleared a parcel of that meadow, called George Lewis's marslı, about eight or ten acres or thereabouts, at the north end of said marsh." Corbin had relatives living in the vicinity of Boston, and probably himself came from that neighborhood ; a Robert Corbin is mentioned by Winthrop' as being captain of the Speedwell, in August, 1637. Our Robert married Lydia, the daughter either of Richard Martin or of his wife, by her for- mer husband, Atwell, and lived on a large farm adjoining Martin's on Presumpscot river, until he was killed by the In- dians, August 11, 1676.
In the beginning of the next year, 1658, Cleeves made sev- eral conveyances of land, principally at Back Cove ; the deeds were dated March 25th, the first day of the year* according to the ancient mode of computation. The first was to Humphrey Durham of fifty acres, adjoining south-west on Nathaniel Mit- ton's land, thence easterly fifty rods by the water side, thence one hundred and sixty rods north-westerly into the woods ; the next, was to Phineas Rider, of fifty-five acres, extending fifty_ five rods from Durham's by the water ; next, to George Inger- soll, fifty-five acres extending fifty-five rods adjoining the wa-
1 Winthrop, vol. ii. p. 348.
* [Annunciation or Lady-day.]
8
106
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
ter; next, to Thomas Skillings,* the same quantity and distance bordering on the cove "home to the bounds of Richard Tuck- er."* The consideration of these conveyances respectively, was a shilling an acre for the land, a yearly rent of twelve pence and "one day's work for one man every year for all services and demands." The purchasers occupied their respective grants ; but whether they took immediate possession of them is not known. The grant to Skillings remained many years in his family. It is believed that Anthony Brackett purchased the grants of the other three, as his farm is described as ex- tending to the land of Skillings. In May following (1658) Cleeves conveyed to his grandchild, Nathaniel Mitton, fifty acres adjoining the fifty acres formerly granted to his father, "and so to go toward the north-east by the water side home to the lot of Humphrey Durham," also fifty acres at the narrow of the neck, west of round marsh. The latter parcel, Mitton sold to Richard Powsland, in 1674, who afterward occupied it ; of the other, he probably died seized.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.