USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from its first settlement: with notices of the neighbouring towns, and of the changes of government in Maine, Part I > Part 10
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Bangs' island was owned by James Andrews before the first Indian war, and was called by his name ; but how he derived his title we have no means of determining ; it was confirmed to him by
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Islands within Falmouth.
President Danforth, July 18, 1682. Hannah Hallom of Boston, 1733, testified that she lived in Falmouth in 1667, and " well re- members that said Andross improved a certain island in the mouth of Casco harbour, which was called Andross' own, and she never knew or heard any other person claim said island or question said Andross' title thereto." Joshua Brackett, in a deed of Peak's island to his son in law Trott in 1762, described it as " lying between Anders, Hog, Long and House islands." May 17, 1698, Andrews conveyed this island, which he called Portland island, and the small one adjoining it, called Ram island, to John Rouse of Marshfield ; Rouse claimed it under the resolve of Massa- chusetts before referred to, and afterwards conveyed it to John Bourne of Marshfield. This island was also called Fort island, probably from its having been a place of retreat from the Indians in 1676, when a fort was hastily thrown up there for protection ; there are now remaining the ruins of a stone building upon the island.
Hog island was granted by Gorges to Cleeves and Tucker in January 1637 ; in May 1658 Cleeves conveyed it to Thomas Kimball of Charlestown, who, with Henry Kimball, sold it to Edward Tyng of Boston, for £25, July 24, 1663. He conveyed it to his daughter Eunice, wife of Rev. Samuel Willard, Sept. 1679. Eliz- abeth Clark, granddaughter of Cleeves, and mother in law of Edward Tyng, testified in 1728, " that Phillip Lewis, lived a considerable time on the said Hog island, as tenant to Mr. Tyng her son in law, received money several times of the people of Falmouth, for feeding their creatures on the said island"." This beautiful and valuable island containing about 250 acres is held at the present day under the ancient title. Through all the changes of its owners it has preserved its original name, which although not very classical, is a more common name for islands, than any other upon our coast. Cousins' island in North-Yarmouth, was anciently called Hog island, and by the Indians Suscussong, but the name of its first white propri- etor has prevailed over them both.
House island was very early improved by persons engaged in the fishing business, for which its eligible situation peculiarly adapted it. In October, 1661, " Nicholas White, of Casco Bay, planter," sold
"Essex Co. Rec. This fragment was furnished me by Wm. Gibbs, Esq. of Salem, a descendant of Edward Tyng, to whom I am indebted for some other particulars from the records of that county.
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to John Breme, "now in the same bay, fisherman," for £5. 3. all his interest in House island, being one quarter part, with one quarter of the house ; but reserved liberty for Sampson Penley to make fish on said island during his life, and to have the refusal of the purchase, if Breme should sell. In 1663, Penley levied an execution against Joseph Phippen upon one quarter of the island, half of the old house and all of the new house, together with half of the stages ; and in March of next year he sold his whole interest in the island to George Munjoy. In November, 1663, Wm. Noreman, " resident in Cas- co, fisherman," sold to George Munjoy quarter of the island and quarter of the house upon it. Munjoy seems now to have acquired the whole title, which was confirmed to his widow in 1681 by Pres. Danforth, and descended to her heirs under whom it is now held. White, after selling his interest in the island, moved further up the bay, and we afterward find him in North Yarmouth, then called Westcustogo. Phippen probably used the island until dispossessed by Penley ; he lived at Purpooduck. We do not meet with the name of Noreman after this occasion ; he was probably a transient person. Richmond's island, we have before sufficiently noticed ; the other islands, the Green, Cow, Marsh, Overset, and two small ones called the Brothers, which belong to the Macworth property, are of small extent, and not of sufficient consequence to claim par- ticular attention.
In 1663, the court at York, consisting of two commissioners specially appointed by the general court, and the associates of the county, passed the following order relative to the islands : "We, by virtue of commission to us granted by the general court of Mas- sachusetts, do grant that all the islands in Casco bay, lying within the jurisdiction of the government of Massachusetts, and within the limits of the breadth of the lines of the town of Falmouth, eastward , into the said bay shall belong and are hereby ordered to be within the said town and under the government thereof, and bear town charges in proportion with other inhabitants there, saving the pro- priety of each person in every of the said islands, with Richman's. island."
The extension of the laws and jurisdiction of Massachusetts over this territory had an important influence upon its settlement and pros- perity. Hitherto we may presume that no permanent code of laws
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had been established, the records furnish no indication of the kind : but temporary ordinances were framed, as they were called for by the wants of the people and the emergency of the occasion : and the execution of these must have been inefficient and fluctuat- ing. But when the laws of Massachusetts were introduced, sanctioned by her example and power, and inforced with rigour ; security was afforded for the enjoyment of property and civil privi- leges. Persons were encouraged to migrate to this province from the neighbouring colonies, by the prospects which were furnished in the facilities for fishing, for agriculture and trade. Among those - who were drawn here at that time, was George Munjoy, a man of education and enterprise, and who united with these advantages the command of a capital, which enabled him to exercise an extensive influence over the prosperity of the place. He was the son of John Munjoy, of Abbotsham, in the county of Devon, Eng., and was born in 1626. At the age of 21, in 1647, he was admitted a freeman of Massachusetts, and soon after married Mary, the only daughter of . John Phillips, deacon of the first church in Boston, and a respecta- ble merchant ; his eldest son, John, was born April 17, 1653, in Boston, as were also George in 1656, and Josiah in 1658 ; his other children were Pelatiah, Hepzebah, married to Mortimore, and Mary, his eldest daughter, married to John Palmer ; the date of her birth we have not ascertained, but it was probably before that of John ; the other two we suppose were born in Falmouth. Munjoy had vis- ited Falmouth as early as 1657, as we perceive by his signature as a witness to several deeds, but he did not settle here until after May 1659 ; for in an agreement entered into in that month, he is styled of Boston. His father-in-law, in Sept. 1659, purchased Cleeves' homestead at the lower end of the Neck, and erected a house for him upon a part of the land ; this continued to be his residence dur- ing his abode here, although he subsequently purchased a large tract of land on the Presumpscot, at Ammoncongin, and a farm of 400 acres on the northerly side of Long Creek, both of which he im- proved for several years immediately previous to the first Indian war.
Beside Munjoy, there came in 1661, the three Wakelys, Thomas, John and Isaac, and Matthew Coe, who married a daughter of , Thomas Wakely. They came from Gloucester, Cape Ann, and settled at Back Cove, on 200 acres, purchased of Richard Tucker, -
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west of Fall brook. Mather, in his Magnalia, speaking of Thomas Wakely, says, " Now this honest old man was one who would often say with tears, that he believed God was displeased at him, inas- much as albeit he came into New England for the sake of the gospel, yet he had left another place in the country where he had enjoyed the gospel in the communion of a gathered church, and now lived many years in a plantation where there was no church at all, nor the ordinances and institutions of the Lord Jesus Christ."
John Wakely the son, afterwards settled upon the east side of Presumpscot river, below the falls ; Matthew Coe died before the war, leaving several children, John1, his eldest son, Isaac, Martha, married to a Farnum, of Boston, Elizabeth, married to a Tucker, of Roxbury, who were both widows in 1731, and another daughter, married to Joseph Ingersoll, one of our early settlers.
Two other persons, one of them of great influence in the subse- quent affairs of the town, came here about this time, Anthony and Thomas Brackett. They were brothers, and came from that part of Portsmouth, in N. H. which is now called Greenland. We first meet with Anthony's name in 1662, as a witness to the delivery of possession of the Bramhall farm to Hope Allen, June 3rd of that year ; he married Ann, the daughter of Michael Mitton, and occu- pied the 100 acres granted to her by George Cleeves, at Back Cove. He subsequently enlarged his farm to 400 acres, including 100 acres which belonged to Michael Mitton and his son Nathaniel, Durham's 50 acres, and two lots of 55 acres each which belonged to Ingersoll and Rider. His brother Thomas married Mary, another daughter of Michael Mitton, and occupied the homestead on Clark's point, having entered into covenants in 1671, to support his mother-in-law" during her life.
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"John Coe moved to Rhode Island, his son John was a cordwainer in Little Compton in 1731, and is undoubtedly the ancestor of Dr. John Coe, late of this town.
"There were at least two distinct families of Brackett early settled in New England, one in Boston, the other in Portsmouth. Richard was the head of the Boston family, he was admitted freeman in 1636, moved to Braintree in 1642, and the same year was ordained deacon of the church there. He died in 1689, having had seven children, 4 sons and 3 daughters. There were others who did not be- long to Richard's family ; the name was common in Boston and the vicinity in those days, and sustained a respectable standing. The first of the name we meet with in New-Hampshire is William, who was sent by Capt. John Mason to Pis- cataqua, in 1631, among " his stewards and servants." May 25, 1640, Anthony Brackett, one of the inhabitants of Portsmouth, signed a deed of Glebe land to the church wardens for a parsonage. This person, I conjecture to be the father of Anthony and Thomas, who came here, and whose descendants are widely scattered over the State.
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Thaddeus Clarke, who married Elizabeth, also a daughter of Michael Mitton, appears for the first time in our records in 1663 ; he was then married, but could not long have been, as his wife at this time was but 18 years old. The record referred to is an assignment to him of the deed from Cleeves to Mitton of the 100 acres at . Clarke's point ; it is dated March 1, and is as follows, " These presents witness that I, Elizabeth Mitton, late wife to Michael Mit- ton, deceased, in consideration that Thaddeus Clarke married my daughter Elizabeth, I do by these presents grant, give and make over all my right, title and interest in the lands within mentioned, unto the said Thaddeus Clarke, his heirs', &c." We do not know where Clarke originated, or when he came here : the Rev. Timothy Alden,. in his notice of the Tyng family, says Clarke came from Ireland, but he does not say when, nor does he give any authority for the statement.
Beside those before mentioned, the following persons appear to have been inhabitants of the town previous to 1670, viz : John Cloice, Robert Elliott, Lawrence Davis, George Felt, Walter Gen- dall, John Guy, John and Joseph Ingersoll, Phillip Lewis, Michael Madiver, Robert Nichols, James Ross, John Skillings, Ralph Turner, Wm. Whitwell and Jenkin Williams-of whom Elliott, Davis, Gendell, Guy, Madiver and Turner settled upon the south side of Fore river ; Cloice and Nichols on the west side of Presump- scot river, Lewis, Ross and Skillings at Back Cove, the two Inger- solls near the narrow of the Neck, their farms stretching westerly toward Capisic ; Whitwell on the Neck, near Robinson's wharf, and Williams on the east side of Presumpscot river, near Scitterygusset creek. The father of George Felt was one of the first settlers of North Yarmouth, having established himself at Broad Cove about 1640 ; here he built a stone house, made improvements and raised a family. His son George was concerned in a large purchase of the Indians in 1672, of land on the northeasterly side of the Presump- scot ; he married a daughter of Jane Macworth, and joined the freemen of Falmouth in a petition to the general court about 1660. He had a brother Moses born in 1650, who lived in North Yarmouth and Falmouth until 1690, with the exception of the Indian war, and was living in Chelsea in 1733, aged 83 years2.
1Y. Rec. 2George Felt sen'r. was born in 1601, and was living in Malden 1688, aged 87 ; in a petition to Andross 1688, he stated that about 18 years
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John Cloice probably came from Watertown, in Massachusetts, with his family ; he was here in 1660 ; his first wife's name was Abigail, his second, Juliann. His children by his first wife, born in Watertown, were John, August 26, 1638 ; Peter, May 27, 1640; Nathaniel, March 6, 1642 ; Abigail married to Jenkin Williams, Sarah married to Peter Housing, and Thomas born of the second wife. The name is not found here now, nor in the vicinity, the last person who bore it in town was Thomas, who was killed by the Indians in 1690, leaving two sons Thomas and George, and a daughter Hannah ; Thomas moved to Boston and George to Salem. . An active, hardy and enterprising population was fast spreading over the town, clearing up the forests and opening the soil to the face of day. The children of the first settlers were coming forward on the stage, and we find even at this early period, that town born children were arriving at the age of maturity and becoming themselves the heads of families. The deaths of adult persons as far as we have been able to ascertain were few, Winter and Macworth alone occur previous to 1660 ; we have now to notice in the latter year that of Michael Mitton. Mitton's last act was his release to Jordan before mentioned, dated Aug. 25, 1660 ; his widow alone acknowledged the deed, and Oct. 7 of the next year, she alone conveyed Peak's . island to John Phillips. We have supposed that Mitton came over from England with Cleeves in 1637, for in that year he makes his first appearance upon our soil as the grantee of Peak's island. The time of his marriage with Cleeves' only child Elizabeth, cannot be precisely ascertained ; their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1644, she gave her deposition in Boston in 1735, in which she testified that she was about 90 years old ; their daughter Anne was probably the eldest ; she signed as witness, a deed from her grandfather Cleeves to her father in 1651. They had five daughters and one son, whose names were as follows : Anne, married to Anthony
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before he had bought a plantation or farm of John Phillips of Boston, at a place called great cove, in Casco bay, containing about 2000 acres, for which he paid £60, that he had occupied it about 3 years before the purchase ; that after the Indian war, it was withheld from him by Casco people, and be being impoverish- ed could not recover it ; that he was then suffering for want, being abont 87 years old. In 1727, Moses Felt in a deed to a committee of North-Yarmouth of 300 acres on broad cove, recited that his father, Geo. Felt, bought said land of John Phillips of Casco bay, and afterwards again purchased it of the agent of Sir F. Gorges about the year 1643 ; that said Felt built a house on this land and lived in it above 40 years without molestation until 1684. North-Yar. Rec.
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Accessions to the population.
Brackett, Elizabeth, to Thaddeus Clarke, Mary, to Thomas Brackett, Sarah, to James Andrews, and Martha to John Groves, who lived in Kittery first, and subsequently in Little Compton ; last, Nathaniel, who was never married. The name is now extinct in this country, but his blood in the female line flows over the whole State, and is not confined to it. Mitton is styled in conveyances, Gentleman, a title which had not lost all its meaning in that day ; in 1640, he was appointed by the first general court in the Province, constable of Casco, an office of respectability in our early history : John Jocelyn says of him, "the gentleman was a great fowler." Mitton's char- acter partook of the licentiousness which prevailed throughout the Province in the first stages of its history ; and one transaction which is recorded, must ever leave a perpetual stain upon his memory. Richard Martin, an early inhabitant of Casco, was the father of two daughters, whom, being about to return to England to arrange his affairs, he left in the family of Mitton. During their residence of several months with him in 1646, he insinuated himself into the favor of the eldest, named Mary, whom he seduced. She after- wards went to Boston and was delivered of a bastard child, of which she confessed Mitton to be the father ; overcome with shame, she endeavoured to conceal her first crime by the commission of a more heinous one in the murder of her infant. For this she perished upon the scaffold, at the early age of 22 years, in March 16471.
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The want of a regular government east of the Piscataqua for many years, encouraged a laxity of morals which did not prevail in any other part of New England. We meet upon the records with numerous and frequent complaints of adultery and fornication, the parties in which escaped with a small fine or other slight punishment2.
The widow of Mitton, a few years after his death, married a Harvey, an undistinguished man, who died before her, leaving her a second time a widow ; she died herself in 1681.
12 Winth. 302. 2The commissioners of the king in the Report of their doings here in 1665, speaking of the people east of the Kennebec, say, " those people for the most part are fishermen, and never had any government among them ; most of them are such as have fled from other places to avoid justice. Some here are of opinion that as many men share in a woman as they do in a boat, and some have done so."
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CHAPTER 5 .- 1659-1665.
First Court under Massachusetts-State of religion in the town- Deputies-Courts-Pay of jurymen-Highways-Prison-Abra- ham Preble-Opposition to Massachusetts-King's Commissioners suspend the authority of Massachusetts-Memorial from Casco- Return of the commissioners.
THE first court held after the submission of Falmouth and Scar- . borough, of which we have any record, was at York, July 4, 1659. Massachusetts sent two of her magistrates to preside at this court, who were assisted by Major Nicholas Shapleigh1, Mr. Abraham · Preble? and Mr. Edward Rishworth?, local magistrates. Several . actions were entered by and against persons living in the eastern part of the county, as we have before noticed. George Lewis was appointed constable for Falmouth, and Henry Jocelyn3, Robert Jordan, George Cleeves, Francis Neale and Henry Watts3, com- missioners for Falmouth and Scarborough.
The care of the morals of the people and the promotion of religious instruction among them, early and steadily occupied the attention of the government after they acquired a jurisdiction over the Province. They wished however to instruct in their own way, and to have the people conform to their modes of thinking and practice on religious subjects. The following order relative to Falmouth was passed at the first court : " This court, being informed that the inhabitants of Falmouth are at present destitute of any public means for their edification on the Lord's day, and by reason of the people not meeting together for their mutual furtherance in the ways of God, great advantage is given unto the common enemy, joining with the corruption of such as have no delight to sanctify God's holy rest, the neglect whereof being an inlet to all profaneness, and cannot but be provoking to the jealousy of him who is the fountain of our peace and welfare : for the prevention whereof these are therefore to require all the inhabitants of the said place from time to time in one or more convenient place or places to meet together on the Lord's day, for their mutual edification and furtherance in the knowledge
1Of Kittery. 2York. 3Jocelyn lived at Black Point, and Watts at Blue Point on the opposite side of the river ; Watts was born in 1604, was in Saco as early as 1631, and was living in 1684.
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and fear of the Lord, by reading of God's word, and of the labours of known and orthodox divines, singing of Psalms, and praying together, or such other ways as the Lord shall enable them, till the favour of God shall so far smile upon them as to give them better and more public means for their edification."
It appears by a petition of the inhabitants to the general court, which we have before noticed, that in the May following the date of this order, they had a preacher among them ; they say, "God begun to answer our prayers and send us a faithful dispenser of the word," which, they add, they hoped to enjoy, if " their destractions doe not discourage him." He was probably with them in 1661, for the general court in that year, require Saco, Scarborough and Wells, to procure able and orthodox ministers in six months time, but say nothing of Falmouth. This, without doubt, is the only preacher they had been favoured with, beside those of the Episcopalian order, Gibson and Jordan ; but it appears that he did not stay long among them, for in July 1669, the court order Falmouth and Scarborough both, " forthwith to seek out and provide themselves of an able and orthodox preacher to be their minister, and in case of neglect to supply themselves by the 20th day of Sept. next, they shall each pay unto the ministry of the next town adjoining to theirs that is supplied, £50 per an. during their being destitute."
Falmouth probably obeyed the above order, as next year Scarbo- rough alone is presented for not complying with it. But who the preacher was on either of these occasions, no record furnishes us with the slightest intimation'. A majority of the inhabitants consisted of emigrants from the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies, and were therefore favourable to the puritan form of worship ; the govern- ment used their utmost exertions to discourage every other sect. Although a few of the old settlers retained their original principles, the religion of the State enforced by rigorous laws, became from this time the predominant religion of the province. The govern- ment of Massachusetts was certainly influenced by a sincere desire to reform the morals of the people, and to preserve purity of worship ; they earnestly desired that all the ordinances of religion should be strictly observed, but it may well be doubted whether by
'Thomas Senner, who was preaching in Saco in 1641. mentions in a letter to Gov. Winthrop, found in Hutchinson's collections, dated April 16th of that year, that he had been solicited by the inhabitants of Casco to help them to a godly minister. It does not appear that any was furnished.
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their over rigid discipline and exclusive zeal, they did not do injus- tice to their liberal professions and to the cause which they were earnest to promote. The following injunction against Jordan adopted by the general court in October 1660, does not seem to aim at any corruption or immorality, but only at the form under which the ordinance was administered. " Whereas it appears to this court by several testimonies of good repute, that Mr. Robert Jordan did, in July last, after exercises was ended on the Lord's day, in the house of Mrs. Macworth, in the town of Falmouth, then and there baptize three children of Nath'l Wallis, of the same town, to the offence of the government of this Commonwealth, this court judgeth it necessary to bear witness against such irregular practices, do therefore order that the secretary, by letter in the name of this court, require him to desist from any such practices for the future, and also that he appear before the next General Court to answer what shall be laid against him for what he hath done for the time past1." .
Among the complaints against Massachusetts, made to the king's commissioners in 1665, the following are noticed : " They will not admit any who is not a member of the church to communion, nor their children to baptism."
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" They did imprison and barbarously use Mr. Jordan for baptising children as himself complained in his petition to the commissioners."
The exercise of this exclusive sectarian spirit by that colony, had been successfully employed against them, by their enemies in Eng- land after the restoration of Charles ; and the king in his letters to the government and his instructions to the commissioners, insists upon a reformation and a more liberal practice in that particular. 'This order was treated with a dexterity which that government ever exer- cised in its negotiations with the home government ; and was evaded in a manner, that did not seem openly to violate the king's command's, while no material relief was afforded to those who were oppressed by the existing laws.
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