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 14
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' John Jocelyn, about the year 1671, says, "Shop keepers they have none, being supplied by the Massachusetts merchants with all they stand in need of." He refers to the trade in English goods, with which our retailers were probably not regularly supplied.
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line from the above said island. If the honored court were pleased to go 20 minutes more northerly in Merrimack river, it would take in all the inhabitants and places east along, and they seem much to desire it." Munjoy's bill for this service was £6. 10. This stretching the line over the Duke of York's grant afforded a pretext for the assumption of jurisdiction which remained not long unim- proved. The inhabitants were desirous of being taken into the family of Massachusetts, and in 1671 and 1673 they petitioned the General Court to extend their care and government over them. The opportunity was now seized, and in July 1674 a court was held there, and the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, by consent of the people, was established over the territory, as far east as Muscungus Bay.
Of the internal affairs of the town during this period, in the absence of all the town records, we can say but little, and for that we are entirely dependent upon scattered fragments gathered from vari- ous sources. John Jocelyn, who returned to England in 1671, speaking of this place, says, "Nine miles eastward of Black. Point lieth scatteringly the town of Casco upon a large bay, stored with cattle, sheep, swine, abundance of marsh and arable land, a corn mill or two, with stages for fishermen." And of the people of the province, he says, " They feed generally upon as good flesh, beef, pork, mutton, fowl and fish as any in the world beside." For further particulars relating to the Province, we refer to a large extract which we have made from Jocelyn in the appendix. Jocelyn says Black Point had 50 dwelling houses in 1671 ; that town appears in 1675 to have had 100 militia soldiers, while Casco had but 80 ; taking this ratio for a calculation, Casco would then have had 40 dwelling houses ; and by another calculation1 which estimates the militia in New England in 1675, at one-fifth of the population, we should arrive at 400 as the number of inhabitants at this time. This probably is not far out of the way.
The affairs of the town seem to have been administered by per- sons selected for that purpose as in other towns, who were called Selectmen or Townsmen. The following notice of an act of this authority is preserved : " Whereas there was a tract of land granted by the Townsmen of Falmouth unto Anthony Brackett, as by a grant
"Trumbull's His. of Conn. Davis Morton's Memorial.
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of the Townsmen of said town, bearing date of Sept. 25, 1669, and the Townsmen of said town desired us, the underwritten, to lay out the bounds of said land as by an order under their hands, bearing date Sept. 24, 1672, we have attended said order, and laid out the land as followeth, beginning at the point of Long creek and so towards John Skillings' house 200 poles, extending to two apple trees stand- , ing on a point of land near John Skillings', where Joseph Ingersoll . hath felled some trees," &c. Signed " Sept. 25, 1672. George Ingersoll, Thomas Stanford, Thomas Brackett1."
. This farm of 400 acres was sold by Brackett to Munjoy January 2, 1671, and improved by him many years. It was conveyed by his heirs to Samuel Waldo.
In 1675 Falmouth was presented " for not sending in their vote to . the shire town for nomination of magistrates and associates according to law ;" and at the same term the selectmen of the town were presented "for not taking care that the children and youth of that town of Fal- mouth be taught their catechise and educated according to law." This presentment was made under a law passed by the General Court 1642, requiring the selectmen of every town to see that none of " their brethren and neighbours suffer so much barbarism in any of their families as not to endeavour to teach their children and appren- tices so much learning as may enable them perfectly well to read the English tongue."
Previous to this period settlements had begun to extend up to Capisic, and to spread in that vicinity. It appears by Brackett's deed to Munjoy before mentioned, that in January 1671, George Ingersoll jr. had a house at Capisic, and that John Skillings lived lower down the river toward Long Creek ; the recitation in the deed is, " Whereas Mr. George Cleeves, deceased, did some years since, grant unto Anna Mitton, now wife of said Anthony Brackett, a parcel of land and marsh lying at Capisic over the water against the house of George Ingersoll jr." &c. then in describing the land conveyed, he speaks of it as lying " a little below the dwelling house of John Skil- lins at a place commonly called Long Creek." George Ingersoll jr. and Skillings were both young men, the former was son of George sen'r. who was 53 years old in 1671 : not only the son but the father and two others of the name, John and Joseph, settled in the same
1Original paper in Clerk's office, Cumberland.
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neighbourhood. George Ingersoll and his son George had a sawmill at the falls, near where Capt. Seal now lives.
In 1674, Thomas Cloice, son of John Cloice, and Richard Pows- land1, settled between Round Marsh and Capisic, and in 1675, . John Ingersoll joined them. Cloice went first, he purchased of Munjoy May 20, a tract of land lying on the river over against the mill of George Ingersoll, and running to a creek between the meadow and Jos. Ingersoll's house ; this must have been situated north of where Stroudwater bridge now is. Cloice immediately erected a house upon the place. Next year May 1, Munjoy sold to John Ingersoll a large tract " at Capisic, bounded at the bounds of Tho. Cloice at the east, being on the gully running down on the back side of said Cloice's house, on the south by the gully as it turns, and on the west by the old path running near Capisic falls that went down to the Back Cove." Part of this latter tract descended by mesne . conveyances to Rev. Thomas Smith, by whom it was sold to Jere. Riggs in 1735, who occupied it till his death. It is now pos- sessed by John Jones, Esq. who married a grand daughter of Mr. Riggs.
Oct. 5, 1674, Nathaniel Mitton, with the advice of his mother Elizabeth Harvey and friends, Anthony and Thomas Brackett con- veyed to "Richard Powsland, now resident in Falmouth," fisherman, 50 acres of upland and marsh, the same that was granted to him by his grandfather Cleeves in 1658 ; the consideration was £10 in money and fish. This was situated on the point west of round marsh ; Powsland occupied it in the first and second settlements, and his son sold it to Samuel Moody, whose heirs in 1740 conveyed it to John Thomes for £500 under. whom it is now held. From the manner in which Mitton is spoken of in the deed, it is probable that he was then under age, and deemed it proper to express that the conveyance was made with the advice and consent of his friends.
The inhabitants extended on the other side of Fore river, though at considerable intervals from Capisic to the point at the mouth of the harbour. The Ingersolls clustered about the falls, next to them was John Skillings, next to him and about half a mile below Inger- soll's mill lived, after the Indian war, Isaac Davis ; he had children
'I have adopted here the early mode of spelling this name ; his son Samuel, who lived in Boston in 1720, spelt it Powsly, as did some persons previously ; it was sometimes written Pouselin and Pouseland.
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born as early as 1660, but whether he then lived there, we are unable to ascertain ; he was here when President Danforth came in 1680, to resettle the town : his land lay between Skillings and Munjoy's 400 acres. On the other side of Long Creek lived Ralph Turner and Lawrence Davis, further on, were Joseph Phippen, Sampson Penley, and Robert and Thomas Staniford. Joel Madiver, a son of Michael, an old inhabitant, received a grant of 100 acres adjoining Staniford's in 1680 ; we do not know in what part of the town he had previously lived. John Wallis lived upon the point, then called Papoodin or Papooduck point. Madiver's 100 acres adjoined the land of Wallis ; the Whites also lived near the point.
"While population was continually receiving accessions in different quarters of the town, death was occasionally invading its ranks. In 1673, Richard Martin died. He had dwelt at the point on the west side of Presumpscot river, which still bears his name, having married the widow Atwell, to whom it was granted by Cleeves prior to 1640. We are unable to ascertain the time of his arrival here, we first meet . with his name in 1657, unless he is the person referred to by Win- throp1, as the father of Mary Martin, who was executed in 1646 in Boston. Of that person Winthrop says, he was a decayed merchant of Plymouth, Eng. that his father had been Mayor of that city, and that having occasion after coming to Casco with his two daughters to return to settle some affairs, he left his daughters in Mitton's care. There is no improbability in supposing these persons to be the same individual, we find no other of the name of Martin in the early trans- actions of the place. The circumstance that there were two daugh- ters in this family corroborates the conjecture ; Mary was executed at the age of 22, aud Lydia married Robert Corbin. Martin's will bears date January 11, 1673, and was approved by the court which sat at Wells the April following. He appointed his wife executrix. He bequeathed to Joseph Atwell £6. to be paid in goods "so far forth as his father may not defraud him of it." After his wife's decease his estate was to be divided equally between Benjamin Atwell and Lydia, wife of Robert Corbin. The property was inventoried at £206 13s. 10d.
Benjamin Atwell before mentioned was the son of Mrs. Martin by her first husband and Joseph was his son. The manner in which the
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above bequest is made to Joseph, corroborated by other circumstan- ces, leaves an unfavourable impression of Benjamin Atwell's char- acter. Joseph was then but two years old ; in 1685, the court appointed a guardian for him, and he is mentioned in the record as being " heir to the estates of Benjamin Atwell his father, Robert Corbin his uncle, and Richard Martin his grandfather. December 10, 1673, Dorothy Martin conveyed to her son in law, Robert Corbin, " all her goods, chattels, leases, debts, money," &c. on condition of being supported during life.
About this time died Nathaniel Wharff, the husband of Rebecca, eldest daughter of Arthur Macworth ; the widow took letters of administration on the estate in 1673 ; the amount of which by the inventory was £193 1Ss. 6d. The first notice we have of Mr. Wharff, is in the recognition of a deed from Mrs. Macworth to him of March 28, 1658. It appears that he was then married, and that he afterwards lived upon the land at that time received from his mother in law. In 1666, he conveyed the same tract to his brother in law Francis Neale, and described it as the tract occupied by him. We have no notice of any children but Nathaniel, who was born in 1662 and was living in Gloucester, Cape Ann, in 1734.' The widow afterwards married William Rogers, and left two daughters, the eldest Elece (Alice) married Henry Crown of Boston, and the second, Rebecca, married first Joseph Trickey of Kittery, and after- wards - Downing ; she was again a widow and living in Kittery in 1732. The family of Wharffs in New Gloucester, the only one that we know of in this vicinity, came from Old Gloucester, and are undoubtedly descended from the first Nathaniel, and continue to preserve a portion of the Mackworth blood, although the name has been long extinct.
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George Bartlett, of Spurwink, died about this time ; an inventory of his estate, amounting to £70. 8. 6. was returned by Ambrose Boaden and Henry Williams, Feb. 14, 1674. He had a daughter Elizabeth married to Nicholas Baker, of Marblehead.
About the same time died John Mills, of Scarborough ; he left two sons, John and James, and other children who claimed his estate at Black point, which the father had occupied 30 years. Jolin sub- sequently lived in Boston, and James in Sandwich. Jolm married Joana, widow of Elias Oakman, of Black point, and daughter of Andrew Alger.
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CHAPTER 7 .- 1675-1679.
The first Indian war-Inhabitants of Falmouth in 1675-Destruc- tion of the town in 1676-Further depredations of the Indians -Militia in 1675-Peace-Prisoners restored-Walter Gendall -Robert Jordan's death-A. Brackett-Names of inhabitants in Casco bay.
IN the beginning of the year 1675, the prosperity of the town stood at a high point ; population had been steadily increasing in every part, and its various resources were rapidly developing. Mills had been established at Capisic and on the lower falls of Presump- scot river, and the borders of both rivers were occupied by an active and enterprising people. But their opening prospects were destined soon to be changed, and their hopes crushed. In June of this year Philips' war commenced in Plymouth colony. The English on the Kennebeck river received the first information of the movements of the Indians about Mount Hope, the seat of Philip, their chief Sachem, July 11. They immediately met together to concert measures to discover the feelings of the Indians in their neighbor- hood, and to disarm them if it became necessary, In consequence of exertions for that purpose, a number were induced to deliver up their arms and ammunition. In this attempt some collisions took place ; the fear and the jealousy of the Indians were aroused, and they began to suspect that it was the object of the English to deprive them of the means of obtaining subsistence, and by degrees to drive ther from the soil. The outbreaking in the east is to be attributed to such jealousies and collisions, rather than to any supposed con- nection between them and the Indians of the west.
When mutual suspicion and recrimination were once excited, it were futile to imagine that the Indians would respect their engage- ments, the recollection of former kindness or the dictates of human- ity and justice ; and consequently open hostilities became the signal of extermination. They first began by gratifying their revenge, but they ended by an indiscriminate slaughter of those from whom they had received favour as well as of those who had done them injury.
In the beginning of Sept. about 20 Indians attacked the house of Thomas Purchas, an ancient settler in Pegypscot, now Brunswick,
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and robbed it of liquor, ammunition, &c. but did no injury to the females who were, fortunately, the only occupants at the time. When complained of for this depredation, they attempted to justify them- selves on the ground that Purchas had injured them in their trading.
Soon after this affair, a party of 25 Englishmen went out to gather corn at the northern end of Casco bay, and at the same time to reconoitre the enemy. They discovered three Indians in the neigh- bourhood of some houses a short distance from the water, and in attempting to intercept their retreat, they killed one and wounded another ; the third escaped, and rallying his friends, attacked the English, wounded several, and drove them to their vessel, with the loss of two boats laden with the corn which they had gathered. This was the first blood shed on either side in this vicinity ; it was how- ever the opening of a vein, to use a metaphor of Cotton Mather, which was made to flow freely for many months after.
The English having exposed themselves to censure by this impru- dent attack without a sufficient justification, removed at once all res- traint from the Indians. They had seen the blood of their compan- ions causelessly spilt, and they now sought opportunities of revenge. These were not wanting along an extensive and entirely unprotected frontier. In every plantation the houses were scattered over a large territory and the only defensive preparations were, an occasional private garrison, which in cases of sudden emergency, afforded the neighbouring inhabitants a temporary refuge. The able bodied men in each town formed a train band ; but they lived so widely apart, and there were so many points to guard, that they could offer but little protection against the desultory and rapid attacks of their subtle enemy.
The first visitation of their vengeance was upon the family of Thomas Wakely of Falmouth, about a week after the affray before mentioned. This unsuspecting family was composed of Thomas Wakely and his wife, his eldest son John, his wife who was far advanced in pregnancy, and their four children. They killed the old man and his wife, his son John and wife, with three of their children, in a cruel manner, and carried one daughter Elizabeth, about 11 years old, into captivity. Next day Lt. George Ingersoll, who had perceived the smoke, repaired to the place with a file of soldiers to learn the cause. He found the body of John's wife, and the three
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children with their brains beaten out lying under some planks, and the half consumed bodies of the old man and his wife near the smouldering ruins of the house.
Why this family was selected for a sacrifice we have no means of determining ; the Indians committed no further violence, but imme- diately withdrew to a distant place. The daughter Elizabeth was some months after carried by Squando, the Saco Sachem, to Major Waldron at Dover, where she subsequently married Richard Scam- man, a quaker. The Wakelies came from Cape Ann and had originally settled in 1661 at Back Cove, on the west side of Fall Brook, where a son in law Matthew Coe died. The eldest son John had removed to the east side of Presumpscot river several years before the melancholy event which terminated his life ; his farm was about three quarters of a mile below the falls, and between the farms of Humphrey Durham and Jenkin Williams ; his house fronted the river "and stood within about a gun shot of said Durham's house1." His father and mother from their advanced age had probably taken up their residence with their eldest son, or had gone there at this time in consequence of the general alarm. He is spoken of by Mather as a worthy old man, " who came into New-England for the sake of the gospel," and had long repented moving into this part of the country so far out of the way of it.
The inhabitants in the immediate vicinity had probably drawn off at this time to a more secure place, as it appears that Ingersoll who lived at Capisic was the first to visit the scene, drawn there by discovering the smoke.
The enemy next made an attack upon Saco, where they burnt the house of Capt. Bonython and the mills of Major Phillips, with the house of one of his tenants. They were prevented doing further mischief at that time, by the resolute manner in which the Major defended his garrison. His force consisted of but 10 able bodied men, while the Indians numbered from 60 to 100 men. They went from Saco to Blue Point, where they killed several persons, one of whom was Robert Nichols, and returning to Saco they committed further depredations. They then moved westward marking their way by blood and rapine. They afterwards, in October, returned to this
' Hallom's deposition.
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neighbourhood, killed Arthur and Andrew Alger, in Scarborough, with several others, and burnt seven houses there.1
Falmouth, about the same time was again visited, and a son of George Ingersoll, and another man, as they were fowling, were both killed. The Indians also burnt Lt. Ingersoll's house and others in that neighbourhood, whose owners are not mentioned. The number of houses burnt cannot be ascertained ; the last attack was probably confined to the vicinity of Capisic, and we have no notice of any houses having been burnt but Wakely's, those at Capisic and Robert Jordan's at Spurwink. They were generally spared it may be con- jectured this year, as we find the inhabitants still lingering among · them and becoming the victims of more severe calamity the ensuing year. At what time the attack was made on Spurwink, we no where find an account ; but Mr. Jordan had barely time to escape from his dwelling house, when it was destroyed with all its contents ; Ambrose Boaden sen'r. was probably killed at the same time ; administration was granted on his estate the next July ; he lived on the west side . of the river opposite Jordan's house. Jordan moved to Great island, now Newcastle in Piscataqua river. It is estimated that from the beginning of August to the end of November 1675, there were killed in the province about 50 English and over 90 Indians.
In November, the government of Massachusetts made preparations to carry the war into the enemy's country, and a force was organized to attack the remote settlements at Ossipee and Pequawkett with a
'The Algers or Augers early settled in Scarborough, where they purchased of the Indians a tract of 1000 acres about 1651. To this they gave the name of Dunston, from the town in England, where they originated (Boden's depo.) The town referred to was probably Dunster or Dunstorre, in Somersetshire. Arthur, in the division of the estate, took the northern part, which was the highest English settlement in this region; it was separated from his brother's by a creek or brook ;
he died without issue. Andrew had 6 children, three sons, John, Andrew and Matthew, and three daughters, Elizabeth married to John Palmer, Joana married first Elias Oakman, and second John Mills, who dwelt in Boston, where she died, and the third married John Austin. John, son of Andrew, had several daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, married John Millikin, first of Boston, then of Scarboro'. housewright. After the two brothers were killed, and their houses, barns and crops destroyed, the family moved to Boston. Andrew jr. was master of a vessel and was killed in Falmouth in 1690, leaving one daughter, wife of Matthew Col- lins. Matthew was master of one of the transports in Sir Wm. Phipps' expedition to Canada, and died of the fleet fever soon after his return ; he was the last surviv- ing male of that race, and the name is extinct in this country. The widow of the first Andrew, married Samuel Walker. Several of Andrew's children were mar- ried and settled near him before his death ; first John, then Palmer ; the others followed fronting the marsh in the neighbourhood of Dr. Southgate's house, whose farm is part of the Alger estate.
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view of disabling them from renewing their depredations in the spring. But the winter closed in so early and severely, that it was impossible to make any progress through the forest, and the enter- prize was abandoned. By the 10th of December the snow was four feet deep in the woods, and was accompanied by such extreme cold weather that the Indians were driven by their sufferings to sue for peace. For this purpose a body of them repaired to Major Waldron at Dover, and terms were mutually agreed upon for the suspension of hostilities and for a permanent peace. But the encouragement afforded to the people by this treaty was of short duration, and the next summer the dreadful tragedy was renewed with more violence and greater loss of property and life than during the previous season.
The Indians engaged in these expeditions were from the Saco and Androscoggin tribes, joined with the wandering sons of the forest who inhabited the intermediate territory, and acknowledged subjection to neither of those more considerable tribes. The Sacoes were under the command of Squando, one of the most artful and daring leaders in the war. The Androscoggin tribe was under the guidance of Robinhood, a very prominent Sagamore. The Penob- scots were subsequently engaged in the war, and under the direction of Madockawando and Mugg, performed their full share in the work of desolation and death which were dealt out so freely to this devoted province.
At the commencement of the year 1675, there were rising forty families in town, which were distributed in the different sections as follows : On the east side of Presumpscot river, James Andrews, Humphrey Durham, George Felt, Jane Macworth, Francis Neale, Richard Pike, John Wakely, Jenkin Williams, and we may add Rebecca Wharff, who had recently lost her husband. On the west side of the river, were Benjamin Atwell, John Cloice, sen., Robert Corbin, Peter Housing, Robert Nicholson, John Nicholson, and John Phillips. Around Back Cove, Anthony Brackett, George Lewis, John Lewis, Philip Lewis, Phineas Ryder, James Ross, Thomas Skillings, Nathaniel Wallis, Thomas Wakely, and Matthew Coe's family. At Capisic, Thomas Cloice, George, George, jr., John and Joseph Ingersoll, and Richard Powsland. On the Neck, Thomas Brackett, Thaddeus Clark, George Munjoy, and John Munjoy ; Elizabeth Harvey at this time was a member of Thomas
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