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 16
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There was a great reluctance on the part of the Indians to comply with the terms of the treaty, and on one pretext and another they evaded the principal articles. They had no reason thus far to be dissatisfied with the war ; they had taken at least 60 prisoners and a large amount of property, and had lived upon the best fruits of English industry, while they had lost but very few men. Their range over the country was now unimpeded, and they had nothing
A list of ye names of those yt ware prest by vertue of Capt. Hartherne's or- der to be for ye service of ye Garison of ye inhabitants aforesaid.
ffrancis Shealett Edward Hounslow
James Ogleby John Cocke Daniel Moore Dunken Chessom Richard Burrough William Burrage."
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First Indian War.
but a dread of future retribution from the English, to induce them to lay down their arms. That so small a number of Indians should have been able to have committed so great depredations and outrages upon such a long line of settlements, can only be accounted for by supposing the energy and judgment of the people to have been over- come by panic. Although their habitations were scattered and their preparations for defence feeble, still had they in the first onset made a resolute resistance, they would have inspired terror into the enemy instead of feeling it themselves. It appears from an estimate pre- sented to the committee of the colonies in England in 1675, that the militia in Maine, including Sagadehock, amounted to 700, of which 80 were in Casco bay, 80 in Sagadehock, 100 in Black point, 100 in Saco and Winter harbour, 80 in Wells and Cape Porpus, 80 in York, and 180 in Kittery1. The Indians never had fighting men to be compared with this number, and yet they entirely destroyed most, and for three years harrassed the remainder of the settlements in the province.
Madockawando and Squando were the most powerful chiefs during this war ; they are described by Hubbard as " a strange kind of .moralized savages ; grave and serious in their speech, and not with- out some show of a kind of religion." " It is also said they pretend to have received some visions and revelations, by which they have been commanded to worship the great God and not to work on the Lord's day." These notions are attributed to their intercourse with Catholic priests. These two celebrated persons held in their hands for a time the destinies of the eastern country. Mugg was the prime minister of the Penobscot Sachem, an active and shrewd leader, but who by his intimacy with English families, had worn off some of the ferocities of the savage character. -
The attempts at peace in the latter part of 1676, proving unsuc- cessful, the war was continued through the next year, spending its force principally in the western part of the State. Simon, who commenced the tragedy at Casco, was not idle in its closing scenes. On the 16th of May, a party under Mugg, attacked the garrison at Black point, which was resolutely defended for three days ; in the
'Chalmer's Annals. The daily pay of the militia who served in this war was for a General 6s., Captain 5s., Commissary Gen. 4s., Surgeon Gen. 4s., Lieut. 48. Ensign 4s., Sergeant 23. 6d., Corporal 2s., Private 18. 6d. Indian corn was from 2s. 6d. to 3s. a bushel. A cow 45s. Morton's mem. 460.
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History of Portland.
latter of which, the active leader of the beseigers having been killed, the seige was precipitately abandoned. This ill success was however revenged on the same spot in the following month, when a large force having been sent to that place, without experience in the kind of warfare were drawn into an ambuscade and nearly all destroyed.
In the summer, the enemy were checked near the seat of their power by the interference of Major Andross, Gov. of New York, who sent a force to protect the interest of the Duke of York in his province. He established a strong garrison at Pemaquid, which overawed the Indians of that neighbourhood ; the next spring they made proposals to the government for peace, and commission- ers were appointed to treat with them. The commissioners, Messrs. Shapleigh and Champernoon, of Kittery, and Fryer, of Portsmouth, proceeded to Casco, where they met the Indians, and mutually signed articles of peace on the 12th of April, 1678. By this treaty the people were permitted to return to their habitations, and it was agreed that they should occupy them without molestation, paying annually to the Indians one peck of corn for each family, except Major Pendleton, of Saco, who having a larger estate, was required to pay one bushel annually. The captives were all restored, and an end was put to a relentless war, in which whole families were sacrificed, human nature exposed to detestable cruelties, and prop- erty wantonly destroyed. The doom of Falmouth was pronounced at once, it was not called to transient and often repeated suffering, but after the unhappy fate of the Wakely family, it was crushed by a single blow, and I do not find one trace of its having been reoccu- pied until the peace. Some of the persons from Falmouth who were taken captives, will be briefly noticed : we have already spoken of the escape of Anthony Brackett and his family ; the wife of Thomas Brackett perished in the first year of her captivity1 ; her three children survived, and afterwards lived in Greenland. James Ross and his family were restored and afterwards lived in Falmouth. Walter Gendall was subsequently an inhabitant of Falmouth and then of North Yarmouth, where he was killed. He had exposed
1 1She was Mary, a daughter of Michael Mitton ; her children were Joshua, who died in Greenland, and was father of our townsmen, Anthony and Joshua, who owned the large tract of land extending from Clark's point across the Neck to Back Cove. Her other children were Sarah, who married John Hill, of Ports- mouth, and Mary, married to Christopher Mitchell, of Kittery. They did not return to Falmouth.
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Death of Robert Jordan.
himself to suspicion, while a prisoner among the enemy, of having betrayed the English, and was tried for the offence at Boston in Sept. 1677. The record is as follows : "Walter Gendall, of or near Black point, being presented and indicted by the grand jury, and left to trial, was brought to the bar and was indicted by the name of Walter Gendall, for not having the fear of God before his eyes, and being instigated by the devil, in the time of the war with the Indians, in a perfidious and treacherous way, against the inhab- itants of this colony's peace and safety, sought to betray them into the enemy's hands, by his endeavour and counsel, contrary to the peace of our sovereign lord the king, his crown and dignity, and the law of this commonwealth-To which indictment he pleaded not guilty, and referred himself for his trial to the bench. The magis- trates having duly weighed the indictment, and the evidences in the case produced against him, found him guilty of the indictment, and do therefore sentence him to run the guantelope through the military companies in Boston on the 10th inst. with a rope about his neck ; that he forfeit all his lands to the country, and be banished out of this jurisdiction, to be gone by the 6th day of October next, on penalty of perpetual imprisonment if he return again, and discharging the costs and charges of this prosecution." What was the nature of the offence for which this severe punishment was inflicted, does not appear ; that there was some misinformation to the court about it, may be inferred from the fact, that he was soon after restored to the possession of his lands and to public confidence. In July 1680, we find him acting as one of the commissioners of Falmouth ; in 1681, he was appointed by Pres. Danforth to regulate the settlement of North Yarmouth ; in 1683, fort Loyal, in Casco, was committed to his care, and in 1684 he was a deputy to the General Assembly of this province. Gendall's name occurs first in Falmouth as a juryman, in 1666 ; in 1669 he exchanged farms with Michael Madiver, of Black point, and is then called " Planter dwelling in the town of Falmouth." . June 3, 1680, he bought of " George Felt, sen. of Casco, planter," 100 acres " on the westward side of George Felt's ould house in Casco bay ;" this tract adjoined Falmouth line, and was afterwards occupied by Gendall.
Among the persons who were driven from Falmouth and did not return, ivas the Rev. Robert Jordan. This ancestor of the
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History of Portland.
numerous race of Jordans, ended his active and uneasy life at Ports- mouth, N. H. in 1679, in the 68th year of his age. His will was made at Great island, in Piscataqua river, January 28, and proved July 1, 1679. He had lost the use of his hands before his death and was unable to sign his will. He left a widow, Sarah, the only daughter of John Winter, and 6 sons, viz. John, Robert, Dominicus, Jedediah, Samuel and Jeremiah. In his will he confirmed to his sons John and Robert, the land that he had previously conveyed to them, which was situated in Cape Elizabeth; John had Richmond's island1. He bequeathed to his wife " the ould plantation" in Spur- wink, containing 1000 acres, and lying between the lands of his sons John and Dominicus ; and also the Nonsuch farm in Scarborough, containing 2000 acres. To Dominicus he bequeathed 1000 acres at Spurwink, adjoining the old plantation ; to Jedediah 1000 acres, and to Samuel 1100 acres, both at Spurwink. The particulars of the various bequests may be found in the will which we have re- served for the appendix2.
Jordan has been so often noticed in the preceding pages, that it will not be necessary to speak particularly of him now. For more than thirty years he occupied a large space in the affairs of the town, and of the Province. He was an active, enterprising man, and placed by education above the mass of the people with whom he connected himself. Although he came as a religious teacher, the affairs of the world and the gratification of ambitious views appear soon to have absorbed the most of his attention and to have alienated him from his profession. His posterity for many years exercised very great influence in the concerns of the town, and long maintained a high standing in the province. / They are still very numerous and respectable. John and Robert did not fix their permanent residence here ; the former married Elizabeth, daughter of Elias Stileman, of Portsmouth, in 1677 or 1678 ; and Robert conveyed to Nathaniel Fryer, of Portsmouth, July 14, 1679, " the land in Cape Elizabeth which he received of his father." Part of the " Ould plantation" is now owned and occupied by Dominicus, the great grandson of Dominicus, the 3d son of the first Robert, who from his great age
1 Robert Jordan conveyed " Richman's island" to his son John, January 25, 1677, in consideration of £10, a legacy from his grandfather Winter ; he made the conveyance as administrator of Winter.
2See Appendix No. 6.
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Anthony Brackett.
and activity being now (1831) 91 years old, is called by way of distinction " Old Stuff.1"> He points with pride to the scenes around him, dear to his affections by being associated with the fcats and names of his ancestors. The first Dominicus was killed in 1703 by the Indians, with a hatchet, and his wife and children carried to Canada ; his eldest son Dominicus was 13 years in Canada, and then run away ; his name frequently occurs in the late transactions of the town ; he attained the rank of Major and died 1749, aged 66; his son Dominicus died 1788, aged 72, the 4th Dominicus, eldest son of the last, is still living, the oldest man in the town having been born April 19, 1740, old style. The first Dominicus married Han- nah, a daughter of Ralph Tristram of Saco, and some of their posterity have for many years filled a respectable place in the annals of that town.
A notice of the second marriage of Anthony Brackett which occurred in 1679, carries us back to his first wife, Ann, the daugliter of Michael Mitton. The skilful escape of herself and family from captivity, which Hubbard ascribes to her penetration and fortitude, places her in the rank of heroic women. The language of Shakes- pear is not forcible enough to describe the canoe with which the family crossed Casco bay,
" A rotten carease of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sails, nor mast ; the very rats Instinctively had quit it."
The time of her death is not ascertained ; the escape was in August 1676, and the subsequent marriage was before Sept. 30, 1679. Her children were Anthony, Seth, Mary, Elinor and Kezia ; the latter was an infant when they were captured ; it does not appear that she had any other.
The notice to which we have referred is an agreement between Brackett and Abraham Drake, to which, from its unusual character, we have given place. " Articles of agreement made and concluded on between Anthony Brackett, jr., of Casco bay, on the one party, and Abraham Drake, sen. of Hampton, in the county of Norfolk,
'This family is rather peculiar for distinctive epithets, which have been applied to its members, probably from the number who have borne similar names ; Jere- miah, a grandson of Robert was called French Jeremy from his having been taken a prisoner by the French, another was called " Cock Robin" Jordan ; within a few years there were nine by the name of Nathaniel Jordan, living at the same time, in Cape-Elizabeth, who were distinguished by divers epithete.
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History of Portland. .
N. E .- Whereas the said Anthony Brackett, widower, is lately joined in marriage with Susannah Drake, single woman, and the eldest daughter of the said Abraham Drake, of Hampton, therefore know ye that I, the said Anthony Brackett, have covenanted and agreed, and by these presents do covenant and agree to and with the - said Abraham Drake, as a feoffee in trust for and in behalf of the said Susannah, my present wife, that I do by these presents instate the said Susannah by way. of jointure one half of all my lands and housing, which I have in Casco bay, or shall have according to the true estimation and value thereof, for her free jointure during her natural life, and to be and to remain to her and her male heirs begotten of her body by me, said Anthony Brackett, her present husband. Having made this promise before marriage, I do consent to it with my hand and seal, and what the Lord shall add unto my estate during our natural lives together ; made at Black point, Sept. 30, 1679. Witness, Thomas Scottow."
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A dispute arose between the children of the two marriages respect- ing this property ; one claimed it by virtue of the jointure, while the other contended that it belonged to their mother, and conse- quently that their father had not power to alienate or entail it. It was finally adjusted by an amicable division.
NOTE .- The following persons were living in Casco bay, out of the limits of Falmouth in 1675 ; we do not avouch the catalogue to be complete, but it con- tains all the names that we have met with. Richard Bray and John his son, John Cousins, Wm. Cocke, Henry Donnell, Nicholas Cole, George Felt, Moses Felt, John Holman, Wm. Haynes, Thomas Haynes, Robert Gutch, James Lane, John Maine, James and John Mosier, Richard Pattishall, Richard Potts, Thomas Purchase1, James Purrington, Elinor Reading, widow of Thomas Reading, Wm. Royall and his sons William and John, John Sears, Thomas Stevens, Alexander Thwoit2, Thomas Wise and Nicholas White.
"Purchase lived on Merrymeeting bay.
2Thwoit lived on the point formed by Merrymeeting bay and the Kennebec.
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Purchase of Maine by Massachusetts.
CHAPTER 8 .- 1678.
Purchase of Maine by Massachusetts-Government-Resettlement of Falmouth-Danforth's grants-Other titles on the Neck- Grants by the town-Silvanus Davis-Munjoy's death and family -First tavern, Seacomb, Jones, Cloice-Death of Mrs. Harvey and George Lewis-George Burroughs.
WHILE the government of Massachusetts was engaged in resisting the incursions of their savage foe upon their whole frontier, they · were summoned to defend their civil privileges and the integrity of their territory. Their enemies in England had besieged the ear of the king and so far abused it as to create a prejudice in relation to that colony, which occasioned its friends no little anxiety. A quo warranto was issued, and they were required by a letter from the king, dated March 10, 1676, to send over agents to answer the charges exhibited against them. This command was complied with, and the agents sailed in October 1676. They were so far success- ful as to procure a confirmation of the charter with its original bounds, but the jurisdiction of Massachusetts over Maine and New Hamp- shire was annulled, and those provinces respectively restored to the . heirs of Gorges and Mason.
When this decision reached the colony, its government ever watchful over its interests, immediately took measures to secure the Province of Maine, of which this decision deprived them. For this purpose they employed John Usher, a merchant of Boston, to negotiate with Mr. Gorges, a grandson of Sir Ferdinando, for the purchase of his propriety. This undertaking was successfully accom- plished, and Usher received a deed of the whole province from Piscataqua to Sagadahock, in 1677, which on the 15th day of March, 1678, he by indenture conveyed to the Government and company of Massachusetts for £1250 sterling1. This ended all controversy between Massachusetts and the Gorges family respecting the soil and government of Maine ; but not so with the English government, to whom the transaction gave great offence. The latter contended
' Hutchinson says the price was £1200, but Usher's deed to Massachusetts, on York Rec. expresses the sum of £1250, as the consideration. Richard West's report in "Chalmers' Opinions of Eminent Lawyers."
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History of Portland.
that the jurisdiction over a colony or province was inalienable, and that by the conveyance, although Massachusetts might have acquired a right to the soil, she acquired none to the government, which con- sequently reverted to the crown. And they went so far as to require an assignment of the province from Massachusetts on being repaid the purchase money. But the government of the colony kept steady to their purpose, justified their purchase as having been done by the desire of the inhabitants, and were wholly silent on the subject of - the reconveyance1. The subject was continually agitated, until it was finally settled by the charter of 1691, which not only included the Province of Maine, but the more remote Province of Sagade- hock, and carried the eastern boundary of Massachusetts to the western limits of Nova Scotia.
After the purchase of Maine, many persons in Massachusetts were desirous of selling the province to defray the expense of defending it during the late war, which was estimated at £8000. A committee of the General Court was appointed for this purpose, but the vote was reconsidered, before any further measures were taken on the subject.
It now became necessary to adopt a new form of government for the province, since the jurisdiction was no longer claimed as a mat- ter of right under the patent of Massachusetts, but as proprietor by right of purchase. She was no longer to be represented in the Gen- eral Court as an integral part of her chartered territory, but a local . proprietary government was to be established over the province, such as was authorized by the charter to Gorges.
In pursuance of this plan, Thomas Danforth, then exercising the office of Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, was appointed Presi- dent of Maine in 1679, and invested with powers for its government in subordination to its new proprietor. He repaired to York in March 1680, proclaimed his authority, exhibited his commission, and constituted a government composed of a Deputy President, a Council, and an Assembly consisting of the representatives of the people. The first General Assembly was held March 30, 1680, at York.
It cannot be disguised that this state of things was not agreeable
'The agents in 1682 were authorized to give up the deeds of Maine, if it would be the means of saving the charter, otherwise not. 1 Hutch. 303. The sacrifice did not become necessary.
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Resettlement of the town.
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to many persons in the province, and they did not cordially submit to it. In 1680 a petition was transmitted to the king signed by 115 persons living in different parts of the province, remonstrating against the new government, and praying to be restored to his immediate authority. Sixteen at least of the petitioners lived in Falmouth. They complain of the imposition of a tax of £3000 upon the three towns of Wells, Kittery and York, as an intolerable burden after the heavy losses sustained during the late Indian war1.
In the first General Assembly all the towns in the province were represented but Cape Porpus, Scarborough and Falmouth ; Walter Gendall appeared from the latter town, but having no certificate of his election was not allowed a seat. Anthony Brackett was appointed by the court, Lieutenant of Falmouth, and Thaddeus Clarke Ensign.
Soon after the peace concluded at Casco April 12, 1678, the inhabitants begun to return to their desolate lands. On the 13th of November of that year Edward Allen, of Dover, N. H. conveyed to George Bramhall, of Portsmouth, all that tract of land, which George Cleeves had sold to his father, Hope Allen, in 1660, except 50 acres which he had previously disposed of. The whole tract contained 400 acres, extending westerly to round marsh at the nar- row of the Neck, and included the hill which now bears the name of its old proprietor. Bramhall was a tanner : he moved here in 1680, and established a tannery upon the flat under the hill near the entrance upon Vaughan's bridge, where the remains of the vats may still be traced.
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· Anthony Brackett, as we have seen by the extract relating to his second marriage, had returned in 1679 ; and it is probable that most of the ancient settlers whose property and means of support were here, came back on the conclusion of peace. A fort was erected on the point at the foot of king street, called fort Loyall. At this fort President Danforth held a court in Sept. 1680, for the purpose of settling the inhabitants in a more compact manner than heretofore, the better to enable them to resist future attacks of the Indians. The record of his proceedings at this time, although imperfect, we shall borrow entire from York Registry ; his grants covered that part of Portland now of the most value, and the centre
'This document will appear in the 1st vol. of the collections of the Maine Historical Society.
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History of Portland.
of trade. He appropriated the soil under Massachusetts as chief proprietor, and we have met with but one instance which will be hereafter noticed, the case of the Munjoy title, in which compensa- tion was demanded and awarded. The record is as follows : "At fort Loyall in Falmouth 23 7br 1680 Granted unto the persons whose names are hereunder written, houselots upon the neck of land near the fort viz :
1. To Mr. Bartholomew Gedney on the westerly side of the cove one lot in breadth against the cove about 6 rods more or less as now marked, reserving for a highway against the cove 4 rods in breadth, and the said lot to be in length 20 rods and on the southerly side of the highway to have the privelege of the cove for wharfing1. " 2. To John Ingerson one lot lying next to Mr. Gedney's westerly, of like breadth, length and conditions in all respects.
3. To George Ingerson one lot.
4. " John Marston 66
5. " Isaac Davis
6. " Francis Nichols 66
7. " Thomas Mason 66
8. " Samuel Ingerson
All these on the west side of the cove, breadth and length as the others. Further it is granted to Mr. Gedney, George Ingerson and John Ingerson, that instead of 60 acres a piece accomodation on some of the islands, they shall be allowed the like quantity in the place where George Ingerson's corne milne standeth. The like grant is made to Francis Nicholls, Thomas Mason and Joseph Inger- son, Lt. George Ingerson, Samuel Ingerson and John Wheelden.
9. To John Skillin his house lot as now marked.
10. " Joseph Ingerson one house lot.
11. " Lt. George Ingerson his house lot.
Memo. Highways are to be allowed sufficient to the milne? and between each lot, &c.
" Lots granted on the east side of Broad-street3.
I'Gedney was never an inhabitant, he was a great land speculator here and at North Yarmouth ; he lived in Salem. He afterwards sold his grant to Silvanus Davis. The lot extended back to what is now called Newbury street, originally named Fleet street, afterwards Turkey lane. The cove here mentioned is Clay cove.
2The mill here noticed was probably at Capisic, and is no doubt the same before noticed as George Ingersoll's. Ingersoll afterwards had a corn mill on Barberry Creek in Cape-Elizabeth. 3Now King-street.
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Resettlement of the town.
1. To Daniel Smith, the first lot next to the fort.
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