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 17
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2. " Wm. Clemens the second lot.
3. " John Lowell (or Powell) the third lot. (4th and 5th are blank).
6. " Henry Ingalls' the 6th lot.
" And it is granted liberty of wharfage and building ware-houses on the east side of the fort under the rocks, not prejudicing the benefit of the fort for the security of the water ; Daniel Smith to begin and the rest in order.
Lots laid out on the west side of Broad-street.
To Capt. Edward Tyng the first lot.
" Henry Harwood the second lot.
" Michael Farley jr. the third lot.
" Augustine John the fourth lot, with liberty in the cove arment for a brick yard2.
Lots granted against the Great Bay3.
To Capt. Silvanus Davis the first lot westward.
" Mr. John Jacob the second lot. :
" Ensign Nathaniel Jacob the third lot.
" Robert Greenhaugh the fourth lot.
" These are to run up as high as the north side of the sixth lot against Broad-street and to divide the land at the north end between the said lots and Mr. Munjoy's equally as to breadth.
" To Mr. Munjoy the 5th lot, being 20 rods front upon the water - side and to run up the same breadth 20 rods on the north side. of his barne, the highway cross excepted.
" It is also ordered that there shall be an highway 3 rods wide left against the water side towards the meeting house4, and the land between said highway and low water mark shall belong to the owners
'Two persons Henry Ingalls sen. and jun. were living in Salem in 1696.
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2John was a Frenchman and purchased of widow Housing a small lot west side of Presumpscot river, where he lived. I have some doubt whether John Gustin and Augustine John are not the same person ; the descendants of John Gustin are numerous here. The word arment is so in the record ; it was probably incor- rectly copied. As this lot extended down to Clay cove, the grant was doubtless intended to convey a privilege on the cove in the rear of the lot for the purpose of making bricks.
"The bay between fort point at the foot of King-street and Jordan's point ; at the northwesterly part of this bay was the town landing ; the beach was in later times called Moody's beach.
"The meeting house stood on the point then called meeting house point, now Jordan's.
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of said lots. Also it is ordered that the landing place at the head of great cove shall remain in common to the town as it is now staked out ; and the line on the south side of the highway between said lots shall run parallel to the bounds of the cove reserved in common.
To Mr. Saltonstall' for Meshac Farley, the next lot eastward to Mr. Munjoy.
To Mr. Saltonstall one lot more adjoining to Meshac Farley.
These last two lots to be in length northward 20 poles.
" 23 September 1680, by Thomas Danforth, President, Fort Loyall 23 7h. 1680. These within and above written orders being read to the selectmen of the town of Falmouth, they manifested jointly their full and free consent thereto. Present Lt. Anthony Brackett, Mr. John Walley (Wallis) Lt. George Ingerson, Ensign Thaddeus Clarke.
" Also there is granted to John Skillin one house lot on the west side of the lot where his house now standeth and is staked out, and also the lands that were his father's at Back Cove are confirmed to him ; also a parcel of meadow land about 3 acres more or less situ- ated above a milne at Capisick river is confirmed to him, the which land he was to have had by purchase of Nathaniel Wallis."
.. It was Danforth's object to prepare a settlement here which should contain within itself the means of defence, and having accomplished this point, as he supposed, by making grants around the fort in every direction, he paid no regard to the outlands. It was one of the conditions of each grant of a house lot, that the grantee should make improvements upon it by building ; we consequently find that a village arose at once, where before was little else than an unfrequented forest. The grantees whose names follow, did not reside here, viz. Gedney, John Marston, Mason, Smith, Clemens, Lowell, Ingalls, John2 and Nathaniel Jacob, Robert Greenhaugh and Farley. Ged- ney and Mason lived in Salem, the former sold his houselot to Silvanus Davis, the latter to Peter Morrill, who respectively improv- ed them ; John Jones improved Farley's on King-street.
The eleven lots laid out on the west side of Clay Cove are supposed
1Nathaniel Saltonstall was one of the magistrates of Massachusetts, and was here at this time with Danforth.
?A John Jacob was the first deacon of the church in Cohasset in 1721, an aged and very worthy man. Ilist. of Cohas. In the war of 1688, a person of the same name was commissary for the troops in Maine. A family of this name was implicated in the witchcraft tragedy of Salem in 1692. Ephraim Marston settled here, he afterwards lived in Salem, he may have taken John's place.
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to have extended about 70 rods, which would carry them to about where Union street now is, and back to Middle-street, which was not then laid out but was probably the placc reserved for a highway to the mill. We are able to locate but a part of the eleven lots ; Gedney's is sufficiently described in the grant as lying next to the Cove, and John Ingersoll's next ; George Ingersoll's extended westerly to where Willow-street now is ; his son Daniel occupied it and sold it to Moses Pearson whose heirs and assigns now improve it. The lot of Lt. George Ingersoll, the father of the before named George, was situated on the east side of Exchange-street ; Samuel Ingersoll's adjoined it, on the east side, and Joseph Ingersoll's on the west. The lots of Marston, Isaac Davis, Mason and Nicholls, undoubtedly lay between John Ingersoll's, the second from Clay Cove and George Ingersoll's on Willow-street. Marston's heir living in Salem, sold his ancestor's lot to Samuel Moody in 1719, and described it as adjoining Isaac and Silvanus Davis's.
On the west side of King-street, the first lot was Capt. Edward Tyng's, nearly opposite the fort, of which for a time he was the commander, and extended from King-street to Clay cove ; the next was Henry Harwood's, who was a Lieut. ; next came Michael Farley jr. who does not appear to have lived here, John Jones improved the lot ; Farley was living in Ipswich in 1730 ; Augustine John's lot came next which was improved by Wm. Pierce1. These four lots bring us to Middle-street, on the opposite side of which was the land of Thomas Cloice, extending north to Fleet-street ; he had a house on the lot. From Fleet to Queen, now Congress-street, Silvanus Davis had a tract containing 2 1-2 acres which was surveyed to him in 1687.
We have not been able to ascertain that the lots on the east side of King-street were occupied by the persons to whom they were granted. Their names are not familiar in our history, and we con- jecture that they and some others who received grants, were persons who accompanied Danforth in his expedition and received lots as gratuities or under the expectation that they would settle here. The lots lying on the great bay, as it was called, east of King-street,
'Pierce was heir of Launcelot Pierce of Pejepscot, his mother was daughter of Thomas Stevens of the same territory : he bought the lot above mentioned of Sam. Webber, Nov. 24, 1683. After the destruction of the town he lived in Milton, Mass.
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which at this time and long afterwards were the most valuable spots in town, were occupied as follows : 1st. Richard Seacomb, who may possibly have taken the lot granted to Daniel Smith or Wm. . Clemens on King-street. Jonathan Orris, blacksmith, and John Brown adjoined Seacomb, and probably extended up King-street ; but next, and the first on the bay came Silvanus Davis, whose lot was 147. feet front and extended back 630 feet, to the burying ground, which occupied a small spot in the south westerly part of the present cemetery. On this spot Davis had a dwelling house in which he lived, and a ware house, the most extensive in this part of the country in 1687. The Munjoy family occupied that part of the Neck east of Davis's, and Robert Lawrence who married Munjoy's widow, built a stone house upon the brow of the hill near the old breast work, where he lived until the second overthrow of the town, in which he perished.
In looking at the upper part of the Neck, within the present limits of Portland, we find Bramhall's large farm covering the whole western extremity ; next on the eastern side were 45 acres, part of the estate of Nathaniel Mitton, which his administrator, John Graves, sold to Silvanus Davis, John Phillips of Charlestown, John Endicott, and James English of Boston, in 16861 ; it extended from Fore river across the Neck. It is now occupied under the original title. Next came the large tract extending down the river to Robinson's point, occupied by Mrs. Harvey, Michael Mitton's widow, and her son-in- law Thaddeus Clarke, whose house was on the bank of the river just above the point which bears his name and where the cellar may still be found. Clarke subsequently conveyed to Edward Tyng, who married his daughter Elizabeth, 44 acres of this tract, which extended from the river northwesterly across where Main-street now is. Tyng had this lot surveyed in 1687, and then had three houses upon it, in one of which he lived. Next were 3 acres which Mrs. Harvey sold to Richard Powsland in 1681 ; then Anthony Brackett had 5 acres, which he sold to Peter Bowdoin in 1687 ; next came a lot belonging to Nicholas Bartlett, the extent of which we have not succeeded in ascertaining ; then 3 acres belonging-to Capt. Tyng ; next 2 acres belonging to Joseph Hodgdon, sold to James Mariner in 1686. After these came the 30 acres confirmed by the town to George Bur-
"This was a company which engaged in very large speculations in this town be- tween the years 1680 and 1690.
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roughs, the minister in 1683. Of this 30 acres Burroughs sold 23 . to Peter Bowdoin in 1688, lying between Fore river and Back Cove a few rods above Centre-street, the remaining 7 acres extending below Cotton-street, he conveyed to John Skillings in 1683, in exchange for the house lot granted by Danforth to the latter. Each lot had a house upon it. That of Burroughs was erected by the town and stood on Congress-street, near where Preble-street now joins it. The description of the 7 acres in this agreement is as follows : " Imprimis it is agreed that the said George Burroughs doth make over and confirm unto the said John Skilling, carpenter, and his heirs forever, his house built and given him by the people of Falmouth, with 7 acres of land joining to the said house ; laid out and bounded, viz. lying from the edge of the swamp behind the house, from thence running 4 score poles southerly, fronting upon the river 14 poles." The land from Main-street to the river where Cotton- street now is, was formerly a swamp. We are able to fix upon the location of this tract with more certainty by conveyances subsequently made by Samuel, son of John Skillings, from whom the Cotton title on Centre and Cotton-streets is derived. The scite of the house is determined by an ancient plan.
Joseph Webber, Samuel Webber, Richard Broadridge, Dennis Morough and Francis Jefferds had lots on Queen, now Congress- street : Morough's was 3 acres lying where School-street is ; he sold it to Anthony Brackett. Broadridge's was next above and Jefferd's next below. John Ingersoll and Francis Nichols had a lot on the south end of Morough's, which extended to Middle-street.
It appears by the record of Danforth's proceedings here, that the town was reorganized under a municipal government previous to his court in Sept. 1680. That document presents us only the names of the inhabitants who had grants around the fort, other of the former settlers returned to their farms in other parts of the town1. Some however never returned as Francis Neale and Jenkin Williams, the
'" Upon the peace the English returned unto their plantations ; their number increased ; they stocked their farms, and sowed their fields ; they found the air as healthful as the earth was fruitful ; their lumber and their fishery became a con- siderable merchandize ; continual accessions were made unto them." Mather's Mag. 2. 505.
2Mrs. Macworth, Neale's mother in law died in Boston in 1676. Neale sold his land in Falmouth to Jos. Holmes, who, April 16, 1681, mortgaged it to Joshua Scottow, and styled himself " late of Cambridge, now resident in Casco."
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former continued to live in Salem, the latter is subsequently found in Manchester, in the county of Essex. Nor do we meet, after the war, with the names of John Cloice, John Lewis, Phineas Rider, Thomas Skillings and John Phillips ; some of them were probably killed during the war. Other settlers however flowed in rapidly and the places of those who did not return were soon more than supplied.
The most enterprising of the new settlers was Silvanus Davis. In October 1680, he and James English addressed a petition to the selectmen of Falmouth, in which they stated that they were desirous of settling in town, if they could receive certain grants and privileges which are set forth in their petition as follows : "Imprimis, that we may have the free privelege of ye falls of Capissicke to build a saw- mill and to make a damm.or damms. (2) That we may have a grant of timber both oak and pine within three miles of the falls on both sides not infringing upon any lots already granted by the town. (3) That we may have sufficient land laid out on both sides the Falls and river for pasture of oxen and settling some farms near the mills for employing workmen in time when the mill stands still for want of water or timber, and that such lands shall remain free to the mills as free land a mile square. (4) That we may have the privelege of swamps or fresh marsh within a mile of the Falls to produce hay for our oxen and that we may have it as free land. (5) That we may have privelege to cut timber upon all commons within the township that is not already granted to any persons. (6) That we may have equal divisions of all meadows with others according to our publick work. (7) That we may have a tract of good land appointed us for settling our farms.
" Gentlemen according to your encouragement to us we shall be ready to bear part of town charges with you and subscribe ourselves your humble servants Oct. 28, 1680."
To this petition the following answer was returned : " 3. 10'. . 1680. The above articles are granted with a mile square free land unto Capt. Davis and Mr. Ingles as Test. Anthonie Brackett Recor. And it is agreed that Capt. Davis shall let the inhabitants that are now here have boards at five shillings in a thousand under price cur- rant for provisions for their own proper use for building houses for themselves."
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At the same time the following grants were made by the selectmen, which with the foregoing is one of the few scraps of the town records which have escaped destruction and found its way to the York registry. It was probably rescued by the avidity of some of the speculators, who at a later day were purchasing all the old titles to land in this town that they could procure.
"It is concluded that Mr. Gendall shall have a grant of 100 acres of land to begin at our outmost bounds, and so to come this way till 100 acres be ended. Thomas Daeve (or Daebe) it is agreed shall have a lot granted him. John Ingersoll 100 acres of land. Good- man Sanfort and his son granted 60 acres of land about the great marsh. Joel Madefer 12 acres of land adjoining to Goodman San- fort's land on the north side upon a square. 50 acres granted to John Wallis on the rocky hill. Joseph Daniel granted 50 acres of land adjoining to Robert Stanfort, 20 poles in breadth by the water side. Granted to Robert Haines 50 acres of land on the plains toward the great marsh1. Granted to Capt. Edward Tyng 100 acres of land. It is agreed that Capt. Davis shall have a mile square of · upland at Capissick Falls, a quarter of a mile on this side of the falls, and three quarters of a mile on the other side the falls. Also Nonsuch point is concluded shall be divided between Capt. Davis and Mr. Ingles and Joseph Hodsden, 100 acres a man, and if the point will not do it, to have it elsewhere. It is concluded Thomas Cloys shall have 60 acres of land granted to him at Capessack. Granted to Lt. George Ingersoll 40 acres of land to make up his hundred ?. "
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We will here introduce the record of another meeting of the town, which has a connection with the preceding. " At a town meeting Aug. 10, 1681. There was granted to Samuel Webber the falls
"The Stanifords, Madefer, Wallis and Haines all lived at Purpooduck, and the grants were probably of land there.
2 All the persons mentioned in the preceding record, except Daeve, of whom I know nothing, and Ingles, were inhabitants. There were persons of the name of Davie of respectable standing about the Kennebeck, but I have met with no other notice of any one in this town. Ingles, or as the name is now universally written, English, resided in Boston, where, or in its vicinity, his posterity continue to live. He was a mariner, and commanded a vessel which coasted between Boston and the towns in this bay. He died in 1703, leaving a widow, one son and three daughters, of whom one, Joanna, married James Grant, Jane, John Smith, and Elizabeth, Benjamin Bream. The daughters were principal legatces of Silvanus Davis.
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which is above Mr. Munjoy's land in Long Creek, to erect and set up a saw-mill in, and to finish the said saw-mill within six months. Also it is granted unto the said Samuel Webber 100 acres of upland for his accommodation to his mill', with 10 acres of some swamp to make meadow of, with the privelege of cutting timber, both oak and pine, upon the commons from his mill down so far as Ralph Tur- ner's, as also to cut timber about Presumpscot, both oak and pine, and the said Webber is to cut Boords for the inhabitants of this town to the halves for their own proper use, and what Boords they have occasion for of said Webber for their building, they are to have them half a crown under price currant for provisions. Anthonie Brackett, George Ingersoll, Jno. Wallis, Thaddeus Clarke."
In 1680 George and John Ingersoll petitioned the General Court for confirmation of their land on Capisic river, and for certain priv- ileges. « The court confirmed to them " 60 acres a piece granted them as expressed in their petition, and refer it to the President of the province" to grant accommodation, &c. Danforth, under the above order, March 3, 1682, granted " to George Ingersoll, jr. and John Ingersoll, the privelege of the stream where the old mill stood, for erecting a new saw and grist-mill, and to cut such timber as may be conveniently brought down that stream, paying to the head pro- prietor £5 per ann. in good merchantable timber." In 1684 these persons conveyed all their interest in the saw-mill on mill river to Silvanus Davis & Co.
Davis, for several years before 1676, had lived in the neighbour- hood of the Kennebeck. He purchased land at Damariscotta of the Indians as early as June 1659. He bought other large tracts in that country and continued to reside there, having considerable influ- ence, until the attack upon the fort at Arrowsick in Aug. 1676. He then fled with Capt. Lake, but they were sharply pursued and he escaped with a severe wound, while Capt. Lake was killed. Early next year he accompanied the' expedition under Major Waldron, and was left in command of a garrison on Arrowsick island ; but the government perceiving little prospect of their rendering service to the country in this situation, the garrison was soon after recalled.
1One half of this lot Webber sold to John Skillings, 1685, with half the mill. The mill was probably situated near the spot where a grist mill now stands on Long Creek, on the road from Stroudwater to Scarborough.
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On the conclusion of peace, Capt. Davis turned his attention to Falmouth, and finding it possessed of great advantages for fishing, lumbering and trading, he resolved to abandon his former residence and establish himself here. In Sept. 1680, he received from Pres. Danforth a grant of one of the most eligible spots for trade in town, being on the bay east of King-street, at the head of the town landing. Following up this acquisition, he procured from the town, as we have already seen, some of the most valuable mill sites, with greater privileges and accommodations than were ever granted here to any other individual. The town had been entirely prostrated under the most calamitous circumstances, and the returning exiles were undoubtedly desirous of availing themselves of the enterprise and capital of Mr. Davis and the company which he represented. And to these advantages may, in a great measure, be attributed the rapid prosperity of the town, until the period of its second destruction. The subsequent events in the biography of this enterprising man, will be noticed in the progress of the work.
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In 1681 Mrs. Munjoy, the widow of George, having made com- plaints that President Danforth had appropriated her land without authority, for the settlement of the town, an arrangement was entered into between her and the government on the 10th of June of this year. After reciting that President Danforth, by commission from Massachusetts, had "ordered the settlement of a town at Casco, erecting fort Loyall thereon, and disposed of house lots for the furtherance and encouragement of the said settlement," and that said Mary " doth lay claime to a neck of land lying about said fort," but had " not entered upon any possession or improvement thereof since the devastation made by the Indian war ;" to end all differ- ences it was therefore agreed that said Mary " shall have, retain and enjoy the easterly end of said Neck of land whereupon her husband's. house formerly stood, bounded by a strait line from the mouth of a Runnet of water on the easterly side where Mr. Cleeves' house formerly stood, and so to pass by the old barn on the top of the hill, and from the barn the shortest line to the salt water, excepting and reserving to the said township and fort, for the laying out of house lots, the lands all along the southerly side of said Neck of land as far as the meeting house, to extend 20 poles backwards in length, reserving only 20 poles front for her own house lot, adjoining to said runnet. Further that the said Mary Munjoy shall have and 22
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enjoy the island called House island, which her said late husband formerly purchased of sundry of the inhabitants there. And more the said President doth yield and grant unto her 200 acres of land upon the nearest of the islands that remain free and undisposed of, by way of exchange and in full compensation for the land hereinafter mentioned by her released." The land released was the remainder of the Neck east of clay cove, " to be disposed of according to the present settlement made by said President."
On the 30th of August the same year, the selectmen of the town also entered into articles of agreement with Mrs. Munjoy relative to her outlands, by which she relinquished her claim to all lands in the town, whether derived from the Indians or otherwise. In consider- ation of which the town confirmed to her 200 acres at Ammoncongan, the plantation at Long creek which Mr. Munjoy bought of Anthony Brackett, also all her marsh at Capisick, and "that long marsh adjoining to Thomas Cloice's point of land which he bought of Mr. Munjoy ;" also 500 acres of upland, to begin next to Samuel Inger- soll's land, to run in breadth on the west side of Capisic river to the little falls and so into the woods. They also confirmed to Mary, daughter of George Munjoy, sen., deceased, all that island given her by her grandfather, Mr. J. Phillips, known by the name of Pond island or Mr. Munjoy's island."
It appears by the foregoing record, that the elder Munjoy was now dead. The time of his death we have not ascertained. His last appearance in our records is as one of the associates of the county court held at Wells, July 4, 16761. During the Indian troubles he probably lived in Boston, where his wife's family resided. In 1680 Danforth names him as a grantee of land on the Neck, by which it might be inferred that he was then living, although the evidence is not conclusive. The first notice of his death we have met with is in the document above cited ; if he died in 1680 he would have been 54 years old. He was an intelligent and enterprising man, and had enjoyed for many years the confidence of the government of Massachusetts, and of the people among whom he lived. He had a . sister who came to this country and married John Saunders, of Braintree. He left five children, Mary, George, Josiah, Pelatiah and Hepzibah ; his eldest son, John, was killed in the attack upon the town Aug. 11, 1676. John left a widow and one daughter
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