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 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
In 1684, the General Assembly appointed Capt. Joshua Scottow of Black point ; Capt. Edward Tyng, Mr. Nathaniel Fryer, who probably then lived at Spurwink, Capt. Silvanus Davis and Mr. Walter Gendall " to take care of the repairing and well ordering of fort Loyal in Falmouth and settle a chief officer there." And next year they order that the fort " be appointed a prison or jail to the 4 associate towns and that the several justices in the respective towns shall direct their mittimusses to the keeper of his majesty's jail at fort Loyal, and that there shall be a committee appointed for ye settling of said jail and the keeper thereof," the charges to be paid by the common treasury. The associate towns referred to were Saco, Scarborough, Falmouth and North-Yarmouth.
After Mass. acquired a right to the soil of Maine by purchase, some fears seem to have been entertained by the landholders in regard to the security of their titles. That government early took measures to quiet these apprehensions, and in 1681, the general court empow- ered " the President of said province to make legal confirmation to the inhabitants respectively of their just proprieties in the lands there under his hand and seal according to the directions of their charter ; and do further grant that they, making their annual acknowledgement of the right of the chief proprietor to the soil and government, shall then be acquitted and discharged from any further subsidies to the chief proprietor, further than shall be necessary and orderly levied, for their own protection and government."
182
History of Portland.
In pursuance of this authority, Danforth, on the 26th of July 1684, executed an indenture of two parts, interchangeably to " Capt. Ed- ward Tyng, Capt. Silvanus Davis, Mr. Walter Gendall, Mr. Thad- deus Clark, Capt. Anthony Brackett, Mr. Dominicus Jordan, Mr. George Brimhall and Mr. Robert Lawrence, trustees on the behalf and for the sole use and benefit of the inhabitants of the town of Falmouth within the above named province of Maine," in which he granted and confirmed to them in trust " all that tract or parcel of land within the township of Falmouth."
This is recited in the deed to have been the result of a mutual agreement between Mass. and the Gen. Assembly of the province, concluded at York in June 1681, and it is covenanted on the part of said trustees that the inhabitants shall pay to that government a quit rent, as an acknowledgment of proprietorship of " 12 pence for every family, whose single country rate is not above two shillings," and Ss. for every family whose single rate exceeds two shillings, annually, in money to the treasurer of the province for the use of the proprietor1. A similar conveyance was made of North-Yarmouth Sept. 6, 1684, and of Scarborough. Under this deed the trustees or committee of Falmouth, proceeded to lay out many lots of land, and "granted them to sundry persons, who builded thereon, and made improvement2." This policy produced a state of repose among the people in regard to their titles, after the long and numerous con- flicts, which had taken place for the proprietorship3. These contests had occasioned great inconvenience to the tenants of the soil, who had been continually harrassed by contested claims.
The trustees named in the deeds were probably appointed by each town ; those of North-Yarmouth were Jeremiah Dummer, Walter Gendall, John Royall and John York.
The quit rents reserved in the conveyances by Massachusetts were soon found to produce dissatisfaction, although they were .
. 1For this deed in extenso, see Appendix VII. A single rate was 12d. on each poll, and 1d, upon 20 shillings estate, and six years income of real and personal estate and faculty as it was then styled, were considered as principal in the tax.
2Petition of old proprietors to the Gen. Court 1728. In this they state, that in consequence of the loss of the town book they " cannot find out the whole number that were admitted settlers by the Trustees.
"That the possession of Maine had been attended with no pecuniary advantage to its successive proprietors, was fully evinced by experience. Sir F. Gorges had expended £20,000 in his various enterprises here, from which he reaped no bene- fit, and it had cost Mass. £8,000 for its defence in the war of 1675.
.
151
0
183
Change of Government.
apparently light ; and they became the subject of complaint to Sir Edmund Andross immediately on his arrival about two years after- wards. Edward Tyng, who had been appointed one of the coun- sellors of that Governor on the 10th of January, 1687, twenty days after his arrival at Boston, presented the following petition to him in behalf of the whole province, in relation to this subject : " May it please your Excellency. The late Govr. of the Massachusetts colony having purchased the land and title of Sir F. Gorges in the province of Mayne and upon such purchase intending and designing to give all encouragement to all persons inclined to goe and set down and settle themselves and famalyes in and upon the said province of Mayne. The said late Government did by commission under the seale of the late Government empower Thomas Danforth Esq. to lay out and appoint places for such townships in the said province and also to grant power unto such townships to give and grant lands" to any persons whatsoever, that would settle themselves and famalyes in the said province under such Quitt rent as did then seeme good unto the said Tho. Danforth. In pursuance whereof several persons and their famalyes have satt down in several townshipps, in and upon the said province with great charge, trouble and expence and many more in probability would, had not the burden of Quitt Rents dis- couraged.
" It is therefore humbly prayed of your Excellency that such townshipps and settlements so made as above may have your Excel- lency's confirmation of their titles obtained as above, and the Quitt rents appointed to be paid as above for such lands being experi- mentally found to lye heavy upon the inhabitants there residing, may receive some abatement1."
The repose which the people of Maine had hoped to enjoy under the dominion of Mass. was again interrupted by the dissolution of the charter of that colony in 1684. The death of Charles 2d soon after (Feb. 6, 1685) delayed the formation of a new government until 1686, and in the mean time the authorities in the colony con- tinued to conduct affairs, but with great sluggishness and indifference until May 1686, when a commission arrived to Joseph Dudley as President of New-England. This was followed in December by the arrival of Sir Edmund Andross as Governor of New-England and
1 Mass. files.
1
طنة الحـ
2
184
History of Portland.
New-York. On this occasion the local government in Maine ceased and was not again introduced until the final separation from Mass. in 18201. Sir Edmund exercised his office by the advice of a council - without the intervention of an assembly of the representatives of the people. The people were made to feel the effects of this change in affairs in a variety of shapes, not the least of which was, through the purse. One of the most grievous expedients resorted to-a gross act of rapacity and tyranny, was that of requiring the owners of land to procure new patents for their possessions, it having been assumed that on the dissolution of the charter, their former titles had become invalid. The fees for these patents were exorbitant, in some cases amounting to £50. To avoid vexatious collision with the ruling powers landholders generally complied with this requisition. To give plausibility to this scheme of extortion certain forms were adopted ; a petition was required to be filed describing the land and praying for confirmation ; this was referred to a committee to ascer- . tain facts and then a warrant was granted for a survey ; for each step in the process fees were exacted. Numerous tracts were surveyed in Falmouth under this system in 1687 and '88. Edward Tyng of the council was one of the first from this quarter to comply with the arbitrary edict ; his petition is dated Aug. 30, 1687 ; others imme- diately followed the example until most of the large proprietors here had procured surveys. Tyng and Silvanus Davis made themselves active in persuading the people to comply with this severe requisition of the government, by which they drew upon themselves the odium of the inhabitants. And although the people generally complied with the decree, they took the earliest opportunity to express their resentment against those whom they considered as having had any influence in procuring the measure. They even made some opposi- tion to the proceedings of the surveyor when he first commenced his duties. Davis, in a letter to John West the secretary of Mass. as early as Nov. 16, 1687, thus notices the state of feeling here, " Mr. Clements is following his warrant but meets with continual disturbance from Mr. Lawrence who will not be satisfied till he makes all the town his tenants :" he adds that " he thinks all the settlers will petition." It appears from a memorial of the inhabitants two years afterwards
1The Deputies from Falmouth in the assembly of the province had been Antho. Brackett for 1681 and 82. Lieut. Geo. Ingersoll for 1683 and 1685, and Thad. Clarke for 1684.
.
185
French Emigrants.
that his conjecture was right ; they say " Capt. Davis did persuade the inhabitants of our town to patent their lands and he drew petitions for them near fifty, and now he chargeth them six shillings for every petition'."
From the time peace was proclaimed in 1678, until the recom- mencement of hostilities by the Indians, the town had been continually increasing in population and the developement of its resources, Fishermen settled upon Cape-Elizabeth and the islands which were convenient stations for successfully pursuing that branch of business ; the mill sites were constantly demanding attention from their peculiar advantages, and the forests were resounding to the stroke of the woodman's axe, and were falling before the march of improvement. In addition to the emigration from neighbouring colonies, which was - considerable, the town received an accession in 1686, by the arrival of a small company of French protestants, who sought refuge on our shore, from the persecutions which followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes on the 8th of Oct. 1685. The number of persons who came to this town on that occasion we are unable to ascertain, we have succeeded in tracing but four, viz. Peter Bowdoin, Stephen Boutineau, Philip Le Bretton and Philip Barger.
Peter Bowdoin, or according to French orthography, Pierre Baudouin^, was a physician of Rochelle, in France, from which place he fled to Ireland on the revocation of the edict ; from Ireland he came to Falmouth, and we have found his name for the first time - in the records April 7, 1687, when he purchased 5 acres of land on the Neck near Robinson's point, of Anthony Brackett. Le Bretton who was undoubtedly one of the company, is found purchasing land as early as Sept. 1686. April 1, 1688, Bowdoin bought of George Burroughs 23 acres extending across the Neck about where South street now is : he had also another tract at Barberry Creek.
It appears by an original letter from him Aug. 2, 1687, now in possession of James Bowdoin, Esq. of Boston, a descendant in the
1This petition is recited at length in a subsequent part of this chapter, p. 190. It was occasioned by difficulties which existed between Davis and Tyng on the one hand and Lawrence and the principal part of the inhabitants on the other, originating chiefly in a spirit of jealousy against those two prominent men.
?He however adopted the English mode of spelling, immediately, as appears by an original signature in my possession as a witness, dated March 6, 1688.
24
186
History of Portland.
female line, that his family at that time consisted of six persons'. He had two sons, James and John, and two daughters ; Mary · married to Stephen Boutineau, and Elizabeth married to Robins. He escaped to Boston just previous to the destruction of the town in 1690, where he became an active and enterprising merchant. He died before 1717-his will was dated June 16, 1704, but was not proved until 1719, although his widow Elizabeth's will was proved in 17172. The family became distinguished in Mass. and one of his descendants was a munificent patron of the college in this State, which bears his name. The male branch is now extinct, but the name is revived by a descendant in the female line.
Le Bretton, who subsequently dropped the French article from his name, was born in 1660 ; he was a rigger by trade, and moved to Boston during the Indian troubles, where he died in 1737, leaving 8 children, viz. Peter, David, Mary, Elizabeth, Rachel, Sarah, Jane and Ann : his daughter Elizabeth married John Young of Bos- ton, joiner, another married Edward Dumaresy, and a third Henry Venner2.
As the population and business increased, it became necessary to increase the facilities of travelling. A water communication had always been kept up with neighbouring towns, and also with those more remote : the coasting trade between Falmouth and the towns in Mass. was successfully carried on, and our fish and lumber, as well as agricultural products, at that early period found a market there, for which returns were made in English goods and groceries. It is believed that two sloops commanded by Captains English and Phillips plied regularly between this bay and Boston. The commu- nications were not however as they had formerly been, wholly confined to the water : a road several years previous to the time of which we are speaking, had been laid out from the ferry way in Cape-Elizabeth, near where it is now established, which passed round Purpooduck point by the water and joined the present road near Simonton's cove ; then passing on by the light-house and the head of Pond cove as the road is now travelled, it bent westerly and crossed
'Mass. H. Col. 2. 3d ser. 49. Dr. Holmes' account of the French protestants. In a petition to Gov. Andross for confirmation of his title in Falmouth, he says, " his family consisted of 6 persons, of whom were 4 children not of an age to pro- cure their living." Mass. files.
2Suffolk Prob. Rec. The ship John arrived at Salem Sept. 9, 1687, with French protestants. Mass. files 1687 pet.
1
هو الأمل
اسـ
187
.
Roads and Ferries.
the cape directly to Spurwink river which travellers crossed by a ferry, about a mile from its mouth. It then kept by the shore the whole distance to Piscataqua crossing the several rivers by ferries near their mouths. This road passed through all the settlements, as they then clustered upon the coast, but was circuitous and long. It was soon found expedient to strike out shorter paths at the expense of going greater distances through the woods. In 1686, the Court of Sessions at York granted a ferry at Nonsuch point to Silvanus Davis "for passage of man and horse over Casco river for the benefit of travellers." This point was on the south side of Long Creek and between that and Nonsuch creek ; the landing on this ' side must have been a little above Vaughan's bridge. A road was laid out from Scarborough to the ferry, which shortened the distance between the Neck and that place several miles.
In addition to this route, there was a road to Stroudwater and Capisic which passed along on the bank of the river to round marsh, and thence probably as the road is now travelled, to those places. Another road or path was laid out by the settlements on back cove to the Presumpscot, crossing Ware creek at the foot of the hill, near the alms-house. As carriages were not then in use here, these roads may properly be considered merely foot paths through the woods, which then covered the whole territory and overshadowed the settle- ments.
In April 1688, Richard Clements, a surveyor, was required by the government of Mass. to make a survey of land from Kennebeck, " so as to head the several rivers of Casco bay, and see where they may be best passed in order for settling a county road as far westward as Capisic, or any other remarkable place thereabouts toward Saco, and also observe what places were proper for cross roads to each town or settlement." A like warrant was given by Nicholas Manning chief magistrate of the Duke of York's province, for a survey from Pemaquid and New-Dartmouth to the Kennebeck1.
The only place of business in town at this time was on the bay below King, then called Broad-street ; here Silvanus Davis had a ware-house, large for those times. In 1687, he was licensed by the court, " to retail liquors out of doors in the town of Falmouth," paying duties and imposts. It does not appear that there was any
1 Mass. files. July 11, 1688, Nicholas Manning was appointed by Andross, Judge of the Inferior Court in Cornwall ; this was a county in the Duke's province.
1
.
N
188
History of Portland.
other store in town ; Seacomb, who had been licensed to keep an ordinary, several years before, had moved to Back Cove and occu- pied the farm which he bought of the heirs of George Lewis, situated on the point where Back Cove bridge now lands ; this point was for many years called Seacomb's neck. The business which had been conducted on a large scale at Richmond's island in the early days of our history had wholly ceased, and a proportion of it, we may sup- pose to have been transferred to the Neck ; it consisted probably in furnishing supplies to fishermen and other similar dealing. It does not appear that at this time any foreign trade was carried on, as there formerly had been at Richmond's island ; when the interest of the proprietors in England ceased in lands here, their foreign intercourse was wholly suspended.
The town at this period was agitated by a violent internal commo- tion. A dispute had arisen among the principal men respecting titles to land, on which the other inhabitants took sides. The assumption of title by the government and their distribution of the lands in town, although submitted to, was never quietly acquiesced in. The ancient inhabitants who had been driven from their possessions by the war, felt themselves injured, when the government undertook to bestow upon strangers the soil which they had laboured to subdue, and from the fruits of which they had been driven by an irresistible violence. This spirit of opposition was most loudly expressed by the large landhol- ders against those who had received the largest share of favour under the new order of things. We find therefore that Davis and Tyng became the objects of popular odium, while Robert Lawrence led the crusade against them. Lawrence complained to government that a grant had been made to Davis of a mile square at Capisic, which embraced his land ; in his memorial he represented that Davis had erected a saw-mill on it on a small brook that was dry most part of the year for no other purpose than to deprive the petitioner of his marsh, and if Davis' claim should be allowed, the petitioner would have " to starve his own cattle for such a person who seeks nothing but the ruin and destruction of all his neighbours, as is well known to all ye inhabitants, for whom it would have been happy had he not come amongst them, seeking to enjoy that for which other men have honestly paid for and spent their time and labour and estates and
السـ
189
Quarrel between Lawrence and Davis.
lives upon, when he run away from his own at Kennebeck, where he pretendeth he hath land and marsh enough." Lawrence, for the purpose of a decision on the title, undertook to take grass from this marsh which Davis had cut ; upon which Davis procured a warrant from Tyng to arrest him for stealing hiis thatch ; this, Lawrence refused to obey, and in the course of the controversy he called Tyng "a hypocritical rogue." The case now assumed an unexpected shape, and he was carried before the court for a scandal upon a counsellor of the governor. The people became enlisted in the quarrel, and the town was kept in a ferment by it, until the more absorbing inter- est of personal danger from Indian hostilities ended the unhappy controversy.
The question however of title to the land was discussed before the Governor ; Lawrence claimed under Munjoy from an Indian title, which we have before noticed ; Davis resisted this title, and offered the following considerations " to prove that Indian grants are not sufficient to eject a present possessor."
"1. Because of the king's patent to Sir F. Gorges in the year 1622 or 1629.
2. 'The former government made several publications after the land was conquered from the Indians, that all should bring in their claims in such a time as was therein expressed and limited, or that otherwise the land should be disposed of to any of his majesty's - good subjects that would present for the settling of the country.
3. If Indian titles be of force, that Mr. Lawrence's title cannot be good, being not obtained from the right Sagamore, as several of the Indian Sagamores did declare before Capt. Tyng, Capt. Joshua Scottow, Capt Gendall and others, that Cheberrina1 was the right Indian Sagamore of all these lands.
4. If the Massachusetts government have confirmed the title to the said lands to the said Lawrence or his ancestors, yet not legal, because they did not confirm the said lands in a legal and requisite way.
5. Mrs. Mary Munjoy did make an agreement with Mr. Thomas Danforth, late President of said Province of Maine, to divest herself of all claims to lands within the town of Falmouth, excepting what was reserved in that instrument2."
'A Penobscot chief. 2Mass. Files.
190
History of Portland.
The latter seems to be the better ground of defence and probably the one on which Davis succeeded. The tract was confirmed to him and surveyed by Clements in 1687 or 88.
Davis and Tyng were in favor at court during the administration of Andross, and consequently carried all their points. After his downfall the inhabitants hoped to have prevailed against them, and on the 24th of May 1689, addressed the following petition "To the right Hon. President, Simon Bradstreet and Hon. Council," " The petition of ye inhabitants of ye town of Falmouth, in Casco bay, whereas our town hath been under the command of Lt. Col. Tyng and Capt. Silvanus Davis and Lt. Thaddeus Clark, an Irishman, who had their commissions from Sir Edmund Andross, who have done our town a great deal of damage to the loss of many of our men, as far as we know the abovesaid Col. Tyng and Capt. Davis did inform Sir Edmund Andross that the people of our town were an unsubdued people, for they would obey no orders, and that he would take some course with them ; then Sir E. Andross said that he would set up a court of guard and that they should be upon the watch every third night and day, which hath been the loss of many of our men, being thin clothed and lying upon the hard floor this long winter nights, and also a great loss of our * both of wheat and peas, watching the third part of our time and then being in our arms as often as they please to call us, sometimes every other day that it hath so disabled us about our employment in providing for our families that it hath very much impoverished our town. We suppose that Col. Tyng can turn his coat when he pleases, when he was with the army he could D- with the worst, but now we hear he can comply and profess like the best and all for profit like Jehew. Capt. Davis did persuade the inhabitants of our town to patent their lands and he drew petitions for them near 50 and now he chargeth them six shillings for every petition and he said he would make the inhab- itants poor, he will not subscribe to pay our minister, since Sir Edmond came ; we have a great many things that we can speak that be of high concern but we shall forbear at present. The humble request of your petitioners is that you would be pleased to grant commissions to such men as we shall name for captain and commis- sioned officers and your petitioners shall ever pray"." To this was
'To this petition were subscribed the following names :- Samuel Pike, John Palmer, Andrew Alger, George C-, Jona. Orris, Anthony Brackett, Francis
191
Quarrel between Lawrence and Davis.
added, " The commissioned officers chosen by the consent of the town are these, Anthony Brackett Capt. Mr. Robert Lawrence Left. and Samuel Pike Ensign."
This memorial produced a letter from President Danforth, exhorting the people to live in peace, to bury their quarrels and unite in the common defence of the country. To this communica- tion both Davis and his adversaries replied-Davis repelled the charges made against him, said he was absent on public duty when the petition was got up, regretted the divisions in the town, and was willing to leave the service, but did not wish to be driven out2.
Lawrence, on behalf of the town, replied the same day, June 12, 1689, as follows : " Hon'd Sir I am by the whole town desired to acquaint you that they received your letter and being met together unanimously resolved to agree to be commanded by all their old officers here present, until further orders from ye hon'd court except- ing Capt. Davis, whom they are utterly set against and will by no means be commanded by him for divers reasons, which, if called to, are as they say ready to give, sufficient to exclude him from any publick office and earnestly desiring ye hon'd court that they may be commanded by such persons as they shall approve of :" " by request of ye people."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.