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 3
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John Jocelyn, the traveller, who visited his brother Henry at Black Point in 1638, sailed along the coast from Boston to that place in July : he says "Having refeshed myself for a day or two upon Noddle's island, I crossed the bay in a small boat to Boston, which was then rather a village than a town, there being not above 20 or 30 houses2." "The 12th day of July I took boat for the eastern parts of the country, and arrived at Black Point, in the province of Maine, which is 150 miles from Boston, the 14th day. The country all along as I sailed, being no other than a mere wilderness, here and there by the sea side a few scattered plantations with as few houses3."
11 Hutch. 285. Hub. 614. 2Jocelyn's voyages 19. 3Ib. 20.
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First occupation of the town.
CHAPTER 1 .- From 1628 to 1640.
Richmond's island-Spurwink-Dispute between Cleeves and Tucker and John Winter-Trade at Richmond's island-The Neck now Portland first occupied-Grants in other parts of Falmouth- Mitton, Macworth-First Judicial Court for the Province-Set- tlers in Falmouth in 1640.
THE first occupation of any part of Falmouth, by a European, of which we have any evidence, was of Richmond's island, by Walter Bagnall in 1628. The sole object of this man seems to have been to drive a profitable trade with the Indians by whatever means were in his power. He lived on the island alone, until by his cupidity he had drawn down the vengeance of the natives upon him, and they put an end to his life and his injuries Oct. 3, 1631. He had accumulat- ed a large property for those days, which was scattered by his death". His residence promoted the future settlement of the town in no other way than by showing to others that the situation was favourable for the accumulation of wealth, and thus tempting them to engage in the same enterprise.
Richmond's island lies nearly a mile from the southerly side of Cape Elizabeth, is about 3 miles in circumference, and contains about 200 acres of land : the passage may be forded on a sand bar, at low water. Although now it contains but a single family, it formerly afforded employment to a large number of men engaged in the fisheries, and a market for considerable cargoes of foreign mer- chandize sent every year to this coast. As early as 1637, Richard Gibson, an episcopalian minister was settled upon the island2, and it is handed down by tradition with great probability, that a church was formerly established there. Among the items of property in 1648, mentioned in an inventory as belonging to the patentees, which will be more particularly referred to hereafter, are described vessels for the communion service, and the minister's bedding.
Bagnall occupied the island without any title ; but within two months after his death, a grant was made by the council of Plymouth, bearing date December 1, 1631, to Robert Trelawny and Moses Goodyeare, merchants, of Plymouth, in England, which included this island and all of the present town of Cape-Elizabeth. The
'1 Winth. £400 st. 22 Winth. 66. Y. Rec.
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History of Portland.
patentees appointed John Winter, who was then in this country their principal agent. A copy of the grant was immediately sent to him, . and on the 21st of July 1632, he was put in possession of the tract by Richard Vines of Saco, one of the persons appointed by the grantors for that purpose1.
There were at that time settled upon the territory near the mouth of the Spurwink river, George Cleeves and Richard Tucker, who had established themselves there in 16302. They had selected one of the most valuable spots in the tract, and claimed to hold against Winter 2000 acres of land, with their improvements, of which however they were forcibly dispossessed. Cleeves in 1640, when regular Courts were established by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, brought an action of trespass against Winter, to recover damages for the removal ; and in his declaration he stated his title as follows ; "joining himself in partnership with Richard Tucker, then of Spur- wink, who had also a right of inheritance there, the which he bought and purchased for a valuable consideration of Richard Bradshaw, who was formerlie settled there by Capt. Walter Neale3, by virtue of a commission to him given by some of the lords patentees, and soe as appeareth the said Richard Tucker was lawfully possessed of a right of inheritance at and in the said Spurwink. Alsoe the plaintiff further declareth that he joining his right by promise and possession, with his partner's right by purchase and possession, and soe being accountable to his said partner, they both agreed to joyne their rights together, and there to build, plante and continue ; which when the plaintiff had done and was there settled for two years or thereaboutes, this defendant, John Winter came and pretended an interest there, by virtue of a succeeding pattent surrupticiouslie obtained and soe by force of arms expelled and thrust away the plaint, from his house, lands and goods."
The verdict in this case was as follows, " the jury find for the plaint. the house and land inclosed, containing foure acres or thereaboute joyning with the said house, and give him eighty pounds for damage, and twelve shillings and six pence for the cost of the Courte." The whole Court, consisting of Thomas Gorges, Henry Jocelyn, Richard
'Two other persons mentioned, were " Capt. Walter Neale and Henry Jocelyn leiftenant," both of whom lived on the Piscataqua. 2Cleeves v. Winter 1640, Y. Rec. See App. No. 1. 3Walter Neale arrived in this country in the spring of 1630, and returned in the summer of 1633. He came out as Governor of the company at Piscataqua.
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First occupation of the town.
Bonighton, Edward Godfrey, and Richard Vines, concurred in ren- dering judgment, except Vines, who dissented.
This document enables us to fix the time of the settlement of Cleeves and Tucker, upon the Spurwink at 1630, which was probably the first made there ; and from the same record, it appears that as early as 1632, they had buildings erected, and had made preparations there for a permanent establishment. The grant to Trelawny and Goodyeare defeated their plans and drove them to another spot in Casco bay, within the limits of Falmouth.
Winter now left without interruption, immediately employed him- self to bring into action all the resources of the grant. He soon built a ship upon the island, " settled a place for fishing, and improved many servants for fishing and planting1." In August 1632, the general court of Massachusetts in reference to the murder of Bagnal, speak of a plantation existing there, but notice it in a manner that leads us to infer that it was under no regular government. They say, ""in consideration that further justice ought to be done in this murder, the court order that a boat sufficiently manned be sent with a commission to deal with the plantation at the eastward, and to join with such of them as shall be willing thereto for examination of the murder and for apprehending such as shall be guilty thereof, and to bring the prisoners into the bay." Winter was in the country at the date of the grant, for in his defence of the action before referred to, he speaks of the patent having been sent over to him ; and he had probably made such a representation to the patentees as induced them to procure it. He, as well as Cleeves came from Plymouth, Eng. Bradshaw, of whom Tucker is said to have purchased land at Spurwink, could not have occupied it previous to 1630, for he was put into possession of it by Walter Neale, who did not come to the country until the Spring of that year. The probability is, that Bradshaw did not long occupy the land, as we find no other notice of him than appears in Cleeves' declaration.
We may suppose that the plantation referred to in the court's order, was composed of Cleeves, Tucker and Winter, with their servants : we are not able to connect with it at that time any other names. After the ejection of Cleeves and Tucker, in the latter part of 1632, Winter took the entire control of it, and managed it several years for the patentees. In 1634, as early as the first of March,
12 Prince 36. 22 Pr. 39. 65. Col. Rec.
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History of Portland.
1
Winthrop says " seventeen fishing ships were come to Richman's island and the Isle of Shoals." The fish were undoubtedly cured on the islands and neighbouring main, and must have afforded employ- ment to a large number of men. Jocelyn in 1638, says that Winter employed 60 men in the fishing business1. The trade in beaver this . year in this neighbourhood was also very successful ; the govern- ment of Plymouth colony procured at their trading house on the Kennebeck, 20 hhds. which was sent to England ?. This was a principal article of commerce in the early settlement of the country ; . it was a sort of circulating medium or standard of value among the white people and natives, and remittances to the mother country were made by it. About the year 1640, the price of it in Casco, was from 6 to 8 shillings a pound, and it was received in payment for commodities and labour. Winter in 1640, was complained of for attempting to keep down the price to six shillings3.
In the spring of 1635, a ship of 80 tons and a pinnace of 10 tons arrived at Richmond's island. In 1636, Mr. Trelawny alone is mentioned as proprietor of the patent, and March 26th of that year, he committed the full government of the plantation to Mr. Winter, who appears after that time to have had an interest of one tenth in the speculation ; and in addition to his proportion of the profits, he was to receive from the general fund " forty pounds per annum in money for his personal care and charges." After this time the business of the plantation was pursued with great activity until the death of Trelawny, which took place in 1644. They employed the ship Agnes, the bark Richmond, the ships Hercules, and Margery and one other, whose name is not mentioned. In 1638, Mr. Trelawny sent a ship of 300 tons to the island, laden with wine. This was · probably the proceeds of a cargo of fish sent to Spain or Portugal. Large quantities of wine and spirits were early sent to this coast, and produced as much wretchedness among those who indulged in them then, as they do at the present day. Jocelyn described their effects from personal observation in lively colours ; he says the money which the fishermen received, did them but little good, for at the end of their voyage " the merchant comes in with a walking tavern, a bark laden with the legitimate blood of the rich grape, which they
4Winth. 1. 157. 'Jordan's Claim Y. Rec.
1Joc. 25. 21 Winth. 138.
JY. Crt. Rec.
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First occupation of the town.
bring from Phial, Madera and Canaries ;" and after they get a "taster or two," they will not go to sea again for a whole week, till they get wearied with drinking, " taking ashore two or three hlids. of wine and rum to drink when the merchant is gone." "They often," he adds, " have to run in debt for their necessaries on account of their lavish expense for drink, and are constrained to mortgage their plantations if they have any, and the merchant when the time is expired is sure to turn them out of house and home, seising their plantations and cattle, poor creatures, to look out for a new habita- tion in some remote place, where they begin the world again !. " Such is the description which this voyager gives of the early settlers of our State, and it accounts for the fact which would otherwise seem extraordinary, of the shipment of so large a quantity of wine, as is above mentioned, to plantations then in their infancy.
The merchandize sent to the proprietor in England, consisted principally of pipe staves, beaver, fish and oil. In 1639, Winter sent in the bark Richmond, six thousand pipe staves, which were valued here at eight pounds eight shillings a thousand. Some shipments were made directly from the plantation to Spain2 : and a profitable intercourse seems to have been carried on for the proprie- tors a number of years, until it was suspended by the death of Trelawny. After that time the want of a capital, probably prevented Winter from employing ships on his own account, and Trelawny's heir was but a child of six or seven years old. The commercial character of the plantation declined from that time, and the trade gradually sought other channels, until the mouth of the Spurwink and Richmond's island became entirely deserted. Their mercantile prosperity are now only to be found among the perishable and almost perished memorials of a by gone age. In 1648, after Winter's death, the plantation and all its appurtenances were awarded to Robert Jordan, by a decree of the general assembly of Ligonia, to secure the payment of a claim which Winter's estate had upon the proprie- tors. Jordan married Winter's only daughter, and administered upon the estate. He presented his claim to the court of Ligonia, in Sept. 1648, by whom a committee was appointed to examine the accounts and make report of the state of them. This committee went into a minute investigation, and reported in detail ; upon which an
"Joc. 212. "Jordan's claim Y. Rec. 4
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History of Portland.
order was passed, authorizing Jordan to retain "all the goods, lands, cattle and chattels belonging to Robert Trelawny, deceased, within this province from this day forward and forever, unless the executors of said Robert Trelawny shall redeem and release them by the consent and allowance of the said Robert Jordan, his heirs1 &c.
Winter died in 1645, leaving a daughter Sarah, the wife of Robert Jordan. Jocelyn says of Winter, that he was " a grave and discreet man" ;" and his management of the plantation proves him to have been an enterprising and intelligent one. He had much difficulty with George Cleeves respecting the right to the soil both on the Spurwink and on the north side of Casco river, which although suspended during the latter part of Winter's life, was revived by his successor. Jordan came over about the year 1640, at least we do not meet with his name before that year, as successor to Richard Gibson, the minister of this and the neighbouring plantations. The precise time of Gibson's arrival cannot be ascertained. We find him here as early as April 1637 ; he went to Portsmouth in 1640, and was chosen pastor of the episcopal church there ; in 1642, he was preaching on the Isles of Shoals, and probably the same year returned home3. Gibson is called a scholar, by Winthrop. He made himself obnoxious to the government of Massachusetts by the zeal with which he maintained his religious tenets, and was in some danger of being punished for it ; but on making a suitable submission, and " being about to leave the country" he is excused.
Having mentioned some of the most interesting particulars relating to the early settlement of Richmond's island and Spurwink, the spots first occupied within the territory of Falmouth, we return to follow the fortunes of George Cleeves and Richard Tucker.
Driven from the place which they had selected as the most favour- able for their purposes, and where they had made improvements and prepared accommodations, their next care was to provide another convenient situation in the wilderness, where they might hope to enjoy without interruption the common bounties of nature. They
1 See App. No. 2, for Jordan's petition and the proceedings thereon. 2 Jos. 25. 3York Rec. An. of Ports. 27. 2 Wint. 66. In 1640, Gibson brought an action in Gorge's Court against John Bonighton of Saco, for slander, in saying of him that he was " a base priest, a base knave, a base fellow," and also for a gross slander upon his wife, and recovered a verdict for "£6 6s. Sd. and cost 12s. 6d. for the use of the court." Y. Rec.
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First occupation of the town.
selected the Neck, called Machigonne by the natives, now Portland', for their habitation, and erected there in 1632, the first house, and probably cut the first tree that was ever felled upon it, by an European hand.
We are induced to fix upon this year as the one in which the first settlement was made upon the Neck, from a number of circumstances which will be briefly adverted to. In Winter's answer to Cleeves' action before noticed, he says that after possession was given to him of the land granted to Trelawny, in July 1632, he warned Cleeves to leave the premises ; and on his refusing to do it, he repaired to Capt. Walter Neale, who required him to yield up the possession ; he then adds, "and soone after, the plaintiff left his said possession to the defendant." It is very reasonable to suppose that this application to Neale was the immediate consequence of Cleeves and Tucker's refusal to give up the possession, and that the removal which followed "soon after," was not protracted beyond the year ; at any rate it must have been done before midsummer of the next year, for Neale then returned to Europe.
Again, Cleeves in another action against Winter in 1640, for disturbing his possession on the Neck, has the following declaration, " The plaintiff declareth that he now is and hath been for these seven 5 years and upwards, possessed of a tract of land in Casco bay, known first by the name of Machigonne, being a neck of land which was in no man's possession or occupation, and therefore the plaintiff seised on it as his own inheritance by virtue of a royal proclamation of our late sovereign lord King James of blessed memory, by which he freely gave unto every subject of his, which should transport himself over into this country, upon his own charge, for himself and for every person that he should so transport, 150 acres of land ; which procla- mation standeth still in force to this day, by which right the plaintiff held and enjoyed it for the space of four years together, without molestation, interruption or demand of any ; and at the end of the said first four years, the plaintiff desirous to enlarge his limits in a lawful way, addressed himself to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the propri- etor of this Province, and obtained for a sum of money and other considerations a warrantable lease of enlargement, bounded as by
"This was first called Cleeves' Neck, afterward Munjoy's Neck, by which name it was long known.
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History of Portland.
relation thereunto had, doth and may appear1." The lease from Gorges referred to by Cleeves, was dated January 27, 1637, at which time he says he had been in possession of the Neck four years ; this in connection with the possession upwards of seven years previous to the trial, will carry us back to the latter part of 1632, or the very first of the year following, and leaves no room to doubt that Cleeves and Tucker entered upon the Neck, immediately on being dispos- sessed of the land on the Spurwink.
That they were the first that settled here, there can be no doubt ; Henry Jocelyn a contemporary of Cleeves, has left his testimony of that fact in the following deposition given before Henry Watts, commissioner, August 18th, 1659." Henry Jocelyn examined, sweareth, that upwards of twenty years, Mr. George Cleeves have been possessed of that tract of land he now liveth on in Casco bay, and was the first that planted there, and for the said lands had a grant from Sir Ferdinando Gorges, as Sir Ferdinando acknowledged by his letters, which was in controversy afterwards between Mr. Winter agent for Mr. Robert Trelane of Plymouth, merchant, and the said Cleeves, and they came to a trial by law at a court held at Saco, wherein the said Winter was cast, since which time the said Cleeves hath held the said lands without molestation2."
Cleeves and Tucker erected their house near where the three story house now stands on the corner of Hancock and Fore-Streets, and their corn field extended westerly toward clay cove. This location is fixed by a comparison of several documents ; the first is the conveyance of the same premises by Cleeves to John Phillips in 1659, in which he gives this description, " all that tract, parcel or neck in Casco bay, and now in possession of me the said George Cleeves, on which my now dwelling house standeth by the meets and bounds herein expressed, that is to say, to begin at the point of land commonly called Machagony, and being northeasterly from my said house, and so along by the water side from the house south westerly to the south west side of my corn field3." In 1681, Phillip's daughter, Mary Munjoy, claimed the land and the government of Massachusetts awarded it to her by the following description, " the easterly end of said neck of land whereupon her said husband's house formerly stood, bounded by a strait line frum the mouth of a runnet
1Y. Rec. Appen. No. III. 2 Jocelyn lived at Black Point, to which he came from Piscataqua about 1635. He was at Piscataqua as agent of Mason and Gorges in 1634, and we find him a member of the court at Saco in 1636. 3Y. Rec.
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First occupation of the town. 29
of water on the easterly side, where Mr. Cleeves' house formerly wood, and so on to the old barn on the top of the hill"." This "runnet of water" still continues its course, although exceedingly diminished in its size, and discharges itself on the beach as it did two hundred years ago, notwithstanding the numerous and vast changes which have since taken place in the physical as well as the moral features around it. These references and others upon record, which it is unnecessary to cite, clearly designate the spot on which the first settlers of Portland pitched their habitation. The situation had advantages of utility and beauty : it was open to the sea by a small but handsome bay, accessible to fishing boats, and near the islands, while it was protected from the north winds by the hill in the rear of it. Here the first settlers cultivated the soil and. pursued their traffic with the natives, for a number of years, holding the land by a mere possessory title. Cleeves and Tucker continued partners for many years, the former seems to have managed the land speculations, while the latter carried on the trade : but the details of their lives at that remote period are almost entirely lost2.
'Y. Rec.
'Occasionally a record is found, which affords a glimpse at their occupations ; a ouit was brought in Essex county in 1655, by Conant, and another against Francis Johnson, for a quantity of beaver and. otter, received by Johnson in 1634, the parties having previously been in partnership ; the following testimony is found in the case ; Johnson wrote to Richard Foxwell of Blue Point, under date " Salem l'rb. 12, 1635," that he had received his letter of Dec. S, by Mr. Richard Tucker, as also beaver and otter, &c. " George Taylor' sworn June 18, 1654, saith that about 18 years since, I dwelling with Mr. Cleeves in Casco bay, Mr. Richard Tucker and I was going to Boston ward, and at Sako, we met with Mr. Richard l'oswell, he desired me and Mr. Tucker to carry a great packet of beaver and a great packet of otter for him to Mr. Francis Johnson, which we did deliver to him in the Bay"." Richard Tucker's deposition is also preserved in the same case, talra before Edward Rishworth, July 1, 1654, in which he says that " about 18 or 20 years since, Mr. Richard Foxwell delivered mne in my boat, then bound for the Massachusetts a great fardell of beaver and another of otter, value to the best of my remembrance 70 or £80 sterling."
These facts give some indication of the employment of Tucker, and carry us back to 1634. Tucker continued a partner with Cleeves, in land at least, proba- bly during their lives : we find no division between them, but on the contrary we find, as late as 1662, that his consent was required to a conveyance of land upon the Neck, by Cleeves. He seems not to have taken an active part in the political affaire of the province ; his name seldom occuring in the transactions of the day, while that of his more restless partner is continually presented. In 1653, he was Living on Sagamore Creek, in Portsmouth, N. H. His wife's name was Margaret; she was living a widow at Portsmouth in 1681 ; in which year she made a con- veyance to her grandson Nicholas Hodget.
"I know nothing more of George Taylor than that he signed the submission to Massachusetts in 1658, and lived in Scarborough in 1681, aged 70 years.
tRegistry of deeds, Rockingham Co. N. H. by the favour of Joshua Coffin, an industrious and faithful antiquary.
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History of Portland.
In 1636, Cleeves went to England and procured of Gorges, who - had acquired a title to the province of Maine, then called the Province of New-Somersetshire, a deed to himself and Tucker of a large tract in Falmouth, including the Neck on which they had settled. This deed was dated January 27, 1637, and was in the form of a lease for 2000 years : it conveyed, in consideration of £100 sterling and an annual quit rent, the following described tract, "beginning at the furthermost point of a neck of land called by the indians Machegonne1 and now and forever from henceforth to be called or known by the name of Stogummor, and so along the same westerly as it tendeth to the first falls of a little river issuing out of a very small pond, and from thence over land to the falls of Pesumsca, being the first falls in that river upon a strait line, containing by estimation from fall to fall, as aforesaid, near about an English mile, which together with the said Neck of land that the said George Cleeves and the said Richard Tucker have planted for divers years already expired, is estimated in the whole to be 1500 acres or thereabouts, as also one island adjacent to said premises, and now in the tenor and occupation of said George Cleeves and Richard Tucker, commonly called or known by the name of Hogg island." Possession was given by Arthur Macworth by appointment of Gorges to Cleeves and Tucker June 8, 1637.
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