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 5
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1Joc. 23. "Wannerton was one of the agents of the Laconia company at Pis- cataqua ; he was killed in an attack upon D'Aulney's fort at Penobscot in 1644. 2 Wint. 177.
31 Haz. 103.
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History of Portland.
This point it is believed was never directly decided, although it may be inferred from the practice of some of the patentees, that the general impression was adverse to this power. The Massachusetts patenteest and Sir Ferdinando Gorges2, each procured a confirmation of their grants from the king, with power to govern their respective provinces. With regard to Mason's grant of New-Hampshire, which was not confirmed by the king, the two chief justices of England agreed, that it conveyed no right of sovereignty ; " the great council of Plymouth under whom he claimed, having no power to transfer government to any3."
The council of Plymouth continued their operations until June 7, 1635, when they surrendered their charter to the king. During their existence as a corporation, a period of 14 years and 7 months, they were not inactive. In 1621, they relinquished a large propor- tion of their patent in favour of Sir Wm. Alexander, and assented to a conveyance by the king to him of all the territory lying east of the river St. Croix and south of the St. Lawrence, embracing the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The grants made by the council within the present limits of Maine, were as follows : 1st. 1622, Aug. 10. To Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, from Merrimack to the Kennebeck river4.
2. 1626, Nov. 6. To the Plymouth adventurers a tract on Kenne- beck river ; which was enlarged in 16285.
3. 1630, Jan. 13. To Wm. Bradford and his associates, 15 miles on each side of the Kennebeck river, extending up to Cobbise- contee ; this grant Bradford transferred to the Plymouth adven- turers6.
4. 1630. Feb. 12. To John Oldham and Richard Vines, 4 miles by 8 miles on the west side of the Saco river7 at its mouth.
5. 1630, Feb. 12. To Thomas Lewis and Richard Bonighton, 4 miles by 8, on the east side of Saco river7 at the mouth.
6. 1630, March 13. To John Beauchamp and Thomas Leverett, 10 leagues square on the west side of Penobscot river, called the Lincoln or Waldo patent8.
31 Hutch. 286. 4Ib. 5 Pr. 170, 172. 6 Pr. 196.
ยท 11 Haz. 239. 21 Haz. 442.
7 Ante. & Y. Rec. 8Pr. 203. 1 Haz. 318.
304.
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7. 1630. To John Dy and others the province of Ligonia, or the Plough patent1, lying between Cape Porpus and Cape-Elizabeth, and extending 40 miles from the coast.
8. 1631, Nov. 1. To Thomas Cammock, Black Point, 1500 acres.2
9. 1631, Dec. 1. To Robert Trelawny and Moses Goodyeare, a tract between Spurwink river and Casco bay.
.10. 1632. To Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, a tract on Pemaquid point3.
11. 1634. To Edward Godfrey and others, 12000 acres on the river Agamenticus.
.12. 1634. To Ferdinando Gorges 12000 acres on the west side of the river Agamenticus4.
These are all the grants which this company made in Maine, that we have met with previous to their final division in 1635. In that division, the territory now called Maine, was distributed to three of the Patentees ; Gorges' share extended from the Piscataqua to Kennebeck or Sagadehock, ; another portion was between Sagade- hock and Pemaquid, the third from Pemaquid to the St. Croix5 ; the proprietors of the two latter divisions are not named, and we have no evidence that any occupation was had by them under this title.
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On the 25th April 1635, a short time previous to the surrender of their charter, the council had a meeting at Whitehall, in London, at which they prepared a declaration of the reasons which induced them to take this important step, as follows6: " Forasmuch as we have found by a long experience, that the faithful endeavours of some of us, that have sought the plantation of New-England, have not been without frequent and inevitable troubles as companions to our under- takings from our first discovery of that coast to this present, by great charges and necessary expenses ; but also depriving us of divers of our near friends and faithful servants employed in that work abroad,
'Sul. 114, 304. 2Y. Rec. 31 Haz. 315. 4Beside the foregoing, a grant was made to Geo. Way and Thomas Purchase, between the Kennebeck and Androscog- gin rivers and Casco bay, but its date is not known ; the original having been long since lost, and no record remaining. It is referred to in very ancient deeds. This tract became the subject of long and bitter controversy between the Pejepscot pro- prietors and other claimants, which was not finally settled until about 1814. In 1753, several pamphlets were published by the opposing parties, containing the arguments on the question. Eleazer Way, in a deed to Richard Wharton, of his right as son and heir to George Way, 1683, alleged that Way and Purchase had a grant of the territory from the council of Plymouth.
'Gorges' Narrative. 6 Gorges' Nar. and 1 Haz. 390.
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whilst ourselves at home were assaulted with sharp litigious questions" both before the privy council and the parliament, having been presented " as a grievance to the Commonwealth ;" " the affections of the multitude were thereby disheartened ;" " and so much the more by how much it pleased God, about that time to bereave us of the most noble and principal props thereof as the Duke of Lennox, Marquis of Hamilton, and many other strong stayes to this weak building :" " then followed the claim of the French ambassador, taking advantage of the divisions of the sea coast between ourselves, to whom we made ". a just and satisfactory answer." "Nevertheless," they add, " these crosses did not draw upon us such a disheartened weakness, as there only remained a carcass, in a manner breathless, till the end of the last parliament," when the Massachusetts' company obtained their charter, and afterwards thrust out the undertakers and tenants of some of the council, " withal riding over the heads of those lords and others that had their portions assigned unto them in their late majesty's presence." After a further enumeration of grievances, too grievous to be borne, they say they found matters " in so desperate a case" by reason of the complaints made against them and the procedure in Massachusetts, that they saw no remedy for " what was brought to ruin," but for his majesty to take the whole business into his own hands. "After all these troubles, and upon these considerations, it is now resolved that the patent shall be surrendered unto his majesty."
In the same instrument, they provided for all existing titles made by them, and prayed the king to confirm the grants which they had divided among themselves. These were recorded in a book which accompanied the surrender.
In addition to the reasons set forth in the public declaration of the council, Ferdinando Gorges grandson of Sir F. Gorges, in " America painted to the life," has the following : " the country proving a receptacle for divers sorts of sects, the establishment in England complained of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and he was taxed as the author of it, which brought him into some discredit, whereupon he moved those lords to resign their grand patent to the king, and pass particular patents to themselves of such parts along the sea coast as might be sufficient for them."
The division of the territory among the patentees was made by lot on the 3d of February 1635', the grants were executed April 22d2,
11 Haz. 383. ^Ib. 1. Doug. 387.
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and on the 7th of June following, the president and council made a full surrender of their charter to the king. They did however urge upon the king the necessity of taking away the charter of Massachu- setts, and of appointing a general governour for the whole territory, to be taken from among the lord's proprietors1." The king assented to this plan, but the earnest opposition of the friends of Massachu- setts and the other New-England colonies, and the breaking out of the civil war, which by its immediate and pressing danger, engrossed the whole thoughts of the king and his government, prevented its being carried into execution.
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Capt John Mason to whom New-Hampshire had been assigned, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, seem to have been the only proprietors who pursued their separate grants with any zeal. But Mason was not long permitted to enjoy the fruit of his enterprise ; he died Nov. 26, 1635, and his private interest in his remote province, for the want of proper superintendance, and owing to the unfaithfulness of agents ,immediately declined".
Gorges lost no time to improve his acquisition. He gave to his province the name of New-Somersetshire, from the county in England, in which his estates were situated, and the same year sent over as governour, his nephew, Capt. Wm. Gorges3. The proprietor could establish no civil government without authority from the king, and Gorges therefore was indefatigable in procuring the necessary requisite for perfecting his title to the sovereignty as well as the soil of the province4. His labours for this object were not crowned with success until April 3, 1639. In the mean time, however, William Gorges arrived in the country, and held at Saco, March 21, 1636, the first court in this State, of which we have any record. The members of the court are styled commissioners, and the record commences as follows : " At a meeting of the commissioners in the house of Capt. Richard Bonighton, in Saco, this 21st day of March 1636, present Capt. Richard Bonighton, Capt. Wm. Gorges, Capt. Thomas Cammock, Mr. Henry Jocelyn, Gent. Mr. Thomas Pur- chase', Mr. Edward Godfrey6, Mr. Thomas Lewis7, Gent."
11 Haz. 381. 1 Wint. 161. 21 Belk. N. H. 27.An. of Ports.
"Joc. I Chron. Chalm. Annals 473. 4Geo. Vaughan's letter 1 Haz. 403. Belk. App. 5Cammock and Jocelyn had probably now moved to Black Point. Purchase lived in what is now Brunswick. 6 Godfrey lived at Agamenticus. 7 Lewis lived at Winter harbour. Y. Rec. Of Wm. Gorges, Chalmers says, " he ruled for some years a few traders and fishers with a good sense, equal to the importance of the trust."
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At this court four persons were fined 5s. each for getting drunk. George Cleeves was fined 5s for rash speeches, and " Mr. John Bonighton1 for incontinency with Ann, his father's servant, is fined 40s. and said Ann 20s. and he to keep the child." The jurisdiction of this court seems to have been coextensive with the limits of the province, the commissioners present being from each extremity, and from the centre. It does not appear that it was held by virtue of any commission, although that fact may be reasonably inferred. We have been able to find no record of this court later than 1637 ; but the few memoranda that have been preserved, prove to us that the early settlers, notwithstanding the smallness of their number, were influenced by the same litigious spirit and the same passions, which characterize a denser population, and a more refined state of society. Actions of trespass and slander occur frequently on the record.
In 1636, the court passed an order, "That every planter or inhab- itant shall do his best endeavour to apprehend or kill any Indian that hath been known to murder any English, kill their cattle or in any way spoil their goods, or do them violence, and will not make them satisfaction." While they were thus endeavouring to protect their own rights from the aggression of the natives, they were not unmindful of the duties they owed that race ; and the next year the same court ordered that Arthur Brown and Mr. Arthur Macworth make John Cosins2 give full satisfaction to an Indian for a wrong done him.
What sort of government or civil regulation existed, previous to the establishment of this court, we have no means of determining. Probably each plantation regulated its own affairs and managed its own police without aid from, or communication with the others. The usual mode in the other colonies in absence of higher authority, was by agreement among the settlers in writing, called a combination. Such was the course adopted at Plymouth, at Piscataqua, and in the western part of Maine in 1649: and it is believed from the following record, that this was done at Winter harbour : "Feb. 7, 1636. It is ordered that Mr. Thomas Lewis shall appear the next court-day at the now dwelling house of Thomas Williams, there to
1John Bonighton was the son of Richard ; he was notorious for turbulence and insubordination during his life. "Cosins was born 1596 ; The lived on an island near the mouth of Royall's river, in North-Yarmouth, which he bought of Richard Vines 1645, and which still bears his name, until he [was driven off in the war of 1675. He moved to York, where he died at a very advanced age after 1683.
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answer his contempt and to shew cause why he will not deliver up the combination belonging to us, and to answer such actions as are commenced against him." In the settlement upon the Neck, and at the mouth of Presumpscott river, the number of inhabitants was so small, that connected as the persons in each were to its head, there was probably no call for the exercise of civil authority before the existence of courts here. And in regard to the plantation on Rich- mond's island, we may suppose that Winter, under his general authority controled all its affairs.
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It appears by the records of the earliest court, that the forms of the trial by jury were observed, which have ever since continued, although in the early stages of our history, more power over issues of fact was assumed and exercised by the court, than is consistent with modern practice.
In the confirmation of Gorges' title by the king, in 1639, powers of government were conferred almost absolute1. In this charter, the name it now bears was first bestowed, in honour of the king's wife, who held a province of that name in France. It is described as extending from the Piscataqua river to the Kennebeck, and up those rivers to their furthest heads, or until 120 miles were completed, with all the islands within 5 leagues of the coast. The religion of the church of England was established as the religion of the province. The charter conferred upon Gorges an unlimited power of appoint- ment to office ; to make laws with the assent of the majority of the freeholders ; to establish courts from which an appeal laid to himself ; to.raise troops, build cities, raise a revenue from customs, establish a navy, exercise admiralty jurisdiction, erect manors, and exclude whom he chose from the province. Such powers were never before granted by any government to any individual, and he succeeded in procuring them by the most untiring efforts, all the other members of the council having failed to accomplish a similar object. His grand- son Ferdinando in his account of America" says, " he no sooner had this province settled upon him, but he gave public notice that if any would undertake by himself and his associates, to transport a compe- tent number of inhabitants to plant in any of his limits, he would assign unto him or them such a proportion of land as should in reason
1Haz. 1. 442. 2page 49.
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History of Portland.
satisfy them, reserving only to himself a small high rent as 2s. or 2s. 6d. for a hundred acres per annum."
The following extract from Sir F. Gorges' narrative, will show the manner in which he regulated the administration of the province: " 1st. I divided the whole into 8 bailiwicks or counties, and those again into 16 several hundreds, consequently into parishes and tythings as people did increase and the provinces were inhabited. The form of government. 1st. In my absence I assigned one for my lieutenant or deputy to whom I adjoined a chancellor for the determination of all differences arising between party and party, for meum and tuum, only next to him, I ordained a treasurer for receipt of the public revenue, to them I added a marshal for the managing the militia, who hath for his lieutenant, a judge marshal, and other officers to the marshal court, where is to be determined all criminal and capital matters, with other misdemeanours or contentions for matters of honour and the like. To these I appointed an admiral with his lieutenant or judge for the ordering and determining of maritime causes. Next I ordered a master of the ordnance, whose office is to take charge of all the public stores belonging to the militia both for sea and land, to this I join a secretary for the public service of myself and council. These are the standing councillors to whom is added 8 deputies, to be elected by the freeholders of the several counties, as councillors for the state of the country, who are author- ized by virtue of their places to sit in any of the aforesaid courts, and to be assistants to the president thereof1."
This magnificent outline was never filled up ; the materials were lamentably deficient. Gorges proceeded on the 2d Sept. 1639, to appoint his officers, and granted a commission at that time to Sir Thomas Jocelyn, Richard Vines, Esq. his steward general, Francis Champernoon2, Esq. his nephew, Henry Jocelyn and Richard Bonighton, Esq'rs. Wm. Hooke3 and Edward Godfrey, Gent. as
1 Narrative 46. This Narrative was written in 1640, and published by his grandson in 1658 ; he also says in it p. 50, " I have not sped so ill, I thank my God for it, but I have a house and home there ; and some necessary means of profit, by my saw-mills and corn-mills, besides some annual receipts, sufficient to lay the foundation of greater matters, now the government is established." . The unfortunate Knight did not anticipate so soon being deprived of his possessions and stripped of all his golden prospects.
2Champernoon lived in Kittery. JWm, Hooke lived in Agamenticus or Kittery. Sir Thomas Jocelyn, I think, never came to this country. I find no subsequent mention of him.
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Political affairs of the Province.
counsellors, for the due execution of justice in his province, and established in the same commission certain ordinances for their regulation1. Another commission was issued by him on the 10th of March following, in which the name of Thomas Gorges, whom he styles his cousin, is substituted for Sir T. Jocelin, but similar in other respects to the former. He gives as a reason for the new commission the uncertainty whether the other arrived, and his desire that justice might be duly executed in the province. The first commission did arrive, and a general court was held under it, at Saco, June 25, 16402, before Thomas Gorges reached the country. This was the first general court that ever assembled in Maine, and consisted of " Richard Vines, Richard Bonighton and Henry Jocelyn, Esq'rs. and Edward Godfrey, Gent. counsellors unto Sir Ferdinando Gorges Kt. proprietor of this province for the due execution of justice here." It does not appear that any deputies were present. The following officers were sworn at this court, viz. Vines, Bonighton, Jocelyn and Godfrey, as counsellors, Roger Garde, register, Robert Sanky, provost marshal, Thos. Elkins, under marshal, Nicholas Frost, constable of Piscataqua, Mr. Michael Mitton, constable of Casco, and John Wilkinson, constable of Black Point. This court had juris- diction over all matters of a civil or criminal nature arising within the province. At the first session there were 1S entries of civil actions and 9 complaints.
Thomas Gorges arrived in the course of the summer ; Winthrop3 says of him that " he was a young gentleman of the Inns of court, a kinsman of Sir F. Gorges, and sent by him with a commission for the government of his province of Somersetshire. He was sober and well disposed, and was very careful to take advice of our magistrates how to manage his affairs." He held his first court at Saco, Sept. 8, 1640, assisted by the counsellors before mentioned4. At this session there were pending 28 civil actions, of which 9 were jury trials ; and 13 indictments, which were tried by the court without the intervention of a jury ; 4 of them were against George Burdett, minister of Agamenticus, for adultery, breach of the peace, and incontinency, and what appears singular, Burdett recovered judgment in two actions for slander against persons for reporting the very facts for which he was at the same court found guilty and punished. The
1Sull. Appen. ?Y. Rec.
32 Winth. 9. 4Y. Rec.
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court passed an order that the general court should be held at Saco every year, on the 25th of June ; they also divided the province into 2 parts, one extending from the Piscataqua to Kennebunk ; the other from Kennebunk to Sagadehock ; and in each division established an inferior court, to be held 3 times a year, which had cognizance of all cases except " pleas of land, felonies of death and treason." An order also was passed that all the inhabitants "who have any children unbaptized should have them baptized as soon as any minister is settled in any of their plantations."
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-The government seemed now to have been placed on a respecta- ble footing, and to have afforded hope of permanency ; but in 1642, the civil war broke out in England, the influence of which extended to the colonies and destroyed all that Gorges had so long laboured to establish. He was a firm episcopalian and royalist, and joined the king's party with the same zeal which governed all his former life ; although he was more than 70 years old, he did not hesitate to buckle on his armour and trust himself once more to the chance of war in defence of his principles and the person of the king. But interested individuals were not idle to take advantage of this state of . things to aggrandize themselves, and to gratify feelings of jealousy and hatred against those who were unfriendly to them or stood in their way. Among such, circumstantial evidence would seem to place our first settler George Cleeves. Early in 1643, we find him in England, and the 7th of April of that year1, Col. Alexander Rigby, an ardent republican, and a member of parliament, purchased of the surviving proprietors of the province of Ligonia, or a part of them, a convey- ance of their charter. It is inferred that he was stimulated to this undertaking by Cleeves. Cleeves probably took advantage of political prejudices in England, to gain power in the province for himself ; he had not been noticed by Gorges among the officers of his government ; and with Trelawny and his agent he had openly quarrelled. He therefore addressed himself to Rigby, who had warmly espoused the republican side, and no doubt persuaded him to engage in the speculation of purchasing Ligonia, which was a dormant title, and under existing circumstances, but a nominal interest, in the hope that by the aid of political machinery, it might be elevated to a real and valuable estate. We are inclined to the opinion that
1Sul. 312.
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Political affairs of the Province.
Cleeves was active in this measure, because he was appointed by Rigby, his first deputy for the government of the province, and because he succeeded in obtaining a confirmation from him of the valuable grant in Falmouth, originally made to him by Gorges in 1637. Another circumstance which throws suspicion upon Cleeves, is an attempt upon the character of Richard Vines, the leading supporter of Gorges. On the 28th of April, 1643, he procured a commission from the parliament, directed to Gov. Winthrop, Arthur Macworth, Henry Bode1 and others, to examine into certain articles exhibited by him to parliament against Vines. It appeared at the court held in Saco in Oct. 1645, that Cleeves had himself affixed the names of the principal planters, viz. Macworth, Watts, Aulger, Hamans, West, Wadleigh, Wear, Robinson, &c. to the petition to parliament without any authority from them, and which they severally under oath in court, disclaimed ; declaring " that they neither saw nor knew of said articles until the said George Cleeves did come last out of England," and that they " could not testify any such things as are exhibited in the said petition." It does not appear that Gov. Winthrop accepted the commission, and Macworth and Bode, both refused to act. Cleeves arrived at Boston in 1643, with his com- mission from Rigby, to act as his deputy in the government of Ligonia2. Knowing that he should have to contend against an authority already established, he petitioned the general court of Massachusetts to afford him their protection. This they declined doing, but were willing that the Gov. should write an unofficial letter in his favour. They wished probably to render what assistance they could to a represen- tative of the popular party in England, without involving themselves in the result of its ill success. The letter of the Gov. did not have the desired effect of procuring the submission of Gorges' friends to the authority of Cleeves ; for when Cleeves proclaimed his commis- sion at Casco, and called a court there, Vines, the Deputy of Gorges, opposed his proceeding, and called a court at Saco. The inhabitants of course divided, those of Casco principally joined Cleeves, although some dissented as appears by an order of the court, held at Saco, Oct. 1645, assuring them of protection3. Vines was resolutely
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