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 II 1700-1833 > Part 33
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C. 15.] Biographical Notices.
of the town, was many years a justice of the peace, town treasurer in 1733 and 1734, and one of the selectmen 5 years. He died in 1750 in the 58th year of his age, leaving one son Henry. His widow married for her third husband James Gooding in 1753 and died in 1778. Henry his son married Mary Gooding January 3, 1764, who died the next year, and in 1767 he married Mary Lane. Henry, the son of the second Henry married Mary, a daughter of Major David Bradish, by whom he had one son and three daughters.
Westbrook, Col. Thomas, notices may be found of this gentleman in P. II. pp. 31, 38, 108.
Wiswall, Rev. John see P. II. pp. 48, 67. He married Mrs. Mercy Minot of Brunswick in 1761, by whom he had several chil- dren.
Wiswall, Enoch was admitted an inhabitant on the payment of £10 August 27, 1727, and had a house lot granted him in the upper end of Fore-street on which he lived and which is now possessed by his posterity.
Woodbury, Joshua was admitted an inhabitant Dec. 14, 1727, on the payment of £10 to the town treasury, he settled at Cape-Eliza- beth ; he married Mary Cobb in 1737.
Woodbury, Thomas was admitted on the same conditions in April 1728.
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APPENDIX.
No. I-Page 15.
To his Excellency Samuel Shute, Esq. Captain General and Governour in Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, and to the Hon. Council and House of Representatives, in Gen- eral Court assembled this 29th day of May 1717.
The petition of sundry proprietors of the township of Falmouthi, in Casco Bay, humbly sheweth, that your petitioners and their predecessors, formerly brought forward a good settlement in the said place, which had a hopeful pros- pect of being a strong and flourishing town, being very well and beyond most places accommodated for husbandry, navigation, fishery and the lumber trade; but the said Plantation was unhappily broken up and ruined by the French and Indian enemy, and now peace being restored, and several other settlements carrying on further eastward, your petitioners and others concerned with them to the number of upwards of thirty families, are desirous without delay, to go or send and rebuild the waste places, and resettle the lands, which they are excited to do the more speedily by reason that great strip and waste is daily made of the wood and timber in their! propriety to their great damage by ill minded persons, that frequently load vessels with the same. And your peti- tioners being informed that this Honourable Court have in their wisdom pass- ed an order that no settlement shall be made in those parts without their ap- probation ; do therefore now in obedience thereto humbly address your Ex- cellency and Honours, praying your allowance, countenance and favourable aspect on the designed settlement, which fo. their own security they deter- mine to make compact and in a manner as regular and defensible as may be, and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.
James Marriner, John Higginson
Timothy Thornton,
Philip Barger,
Jonathan Hudson,
John Smith,
Philip Breton,
Richard Pullen,
Ebenezer Thornton,
Thomas Walter, Mary Brackett,
John Brown,
Jacob Royall, John Young, John Secombe,
Joseph Mayleme,
Samuel Powsły,
Jacob Freese,
Samuel Sewall, James Bowdoin,
Thomas Haines,
Peter Secombe,
Nathaniel Webber,
Daniel Ingersoll,
The X mark of' Lewis Tucker sen'r. his
Wm. Thomas,
Solomon Townsend,
Stephen Boatincau in be- Benjamin Marston,
Tobias T Oakman,
half of themselves and George Felt, mark
about twenty other pro- Abraham Tilton,
William Scales,
prietors,
Joshua Marriner,
Matthew Scales.
George Ingersoll,
310-311
312
Appendix. [P. II.
In the House of Representatives June 13, 1717. Read and ordered, that the prayer of the petition be granted, and that the petitioners apply themselves to the committee appointed by this Court in June 1715 to prosecute the regu- lar settlement of the eastern frontiers for advice in the manner of their settle- ments. Sent up for concurrence.
JOHN BURRILL, Speaker.
June 1.1th, 1717. In Council, read and concurred.
JOSEPH MARION, Dep'y Sec'ry.
To His Excellency Samuel Shute, Esq. Capt. General and Governour in Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New Eng- land, and the Hon. the Council and Representatives in General Court as- sembled.
The memorial of the proprietors and settlers of the town of Falmouth, in Casco Bay, humbly sheweth, that by a petition of the proprietors of the town of Falmouth, in Casco Bay, to his Excellency the Governour, Council and Representatives in General Court assembled in May 1717, liberty was grant- ed to the said proprietors to resettle the said town, and in order thereunto the said proprietors are directed to apply themselves to a committee appointed in the year 1715, for to regulate the settlements of the eastern frontiers, for ad- vice in the manner of their settlements. That your memorialists have fully complied with the said direction, and yet notwithstanding we have repeated our applications to the said committee, the matter is still delayed, which has a tendency to great confusion in our settlements, and is a great discouragement to the proprietors and inhabitants of which there are a considerable number already upon the spot, that are very desirous of a good regulation.
That your memorialists also have been informed that a small number of the ancient proprietors of the town of North-Yarmouth (having been encouraged thereto, by some few of the proprietors of Falmouth, bordering upon them) have petitioned your Excellency and the General Court for liberty to settle a town at or near a place called Broad Cove, and so to extend to Presumpscot river, and have already taken possession, and have actually laid out lots (with- out approbation of the Government) by a committee chosen among themselves, that have no right or interests in said towns. That the greatest part of said tracts of land, your petitioners crave leave humbly to shew is within the an- cient bounds of the town of Falmouth, settled by the government, and con- tains at least an eighth part of our said town, together with a commodious stream for mills, the ancient privilege of said town ; which land and privilege, if we should be deprived of would tend greatly to our detriment and the dis- couragement of our settlement here. Your memorialists therefore humbly pray your Excellency and the Hon. Court now assembled, would take our circumstances into your considerations, that some proper method may be tak- en for our regular establishment as to our ancient bounds as well as in other respects by a committee fully empowered for that end, or by liberty granted to the proprietors and inhabitants here, to act as a town, which we humbly suppose would tend to our peaceable settlement, and prevent all unhappy differ-
313
Appendix.
ences and confusions among us ; but all is submitted to the wise considera- tion and determination of your Excellency, your Honours, and the General Court now assembled by your humble petitioners.
Job Harris,
Samuel Procter,
Elias Townsend,
Wm. Roberts,
Samuel Richardson,
John Lovett,
Richard Jones,
Benjamin Larrabee jun.
John Prichard,
Azor Gale,
Francis Danford,
Matthew Scales,
Philip Barger,
Mark Round,
Samuel Moody,
John King,
James Marriner,
Pelatiah Munjoy,
John Smith,
Adam Marriner,
Joshua Brackett,
Richard Pullen,
Simon Lovett,
Benjamin Larrabee,
Joseph Maylem,
Ebenezer Pratt,
John Savage,
Jacob Royall,
Richard Coller,
Elisha Ingersoll,
Jarvis Ballard,
Nathaniel Winslow,
Benj. Skillen,
Timothy Thornton,
Wm. Clap,
Richard Shute,
Ebenezer Thornton,
Wm. Scales,
Elias Hart,
Thomas Thomes,
Richard Willmott,
Daniel Ingersoll,
Ebenezer Hall,
John Wass,
John Gustin,
Thomas Davise,
Wm. Iluly,
Richard Richardson,
Samuel Carr,
Place Stevens,
Thomas Snell,
John Danford,
Jolın East,
Jonathan Danford,
James Mills,
In the House of Representatives June 18th, 1718. Read and ordered that Lewis Bane, Esq. and Capt. Joseph Hill be added to the committee formerly appointed to direct and regulate the eastern settlements ; any three of said committee (if no more be present) to have power to act in the said affair. Sent up for concurrence.
In Council June 19th, 1718. Read and concurred. J. WILLARD, Sec'y.
No. II-Page 21.
F
The names of the persons that were taken in by ye petitioners :
Joseph Langdon,
Henry Newell,
Benj. Ingersoll,
Wm. Mackey,
John Bish,
Ebenezer Roberts,
Edmund Clark,
Jacob Collens,
Samuel Jordan,
Ebenezer Gusten,
Samuel Bucknam jun.
Robert Jordan,
Andrew Barde,
Thomas Lewis,
Wm. Jemerson,
John Sawyer,
Thomas Cummings,
Wm. Jells,
Robert Burnell, Isaac Hoar,
Zac. Brackett,
John Gatchel,
James Doughty,
John Darling,
James Irish,
Edward Hall,
Wm. Stevens,
Benjamin Larrabee jr.
Wm. Trumble,
Thomas Armstrong,
Robert Mains,
Joseph Bean,
John Perey, Doct. Moody,
James Armstrong,
Dominicus Jordan,
John Clark,
John Armstrong, Abraham Ayres, Samuel Bucknam, George Burnes,
Wm. Davis,
Joseph Cromwell,
Ebenezer Cobb,
Benj. Blackston,
Randal Mc Donald,
Jonathan Cobb,
Joseph Moody,
Thomas Haskell,
Samuel Cobb, Peter Walton,
James Barber,
Jacob F'reese,
Richard Babston,
Thomas Millet,
John Jefferds,
Benjamin York,
Joseph Stanford, Joseph Thomes,
John Robbins,
Wm, Sevy,
Nathaniel Jordan.
John Oliver,
Simon Armstrong,
Richard Pumercy,
Jeremiah Riggs,
Moses Goold,
John Brown,
John Owen,
John Barber,
Thomas Hooper,
David Gusten,
John Graves,
Robert Williams,
JOHN BURRILL, Speaker.
314
Appendix. [P. II.
The names of ye persons taken in upon ye act of the town to pay ten pounds each.
George Clark,
Benj. Studley, Wm.Pep- Samuel Waldon,
Joseph Pride,
erell in his room. John Roberts, Joseph Smith, John Has- John Fabyan, kell in his room, Jeremiah Neal,
Ebenezer Woodward,
Stephen Randel, James Stanwood,
John Coolbroth,
Daniel Jackson,
James Davis,
James Babb,
Robert Bailey,
Samuel Davis,
Wm. Berry,
Joseph Cobb,
Joshua Woodbury,
John Clark,
James Wimand,
Anthony Coombs.
Samuel Haines,
Col. Thomas Westbrook, John Gazely, Jos. Plum- Martin Jose, mer in his room,
Joseph Fabyan,
Samuel Stone,
Matthew Patten,
John Hodgdon,
John Hurst,
John Marriner,
Samuel Libby,
Thomas Mosley,
Wm. Pote,
Wm. Vaughan,
Samnel Staples;
Aaron Plummer,
Benjamin Wright,
James Buxton,
John Fairfield,
Edmund Mountfort,
Edward Masten,
Joseph Dana,
Jacob Sawyer,
Samuel Wheelwright,
Timothy Woster,
John Thomes
Jeremiah Moulton,
John Gilbart,
Job Sawyer,
Enoch Wiswell,
James Dunevan,
Isaac Skillins,
Thomas Reding,
James Garland,
Chipman Cobb,
Edward Shove,
Wm. Elwell,
Anthony Brackett,
Thomas Franckes,
Jonathan Stanwood,
Samuel Topliff,
Ambrose Claredg, Rob- Wm. Knight, ert Barret in his room, Solomon Pearson, Robert Philip Hodgkins, Woodward in his room, Nathaniel Donnell, Henry Tuxburey, John Woodward,
Ephraim Foster,
Isaac How,
Joshua Brackett,
Jámes Webster,
John Drinkwater,
Joseph Emerson,
Robert Perce,
Tho. Bishop, Tho. Em- Robert Randal,
John Powell,
erson in his room,
Job Lewis,
Wm. Hide,
John Stevens, Stephen Lowell, James Brickell in his room, James Crocker,
Doct. Allen,
Jacob Adams,
Samuel Skillings,
John Sawyer jun.
John Salter, Henry
James Mackcaslen,
Benjamin Ray,
Wheeler in his room, John Polow,
Thomas Woodbury, Jolin White,
Tho. Seargant,
Tho. Dyer, Elijah Gie- Robert Thorndike,
John Curtice,
zen in his room,
Smith Woodward, Wm. Simonton,
Jedediah Hodgkins, John Lane, John Glover,
Richard Webber, Joseph Andrew Simonton, Nelson in his room, Wm. Graves, Wm. Rogers,
Joseph Bailey,
John Chapman, John Coy,
Gideon Lowell jr.
Francis Hull,
Wm. Weeks,
Samuel Lowell,
Joseph Connant,
John. Bailey, Robert Nason,
John Lowell, Franklin Michael Webber, John Dolover, James Simpson, Davis in his room, Jeremiah Hodgdon,
Isaac Couse
George How, Wm. Allen in his room,
Tho. Cock, John Cock in Ebenezer Hall, his room,
Ebenezer Hall jun.
Daniel Hodgkins,
John Millet,
Josiah Sikes,
Isaac Sawyer sen'r
Wm. White,
Solomon Pike,
Jonathan Fillbrook,
Y
315
Appendix.
No. III-Page 22.
To his Excellency Wm. Burnett, Esq. Capt. General and Governour in Chief in and over his Majesty's province of the Massachusetts Bay in New-Eng- land, and the Hon. the Council and House of Representatives in General Court assembled August 14, 1728.
The petition of the subscribers, the heirs or assigns of the ancient propri- etors of the town of Falmouth, in Casco Bay, for ourselves, and at the desire and in behalf of the other proprietors of said town, most humbly sheweth, that whereas the Hon. the Gov. and company of the late colony of the Massachu- setts Bay, proprietors of the Province of Maine appointed, and specially em- powered their committee to regulate and bring forward the settlements of the eastern part of that country as may appear of record. And whereas the Hon. Thomas Danforth, Esq. Commissioner and President of said Province, by pow . er and authority derived from the HIon. the Gov. and company of the said late colony of the Massachusetts Bay, on the twenty-sixth day of July, one thou- sand six hundred and eighty-four, did give, grant, convey and confirm the lands in Falmouth Township unto Capt. Edward Tyng, Capt. Sylvanus Davis, Mr. Walter Gendall, Mr. Thaddeus Clark, Capt. Anthony Brackett, Mr. Do- minicus Jordan, Mr. George Brimhall and Mr. Robert Lawrence, their heirs, and assigns forever as trustees, for and in behalf of the inhabitants of Fal- mouth as appears of record, and the said trustees or committee of said town, by virtue of the power and authority so delegated to them did proceed to lay out marry lots of land, and gave, granted and confirmed the same to sundry , persons, who builded thereon, and made improvement of until the late terri- ble war with the Indians, when the town was almost destroyed entirely, they having taken the fort and laid most of the houses in ashes, and what was as fatal to the true interest of your petitioners, the town book was then destroyed, for it cannot since be found ; so that it is a difficult matter to find out the whole number that were admitted settlers and proprietors by the trustees aforenamed. Your petitioners would further humbly set forth that they have at sundry times made application to this great and Hon. Court, viz. in the year 1715, 1717 and 1718, for their protection and authority in bringing forward an honest and regular settlement. That in the year 1715 the Court was pleased to appoint the Hon. Col. Wheelwright and others a committee to prosecute the regular settlement of the eastern frontiers, that upon the petitioners re- newed application in the year 1718, the Court were pleased to revive the said committee and fill up the vacancy of those that were deceased. The said committee on the 11th of November 1718, reported that it was absolutely ne- cessary that we should be vested with the power of a town by the metes and bounds, therein set forth and described in order for the establishing a method- ical proceeding in a fair and regular settlement of the said town, which report was accepted and confirmed ; and it was then further ordered that the inhabi- tants of the said town, for the time being, should have power to act in all town affairs, but with a proviso, so as not to prejudice or infringe on any just right
-
316
Appendix. [P. II.
or title that any persons have to lands there, and that fifty families at least more than now are, be admitted as soon as may be and settled in a regular and defensible manner, as by the said report, and order thereon herewith hum- bly exhibited more fully and particularly appears. Now your petitioners would with all humility remonstrate their lamentable and deplorable case to your Excellency and this great and Hon. Court, and doubt not but you will of your consummate wisdom and wonted goodness, find out some way to save our rights and estates, which we hold by force and virtue of our fair and hon- est purchases, of the assigns of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and the grant of the Hon. Thomas Danforth Esq. aforementioned President of the Province of Maine, by order and authority of the late colony of the Massachusetts, who purchased the Province of the assigns of said Ferdinando Gorges.
Since the late peace so happily established with the eastern Indians, there are numbers of people from almost all parts of the Province, and many others from beyond the sea have rolled in on your petitioners' estates like a flood, and under pretence of the authority of the vote of Court, of the 11th of No- vember 1718 aforesaid, for admitting fifty families at least, to settle in the said town, which your petitioners humbly conceive, must undeniably be done by their consent only who were and are the true proprietors of said town, and they have without the leave, consent or approbation of your suppliants the proprietors, in a most unjust and disorderly manner, set down on and possess- ed themselves of their known estates and settlements, which have been de- fended at the expense of the lives and blood of many of your petitioners' an- cestors and predecessors, and they are daily in the practice of these their un- just proceedings, for they now set themselves up not only as town inhabitants, but even proprietors of the lands, and admit such persons as they see cause into town ; and also allow others that are neither proprietors nor inhabitants, to vote in their meetings for town officers &c., and by these means get their votes and obtain their ends, and then grant away such parcels of your peti- tioners lands and known rights and ancient settlements, as they see cause ; also without any reservation or proviso, although the same was specially pointed at, and so wisely guarded and preserved to us by the vote of Novem- ber 11th, 1718 aforesaid, passed by this Court. Wherefore, your petitioners take leave to make known this their sad and unfortunate case to your Ex- cellency and Honours, and pray you would, of your wonted goodness, clem- ency and justice, interpose your authority in preserving our estates to us, and order that Mr. Danforth's deed may be deemed good to the trustees therein named, for the use specified and to those that hold under them, or that you would revive the said committee, viz. the Hon. Col. Wheelwright and others, or raise another with power to do what may be thought equal and just as to the bringing forward a fair and honest settlement in the said town, as it was your pleasure in the case of North-Yarmouth, our next neighboring town, whose case would have been as miserable as ours, had it not been for the hap- py effect of the power and prudence of that committee which is acknowledg- ed by the proprietors, and those that know the case of that town, and that you
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Appendix. 317
would also overrule the orders and votes of these people, who pretend to act in town affairs, choosing selectmen, creatures of their own, who will in a little time, if not prevented, grant away the whole township.
Your petitioners need not put you in mind of your exercising your paternal authority in such extraordinary cases of superseding town votes, as of the town of Sherburn, Haverhill, &c. On the whole your petitioners pray, and earnestly entreat they may find some speedy relief and redress in the premi- ses, from the authority of this great and General Court, nothing less than which will save us from ruin and destruction, and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.
Robert Jordan, Benj. Skillin,
John Sawyer,
Samuel Jordan,
Edward Tyng,
Thomas Westbrook,
Samuel Bucknam,
Wm. Thomas,
Wm. Cooper,
Nathaniel Jordan,
Jno. Robinson,
Jona. Sewall,
John Jordan,
Joseph Otis,
Joseph Calf,
Benjamin York,
Samuel Bucknam,
John Tyler,
Grace Marshall for the Joseph Maylem,
Samuel Sewall,
heirs of Geo. Brimhall, Elinor Pullen in behalf of Samuel Pousland,
Dominicus Jordan,
the heirs of Michael Thomas Fayrweather, in
John Robinson,
Mitton and Anthony behalf of Mr. Samuel
Jeremiah Jordan,
Brackett,
Waldo.
Thomas Jordan,
No. IV-Page 139.
Report of Committee and Resolves of Falmouth, February 3, 1774.
The committee on the subject of the communication from Boston after the destruction of the tea, made on the 3d of February, 1774, the following report :
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"That having too patiently waited a long time in hopes that the Governor would join the other branches of the Legislature in petitioning the king for a redress of American grievances, we now find it in vain still to hope or expect any relief through his means. Having therefo? ? considered seriously and at- tentively the general opposition throughout the continent, to some late acts of parliament, which lay taxes on us for the purpose of raising a revenue from us without our consent or opportunity of deliberating on the expediency there- of; we think it our duty which we owe our fellow countrymen and our pos- terity, to declare our sense and opinion in a matter which so highly concerns the welfare of the present generation and the happiness of our children yet unborn. First then, we declare it as our opinion that neither the parliament of Great Britain nor any other power on earth has a right to lay a tax on us but by our own consent, or the consent of those whom we may choose to rep- resent us. This is one of the most important articles of the glorious Magna Charta, the liberties of which we have a right inviolably to enjoy, and it is not only agreeable to the laws of God and nature, but it is interwoven in the con- stitution of the human mind.
40
318
Appendix. [P. II. .
In parliament we have none to represent us, and the great distance of Great Britain which is separated from this continent by a vast and hazardous ocean, renders it impossible that we ever can either in reason or equity. But to pre- vent the inconvenience which this want of representation would subject us to, we have by compact yet unbroken, by a charter which our forefathers pur- chased for us, a parliament of our own, or rather a supreme provincial court, where we are equally represented, and to whose laws, in obedience to the law of God alone ought we to be subservient. No man can serve two mas- ters. To be subject to two legislative powers, renders us liable to a double subserviency, which the nature of government does not require. A corrupt and disaffected ministry have hitherto attempted to enslave us, by bringing, or endeavoring to bring us to submit to acts of parliament, which they and some of our enemies, adders in our bosoms, had unjustly planned, and of which the late formidable stamp act was a manifest instance.
This has happily been repealed, but now, still determined to execute their mischievous schemes, they have let loose the monstrous East India Company upon us to devour us, who have begun their baneful commission, by endeav- oring to wash down the fatal pill with the bewitching, the unsalutary Bohea Tea, which they have sent out in large quantities to the different cities and principal towns on the continent to allure us with its gilded bait.
And here we cannot help expressing our resentment against some of our own countrymen who have been edging on their deep laid schemes. What encouragement must it give our enemies in Britain, when they find that men born and educated among us, have spoken enmity against us and have endeav- ored to represent us as rebels and disaffected subjects ? We believe ourselves to be as loyal subjects to his most gracious majesty King George the third, as any in his European dominions. To him we owe our firm allegiance, and his crown will we maintain to our latest breath. Nor do we desire to live free from the restraint of good government. We detest anarchy and confu- sion-but we say it again, we cannot think it just to be subject to the control of a parliament 3000 miles distant from us, who neither can either seasona- bly hear, or thoroughly be acquainted with the sit ation of our affairs.
It is with deep concern and uneasiness that we find ourselves reduced to this unhappy alternative, either to resist or yield-if we yield, we own the power that oppresses us and must forever submit to its despotic sway-if we resist, we oppose that same oppressive power, and must exert our resolutions with unremitted ardor for our own security. If we yield we detach ourselves from the general body of our fellow countrymen and must endure their just reproaches. We must suffer the evils which a servile submission will bring on us and our posterity, and convey. the brand of infamy and shame to suc- ceeding generations. We are therefore constrained by the sacred obliga- tions of patriotism, self preservation, and the tender ties of filial affection, to join our brethren of the several towns on the continent in opposing the opera- tion of these encroaching acts. Nature dictates, and reason directs, and conscience urges us to support our freedom ; our happiness depends upon it.
319
Appendix.
Our cause is just and we doubt not fully consonant to the will of God. In him therefore let us put our trust ; let our hearts be obedient to the dictates of his sovereign will, and let our hands and hearts be always ready to unite in zeal for the common good and transmit to our children that sacred freedom which our fathers have transmitted to us, and which they purchased with their purest blood.
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