USA > Maine > The history of the state of Maine; from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive, Vol. I > Part 32
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mence a rash attack ; yet should he, we trust in a God, who is A. D. 1645, the infinite arbiter of justice. When the messenger furthermore informed d'Aulney, that the treaty negociated by Marie, had been ratified by the Commissioners of the United Colonies, he utterly refused to give it the sanction of his own signature, till all difficulties were settled. Still, said he, ' so much more is ' honor with me than emolument, that I will wait for an explan- ' atory answer till next spring ; and in the mean time, there shall ' be no act of hostility on my part.'
Impossible as it evidently was to enjoy peace and a free trade, with both the contending Generals at the same time; the Gover- nor and magistrates of Massachusetts resolved upon farther ne- gociation rather than war, so long as it could be managed upon honorable grounds. The place and manner were questions of de- bate. Some thought it would neither be wise nor consistent with the rules of etiquette, to go and treat with d'Aulney in his own castle, supposing Pemaquid would be a fitter place. Others saw an expediency in such approaches to one, who professed to stand so much upon his ' honor ;' when he, being apprized of their delib- erations, sent them a note, to trouble themselves no farther upon the subject, for he should commission messengers in due time, to wait upon them and settle difficulties.
The delay was long and unexpected, extending even to the 1646. 20th of the next September, (A. D. 1646,) when three commis- sioners of his, Marie, Louis, and his Secretary, arriving in Bos- ton, were received with all the testimonies of respect due to their seus. master. After a review of mutual grievances, the commission- ers, in the sequel, demanded £800 damages, for injuries done d'Aulney at different times. But the Governor and magistrates thought the colonists were the greater sufferers :- nevertheless, to evince their high sense of justice and honor, and to give d'Aulney satisfaction, on a re-establishment of the former treaty, they made him a flattering present. This was an elegant sedan worth 40 or £50, which being sent by a Mexican Viceroy to his sister in the West Indies, fell into the hands of Capt. Cromwell, and was presented by him to the Governor .*
By protracting the negociation, d'Aulney had been successful in deterring the English colonists from trading at St. John's, or and la Tour. D'Aulney
* Hubbard's N. E. p. 496.
Sept. 20. d'Aulney treats with Massachu-
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A. D. 1646. affording his enemy succours. His vigilance was unremitting ;- he being often made acquainted, probably by the treacherous friars, with every movement and the true condition of la Tour ; who himself appeared to be destitute both of prudence and sagacity. Finding his provisions short in the close of the winter, he ventured to cruise from place to place in search of supplies ; leaving his fort and his estate in the care of his wife ; who, though a wise and valiant woman and a discreet manager, well worthy of his unlimited confidence, was at this time greatly needing and highly deserving the experience and energetic assistance of a hus- band, in trials so severe and fatal.
A. D. 1647.
In April, General d'Aulney, at a favorable moment, again brought all his naval force into the harbor of St. John's ; and commenced with great spirit a cannonade of the fort. In the assault twelve of his men were killed and several were wounded. But against all opposition, he was able finally, after a short though severe siege, to scale the walls, when he made la Tour's wife a prisoner ; putting, it is said, all the others, both English and French to the sword. The amount of plunder, consisting of ordnance, plate, jewels, household-stuff, and other personal prop- erty, which he carried away, probably exceeded £10,000.
D'Aulney captures la Tour's fort.
This catastrophe taught la Tour the folly of presumption. Exposed as he was at all times to capture ; duty and honesty as well as prudence, required him to make the hands of friends the depositories of his effects : For, in this event, his own ruin was not all. Many New-England merchants, who were his creditors, were compelled to place their debts on the leaf of total loss. One of the greatest sufferers was Gibbons, whom he was owing more than £2,500, for monies and means furnished him, four years before, when he was in great distress. To secure himself more amply, Gibbons had taken, May 13, 1645, a revised mort- gage of all his debtor's real and personal estate in Acadia ; ex- cepting his frigate and a territory, about 72 miles square, upon the westerly end of the great peninsula. Of all the property so pledged, he also took formal possession, the same year ; yet he derived thence no avails towards the repayment or discharge of his demand .*
* La Tour gave Gibbons an inventory and deed of his personal estate, vessels, barques, and boats, conditioned, that if he paid Gibbons £2,084, and
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The end of la Tour's accomplished wife was tragical. Driven A. D. 1647, from her native country by the sword of catholic persecution, and Death of la separated from her husband in a season of the greatest anxiety and trouble, she soon sunk under the weight of her complicated afflictions. Her home and her estate were gone-she was bereft of all that was dear or desirable in life-her lofty spirit could not endure the ideal dishonor of imprisonment, in the castle of her most inveterate enemy-and, within three weeks after she was made a prisoner, she died of grief.
'Tour's wife?
Her wretched husband visited Newfoundland, in eager hopes La Tour's of assistance from Sir David Kirk," a great trader of the age. absence. villainy and Being unable in that way to obtain encouragement, he took pas- sage in one of his vessels for Boston; where he had the courage to present schemes to his former friends for reviving his fortune, and to urge his pleas for the necessary help. He found several merchants, who still had confidence in his integrity ; and some of them, at length, furnished him with a vessel, manned by Englishmen and Frenchmen, under a master who was neither, and supplied with commodities suitable for the Indian traffic, worth £400.
La Tour sailed about the middle of winter for the Nova Scotia peninsula; and when he had arrived opposite Cape Sable, he de- veloped the baseness of his soul. Consummate in the arts of in- trigue and disguise, he conspired with the master and five of his own countrymen to drive the Englishmen ashore, and run away with the vessel and her cargo. In executing the piratical project, he was violently resisted ; and fought in person, shooting one En- glish sailor in the face with his own pistol.
This part of the crew, so barbarously turned adrift in the depth of winter, wandered up and down the coast, 15 days, in extreme suffering ; till unexpectedly they were met by a party of Mick- mack Indians, who treated them with a generosity highly credita- ble to the attributes of human nature. It is their due, further to add, that they manifested great nobleness in their conduct ;+ for they received the forlorn mariners into their wigwams, re-
the interest, by Feb, 20, 1652, the estate was to be again la Tour's .- 1 Haz. Coll. p. 541-4-where the indenture is entire and the bond in latin.
* See Ante, A. D. 1628.
t Hubbard's N. E. p. 498.
VOL. I. 28
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A. D. 1648. freshed them with venison and the best food they had, kindly loaned them a shallop, and provided an Indian pilot, to assist them in getting home. Yet it was not till the following spring, (1648,) three months after they left Boston, that these unhappy men, with all their exertions, and the kind assistance of the natives, were enabled to effect a safe return. La Tour went to parts unknown; some supposing he had taken a trip to Hudson's bay ;*- as nothing was heard of him for more than two years.
Natives and the French. But though the Mickmacks of that Province were at this period friendly to the whites of all nations ; the French found in the Mohawks a most deadly scourge. That ferocious and brave people, no force had been formed in Canada sufficient to sub- due. No arts could tame them .- Massachusetts, though re- quested by the Canadian Governor, wholly declined any inter- ference, for, 'never,' said she, ' have the Mohawks done wrong ' to the English, and they may always be a barrier in cases of emer- 'gency or rupture.' Even Father Dreuillettes, the great apos- tle to the Indians of Nova Scotia, was sent to Boston from Can- ada upon the same errand, without success .- Consequently, after the Mohawks had succeeded in subduing the Hurons, they determined to extirpate entirely the Canadian French, by a gen- eral massacre.+ Alarmed by this news, the latter endeavored to shield themselves against destruction, by redoubling their ef- forts to secure the good-will of all the other natives within their acquaintance ; displaying much apparent friendship ; applying the arts of catholic worship ; and inducing the sanctimonious Jesuits, to accommodate their zeal and instructions to the same desirable end : and thereby, no doubt, a much greater degree of French influence was attained among them,-especially among the Al- gonquins and the Eastern tribes. On the other hand to check the current, and inculcate, if possible, the protestant doctrines with more effect ; a " Society for propagating the Gospel in New-England," among the natives, by visits, schools, and ser- A. D. 1649. mons, was incorporated, A. D. 1649, by act of Parliament.
No other place in this eastern region was so much the resort of catholic missionaries, as the fortress of d'Aulney. He was for several years sole ruler of the country, and a religious zealot. But we hear little of him during the last four years of his life.
* Sullivan, p. 282. + T. Jeffrys, p. 100 .- 3-3 .- 1 Holmes' A. Ann. p. 344.
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He died, A. D. 1651 ; and the next year, la Tour returned and A. D. 1650, married his widow. 1651, 1652.
All the former possessions of la Tour in Nova Scotia, being La Tour now resumed by him ; very strong expectations were entertained in marries the Massachusetts and Maine, that he would do his creditors justice. d'Aulney. widow of But they were wholly disappointed. La Tour thought more of present enjoyment, than of old friends. During his second con- nexion, he had several children,-he was seldom absent from his Province ; and when the only daughter and child of his wife, by her former husband, became a canoness of St. Omers, she bequeathed to her half brothers and sisters her whole inheritance.
Twelve years' predatory warfare between two ambitious rivals, -the subjects of the same crown, produced effects highly inju- rious to the settlements in the Province of Maine, and the plan- tations farther eastward. Sometimes they committed great wrongs and even depredations ; their menaces frequently excited alarming apprehensions ; free trade was interrupted ; and it was always difficult for the people, so to adjust their conduct by the maxims and rules of prudence, as to keep themselves out of the quarrel. The principles of d'Aulney's great and boasted honor were uniformly the servants of passion or interest.
He furnished the natives with firearms and ammunition, The natives and taught them the great power and use of the gun .* His glish mis- and the En- priesthood, consisting wholly of friars, made the savages be- sionaries. lieve, that catholic rites and ceremonies were the essentials of religion ; and that the dictates of the missionaries were equiva- lent to the precepts of Divine authority. Whereas the orthodox puritans carefully withheld from the Indians the hunting gun, so necessary among them to obtain the supports of savage life ; while their pious missionaries very honestly instructed them, that real religion consisted in regenerating the affections of the heart; in the immaculate purities of life ; and in the practices and dispositions towards others, which we would wish them to exhibit towards us. But these were refinements, which the un- tutored, unenlightened savages could not understand. The usages of retaliation had acquired a kind of sanctity among them, which they believed nature herself tolerated. Indulgences, and super- stitious forms, as allowed by the Jesuits, were altogether more
* 1 Hutchinson's Hist. p. 127-159.
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A. D. 1652. accordant with their notions and habits, than the self-denying doctrines of restraint, and the rigid precepts of reform, as taught by the protestant missionaries.
The French Settlements.
Since this region has been in the occupancy of the French, neither the settlements at Penobscot, at Mount Desert, at Machias, at St. Croix, nor the places eastward,* had flourished. Most of the French emigrants were ignorant, poor and unenterprising ; the government was of a despotic military character ; and the com- manders, as we have seen, were perpetually contending. The social regulations were under the direction of the ecclesiastics ; rights and wrongs were not treated nor regarded in a proper manner ; and no man of good sense and intelligence dwells con- tentedly, where life and property are insecure.
* These were at St. Johns, Quako, Petudiac, Gaspe, Port-Royal, le Heve, Cape Sable and other places.
N. B. Mr. Vines who was ill-treated and suffered by these Frenchmen, la Tour and d'Aulney, removed to Barbadoes, West Indies ;- where he retrieved his pecuniary circumstances ; and in 1647-8 wrote letters to Gov. Winthrop, who appears highly to esteem him -See these letters in Folsom's Saco and Biddeford, p. 71-3.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Four civil divisions of this Eastern Country-Province of Maine as bisected-The people combine-Governor, Councillors and ad- ministration-Lygonia under Rigby-Cleaves his Deputy-Pres- ident-The Court of Assistants-Death of Rigby-Sagadahock territory-Pemaquid patent and the Drowne right-The Brown and Tappan Rights-Parker's Island, Arrowsick and Jeremy- squam-Wiscasset-Cowseagan Claim-Evils of conflicting titles -Penobscot country-The four different characters of govern- ment, within the limits of the present Maine.
IN returning to the civil history of Maine, we are necessarily A. D 1647. reminded of the four great political sections into which we find it to 1648. divided. These are, 1, the restricted province of Gorges, extend- Civil Divis- ions. ing to Kennebunk river ; 2, Lygonia; 3, The Sagadahock terri- tory; and 4, the region between the waters of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy.
The Province of Maine, bisected in the manner previously
1st. The stated, was laboring under great discouragements. The people Province of were troubled and disheartened. Unable satisfactorily to deter- Maine. mine what course of measures to pursue, the Provincial author- ities, in June, 1647, addressed a letter to the Lord Proprietor ; stating the unhappy condition into which the late decision in favor of Rigby had thrown his plantations, and requesting him to give them instructions in this emergency.
But they received no reply. They knew he was a man of The Ad- advanced age ; and a crown officer in the civil wars then raging in England. Furthermore, a rumor of his death was in circula- tion, the origin or truth of which could not be satisfactorily ascer- tained. In this state of doubt and suspense, it was considered most prudent, to act under the charter ; and accordingly a Gen- eral Court was convoked at Wells, October, 1648, when Edward Godfrey was re-elected Governor ; and Richard Leader, Nicholas Shapleigh, Thomas Withers," and Edward Rishworth, who had
* Sullivan writes his name " Withers," p. 320 -- 343 .- He lived in Kit- tery.
ministration
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A. D. 1648. been Councillors the two preceding years, were again chosen to the same office. As soon as the government was organized, anoth- er address was prepared and transmitted to England, with more earnest solicitude for directions in their political affairs. An anxious year elapsed without any return, and without any further intelligence, than the confirmation of Sir Ferdinando's death.
The certainty of this event induced the people of Wells, Geor- geana, Kittery, and perhaps the Isles of Shoals, to hold a popular A D. 1649. convention at Georgeana, in July (1649) for the purpose of a general consultation ; when a discussion was had upon their rights, duties, and difficulties. 'To promote the settlement and the ' greatest good of the country, has been,' said they, 'our un- ' changing purpose ; in which we have endeavored to manage ' and regulate its affairs, according to the express powers given in ' the charter to the Lord Proprietor ; the ordinances established ' by him and the Provincial General Court; and the laws and ' usages of England. But most of his Charter Councillors have ' departed the Province-the Parliament of England has com- ' manded us, not to intermeddle with the patent to Mr. Rigby- ' and since Sir Ferdinando's death, no instructions have been re- ' ceived, nor can any be reasonably expected from the parent ' country, so long as it is filled with its present distractions, and ' involved in civil war.'
Social Com- pact form- ed.
Doubts were entertained too, whether the powers of the charter, or at least the administration of government, did not expire with the Lord Proprietor ; and perhaps the inhabitants were fearful of displeasing Parliament, if they acted under that instrument .- Therefore, after premising that the privileges of Agamenticus, or Georgeana should be preserved entire, they formed themselves into a ' Social Compact,' thus :- " We, with our free and volun- " tary consent, do bind ourselves in a body politic and combina- " tion, to see these parts of the Country and Province regulated, " according to such laws as have formerly been exercised, and " such others as shall be thought meet, but not repugnant to the " fundamental laws of our native Country."*
It was further ordained, that a Governor and five or six Coun- cillors, magistrates or assistants, should be annually chosen, " by most voices," or majorities of the voters; and in proceeding to
* 1 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. p. 103.
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an immediate election, they chose the same Governor and Coun- A. D. 1649. cillors, who had filled the offices the preceding year ;- Mr. Rishworth being re-appointed Secretary or Recorder. Thus or- ganized anew, the administration was continued in the same hands, the two following years ; during which, the proceedings were conformed substantially, to the provisions of Gorges' char- ter, and the usages already prevailing. Determined, according to the dictates of wisdom and prudence, to be obedient subjects to the predominant powers of the realm, they professedly approved of their measures ; and when they heard, that Charles their sov- ereign was no more, and that the reins of government were in the hands of the Commons, they readily took directions from that Body.
The Lygonian Province embraced a far greater extent of 2d. The territory, than that of Maine as lately restricted, and probably as Lygonia many inhabitants ; but in neither of the governments, were the ernment. lines distinctively drawn between the departments of legislation, of judicature, and of executive authority. The same tribunal made laws-tried causes-and carried their sentences into exe- cution. The administration under Gorges possessed the most of system and energy ;- that under Rigby was the most popular ; and both were regularly organized. Rigby's politics and the sentiments of his provincial officers, were happily in unison with the triumphant republicans in England, and the puritan rulers in Massachusetts .*
* So much only of the records of the General Assembly in this Province [Lygonia] have, on diligent inquiry, been found, as to shew, that its pro- ceedings were conducted with regularity. For instance, a " petition of Robert Jordan to Alexander Rigby, President, George Cleaves, Deputy- President, together with the whole body of the General Assembly of Lygonia, assembled this 22d day of September, 1648," &c .- was " referred by this Assembly, September 24, to a Committee of this House, viz. to Mr. George Cleaves, Mr. William Royal, Mr. Richard Foxwell, and Mr. Henry Watts, to be set on the 10th of October next, at Richmond's Island, to make report of the state of things petitioned for, to this Court at the next Sessions ; under the hand of the clerk of the Assembly, Peyton Cook." The Committee made their report, in December following, and the decree of the Court upon it, was afterwards adjudged legal and valid, by the au- thorities of Massachusetts .- So 'at a Court holden at Black-point, the last day of May, 1648, touching the administration of P. Cooke, upon the estate of R. Williams, this entry is found :'-" We the judges for the Province of Lygonia, do by our authority, ratify and confirm unto the
Province of
and its gov-
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A. D. 1649. George Cleaves, under the title of Deputy-President, was chief- magistrate of Lygonia, from the time of purchase to the death of Col. Rigby. The Court of Assistants, in 1650-1, so far as we can learn, seem to have been Robert Jordan, an episcopal minister of Casco; Arthur McWorth of Presumpscot ;* Henry Joscelyn of Black-point, who was a Councillor under Gorges, and might have become reconciled to Rigby ; Thomas Williams and Robert Boothe, both of Saco, and Morgan Howell of Cape- Porpoise :- John Wadleigh, Jonas Baily, Thomas Morris and Hugh Moseer, were men of some distinction; yet, if they were clothed with any public trust, their political or official character is not ascertained. Cleaves, it is believed, held his Court principally at Casco and at Saco ; t-the latter place having been the seat of government under different administrations, since A. D. 1636. Sir Alexander Rigby died in August, 1650, both esteemed and lamented. Besides having a seat in Parliament, and a Colo- nel's commission-he was admitted to an order of knighthood, and thus acquired the title of " Right honorable Sir," appurte- nant to the honor conferred.
A. D. 1650. Sir Alexan- der Rigby's death,
3d. Saga- dahock ter- ritory.
The Sagadahock territory included several parts and settle- ments, connected by no particular bond of union or government. It extended from Kennebeck river to Penobscot. The principal plantation within its limits was Pemaquid,-a place of general resort for mariners and fishermen in the contiguous waters, and often visited by persons passing and repassing in vessels, between the French settlements and the English towns and harbors west- ward. It was the seat of government within the patent, to El- bridge and Aldsworth, and had been settled a fourth part of a century or more. The chief magistracy was still in the hands of Abraham Shurte, Esq. whose administration, with a few select
said P. Cooke, the aforesaid administration, according to the full tenor thereof. Witness our hands, under our Provincial Seal, the day and year above written. (Signed) G. CLEAVES,
H. JOSCELYN, R. JORDAN." See Folsom's Saco, &c. p. 61.
* Mc Worth's house erected about 1633, was on the main land, 3 or 4 miles southwardly of Clapboard Island .- 2 Mass. Rec. p. 240.
+ One of the late entries of this Court of Lygonia was in 1648-Jordan ad'm. of Winter's Estate against Trelawney ; and execution was ex- tended on lands in Casco, Purpooduck and Spurwink, before mentioned.
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Assistants, was rather an advisatory conservation of the peace, A. D. 1650. than that of distributive justice and executive command.
The Pemaquid patent itself was ultimately resolved, into what Pemaquid has been called the " Drowne Claim." It was originally a joint- patent or tenancy to Robert Aldsworth and Giles Elbridge, and enured claim, wholly to the latter by survivorship. When his son, John El- bridge, who inherited it, died, he devised it Sept. 11, 1646, to his brother Thomas, afterwards a resident for a period at Pema- quid. In 1650, the latter mortgaged Monhegan and Damaris- cove to Richard Russell ; and at the same time sold half of the patent, half of the household furniture, and half of the cattle to Paul White, for £200. Immediate possession was given by Thomas Elbridge's attorneys, Henry Joscelyn and Robert Jor- dan, in presence of Arthur Mc Worth, and Friend Lister. On the 27th of April, 1653, Elbridge and White, conveyed their re- spective moieties to said Russell and one Nicholas Davison ; and the latter taking a conveyance from Russell, in 1657, of all his right, became the sole proprietor of the Pemaquid patent. One of his daughters married with Shem Drowne, and hence the origin of this claim. It embraced " all the town of Bristol, and part " of the towns of New-Castle and Nobleborough."*
" The Brown Right" is another important claim. It has its origin in a deed from a couple of Sagamores, July 15, 1625, to right. John Brownt of New-Harbor. Its southerly line or boundary, ran from Pemaquid falls to Brown's house, on the eastern shore ; and from this line extended northerly 25 miles, including Muscongus Island, and covering " the most of Bristol, all the towns of No- " bleborough and Jefferson, and part of the town of New-Castle.', Brown, in August, 1660, conveyed to one Gould and his wife, eight miles square, about midway of the original grant; and Wil- liam Stilton, who married their daughter, lived on the premises about the year 1720. John Brown, the namesake and heir of
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