USA > Maine > The history of the state of Maine; from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive, Vol. II > Part 38
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* See ante, A. D. 1615 to 1675, vol. I, Chap. 18-Gov. Speech, May, 1764. -Major Treat, a great trader with the Indians at Penobscot and early ac- quainted at Fort Pownal, supposes the number of Indians on this river after this period must have exceeded 700 souls.
t Chubb's Sketches of N. Brunswick, p. 100-5 -Manack was with the In- dians 40 years ; he supposed there were, in 1763, as many as 14 chiefs among the Mickmaks.
CHAP. XIV.]
OF MAINE.
373
thorough nor very correct. There were many who were not A. D. 1764. without their scruples of its being equally presumptuous in the Census of present age, as in the days of the Israelites. Nor were there Maine. any orders for enumerating the people in plantations, therefore they were all omitted. But by the census returned and by esti- mation, the whole population in Maine was then about 24,000 souls .*
* IN YORK COUNTY.
White Inhab'ls.
Families.
Houses. Negroes.
York,
2,277
397
272
56
Kittery,
2,358
372
288
62
Wells,
1,563
251
219
34
Berwick,
2,374
364
222
44
Arundel,
833
138
127
5
§ Biddeford,
627
116
87
12
Pepperelboro', [Saco,]
538
96
66
2
*Towwoh, [Lebanon,]
200
*Phillipstown, [Sandford,]
150
*Buxton,
225
--- 11,145
CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Falmouth,
3,770
585
460
44
North-Yarmouth,
1,079
188
154
18
Scarborough,
1,272
201
200
15
Brunswick,
304
173
73
4
Harpswell,
836
111
55
14
*New Boston, [Gray,]
160
*New-Gloucester,
175
*Windham,
250
*Gorhamtown, (Plan.)
340
*Piersontown and Hobbs- town, [now Standish,]
10
-8,196
LINCOLN COUNTY.
Pownalborough,
889
175
161
9
Georgetown,
1,329
184
180
12
Bowdoinham,
220
37
38
1
Woolwich,
415
63
64
Newcastle,
454
69
69
1
Topsham,
340
52
54
1
*Gardinertown, [Hallowell, -
Gardiner and Pittston.]
200
*Townshend, [Boothbay ;]
Pemaquid, or Harrington,
300
[Bristol ;] and Walpole,
*Broadbay, Georgekeag,
[Thomaston and War-
200
ren,] Meduncook,
[Friendship.]
4,347
23,688
3,572
2,789
332
Add Blacks,
332
Total-24,020
Census published in C. Cen- tinel, A. D. 1822.
In 1764, the population of Nova Scotia was 13,000 .- 1 Haliburton's N. S. p. 243 : In 1772, 18,300 .- 1b. p. 250.
N. B .- Those of this (*) mark are by estimation.
374
THE HISTORY
[VOL. II.
A. D. 1764. 3 towns in- corporated. Topsham.
The towns incorporated in 1764, were TOPSHAM, January 31 ; GORHAM, Oct. 30 ; and BOOTHBAY, Nov. 3,-all being planta- tions of considerable note .*
Topsham, bearing the name of a town in England, was so cal- led before its incorporation. In its peninsular form, it extends on the water to the river Cathance. Its territory is a part of the Pejepscot purchase. There were at an early period, probably soon after Queen Anne's war, three families settled in Topsham, one at Fulton's point, one at Pleasant point, and one at the head of Muddy river. They lived on good terms with the Indians till there was a general rupture with them ; when one of the set- tlers, returning home and finding his family murdered, went to St. Georges and thence to Europe. Giles, the one settled at Pleasant point and his neighbor at Muddy river, were with their families destroyed, except Giles' children, who were carried into captivity. ; The settlement was renewed in 1730, by the Scotch and Irish emigrants ; and in 1750, there were in the place 18 families. By profession they were presbyterians, and in 1759, the people built a house for the convenience of public worship.t
Gorham.
Gorham was granted, A. D. 1735, in lieu of what was called one of the Canada townships, which was found to lie in New- Hampshire, on running the line between this and that Province. It was so named out of respect to Capt. John Gorham,t who was ancestor to some of the grantees. The first settler was Capt. John Phinney ; whose fourth daughter, Mary Gorham, § born Aug. 13, 1736, in the second year of his residence there, was the first English birth in the place. The settlers in a short time ' built a garrison on Fort-hill' about a mile from the pres-
* These were the 19th, 20th, and 21st towns corporate in this State.
t See ante, A. D. 1725 .- A Church was organized in 1771, and Rev. Jonathan Ellis settled in 1789. Topsham was for many years connected with Brunswick in its parochial affairs .- [See A. D. 1738.]-The town was first represented in the General Court, A. D. 1775, by James Fulton. -Letter of Rev. J. Ellis.
# William Tyng, son of Commodore Edward Tyng, sheriff of Cumber- land county, from 1767 to 1775,-a refugee to Nova Scotia, where he was Chief Justice of the C. Com. Pleas, removed to Gorham in 1793, and died there, Dec. 8, 1807, a humane man and an exemplary christian .- 10 Coll. M. His. Soc. p. 185.
§ She died, 1825, a lady of great piety,-the wife of Capt. James Irish.
375
OF MAINE.
CHAP. XIV.]
ent village ; which in the subsequent Indian wars, was the A. D. 1764. asylum and only place of safety for their families .*
Boothbay is the ancient Cape-newagen settlement, situated Boothbay. between the Damariscotta and Sheepscot. It is supposed to have been first settled about 1630-1-2 ;- a few years after there were inhabitants at Pemaquid. A part or all of the peninsula was purchased in 1666, of the famous Sagamore Robinhood, by one Henry Curtis ; and in 1674, when the County of Devonshire was established, this was one of the principal plantations. It was wholly overrun by the savages, in the second Indian war, about A. D. 1688 ; and subsequently lay waste 40 years. On its re- vival under Col. Dunbar, in 1729, he gave it the name of Towns- hend. Rev. John Murray, a native of Ireland, was a burning light to this people, for 15 years prior to 1779, when he removed to Newburyport ;- a minister whose piety was as incense both at the fireside and the altar.f
* Gorham was " Narraganset No. 7." (See ante, A. D. 1733.) It was surveyed in 1762 .- But there were in the plantation only ten families in 1746, and reduced at one time to four. The usual number of persons during the 5th Indian war was about 60 men, women and children, besides 10 soldiers. For seven years, they were mostly confined to a small fort. In 1750, they were visited with a fever, so severe, that scarcely one man was able to stand sentry. Men had their guns beside them in the field ; and when they travelled, it was by night through fear of an ambush. Yet Gorham now is a distinguished town, having in 1827, 509 rateable polls; 8 mills ; one cotton and one powder factory ; 18 school districts ; a flourishing academy, with ample funds, and a handsome library ; four meet- ing houses-one for methodists-one for congregationalists-one for bap- tists-and one " free meeting house ;" also six ministers of the gospel. It is an agricultural town-where are large stocks of cattle and large or- chards. The first settled minister was Rev Solomon Lombard, ordained in 1750. He was also the first representative to the General Court, chosen in 1767. The same year, Rev. Josiah Thatcher was ordained with a settle- ment of £100 and a salary of £80; succeeded Oct. 1783, by Rev. Caleb Jewett ; in 1803 by Rev. Jeremiah Noyes ; in 1809 by Rev. Asa Rand .- MS. Let. Hugh D. McLellan, 1827.
+ Boothbay has passed through great vicissitudes. But " no part of the " lands within that town or Edgecomb fell within the lines of the three " claims," under Drown, Tappan or Brown. But Dunbar claimed the township till ousted .- Com. Rep. A. D. 1811, p. 24 .- Dunbar made grants to M'Cobb and Rogers, who procured settlers, whose " descendants form " most of the inhabitants of Boothbay." Early reservations were made for a meeting-house lot, burying ground, and train field ; also, according to usage, 200 acres for the ministry, and £100 were to be allowed and mid
376
THE HISTORY
[VOL. 11.
A. D. 1765. 2 towns in- corporated.
The next year, 1765, there were two towns incorporated, name- ly, BRISTOL, June 18 ; and CAPE-ELIZABETH, Nov. 1 ;* the latter being still united with Falmouth, in the choice of a Representative to the General Court, eleven years.
Bristol.
Bristol, situated between Damariscotta and Muscongus, em- braces the ancient Pemaquid, which is more noted in our early history, than any other eastern plantation in the State. A set- tlement was commenced on the river of that name near its mouth in 1626 ; the patent to Elbridge and Aldsworth is dated Feb. 20, 1631; and May 27, 1633, according to Shurte's testimony, pos- session was given "from the head of the river Damariscotta to "the head of the river Muscongus, and between them to the sea." On the eastern bank of the river was the seat of government under the patentees, and the site of Fort William Henry, built of stone by Sir William Phips, in 1692; prior to which time the settlement had been laid waste by the savages. But under the guns of the fortress, there was a determinate purpose to pro- mote the habitancy of such as chose to dwell there, till the gar- rison, in 1696, was taken by the French. The country lay un- peopled, afterwards more than twenty years. A resettlement was attempted, about 1717-18 ; which was one of the first ef- fected in this eastern country after Queen Anne's war. Dunbar, in 1729-30, repaired the fortification and called it Fort Freder- ick, and gave to the place the name of Harrington. About the time of incorporation, the people, who were of Presbyterian ten- ets, voted to build three meeting-houses, one near the fort in " Harrington parish," which was soon erected, one north-east- wardly at " Broad Cove ;" and one near Damariscotta river, in " Walpole parish."t
towards building a meeting-house. Rev. Mr. Murray was the first settled minister. His successor in 1785, was Rev. Mr. Merril ; who was succeed- ed in 1789, by Mr. Gould; in 1796 by Mr. Chapin ; neither of whom were settled. But in 1798, Rev. John Sawyer was installed ; Rev. J. P. Fisher in 1808 ; and Rev. Mr. Weston in 1818. Boothbay was first represented in General Court, in 1783 by Paul Reed. As to titles to lands; See Note on Edgecomb, A. D. 1794 .- See Greenleaf's Sketches, p. 132-145.
* These are the 22d and 23d towns in the State.
t See ante, A. D. 1631, 1692, 1729 .- 2 Holmes' A. Ann. p. 11 .- 2 Neal's N. E. p. 118. The corporate name is taken from the city of Bristol, the resi- dence of the patentees, Elbridge and Aldsworth. The township fell under the Drown and the Brown claims .- Com. Rep. A. D. 1811 .- The settlers not
377
OF MAINE.
CHAP. XIV.]
The first inhabitants of Cape-Elizabeth, which is separated A. D. 1765. from the Peninsula by Fore river, seated themselves opposite to Cape Eliza- the harbor, upon Purpooduck point ; from which the plantation, porated. beth incor- commencing forty-four years prior to king Philip's war, derived its name. Among the earliest settlers at that place, were several brethren by the name of Wallace. Mr. Jordan and family set- tled near the mouth of the Spurwink, which separates the town from Scarborough. The settlers at Purpooduck were, in the third Indian war, " nearly all massacred by the savages." It is said, " 50 or 60 dead persons were found" at Spurwink and Purpooduck,* by the crew of a visiting vessel, "and interred in one vault." The settlement was resumed about the year 1719- 20; a church formed in 1734 ; the Rev. Benjamin Allen, settled the same year ; and, in 1752, the inhabitants were formed into a parish. But in submission to the Governor's policy and instruc- tion, they were incorporated with only "District" privileges, and thus disallowed the several and sole right of representation in the popular branch of the Legislature ; though that body was uni- formly opposed to this species of municipality,-never satisfied with a thin House ;- two or three towns in Lincoln county, being fined this year, for neglecting to choose representatives.t
only suffered incredibly in the Indian wars ;- but in the war of the revolu- tion " they fought under the idea that they were to have the lands, they " were defending ; and a quarter part of the able bodied men of Bristol fell, " either by land or sea." -- W. Rogers' testimony, Rep. p. 157 .-- Indeed, there never was a braver people. Rev. Robert Rutherford, who probably came over with Dunbar, preached to them 4 or 5 years. He died in Thomaston, in 1756. There was a great revival of religion in Bristol, in 1766 ; when a church was gathered under the advisatory influence of Rev. Mr. Murray. Rev. Alexander McLean, a native of Scotland and a Presbyte- rian in sentiment, was settled in 1773 ; a good preacher and excellent man. By reason of ill health he was dismissed, in 1795. His successor was Rev. William Riddel, in 1796; and Rev. J. Belden, in 1807. Bristol was first represented in the General Court, A. D. 1775, by William Jones. -It is the residence of Commodore Samuel Tucker, who on a certain oc- casion, in 1778, distinguished himself so manfully in the war of the revolu- tion, on a voyage to Europe, having on board Hon. John Adams, a foreign minister. * See ante, vol. II, this Hist. (A. D. 1703) p. 43.
t In Cape-Elizabeth, the 2d minister settled, was Rev. Ephraim Clark, who was installed in 1756, and died, 1797. He was succeeded by Mr. Wm. Grigg. Cape-Elizabeth, in the choice of representatives joined with Falmouth, till 1776 ; but was represented in the General Court by James Leach, that year, for the first time. The town contains 13,000 acres; VOL. II. 48
378
THE HISTORY
[VOL. II.
A. D. 1765. A time of political gloom.
January 10. Stamp act passed.
The present was a period of political gloom. No part of the policy for raising a revenue in the colonies was relaxed. The acts of trade were enforced, seizures were multiplied, the trials were in the vice-admiralty courts, without a jury, and if the judge, perhaps a minion of the ministry, certified there was prob- able cause for seizing the property libelled, the successful claim- ant could recover neither damage nor costs. In these direct and predetermined attacks upon our privileges, the wisest and best of men, had doubts what was the proper course to be pursued. To submit, were to take the yoke of perpetual servility upon ourselves and our posterity ;- to resist, were to commence a re- volt, by which a long and endearing connexion would be rent asun- der, and the country put to the hazard of contest, with a most powerful nation. As the safest expedient, resort was had to memorials, filled with loyalty and complaint, and presented through the medium of our agents, to the British Court. But all these were in vain ; for, by a rule of the Commons, 'no peti- ' tion against a money bill could be received,' and in short, Par- liament, January 10, 1765, passed the memorable Stamp-act ; by which, all legal instruments and business scripts, made after the 1st of November ensuing, would be invalid, unless written on stamp't parchment or paper ; the price of which was greatly enhanced by the duty exacted. Its passage was strenuously opposed by several members,-one boldly styling American citi- zens ' the sons of Liberty,' and predicting an uniform opposition among them to the act. When the news of it arrived, the ex- citable spirit foretold by the sagacious statesman, diffused itself, like an electric spark, through the continent.
Nevertheless, the Governor, when he met the General Court in May, endeavored to divert their attention from the subject, which had thrown the public into so much agitation ; addressing them upon the exportation of lumber, fish and potash, and mentioning only matters of more general concern. But the House forthwith proposed a Congress of deputies from each Colony, to meet in the city of New-York, Oct. 1, and consult upon the uncommon ex-
First Con- gress meet in New York .
-" soil red, brown, and black loam, some sand and clay, and exhibits 10 orchards." There are in it four meeting-houses ; 9 school districts; and 240 voters. The bridge that connects the town with Portland is 2,600 feet in length. This town was taken from Falmouth .- MS. Let. of Eben- ezer Thrasher, Esq. 1821.
379
OF MAINE.
CHAP. XIV.]
igency. A very deep sense of wrong pervaded the whole people. A. D. 1766. In some places, they burnt the bolder prerogative-men in effigy ;- obliged the stamp-officers to decline their appointment, and in the burst of honest indignation, ran into some unjustifiable excesses. In fact, when the stamped paper arrived at Boston, Sept. 26, there was no commissioner, or person in the Province, disposed to receive it ;- therefore, by order of the Governor, it was lodged in the Castle. The Colonial Congress, convening as proposed, Their October 1. memorials. declared the sole power of taxation to be in their own assemblies, and prepared three several addresses, to the King, the Lords, and the Commons, stating their grievances and praying for redress.
If the eastern Provincials could not by their numbers greatly The people swell the ranks of the patriots; they could shew in evidence, as of Maine. good a character for courage, union and fortitude, through the Sav- age wars, as any other people. It was too, in a spirit of true loyalty and gratitude, that they exulted so heartily in the accession of their present young king to the throne, and in the late military glory of British arms. Nay, though they did not run into equal extravagance and excess with the inhabitants of Boston and other places in the opposition ; they were not less worthy of a bold and hardy ancestry, nor any more flexible to the iron hand of power. Taking deep interest in the cause of liberty and the public welfare, they hailed the event, with the exalted and gen- eral joy, which filled the country, when the news arrived, in May, 1766, that the obnoxious stamp-act had, on the 18th of March, A. D. 1766. been repealed. Particularly in Falmouth, guns were fired, flags March 18. Stamp-act displayed, the church bell rung, and houses illuminated ;- in repealed. other places, unable in their indigence to equal those exhibitions, the people rejoiced at the fireside, the table and the family altar ; and subsequently a day of public thanksgiving was observed on account of the repeal. Even the Governor, in his speech, May 29, mentioned the same subject as cause of congratulation. But still there was an ingredient of extreme bitterness in this over- flowing cup of joy ;- this was a Declaratory act, passed at the time of the repeal, asserting the right and power of Parliament ' to bind America in all cases whatsoever,' and annulling all the resolutions of American Assemblies, which had claimed the right of exemption from parliamentary taxation.
Another subject of considerable public importance, was that of King's the king's woods. A great value was still set upon them, though
woods.
380
THE HISTORY
[VOL. 11.
A. D. 1766. the late northern conquest had widely added to their extent. Mr. Wentworth, the Governor of New-Hampshire, had now en- joyed the office of surveyorship twenty-five years; and till of late he had discharged the duties to his own honor and the general acceptability. But he was advanced in years ; his fortune was made ; and he had probably trusted too much to his deputies. For some of the public officers had been charged in England with exacting exorbitant fees for passing licenses and land-patents ; and when the Crown had published a proclamation threatening all such persons with removal from office, Wentworth found himself involved in the charge. He had also been accused of negligence, in corresponding with the king's ministers, and in permitting his deputies to sell and waste the king's timber. There is much probability, that his indulgence or forbeareance, was the reason why we have heard for several years, no more complaints of the B. Went- worth suc- ceeded by J. Went- worth as surveyor of the woods. people against him and his deputies. But he escaped further censure by a wise resignation, in August,-being succeeded by his nephew, John Wentworth, both to the government of New- Hampshire and the surveyorship of the woods .*
Crown lands,
Proclama- tion.
Immediately connected with the public timber, were the ' Crown Lands' themselves, which foreigners seemed to suppose were ' royal domains ;'-particularly the region north-eastward of Mount Desert ; and to consider them as a part of the territory intended by the king in his proclamation, issued in 1763, to be granted and given unto the men who had served in the late war, and been disbanded in America.+ Each Colony-Governor was empower- ed to make these grants to such persons, without fee or reward ; -subject only to the usual conditions of cultivation and improve- ment. " Mechisses"-[now Machias,] seemed to have attracted much attention, ever since its situation first fell under the eye of visitants, whether English or French. In 1633, the Plymouth Colonists established a trading house there ; the French attempted to settle it in 1644; and in 1763, fifteen men from Scarborough, encouraged probably by the Provincial government, erected a saw-mill upon the western river, and formed a permanent plan- tation. It had a gradual increase ; and the General Court, June
* 2 Belk. N. H.
t 2 Holme's A. Ann. p. 264 .- To a captain, 3,000; a subaltern 2,000; a private, 50 acres.
381
OF MAINE.
CHAP. XIV.]
15, 1767, granted to Ichabod Jones and seventy-nine others, a A. D 1767. township upon the usual terms of settlement, which was, three June 15, Machias years afterwards, fully confirmed to them, without any other license township from the crown, than the proclamation mentioned .* It might be granted. this, which damped, or checked the undertaking of the Earl of Catherlough, Lord Viscount Falmouth, and Mr. Francis Vassalt who proposed, if patronized by the General Court, to settle the lands twelve miles in width on each side of Machias river, back 50 miles from its mouth, with 600 protestant families, con- taining at least 3,000 souls. About this time, the survey of Mount Desert was undertaken and completed, and was found to contain 100 square miles, equal to 44,000 acres,ţ
Early in the summer, of 1767, June 25, the plantation of Lebanon in- Towwoh, was incorporated into a town by the name of LEBANON. corporated. It was a grant by the government, in 1733;§ and supposed to have been settled, about ten years afterwards. Rev. Isaac Hasey removed his family into the township, in 1747, where he was sup- ported in the ministry, by the proprietors, till his ordination, June 25, 1765, and where he dwelt, beloved and respected by his people, till his death. |
Though hurricanes are not frequent in this latitude, and very A hurri- seldom violent ; there was one, July 31, which, though not ex- cane. tensive in its effects, did some damage. It commenced on the southerly side of Sebago Pond, passed through Windham, over Duck Pond, and the contiguous borders of Falmouth and North- Yarmouth, unroofed one dwellinghouse, and prostrated every tree it reached, sweeping all before it, about 3-4ths of a mile in breadth, to the sea.
The high duties on imports and the restrictions on trade, were The eastern as severely felt by the eastern people as by any portion of the people. colonists. Engaged in the lumber business, and in the cod- fishery, instead of agriculture and manufactures, they were dis- proportionate consumers of foreign articles. Lumber and fish
* Hon. J. Jones' MS. Let.
} Perhaps a descendant of William Vassal, one of the first Massachusetts # 14 Jour. H. of Rep. p. 344, 411. Colony Assistants.
§ See ante, A. D. 1733.
|| He died in 1812 ; and was succeeded by Rev. Paul Jewet, in 1814. Lebanon was first represented in the General Court, in 1772, by Samuel Copps. Lebanon is the 24th town in the State.
382
THE HISTORY
[VOL. II.
A. D. 1767. were the staples of export ; though such large quantities of pot and pearl ashes were sent to Great Britain, that a statute was passed about this time, to prevent fraud in the manufacture and sale of them. Most people were in debt ; and it has been re- marked, that manual laborers in the business of lumbering, though fascinated with the prospect of large emoluments, never amass wealth. Few of the eastern people were possessors of very con- siderable estates ; all had been encouraged to expect some relief from taxation, as well as rest from war, whenever Canada should be reduced, and the Indians subdued; and therefore, many of them were more unwilling than other colonists, to submit to any new and needless burdens.
Parliamen- tary duties on paper, glass, paints posed. Parliament, however, in pursuing the ministerial plan of taxa- tion, passed an act, June 29, imposing a duty to be paid by the and teas, im- colonists, on all paper, glass, painters' colors and teas, imported into this country ; premising in the preamble, that the duty was laid " for the better support of government and the administra- The Crown tion of the Colonies." One clause of the act authorized the to regulate Crown, by warrants under the sign manual, to establish a gener- authorized salaries and fees of of- fice. al Civil List throughout every Province of North America, with such salaries, pensions, and pecuniary stipends or rewards, as he might be pleased to order and appoint-providing, that after the warrants so issued, for what might be " thought proper and necessary," were satisfied, the residue of such revenue should be at the disposal of Parliament. The duties were to take place, Nov. 21, ensuing, and a custom-house office and board of Com- missioners were established in America, three of whom arrived in season to execute the trust reposed in them.
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