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 39
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A. D. 1768. These measures the colonists pronounced oppressive and the Feb. 11. Circulars in union for redress. appointments unconstitutional ; therefore, the General Court, Feb. 11, 1768, sent a circular letter to each of the sister Colo- nies, earnestly pressing upon them " to unite in suitable measures to obtain redress." Aroused to a height of indignation by these circulars, the ministry condemned them as " highly inflammatory and tending to sedition ;" and commanded the House, at the spring session, through Governor Bernard, to rescind them without delay. But as they persisted boldly in their refusal,- he dissolved the General Court, and protested against calling another.
Opposed, as the Governor was, to any legislative acts, by which
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the House of Representatives might be enlarged ; it is not strange A. D. 1768. that there was only one town incorporated in 1768,-none in Sandford the two succeeding years. The one now established, was SAND- ed. incorporat- FORD, Feb. 23, which to this time was the plantation of Phil- lipstown. The introduction of these names arose from the facts, that Major William Phillips, A. D. 1661-4, took from Fluellen Hobinowill and Captain Sunday, Indian chiefs of Saco river and Newichawannock, several quit-claim deeds of a territory, ex- tending from the river Saco to Berwick and Lebanon, and from the rear line of Wells, (exclusive of Lyman,) so far back as to embrace about four townships of the usual size ;* that the pur- chase, with revised bounds, was in 1670, confirmed by Sir Fer- dinando Gorges, to the grantee or his son, Nathaniel Phillips of Saco ; that Mrs. Phillips, the Major's wife, devised by will, Sept. 29, 1696, to Peleg Sandford, a son by her former husband, what the Major had given to her-and what was included in the town now incorporated, Sandford. The first permanent settlement was effected about the year, 1740. The second Baptist society formed in the State, was established here in September, 1772; and a congregational parish, in 1788, of which Rev. Moses Swett was the settled minister forty-four years.t
* These were Phillipstown, now Sanford, and Alfred ; Massabesec, now Waterborough ; a section of Little Falls plantation, or northern part of Phillipsburgh, now Hollis, and a part of Limington. Fluellen also sold the territory of Lyman, to Saunders and others, in 1660. Hobinowill's conveyance extended to Capt. Sunday's Rocks, which are described as ' three Hills of Rocks,' impregnated with isinglass, quite shining, and were supposed to be in Limington .- Folsom, p. 164-5.
t Sandford, the 25th town in the State, embraced 27,000 acres, till divid- ed, and Alfred incorporated, Feb. 4, 1794. There are within the town, Dearing, Curtis, Fish, Sand, Duck, Eel, Old, and in part, Bonny Beag, Ponds. The place was sometimes called, Mousum,-from the river which issues out of Great pond in Shapleigh, and runs through Sandford, afford- ing remarkably fine mill sites. The soil, especially on the ridges, is deep and good ; and the town exhibits fruitful orchards. It was first represented in the General Court, A. D. 1785, by Caleb Emery .- The first English birth in the place was that of Ephraim Low's daughter, July 28, 1742 .- The " Picture Tree," took its name from this circumstance :- A little daughter of Peter Morrell, in Berwick, while gathering low-hemlock, discovered a party of Indians, and screamed; when they, to prevent an alarm, cut off her head and carried it to Sand-pond, where they engraved the child's image on an antiquated pine .- MS. Let. of E. Allen and W. L. Walker, Esqrs.
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A. D. 1768. The increase and entension of settlements in the Penobscot The Penob- country, had become so affronting to the Tarratines, that some of scot coun- try. them began to utter bold threats against their progress. Hence, the Governor told the House, that a chaplain ought to be under constant pay at Fort Pownal, who might preach to the settlers in the audience of the Indians ; for, added he, there is no "minis- "ter of the gospel within a circle of 100 miles diameter, now " generally peopled though but thinly ; and the settlers of them- " selves, were unable to maintain one." "Nay, if the claim to the territory eastward of Penobscot river, were to be maintained against the natives, and the improvement of it promoted by an enterprizing population, the fortress, he said, must be made a more respecta- ble establishment. Happily agreeing with him in his eastern pol- itics, the General Court augmented the garrison, from 12 to 20 men, and provided for the support of a chaplain, at the expense of £4 by the month.
A Provin- cial Con- vention in Boston. Sept. 22.
As the Governor refused to issue precepts for a new Legisla- ture without his Majesty's command ; a Convention of delegates met at Boston, Sept. 22, at the instance of its selectmen ; in. which more than 100 towns of the Province were represented, General Preble being the member from Falmouth. Never was there in the Province an assemblage of more sensible, consider- ate men, and firmer patriots. They deliberated upon the subject of their grievances and the best constitutional means of seeking redress ; expressed an utter aversion both to parliamentary in- direct taxes or exactions, and standing armies ; and recommend- ed a manly and orderly defence of their rights, whether it brought relief, or led to resistance .* An able writer in the London maga- zine, on reading the essays and addresses printed at this period, observes ;- " there is such just and cogent reasoning, and such a spirit of liberty breathing through the whole of the American productions upon the subject of civil rights, as would not have disgraced ancient Greece or Rome, when struggling against op- pression."
To crush these rising energies of feeling, sentiment, and ex- pression in Massachusetts, considered in England the base devices
British trocps sta- tioned in Boston.
* A part of the instructions given by Falmouth to General Preble, ran thus-" in all your consultations in said Convention, it is the desire of " the town, that you advise to the most mild and peaceable measures." -Smith's Journal Appx. p. 17.
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of faction, and to aid the civil authority, supposed to be too feeble A. D. 1768. to support government, a fleet from Halifax brought 700 troops, who were landed in Boston, Sept. 28, under cover of the cannon, and marched, with muskets loaded and bayonets fixed, into the common. Shocked by this array of an armed soldiery, the town was necessarily thrown into great confusion. The sentinels chal- lenged the inhabitants as they passed ; and the result was an in- creasing, mutual hostility and hatred. In the meantime, General Thomas Gage, who still commanded in America, arrived at Bos- ton, perhaps to enforce the orders of the ministry, by which the Governor was directed to remove every magistrate and other offi- cer from all official trust, who were unmindful of their cath and duty to their prince, and to appoint in their places such of his good and loyal subjects, as were faithful to his government.
Controversy
Influenced by the ministerial commands, as well as by his own A. D. 1769. ill-will, the Governor gave his negative, at the May election, 1769, etween Gov. Ber- nard and to eleven of the new elected Councillors ; and because the House protested to him against the military guard, stationed at the door the House, of the State House, and complained of it, as a measure utterly inconsistent with the freedom and dignity of debate, in all legislative assemblies, he adjourned the General Court to Cam- bridge. A scene of severe altercation ensued between him and the House through a long session ; in which they resolved, that the sending of an armed force into the colony, under pretence of assisting ' the civil authority,' was highly dangerous to the people, unprecedented and unconstitutional ; and that they never should make any provision for quartering the troops, though it were so strongly and perseveringly urged by his repeated messages. Un- Aug. 1. able, as he found himself, to carry a single point, he adjourned Gov. Ber- nard leaves the General Court to January ; and embarked, August 1, for the Prov- ince. England, in disgust .- Governor Bernard left few friends of any party. Nay, men of such arbitrary principles and supreme sel- fishness seldom secure to themselves, either the friendships which give charm to social life, or which follow them with affection and respect into retirement .*
The trade between Great Britain and her Colonies, on an ave- Commerce. rage of three past years, employed 1,078 ships, and 28,910 sea-
* He died in England, in 1779. He was Governor of Massachusetts Province, nine years.
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A. D. 1769. men. The value of goods exported thither and elsewhere, on the same average, was £3,924,606 sterling; and the imports into the Colonies, principally from Great Britain, were £3,370,900 sterling .* But the embarrassments began to operate as checks to trade, ship-building, and the fisheries ;- seamen found employ proportionably difficult to be obtained ;- and consequently the eastern people met with more trouble in furnishing themselves with supplies. The agreements were more sedulously renewed against the importation of British goods ; and all persons were declared adversaries of the public welfare, who refused to unite.
A. D. 1770. Duties re- pealed on all the arti- cles, except teas.
There was, however, about this time, some change in the minis- try, which was followed by a repeal of the duties on most of the articles taxed, except teas ; t-an exception designed in England, as a perpetual claim of right to tax the Colonies ; and rendered effectual, in America, to keep alive the flame of patriotism. Hence associations were extensively formed 'to drink no tea, ' until the act imposing the duty should be repealed.'
Connected as these eastern Provinces were, in all the political concerns of Massachusetts, an omission to mention some par- March 5. sacre. Boston Mas- ticulars of the ' Boston Massacre,' as it has been called, could not be excused. It happened, Monday evening, March 5, in King-street. One of the soldiers, being insulted by the populace, discharged his gun, without doing any harm; when another re- ceiving a blow, shot at the aggressor, and six of his fellows, in- stantly firing, killed three of the inhabitants and mortally wounded a fourth .- At the funeral of those fallen men, there was an im- mense concourse, filled with deep toned lamentations ; and at the next term of the Superior Court, the Captain and six soldiers were tried on a charge of manslaughter, and two were convicted ; who according to the laws of the times, were branded in the hand and set at liberty. For several years, the day of the mas- sacre was commemorated in Boston, by spirited and eloquent orations to very crowded auditories.
Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson.
On the departure of Bernard, Lieutenant-Governor HUTCH- INSONĮ again took the executive chair ; determined by force of
* 2 Holmes' A. Ann. p. 293. t Date of the repeal was April 12, 1770.
# Governor Thomas Hutchinson was born in Boston, 1711; graduated at Harvard College, 1727 ; a Representative in 1740, from his native town, and Speaker of the House in 1747. He had the charins of oratory be- yond any man in the Assembly. In 1750, he was chosen into the Council ;
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prerogative, by management and by address, to prostrate all oppo- A. D. 1770 sition. Possessing wealth, talents, and learning, he aspired to the rank of nobility, which he once intimated he had been encour- aged to expect. No arguments of the House, for more than May. two years, could induce him to remove the seat of legislation from Cambridge to Boston. In a revision of the military system, some regiments were found already destitute of officers ; great numbers of young men, old enough to bear arms, had not been enrolled in the trainbands ; military musters and discipline had been grossly neglected ; and therefore a bill was passed by both Houses for the improvement of the Militia ; but this was a branch of gov- ernment, which the creatures of arbitrary power, both disliked and feared, and Hutchinson declined giving his signature to the bill.
The militia.
He chose rather to call the attention of the General Court to the public lands eastward of Kennebeck, stating, that settlers lands. were by no means confined to the conditional grants lately made ; but others, either under color of legislative patronage or without any pretence of title or license whatever, had entered upon parcels of large tracts. All these were, by the express terms of the charter, he said, direct encroachments,-without the ex- press approbation of the crown ; therefore they demanded the special consideration of the General Court. Any longer silence, he thought, would be considered as a virtual encouragement " to " the waste and destruction of the king's timber"-those lofty mast-trees so essential to the naval strength of the realm. He was opposed to these unauthorized possessions, and recommend- ed a prosecution of trespassers, and more provident care of the royal woods. He highly approved of the establishment at Fort Pownal, and urged it upon the House as a duty, to keep it in nal. the best possible condition for trade with the natives, and the se- curity of the settlers. Accordingly, some improvement took
in 1756, a Judge of the Superior Court, and in 1760, Chief Justice. From 1758 to 1770, he was Lieutenant-Governor. When Pownal left the chair, in 1760, Hutchinson acted as Chief Magistrate, a part of the year, till Gov- ernor Bernard's arrival. He again took the chair in 1770, and was com- missioned Governor the same year. He was superseded in 1774, by Gov- ernor Gage; and went to England, where he died, June 3, 1780, aged 69 years .- Post, 1772, note to Saco, see.
Public
Fort Pow-
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A. D. 1770. place ; and Capt. Goldthwait was superseded in the command by John Preble.
Change of officers.
Mechanic arts.
There were some other changes made. Francis Waldo, Esq. was appointed collector of the customs at Falmouth ; Mr. Cush- ing, commissioner ; and on the death of Samuel Waldo,* Judge of Probate for Cumberland County,-Enoch Freeman was com- missioned to that office. All superfluities and extravagance were discountenanced ;- all mechanic arts, manufactures and econo- mics were encouraged ; so that gentlemen were enabled to appear handsomely clad in garments of their own country's fabric ; and all the people found, they could live quite comfortably, though they purchased no foreign articles for domestic use. The gloom, occasioned by the early drought of summer, was changed by copious showers, into a prospect of plenty in the autumn ; and likewise upon our political affairs, hitherto so much darkened by ministerial politics, there was an imaginary, or anticipated dawn of more unclouded light,
A. D. 1771. At the May election, Mr. Hutchinson first met the Gen- Mr. Hutch- eral Court in his official character as Governor, though he had inson, Gov- ernor. received his appointment some months before. Ample provision having been lately made for remunerating his services, by the crown ; he was thus rendered independent of the General Court, and under no necessity of asking them for any pecuniary favors whatsoever. The offer, however, and acceptance of a salary from that source, apparently designed to relieve him from all responsi-
* Col. Samuel Waldo, a son of the General, died at Falmouth, April 16, 1770, and was buried with military honors ;- afterwards removed to Bos- ton. General Waldo was born in England, a man personable, tall of stat- ure, and of light complexion. [See ante, A. D. 1745, 1759.] He had three sons, Samuel, Francis, and Ralph. Samuel, (now deceased) married a daughter of John Erving of Boston, and left three children, Samuel who died young at Portland ; and two daughters, one married Mr. Wolcott of Connecticut ; and the other, Judge William Wetmore of Boston. To Mr. Wetmore's wife, as heiress or devisee, belongs Orphan Island, in Penobscot river. Francis, the Collector, was never married. He retired to the British when Falmouth was burnt and never returned. Ralph died un- married, when about twenty years of age. Their sister married Thomas Fluker, Secretary of the Province. She had one daughter, who was the wife of General Henry Knox, and inherited a large share of the Waldo patent,-a woman of strong mind, of fine education, and of lofty manners. Their children survived her,-viz. Henry and two daughters-one of them, the wife of Hon. Ebenezer Thatcher of Thomaston,-several years a Judge of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas.
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bility to the people, greatly inflamed their jealousies, and forfeited A. D. 1771. the remaining confidence of his friends-or those who were foes to arbitrary domination. So deaf had he become to the voice of liberty, and so punctilious to the dictates of the ministry, that many of the high-toned and more discerning patriots, were ready to denounce him as a traitor to the country, that had given him birth, and crowned his years with richies and honors.
To assure in a greater degree the favor of the ministry, he He opposes again, as some of his predecessors had repeatedly done, brought ments on the settle- before the General Court the territory of Sagadahock, the pos- hock. Sagada- sessions taken there by settlers, and the abounding timber .- " I " am required," he says, " by the king to recommend the subject to " your serious consideration. I think the people deceive them- " selves, with a groundless expectation of acquiring a title by " force of possession. I know his Majesty is displeased with " such proceedings. I have reason to apprehend, that a longer " neglect of effectual measures on our part, to prevent further in- " trusions, and to remove those already made, will cause an in- "terposition of Parliament,-to preserve the possession of the " country for the sake of the timber, with which it is said to " abound."-But the Legislature could not be made to believe, that there were any prominent circumstances which required their special interposition. The grants to settlers, they said, were con- ditional, till confirmed by the crown. There was a surveyor- general of the royal woods, invested with the power of appoint- ing deputies, to whom the laws were auxiliary and the courts accessible, and if there were those, who were guilty of trespass or intrusion, they knew what were the charter and legal penalties, and the crown officers knew their duty.
There was at this period no disposition in the popular branch Their in- to arm the agents of the ministry with additional powers, or afford them any special facilities in the execution of their trust. Goy- scot and ernor Pownal himself, it was known, had been an advocate for the grants, and a patron of the settlements. They were now ex- tending along the banks of the Penobscot to the head of the tide ; and through the efforts and influence of the Plymouth proprietors, the settlers upon the borders of the river Kennebeck, from the southerly limits of their patent to Teconnet, had since
crease on the Penob-
Kennebeck.
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A. D. 1771. the reduction of Quebec, increased in number beyond a paral- lel .*
Four towns incorporat- ed.
Four incorporations of towns upon Kennebeck river, bear date the same day, April 26, 1771 ; and embrace a territory of 325 square miles. These were HALLOWELL, VASSALBOROUGH, WINSLOW, and WINTHROP, t each of them, except the last, lying in about equal widths on each side of the river. The first was named for the Hallowell family, who were among the Plymouth proprietors ; the second probably for William Vassal, one of the first Colony Assistants of Massachusetts, or some of his descend- ants ; the third for General John Winslow,t who had command of the expedition employed in the erection of Fort Halifax ; and the fourth for a family ' more eminent for their talents, learning, and honors, than any other in New-England.'
Hallowell.
In HALLOWELL, § which, when first incorporated, embraced the present Augusta, a settlement was resumed at the latter place, [then Cushnoc,] in the vicinity of the fort or block-house, shortly after the establishment of that fortification, in 1754; and some years later, at the " Hook," where the village of Hallowell is now sit-
* In A. D. 1768, there were " not more than ten white inhabitants" in Vassalborough and Sidney .- MS. Letter.
t These were the 26th, the 27th, the 28th, and the 29th corporate towns in the State.
¿ General Winslow commanded a company in the regiment sent to Cuba, in 1740. He distinguished himself in the expeditions to Kennebeck and Nova Scotia, in 1754-5 ; and died at Hingham, in 1774, aged 71.
§ Hallowell was divided, A. D. 1797. See " Augusta,"-for early set- tlement .- See Winthrop's Journal, p. 64. Penhallow's Indian Wars, in 1 N. H. Hist. Soc. p. 88. Ken. Claims, p. 15 .- In 1794, June 14, Hallowell was formed into the South, Middle, and North Parishes. The two latter were within the present Augusta. A church was formed about 1772; and in May, 1786, Mr. Isaac Foster was settled. His ministry continued about two years. The next year after the town was formed into Parishes, viz. in August, 1795, Rev. Eliphalet Gillet was ordained the first minister of the South Parish. The town was first represented in the General Court, or rather the " Provincial Congress," A. D. 1775, by William Howard .- " Hallowell Academy" was established March 5, 1791 .- The first Bank there was the " Hallowell and Augusta Bank," established March 6, 1804, with a capital of $200,000 .- Hallowell embraces upwards of 24,000 acres of land-3-4ths of which have not yet been brought into a state of im- provement. In 182), there were in the town about 280 dwellinghouses, two thirds of which were in the village, a very flourishing place. There were then about 100 warehouses, stores and shops; 62,334 superficial feet of wharf ; and nearly 4,000 tons of shipping owned.
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uated. Here had been inhabitants, or resident traders, at least A. D. 1771. one hundred and twenty years before the present incorporation. But the place was depopulated in the first Indian war ; resumed before the second, and again, after the peace of 1713; though the inhabitants were unable to defend themselves against the bold tribe of Indians seated at Norridgewock. The original lots in the present Hallowell, on the west side of the river, were four, each a mile wide, extending from the river to Winthrop pond. Two were granted, in 1760, to Dr. Gardiner, one to Mr. Pitts, and one to Mr. Hallowell, two of the Plymouth proprietors. The same year, Dr. Gardiner erected a grist-mill at the mouth of Cobbessecontee river ; and this, for many years, was the only place, at which the inhabitants on the river above, were able to procure the grinding of their corn and grain .*
VASSALBOROUGH, when incorporated, embraced the present Vassalbo- town of Sidney. The settlements on both sides of the river roughs were commenced about the year 1760; and the town was sur- veyed and allotted the succeeding year, according to the plan of Nathan Winslow. In 1768, there were only ten families in the township; yet, in 1771, the inhabitants voted "to raise £30, lawful money, for the support of a minister and other necessary charges." " At a public town-meeting in January, 1775, Den- nis Getchell was chosen Captain of said town for the emergency of the times." The same year, his brother John was pilot to the party under General Arnold, in their memorable route through the wilderness to Canada.t
* MS. Let. of R. H. Gardiner, Esq.
t Vassalborough was divided, January 30, 1792 .- [See Sidney.]-The present Vassalborough contains 28,000 acres ; two ponds, the north one is 12 mile pond ;- S. E., Webber's pond. In 1821, there were in town, 5 meeting- houses, one for congregationalists, one for baptists, one for methodists and two for friends,-one fourth at least of the inhabitants, belonging to their society. Rev. Mr. Scales was the first preacher ; and in 1818, Rev. Thomas Adams, a congregationalist was settled, also there were, in 1820, 14 mills, 6 carding machines, two large tanneries, and a woollen fac- tory. The town was first represented in the Assembly or Provincial Con- gress, in 1775, by Remington Hobby ; in 1777, by A. Lovejoy. A post- office was first established, about 1795-6. John Getchell, one of the first settlers, dug an underground avenue from his dwelling to a gully near the river, whence he might escape the Indians. He was a mighty hunter. Once he wounded a moose and caught him with clenched fingers, threw him to the ground, and cut his throat with a jack-knife .- Let. of W. Buck- îninster, Esq.
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