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 40
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[VOL. II.
A. D. 1771. WINSLOW, * when incorporated, included the present Waterville, Wins'ow. and has never been without inhabitants since Fort Halifax was established at the triangle, between the Sebasticook and the Ken- nebeck, in the heart of the town, A. D. 1754; eleven families making a beginning in the place the same year. The original grant of the township by the Plymouth proprietors was in 1766, to Messrs. Bradford, Otis, Winslow, Taylor, Howard, and War- ren,-all distinguished citizens of the Province. The first set- tlers were staunch whigs, who had their committee of safety, in 1776 ; and voted to raise or provide " 125,000 of shingles, " and 10,000 of clapboards, to purchase a town stock of ammu- " nition." The garrison gave the settlement extensive protection, and the place considerable celebrity.
Winthrop.
WINTHROP, by the act of incorporation embraced Readfield, with which it was connected twenty years. Its plantation name was 'Pond-town'; and its original settlement was effected in 1760, at the site of the present village, by emigrants from Mas- sachusetts and New-Hampshire.+
From the traces of those and other settlements so encourage-
* Winslow, was divided, June 23, 1802 .- [See Waterville.]-One of the first settlers was Ezekiel Pattee, another was Thomas Parker, whose daughter Betsey, born March 16, 1759, was the first English birth in the place. Col. Josiah Hayden was a later and very respectable settler. The town was first represented in the General Court, 1782, by Zimri Hey- wood ; and after him by Mr. Pattee. Money was raised for the support of the gospel, in 1772, and each succeeding year, till the settlement of Rev. Joshua Cushman in 1795, whose connexion with the parish was dissolved in 1814, by mutual consent. A meeting-house was erected in 1796. The natural beauties of the town are picturesque and the soil good .- There were within it, in 1820, 8 mills and one pottery .- [See a description of the Fort, ante, A. D. 1754.]-It was commanded, first by William Lithgow, and after him by Capt. Pattee .-. MS. Letter from Winslow.
t Winthrop was divided, March 11, 1791. [See Readfield.] Situate within the town are the reservoirs of the Cobbessecontee waters ; and Chandler's pond forms a part of the line between Winthrop and Readfield. In the former town are four mills and " a very large cotton factory." A Post-office was first established there in 1800. The town was first represented in the General Court in 1783, by Jonathan Whiting. Within it are two meeting- houses, one for congregationalists, and one for friends. The first ministers of the Gospel resident here, were Messrs. Thurston Whiting, and Jeremiah Shaw. Rev. David Jewett was settled in 1782, and died the next year. The town was then divided into two parishes. Mr. Jonathan Belden was ordained in 1800, who was succeeded by Rev. David Thurston in 1807. MS. Letter of Samuel Wood, Esq. 1819.
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ing to our rising prosperity, the reveries of mind in view of the A. D. 1771. future, were forcibly diverted, by the widening breaches between Dispute with the the parent country and her colonies. The motives and spirit of Governor about the
an imperious ministry were supposed by the American whigs, to revenue off- be transfused into all the servants of the crown in this country ; cers. and there were occurrences, every year, which served to deepen the disaffection of the parties. The custom-house laws and officers were known to be extremely obnoxious, to mercantile men and the people in the seaports, who frequently came in con- tact with them and their exactions. Yet the Governor, sheltered by the king's instruction, had the imprudence, to withhold his sig- nature from the tax-bill, because it did not, contrary to all former usage, expressly exempt the officers of the customs from tax- ation. The House told him, they knew of no such officers, " nor of any revenue his Majesty had a right to establish in he Province ;" and a refusal of his assent to a bill for such a cause, was in effect to vacate the charter, and give to instruction the paramount force of law. Still he delayed a long time to sign the bill ; and nothing could have had a more direct tendency to load with public odium and prejudice, the department he was intend- ing to favor. The only custom-house in this eastern Province Custom- was established at Falmouth, Francis Waldo, being collector ; house offi- ers of Arthur Savage, comptroller and naval officer ; and Thomas Maine. Child, surveyor and tidewaiter. As the collector was absent on a journey to England, the comptroller, next in authority and trust, ordered the revenue-cutter, a tender, to seize, in the harbor, a schooner of Mr. Tyng, for breach of the revenue laws. It be- ing excusable, if not praiseworthy, to evade if possible those ob- noxious laws and officers, as too many were ready to believe ; the resentments which this seizure enkindled bursting forth, were not satiated, till a mob assembling, Nov. 13, administered to the un- happy comptroller such indignities, as a spirit of extreme preju- dice madly directed.
In June, 1772, the Governor concluded to remove the General A. D. 1772. Court again to Boston. But it was too late to acquire him any Governor popularity. His acceptance of an annual compensation from the General removes the crown, gave the representatives great umbrage ; they considered Court to Boston. it an infraction of their charter; and when he mentioned to them the repairs needed upon the Province-house, they plainly VOL. II. 50
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Salaries.
A. D. 1772. told him, that " as he had accepted a salary from the king, they " felt no obligation to incur expense for his accommodation." The Judges of the Superior Court were equally exposed to the animadversions of the people, for they also had salaries offered them by the crown, which they were under strong inducements to accept. The subject underwent learned and able discussions William Brattle. in the newspapers, William Brattle, the Councillor for Sagada- hock many years, and now senior member at the board, had hith- erto decidedly condemned the severe policy of ministers towards the Colonies ; strenuously asserting the charter-rights of the Province, in opposition to the arbitrary conduct both of Bernard and Hutchinson. But he became now more unsettled, and less decided in favor of the people ; and at length boldly declared it as his opinion, that the new regulations, by which the Judges were to receive their support from the king, had not so dangerous a ten- dency as some apprehended. He publicly apologized for the measure, upon the ground that it made them more independent. He contended that the Judges held their office during good be- havior, and would not therefore be unduly subservient to the views of foreign administration, though they received their salary from the royal munificence. He was opposed by a series of able essays from the pen of JOHN ADAMS, already a powerful advocate in the cause of civil liberty ; and at the next election, Brattle lost his seat at the Board, and the Governor gave his negative to the election of Adams .*
J. Adams.
Saco incor- porated.
Only one town was added to the list the present year. This borough, or was PEPPERELLBOROUGH ; } which was formed by dividing Bid- Pepperell- deford, incorporating the moiety, June 9, which lies on the eastern side of the river Saco, and giving it a name, designed as a compliment to the memory of Sir William Pepperell ;}-a name it bore 37 years, till it was changed to that of SAco, by which it was so extensively known abroad. It is fully established, that the present SAco, otherwise Pepperellborough, was first settled six or seven years before the date of the patents executed by the Plymouth Council, Feb. 12, 1629-30, to Vines and Old- ham, and to Lewis and Bonython. In July, 1653,6 the govern-
* 1 Bradford's Hist. Mass. p. 263.
t Pepperellborough was the 30th town in the State: It was incorporated into a district, June 9, 1762.
§ See ante, A. D. 1653, vol. I, p. 352.
Į See ante, A. D. 1759.
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ment of the plantation was assumed by Massachusetts ; in 1690, A. D. 1772. it was depopulated by the Indians ; and after the pacification in 1713, the dispersed inhabitants began to return to their deserted homes. The town has had a gradual growth; becoming at length one of the most important in the State .*
* Saco (or Pepperellborough,) was probably settled about A. D. 1622-3. The two patents dated in Feb. 1629-30, one to Lewis and Bonython on the north side of the river, and the other to Vines and Oldham on the south side, have been previously mentioned. It was a well organized plantation in 1636 ; (Sullivan, p. 218.) the seat of Sir F. Gorges' Provincial govern- ment, A. D. 1640 ; and of Rigby's, under Cleaves, A. D. 1646. In 1653, the inhabitants submit to Massachusetts; and in 1664, the Royal Commis- sioners assume jurisdiction over them .- The town records cominence in 1653. The earliest list of town officers is dated, June 16, 1656, these were, Thomas Williams, Ambrose Berry and Robert Booth, Commissioners; R. Booth, Clerk of the Writs ; and Booth, Waddock, Gibbons, Tristram, and Hitchcock, ' Prudential [or select] men ;' Williams, Town Treasurer ; and Tristram, Constable .- The town was represented in the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1659, by Robert Booth ; in 1660, by R. Hitchcock ; and in 1675, by R. Waldron of Dover, (N. H.) Under the government of the king's Commissioners in 1667, Brian Pendleton, was elected Burgess, to attend the General Court of the Province. In April, B. Pendleton, Ralph Tristram, and Henry Waddock, were chosen Commissioners, or Judges of small causes, and sworn in presence of the meeting ; and James Gibbons, master of the magazine. In 1670, there were men who were warned " not to be inhabitants." It seems there was an "inventory" taken, and a tax gathered in 1672-3, of 1 penny and a farthing on the pound. There was a rate to build a prison at Falmouth about this time. Lewis, one of the patentees, died about 1638-9. One of his daughters married James Gib- bons. He afterwards removed to Kittery. R. Bonython had one son, John, a violent man, who had the nickname-" Sagamore of Saco."-He died 1684. He survived his father 31-2 years. Richard Forwell, married Richard Bonython's daughter, settled at Blue-point-a member of the Gen- eral Assembly of Lygonia in 1648, and died about 1676. His daughter conveyed the estate to Sir William Pepperell in 1729 .- Henry Boade, settled at Winter-harbor, before 1636, and in 1642, removed to Wells, and helped to lay out the township. John Parker, removed probably from Saco, before 1650, and purchased Erascohegan, since Parker's Island, at Sagadahock. John Smith of Saco, was Marshal under the government of Lygonia. He died about 1685. Francis Hooke, a friend to the govern- ment of Gorges, was Provincial Treasurer in 1681; removed to Kittery ; and was a member of the Provincial Council of Massachusetts in 1692. He died, 1695. Rev. Seth Fletcher, and his father-in-law, Major Pendleton, removed from Saco at the commencement of the first Indian War, 1675-6. About 10 years previously, a meeting-house was erected at Winter-har- bor; and the people seated by assignment of pews. The wife of Commis- sioner Maverick, daughter of Rev. J. Wheelwright, of Wells, had " the
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[VOL. II.
A. D. 1772. If Governor Hutchinson was not so much opposed as his pre- Right and decessor to the division and multiplication of towns ; the ministry prerogative.
found in no American, more vigilance and zeal in defence of un-
highest seat " Several of the inhabitants were presented :- some for not attending meeting, and one " for a common sleeper on the Lord's day, at the public meeting," another for talebearing ; and a fourth for idleness. Under the administration of President Danforth, Saco sent to the General Assembly, in 1680, John Harmon ; in 1682, John Davis ; in 1683, Benjamin Blackman ; in 1684, John Sargent, and in 1685, George Turfrey .- Gover- nor Andros endeavored, in 1688, to unite Saco and Cape Porpoise .- Major William Phillips married a wife, whose first husband was Secretary of Rhode-Island, and her son Peleg, Governor of that Colony, 1680-1-2. Elisha Hutchinson was her son-in-law, and Councillor of Massachusetts in 1692, and grandfather of Governor Hutchinson. Phillips, in 1661-4, made large purchases of the Sagamores. He died in Boston in 1683 .- [Folsom, p. 162-4.] Major Pendleton removed from Portsmouth to Saco in 1665 ; and died, 1680. Benjamin Blackman, a graduate of Harvard Col- lege, 1663, married a daughter of Joshua Scottow in 1675. From 1676, to 1680, the records of Saco are not found; perhaps none were kept. In 1703, the fort at Winter-harbor capitulated, The next year that at the Falls, built of stone, was repaired ; and in 1708-10, a new fort was built at the Pool, or Winter-harbor, called Fort Mary ; and a garrison was main- tained through the 3d, or Queen Anne's war. The town revived and had a meeting in March, 1717 ; and was the next year named Biddeford. [See this town, ante, A. D. 1714.] Its name is from a town in England, from which, probably, some of the inhabitants emigrated. In the Spanish, or 4 years' war, otherwise the 5th Indian war, between 1744 and 8 inclusive, the garrisons in Biddeford were repaired and a new one built, and four houses near Winter-harbor, strongly fortified. Eight or nine of the towns- men went in the expedition to Cape Breton, in 1745 : Capt. Thomas Brad- bury then commanded the block-house. The next year, the Indians killed or took Joseph Gordon and Mr. Pike : in April, 1747, they killed one or two in Scarborough ; and in July, Mr. Eliot and Mr. March, were car- ried to Canada. The town experienced, after this, no more attacks from the Indians. A meeting-house, erected in 1752 and finished in 1755, on the east side of the river, at the Falls, was near the site of the present 2d par- ish meeting-house. Rev. John Fairfield was settled there in 1762. Saco, on the eastern side of the river, was the early residence of W. P. Preble, Minister to the Netherlands ; Cyrus King, Representative to Congress, who died 1817; Thomas G. Thornton, who was Marshal of Maine from 1803 till his decease in 1825 ; and Colonel Thomas Cutts, being the young- est son of Dea. Richard Cutts, of Cutts" Island, Kittery. He was the great-grandson of Robert Cutts, an emigrant, who came from the west of England, about 1645, with his brothers, John and Robert. They settled on the Isles of Shoals .- In 1825, a company, principally from Boston, made purchases about the Falls, at the cost of $110,000, for the erection of a Cotton Factory. It was subsequently put in motion, and was flourishing, till destroyed by fire. - Folsom's Saco und Biddeford,
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limited prerogative. He crowded his speeches with arguments, A, D. 1772. to prove the entire and absolute supremacy of the crown and parliament, throughout all the British dominions. As they had an unquestionable right to establish charter corporations, such as the colonies were ; surely these municipalities, he contended, can never justly claim any more power than was expressly given them,-to be controlled or withdrawn, at the pleasure of the royal or political grantor .- But on the contrary, the General Court insisted that such preposterous doctrines would overthrow the eternal principles of reason and justice, and subvert the securi- ty of every enjoyment ; that it was a fundamental maxim of British liberty never to lay taxes, nor even to legislate, in any instance, where there was no representation ; and that the Col- onists, by their charters, had in themselves vested rights, which no power upon earth, not even the king or parliament, could just- ly take away ;- such were the rights to make laws for themselves, to hold assemblies for legislation, to have their own courts of justice, and to be protected in the full enjoyment of all chartered privileges, both civil and religious.
In the height of this contention, between the Governor and the A, D. 1773. House, which presented a fearful array of power against princi- Letters re- ples ; some original letters of Hutchinson, Oliver, the Lieutenant- England turned from Governor, and other officers, falling into the hands of Doct. Frank- give of- fence. lin, the agent of Massachusetts in England, were transmitted by him to Boston and laid before the General Court, early in June. They were dated in 1768 and 9; and as a specimen of their contents, one of them from the pen of Hutchinson himself, stat- ed, among other animadversions, that 'the colonies should be ' abridged of what they called English liberties ; and that the ' people ought to be prohibited from holding town-meetings, and ' forming combinations to disuse British goods imported into this ' country.'-Justly and highly exasperated, the House forthwith memorialized the king to remove Hutchinson and Oliver from office ; and resolved to impeach the judges of the Superior Court before the Council, in case they accepted their salaries from the crown. Judge Oliver only risqued the threat, and against him, J Judge Oli- articles of impeachment were actually preferred .* The Gov- ver im- ernor complained of the unparalleled ill treatment he repeatedly peached.
* 1 Bradford, p. 264-282.
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A. D. 1773. received from the House, shook at them the rod of his master's wrath, and advised them to finish the public business without further delay.
Two towns incorporat- ed.
But before adjournment, two towns were incorporated ; name- ly, Belfast, June 22, and Waldoborough, June 29,* both re- spectable plantations.
Belfast.
BELFAST, so called by request of an early settler, out of re- spect for the name of his native place in Ireland, was the first town incorporated upon the Penobscot waters. The township being a part of the Waldo patent, was purchased of the proprie- tors, in 1765, by a company of fifty-two associates, at the low price of twenty cents by the acre ;- about which time there were effected some permanent settlements. The plantation enjoyed the encouragements of a gradual growth, for six years after it was incorporated. But when the British, in the war of the Rev- olution, had fully established a garrison upon the peninsula of Majorbiguyduce ; the settlers were forced to abandon their homes, in consequence of the pillage and cruelty suffered from a rapa- cious enemy ; nor did they return till two years after the peace, t
Waldobo- rough.
WALDOBOROUGH, previously a plantation known by the name of Broad-bay, was inhabited by Germans, and perhaps a few Irish emigrants, as early as the year 1740. But in the Spanish and Indian war which followed, they were all driven away or destroyed. Yet, immediately subsequent to the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle, in 1748, the settlement was revived. In 1752-3, Sam- uel Waldo, son of the General, visited Germany and issued pro-
* These were the 31st and 32d towns in the State.
t The settlement of Belfast was begun on the west side of the river Pas- sag -assawa-keag, near its mouth, where the village now is. The town is separated from Northport by Little river, and from Prospect by Half-way brook. The Indians say the name of the river means ' the place of sights or ghosts !' It is crossed by two bridges, and the lower one is 100 rods in length. The river is navigable a league from Belfast bay. There are in town three meeting-houses. Rev. Ebenezer Price, the first settled minis- ter, was ordained, Dec. 29, 1796, when there were only 90 families, and 12 framed houses. A presbyterian church was formed at the same time. Mr. Price was dismissed in 1802. Rev. Alfred Johnson was settled in Sep. 1805. His ministry continued eight years. Rev. Mr. Frothingham was installed in July, 1819. The town was first represented in the General Court, A. D. 1803, by Jonathan Wilson. Post Office first established, July 1, 1786 .- In the village are 30 stores ; and from 15 to 18 vessels are owned by the in- habitants. It is also the shire-town of Waldo county .- MS. Letter in 1825.
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clamations, promising every man who would emigrate and settle A. D. 1773. upon the Waldo patent, 100 acres of land, and also assistance to the first permanent planters. Influenced by these encourage- ments, about 1,500 people removed from Germany to Broad-bay ; a large part of whom settled at Broad-cove, on the westerly side of the Muscongus river. Here the inhabitants lived undisturbed till 1763-4, when the lands on that side were claimed by Drowne as being without the Waldo patent; and hence they were pur- chased anew by the occupants. On this occasion, at least fifty deeds were executed to persons who had settled under Waldo. The settlers, a quiet, industrious people, submitted to this course, probably, because of the patent to Elbridge and Aldsworth, which was pressed upon them, and because of a report by a Legisla- tive committee, Feb. 23, 1762, which confined the Waldo patent between the rivers Penobscot and Muscongus. The Brown claim was likewise revived in 1764-5, to the same lands, and depositions taken to support the title. Afterwards, the heirs of Waldo had an adjustment with the Commonwealth, in which they released all the lands on the west side of the river ; and the German set- tlers resident on them, under Waldo, thus perplexed, were left, contrary to " every principle of justice and good faith," without indemnity or remuneration. Injured and affronted by this ill 300 fami-
treatment, disappointed in their expectations, displeased with the Waldobo- climate, and determined to be rid of lawsuits, 300 families were rough. persuaded by their German brethren, who had lately purchased lands in the south-western parts of Carolina, to remove thither. Therefore they sold their possessory estates, for the most they could obtain, removed to that Province in 1773, and joined a large body of Germans, who settled Londonderry. It was with the deepest regrets, that their neighbors, and all their remaining brethren, parted with them. For ' they were mostly husband- ' men, of excellent moral character, and considerable agricultural ' skill-distinguished for their industrious and economical habits.'
When the German pilgrims first planted themselves at Broad- bay, they formed a Lutheran Church, and being a devout peo- ple, met every Sabbath for public worship, till the arrival of their first minister, Rev. John M. Schaeffer, who settled with them, in
lies leave
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A. D. 1773. 1762, when there were only about 80 families. were delivered in their vernacular language .*
His discourses
The emi- grants. All the German and Irish emigrants, settled in these eastern towns, were warm friends to the cause of civil and religious rights. For these, in fact, were the principal motives which had induced their removal. Nay, few of the yeomanry, or the laboring class of citizens any where, were attached, either to the ceremonies The people. or ecclesiastical government of the episcopal church. The in- habitants of the interior, and especially in the new townships, were wholly in favor of the congregational order ;- as being a system adopted by their pious ancestors, more consonant to serip- ture, according to their belief, and more favorable to the princi- ples of political freedom, in which they felt so deep an interest. The minis ters. The settled ministers, too, of whom there were in the three eastern counties, upwards of thirty, partook largely of the same free spirit ;} ready to every good word and work, as well at the altar of liberty
* Waldoborough contains 25,376 acres of land. It is separated from Nobleborough by Pemaquid, Duck-puddle Pond and Brook, and a line 128 rods long, to Moody's Meadow. It is separated from Bristol by a line of 2 miles long from Duck-puddle Brook to the head of Broad-cove ; and from Meduncook, [Friendship] by Goose river. In Broad-cove, there are sev- eral Islands appendant to Waldoborough ; viz. Upper Narrows, Hog, Po- land's, Hadlock, Hungry, Otter, Jones', Garden, and others smaller; sev- eral of which are very pleasant, and some are inhabited .- A great part of the settlers, before their removal, lived on the west side of Broad-cove in Bristol. The church of Mr. Schaeffer, consisted of about 50 or 60 mem- bers, each of whom paid him £3 old tenor, one bushel of corn and a day's work, annually. The minister also had a contribution of half a dollar, for the ordinance of baptism, or the sacrament, and a dollar for attending a funeral. His successors were, 1st. Rev. Mr. Croner, in 1785,-who preached 4 years ; 2d. Rev. R. B. Ritz, in 1793. His remuneration was 100 acres of land, and $220 annual salary. He died in 1812. Mr. Star- man, the present Lutheran minister, preaches a part of the time in Eng- lish. There are two other parishes in town ; in the first was settled Mr. Cutting ; and in the 2d, A. D. 1816, Rev. Mr. Mitchell, in the village. There are also a baptist and a methodist society in town; 17 saw-mills, 9 grist-mills, 6 clothing-mills and carding machines, and 6 bridges. The In- habitants own about 30 vessels. The town was first represented, A. D. 1780, by a German gentleman, Jacob Ludwig, Esq .- Waldoborough was a shire-town, from A. D. 1786-7 to A. D. 1800 .- MS. Let. of R. Ludwig, Esq .- See ante, A. D. 1740 .- Eaton's MS. Nar. p. 10 .- 2 Holmes' A. Ann. p. 306 .- Report of Claims, A. D. 1811, p. 26 .- Testimony of W. Burns and J. Ludwig, p. 161-5.
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