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 54
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[VOL. 11.
A. D. 1786. from the interesting and important subject, by the insurrectional A spirit of insurrection manifest. spirit, which had broken forth in several of the western counties in the State, that the General Court only passed acts for the col- lection of taxes already voted, and for a temporary suspension of all suits, in collecting private debts. They then proceeded to establish rules and articles for governing the Militia in actual ser- vice ; and to adopt other measures to prevent riots, and crush the rebellion.
Its causes and extent,
There appeared to be a variety of causes for this seditious excitement-such as a heavy State-debt,-repeated calls for taxes,-a decay of trade and manufactures,-a free use of for- eign luxuries,-a sudden scarcity of money,-a laxity of morals, and above all, the private pecuniary demands of creditors, which though sued, the debtors had not the mind or the means to pay. At last, the spirit of reform or rebellion, rose to such a height, that delegates met at Hatfield, on Connecticut river, August 22, from 50 towns, and framed a great number of articles, which they voted to be grievances and needless burdens. Next, about 1,500 malcontents appeared in arms at Northampton. Their chief leader was Daniel Shays, who had been a Captain in the Revolution. But though their numbers increased surprizingly, and the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace, in the counties of Hampshire, Berkshire, Worcester and Middlesex, were prevented by them from holding sessions, the insurrection was entirely suppressed the ensuing year, with little bloodshed ; and all the insurgents either escaped or were par- doned .*
D. Shays, the leader.
Its suppres- sion.
The New- York tract sold.
ry.
At length the territorial claim beyond the river Hudson, so long controverted, was determined against New-York, when Mas- sachusetts sold the tract, which ultimately brought into her treasury a million of dollars. Another expedient, which met with some Land-lotte- success, was a land-lottery. In the scheme, there were to be 2,720 tickets, of £60 each, for which soldiers' notes and all other public securities of the State, would be received in pay- ment. If the tickets all sold, the aggregate would bring in £163,200. Against these there were to be put into the wheels, 50 townships of six miles square, equal to 1,107,396 acres of land, situated between the Penobscot and the Schoodic or St.
* See Minot's Hist. of the Insurrection, Ed. 1788.
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Croix ; and every ticket would entitle the holder to a prize ;- A. D. 1786. the lowest being half a mile square, and the highest a township. The land Committee* were the managers, and the drawing of the lottery was appointed to commence in the ensuing March. A considerable part of the tickets sold, and at the time of drawing, William Binghamt of Philadelphia, a man of immense wealth, took what lands the ticket-holders did not draw, and purchased in afterwards the greater part of their prize lots. With those, The lottery whose lots collectively amounted to a township, the government, townships. at their request, made exchanges and granted them other lands.} The ' lottery townships,' and those who settled upon them, were to be exempt from taxes fifteen years. But if this project drew in a large amount of the public securities, it did not promote the settlement of Maine.
On the subject of Separation, the Convention reassembling, A, D. 1787. January 3, comformably to adjournment, found upon examina- January 3. tion of facts and returns, that the whole number of towns and on the sub- Convention plantations in Maine at this time was 93; of which 53 had not ration. been represented in any of the Conventions, and 8 of the others had sent in no returns. The whole number of votes upon the question of Separation was 994, of which 645 were yeas; and if the reckoning were by towns and plantations, there were 24 affirmatives against eight.
A motion was then made, that the proposed petition for Sepa-
* At this time, the Committee were Samuel Phillips ; Nathaniel Wells ; John Brooks, appointed Nov. 30, 1785, in the place of Nathan Dane, a member of Congress ; Leonard Jarvis, and Rufus Putnam, who were added to the Committee Nov. 11, 1786.
t Mr. Bingham died at Bath, (England,) in 1803, and left one son, Wil- liam, of Philadelphia ; one daughter, who married Alexander Baring of London, (Eng.); and one other married to a German nobleman, attached to the Austrian government. The heirs own another large tract in Maine =2,350,000 acres in all .- See Greenleaf's Map.
Į See these lottery acts, N'ov. 9, 1786, and June 20, 1788 .- These town- ships were Nos. 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20-1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, == 15 in the east division ; and Nos. from 14 to 43, both inclusive=30 in the middle division ; and Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,=5 in the northern division, beginning at the north-west corner of No. 8, at Union river, thence north 30 miles, and including one tier north of the end of that line, except the corner town- ship ; thence east to the Schoodic ; thence southerly through Denny's river to Orangetown; thence westerly back of Machias, Columbia, &c. to the first corner mentioned.
.ject of Sepa-
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A. D. 1787 ration be presented to the Legislature ;- when unexpectedly to many, it was decided in the negative. Immediately a member moved a reconsideration, whence ensued a spirited debate. The arguments so often pressed against a Separation were repeated ; to which in reply it was insisted, that the present was the 'golden ' opportunity to effectuate the important object ;' one venturing so far, as to intimate a denunciation of the Senate and Attorney- General, as needless, and to desire a new emission of paper- money. A reconsideration at last prevailed by a majority of two The result. votes ; and the Committee were directed to present or retain the petition, according to the dictates of their discretion .- It was in fact presented, the next year, and referred to a Committee of seven, 3 from the Senate and 4 from the House. Meanwhile the Convention was kept alive by adjournments, till Sept. 1788; -expiring at last, by reason of the non-attendance of its mem- bers .*
Measures of government people of Maine. Always disposed to administer justice towards the eastern peo- to satisfy the ple, in a spirit of conciliatory generosity and affection, the Gen- eral Court employed measures calculated to cool and abate the high Separation-fever. Wild lands were exempted from taxation for ten years, after the execution of the State's deed to grantees. The fee-bill, so much the occasion of popular discontent, was re- vised. The law for the relief of poor debtors committed to prison, was so amended, as to require rooms to be furnished them, separate from criminals. Two roads were ordered to be laid out at the public expense ; one between the heads of the tide, in Kennebeck and Penobscot rivers; and the other between Penob- scot and Passamaquoddy bays. Every permanent inhabitant settled upon any of the public lands before the year 1784, the Legislature ordered to be quieted by a deed of 100 acres, so as best to embrace his improvements, on his paying the trifling sum of five dollars. A term of the Supreme Court for the first time, and an additional term of the Common Pleas and Sessions, were established at Pownalborough in 1786 ;- and in March of the present year, one term of the lower Courts was established at Hallowell, [Augusta,] and one at Waldoborough. The Secretary of State was directed to publish the laws of the Commonwealth in the Falmouth Gazette. In fine, the establishment and patron-
* The last President was Peleg Wadsworth.
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age of a College in this District, were treated with marks of A. D. 1787. Legislative respect and attention :- By which conciliatory meas- ures, the subject of Separation was rocked into a slumber, from which it was not aroused for several years.
At the spring election there were political changes in the State Gov. Han- administration. Mr. Hancock was re-elected Governor by a sen. cock re-cho- large majority over his competitor, Governor Bowdoin ;* Gene- ral Benjamin Lincoln, the next year was chosen Lieutenant-Gov- ernor ; and the greater part of the Senators and Representatives were new members. No man was better fitted to maintain the tranquillity of society and the authority of government, than Hancock. In the general retrenchment of expenses, he relin- Economy quished $1000 of his salary ; and he was always able to exert try. and indus- an inspiring influence, upon the great interests of industry and economy. Specimens of domestic fabric and pieces of manual ingenuity, were now particularly viewed with pleasure and praise. Even the mothers and daughters of the age aspired to attainments in the grace and merit of industry, recommended by the pen of inspired wisdom. To cite an instance, as a memorial, an hun- dred females among the best families, stirred by a spirit of emula- tion and benevolence, convened in May, (1788) at the house of their minister, in Portland, and presented his wife with 236 skeins of cotton and linen, as the fruits of their afternoon's labor and skill, from the turn of only sixty wheels; and in the evening, a large concourse assembling, was entertained with a concert of sacred music. Such, at this period, were the admired examples of pro- ductive labor-such, the rational mirth and well improved habits, which merited esteem and imitation in the fairest and best circles of social life.
Perhaps an occurrence that happened August 26, soon after four of the clock, P. M. may be considered too rare to be passed
* See post, A. D. 1794, Bowdoin College. Governor Bowdoin, a native of Boston and a graduate of Harvard, A. D. 1745, was a philosopher and statesman of the first order. In 1774, he was a member of Congress, and was at the head of the Council after Governor Gage was denounced, till the adoption of the Constitution. He was a whig patriot of good abilities and great worth. But his administration of two years was at a most criti- cal conjuncture. He was accused unjustly of being partial to the mer- chants; because he thought in humanity and justice, according to the treaty of peace, the acts of confiscation ought to be repealed. He died lamented, Nov. 6, 1790.
A remark- able expio- sion in the air.
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A. D. 1',87. unnoticed. A ball of fire, apparently as large as that of a nine pounder, was seen by numbers in Portland, New-Gloucester and other places, flying through the air in a south-western direction, at an angle of more than 45 from the ground, when it suddenly exploded three times in quick succession, like the discharge of as many cannon, with reports resembling thunder-claps. No tre- mor of the earth was felt, yet buildings were shaken ; and from the smoke observed, it was believed, the electric fluid must have been above the clouds. The explosions were heard as far east as Frenchman's bay, and westward at Fryeburgh.
"Three new towns incor- porated. Penobscot.
The towns incorporated this year, were PENOBSCOT, Feb. 23; LIMERICK, March 6 ; and WATERBOROUGH, the same day.
Penobscot, extending northward from Buck harbor, nearly to the foot of Orphan Island, was then about 15 miles in length ; and was the first town incorporated on the eastern bank of the Penobscot waters. It embraced the celebrated peninsula of Ma- jor-biguyduce, [now Castine,] to which reference must be had for particulars omitted in this place .* The early history of the two towns is, of course, inseparably connected. Penobscot was No. 3, in the first class of townships conditionally granted by the Provincial General Court, in 1762 ; an effectual settlement hav- ing been commenced two years before, by eight or ten families, migrating across the bay from the neighborhood of Fort Pownal. It seems, that in the confirmation of the titles to the settlers, in 1785, P. and C. Jarvis had a prominent agency, and acquired an interest to a considerable extent.+
* See Castine, incorporated, A. D. 1796.
t Penobscot, (49th town,) contained, after Castine was taken from it, about 20,310 acres. The Ist parish, or rather the town, settled Rev. Jon- athan Powars, Dec. 31, 1795-whose salary was £80. About 1802-3, the parish built for him a meeting-house, 40 by 38 feet. He died Nov. 8, 1807, and was succeeded by Rev. Philip Spaulding, who continued there three years. The methodists, also, have a meeting-house .- There are 11 school- houses, 4 mills, and 9 bridges, one of which is 200 feet in length. The town was first represented in the General Court in 1791, by Isaac Parker, who was afterwards for many years Chief Justice of the S. J. Court of Massa- chusetts .- By act, passed June 13, 1817, Brooksville was formed out of the old town and a part of Sedgwick ; since which, the town of Penobscot ex- tends only three miles on the Penobscot waters,-viz .- from the mouth of Eastern river to Morris' cove-thence, 12 miles, to the northern head of Castine river .-- See ante, A. D. 1762, 1785 .- MS. Let. of Col. J. Ward- well, 1820.
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Limerick is a part of the ancient purchase of Captain Sunday A. D. 1787. by Francis Small. It is a township of only 13,000 acres. Its Limerick. first settlement was during the Revolution ; having within its lim- its, in 1780, no more than twelve families .*
Waterborough, the plantation of Massabesec, is a part of the Waterbo- tract purchased by William Phillips, A. D. 1661-4, of Saga- rough. mores Fluellan, Hobinowell and Captain Sunday. The earliest improvements undertaken in this township, by felling trees, were about the years, 1767-8. The progress of the settlement was slow. The inhabitants and those of Lyman and the present Al- fred, at first, associated in religious worship, and for many years cultivated and enjoyed mutual fellowship. The first church was organized in 1780, consisting of members who belonged to those three places.t
At the November session of the General Court, the Governor Constitution presented to the two Houses, the FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, as ed States. of the Unit- reported by delegates from the several States, sitting in conven- tion upon the subject at Philadelphia, from May 14th to the 17th of September .¿ To form an Assembly for adopting it, the sev- eral towns were authorized to choose as many delegates, as they had a right by the State constitution to elect representatives ; and in January, 1788, 360 convened in Boston, of whom 46 were A. D. 1788, from Maine. Governor Hancock was President, and William Cushing, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was Vice-presi-
* Limerick, (50th town,) lics on the north side of Little Ossipee, and ad- joins the " Ripplings."-See Parsonsfield, ante, A. D. 1785 .- Note (a.)- In 1795, a church was gathered and Rev. Edinund Eastman was ordain- ed, He died Dec. 1812. His successor was Rev. Charles Freeman, settled in 1820.
t Waterborough, (51st town,) lying south of Little Ossipee river, is large in territory, containing 26,000 acres, besides 1,580 acres owned by the town, and 1,639 acres covered with water. The plantation name was taken from Massabesec pond in this township. In 1820, the number of dwellinghouses was 133; and 7 mills. Population in 1790, was only 110. The inhabitants are generally of the baptist persuasion ; - Elders Pela- tiah Tingly and Henry Smith, having been the first religious teachers of the two societies .- Waterborough was made a shire-town in York county, in 1790; where the Courts of Common Pleas and Sessions were holden, till removed to Alfred, in 1806 .- See ante, Sanford, .4. D. 1768.
# See " Journal, Acts and Proceedings of the Convention,"-published by Resolve of Congress, March 27, 1818, Ed. A. D. 1819, pages 510, includ- ing the ratification of the Constitution by the States.
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[VOL. II.
A. D). 1788. dent. In this Convention were great talents, and the influence of the State. The period of the session was a season of ex- treme anxiety .* The yeas and nays were taken, February 9, when there were 187 against 168 ;- giving a majority of 19 in its favor. The majority of the delegation from this District for it, was as 25 to 21.f By the Constitution, which was soon brought into operation by a ratification of eleven States, Massa- chusetts was entitled to eight Representatives in Congress ; and hence, the General Court divided the Commonwealth into as many Districts,-Maine constituting one, and electing GEORGE THATCHER of Biddeford, a distinguished lawyer. The two Houses chose DAVID SEWALL, Elector in Maine, for the first President and Vice-president of the United States.t
Slavery abolished.
As there had been for more than half a century, a considera- ble number of colored people in this eastern country, as well as in other parts of the State, who were slaves ;- the very name after the revolutionary struggle became doubly odious. It was thought to be base hypocrisy and crime in a free people to tolerate slave- ry ; and consequently, it was declared in the Bill of Rights, a constituent part of the State constitution, that " all men are born free and equal." Aided by this clause, the Supreme Judicial Court at Worcester, in 1783, imposed a small fine upon a man for correcting his negro servant, though he pleaded his privilege in justification. The public were satisfied ; and every slave felt the relief for which he had long sighed. But this was not suffi- ciently effectual, for there had been lately an attempt by a sea- captain to seize three blacks in Boston harbor, for the purpose of
* In the midst of this extreme solicitude, the opinion of an observing sage and pious father, was requested upon the subject. 'The New Gov- ' ernment,' said he, ' I think will be adopted, for I find our praying people ' are for it ;' adding, ' when General Pepperell went from this town, [Fal- ' mouth,] against Cape-Breton, in 1745, there were great anxieties and ' fears about the result. Doct. Franklin knowing it, remarked, "I am " certain General Pepperell will succeed, for all the praying people of the " country are on his side."
t In York County. In Cumberland. In Lincoln. yeas 6 yeas 10 yeas 9 == 25
nays 11 nays 3
nays 7=21
# The two Senators chosen, were Caleb Strong of Northampton and Tristram Dalton of Newburyport. George Thatcher had been elected in June of this year, by the two Houses, a member of the old Congress.
CHAP. XX. ]
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carrying them to the West-Indies ; and therefore, the Legislature, A. D. 1788. March 26, (1788,) passed an act, highly penal against both kid- napping and the slave trade.
To the affairs of Maine, now flourishing, the government paid Land Com- the utmost attention. The original Committee, appointed in 1781, their power. mittee and were discharged ; and two added to the standing Committee for the sale and settlement of eastern lands. Their number was now five; and their authority, or power, was co-extensive with the whole territory of Maine. They were required, immediately to complete plans of all surveys made, uniformly reserving in every town, 320 acres for the ministry and schooling; to quiet settlers upon lots of 100 acres for small considerations ; and to offer lands to foreigners, if they would actually settle upon them, proposing to naturalize all such, as could exhibit proof of contin- ued good behavior, for two years.
There were several considerations, which were urged with force The estab- and spirit for the establishment of a College, in this rising com- an eastern munity. If the moral sense be improved, and liberty secured by sidered. a diffusion of useful knowledge, and a culture of the arts and sciences, according to the sentiments and maxims of the fathers ; it was insisted by the eastern people, that a public Seminary planted among them, would enlarge and spread the benefits of education, in proportion to the facilities presented in obtaining it. Nay, a public literary establishment was absolutely needed ; and from the grateful recollections of the character and merits of John Winthrop, entitled the ' Father of the Massachusetts Colony ; a worthy son of his name, the Governor of Connecticut ; and another, distinguished for his talents and science ; many thought it might, with no ordinary propriety, take the name of Winthrop College .- To determine and fix its site, it was believed, that a large Committee of gentlemen ought to be selected from the three eastern counties ; and to provide it with funds, it was said, two or three townships of land ought to be granted, and monies might be raised by means of a lottery. The Legislature did in fact appropriate one township* for the purpose, the best that could be selected north of the Waldo patent, between Penobscot and Kennebeck rivers. The object was expansive, and six years
lishment of
College con-
* Dixmont.
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A. D. 1788. elapsed, before a Collegiate Seminary in Maine was fully estab- lished.
Twenty new towns incorporat- ed.
To remedy the inconveniences experienced by the people, who resided upon the river Penobscot and eastward of it, owing to the remoteness of the Courts from them ; the government was dis- posed to divide the County of Lincoln, as soon as there were established in the eastern section, a competent number of corpo- rate towns, from which jurymen could be legally drawn. The General Court, therefore, March 24, called upon the larger Islands and new townships settled, to assign their reasons at the succeeding session, why they did not apply for charters of incor- poration. This call so generally awakened the inhabitants of plantations, that within the period of about fifteen months there were incorporated twenty towns ;- by taking a cursory view of which, we are able to trace the progress of settlement and the growth of the District.
Bowdoins
BOWDOIN, hitherto "the plantation of West Bowdoinham," was incorporated, March 21, 1788, when it probably contained 120 families. The people were principally of the baptist denom- ination, and one of the first ministers settled there was Elder James Potter. This town is supposed to have been settled some years before the revolutionary war .*
Orrington.
ORRINGTON, incorporated also March 21, was previously call- ed ' New-Worcester,' or ' plantation number nine ;' and embraced the present town of that name and Brewer.t The first settle- ment was commenced by John Brewer in the summer of 1770, at the mouth of the stream Segeunkedunk. Having obtained the assent of the General Court to settle there, upon condition of get- ting a confirmation from the crown within three years, he and his associates caused the exterior lines of a tract large enough for a township, to be surveyed. They then sent by Doct. Calef of Ipswich, a petition addressed to the king for a grant ; which was heard, and a grant promised, yet prevented by the news of the Lexington battle, received at the English Court. The settlers were threatened by the British, and some of them disturbed, in the Revolutionary war ; therefore Brewer and several others found
* Bowdoin (52d town) took its name from the family of Governor Bow- doin. In compass it is 10 miles by 8-extends as far southerly as Bowdoin- ham, and bounds on Topsham.
t See Brewer, incorporated Feb. 22, 1812.
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it most consistent with their safety to retire. But they all return- A. D. 1788. ed early after peace ; and on the 25th of March, 1786, Capt. Brewer and Simeon Fowler, who had settled three miles below, in what is Orrington since the division of the town, purchased of the government the lots jutting upon the river, equal in all to 10,864 acres ; for which they gave £3,000 in consolidated notes. The residue of the township was granted to Moses Knapp and his associates .*
NORRIDGEWOCK, incorporated June 18, is one of the northern- Norridge- most townships within the Plymouth patent. It is a place pecu- wock. liar for its beauties of nature. The first settlement was com- menced about A. D. 1773; and the first child born of English parents was a son of Abel Farrington, in August of the succeed- ing year.+
GREENE, also incorporated June 18, is the northerly section Greene. of the plantation called Lewiston. It is situated between the Androscoggin and the west line of the Plymouth patent, and is a part of the Pejepscot purchase. The original settlement was begun about the year 1773 ; and when the town was incorporat- ed, it contained nearly 100 families. Its name was given it in honor of Major-General Greene.}
* Orrington (53d town,) is a name altogether adventitiously chosen. When the agent to the General Court was requested to give a name to be inserted in the bill, for its incorporation ; he accidentally opened a book and saw the name, which being novel and sonorous, he caused to be select- ed. Before the division, the town extended from Buck's ledge, 15 miles on the river, to the ' Bend,' and contained 37,304 acres. It was surveyed by B. Dodge in 1784. The fishing privileges belong to the town. There were first erected two meeting-houses, 7 miles apart, equidistant from each end of the town. The first Representative was Oliver Leonard, in 1798. -MS. Let. of Hon. D. Perham.
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