USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Wiscasset > Wiscasset in Pownalborough; a history of the shire town and the salient historical features of the territory between the Sheepscot and Kennebec rivers > Part 8
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The meeting above mentioned, held after the Patent had lain dormant for little less than a century, met at the Royal Exchange Tavern in Boston, September 21, 1749, when Edward Winslow, Robert Temple, Henry Laughton, Jacob Wendell, John Bonner, Joseph Gooch, John Fox, Thomas Valentine and Samuel Goodwin, heirs and assigns on Antipas Boyes and his
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
associates organized a company which they called the "Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase from the Colony of New Plymouth," though this cor- poration is usually called by the shorter name of the Plymouth Company.
A part of the original patent which Mr. Isaac Allerton brought over in 1629, giving the Pilgrims the right and privilege at Kennebec reads:
The said Council hath further given, granted, bargained, sold, infeeoffed, alloted, assigned and set over, and by these presents do clearly and absolutely give, grant, bar- gain, sell, allieve, enfeoff, allot, assign and confirm unto ye said William Bradford, his heirs associates and assigns all that tract of land or part of New England in America aforesaid, which lyeth within or between, and extendeth itself from ye utmost limits of Cobiseconte, which adjoyneth to ye river of Kennebeck, towards the western ocean, and at a place called ye falls of Nequamkick in America, aforesaid: and ye space of fifteen English myles on each side of ye said river, commonly called Kenebeck River, and all ye said river called Keneback that lyeth within the said limits and bounds, east- ward, westward, northward and southward, last above mentioned: and all lands, grounds, soyles, rivers, waters, fishing, &c. And by virtue of ye authority to us derived by his late Majesty's letters patents, to take, apprehend, seize, and make prize of all such persons, their ships and goods as shall attempt to inhabit or trade with ye savage people of that countrie within ye several precincts and limits of his and their several plantations. . . .
This charter with but few changes forms the basis of every grant of land made by the Plymouth Company one hundred and twenty years later in what afterwards became the town of Pownalborough. It is likewise the patent which tradition says a woman, perhaps the wife or daughter of one of the Pilgrims, tucked away in her attic, hoping at some future time to dispose of it at a profit.
Mr. Allen in his History of Dresden states that it was at a later date that both William and James Bowdoin, Thomas and John Hancock, Dr. Silves- ter Gardiner, Benjamin Hallowell-for whom the city of Hallowell was named-James Bayard and many other well-known Boston men became their associates. Bayard was the ancestor of Thomas Francis Bayard, our first ambassador to the Court of St. James's, who brought the Bradford manuscript from England to Massachusetts. Jacob Wendell was the Dutch ancestor of Oliver Wendell Holmes. He came to Fort Richmond to nego- tiate a treaty with the Norridgewock Indians. John Hancock, who inherited from his uncle, Thomas Hancock, thus became one of the Kennebec Pro- prietors.1
1. Allen, History of Dresden, Maine, p. 57.
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Pownalborough
The first attempt at banding together into a township appears to have been abortive. A petition was sent from Frankfort to Governor Shirley in the summer of 1754 which read as follows:2
To His Excellency William Shirley Esq the Honourable his Majesty's Council & the House of Representatives
Humble Shews
That your Petitioners are Inhabitants of a Tract of Land included in the Purchase made by Antipass Boies and others from the late Colony of New Plymouth, lying be- tween the Rivers Kenebeck and Sheepscott and bounded as follows: Begining on Kene- beck River at the North Bounds of the Lot of Land laid out and Granted to John Tufts by the Plymouth Proprietors and runing from thence East South East to Sheep- scott River, from thence down said River to the North Bounds of a Tract of Land which John Wright, Thomas Stinson and others Petition the Great and General Court to be made a Township or District from thence by the North Boundary Line of said Township petitioned for by said Wright and Stinson &c. to Kenebeck River being a West North West Course, thence up said River Kenebeck to the Boundary first men- tioned; purpose by Divine permission and the Smiles of your Excellency & Honours ac- companing our Endeavours to have the Gospell Preached amongst us than which noth- ing will tend more to forward the Settlement of said Plantation and for the encour- agement whereof the Proprietors above mentioned have made a Grant of Three Tracts of Land. One of One Hundred Acres for the first settled Minister, One of Two Hun- dred Acres for the Ministry, and one other of one hundred Acres for a School Lott. We most humbly pray your Excellency & Honours will Grant that the said Lands be- fore mentioned may be incorporated into a Township or District Including Swan Island in said Township by the Name of Francfort with all the Privilidges arising therefrom, and your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever Pray, &c
Franc fort, June, 1754.
The signers were:
Obadiah Albee Henry Parry
Samuel Goodwin
Robert Lambert
Nathaniel Rundlet
John Tufts
William Groves
Abram Preble
Miles Goodwin
Elisha Kenny
Samuel Kincaid
Abram Wyman
John McCoye
David Joy
Jonas Jones Sam11 Chapman
Samuel Nickels
Uzziah Kendall
Francis Gray Obadiah Call
Sam11 Marson
Sherebiah Lambert James Whidden
John Herrin
John Chapman
Timothy Whidden
John Spalding
Samuel Ball
Lazarus Noble
Willm Mitchell
Naphtali Kincaid
2. Massachusetts Archives, CXVI, 665-666.
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
Joseph McFarland
John Getchell
Jan. Pochard
John Cheney
Moses Gray
Johann Jacob Carlor
Elias Cheney
Jaques Bugnon
Johannes Stain
Jonathan Rand, jr.
J. F. Jaquin
Johannes Henry Layor
Samuel Silvester
Michel Stilffing
Adam Couch
John Sutton
Jean George Goud
Amos Paris
George Gray
Daniel Goud
George Pochard
John Decker
Louis Cavalier
Charles Estienne Houdlette
Caleb Boyinton
George Pechin
Johannes Nardin
John Baker
Jean George Jaquin
Zachariah Nardin
William Boyinton
Daniel Malbon
Abram Pochard
No action was taken, but the scattered settlement went on struggling for a corporate existence.
Five full years passed and again the inhabitants of Frankfort made an- other and a more successful attempt to become incorporated into a township. This time their petition3 was addressed to Governor Pownall and it read as follows:
To His Excellency Thomas Pownal Esq' Governour and Commander in Cheiff in and over His Majesties Province of the Massachusetts Bay and Vice Admiral of the same and the Hounourable the Council and Honourable House of Representatives Humble Sheweth
That wee the Subscribers &c are a number of Inhabitants in the Plantation of Frank- fort Laying between Kennebeck and Sheepscut Rivers; and within the Bounds of the Kennebeck Purchas from the Late Colony of New Plymouth of the lands fifteen miles on Each Side of Kennebeck River to the Number of about one hundreed familys and hath been for a number of years bringing forward a Settlement there; and, whereas wee find by Experiance that in the Curcomstances wee are in and for want of our being Errected into a town and being invested with the Powers and Priveledges that others of his Majesties Good Subjects do Injoy it Prevents Our orderly Proceeding to the Calleing Settleing and Supporting a Gospel Minister; Imploying and Maintaining a School master for the teaching of Our Children and many Other Ill convenances not neacessary to be mentioned to your Excellency and Honours you well Knowing what People meets with where Order and Government is wanting
Wee therefore most Humbly Pray your Excellency and Honours to Take the Primisses and our Curcomstances into your Wise Consederation and Errect us into a town and Invest us with all the Power and Priveledges as other of his Majesties Good Subjects do Injoy in any Town in said Province by the Name of Frankfort or any Other Name as your Excellency in your Great Wisdom Shall think Proper with the following butts and Bounds viz': begining on the East side of Kennebeck River at a Poin tree marked standing on Said River and on the Northwest Corner of a Tract of
3. Massachusetts Archives, XVII, 540-542.
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Pownalborough
land belonging to the Proprietors under Clark and Lake which Northwest Corner is a little above Merremeeting Bay and is the North line of Nequassett Township So Called; from thence Runing an East southeast Course on said North line over to Mounsweegg River; then Runing Southerly Down Said River to Mounsweegg Bay then Down Said Bay and Round to Sheepscut River; then Northerly up Said River tell it meets with the South Line of a thirty two Hundreed acre Lott; then Runing a west Northwest Course on said South line to Kennebeck River; then Runing Southerly down Said River Keeping on the west side of Swan Island to the first mentioned Bounds, which includes Swan Island in said Township all which by the Plan anext will more fully appear-and May it Please your Excellency and Honours if you will be Pleased to Grant our Request you will Greately Contribet to the Happiness of his Majesties Faithfull Subjects and your most Dutefull and Very Humble Sarvents in this Place and as in Duty Bound wee Shall Ever Pray Dated at Frankfort Nov 6th 1759
Samuel Silvester
Thomas Low
Nathanel Rundlet Sherebiah Lambert
Nicodemus Place
Johann Henry Layer
Thomas Parker
David Clancy
Abram Wyman
Michall Sevey
Job Averell
Daniel Goodwin
Robert Foy
Samuel Goodwin
Philip Call
Mathew Hastings
James Stewart
James Whidden
James Cooper
Joseph Hutchings
Timothy Whidden
John Andrews
Moses Gray
Sam11 Oldham
David Joy
Samuel Ball
John Peter Coul
William Moore
Samuel Kincade
John Spearn
Johannes Jacob Carlor
Bartholomew Fowler
Abram Pochard
Jonª Bryant
James Clark, Juner
John McGown Mauris Wheeler
William Story John Peirce
Robert Lambert
Abiathar Kendall
Joshua Young
Benjamin Averell
Abner Marson
Jaques Bugnon
William Clark
Caleb Goodwin
Joshua Bickford
Joshua Chamberlain
Michel Stilffin
Charles Estienne Houdlette
John Blagdon
The Act was passed February 13, 1760, and the bounds were defined as follows:
Beginning on Kennebec River, two miles and one hundred rods to the northward of the blockhouse within the plantation of Frankfort, thence an E. S. E. course over to Sheepscott River, thence southerly down said river to the mouth of Monsweag River, then northerly up said Monsweag River to the northern boundary line of the district of Woolwich, then west-north-west along Woolwich line to Kennebec River, thence northerly up the said Kennebec River to the bounds first mentioned, including Swan Island and all other islands in Kennebec River.
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Thomas Murfe
Wiscasset in Pownalborough
The first town meeting was held in the garrison house at Wiscasset, June 25, 1760, in response to a warrant issued by Samuel Denny, justice of the peace, to Samuel Goodwin, one of the principal inhabitants of Pownal- borough.
Moderator, John Fairfield was first chosen, and Jonathan Williamson was appointed Town Clerk.
Selectmen, John Fairfield, Jonathan Williamson and Michael Sevey.
Treasurer, Josiah Bradbury.
Constables, William Boyinton, Timothy Whidden.
Surveyors of Highways, Daniel McKenney, Joseph Young, Jr., Robert Lambert and Job Averill.
Tything men,4 John Blagdon, John Decker, William Groves, Daniel McKenney.
Fence Viewers, Daniel McKenney, Joseph Young, Robert Lambert, Job Averill.
Field drivers and Hog Reeves, James Stewart, Richard Holbrook, Jacob Metcalf.
Culler of Staves and Shingles, Samuel Silvester.
Surveyors of Timber and Boards, John Decker and Ephraim Grant.
Sealer of Leather, Joshua Silvester.
The officers all took the oath of office before John Fairfield. At the first meeting of Pownalborough, no money was raised.
When, four months later, Lincoln County was incorporated, Pownal- borough became its shire town.
The next year the Plymouth Proprietors erected a building on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River, now known as the Dresden court house and there established the court. Lawyers of note and many prominent families moved to this vicinity and the town of Pownalborough began its corporate existence.
William Willis says: "No place in Maine, previous to the Revolution, was so distinguished for its able and talented young men as Pownalborough " Among these young men who commenced life in that remote part of civilization were Rev. Jacob Bailey, the "Frontier Missionary" of the Church of England; William, Charles and Roland Cushing (three sons of Judge John Cushing, of Scituate, Massachusetts, who took residence in Pownalborough the year of its incorporation). William Cushing adminis- tered the oath of office to Washington at his second inauguration, March 4, 1793. Others were Charles Cushing, the first sheriff of Lincoln County; Roland Cushing, who lived first in Dresden and later in Waldoboro; Dr.
4. The tything-man was a parish officer annually elected to preserve good order in church during divine service, and to make complaint of any disorderly conduct, and enforce the observance of the Sabbath. In 1874 the tything-men and the town agent were given up.
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Pownalborough
Thomas Rice; Timothy Langdon; Edmund Bridge, the time-honored sheriff; and Jonathan Bowman, register of deeds and clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. The town then contained one hundred and fifteen families, and Mr. Bailey, who had been appointed a missionary there by the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" was the only ordained minister in the new county.
Two foreign settlers pre-eminent in ancient Pownalborough were Maj. John Polereczky, a soldier from Alsace who came with General Rocham- beau and became Dresden's first town clerk, and the first keeper of the light at Seguin Island; and a Hessian doctor, Ernst Frederick Theobald, a chap- lain in the German division of Burgoyne's army. A son of Dr. Theobald, Ernst Philip, was for many years a physician in Wiscasset, venerated and beloved by the entire county.
Rumor says that the contention for the right to name the new township lay between these two men, and if so, it is highly probable that the name "Fayette" was proposed by Major Polereczky in honor of the man from the Upper Loire, Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, who advocated a constitutional kingdom in his own land, and who, like himself, had come to this country under General Rochambeau; while it is stated that Dr. Ernst Frederick Theobald, who came from Dör- nigheim, Hesse Hanau, near Frankfurt am Main, sponsored the winning name of "Dresden"; which in view of the number of French settlers then residing in the west precinct of Pownalborough, would suggest a triumph for the minority.
According to tradition it was the privilege of the governor to decide upon the name of any new town which was then in doubt, but it is thought im- probable that Samuel Adams, then occupying the gubernatorial office, should have sponsored a German name for a Massachusetts town. It is probable, however, that the petition sent to the General Court by the west parish for incorporation lacked a name for the desired township and that Dresden was supplied by someone having no particular interest in the matter.
In a letter written by John Adams to William Tudor many years later he said:
I am sorry that the name of Pownalborough has been changed to that of Dresden ; that of a virtuous and sensible man to that of a scene of frivolity. Pownal was a Whig, a friend of liberty, a lover of his country, and he considered North America part of his country as much as England, Scotland and Ireland.
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
Be that as it may, the newly incorporated town has ever since been known by the name of Dresden.
The extreme difficulty with which any concerted effort could be carried out in a town spread over such an extensive area as Pownalborough is obvi- ous. At that time, when its roads were ill defined and rough, and its inhabi- tants scattered through the wilderness, it was inconvenient and often im- possible to notify these inhabitants of town meetings and court sessions, and great effort was required of them to attend those gatherings. In fact they were not infrequently driven to the expedient of having town meet- ings in two places, one in the west precinct, the former Frankfort plantation, and the other in the east precinct at Wiscasset Point.
A few years after its incorporation the people of Pownalborough realized that the settlement on the Sheepscot, being older and having a greater num- ber of inhabitants, as well as a more reliable water approach, should have been chosen as the seat of the courts. In 1765 eighty-six of the settlers signed a petition for the division of the town which was sent to the authori- ties of Massachusetts. It was not then granted, in fact the dismemberment of Pownalborough did not take place for nearly thirty years after its incor- poration, when in answer to the following petition New Milford (Alna) and Dresden were set off, and the next year the courts were transferred to Wiscasset.
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS: Humbly shew the subscribers (a committee appointed for that purpose ) that on the fourth day of April last the Town of Pownalborough, taking into consideration the great extent of the Town, and the great inconvenience of attend- ing meetings and conducting Town affairs, did then Vote Unanimously that Said Town should be set off from Said Town into a separate and distinct Town from Said Pownal- borough by the now line of said Parish.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your honours would confirm the doings of Said Town in this matter and that Said West Parish may be erected into a Town by the name of Fayette, and that the Said North Parish may be erected into a Town by the name Milford or by such other name or names as shall be agreeable to your Honours, and that Said Towns may be invested with all privileges, and immunities of other towns in the Commonwealth and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever Pray.
(June, 1794)
Signed THOMAS RICE CHINA SMITH JONATHAN BOWMAN
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Pownalborough
The Prayer of this petition was granted and the two towns were incorpo- rated viz: Dresden and New Milford.
After the breaking up of Pownalborough, Wiscasset continued to bear the parent name, but in the end a more specific name was required to desig- nate this precise locality which had long been known as Wiscasset Point so a petition was sent:
To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assem- bled: The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Pownalborough in the County of Lincoln, by their agent David Payson, respectfully Sheweth That, the part of the Town where mercantile business is now transacted hath from the Original Settlement thereof to the present time been known and so called by the name of Wiscasset, that for many years last past the whole of Said Town, has by common consent been called and distinguished by the last mentioned name and by that name the Said Town has been recognized in numerous States of the United States. That by reason of Said Towns having two names aforesaid, your Petitioners have often been incommoded in busi- ness, and Strangers embarrassed and perplexed. Wherefore they pray that the name of Said Town be altered and called in the future by the name of WISCASSET, and that the Inhabitants of Said Town, may have, retain and enjoy all the rights, Immumities, privileges and advantages by Said last mentioned name as they might or could by the name of Pownalborough and as in Duty Bound will ever Pray.
DAVID PAYSON Agent for the Inhabitants of Pownalborough, May 21, 1802.
Twenty days later its former name of Pownalborough was discarded by the east precinct which has ever since been known solely as Wiscasset.
The line of early research relevant to the towns of Alna, Dresden, Swan Island and Wiscasset, is of necessity the same, for they were four sister towns belonging to old Pownalborough and so, until the setting off of Alna and Dresden, which latter town took Swan Island, their history was identi- cal. Wiscasset, as though loth to renounce her maiden name, was the last of them all to bear the name of Pownalborough.
Beginning the Town
Coincident with the founding of a town came the selection of town offi- cers whose responsibility it was to preserve law and order and to promote the welfare of the community. The discharge of such duties devolved upon the prominent men who in this village were obliged to be members of the
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
parish church or not be elected to public offices. Although these appointments differed in each township according to the requirements of the district, the primitive necessities of most townships were identical. About twenty offices were filled by men chosen at a town meeting to regulate town affairs. They were:
Selectmen or Fathers of the town.
Town Clerk.
Town Treasurer.
Assessors of taxes.
Overseers of the poor. School committee.
Constables.
Collectors of taxes.
Surveyors of highways.
Health officers.
Fence viewers.
Surveyors of lumber and cullers of staves.
Field drivers.
Pound keepers.
Sealers of weights and measurers.
Measurers of fuel.
Inspectors of lime where lime was burned.
Cullers of fish.
Tything men. Hog-reeves, whose duty it was to prevent the free running of swine and rams in the highways.
Auctioneers were appointed by the selectmen as were fire wardens, in- cluding the night ward, hay wards, and in towns having a waterfront port- reeves or water bailiffs, whose duty in New England towns appears to have been that of keeping clean the waterfront and of disposing of dead animals found floating in the harbors, while in England the office was that of mayor. The sheriff (shire-reeve) was a county official.
At the time of the incorporation of Pownalborough, we have an amusing instance of simplicity in their mode of electing town officers, a ballot of a truly rural nature. By an order of the Massachusetts Court, corn and beans were used in voting for councillors, the corn for the yeas, the beans for the nays. For putting in more than one kernel of corn, or one bean for the choice or refusal of a candidate, the law imposed a heavy penalty.
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Pownalborough
The Arnold Expedition
The Arnold expedition to Quebec is beyond doubt the most historic inci- dent, as the story of the love affair between Aaron Burr and Jacatacua, the native Indian maiden, is the most romantic tradition that has come down to us in connection with Swan Island.
General Washington was commissioned June 19, 1775, and reached Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, July 2, taking command of the levies there assem- bled for action against the British garrison at Boston. The Battle of Bunker Hill had already taken place, and Washington's work for the ensuing months was to bring about some semblance of military discipline, to obtain ammunition and military stores, and to create such a military organization as would unite the people in the widely separated and sparsely settled parts of a great continent.
When in the early autumn an attack on Quebec by way of the Kennebec River was projected, so great was the rivalry among the many rifle com- panies in camp at Cambridge that in order to avoid jealousy and ill-feeling the captains were allowed to draw lots. Thus chance decided in favor of the companies of William Hendricks, Matthew Smith, and Daniel Morgan, when on September 6, 1775, the order was given to draft men for Quebec from their regiments. A company of carpenters was sent forward to Agry's Point, about two miles below Gardiner on the eastern bank of the Kennebec, where two hundred and twenty bateaux required by the expedition were being built.
The entire force of volunteers was composed of three companies of rifle- men and two battalions of musketeers to the number of nearly eleven hun- dred men. The camp attendants, officers' servants, guides and a few men who enlisted on the Kennebec must have increased this number to nearly twelve hundred.
The Arnold expedition, which marched from Cambridge to Newbury- port, sailed from the latter place on September nineteenth, and after a few misadventures such as the Swallow striking a rock at the outset which forced her to put back, and the straying away into the Sheepscot River of the Abigail and the Conway which vessels found their way through the Sasanoa and rejoined the main squadron in the Kennebec, reached Pownalborough the second day after leaving Newburyport.
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
The journal of Henry Dearborn contains the following entry:
September 21, reached Swan Island. Went on shore with some of my officers, and stayed all night.
September 22, Passed Fort Richmond at eleven, and Pownalborough in the after- noon. Court House and goal, good settlements. Arrived at four at the place where our batteaux were built.
23rd to 27th at Fort Western.
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