England in America, 1580-1652 Part 23

This change of fis.h.i.+ng and trading stations into regular towns.h.i.+ps was a marked political advance, but as yet each town was separate and independent. The next great step was their union under one government, which was hastened by the action of Ma.s.sachusetts. In the a.s.sertion of her claim that her northern boundary was a due east and west line three miles north of the most northerly part of the Merrimac, Ma.s.sachusetts as early as 1636 built a house upon certain salt marshes midway between the Merrimac and Piscataqua. Subsequently, when Mr.

Wheelwright, in 1638, proposed to extend the towns.h.i.+p of Exeter in that direction, he was warned off by Governor Winthrop, and in 1641 Ma.s.sachusetts settled at the place a colony of emigrants from Norfolk, in England, and called the town Hampton.

Ma.s.sachusetts in a few years took an even more decided step. At Cocheco, or Dover, as it was now called, where the majority of the people were Nonconformists, the desire of support from Ma.s.sachusetts caused the policy of submission to receive the approval of both contending parties in town; and in 1639 the settlers made overtures to Ma.s.sachusetts for incorporation.[12] The settlers at Piscataqua, or Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), being Anglicans, were opposed to incorporation, but submitted from stress of circ.u.mstances. After the death of Captain Mason, in 1635, his widow declined to keep up the industries established by him, and sent word to his servants at Strawberry Bank to s.h.i.+ft for themselves.[13]

Several years later Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brooke, who were the chief owners of Dover, obtained from Mason's merchant partners in England the t.i.tle to Strawberry Bank, and being in sympathy with Ma.s.sachusetts they offered, in 1641, to resign to her the jurisdiction of both places. The proposal was promptly accepted, and two commissioners, Symonds and Bradstreet, went from Ma.s.sachusetts to arrange with the inhabitants the terms of incorporation. The towns were guaranteed their liberties, allowed representation in the Ma.s.sachusetts general court, and exempted from the requirements of the Ma.s.sachusetts const.i.tution that all voters and officers must be members of the Congregational church.[14]

In 1643 Exeter followed the example of Dover and Strawberry Bank by accepting the protection of Ma.s.sachusetts, but it thereby lost its founder. Being under sentence of banishment, Mr. Wheelwright withdrew to the territory of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, where, having obtained a patent, he founded the city of Welles. In 1644 he applied to Winthrop, and was permitted on a slight submission to take charge of the church at Hampton.[15] After several years he visited England, where he was a favorite of Cromwell. At the Restoration he returned and settled at Salisbury, in Ma.s.sachusetts, where he died in 1679. He is perhaps the single bright light in the ecclesiastical history of early New Hamps.h.i.+re.[16]

The four towns--Dover, Strawberry Bank, Exeter, and Hampton, with Salisbury and Haverhill on the northern banks of the Merrimac--were, in 1643, made to const.i.tute the county of Norfolk, one of the four counties into which Ma.s.sachusetts was then divided.[17]

A similar fortune at a later date overtook the towns.h.i.+ps to the north of the Piscataqua. The origin of the name "Maine," applied to the regions of these settlements, has never been satisfactorily explained.

Possibly it was a compliment to Henrietta Maria, the French wife of Charles I.; more probably the fishermen used it to distinguish the continent from the islands. The term "Maine" first occurs in the grant to Gorges and Mason, August 22, 1622, which embraced all the land between the Merrimac and the Sagadahoc, or Kennebec. By Mason's patent in 1629 the country west of the Piscataqua was called New Hamps.h.i.+re, and after that Maine was a name applied to the region between the Piscataqua and Kennebec. In more modern times it was extended to the country beyond, as far as the St. Croix River.

Under Gorges' influence Christopher Levett made a settlement in 1623 on an island in Saco Bay which has been called "the first regular settlement in Maine."[18] The same year some Plymouth merchants planted a colony upon Monhegan Island, which had been long a place of general resort for fishermen.[19] And about the same time Gorges made a settlement on the "maine" at Saco,[20] under the management of Richard Vines. By two patents, both dated February 12, 1630, this settlement was divided into two parts--one to Vines and Oldham, one to Lewis and Bonighton--each extending four miles along by the sea-sh.o.r.e and eight miles along the river-banks. These two tracts formed the towns.h.i.+p of Saco, a part of which now bears the name of Biddeford. In 1625 the settlement of Pemaquid is known to have occurred, but it was not patented till February 14, 1631, by the Bristol merchants Aldsworth and Elbridge. Next in order of settlement was probably the trading-post of the Plymouth colony at Kennebec, for which a patent was obtained in 1628.

Many other patents were issued by the Council for New England. Thus, March 13, 1630, John Beauchamp and Thomas Leverett obtained a grant of ten leagues square, between Muscongus and Pen.o.bscot Bay upon which they set up a factory for trading with the Indians; while the modern city of Scarboro, on Cas...o...b..y, occupies a tract which was made the subject of two conflicting grants, one to Richard Bradshaw, November 4, and the other to Robert Trelawney and Moses Goodyear, December 1, 1631.[21]

Three other patents issued by the Council for New England, and having an important connection with subsequent history, remain to be mentioned. The first, December, 1631, granted twenty-four thousand acres ten miles distant from Piscataqua to Ferdinando Gorges (son and heir of John Gorges), Samuel Maverick, and several others. Many settlers came over, and the first manager was Colonel Norton, but in a short time he appeared to have been superseded by William Gorges, nephew of Sir Ferdinando Gorges.[22]

After the division in 1635, by which his t.i.tle between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec was affirmed, Sir Ferdinando Gorges erected the coast from Cape Elizabeth, a few miles north of Saco, as far as Kennebec, into a district called New Somersets.h.i.+re.[23] Two years later Gorges obtained from King Charles a royal charter const.i.tuting him proprietor of the "province or county of Maine," with all the rights of a count palatine.[24] The provisions of this charter are more curious than important. The territory granted, which included Agamenticus, was embraced between the Piscataqua and Kennebec, and extended inland one hundred and twenty miles. The lord proprietor had the right to divide his province into counties, appoint all officers, and to execute martial law. But while his rights were thus extensive, the liberties of the people were preserved by a provision for a popular a.s.sembly to join with him in making laws.

The charter certainly was out of keeping with the conditions of a distant empire inhabited only by red savages and a few white fishermen; but Gorges' elaborate plan for regulating the government seemed even more far-fetched. He proposed to have not only a lieutenant-governor, but a chancellor, a marshal, a treasurer, an admiral, a master of ordnance, and a secretary, and they were to act as a council of state.[25]

To this wild realm in Norumbega, Thomas Gorges, "a sober and well-disposed young man," nephew of the lord proprietor, was commissioned in 1640 to be the first governor, and stayed three years in the colony.[26] Agamenticus (now York) was only a small hamlet, but the lord proprietor honored it in March, 1652, by naming it Gorgeana, after himself, and incorporating it as a city. The charter of this first city of the United States is a historical curiosity, since for a population of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants it provided a territory covering twenty-one square miles and a body of nearly forty officials.[27]

The second of the three important patents led to the absorption of Maine by the government of Ma.s.sachusetts. The claim of Ma.s.sachusetts to jurisdiction over the settlements in New Hamps.h.i.+re as readily applied to Maine; and, in addition, the patent granted in June, 1632, by the Council for New England, to George Way and Thomas Purchas, gave a tract of land along the river "Bishopscot" or "Pejepscot," better known as the Androscoggin.[28] In 1639 Ma.s.sachusetts, by buying this property, secured her first hold on the land within Gorges'

patent.[29] The revival in 1643 of another patent, believed to have been abandoned, but with rights conflicting with the patent of Gorges, both prompted and excused the interference of Ma.s.sachusetts.

The third great patent was a grant made by the Council for New England, in June, 1630, for a tract extending from Cape Porpoise to Cape Elizabeth, and hence taking in Gorges' settlement at Saco.[30]

This patent was known as the Lygonian, or "Plough patent," the latter commemorating the name of the vessel which brought over the first settlers, who after a short time gave up the settlement and went to Boston in July, 1631. For twelve years the patent was neglected, but in 1643 the rights of the original patentees were purchased by Alexander Rigby, a prominent member of Parliament.[31] He sent over as his agent George Cleves, but when he arrived in America in 1644 his a.s.sumption of authority under the Plough patent was naturally resisted by the government of Sir Ferdinando Gorges.

Cleves set up his government at Casco, and Vines, his rival, organized his at Saco. When Cleves sent his friend Tucker to Vines with a proposal to settle the controversy, Vines arrested the envoy and threw him into prison. Both parties appealed to the government of Ma.s.sachusetts, who gave them advice to remain quiet. The contention continued, however, and at last the Ma.s.sachusetts court of a.s.sistants, in June, 1646, consented to refer the case to a jury. Then it appeared that there were six or eight patentees in the original Plough patent, and Mr. Rigby's agent could only show an a.s.signment from two. On the other hand, Vines could not produce the royal patent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, which was in England, and had only a copy attested by witnesses. On account of these defects the jury declined to bring in a verdict.

Cleves had better fortune with the parliamentary commissioners for foreign plantations, to whom he carried the dispute, since before this tribunal the veteran Gorges, who had taken the king's side, had little chance to be heard. In March, 1646, they decided in favor of Rigby, and made the Kennebunk River the boundary-line between the two rival proprietors, thus reducing Gorges' dominions in Maine to only three towns--Gorgeana, Welles, and Kittery, which had grown up at the mouth of the Piscataqua opposite to Strawberry Bank.[32]

The year following this decision Gorges died, and the province of Maine was left practically without a head. The settlers wrote to his heirs for instruction, but owing to the confusion of the times received no reply.[33] In this state of doubt and suspense the general court was, in 1649, convoked at Welles, when Edward G.o.dfrey was elected governor. Then another address was prepared and transmitted to England, but it met with no better fortune than the first.

Accordingly, in July, 1649, the settlers of the three towns.h.i.+ps met at Gorgeana and declared themselves a body politic. Edward G.o.dfrey was re-elected governor, and a council of five members were chosen to a.s.sist him in the discharge of his duties.[34]

In this state of affairs, deserted by their friends in England, the Maine settlements looked an inviting prey to Ma.s.sachusetts. In October, 1651, three commissioners were appointed to proceed to Kittery to convey the warning of Ma.s.sachusetts "against any further proceeding by virtue of their combination or any other interest whatsoever."[35] G.o.dfrey declined to submit, and in behalf of the general court of the colony addressed a letter, December 5, 1651, to the Council of State of Great Britain praying a confirmation of the government which the settlers had erected. Cleves, at the head of the Rigby colony, made common cause with G.o.dfrey and carried the pet.i.tion to England, but he met with no success. The death of Rigby rendered Cleves's influence of no avail against the Ma.s.sachusetts agent, Edward Winslow, who showed that Cleves's mission had originated among American royalists.[36]

This opposition, in fact, served only to hasten the action of Ma.s.sachusetts. In May, 1652, surveyors were appointed by the general court who traced the stream of the Merrimac as far north as the parallel of 43 40' 12".[37] Then, despite the protests of G.o.dfrey, commissioners were again sent to Kittery, where they opened a court, November 15, and shortly after received the submission of the inhabitants.[38] They next proceeded to Gorgeana, where the like result followed, Governor G.o.dfrey reluctantly submitting with the rest. Gorgeana was made a town under the Ma.s.sachusetts jurisdiction, by the name of York, and all the country claimed by Ma.s.sachusetts beyond the Piscataqua was made into a county of the same name.[39]

Next year, 1653, commissioners were sent to Welles, the remaining town in the Gorges jurisdiction, to summon to obedience the inhabitants there and at Saco and Cape Porpoise, in the Lygonian patent, and the conditions made resistance unlikely. Disregarding the Rigby claims,[40] the settlers in southern Maine accepted the overture of the Ma.s.sachusetts commissioners. Accordingly, Welles, Saco, and Cape Porpoise followed the example of Kittery and Gorgeana, and came under the government of Ma.s.sachusetts.

The inhabitants north of Saco about Cas...o...b..y remained independent for several years after. Cleves and other leading inhabitants would not submit, and they tried to secure the interference of Cromwell. When they failed in this attempt, the people of Cas...o...b..y, in 1658, recognized the authority of Ma.s.sachusetts. It was at this time that the plantations at Black Point, at Spurwink, and Blue Point were united and received the name of Scarboro and those at Cas...o...b..y received that of Falmouth.[41]

Whatever judgment we may pa.s.s on the motives of Ma.s.sachusetts in thus enlarging her borders to the farthest limits of settled territory north of Plymouth, it must be acknowledged that her course inured to the benefit of all parties concerned. The unruly settlements of the north received in time an orderly government, while each successive addition of territory weakened the power of the religious aristocracy in Ma.s.sachusetts by welcoming into the body politic a new factor of population.

[Footnote 1: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 65-72.]

[Footnote 2: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 210.]

[Footnote 3: Ma.s.s. Hist. Soc, _Proceedings_ (year 1876), 358.]

[Footnote 4: Belknap, _New Hamps.h.i.+re_, 20.]

[Footnote 5: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 96-98.]

[Footnote 6: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 98-107, 143-150.]

[Footnote 7: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 137.]

[Footnote 8: Ibid., I., 394, II., 33, 49, 76.]

[Footnote 9: _Plymouth Col. Records_, X., 31, 32, 426.]

[Footnote 10: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 349.]

[Footnote 11: N.H. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 1st series, I., 321, 324.]

[Footnote 12: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 349, 384.]

[Footnote 13: _N.H. Col. Records_, I., 113.]

[Footnote 14: _Ma.s.s. Col. Records_, I., 332, 342, II., 29.]

[Footnote 15: _Ma.s.s. Col. Records_, II., 67; Winthrop, _New England_, II., 195.]

[Footnote 16: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 594.]

[Footnote 17: _Ma.s.s. Col. Records_, II., 38.]

[Footnote 18: Doyle, _English Colonies_, II., 215.]

[Footnote 19: Williamson, _Maine_, I., 226.]

[Footnote 20: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 79; Doyle, _English Colonies_, II., 215.]

[Footnote 21: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 125, 150, 160, 163; Doyle, _English Colonies_, II., 324.]

[Footnote 22: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 79.]

[Footnote 23: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 276.]

[Footnote 24: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 222-243.]

[Footnote 25: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 83.]