At the date of this deed, Francis Small was thirty years old; he settled on his purchase, where he remained several years, and afterward moved to Kittery, where he was living in 1683. In May, 1658, he sold half of the tract to John Phillips, of Boston, and it was subsequently improved by his son-in-law, George Munjoy, who made an additional purchase of the In dians in 1666. The natives had a large place cleared at Ammoncongan, on the north side of Presumpscot river, which they improved for planting, and which retained the name of the Indian planting ground for many years. The purchasers subsequently used it for the same purpose. August 10, 1657, Cleeves conveyed to John Phillips fifty acres on the south-west side of the Presumpscot, adjoining the last falls on that river, and between "said mill falls and Richard Martin's land." On the 3d of May, 1658, he conveyed to him fifty acres more, "adjoining the now dwelling house of said Phillips;" in the latter deed, Phillips is described "of Casco Bay millwright." In 1662, Cleeves confirms to Phillips his former conveyances, speaking of them as containing two hundred and fifty acres with mill privileges, etc. Phillips was a Welchman; he had previously lived on Broad bay, in North Yarmouth, on a place which he sold before 1643, to George Felt. It is presumed that he purchased the mill privileges before mentioned for the purpose of pursuing his occupation. He had made previous purchases there, and Cleeves' confirmation speaks of a much larger quantity of land, than the deeds we have found convey. It is believed that Phillips established on the Presumpscot river the first mills ever erected there, or indeed in any part of the town. In fact, mills were erected on no other part of that river for many years afterward, and not until they were in operation at Capisic, and at Barbary Creek, 1 York Records. 2 Felt's deposition. York Records. in Cape Elizabeth. The first notice of mills in this town which we have met with, is in a deed dated June 8, 1646, in which is the following recitation: "I John Smith and Joane my wife, now living at Casko mill, under the government of Mr. George Cleeves, sell to Richard Bulgar of Boston, all that dwelling house which said John Smith hath in dowry with his wife Joane situated in Agamenticus;" the deed "was sealed and delivered unto Mr. George Cleeves and Richard Tucker for the use of Richard Bulgar."3 We know of no place in the town which unites so many probabilities in favor of the location of the first mill as the lower falls on the Presumpscot, and therefore presume that Smith must have lived near that spot. In a description of land at Back Cove, between Fall Brook and the Presumpscot, accompanied by a survey made in 1687, we find the land and dwelling house of a John Smith referred to; if this be the same Smith and the place where he lived in 1646, we should have no hesitation in determining that the territory which Smith mentions under the name of "Casko Mill," was situated around the lower falls of the Presumpscot. The name of Smith was as common in the early history of the country as it is at the present day. Captain John Smith we have before mentioned as one of our first visitors; another John Smith was one of the earliest settlers at Saco; he was born in 1612, and was a carpenter by trade; in 1685, he gave his deposition in which he described himself as John Smith, Senior, said he was seventy-three years old, and "forty years agone was marshal under Mr. George Cleeves;" Thomas Smith and a John Smith were jurymen in 1640; Richard Smith witnesseth the possession of Black Point to Cammock, in 1633, and William Smyth of Black Point, planter, died in March, 1676, aged 88, having bequeathed his property to his brother Richard of Westchester, England. The John Smith of Casko Mill, does not occur again in our records, and we have no means of distinguishing him from the numerous others of his name. 3 York Records. There were two persons of the name of John Phillips who frequently appear in our early transactions; one was deacon John Phillips of Boston, a merchant, whose only daughter, Mary, married George Munjoy, a distinguished inhabitant of Falmouth; he became a large purchaser of land here, although never a permanent resident; he died in 1683, in Boston. The other was John Phillips, the millwright, who lived here many years and until driven away in the Indian war, when he moved to Kittery, where he died without issue; he was born in 1607, and was living in 1684. We meet with the names of George Ingersoll and Robert Corbin for the first time in 1657; in 1685, Ingersoll testified that about twenty-eight years since, Robert Corbin cleared a parcel of that meadow, called George Lewis's marsh, about eight or ten acres or thereabouts, at the north end of said marsh." Corbin had relatives living in the vicinity of Boston, and probably himself came from that neighborhood; a Robert Corbin is mentioned by Winthrop as being captain of the Speedwell, in August, 1637. Our Robert married Lydia, the daughter either of Richard Martin or of his wife, by her former husband, Atwell, and lived on a large farm adjoining Martin's on Presumpscot river, until he was killed by the Indians, August 11, 1676. In the beginning of the next year, 1658, Cleeves made several conveyances of land, principally at Back Cove; the deeds were dated March 25th, the first day of the year* according to the ancient mode of computation. The first was to Humphrey Durham of fifty acres, adjoining south-west on Nathaniel Mitton's land, thence easterly fifty rods by the water side, thence one hundred and sixty rods north-westerly into the woods; the next, was to Phineas Rider, of fifty-five acres, extending fifty. five rods from Durham's by the water; next, to George Ingersoll, fifty-five acres extending fifty-five rods adjoining the wa 1 Winthrop, vol. ii. p. 348. * [Annunciation or Lady-day.] ter; next, to Thomas Skillings,* the same quantity and distance bordering on the cove "home to the bounds of Richard Tucker."* The consideration of these conveyances respectively, was a shilling an acre for the land, a yearly rent of twelve pence and "one day's work for one man every year for all services and demands." The purchasers occupied their respective grants; but whether they took immediate possession of them is not known. The grant to Skillings remained many years in his family. It is believed that Anthony Brackett purchased the grants of the other three, as his farm is described as extending to the land of Skillings. In May following (1658) Cleeves conveyed to his grandchild, Nathaniel Mitton, fifty · acres adjoining the fifty acres formerly granted to his father, "and so to go toward the north-east by the water side home. to the lot of Humphrey Durham," also fifty acres at the narrow of the neck, west of round marsh. The latter parcel, Mitton sold to Richard Powsland, in 1674, who afterward occupied it; of the other, he probably died seized. In order to bring together the grants and settlements around Back Cove, we will anticipate a year or two and introduce the conveyance by Richard Tucker, of the only land on the northern margin of the Cove, which remained at this time unoccupied. Tucker's deed was made May 23, 1661, to Thomas Wakely, Matthew Coe, John Wakely, and Isaac Wakely, all of Cape Ann; the land is described as follows: "the full quantity of two hundred acres of upland ground not yet improved, with the ten acres of meadow, lying and being within two miles or thereabouts of the said land, which meadow hath formerly been improved by order of said Tucker. Now know ye that this two hundred acres of land before expressed, is situate, lying and being between the lot of George Lewis and Thomas Skillings, in the place commonly called Back Cove, and where now the said Lewis and Skillings are inhabited." These persons constituted one family; John and Isaac Wakely, were the sons of Thomas, * [These form part of the present Deering farm at Back Cove.] and Mathew Coe married his daughter; they immediately settled upon their purchase. The line of communication was now formed around the Cove, and may be traced as follows: beginning with Michael Mitton, whose fifty acres lay upon the northerly side of Ware Creek, which passes up from Back Cove; next, his son Nathaniel, fifty acres; after him in order, Durham, fifty acres; Rider, Ingersoll, and Skillings fifty-five acres each; Wakely and company two hundred acres, which extended to George Lewis's land on Fall Cove; next, George Lewis, fifty acres; his son John one hundred acres; then George Lewis's first grant of fifty acres on the neck, which from him was called Lewis' neck, and is the point which extends south-easterly, forming the northerly side of the passage into Back Cove. Next to Lewis's was the grant of two hundred acres to Mosier and Wise which Wise, in 1658,sold to Nathaniel Wallis; and last, Richard Martin's land reaching to the mouth of Presumpscot river. The settlements then turned up the river and spread to the falls. At this period, 1658, we know of no other persons as occupants on the westen border of that river than Martin, Corbin, and Phillips. We thus perceive that Back Cove was soon occupied, the land having been all taken up along the shore as early as 1661. The advantages afforded by the marshes in the cove, and creeks formed by it, were inducements to the settlement of that part of the town; the country was a thick forest, the cattle and the people could be provided for on the intervales and on the margins of rivers, far more easily than in those remote from the water. But Cleeves's grants were not confined to that part of the town. On the first of May, 1658, he conveyed to Michael Mitton "all that tract of land on the north-east side of Casco river, to begin at the now dwelling house of said Mitton, and from thence down the river to the bounds of Richard Tucker, that is to say to the marked tree at the great point of rocks, and thence up the river by the water side, south-westerly, to the great standing pine tree, marked this day, and from both these |