all of the ancient town of Falmouth and part of Gorham, and are entirely unsupported by any record. One cause of difficulty on this subject arose from an uncertainty as to the true Casco river, which was agreed to be the northern boundary of patent. One party contended that it was the Presumpscot, and the other, with equal obstinacy, that it was Fore river. A decision of the Court in 1640, applied the name to Fore river; but a certificate' was soon afterward obtained and transmitted to England, founded, as was pretended, on the statements of the Indians and ancient settlers, that the Court had made a mistake on the subject, and that the Presumpscot was the true Casco river, This again revived the controversy and kept open a most unhappy quarrel during the lives of the first settlers?. We have now touched briefly upon all the settlements made upon the coast of Maine previous to the year 1632. It will be perceived that the grants were all obtained from the council of Plymouth, notwithstanding the patent to Gorges and Mason of 1622, which extended from the Merrimack to Sagadehock, and nominally covered the whole of that territory. From this circumstance, it would be natural to conclude that the patent of 1622 was unexecuted, and that no title passed by it; and it appears by the opinion of Sir William Jones, the Attorney General in 1679, that the "grant was only sealed with the council seal, unwitnessed, no seisin indorsed, nor possession ever given with the grant3." This idea is corroborated by the facts that Gorges was sitting at the council board, and was a party to all the subsequent conveyances which parceled out the land within the limits of that patent; and that both he and Mason received 1 York Records. 2 There is a tradition in the Jordan family, that the wife of a son of the first Robert Jordan, needing some paper to keep her pastry from burning, took from a chest of papers, Trelawny's patent, and used it for that purpose, which thus perished, like many other ancient and valuable manuscripts. 3 Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 285. Hubbard, vol i. p. 614. a grant with six or seven others in 1631, of a small tract on both sides of the Piscataqua, which included the improvements they had previously made there. If the patent of 1622 was valid, it would have been wholly useless to have procured another within the same limits. The settlements which commenced at Plymouth in 1620, now dotted the whole coast from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy; they were indeed few and far between, but an intercourse was kept up among them by their common weakness and wants, as well as for the purposes of trade. And although Massachusetts was the most powerful of the whole, and from motives of religious zeal, no doubt sincere, discountenanced the less strict settlers upon this coast, who on such matters differed from them both in doctrine and practice, she fain would profit by their fish and fur, which enabled her to procure from Europe articles of the first necessity for the infant colony. John Jocelyn, the traveler, who visited his brother Henry at Black Point in 1638, sailed along the coast from Boston to that place in July: he says "Having refreshed myself for a day or two upon Noddle's island, I crossed the bay in a small boat to Boston, which was then rather a village than a town, there being not above twenty or thirty houses." "The 12th day of July I took boat for the eastern parts of the country, and arrived at Black Point, in the province of Maine, which is one hundred and fifty miles from Boston, the 14th day. The country all along as I sailed, being no other than a mere wilderness, here and there by the seaside a few scattered plantations with as few houses."2 1 Jocelyn's voyages, p. 18. 2 Jocelyn's voyages, p. 20. CHAPTER 1. From 1628 to 1640. RICHMOND'S ISLAND SPURWINK-DISPUTE BETWEEN CLEEVES AND TUCKER, AND JOHN WINTER ABOUT THE TITLE-TRADE AT RICHMOND'S ISLAND-THE NECK, NOW PORTLAND, FIRST OCCUPIED-GRANTS IN OTHER PARTS OF FALMOUTH-MITTON, MACWORTH-FIRST JUDICIAL COURT FOR THE PROVINCE-SETTLERS IN FALMOUTH IN 1640. The first occupation of any part of Falmouth by a European, of which we have any evidence, was of Richmond's island, by *Walter Bagnall in 1628. The sole object of this man seems to have been to drive a profitable trade with the Indians by whatever means were in his power. He lived on the island alone, until by his cupidity he had drawn down the vengeance of the natives upon him, and they put an end to his life and his injuries October 3, 1631. He had accumulated a large property for those days, which was scattered by his death.'§ His residence promoted the future settlement of the town in no other way than by showing to others that the situation was favorable for the accumulation of wealth, and thus tempting them to engage in the same enterprise. Richmond's Island lies nearly a mile from the southerly side *[This must be taken with the exception of Levett's attempt to establish a plantation on one of the islands in Portland Harbor in 1623, mentioned in a preceding page.] 1 Winthrop, vol. i. Four hundred pounds sterling. Was not the pot of gold and silver coin discovered on the island in 1855, part of Bagnall's gain?] of Cape Elizabeth, is about three miles in circumference, and contains about two hundred acres of land; the passage may be forded on a sand-bar, at low water. Although now it contains but a single family, it formerly afforded employment to a large number of men engaged in the fisheries; and a market for considerable cargoes of foreign merchandise sent every year to this coast. As early as 1637, Richard Gibson, an episcopalian minister was settled upon the island', and it is handed down by tradition with great probability, that a church was formerly established there. Among the items of property in 1648, mentioned in an inventory as belonging to the patentees, which will be more particularly referred to hereafter, are described vessels for the communion service, and the minister's bedding. *Bagnall occupied the island without any title; but within two months after his death, a grant was made by the council of Plymouth, bearing date December 1, 1631, to Robert Trelawny and Moses Goodyeare, merchants, of Plymouth, in England, which included this island and all of the present town of Cape Elizabeth. The patentees appointed John Winter, who was then in this country, their principal agent. A copy of the, grant was immediately sent to him, and on the 21st of July 1632, he was put in possession of the tract by Richard Vines of Saco, one of the persons appointed by the grantors for that purpose2. There were at that time settled upon the territory near the mouth of the Spurwink river, George Cleeves and Richard Tucker, who had established themselves there in 16303. They had selected one of the most valuable spots in the tract, and 1 Winthrop, vol. ii. p. 66. York records. *The records in the State paper office, London, show a grant to Bagnall of Richmond's Island, dated Dec. 2, 1631, which was after his death. 2 Two other persons mentioned, were "Capt. Walter Neale and Henry Jocelyn, leiftenant," both of whom lived on the Piscataqua. 3 Cleeves v. Winter, 1610. York Records. See Appendix, No. 1. 1米 claimed to hold against Winter two thousand acres of land, with their improvements, of which however they were forcibly dispossessed. Cleeves in 1640, when regular courts were established by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, brought an action of trespass against Winter, to recover damages for the removal; and in his declaration he stated his title as follows: "joining himself in partnership with Richard Tucker, then of Spurwink, who had also a right of inheritance there, the which he bought and purchased for a valuable consideration of Richard Bradshaw, who was formerlie settled there by Capt. Walter Neale,' by virtue of a commission to him given by some of the lords patentees, and soe as appeareth the said Richard Tucker was lawfully possessed of a right of inheritance at and in the said Spurwink. Alsoe the plaintiff further declareth that he joining his right by promise and possession, with his partner's right by purchase and possession, and soe being accountable to his said partner, they both agreed to joyne their rights together, and there to build, plante, and continue; which when the plaintiff had done and was there settled for two years or thereaboutes, this defendant, John Winter, came and pretended an interest there, by virtue of a succeeding pattent surrupticiouslie obtained and soe by force of arms expelled and thrust away the plaint, from his house, lands, and goods." 1 Walter Neale arrived in this country in the spring of 1630, and returned in the summer of 1633. He came out as Governor of the company at Piscataqua. * [Walter Neale in a petition to the King in 1638, says, "He has served in all the Kings expeditions for the last 20 years; commanded four years, and brought to perfection the Company of the Artillery Garden. Lived three years in New England and made greater discoveries than were ever made before. Exactly discovered all the rivers and harbors in the habitable parts of the country, Prays to be appointed Governor."-Sainsbury, vol. i. p. 285.] We annex his full and handsome autograph. Wa |