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THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OP 
 
 WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 PROM THE 
 
 EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE YEAR 1820, AT WHICH TIME 
 KENNEBUNK WAS SET OFF, AND INCORPORATED, 
 
 WITH 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD E. BOURNE, LL. D. 
 n 
 
 PORTLAND: 
 B. THURSTON & COMPANY. 
 
 1875. 
 
PRESS OP B. THURSTON & COMPANY. 
 
lb— 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is well known to our townsmen, that my father was engaged, 
 the last ten years of his life, in preparing a history of Wells and 
 Kennebunk. I had hoped that his life would be spared until he 
 could complete it. Admonished by the evident progress of the 
 disease, which, on the twenty-third day of September last, terminated 
 his labors, I several times suggested to him the expediency of bring- 
 ing it to a close, that it might be published under his personal super- 
 vision. But his reply has always been, " I cannot ; additional facts 
 are constantly coming to light." 
 
 I have sometimes thought that it was his intention to devote all 
 his remaining years to investigation, leaving the mere publication to 
 others, feeling that by continuing his researches in the various paths 
 in which by long-continued study he had become familiar, he could 
 best serve the interests of those for whom he labored. 
 
 It was with him, emphatically, a labor of love ; never expecting to 
 receive any other remuneration for his toil than such as comes from 
 the consciousness of labor faithfully performed for the benefit of 
 others; traveling from one part of the town to another, into adjacent 
 places, and even into other States, wherever he could hear of an 
 aged person whose memory might supply some fact or elucidate a 
 doubt ; examining ancient records and documents, feeling amply re- 
 warded if a single fact was elicited, he has worked 'steadily on, un- 
 
 M281501 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 willing to lay aside his pen so long as anything of interest could be 
 
 added. 
 
 During his last hours, only the night before his death, in an inter- 
 val of comparative ease, he called my attention to minutes of certain 
 facts that had recently come to his knowledge, and desired me to 
 insert them in their proper connection. I have endeavored to do so, 
 simply following out his directions. 
 
 Conscious of my own limited knowledge of these matters, and 
 relying upon his well-known accuracy in historical research, I have 
 not assumed to investigate any of the facts and incidents related ; 
 but, in reviewing the work preparatory to publication, have confined 
 myself to such verbal corrections as I know a careful revision would 
 have suggested to his own mind. 
 
 I believe that the facts and incidents here recorded will, in the 
 main, be found to be well authenticated. I only regret that the 
 whole could not have been subjected to a thorough examination by 
 him, before being presented to the public. Errors and omissions, if 
 there are any, would have been noticed and corrected. 
 
 It has been suggested, that I might add to the interest of the book 
 by continuing the history to the present time; but the original 
 intention of the author was to bring it down to 1820, at which time 
 the town of Kennebunk was incorporated ; a period within the mem- 
 ory of many now living. To record the events which have since 
 transpired, would be a comparatively easy task to any one who 
 might feel disposed to undertake it. I have not now the time to 
 devote to such a labor, even did I suppose that by the attempt I 
 should add anything of value to the work , neither could I think of 
 incurring the risk of loss or destruction of the manuscript, by the 
 delay which would necessarily be occasioned thereby. I have felt 
 anxious to publish the work at as early a day as possible, that by the 
 multiplicity of copies, the facts and incidents which my father has 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 carefully gathered in the course of his long life, — many of which, had 
 it not been for his exertions, would long since have passed from 
 memory — might be preserved. It will be a source of great satisfac- 
 tion to me, when the volumes are ready for distribution. 
 
 In conclusion, I desire to express my thanks to the citizens of 
 Wells and Kennebunk, for the interest manifested by their liberal 
 subscriptions. This generous aid, and the frequent inquiries made 
 of me, in regard to its publication, evince a gratifying interest in the 
 work ; and it affords me great pleasure to be thus assured that the 
 patient industry of my father, in his self-imposed task, is so highly 
 appreciated by those in whose behalf he labored. 
 
 Kennebunk, Jan. 1, 1875. e. e. b., jb. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait op the Author, Frontispiece. 
 
 Indian Marks, 22 
 
 Sergeant Larrabee's Garrison, 317 
 
 Lyman House, , 495 
 
 Portrait op Rev. Daniel Little, ....... 708 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The coast of Maine — general aspect — marine border of Wells — 
 first settlement— infant baptism— gorges' charter— thom as gor- 
 ges appointed deputy governor — gorges' house — kev. george bur- 
 ditt — indictments against him — a court organized — permits to 
 Hutchinson and others to take up land — commission to John 
 Wheelright and others to allot lands— first settlement under 
 Gorges, , 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Grant to Thomas Gorges— Grant to Wheelright— Lygonia patent — 
 Claim of Col. Alexander Rigby— Decision in his favor— Edward 
 Godfrey — Courts held at Wells and Gorgeana — Claim of Massa- 
 chusetts — Compact between Gorgeana, Kittery, and Wells — 
 Character of Godfrey — Commissioners sent by Massachusetts into 
 Maine— Address to Godfrey— His reply— Incorporation of Gorge- 
 ana— Indian deed to Wadleigh— Various names of the plantation 
 —Origin of the name Wells — House of Bowles burnt — Names of 
 inhabitants of the plantation, with brief sketches— Massachu- 
 setts COMMISSIONERS REQUIRE SUBMISSION TO HER AUTHORITY — THEIR 
 
 court at Kittery and Wells— Jurisdiction of Massachusetts ac- 
 knowledged — Ogunquit joined to Cape Neddick — Commissioners 
 grant corporate powers to wells— commissioners appointed to 
 settle boundary between wells and york. .... 14 
 
 B 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Officers appointed by the commissioners -First church in Wells — 
 Names of members, brief sketches of — Church dissolved by the 
 commissioners 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Submission of Cape Porpoise and Saco to Massachusetts — First road 
 laid out in Wells— Ferry over Kennebunk river— Wm. Reynolds 
 — First houses in Wells — Scarcity of corn — Littlefield's Mills — 
 First settlers in Wells— Wheelright's mill — Sketch of his 
 
 LIFE 45 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Opposition to jurisdiction of Massachusetts — Petition to Oliver 
 Cromwell— Indictments— Laws relating to religious opinion— Or- 
 der for erection of jail— first county tax in wells— mllitia or- 
 GANIZED — Report of committee of parliament against the claim 
 of Massachusetts — Agent sent over by heir of Gorges — Council 
 appointed — Demand of Massachusetts upon councilors — Their re- 
 ply—General COURT HELD AT LlTTLEFIELD'S HOUSE— POLITICAL COM- 
 PLICATIONS— Indictments— Order of King Charles— Commissioners 
 
 APPOINTED BY HIM — PETITION OF INHABITANTS OF CASCO — COURT HELD 
 AT SACO UNDER AUTHORITY OF KING'S COMMISSIONERS — FAST DAY AP- 
 POINTED — Court held at York by commissioners of Massachusetts 
 — Conference of the two boards of commissioners — Conflict be- 
 tween them— Thomas Wheelright's letter to the governor— Peti- 
 tion TO THE GENERAL COURT— WELLS MADE A SHIRE TOWN. . 57 
 
CONTENTS. Xi 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Henry Boade— Edmund Littlefield— Stoby of Francis Littlefield, 
 sen.— John Gooch— John Gooch, jr.— James Gooch— Anthony Lit- 
 tlefield— Jonathan Thinge— Thomas Miles— John Barret— John 
 White— John Bush— Robert Wadleigh— John Wakefield— William 
 Cole— List of inhabitants afteb the incobpobation, and pbiob to 
 1670 72 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 flbst settlebs in kennebunk— john sandebs— mousam brveb febby— 
 John Cheateb— Little biveb febby — Fibst public house in Kenne- 
 bunk— Geobge Buckland— William Symonds— Daniel Piebce— Bound- 
 aby established between wells and cape pobpoise— road along 
 the sea wall— flbst bbdjge — beian pendleton appointed subvey- 
 or— Cape Porpoise river ferry— First road to Kennebunk. . 84 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LOW CONDITION OF THE CHUBCH— REV. SETH FlETCHEB EMPLOYED TO 
 PBEACH — OBDEBS OF THE GENEBAL COUBT IN EELATION TO CHABGES 
 AGAINST HIM— INJUNCTION AGAINST HIM— PETITION OF INHABITANTS TO 
 DISSOLVE INJUNCTION — OBDEBS OF GENEBAL COUBT TO THE INHABITANTS 
 TO PBOCUBE A MINISTEB— INHABITANTS INDICTED FOR NOT PROVIDING A 
 PLACE OF WORSHIP — JOSEPH EMERSON ENGAGED— REV. JEREMIAH HUB- 
 BABD ENGAGED— THE CONNECTION DISSOLVED. . . . . .93 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Obigin of the name Kennebunk— Henky Saywabd— Gbants to Say- 
 ward, Johnson, and Patty— First house in Kennebunk village — 
 mousam mills — conflict of titles to the mills — henby bbown 
 and James Caeb — Avalanche on Kennebunk biveb— Discontent 
 towabd Massachusetts 108 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Gbant to Israel Harding — Indictments against Harding and wife — 
 Legislative enactments — Meeting house and parsonage built — 
 Fibst paupeb — Ducking stool — Mobdan's cave — Nathaniel Boston — 
 Liquob laws 124 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 King Phillip's wab — Wanton upsetting of a canoe — Indian Baebabi- 
 
 TIES — ObDEB OF THE COUNCIL TO LlEUT. WHEELBIGHT — MASSACBE AT 
 
 Portsmouth and Berwick—Fast appointed— Indian attack on 
 Wells — Four hundred Indians captured — Death of James Gooch 
 and wife — Destruction of Cape Neddock — Attack of Mugg on 
 garrison at the "town's end "— treaty with mugg— death of 
 Mugg— Treaty at Canso 137 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Judiciary system— Various indictments— Grand jurors, their com, 
 pensation— The court drummer— Court at Wells— Names of mem- 
 bers—Expenses—Indictments—Punishments — James Adams—" The 
 Devil's Invention "—Story of the Simpson children. . . 152 
 
CONTENTS. Xili 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Rev. Robert Paine— John Buss— Rev. Perctval Green— Rev. Richard 
 Martin— Rev. George Barrows— His trial for witchcraft— William 
 Severn. . 164 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Action of the town in relation to jurisdiction of Massachusetts, &c. 
 — Gorges' title purchased by Massachusetts— First colony tax 
 — Grants to various persons — Order of town to proprietors to 
 lay out grants — indictments against the town — manufacture of 
 rosin and tar— Dishonest tax payers— Disaffection toward Mas- 
 sachusetts—Tax on Mills— Various grants— List of residents in 
 Wells from 1641 to 1687 179 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 King William's war — Letters of Wheelright, Storer, and others — 
 Location and description of garrisons — Letter of Capt. Andrews 
 — a truce signed, and disregarded, by the indians — appeals to the 
 government for aid — contributions— attack of the indians under 
 Moxus— Massacre at York— Death of Rev. Shubuel Dummer and 
 wife — Successful defence of two sloops against the attack of 
 five hundred of the enemy — attack upon llttlefield's garrison — 
 Narrow escape of Littlefield — Treaty entered into with the 
 Sagamores — Attacks upon Dover, Kittery, and York— Death of 
 Major Frost — Rumsellers prosecuted — Modes of punishment — The 
 stocks— The cage— Grant of Great Falls to John Wheelright and 
 others — Grants to various persons— Defective condition of the 
 early records— Vote of the town relative thereto — Samuel 
 Wheelright— William Hammond 193 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Social life of the early inhabitants— Their houses and furni- 
 ture 234 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Queen Ann's war— Letter of John Wheelright to the governor- 
 Attack upon Wells— Escape of Harding and wife— Brief accounts 
 of the victims of the assault— Petition of the inhabitants to the 
 general court for abatement of tax— indians seen on drake's 
 Island— Their ingenious device for escape— Death of Nicholas 
 Cole and others— Lewis Allen, the spy— Tidings from the cap- 
 tives in Canada— Exchange of prisoners— Attack upon Kittery, 
 York, and Wells 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Queen Ann's war continued— Indian raids— Drowning of Wakefield 
 and others — capture of lleut. josiah llttlefield — hls letters — 
 His release and death— Indian atrocities— Two marriages cele- 
 brated at the garrison— Sambo's capture and escape— Garrison 
 attacked— Capture of Plaisted — Francis Littlefield. . . 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Emery — Meeting-house rebuilt — Church organized — 
 Ordination of Mr. Emery— Letter of Rev. Samuel Moody— Suspen- 
 sion of Deacon Wells— Death of Mr. Emery. - . . 284 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Close of the war- Prosperous condition op the town— Grants to 
 various persons— William Larrabee— Houses built in Kennebunk 
 — "Grandfather Poke" — John Gillespie— Plum Island— Harding's 
 mill— Kennebunk named— Title to the territory claimed by the 
 inhabitants — Boundary between Wells and Kittery controverted 
 — Committee appointed by general court to settle the line- 
 Pounds and impounding— Schools— Teachers, Martin, Treadwell, 
 Lynn, and Led yard — Claims of Daniel and Simon Eppes of title 
 to Kennebunk— Second attempt to manufacture tar— Cape Por- 
 poise RE-ORGANIZED UNDER THE NAME OF ARUNDEL — FIRST BRIDGE OVER 
 
 Kennebunk river— Immigration from Ireland. . . . 298 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Lovewell's war— Indian raids— Various persons killed— Sergeant 
 Larrabee's garrison — Death of C apt. Felt and others— Destruction 
 of Norridgewock— Soldiers from Wells — Indian cowardice— Wheel- 
 right's EXPEDITION TO LOVELL'S POND — ATTACK UPON THE DURRELL 
 
 family— Indians resident at Wells— Their characteristics — Am- 
 bereuse — Indian pow-wow— List of Inhabitants in 1726— Joseph 
 Storer 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Grants to various persons — Confirmation of titles by the proprie- 
 tors— Ferdinando Gorges— Batcomb — The Littlefield and Winn 
 controversy— Bn.LS of credit authorized by the legislature- 
 Shipbuilding at Wells 334 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The meeting-house— Collection op mill bents —Parsonage built — 
 Stockade built abound it— Alterations of the meeting-house — 
 Paupebs — Daniel Tuckeb — Throat distempeb — Schools — Richard 
 Dean— Fibst school-house— Fibst school in Kennebunk— Nathan- 
 iel Habbington— Andbew Tyleb— John Lesteb — Wolves— Joseph 
 Hill 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 New candidates fob the ministry— Rev. Samuel Jefferds ordained 
 — Church discipline— Biography of Mr. Jefferds— Invitation to 
 Rev. Samuel Fayrweather — Unsuccessful attempt to ordain him 
 —Rev. Gideon Richardson ordained — His death— Rev. Moses Hem- 
 menway ordained 357 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Expedition to Louisbubg — List of volunteebs fbom Wells— Lettebs 
 of Gen. Peppebell, Col. Stobeb, Rev. Samuel Jeffebds, Mbs. Bul- 
 man — List of soldiebs tvho died at Cape Bbeton — Fears enteb- 
 tained of an attack by the fbench fleet — shd7wbeck on mt. 
 Desebt— Indian attacks upon Bbunswick, Falmouth, Scabbobo, 
 and Saco— Anecdote of John Butland— Mubdeb of Mbs. Walkeb — 
 Attempt to subpbise Labbabee's gabbison — Biogbaphical sketch 
 of Col. John Wheelkight 369 
 
CONTENTS. XV11 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Effort to inaugurate a second parish— Meeting-house built at the 
 landing— Incorporation of the "Second Congregational Society 
 in Wells" — Invitation to Rev. Daniel Little— His reply— Fast 
 appointed— Church consecrated — The covenant and list of mem- 
 bers subscribing— Ordination of Mr. Little— Baptismal covenant 
 —Covenant for full communion— Female members admitted— An- 
 nual contribution for charitable purposes— Contribution in aid 
 of Boston— Location of certain dwelling houses— First retail 
 store in kennebunk — extracts from the tax lists of the new 
 parish — Taxes — Valuation of Wells— Slavery in Wells— Old 
 Tom. 392 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 General use of intoxicating liquors— Introduction of tea and cof- 
 fee—Costume of the inhabitants— Titular distinctions— Christian 
 names— Marriage ceremonies— Funerals— First bell in Kennebunk 
 — Superstitions of the age— George Jacobs— his trial and execu- 
 tion 411 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Increase of inhabitants of Kennebunk — Mills and houses built— 
 The great freshet— Throat distemper— Earthquakes— Fears en- 
 tertained OF ANOTHER INDIAN WAR— REMOVAL OF THE ACADIANS — 
 
 Names of those located in Wells— War declared against France 
 —List of Volunteers from Wells— Escape of Rev. Mr. Little from 
 the Indians — More houses built — First painted house in Kenne- 
 bunk — Additions to the Kennebunk meeting-house — Schools — Sam- 
 uel Moffat and Rev. Mr. Little, teachers— Increase of Inhabi- 
 tants — New road laid out from the sea to the Landing — Ship- 
 building commenced at Kennebunk— First school-house in Kenne- 
 bunk — Distribution of school money — Names of teachers, and 
 where located — first female teacher— llst of aged persons. . 430 
 
XV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The old parish— Controversy in relation to boundaries of farms- 
 Agreement OF THE LANDHOLDERS ESTABLISHING LINES — PETITIONS TO 
 DIVIDE THE PARISH— NEW MEETING-HOUSE BUILT — APPRAISAL OF PEWS— 
 
 Report of the committee to assign pews — A great drouth — Peti- 
 tion OF THE INHABITANTS TO THE LEGISLATURE FOR AID. . . 444 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Taxation of Colonies— Opposition of the people of Wells and York 
 — Resolutions passed by the town of Wells— Jonathan Sayward — 
 Tea party at York — The Boston port bill — Contribution of sec- 
 ond parish in Wells in aid of the poor of Boston—" York county 
 congress " holden at wells — resolves — john sullivan's harangue 
 —Court broken up— Adam McCulloch— Dr. Abiather Alden— Dr. 
 Ebenezer Rice — Joseph Churchill— Bulletin of York county con- 
 gress—Delegate CHOSEN TO THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS AT CAMBRIDGE 
 
 — Instructions to him — Action of the town of Wells in relation 
 to war measures — roll of capt. james hubbard's company — capt. 
 Jesse Dorman's company — Intense excitement of the people -List 
 of soldiers who re-enlisted in capt. sawyer's company— gather- 
 ING of [ministers at York — Committee of safety appointed — In- 
 structions OF THE TOWN TO THE REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS TO VOTE 
 
 for independence — Declaration of Independence read in the 
 churches at wells and kennebunk — joseph sayer— ebenezer 
 Sayer— Waldo Emerson— Samuel Hitchcock — Theodore Lyman— Jo- 
 seph Moody— Dr. Oliver Keating— Theodore and Honestus Plum- 
 mer 456 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Revolutionary war— Bounties raised for soldiers — Vote of the 
 town of Wells on the adoption of the Constitution— Agents chos- 
 en TO PROSECUTE TORIES — ABRAHAM CLARK— LlST OF WELLS MEN 
 
 killed near tlconderoga and crown point— tariff of prices es- 
 tablished by the selectmen — manufacture of salt — iron works 
 at Kennebunk — Shipping — Celebration of the surrender of Bur- 
 go yne — Yote of Wells on the articles of Confederation, etc. — Ad- 
 ditional bounties voted — Opposition of Wells to the State Con- 
 stitution — Contributions of clothing for the army — Increase of 
 bounties — Penobscot expedition — Poverty of the people — Commit- 
 tee ON CORRESPONDENCE — THE DARK DAY — OBJECTION OF THE TOWN TO 
 
 the Bill of Rights and the Constitution — Another quota of sol- 
 diers required — High bounties voted — Efforts to enlist men — Re- 
 joicing AT THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS— PEACE. . . . 498 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Opposition to return of Refugees — The currency — First vessel 
 built on kennebunk river — flrst grocery store — flrst public 
 house— List of prominent business men— New road located— First 
 regular Post-office in Maine— Oldest tombstone in Kennebunk — 
 Stephen Larrabee— Prosperous condition of Kennebunk— Election 
 of State officers — Convention at Falmouth to consider question 
 of separation— Opposition of Wells— Question submitted to the 
 people — The Brunswick convention — Yote of Wells relative to 
 annexation to new hampshire— convention of other towns fav- 
 oring annexation — separation — convention at portland to form 
 a Constitution— One-third of town meetings held at Kennebunk 
 — Meetings opened with prayer — Great freshet — Abatement of 
 taxes by General Court— Mails— Public houses— Where located 
 — Delegates to Convention for adoption of Federal Constitution 
 — John Bourne 524 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Roads laid out — Road near the house of Oliver Perkins— Road 
 from the Mile Spring to Peabody's— Cat mousam road— Road from 
 Mousam Landing — New meeting-house built by the second parish 
 — Assignment of pews — Meeting-house built at Alewdje — Petitions 
 for aprpopriation of money there— baptist church organized 
 there— Baptist church organized at Maryland — Ordination of 
 
 i Rev. Nathaniel Lord — List of members of the Society — Petition 
 to the General Court for division of the Parish — Remon- 
 strance of First Parish — Agreement as to money raised— Rev. 
 Joseph Eaton ordained— New meeting-house built. . . 544 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Wolves — Bears — Anecdotes of William Butland — Deer and moose 
 —Beavers— Birds— Salmon— Bass and shad 559 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Navigation — First vessels owned in Wells— First vessel built on 
 Mousam river— The proprietors of Mousam River Canal — Course 
 of the river changed— first vessel built on kennebunk river— 
 Prominent business men — Insurance by individuals — Marine dis- 
 asters — The French claims — Pier built at the mouth of Kenne- 
 bunk river— Small-pox— Hospital established. . . . 566 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 The Jay treaty — Memorial of citizens op Wells relative there- 
 to—Address OF THE INHAITANTS TO PRESIDENT ADAMS— HlS REPLY 
 
 —Political parties— Opposition of Wells to the Embargo— Pe- 
 tition to the President — Resolutions passed at Town Meeting 
 — Memorial to the General Court— The non-intercourse Act- 
 Memorial OF THE INHABITANTS OF WELLS TO THE PRESIDENT ON THE 
 
 war question — war declared — american vessels captured — the 
 privateer Gleaner— Rejoicing over the taking of the Guerierre 
 — Convention at Kennebunk to nominate candidate for Repre- 
 sentative to Congress — Toll-bridge built over Kennebunk river 
 — Bridge made free— Fishermen taken by privateers— The" Horse 
 Marine List " — Capture of the privateer Alexander — Bank 
 established— Public dinner to Hon. Cyrus King — The ship Bul- 
 wark off Kennebunk harbor— Soldiers called out— Sloop Julia 
 recaptured — committee of safety chosen — "company of exempts " 
 —Privateer McDonough captured— The privateer Ludlow— Peace 
 declared— Great rejoicing at Kennebunk— Vote of the inhabi- 
 tants of Wells on the fire proof question — Another great 
 freshet — Temperance — Court records kept at Kennebunk — 
 Custom House moved to Kennebunkport — Death of Judge 
 Wells— Death of Thomas McCulloch— Biography of Nathaniel 
 Wells 584 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 The First Parish— Rev. Benjamin White ordained as colleague 
 with Dr. Hemmenway — His retirement and death — Revision of 
 the creed — invitation to rev. david oliphant— rev. jonathan 
 Greenleaf ordained — The Second Parish— Additions to the meet- 
 ing-house—Steeple ERECTED AND BELL PURCHASED^-DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 interior of the meeting-house— slnging— musical instruments — 
 Organ introduced— Stoves set up— Infirmity of Rev. Mr. Little — 
 
XXU CONTENTS. 
 
 Rev. Nathaniel H. Fletcher ordained as colleague— His address 
 —The creed — Marriage of Mr. Fletcher — Joseph Smith — His 
 attempt to overturn the meeting-house — jacob cockran — letter 
 of Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf to Rev. Mr. Fletcher — Action of 
 the Parish relative thereto— Sunday School organized. . 616 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Agriculture— The crops— Corn and potatoes— The stock— Descrip- 
 tion of the early houses in Kennebunk 646 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Vote of the inhabitants establishing the proprietary of the 
 town — Organization of the proprietors — Boundary line between 
 Wells and Coxhall renewed— Grant to proprietors of Coxhall 
 —Proprietary law suits— Yote of proprietors to divide — Lots 
 assigned by lottery — Controversy in relation to thatch-beds — 
 Donation of certain lots by the proprietors — Votes confirming 
 titles — Carriages introduced 652 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Roads — When and where located — Price of labor on roads in 
 various years — By-law of town relative to cattle [going at 
 
 LARGE. . 663 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Industry of the early settlers— Amusements— Dancing — Esquire 
 Brown's school— The first ball— Huskings — Card playing — Check- 
 ers—Keels and bowles— Costume. . » . . . . 672 
 
CONTENTS. XX111 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Death of Washington—Services at the churches—Fourth of July 
 celebrations at kennebunk— dinner to hon. cyrus klng— recep- 
 TION of President Monroe 684 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Prosperity of the town — Newspapers established— "Annals of the 
 Times" — "The Kennebunk Gazette "— " The Weekly Visitor "—The 
 Wells social library — The Kennebunk Fire Society— Engine pur» 
 chased 691 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 Military history of the town — The cav alry — Artillery — Flag 
 Presentation— General muster 695 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 Division of the town — Kennebunk incorporated. . . . 699 
 
 Biographical Sketches. 707 
 
HISTORY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The coast of Maine— general aspect— marine border of Wells- 
 first SETTLEMENT— INFANT BAPTISM— GORGES' CHARTER— THOMAS GOR- 
 ges appointed deputy governor — gorges' house— rev. george bur- 
 ditt — indictments against him — a court organized — permits to 
 Hutchinson and others to take up land— commission to John 
 Wheelright and others to allot LANDS — FHiST settlement under 
 Gorges. 
 
 We, of the present day, wonder that the early adventurers to 
 Northern America should have selected Nova Scotia, or the shores 
 of the St. Lawrence, as the most eligible locations for initiating a set- 
 tlement. De Monts, Champlain, and Portrincourt had grown up in 
 a far more congenial atmosphere, blest with a temperature well 
 adapted to personal comfort and the production of the necessaries 
 and luxuries of life. It is not often that intelligent men are induced 
 to abandon the milder for a more rigorous climate. They coasted 
 the whole distance from Port Royal to Cape Cod, with the* leading 
 purpose of discovering a site better adapted for the settlement and 
 expansion of a colony. But none of the localities, where now are 
 found nourishing towns and cities, commended themselves to their 
 judgment for the noble object in view. They had entire liberty 
 where to choose. France claimed the whole territory. Their phi- 
 losophy and prophetic inspiration were not, by any means, equal to 
 their fortitude and daring. No hazard cooled their ardor for adven- 
 ture; but it would seem that they were wonderfully deficient in 
 that provident forecast which would have dictated a careful consid- 
 eration of the special aptitudes of the different places visited for the 
 implanting and enlargement of a civilized community. 
 1 
 
2 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 Where could a harbor more inviting have been found than that of 
 Portland? How could considerate men, with such an object in 
 view, have passed by a position so alluring in all its features for this 
 purpose, and have planted themselves on the shores of the Bay of 
 Fundy or any adjacent territory ? It may have been that the phi- 
 losophy of the age was, in some measure, at fault in controlling the 
 movements of these navigators and colonists. Men naturally con- 
 cluded that the same latitudes, on various parts of the earth, would 
 be attended with the same climates ; that Port Royal and the at- 
 mosphere on the shores of the Bay of Fundy would be as congenial 
 as that of Bordeaux, or of the shores of the Bay of Biscay. They 
 were here in the summer season, and had no opportunity of acquir- 
 ing that instructive experience which was necessary to disprove some 
 of the philosophy then current. They had never been obliged to 
 fellowship with the rigor of an Acadian or New England winter. 
 George Popham, when he landed his colony at the mouth of the 
 Kennebec, did not dream that his brave men, who had been accus- 
 tomed to the mild climate of England, were thereby to be exposed 
 to a severe temperature which their constitutions were unfitted to 
 withstand. It had been supposed that there might be a short pas- 
 sage to the East Indies through the gulf and river of St. Lawrence ; 
 but all hope in this direction had proved groundless. The business 
 now was to plant civilization ; to grow up here a new France. 
 
 It might have been that the fisheries in the immediate neighbor- 
 hood, in which so many vessels were engaged, presented induce- 
 ments for a settlement there sufficient to counterbalance the more 
 favorabla aspects of a New England locality. They had also been 
 well received by the natives, with whom a very friendly intercourse 
 prevailed. Whereas, in a visit at one or two places at the West, 
 they had met with disaster in conflict with some of the tribes. In 
 the paucity of their numbers the utmost prudence was required for 
 their personal safety. 
 
 But it is not less remarkable that so long a period from the dis- 
 covery of Columbus should have elapsed before any attempts were 
 made by the English to settle New England. The bay and the 
 banks were crowded with fishing vessels. In 1578, there were be- 
 tween three and four hundred vessels, of various nations, at New- 
 foundland and vicinity in one season. Probably many of them 
 pursued their business on the coast of Maine. The men from these 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 3 
 
 vessels were, of necessity, continually landing on our shores, and 
 every return vessel could not fail to carry home some new informa- 
 tion in regard to this western world. There surely must have been 
 enough in the scenery and the annual products of nature, even in its 
 wildness, to have arrested their attention and awakened an inter- 
 est in subjecting it to the benefit of civilization. 
 
 No part of the seacoast of Maine could have failed to invite man 
 to its profitable use and enjoyment. The marine border of Wells 
 must have presented allurements to any one imbued with that com- 
 mon element of humanity, the love of money. Its forests, in their 
 original grandeur, abounding with oak and pine, and innumerable 
 varieties of trees, its mill privileges, its four or five navigable riv- 
 ers, with their commercial advantages, its extensive marshes, its 
 clam-beds and adjacent sea fisheries, we should have supposed, 
 would have offered attractions which the seeker after wealth or the 
 common comforts of life could not have resisted. Its soil too and 
 its climate, though in no degree remarkable, were equally as favora- 
 ble as any to be met with on the northern and eastern coast of the 
 continent. 
 
 But we have no definite knowledge of its occupation by civilized 
 man prior to 1640, though there are facts on the pages of history 
 which seem to indicate very clearly that some persons had previous- 
 ly had a fixed habitation here. In the grants and locations made 
 about this time, creeks, brooks, hills, etc., are mentioned, bearing 
 names which must have been derived from some previous owner or 
 possessor. Before this time, also, there was a regular communica- 
 tion between Agamenticus and Saco, and, as a consequence of this 
 travel, there must have been settlers by the way. In 1640, all the 
 inhabitants from Piscataqua to Kennebunk were required, as soon as 
 they had a minister, to bring their children to be baptized. From 
 this it may well be inferred that there were inhabitants at the east- 
 ward of Agamenticus ; otherwise, the order would only have in- 
 cluded York. 
 
 The authors of the different histories of our seacoast towns have 
 generally given a brief account of the early voyages to this part of 
 the western world, as inducements to the narration of the beginning 
 and progress of civilization, and the settlement of that portion of 
 the territory of which they propose to treat. The motive for this 
 course seems to be the impression that some prestige is given to the 
 
4 HISTORY OF WELLS AND. KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 town from its early visitation by the bold navigators who came here 
 on the noble enterprise of discovery and colonization. This feeling 
 is a natural one, and no injury can come from its reasonable indul- 
 gence. But the character of a town or country must depend on its 
 intrinsic elements ; on its resources, and the skill and energy of its 
 inhabitants in their application and use; on those active virtues 
 which give strength to the soul, and thus build up a population of 
 solid men, who draw to themselves public confidence, and thereby 
 impart an abiding stability to the community of which they are a 
 part. 
 
 We have, therefore, no such feeling to indulge in commencing this 
 history. Wells was, undoubtedly, visited at a very early period. 
 Its rivers were entered by some of the first adventurers to this 
 coast ; but its influence and prominence, in the confederacy of towns 
 composing the State, are not aided or extended by any such adventi- 
 tious circumstances. It is sufficient for our purpose that it was one 
 of the earliest of the settlements and aggregate corporations of 
 Maine. The State will forever have the honor of having been the 
 first in New England on whose shores the light of civilization, relig- 
 ion, science, and civil law first shed its beams. Those bold and fear- 
 less men who landed at Sabino in 1607, and there erected a house 
 for the worship of God, imparting to the redmen of the forest the 
 knowledge of the one great Father, and of the revelation of the 
 Christian faith, the wonderful effects and benefits of intellectual cul- 
 ture and mechanical skill, have given to the State a name imperisha- 
 ble, in which all the towns have a common inheritance. 
 
 Gorges obtained his charter of the Province of Maine in 1639. 
 As in Wells, so also along the whole coast from Piscataqua to Saga- 
 dahock, there were probably settlers. Some of these were men who 
 had come over the water for the purpose of fishing, and by the al- 
 lurements of the country had been induced to abandon that busi- 
 ness and take to themselves some tracts of land which invited occu- 
 pation, and hazard future developments, whatever they might be. 
 Some had emigrated to Massachusetts Bay, but, for various reasons, 
 chose to migrate to the East and establish themselves here. They 
 were not men of high moral tone, or of ordinary intellectual culture, 
 or possessed of any considerable amount of property. Among the 
 nnmber might be found a few who had a small real estate in Eng- 
 land and possibly held something personal. But they were adven- 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 5 
 
 turers, coming hither to take advantage of what might turn up in 
 the evolutions anticipated in the few years following this rush to the 
 new world. Some of them were, perhaps, outlaws, driven from the 
 mother country by their crimes. At any rate, the moral manifesta- 
 tions of many of them were not of a character highly honorable to 
 our common humanity. 
 
 In 1640, Gorges, having secured his right to the Province, sent 
 over Thomas Gorges, his nephew, as deputy governor. The general 
 indications of the state of affairs, on his arrival here, were not very 
 flattering. Gorges had previously erected in York a mansion house 
 of respectable dimensions and style, superior to the others with 
 which it was surrounded, and furnished it in a manner becoming the 
 dignity of the lord proprietor. But, notwithstanding its high own- 
 ership, it was not held sacred in the view of the marauders who had 
 seated themselves in the neighborhood. The lieutenant governor, 
 on entering it, was surprised to find even the building itself very 
 much injured, and of all the household furniture nothing remaining 
 " but an old pot, a pair of tongs, and a couple of cob-irons." The 
 utterances of such a profanation of the proprietor's house were not 
 very favorable to the character of those over whom he was to exer- 
 cise his authority, and he began to think his position might not be a 
 very enviable one. 
 
 On going forth to a further examination of the condition of the 
 settlers, he soon learned that the desolations which he had here wit- 
 nessed were only the counterpart of the moral desolation which pre- 
 vailed among the people. Being removed from the power of an 
 enlightened civilization, and from the restraints of law, some of 
 them had given themselves up to the dominion of passion, and vice 
 was ruling with unlimited sway. Even those who had previously 
 sustained characters which had drawn to them the respect and es- 
 teem of the best part of the settlement had indulged in iniquities of 
 the most disreputable nature and destructive of the peace and good 
 order of all decent society. Even the Rev. George Burditt, a man 
 of cultivated intellect, who had enjoyed the good opinion of his fel- 
 low-pioneers previously in New Plampshire, so far as to be elected 
 to office of high trust, had suffered himself to be carried away by 
 the seductions of unrestrained liberty. He had been repeatedly 
 guilty of adultery, and of all those misdemeanors invariably con- 
 comitant. Females of respectable standing, wives of men of irre- 
 
6 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 proachable life, were induced to forget their marriage vows, and 
 fellowship with him in his wickedness. He had a wife and children 
 in England. With such an example before a people uncultivated, 
 and under slight legal restraint, Gorges might well feel that the pub- 
 lic morals were far below the Christian standard, and that the havoc 
 made of the lord proprietor's establishment was easily explained. 
 
 Gorges having organized a court which was to be holden at Saco, 
 the lieutenant governor determined to adopt the necessary proced- 
 ure to stay the torrent of vice which was thus undermining the 
 foundation of all good citizenship. He caused Burditt to be indict- 
 ed as "a man of ill name and fame, infamous for incontinency, a 
 publisher and broacher of divers dangerous speeches, the better to 
 seduce the weak sex of women to his incontinent practices." He 
 was by the bench found guilty and sentenced to pay ten pounds 
 sterling to the king. He was also indicted "by the whole bench " 
 " for deflouring Ruth, the wife of John Gooch," and for this offence 
 was fined twenty pounds sterling. 
 
 In this period of our history there was no such deference to the 
 female character in social or civil life as to lead the court or people 
 to avert their eyes from the transgressions of the sex. On the con- 
 trary, there was even less sympathy for their frailties and less dis- 
 position to palliate and forgive their misdoings than was cherished 
 toward those of the other sex. There were in office, or in social life, 
 few who had been educated, to the intercourse of refined society. 
 The courts first established by Gorges were, perhaps, better fitted 
 for their position than most of those which succeeded them, yet 
 they were evidently not overflowing with courtesy for the better 
 part of humanity. Woman did not receive much mercy at their 
 hands. 
 
 " Mary, the wife of George Puddington, was indicted " by the 
 whole bench " for often frequenting the house and company of Mr. 
 George Burditt, minister of Agamenticus, privately in his bed cham- 
 ber and elsewhere in a very suspicious manner, notwithstanding the 
 said Mary was often forewarned thereof by her said husband, and 
 the constable of the said plantation, with divers others, to the great 
 disturbance and scandal of the said plantation," and she was re- 
 quired to make this public confession : " I, Mary Puddington, do 
 hereby acknowledge that I have dishonored God, the place where I 
 live, and wronged my husband by my disobedient and light car- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 7 
 
 riage, for which I am heartily sorry, and desire forgiveness of this 
 court and of my husband, and do promise amendment of life and 
 manners henceforth ; " and having made this confession to ask her 
 husband's pardon on her knees. Another female, who was a partici- 
 pant with Burditt in his guilt, was censured by the court, and or- 
 dered "to stand in a white sheet publicly in the congregation at 
 Agamenticus two several Sabbath days, and likewise one day at this 
 general court, when she shall be thereunto called by the councilors 
 of this Province, according to his Majesty's laws in that case pro- 
 vided." 
 
 Such a spectacle in the house of worship, on the Lord's day, 
 would not be a very effectual means of grace, or very likely to ele- 
 vate the standard of morality among the rising generation, and per- 
 haps not among those of more advanced years. Some crimes are 
 not much diminished by making them the subject of conversation in 
 every household. 
 
 But Gorges was determined, if possible, to renew a right spirit 
 among the people. He felt that morality and religion were indis- 
 pensable supports to any good and prosperous government. He was 
 educated in the belief that even forms, instituted by Infinite Wis- 
 dom, were of essential importance in his endeavors to renovate the 
 public morals. Infant baptism, an institution of this high authority, 
 in his opinion, would be followed by the divine benediction, though 
 unrecognized by the subject of it, and though exacted even of the 
 unwilling parent by the requirements of law. Whether his conclu- 
 sion was well founded or not is immaterial to our purpose. We are 
 not inclined to deny its validity. It was, undoubtedly, at the insti- 
 gation of Gorges that the order, to which we have before referred, 
 requiring all the children to be brought to baptism, and that disobe- 
 dience to the decree should subject the offender to prosecution for 
 contempt, was issued by the court in 1640. 
 
 It was considered, both in Maine and Massachusetts, a great of- 
 fence to deny baptism to children, and a few years after this, one 
 Pointer was publicly whipped for refusing to have his child baptized. 
 How far such a procedure would tend to promote the moral ad- 
 vancement of a community it would not seem very difficult to de- 
 termine. But in those days of ignorance and lawlessness many 
 errors of judgment are pardonable, when we know that the acts 
 which they authorized had their origin in aspirations for the com- 
 
5 HISTORY OF WELLS AKD KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 mon welfare, and for an entire compliance with the law of God. 
 But that any such measures, so enforced, had any tendency to bring 
 men up out of the moral darkness in which they were involved, we, 
 of this age, cannot, for a moment, believe. 
 
 The new government, Gorges' general court, being legislative as 
 well as judicial in its action, did not confine itself to the moral im- 
 provement of the people only, but at the same time looked carefully 
 to their physical economy. It may seem a small matter to have 
 made any general enactments in regard to wolves. But to the set- 
 tlers it was much more important that they should be extirpated 
 than it has been at any time since that salmon, shad, and alewives 
 should be preserved from destruction, or that the agriculture of the 
 country should be protected against the ravages of the crow. 
 Wolves then abounded all along the coast. The town of Wells was 
 infested with them. Their hideous howlings made night terrible to 
 the settlers. The little stock on the farms was always in peril, and 
 every precaution was necessary to guard against their attacks. 
 They were the worst enemies that the j)ioneers had to encounter. 
 Hitherto they had had free access to the coast, and it was impossible 
 to drive them away from the old ground, while new temptations 
 were offered to them in the flocks of sheep and cattle which were 
 rapidly being introduced into their territories. Every settler was 
 interested in their extermination, and at this court it was " ordered 
 that every family between Piscataqua and Kennebunk River should 
 pay twelve pence for every wolf that should be killed." This, it 
 will be seen, was in the whole a large bounty, but not larger than 
 the interests of all the people required. We do not know that it 
 was effectual in diminishing the number of wolves. More than a 
 hundred years subsequent to this time they continued their direful 
 havoc and howlings, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants. 
 
 The planters had, at this time, no other laws than these occasional 
 orders of the general court, and such law of the mother country as 
 was appropriate to their condition. The legislative action of the 
 court was communicated to the people in no other way, that we are 
 aware of, than by the record of the court's proceedings. There were 
 no newspapers or printing presses to perform this work as it is done 
 at the present day. Ignorance of law must have prevailed to a 
 great extent, and there were many who manifestly felt that they 
 were not the subjects of any civil government. The Province was 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 9 
 
 divided into two districts; the western, embracing the territory be- 
 tween Piscataqua and Kennebunk Rivers ; the eastern, including the 
 remainder. 
 
 The title to the territory being now considered as vested in 
 Gorges, and a government established over it, those in the mother 
 country, whose impulses led them to adventure to the new world to 
 secure a part in its virgin soil, were naturally attracted to this por- 
 tion of New England. Gorges, who had labored so hard in its 
 colonization, was extensively known, and his character highly appre- 
 ciated, throughout England. From what part of it most of those 
 came who settled in the western portions of Maine we have no sat- 
 isfactory information. The probability is that many of them came 
 from his vicinity. John Wheelright came from Lincolnshire, and 
 perhaps his followers, who adhered to him, at the cost of severe trial 
 and persecution, and came with him to Wells, may have been resi- 
 dents of that county and perhaps members of his church. The fol- 
 lowing instrument suggests the first step, introductory to the 
 permanent occupation of the town : 
 
 u Whereas, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Needham, and some others of the 
 plantation of Exeter have been with me, Thomas Gorges, Superin- 
 tendent of the affairs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, Lord Pro- 
 prietor of the Province of Mayne, and have desired in behalf of 
 themselves and others to take a certain tract of land lying between 
 Ogunquitt River and Kennebunk, and for eight miles up into the 
 country, but whereas a part of said land (as I heard) is claimed by 
 Mr. Stratton and others, I cannot for the present give any further 
 answer than this : That all the right and interest Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges hath in the said land shall be freely granted unto them, re- 
 serving to Sir Ferdinando Gorges five shillings for every hundred 
 acres of land as well as marsh and uplands that they shall manure, 
 and to me, Thomas Gorges, the priety of Ogunquitt River, of which 
 I have desired a patent, which, when I have received, I do promise 
 to surrender upon reasonable demands anything that may be bene- 
 ficial to them, not doing myself any notable damage. In the mean- 
 while they have free liberty to build and take up any lands that are 
 therein Sir Ferdinando Gorges' power to grant, to have and to hold 
 to them and their heirs and assigns forever. Given under my hands 
 Sept. 27, 1641. Thomas Gorges." 
 
10 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBTTNK 
 
 On the receipt of this license Edmund Littlefield, John Wheel- 
 right, Edward Rishworth, Henry Boade, and others entered on the 
 land and begun to make it subservient to the uses of man. In due 
 time, Ferdinando Gorges having ascertained his undoubted right to 
 the territory, agreeably to his promise, made the following grant to 
 Wheelright and others : 
 
 " Witnesseth these presents that I, Thomas Gorges, Deputy Gov- 
 ernor of the Province of Mayne, according unto the power given 
 unto me from Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, Lord Proprietor of 
 the said province, have, for divers good causes and considerations in 
 and thereunto moving, given and granted unto Mr. John Wheel- 
 right, minister of God's word, Mr. Henry Boads, and Mr. Edward 
 Rishworth, of Wells, full and absolute power to alot bounds and 
 sett forth any lott or bounds unto any man that shall come to inhab- 
 it in the plantation, themselves paying for any land they hold from 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges five shillings for every hundred acres they 
 make use of, the rest five shillings for every hundred acres that shall 
 be allotted unto them by the said Mr. John Wheelright, Henry 
 Boads, and Edward Rishworth. The bounds of the plantation to 
 begin from the northeast side of Ogunquitt River to the southwest 
 side of Kennebunk River, and to run eight miles up into the coun- 
 try, and in case differences arise between the said Mr. John Wheel- 
 right, Henry Boads, and Edward Rishworth concerning the 
 admission of any man into the plantation, or of bounding any land, 
 the said difference shall be determined by the agent or agents of 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, to whom full power is reserved of admitting 
 any one into the aforesaid limitt. Given under my hand and seal at 
 armes this 14th July, 1643. Tho. Gorges." 
 
 " Saco — Memo, at a court holden here the 14th day of August, 
 1644, this grant was here exhibited and is by us allowed ; for further 
 confirmation we have hereunto sett our hands in court the day and 
 year above written. 
 
 Richard Vines, Deputy Governor. Nicholas Shapleigh. 
 
 Henry Joceline. Francis Robinson. 
 
 Rich Bonighton. Roger Gard." 
 
 The records of the town are introduced with the foregoing docu- 
 ments. They are the only relics which we have of any propositions 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 11 
 
 for the settlement of its territory previously to 1643. The neglect 
 of their full transcription in several works in which they have been 
 introduced has been a source of much error. In a concise account 
 of the history of the town, in the first volume of the Maine Histori- 
 cal Collections, the first is set out with the omission of its true date, 
 so that the reader is informed that the plantation or settlement was 
 commenced in 1643. Gov. Sullivan, also, in his History of Maine, 
 gives the same impression. The record, to be sure, is not what it 
 should be. The instrument purports to be dated July 14, 1643, and 
 also Sept. 27, 1641, closing with the latter and beginning with the 
 former. But why the first should have been omitted altogether, and 
 the latter altered from 1641 to 1643, it is not very easy to explain. 
 The intrinsic evidence and extrinsic facts make it plain that 1641 
 was the true date. Sullivan may have copied from some other copy 
 of the original, and Greenleaf and others from Sullivan. Both of 
 the instruments were recorded at the same time, and the former was 
 placed there to show under what authority the settlers had been oc- 
 cupying. 
 
 We do not find in any of the sketches of Wheelright's proceed- 
 ings and motions, after he was driven from Boston, the time stated 
 definitely when he left Exeter. We believe it to have been not far 
 from the earliest date before mentioned. Judge Smith, in his Cen- 
 tennial Address at that place, does not state the year. He had ac- 
 cess to the best sources of information and probably used them, but 
 on this question they furnished no decisive information. It is be- 
 lieved that he, and Williamson, in his History of Maine, relied on 
 Sullivan's statement that he began the settlement at Wells in 1643. 
 
 The instrument itself, of which we have given a true copy, re- 
 quires a different construction. Though Wheelright's name does not 
 appear in it, yet the applicants were his special friends and associ- 
 ates, and the request to Gorges was, undoubtedly, made in behalf of 
 the whole company. Whether he was one of the petitioners or not 
 is immaterial to our purpose, as our inquiry is, when the settlement 
 commenced under Gorges' authority. 
 
 We think the petition, or the answer of Gorges embodying the 
 petition, with other established facts, justifies the conclusion that 
 Hutchinson and others came here in the latter part of 1641 or the 
 beginning of 1642. The precise time when they asked for the grant 
 does not appear. Gorges says that they had been here, but how 
 
12 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 long previously he does not state. New Hampshire was about sub- 
 mitting to Massachusetts, in which case Wheelright and his compan- 
 ions would be exposed immediately to a new banishment. Gorges 
 had assumed the authority over Maine, and they could not fail to be 
 assured that under him they might find a refuge which would not be 
 exposed to the spiritual tyranny of Massachusetts. They had ap- 
 plied to him previously to September, 1641, for a place of habitation 
 in his possessions, and it was granted to them in the reply. Gorges 
 says he was so situated at that time that he could make no definite 
 grant. John Stratton had a grant of 2,000 acres on the western 
 side of Cape Porpoise River. Whether this was valid or not he had 
 no means of ascertaining. That question was to be settled in Eng- 
 land. If valid, he could make no grants until its location was de- 
 termined. He also had applied for a grant of 5,000 acres to himself 
 adjoining Ogunquit River. Whether his petition would be favora- 
 bly answered or not he did not know. When these two matters 
 were settled they should have what they wished. He then gave 
 them liberty to enter upon the land, in the meantime, and occupy 
 where they pleased. It must, necessarily, have taken much time 
 when their intercourse with England was so limited, to obtain the 
 information required. 
 
 Having this liberty, there is no reason for the presumption that 
 they did not at once accept Gorges' offer. They would not ask a 
 year, or two years, in advance of their desired removal, and the re- 
 ply of Gorges, that they might have immediate possession, would 
 seem to imply that they had asked for it. Emigrants were then 
 rushing to New England, and they would not be very likely to fore- 
 go the opportunity of securing what lands they wished, before they 
 fell into the hands of others. Some writers have regarded the li- 
 cense of 1641 as the charter of the plantation. We take no such 
 view of it. It is simply a permission to Hutchinson, Needham, and 
 others to go on and occupy the territory until he could give them 
 some more substantial title. If either of the documents is to be re- 
 garded as a charter, it is that of July 14, 1643, in which the commis- 
 sioners were authorized to proceed in the allotment of the land, and 
 make grants to such persons as they thought proper. This grant, it 
 will be seen, entirely disregards John Stratton's claim, as it covers 
 the whole land between Ogunquit and Kennebunk River. It is 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 13 
 
 strange that any considerate writer should have regarded this docu- 
 ment as prior to that of September, 1641. 
 
 We do not pretend to determine precisely the time when Wheel- 
 right came to Wells. We have full confidence that his associates, 
 Hutchinson, Needham, and others, came here as pioneers, or to ex 
 amine the land, in 1641. Whether either of the two, at any time, 
 had a residence here we have no reliable evidence. We think 
 Wheelright followed them in 1642. In that year Henry Boade 
 came from Saco. In the deed to Wheelright of April, 1643, he is 
 styled pastor of the church in Exeter, but we suppose his connection 
 with that church had not been dissolved. A portion of his church 
 were still there, and there was no occasion for immediate dissolu- 
 tion. He fled to Maine for his personal safety. 
 
14 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Grant to Thomas Gorges— Grant to Wheelright— Lygonia patent- 
 Claim of Col. Alexander Rigby— Decision in his favor— Edward 
 Godfrey— Courts held at Wells and Gorgeana— Claim of Massa- 
 chusetts—Compact between Gorgeana, Kittery, and Wells — 
 Character of Godfrey— Commissioners sent by Massachusetts into 
 Maine— Address to Godfrey— His reply— Incorporation of Gorge- 
 ana— Indian deed to Wadleigh— Various names of the plantation 
 — Origin of the name Wells — House of Bowles burnt — Names of 
 inhabitants of the plantation, with brief sketches — massachu- 
 setts commissioners require submission to her authority— their 
 court at Kittery and Wells— Jurisdiction of Massachusetts ac- 
 knowledged — Ogunquit joined to Cape Neddick — Commissioners 
 grant corporate powers to wells — commissioners appointed to 
 settle boundary between wells and york. 
 
 Thomas Gorges, in due time, had received his grant of 5,000 
 acres, but we have been unable to find any location of it. It does 
 not appear to have interfered with allotments in any part of the 
 plantation. Immigrants selected lands without reference to it. 
 Whether he availed himself of it the record does not show. 
 
 In 1643, Gorges conveyed to Wheelright a tract of land, of about 
 400 acres, on the easterly side of Ogunquit River. Wheelright did 
 not dwell on this lot, though when referred to, it is designated as 
 the Wheelright farm. His house was nearer the Cape Porpoise or 
 Mousam River than the Ogunquit, but sufficiently far from the for- 
 mer not to be reached by the Stratton claim, or the lot asked for by 
 Thomas Gorges. Under the authority to Wheelright, Boade, and 
 Rishworth, to lay out and assign lots to settlers, but little seems to 
 have been done. A very small number of grants are found, or are 
 referred to on the records. Wheelright does not appear to have 
 acted long on this commission. His residence in Wells was short, 
 probably not continued beyond three years. Several of his associ- 
 ates remained in Wells ; some for a few years; others made it a 
 permanent abiding place. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 15 
 
 These agents of Gorges were invested with a very important 
 right. He committed to them the power of determining who 
 should be admitted to the plantation. Similar authority had been 
 invested in the plantations in Massachusetts. If wisely exercised, it 
 would have been fruitful of most salutary effects. Had the policy 
 indicated by this provision been continued and made appurtenant to 
 the franchise of our plantations and towns, we might have built up 
 in this State municipalities which would have elevated us far above 
 our present status. In the exercise of such a power all unworthy 
 applicants might have been excluded from an inhabitancy among us. 
 We need not have been troubled by the inroads of rum-selling, pro- 
 fanity, and the various iniquities which destroy the peace of commu- 
 nities, impede the progress of virtue, and delay the advancement 
 of a sound civilization. Our towns might have been built up in a 
 style of beauty and magnificence of which we have now no exam- 
 ple, while the niggardly and contracted souls, who sympathize with 
 no philanthropic work, might have congregated elsewhere, in a 
 township of their own, and in the congeniality of mutual selfishness 
 and cupidity freely enjoyed all that happiness which the kingdom of 
 darkness imparts to its subjects. 
 
 Soon after the appointment of Wheelright, Boade, and Rish worth, 
 as agents for allotting the plantation, the Lygonia Patent was re- 
 vived and came into the possession of the Honorable Colonel Alex- 
 ander Rigby. Under the terms of this patent, the possessor claimed 
 even to the Cape Porpoise River, so that the title of all that part of 
 Wells between this and Kennebunk River was brought into contro- 
 versy. The validity of this patent was denied by Gorges ; but the 
 governor general and commissioners of American plantations de- 
 cided in favor of Rigby, though determining Kennebunk River to 
 be its western boundary. Gorges' whole province was now reduced 
 to the territory between Piscataqua and Kennebunk Rivers. Ed- 
 ward Godfrey was the only councillor dwelling within its limits. 
 To save the plantations from falling into anarchy, he called a court 
 at Wells in 1644. At this court he was appointed governor, and 
 Richard Leader, Nicholas Shapleigh, Thomas Withers, and Edward 
 Rishworth, councillors. Rishworth was also chosen recorder. After 
 this the courts were holden at Wells and Gorgeana. 
 
 Godfrey was re-elected the next year, and the people for a little 
 while were undisturbed by any collisions of contending proprietors, 
 
16 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 and most of them quietly pursued their labors, in bringing the wil- 
 derness into a proper state of cultivation, until Massachusetts came 
 in and claimed the whole province as a part of its territory. For 
 many years that province had construed its own charter to extend 
 no further than three miles east of Merrimack River. Great diversi- 
 ty of feeling now existing among the planters in reference to the 
 authority under which they would live, the government of that 
 province deemed it a favorable time to throw over Maine its protect- 
 ing hand. But the government of Maine cherished no aspirations 
 for her jurisdiction. The people were content to pursue their busi- 
 ness under Godfrey, although some of them were willing to submit 
 to the new claim. 
 
 In 1649, Gorgeana, Kittery, and Wells held a convention at the 
 first-named place. Ferdinando Gorges, the Lord Proprietor, had de- 
 ceased, and the status of the territory was in great doubt. Some 
 feared that the right of Gorges died with him, and that both the 
 government and their titles to lands would also lapse and die. 
 To avoid the evils which impended by this event, this convention 
 assembled and entered into the following compact : " We, with our 
 free and voluntary consent, do bind ourselves in a body politic and 
 combination to see these parts of the country and province regu- 
 lated according to such laws as had formerly been exercised, and 
 such others as shall be thought meet, but not repugnant to the 
 fundamental laws of our native country." 
 
 Provision was also made for the choice of councillors annually by 
 the people. The whole province of Maine, over which the new 
 government was now created, embraced only these three towns 
 (Kittery, then including Eliot and Berwick). The whole population 
 was not equal to that of any one of them at the present day, and 
 the government, it is believed, in comparison with the present mu- 
 nicipal regulations of these places, would not be regarded as main- 
 taining any striking precedence over them. 
 
 Godfrey was not that considerate, reflecting, far-seeing man 
 needed for the chief magistrate of a people entirely unversed in the 
 theory and administration of a wise government. His bombastic, 
 profane introduction of his orders is not significant of a very high 
 appreciation of the reverence which is due from man to his Creator. 
 He was wont to address himself to his sub-officers and people in 
 this style : " To all Christian people to whom these presents shall 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 17 
 
 come, greeting, in our Lord God everlasting." This was magnifying 
 his office a little more than its dignity would authorize. The select- 
 men of our towns might, with equal propriety, address their precepts 
 with the same high sanction. Such an irreverent use of assumed 
 divine authority would not be likely to nourish in the minds of the 
 people a veneration of the name of the Infinite. 
 
 He had not that calm independence, free from passion and excite- 
 ment, which becomes one in office of high responsibility. He 
 caused Goody Mendum to be indicted for saying that " she looked 
 upon Mr. Godfrey as a dissembling man." He also brought his 
 action of slander against Francis Raynes and wife, for charging his 
 wife, Ann, "as being a liar." Such charges are not often made 
 without some shadow of a foundation, and it ill became one in God- 
 frey's position so to notice them as to be seeking compensation for 
 the supposed injury in a court of justice. The respectable office of 
 governor we should judge to be essentially compromised by such 
 proceedings. Goody Mendum's character was not such that her de- 
 famatory words would carry with them power for much evil. 
 
 Although in his subsequent correspondence with Massachusetts he 
 exhibited some decision of character, his diplomacy manifests but 
 little of that wise and discreet sense of the dignity which should be 
 maintained by one elevated to the high position which he occupied. 
 His views of life, in all its various relations of duty and of social 
 and civil intercourse, do not seem to have differed essentially from 
 those of the court of which he was a member, and from which ema- 
 nated the heathenish orders of which we have before spoken. We 
 may, also, here add another order of similar character, issued by the 
 court of which he was at the head, holden at Gorgeana in 1649 5 ex- 
 hibiting his refined and gentlemanly spirit, and the deference with 
 which he regarded the closest relations of life. "Ordered that any 
 woman who shall abuse her husband, or any others, by opprobrious 
 language, may be put in the stocks two hours, and if incorrigible- 
 may afterwards be whipped." Such a government must have in it- 
 self very few of those moral attributes on which alone its prosperity 
 could be predicated. 
 
 But still Governor Godfrey is worthy of commendation for the 
 
 persevering and indomitable spirit which he manifested in what he 
 
 considered to be right, and for his courage in seating himself down 
 
 in York, an entire wilderness, with none to whom he could look in 
 
 2 
 
18 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 his solitude for any help which the emergencies of his condition 
 might require. He located himself there in 1630, building the first 
 house in that place. He was the founder of York. What his mo- 
 tive was in making such a selection for a habitation does not appear. 
 Possibly the fishing business might have tempted him to the adven- 
 ture. No location could have been better fitted for that purpose. 
 His house was on the north side of the river. But thus away from 
 the intercourse and business haunts of men, he would be little likely 
 to grow in the virtues of social life or in the necessary qualifications 
 for gubernatorial authority. The solitary and recluse do not gener- 
 ally cherish very strong attachments for the female sex, or cultivate 
 any of those attributes w T hich lead them to feel that female associa- 
 tion is a necessary element of every stable and prosperous commu- 
 nity. He was stronger to meet all the perils of the wilderness than 
 to confront the face of man. Though lord of all he possessed, he 
 suffered adventurers to come in and crowd upon him, so as to reduce 
 his lands to a quantity too small for his own necessary cultivation. 
 
 The people being divided in their preferences of the government 
 under which they would live, and Gorges, the Lord Proprietor, be- 
 ing dead, Massachusetts, as before stated, now determined to claim 
 jurisdiction over the whole province. The plain import of the 
 charter of that colony might be in conformity with the new con- 
 struction now put upon it; but as an entirely different view of 
 its meaning had been heretofore taken, and concurred in by the 
 company on the other side of the water, it would seem that this un- 
 derstanding of all parties ought to have been conclusive as to the 
 extent of the jurisdiction of that colony, more especially when this 
 construction had prevailed more than twenty years, and many grants 
 had been made under the impression that it was acquiesced in by 
 Massachusetts and all interested. 
 
 In 1651, Massachusetts sent commissioners into Maine, under in- 
 structions to admit the inhabitants as citizens of that province, and 
 at the same time sent an address to Godfrey, setting forth the 
 reasons for their claim. But Godfrey had no disposition to submit 
 to it. He called a general court, and it was determined to send to 
 the home government a petition to establish the confederation into 
 which they had entered. Massachusetts received information of 
 that fact and took measures to defeat the petition. A new survey 
 was also had, satisfactorily establishing the position that their char- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 19 
 
 ter carried them to Casco Bay. Godfrey responded to the address 
 of Massachusetts in terms not very acceptable, charging that gov- 
 ernment with grasping at that which did not belong to it, and con- 
 cluding with the words, "Such is the charity you have heretofore 
 manifested towards our religion and other interests, that we trust 
 you will excuse us if we are the more wary of your proposals . and 
 promises." 
 
 A very spirited reply to this letter was sent by Massachusetts, 
 which was followed by a rejoinder from Godfrey not less spirited 
 and decided. Other communications passed between the parties not 
 very conciliatory, and not tending much to God's glory and the 
 peace of the people, at which both claimed to be aiming. Massa- 
 chusetts insisted that most of the people were in favor of placing 
 themselves under her jurisdiction, while Godfrey declared that there 
 were but few persons with any such leanings, and that these few 
 were criminals and men of no worth. But Maine was powerless for 
 resistance. Massachusetts sent commissioners to assume jurisdic- 
 tion, and at the same time to protest against the exercise of authori- 
 ty by any in office under Gorges' government, and absolving all 
 from allegiance to it. This maneuvering met with but little success. 
 The people were not yet prepared to avail themselves of her pro- 
 tection; but not long after, in 1653, the opposition was somewhat 
 mollified, and they consented to yield, none of the titles of the set- 
 tlers being affected by this transfer of jurisdiction. 
 
 The settlement at York was one of the inducements to the occu- 
 pancy of the territory adjoining. Ferdinando Gorges had made 
 great preparation to render it an important center of influence. He 
 had sent there mechanics of various kinds and common laborers to 
 carry forward the work of improvement, and to make the place a 
 useful auxiliary to the other plantations which might be set on foot 
 in the neighborhood. By placing it in a self-sustaining and prosper- 
 ous condition it would be a very material help for this purpose. 
 Here population was soon concentrated, and immigrants felt a de- 
 gree of safety in taking up lands not far from it. To render it more 
 effectual for. his purposes, he caused it to be incorporated as a city, 
 giving it the name of Gorgeana. It embraced within its limits 
 twenty-one square miles, and extended from York River, east, three 
 miles, and seven miles into the interior from the sea. The village 
 
20 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBTJNK 
 
 was located at the harbor. Provision was made for its government, 
 not materially different from that of cities at the present day. It 
 was to have a mayor and recorder, twelve aldermen, and a common 
 council of twenty-four. The mayor and aldermen were authorized 
 to appoint four sergeants, whose badge of office was to be a white 
 rod,- and who were to serve all precepts. The mayor, aldermen, and 
 recorder were to hold a court every week. Gorges' claim to all the 
 lands was conveyed to the city. From this array of officers one 
 would think the city teemed with inhabitants ; but these forty offi- 
 cers, it is most likely, comprehended more than half of all the set- 
 tlers. For a few years this city enjoyed some prosperity. 
 
 There were yet no indications of trouble with the Indians, and 
 there were strong inducements to those who ventured to seek a hab- 
 itation here so to locate themselves as to have the benefit of accessi- 
 bility to some near settlement, where the various demands which 
 must inevitably spring up might possibly be supplied. This was, we 
 may venture to say, one of the principal motives which led Need- 
 ham, Hutchinson, and others to select Wells as a place of habitation. 
 The plantation, however, did not grow rapidly under these favorable 
 circumstances. The unstable government, of which we have given 
 a concise account, and the uncertainty of title presented very serious 
 obstacles to the increase of its population. It needed the sustaining 
 hand of a firm and effective administration. There is no basis of 
 prosperity aside from this. Without law, establishing and maintain- 
 ing rights, men cannot, w T ith confidence, give their energies to busi- 
 ness. Titles must be sure, labor protected, and order preserved. 
 Some were for the government of the old country, some for Massa- 
 chusetts, and some for the institution of one among themselves. 
 From this diversity of opinions grew up animosities and bickerings, 
 strifes and contentions, so that there was nothing in the general 
 aspects of the settlements which availed to attract immigration. 
 Gorges had claimed title; so had Massachusetts ; and so had Rigby 
 of a part of the town ; and grants had been taken from these differ- 
 ent lords of the territory, some acknowledging and relying on one, 
 and some on another. 
 
 But the foregoing do not embrace all the rights which were sup- 
 posed to exist in this territory. A great many persons at that day, 
 as well as the present, were full believers in the absolute title of the 
 
' HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 21 
 
 natives to the soil of Maine. Expediency, truly, does not find any 
 serious obstacles in getting rid of such a right. New England Pu- 
 ritanism had no conscientious scruples to prevent the seizure of the 
 possession, yet the title was regarded by some as worth as much as 
 the title of either of the contending parties of whom we have been 
 speaking. 
 
 There is manifest error in the statement which has found its way 
 into history, that " there is no evidence that the land in Wells was 
 ever purchased of the Indians." It is somewhat remarkable that, 
 with the records near at hand, such an error should have been fallen 
 into. It does not appear that the town acquired any title directly 
 from them; but the remark is understood as affirming that their 
 rights were never released. Even though so many generations have 
 intervened since the territory was entered upon by the white man, 
 it is some satisfaction to the present holders of these lands to be as- 
 sured that their title did not begin in wrong ; that the original own- 
 ers had voluntarily parted with it. 
 
 There is no written evidence surviving that the town, as such, 
 ever had any legal title from the natives, although it may have been 
 acquired, in some way, from the deed to Wadleigh. In a memorial 
 of the inhabitants to Charles II. they allege that they purchased 
 their lands of them. Individuals may have taken deeds directly 
 from some of the Sagamores, but it is more likely that the following 
 instrument was the basis of the allegation : 
 
 " Whereas Sagimore Thomas Chabinocke, of Nampscoscoke, by 
 virtue of his last will and testament, had given and bequeathed, and 
 for certain good reasons and considerations him hereunto moving, 
 hath, and by virtue hereof doth, freely and forever give and grant 
 unto John Wadleigh, of Wells, to him, his heirs and successors, and 
 that forever, of his own accord, and with the consent of his mother, 
 Ramanascho, to whom the said Wadleigh has given a consideration, 
 the premises, considered after the manner of a purchase, bargain, 
 and sale ; the said Sagamore and his adherents and survivors have, 
 for themselves and successors, confirmed and mafle sure unto the 
 said John Wadleigh and his successors, to be inherited presently 
 after the death of the said Sagamore, all that the Sagamore, with 
 his whole right, title, and interest, called by the name of Nampscos- 
 coke, bounded between Nogimcoth and Kennebunk, and up as high 
 
22 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 as Cape Porpoise Falls, and the same, with all the profits, commodi- 
 ties, and appurtenances, against all men to warrant and defend. 
 Witness our hands and seals this 18th day of October, 1649. 
 Sealed signed and 
 
 delivered in presence The Sagamores marke 
 
 Philemon Pormorte w T ith his own hand 
 
 Ramanascho her mark AYv+Ai V^- ^V \J t 
 
 Will Wardell 
 Sasagahaway his mark \v™r 
 his mark Stephen Batson 
 
 %¥ 6^ YD his mark ^^ 
 
 Robert Wadleigh 
 Nell wife to Sasagohaway 
 
 mark i/Hv. 
 
 And they all affirm Ceasar consents to this. 
 
 William Wardell's testimony, 
 that this is the act and deed 
 of Thomas Chabinocke, the Saga- 
 more of Wells. Taken before 
 me the 25th of March, '57. 
 
 Joseph Bowles, 
 Commissioner. 
 
 Ramanascho, the mother of the Sagamore Thomas Chabinocke, in 
 1650, quitclaimed to Wadleigh to confirm and establish the forego- 
 ing, for ten pounds sterling, which she and the Sagamore received in 
 his lifetime. 
 
 " 31 March, 1650. John Wadleigh took quiet and peaceable pos- 
 session of the premises contained in his Indian right, laying the 
 whole continent from Cape Porpoise Falls, and so by a straight line 
 to Negunquit, and so down to the seaside, and further assigns the 
 same, as it shall be inhabited, to be liable to all common charges 
 and rates for the town of Preston, alias Wells, and to this, as in the 
 same or like case required, we the witnesses have subscribed our 
 names." 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 23 
 
 Some of the sanctions to this transfer of title indicate a very 
 cautious civil polity, and a more extensive regard to some of the re- 
 lationships of life than we have yet seen among civilized men. The 
 Sagamore's sister signifies her approbation of the act, and tli3 parties 
 and witnesses also affirm that Ceaser gives his consent. Who 
 Ceaser was the record does not show. The mother's rights were 
 also respected. The heritage from the Great Father, which she had 
 so long enjoyed, could not be aliened without her approbation. 
 Some of the ruling principles of savage life, it might be well, even 
 for Christians, to cherish and carry out in their business transactions. 
 We have been accustomed, from the historical accounts which have 
 been presented to us, to look upon woman among the red men of 
 the forest as assigned to a degraded condition; but when we con- 
 trast this reverence of the savage for the maternal relation, and the 
 rights and interests of his sister, with the order of the court at Saco, 
 soon after, that " no women or hogs " should be allowed on the Isle 
 of Shoals, we think civilization would see little to boast of. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing deed of the Sagamore that the 
 territory included in the plantation has had three different names. 
 It was by the Indians called Nampscoscoke. Not being versed in 
 Indian dialect, we are unable to state the import of this name. 
 Without doubt, it was expressive of something in its features or his- 
 tory which was well known and understood by them. It is not 
 very euphonious, but to strangers, perhaps, as much so as Kenne- 
 bunk. Afterwards it was called Preston, and this name was applied 
 to it, by some, four or five years after its incorporation. From 
 whom this designation came we cannot answer. There was one Ed- 
 ward Preston at Plymouth in 1641. He was " a lewd fellow of the 
 baser sort," and could not have had the honor of giving his name to 
 the town. We know of no other person of that name in the coun- 
 try. Preston is a large manufacturing town in England, in the 
 county of Lancaster, and was then, or had been previously, called 
 Priest's town, from the number of its " religious houses." It may 
 have had this appellation from the fact that John Wheelright had 
 the charge of superintending and controlling the disposition of the 
 lands within it. 
 
 The first grants which were made of lands in the plantation were 
 described as in Wells. When this name was first applied to the 
 territory embraced in it we have not ascertained. It has not been 
 
24 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 usual thus to designate plantations ; but the name was given to this 
 beyond the period of which we have any record. In a recent publi- 
 cation it is said that the town derives its name from one of its early 
 settlers, Thomas Wells, who came here from Ipswich; but this 
 statement is entirely destitute of foundation. Thomas Wells did 
 not come here till 1657, fifteen years after we find the name applied. 
 Judge Wells, a descendant of Thomas, was accustomed to state it 
 as his opinion that the great number of springs with which it 
 abounds suggested its name ; but we are not aware that there are 
 more springs in this than in the towns adjoining, and if there were, 
 when it received its name, the wilderness being unbroken, but few 
 of them could have been discovered. Others have said, and with 
 much more reason, that it was given by Gorges, according to a cus- 
 tom, then common, to apply the names of well-known places in the 
 old country to new places of residence here. Wells was an impor- 
 tant city in England, and not far from the residence of Gorges in 
 Somersetshire. Cardinal Woolsey resided there. It was much dis- 
 tinguished for its many public buildings, and it was probably this 
 prominence which led Hubbard, in his History of New England, 
 thus to speak of the application of the name to this plantation : 
 "Between Cape Porpoise and Piscataqua," he says, "there are but 
 two small towns more (though ambitious of great names), the one 
 called Wells, the other York." As he was then living in New Eng- 
 land, it is probable that he well understood the reason why this 
 name was given. As this city, also, was within twenty miles of 
 Gorges' residence, some of its inhabitants were, perhaps, influenced 
 by him to come over here, and one of the inducements offered might 
 have been that the name of the old home would go with them to 
 their new settlement. 
 
 Owing to the different titles set up, by parties in interest, to the 
 plantation previously to its incorporation, no one could foresee what 
 might be the final adjudication by competent authority. The polit- 
 ical and social condition of the people and the general aspect of af- 
 fairs in this unsettled state of the title presented nothing attractive 
 to those who were anxious to select a permanent residence. During 
 the ten years succeeding the beginning of a settlement here it does 
 not appear that it made very rapid progress. Oblivion has taken to 
 itself the larger part of the history of this period. By the unfortu- 
 nate burning of the house of Joseph Bowles, in 1657, one of the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 25 
 
 volumes of the town records was destroyed, so that we have no 
 means of ascertaining the grants which had been made, or posses- 
 sions taken and confirmed, excepting so far as we have found copies 
 of these records, or tenants in the occupation of what had been al- 
 lotted to them. In the period named between thirty and forty per- 
 sons had here made a home ; but previously to 1653 some of them 
 had removed to New Hampshire, the advantages offered in that prov- 
 ince being more alluring than any which they could expect to enjoy 
 by continuing in Wells. 
 
 The following persons appear to have been inhabitants during the 
 continuance of the plantation : Samuel Austin, John Barret, John 
 Barret, jr., Stephen Batson, Henry Boade, Robert Boothe, Joseph 
 Bowles, John Bush, Nicholas Cole, William Cole, Joseph Emerson, 
 John Gooch, William Hammond, Ezekiel Knight, Edmund Little- 
 field, Anthony Littlefield, Francis Littlefield, Francis Littlefield, jr., 
 John Littlefield, Thomas Littlefield, Thomas Miles, Philemon Por- 
 motte, Edward Rishworth, John Sanders, Jonathan Thinge, John 
 Wakefield, William Wardell, Rev. John Wheelright, Thomas 
 Wheelright, William Wentworth, John Wadleigh, John White. 
 
 Whether Nicholas Needham, Edward Hutchinson, or Augustine 
 Story ever resided in Wells cannot now be determined. We have 
 no evidence that any allotment of land was made to either of 
 them ; but the foregoing inhabitants, whom we have named, are to 
 be regarded as the founders of Wells. There was great variety of 
 character among them ; some were good and worthy, while others 
 had not much to boast of in their moral composition. A want of 
 education, it is believed, was at the root of all their obliquities. A 
 vast proportion of the wickedness of earth has its origin in the 
 same cause. Of many of these settlers a more full biography will 
 be given in the course of this work. 
 
 Stephen Batson, Robert Boothe, Philemon Portmotte, or Por- 
 motte, Rev. John Wheelright, and William Wentworth removed 
 from the plantation before its incorporation as a town. Batson was 
 the first occupant of Drake's Island. Here he built his house, the 
 cellar of which is still to be seen, the house having been gone many 
 years. In the middle of the cellar, a few years ago, stood the re- 
 mains of an old oak tree, which had sprung up after the house had 
 been taken away, grown to a good old age, and then was reft of its 
 branches, nothing remaining but its lifeless trunk. Batson might 
 
26 H1ST0KY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 have been a man of some usefulness, but he had the misfortune to 
 be united to a woman who had a very imperfect appreciation of her 
 obligations as a wife and mother. She grossly abused her husband 
 and treated a part of her children very unkindly. He was com- 
 pelled to resort to legal proceedings to curb her tongue and soften 
 her unhallowed temper. The court in those days had but very little 
 sympathy for the sex. As before suggested, some of their legisla- 
 tive acts, as well as their judicial adjudications, show very clearly 
 the low estimate they had of female sensibilities and of the true 
 amenities of life. In this case the court awarded that Mrs. Batson 
 should make acknowledgment of her offences before the court, be- 
 fore the town meeting at Wells, and before the town meeting in 
 Cape Porpoise, and in case of refusal or neglect to do so she was to 
 receive twenty stripes on her naked back. Woman, in those days, 
 appears clearly to have been regarded as the slave of man. No 
 other inference can be drawn from the outrages upon all the refine- 
 ments of civilization so often appearing in the decrees of the court. 
 What affection could exist, subsequent to procedures of this charac- 
 ter, between husband and wife ? What respect for those female vir- 
 tues, which go to make up a refined Christian intercourse, could 
 exist in the minds of judges who could thus tamper with those deli- 
 cate sensibilities which endear woman to the other sex and make 
 her, as it were, the guardian angel of all that is pure and heavenly 
 in social and domestic life? We are not aware that any of Mrs. 
 Batson's descendants survive in Wells. 
 
 Robert Boothe came with Wheelright from Exeter and appears to 
 have acted as clerk of the plantation. We suppose him to have 
 been an influential member of Wheelright's church. He removed 
 from Wells to Saco before the town was incorporated. He was ap- 
 pointed a " commissioner to try small causes," also a commissioner 
 to apportion the county charges on the several towns. He was also 
 a selectman of Saco and a deputy to the general court. It was or- 
 dered by the commissioners of Massachusetts " that he should have 
 liberty to exercise his gift for the edification of the people there." 
 It is very likely that he had departed from the faith on which the 
 church in Wells was founded and, disagreeing with his associates, 
 chose to separate himself from them. Massachusetts would never 
 have authorized or allowed him to preach the word if he had incul- 
 cated doctrines which rendered it unsafe for him to dwell in the 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 27 
 
 colony. He continued several years to officiate as a public teacher 
 in that town, and in 1659 the inhabitants voted that "Robert 
 Boothe shall teach the word on the Lord's day until we have a bet- 
 ter in his place, and he shall have for his labor all which the town is 
 disposed to give him." That, surely, was a generous offer ; but at a 
 town commissioners' court soon after, Saco was ordered to make a 
 tax of ten pounds for his services. Boothe had had a good educa- 
 tion, was one of the council of Lygonia, and held various other of- 
 fices. It would have been well, we think, if the town of Wells 
 could have retained him among its inhabitants. 
 
 Philemon Portmotte was a man of some intellectual culture. He 
 was made a freeman of Massachusetts in 1635, and was a member of 
 the Boston Church. Probably he was a firm disciple of Wheelright, 
 as he followed him to Exeter, having been advised to depart, on 
 pain of imprisonment, although, previously to this, he was " entreat- 
 ed to become a school-master in Boston for the teaching and nurtur- 
 ing of children." He was one of the combination at Exeter, and 
 had fourteen acres of land assigned to him there. He came with 
 Wheelright to Wells and took an active part in the affairs of the 
 church. But dissensions sprung up, and his theological views not 
 corresponding with those of the ruling power in Massachusetts, he 
 lost favor and was denied the privilege of church communion. He 
 continued several years to make his home here, bu£ what became of 
 him we cannot tell. The records furnish no further information of 
 him. He may have followed Wheelright to Hampton, yet we think 
 he left behind him living memorials of his earthly pilgrimage. In 
 1680, Elias Pormotte and Lazarus Pormotte were working in the 
 mill of Nicholas Cole. Lazarus was born the 3d of the 12th month, 
 1635. They were his sons. Pormotte, we suppose, wrote the origi- 
 nal deed by which the Indian title to Nampscoscoke came into the 
 hands of the English. 
 
 Of Rev. John Wheelright we shall have occasion to speak in con- 
 nection with the ecclesiastical affairs of the town, and as his name 
 has been so long associated with the original settlement and with 
 the establishment of the church here, we shall hereafter give a more 
 particular account of him. 
 
 William Wentworth came to Wells with John Wheelright, from 
 Exeter. He was one of the combination there, and had four acres 
 of land assigned to him. In those days the churches selected cer- 
 
28 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 tain members for directors and disciplinarians in matters of interest 
 to the order and well being of the communion. These were called 
 ruling elders. Wentworth was invested with this office, and was al- 
 ways called Elder William Wentworth. He was one of nature's no- 
 blemen. We have not been able to ascertain where he resided, but 
 we think it most probable that he was one of the family of Ezekiel 
 Knight, who died in 1687, and in his will gave all his property to 
 the children of his daughter, Elizabeth Wentworth. 
 
 We infer from this clause that William Wentworth had married 
 the daughter of Knight. He had lived in Wells several years, but 
 we have been unable to discover any evidence that he owned or oc- 
 cupied a house. He removed to Dover, and in his old age Knight 
 also left Wells and passed the remainder of his days at that place. 
 The principal objection to this inference, on the part of the leading 
 genealogist of the Wentworth family, is the disparity of ages be- 
 tween the elder and any supposed daughter of Knight, Wentworth 
 being thought to be nearly as old as Knight. His first son was born 
 in 1640. Knight may have had a daughter then old enough to be a 
 mother; perhaps she was then sixteen or eighteen. In those days a 
 large excess of years in the husband over the wife was as common 
 as at the present time. If Wentworth was one of the family of 
 Knight, on one side of him was Francis Littlefield, whose wife was 
 eleven years younger than her husband, and on the other side 
 Joseph Bolles, whose wife was sixteen years younger than he was. 
 We think we must adhere to the opinion that old Wells furnished 
 the mother of the distinguished family of the Wentworths, until 
 some new light shall satisfy us that this judgment is erroneous. 
 Wentworth removed from Wells to Dover previously to 1653. He 
 was the progenitor of all the distinguished men of that name in this 
 country. Among his descendants were John Wentworth, lieuten- 
 ant governor of New Hampshire, and commander in chief of that 
 province for many years, Benning Wentworth, governor of that 
 State twenty-five years, and John Wentworth, his nephew, who was 
 governor several years, ending at the beginning of the Revolution. 
 Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, is also one of his descendants. 
 Our late worthy citizens, Benjamin Wentworth and Nahum Went- 
 worth, who came from New Hampshire, have the same honorable 
 ancestry. The elder was a brave man. " In 1689, a large party of 
 Indians made an assault on the garrison at Dover. He was at that 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 29 
 
 time more than eighty years old, and lodged in Heard's garrison. 
 Awakened from his sleep just as the Indians were entering, he 
 pushed them out, and falling back pressed his feet against the gate 
 and held it till the people were alarmed, so that the women and chil- 
 dren were saved." He was an energetic and useful man and an 
 earnest Christian. He died in 1697, at the age of ninety years. 
 
 These persons, of whom we have given brief sketches, were 
 among the founders of Wells. It would have been well for the 
 town if they could have remained here. More moral and intellectu- 
 al strength was needed than seems to have been exhibited by the 
 generation following. 
 
 We have endeavored to give as good an account as we are able of 
 the state of the plantation before it was incorporated as a town. 
 The view presented, we feel, is far from complete. Amidst the un- 
 certainties, contradictions, obscurities, and other obstacles with 
 which we meet in the mass of matter found in our various historical 
 archives, it is impossible to obtain a full and satisfactory knowledge 
 of men and things as they existed at the period which we have gone 
 through. But now Massachusetts extends its strong arm over the 
 whole of Gorges' territory, and commands all the people to yield to 
 her jurisdiction. Henceforth we have fuller records and more relia- 
 ble resorts for historical facts. 
 
 To establish and confirm this authority, in 1652 commissioners 
 were appointed to visit Maine and require the submission of the 
 people. These commissioners held a court at Kittery, and as there 
 was no alternative, the people yielded to the demand and declared 
 their loyalty to that colony. Afterwards they went to Agamenticus 
 or Gorgeana, since called York, and summoned the people to appear 
 before them for the same purpose. There was a strong opposition 
 to this claim of Massachusetts and much controversy with the com- 
 missioners upon the subject; but the larger proportion of the set- 
 tlers were finally induced to surrender, and yielded their acknowl- 
 edgment of the jurisdiction claimed. Godfrey continued, a long 
 time, steadfast in his opposition. He had no love for that colony 
 and looked upon this proceeding as a wicked usurpation. The idea 
 of submitting to it was a little more than his spirit could endure ; 
 but, at length, perceiving that all the people were abandoning him, 
 and that resistance could be of no avail, he came forward very re- 
 luctantly and signed the submission. 
 
30 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Among those who acknowledged allegiance at this time was 
 Thomas Wheelright, who was an inhabitant of Werfls. The expla- 
 nation of this fact does not appear in any published historical sketch 
 of Wells or York, but it will be well understood from the following 
 order of the court. At a general court holden at Kittery, Dec. 30, 
 1651, it was ordered that " Mr. Wheelright's farm and Cape Ned- 
 dock are hereby joined together as a village of this province, and 
 have liberty annually to elect and send a deputy for themselves, 
 who shall have power to grant warrants and appoint any person 
 within the said village to serve them, which village shall so continue 
 with their privileges till they grow to be more capable for a town." 
 This union was continued till the incorporation of York, but when 
 it terminated does not appear. In that year the inhabitants of the 
 village were taxed, or required " to give in their contribution toward 
 building a prison at York." But afterwards their rates were to be 
 divided between York and Kittery. The Wheelright farm em- 
 braced most of the upland between Ogunquit and Webhannet 
 Rivers. Some others, who lived on this territory, which seems to 
 have been regarded as an adjunct of York, may have signed the 
 York submission. 
 
 The commissioners did not at this time extend their mission 
 further east. For some unknown reason the subjection of the re- 
 mainder of the province was deferred till next year, when the com- 
 missioners, on the fourth of July, assembled at the house of Joseph 
 Emerson, in Wells, to demand allegiance of the inhabitants of this 
 plantation. They were not so ready to give up their independence 
 as were the people of York and Kittery. That day, consecrated to 
 liberty more than a hundred years afterwards, was not thus, in ad- 
 vance, desecrated by an abject surrender of the founders of Wells, 
 though compelled subsequently to come under the yoke. Six only 
 of the inhabitants appeared : Joseph Emerson, Ezekiel Knight, John 
 Gooch, Joseph Bolles, Jonathan Thinge, and John Barret, sen. 
 John Gooch had already laid down his arms and signed the submis- 
 sion at York. Jonathan Thinge and John Barret were not, in our 
 view, very good specimens of a noble humanity, as may be seen in 
 the prosecution of this history. Emerson, Knight, and Bolles were 
 so far tinctured with Puritanism, or rather with the Massachusetts 
 theology, as to feel a much closer sympathy with the spiritual hie- 
 rarchy of that province than with the Episcopal atmosphere of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 31 
 
 Maine. William Wardell, as he was passing by, was notified to 
 come in and answer to his name ; but he had no respect for Massa- 
 chusetts or her commissioners, and treated the notice with contempt, 
 returning rather an insolent reply to the court. He had been one 
 of the Boston church, and was one of the disciples of John Wheel* 
 right and Ann Hutchinson, of whom the general court say that 
 "there is just cause of suspicion that they may, upon some revela- 
 tion, make some sudden eruption upon those who differ from them 
 in judgment," and therefore they were required to deliver up all 
 guns, pistols, swords, powder, and shot in their possession to Mr. 
 Cane, as agent for the province. Wardell was one of the number 
 who were thus disarmed. It is not at all remarkable that he 
 should have thus contemptuously disregarded this summons from 
 these messengers of a hierarchy which had thus trampled upon his 
 rights. One would, with difficulty, be persuaded to believe, were 
 not the evidence so decisive, that professing Christians, who are 
 bound to the exercise of all charity, should tremble for their person- 
 al safety, because another professed disciple held to the doctrine that 
 " the Holy Spirit dwells personally in a justified convert, and that 
 sanctification can, in no wise, evince to believers their justification." 
 Who can believe that such a bugbear could ever have found a rest- 
 ing place in the head of any rational man? But Wardell had been, 
 through its power, divested of his rights and his property and 
 driven from his home in Boston. His treatment of the commission- 
 ers, therefore, needs no apology. Whatever his character (which we 
 do not think of any great worth), it loses nothing by this expression 
 of his contempt. 
 
 But there was no escape from submission. The court ordered him 
 to be arrested and then adjourned to the house of Ezekiel Knight, 
 where the constable brought him before them to answer for his con- 
 tempt. Here whatever manhood he had failed him. He was in- 
 quired of why he did not come in when notified to do so ; his 
 answer was, that he did not refuse to do so from any disrespect 
 toward the court, but because he wanted to get the rest of the in- 
 habitants to come in with him. If he had been sanctified, his sanc- 
 tification was, truly, no evidence of his justification. He had too 
 much of the character of many of those at the present day who 
 hold the most unreasonable doctrines; they are seldom able to hold 
 fast their integrity in perilous times. 
 
32 HISTORY OF WELLS AtfD KEHNEBTJNK:. 
 
 Many of the remainder of the inhabitants followed Wardell to 
 the court, and they promising that he should give his attendance 
 the next day, the court adjourned to the fifth at eight o'clock, when, 
 being called by name, the following persons came forward and ac- 
 knowledged themselves subject to the government of Massachusetts : 
 Henry Boade, John Wadleigh, Edmund Littlefield, John Sanders, 
 William Hamans, Anthony Littlefield, Francis Littlefield, jr., Thom- 
 as Littlefield, Nicholas Cole, William Cole, John White, John Bush, 
 Robert Wadleigh, Francis Littlefield, sen., William Wardell, Samu- 
 el Austin, John Wakefield, Thomas Miles, John Barret, jr. 
 
 Wardell's signature to the submission was received at the special 
 request of the inhabitants. These, together with those who sub- 
 scribed the day before, with their families, constituted, we suppose, 
 the entire population of the town on the fifth day of July, 1653. 
 The submissionists were all made freemen and took the required 
 oath. 
 
 The commissioners then granted to the town of Wells corporate 
 powers similar to those which had been granted to York and Kit- 
 tery. The following is the act of incorporation : 
 
 "1. Wells shall be a towneship by itselfe, alwayes shallbe a part 
 of Yorkshire, and shall enjoy protection, aequall acts of favor and 
 justice with the rest of the people ynhabitting on the South side of 
 the River of Piscatque w th in the limitts of our jurisdiction and en- 
 joy the priviledges of a toune as others of the jurisdiccon have and 
 doe enjoy w th all other libertyes and priviledges to other inhabitants 
 in our jurisdiccon. 
 
 "2. That every inhabitant shall have and enjoy all theire just 
 propaietyes, titles, and interests in the howses and lands which they 
 doe possess, whither by graunt of the toune possession, or of the 
 former Genneral Courts. 
 
 " 3. That all the present inhabitants of Wells shall be freemen of 
 the countrye, and having taken the oath of freemen shall have liber- 
 tye to give theire voates for the election of Governo r , Asistants, and 
 other Genneral officers of ye countrye. 
 
 "4. That the sayd toune of Wells shall have three men approoved 
 by the County Court from yeere to yeere to end smale cawses, as 
 other the touneships in the jurisdiccon hath, where no magistrate is, 
 according to lawe ; and for this present yeere, Mr. Henry Boade, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 33 
 
 Mr. Thomas Wheelewright, and Mr. Ezekiel Knight are appointed 
 and authorised comissioners to end smale cavvses under forty shil- 
 lings, according to lawe. And further these comissioners or any two 
 of them are and shall be impoured and invested with full power 
 and authority e as magistrates to keepe the peace and in all civill 
 cawses to graunt attachments and executions if neede require. Any 
 of the sayd comissioners have power to examine offenders, to comit 
 to prison unlesse bayle be given according to lawe ; and when these, 
 or any of these, shall judge needefull, they shall have power to 
 binde offenders to the peace or good behavior; also any of these 
 comissioners have power to administer oathes according to lawe; 
 also marryage shallbe solemnised by any of the comissioners accord- 
 ing to lawe." 
 
 The foregoing charter sets out no boundaries to the territory 
 which is thus made a town of itself by the name of Wells. None 
 of the former proceedings of those interested in the township any- 
 where indicate its western limits. The grant to Wheelright, Boade, 
 and Rishworth was of the land between Ogunquit and Kennebunk 
 Rivers. Previously to this time no grants had been made, by any of 
 the different proprietors of lands, on the west side of the former ; 
 neither had there been any actual survey of the plantation. The 
 town seems to have been without any definite boundaries on the 
 north and the west until six years after its incorporation. In May, 
 1658, Capt. Brian Pendleton, Capt. Nicholas Shapleigh, and Nicho- 
 las Frost were appointed by the general court as commissioners " to 
 pitch and lay out the dividing line between York and Wells from 
 that marked tree, at which, formerly, by mutual consent of those 
 two towns, their bounds were set, and to make return thereof at the 
 next session of the court." 
 
 At the May term of the court, in 1659, the commissioners made 
 the following return : " We whose names are underwritten, being 
 appointed by the general court to pitch and lay out the dividing 
 line between the towns of York and Wells, from a marked tree, for- 
 merly marked by mutual consent of both towns, and according to 
 our power given us, have determined as followeth : to say the divid- 
 ing line shall run between the two aforesaid towns, from the above 
 named marked tree up into the country on a straight line unto the 
 southwest side of certain marshes called Totnick marshes, directly 
 
 3 
 
34 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 against a certain rock on the northeast side of said marshes, divid- 
 ing the towns of Kittery and Wells." Dated ye 27th (1) ° 58 59. 
 
 Nicholas Shapleigh. 
 
 Brian Pendleton. 
 
 marke 
 
 Nicholas af Froste. 
 
 There is no surviving record of the mutual consent here referred 
 to. The records of Robert Boothe, which are supposed to have 
 been a part of those consumed when Bowies' house was burnt, may 
 have contained it. The place of the marked tree is well known. 
 The bound at the northwestern corner between York and Wells is a 
 rock over Baker's Spring. There has been a tradition, though it 
 has now nearly died out, that under this rock one of the regicides of 
 Charles I. concealed himself for several years ; but we have no ac- 
 count that more than three of the persons by whom he was sen- 
 tenced to death escaped to this country, and the hiding places of 
 these have always been well known. Others of this large court may 
 have fled hither, but history furnishes no evidence to that effect. 
 The other boundaries of the town were Kennebunk River on the 
 east or northeast, and a line from that river to Baker's Spring on the 
 northwest, eight miles from the sea. It is doubtful whether the 
 spring, now the received boundary of the town, is the one thus des- 
 ignated. There is no large rock near it, and nothing which we 
 should call marsh land. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUKK. 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Officers appointed by the commissioners— First church in Wells- 
 Names of members, brief sketches of — Church dissolved by the 
 commissioners. 
 
 Wells having been brought under the dominion of Massachusetts, 
 and invested with all the necessary powers, may now be regarded as 
 a town, and from this time, July 5, 1653, it has continued to exercise 
 these powers without interference from any source. It was well for 
 the people that they were thus compelled to submit. So long as no 
 stable government existed, there could have been no order, and, in 
 consequence, no prosperity. 
 
 The commissioners of Massachusetts seem to have been men of 
 decision and energy, manifesting their determination to thoroughly 
 finish the work on which they were sent. They appointed all neces- 
 sary municipal officers for the town. Henry Boade, Thomas Wheel- 
 right, Ezekiel Knight, John Wadleigh, and John Gooch were 
 appointed selectmen, for the management of its prudential affairs, 
 and Joseph Bowles clerk of the writs, or town clerk. Knight was 
 also appointed a grand juryman for the year ensuing. John San- 
 ders and Jonathan Thinge were made sergeants, to exercise the sol- 
 diers. They also directed the selectmen to appoint some suitable 
 person to keep an ordinary, which was understood to be something 
 in the nature of a public house, where provision was to be made for 
 hungry and thirsty souls, more especially for the latter. Beer and 
 strong waters were then considered necessary to life in the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 But the interests of religion, at this period, were paramount to all 
 others, and the commissioners assumed it as a part of their duty, 
 under their commission, to examine into the affairs of the church. 
 Before looking at their action in this respect, it becomes necessary 
 to revert to the ecclesiastical history of the period over which we 
 have passed. 
 
36 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 If a history of the church in Wells could be recovered from the 
 oblivion which has come over its early years, so that it could be 
 complete down to the present day, there is reason to believe that it 
 would present matter of deep interest and profitable reflection. 
 Whether in its incipient state any record of its action was kept is 
 unknown. The province of Maine had then no connection with 
 Massachusetts, and there was no law in force setting forth rules for 
 the organization of religious societies, or making provision for the 
 gathering and establishment of churches. Gorges was an Episcopa- 
 lian ; but he made no requisition on the planters as to their religious, 
 faith, and so long as the people continued independent of that prov- 
 ince, liberty of conscience and of religious action was allowed to 
 every man. 
 
 The first church in Wells was instituted by Rev. John Wheel- 
 right, who, after his banishment from Massachusetts, went to Exeter, 
 supposing that place to be beyond its jurisdiction. Here he estab- 
 lished a church, composed of those who were his companions in the 
 excommunication, and of such others as were disposed to come into 
 the compact. The constitution of this church has not come down 
 to us ; but we may well infer that it was based on the views which 
 he had enunciated previously, and in which his associates in banish- 
 ment had concurred. It was said that in his exposition of revealed 
 truth he had concurred with Mrs. Ann Hutchinson. The positions 
 which she had assumed, and which were so offensive, and which 
 caused her expulsion from Massachusetts, were, "that the Holy Spir- 
 it dwells personally in the heart of the true believer, and that a 
 believer was more than a creature." She also taught " that sanctifi- 
 cation did not evidence justification." How far Wheelright sympa- 
 thized with her in these views does not clearly appear. It was 
 declared that he preached doctrines very much like these ; but in 
 conversation he did not appear to acknowledge that such phraseolo- 
 gy precisely expressed his sentiments in regard to the last, kis po- 
 sition was antinomian, not admitting the necessity of good works or 
 a virtuous life. It may be safely stated that his theology did not 
 differ widely from the principles here stated ; or rather, we may say, 
 that these principles were material elements of his religious faith. 
 We may, thence, safely conclude that they were an important part 
 of the creed of the church established by him at Exeter. Wheel- 
 right and a portion of his church removed to Wells; they, of course, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 37 
 
 brought their religious principles with them. We must, then, pre- 
 sume that the constitution of the church here formed by him, being 
 the first Congregational Church in Wells, recognized and embraced 
 these principles : "That a believer is more than a creature; that 
 sanctification does not evidence justification; and that a saving faith 
 does not depend on good works or a virtuous life." We shall not 
 attempt any elucidation of these doctrines. It is not, necessarily, 
 the writer's province to do so ; if it was, we should at once abandon 
 the task which we have undertaken. We state what we understand 
 to have been the leading principles in the inauguration of the 
 church ; their significancy or explanation we leave for others who 
 have a taste for labor of that description. If the reader's manhood 
 will permit him to indulge in the examination and illustration of 
 these points, he has abundant room for such a diversion. Whether 
 he has time for that purpose is a matter between him and the Infi- 
 nite. It is sufficient for our purpose to say that Wheelright was 
 generally acknowledged to be an honest and godly man, and if he 
 was, he had the right to organize a church upon the principles which 
 commended themselves to his conscience, and to preach the gospel 
 as he understood it. 
 
 Perhaps we err in speaking of the inauguration of the church 
 here. It is presumed that the larger part of the Exeter communion 
 came with Wheelright to Wells. It may, therefore, with more pro- 
 priety, be said that that church was transferred to Wells. We have 
 no record of any proceedings here in the nature of an installation. 
 Wheelright continued to expound the Scriptures to the same people, 
 who attended his ministration as though no change had taken place. 
 
 As more than two hundred years have elapsed since this organiza- 
 tion, or transfer, the names of all those who thus constituted this 
 little church in the wilderness cannot now be recovered from the 
 memorials which have survived; but the following were of the num- 
 ber, and may have constituted the entire church: Robert Boothe, 
 William Cole, Edmund Littlefield, Henry Boade, Philemon Por- 
 motte, Edward Rishworth, William Wardell, and William Went- 
 worth. It is said that Nicholas Needham, Edward Hutchinson, and 
 Susanna Hutchinson, the mother of Ann, came also to Wells, and 
 that the mother died here ; if so, these, undoubtedly, were members. 
 They were disciples of the minister, subscribing to his exposition of 
 divine truth ; but we have not sufficient evidence to satisfy us that 
 
38 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 they had any residence in the plantation, and, therefore, do not in- 
 clude them among the founders of the first Christian congregation. 
 
 The material of this spiritual edifice was not all sound. There 
 were some members who, in consonance with the doctrine of unre- 
 strained liberty in matters of religion, availed themselves of this 
 privilege, to a large extent, in the intercourse of life. Our knowl- 
 edge of these men is not very definite. We wish it was much fuller 
 than it is. It would be exceedingly interesting to have before us a 
 full exemplification of the power of the theology, then prevailing, 
 over the lives of its disciples ; the living evidence that a believer is 
 more than a creature ; or a specimen of the man sanctified and not 
 justified; or of one saved without any of the fruits of salvation. 
 
 Of Robert Boothe we have given a brief account in the preceding 
 chapter, suggesting that the theological speculations of the body of 
 Christian believers here did not, probably, comport with his religious 
 views, and that thence he was induced to change his field of labor. 
 He was a man of fair education, and an earnest worker in the vine- 
 yard. While in Wells no stain rested on his character. At Saco, 
 he was moved by the Spirit to give utterance to his feelings and re- 
 ligious sentiments when the people were gathered together in the 
 sanctuary for public worship. For this interruption of the regular 
 pulpit exercises he was condemned by those who loved order in the 
 church, and was brought before the court for the misdemeanor ; but 
 the court adjudged him not guilty. Being a zealous man, and of the 
 Massachusetts faith, he could not sit still while mischievous error, as 
 he thought, was being inculcated upon the people. 
 
 Edmund Littlefield was also a member of the Exeter church. He 
 was there called Edward ; so he frequently was here. Edmund and 
 Edward were regarded as the same name. He was the progenitor 
 of the great family of that name in Wells, and perhaps in New 
 England. We shall have occasion hereafter to give a fuller sketch of 
 him than is necessary in this place. We speak of him now in his 
 connection with the church, of which he was an active member and 
 an honorable one. At the present period, we might be disposed to 
 deny his discipleship, from the employment to which he devoted a 
 part of his time. He was a retailer of intoxicating liquors, but duly 
 licensed for that purpose by the proper authorities. His license 
 shows the high respect in which he was held. He was authorized to 
 sell to the Indians to such an extent as he thought for their good. 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK 39 
 
 When so much care and precaution were thought necessary to guard 
 against any troubles with the natives, it affords strong testimony in 
 favor of Littlefield's discretion and moral stability that the sale was 
 submitted entirely to his judgment. The modern doctrine as to the 
 use of intoxicating liquors had not then found a place in Christian 
 morals. A reasonable use of them was recognized by all, as a mate- 
 rial aid in the labors of life, or as essential to maintain the vigor of 
 one's constitution, and therefore no discount was to be made from a 
 man's character in consequence of being engaged in the traffic, or 
 because he was accustomed to a moderate indulgence in their use as 
 a drink. When he was appointed, his license was specially honora- 
 ble to him, as the general court, at the same time, express their ab- 
 horrence of the free use of ardent spirits, and even the exceeding 
 sinfulness of the practice, and prohibited the sale by any one else, 
 the object being to restrain and limit the sale and not to extend or 
 aid it. Mr. Littlefield, therefore, must have been regarded as one 
 actuated by sound principles. We think he was a solid member of 
 the church. We have discovered no blemish on his character. He 
 took an active part in the ecclesiastical affairs of the town, and did 
 not side with Massachusetts' religious polity, but was somewhat an- 
 tinomian in his religious views, espousing, of course, the doctrines 
 which expelled Wheelright from Massachusetts. We shall speak of 
 him and of Henry Boade more particularly hereafter. 
 
 Edward Rishworth was a prominent man in western Maine at this 
 period. He is frequently called Rushworth, which was the family 
 name in England. He married Susan, daughter of Wheelright, and 
 was with him at Exeter, where he was clerk of the courts. For 
 many years he held important offices in Maine. He was a magis- 
 trate of the county, and, we think, superior to most of his associates. 
 He was, likewise, thirteen years representative from York, to which 
 place he removed from Wells, where he was engaged in milling. 
 Having married into the Wheelright family, he shared largely in 
 their religious opinions. The religion and civil polity of Massachu- 
 setts found no support in him. He partook very much of the feel- 
 ings of the father-in-law, though he never was disposed, like him, to 
 succumb to the usurpations of Massachusetts. We have reason to 
 believe that he was of a litigious temperament, and that the spirit of 
 the Gospel and his spirit were not entirely in harmony. He was a 
 party in court when it would have been better for him to be at 
 
40 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK 
 
 home. He suffered small executions to come out against him, indi- 
 cating indifference to his obligations. We have considered him as 
 obstinate in his feelings, and not such a man as would be likely to 
 do much in building up a substantial church. 
 
 Of William Wardell we have before spoken briefly. He was an 
 ignorant and obstinate Christian, having no sympathy with the Pu- 
 ritanism whose wrath he had experienced in his expulsion from Bos- 
 ton, because his religious sentiments, if he had any, were not just 
 what the ruling powers in that city thought they should be. We 
 are very well satisfied that his religious sympathies were not in ac- 
 cordance with any religion known to the church of Christ. He 
 could not write his own name, and we presume had never learned to 
 read. He was thence well fitted to make trouble in the neighbor- 
 hood. He never was silent when he had occasion to speak of that 
 for which he had no affection. His slanderous and contemptous 
 speeches to the commissioners, when called upon to sign the submis- 
 sion to Massachusetts, and his prevarication the next day illustrate, 
 very clearly, the kind of religion with which he was animated. Not 
 being accustomed to bridle his tongue, it frequently involved him in 
 difficulty. He was prosecuted for the language which he used to 
 the commissioners and, at another time, for his reply to the inquiry 
 whether he would give anything to the college, " that it was no ordi- 
 nance of God, and that it was contrary to his judgment." His wife 
 was not what she ought to have been. She was no lover of public 
 worship, and was indicted for not attending meeting on the Sabbath. 
 His imperfect Christianity may have been her work, though we 
 think it most likely that the reverse was the truth. It sometimes 
 requires a good wife to keep 'a man straight in his religion, but very 
 frequently her defection is owing to his irreligious deportment. As 
 to Wardell, we do not think he was a very good Christian. 
 
 Of William Cole our knowledge is very imperfect. He came 
 from Exeter, where he had twelve acres and sixty rods assigned 
 to him, as one of the combination. We have not succeeded in obtain 
 ing any material information as to his character. He was evidently 
 a quiet and peaceable man, avoiding all controversies and troubles 
 with his neighbors, and we are glad to give him the benefit of the 
 old maxim, that all men are to be presumed to be of sound morals 
 until the presumption is proved erroneous. He followed Wheelright 
 to Hampton, and there died May 26, 1662, in his eighty-second year. 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 41 
 
 Of Pormotte and William Wentworth we have before written. 
 The former, we think, must have left the place at the time when the 
 commissioners were in Wells. He did not sign the submission, and 
 no one living in Wells could have avoided doing so without subject- 
 ing himself to prosecution. Wentworth may have left two or three 
 years before. 
 
 We have not included Ezekiel Knight in the list of the members 
 of this church. He was a Christian of the Massachusetts stamp, 
 and we are not sure that any of that religion had fellowship with it. 
 Boothe was plainly not a sympathizer with antinomianism when he 
 went to Saco, but the controversy in the church at Wells possibly 
 changed his theology ; it may have been so with Knight. 
 
 The foregoing is as complete an account of the individuals of this 
 church, at the time the Massachusetts commissioners came to bring 
 Maine into subjection, as we are able to give. We are inclined to 
 the opinion that the materials, as a whole, were as sound as those 
 which constituted other churches in the land. The band was a 
 small one, but still as large as could be expected from the small 
 number of inhabitants then commorant here. We know not what 
 females had come into the union, but it is a fair presumption that the 
 number equaled that of the males; it is seldom a church is found 
 in this country where the former do not outnumber the latter. But 
 we have much reason to believe that it was a doctrinal, and not a 
 spiritual, church. Wheelright, though uncommonly versed in Bibli- 
 cal knowledge, and deep-rooted and grounded in the Christian faith, 
 and animated with the spirit of the Master, had just been transferred 
 from the Episcopal hierarchy of England to the enjoyment, as he 
 supposed, of unrestrained Christian liberty. As is natural to relig- 
 ious men, he had meditated deeply on the various questions which 
 must present themselves to the mind of one who endeavors to un- 
 derstand fully his relationship to the earth, where he is, and to the 
 unknown future, to which he constantly tends. These meditations 
 will always suggest questions which become of deep interest, some 
 of which are so magnified by frequent and intense thought as to ab- 
 sorb all the powers of the soul. He had been led to feel that certain 
 dcctrinal deductions, from the words of Christ, but more from the 
 conclusions of untrammeled reason, were necessary, and should be 
 made material parts of a true and faithful ministration. Opposition 
 only gave additional strength to his convictions, so that he began to 
 
42 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 feel, as did the apostle, that woe was in store for him if he preached 
 not these truths which presented themselves to his mind as of divine 
 inspiration. Such is the tendency, almost invariably, of the early 
 Christian life. The disciples are led to feel that the doctrines of 
 those with whom they are brought into fellowship are all-important, 
 and that those who do not assent to them must, necessarily, be out 
 of the kingdom, forgetting the great rule of Christian life and inter- 
 course laid down by the Master, that true religion is of the spirit 
 and indicated by the fruits of life. Churches built on any other 
 foundation than this cannot stand. No theological speculations can 
 ever make a true man. Any religious institution founded on princi- 
 ples other than practical righteousness has in it nothing which can 
 guarantee its peace, usefulness, and perpetuity. The true Christian 
 church alone is eternal. 
 
 After the commissioners had finished the work, specially assigned 
 them, of bringing the inhabitants of Wells to acknowledge and sub- 
 mit to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, they turned their attention 
 to other matters having relation to the peace and welfare of the 
 settlers. They had before understood that discord and confusion 
 were universal ; that the church had destroyed all harmony and 
 good feeling. Some members believed one thing and some another ; 
 some were partially Episcopalian; some of the Wheelright school, 
 and others of the Massachusetts faith; whether any of them were 
 of Puritanic sentiments we do not know. After John Wheelright 
 left them there was no controlling head, and we may well presume 
 that his tergiversation raised up a new subject of discord. Some, 
 possibly, thought his acknowledgment and repentance were right 
 and justifiable; others thought them as rather derogating from his 
 character, and betraying the principles for which they had made so 
 great sacrifices. But all the trouble arose from the malformation of 
 the church, in building it of materials which had nothing solid and 
 enduring What was there in the speculation that a believer was 
 more than a creature, or that sanctification is no evidence of justifi- 
 cation, or that saving faith does not depend on a virtuous life, to 
 bind a society together and sustain a living piety in the hearts of its 
 members? There is nothing like religious differences, with some 
 persons, to produce wrangling and ill feeling. Men, and especially 
 the ignorant, are very unwilling to doubt the validity of their own 
 opinions, and to think that others may be right while they are 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 43 
 
 wrong. If this division in the church had not extended beyond its 
 borders, it might not have been so prolific of evil ; but the inhabit- 
 ants took sides according to their own religious proclivities. It was 
 admitted before the commissioners that the discord which prevailed 
 in the town was principally owing to those who claimed to be of the 
 church, and they did not, therefore, feel that they had discharged 
 their duty till they had taken effectual measures to quell the dis- 
 turbances, by looking into the condition of the church, and taking 
 such measures in relation to it as the good of the people might re- 
 quire. On making this examination, they ascertained that most of 
 the members had dissolved their connection or been expelled, so that 
 now there were only three members, and these were determined to 
 hold on and claim to be the church. Those who had made the dis- 
 turbance seem to have been Boade, Edmund Littlefield, and William 
 Wardell. The commissioners had dismissed Pormotte and Wardell, 
 at their own request, and they also notified Boade and Littlefield 
 that their connection with the church was dissolved. Which of 
 these four claimed to be the church, by the obscurity of the record, 
 we cannot determine. The commissioners, in their return, alleged 
 there were but three remaining members. Pormotte and Wardell 
 had become wearied or disgusted with the state of affairs, and there- 
 fore chose to withdraw ; but Littlefield and Boade chose to maintain 
 their church relation. The commissioners ordered it to be dissolved, 
 and thus, as we understand the posture of affairs, the whole church 
 was dissolved. Where these commissioners obtained the authority 
 for this act we know not. There is no precedent for it in our eccle- 
 siastical history. We should judge an order of Massachusetts com- 
 missioners, dismissing members or dissolving a church, about as 
 effectual as a license of the selectmen to sell intoxicating liquors 
 would be at the bar of God. 
 
 We suppose that the principal reason for this procedure was that 
 the opponents of the ruling theology of Massachusetts had the as- 
 cendancy in the church. We believe that the four whose names are 
 mentioned were in that position. But, whatever the cause, they" 
 based their action entirely on the ground that it was necessary for 
 the peace of the people, and directed these men to hold their 
 tongues and give themselves to some other business more conducive 
 to their peace and well-being, adding, if they did not, they should 
 bear witness against them. And so ends the first church in Wells,. 
 
44 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTOK. 
 
 The instruction derived from this history is that ignorant men had 
 better confine themselves to the Christian life, and not undertake to 
 discuss matters of theology which they do not understand, and thus 
 excite a spirit of strife and ill-will where nothing should prevail but 
 harmony and mutual love. A man who is enthusiastic in doctrine 
 is seldom so in Christian duty. What a sad fact in history is it that 
 these few men in the wilderness could not dwell together in the 
 unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, when mutual and friendly 
 support and the joys of Christian intercourse were so necessary for 
 them in their new and solitary condition! What was it to Little- 
 field if Pormotte thought a believer was more than a creature, or 
 that sanctification did not evidence justification ? Or, why should 
 Boade's soul have been vexed if Wardell loved the rites and forms 
 of Episcopacy ? How much better it would have been to have 
 loved one another in their differences, and so have fulfilled the law 
 of Christ and made themselves a happy community, than to have 
 permitted the church to be torn and rent asunder by these unchris- 
 tian wranglings about modes of faith and matters which have no 
 tendency to lift up the soul, and make man worthy his noble and 
 holy parentage. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AXV KENNEBTJNK. 45 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Submission of Cape Porpoise and Saco to Massachusetts— First road 
 laid our in Wells— Ferry over Kennebunk river— Wm. Reynolds 
 — First houses in Wells— Scarcity of corn— Littlefield's Mills- 
 First settlers in Wells— Wheelright's mill— Sketch of his life. 
 
 The commissioners, having finished their business with the inhabi- 
 tants of Wells, required those of Cape Porpoise and Saco to come 
 before them and signify their submission. The people of the former 
 place do not appear to have manifested any opposition to the sur- 
 render, but those of Saco were more persistent in their resistance 
 to the assumption of Massachusetts. Some of them refused to come 
 to any terms with the court, feeling that they had no authority, what- 
 ever, over their persons or estates. Sixteen persons came in and 
 signed the submission. Saco and Biddeford were then one town or 
 plantation. 
 
 The inhabitants of these places having thus been peaceably 
 brought under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, the court, desiring 
 to improve their condition and make their union with Massachu- 
 setts more acceptable, adopted measures for making communication 
 between the towns more convenient and expeditious. At this time 
 between two and three days were allowed for travel from Cape 
 Porpoise, now Kennebunkport, to York. The beach was the only 
 road to which the people could resort for this purpose. This was a 
 very uncertain way, in consequence of the tides, and the forests 
 through which one must pass where there was no beach. The court, 
 therefore, ordered the towns of Wells, Cape Porpoise and Saco " to 
 make sufficient highways in their town, from house to house, cleare 
 and fitt for foot and cart, before the next Court of the County, under 
 the penalty of ten pounds for every towns defect in this particular, 
 and that they lay out a sufficient highway for horse and foot between 
 towne and towne within that time." This was the first road laid out 
 in the town of Wells. We have no return of its location, but sup- 
 
46 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 pose that the present main road through the village constituted a 
 part of it. That the road might fully answer its purpose, they or- 
 dered a ferry to be established at the mouth of Kennebunk river. 
 Travelers had been in the habit of wading across at what has ever 
 since been called the wading-place. There was no bridge near the 
 sea until the one now standing, which was built within the century. 
 William Reynolds was appointed or allowed to be ferryman, and to 
 receive three pence a passenger. He had already assumed the busi- 
 ness, the court having ordered in 1647 that he should have two hun- 
 dred acres of land as an encouragement to carry it on. He lived on 
 the Cape Porpoise side of the river, near its mouth ; and Bradbury 
 says this two hundred. acres embraced the territory of the village of 
 Kennebunkport. The court, in their order, do not say from whom 
 this lot was to come. As it was located in Cape Porpoise it was 
 granted probably by the proprietor of Lygonia, or by the proprietors 
 of that plantation. 
 
 These orders of court, it will be seen, make no mention of carriages. 
 It was many years before anything of that description found its way 
 into the town. 
 
 We have endeavored to give some account of those who inhabited 
 here at the time of the incorporation of the town. Before advanc- 
 ing further in th\s history, we must finish up the work which we have 
 left behind giving, as far as we are able, a brief statement of what 
 has been done by the settlers. Who was the first white man who 
 here laid the axe to the tree, for the purpose of providing for himself 
 a fixed habitation, we have been unable to learn. It would not seem 
 reasonable to suppose that any one man would have had the resolu- 
 tion to come and seat himself alone here in the wilderness. One 
 whose temperament would have led him to such a decision, would 
 not be likely to bring any great energy to the work of subduing the 
 wilderness. Solitude has no tendency to make one active and vigor- 
 ous. The mind needs to be in contact and associated with mind, to 
 inspire it with courage and animation and impel it to zealous exer- 
 tion. We have been led to the conclusion that several persons must 
 have established themselves here before Wheelright and his fellow- 
 refugees come from Exeter, Previously to this period there was no 
 regular road in any part of the town. When the pioneers came into 
 the wilderness it was regarded as material, that sites for habitation 
 should be selected where the least work would be required for that 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 47 
 
 purpose. They built where there were the fewest trees to be felled, 
 and where there were meadows and marshes for the readiest supply 
 of food for whatever animals they might be able to obtain. They 
 had no markets to which they could resort, and no other families on 
 which they could rely for the supply of their wants. The sea and 
 the flats were important adjuncts to every homestead. Accordingly, 
 the first houses in Wells were built near the site of the new Island 
 Ledge House, on or about Drake's Island, and on the land between 
 that and Little river. Ezekiel Knight, John Cross, Stephen Batson, 
 Henry Boade, George Raboune and Edward Rish worth located them- 
 selves in this vicinity. John Sanders lived on the eastern side of 
 Little river, on land now owned by Henry C. Hart. One would sup- 
 pose that life here at that time would not have been very congenial 
 to civilized man ; there would seem to have been nothing ^to impart 
 to it even en durability. The year 1643 was very unfavorable for the 
 initiation, or progress of a settlement. Those whom we have named 
 were here before that time. This year the earth was very niggardly 
 in her increase, and there was a great scarcity of corn throughout 
 the land; but these men persevered in maintaining their ground. 
 Ezekiel Knight was not the man to be moved from his resolution by 
 mere inconveniences or inadequate supplies. If his life could be re- 
 newed now with the fresh memories of his pilgrimage on this spot, 
 he could address himself with power, and give useful instruction to 
 the fast young men and women of the present day, who are not 
 easily satisfied with the abundance which flows in upon them from 
 every quarter. Having no roads, they had no communication except 
 with York, to which place the journey of a day was to be performed, 
 over any ground where the horse could find a track, or wherever men 
 oould pick their way. 
 
 At the southwesterly end of the plantation Edmund Littlefield had 
 built a saw-mill and a grist-mill. From this some kinds of lumber 
 were obtained for their buildings. As has been the case in all new 
 towns since the country was settled, it may well be supposed that 
 their houses were built principally of logs, cemented by clay ; 
 but with their magnificent fireplaces, and an unlimited amount of 
 fuel, needing to be got rid of, the inmates amidst the cold and storms 
 of earth found as much physical comfort as is enjoyed in the palaces 
 of modern times, and perhaps as much real happiness ruled within 
 as is now found in our richest mansions. Wealth is not satisfaction. 
 
48 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Abundance does not insure contentment. Physical appliances and 
 indulgences make no heaven upon earth. Poor as Ezekiel Knight 
 and his comrades were, enjoyment was no stranger to their dwell- 
 ings. The few settlers about Drake's Island were obliged to work 
 hard for even a very meagre fare. Whatever lumber they could ob- 
 tain from Littlefield's mill, may have been transported by rafting 
 down the river ; but how they obtained other articles, which seem 
 to be indispensable for building and for the support of life, tradition 
 furnishes no answer. These families had never been favored with 
 the privileges of education, so material to a happy and quiet life. 
 We suppose Rishworth may have had the benefit of early instruc- 
 tion, but we can cherish no such presumption in regard to the other 
 settlers. It is strange that Knight, who claimed to be a religious 
 man, should not have given to his family at least the rudiments of 
 education. He was probably able to read the Bible. Though they 
 had no access to schools, they might have been instructed to read 
 and write ; but even his own wife was unable to write her name. 
 To be sure, they were without books to employ what little leisure 
 time they were permitted to enjoy, but we cannot comprehend the 
 feelings of a christian who can calmly permit his children to grow up 
 in ignorance when it was in his own power to impart to them the in- 
 struction necessary to fit them for the ordinary intercourse and busi- 
 ness of life. Most of the people here, we think, were very much of 
 Wardell's opinion ; who, when asked to give something to the col- 
 lege, replied, that it was "no ordinance of God and contrary to his 
 judgment." There appears to have been among the most enlightened 
 of the inhabitants, an almost universal indifference upon the subject 
 of education. 
 
 We have stated that it is now too late to obtain any clear evidence, 
 decisive of the question, who was the first actual settler in Wells ; 
 but so far as we have been able to examine that matter, we are led to 
 think that Edmund Littlefield has the precedence. We have seen no 
 evidence that any other man had, previously to 1641, made any at- 
 tempt to settle here. Though he was of the Exeter church, he came 
 to Wells before the body of believers there thought of removing, 
 and finding this mill privilege at the falls of the Webhannet river, 
 close by the marsh or open ground, where lumber could be trans- 
 ported by water, he concluded to appropriate it and try his fortune 
 in the lumber business. Though there were a good many other sites, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 49 
 
 far superior as privilges, yet they were not accessible for the purposes 
 of a saw-mill when the forests all around were in their native wild- 
 ness. For this reason the falls at Ogunquit, and of the small brook, 
 lately occupied by William Gooch, and of the Little river, were se- 
 lected as privileges as soon as any persons came here to inhabit, 
 though the valuable situations farther interior were for many years 
 neglected. Littlefield's mills were built not far from the site of the 
 steam saw-mill now owned by Buifum ; and his house on the Eastern 
 side of the river, where stood the house of the late Benjamin Little- 
 field, who was a great-grandson of Edmund. We may with safety 
 assert that this was the first house on the main traveled road. There 
 may have been small houses for merely temporary purposes erected 
 on the seawall. 
 
 Rev. John Wheelright, in 1642 or 1643, built a small house near 
 the site of the dwelling of the late John Rankin. It may reasonably 
 be supposed that Littlefield's successful location of himself and fami- 
 ly, and his favorable descriptions of the neighboring territory, in- 
 duced Wheelright to seek a home in the vicinity. Those who first 
 settled here seem to have regarded mill privileges as of prime im- 
 portance, and a source of profitable income. There was no other 
 source of immediate profit ; Wheelright accordingly seized upon the 
 brook near his house as the only remaining one where the enterprise 
 of a saw-mill could be attempted. We think Ogunquit Falls was 
 already in some way secured by Littlefield, as his son John soon after 
 was in the possession of it, and the mill is referred to in some instru- 
 ment before this time. We know that Wheelright petitioned to 
 Gorges for a grant of the land adjoining Ogunquit, and that the 
 Wheelright farm embraced what was called the neck between the 
 Ogunquit and the town river, and that he had a suit against John 
 Littlefield in relation to the mill here, a few years afterwards, per- 
 haps contesting his right to the privilege. Wheelright built a saw- 
 mill on the brook, we suppose, in 1642 or 1643, as he left Wells the 
 last of 1645 or in 1646. His daughter says she lived in the house 
 with his grandson two years, about 1647, and the saw-mill was then 
 standing there. His son, Samuel, lived on the farm called the neck, 
 between the Ogunquit and town river. His house stood near the 
 site of the house of the late Noah M. Littlefield. This was the 
 great Wheelright farm, which was deeded to Rev. John Wheelright 
 by Thomas Gorges, one-half of that farm having been conveyed to 
 4 
 
50 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Samuel by his father. Thomas, also a son of Rev. John, set out to 
 build a house on the other part of the farm, and made some progress 
 in the work. He was then anticipating the bright day when he 
 should be a participant in the closest of human fellowships ; when 
 the endearments of love would come home with their cheery in- 
 fluences to his soul, and in their snug little home he and the partner 
 of his joys would go on their way rejoicing; but then, as now, it 
 was not an uncommon occurrence, for love as well as money, to take 
 to itself wings and fly away. His beloved was not his as he had felt 
 sure. Her affections wandered away to fasten on some other more 
 congenial object, and Thomas was bereft of all his bright hopes. 
 His soul withered under the crushing blight, and never again so re- 
 newed its vigor that he had any aspirations for conjugal life. He 
 abandoned the work which he had begun and finished up the re- 
 mainder of life's pilgrimage alone, leaving behind him no mementos 
 of his earthly existence. The cellar, which may now be seen, still 
 bears the name " Thomas' cellar." 
 
 We suppose there must have been other houses here beside that 
 of Samuel Wheelright. William Hammond built a house near 
 where John S. Liltlefield now lives, and we are not certain that John 
 Cross resided at Drake's Island. So obscure are the descriptions of 
 this early period, that if we had not other explanatory testimony, 
 we could not be positive as to the residence of any of the settlers; 
 but the order of the court of Dec. 10, 1651, uniting the Wheelright 
 farm and Cape Neddock, seems to imply that there were several 
 houses here. 
 
 John Wheelright continued in Wells but two or three years; but 
 as he is regarded by many as the founder of the plantation, we have 
 thought that some concise account of his previous history, especially 
 of that which induced his resort to Wells, might not be inappro- 
 priate or uninteresting. Though all have heard of him, and have 
 had some very imperfect ideas of his previous relations to the people 
 of Massachusetts, very few have had the opportunity of learning the 
 reasons of his expulsion from that State. 
 
 Massachusetts did not have its birth in Puritanism. Those who 
 laid the foundation of that Commonwealth were men of widely dif- 
 ferent temperament from those of Plymouth, who abandoned their 
 homes beyond the waters entirely from the impulses of religious lib- 
 erty ; from a conviction of the right of free thought and accordant 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 51 
 
 free moral action. These Massachusetts pioneers, however, instructed 
 in Christian morality, and imbued with the spirit, were moved to 
 emigration from motives of less noble character, not widely different 
 from those which rule the world at the present day. They were re- 
 markable for that selfishness and conceit which aim at magnifying 
 one's own importance, and assuming all that is valuable of thought, 
 opinion and religion. They had imbibed certain views in theology, 
 which they believed were the sure and only therapeutics whereby 
 the soul was to be healed from the diseases of sin, and fitted to enjoy 
 the privileges of their association. Assumed infallibility never per- 
 mits itself to be questioned or inquires as to the validity of its foun- 
 dation. 
 
 Rev. John Wheelright came to this country in 1636. Mrs. Ann 
 Hutchinson, said to be his sister, preceded him, and being gifted 
 with those endowments which fit one for public declamation, she ex- 
 ercised her faculties in exhortations to the people as to their relig- 
 ious obligations. As is natural to people of that class, by their too 
 much speaking, she was probably every day uttering some crude and 
 unconsidered thoughts to the multitude who thronged to hear her. 
 Winthrop says she inculcated two dangerous errors: "That the 
 Holy Ghost dwells in a justified person, and that no sanctification 
 can help to evidence to us our justification." It is difficult to per- 
 ceive how the spiritual or civil welfare of a people is hazarded by 
 the first, or how any rational man or woman should give utterance 
 to the second. But it was said that Wheelright, who had been a 
 silenced minister in England, adopted and preached the same errors. 
 Being of the same family, it is very likely they did not differ widely 
 in their religious views. He was admitted to the Boston church the 
 year of his arrival. The court had appointed a fast on the 19th of 
 February following and on that day Wheelright preached a dis- 
 course which produced great dissatisfaction, resulting in an excite- 
 ment in which it was said that he "inveighed against all that walked 
 in a covenant of works," as he described it to be, viz. : such as main- 
 tain sanctification as an evidence of justification, and called them 
 anti-Christs, and stirred up the people against them with much bit- 
 terness and vehemency." 
 
 This sermon contains nothing which could justify any judicial 
 proceedings against him. Its positions do not vary materially from 
 sentiments which are freely uttered from the pulpit at the present 
 
52 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 day ; but he was required to make his appearance before the general 
 court to answer to the assumed offence. The result was, that he was 
 declared guilty of contempt and sedition, and on such conviction he 
 was sentenced to be disfranchised and banished, fourteen days being 
 allowed him to settle up his affairs and depart out of the jurisdic- 
 tion. Being in the winter season, and the wilderness east or west of 
 Boston being but slightly subdued, it must have been with him a 
 question of no small difficulty which way he should flee ; but he de- 
 termined on Piscataqua as his refuge. Thither he succeeded in 
 reaching, though "it was marvellous he got there by reason of the 
 deep snow in which he might have perished." He was not the only 
 person banished at this time, but others were driven from the colony 
 merely for sustaining the positions of his sermon and sympathizing 
 with him in his religious views, and among these were some of the 
 members of the court. Governor Vane objected to all these pro- 
 ceedings, yet his opposition was without avail. Wheelright estab- 
 lished himself at Exeter, taking possession of a tract of land under 
 his Indian deed. With several others who were the companions of 
 his banishment, he laid the foundation of that town. Here he 
 preached the gospel to great acceptance four or five years, when 
 Massachusetts having assumed the position that this place was with- 
 in the jurisdiction of that colony, he was compelled to remove furth- 
 er eastward. A few of his strong friends then made application to 
 Thomas Gorges for an assignment of a tract of land within his 
 province at Wells. 
 
 No better man could have been selected to begin the enterprise of 
 clearing the wilderness, and introducing the blessings of civilization. 
 He had been educated at the University and was a trained man, 
 qualified with all the necessary science for a skilfull pioneer in these 
 great objects. He was, withal, a man able to handle the axe and do 
 his part in the physical labor needed to bring the wilds into subjec- 
 tion to the service of man. He possessed a muscular, athletic organ- 
 ism adequate to any work. He had Oliver Cromwell as a compan- 
 ion at the University, and the latter used to say that he never had 
 so much fear in front of an army as he had of Wheelright when 
 they were together at the institution. He was a distinguished wrest- 
 ler; and Cromwell always felt himself in danger of his kicks when 
 playing with him at foot-ball. The probability is that he entered on 
 his work at Wells with a strong and determined hand, and that the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 53 
 
 land was soon made to minister to his necessities. But this seclu- 
 sion from the activities of more extensive communities failed to sat- 
 isfy his aspirations. He preached the gospel here to a very small 
 congregation. He soon tired, we have reason to think, both of his 
 physical and ministerial labors in Wells. There was at that time 
 but little intercourse with the other settlements. It was seldom that 
 one could visit places as far distant as Boston. There was no regu- 
 larly located way, and the business of coasting had not yet com- 
 menced ; it was many years before vessels entered any of the har- 
 bors. Educated as Wheelright had been amid an extended civil- 
 ization, and eager to have a part in its movements, it is not strange 
 that he should soon tire of the monotony of this secluded agricultural 
 life. But it is strange that he should permit this desire for a change 
 of location to overrule his self-respect, and lead him to demean him- 
 self by making confession to his persecutors of error in his teachings, 
 especially when his ministrations had had the approval and support 
 of some of the best of those who had knowledge of his theology; 
 some of whom had shared with him in his fortunes. Such a confession 
 must have come with a sad influence to the house of his friends. 
 There is nothing more mortifying than the secession of one who has 
 been an earnest defender of principles which have always commended 
 themselves to his supporters as sound, and to which they have given 
 a hearty support. And such a renunciation is doubly sad when the 
 seceder confesses himself in his utterances to have been moved by 
 the instigation of the devil. We cannot but feel that such a depart- 
 ure is treason to the interests of truth. The motives which led him 
 to confess his errors, are not clearly apparent. If his conscience con- 
 victed him of error in the positions on which his expulsion was 
 based, his professed repentance and acknowledgment of wrong were 
 commendable. It is always wise to abandon error. 
 
 Mr. Vane had ceased to be governor, and John Winthrop was his 
 successor in office; and after only a two years' residence in Wells, 
 Wheelright addressed to him two letters, the first of which, dated 
 Wells (7) 10, 43, is taken from Winthrop's History, and is as follows : 
 "Right Worshipful. Upon the long and mature consideration of 
 things, I perceive that the main difference between yourselves and 
 some of the Reverend elders and me in point of justification and the 
 evidencing thereof, is not of that nature and consequence as was 
 then presented to me in the false glass of Satan's temptations, and 
 
54 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 mine own distempered passions, which makes me unfeignedly sorry 
 that I had such an hand in those sharp and vehement, contentions 
 raised thereabouts to the great disturbance of the churches of Christ. 
 It is the grief of my soul that I used such vehement, censorious 
 speeches in the application of my sermon, or in any other writing, 
 whereby I reflected any dishonor upon your worships, the reverend 
 elders, or of any of contrary judgment to myself. It repents me 
 that I did so much adhere to persons of corrupt judgment, to the 
 countenancing of them in any of their errors or evil practices, though 
 I intended no such thing; and that in the synod I used such unsafe 
 and obscure expressions falling from me as a man dazzled with the 
 buffetings of Satan, and that I did appeal from misapprehension of 
 things. I confess that herein I have done very sinfully, and do hum- 
 bly crave pardon of this honored State. If it shall appear to me by 
 Scripture light, that in any carriage, word, writing or action, I have 
 walked contrary to rule, I shall be ready, by the grace of God, to 
 give satisfaction ; thus hoping that you will pardon my boldness, I 
 humbly take leave of your worship, committing you to the good 
 providence of the Almighty ; and ever remain your worships in all 
 service to be commanded in the Lord. J. Wheelright." 
 
 It seems almost incredible that a man of sound moral principle, 
 and of vigorous intellect, should thus fawningly have sought to re- 
 store himself to the favor of a bigotry which has had but few coun- 
 terparts in history; and especially that in preaching the gospel from 
 the fullness of his heart, he should have admitted himself to have 
 been instigated by the wiles of the devil. John Wheelright, we can- 
 not but think, was more honest in his first ministrations in Boston 
 than he was in the recantation. By most of the good and worthy 
 he had been regarded as a faithful disciple ; an effective laborer in 
 Christ's kingdom ; but this subterfuge to get back to Boston, by as- 
 cribing his previous Christian zeal to the inspiration of Satan, pos- 
 terity will not regard as giving him a desirable consolidation of char- 
 acter. It answered his purpose, and at the court in 1644, it was 
 " ordered that Mr. Wheelright, upon a particular solemn, and seri- 
 ous acknowledgment and confession by letters, of his evil carriage, 
 and of the court's justice upon him, hath his banishment taken off 
 and is received in as a member of the Commonwealth." 
 
 How much more honorable to him it would have been to have 
 maintained the positions which he had assumed before his expulsion, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 55 
 
 and to have said to his persecutors, if I have committed sedition, 
 then I ought to suffer for my offence. But assured that I have not, 
 if you proceed against me I shall appeal to the king. I shall retract 
 nothing. He had had the support of sixty worthy men, who affili- 
 ated with him in his religious teachings. Some of these had been 
 banished, some disfranchised; and all had been deprived of their 
 arms, on the pretense that they might use them in a rebellion. In 
 penning this letter he should have remembered his brethren, who, for 
 conscience sake, had suffered an adversity like his own ; not one of 
 whom so demeaned himself as to renounce his faith, and beg for 
 liberty to come back to Massachusetts. 
 
 But still John Wheelright is to be held in reverence and respect. 
 What life has not been marked with error ? He misjudged wherein 
 he had been led astray by the machinations of the devil. Out of 
 the abundance of a true heart he had preached Christ ; but the deso- 
 lation and labors of the wilderness ; the longings for the associations 
 which had been the comfort and joy of his spirit, and the strong de- 
 sire which he had for larger sympathies and a more congenial com- 
 panionship, waked up these impulses for a return to Boston. When 
 one preaches the gospel from the convictions of conscience and of 
 the understanding, the devil will have no agency in inspiring his 
 enunciations. It is only -when he wilfully attempts to pervert it and 
 lead men astray, that he can have satanic aid. He undoubtedly did 
 much good by the liberty which he exercised before and after his 
 banishment, in boldly speaking his own thoughts, much to the dis- 
 comfiture of a bigotry which, more than any other cause, has been 
 a stumbling block in the progress of a heavenly kingdom. Some of 
 his views are too ridiculous to find acceptance with the intelligence 
 of the present age. But they were the dictates of his heart, and he 
 boldly uttered them, transmitting to us an example of fearlessness 
 in the discharge of duty in the midst of an iron bigotry, worthy the 
 adoption of every citizen who would fulfill the purposes of his 
 earthly mission. 
 
 John Wheelright's pioneer life in Wells, will be seen in the course 
 of this history, was not without important benefit to those who suc- 
 ceeded him. He came here, bringing with him courageous men to 
 assist in starting the plantation. He soon opened the way for other 
 settlers. He consecrated the soil to liberty of opinion ; freedom to 
 worship God according to the convictions of one's own understand- 
 
56 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 ing, and to the right of private judgment on all questions of relig- 
 ious duty and Christian truth. 
 
 Here also he laid the foundation of a family, whose action has 
 been fruitful of much good to the town. He left sons whose energies 
 were instrumental in building it up, and giving it a respectable and 
 influential position in the public councils; men whose services were 
 of immense benefit in those early days, when souls were exposed to 
 the most severe tests of a true citizenship. The present generation 
 have not, as they ought, studied the history of the worthy men of 
 the first century of the town's existence, and one principal object 
 of this history is to rescue from oblivion the names of some of them 
 whose memory should never fade from the minds of those who have 
 " entered into their labors." 
 
 As before stated, we have recognized Wheelright as initiating the 
 settlement, because tradition has generally ascribed the work to him, 
 but no surviving record seems to justify that conclusion. He was 
 in Wells only between two and three years. Some of the Exeter 
 combination were here before him, and remained during life. Hutch- 
 inson and IsTeedham came to Wells, and applied to Gorges for a 
 grant. Wheelright was not named in the application. Afterwards 
 Wheelright, Rishworth and Boade were appointed agents for laying 
 out the plantation and assigning lots. Wheelright continued here 
 only a year afterwards. Scarcely an act of his appears in any sur- 
 viving record. His biography has been given to the public so fre- 
 quently, that we deem it unnecessary to extend this sketch any 
 further. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Opposition to jurisdiction of Massachusetts — Petition to Oliver 
 Cromwell — Indictments — Laws relating to religious opinion — Or- 
 der for erection of jail— First county tax in Wells— Militia or- 
 ganized — Report of committee of parliament against the claim 
 of Massachusetts — Agent sent over by heir of Gorges— Council 
 appointed — Demand of Massachusetts upon councilors — Their re- 
 ply—General COURT HELD AT LlTTLEFIELD's HOUSE— POLITICAL COM- 
 PLICATIONS— Indictments— Order of King Charles— Commissioners 
 
 APPOINTED BY HIM— PETITION OF INHABITANTS OF CASCO— COURT HELD 
 AT SACO UNDER AUTHORITY OF KING'S COMMISSION ERS— FAST DAY AP- 
 POINTED — Court held at York by commissioners of Massachusetts 
 — Conference of the two boards of commissioners— Conflict be- 
 tween them — Thomas Wheelright's letter to the governor — Peti- 
 tion TO THE GENERAL COURT— WELLS MADE A SHIRE TOWN. 
 
 The history of Wells, during the fifteen years following its incor- 
 poration, is almost entirely embraced in its political and ecclesiastical 
 action. The attention of the people was so absorbed in matters of 
 general concern that but little progress was made by individuals, in 
 their agricultural interests, or in any branch of business. The great 
 questions, whose subjects were they ? who were the lawful proprie- 
 tors of the town ? were not settled satisfactorily to many of them ; 
 the troubles in the church also interfered very much with the wel- 
 fare and growth of the settlement. 
 
 When Massachusetts had subjugated the several towns and plan- 
 tations in Maine to her government, it was supposed that tranquility 
 would be restored, and that the people would be content under the 
 administration of that colony ; but there can be no well grounded 
 assurance of peace when an abiding sense of wrong has fastened it- 
 self on the popular mind. Massachusetts seems to have had full 
 confidence that a large majority of the settlers were, or would be, 
 gratified in the extension of her jurisdiction over them. Edward 
 
58 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 Rishworth, who, perhaps, may be regarded as prominent among the 
 settlers for intellectual ability, a short time after the submission, 
 wrote to Governor Endicott that the best part, if not the greatest 
 part, of those who subscribed the submission were very ready to 
 comply with the new state of things, and quietly acquiesce in the 
 authority of Massachusetts. This letter, we suppose, inspired the 
 confidence in that colony as to the peaceful settlement of the ques- 
 tion of jurisdiction; but it is very doubtful whether the statement 
 of Rishworth was well founded. It is certain that there were many 
 persons of influence who had no sympathy for that government, and 
 who acted under the conviction that its assumed authority was an 
 unwarrantable usurpation. Such men would never heartily give 
 their assent to its rule. People were not made loyal by the compul- 
 sory act of submission. In the town of Saco, there were strong 
 men who had no disposition to yield the rights which they had un- 
 der the Gorges or Rigby charter. Cleaves, Joscelyn, Bonythan, 
 Jordan, and others were determined to resist. We suppose that 
 those inhabitants of Wells who did not take part in the action to 
 establish the jurisdiction of that colony over Maine are to be re- 
 garded as opposed to the procedure. The advocates of the Massa- 
 chusetts claim forwarded a petition to " Oliver Cromwell, Lord 
 Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland," setting forth the rea- 
 sons why they would have the government of that colony continued 
 over them. One cannot read this petition without interest, but its 
 length precludes us from copying it entire. We select some of the 
 salient portions of it, exhibiting the reasons for their preference. 
 
 " 1st. Because of ourselves, we have small power to carry on gov- 
 ernment, being a people but few in number, and those not competent 
 persons to manage weighty affairs, our weakness occasioning distrac- 
 tion, our paucity, division, our meanness, contempt, as our former 
 experience hath fully evinced, to the subverting of all civil order 
 amongst us. 
 
 " 2dly. Because changes cannot reduce things from impossibilities, 
 to make things of such as are not, to be. The case is ours ; the 
 places of our residence admit of but small enlargement ; the gener- 
 ality of the country from us eastward is so confusedly taken up, be- 
 ing of sterill lands, swamps, and rocky mountaynes, as not more 
 than a few shreads are left by the seashore fitt for Cohabitation, and 
 these already populated by an inconsiderate number of people. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 59 
 
 How ye wisest of such can settle a well governed Commonweale 
 upon such basis we leave to your wisdom to judge. 
 
 "3dly. Because changes in these times may prove dangerous, 
 where discontented spirits wait for such opportunities, which have 
 not been the least part of that small number amongst us,' who were 
 professed Royalists, whose breathings that way since our subjecting 
 to their authoritie have been so farre stifled as that ye activitie of 
 such spirits cannot find any or the least opportunity of motion. 
 
 "4thly. Changing may throw us back into our former estate, to live 
 under negligent masters, ye danger of a confused anarchy, and such 
 other inconveniences as may make us a fitt shelter for ye worst of 
 men, delinquents and ill affected persons, to make their resort unto, 
 thereby to exempt themselves from justly deserved punishment. 
 
 "5thly. Changes are apt to Innihilate, unlesse they prove much for 
 the better, especially in weak bodyes, where heads are farr remote ; 
 touching such events our former experience hath taught us some- 
 thing else we crave of those gentlemen who are now so solicitous 
 for government over us. What meant the deepnesse of their silence 
 several years, both in their tongues and penns, as not after our fre- 
 quency of writing to them, they not so much as return us one sylla- 
 ble of answer, or afford us the least assistance in government, the 
 want thereof let us sink into great distractions'; for our recovery 
 thence several among us petitioned for government under ye colony 
 of ye Mass, who after some debate with us, and confirmation of 
 some articles of agreement to us, took us under their authoritie, un- 
 to which we subjected ourselves, under whose protection to continue 
 we account it not the least part of our securitie and happiness. 
 
 "Our humble request, therefore, is that your goodnesse would 
 favor our reasonable entreaties, whose weakness calls for support, 
 our manners for some strictness of rule, whose distractions for some 
 present settlement," etc. 
 
 This petition was signed by the following persons : Samuel Aus- 
 tin, John Barret, sen., Henry Boade, John West, Edward Rishworth, 
 Ezekiel Knight, William Hamman, Nicholas Cole, John Gooch, sen., 
 John Gooch, jr., William Symons, Joseph Emerson, Thomas Wheel- 
 right, Phillip Hatch, and Robert Wadleigh. 
 
 The remainder of the inhabitants of the town, being about one- 
 half, we think, did not concur in the matter of this petition, but 
 were opposed entirely to Massachusetts rule. This opposition in- 
 
60 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 eluded all the Littlefields, Bolles, Thinge, Miles or Mills, John Wad- 
 leigh, Sanders, White, Bush, Wardell, Johu Barret, jr., and William 
 Cole. 
 
 Having brought the principal part of the settlers into subjection, 
 the government of Massachusetts put forth all necessary strength to 
 maintain their authority over this province. The court ordered Jor- 
 dan and Joscelyn to be arrested for their opposition, and finding no 
 means of escape, they came into court and submitted ; so also did 
 Bonython. But this submission, being involuntary, was of no effect 
 in quieting the opposition. The spirit of the opponents was in no 
 degree changed. Strong feelings were engendered on both sides, 
 and, as is invariably the case with excited, ignorant men, they were 
 ready in their exasperation to harrass and vex each other in every 
 possible way, but especially through the aid of judicial proceedings. 
 In 1653, George Cleaves was presented for denying to vote for mag- 
 istrates, and for saying "if the people would vote for Miss Clark to 
 be a witch he would vote." 
 
 William Wardeil was presented " for casting an aspersion on the 
 magistrates of the bay, as namely, upon those worthiest gentlemen, 
 the commissioners, which were at Wells, in saying that the messen- 
 ger that brought the letter to Wells said in it was contained a pro- 
 hibition restraining all transactions by any by virtue of their church 
 estate, was begged of the gentlemen by the messenger, Jonathan 
 Thinge, that brought it." 
 
 Jonathan Thinge was presented " for a common disturber of order, 
 obstructing of the peace of the town of Wells at their town meet- 
 ings and upon other occasions." 
 
 He was also presented for " speaking discomfully of the court at 
 York, saying, no question but you may cast any cause at the court 
 at York so long as Harry, the coachman, sits judge." "The said 
 Thinge slighted the government in saying he cared not what the 
 governor said, nor never a governor in the country." Edmund Lit- 
 tlefield was presented for putting in a vote for one of his sons with- 
 out his consent. The feeling upon the question who should rule 
 over them had become so intensified, it is highly probable, that most 
 of the criminal prosecutions before the court had their origin in this 
 exasperation. 
 
 It will be seen that there was then no respect of persons, in the 
 midst of the excitement growing out of their political condition, or 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 61 
 
 their social and civil relationships. Hugh Gunnison, who was the 
 representative of Wells, and Mrs. Bachelor, who was the wife of the 
 minister of York, were indicted for offences. Others, who were men 
 of influence, were complained of for misdemeanors. The political 
 difficulties of the people were somewhat enhanced by the theological 
 notions which prevailed. The general court, in 1653, had under- 
 taken to legislate very freely in regard to the religious belief and 
 action of the people. In that colony no man had the right of suf- 
 frage who was not a member of the church. In Maine such mem- 
 bership had not been necessary. But though the people of Maine, 
 who signed the submission, were, at the same time, made freemen, 
 with the right of voting, the laws of Massachusetts were so repug- 
 nant to their religious sentiments that this modification of law, in 
 its application to Maine, did not go far in quelling the dissensions 
 previously existing. Other legislation was not less offensive. It at- 
 tempted to control the religious views of the settlers by severe en- 
 actments against freedom of opinion, and thus to declare that "to 
 affirm that a man is justified by his own works, and not by Christ's 
 righteousness, or to deny the immortality of the soul, the resurrec- 
 tion of the body, the authority of the fourth commandment, or the 
 authority of magistracy, should be heresy, and the person maintain- 
 ing views adverse to this declaration could not be admitted to the 
 church, and therefore had not the right of suffrage. Baptists, also, 
 denying the validity of infant baptism, were declared incendiaries in 
 the church and State. Some few persons in Wells, of course, would 
 not brook such an assumption on the part of the government, and 
 they would be ready to fan the flame of discord, and do anything to 
 augment the disaffection to this new state of things. As a whole, 
 real religion did not have a very strong hold on the affections of the 
 people of Maine. The inhabitants of Kittery, theretofore Episcopa- 
 lian, after submission to Massachusetts, went over to Congregation- 
 alism. A religion so readily laid aside, while another is substituted 
 by law, would not do much for peace. Those who were heartily 
 loyal to the new government, of course, were not looked up to with 
 much favor by its opponents.- The bad spirit of the hour was mani- 
 fested on all occasions ; in the courts, in the church, town-meetings, 
 and wherever men gathered together. Such disunion was not favor- 
 able to progress ; but the courts and the administration exercised 
 their authority in the adoption of measures to promote the settle- 
 
G2 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ment of the province, providing for convenient ways and other pub- 
 lic necessities. The boundaries of the town had not yet been fully 
 settled. A jail was ordered to be erected for the benefit of the 
 county. The tax assessed for this and other county expenses, in 
 1654, was £91.15. Thirteen pounds and ten cents were assigned to 
 Wells. This was the first county tax which the town was required 
 to pay. The militia was also organized, and a company established 
 in Wells. Nicholas Shapleigh, of Kittery, was appointed command- 
 er of the whole. 
 
 But to many of the people the subsisting government was not ac- 
 ceptable. Godfrey, though he finally signed the submission, was 
 inveterate in his opposition to it. He went to England, and there 
 labored assiduously that Massachusetts might be divested of her 
 jurisdiction and the province be restored to the heirs of Gorges; 
 and in 1661, a committee of the Parliament reported adversely to 
 the claim of Massachusetts. This was a source of much joy to 
 those discontented with their political relations with that govern- 
 ment. The religious attachments, as before suggested, bore an im- 
 portant part in the maintainance of the discord which prevailed so 
 much to the injury of the general welfare. The opponents of Mass- 
 achusetts were generally Episcopalians, maintaining their loyalty to 
 the church of England. Edmund Littlefield, Francis Littlefield, 
 Boade, Pormotte, and others, as before named, were of this class. 
 The opposition to Massachusetts was so strong that the town, in 
 1662, would send no representative to the general court. Ferdinan- 
 do Gorges had deceased, but his heir persevered in his endeavors to 
 recover his right to the province, and so succeeded in his purposes 
 that an agent was sent over in 1662, who here invested various per- 
 sons with official authority. The contention in the town received 
 new impulse from this turn of affairs in England. A council of 
 twelve persons was appointed, of which Joseph Bowles and Edward 
 Rishworth were two, and Gorges assumed the government of the 
 province. The commissioners of Massachusetts called on these 
 councilors to return to their obedience ; but Joscelyn, one of the 
 council, replied that they were " ready to give all Christian and civil 
 return when they shall ask for it in their own name." 
 
 On the 27th of May, in this year (1662), a general court, was 
 holden at the house of Francis Littlefield, sen. 
 
 The time of their assembling was one of deep interest to the in- 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 63 
 
 ■ 
 
 habitants of Maine. There was, probably, a great gathering of the 
 people of Wells to witness the proceedings. Some were for Massa- 
 chusetts, some for Gorges. Dennison, Hawthorne, and Waldron, 
 commissioners of the former, demanded of the council that this as- 
 sembly should be dissolved, and that the members should return to 
 their loyalty. " We are not affrighted," they say, " by any commis- 
 sion from Ferdinando Gorges, Esq. You have made too large a 
 progress in these disorderly actings, wherein if you shall continue, 
 to the disturbance of the king's peace, you will force us to change 
 our style. You know we cannot own the Gorges commissioners." 
 The government of Massachusetts demanded of this court under 
 what authority they assembled here ; but the leaders in the opposi- 
 tion were not affrighted by any threats from that quarter. They did 
 not believe in the justice of the claim which that colony was en- 
 deavoring to enforce, and they had reason to believe that they 
 should have countenance and support on the other side of the water, 
 and they persevered in their opposition and in the business on which 
 they had come together. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that we are unable to give a particular 
 account of the proceedings of this body. Neither record or tradi- 
 tion furnishes us with any details. We know not what officers were 
 elected, or what measures were adopted toward maintaining the 
 rights of the people. But whatever may have been the result of its 
 deliberations, they were not effectual in silencing the demands of 
 Massachusetts. That colony still persisted in the determination to 
 hold the western part of the province of Maine, and the next year 
 (1663) its inhabitants were directed to choose associates and other 
 officers, according to the requirements of law. Some of the towns 
 acquiesced. York, Kittery, Falmouth, and Scarboro elected rej^re- 
 sentatives ; but Wells would not yield to its authority. The Little- 
 field family, notwithstanding the death of its head (of whom an 
 account must be deferred to the next chapter), was influential in the 
 political action of the inhabitants. Gorges' commissioners protested 
 against the usurpation of Massachusetts, so that the strife was still 
 continued by the increased zeal of both parties. The Massachusetts 
 interest was exercising its judicial power to drive the rebels into sub- 
 mission. William Hilton was indicted for tearing the seal from a 
 warrant. James Wiggin for saying that " he would give his trench- 
 er of fish, if poison, to the bay magistrates," for which he was sen- 
 
64 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 tenced to receive fifteen lashes on his naked back, and again, " for 
 his contempt of Massachusetts authority." Phillip Hatch and sever- 
 al others were indicted for not voting for governor. Thomas Booth 
 for calling " the magistrates a company of hypocritical rogues, who 
 feared neither God nor man." The foregoing are a few of the pros- 
 ecutions growing out of these political complications. 
 
 It may well be supposed that, during this period, there would be 
 but little addition to the population by immigration. Land titles 
 had become exceedingly uncertain, and no one could reach such a 
 reliable conclusion, as to which of the parties would be triumphant, 
 as to assure himself of safety in accepting a grant. Massachusetts, 
 to relieve the anxiety of the settlers, and to produce quiet as much 
 as possible, confirmed all existing titles. This had the effect, in 
 some degree, to strengthen her jurisdiction. There was now, evi- 
 dently, a majority siding with that colony. But various reasons op- 
 erated in the home government to give matters a different turn, and 
 King Charles, under his own hand, ordered the governor of Massa- 
 chusetts to restore the territory and its jurisdiction to the heir of 
 Gorges, and the people of Maine were required to submit to his 
 authority ; but Massachusetts was yet unrelenting and would not re- 
 lax her grasp. The king's commissioners labored in vain to induce 
 an abandonment of her claim. 
 
 In 1665, Henry Joscelyn, Robert Jordan, Edward Rish worth, and 
 Francis Neale were appointed by the king's commissioners to gov- 
 ern the province. Samuel Wheelright was appointed magistrate for 
 Wells. Still Massachusetts was inexorable, and insisted that all her 
 officers should faithfully discharge their duties. Rishworth, formerly 
 of Wells, now of York, was recorder; but he was manifestly veer- 
 ing to the support of the Gorges jurisdiction, and provision was 
 made, if he would not continue to act in submission to Massachu- 
 setts, that Peter Wyer should supply his place. Ezekiel Knight 
 was, at the same time, appointed magistrate for Wells, so that we 
 now have two justices of the peace, one acting under the law of the 
 mother country and the other under that of Massachusetts, and a 
 conviction or judgment by one would be no bar to that of the other. 
 Any act, by authority of the government of Massachusetts, would 
 be of no weight on any question before Wheelright. 
 
 Having made all necessary appointments, the commissioners felt 
 that they had established the affairs of the province so that all were 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENKEBtJNK:. 65 
 
 under the immediate government of the king; but Massachusetts 
 would not relinquish any of her pretended rights, and ordered Dan- 
 forth and several others to go to York and there hold a court. Car, 
 one of the king's commissioners, was apprised of this order, and " by 
 a sharp letter," stopped these men on their way, at Portsmouth, 
 from whence they returned to Boston. 
 
 Having fulfilled the purposes of their mission, and supposing the 
 affairs of the province well settled, the commissioners now returned 
 to England, and the excitement soon subsided. Still a very strong 
 party, and perhaps a majority of the people, clung to Massachusetts. 
 Those of Casco petitioned to the king to be permitted to remain un- 
 der her jurisdiction. Republicanism and Puritanism were gradually 
 taking hold of the souls of men. In July, 1666, a court, consisting 
 of Henry Joscelyn, Francis Hooke, Edward Rishworth, and Samuel 
 Wheelright, justices of the peace by special commission from the 
 king's commissioners, was holden at Saco. At this court there were 
 no less than twelve indictments for the offences of drunkenness and 
 swearing, and fifteen for not attending public worship. One or two 
 cases will exhibit something of the character of other prosecutions 
 instituted at the same time. Jonathan Hammond was presented for 
 charging John Barret with slighting and abusing his wife, " saying, 
 what hath any man to do with it; have I not power to correct my 
 own wife ? " " Francis White for saying that Samuel Wheelright was 
 a lying justice." At the next term, Andrew Haley was presented for 
 swearing blasphemously many desperate oaths, for which being re- 
 proved by Robert Mendum, one of the grand jury, because he did so 
 swear and blaspheme the name of God, the said Haley did swear 
 again, very desperately, several oaths ; said he would put the said 
 Mendum in his pocket. 
 
 The late excitement had been fruitful of an extra amountof iniquity. 
 Much of its development was in profanity. Congenial and sympa- 
 thizing souls sustained themselves by the exhilarating effects of the 
 intoxicating cup. The morals of the settlers were not much im- 
 proved by the trials through which they had passed. The good men 
 of the day felt that the evils of various kinds which had come over 
 them during the period of strife and contention, were the judgment 
 of the Almighty for their forgetfulness of his holy laws, and No- 
 vember 20th of this year was appointed a fast " because of sins, 
 blastings, mildews, drought, grasshoppers, caterpillars and small pox, 
 5 
 
66 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 wars and pestilence in England, the low state of the true professors 
 of religion in all parts." But the affairs of the province were in 
 some degree tranquilized. Massachusetts still had no disposition to 
 withdraw her authority from it. Believing that Episcopalianism was 
 at the root of the revolt from her government, new enactments were 
 made to restrain its progress, providing that, "whoever keeps Christ- 
 mas day is to pay five pounds." Mr. Jordan had before been im- 
 prisoned for baptizing children in the Episcopal mode. Such pro- 
 ceedings, in terrorem, availed but little in bringing the whole people 
 into subjection. It was useless to contend against the king; he 
 did not fall in with the Massachusetts pretentions, and none of her 
 proceedings in this contest met his approval. The malcontents un- 
 der the government of that colony were thus made to feel secure in 
 their position. 
 
 But Massachusetts was strong, and Maine was without available 
 power. Might makes right too often, even in Christian common- 
 wealths. That colony could enforce her claim, and, therefore, she 
 would. It is clearly manifest, also, that now a majority of the peo- 
 ple of the province had come over to its support ; and believing that 
 the settlers were anxious to have the government of that colony es- 
 tablished over them on a permanent basis, and their wishes having 
 been continually thwarted by the interference of the king's commis- 
 sioners, that government appointed commissioners on their part to 
 go to York and hold a court ; and to arrest and bring to trial all per- 
 sons presuming to exercise authority, not coming from them, and 
 punish them according to their offences; authorizing them at the 
 same time, to assure the inhabitants that all grants and titles should 
 be effectual to holders as then existing. They were further directed 
 to quell all disturbances. 
 
 The commissioners arrived at York July 6. Nathaniel Masterson, 
 who was marshal for the county, had been put in prison by Gorges' 
 officers. They ordered him to be immediately discharged. Joscelyn 
 and his associates met the commissioners and they agreed upon a 
 conference the next day. 
 
 At the time appointed they came together. Joscelyn told the com- 
 missioners there were not more than four or five men of any stand- 
 ing in York that had any sympathy for Massachusetts ; and that 
 they should exercise their authority according to the king's orders. 
 The commissioners said they knew all about the authority which 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 67 
 
 they had, and that the whole matter had been carefully considered ; 
 and that he and his companions had no force whatever, and that, if 
 necessary, they would satisfy them on that point, they having taken 
 with them a force of horse and foot equal to the demands of the oc- 
 casion. 
 
 The commissioners then went to the meeting-honse, which stood 
 on the easterly side of the old road leading from York village to the 
 Short Sands, a few rods from the road and near the sea, and ordered 
 the votes for associates and jurymen to be returned. Five towns had 
 made returns. The others were prevented doing so by Joscelyn and 
 his associates. 
 
 In the midst of these proceedings the voice of Joscelyn was heard 
 at the door, " Let all here listen and attend to his majesty's com- 
 mands." The commissioners then directed the marshal to say, if 
 any body had any command from his majesty, let him show it and he 
 shall be heard. The justices then came in, showed their papers, and 
 asked to have them read. The commissioners replied, if they would 
 come in, in the afternoon, after they had finished their work, they 
 should be heard. 
 
 The justices had summoned an assembly of deputies from the 
 towns to meet the same day at the meeting-house, and after the com- 
 missioners adjourned at noon they came in and took possession of it. 
 The commissioners afterwards sent notice to the justices that they 
 would like to have a conference. They answered, you can have it 
 here. At the same time they sent the marshal through the street, 
 ordering all persons to obey the officers appointed by the king. 
 Some one asked them to show their authority for making this dis- 
 turbance, but they answered that they should do no such thing; 
 and added, let every man take heed of his majesty's power. 
 
 The commissioners then went to the meeting-house, where the as- 
 sembly had convened. The house was crowded by the people. 
 While thus sitting here in all the dignity and solemnity of a legisla- 
 tive body, the marshal directed the people to make way for the com- 
 missioners. These came forward and addressing the assembly, said : 
 
 " We did not expect such an affront as this, but it will do you no 
 good. You'should have called the meeting at another time, some- 
 where else. We shall pay no regard to your proceedings. You will 
 not frighten us from our work." Then commenced a melee of which 
 we can give no account. Men were rising and talking all over the 
 house, as the spirit moved. 
 
68 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBtTNK. 
 
 The commissioners directed the house to be cleared. Joscelyn ad- 
 vised the assembly to retire. Why, it does not appear, but they 
 rushed out. The commissioners and justices then took their seats, 
 and conferred together. The king's letter and the commission of 
 the justices were read ; but, having heard them, the commissioners 
 said, " We were sent here to settle the peace of the province, and, God 
 willing, we mean to finish up what we have begun. We know that 
 the king's commissioners have charged Massachusetts with treachery 
 and threatened her with the vengeance of the king, but by divine 
 assistance we have the power and mean to exercise it." They then 
 went on to carry out the programme of their mission, and declared 
 the election of five associates. Ezekiel Knight of Wells was one. 
 Next they completed a military organization, appointing officers in 
 the various towns, and following the practice of the present day, in 
 giving offices to recent converts instead of their old, steadfast friends. 
 John Littlefield was appointed Lieutenant, and Francis Littlefield, 
 jr., Ensign, for Wells. Other matters were finished up and the 
 court adjourned on the ninth day of July, 1668. 
 
 The general court of Massachusetts were highly gratified with the 
 success of this commission, and rendered their thanks to the com- 
 missioners for their labors. It would have been interesting to have 
 added their own report of the proceedings at York, but it is too long 
 to admit of its insertion here. Some of our readers may object even 
 to the account which we have given of this long controversy. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the exertions of the king's officers to bring 
 about and establish a steady government for the people, the means 
 instituted were not sufficient for the purpose. They needed a gov- 
 ernment nearer home, and more efficient than the remote government 
 of England. The courts established were not held in high respect. 
 Intoxicating drinks corrupted the minds of many. Public worship, 
 the most potent cohesive power to hold and bind men together, was 
 very much neglected, and in consequence the feeling for a union 
 with Massachusetts, among the considerate portion of the settlers, was 
 daily gaining strength. The people of Wells were becoming more 
 united in their feelings in regard to a connection with that colony. 
 They were wearied with the strife and uncertainties which had so 
 long retarded the settlement and destroyed the peace of the inhabi- 
 tants. The following letter from Thomas Wheelright to the gover- 
 nor exhibits the feelings which had come over the hearts of the peo- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 69 
 
 pie. " Worshipful Mr. Bellinghara. My humble service presented 
 unto you. By the importunity of some of our neighbors, (I have to 
 say) that the town of Wells is in a sad condition for lack of good 
 government, which they hoped they should have enjoyed ; but their 
 hopes so defeated that it hath made their heart sick. Their humble 
 desire is, that you would hasten. 
 
 So prays he likewise that is at your service, 
 
 Thomas Wheelright." 
 
 Such also had become the views and desires of most of the people 
 who had any property imperiled by the existing state of things, ap- 
 proaching almost to anarchy. Though it was rather humiliating to 
 acknowledge their error, yet these leading men came to the conclu- 
 sion that their only safety was in confessing their mistake, and re- 
 questing to be again received into the care and under the protection 
 of Massachusetts. The Littlefields seem to have been among the 
 number of those who had come to this conclusion. It was manifest 
 to all that that colony was determined not to give up its claims, and 
 a further continuation of the struggle was fraught only with injury 
 to their estates. They accordingly subscribed and forwarded the 
 following petition : 
 
 " To the Hon. General Court now assembled in Boston, New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The humble petition of the town of Wells in the county of York, 
 most humbly shows, that whereas your humble petitioners having 
 lived by the good providence of God several years under your au- 
 thority and government, whereby your petitioners enjoyed many 
 great benefits, but now are deprived of those privileges by some 
 among us, who have doubtless been ill affected to your government. 
 Your honors may justly blame your petitioners in revolting and turn- 
 ing from our former obedience. But we must in some measure make 
 known the cause of it. Mr. Edward Rishworth and some others pre- 
 sented objection to the inhabitants of this county, who being well 
 affected,with said Rishworth and confiding in him, was so far deluded 
 by him and some others that he got several hands to the petition, 
 which petition was to be under his majesty's immediate protection. 
 But not long after those who assigned that petition, were sensible of 
 their own evil therein and some] part of the sad effects which they 
 had brought upon themselves and others who did not assign that 
 petition. His majesty's commissioners did also assure some of us, 
 
70 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 that doubtless his majesty would soon put an issue to the matter 
 whereby in a very short time the government would be settled. But 
 in consideration of the length of time passed, and nothing hath ap- 
 peared to your petitioners, whereby we are now persuaded in what 
 condition we in this country were left; and now at present some 
 persons amongst us very active in the management of another peti- 
 tion, fearing thereby we may be driven to further evils, for the pre- 
 vention whereof, our humble request and desires are to this Honor- 
 able Court that our case may be taken under your tuition and gov- 
 ernment, that so your honorable care of justice may be exercised 
 among us as formerly, for the preventing in falling into disorder and 
 divisions among ourselves, which your petitioners have great cause 
 to fear, will unavoidably come upon us, if God in his Providence do 
 not prevent. So craving pardon for our boldness your poor peti- 
 tioners shall in bonds of duty, pray for you ; whereunto your peti- 
 tioners have hereunto set our hands this 30th of April, 1668. 
 
 Ezekiel Knight. Samuel Austin. 
 
 William Hammond. John Littlefield. 
 
 Francis Littlefield, Sen. John Gooch. 
 
 Thomas Littlefield. John Wells. 
 
 Peter Claiss. James Gooch. 
 
 Will Desble. Jonathan Hammond. 
 
 John Barrett. John Clayes. 
 
 Thomas Paty. William Hobbs. 
 
 Joseph Cross. William Johnson. 
 
 Jacob Wormwood. Ezekiel Knight, Jr. 
 
 Francis Littlefield, Jr. John Asof. 
 
 Some of the people of the county were in a great rage ; so much 
 so that they would not abide under the rule of Massachusetts, but 
 moved out of the province. The town of Wells, notwithstanding so 
 many had gone over to the usurper, would not yet acquiesce in this 
 subjugation. Kittery, York, Scarboro and Falmouth sent represen- 
 tatives to the general court at Boston ; but this town would not be 
 represented there. They had been represented three years previous- 
 ly by Francis Littlefield, sen., who, we suppose, had then become a 
 convert to the Massachusetts dynasty. This would seem to indicate 
 that the opposition to that government was now stronger than in 
 1665, unless Littlefield's opinions were modified after his election. 
 Perhaps at no period in the history of Maine, was there ever a 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 71 
 
 collision of parties more interesting and exciting than that of which 
 we have here endeavored to give a brief history. It was a struggle 
 involving many interests and reaching every household. Whatever 
 we may think of the claim of Massachusetts, we are inclined to the 
 opinion that it was no detriment to us thus to have been taken under 
 her fostering care. Our character and progress thereby became in- 
 terwoven with hers, and the influences of such an union were un- 
 doubtedly favorable to the intellectual, moral and physical progress 
 of both. The people gradually became of this opinion, and the op- 
 position to Massachusetts to the same extent died away. 
 
 By the Act of the Legislature, soon after the return of the com- 
 missioners, Wells was made a shire town, and the courts, thereafter, 
 were to be holden here and at York, alternately. There still re- 
 mained some discontented spirits in the county, and these courts 
 could not escape the troubles and complaints growing out of this 
 long controversy. The feelings of some had become embittered to 
 such a degree that the unruly member could not be restrained from 
 giving them utterance. These malcontents were men of influence. 
 Their feelings were very well represented in the libelous remarks of 
 one John Bonithon of Saco, then a man of note. He was indicted, 
 "For contempt of Massachusetts authority, and for saying that the 
 Bay men are Rogues and Rebels against his majesty, and saying that 
 Rogue, Major Leverett, he hoped, will be hanged; and if he wanted 
 a hangman, he would be hangman for them." The spirit on the other 
 side was not much better, and was well illustrated in an indictment 
 of Thomas Bonithon and John Bonithon, "for living in a disorderly 
 family in the house of their father, John Bonithon, a contemner of 
 Massachusetts authority." These prosecutions did not do much for 
 pacification. No rational man would bear with much meekness the 
 complaint or taunt of abiding in the house of his father, much more 
 a criminal prosecution for it, and the proceeding against the father 
 for words uttered in the great excitement which had spread over the 
 county, had no tendency to restore quiet. Men in those days did 
 not differ much from the race as it is now. The moral effects of ven- 
 geance have never been very favorable to virtue and quiet. 
 
72 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Henry Boade— Edmund Littlefield— Story of Francis Littlefield, 
 sen.— John Gooch— John Gooch, jr.— James Gooch— Anthony Lit- 
 tlefield — Jonathan Thinge — Thomas Miles— John Barret— John 
 White— John Bush — Robert Wadleigh— John Wakefield— William 
 Cole — List of inhabitants after the incorporation, and prior to 
 1670. 
 
 During this long period of political strife, not much progress was 
 made in the settlement and improvement of the town. Some valua- 
 ble citizens had died, and others had moved from it. Among the 
 former was Henry Boade. He was one of the first settlers. For 
 several years he had lived at Winter Harbor. In 1642, he removed 
 to Wells. He was appointed by Gorges an agent, with Wheelright 
 and Rishworth, to divide and allot the township for the purposes of 
 settlement. In 1646 and 1648, he was chosen one of the assistants 
 of the province. When the town was incorporated, he was made 
 chairman of the first board of selectmen, and one of the commission- 
 ers to try small causes. He was a sound and reliable man, not easi- 
 ly moved from his opinions. He belonged to Wheelright's church, 
 and persevered in maintaining that institution until the Massachu- 
 setts commissioners decided that the church should be dissolved, as 
 those that adhered to it, it was said, were thereby disturbing the 
 peace. The members were not in fellowship with the ruling hie- 
 rarchy of Massachusetts, and on that account, it is supposed, they 
 were charged with disorderly conduct. After the organization of 
 the town, Boade came to the conclusion that it would be well for it 
 to remain under Massachusetts. This change of opinion was 
 brought about by his relationship to some of the leading men of that 
 colony. He was cousin of John Winthrop, the governor, and also 
 of Rev. Timothy Dalton, of Hampton. He did not long survive the 
 incorporation, to do much for the benefit of the town. He died in 
 1657, leaving Ann Boade, his widow, who soon afterwards married a 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 73 
 
 Winsley, who lived at the west. In 1659, Winsley and wife sold 
 the homestead to Hartakendon Symonds and William Symonds. 
 The name Boade disappeared from Wells after the marriage of his 
 widow. 
 
 In December, 1661, died Edmund Littlefield. We have spoken 
 of him briefly in his relation to the first church in Wells; but as, from 
 the earliest period in the settlement of Wells, the Littlefields have 
 constituted an important part of the population, we deem it proper 
 to give a more full account of the great ancestor. The branches of 
 the family are now so extensive that a complete genealogy would 
 make a large volume. Probably no one has attempted to elaborate 
 its pedigree, and it may reasonably be supposed that very few have 
 acquainted themselves, to any considerable extent, with their lateral 
 relationships. Most people take but little interest even in their own 
 genealogy. They can go back to their grandparents, but here their 
 knowledge ends. Family history has presented to them no attrac- 
 tions. But a new impulse has recently been given to studies of this 
 character, and perhaps it will be interesting to many who bear the 
 name of Littlefield to have some more extensive knowledge of their 
 ancestry than they have hitherto possessed. The family has been a 
 remarkable one. The names of nearly all who were the original 
 settlers of the town have disappeared from the list of inhabitants, 
 but the Littlefields have yearly become more numerous. Embrac- 
 ing all, parents and children, there are now living, in various places, 
 more than a thousand persons who must trace their descent from 
 the first settler of Wells. 
 
 Edmund Littlefield, the great progenitor, probably came here in 
 1641 from Exeter. We suppose he came over to this country, from 
 Southampton, about the same time with Rev. John Wheelright. 
 He was one of his church at Exeter in 1630, and one of the combi- 
 nation, having twenty-one acres of land assigned to him. This 
 church was founded by those whose theology was denounced by the 
 Massachusetts church, and who could find no resting place under 
 that government. As Littlefield's name does not appear in the list 
 of those who were driven from that colony, we infer that he may 
 have arrived at Boston in 1637, a little while before the expulsion 
 took place. Pormotte, who was with him at Exeter and Wells, and 
 adhered, with him, to the church, and, we suppose, a special friend, 
 
74 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 came over in 1634; but, as Littlefield was never of the Boston 
 church, we think he did not arrive until his friends were involved in 
 the trouble with the ruling hierarchy in Boston, and thence took 
 care not to become one of the subjects upon whom its wrath was to 
 be vented. 
 
 He had eight children, five sons and three daughters : Francis, 
 Anthony, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Hannah, and Francis, jun- 
 ior. Anthony came over with the father, all the rest of the family 
 remaining in England. Having determined to abide in the country, 
 he sent for them to come, and his wife, Annas Littlefield, and her six 
 children left their home and took passage for Boston, in the Be vis, 
 of Hampton, Capt. Tounes, in May, 1638. Francis, the oldest son, 
 has a peculiar history. It will be seen that there were two of the 
 children of this name. The circumstances connected with this sin- 
 gular fact have been variously stated; but from a defect of knowl- 
 edge in regard to the ages of the children, and of certain other facts 
 which appear of record, the tradition has gathered to itself some 
 material errors. Francis, the elder, was born in 1619. From some 
 cause, of which we have no explanation, in early childhood he dis- 
 appeared from his father's house. He could not then have been 
 more than six or seven years old. Francis, junior, was born about 
 twelve years after. This is manifest from the fact that he was re- 
 quired to sign the submission to Massachusetts in 1653, which he 
 would not have done had he then been a minor. The absence of 
 Francis, senior, must have been voluntary. He could not have been 
 abducted. If he had been, he would, at some subsequent time, surely, 
 have notified his parents of that fact. It is strange that a young 
 child like him should conceive the idea of abandoning the scene of 
 all his comforts and all his support. The roving impulse, sometimes 
 manifesting itself in boys, may have been strong within him and 
 have led him to London or some of the great cities of the kingdom. 
 We are very confident he did not then come to New England. No 
 vessel would have taken an unknown boy of that age. But when 
 he approached manhood it is very probable that the spirit of adven- 
 ture may have taken hold of him. Great numbers were then flock- 
 ing to these western shores. Ship after ship was leaving England, 
 laden with passengers seeking their fortunes beyond the waters. 
 Vessels were returning, bringing cargoes of fish, furs, and other arti- 
 cles, the product of their voyages to the western world. All were 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 75 
 
 talking of this wonderful country, abounding in gold, silver, precious 
 stones, and other commodities, and the heart of the young man was 
 touched by the fascinations which allured so many of maturer age. 
 He could not resist the temptations which came over him, in the 
 general excitement, somehow or other, to follow the multitude in 
 the rush to the new world. He contrived to secure a passage, per- 
 haps as a cabin boy, or as a servant to some one who was leaving 
 his country for a home in the far-off Eldorado. He had left his par- 
 ents, weeping at his departure, and now, under some assumed name, 
 without sending to them the cheering word that he was still in the 
 land of the living, he joins the multitude for the new world. He 
 seems to have been one of those, found here and there, whose 
 thoughts are more absorbed in their immediate surroundings than in 
 the remembrance or happiness of the dear ones at home. Years 
 passed away and no tidings came from him. The hearts of his par- 
 ents were filled with sadness. Though the professed followers of 
 Christ, the faith which comes by him is not always sufficient to sus- 
 tain the soul. Weak and imperfect humanity will sometimes give 
 way, even under temporary bereavements. The heart, for a time, 
 will be bowed down by such family separations. Thoughts of the 
 lost one will intrude, despite of all our self-control and all our Chris- 
 tian trust. No light beamed in upon them as to his fate. At last, 
 all hope of seeing him again died within them, and they were 
 obliged to come to the conclusion that he was dead. But Provi- 
 dence has many ways of compensation for these saddening incidents 
 of our human condition. The bereaved parents had a new object of 
 interest and affection presented by their Creator to cheer their 
 wounded hearts. Another son was born to them, and they could 
 give him no other name than Francis. 
 
 The parents were not satisfied with their condition in England. 
 Though arrived at middle age, the fever for adventure took hold of 
 them. Littlefield was a man of energy and resolution, and while so 
 many of the young about him were crowding the passenger ships 
 for the new land of freedom and imagined wealth, he could not keep 
 aloof from the enterprise, but took passage and came to New Eng- 
 land. From Boston he went to Exeter with Wheelright and his as- 
 sociates. His son, Anthony, was already with him, and he was soon 
 joined by his wife and the children who came with her. This 
 change, from the midst of civilized life to an entire wilderness, rauot 
 
76 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 have been appalling indeed to his large family. The night bowlings 
 of the wolves, then so abundant, must have come to their ears with 
 fearful power, and the deprivations which they began to experience 
 have filled their souls with longings for the peace and comforts of 
 the old homestead in England. 
 
 The precise year when the meeting with Francis took place does 
 not appear from any surviving record. He was not living at the 
 time, as has been said in some histories, on a farm in Wells. In 
 1639, he was, without doubt, at Exeter. He was then twenty years 
 old, but was, with his father, so far acknowledged a member of the 
 Wheelright combination as to have a lot of land assigned to him. 
 In the list occurs the name " Goodman Littlefield, four acres, twenty 
 rods," and afterwards " Goodman Littlefield " occurs again, with an 
 assignment of twenty-one acres. This was for Edmund Littlefield, 
 his wife, and children, while the former was for Francis, who would 
 soon be of age and could then assume the responsibilities of one of 
 the combination. From Exeter Francis went to Woburn. Here he 
 was married ; but his wife, Jane, died on the 20th of December, 
 1646, leaving a daughter, Mary, four days old. We suppose this 
 child did not long survive her mother, as the father does not record 
 her name with the family. He left Woburn as soon as his wife died 
 and came to Wells. 
 
 Littlefield and his sons were millmen and farmers, principally of 
 the latter class. Such, also, has been the occupation of nearly all 
 their descendants. They have been, generally, industrious, hardy, 
 and respectable agriculturists. Devoting themselves to the culti- 
 vation of the soil, and invigorated by the salubrious and strengthen- 
 ing air of a New England climate, they have sent forth their 
 branches all around. Possessing physical constitutions unimpaired 
 by the luxuries and indigencies which enervate so many of the 
 race, they have wonderfully carried out the injunction given to our 
 first parents. In looking over the various family records, so far as 
 we have had opportunity, we cannot b,ut wonder at the large fami- 
 lies with which so many of them have been blessed. The Little- 
 fields have been favored with more twins than all the rest of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The ancestor of this family was a man of respectable standing, of 
 fearless enterprise, and sound moral principle. Though we have no 
 reliable evidence that any particular person established himself here 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 77 
 
 before him, yet there are many facts which justify the supposition 
 that he was not the first settler. Others must have preceded him on 
 the plantation. He had built a saw-mill and grist-mill on Webhan- 
 net river in 1641. This fact would seem to indicate that he could 
 not have been alone in the wilderness. A grist-mill would have 
 been a very unprofitable establishment where there were no custom- 
 ers. It would seem very unlikely that he would have gone into the 
 manufacture of meal, at a large expense, unless to supply others be- 
 sides his own family. The fishermen on the coast might, perhaps, 
 have availed themselves of the opportunity of obtaining flour or 
 meal for their own use ; but most of them were engaged in their 
 business at the eastward, and would not be very likely to come to 
 Wells for such supplies. In addition to this, without producers, 
 where would the corn come from? At this time there were no 
 coasters here, and it would be highly improbable that vessels would 
 have been chartered to bring corn to Wells for grinding and then 
 carry back the flour to Boston or some other mart. 
 
 The argument in regard to the saw-mill is of a similar character, 
 though not so conclusive, as here the material for the manufacture of 
 lumber was very abundant; but still no reasonable man, at that pe- 
 riod, when lumber was so easily and cheaply obtained, would have 
 thought of building a saw-mill, remote from any settlement, for the 
 purpose of its manufacture, where no aid was to be had, and where 
 there was no such intercourse with any other mart as to furnish op- 
 portunity for sale. 
 
 But this is not the place for discussing the question, who were the 
 first settlers of Wells. It will be manifest to every reader that 
 there must have been inhabitants here before John Wheelright left 
 Exeter. We have spoken of him as having initiated the settlement, 
 because it has been so understood, and for the reason that, coming 
 here, as he did, with several persons of substantial character, he gave 
 a sudden impulse to the progress of the plantation. 
 
 Littlefield was, without doubt, fully satisfied that numbers must 
 be speedily added to his neighborhood. His surroundings were of 
 such a character as to captivate the attention of men seeking for a 
 location fitted for the acquisition of a comfortable support. Here 
 every facility was offered for that purpose, and his anticipations were 
 soon realized in the acquisition of Wheelright and his company of 
 persevering adherents. Probably the work done by Littlefield, in- 
 
78 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 troductory to clearing the wilderness and subjecting the territory to 
 the uses of civilization, and the aid which his mills would give in 
 providing for their families, did much toward inducing their emigra- 
 tion to this place, and on this account we think he is entitled to be 
 regarded as the father of Wells. With the aid of his large family, 
 lie here prepared the way for the habitation of man. 
 
 We have before stated that, on account of his firm moral charac- 
 ter, he was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts agent for 
 the sale of ardent spirits in Wells, it being then of the utmost im- 
 portance that great discretion should be used in the sale of liquor to 
 the Indians. He was also one of the committee for settling the 
 boundary between Wells and Cape Porpoise, and a commissioner to 
 try small causes, elected by the people for the years 1654, 1655, 
 1658, 1660, and 1661. He was also agent of Gorges to give posses- 
 sion of lots to settlers. He is called, in some instruments, " Old 
 Edmund Littlefield," not on account of his age, but because one of 
 the sons of Francis, the elder, had been given the same name. All 
 his family survived him. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married 
 John Wakefield ; Mary married John Barret and Thomas Page, of 
 Saco ; Hannah married Peter Cloyes. 
 
 John Gooch died in the beginning of the year 1667. We have 
 no knowledge of the time when he came from England to this coun- 
 try. We suppose that he came from Slymbridge, where he owned a 
 house, garden, and orchard, which he purchased of William Ham- 
 mond; but whether before or after his emigration we are not in- 
 formed. He first located himself at Newbury. From thence he 
 came to York, where he owned a farm. This he sold in 16 — and 
 came to Wells, where he resided when Maine became subject to 
 Massachusetts. He was one of the first to yield to that usurpation. 
 We judge him to have been a man of peace, anxious to avoid all 
 troubles and collisions, and he seems to have been successful in that 
 respect. Although nearly every inhabitant of the town was com- 
 plained of for some misdemeanor, he appears to have been one of 
 the few on whom the law never laid its hands. He had had some 
 little trouble at Newbury, and perhaps that led him to exercise a 
 wise precaution in regard to the future. He was not in Massachu- 
 setts long enough to be made a freeman of that colony. It may be 
 that its theology and its manifestations did not commend themselves 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 79 
 
 to his mind ; but still, when here, he seems to have been firmly fixed 
 in the opinion that a union with it would be for the benefit of the 
 people of Maine, and he signed the petition to Cromwell that that 
 government might be maintained over this territory. He was prob- 
 ably Puritanic in principle, though not satisfied with all the religious 
 developments of that colony. He was an honest and worthy citizen. 
 While living at York, he had a severe trial in an unfortunate aberra- 
 tion of his wife. Still he had the kindest feelings toward her, and 
 spoke of her afterwards affectionately, there never having been, ap- 
 parently, any interruption of the conjugal harmony. 
 
 He was one of the first selectmen of the town, and in 1662 was 
 chosen constable. More importance was attached to the latter office 
 at that time than at the present day; the most worthy and respecta- 
 ble citizens were selected for it. 
 
 He left Ruth Gooch, his widow, to whom he gave all his personal 
 property ; sons, John, to whom he gave his homestead ; James, to 
 whom he gave his estate in England ; and Elizabeth Donnell, Mary, 
 Hannah, Phebe, Peter, Nathaniel, and Ruth Weare, and Elizabeth 
 Austin, his grandchildren, to whom he gave small legacies. We 
 have not ascertained whether his daughters, the mothers of these 
 grandchildren, were living or not. We suppose one of them mar- 
 ried Peter Weare; but his conjugal affections were exceedingly lim- 
 ited, not leading him to provide for her or enjoy her company, and 
 thence Gooch gave the legacy to the children, so that it might not 
 fall into his hands. We presume, also, that his daughter, Frances, 
 married Henry Donnell, and thence he gave the legacy to her 
 daughter, Elizabeth, he having deserted his family, leaving them to 
 take care of themselves. Elizabeth Austin, we think, was the 
 daughter of Samuel Austin, and that her mother had deceased. We 
 state these probabilities, not thinking it of sufficient importance to 
 offer the reasons on which we base them. 
 
 John Gooch, jr., died in 1672. His widow, Lydia Gooch, not hav- 
 ing a high opinion of single life, was remarried so soon after as to be 
 precluded from administering on her husband's estate. James Gooch 
 died in 1676. He left a respectable property for that period, keeping 
 a yoke of oxen and eight cows. Ruth, the mother, and widow of the 
 elder John, died at the close of the same year. From John and Ruth 
 Gooch have descended all of that name who have dwelt in Wells. 
 
80 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 We have not succeeded in acquainting ourselves fully with the 
 signers of the submission to Massachusetts, who lived in Wells at 
 the time of the incorporation, but who died or removed therefrom 
 soon after. Of such persons, we cannot speak particularly. 
 
 Anthony Littlefield died in 1662. He was the son of Edmund 
 and one of the first inhabitants. He had a grant of 230 acres of 
 land on the easterly side of Mousam river, which included Great Hill. 
 This lot he sold to Hartakendon Symonds in 1658. He was a man 
 of little energy and made no other investment in real estate. When 
 he died, he had but a hundred dollars in personal property, as the 
 result of twenty years' labor. We have good reason for the belief 
 that he was not a temperate man. His father, by his will, gave him 
 nothing but his old clothes, or his wearing apparel. He had had no 
 education, and thence would not be likely to have any just apprecia- 
 tion of life and its responsibilities. 
 
 Of Joseph Emerson we shall have occasion to speak in the histo- 
 ry of the church. 
 
 Jonathan Thinge, we think, has left no representatives in town. 
 There was no element of his character which would make him of es- 
 sential service in promoting its moral or physical growth. He came 
 here from Ipswich, where he had been guilty of the crime of rape, 
 for which he had been severely whipped, both at Boston and Ipswich. 
 He was appointed constable for the town of Wells in 1653, and a 
 commissioner to try small causes for the Isle of Shoals in 1655, and 
 by the court, the same year, was required to give bonds for his good 
 behavior. There were four different indictments against him at the 
 same time. " For telling a lie ; " for being " a common disturber of 
 order;" for "serving a notice on the Lord's day," and for " speaking 
 discornfully of the court " and saying he did " not care for what the 
 governor said, nor never a governor in the country." Such persons 
 we are very willing to spare from our ancestry ; though it is not un- 
 usual for men of that stamp, even at the present day, to be made 
 conservators of the public morals, and even the keepers of the pub- 
 lic property. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 81 
 
 Of Thomas Miles, or Mills, we know very little. He married 
 Mary, the daughter of John Wadleigh. As a man he made no 
 special demonstrations ; and thence his character has not found its 
 way into the book of human life. 
 
 John Barret died in 1662. He married Mary, the daughter of 
 Edmund Littlefield. In 1658 he was appointed ensign of the mili- 
 tary company inWells. He left a respectable property for that period. 
 His only descendant, of whom we have knowledge, was his son, John 
 Barret, jr., who subsequently moved to Cape Porpoise. He was also 
 ensign of the militia, but did not bring much honor to his father. 
 He was deficient in true manliness of character; disregarding his 
 conjugal obligations, and treating his wife with unkindness, and 
 sometimes with great severity. The town lost nothing by his re- 
 moval beyond its borders. 
 
 Of John White, we have no other knowledge, than that he came 
 to this country in April, 1635, and that he had a son, John White, jr. 
 
 John Bush came from England in May of the same year, and to 
 Wells about the same time with Wheelright. In 1647 he was ap- 
 pointed commissioner to try small causes, and again to the same of- 
 fice in 1655. He was also constable in 1654. A few years after, he 
 sold his land of two hundred and fifty acres to Hartakendon Symonds 
 and left the town. 
 
 Robert Wadleigh was a brother of John, and witnessed the deed 
 of the Indians to him. He was clerk of the writs in 1653. He 
 moved from Wells to Kittery, where he was licensed in 1661 to keep 
 an ordinary, and also the ferry at Kittery Point. 
 
 Of William Wardell, we have given a brief sketch in his relation 
 to the church. He did not continue long in Wells after its incorpor- 
 ation. 
 
 John Wakefield was a commissioner of Wells in 1648, and after- 
 wards one of the selectmen. He bought Drake's Island of Stephen 
 Batson in 1652, and occupied it two or three years, when he sold it 
 
 6 
 
82 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 to Samuel Austin and moved to Scarboro. He married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Edmund Littlefield. 
 
 William Cole was one of the Exeter combination, and came from 
 that place, we presume, with Wheelright. We have no special 
 knowledge of him. We think he followed Wheelright to Salisbury 
 after 1659. We suppose him to have been the father of Nicholas 
 Cole, who signed the submission to Massachusetts. But little of the 
 genealogy of this family is found on the town records. We find in 
 various places several of the name of Nicholas, and thus have had 
 much difficulty in tracing the descent. Nicholas does not appear to 
 have remained long in the town. He removed to North Yarmouth, 
 and in 1672 bought, with John Purrington, of the Indians, the mead- 
 ow on a great island near Great Chebeague. Previous to this he 
 owned and occupied a house in that vicinity ; but the Indian war of 
 1676 drove him from his possession, and he fled to Wells for safety. 
 He did not return there after the close of the war, but lived in Wells 
 until his death in 1688. In the year of the incorporation, 1653, he 
 was constable of the town. But he seems to have had some difficul- 
 ties with his neighbors and with the minister, Rev. Seth Fletcher, 
 which perhaps induced him to leave the town and move to the east- 
 ward. He was a useful man ; a carpenter and millwright, and also a 
 surveyor of lands — locating and surveying many of the town lots. 
 His life was a checkered one — full of misfortunes, embarrassments 
 and disappointed hopes. Mary Symonds, of Ipswich, in writing to a 
 friend in 1687, says Nicholas Cole has had great losses and troubles. 
 These probably hastened his end. 
 
 Of those bold and fearless men, who were the first to apply their 
 energies to subdue the wilderness, and who were inhabitants at the 
 incorporation of the town, one-third had died or sought a habitation 
 in some other place before 1670. There was nothing in the prospect 
 to encourage one of a peaceful and quiet spirit to persevere in his 
 endeavors for a livelihood. The settlement was divided in itself, and 
 the political atmosphere was uncongenial and always lowering. 
 These men were needed to help it onward, but more especially in 
 the trying hour which was approaching, to save" it from desolation. 
 Though the places which were vacated were supplied by others, the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 83 
 
 souls of the new-comers had not been tried by the adversities and 
 hardships which the pioneers had experienced. The stay of many of 
 them was short ; and our knowledge of them is very imperfect. The 
 information which we have would be of no special interest, except- 
 ing to those who are engaged in genealogical pursuits ; and we there- 
 fore merely mention in this connection the names of those who be- 
 came inhabitants of Wells after the incorporation, and previously to 
 1670: William Ashley, William Butland, John Butland, Francis 
 Barkhouse, John Cloyes, John Cross, Peter Cloyes, Joseph Cross, 
 John Dymond, Thomas Cloyes, Samuel Hatch, Philip Hatch, Robert 
 Heathersy, John Smith, John Wells, Thomas Wells, William Worm- 
 wood, Garret Reaves, Nathaniel Masters, Abraham Tilton, Peter 
 Bass, John Wallis, Thomas Boston, Thomas Cousins, John Trott, 
 Jacob Wormwood, William Hobbs, William Johnson, John Asof, 
 John Bennett, Thomas Paty, Henry Sayward, John Reed, John 
 West, Thomas Marriner. 
 
 Of those who remained here, we shall have occasion to speak in 
 the prosecution of this work. The descendants of some of them are 
 still found among the worthy inhabitants of the town. 
 
84 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FlKST SETTLERS IN KeNNEBUNK— JOHN SANDERS— MOUSAM RIVER FERRY — 
 
 John Cheater— Little river ferry— First public house ln Kenne- 
 bunk— George Buckl and— William Symonds— Daniel Pierce— Bound- 
 ary ESTABLISHED BETWEEN WELLS AND CAPE PORPOISE— RoAD ALONG 
 THE SEA WALL — FIRST BRDDGE — BRIAN PENDLETON APPOINTED SURVEY- 
 OR— Cape Porpoise river ferry — First road to Kennebunk. 
 
 In consequence of the loss of the volume of the town records, by 
 the burning of the house of Joseph Bolles, the town clerk in 1657, 
 it requires more research than the importance of the matter would 
 justify to answer the question where the first settlers located them- 
 selves ; but of some we can learn the residence by the boundaries 
 set out, and the references contained in their grants, and in deeds 
 subsequently made. The first settlers in that part of the town, 
 known as Kennebunk from the earliest settlement, were John San- 
 ders, John Cheater, and perhaps George Buckland. Sanders had a 
 grant of 150 acres of upland and fifty of marsh from Thomas Gor- 
 ges, deputy governor, and Richard Vines in 1643. This grant em- 
 braced what is now the farm of Henry C. Hart. The house, we are 
 inclined to believe, stood on the verge of the point near the sea. 
 The land, since that day, has been materially encroached upon by 
 the snrf. From the descriptions, as set out in subsequent transfers, 
 we should infer that his whole establishment was of considerable 
 magnificence, did not the impossibility of obtaining the necessary ma- 
 terials preclude any such inference. There were no mills in the vicin- 
 ity ; that of John Littlefield was the nearest ; and for the purposes 
 of show or ornament no means were at hand. The house was, prob- 
 ably, very much like those of all the early settlers on the coast, built 
 for immediate occupancy. There were, indeed, in this case, reasons 
 for larger accommodations than his own family required. "We sup- 
 pose that he built his house here partly for the entertainment of 
 travelers, this being the only way of journeying from the Piscataqua, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 85 
 
 east. The Mousam river then ran out by the eastern side of Hart's 
 Rocks. Here, at high water, ferriage was needed, and Sanders pro- 
 vided himself with boats for that purpose. The river then abounded 
 with salmon and shad, and he erected a weir to take them. Owning 
 the marsh on both the Mousam and Little rivers, he had a constant 
 supply of such hay, as it never fails to yield. So that, including the 
 " treasures hidden in the sand " and the " abundance of the sea," he 
 had everything necessary for man and beast. He was a man of 
 some note, but of no education. In 1653, he was chosen lieutenant 
 for the town of Wells. His location was one well fitted for the 
 acquisition of a moderate property, and he seems to have been some- 
 what successful. But for some cause, of which we have no explana- 
 tion, in 1663 he conveyed his farm to John Cutts, of Portsmouth, 
 afterwards president of JSTew Hampshire. He may have been in- 
 debted to him for materials used in building his house. The fishing 
 business was then profitable, and Cutts may have purchased the es- 
 tablishment for the purpose of carrying it on. After selling his 
 lands in Wells, Sanders moved to Cape Porpoise, where he died in 
 1670, having entailed a part of his property in this manner : He 
 gives his estate at Cape Porpoise to his wife, Ann Sanders, during 
 her natural life ; after her decease to his son Thomas, then to his son 
 John ; and " so from heir to heir and next of kin surviving the de- 
 ceased proprietor." He gave to his son John about 1,000 acres of 
 land, eight or nine miles above Cape Porpoise river falls, and the 
 rest of his property he left to be divided among his other children 
 after the decease of their mother. His widow died the same year. 
 
 John Cheater had a tract of land next above that of George Buck- 
 land, on the Kennebunk river. Buckland's commenced at the sea 
 and extended back one mile, and by the sea westward to the bath- 
 ing beach. We have not ascertained that Buckland lived on his lot. 
 If he did, it is probable that he built the house occupied by Harding 
 a few years after. Cheater came to Wells from Newbury in 1655, 
 or about that time, having left that place in consequence of some 
 misdemeanor of his wife, Alice, with one Daniel Gunn, with which 
 he did not fully sympathize, she, for her unchaste behavior, having 
 been admonished by the court and required to stand tied to the 
 whipping post one hour. These aberrations of the sex in those days 
 seldom produced a disruption of the conjugal tie ; but it was not 
 
86 HTSTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 pleasant to continue a residence where the wife of his bosom had 
 been through this shameful ordeal, and was thus subject to the 
 scoffs of those who had been the witnesses of it, and Cheater left 
 the place and came into the wilderness. He lived near the Mousam 
 river, but the site of his house is unknown. He may have occupied 
 that of Sanders after it was sold to Cutts. He was a surveyor of 
 lands, and also lieutenant of the militia, and was generally called 
 Leftenant Cheater. In 1662, he was appointed ferryman for Mous- 
 am river and also for Little river ; and for ferriage over each he was 
 authorized to tax twelve pence for a man and horse, and at low 
 water, six pence. As in those days it was considered that some 
 stimulation was an absolute necessity for travelers, he was licensed 
 to keep an ordinary to meet this demand, and he had " liberty to 
 draw one-third of a barrel of strong waters which he had in his 
 house, and likewise wine and beer, and keep victualing." Such es- 
 tablishments, in the subsequent century, were called taverns. They 
 were indispensable, but not always very serviceable in promoting 
 the public morals. This was the first public house in Kennebunk, 
 but its character we cannot vouch for. The landlady was not rigid- 
 ly virtuous, and order and peace, we think, did not always prevail in 
 it. They had a servant man, Thomas Latimer, who did not like his 
 position and ran away; whether he bettered his condition or not we 
 cannot determine. The last that we know of him is furnished by 
 the following record : " 4 month 24 1661. A Jewry impanelled to 
 inquier of the death of Thomas Latimer, which lived with John 
 Chater of Wells, and ran away from him this month, and was found 
 drounded in Saco river." " Thayr verdick is, he was accidentally 
 drouned through his own default." Cheater and his family soon 
 disappeared from among the inhabitants of Wells. 
 
 George Buckland, William Stmonds, and Daniel Pierce were 
 in possession of lands within the limits of Kennebunk when the Indi- 
 ans conveyed the whole territory of the town to John Wadleigh in 
 1649. This is manifest from their deed ; but we have no evidence 
 that any of them resided on their lots. George Buckland soon after 
 lived in Ogunquit ; William Symonds on the western side of Little 
 river, near the sea. In 1658, he bought of Anthony Littlefield the 
 Great Hill farm of about 230 acres, embracing tillage, pasture, and 
 upland, bounded by the Cape Porpoise river and by the first great 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 87 
 
 creek, and thence by the sea, extending eastward far enough to em- 
 brace the number of acres. He may have built the house which 
 soon after stood on Great Hill. If Daniel Pierce occupied his tract 
 as a home lot, he lived near where the Wentworths or Boothbys 
 have since lived; but we have no satisfactory evidence that either 
 of them dwelt on this territory. 
 
 These are the only persons residing in the eastern end of the 
 town previously to the year 1660. It is a remarkable fact, though 
 so many years had elapsed since its incorporation, that there never 
 had been any definite settlement of its entire boundaries. The act 
 by which it was made a town simply says that " Wells shall be a 
 township by itself." No boundaries are stated, and no allusion is 
 made to its limits in any direction. Grants had been made of its 
 lands by two different proprietors ; but Massachusetts claimed the 
 whole territory from Piscataqua, far east of Wells, and ordered a 
 settlement of the line, commissioners being appointed by the general 
 court for the purpose, who in May, 1659, made the report which we 
 have before stated, upon the line between Wells, York, and Kittery. 
 
 But the principal difficulty in adjusting the boundaries arose from 
 the uncertainty of the line on the northeastern side of the town. 
 Which was the Kennebunk river seems to have been an unsettled 
 question. The inhabitants of Cape Porpoise insisted that the river 
 then called the Cape Porpoise was the Kennebunk; that the town 
 derived its name from the river passing through it, and that it 
 would have been absurd that a river two miles from it should be 
 called the Cape Porpoise, when navigators would be thereby so 
 much deceived as to enter a harbor which was not the one to which 
 they were bound. One would have supposed that the Indians, whq 
 were then living on the territory, could have settled this matter be- 
 yond controversy. Kennebunk is an Indian name, and they surely 
 knew to which stream it belonged. They had lived on the banks of 
 the most westerly for centuries. Cape Porpoise was an English 
 name of recent application. But the people of those days were not 
 remarkable for quickness and accuracy of perception, or for sound 
 reasoning; and as the territory was not very valuable at this period, 
 there being but two or three inhabitants on it, neither party, we 
 think, took very great pains to ascertain the truth in regard to the 
 matter in controversy. But sufficient excitement had been awak- 
 
88 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ened by the dispute to render it necessary that the question should 
 be settled, and committees of the two towns were appointed for the 
 purpose ; Edmund Littlefield and William Hammond on the part of 
 Wells, and Morgan Howell and William Scadlock on the part of 
 Cape Porpoise. They met at the house at the mouth of Kennebunk 
 river, which was afterwards occupied by Harding. It may have 
 been at this time occupied by William Reynolds, the ferryman. 
 The ferrymen were generally licensed for the sale of liquors and the 
 accommodation of man and beast with the necessaries of life. Lit- 
 tlefield and Hammond were men of integrity. We are not particu- 
 larly acquainted with Howell and Scadlock, but their characters 
 were such as to commend them to their townsmen, though we have 
 sufficient knowledge of the latter to wonder that to him should be 
 committed a public trust of any importance whatever. Towns, as 
 well as individuals, must expect to reap the fruits of their own ac- 
 tion. The commissioners entered upon the examination of the busi- 
 ness with which they were entrusted. It was then the custom to 
 introduce all such consultations and prepare for the work by stimu- 
 lating the vital energies, and awakening every faculty to the dis- 
 charge of its appropriate duty. Scadlock was an old hand in this 
 mode of action. What progress they made in the duties of their 
 commission, from day to day, has not come down to us; but on the 
 first day of their meeting a violent storm arose, so that they were 
 confined to the house. As they were not educated men, instructed 
 in argumentation, they did not spend much time in discussion, and 
 thus time passed very tediously, so that they felt the need of fre- 
 quent inspiration to maintain their equanimity. The bottle, of 
 course, was the resort to refresh the inner man. The storm contin- 
 ued three days, and the expenses reached a magnitude rather start- 
 ling. Cape Porpoise was poor, and the thought came over the 
 commissioners from that town, that there would be some complaint 
 among the people about the costs of this proceeding. They had 
 made no progress in the settlement of the question submitted to 
 them, and fearing that the bill, if they continued there longer, would 
 be more than the town would pay, and having become sufficiently 
 elevated by their liberal potations, they made to the Wells commit- 
 tee the proposition that, if they would pay all the bills, they would 
 agree on Kennebunk river as the boundary of the towns. The 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 89 
 
 committee from Wells at once assenting, they sat down and made 
 this return : 
 
 " We whose names are here underwritten, being chosen by the 
 towns of Cape Porpoise and Wells for the laying out of the dividing 
 line of said towns, do mutually agree that the river Kennebunk 
 shall be the bounds of Cape Porpoise and Wells, to the utmost ex- 
 tent of both the towns, being eight miles up into the country. Wit- 
 ness our hands the tenth day of May, 1660. 
 
 Edmund Littlefield, 
 Morgan Howell, 
 The Court allows and approves of this Wm. Hamans, 
 return, as attest, Edward Rawson. Wm. Scadlock. 
 
 Thus was the boundary between the two towns permanently set- 
 tled. Our impression is that the evidence preponderated in favor of 
 the claim of Cape Porpoise ; but we do not think it expedient here 
 to enter on any discussion of the subject. The result affords a strik- 
 ing illustration of the evil of committing important interests to the 
 hands of men who are in the habit of indulging in the free use of 
 intoxicating liquors. The most valuable portion of the town of 
 Kennebunk, it is very probable, was the just property of Kennebunk- 
 port. But the folly of the people of that town, in entrusting their 
 rights to the care of intemperate men, had its due reward in the loss 
 which they thereby suffered. The towns, situated along each side of 
 the river, might have constituted a convenient and influential cor- 
 poration, now numbering a population of six or seven thousand 
 souls. 
 
 One of the arguments in favor of the claim of Cape Porpoise was, 
 that Rigby, whose patent extended to Kennebunk river, made grants 
 of territory bounded on the river furthest west, which grants had 
 not been interfered with by the proprietors of the Wells plantation. 
 In 1641, under this authority, what is now termed the Great Hill 
 farm was granted to John Wakefield and John Littlefield. The hill 
 at that time extended much farther into the sea than it now does ; 
 and with the projecting land at the eastern end was called the Great 
 Neck. The features of this interesting locality have undergone a 
 wonderful modification since that period. Within the memory of 
 many now on the stage of life, the sea has swallowed up a large part 
 of the soil. Not many years since the point was connected with the 
 
90 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 hill by a broad surface of land, which was always kept in a state of 
 cultivation by the occupant, whose house stood on the small part of 
 it still remaining. The sea, by its inroads, disconnected it with the 
 shore, and from that time it has been rapidly disappearing. Between 
 Great Hill and the Mousam river there was nothing but a pine 
 swamp. Wakefield and Littlefield did not take possession and 
 occupy under this grant. If the eastern river was the Cape Porpoise, 
 then the Lygonia patent did not include this territory. Perhaps this 
 uncertainty as to the title was the reason why possession was not 
 taken. Wakefield afterwards lived on Drake's Island, and Littlefield 
 in Ogunquit. 
 
 In the year 1653, when Wells was ordered to make the road by 
 the sea, the towns of Kittery and York were ordered to make 
 "straight and convenient way along East for man and horse." York 
 and Kittery had then become villages of considerable population, 
 and Wells contained about 150 inhabitants. Cape Porpoise and 
 Saco also had a population of several hundred. The next year a 
 road was ordered to be made from York to Newichewannock, then a 
 part of Kittery, afterwards called Berwick, and the same year Kit- 
 tery and Wells were required to make a way from Newichewannock 
 to Wells, so that, from this time, the people of Wells had regular 
 communication with the West. Soon after this, in 1658, the way 
 was required to be improved easterly as far as Kennebunk river. 
 This road went along Hart's Beach, over Great Hill and Gooch's 
 Beach to Reynold's Ferry, so that settlers might conveniently locate 
 themselves on any of the lands near the sea. At the same time the 
 people were required to improve the road from York to Wells. A 
 bridge was required to be built over the Ogunquit. This was the 
 first erection of that character in town. The people were very back- 
 ward in fulfilling the order, and were indicted for their neglect ; but 
 it was soon after built, and a good passable way was thus made from 
 York to Kennebunk. 
 
 In" the year 1664, Brian Pendleton was appointed surveyor of high- 
 ways throughout the province, with authority to order all matters at 
 his discretion, for the purpose of making them meet for the public 
 necessities. The marshal of the province was required to attend 
 him in making his surveys, so that,, having the supervision of the 
 whole way from Kittery through the settlements, all the obstructions 
 might be removed, and a passable road made for all travelers on foot 
 
HISTOEY OF WELT£ AND KENNEBUNK. 91 
 
 or on horseback. This, we think, was one of the wisest provisions 
 which mark the administrative action of the courts at that period. 
 The people now began to be sensible of the necessity of conven- 
 ient roads, and some interest was excited in making intercommuni- 
 cation more free and easy. The King's road from Ogunquit river 
 through Wells, as far as Cole's Corner, varied but little from its 
 present location. From this latter terminus, toward the sea and over 
 Little river, the passage had been very inconvenient, and an arrange- 
 ment was made July 13, 1664, with Nicholas Cole, one of the most 
 energetic men of the town, to have this part of the way put in good 
 condition, and suitable provision made for transportation over the 
 Cape Porpoise. Liberty was granted to him to keep a ferry over 
 Cape Porpoise river for seven years, and for setting over every single 
 person, a stranger, who would pass, he was authorized to take six 
 pence, if more than one at a time four pence each, and the same 
 price for horses if they swam ; and for every townsman of Wells 
 who passed he was to have three pence, and the same for their 
 horses. He was required to make a way from his own house toward 
 the sea into the road going east, provide a good canoe, and to make 
 two or three bridges needed for the convenient passage of horse and 
 man from his house over the creeks which crossed the way between 
 Little river and Cape Porpoise river. To do the work of making the 
 bridges the town agreed to furnish a man for three days, and one day 
 yearly to keep them in repair. Cole resided at the corner, where his 
 descendants have lived ever since. This would seem to be a 
 hard bargain. To travel two or three miles to the Mousam river and 
 set a man over for six pence would be rather an unprofitable job, 
 but money was then scarce and valuable. Two years before, Cheater 
 was allowed twelve pence for a man and horse, and had none of the 
 burdens which Cole assumed. We know not how to explain this 
 strange fact, except on the hypothesis that the travel had ^largely in- 
 creased. How the people obtained any money we are not informed. 
 They had nothing to sell. The ordinaries and the ferries brought 
 something to their possessors; but we have never learned that, up to 
 this time, there was any such land or water transportation to the 
 older places west as to furnish conveyance for any products of the 
 soil or sea, which they might chance to have to send to market. If 
 Cole's daily receipts were small, perhaps the income was as valuable 
 to him as would have been the labors of husbandry. 
 
92 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJKK. 
 
 This was the first established road to Kennebunk, the way by the 
 house of William Symonds, being principally over the beach. The 
 previous year a ferry had been established over Cape Neddock river. 
 Sylvester Stover was the ferryman. So that now there was a con- 
 tinuous way from Portsmouth to the town of Cape Porpoise. In 
 1653, a way was ordered within the towns of Wells and Cape Por- 
 poise " fit for footmen and horses, and fit for carts from house to 
 house." This seems to have been an order for a town way only ; to 
 accommodate those residing in these towns. Perhaps the road by 
 Symonds' house was made at this time. 
 
 At this period no one was allowed to be a drone or loafer, when 
 there was work to be done for the common good. Every one had oc- 
 casion to travel the highway, and all alike had the benefit of it. It 
 was thence regarded as just that all should share in the labor of 
 making and repairing, so that a few years afterwards, in 1671, the 
 town voted, " that every male person sixteen years old and upward, 
 that is in a capacity to work, being warned by the surveyor, shall at- 
 tend that service, and that a yoke of oxen shall go in lieu of a man." 
 This was a wise provision. Young men should be early inspired 
 with the knowledge that they are members of a community, and 
 that material duties grow out of that relation ; that they should con- 
 tribute their aid to the common necessities. They should be made 
 to feel that they have an interest in whatever is for the public wel- 
 fare ; that their characters, as good citizens, depend very materially 
 on their ready, cheerful acquiescence in the labors which it demands 
 of them. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 93 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 low condition of the church — rev. seth fletcher employed to 
 pjreach — Orders of the general court in relation to charges 
 against him— injunction against him— petition of inhabitants to 
 dissolve injunction — Orders of general court to the inhabitants 
 to procure a minister — inhabitants indicted for not providing a 
 place of worship— Joseph Emerson engaged— Rev. Jeremiah Hub- 
 bard ENGAGED — THE CONNECTION DISSOLVED. 
 
 In a former chapter, we have given a brief account of the first 
 church in Wells and of its uutimely dissolution. The people were 
 then in the darkness of ignorance. With scarcely any intellectual 
 culture, unable to read or write, and thus untrained to reason, they 
 could have no firm basis on which to build up a true Christian char- 
 acter. John Wheelright was a man of education, fitted for the ex- 
 ercise of moral power, and thereby drawing to himself the deference 
 of those with whom he was here associated. Few of them could 
 have any just comprehension of his speculations, and those who did, 
 if such there were, reaped no benefit from his instructions. His 
 metaphysical Christianity imbued them with speculative proclivities, 
 which were indulged to such a degree as to drive from their souls 
 all true devotion to God and duty, and they became wranglers about 
 justification, sanctification, and the numerous theological questions 
 which are born always of the flesh and not of the spirit. Beside his 
 immediate friends, who came with him, there were here others, sup- 
 porters of the Puritan theology, and also some who were adherents 
 to the forms and principles of the mother church beyond the waters. 
 All of them had some religious notions, but whence they came they 
 had not the power to explain. The ignorant are much more tena- 
 cious of their dogmatic religion than those who have had the ability, 
 opportunity, and means of examination and deep thought. Igno- 
 rance is generally obstinate and unyielding. So that this church, 
 thus compounded, was rather an institution for strife and debate 
 
94 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 than for the advancement of a reliable piety and the harmonies of a 
 true Christian union ; but notwithstanding the manifestations of a 
 spirit adverse to that of peace and unity, we have seen no evidence 
 that "muscular Christianity" came in at any time to settle the con- 
 tention. 
 
 But what a sad spectacle to the true Christian soul was here ex- 
 hibited! These men came over to this country to occupy this land 
 under a charter which made it one of their principal duties to extend 
 the light of civilization and the influence of true religion over this 
 western world, then overshadowed with the darkness of heathenism ; 
 to lead the red men of these forests to a knowledge of those great 
 truths and principles, which would work out for them a social state, 
 promotive of peace and good will, and elevate them to the dignity 
 and happiness of children of God. But what a comment is here on 
 the obligations of that charter, and what an illustration of the bless- 
 ings of a Christian civilization ! A few men in a wilderness, depend- 
 ent on each other for sympathy and support, away from all aid and 
 comfort but that of the unfailing Providence, quarreling with each 
 other, and assuming God's prerogative in condemning each other, 
 each denying the Christian character of the other, and refusing 
 Christian fellowship, surrounded by savages, whose hearts they came 
 here to soften by the power and example of the gentle influences of 
 the true faith of Christ! But so it has been in all ages of the 
 church. The truth of God is made to be a lie to the ignorant and 
 uncultivated. What we call a religion of union and love, the specu- 
 lations and creeds of men have converted into an agency to destroy 
 the kindlier affections of life, and keep alive the fires of strife and 
 ill-will in the heart. 
 
 Notwithstanding this unfavorable aspect of the moral condition of 
 the church, we would not say that there was not something of the 
 spirit of true religion abiding with the people. Elder Wentworth 
 had gone off, abandoning the place before 1650 ; but Ezekiel Knight, 
 William Hammond, William Cole, Philemon Pormotte, Edmund 
 Littlefield, and other solid men were still here. They were persons 
 of good and honest hearts, selected for important trusts, and active 
 in advancing the settlement of the place. Knight may, possibly, be 
 regarded as not entirely sound, from the fact that he consented to 
 act with John Baker, who was denounced as drunken, lying, and 
 worthless by the church in Boston, which excommunicated him, and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 95 
 
 declared that Christ had ratified the excommunication by giving him 
 up to Satan, as one of the agents of Colonel Alexander Rigby in al- 
 lotting lands under the Lygonia Patent. A Christian should not be 
 associated in business with one of that stamp. Fellowship with 
 Satan in any kind of work will be very apt to poison some element 
 of the soul ; and in this very business which they had assumed he 
 may have been led astray by Baker, as they allotted a tract of land 
 on the western side of the Mousam river, and all persons, who have 
 familiarized themselves with this part of the history of the State, 
 know very well that no one pretended that Rigby's Patent covered 
 that part of Wells. But still the evidence is satisfactory that 
 Knight was regarded as a reliable man. 
 
 From the time when the commissioners left Wells, two years for- 
 ward, there was here no regularly established ministration of the 
 Gospel, and, of course, religion did not receive that attention which 
 the public welfare demanded. The material interests of the world, 
 in such a season, will gain the ascendancy over the moral. The 
 spiritual will, to a great extent, be lost sight of; and in the eagerness 
 of the pursuit of temporal interests, in the strifes which personal ad- 
 vantage may engender, men forget their higher and more important 
 relations, and fall into habits of thought and action in no measure 
 akin to those which religion inculcates. It does not appear that the 
 true men of the town forsook the assembling of themselves together 
 on the Christian Sabbath. Probably some of the laymen were in 
 the habit of exhortation. Still the people went astray. Disorder 
 and profanity prevailed, and intemperance added to its votaries. 
 
 After the dissolution of the church, by reason of the discord 
 which ruled within the fold and the irregularities and misdemeanors 
 of some who had been ejected from it, it may well be inferred that 
 the people of Wells would not be in a very suitable frame of mind 
 to set about the renewal of public worship and the re-establishment 
 of the church. Professing Christians, whose faith rests on any other 
 foundation than righteousness of heart and life, are too apt to in- 
 dulge and manifest an arbitrary and sometimes a revengeful spirit 
 toward those who do not feel to unite with them in carrying out their 
 purposes. And especially in cases where contrariety of opinion has 
 once resulted in division and its animosities and bickerings, the pros- 
 pect of the restoration of unity and concord is not to be relied upon 
 with any great confidence. Such is humanity that it will sometimes 
 
96 HISTORY OF WELLS AKD KENNEBUNK 
 
 find satisfaction in the humiliation and trials of those who do not 
 accord with its own thoughts and prepossessions. Christianity finds 
 enemies in its own household. Before the commissioners came to 
 Wells, the church, by excommunication or voluntary excision, had 
 been reduced to three members, and now these three were compel- 
 led, by the judgment of this court, to abandon the organization. All 
 alike were out of the church, and the criminations and recrimina- 
 tions which such a state would excite may well be imagined. To 
 settle a true man of God would be almost an impossibility. If one 
 discovered that another, who had been instrumental in his depriva- 
 tion of church privileges, was anxious for the employment of a par- 
 ticular person for the ministry of the word, the first impulse of his 
 heart would be very likely to resist the measure, under the assurance 
 that the sympathies and opinions of one so chosen would assimilate him 
 to his opponents. Some would even be ready to install in the sacred 
 desk a man of unholy temperament and life, provided he accorded 
 with them in his theology. In the circumstances of this case, we 
 are inclined to think the evil one had a good deal to do in the em- 
 ployment of a minister. Having lived two years in this graceless 
 condition, the people, by some means, managed to engage Rev. Seth 
 Fletcher to preach the Gospel. In 1655, he was hired by the year, 
 without ordination, as a stated pastor. As might be expected, in 
 this unfortunate state of feeling, the evil element seems to have 
 gained the ascendancy. Any man, who is versed in the history of 
 Massachusetts at this time, cannot fail to be conversant of the fact 
 that the government had done much to engender a contentious and 
 bigoted spirit, and thence, as an almost inevitable consequence, a 
 wide departure from the teachings of Christ. Men were terribly 
 persecuted for righteousness' sake, and the spirit of those in authori- 
 ty became the ruling spirit of their constituents. Bigotry and intol- 
 erance will work out an ungodly temperament in other relations, as 
 well as in the church. These men of Wells could not be expected 
 to be better than their rulers. The government represents the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 Wells, in 1654, elected Hugh Gunnison as its representative, 
 and in 1657 he was chosen representative from Kittery; but such 
 had been his character that the general court refused to admit him 
 as a member, charging him to be unfit for the ofiice. He was a 
 licensed rumseller, and, without doubt, his supporters in Wells were 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 97 
 
 men whose propensities found gratification by his ministrations. 
 Though not criminal in law or morals, at that day, this vending of 
 ardent spirit not unfrequently led to such a close communion and 
 fellowship with the destroyer that the evil one had the soul of the 
 vender in chains before he suspected he was in danger. We will 
 not say that his election was an illustration of the character of the 
 whole people. We assume that he was the true representative of a 
 majority. The remainder, undoubtedly conscientious and of relig- 
 ious impulses, were men who fell in with the sentiment, then pre- 
 vailing to a most lamentable extent, that the religion which the 
 government had taken under its special care, or that which they felt 
 to be in conformity with the teachings of the Gospel, was the only 
 reliable basis of public happiness and prosperity. This class it w r as 
 which enacted at this time that infamous law which denounced "the 
 people commonly called quakers" as " a cursed set of heretics," and 
 subjected any one inculcating their religious opinions to the most 
 odious punishments. Thus in 1661, Judah Brown and Peter Pier- 
 son, who had been in prison, were discharged from confinement, de- 
 livered to the constable, and tied to the cart's tail by the execution- 
 er, whipped through Boston with twenty stripes each, and then sent 
 out of the colony, to be put to death if they returned. Thus Chris- 
 tianity has always found some of its worst enemies in the house of 
 its friends. 
 
 "Now it is very reasonable to presume that the inhabitants of Wells 
 who sided with the religion of the Massachusetts government, voted 
 with those whom we have supposed to constitute the majority for 
 Mr. Fletcher, so that he may have received the vote of the whole 
 people. Men who are the antipodes on moral and religious ques- 
 tions, and others of no moral stamina, are not unfrequently found 
 uniting in a common object. Fletcher, we think, answered the pur- 
 poses of all. Religious, according to the prevalent sentiment, in 
 doctrine and in persecution of the quakers, there was in him but lit- 
 tle of that sound moral sense, which the gospel requires of minister 
 and people. In a letter from him at Elizabethtown, some years after 
 this, to Increase Mather he says, " I have been much molested with 
 Quakers here since I came, new ones coming in one after another." 
 Some of these had enquired what he had to. object against them. 
 His reply was " that a Quaker, living and dying as a Quaker (without 
 repentance), must find out a new gospel which might afford hope of 
 7 
 
98 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 salvation ; for what God hath revealed in his holy word, there was 
 no salvation for them in their impenitent condition." He meant, of 
 course, that there was no salvation for that sect. Quakerism must 
 be repented of. 
 
 Although Mr. Fletcher was not without education, and was en- 
 dowed with an intellect which might have elevated him to a high 
 position in his profession, yet, losing sight of the first principle of 
 Christianity, an abiding sense that he was a fallible man and forbid- 
 den to judge and condemn his brother on account of his opinions, he 
 stirred up strifes and contentions wherever he undertook to minister 
 the word. When one forgets his own weakness and ignorance, and 
 denounces others better than himself as enemies of God, it may be 
 safely assumed that he is not a man after God's own heart ; and will 
 show himself a disturber of the peace and destitute of true godli- 
 ness. Accordingly he soon began to sow discord, and thus to excite 
 to every evil work within his pastorate, and matters came to such a 
 state that the general court were obliged to interfere ; and at the ses- 
 sion in May, 1660, the following order was issued : 
 
 " Whereas, some late difference seems to appear to us, between 
 Mr. Fletcher, jr., and part of the inhabitants of Wells as touching 
 his unfitness for the place of the ministry, which occasionally for 
 near two years past, as is apprehended, relating both to the sanctify- 
 ing of the Sabbath, and the performance of God's holy worship 
 therein, hath drawn them into general neglects for future prevention 
 thereof, it is therefore ordered by authority of this court, that due 
 notice be given to the inhabitants of Wells and Mr. Fletcher, that 
 they do make their appearance at the next county court at York, 
 thereby either to justify those exceptions of unmeetness they seem 
 to charge against him, or otherwise from them the said Fletcher may 
 be acquitted." 
 
 These charges were undoubtedly made by those who professed to 
 be the followers of Christ. If Fletcher, the minister, was indifferent 
 to the sanctification of the Sabbath, the people would not be long in 
 reaching the conclusion that the religious worship of the day was 
 not material to a healthy spiritual state. 
 
 The people and the minister, agreeably to this order, appeared be- 
 fore the court at York, at the May term, with their available testi- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 99 
 
 mony, and after hearing the same, the court determined to give no 
 opinion in the case, but adopted the following order : 
 
 " Whereas, this Court by order of the last general court was ap- 
 pointed to hear and, as they see cause, to determine in matters of 
 some difference depending between the tow r n of Wells and Mr. 
 Fletcher, having had the examination thereof, do judge meet upon 
 due consideration to leave the said Fletcher and the town of Wells 
 in the same state wherein the Court found them, giving the town in 
 the meantime free liberty to procure some godly and able minister. 
 And this court in the meantime to make return of the full state of 
 the case as to them it appeareth, to the next general court." 
 
 This order was returned to the general court at its session in Octo- 
 ber, and after consideration the following injunction against Mr. 
 Fletcher was issued : " The Court having perused the several evi- 
 dences presented to this Court referring to Mr. Fletcher and the 
 to wne of Wells, do judge meet to declare to the said inhabitants 
 that they have not only liberty, but are hereby enjoy ned to procure 
 some godly, able minister to be helpfull to them; and the said 
 Fletcher is hereby enjoyned to forbeare any more to preach amongst 
 them." 
 
 Notwithstanding this man was thus ejected from the pulpit in 
 Wells, the very next year he was employed to preach the gospel in 
 Saco and continued there a year. He preached at several other 
 places, but was continually exciting dissensions. Still, we have rea- 
 son to believe there was something in his ministrations which capti- 
 vated the attention of many good men. The inhabitants of Wells 
 were about equally divided the next year as to his fitness for the 
 sacred office. After his dismission he seems to have undergone some 
 change which operated strongly in his favor, inducing nearly half of 
 the people to wish for his restoration. In 1661 they addressed the 
 following petition : " To the much Honored General Court of the 
 Massachusetts Colony, assembled at Boston May 22, 1661. 
 
 This petition of ours, who are inhabitants in Wells, humbly 
 showeth to your right Worshipful, Worshipful, and much honored, 
 that when as it hath been your good pleasure by an order dated Oct. 
 16, 1660, to enjoyn Mr. Seth Fletcher to forbeare preaching any more 
 among us, we humbly and earnestly request that you would be 
 pleased to take off the said injunction, and that the said Fletcher 
 
100 • H1STOEY OF WELLS AND KENSTEBTJNK. 
 
 may have liberty to accept a call and to settle himself amongst us, 
 or any other people, for the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ and the administration of his ordinances. Our grounds of 
 our petitioning to you in this manner, on his behalf, being public, gen- 
 eral and particular satisfaction, falling down at the feet of God and 
 men, acknowledging whatsoever (concerning the differences that have 
 been between some particular persons and himself) would be demand- 
 ed of him. The truth and sincerity of his repentance, his practice doth 
 declare by his humble and holy walking, with a manifestation of his 
 desires not to offend or grieve the spirits of the least or weakest 
 Christians, much less the spirit of Christ itself. And we hope (hav- 
 ing no cause otherwise to think), but that if you shall please to yield 
 to our humble implorations, he will prove very servicable and useful 
 to the Church of Christ. Your pleasure to grant your favorable ac- 
 ceptance hereof, and causing us to enjoy our wishes and desires, and 
 your supplicants shall pray God for the preservation of all their hon- 
 ored Assembly, and that under you we may lead a quiet and peace- 
 ful life in all godliness and honesty. 
 
 Edmund Littlefield. Nicholas Cole. 
 
 John Wadleigh. Thomas Littlefield. 
 
 John Cheater. Thomas Mussell. 
 
 Jos. Bolles. William Cole. 
 
 Ensign John Barret. Francis Littlefield, jr. 
 
 Will. Burkland. Will. Ashley. 
 
 John West. John Littlefield. 
 
 Francis Littlefield, Sen. Will. Hamond. 
 
 These men, for the most part, were exemplary inhabitants of the 
 town, and their opinions were entitled to much respect. But the 
 evidence was insufficient to satisfy the general court that Fletcher 
 should be reinstated. We are not apprised of all the objections 
 against him; but we have some reason to believe that he did not 
 maintain that meek and quiet spirit so becoming to the true minis- 
 ter of Christ. After preaching one year at Saco, he seems to have 
 lived in Wells two or three years, where his relations to his neigh- 
 bors were not always of the most friendly character. 
 
 He was first recommended to the people of Wells by Rev. John 
 Wheelright. We must necessarily infer that he was one of his fol- 
 lowers, and preached the doctrines which he had inculcated — that 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 101 
 
 sanctification did not evidence justification — that there was no necessi- 
 ty of good works to a virtuous life. How long could morality and 
 the graces of Christianity stand up under the promulgation of such 
 principles by one claiming to be an Apostle of Christ? The passions 
 of men might work ad libitum; and as to the peaceable fruits of 
 righteousness, such a minister had no right to expect to witness them 
 among his people. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher married the daughter of Brian Pendleton. After his 
 last removal from Wells he went to Southampton, on Long Island, 
 where he preached two or three years ; and from thence to Elizabeth- 
 town, N, Jersey, in 1679, where he preached in the Presbyterian 
 church, till he died in 1682. He probably improved much every 
 way, in the years subsequent to his ministry in this place. It is said 
 in the Historical Magazine that he left a large and valuable library, 
 for the age in which he lived. 
 
 Wells was now without a minister, and not regarding the Sabbath, 
 men were walking in the way of their own hearts. Vice and im- 
 morality had the field to themselves. But its condition being un- 
 derstood by the general court, they issued the following order: 
 "Upon this Court's information of the want of a settled, able, and 
 orthodox ministry in Wells, the accomplishment whereof through 
 God's blessing, might prove an effectual remedy for'healing and pre- 
 venting much disorder, ignorance, and profaneness, it is ordered by 
 this Court and the authority thereof, that the inhabitants of the 
 town of Wells shall within six months time after notice given them 
 thereof, use their utmost endeavors to procure some able and pious 
 minister to carry on the work of God amongst them ; in due per- 
 formance whereof, if the town is found deficient, the Court, in the 
 exercise of its power, will make such provision for its supply, as the 
 laws of the jurisdiction require." 
 
 Whether the town desired it or not, the court were not willing 
 that the great interests of the people should be lost in the vortex of 
 selfishness and mere worldly pursuits ; and they provided by law 
 that every town should provide for the moral and religious culture of 
 its inhabitants. The principle which was enunciated a hundred years 
 afterwards by the father of his country, that religion and morality 
 were indispensable supports of a nation's welfare, were then engrafted 
 on the soul of every true patriot and sound legislator. But the de- 
 velopments of their religion, though springing from honest hearts, 
 
102 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 were not very favorable to the promotion of a true moral growth. 
 An able and pious minister, as understood at that period, must be 
 one whose creed was trimmed according to the received theology. 
 All others, as we have seen in the case of Wheelright, and we may 
 add Roger Williams, Ann Hutchinson and the many who were ban- 
 ished from that Colony, were regarded as in fellowship with the great 
 adversary, and not allowed to preach the gospel as they understood 
 it. How far the local authorities concurred in this view of the min- 
 istry, does not appear. But the people were divided in sentiment ; 
 some not respecting very highly the religious manifestations of the 
 ruling powers, while others were in full accord with them. There 
 may have been some middle ground, which some had discretion and 
 consideration enough to maintain. But of this we have no knowl- 
 edge, and therefore cannot state what were the views dispensed un- 
 der the following order of the court sitting at York July 1, 1661 : 
 
 "The town of Wells at present being destitute of any fit person 
 to carry on the worship of God amongst them on the Lord's day, it 
 is therefore ordered by this Court, that till they can better provide 
 for themselves, which we hope they will not neglect any opportunity 
 to do, that Mr. Ezekiel Knight and William Hammond shall duly at- 
 tend the place of public meeting on the Lord's day, and there im- 
 prove their best abilities in speaking out of the word of God, pray- 
 ing, singing of psalms, and reading some good orthodox sermons, as 
 may tend to the edification of those that hear, and the sanctification 
 of the Sabbath, as the laws of God and this jurisdiction require." 
 
 This order was not very efficient in advancing or maintaining the 
 religious spirit among the townsmen. Knight was not of the most 
 peaceful and gentle temperament, and amidst the political divisions 
 which prevailed, his influence could not have been favorable to re- 
 ligious growth. The remedy was to be found only in the ministra- 
 tions of some one who had no share in the strife, civil or ecclesiasti- 
 cal, which had so long been the bane of the settlement. It is very 
 manifeefc that religion was not then very firmly enthroned in the 
 hearts of the people, and but few took any deep interest in its ordi- 
 nances. The spirit of the legislation, and the effect of judicial ac- 
 tion under it were very unfavorable to sound morals, or to any strong 
 attachment to Christian institutions. The people had not yet any 
 fixed place of public worship ; and without such a place of gathering 
 for the flock on the Sabbath, but little progress can be made toward 
 
 \ 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 103 
 
 the establishment of a permanent ministry. At the same court some 
 of those who felt the necessity of a house of worship appeared and 
 made complaint against the town for its failure in this respect, and 
 the inhabitants were indicted " for their neglect in not appointing a 
 place for public meeting on the Lord's day, to worship God in, ac- 
 cording to their best abilities, till God's Providence do better pro- 
 vide for them, whereby many persons take liberty to neglect, if not 
 profane the Sabbath." 
 
 That there was a lamentable profanation of the Sabbath during 
 the whole period anterior to the first Indian war, no one who has 
 carefully studied the early history of the province can doubt. Li- 
 centiousness was everywhere rampant. The sanctions of religion 
 were disregarded ; and men for the most part were heedless of law 
 and of those moral obligations, a regard for which is indispensable, to 
 social and civil progress. The moral atmosphere of Wells was in 
 no respect more healthy than that of other portions of the province. 
 The religious teachings, apparently, had been powerless for good. 
 But the people were required to provide for the ministration of the 
 word ; and in 1664 Joseph Emerson was engaged as the minister of 
 the town. 
 
 We are without definite knowledge of his peculiar qualifications 
 for the sacred office. It is said by Felt, that " perhaps he was the 
 son of Joseph Emerson of Ipswich." But of his education nothing 
 is known. He preached at York in 1648, but in 1653 he lived in 
 Wells, and was an inhabitant when the commissioners took the 
 submission of the people, the court being holden at his house. He 
 was a supporter of the claim of Massachusetts, and, necessarily, 
 while the political dissensions continued, could not have had the 
 warm support of a large part of the people. During his residence 
 here, till the year 1664, we do not find him taking any part in the re- 
 ligious action of the town, or in its political [or municipal concerns, 
 excepting in signing a petition to Cromwell in 1656, that the pro- 
 vince might be continued under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 
 It may be that he was a man of a very meek and quiet spirit, and so 
 kept himself aloof from all the turmoils which were shedding their 
 baneful influences over the souls of men. He was not a member of 
 the church in 1653, the supporters of the Massachusetts theology 
 having withdrawn from it, or been excommunicated. Having lived 
 a quiet and secluded life for so many years, and avoiding all contro- 
 
104 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 versy on the matters which agitated the public mind, the people may- 
 have united on him in the belief that he had abjured all partisan 
 feelings, and would devote himself to the cause of peace and mutual 
 good will. But at this period it was an impossibility for any settled 
 minister to preach the gospel without subjecting himself to very try- 
 ing persecution. Men were so sensitive, we mean those who had 
 any religious impulses, that anything touching unfavorably upon 
 their views of Christian doctrine, was at once branded as false and 
 heretical. Ministers were charged as being liars when presenting any 
 such unwelcome opinions. Thus Robert Jordan was indicted for 
 saying, "John Cotton deceased was a liar, and died with a lie in his 
 mouth, and that he was gone to Hell with a pack of lies;" John 
 Thorp " for scanalizeing Mr. Norton and saying he held forth false 
 doctrines." Emerson was indicted the year before his settlement, 
 while, perhaps, preaching as a candidate, for "telling of a lie," and 
 again, " for speaking falsely." One, in those days, who could be a 
 conscientious preacher, and maintain his position as a minister, must 
 have had a wisdom which belongs to few of the present age. He 
 soon lost his hold on the affections of the people, terminating his 
 ministry at Wells in 1667. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Ed- 
 ward Buckley in 1665. He was afterwards pastor of the church in 
 Men don, where he remained till that village was broken up by the 
 Indians. He then went to Concord, where he died June 3, 1680. 
 
 We know not whether a church was organized during his minis- 
 try. We have met with no evidence tending to prove that feet. It 
 would have consisted of such discordant materials, that it would not 
 long have maintained any useful position. 
 
 The next minister was Rev. Jeremiah Hubbard. We have no 
 records or relicts from which we can satisfactorily ascertain his own 
 character or that of his ministry. What we have to say is mostly 
 matter of inference. He came to Wells from Lynn, Mass., in 1667, 
 and was engaged as the minister of the town for seven years. He 
 does not appear to have been an educated man, but he had certain 
 personal attributes which fitted him to gain the good-will of the 
 people. He was one of a class in the ministry who would hold the 
 attention of the people by his earnestness, rather than by the power 
 of his logic. He evidently did not consider that the preaching of 
 the Gospel and the moral welfare of the people, should be the exclu- 
 sive objects to which his thoughts should be directed. The goods of 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 105 
 
 this world he regarded as necessary for himself as for any one else, 
 and he was not disposed to let the town indulge a mean and selfish 
 spirit. If he was to preach the Gospel, they were not only to keep 
 their hearts open to receive the divine message, but were also to 
 supply for him what was necessary to maintain the earthly taberna- 
 cle in soundness and comfort. The exhaustion consequent upon 
 patient, persevering labor was to be made up by material compensa- 
 tion. 
 
 The people seem to have had some knowledge of him before he 
 was engaged as their minister, and they made to him more generous 
 offers than were usual in these small towns, just starting into life, 
 and agreed to allow him £50 a year, which was, we suppose, nearly 
 as much as the income of any man in the congregation. Life in 
 those days was carried on in a very different way from that which 
 rules at the present period. There were no men burdened down 
 and enslaved by commercial prosperity, or by the result of those 
 speculations whereby the tide of wealth has suddenly overwhelmed 
 them, and washed all generous and benevolent affections from their 
 souls ; but every man lived by the sweat of his brow, compelling the 
 earth to respond to his hard labor by giving him what his family 
 needed to keep the spark of life burning within. To have been as- 
 sured of such an annual income would have stayed and encouraged 
 the heart of many of his hearers. 
 
 In addition to the fifty pounds, they agreed to give him thirty- 
 three pounds to aid him in building a house, "a comfortable habita- 
 tion," as it was termed, on any land which he might select ; and that 
 every man should give him a day's work in getting, cutting, and pre- 
 paring his wood ; and also, that he should have the use of the land 
 set apart for the ministry, and that they would fence it and plow up 
 the fallow part of it ; also, that they would give him two or three 
 hundred acres of upland and twenty or thirty acres of meadow; 
 and if he should continue with them and die in the ministry, that 
 one-half of the parsonage lot should be his and his heirs forever; 
 and, as a further inducement, that his lands should be free from all 
 taxes. If he should not remain with them during life, but should 
 choose to remove from the town, they agreed to purchase his house 
 and pay the price which referees might fix upon it ; and on the ac- 
 ceptance of these proposals, they would remove free of expense, the 
 
106 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 danger f the seas excepted, all his furniture and goods from Lynn 
 to Wells. 
 
 These offers for the support of the ministry bear an aspect so dif- 
 ferent from anything before or after visible in our ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, that we do not know in what light to view them. They bear 
 the mark of a generous Christian spirit, and attest an apparently liv- 
 ing sense of the value of the services of the sanctuary. True, by 
 law, the inhabitants were required to furnish reasonable support for a 
 good orthodox minister, and if they did not do so the county court 
 was authorized to compel them to make such provision ; but what 
 was here offered seems to have exceeded that requirement. It indi- 
 cates that these propositions were not compulsory, but rather an 
 emanation from honest-hearted, liberal souls. Still, they were insuf- 
 ficient to satisfy the demands of Mr. Hubbard, as a basis of his ac- 
 ceptance. He asked for the still further encouragement toward his 
 settlement, that the town should pay him £63, in six months, to aid 
 him in building his house ; that they should haul all the timber to 
 the site selected for it; that they should advance the rest of his an- 
 nual salary for his present livelihood, and give him a farm at Four 
 Mile Brook; and further, that he should have liberty, twice a year, 
 to visit his relations and friends, in an absence of two or three weeks 
 each time ; and finally, that he should not be restrained from " the 
 enjoyment of liberty of conscience therein by authority." Under 
 the mutual assent to all these terms he agreed to " be minister of 
 Wells, and, God willing, continue, desiring all jealousies and hard 
 thoughts past may be forever buried, and love may continue and in- 
 crease forever." These seem to be pretty severe demands on a peo- 
 ple so poor as were those of Wells, and it is difficult to understand 
 by what motives they were led to acquiesce in them. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard seems to have been compounded of elements not 
 usually united. His propositions, in some degree, indicate that he 
 was a little too grasping after this world's goods ; buf still he was 
 high-minded, maintaining a proper respect for his manhood, and 
 duly appreciating the responsibilities of the ministerial office. He 
 claimed to understand the constitution of God's moral government, 
 and he was determined to expound that constitution as he under- 
 stood it. He knew with whom he had to deal, and meant, before he 
 entered upon his work among them, to prepare the way for its faith- 
 ful execution. He would preach against any heresies which he 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 107 
 
 thought were at war with the Gospel of Christ, or obstacles to the 
 advancement of true piety, or he would not preach at all. He 
 would denounce profanity, intemperance, lying, licentiousness, and 
 everything inimical to the religion of Christ, let his words come 
 home to whom they would. No man's sins, whether in the church 
 or out of it, should be shielded from attack, in consequence of his 
 position or influence. As a minister of Christ, while he occupied 
 the pulpit he would fear no man, but boldly declare the whole coun- 
 cil of God. This is the translation of " liberty of conscience " in the 
 pulpit. Mr. Hubbard's resolution in this direction is one well wor- 
 thy the attention of all who assume the high functions of the minis- 
 terial office. This cringing to power, or to the soulless demagogue 
 in any station, is demeaning to the highest degree, especially to one 
 who has the charge of the sacred desk. 
 
 But, unfortunately, this orthodoxy, though assented to in theory, 
 does not, when carried out, always meet with a ready acceptance. 
 Some souls, corrupted by some long indulged sin, wounded by the 
 enunciation of divine truth, are always ready to rise up in rebellion 
 against the independence of the pulpit, when, in the exercise of its 
 freedom, it denounces the judgments of God against their cherished 
 iniquity. Such men there are in almost every society, the enemies 
 of God and man, the disturbers of the peace, and the bane of every 
 Christian community. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard had agreed to minister to the people for the term of 
 seven years; but his connection with them was dissolved in less 
 than five months. We are uninformed as to the cause ; but we have 
 little doubt that it had its origin in the neglect of the inhabitants to 
 carry out the programme of the settlement. Possibly he had exer- 
 cised his liberty of conscience to a greater extent than some of his 
 dissolute hearers anticipated. Some sudden ebullition of wrath, and 
 consequent ill treatment, on account of some home-thrust of the 
 sword of the Spirit, may have induced him to abandon his position. 
 We, of the present day, are not unfrequently compelled to witness 
 the same disruption of the best associations of life, from the same 
 cause. Men and women are very sensitive as to matters suggestive 
 of, or hinting at, their own aberrations. Some claiming to be Chris- 
 tians, even, do not relish the injunction of the apostle, that they 
 should be freely admonished of their faults. 
 
108 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Origin of the name Kennebunk— Henry Sayward— Grants to Say- 
 ward, Johnson, and Patty — First house in Kennebunk village — 
 mousam mills — conflict of titles to the mills — henry brown 
 and James Carr— Avalanche on Kennebunk river— Discontent 
 toward Massachusetts. 
 
 We now turn our attention to the eastern part of the town, and 
 chiefly to that portion of it which constitutes the present village of 
 Kennebunk. Perhaps a more beautiful and romantic locality was 
 not to be found on the coast of Maine than was, at that time, pre- 
 sented by the Mousam river and its vicinage. Could it have re- 
 tained its original wildness until this day, when there is so much 
 demand for water privileges and mill sites, and when in almost 
 every town there is such a demand for manufactories, it is doubtful 
 whether a community of intelligent and refined tastes would have 
 consented to the desecration of the beautiful scenery by substituting 
 in its place the noise, activities, and even profits of any of these es- 
 tablishments. The fall extended nearly half a mile, being in its 
 whole descent about forty feet, and from the beginning to the end 
 was overhung with magnificent oaks, standing on each side of the 
 river and intertwining their branches, so that the stream glided 
 along under an arch surpassing in grandeur and beauty any work of 
 man which could be substituted in its place. The stately pines, out- 
 vieing any now to be found in the vicinity, towering far above all 
 other trees of the forest, stood along the banks, as watchmen, to 
 guard against any vandalism which would attempt to intrude upon 
 and violate its sacred magnificence. At their accustomed seasons, 
 the stream was crowded with salmon, while the wilderness adjoining 
 was vocal with the music of innumerable songsters. The whole 
 scenery was entrancing in the highest degree. Romance here might 
 have found indulgence to the full, and well might the sons of the 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 109 
 
 forest have called the place Kennetfunk, meaning, as some Indian 
 linguists say, the place " where he thanked him." 
 
 But the men of that day thought but little of romance or beauty. 
 Life's earnestness was upon a far different errand. The pioneers did 
 not come here to enjoy its splendid scenery. They were not edu- 
 cated for merely visionary life. They had not grown up in the 
 midst of the refinements of aristocracy, or been trained to an educa- 
 tion which finds its enjoyment in the contemplation of the marvel- 
 lous works of the Almighty. Their daily bread was the great, mov- 
 ing impetus. They were compelled to bend all their energies to the 
 support of their families and the acquisition of such a surplus of 
 life's necessities as would meet the demands of feeble and declining 
 years. They wrought for physical life and comfort, and nothing was 
 beautiful to them which did not contribute to this important end. 
 All this grandeur and magnificence, therefore, only awaited the 
 pleasure of the first adventurer who should see on this stream an apt 
 location for his saw-mill. 
 
 Henry Say ward came over to this country from England in 1637. 
 He resided a few years at Hampton and Portsmouth, and then came 
 to York. He was by occupation a millwright and carpenter; a man 
 of much enterprise and skill in his business. His services were 
 much needed, as mills were the principal sources of income to the 
 new settlers. Lumber had come to be in great demand, and every 
 encouragement was given by the government toward their erection. 
 He devoted himself to this employment for many years, and to the 
 instruction of others in the like business. In this last respect he 
 was of great service to the people of the town of York, to the 
 towns adjoining, and perhaps to other parts of New England. He 
 speaks of himself as having been so unremittingly employed in this 
 way as to " have thereby neglected looking after land for himself 
 and family, as others have done," while "by the blessing of God, he 
 hath been very beneficial to the country and many persons therein, 
 through several afflictions by the Providence of God it hath been 
 but little to his own benefit ; but most especially by reason of a sad 
 Providence that happened in burning of his mills at York, wherein 
 he lost a thousand pounds, which hath brought him much to be be- 
 hindhand." 
 
110 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTXNK. 
 
 The misfortunes which thus fell upon him were not unmingled 
 with good, for they brought to him unmistakable testimony of his 
 high appreciation with the people. He had the best sympathies of 
 all, and though they were poor, those who had had the benefit of his 
 instructions and labors voluntarily came forward and did what they 
 could to alleviate his distress and make up for his loss. The people 
 could all say, as was said of the centurion, "he loveth our nation 
 and hath built us a synagogue." He built the church in York in 
 1667; and meeting houses in those days, by those who had any 
 sense of their relationship to the Almighty, were reverenced as in- 
 dispensable to any community, and the builder drew to himself the 
 interest, friendship, and good-will of those who were to have the 
 benefit of his labors. 
 
 But it is to his misfortunes that we are to attribute the origin of 
 the village of Kennebunk. Why he did not rebuild on the site of 
 his burnt mill, we cannot answer in any other way than that the peo- 
 ple of Wells so understood his character and usefulness that they 
 pressed him to come here, and offered him all the encouragements in 
 their power. Several of them had been to see him and told him of 
 this fine site on Cape Porpoise river, in the midst of abundance of 
 timber, to which easy access was to be had for the transportation 
 of lumber. Induced by these favorable representations, Say ward, in 
 1669, abandoned his home in York and came to Wells, and, being 
 satisfied with the eligibility of the situation, petitioned to the town 
 for the necessary grant of the privilege. His petition was favorably 
 received, and a grant of 300 acres on the east side of the river, and 
 one acre on the west side, adjoining the falls, was made to him, pro- 
 vided he made improvements on the same in one year. At the 
 same time a grant was made to James Johnson, of York, and a sim- 
 ilar grant to Thomas Patty, of Wells, on the northeast side, subject 
 to the same condition. There was also given to the three liberty to 
 build a saw-mill, and also the privilege of the river for the transpor- 
 tation of lumber, with the right of cutting pitch-pine timber on the 
 river for the use of the mill, upon the joint obligation of all to pay 
 five pounds sterling annually, in lumber, to the town, payment to be 
 made in merchantable boards at the market price, at some conven- 
 ient landing place to which a boat might have access. The mill 
 was to be built forthwith, as the first payment was to be made in one 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 111 
 
 year. JSTo particular examination of the land had been made, and 
 the extent and quality of the growth on it was unknown. The 
 town was anxious for the erection of the contemplated mill. 
 
 This grant was surely a highly favorable one to the grantees, 
 when viewed in all its relations. The falls, extending so far down, 
 gave them an opportunity of building the dam at the beginning of 
 the descent, and carrying the flume to any distance necessary to ob- 
 tain the proper power. The expense of the dam was thus very 
 small, the depth of the water being only four or five feet. It was 
 thirty or forty rods above the present one. 
 
 In consequence of the difficulties which had arisen in regard to 
 the proprietorship of the province of Maine, it was feared that this 
 grant from the town might not give a reliable title, and therefore 
 Sayward made application to the general court of Massachusetts for 
 liberty of cutting timber on the neighboring land, and for so much 
 meadow and upland as they, in their wisdom, might think meet and 
 convenient, which might be, "by God's blessing, a support and 
 means to help him in the clearing of his engagements, and after his 
 decease be left as a memorial of their worship's favor to his wife 
 and children." The grants were made agreeably to his request, "he 
 not entrenching on any man's propriety." 
 
 The first step was to provide for themselves suitable shelter and 
 household accommodation. They accordingly erected a small house 
 in the field opposite the beginning of the falls, six or eight rods west 
 of Alfred street. This was the only house on the territory of Ken- 
 nebunk village for the following half century. The site of the cellar 
 is still to be seen. 
 
 Before they began the erection of the mill, Johnson sold out to 
 Sayward all his interest in the privilege. Patty then followed his 
 example, and also transferred to him his right. The prospect, from 
 some cause or other, was not very encouraging. They were away 
 from all civilized men. Settlers had selected the seaboard as places 
 of habitation. There were yet no roads for the accommodation of 
 those who thus sat down in the wilderness. Their only companions 
 were to be Indians, not always reliable as friends, yet up to this time 
 there had been no manifestations, on their part, adverse to the im- 
 provements which civilization was attempting, though two Or three 
 years previously some of the leading men had entertained fears that 
 an unfavorable feeling had been engendered in the bosoms of the 
 
112 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 natives, which might break forth in much trouble to the settlers. 
 Johnson and Patty may have abandoned on this account, but it is 
 more likely that Say ward's projects were on too large a scale to 
 commend themselves to his co-partners. He was for laying out an 
 establishment which would outvie anything yet set on foot in Maine. 
 There was here an opportunity of erecting buildings of a superior 
 order, worthy of the civilization which had just been introduced to 
 these shores. But Johnson and Patty did not cherish such high as- 
 pirations. The expenditures of the projected mills looked to them 
 too large for the means under their control, and they retired from 
 the concern. Sayward had thus the whole burden of the work upon 
 himself, but he was unmoved from his purpose. He may not have 
 well considered the enterprise on which he had embarked, and did 
 not exercise that prudent and cautious foresight which would have 
 brought to his vision the difficulties which he must necessarily en- 
 counter in the progress of the establishment. He had not the pe- 
 cuniary means to meet the required expenditures. It required no 
 small amount of lumber, at that time, to pay for imported articles 
 which he must need. All the materials necessary for the operation 
 of the mill, and all supplies for family use, must be obtained from 
 Boston, by means of the coasters. Whether there were any accom- 
 modations for females in the small house which had been built we do 
 not know. The millmen alone, we think, occupied the house. 
 
 Sayward was not satisfied with the land which he now possessed, 
 and before beginning on his mill he purchased of Daniel Eppes, of 
 Ipswich, the farm previously belonging to Gooch Austin, on the riv- 
 er below, promising to pay for it in boards ; and if not paid for at 
 the time specified, the deed was to be void, and he to pay double 
 rent. Perhaps the farm was obtained for the accommodation of his 
 wife and family. The purchase may speak well for his affection and 
 domestic attributes, but it savors too much of that inconsideration 
 and rashness which mark the action of many kind hearted and easy 
 men of the present day. We have no knowledge of this Gooch 
 Austin. His name does not appear again. It is probable that he 
 was an inhabitant of some town at the west, perhaps Ipswich, where 
 Eppes lived. Though it is called a farm, we think it was never 
 brought under cultivation. 
 
 Sayward went forward in the work of building his saw-mill, and 
 completed it in the year 1672. But this erection did not satisfy his 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 113 
 
 idea of what ought to be done here. He must also build a grist-mill. 
 Where the grist was to come from he did not stop to inquire. Some 
 of the Alnaki Indians had, indeed, accustomed themselves to the an- 
 nual raising of a little corn, and possibly their number was sufficient- 
 ly large in the neighborhood to justify the conclusion that their 
 patronage would partially remunerate him. He evidently calculated 
 on a large business from some quarter. He placed two sets of 
 stones in the mill, and was thus prepared to do a good deal of work. 
 He gave to the whole establishment the name of Mousam mills, by 
 which they were always thereafterwards called. The reasons for 
 this appellation have not been ascertained. Previously to this peri- 
 od, the river had been known by the name of Cape Porpoise; soon 
 after, it was called Mousam. The change was probably wrought by 
 this designation of the works on it. It would be natural, in refer- 
 ring to the Mousam mills, as common in the intercourse of life, to 
 give the same name to the territory about it and to the river on 
 which the business of the mill was done. But why Sayward gave it 
 the name Mousam neither record nor tradition reveals to us. The 
 mills afterwards built on the falls next above were called Cat Mous- 
 am mills, from some singular catastrophe, which has now escaped 
 our memory, to the domestic animal, a material concomitant of al- 
 most every family. Perhaps some peculiar or unusual incident, in 
 which a mouse was involved, in the progress of his work, led Say- 
 ward to apply this name to his mills, and the upper was called Cat 
 Mousam, as significant of superiority of that mill over the lower. 
 We do not believe that the name was of Indian origin. There is no 
 apparent reason why, at this time, it should have been substituted by 
 them for the ancient name of Cape Porpoise. 
 
 In order to complete his works, Sayward had involved himself in 
 debt to a considerable amount, and he had no sooner finished his 
 building than he was called upon by his creditors to secure their de- 
 mands against him. He had spent his all in their construction, and 
 was now owing large debts in Boston. Robert Gibbs called upon 
 him for the payment of his account of twelve or thirteen hundred 
 dollars, and he was obliged to mortgage the whole mill and privi- 
 leges, with his dwelling house and all his land on the east side of the 
 river, to secure to him the payment of that sum. The next year he 
 was obliged to mortgage the same to Simon Lynde of Boston, ex- 
 cepting one-half of the house. Two years after, in 1675, he sold his 
 8 
 
114 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 land below the mill to John Brown and James Carr. But it does 
 not appear that this sale helped him in the troublesome exigency to 
 which the expenditures on the mill had brought him. He did not 
 pay his debts, and in a short time, in 1675, worn out, we suppose, by 
 his exposure in accomplishing this work, and by the anxiety growing 
 out of his large indebtment, all his grand projects were terminated, 
 and he was called to pay the great debt which nature requires of all 
 
 Say ward was one of the best of men, but enterprise was too promi- 
 nent an element of his character. He needed cautiousness and dis- 
 cretion to check his zeal. He anticipated no failure. Ardent in his 
 pursuits, he never doubted their successful termination. He gave 
 himself to his work, as confident of a favorable issue as if already 
 reached ; and thence, from a want of considerate previous examina- 
 tion, disappointment came from all his exertions. He was in no de- 
 gree extravagant in his domestic economy. There was no oppor- 
 tunity for a thoughtless and lavish expenditure. He lived on , the 
 plainest fare, and all the furniture which his wife had to carry on her 
 household administration was, three beds, a few old pewter dishes, 
 three keelers, two iron pots, two brass kettles, two old tubs, a tramel 
 and pot-hooks, a spit and irons, two water pails, a pair of cards, two 
 table boards, a spinning-wheel, meat-trough and chest. This, we 
 should now regard as rather poor provision for comfortable life. 
 Chairs were not then in vogue very extensively. But all his strug- 
 gles, notwithstanding his economy, left him in complete insolvency 
 at the close of life ; so that nothing remained for his wife and chil- 
 dren but her dower, in his real estate, and the memory of his virtues 
 and manly character. Fifty years' hard labor, closing in poverty, 
 seems to have been a severe destiny for him. Left almost penniless, 
 his wife Mary, after the severe struggles through which she had 
 passed, was obliged to remove to some more public place and resort 
 to the low business of rumselling without license, to keep herself 
 from becoming a burden to the people. 
 
 The next year, 1678, James Lynde, of Boston, gave public notice 
 that he objected to any grant of administration on these mills, and 
 to any inventory of one-half of the house and one -half of the mills, 
 as the property of Say ward, claiming that they were his by virtue of 
 the mortgage. In 1679 Symon Lynde made a similar objection, 
 claiming that all was his. And in the same year Jonathan Corwine 
 and his wife cautioned all persons against inventorying this saw-mill 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 115 
 
 and three hundred acres of land as Say ward's, as the same were for- 
 feited and belonged to Robert Gibbs, and that he now had possession 
 of the same by virtue of his mortgage. 
 
 These mills were all completed just before the commencement of 
 King Phillip's war, and a road was ordered by the court, from Wells 
 by them to Saco. Previously to this time unbroken amity had pre- 
 vailed with the Indian tribes. Probably in the progress of the work 
 Sayward had availed himself of their aid, and the idea of any dan- 
 gerous conflict with them had never entered his mind. The Indian 
 character was very imperfectly understood. Its more complete de- 
 velopment was now about to be realized. They were peaceful and 
 inoffensive when everything went on to their satisfaction, but when 
 any wrong came home to them it awakened in their untutored 
 breasts a vengeance, not to be satisfied by merely rendering a return 
 of evil equal to that received. They were then engaged in almost 
 continual wars with each other, and at such times vengeance had no 
 limits in the amount of injury to be inflicted. Every cruelty was re- 
 sorted to, and they wreaked out their malice with an unsparing 
 hand. 
 
 It may well be supposed that the position of all property here 
 must have been exceedingly precarious ; and that Sayward could not 
 but feel that all his hopes might be blasted in a moment. King 
 Phillip's war began in 1675. At this time there was not a single in- 
 habitant, excepting his own workmen, whom he could call to his aid 
 at the mills, which were remote from the inhabited part of the town. 
 The site of the present village was an entire wilderness. The dense 
 forests of oak and pine had not been interfered with by the wood- 
 man's axe. The Indian, the wolf, the bear, claimed all around as their 
 dominion, where they had liberty to follow their impulses unre- 
 strained. But there was little fear of the wild beasts. The red man, 
 inspired as he was by the labors of French Jesuitry, with the assur- 
 ance that the English were about to wrest from him his long enjoyed 
 hunting grounds, had now become ready, on any trifling occasion, to 
 assert his rights and vent his vengeance on these intruders upon his 
 God-given domain. The tomahawk and the scalping knife awaited 
 only their fit opportunity. The terrors of Indian warfare soon mani- 
 fested themselves to the scattered settlers of New England ; and 
 Sayward was of necessity obliged to abandon his works, and flee for 
 refuge to some of the garrison houses. Of what avail could it have 
 
116 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBTJNK. 
 
 been for him with his single arm to remain there ? He must fight 
 his own battles against whatever odds. It would have been madness 
 to fight an enemy where defeat and captivity or death were sure. 
 He was not without consideration of his moral responsibilities; un- 
 derstanding his relationships to God and man. He did not bury 
 himself in the woods to escape his social and civil obligations. 
 Though seven or eight miles from the house of God, he was a liberal 
 supporter of public worship, which fact throws much light on his 
 character. Though, as a general postulate, no personal attributes 
 were a protection against Indian violence, yet there were persons 
 whose gracious deportment toward the sons of the forest, was not 
 without its effect on the savage heart. We are inclined to think 
 that Sayward was one of that class, for although he fled from his 
 mills, leaving them to the mercy of the savage foe, yet they remained 
 safe through all the ravages and desolation of this Indian war. 
 
 Notwithstanding the cautions of the several mortgagees, these 
 mills were included in the inventory of the estate of Henry Say- 
 ward. They were appraised at £1,200, about 4,000 dollars. And as 
 all this value was given to the mills alone, the land at this time be- 
 ing of little worth, they must have been built in a style altogether 
 beyond the demands of the age. After the war was over in 1680, 
 Cor win recovered judgment on his mortgage, and took possession of 
 them under the title of Gibbs. We suppose he was never a resident 
 of Kennebunk. He was a man of considerable note, residing in Sa- 
 lem, and was one of the judges in the disgraceful trials for witch- 
 craft. The mills were entrusted to the care of Henry Brown and 
 James Carr, Scotchmen. These men in 1679, had taken a grant of 
 the land on both sides of the river, bounding on the mill lot. The 
 brook, always termed " the Scotchman's Brook," passed through this 
 land. They came over to this country to engage in business of this 
 kind, bringing with them several mechanics as auxiliaries to their 
 work. They added to the establishment a blacksmith's shop on the 
 western side of the river, and operated the mills very successfully. 
 They enjoyed every facility for the transaction of business. Vessels 
 came up to the Falls, and took their lumber from the landing place. 
 The coasters were of a small burthen, and found no difficulty in en- 
 tering the river. The inventive powers of man had not then per- 
 fected the saw-mill ; and the amount of work which it accomplished, 
 we suppose would be small in comparison with the daily results of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 117 
 
 operations at this period; but in 1682 one man sawed about 160,000. 
 The coasters engaged in the transportation of lumber, supplied the 
 workmen with all that they needed from Boston, so that, though 
 dwelling in the wilderness, they had all the comforts of life, with 
 the exception of those which flow from social and Christian con- 
 verse. They were away from the haunts of civilized man, but, like 
 our modern lumbermen, who spend their winters in the woods, away 
 from their families, they enjoyed the activities of the day and the 
 repose of the night ; amusing each other in rehearsing stories of 
 Scottish life beyond the water, and possibly with the sweet notes of 
 the bagpipe. They seem to have been men, sui generis. The joys 
 of connubial life did not take hold of their hearts. They had no 
 wives or children. They worked here five or six years. How much 
 prosperity followed their labors we cannot say. No addition had 
 been made to the settlement. The wolf, undisturbed by the inroads 
 of civilization, still continued his nightly bowlings ; and the wild- 
 cat, the bear and the moose still roamed freely through the forests. 
 Such surroundings would not, indeed, commend themselves to the 
 timid souls of the female sex. To them nothing could be more 
 hideous than the night cry of the wolf. The proximity of the sav- 
 ages also, of whose vengeance a few years preceding, they had been 
 witnesses, would be sufficient to send continual dismay to their fear- 
 ful hearts. No woman would commit her destinies to the care of 
 one who had thus chosen to make his life one of unceasing peril. 
 All the enjoyments of the wedded relation must be more than neu- 
 tralized by perpetual fear. These men had every viand which could 
 allure the appetite. The woods abounded with game of every kind ; 
 and the Mousam teemed with salmon, wending their way to the great 
 pond. 
 
 These men being habituated to their condition, very probably had 
 come to enjoy this doleful music of the wilderness. Perhaps it 
 soothed their wearied spirits to their nightly rest. Their intercourse 
 with the natives may have been profitable, and all fears had been 
 subdued, while amidst the beautiful scenery of the long falls, they 
 were led to regard their position as highly captivating; and thence 
 they could not understand why it was that not a single family should 
 be disposed to share with them in its advantages. Perhaps invita- 
 tions had been extended to some to form with them the most inti- 
 mate relation of life, and these invitations had touched no accordant 
 
118 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 note, and that for this cause they had foresworn all connections with 
 the sex. 
 
 Whatever may have been the inducement, they adopted the reso- 
 lution that none should be sharers in the results of their labors while 
 one of them remained. In the stillness of evening, when the deep 
 shadows of night were all about them, they meditated and talked of 
 their solitary condition. The outward world had no claim on their 
 beneficence. They felt that their position was by no means a safe 
 one ; that they had no sure hold on life. But they declared, each for 
 the other, the strongest love and affection. They were not misan- 
 thropes ; but the sharing of common joys and common exposures, 
 had rooted in their hearts an attachment stronger than that any 
 which the natural relations of life had previously implanted within 
 them. They had in their company a third person by the name of 
 Robert Stuart, who, we suppose, was also of Scotch origin. After 
 meditating on the uncertainty of life, they all came to the solemn de- 
 termination, that should either of them be taken away the survivors 
 should be the absolute owners of all his estate ; houses, lands, cattle, 
 money, goods, movables and immovables, and the same should be the 
 unchangable law with the survivors, so that the last should be the 
 absolute owner of all that they possessed ; and this agreement was 
 sanctioned by a solemn written contract, under seal, declaring that 
 all property of either was the absolute property of the others, and 
 that when one deceased, to the survivors or survivor belonged the 
 whole estate. From the provisions of this contract there was no 
 appeal. Though afterwards separated, no discharge could be had 
 from its demands. The responsibilities were for life. 
 
 Operations were continued at the mills until the renewal of hostil- 
 ities in 1688. It may here be added, that in the biographical sketches 
 which we have given of the members of Wheelright's church, it is 
 stated that Philemon Pormott, the " Boston schoolmaster," left the 
 town before the incorporation, and that nothing is known of his 
 subsequent life. But in the year 1680, his two sons, Elias Pormott 
 and Lazarus Pormott, worked in this mill. But whence they came 
 or whither they went we are unable to state. 
 
 A new Indian war now broke out, to the great discomfiture of all 
 the people. As a monition of the rupture of their peaceful relations, 
 the Indians, we conclude, as was their wont, deserted all their wig- 
 wams, so that all had notice in season for self-defense and preserva- 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 119 
 
 tion. The occupants, from necessity, fled from the mills. All over 
 the province the people were obliged to flee to the garrisons. The 
 works were left to the mercy of the Indians. Destruction marked 
 the path of the enemy. Houses and buildings in great numbers were 
 laid waste. Cattle were killed ; men, women and children murdered 
 or taken captive ; and these mills, built at so great cost, were com- 
 mitted to the flames, and nature resumed, and for many years exer- 
 cised, the original and exclusive jurisdiction which she had long ages 
 before enjoyed. So closed the first act of the drama of civilized life 
 on the banks of the Mousam. 
 
 What became of the possessors of the mill, we are not informed. 
 They soon after ceased to be inhabitants of the town. Stuart made 
 no improvement on the land allotted to him. It remained many 
 years unoccupied. It was then granted to Joseph Preble, a minor, 
 who was to improve it by the time he came to mature age. Sayward 
 did not pay the annual rent of the land which had been conveyed to 
 him ; so that all these lands, for aught we ca*i see, reverted to the 
 town, if the right to them was ever in the corporation. 
 
 These works at Mousam, the houses of John Sanders and Hard- 
 ing, were the only buildings which are known to have been on what 
 is now the territory of Kennebunk in 1675. The wilderness was 
 elsewhere untouched by civilized man. 
 
 Nature still maintained all her grandeur, though the woods were 
 not trackless. There was some intercourse between the mills and 
 the harbor. The accounts of the great event of 1670, of which so 
 much was said at that period, would seem to make that fact certain. 
 In that year, says Hubbard, in his History of New England, "an 
 ominous accident fell out " here. " At a place called Kennebunk in 
 the North East side of Wells, not far from the river side, a piece of 
 clay ground was thrown up by a mineral vapor over the tops of high 
 oaks that grew between it and the river. The said ground so thrown 
 up, fell in the middle of the river and stopped the course thereof, 
 and leaving a hole forty yards square in the place whence it was 
 thrown, in which were found thousands of round pellets of clay, like 
 musket balls. All the whole town of Wells are witnesses* of the 
 truth of this relation ; and several others have seen sundry of these 
 clay pellets, which the inhabitants have shown to their neighbors of 
 other towns." This ominous accident was regarded by leading men 
 of the day as a wonderful event. It was the subject of long letters 
 
120 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 from Governor Winthrop and others to persons in England. Two 
 of them we subjoin. 
 
 "Boston Oct. 11, 1670. My Lord: The relation which I am now 
 presenting to your Lordship, is of a very strange and prodigious 
 wonder this last summer in this part of the world; that the like hath 
 not been known for the whole manner of it I do not remember that 
 I have read or heard. There was a hill near Kennebunk river in the 
 Province of Maine, the Eastern part of New England, which is re- 
 moved out of its place, and the bottom turned upwards. The time 
 is not certain when it was done, but that it is so is very certain, and 
 it is concluded by those who live nearest to it that it was removed 
 either the latter end of June or the beginning of July last. The re- 
 lation I have from creditable persons respecting it, is this, that the 
 hill being almost eight rods from Kennebunk river's side on the West 
 side of the river, about four miles from the sea, was removed from 
 its place over the dry land about eight rods or perches, and over the 
 tops of the trees also, between the hill and the river, leaping as it 
 were over them into the river, where it was placed the upper part 
 being downward, and dammed up the river till the water did work 
 itself a passage through it. The length of the hill was two hundred 
 and fifty feet, the breadth almost eighty and the depth of it almost 
 twenty feet. The situation of the place as to the length of it was 
 North West to South East. The earth of it is a blue clay without 
 stones; many round bullets were within it, which seem to be of the 
 same clay hardened. I have not seen the place myself, but sent pur- 
 posely to enquire into the truth of what had been reported concern- 
 ing it. I had this relation from Major William Phillips who dwelleth 
 not far from the place, and Mr. Hartakendon Symons who went to 
 the place and took very good notice and brought me the same report 
 of the truth and manner of it, which I had before received from Ma- 
 jor Phillips, in answer to my letter of inquiry, and told that the 
 earth of the hill did not lie between the former place of the hill and 
 the river, which seems to be as it were blown up by such force as 
 carried the whole body of it so far together. I had from them some 
 few of those round bullets which were found upon that now upper 
 part, which was before the lower or inner bowels of the hill, as also 
 a small shell or two, of a kind of shell fish commonly found where 
 the sea flows, but how they should be within the hill is strange to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 121 
 
 consider. I have sent all that I had from thence to the Royal Socie- 
 ty for their repository. I understand also from those parts, that 
 there was no notice taken of an earthquake about that time, nor did 
 I hear of any in any other part of the country. I give your Lord- 
 ship only a relation of this prodigy as I had it, upon the best inquiry 
 I could make, leaving the discussion of the natural causes which 
 might concern a matter too hard for me to comprehend ; but the 
 power of his Almighty arm is too manifest to all who w eigne th the 
 hills in a balance, and in whose presence the heavens drop, the hills 
 are melted like wax. Sinai itself is moved. 
 
 I hope to have an opportunity to see the place, and if any other 
 matter considerable upon my observations or further inquiry shall 
 appear, I shall be obliged to give your Lordship a further account 
 thereof, and for the present am bold to subscribe myself, 
 
 Your right honorable Lordship's humble servant, 
 
 To the Lord Brereton. John Winthrop. 
 
 . John Winthrop, it is well known, was the governor of Massachu- 
 setts. Major William Phillips lived in Saco. Hartakendon Symons 
 had lived in Wells, but in 1661 moved to Salem. 
 
 Extracts from a letter from Henry Oldenburg to John Winthrop, 
 dated April 11, 1671 : 
 
 " I soon delivered to the said Society (the Royal Society) their 
 parcel, viz : the shellfish (called horsefoot), the Humming Bird's nest, 
 with the two eggs in it, being yet whole, the feathered fly, and the 
 shells, bullets and clays taken out of the overturned hill, for all which 
 that noble company returns you their hearty thanks. These curiosi- 
 ties being viewed at one of our public meetings, some of the com- 
 pany conceived that what you call the sharp tail of the Horsefoot, is 
 rather the fore part and nose of the fish ; the same persons having 
 also found that two of the knobbs on the shell, now dried up by the 
 manner of their ductuss, express that they had looked toward the 
 said nose when the animal was alive. The humming bird's nest was 
 also showed to his Majesty, who was as much pleased with it as the 
 Society ; and I doubt not that Sir Robert Moray will tell you the 
 same." 
 
 " Concerning the overturned Hill, it is wished that a more certain 
 and punctual relation might be procured of all the circumstances of 
 
122 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 the accident. It seems strange that no Earthquake was perceived, 
 and that the Hill is said to be carried over the tops of the trees into 
 the river, also that people being near it, should not know the day 
 when this happened." 
 
 He hopes also, that Lord Brereton, to whom Winthrop had told 
 the story, will write Winthrop and request further examination. 
 
 These letters, and others on the same subject, we suppose, gave rise 
 to much philosophizing in regard to the cause of the phenomenon. 
 It would be interesting, and, we think, amusing to read the specula- 
 tions which were then published on the subject; but they are not 
 within our reach. Joscelyn in his voyages, says that this strange 
 event took place about four miles from the sea. The miles of the 
 first adventurers to this country were very uncertain. They goner* 
 ally magnified distances. It might have been four miles ; or it might 
 have been but two. It has been supposed to have occurred at the 
 Landing, at what is called the Roundabout. It might have been 
 below Durrell's bridge. 
 
 It is said that all the whole town of Wells are witnesses of the 
 truth of the relation which these writers make. It does not appear 
 that any one was a witness of this wonderful affair when it trans- 
 pired. It was probably discovered by some one traveling to the 
 mills, and his account of it drew many to the scene. This was an 
 age of wonders, and every visitor would come prepared to look at it 
 as some strange display of the power of the elements, or as some 
 miraculous manifestation of the Infinite. 
 
 No intelligent person of the present day can hesitate a moment as 
 to the explanation of this strange event. The same thing has oc- 
 curred several times within the last fifty years. Oak trees then 
 stood all along the banks of the rivers, and this wonder was one of 
 those avalanches from the banks which have been of so frequent oc- 
 currence. Sometimes the trees have gone down with them. At 
 other times, the earth has slid down into the river, dividing at ob- 
 structions by trees or other obstacles, and uniting again after passing 
 them, as it was at the White Mountains, when the Willey family 
 were destroyed. The slide divided when it came near the house, 
 and again united after passing it, leaving the house untouched, so 
 that these astonished men would have said the earth was thrown 
 over it. The little pellets, which were spoken of as seen after the 
 slide, were rolled up by the avalanche as it passed over the solid 
 ground beneath. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 123 
 
 From this period until 1675 nothing occurred in the town which 
 we judge to be a material part of its history. The settlement made 
 no important progress. The discontented under Massachusetts gov- 
 ernment had not ceased their complaints against the groundless 
 claim which that colony was maintaining against the rights of the 
 Gorges proprietor ; so that, though some had come into the town 
 with the purpose of abiding, they did not find the location satisfac- 
 tory, and soon abandoned it for New Hampshire, or some other 
 place west, where political agitations were not so rife, and where 
 titles were more securely fixed. We are led to believe that, though 
 the people of Wells had, for a while, acquiesced in the authority of 
 Massachusetts, there was now again springing up among them some 
 disaffection, which was the cause of disorder and ill feeling among 
 the people. Orders were sent by government of that colony to 
 Lieut. John Littlefield to exercise his authority in putting down any 
 disturbance which might show itself, after consulting with Samuel 
 Wheelright and William Sayer as to the expediency and mode of 
 action. We have no knowledge of the persons concerned in the 
 outbreak, but it was one which required the attention of the civil 
 authorities. It may have grown out of some town action, as the fol- 
 lowing document seems to be suggestive of some trouble in munici- 
 pal affairs : " Whereas, Mr. Samuel Wheelright, William Hammons, 
 John Littlefield, Samuel Austin, James Gooch are chosen selectmen 
 for the town of Wells this present year, we, the inhabitants thereof, 
 do hereby give and grant unto them full power and liberty to do and 
 act all manner of prudenshall acts, in and for the inhabitants of the 
 aforesaid town, except the disposing of lands and marsh. Given un- 
 der our hands this 18th day of June, 1670." 
 
 Abeam Tilton. Nathaniel Masters. 
 
 John Bennet. Thomas Boston. 
 
 John Gooch. Peter Cloyes. 
 
 William Ashleigh. Jonathan Hammons. 
 
 Thomas Littlefield. Francis Barkhouse. 
 
 Ezekiel Knight. 
 If the selectmen were legally chosen, there was no necessity of 
 any special authority of this kind to enable them to discharge the 
 duties of the office. A dozen of the inhabitants could neither give 
 power nor take it away. 
 
124 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Grant to Israel Harding — Indictments against Harding and wife- 
 Legislative enactments— Meeting house and parsonage built — 
 First pauper— Ducking stool— Mordan's cave— Nathaniel Boston — 
 Liquor laws. 
 
 The inhabitants of the town had been anxious to extend the set- 
 tlements. Those who had taken up lands, and were in the pursuit 
 of their husbandry or milling, felt the necessity of an increase of 
 population, and more especially of the addition of professional men ; 
 but the long contention about the title to the whole province was a 
 constant check to immigration. Some were yearly induced to come 
 in and wait future developments. Mechanics were very much need- 
 ed, and special encouragement was offered to those who would come 
 and here locate themselves. In 1670, Israel Harding, a blacksmith, 
 applied for a grant of land, and 200 acres were given him, on the 
 condition " that said Israel Harding do come into the town as an in- 
 habitant within three months ; do continue five years an inhabitant, 
 and do the smithwork for the inhabitants for such current pay as the 
 town doth produce. If the said Harding do desert, the land to re- 
 vert to the town." 
 
 The principle suggested by the foregoing vote is one which, it 
 seems to us, it would be wise in all our towns to adopt, if the law 
 would permit. If it had continued to be the prerogative of these 
 corporations, down to the present day, to determine who should be 
 inhabitants, as it was at this early period, in most places we might 
 have exhibited a condition of society not paralleled in any part of 
 the world ; and if towns had been invested with the more important 
 power of encouraging settlers, such as they should choose, by liberal 
 benefactions, we might have had a people who would have taken 
 pride in building up settlements and villages distinguished for their 
 high civilization. All intemperance, idleness, vices of various kinds, 
 and other oppositions to a sound moral sentiment might have been 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 125 
 
 warded off, and a spirit of social and material improvement ruled in 
 all municipal councils. Though, owing to the imperfection of even 
 our best humanity, and the variety of sentiment natural to the race 
 these important objects would sometimes fail to be realized. Israel 
 Harding did not turn out to be the man after the heart of the peo- 
 ple, as was expected of him. He became a troublesome element in 
 the population, by the liberty which he took of freely speaking of 
 the current religion, and thereby creating no small excitement. He 
 was boisterous and loud in his denunciations of ministers, and while 
 pounding at the anvil, was more vehemently pounding at Congregation- 
 alism. He was probably honest-hearted, but he felt that the Christian 
 religion was entire liberty, and that any restraint of it was a viola- 
 tion of his rights. He did not believe in public worship sustained 
 by burdens imposed on the people, but believed that the Gospel was 
 intended as, and should be, a free offering to all. Though the law 
 required every man to attend the meeting at the sanctuary on the 
 Lord's day, he gave no heed to it. His wife was imbued with the 
 same spirit. The people could not endure his continued slander of 
 religious institutions, and of the worthy men who were laboring to 
 make them efficient for their benevolent purposes. He was present- 
 ed at court for not attending public worship on Sunday; his wife 
 was afterwards presented for the same cause. But these proceedings 
 only increased his virulent spirit against ministers and people who 
 sustained them. His tongue was set on fire by the opposition which 
 he met. Assuming to preach the Gospel himself, ranting against its 
 forms, ceremonies, and impositions on the people, and the theology 
 so dear to their hearts, he broke in upon the order and peace of the 
 church. He was again complained of in court, and " convicted of 
 very disorderly practices, presumptuously taking upon himself the 
 office of a minister to preach and baptize contrary to his Majesty's 
 laws." The court admonished him for his "disorderly practices," 
 that he had no call from God for his irregularities, and that if he 
 persisted in his unwarrantable course all his lands should be confis- 
 cated. But still the unruly member was not checked. The rebel 
 spirit was only quickened and strengthened by these persecutions. 
 As soon as he was discharged he was again at his work, exercising 
 what he deemed his rights, preaching against ministers and churches, 
 and fomenting discord and confusion all around him. He was ar- 
 rested a third time, and brought to the bar to answer for his misfea- 
 
126 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 sances; was convicted "of several presumptuous miscarriages, and 
 his abusive and reproachful language against ministers, ministry, and 
 preaching thereof, to the dishonor of God and the destruction of the 
 way of the Gospel ; " and was fined five pounds. Whether his ardor 
 was cooled by this procedure we cannot answer. We have learned 
 nothing further of him. 
 
 If the Acts of the Legislature are to be regarded as exponents or 
 developments of Congregationalism, it is not strange that many men 
 and women should have abjured it as a moral pestilence, sweeping 
 away the rights of humanity, and as the sure bane of free thought 
 and personal and social enjoyment. About this time it would seem 
 as if the law-makers were intent on making life a mere abstraction, 
 having in it nothing free, nothing emotional, nothing satisfactory or 
 exciting. Every man's volitions or actions were prescribed by some 
 rule, which would establish a dead uniformity through all the fea- 
 tures and activities of human society. They denounced all manifes- 
 tations of individual taste, all exhibitions of peculiar thought, all 
 attempts to imitate the beautiful in nature, or to break up the mo- 
 notony which these wiseacres deemed the only acceptable service of 
 the good Providence. A zerophagy, spiritual as well as material, 
 was to be the regular canon of life. 
 
 If it were within the reasonable limits of a town history, to justi- 
 fy the position here assumed, we would lay before our readers the 
 law of Massachusetts as enacted, year after year, to the disparage- 
 ment of the natural liberty, rights, and aspirations of the people. 
 But in this regard we are compelled to feel ourselves under the ban. 
 Still, though much of a similar character will find its way into this 
 history, we cannot forbear the exhibition of some of this unwhole- 
 some legislation in this place, which is averred to have been necessa- 
 ry by the divine judgments, and indispensable to the prosperity of 
 the church. It was alleged as the basis of the following enactments 
 that the matters anathematized therein were brought upon the set- 
 tlements by the wrath of God, manifested in giving to the barbarous 
 heathen commission to rise up against the people, to burn and de- 
 stroy the plantations, "and to murder the settlers. Accordingly, they 
 make the following exhibitions of their legislative wisdom : 
 " Whereas, there is manifest pride openly appearing amongst us, in 
 that, long haire, like women's haire, is worn by some men, either 
 their own or others' haire made into perewigs, and by some women 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 127 
 
 wearing borders of haire, and their cutting, curling, and immodest 
 laying out their haire, which practice doth prevail and increase, es- 
 pecially among the younger sort ;" it was ordered that such offenders 
 should be arraigned, admonished, or fined at the discretion of the 
 court. And again : " Notwithstanding the wholesome laws already 
 made by this court for restraining excess in apparell, yet through 
 corruption in many, and neglect of due execution of those laws, the 
 evil of pride in apparell, both for costliness in the poorer sort, and 
 vaine, new, strainge fashions, both in poor and rich, with naked 
 breasts and arms, or, as it were, pinioned with the addition of super- 
 stitious ribbons, both of haire and apparell ; " such offenders were 
 also to have meet punishment for their sins. 
 
 It was also enacted, about this time, as one of the articles of war, 
 " that no man should presume to blaspheme the Holy and Blessed 
 Trinity ; God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Ghost, 
 upon pain to have his tongue bored with a hot iron." It was also 
 declared that " men's thresholds are set up by God's thresholds, and 
 man's posts by God's posts, especially in the open meetings of 
 Quakers, whose damnable heresies, abominable idolatries are hereby 
 promoted, embraced, and practised, to the scandal of religion, hazard 
 of souls, and provocation of Divine jealousy against the people;" 
 and therefore the constable was directed to apprehend all persons 
 found at such Quaker meetings, and have them before the court to 
 receive due punishment, after being kept on bread and water for 
 three days, etc. 
 
 There were no accommodations for public worship, and the inhab- 
 itants would not be induced to interest themselves in providing a 
 suitable place until the town was indicted, in 1661, "for neglect in 
 not appointing a place for a public meeting on the Lord's day, ac- 
 cording to their best abilities, till God's providence do better provide 
 for them, whereby many persons take liberty to neglect, if not pro- 
 fane, the Sabbath." An indictment for not building a meeting 
 house, though effectual for its erection, would not go far toward in- 
 stilling a love of the sanctuary in the hearts of the people. 
 
 Legal suasion in matters of religion, we do not think carries with 
 it any good results. The Inquisition, so frequently appearing in his- 
 tory, never did much for the regeneration and moral improvement of 
 men. But the people were obliged to respond to this demand, made 
 upon them by judicial authority, and between this time and 1664 
 
128 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 some kind of a house or chapel was built. It was near the site of 
 the meeting house now standing. This erection may have inspired 
 them with some little ambition, for the next year they built on the 
 parsonage lot a house for the Rev. Joseph Emerson, who was then 
 the minister of the town. Still, a very selfish spirit ruled in all 
 classes, and some hard pressure was needed to induce them to open 
 their hearts to any duty beyond mere personal advantage. The first 
 case of local pauperism occurred in 1669, and the town would not 
 come to the aid of the sufferer till compelled to do so by the same 
 judicial authority. One John Reed, an inhabitant of Wells, had 
 taken care of an unfortunate lame man, who had fallen into distress, 
 and the town would do nothing to relieve him of the burden, so that 
 he was obliged to seek his remedy in court, which required the in- 
 habitants to take care of the sufferer, and to pay the bill of expense 
 incurred by Reed. The court also found it necessary that a jail 
 should be built for the use of the county, and submitted the ques- 
 tion to the towns whether it should be built; but the town voted 
 nay. 
 
 There was very little public spirit among the people. Religion 
 had but little influence upon the lives of the people. There was not 
 enough of it to make it any blessing to their souls. The principle 
 that we are to do to others as we would have them do to us was 
 shoved out of the way, and meaningless speculation substituted in 
 its stead. Those manly sympathies which should bind communities 
 together, we think, had but little place in the teachings of those who 
 were the authorized expounders of Christian truth. 
 
 We are aware that the representation which we have made of the 
 character of the early inhabitants of the town may somewhat sur- 
 prise our readers. Some may think that it is overdrawn, or that it 
 would have been better to let their frailties perish with them. It 
 must be understood that we have been speaking only of the period 
 before the Indian wars. 
 
 History is the legacy to subsequent humanity for its instruction. 
 The lesson here taught is of incalculable benefit. Where ignorance 
 is the prevailing feature in society, the stronger will inevitably tram- 
 ple on the rights of the weaker. There were no schools at this 
 period. Few of the people had had any opportunity for intellectual 
 culture. Most of the men and women of Wells could not even 
 write their names. What portion of them could read we are unable 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND RENNEBUNK. 129 
 
 to state. Some of the leaders did not think education of any value. 
 John Wadleigh, when asked to subscribe for the aid of the college, 
 replied, as before stated, "it was no ordinn nee of God and contrary 
 to his judgment." Even those who could write, did not attempt to 
 instruct their families in the art. Joseph Bolles, the town clerk, had 
 enjoyed the benefit of some education, yet he did not think it worth 
 while to teach his children to write. Judge Wheelright married a 
 girl who could not write her name, and he never taught her to do it. 
 Great ignorance prevailed through all classes of society, and thence 
 of necessity, vice, immorality and unyielding selfishness were promi- 
 nent elements in the character of the people. The blessings of an 
 enlightened civilization, can never be too highly appreciated ; and the 
 women of this age may learn a valuable lesson from the brief ac- 
 count here given of the relative position of the sex in those days of 
 intellectual darkness. 
 
 We all look with horror on the terrible delusion which fastened it- 
 self on the public mind some years after, when many of the most 
 worthy men and women were executed for witchcraft. This memor- 
 able delusion was the offspring* of ignorance. So also it may be said 
 of the superstitions which had so much power over the human mind 
 in the days of which we have been speaking. They checked the ac- 
 tivities of the people, filled their hearts with groundless fears, and 
 led them to commit those follies which we can now, with difficulty, 
 be made to believe could ever have emanated even from the lowest 
 civilization. It is to us incredible that any body of legislators in 
 New England could have ever been made to believe that "the 
 women wearing borders of haire," or "their cutting, curling, or im- 
 modest laying out of their haire," or "that pride in apparell, vain and 
 new fashions in poor or rich," or "their naked breasts and arms," 
 "pinioned with the addition of superstitious ribbons on haire and 
 apparell," were the cause of those terrible Indian wars which devas- 
 tated the province of Maine. Neither can we believe that the peri- 
 wig or the queu of the man so offended the Almighty that he 
 doomed this people, male and female, adults and children, to the 
 awful cruelties which marked the Indian track during thirty or forty 
 years afterwards. We know that selfishness may make a fearful 
 havoc even of the intellect, and that men, by its power, may be 
 wrought up to such a height of folly as to feel that the simple and 
 modest decorations of the sex are an offense in the sight of God, 
 9 
 
130 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Avarice is a terrible enemy to every noble and generous thought ; 
 but that the vagaries which we have mentioned should have crept 
 into the legislation of our predecessors seems almost incredible. 
 
 Some other matters of interest may be considered in this connec- 
 tion. The men who first gathered on the seashore in Wells were 
 without property. It will be safe to say that none of them were worth 
 a thousand dollars. The business of all was to get a livelihood from 
 day to day. As we have just stated, they were not men of educa- 
 tion, fitted to think deeply, or to understand how to make every- 
 thing subservient to pecuniary advancement. In consequence of 
 ignorance, they did not cherish any exalted notions of the possibili- 
 ties of life, but were satisfied with taking advantage of the means 
 just about them to make up the enjoyment of the moment, without 
 consideration of the consequences which might ensue. They well 
 fulfilled the scriptural injunction not to be "troubled about many 
 things." Their ideas of religion, morality, and social and civil life 
 were of a low order. Most of them, and perhaps we might safely 
 say nearly all, had made the intoxicating cup their companion from 
 early life. They were thence sometimes excited to energetic action, 
 and, as often, languid and indisposed to exertion, contented with 
 whatever might be the condition of their possessions. They had no 
 ambition to make their lives tell upon the world. Even if educated 
 before they left the old home, they had no books for study or enter- 
 tainment in hours of relaxation. Edmund Littlefield was the richest 
 man among the first settlers, but he had not a book in his house. 
 All the knowledge which the people had was traditionary or experi- 
 mental, and when they gathered together as neighbors, all that they 
 had to enliven the hour were the thoughts and remembrances which 
 they brought with them, with such as the day's activities might have 
 suggested. In this situation, there was no chance for those distinc- 
 tions to grow up which manifest themselves in our modern villages. 
 No attempts seem to have been made to instruct their children. 
 There was thence no educated class, and no emulation for excellence 
 in knowledge. Their ideas of the meaning of life were, therefore, 
 exceedingly contracted. Many of the women were indicted for sell- 
 ing liquors without license, for non-attendance on public worship, 
 and for other indulgences which the civil law and the Gospel forbid. 
 There were some frightfully turbulent women among them, who 
 .actually enjoyed contention and strife ; whose voices were frequent- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 131 
 
 ly heard in the wilderness, not in the tone of angels, but in that of 
 low denunciation and ribaldry ; but we presume that these exhibi- 
 tions of human infirmity were not without some corresponding 
 obliquity on the part of the lord of the manor. The head of the 
 household from which these unharmonious vociferations proceeded 
 was probably not the most mild and gentle of men. The legislation 
 of the time, the orders of courts, the recklessness of the husband 
 and the vexations of their condition were enough to explain these 
 sad departures from the peace and simplicity of rural life. The 
 men, it is very likely, felt that the sin was all their own, and there- 
 fore submitted to it quietly. This is only surmise. It is possible 
 that this forbearance was Christian. But however this unbecoming 
 spirit in the woman was generated and sustained, or however sub- 
 mitted to, it was deemed necessary for the public peace that the 
 female tongue should be subjected to a little more restraint. In 
 1665, when its inhabitants were very few indeed, the town of Wells 
 wasindicted "for not making a pair of stocks and a couking stool," 
 or ducking stool. We do not know that this ungracious act had its 
 origin in the complaint of any inhabitant of the town ; but still these 
 displays of household eloquence were frequent, and the court ad- 
 judged that this was the only remedy. The ducking stool was a 
 very simple machine, easily constructed. It was made upon precise- 
 ly the same principle as the old-fashioned well-sweep. A long pole 
 was suspended at the middle on the top of a post or fulcrum, to the 
 small end of which was hung a smaller pole, holding at the lower 
 end a basket or chair, which was so located that when the chair de- 
 scended it fell into the water. Into this basket or chair the terma- 
 gant was fastened, and the master of ceremonies then doused her a 
 sufficient number of times to meet the requirements of the occasion, 
 which were sometimes more and sometimes less. The operation 
 must have been exceedingly refreshing in a cool November morning. 
 We have not found that the machine erected in Wells was ever 
 called into use, neither do we find any judicial decree wherein this 
 punishment was awarded for these unedifying female eruptions ; but 
 as the town was called to account for not having one, it must have 
 been under some sense of its necessity. We can only infer that it 
 was erected either in terrorem, or for the administration of the hus- 
 band at his will and pleasure. 
 
 We have stated that the courts frequently exercised legislative as 
 
132 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 well as judicial power, instituting punishments not prescribed by 
 law. At this period there was no statute authorizing the infliction 
 of the ducking penalty, and this order to erect a ducking stool must 
 have been an expedient adopted by the court from some knowledge 
 cf its use in places beyond the waters. But after this, in 1672, when 
 licentiousness had taken such great strides as to threaten the social 
 and moral ruin of the people, and thus the tongues of many, whose 
 physical aberrations had wholly corrupted the soul, were set loose to 
 disturb the peace and good order of the neighborhood, the general 
 court found it necessary to sanction this mode of punishment by 
 making it general throughout its jurisdiction, and accordingly adopt- 
 ed the following statute : " Whereas, there is no express punish- 
 ment (by any law hitherto established) affixed to the evil practice of 
 sundry persons by exhorbitancy of the tongue in rayling and scold- 
 ing, it is therefore ordered that all such persons, convicted before 
 any court or magistrate that hath proper cognizance of the case for 
 rayling or scolding, shall be gagged or sett in a ducking stool and 
 dipt over head and eares three times, in some convenient place of 
 fresh or salt water, as the court or magistrate shall judge meet." 
 There may have been cases, since that time, of the conviction of 
 women as scolds in this county, but we have discovered none in our 
 examination of the records. We are not aware that it was ever 
 used for the correction of similar infirmities on the part of the other 
 sex. Where this interesting structure was located in Wells, or how 
 long it was maintained, we have labored in vain to ascertain. As 
 the village was near the falls of the Webhannet river, we think it 
 probable that it was not far from the bridge over that stream. 
 
 Perhaps it is proper to make a single exception to the statement 
 that this instrument was never used to modify the temperament or 
 correct the errors of men, by the mention- of an instance of its use 
 in the latter part of the last century. On the west side of the Tat- 
 nick Hills, not far from the road, near the house of Elisha Allen, de- 
 ceased, many years since there was a den in the ground, known as 
 Mordan's cave. Mordan was an Englishman, and came over to this 
 country in the first part of the last century with his children. The 
 family was further increased by children born in this cave. He 
 bought the land, and here excavated a place of abode, dwelling in it 
 many years. What became of him we know not, neither have we 
 any knowledge of the motives which induced him to seek such a 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 133 
 
 humble dwelling place. It might have been with him a matter of 
 choice. The notion may have come to him from some scripture his- 
 tory, that to dwell in the dens and caves of the earth would be an 
 acceptable sacrifice to the Infinite. The world is peopled with men 
 of all proclivities. The dwellers round about differed from him as 
 much as he did from them, and perhaps he thought it strange that 
 rational beings should spend so much time and labor on an earthly 
 tenement, which they were to occupy but a little while, and be con- 
 tinually striving for things which brought with them as much care 
 as joy. When he saw so many whose souls were bound up in the 
 acquisition of wealth, never losing their grasp upon it to impart 
 comfort to the needy and distressed, he might very well satisfy him- 
 self with his own position. 
 
 After Mordan's life in the cave was ended, it was inhabited many 
 years by one Nathaniel Boston. This man had been, and continued 
 to be, a vagabond, having no settled business and making other men's 
 property subsidiary to his support. Pilfering as opportunity pre- 
 sented, afforded his principal means of support ; and this he carried 
 on, pretending to be non compos, till the people could endure it no 
 longer. They complained of him for his larcenies, and he was 
 brought into court on charges of that character. But he so success- 
 fully carried out his feint of imbecility or insanity, that he succeeded 
 in obtaining his discharge. This process was repeated several 
 times, till the people were wearied with the fruitless proceedings. 
 They had no belief of his incompetency. He boasted of his power 
 to hoodwink the court. This led some of the neighborhood to take 
 the law into their own hands. They prepared a ducking stool and 
 determined to make him confess his thefts. They placed him in the 
 tub secured for the proposed operation; but he was unmoved by 
 their threats. They plunged him into the water, not drawing him 
 out at once, as the custom was when this summary process was used, 
 but holding him under water as long as they could safely do so, and 
 then raising him up for a moment's recuperation. The process was 
 repeated ; time after time he was plunged, until the operators came 
 to the conclusion that there was not sufficient virtue in the proce- 
 dure. Yet no confession could be drawn out of him. The martyr 
 spirit baffled all their exertions for that object, and they were obliged 
 to abandon the attempt. But his boasting of his ability to deceive 
 and manage the court at the next trial, which he soon had, settled 
 
134 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 his case with the jury, and he became an inmate of the State's prison, 
 from which he never came again to Wells to trouble the inhabitants. 
 
 Much of this turbulent spirit, which it was necessary to resort to 
 the court to quiet, had its origin in the common use of intoxicating 
 stimulants. The puritans and pilgrims of Massachusetts, as well as 
 the pioneers of Maine, did not abandon their cups when they left the 
 land of their fathers. They brought with them the strong waters, 
 and were not slack in the use of them. They were, in fact, regarded 
 as a material element of social life. 
 
 We were a nation of drunkards till the reformers of the present 
 century took hold of the great work of rescuing the race from the 
 domination of alcohol. Probably nearly all the male inhabitants of 
 Wells, in its early days, were rum-drinkers. The propensity for the 
 intoxicating draught was so strong among them, and led to such in- 
 difference to the consequences of its use, that the welfare and peace 
 of the people were constantly jeopardized by it. Though they dwelt 
 among savages, and knew how readily the savage heart was fired by 
 it to deeds of cruelty and death, many of them, notwithstanding all 
 the admonitions of law, did not hesitate to supply them with it for 
 the small profit which might be derived from the sale. 
 
 The authorities realized the danger to which the people were thus 
 exposed, and endeavored to obviate it by every possible means. The 
 terrible power which the traffic in ardent spirits had acquired over 
 those engaged in it, the courts were satisfied could only be subdued 
 by the most severe penalties. Alcoholic law was as unchangeable 
 then as now. While every glass drunk increased the impetus of the 
 drinker toward destruction, every sale gave to the seller an increased 
 attachment to his unholy business. Appreciating the frightful in- 
 fluences of this baneful traffic with the ignorant natives, the council 
 and general assembly of the province, holden at Wells on the 19th 
 day of August, 1681, issued the following stringent order: " Where- 
 as, the sin of drunkenness does much increase by reason that several 
 persons do let the Indians have liquors and other strong drinks, 
 which is greatly to the dishonor of God, and hazarding of the lives 
 and estates of his Majesty's subjects, notwithstanding any laws for- 
 merly made for the prevention thereof, it is ordered by this Court 
 and the authority of the same, if any person or persons shall pre- 
 sume to sell or give, or let any Indian have any rum, brandy, spirits, 
 or any strong liquors, cider, perry, metheglin, or any kind of strong 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 135 
 
 drinks, directly or indirectly, they shall forfeit their whole estate, the 
 one half to the informer and the other half to the Treasurer of the 
 Province, and the person or persons to be kept in close prison, with- 
 out bail or mainprize, for one whole year, any law or custom to the 
 contrary notwithstanding." The next year, 1682, to effect the object 
 of this decree, a further declaration was made by the Assembly, that 
 if any liquors were brought into port, and the owner, master or mar- 
 iner, should give or sell to an Indian, the vessel should be forfeited. 
 
 A state of affairs which rendered necessary such rigorous enact- 
 ments as these, must have been repulsive to every considerate man 
 who might be seeking a place of habitancy. But no motives which 
 could be addressed to the souls of those who sold or those who 
 drank, no fears of the jeopardy to which they exposed themselves 
 or their families, no care for men, women and children all around, 
 who might become the prey of the tomahawk or be carried into 
 hopeless captivity, no fear of poverty or personal ruin, and no dread 
 of the developments of eternity, were suffered by these men to in- 
 tervene between them and the desperate end and consequences 
 which awaited their fatal doings. They had become the unresisting 
 slaves of the destroyer, and come weal or come woe, all was the 
 same to them ; the sale went on. The white and the red man alike 
 obtained the intoxicating cup. But then, as since, the agents in this 
 work of desolation eluded even the utmost vigilance. Their work 
 was all under cover of darkness, whereby the court in 1685 was 
 compelled to issue the following extraordinary order: 
 
 "Whereas, there are reports that many have traded with the In- 
 dians, whereby they have been found drunk at every door, and no 
 sufficient evidence found who did it ; hereafter at. whose door a 
 drunken Indian is found, it shall be taken for granted that those 
 houses nearest adjacent to any Indian lying in such drunken capacity, 
 shall be accounted the very places where the Indians have received 
 their liquors, unless by sufficient evidence they shall be able to clear 
 themselves." 
 
 This decree seems very unreasonable and arbitrary. The simple 
 fact that a drunkard fell down near one's house, does not authorize 
 the inference that he there obtained his liquor; but some decisive 
 and summary measure was necessary for the security of the inhabi- 
 tants. The liabilities of these householders were made such by this 
 order, that they would not only be ready to disclose who the trans- 
 
136 HISTORY OF WELLS A2SD KENNEBUNK. 
 
 gressor was, but, if unknown, to use every means to ferret him out. 
 The tomahawk and scalping knife were too terrible to suffer the tem- 
 perate part of the community to be indifferent to the danger of In- 
 dian intoxication; and the people and the courts were justified in 
 adopting measures which, under different circumstances, would not 
 have been allowable. Life here, one would think, was fraught with 
 hardships and exposure enough without the addition of outrages and 
 cruelties created by the settlers themselves. To know what that life 
 was we must have been dwellers with them, and been subjected to 
 all the deprivations, trials, necessities and modes of life to which 
 they were exposed. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 King Phillip's war— Wanton upsetting of a canoe— Indian Barbari- 
 ties — Order of the council to Lieut. Wheelright — Massacre at 
 Portsmouth and Berwick — Fast appointed — Indian attack on 
 Wells— Four hundred Indians captured— Death of James Gooch 
 and wife — Destruction of Cape Neddock— Attack of Mugg on 
 garrison at the "Town's End" — Treaty with Mugg — Death of 
 Mugg — Treaty at Canso. 
 
 Probably the larger portion of the inhabitants of Wells came 
 here solely with the view of seeking material comforts. They lo- 
 cated themselves in this wilderness under the conviction that, in this 
 position, they would sooner provide for their family wants than in 
 any other within their reach. They were willing to submit to the 
 hard and exhausting labors of subduing the forest, when they could 
 indulge the hope that a few years of unwearied exertion would bring 
 to them an abundance of the ordinary blessings of life, and that a 
 few additional years would place them beyond any fear of want. 
 Many looked still further, from the facilities incident to their situa- 
 tion, and anticipated the day when their labors would be crowned 
 with a satisfactory independence. This hope had stimulated and 
 sustained them amidst all the privations and discomforts of pioneer 
 life. In the expectation of this speedy deliverance from their bur- 
 dens, by this promised success, the mothers of Wells went cheerfully 
 about their daily routine of labor, in doors and out, singing now a 
 stanza of Sternhold and Hopkins, and now, or more commonly, 
 some one of the household songs or ditties, learned perhaps in the 
 mother country, being all the literature which they had brought into 
 this life in the wilderness. They were, undoubtedly, as happy as 
 most of those who dwell in palaces and are surrounded with every- 
 thing which can respond to their physical wants. They dwelt in 
 log-houses, or in some rude structures of boards, with which their 
 mills were beginning to supply them. They could look out and see 
 
138 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 with joy the daily openings of the forest, which new comers were 
 making, as harbingers of new associations, cheery sympathies and 
 friendships, while the happy children within gladdened their hearts 
 by the simple, rustic amusements which had been taught them by a 
 mother's love. There was but little that was artificial in daily life ; 
 little occasion to sin. Natural depravity was not a necessary ele- 
 ment in such a seclusion. They needed no knowledge of civil law. 
 They were a law unto themselves. Each one might cheerfully, con- 
 tentedly, and earnestly pursue his own business, so that there might 
 be little contention and strife. All might be happy within their own 
 precincts, and rejoice in the brightening prospects before them. 
 
 But their numbers increased, and liberty soon ran to excess. 
 When thirty or forty families had gathered here, away from any rul- 
 ing authority, many began to think they could do as they pleased. 
 Ignorance and licentiousness, when there is no controlling element 
 of a higher civilization, will soon be in close fellowship, and from 
 thence will speedily issue almost every evil work. For many years 
 previously to 1675, there had been among them political, theological, 
 civil, and social dissensions, which could only be healed by some af- 
 fliction which should absorb the attention of all, and thence bring 
 them to united effort to withstand it. The terrible avalanche of 
 wretchedness which was now to come down upon them was, per- 
 haps, just what was needed to bring them to a proper sense of the 
 relations of life and their obligations to each other. In this year, 
 1675, the clouds began to gather, and the bright sky was shut out 
 from the vision of those who had here looked forward to a prosper- 
 ous and happy future. The pall of sorrow was settling down on all 
 their cheering hopes. The wickedness of man was about to bring 
 its deadly influences to the ruin of the peace and progress of the 
 settlement. King Phillip, believing himself wronged in his inter- 
 course with the white man, and ruminating on the cruel kidnappings 
 of his brothers and the English usurpation of his domains, deter- 
 mined to destroy the cruel intruders. Among the tribes, no one 
 could be selected whose exasperation was so much to be feared as 
 his. His intellectual power was far in advance of the generality of 
 the Sachems. He understood the Indian heart, and how to make it 
 responsive to his wishes. He claimed to have free communication 
 with the Great Spirit, and to derive from this intercourse instruc- 
 tions as to his manner of life, and he told the tribe that these white 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 139 
 
 men were bent on driving them from their possessions, and called 
 upon them, as with the voice of the Great Father, to destroy them 
 from off the land. Nothing more was needed to kindle the flame of 
 revenge in all their hearts, and the awful realities of a savage war 
 began to be experienced in various parts of New England. 
 
 The flame was kindled in the colony of Plymouth, and in a very 
 short time extended into Maine. The tribes here had long before 
 experienced some of the barbarities of civilization, and remembering 
 the perfidy and kidnapping of former years, and witnessing the en- 
 croachments on their domain, the long enjoyed hunting grounds 
 allotted to them by the Great Spirit, and foreseeing the rapidly 
 hastening hour when they must abandon their fathers' graves to the 
 tread of the invader, they readily united in the resolution that these 
 aggressions should be carried no farther; that the infidels should be 
 driven into the sea. French Jesuitry was always at hand to feed the 
 flame of vengeance. A wanton and barbarous act of some sailors on 
 Saco river afforded a pretext for immediate hostilities. It might 
 well be supposed that revenge would follow such iniquity. An In- 
 dian woman, the wife of Squando, Sachem of the Sahohis, was pad- 
 dling along with her infant. These thoughtless men, having heard 
 the absurd story that the infant children of the natives would swim, 
 upset the canoe and the child sank; but the mother, diving down, 
 succeeded in rescuing it, though soon after recovery it died. Noth- 
 ing more brutal mars the history of any nation or tribe. What else 
 could be expected of these wild children of the wilderness than 
 that they should be excited to retaliate such an unfeeling and cruel 
 barbarism ? What wrong can man inflict on his species more sav- 
 age than this trifling with the dearest relationships of earth? 
 Whether these men received the just reward of their iniquity, no 
 record furnishes an answer. Squando claimed to have communion 
 with the Indian's God, and his inspirations would be to requite such 
 an insult in any possible way; to kill, burn, and destroy the white 
 man and his property, till not a vestige of such civilization should 
 remain. 
 
 Arms, ammunition, and all needed instrumentalities were fur- 
 nished by the French, in Canada, to war on the English, and their 
 souls being inspired by the base and false teachings of their priests, 
 with a phrenzy of resentment for their real and fancied wrongs, not to 
 be appeased except by the most terrible cruelties, the Indians began 
 
140 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 their frightful work. As soon as information of the commencement 
 of the war in Massachusetts was received at York, Henry Sayer was 
 despatched from that place to Sagadahock to endeavor to divest the 
 Indians of their arms. This mission was in some measure successful; 
 but it does not appear that any good came from the operation. 
 They began their ravages by murdering men and women at Pre- 
 sumpscot, Saco, and Scarboro. Twenty-seven houses were burnt at 
 the latter place. At Saco, where Squando was familiar with the in- 
 habitants, they burnt all the houses and mills, and killed thirteen of 
 the inhabitants. After this they proceeded to Winter Harbor, where 
 they had a skirmish. Thence they started for Piscataqua, which em- 
 braced the settlements on both sides of the river, now Portsmouth 
 and Kittery. 
 
 On the 18th of July, Brian Pendleton wrote to Major Waldron 
 at Piscataqua, giving an account of the burning of these houses and 
 mills at Saco, and expressing his apprehension that all would be de- 
 stroyed. This letter was opened on its passage by Lieut. John Lit- 
 tlefield, and he immediately wrote to Waldron as follows: " Wells 
 y e 19th Sept 75 at 9 of the clocke at night. Major Waldron, Sir. 
 You w T ill se by ye above what a great strait y a are in at Sacoe, and 
 we look hourerly for an assalt here. Soe that you can n t expect any 
 assistance from us, we being too w T eak to defend our selves, y r fore y* 
 earnest request to you is that you will rase ann army from Paseata- 
 qua with all possible speed for the pr e servation of our lives and es- 
 tats; otherwise we cannot expect in an ordinary way long to hold 
 •out. The Lord direct you and us all. We convaid Mr. George 
 Broughton and company safe to the Cape. With out speedy supply 
 you must expect no more posts from us. The enemy snapt twice or 
 thrice at this post coming from Saco, but mist fire as God would 
 have it. Yours to command, John Littlefield." 
 
 Histories speak of the garrison houses in various places at this 
 period. The attack had just been made by these Indians, 150 in 
 number, on Major Phillip's garrison in Saco, but no occasion seems 
 to have existed previously to this rupture for their erection. The 
 English and the Indians had dwelt together in the province without 
 any such collisions as to lead to the fear of war between the races. 
 
 Probably at this time these garrisons were few. A strong one 
 may have been built in each town by the government. But in the 
 progress of the war some of the ordinary dwelling-houses may have 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 141 
 
 been protected by palisades. That of Phillips' seems to have been im- 
 pregnable to the large force brought against it. What garrisons there 
 were in Wells, history does not state. Storer's, we believe, is some- 
 times spoken of in the relation of the incidents of this war, but we 
 think it was not yet built. Storer was a minor, as we have been led 
 to suppose. His father, William Storer, an inhabitant of Dover, 
 died in 1660. Joseph afterwards came to Wells under the guardian- 
 ship of Samuel Austin, who had married the widow, his mother. The 
 garrison spoken of in history was at the "town's end." But garri- 
 sons, we suppose, were speedily put up. Harding's house was pre- 
 pared for that purpose. 
 
 The news of the barbarities of these savages at Canso, Scarboro, 
 and Saco produced great excitement in Wells. The terror of the 
 inhabitants may well be imagined. Scattered all along, from York to 
 Kennebunk river, how could they hope to escape the fate which 
 had come upon those at the eastward? Their log-houses surely 
 could not shield them. Harding's garrison and those which we have 
 mentioned, may have been sufficient to receive them. Harding's was 
 at the mouth of Kennebunk river, and the people of Arundel may 
 have rushed to that. But life during the continuance of this war 
 must have been grievous indeed and hard to be borne ; an existence 
 of constant and withering anxiety. Truly, many escaped to the gar- 
 rison ; and in a multitude there are always some of such a hopeful, 
 cheery temperament as to be able, for a while, to turn off their 
 thoughts from any outward terrors which may hang over them. 
 Blessed be God that there are men of a joyous spirit, not to be sub- 
 dued by any adversities of life, who, in the midst of darkness the 
 most intense, can always discover beams of light. There were 
 probably some overflowing with wit who, excited by their condition 
 in the general huddle, would occasionally convert the general sadness 
 into momentary merriment, and perhaps, by their fanciful inventions 
 kindle a hope of speedy relief. But at best, the condition of the 
 multitude, men, women and children in such a close fellowship as 
 here was necessary, with the thoughts of the loss of their labor for 
 years, and of the destruction of the long indulged hopes of ease and 
 comfort, and the fears of the terrible issue of the strife weighing up- 
 on their souls, must have been wretched in the extreme. Some 
 probably were so overcome by their fears that they were unwilling 
 to assume the burden of protection by taking their arms and going 
 
142 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 out to expose themselves to the perils of the hour. Some had fled, 
 and others were preparing to flee to the west. The patriotism of a 
 few and the fears and cowardice of others produced strife and con- 
 tention, so that the interference of the government became necessary, 
 and the following order was issued : 
 
 " At a Council held at Boston the 9th of December, 1675. 
 ■ The Court taking into consideration the present state of the town 
 of Wells in respect to the unsettled frame of the inhabitants there 
 in this time of danger; that there might be some remedy for the 
 future and a better management of affairs there, in order to the safe- 
 ty of the place. Ordered that Lieut. John Littlefield do effectually 
 apply himself, that all who are capable of bearing arms in the town, 
 and put them in their best manner for their mutual safety, and must 
 consult with Samuel Wheelright and William Symonds. Said com- 
 mittee is empowered to impress all persons, ammunition, provisions 
 — no one should desert the place on pain of forfeiting his estate." 
 
 The trail or march of the enemy was along by the sea. So also 
 were the settlements. In a few days the savages began their ravages 
 in Wells. But neither history nor tradition has been very faithful in 
 the preservation of the names of the sufferers. In every age there 
 have been women and men who without hesitation would commit 
 to the flames the most valuable materials for history ; diaries, letters, 
 and every vestige of the generations which have preceded them. 
 We can only avail ourselves of the few relics upon which the unholy 
 hands of these vandals have not fallen, and hence, our information 
 as to the extent of the devastation which followed is very meagre. 
 We know that several persons were killed and much property de- 
 stroyed, though it does not seem that so much damage was done at 
 at this time as might reasonably have been expected. The Indians 
 were intent on expending their fury on Portsmouth, Berwick, and 
 other towns, where they massacred a great many of the settlers. 
 Wells and Cape Porpoise, or Arundel, having eighty soldiers, were 
 perhaps in a little better condition to receive the assailants, and the 
 Indians never liked very well to face muskets. 
 
 In this terrible posture of affairs the governor appointed a general 
 fast. An appeal to the Ruler of the Universe seemed to be their 
 last resort. If it had been the first, and the people had carried out 
 their prayers in their intercourse with the natives, they would have 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 143 
 
 exhibited much more wisdom. Had the English invariably acted 
 upon the christian principle of doing to all as they would have all 
 do unto them, this appalling calamity would never have come upon 
 them. It requires a wonderful boldness at the throne of grace, to 
 pray to be saved from the consequences of our own iniquities. 
 What effect this public fasting had on the councils of Infinite Wis- 
 dom, has not been clearly unfolded to our vision. The Indians did 
 not at once stay their hands, but as a concluding act of the war of 
 this year, visited Wells soon after and wreaked their vengeance on 
 the inhabitants. Their first attack was made at the house of Wil- 
 liam Symonds, who lived on the spot where Theodore Clark now 
 lives. Mr. Symonds had taken the proper precaution and moved his 
 family to the garrison. " His servant going early in the morning to 
 look after some business there," says Mather, "tarried longer than 
 was needful to provide something for himself. The Indians invited 
 themselves to breakfast with him, making the poor fellow pay the 
 shot when they had done with the loss of his life." They then re- 
 duced the house to ashes. They killed another man about the same 
 time, whose name has not come down to us. The Cross family re- 
 sided in this neighborhood, and one of them whose mind had lost its 
 balance, and who was wandering from home, was also murdered 
 about a week afterwards. Major Waldron now exerted himself to 
 make peace with them. But though a truce was entered into, before 
 it was accomplished they killed one Isaac Cousins. We suppose 
 that Cousins lived near the saw-mill on Little river. We have no 
 further knowledge of him. 
 
 This truce was, of itself, of very little importance to the settlers. 
 The Indians were not in the habit of making sallies on the settle- 
 ments in the winter season, and this which followed was one of un- 
 usual severity. A great quantity of snow was on the ground. This 
 rendered it impossible for them to pursue their ravages. Prisoners 
 were delivered up. The armistice might have resulted in a lasting 
 treaty had it not been for new acts of folly and wickedness on our 
 part. Some had set in motion whispers of new enterprises on the 
 part of the natives, and the fears of the people from the scenes 
 which they had just passed through, prompted them to seize those who 
 had been active in the war. Under authority of precepts for this 
 purpose some were seized near Pemaquid, carried off and sold as 
 slaves in foreign countries j a barbarity on the part of civilized man, 
 
144 HISTORY OF WELLS AtfD KENNEBUNK. 
 
 fully a counterpoise for the Indian enormities; and thus the fire was 
 again kindled to sweep over the province. The days of vengeance 
 were renewed, and the poor inhabitants of Wells were driven to the 
 garrisons. 
 
 Early in 1676, attacks were made on various places, and the inhab- 
 itants killed. Beyond Falmouth for many miles all was laid waste. 
 The government ordered whatever soldiers could be spared into 
 Maine. A portion of these were cowardly men who had fled into 
 Massachusetts the previous year. On their way, at Dover, they 
 were embodied with the troops under Major Waldron. Here, by a 
 successful fraud, Waldron was enabled to seize four hundred Indians. 
 Two hundred of them were sent to Boston. This procedure had 
 the approbation of government. Some of them were condemned 
 and executed; the remainder sent abroad and sold as slaves. This 
 fraud was effected by Waldron, by a proposition to the Indians for 
 a sham fight, in which they were induced to fire " a grand round." 
 Then they were all immediately seized. The retribution for this 
 iniquity was not long delayed. The Indian heart felt deeply any 
 wrong to which they were subjected; and civilized man was thus 
 laying up wrath against the day of wrath. All teachings of that 
 character received by these wild men took deep root in their untu- 
 tored souls, and, until so reduced in numbers that all resistance to 
 the encroachments of the white man were vain, they continued to 
 bring forth, for nearly a century, their terrible fruits. 
 
 Early in August there was a bloody fray at Casco ; and attacks 
 were made on other settlements, east ; harbingers of the frightful 
 disasters which were to fall on those at the west. Brian Pendleton 
 of Cape Porpoise, writes to the governor, August 13, after having 
 heard of the tragedy at Casco, " How soon it will be our portion we 
 know not. The Lord in mercy fit us for death, and direct the hearts 
 and hands to act and do what is most needful in such a time of dis- 
 tress as this." 
 
 The Indians were now divided into parties, and this made their 
 attacks more effectual. They lurked in the woods in various places, 
 waiting the convenient opportunity for emerging from their coverts, 
 and committing their depredations on life and property, where they 
 were entirely unexpected. A large party had been lurking in the 
 forests, which were then untouched by the axe, between the meeting- 
 house and Little river. The people had not heard of the murder at 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 145 
 
 Peace's Island the day before ; and so imperfect was the communica- 
 tion in any direction, they, perhaps, had no warning of the necessity 
 of special care. They attended public worship on the twenty-fourth 
 of September, though probably carrying their arms with them. The 
 enemy had not the courage to attack them while thus in the house 
 of God. Though the priest had taught them that their enemies 
 were infidels, they still had some reverential sentiment in regard to 
 the house where they assembled to worship the Great Father. They 
 feared to approach it while the priest was ministering at the altar. 
 They had many superstitions which, at times, were highly favorable 
 to the English. But as the people were returning to their homes, 
 Mr. James Gooch and his wife were attacked. He was shot and she 
 was cut to pieces by the hatchet. They were riding in the way of 
 olden time, on horse-back ; in that loving fashion, symbolic of the 
 affection and strong union of the age, she on the pillion behind him, 
 with her right arm round his waist. No other persons seem to have 
 been attacked at this time. There were but few of the assailants, 
 and this assault having been succsssful, they escaped as soon as 
 possible, for there must have been many persons returning home 
 from public worship at the same time. Notwithstanding the preva- 
 lence of much iniquity, there were many people in those days who 
 valued their religious privileges. 
 
 James Gooch was the son of John Gooch, who was one of the 
 early settlers in Wells. He came from York, and located himself on 
 a lot of land near Little river, not far above its junction with the 
 Branch river, to which place we suppose James was tending, when 
 murdered. We have before given a sketch of the life and character 
 of the father. James was a man of very respectable standing, and a 
 good citizen. He had been for several years one of the selectmen of 
 the town, and exercised a wholesome influence ; and it may have 
 been on this account that the savages selected him as their victim. 
 A ruling principle with the tribes was to kill or carry into captivity 
 men whose loss would be the most deeply felt. The greater the 
 injury they could commit, and the more saddening its effect, the- 
 stronger the motive for the crime. Such, we believe, is not very 
 unlike the motive which still rules in christian warfare. 
 
 The day after the murder of Gooch, the Indians made a raid on 
 Cape Neddock, and destroyed the whole village. Forty persons 
 10 
 
146 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 were killed or carried into captivity. A letter from Richard Martin 
 of Sept. 26, 1676, says, " On Sabbath last a man and his wife, namely 
 one Gouge, were shot dead and stripped by the Indians at Wells, at 
 two or three o'clock. Cape Neddock was wholly cut off. Only two 
 men and a woman, with two or three children, escaped." They must 
 have been entirely off their guard. The attack on Gooch could not 
 have reached their ears. This sudden appearance of the enemy at 
 Wells would have rendered it perilous for any one to travel to Cape 
 Neddock to give notice of the danger. The inhabitants at Cape 
 Neddock, it is supposed, were quietly pursuing their business with- 
 out a thought of peril. In the subsequent wars their were several 
 garrisons there ; but probably, at this time, they had none. If they 
 had had even one, the destruction could not have been so universal; 
 though we cannot understand, when they were actually in jeopardy 
 every hour, how rational men could have neglected to provide for 
 themselves some place of refuge, in such terrible exigencies, as they 
 could not but some time expect. 
 
 After having finished their work at that place, the Indians returned 
 to Wells, and here killed two persons, George Farrow and another, 
 whose name we have been unable to ascertain. Farrow, we think, 
 has no descendants here. He left a widow and three sisters. But 
 the loss of her husband, and the hard experience following, brought 
 her soon after to the grave. Where, or under what circumstances 
 Farrow was killed, is not known. We only know that he was away 
 from his house, and without company. His murder, and the terrible 
 ravages at Cape Neddock, awakened a sense of danger in the hearts 
 of the people of Wells ; and by watchfulness and the necessary pre- 
 cautions, they saved themselves from a similar fate. The enemy re- 
 turned here soon after; but they killed only one man. Who he 
 was, we are not informed. 
 
 The Indians seem to have met with no repulse afterwards in their 
 raids eastward, but were successful in all their movements ; entirely 
 destroying Scarborough, and taking captive many in other places. 
 On the eighteenth of October they came again to Wells, with great 
 force, under the command of Mugg. The soldiery was altogether 
 insufficient to meet them in the open field, though it required but a 
 small proportion, as to numbers, to put them to flight. Their only 
 protection now was at the garrison, which was at " the town's end." 
 We are not certain what is meant by this designation, but we have 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 147 
 
 little doubt that it was near where the house of the late John Rankin 
 stood. The end of the village on the king's road was here. In this 
 place was the garrison of John Wheelright. Where Daniel Eaton 
 lives was another; but whether either of these had then been erected? 
 we are uninformed. From various facts shown by the records, we 
 are satisfied that this locality was called " the town's end." Here 
 Rev. John Wheelright lived in a small one story house, and here 
 also resided his grandson, Col. John Wheelright. But he was yet 
 a minor. (Nicholas Cole was not here at the beginning of the war.) 
 Here Mugg showed himself with his army of savages. They had 
 just taken prisoner at the eastward, one Walter Gendall, whom they 
 sent into the fort to demand a surrender, before they made an onset. 
 But the bold commander was not intimidated, and replied to him, 
 " Never, never shall the gates be opened till every one within is dead.' 
 Such a reply was worthy the man and the occasion. He knew what 
 capitulation to th em meant. With Indian treachery and barbarity 
 he was not unacquainted. The inmates could not meet with a 
 worse fate by a heroic defence, than by a surrender. The latter 
 would have brought the tomahawk, scalping knife, or captivity upon 
 them ; and the former could not, in any event, have done more. 
 Whatever the enemy did in any place must be done quickly. They 
 feared delay, as force could be speedily gathered against them, on 
 information where they had shown themselves. Their threats had 
 no effect. The vigilant commander was awake to his position, and 
 every man felt that his life was involved in the issue of the conflict. 
 Mugg became convinced that there was no hope of success against 
 such determined bravery, and abandoned the attack. They probably 
 did not approach sufficiently near to expose themselves to the fire 
 of the garrison. At some time during the siege they killed Isaac 
 Littlefield, the son of Francis, sen., who was about sixteen years of 
 age. We have no knowledge of the circumstances. They also 
 killed one other man and wounded a third, whose names are un- 
 known, and maimed thirteen cattle, which they left, after taking out 
 their tongues. In regard to Littlefield, they seem to have mani- 
 fested a different spirit from that which was usual toward those who 
 fell into their hands. They demanded of him to surrender. But he 
 peremptorily declined ; and continuing to do so, they shot him. 
 After this they gave liberty to his friends to take his body, offering 
 it no further inhumanity, and attempting no violence to those who 
 
148 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 came to take it away. One would suppose that these were of a 
 different tribe from those who had exhibited so much barbarism in 
 former ravages. As a general rule destruction was in all their ways, 
 and any amount of cruelty which they could inflict, seemed never to 
 be spared to their unfortunate victims. 
 
 This noble defence of the garrison is worthy of a better record 
 than we now have. It seems strange that such gallantry was not 
 more highly appreciated among our ancestors, so that the names of 
 these brave defenders, and of those who became martyrs for their 
 wives and children, might have been held in remembrance, and 
 handed down to their descendants, to inspire them with reverence 
 for their fearless devotion, and fill their own souls with the same 
 noble patriotism. It may be, indeed, that all nearly endured martyr- 
 dom during the war; and hence they could hardly be made to feel 
 that others had a more trying experience, or battled more bravely, 
 than themselves ; so that, in their view, there was no pre-eminence 
 of bravery which came with power to their hearts. 
 
 In the last of the season of Indian warfare, Nov. 6, 1676, a treaty 
 was entered into with Mugg, at Boston. To assure the commission- 
 ers of the honesty of his heart, he offered himself as hostage for the 
 fulfillment of it ; but he was not detained. The treaty was disre- 
 garded, and the next year the Indians were again at their work of 
 destruction. There was but little left of the settlements, eastward. 
 Devastation had there done its work. The destruction of Wells 
 and York were now determined upon. Wells was the special object 
 of vengeance. 
 
 In April of the next year they issued from the forests in the 
 neighborhood of York. The village, or the original city of Gorge- 
 ana, was situated near the sea on the eastern side of the river. The 
 people had begun to cultivate lands, two or three miles from the 
 settlement. Still there were forests in every direction. The fields 
 were nearly surrounded with a dense growth. From the neighbor- 
 ing woods there was abundant opportunity for reconnoitering; and 
 taking advantage of these hiding-places, when no fear of their 
 presence induced precaution on the part of the planters, the Indians 
 sallied forth, and killed seven men while at work in the fields. 
 Passing by Wells and Berwick, where the people were on their guard, 
 they had thus made sure of their victims. A small number in the 
 hiding-places, which were then so extensive, could do a great deal of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 149 
 
 mischief, without much danger to themselves. The inhabitants of 
 York, filled with apprehensions from these murders, felt the necessity 
 of self-protection, and could not come to the aid of neighboring 
 towns; so that by this attack the Indians aided others in their assault 
 on Wells. 
 
 Here they commenced operations about the same time. But 
 Wells was now in some measure protected by a regular military 
 force. The fort, which we presume was one of the garrisons, was in 
 charge of Lieut. Swett. For protecting all the inhabitants any force 
 would be insufficient, against their raids made from the woods. 
 Some careless men would expose themselves in their agricultural 
 pursuits, on which they were now just entering for the season. 
 Early in April three persons were killed, and during the month the 
 town and garrison were attacked several times. April 13, Benjamin 
 Storer and John Weld were killed. Benjamin Storer was a neighbor 
 and brother of Lieut. Joseph Storer, and lived on the opposite side 
 of the road. Who Weld was, cannot now be ascertained. We 
 think he was a stranger, as the name was not before or after known 
 in this town. 
 
 Though these attacks had been so frequent that no man could 
 reasonably consider himself safe out of the garrison, the people were 
 so accustomed to perils of every description that many of them did 
 not hesitate to go to the marshes, or toward the sea, for gunning or 
 other purposes, as occasion required. The houses being all on the 
 upper side of the road, and the corn-fields on the lower, the whole 
 seaside was open to view, and those on the marshes could extend 
 their vision to a great distance, and feel comfortably sure that no 
 Indians were lurking near them, especially when the river was full. 
 About the same time that Storer and Weld were killed, a man and 
 boy were there in pursuit of game. It was early in the spring, when 
 the birds were returning from the south, and were very abundant. 
 Appetite and pleasure have always exercised a greater influence over 
 the race than fear. Wild geese and ducks, almost within gunshot 
 from their doors, could not be foregone, even though the enemy 
 might be hovering in the neighborhood. The man was making 
 preparations for a shot, and was down on his knees, fixing his flint. 
 The boy, happening to cast his eye around, discovered two or three 
 Indians coming near. The man sprang up in a moment, and aiming 
 his gun directly at them, cried out at the same time, "Ah, you 
 
150 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 rogues, I have been looking for you." A word and action so sugges- 
 tive startled them, and they instantly fled. Wells, even in those 
 days, when they had no schools, had men of quick perceptions and 
 ready wit. The exigencies of the hour rendered it necessary for 
 them to have their eyes open, and their faculties wide awake. 
 
 Lieut. Swett at the same time discovered an Indian strolling about, 
 and sent out eleven of his men to search the neighborhood. Ven- 
 turing a little too far from the garrison, two of them were killed, 
 and one mortally wounded. He immediately sent out a larger force, 
 who killed five or six of the enemy. As soon as they came in sight 
 of the Indians, an Irishman called out, " Here they be — here they 
 are." This frightened them and they all ran. More extensive havoc 
 would have been made among them if the Irishman's tongue had 
 been kept still. The Indians, though childlike as to knowledge, 
 were not destitute of some considerable inventive genius, to carry 
 out their purposes. This sole Indian was led to show himself to lead 
 the men of the garrison into ambush. The ruse was successful. 
 Screened by the woods, they could very easily have made one shot, 
 and escaped from a much larger number. But as it was, though at 
 first favorable, in the end it was an unprofitable enterprise. 
 
 Very soon after this, an attack was made on Black Point, where 
 the garrison had been rebuilt, and in this assault, Mugg, the Indian 
 leader, was killed. After this, they took to their canoes, and a part 
 of them came west, again to prey on Wells and York. Here they 
 killed seven persons and carried away two into captivity. After 
 this, it is not known that any more were killed in Wells during the 
 war. They came into the river and cut out some vessels belonging 
 to Salem. No other depredations were committed. 
 
 The Indians, having lost their commander, and being tired of the 
 war, assented to terras of peace, which were established by treaty at 
 Canso on the 12th day of April, 1678. All the captives were sur- 
 rendered, property restored, and the doors of the garrisons opened. 
 But the destruction had been great ; houses had been destroyed, 
 farms laid waste, and all around was but a scene of devastation and 
 sorrow. The ravages of war are always terrible to those dwelling 
 in the sphere of its immediate action ; but the men of Wells, when 
 the war began, were poor, and nearly all was lost. They had la- 
 bored hard, partially cleared the forests, reduced some of their lands 
 to cultivation, built temporary houses for shelter, and secured such 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 151 
 
 an advanced position in their agriculture as to cherish the hope that 
 a life less burdensome than that which they had thus far experi- 
 enced, was before them. Some had been cut down, leaving their 
 families without homes, destitute and desponding. Nearly all had 
 lost near and dear friends, and the little village must have been 
 gloomy and sad indeed had it not been for the cheering thought 
 that the war was over, and all could now go forth and freely enjoy 
 the smiles of a gracious Providence, which nature everywhere exhib- 
 ited to their eyes. Restored liberty came to them as an angel of 
 mercy, and by it many souls were awakened to new activities for the 
 regeneration of the town, and soon all came up to the work. The 
 men and the women gave their energies to the restoration of the old 
 waste places, and quiet and industry soon exhibited their benignant 
 effects all along the king's highway, from York to the " town's end." 
 
152 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Judiciary system— Various indictments— Grand jurors, their com- 
 pensation—The court drummer— Court at Wells— Names of mem- 
 bers — Expenses — Indictments — Punishments — James Adams — " The 
 Devil's Invention "—Story of the Simpson children. 
 
 The judiciary system had much to do in the regulation of the af- 
 fairs of the province, and in moulding the character of the people. 
 Much may be learned of a nation by its laws and their administra- 
 tion. One who is in the habit of attending court has there a favora- 
 ble opportunity of acquainting himself with the feelings, habits, 
 intellectual culture, and moral condition of the community. The 
 history of the town cannot be well understood without some knowl- 
 edge of the judiciary, and the law to which the inhabitants were 
 amenable. A great many men and women are what the law makes 
 them. Remove all the influences of judicial tribunals, and let un- 
 restrained license be the right of every individual, and a state of so- 
 ciety would soon exist, which we are inclined to believe would not 
 very well compare with that of even the rude savages, who roamed 
 the woods before oui> forefathers landed on these shores. We pro- 
 pose, therefore, to give a chapter of the lore drawn from the records 
 of our courts. More especially do we feel the importance of this, 
 from the fact, that in the records of the county of York is contained 
 much of the history of the State which might never otherwise be 
 brought to light. Previously to 1700, the town of Wells consti- 
 tuted a material part of the whole province. At times, all the terri- 
 tory east was laid waste. 
 
 In the early periods of the settlement, the principal portion of the 
 officers connected with the government must have been taken from 
 those who had gathered here. The wealthy and the learned, estab- 
 lished in the home land, and in the possession of every earthly com- 
 fort, had no occasion for adventure, and thence no promptings for a 
 location in this western wilderness. The emigrants to Maine were 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 153 
 
 of a very different stamp, men without property and without educa- 
 tion. They came here almost entirely from pecuniary motives. 
 Without land in England, they sought a home where they could 
 find a spot of earth, by whose annual ministries they might be able 
 to support their wives and children. It was from these men that 
 most of the judges and all the juries were to be taken. That a judi- 
 ciary system, under these circumstances, would be marked by any 
 great wisdom, no one would have reason to expect. 
 
 The first court established in Maine, of which any reliable infor- 
 mation survives, had perhaps more judicial stamen than any which 
 followed it in the seventeenth century. Willis says it was an able 
 board. It consisted of Thomas Joscelyn, deputy governor, Richard 
 Vines, Francis Champernoon, Henry Joscelyn, Richard Bonithon, 
 William Hooke, and John Godfrey. These men constituted the 
 council, and also assumed judicial authority, They understood the 
 character of the people with whom they had to deal, and, of course, 
 their adjudications, which had much the shape of legislation, were 
 of a nature which they supposed to be best fitted, as a matter of 
 policy, to promote order among them ; but as, at this time, we have 
 no sure knowledge that there were any inhabitants in Wells to be 
 affected by their proceedings, we do not think it pertinent to the de- 
 sign of this work, to give any particular account of their judicial ac- 
 tion, excepting to say that, having to deal with a people not very 
 rigid in their morality, they awarded punishments for offences which 
 modern civilization would not judge wise for the purposes of refor- 
 mation. In most cases, the iniquities of men subjected them to a 
 fine ; but women were subjected to a different punishment. One 
 was required, as we have before stated, to make a public confession 
 of her error, and to ask her husband's forgiveness on her knees; and 
 another, to stand in a white sheet publicly in the congregation two 
 several Sabbath days, and likewise one day at the general court, 
 with the mark of her offence on her forehead. We do not know of 
 any law then which recognized such a punishment as this, and are 
 inclined to think it was an institution of the court. It was probably 
 somewhat effective in leading these wanderers to repentance for a 
 time ; but it is questionable whether the loss of self-respect, which 
 must ensue from it, would minister much to a wholesome iutegrity 
 in time to come ; and it is still more questionable whether the mor- 
 
154 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 als of a congregation would be much improved by such an exhibi- 
 tion. 
 
 The courts after this were differently constituted, and were princi- 
 pally made up of men whose education would not be denominated 
 liberal. Some of the judges were appointed by Gorges; some by 
 Godfrey, as governor ; some by the government of Massachusetts, 
 and the remainder were elected by the people. The courts were 
 holden at various places; York, Kittery, Wells, Saco, and Scarboro. 
 The business of all of them was carried on with the utmost simplici- 
 ty. It required no great acumen to understand the process of its 
 administration. Every case was adjusted upon the most concise 
 statement of the matter to be inquired into. We believe that in all 
 cases the defendant as well understood the charge against him, and 
 was as fully notified of what he was required to answer, as he is 
 through the prolixity of the allegations which have been required by 
 the courts at a more recent period. Thus, in 1651, the grand jury 
 made the following report : 
 
 "We do present Anthony Emery for being outgone with drink so 
 that he could not speak a true word." 
 
 * We present Goody Mendum for saying she looked at Mr. God- 
 frey as a dissembling man." 
 
 "We present Goody Mendum for saying Mr. Shapleigh was abase 
 knave, and for looking upon Mrs. Shapleigh to be some peddlar's 
 trull." 
 
 " We present John Lane for being a thief and a liar." 
 
 " We present Jane Andrews for a makebayte, making contention 
 and abusing Goody Mendum." 
 
 " We present Mrs. Bachelor for adultery." 
 
 "We present Hugh Gunnison for neglect of enclosing up his 
 Copper or Furnace, after notice given him of the danger, whereby 
 a man fell and was scalded and died the next day ensuing, by means 
 whereof he was buried without a coroner's inquest." 
 
 At the court in June, 1653 : 
 
 " We present Priscilla Johnson, the wife of Mr. Edward Johnson, 
 upon suspition of adultery with the gunner of Mr. Garrott's ship." 
 
 " We present William Bulland for living from his wife about six 
 or seven years." 
 
 "We present Robert Hethersaw for lying." 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 155 
 
 Nothing could be more plain and direct than these charges. The 
 defendant could never be at a loss as to what he was called to an- 
 swer. A similar explicitness, we believe, would much subserve the 
 purposes of justice at the present day. 
 
 In ordinary cases the court seem to have proceeded without the 
 intervention of a jury. In those of an aggravated character, a jury 
 was impanelled. How these juries were obtained before the incor- 
 poration of the towns, we have not ascertained. In the year 1647, 
 William Wentworth, Edmund Littlefield, John Sanders and Robert 
 Booth, all of the plantation of Wells, were on the panel. 
 
 There were then no court houses; but almost everybody, in a 
 limited sense, kept a house of entertainment, although there were 
 along the coast some which were more prominent, and known as 
 licensed places for the accomodation of strangers. At houses of this 
 description the terms were generally holden. We think there was 
 no court house in York County till after 1700. The expenses of the 
 court which were to be borne by the province, were apparently not 
 very onerous, though, in the poverty of the people, a very small sum 
 required some considerable sacrifice for its payment. The expenses 
 of the first court at Saco were £4.10. Wells, not yet incorporated, 
 was not called to contribute any portion of it. 
 
 . In 1651, it was ordered that each of the grand jury, while in the 
 service, shall have two meals a day at the expense of the county. 
 We are inclined to think that this order was a wise one, and that a 
 similar regulation at this age would be favorable to justice. Jurors 
 should be sustained at the public expense, and kept by themselves as 
 much as is consistent with a reasonable liberty. The iniquities car- 
 ried out by their separation as now allowed, very few people have 
 any knowledge of. The other jurors were allowed one shilling for 
 each trial, where the amount in controversy exceeded ten pounds 
 and eight pence, where it was less than that sum. One would sup- 
 pose that they must have submitted to a lean fare upon such pay as 
 this, when it is likely that they did not have the benefit of more than 
 one case a day, and frequently not even that. Ten years after this, 
 their pay was increased to three shillings a day. 
 
 We have stated that they had no court houses. Neither had they 
 any bells to their churches. The court and people were called to- 
 gether by the beat of the drum. The drummer stationed himself at 
 the door of the court room, and at the hour appointed, struck up the 
 
156 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 reveille in the most lively fashion, which sent its summons far and 
 wide. The people came together under the inspirations of this music, 
 spirited for duty in theix various departments of business. To those 
 not civilly or criminally in the meshes of the law, this roll-beat was 
 an interesting and attractive ceremony. The drummer was an im- 
 portant officer of the court, receiving double the pay allowed to the 
 juror. The drummer at Wells was John Smith, of whom the reader 
 has often heard. He was allowed two shillings a day for his services 
 and was continued in office several years. The court when sitting at 
 Wells was holden at the house of Samuel Austin, standing on the 
 site of the house of the late John Storer, which was taken down a 
 few years since. Austin was then licensed to keep an ordinary, and 
 we presume supplied all the inmates of the house during the sessions 
 with the inspiring draught. In those days, the public houses fur- 
 nished their guests with the true article. Rum, gin, and brandy 
 were what they were alleged to be. The counterfeits of modern 
 times, the only intoxicating currency which the rumseller offers to 
 his customers, had not then been ushered into the world, for the 
 moral and physical ruin of which they are such effectual agents. 
 The public paid all the bills of the court, including, it is believed, 
 the expense of liquors, then considered material to the discharge of 
 almost any duty. Generally the judges did not compromise their 
 dignity by an overdose of the necessary stimulants, though some of 
 them were presented for being drunk. The expense of the term, 
 with this liberty of indulgence at will, was by no means large. The 
 court sat at Austin's in July, 1670, and continued a week. The 
 Worshipful Thomas Danforth was president, Capt. Richard Waldron 
 and Mr. Elias Stillman, commissioners, and Capt. John Wincoll, Ed- 
 ward Rishworth and Francis Neal, assistants. The whole bill of ex- 
 pense was as follows : 
 
 Magistrates and jurors charges, - £37 .07 .7 
 
 John Barrets expense of Jonathan Pottle the murderer, .16 .0 
 
 John Smith the Drummer for 6 days attendance, - .12 .0 
 
 In 1680, the court sat at the house of Francis Littlefield. The 
 whole expense of board, and the several incidents for court and jury, 
 was but £8. In 1684, at the house of Joseph Storer, and the ex- 
 pense was but £2 .05. At the court holden at the house of Joseph 
 Hammond in 1675, the treasurer charges the province with six shil- 
 lings and ten pence, as " money given to the children in the house," 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 157 
 
 which was allowed by the court. To us who pay two or three thou- 
 sand dollars, the average expense of a term, this appears exceeding- 
 ly low. 
 
 Although the courts at this time were not distinguished for un- 
 common ability, they assumed very uncommon jurisdiction. They 
 seldom dismissed a case on the ground that they had no right to take 
 cognizance of it. If any matter was charged as an offense, and was 
 proved, they seem to have had no scruples in giving it that charac- 
 ter, and inflicting what they regarded as an appropriate punish- 
 ment. In fact, they made both the crime and the punishment ex 
 post facto. Thus in 1654, Jane, wife of John Andrews, was fined 
 ten shillings "for making asseverations, as namely, to wish that the 
 earth might open and swallow her up if she had those goods, and 
 afterwards confessed that she had." John Thorp was presented for 
 preaching unsound doctrine, and " for scandalizing John Norton, and 
 saying that he held forth false doctrines in a book set forth by Mr. 
 Norton." In 1668, Rowland Hansell " for living in this County six 
 or seven years he having a wife in England." In 1663, Francis 
 Small was presented for saying, " in speaking of the man who came 
 from Cape Porpoise to Saco, should they be ruled by the rogues 
 which came out of the Rocks of Cape Porpoise." In 1661, John 
 Roadman, " for saying he belonged to the Devil, and if the Devil 
 had his due, he had had him seven years ago." In 1669, John Tay- 
 lor, James Warren and his wife, Peter Grant and his wife, 
 
 and his wife, for using profane speeches in their common talk, as in 
 making answer to several questions, their answer is, " the Devil a 
 bit." " James Muchmore for frequenting the company of Joan Bat- 
 ten," and "Joan Batten for frequenting the company of James Much- 
 more." George Garland was ordered to have thirty-nine lashes " for 
 visiting the widow Hitchcock." 
 
 But the following order of the court holden at York in 1667, 
 seems to be a little wider stretch of prerogative than any which we 
 have mentioned : " In answer to the petition and declaration of Mr. 
 Francis Morgan, Capt. Richard Lockwood, Ephraim Lynn and their 
 wives, this court orders that from henceforth there shall be a friendly 
 and perfect union between the said persons ; but if by any wilful act 
 or acts, by word or deeds, done directly or indirectly, tending to the 
 making any breach or breaches of this union among the said persons, 
 and if it do appear whether in the men or wimin, any party so of- 
 
158 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 fending shall forfeit £20 to our Sovereign Lord the King, being 
 legally proved against any party herein expressed." If the court 
 could enforce decrees of this character, such an authoiity vested in 
 it would be of immense benefit to any community. But the mode 
 of doing it, or the precept issued for the purpose, would, it seems to 
 us, defy human ability. 
 
 In other respects, the courts at this time were very peculiar in 
 their action. They seem to have regarded it as a manifestation of 
 judicial wisdom to inaugurate strange, inappropriate, and unequal 
 punishments for offenses. Their administration in this respect had 
 no example in the old country. The penalties of crime in most 
 cases were the invention of the court. They had little regard for 
 the female sex, and awarded a more severe punishment against a 
 woman than against a man for the same offense. Very little of a 
 refined, educated civilization characterized their doings. Some few 
 of the punishments of an extraordinary character we take from the 
 records of the county. In 1671, Sarah Morgan was convicted of 
 striking her husband, and the court rendered judgment: The delin- 
 quent " to stand with a gagg in her mouth at Kittery at a public 
 town meeting, and the cause of her offense written and put on her 
 forehead, or pay fifty shillings to the treasurer." In 1651, George 
 Rogers and Mrs. Bacheler, the wife of the minister, had been guilty 
 of adultery. It was ordered that Rogers should receive forty stripes, 
 save one, on the bare skin, and that Mrs. Bacheler should receive for- 
 ty stripes, save one, and also be branded with the letter A. In 1674, 
 one Richard Gibson, of Kittery, was charged with " dangerous and 
 churtonous carriage toward his commander, Capt. Charles Frost," of 
 which fact the court being satisfied, he was ordered to receive twen- 
 ty-five stripes on the bare skin, which were administered in the pres- 
 ence of the court ; and considering the insolency of the said Gib- 
 son's behavior in the premises, it was further ordered that Capt. 
 Frost should be empowered by warrant to call before him said Gib- 
 son the next training day at Kittery, and whither he was to order 
 him " to be tied neck and heels together at the head of his company 
 for the time of two hours, or to ride the wooden horse at the head 
 of the company," as Frost might determine. He was also fined 
 twenty shillings " for multiplying oaths;" "ten shillings for being 
 drunk," to pay all costs and give bonds for his good behavior. The 
 offense in this case, we suppose, was one of common occurrence ; 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 159 
 
 where an individual, in a moment of excitement, strikes another, no 
 better than himself, but raised a little above him by the adventitious 
 circumstance that he was an officer. 
 
 The state of society, the character of the court, and the peculiari- 
 ty of judicial action, may be better understood from the mention of 
 a few other cases of criminal jurisdiction. 
 
 1650, William James and William Wormwood's wife, were pre- 
 sented for " living suspiciously together." 
 
 1663, Robert Jordan " for saying that Mr. John Cotton deceased 
 was a liar and died with a lie in his mouth, and that he was gone to 
 hell with a pack of lies." 
 
 1655, Robert Hethersaw "for attempting the wife of Samuel Aus- 
 tin to incontinency, both by words and actions." 
 
 1668, William Ellingham "for using some uncivil speeches, as 
 wishing the Devil rot them." 
 
 1669, Edward Weymouth "for cursing and swearing and wicked 
 wishes to his wife." 
 
 1670, Thomas Nubery "for his light and uncivil carriages about 
 the wimmin." 
 
 1670, Thomas Taylor " for abusing Capt. Francis Raynes in au- 
 thority, by theeing and thouing him, and many other abusive 
 speeches." 
 
 1672, Thomas Withers " for an irregular way of contribution, by 
 putting in money to lead others to do the like, and taking his own 
 money, if not more, out again, whereby there lyes some suspicion of 
 fraud." 
 
 1682, William Furbish " for abuse of his Majestie's authority, by 
 his opprobrious language, in calling his officers Devils and Hell- 
 hounds." 
 
 It will be seen from these few cases which we have selected from 
 the multitude of a similar nature, with which the records are filled, 
 that every man had to be exceedingly cautious in his speech. Such 
 was the state of society produced by these absurd judicial proceed- 
 ings, that some were always ready to seize upon every injudicious and 
 hasty word which might be uttered, to bring the author before the 
 court for his misdemeanor, so that scarcely a single individual in the 
 town or province escaped prosecution of some kind. Fifteen persons 
 were indicted at one term for not attending public worship, and 
 
160 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBtTNK. 
 
 twelve for being drunk. Drunkenness was a matter of criminal ac- 
 tion at every term. Offenses unknown at this day were constant 
 matters of adjudication ; so that the community was kept in a state 
 of bitter excitement, very prejudicial to the peace, prosperity and 
 growth of the town. 
 
 In this early period of the settlement of Maine, a case scarcely 
 paralleled in the history of crime, occurred just within the borders of 
 York. Although it is not an incident in the history of Wells, yet as 
 the scene of the transaction was so near, and the inhabitants of these 
 towns were so intimately associated in their labors and trials at this 
 period, that events occurring in either were alike interesting to both ; 
 and as it shows to what a depth of depravity humanity may be re- 
 duced, we shall conclude this chapter with such an account of it as 
 we have been able to obtain. 
 
 At the court holden at York in 1679, James Adams was found 
 guilty of the offense of which the following, we believe, is a true 
 history in the main. If any crime which one can commit should 
 bring him to the scaffold, it was that of which this man was 
 found guilty. He was a man of bad temper and of a malicious and 
 revengeful spirit, and was regarded as a great liar. We know not 
 what trouble existed between him and his neighbor, Henry Simpson; 
 but we may well suppose that the latter had no respect for him. He 
 had been convicted " of forging many lies," and was thence regarded 
 by the people as a worthless man. Simpson may have been the 
 complainant against him for his reckless disregard of the truth. 
 From whatever cause, he now cherished a bitter enmity against him; 
 and harboring this enmity, it awakened within him a spirit of re- 
 venge, not to be appeased but by bringing upon him some terrible 
 affliction. Simpson had two small boys whom he tenderly loved, 
 about seven and nine years of age ; and this fiend in human shape 
 determined to make these children the medium through which he 
 could gratify his infernal malice. He went into the woods some two 
 or three miles from the village, and selected his site for the sacrifice, 
 as he had determined to cause them to perish by starvation. There 
 are several places in York where there are perpendicular ledges, so 
 smooth that no one could ascend them. Against one of these he 
 built up a pen, into which these children were to be cast. He cut 
 down his logs of suitable lengths and erected his work. It was 
 so constructed, the wooden wall inclining inward, that by no pos- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 161 
 
 sibility could the children climb over it. The plan was one of 
 deliberation, and he must have bestowed a good deal of labor upon 
 it, to be sure of the result at which he aimed. It was not a moment- 
 ary impulse growing out of sudden excitement; but he calmly 
 completed his work, and returned home to await an opportunity of 
 seizing his innocent victims. From that day to the present, this 
 place has been known as the " Devil's Invention." 
 
 Soon the fit occasion for accomplishing his malignant purpose pre- 
 sented itself. The children were out of doors, engaged in their 
 childish sports, and by some means he was enabled to draw them 
 from their home. He told them he was going to the woods, where 
 the little birds were flying thickly, and where they should find a 
 great many birds' nests. The children were captivated by the pros- 
 pect of such an adventure, and went on with him, their whole 
 thoughts absorbed in the various novel sights which were every mo- 
 ment meeting the eye. How long time the journey to their prison- 
 house occupied we have no tradition ; but he reached the goal of his 
 hellish designs with the children, and there, far away from human 
 habitation, where the cries of distress could reach no ear, notwith- 
 standing the shrieks of his little companions, he cast them into the 
 den to abide the agonies of starvation. His cruel and savage heart 
 relented not at the terrible wailings of his innocent victims ; but he 
 hastened home, wearing the countenance of innocence, as though he 
 had been merely about the ordinary employments of life. 
 
 The household of Simpson were alarmed. The two little boys 
 had disappeared. No one had seen them. The Indian war had 
 closed, and thence there was no thought of their capture by the sav- 
 ages. Diligent search was made by the parents, but no trace of 
 them was discoverable. Soon the whole town was aroused to the 
 search, and for three days the people, with intense interest, were 
 searching for the missing ones. All their earnestness and untiring 
 labor were fruitless, and this servant of the evil one began to in- 
 dulge in the malignant and infernal hope that his work had been 
 successful ; but Providence did not permit his machinations to suc- 
 ceed. The oldest boy was inspired as to the means of escape. 
 With nothing but their hands they went to the work of digging un- 
 der the logs which enclosed them, and with a perseverance equal to 
 that of the brave men who dug out from the Libby prison, they suc- 
 ceeded in so removing the earth as to open a passage way out, and 
 
162 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 thus escaped from their terrible imprisonment. In the dense woods, 
 yet untracked, with no path to guide their footsteps, they knew not 
 which way to turn to reach their father's home ; but the voice of the 
 great waters, the roar of the ocean, came to their little hearts with 
 cheering tones, telling them the way to the village. Guided by the 
 sound, wearied and almost famished, they finally reached the habita- 
 tion of man, and were restored to their parents. If history affords 
 evidence of a crime of deeper dye than this, we have not yet met 
 with it, and yet this wicked and infamous man received only the 
 punishment thus pronounced by the court. 
 
 "James Adams: the court have considered your inhuman and 
 barbarous offense against the life of the children before the court, 
 and great disturbance to the country, and do sentence you to have 
 thirty stripes, well laid on ; to pay to the father of the children, 
 Henry Simpson, five pounds in money; to the treasurer of the 
 county ten pounds, and to remain close prisoner during the court's 
 pleasure." The thirty stripes were given by John Smith, the execu- 
 tioner. 
 
 Any punishment which human ingenuity could have devised 
 would not have exceeded the merits of this barbarity. Thirty 
 stripes, a fine of fifteen pounds, and imprisonment during the pleas- 
 ure of the court, from which he might at any moment escape, or 
 from which the court might at any moment release him, was no pun- 
 ishment for his iniquity. For very small offenses, in that age, men 
 were brought to the gallows, and this man should have been ordered 
 to his home in the earth, on which he was unworthy to walk. The 
 minister's wife, for an offense dictated by no malice, but growing out 
 of a frailty of the race, was to receive forty stripes and to be brand- 
 ed on the forehead with the mark of the crime, from which the court 
 could not relieve her, and with this stigma upon her go down to the 
 grave, while this fiend was to receive thirty stripes only, and possi- 
 bly very soon be allowed to enjoy his former liberty, again, perhaps, 
 to prey on the peace of this or of some other family. 
 
 This brief account of the administration of justice in this county, 
 we think, will satisfy our readers that it was to the judiciary system, 
 adopted for the government of the province, that the low state of 
 morals during the seventeenth century was to be ascribed. The in- 
 fluence of the laws on a people and of the people on the laws, is re- 
 ciprocal. When law and its administration have no basis in a sound 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 163 
 
 philosophy, the effect on social order and progress is pernicious ; and 
 where the people are ignorant and vicious, the legislation and judi- 
 cial action under it will partake of the character of its authors or 
 the people. During the period of which we have been speaking, 
 legislation was intensified. We know no better term than this to 
 express the character of the prevailing jurisprudence. Laws were 
 passed to meet every particular case, and where legislation failed to 
 do this, the court made the law for the occasion. What a man 
 should wear, eat or drink, buy or sell, believe or think, say or not 
 say, do or not do, were questions to be answered by legal enactment. 
 As we have said, these early settlers were generally men of no edu- 
 cation. The character of the judiciary, in this respect, was not 
 much above that of the commonalty, and thus all the proceedings in 
 court were characterized by a puerility incompatible with the culti- 
 vation or growth of any vigorous manhood among the people. 
 
164 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Rev. Robert Paine— John Buss— Rev. Perctval Green— Rev. Richard 
 Martin— Rev. George Barrows— His trial for witchcraft— William 
 Severn. 
 
 Immediately after Mr. Hubbard left, Robert Paine was engaged 
 as the minister. There does not appear to have been any formal 
 proceedings in dismissing the former or settling the latter. We pre- 
 sume there had been no re-organization of the church. Towns were, 
 by law, required to maintain the preaching of the gospel ; but no 
 law could require the maintainance of a church. The power of leg- 
 islation was inadequate for that, and no evidence survives showing 
 the existence of any such institution until the commencement of the 
 next century. The congregation was the town. No sectarianism 
 was allowed. We mean such as produced schism, and division into 
 societies of discordant doctrines. The employment of a minister 
 was one of the mere ordinary matters of town action. 
 
 Paine was an educated man, graduating at Cambridge in 1656, 
 and was settled for five years from Sept. 2, 1667. He was a very 
 different man from Hubbard. In his ministerial contract he made 
 no reservation of rights or privileges. He claimed only such mate- 
 rial compensation as was essential to the support of himself and 
 family. The town agreed to pay him £45 a year, to finish the house 
 and outhouses on the ministerial land, and put the fences in order. 
 All repairs afterward were to be made by himself, and at the close of 
 his connection he was to leave the whole in as good order as when 
 he took possession. Eleven years had expired since he left college, 
 and having had opportunity to acquire some knowledge of the 
 world, he had come to the conclusion that it was best not to be ex- 
 acting; but he must have been an unpretending disciple to have 
 accepted terms of this character. He certainly could not have mag- 
 nified himself, neither could worldly riches have been his ruling im- 
 pulse. We judge him to have been a man of a meek and quiet 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KBNNEBUNK. 165 
 
 spirit, and that none of his hearers would be likely to be disturbed 
 by his official ministrations. As have all other ministers at Wells, 
 he probably labored in the field with his own hands, to supply the 
 wants of his household. In 1670, " Goodman Hammons was chosen 
 for the ordering and causing of an oughthouse to be built on the 
 the town lot for the use of Mr. Paine and them that shall succeed 
 him, and how much every man of the town shall do for his appor- 
 tion and part." This seems to have been all that was done for him 
 during his pastorate, and perhaps this was in part fulfillment of the 
 contract with him, as before stated. For aught that appears, his 
 ministry was a peaceful one ; but a peaceful ministry is not always 
 the most profitable. It does not indicate a living, active piety. In- 
 iquity needs heavy blows for its correction. The blood of both 
 Christian and sinner must be excited to work out a substantial, firm 
 religion. 
 
 Mr. Paine continued here until his contract expired in 1672. 
 Where he labored afterwards is unknown. Subsequently he was 
 invited to settle at Saco ; but for some reason, not stated, he de- 
 clined the invitation. 
 
 John Buss succeeded him. He came here in 1672, being then 
 about thirty-two years of age. We are not sure that he assumed 
 the title of reverend. He was an educated physician, and continued 
 the practice as such during his life. But he considered the spiritual 
 health of the people as necessary as the physical ; and therefore took 
 a deep interest in prescribing for both. There is no doubt, as a 
 general principle, that a healthy soul will do much to promote a 
 sound bodily health ; and sometimes the latter will materially aid 
 the former. These two professions were much more frequently 
 united in that age than at the present. Physicians, now r , are not 
 often found preaching the gospel, though some of them afford noble 
 examples of Christian fidelity and worthy discipleship. There is no 
 class in community who would do more good, if endued with the 
 spirit of the Master, than those of this profession. Called as they 
 are to the sick chamber, and so frequently when its inmate has but 
 feeble hope of restoration, they would be welcomed as angels of 
 mercy, exciting again, perhaps, the hope of renewed earthly life, and 
 awakening such cheering spiritual emotions as would come to the 
 aid of the debilitated body, and so excite its pow T ers as to enable it 
 
166 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBXHSTK. 
 
 to overcome the strength of the disease which was hastening it to 
 dissolution. There is nothing like a courageous, hopeful spirit, to 
 ward off the assaults of the great destroyer. The soul, determined 
 to dwell still longer in the earthly tabernacle, has not unfrequently 
 performed miracles of this character. Every physician ought to be 
 a Christian. The man who thoroughly understands the wonderful 
 machinery of the human system, and does not lift up his thoughts 
 and heart to the Infinite Architect from whose wisdom it emanated, 
 with reverence, trust, and love, must be dead to all those holy emo- 
 tions, which can render him worthy to be called a child of God. 
 
 Mr. Buss was evidently more acceptable to the people of Wells 
 than any of- the previous incumbents of the pulpit. His general 
 acceptance among them may well be presumed to have had its basis, 
 in the double capacity in which he spent his time among them. By 
 that instrumentality he became familiar with all, and learned their 
 various temperaments, and the appropriate ministries for their im- 
 provement. We have seen none of his sermons, and cannot judge 
 of his power as a preacher. 
 
 As there was no other physician in Wells, he must, in his medical 
 profession, have reaped a reasonable pecuniary income. He received 
 a much larger salary than was allowed Mr. Paine for his ministerial 
 services. He was to have £60 annnally, — and there was added to 
 this a contribution of thirty-one of the people, promising him forty- 
 two days' work of men, and as many more with oxen. The owners 
 of the saw-mill at Kennebunk, living six miles from the meeting- 
 house, gave him three hundred feet of boards. Another agreed to 
 shoe his horse for two years, and others promised to give extra aid 
 in various ways. These facts, when it is considered how hard it was 
 then to make provision for one's own family, show that Mr. Buss 
 had strongly attached himself to the people. How successful he 
 was in building up the christian character among them cannot now 
 be ascertained. The people had improved in some measure since 
 the days of Mr. Fletcher. Nearly all the inhabitants came forward 
 and offered additional aid to that which they would be required to 
 give in the way of taxation. Enjoying thus their hearty support, he 
 had continued with them five or six years, when the peace and har- 
 mony of the congregation began to be ruffled by the breath of 
 slander. 
 
 Notwithstanding the happy relations of most of the people with 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBtTNK. 167 
 
 Mr. Buss, there were some among the inhabitants over whom the 
 evil one had unshaken dominion. Men and women, blessed with the 
 power of speech for the most noble of all purposes, yielded its con- 
 trol to the enemy of all righteousness. Buss was not only highly 
 valued in Wells, but also in the neighboring towns. But the state 
 of society was such, though improved by his intercourse and public 
 ministry, that the best of men could not escape the malicious and 
 reproachful reports of the ignorant and unprincipled. This good 
 man was not permitted to escape the foulest slander. He was se- 
 verely tried by the circulation of reports which came to his ears, 
 and feeling that he could no longer abide with the people, he deter- 
 mined to abandon his post. But the public around had an interest 
 in his continued ministry; and at the court holden at York, July 3, 
 1677, Major " Richard Waldron, and the Rev. Mr. Joshua Moody, 
 and Mr. Shubuel Dummer, were entreated and empowered, as a 
 committee, to repair to Wells, and enquire the reasons of Mr. Buss' 
 intended departure, and to use their best endeavors to take away 
 such obstacles as do discourage his abiding among them ; whereof 
 they were desired to make their return to next court." This return 
 is not found on the files. But they so far succeeded in quelling the 
 commotion in the town, and encouraging Mr. Buss, that he concluded 
 not to dissolve his connection immediately. In a few years, how- 
 ever, the excitement was revived by new scandal, to which even 
 some men of influence had given currency. Mrs. Abigail Eldridge, 
 wife of John, and a daughter of Francis Littlefield, had originated 
 certain stories involving his character, and tending very much to 
 bring him into disrepute. There was no foundation whatever for 
 the defamation. Eldridge, the husband, was very indifferent to 
 public worship ; his wife was probably of similar inclinations ; and 
 like some of the present day, who have no reverence for the sanctu- 
 ary, and no interest in the ministrations of the gospel, they were 
 reckless in their insinuations against the virtue and integrity of 
 those whose lives and examples did not accord with their own. 
 For this groundless slander she was presented by the grand jury, 
 and found guilty of defaming Mr. Buss; and as a punishment for 
 her offense, was required to make a public acknowledgment of the 
 falsity of the charge at three public meetings on the Lord's day, at 
 Wells, York, and Berwick, at such times as the authority in those 
 places should designate, or otherwise to receive ten stripes on the 
 
168 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 bare skin, and her husband to pay all costs. Either of these pun- 
 ishments, for a woman of any delicacy, must have been crushing to 
 the soul. 
 
 Defamatory reports coming from such sources as this would prob- 
 ably have been unnoticed by Mr. Buss, had not others of a higher 
 standing given currency to them. Francis Littlefield and wife, from 
 some unexplained reason, had aided in fanning the flame, and by 
 such " presumptions " had involved the parish in discord and con- 
 fusion. Littlefield was undoubtedly deceived by Mrs. Eldridge. He 
 was brought to the bar, adjudged guilty, and fined for the agency 
 which he had had in this unfortunate excitement. Mr. Buss ought 
 not to have permitted such unfounded reproaches to weigh heavily 
 upon his mind. The Christian should stand up like a man and not 
 be driven from his post by the breath of slander, or by any of the 
 machinations of the powers of darkness. But the sensitive mind of 
 Mr. Buss could not endure even the suspicion of infidelity to his 
 moral obligations, and he came to the conclusion not to continue any 
 longer the minister of the town. 
 
 In 1682, he left Wells and went to Durham, N. H., where he 
 preached for the space of thirty-three years, making a long pastorate, 
 when ministers were not settled for life as they were in an after age. 
 He also continued the practice of medicine. He had accumulated a 
 valuable library. His house was burned by the Indians in 1694, and 
 his library consumed. He died in 1736 at the age of ninety-five, and 
 not one hundred and eight, as stated by Belknap and others. 
 
 The next minister was Percival Green, who was engaged in 1683. 
 He was an educated man, graduating at Harvard University in 1680. 
 His character as a preacher is unknown. As this was his introduction 
 to ministerial life, and his value as an apostle of Christ had not been 
 tested, the town was not very liberal in the arrangement as to his 
 compensation. They agreed to pay him annually £50 in lumber 
 and provisions, and allow him the use of the parsonage. It is said, 
 upon what authority we do not know, that he kept school. As sub- 
 sequent ministers were engaged in that work, he may have been thus 
 employed, and it was thence concluded that it was not necessary that 
 his salary should be equal to that of preceding ministers. Besides, 
 since the ravages of the Indian war the town was very poor. He con- 
 tinued here until 1689, when the second war had commenced. He 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 169 
 
 may not have had the courage to abide the trials and issue of that 
 terrible conflict. If he had had the true faith of the Christian, its 
 anticipated terrors would not have driven him from the field of his 
 labors. The soldier of the cross should have the martyr spirit, ready 
 for any duty demanded by the relations of life. The sustaining 
 power of the gospel was never more needed by the people than 
 during the sufferings and afflictions of this long war. His physical 
 services were also needed for the defense of the town against the 
 incursions and ravages of the savage enemy. His fears may not 
 have induced his removal, but his departure at this time it must be 
 admitted, is very suggestive. 
 
 After Mr. Green relinquished the pastorate, Rev. Richard Martin 
 was engaged for the service. The terms of his agreement were 
 substantially the same as those with Mr. Green. He was to be paid 
 £50 in the produce of the town, according to the following prices : 
 Pork at two and a half cents a pound, wheat at four shillings a bushel, 
 rye at two shillings aud sixpence, peas at four shillings, boards at 
 nineteen dollars, and staves at seventeen dollars a thousand. He was 
 also to have the use of the parsonage. Money was not easily acquired 
 at that time, and in all the new towns away from the commercial 
 emporium, it would have been through great difficultv that a contract 
 could have been fulfilled, whose provisions required cash payments. 
 This state of the currency, or deficiency in currency, was not un- 
 favorable to the permanent interests of the people. It kept the 
 inhabitants from extravagance. The propensity for showy and costly 
 dresses was checked. Young ladies were obliged to adorn themselves 
 with their own handiwork, thereby acquiring habits of industry and 
 economy. The minister's family could dress as well as any of the 
 people, and no better. There was necessarily much uniformity in 
 the apparel of all the households, there being no chance for the 
 gratification of that pride which now so often exhibits itself in the 
 display of extravagant finery. Men and women were decorated 
 according to their personal skill and taste. Domestic manufactures 
 supplied all their clothing. The means of education were very 
 limited, and those even the most anxious for knowledge were obliged 
 to graduate from the spelling-book. There was, from this fact, no 
 reason why the people should not be united in their religious views; 
 neither was there any occasion for uncommon ability in the pulpit. 
 
170 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 The wide distinctions now having their root in intellectual culture 
 and pecuniary possessions have grown out of the advances of a later 
 age. 
 
 It would be exceedingly interesting to have the opportunity now 
 of entering a house of worship filled with the men and women of the 
 seventeenth century, the sanctuary being then the resort of all on 
 the Lord's day. The law was rigidly enforced on such as neglected 
 the assembling of themselves together. What more interesting 
 spectacle than this whole body of men and women, with a Quaker 
 uniformity, dressed in the plain homespun broadcloth, ginghams, and 
 other domestic manufactures of that period. The true philanthropist 
 might almost wish the world brought back to such primitive sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 It is said by some writers that Mr. Martin continued here during 
 the whole war, but this is plainly an error. A considerable portion 
 of the time the people were without a minister; at other times they 
 had the services of Mr. Burroughs. But the terrors of Indian 
 ferocity began to be felt at its commencement. To the great sorrow 
 of the christian heart, the sanctuary where the people had been 
 accustomed to gather together, was committed to the flames. These 
 savages were inspired by the French Jesuits with the deepest hatred 
 of the English religion, and with the belief that the white men had 
 come here to drive them from their lands; and, as a consequence, 
 their houses of worship were now a very acceptable sacrifice to their 
 revenge. The meeting-house was burnt in 1692. From this period 
 the people had no fixed place for public meetings on the Sabbath. 
 The hazards of traveling also would have precluded any attendance, 
 excepting within the garrisons. We do not see how the people could 
 have fulfilled their engagements with the minister. The labors in 
 the field and at the mills must have been so much restricted by the 
 continual apprehension of Indian raids, and their fields so often laid 
 waste that their products could scarcely have furnished adequate 
 supplies for their families. Still, we know that they lived through 
 their deprivations. No instance is on record of starvation from a 
 want of the necessaries of life. Young and old were inured to ex- 
 tremities. The appetite of the race had not been pampered, and the 
 excitements of their condition would effectually quell any trouble- 
 some cravings from that quarter. 
 
 At what time Mr. Martin relinquished the ministry does not ap- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 171 
 
 pear. Twenty years after this he was engaged in keeping the town 
 school. Notwithstanding the manuscript declarations of intelligent 
 men deceased, I may also add that it is uncertain when he began his 
 ministry. The records would indicate that he commenced several 
 years before the time stated. If so, Mr. Green's pastorate was of 
 very short continuance. 
 
 After Mr. Martin closed his labors, we think there could have 
 been, for some years, no regularly established public worship ; cer- 
 tainly there could have been no opportunity of assembling together. 
 Universal distress prevailed. At no period in the history of the 
 town were the inhabitants driven to such straits for the preservation 
 of life. The enemy had destroyed every village east of Wells ; 
 many of the people had fled from the Province. The corn was ex- 
 hausted, and cattle and horses were killed or driven off by the In- 
 dians. The garrisons were crowded with refugees; not from the 
 town only, but from the ruined villages. From the time of the 
 commencement of this war — 1688 — the thoughts of all were so di- 
 rected to the preservation of their families, that but little attention 
 could have been given to the general moral improvement. There 
 was no minister for the altar ; but the people being established in 
 the garrisons, and encouraged in some degree by military aid from 
 Massachusetts, began to feel the need of the Sabbath ministrations. 
 
 Among those who had been driven from their homes in the eastern 
 part of the province was Rev. George Burroughs, who came to 
 Wells early in the war. Martin was here when the contest began ; 
 but what became of him during the struggle is not known. Bur- 
 roughs was probably more fearless. Being a strong man and accus- 
 tomed to victory in any attempts made upon things animate or inani- 
 mate, he had acquired a self-confidence and courage which fitted him 
 for any emergency. He was the man needed for the hour. He was 
 in Wells as early as 1688. Martin may have thus regarded the min- 
 isterial office as provided for, and surrendered its duties to him; and 
 perhaps the people may have suggested a preference for Burroughs. 
 
 It has been very difficult to follow this man so as to determine 
 with any certainty the times and places of his residence. He seems 
 to have preached the gospel several years in Falmouth, now Port- 
 land ; also in Salem ; perhaps in Scarborough. Hutchinson, in his 
 history of Massachusetts, says, "He had been a preacher several 
 
172 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 years before his trial at Salem ; afterwards he became a preacher at 
 Wells, in the province of Maine." He makes no allusion to Fal- 
 mouth, although he is called of that place in the indictment against 
 him for witchcraft; and we know that that town had been the prin- 
 cipal field of his ministry ; but we know also that he was here in 
 1688, and from that time took much interest in the preservation of 
 the town, having written and subscribed petitions to be forwarded 
 to the governor and council for aid. 
 
 We have no account of his ministerial faculties, or of the effect of 
 his preaching on the people. His qualifications for the fight of faith, 
 we have no doubt, waked up and nerved his energies to fight the 
 savages ; but the muscular power for which he was distinguished, 
 was seized upon by the deluded people of the age to bring his use- 
 fulness to a speedy end. He was a man of small physical stature ; 
 and his sad fate in some degree had its origin in that fact. He was 
 living in Wells when that terrible delusion, which had seized on the 
 public mind, brought to the scaffold for witchcraft many of the most 
 worthy and valuable inhabitants of New England. Although Bur- 
 roughs was not minister of the town many years, yet he had so 
 identified himself with its welfare, in the day of its j^eril, it cannot 
 but be interesting, and not out of place, to present a concise account 
 of the proceedings which terminated his life. Our knowledge of 
 them is, in part, from the record, and in part traditionary. How far 
 the latter is based on fact we have not the means of determining. 
 Some of it we believe to be reliable. 
 
 He was in Wells at the time of his arrest. If so, and any of the 
 offenses charged were committed here, it would seem that he should 
 have been tried in York County. But the law, and I may safely 
 say the facts, were manufactured for the occasion. As we under- 
 stand the doctrine of the court, the offense might be regarded as 
 committed in Salem, because the spectre of the witch was there, and 
 also the person injured, or in other words the witchcraft was carried 
 out in Salem, though the witch might have been far from that place. 
 We are not informed who made the complaint against Burroughs. 
 While he preached in Salem some considerable feeling existed against 
 him on the part of his congregation, arising from differences of relig- 
 ious opinion, and perhaps from his alleged unchristian deportment 
 toward his wives, he having been twice married. As he had now 
 been absent two or three years in Wells, it is probable that the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 173 
 
 prosecution was instigated by some angry feelings growing out of 
 those circumstances. He had some strong friends. One of them 
 said, " I believe he is a choice child of God." When Burroughs 
 was arrested, we have not learned. But he was at the house of one 
 Beadle, in Salem, Aug. 5, 1692. We suppose that he was taken on 
 the warrant previously to this. 
 
 The tradition is, that the officer came to Wells with his aids, and 
 arrested him, to be carried to Salem. He readily yielded himself 
 into their hands, feeling assured of his innocence, and that no such 
 thing as witchcraft cleaved to him. A savage war was then pre- 
 vailing, and the most frightful cruelties were visited upon the people. 
 The fears of these men were excited to a high degree by the appall- 
 ing dangers which beset their journey ; and instead of taking the 
 road which led through York, and over the ferry at the mouth of 
 the Piscataqua, they concluded to take a more retired path through 
 the woods, and across the river at Quampegan. Other thoughts, 
 which added to these fears, came over them. They were believers 
 in witchcraft, and were now the close companions of one who was 
 in league with the devil, who might, at any moment, exercise his 
 power upon them. They had listened with wonder to the evidence 
 which had been eliminated in other trials, of the irresistible power 
 which had been exercised over others, by some magic agency or 
 spell of these dangerous spirits. They had probably heard of the 
 story of Mary Osgood, as afterwards related in court, who stated 
 that in 1690 she was carried through the air with deacon F rye's wife, 
 Ebenezer Baker's wife, and Goody Tyler, to a pond, where she was 
 baptized by the devil, who dipped her face in the water and made her 
 renounce her former baptism, and told her she must be his, soul and 
 body forever ; and after renouncing her former baptism, that she was 
 transported back again through the air, and she believed, on a pole. 
 These strange events and wonderful disclosures which were being 
 made every day in court, so crowded in upon their minds that they 
 shuddered at every moment. Finally, when entering the woods, 
 they became so wrought up that nothing was beyond the reach of 
 their imaginations. It was now growing dark, and very soon a black 
 cloud shut out the sky, so that almost total darkness prevailed. A 
 frightful storm began to rage. But still the horses and their riders 
 must wend their way through the forests. The thunders of heaven 
 came down with stunning peals, " and a crash more terrible than any 
 
174 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 they had heard seemed now to rend earth and sky. A lofty pine 
 was shivered above their heads, and its fragments thrown over them. 
 For some minutes they were utterly blinded. And now they felt 
 their horses borne along with the rapidity of the wind. The spell 
 of the wizard had indeed called the fiends to his aid, who were now 
 bearing them onward in their arms. Yet, strange as it may seem, 
 their horses never broke into a gallop, and the motion beneath them 
 was that of the same uniform trot in which they had been before 
 moving. Yet on, on they went. They seemed coursing with the 
 lightning." They 'felt that horse and rider were lifted from the 
 ground and were trotting through the air. Their affirighted spirits 
 shrank at the awful scene. But their horses carried them through, 
 and they reached the Piscataqua river in safety. Their prisoner was 
 calm through all this commotion of the elements, having the assur- 
 ance that he had been guilty of no wrong, while the trembling officer 
 and his comrades who had him in charge were wilted down by the 
 terrible experience of that dismal night. They felt that they had 
 been under the power of the spirit of evil. This place has been 
 made memorable by this adventure, and from that day has been 
 called Witchtrott. 
 
 The officer with his prisoner reached Salem in safety, and Bur- 
 roughs was soon after brought before the court for trial, under the 
 following indictment : 
 
 "Anno Regis et Regince, &c, quarto. 
 Essex, ss. The Jurors of our Sovreign Lord and Lady, the King 
 and Queen, present, that George Burroughs, late of Falmouth, in 
 the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Clerk, the ninth day of May in 
 the fourth year of the reign of our Sovreign Lord and Lady, Will- 
 iam and Mary, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, 
 and Ireland, King and Queen, defenders of the faith, &c, and divers 
 other days and times, as well before as after, certain detestable acts, 
 called witchcraft and sorceries, wickedly and feloniously hath used, 
 practised, and exercised at and within the town of Salem in the 
 County of Essex aforesaid, in, upon, and against Mary Walcott, of 
 Salem village, in the County of Essex, singlewoman ; by which said 
 wicked acts, the said Mary Walcott, the ninth day of May in the 
 fourth year aforesaid, and divers other days and times, as well before 
 as after, was and is tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted, and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 175 
 
 tormented, against the peace of our Sovreign Lord and Lady, the 
 King and Queen, and against the force of the statute in that case 
 made and provided." There were also three other indictments 
 against him of similar character. 
 
 To all the charges he pleaded not guilty. A part of the evidence 
 adduced against him was, that he held out a gun of seven feet barrel 
 with one hand, and that he carried a barrel of cider from a canoe to 
 the shore. To this, Burroughs replied that there was an Indian 
 present at the time, who held out the gun in the same manner. The 
 witnesses not remembering that there was an Indian present, it was 
 said the Indian must have been the blackman, or the devil, who, the 
 witnesses swore, looked like an Indian. 
 
 It was upon testimony of this character and the evidence of the 
 girl, Margaret Jacobs, and others (which she shortly after, by her 
 written confession, acknowledged to be false), that this minister was 
 found guilty, and with four other persons, was executed on the 19th 
 of August, 1692. It is said that just before his execution he offered 
 a most remarkable prayer, and that Cotton Mather, one of the most 
 learned men in Massachusetts, and sympathizing with these judicial 
 murders, being present, cried out, or said to the bystanders, that no 
 man could have made such a prayer as that unless the devil helped 
 him. One can hardly persuade himself that such a scene as this 
 ever occurred in New England. Burroughs was a valuable, patriot- 
 ic man, laboring hard at this time in the town of Wells to save the 
 lives of the people from the power of the savages. All the aid 
 which, by any possibility, could be had, was necessary to check their 
 frightful ravages. All the towns east had been destroyed, and the 
 people had fled to some place of refuge at the west. Wells was 
 now the frontier, exposed to all the force which the Indians and 
 French could muster against it, and yet at this very period, when 
 the sufferings of the people were almost beyond endurance, the 
 court must step in, carry away this worthy man ; and, at the same 
 time, the ministers of the gospel in Massachusetts recommend to the 
 government * speedy and vigorous prosecutions of this character," 
 though they had already seen specimens of the evidence by which 
 these judicial murders were being effected. If it was the ignorance 
 of the day which led to this wicked delusion, if delusion it can be 
 called, that thus ruthlessly sacrificed the lives of so many at its un- 
 holy shrine, then it was an ignorance carrying with it most awful 
 
176 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 guilt ; but we are unable to bring to our aid charity enough to look 
 upon these transactions as emanations of ignorance. We feel our- 
 selves under no obligation to search out any apology for them. If 
 Burroughs preached doctrines not acceptable to the prevailing min- 
 istry, and this non-acceptance kindled in the souls of these perse- 
 cutors a spirit of opposition, indulged until it generated a reckless 
 revenge, then all subsequent generations should learn from this fact 
 the perilous nature of bigotry and intolerance ; and if ignorance 
 was the mother of this awful delusion, then every one should feel, 
 and feel deeply, the infinite need of intellectual culture. But what- 
 ever may have been the cause or basis of this disgraceful spectacle, 
 the cause of righteousness and true religion can never derive 
 strength from a reference to these men as examples to guide the 
 lives of the generations which may succeed them. We might as 
 well refer to the rumseller's character and life, who regards his busi- 
 ness as lawful and just, for our instruction, because in other respects 
 he is beyond reproach, as to place the agents of these iniquities be- 
 fore our communities as examples of a true christian manhood. 
 
 After the abduction of Burroughs from the garrison, there were 
 not, we suppose, any public religious services until the close of the 
 war then raging. No preaching of the gospel was allowed except 
 by a Congregational minister. The rule of the hierarchy was still 
 more severe than this. All persons were prohibited from building, 
 or even using, any meeting house except by consent of the town or 
 license from the general court. It was said as an apology for this 
 enactment that the building of such houses had a tendency to per- 
 petuate divisions, " and weaken such places in the comfortable sup- 
 port of the ministry orderly settled among them." Every house 
 thus erected without consent was forfeited to the county, and the 
 treasurer might sell or demolish it, according to the judgment of the 
 court. This law was well devised to guard against any effectual de- 
 parture from the established faith. No new-fangled doctrine could 
 thus gain a foothold in town. 
 
 Order was considered indispensable to the stability of the govern- 
 ment and the prosperty of the people. Congregationalism was the 
 established religion, and its integrity must be preserved. No inter- 
 ference with its free action could be allowed. A new religion was 
 now started — we mean new only in this province. In 1681, William 
 Screven, an intellectual and eloquent man, began to preach in Kit- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 177 
 
 tery the doctrines of the Baptist denomination. His ministrations 
 were very effectual, and brought many to imbibe his sentiments; 
 but he was at once summoned into court, found guilty of disturbing 
 the peace, fined ten pounds, and admonished not again to repeat the 
 offense. His hearers, also, were required to refrain from again at- 
 tending any such disorderly meeting. Yet the people were exceed- 
 ingly anxious for the stated ministry of the Word. Among chris- 
 tian men the feeling was strong that public religious worship was 
 indispensable on the Sabbath. They could hope for no prosperity 
 without it. They had been taught, and the position had fast hold of 
 their hearts, as recommended by the Legislature in 1670, that the best 
 means of increasing freemen in Maine was, " that each destitute par- 
 ish obtain an able, pious, and orthodox minister;" and these friends 
 of religion were never easy when their Zion was without a shepherd. 
 
 We have been unable to fix the precise date of the following 
 letter, but we suppose it to have been written soon after the close of 
 the labors of Mr. Burroughs : 
 
 "To his Excellency the Governor and Council sitting in Boston. 
 
 We, the subscribers, humbly pray that your Honors would be 
 pleased to consider the distressed condition of the inhabitants of 
 Wells, who are not only objects of pity with reference to the enemy 
 and the length of the war, but also with reference to their spiritual 
 concerns, there not being one minister of the gospel in these parts ; and 
 in this town of Wells there are about forty soldiers and no chaplain, 
 which doth much dissatisfy them, especially some of them. If your 
 Excellency with the Honored Council will please to send us a min- 
 ister to be chaplain to the soldiers and also minister of the town, 
 we will allow him what we can for encouragement, with what the 
 country may allow him upon account of the soldiers, we hope will be 
 sufficient satisfaction and encouragement to us to stand our ground, 
 as also to the soldiers to continue here, and so shall your servants 
 remain to pray, etc. 
 
 Samuel Wheeleight. 
 John Littlefield. 
 
 These few persons subscribing are Samuel Stoker. 
 
 personally known here in Boston. James Gooch. 
 
 If it were at Wells we have grounds to believe there would be 
 the general voice of the town for the same." 
 12 
 
178 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTOK. 
 
 But we have no knowledge that any chaplain was provided for 
 the town. The years of the war remaining were passed without any 
 regular religious worship on the Sabbath. The people could not pay 
 the salary of the minister, and even if one had been stationed with 
 them, by the government, but few could have had the benefit of his 
 religious services. The savages had no respect for the Lord's day, 
 and the people required the same vigilance on Sunday as at other 
 times. Few of us would have been willing to expose ourselves to 
 the dangers of a Sabbath day's journey at that period. But the war 
 closed at the beginning of the year 1698, and among the first 
 thoughts of the people, on the return of peace, was that of provid- 
 ing for the worship of God on his holy day. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 179 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Action of the town in relation to jurisdiction of Massachusetts, &c. 
 — Gorges' title purchased by Massachusetts — First colony tax 
 — Grants to various persons — Order of town to proprietors to 
 lay out grants — indictments against the town — manufacture of 
 rosin and tar— Dishonest tax payers — Disaffection toward Mas- 
 sachusetts—Tax on Mills— Various grants — List of residents in 
 Wells from 1641 to 1687. 
 
 All the proceedings of Massachusetts hitherto had been ineffect- 
 ual in establishing its jurisdiction over the territory of Maine. A 
 majority of the people, wearied by the constant collision of authority 
 and the uncertainty of land titles, had acquiesced in yielding sub- 
 mission to that colony. Still there were some in all the towns who 
 could not be brought to any such acquiescence. They would not 
 acknowledge any justice in its claims. But Massachusetts persisted 
 in its determination to maintain the position which had been assumed, 
 and adopted every means available to that end. We are not aware 
 of the exact state of feeling in Wells at this time. The Littlefields 
 had gone over to the interests of that colony, and probably some 
 other men of influence ; so that in regular town meeting in 1676, the 
 friends of Massachusetts obtained a triumph. The town did not 
 acknowledge the claim which had been set up, but as matter of expe- 
 diency yielded to it ; expressing its wishes in this manner: "Upon 
 information of a complaint made by Mr. Mason and Mr. Gorges 
 against the Massachusetts government, together with the extended 
 claims to the propriety of our lands, and the right of jurisdiction 
 over us, exhibited to his majesty, we the inhabitants of the town of 
 Wells, being legally convened to consider the premises ; after serious 
 debate of matters, have generally acted, and do hereby conclude* 
 that there be a humble petition drawn up to his majesty in his name, 
 earnestly supplicating his majesty's favor, petition, and confirmation, 
 of the Propriety's lands which we honestly purchased of the natives 
 
180 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 and have so long enjoyed, as also for our future settlement under the 
 Bay as Government, with whose jurisdiction over us, under his 
 majesty, we are freely contented and satisfied ; and do further order 
 by virtue of the same vote, and by an unanimous consent, that Sam- 
 uel Wheelright, Mr. Symonds, and Left. John Littlefield be desired, 
 who are hereby empowered, to draw up a petition of the abovesaid 
 town, to be presented to his Majesty." 
 
 It may be well concluded that the unanimity here spoken of was 
 the result of the exigencies of the hour. The Indian war was upon 
 the settlers; and of themselves they were entirely inadequate to 
 protect their families and possessions from impending devastations. 
 They were glad to come under the sheltering wing of a power from 
 which they might receive the necessary succor. But that all the 
 conflicting interests were to be reconciled by this juncture of the 
 affairs of the town and of the province probably was not contem- 
 plated by the people. The claims and rights of Gorges could not 
 be obviated, or sloughed off, by any acts of the town, or any measures 
 adopted by Massachusetts. 
 
 This was, however, the favorable opportunity for that colony to 
 carry out its purpose of securing Maine as part of its territory. 
 The people of the province were rendered powerless by the state of 
 their relations with the enemy. This declaration of a willingness on 
 the part of Wells to submit to her jurisdiction inspired that govern- 
 ment with a new resolution to perfect the union which it had hereto- 
 fore failed to establish. The government on the other side of the 
 water was evidently adverse to the construction which was now at- 
 tempted to be put on the charter of Massachusetts, so that but little 
 hope could be cherished of any aid in that direction to accomplish 
 the desired end. To defeat any opposition or interposition from 
 that quarter, and to balk any efforts which might be put forth to 
 prevent the execution of a work of so much interest, Massachusetts 
 resolved to purchase the title of Gorges, so that, at once, all the 
 arguments used against the alleged right would be completely 
 neutralized. Arrangements were accordingly made for that purpose ; 
 and in 1678, for the sum of £1,250, the title of Gorges became vested 
 in that colony. The wonderful ingenuousness of that government in 
 its apology to the king in 1677, while this arrangement was in pro- 
 cess of perfection, will appear to all who have studied the history 
 of this claim, from the following portion of it : " Sure* we are that 
 
HISTORY OF VELLS AND KENNEBTJNK 181 
 
 no intention of wrong to the claimers; no unlawful design of the 
 enlargement of our borders ; no profit or advantage thereby accru- 
 ing ; but a grounded apprehension of our interest ; real compassion 
 to the inhabitants of an unsettled and ungoverned condition, togeth- 
 er with a sense of duty to be faithful to our Patent trust, did cause 
 us to receive them under the wing of your majesty's government in 
 this colony." From whatever motive Massachusetts was led to assert 
 this claim, it was supposed that now both the right of territory and 
 jurisdiction had become vested by this secret purchase. But this 
 sudden ruse created a very unpropitious excitement. The king was 
 much enraged. Still, Massachusetts felt secure in the success of its 
 diplomacy ; and the people of the province, in the posture of their 
 affairs, jaded by the anxieties and trials of the war, were content for 
 the present to have this matter at rest. 
 
 From 1675, for a period of forty years, we scarcely have any other 
 history than that of the operations, influences, and effects of the 
 most terrible wars with which humanity has been afflicted. Attempts 
 were indeed made in the interims of these desolating scourges to 
 maintain a foothold in various places, though with but a very limited 
 success. Providence did not seem to second the exertions put forth 
 for this purpose. In the year 1675 there was a great scarcity of the 
 necessaries of life. People began to entertain apprehensions of fam- 
 ine. The earth had withheld her increase, and the means of supply 
 were beyond their reach, there being seldom any available commu- 
 nication for the purpose. Nothing was allowed to be sent away but 
 fish, which were to be had in abundance. A colony tax rendered 
 necessary for public objects, was required to be paid into the treasury 
 for the first time. Yet all these adverse pressures did not entirely 
 subdue the enterprising spirit of the people. In 1675 grants were 
 made to John Wells, James Bates, Samuel Storer, Jeremiah Storer, 
 Thomas Boston, and John Bugg. Even in 1676, when the war with 
 the tribes was sending a thrill of horror to every heart, and when, 
 as we should suppose, no one could think of securing to himself lands, 
 or troubling himself about anything else than self-protection, the town, 
 looking to the increase and establishment of settlers, ordered every 
 one, on pain of a fine of twenty shillings, to lay out any grant which 
 had been made to him, within three months. In 1677 grants were 
 made to several persons : to John Drisco, fifty acres, " upon condition 
 that he builds a house upon the lot in one year, and does not desert 
 
182 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the place except he leaves an inhabitant upon it." Similar conditioned 
 grants were made to John Harmon, Gilbert Endicott, and Peter 
 Bass. The confidence in a speedy restoration of peaceful relations 
 with the Indians must have been exceedingly strong, or the courage 
 or recklessness of men very different from what we see at the pres- 
 ent day, to have led the possessors of these land grants to enter upon 
 them, with any expectation of fulfilling their conditions. But men 
 inured to exposure and trial will venture almost any hazard to carry 
 out designs on which their hearts are fixed. The people already 
 settled in Wells were anxious for help, and ready to make grants to 
 any who would settle among them. Their own titles had been made 
 secure by a provision in the contract with Gorges, that all who were 
 then holding lands should be undisturbed in their possessions. It 
 was for the interests of the townsmen to strengthen themselves by 
 drawing in as many settlers as possible ; yet it is probable that there 
 were fewer inhabitants at the end than at the beginning of the war. 
 
 Peace having returned, various questions presented themselves for 
 the action of the town. The old waste places were to be repaired ; 
 but such, especially, as the public were interested in. Travel was 
 resumed, and many came back to the province to view the havoc 
 which had been made, and to visit their desolated homes, or the 
 spots on which their rude dwellings had stood. The inhabitants had 
 confined themselves to the neighborhood of the garrisons, while the 
 war lasted. Of course the fences were neglected, and bridges, such 
 as they were, had become dilapidated. The Ogunquit bridge, which, 
 we believe, was the first in town, had become impassible, and the 
 town was indicted for its insufficiency — so also for not taking care of 
 the ferry over Kennebunk river. There was no parleying, at this 
 period, with corporations or individuals, as to their neglects or of- 
 fenses. The judicial remedy was resorted to without delay. 
 
 Previously to the war, all had, to some extent, been employed in 
 agriculture for the support of themselves and families, and some in 
 milling, as the best means at hand to increase their estates. Some 
 few had given a portion of their time to fishing. As fish were abun- 
 dant, this business was not so profitable as it has been in later peri- 
 ods. The prevailing custom for the use of boats was, that the 
 fisherman should have only one-half of the catch. Boats were then 
 obtained with more difficulty than in later years. The present cus- 
 tom of allowing one-fifth for boat share grew up in the last century. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 183 
 
 The milling business was probably the most profitable of any 
 which had been started ; but there were not privileges enough for 
 all who might, on that account, be desirous of entering into it, and 
 therefore some other sphere of activity was sought for. The enter- 
 prising spirit of some of the people impelled them to a new branch 
 of work. The forests afforded material for the manufacture of rosin 
 and tar. The pine was growing all over the town. The stumps 
 and roots of the trees, cut down for the milling operations, might be 
 put to use for the extraction of these articles so much needed for the 
 purposes of commerce, and some of the enterprising settlers resorted 
 to the experiment of trying their success in this direction. How 
 much was manufactured, or how long the business was continued, 
 we cannot state. We should judge that it might have been profita- 
 ble, and we can see no reason why it should not be so now, when 
 such havoc is made of the forests, while the material needed for it 
 is left to perish. The value of the article of tar at that time may be 
 tested, the amount of material required for a given quantity and 
 some further knowledge of our judiciary acquired from the fact that, 
 in 1686, John Harmon made a complaint before the grand jury that 
 Richard Rogers had entered upon his land in Wells and carried off 
 eighteen loads of candlewood. This term was then applied to the 
 pitch knots, which were made use of to answer the purpose of candles. 
 Rogers was found guilty of the trespass, and was fined " five barrels 
 of Tar at 25 gallons a barrel." We suppose that was about the 
 worth of the wood, over and above the expense of manufacture. 
 But the authority for the imposition of a fine of this character, we 
 can trace nowhere else than to the brain of the magistrates. 
 
 Such had been the vacillation of rights, even during the war, 
 Gorges being sometimes in the ascendancy, at other times Massachu- 
 setts, that the people could not understand their position or their ob- 
 ligations; to whose jurisdiction they were amenable, or who were to 
 pay the expenses incurred for the protection and defence of the set- 
 tlements. This uncertainty had no small effect in checking the zeal 
 of some of the inhabitants, and in 1677 they directed Samuel 
 Wheelright, who was chosen deputy to the general court, to endeav- 
 or to ascertain " in what capacity they stood in reference to carrying 
 on the war," and at the same time to assure the government that 
 they were ready to pay their proportion of what had already ac- 
 crued, and were prepared to do their part in any other war in which 
 
184 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBTJKK. 
 
 the colonies might be involved. They were not terrified or disheart- 
 ened at the ordeal through which they had thus far passed. Such 
 has been human nature in all ages. Even the greatest deprivations 
 of war, and the terrible experiences of the battle field, have been in- 
 sufficient to prevent many from heartily rushing anew into similar 
 excitements. But while they were thus ready to fight out the war, 
 even to the loss of all things, they felt, also, that remuneration for 
 the expenses thereby incurred should be made by the government, 
 in whose interests they were exposing themselves. Having the as- 
 surance that Massachusetts had become the proprietor of the terri- 
 tory and would discharge all claims, they maintained their ground 
 until the savage foe thought it wise to leave the field and stay their 
 desolations. 
 
 But the financial question now became one of interest. Their 
 own proportion of the burdens must be provided for. The visible 
 property for taxation, aside from their real estate, was exceedingly 
 small, there being several persons who were ready to shirk their re- 
 sponsibilities, by concealing what they had and rendering false state- 
 ments in regard to it. Amidst all the patriotism of the hour, some 
 souls were found whose niggardliness would well compete with that 
 of some specimens of modern civilization. Dishonesty and mean- 
 ness are not the exclusive attributes of the nineteenth century. 
 The honor of this kind of fraud was then sought by some of the 
 race. But such iniquity then, as now, was not always successful. 
 Such men were looked after, and at the court holden in July, 1679, 
 the judges, being "advised that some persons in the late assessment 
 for war rates did not give in a true account of their property, ap- 
 pointed Capt. Charles Frost, Capt. John Davis, and Lieut. John Lit- 
 tlefield, commissioners, to sit at York, and invested them with full 
 authority to summon in these unfaithful men, and make them dis- 
 close the truth." How this trust was executed we are unable to 
 say ; but we have no doubt it was in a good measure successful. In 
 those days, criminals and evil-doers seldom escaped with impunity 
 The forms and rules, which now so frequently obstruct the course of 
 justice, had not then been introduced. Some tribunal invested with 
 plenary power to the same end would have been a wise institution 
 for all subsequent years. 
 
 Notwithstanding the purchase of Maine by Massachusetts, much 
 discontent still remained. Many felt that it would have been better 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 185 
 
 to have continued under the government of the king. This feeling 
 was strengthened by the act of Massachusetts in assessing a tax of 
 three thousand pounds on the towns of Wells, York, and Kittery, 
 for the payment of expenses incurred in the Indian war. This, in 
 their poor circumstances, was regarded as exceedingly oppressive. 
 Such burdens are apt to affect the political principles of men, and 
 many in the towns of the province signed a petition, addressed to 
 his Majesty, Charles II., requesting that the province might again be 
 taken under royal authority, and the people be allowed to have a 
 government of their own. This petition purports to be addressed 
 to the king by the inhabitants of Maine; but it is principally, we 
 think, in the interest of some of the western towns. Many of the 
 subscribers were of Kittery and York, but only two or three of 
 Wells. The inhabitants of this town, as they had assented to the 
 jurisdiction of Massachusetts, for better or for worse, were disposed 
 to abide quietly the consequences. That colony duly organized a 
 government for Maine in 1681, and the relations of the towns to 
 Massachusetts seemed to be thus settled. A provincial council was 
 established, of which Samuel Wheelright, of Wells, was one of the 
 members. Being an influential citizen of the town, the people quiet- 
 ly submitted their affairs to his wisdom. 
 
 One provision of the articles of agreement with Massachusetts 
 was, that a garrison at Fort Loyal, at the east of Falmouth, should 
 be maintained by the province. The other parts of the arrange- 
 ment, it is believed, were perfectly satisfactory to the people. At a 
 court holden on Smutty Nose Island, in November of this year, it 
 was ordered that Fort Loyal should be sustained by a tax on the 
 mills in the province. The relative value of the mills in Wells will 
 be seen by the tax which was imposed upon them. John Little- 
 field's, on Ogunquit river, were assessed four pounds. Joseph Little- 
 field's, where Buffum's now stands, on Webhannet river, two pounds. 
 William Frost's, on Little river, one pound. Say ward's mills, on 
 Mousam river, six pounds. Littlefield's mill, on Kennebunk river, 
 near the present main road, four pounds. In 1684, Jonathan Ham- 
 mond, Joseph Littlefield, and William Frost had built another mill 
 on Little river, which was assessed four pounds. 
 
 After the close of the war in 1678, grants of land were made to 
 Thomas Durrel, Nathaniel Cloyes and Abraham Tilton ; in 1679, to 
 Henry Brown and Elizabeth Looke ; in 1680, to Edmund Littlefield, 
 
186 HISTOItY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 of two hundred acres and water privilege to build a mill on Kenne- 
 bunk river; to Nathan Littlefield, one hundred, Nicholas Cole, one 
 hundred, and Samuel Littlefield, one hundred. That part of the 
 town, now Kennebunk, had been generally neglected up to this time. 
 There was a great rush for mill privileges. And though the Mousam 
 and Kennebunk rivers presented many sites for the erection of mills, 
 they had not hitherto been sought after. They were too far from 
 the help which the exigencies of their remote state might require, 
 and, therefore, people had been disposed to avail themselves of the 
 small streams and the brooks with which the town abounded. Ac- 
 cordingly, in the more immediate vicinity of the settlers, mills were 
 built on every little fall near the main highway. There had been a 
 saw-mill on the small brook near the house of the late John Wheel- 
 right; but as it was not assessed at this time it must have been 
 abandoned. Perhaps it was burned by the Indians during the war. 
 Little river from its mouth to its head, presented many falls furnish- 
 ing but a small water power, but they were soon taken up and occu- 
 pied. The territory back of the town was called Eppiford or Epes- 
 ford, Merryland, and the Great Plains. The original lots beginning 
 on, or a little below the king's highway, extended two and a half 
 miles back into the country. At the head of these lots a highway 
 was reserved, parallel with the king's road, and the Merryland and 
 Plains lots commenced on this. Those who took grants of these 
 lots were thus located between two and three miles from the neigh- 
 borhood of the townsmen. The territory of Kennebunk was still 
 further off, being four or five miles from them, and about the same 
 distance from the traveled way by the sea, so that immigrants then 
 gave the preference to Merryland. Kennebunk was also an entire 
 wilderness, there being none of those open spaces, ponds or marshes 
 which were found in Maryland, on whose borders people preferred to 
 locate themselves, rather than in the dense forests, where the vision 
 was limited to the very small space w r hich the woodman's axe had 
 opened. Edmund Littlefield, the grandson of the first settler, did 
 not think it expedient to engage in the enterprise of building and 
 operating his saw-mill alone on Kennebunk river, and before com- 
 mencing sold one-half of his privilege to Nathan and Samuel Little- 
 field. They built their mill in 1681. This was the last building 
 erected in Kennebunk for many coming years. The remainder was 
 a deep wilderness, and so remained till the close of the two savage 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 1S7 
 
 wars which soon followed. The lot laid out to Henry Brown on the 
 Mousam river may have been occupied, though we think not. Rob- 
 ert Stuart may have built a house on the lot adjoining in 1679 or 
 1680, but we have no reliable evidence on that point. 
 
 In 1681, grants were made to William Frost and Gilbert Endicott 
 on the eastern side of the Branch river; and to John Masters and 
 Abraham Masters at the upper part of Ogunquit river ; in 1682, to 
 William Frost and Jonathan Hammond, of 200 acres, on the west 
 side of Little river, with the privilege of building a saw-mill, which 
 was erected the next year. In 1683, grants were made to James 
 Ross of 100 acres on the northeast side of Little river, and to John 
 Littlefield, jr., a hundred acres at the head of his father's, on Ogun- 
 quit river, and to Jonathan Littlefield 200 acres at the head of his 
 father's, Francis Littlefield, jr's., original lot; to Joseph Storer fifty 
 acres near Joseph Bolles' land. In 1684, to Henry Brown and James 
 Oare, four and a half acres on the west side of Mousam river, at the 
 head of tide water ; 100 to Nicholas Moory on the north side of 
 Little river; to Thomas Cousins 100 on Little river below William 
 Frost; 100 to John Barret, jr., and 100 to Benjamin Curtis on the 
 west side of Mousam river. This last grant was afterwards made to 
 Ralph Andrews. 
 
 For a few years the prospects of the settlers had been bright and 
 encouraging, and immigrants had been selecting lots for habitancy 
 and improvement ; but apprehensions of another Indian war came 
 now like a blight over all the animating hopes of the people. These 
 fears were general, extending through the province and into New 
 Hampshire, various acts of the Indians seemed to justify such ap- 
 prehensions. But by a timely council these fears were allayed ; a 
 new treaty was made with them in 1685. The next year a grant of 
 a hundred acres was made to Francis Littlefield at the head of his 
 lot. But the hopes of the people were again doomed to disappoint- 
 ment. The savages were evidently preparing to kindle anew the 
 fires of vengeance. The obligations of treaties over their untutored 
 minds were of but little weight. The alcohol and artifices of the 
 white man had educated them for their direful work* Hence the as- 
 pect of affairs in the province was such as to check any further pro- 
 gress toward the settlement of the town. No one would take a 
 grant on the condition of occupation and improvement within two 
 years, consequently no grants were made after this during that year 
 
188 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 or the next. The fears of a rupture were too well founded to admit 
 of any such action ; and in 1688 they were realized by the initiation 
 of a war, memorable for its cruelties and terrible results. 
 
 We have been particular in stating these grants, that our readers 
 might learn who the men were who lived, or attempted to live, here 
 during these years of peril, and the time and manner in which differ- 
 ent parts of the town began to be settled. All these grantees did 
 not hold the lands assigned to them. The terrors which hung 
 around the settlement appalled many a heart. All could not look 
 forward with composure and fortitude to a new conflict with the red 
 men. Some even, who had entered upon their grants, erected 
 houses and mills, and prepared their lands for cultivation, were terri- 
 fied at the prospect and fled to places of safety. In 1685, when the 
 apprehensions of a speedy war were general, John Frost who lived 
 near the Eldridge house, sold off his house and lands, embracing 200 
 acres, which he had occupied some years, to Jonathan Littlefield, and 
 sought a hiding plate in Nantucket, where he was beyond the reach 
 of Indian vengeance. The haste with which he abandoned his home 
 is manifested from the fact that he sold his whole homestead and 
 buildings, in the most thickly settled part of the town, for thirty-five 
 dollars. William Frost, also, who lived near Little river, sold his 
 100 acre lot, his dwelling-house, and one-third of the saw-mill which 
 was built the year before, with all the iron work, to Lewis Allen, and 
 another hundred acre lot on the east side of Little river, for about 
 two hundred dollars. Where he went w T e are not apprised, probably 
 to Nantucket or the Isle of Shoals, though we are not sure that he 
 deserted the town. George Chambers sold his 100 acre lot near this 
 Little river mill, on the eastern side of the river, which we presume 
 was under cultivation, as no claim of the town existed against it, for 
 ten dollars. John Buckland, who lived somewhere about the village 
 at the Port, on the western side of Kennebunk river, sold his dwell- 
 ing-house and six hundred acres of land to James Littlefield, and 
 moved to the village in Wells in 1687. His defenseless condition 
 away from all help, afforded abundant reason for his removal. He 
 could not have expected to survive the war. We suppose that this 
 house was afterwards burned by the Indians. We have not been 
 able to learn where it stood. 
 
 Beside the apprehension of renewed hostilities on the part of the 
 Indians, there were other causes which hindered the progress of the 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 189 
 
 settlement. The dissatisfaction and contention of the people with 
 their political status had not yet entirely subsided. Something of 
 the spirit with which this contention was sustained may be learned 
 from the gravamen of the complaint against William Furbish, before 
 stated ; that he had abused the authorities by denouncing them as 
 • Devils and Hellhounds." Demagogues were at their work with the 
 ignorant portion of the people, so that the excitement was not suf- 
 fered to abate. The king was still intent on securing the province 
 to himself. Episcopalians, and the Lygonia claimants also, were 
 heartily opposed to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, so that no one 
 could have entire confidence as to the stability of personal posses- 
 sions, freedom of opinion, or even to the security of life. War with 
 some power was always imminent. 
 
 But there were some circumstances which rendered a location in 
 Wells desirable. It was a shire town. The courts were in part 
 holden here. It was also to some extent the capital of the province. 
 The council under the government instituted by Massachusetts con- 
 vened here. A little village had also been built up on the sea-board 
 where ready access was to be had to the flats and the sea for a partial 
 supply of the necessaries of life, and mills were in operation to fur- 
 nish needed materials for the erection of buildings. Still, the 
 obstacles which have been named, were more than sufficient to coun- 
 terbalance the inducements which were thus held out to those seeking 
 a place of residence. 
 
 To aid those engaged in genealogical pursuits, we complete this 
 chapter with a brief account of those who had lived in Wells 
 previously to the second Indian war. Widely variant statements of 
 the population of the town are found in standard historical works. 
 Toward the close of King Phillip's war, Palfrey says, " Wells was 
 again depopulated;" while Williamson states before the initiation of 
 the next war that there were one hundred families here. Our own 
 examination of the matter has led us to a very different conclusion 
 from that of the learned and accurate historian of New England. 
 We know that he must have based his statement on the authority of 
 some generally reliable writer. He never records a fact upon doubt- 
 ful testimony. We have no knowledge of his authority in this case, 
 but we have the utmost confidence that the alleged fact is without 
 support in historical truth. Wells has never been depopulated from 
 
190 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBXJNK 
 
 the day when the first pioneer entered upon its soil. Amidst all the 
 hardships and fearful struggles which the inhabitants were called to 
 face, they steadfastly maintained their hold on the territory. Though 
 some few could not withstand the terrors and realities of the savage 
 war, the main body of the settlers were firm in the resolution not to 
 be driven off by the wiles or the more open manifestations of Indian 
 malice and cruelty. While all the rest of the province east had 
 been laid waste, and the inhabitants scattered, some of them finding 
 refuge in Wells, this town presented a bold and determined front to 
 all the force and stratagem directed against it. They even held their 
 town meetings, and occasionally made grants of lands, required the 
 people to attend public worship, and prosecuted those who neglected 
 to do so. The courts were also holden here, and nearly the entire 
 village was preserved from fire and desolation. We claim for the 
 inhabitants all the honor and patriotism which properly belongs to 
 them. Though poor and ignorant, and not abounding in moral 
 strength, the terrors which constantly beset them were insufficient to 
 drive them from their posts. It may be that some of them were im- 
 pelled by the order of court, that all deserters from the place should 
 forfeit their estates to brave the perils before them. But, from what- 
 ever cause, the fact is beyond controversy that the settlement was not 
 broken up. All the records both of the town and the county, and, 
 we think, contemporaneous history sustain this position. 
 
 While we thus believe the allegation of a first or second depopu- 
 lation unsustainable, we think that Williamson overrates the number 
 of families. Much labor is required to ascertain the truth on this 
 subject. Some of our local historians have regarded the settlement 
 as beginning thirty years after this time. But it was begun by the 
 enterprise of Edmund Littlefield in 1641, and civilization has never 
 since lost its foothold. Though the hazards of war were too appall- 
 ing to permit immigrants to come in only to share in the struggles of 
 the townsmen, the original settlers held fast to their possessions 
 Instead of one hundred families at this time, we believe the popu- 
 lation was embraced in about eighty. Many of the people who came 
 to Wells and took grants of land, did not continue long enough to 
 fulfill the conditions attached to them, but withdrew to other places, 
 and perhaps resorted to other more congenial business. The follow- 
 
HISTORY OF WELT.S AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 191 
 
 ing list we believe embraces the names of all who resided in Wells 
 from 1641 to 1687 : 
 
 Luis Allen, 
 Ralph Andrews, 
 William Ashley, 
 Samuel Austin, 
 John Barret, 
 James Bates, 
 John Bates, 
 Stover Batson, 
 James Barkhouse, 
 Francis Barkhouse, 
 Peter Bass, 
 Henry Boade, 
 Joseph Bolles, 
 Robert Booth, 
 Thomas Boston, 
 Joseph Bolles, jr., 
 William Buckland, 
 John Buckland, 
 John Buss, 
 John Bush, 
 Samuel Bolles, 
 Henry Brown, 
 John Bugg, 
 James Boston, 
 James Carr, 
 George Chambers, 
 John Cheater, 
 John Clayes, 
 Nathaniel Clayes, 
 Peter Clayes, 
 Nicholas Cole, 
 Nicholas Cole, jr., 
 William Cole, 
 John Cole, 
 Thomas Cole, 
 Thomas Cousins, 
 
 John Eldridge, 
 Joseph Emerson, 
 Gilbert Endicott, 
 George Farrow, 
 John Frost, 
 John Frost, jr., 
 William Frost, 
 Anthony Feathery, 
 John Gooch, 
 John Gooch, jr., 
 James Gooch, 
 Percival Green, 
 George Habourne, 
 Samuel Hatch, 
 Phillip Hatch, 
 Israel Harding, 
 George Hammons, 
 William Hamans, 
 Jonathan Hammond, 
 John Harmon, 
 Robert Hethersey, 
 Henry Hatherley, 
 Robert Hilton, 
 Ezekiel Knight, 
 Ezekiel Knight, jr., 
 Edmund Littlefield, 
 Francis Littlefield, 
 Francis Littlefield, jr., 
 Anthony Littlefield, 
 Thomas Littlefield, 
 John Littlefield, 
 James Littlefield, 
 James Littlefield, jr., 
 Joseph Littlefield, 
 Jonathan Littlefield, 
 Isaac Littlefield, 
 
 John Masters, 
 John Manning, 
 Thomas Mussell, 
 Nicholas Mory, 
 Thomas Mills, 
 James Oare, 
 Philemon Purmotte, 
 Robert Paine, 
 John Richardson, 
 Edward Rishworth, 
 John Reed, 
 John Sanders, 
 Henry Sayward, 
 John Smith, 
 William Sayer, 
 John Smith, jr., 
 Joseph Storer, 
 Samuel Storer, 
 Jeremiah Storer, 
 Benjamin Storer, 
 William Symonds, 
 Hartakendon Symonds, 
 Robert Stuart, 
 William Taylor, 
 Jonathan Thing, 
 Abraham Tilton, 
 John Trott, 
 Rev. John Wheelright, 
 Samuel Wheelright, 
 Thomas Wheelright, 
 John Wheelright, jr., 
 John Wadley, 
 Robert Wadley, 
 John Wakefield, 
 William Wentworth, 
 William Wardell, 
 
192 H1ST0EY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Isaac Cousins, Nathaniel Littlefield, John West, 
 
 Joseph Cross, Samuel Littlefield, John Wells, 
 
 John Cross, Francis Littlefield, 3d, Thomas Wells, 
 
 John Cross, jr., Josiah Littlefield, John Wooden, 
 
 Benjamin Curtis, Gussian Lagan, John White, 
 
 John Drisco, Richard Martin, Samuel Webber. 
 
 Thomas Durrell, Nathaniel Masters, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 King William's war— Letters of Wheelright, Storer, and others — 
 Location and description of garrisons— Letter of Capt. Andrews 
 — a truce signed, and disregarded, by the indians— appeals to the 
 government for aid — contributions— attack of the indians under 
 Moxus— Massacre at York — Death of Rev. Shubuel Dummer and 
 wife — Successful defence of two sloops against the attack of 
 five hundred of the enemy — attack upon llttlefield's garrison — 
 Narrow escape of Littlefield — Treaty entered into with the 
 Sagamores— Attacks upon Dover, Kittery, and York— Death of 
 Major Frost— Rumsellers prosecuted— Modes of punishment— The 
 stocks— The cage— Grant of Great Falls to John Wheelright and 
 others — Grants to various persons — Defective condition of the 
 early records — vote of the town relative thereto — samuel 
 Wheelright— William Hammond. 
 
 Notwithstanding the unfavorable representation which we have 
 felt ourselves obliged to give of the characters of a majority of the 
 men who were commorant in Wells before the first Indian war, they 
 were not entirely destitute of the elements of a true humanity. 
 Many of them were brave and fearless. Whether this was a reck- 
 less courage, or a fortitude having its root in sound moral principle, 
 we shall not stop to inquire. The interests of civilization demanded 
 it, and it was at hand. There were some whose integrity we have 
 no reason to doubt; men ready at the call of duty to buckle on their 
 armor and fight the battle of life, in whatever direction their ser- 
 vices might be required. A few of these remained to infuse a noble 
 spirit into the hearts of those who had now come upon the stage of 
 life. Francis Littlefield, Samuel Wheelright, Jonathan Hammond, 
 William Hammond, John Littlefield, and a few others, solidified by 
 more than sixty years' hard experience, were here, invested with the 
 might of a Christian patriotism, and John Wheelright, afterwards 
 called the "bulwark of Massachusetts for defence against Indian as- 
 saults." Joseph Storer, distinguished for his exertions and sacrifices 
 13 
 
194 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 for the protection and preservation of the lives of the inhabitants 
 and of those fleeing from the eastern towns, had now arrived at ma- 
 ture life. Other brave men had come into the settlement, so that 
 most of those, in whose trust now remained the care of the town 
 and the interests of the province, were men of whom their succes- 
 sors may well be proud. 
 
 The landing of the first colonists on the shores of New England 
 and their struggles to maintain a foothold here, have been, and con- 
 tinue to be, subjects of deep interest to the historical student. No 
 one can acquaint himself with our early history without wondering 
 at the unfaltering energy and perseverance of those true pioneers of 
 civilization ; but there were epochs, one of which we are now ap- 
 proaching, in which the descendants of these noble men and their 
 newly immigrant companions were subjected to an experience, if 
 possible, more trying, and suggestive of a more remarkable fidelity 
 to the interests of humanity, and of faith in the controlling wisdom 
 of the Infinite. No intelligent man, whose moral 6ense has been 
 uncontaminated by his material relations, can read of the fortitude 
 and unfaltering resolution of the brave men and women of the lat- 
 ter part of the seventeenth century, without having awakened with- 
 in hitn admiration of a magnanimity almost supernatural, for which 
 they must ever be remembered. The anxieties and deprivations of 
 the early settlers, the fears incident to their location among savages, 
 and the many hardships which must have attended their struggles 
 for an abiding foothold, can only be realized by those whose lot it 
 has been to have had a similar experience. But however uncongen- 
 ial their condition, however abhorrent it may have been to the sen- 
 sibilities of civilized humanity, however tedious, wearisome, and 
 soul-subduing this self-banishment from the joy and quiet of home 
 life in the mother country, their sufferings were light when compared 
 with those of the generation succeeding them, in this second Indian 
 war. The Puritans and their comrades in the same noble enterprise 
 were subject to a severe discipline of affliction; but this severity of 
 trial was not of long duration. The horrors of a long Indian war 
 did not come home to them. They occasionally trembled in view of 
 collision with these wild men of the forest ; but they knew not what 
 it was for years to be in jeopardy every hour from their ferocity. 
 Death, or a merciless captivity, seldom disturbed their thoughts. 
 They could cultivate the earth and look forward to its ready benefi- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 195 
 
 cence in return, with a reasonable assurance that they would have 
 wherewith to sustain and make life comfortable. And more than 
 this, they were in the full enjoyment of that Christian liberty of 
 which they had been denied in the fatherland. They could daily 
 enjoy a close communion with God, and such a use of his ordinances 
 as would minister to their edification without being subjected to 
 such as were unscriptural and emanating from a bigoted hierarchy. 
 Nothing so tranquilizes the spirit as the peaceful, undisturbed wor- 
 ship of the Infinite ; and when the mind, long shackled in its aspira- 
 tions, comes suddenly into the true liberty of the gospel, a peace 
 and calmness come over the soul which outward circumstances can- 
 not materially affect. Religious fervor is an effectual antidote for 
 innumerable outward afflictions. 
 
 The men and women of the last decade of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, dwelling in Wells, and the larger part of the people of Maine, 
 found themselves in a condition far less favorable to personal quiet 
 and peace. They had, in the few years of peace intervening since 
 Phillip's war, built themselves houses, reduced their lands to a good 
 degree of cultivation, and after years of severe and unremitted labor 
 had reached that condition in which they might anticipate the ordi- 
 nary enjoyments of life. Impending war again blighted their hopes. 
 The fires of revenge were re-kindled in the Indian wigwam, and the 
 tribes launched forth, with tomahawk and scalping knife, to kill, 
 burn, and destroy. 
 
 The assurances of the new governor, Andros, that there would be 
 no war, tended to allay the apprehensions which had taken hold of 
 the mind of the settlers. He supposed that the Indians could be ap- 
 peased by mild and gentle measures; but he knew but little of the 
 Indian character, more especially when it was moulded by French 
 Jesuitry. His mistaken apprehensions were soon manifest. His 
 hopes of peace and safety were suddenly blasted, and the exigencies 
 of the moment were to be provided for in the best way possible. 
 He ordered the forts throughout the province to be manned, and the 
 necessary supplies furnished. The fort at Kennebunk, under the 
 command of Lieut. Puddington, was to be relieved from Saco, and 
 that at Wells in the same way. Capt. Noah Wiswell, with thirty 
 friendly Indians well armed and equipped, was sent to protect York 
 and Wells. John Wheelright and Joseph Storer, whose influence 
 will be felt through many years following, and of whom we shall 
 
196 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 speak specially in a future page, were immediately in council as to 
 the demand of the crisis, and despatched the following letter : 
 
 " Jan. 23, 1689. Major Frost. These are to inform you that Lieut. 
 Fletcher came to Wells, and brought two wounded men to Wells, 
 and the Indians has killed yesterday eight or nine men at Saco, who 
 were looking for horses to go along after the Indians, but now are 
 disappointed and cut off, and they judge there was sixty or seventy 
 Indians that fought the English, and they have burnt several houses 
 and destroyed a deal of their corn, and we judge now is the time to 
 send some of the army east to Saco. The people are not able to 
 bury their dead without help ; and this day, just as they came away, 
 they heard several guns go off, and know not what mischief is done. 
 Pray give York notice forthwith. 
 To Major Charles Frost, or the Chief Commander of the Army. 
 
 Samuel Wheel right. 
 
 Joseph Storer. 
 
 John Wheelright." 
 
 Baron De Castine, dwelling on the Penobscot, had become ex- 
 cited against the English, by the treatment received from them in 
 destroying and carrying away his property ; and having unbounded 
 influence over the Indians, he inspired them with his own resent- 
 ment, and awakened anew within them a spirit of vengeance, which 
 was soon aroused to action, by ill treatment received at Saco and 
 North Yarmouth. 
 
 No other town in the province was so well provided with houses 
 of refuge as Wells. This was due to the prudent foresight of Storer 
 and Wheelright. There were here seven or eight garrisons, some of 
 them built in the best manner for defense against assaults from with- 
 out, and for the protection and comfort of those within. As these 
 buildings are fast disappearing, it may be well to add here, in memo- 
 riam, some brief account of their construction. The same general 
 principle prevailed in the erection of all ; they were built for defense 
 against the attacks of the Indians only. They were, we think, uni- 
 versally of two stories, the upper projecting out from eight inches to 
 two feet beyond the lower. This projection was designed to give 
 opportunity for those within to fire down, or turn hot water, upon 
 any one attempting to open the doors or windows, small port-holes 
 
HISTOKY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 197 
 
 being made in the floor of the projecting part for this purpose. Sim- 
 ilar port-holes were also made in different parts of the house, for the 
 purpose of keeping watch of the enemy, and for the use of musketry, 
 and for such defensive operations as occasion might require. Some 
 of these garrison houses had a flanker or watch tower, at two oppo- 
 site angles or corners, and some at the four corners, projecting out 
 from the upper story, from which a view could be had of every part 
 of the building outside ; and from which the sentinels could direct 
 their guns against any assailant who should attempt an entrance. 
 Some of them were framed and boarded like the houses of the pres- 
 ent day, and were protected by palisades. These were constructed 
 by driving posts or stakes into the ground a few inches apart — some- 
 times as near as the flooring timbers of a ship. They were put up 
 at some distance from the house, so as to afford room for the inmates 
 to move about in the free air as occasion required. 
 
 There were other garrisons, constructed of timber hewn six or 
 eight inches square, and built as are many of the log houses of the 
 present day, the timbers being laid horizontally one over the other, 
 and matched together at the corners, the port-holes answering the 
 place of windows. The doors were of thick heavy plank. In some 
 of the towns there was one large garrison house, to accommodate 
 soldiers sent there for the protection of the inhabitants, and of such 
 others as might flee there for refuge. They were divided into suit- 
 able rooms for domestic and social use and comfort ; so that families 
 continued to reside in them long after they ceased to be necessary 
 for protection against the Indian enemy. These garrison houses are 
 still to be found in some of the towns. It would be well for the 
 youth of the present generation to make a pilgrimage to them. They 
 are the monuments of the hard life of our forefathers, as well as of 
 the architecture of the olden time. Those who would have the 
 advantage of a personal examination of these relics may find two of 
 them in what is called the Scotland parish, in York. The Junkins 
 house and the Mclntire house still survive the ravages of time. The 
 former, windowless, tenantless, dilapidated, and forsaken, yet speaks 
 to the traveler of the fears, anxieties, and struggles for life, through 
 which civilization here maintained its existence. 
 
 The principal garrison in Wells was that of Joseph Storer, which 
 stood on the site of the present house of John S. Pope. It was a 
 large establishment, fitted to accommodate a great many persons as 
 
198 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 a temporary refuge. It had for its protection a large palisade ; on 
 the outside of this, small tenements were erected by various families, 
 so near that they could in a moment rush to the garrison when 
 warned of danger, or when the enemy was known to be in the 
 vicinity. These garrisons are sometimes called forts, and answered 
 well as a substitute. The Indians seldom succeeded in their assaults 
 upon them. The garrison of John Wheelright was at the eastern 
 end of the town, near where stood the house of the late John Ran- 
 kins. The houses standing where Wm. G. Cole, Daniel Eaton, and 
 George Hobbs now live, were also garrison houses. Jonathan Little- 
 field's stood near the site of that now occupied by Samuel B. Little- 
 field ; Samuel Wheelright's where Noah M. Littlefield, deceased, lived. 
 William Larrabee's was between the house of the late Benjamin 
 Larrabee and the Mousam river; Thomas Kimball's, where the late 
 Isaac Peabody lived, though the last two were built at a later period. 
 
 The people of Wells having but a few years previously gone 
 through the trial of a war with the Indians, knew very well their 
 mode of warfare. Their scouts seldom tarried long in any one place, 
 but did whatever damage was in their power as expeditiously as 
 possible, and then disappeared, to come as suddenly upon some other 
 place. They were great cowards, and were very careful not to tarry 
 where reinforcements might speedily be had. But little was done 
 by them in open day, or after the manner of modern warfare. Ex- 
 cept when under the control of French officers, they carried on their 
 evil work by small squads ; and not being subject to the discipline 
 and order of large armies, and having but little to encumber them, 
 they could travel a great distance in a day. They had also great 
 advantage, from the fact that they were acquainted with the people, 
 and the location of their houses ; and could well calculate the force 
 which they might be obliged to meet, and where they might safely 
 make their assaults. 
 
 The communication between the different parts of the province 
 was very slow and unreliable ; travelers were in imminent danger at 
 every step ; the savages might carry on their works of darkness at 
 any spot, and then push on to some distant place, for new havoc and 
 devastation on the inhabitants, before they could have notice of their 
 previous ravages. There were at this time in the province but few 
 towns which were worthy of the name of settlements ; against these 
 their vengeance was to be speedily directed. Wells was one of this 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 199 
 
 number ; it was the important post of the English. The facts, that 
 there were so many garrison houses, that so much care had been 
 taken for the security of the people, and that the government had 
 made it, in some measure, a station ipr the soldiery, inspired them 
 with increased resolution to wreak their vengeance upon it. If 
 Wells could be conquered, and its people be driven from it, the 
 white men would be obliged not only to stay their aggressions, but 
 to abandon the land which the Indians claimed to be theirs by divine 
 bequest. 
 
 In the spring of 1689, the people of Massachusetts, disgusted with 
 the hard and oppressive rule of Andros, had risen and put him and 
 his leading supporters in prison, and committed the direction of pub- 
 lic affairs to a large council ; and now, regardless of his will, the 
 local authorities set about measures of protection. The eyes of the 
 Wheelrights and Storer were opened to the dangers which were at 
 hand. The combined forces of the French and Indians having com- 
 menced operations at Casco, they sent by express the following letter 
 to the commander of the forces in Maine. 
 
 " Province of Maine, 
 
 1690 May the 18th day. 
 Major Frost. These are to inform you that the Indians and 
 French hath taken Casco fort and to b'e feared that all the people are 
 killed and taken. Therefore we desire your company here with us 
 to put us in a posture of defense, for we are in a very shattered con- 
 dision — some are for removing and some are for staying, so that we 
 stand in great need of your assistance-; if we stay we must have 
 more assistance, and if we remove, we must have help and assistance 
 to get away with what we have left — not else. 
 
 We remain your servants, 
 
 Samuel Wheelright. 
 Joseph Storer. 
 Jonathan - Hammond." 
 
 The darkest day which has ever dawned upon Wells had now 
 come. The terror-stricken inhabitants knew not what to do or 
 where to flee. The cries of women and children, and the certainty 
 that many of them must be the victims of the most terrible cruelty, 
 caused the stoutest heart to quail. But still there were some ever 
 intent on duty, whom no terrors could wholly disarm, and whose on- 
 
200 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 ly thought was, what the emergencies of the hour required. An- 
 other messenger was dispatched to Boston with this earnest appeal 
 to the new council for help: 
 
 "Gent. Our sad condition puts us upon your charity. The enemy 
 is now very near us. Saco is this day on fire; we expect them upon 
 us within a few hours or days at least, and therefore we hereby crave 
 some assistants from you ; that we may be in some measure able to 
 stand a few days if it be the will of God, till we heere from the Bay. 
 if we have not immediate help, we are a lost people. So we pray 
 that our good God may move your hearts to pity us, throwing our- 
 selves upon the mercy of God, we subscribe ourselves your most 
 humble and greatly distressed servants. 
 
 Samuel Wheelright. 
 Jonathan Hammond. 
 Wells, ye 22d May 1690. John Wheelright. 
 
 Joseph Storer." 
 
 The council immediately detached 120 soldiers to Maine, having 
 received from Major Frost and others at Portsmouth, a letter of the 
 same date, stating that all Falmouth " is certainly destroyed, and not 
 one alive but what is in the enemy's hands;" and that on the return of 
 his vessels which he had sent there to ascertain the condition of the 
 fort and of the town, "they saw Black Point, Spurwink, Richmond's 
 Island burning, so that nothing now remains eastward of Wells. 
 We hope your Honors will at last see the necessity of giving a check 
 to the progress of the enemy by dispatching away considerable force 
 forthwith. Otherwise their success will make them pursue their 
 conquests till we are all over. The Lord help you to pity the dis- 
 tresses and send speedy help, which we heartily beg who are, 
 
 Hon d S 8 , y r humble servants. 
 
 There are 3 or 400 most women and children come in from the 
 Eastward this week who will perish unless assisted by the charity of 
 others. Wells will desert if not forthwith reinforced." 
 
 In another letter, without date, some of the inhabitants of Wells 
 say, speaking of the destruction of Saco, "we got there Friday 
 morning, found the inhabitants in a miserable shattered condition ; 
 some of the principal men of that place destroyed by the heathen 
 the day before we got there. Several fishermen and others had 
 buried seven bodies — found and buried two others* Could not stop 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 201 
 
 because we expected every moment they would fall on us at Wells. 
 We cannot withstand them without help from the soldiers. As for 
 Saco, they are brought so exceeding low that they are just ready to 
 desert without speedy relief. If they go away, Cape Porpoise being 
 gone already, Wells will soon be destroyed. So in a very short time, 
 without speedy relief, the whole province will be wholly lost and left 
 to the pleasure of the heathen. Had not those great Rabellers made 
 such great disturbance amongst us, we should have been in much 
 better capacity than we are (so it is). If speedy help be not afforded 
 us we expect nothing but ruin. We therefore humbly request your 
 speedy assistance, or else farewell this poor province." 
 
 Such was the position of affairs for which the men of Wells were 
 now to make provision. Though many hearts were crushed by the 
 magnitude of the terrors which had come upon them, Wheelright, 
 Storer and some others were unappalled by the prospect, and never 
 relaxed their exertions for defense. The dreadful fate of Falmouth 
 inspired them with new resolution to hold the town. All who had 
 escaped from the destruction of the towns east, were fleeing to the 
 west. Wells must be a refuge for them. They soon crowded their 
 houses. All east was desolation. Many, even of Wells, living in 
 the eastern part of the town, passed by the garrisons there to find 
 safety in Storer's. 
 
 Although it would be interesting to the people of Wells to be ac- 
 quainted with the details of the eight years of cruel warfare which 
 followed this period, our work would be too much extended by a 
 complete account of them, even if we had sufficient record evidence 
 on which we could rely for that purpose. But time has swept away 
 the larger portion of the material facts. 
 
 Soon after the devastation of all the province east of Wells, it is 
 said there was a severe skirmish here. But as neither history nor tra- 
 dition has supplied us with the particulars, we are unable to give any 
 account of it except that which is furnished by the following letter. 
 Roger Hill was at this time in the garrison at Wells, while his wife, 
 to whom it was addressed, was in Saco : 
 
 "May 6, 1690. The Indians have killed Goodman Frost and 
 James Littlefield, and carried away Nathaniel Frost and burnt sev- 
 eral houses here in Wells. I would have our son John hire a boat 
 and bring you from Saco and some of our things, if he possibly can. 
 
202 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 I fear it is not safe to come by land. John, be as careful as you can 
 of your mother, for it is very dangerous times. The Lord only 
 knows whether we shall ever see one another any more. 
 
 Your loving husband till death. 
 
 Roger Hill." 
 
 Soldiers were stationed here under the command of Capt. Wylly. 
 Berwick had been destroyed. This town then was the frontier, and 
 the government directed their attention to its preservation. But 
 now, the fears which had done something to allay the local differ- 
 ences which had previously existed, having in a measure subsided, 
 disunion and disaffection again began to show themselves. Capt. 
 Wylly's place had been supplied by Capt. Elisha Andrews, and our 
 readers will, perhaps, be better satisfied with his statement of the 
 condition of affairs, than by any which we give. He addressed the 
 following letter to the authorities at Boston : 
 
 "Ever Hon d ., Wells, Oct. 31, 1690. 
 
 These are to inform your honors that I received a copy of the 
 order of the General Court respecting Wells of Major Pike, which 
 order I have obeyed. The 28th inst. Samuel Storer arrived here 
 with a hundred bushels of Indian corn and rye, thirty waistcoats, 
 thirty pair of drawers, and a hogshead of salt, which is but a small 
 supply considering the poverty of the inhabitants, and the necessity 
 the soldiers are in in respect to clothing, shirts, shoes, and stockings, 
 that I have a great deal of trouble to keep them here, the inhabitants 
 not caring for our company, they not desiring above twenty, if any. 
 Therefore, I crave of your honors, that if soldiers must be kept here 
 that we might be relieved and others sent in our room, for there is 
 such animosity between the soldiers and the inhabitants that there is 
 little hopes of us doing anything that tends to God, honor, or the 
 good of the country. 
 
 The inhabitants were in but five garrisons when Capt. Wylly's 
 went away, as Major Pike had ordered, and these are removed into 
 seven, and several are desirous of going home to their own houses, and 
 the most part of them is for keeping little or no watch, for there is 
 no command amongst them, which makes them incapable of defense, 
 that if the enemy comes upon us I am afraid their carelessness will 
 be both their destruction and ours also; I entreat your honors to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 203 
 
 take it into consideration. Nothing more material at present. I 
 remain, your honors humble servant at command . 
 
 Elisha Andrews." 
 If your Honors please to discourse 
 Capt. Wylly, he can inform you of all particulars." 
 
 We presume that the greater part of the refugees from the eastern 
 settlements which had been destroyed had already left the garrisons 
 at Wells, and sought shelter and protection in Massachusetts, and 
 the persons here spoken of were the actual residents of Wells — the 
 same who had before been the disturbers of the peace and indifferent 
 to any question of public safety or interest — ignorant men, fearing 
 nothing, and reckless of the consequences of any action, right or 
 wrong. Had it not been for the righteous men among them, both 
 they and all the town would have had part in the general dev- 
 astation. 
 
 Major Church, so well known for his exertions in the previous 
 Indian war, had been on an expedition to the eastward and had been 
 somewhat successful in his military operations, though they were 
 marked with a degree of cruelty unbecoming a Christian commander. 
 He brought away with him the wives of two of the Sagamores and 
 their children, telling some of the old women whom he had spared 
 in the capture of the fort at Pejepscot that the Sagamores would 
 find their wives at Wells. They were taken and carried there as 
 hostages for the fulfillment of the promise that the English captives 
 in the possession of the enemy should be restored. Church had now 
 returned home to Massachusetts, having left here Capt. Convers and 
 a hundred men. 
 
 The Sagamores soon came in and found, to their great rejoicing, 
 their wives and children. They said u the French had made fools of 
 them" and declared repeatedly, "we will go to war against you 
 no more. We are ready to meet your head men at any time and 
 place you may appoint and enter into a treaty." Toward the last of 
 November a truce was signed to continue until May, and within that 
 time they agreed to deliver up all the English captives at Storer's 
 garrison, and to do no more injury to the settlements, and then to 
 make a lasting treaty. 
 
 President Danforth with a large company protected by a troop of 
 horse, was present at Wells at the time agreed upon. The Sagamores 
 
204 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 did not appear. Convers, knowing that some of the natives were in 
 the vicinity, sent out and had them brought into the fort, and then 
 inquired why the Sagamores were not there according to their 
 agreement. They answered, "we no remember the time. But still 
 we now give up two captives, and we promise certain to bring the 
 rest in ten days." Danforth was satisfied that they did not intend 
 to make a treaty, and departed, promising to send immediate aid. 
 
 It seems to us strange that discerning men could have been so 
 duped by the deceitful promises of these savages. They had just 
 had illustrations of the entire worthlessness of their promises, even 
 those the most solemn. The total disregard of the stipulations made 
 at the surrender of Fort Loyal in Falmouth and other places, ought, 
 one would think, to have fixed in their minds the conviction that no 
 credit whatever was to be given to their engagements. 
 
 But President Danforth was anxious for the safety of the province 
 and the people, and probably believed that the mildest treatment 
 would be most effectual for his purposes. Such undoubtedly would 
 have been the true principle of action before any war had intervened. 
 If the natives in their intercourse with the white men had always 
 been dealt with in kindness, there would probably never have been 
 any interruption of their peaceful relations. But the iniquities of 
 the stranger had kindled in the Indian heart the fire of vengeance, 
 and mild, gentle measures could not extinguish the flame. If these 
 hostages had been kept, probably there would have been no return of 
 hostilities. 
 
 Though, as before stated, a large part of the refugees from the 
 east had probably obtained an asylum at the west, the soldiers sta- 
 tioned at Wells, and the inhabitants of the town with those who 
 remained here from the eastern settlements, we suppose filled all the 
 garrisons. Unable to purchase provisions for the multitude, and 
 under no obligations to do so, the leading men earnestly urged Major 
 Church to use his exertions to have furnished a further supply of 
 provisions by the government, or by the people at the west. John 
 Wheelright animated with a true patriotism, entreated him to spare 
 no pains for this object, feeling that the town must inevitably be de- 
 stroyed unless succor was sent. Major Church with all speed reached 
 Boston, and did what he could to awaken the government and the 
 people to the immediate necessities of their condition. But the 
 g overnment were slow to respond to the demands of the occasion. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 205 
 
 Church's operations east were not entirely satisfactory, and his in- 
 fluence was in some degree lessened with the officials. But a public 
 thanksgiving was soon afterwards appointed, and the churches were 
 requested then to take a contribution. Subscriptions also were had 
 for the purpose. The ministers exhorted the people to contribute 
 liberally. Many in the State of Connecticut assisted in this charity. 
 The collections were forwarded to John Wheelright, John Littlefield, 
 and Joseph Storer, to be appropriated as they judged necessary to 
 the several garrisons. 
 
 About the same time an order was passed that " the committees of 
 the militia of York and Wells are empowered to impress and take 
 any fat cattle for the supply of country soldiers, from any person 
 whatsoever, especially from such persons as desert the Province, they 
 giving a true account of the cattle they shall so take." This order 
 at first sight seems somewhat arbitrary and stringent. But in times 
 of public peril, martial law or any law which will meet the exigencies 
 of the moment, must override all private interests. The soldiery 
 must be sustained. The defenders of the town must be provided 
 for. Without effectual defense the cattle would all have been driven 
 off or destroyed. 
 
 But money or provisions alone were not sufficient for the crisis. 
 The Indians not having come in on the first of May agreeably to 
 their promise, the people of Wells were satisfied that hostilities 
 would soon follow. John Wheelright and his friends understood the 
 character of the Indians better than Gov. Danforth. "Their prom- 
 ises," say they, " are as doubtful as themselves." Placing but little 
 confidence in the agreement to enter into a treaty on the first of 
 May, or in their fidelity to the truce as soon as the spring opened, 
 on the 5th day of March they being chosen by the militia a commit- 
 tee for the purpose, ordered that a scout should be maintained " all 
 along the frontier. That Lieutenant Joseph Storer's garrison and 
 the mill garrison should join together with the persons that belong 
 thereto, and maintain a watch of three sufficient persons in a night 
 to walk between the said garrisons, and to take their charge of said 
 Lieut. Storer, or some other person deputed by him every night, and 
 Mr. Samuel Wheelright's garrison, Mr. Francis Littlefield, Mr. John 
 Wheelright, and Jonathan Littlefield's garrison should join together 
 in one watch and take their charge of Samuel Wheelright; and 
 Capt. Littlefield's garrison and all the families about Negunquit 
 
206 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 should join in one watch, two in a night, and take their charge of 
 Capt. Littlefield." By a decree of the committee, every man who 
 neglected to comply with this order and perform the duty assigned, 
 rendered himself liable to a penalty. 
 
 These noble men were awake to the perilous condition of the 
 town. There were alarming deficiencies of supplies in case of a 
 Biege by the enemy. Government did not seem to realize the ur- 
 gency of the hour, and the inhabitants directed all their energies to 
 make provision for the crisis which, they were assured, was at hand. 
 But what could they do now, when the whole force of the enemy, 
 flushed with their previous successes, should come upon them with 
 that savage ferocity which had marked the terrible conflicts of the 
 last year? How entirely inadequate must have been any means of 
 which they could avail themselves to protect a frontier ten miles in 
 extent ! It will be remembered that the settlement at that time was 
 along the seacoast, the houses were few and distant, and the forests 
 above the road had scarcely begun to be subdued. Three or four 
 men, in the darkness of night, could do but little in the way of pro- 
 tection against an enemy who might issue from the w T oods at any 
 point, unseen by the scout. And what must have been the position 
 of a watchman in going his beat, every moment at the mercy of the 
 savage foe ? Of what avail would a company of soldiers be for 
 these men, or for the protection of the town, when these soldiers 
 were shut up in the garrison ? All out of the garrison might be mur- 
 dered, and the assailants be at their doors, before any notice could 
 be had of an attack. It is wonderful that man or woman should 
 have remained here to brave the impending storm. Having done all 
 within their power, the people appealed again to those who were 
 bound to watch over them and provide for their safety. In a letter 
 to the governor and council, dated the 25th of May, 1691, after 
 speaking of the failure of the Indians to come in and complete the 
 treaty, agreeably to their engagement, they say : " It gives us great 
 reason to fear that all our labor and cost in this treaty is lost ; our 
 condition needs not much opening to your Honors, some of your- 
 selves being sensible how unable we are of ourselves to withstand 
 such an enemy as we daily expect to come upon us, if God in mercy 
 to us prevent them not. Our humble request to your Honors is, 
 that you would pity our distressed condition, and relieve us with 
 some men, as in your wisdom you shall judge to be servicable for 
 
HISTORY OP WELT£ AND KENNEBTJNK. 207 
 
 our defence, without which we cannot expect to continue long in 
 these parts. "We desire, if it be your pleasure to grant us assistance, 
 that Capt. James Con vers may be impowered as Commander of the 
 soldiers, and also to be added to our comity here, — as to our town 
 garrisons so to dispose of them for our best defence. 
 
 Thus leaving ourselves to your Honors care, and the Providence 
 of Almighty God, and rest your Honors, in all Humbleness. 
 
 Samuel Wiieelright. 
 
 Joseph Storek. 
 
 Jonathan Hammond. 
 
 John Wheelright." 
 
 Thirty-five men were sent from the county of Essex. They 
 reached Wells on the ninth day of June. These were stationed at 
 Storer's garrison, and were under the command of Capt. Convers. 
 They were just in season to aid in the defense. In half an hour 
 afterwards the enemy appeared on the open ground, with about two 
 hundred soldiers, under the command of Moxus. They attacked 
 the garrison with great fury ; but the inmates, aware of the fate 
 awaiting them if they were overcome, with great bravery defended 
 the fort and compelled the assailants to withdraw. The details of 
 this battle have not come down to us, and we are unable to state 
 any of its results, excepting such as are stated in the letter which 
 follows, and in a letter of Governor Stoughton, of New York, dated 
 June 24, 1691, wherein it is said : " We have intelligence that the 
 eastward Indians and some French have made an assault upon y e 
 garrisons in and neere the towne of Wells and have killed about six 
 persons thereabout. They drove their cattell together, and killed 
 them before their faces." They then departed, leaving word that 
 the assault would soon be repeated. Madockauando also said : 
 "Moxus miss it this time; next year I'll have the dog, Convers, out 
 of his den." 
 
 The government do not yet seem to have comprehended the ne- 
 cessities of the place. We cannot, for a moment, think that they 
 were indifferent to the fate of the great number of people pent up 
 in the garrison houses. Yet the supplies did not come, and the peo- 
 ple came together once more to urge upon the governor the pressing 
 needs of their condition, and despatched still another letter, setting 
 forth their recent losses, and appealing to him for further aid in this 
 
208 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 trying hour. They felt the need of some more rigorous measures, 
 that the cowardly and indifferent among them might be compelled 
 to assist in the great struggle. The following despatch was hastened 
 off: 
 
 " Wells, July 21, 1691. 
 
 We being the front of all the eastern part of the country, remotely 
 situated, for strength weak, and the enemy beating upon us, we can 
 think of no other, but we are fair for ruin, and humbly conceive your 
 honors are sensible of it, without seasonable help; our stocks are 
 wasted the thirteenth of June last. The enemy killed and droye 
 away upwards of one hundred head of cattle, besides sheep and 
 horses; some of our corn is already lost, and more in great hazard; 
 we therefore, distressed, make our humble address to your honors 
 for men, w T ith provision and ammunition for the strengthening of our 
 town, with what force your honors shall see fit to keep out; also that 
 there may be a magazine in the province that supplies may be near, 
 whereby time will be redeemed, soldiers encouraged, and opportunity 
 improved against the enemy ; also that there be an effectual care 
 taken, that the inhabitants of this province may not quit their 
 places without liberty first obtained from legal authority ; thus en- 
 couraging ourselves with the hopes that your honors will timely 
 answer us herein, that so we and the rest of this poor province in 
 great hazard, may yet stand, which may be to the honor of God, the 
 interest of his majesty, and of the country, we rest, your honored 
 humble servants, 
 
 Francis Littlefield. 
 
 George Burroughs. 
 The town of Wells have made John Littlefield. 
 
 choice of the worshipful Samuel Joseph Storer. 
 
 Wheelright and Jonathan Ham- John Wheelright. 
 
 mond in this concern. John Hill. 
 
 Pendleton Fletcher. 
 
 John Cloyes. 
 
 Nathaniel Cloyes." 
 
 From the foregoing representation, we infer that the skirmish be- 
 fore spoken of, as so severe, must have been a protracted siege of 
 four days ; having begun on the ninth and continued till the thir- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 209 
 
 teenth, when the cattle were driven off or killed ; and as no allusion 
 is made to any loss of men, we presume that none of the inhabitants 
 were killed ; but the settlers were so few, the probability is that they 
 were deprived of the larger part of the stock, and thus were forced 
 by their necessities to appeal again to the government for help. The 
 careless and indifferent officers of the province, whose business it was 
 to watch over this distressed people, seem to have acted only when 
 entreated to do so. Nearly all the inhabitants remaining in the 
 province were in these garrisons. They were not allowed to leave, 
 and consequently unable to do anything toward providing for their 
 wants, and yet the government were waiting always for repeated 
 entreaties, before taking any steps to provide the proper subsistence 
 for them. 
 
 Letters written at the time afford a better picture of the situation 
 of these poor prisoners than any that we can give ; and therefore we 
 think it desirable to place them before our readers entire, knowing, 
 as we do, how much more interesting to the descendants are the 
 words of their fathers, than any that we could use expressive of the 
 same facts. It may be well also to remind the reader that the first 
 subscriber to the next petition, who also subscribed the last, and 
 probably wrote both, was that unhappy man, whose sad fate during 
 the ensuing year, will forever remain a stigma upon the fair fame of 
 New England. He labored to save the town from ruin, and was 
 giving to it all his moral and physical energies, when the delusion of 
 1692 which overshadowed the people of Massachusetts, brought him 
 to the scaffold. 
 
 "Wells, Sept. 28, 1691. To the Honored Governor and Council. 
 
 Whereas it hath pleased God (both formerly and now) to let loose 
 the heathen upon us by holden us off from our improvements, keep- 
 ing us in close garrison, and daily lying in wait to take any that go 
 forth, whereby we are brought very low, not all the corn raised in 
 the town is judged enough to keep the inhabitants themselves one 
 half year, and our stocks both of cattle and swine are very much 
 diminished. 
 
 We therefore humbly request your honors to continue soldiers 
 among us and appoint a commander over them, and what number 
 shall be judged meet to remain with us for winter that pro visions r 
 14 
 
210 HISTORY OF WELLS A2H) KENNEBUHK 
 
 corn, and clothing suitable for them may be seasonably sent, also one 
 hogshead of salt, all ours being spent; also a present supply in that 
 what was sent before is almost gone. We had a youth seventeen 
 years of age last Saturday carried away, who went (not above gun- 
 shot) from Lieut. Storer's garrison to fetch a little wood in his arms. 
 We have desired our loving friends, Capt. John Littlefield and Ensign 
 John Hill, to present this to your honors, who can give a further 
 account of our condition. We subscribe, 
 
 George Burroughs. John Wheelright. 
 
 Samuel Wheelright. John Cloves, 
 
 Joseph Storer. Nathaniel Cloves." 
 
 Jonathan Hammond. 
 
 On the same day the soldiers of the garrisons entered a complaint, 
 in which they say that they were " naked and destitute of clothing, 
 and wish to be discharged, unless supplied ; and that Capt. C. Creek 
 is not capable of any command — they are not able to bear his curs- 
 ing and swearing. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand;" 
 and praying that he might be removed. 
 
 We do not often meet a soldiery so sensitive to the sacredness of 
 christian morals, and so thoroughly imbued with a sense of the vul- 
 garity and baseness of profanity, as to consider the companionship 
 of those with whom it constitutes a large part of their language, as 
 unendurable. If there is any iniquity which is more revolting than 
 an other, and utterly without excuse, it is that of the reckless and 
 constant use of language which sets at defiance every sentiment of 
 reverence for the Almighty, and all the sacredness of christian civil- 
 ization. It was a noble spirit in these heroic soldiers, which embold- 
 ened them to brave the vengeance of such a commander, by asking 
 for his removal. 
 
 Capt. John Hill had with him at the same time, a company of 
 thirty-eight men, but they were, we suppose, at some other garrison. 
 He urged the recruiting of more soldiers, and that Capt. Convers 
 might be sent to Wells speedily. The enemy were daily expected >* 
 but some time elapsed before the Indians again showed themselves 
 in this neighborhood. The promise of the tribes that they would 
 come in and deliver up all English captives in May, and enter into a 
 treaty, had had the effect of quelling the anxiety of some of the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 211 
 
 people, and they began to be careless of their condition. Though 
 they failed to fulfill their promises, the inhabitants of York, and 
 others in the vicinity, do not seem to have heeded the admonition 
 which such a breach of faith ought to have brought home to their 
 hearts. It seems to us that the experience of former years ought to 
 have impressed all with a sense of the worthlessness of their prom- 
 ises. Whether treachery was an element of the Indian character 
 before the advent of civilization, cannot now be determined. But 
 whether it was or not, the natives might well plead in extenuation 
 the conduct of many of the early visitors to the shores of New 
 England, and the wicked murder of so many of their own number 
 in a former year at Dover. The civilization of the world has been, 
 in some instances, very far from christian. 
 
 While all uneasiness had been thus quieted in some parts, the In- 
 dians were preparing for a more effectual campaign. They were bent 
 on a general destruction of all the remaining settlements ; and having 
 now mustered a force of 250 of their own number, and some French- 
 men, they, on the fifth day of February, 1692, attacked the village 
 of York. On the morning of that memorable day the enemy sud- 
 denly rushed upon the inhabitants, who were at rest in their beds, 
 and a scene of horror ensued, unparalleled in the history of the 
 State. The agonies of that hour no pen can describe. The merci- 
 less barbarism of the Indians was well understood by all, and the 
 large number of the assailants precluded all hope of escape. A hor- 
 rible death, or a more cruel captivity, awaited each one. The savage 
 yell sent a thrill of terror to every heart ; unprepared for defense, 
 the people could do nothing to save themselves, and the enemy 
 drenched the town with the blood of their victims ; neither age nor 
 sex escaped; all were subject to the common doom. 
 
 Rev. Shubuel Dummer, who married a daughter of Edward Rish- 
 worth, previously of Wells, eminent for his social virtues and his 
 moral and mental culture, was shot down while mounting his horse. 
 His wife was seized and carried into captivity, where, heart-broken, 
 in view of the awful massacre, the murder of her husband, and the 
 frightful prospect before her, she soon yielded to the king of terrors. 
 Those who had reached the garrisons were saved. But seventy-five 
 of the inhabitants were murdered, and eighty-five taken captive. 
 With the exception of the garrison houses, the whole village was 
 destroyed. Many of those who were carried away died in captivity. 
 
212 H1ST0EY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Under the new charter of William and Mary, which took effect 
 May 4, 1692, Phipps had been appointed Governor. He felt more 
 deeply the necessity of adopting thorough measures of defence. But 
 so far as Wells was concerned, we have been unable to discover any 
 such attention to the pressing wants of the people as we should ex- 
 pect. This awful carnage at York, and the destruction of that 
 village, was fresh in the minds of the people. The Indians had dis- 
 appeared from that town as suddenly as they had come upon it. No 
 one knew where they had gone. At any hour the awful scene might 
 be reenacted at Wells. They remembered the word of Moxus when 
 he retired from the contest the previous year. They knew the reso- 
 lution of the tribes, instigated by the French, to drive all the English 
 into the sea. No delay in the execution of their threats, lessened 
 the assurance that the evil day must come. Government had fur- 
 nished them with but a small military force, though they had now a 
 heroic commander. As to those in the garrison, the question was 
 narrowed down to one of life or death ; and they were nerved up to 
 whatever work the occasion might require. Terror did not disarm 
 them, or lead them to seek personal safety in flight. They buckled 
 on their armor and resolved to stand fast at their posts. 
 
 Capt. Convers had been assigned to Stover's garrison agreeably to 
 the request of the people. But the whole soldiery under him con- 
 sisted of only fifteen men. This was all the reliable force to which 
 those shut up here could look. There were, indeed, many magnani- 
 mous and noble men and women among them. Some had fled there 
 from scenes of carnage in the East, and were wrought up to a frenzy 
 against the relentless fiends who were to come down . upon them. 
 Though not drilled for military service, when life depended on the 
 issue, they were ready for any post. 
 
 Two sloops, under the command of Capt. Samuel Storer and James 
 Gooch, had arrived on the ninth of June, laden with provisions and 
 ammunition. They had also fourteen additional men for the garrison. 
 On the same day, the cattle came running from the pasturage from 
 fright. Madockawando, very indiscreetly, had fired upon them. 
 Thus notice was given of the approach of the enemy. Capt. Convers 
 gave orders to all in* the garrison and in the sloops to be on their 
 guard, and made every preparation for defense. Spies had been sent 
 forward by the Indians, to make reconnoisance j and one John Dia- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 213 
 
 mond, a passenger in the vessel, attempting to escape to the fort, was 
 seized by them and dragged away by the hair. 
 
 Soon the enemy, in force, numbering five hundred, made their ap- 
 pearance. Whether they emerged from the forests, or came up from 
 the East in the highway, history gives us no account. They were 
 under the command of Portneuf and Labocree, French Generals, 
 aided by other French officers and several Indian chiefs. This mode 
 of presenting themselves in face of an enemy, we think was not well 
 suited to Indian habits of war. We have abundant evidence that 
 they were of a very cowardly temperament. They chose to carry 
 on their work by wile and stratagem, in small scouts, and not liking 
 to expose themselves to musket balls, they would have fought better 
 after their own fashion. With such a force as they had, the enemy 
 were sure of success. It is said, they had examined Diamond, and 
 obtained from him all his knowledge of the condition of the garrison 
 and of the vessels ; and to encourage the Indians, the officers had 
 promised them all the pillage. Mather says, " they fell to dividing 
 persons and plunder. Such an English Captain should be a slave to 
 guch an one ; and such a gentleman should serve such an one ; and 
 his wife be a maid of honor to such or such a squaw ; and Mr # 
 Wheelright, instead of being a worthy councilor as he now is, was 
 to be the servant of such a Netop." "Gooch's vessel was two miles 
 up the river," says the same author, "and he wisely brought her 
 down, undiscerned, to Storer's, by the advantage of a west wind 
 then prevailing. A careful night they had on it." One of the ene- 
 my's officers stepped out in front and addressed the soldiers, calling 
 upon them fearlessly to enter upon their work, assuring them that 
 victory would surely crown their efforts, and that all should be theirs. 
 It woulcfhave been a great prize to any of them to secure John 
 Wheelright. He was the life and strength of the town. These 
 promises inspired them with a courage which they had probably 
 never manifested before. 
 
 Then, with the Indian yell, they assailed the garrison. But all their 
 attempts to force an entrance were vain. The brave defenders put 
 into their work their utmost energies. Their well-aimed guns made 
 havoc in the ranks of the enemy. Mather says, " they kept calling 
 to surrender, which ours answered with a laughter with a mortifer- 
 ous bullet at the end of it." 
 
 At the same time while a portion engaged the garrison, the rest 
 
214 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 attacked the vessels. These lay in a narrow creek where they could 
 not be moved, and were so situated under a high bank that they could 
 not be boarded. Mather says, " our sloops were sorely incommoded 
 by a turn of the creek, where the enemy could be so near as to 
 throw mud aboard with their hands. Other accounts make their 
 distance from them sixty yards. They then built a breastwork of 
 plank, hay and other articles near at hand, over which they fired, and 
 one Indian, with a courage unusual in the natives, took up a plank 
 or slab and carried it before him as a shield, when a shot from one of 
 the sloops, says the author before quoted, " went through the slab 
 and he fell down under it, with the slab for a tombstone." They suc- 
 ceeded two or three times in setting the vessels on fire ; but the 
 brave men were on the alert, and with long poles and a mop on the 
 end readily extinguished the flames. 
 
 These stratagems being of no avail, the enemy attempted another 
 experiment. They built a breastwork and platform on wheels, on 
 which several of the men were pushed forward toward the sloops ; 
 but when they were within fifty feet of the vessels, one of the wheels 
 sunk in the mud and the machine became immovable. One of the 
 frenchmen jumped off" to raise the wheel, " Storer shot him down." 
 Another stepped out, and " Storer shot him down." " The tide ris- 
 ing," says Mather, upset their chariot so that the men were open to 
 the sloops, and they got away as fast as they could." All their con- 
 trivances and maneuvres were unsuccessful. They continued their 
 firing till the close of day. Defeated in all their machinations, they 
 called on the Spartan heroes to surrender. But they only responded 
 to the call by a loud laugh. They had lost none of their courage, 
 though thus assailed by an almost overwhelming force. 
 
 The battle of the first day thus closed without any success on the 
 part of the enemy, except the killing of one man on board the sloops. 
 Though the Indians knew that the brave defenders on board the ves- 
 sels were few, they were probably somewhat embarrassed in their 
 movements by the continual fear that reinforcements might come up- 
 on them from the West. Just before they came upon the garrison 
 a scout of only six soldiers had been sent toward Berwick. These 
 returning the next morning suddenly came upon the enemy. The 
 corporal with great presence of mind and quickness of thought, cried 
 out, " Captain Convers, wheel your men round the hill and these few 
 dogs are ours." Supposing Convers was close at hand, and that they 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 215 
 
 were about to be entrapped, they all fled with the utmost speed, and 
 the scout safely entered the garrison. 
 
 The next morning, Sunday, the enemy, having recovered their 
 courage, resumed their operations on the garrison. For a while a 
 dead silence had prevailed all around. But they now' approached in 
 the full confidence of success, much to the terror of some within the 
 fort. One of the soldiers whose heart fainted within him at their 
 approach, feeling that it was impossible for the small company with- 
 in to withstand the assaults of the enemy, and that death must be 
 the sure fate of all if they attempted to resist, called on Captain 
 Convers to surrender. " Utter that word again," replied Convers, 
 • and you are a dead man." * All lay close and do not fire until you 
 are sure of execution." The assailants marched steadily toward the 
 garrison and gave three hideous shouts, while some one called out in 
 English, " Fire and fall on, brave boys," and the whole at once dis - 
 charged their guns. But the garrison returned their fire with can- 
 non and muskets. The women at this terrible crisis bravely com- 
 peted with the men in touching off the cannon, handing the ammu- 
 nition, and doing whatever was required, until by the extraordinary 
 exertions of all, male and female, the enemy was driven from the 
 ground and abandoned the assault upon the garrison. But once more 
 they directed their forces to the destruction of the vessels, trying a 
 new stratagem. They constructed a raft about twenty feet square 
 and loaded it with combustible matter. This they towed down the 
 river as far as they could safely venture, set fire to it, and then left 
 it to float down to the sloops. But a higher than human power in- 
 terfered ; the wind changed and blew the raft on the opposite shore, 
 and thus defeated this well-contrived scheme. Baffled in all their 
 attempts to induce the garrison to surrender, or to capture the ves- 
 sels, and thinking it hazardous to continue the siege longer, they re- 
 treated, doing all the damage in their power. They had lost their 
 commander, Labrocree, and several of their men, while the English 
 lost only the one sailor on board the vessel. Disappointed in their 
 hopes, mortified at their complete discomfiture, and angry at the 
 obstinancy of the unyielding English, they vented their malignity on 
 the unhappy Diamond whom they had captured, maiming and mur- 
 dering him in a manner too shocking to describe. 
 
 The men and women gathered at Wells in 1692 had backbones ; 
 with nerves and muscles trained up by attrition with the adversities 
 
216 HISTOBY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 of life, to meet any difficulties or dangers that might beset them on 
 their earthly pilgrimage. They had faith in man and faith in God, 
 which made them strong and fearless in an emergency, that would 
 have paralyzed most men and women at the present age. Mather 
 says this was " as worthy an action as is in our story." We feel that 
 this is a very inadequate description of this memorable conflict. 
 History does not record a struggle more worthy of perpetual remem- 
 brance. Here were five hundred men pitted against seven or eight 
 sailors, on board two small vessels lying against the shore ; and yet 
 these few men, with an unfaltering courage, kept this whole army at 
 bay, defending themselves and their vessels until the enemy, who 
 had come upon them flushed with the certainty of success, were 
 obliged to retire from the contest. There was scarcely a probability 
 that they could withstand the assault for a moment ; but calmly and 
 unmoved by the awful port ent, they stood by their posts and foiled 
 all the artifices of the enemy. The names of those noble men, 
 Gooch and Storer, should never be forgotten by the townsmen of 
 Wells. We know not who else was on board these vessels, and en- 
 gaged in this desperate conflict ; but known or unknown, the whole 
 crew were more worthy of monumental remembrance than the 
 thousands of more modern times, whose memory is sanctified in the 
 hearts of their countrymen, and by memorials outliving the frail 
 human tabernacle. 
 
 We know not whether the little band on board the vessels, or the 
 noble men and women within the garrison, are entitled to the higher 
 meed. History speaks of fifteen soldiers within the latter ; but we 
 think there may have been thirty. Whether the latter or the former 
 is the true number, the victory over the assailants was one that en- 
 titles not only these soldiers, but all who were within the walls of 
 the fort, to the grateful remembrance of those who " have entered 
 into their labors." The courage of the brave and intrepid Convers 
 kept that of all his comrades from waning. He knew how much 
 depended on his own resolution and firmness ; his noble manliness 
 amidst the storm was the inspiration of all about him. They labored 
 unflaggingly, till victory came. After three days' fighting the enemy 
 was beaten back, leaving them unharmed through all the fearful en- 
 counter. Brave and patriotic spirits! Though your noble deeds 
 have been almost forgotten by the generations which have succeeded, 
 these pages shall bear grateful testimony to your unsurpassed valor. 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 21 7 
 
 We think it will not be amiss to introduce here another instance 
 of the bravery and resolute action of our maternal ancestry. We 
 are uninformed as to the particular time, or in what war with the 
 natives it occurred, but we record it as an instance, illustrative of 
 the noble traits of female heroism, so often exhibited during these 
 harrassing conflicts with the natives. It probably occurred during 
 the year preceding the battle of which we have just given an ac- 
 count. There was another garrison house — Jonathan Littlefield's — 
 a few rods from the present house of Samuel B. Littlefield. Although 
 war with the Indians was now in progress, none of the enemy were 
 supposed to be in the vicinity, and the inhabitants at times ventured 
 some distance from their homes, from the necessities of business. 
 The garrisons were never left without some protection, and provision 
 was always made for the proper signalizing in case of alarm. The 
 firing of three guns in quick succession, was notice to all to haste 
 speedily to the garrison. At this time there was only one soldier 
 stationed at Littlefield's, and he and Mrs. Littlefield were the only 
 persons within the walls. Mr. Littlefield had gone to the marsh to 
 look after his hay. While thus engaged, to his dismay, the report 
 of the signal gun3 reached him. In an instant his resolution was 
 made. His noble wife, the partner of his joys, his unflinching com- 
 panion in all the adversities of life, must be saved. Though horror- 
 struck at the though of her peril, he was not unmanned. His physical 
 energies were up to his resolution ; and with the determination of 
 rescuing, or dying with her, he reached the highlands. Casting his 
 eye toward his home he discovered a large number of Indians be- 
 setting his house. Wheelright's garrison was close at hand, and 
 dragging himself along under the fence as rapidly as possible, he 
 reached there undiscovered. From the port-holes he could distinctly 
 see the position of the enemy. No person could be induced to at- 
 tempt with him the awful hazard of succoring the beseiged ; but his 
 resolution was fixed. He had seventy-five or a hundred rods to go 
 before he could reach his house. His heart was stout, and he would 
 rescue the wife of his bosom or share her fate, whatever it might be. 
 
 Dropping flat upon the ground, he dragged himself along, under 
 cover of the fence as far as it extended. From that point, a distance 
 of about five rods, he must cross an open space, in full view of his 
 ever watchful foe. If he would reach his house he must run the 
 gauntlet of a hundred bullets. His faithful wife, who had guarded 
 
213 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUN1C 
 
 their house in his absence, and with anxious fears had watched him as 
 he crept along the fence, was waiting for him at the gate. He was 
 near enough to discern the terrified expression of her face — more 
 fearful for his safety than her own — and he could not hesitate. He 
 could not turn his back upon her, although to go forward seemed to 
 challenge death. Instantly he sprang to his feet and rushed forward 
 through the gate, which, as it swung on its hinges, received the hos- 
 tile bullets, leaving him unharmed. 
 
 The enemy, we presume, was posted at some distance from the 
 garrison. Their cowardice would not allow them to hold a nearer 
 position. They feared the occasional shot with which the brave 
 woman alone had kept them at bay. By raising the crown of a hat 
 now at one point and then at another, she had led them to suppose 
 that the house was well guarded by soldiers. Alone and by her 
 well-devised stratagem she had kept in check more than one hundred 
 Indians, while the cowardly soldier who had been left in charge, at 
 the first appearance of the enemy, had fled to the cellar and there 
 concealed himself. 
 
 After Littlefield arrived, this man was brought out from his hiding 
 place and driven to duty, and by the skillful management and ener- 
 getic action of the three, the enemy was induced to abandon the 
 attempt to capture the garrison, and departed, leaving them in 
 peaceful possession, and rejoicing in that wonderful intervention of 
 a kind Providence, by which their lives had been preserved. 
 
 The memory of the brave defender of this garrison is worthy of 
 perpetual remembrance. Wells might well place her by the side of 
 any heroine of ancient or modern times. 
 
 Capt. Convers, for the defense of the Storer garrison, received the 
 highest plaudits of the people and of the government. Having but 
 a few fighting men to sustain him against all the force of a large 
 army, he was regarded as having acquitted himself with great skill, 
 and was soon afterwards commissioned as major, and invested with 
 the authority of Commander-in-chief of all the forces in Maine. 
 But this devoted, energetic wife, Abigail Littlefield, and her magnan- 
 imous husband, who to save her in her terrible extremity, dared 
 almost certain death, were not less worthy the high commendation 
 awarded to him ; and any of their descendants now living may well 
 be proud of such a noble ancestry. 
 
 Disappointed in their assurances of success in overcoming the 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 219 
 
 Storer garrison, the enemy vented their malice in the destruction of 
 whatever property came in their way. They burnt the house of Mr. 
 Littlefield nearly opposite, and drove off and killed fifteen cattle 
 belonging to John Wheelright. 
 
 After this the enemy seem to have despaired of accomplishing the 
 designs in which they before had the fullest confidence. Wells being 
 a frontier town, its destruction was all-important. But failing in 
 their attempt upon the Storer garrison, their courage seems to have 
 abated, and the town was not much molested by them during the 
 remainder of the war. 
 
 In the spring of 1693, Convers came into Maine with three 
 hundred and fifty soldiers. They rebuilt the fort at Saco, and trav- 
 ersed the province even to the eastern part, but could find none of 
 the enemy. The Indians entertained such a wholesome fear of this 
 new commander that they everywhere fled at his approach ; and 
 in August the principal Sagamores came in and entered into a treaty 
 of peace. But French Jesuitry, opposed to any such peaceful 
 arrangements, set about kindling anew the fires of vengeance which 
 had thus been quietly subdued. They were so far successful, that 
 the treaty was soon broken and the savages again engaged in their 
 direful work, the destruction of life and property. Madockawando 
 with two hundred and fifty Indians attacked and destroyed Dover. 
 Some of them afterwards came into Kittery and York, killing several 
 persons in those places. Among the persons upon whom their 
 vengeance fell in Kittery was a little girl, who was cruelly scalped, 
 but survived this terrible maiming and afterwards recovered. Similar 
 instances of such recuperation are known to have occurred during 
 the wars. But the Indians had lost courage, and were soon wearied 
 with these incursions. Their physical wants were poorly supplied, 
 and their energies thereby so relaxed that they again became anxious 
 to lay aside the tomahawk. 
 
 Williamson speaks of a truce as having been entered into at Ruth- 
 erford's Island on the twentieth of May, 1695. We suppose that 
 such a conference took place. But on the first of May several of the 
 Sagamores and eleven Indians came to Lieut. Storer's garrison, in 
 Wells, and here entered into a treaty, in which they agreed to make 
 good their covenant and to return their captives in twenty days. 
 They brought with them at the time two children, saying there were 
 seven more at Kennebec, and that several were at Penobscot, and 
 
220 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 some further east. They engaged also to keep the truce till they 
 came with the captives. 
 
 The war having continued seven years, the people were wearied 
 with its anxieties and incessant watchings, while the loss of time 
 away from their homesteads, and the daily diminution of the little 
 property that they had acquired, so worried their souls that they 
 were ready to brave any peril for the enjoyment of liberty. Pent up 
 as they had been, cut off almost from God's sunshine, these men and 
 women, whose limbs had been wont, by their daily activities, to give 
 life, tone, and animation to all their physical energies, and thence 
 cheerfulness to their spirits, longed for the freedom of the former 
 days, when industry was bringing to their hearts and to their fire- 
 sides contentment and the quiet peace of the daily labor done and 
 duties performed. Much of the time, it is true, they could go out 
 the gates, and perhaps many of them could see their homesteads in 
 their abandoned and desolate condition. The reckless might rove 
 from the garrison, saunter to the flats, go out on the sea for fishing, 
 and possibly hunt the forests for game. But to the prudent and 
 cautious, the fearful and anxious, this constant apprehension of Indi- 
 an raids and ravages, and the consequent restraint of liberty, so nec- 
 essary to human happiness, brought much faintness of heart and 
 weariness of life. 
 
 So long cut off from the labors of the field and the joys of home- 
 life, the people did not feel much like laboring to repair or rebuild 
 the prison house, in which they had been excluded from that free- 
 dom without which all the joys .of life pale and the soul withers. 
 The Storer garrison was much dilapidated, and for security needed 
 extensive repairs. Mr. Storer was not able to do the work himself, 
 and he had no motive which was not common to all for making the 
 attempt. The government saw the necessity of the work, and 
 agreed to remit the province taxes for the year, and to relinquish all 
 claim for the provisions and support which had been furnished for 
 the inhabitants. One would hardly think it possible that any civi- 
 lized administration would have called on these afflicted people to 
 pay taxes and for necessaries for the support of life, while all their 
 energies were taxed to the uttermost in defending themselves 
 and families from the ravages of their relentless foes, and while they 
 were at the same time holding the province for the benefit of the* 
 government. But still it was better, far better, when safe, to labor 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 221 
 
 any way and for any purpose, than to be idle. The garrison, we pre- 
 sume, was put in a safe condition. The people had had some little 
 respite from their cares for self-protection, and for a time more free- 
 dom had been enjoyed. The desolations of the savages had been 
 stayed, and men had ventured more freely to their farms, while the 
 Indians had been pretending that they were anxious and ready for 
 peace. 
 
 But the same duplicity which characterized their previous inter- 
 course with the English had its part in this conference. They paid 
 little attention to the agreement entered into, but, controlled by the 
 same influences as before, they were soon again roaming abroad in 
 squads, in different parts of the Province, issuing suddenly from the 
 forests, and killing or carrying into captivity all who were not upon 
 their guard. Some persons were killed at Saco, but it is not known 
 that any incursion was made at Wells. All apprehensions of danger 
 had here subsided, and the people began to attend to their work 
 away from the garrisons. Others ventured from their homes to visit 
 friends whom they had not seen during this long war. But during 
 the next year (1696), a small body showed themselves in York 
 woods, and Thomas Cole and his wife, Abigail, and two other men 
 and their wives, who had been on a visit to York, on their return 
 were waylaid by them. Cole and his wife were shot dead. The 
 others escaped and reached their homes in safety. Cole was the son 
 of Nicholas Cole. We presume that he left no descendants. He 
 had twins, but they died in infancy. 
 
 Lieut. Larrabee was now sent out with thirty "praying Indians," as 
 they were then termed, to scout about the towns at the eastward as 
 far as Casco. He watched about the Saco river, lying in ambush 
 about a week, and killing some of the Indians as they passed in their 
 canoes. They were then abroad on their errands of slaughter and 
 destruction. Major Charles Frost, a brave man, whose energies at 
 this trying hour were devoted to the public welfare, the preserva- 
 tion of the lives and the possessions of the people, was a leading ob- 
 ject of Indian malice and vengeance. His death or capture was ma- 
 terial to their success. Their wiles soon effected their purpose. The 
 family had attended public worship on the Lord's day in Kittery, 
 now Eliot, where they resided, on the fourth of July, 1697. On 
 their return home, the Indians having concealed themselves effectual- 
 ly on the way, while they had permitted his two sons to pass un- 
 
222 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 
 
 harmed, killed Major Frost and a man who had accompanied him, 
 and at the same time John Heard's wife, wounding Heard himself. 
 Williamson errs in the statement that Frost's wife was killed. 
 
 The death of one so important to the defense of the Province, was 
 a sad event to the people. Soon after the news reached Wells it 
 was communicated to Capt. John Hill in the following homely, 
 though affecting letter. It cannot fail to be read with interest. 
 "Brother Hill. It hath pleased God to take away Major Frost. 
 The Indians waylaid him last Sabbath day as he was coming home 
 from meeting at night and killed him ; and John Heard's wife and 
 Dennis Downing, and John Heard is wounded. The good Lord 
 sanctify it to us all. It is a great loss to the whole province, and es- 
 pecially to his family, and last Monday the post that came to Wells, 
 as they went to go whom the Indians killed them about the marked 
 tree. Namely, Nicholas Smith, Proper, and Henning Simpson. 
 Brother, Mistress Frost is very full of sorry ; and all his children, 
 Cousin Charles and John was with their father, and escaped wonder- 
 fully and several others with them. Capt. Bracket went with some 
 of his company a Monday by the way of Newichawannock, and I 
 went with them and was there at the Major's funeral ; and I see your 
 wife full of giief ; and your child is well. Mrs. Frost and sister and 
 all your brothers and sisters remember their love to you ; and earn- 
 estly desire you to come over if you can possible without danger. 
 
 Pray do not venture in the day to com. Remember our love to 
 all our Brothers and sisters and Cousins ; and the good Lord keep us 
 in these perilous times, and sanctify all his awful dispensations to us 
 — no more at present, praying for you 
 
 Wells the 10th July, 1697. Your very loving Brother, 
 
 Joseph Storee." 
 
 Major March was invested with the command made vacant by the 
 death of Frost. He was furnished with five hundred men to guard 
 and protect the frontier. He came to Wells, and Aug. 1, writes to 
 Hill at Saco, that greater caution must be exercised by the people in 
 going about. It was the time for getting the salt hay, and he ad- 
 monished them not to attempt the work of haying, without station- 
 ing careful watchers to guard against sudden attacks, and that night 
 scouts should be maintained. The Indians were evidently abroad 
 seeking for their prey. They had killed one man standing sentinel 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 223 
 
 while some of the people were at work on the marsh. They cap- 
 tured another, carried him a mile and a half, and then burnt him to 
 death. One of the captains with a company of soldiers started in 
 pursuit, bnt they escaped. Who these two men were we have no 
 means of ascertaining. Letter writers, historians and others at this 
 period, were very deficient in giving the names of persons who were 
 thus martyrs in the cause of civilization. It is a great labor to sup- 
 ply this omission. Houses were burnt, but whose or where located , 
 these writers fail to state. 
 
 But the bloody conflict was now ended. We have no more fear- 
 ful tragedies to recount. The people of Wells amidst all the severe 
 trials which they had encountered had maintained their ground, and 
 could rejoice, though with sadness, that peace had returned upon 
 them, and that they could go to their homes and their husbandry, 
 without fear of assassination by the savage foe. 
 
 But little appears to have been done toward extending the settle- 
 ment during the war, although at times when hopes of peace were 
 indulged, many of the people were making preparation for some 
 new enterprise. The new charter under William and Mary was 
 signed in 1691. After this there was no further controversy in 
 regard to title or jurisdiction. Maine had become an appendage of 
 Massachusetts, and so continued till 1820. In 1692, Eliab Hutchin- 
 son and John Wheelright were chosen representatives for Wells. 
 We have no evidence that the former was at any time an inhabitant 
 of the town. It was not uncommon that men should be chosen to 
 represent towns to which they did not belong. As a general rule 
 we think the people then consulted the qualifications for the office 
 to be filled rather than the wishes or aspirations of the candidate. 
 Modern degeneracy had not then usurped control of matters of so 
 great importance, however much iniquity ruled in other departments 
 of social and civil life. 
 
 There appears to have been at this time some awakening of the 
 people to the public interests. First of all, they laid hold of the rum- 
 sellers as the authors of much of the public suffering. John Little- 
 field, James Littlefield, Nathaniel Cloyes, and Jane Littlefield had 
 been engaged in this nefarious traffic. John was a man of high 
 standing among the inhabitants, and it is not easy to account for his 
 unfortunate aberration in this particular at this juncture of the public 
 affairs. But a man's position in society or in the public administra- 
 
224 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 tion did not at that period shield him from, the penalties of violated 
 law, neither did it make his offense any the less detrimental to the 
 public weal. While the people needed every dollar for the protect- 
 ion and support of themselves and families, these men and this wo- 
 man had been taking money from their pockets, unfitting them for 
 the services demanded, and more than all, sending them back into 
 the garrisons in a state of intoxication. The people felt severely 
 the evils of drunkenness. The garrison was a grand school for in- 
 struction upon this subject, and they were ready to prosecute both 
 the rum-seller and the rum-drinker. Drunkenness was punished by 
 fine, and if the offender was not able to pay he was ordered to be set 
 in the stocks, sometimes with the first letter of his offense displayed 
 on his forehead, so that the passer-by might readily learn why he was 
 placed in that interesting position. The wisdom of those days was 
 exhausted in devising modes of humiliation for misdemeanors, imag- 
 ining that shame was the most effectual agency in deterring from 
 crime. These stocks were of very simple construction. A frame 
 was built up a few feet from the ground, and on this was placed two 
 sticks of timber, between which the legs of the culprit were confined ; 
 and he was required to remain thus exposed to the public gaze 
 during the time decreed by the Court. These stocks were generally 
 located in the vicinity of the meeting-house, where the people by 
 the weekly vision of this punitory machine, might be admonished of 
 the danger of departures from good citizenship, and where the min- 
 ister, when all spiritual anathemas were exhausted, might point with 
 effect to the carnal weapon directly before their eyes. 
 
 There was also another instrument of punishment, the cage, which 
 may have been a little more efficacious than the stocks. We have 
 seen no representation of it; but it probably was much like the 
 cages used for the security and exhibition of wild beasts. This 
 would undoubtedly well accomplish the object in view. Nothing 
 would be more likely to humble a man or woman than to be shut up 
 thus as a show. We have been unable to find that one was ever 
 built, or made use of, in Wells. But in the midst of the war the 
 stocks were needed, and the town was indicted for their neglect in 
 not providing them. 
 
 While speaking of these punishments, it may be well to add, that 
 in certain cases, where the trespasser or offender had not the means 
 to discharge the fines imposed upon him, he might be taken and sold 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 225 
 
 at auction, for a sufficient number of years, to respond to the amount. 
 Our fathers were very fruitful in expedients to compel men to hon- 
 esty and good conduct, though they were not very successful in their 
 projects. 
 
 As just stated, there was no respect of persons in prosecutions for 
 violated law. Modern squeamishness in this respect had not yet 
 become an element of social life. An offender, maintaining a high, 
 rank in society, could do much more evil by his delinquencies than 
 one who had not made himself influential by his intellectual, moral 
 or adventitious power. John Wheelright and Joseph Storer were 
 the leading and controlling spirits of the town ; they were licensed 
 as retailers, and their houses or garrisons were regarded as taverns 
 and places of entertainment. This same year both of these men 
 were indicted for " keeping keeles and bowls at their houses contrary 
 to law." These were implements of some kind of recreation ; but 
 of what character we have not learned. Various plays were prohib- 
 ited at these places, such as dice, cards, tables, quoits, loggets, bowls, 
 shuffle-board, ninepins, and billiards. Several of these have gone out 
 of use ; and possibly the materials, arts, and modus operandi have 
 been lost to the world. Dancing does not seem to have been sub- 
 jected to the anathemas of the law. In Massachusetts, in 1631, four 
 persons, specially named, were admonished not to dance together, 
 and in 1651, it was ordered by the court, that, in consequence of some 
 miscarriages at weddings held at houses of public entertainment, 
 where license was had for the sale of liquors, there should be no 
 dancing on such occasions, at these places. There has never been 
 any statute against dancing, and in this State no prosecution that 
 we are aware of, in which it has had any share in the offense de- 
 scribed. 
 
 As we have remarked, the spirits of the people seem at this time 
 to have somewhat revived, and they began to look forward to future 
 employments. Enterprising men were seeking for locations the 
 most advantageous for their purposes. John Wheelright, Joseph 
 Taylor, and Thomas Cole conceived the project of building one or 
 two saw-mills at Great Falls, on the Mousam river, and obtained a 
 grant for that purpose. This privilege, though one of the best in 
 the Province, hitherto, had been too far in the depths of the wilder- 
 ness to attract the notice of settlers. No roads had yet been opened 
 to it ; the inhabitants or immigrants, generally, contented themselves- 
 15 
 
226 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 with building on the little streams nearer the settlement. It would 
 not seem probable that John Wheelright, when he applied for the 
 grant, could have contemplated the immediate erection of mills. 
 The grantees were to pay eight pounds annually to the town, as a 
 consideration for the privilege, though it is presumed payment was 
 not to be demanded till the mills were in operation. No intelligent 
 man would have attempted such an enterprise, while the public rela- 
 tions with the Indians were in such an uncertain condition. But the 
 hopes of the people were very much raised by the present posture of 
 these relations. The public records of the county had been sent to 
 Boston for safe keeping, and the court (1693) ordered them to be 
 returned to Fernald's Island in Kittery. At this time, also, a demand 
 sprung up for lands, and various allotments were made. Ten acres 
 of the marsh were granted to Nathaniel Clark; ten acres of meadow 
 near the willow brook, to James Guttredge ; ten acres of swampland 
 to Thomas Cole to make meadow of, near the three-mile brook on 
 the road to Newichawannock (Berwick), one hundred acres to Joseph 
 Crediford, on Kennebunk river, fifty acres to Moses Littlefield, in the 
 Gore, on the road going to Maryland ; to Left. Jeremiah Storer one 
 hundred acres on the north side of the Branch river below the path 
 going to Mousam, and to David Littlefield, Samuel Hatch, and Wil- 
 liam Frost the upper falls on Little river, to build a mill. 
 
 To induce Wheelright to proceed in the erection of the mills at 
 Great Falls, the general court, in 1695, enlarged or added to his 
 privileges, by giving him liberty to take logs wherever he should find 
 them. But the hopes which had been indulged were not realized ; 
 all the attempts to bring the Indians to a lasting peace were unavail- 
 ing. They entered into a treaty in 1693, but the influence of the 
 French prevented it from having any effect. Though wearied and 
 made wretched by the war, they were excited to new aggressions on 
 the settlers, and were soon again carrying on their work of desolation 
 and death. We presume, therefore, that none of these grants were 
 secured by possession and improvement, agreeably to their terms. 
 Two or three years more passed away ; the hopes of the return of 
 peace had not been entirely blighted by the renewal of hostilities. 
 By a merciful ordination of a wise Providence, there are men, who, 
 under the darkest clouds of adversity, can see indications of brighter 
 days. The spirit of improvement and enterprise was not entirely 
 ♦crushed. In 1695 a grant was made to Samuel Wheelright, Jonathan 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 227 
 
 Hammond, Eliab Littlefield, and John Butland, to build a saw-mill 
 on the falls next below that of Littlefield, Hatch, and Frost, on Little 
 river. The mill of the latter, we have no reason to suppose, had yet 
 been built ; but hopes of peace were still deferred, and the aspect of 
 affairs discouraged all further attempts looking to the extension of 
 the settlement. No other grants were made till 1698, when the 
 drooping spirits of the people were once more excited to new activ- 
 ities. The wearied savage was ready to abandon the conflict. Joseph 
 Littlefield now took a grant of ten acres of fresh meadow ; and in 
 the next year (1699) peace once more returned to the waiting hearts 
 of the people ; and many of them looked to the lands, as the only 
 means of recovery from the losses incurred during the long conflict. 
 A grant of one hundred acres was made to William Vinney on the 
 north-east side of Henry Bates'. Ten acres of meadow were granted 
 Joseph Taylor on the Mousam river ; one hundred acres to Thomas 
 Boston, jr. ; one hundred acres to James Boston, adjoining; and to 
 Samuel Stewart one hundred acres joining James Boston (these 
 three lots were a mile in length, and were in Maryland, at the head 
 of the original lots below) ; one hundred acres to Left. Joseph Storr 
 er, by the lower salt water falls on the Kennebunk river, with privi- 
 lege of falls to build a saw-mill, for which he was to pay £4 annually ; 
 fifty acres to James Adams, at the head of " the outer lots," on the 
 road leading to Maryland ; one hundred acres to James Wakefield 
 on Kennebunk river (at the landing) ; one hundred ^acres to William 
 Frost and Samuel Hatch, at the head of the lots first laid out, which 
 extended w. n. w. two and a half miles ; one hundred acres to Samuel 
 Hill next above Nicholas Cole, leaving four rods for a highway; one 
 hundred acres to Henry Slates at Maryland, bounding on the road 
 at the head of the first-made grants ; to John Cutts the one hundred 
 acres granted to John Rhodes in 1666 ; one hundred acres to Alex- 
 ander McMillan, on the west of James Adams' land, on the road go- 
 ing to Maryland ; one hundred acres to Nicholas Cole, next above 
 Joseph Storer, on Kennebunk river; this location was above the 
 Edmund Littlefield mill lot ; fifty acres to Nathaniel Clark, between 
 the branches of Little river ; fifty acres to James Denmark, between 
 Three Mile brook and Four Mile brook, on west side of Samuel 
 Hatch's land ; fitly acres to John Harmon, between Webhannet and 
 Ogunquit river, on the king's highway. John Wheelright was also 
 
22 S HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 authorized to cut " 30 or 40 pine trees annually " on the common. 
 The town also voted "That the Proprietors have free liberty to cut 
 and haul away any sort of timber upon any land that is now belong- 
 ing to the town commons, notwithstanding it be given out in lots to 
 particular persons, and it shall forever hereafter be free for the use 
 of said town and proprietors of the common." This vote is not 
 readily understood. If any part of the common had been granted 
 to " particular persons," it would seem to be somewhat of an assump- 
 tion on the part of the town, to authorize any, or all the inhabitants, 
 to enter upon it and cut the growth at liberty. We are inclined to 
 the opinion, that the exercise of such a liberty might meet with some 
 obstruction on the part of the grantee, and find little favor in the 
 courts. In 1700 a grant of one hundred acres was made to Joseph 
 Taylor, between the Branch and Little rivers, above the path going 
 to Mousam ; ten acres were granted to Josiah Winn, at Maryland, 
 and ten acres of meadow to Joseph Hill, which were formerly 
 granted to his uncle, John Cross. 
 
 We have been thus particular in the detail of these grants, that 
 our readers might learn the progress of the settlement in the various 
 parts of the town. That portion, which has since borne the name of 
 Alewife, and which, undoubtedly, was the most valuable for agricul- 
 tural purposes, was entirely neglected. Confidence was not fully- 
 established in the minds of the people, that savage warfare was at 
 at end. They looked forward with anxiety and distrust ; and there- 
 fore attempted to secure themselves in such possessions only, as 
 would answer the immediate purposes of life. The war, for the 
 present, was at an end, and the people took what advantage of the 
 peace they safely could. 
 
 It is impossible now to search out the history of the town in all 
 its branches, with the assurance of perfect accuracy in its details, in 
 consequence of the failure of the records to give the light which 
 might reasonably be expected from that source. We have stated 
 before, that a volume was lost by the burning of the house of Joseph 
 Bolles, the town clerk, in 1657. This volume was probably small, as 
 only four years had elapsed since the incorporation. But it probably 
 contained many grants of land, of which no record can now be found. 
 The subsequent records, we suppose, have come down to us in full, as 
 they were made. But all along through this century, they are so 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 229 
 
 defective as to have but little claim to the name of town records. 
 The first volume contains no record of a meeting for the choice of 
 town officers till 1669, a period of fifteen years. Then follow, though 
 scattered about wherever the clerk happened to open his book, 
 records of the meetings of 1670, 1671, 1674, 1685, and 1694, and the 
 years following to 1700. In 1674, the town perceiving that the 
 insufficiency of the records was producing confusion and trouble, 
 passed the following vote : " Whereas it doeth Appeare y e y e are 
 severill defects and our Slightisms y e entry of many the proprietys 
 and grants of y e lands in our town books by Reason whereof, here 
 hereafter If not prevented Severill inconveances may arise to future 
 disturbances Amongst us, upon which Consideration it is hereby 
 ordered that Mr. Bolles, Goodman, Hammonds, Left. Littlefield, 
 Samuel Wheelright, who are hereby Appointed and empowered to 
 take Some Speedy and effectual Corse to agree with sume most 
 essential or behalf to maters Sutch things as they Judge needful into 
 a new book, which they are to proceed and to rectify such things as 
 they shall find to be amiss according to y e last Divisions." 
 
 This record was made by Judge Wheelright. We have not at- 
 tempted to translate it. But one would think from the reading of 
 it, that there was not much prospect of an improvement while the 
 office of clerk was in his hands. As long as Bolles was clerk, the 
 townsmen had no right to expect carefulness in their records. Suf- 
 ficient explanation of his errors is to be found in the proceedings of 
 the court. "Monday, July 1, 1661, Mr. Bolles fined ten shillings for 
 being drunk." Again, " July 7, 1674. We present Mr. Bolles, sen., 
 for being drunk." If such men are invested by the public with res- 
 ponsibilties, the public must reap the fruits of their folly. There 
 is no evidence that any new book was obtained. The records appear 
 to go on as they did previously. No regularity in the order of time 
 is manifest, and the errors and omissions are very much of a character 
 with those under the previous administration. There is no record of 
 the election of any town officers, for ten years after Wheelright was 
 chosen. 
 
 It will be perceived from the foregoing that we are obliged to rely 
 very much on extraneous evidence, in gathering up the history of 
 this early period. But we have found various sources to which we 
 resort for the purposes of this work, and we think it will not be 
 
230 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 found materially erroneous. In a preceding chapter we have narrated 
 the progress of the town to the year 1688, about the time of the 
 commencement of the second Indian war. In this year, and those 
 following, to the termination of the war, it would seem to be hardly 
 necessary to speak of town affairs, excepting so far as they related to 
 the terrible conflict in which the people were involved. There could 
 be little opportunity for municipal action about anything else. Still, 
 there appears to have been some enterprise in the way of extending 
 the settlement and its business. In 1688, William Sayer presented 
 the following petition to Gov. Andros: "To Sir Edmund Andros, 
 Capt. Gen'l and Governor in and over His Majesties territory and 
 dominion of New England in America. The humble petition of 
 William Sayer, of Wells, in the province of Maine, showeth, — That 
 there being vacant lands at and near the further branch of a river in 
 said town of Wells called Little river, very convenient to set on and 
 accommodate a fulling mill, which is much wanting by the inhabi- 
 tants far and near of said place as well as other places thereabouts, 
 and that it will be much for the benefit of said place to have a fulling 
 mill built on said river, is by the selectmen's certificate of said town 
 inserted, as well as other things therein contained." He thence 
 prayed to have a grant of one hundred and fifty acres and the benefit 
 of the stream. This petition we believe was granted, though we do 
 not comprehend the necessity of applying to this authority for the 
 grant. The town had the entire control of all its mill-sites. This 
 mill, if built at all, was built near the house of James Gillpatrick. 
 The war and the revolution, or rebellion against Gov. Andros, may 
 have precluded any attempt to build it at this time. The dam was 
 erected, but the aspect of public affairs may have induced Sayer to 
 abandon his work. At this time there seems to have been a general 
 expectation that Harrisecket was to become a place of considerable 
 business. The people were taking up lands between the two rivers 
 very freely. Every little fall on Little river was asked for. The 
 path going to Mousam was thought likely to continue as the highway 
 to that place. This same hope was cherished by some living on the 
 path more than a hundred years afterward. One owner of a dwelling 
 house and lot, standing at the junction of the branch road and the 
 road leading by Samuel Storer's, advertised his situation as a grand 
 site for a public house. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 231 
 
 Died in 1700, Samuel Wheelright, son of Rev. John Wheel- 
 right. He was one of the prominent men of the day in which he 
 lived, having very early been called to public life. We must infer 
 from this fact, that he was endowed with an intellect superior to that 
 of the generality of men. He came over to New England when an 
 infant ; and to Wells, when but six or seven years of age. Here he 
 had no opportunity of attending school. The family moved to 
 Hampton in 1645 ; afterwards, to Salisbury. The means for educa- 
 tion in either of those places, must have been very limited ; so that 
 his intellectual culture, whatever it was, was acquired from the in- 
 structions of his father. He probably came to Wells after he arrived 
 at maturity, his father deeding to him one-half of his farm. When 
 only thirty years old, he was clerk of the writs and town clerk. 
 These two offices appear to have been united into one, both in Maine 
 and Massachusetts. He was town clerk twenty-nine years. In 1665, 
 he was appointed lieutenant of the militia. But he does not seem 
 to have been efficient as a military man, being much better fitted for 
 civil life. In 1666, he was appointed Judge of the Inferior Court of 
 Common Pleas. He was chosen County Treasurer in 1674, but de- 
 clined taking that office ; in 1676 he was again chosen by the people, 
 and accepted the situation. In 1677, he was the representative of York 
 and Wells. In 1681, he was appointed by the king one of the Pro- 
 vincial Council. In 1695, Judge of the Court of Probate, and by 
 William and Mary a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. So that 
 from the time he came to Wells till his death, he was continually in the 
 public service. We judge from this fact, that he was a highly useful 
 and popular man. The era was not remarkable for its refined chris- 
 tian civilization. At the present day he would not be regarded, in 
 New England, as endowed with those tender and delicate sensibilities 
 which should animate every one who is true to the race. Punish- 
 ments were ordered by him which would be revolting to the judge of 
 the nineteenth century. An unfortunate female had been guilty of a 
 misdemeanor, for which, by others of the Court, she was ordered to 
 have stripes on the naked back, and he was appointed to see 
 
 the order executed. We could not have a very exalted opinion of one 
 who could with complacency even, witness such a scene as this, and 
 more especially of one who could have any agency in such a desecra- 
 tion of humanity. We should think him a long way from the king- 
 dom of heaven. Neither should we regard a man of common educa- 
 
232 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 cation as faithful to his marital obligations, who was so indifferent to 
 his wife's position and standing, as not to teach her to write her own 
 name. But evidently, as will be seen from other parts of this his- 
 tory, females at that time were estimated by a very different standard 
 from that which prevails in social life at the present day ; and his 
 character is to be judged in the light which he then enjoyed. 
 
 From Samuel Wheelright have descended all of that name who 
 have since dwelt in Wells. He left four children, 2 John, Joseph, 
 Mary, and Hannah. The first two head the two branches of the 
 family. 
 
 2 John married Mary Snell Jan. 28, 1689, and had the following 
 children : 8 John, Samuel, Hannah, Esther, Jeremiah, Elizabeth, Ma- 
 ry, Nathaniel, Sarah, Job, and Lydia. 
 
 In 1702 died William Hammond. This name was written in 
 England, Hamans. It has been spelled in various ways since intro- 
 duced into this* country; as Haman, Hamans, *Harmon, Hannor, 
 Hammond. He was born in England in 1597 ; came over to New 
 England about 1630, and was made a freeman at Boston in 1636. 
 When he first arrived here he made the mistake, which was very 
 common at that period, of imbibing too freely of intoxicating bever- 
 ages, so that in 1632, at the court in September, he^was " ordered to 
 sit in the bilboes for being drunk." But probably this mistake be- 
 came a useful lesson to him. His wife's name was Benedictus, sig- 
 nifying that she was a blessing to somebody, most likely in this case 
 to her parents or future husband. He came to Wells two or three 
 years before the town was incorporated, and signed the submission 
 to Massachusetts in 1653. His life here indicated that some good 
 influences had had their proper effect on him. He became a useful 
 man, and was regarded as so sound in his moral and religious princi- 
 ples that while the church was without a minister, in 1661, he was 
 ordered, with Ezekiel Knight, as related on another page, to attend 
 the place of public worship on the Lord's day, and improve his best 
 abilities in speaking out of the Word of God, singing psalms, and 
 
 *I have recently received a letter from G. M. Bodge, Esq., who is preparing a genealogy of 
 the Harmon family, in which he says, " I have discovered that the Harmon and Hammond 
 families are as utterly distinct as are the Smiths and Joneses. I think that in an interview 
 with Judge Bourne I convinced him of this fact." This portion of the history was probably 
 written some years before the interview referred to, and there may be error in the statement 
 that " the name has been spelled in various ways," etc.— e. e. b., jr. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 233 
 
 reading some good orthodox sermons. In 1653, he was appointed a 
 commissioner for Wells, for " trying small causes," and again was 
 elected by the people in 1658, '62, '63, '64, and '70. In 1660, he was 
 appointed one of the commissioners to settle the boundary between 
 Wells and Cape Porpoise, in which work he had new evidence of 
 the danger of being too free in the use of intoxicating liquors. In 
 1661, he was chosen constable, then regarded as a very important 
 office. For the accommodation of travelers, many in that day were 
 licensed to sell spirit, wine, beer, etc., and none were entrusted with 
 that authority but temperate, substantial men. His life was pro- 
 tracted beyond the years of any one that has lived in Wells. He 
 dropped dead in the road in 1702, being then 105 years of age, and 
 having lived in three centuries. 
 
 He left two sons, Jonathan and Joseph. The latter died in 1709, 
 aged 62, leaving a son, Joseph, born in 1676, and two daughters. 
 This Joseph moved to Kittery, and had Joseph, George, John, and 
 Jonathan, and three daughters. This Joseph 3 had Joseph, John, and 
 Elisha, and perhaps other children. Joseph the first was one of the 
 councilors for the province of Maine, and was appointed judge of 
 probate after the death of Judge Wheelright in 1700, and held that 
 office till 1710. He was also register from 1695 to 1700, and clerk of 
 the courts and register of deeds from 1699 to 1721. His wife was 
 Hannah Storer, whom he married in 1709. 
 
 Jonathan, the first son of William, was appointed sergeant in 
 1694, and lieutenant in 1703 and 1709. He was killed by the Indi- 
 ans and scalped in Queen Ann's war, near Jonathan Littlefield's gar- 
 rison. This family were so indifferent to their genealogical record 
 that we have no means of tracing it. 
 
 Note. — James Littlefield, referred to in Roger Hill's letter, page 
 201, was the son of Francis Littlefield, sen., and William Frost was 
 a shoemaker, though also engaged in milling ; but before the com- 
 mencement of the war had sold out his land and mills for a very low 
 sum, and, we suppose, left the town, from the apprehensions of a 
 new Indian war. The town, however, two or three years afterwards, 
 made him a new grant of fifty acres, on the east of Little river. He 
 and Nathaniel might have been here at the time, away from the 
 garrisons, and the enemy came suddenly upon them before they were 
 aware of the murders which had been committed in the neighboring 
 towns. 
 
234 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Social life of the early inhabitants— Their houses and furniture. 
 
 Our knowledge of early colonial life in Maine has been exceed- 
 ingly limited ; not because of the insufficiency of record evidence, 
 but from the neglect of careful examination and inquiry into its im- 
 port. When we speak of records or record testimony in this work, 
 we do not use those terms in their strictly legitimate sense, but as 
 comprehending letters, deeds, contracts and contemporary writings 
 of every kind, together with books, newspapers and other publica- 
 tions, claiming to give account of facts which had been of recent oc- 
 currence. 
 
 We have been accustomed to hear much of the Puritans, and our 
 impressions have been that they were a generation of men of high 
 moral impulses, of true nobility of soul ; and those who have held 
 them in reverence, have been so much in the habit of contrasting 
 them with the race at the present period, in many of their most im- 
 portant relations, and awarding to them a marked superiority, that 
 we have been imbued with the conception that their example was 
 worthy of all imitation ; and that the prominent attributes of their 
 social life were such as ought to commend them to the age in which 
 we live. But while puritanism, where existing, presented many 
 worthy elements of character, we are to remember there was very 
 little of it in Maine. Those who first located themselves here, were 
 not refugees from any religious intolerance. They left England not 
 for the enjoyment of religious liberty, but rather from those motives 
 which impel men to any undertaking which may lead to pecuniary 
 acquisition. Few of us had Puritan fathers. The first settlers of 
 Maine, so far as religion was with them a matter of any considera- 
 tion, felt themselves at home in the bosom of the English Church. 
 John Wheelright had his peculiarities ; but we are not aware that 
 there is any evidence that he had renounced his loyalty to that in- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 235 
 
 stitution. The main body of the planters in Wells, were men to 
 whom religious speculations were matters of little moment. Many 
 of us are descendants of adventurers, all whose thoughts were ab- 
 sorbed in the acquisition of the necessities of life, and who were sub- 
 ject to a large share of the same infirmities which now show them- 
 selves in every social community. 
 
 It does not become the honest historian to attempt to smooth over, 
 or keep out of sight the frailties of those of whose lives he claims to 
 give an authentic account, and having this view, we shall endeavor 
 to relate things truly ; to record the defects as well as virtues of 
 those who had the principal agency in making the history, which, at 
 best, we can only very imperfectly record. We cannot hold up our 
 ancestors as models in all things for the present generation. There 
 were among them men of irreproachable morals and sound piety ; 
 men who kept alive and inviolate within them that firm moral sense, 
 which always suggested their high responsibilities, and led them to 
 a faithful discharge of their obligations. But there was also a class, 
 we think, equally large, whose ambition extended no further than to 
 minister to personal gratification, using the world as they went along 
 merely as an agency to that end ; and in that subserviency hesitat- 
 ing not to disregard law, both moral and civil. The material life 
 only presented any attractions to them. From this commingling of 
 good and bad men, a society was made up, which as a whole, had 
 not much to recommend it to their successors of the present age. 
 Still, while we cannot thus commend it to our readers for imitation, 
 there existed in it many elements worthy the sympathy and admira- 
 tion of those of the present age. The first century of the town's 
 history presents much that must awaken the reverence of every true 
 citizen. The settlers, and their descendants of the generation follow- 
 ing, were subjected to numberless ills which would be unendurable 
 to us were we now, by a sudden decree of the overruling Providence, 
 subjected to them. They came here, most of them moneyless, and 
 sat themselves down in the wilderness with only their physical pow- 
 ers to provide for their support. Early and late frosts, droughts and 
 unpropitious seasons, in all ages of the world, have frequently de- 
 feated the hopes of the industrious and hard-laboring husbandman ; 
 and other agencies and influences have occasionally cut short his 
 crops. So it was with the first inhabitants of Wells. Heaven did 
 not always smile on their exertions. But here as elsewhere, some 
 
236 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 prospered in their agricultural pursuits, while the expectations of 
 others were frequently disappointed, and as a natural consequence, the 
 distinctions of social life soon began to be manifested. The rich and 
 the poor were to be seen on the plantations. This diversity was fol- 
 lowed by its usual results. The ill success of the poor and the depri- 
 vations to which they were subjected, soon engendered disquiet, envy 
 and ill nature, and led to those indulgencies to which human nature 
 has too frequent recourse, when discouragements and trouble come 
 over the soul. The intoxicating cup sent its poison over all the sen- 
 sibilities of men. There were many drunkards, and, thence many of 
 those sorrowful abodes, where poverty and iniquity held undisturbed 
 sway. 
 
 In thus connecting poverty and sin together, we would not have 
 it understood that the two are necessarily companions, or that crime 
 is an emanation of poverty more than of riches. We mean to say 
 that poverty which comes from intemperance, is almost always at- 
 tended with other moral evils. But, we think it may be truly said, 
 in extenuation of the guilt of intemperance, that the offenses of 
 which it is the principal cause, are not generally those which are such 
 per se, or in themselves criminal, but such as are made so by civil 
 enactment. Thus, in the days of which we are speaking there were 
 seldom any larcenies, robberies, burglaries, assaults and batteries or 
 murders. The prevalent violations of law were not such as to man- 
 ifest intended injury to others, but only such as were the product of 
 unrestrained passion ; profanity, slander, incontinency, conjugal in- 
 fidelity. In many cases the inebriate is endowed with a gentle, kind- 
 ly temperament, and although the tongue may be set on fire by the 
 maddening drink, he has no impulse to inflict personal violence upon 
 those by whom he is surrounded. But there are also men of bad 
 temper who, when sober, can keep it in reasonable subjection, but 
 when instigated by intoxicating liquor, are ready for any crime 
 against society. 
 
 The sins which destroyed the harmony and peace of the ancient 
 towns in this neighborhood, were those which we should class as 
 misdemeanors, or offenses against good order and social life. In 
 this view, the state of society in Wells was not such as would now 
 captivate those who are ordinarily punctilious in their associations. 
 Slander, tale-bearing, crimination, neglect of the Sabbath, unchastity, 
 infidelity to the marriage vows, prevailed to a very great degree. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 237 
 
 There were twenty-five families in Wells at the time of its incorpor- 
 ation in 1653, and more than half of that number of the men were 
 presented or indicted by the grand jury for various offenses. All 
 seemed inclined to take advantage of the failings of their neighbors, 
 and subject them to prosecution for their offenses. What we in this 
 age would pass by as matters of trivial import, or as slight departures 
 from the proprieties of life, were magnified into offenses against law 
 and worthy of judicial cognizance. The courts also fell in witli this 
 prevalent propensity of the people. They made matters criminal 
 without the aid of statute or common law. That charity which is 
 kind and thinketh no evil, seems to have found no place in the mind 
 of high or low, rich or poor. But very few failed to come in for a 
 share of the evils growing out of this debased state of public senti- 
 ment. The rich were frequently the complainants for offenses against 
 the poor, and, of course, they frequently met with some return from 
 those who felt themselves injured by the procedure. Even the best 
 of the families became involved in the continual jars. The social 
 atmosphere was corrupted, and all were obliged to suffer from it. 
 Members of the court were not unfrequently subjected to the indig- 
 nity of criminal process for their frailties and indiscretions. 
 
 This state of society was in a great measure the creation of ignor- 
 ance, naturally growing out of the deficiencies of education of the 
 majority of the people. But a great proportion of it had its origin 
 in the ignorance of the courts. Most of these officials, as we have 
 before stated, were uneducated men, endowed with barely a modicum 
 of common sense, and still less of the w T ise comprehension of a wise 
 civil policy. They did not philosophise or look at results. Their 
 attention was confined to the subject of immediate action, and they 
 did not extend their views to the effects which might follow their 
 doings. They had the criminal or his offense alone in view, and 
 perhaps thought little of the effect of the punishment. Their 
 powers, whether vested in them by law or assumed, were almost 
 unlimited, as far as respected crimes and their punishment. For 
 offenses of the most trivial character, they oftentimes prescribed the 
 most odious punishments which at the moment presented themselves 
 to their minds. What more degrading to a female than to be re- 
 quired "to stand in a white sheet publicly in the congregation at 
 Agamenticus two several Sabbath days, and one day at the general 
 court?" or "to have forty stripes, save one, on her naked skin, in- 
 
238 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 flicted by the jailor in presence of the court and of the public?" or 
 to stand at a town meeting in York, or a town meeting in Kittery, 
 with her offense written in capital letters on her forehead?" or " to 
 stand with a gag in her mouth half an hour at a public town meet- 
 ing?" What greater outrage on humanity and more destructive 
 of that self-respect which God has planted in the soul of man to 
 preserve him from moral ruin, than to order him "at the head of a 
 military company, to have twenty-five stripes on his naked back, 
 and have his neck and heels tied together for a full hour?" or what 
 more corrupting to the people, than that one in a public meeting for 
 religious worship on the Lord's day, should rise in the midst of the 
 assembly, repeat the words of the vulgar and obscene slander which 
 he had uttered, followed with the confession that it was false ? 
 
 There is no quality of the spirit more indispensable to a high tone 
 of morals, and more necessary for the well-being and salutary prog- 
 ress of society, than that of shame. It is one of the grand defenses 
 with which God has furnished man to protect him from the tempta- 
 tions which beset the path of life. This consciousness of the degra- 
 dation which unchastity or iniquity of any kind brings to one's 
 character, cannot be too highly prized by those who would be con- 
 servators of the peace and good order in social and civil life. And 
 yet the punishment in a great many of the cases submitted to the 
 action of the court, were of a character fitted completely to sub- 
 due this most needed attribute of the soul. When this conservative 
 element of human nature is thus extinguished, selfishness and passion 
 usurp the entire control of life. A man or woman without shame 
 will be the pest of any community. 
 
 Such proceedings as we have referred to have the sure tendency 
 of driving all modesty from the intercourse of life, and reducing 
 civilization almost to a level with barbarism. These unfortunates 
 had their friends ; and in the view of such exhibitions as have been 
 stated, how could any community be expected to dwell together in 
 harmony and mutual good will ? Strife, back-biting, hatred, and 
 every evil work would inevitably ensue. Profanity, drunkenness, and 
 other immoralities would abound. 
 
 This state of social life, we have said, had its origin, in a great de- 
 gree, in the judicial administration of the day. But there was one 
 other cause from which it derived no small portion of its strength. 
 The scantiness and entire insufficiency of household accommoda- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AKD KENNEBTJNK. 239 
 
 tions could not fail to bring very efficient aid to the work of demor- 
 alization. The settlers came over the water expecting to fix their 
 abode in the wilderness, and to shelter themselves and families in 
 such tenements as could be erected the most speedily, and conse- 
 quently brought with them little or no furniture. Those who came 
 to Wells found themselves far from any mart where it could be ob- 
 tained. The communication with Boston and Salem was so imper- 
 fect as to afford no facilities for transportation. Beside, feeling 
 themselves to be mere pioneers, with no assurance of a permanent 
 home here, they went on from year to year with as little as possible 
 to encumber them, in case of their removal. They were away from 
 the busy haunts of life, and therefore thought but little of the pro- 
 prieties of society. Their houses had but one or two rooms. Many 
 of their families were large. They were necessarily so commingled 
 that the privacies of life must be disregarded. For many years, and 
 perhaps till the close of the seventeenth century, they had, as a gen- 
 eral rule, but one bed, and even those of the largest means but two. 
 Under these circumstances, how could it be expected that a sound 
 morality could have been maintained ? What chance was there for 
 advancing and sustaining a refined culture ? Children must surely 
 have grown up with very little respect for that decorum which we 
 are accustomed to regard as essential to all good society. The deli- 
 cacies which now have such a beneficent influence in the intercourse 
 of even domestic life could not be nurtured in such an uncongenial 
 condition. Purity of heart and conversation we could not expect to 
 find among a people thus cramped in their action. 
 
 Let us look into one of these houses. We enter the kitchen, which 
 is also the sitting room and parlor. In looking around, we discover 
 a table, a pewter pot, a hanger, a little mortar, a dripping pan, and a 
 skillet ; no crockery, tin, or glass ware ; no knives, forks, or spoons ; 
 not a chair to sit in. The house contains but two other rooms, in 
 each of which we find but one bed, a blanket and a chest. We have 
 been through the house. They have nothing further to show us 
 here. And this is the house of Edmund Littlefield, the richest man in 
 the town. When he first came to Wells he had a family of six chil- 
 dren still to be educated under his roof. Francis had cut himself off 
 from his father's care and protection ; one or two others had arrived 
 at maturity, but were yet in the family. Elizabeth, John, Thomas, 
 Mary, Hannah, and Francis, junior, between the ages of six and 
 
240 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 twenty, were abiding with the father ; as we do not know precisely 
 what furniture they had in the first years of their settlement here, 
 we adopt that of a later period, confident that the former must have 
 been less than the latter. 
 
 Let us now visit the house of Ensign John Barret, an officer 
 of no small note in those days. Here we find more of the lux- 
 uries incident to official station. We find two beds and bedding, two 
 chests and a box, four pewter dishes, four earthen pots, two iron pots, 
 seven trays, two pails, some wooden ware, a skillet, and a frying 
 pan. We have takenjiis inventory of household furniture. We will 
 pass on to the home of another of the elite of society. 
 
 Casting our eyes round the house, we see a kettle, a pot and pot 
 hooks, a pair of tongs, a pail, and a pitcher; and in the chamber, a 
 bed and bedding, and some trifling articles, worth about fifty cents. 
 And this is the house of Nicholas Cole, one of the selectmen — for 
 many years the surveyor of town lands, constable, and acting in vari- 
 ous public offices. 
 
 Now, the first enquiry suggested by this visit to the habitations of 
 these men, would be, how could the families live so ? How could 
 they eat? how could they sleep? how could they keep themselves 
 in a condition fit to be seen ? The Indian in his wigwam, had about 
 as many appliances for cooking, eating, and sleeping, as had these 
 representatives of civilized society. They had their skins or furs to 
 sleep on, their birchen or stone dishes, and other utensils to hold 
 their food ; wooden forks, or their fingers, to eat with ; and the 
 ground for their table. Surely the civilization of the settlement 
 must have been of a low order; presenting little to boast of in its 
 outward aspect. How could the virtues and graces of Christianity 
 grow under such disadvantages ? There was no emulation for excel- 
 lence, for all were alike in their domestic possessions. How could 
 personal neatness be maintained ? Probably most of the children 
 never saw a looking-glass ; they never had a vision of their own 
 faces, except in pails of water, darkly. They might, as we suppose 
 they did, wash comfortably in the sea, in the milder season ; but in 
 cold weather they do not seem to have had any conveniences for 
 that purpose. Their morning ablutions were probably few and far 
 between ; so that, we must infer, that the earthly tenement was but 
 little cared for. 
 
 But how about the hours of night? We have not much to say 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 241 
 
 of these families after the pitch-knot had ceased to send out its 
 cheering rays. There is no way in which we could obtain a vision 
 of parents and children after the night-watches commenced. We 
 may well suppose that the heads of the household occupied the one 
 bed; how the boys and girls were disposed of, we must leave to the 
 imagination of the reader; we feel, however, safe in the conclusion, 
 that their accommodations were not such as to consist with the 
 growth of a sound morality. 
 
 As to their utensils for eating we are also without any satisfactory 
 knowledge. The clam-shell held in a split stick probably made a 
 convenient spoon ; the fingers may have done the work of the fork ; 
 but how was their meat to be cut? No wooden instrument would 
 answer that purpose. They consumed an immense amount of pork, 
 which required the use of the carving knife. But no knives were 
 found in any house. 
 
 As to the modus operandi in taking their food, after it was on the 
 table, we have no knowledge ; we have been unable to find any in- 
 struments for the purpose. They may have adopted the habits and 
 customs of the Indians. A great many in those days, and in years 
 subsequent, became strongly attached to, and adopted the Indian 
 mode of life; and were unwilling to renounce it for the habitude 
 and customs of civilization. Under the influence of its charms, sev- 
 eral of those who were taken captives from Wells in the terrible wars 
 which brought desolation to so many families, forgot their relations, 
 and continued their habitation with their savage captors through life. 
 The houses of the settlers did not afford much better shelter than 
 the wigwams of the Indians. They were merely log huts; and were 
 sold for very small sums. Perhaps some of them were constructed 
 in the style of the Indian tenement. Cups and saucers were not 
 then required; coffee and tea had not come into use ; they were un- 
 known in Wells. The natural spring afforded the only beverage used 
 at their meals, excepting spruce beer, which we suppose was generally- 
 taken at dinner. Their cookery must have been of the plainest 
 character ; they had no materials for condiments, and no vessels for 
 variety in the preparation of edibles for the table. An iron pot was* 
 the one grand article for household equipment. We cannot but be 
 amused, as well as surprised, at the high estimate set upon this arti- 
 cle. Such a legacy in a will was regarded as a great benefaction. It 
 was indispensable to the housewife's operations. Beside their maizej, 
 15 
 
242 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK, 
 
 the annual product of every family, and their meats, and fish, which 
 were very abundant, and easily attainable, they had but little for food. 
 Among the settlers we have been able to discover but a single churn. 
 Cows were very soon introduced, and were, before the century closed, 
 owned in large numbers. We think they made no butter ; if they 
 did, the fact would appear among some of the relics of this period. 
 The milk was converted into cheese, or consumed in its natural state. 
 
 Though our predecessors were poor, they do not seem to have 
 made so much of life as they ought. They submitted to depriva- 
 tions and inconveniences not demanded by their condition. One 
 would suppose, when the wild fowl were so abundant that they 
 might almost be taken without leaving their doors, that they would 
 have provided themselves with beds enough, and of the best quality. 
 But they do not appear to have taken advantage of their opportuni- 
 ties. A very common bed was made of cat-tails, or cat-o'-nine tails, 
 as they have been termed in later years. Straw or hay even, would 
 have better subserved the purpose of rest. The sweet restorer would 
 more readily have come to the latter -than to the former. We do 
 not know that either of these was ever enclosed in a tick. The 
 children and those of a larger growth, may have thrown themselves 
 down upon one of them for the night. Laboring as the pioneers did 
 from early morn to late at night, any place of rest would have been 
 acceptable to their wearied limbs. 
 
 Our observations are not confined to the first decade, from the 
 commencement of the settlement only, but to nearly the whole 
 period previous to 1700. Scarcely anything of the nature of bet- 
 terments was added to the household furniture till after the close of 
 the third Indian war. The same indifference to personal comforts 
 and conveniences prevailed in nearly all their houses. One would 
 suppose that some of them would have had the ambition to provide 
 for themselves chairs, looking-glasses or carpets. But none of these 
 articles were found in their dwellings, excepting in that of Joseph 
 Cross, who lived on the east side of Ogunquit river, and died in 
 1684. He being in very comfortable pecuniary circumstances, had a 
 looking-glass and a carpet, but no chairs. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Queen Ann's war— Letter of John Wheelright to the governor- 
 Attack upon Wells— Escape of Harding and wife— Brief accounts 
 of the victims of the assault— Petition of the inhabitants to the 
 general court for abatement of tax — indians seen on drake's 
 Island— Their ingenious device for escape— Death of Nicholas 
 Cole and others — Lewis Allen, the spy — Tidings from the cap- 
 tives in Canada— Exchange of prisoners— Attack upon Kittery, 
 York, and Wells. 
 
 The blessings of peace, for which the people had so long yearned 
 in the midst of their distresses, were of but short continuance. 
 They had returned to their farms, rebuilt the waste places, and were 
 beginning to enjoy the genial influences of rural freedom. Confined, 
 as they had been, for ten anxious years to a very limited domain, 
 seldom assured of safety when away from the curtilage, they were 
 now entering with renewed zeal upon their agricultural labors. It 
 seemed as it were a new birth into the world. They had, in this re- 
 straint, accustomed themselves to very scanty supplies for thei^ 
 bodily wants, and therefore were little troubled on account of de- 
 privations, which would be almost unendurable in the present age. 
 They went to work with a will, with the assurance that in a few 
 years the earth would abundantly bless them with its fruits. But 
 France and England were again involved in war, and the Catholic 
 priests availed themselves of another opportunity for inspiring the 
 savage heart with the bitterest enmity against the settlers, and urg- 
 ing them on to those deeds of cruelty and desolation which had 
 marked their path during the former wars. 
 
 Governor Dudley in 1702 had been at the eastward, and by the 
 artful professions of the Sagamores, had his fears in some degree al- 
 layed. But the duplicity and deceitfulness of the savage heart were 
 not so well understood by him as by some of the townsmen of 
 Wells, who had long been conversant with the Indian character. 
 
244 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 John Wheelright, whose well-grounded suspicions could never be 
 allayed by any protestations of friendship on the part of the wily 
 foe, addressed to the governor the following letter : 
 
 Wells, Aug. 4, 1702. 
 
 May it Please your Excellency. 
 
 At my hearing of your Excellencys Returne from Eastward to 
 Piscataqua the Last Week, I immediately went thither, to waite on 
 youre self theire, but your quiet despatch e from thence Prevented 
 me of that opertunity, which mackes me bould to give your Excel- 
 lency the trouble of these lines. Sr : I understand that the Indians 
 at the Eastward Vearey Redily Professed Great fidelity to yourself 
 and the English nation, with Great Promis of Peace and friendship, 
 which Promises So Long as it may stand with theire own interest, I 
 believe they may keep and no Longer, theire teachers Instructing 
 them that theire is no faith to be kept with Hereticks sutch as they 
 account us to be, themselves allso being naturialey deseaitful Like 
 theire Father horn they serve. Indeed, Sir : I Cannot have Charity 
 for them to believe what they say, I haveing Experienced so mutch 
 of theire horable deseatfullness in the Last war upon many treaties 
 and articles of Peace, so that I cannot but apprehend ourselves that 
 live in these remote Parts of the countrey and being fronteres but 
 to be in Great dainger, and considering that war was Proclaimed 
 with the french, who are not so far from us but that they may with- 
 out any great difucalty send out an army against us, eaither with or 
 without the assistance of oure pretended frend Indians. This towne 
 being the nearest to the enemy and the farthest from any help or 
 Relief, we cannot but apprehend ourselves to be in Great dainger, 
 and espesialy at this season of the yeare, our occasions Calling us 
 genirely from horn to get our hay and Corne Secured, oure inhabit- 
 ants doth theirfore Pray, that your Excellency would assist us with 
 sum men, twentie or thirtie, or so many as your Excellency in Wis- 
 dom may think fit ; my humble Request to your Excellency when at 
 Saco was that you would please to Grant me the Liberty of a Gar- 
 rison where I now live, which then your Excellency did not resolve. 
 I still Pray for the same with submission, and desire youre Excel- 
 lenes Resolution in that mater, to which I shall Reddily Submit 
 with onely Informing youre Excellency that if I must remove into 
 the middle of the town I must Leave that Little Estate I have to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 245 
 
 maintain my family with, and Carey a Large family wheire 1 have 
 but little to maintain them withall. Praying your Excellencyes 
 Pardon for these rude lines, I remaine ever to be your Excellencyes 
 most humble servant at all Comands. John Wheelright. 
 
 To 
 His Exelency Joseph Dudley Esq. 
 Captain General and Govenour 
 in Chief and over the 
 Province of the Masethusets 
 Bay in New England &c. 
 
 He was not mistaken in the view which he took of the aspect of 
 our relations with the tribes. So well satisfied was he with the fact 
 that the people were in imminent danger, that he felt the impor- 
 tance of immediate preparation to meet the exigencies of savage 
 warfare. Fie asked for liberty to build a garrison house. Why it 
 was necessary to obtain liberty of the government for this purpose, 
 is not readily answered. Every man, surely, must have had the 
 right of self-protection. But so it was. A license must be first ob- 
 tained. The request does not seem to have been readily complied 
 with. It may be that application was made for a garrison to be 
 erected by the government. As all their fortifications were de- 
 signed as places of refuge for the people, it is most probable that 
 Wheelright asked for assistance in the work. After some delay per- 
 mission to build was granted. 
 
 The war began on the tenth day of August of the next year, a 
 large force having been gathered under the direction of French offi- 
 cers. These were divided into six or seven parties, with the inten- 
 tion of attacking all the principal settlements at the same time. 
 Upon Wells especially was their fury to be vented. It had success- 
 fully baffled all their attacks in the previous wars ; but at this time 
 the people were not in position to make any efficient defense, and. 
 they felt that their cruel foe would be appeased only by the com- 
 plete destruction of the town. Fearful indeed was the prospect be- 
 fore the inhabitants, but it was too late to make any efficient 
 defense. The enemy sallied forth from their ambuscades, and killed 
 or carried away thirty-nine of the inhabitants. The horrors of 
 that day cannot be depicted. Families were broken up. Husbands, 
 wives, or children were taken from the home circle. Almost every 
 
246 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 one had lost a friend dear to his heart. Many were wounded, bare- 
 ly escaping death or captivity. Valuable citizens, on whom reliance 
 Was placed for protection and support in this terrible crisis, were 
 either killed or carried away, exposed to the relentless cruelty of the 
 savage enemy. Much time must elapse, days and nights of anguish 
 pass, before anything could be learned of the fate of the captives. 
 
 Histories of the past have merely reiterated the fact that these 
 thirty-nine persons were killed or carried into captivity. No de- 
 tailed account of the individuals thus falling is anywhere recorded. 
 It is strange that no inhabitant of the town should have made a 
 memorandum of the particulars of this terrible affliction ; the names 
 of the persons killed, the wounded, and the captives; the dwelling 
 houses and other buildings burnt, or some general statement of the 
 extent of the devastation. The town records make no allusion to 
 any assault on the tenth of August. 
 
 We have devoted a great deal of time among the archives of the 
 county, and availed ourselves of every other means of knowledge in 
 our endeavor to meet this failure. The following is the result of 
 our researches : 
 
 The enemy first attacked the house of Thomas Wells, who lived 
 where John L. Wells now lives. His wife had just been confined, 
 and he was gone for a nurse. The Indians entered, killed the moth- 
 er and infant, and the two other children, Sarah, aged four, and 
 Joshua, aged two years, and then burnt the house. At the same 
 time they murdered Joseph Sayer and all his family, consisting of 
 his wife and two or three children. It is said they first compelled 
 him to assist in grinding the hatchet which they used in their dire- 
 ful work. No enormity on the part of these savages is too great to 
 affect the credibility of the story of their doings. Sayer's house 
 was near that of Wells, and was also burnt. 
 
 We have spoken of the house of Stephen Harding, situated near 
 the Kennebunk river, between Gooch's creek and the Pier. There is 
 no spot in Wells, unless we except that of Storer's garrison and its 
 immediate vicinage, which suggests to the antiquarian more interest- 
 ing memories than this. As it was called " Harding's " so many 
 years, we embrace under that designation previous and subsequent 
 owners or occupants. We are not sure whether this point was prev- 
 iously occupied or not. Harding, or Reynolds, or James Littlefield, 
 may have been established here many years before the war. The 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 247 
 
 commissioners for determining the boundary of the towns, met at 
 Hardinsr's in 1660. But where Harding's was is immaterial in the 
 present connection. We know that about 1700 he built his house at 
 this place for the accommodation of the public. He was a black- 
 smith, and we suppose a son of Israel Harding, also a blacksmith, 
 who established himself in Wells in 1670. He was licensed to keep 
 a house of entertainment, and to supply his patrons with those stim- 
 ulants which were then regarded as material aids to the body in the 
 discharge of its various functions. Life without such ministrations 
 was regarded as feeble and inefficient for any substantial results. 
 Governors, judges, ministers, generals, and lords, all alike indulged 
 in the use of the reviving beverage. Here, all in their travels to and 
 from the province, were accustomed to find accommodations. Hard- 
 ing was well fitted for the position. His kindly nature at once 
 commended him to the stranger. He was ready to meet his wants, 
 and in every way minister to his comfort. To make his place as at- 
 tractive as possible in the exciting times of the early period of our 
 history, he had garrisoned the house, so that while under his roof his 
 customers might feel fully assured of their safety, and thus enjoy the 
 desired rest. He was also a very strong man, able to resist any 
 aggressions on his household. Near him, just over the creek, was an 
 Indian summer residence, where there were a dozen or more wig- 
 wams. The Indians were daily in and around his house, and as familiar 
 with his domestic and out-door arrangements and business as any 
 other neighbors or friends living in his immediate neighborhood. His 
 intercourse with them was always kindly, and he thereby acquired a 
 hold on their sympathies which could with difficulty be made to give 
 way to the entry of that malicious and revengeful spirit which would 
 sometimes so suddenly, and without any apparent cause, take pos- 
 session of their hearts. With them he loved the chase, and in the 
 pursuit of game traveled far into the interior, sometimes, it is said, 
 almost to the White Hills. But for what object we cannot imagine. 
 If he killed a moose, or a bear, or any smaller animals, he could not 
 bring them home, and we cannot understand the satisfaction of any 
 such profitless gunning as this. But such, it is said, was his habit of 
 wandering through the wilderness, and he thereby acquired a know- 
 ledge of all the intervening forests, and the direct routes through 
 them to any specified point. The knowledge acquired by this rov- 
 ing gunning propensity, created demand for his services, and when it 
 
248 HISTORY OF "WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 was proposed to send a military force to Pigwaket to attack the 
 Indians in that neighborhood, the Governor directed Capt. Samuel 
 Wheelright first to secure the services of Stephen Harding as a pilot. 
 Harding was for this reason an important man for the provinces, and 
 consequently a valuable prize for the French. This being understood 
 by the Indians, their previous friendly intercourse with him would 
 avail nothing against their treachery. Beside, they were in times of 
 war under the control of the French, and were led to believe that the 
 English were determined to drive them from their lands which had 
 been given to them by their great Father. Thus, Harding could 
 never feel safe in relying upon his own kindness to them or their 
 good will to him, as affording any guaranty for his safety in times of 
 war. 
 
 "War was declared between France and England in 1702, and the 
 settlers feeling assured that the French would, in its prosecution, 
 incite the Indians to renewed acts of cruelty, regarded these savage 
 neighbors with suspicion. Harding was bold and fearless ; but his 
 wife was timorous, and looking for fearful developments of the war 
 spirit. He was one day preparing for a gunning excursion, but she 
 begged him to abandon it. In going toward his shop he discovered 
 a company of men, women, and children on Oaks' Rocks. He had 
 heard guns at the west, but supposed that the soldiers stationed at 
 Wells were merely going through their usual exercises. This dis- 
 covery, however, awakened some apprehensions that the crisis had 
 arrived. He w T ent back to his house and told his wife to take their 
 infant child, and flee across the creek to an oak tree beyond, and 
 there remain, till he had ascertained the character of these persons 
 who were now coming toward his house. The object of this com- 
 pany probably was to draw the attention of Harding, while other 
 preparations had been made to secure him when in his shop. Hav- 
 ing thus provided for the flight of his wife, he returned, and being 
 well acquainted with all the Indian signs, tactics, and arts, he took 
 his axe and knocked on the side of his shop, giving at the same time 
 the Indian war-whoop. Instantly, four Indians sprang from their 
 hiding places and rushed to the door, thinking that they w r ere thus 
 sure of him as a prisoner. But he escaped by a back-way to his 
 field of corn, in which he found his wife, who had gone but a short 
 distance from the house, and there fainted. He seized her under one 
 arm, and the child under the other, and escaped with his burden, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 249 
 
 across the creek, which he forded with great difficulty, it being then 
 high water. He left them under the tree, and returned toward the 
 house. But he had proceeded only a short distance when he met an 
 enormous bear. It would not do to leave them exposed to this new 
 peril, so he went back and started for Storer's garrison, nine miles 
 distant, being obliged to take the interior route on account of three 
 intervening rivers. At night they reached the hill where the old 
 Jefferds tavern now stands, having traveled through the woods the 
 whole distance, there being no house in Kennebunk but their own, 
 and having subsisted entirely on berries gathered on the route. Plis 
 dog had started with them, but as his barking would have led to 
 their discovery, he was obliged to kill him. The next day at a late 
 hour they reached the garrison. But all the inmates were asleep. 
 After much difficulty and delay they succeeded in rousing some of 
 them, and he with his wife found rest within its walls. 
 
 The Indians killed his hogs and carried off his beds, but did no 
 other special damage; the house being left, as they said after the 
 war was over, as a trap to catch him, when at some time after, he 
 might return to it. 
 
 We have taken the leading facta of this tradition from Bradbury, 
 but it must be a very imperfect account of them. Harding must 
 have known that the Indians were away from their wigwams just 
 over the creek. When abroad on their raids they did not have with 1 
 them their wives and children, as seen on Oaks' rocks. It is hardly 
 probable that Harding could have passed through the cornfield with 
 his wife and child, without so moving the stocks as to make his 
 track plain ; and he could not have crossed the brook and ascended 
 the bank on the upper side without exposing himself to their sight, 
 and leaving his foot-prints behind him. Nevertheless, there is no 
 doubt of the accuracy of the leading facts. In passing down through 
 four or five generations, they may have been extended somewhat. 
 * It was in this spot, so limited, that nearly all the business of Ken- 
 nebunk was at one time done. Coasters were here from the west, 
 taking spars, timber and boards, for several years. Passengers also 
 availed themselves of a passage hither by water, land travel being 
 tedious, and much of the time perilous. Here too were enacted 
 scenes which rent many a heart. Here in 1724, occurred that terri- 
 ble tragedy, of which an account is given in a subsequent chapter, 
 where the brave Wormwood, through the agonies of death, contin-. 
 
250 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ued to fight his merciless enemies. Here, also, history alleges the 
 crew of the Lynn sloop were massacred. 
 
 Having failed in their attempt to capture Harding, the Indians 
 went over the river, and killed the wife and three children of W il- 
 liam Larrabee, whose house stood near the site of the old rope-walk. 
 Larrabee was away from his house a short distance, having concealed 
 himself in some bushes from the sight of two or three who were 
 searching for him. After they had given up the search, he crept to- 
 ward his house until he discovered his dead wife and children. 
 Being satisfied of the murder of all his family, he started for the 
 Storer garrison and reached it in safety. 
 
 Samuel Hill, wife and children were among the victims of this 
 memorable raid. His house and all his household goods were com- 
 mitted to the flames. He could have been married but four or five 
 years, and it is probable that his family consisted of three or four 
 children only. Some of these, too young to travel, were killed ; 
 others, with the father and mother, were carried into captivity. The 
 Indians were then, in fact, fighting for the French, and the prisoners 
 taken by them were delivered into their hands in Canada. They 
 were thence saved from those terrible cruelties which they might 
 have experienced in the hands of their captors. Hill seems to have 
 had some freedom while thus in captivity. It was a singular coinci- 
 dence, that his brother Ebenezer Hill, and his wife, then living at 
 Saco, were captured at the same time, and that they were imprisoned 
 together. Samuel had been an efficient actor in the preparations for 
 defense, and was captain of a packet, which was employed in bring- 
 ing provisions to the various ports on the coast. The loss of such a 
 man at this time was a severe one for the people of Wells. 
 
 James Adams and all his family were also taken, and his house 
 burned. He lived on the gore, between one and two miles above the 
 main road and on the road to Berwick. He had but two children, so 
 far as we can learn, one three years old and the other one. Both* 
 were too young to travel and, as we suppose, were killed. 
 
 Thomas Wilson, who lived at Maryland, near William Veney, was 
 murdered. His family escaped. 
 
 Mary Storer, daughter of Lieut. Joseph Storer, was captured and 
 carried to Canada. She was a young lady about eighteen years of 
 age. Being the daughter of one of the most energetic defenders of 
 the town, and an officer of the government, she was regarded as a 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 251 
 
 valuable prize. She became well satisfied with her condition in cap- 
 tivity ; and by her refined and attractive deportment and personal 
 qualities, soon ingratiated herself into the kind sympathies and ac- 
 ceptance of French society. In a short time she became the victor 
 over the heart of a Frenchman, Jean St. Germaine, and was united 
 with him in marriage. The father, after the close of the war, was 
 unable to induce her to return. French social life had taken strong 
 hold of her affections, and she could not be induced to abandon it 
 for the rustic life of her early home. Her father, in his will, gave her 
 a legacy of fifty pounds if she returned and dwelt in New England ; 
 and ten shillings only if she refused to do so. But the legacy foiled 
 to have any effect on her. She died in Montreal, Aug. 25, 1747, 
 aged 62. 
 
 Two children of William Parsons, William, aged five years, and 
 Samuel, aged eighteen months, were killed, and a daughter taken cap- 
 tive. Parsons lived between the parsonage and the house of Joseph 
 Hill. His house was burnt. He had two other small children. 
 With these, the father and mother escaped and went to York, where 
 they found a home at the house of Arthur Bragdon. But on the 
 twenty-sixth day of September, less than two months after, an as- 
 sault was made on that town, and Mr. Parsons and one of the daugh- 
 ters captured. 
 
 The savages started with the daughter first taken, on their way to 
 Canada. Their provisions failed, and the monsters determined to 
 supply their needs by roasting the little girl; but while making 
 preparations for their horrible purpose, a party of Mohawk Indians 
 with three dog3 met them. The captors proposed to exchange their 
 captive for one of the dogs. But as it was no object to the Mohawks 
 to take the burden of the care of the child and part with their dog, 
 they rejected the proposition. They then offered them one of their 
 guns, which was gladly accepted, and thus the life of the child was 
 saved. We have no evidence as to her future. The captivity of the 
 child was a terrible affliction to the parents. It probably hastened 
 the death of the father, who survived but a few months. History 
 speaks of this daughter as the child of the widow Hannah Parsons. 
 This is attributable to the fact that the account of it was first writ- 
 ten after the death of the father. 
 
 Mary Sayer, a daughter of Joseph Hill, and Rachel Storer, we 
 suppose a daughter of Jeremiah, were among those carried away. 
 
252 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 We have had no light as to their subsequent captivity, excepting 
 that they were kindly treated after being delivered over to the 
 French, and were several years prisioners in Canada. 
 
 Aaron Littlefield, son of Moses, was captured. He t was but a 
 small boy, seven or eight years old. We are not informed of the 
 circumstances of the capture, excepting that he was compelled to 
 follow the Indians to Canada. There, with the other captives, he 
 was delivered to the French, who gave the tribes an encouraging 
 bounty for all prisoners. One of these was regarded as specially 
 valuable, as they supposed they should receive a large amount for 
 his ransom. A boy was regarded, in many cases, as a more impor- 
 tant jDiize than a soldier, as it was supposed that many parents would 
 give all they had for the restoration of their child. But there was 
 a stronger reason operating on the minds of -the French than the 
 anticipated ransom. The Jesuits were then as anxious as at the pres- 
 ent day to bring children under the influences of Catholicism, the 
 fascinations of which would be so readily brought to bear on the 
 young mind. They probably made this latter the leading object of 
 their action, rather than a large bounty for the release of the boy. 
 He was delivered to the French at Montreal, and very soon the 
 attractions of papacy had taken strong hold of his affections. He 
 was sent to Quebec. The parents had no knowledge of him after 
 his capture. In many, and perhaps most cases, small children were 
 murdered, they being only an incumbrance on the travel of the 
 savages. After the war was over, it was learned that Aaron was 
 alive and dwelling near Montreal. Every exertion was made by the 
 government to ascertain what English prisoners were living in 
 Canada, and to induce their return home. Captain Christian Baker 
 in 1714, discovered that Littlefield was at Quebec, and on represent- 
 ing the case to the governor, an order was sent for him to come to 
 Montreal, where Baker succeeded in obtaining an agreement that he 
 should return to Wells. The governor gave his assent, and Baker 
 provided for all necessary clothing. Baker now went to Quebec 
 and during his absence there one of the priests having learned the 
 young man's intention, went to him, persuaded him to remain where 
 he was, and took from him the clothes prepared for his journey. 
 Baker, on his return, made known the facts to the governor, who 
 again sent for the boy. But all arguments failed to induce him to 
 come back to his home. The priests had made thorough work with 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 253 
 
 him, and he became a proselyte of papacy, whether by intimidation 
 or the enchantments of Romanism, is unknown. He was afterwards 
 baptized and changed his name to Peter. He was married and had 
 lived in Canada many years. His father died in 1726. His mother 
 died some years after, and in 1737 he came home to Wells to secure 
 his portion of the estate. The other heirs objected to his claim, and 
 were unwilling that he should have any share in it, on the ground 
 that he had become a Catholic. Puritanism had no sympathy with 
 Romanism. The statute even denied liberty of conscience to Cath- 
 olics. He then petitioned to the court to have his share in his 
 father's estate set off. But the heirs interposed this objection that he 
 was a papist, and had therefore no rights which the court were bound 
 to respect. 
 
 Testimony was introduced to maintain the defense set up, a part 
 of which appears in the following deposition of Christian Baker, in 
 which the reader will be as much interested in the literature of the 
 magistrate as in the facts stated : 
 
 " The deposition of Christen Baker. All that I can say concern- 
 ing Aaron Littlefield Who Whares taken by the Ingons from Cale- 
 bunk in ye Province of Massitusetts to the Best of My knowledge is 
 as follows, that I Very Well knew him in Canaday, and that he was 
 baptised Peter and that he was A papist by Profeshon, and his Living 
 and his Marige was in a place called Bashervell in Canaday, Nine 
 Miles from Mount Royal, and that I See his Sister in the Nunnery 
 in Canaday About fifteen or Sixteen years ago. And this is ye Hull 
 truth of What I know, as witness my hand. Sworn to Before Paul 
 Gerrish, J. P., Dover April 1738." 
 
 The jury returned a verdict in his favor, if a Papist could hold 
 real estate; but if not, for the defendant. 
 
 Tabitha Littlefield was one of the captives. She was supposed to. 
 have been killed, as she was not heard from until many years after. 
 She was but a small child, and, we think, a sister of Aaron. When 
 it was ascertained that she was living, every exertion was made by 
 her friends to induce her to abandon Indian life. But she would 
 listen to no suggestions to that effect. She had become enamored 
 of the wild and free state of the red men. Once she came to Hard- 
 ing's with a company of Indians; while they were selling some of 
 their articles, she suddenly enquired of Mrs. Harding, if she did not 
 
254 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 remember Tabitha Littlefield, and without waiting for an answer, 
 escaped from the house. 
 
 Esther Wheelright, daughter of Col. John, was also a captive. 
 According to the record, she was at this time but seven years of age. 
 There may be error in the statement that she was captured on the 
 tenth of August. But four years later, she is spoken of as but a 
 child ; how she could have performed the journey of two hundred 
 miles and more through the wilderness, we cannot conjecture. As 
 she was a valuable prize, we suppose every exertion was made by the 
 Indians to cheer her youthful heart, and aid her onward in her 
 journey. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, there are persons at the present age, born 
 under the light of Christian culture, who have been seduced from 
 their allegiance to it, by the fascinations of Indian life, with whom 
 the romance of the forests and the glades is a perpetual charm ; over 
 whose freed spirits the attractions of civilization have no power. So 
 it was at the period of which we are speaking. Some who were 
 wrested from all their happy associations here, and with overwhelm- 
 ing anguish of heart carried into captivity by the savages, soon be- 
 came the subjects of this strange witchery, and were so under its 
 influence, that the inducements of the paternal home and all the 
 appeals of filial affection, found no response in their hearts, and they 
 never could be persuaded to return from their captivity. How many 
 there were from Wells, who thus became enamored of this wild life, 
 we have no means of ascertaining. Esther Wheelright was one of 
 the number; whether she acquired any more intimate than the nat- 
 ural relationships of life, as did the daughter of Storer, does not 
 appear from any tradition, or any written relics of the day. She 
 wrote to her father while in captivity, and perhaps several times ; 
 one letter had been preserved more than an hundred years, but has 
 recently shared the fate of many relics of the olden time. The father 
 lived in the hope that she would come back to gladden his fireside, 
 even to his last days ; and provided for her in his will, in the event 
 she should return from her wanderings, after his death. He had re- 
 ceived no information of her for many years ; and the fate of all 
 humanity may have overtaken her before that time. 
 
 The foregoing are all whom we have ascertained to have been the 
 victims of the assault of August tenth. Several houses in the im- 
 mediate neighborhood of those whose occupants w T ere killed, were 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 255 
 
 burned, and the tenants, we presume, murdered. As before re- 
 marked, no minute of this attack has found its way to our time. One 
 would have supposed that Capt. Hill, during his captivity, would 
 have preserved a list of the prisoners at Montreal ; but, if any such 
 was ever made by him, we have been unable to find it. In one let- 
 ter, he says that there were one hundred and seventeen in his com- 
 pany, and seventy with the Indians ; but he gives no names. 
 
 These losses fell heavily upon the town ; breaking many hearts, 
 and leaving others despondent and penniless, while at the same time, 
 adding very materially to their burdens. The people were now very 
 much reduced, and being in the midst of the war, and unable to 
 cultivate their lands, their prospects were exceedingly gloomy. Still 
 there were noble souls among them, who were not to be driven from 
 the ground ; and the next year, as a first step toward restoration, 
 they gathered together, and prepared the following representation of 
 their condition : 
 
 " Petition of the town of Wells to the General Court. 
 May it please your Excellencies &c. 
 It hath seemed good to this Great and General Assembly to lay on 
 us as our part of three several taxes, eighty pounds ; thirty whereof 
 was required just upon the bloody desolation which it pleased God 
 in his Sovreignty to make on our town by the Eastern enemies last 
 year; in which many of our inhabitants (and they such as were wont 
 to bear a great part of our public charges) were either murthered or 
 taken captive, their houses burnt and goods spoiled, besides divers 
 others escaping with only their clothes on their backs. So that we 
 who are the Frontier wing of the body of the Frontier towns are 
 most of all impoverished and diminished. More than a third part of 
 our number are, one way or other, gone from us ; and a great part of 
 us who are left, being destitute of employment and income, are so 
 exceeding poor, that if the constable, who hath already used all 
 means more gentle, should execute the law in severity he must take 
 their bodies. Our straights are every way enlarged. What we did 
 formerly allow to our minister, which, at best, was but a slender 
 maintenance, we are not able now to make good, and if country 
 rates be exacted, we have reason to fear that, do what we can, our 
 minister will be constrained to leave us, he having already removed 
 his family for want of a convenient dwelling place, his house being 
 
256 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 only raised and partly enclosed before the present war. Which to 
 finish will be impossible for us, if that little ( which thanks be to 
 God) is left us should be taken from us, while we hold our lives in 
 our hands, and when we should labor in improving our lands ; which 
 also excepting what are near adjoining our garrisons, lye waste, inso- 
 much that what we do or can improve, will come far short of finding 
 us bread corn. Moreover, instead of adding to that little which the 
 former war left us, we did, in the short time of peaceable intermis- 
 sion lay out what might be spared from our backs and mouths, in 
 building a Meeting House and rebuilding our old waste places and 
 settling new ones, as also in erecting mills, which are now, before 
 they could in any measure repay our disbursments, useless and un- 
 profitable. 
 
 May it therefore please this Hon ble assembly to commiserate the 
 distressed condition of your impoverished and exposed petitioners, 
 groaning under many heavy burdens, enough to sink us if we now 
 fail of relief, or to remit our above mentioned taxes, excepting what 
 is granted out of them to our minister; thus humbly praying that 
 the most favorable construction may be made of our bold importuni- 
 ty, and whatever else may be found amiss herein, we have not ex- 
 ceeded, but come very short in representing the hard circumstances 
 of our present calamity. We must leave our very sad case to the 
 all disposing influences of a gracious God, who knows the depths of 
 our straights and can move your Excellency, and Hon. Courts of 
 compassion toward your dutiful servants, who shall ever pray. 
 
 John Wheelright. Josiah Littlefield. 
 
 Joseph Stoker. Thomas Boston. 
 
 Joseph Hill. Samuel Hatch. 
 
 Jonathan Hammond. In behalf of the toWn of Wells." 
 
 The general court ordered one-half of the tax of the preceding 
 year to be abated, and the next year, one-quarter part. This favor- 
 able reception of their petition afforded encouragement to the peo- 
 ple, and notwithstanding the continued perils of their position, they 
 did not abandon immediately their necessary employments. But 
 watching carefully all the maneuvres of the enemy, with their guns 
 always at hand, they were ready to meet them; though sometimes, 
 the Indians coming upon them in numbers altogether unexpected, 
 they were shot down or captured. When they went to their marshes 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 257 
 
 or elsewhere to work, away from their garrisons, they stationed sen- 
 tinels to give notice of the appearance of the enemy. There was 
 but little fear that any small number would attack a party which was 
 armed. They were very sensitive to the use of bullets by their ene- 
 mies, and would never show themselves where they had reason to be- 
 lieve there was to be much action of that character. Their rule was 
 to give no opportunity to their enemy to avail himself of fire-arms 
 in an open encounter. The art of war with them was altogether in 
 ambush and deceit. 
 
 At the same time when these attacks were made on Wells, a sloop 
 was attacked at Kennebunk and captured. What number of the 
 men, if any, fell into the hands of the enemy is not stated in any 
 history extant. They designed to fall upon all the towns in the 
 province at the same moment. They were but few, being eight in 
 the whole. Berwick, York, Winter Harbor, and Kittery were at- 
 tacked. At the first-named place, being unable to conquer the gar- 
 rison, they manifested their malignity and wrath by tying one 
 Joseph Ring to a stake and burning him, all the while shouting at 
 the terrible agonies of the victim. 
 
 The news of such atrocities induced the lieutenant governor of 
 New Hampshire to come to the aid of the inhabitants of the prov- 
 ince, and he ordered Capt. Packer with forty volunteers on board 
 the sloop Four Friends, commanded by Capt. Daniel Ware, to go 
 east and visit Wells and other places, and relieve all who were in 
 distress. But those in Wells who were careful in their movements, 
 did not yet need much assistance from abroad. The garrisons could 
 repel any attacks made on them. The spirit of the inhabitants was 
 equal to any emergency. They had Capt. Wadley's company of 
 cavalry ready to rush to any of the remote parts of the settlement, 
 as the occasion might demand, aud John Wheelright, Lieut. Joseph 
 Storer, Lieut. Jonathan Littlefield, Lieut. Jonathan Hammond, 
 Lieut. Josiah Littlefield, and other brave men, who were prepared 
 for the calls of any hour. They were well provided with garrison 
 houses in all parts of the village, which was confined entirely to the 
 king's road, running through the town for the most part where the- 
 present highway is traveled. John Wheelright, notwithstanding 
 the peril of any out-door labors, pulled down his old house, built by 
 his grandfather, Rev. John Wheelright, and built a new one r near 
 where stood the house of the late John Rankin, deceased. It was. 
 17 
 
258 HISTOBY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 constructed with garrison defences. There were also garrison 
 houses on the site of the house of the late William Cole, and on 
 that of the house of Daniel Eaton, so that there were places of ref- 
 uge for all in the eastern end of the town, when driven from their 
 homes. 
 
 As we have before stated, the winter season generally brought 
 rest to the inhabitants. Cold weather was not adapted to the Indi- 
 an mode of warfare. The trail would be discovered in the snow. 
 They could not lie, day after day, in ambush, without being detect- 
 ed. If discovered, their tracks would be a sure guide to their pur- 
 suers. Th3 perseverance and patience of these savages in the 
 pursuit of their victims were truly wonderful. Nicholas Cole was 
 an experienced millman, and very useful in that department of 
 labor, as mills were being extensively erected in town before this 
 war began. The enemy were anxious to capture him, or at any rate, 
 to deprive the people of his services. He owned a part of a saw- 
 mill, where the Gowen mill now stands. In those days beaver were 
 very abundant about all our rivers and low grounds, and Cole was 
 in the habit of setting his trap for them a little below the mill. As 
 the Indians were supposed to be lurking in the woods, at one time 
 he did not visit his trap for three weeks, when on going to the place 
 he found that it had been taken. After the close of the war it was 
 ascertained that some of the enemy had concealed themselves in the 
 vicinity nineteen days, waiting the opportunity to catch him ; but 
 having come to the conclusion that Cole suspected their designs, and 
 their patience being exhausted, they left, taking the trap with them. 
 Cole would have been a great prize for them in Canada. The 
 French had much need of skillful artificers. 
 
 In the spring of* 1704, the enemy were again lurking in the woods. 
 On the twenty-fifth of April, two men were killed and one taken 
 captive while traveling in the highway. Their names are unknown. 
 This was the first manifestation of their presence at this time. The 
 people again fled to the garrisons. The cavalry could do nothing in 
 the dense wilderness, which was still almost unbroken above the 
 main road. The Indians were not wanting in artifice and skill in 
 screening themselves from capture. Their education had been in 
 the continual practice of deceit and ambush. They were adepts in 
 these matters. It was seldom that they were found, by the most dil- 
 igent search after them in the forests. At one time, during one of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUNK. 259 
 
 the wars, seven Indians were discovered on Drake's Island. They 
 were distinctly seen from the highway, and notice of the fact was 
 immediately given to the authorities. A company was mustered 
 and hastened to the island. A diligent search was made of every 
 part of it, and the woods thoroughly examined, but no traces of 
 them could be found. It was concluded that they escaped before 
 the arrival of the company. But where they had gone, or by what 
 means they had effected their escape, was a mystery. No explana- 
 tion was satisfactory. After the Avar was over, it was ascertained 
 that they discovered the force coming against them, and seeing no 
 chance of escape from the island, fled to a flag pond, which the in- 
 habitants very well knew had no spot of ground in it on which they 
 could stand. Here, in the midst of the water, they laid themselves 
 down on their backs, with their mouths just out of the water, draw- 
 ing the few flag stocks over them. In this position they con- 
 tinued motionless during the whole search, a feat which they 
 probably learned from some species of ducks, which, on being 
 wounded, and perhaps at other times, will swim along undiscovered, 
 with their bills just protruding out of the water. 
 
 On the eleventh of May, Nicholas Cole, together with three sol- 
 diers, Nicholas Hodsdon, Thomas Dane, and Benjamin Gooch, went 
 about a mile from Wheelright's garrison at the eastern end of the 
 town for the purpose of getting his cattle. This was a long dis- 
 tance to venture above the road ; but they were armed with their 
 muskets, and believed themselves sufficient for any force which they 
 would be likely to encounter. Having found their cattle, and being 
 on their return home, they discovered twelve Indians, who had 
 probably been watching there, in the expectation that some one, 
 perhaps Wheelright himself, whom they were anxious to secure, 
 would come to drive the cattle home. The Indians were in such a 
 position that they could not run for the garrison. Cole was a brave 
 and decided man, and was for giving them battle ; but the soldiers 
 were of a different spirit, and he could not bring them up to the res- 
 olution to face the enemy in deadly fight. Cole was undoubtedly 
 right, and in the open ground the savages, even though exceeding 
 his party three times in number, would not have hazarded a battle. 
 His companions ran, and thus compelled him to do the same. He 
 ran down the hill toward the river, and was killed about forty rods 
 below the mill. Hodsdon also was killed, and Dane was taken cap- 
 
260 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 tive. Gooch, running immediately on discovering them, was kept 
 from view by the intervening woods and reached the river, where he 
 ran up under the banks and concealed himself under a bush, from 
 which place he witnessed the fall of Cole, and saw them take his 
 scalp and throw his gun into the river. Ninety-six years afterwards 
 this gun was found. Gooch escaped and reached home as soon as 
 opportunity offered, and Capt. Hail'e's company was sent in pursuit, 
 but the enemy had fled beyond their reach. 
 
 The incursions on the various settlements of the province, as well 
 as in various parts of Massachusetts, and the constant apprehensions 
 which were wearing upon the strength and energies of the people, 
 induced the government to adopt measures on a much larger scale, 
 and in this year Col. Church, with 550 men and a small fleet, was 
 sent to the eastward, to break up and destroy any rendezvous which 
 the enemy might have on the coast, and to capture all, whether 
 French or Indians, which might fall in his way. Church carried out 
 the purposes of the expedition to the extent of his power, visiting 
 Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and the Bay of Fundy, and destroying 
 whatever he found of the works of the enemy at Port Royal, and 
 bringing back with him a hundred prisoners. 
 
 At this time a man of the name of Lewis Allen was living here, 
 who had previously been an inhabitant of Wells, dwelling near the 
 saw-mill on Little river. In 1685, he bought the dwelling house, 
 land, and one-third of the saw-mill, of William Frost. He was a 
 blacksmith. We do not know how long he continued in Wells, but 
 probably until the close of the ten years' war, during which he must 
 have had a full experience of the horrors of a conflict with the sav- 
 ages. And yet, indifferent to all the revolting cruelties which he 
 knew must ensue the revival of hostilities, he enlisted in the service 
 of the French, to aid in the work of desolation and death. He 
 agreed with the governor of Nova Scotia to come here as a spy. 
 The enemy at Port Royal were anxious to learn what preparations 
 were making to subdue the Indians. To avoid all suspicion of his 
 character, he was invested with the authority of an agent for the ex- 
 change of prisoners, and came here under the color of a flag of truce 
 for that purpose. But as it frequently happens, the false character 
 of his mission was suspected. The indications of his treacherous 
 intent are not known ; but they were sufficiently strong to justify 
 his arrest. He had not taken the precaution to conceal his instruc- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 261 
 
 tions. On searching liis person, in his pocket book, the order was 
 found, directing him, "If any enterprise was on foot, that he should 
 join L. A., the two first letters of his name, close together. If it was 
 only in agitation, place them at some distance; but if nothing was 
 in motion, then to sign a cross." Such a traitor well merited the 
 scaffold ; but that was not his doom. How he got back to Port 
 Royal we cannot tell ; but he was there in 1720, and conveyed all 
 his estate in Wells to Lewis Bane, of York. We can see no reason 
 why it should not have been confiscated. 
 
 In consequence of this efficient co-operation of the government, 
 the people of Wells, during the remainder of this year, and the next, 
 enjoyed a respite from the sufferings and perplexities of the war. 
 During this interval came a day of rejoicing to many weary, long- 
 waiting hearts. No description can portray the gladness which 
 brightened their sad faces, when the news spread from house to 
 house, that a letter had been received from Capt. Samuel Hill, an- 
 nouncing the good tidings that the long-lost friends, taken in the 
 assault <jf August 10, 1703, had been carried captives to Canada, and 
 were still living. Their supposed cruel fate had almost broken many 
 a heart. But the soul-stirring news awakened them to new life and 
 joys, which none can tell to whom has not come a similar experience. 
 In this letter, dated " Canada Oct. 7 1704," Capt. Hill says, " My fam- 
 ily are all in health; if our government had sent prisoners home for 
 some which Canada sent, I should have been sent home with my 
 family, and a great many others. If the governor of Massachusetts 
 had only sent one man for me, I and all my family would have been 
 restored. Ebenezer and wife desire to be remembered to you." We 
 suppose that other letters to his friends were received at the same 
 time. Nothing was heard from them during the winter; but in the 
 spring the following letter was received : 
 
 " Quebec March 1705. 
 Cousin Pendleton Fletcher of Saco, Mary Sayer, brother Joseph's 
 daughter, and Mary Storer of Wells, with our other friends and 
 neighbors here, are all well. Myself, wife, and child are well. Pray 
 that God may keep, and in due time deliver us. 
 
 Your loving brother and sister, 
 
 Ebenezer and Abiah Hill." 
 
262 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Ebenezer had no child when he was taken prisoner; the child re- 
 ferred to was born in Canada, and was ever after called the French- 
 man. 
 
 The French seem to have treated those in their care very kindly, 
 but the expense of their raaintainance bearing heavily upon them, 
 they were anxious to get rid of their captives as quickly as possible. 
 Soon after this, the governor of Canada determined to adopt meas- 
 ures to bring about an exchange. Samuel Hill was selected as agent 
 for this purpose, and sent to Boston to arrange for that object. Hill's 
 family being in the hands of the French, abundant security was 
 thereby afforded for his fidelity to the trust committed to him ; and 
 their anxiety for release from captivity would induce him to do all 
 in his power to effect the purpose for which he was sent. The glad 
 tidings of his arrival soon came in the following letter to Capt. John 
 Hill: 
 
 " Kittery, May 10, 1705. 
 Loving Brother : — These are to acquaint you of my health, and 
 to let you know I have got leave of his Excellency at Boston to go 
 to Wells and visit my friends there. Here are brother and sister 
 Storer, and brother Hill (Joseph) come from Wells yesterday, with 
 whom I intend to go thither in their boat, and I hope to return next 
 week. The Governor has promised that I shall continue here, till 
 the messenger returns from Canada. 
 
 Your loving Brother, 
 
 Samuel Hill." 
 
 The government, on Hill's arrival, immediately sent commissioners 
 to Canada, who carried with them seventy of the French and Indian 
 captives, and delivered them to the Canadian authorities ; but they 
 only received sixty in return. Of this breach of good faith on the 
 part of the French, our government felt that they had much reason 
 to complain. But Hill's letters seem to indicate that the fault was 
 with Massachusetts, that we had not before acted rightly in this mat- 
 ter; that if the governor here had fulfilled his obligations, he and his 
 family would have been restored some time before. It is possible 
 that this charge was without foundation. Hill may have been de- 
 ceived by the Jesuitry of the Frenchmen. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 263 
 
 In the year 1705, attacks were made on the towns of Kittery, 
 York and Wells. A company of the enemy issued from the woods 
 at Cape Neddock and captured four children of Mr. Storer, which 
 were out of the garrison. One of the Indians was killed, and in re- 
 venge for this, one of the children who was too young to travel, was 
 knocked on the head and killed, and another was supposed to have 
 been murdered by cruel torture. 
 
 The successful defense of the Storer garrison in the former war, 
 nerved the hearts of the people for any conflicts.. They knew that 
 so large a force could not be again mustered to overcome them, and 
 they waited patiently for future developments. As they had been 
 free from the enemy's incursions during so many months, they had 
 grown in some measure careless; and Hill writes his brother on the 
 13th of January to enforce upon him the necessity of caution: " Lov- 
 ing Brother. After my kind love to you and your wife, praying that 
 you would be very careful of yourself in going into the woods, for 
 the enemy will assuredly be skulking about to take all advantage ; 
 and I am afraid they are near at hand, for they did design mischief 
 this winter before I came out of Canada, and people's boldness and 
 security denote sudden destruction. Therefore, I pray, let not peo- 
 ple's carelessness be your danger." 
 
 We have before stated that the winter was not the season of In- 
 dian warfare, and though Capt. Hill manifested a wise forethought in 
 this advice, no enemy appeared till the last of April, when they came 
 out of the forests in Kittery and killed a Mr. Shapleigh, who was in 
 the highway, and took his son prisoner and carried him to Canada. 
 But as if delighting in ferocity, and in the groans and tortures of the 
 white men, they exhibited their fiendish malignity in biting off his 
 fingers, and to stop the bleeding seared them with burning-hot to- 
 bacco pipes. The Christian even, might well be excused for crying 
 to the Almighty for vengeance on these fiends in human shape; and 
 one can hardly refrain from sympathy and fellowship with the excla- 
 mation of one Benjamin Daniel, when his vessel was attacked the 
 next year at Saco, and himself mortally wounded : " I am a dead 
 man, but give me a gun to kill one more before I go." 
 
 The year 1706 did not pass without new admonition to the people 
 of Wells to be at all times on their guard. On the thirtieth day of 
 July " a man was killed and another wounded by the skulking In- 
 dians." Pursuit was immediately made, but the enemy escaped. 
 
264 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 We think scarcely an instance can be found in which the pursuers 
 overtook these murderers. "Whenever a small number of them had 
 accomplished their work of killing even a single person, they fled 
 with such precipitancy, and to such a distance, that it was almost 
 useless to pursue them. We do not know the names of the persons 
 who thus became the victims of this unexpected raid. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Queen Ann's war continued— Indian raids—Drowning of Wakefield 
 and others — Capture of Lieut. Josiah Littlefield — His letters — 
 His release and death— Indian atrocities— Two marriages cele- 
 brated at the garrison— Sambo's capture and escape— Garrison 
 attacked— Capture of Plaisted— Francis Littlefield. 
 
 In the spring of 1707, the government sent another expedition 
 eastward to find out and break up the haunts of the enemy in the 
 neighborhood of Passamaquoddy and Port Koyal. But the enter- 
 prise was an entire failure, and resulted in serious injury to the Prov- 
 ince. The Indians had become wearied with the war ; but this 
 unsuccessful termination of an expedition on which so much reliance 
 had been placed, so re-inspirited them, that they entered with new 
 zeal upon the work of desolation, cruelty, and death. They at- 
 tacked all the towns west of Saco. All the settlements east had 
 ceased to exist. The inhabitants had been driven to other places of 
 refuge. Wells did not escape without severe loss. On the tenth of 
 August, a Mrs. Littlefield with four other persons, was attacked 
 while coming from York to Wells. She had with her two hundred 
 dollars in money, a large sum to be in the possession of one person 
 in those days. We suppose that this escort attended her on that ac- 
 count. She was robbed of her money, and all were killed but one 
 man, who succeeded in making his escape. We have not ascer- 
 tained the names of any of the attendants. 
 
 This year, 1707, was a most trying one to the people. They were 
 obliged to confine themselves to the garrisons or to their immediate 
 neighborhood, having but little opportunity to cultivate the soil, and 
 no other means of obtaining the necessary supplies for their families. 
 To those who found their happiness in the activities of life, this con- 
 stant restriction from daily labor must have brought great weariness 
 of spirit. But more than all these afflictions, in a little village of so 
 
266 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 few inhabitants, the murder of one after another of their compan- 
 ions and friends must have come over their souls with a most de- 
 pressing power. We know the effect of a single murder in one of 
 our villages ; what a shock it brings to the hearts of men. What 
 must have been the effect when, day after day, murders, the most 
 appalling, were committed at their own doors, attended also, as they 
 usually were, by the most horrid atrocities that infernal malignity 
 could devise? 
 
 But the distress of the inhabitants was sadly augmented by a 
 melancholy event of this year not proceeding from Indian hostility. 
 The twenty-fifth of October was a day of great lamentation and 
 mourning. The people in these perilous times, cut off from almost 
 all other sources of supply, were in the habit of obtaining much of 
 their daily food from the sea, and early in the morning of this day, 
 William Wakefield, James Wakefield, Joseph Storer, jr., Job Little- 
 field, and Moses Littlefield went out in a small sloop for the purpose 
 of fishing. There was a heavy sea on the bar and the wind very 
 close. As they endeavored to drive her over she was struck by the 
 waves and upset, and all five were drowned. Every exertion'was 
 made to save them, but no canoe could live in such a sea. The 
 bodies of four were recovered and buried with great lamentation. 
 These men were all valuable citizens, and their aid was daily needed. 
 The number of available inhabitants now was very small, and the 
 anguish of many hearts almost took away from them the ability to 
 contribute any service to the general welfare. 
 
 About the same time a messenger came with notice that about 
 300 Indians had appeared at Winter Harbor ; that they had attacked 
 a fishing shallop and killed Benjamin Daniel. We have before al- 
 luded to his exclamation in the midst of his dying agonies. The 
 great guns were immediately fired, giving notice to all around that 
 the enemy were near. This timely warning saved the people. They 
 were so on their guard during the remainder of the year that the 
 enemy do not seem to have done any great injury. The winter ap- 
 proaching, the Indians withdrew from this part of the Province. 
 But the spring of 1708 opened adversely. A great freshet did 
 much damage. The mill property had become very important to 
 the settlers. Dams were not built with the strength which charac- 
 terizes similar work at the present time, and the heavy freshet left 
 but few of them standing. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 267 
 
 The Indians seem now to have abandoned the hope of destroying 
 Wells; still they traveled about in small squads, seeking opportunity 
 to waylay and secure any whom they could find away from the 
 protection of the garrisons. They concealed themselves in the un- 
 settled territory between York and Wells. The people, very indis- 
 creetly, we should judge, were in the habit of passing through these 
 woods. Men exposed themselves to hazards in those times which 
 few would dare at the present day. Exposure w T as a habit of their 
 lives. Peril had been a concomitant of existence so many years, 
 that life was cold and dead without it, and they would rush into it 
 on the impulse of the moment, thoughtless of consequences. Such 
 were the manifestations of many of the settlers, and to this incon- 
 siderate courage are to be ascribed many of the losses which brought 
 serious injury to the town. Lieut. Josiah Littlefield and Joseph 
 Winn, two valuable men, were on one of these jaunts to York, on 
 the 2 2d of April, this year, 1708, when they were suddenly sur- 
 rounded by a body of Indians. Littlefield was taken prisoner, but 
 Winn, being quick in his motions, succeeded in making his escape. 
 The former was a millman and a very skillful engineer, and his ser- 
 vices were now very much needed. The devastations of the freshet 
 required the aid of such men to repair the breaches that had been 
 made. 
 
 As there are many bearing the name of Littlefield now living in 
 Wells who, we know, will be interested in the account of his captiv- 
 ity, as given by himself, we add here a letter from him, written soon 
 after his capture in 1708 : 
 
 " Dear and loving children, my kind love remembered to you all, 
 and my kind love to my brother and sister, and my kind love to all 
 my friends att Wells, and to Mr. Emery in particular, dasiaring of 
 him prayers for me and for my children, hoping in God they are in 
 good helth as I am att this present writing, blessed be God for it. 
 Aprel the 23 I was taken by foer Indans, and may the 3 I arived att 
 nongonuay (Norridgewock), and from thence to caback (Quebec), 
 and arrived at caback may the 26 and from thence to Moriel (Mon- 
 treal), and arrived at Moriel June the 2, and now I have liberty 
 granted to me to rite to my friends and to the governor, and for my 
 redemtion and for Wheelrite's child to be redeemed by two Indena 
 prisoners that are with the English now, and I have been with the 
 
26 S H1ST0EY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 governor this morning and hee have promised that if our governor 
 will send them that wee shall be redeemed, for the governor have 
 sent a man to redeem Wheelrites child and do lookes for him in 
 now every day with the child to Moriel where I am, and I would 
 pray whilrite to be very brief in the matter, that we may come home 
 before winter, for we must come by Albany, and I have allso 
 aquainted our Gofnear dedly (Dudley) with the same, no more at 
 present but remain yours to command. 
 
 JOSIAH LlTTLEFIELD." 
 
 loving cousen. My kind love remember to you and to your wife 
 and children and to all my friends, hoping in god that you and my 
 dear children are all in helth as I am att present. O, I dasiare to. 
 bless god for the same, and I would pray you to be very kind, and a 
 father to my dear children while I do come home, and so take the 
 care of them and my estaite to maintain them that they may not 
 sufeare. I would have you not to pay any deates of mine till I do 
 come home, and I would pray you to rasarve some quantity of money 
 to gather for mee, for I shall be at a great charge in my coming home 
 if please god to spare my life and helth, and what money you can 
 resarve to gether for me let it be silver money, for I must borre some 
 money, and peaper money would not pass heare, so I would commit 
 the care of all my concearns into your hands while my return. I am 
 in grate hopes that if please god to spare me my life and helth that 
 I may be at home by the midst of winter next ensuing, so I shall 
 dasiare your prayers constant for me, as mine shall be for you all, so 
 I remain yours to command, ever loving onkel til death, 
 
 JOSIAH LlTTLEFIELD. 
 
 Mary Storrar is well and Rachel Storar and Storer is well 
 
 and Mary Austin of York is well and dasiares to remember their 
 duty to thear father and mother and their kind love to all thear 
 friends and ralations, hoping in god you are all well. 
 
 I would pray you Wheelright dear friends to be mindful in 
 
 the matter consearning our redemsion. I have riten to the governer 
 at boston. Yours to command, 
 
 JOSIAH LlTTLEFIELD. 
 
 This for Capt John Whelright and Josiah Winn att Wells, de- 
 liver with care." 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 269 
 
 Littlefield's mechanical services were highly appreciated by the 
 French, and he was kept at Montreal until the autumn of 1709, 
 when he was released from captivity; but his freedom — there being 
 no mode of transportation — was not a very great boon to him. The 
 following letter gives the sequel to his liberation. His literature 
 does not equal his mechanical skill ; still it is not less interesting on 
 that account. 
 
 It may be well to premise that the first notice of his arrival in 
 Maine was communicated in a letter from Samuel Moody, at Canso, 
 two days before the date of Littlefield's letter, in which he states 
 that three Indians had come in, and hinted that they had him in 
 their possession. The hint was undoubtedly intended to draw out 
 some offer for his surrender. They knew that he was a useful man, 
 and supposed that they should receive a large sum for his ransom. 
 It does not appear where Littlefield's letter was written ; from the 
 fact stated by Moody, we presume that, at the time, he was not far 
 from Canso. 
 
 "January 29, 1710. 
 
 I thought it convenient to give to his Excellency an account where 
 I am, and how the case stands with me. I was coming home in the 
 fal, and was taken by a canady Indian which told me that I must go 
 back to Canady again, and I told him I thought I could not by reason 
 of sickness in my journey, and he told me that he would kill me, 
 and was a Indian that longing to Norigway, and I spoke to him to 
 plead for me, that I might remain at Norrigway al winter, and with 
 much persuading he sold me to a Indian belonging to Norrigway, 
 which has nursed me and have recovered me, and have promised him 
 payment for the love he bare to me in that respect, for he has been 
 like a father to me, and now he is very willing that I should come 
 home, if your Excellency would give leave that a sloop may come to 
 Sacaty Hock, and to send Joseph Bane, for they have a desire to 
 come to speak together, and they would have no other man than 
 Joseph Bane to come for they reckons it all one as though your own 
 person was there, if Joseph bane be living, and if not some other 
 good onest man. So I remain your humble sarvent, hoping that you 
 will take pity on me. Josiah Littlefield. 
 
 And to send but three men besides 
 Joseph bane in the sloop. And after the arrival of this 
 
 letter, the sloop to Sacaty Hock in fifteen days." 
 
270 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Littlefield, we suppose, had entered into some agreement with his 
 master, to go with him to Sagadahock, in the confidence that he 
 could there make provision for his ransom. He had had before a hard 
 experience in his endeavors to reach his home through the wilder- 
 ness. As he states in his letter, after being wearied out, and reduced 
 by disease, he was re-captured and carried to Norridgewock. He 
 might well feel that the same fate would overtake him if he made 
 another similar attempt. The first Indian whom he might meet, 
 would seize upon him, knowing that thereby he should secure a val- 
 uable prize ; he therefore agreed with his master, and two other In- 
 dians, to accompany him to the fort at Canso. Having arrived in the 
 neighborhood of the fort, and Littlefield being secured, the Indians 
 went forward, under a flag of truce, and after stating to the officer 
 that they had Littlefield in possession, endeavored to enter into some 
 negotiations for his delivery. Moody, who then had charge, was not 
 fully satisfied of the truth of the statement ; but the Indians, having 
 obtained stationery for the purpose, returned to Littlefield, who 
 wrote the letters which are here incorporated ; so that there could 
 be no doubt of their statements. Beside the letter to the governor, 
 he also addressed the following letter to Moody : 
 
 "Jan. 29, 1709-10. 
 Capt. Samuel Moody, after my love to you, I would pray you to 
 make these Indians very welcome for one is my master, therefore be 
 kind to them and if you can, send to me an old Cot, and a pair of 
 stockins, and a little solt, if it be but a pound or two. 
 
 No more, but remain, 
 
 Josiah Littlefield. 
 Yours to command." 
 
 He seems to have made large promises for his ransom, as he also 
 sent by the Indians the following letter to his friend in Boston : 
 
 "Jan. 29, 1709-10. 
 Cozen Barba : After my love to you and all my friends, I have 
 sent a letter to the governor, that a sloop may come to Sacot Hoss, 
 and I would pray you to send me this goods which I two 
 
 hogshsiss of meat and one hogsiss of corn, ten yards of broadcloth 
 of a sad color, and for a great variety of articles. 
 
 Josiah Littlefield." 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 271 
 
 This order was for the purpose of fulfilling his contract with the 
 Indians. Having left some property in Wells, his cousin Barber 
 could well trust him for this purpose. The governor, though anxious 
 for Littlefield's restoration, was for good reasons, opposed to purchas- 
 ing the liberty of any of the unfortunate captives. Littlefield well 
 understood this matter ; but one will give everything for his life. In 
 the hands of his enemies, who in the event of the disappointment of 
 their expectations might carry him back into captivity, or perhaps, in 
 revenge for his breach of faith, put him to torture or a cruel death, 
 he endeavored to obtain the means for his liberation, without the 
 knowledge of the governor. Who, when everything dear to his 
 heart was involved in the issue, would hesitate as to his right and 
 duty at this hour? Worn out by his travel in the wilderness, suf- 
 fering from cold and hunger, reduced by disease, and sick at heart by 
 perpetual and unsatisfied longings for his home and the society of his 
 friends, how could he refrain from the use of any means which might 
 restore him from the darkness in which he had so long dwelt, to the 
 sunshine and the blessedness of his own fireside ? His home might 
 not have been of the most cheery character, but still it was his home. 
 His wife was not the most gentle of the sex. A strong litigious 
 proclivity sometimes carried her beyond the bounds of a becoming 
 female modesty. But yet she was his wife, and men will love their 
 wives. Though the smiles on her face, like angel's visits, might be 
 few and far between, yet when they did come, they were so much the 
 more joyful to his heart. They had children also, with whose lives 
 all the fibers of his soul were entwined. How then could he go 
 back into captivity without once again fixing his eyes on his long- 
 lost home. 
 
 But the governor in one of his letters to Moody had said : " I al- 
 ways pity a prisoner in Indian hands, especially when their masters 
 are indigent, in necessity of everything ; but no consideration of 
 that nature has yet altered my resolution never to buy a prisoner of 
 an Indian, lest we make a market for our poor women and children 
 in the frontiers." 
 
 Littlefield felt that recaptivity, and perhaps death, would be the 
 consequence of his failure to fulfill his promises, and he may there- 
 fore have sent other letters to his cousin Barber, beside that which 
 we have before copied. The letter of the governor enumerates 
 several articles which are not named in Littlefield's. None of 
 
272 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the letters of the latter name the place from whence they were 
 written. We presume he was forbidden by the Indians to make 
 that known. Moody seems to have been aware of the contents 
 of all his letters, and fearing that some difficulties might grow 
 out of these orders for goods, if sent, kept this one to Barber 
 in his own hands, while that to the governor was sent by Bean. 
 
 This latter was laid before the legislature, by whom the gov- 
 ernor was advised to send Bean to relieve Littlefield and to ascer- 
 tain "what the indians would say." But the governor says, in a 
 letter to Moody, that before Bean was ready to sail " we are sur- 
 prised by a letter from the fort, signed by Robert Pike, that tells us 
 of other letters from Littlefield, importing the sending of hogsheads 
 of corn, meal, pease, clothes, shoes, &c, of which you gave me no 
 advice." Bean was therefore sent to Canso to obtain these other 
 letters before adopting any measures for the release of Littlefield 
 Moody, feeling that he had mistaken his duty, in not sending all 
 their letters to the governor, writes to him Feb. 1709-10: "I sol- 
 emnly protest to your Excellency, before God, I lie not, that my de- 
 sign was only to prevent its coming into the hands of private per- 
 sons, who might have sent these supplies, without their coming to 
 your Excellency's knowledge." Moody enclosed the letters to Dud- 
 ley, who wrote to him in reply Feb. 11th : "The business of seeing 
 them at Sagadahock (being entangled with that expectation of a 
 trade with Barker) is perfectly over, and will admit of no further 
 consideration." He had written to Moody Feb. 4, that he "must 
 insist on the delivery of Littlefield without any purchase, but that 
 on his delivery to you, if they will, then tell me what they would 
 have me know frcm them." And he now repeats "if they are in 
 earnest to release Littlefield, or hope for anything from me, and then 
 you will exactly follow your orders of the 4th of February, to insist 
 on the delivery of Littlefield, and tell you their errand to me, they 
 shall have my answer in twenty days." 
 
 Here was a sad fix for Littlefield. His scheme for his redemption 
 was all frustrated, and his hopes of soon being homeward bound, 
 blasted. Red tape, or official punctilio, had no charms for one in the 
 hands of savages, suffering from the unnatural life which he was 
 then living, and yearning for the old blessings and comforts of civi- 
 lization. The Indian, his master, had evidently been exceedingly 
 kind in his treatment of him, and Littlefield felt that he was worthy 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 273 
 
 of reward. He had brought him here without the consent of the 
 French, in the expectation of being paid for his fidelity, and this un- 
 tutored native, apparently somewhat christianized, must have felt 
 that but little reliance could be placed in the word of the white 
 man. In times of war, we are aware, there may be occasion, and 
 thence justification, for extraordinary proceedings, but it seems too 
 much like despotic usurpation, to prohibit one who has been a loyal 
 citizen and a faithful subject from redeeming himself from bondage. 
 The effect of such a ransom, to be sure, might not have been favor- 
 able to the general weal. Such a purchase of one's liberty might 
 have encouraged the enemy to secure others as prisoners, to profit in 
 the same way ; but no civil law, and no other law, human or Divine, 
 can justify the oppression of one honest citizen, because thereby good 
 may come to others. 
 
 What course the disappointed Indians took under the circum- 
 stances, we have been unable to learn. Littlefield, being cut off from 
 all access to his friends, or to the fort, was unable to do any thing 
 toward the fulfillment of his promises, and we suppose he was carried 
 back to Norridgewock. But after three or four. months more in cap- 
 tivity, they concluded to trust to the governor's intimation that he 
 would do what was right in twenty days after he was delivered up, 
 and brought him back and surrendered him at the fort. On the 
 tenth of July, Littlefield's master and many other Indians came in, 
 and stated that the French were very angry on account of Little- 
 field's delivery, and that they now had no commerce with them, and 
 asked a supply of provisions, agreeably to the governor's intimation. 
 Littlefield's captivity was thus ended, and he returned home to the 
 great joy of his friends. But it was only for a little while that his 
 fireside was gladdened by his presence ; or that he was permitted to 
 enjoy that liberty for which he had so long sighed. He was an en- 
 ergetic man, and unwilling to be pent up and excluded from the ac- 
 tivities of life, he went about his work as before, forgetting the suf- 
 ferings of his captivity and fearless of again falling into the hands 
 of the enemy. On the 18th of April, 1712, while teaming with 
 others, he was shot down by the Indians, who still lurked about in 
 the forest. Thus his earthly experiences were ended, to the great 
 sorrow of many hearts. He had been a valuable citizen and an effi- 
 cient man, on whose aid and counsel the people had placed much 
 18 
 
274 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 reliance. He was elected to municipal offices of trust and responsi- 
 bility, was selectman several years, town agent, and captain of the 
 militia. His death brought heavy affliction to all. 
 
 We have devoted considerable space to this sketch of Lieut. Lit- 
 tlefield's history, believing that it would be of general interest 
 among the townsmen. We now return to our point of departure in 
 1708. The remainder of this year, after his capture, was favorable 
 to the settlers. The enemy did not show themselves in any part of 
 the town. During this year and the next, the governor was active 
 in doing what he could to dislodge the French and the Indians from 
 their hold at Port Royal and the coast beyond Canso. It was the 
 French alone who were responsible for the desolation which had 
 caused so much suffering throughout the Province. They had in- 
 spired the uncultivated Indian mind with the fear of being driven 
 by the English from the lands which they had long enjoyed as their 
 own, and from thence sprung all that malignity and rage which 
 would naturally grow out of such a wrong, and which could only 
 find satisfaction in the enormities and merciless cruelties of which 
 they had been guilty in their wars against the settlers. They were 
 the mere tools of the Catholics. Had it not been for the influence 
 of these French priests, the war would long since have come to an 
 end. But they were continually urging them forward. The gover- 
 nor, confident that there would he no permanent peace, until Canada 
 and Nova Scotia were a part of the British domain, felt it important 
 to put forth every exertion for that end. In 1710, he succeeded in 
 accomplishing one part of this important purpose, in subduing Nova 
 Scotia and bringing it under British government. But Canadian in- 
 fluence would not permit the natives to abandon the war. They 
 were still urged to the fight, and fell on the towns of York, Saco, 
 and on Winter Harbor, and captured several persons. It is not 
 known, however, that any attack was made on Wells until the fall of 
 the year 1709, when, ou the fifth of September, just before sunset, 
 Joseph Titus, of Rehoboth, and one other man, soldiers, started from 
 the garrison to visit their fellow soldiers and the people of the vil- 
 lage. On the way Titus was killed and the other taken prisoner. 
 So uncertain was life when one attempted to move from the garri- 
 sons. The Indians would lie in wait in the woods for days and 
 weeks to secure the death of a single individual, and then flee with 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 275 
 
 great rapidity beyond the reach of all pursuers. They were not 
 seen again in Wells until the last of April the next year, 1710, when 
 on the twenty-ninth of that month, they killed two men who were 
 planting corn in their fields. 
 
 The next year, 1711, two other men exposing themselves in the 
 fields, were suddenly attacked and killed. This year and the next 
 brought trouble and sorrow to almost every fireside. Many other 
 acts of savage cruelty were perpetrated. A woman who had haz- 
 arded a walk too far from home was discovered by the Indians ; she 
 ran, but they overtook her, and having taken her scalp left her, sup- 
 posing she was dead ; but she afterwards raised herself and suc- 
 ceeded in reaching a potato hole, in which she laid herself down, and 
 drawing her apron over her head, remained there during the night. 
 In the morning she was enabled to reach the garrison, and afterward 
 entirely recovered. A man by the name of Sampson lived in a 
 house near by that of the late judge Wells. His wife had just been 
 confined, and was then in bed with her babe by her side. The hus- 
 band being absent, two Indians suddenly entered the house, killed 
 the child and scalped the mother. The nurse, the only other person 
 in the house, escaped by concealing herself in a bunch of alders near 
 
 by- 
 
 In looking back to this period of our history, it seems to us re- 
 markable that any man could have held a residence here, when peril 
 marked every moment of life. And it is no less strange that in days 
 of such hazard, men and women should expose themselves as they 
 did, in venturing, at any time, beyond the protection of the fort. 
 Every step from it was fraught with danger. They might carry their 
 guns with them, but of what avail could they be against the muskets 
 of the unseen enemy ? At any moment the fatal shot might come 
 out of the forest. 
 
 But it must be considered that the people were poor, and provis- 
 ion must be made for the support of their families. So many years 
 of war had reduced many of them almost to poverty ; they preferred 
 hazard to starvation, and must look to mother earth for the supply of 
 their wants. They used the land nearest to the garrisons, but this 
 was not sufficient to satisfy their demands. In the year 1708, to 
 meet in some measure the necessity for farm labor, the town 
 granted liberty to Benjamin Gooch, William Larrabee, and Thomas 
 
276 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Wormwood, to till the highway four rods wide, which ran on the 
 north-east side of Capt. John Wheelright's farm, at the eastern end 
 of the town. Here they were in sight of, and under the protection 
 of the garrison, and the road was of but little use while the war con- 
 tinued. Such were the straits to which our fathers were reduced. 
 
 While darkness was over all the Province, and while within 
 Wheelright's garrison there were many anxious and sorrowing souls, 
 the impulses of love were still warm in the hearts of others ; and 
 conjugal union was felt by some of the inmates to be a material ad- 
 junct to the panoply of defense against the enemy which surrounded 
 them. They believed, that two being made one, would give in- 
 creased power to resist all attacks on their peace and quiet ; that a 
 husband and wife would be much more effective in warding off trial 
 and sorrow, than man and woman in their separate personalities. 
 Accordingly, while thus enjoying the protection of the garrison, two 
 marriages were celebrated within its walls. The names of the par- 
 ties in the first, have gone with the past. The special matter of 
 interest in this case is, what transpired out of the garrison, as a con- 
 sequence of what was done within. From the knowledge we have 
 of the people of this age, we are well assured that the inmates did 
 not permit the evening to pass without the convivialities usual on 
 such occasions. There was music and dancing, and for the time, the 
 attention of all was drawn from the cares and anxieties of life. John 
 Wheelright, though a thoughtful and considerate man, was sensible 
 of the importance of maintaining among the people cheerfulness 
 and an air of life and activity, and therefore he entered into the 
 enjoyments of the hour ; but the thoughts of the household were 
 so much absorbed in the festivities, that they forgot the necessary 
 care out of doors. Wheelright had a good many cows ; these were 
 sent to pasture a small distance from home ; and to save trouble and 
 exposure in going for them at night, the gate was left open, so that 
 they could return of their own accord ; but on going to the yard in 
 the evening, they were not found there. No attempt was made to 
 find them till morning, when Wheelright, finding that they had not 
 returned, ordered his slave, by the name of Sambo, to look them up. 
 Some of the company were confident that the detention of the cows 
 was the work of the Indians; but Wheelright replied that there 
 were no Indians within fifteen miles. Much confidence was reposed 
 
HISTOBY OF WELLS AOT) KENNEBTJNK. 277 
 
 in his opinion ; he was, however, deceived in his calculations. The 
 enemy had been in the pasture, and knowing that some one would 
 come after the cows at night, had closed the gate, hoping to secure a 
 prisoner. According to orders, Sambo went in search of the cattle ; 
 but he had no sooner reached the gate, than he fell into the hands of 
 the Indians. They had three other prisoners, and started at once 
 toward Canada. Sambo was loaded down very heavily by the traps 
 which they carried with them, all being put on his shoulders. It was 
 a sad hour in which he was thus cut off from a return to Massa 
 Wheelright; and the thought of traveling to Canada with such a 
 burden did not impress him very favorably. The Indians, too, had 
 an inveterate hatred of the negro, and his life, he knew, would not 
 be very precious in their sight ; but to help him a little, the Indians 
 provided him with a good pair of moccasins. Thus invested, he 
 traveled off with the company in the direction of Mousam mill. He 
 kept up pretty well, but not having much sympathy with his com- 
 panions, or very lively anticipations of a visit to Canada, his thoughts 
 were rather more personal than companionable. His wits had been 
 sharpened by the experiences of life, and he was revolving in his 
 mind some scheme for severing the forced connection between him 
 and his red masters. He traveled along very patiently, till they 
 were about coming to the Mousam river, when, being apparently 
 somewhat fatigued, he lagged a little. Under the burdens which he 
 had upon him, the Indians had no apprehensions of his attempting 
 an escape ; they set fire to the saw-mill, and went on their way till 
 dark, when Sambo, being somewhat in the rear, suddenly dropped 
 his burden, and with " consummate skill," though without much re- 
 gard to prescribed tactics, beat a hasty retreat. Having run about a 
 mile, he climbed a tree, and concealing himself among its branches, 
 there awaited further developments. The Indians were soon in pur- 
 suit, and passed the tree, but in a little while came back again, with- 
 out having seen him. Sambo, knowing too well the danger of 
 immediately trusting himself again to the race, remained ensconced 
 in the top of the tree till morning light, when, feeling assured that 
 the Indians would not dare to remain longer in the neighborhood, he 
 left his hiding-place, and returned to the garrison. Stepping up to 
 Wheelright, he lifted his foot, and, in answer to his ejaculation, 
 "Sambo! where did you come from?" replied, that he had had a 
 
278 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 new master, who had made hirn a present of the moccasins, which he 
 thought was pretty good pay for his day's adventure. 
 
 Another memorable event of the war, and the last specially inter- 
 esting to the inhabitants of Wells, occurred on the sixteenth day of 
 September following, when a wedding was to take place at this gar- 
 rison, between Elisha Plaistead and Hannah, the daughter of Wheel- 
 right. This was a great occasion. Wheelright's acquaintance and 
 friendships were extensive, and many persons were invited to attend 
 the ceremonial; some from Portsmouth, some from places farther 
 distant, and many in Wells. Notwithstanding the perils of travel, a 
 large number gathered at the garrison. Probably some made the 
 passage by water. Plaistead, the bridegroom, came with a large es- 
 cort of his friends from Portsmouth. The festivities and merriment 
 of the occasion were sufficient incitement to overcome all fears of 
 the journey. Though the initiation to the connubial union is in fact 
 a matter of deep solemnity, involving the interests and happiness of 
 the parties for life, yet it never was, and never will be, possible to 
 give it any other character than that which it had when the world 
 first began to marry and give in marriage. However impressive the 
 services, fervent the prayers, and solemn the admonitions, on such 
 occasions, the hearts of the young and the middle aged will rejoice. 
 The inspirations of the hour are altogether joyous. Male and female 
 will rush from the prayer to the dance ; from solemnity to festivity. 
 Whatever may be the perils or threatenings from without, all within 
 will wear the glad aspect of life and animation. Hannah was young, 
 only eighteen years of age, and her buoyant spirits were not to be 
 checked for the moment by any repressing thoughts of the contin- 
 gencies of future years. In fact, the young girl who manifests any 
 other than a cheery, happy spirit at such a period will not be likely 
 to make her husband's home a heaven. A sad countenance can 
 never bring peace and joy to a household. These joyous occasions 
 are good for the soul. They infuse new life into society. They 
 wake up the drooping spirits of the old. Fathers and mothers are 
 quickened to newness of life. An old-fashioned wedding, when lib- 
 erties were given and taken which conventionalism has since re- 
 stricted, was in reality a mercy to many struggling souls, wearied 
 with the labors of the day and saddened by the ill success of life. 
 The convivialities of the evening cheered the hearts and animated 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 279 
 
 the conversation of the participants for, perhaps, many a day after- 
 ward. 
 
 The nuptials had been celebrated, and joy prevailed throughout 
 the garrison, when the programme was suddenly varied by another 
 party out of doors. The wily red man had been lurking around, 
 watching all the movements of the happy company. A large force, 
 numbering from 150 to 200, were near the garrison, ready for any 
 evil work of which they could avail themselves. Some of the 
 friends were preparing to depart when notice was given that two of 
 the horses were missing. The thought does not seem to have en- 
 tered their minds that the enemy had had any agency in carrying 
 them away, and three of them, Joshua Downing, Isaac Cole, and 
 Sergeant Tucker, rushed out immediately in pursuit ; but they had 
 gone but a short distance when Cole and Downing were killed and 
 Tucker was wounded and taken prisoner. 
 
 The firing announced to the garrison the terrible reality that they 
 were surrounded by the savages. But there were brave men among 
 them; Capt. Robinson, Capt. Lane, Capt. Heard, John Plaisted, 
 Robert Plaistead, Phillip Hubbard, Joseph Curtis, Lieut. Banks, and 
 others, with Elisha Plaisted, the bridegroom, also a man not back- 
 ward in duty at such a crisis. Unaware of the great number of the 
 assailants, they rushed out in the darkness, and each one seized a 
 horse already bridled, and started in pursuit of the enemy, first giv- 
 ing orders for a dozen men to run across the fields and intercept 
 their retreat. John Wheelright does not seem to have exercised his 
 usual precaution. What could these few men on horseback do in 
 the darkness of the night, when the assailants were in ambush, ready 
 to send the fatal missive whenever they should come within their 
 reach? The Indians had so stationed themselves as to meet the 
 people from the house, in whatever direction they might appear, and 
 as soon as these seven or eight fearless men appeared upon horse- 
 back, they were at once arrested by the guns of the savages. Rob- 
 inson was killed, and several of the horses shot under the riders. 
 Plaistead, the bridegroom, was taken prisoner. The rest made their 
 escape and reached the house in safety. A company of about sev- 
 enty was immediately mustered, who pursued and gave battle to the 
 enemy, but as they kept in the skirts of the forests, and were more 
 numerous than our forces, not much was effected by the contest. 
 One man was killed on each side, when the firing ceased. Lieut. 
 
280 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Banks, then under a flag of truce, was sent forward to ascertain the 
 terms on which Plaistead could be ransomed. He was met by six 
 Indians calling themselves captains ; among them Bombazen, Capt. 
 Nathaniel, and another, with whom he had become acquainted when 
 our captives were redeemed at Casco Bay. They would make no 
 immediate arrangement, but promised to bring their captives to 
 Richmond's Island in five days, where they could settle the ques- 
 tion. They knew that they had a valuable prize, and were in no 
 hurry to dispose of it. Plaistead was also aware that his life was 
 important to them, and therefore had no fear of being murdered. 
 Although in large force, they did not attempt any other raids upon 
 the settlers, but immediately retreated. Such was their general 
 action. Having achieved this small success, they fled beyond the 
 reach of any forces which might be gathered against them. In addi- 
 tion to Capt. Harmon's and Lane's companies, which were there at 
 the time, those of Capt. Willard and Capt. Robinson were immedi- 
 ately sent to Weils. But there was now no enemy to fight. The 
 Indians had entirely disappeared. 
 
 The foregoing account has been gathered from the histories ex- 
 tant, with some corrections and additions; but we think it is not, 
 in all its details, correct. The marriage ceremony had, undoubtedly, 
 been performed. The company did not attempt to go home at 
 night, but all remained till morning, when going out they learned 
 that some of their horses had been taken. The customs of olden 
 time, and all the circumstances of this conflict with the Indians, 
 make it evident that the out door action must have been in the day- 
 light. No such fool-hardy adventure would have been attempted in 
 the darkness. Lieut. Banks, who was a prominent actor in the 
 drama, stated that it took place in the morning. The first tidings 
 received from Plaistead were contained in the following letter 
 written to his father, without date : 
 
 " Sir. I am in the hands of a great many Indians, with which 
 there is six captains. The sum that they will have for me is 50 
 pounds & thirty pounds for Tucker my fellow prisoner in good 
 goods, as broadcloth and some provisions, some tobacco, pipes, 
 Pomisstone, stockings, and a little of all things. If you will come 
 to Richmond's Island in 5 days at farthest, for here 2 hundred Indi- 
 ans, and they belong to Canada. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJ NK. 281 
 
 If you do not come in 5 days, you will not see me, for Captain 
 Nathaniel, the Indian, will not stay no longer, for the Canada Indian 
 is not willing for to sell me. Pray, Sir, don't fail, for they have 
 given me one day, for the days were but 4 at first. Give my kind 
 love to my dear wife. 
 
 This from your dutiful son till death, 
 
 Elisha Plaistead." 
 
 Plaistead was finally redeemed, it is said, in the Massachusetts 
 Historical Collections, for three hundred pounds ; but the foregoing 
 letter does not bring much support to that statement. One ac- 
 quainted with the existing state of the finances of the inhabitants of 
 Wells, can hardly believe that there was so much money in the 
 whole town. 
 
 Thus we have reached the close of another ten years' bloody war. 
 Wells was not again disturbed by these savage raids. The Indians 
 desired peace, and the next year, 1713, another treaty was signed, 
 they giving the most solemn assurances that they would not again 
 take up arms against the English. 
 
 During this war (in 1712), died Francis Littlefield, aged 93. 
 We have already referred to his strange disappearance from his 
 father's family in England, when only eleven or twelve years old. 
 He may have again met his father in Exeter in 1640 ; for beside 
 Goodman Littlefield, the father, who had twenty acres of land there 
 assigned him, another Goodman Littlefield had an assignment of four 
 acres. This, we think, may have been Francis, who became of age 
 in 1640. Anthony was a younger son. When Wheelright and the 
 other members of the combination were driven from Exeter by the 
 extension of Massachusetts jurisdiction over that territory, instead 
 of coming to Wells with his father, Francis went to Woburn, Mass., 
 where he was taxed in 1646, and where, by his wife Jane, he had a 
 daughter Mary, born Dec. 14, of that year. We know not the pa- 
 rentage of this wife. She died on the 20th. He probably then re- 
 moved to Dover, which he represented in the Legislature in 1648. 
 We do not find him at Wells till after 1650 ; in 1648, he was married 
 to Rebecca, the mother of all his children, whose names appear on 
 
282 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 record. We conclude that there is no foundation for the current 
 report that the father first found him settled on a farm in Wells. 
 
 He was a small boy when he left his father's house, and what could 
 have induced this unnatural act, apparently voluntary on his part, 
 we do not know ; but it is remarkable, that, when in advanced youth, 
 he must have known that his mysterious disappearance would cause 
 great anxiety to his parents, he should have refrained from giving 
 them any information of himself and his prospects. We conclude, 
 that for some reason, his attachment to them must have been ex- 
 ceedingly weak. This dereliction of filial obligation might all disap- 
 pear on a full knowledge of facts. The freaks of boyhood do not 
 always indicate the subsequent character of the man ; notwithstand- 
 ing this apparent inconsistency with a true manhood, Littlefield 
 maintained a fair position among the settlers of Wells. From 
 the nature of his business, his acquaintance was extensive. He 
 kept a public house; that is, so far as to accommodate travelers 
 who were then following the seaboard in pursuit of a location 
 at the eastward. He does not seem to have been very punctil- 
 ious in his regard for law ; he was licensed to sell spirituous 
 liquors for one year; but he continued to sell after his license 
 expired, and had difficulty in obtaining a renewal, although he prom- 
 ised not again to be guilty of such a violation of law. He was elect- 
 ed as a Representative of York in 1668 ; he was also Representative 
 from Wells in 1665 and 1676, and became a strong supporter of the 
 claims of Massachusetts. Savage speaks of him as a leader in that 
 contest. The General Court held its sessions at his house. His part 
 in the complication of Mr. Buss and Mrs. Eldridge was not such as 
 a sound morality would countenance ; but his version of the affair 
 has not come down to us. He was recognized by the inhabitants of 
 Wells as a sound man ; and he lived to a good old age, which affords 
 some evidence of a conscientious and satisfactory life. 
 
 That our readers may understand that the influence of a man at 
 this period did not depend on his pecuniary status, we append an 
 account of his property, as exhibited in the inventory of his estate, 
 of which the following is a copy : 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 283 
 
 " Imprimis : one old bed and bedstead, and old furniture 
 belonging, - 
 Imprimis : Wooling Cloaths & Lining, all old, 
 Imprimis : two old chears, with two old Chussons, 
 Imprimis : one looking glass, - 
 Imprimis : one pair tongs, one fire shovel, 
 Imprimis : old pewter, one old candlestick & skillet, 
 Imprimis : one old chest and one old box, 
 Imprimis : one cow, - 
 Imprimis : one old table and 2 old books, 
 
 £6 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 2 15 
 
 
 
 6 0" 
 
284 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Rev Samuel Emery — Meeting-house rebuilt — Church organiznd — 
 Ordination of Mr. Emery— Letter of Rev. Samuel Moody— Suspen- 
 sion of Deacon Wells— Death of Mr. Emery. 
 
 Samuel Emery graduated at Harvard University in 1691. When 
 he came to Wells cannot now be determined, but he had located 
 himself here as early as 1698 ; had married and had one child, born 
 that year. Though the records do not show any town action in the 
 matter, he was probably here as a school teacher, or he may have 
 been sent to Wells by the government as chaplain, in pursuance of 
 the request of the people, which we have before stated. Being in 
 the habit of preaching at the garrison, the people may have been 
 well satisfied with his religious services, and by general consent, 
 without a town meeting, have adopted the necessary means to retain 
 him as their minister. In October, 1698, at a town meeting it " was 
 agreed upon that said inhabitants shall cut and haul home for Mr. 
 Samuel Emery, a minister of said town, five and twenty cords of 
 wood for this ensuing year." The inference from this is, that he was 
 a resident minister there. He had gained the good will of the peo- 
 ple, although no contract had been entered into with him to become 
 the pastor of the town. 
 
 We who have never been subjected to the sad experience through 
 which our predecessors had to pass in this last protracted Indian 
 war, can have but a very imperfect conception of the relief which 
 came over them when the light of peace dawned, and they could go 
 forth to resume their labors in the field. 
 
 As we might well anticipate, their first efforts were directed 
 toward the re-establishment of those public religious services, so dear 
 to the christian, and so necessary to the well-being of every com- 
 munity. 
 
 The old house of worship had been laid waste, and they now had 
 it in their hearts to rebuild the temple for the service of Him who 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBOTK 285 
 
 had brought them out of their trials. Though many through the 
 devastations of war had not where to lay their heads, they now came 
 forward in town meeting and " voted to build a meeting-house for 
 the public worship of God," on the site of the sanctuary which had 
 been burnt by the enemy. Lieut. Joseph Storer and Capt. John 
 Wheelright, who had been brave-hearted and energetic defenders of 
 the town through all the vicissitudes of the war, with Jonathan Ham- 
 mond and William Sayer, were chosen a committee, with power to 
 contract for the " hewing and hauling the frame, and all timber, and 
 for logs for boards and slit work, and for shingles, to be placed on 
 the ground during the following winter," and thus the rebuilding of the 
 house of the Lord was commenced in 1699. It was only raised and 
 boarded this year, for they had not the ability at this time to com- 
 plete it. Their population was small and their means limited. 
 Many of the inhabitants had fled at the commencement of hostilities, 
 and many had been killed. The building was so far advanced as to 
 protect it from injury by the weather, but it remained in this un- 
 finished state six or seven years. After 1700 they sustained public 
 worship at this house. In the spring of 1703, it was voted " to give 
 William Sayer £8 in money on condition that said William Sayer 
 doth in a workmanlike manner, seat the Meeting House in k all the 
 lower part thereof" at or before the last day of May next, under the 
 direction of Capt. John Wheelright and Lieut. Jonathan Hammond. 
 This was all that the people were then able to do. The difficulty of 
 obtaining money, and thence the low price of labor at this time, 
 may well be inferred from this contract to seat the meeting-house. 
 But he did not accept the contract, and the Jiouse remained but a 
 mere shell, even without plastering or windows [till 1707. It was 
 then voted to glaze it and prepare seats for the congregation. How 
 the people had been accomodated before this, the record gives no in- 
 formation. 
 
 When we consider the renewed anxieties and impediments which 
 attended their labors, we can only wonder that they did not al- 
 together abandon the work. Queen Ann's war commenced in 
 1703 ; so that they had scarcely begun before hostilities commenced. 
 It might reasonably have been expected that they would at once 
 have laid aside their tools and abandoned the house to the hazards 
 of the war, rather than to have exhausted their means upon a work 
 which, from its prominency, might seem to invite the incendiary 
 
286 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 torch. But they appear to have had faith in the overruling Provi- 
 dence that it would be watched over, and that no evil would befall 
 it. The year 1703, when they voted to have seats prepared for the 
 congregation, was marked for the devastation of the Indians, all the 
 way from Casco to Wells. Some of their most valuable and useful 
 citizens, Samuel Hill, Nicholas Cole and others had been carried into 
 captivity or murdered, and many buildings burnt. Why the meet- 
 ing-house was spared, is only known to Him who has in His hands 
 the destiny of all things. 
 
 The labors of the people were not lost ; the house of worship 
 survived the ravages of another ten years' war. In the year 1702, 
 the town also voted "to build a suitable dwelling-house, on the town's 
 land, for the use of the ministry; " but as in the previous year Mr. 
 Emery had received a grant of a hundred acres of up-land with ten 
 acres of marsh, he preferred to build the house himself, on his 
 own lot, with such aid as the people were disposed to give him ; and 
 at a meeting in March, 1703, they voted "to give Mr. Emery £35, in 
 good merchantable provisions, and lumber at money prices, to be ap- 
 plied to the building of his house, provided he agreed that the town 
 should be discharged from any obligation to build any other house 
 for his use, so long as he should continue here in the ministry." Mr. 
 Emery readily assented to this proposition. In 1706, they voted to 
 repair his house, and in addition, to build him a study twelve feet 
 square. This study was built by the mill garrison, at the west of his 
 house, where the river crosses the highway. 
 
 As is stated in another place, representations had been made to 
 the general court of the great losses, both of men and property, sus- 
 tained by the town during the Indian wars, and of their inability to 
 provide for the support of the ministry. In view of these facts, 
 some aid was furnished by the government to assist in building the 
 meeting-house. It was of small size, thirty feet square ; but the 
 population having been so much reduced by the war, it was large 
 enough to accommodate the people. 
 
 Prior to the year 1700 there had been no settled minister in town. 
 Those of whom we have before spoken were hired annually, so that 
 either party could withdraw from the contract at the end of the 
 year. The aid which the people were so ready to give Mr. Emery 
 clearly indicates that they were well satisfied with his ministrations, 
 but as none of his intellectual efforts have come down to us, we 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 287 
 
 have no means of estimating his ability as a preacher. He was, un- 
 doubtedly, very acceptable in his vocation, or he would not have so 
 commended himself to their sympathies. 
 
 On the 17th of March, 1701, the town voted to settle him as their 
 regular minister, and " to give him yearly £45, to be paid one-half in 
 money, the other half in good merchantable provisions, as follows : 
 wheat at five shillings a bushel ; Indian corn at three shillings a 
 bushel ; rye at three shillings a bushel ; pork at three pence a pound ; 
 beef at two pence a pound; and to cut and bring to his house twen- 
 ty-five cords of firewood, and that he should have the use of the 
 ministerial land." They also agreed to fence all the land below the 
 king's road, and give him and his heirs a hundred acres, as before 
 stated. At this time there were no houses on the lower side of the 
 highway. The upland there in front of the houses was all fenced in 
 and designated as the corn-fields. The lands back of the houses had 
 not been cultivated to any considerable extent. 
 
 The propositions made by the town were accepted by Mr. Emery. 
 A church was organized Oct. 29, 1701, and the following covenant 
 assented to and subscribed : 
 
 We, whose Names are underwritten, sensibly acknowledging our 
 own unworthiness to be in, and Inability to keep Covenant with God 
 as we ought, yet apprehending the Call of God unto us, to put our- 
 selves into a relation of Church Communion, and to seek the Settle- 
 ment of the Ordinances of Christ (according to Gospel Institution) 
 among us, Do, abjuring all confidence in ourselves and relying on 
 Jesus Christ for Help, declare asfolloweth : 
 
 1 That we professedly acknowledge ourselves engaged to the Fear 
 and Service of the only true God (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) and 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ, (the high Priest, Prophet and King of his 
 Church) under whose conduct we submit ourselves; and on whom 
 alone we wait for Grace and Glory, to whom We declare ourselves 
 bound in an everlasting Covenant never to be broken. 
 
 2 That We are obliged to give up ourselves to one another in the 
 Lord, and to cleave to one another, as fellow members of one Body 
 for mutual edification, and submit ourselves to all the holy Adminis- 
 trations appointed by Him who is the "Head and Lawgiver of His 
 Church, dispensed according to the Rules of the Gospel, and to give 
 
288 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 our attendance (as God shall enable us) on all the Public Ordinances 
 of Christ's Institution, walking orderly as becometh Saints, 
 
 3 That We are under covenant Engagements to bring up our 
 Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord, acknowledging 
 our Infants to be included with us in the Gospel Covenant, and to 
 stand in Covenant Relation according to Gospel Rules, Blessing God 
 for such a Privilege. Furthermore, That We are under indispensible 
 obligations at all Times, to be careful to procure the Settlement and 
 Continuance of Ghurch Officers among us according to the Appoint- 
 ment of Jesus Christ, the Chief Shephard of His Flock, for the per- 
 fecting of the Saints, for the Work of the Ministry, for the edifying 
 of the Body of Christ, and That we are equally obliged to be careful 
 and faithful for their Maintainance, Incouragement and Comfort, and 
 to carry it towards them as becometh Saints. 
 
 4 Finally. Solemnly and seriously professing ourselves to be a 
 Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, do promise, by the Help of Grace, 
 to walk together as Persons under such Vows of God ought to doe, 
 according to all those Rules in the Gospel, prescribed to such a Soci- 
 ety, so far as He hath revealed or shall reveal his Mind to us in this 
 Respect. 
 
 Now the Good Lord be merciful to us, and as He hath put into 
 our hearts, thus to devote ourselves to Him, Let him pity and pardon 
 us our Frailtys, humble us out of all our Carnal Confidences, and 
 keep it forever upon our Hearts, to be faithful to Himself, and one 
 another, for His Praise and our eternal Comfort. 
 
 John Wheelright. 
 
 William Sayer. 
 
 josiah llttlefield. 
 
 Jonathan Littlefield. 
 
 Samuel Hill. 
 
 Joseph Hill. 
 
 Daniel Littlefield. 
 
 Nathaniel Clark. . 
 
 Thomas Boston. 
 
 Nathaniel Clates. 
 
 James Adams. 
 
 Jeremiah Storer. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 289 
 
 So far as can be determined from the knowledge that we have of 
 these men, they constituted a substantial basis for a Christian church. 
 Most of them had been recognized by the town as honest, useful 
 citizens. As our Saviour said of Peter, it might be said of John 
 Wheelright, that he was a rock on which this church was built. 
 
 The church being thus organized, the 29th day of October, 1701, 
 was appointed for the ordination of Mr. Emery, and the churches of 
 Newbury, Portsmouth, Dover, and York were invited to assist in 
 the services of the occasion. We are unacquainted with any of the 
 details of the proceedings on that interesting day. The solemnities 
 were, undoubtedly, such as to awaken in the minds of the disciples a 
 new and deep sense of the infinite importance of the Christian faith. 
 An era was now to be ushered in, which was to be fruitful in the 
 renovation of social life, and in the influence of the more durable 
 principles with which religion inspires the heart. A church had 
 been established, and the foundation laid for an abiding ministry of 
 the word of God. Notwithstanding they had supported a minister 
 during the greater part of the last half century, no church organiza- 
 tion had been maintained among the people. 
 
 But now a sounder sentiment seems to have come over the public 
 mind. Men began to have some appreciation of the value of educa- 
 tion. The school-master was sought for, and a better civilization 
 dawned upon the people. The church of Christ was established, 
 and from that day to the present has exercised its benign influence 
 in maintaining the order and peace of community, and thereby ad- 
 vancing its general welfare. 
 
 It will be seen that Joseph Storer, who was chairman of the com- 
 mittee for building the meeting-house, was not one of the original 
 members of the church. Neither does it appear that he united with 
 it during his life, though we know that he was a man of sound relig- 
 ious principles, and was addressed as deacon of this church. Our 
 opinion is, that he was a member of the church at York, and one of 
 its founders, and that he never transferred his connection to the 
 church at Wells. This opinion is based on ' a letter of that distin- 
 guished divine, Rev. Samuel Moody. Though the letter contains 
 nothing specially important or material to this history, we insert it 
 entire, knowing that all such relics of this period have an interest to* 
 the historical student. From the address one would necessarily con- 
 clude that he was a member of the Wells church ; but the record 
 19 
 
290 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 does not say so. It is directed as follows : " To Lieu* Joseph 
 Storer, First Deacon of y e Church of CHRIST, At Wells." 
 
 "Dear Sir. York, Feb. 19, 1722-3. It has been a trouble to me 
 that, in all this long Visitation of sore affliction on your Family, es- 
 pecially on your own Person, I have not had the opportunity to wait 
 upon you, because one part of my Latin School has been my Dayly 
 Care all this Winter. I desire heartily to sympathize with you in 
 your sorrows and grievous Pains ; your so distressing confinement ; 
 especially in being debarred the liberty of seeing GOD in his sanc- 
 tuary. The great Pains you both took for the enjoyment of Christ 
 in his ordinances before your settlement at Wells, is still, when 1 con- 
 sider it, as it was in the Time of it, an Evidence of your love to the 
 Habitation of GOD'S House, Psal. 26: 8, & such may Pray in Faith, 
 as it follows in y e next v. Gather not my Soul with sinners &c. In 
 y e mean time it's better to love God's House when we can't go to it, 
 than to go to it and not love it. You know very well for what it 
 was that y e Good King Hezekiah desired to recover and live a little 
 longer. Isaiah 38. And truly it's not much desirable to live, that 
 we may get or keep or enjoy y e World, especially to stay out of 
 Heaven for these poor things ; but that we may recover strength 
 and do service in our Places; and get our Evidences cleared; and see 
 our Children settled ; much more y e Church — for these & such like 
 reasons, its desirable to live. Something may be done for God & 
 his People, & our Family and Friends her e, that we can't do in 
 Heaven. And O how good is it to be put into y e furnace, though 
 never so hot, that we may be refined and new moulded, and made 
 vessels of Honor fit for y e Master's Use ! And when the LORD shall 
 see his children humbled, sanctified, made more Prayerful, more 
 watchful, more abundantly fruitful in every Good Word and Work, 
 by affliction, he will say, This rod was well bestowed ! And who is 
 there but would be rusty without frequent scouring ? Yea God is 
 but answering our Prayers in our sorest Trials. How oft have we 
 begged for a more soft Heart, and tender conscience ; that our Pride 
 :and Worldliness might be mortified. And is not this y e very Errand 
 on which affliction comes? Yet no affliction for the present seems 
 joyous, but Grievous. The Lord prepares for what is yet before us. 
 God is very Angry with y e Countrey. Iniquity did never so abound : 
 .& does not the love of many wax cold ? But these things were fore- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK 291 
 
 told. Mat. 24 : 12. And 'tis for our caution and comfort both, what 
 our dear Savior adds, v. 13. But he that shall endure unto the End, 
 y e same shall be saved. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, 
 for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown. James 1 : 12. How 
 reviving is it to Realize, how these light afflictions, w ch are but for a 
 moment, do work for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of 
 Glory. 2 Cor. 4 : 17, w th what goes before & follows. But why do 
 I mind you of these things that your thoughts are daily upon. May 
 the spirit of Christ, not only bring to remembrance, but Comfort 
 your Heart by his Word ! The Comforter, you know, is promised 
 for a time of affliction ; and we must plead the promise as Jacob, 
 Gen. 20:9 to y e 12, 21. Faith is all in all. I had fainted, says 
 afflicted David, unless I had believed. Psal. 27 : 13. W th y e last 
 words of w ch Psalm, I conclude. Wait on y e LORD, and be of good 
 Courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart ; Wait, I say, on the 
 Lord. I am Your Brother & servant, 
 
 S, Moody." 
 
 It is added on the margin, " I would mind you of one thing, w ch I 
 believe has not been forgotten by you, that God has in his distin- 
 guishing favour, lengthened your life after all that were laid in the 
 foundation of this church are dead and Gone. To fill up every scrip 
 of the paper, I would also mind M 8 Storer, that I can think of but one 
 or two sisters, besides herself, yet living, who were left of Mr Dum- 
 mers Ch h . You will shortly be gathered with them y* are w th Christ. 
 O Pray for us. 
 
 My Dear respects to M™ Storer & Mr John. The Lord make y m 
 all the Children : yea all Gods people of your Acquaintance truly 
 thankful for his great mercy in sparing your Life." 
 
 We have endeavored to ascertain the principles on which this 
 church was founded ; but our labors have reached no satisfactory re- 
 sult. Josiah Littlefield, Jonathan Littlefield, Nathaniel Cloyes, and 
 Nathaniel Clark were admitted to its privileges, by assenting to the 
 covenant a month after this time. From this we infer that when 
 they and others joined in the inauguration, they were not members 
 of any Christian church. If so, was it consistent with the Congrega- 
 tionalism of the day, that men who were not members of any such 
 
292 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK 
 
 organization, should unite together and thus institute a church? 
 Could those who were under no church covenant embody themselves, 
 so as to be recognized as a body of disciples ? We express no opin- 
 ion on these questions ; they belong to the theologian, rather than 
 the historian. 
 
 But there is a more important mystery or obscurity hanging over 
 this organization. It seems as if some relics of the early barbarism, 
 which never recognized the right of woman to social equality, and 
 the reverent respect of the other sex, had come down to this genera- 
 tion. We have, by many years' observation, been fully established 
 in the opinion, that a church in which females are not a prominent 
 part, w^ould not be a very substantial auxiliary to the kingdom of 
 Christ. We should think the race about as likely to extend itself 
 without mothers, as a church, or household of faith, to prosper, when 
 the mothers in Israel made no part of it. What a spectacle, to see 
 fifteen men, month after month, surrounding the Lord's table, while 
 their wives were excluded from any part in the sacred ordinance ! 
 Who does not know that the benign elements of our holy religion 
 much more frequently find their home in the bosom of woman, than 
 in the heart of man ? And, who can believe, that none of the wives 
 of these men, thus assuming superiority over the help-metes, provided 
 for them by infinite goodness, were, at heart, as firm disciples of 
 Jesus as their husbands ? And yet not one of them is found, during 
 the eight months following, in this holy communion ! and then only 
 one, for a whole year after ! One widow was, indeed, admitted to 
 the church two months after the installation. The whole aspect of 
 the action of these men seems to indicate that they took to heart the 
 postulate, that it was better for women to " show piety at home ; " 
 that an undue preponderance was given to some of St. Paul's advice, 
 while a more important portion of it was unheeded. 
 
 "N~o more than three of these wives came into the church till many 
 years afterward. In the beginning of 1710, sixteen females had 
 been admitted and twenty-five males, the church thus presenting a 
 very marked contrast with the churches of the present day ; in which, 
 generally, a very small proportion are males. During the pastorate 
 of Mr. Emery, there was but a moderate increase of members ; in 
 1714, about twenty were added to the number ; in other years, the 
 additions were few. 
 
 We cannot infer the success or prosperity of a religious society at 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNr. 293 
 
 this period, from the same evidence which would sustain such an in- 
 ference at the present day. The whole town then constituted the 
 parish ; every man was bound by law to support Congregationalism ; 
 and to attend public worship at the common church. No denomina- 
 tional divisions had yet sprung up, though occasionally some individ- 
 ual, impressed with the idea of the freedom of religious thought and 
 action, ventured to utter his views openly, and exhort others to adopt 
 them. There were no prayer meetings or parish conferences ; certain 
 lectures were recognized by law on week days ; but the services were 
 exclusively within the province of the minister. So that about the 
 only means which we have of determining the prosperity of religion 
 is by the number uniting with the church, or the number attending 
 public worship. But the latter is very unreliable ; many were found 
 in the house of God on the Sabbath because they were obliged to be 
 there. It was cheaper to go to meeting than to stay at home. There 
 were always among the inhabitants those who were ready to com- 
 plain of Sunday delinquents ; so that no one could hope to escape 
 from the penalty attached by law to the neglect of public worship. 
 The people who lived in Kennebunk, on the Mousam and Kenne- 
 bunk rivers, were required to travel six or seven miles to the meeting 
 house, and frequently were subjected to fine and costs for non-attend- 
 ance. It is thus impossible to form any well-grounded opinion of 
 the success of Mr. Emery from the number of worshipers. As a 
 general rule, whether the preaching was satisfactory or not, the main 
 body of adults were in the house of God on the Sabbath. 
 
 As before stated, we have no means of determining Mr. Emery's 
 moral or intellectual capabilities, as not a scrap of his writings has 
 come down to us. There is some reason for the belief, that he did 
 not require of his people more than they were able to bear. It is 
 very manifest that he was of an honest and gentle temperament, 
 ready to yield his rights for the sake of peace. Understanding the 
 position of his people, and their poverty and distress consequent 
 upon the last war, in 1716, he voluntarily relinquished all which was 
 due him, being a large part of the amount allowed him as salary. 
 This act was kindly reciprocated on the part of his people ; and the 
 next year they raised his salary to eighty pounds, and directed all 
 the mill rents to be paid to him. They had built a study for his wife, 
 in a former year, near the mill garrison, which was afterwards re- 
 moved, for his own convenience, near to his house. Why it was 
 
294 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 built for his wife we do not know. We have met with no evidence 
 that she was much in the habit of study, or solitary meditation. At 
 times, some interest in the material affairs of the society seems to 
 have been awakened among the people ; they were anxious to com- 
 plete the meeting house, and passed many votes for that purpose, but 
 they were too poor to carry them into effect, and in 1719 they were 
 again remiss in paying his salary. Earnest religious men will not 
 generally suffer slight obstacles to defeat good purposes. We think 
 Mr. Emery did not wield the sword of the spirit with a great deal of 
 power. During his ministerial life for twenty years, he seems to 
 have had no difficulty with any of his people. A faithful and zealous 
 preacher seldom goes on with his work year after year without hit- 
 ting somebody, and excitement of some kind will almost inevitably 
 follow plainly declared truth. 
 
 During the last years of his pastorate, some troublesome matters 
 absorbed the attention of the church. But these affairs in no degree, 
 we think, involved his character. The church were not always rigid- 
 ly punctilious in their adhesion to the principles of the gospel ; and 
 as a part of his ministerial duty he was required to admonish and 
 caution such as manifested propensities to forget their obligations. In 
 such cases he may have been endowed with a peculiar faculty for re- 
 buking the delinquent without offense. He evidently had the whole 
 strength of the church with him. Both pastor and people were very 
 charitable toward the infirmities of the race. Though small matters 
 were sometimes magnified into great sins, the transgressor was readi- 
 ly forgiven on confession and repentance. One Hannah Boston had 
 been a member of the church several years ; but all her natural pro- 
 clivities had not been subdued by the association. Some crotchets 
 still lingered in her constitution ; and she would at times astonish 
 her fellow disciples by some strange fancy. She feigned herself to 
 be the wife of Benjamin Preble. Whether this assumption was ac- 
 companied with any overt manifestations, we are not informed. But 
 the church regarded it as a heinous misdemeanor. Mr. Emery sum- 
 moned a meeting that the matter might be inquired into. She was 
 also cited to appear before them and submit to examination. She 
 obeyed the citation, appeared and confessed the charge ; but mani- 
 fested no contrition for it. No special determination was reached 
 to censure, or suspend her from fellowship. But in the course of 
 time she was in some way made to feel that she had been guilty of a 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 295 
 
 great transgression ; and six months afterward she " made an open, 
 penetential confession of her sin," and " was received again to the 
 charity and communion of the church." 
 
 In the last year of his life, a more serious matter produced great 
 trouble among the people, though not in any way affecting his pas- 
 toral fidelity. One of the deacons seems for a time to have forgotten 
 his high responsibilities, to have manifested some wayward inclina- 
 tions, not well harmonizing with the gentleness and fidelity which 
 are expected of one whose church relationship was of so sacred a 
 character. The aspect of the affair, we think, is by no means favor- 
 able to the deacon. It is apparent that selfish motives swayed him 
 from his proper balance. He lived at the eastern end of the town, 
 where the settlers were sparse and the lands unenclosed ; so that his 
 cattle might enjoy the freedom of grazing where they pleased. 
 Great Hill probably afforded a very inviting pasturage, and he had 
 appropriated it to his own use. Possibly he was not careful to main- 
 tain fences on his own lands. When he found the minister who 
 lived so distant from the precinct in which his cattle were accus- 
 tomed to roam, driving his stock so far to interfere with his assumed 
 privileges, he was somewhat excited, and gave utterance to lan- 
 guage not very respectful to Mr. Emery. Seeing these cattle from 
 day to day enjoying the "fair pastures" upon which he had expected 
 his own to feed, was a little more than his sensitive spirit could bear. 
 His ire was aroused, and fostered by this daily exhibition, he was im- 
 pelled to some manifestations not becoming the true disciple. He 
 not only spoke unkindly of Mr. Emery, threatening that he would 
 take care of his cattle, but carried his resentment to such an exent as 
 to make no provision for the Lord's table on communion day, as was 
 his duty. We can see not a shadow of an apology for his action in 
 this regard. He seems, for the time, to have labored under some 
 strange mania ; not only treating the minister and church t in a con- 
 temptuous and unchristian manner, but even disregarding the pro- 
 prieties of public worship. His conduct became unendurable. The 
 church exercised all possible lenity and forbearance toward him, 
 leaving his whole demeanor for more than nine months to the adjudi- 
 cations of his own conscience. But forbearance, after so long a time, 
 had ceased to be a virtue, and the power of the church was called 
 into exercise, to deal with him in one of the ways marked out by 
 Congregational regulations. He was summoned before them to re- 
 
296 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 spond to charges of misconduct. After hearing the evidence it was 
 unanimously determined that he deserved censure ; and the duty of 
 administering the rebuke was assigned to the pastor. As Mr. Emery 
 was the person most deeply injured by the misconduct of the deacon, 
 it would seem to have baen entirely out of place in him to have been 
 the agent for carrying the judgment of the church into effect. But 
 so it was determined, and, as says the record, Feb. 12, 1723, it was 
 " voted, nemine contradicente, that Deacon Thomas Wells be sus- 
 pended from the communion of the church for his disorderly neglect- 
 ing of his duty in not providing for the sacrament, June 3d, 1722 ; as 
 also in expressing himself very indecently in affirming on May 24, 
 1722, to Mr. Emery that he said Wells was an overseer of the Hay- 
 wards ; as also affirming that Mr. Emery had driven his cattle for 
 the sake of the grass which grew on the two Necks, viz. of Mousam 
 and the Great Hill ; as also for misbehavior in the church in the sea- 
 son of his being called to account by the church, and for contumacy 
 in these things — and the above censure was then administered pub- 
 licly on him per Samuel Emery." 
 
 This suspension from the church of his Master troubled him. His 
 conscience took cognizance of his conduct, and having a long time 
 suffered from its judgment, he was brought to repentance, and finally 
 came back, like the prodigal son, and acknowledged his error, publicly 
 making this confession : " Whereas I, Thomas Wells, a member of 
 the Church in Wells, did some time past, in a time of sore tempta- 
 tion with me, omit my duty as Deacon, so far as to neglect making 
 provision for the Lord's table ; I freely confess my error to God, and 
 the church, desiring forgiveness. Thomas Wells. 
 
 Wells, Oct. 21, 1724. 
 
 The church cheerfully forgave him, and " voted that his former ac- 
 knowledgment relating to the. offense for which he had been cen- 
 sured, shall be demolished together with all the papers referring to a 
 controversy of some years standing last past, between the church of 
 Wells aforesaid and said Deacon Wells, as also between the pastor 
 and Deacon." 
 
 By this it would seem that he had previously made some acknowl- 
 edgment, which was so qualified as not to be creditable to his Chris- 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 297 
 
 tian character. But though the church and the world may pardon 
 transgression, and would blot it out from human remembrance, his- 
 tory can never be a party to such a proceeding. Men who make his- 
 tory can never expect it to be so ungrateful as to forget them. 
 
 Deacon Wells was a man of influence, and it was expedient that 
 this unfortunate rupture should be healed. The churches in the vi- 
 cinity were anxiously interested in it, fearing that it could not be 
 reconciled. And the unexpected adjustment of it by the return and 
 confession of the deacon, was a source of much joy to all the people. 
 
 Soon after this Mr. Emery removed to 'the Pool, where he died 
 Dec. 1, 1724, aged 54. A town meeting was immediately called to 
 consider what should be done in regard to the expenses of his funer- 
 al. It was voted to pay all the expenses of his last sickness and 
 funeral ; and to pay his widow, Tabitha Emery, ten pounds, " to pro- 
 cure for her a mourning suit of apparel." He had three sons and 
 five daughters. How many survived him we cannot state. His 
 widow died April 27, 1736. His dwelling house stood near the 
 meeting house, where Capt. William Eaton has since lived. Several 
 of his descendants remain in Wells. He was buried in the north- 
 east corner of the cemetery near the parsonage house. He was the 
 son of John Emery of Kittery, who was the son of John Emery of 
 Newburyport. After the death of Mr. Emery, his widow was called 
 upon for the records of the church. But she declined to deliver 
 
 them, and they were thenceforth lost to the world. 
 
 
298 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Close of the war— Pbosperous condition of the town— Grants to 
 various persons — william larrabee — houses built in kennebunk 
 — "Grandfather Poke"— John Gillespie— Plum Island— Harding's 
 mill— kennebunk named— tltle to the territory claimed by the 
 inhabitants— Boundary between Wells and Kjttery controverted 
 — Committee appointed by general court to settle the line — 
 Pounds and impounding — Schools — Teachers, Martin, Treadwell, 
 Lynn, and Ledyard — Claims of Daniel and Simon Eppes of title 
 to Kennebunk— Second attempt to manufacture tar— Cape Por- 
 poise RE-ORGANIZED UNDER THE NAME OF ARUNDEL — FIRST BRIDGE OVER 
 
 Kennebunk river— Immigration from Ireland. 
 
 It may well be supposed, that while the war with the Indians was 
 raging, very little attention would be given to town affairs not im- 
 mediately connected with it ; and thence there must necessarily be 
 but little for historical record. "When all the thoughts of the people 
 were directed to the means of protection against the inroads of the 
 savages, other matters connected with the progress, social and civil 
 interests of the town, were unheeded. The war had now ostensibly 
 reached its end. 
 
 But the desolations which it had brought to almost every family 
 in town could not fail to have their influence on the energies of the 
 inhabitants ; yet, notwithstanding this depression, and the want of 
 faith in the stability of the peace which had been declared, the people 
 gave themselves to the work of restoring their farms, and projecting 
 new enterprises of activity and profit. From this period, though 
 new wars soon followed, a steady progress of the settlement has been 
 maintained down to the period when this history ends. Some en- 
 couragement to fix the thoughts and awaken exertion to renew and 
 enlarge the settlement, came from the fact, that Wells had become, 
 and was established by law, a shire town. The Inferior Court of 
 Common Pleas having been created in 1699, was to be holden here 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUXK. 299 
 
 semi-annually. Samuel Wheelright was appointed one of the judges ; 
 but he very soon died. There is no doubt that such an attachment 
 to the franchise of a town gives to it some prestige favorable to fu- 
 ture growth ; and the settlement now started under more favorable 
 auspices than at any previous time. During the whole of this war 
 the necessary town action was maintained. Meetings were holden, 
 officers chosen, and financial matters attended to. It was even voted 
 to seat the meeting-house ; so that now no extraordinary measures 
 were required for the regulation of municipal affairs. Some of the 
 mills were in operation, even in the midst of the struggle for protec- 
 tion and life. The two mills at Maryland were favored by a reduc- 
 tion of their annual rent, the upper of one-half, and the lower of 
 two-thirds. The other mills were not relieved at all. How they 
 could have pursued business to any advantage, we are left entirely 
 to conjecture. At times, through the aid of their scouts, the people 
 felt some confidence that the enemy had left their vicinity ; but any 
 trust of that character must have been exceedingly hazardous. The 
 Indian could issue from the wilderness anywhere. He might travel 
 through its darkest recesses all the way from Penobscot to Wells, 
 and here first show himself. This confidence in their personal safety 
 was not cherished by all. Samuel Cole, one of the owners of the 
 Great Falls saw-mill, the best property in the town in a time of peace, 
 sold out his part of it to John Wheelright. Other transfers of a 
 similar character, from a distrust of Indian faith, were made ; but 
 now that the war was over, and grants were made more liberal in 
 their conditions, the time for fulfilling the obligations to make im- 
 provements was, in some cases, extended to two, or five years. They 
 were also subject to another peculiar condition ; that no grantee 
 should hinder any other townsman from cutting and carrying away 
 rom his land any timber of which he might have need. Growing 
 trees at this period were, indeed, of no great value to the owner 01 
 land ; and he might not suffer any material injury from having them 
 removed ; but we do not see how such a license could fail in produc- 
 ing much trouble in subsequent years. In 1713, a grant of two hun- 
 dred acres was made to William Sayer, Jeremiah Storer, Thomas 
 Wells, and Nicholas Cole, adjoining their mill at Little river, " on 
 condition that they do not hinder any of the freeholders or inhabit- 
 ants of the town cutting and carrying away any timber whatever." 
 
300 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 William Laerabee, one of the most energetic and fearless de- 
 fenders of the town, as soon as the war closed, took a grant of land 
 on the Mousam river, three or four miles from the settlement at Wells. 
 He was a man of great fortitude and resolution. In the midst of the 
 war, March 30, 1706, he had secured to himself a help-mate by a con- 
 jugal union with Catharine Adams, and now came to Kennebunk as 
 almost the pioneer of the settlement, there being no occupied dwell- 
 ing-house near the center of the town, or the site of the present 
 village. The Harding house, near the mouth of Kennebunk river 
 where Samuel Gooch formerly lived, may have survived the ravages 
 of the war. In a former manuscript history of Kennebunk, we stated 
 that this house was built by Stephen Harding. We think this state- 
 ment was erroneous. The land, to the extent of six hundred acres, 
 a mile on the river, covering all the territory of the village at the 
 Port, from the sea upward, was granted to George Butland, whose 
 house, we are inclined to believe, was the first on this spot. Butland 
 sold his grant to James Littlefield, whose daughter .married Stephen 
 Harding, who afterwards occupied this house. To distinguish 
 the place, we have called it Hardings, in other parts of this 
 work. This house was taken down about a hundred years 
 since. The cellar is still visible. The house built by John San- 
 ders near the mouth of the Mousam river, may have survived 
 the desolations of the war. Larrabee built his house in 1714. 
 It stood on the point of land about forty rods below the Rounda- 
 bout, on the eastern side of the river. It was a small tenement, 
 and built of timber. The same year a house was built by John 
 Looke, a short distance below Larrabee's, on the point of upland 
 afterwards called Butland's ship-yard, and the next year, one 
 by Thomas Wormwood, about forty rods below. These two last- 
 named were garrison houses. Palisades were built around them 
 with large timber, as high as the eaves of the house, and sufficiently 
 far from it to allow room for work in the intervening space. These 
 walls were probably not built till a few years afterward, when a re- 
 newal of the war was apprehended. The Harding house was also 
 protected in the same manner. This house, from its location near 
 the beach, the principal highway for travelers, was then very neces- 
 sary for the public accommodation. Beside the custom of those who 
 were passing on the land to different parts of the Province, east 
 and west, the occupants had occasion to entertain many who came 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 301 
 
 into the river in coasters. It was but a one-story building, but people 
 did not then expect the conveniences and comforts which mark the 
 age in which we live. 
 
 A few years after Larrabee located himself on the Mousam river, 
 others took up lands below, nearer the sea, and in the vicinity of the 
 public travel. A small house was built in 1721 or 1722, by John 
 Webber, a little below the house of Owen Wentworth, on the oppo- 
 site side of the road ; and a small two-storied house by Richard 
 Boothby, where the house of Robert S. Smith now stands. A house 
 was also built on what has since been called Gillespie's Point, being 
 the land which projected into the sea from the eastern end of Great 
 Hill. This was in the first days of the settlement called the Great 
 Neck, afterwards Grandfather's Neck, on account of the occupant, 
 Ephraim Poke, who was called Grandfather Poke, not, we suppose, 
 because he was an old man, for he was just married in 1731, to Miss 
 Margaret McLean. In attempting to ford the river a few years after- 
 ward when the tide was higher than he had supposed, he was drowned, 
 as was also his horse. His widow moved to Saco where she died. 
 The neck was subsequently occupied by Nathaniel Spinney, and then 
 by John Gillespie. After he took possession of it, it took the name 
 of Gillespie's Point. The sea has been gradually encroaching upon 
 it from time immemorial ; and when it was so far reduced by its 
 ravages as to make it certain that the foundation of the house would 
 soon be reached, he abandoned it and moved to the village. It is 
 now so far reduced, as at high water to be but a small island. All 
 along the shore from the Kennebunk river to Ogunquit, the same en- 
 croachment has been made upon the lands bordering upon the ocean. 
 Off the Ogunquit river about the time of which we are speaking, 
 150 years ago, a mile from the shore, was a small spot of land called 
 Plumb Island, overgrown with bushes, to which people resorted 
 sometimes to pick blueberries. But the little isle has long since suc- 
 cumbed to the power of the ocean, and now the fisherman casts his 
 line or his net over the identical spot where the settlers picked their 
 berries. 
 
 In 1718, the lumber business being so profitable, Harding the own- 
 er of the little outlet of Lake Brook, in ancient times called Lauson's 
 Creek, now called Gooch's Creek, built upon it -a saw-mill. It was not 
 very efficient in consequence of the small water power on which it de- 
 pended. But the timber was very abundant in its immediate vicini- 
 
302 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ty, and no expense was necessary for the transportation of the lumber 
 sawed. Vessels could come up very near the mill. Some few set- 
 tlers had located themselves on the opposite side of the river, and 
 coasters began to come in from the west for the lumber ; but in con- 
 sequence of the slow working of the mill it was not found sufficient- 
 ly profitable to justify its continuance. The business of selling tim- 
 ber was more lucrative than that of manufacturing boards, and after 
 ten or fifteen years the mill was abandoned. 
 
 These are all the houses or buildings of which we have any knowl- 
 edge previous to the fourth, or Lovell's Indian war. Sayward's 
 house, appurtenant to the mills had disappeared, having, as is sup- 
 posed, been destroyed by fire at the same time with the other build- 
 ings ; so that nearly the whole territory of that part of W ells was 
 yet a dense wilderness. Previously to this period no particular des- 
 ignation was given to the land between the rivers Mousam and Ken- 
 nebunk, but from the year 1717, the name Kennebunk was applied 
 to it; there being on it a sufficient number of houses to render nec- 
 essary a distinction from the Wells village. 
 
 The time had now arrived when the inhabitants of Wells began to 
 think that they had rights in the territory of the town ; which strang- 
 ers ought not to be permitted to come in and share, without render- 
 ing to them, exclusively, some equivalent. They had struggled 
 through the most terrible conflicts, to maintain their hold upon it, 
 and they were not disposed to yield to others, without compensa- 
 tion, rights and privileges which they had secured by their la- 
 bors and the blood of many of their companions ; and at a town 
 meeting holden on the twentieth day of March, 1716, they voted 
 that " the right and property of all the common and undivided lands 
 within the said township, doth belong to, and forever hereafter 
 shall be and remain unto the persons hereafter mentioned and their 
 heirs, forever, in proportion according to their interest in the town, 
 to be disposed of and improved according to the directions of the 
 law in that case made and provided." 
 
 Col. John Wheelright. Mr. Nathaniel Clark. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Emery. Mr. Joseph Wheelright. 
 
 Mr. Jacob Hammond. Mr. John Butland. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Storer. Mr. George Butland. 
 
 Capt. Joseph Hill. Mr. Samuel Stewart. 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK 
 
 303 
 
 Mr. Jonathan Littlefield. 
 Mr. Daniel Littlefield. 
 Mr. William Sayer. 
 
 Mr. Dependence Littlefield. 
 Mr. Samuel Hatch. 
 Mr. Nicholas Cole. 
 Mr. Francis Sayer. 
 Mr. David Littlefield. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Littlefield. 
 
 Mr. Ezekiel Knight. 
 
 Mr. John Wells. 
 
 Mr. Jeremiah Storer. 
 
 Mr. James Boston. 
 
 Mr. Nathaniel Cloyes. 
 
 The heirs to the estate of John 
 Cloyes, deceased. 
 
 Mr. John Harmon. 
 
 Mr. Stephen Harding. 
 
 Mr. Zachariah Goodall. 
 
 Mr. Moses Stevens. 
 
 The Heirs to the estate of Benja- 
 min Gooch, dec'd. 
 
 The Heirs to the estate of Daniel 
 Sayer dec'd. 
 
 The Heirs to the estate of Thomas 
 Boston dec'd. 
 
 The Heirs to the estate of Wil- 
 liam Parsons dec'd. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Wells. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Hill." 
 
 No one familiar with the labors and struggles of the brave men of 
 Wells, during the long and afflictive wars through which they had 
 passed, can fail to sympathize with them in their judgment that these 
 lands ought to be all their own. But what is equitable in all good 
 conscience, is not always legal. We have carefully examined this 
 vote but have been unable to find any sound basis for it. If any 
 right existed in the inhabitants of the town to these lands, it was in 
 their corporate capacity, and not as individuals, and every man who 
 thereafter became an inhabitant, by virtue of his inhabitancy, became 
 a proprietor in common with others previously dwelling within its 
 limits. If the lands of the town were vested in the residents as in- 
 dividuals, then many others who had fallen in the wars or who had 
 died before this vote was adopted, were also owners in common of 
 the soil, and their interests descended to their heirs ; and no action 
 of the town, or of individuals, could divest them of their rights. 
 We are uninformed when the title upon which they relied as a basis 
 of this vote, accrued. Not one of these persons who thus under- 
 took to divide up this territory among themselves, was an inhabitant 
 at the time of the incorporation, and we know of no action by the 
 government, or any proprietary afterwards, which invested those 
 
304 HISTOBY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUNK. 
 
 living in the town with any other real estate title, than that of the 
 land which they severally occupied. So far as we have been enabled 
 to understand this procedure, it was based on the inhabitancy of 
 about the year 1700. All who were then townsmen were regarded 
 as invested with common rights ; but for what reason we do not 
 know. In those days men were not very punctilious as to strict law ; 
 they did many things which would not find much countenance in 
 the jurisprudence of subsequent years. For example : we should 
 judge there was some little arrogance in the following vote, passed 
 about a month afterwards; on the 15th of May following, when 
 gathered together at the meeting-house, it was " then voted that this 
 be a legal town meeting to do town business, for choosing men to 
 address the General Court relating to the township." Rather a sum- 
 mary mode of legalizing a meeting, and establishing its action as 
 that of the town. If a company of men can vote themselves, with- 
 out further or previous ceremony, to be invested with municipal 
 powers, binding upon all whom they may affect, we are inclined to 
 the belief that such an assumption would not do much for the pro- 
 motion of peace or social progress among the people. 
 
 A controversy now arose with the town of Kittery in regard to 
 the boundary between the towns. It will be remembered that the 
 territory of the Berwicks, and also of Eliot, was a part of Kittery, 
 and of course that town bounded on Wells. In 1655 the line be- 
 tween the two towns was run by a committee consisting of Joseph 
 Bolles, John Littlefield, and William Hammond, on the part of 
 Wells, and Humphrey Chadbourne, and Richard Nason, and Anthony 
 Emery on the part of Kittery, which was settled by them and con- 
 curred in by the towns. This line began at the head bounds of 
 York, at a marked tree near York pond, and ran on a straight course 
 to Baker's spring, and from thence " to the head bounds of the great 
 river of Newicpewanock." It was then agreed that both towns 
 should engrave their names on the rock at Baker's spring, and on 
 the tree started from. 
 
 It would seem that after this there could be no question as to 
 where the bounds were ; but hitherto there had been no settlement 
 in the vicinity of the line, and more than fifty years had elapsed since 
 it was run. The inhabitants now began to locate their grants in this 
 neighborhood. Daniel Littlefield had laid out some grants near the 
 spring, embracing some of the Tatnick marshes, having the right to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 305 
 
 cut logs for the use of the mill, which he had erected on a branch of 
 the Ogunquit river. Locations had probably been made by inhabit- 
 ants of Kittery in the same neighborhood, and a quarrel arose be- 
 tween the adjoining proprietors, as not unfrequently happens between 
 the grasping owners of contiguous lands. The inhabitants of Kittery 
 chose a committee to run the line, first notifying Wells of their in- 
 tention to do so. Wells accordingly chose Nicholas Cole, Daniel 
 Littlefield, and Joseph Hill, to meet with them for the purpose. 
 They accordingly met, on the sixteenth of July, 1716, at the head of 
 York, where Kittery joined Wells, and started from this place, on a 
 W. n. w. course, to Baker's spring, which was admitted to be a true 
 monument, and all readily concurred in this line. It would seem 
 that there should have been no difficulty in completing the peram- 
 bulation; but when the Wells committee proposed to start on- 
 ward in their business and finish the survey of the line, the Kittery 
 commissioners refused to proceed, and forbade the Wells commission- 
 ers to go any further. Upon what ground they claimed to act in 
 this abrupt manner the records give us no light. They insisted that 
 Wells had no right to any of the territory beyond the rock ; that all 
 above belonged to Kittery; that the Wells commissioners had no 
 business, and should not go there. This was a bold assumption on 
 the part of the Kittery commissioners, as it seems to us now. The 
 line had been run, and acquiesced in, more than a half century. 
 After an exciting controversy, the commissioners of Wells came to 
 the conclusion that there was no alternative, but to abandon the un- 
 dertaking and report the facts to the town ; but Wells was not dis- 
 posed to brook such insolence from the town of Kittery. There 
 were among the inhabitants men of nerve and self respect, who 
 were ready for any conflict involving the rights of the town ; and 
 Daniel Littlefield was chosen agent to prosecute any one who should 
 trespass on the disputed territory. Littlefield may have had a per- 
 sonal interest in this question. The town also chose William Sayer 
 as agent to apply to the General Court, for an order directing the 
 line to be run. An order was granted, giving authority to fix and 
 establish it. Joseph Hill, Nicholas Cole, and Daniel Littlefield were 
 again appointed a commiteee, and went on, renewed and settled the 
 line, making report to the Legislature, in which the line was estab- 
 lished to run " from a certain pitch pine tree standing at the south- 
 east end of Bonnepeague pond, south by east, 2o 45 ms., 4 miles and 
 20 
 
306 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 40 poles to Baker's spring." So the town of Kittery " took nothing 
 by their motion." 
 
 But, as with many other facts which appear in the records of a 
 past age, there is something inexplicable in this whole proceeding on 
 the part of Kittery. It seems to us that at this time Kittery had 
 nothing to do with this line. Berwick was incorporated in 1713, 
 three years before this attempt at running it took place. Kittery did 
 not then join Wells ; its limits being several miles from it. The 
 boundary was a matter concerning Wells and Berwick alone ; Bat- 
 tery had no more to do with it than with the boundary between 
 Wells and Cape Porpoise. We must infer, therefore, that there is a 
 deficiency in our knowledge of all the circumstances of the case. 
 
 In 1714 the town voted to build a new pound ; where the previous 
 one stood is unknown. In 1645 it was required that every town 
 should build and maintain a pound ; and these inclosures were to be 
 found in every place, down to the present century; in many, they 
 were continued till within a very few years. As some of our readers 
 have never seen one of these inclosures, we will briefly state, that 
 they were generally built of timber or stones, and in later years, with 
 frame and plank slats. They were from six to eight feet high, and 
 from thirty to fifteen feet square ; with no covering of any kind for 
 protection amidst the severest storms ; generally they were located 
 near the meeting-house. A pound keeper was chosen annually, 
 whose duty it was to receive all the animals not entitled to the 
 freedom of the town, which were driven to him by the hayward, 
 having been found making use of the public highway, or in the in- 
 closure of some person other than their owners ; and to retain them 
 in the pound until such owners should pay the fine and all expenses, 
 and take them away. There was no special law requiring them, like 
 some other animals, to be fed on bread and water ; but they were kept 
 in solitary confinement on very lean fare. Public notice was to be 
 given at the next lecture, of the impounding, with such a description 
 of the animals as would be necessary to identify them to the owner. 
 For example, if one of Thomas Cole's swine should be thus impound- 
 ed, the minister, in giving his notices, as is usual before reading the 
 hymn, would state, that a hog was taken up in the highway and im- 
 pounded, having a square piece cut off from the off ear on the under 
 side, and a slit on the top of the near ear; or if Judge Wheelright's 
 sheep were the captives, it would be a flock of sheep with a slit on 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 307 
 
 the top of the ear, and the under part cut out. They did not hesi- 
 tate to maim their stock for the purposes of identification. Hogs 
 had the liberty of the town, being licensed to go where they pleased, 
 on the condition, if they were old enough to be capable of evil, that 
 they wore a ring in the nose, according to a vote of the town in 
 1698, that " all swine, above a year old, shall be sufficiently ringed 
 from April 10th to Oct. 10th." 
 
 In the progress of civilization this matter has ceased to be a sub- 
 ject of town action. We now hear nothing of pounds or impound- 
 ing. Though the law remains on our statute book substantially as 
 it was two centuries ago, it has become a dead letter. Like the 
 stocks and the ducking-stool, the pound has disappeared from our 
 precincts. The last in Wells was on the town lot, and in Kennebunk 
 on the cemetery lot, opposite the Methodist church ; and for a few 
 years afterwards, on the opposite side of the road, near the saw-mill.- 
 
 During the short breathing-time between Queen Anne's and Lov- 
 ell's war, the great subject of schools seems first to have suggested 
 itself to the attention of the people. They had lived here fifty 
 years, and children had been born and grown to manhood, without 
 instruction in the common rudiments of education. Though the law 
 required that the town should now maintain a grammar school, as it 
 contained more than fifty families, even the lowest grade of instruc- 
 tion had not yet been provided for. Many of the population could 
 neither read, write nor cipher. The minister, Samuel Emery, was the 
 only person who had received a college education. He could not 
 have failed to appreciate the importance of schools, and we presume 
 his influence was now brought to bear with force upon his people, in 
 regard to a matter involving so materially the best interests of the 
 town. During the perils of the wars, children could not have been 
 trusted to attend school at any considerable distance from their 
 homes ; and in fact, no school could have been safely kept. But 
 there was not a school-house in town, and if any provision had been 
 made by private persons for the instruction of their children, it must 
 have been at some of the dwelling houses ; though there is good 
 reason for the belief, that down to this period, no school of any kind 
 had been maintained. The evidence shows, that with a very few 
 exceptions, the most influential had grown up with little or no intel- 
 lectual culture. Books for instruction were not found in the houses 
 of any of the inhabitants. But now, March 20, 1715, it was voted 
 
303 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 "that the selectmen use their endeavor to procure a school-master for 
 the town at the town's charge, not exceeding £20 per annum and his 
 diate ; and to have the school a quarter of the year at a time near 
 each end of the town and the other half of the year near the middle 
 of the town." It will be remembered that the two ends were then, 
 west, beyond the Ogunquit, and east, near Cole's corner. Kenne- 
 bunk was not sufficiently settled to be noticed as a material part of 
 the town. Not more than five or six families lived within what are 
 its present limits. At this time it was with much difficulty that 
 school-masters could be obtained ; and especially was this the case 
 when no larger sum was offered for their services than that named 
 in the foregoing vote. It does not appear that the selectmen met 
 with any success in their efforts for this purpose, or that they made 
 any special exertions to accomplish it. In 1716 the town was in- 
 dicted for not having a schoolmaster. This had the effect of awak- 
 ening the people to a sense of their duty in this respect. Mr. Rich- 
 ard Martyn, we suppose the son of the former minister, was engaged 
 for the service. He was an educated man, having graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1680. The profession of a teacher was about as pro- 
 fitable as that of the minister. The remuneration appears to us to 
 be small ; but as his " diate " was added to it, the income would be 
 about as much as his. But it did not satisfy Mr. Martyn and he de- 
 manded higher pay, and the next year the town voted, "that thirty 
 pound for one year be paid Mr. Martyn schoolmaster, and his enter- 
 tainment by a rate proportioned on the several inhabitants within 
 the town, to be paid quarterly; year to begin on this 10th of October 
 instant, on condition that said Richard Martyn perform the work of 
 schoolmaster, on the usual and accustomed hours and seasons of 
 keeping school, and to teach all such youth and children, both boys 
 and girls, to read, rite and sifer, or Latin, according to their capacity, 
 belonging to the town, that are sent seasonable to him ; the school 
 to be kept, the first quarter at Col. John Wheelright's house ; the 2d 
 Quarter to Mr. Daniel Littlefi eld's house (near Ogunquit river), and 
 the remaining half year near the middle of the town, near the Meet- 
 ing House." The persons with whom Mr. Martyn diates to be paid 
 six shillings per week, during the term of time exprest." His ser- 
 vices seem to have given satisfaction to the people, for the next year 
 they offered him £45. But the position was not very desirable and 
 he did not choose to accept it. In 1717, the town voted that the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 309 
 
 selectmen should "endeavor to agree with Charles Tread well to keep 
 a free school for a year ; but not to give him more than they had 
 paid Martyn." Tread well was not an educated man. Whether he 
 took the school or not, the record does not show. If he did, he con- 
 tinued in charge of it but a little while, for in September they voted 
 that " John Lynn should be their schoolmaster for one quarter of a 
 year," at the same wages paid Martyn. 
 
 Such was the introduction of school instruction in Wells, and from 
 this period we feel that we are speaking of a different race of men. 
 The interest of the children in their studies naturally awakened an 
 interest in their parents, and may have induced them to give some 
 attention to study. Children are sometimes the most effectual in- 
 structors. Their questionings are frequently strongly suggestive to 
 parents. The interest which had been awakened in the town did 
 not die out. The people persevered in the maintainance of schools 
 even during the war which followed. Nicholas Ledyard of Salem 
 was the schoolmaster several years. We have thought that he may 
 have been the father of the famous traveller, John Ledyard. 
 
 In addition to the causes which we have before named, as delay- 
 ing the settlement of Kennebunk, another we think may be found in 
 the doubt which existed as to the title to the land. Great excitement 
 now prevailed in consequence of notice from Daniel Eppes of Salem 
 and Simon Eppes of Ipswich, of their determination to enforce their 
 rights to the territory of Kennebunk, or to that part of it which lies 
 between the Kennebunk and Mousam rivers. Their claim was 
 founded on a deed of John and Robert Wadley, made to them in 
 1659, in which they convey to Daniel Eppes and Simon Eppes, " as 
 purchased by them of the Indians, who were the true proprietors 
 thereof, as does most clearly and evidently appear by the deed of 
 sale made by the said Indians unto the said Wadleigh, and also suf- 
 ficiently attested unto, being all the land between Cape Porpoise 
 river and Kennebunk river, the land only excepted that lyeth in 
 possession of Butland, David Pearce, Mr. William Symonds and 
 John Cheater, from the sea-wall between Cape Porpoise and Kenne- 
 bunk river, so to the Great Falls that are upon Cape Porpoise river, 
 which are by estimation about seven or eight miles from the sea." 
 
 On the receipt of this notice of the intention of these men to 
 prosecute their claim, a town meeting was called Sept. 14, 1719, 
 "then and there to adjutate and debate what may be done in that 
 
310 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KEETNEBUNK. 
 
 matter concerning Major Eppes laying claim to the land laying be- 
 tween Kennebunk river and Little river." This notification implies 
 a much larger claim than can be established by the Indian deed. It 
 may be that there is error in the record. At the meeting holden 
 only four days after the issue of the warrant, it was voted to defend 
 against any suit brought against any inhabitant, founded on the In- 
 dian deed, and Francis Sayer was chosen to notify the Wadleys to 
 that effect. But the claimants were not to be bluffed off by this vote 
 of the town, and the next year instituted their suit to recover the 
 lands. What was the nature of their defense to the claim does not 
 appear in any record to which we have had access. But we are 
 aware that no possession had been had by these claimants for more 
 than sixty years; neither do they seem to have done any act indicat- 
 ing ownership; neither had they done anything to maintain the 
 civil authority over it during the long and severe Indian wars. Yet 
 we have been unable to discover from these facts any just defense on 
 the part of the town. In regular town meeting Sept. 2, 1676, the 
 record says, " After serious debate of matters have generally acted 
 and do hereby conclude that there be a humble petition drawn up 
 to his Majesty in his name, earnestly supplicating his Majesty's favor, 
 petition and confermation of the propriety of lands which we hon- 
 estly bought of the Indians," etc. Here is a plain avowal of the 
 source of their title, and how was the Indian title acquired? By 
 this deed of Thomas Chabinocke, the Sagamore of Wells, to the two 
 Wadleys, and by no other, though we are unable to see, in this 
 transfer of the Indian title to them, how any benefit could enure to 
 the town of Wells. The fee was in them — and it ill became the in- 
 habitants, who had in their petition to the king set up this deed as 
 the foundation of their right, now to ignore it when operating against 
 them. Corporations have no more license to be dishonest than indi- 
 viduals. We are compelled to say, therefore, that this whole pro- 
 ceeding of the town was far from being creditable to them. We 
 think the people came to the same conclusion, for in a month after- 
 ward they settled and adjusted the claim, by giving to the Eppses a 
 grant of a mile square between the Mousam and Kennebunk river, 
 or Mousam and Little river, wherever they could find it, free of any 
 grant theretofore made by the town ; and to [John Wadley a grant 
 of two hundred acres adjoining that of Epps\ 
 
 In 1718 an attempt was made to renew the business of manufac- 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 311 
 
 turing tar. Two men, Judah Paddock and Henry Marsh, came to 
 Wells, and asked for the privilege of using the pitch pine knots, or 
 candle-wood, as it was called, birch, etc., which were found so exten- 
 sively through the town, for this purpose. The right was granted of 
 taking all necessary materials from any of the lands between the 
 Mousam and Branch rivers, from the sea up to the Mousam path. 
 This whole land, we think, to this day, is full of roots, knots, and 
 other vegetable relics, which would well subserve this important 
 object. For all tar manufactured, they were to pay to the town 
 eighteen pence a barrel. The work was required to be done on the 
 land. We have not been able to ascertain what degree of success 
 attended this enterprise. The ground which they were at liberty to 
 occupy was an entire wilderness, and the apprehensions of another 
 Indian war must, in a few years, have led them to abandon a business 
 which they could not safely pursue so far removed from all assistance, 
 and from refuge to the garrisons. 
 
 There is no doubt that in the territory of Wells and Kennebunk 
 ample provision has been made by creating wisdom, to call into exer- 
 cise the philosophy and energies of the people. Material for wealth 
 and industry is buried in the lands of many of the inhabitants, who 
 have never dreamed of the riches there awaiting development. We 
 have abundance of peat, rosin, iron, and probably we are not wanting 
 in some more valuable portions of the mineral kingdom. We may 
 have to go deep into the earth to reach the stores ; but at some future 
 time they will be brought to light ; we only need enterprising, scien- 
 tific men to open up these resources. 
 
 The brief period which has occupied our attention in this chapter, 
 is an important one in the history of the Province. The ravages of 
 war were again everywhere visible. Destruction of mills, houses, 
 and villages marked the track of the Indian scouts. Most of the 
 buildings had been burnt, and towns which had had but an infant 
 existence, were swept from the face of the earth. Wells alone had 
 sustained itself against all the assaults of the enemy. Cape Porpoise, 
 the adjoining town, was completely destroyed; hardly sufficient 
 tokens of the work of civilization remaining, to entitle it to be re- 
 garded as a town ; but now the work of renovation was going on 
 all over the Province. Men were returning to the rescue of the un- 
 fortunate villages, from the destruction which had overtaken them. 
 
312 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTOK. 
 
 Houses were rebuilt, farms restored to order, mills were rising again 
 on the banks of all the rivers, and an enterprising and industrious 
 spirit was busy in devising and preparing the means of renovation. 
 All seemed to go into the work with a will. This general impulse to 
 the activities of business might have had its origin in some measure, 
 in an auxiliary act of the Legislature, which provided for the issue 
 of bills of credit or loans to the people, on furnishing the security of 
 a mortgage of their farms. Many of them had lost everything else 
 by the war, and were thus unable to do anything toward rebuilding 
 their houses. This immediate supply must have furnished very effi- 
 cient aid in the work of reconstruction. The money was offered to 
 towns, but Wells did not vote to accept any portion of it. How 
 much was received by individual inhabitants cannot be ascertained. 
 The county of Yorkshire received a hundred thousand pounds, and 
 we can have no doubt that some of the townsmen who had suffered 
 severely were thus helped. Cape Porpoise must have availed itself 
 of the benefit of this legislative benevolence. That town was re- 
 built, and reorganized as a corporation, and took to itself the name 
 of Arundel. Wells, bordering upon it, was inspired with new zeal, 
 by the encouragement which it afforded, of strength and aid, in the 
 event of a renewal of Indian hostilities. A great many grants of 
 land were made, and the prospect of an enlargement of its borders, 
 and a substantial increase of its population, was very animating to 
 the settlers. The rapid renewal of the villages eastward, and the 
 consequent rapid increase of travel, demanded increased facilities for 
 transportation. Though a road had been laid out the " upper way," 
 as it was then termed, from Wells to Saco, no provision had been 
 made, or enforced, for the immediate erection of bridges. The roads 
 were generally located so as to pass the rivers at some convenient 
 wading-place ; that to Saco passed where it now does over the Ken- 
 nebunk river ; but the people demanded a more convenient way of 
 passing it than by fording; and the town, in 1772, was indicted for 
 not building a bridge. Such a judicial admonition in those days was 
 not disregarded ; and consequently this bridge was then built, being 
 the first on Kennebunk river. 
 
 In 1720 an accession to the population of the town was made by 
 the immigration and settlement of several persons from Ireland. 
 Some of these were ancestors of valuable citizens now living among 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 313 
 
 us. Thomas Boothby, Henry Boothby, and William Jepson came 
 from Magwater; Andrew Simington and George Simington came 
 from Slrabarre ; Thomas Gillpatrick and Robert Page from Donath- 
 keedy ; John Ross, from Sligo ; and Bryce McLellan from Balymony. 
 They brought wives and families with them. Anne Weer came also 
 as one of the company. These all became good and valuable citizens. 
 
314 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Lovewell's wab- Indian raids— Various persons killed— Sergeant 
 Larrabee's garrison— Death of Capt. Felt and others— Destruction 
 of norridgewock — soldiers from wells — indian cowardice — wheel- 
 right's expedition to Lovell's Pond — Attack upon the Durrell 
 family — Indians resident at Wells — Their characteristics — Am- 
 bereuse— Indian pow-wow— List of Inhabitants in 1726— Joseph 
 Storer. 
 
 As we have stated in the preceeding chapter, at the close of the 
 Indian war in 1713, the confidence of the people in a continued 
 peace, led them to more freedom in selecting sites for habitation. 
 Previously they had been impelled by the constant fear of renewed 
 hostilities, to secure to themselves house lots as near to the principal 
 settlement as possible. But now they had ventured to look to the 
 eligibility of such lots in themselves, disregarding in some measure 
 those extrinsic considerations, which had prevented them from se- 
 lecting sites best adapted to meet the demands of life. They had 
 built houses on the Mousam river, and at the eastward of Great Hill, 
 where the Wentworths and Boothbys now live, and also at Merry- 
 land, and were commencing anew and rapidly advancing the settle- 
 ment of the town, with the fair promise of a quiet and peaceful pur- 
 suit of their agriculture and other employments. But the war-whoop 
 was again heard in various parts of the Province, and the inhabi- 
 tants were admonished to new precautions for their protection. 
 They were not to be driven from their little farms ; but set about 
 building stockades to their houses. It did not require bulwarks like 
 those which modern civilization has made necessary, to defend 
 against the attacks of enlightened skill. Walls of timber, or pali- 
 sades, were a sufficient protection against any armory which the 
 Indian could bring to bear upon them. The houses of Look, Worm- 
 wood, Harding, and perhaps others, were guarded in this way. It 
 seems to us of the present age to have been almost a reckless resolu- 
 tion of these few men, here to face the brunt of a savage war ; but 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 315 
 
 their all was in the houses which they had built, which, if abandoned, 
 would surely be committed to the flames ; and beside, they were led 
 to believe, that the tribes alone were to be concerned in this new 
 aggression upon the Province ; and they thence felt that here, in the 
 western part of it, they might escape its terrors. Although the 
 French abjured any, and all, agency in fomenting dissatisfaction with 
 the Indians, and stirring them up to war, yet it is as certain as al- 
 most any fact in history, that they were continually instigating them 
 to their work of cruelty and desolation ; but as they had no open 
 hand in the warfare, the Indians were too feeble, of themselves, to 
 protract it for a great length of time. The war commenced in 1722. 
 Its opening act sent a thrill of terror to the hearts of these brave 
 men of Wells. Nine families were taken at one time at Merry Meet- 
 ing bay ; more than the whole number at this time living on the 
 territory of Kennebunk, which might at any moment be attacked. 
 Assaults had also been made on the fort at St. George's river, and on 
 other places; soon their ravages were extended to the adjoining 
 towns. One man had been killed in Berwick ; but winter coming on, 
 the foe retreated, and quiet again prevailed in the houses of the set- 
 tlers. 
 
 In the spring (1723) the Indian scouts were again abroad; on the 
 eleventh of May, one Parsons, and one Randall, were killed at Ber- 
 wick ; and on the same day Daniel Low, who lived in Merryland, was 
 killed ; and the saw-mill on Little river, belonging to Nicholas Cole 
 and others, was burnt. Two young men were also killed while going 
 from Wells to York. Just after, Benjamin Major was killed in Arun- 
 del, and a saw-mill on Kennebunk river (we suppose Storer's) was 
 burnt. About the same time other persons were killed in Berwick 
 and Saco. Aug. 27, Mr. Jepsum was captured, and afterward mur- 
 dered. He was at the saw-mill at Mousam for some special purpose, 
 and probably alone. Such was the terror inspired by the savage 
 outrages, that he remained here unburied a fortnight, when Joseph 
 Hill and about twenty others, prepared for the purpose, came here, 
 and interred him. His bones probably lie in the field not far from 
 the house of Jefferson W. Sargent. Three or four more were killed 
 in Arundel, before the close of the year ; though the winter follow- 
 the Indians did not cease from their incursions, as was their custom, 
 but continued their raids upon Berwick, and some places east. 
 
 The people had been so accustomed in the former war to the perils 
 
316 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 which continually beset them, that they had now become careless, 
 and did not exercise that precaution which was necessary to personal 
 safety. Many of the murders which occurred were the result of im- 
 prudence. Lieut. Governor Dummer being informed of this danger- 
 ous temerity, wrote to John Wheelright, directing him to " charge 
 the people within the district of your regiment, to be very careful 
 when they go into the fields not to expose themselves by going out 
 weak and without arms ; but that they associate in their work -in 
 parties of ten or a dozen men, well armed, keeping a centinel with 
 their guns ; and I desire you forthwith to acquaint all the garrisons 
 as far as Capt. Heath's, at Richmond, to keep a watchful guard at 
 this frontier." If such admonitions had been properly regarded the 
 Indians would have been far less successful in their incursions. But 
 men inured to danger will frequently become fool-hardy. Many fell 
 in this war, who, had they exercised due prudence, would never have 
 been its victims ; but there were men at this time of sound discretion 
 and unflinching courage, who were always on the lookout. Among 
 these was Sergeant Stephen Larrabee, son of William Larrabee ; he 
 had been bred to danger, and could look it calmly in the face when 
 necessary ; we shall speak more particularly of him in another place. 
 He saw the necessity of preparing for these raids, and endeavoring 
 to protect the few men who were pioneers with him in the wilderness 
 of Kennebunk ; and also of providing a refuge for others from the 
 eastward, who might be obliged to flee from their homes, and planned 
 a grand fort at his house on the Mousam river. We have before 
 spoken of his father's house. He built a garrison or fort, covering an 
 acre of ground ; timber was abundant, and close at hand. The walls 
 were of large, square timber, about fourteen feet high. The struct- 
 ure was in the form of a parallelogram ; it fronted southeast, or down 
 the river. On the four corners were four flankers ; so projecting that 
 the person within might have a view of any operations without, on 
 the side, and one end of the fort ; they were in an angular shape, 
 with a kind of port-hole in the angle, but not sufficiently large for a 
 person to enter. There was also on the lower side a large flanker, in 
 the style and fashion of a portico, though built, as were the others, 
 six feet from the ground ; so that one could pass directly under it. 
 There were three gates, one at each end, and one on the side of the 
 fort flanker. Within the walls were five houses ; that of Sergeant 
 Larrabee was very large, wide, and of one story, and stood in the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 317 
 
318 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 center of the fort ; in the north corner was the house of Edward 
 Evans ; in the eastern, that of Ebenezer Bayridge. The other two, 
 one being at the western, and the other at the southern end, were 
 occupied by Nathan Morrison and the soldiers which were stationed 
 there under his command ; and also by such persons as found refuge 
 here from the neighborhood, on the occasion of an alarm, or when- 
 ever it was known that the Indians were in the vicinity. All the 
 houses were of one story, having, as they were called in those days, 
 block windows ; that is, merely square holes, to let in the air and 
 light, which might be blocked up in a moment, to protect the inmates 
 from outward danger. Most of the houses at this period were light- 
 ed with similar windows ; they were about a foot square ; some had 
 thick, substantial shutters, others were provided with blocks. At the 
 northeastern end of the garrison, just before the gate, was the house 
 of Samuel and Anthony Littlefield; it was built of logs, and was the 
 same previously built and occupied by William Larrabee. In this 
 entire structure, exclusive of the dwelling houses, must have been 
 used at least thirteen thousand cubic feet of timber ; it was a great 
 work for the small number of men who were engaged in it ; how 
 long time was occupied in its erection, or when it was commenced, 
 or when finished, we cannot state. Of its splendor or magnificence 
 we can say nothing ; it was not built for show, but for protection. 
 It was the largest building which has ever stood within the limits of 
 Kennebunk ; and was an honor to its noble projector, whose memory 
 should be cherished not only by his descendants, but by all who can 
 duly appreciate true patriotism, and a sincere and sound benevolence. 
 
 In this garrison, or within these bulwarks, including the house out- 
 side, which was made an appendage, and from which there was direct 
 access to the garrison, were frequently gathered all the inhabitants 
 of Kennebunk, together with other persons (sometimes over two 
 hundred), driven there by the exigencies of war for the preservation 
 of their lives. 
 
 In the spring of 1724, the Indians were early at their terrible work. 
 In March they killed Samuel Smith at Arundel ; in April following, 
 a sloop belonging to Lynn, under the command of Oapt. John Felt, 
 came into the Kennebunk river after lumber and spars, to be taken 
 at the mill on Gooch's creek. As stated in the history of Kenne- 
 bunkport, he engaged two young men, William Wormwood and 
 Ebenezer Lewis, soldiers stationed at Harding's garrison, to assist 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 319 
 
 him. The spars were afloat, and Felt was on the raft ; the bank on 
 the north side of the river was thickly covered with trees. Here a 
 party of Indians had concealed themselves, awaiting a favorable op- 
 portunity to attack the crew. The first intimation that the latter 
 had of their presence, was the discharge of a gun, killing Capt. Felt. 
 Lewis immediately ran to the mill brow, where he was also killed, 
 by a ball striking him on the head. Wormwood ran, pursued by the 
 enemy ; finding himself likely to be overtaken, and fearing Indian 
 captivity more than death, he placed his back against a stump, and 
 defended himself with the butt of his gun until the bullets of the 
 enemy had deprived him of life. By mistake, he had taken a gun 
 not his own, when he went to the work, and it missed fire. He told 
 them that if he had had his own gun, he would have had the satis- 
 faction of killing one of them before he died. These men, it is said, 
 were buried in the field near Butland's rocks, where Felt's grave- 
 stones were standing till within the present century. They should 
 have been standing now. These mementos of the trials and dangers 
 of the early inhabitants, should not have been left unheeded to the 
 ruthless hand of time. This event is strangely perverted in Hutch- 
 inson's History of Massachusetts, where it is said, " About the same 
 time John Felt, William Wormwell, and Ebenezer Lewis were killed 
 at a saw-mill on Kennebec river." The same perverted account has 
 since found its way into various histories of the Indian wars. 
 
 This massacre occurred on the twenty-fifth of April. Historians 
 give an account of a similar occurrence on the seventeenth, when the 
 Indians " fell on a sloop at Kennebunk which belonged to Lynn, and 
 killed the whole company." But we have good reason for believing 
 that these supposed different events were identical. We derive onr 
 knowledge from records made at the time in Wells ; and as the other 
 murders, committed before and afterward, are minuted, and no ac- 
 count made of this last which we have stated, the inference is that 
 no such event took place on the 17th. 
 
 On being apprised of the death of Felt and his companions, all the 
 men in the vicinity, being about twenty, gathered together and 
 started in pursuit of the Indians. John Webber, who was more 
 eager than the rest, and thirsted for the blood of these demons, kept 
 himself somewhat in advance of the others, and reaching a pile of 
 brush got up on it that he might have a more extensive view. Here 
 he stood some time, looking about. At length satisfied that they 
 
320 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 were too late in the pursuit, the party returned home. When the 
 Indians came in after the war, they gave a minute account of this 
 raid, and Wawathe Sagamore, or the king as he was here called, then 
 stated that he lay under the brush all the time while Webber stood 
 upon it, but that he dared not kill him, as he could easily have done, 
 knowing that the remainder of his company were near by. Worm- 
 wood was the son of Thomas Wormwood, who lived at the Larrabee 
 village on Mousam river, and whose descendants are still living in 
 Kennebunk. 
 
 Prior to the spring of this year, the government do not appear to 
 have come to the aid of the inhabitants. But such had been the 
 frequency and extent of these raids on the settlers, that one hundred 
 and fifty soldiers were now sent into the province. Portions of 
 these were stationed at Wells, Kennebunk, and Arundel. These 
 few soldiers might do something to stay ravages near the Point 
 where they were stationed ; but to the people who lived a few miles 
 from them, they afforded but little protection. The murder of which 
 we have given an account was committed almost at the gate of the 
 Harding garrison. We think there were some soldiers stationed 
 there, while there were also several vessels with crews on board in 
 the river close by. There was no other security than unremitted 
 precaution. Outside of the garrisons there was always danger. The 
 government, we judge, aided the town in some measure, by the scout 
 which was ordered. Jeremiah Moulton was directed to keep guard 
 day and night, and to scout about Wells village, Kennebunk, Merry- 
 land, Cape Neddock and Berwick. The Indians had no courage. 
 The knowledge that they were pursued or watched, in a measure 
 held them in check. 
 
 In the month of August occurred the memorable conflict at Nor- 
 ridgewock. The government had long been satisfied that Rasle, the 
 French Priest residing in the Indian village at that place, was the in- 
 stigator or abettor of the outrages which were continually being 
 committed in various parts of the Province. He had been among 
 them as their spiritual adviser nearly forty years, and had acquired 
 supreme control over them. Their attachment to him was strong, 
 and it was undoubtedly in his power to have stayed their frightful 
 ravages. Still they were continued. No treaties could bind them, 
 however solemnly entered into. The Provinces would endure these 
 truce-breakings no longer, and a force was now sent under the com- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 321 
 
 mand of Captains Moulton, Harmon and Bourne to destroy the vil- 
 lage, and, if possible, to take Rasle alive. The two former of these 
 belonged to York ; whether the latter was John Bourne, of Wells, 
 or Richard Bourne, of Cape Cod, our investigations have not en- 
 abled us to answer. A great many of these soldiers were from 
 Arundel. The following were from Wells: John Elwell, Benjamin 
 Saver, John Wakefield, Nathaniel Wakefield, Gibbens Wakefield, 
 Stephen Larrabee, John Jellison, Samuel Waterhouse, John Butland, 
 Anthony Littlefield, and probably others. 
 
 The expedition was a complete success. The whole village was 
 destroyed. Father Rasle bravely defended himself; but he was shot 
 down by one of the lieutenants. Great joy prevailed when informa- 
 tion was received of the successful issue of the enterprise ; and 
 Moulton received the commendations of the government for his skill- 
 ful management of it. It was intended that Rasle should have been 
 captured and brought to Boston ; but Jaques, by whom he was killed, 
 perceiving that he was in the act of firing at our men, shot him. 
 Some of the present day have denounced the action of this expedi- 
 tion as not demanded by the circumstances of the case. But they 
 have not had the experience to which the early settlers were sub- 
 jected. Had they lived in those days they would probably have par- 
 taken somewhat of the spirit of these brave men. 
 
 The result of this expedition, so auspicious to the Province, did not 
 immediately bring the war to a close. The government endeavored 
 by a commission to Canada, to persuade the French to terminate it, 
 as they undoubtedly could if so disposed. But the labors of the com- 
 mission were entirely fruitless. The Indians continued to wreak 
 out their vengeance against the people. The whole year 1724 was 
 one of excitement. Men were murdered day after day. The skill of 
 the Indians in ambuscade baffled all the exertions of the soldiery and 
 of the government to protect the people. One man was killed in 
 Arundel in August, and two more in September. One was killed on 
 the main road near the bridge over Kennebunk river. It is a marvel 
 that so many escaped. The Indians were about in small scouts ; and 
 being few in numbers, easily concealed themselves in the recesses of 
 the forests; while the English almost recklessly pursued their busi- 
 ness at the mills and on the rivers. But though the natives mani- 
 fested a remarkable tact in concealing themselves from discovery, 
 they seem to have had little or no skill in detecting the hiding 
 
322 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 places of the white men, as appears by the several instances of escape 
 already stated. Richard Kimball, who was an influential man, and 
 would have been a valuable prize to them, while at one time travel- 
 ing from his house to the landing on the road by Kennebunk river, 
 discovered several Indians, just as he was about passing Wonder 
 Brook at its mouth. He immediately jumped down and hid himself 
 under a log projecting from the bank. One would think that here 
 was but little chance for escape from captivity. But they failed in 
 finding his hiding place. 
 
 At another time the Littlefield mill was in operation, and the own- 
 ers were getting out lumber. Boards were sent to the Port by rafts. 
 Gondolas had not then come into use. Samuel Littlefield, one of the 
 owners of the mill, who, to distinguish him from another of the same 
 name, was generally known as Fat Sam, was engaged in rafting. He 
 was alone in his work. But possessing remarkable strength he was 
 able to manage his raft without help. • As he was working down the 
 river he discovered several of the enemy; he instantly brought his 
 raft to the shore on the opposite side and hid himself under a wind- 
 fall. They passed directly by it, but did not discover him. He 
 then returned to the river and proceeded with his raft. Our on- 
 ly explanation of this failure of their martial strategy, is to be found 
 in the general cowardice of these savages. In looking over the his- 
 tory of these early wars, it will be seen that they seldom captured 
 any one who had his gun with him. They knew that an attempt to 
 take one thus armed, would almost certainly result in the death oi 
 some one of their number, and the discharge of a single gun would 
 at once rouse all within the hearing of it. Every man was required 
 to carry his gun with him when going any material distance from his 
 home or place of labor. Kimball and Littlefield, we infer, were thus 
 armed. At least the Indians thought so. And knowing that any 
 one who should be in a position to discover them, must also be him- 
 self discovered, and thus receive the contents of their guns, they 
 never dared to push their investigations too far. They felt it was 
 not safe to look through or under the windfall, or over the bank of 
 the brook. Assured of this cowardice as an element of Indian char- 
 acter, the women frequently availed themselves of the use of the 
 musket. The grandmother of one of the ladies of Kennebunk, by 
 accident, was left alone in the evening with a little child ; and being 
 satisfied by the motion of some of the growing vegetation in the 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 323 
 
 garden, that it was disturbed by some living object making its way 
 toward the house, she seized the gun and fired. Immediately three 
 Indians jumped up, and with all speed fled to the forests. 
 
 The government now felt the importance of putting more energy 
 into the work of subduing these terrible enemies to the peace and 
 prosperity of the people, and accordingly another expedition was set 
 on foot to search out and subdue them. One Peter Talcot, who had 
 been taken captive by the Indians, having succeeded in effecting his 
 escape, communicated to the governor some facts in relation to their 
 place of encampment ; and Capt. Samuel Wheelright of Wells, with 
 the necessary force, was sent into the interior toward Piqwacket. 
 He was directed to take with him Stephen Hardin, who lived at the 
 mouth of Kennebunk river, and some other man who was acquainted 
 with the place and the route. The Indians were said to be secreted 
 in the neighborhood of Lovell's Pond. We give the account of 
 Wheelright's expedition as stated by himself. "The Journal of 
 Capt. Samuel Wheelright in a march from Wells to Pigwackell. 
 Wells, 1724, Nov. 20. I received orders from his Honor the Lieut. 
 Governor to draw out 50 of the posted men at York, Wells and 
 Arundel, with Lieut. Brown as my Second, Mr. Stephen Harden and 
 Peter Colcord as Pilots, to go to Pigwacket in search after the In- 
 dians. 
 
 Nov. 21. Victualed my men. 23d Lieut. Brown and Ensign Card 
 came to Wells and victualed their men. 24th. Foul Weather. 25th. 
 I set out and marched about 8 miles further, and by reason of the 
 snow on the bushes, we could go no further, and then campt, and 
 that morning sent back three men sick. 27th. We marched about 
 15 miles and 4 men sent back sick. 28th. 12 men more I sent back 
 sick, and some that detained us and so we marched but 10 miles. 
 29th. We marched about 18 miles. 29. We lay still by reason of 
 foul weather and the men being sick, we being then within 10 miles 
 of Ossipee Pond. Dec. 1. In the morning when I came to muster 
 the men in order to march, some were sick, some lame, and some 
 dead-hearted, and the snow being somewhat hard, so that I could 
 not get above 18 or 20 that was fit to march forward. Upon which 
 I called the officers together for advice, and so concluded to return 
 again which was contrary to my inclination. 
 
 3d. got home to Wells. Samuel Wheelright." 
 
324 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKtfEBTJNK. 
 
 We can hardly persuade ourselves that this is the history of the 
 expedition of a military company one hundred and fifty years ago. 
 That these men, some of them inhabitants of Wells, hardened by 
 the toils and antagonisms of pioneer life, should have been so speedily 
 disabled by a little snow on the bushes, in the month of November, 
 as to be unable to march sixty miles, is a marvel not easily explained. 
 We are inclined to think that if the whole company had been en- 
 tered on the roll as " dead hearted," the record would not have been 
 wide from the truth. We have been accustomed, previously to this 
 time, to speak of our predecessors as men of energy and courage. 
 The main body of them were not townsmen ; but still a portion 
 were, and some of the merit of the expedition belongs to us. The 
 captain was the son of Col. John Wheelright, the main pillar of our 
 support and defense through all the vicissitudes of the Indian wars. 
 But the march to Piqwacket could never have ceased to afford mat- 
 ter for the taunts and gibes of humor and waggery during his life. 
 His sick men, we opine, were not long delayed from blessing God in 
 their own houses, that they were restored to health. The valiant 
 company whose outward march was so obstructed by snow as to re- 
 quire ten days' time in reaching Ossipee Pond, were so brave and 
 hardy on the return, that the journey was accomplished in two. 
 There was evidently among them little of the spirit of the noble 
 Lovewell and his party, who faced the brunt of all the storms of 
 winter, and fought a battle which will honor his memory as long as 
 civilization shall maintain its hold on this continent. This battle did 
 much to reduce the Indians to subjection, and Wells should have 
 had an honorable share in it. 
 
 The Indians disposed to cease from hostilities, in December entered 
 into a new treaty ; but a spirit of revenge for the murder of Rasle 
 being aroused in the French, they prevailed upon the natives to dis- 
 regard the treaty, and continue the war upon the English. In Octo- 
 ber, 1726, an attack was made on the family of Phillip Durrell in 
 Arundel, of which Col. John Wheelright in a letter to the Lieut. 
 Governor, dated Oct. 27th, gives a brief account : " Phillip Durrell 
 of Kennebunk, went from his house with one of his sons to work, 
 the sun being about two hours high, leaving at home his wife, a son 
 twelve years old, and a married daughter with a child 20 months old. 
 He returned home a little before sunset, when he found his family all 
 gone, and his house set on fire, his chests split open and all his cloth- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 325 
 
 ing carried away. He searched the woods and found no signs of any- 
 killed." A further and interesting account of this transaction will 
 be found in Bradbury's History of Kennebunkport. This family is 
 spoken of as living in Kennebunk. It was common in that day so 
 to distinguish all who lived in the neighborhood of Kennebunk river. 
 There were then no prescribed limits to the territory thus designated. 
 Among the articles taken from the house and carried away by the 
 Indians, was a Bible, which was left by them in the woods where 
 they encamped. This was afterwards found and restored. It be- 
 longed to Mrs. Baxter, the married daughter of Mr. Durrell, and has 
 been carefully kept since, being now in the possession of Oliver 
 Bourne, Esq., one of her descendants. 
 
 The captives generally were carried into Canada, and for a small 
 sum sold to the French, who demanded a large sum for their ransom ; 
 thus making the wars a source of much profit to them. We do not 
 understand how the French could hold English subjects in their pos- 
 session, while they claimed to be neutral in these wars, and to have 
 no agency in them. At a conference holden with the Indians at 
 Falmouth in 1727, it was said by them that three of the persons cap- 
 tured in this last incursion were killed on their journey to Canada, 
 that the boy was sold to the French, and that they had no power to 
 restore him. This boy, Bradbury says, was but two years with the 
 Indians; and yet his appearance and habits afterward were always 
 those of the red man. We suppose these two years must have been 
 prior to his sale to the French. 
 
 This was the last act of what was termed Lovewell's war, imme- 
 diately affecting those dwelling in this neighborhood. Wells does 
 not seem to have suffered much in any of its stages ; its garrisons, so 
 numerous, afforded protection to all who resorted to them ; and its 
 bravery in former wars, manifested in the successful defense of the 
 town against all the forces brought against it, may have had some 
 restraining effect upon the enemy. In the early years of the settle- 
 ment there was no enmity between the races ; but in the progress of 
 increasing civilization, a spirit was engendered in the bosoms of these 
 sons of the forest, which made them unwelcome neighbors of the 
 white men. The intercourse which existed in times of peace had no 
 effect in softening their revengeful spirit, when those peaceful rela- 
 tions were broken off. Mercy, and remembrance of former associa- 
 tions and kindnesses, seem, with here and there an exception, to have 
 
326 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 had no home in any of their souls. They were cruel and malicious 
 to the last degree ; and thence among all the inhabitants there pre- 
 vailed a bitter enmity toward them. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, it may be well to add some account of 
 the Indians, with whom our predecessors were specially acquainted ; 
 the author has known and had frequent conversations with men, who, 
 living in their neighborhood, were thoroughly acquainted with their 
 peculiar characteristics. It may be thought by some of our readers, 
 that the spirit cherished toward them was not consistent with the 
 relations which they were bound to maintain. While we cannot but 
 heartily condemn the various agencies by which, from year to year, 
 their characters were moulded, we cannot find it in our hearts to 
 complain of the people of the last century, for their enmity toward 
 these natives. They were here a large part of the warmer seasons, 
 living and having their homes among the settlers. Some of them 
 dwelt on the north side of Gooch's creek, near where the road now 
 passes ; here were about twenty wigwams. Another community of 
 six or seven wigwams lived on Great Hill and Grandfather's neck, 
 and a third, a small distance below Larrabee's fort, where there were 
 three or four wigwams. These structures were made of small sticks 
 of wood about twelve feet long, standing upon or driven into the 
 ground, in a circular form, inclining inward at the top, leaving only 
 a small space for the escape of the smoke, and covered with brush, 
 clay, skins, or anything else attainable, to make them tight and warm. 
 The whole Indian population in Wells was about one hundred and 
 sixty ; they were of different tribes, according to the divisions made 
 by ethnologists, but classed under the general name of Abnekis. 
 Whether they were of the Saco, Piqwacket, Kennebec, Penobscot, 
 Norridgewock, or some other classification, we cannot determine. 
 In ancient times, the people here were not accustomed to make any 
 distinctions; they were all Indians, or savages. Tom Wawa, or 
 Wahaunay, was the leading Sagamore, having his home on Great 
 Hill. The inhabitants called him the king ; he was well known to 
 the whites ; entered freely into conversations ; visited their houses, 
 and was well acquainted with their various employments and habits 
 of life ; and thus gathered all the information necessary to aid him 
 in any subsequent raids upon them. He was not the Hopewood, as 
 some have, supposed, who died long before this time, for he lived 
 several years after the Lovewell fight, in which he was second in 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 327 
 
 command. Like most of the Indians who dwelt among the English, 
 he was addicted to the free use of intoxicating liquors ; and while 
 savage by nature, he was made much more so by its frequent use. 
 He was in the habit of beastly intoxication, as were all the Indians 
 then commorant in this vicinity. 
 
 It was with these wild savages that the people of Wells had been 
 involved in the terrible wars of which we have given an account. 
 While dwelling among them, familiar with their houses and families, 
 enjoying a social intercourse, and manifesting toward them the kind- 
 est friendship, suddenly their hearts would overflow with malice, and 
 they would be found wreaking out their vengeance upon them in 
 relentless torture, and cruelties the most revolting* Wawa was the 
 leader in the attack on the Durrell family ; he was, we suppose, well 
 acquainted with all the members ; yet he and his treacherous band 
 could, in the absence of the father, cruelly murder his wife and chil- 
 dren, and soon afterward return and dwell among the people, as if 
 they had no agency in their death. They could one day exhibit all 
 the innocence of a true and honest friendship toward their white 
 neighbors, and the next, without provocation, but merely from the 
 promptings of an infernal spirit, riot in their blood. 
 
 This trait of Indian character, the sudden vibration from apparent 
 friendship to the most malignant and cruel hatred, without provoca- 
 tion, is entirely inexplicable and without parallel among other na- 
 tions. There can be no mistake as to the fact; our informants, as 
 well acquainted with them as with their white neighbors, in all our 
 conversations with them, recognized this as a marked feature of the 
 Indian character. In their every-day life they were associating with 
 them, and could recount all their names as well as those of the white 
 men ; and while thus dwelling together in apparent harmony and 
 peace, all at once the Indians would become sullen, and discontinue 
 their associations ; and then would be seen grinding their knives and 
 making other preparations for the renewal of hostilities. And yet 
 there was another remarkable feature of this peculiar Indian polity; 
 they never thus transformed themselves from friends to enemies 
 without giving notice, so that all might take heed to themselves and 
 their property ; like those men who are subject to spells of insanity, 
 who, confident that the paroxysm is coming upon them, warn their 
 friends to take the proper precautions to guard against injury. The 
 habit of giving this notice was invariable ; whenever they came in 
 
328 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KEKtTEBUNK. 
 
 from their raids they erected near their wigwams a pile of stones, in 
 a conical form, two or three feet high. So long as this pile remained 
 they were at peace with the whites ; but when war was to be renewed, 
 it was thrown down. They were never guilty of a violation of the 
 armistice signified by this monument. 
 
 There is another fact which we are unable to reconcile with the 
 general history of the relation of our fathers to the aborigines of 
 the country; our knowledge of that portion of the tribe who were 
 accustomed to abide in this vicinity, is derived from men who were 
 contemporary with, and dwelt among them ; so that we are confident 
 and well assured of what we affirm. These hostilities, we are in- 
 formed, were never* continued more than a month or six weeks at a 
 time. We know that the wars continued many years ; and no his- 
 tory which we have seen speaks of any such suspensions of arms, or 
 such intermittent wars, as this fact suggests. We shall attempt no 
 solution of this problem ; but recognizing the fact as stated by our 
 informants, we do not understand why these savages, who could thus 
 suddenly break up their homes and slay the inhabitants, should not 
 have been regarded as murderers, and disposed of as criminals of 
 that character always have been, instead of being suffered to dwell 
 among them unmolested. 
 
 When the Indians returned thus to their homes, and raised the 
 pile of stones, they seemed to be overjoyed that hostilities had ceased ; 
 they came to the houses of their old friends, with their faces as radi- 
 ant with joy as though they had been long absent from the scenes 
 of their former attachments, and had returned innocent of all iniquity. 
 Almost the first thought was, of music, and dancing with those on 
 whom the day before they would have inflicted the most merciless 
 cruelties. They seem to have been influenced by some principles or 
 motives of which we have no knowledge. 
 
 But this strange development of character was not universal. 
 There was one among them who seemed to have more of the spirit 
 of civilized man. Ambereuse, living in one of the wigwams on 
 Mousam river, was a man of peace ; never manifesting any propen- 
 sities for strife and war, but always desiring to live on friendly terms 
 with the white men. He was never known to have any agency in 
 war. He said he did not like war. Whenever his companions de- 
 serted their wigwams for their direful work, he remained at home ; 
 and though the pile of stones was prostrated, he continued his asso- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 329 
 
 ciations with the settlers as intimately as if peace was undisturbed. 
 We suppose he was of the number of those who were then denom- 
 inated "praying Indians." This friendly Indian lived here till 1752, 
 when he removed to South Berwick. Sullivan in his History of 
 Maine says: " There came to Berwick an Indian named Amberuse, 
 with his wife. He said he hated war, and only wanted to live where 
 he could make his brooms and his baskets and live in peace. He re- 
 mained there for several years and then removed to the Kennebec." 
 As stated before, the Indians had but a summer residence here. 
 During the summer months, for the most part, they subsisted on 
 clams, which were then very abundant. When unsuccessful in the 
 pursuit of game, these furnished the necessary supply for all their 
 wants. They had numerous canoes, yet they were not in the habit 
 of fishing beyond the mouth of the rivers. Salmon, shad and 
 alewives abounded in the streams, and at the Mousam Falls great 
 quantities were taken. Large heaps of clamshells used to show 
 themselves in the vicinity of their wigwams. The food which was 
 most highly prized by them was the deer, which at the time of which 
 we are speaking had begun to diminish. The progress of the settle- 
 ment, and the clearing of the forests had tended to drive them in- 
 land. Yet they were still to be found in considerable numbers, and 
 every capture was a source of much joy; not merely for the food se- 
 cured, but because of the exciting scenes which followed. Every one 
 has heard of the Indian pow-wow. It was set up here on all occa- 
 sions of rejoicing; and especially when they had been successful in 
 the chase. One grand object of the pursuit of the deer was, to ob- 
 tain their hoofs, these rendering important service in carrying on the 
 pow-wow. A large number of them was required for each individu- 
 al. When the deer was killed, the hoofs were taken off, and prepared 
 for use, by removing all the interior substances, and leaving nothing 
 but the shell or horn. They were then dried by exposure to the 
 sun, and being thoroughly siccated, were strung upon some kind of 
 a cord for use in the savage frolic. As another part of their para- 
 phernalia on these occasions, they were provided with strings of 
 beads, about the size of robins' eggs. When they had met with any 
 unusual success, or any joyous event occurred, they organized and 
 prepared for the pow-wow. The hair was shaved entirely from one 
 side of the head, which was then painted, one part red and the other 
 blue, and sometimes with a variety of colors ; they then decorated 
 
330 
 
 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 themselves with the beads, suspending one string from the right, and 
 the other from the left ear, to the tip of the nose; they were made 
 to hang loosely, the curve falling down nearly to the shoulders. The 
 deer's hoofs were then applied; they were tied round the legs just 
 above the ankle, each person wearing two strings ; thus equipped, 
 they began the pow-wow. This was performed by jumping and 
 shaking (for the purpose of rattling the deer-horns, which constituted 
 the music), bellowing, hallooing, roaring, and other noisy vocifera- 
 tions, incapable of description; altogether making, as I have been 
 told by those who had witnessed these frolics, a most awful melody ; 
 this was continued till closed by the exhaustion of the participants. 
 
 These Indians seem to have had no idea of a God ; there was 
 nothing in their action which looked like worship, or which indicated 
 any sense of dependence on a higher power. They had become 
 wofully corrupt ; those who lived in these days concurred in the 
 judgment that they were desperately wicked. The only answer to 
 the enquiries as to their worship which we could draw from those 
 who famished the foregoing facts, was, that " they worshipped no 
 other God but the devil, and him they served constantly." 
 
 The Lovewell war ended in Dec, 1725 ; in 1726 the following were 
 all the inhabitants of the town : 
 
 Charles Annis, 
 Richard Boothby, 
 James Boston, 
 John Burks, 
 George Butland, 
 John Butland, 
 Nathaniel Clark, 
 Samuel Clark, 
 Eleazer Clark, 
 James Clark, 
 Nicholas Cole, 
 Ichabod Cousens, 
 Benjamin Crediford, 
 Joseph Crediford, 
 Josiah Crediford, 
 Moses Dormer, 
 John Eldridge, 
 
 Stephen Harding, 
 Nathaniel Harmon, 
 Archelaus Hewitt, 
 George Jacobs, 
 Nathaniel Kimball, 
 Caleb Kimball, 
 David Lawson, 
 William Larrabee, 
 David Littlefield, 
 Dependence Littlefield 
 Francis Littlefield, 
 James Littlefield, 
 Joseph Littlefield, 
 Samuel Littlefield, 
 John Littlefield, 
 Jonathan Littlefield, 
 Samuel Littlefield, jr., 
 
 Matthew Patten, 
 Thomas Penny, 
 Peter Rich, 
 Caleb Richardson, 
 John Ross, 
 James Sampson, 
 Francis Sayer, 
 John Storer, 
 Jeremiah Storer, 
 ,George Simonton, 
 Moses Stevens, 
 Joseph Stevens, 
 Samuel Stuart, 
 Samuel Stuart, jr., 
 Joseph Taylor, 
 William Taylor, 
 Samuel Treadwell, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 331 
 
 Samuel Emery, 
 William Eaton, 
 Malachi Edwards, 
 John Fairfield, 
 Thomas Gillpatrick, 
 Joseph Getchell, 
 Zachariah Good ale, 
 Joseph Hill, 
 Samuel Hill, 
 Samuel Hatch, 
 Phillip Hatch, 
 Benjamin Hatch, 
 John Hatch, 
 Samuel Hatch, jr., 
 
 Nathaniel Littlefield, 
 Peter Littlefield, 
 Job Low, 
 William Low, 
 Henry Maddox, 
 Gershom Maxwell, 
 Bryce McLellan, 
 John McDonald, 
 James Medole, 
 Abel Merrill, 
 David Morrison, 
 Jacob Perkins, 
 Robert Poke, 
 
 Israel Tucker, 
 James Wakefield, 
 John Wakefield, 
 Nathaniel Wakefield, 
 John Wells, 
 John Wells, jr., 
 Thomas Wells, 
 John Wheelright, 
 Samuel Wheelright, 
 Joseph Wlieelright, 
 Josiah Winn, 
 Josiah Winn, jr., 
 Thomas Wormwood. 
 
 Soon after the close of the Lovewell war, in 1730, died Joseph 
 Stoker. He was the son of William Storer of Dover, and was born 
 in 1648. His father died in 1660, and his widow married Samuel 
 Austin, of Wells, in 1661. The family were then moved to Wells, 
 where the children were put under the guardianship of Austin, in 
 whose family they continued until maturity. We are not aware 
 that any of them were favored with an education, beyond that which 
 was acquired under the roof of the father-in-law. Austin kept a 
 public house, and was a commissioner for trials several years. In 
 those days public houses were not always nurseries of virtue ; yefy 
 where books were not always accessible, they afforded opportunity, 
 through the intercourse of strangers, of acquiring much practical 
 knowledge. Tavern keepers were then generally well-informed and 
 intelligent men, and were selected for offices of trust. They were 
 licensed to sell intoxicating liquors; but the business does not seem 
 to have had the baleful influence upon them which has been so often 
 witnessed in a later day among those of that occupation. Austin 
 and the Storer family seem to have escaped from the ordinary in- 
 jurious effects of the traffic. The Storers came to manhood well 
 grounded in moral principle, and thence became men of great use- 
 fulness. Joseph Storer seems to have been engaged in the lumber 
 business, building mills and manufacturing boards. He was old 
 enough to learn the lessons of the Indian war of 1675 ; was active 
 in that service, and was thus fitted by his knowledge of Indian char- 
 
332 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 acter and warfare, to make the necessary preparation for future col- 
 lisions with the natives. He built a house on the main road, where 
 John S. Pope now lives, about the year 1679, and afterwards added 
 fortifications with palisades around it. During the next war he built 
 several small houses inside the fortifications for the relief of those 
 who were reduced to the extremity of fleeing here for refuge. This 
 house was constantly open for the service of the people. Officers 
 and soldiers resorted to it ad libitum, while he, with a truly patriotic 
 spirit, was always ready to respond to the wants of all who had been 
 driven from their homes by peril and suffering. Wheelright's garri- 
 son had not then been built ; so that at three periods afterward this 
 was the frontier garrison of the Province. 
 
 Storer was, in every way, active in defense of the Province, en- 
 couraging the people to maintain their ground ; giving up to some of 
 the inhabitants lots of tillage land near the fort for cultivation, as well 
 as pasture for their cattle. The wounded were brought to his house 
 as to a hospital, where he provided good nursing for them in the 
 kindest care of his own family. For these services he received no 
 remuneration from any source. A sincere and earnest patriotism 
 prompted him to all this benevolence. He was an officer in the ser- 
 vice, but these ministrations to the public needs in days of fearful 
 peril, far outshone any glory of military distinction. Perhaps it may 
 be said, that to him more than any other man, was the Province in- 
 debted for its preservation from entire desolation. The timely erec- 
 tion of his garrison afforded the last refuge for the fleeing inhabitants. 
 Without this there would have been no barrier to complete waste, 
 and abandonment by civilized man. The whole territory must have 
 been given over to the revengeful and merciless foe. 
 
 Mr. Storer's life, through all the trials of the Indian wars, was 
 marked by a noble humanity. He was a solid man ; Christian in all 
 his attributes. He was one of the founders of the church at York ; 
 and thus his name is not found among those who inaugurated the 
 church at Wells in 1701, though afterward to the close of his life 
 he acted as one of its deacons. From him have descended all the 
 Storers in Wells. 
 
 The name has undergone various changes in its transmission from 
 past ages. The Storer family, we think, descended from Rev. 
 Thomas Storr, Vicar of Bilsby, in Lincolnshire, England, one of 
 whose children was Augustine, whose sister, Marie Storee, was the 
 
HISTOBY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 333 
 
 wife of the Rev. John Wheelright. Augustine was one of the com- 
 bination at Exeter, William, of Dover, being his son. The name has 
 been spelled Storr, Storee, Story, Storah, and Storer. By the latter 
 the family in Maine are now, and have been known many years. 
 
 Storer was commissioned as a lieutenant, and was always distin- 
 guished as Lieutenant Storer, though not called into any service re- 
 quiring his absence from the garrison. He married Hannah Hill, 
 daughter of Roger Hill, of Saco, by whom he had eight children. 
 The genealogy of the family will be more particularly stated in an- 
 other place. At the period of his death in 1730, he was the wealth- 
 iest man in Wells. One was then required to possess but little 
 property to be regarded as a rich man. His estate was appraised at 
 about 5,000 dollars. Among the items were a half dozen silver 
 spoons, the first of that style possessed by any inhabitant of the 
 town, indicating something of his social standing and of his aspira- 
 tions for rank among the townsmen. As his name is not in the list 
 of inhabitants in 1726, and for other reasons, not necessary to state, 
 we think that for several years he must have resided in York. 
 
334 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Grants to various persons — Confirmation of titles by the proprie- 
 tors— Ferdinando Gorges— Batcomb— The Littlefield and Winn 
 controversy — bllls of credit authorized by the legislature — 
 Shipbuilding at Wells. 
 
 From the close of the Lovewell war, in 1726, to the beginning of 
 the French war, in 1744, but little appears in the history of the 
 town worthy of special notice. Wars have never been fruitful of 
 much good to the race. The whole tendency of these contests has 
 been to demoralization. No man can be made better by a violation 
 of the laws of Infinite Wisdom. There are, indeed, occasions when 
 the people must fight ; when it would be a sin against humanity to 
 permit an aggressor to go on and accomplish his iniquitous designs. 
 Under such circumstances, an obligation rests on every good man to 
 interpose his own energies between the transgressor and his object, 
 whatever may be the cross thereby assumed. Still the incidental 
 results of war are debasing. The associations which it creates are 
 generally of a character adverse to the growth and maintainance of 
 a sound morality. These Indian wars excited and nourished a bad 
 spirit. The cruelties of the savages worked severely on the sensi- 
 bilities of the people, waking them up to revenge, and a retaliation 
 not less wicked than the outrages of the ignorant children of the 
 forests. Massachusetts gave a large bounty for the Indian scalp, so 
 that the best instincts of the human heart were paralyzed. Men 
 were virtually educated by the government to disregard the teach- 
 ings of the moral sense, and rejoice in rendering evil for evil. 
 
 These Indian wars not only corrupted the moral sense, hut actual 
 immoralities speedily ensued from them. A great part of the time 
 all the people were crowded together in the garrisons, so that the 
 proprieties of social life were disregarded. The seclusion and pri- 
 vacy of one's own house could not be maintained. Wholesome re- 
 straint and action under such circumstances were speedily dispensed 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KESTNEBUNK. 335 
 
 with. Freedom became licentious. Accordingly, after the doors of 
 the forts were thrown open, misdemeanors and immoralities abound- 
 ed. A great many, males and females, were indicted for offenses, 
 misdemeanors against Christian purity. It was exceedingly difficult 
 under such influences for one to maintain a true dignity; but the 
 schools were now in operation, and a long'term of peace very much 
 modified the moral aspect of the town, though there were some 
 pugnacious men and women who seemed to find satisfaction in con- 
 tinual broils. The expectation of a more lasting peace was general ; 
 lands, consequently, became of greater value, and all were anxious 
 to maintain their individual rights. A few only of those to whom 
 grants had been made in former years had so fulfilled their condi- 
 tions, as to have confidence in their titles, and a great many con- 
 firmations became necessary and were allowed by the proprietors 
 during the twenty following years. New grants also were made, 
 and various persons, Ichabod Cousens, Charles Annis, Joseph Getch- 
 ell, Thomas Penny, Gershom Maxwell, Peter Littlefield, Job Low, 
 Benjamin Hatch, Eleazer Clark, Daniel Morrison, were admitted as 
 proprietors. 
 
 Even the grant of land and mill privilege to Henry Say ward, on 
 which he had expended so much money, was considered of doubtful 
 validity to the present possessors, and it was renewed and confirmed 
 to Joseph Hill and John Storer. To put an end to all apprehensions 
 as to the question of title, which prevented many people from enter- 
 ing heartily into the work of renovation and improvement, at a pro- 
 prietors' meeting in 1734, it was voted to confirm the titles of all 
 persons to the land they then lived on, so that now nothing was 
 needed but enterprise and activity for a rapid extension of the set- 
 tlement. 
 
 Among those who were at this time inhabitants of the town was 
 Ferdinando Gorges. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain the per- 
 son meant by this appellation. In 1686, Ferdinando Gorges, of the 
 province of Maine, made a lease to "John Littlefield, sen., of Bat- 
 comb, near unto the township of Wells in said Province." From the 
 signature we should judge the lessor to be the first Ferdinando 
 Gorges, to whom was granted the original charter of the Province. 
 Any chirographical expert in contrasting this signature with that of 
 the original patentee, we think, would have little hesitation in de- 
 
336 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 claring them to be the same hand-writing. But the patentee had 
 been dead nearly forty years, and this Ferdinando, we suppose, was 
 the grandson of the first. He speaks of himself in various places as 
 " of the province of Maine," and as " attorney of Henry Gorges of 
 the Island of Barbadoes," who was the brother and heir of Thomas 
 Gorges. He lived on the .northeast side of Ogunquit river, where 
 he speaks of his location, and describes it as " the messuage or farm 
 house, and all houses, edifices, buildings, barns, stable, saw-mill, 
 orchards, with 200 acres of arable land now in his tenure and occu- 
 pation." This territory we suppose to be part of Batcomb. Here 
 John Littlefield, the first, lived. Batcomb was a small parish in 
 England, in the county of Somerset, and probably bore the same re- 
 lation to Wells in that county as it did to the town of Wells here. 
 Probably it embraced the Wheelright farm. In 1651, this farm and 
 Cape Neddock were made a village and authorized to send a deputy 
 to the general court, and were thus to continue until they "grow to 
 be more capable for a town." Thomas Wheelright, who signed the 
 York submission to Massachusetts, we suppose lived here. Where 
 his house was we do not know. Being a bachelor, perhaps he had 
 no occasion for any. None of the inhabitants of Wells who yielded 
 to that jurisdiction and signed the submission, are known to have 
 resided on this territory. It does not seem to have been regarded 
 as a part of the town. We therefore leave the question of the 
 boundaries of Batcomb without any further labor for its solution. 
 
 John Littlefield had but a temporary lease of his farm and mill 
 privilege, the fee being in Henry Gorges of the island of Barbadoes . 
 But lands being then of but small value, but little was thought 
 about titles. Littlefield had built his mill here many years previous- 
 ly, and continued to occupy it till his death, in 1696. 
 
 Though the relations with the Indians and the French after the 
 third Indian war were of a satisfactory character, and the people 
 enjoyed the opportunity of seeking to retrieve their former positions, 
 a new conflict sprung up more disparaging to some of the inhabit- 
 ants than were the terrible wars through which they had passed. 
 Those conflicts had served to unite the settlers, and they were of one 
 heart and soul in resisting the awful ravages of the Indians. But 
 an internal war was now set on foot in Batcomb, the evils of which 
 far transcended those which any external foe could bring on them. 
 
 After the death of John Littlefield, his children agreed that Josiah 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 337 
 
 should occupy the estate during the lifetime of Patience, his widow, 
 and for a short time afterwards. Josiah in a few years, 1708, was 
 captured by the Indians and carried into captivity, as we stated in 
 another place. During his captivity, his children and all his estate, 
 by order of court, were put under the care of Josiah Winn, who 
 married Lydia, a daughter of his brother. 
 
 After Littlefield's return from his captivity, a controversy arose 
 between him and Winn, as the custodian of his property and of his 
 children while he was absent. The precise difficulties which gave 
 rise to this litigation we are unable to state. We judge from the 
 fact that the trust was committed to Winn by the probate court, and 
 from the tenor of Littlefield's letter from Canada, that Winn was a 
 man of good character, and that the public reposed confidence in his 
 integrity. But Littlefield's wife was of a very different tempera- 
 ment from that of her husband, she not having much of that meek, 
 quiet, and peaceable spirit which becomes the female sex. We have 
 good reason for the belief that the government of the household was 
 one of unrestrained gynecocracy ; that she ruled the family without 
 any deference to the teachings of the Bible. She was a second wife. 
 It frequently happens that this relationship is productive of great 
 discord in the family. The new wife is perhaps unduly tenacious of 
 her own rights, or it may be that the children of the first thought- 
 lessly rebel against the installation of a stranger into the ministry of 
 the household affairs, and thus dissatisfaction with the new connec- 
 tion grows very rapidly into such disaffection that the family is 
 broken up. We think it is highly probable that Littlefield's wife 
 was not well reconciled to the order of court, taking away from her 
 the care of her husband's children and property and giving them to 
 the charge of Winn. He then had three sons and five daughters. 
 The daughters, very wisely, after the death of their father, took to 
 themselves husbands. Anna married Jacob Perkins ; Esther, Joseph 
 Credeford ; Sarah, James Clark ; and Elizabeth, Zachariah Goodale.. 
 The name of Lydia's -husband we have not ascertained. 
 
 The controversy between Littlefield and Winn was not settled dur- 
 ing the life of the former. The wife being indignant, as we suppose,, 
 because the guardianship was not committed to her, and thus always 
 in the mood for fault finding, probably complained to her husband of 
 some of Winn's proceedings, representing them in such a way that 
 he gave credence to her statements. This action on her part had a 
 22 
 
338 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 tendency to defeat any proposition for an amicable settlement, and 
 before they had reached any adjustment, in 1712, Littlefield was 
 killed by the Indians. His widow, Elizabeth Littlefield, was ap- 
 pointed his administratrix. 
 
 During his Occupancy of the saw-mill, Winn had supplied it with 
 various articles of machinery necessary for its operation. It being 
 now manifest that no peaceful adjustment of the matters in contro- 
 versy could be brought about, he first quietly removed from the mill 
 and took to himself the articles which he had thus provided. Eliab Lit- 
 tlefield also, brother of Josiah, who, with Samuel Webber, had leased 
 to him their part of the mill, at the same time took away the water- 
 wheel, crank, and other materials which he had supplied. The wid- 
 ow's pugnacity was now aroused, and a war began between all the 
 parties interested in the estate, which, we think, is without a parallel 
 in the history of New England. 
 
 This contest was indeed a private one ; yet so many were involved 
 in it, and the connections of those immediate participants in it so 
 extensive, that it became necessarily one of public concern. One of 
 the main objects of history is the instruction of subsequeut time. 
 All ages may profit by the experience of preceding generations. The 
 admonitions of this contest cannot fail to be in the highest degree 
 salutary. By showing the evils resulting from family discord, and 
 strife as to rights in the paternal estate, it will afford a lesson which 
 should come with power to every heart. Let it be remembered that 
 all the parties engaged in this controversy were, at first, persons of 
 character and good standing in society, though very deficient in edu- 
 cation. Josiah Littlefield was the first-named in the formation of 
 the church in 1701. Winn and Jacob Perkins had been selectmen 
 of the town. 
 
 Probably Elizabeth Littlefield, the widow, knew very little about 
 the title of her husband. Whether the fee of the house, land and 
 mill was in him, she never enquired. Perhaps she had no reason for 
 a doubt on that question. Eliab Littlefield and Webber now called 
 upon her for possession of the mill. This she at once refused, and 
 they were compelled to resort to their suit. In this action they pre- 
 vailed. Judgment was rendered against her, and she appealed to 
 the superior court. The widow now put on the harness, and was de- 
 termined to " fight it out on this line." Her vengeance was not to 
 be appeased by reason or entreaty. Winn, who had undoubtedly 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 339 
 
 been faithful in the care of his wards, and of the estate of his uncle, 
 operating the mill and managing it during the frightful period of the 
 war, felt that he ought to have an equivalent for his services. But 
 the angry woman would give no heed to his claim. He, therefore, 
 commenced his action against her, as administratrix, and recovered 
 judgment for his pay. From this judgment she appealed. Her pug- 
 nacity received now a new impulse, and determined to brave any en- 
 counter that her revenge might dictate, she brought her suit against 
 Winn for cutting trees on the lands of the estate, which, we suppose, 
 was merely a part of his action in operating the mill for the benefit 
 of Littlefield. In this action she failed, judgment being rendered 
 against her. From this judgment she appealed. At the same time 
 she brought another suit against him to recover a debt of five pounds, 
 which she claimed he owed the estate. But the same fate followed 
 this suit and she again appealed. She then sued Eliab for a debt 
 which he owed, and obtained a verdict in her favor ; from which he 
 appealed. 
 
 She again brought her action of trespass against Winn for carry- 
 ing away the machinery from the mill. But the jury determined it 
 to be Winn's, and judgment was rendered against her. She then 
 brought an action of trover against him for taking several pieces of 
 iron from the mill. But the result was against her, the jury return- 
 ing a verdict that the iron was his. From this judgment she ap- 
 pealed. , 
 
 Malachi Edwards was a witness for the widow in these suits, and 
 in the intercourse necessitated by them, such manifestations were 
 made by her as to captivate his sensitive heart. Probably impressed 
 with the conviction that the widow with her property would be a 
 very acceptable prize, he amplified the facts to some extent to ingra- 
 tiate himself in her affections. At any rate, their mutual inclinations 
 were gratified, and on the tenth day of October, 1716, they were 
 married. 
 
 Still it is difficult to account for this union. Edwards at this time 
 was one of the selectmen, and we thence infer was a man of fair 
 judgment and of good character. Littlefield, her first husband, we 
 know was a solid man. The spirit of the widow must have been 
 well understood. Both of them must have been captivated by some 
 facial expression, or by some amenities in her deportment which do 
 not " appear upon the record." Her demonstrations certainly could 
 
340 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTOK. 
 
 not have enticed any considerate man into such an important con- 
 nection. It is most probable that her supposed property had its 
 usual influence in drawing Edwards to her embraces ; and that she 
 felt the need of his aid in her endeavors to save it to herself, from 
 the claims of those to whom it rightly belonged. At any rate, the 
 burden of the contest was now laid on his shoulders. Before the 
 marriage, she brought an action of trespass against Eliab for cutting 
 down trees. In her union with Edwards she lost none of her pug- 
 nacity. The battle went on. The verdict was in her favor ; and 
 being thus in the ascendant she was inspired with new vigor for the 
 strife. 
 
 Eliab Littlefield, now living in Manchester, being fully satisfied 
 that the widow, thus doubly armed for the contest, would yield to 
 no demands however honest, was determined to secure his title to the 
 possession of the estate, and brought this action against Edwards and 
 wife, to eject them from the farm. The widow held the agreement 
 entered into by the heirs to allow Josiah to occupy the estate during 
 the lifetime of the mother. But she refused to let them see it or to 
 have any use of it. From some cause which we have not learned, 
 perhaps from a failure to get possession of this lease, Littlefield failed 
 in this suit, and judgment was rendered for Edwards. 
 
 The next suit was brought by Winn against Edwards alone, for 
 some trespass which he had committed. But the latter was success- 
 ful in his defense. From this judgment Winn appealed. He then 
 sued Edwards and wife for trespass on his land adjoining Ogunquit 
 river, near Sandy Point. Of the result of this suit, we are not in- 
 formed. It was one of considerable magnitude, but our minutes are 
 not sufficiently full to enable us to speak of its nature or termination. 
 
 Edwards was now thoroughly enlisted in the fray, and pressed on 
 by the zeal of his wife, he turned upon Winn, and brought an action 
 against him upon an agreement, which he had entered into some 
 years previously, to pay him £100. But in this case he failed. 
 Judgment was rendered for Winn, and Edwards appealed. 
 
 Winn then again sued Edwards and recovered judgment against 
 him. Edwards appealed. Edwards again sued Winn, but was un- 
 successful. 
 
 At length the children, and other parties interested, became ex- 
 cited by the long delay in the acknowledgment and adjustment of 
 their claims. Jacob Perkins was filled . with some inspirations not 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 341 
 
 very creditable to the noblest work of God, and, like Peter, begun to 
 curse and swear. For this he was criminally prosecuted. 
 
 Edwards also seems to have lost somewhat of the dignity of a true 
 manhood. He was at the time a constable, and in town meeting was 
 directed by Justices Hill and John Wheelright to execute a warrant. 
 He seized the offender and then laid hold of Hill in a contemptuous 
 manner, aud directed him to stand guard over his prisoner. For this 
 he was prosecuted and was required to pay a fine of ten pounds. 
 
 Winn was brought into court, and was fined for his indecent words 
 and actions in presence of the court, while in a state of intoxication. 
 
 Jacob Perkins was also again prosecuted for the very serious of- 
 fense of striking a negro on the head with an axe ; so that the ten 
 years of litigation seems to have wrought a very material change in 
 the characters of these combatants. But Edwards soon recovered his 
 self-possession, and lamenting and showing penitence for his folly, 
 with his wife Elizabeth, endeavored to garrison himself by a union 
 with the church in 1732. With this step he gained new courage, in 
 the expectation that thereby he would have the sympathy and sup- 
 port of the best part of society. But they were soon called to face 
 an opponent more difficult to meet than any hitherto involved in the 
 conflict. Henry Gorges who, as we have already stated, owned the 
 fee in the mill and farm (Littlefield being simply lessee under him), 
 came in and claimed the property, brought his suit, and recovered 
 the possession, so that the principal cause of the quarrel was re- 
 moved. Nevertheless the strife went on. 
 
 But we hardly feel justified in giving a further detailed account of 
 the numerous suits and prosecutions which followed the institution 
 of the first action. Suffice it to say, that in our investigations we 
 have followed the controversy nearly to the middle of the century, 
 and have examined between forty and fifty suits and criminal prose- 
 cutions between the immediate parties, their descendants, and friends. 
 There seems to have been a disposition to fight it out, to use a com- 
 mon but in this case very apt expression, " to the bitter end." The 
 acrimony and bitterness engendered by the conflicting claims of the 
 widow, the heirs, and their mutual friends could not be appeased by 
 any influences which could be brought to bear upon them. Malice 
 had usurped supreme control over all, and it would not be satisfied 
 so long as any opportunity for the gratification of the spirit of re- 
 venge presented itself. Winn fought valiantly until the king of ter- 
 
342 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 rors, in 1735, interposed and forced him to lay aside his armor. The 
 controversy did not die with him, but, as is not uncommonly the 
 case, the members of the family turned upon each other. " The 
 father against the son, and the son against the father ; the mother- 
 in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against 
 the mother-in-law," and their foes were " they of their own house- 
 hold." Finally, all the heirs united in a suit against Edwards and 
 wife, to recover the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds, which 
 had previously been decided by the court to be due from them, but 
 which they refused to pay. The heirs recovered judgment for the 
 amount, but Edwards and his wife were determined to pay nothing, 
 and appealed. Jacob Perkins, Joseph Crediford, James Clark, Zach- 
 ariah Goodale, Eliab Littlefield and others were drawn in, till the 
 conflict culminated in a terrible embroilment. Exasperation reached 
 its highest pitch. The passions of the opponents of Edwards were 
 aroused to such a degree that they were ready to take his life, and 
 on the eighteenth of July (1739), while he was working on his 
 marsh, Jacob Perkins, George Jacobs, jr., and John Jacobs suddenly 
 fell upon him, dragged him to a pond, and forced him down below 
 the water, even into the mud, and while one held him down in that 
 position, Jacob Perkins ran for his pitchfork to thrust him through. 
 But at that moment, or before he could execute his fiendish purpose, 
 a son of Edwards, Joshua, ran to his rescue, and the assailants were 
 driven off. The curses and imprecations showered upon Edwards, 
 appearing by the deposition of Joshua Edwards, now before us (too 
 shocking for insertion upon the historic page), show that the parties 
 must have been wrought up to the highest frenzy. If ever a case 
 occurred where the modern doctrine of "momentary insanity" could 
 be admitted, it could well have been pleaded by these men. They 
 were evidently beside themselves with rage. One would suppose 
 that this terrible encounter would have opened the eyes of the vari- 
 ous parties and led them to end their fraternal strife ; but not so. 
 Jacobs again and again brought his suit. Any one desirous of 
 further information in regard to this protracted litigation may grati- 
 fy his curiosity by an examination of the records of our courts from 
 the year 1710 to 1750, during which time he will find one or more 
 suits commenced almost yearly by some of the members of the fam- 
 ily or their sympathizers. 
 
 Another subject of considerable interest occupied the attention of 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 343 
 
 the town in the year 1728. In consequence of the destructive wars 
 in which the people had been engaged, the inhabitants, or a large 
 portion of them, had become poor, and many could do but little 
 toward retrieving their previous condition, or toward any enterprise 
 tending to build up and enlarge the settlements, and the Provincial 
 Legislature of Massachusetts this year (1728) adopted the expedient 
 for relieving the people in their distressed condition, by authorizing 
 a loan in bills of credit to be distributed among the various towns in 
 proportion to the taxes paid. Six thousand dollars issued for this 
 purpose. A town meeting was called to choose a committee to re- 
 ceive the amount assigned to Wells, and at the meeting held for this 
 purpose, on June eighteenth, it was voted, " That the money that is 
 our proportional part of the loan money be brought into the town of 
 Wells." Some of the inhabitants strenuously opposed the measure 
 on the ground that the town would thereby become responsible for 
 the repayment, and as some of the persons who would receive a por- 
 tion of it would not or could not repay, the town might thus be sub- 
 jected to severe loss. But the people decided to take the risk, and 
 Joseph Hill, Joseph Littlefield 5 and Samuel Stuart were chosen trus- 
 tees to receive the sum assigned to Wells, and to let the same out to 
 the inhabitants, not exceeding thirty pounds to one person, with 
 good security. We have not learned that any loss accrued to the 
 town by the relief thus afforded. Probably, all who received paid it 
 according to the terms of the loan. Many good men, who might 
 otherwise have been unable to initiate any important work, were, by 
 this timely aid, inspired with new energy for their employments. 
 
 The people of Wells then, as ever since, were dependent on navi- 
 gation as the main-spring of business. Farming and milling were 
 the occupations of a large majority of them, but these were unprofit- 
 able without the aid of vessels, and there were a few men in the 
 town who were glad to avail themselves of the coasting business as 
 a means of profit. All along through the twenty years' peace, ship 
 building was carried on in the yards at Wells. Robert Barret, 
 Enoch Davis, Joseph Hill, John Batson, John Webber, John Winn, 
 John Storer, and Francis Storer built and sailed coasters. These, 
 though chiefly of small burden, were engaged in a more enlarged 
 coasting trade than such vessels are now employed in, — traffic ex- 
 tending to the far south and to the British dominions on the north. 
 
344 HISTOKY OF WELLS and kennebtjnk 
 
 But we purpose to speak more particularly upon this subject in a 
 future chapter. 
 
 Although at this period a good degree of prosperity prevailed, 
 and the inhabitants of the town were generally improving their con- 
 dition, still the same was equally true of other parts of the Province, 
 and other locations presenting greater attractions to those seeking a 
 more extensive business than could reasonably be expected in the 
 future of Wells, several prominent men, whose aims were higher 
 than a mere comfortable maintainance for their families, allured by 
 the prospect of a larger and more extended traffic, were induced to 
 leave the town. The McLellans, since so distinguished in the com- 
 mercial world, sold their farms and moved to Falmouth, now Port- 
 land. The Simontons, also, left about the same time, and we think 
 went to Falmouth. Other valuable men had died about this time ; 
 among them Joseph Storer, Thomas Wells, Josiah Winn, John 
 Wheelright, and others. The loss of such men was a great hin- 
 drance to the prosperity of the town. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The meeting-house — Collection op mill rents— Parsonage built— 
 Stockade built around it — Alterations to the meeting-house — 
 Paupers — Daniel Tucker — Throat distemper— Schools— Richard 
 Dean— First school-house— First school in Kennebunk— Nathaniel 
 Harrington— Andrew Tyler— John Lester— Wolves— Joseph Hill. 
 
 As stated in another chapter, soon after the close of the second 
 war, a meeting-house had been commenced and the outside finished ; 
 but Indian hostilities and the poverty of the people prevented any- 
 further expenditure on it for several years. In 1707, it was " voted 
 and agreed on to Glays & Seale within side of the Meeting House 
 with lime at the towns cost." Though this expression, "at the 
 towns cost," is common and has no special force, it may be well here 
 to say, that at this time it was contrary to law for any persons to 
 build and finish a church on their own account, as it was said such 
 liberties would produce divisions, and regular congregational wor- 
 ship would be interfered with. This was in the midst of the war ; 
 but the inhabitants were confident of their ability to protect it. 
 The glazing was absolutely necessary, both for its preservation and 
 for the comfort of the people ; but the war was reducing the proper- 
 ty of the inhabitants, and some of the best men of the town had 
 been carried into captivity, and, beside, the great freshet of 1708 
 had done much damage, so that they were unable to carry their 
 votes into effect. The house, therefore, was doomed to stand in its 
 unfinished condition many years longer. In 1714, the people again 
 voted to underpin and finish it, with the addition of galleries, and to 
 pay for it by the collection of all debts due the town, and assessing 
 the balance. 
 
 The spirit was good, but the purse was weak, and the vote could 
 not be carried out. In 1719, it was voted that " the selectmen take 
 care of and provide for the repaire of y e Meeting House at y* Town 
 
346 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Charge, and to raise money sufficient for that use, viz. : To Underpin 
 and to plaister it withinside in the roofe, and to mend y e leaks that 
 shall be found there, and also to build a Tower on said Roofe." Be- 
 fore passing this vote they had not counted the cost. The return of 
 peace had kindled an enterprising spirit, and they were for making 
 improvements; but the means were not at hand. The tower was 
 not built, and thus the church still remained unfinished, the town 
 voting that " the widow Sarah Knight be allowed forty shillings this 
 year for looking after the Meeting House to keep it cleane and dea- 
 sent," and making upon it occasionally some small repairs. The 
 people were at work, doing what they could to better their condi- 
 tion, and though the Lovewell war was upon them it did not check 
 the growth of the town. The population was rapidly increasing. 
 In 1725, the county tax was £100. Of this Wells was assessed sev- 
 enteen pounds ten shillings. This, to us, appears to have been a 
 very light burden \ but the inhabitants were poor, and it bore heavi- 
 ly upon them. The mill privileges had been granted on the condi- 
 tion that the grantees should pay an annual rent to the town. 
 These rents varied from one pound to five. But the mill owners 
 were backward in their payments. Some had not paid for several 
 years, till the amount had become so large that they were unable to 
 discharge it. A considerable sum was also due for logs cut on the 
 commons, but the debtors failed to respond to the claim against 
 them. No measures had been taken to enforce the payment of these 
 demands. But the mill privileges were the best property in town, 
 and the inhabitants who had no interest in them, and others who 
 had paid their rents regularly, now insisted that all such claims 
 should be collected. At a town meeting in 1723 this subject pro- 
 duced much excitement, and it was voted that John Wells and Sam- 
 uel Stewart be a committee to collect them, and to sue all who 
 could not be induced otherwise to pay. Thirteen persons had their 
 dissent from this vote entered upon the records, probably from the 
 belief that the debtors were unable to pay. 
 
 A new spirit had taken hold of the minds of the people, and 
 though again in the midst of war, they resolved to build a respecta- 
 ble house for the use of the minister. Until within a few years all 
 the houses had been of one story only ; but they voted now to build 
 one " two story high, 38 feet long, with an ell 18 feet long and 16 
 wide," u to be don and compleated at or before the last day of June 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 347 
 
 next cum twelve months," which would be in 1727. The work was 
 " to be don workmanlike to the turning of the Kee." The house 
 was built by Samuel Stewart, under the direction of John Wheel- 
 right, Dependence Littlefield, and Nathaniel Clark. For the whole 
 work he received about $315. This house is still standing, and has 
 been occupied by the various successive ministers from that time to 
 the present day. After it was finished they built a large barn and 
 repaired the meeting-house, so that now their parochial accommoda- 
 tions were in a very favorable condition. But amidst the uncertain- 
 ties which prevailed as to a continued peace with the Indians, it was 
 deemed proper and necessary that the house and the minister should 
 be protected against the exigencies of a new war. No one could 
 tell when it would break forth. No reliance was to be placed on 
 treaties, and as a price was paid by the French in former wars, and 
 very probably the same would be done in any future conflict, for 
 captives in proportion to their standing, the minister, so important 
 to the people, might be the first person seized. They therefore took 
 great care for his protection. Rev. Mr. Jefferds, the settled minister, 
 was very popular, and in 1734 the town voted to build a stockade 
 garrison, 65 feet. square, which w T ould surround the house and leave 
 an intervening space sufficient for necessary out-door work. Two 
 timber flankers were also added to the house, from which the view 
 of the sentinel would extend to every part of it. How long this 
 stockade stood, or when the flankers were removed from the house, 
 we have not ascertained. 
 
 The population had now increased to such an extent that the 
 meeting-house was not large enough to accommodate all who would 
 attend meeting, and the people were obliged to adopt some measures 
 to obviate this trouble. Accordingly, in 1735, it was voted to add 
 twenty-five feet in length to the northwest end, and to make a new 
 roof over the whole ; but this vote was very unsatisfactory to many 
 of the leading men. Deacon Thomas Wells, Samuel Wheelright, 
 Joseph Sawyer, Nathaniel Clark, Samuel Clark, Nathaniel Wells, 
 Richard Boothby, Eleazer Clark, Jeremiah Storer, James Wakefield, 
 William Sayer, and Joshua Wells were earnest in opposition to it. 
 These men were all living at a considerable distance from the 
 church, and either wanted a change in the location or an entirely 
 new house. We think the former was the prevailing reason. The 
 next year they voted to finish the inside, and Capt. John Storer, 
 
348 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Francis Littlefield, and Jacob Perkins were chosen a committee to 
 take charge of the business and finish the house. At another meet- 
 ing the same year they decided to change the pulpit to the middle 
 of the northeast side of the house, to take down the woman's gal- 
 lery, and to change all the seats so that they would front the pulpit, 
 making one door at the end and one on the side. The house now 
 stood with the end at the road. The prices of the location of the 
 pews were all fixed. These were all sold to "sutch persons" as 
 were thought proper. The purchasers were to build their own pews, 
 but they were to be built " in uniform as those were already built." 
 The people in the body of the house and in the galleries were to be 
 seated by the committee. This direction to the committee, after the 
 locations were sold, we shall not attempt to explain. But it was 
 more than the people could do to plan the whole house at one time, 
 and another meeting was soon called, when it was voted " that the 
 women and men's seats in the body of the meeting-house be length- 
 ened so far as the room will allow, and fitted up with seats on the 
 back sides;" and at another meeting, a week afterward, it was 
 voted that " the Places for Pews be ordered, Laid out, and assigned 
 to each particular person by the committee, and that the pews should 
 be don and finished in uniform within one month." 
 
 It will be remembered that at this time we were the subjects of 
 England, and much of the spirit of English society prevailed among 
 the people. Certain dignitaries were to be provided with the most 
 eligible pews. Dignity seems then to have consisted in the posses- 
 sion of property and of intellectual attainments above the people 
 generally. Republicanism had not yet taken hold of the hearts of 
 the mass of community. All seem to have recognized the pre-emi- 
 nence which was awarded to high rank, so that no one objected to 
 the priority in selection which was allowed to these prominent men. 
 This acknowledged distinction will appear more clearly hereafter. 
 Some of the dignitaries were already in the possession of pews in 
 the old portion of the house. The committee was now directed to 
 assign seats " to Deacon Thomas Wells, Deacon Samuel Tread well, 
 Mr. John Littlefield, Mr. Samuel Hatch, Mr. Samuel Emery, Mr. 
 Joseph Wheelright, Mr. David Littlefield, and Mr. Nicholas Cole, 
 for them and their families to sit in." At another meeting, in 
 August, 1737, it was voted that "Joseph Sayer, Esq., have the old 
 doreway that is between his father's Pue and Mr. Francis Little- 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 349 
 
 field's given him, to be added to his father's Pue," and " that Mr. 
 Samuel Emery, Mr. Dependence Littlefield have the liberty of cut- 
 ing out a window against each of there Pues of the same bigness of 
 the other windows, and Joseph Sayer of cuting one out against the 
 old doorway now given him of the same bigness, if they will be att 
 the whole cost of cutting and Glasing." 
 
 Notwithstanding so many meetings had been called with special 
 reference to the meeting-house, it was not finished, though more 
 than forty years had passed since it was commenced. The people 
 had not been educated, and therefore did not understand the neces- 
 sity of a plan before they set out upon the work. Every man had 
 his own undigested schemes for its construction or modification, and 
 thus nothing satisfactory to the whole was accomplished. 
 
 We have occupied more space in this account of the erection and 
 completion of the meeting-house than may, to some of our readers, 
 seem necessary. But every one will learn from it something of the 
 character of the people, and of their straits in reference to the means 
 of accomplishing the work. The movers in it had the same difficul- 
 ties to encounter which in every age obstruct the progress of benev- 
 olent and useful designs. There were among the people men of 
 mean, selfish spirits, who had no generous, patriotic impulses to lead 
 them to action for the common good. In the year 1737, as we have 
 before stated, one of the matters for which a town meeting was 
 called was to see " wheather the town book shall be a charge to the 
 town, or whether the book shall support itself or not." At another 
 time, a meeting was called solely for the purpose of raising about 
 thirteen dollars to pay off some small debts. But there were others 
 who had sufficient self-respect to control the proceedings, and to al- 
 low such trifling matters no consideration. 
 
 Though there was no one among the inhabitants who could be 
 termed wealthy, all had hitherto by prudence and industry, kept 
 themselves from becoming a burden upon the town. They knew not 
 what it was to be obliged to maintain a pauper. Each man had 
 looked out for himself and family alone. But now an entirely new 
 question arose to awaken the deliberative powers of the people when 
 in council. One Smith had died, perhaps had been killed in the war. 
 His estate was so entailed as to be unavailable for the payment of 
 his debts, or for the support of his widow and children. The family 
 were thence in rather a suffering condition, and soon, Elizabeth, one 
 
350 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 of the daughters, becoming disabled for self-support, required aid 
 from the town ; and thence, in Aug., 1724, the first meeting was 
 called, " to consider of some proper way to take care of the pore." 
 But no system was adopted. They simply voted to raise thirteen 
 pounds " to keep her one year." Soon after Margaret, another daugh- 
 ter, was cast on public charity, and afterwards, Mary the mother. 
 Meetings were called, year after year, " to consider what to do with 
 them, that the town might be eased of the vast charge they were 
 at " in providing for them. Elizabeth died in 1740, and the town 
 voted to choose some mete person to sue for the money expended, 
 "if there is any law to get it." But nothing more seems to have 
 been done till 1745, when Pelatiah Littlefield was chosen " to sew 
 widdow Mary Smith's Estate of Wells, or Els where any may be 
 found, to get what the town has expended on the children." But no 
 good resulted from this vote. They then petitioned the general 
 court that the entailment might be taken off, so that they might get 
 hold of the property, but with what success we know not. 
 
 There is only one other instance of pauperism up to 1750 which 
 we have discovered. That was the case of Daniel Tucker, of whom 
 our readers have often heard in song, if in no other way. He had 
 become lame and sick and was in " a miserable condition." In Janu- 
 ary, 1728, a town meeting was called "to consider what may be 
 proper to be don concerning Daniel Tucker, who is not able to do 
 any kind of service." He had been bound to Gershom Maxey, to 
 whom had been paid ten pounds for taking care of him. Meeting 
 after meeting was called to consider of his case ; and finally it was 
 said he was " in such a miserable condition that he could not con- 
 tinue long, " and Malachi Edwards and Jacob Perkins were chosen a 
 committee " to take care that Daniel Tucker be carried to some 
 Dockter as soon as possible in order for his cure." But the commit- 
 tee did not respond to their commission, and a new meeting was 
 called, when the selectmen were directed to agree with Dr. Bulman 
 of York, at an expense not exceeding fifty pounds, to take the cure 
 and charge of him. Thus he was carried out of town and ceased to 
 trouble the people. When and how he closed his unfortunate life 
 does not appear. But he lived long enough to do some good in the 
 world, though undoubtedly the selfishness of many was gratified in 
 having him out of the way. His contemporaries were compelled to 
 exercise their charity in ministering to him of their abundance. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 351 
 
 Many of them, were they now living, would undoubtedly join heart 
 and hand with the boys of our day in singing the popular song, 
 " Get out of the way, old Dan Tucker." 
 
 These pauper cases were specially hard on the town, from the fact 
 that the people were, at the same time, called to experience and con- 
 tend with various other adversities. All New England suffered 
 much at this time from the throat distemper, which according to 
 Smith's journal, first appeared in Kingston, N. H. It is said to have 
 been " the most fatal scourge that ever visited New England, and 
 rapidly hurried its subjects to the grave." " The throat swelled, be- 
 came colored with ash colored specs; great debility and prostration 
 ensued with putrefaction." In Wells, this disease was very fatal, 
 though we have been unable to ascertain who were the subjects of 
 it, and upon what families it fell with most severity. There was also 
 at the same time a great scarcity of the necessaries of life. Smith 
 says, under the head, April 21, 1737, " All the talk is — no corn, no 
 hay, and there is not a peck of potatoes to eat in all the eastern 
 country." In addition to all these untoward influences, the public 
 mind began to be disturbed from apprehensions of renewed Indian 
 hostilities. These fears harrassed the people many years ; and they 
 were not destitute of foundation. In 1740 John Storer was sent by 
 the government to Fort Richmond and St. Georges to repair the 
 forts there, and put them in order for defense. When he arrived at 
 St. Georges' Truck-house, Major Moxus' son Augustin, came to him, 
 saying he was glad to see him, and informed him " that the French 
 had made presents of wampum to the Arrosecuntocook Indians, and 
 that they had taken up the hatchet against the English, and at the 
 same time there were also presents of wampum sent to the Arrose- 
 cuntocook Indians to be delivered to the Penobscot tribe, to persuade 
 them into such measures as to take up the hatchet against the Eng- 
 lish, but the Penobscots utterly refused and sent back the presents," 
 and, therefore, he thought there would be no war this summer. But 
 the confidence thus expressed by the Indian could not entirely re- 
 move all anxiety. The French were always intent on kindling and 
 spreading the fires of vengeance among the settlers. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the disheartening agencies which were at 
 work to retard the progress of the settlement, and to repress all ac- 
 tion beyond that for the immediate support of their families, the in- 
 terest of the people on the subject of education was annually in- 
 
352 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 creasing. The subject of schools, at every meeting, absorbed much 
 attention. Mr. Jefferds, the new minister, was a young man, gradu- 
 ating at Harvard in 1722, and fully appreciating the necessity of 
 schools, he could not have failed to exert his influence on parents, to 
 do what they could to maintain them. Still old thoughts and habits 
 were yet so far in the ascendency, that no great liberality of expen- 
 diture for that purpose could be expe cted. The scale of life among 
 the people had been one of rigid economy. Everything to be ac- 
 quired must be at the smallest possible expense ; so that in 1724, it 
 was voted that the " selectmen should get an able schoolmaster, to 
 teach in reading, writing and arithmetic ; " the school to be six 
 months in the middle of the town, and three months at each end ; 
 meaning Ogunquit and Cole's corner; but they were not to pay him 
 over £45, about one hundred and fifty dollars. Under this instruc- 
 tion they secured the services of Richard Dean, who kept school 
 three years. How well qualified he was for the service we have no 
 means of judging. He was not liberally educated, yet he may have 
 been an efficient instructor. But they were obliged to increase the 
 pay to fifty pounds. In 1728, the town voted to have the school 
 kept near the center, that is in the vicinity of the meeting-house, 
 five or six miles from Merryland, and six or seven from Kennebunk, 
 so that those living' in these two places were entirely cut off from its 
 benefits ; but the dwellers in the village had the control of town 
 affairs in their hands, and the suburbs were powerless and must sub- 
 mit to the action of the majority. 
 
 The population was now rapidly extending over the town, and 
 those in the outskirts demanded some share in the appropriation. Of 
 what benefit could a school near the meeting-house be to those liv- 
 ing six or seven miles from it ? Why should they be compelled to 
 contribute year after year for the maintainance of schools, when they 
 were deprived of all benefit from them ? But this argument had no 
 effect, and the town continued to spend the money at the center and 
 the two ends. In 1730, they even voted to spend it all at the center. 
 But those in the precincts could endure this illiberality no longer; 
 and the next year it was voted that the families dwelling in Merry- 
 land, being remote from the town and not able to send their children 
 to the town school, should be exempted from paying anything to the 
 town schoolmaster, on condition that they maintained a constant 
 school for teaching their children among themselves, to the value of 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 353 
 
 twelve pounds or upwards for the year ; and the families to the east- 
 ward of Mousam river were allowed five pounds, " on condition that 
 they keep a school for teaching their children to that value or up- 
 wards." This was the introduction of schools in Merryland and 
 Kennebunk. The people in Ogunquit had this year built a school- 
 house, which was the first in town. The remainder of the money 
 was spent here and at Capt. Samuel Wheelright's at the eastern end. 
 Though there was a little more liberality in the disposition of the 
 money this year than had been manifested before, it does not seem 
 to have had any permanent basis in the convictions of men. It was 
 several years before anything was allowed to Kennebunk. The 
 school was kept at Samuel Stewart's, and near Caleb Kimball's, Sam- 
 uel Treadwell's, and the town lot. One year " two months school- 
 ing" was allowed to Merryland. In 1734, it was voted that two 
 school-houses should be built by the town ; one on the ministerial 
 lot, and the other near Deacon Samuel Treadwell's ; each of one 
 story, and 22 feet by 16. Of the cost of these school-houses, Ken- 
 nebunk had to pay about one-fifth, though no benefit whatever ac- 
 crued to the people of that part of the town. It was not till 1740, 
 that any material allowance was made to them, though they had paid 
 the same proportion of the money raised for schools, as was drawn 
 from them to build these houses. But this year they determined to 
 submit to this grievance no longer, and petitioned that a special 
 meeting be called to obtain the justice which was their due, and at 
 this meeting it was voted " that there be a schoolmaster got for the 
 Remote part of the town for the year ensuing," and four months 
 were allowed for " Kennebunk and Mousam," " two at Arrisicket, and 
 four at Meriland." After this period the action of the town seems 
 to indicate a more generous spirit. In 1741, it was voted that 
 two schoolmasters be provided for the town ; one of them a grammar 
 schoolmaster. A portion of four months and a half was allowed to 
 Merryland, and four months in Kennebunk, near James Wakefield's, 
 who lived at the Landing. The schools were kept at private houses 
 in various parts of the town ; at John Winn's, Joseph GetchelPs, and 
 at Mr. Jefferds'. Nathaniel Harrington was the teacher several years, 
 from 1728. He graduated at Cambridge that year and was a popular 
 instructor. In 1741, they were kept by Andrew Tyler, who grad- 
 uated in 1738, and afterward became a minister of the gospel. In 
 
 the same year by John Lester. We know nothing in his favor. 
 23 
 
354 HISTOKY OF WELLS ART) KENNEBUNK 
 
 He was arrested for a small debt contracted in Exeter, and probably 
 his connection with the schools then closed. Those from Harvard 
 College were grammar schoolmasters. Lester and Tyler, we suppose, 
 were instructors in the lower schools. Up to 1750, either much of 
 the exclusive spirit which ruled in previous years still lingered among 
 the people, or those [in the ancient part of the town thought the 
 dwellers between the Kennebunk and Mousam, as well as those in 
 Ogunquit and Merryland, were not sufficiently versed in the rudi- 
 ments of learning, to be prepared for instruction in the higher 
 branches, for, in that year, they voted to have a grammar school- 
 master near TreadwelPs, Jefferds' and Cole's, and a schoolmaster at 
 Merryland, Kennebunk and Ogunquit. 
 
 During the period covered by this chapter their old enemies, the 
 wolves, so destructive in the early days of the settlement, seem to 
 have caused the people great annoyance. The wilderness was still 
 all about the town, and its recesses afforded them safe places for 
 refuge during the day time, while at night they came forth for 
 havoc, and by their howlings frequently made the darkness hideous, 
 so that the town was always ready to offer a bounty for their de- 
 struction. In 1730, five pounds were paid; a few years afterward, 
 eight pounds. In 1747, it was voted that eight pounds should be 
 paid to every person who should kill one ; if he killed two, he 
 should have twelve pounds each ; if three, sixteen pounds each. 
 The people seem to have been excited and enraged by the destruc- 
 tion which they suffered from them. Some of the hunters who 
 scoured the woods in their pursuit occasionally took advantage of 
 the eagerness of the people to exterminate them, and claimed the 
 bounty in cases not contemplated by the voters, so that in 1734 it 
 was " voted to give five pounds to every person killing a grown wolf 
 and three pound for a wolfe's whelpe within the towne, the whelps 
 to be such as are pupied and not found in the bitch's beley." In 
 subsequent years, the game was required to be full grown to claim 
 the highest bounty ; a smaller sum was allowed for whelps. The 
 action of the town for the destruction of wolves continued till about 
 1770, after which the municipal war against them was abandoned. 
 
 Town meetings, which were holden at all hours of the day, from 
 eight o'clock in the morning to five in the afternoon, were then, as 
 now, occasions of general interest. The distribution of the school 
 money was a matter which took hold of the attention of all, and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 355 
 
 every measure proposed was calculated, to some extent, to come 
 home to the special interest of each inhabitant by its effect on the 
 purse. Their available taxable property was limited. Aside from 
 their stock, there was but little on which they could draw to dis- 
 charge their public burdens. The settlements were sparse, and each 
 one had abundance of land from which to gather the common neces- 
 saries of life; but there was no market for their produce. Whether 
 there was a prevailing ambition for office we are unable to answer; 
 but to the office of constable there was intense repugnance. The 
 record shows no reason for this aversion; but it was difficult to find 
 any one who would take upon himself its responsibilities. Sooner 
 than accept it, the people would at once come forward and pay the 
 fine, about sixteen dollars, for refusal. It was, undoubtedly, hard to 
 collect the taxes, and very naturally the collector's reception by the 
 people, when in the prosecution of that duty, was not very cordial. 
 The other business of the office was not very remunerative. The 
 following copy of the return of an officer on a precept now before us 
 shows something of the difficulties of the office, as well as the intel- 
 lectual culture of the official : " July the first 1756. pursant to the 
 with In ecxecustion to me directed I tried to take the with In 
 named John Senckler And he would not be taeken, but keeps me of 
 with fors and arms — Jabez Dorman June Constobel." The office was 
 one of importance, and carried with it some dignity, but the opposi- 
 tion to it was very decided. At a meeting of the town, March 29, 
 1736, Nathaniel Kimball, John Gooch, John Gillpatrick, Richard 
 Kimball, John Wakefield, Jeremiah Littlefield, and David Lawson 
 were successively chosen constables ; but each one refused the office 
 and paid down his fine, five pounds. The whole amounted to £35, 
 or about $120. In consequence of the obnoxiousness of the office, 
 town meetings were frequently called for no other business than to 
 choose a constable in place of some one who had declined. 
 
 Died July 12, 1743, Joseph Hill, aged 7fe N He was the son of 
 Roger Hill, of Saco, who married Mary Cross, of Wells, 1658. He 
 was a prominent man among the inhabitants, though he does not 
 appear to have been much in public office. We are inclined to the 
 opinion that he sympathized much with the English aristocracy, and 
 that his intercourse was marked with that courteous and gentleman- 
 ly demeanor which the best civilization of that day inculcated. He 
 
356 H1ST0EY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 had a good property, and indulged in a style of life above that of 
 most of the people of that period, and was anxious that the dignity 
 of the family should be maintained through all coming time. He 
 therefore made such an entail of his estate that from generation to 
 generation it should "bear up" the name of Hill. He was commis- 
 sioned as a magistrate, and was representative in 1727 ; collector of 
 the excise in 1734. Various municipal offices were committed to 
 him, and in the disposition of pews in the meeting-house the best 
 appears to have been conceded to him, as a matter of propriety. 
 He had three slaves, Sharper, Plato, and the " negro boy Tom." In 
 his will he gave the first and the last to his wife, Plato to his son 
 Nathaniel, and to the church and the minister each ten pounds. 
 His wife, the mother of his children, was Hannah Littlefield, who 
 died Oct. 10, 1738. Having no sympathy with celibacy, and his 
 own experience concurring with the declaration of Infinite "Wisdom 
 that it " is not good for man to be alone," he two months afterward, 
 Dec. 12, 1738, married Sarah, daughter of Daniel Sayer. 
 
 He had five children, Joseph, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Hannah, and 
 Peninah. Joseph married Mary Emery ; Nathaniel married Pris- 
 cilla Littlefield ; Hannah, Rev. Samuel Jefferds. 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KEN^EBTJNK. 357 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 New candidates for the ministry— Rev. Samuel Jefferds ordained 
 — Church discipline— Biography of Mr. Jefferds— Invitation to 
 Rev. Samuel Fayrweather— Unsuccessful attempt to ordain him 
 —Rev. Gideon Richardson ordained— His death— Rev. Moses Hem- 
 menway ordained. 
 
 Immediately after the death of Mr. Emery, the town again set 
 earnestly to work to fill the pulpit. Col. John Wheelright and Dea- 
 con Thomas Wells were appointed a committee to visit the head- 
 quarters at Boston and Cambridge and obtain some one to preach 
 several Sundays. As they had enjoyed the ministrations of several 
 persons, for some of whom they had decided predilections, the com- 
 mittee were directed to apply first to Mr. Lowell; then to Mr. 
 Thompson; then to Mr. Haile, and then to Mr. Dennis. Mr. Thomp- 
 son was engaged and preached six weeks. Ministers were then 
 treated with great courtesy and respect. It was customary to des- 
 ignate some persons as an escort to attend them on their return as 
 far as the Piscataqua river. Capt. Joseph Hill and John Storer were 
 appointed to accompany Mr. Thompson and to obtain another candi- 
 date. They were requested to apply to Mr. Haile, and also to apol- 
 ogize to Mr. Thompson for so doing, alleging that the town reserved 
 the liberty of employing Mr. Haile or any other person. Mr. Haile 
 preached six weeks. Samuel Stewart and Francis Sayer were 
 chosen to escort him to Piscataqua and to apply to several to preach 
 successively as candidates. Mr. Thompson was to be applied to 
 first, then Mr. Dennis. If both declined, the committee were in- 
 structed to engage some other young minister. We suppose the 
 Mr. Thompson here referred to was Rev. William Thompson, who 
 was settled in Scarboro in 1728. The ministers thus employed were 
 paid about four dollars a Sabbath, though in every case the commit- 
 tees were directed, in addition, to give them the thanks of the town 
 
358 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 for their visits and services. Neither Thompson nor Dennis acceded 
 to the invitation of the committee, and Mr. Samuel Jefferds, a young 
 man who graduated at Harvard in 1722, was engaged. He preached 
 for them six months, and his services were so acceptable that the 
 church voted to invite him to settle as their minister, and the town 
 unanimously concurred in the vote. Col. John Storer, Deacon Jo- 
 seph Storer, Mr. Jonathan Littlefield, Samuel Hatch, and Francis 
 Sayer were appointed a committee to extend to him the invitation. 
 The two bodies met together at the meeting-house Nov. 22, 1725, 
 when the following letter from Mr. Jefferds, in reply to the invita- 
 tion, was read: 
 
 "To the Church of Christ in Wells at their meeting now in the 
 Meeting House in said town, and to the inhabitants of said town at 
 their meeting now at the same place. 
 
 Hon d and Beloved, 
 
 It having pleased the LORD Jesus Christ, the Great Head 
 of the Church, who rules in Zion, some Time since, to direct you in 
 the choice of a Minister and Pastor unto me, I cant but admire the 
 condescending Grace of Christ unto me, who am less, than the least 
 of all Saints, That I, together with my poor labors, should be ac^ 
 ceptable to you his people. I also bear thankful Resentments of 
 your Expressions of Love and Generosity to me, and do hereby de- 
 clare my acceptance of your Call unto me to the work of the Minis- 
 try and the Pastoral Office among you, of a ready mind : Assuring 
 you that I shall give up myself to the Service of Christ according to 
 my Measure, for the promoting the Spiritual and everlasting Good 
 of you and yours, as not doubting but you will ever provide accord- 
 ing to your Ability for the honorable Support of the Gospel and my 
 comfortable Subsistence with you, and so requesting your Prayers to 
 God for me that he would enable by his Grace faithfully to perform 
 The work and Service whereunto you have called me, I am your 
 Servant for Jesus sake. Nov. 21, 1725. Samuel Jefferds." 
 
 Dec. 15th was appointed the day for his ordination. This conse- 
 cration of a minister to his work was, in that day, regarded as an 
 occasion of great public interest. The people gathered together 
 from all the surrounding towns. The candidate was to be set apart 
 for life. The short pastorates of a few years only had their origin 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 359 
 
 within the present century. The order of proceeding did not differ 
 materially from that now pursued, though we judge from the record 
 that one part of the ceremony has been dispensed with in modern 
 times. It is said that he was ordained to the pastoral office " by the 
 laying on of the hands of the Presbytery of the Church of York, 
 the two Churches of Kittery, and the Church of Berwick." These 
 churches were represented by their pastors and delegates. The Rev. 
 Samuel Moody, of York, made the introductory prayer. The Rev. 
 Jeremiah Wise, of Berwick, preached from Acts xx. 24. Rev. Mr. 
 Newcomb, of Kittery, gave the charge, and the Rev. Mr. Rogers, of 
 Kittery, the right hand of fellowship. The Bible was not then read 
 at ordinations, or as one of the services of the Sabbath. 
 
 Mr. Jefterds appears to have been a very acceptable minister, 
 quietly pursuing his pastoral duties. We assume it as highly proba- 
 ble that the rules adopted by the church for the government of the 
 body of communicants were suggested by him. They were not of a 
 very rigorous character. The requirements for admission were not 
 such as to exclude any whose outward morality was not inconsistent 
 with the demands of the gospel. One which was adopted soon after 
 his ordination, does not seem to us to indicate a very high estimate 
 of the requisitions of a professed Christian discipleship. " No per- 
 son," says the rule, " who has fallen into any scandalous sin shall be 
 admitted before he shall make a particular public confession of and 
 repentance for such sin and offense before them, provided the fall 
 and offense be public," and should have none of the privileges of the 
 covenant. We are in doubt as to the intended import of the last 
 clause of this rule, and therefore forbear comment. But it cannot 
 be supposed that any Christian church would think of admitting to 
 membership a person upon whom such a stigma had fallen. The 
 adoption of this regulation would seem to imply that any man who 
 had been guilty of an odious crime, might purge himself from its 
 criminality by merely confessing his aberration and declaring his re- 
 pentance of it. It would seem much more consonant with the prin- 
 ciples of a sound Christianity that such an one, whose spirit was 
 thus diseased, should remain on probation a long time before being 
 permitted to come up to the Lord's table, that is, if any man as- 
 sumes to have authority to determine who shall enjoy the privilege. 
 If any barriers are to be placed around it, they should be of such a 
 character as to exclude all whose lives are not in fellowship with the 
 
360 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 life and example of the Master. But Mr. Jefferds was of a kind and 
 charitable spirit. Sensible of his own fallibility, he was disposed to 
 look upon the aberrations of his fellow-men with, perhaps, more of 
 pity and commiseration than true charity would require. He would 
 not break the bruised reed. Notwithstanding the strict require- 
 ments made of the disciple of the Master, he was ready to come to 
 the aid of the unfortunate offender in the dark hour of his sin. We 
 see this in several instances during his ministry. Even the deacon, 
 Thomas Wells, who, for his obliquities during the pastorate of Mr. 
 Emery, had been suspended from the church in 1732, seems to have 
 been guilty of a little dissimulation in his apology for again neglect- 
 ing to provide for and set the communion table. " It was entirely 
 owing," he said, "to his misunderstanding of Mrs. Hatch, w T hom he 
 employed to bake the bread and set the table. He supposed, when 
 he asked if she had the flour, she answered in the affirmative, 
 though he said she had not." But he had been guilty of the neglect 
 for two successive Sabbaths, and the failure must have been the sub- 
 ject of conversation in the daily intercourse of the communicants. 
 Yet he seems to have delayed offering any explanation until a church 
 meeting was called to inquire into the matter, and then, after its ad- 
 journment, he presents his equivocal apology. We cannot refrain 
 from the conclusion that his disregard of his plain duty had its 
 source in some other cause than that which was stated, and yet the 
 church and the minister were satisfied with the explanation. 
 
 So also at a meeting in 1733, the record says: "the confessions of- 
 fered to the church by two of the brethren thereof, respecting their 
 disorderly walk, are satisfactory;" and again in 1734, at a church 
 meeting holden at the meeting-house, "occasioned by Peter Little- 
 field wounding his brother John Littlefield by a blow in his anger 
 upon some matter of difference between them," upon the said Pe- 
 ter's confessing his fault therein, and professing his repentance there- 
 for, the church was satisfied ; while John Littlefield was faulty in 
 some measure himself in receiving the blow ; and the members of 
 the church were required to use their influence to make him sensi- 
 ble of it. Again in 1736, " the offense given unto the church by 
 William Patten, in the Hand it appears to them he had in promoting 
 the forging of Bills in imitation of public bills of Credit lately found 
 out, and in uttering of them, being considered, the Church voted 
 that William Patten shall make a public confession of his above 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 361 
 
 mentioned offense unto the whole Church, immediately before the 
 next administration of the Lord's supper, and give the same into the 
 Church in writing as he would expect to be admitted to the privil- 
 edge of special ordinances with them;" [and accordingly he con- 
 fessed " his having had a criminal hand in the scandalous affair re- 
 specting bills forged, repenting sincerely ; " and he was on this re- 
 admitted, though a long while suspended. In 1738, Joseph Hamlin 
 confessed having received stolen goods, and the church were satisfied. 
 
 Although these proceedings exhibit much of a charitable and for- 
 giving spirit on the part of minister and people, yet when it is con- 
 sidered that the Eucharist was held by the church to be under their 
 care and control, we cannot but feel that more latitude was here giv- 
 en to human frailties, than was consistent with a wise oversight of 
 these Christian ordinances. We cannot believe that in these cases 
 the religion of Christ was the ruling principle of life, and that the 
 offenses were such slight departures from it, that confession and pro- 
 fessed repentance should have authorized condonation and renewed 
 fellowship. If Mr. Jefferds and the church had regarded the table as 
 the Lord's, they might very well, so far as concerned* themselves> 
 have pardoned the injury which had been done, leaving to the trans- 
 gressors alone the responsibility of coming to the holy sacrament un- 
 worthily. 
 
 Mr. Jefferds, though endowed with but ordinary intellectual pow- 
 er, was useful in his ministerial relations. He evidently labored to 
 promote a kind and peaceful disposition among his people, so that 
 he drew to himself their sympathy and good will. And they in re- 
 turn, were ready to come to his help in all his domestic concerns. 
 The dwelling-house of which we have spoken was built for him ; and 
 as the money currency was continually depreciating, the town voted 
 several successive years to add thirty pounds to his salary. In 1736, 
 it was increased eighty pounds. In 1738, one hundred ; afterward, 
 one hundred and fifty; and then three hundred. And more than all, 
 as exhibiting their strong attachment to him, and readiness to make 
 any sacrifice on his account, in 1748 they called a town meeting, "to 
 act and do anything that may be thought Proper and Reasonable, in 
 any affair wherein the Rev. Samuel Jefferds be concerned," After- 
 ward in 1749, Joseph Sayer, Joshua Wells, Samuel Stuart, Nathan- 
 iel Wells, Caleb Kimball, Benjamin Stevens, Richard Boothby, Dan- 
 iel Morrison and Gershom Maxwell were chosen a committee to 
 
362 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 " Consider the Difference of money and the Necessaries of life now 
 from what they were when Rev. Samuel Jefferds was settled among 
 us, and to see whether the town has made his sallery as Good from 
 time to time as what he first agreed for." 
 
 Mr. Jefferds did all he could for the harmony of his people. Hav- 
 ing imbibed much of the spirit of puritanism, and educated in the 
 principles of Congregationalism, he could not but feel that any de- 
 parture from it should not be encouraged or tolerated. One Daniel 
 Rogers, an itinerant preacher in 1742, addressed to him a letter, re- 
 questing his influence to obtain for him liberty " to preach the ever- 
 lasting gospel." But he refused to favor his request. Order in the 
 ministry was then considered to be material to the growth of a sound 
 religion. The church also opposed the granting of any such license. 
 
 Mr. Jefferds was strongly impressed with the opinion that Quaker- 
 ism was a great evil, as were the divines of Massachusetts generally. 
 This hostility against this harmless denomination, although more in- 
 tense in the preceeding century, when the sect were styled vaga- 
 bonds and enemies of Christianity, and were not allowed to abide in 
 any of the towns, but were driven out and whipped, and if they re- 
 turned even put to death, continued till near the close of Mr. Jef- 
 ferds' ministry, though it had in some measure abated. The minis- 
 ters in Maine were much troubled by its extension in this Province, 
 and held fasts in different places, to implore the Divine interposition 
 to stay its progress. Under the date of July 3, 1740, says Smith's 
 Journal, " The church kept a day of fasting and prayer on account 
 of the spread of Quakerism. Mr. Jefferds and myself prayed a. m. 
 Mr. Thompson preached ; Mr. Allen and Mr. Lord prayed, and Mr. 
 Willard preached p. m." Sept. 17, 1741, " a fast was holden at 
 "Wells," probably on the same account. " Mr. Jefferds prayed and 
 I preached, p. m., and was more than two hours in the sermon ; 
 preached extempore all the application, had great help." 
 
 "We are not to ascribe the apprehensions of these faithful servants 
 of the master to any illiberality of feeling. The doctrines and habits 
 of the Friends were repugnant to all the theology, modes of worship, 
 and of church edification to which they had been accustomed from 
 early life ; and they felt deeply that their prevalence would endanger 
 the peace and perhaps the existence of the church of Christ. New 
 England was not then so far enlightened as to have divested itself of 
 all the follies, superstitions, conceits, and erroneous opinions which 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 363 
 
 marked the previous century. The church still continued to feel 
 that there was no religion without its pale ; and thence recognized 
 the importance of a constant striving against the entrance of nox- 
 ious error. 
 
 Mr. Jefferds was, we may well suppose, the leader in his own pre- 
 cinct in all measures, having for their object, the promotion of a 
 sound religion ; and was ready to endorse all action fitted to give it 
 strength and vitality. It was considered then, that one object of 
 law was to compel men to an obedience to its precepts. Every man 
 was thence required to place himself in position for the reception of 
 religious instruction. This duty was enforced, without respect of 
 persons. In 1737, Samuel Emons, Edward Evans, Caleb Kimball, 
 Samuel Littlefield, Edmund Littlefield, and Edmund Littlefield, jr., 
 were all indicted for not attending public worship. These men lived 
 in Kennebunk, seven miles from the meeting-house, and found it 
 very inconvenient to attend church on the Sabbath. But we are in- 
 clined to the belief that their attachments to the sanctuary were not 
 very strong. Others were guilty of the same neglect. This indif- 
 ference was strikingly manifest about the middle of Mr. Jefferds' 
 ministry, when so many were accustomed to neglect public worship 
 that a committee of the church was appointed to inquire into the 
 causes of this non-attendance. Mr. Jefferds was probably a little 
 slack in his preparations for the pulpit. He owned a part of a saw- 
 mill at Great Falls, the profits of which may have had too much sway 
 over his sense of obligation to his people. Still we believe him to 
 have been, on the whole, faithful to his trust ; and that his failure, if 
 any, was in his misconception of the needs of the human soul. His 
 preaching, though sound, did not come to his hearers with sufficient 
 power to bind them to the altar. The generality of men, then as 
 now, preferred excitement to logic. Some of the ministers looked on 
 the revival growing out of the preaching of Whitefield in 1743, as 
 seriously jeopardizing the great interests of religion. But the dis- 
 contents were principally in Massachusetts. In Maine, nearly all 
 were united in its support, though they strongly condemned much of 
 the theology to which it had given rise as repugnant to the teachings 
 of Christ; still more, the dangerous practices which had become 
 current, especially that of illiterate men attempting to become 
 preachers of the gospel, and assuming authority to judge the hearts 
 of others, and denouncing those who could not assent to their views- 
 
364 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 in reference to the mode of preaching, and the manifestation of its 
 effects. Mr. Jefferds sustained the revival, though with much mis- 
 giving as to the danger in which the order of the gospel was in- 
 volved. It does not seem to have reached Wells. The excitement 
 died away without any additions to the church. 
 
 During the ministry of Mr. Jefferds he baptized 484 males and 
 451 females. In the later years of his ministry he occasionally 
 preached at Kennebunk, to which place he was escorted in military 
 style, several citizens of that part of the town usually going to 
 Wells on horseback, with their arms, and accompanying him on his 
 journey from his home, and also on his return. Great care was tak- 
 en during his whole pastorate for his protection and comfortable sup- 
 port. We have not learned that any dissatisfaction with his paro- 
 chial services or personal deportment ever existed. He was a man 
 with, and of the people. 
 
 Mr. Jefferds was the son of Simon Jefferds of Salem, Mass., where 
 he was born in 1703. He married Sarah, daughter of Col. John 
 Wheelright, Oct. 27, 1727, and died of pleuretic fever, Feb. 1, 1752. 
 Forty pounds were raised by the parish to pay the expenses of his 
 funeral, and his salary was continued to his widow to the end of the 
 year, during which time, also, she was allowed to occupy the pai'son- 
 age house. 
 
 The people set about the matter of filling the vacancy immediate- 
 ly after the death of Mr. Jefferds. Mr. Samuel Fayrweather, who 
 graduated at Cambridge in 1743, was requested to preach as a candi- 
 date. He supplied the pulpit two months, and the church was so 
 well satisfied with his services that he received a unanimous vote to 
 settle over them in the ministry. The town also on the sixteenth of 
 June voted to concur with the church in the invitation, and to offer 
 Mm a salary of £93 6s. 8d. The records give us no information as 
 to the division in the balloting on this subject. It is very manifest 
 that there were some dissentients. The disagreement was not abated 
 by lapse of time. The invitation was duly extended to Mr. Fayr- 
 weather, but he made no reply to it. Month after month the town 
 waited for his answer. After waiting nine months, March 16, the 
 following answer was returned. It gives no apology for the strange 
 procrastination. Neither does it exhibit any appreciation of the in- 
 jury done to the society by his negligence. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 365 
 
 " To the First Church of Christ in Wells, and to the Inhabitants 
 of said town now at their Meeting House. 
 
 Grace, Mercy & Peace be multiplied unto you and yours through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 As gratitude is esteemed among the Social virtues the greatest, so 
 I can do no less (at this time) than thank you for unmerited Respect, 
 in constantly attending on my ministrations and giving me a unani- 
 mous call to the work of the sacred ministry among you. You have 
 all had a taste of my gifts and see that by the grace of God, I am 
 what I am ; unto me who am the least of all saints, is this grace 
 given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. As it 
 is eleven months since I gave you my first Fruits, and nine since I 
 was honored with your call, it may now be reasonably expected that 
 I give my final answer respecting this matter, and my answer to you, 
 gentlemen, is, upon the maturest deliberation, that I accept the call, 
 not for filthy lucre's sake, but of a ready mind ; humbly relying on 
 the Strength and Grace of Christ, to assist me in a so arduous and 
 important a work. May I be a precious Gift of an ascended Saviour, 
 a workman that need not not be ashamed ! rightly dividing the word 
 of Truth, and giving to every one his portion in due Season. May a 
 double portion of that spirit which rested on my dear and worthy 
 Predecessors, descend on and animate me through all the parts and 
 branches of my duty. Brethren, pray for me, and as you have voted 
 such a sum so cheerfully for my Support, so do I confide in you for 
 the Punctual Payment of it according to your vote. So giving my- 
 self up to God in the First Place, I most heartily by his blessed 
 Will, resign myself up to you his people in your service in the Glori- 
 ous Gospel. Subscribing myself most affectionately your Servant 
 for Jesus' sake. Samuel Faykweathee." 
 
 Notwithstanding the objections in the minds of a portion of the 
 town, the 23d day of May, 1753, was appointed for his ordination^ 
 He had some strong friends in the church, among whom were the 
 Wheelrights, Col. John Storer, Capt. John Winn, Peter Littlefield, 
 Daniel Chaney and others. A council of more than fifty was called 
 to advise and assist at the ordination. But the opponents could not 
 be reconciled to the proceeding. We have not learned all the ob- 
 jections to the candidale. But, we think the leading one was his in- 
 sult to the society in delaying his response to their invitation nearly 
 
366 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBOTK. 
 
 a year ; probably with the hope of obtaining a position more favor- 
 able to his personal interests ; and further, that he had been guilty 
 of some " imprudences," which we find nowhere specifically stated. 
 The attempt to ordain him had created a great excitement, so that 
 that charity which thinketh no evil, was not very manifest in the 
 intercourse and proceedings of all the parties. The objections, we 
 suppose, were well understood by all the churches before the council 
 assembled, as some, who were chosen delegates, and did not attend, 
 sent their dissent to the ordination in writing. Forty-eight were 
 present. Of these, thirty-six were favorable to Mr. Fayrweather and 
 twelve against him. The majority regarded the objections as trifling 
 and uncharitable ; but as the opposition was so strong, and might in- 
 crease to such an extent as to jeopardize the harmony of the society, 
 they adjudged it best that he should not be ordained ; though at the 
 same time they denounced the heat and uncharitableness of the op- 
 position, as u an infringement upon the rights of society." They re- 
 garded the candidate as of unblemished character, and recommended 
 him to the service of all the churches. 
 
 He yielded to the adjudication of the council with becoming corrt- 
 placency, praying that it might be " overruled in much mercy to the 
 church and congregation, and that the people might be led to own 
 the hand of God in it," though he was "greatly concerned for Wells, 
 and his heart trembled for the ark of God in that place," and he 
 would still "pray that peace might be within its walls." We have 
 but little knowledge of Mr. Fayrweather beyond, what is developed 
 in these proceedings. Soon after the decision of the council, he 
 preached two Sundays at one of the leading churches in Boston 
 with such acceptance that he was invited to supply the pulpit two 
 Sundays more. 
 
 The council having thus refused assent to the ordination of Mr. 
 Fayrweather, the church and town were necessitated to seek another 
 candidate. Gideon Richardson, of Sudbury, was invited to preach. 
 He had graduated at Harvard in 1749. At this time education was 
 esteemed so essential by all the people that it was difficult for one 
 who was not a graduate of some college to find acceptance with a 
 council of Congregational ministers. We are unable to state with 
 whom he studied in preparation for the ministry; but the people 
 were highly pleased with his pulpit services, and at a meeting of the 
 church en the 22d day of October, 1753, it was voted unanimously 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 367 
 
 to extend to him a call to the pastoral office. At a town meeting on 
 the 12th of November following, it was voted to concur with the 
 church in this invitation, and to give him as a salary eighty pounds 
 with the use of the parsonage. The invitation was accepted, and 
 the 27th of February, 1754, designated for his ordination. On this 
 occasion fifteen churches were assembled in council. The public 
 services were opened with prayer by Rev. Thomas Smith, of Port- 
 land. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Loring, fr*om 2d Thess. v. 11, 12. 
 Rev. Mr. Wise, of Berwick, gave the charge ; Rev. Mr. Thompson 
 the right hand of fellowship, and Rev. Seth Storer offered the con- 
 cluding prayer. Mr. Storer was the son of Joseph Storer, of Wells. 
 
 Our knowledge of Mr. Richardson is very meagre. The unanimi- 
 ty with which he was invited to settle over the parish speaks well of 
 his ministerial qualifications. He appears to have been firm in the 
 principles of Congregationalism and decided in his action. In those 
 days, whatever was done by the church may well be regarded as 
 done at the suggestion and with the support of the minister. The 
 question of the settlement of Mr. Clark over the second church in 
 Falmouth, in 1755 and 1756, produced great excitement in all the 
 churches. A violent opposition arose in the town against his ordi- 
 nation. A large council was called which sustained the opposition. 
 Again and again the churches were invited to convene to ordain 
 him ; but though at four different times Mr. Richardson was invited 
 to attend with delegates he declined to do so. The ministers could 
 not agree as to the course of action in settling the question. Some 
 contended, we suppose, that every minister and delegate should 
 vote; others that all votes' should be taken by churches. ' Mr. Little 
 refused to attend and participate in the council unless the proceed- 
 ings were governed by the latter rule. Richardson, we think, took 
 the same view of it. The fact that a large council had once refused 
 ordination was conclusive with him and his church. 
 
 But during his pastorate another vote was passed by the church 
 which does not, in our view, exhibit a very wise judgment of the in- 
 terests of the church. The record says that there was " a great 
 prevalency of a violation of the seventh commandment," and look- 
 ing upon it to be the duty of the church " to do something to sup- 
 press this gross and scandalous sin," it was voted "that all such 
 persons residing among us as shall be guilty of the violation of the 
 seventh commandment shall not be restored to the charity of the 
 
368 HISTOBY OF WELLS and kennebunk. 
 
 church without making a written acknowledgment of their sin and 
 profession of their repentance before the church and in the presence 
 of the congregation." The man who would be guilty of the offense, 
 if it was known in the community, would have no hesitation in pro- 
 fessing repentance, or in signing an acknowledgment of his trans- 
 gression. Promises and professions are of little value in comparison 
 with a life of integrity and unbending fidelity. 
 
 During his short life Mr. Richardson seems to have been success- 
 ful in his ministrations. While thus settled at Wells, he baptized 
 109 males and 110 females. We presume that he was constitution- 
 ally feeble. The great earthquake, it was said, gave a severe shock 
 to his nervous system, from the effects of which he never recovered. 
 He died on the 17th day of March, 1758. His funeral was probably 
 attended by large numbers, as great preparations were made for the 
 occasion. Among the provisions made were four gallons of rum, 
 four pairs of gloves, turkey, chickens, and a ring. For what purpose 
 the latter was furnished we cannot state. 
 
 Mr. Richardson was followed by Moses Hemmenway, who subse- 
 quently became one of the most eminent theologians of New Eng- 
 land. He was duly ordained on the eighth day of August, 1759. 
 His uncle, Rev. Phineas Hemmenway, preached the sermon ; Rev. 
 Mr. Lyman, of York, offered the ordaining prayer; Rev. Mr. Har- 
 rington, of Lancaster, gave the charge ; Rev. Mr. Little, of the 
 Second Parish, the right hand of fellowship, and Rev. Mr. Lancton, 
 of York, made the concluding prayer. At ordinations, as well as 
 funerals, the physical man was carefully provided for, and on this 
 occasion, to sustain the body, while provision was thus being made 
 for the soul, three gallons of rum were purchased, wine to the value 
 of £1 10s. 6d., and cider, £1 2s. 6d. 
 
 Dr. Hemmenway having attained a high rank among the distin- 
 guished men of the last century, we shall endeavor to give a full 
 biographical sketch of bis character in a future chapter. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 369 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Expedition to Louisburg— List of volunteers from Wells—Letters 
 of Gen. Pepperell, Col. Storer, Rev. Samuel Jefferds, Mrs. Bul- 
 man— List of soldiers who died at Cape Breton— Fears enter- 
 tained OF AN ATTACK BY THE FRENCH FLEET — SHIPWRECK ON MT. 
 
 Desert— Indian attacks upon Brunswick, Falmouth, Scarboro, 
 and Saco— Anecdote of John Butland— Murder of Mrs. Walker- 
 Attempt TO SURPRISE LARRABEE'S GARRISON — BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 of Col. John Wheelright. 
 
 During nearly twenty years of peace the population of the town 
 had largely increased, and the inhabitants, by the steady pursuit of 
 their various employments, had gained material strength. The In- 
 dians had, with good fidelity, fulfilled the obligations of the treaty 
 and were on terms of friendly intercourse with them. Some, as 
 stated in another chapter, were living, a portion of the year, in dif- 
 ferent places in the town of Wells. Their numbers had been much 
 reduced by the former wars. The English settlements at Arundel, 
 Biddeford, Saco, and on the seacoast as far as Pemaquid had been 
 renewed, and thus an active population of many thousands was 
 spread over the Province, so that the fears, which, in former years, 
 had paralyzed the arm of industry and filled life in the wilderness 
 with fearful anxieties, had ceased to trouble the minds of the inhab- 
 itants. But the Indians were yet under the control of the French 
 priesthood. The power of treaties, the most solemn, was insufficient 
 to overcome its baneful influence. A war had arisen between Eng- 
 land and Spain, and France, ever ready for any enterprise which 
 might curtail the power of the former, joined hands with Spain, and 
 thus again introduced here the flame of discord and strife. The old 
 spirit of revenge against their neighbors was kindled again in the 
 hearts of the Indians. 
 
 The French had attacked Canseau and destroyed the whole vil- 
 lage before any knowledge of the war had reached Boston. They 
 24 
 
370 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 also attacked the garrison at Annapolis, though they failed to cap- 
 ture it. The eastern Indians, it was found, were also engaged in 
 these assaults on the English possessions, and the government de- 
 clared war against them, while every exertion was put forth to calm 
 the tribes who were scattered within or bordered upon the Prov- 
 inces. Gov. Shirley wrote to Pepperell to charge upon the people 
 here to avoid all provocations which might excite them to engage in 
 the war against us. Pepperell wrote to Major Storer to endeavor to 
 impress this caution on the people, and to see that they were pro- 
 vided with arms and ammunition, concluding that " if an enemy 
 should come upon any place, and the people should be destroyed for 
 want of arms and ammunition, I think their blood would be much 
 upon the officers' hands." A large stock of ammunition had been 
 forwarded to Wells and was deposited with Storer. An embargo 
 had also been ordered, which he was to take care should be rigidly 
 enforced. Volunteers were called for to watch the movements of 
 the Indians and to allay the fears of the inhabitants. These were 
 scattered in various parts of the Province, and, strange as it may 
 appear at the present day, rewards were offered by Massachusetts 
 for the scalps of Indians, man, woman, or child, an offer not less re- 
 pugnant to all our ideas of national rectitude than were the artful 
 machinations of the Jesuits, to lead the natives to murder our peo- 
 ple and burn our houses, to the spirit of Christianity. 
 
 But there was now no misunderstanding as to the duty of the 
 government. The French were openly the foes of the English, and 
 the provincials determined on some decided action to humble an en- 
 emy who had always been secretly at war with the peace and pros- 
 perity of the people. Louisburg was the strongest fortress on the 
 continent. It was called the Dunkirk of America, the French re- 
 garding it as material to the maintainance of their possessions here, 
 that it should be impregnable. The Catholic religion was viewed 
 by New England as the leading element of the almost continual 
 strife in which they had been involved with the natives. The 
 priests had been constantly laboring to impress on the savage mind 
 the duty of checking the settlements of the English, under the pre- 
 tense that they were to be driven from the lands. Puritan New 
 England was soon aroused to the great importance of an enterprise 
 against this stronghold of Catholic France. Never since the settle- 
 ment of this continent commenced has there been such a general 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AiJD KEKNEBUKK. 
 
 371 
 
 awakening to the necessity and importance, of a public measure. 
 All the religion of the Provinces was interested in the war against 
 the infidels, as their enemies were regarded. Louisburg must be 
 wrested from the enemy. This determined spirit removed all diffi- 
 culties in obtaining the proper armament, and the people, with one 
 soul, were ready for the expedition. 
 
 Four hundred men were enlisted in the county of York. Wells, 
 having then about two hundred and fifty able bodied men, had a 
 large share in the operations which were set on foot, and thence we 
 feel called upon to give more fully the details of the expedition. 
 Our statements in relation to it are founded almost entirely upon 
 original documents. To Sir William Pepperell, as lieutenant gener- 
 al, was committed the whole charge of the expedition. Thirteen 
 vessels of war, in addition to the transports, were to make up the 
 necessary naval force, and about four thousand troops were engaged 
 for the service. Pepperell entered upon his duties with great zeal, 
 feeling it highly important that the whole force should be in front of 
 the city before the people within should have any knowledge that 
 an attempt was on foot to besiege it. 
 
 Major John Store? was ordered to enlist a company in Wells. So 
 earnest were the people to forward the expedition, that his company 
 was soon made up by enlistments, and we believe in a single day. 
 Nearly all of them were of Wells. The following is the list of those 
 who volunteered and embarked under him on board the transports : 
 
 Col. John Storer, Captain, 
 John Fairfield, 1st Lieut., 
 Nathaniel Kimball, 2d Lieut., 
 Daniel Sayer, Clerk, 
 Enoch Davis, Sergeant, 
 Benjamin Hatch, " 
 Ichabod Cousins, u 
 John Look, " 
 
 Benjamin Jellison, Corporal, 
 Joshua Kimball, " 
 
 Pendleton Fletcher, " 
 Jonathan Adams, " 
 
 Joshua Lassell, 
 Matthew Robison, 
 
 John Crediford, 
 Joseph Webber, 
 Edward Evans, 
 Ichabod Dunham, 
 Joseph Crediford, 
 James Jepson, 
 Edmund Welch, 
 Isaac Danforth, 
 Joseph Taylor, 
 John Dean, 
 Benjamin Curtis, 
 Phillip Devotion, 
 Thomas Wheelright, 
 John Burks, 
 
372 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENHEBUNK. 
 
 "William Robison, . James Gillpatrick, 
 
 Charles White, Peter Rich, 
 
 James Littlefield, John Bagshaw, 
 
 Ebenezer Littlefield, John McDaniel, 
 
 Matthew Linsey, John Eldridge, 
 
 Joseph Curtis, James Littlefield, jr., 
 
 Elimuel Clark, James Read, 
 
 Caleb Kimball, Simeon Merryfield, 
 
 Isaac Bus well, Drummer, John Can away, 
 
 Joshua Adams, Benjamin Jacobs, 
 
 John Kenne, Michael Wilson, 
 
 John Huston, Jedediah Preble, 
 
 James Reed, Gershom Boston, 
 
 William Curtis, Joseph Boston, 
 
 John Sinkler, »Shebuleth Boston, 
 
 Aaron Lord, Thomas Boston. 
 Ichabod Jellison, 
 
 Pepperell was earnest for the greatest possible dispatch. He 
 writes to Major Storer, " Kittery, Feb. 20, 1744. Your favour of y e 
 19th inst. I received, and if Mr. Preble can get his sloop reddy, I am 
 nothing against his Sloop being improved, provid d it is agreable to 
 y e other Field officers, my Dear Friend y e time of year hastens away, 
 and His Excell 7 Expects our Regiment in Boston by y e mid 1 of next 
 week without faile. I want to know where you have Enlisted yo r full 
 complyment of men — and a list of them. I have no Enlisting money 
 sent me, but have advanced to my Company five pounds old tenor 
 to Each man — the money will be sure and we shall have it when we 
 go to Boston — I have lent considerable, and desire to goo to Ports- 
 mouth and borrow some out of their Treasury and pay them in Bos- 
 ton, as they will have occasion for money there ; if you want and can- 
 not borrow it at Wells, com over and I will lend you some. Pray 
 let us make dispatch. 
 
 I am Your assured Friend & servant, 
 
 I trust that God will be with us on Wm. Pepperell. 
 
 this Expedition and deliver our enemy 
 
 into our hands. Then we shall be able to give him all y e Hon. & 
 Glory. Everything I hear of is Encouraging — hasten and get your 
 men my dear Friend." 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 373 
 
 The next day, before receiving a reply from Storer, he writes 
 again : " Kittery, Feb. 21, 1744. Dear Sir. I have some money for 
 your Enlisted soldiers. I want to see you — much — hasten here, we 
 must get the vessels reddy to Sail with our men — for Boston — next 
 monday — hasten my Good Friend, if cannot make up your Company 
 take Lu* Perkins of Arrundell your first Lu* with y e men he has En- 
 listed. I am — Your assured Friend. 
 
 • Wm. Pepperell." 
 
 The troops from Wells were speedily ready, and were transported 
 to Boston by water. No one ever entered upon a work under a 
 deeper sense of his responsibility than did Pepperell upon this. He 
 was a man of unflagging energy, and of an all-controlling, sound 
 moral principle. His soul was absorbed in the preparation for the 
 great and difficult enterprise which had been entrusted to his charge ; 
 and by his untiring exertions, the whole armament was ready and 
 sailed from Boston on the 24th of March, being less than two months 
 from the time it was resolved upon by the general court. 
 
 The intense interest excited among the inhabitants of Wells by 
 this expedition, cannot be comprehended by us. Husbands and sons 
 had left their farms, and freely offered themselves for all the hazards 
 of the undertaking. More than one-quarter of the population had 
 left their homes for this service. Several of the volunteers were 
 nearly sixty years of age, and some but sixteen. All knew and ap- 
 preciated the dangers and hardships to which they must be exposed 
 in the siege of the stronghold. To many, the parting seemed like 
 severing the ties of life, and " tears were shed like rain." Great anx- 
 iety was felt for the issue of the terrible contest. When governor 
 Shirley first proposed the project of capturing the city, great opposi- 
 tion arose from many who doubted the wisdom and expediency of 
 such an attempt, feeling assured that success was almost impossible. 
 The French had been engaged twenty-five years, and had expended 
 five million dollars in endeavoring to make it impregnable to assaults 
 from any quarter. But the men on whom Pepperell depended were 
 enured to hardships, having experienced so much suffering from the 
 savage wars, which they knew had been instigated, and in a great 
 measure sustained by the French, they were ready and yearning for 
 the proposed retaliation, at whatever cost. 
 
 The fleet arrived at Canso on the fourth of April. Two or three 
 
374 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 
 
 of the transports, having on board the artillery, ammunition and 
 stores, having been separated from the fleet in bad weather, did not 
 arrive till some days afterward, which caused some delay in the oper- 
 tions against Louisburg. After their arrival they were further de- 
 layed by the discovery that many of the guns of the soldiers were 
 unfit for the service, and that there was a deficiency of provisions, so 
 that one of the transports was despatched to give Gov. Shirley no- 
 tice of that fact. The men were all in high spirits and eager for the 
 work, and Pepperell did not delay for the provisions. But in conse- 
 quence of the head winds and ice, the squadron did not leave Canso 
 till the 29th. Our readers, we think, will be interested in the follow- 
 ing letter from Major Storer. It indicates something of the religious 
 spirit which pervaded the public mind, and which did so much to 
 strengthen the hands and cheer the hearts of those who were en- 
 gaged in this perilous enterprise. " Canso, April 26. My Dear wife. 
 Having an opportunity I cheerfully embrace it to let you know that 
 I am in some measure of health, but have been subject to a cold as 
 is frequent in the army. But at present am in as general health as 
 may be expected. Our several friends and neighbors from Wells, 
 with Mr. Daniel Sayer are desirous to be remembered to their sev- 
 eral respective families and friends. Monday, Capt. Durell in a forty 
 gun ship from Boston came into Canso Harbour, and anchored. Tues- 
 day following, ten o'clock, morning, Commodore Warren in a sixty 
 gun ship, and one ship of fifty guns, and one forty gun ship, came to 
 the mouth of Canso Harbour. Then joined by Capt. Durell. Which 
 four ships of war sailed in line of battle, being an agreable appear- 
 ance to the army. Those ships of war are guarding of the coast of 
 Cape Breton. Our guard vessels, viz., Capt. Snelling and Fletcher & 
 Capt. Dunahew & Capt. Swan, on the 17th & 18th inst. took two 
 French Brigantines from Martineco bound to Cape Breton, chiefly 
 laden with rum and molasses and brought them into Canso. We 
 also have retaken several of our schooners and one provision schoon- 
 er bound to Newfoundland, that came from Boston, Capt. Adams, 
 Master. Capt. Dunahew has taken eight Indians more. April 8, 10 
 o'clock morning, there being a large French ship in sight, our guard 
 vessels began with her. We heard the great guns, broadside and 
 broadside, and chase guns constantly firing. In the night we saw 
 the flash of the great guns some minutes before we heard them. 
 Capt. Rouse, with Mr. Moody on board with him, being the last that 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 375 
 
 left the French ship, for they could not come up with her. Sabbath 
 day, April 21st, four of Col. Willards men were getting wood some 
 distance from the vessels, and without their guns. Two Frenchmen 
 and one Indian fired one gun, and took and made them prisoners, 
 and drove them away eight or ten miles ; but our men took an op- 
 portunity and fell upon the Frenchmen and the Indian and made 
 them prisoners, and brought them back near their boat. But by 
 some misfortune the Indian suddenly started and run quite away. 
 Major General Wolcott with eight sail of vessels, and his quota of 
 men from Connecticut arrived here yesterday the 24th inst. and 
 joined our troops. The reason of our being yet at Canso, the ice be- 
 ing yet in so great bodies and the bays so full, we could not safely 
 proceed, but expect to now every moment, when winds and weather 
 will permit. I now, my dear wife, tenderly and heartily remember 
 my constant love to you and our dear children. Duty to my hon- 
 ored, aged parents, — best regards to Rev. Mr. Jefferds and family, 
 Dr. Sayer and all friends. I desire, in sincerity of soul, to commit 
 myself and each of you into the hands of a gracious God and our 
 Saviour, who is able to keep us in all our ways, and to build us up 
 in his most holy faith, and make us meet for his Heavenly kingdom. 
 I ask your continued prayers for me and all our friends engaged in 
 the expedition, that God would be pleased to vouchsafe to go with 
 us, and grant us the desired success ; and in his own due time be re- 
 turned to our native land, and our dear friends in safety. And that 
 he would prepare us to give all the praise and glory to him, if he 
 shall so favour us, is the desire and prayer of your affectionate, sin- 
 cere and loving husband till death. John Storee. 
 
 Gen. Pepperell is in good health. I have had the honor of his 
 company with his Secretary to lodge on board in Canso harbour with 
 me three nights. My tender love remembered to my brother Storers, 
 their wives and children, to Deacon Barret and all friends — earnestly 
 desiring an interest and remembrance in your prayers." 
 
 To Mrs. Elizabeth Storer at Wells, in New England." 
 
 This project of New England to capture Cape Breton, had not 
 been made known to the king. Yet he had sent to Com. Warren, 
 then on the coast of the West Indies, to co-operate with the Colonies 
 in any of their enterprises where he could afford efficient aid. War- 
 ren at once entered into the spirit of the hour. Full of zeal and 
 
376 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 thirsting for action, he wrote to Pepperell, " For God's sake let ns 
 do something and not waste our time in indolence." Pepperell was 
 not the man to interpose objections to immediate action ; and they 
 at once went to work. The first object was to destroy St. Peters, a 
 village of two or three hundred inhabitants; and a detachment was 
 sent forward for that purpose, under Col. Moulton. As the Wells 
 troops were under him, it is probable that they were a portion of it. 
 They soon accomplished their errand, having destroyed the settle- 
 ment, taken some plunder and some prisoners, burnt four schooners 
 and brought off one. 
 
 On the 30th of April, the fleet arrived at the intended harbor, and 
 all embarked to commence the siege. They were immediately at- 
 tacked by a small force, who were speedily driven back, and fled to 
 the garrison. Soon afterward, what was termed the Grand Battery 
 was deserted, but for what reason the assailants could not conjecture. 
 It seemed to them to have been almost impregnable. This success 
 worked up new enthusiasm in the Provincial army. They seemed 
 to have new assurance that the God of battles was with them, and 
 that their highest hopes would be realized. The following letter 
 from Storer, who appears to have been promoted to a colonelcy, 
 shows how exhilarating was the effect of this success, and how strong 
 was the confidence that special Divine aid would attend their exer- 
 tions. 
 
 "At the Camp, Cape Breton, May 21, 1745. My Dear and tender 
 wife. I embrace this moment of time with my heart full of love, 
 drawn out to you and our dear children, with duty to our dear hon- 
 ored mother, love to the Rev. Mr. Jefferds and spouse. We are 
 hazarding our lives in the field of battle. But we believe and trust 
 that the Lord, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth — the ever living 
 and true God goeth before us and fighteth for us. We have seen 
 and beheld it with our eyes. What cause have we to admire and 
 adore the riches of free grace. I humbly desire to mourn and grieve 
 that I ever should offend so glorious a God and bountiful benefactor, 
 as to provoke him to turn his face from us. But I heartily desire to 
 seek his face and favor, hoping that good may come unto us, not our 
 wills — knowing the whole disposition of all events is from the Lord. 
 O I heartily wish you and yours health, especially that our souls 
 may prosper. The Lord fit and prepare me and us all for our great 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK". 377 
 
 and last change. The Indians have killed 30 men that were strag- 
 gling from their duty. They are strangers to me. Our people are 
 generally in health. Mr. Sayer presents his love to his wife, with 
 the rest of our people to theirs. We landed at Cape Breton April 
 30th. The French came furiously to the water side, and fired on us 
 to annoy our landing, but through the goodness of God our enemies 
 fled before us. Some Frenchmen were killed and some taken. The 
 second day of May we took possession of the Grand Battery, which 
 is an exceeding strong fortress. I have not time to enlarge but de- 
 sire to commit myself into the hands of him that judgeth righteous- 
 ly. Desiring an interest in your prayers is what offers from your 
 affectionate, tender, and loving husband, till God by death shall sep- 
 arate us. John Stoker. 
 
 Pray write to me by all opportunity. 
 
 A line from Rev. Mr. Jefferds might be agreeable to me." 
 
 It would not well consist with the object of a town history to at- 
 tempt here a recital of all the proceedings of Pepperell in the prose- 
 cution of the siege. Let it suffice to say, that after the surrender of 
 the grand battery, and its possession taken by our forces, he pushed 
 forward toward the city, his army being inspired with an ardor and 
 intrepidity almost incredible. The labor performed, the difficulties 
 surmounted, the hardships suffered, could only be understood by 
 those who were the immediate actors in these operations. Every 
 night, for fourteen days in succession, were the troops engaged in 
 dragging their heavy artillery and necessary munitions through bogs 
 and morasses to the spots selected for batteries. Day and night 
 they were almost continually enveloped in fogs, exposed to all the 
 adverse influences of this northerly climate, at this early season of 
 the year 5 wet, chilled, and exhausted by their arduous labor, yet 
 their valor was not. diminished, their perseverance checked, or their 
 enthusiasm subdued ; but onward was ever the word. 
 
 Fifty days and nights were spent in this most exhausting struggle. 
 To many of these brave men its incessant labors, carried on under 
 intense excitement, wrought out a sad issue. But the stronghold 
 was finally overcome. All their toils and sufferings met with full 
 compensation in the glorious result. The city capitulated. As they 
 entered it, they were filled with wonder at the strength of its forti- 
 fications, and still more with surprise that it should have been sur- 
 
378 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 rendered. Pepperell said, " such ruins were never seen before. It 
 was the goodness of God alone that brought about the result. The 
 Almighty, of a truth, has been with us." 
 
 All their labors and struggles being now ended, Gen. Pepperell 
 prepared a dinner for Gen. Waldo and the naval and land officers 
 associated with him in the enterprise. That distinguished minister, 
 the Rev. Samuel Moody, of York, went down with Capt. Rouse as 
 chaplain of the army. Mr. Moody was generally long in his prayers 
 and proportionally long in his supplications at the table. His friends 
 were anxious lest Gen. Waldo and the officers should be out of pa- 
 tience with the expected unreasonable length of his petition for 
 God's blessing on the bounties of the table, under the circumstances 
 in which they now surrounded it ; but none dared to suggest to him 
 the expediency of brevity. To the gratification of all, he addressed 
 the Almighty briefly : " Good Lord, we have so many things to 
 thank thee for that time will be infinitely too short to do it ; we 
 must therefore leave it as the work of eternity. Bless our food and 
 fellowship on this joyful occasion for the sake of Christ Jesus, our 
 Lord. Amen." 
 
 Perhaps no event' in the history of this nation has produced such 
 universal joy as did the capture of Louisburg. Such long continued 
 and wicked aggressions had been committed by the French, or 
 through their instigation, on our territories, fisheries, and property, 
 and also on the persons of the people, that every man felt that he 
 had been personally injured, and thus a spirit of revenge, in some 
 measure, came to the aid of a noble patriotism. 
 
 Prayers were put up in all our churches continually that God's 
 blessing might attend this expedition. The ministers of this neigh- 
 borhood assembled together for fasting, at York, on the day of the 
 capitulation, and for intercession with the God of armies that his 
 blessing might attend it. Rev. Joseph Moody, son of the chaplain, 
 led their supplications in a prayer of two hours in length, and after 
 having addressed many arguments to the Almighty for the reduction 
 of the city, in the midst of his earnest devotions he exclaimed, " It 
 is done. It is delivered into our hands." He then went on blessing 
 God for his wonderful mercies to us in thus prospering this great un- 
 dertaking of these then feeble colonies. On the return of the sol- 
 diers it appeared that this remarkable exclamation was uttered at 
 the same hour with the completion of the capitulation. Of the facts 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 379 
 
 here stated we suppose there is no doubt. The explanation we 
 leave to the reader. 
 
 Letters were addressed to Gen. Pepperell by distinguished men in 
 the ministry and other professions, congratulating him on the suc- 
 cess of the great enterprise. Dr. Chauncy said there was not a 
 house in Boston, " in no by-lane or alley, but joy might be seen 
 through the windows, and the night was made joyful by bonfires, 
 and that there was not a man in the country but would heartily join 
 in thanksgiving to God for his appearance in our behalf." The fol- 
 lowing letter of Rev. Mr. Jefferds to Colonel Storer, who had partic- 
 ular charge of the men from Wells, shows the belief which Christians 
 of that day had that this wonderful victory, the result of all their 
 labors and perils, was reached through the special interposition of 
 the overruling Providence. The letter is long, but we think it 
 worthy of the space which it occupies. 
 
 " Wells, Sept. 16, 1745. 
 Dear Sir. I should not have delayed the congratulating you 
 upon the reduction of Cape Breton, nor the acknowledging my re- 
 ceipt of your favors to me from Louisburg, dated June 22d and June 
 30th, unto this day, as I have done, had not a fond Expectation of 
 seeing you here from Week to Week prevailed with me to think my 
 writing to you there would have been fruitless. But having seen 
 my mistake, and to amend it as well as I can, I embrace this oppor- 
 tunity to express my joynt Praises & Thansgivings with you unto 
 God for the marvellous things which he has herein done by and for 
 you and for us, whose right Hand and holy Arm hath gotten him 
 the Victory. Here's a new song put into our Mouth, a Song of 
 Praise to the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the People 
 willingly offered themselves. We Bless God for what he has done, 
 and acknowledge he has laid us under singular Obligation of Grati- 
 tude and Thankfulness to those he has been pleased to honour by 
 improving them as happy Instruments in this truly great and glori- 
 ous work. Our hearts should be, and I trust are, carried out in Es- 
 teem & Love, especially toward the Governors or Rulers of our New 
 English Israel that offered themselves willingly among the People. 
 O that we may cleave to the LORD our GOD, and take good Heed 
 to ourselves that we love him and serve him, and may he confirm 
 his work, and satisfy our Longing Souls in your Safe and Speedy 
 Return unto us. 
 
380 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 I take it as special favour that in the midst of all your Triumphs 
 you was pleased to remember me ; to take so much Notice of the 
 few Lines I sent you, and give yourself the Trouble of writing me 
 once and again. I thank you, S r , for the Particular Ace* you was 
 pleased to give me of the strong but conquered City. 
 
 Your aged holy mothers are still living and in their common State 
 of Health, as are also the rest of your family. Your pious Consort, 
 though heavily bowed down under the Cares and Troubles of your 
 long Absence, and filled w th Grief and Sorrows under the unexpected 
 continuance of it, yet she bears it all with an exemplary Patience 
 and sweet serenity of mind. Your Eldest Son keeps our School ; 
 your second looks after your Husbandry & other affairs. Your 
 eldest Daughter is at Boston, waiting for your arrival and to accom- 
 pany you here. Your two youngest Daughters are at home, longing 
 to see you, and little Sam'l is ready to jump and fly into your Arms. 
 I presume you have rec d the mournful News of the Hon ble Coll. 
 Wheelright's Decease, of your Hon d Aunt Littlefield. Besides 
 which, there has but one grown Person dyed among us, Samuel Lit- 
 tlefield's Wife of Merryland, and not so much as a Child belonging 
 to any of our friends that are with you. 
 
 Be pleased, S r , to present my Duty to his Excellency our Cap. 
 General, for whose wise, just, and easie, happy administration 
 Thanks are continually offered up unto God by a grateful Province, 
 with their earnest Prayers for the long continuance and further 
 Prosperity of it, and to his Hon r our Lieu* General, the merits of 
 whose Valour and Conduct will not be forgotten by an obliged Peo- 
 ple, but conveyed down to late Posterity with all suitable Tokens of 
 Respect. Please to give all proper Regards to all friends, and es- 
 pecially my hearty Love to those of my particular charge that are 
 yet at Louisburg. 
 
 And now, S r , That the happy Day may be hastened when I shall 
 see you face to face, and hear you rehearse the Righteous Acts of 
 the LORD, and goe in company with you to his house, and there 
 enjoy an holy fellowship with you, is the constant earnest Desire 
 and ferv* Prayer of 
 
 Your faithful and affectionate Pastor 
 To Col. John Storer, Esq., and Dutiful humble Serv* 
 
 at Louisburg Sam l Jefferds." 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 381 
 
 While the naval and land officers were so filled with joy at the 
 sudden successful termination of all their anxieties and labors, the 
 soldiers were thrilled to enthusiasm that their wearisome days and 
 nights were ended by such a glorious consummation. Their hearts 
 were buoyant with the inspirations of the grand victory, and the offi- 
 cers could not interfere to check the developments of their raptures 
 in any way in which their impulses might direct. Though they 
 were in an enemy's city, and had none of their countrywomen to 
 join with them, j'et somehow or other, we think, they extemporized 
 a dancing assembly. Pumps, which in those days were used for no 
 other purpose than the frolic and the dance, were purchased by 
 many of the soldiers. The company of Capt. Perkins, of Arundel, 
 under whom were several men from Wells, seem to have been most 
 prominent in this pastime. They felt that this was one of the occa- 
 sions on which it might be truly said, it is " a time to dance." 
 
 But the army was in a sad condition after its brilliant success. 
 More than fifteen hundred were sick at one time. The fogs which 
 constantly hung over the island and the continual exposures and 
 hardships which they endured had, undoubtedly, their share in bring- 
 ing about this unfortunate state of the soldiers. As is said in the 
 letter of Mr. Jefferds, wives and friends were waiting with anxious 
 longings for their return. But from various causes, many of them 
 were detained there a long time ; some more than a year. Sickness 
 was, we suppose, one of the leading causes. A letter from a lady of 
 Wells to her daughter in Boston, dated Sept. 30, 1745, says, "It is a 
 sickly and dying time at Cape Breton. Dr. Bulman is dead and 
 buried." Dr. Bulman, though living in York, was accustomed to 
 practice much in the town of Wells. Hence his loss was deeply felt 
 by many here, and therefore we cannot forbear to insert a letter 
 from his wife, written a few months previous. It shows much of the 
 spirit and character of the correspondence of this period, and of the 
 views which the religious portion of community had of this enter- 
 prise. 
 
 It is addressed, "For Alexander Bulman, Esq., one of the Sur- 
 geons of his Majesties Forces at Cape Breton, Under the Hon bl ° 
 Will m Pepperell Esq. & General." 
 
 "York June 5 1745. My Dear Husband. Last Sabath Day, just 
 as I was -Steping out of my Door to go up to the house of God for 
 
382 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the after noon Service your letter Came to hand, which gives the 
 pleasing account of your health and preservation in the midst of 
 sickness & Danger & that our friends & neighbors hitherto are pre- 
 served, save 2 — thanks be to God for a renewed occasion to tread 
 his Courts with joy and praise — oh may the high praises of God 
 Dwell upon my tongue for the wonderful Displays of Divine power 
 in providence and Grace to the children of men & to you in perticu- 
 lar. I was in hopes Ear this time the important affair was over — 
 but I find you are yet without the City walls. 
 
 but it is enough that the Governor of the Universe knows best 
 when to Lead you into the Strong Holds of your Enemyes, blessed 
 be his name for hopes of victory & success — oh may it be in such a 
 way & manner as that God may have all the Glory. 
 
 the time of your absence Semes very Long & tedious to me and I 
 often hope and wish for your return, but I submit that with all my 
 concerns of life in to the Government of a Holy & wise God, who 
 knows best how to dispose of me & mine. O may I never find my 
 will opposed to the will of the Blessed God, who I trust through the 
 riches of free grace is my father & my friend. 
 
 & who would not trust a friend that is infinite in wisdom & power 
 justice Goodness & truth. O the immutability of God. He changeth 
 not neither is weary. Here I could dwell and ever loose myself in 
 contemplating on the Divine perfections, but must pass on & say, in 
 the Evening I saw Letters of a later Date than yours, one of which 
 was Jonathan Say wards which gave an account of a french fleet's 
 coming in upon you when you were warmly engaged in attacks on 
 the City and had just made entrance, but were obliged to turn about 
 and face the Enemy from another quarter — what means this — but 
 let us stand still and perhaps we may see the Glory of God as our 
 fathers have on ancient Date, truly his ways are in the Deep, but 
 methinks I see something of his footsteps in Giving previous notess 
 by sending in a small vessel, which fell into your hands, which gave 
 time for preparation to salute there Champion which here was Done 
 in a very warm manner, which soon brought the Centel man to 
 Good terms — and now there Goliah is slain. I fancy the rest will 
 fall an Easy prey. Doubtless the General and all the officers will set 
 up there banners in the name of the Lord & say hitherto the Lord 
 helped us. O may the Captain of the Lords hosts still go before 
 the General & Direct him in all Enterprises, and at Length Give 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 383 
 
 him a Compleat victory & return you all in safety with joy and 
 praise, all did I say, alass ! I do not Expect to se all the faces of my 
 friends again. I hear some are allready Gone to Eternity & others 
 sick, one of which is my Dear Brother, if he is in the Land of the 
 Living Give my kind Love to him if I never am to se his face here I 
 hope to meet him in the hapey regions above. But our prayers to 
 God is that he may be raised and returned to his friends again if it 
 is his blessed will, my Dear Mother is greatly concerned about him, 
 sends her Love — this Evening your Letter of May th 21 came to 
 hand, you tell me you have received all of my letters, there is 
 one more I sent with Col Donnel which went in the same vessel. I 
 greatly rejoyced to hear of your health, & it would be an addison 
 thereto if I could hear of your coming home speedily. I hope in 
 your next I shall hear something of that nature — we are all in prety 
 Good helth through Divine Goodness. Mrs. Moodey Gives her ser- 
 vice to you. She dined with me this Day. She desires youd re- 
 member her to Mr Moody. Lavitts wife Gives her Love to her 
 husband. She has received his letter, sends much respect to you — 
 our people begin to be much afraid of the indins whether there is 
 any reason for it I cannot say. But to be sure we are in a Defence- 
 less posture. Give my proper regards to your Good General & our 
 Revd and Dear Pasture & Love and service to all friends & neigh- 
 bors. I have not had oppertunity to Do any of your messages to 
 the General's Lady for I have never seen her since the fleet left bos- 
 ton, your son gives his Duty But says he cannot write. 
 
 I am my Dear with much Love your 
 I am much concerned for faithful Spous till Death 
 
 the poor women & children Mary Bulman. 
 
 in the City, the Lord pitey them in their Distress O that the calam- 
 atous time was over — pray give me a perticuler account as possible 
 in your next, your son has altered his mind and is now writing." 
 
 In the fall of this year, 1745, most of the army were brought home 
 to the great rejoicing of the friends. But there were wounded spirits 
 in Wells, which could find no healing balm in these happy occasions. 
 Fathers and sons had not come back to their homes. There were 
 many broken hearts ; how many, we know not. Enoch Davis, Wil- 
 liam Curtis, Joshua Kimball, Matthew Robinson, James Littlefield 
 and James Wilson had died at Cape Breton. John McDaniel, John 
 
384 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Deane, John Canaway, John Bagshaw, James Read, Benjamin Jelli- 
 son, Joseph Boston, Shebuel Boston and Thomas Boston were left 
 there. We think most of them afterward reached their homes. 
 Col. Storer returned before winter. 
 
 The soldiers on this expedition received a proportional part of the 
 plunder of Louisburg. Those in Wells had about twenty-eight 
 dollars each. Jonathan Sayward of York was captain of one of the 
 transports, and brought home some_rich china ware ; two very large 
 candlesticks, also a pair of andirons, and brass tongs, which are now 
 in a good state of preservation in the possession of his descendants, 
 the Misses Barrell of that place. 
 
 While so many were absent at Louisburg, care was taken by the 
 government to guard against any sudden irruption of the Indians on 
 the seacoast towns. In August thirty soldiers were stationed at 
 Wells, and the inhabitants made other preparations for their security. 
 The Indians had begun their ravages on some of the eastern villages, 
 and war was declared against them. Great pains were taken to 
 spread among them the news of the success of the Louisburg arma- 
 ment. But the information did not produce the effect hoped for. 
 The French iufluence from Canada was brought to bear upon them. 
 Whether to terrify the tribes from further aggressions, or as a reward 
 for the courage of those who would volunteer for the public service, 
 we cannot determine; but large bounties were offered for Indian 
 scalps, even as high as £400. Villages were attacked by them all 
 along the coasts. Scouts were ordered from Berwick eastward 
 through the Province. Though the population of the towns had 
 much increased by a peace of twenty years, great fear seized upon 
 the people. The Indians had been seen in several places. Smith in 
 his journal says, there were continual alarms on account of them. 
 Precautions were taken by the town for the protection of Mr. Jef- 
 ferds and his family. A meeting had been held March 25, 1745, to 
 take measures to build him a block-house, and to repair the old min- 
 isterial fort. But this action was not satisfactory; and afterward, 
 when the war was upon them, they voted that " there be a good 
 frame fort built, planked and finished, with two good Bockses, if 
 needful, about the ministerial house, with all speed," so that the fam- 
 ily would not be obliged to leave their house for safety. Great care 
 was generally exercised for the minister. Much reliance was placed 
 on his prayers and counsel. The fort was occupied by others fre- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND RENNEBTJNK. 385 
 
 quently in times of war; more especially when the larger garrisons 
 became insufficient for the refuge of all the people. 
 
 The long interval since the Lovewell war had evidently made the 
 people more timid. Children had grown up, and had often heard 
 the recital from their parents, of the frightful atrocities which marked 
 the savage incursions upon the towns. Though better prepared for 
 defense, there seems to have been less courage among the inhabi- 
 tants than in former years, when the hardships of life were more se- 
 vere upon them. John Wheelright, upon whom they had relied as 
 their bulwark of defense, had just died. Some of their best men 
 were yet at Cape Breton. Many families were under deep affliction 
 from the loss of husbands and sons; and there was a prospect of 
 much suffering from a want of the necessaries of life. Prices of ar- 
 ticles of food had rapidly advanced. In 1746, corn was twenty-five 
 shillings a bushel ; flour about twenty dollars a hundred pounds. 
 This was indeed in the time of a depreciated currency; but many 
 families had no means of acquiring it. In addition to these afflictions 
 Col. Storer, in the year following, received notice from Col. Moulton 
 that a French fleet was on the coast, and that they might land here 
 at any moment ; and all able bodied men in the military company 
 were required to be furnished with arms and ammunition, and to be 
 ready to march, at a moment's warning, to any place which might 
 be attacked ; that " no one must go half a mile from his house 
 without his gun, and every man must carry his gun when he goes to 
 public worship, and a strict watch must be kept." These orders, we 
 suppose, added to the general panic. Men and women feared to go 
 abroad. 
 
 An attack, though unsuccessful, having once been made on Annap- 
 olis, it was feared that this French fleet might make a second at- 
 tempt to subdue it, and measures were taken to furnish for it suffi- 
 cient protection. Troops were sent from the West for that purpose. 
 Some of these were from Wells, and some from Arundel. The ves- 
 sel on which the Wells and Arundel troops were being transported 
 was cast away on Mount Desert, in a snow storm. The weather was 
 very severe, and seventy or eighty of the passengers perished. John 
 Wakefield, jr., Benjamin Cousens, Joseph Wormwood and Hilton 
 Day were saved. Whether any others belonging to Wells were saved 
 we are unable to state. The survivors underwent fearful hardship 
 and suffering. There was no house on the island at that time, and 
 25 
 
386 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBLTNK. 
 
 they had no means of transportation from it. Though almost ex- 
 hausted by hardships and deprivation, hope and resolution did not 
 fail them. They went to work and built a boat out of such mater- 
 ial as they could get; in the meantime, by the aid of a gun and a 
 little ammunition saved from the wreck, killing a few fowl, sufficient 
 to preserve life, a part of their number embarked in this frail boat 
 and arrived safely at Townsend, where aid was obtained, and a boat 
 was sent to the island for those left behind. 
 
 Ebenezer Storer and Seth Storer, sons of the patriotic Joseph 
 Storer, so efficient in previous wars in the defence of the people, had 
 come from Boston as far as Kittery, for the purpose of visiting their 
 aged mother; but the terrors which hung over the way to Wells 
 were too appalling, and they returned to Boston. In a letter to her 
 afterward, they say they had heard of the mischief done by the In- 
 dians at Wells the week before. What this mischief was we have 
 been unable to ascertain. Neither have we learned of any attacks 
 upon the inhabitants. General Pepperell had occasion to go from 
 Kittery to Falmouth, and Col. Moulton requested Col. Storer to 
 muster out as many horsemen as he could to guard him to Scar- 
 borough. Although the Indians were now scattered all over the 
 Province, yet, as the population had so much increased, they were 
 cautious in their attacks on the towns. The mischief alluded to by 
 the Storers, is all that we know to have been done at this time. 
 
 In April, 1747, they made attacks in Brunswick, Falmouth, Scar- 
 boro and Saco, killing several and carrying away captives. An at- 
 tempt was made to surprise the settlers at the village of Sergeant 
 Larrabee, which might have been successful had it not been for the 
 fidelity and vigilance of his dog. All the working men, fifteen in 
 number, had met together for the purpose of ploughing his land by 
 the road, above the house. The woods on the eastern side came out 
 within a rod or two of the land where they were at work. They had 
 left their guns at a distance from them. The dog ran toward the 
 woods and began to bark. He kept up a continual rushing back and 
 forth, barking all the while, until the Sergeant was satisfied that some- 
 thing unusual was on foot in the woods; and suspecting that it 
 might be the Indians, ordered the men to leave their work and run 
 for the garrison. On looking back they discovered a large number 
 of Indians just appearing above the hill on the eastern side of the 
 road, where they had been watching their opportunity to cut off 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 387 
 
 their retreat. The savages after looking at the fugitives a few mo- 
 ments, and seeing that they were beyond their reach, disappointed 
 of their prey, fell back behind the hill from which they came ; and 
 not daring to tarry in the neighborhood, hastened off to the lower 
 part of Biddeford, where, on the same day, they killed two men of 
 the name of Elliot, and carried away captive a third, named Murch. 
 We have spoken before of the cowardliness of these natives. 
 With a little courage they might have rushed from their lurking 
 place, and before the people were aware of any danger, killed or 
 captured at least a portion of them. Another instance, exhibiting 
 this cowardly trait of Indian character, may here be related. Mr. 
 John Butland, one of the dwellers at Larrabee village, and a sub- 
 stantial man in those days, went out at the usual hour after his cows, 
 one of which wore a bell. Generally the cows had been found with- 
 in a short distance from his house. But at this time they were not 
 at their usual feeding place. The Indians, planning for his capture, 
 had driven them a considerable distance from their accustomed 
 ground. Not knowing that any of the savages were in the neighbor- 
 hood, the thought did not occur to him of any strategem in this un- 
 usual circumstance. He had his gun with him, as was the invariable 
 rule when going out from the house. He continued his pursuit until 
 he heard the bell. He directed his steps to the point from whence 
 the sound seemed to come. Drawing nearer, he thought the bell 
 gave an unusual sound ; but he imagined the cow had fallen into some 
 difficulty, and hastened onward to extricate her. But as the ringing 
 was not constant, he passed beyond the place from whence the sound 
 issued. Hearing it again he turned round, but saw nothing of the 
 cows. He could not account for the mystery. He looked again and 
 again, and though the ringing of the bell continued, he could dis- 
 cover no one of the cows. There was nothing to obstruct his vision, 
 a few bushes only intervening. At last the thought suddenly came 
 over him that the ringing was by a human hand; that the Indians 
 had taken it from his cow, and were thus endeavoring to decoy him 
 to the spot. They had contrived so to delude him as to get between 
 him and his house. He had now no chance to return, and knew not 
 how many were in ambush. The trunk of a very large tree was ly- 
 ing directly before him, the inside of which had so wasted away by 
 age that an ordinary sized man, without serious inconvenience could 
 crowd himself into it. There was no other alternative, as he thought, 
 
388 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 but to crawl into this log, and accordingly he pressed himself into 
 it, keeping his gun before him. In our judgment such a refuge was 
 the last which a rational man should have sought. How he expected 
 security in such a position we cannot comprehend. The Indians, be- 
 ing five in number, finding that he had settled down out of sight, 
 were very soon by the log, where he had disappeared. Not discov- 
 ering him anywhere in the vicinity, and no obstruction limiting 
 their view, they were assured he was within the log, but which way 
 his gun pointed they could not tell, and no one dared to look into it 
 or go to either end. They pounded upon it with sticks of wood — 
 tried to turn it over; walked on it from one end to the other. They 
 might, with ease, have thrust in a pole, or fired into it. But their 
 hands would have been exposed to his fire. So fearful were they of 
 wounds that they had not courage, and so little ingenuity that they 
 had not skill enough to devise any mode of killing him, or expelling 
 him from his hiding place. They knew he could not escape from 
 them. They were working upon the log and endeavoring to stave 
 it in, when Mr. Butland's family, knowing that he had been gone far 
 beyond the usual time, fired the alarm guns (three in immediate suc- 
 cession). Upon this the Indians immediately ran, leaving Butland 
 unharmed. It is to this cowardice, and almost entire want of in- 
 vention or contrivance, that we are to ascribe the fact that so small 
 a portion of the inhabitants fell into the hands of the Indians. The 
 alarm guns of which we have just spoken, were well understood all 
 over the Province. The men were obliged to be away from their 
 houses working in the field, or otherwise employed, and some signal 
 was necessary to warn them of danger at home, or others of their 
 own danger while absent. The garrisons were many and not at a 
 great distance apart ; and thus the guns fired at one place would be 
 immediately repeated at the next; and so the news of danger would 
 in a few minutes be spread a great distance. 
 
 Although the townsmen, during this war, lived in continual fear 
 of Indian assaults, but very little injury is known to have been done. 
 The wife of Richard Walker was killed April 16, 1747. She was 
 seized by them during her husband's absence at the Great Falls, 
 where he was at work sawing in the mill. They intended to sur- 
 prise and capture him. They took his wife with them and traveled 
 in that direction, hoping there to discover him, and so conceal them- 
 selves as to fall suddenly upon him when away from his gun. But 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 389 
 
 in this they were disappointed ; not finding him at the mill, vexed at 
 this defeat of their calculations, they set fire to the mill, which was 
 speedily consumed. On their route they killed three horses. They 
 proceeded with Mrs. Walker until they reached Taylor's Hill, a little 
 above the house of Charles Hill, in Lyman. She resolved that she 
 would go no further with them ; choosing rather to die than to un- 
 dergo the cruelties which she felt would be inflicted upon her, and 
 which would only be followed by her murder in the end. Finding 
 her such an obstacle to their progress, she was tied to an oak tree, 
 murdered and scalped. The stump of this tree on the eastern side 
 of the road, halfway up the hill, remained there till within the pres- 
 ent century. 
 
 The next year, 1748, the house of the widow Stuart was burnt. 
 She and her child disappeared, and no doubt then existed that they 
 had been carried away and murdered by the Indians after they had 
 fired the house. 
 
 An attempt was once made to surprise the Larrabee garrison. So 
 well had this been prepared, and the inmates so effectually secured, 
 that in times of danger it had become the place of general resort. 
 At times, nearly all the inhabitants of what is now Kennebunk were 
 gathered within its walls. At a time when the fears of invasion 
 were in some measure allayed, and but few were in the garrison, the 
 Indians planned an attack upon it. The opportunity of a dark, 
 stormy night was taken for this purpose. Wawa, the chief, was 
 fully acquainted with every part of the garrison, and how to effect 
 an entrance. Before approaching it, where the quick eye of the ser- 
 geant might discover them, he waited for the darkness of night. A 
 cart had been left a few feet from the wall. The Indians, as soon as 
 it was dark, crept up and lay down under it. Here they watched, 
 waiting until all had retired to rest, when they hoped to gain access 
 by climbing the walls. But Sergeant Larrabee was not the man to 
 suffer himself and others under his care, to be entrapped by any 
 stratagem which could be devised by these ignorant savages. 
 Though everywhere in the vicinity quiet prevailed, and people were 
 at comparative ease in many of their homes, he was ever on the 
 lookout. This was a very dark night, well suited to Indian warfare, 
 and he was therefore the more careful in his observations. As his 
 eye rested upon the cart, very near the walls, it reported to him a 
 darkness of different shades. He was satisfied that there was some- 
 
390 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 thing under it not entirely atmospherical. Whatever it was, it had 
 come with the night, and it looked like bipeds, he determined to test 
 its character by the use of his large gun. He loaded it heavily with 
 buck shot, stationed himself in the flanker, and taking another look 
 to satisfy himself that his suspicions were well grounded, he dis- 
 charged his faithful gun into the darkness doubly and suspiciously 
 visible under the cart. With the flash of the gun the vision changed, 
 and the area between the wheels was cleared. The next morning 
 revealed the fact that the wary eye of the sergeant had not been de- 
 ceived, neither was the shot without effect. Blood was found about 
 the cart and in many places near by. When the Indians came in 
 after the war, Wawa himself acknowledged that he received there 
 such an effectual admonition of the danger of any attempt to sur- 
 prise the garrison that he concluded it not worth while to risk it 
 
 Died Aug. 13, 1745, Col. John Wheelrtght, son of Samuel. 
 He was born of parents whose constitutions had been formed by 
 continual contact with the hardships attendant upon frontier life, 
 and educated under influences which trained both mind and body 
 for any warfare. His grandfather, though a minister of the gospel, 
 was not remarkable for his peace propensities. In his composition 
 there was much of that muscular Christianity which the grandson 
 inherited. He was a man of war and a host within himself, and was 
 therefore just the man for the times, sent into the world by Provi- 
 dence to assist in protecting the new settlements against the assaults 
 of the French and Indians, and before the close of his life he came 
 to be regarded as the bulwark of Maine against the attacks of its 
 enemies. 
 
 He was town clerk forty years, also one of the selectmen. Sever- 
 al years he kept a public house. He was judge of the court of com- 
 mon pleas, judge of probate, and one of the councilors of the 
 Province. In early manhood he was commissioned as a lieutenant 
 of the militia, afterward as a captain, major, and colonel. He was 
 in the service as an officer under Major Convers; went to Pemaquid 
 and Sheepscot, thence to Trebonit, and was afterward stationed at 
 Port Mary on Saco river. Government relied upon him with great 
 confidence. He was endowed with a brave and noble spirit, awake 
 to all the interests of the Province as well as to those of the town, 
 
HTSTOHY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 391 
 
 and prepared for any sacrifice which might become necessary for the 
 common cause. Two companies, under the command of Captains 
 Cutter and Miller, were sent into Maine for operations in the eastern 
 part of the Province. These companies he allowed to take posses- 
 sion of his house and use it for all purposes. The house, though a 
 large one, did not answer their full purposes, and it was taken down 
 by them with the intention of rebuilding ; but being called away and 
 stationed at another place, it was left prostrate, and no attempt at 
 its restoration was ever made by government, or remuneration of- 
 fered for its destruction. The war with the Indians was renewed in 
 1704, and he was left to rebuild his garrison house at his own cost. 
 This house, we think, was the same, or stood on the same site, where 
 the late Noah M. Littlefield lived. This appropriation of his prop- 
 erty by the government did not move him from his devotion to 
 the public service. His patriotism was superior to all personal in- 
 terests. 
 
 Being a judicious and energetic man, his aid was sought on all 
 occasions by the people. When a young man he acquired the spec- 
 ial friendship of Col. Church, from the confidence which he had in 
 his fidelity to all authority which was committed to him, and when 
 the people of Wells were shut up in the garrisons and were suffering 
 much from the necessities of their condition, all means of obtaining 
 supplies being cut off, Col. Church, at the request of Wheelright, 
 obtained a contribution from all the churches in the counties of 
 Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol for their benefit. These supplies 
 were sent to Wheelright, Storer, and John Littlefield, to be appro- 
 priated as they should judge expedient. 
 
 He died Aug. 13, 1745, aged 81. In his will, dated April 11, 1739, 
 he says, " I commend my soul to God, my Creator, hoping for par- 
 don of all my sins and everlasting salvation through the alone merits 
 of Jesus Christ." He gives his wife Mary four or five acres at Little 
 river, with the saw-mill and stream owned with John Wells, his 
 household goods, stock of cattle of all kinds, negro or mulatto ser- 
 vants, money, etc. ; legacies to his daughters, Mary Plaistead, Eliza- 
 beth Neumarch, Mary Moody, and Sarah Jefferds; devises to his 
 sons, John, Samuel, Jeremiah, Nathaniel; also to his "daughter 
 Esther Wheelright, if living in Canada, whom (he says) I have not 
 heard from these many years, and hath been absent more than thirty 
 years." 
 
392 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Effort to inaugurate a second parish— Meeting-house built at the 
 landing— Incorporation of the " Second Congregational Society 
 in Wells" — Invitation to Rev. Daniel Little — His reply — Fast 
 APPOiNrED— Church consecrated— The covenant and list of mem- 
 bers subscribing — Ordination of Mr. Little — Baptismal covenant 
 — Covenant for full communion — Female members admitted — An- 
 nual CONTRIBUTION FOR CHARITABLE PURPOSES— CONTRIBUTION IN AID 
 
 of Boston — Location of certain dwelling houses — First retail 
 store in kennebunk — extracts from the tax lists of the new 
 parish— Taxes— Valuation of Wells— Slavery in Wells— Old Tom. 
 
 The settlement in the eastern part of the town had so far ad- 
 vanced, that the people, feeling seriously the inconvenience of at- 
 tending public worship at the meeting-house, began to talk of having 
 the gospel preached nearer home. During the winter season, most 
 of the time, they were unable to go there w T ith their families. All 
 travel was on horseback. There were yet no sleighs for winter or 
 carriages for summer. We can well understand, therefore, how irk- 
 some was the requirement that they should sustain public worship, 
 of which they could have no direct benefit. Having this feeling, in 
 1743, those living in Kennebunk petitioned to the town that a por- 
 tion of the money raised for the support of the ministry might be 
 allowed to them, or that they might be set off as a distinct precinct. 
 It was voted that thirty pounds should be allowed them, but no con- 
 sent could be given to a separation. The next year they petitioned 
 for aid in building a meeting-house and for an allowance toward the 
 maintainance of public worship ; but no heed was given to the peti- 
 tion. The year following, the war with the French calling away so 
 many, no exertions were made toward the erection of a meeting- 
 house. The town voted to allow them twenty pounds toward the 
 support of a minister in the winter season. The next year, in No- 
 vember, they petitioned for a special town meeting " to see if the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AtfD KENKEBUNJK. 393 
 
 town will allow them and the other inhabitants living between Ken- 
 nebunk & Monsara rivers anything towards helping them support 
 the gospel," and secondly, "to set them off to join with a part of 
 Arundel as a parish, in order to settle the gospel among them, they 
 being at a great distance from the public worship, the parish to be- 
 gin at the mouth of Mousam river and to run northwest to the head 
 of the town." The town would take no step toward a division, but 
 voted to allow them twenty pounds as before. So also in 1747. In 
 1748, they again petitioned for aid in building a meeting-house, and 
 if the town would contribute nothing for that object, they asked that 
 they might have liberty to build one themselves ; but all the assist- 
 ance which could be obtained was the allowance of fifty pounds. 
 Such was the depreciation of the currency, that this was but little 
 encouragement. The next year, 1749, the town allowed them sixty 
 pounds toward paying for preaching during the previous winter, but 
 still would listen to no argument tending to division. Wearied with 
 applying to the town, and outvoted on every question favorable to 
 their object, they took the matter into their own hands, built their 
 meeting-house with such means as they had, and then presented 
 their petition to the great and general court. Previously to this, 
 meetings were holden at the house of John Wakefield, just above 
 the large Lord house. The erection of the church was a heavy bur- 
 den upon them. It probably cost more than all the personal prop- 
 erty which they had. James Hubbard was the architect. We 
 suppose almost every one else paid his part by his personal labor or 
 lumber. But little otherwise was required. All the nails were 
 wrought at the anvil. Cut nails were then unknown here. The 
 building stood on the site of the house heretofore owned by Eliza- 
 beth Kilham, next below Adam McCulloch's. It was two storied, 
 and thirty feet long, the side of the building fronting the road, as 
 was customary in that day. Placing the end on the street is a mod- 
 ification of the present century. It was then only so far completed 
 as to shelter the j worshipers from the inclement weather. It was 
 not clapboarded, and the upper story was not glazed. There were 
 frames for five windows above and four below, two on each side of 
 the porch, which was erected on the front. The pulpit was not built 
 till two years afterward, when also the deacon's seat and communion 
 table were prepared. The whole would seem to afford very poor ac- 
 commodations during the winter season, at which time only meet- 
 
394 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ings were holden in it. A fire in the church was then unheard of; 
 but the fires of the spirit were continually burning within, and the 
 self-satisfaction in having, by their own efforts, made even this poor 
 provision for the worship of God, animated and comforted their 
 hearts. And besides, the effeminacy of modern times had not yet 
 become an element of the human constitution. Men, women, and 
 children were inured to the rigors of a northern wintry climate. 
 Children were sometimes carried to the house of God for baptism on 
 the day on which they were born. The distance to the old church, 
 seven miles from their homes, traveled on foot or on horseback, had 
 helped much to invigorate the material body, while the instructions 
 of Mr. Jefferds, that they had u a heaven or a hell to obtain," waked 
 up all the energies of the soul to battle against any obstacles to the 
 acquisition of the former. The inspirations of hope, and sometimes 
 those of fear, will infuse no small degree of warmth through the 
 system. 
 
 The town, being notified of the petition to set off the inhabitants 
 at Kennebunk into a separate parish or precinct, voted to oppose the 
 division, and Samuel Wheelright was chosen agent for that purpose. 
 At the session of the legislature that year the respondents effected a 
 delay until next year, 1750; but the excitement was in no degree 
 allayed, and another meeting was called in May, when, it being fully 
 understood that the measure could no longer be defeated, it was 
 voted "that the inhabitants living between Kennebunk and Mousam 
 rivers, with the lands and estates of every kind between said Ken- 
 nebunk and Mousam, to the head of the township, be and are set off 
 as a distinct parish, in order to settle the gospel among them." The 
 doings of the town were confirmed by the great and general court, 
 and on the fourteenth day of June, 1750, the people inhabiting Ken- 
 .nebunk were incorporated as a religious society, by the name of the 
 " Second Congregational Society in Wells." 
 
 The following were the petitioners for the incorporation, and, we 
 think, were all the taxable inhabitants : 
 
 John Mitchell, Samuel Emons, Richard Thompson, 
 
 Ichabod Cousins, Benj. Wormwood, John Wakefield, jr., - 
 
 Jesse Towne, Jedediah Wakefield, John Gillpatrick, jr., 
 
 James Wakefield, John Wakefield, Samuel Shackley, 
 
 Stephen Larrabee, Richard Boothby, Phillip Brown, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 395 
 
 Richard Kimball, Nathaniel Kimball, Samuel Littlefield, 
 
 Nathaniel Wakefield, Thomas Kimball, Joseph Towne, 
 
 John Gillpatrick, John Maddox, John Webber, 
 
 John Butland, Thomas Cousins, John Burke, 
 
 John Freas, Benjamin Cousins, Stephen Webber, 
 
 Joseph Wormwood, Joseph Cousins, Jonathan Webber. 
 
 Stephen Titcomb, Thomas Towne, 
 
 A meeting was called on the sixth day of August following, for 
 the organization of the parish, by the choice of a clerk and a com- 
 mittee for calling parish meetings. John Mitchell was chosen for 
 the former, and Nathaniel Kimball, Jesse Towne, James Wakefield, 
 Richard Boothby, and John Gillpatrick for the latter. 
 
 At another meeting, on the twenty-fifth day of August, John 
 Webber, Jesse Towne, and John Mitchell were chosen assessors, and 
 Stephen Titcomb collector. It was also voted unanimously to give 
 to Daniel Little an invitation to settle with them as minister of the 
 society, and "for his encouragement to give him one hundred 
 pounds for a settlement, and £53 6s. 8d. yearly for his lawful salary." 
 John Wakefield, Richard Kimball, and John Mitchell were chosen a 
 committee to receive Mr. Little's answer. At a subsequent meeting, 
 in November, this committee were directed to supply the pulpit till 
 the 10th of March. Mr. Little desired the proposals to be so far al- 
 tered as that the £100 should be invested by the parish in a good 
 tract of land, which request was acceded to. The parish also voted 
 to supply him with firewood. 
 
 Mr. Little then gave the following answer to the call of the socie- 
 ty: 
 
 "To the Second Parish in W^ells. 
 Brethren and Beloved. — It is some time since I received from you 
 a call to settle in the gospel ministry, upon which I have considered 
 and advised, and from the satisfaction I have had in observing the 
 many signal tokens of the wise conduct and the various blessings of 
 Divine Providence vouchsafed towards you as a people since you 
 have attended public worship in a distinct congregation, particularly 
 in the appearance of so happy a degree of charity and brotherly 
 love, and especially the continuance of such a temper and disposi- 
 tion manifested by your late conduct and entire unanimity in an of. 
 
396 HISTOBY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 fer the most serious and the most important, — from these and many 
 other considerations, I do (with a view to the honor of Christ, hum- 
 bly relying upon the conduct and assistance of the Divine Spirit), 
 with a ready and cheerful mind, accept your call, tho' with equal 
 fear, being sensible of my many imperfections, and great unequalness 
 to a work so sacred and important as the gospel ministry. 
 
 Now let me entreat you in your daily prayers for yourselves al- 
 ways to remember and commit me to the care and blessing of the 
 great Head of the church for all assistance and success. And let me 
 never cease bearing upon my mind with peculiar delight your best 
 good and greatest happiness. 
 
 Thus wishing and praying, I am, with particular affection, your 
 sincere soul friend and faithful servant in the cause of Christ. 
 
 Wells, Jan'y 31, 1750-1. Daniel Little." 
 
 On the receipt of this affirmative answer, a meeting was called to 
 do what was " proper to be done as preparatory to the settlement of 
 y e Gospel, which we have now, through the Goodness of God, in 
 Prospect." At this meeting Nathaniel Kimball, Stephen Larrabee, 
 Jesse Towne, Richard Kimball and John Mitchell were chosen a 
 committee to consult with Mr. Little as to the ordination, and as to 
 a fast preparatory thereto, and for the embodying of a church. 
 
 By arrangement of the committee and vote of the parish, " the 14th 
 of March following was appointed as a day of fasting and prayer 
 previous to ordination, and withal for the candidates of a new church 
 to be incorporated." Accordingly the churches in Wells, Arundel 
 and Biddeford were invited. Mr. Morrill of Biddeford and Mr. Jef- 
 ferds of Wells attended. Rev. Mr. Jefferds preached and prayed in 
 the forenoon and Mr. Morrill in the afternoon. The service of con- 
 secrating a church was performed by Rev. Mr. Jefferds, the several 
 members subscribing the following covenant : 
 
 " We whose names are hereunto subscribed, sensibly acknowledg- 
 ing our unworthiness to be in, and inability to keep covenant with 
 God as we ought, yet apprehending the call of God unto us to in- 
 corporate into a new church, and to seek the settlement of the ordi- 
 nances of Christ according to Gospel institution ; do, renouncing all 
 confidence in ourselves, and relying on Jesus Christ for help, declare 
 as folio weth: 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 397 
 
 1st. That we professedly acknowledge ourselves engaged to the 
 fear and service of the Only True God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
 and to the Lord Jesus Christ, the High Priest, Prophet and King of 
 his Church ; under whose conduct we submit ourselves and on whom 
 alone we wait for grace and glory, to whom we declare ourselves 
 bound in an everlasting covenant, never to be broken. 
 
 2d. That we are obliged to give up ourselves to one another in the 
 Lord, and to cleave to one another as fellow members of one body 
 for mutual edification, and to submit ourselves to all the holy admin- 
 istrations appointed by him who is the Head and Lawgiver of his 
 Church, dispensed according to the directions of God's word (which 
 we acknowledge to be the only rule of our faith and practice, and 
 that in general as is explained in our well-known catechisms), and to 
 give our attendance upon all the public ordinances of Christ's insti- 
 tution, walking orderly as becometh saints. 
 
 3d. That we are under covenant engagements to bring up our chil- 
 dren in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, acknowledging our 
 infants to be included with us in the Gospel covenant, and to stand 
 in covenant relation, according to Gospel rules, blessing God for such 
 a privilege. Furthermore, that we are under indispensible obliga- 
 tions at all times to procure the settlement and continuance of the 
 ordinances of Christ and the officers of his Church, according to the 
 appointment of Jesus Christ, chief Shephard of his Flock, for the 
 perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- 
 ing of the body of Christ, and that we are equally obliged to be 
 careful and faithful for their maintainance, encouragement and com- 
 fort, and to carry it towards them as becometh Saints. 
 
 4th. Finally. Solemnly and sincerely professing ourselves to be a 
 Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, do promise, by the help of grace, 
 to walk together as persons under such vows of God ought to do, 
 according to all those rules in the Gospel prescribed to such a socie- 
 ty, so far as God hath revealed or shall reveal his mind to us in this 
 respect. 
 
 Now the good Lord be merciful .to us ; and as he has put it into 
 our hearts thus to devote ourselves to him, pity and pardon our frail- 
 ties and failings, humble us out of all our carnal confidences, and 
 
398 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 keep it forever upon our hearts to be faithful to himself and one an- 
 other for his praise and our eternal comfort. Amen. 
 
 Daniel Little, 
 
 Jesse Towne, James Wakefield, John Wakefield, 
 
 Nathaniel Kimball, John Mitchell, Richard Boothby, 
 
 Richard Kimball, John Gillpatrick, Stephen Larrabee, 
 
 Thomas Kimball, Stephen Titcomb, Thomas Cousins, 
 
 Joseph Wormwood, Samuel Shackley, Benjamin Wormwood, 
 
 Stephen Webber, Jedediah Wakefield, Richard Thompson, 
 
 John Wakefield, jr., Benjamin Cousins." 
 
 A church having thus been established, the 27th day of March was 
 designated as the day for the ordination of Mr. Little, and the 
 churches at Biddeford, Falmouth, Wells, and Scarboro were invited 
 to aid on the occasion. The church, it will be remembered, stood on 
 the site of the Kilham house, next below Mr. McCulloch's. It was 
 in a poor condition for an ordination, being not half finished. Still 
 the people had great satisfaction that they had a church, poor as it 
 was, in which thereafter they were to have regular services on the 
 Sabbath. The services on the occasion of the ordination were as 
 follows : Rev. Mr. Morrill, of Biddeford, made the introductory 
 prayer. Rev. Mr. Jefferds, of Wells, preached the sermon; Rev. Mr. 
 Thompson, of Scarborough, gave the charge; Rev. Mr. Smith, of 
 Falmouth, the Right Hand of Fellowship; Rev. Mr. Elvins, of 
 Scarborough, offered the concluding prayer. None of these services 
 were printed, and therefore we have no knowledge of their character. 
 
 At a meeting of the church in May, the following was agreed upon 
 as the Baptismal Covenant : 
 
 "You (and each of you) professing a serious belief of the Chris- 
 tian Religion, as contained in the sacred Scriptures, which you ac- 
 knowledge to be the only rule of your faith and practice, do now sin- 
 cerely and very solemnly, give up yourself unto the glorious God, 
 who is the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and receive as 
 your God and portion, resolving by his help to conform your life un- 
 to the rules of that holy Religion, which the sacred Scriptures teach, 
 as long as you live. 
 
 You give up yourself unto the Lord Jesus Christ as the head of 
 his chosen People, in the covenant of grace, and receive him as your 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 399 
 
 Prophet, Priest and King forever. You likewise acknowledge this 
 Church to be a Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whose discipline 
 and holy watch you give up yourself; and in the fellowship thereof, 
 you promise by divine grace to walk as a regular and holy member. 
 You promise also to seasonably dedicate and devote your offspring 
 unto the Lord according to the ordinances and command of Christ, 
 and to use your endeavors to bring them up in the paths of holy 
 obedience. And lastly, you will labor to obtain that further prepara- 
 tion of the Sanctuary which emboldens your further approach to the 
 enjoyment of God in all his ordinances. Amen." 
 
 The covenant for full communion did not materially differ from 
 that of baptism, excepting in the last promise, which was as follows : 
 "And you promise to attend upon all the ordinances of the Gospel 
 as administered in this Church, while your opportunities to be edi- 
 fied thereby in your most holy faith shall be continued to you. 
 Amen." 
 
 On the first Sunday in June eighteen females were admitted to the 
 church. Why they were not admitted with the males as a part of 
 the original body, we have not learned. We can see no reason why 
 they should not have been kept from entering the meeting-house as 
 well as from the Lord's supper. We believe they were all mem- 
 bers of other churches. But we do not claim to be versed in the 
 science of church government. Not recognizing the right of any 
 person to interfere with anothers religious opinions as to duty, we 
 have never sought for knowledge of this character. St. Paul's in- 
 junction, that men should esteem others better than themselves, we 
 have always thought was a good one. But Mr. Little and his minis- 
 terial brethren, we suppose, had satisfactory reasons for this exclusion 
 of females. In their view, there was some scriptural authority for it. 
 
 From its institution, charity, both spiritual and material, has been 
 inculcated by both church and minister as one of the elements of a 
 live religion. The next year after its inauguration, it was voted 
 unanimously to have an annual free contribution on Thanksgiving 
 day, to be devoted to charitable uses ; and at the first following, £15 
 5s. 4d., or over fifty dollars was raised. This surely was a highly 
 commendable beginning for a church in the wilderness, when we 
 consider how little was the property of the members, and how small 
 their number. This commendable vote has been sometimes neglect- 
 
400 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ed, though the practice is yet maintained, the contribution being 
 taken the Sunday previous. 
 
 The attempt to ordain a minister in Purpooduckin 1756, produced 
 a good deal of excitemeut in the churches. There was a violent op- 
 position to him for many reasons. A very large council was called. 
 Mr. Little suggested to his church that he could not attend the 
 meeting unless they established as a principle, that all votes should 
 be by churches, and not by delegates ; so that persons who had an 
 cbject to accomplish should not lord it over others by the large num- 
 ber of delegates. This council sat three days, and refused ordina- 
 tion — we suppose voting by churches. Various attempts were after- 
 ward made by councils to ordain him. But they all failed. Final- 
 ly, two ministers took it upon themselves to set him apart for the 
 ministry, and thus the matter ended. But the principle adopted by 
 this church, we suppose, was adopted by all the churches. 
 
 Mr. Little's church, though generally united, was not always free 
 from troubles. Many of the members had not enjoyed the benefits 
 of education. Such persons are often whimsical in their views, sel- 
 dom basing their judgments on the deductions of a sound logic. 
 Several who belonged to the church in Arundel, living near this 
 church, took occasion sometimes to attend Mr. Little's meeting on 
 the Sabbath, and at times united with his church in the celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper. Some of the church were highly indignant 
 at the liberty thus taken. They looked upon it as presumptuous, 
 and a great offense, and were unwilling to countenance such aberra- 
 tion from duty by communing with them. Richard Boothby and 
 his wife, Mabel, in consequence, for a long while forebore to attend 
 the ordinance, till a council of the church in Arundel took the mat- 
 ter under consideration, and advised these wanderers to return to 
 their own fold. Upon this action, these dissatisfied disciples gave 
 notice to the pastor, that they could now see their way clear to come 
 back to the communion, and if there was no objection they should 
 be pleased to do so. They were undoubtedly honest in their scruples. 
 But to us it seems a very futile apology for neglecting the memorial of 
 the Saviour, that other persons were uniting in the commemoration, 
 who ought to have manifested their attachment to him somewhere 
 else. In those days many follies of this character will be discovered 
 in the history of the church ; and future historians will mark weak- 
 nesses not less strange in the church of our time. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 401 
 
 In the year 1760, Boston suffered very severely by fire, and this 
 church contributed for the relief of the sufferers £65 5s. 6d., an 
 amount almost equal to the salary of their minister. It is very man- 
 ifest, notwithstanding any deficiency or errors in their religious opin- 
 ions, that in matters of real importance they strove to carry their 
 religion into practice. 
 
 When this division of the society took place, the larger propor- 
 tion of the inhabitants of the new parish were dwelling between the 
 site of the present village and the sea, and in the vicinity of the 
 Littlefield mills. A brief summary of what had been done here may 
 be of interest to the reader. The territory which the village now 
 covers was almost an entire wilderness ; the western side of the riv- 
 er had scarcely been interfered with by the hand of man. For a 
 few years after the Sayward mill was built the axe of the millman 
 had unrestrained liberty in its vicinity, and many of the magnificent 
 pines, which had seen the years of a century, fell a prey to its power, 
 till the Indian wars stayed its destructive action. A new growth 
 had sprung up along the banks of the Mousam, so that now, appar- 
 ently, the forests had been untouched by the hand of man. A small 
 house, built by Thomas Cousins, was standing in the westerly corner 
 of what is now the homestead of Dr. N. E. Smart; another, built by 
 Jedediah Wakefield, on the northerly side of the old road, a short 
 distance beyond the house of John Curtis; a third by John Wake- 
 field, jr., where Miss Elizabeth W. Hatch now lives; and a fourth by 
 Ichabod Cousins, son of Thomas, in the field where the old factory 
 barn now stands. This last house was small, built of logs, and of 
 one story, and according to the current language of the times, " bul- 
 let proof." It had no glass windows, and did not differ materially 
 from those rude cabins which we frequently see iu new clearings for 
 the entry of civilization. Appended to it was a flanker, as a sort o-f 
 watch or sentinel house in times of danger. At this house, at such 
 periods, one soldier was stationed by government. Such a protec- 
 tion may seem to have afforded but a very feeble security for the in- 
 mates ; but a dozen Indians would not dare to attack it. Some one- 
 of them at least would pay the forfeit, and each one would fear that 
 the fatality would be his. 
 
 At the same time, what was in subsequent years denominated the 
 old saw-mill was standing, six or eight rods above the bridge. The 
 26 
 
402 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 privilege having been unoccupied nearly half a century came into 
 the hands of John Storer, by whom it was rebuilt in 1730. 
 
 On the eastern side of the town, nearer Kennebunk river, was the 
 house of Richard Kimball, which stood a few rods from the site of 
 the brick house of Aaron Ricker. It was a two story building, 
 though having but one room on the lower floor. It was finished as 
 a garrison house, having a flanker on the eastern side, but no win- 
 dows, small apertures being left there for the purposes of observing 
 the approach of the Indians in time of war. To this house many of 
 the neighboring inhabitants resorted for safety. One soldier was 
 stationed here also. Kimball kept a small stock for trade in his 
 house, and was the first retailer in Kennebunk. Next beyond this 
 was the house of Nathaniel Kimball, which stood where Edward 
 Haney's house now stands ; and to the westward of these, where the 
 late Isaac Peabody lived, was the house of Thomas Kimball, and to 
 the northward of this, a few rods further on, the house of Samuel 
 Shackley. John Gillpatrick had a house on the eastern side of the 
 road, near that now occupied by Owen E. Burnham. On the Ken- 
 nebunk river, just below the bridge, was the Littlefield saw-mill, and 
 about three-quarters of a mile below, by a small island, near the land 
 of the late Joseph Porter, was another, built by John Storer. These 
 mills were then doing a large and profitable business, principally in 
 consequence of the proximity of the growth of large and valuable 
 timber. Storer's mill was obstructed in its operation about four 
 hours daily, from the flux of the tide. 
 
 On the Mousam below was the Larrab2e village, consisting on one 
 side of Larrabee's, Littlefi eld's, and Look's houses, the latter of 
 which was occupied by John Butland, Look having moved to Saco. 
 Below was the house of Thomas Wormwood, and forty rods further 
 down, on the edge of the highland, that of John Freeze. Above, 
 near the river, opposite the gravel bed, the house of Samuel Emons. 
 On the western side of the river was the house of Thomas Worm- 
 word, jr., where the late Abner Wormwood lived, and above, at the 
 foot of the pasture of the late Geo. W. Wallingford, Esq., was the 
 house of Edward Evans, the cellar of which is still to be seen. The 
 houses of John Look and Thomas Wormwood were garrisoned, each 
 of them protected by a wall, twelve feet high, made of large timber, 
 extending to the eaves of the house, and sufficiently far from it to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 403 
 
 leave an intervening space wide enough for all the out-door work. 
 Below, on Great Hill, was the house built by Samuel Sawyer, since 
 occupied by John Burks. At the eastward of the river, a little be- 
 low the Wentworth house, on the opposite side of the road, was the 
 house of John Webber, and beyond, where the Smith house now 
 stands, was a small house of Richard Boothby. 
 
 On the road at the landing was the house of John Wakefield, on 
 the upper corner of Titcomb's ship-yard, and that of James Wake- 
 field, of two stories, about three rods above the large Lord house. 
 It was afterward razeed by the removal of the lower story, and then 
 moved a few rods further up the road. Next below was the meet- 
 ing-house, and then the house of Nathaniel Wakefield, a little below 
 the site of the old school-house. Stephen Titcomb had a small 
 house between the river and the house of George Dresser, from 
 which he moved the next year, having built the Dresser house, 
 which was garrisoned. Jesse Towne had a small house just above 
 the upper falls, near the spring, and below, toward and near the sea, 
 were the houses of John Mitchell and Stephen Harding. The old 
 house on the hill, just below the wharves, is the same building occu- 
 pied by Mitchell, though having undergone some modifications 
 This was also a garrison. 
 
 On the Alewife road was the house built by Joshua Kimball, a lit- 
 tle below where Ezra Smith has heretofore lived, near the junction 
 of the roads, which was at this time occupied by John Maddox, who 
 married his widow ; the house of Jonathan Taylor, where Thatcher 
 Jones now lives, and the house of David Thompson, where John W. 
 Treadwell lives. 
 
 This was Kennebunk in 1750. Some of these first settlers were 
 enterprising and energetic men. Nathaniel Kimball is said by Judge 
 Say ward to have been the father of Kennebunk. The two brothers 
 were largely engaged in the lumbering business. The population 
 had come from various directions, and all, w T ith the single exception 
 of John Burks, were men of some education, being able to write 
 their names distinctly. Twenty of them were members of the 
 Christian church, of which they appear to have cherished a sound 
 estimate, and a proper consciousness of its effect on human life and 
 interests. They seem to have felt it to be necessary even to materi- 
 al prosperity, alleging in their petition to the general court their 
 faith in the rapid growth of this section of the town as soon as the 
 
404 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENXEBUNK. 
 
 institutions of religion were planted among them. Men were then 
 as much influenced by the attractive power of the meeting-house as 
 they are at this day by the allurements of a contemplated factory. 
 As will be seen afterward, the anticipations of these men were fully 
 realized. 
 
 The following extracts from the tax lists of the new parish will 
 show the relative condition as to property of the principal business 
 men. Richard Kimball was taxed £3 14s. 9d. ; Nathaniel Kimball, 
 £3 13s. 6d.; John Mitchell, £3 10s.; John Webber, £3 7s. 3d.; Icha- 
 bod Cousins, £2 18s.; Richard Boothby, £2 16s.; John Gillpatrick, 
 £2 15s. 9d. ; Thomas Cousins, £2 13s.; Stephen Larrabee, £2 10s.; 
 Stephen Titcomb, £2 4s.; John Wakefield, £2 Is.; Nathaniel Wake- 
 field, £2 Is. 
 
 It is said by Sullivan, in his History of Maine, that there were, at 
 this time, not more than a thousand inhabitants in Wells. This 
 number cannot vary much from the truth. There were 221 polls, 
 and probably about 200 males over twenty-one years of age, the 
 polls being inventoried at the age of eighteen. 
 
 After the close of the war of 1745 there was a general feeling of 
 poverty among the people. This impression was not limited to the 
 town of Wells. The excitements of the war had led many to neg- 
 lect their business, and thereby the amount of property was to that 
 extent diminished. The inhabitants felt the necessary taxes to be 
 burdensome, and when required to return an inventory to the State 
 government, they were naturally inclined to undervalue their posses- 
 sions to effect a diminution of their taxes. The town of Kittery, in 
 a representation made by its inhabitants, thus speaks of Wells : 
 "Wells has Excellent farms, and Lumber trade too, Seated in a 
 Pleasant Bay for fish, A Wealthy and Careful People, Can well Sup- 
 port themselves and are as Independent as any town in the County, 
 have about three times as much land as Kittery, and have abundance 
 of Salt Marshes, Meadows and Cattle and Saw-mills and timber, and 
 near as many men as Kittery has." Contrasting this town with their 
 own, they say : " About One Quarter part of the lands in said town 
 (Kittery) are not capable of any improvement in Husbandry. Such 
 Mossy, Rocky Ground and boggy Swamps as bear nothing to Sup- 
 port any useful Creature Is not profitable for anything." " Poor fish- 
 ermen and Sailors and some Labourers when there was some Trad- 
 ing and business Carried on in the Town Purchased Small lots here 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AJtfD KENNEBUNK. 405 
 
 and there amongst the rocks, built little Cottages to live in, On 
 which lotts Some may raise a bushell of Potatoes and a hundred 
 Cabbages, and many Cannot raise so much." " One quarter part of 
 the town Cannot raise one bushel of Corn." "In a Great many of 
 the houses is nothing but the Continual Cry of hunger Poverty and 
 want." "Neither is all the Cattle raised in the town Sufficient to 
 Supply the Town with meat." " Only one or two merchants in the 
 Town, and their tradeing Cannot be anything of the Produce of the 
 Town, but the Goods they bring to trade upon they trust out to the 
 Poor, many of whom never pay." " Many are wretched and misera- 
 ble." "Falmouth has fish of all Sorts (when and where they Please 
 to Catch them)." "The place (as well as the People) is the beauty 
 and riches and Strength of the County." " Kittery Produces noth- 
 ing to trade upon unless they Should Sell one another for Slaves, as 
 the Afrecans do." " No Person living can Show that Kittery Does 
 produce any one Commodity to trade upon of any Sort, but poor 
 Widows and Orphans they have in Plenty, more than any other 
 Town in the County." " It has nothing to Show but Integrity and 
 Honesty for its Support, and Poverty for its Defense." The Isle of 
 Shoals was joined to Kittery, and "as Soon as they were joyn'd 
 Several poor families came from thence to the town for Support, 
 which cost more money than all the taxes the Isle of Shoals ever 
 paid to Kittery, Exclusive of the Charges Since their being so an- 
 nexed." "Scarce any one Town in the County but their traders 
 own more Sloops and other Vessels for the Sea than is owned in 
 Kittery." " Several Towns in this County Exceed Kittery abun- 
 dantly in Shipping." " Farmers have nothing to Spare and others 
 have nothing to live upon but what they earn in other places." The 
 foregoing are only a few statements of their petition. They con- 
 clude the whole with a verification. 
 
 While the description here given of Wells is readily accepted, 
 though not sustainable in all its parts, one cannot but wonder at the 
 presumption of these men of Kittery in offering such a document to 
 the legislature of Massachusetts. At this time the town of Wells 
 had the following property: 117 houses, 15 mills, 60 orchards, 534 
 acres of tillage land, 1817 acres of mowing land, 1185 acres of pas. 
 turing, 11 slaves, 148 horses, 503 oxen, 529 cows, 237 swine, 244 
 sheep, 60 tons of navigation, £74 in trading stock, and 221 polls. 
 Kittery, at the same time, had 284 houses, 8 mills, 207 orchards, 553 
 
406 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 acres of tillage, 2420 acres of mowing ground, 4272 acres of pastur- 
 ing, 944 tons of navigation, 42 slaves, 183 horses, 342 oxen, 1025 
 cows, 212 swine, 2391 sheep, £971 in trading stock, and 500 polls, 
 thus showing that Kittery possessed more than Wells, double the 
 number of men, thirteen times the amount of stock in trade, double 
 the number of cows, ten times as many sheep, almost four times as 
 many slaves, fifteen times as much navigation, nearly four times the 
 extent of pasturing, more tillage, and more money. We cannot stop 
 to comment on the comparison here made. It is sufficient to say we 
 are not very favorably impressed with the religion of these memori- 
 alists. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing that the great sin of the South, 
 for which the day of wrath, predicted by Jefferson, came upon the 
 whole country, in the bloodshed and sorrows of the great rebellion, 
 in some measure existed here. For almost a century it maintained 
 its position in Wells, as an element of social life. Human beings 
 were regarded as chattels; used and sold in the market as freely as 
 cattle. The number was small, but only so in consequence of the 
 inability of the people to purchase and maintain a large number. It 
 will be seen also that slavery was not the status of the black man 
 only. The Indian was also doomed to a like condition. Kittery re- 
 turned three of that class. They may have been reduced to servi- 
 tude from their character as " captives taken in just wars." A ration- 
 al man with these facts before him, could surely not complain that 
 the natives retaliated by a resort to the same disposition of the Eng- 
 lish who fell into their hands during war. God is just, and what is 
 right in reference to one man is right in regard to another, under the 
 same circumstances. 
 
 These slaves were generally treated with kindness by their masters. 
 Some fell into cruel hands, and were called to endure the severe 
 burdens and other ill treatment which inhumanity seldom fails to in- 
 flict on those who fall under its unlimited control. The free use of 
 intoxicating liquor frequently worked up an unhappy relationship be- 
 tween master and slave. Passion excited on the part of one, seldom 
 failed to provoke a like influence on the other. In the year of which 
 we are speaking, the number of slaves in Wells was small. At some 
 periods it was larger, sometimes less. 
 
 The old Weare house in York, which stood about three-quarters 
 of a mile east of Freeman's tavern, and which was taken down a 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJEK. 407 
 
 few years ago, was at one period a slave factory. Here were several 
 negro families, and many negro children were sent from it to market. 
 How this traffic was managed we are unable to state. But we are 
 well assured that many scenes were witnessed there, on such occas- 
 ions, which would make the heart ache. 
 
 But our slaves were generally purchased in Wells. In the latter 
 part of the slave era there were many small vessels owned on the 
 seaboard, which were employed in the West India trade, by which 
 they were readily transported here. Almost every vessel would re- 
 turn with a few, and they were purchased at very low prices. They 
 were also sold very frequently from the necessities of life among our- 
 selves. Joseph Hobbs had two, Zelph and Phillis. Phillis had a 
 little daughter of the age of five years, to whom she was bound by 
 all the ties which take hold of a mother's heart. But a distinguished 
 Revolutionary officer, with the same heartlessness which we have 
 been wont to attribute to those engaged in the slave trade, took this 
 little child from its mother, and, as he would any article of produce, 
 carried her to Saco, and there sold her. The agony of the poor 
 mother in this cruel separation, was said to be indescribable. Yet 
 there were no relentings and no remorse on the part of the trader, 
 which led to any attempt to rescind the unholy contract. It does 
 not seem that our own townsmen had any more doubt, in the judg- 
 ment of conscience, as to the legitimacy of this traffic ; and that a 
 negro was a mere chattel, subject to be bought and sold at the will 
 of the master, than they had that the right of sale in the owner, was 
 a condition or incident of any other property. There was no special 
 callousness of heart in this transaction. The same feeling was gen- 
 eral in relation to the slave ; and all the odious features of the insti- 
 tution, of which so much has been said at the present day, were ex- 
 hibited everywhere in New England. In the middle of the last cen- 
 tury no newspaper was published in Maine. The advertising com- 
 munity were obliged to avail themselves of the aid of the nearest 
 paper published in a neighboring state, which was the New Hamp- 
 shire Gazette, published at Portsmouth. In that we find the same 
 notices of runaway negroes which, until recently, were seen in South- 
 ern prints, headed with the picture of a negro trudging along with a 
 pack on his back, also notices of slaves for sale. Thus in that paper, 
 in 1764, we find the following advertisement : " A young negro wo- 
 man. To be sold for no fault" (with one exception not necessary to 
 
408 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 state). Enquire of the Printer. April 3d, 1764." Also another, as 
 thus stated : " To be sold at public auction on the 22d of April in- 
 stant, one yoke of oxen, several steers, cow, sheep, a good horse, sev- 
 eral calves, also a likely negro girl." 
 
 In all inventories they were generally classed with the stock on 
 the farm, or with the animals of the homestead. So also in all wills. 
 In the inventory of the estate of Waldo Emerson, who lived where 
 Henry Kingsbury now does, is the following : " 1 negro wench named 
 Phillis £30 .0 .0, 1 large horse £6 .0 .0, 1 Mare £18 .0 .0." John Fer- 
 nald, of Kittery, died in 1773. The following is the order of apprais- 
 al of his estate : "Bible and other books $10.50 — One Negro Man 
 $40.00, 2 oxen 9.60." James Scammon, of Biddeford, died in 1754. 
 The appraisal of his estate runs thus : Horse £9 .6 .8 A mair £10 
 .13 .4—3 calves 32 .0— a negro boy £53 .6 .8—5 pair sheep £4—5 
 swine £5 .17 .4. 
 
 The will of Col. John Wheelright, of Wells, so prominent in the 
 early part of our history, and a worthy member of the Christian 
 church, who died in 1745, contains this item : " In consideration of 
 the love and affection I bear to my beloved wife, I give her all my 
 cattle, and creatures of all kinds, negro or molatto servants." In 
 Judge Wheelright's will, allowed in 1700, is a similar item. "I do 
 give and bequeath unto Esther, my beloved wife, all my cattle of all 
 sorts, with one negro servant named Titus." Joseph Hill, who died 
 in 1743, left a will with these items : " I give to my wife Sarah, my 
 negro boy Tom. I give to my wife also the service of my negro 
 man named Sharper. I give to my son Nathaniel Hill, my negro 
 named Plato, and after the term is ended which my negro Sharper 
 is to serve my wife, the said negro is to be the servant of said Na- 
 thaniel." Dr. Sawyer who died in 1774, says in his will, "I give to 
 my daughter Eunice, one-third part of the schooner Prosperous, also 
 my negro girl Phillis." Previously he owned two others, Scipio and 
 Sharper. Rev. Samuel Emery owned one, named Violet. In addi- 
 tion to those stated in his will, Joseph Hill owned Dinah and Scipio. 
 John Goodale owned one named Phillis. Josiah Littlefield owned 
 one, Will Morgage. Pelatiah Littlefield owned two, Fortune and 
 Cato, both of whom were drowned. The first Pelatiah Littlefield 
 bought one in Boston, paying for him eighty pounds. Deacon 
 Thomas Wells owned one by the name of Jeff, who came down as 
 an heir-loom to several successive generations. Ebenezer Sawyer 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 409 
 
 owned one by the name of Pomp, who was decidedly in advance of 
 the age in which he lived. He changed his name and that of his 
 master, got or forged a counterfeit pass, and ran away Dec. 23, 1774. 
 
 John Bourne owned one by the name of Salem. He was always 
 called Salem Bourne. He had another called Pompey. He was 
 very kindly treated, and his soul responded affectionately to the kind 
 feelings of the family. He was married to lElizabeth Miles in 1778. 
 He dressed in a short jacket and trowsers made of moose-skin, a 
 fabric of a texture somewhat more durable than would be coveted 
 by the taste of the present age. Pompey was a bold and daring ad- 
 venturer, and did not die without leaving his mark in the world. 
 He was an excellent sailor, and much distinguished as a gunner. 
 He was one of the kindest men in the world, and it was said that in 
 consequence of his goodness of heart, his mistress spoiled him by 
 over-indulgence. His master finally thought it best to dispose of 
 him, and he was sold to Benjamin Littlefield. In an evil hour his 
 religion failed him. He stole a sheep in Kittery, was imprisoned for 
 his offense ; and to pay prison charges, he was sold and carried off to 
 the West Indies. 
 
 Capt. James Littlefield had several slaves;. Scipio, Sharper, Dinah 
 and Tom. Tom married Phillis, but soon after died. She then mar- 
 ried Prime. Prime died. She then took Old Tom. Old Tom ! We 
 shall never see his like again. Many who have lived in the last half 
 century, will remember him. Some are still living, who in olden 
 time danced away a happy hour, enlivened by the same old tune, 
 which for more than fifty years he was wont to grind out from that 
 same old fiddle. They cannot forget his gentle, manly deportment, 
 his meek and kind spirit. Who ever turned Old Tom from his door 
 without endeavoring to meet his wants ? We of Kennebunk well 
 remember him in the house of God, separated from his fellow-men 
 in his lone seat, though far above all the other worshipers, emblemati- 
 cal, perhaps, in the wisdom of God, though not so designed by the 
 pride of man, of his more exalted seat in the mansions of the blest. 
 As his face far outshone those of his white brethren on earth, so may 
 it now be encircled with a more distinguished glory in Heaven. 
 Old Tom ! While his memory remains, nothing but good will ever 
 be associated with his name. 
 
 Before the close of the last century the few slaves that remained, 
 having been emancipated, were gathered together on Negro Hill in 
 
410 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 front of the house of Nathaniel Bragdon. Here were three or four 
 houses. Old Tom and Phillis occupied one. Many kind and chari- 
 table friends were wont to visit him. His conjugal relations with 
 Phillis were of a genial and sympathetic character. Her death was 
 a severe blow to him. At her funeral he told Mr. Fletcher, the min- 
 ister, that he should never get such another. He was then about 
 eighty years of age. He afterwards took old Pegg. But she had not 
 the gracious, mild and courteous spirit which he needed ; and he was 
 made thereby to feel more deeply the loss of Phillis. Not long after 
 her death — after his marriage to Pegg — some ladies of the village 
 called to see him. Pegg told him to go and get his fiddle to amuse 
 the young folks. But Tom said no, Phillis has been dead so little 
 while he could not play. But Pegg insisted and commanded. He 
 was obliged to submit ; got his fiddle, played, and Pegg danced three- 
 quarters of an hour. He died in 18 — , supposed to be a hundred years 
 old. Rev. Mr. Wells who performed the funeral services, delivered 
 a very interesting and pathetic address on the occasion. 
 
 As was said of Old Tom, the slaves in church were seated by 
 themselves. They were generally kept apart from the white men, 
 in their joys, their sorrows, their sympathies and their worship. On 
 the eastern end of the old meeting-house was a large porch two 
 stories high. There, in the upper story, nearly all of them used to 
 sit during service. The churches generally in those days had similar 
 accomodations for the negroes, although some few were in the habit 
 of sitting on the step of the pew door, the pews then being elevated 
 above the aisles, and requiring this step for their convenient entrance. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 411 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 General use of intoxicating liquors— Introduction of tea and cof- 
 fee—Costume of the inhabitants— Titular distinctions— Christian 
 names— Marriage ceremonies— Funerals— First bell in Kennebunk 
 — Superstitions of the age— George Jacobs— his trial and execu- 
 tion. 
 
 Although at this period, the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 there had been a very material advancement in social life, and in all 
 the arts of civilization, yet, to the young of the present day, it will 
 seem almost impossible that only a hundred years ago, life in Wells, 
 in all its aspects, should have been so entirely different from its pres- 
 ent character, as it manifestly was. Town schools had indeed been 
 instituted, and their beneficent influence had begun to exhibit itself 
 in the various departments of activity. But the terrible trials 
 through which the settlers had passed in the years of war, kept the 
 mind in ceaseless anxiety and suspense. Men knew not what to do. 
 All attempts at improvement might at once be frustrated by the in- 
 cursions of the Indian, or stayed by the imperious demands of war. 
 Much of the time even the limited provisions for instruction could 
 not be enjoyed. Men or children could not in safety be abroad ; and 
 while a few years of peace came to relieve the burden of their souls, 
 and give opportunity for free out-door action, all the labors of the 
 people were required to restore the waste places, and make provision 
 for the support of their families. Habits had been acquired which it 
 was not easy to change. Excitement had become a necessity of life. 
 Intellectual culture was but little thought of. Physical, rather than 
 moral comfort and progress, was the ruling motive. Everything 
 tended to materialism. 
 
 It would be interesting to the reader if we should give some speci- 
 mens of the literature of the age ; or of the men who were the lead- 
 ers in the affairs of common interest, and in the intercourse and 
 direction of social life. But we have not space for such an indul- 
 gence. Yet, as far as we are able, we will here make such an exhibit 
 of the mixed character of our predecessors, as that our readers may 
 
412 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 comprehend the great change, which a century has wrought out in 
 the whole condition of the townsmen. 
 
 Perhaps no single power in the years past has had such a control- 
 ing influence in modeling the character of society, as that of exciting 
 or intoxicating drinks. Undoubtedly men are honest in their 
 thoughts, when they resort to their use from entirely different and 
 even adverse motives. One wants them to warm, another to cool 
 him ; one to excite and strengthen, another to calm the nerves, to 
 assuage thirst and give the system a tone of action appropriate to 
 life's work. But all concur in the opinion that the one thing is need- 
 ful, and it is wonderful how universally, and how constantly this doc- 
 trine was acted upon in those days. In the time of which we are 
 speaking, Pelatiah Littlefield was the keeper of a public house, 
 where Samuel B. Littlefield, one of his descendants, now lives. He 
 also kept a small store, and in trading, tavern-keeping, coasting and 
 various other branches, did a good deal of business. Here, in this 
 olden time, frequently gathered together the men of note, and the 
 public officers o the town, to deliberate on matters of interest, or 
 spend an evening in the enjoyment of conversation and anecdote, or 
 other pastime peculiar to social life. But at all times and on all oc- 
 casions the necessary beverage must be had to meet the special want 
 of the moment. The articles most prominent for this purpose were 
 flip and toddy. The former was prepared w T ith beer and rum sweet- 
 ened, and warmed by a hot iron ; the latter was ja, mixture of rum 
 and water sweetened and warmed in the same manner. Rum was a 
 common drink. The burden of the charges on the day-book was 
 made up of these items. We? think nearly every man in town 
 had these charges against him. Sometimes the appetite would de- 
 mand toddy for many days, then it would change to flip, then to 
 rum, then again to flip. Take a single case. Jonathan Huckin is 
 charged : 
 
 1768. " 2 breakfasts, 3 dinners, 3 glasses rum, 
 
 % a mug of tody, 
 
 % a mug of tody, 
 
 % a mug of tody, 
 
 % a mug of tody, 
 
 2 mugs of flip, 
 
 1 mug of flip, 
 
 1 mug of flip, 
 
 H a mug, 
 
 £16s. 
 
 6d. 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6." 
 
£1 Os. 
 
 Od. 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 • 1 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 0. 
 
 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 413 
 
 These charges extend frequently from the top to the bottom of 
 the page, with scarcely an intervening charge for any article of food 
 or raiment. These articles were considered so far a necessity of life 
 that the persons engaged in the duties of any public office did not 
 hesitate to charge them to their employers. Even the selectmen, 
 whose office was held in high regard, did not hesitate to charge these 
 matters to the town. Thus, under the date, December, 1772, an ac- 
 count against the selectmen reads as follows : 
 
 " By 4 boles of todday, 
 By 3 boles of todday, 
 By \% of flip, 
 By 4 mugs of flip, 
 To 4 dinners, 
 By 5 glasses of rum, 
 By \% bole of todday, 
 To 3 dinners, 
 
 The whole account embraces about fifty items, mostly of the same 
 character, all which, we suppose, were allowed by the town. Simi- 
 lar charges were made by referees, appraisers, and other officers. 
 Among items charged by commissioners in dividing the estate of 
 Josiah Littlefield, deceased, in 1733, is this charge ; " To licker at 
 Steward's, the brick house, 3s. 8d." In looking over one hundred 
 accounts in a day-book, we have found that they differed but very 
 little from those which we have before copied. In an account of one 
 hundred and twenty-seven charges against a son of one of the min- 
 isters, only six of them are for other articles than rum, flip, and toddy. 
 Our readers will perceive that the use of these articles was in no 
 degree restricted. Indulgence was unlimited, universal, and sus- 
 tained by the public sanction. Men would talk of their poverty, 
 and plead with the government for relief in their distress, while they 
 were squandering what they had in thus ministering to an unnatural 
 and vicious appetite. As before stated, the habits thus acquired 
 grew out of the anxieties of their condition. The troubles which 
 beset them and the consequent feverish excitements had their only 
 remedy, as they supposed, in this resort to the poisonous cup. We 
 have no disposition to impute to the early settlers any moral turpi- 
 tude in the custom so general. The light of modern times had not 
 beamed in upon their minds. They regarded such excitements as 
 
414 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 material to health and to make them efficient for the labors of life. 
 Many of the comforts and the principal beverages of more modern 
 times had not yet come within their reach. Tea and coffee were but 
 little known here previously to 1750, and this is an earlier date than 
 our histories generally give to their advent in the towns of New 
 England. In that year Dr. Sawyer kept coffee for sale at his store. 
 In 1760, Pelatiah Littlefield kept tea for sale. In 1764, so indispen- 
 sable had become the use of these articles that one of our sea cap- 
 tains made it a matter of complaint to the owner of his vessel that 
 he had " no tea, coffee, or molasses." We think coffee was intro- 
 duced in Kennebunk prior to 1750. Nathaniel Kimball, who lived 
 where Edward Haney now lives, kept a public house, and when 
 lands in that neighborhood were being located, a gentleman came 
 for the purpose of taking a survey and examination of a tract in the 
 vicinity, and put up at Kimball's. He brought with him a small 
 quantity of coffee, and as he went out handed a portion to the land- 
 lady, with the request that she would make some for dinner. He 
 was to be gone till after twelve and would like to have some hot 
 coffee on his return. She put it in the pot to boil before ten, sup- 
 posing that being so hard it would take a long while to soften it. 
 The stranger did not return till after two, when the good wife in- 
 formed him she could do nothing with it. It had been boiling ever 
 since ten o'clock; she had tried it, and it was just as hard as ever. 
 He then enlightened her as to the mode of preparing it for use, 
 though obliged to submit to the loss of his cup of hot coffee for din- 
 ner. 
 
 But our forefathers generally, at the period of which we are speak- 
 ing, had no knowledge of tea or coffee as articles of diet. Cider had 
 begun to be manufactured, and was sold in 1741 at about a shilling 
 a mug; soon after at a lower rate. The use of cold water, as a bev- 
 erage, the people then thought did not fully meet their wants in the 
 severe labors to which they were called. We can fully sympathize 
 with them in all their struggles for life and its comforts, and have no 
 word of condemnation for many of their frailties. In many things 
 they manifested a wisdom exceeding that which seems to direct the 
 action of the present age. They fitted themselves with costume ap- 
 propriate to the climate and to the labors in which they were en- 
 gaged. John Storer stood at the head of the aristocracy of Wells, 
 yet he was accustomed to wear leather breeches. Rev. Mr. Deane, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 415 
 
 minister of Portland, as late as 1770, speaks of his new buckskin 
 breeches. A pair of these in 1750 cost about one pound. Small 
 clothes, as they were sometimes termed, ended just below the 
 knee, where they were drawn tight to the stocking by a row of 
 four or five buttons, and generally were further fastened by 
 the addition of a large silver or silver plated buckle, three or four 
 inches long. Pants were not then much in vogue with the older 
 classes. Some boys wore buckskin trowsers ; others those made of 
 homespun cloth. These leather garments were not very satisfactory. 
 They lasted too long. A new pair of any material was almost hope- 
 less to one of these youthful aspirants for a new or fashionable dress. 
 We well recollect hearing one of the matrons of olden times tell the 
 story of the contrivance of two of her neighbor's boys to bring 
 about a modification of their nether garments. They had begged of 
 their mother that they might lay aside their leather trowsers and 
 have a pair made of domestic cloth ; but all their entreaties were in 
 vain. She would give them no other encouragement to that end 
 than merely to say to them that when the leather was worn out 
 they should have their desires gratified by a pair of homespun. 
 They endured for a long time the vexation of the unyielding gar- 
 ments. Finally all hope failed them, and their wits came to their 
 aid in devising a remedy. They took to the grindstone. One boy 
 sat upon it while the other turned the crank, and thus they were in 
 a fair way to bring about the object of their wishes without exciting 
 suspicion of any extraordinary means for the purpose. But their 
 cheering hopes were suddenly blasted. The father caught them in 
 the midst of their prosperous operations, and they were doomed 
 still longer to undergo the penance of wearing these uncongenial 
 garments. 
 
 As a general rule, the wardrobes of the people were of the cheap- 
 est kind, most of them of home manufacture. But some, of the 
 highest rank, were wont to overleap the boundaries of town fashions 
 and ape the habits of metropolitan life. Pelatiah Littlefield was a 
 gentleman of the old school, and had most of his clothes made in 
 Boston. Jonathan Littlefield, the son, we think followed the father's 
 example in this regard. Francis Shaw, merchant in Boston, in 1759, 
 charged him with one pair of plush breeches, £1 6s. 5d. ; pair of buff 
 knit breeches, £1 13s. 2d.; pair of Jarman serge breeches, £1 2s. 8d. 
 Nearly all the people then, as now, had what was called a best suit. 
 
416 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 We suppose that Joshua Freeman, of Portland, then twenty years 
 old, was invested with his when, as stated by Willis, " he went a 
 courting in 1750." He said "he wore a full bottomed wig and 
 cocked hat, scarlet coat and small clothes, white vest and stockings, 
 shoes and buckles, and two watches, one each side." Mrs. Smith, in 
 her History of Newburyport, says, " The gentlemen quite equaled 
 the ladies at this period in the amount of finery and the brilliancy of 
 colors in which they indulged. A light blue coat, with large fancy 
 buttons, a white satin embroidered waistcoat, red velvet breeches, with 
 silk stockings and buckled shoes, with a neckcloth or scarf of finely 
 embroidered cambric or figured stuffj the ends hanging loose, the 
 better to show the work, and liberal bosom and wrist ruffles (the lat- 
 ter usually fastened with gold or silver buckles), was considered a 
 proper evening dress for a gentleman of any pretension to fashion." 
 Some of the families seem to have had extensive wardrobes. Sarah, 
 the widow of William Sawyer, in her will disposes of her wearing 
 apparel, embracing a black calamanco suit, old and yellow under 
 petticoat, her dark blue serge petticoat, crape suit, silk suit, striped 
 calamanco suit, and her black silk petticoat. Sir William Pepperell, 
 living in Kittery, almost invariably appeared in a very showy and 
 expensive costume of " scarlet cloth trimmed with gold lace," so that 
 there was actually as marked a distinction between the classes of 
 society then as now. This distinction was recognized by all classes, 
 as will be seen by the course taken in assigning pews in the new 
 church, though only a very few were elevated in rank above the 
 many. This diversity had been manifested from the earliest settle- 
 ment of the town by the address which was appropriated to the dif- 
 ferent classes of men and women. Every one was distinguished by 
 the title acquired by official position or by his standing in society. 
 We have been unable to ascertain what change of circumstances in 
 the various cases changed one's address. We have all read of the 
 punishment of Josiah Plaistow, by the court of Assistants in Bos- 
 ton, for stealing from the Indians, " that he should thereafter be 
 called by the name of Josias, and not Mr., as formerly he used to 
 be." In the earlier periods of colonial life the appellation of Good- 
 man was applied to various persons. Felt, in his history of Ipswich, 
 says, " to captains and sometimes to mates of vessels, to military 
 captains, to eminent merchants, to schoolmasters, doctors, magis- 
 trates, and clergymen, to persons who had received a degree at col- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUXK. 417 
 
 lege, or had been made freemen. Wives of such persons had the 
 appellation of goodwife." Though we are not fully satisfied with 
 this statement, yet as the author had larger opportunities than our- 
 selves for learning the use of these terms we feel bound to accept it. 
 In this town we had Goodman Hammond, Goodman Littlefield, and 
 others. 
 
 This designation seems to have fallen into disuse previously to the 
 Revolutionary war; but other titular distinctions were continued. 
 Military men of official rank were always addressed by their titles. 
 Sergeants, Cornets, Lieutenants, Ensigns, Captains, and Colonels al- 
 ways supplanted the Christian name. These distinctions were some- 
 times of great convenience, more especially when applied to the 
 Littlefields, who had become so numerous. Judicial officers were 
 distinguished as Esquires, and those on the bench were addressed as 
 the Worshipful, Most Worshipful. The wives of such, as well as of 
 those of military eminence, and of ministers, were called Madam. 
 In this town we had Madam Storer, wife of Col. Joseph Storer, 
 Madam Wheelright, wife of Col. John, Madam Little, wife of Rev. 
 Daniel. 
 
 In the early days of New England the term Mr. seems to have 
 been applied to ministers and to men of high civil rank only; but its 
 application was gradually extended, so that at the period of which 
 we are speaking every man had acquired the right to that address. 
 
 But about the year 1750 an important change began to show itself 
 in the names given to individuals. As the population increased, 
 while the inventive powers of the people were not in progress of 
 development, and old names did not meet the demands of life, they 
 were obliged to resort to what are now termed double names. No 
 such methods of distinction were known among the original emi- 
 grants from Europe. A large proportion of the names given in bap- 
 tism were drawn from the Bible. Take a single instance : The 
 children of Samuel Hatch, one of the early settlers of the town, 
 were Bethiah, Benjamin, Jemima, Samuel, Mary, Joseph, John, 
 Eunice, and Phillip. Very seldom is any other name found among 
 our predecessors of the olden time in Wells than those which are 
 mentioned in the Scriptures. But the march of intellect and the 
 necessities of social and business life now required other designa- 
 tions, and men began to assume the double name. This assumption, 
 however, was not very readily accepted. Undoubtedly there were 
 27 
 
418 HISTOBY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 some who believed the Bible furnished names enough for universal 
 humanity, and who perhaps thought it would be irreverent to look 
 elsewhere for them, as there were some who thought the attempt to 
 set up lightning rods was sinful, being in contravention of the de- 
 signs of Heaven. Previously to 1735 the double name had not ap- 
 peared among the inhabitants of Wells. The first person who broke 
 in upon the old order of nomination was John Heard Hubbard, who 
 walked abroad and took care to be recognized under that distinctive 
 name previously to 1750, always writing it in full, in a bold and 
 marked hand. But for many years he had no followers. One or 
 two appeared between 1750 and 1760; but the double name was 
 still uncommon till about the period of the Revolutionary war, 
 when men began to adopt it more freely. 
 
 During the first century after the initiation of the settlement, 
 among the females Elizabeth and Mary seem to have been the fancy 
 names. Scarcely a family neglected to avail themselves of one or 
 both. Where Bible names did not fully satisfy, occasionally a new 
 one was manufactured, based on some religious element. Thus we 
 had Benedictus Hammond, Dependence Litttlefield, Charity Webb, 
 Humility Preble. Of two hundred and seventy-two baptized during 
 the pastorate of Mr. Emery, all but ten were invested with Scripture 
 names. 
 
 Of the marriage ceremony, in the first century of the settlement, 
 its attendants and immediate antecedents, we have been unable to 
 obtain any complete information. If we never had had the light of 
 divine revelation, we are assured that all the race would have found 
 out that it was " not good for man to be alone." Our predecessors 
 of that period, we know, readily fell in with that postulate; but just 
 how the great result was brought about, neither record nor tradition 
 unfolds to us. We are confident that scarcely a man or woman ar- 
 rived at maturity without some aspirations in that direction. 
 Thomas Wheelright, son of Rev. John, it is true, wound up his 
 earthly being in celibacy; but, as we have stated in a former chap- 
 ter, his intentions were to a different condition. 
 
 Aside from him, we know of no one among the early settlers who 
 lived and died wifeless. But the entire preliminary and ceremonial 
 action for the completion of the marriage, has been lost even to tradi- 
 tion. Though we are not apprised of the nature and extent of the 
 preparations then made for the wedding, we are fully persuaded that 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 419 
 
 it was not regarded as a day for which the mother should afflict her 
 soul by weeks of wearisome labor. Pains were not taken to exhaust 
 the father's purse in the purchase of the frippery and tinsel to decorate 
 the person, so common in more modern times. Neither did the can- 
 didates think that the light of Heaven should not be allowed to 
 shine upon them on the interesting occasion ; as though this perfect- 
 ing of the union of two loving hearts was a sin not to be witnessed 
 by men or angels ; or rather, as if they chose darkness rather than 
 light, because the deed was evil. But we know that they regarded 
 marriage as honorable and worthy of all acceptation ; and the clear- 
 er and more brilliant the sunshine, the more prophetic was it of a 
 happy union. The personal adornment or dress for the consecration, 
 was to a great degree a matter alien from the thoughts of the house- 
 hold. In some cases there were no indications that any special event 
 was in prospect until the hour came for the consummation. One case 
 may be stated which perhaps is somewhat exceptional. An indus- 
 trious young lady was to be married ; but the thought did not so 
 occupy her attention as to induce her to relax in the least from the 
 daily work of the house ; on the contrary, she was very probably in- 
 spirited by it to ply her cards with more activity. The hour was 
 fixed for the wedding. Still her regular daily work went on. The 
 minister or legal officer came and found her diligently carding her 
 rolls. He enquired of her if she was ready. O yes, was the answer. 
 She jumped up ; shook the dust and flyings from her apron, and took 
 her position by the side of the bridegroom, and they were then made 
 man and wife. 
 
 But though our knowledge of this matter is so defective, some of 
 the incidents of an era so important in one's life, still linger in tradi- 
 tion, and perhaps I may say, have a place in record. One idea of 
 the consequence of marriage was almost universal; that by the union 
 the responsibility for the wife's debts was cast on the husband ; and 
 the only way of avoiding this responsibility was by the non-recep- 
 tion to his house or possession of any property which she might 
 have ; this exclusion being extended so far as to require the complete 
 nudation of her person, with the exception of the garment to which 
 belongs the closest fellowship with the wearer. This idea was not 
 merely speculative, but in many cases had free action with the con- 
 tracting parties, with the assent of the official who performed the 
 ceremony. Feb. 5, 1774, Abraham Brooks, of York, a widower, was 
 
420 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTXNK. 
 
 married to Mary Bradley, a widow. She being in debt, the bride- 
 groom insisted on this condition ; and she was accordingly denuded 
 to the extent before stated. The minister observing that she was 
 shivering from the cold, threw his own coat over her. A case of 
 similar character, the last of which we have any knowledge, occurred 
 in Wells many years after. Such cases were not very common, as 
 females who had just arrived at the marriage state as members of 
 the paternal household, were not capable of legal indebtment. 
 
 We have by us a form of proceeding used by John Storer, Esq., 
 who had been commissioned as a magistrate, which was furnished 
 him by his brother, Rev. Seth Storer, of Watertown, Mass., in 1738, 
 for use in the performance of the marriage ceremony. Directing the 
 bridegroom to take the bride by the right hand, he instructs him to 
 gay, "Do* you Mr. Patrick MacMullen take Mrs. Jennet MacFuggen 
 to be your lawful wedded wife, and promise to live with her in the 
 married state according to God's appointment; to love her heartily; 
 to take care of and provide for her in sickness and in health, and to 
 be true and constant unto her and her alone, until God by death 
 shall separate you ; and so you make this marriage covenant in the 
 presence of God and before these witnesses." 
 
 To the woman say, " Do you Mrs. Jennet MacFuggen take Mr. 
 Patrick MacMullen, whom you now have by the hand, to be your 
 lawful, wedded husband, to live with him according to God's appoint- 
 ment in the married state ; to love him sincerely, to obey him and 
 submit to him in the fear of the Lord; to take care of him and pro- 
 vide for him, both in sickness and in health, and to be true and con- 
 stant unto him and him alone till God by death shall separate you, 
 and do you make this marriage covenant in the presence of God and 
 before these witnesses." 
 
 They having consented, then say, " Forasmuch as it hath pleased 
 the Sovereign God so to order it in the course of his holy and wise 
 Providence, that these two persons should consent together in the 
 marriage covenant, and have now solemnly declared it, I do by vir- 
 tue of the power given me by the law of this Province, declare you, 
 Mr. Patrick MacMullen, and you Mrs. Jennet MacFuggen to be 
 Husband and Wife ; so that you are no longer to look upon your- 
 selves as twain, but one Flesh ; and to add the words of our Saviour, 
 what God has joined together let not man put asunder." 
 
 He did not assume the prerogative of changing the name of the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 421 
 
 bride ; neither is anything said about the prayers that the blessing of 
 heaven might rest on the parties, though John Storer was accustomed 
 to devotions of that character. The wedding cake was generally 
 considered as a necessary part of the preparation for this important 
 day ; and the wine and other liquors, after the coasters began running 
 to Boston. Some other customs usually had a part in these induc- 
 tions to connubial life. Many of the chimeras which still maintain a 
 hold on the brain of the ignorant, had their day in the early settle- 
 ment of the town. It was then a fostered idea of that class, that the 
 female who should be successful in getting the garter of the bride, 
 would be the first afterwards who should have the smiles and favor 
 of Hymen ; so that the desire was general among them to secure to 
 themselves this guaranty of a similar speedy union. An elderly lady, 
 now many years in heaven, well remembered a case in which the zeal 
 of a young lady would not permit her to be outdone by anybody ; 
 and, therefore, in the midst of the crowd, while the marriage services 
 were in progress, she contrived to get off, and secure to herself one 
 of the garters of the bride. This feat was generally accomplished 
 as the concluding act of the company assembled at the house. 
 
 One of the incidents of a wedding in ancient times, as every one 
 knows, was the disposal of the happy pair for the night. This was 
 regarded as one part of the business of the attendants. One of the 
 venerable matrons assured the author that the custom was universal, 
 and that the bridegroom always provided for himself a brocade silk 
 gown for the occasion. This, one would think, in the poorer periods 
 of the town's history, was assuming a burden which few could bear. 
 But we feel bound to give full credit to her testimony. The bride- 
 groom having divested himself of his wedding garments, and been 
 invested with his brocade, the two were placed in position to rest 
 from the excitements, cares and labors of the day. This is about all 
 that we know or can tell about marriages more than a hundred years 
 ago. 
 
 This covenant required of the parties in 1738, does not differ ma- 
 terially from that which is imposed on them at the 'present day, ex- 
 cept in one clause. In the obligation to be assumed by the bride, a 
 great relaxation has been acceded to. She was required then to love 
 him sincerely and to obey and submit to her husband in the fear 
 of the Lord. The appreciation of woman so much affected by the 
 progress of education, has wonderfully modified the opinions of men 
 
422 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJN1C 
 
 as to her personal rights. Public opinion would not now sus- 
 tain any one authorized to marry, in making such demands of the 
 bride as were implied in the covenant of one hundred and fifty 
 years ago. Very few girls would now be willing to enter the mar- 
 riage state, if they were thereby to be obligated to obey and submit 
 to the husband in all things ; and very few men could be found, hav- 
 ing the attributes of a true manhood, who would require such an 
 obligation. 
 
 A great change has taken place within a century, in the interest 
 created by some of the events of life. The men of this age think 
 but little of the funeral service, unless it speaks to them of the loss 
 of one with whom they were closely associated, or who took an im- 
 portant part in the direction of public affairs. But death and the 
 solemn duty of survivors, to commit to the place appointed for all 
 the living one of their number, who had mingled with them in the 
 activities of life, came home then with power to the hearts of all the 
 people. The funeral was attended by large numbers. The farm and 
 the workshop were forsaken. All laid by the ordinary business of 
 life, and went to the house of mourning. The thoughts of the be- 
 reaved were absorbed in the great preparations which must be made 
 for the occasion, while the house of sorrow was invaded by friends 
 and companions before the day assigned for the funeral solemnities. 
 Considering how limited was the property of even the most wealthy, 
 it was a great burden on families to meet all the demands of custom. 
 Liquors must be provided for the guests and for the bearers, and the 
 table be well supplied for refreshment at the return from the grave- 
 yard. Jonathan Littlefield, son of the first Francis, jr., died in 1734. 
 He was a man who had been active in business life, and his son, who 
 thought much of family dignity, was not backward in making pro- 
 vision for the interment. The slaves were the bearers on these oc- 
 casions, and each one of them must be furnished with gloves of a 
 quality honorable to the family for whom they were to perform this 
 last act for frail mortality. The funeral must be delayed many days 
 to obtain the needed articles. They could only be had in Boston, 
 which could not be reached by telegraph or railroad. The following 
 was the bill contracted for this occasion : 
 
 "Oct. 15th, 1734. Pelatiah Littlefield Dr. to James Boyd of Bos- 
 ton for his father's funeral. 
 
£2 18s. Od. 
 
 2 18 
 
 
 
 2 5 
 
 6 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 4 19 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 £30 
 
 6" 
 
 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 423 
 
 To 8 pair of men's gloves, black, 7s. 6cl. a pair, 
 
 To 8 pair of women's gloves, black, 7s. 6d. a pair, 
 
 To 7 pair of men's gloves, 
 
 To 8 pair of woman's gloves, yellow, 5s. 6d., 
 
 To 24 yds. Cyprus, i 
 
 To 11 yds. Cyprus, j 
 
 To 1 pair of woman's gloves, black, 7s. 6d., 
 
 To 1 pair of woman's gloves, yellow, 
 
 To 1 yd. black ribbon, 
 
 To 2 pair of men's gloves, 
 
 Tol}4 yds. of narrow black ribbon, 
 
 To 1 pound of allspice, 
 
 How much the liquor bill was for this solemnization we have not 
 ascertained, but probably not less than three or four gallons were 
 provided. At the funeral of Mr. Richardson, the minister, in 1758, 
 as before stated, four gallons were obtained. Turkeys and chickens 
 were also provided. The funeral of Richard Boothby was attended 
 with the same expense as that of Littlefield, the bill being made up 
 very nearly of the same items, though the family were not so well 
 able to bear the expense. 
 
 We have not been able to learn the mode of conducting the 
 funeral services in this vicinity in the early days of the settlement. 
 All our explorations among the relics of antiquity and all our ques 
 tionings of the aged, born before the middle of the last century, in 
 regard to the religious exercises at funerals, have brought to us no 
 light on this subject. We should have supposed that, as the earliest 
 ministers of the town came from Massachusetts, they brought with 
 them and prescribed the services in the forms to which they had there 
 been accustomed; but it would seem that no devotional services 
 were customary. Lechford, as quoted by Palfrey, says, " At burials 
 nothing is read, nor any funeral sermon made; but all the neighbor- 
 hood, or a good company of them, come together by the tolling of 
 the bell, and carry the dead solemnly to the grave, and there stand 
 by him while he is buried. The ministers are most commonly pres- 
 ent. The dead are buried, without so much as a prayer, in some 
 convenient enclosure by the roadside." This we assume as probably 
 
424: HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 applicable to the early days of our history, though not in its entire 
 statement. They could not have come together at the calling of the 
 bell. The sound of no such instrument was heard in Wells previ- 
 ously to the present century. The first bell was placed in the bel- 
 fry of the church at Kennebunk in 1804. There was but one bell in 
 the county previously to this time. That in York was raised and 
 hung on the 20th day of September, 1788. In the early years of 
 the settlement the people were called together by the drum, and 
 every town was subjected to a penalty for not having one. We do 
 not know the precise mode of manipulating the instrument for these 
 occasions, but we presume a reveille, like that used for military as- 
 semblings, was played, and we trust we shall not touch harmfully 
 the religious sensibilities of any one by adding that we have felt 
 that the call for worship in this fashion was much more in sympathy 
 with the feelings of the true worshiper than that of the solemn toll 
 of the bell. David was glad when they said unto him, let us go up 
 to the house of the Lord. Such, in our view, should be the cheer- 
 ful aspirations of the Christian. God is love, and the call for his 
 special worship should come to us in tones of joy. Gladness should 
 be the impulse which it should awaken in all hearts. 
 
 The habit of wearing mourning was in full vogue during the 
 whole of the last century. A man must have his mourning coat 
 and a woman her mourning gown, and some, who were far advanced 
 in life, were anxious that friends should carry with them this me- 
 mento of them when deceased. They could not endure the thought 
 of being forgotten. Sarah Sawyer says in her will, " I give my son, 
 John Wells, eight pounds to procure a funeral coat after my death. 
 Also to my son, Thomas Wells, eight pounds to procure a funeral 
 coat after my decease." 
 
 The period of which we have been speaking was marked by much 
 superstition. Even the most enlightened were not free from its 
 baneful thrall. Science, though it had made'such advancement, was 
 almost powerless in its teachings to lead men to abandon tlie 
 groundless fancies which so much interfered with a wise apprehen- 
 sion of the relation of causes and effects, or of the various agencies 
 which act upon man or the physical world about him. Signs, won- 
 ders, and spiritual manifestations, unworthy of a thought in the 
 guidance of life, had a very marked influence on all classes. People 
 were led to do, or not to do, to fear or to hope, from things as little 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 425 
 
 operative on human life, action, or events, as though they had no ex- 
 istence whatever. That terrible delusion which came over so great 
 a proportion of the people in the last of the preceding century, and 
 which deprived society of so many valuable members on the plea of 
 the guilt of witchcraft, would almost seem to have been pretended 
 rather than real ; but the many honest-hearted men, who were the 
 subjects of this memorable superstition, forbid any such thought. 
 There were then, it may well be presumed, as there still are, occa- 
 sional manifestations which the civilization of the age could not sat- 
 isfactorily explain. The ignorance of multitudes was fruitful in the 
 statement of facts which a cultivated intellect would fail to discern. 
 Still, we are ready to confess that in the history of the past we meet 
 with narrations, entitled to credit, which baffle all attempts at a rea- 
 sonable explanation. We believe in the honesty of men, and feel 
 ourselves bound to give credit to the statements of members of the 
 Christian church, whose characters at the time were beyond re- 
 proach. For example : The following declarations of a deacon of 
 the Congregational Church, just beyond the limits of Wells, in the 
 adjoining town of York, cannot be accounted for by the application 
 of any principles which our philosophy suggests, though supposed to 
 be in substance true. That in the month of March, 1758, as the be- 
 ginning of his troubles, a strange distemper had seized upon his 
 sheep, by which he lost thirty, old and young, apparently from bleed- 
 ing at the nose. Soon after, all his hens and chickens were found 
 dead, with their necks disjointed, some of them still fluttering when 
 they went into the barn. He had also a fine calf, well in the even- 
 ing; in the morning they found him lying on his back with his legs 
 up, panting and foaming till he died. Thus far, he said he did not 
 suspect any supernatural agency. But in April things entirely unac- 
 countable took place in his house. He took sundry household uten- 
 sils and placed them in a particular spot, just turned round and 
 immediately back, and they were all in the fire, partly burnt; and 
 while taking his meal at the table with his children, who were eating 
 thickened milk, instantly all the spoons were taken from them, and 
 were not to be found ; and afterwards, when one of another family 
 was taking coffee with them, she was admonished by him to take 
 care of her spoon, or it would be missing as soon as she laid it down. 
 She said she would see to that, and put it into the coffee pot. She 
 did so and shut down the lid ; but on lifting it, in a few minutes, the 
 
426 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 spoon had disappeared. They had churned and went for the salt, 
 but that also had fled. 
 
 These things perplexed the good man and his wife exceedingly. 
 Other things in daily use had disappeared as suddenly. They were 
 alarmed, and proposed fasting and prayer as the only known means 
 of driving out the unwelcome spirit. The minister and many of the 
 parish became much excited by these inexplicable manifestations. 
 The report of them spread over the town, and many lived under the 
 apprehension that the witchcraft of 1692 was to be renewed among 
 them. 
 
 Being fully convinced that these strange things were to be attrib- 
 uted to the influence of sorcery, the people charged them upon a 
 bad neighbor whom the deacon had offended. A daughter of this 
 troublesome neighbor, well knowing the infamous character of her 
 father, called upon him and calmly reasoned with him about the 
 matter, exhorting him to cease these disturbing enchantments. 
 From this time everything was quiet in the household. 
 
 Such narrations as this, coming from some persons, we should 
 think unworthy of regard ; but coming from one of substantial 
 character, they might well be considered as ministering to and as 
 excusing the superstition of the age. We have so little belief in 
 any physical action of one man upon another, or upon his surround- 
 ings, when remote from personal contact, that we can assent to no 
 inference that these strange matters about the deacon's homestead 
 were developments of any power of witchcraft. The science of the 
 present day, we think, would have revealed a natural cause for all 
 the actual facts of the case. 
 
 In connection with this exhibit of the superstitions of the age, we 
 may properly add a brief account of one of the sad consequences of 
 the memorable delusion of 1692. 
 
 Died, in 1751, George Jacobs, aged 74. The family of the name 
 of Jacobs have descended from one memorable in American history, 
 being one of the number of those who were victims to the terrible 
 delusion of 1692. George Jacobs, their ancestor, was then resident 
 in Salem village, the scene of that awful fanaticism, which in a dark 
 period of New England life came over the minds of many professed- 
 ly religious men, and found its satisfaction only in the blood of some 
 of the best and most useful of the land. The witchcraft which then 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 427 
 
 carried desolation to so many hearthstones, was charged to have 
 been the development of the work of the devil. But any intelligent 
 reader of the history of the disgraceful transactions of that hour at 
 Salem cannot but be impelled to the conclusion, that if the evil one 
 was in any way an efficient agent in carrying to its horrible results 
 the frenzy which had thus seized upon so many, he had taken to 
 himself those who were the instruments of these judicial murders, 
 rather than those who were the subjects. George Jacobs was a 
 worthy old man, quietly and honorably wending his way to the 
 grave. As is said by Upham, in his valuable history of this great 
 iniquity, "he was grey-headed and walked with two staffs." His 
 hair was in long, thin, white locks, and as he was uncommonly tall 
 of stature he must have had a venerable aspect. His faculties were 
 vigorous, his bearing fearless, and his utterances strong and decided. 
 When passing through the ordeal of his judicial trial he appealed to 
 the court, trying to recall them to a sense of fairness: " Pray, do 
 not accuse me. I am as clear as your worships. You must do right 
 judgment. I am clear of the charges. I never wronged man in 
 word or deed. I have done no harm. Burn me or hang me, I will 
 stand in the truth of Christ." The deluded court found him guilty 
 of witchcraft, and he was executed on the 19th of August, 1692. 
 
 For the benefit of those of our townsmen who claim lineage 
 through this worthy ancestor, we should be gratified in laying before 
 them the evidence on which the infatuated tribunal based their 
 judgment, but our province in this work necessarily excludes matter 
 so remote from its special object. Our readers will find it at length 
 in the book before referred to. 
 
 The folly of this whole judicial action was soon perceived by the* 
 great body of the people. Men came to their senses. Some of the 
 witnesses confessed their iniquity, and in a year or two the bewilder- 
 ment passed from the public mind. Margaret Jacobs, the grand- 
 daughter of the martyr, who was a principal witness against him, 
 was herself brought to trial for witchcraft the next year, but escaped 
 conviction. While in prison she wrote to her father, acknowledging 
 the falsity of her statements against her grandfather. 
 
 So deeply sensible had the public become that this whole proced- 
 ure was an outrage upon civilization, that application was made to 
 the legislature to render all compensation in its power to the fami- 
 lies on whom the barbarous hand of its judicial tribunals had been 
 
428 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 so heavily laid ; and in 1711, the representatives of George Jacobs 
 were awarded by the colony seventy-nine pounds for the property 
 which had been wrested from him. Fifty pounds were also paid to 
 the heirs of George Burroughs, of whose trial and execution we 
 have given some account in another place. So much respect had 
 the public for the venerable Jacobs, that the artist has put the scene 
 of his trial upon canvas, and the picture is now hanging at the en- 
 trance to the library of the Essex Institute, at Salem. 
 
 The house where he lived is still standing, and a pilgrimage to it 
 would be of deep interest to his descendants living in this vicinity. 
 His remains were interred near it. With the action in reference to 
 him after his execution, as stated in Upham, we close this sketch : 
 " The tradition has descended through the family that the body, 
 after having been obtained at the place of execution, was strapped 
 by a young grandson on the back of a horse, brought home to the 
 farm, and buried between the shade of his own trees. Two sunken 
 and weather-worn stones marked the spot. There the remains^ rest- 
 ed until 1864, when they were exhumed. They were enclosed again 
 and reverently re-deposited in the same place. The skull was in a 
 state of considerable preservation. An examination of the jaw- 
 bones showed that he was a very old man at the time of his death, 
 and had previously lost all his teeth. The length of some parts of 
 the skeleton showed that he was a very tali man. These circum- 
 stances corresponded with the evidence, which was that he was tall 
 of stature ; so infirm as to walk with two staffs ; with long, flowing, 
 white hair. The only article found except the bones was a metalic 
 pin, which might have been used as a breast pin, or to hold together 
 his aged locks. It is an observable fact that he rests in his own 
 ground still. He had lived for a great length of time on that spot, 
 and it remains in his family and in his name to this day, having 
 come down by direct descent. It is a beautiful locality. The land 
 descends with a grand and smooth declivity to the bank of the river. 
 It is not much more than a mile from the city of Salem, and in full 
 view from the main road." 
 
 2 George Jacobs, his son, married Rebecca Frost, Feb. 19, 1674. 
 His son, 3 George, junior, was born Sept. 9, 1677, and moved from 
 Salem to Wells about 1700, where he married Hannah Cousens, 
 daughter of Thomas Cousens, Dec. 16, 1701. Oct. 24, 1742, he mar- 
 ried Elizabeth Burnham. His son, 4 George Jacobs, was married to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 429 
 
 Mary Woodman, Dec. 10, 1741. His son, 6 George Jacobs, married 
 Hepsibah Bourne, of Wells, and died in 1831, aged 79. He was an 
 officer in the Revolutionary war, and after it was closed moved to 
 Lyons Hill, in Sanford. From this short pedigree all the family in 
 Wells will be able to ascertain their relation to the memorable an- 
 cestor. 
 
430 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Increase of inhabitants of Kennebunk— Mills and houses built— 
 The great freshet— Throat distemper— Earthquakes— Fears en- 
 tertained OF ANOTHER INDIAN WAR— REMOVAL OF THE ACADIANS— 
 
 Names of those located in Wells— War declared against France 
 — List of Volunteers from Wells — Escape of Rev. Mr. Little from 
 the Indians — More houses built — First painted house in Kenne- 
 bunk— Additions to the Kennebunk meeting-house— Schools— Sam- 
 uel Moffat and Rev. Mr. Little, teachers — Increase of Inhabi- 
 tants — New road laid out from the sea to the Landing— Ship- 
 building COMMENCED AT KENNEBUNK — FlRST SCHOOL-HOUSE IN KENNE- 
 BUNK — Distribution of school money — Names of teachers, and 
 where located — First female teacher — List of aged persons. 
 
 When the town was divided into two distinct parishes, there were 
 about thirty families living in that part of it which was set off as the 
 second parish; but from 1750 to 1760, this part of Wells had so rap- 
 idly increased, that in the latter year there were no less than eighty 
 families which had here established a home. Before the division, 
 with the exception of the houses of the two Wakefields, Thomas 
 Cousins, and the Coburn house, the land where the village of Kenne- 
 bunk now stands had continued in the state in which Providence had 
 fashioned it. There was no building of any description on the wes- 
 tern side of the river, excepting a small cabin which had been put 
 up there by those who had been engaged in the saw-mill carried 
 away by a freshet. 
 
 In 1752, the saw-mill was rebuilt by Joseph Storer, then living in 
 the first parish, Nathaniel Wakefield and Stephen Larrabee. The 
 grist-mill, standing just below the bridge, where the present one 
 stands, was built immediately afterward. Previously to this time 
 many of the inhabitants pounded their corn in a mortar made for that 
 purpose. At some periods, a part of the people scattered over the 
 town, had been obliged to travel to York, for the purpose of having 
 it ground. Afterward they went to " Uncle David's mill," as it was 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 431 
 
 called, at Harrysicket. This mill stood on the Branch river, just be- 
 low the road where there had also been a saw-mill. This year also 
 the parish voted to enlarge the meeting-house twelve feet in length, 
 the enlargement to be made by the pews within it. In 1754, a saw- 
 mill was built by Thomas and James Cousins at Great Falls, on the 
 site of the former one burnt by the Indians. A saw-mill in those 
 days was always a nucleus for a village. It created business for men 
 of different employments. In the year 1751, Stephen Larrabee had 
 built a house where the late Thomas Low lived, James Hubbard, 
 the house in which Mrs. Mary Hubbard now lives, Joseph Cousins a 
 house at Great Falls, in 1752. The same year Rev. Daniel Little 
 built the house now standing next above that of the late George W. 
 Bourne, which was first occupied by him July 16th ; and Benjamin 
 Stevens, a house nearly on the same site of that now owned by Or- 
 low Stevens. But the prospect which was just opening so brightly, 
 very suddenly changed to a [different face, and the anticipations of 
 the settlers were crushed. They had experience of the old axiom to 
 its full extent, that troubles seldom come singly. In the year 1755, 
 Oct. 21, a great freshet, surpassing any which had been known before 
 or since, carried away every mill on the Mousam river. The water 
 rose to the height of eleven feet. By this calamity a source of large 
 business and profit was suddenly cut off. The coasting trade, which 
 had been rapidly increasing, was checked, and the enterprise of the 
 people in its various directions defeated. 
 
 At the same time the throat distemper, so destructive of early life, 
 came in upon many families. Burks, who lived on Great Hill, lost 
 six children, being all he had. Boothby lost five. To many other 
 families it came with distressing power. This was followed by a 
 most frightful earthquake on the 17th of November. Smith in his 
 journal says, " There was in the night at a quarter past four, a most 
 amazing shock of an earthquake. It lasted two minutes, that seemed 
 as if it would shake the house to pieces, and then threw down near 
 one hundred bricks of our chimney, and did the same to many other 
 chimneys in town." Within a month afterward there were several 
 others, one of which was very severe. The men of Wells, who were 
 boys at that time, said that the first and most terrific, lasted four 
 minutes, and that the ground shook several days afterward. It was 
 evidently most appalling to all classes. Educated men were not in- 
 different to its terrors. It was said that the minister, Mr. Richard- 
 
432 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 son, died from the fright. Fasts were held in consequence of it. 
 Probably this very action of the ministers, who, in that age, were 
 reverenced by the multitude, added much to the terror with which 
 all hearts were inspired. Although they had been so long harrassed 
 by savage raids and cruelties, yet their wretched experience had 
 strengthened them to meet all such trials with a brave and resolute 
 face. But when they began to feel that the earth was giving away 
 under their feet, the boldest heart quailed. 
 
 But the measure of their calamities was not yet full. Reports 
 were coming in that the Indians were again abroad in the eastern 
 part of the Province, on their work of destruction and death. John 
 Storer had received the following notice : " March 14, 1754. Sir, I 
 this day received from Sir William Pepperell, to take Cair and see 
 that the town of York is well Proved with Ammunition in their. 
 Town Stock, and also that the men be well provided with arms and 
 ammunition ; and direct me to writ to you to See likewise that Wells 
 and the Towns to the Eastward of Wells and Phillipstown be all 
 likewise well provided as above. 
 
 I am Sir, your humble Servant, 
 
 Jere Moulton." 
 
 New orders were coming almost daily to disturb the public mind. 
 The following brought the distressing assurance that the enemy was 
 at their door: " Kittery, March 9, 1756. Col. John Storer— Sir. 
 You are immediately to see that every man in your town, and to the 
 eastward of it, be well provided with arms and ammunition as the 
 law directs, and no man to be six rods from his lodging without 
 them. Your faithful, humble servant, 
 
 Wm. Peppeeill." 
 
 The war with the French and Indians soon came upon them in all 
 its terrors. Great gloom now settled down on the inhabitants. Des- 
 titution came to many families. Business of all kinds came to 
 a standstill. None felt themselves safe from Indian vengeance. 
 Troops had been sent off to the West. Orders were issued that all 
 the militia should be ready to march at a moment's warning. Pre- 
 caution was taken by the government to ward off a portion of the 
 force of the enemy in the exigency of an approaching war. By the 
 treaty of Utrecht, Acadia had been surrendered to the English ; but 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 433 
 
 the Acadians would not submit peaceably to the new jurisdiction, 
 and were continually fomenting trouble, and instilling into the minds 
 of the ignorant and deluded savages, feelings of dissatisfaction and 
 rebellion against the administration ; so that it was felt to be abso- 
 lutely necessary to adopt some decisive measures to obviate the dan- 
 ger of such an element in their own midst. So long as the French 
 had it in their power to direct and control these simple natives, and 
 at the same time were themselves ready, on the first approach of a 
 conflict with the English, to join and make common cause with their 
 enemies, there was no safety for the people of Nova Scotia or the 
 Provinces. A war with the French would arouse their animosity, 
 which could not fail to be vented on the English settlers. Every ex- 
 ertion had been made to reconcile them to the change of government. 
 But the measures adopted for that purpose had been followed with 
 no good results. They continued refractory ; refused to take the oath 
 of allegiance, and thus all hope of making them quiet and peaceable 
 subjects died out. But it would not do to engage in a war with the 
 French, while a dangerous enemy was almost at every man's door. 
 After lon£ deliberation it was determined to remove and scatter 
 them among the various Provinces of New England and of the 
 South. It was a hard measure, but there was no alternative. Trans- 
 ports were sent from New England to bring them away and scatter 
 them through the country. We have sometimes regarded this pro- 
 cedure as cruel, and unbecoming a Christian nation. But an examin- 
 ation of all the facts has fully satisfied us that it was a measure nec- 
 essary for the public safety. It was, indeed, one fraught with sorrow 
 and tears to many hearts. No one endowed with the common feel- 
 ings of humanity, who was called to take part in it, could have failed 
 to sympathize deeply with the unfortunate men, women and children 
 who were thus suddenly to be riven from the scenes, on which their 
 affections had so long fastened; from the lands and homes where had 
 been all their earthly enjoyments, and be scattered in a distant land, 
 among an unknown people, of whose kindness they could only judge 
 by the cruelty whicli they were thus inflicting upon them. 
 
 Some of the people of Wells had an active part in this memorable 
 
 transaction. The sloop Prosperous, of which Daniel Bragdon was 
 
 master, owned in Wells and York, was one of the transports in the 
 
 hard service. The weeping and lamentation on board of that vessel 
 
 28 
 
434 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUNK. 
 
 must have been enough to rend every heart. She carried between 
 three and four hundred to Boston. Of these unhappy exiles, six 
 were allotted to the town of Wells ; John Mitchell and wife, with 
 two children, Mary and Gregory; and two of Peter White's children, 
 Margaret and Madlin. A house was built by the town for Mitchell 
 and his family, about twenty rods from what is called the Sanford 
 guideboard, on the road leading to the Branch. What became of 
 the children of Peter White, we have no record or tradition to in- 
 form us. Many of these unfortunate Frenchmen thus dispersed 
 throughout the various Provinces, north and south, became useful and 
 influential citizens. John Mitchell, known during his life as Cooper 
 Mitchell, was a descendant of John Mitchell, the Acadian. 
 
 Though frightful ravages had been made by the Indians on the 
 peaceful settlers in many places, the war had not yet been formally 
 declared against France. But in June, 1756, this annunciation was 
 made ; and many of the people of Wells voluntarily came forward 
 and offered themselves for the service. Capt. James Littlefield, Simon 
 Jefferds, John Frost, Nathaniel Cousins, John Butland, Richard Kim- 
 ball, jr., John Emons, Moses Drown, Stephen Drown, Samuel Wake- 
 field, Paul Shackford, William Butland, John Boothby, Abner Evans, 
 William Evans, John Evans, Samuel Stevens, Eli Wormwood and 
 Ebenezer Dunham enlisted. These were sent off on expeditions to- 
 ward the lakes and Canada. Joseph Wells, Daniel Wheelright, 
 Jonathan Clark, Adam Ross, Gideon Hatch, and John Harvey had 
 previously been sent east to guard Fort Halifax. Others were scat- 
 tered along the coast as rangers, or were put on board of transports. 
 
 Samuel Stevens and Richard Kimball, jr., were in the service 
 in the vicinity of Lake George in the years 1756 and 1757. Kimball 
 was also a soldier at Fort William Henry, when it was surrendered 
 •to the French. The terrible outrages committed by the Indians 
 after this peaceable surrender are well known to all readers of history. 
 Great numbers of the American soldiers were massacred. Kimball 
 was taken by two Indians and led into a swamp. By main strength 
 he overcome them ; extricated himself from their hands and made 
 his escape. Being in a wilderness, and without guide of any kind, 
 he wandered about three days without food or shelter, unable to find 
 his way to a house, or any of the army. On the fourth day, reduced 
 almost to starvation, he fortunately reached Fort Edward. 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 435 
 
 William Butland, Nathaniel Cousins, Benjamin Cousins, 
 Joh:* Butland and Ebenezer Dunham were soldiers under Gen. 
 Abercrombie in his rash attack on Fort Niagara in 1758, Nathaniel 
 Cousins was engaged at a distance in preparing a breastwork. The 
 others were in the heat of the action. The loss of the Americans 
 was immense. Of those from this town, Dunham was the only per- 
 son whom we know to have been killed. Others of the foregoing 
 list were in the service at Lake George the same year. But we do 
 not know that they were in any of the battles there fought. John 
 Boothby was taken sick and died. 
 
 Abner, William and John Evans were stationed at Fort Ed- 
 ward. Supplies were sent from this fort to Fort William Henry un- 
 der a guard of thirty men, of which these three brothers were a part. 
 Having reached a place called Bloody Cove, on the Lake, they were 
 waylaid and attacked by a large body of Indians, and all but one 
 murdered. He escaped and reached Fort William Henry, which was 
 at a short distance, and gave information of the terrible tragedy. A 
 detachment was immediately sent to the scene; but having com- 
 pleted their work of death, and taken all their baggage and supplies 
 on board their canoes, the Indians had just escaped from the shore. 
 Several volleys were fired, but without perceptible effect. This was 
 one of the saddest events which mark the history of the town. 
 These three brothers were the sons of Edward Evans, who lived near 
 the river, back of the house of Enoch Bragdon, on land formerly 
 George W. Wallingford's pasture. They were all young men, just 
 in the prime of manhood. 
 
 John Emons, son of Samuel Emons, was at the capture of Louis- 
 burg in 1758. We suppose that not more than half of those who 
 were in active service in this war, are included in the foregoing list. 
 No less than twenty-six of the militia company of Capt. James Saw- 
 yer volunteered. There was another company under the command 
 of Joseph Storer, and as many may have enlisted from that. The 
 people very readily entered into the conflict. The provocations en- 
 dured through so many years had aroused a determined spirit, which 
 fitted them for any service against enemies who had been the terror 
 and the torment of the settlements. 
 
436 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENKEBIJNK. 
 
 In 1759 the city of Quebec was taken, and thereby these French 
 and Indian wars were brought to a close. They had cost the Prov- 
 inces a large amount in money and a great number of valuable lives. 
 This victory was the occasion of great joy and congratulation. If 
 ever a wearied people had reason to bless God, it was when this 
 city, from which had emanated all the horrid atrocities which had 
 thrilled the hearts and destroyed the peace of men, women and chil- 
 dren, not only in Wells, but throughout New England, fell a prey to 
 the bravery of our patriotic soldiery. 
 
 The following lines written by one of these soldiers, and found 
 among his papers, will show something of the happy feeling which 
 the great event excited, as well as something of the poetical culture 
 of the times: 
 
 " Brother soldiers, did you hear the nuse, 
 
 It is peace by land and by sea, 
 The soldiers to be no more used ; 
 They all disbanded will be." 
 
 Though the town of Wells had its full share in this last war with 
 the Indians and the French, its territory, we think, was at no time 
 the theatre of actual conflict. They did not think it safe to attempt 
 any incursions where they felt that they might be exposed to dan- 
 ger. The settlement had been much enlarged since the preceding 
 war, and the people were better prepared to meet and repel any as- 
 saults. No account has survived of any mischief done here, and we 
 have no evidence of even the appearance of an Indian within its 
 limits during the whole term of the war, except in a single instance. 
 The Rev. Daniel Little, having built his house, as before mentioned, 
 had purchased a quantity of furniture, which had come into the Port. 
 He had been there to give directions about it, and was returning 
 home on foot. As he touched Towne's bridge he heard the Indian 
 whistle. Instantly he dropped from the bridge, and it being ebb 
 tide and the grass high on the bank of the river, he crept along un- 
 der it on his hands and knees, as fast as possible, occasionally getting 
 a glimpse of the Indians when they reached the bridge. They 
 searched about, and some of them got down on the bridge and were 
 apparently trying to scent his track ; but they did not appear to 
 have discovered what became of him. With great exertion he 
 reached his house in safety. He would have been a great prize for 
 them. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 437 
 
 From the various causes which we have before stated, no material 
 additions were made to the town or to the population for two or 
 three years after the mills were carried away. But though many of 
 the inhabitants were taken from their homes by the calls of the ap- 
 proaching war, the spirits of the people began to revive, and some 
 of them erected houses. Near the second Mousam mill privilege 
 William Day and John Gillpatrick built houses. In the same year, 
 1755, Samuel Littlefield built a house where Ebenezer Larrabee re- 
 cently lived ; Joseph Taylor, a house at the foot of the hill, below 
 Thatcher Jones', though nearer the river. In 1756, a small house by 
 Ebenezer Dunham, a few rods below the site of the late Samuel 
 Hart's house ; also a house by John and Samuel Cousens, being the 
 one owned by the late James Cousens. In 1757, a house by Adam 
 Ross, on the spot where that of Willliam Ross now stands ; one by 
 James Lord, where the late William Jacobs lived ; and one by Sam- 
 uel Towne, near the sea, just below the house of Owen Wentworth. 
 In 1758, Joseph Storer moved from Wells to what is now Kenne- 
 bunk, building that year the house of the late William Lord, jr., 
 now owned by Charles Parsons. This was only the front part of 
 that which is now standing. It was the first painted house in the 
 Kennebunk parish. Whether it was the first in the town we are 
 unable to answer. We think it was. 
 
 At this time no house had been built on the western side of the 
 river, within the limits of the present village of Kennebunk. In 
 this year, 1758, the hill where Alexander G. Furnald now lives was 
 cleared, and a house built by Ichabod Cousens, who had previously 
 occupied the Coburn house on the eastern side of the river. In 
 1759, a house was built by Obadiah Littlefield, opposite that of John 
 Gillpatrick, near the second Mousam mill lot. This year was also 
 rebuilt the saw-mill and grist-mill by the bridge ; the grist-mill a 
 few years afterward was burnt down. 
 
 Such is nearly, we believe, an accurate account of what had been 
 done in Kennebunk previously to 1760. The settlement had been 
 initiated at the sea, near the Kennebunk and Mousam rivers, at the 
 landing, the Larrabee garrison, on the Alewife road as far as the 
 house of Jacobs, on the Alfred road as far as Great Falls, on the 
 Cat Mousam road as far as James Cousens' house, and on the Saco 
 road as far as the bridge, and from this road up to the Alewife road. 
 
 But the ardor of the inhabitants for other improvements seems 
 
438 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 not to have been entirely subdued by the adversities of their condi- 
 tion. The people id the Kcnnebunk parish went on with their 
 meeting-house, which had been left unfinished. In 1755, they voted 
 to finish the galleries and build a porch on the side fronting the 
 road. Richard Kimball, the first deacon of the church, James Hub- 
 bard, and John Gillpatrick were chosen a committee for this purpose, 
 and Nathaniel Kimball, John Mitchell, and Stephen Larrabee, a 
 committee to arrange with the old parish for a tract of land as a par- 
 sonage. The next year it was voted " to put in two windows on the 
 backside of the meeting-house, and to raise the pulpit by mould- 
 ings;" "to underpin the meeting-house, and agreed with deacon 
 Kimball to find the stones, and to get them worked on and finished 
 by the last of November next, workmanlike." 
 
 But the most important and creditable part of their enterprises 
 was in making provision for the promotion of education. The 
 schools of the town had heretolore done but little for that object. 
 At this time there were some among the people who duly appreci- 
 ated its importance. Mr. Little's influence was always directed to 
 the intellectual as well as moral culture of his parishioners. When 
 he first came to Kennebunk he was employed as a school-master. 
 This employment seems to have been, in a majority of cases, intro- 
 ductory to the ministry. The school for many years was kept at the 
 house of James Wakefield. One Samuel Moffat, an Irishman, was 
 the teacher. After Mr. Little moved into his house and for some 
 time taught the scholars there. In 1753, the town voted to have a 
 grammar school and also a morning school. We are not apprised 
 of the special province of the latter. The former was kept exclu- 
 sively in the old parish, though Kennebunk was to have its propor- 
 tion of the school money, which was all that the people of the 
 second parish paid. At this period the Psalter, Sternhold & Hop- 
 kins' Hymns, the Testament, and New England Primer were the 
 only books used in school. The last furnished all the theology for 
 the children which was then accessible outside of the Scriptures. 
 At a meeting on the 13th of June, 1757, it was "voted to hire a 
 schoolmaster for one year from the time we get him," and " to keep 
 the first three months at the meeting-house, the next three months 
 at Mousam, and then three months at El wive Brook, and the last 
 three months at the lower part of the parish. To board one-half at 
 Mr. Richard Boothby's and the other half at John Mitchell's," and 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 439 
 
 u that Richard Kimball, Richard Boothby, and James Hubbard be a 
 committee to hire a school-master." We have not ascertained the 
 authority upon which they based these votes to raise money for 
 schools, but as the preceding year they voted "to bye a law book 
 for the use of the parish," we may presume that some of the leaders 
 were well versed on the matter of jurisdiction. 
 
 The years 1757 and 1758 brought several men of energy and en- 
 terprise into the new village of Kennebunk. Joseph Storer, for the 
 purpose of operating the mills; Waldo Emerson, for the purpose of 
 trade at the landing; Joseph Coburn, and some others. Emerson 
 opened a store with a small stock of goods where Henry Kingsbury 
 now lives. The mills were rebuilt the same year by Storer. Coburn 
 was engaged with him in their operation. Emerson's business, em- 
 bracing the lumber traffic, soon became extensive, and he rapidly ac- 
 cumulated property and enlarged his stock, so that the people were 
 induced, by the appearance of business, to settle down in some part 
 of the parish. To increase the facilities for traffic, a road was laid 
 out from John Webber's, near the sea, up to the Larrabee neighbor- 
 hood, thence across Lake Brook to the Landing. Some of the peo- 
 ple in Kennebunk and Arundel had begun to build vessels. The 
 navigation at the Port was rapidly increasing. 
 
 There were no school-houses in Kennebunk till many years after 
 the division of the parish; the schools were all kept at private 
 houses. After the Storer family moved here the school was kept in 
 a kind of hovel or sheep pen, just above the house of Storer. It 
 may have been built expressly for this purpose, but we have no in- 
 formation to that effect. It was constructed of large round logs, 
 notched at the ends so as to let into each other, in the same manner 
 that pounds were built, or as logging houses are built at the present 
 day. The walls were about six feet high, with a roof over the top, 
 though the gable ends were entirely open. There was no window, 
 the light coming in freely from the ends. The only way of entering, 
 both for master and scholar, was by climbing up on a stile at the 
 end and jumping down into the house. Here the school was kept a 
 number of years by one Jasper Ellis, who was accustomed to say 
 that the parents were bringing up their children to be " thieves and 
 robbers," as, instead of " entering by the door into the sheepfold," 
 they were taught to " climb up some other way." The school was 
 also kept a little while in a shop of Edmund Currier. 
 
440 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 The first school-house erected in Kennebunk stood near James 
 Hubbard's, in the corner of the roads, in front of the house of the 
 late Dr. Swett. This was the most convenient place for the towns- 
 men. It was built in 1770, and was called the Mousam school-house. 
 After the new meeting-house was built, the population increasing in 
 its neighborhood, it was moved up to the country road and placed a 
 few rods easterly from the church. Here it remained several years, 
 when it was moved just below the grave-yard, near Daniel L. 
 Hatch's house, where it was occupied by Mrs. Tabitha, widow of 
 Samuel Hancock and of James Hubbard. After her death it w r as 
 sold to Mrs. Mary Nichols and moved to a spot just below Mr. 
 Hatch's house, on the opposite side of the road ; afterward it was 
 sold to William Taylor and moved to Brown street, where it is now 
 occupied by Mr. Frank Fairfield. 
 
 In the year 1760 the parish voted to have a grammar school- 
 master for six months. Previously no instruction in this branch had 
 been given in the schools. A foreigner of the name of Parott was 
 employed. This was an advance which, we suppose, was not of 
 much avail at this period. But few of the scholars sought instruc- 
 tion of this kind. It could not be appreciated by the people. They 
 did not know what it meant. If they did, they regarded it as a 
 waste of time which, in their condition, was needed for what they 
 regarded as more practical knowledge. The author very well re- 
 members when the Lady's Accidence was first introduced into the 
 school at the Landing, and he thinks this was the first time that any 
 attempt was made in that school to instruct in grammar. What 
 was meant by parsing, which the scholars were to do daily, he could 
 not comprehend, and he is of the opinion that parents did not know 
 much better than the children. He remembers asking his mother 
 what we wanted to learn it for, and the only answer was that he 
 would know when he grew up. 
 
 The next year, 1761, the parish raised money enough to keep the 
 school a whole year. The town voted to keep it two years in the 
 village of Wells, then one year at Kennebunk, then one year at 
 Merryland, then one year at Ogunquit and the Branch. This is a 
 remarkable vote. It does not seem that rational men could intend 
 that different parts of the town should be without schools two or 
 three years. The knowledge which children had acquired would be 
 very likely, under such an arrangement, to have gone from the mind 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 441 
 
 at the close of the intermission. But the parish endeavored to 
 guard against such consequences by raising money among them- 
 selves. They had come to regard the school as of too much impor- 
 tance to permit it to be thus neglected. 
 
 Before the second parish was established, the school, as before 
 stated, was kept at the house of James Wakefield, near the meeting- 
 house. Afterward, without any record division into districts by the 
 town, the money raised was distributed to different parts of the set- 
 tlement designated thus : From the house of Joseph Storer to 
 Towne's bridge was one district ; all below, to the sea, between the 
 two rivers, another ; Alewife village, as it was called, a third ; and 
 from Storer's to Great Falls, on both sides of the river, a fourth. 
 
 The parish appears to have had exclusive jurisdiction over the 
 schools within its territory till the close of the century. The money 
 raised by the town was paid over to it, and appropriated as the par- 
 ish thought proper. In 1792, the lower district was divided and the 
 inhabitants west of Lake Brook set off as a separate district. And 
 although the town, in 1799, voted that the selectmen should divide 
 the town into school districts, the parish, in 1803, established a dis- 
 trict from Daniel Shackley's to Israel Kimball, jr.'s, on the Port 
 road, and in 1795 chose Dr. Thatcher Goddard, Jonas Clark, Jede- 
 diah Gooch, Benjamin Titcomb, and Thomas Jones a committee to 
 supply the districts with schools. In several matters, beside raising 
 and appropriating money for schools, the parish appears to have as- 
 sumed authority which was not strictly appurtenant to a religious 
 society. It voted to set off into a separate town, voted also to buy 
 a tract of land for a landing place ; but these rights never came in 
 question. When the town voted that the selectmen should divide 
 the town into school districts, there were five in the limits of the 
 parish ; the lower district, lower Mousam, middle, Alewife, and up- 
 per Mousam. In 1805, the parish exercised this authority once more 
 and divided the Alewife district into upper and lower, as they now 
 are. 
 
 Some of the schoolmasters employed were educated men. Paul 
 Coffin, afterward the settled minister of Buxton, and a graduate of 
 Harvard College, taught the school near Hubbard's in 1759. After- 
 ward, it was kept several years by Samuel Prentice, who was also a 
 graduate of Cambridge. Next to him was Samuel Hancock, a grad- 
 uate of the same institution, and who made this his permanent home. 
 
442 HISTOEY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 At Alewife, the school was taught by Ebenezer P. Kingman, Robert 
 Swainson, Master Morse, John Cluff, John Heard, and Nathaniel 
 Adams. Heard and Adams were also educated at Cambridge. At 
 Cat Mousam, John Dennie, Samuel Prentice, John Coffin, Daniel F. 
 Ayer, Daniel Rogers, and Edmund Webber were teachers. Rogers 
 was liberally educated. Nathaniel Libby, Master Haile, and Samuel 
 Hancock taught in the lower district. Mr. Haile, Jonathan Ward, 
 Robert Harvey, James Snow, and James Osborn were employed as 
 teachers after the war. Osborn came here in 1785, and kept the 
 school many years, becoming a permanent inhabitant of Kennebunk. 
 He taught in the village, at the landing, and at Alewife, and was re- 
 garded as a worthy and efficient teacher. Swainson also kept the 
 school in several districts, continuing here so many years as to ac- 
 quire the soubriquet of " Old Master Swainson." In addition to the 
 business of school-keeping, he was much employed as a surveyor, 
 being skillful in that profession. John Dennie also was employed in 
 the different districts many years. James Snow kept school in the 
 lower Mousam district in 1794 and 1795. He was a sea captain. 
 
 The almost universal custom then was for the master to have his 
 board in some family in the district. The established price for many 
 years was eight shillings a week. The master received for his ser- 
 vices from five to eight or nine dollars a month. The highest sum 
 paid to any one was paid to Jonathan Ward in 1795. We suppose 
 him to have been a superior teacher. He kept in the village of 
 }£ennebunk, and receiving the liberal wages of two dollars a week, 
 was able to keep a horse. The first female teacher engaged in our 
 schools was Polly Hovey, who taught at the Port in 1792, receiving 
 one dollar and fifty cents a week for her services. 
 
 Of some of these instructors we have no knowledge. Those of 
 whom we have any information appear to have been well fitted for 
 their employment. Most of those who had had the benefit of a col- 
 lege education were obliged to resort to teaching as a means of sup- 
 port, while preparing themselves to enter upon some profession. 
 
 For many years after the schools were commenced in Kennebunk, 
 the population was very sparse. The families being thus located far 
 apart, children were obliged to travel three or four miles to attend 
 school. Still parents did not regard this distance as any serious ob- 
 jection to their attendance. Most, of the way the road led through 
 dense forests. The Indian wars had not yet ceased, and the bears 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUXK. 443 
 
 and wolves freely roamed over the whole territory. But neither 
 from record or tradition have we any evidence that any of them were 
 ensnared and captured by the former, or attacked by the latter. 
 They were enured to danger by their early surroundings. Every- 
 day life was full of useful instruction, and they were always in the 
 way of acquiring practical knowledge. In constant conflict with the 
 elements, they secured to themselves soundness of body and strength 
 of constitution ; and these gave them firmness of soul in mature life. 
 The author was well acquainted with many of those who were the 
 scholars of this period, and some of them he knew to be active, en- 
 ergetic men at ninety years of age. The following are good samples 
 of the boys and girls who went to school here at this time : Mary 
 Brown, died in 1814, in the hundreth year of her age. Stephen Tit- 
 comb in 1814, aged 92; Catharine Kelly in 1825, aged 95; Nathan- 
 iel Cousins in 1832, aged 95 ; Moses Stevens in 1831, aged 91; James 
 Kimball in 1833, aged 92; Martha Wells in 1838, aged 94; Susanna 
 Martin in 1840, aged 96; Joel Stevens in 1842, aged 95; Dolly Lit- 
 tlefield in 1843, aged 93; Daniel Shackley in 18, aged ; Sally S. 
 Wood in 1855, aged 95 ; William Butland in 18 aged 
 
 Whether childhood, as now watched over and nursed by parental 
 care and solicitude, will result in such a vigorous and healthy man- 
 hood, can only be determined by the developments of the years to 
 come. But our faith is, that the excess of comfort, for which civili- 
 zation is continually striving, will not prolong human life, expand 
 and invigorate the intellect, or enlarge and vitalize the moral power 
 of the race. 
 
444 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The old parish— Controversy in relation to boundaries of farms — 
 Agreement of the landholders establishing lines— Petitions to 
 divide the parish — new meeting-house built — appraisal of pews — 
 Report of the committee to assign pews— A great drouth— Peti- 
 tion OF THE INHABITANTS TO THE LEGISLATURE FOR AID. 
 
 We now return to the history of the old parish. After the close 
 of the French war a new subject of excitement occupied the atten- 
 tion of the people. The original allotments of land from the main 
 highway between the Ogunquit river and the Gore, extended back 
 into the country on a west northwest course ; and those northeast of 
 the Gore on a northwest course. These locations were very ill pro- 
 portioned, being about forty rods wide and two and a half miles long. 
 A very small variation of the compass, in the running of these long 
 distances, must necessarily lead the surveyor very much out of the 
 way. Farms thus shaped must have been very inconvenient, and 
 expensive to the occupants. Probably none of them were fenced to 
 the full extent of their lines ; and their several boundaries were not 
 at once discoverable. Some of these lots had been laid out about a 
 century, and all more than fifty years. The people then had but 
 very imperfect knowledge of law, more especially of that relating to 
 land titles. James Boston had purchased one of these lots, next ad- 
 joining that of John Stevens, and tracing his line as described in his 
 deed on a west northwest course, he ran on Stevens' land so far, that 
 at the end of the line he embraced the whole width of his lot. They 
 built their houses on their several lots, and occupied and improved 
 their farms as originally located. The result of this survey was 
 fruitful in much contention and strife. The line which had always 
 been recognized by the owners ran 2)4 degrees further west. Stev- 
 ens would not yield to Boston the land which his survey included, 
 and Boston brought his action against him to recover it. The ques- 
 tion was submitted to referees, who decided the case in favor of Bos- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 445 
 
 ton. Town meetings were called to consider the matter, and after 
 great excitement it was voted that a petition be sent to the Legisla- 
 ture to establish the old lines. It was then understood that the gen- 
 eral court was omnipotent, having power to control, limit, extend or 
 even annul existing rights. It is remarkable that intelligent men 
 should not have learned that the compass was subject to variation ; 
 and that lines were not to be continually changing from one course 
 to another by its inconstancy ; and it is stranger still that men, se- 
 lected as referees on account [of their intelligence and sound judg- 
 ment, in a matter of so much importance, wherein they were to de- 
 termine what land was originally allotted to these occupants, should 
 have been led to a decision so baseless as that set out in their report. 
 But the court, on motion, stayed judgment on it, and the petitioners 
 endeavored to have the Legislature confirm the old lines. Some of 
 the people remonstrated against the prayer of this petition. Pela- 
 tiah Littlefield took an active part in the opposition. The reasons 
 on which his objections were based we are unable to state. No less 
 than forty-seven different owners were to be crowded off a portion 
 of their lands by this false judgment of these referees, which he 
 wished to sustain. This whole excitement, disturbing the equanimi- 
 ty and peace of the people for a long time, evidently grew out of 
 ignorance of the first principles of law, of which every man ought to 
 be apprised. Nothing is more dangerous to the well-being of a com- 
 munity, than this want of knowledge of one's rights. The excite- 
 ment, however, was finally stayed without legislative interference, 
 which could not in any way have affected titles. All the land hold- 
 ers, with the exception of Littlefield, Boston, and perhaps one or two 
 others, signed an agreement in 1760, that the lines "from the country 
 road shall stand according to the running from Ogunquit river to the 
 Gore, west northwest, 2 degrees and a half west, nearer westerly, 
 and from the Gore to Little river, northwest two degrees and a half 
 west nearest westerly, agreeable to a vote of said town at a legal 
 meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants thereof on the 
 tenth day of March, 1760." But Boston, notwithstanding he had 
 been the actual cause of all this turmoil throughout the town, had 
 the assurance to come into the meeting and petition that the people 
 would pay the expense of his lawsuit. As may well be supposed, he 
 " took nothing by his motion." 
 
 In the year 1761, most of the people deemed it necessary, and at 
 
446 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 a regular meeting voted that a new meeting-house should be built at 
 or near the site of the one then standing. But some did not think 
 the location the most convenient for the society, and being dissatis- 
 fied with the proceedings, requested that a new meeting should be 
 called for the selection of a spot which would afford better accom- 
 modation ; or if such a site could not be agreed upon, that they 
 might agree to build two meeting-houses or divide the parish. Such 
 was now the state of feeling that for a long time nothing was done 
 toward building a new house. But the old house was daily growing 
 more unsuitable for a worshiping assembly, and in 1764 a new meet- 
 ing was called, at which it was then voted simply to repair it. 
 
 The people had now become restive. The excitement growing out 
 of the former action of the Parish had not been entirely allayed by 
 the lapse of three or four years. The dwellers in Merryland began 
 to feel that they ought not to be obliged to travel five or six miles, 
 and pay as much for the church as those who lived almost at the 
 door. Accordingly, in 1766, petitions were got up in that part of 
 the town to divide the parish, and set off Merryland as a distinct 
 society. But the people in the old society were too strong for them, 
 and voted to dismiss their petition. This vote, however, gave a new 
 impetus to the excitement, and a new petition was prepared, a fort- 
 night afterward, praying that another meeting might be called to 
 see if the people would not divide the parish, by a line drawn from 
 the sea, between north and west to Phillipston, or Sanford, as it was 
 afterward called, and also make an equal division of the parsonage. 
 At a meeting called, pursuant to this petition, on the 17th of Febru 
 ary, it was voted " not to divide the parish and to dissolve the meet- 
 ing." 
 
 But the people living in the northern part of the parish were not 
 disposed to yield to the dominant party. The religious impulses of 
 men do not always accord with the plain principles of religion. Men 
 professedly Christian, frequently will do what is hardly consonant 
 with Christian action ; and having determined upon a particular 
 course, no amount of reasoning or appeals to their sense of right, 
 will induce them to abandon their position. Will, with them, is law. 
 At the next annual meeting in March they renewed their exertions 
 by a different process. Several people of the Kennebunk parish were 
 persuaded to petition for an enlargement of that society, so that it 
 might include the disaffected in the old parish. But this scheme was 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 447 
 
 unsuccessful. The old standards were persistent in the resolution 
 that there should be no division, and it was voted, "there shall be a 
 new meeting-house built, to stand between the old meeting-house 
 and the highway, and that Mr. John Bourne, Oapt. John Winn, Mr. 
 John Littlefield, jr., Joseph Saver, Esq., John Storer, Esq., Mr. 
 Pelatiah Littlefield, Nathaniel Wells, Esq., Capt. James Littlefield, 
 Mr. Daniel Chaney, Mr. Benjamin Hatch, jr., John Wheelright, Esq., 
 and Mr. Samuel Jefferds be a committee to obtain subscriptions for 
 the purpose. The spot where, during the perilous days of the cen- 
 tury past, their predecessors, fathers and mothers of most of them, 
 had come up to worship was dear to their hearts, and they felt that 
 it would be sacrilege to give over the sacred soil to other purposes. 
 Still they would not compel others, who had no such reverence for 
 the place, to contribute to carry out an object against which they had 
 entered their honest protest. We, indeed, have not much faith in 
 these secession movements. When contention an$ strife have found 
 their way into the household of faith, the Christian graces of charity* 
 forbearance and kindness are soon driven out. Sin and righteousness 
 have no fellowship. The majority were determined to carry out 
 their own wishes and rebuild on the old foundation. 
 
 It was voted that the meeting-house should be sixty-five feet long 
 and forty-six wide, and that "James Littlefield, John Storer, John 
 Winn, and John Bourne be a committee to build it." But, as it had 
 been voted to build it by subscription, the work could not commence 
 until a portion of the necessary funds was secured. In this respect 
 the aspect of things was very far from encouraging. Subscriptions 
 came in very slowly, so that at an adjourned meeting it was not 
 deemed expedient to proceed in the work, and the meeting was 
 further adjourned, from time to time, until November, when, the 
 subscription being short of £700, and the prospect of accomplishing 
 their object in this way appearing hopeless, it was determined that 
 the house should be built at the cost of the whole parish, and the 
 committee were directed to proceed in the work. The spirit of the 
 former meeting had, in no degree, abated, excepting that it had 
 parted with somewhat of its charity, and now, whether willing or 
 unwilling, all were to be compelled to aid in the erection of the 
 house. Men had taken advantage of the previous forbearance to 
 save themselves from the burden, and the parish, in the spirit of the 
 law as then existing, determined to make them come up to their 
 duty. 
 
448 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 The meeting was then adjourned, from time to time, until June, 
 1767, when the parish again voted that the committee should go on 
 with their work. But the spirit of the opposition was not yet 
 quelled, and the dissentients of Merryland, together with some of 
 the Kenuebunk parish, petitioned to enlarge that parish so as to in- 
 clude Joshua Wells, Adam Clark, and others, making Little river the 
 dividing line. The society, not disposed to yield, refused to enlarge 
 that parish, and dissolved the meeting. The committee proceeded 
 in framing the house, but the money came in very slowly, even 
 those who had subscribed not being ready to pay in their tax or con- 
 tribution as previously agreed. Of course the progress of the com- 
 mittee was slow ; but in five or six weeks the frame was finished and 
 ready for erection, and on the 27th day of July, 1767, the various 
 parts were placed in position and the frame raised on the old spot, 
 to the great joy and exultation of those whose will had overcome all 
 obstacles. Their aspirations had been realized and the triumph 
 won. John Storer thus makes memorandum of the interesting 
 event : 
 
 " July 27, 1767, Monday. Then Raised The New Meeting House 
 in The First Parish in The Town of Wells. 
 
 In The Seventh Year of the 
 
 Reign 
 
 of Our Sovreign Lord, 
 
 George, 
 
 The Third, 
 
 Of Great Brittain, France, and Ireland, King and 
 
 Defender 
 
 of the Faith, &c. 
 
 And Framed by Mr. Eleazer 
 
 Kimball, of Narraganset, in the 
 
 County of York." 
 
 There was, probably, much glorification among them during the 
 labor of framing. Their muscles were excited and strained even to 
 the utmost tension. During the little time while thus employed, 
 the workmen drank thirty gallons of rum. Master Kimball, we sup- 
 pose, did not fellowship with ardent spirits, as he was supplied with 
 wine. The work went on slowly. However, in 1769, such progress 
 had been made that an appraisal was taken of the pews, the highest 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 449 
 
 on the lower floor being valued at £24, and the lowest at £10 ; the 
 highest in the gallery at £6 8s., the lowest at five pounds. A very 
 different judgment was manifested in regard to the eligibility of 
 their location from that which now prevails. The pew valued the 
 highest was that on the right hand, immediately on the entrance to 
 the house, and that on the left the next highest. The same rule pre- 
 vailed in the valuation of the pews in the Kennebunk church. 
 
 At the meeting in June, 1769, it was " voted to divide the pews 
 into a number of ranks." A committee was chosen to make such 
 division, and report what persons they think ought to have a pew in 
 each rank. This committee consisted of Joseph Sayer, Esq., Capt. 
 James Littlefield, Capt. John Bourne, Messrs. John Goodale, John 
 Littlefield, and Nathaniel Wells, jr. They were also ordered to re- 
 port "what pew each person belonging to each rank shall have." 
 
 This, to us, seems not to have been a very reasonable mode of as- 
 signing pews ; but a century ago classes in society were much more 
 distinctly marked and acknowledged than at the present day. Many 
 persons, from the extent of their business, their pecuniary acquisi- 
 tions, or some acquired dignity, were brevetted by the people to a 
 higher rank, and thence more deference was accorded to them than 
 to others not less worthy of public regard. There was much aris- 
 tocracy in colonial and provincial life, and the people generally sub- 
 mitted to its claims. Every town had its great men, its ruling 
 spirits. Much of this caste came over with our forefathers from the 
 mother country, but it has evidently been gradually dying out. Re- 
 publicanism has been constantly leavening social and civil life. The 
 Christian requirement that each should esteem others better than 
 himself finds a more general response in all hearts. All must give 
 way to the doctrine that all men are born free and equal. But as 
 matter of history, as well as of interest to the present generation, 
 we present the report of this committee, that the people may learn 
 how their ancestors stood in their social relations. 'It was as fol- 
 lows : " The committee for dividing the pews in the new meeting- 
 house into a number of ranks reported that it was their opinion, 
 with due submission to the judgment of the parish, that the follow- 
 ing persons ought to be of the first rank for pews on the floor of said 
 new meeting house, viz. : Joseph Sayer, Esq., Joseph Storer, Esq., 
 Nathaniel Wells, Esq., Capt. James Littlefield, Mr. Pelatiah Little- 
 field, Capt. John Winn, Capt. John Bourne, John Wheelright, Esq. 
 29 
 
450 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK 
 
 Messrs. John Goodale, John Littlefield, Ebenezer Sayer, Joseph 
 Wheelright, Benjamin Littlefield, and Joseph Hill; and that Joseph 
 Sayer, Esq., ought to have that pew that is of the highest price, be- 
 ing No. 32 ; and that Joseph Storer, Esq., ought to have that pew 
 that is of the next highest price, being No. 1 ; and that the others 
 belonging to the first rank may have their choice of all the pews in 
 said new meeting-house on the floor, in the following manner, viz. : 
 That person of said rank that draws, or for whom is drawn, a lower 
 number in said rank, if he is present and thinks proper so to do, 
 shall choose before him who is of a higher number in said rank. 
 The committee further report that the following persons ought to be 
 of the second rank for pews on the floor of said new meeting-house : 
 Jeremiah Littlefield, jr., Peter Littlefield, John Jacobs, Jonathan Lit- 
 tlefield, Barak Maxwell, Joseph Winn, Benjamin Kimball, John 
 Cousens, Noah M. Littlefield, Nehemiah Littlefield, Daniel Sayer, 
 William Sayer, Jeremiah Littlefield, Benjamin Hill, Daniel Chaney, 
 Isaac Littlefield, Daniel Morrison, Warwick Hubbard, Nathaniel 
 Gould, Lemuel Hatch, Benjamin Hatch, jr., Hanse Patten, Jeremiah 
 Stevens, Nathaniel Donnel, Esq., Adam Clark, and may have their 
 choice of the pews in said new meeting-house after those of the first 
 rank may have made their choice, in the following manner, viz. : 
 That person of the said second rank that draws, or for whom is 
 drawn, a lower number in said second rank, if he is present and 
 thinks proper so to do, shall choose before him who draws a higher 
 number. 
 
 That the following persons ought to be of the third and last rank 
 for pews on the floor of said new meeting-house, viz. : Mary Hill, 
 wife of Jonathan Hill, Esq., Thomas Goodwin, Samuel Stewart, 
 Joshua Getchell, Samuel Morrison, Eliab Littlefield, James Davis, 
 Jonathan Littlefield, jr., William Cousens, Jonathan Hatch, and 
 Aaron Clark ; said person in said third rank to choose his pew in 
 manner as presented for the second rank aforesaid, after the said 
 second rank may have had their choice. 
 
 In the gallery the following persons ought to be of the first rank : 
 Samuel Curtis, David Maxwell, John Winn, jr., Joshua Bragdon, 
 John Staples, Joseph Stevens, Joshua Littlefield, John Goodale, jr., 
 Samuel Treaclwell, John Heard Hubbard, John Maxwell. The fol- 
 lowing persons ought to have the second and last rank, viz.: Ger- 
 shom Maxwell, Samuel Stuart, jr., John Hatch, Joseph Littlefield, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 451 
 
 Nathaniel Winn, and Joshua Gray." This report was accepted and 
 affirmed by the parish. 
 
 In looking through this report, one cannot but admire the mod- 
 esty, humility, and liberality of this committee. They declare them- 
 selves, with certain others, to be of the first rank, and entitled to the 
 most eligible seats in the house of God. They assumed this prece- 
 dence ; but what merit was peculiar to them they do not disclose. 
 They did not base their right surely on the amount which they paid, 
 or were bound to pay, toward the structure. In the tax list, in that 
 case, every man's right would have been determined; there could 
 have been no number of ranks. It must have been on some assumed 
 prominence of position ; but it is very difficult to determine on what 
 elements of individual manhood this pre-eminence was based. One 
 of this committee was the ancestor of the author, with whom he is 
 pretty well acquainted. There was nothing in his personality, that 
 we have ever discovered, that could have justified such a pretension. 
 He was a worthy and honest man, a ship-builder ; but there were as 
 worthy and honest men in the ranks below. In our day, such an as- 
 sumption would have been regarded with contempt ; but such was 
 not the feeling then. The parish conceded this pre-eminence, as 
 stated by the committee, and accepted their report. An acknowl- 
 edged merit in some over others is manifested in the appointment of 
 the committee ; but we find nowhere any explanation of this plainly 
 declared public sentiment. Very soon afterward it was declared, in 
 words never to be forgotten by the people of the United States, that 
 all men are born free and equal. This must ever be the language of 
 a growing Christian civilization. All men of respectable standing 
 are entitled to an absolute deference to their rights as citizens of the 
 Commonwealth, and any usurpation of supremacy, especially in the 
 house of God, can receive no countenance from the rational and con- 
 siderate. Dignity is only to be predicated on true philanthropy of 
 soul. In our view, this aristocratical disposition of pews does not 
 indicate a just and sound appreciation of the principles of religion. 
 It is very unlike the spirit which, a few years afterward, was mani- 
 fested in the great struggle for their rights as freemen. 
 
 As may well be supposed, this enterprise of building a Christian 
 church, through all the stages of advancement, was very far from 
 being an auxiliary to the growth of the Christian virtues. The 
 whole town, exclusive of the Kennebunk parish, were to be taxed 
 
452 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 for its cost and support, and yet to only sixty-five persons was any 
 right in it allowed. There were as many more who were thus virtu- 
 ally shut out from its privileges. No one can wonder that peace 
 could not long abide within its borders. The parish voted to build 
 the house in 1761, and from that time down to 1775 the people were 
 called together forty-seven different times to act on matters connect- 
 ed with the work. The voters would not attend the meetings, and 
 the few gathered together were unwilling to take the responsibilities 
 of action. Subscribers would not furnish materials agreeably to 
 contract, and a general apathy prevailed as to the progress of the 
 building. How much had been done in 1769, two years after the 
 frame had been erected, we cannot judge. But until December of 
 that year the meeting was holden in the old house. Although the 
 pews, or their location, were definitely fixed, they were not in con- 
 dition to be occupied. Warwick Hubbard and others now offered 
 to pull down the old house, — we suppose for the materials, — and it 
 was voted July 31st that they might do so, provided no expense 
 should come upon the parish. Thus this ancient church, where the 
 people for nearly seventy years had come to worship, and under 
 whose roof the wearied spirits of the townsmen had oft been re- 
 freshed by the kindly and gentle dews of the gospel, was to be aban- 
 doned and razed to the ground. 
 
 From the first of November and while the demolition was going 
 on, the meetings were holden at the house of Abraham Barrows ; 
 after that, in the month of December, at the new meeting house. 
 But it was many years after this time before the people were able to 
 finish it. In 1770, the parish voted to build a steeple to the church 
 by subscription. Nathaniel Wells, jr., was appointed agent for ob- 
 taining the money and doing the work. If he could not succeed in 
 obtaining the neeessary funds, he was directed to build a porch. In 
 July, they voted again to proceed immediately in building a steeple ; 
 but the subscriptions were insufficient, and the steeple w r as not at- 
 tempted. In 1771, it was voted "to finish the meeting-house this 
 year;" and the next year, again, "to proceed in finishing the house, 
 and to sell the pews which had not been paid for;" and again, in 
 1775, Nathaniel Wells, jr., Samuel Emery, and Warwick Hubbard 
 were chosen a committee to finish the meeting-house, and were di- 
 rected to use all lawful means to obtain pay for the pews ; and still, 
 thirteen years afterward, the parish voted again " to finish the meet- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUN . 453 
 
 ing-house," and choso a committee to settle the accounts for build 
 ing. 
 
 Thus in twenty-seven years from the resolution to build, the 
 temple of God may be regarded as finished. Probably, with a little 
 more forbearance, and somewhat more of Christian liberality, the 
 work might have been accomplished in a reasonable time, and the 
 union of the whole parish been maintained. 
 
 That nothing should have been done during the Revolutionary war, 
 in which the people were soon involved, toward finishing the meet- 
 ing-house, will not appear strange to any one familiar with the his- 
 tory of that memorable straggle. But the ante-revolutionary period 
 of twenty years was very unfavorable to pecuniary prosperity in the 
 older part of the town. The newer, or second parish, received some 
 impetus from the accession of enterprising and energetic men. 
 Waldo Emerson came to Kennebunk in 1757 ; Joseph Storer in 
 1758 ; Theodore Lyman and others, some four or five years before the 
 war. Business of all kinds was quickened by the increase of capi- 
 tal, which these men brought with them ; and by the enterprising 
 spirit with which they entered into milling, trade, and coasting. 
 Still, from various causes, the town had become hard pressed. The 
 settlers, for the most part, were farmers, dependent on the success of 
 their agricultural labors ; and in these they had not the philosophy 
 to aid them which has grown out of the experience and scientific 
 learning of the age in which we live. So that the yield of their 
 lands was very limited. But in 1761, a terrible drought came upon 
 the whole Province, filling all with serious apprehensions, and, at 
 once, destroying all the hopes of the husbandman. It continued 
 from April to August. No such drought had ever been known be- 
 fore. The ground was parched. On the other side of the river in 
 Arundel a fire raged two months, destroying everything in its way." 
 Dr. Coffin says, " houses and all things must have become a prey to 
 it, had it not been for a great rain which came on the 17th day of 
 August." The failure of their crops embarrassed the people. Many 
 of them, we suppose, necessarily became involved in debt and could 
 not pay their taxes. Some were four or five years in arrear. Suits 
 were brought against the town, and the town sued the collector. In 
 1765, the people endeavored to get help from the Legislature. They 
 with Kittery, York and Berwick, petitioned for the grant of a town- 
 ship of land, six miles square, to aid them in supporting their schools, 
 
454 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 representing that other towns had been thus encouraged, and that 
 the population here was so scattered that all the children could not 
 attend one school, and that what they had done heretofore entitled 
 them to the bounty of the Province ; that from the first settlement 
 these towns had been a barrier for all the towns ; that they had built 
 garrisons, maintained watches, and suffered more than most of the 
 towns in the Province. These and other good reasons were pre- 
 sented for their application, but it was ineffectual. 
 
 Died Oct. 3, 1768, John Stoker. We have spoken of him so 
 frequently in the various departments of life, especially in affairs in- 
 volving the public welfare, that our readers must well understand his 
 character. It is sufficient to say that he had the entire confidence of 
 the government, and was employed in carrying forward all objects 
 which were deemed necessary for the public welfare, both at home 
 and in distant parts of the Provinces, especially in building and re- 
 pairing the forts, and in the care of the public stores. He was the 
 right-hand man of Sir William Pepperell in the expedition against 
 Louisburg ; was commissary and commander of the company from 
 Wells. He was also one of the judges of the inferior court of com- 
 mon pleas, and representative to the general court. 
 
 After the successful result of the Louisburg expedition he gave 
 himself more closely to matters at home, or of more local concern. 
 He was a sincerely religious man, and was deeply impressed with the 
 conviction that a better house of worship was needed by the people 
 than that which was then standing ; and his heart was fixed on the 
 erection of a new one. He was permitted to live long enough to see 
 the desire of his heart in the progress of completion. He owned 
 largely in the lands of the town ; especially in its mill privileges. 
 He was diligent in all business in which he engaged, and faithful in 
 all his relations. 
 
 The character and influence of John Storer need here no more par- 
 ticular delineation. His agency and usefulness in all matters inter- 
 esting to the public will be discovered in all the town history, from 
 the period of his maturity to] the day of his decease. He was the 
 son of Joseph Storer, and was born Sept. 5, 1694, in the midst of the 
 most bloody of the Indian wars, while all the people were shut up in 
 the garrisons. And we may add, that during his whole minority, he 
 could hardly know that the world into which he was cast, was other 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 455 
 
 than a place for the exercise of all those passions which ally the race 
 to the beasts of the forests. War and the barbarities of war must 
 have been continually on the tongues of the company in whose in- 
 tercourse he grew up. Yet he became a true and earnest member of 
 the Christian church, trusting always in God for the best issue of all 
 the complications incident to life. 
 
456 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Taxation of Colonies— Opposition of the people of Wells and York 
 — Resolutions passed by the town of Wells — Jonathan Sayward— 
 Tea party at York— The Boston port bill— Contribution of sec- 
 ond parish in Wells in aid of the poor of Boston—" York county 
 congress " holden at wells— resolves— john sullivan's harangue 
 —Court broken up— Adam McCulloch— Dr. Abiather Alden— Dr. 
 Ebenezer Rice — Joseph Churchill — Bulletin of York county con- 
 gress—Delegate chosen to the Provincial congress at Cambridge 
 —Instructions to him — Action of the town of Wells in relation 
 to war measures— Roll of Capt. James Hubbard's company— C apt. 
 Jesse Dorman's company— Intense excitement of the people -List 
 of soldiers who re-enlisted in capt. sawyer's company — gather- 
 ING of [ministers at York — Committee of safety appointed — In- 
 structions OF THE TOWN TO THE REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS TO VOTE 
 FOR INDEPENDENCE — DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE READ IN THE 
 
 churches at wells and kennebunk — joseph sayer — ebenezer say- 
 er— Waldo Emerson— Samuel Hitchcock— Theodore Lyman— Joseph 
 Moody— Dr. Oliver Keating— Theodore and Honestus Plummer. 
 
 At the present day when almost every fireside is gladdened by the 
 fruits of the largest liberty, enjoyed so many years, we are in no con- 
 dition rightly to estimate the extent of our indebtment to the labors 
 and sacrifices of the noble men of the latter half of the last century. 
 They were the determined foes of arbitrary power, and watched with 
 the utmost vigilance every motion toward its exercise over these 
 Provinces which had grown up out of the struggles of invincible and 
 determined hearts ; and they were ready to rush to the breach in 
 whatever quarter it was attempted. They had not been nursed un- 
 der those mild and generous auspices which responded to every wish 
 of their souls. Whatever they had, came to them through the 
 agency of personal and unfaltering activity. Labor was their life 
 and their reward. It was inwrought in their very being that they 
 were to obtain their bread by the sweat of their brows; and they re- 
 joiced in this devotion of their physical powers to the acquisition of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 457 
 
 the means of life. There was fruition in labor as well as in its re- 
 sults. Hardships, either in sacrifice, deprivation or exhausting physi- 
 cal exertion, were strangers to very few inhabitants of the smaller 
 towns of New England. In the larger towns there were men pecu- 
 niarily independent, though probably millionaires were exceedingly 
 scarce. The town of Wells did not then afford a sample of what 
 would now be regarded as a competency. The people, with few ex- 
 ceptions, were occupied in agricultural pursuits. Their commercial 
 business was carried on in vessels of a very small burden. Boston, 
 Nova Scotia, Canada, and the Southern and West India ports, lim- 
 ited the marts of their marine intercourse. 
 
 The first minor troubles which kindled excitement in the larger 
 commercial towns would have been to the people of Wells of very 
 little moment, not reaching their material interests. It cannot be 
 supposed that, at any time, the imports very seriously affected their 
 personal comforts. They were not great consumers of foreign pro- 
 ductions. Their own hands produced nearly all their food and rai- 
 ment. Sugar and molasses might have been advanced a little in 
 price by the duty upon them ; but the sweets of life were scarcely 
 within their jurisdiction. The Stamp Act was still less a source of 
 discomfort. It worked no great diminution of the ordinary enjoy- 
 ments of life. There was not then this grasping after everything 
 which would gratify the appetite. Men contented themselves with 
 the plainest and most simple means of support. The fever for spec- 
 ulation is seldom engendered among a people settled in agricultural 
 life. When all around are alike employed in regular labor for a 
 merely substantial livelihood, there is nothing to awaken a thirst or 
 mania for sudden riches, to be acquired by some enterprise aliunde. 
 The allotments of their condition are accepted without any longings 
 for a change. 
 
 Notwithstanding the assumption by the English parliament of a 
 right to tax these colonies did not come home to the pecuniary in- 
 terests of the inhabitants of Wells, the fires of liberty were always 
 kept burning in the hearts of the people, and the first symptoms of 
 the exercise of this prerogative over them awakened a spirit of re- 
 sistance at all hazards. It was no selfish impulse which, in a mo- 
 ment, called off their thoughts from their familiar labors to this 
 threatened attack on their civil and political rights. Though liberty 
 had been so much dishonored in the house of its friends, though 
 
458 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUNK. 
 
 Puritanism in its action had disregarded and set at nought the very- 
 principles in which it had its origin, almost every man, even to the 
 lowest of the peasantry, had his spirit stirred within him at the first 
 suggestion of any encroachment upon his rights. The fathers and 
 grandfathers had often told them it was for liberty that their prede- 
 cessors had crossed the waters and taken possession of this wilder- 
 ness, subjecting themselves to all its perils and privations. They 
 were thence taught to prize liberty as the pearl of too great price to 
 be left at the least hazard. 
 
 From the first monition of the intention of the parent govern- 
 ment to extend the power of taxation to this country, this spirit of 
 freedom never slumbered. The people were awake to every emer- 
 gency in which liberty was involved. We cannot say that the feel- 
 ing of which we speak was universal. There were men of an 
 assumed higher caste, to whose avarice loyalty administered, and 
 who preferred to cling to the profits of their position and business, 
 rather than to the principles of a noble and Christian manhood. 
 Such were the officials, the tenor of whose political status was de- 
 pendent on unhesitating fidelity to the British crown. Doubtful 
 men were not wanting in Wells nor in the adjoining towns. Riches 
 and honors, everywhere, are not the peculiar friends of a genuine, 
 true civilization. Patriotism is never a prominent attribute of a 
 community who rely on foreign intercourse for pecuniary prosperity. 
 Such men were exceptions to the general character of our popula- 
 tion. The poorest, those who had neither silver nor gold, were 
 ready to pledge their lives for the maintainance of what they be- 
 lieved to be their indisputable rights. 
 
 The towns in the county of York partook of a common feeling in 
 relation to the tendency of parliamentary proceedings, though we do 
 not find that all of them immediately took corporate action in rela- 
 tion to them. In the adjoining town of York there were men, bold 
 and fearless, of deep thought and forecast, who watched every step 
 in the march of the home government toward the subjection of the 
 Provinces. They were, perhaps, more jealous of its action than any 
 development hitherto would justify. When this people came over 
 from England it is apparent that they came with the understanding 
 that they were still to be regarded as subjects of the British crown. 
 The idea of building up an independent nation was far from their 
 thoughts, and when the opposition to parliamentary action was first 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 459 
 
 excited the people, in their resistance to the measures inaugurated, 
 never contemplated a secession from the authority of the English 
 government. It is difficult to understand now the status which the 
 noble patriots of the Revolution regarded these Provinces as hold- 
 ing. If the government of England had any authority over them, and 
 was bound for their protection, surely some return must have been 
 rightly expected from the connection. Taxation and representation 
 have no more connection than have protection and taxation. They 
 have never been here regarded as inseparable. Numbers of men 
 and women are taxed, and always have been from the inception of 
 the various governments of the States, who have not had the right 
 of suffrage, and of course not the right of representation. But such 
 was the position assumed by those patriotic and noble men. York 
 numbered among its citizens, at this time, many of this character, 
 and in 1768, at the first manifestation of the coming usurpation, a 
 public meeting was called in that town to adopt such measures as the 
 posture of affairs might suggest. The relations of the Massachu- 
 setts government with that of England had become matter of the 
 deepest interest, in consequence of a requirement of the latter, is- 
 sued to the legislature of the former, to rescind what is termed the 
 circular letter. The general court had prepared and sent abroad to 
 the other colonies an address, setting forth distinctly their views of 
 the powers of the home government over the colonies, which were 
 repugnant to the principles assumed by parliament, and asking the 
 concurrence of the different legislatures and the appropriate action 
 for the maintainance of these views. This address Massachusetts 
 was required to rescind ; but the general court, with great unanimi- 
 ty, refused to do so, ninety-two being opposed and sixteen only in 
 favor. In this minority was Jonathan Say ward, representative from 
 York. This action of their delegate worked up great excitement in 
 that village, and at the meeting it was " voted that this town highly 
 approve of the proceedings of the late honorable house of represent- 
 atives who were not for rescinding." Sayward, who, but a few 
 months before, had the support of the people in his election, was 
 thus severely rebuked, and till after the close of the war never re- 
 covered his standing. He was a popular, influential, and useful 
 man ; but this unfortunate step, among a people highly excited on 
 the matter in issue, produced a strong revulsion of feeling which it 
 took years to subdue. 
 
460 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 John Wheelright was at the same time representative from Wells. 
 When the question was taken he was absent from the house. So 
 were the other representatives from this vicinity: James Gowen, of 
 Kittery, Thomas Perkins, of Arundel, and Benjamin Chadbourne, of 
 Berwick. Two months after this vote was taken, these men ad- 
 dressed letters to the speaker, in which they stated " It was their 
 misfortune to be absent from the general court when the great and 
 important question was put for rescinding a vote of a former house, 
 relative to the well-known circular letter, and had they been present 
 they should have thought it their duty, for many reasons, to have 
 voted against rescinding, and made an addition to the memorable 
 number, ninety-two." As a general postulate it is well to let the 
 dead rest in peace ; but all history is designed for instruction in 
 righteousness, and it does not consist with the duty of the living to 
 forego the benefit which God designed should come from the action 
 and its consequences of preceding generations. These men, we 
 think, if animated with the spirit of a fearless patriotism, would 
 have been present on this important occasion. If endowed with the 
 animus of John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other 
 worthies of that day, instead of delaying two months to explain 
 their neglect to vote, they would have made immediate haste to 
 remove the stigma which, by their absence at such a crisis, had fallen 
 upon their characters. But the public sentiment of the towns which 
 they represented was too manifest to be disregarded, and at this 
 late hour they endeavored to screen themselves from censure by 
 this declaration of what their duty would have been. Many know 
 very well what duty is, but have not the resolution to do it. They 
 should have been in their seats. It certainly is a marvellous fact in 
 the history of this little cluster of towns, that all their representa- 
 tives should have had demands on their presence elsewhere at this 
 moment, which precluded them from the discharge of the impor- 
 tant duty which they thus acknowledge they owed to liberty and 
 their country. Sayward's vote, though for rescinding and in sub- 
 serviency to the demands of the English government, was far more 
 meritorious. 
 
 The results of the meeting in York, we are authorized to believe, 
 found acceptance in this and the neighboring towns. No public 
 meeting was called in Wells, but the same spirit was maintained ; 
 the same resolute opposition to every parliamentary manifestation 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 461 
 
 which looked to an encroachment on what they believed to be their 
 rights. From this time forward our relations with England and the 
 possibility of a contest which should come home to every soul sel- 
 dom escaped from the thoughts of the people. The loyalists, em- 
 bracing many who were in office under the king and those who 
 were largely interested in commerce, endeavored to allay the ex- 
 citement ; but all attempts in that direction were powerless. The 
 hearts of the people were moved, and the gathering clouds awak- 
 ened in them no dismay. When the great conflict was at hand all 
 the towns came up immediately to the demands of the occasion. 
 
 Such w r as the indignation on account of the Stamp Act, and the 
 opposition which it engendered, that the British government found 
 it expedient to repeal it. But the right of taxing the colonies was 
 not yielded. A majority of parliament w r ere fully grounded in the 
 doctrine that they had the right to exercise that power in all cases 
 whatsoever ; but the opposite view prevailed all through the Prov 
 inces. The people, feeling that they could not be represented, drew 
 therefrom the inference that they could not be justly taxed, and 
 there were noble and intrepid men all over the country, who buckled 
 on their armor, determined to maintain this position at whatever 
 cost. The unceasing labors of these men nurtured in the bosoms of 
 the people generally a spirit akin to their own, though it w 7 as not 
 difficult, as it is not now, to awaken opposition, when the matter of 
 taxation is addressed to the thoughts of men. Any measure looking 
 to an encroachment on the purse tends to arouse men to resistance. 
 
 The act imposing a duty on glass, tea, paper, and other articles 
 produced great excitement. It was regarded as a direct attack upon 
 the liberties of the people. Commissioners of the customs had been 
 appointed and sent over from England to collect these duties; but 
 the opposition was so strong that all their exertions to this end were 
 ineffectual. The result was that in a conflict with the soldiery, sta- 
 tioned in Boston for the enforcement of law and the maintainance 
 of order, several citizens were killed. Although the obnoxious law 
 was in the main repealed, the duty on tea was still continued, and 
 the excitement created by the collision was never entirely allayed. 
 The people all over the country formed associations, the basis of 
 which was the non-importation and entire disuse of tea and of all 
 articles on which a duty had been imposed, and every man who 
 would not enrol himself as a member was regarded as an enemy to 
 
462 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 his country. It mattered not what had been his standing in life; 
 whether rich or poor, whether high in authority or the most abject 
 and humble, he must deny all countenance and support of every 
 governmental measure which the multitude pronounced unconstitu- 
 tional or subversive of their rights. It was dangerous for one to 
 differ from the mass of the people. The feeling of unyielding oppo- 
 sition was deep-seated, and would well up at the least indication of 
 any disposition to succumb. Total abstinence was the doctrine of 
 the hour. 
 
 These associations, which were so numerous, were very easily 
 formed ; they required of the members no great sacrifice. Three- 
 quarters of the people, we suppose, had never yet used a pound of 
 tea ; and the other articles prescribed, if used at all, had been used 
 very sparingly. They had been obliged hitherto to live on homely 
 fare, and these agreements did not, therefore, essentially diminish 
 the comforts of life. Ministers of the gospel, perhaps, were the 
 gainers by these combinations, for the feeling seems to have been 
 manifest that they must not suffer by the privations which the occa- 
 sion demanded. The people frequently gathered together at the 
 houses of their pastors, carrying with them whatever their own lim- 
 ited supplies could furnish, so that sometimes their houses were 
 filled with good store of comforts for many months to come. Ber- 
 wick was very forward in such donation parties. What w T as done 
 for Dr. Hemmenway or Mr. Little we have not learned. 
 
 The arbitrary measures of the British administration had reached 
 to such an extent as to fill the minds of the people of Boston with 
 the apprehension that the controversy might lead to more decisive 
 action on the part of that government. They accordingly chose a 
 committee of correspondence to communicate with all the towns 
 and state to them their views of the proceedings of the home gov- 
 ernment, and to solicit in return their opinions on the great matters 
 involved. Accordingly, on the 24th of May, 1773, a communication 
 from Boston having been received at Wells, a town meeting was 
 holden, and Joseph Storer, Nathaniel Wells, jr., John Wheelright, 
 Ebenezer Rice, John Littlefield, Samuel Emery, and James Hubbard 
 were appointed " a committee of correspondence," and were " di- 
 rected to consider what is proper for the town to do in relation to 
 said intelligence and report to the town at the adjourned meeting." 
 
 During all the conflict which ensued, Wells was never very hasty 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 463 
 
 in its action, but on all matters of importance was sure to take due 
 time for deliberation. The inhabitants seemed to feel that their 
 judgment on matters concerning the Provinces was entitled to, and 
 carried with it, great weight, and therefore any opinions which they 
 might enunciate should be first well considered. One would suppose 
 that here was the occasion for a speedy response to the authorities 
 of Boston ; but instead of giving the needed reply without delay, 
 they instructed their committee to make their report at an ad- 
 journed meeting, six weeks afterward. Boston wished to be enlight- 
 ened on the question whether they were to have the concurrence 
 and support of the other towns on this truly momentous occasion. 
 The exigency might have passed over entirely, either for the weal or 
 woe of the people, before this town had made up its opinion. But 
 the fifth of July was assigned for determining the answer which 
 should be given. On that day the committee made report that, " as 
 the legislature had been twice in session since the intelligence was 
 received, it was unnecessary to pass any resolutions, but they would 
 observe, that it appears to us that no person on earth, other than the 
 General Assembly of this Province, has a right to tax us in any form 
 whatever, or impose any duty on us with the purpose of raising a 
 revenue, taxation and representation being, in our opinion, insepara- 
 ble. It further appears to us that the attempt of the Parliament of 
 Great Brittain to tax us, and the duties they have imposed on us, 
 with a design to raise a revenue, are the foundation of most, if not 
 all,.the grievances which we labor under. Every attempt of Great 
 Brittain to tax us is not only an infringement of our rights and priv- 
 ileges, but is incompatible with the true interests of Great Brittain. 
 If the right is once admitted, Great Brittain would overburden us 
 with taxes to such a degree as to ruin us. 
 
 We do not mean this as a reflection on the wisdom and justice of 
 Parliament; but considering the corruption and depravity of human 
 nature, in nothing perhaps more evident than in the prevalence of 
 self-love, which often operates insensibly, we have abundant reason 
 to think that the more largely we are taxed the less taxes will be 
 necessary in Great Brittain, we shall inevitably be oppressed with 
 taxes. We are ever ready to join in any prudent and constitutional 
 method in our power to procure a repeal of the revenue Acts afore- 
 said ; and we hope we shall be enabled so to conduct and behave 
 
464 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 amongst ourselves, and in respect to Great Brittain, as that those per- 
 sons who are our greatest enemies, may not have the least founda- 
 tion, or even shadow of a foundation for finding fault with or cen- 
 suring us, being disposed to submit to all legal authority, not only 
 for wrath but for conscience sake." 
 
 This answer does not seem to overflow with patriotism, or reflect 
 any great honor on the townsmen. It is altogether non-committal ; 
 and about as encouraging to the suffering and anxious citizens of 
 Boston, as if they had returned no answer. There were in Wells at 
 this time, as before stated, some who had great fears of a conflict 
 with the home government. These men, in fact, controlled the pro- 
 ceedings of the town during the whole war. Profit and place were 
 very efficient elements in making the character of many persons at 
 that period. True nobility of soul was not always the ruling power 
 in the action of the people. Riches and honors, peace and safety, 
 could not be kept out of sight. The balance of intellect on this 
 committee was not very hearty in the cause of freedom ; but as the 
 contest progressed the necessities of the hour, in some instances, 
 waked up a more patriotic spirit in the hearts of some of them. 
 Joseph Storer, John Littlefield and James Hubbard who were on 
 this committee, when the terrors of actual war came over the land, 
 were brave men in the public service. 
 
 The report was accepted by the town, and a copy ordered to 
 be sent to the committee of correspondence in Boston. But sub- 
 sequent intelligence received from that place indicated compli- 
 cations still more portentous ; and a new meeting of the inhabitants 
 of Wells was called on the 21st day of March, 1774, to take 
 into consideration the posture of our relations with England. Jo- 
 seph Storer, John Littlefield, Capt. Noah M. Littlefield, James 
 Hubbard, Deacon Benjamin Hatch, Ebenezer Sayer and Joshua 
 Bragdon were chosen a committee, to whom the subject was re- 
 ferred, and who were directed to report their conclusions in 
 one week. This committee was constituted of firm and energetic 
 men. The first four were afterward active officers in the great strug- 
 gle. Storer and Hubbard sealed their devotion to their country with 
 their blood. They were men fearless in the expression of their opin- 
 ions, and ready for any fate which might await them, in opposing the 
 arbitrary measures attempted to be enforced on the people. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 465 
 
 This committee on the 28th of March made their report, recom- 
 mending the following resolutions, as becoming the town in this im- 
 portant crisis : 
 
 "Resolved, that freedom is essential to the happiness of a State, 
 which no nation can give up without violating the laws of nature, 
 reason and religion, ruining millions, and entailing the deepest mis- 
 ery on posterity. 
 
 Resolved, that the late Act of the British Parliament, empowering 
 the East India Company to export their teas to Boston, subject to a 
 duty, is a daring infringement upon our individual rights and privil- 
 eges ; is a measure replete with every evil, political and commercial. 
 Therefore it is incumbent on every man who values his birthright 
 and would support the constitution, to oppose every such attempt in 
 all lawful and constitutional ways. 
 
 Resolved, that we will not receive any teas whereon an unconsti- 
 tutional duty may be laid, whether shipped by the East India Com- 
 pany or private merchants, and will esteem every person who shall 
 or may receive any such teas, unfriendly to the government, and in- 
 imical to the country and constitution ; and will treat them with that 
 contempt which such conduct deserves. 
 
 Resolved, that we will bear faithful and true allegiance to our Sov- 
 reign Lord, George the Third, and are ready at all times to support 
 his crown and dignity, at the expense of our lives and fortunes ; but 
 by no means support the oppressive measures of Parliament, which 
 have and still continues to threaten the total destruction of the lib- 
 erties of all America. 
 
 Resolved, that the thanks of the town be given to our worthy 
 brethren, the patriotic inhabitants of the town of Boston, for their 
 early intelligences, and steady perseverance in the common cause. 
 Posterity, we doubt not, will applaud their conduct, and their chil- 
 dren will rise up and call them blessed. 
 
 Resolved, that an attested copy of these proceedings be trans- 
 mitted to the committee of correspondence in Boston." 
 
 These resolutions, we think, were prepared by Mr. Hemmenway. 
 They are in accordance with the true spirit of the hour, and speak 
 30 
 
466 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the language of the great body of the Wells townsmen. The peo- 
 ple were determined to submit to no oppression ; to yield none of 
 the rights which they claimed to belong to them as men. On no 
 question of political interest were a people ever more generally 
 united. Fearful, undecided spirits were few ; though they were gen- 
 erally those who had been of high standing, or who had been en- 
 gaged in the largest commercial business. They feared more conse- 
 quences which were personal, than those which were public. Jona- 
 than Saywarcl, of York, affords a good illustration of the spirit of 
 these loyalists ; of those whoso hearts did not sympathize with the 
 measures which the people were pursuing to defeat the purposes of 
 government. He was judge of the Court of Probate, and a special 
 justice of the court of Common Pleas, and was largely engaged in 
 navigation. For more than twenty years he was connected wi'th Dr. 
 Sawyer, of Wells, in the ownership of vessels. He was a leader in 
 the church, and always regarded as a man of sound moral principle. 
 But the condition of affairs now foreboded great evil. Whether his 
 pecuniary interests, or his official position so dimmed his vision that 
 he could not judge truly, we will not assume to determine. But his 
 spirit was exceedingly troubled at the aspect of our affairs with the 
 mother country. In relation to the memorable act of the destruc- 
 tion of the tea in Boston harbor, he says, " The men of Belial arose 
 in Boston and took possession of two ships of tea ; hoisted it all out 
 and turned it into the dock." " The public affairs of the government 
 look very dark ; and it is probable to me some measures, coersive 
 and disagreeable, will be enforced from the Parliament of Great 
 Brittain on this government in consequence of the destruction of 
 these ships of tea belonging to the India Company." 
 
 "We had town meetings (Jan. 20 and 21) in order to approve of 
 the conduct of Boston in destroying the tea of the Hon. East India 
 Company, and after a most severe opposition by Samuel Clark and 
 myself, got our resolves so far moderated as to thank only for what 
 they had constitutionally done. The opposition to Parliament will 
 undo us." 
 
 "My own opinion is that the tea should be paid for by Boston." 
 Soon afterward he says, " Threatened the whole of last week by 
 the mob, and in danger but not yet destroyed ; " and again, " in dan- 
 ger of being mobbed by the influence of Paul D. Woodbridge ;" and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 467 
 
 again, " Provincial Congress resolutions are looked on as equal to the 
 laws of a kingdom and superior to our own. When and where 
 these things will end God only knows." 
 
 Judge Sayward escaped the fury of the mob only by concealment. 
 It was a time of severe trial to all persons who sustained his views 
 of the differences with England. Some in Wells, the posture of 
 whose business was like his, were not only mistrusted, but incurred 
 the great displeasure of the people. But in no instance did they be- 
 come the subjects of mob law. 
 
 This state of public feeling continued until the indications became 
 unmistakable that a complete rupture between the home government 
 and the Provincials must inevitably ensue. The people of New Eng- 
 land, as well as the southern Provinces, could not be induced by any 
 impending peril to yield one tittle of their assumed rights. On the 
 contrary, the excitement growing out of the collisions of the princi- 
 ples of the two governments continued to increase, until the English 
 government were compelled to come to the conclusion that their diplo- 
 macy could be of no further avail, and they determined to coerce the 
 stubborn Provinces into submission — and to compel the people to re- 
 ceive the teas and other articles which might be sent to their ports. 
 But the Provinces would take no backward step, and the spirit of the 
 country could not be made to quail. Fired by the continued en- 
 croachments on what they deemed their chartered rights, and the 
 persevering determination of the home government to impose these 
 dutiable or taxed articles upon them, a company gathered together 
 on the wharf in Boston, where the ships lay, Dec. 16, 1773, and 
 threw all the tea overboard. 
 
 This memorable act was not done under the authority or advice 
 of any public convention, but was the outbreak of individual indig- 
 nation which could no longer be repressed. Still, there was not gen- 
 eral condemnation of it. On the contrary, we suppose that it met 
 with an approving response in nearly all hearts. The same spirit 
 was manifested in this vicinity. Determined resistance to taxation 
 was the rule among the citizens generally. A lot of tea was brought 
 into York, in a vessel under the command of Capt. James Donnel. 
 But the people would not brook this plain insult or daring of the 
 public sentiment. A town meeting was immediately called, and a 
 .committee chosen to have the tea taken out of the vessel and kept 
 
468 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 to await further developments. It was put into the store of Capt. 
 Grove. But the townsmen could not be satisfied in treating such an 
 affront in this tender, cautious way. Pusilanimity was not the char- 
 acter of the hour. In the following evening a number of Pickwaket 
 Indians came into the village, broke open the store, and carried off 
 the tea, so that no duty on it was paid by the people. 
 
 It would not do for the home government to relax its measures in 
 consequence of what they could not but regard as an outrage, and a 
 rash defiance of their authority. The Boston Port bill, as it was 
 called, was passed. This was equivalent to a blockade. No vessels 
 could come in or go out. This was, perhaps, as effectual a measure 
 as could have been devised for the purposes of the government. 
 Still it was entirely inoperative for any salutary results. It was .a 
 terrible blow not only to the citizens of Boston, but to those of all 
 the neighboring towns. But the hearts of the people did not fail at 
 the prospect. They were ready to submit to deprivation and suffer- 
 ing, rather than to yield any of the rights, for the maintainance of 
 which they had been so long struggling. As Boston depended so 
 much on its commercial intercourse, it was very evident that great 
 affliction must come to the poorer class, from this sudden termina- 
 tion of all its commercial business, and much sympathy was awak 
 ened for them all over New England. 
 
 The town of Wells, though it could do but little in the way of 
 charity, was not backward in coming to their relief. The church of 
 the Second Congregational Parish voted in December that "the 
 usual contribution for the poor among themselves, should be given 
 to the poor of Boston, who are sufferers by reason of the stoppage 
 of their port;" and they also recommended to the congregation, 
 " that they should make a generous collection for said poor." There 
 was but little money among the people, and they sent in its place to 
 these poor sufferers, what they deemed would as well meet their 
 necessities. The following correspondence in relation to this subject 
 will be interesting to the reader : " Wells, January 16, 1775. Gen- 
 tlemen. Previous to the recommendation of the Provincial congress 
 a number of the inhabitants in the Second Parish in Wells made a 
 small collection which they send in wood (by the care of Capt. 
 Ebenezer Hovey), judging that may be an article as acceptable and 
 useful as any other at this season of the year, for the comfort of the 
 needy and afflicted under your care. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 469 
 
 The above we only mention as a small token of that deep affection 
 we feel for our capitol, in their present distressed condition, on whose 
 former open and friendly commerce, we, on this eastern shore, more 
 absolutely depended for support, than any other part of the Province. 
 For your sake, and for our own, we prayerfully wait the kind inter- 
 position of Divine Providence, and the smiles of our gracious king 
 for the redress of our general grievances ; and in particular for the 
 removal of the present obstruction to our trade with the town of 
 Boston. 
 
 To the Committee of Donations for Stephen Larrabee, 
 
 the Poor of the town of Boston. John Mitchell." 
 
 To this communication the following reply was received : 
 
 Boston, Feb. 8, 1775. 
 
 Gentlemen. I am directed by the Committee of Donations to ac- 
 knowledge the receipt of your affectionate letter and generous dona- 
 tion of 26 3-4 cords of wood, by Capt. Eben r Hovey, a necessary ar- 
 ticle and very acceptable at the season of the year ; more especially 
 as the call for it seems to be daily increasing amongst us. We es- 
 teem it a great smile of Providence, and desire thankfully to acknowl- 
 edge it as such, that our friends and brethren in this and the neigh- 
 boring Provinces have shown such a ready disposition to help us 
 under our difficulties ; and we are much obliged to the inhabitants 
 of the Second Parish in Wells in particular, and return them our 
 sincere and most hearty thanks, and rejoice to see that they are not 
 only ready to sympathize with, but also to afford us such relief for 
 the comfort of the needy and afflicted under our care. 
 
 The cause is common and it gives us great pleasure to hear that 
 you are prayerfully waiting for the kind interposition of Divine 
 Providence for your and our relief. We desire heartily to join with 
 you herein, and hope that in due time we ^shali happily reap the 
 fruits thereof. ■ 
 
 To Messrs. Stephen Larrabee John Lolley, Per order." 
 
 and John Mitchell at Wells. 
 
 This is not the only time in which the people of Kennebunk came 
 to the aid of the inhabitants of Boston. As we have before stated, 
 when in March, 1760, a great fire destroyed nearly two hundred 
 buildings in that place, the church of the Second Parish made a do- 
 
470 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 nation to the sufferers of sixty-six pounds five shillings and sixpence, 
 or over two hundred dollars. 
 
 The year 1774, was one of absorbing interest to the people in this 
 vicinity. They had enjoyed a long time the benefit of marine inter- 
 course with Boston, and they felt that their own interests were inti- 
 mately connected with those of that town. This constant inter- 
 course nourished a unity of opinion on all questions to which the 
 crisis had given rise. To sustain the action of the people of Boston, 
 enunciate their own views and strengthen the patriotism and resolu- 
 tion of the inhabitants of Maine, a congress was notified to be holden 
 at Wells ; and on the 15th and 16th days of November, 1774, the 
 delegates of the several towns in the county of York assembled at 
 this place. The following resolves were passed by the convention, 
 then denominated " York County Congress." 
 
 " His Majesty's loyal subjects, the delegates of the several towns 
 of the County of York, deputed to meet in County Congress, held 
 at Wells the 16th day of Nov., 1774, truly professing ourselves liege 
 subjects of His Majesty, King George the 3d, and sincere friends to 
 all our fellow subjects in Brittain and the Colonies, for the necessary- 
 defense of our liberties and privileges, come unto the following reso- 
 lutions. 
 
 Resolved, that the people have the right to tax themselves, and no 
 other persons, assemblies or Parliaments have, and the English acts 
 to tax them are unconstitutional. 
 
 Resolved, that all civil officers in this County ought to exercise 
 their powers as though these acts had not been passed ; that venires 
 for jurors ought to issue and be obeyed as before. 
 
 Resolved, that this Congress recommend to every individual to use 
 their influence for peace. 
 
 Whereas William Pepperell, Baronet, in his lifetime honestly ac- 
 quired a large estate, and gave the highest evidence, not only of be- 
 ing a sincere friend to the rights of man in general, but having a 
 fraternal love to this country in particular, and whereas his son 
 William, to whom his estate was devised, hath, with purpose to 
 carry into effect acts of the Brittish Parliament made with the de- 
 sign to enslave the free and loyal people of this continent, accepted 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 471 
 
 and now holds a seat at the pretended Board of Councilors in this 
 Province, and therefore forfeited confidence, it is recommended to 
 the people and his lessees to withdraw all connexion, commerce, and 
 dealings with him, and take no leases of his farms or mills; and if 
 anybody does deal with him, we recommend the people to have no 
 dealings or intercourse with such an one. 
 
 Resolved, that thanks of this County are due to the worthy and 
 patriotic members of the Continental Congress for their noble and 
 faithful exertions in the cause of their country. 
 
 William Laighton, Clerk." 
 
 This Congress, it may well be presumed, was composed of the 
 men of the highest standing. During the sessions they were ac- 
 commodated at the Littlefield tavern, of wljich we have before 
 spoken. We have been unable to find the name of a single member. 
 The following account of the stimulus which they took to nerve 
 them for the responsible work w r hich they had in hand, will be read 
 with interest, while at the same time it will show something of the 
 habits of society, of which we have spoken in another place. 
 
 "Nov. 16, 1774. Congress expenses. 
 To 2 boles of Todd ay at 5 per 
 3 boles of Brandy Punch at 10 
 2 boles of Brandy Punch at 10 
 
 1 bole of Punch at 10 
 
 2 boles of todday at 5 
 2 boles of Brandy Punch at 10 
 2 boles of todday at 5 
 1 bole of punch at 10 
 6 boles of Brandy Punch at 10 
 1 bole of todday at 5 
 
 26 men's dinners at 11 3 
 23 mens dinners at 11 3 
 15 horses at 10 
 
 To suppers and breakfast 
 
 This convention was sufficiently radical to satisfy the most eager 
 for rebellion. At the present time, we might be disposed to attrib- 
 ute somewhat of their spirit to the inspirations of the public house; 
 
 £0 1 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1 19 
 
 
 
 1 14 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 0." 
 
472 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 but our impression is, that the " bole of brandy punch," though ex- 
 hilarating, did not so interfere with the functions of the brain as to 
 bias it to any extravagance or extreme action. At no period during 
 the Revolutionary war was the popular excitement more intense 
 than at this time. Men were denounced and proscribed, not as com- 
 prehended under a general class, but individually, as persons with 
 whom there should be no intercourse. One of the first pages of 
 Edes & Gill's North American Almanack for 1770 has "A list of the 
 names of those who audaciously continue to counteract the united 
 sentiments of the body of Merchants throughout North America, by 
 importing Brittish goods contrary to agreement." In this list are 
 the names of eleven men, with their residences and places of busi- 
 ness. There was no charity for dissenters, for the weak or irreso- 
 lute, much less for those who were holding office under the king, or 
 were engaged in commerce, whereby patriotism was subdued or in a 
 great measure stinted, or for any who were trembling amidst the 
 general commotion which had been waked up all over the Provinces. 
 They could not brook even the presence of such men among them. 
 
 In the first week in January, 1775, the court was holden at York. 
 Such was the condition of the public mind, so much had passion 
 been aroused by the bitter contentions which prevailed, that no rea- 
 sonable man could look for a righteous verdict in any case. Neither 
 could entire confidence be reposed in the court. But the people 
 gathered at the court house ; some interested in the pending busi- 
 ness, others coming as witnesses of the exhibition, whatever it 
 might be. John Sullivan was accustomed to attend the terms in 
 this place. He was full of the spirit of rebellion against the arbi- 
 trary measures of government, and was ready to meet any emergen- 
 cy to which the expression might lead. He was a member of the 
 Continental Congress, which had just been holden, and freely gave 
 vent to his feelings there, as on all other occasions. He had no spec- 
 ial respect for the court, on account of any high judicial standing of 
 its members, and therefore was under no restraint when he came , 
 into their presence. The judges were evidently afraid of the jurors. 
 It was most probable that, when impannelled, they would be found 
 of one mind, so that no loyalist would be likely to receive favor or 
 justice. But the jurors had presented themselves agreeably to sum- 
 mons. Some of the court were inclined, in view of the perplexities 
 and confusion which must embarrass their proceedings, not to pro- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 473 
 
 ceed with the session ; but this suggestion so enraged the multitude 
 that several persons threatened to pull the judges from their seats. 
 Sullivan harangued the people with great power, telling them that 
 their rights and privileges were to be wrested from them; that they 
 were to be the mere slaves of arbitrary power ; that the court were 
 ready to be the willing instruments of putting the yoke upon them, 
 and that this refusal to impannel the jury was in subserviency and 
 yielding to the acts of Parliament. Sullivan had expressed himself 
 very freely in Congress, uttering sentiments which would have been 
 denounced as treasonable, and he thence felt the necessity of stirring 
 up the people to the support of himself and of the opinions which 
 he had enunciated. His own safety might depend on their support; 
 although, animated with a noble patriotism as he was, the thought 
 of self-protection may never have entered his mind. At the same 
 time, Capt. Daniel Bragdon, who had also attended the Congress 
 though not elected for that purpose, gathered a large multitude 
 around him, outside of the court house, and addressed them with all 
 the eloquence of which he was master, calling upon them to rouse 
 themselves in opposition to the acts of Parliament, and denouncing 
 all as enemies to their country who would not come up to the work 
 of rebellion. The people were excited, and the judges felt that they 
 were in continual jeopardy and might at any moment be dragged 
 from the court house. 
 
 The jury was finally impannelled, though no business was done. 
 In consequence of the excitement no trial could have proceeded. 
 Judge Say ward declared he would not sit to hear an action to judg- 
 ment. Judge Moulton sympathized with the great body of the peo- 
 ple. As the only possible course, the court broke up without further 
 action, the judges separating and quietly returning to their homes. 
 
 The lawyers did not all accord with the spirit and utterances of 
 Sullivan and Bragdon. Some of them were anxious to preserve the 
 peace, and endeavored, as far as possible, to repress the ardor of the 
 more impulsive. James Sullivan, then in the practice of law at 
 Biddeford, and afterward governor of Massachusetts, manifested 
 somewhat more equanimity than his brother John, and being dis- 
 posed to avoid all collisions and political controversies in court, 
 whereby its character might be compromised, did what lie could to 
 maintain order and subdue excitement. Wyer, also, who was then 
 a lawyer of influence at the York bar, exerted himself in the same 
 
474 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 
 
 way, and endeavored to relieve the judges by demurring cases pend- 
 ing. The day was a memorable one in our judicial history, and its 
 doings were not without influence in fanning the flame of a rebellion 
 which was to sweep every vestige of monarchy from the land. 
 
 Though the court was quietly adjourned without day, the judges 
 returning to their homes in peace, Say ward felt himself, from the 
 spirit here excited, to be in continual peril. The threats of the peo- 
 ple daily reached his ears. From this time to nearly the close of the 
 war he was almost constantly watched, and, as we have said, es- 
 caped the fury of the mob only by concealment. Every man who 
 did not come out openly in opposition to the English government 
 was regarded with suspicion. In the town of Wells these loyalists 
 probably suffered less persecution than those of any other town, 
 from the fact that they were the only persons who had previously 
 taken the lead in public affairs and been accustomed to address the 
 multitude. Still some of them were under the ban of popular odi- 
 um and distrust. They were men of worthy intentions and honest 
 hearts ; but their relations were such as to lead them to withhold 
 any support to the rebellion, which they believed was not justified 
 by any aggressions yet made on the liberties of the people. Nathan- 
 iel Wells and Joseph Sawyer, two of the most valuable citizens, and 
 well understanding the merits of the pending controversy, were, we 
 think, of this opinion. Adam McCulloch, who was a Scotchman, 
 came to this country a few years before, and at this time was a 
 trader in Wells. His attachments to his native land were strong, 
 and he felt that the struggle for freedom would be that of the child 
 
 Do 
 
 against the parent, and could only end in disappointment ; but so ir- 
 resistible was the public enthusiasm for complete separation that he 
 was compelled to recede from his position. The resentment of the 
 people against all indifference and all opposition to their will was 
 such that personal safety could only be secured by yielding to it. 
 He accordingly published the following card : 
 
 u Whereas I, the subscriber, have, by some inadvertences, been so 
 unhappy as to fall under the displeasure of the good people of this 
 place, and many things have been laid to my charge of an inimical 
 nature to the just rights and liberties of the good people of this 
 country, some of which I am not guilty of, I do now publicly de 
 clare that so far as I have been guilty in words or actions of offend- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 475 
 
 ing the same in matters of a civil nature (more especially in regard 
 to the unhappy contest now prevailing between Great Brittain and 
 these Colonies) that I am heartily sorry, and do now humbly ask the 
 forgiveness of all the friends of America for the same, and do prom- 
 ise that I will not offend in like manner again, but will do all that 
 lays in my power for the defense of the rights and privileges of this 
 country, and shall ever esteem it my greatest happiness of a tempor- 
 al nature to enjoy the favor and friendship of the people with whom 
 I now dwell, and will, for the future, pay due obedience to the law- 
 ful authority and advice of this Province, and determine to stand or 
 fall with the fate of the same, heartily wishing that every resolution 
 and determination for the good of the public may have its desired 
 effect. 
 Arundel, July 10, 1775. Adam McCuxloch." 
 
 One more instance to show the state of public sentiment at this 
 time, and how unsafe it was for any man to attempt to disregard or 
 to countervail it by any overt act, may illustrate more fully the feel- 
 ing of the masses in this neighborhood. Dr. Alden, of Biddeford, 
 was strongly suspected, not only of cherishing unpatriotic senti- 
 ments, but as actually aiding the government by furnishing materials 
 for barracks, which he had sent to Boston, or some other place, by 
 Capt. John Stackpole, for the troops sent here to enforce the arbitra- 
 ry and unjustifiable acts against the people of America. On a day 
 appointed, a multitude gathered together from all the neighboring 
 towns, at Saco, to examine into the matter and to adopt such meas- 
 ures as they thought such treason demanded. A committee was ap- 
 pointed to wait on Dr. Alden and Captain Stackpole and require 
 their attendance before the assembly. They accordingly appeared 
 before them, but denied that they had furnished any materials for 
 such a purpose. They were then compelled to promise that they 
 never would be guilty of any such treachery to the public welfare. 
 But the multitude were not satisfied with this naked promise of 
 fidelity on the part of Alden, and he was required to make confes- 
 sion of his treasonable declarations, to make manifest his repentance 
 for the wrong he had done to the people, and to promise thenceforth 
 never to utter any such treasonable sentiments, and to confirm his 
 promises by solemn oath before a justice of the peace. This requi- 
 sition he obeyed, subscribing the following declaration : 
 
476 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 * Whereas I have uttered many words, out of town and in, coun- 
 tenancing arbitrary acts of Parliament, which has given offense to 
 the body now assembled, I do hereby express my sincere penitence 
 therefor, and promise, on oath, not to be guilty of anything of that 
 kind for the future. And whereas I asked sundry persons to sign a 
 paper to the Board of Commissioners, therein insinuating myself to 
 be a tory, I hereby declare I am sorry therefor, and that I never will 
 be guilty of anything of that kind for the future, nor do anything 
 against the just rights of my country. 
 
 Oct. 18, 1774. Abiather Alden." 
 
 After having made oath to this before the magistrate, he was re- 
 quired to get down on his knees and ask pardon of the assembly for 
 his offense in expressing a favorable opinion of the acts of Parlia- 
 ment. The whole proceeding was conducted in a peaceable, court- 
 eous manner. Having thus accomplished the object for which they 
 had come together, the convention dispersed. This action was not 
 of a mob, but was highly approved of by the whole people. It was 
 not without a salutary influence on others whose sympathies accord- 
 ed with those of Alden. The calm and quiet manner in which it 
 was carried out, shows the resolute and determined spirit by which 
 the people were actuated in putting down all opposition to the re- 
 bellion which was now being inaugurated. 
 
 It is probable that many of those who kept aloof from, or did not 
 partake of, the enthusiasm for resistance of the acts of Parliament 
 were fully as patriotic as those who were even the leaders in the ex- 
 citement which had been kindled. Men are and always have been 
 of widely different moral endowments, induced by widely different 
 training. Some, all through life, are in bondage to fear. Dr. Eben- 
 ezer Rice, who lived where William Lord now lives, w r as one whose 
 temperament was of this cast. In the time of the last Indian war 
 he was but a child, and the fears which then came over the mother, 
 in view of the terrible atrocities to which all were exposed in con- 
 flict with the savages, were daily manifested in open expression be- 
 fore him. Fear may thus have become a predominant element of 
 his constitution. He was called a great coward. He was as strong 
 and earnest in his opposition to the arbitrary measures of Parliament 
 as any other man. He did not then anticipate an open rupture with 
 the government. But when the relations of the colony to the home 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 477 
 
 government began to wear a more serious aspect, and the storm ap- 
 peared to be gathering, he trembled at the thought that these few 
 people were to be involved in a war with the most powerful nation 
 on earth. His heart quailed in the prospect of the awful fate which 
 must necessarily come to them in such a conflict. "Certain it is," 
 he said, " the colonies will be subdued, and every officer in our ser- 
 vice Avili be hung." So completely did his fears overcome him that 
 he could find no peace while staying here, and he left the town and 
 went somewhere into the far interior of Massachusetts, where he 
 hoped the terrors of the contest would not reach him. There was 
 no charity for any one who was fearful, much less for any w T ho were 
 not ready at once to make sacrifices for liberty. Surely there was 
 nothing wrong in selling tea which one had on hand when the ex- 
 citement against taxation began. But the wrath of the public 
 seemed now to be vented against the articles taxed, as well as 
 against the authors of the alleged unconstitutional duties imposed 
 upon them. In many cases this furore seemed to be blind to that 
 which was reasonable and ever consistent with a true patriotism. 
 Joseph Churchill, who was afterward a lieutenant in the service, 
 kept a store where George Wise now lives. He knew the public 
 feeling, and that no favor would be shown to any one who had the 
 proscribed articles on hand. Reason was no weapon to protect him- 
 self from the charge of cringing to the administration. He had a 
 quantity of tea in his store; but he was compelled to screen it from 
 observation as carefully as the unlicensed dealer in intoxicating liq- 
 uors now does his " stock in trade." For a long time he kept it cov- 
 ered up in his corn pen. Occasionally, when some considerate man, 
 or some traitorous soul, who he was satisfied would conceal the act 
 from the public knowledge, whispered in his ear that he wished to 
 make a purchase, he would raise it from its hiding place and supply 
 his wants. But the traffic in it was a very unsafe business. The 
 eyes of the people were always open to the least appearance of dis- 
 loyalty to their opinion. Every man was watched. 
 
 The public mind had become so sensitive that even the slightest 
 appearance of indifference to its will would wake up this jealous 
 spirit. Those who held offices under the government, whatever their 
 protestations, were always regarded with suspicion. Holding the 
 office was enough to create distrust. The fact that any such officials 
 were among them kept alive the excitement, so that the County 
 
478 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 Congress, of which we have before spoken, to allay the fears of the 
 multitude, deemed it necessary to issue the following bulletin : " To 
 ease the mind of the good people of this county, this Congress doth 
 assure them that, on examining, we do not find that any civil officers 
 or other persons therein have made any attempt to put the acts of 
 Parliament into execution, and trust that none will attempt it." 
 
 Such a degree of excitement, kept alive and intensified by the 
 continued obstinacy of Parliament, it was well considered, must lead 
 to collision between the parties, and the people and their representa- 
 tives began to make preparation for the crisis. This Congress, as 
 well as the General Assembly of the Province and the General Con- 
 gress, advised that the militia should be immediately regulated and 
 disciplined to meet the emergency to which their relations with 
 Great Britain were rapidly tending. The resolute spirit of the mul- 
 titude was not to be cowed by any threats or apprehensions of the 
 great power of the mother country. A Provincial Congress was or- 
 dered to be held at Cambridge on the first day of February, 1775, 
 Ebenezer Sayer, Esq., being chosen a delegate from Wells. A town 
 meeting was holden on the 23d of January, and John Littlefield, 
 John Mitchell, Samuel Hancock, Nathaniel Kimball, and Benjamin 
 Hatch were appointed a committee to prepare instructions to guide 
 the actions of the delegate in Congress. This committee reported 
 the following as expressive of their views, which was adopted by 
 the town : 
 
 " To Mr. Ebenezer Sayer. Sir. You being chosen by the inhab- 
 itants of the town of Wells to represent said town in a Provincial 
 Congress, to be holden in the town of Cambridge, or elsewhere, on 
 the first day of February next, your instructions are to attend said 
 Congress, and to adjourn and transact such matters and business as 
 shall be judged by said Congress to be most for the peace, order, and 
 safety of the Province, and to hold said Congress by adjournment or 
 otherwise until the last Wednesday in May next, and if we should 
 not at that time have government restored agreeable to the charter 
 of the Province, and it should be judged necessary to declare the 
 seat of government vacant and to assume government, you are here- 
 by authorized to join with said Congress therein. 
 
 Samuel Hancock, Chairman." 
 
 This Congress, fully impressed with the exigency which they had 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 479 
 
 reached, and inspired with the patriotism which would not permit 
 their constituents to suffer any wrong from the violation of their 
 chartered rights by Great Britain, took all necessary measures to 
 meet the great struggle. They recommended to the towns to fur- 
 nish themselves with all the armaments which were accessible, and 
 to have the militia suitably instructed in the art military to meet the 
 demands of impending war. The people everywhere seconded these 
 firm and resolute purposes of their representatives. None dared 
 openly to talk of receding from the high stand which they had 
 taken. Measures of defense were adopted. The militia were gath- 
 ered together for instruction. The officers in Wells and all the ad- 
 joining towns resigned their commissions under the existing 
 government, excepting those of the town of York who chanced to 
 be among the number, whose souls quailed at the prospect before 
 them, or who ventured to hold on to the honors of their position 
 from some, perhaps, less disparaging reasons. On the 15th day of 
 March these men who had thus thrown up their commissions assem- 
 bled at Wells, and new officers were chosen. York officers, it is be- 
 lieved,, were soon impelled to follow the example of those who had 
 thus renounced their offices under the government. That town was 
 not behind the neighboring towns in its zeal for the great principles 
 which had aroused the energies of the people at this momentous 
 period. The organization and drill were soon brought into exercise. 
 The crisis was upon them. The British judged that the aspect of 
 affairs was such that military stores in the Province should be seized 
 wherever found. The contest at Lexington soon followed. News of 
 this collision was expressed in every direction, and the people of all 
 the towns were ready to rush to the strife. The inhabitants of 
 Wells hastened to the rendezvous, and in a few hours many of them 
 were on their way to Portsmouth ; but having reached that town, 
 they were met by another express, notifying the people that the 
 British had withdrawn, and they returned home. All hope of a 
 peaceful solution of the existing difficulties had now ceased, and im- 
 mediate preparations must be made for defense of the Province. 
 
 A town meeting was held on the 24th of April, when it was voted 
 that ninety minute men be enlisted, to be divided into three compan- 
 ies, -and that " no consideration be allowed to them." Such a resolu- 
 tion does not, on its face, indicate quite so much of a spirit of self- 
 sacrifice and true magnanimity of soul, as we might reasonably have 
 
480 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 expected of public-spirited men ; but it is about on a par with an- 
 other memorable act at the same period, when in answer to the ad- 
 vice of the Provincial Congress to the several towns/ to pay in to 
 Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow, the money raised for protection and 
 defense, the town excused themselves from compliance by saying, 
 that " though such a step would be of great utility to the inhabitants 
 of the Province in general, yet our situation from the place where a 
 public magazine would be erected, would render it very difficult for 
 this part of the Province to reap any benefit thereby, as our settle- 
 ments are very much scattered and the inhabitants very poor. If 
 we should pay in our public monies to said Receiver General, it 
 would deprive us of the necessary means of defense. This sole rea- 
 son and a long extended seacoast, corroborated with the opinion of 
 our brethren in the County of York, we hope will be satisfactory to 
 the Hon. Congress in this matter ; at the same time giving our assur- 
 ance that we heartily join with our brethren in wishing well to our 
 country, and shall endeavor to exert ourselves to the utmost in sup- 
 port of the common cause." 
 
 Another vote passed at the same time is similarly suggestive : 
 "Voted that Joseph Wheelright, Treasurer, be authorized to borrow 
 money of those who shall be disposed to lend the same, payable with 
 or without interest, as shall be required by the lender, not exceeding 
 £200. And it is hoped and expected in this time of distress, that 
 no person under good circumstances will demand interest for money 
 so lent." 
 
 The vote to pay nothing to the minute men who should enlist, 
 was reconsidered at a subsequent meeting, and it was then voted to 
 pay them twenty-eight shillings a month. It was also voted to pur- 
 chase arms, ammunition and provisions; so that the town was now 
 fully committed to forcible resistance to the obnoxious acts of Parlia- 
 ment and of any attempts which might be made to enforce them. It 
 was also voted that all necessary watches should be kept ; and June 
 13th, orders for that purpose were issued by Major John Littlefield to 
 Lieutenant Daniel Littlefield, afterward a valiant officer in the ser- 
 vice. His limits were " from the house of William Patten to the river." 
 Two persons, an old man and a young man, were to keep the watch. 
 The old man, it is presumed, was required for his experience and 
 counsel, and the young man for such active exercises as the occasion 
 might render necessary. Companies also were enlisted to guard the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 481 
 
 beach from Kittery to Falmouth. One company was under the com- 
 mand of Noah M. Littlefield ; another under Capt. Sawyer, and the 
 third in Kennebunk, under Capt. James Hubbard. Four hundred and 
 seventy-six soldiers were required from this county; so that-other 
 towns in the vicinage were also awakened to the requirements of the 
 hour. There was great excitement over the Province. Men of 
 doubtful loyalty to the new order of things looked on with astonish- 
 ment. Judge Say ward says : " Hot men and fiery counsels are the 
 only men and measures approved." 
 
 Notwithstanding the votes of which we have just spoken, the town 
 appears to have been in earnest in its preparations for the struggle. 
 Ebenezer Sayer was again elected to the Provincial Congress; an- 
 other session of which was to be holden on the 31st of May at Wa- 
 tertown. He was directed to vote that the Province should estab- 
 lish its own government in all departments, thereby ousting all offi- 
 cials who were subservient to English authority. 
 
 The spirit with which the people entered into the contest will be 
 manifest from the great number who voluntarily enrolled themselves 
 for the service. No great inducement presented itself in the offered 
 compensation. The impulses of patriotism alone hurried them into 
 the ranks. The multitude were resolute and determined, at all haz- 
 ards, to maintain what they believed to be their rights and liberties. 
 We thiuk we should fail in the duty which we owe to the memory 
 of these men, did we omit here to record their names. Genealogic 
 science also, which has absorbed the attention of so many at the 
 present day, requires it of us. The descendants of these brave men 
 must find satisfaction in tracing their lineage through such a worthy 
 and patriotic ancestry ; while at the same time, the inspirations of 
 such a descent will arouse in their souls emotions urging to imita- 
 tion of their magnanimous spirit, and awaken within them a patri- 
 otism worthy the blood which they inherit. 
 
 Capt. James Hubbard lived in that part of the town since called 
 Kennebunk. His company was enlisted for eight months service, and 
 consisted of the following officers and soldiers : 
 
 James Hubbard, Captain, Samuel Chadbourne, 
 
 Joseph Churchill, Lieut., Bartholomew Goodwin, 
 
 Nathaniel Cousens, Lieut., Joseph Littlefield, 
 
 Stephen Larrabee, Sergeant, Jotham Littlefield, 
 31 
 
482 
 
 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTSTK. 
 
 Samuel Burnham, Do., 
 
 John Butland, Bo., 
 
 Thomas Wormwood, Corporal, 
 
 Stephen Fairfield, Do., 
 
 Remick Cole, Do., 
 
 Richard Gillpatrick, Do., 
 
 Jacob Blaisdell, Fifer, 
 
 John Webber, Drummer, 
 
 Joseph Cousens, 
 
 Rowlins Colburn, 
 
 John Denny, jr., 
 
 Joseph Dagget, 
 
 Job Emery, 
 
 Obediah Emons, 
 
 Jedediah Gooch, 
 
 Dim on Hubbard, 
 
 James Gillpatrick, 
 
 Joshua Gillpatrick, 
 
 Edmund Currier, 
 
 A few belonging to other towns 
 
 Abraham Littlefield, 
 Henry Maddox, 
 John Magner, 
 John Ross, 
 Abner Wormwood, 
 Samuel Waterhouse, 
 John Kimball, 
 John Webber, jr., 
 Benjamin Wormwood. 
 Amos Storer, 
 Jedediah Goodale, 
 John Wormwood, 
 Ezekiel Webber, 
 Jonathan Banks, 
 John Campbell, 
 John Penny, 
 Isaac Storer, 
 Benjamin Webber, 
 John Boothby, jr. 
 
 were also in this company. 
 
 The following was the company of Capt. Samuel Sawyer : 
 
 Samuel Sawyer, Captain, 
 Jedediah Littlefield, Lieut., 
 Samuel Stevens, Ensign, 
 Samuel Goodale, Sergeant, 
 George Jacobs, Do., 
 John Littlefield, Do., 
 Joel Stevens, Corporal, 
 Jonathan Low, Do., 
 Nathan Kimball, Do., 
 .Stephen Johnson, Do., 
 Joshua Taylor, Drummer, 
 Joseph Kilgore, Fifer, 
 Abraham Barnes, 
 Jonathan Banks, 
 Timothy Boston, 
 Jonathan Boston, 
 
 Nason Lord, 
 Ebenezer Littlefield, 
 Josiah Morrison, 
 Benjamin Morrison, 
 John Mitchell, 
 William Dealing, 
 John Meldrum, 
 Allen Penny, 
 Joseph Stevens, 
 Reuben Stuart, 
 Ebenezer Storer, 
 Abraham Storer, 
 Ebenezer Tibbets, 
 Eliphalet Taylor, 
 Seth Taylor, 
 John Trow, 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 483 
 
 Daniel Chaney, James Wormwood, 
 
 John Cram, Eli Wormwood, 
 
 Robert Day, Francis Winn, 
 
 Nathaniel Day, Joseph Wilkins, 
 
 William Jellison, Edmund Welch, 
 
 Paul Goodwin, Joseph Welch, 
 
 Zachariah Getchell, Samuel Williams, 
 
 Abner Fish, Thomas Gould, 
 
 Gideon Hatch, Pelatiah Penny, 
 
 Abraham Hatch, Simon Chase, 
 
 Francis Hatch, Stephen Anuis, 
 
 Joseph Horn, William Goodwin, 
 
 Jonathan Jacobs, Joseph Crediford, 
 
 Hezekiah Kimball, Stephen Andros, 
 
 Eleazer Howard, Scipio. 
 
 The following persons, belonging to Wells, enlisted in the com- 
 pany of Capt. Jesse Dorman, of Arundel : Ezekiel Wakefield, Ser- 
 geant, John P'isk, John Hubbard, James Smith, Abijah Wormwood, 
 Daniel Meader, Moses Drown, Edmund Littlefield, Moses Blaisdell. 
 
 There was also a company under the command of Capt. Noah M. 
 Littlefield, which was enlisted to guard the beach from Kittery to 
 Portland, and was at the latter place immediately after it was burnt, 
 afterward at Kittery, employed in building the fort, and another 
 company under the command of Capt. Joshua Bragdon, many of 
 whom were inhabitants of Wells. 
 
 Capt. Hubbard's and Capt. Sawyer's companies marched to Cam- 
 bridge, and were in the service there eight months. 
 
 So far as we have been able to learn the facts in regard to this first 
 enlistment for the revolution, we are led to believe that more than 
 half of the able-bodied men of the town entered the service. The 
 enthusiasm was such that few felt themselves in the way of duty, 
 who kept aloof from it. 
 
 Capt. Hubbard died in the service at Cambridge. He was a 
 worthy citizen, firm and resolute in his adhesion to the principles 
 which were the moving cause of the Revolution, and ready to offer 
 himself on the altar of liberty. He was one of the selectmen of the 
 town ; was also one of the committee of correspondence chosen to 
 
484 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 consult with the friends of liberty as to the appropriate means of re- 
 sisting the encroachments of the government on the rights and lib- 
 erties of the people. It was to the best minds that the people looked 
 for counsel and direction in this perilous hour. Questions of fearful 
 magnitude were now waiting solution. The people had gone too 
 far to admit of retreat. Liberty or slavery was involved in the con- 
 test. Successful resistance was the only hope of the country. But 
 the Provincial authorities were up to the exigencies of the hour. 
 There were men in York county, recently installed in important sta- 
 tions, too strongly suspected of loyalty to the enemy to be permitted 
 to exercise their official functions. They were accordingly removed, 
 and patriotic and energetic men appointed in their places. Massa- 
 chusetts, with a courage which blinked not at the threats of British 
 tyranny ; and whose people were determined to brook all the terrors 
 with which the power of the enemy could invest the rebellion, boldly 
 made declaration of her independence of the authority of King 
 George; pronouncing many of the civil and military officers as un- 
 friendly to the liberties of the American Colonists. As it was diffi- 
 cult to discriminate between the trustful and those of doubtful pa- 
 triotism, all incumbents were removed from office on the 19th day of 
 September, and new and reliable men appointed to fill the vacancies. 
 Commissions were issued as before in the name of the king, though 
 by the coup de etat, he was virtually shorn of his power, the officers 
 thus appointed being the most inflexible opponents of all measures 
 of Parliament, designed to bring the people into subjection. Thus 
 John Bradbury was appointed and commissioned judge of probate 
 of this county in the place of Jonathan Sayward, and Daniel Sewall, 
 register. Their commissions had been made out after the old formu- 
 la; but were confirmed by the Council with the following qualifica- 
 tion : " Dele, George the 3d by the grace of God, &c.," and also, 
 "the 15th year of His Majesty's reign," and insert, "Year of our 
 Lord;" also, "The Governor and People of Massachusetts Bay." 
 This was a bold step toward freedom and independence, and we 
 think it has never been duly appreciated by the historian. Though 
 that State has frequently been charged with a grasping monopoly of 
 all the honors growing out of the improvements and advancement of 
 modern civilization, it does not appear in this case to have claimed 
 or boasted, as it properly might, of the bravery, decision and firm- 
 ness manifest in this memorable act. It was surely valorous and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBCHSIK. 485 
 
 noble in the highest degree, thus to dare the power of the greatest 
 nation on earth. The Congress of the Confederation in enunciating 
 the independence of the United States, had the mutual support of 
 the various Colonies. But in this proceeding Massachusetts was 
 alone. Her's is the renown of being the first, single handed, to pro- 
 claim to the world independence of the English government. 
 
 This year may well be regarded as the most exciting of any in the 
 annals of the State. The agitation was universal. The multitude 
 were earnest and determined in their resistance to oppression. The 
 few were fearful and selfish, trembling at the thunderings of Eng- 
 land, and casting about them for the preservation of their official po- 
 sitions, or for the security of their property. Perhaps, in closing the 
 history of this period, the reader will better understand the feelings 
 of the people by the record of the trials of an individual, than by 
 any remarks which we can make. Judge Say ward says : 
 
 "Deo. 31, 1775. I am now arrived at the close of the year, 
 through the forbearance of God. It hath been a year of extraordi- 
 nary trials. Aside from the death of my wife (the greatest of all), 
 I have lost a new sloop, cast away this month, and suffered the loss 
 of one or more cargoes in the West Indies, and largely by the death 
 of one and another. But this is but small compared with the haz- 
 ards I have had, and am still in, on account of my political senti- 
 ments and conduct. I have been confined upon honor not to absent 
 myself from the town, and a bondsman, Jotham Moulton, Esq. 
 Often threatened ; afraid to go abroad ; have not been out of town 
 for nine months, through fear, though my business greatly required 
 it. The loss of trade ; the scorn of the abjects; slight of friends; 
 continually on my guard; all my offices, judge of probate, judge of 
 the court of common pleas, justice of the quorum, justice of the 
 peace, taken from me. Constant danger of being driven from my 
 habitation ; so much that I have constantly kept £200 lawful in gold 
 and paper currency in my pocket from fear of being suddenly re- 
 moved from my abode. I have been examined before committees 
 and obliged to lay open my letters from Governor Hutchinson ; to 
 swear to my private correspondence. All the above I have suffered 
 from principle." 
 
 Sayward had been popular with the people. He was confided in 
 
486 HISTOKY OF WELLS and kennebtjnk. 
 
 as a man of sterling integrity, and held an influential position in the 
 church. Yet all his worthy qualities were insufficient to shield him 
 from the distrust of the great body of citizens. So it was with 
 others who were backward in giving in their adhesion to the cause 
 of revolution. Many friendships were broken up. There was no 
 charity for the faint hearted. He that was not for resistance was 
 the enemy of his country, so that much ill-will existed in every 
 neighborhood toward those who could not pass muster as true to 
 the great cause of freedom. We have stated before that there was 
 less exasperation in Wells against these men who stood aloof from 
 any action in the nature of rebellion than in any of the adjoining 
 towns. There were none who would openly avow themselves as 
 loyalists, though there were some who gave no utterances for free- 
 dom. A timorous spirit kept them from any overt acts against the 
 home government. In York the people were more demonstrative. 
 Though Say ward did no act at this time on which any disaffection 
 to the new order of things could be predicated, his reticence satis- 
 fied most people of his opposition to the general sentiment, and the 
 record of a town meeting April 21, 1775, says, the "town having 
 been somewhat uneasy and disaffected with the conduct of Jonathan 
 Sayward, Esq., supposing him to be not hearty and free for the sup- 
 port and defense of our rights, liberties, and privileges, in this dark 
 and difficult day, but rather favored the contrary, he came into the 
 meeting and made a speech upon the subject. Whereupon the town 
 voted it was satisfactory and adjourned to May 16th, when the com- 
 mittee, who were appointed to view such letter or letters as Jona- 
 than Sayward, Esq., has received from the late Gov. Hutchinson or 
 others, and make such reports upon them as they think proper, 
 made report that their examination was satisfactory, which report 
 was accepted; but the people were just as uneasy as before, and 
 Sayward was constantly watched and harrassed all the time after- 
 ward. What his explanation, with which the town was satisfied, 
 was, is unknown ; but that he never had any sympathy with the 
 movements which were tending to revolution, is as certain as any 
 fact of our history. 
 
 One other fact, indicative of the excitement which had been 
 awakened against all of doubtful loyalty to the cause of freedom, 
 may be added. Paul Woodbridge kept a public house, and he 
 would allow no one whose impulses did not harmonize with the spirit 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 487 
 
 of the hour to have accommodations under his roof, so that he took 
 down his sign and raised it anew with the inscription, " Entertain- 
 ment for the Sons of Liberty." 
 
 Having occupied so much space in endeavoring to exhibit the 
 feeling which prevailed in Wells and the adjoining towns in relation 
 to Parliamentary measures and the impending conflict, we think it 
 unnecessary to give anything more than a concise account of the 
 subsequent action of the town. The same spirit ruled to the close 
 of the war. Sometimes, indeed, the people faltered a little ; but 
 their hearts were in the work of redemption from the grievances of 
 which there was such general complaint, and they came up to the 
 work when required. 
 
 When the eight months' service at Cambridge had expired, many 
 of the soldiers of Capt. Sawyer's company re-enlisted for one year. 
 Others also enrolled themselves in his company ; these were princi- 
 pally from Wells. The following were members of it, and were in 
 active service twelve months, viz. : Jedediah Littlefield, lieutenant ; 
 Samuel Stevens, ensign; James Gillpatrick, Isaac Storer, John 
 Bourne, Elijah Boston, Nathaniel Butland, Paul Goodwin, Benjamin 
 Kimball, William Perkins, Stephen Ricker, Daniel Stuart. 
 
 This service was one of great hardship and exposure. They 
 marched to New York, thence to Albany, Lake Champlain, St. 
 Johns, Montreal ; thence up to the Cedars, sixty miles ; thence back 
 to St. Johns, where most of them had the small-pox ; thence to Ti- 
 conderoga and Albany, Newton and Trenton, where they captured 
 the Hessians ; then again to Newton and Trenton, where they were 
 discharged. 
 
 Many were in the service at the same time in other directions, and 
 in consequence, a large proportion of the able-bodied men of the 
 town being in the army, their farms were neglected, and thereby 
 great suffering and deprivation came upon families. It was a day of 
 severe trial to all the people ; so had been the year previous. On 
 the 21st of June, the ministers of the neighboring towns gathered 
 together at York to implore the divine interposition. Rev. Daniel 
 Little, of Kennebunk, preached from Lamentations iii. 6, " He hath 
 set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old." Even to the 
 most courageous the aspect of public affairs must have been far from 
 promising; but the work of revolution had been initiated, and the 
 people were determined to carry it on. On the 18th day of March, 
 
488 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 1776, i committee of correspondence and safety, consisting of Na- 
 thaniel Kimball, John Mitchell, Joseph Wheelright, Benjamin Hatch, 
 and Daniel Clark, were chosen to keep the town informed of the po- 
 sition of affairs, and to give the earliest notice of what the exigen- 
 cies of the hour might require of the people. On the eighth of May 
 a town meeting was holden to determine what instruction should be 
 given to their representative to guide his action in relation to the 
 important matters which should come up for the determination of 
 the legislature, when it was voted, " that the representative of this 
 town in the general court be instructed that if the Hon. Congress of 
 the United Colonies should declare themselves independent of Great 
 Britain, the people will solemnly engage with their lives and for- 
 tunes to sustain them in that measure." 
 
 Joseph Storer was then the Representative of the town, and in 
 accordance with this vote the following instruction was given to him : 
 " To Joseph Storer, Esq. Sir. As we have been repeatedly called 
 upon by the General Assembly to advise you in regard to the im- 
 portant question of declaring the United Colonies in America in- 
 dependent of the Kingdom of Great Brittain, we now inform you 
 that if it should be necessary for the safety and happiness of said 
 Colonies to be declared independent of Great Brittain, that we are 
 ready and willing to support such a measure with our lives and for- 
 tunes and every other measure tending to promote the happiness and 
 welfare of said Colonies." 
 
 Though this vote and the instructions were subsequent to the date 
 of the Declaration of Independence, they lose none of their force or 
 value from this fact, as the news of the Declaration had not then 
 reached Wells. Ten or twelve days elapsed before the people here 
 were apprised of this great act of their representatives. There were 
 then no railroads, steamboats or telegraphs to transmit, as on the 
 wings of the wind, the knowledge of what was taking place in dif- 
 ferent parts of the country. To some few persons the report came 
 like a thunderbolt. One of them in a memorandum of the fact says, 
 "It is beyond my depth! I am lost in wonder!" But many of the 
 people received the news with joy, though probably trembling some- 
 what at the boldness of the procedure, and in the anticipation of the 
 fearful consequences which must inevitably ensue. It has been, as 
 then predicted by the noble spirits under whose names it went forth 
 to the American people and the world, the most memorable day in the 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 489 
 
 history of this continent. Though party strife and contention have 
 frequently prevailed to such a degree as to awaken in many patriotic 
 hearts the deepest solicitude ; and though civil war has thereby come 
 over the nation with its demoralizing influences, yet shielded by a 
 gracious Providence, and strengthened by the sound morality of a 
 large proportion of the people, the national confederation has been 
 maintained, and the United States have grown to be almost the lead- 
 ing nation of the earth ; respected as a power adequate to any exi- 
 gencies of national existence. As American citizens, we must ever 
 remember with gratitude the brave men who thus initiated this 
 people into this unexampled career of development and progres- 
 sive civilization, while beside them will stand the faithful and true 
 men of our own day, who left their shops and the plow, buckled 
 on their armor and periled life, and all dear to them, to support and 
 carry out this programme of national independence and glory. 
 Though not educated to a wise and large statesmanship, these men 
 of the revolution were gifted with that true nobility of soul which 
 was ready to hazard life, rather than to see this land of their affec- 
 tions subjected to the sway of an unfeeling tyranny. They recog- 
 nized no stronger obligations than those which bound them to God 
 and duty ; and needed not the spur of ambition or pecuniary reward 
 to prompt them to commit themselves to the cause of freedom. 
 "Sink or swim, live or die," was not in the mouth of those only who 
 were then politically great, but also welled up from the hearts of 
 many who had theretofore contented themselves in the humble walks 
 of life. Many such magnanimous spirits were found among the 
 townsmen of Wells. No other town can boast of more patriotism 
 than was manifested by the ancestry from which a large proportion 
 of the citizens of Wells trace their descent. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence was read in both the churches, 
 agreeably to an order of the State council. Having thus the sanc- 
 tion of the pulpit, it was felt to be a Divine command to the people 
 to come up to the help of the Lord and maintain it. 
 
 Died March 2, 1774, Joseph Sayer, aged 68. He was the son of 
 Francis Sayer, and was born Dec. 8, 1706. He was educated as a 
 physician, and pursued the practice of medicine several years. He 
 was regarded as well versed and skillful in his profession, and found 
 a favorable acceptance with the people. But like a great many pro- 
 
490 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 fessional men, he soon wearied of this employment. It did not fully 
 satisfy his aspirations. He was a man of an active, energetic tem- 
 perament, and needed more independence, a freedom to pursue what- 
 ever other business might commend itself to his sympathies. He 
 moved from his house on Great Hill into the village of Wells, and 
 went into trade, navigation and farming; engaging in any enterprise 
 which would employ his time and bring in reasonable profits. He 
 was careful and cautious in his affairs, quick in discernment, and 
 generally sound in his judgments. For the day in which he lived, 
 he went largely into commerce, built many small vessels. In most 
 of these he was a partner with Judge Sayward, of York, and being 
 thus connected with him, much common feeling existed between 
 them. The anticipated rupture with Great Britain disturbed his 
 mind exceedingly. Sayward during the whole conflict, from the be- 
 ginning to the c?ose of the war, could not look on the rebellion or 
 any of its developments with composure. His pecuniary interests 
 and his civil position were too deeply involved in its issues. Sayer, 
 his partner, naturally, in some measure, partook of his feelings. His 
 property would be exposed to the ravages of war on the seas, or per- 
 ish at the wharves. It was not strange that he should look forward 
 to the impending conflict with some misgivings as to its expediency. 
 It requires a very sound patriotism to be ready to sacrifice all a man 
 has to a mere political principle. He was naturally of a timorous 
 disposition and looked with trembling where some men would be un- 
 dismayed. But though somewhat excited at the political portents, 
 he endeavored to maintain a Christian fortitude. For four or five 
 years previous to his death his health was very infirm. He regarded 
 his personal condition as very unfavorable for continued life, and be- 
 ing reduced in physical strength, trembled at the approach of death. 
 But he pursued his business with interest and attention. He was 
 instrumental in getting up the salt works to meet any public exigen- 
 cies. He had much to do in the direction of municipal affairs, and 
 was also appointed to various offices of trust and responsibility — 
 was judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and manager of the lottery 
 authorized by the Legislature to build bridges over the Saco and 
 Presumbscot rivers. Being regarded as a faithful man, his services 
 were sought for many important purposes. He was long a member 
 of the Congregational church, and in all his intercourse manifested 
 the true Christian spirit. Charity was a prominent element of his 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 491 
 
 moral constitution. He guarded his heart against all unkind feelings, 
 and his tongue against all rash speeches ; never speaking ill of any 
 one, and endeavoring to treat all as brethren. The house of God 
 was dear to him, and he was always in his seat when it was opened 
 for worship. In his social relations he manifested to all about him 
 that his daily life was the issue of a Christian heart. 
 
 Though the apprehension of death, while able to pursue the busi- 
 ness of life, somewhat disturbed his thoughts, his fears were gradual- 
 ly subdued as he drew near the close of his days, and the bright 
 prospects which faith presents to the honest Christian heart, counter- 
 acted all fearful apprehensions. His life was one of active usefulness, 
 his death a great public loss. 
 
 In his will he gave to his daughter Eunice the part of the Great 
 Hill farm owned by him, also his part of the schooner Prosperous. 
 To his daughter Sarah he gave five-eighths of sloop Elizabeth. He 
 made provision also for his son Ebenezer, whom he had educated at 
 Harvard University, and also for Elizabeth Hilton, who had always 
 been one of his family. His wife was Mehitabel Littlefield, daugh- 
 ter of Francis Littlefield, third. She died Oct. 23, 1750, aged 27. 
 
 A few years after the death of Dr. Sayer, March 30, 1778, died his 
 eon, Ebenezer Sayer, aged 28. We have but little knowledge of 
 this young man. His father had taken great pains and incurred 
 much expense in his education, having sent him to Harvard College, 
 from which he graduated in 1768. In 1775, when only about twen- 
 ty-five years of age, he was chosen to represent the town in the 
 Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and again for the Congress at 
 Watertown. He was also colonel of the regiment of militia. From 
 all the facts which we have been able to glean of his life, we cannot 
 but infer that he was a man of much promise. Though his father 
 at first was of doubtful loyalty to the growing spirit of the Prov- 
 inces, the son must have shared in the common sentiment of the 
 people, that the government of the parent country was oppressive in 
 its administration, and that its action must be resisted, otherwise he 
 would not have been invested with these important offices. By his 
 father's will he was made independent, having about ten thousand 
 dollars. His library (unless exceeded by that of Dr. Hemmenway, 
 of which we have been unable to obtain any knowledge) was the 
 largest in Wells. That our readers may understand the character of 
 
492 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the literature of the day, and the extent to which the desire for 
 books was gratified, we subjoin a catalogue of this library : Ward's 
 Arithmetic, Greenleafs Abridgement of Burns' Justice, Great Bible, 
 Ward's Oratory, 2 vols., Telemachus, Rollins' Method, 4 vols., French 
 Dictionary, Johnson's Dictionary, Hutchinson's History, 2 vols., 
 Watts' Astronomy, Bland's Discipline, Greek Lexicon, Virgil, 2 
 vols., three small Bibles, Cato's Tragedy, Young's Dictionary, Locke's 
 Essay on the Human Understanding, Horace, 2 vols., Scott's Chris- 
 tian Life, Cicero's Orations, Pope's Works, Spectator, 5 vols., Milton, 
 French Grammar, Gil Bias, Ladie's Calling, Hemmenway's Essay. 
 
 In 1774 he was married to Elizabeth Checkley, of Boston. They 
 left no children. In September, 1780, his widow was married to 
 Rev. John Lothrop, of Boston. 
 
 On the first day of April, 1774, died Waldo Emerson - . He was 
 the son of Rev. Joseph Emerson, of Maiden. He came to Wells in 
 1757, and settled in that part of the town now Kennebunk. He 
 built a house at the Landing, where Henry Kingsbury now lives, 
 and became a successful trader, occupying a store which stood in the 
 same place as the j3i*esent one. He was a man of much enterprise, 
 and did an extensive business, entering into navigation and all the 
 pursuits usually incident to it. He soon acquired property to a con- 
 siderable amount, and was deemed a rich man. Possessed of the 
 kindest and most generous feelings, he made many friends. He was 
 benevolent, doing good to the widow and the fatherless, and extend- 
 ing his beneficence wherever he was satisfied it was needed. He 
 was many years a member of the Christian church, and in all his in- 
 tercourse honored his profession. No calls of business prevented 
 him from daily commending his family to the care of the Infinite 
 Providence. He was an honest man and a useful citizen, and in- 
 vested with important trusts, among which was that of collector of 
 the excise revenue. In 1759 he was married to Olive Hill, only 
 daughter of Rev. Samuel Hill, of Rochester. He rose from his bed 
 on the morning of April 1, 1774, dressed himself, and sat down in 
 his chair and expired. Paralysis had come over him a fortnight pre- 
 viously, though he had apparently recovered from it. He died at 
 the age of thirty-eight. He had three children : Samuel, born 
 April 25, 1760; Sarah, born May 18, 1762, and Waldo, born March 
 20, 1764. Samuel and Waldo died in infancy. His widow survived 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 493 
 
 him but a short time, dying the 23d of June following, at the age of 
 thirty-two, leaving thus only daughter Sarah, who was married to 
 Theodore Lyman Nov. 21, 1776. Mrs. Emerson was a valuable 
 woman, distinguished for all those virtues which make up the Chris- 
 tian character. Educated under the care of faithful parents, she was 
 imbued with those principles indispensable to a useful and happy 
 life. She felt her close relationship to all about her, and cherished 
 those kind and benevolent sympathies which attached her to the 
 poor as well as to the rich. She languished a long time under the 
 power of disease, the death of her husband intervening to add to 
 her severe trials ; but she maintained her serenity, feeling that she 
 was in the hands of a kind Providence, and closed her days in the 
 cheering hopes which brighten up the prospects of the faithful disci- 
 ple in the last hours of time. 
 
 In 1776, died Samuel Hancock. He came to Kennebunk in 1772, 
 having graduated at Harvard College in 1767. We have not learned 
 whether or not he studied any one of the professions. Most of the 
 graduates for a while engaged in teaching, one of the most effectual 
 means of impressing on the memory the knowledge acquired in col- 
 lege life. He began life here by teaching school at the Landing, be- 
 ing, as we suppose, a relative of Emerson. He was also accustomed 
 occasionally to preach on the Sabbath, and generally occupied the 
 pulpit while Mr. Little was absent on his missions. After the death 
 of Emerson he purchased the stock of goods which he left and 
 traded a little while ; began and partly finished a small vessel, and 
 then ended his earthly labors, dying at the close of 1775. He was 
 married in 1774 to Tabitha Champney, of Cambridge, whom he left 
 as his widow. She was again married to John Hubbard Aug. 18, 
 1797, by whom she had one son. She was again left a widow, and 
 her first husband dying insolvent, and the second leaving nothing 
 but a small house, she engaged in teaching, being a lady of good ed- 
 ucation. From this employment she derived the name of Marm 
 Hubbard, by which she was known during the remainder of her life. 
 She died Dec. 19, 1816, aged seventy-seven. Her son, John H. 
 Hubbard, grew to manhood. He was a young man of bright pros- 
 pects and sterling character. While a boy he was a clerk in the store 
 of Daniel Wise. In 1799 he went to sea, and died Dec. 12th, aged 
 twenty. 
 
494 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 It may be apposite here to add the remaining history of the occu- 
 pation of this shipbuilding and trading establishment. 
 
 Theodore Lyman came to Kennebunk from York, and was a 
 clerk in the store of Waldo Emerson. After he became of age, he 
 built a store where Mrs. Nicholas E. Smart now lives, and on the 
 25th day of April, 1775, Avhen the memorable battle of Lexington 
 took place, set out the great elms now standing in front of her 
 house. This store remained on this site several years, and was then 
 moved and converted into a dwelling house, and is the same now 
 owned and occupied by Mrs. Charlotte Hillard. Mr. Lyman's posi- 
 tion in Emerson's store and his necessary association with the fami- 
 ly led to an intimate connection between him and the daughter, 
 Sarah, to whom he was married Nov. 21, 1776, and whereby he be- 
 came afterward a man of great wealth, having come into the posses- 
 sion of all the property of his father-in-law. On this basis he went 
 largely into business, building and employing many vessels, w T hich 
 then found profitable employment in the West India trade. He 
 rapidly accumulated property, not having the liberal and generous 
 spirit for which Emerson was distinguished. His wife died Jan. 21, 
 1784, at the age of twenty-one. They had had two children, one of 
 whom died aged two years and nine months, and the other in infan- 
 cy, so that the title of all the real estate was perfected in him. He 
 was thus left alone in the world. But he did not suffer himself to 
 be so depressed by these adversities, as to halt in his exertions to 
 magnify himself among the people. He soon felt the need of res- 
 toration to family enjoyments, and set about making such improve- 
 ments in his home establishment as might aid in captivating the 
 affections of some worthy one who would give new dignity to his 
 household. Having this important end in view, and under the influ- 
 ence of that ambition which so frequently takes possession of those 
 who find no satisfaction in cheering the hearts of others by their lib- 
 erality, he conceived the thought of erecting, at great expense, a 
 lordly mansion, which might outvie any at that time in Maine. He 
 accordingly built the house now occupied by Mr. Kingsbury, which 
 was then regarded as one of surpassing magnificence. People came 
 from abroad to see it. One distinguished visitor in his diary, under 
 date July 27, 1785, says, "My wife and I went to Kennebunk to 
 visit Mr. Theodore Lyman and his sister Lucy and to see his seat. 
 
THE LYMAN HOUSE. 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK:. 495 
 
 It is fit for a nobleman, and I have seen nothing like it in this coun- 
 try, and scarcely anywhere." 
 
 Having thus fitted up a residence which he supposed would com- 
 mend itself to the tastes of aristocratic life, he was united in mar- 
 riage to Miss Lydia Williams, of Salem, Mass., and introduced her 
 to their elegant home on the 7th day of February, 1786. But a 
 change from the social life of Salem to that of Kennebunk did not 
 find, w T e suppose, its full compensation in the joys of wedded life, 
 and some longings came over her spirit to renew an intercourse like 
 that to which she had been accustomed. This splendid mansion did 
 not Ions: make him contented w 7 ith his situation. Riches had in- 
 creased and raised within him new aspirations. He resolved to place 
 himself in circumstances where he might enjoy a more wealthy com- 
 panionship and move in the circle of a higher life. In 1790 he went 
 to Boston and to Waltham, where he provided for himself a resi- 
 dence of more enlarged magnificence, and where he remained till 
 the close of life. There he largely increased his navigation, entering 
 into the East India trade. Many vessels were built for him by John 
 Bourne. As his habitancy in Wells ended by his removal, it does 
 not come within our province to follow him after that time. It is 
 believed that, though the foundation of his large property was laid 
 here, he never afterward visited Kennebunk. 
 
 Other persons, who were influential in the town's progression, 
 were brought here by the business which he set on foot and was pur- 
 suing with success. 
 
 Joseph Moody came from York, and was clerk in his store. He 
 remained with him a few years, and then began trade for himself in 
 a store opposite his house, now occupied by James M. Stone. The 
 store was moved subsequently from this site, and is the present post- 
 office. He soon became interested in navigation, and raised himself 
 to independence. Honest in all his business relations, and manly 
 and courteous in all his intercourse, he won the esteem of the peo- 
 ple, and was chosen one of the representatives of the town in 1802 
 and at various times afterward. He was also president of the Ken- 
 nebunk bank during the whole term of its existence, and town 
 treasurer many years. He was a man of peace, a lover of order, 
 and a friend of all benevolent institutions. He married Maria, 
 
496 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 daughter of Nathaniel Barrel!, of York, and had four children: 
 Eliza, who married William T. Vaughan, of Portland, Joseph Green, 
 George Barrell, and Theodore Lyman. Joseph and Theodore he ed- 
 ucated at Bowdoin College, and George at Harvard University. He 
 died July 20, 1839, aged seventy-six; his widow Oct. 23, 1869, aged 
 about ninety. 
 
 Oliver Keating, of York, also came to Kennebunk under the 
 auspices of Mr. Lyman. He was educated as a physician, and is 
 known in the memory of some of the ancients as Dr. Keating. But 
 the population was not sufficiently numerous to furnish him with a 
 profitable business in his profession, and he soon turned his attention 
 in other directions. He built two or three vessels for Mr. Lyman 
 and in various ways aided him in his business. He was an enter- 
 prising man, qualified for any employment. There were attractions 
 about Mr. Lyman's household which did not fail of effect on his sus- 
 ceptible spirit. Animal magnetism, though not so well understood 
 in those days as at present, was just as powerful in its action as un- 
 der the more complete developments cf the science in modern times. 
 Miss Lucy, the sister of his patron, had waked up in the soul of Dr. 
 Keating some emotions which he found it impossible to subdue, and 
 she, at the same time, pined for a higher blessedness than mere 
 brotherhood could give. Their mutual disclosures soon wrought out 
 a very satisfactory exchange of their several conditions. She went 
 to the old home in York, and on the 8th of October, 1785, Dr. Oli- 
 ver Keating and Miss Lucy Lyman were united in wedlock and re- 
 turned to Kennebunk. Soon after this he went to sea as master of 
 one of Mr. Lyman's vessels ; but after Mr. Lyman moved from the 
 town he carried on the establishment at the Landing. Neither Ly- 
 man nor Keating took much interest in town affairs. 
 
 After his removal the establishment was carried on by Theodore 
 and Honestus Plummer, who traded there but a short time. The- 
 odore w T as an active, enterprising man, and well fitted for business ; 
 but Honestus, unfortunately, was not sound in his temperance prin- 
 ciples. His appetite seized the reins of government, and he was re- 
 duced to that state of slavery under which one's manhood soon 
 withers away, and in consequence all prospects of the success of the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 497 
 
 partnership vanished, and they left the town. We have no knowl- 
 edge of their subsequent life. Mr. Lyman, in 1806, sold the whole 
 stand to John Bourne, who occupied it during life, dying in 1837. 
 It then came into the hands of George W. Bourne and Henry 
 Kingsbury, who there built many vessels for Mr. Lyman and others. 
 32 
 
498 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Revolutionary war— Bounties raised for soldiers — Vote op the 
 town of Wells on the adoption of the Constitution — Agents chos- 
 en TO PROSECUTE TORIES — AfiRAHAM CLARK — LlST OF WELLS MEN 
 
 killed near tlconderoga and crown point— tariff of prices es- 
 tablished ey the selectmen — manufacture of salt — iron works 
 at Kennerunk— Shdpping— Celebration of the surrender of Bur- 
 goyne — Vote of Wells on the articles of Confederation, etc. — Ad- 
 ditional bounties voted— Opposition of Wells to the State Con- 
 stitution—Contributions OF CLOTHING FOR THE ARMY— INCREASE OF 
 bounties — Penobscot expedition — Poverty of the people — Commit- 
 tee ON CORRESPONDENCE — THE DARK DAY — OBJECTION OF THE TOWN TO 
 
 the Bill of Rights and the Constitution— Another quota of sol- 
 diers required— High bounties voted— Efforts to enlist men— Re- 
 joicing AT THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS— PEACE. 
 
 We are fully assured that the foregoing account of the general 
 temperament of the inhabitants of Wells, has a reliable foundation 
 in the characters of the men of that trying hour, the war for inde- 
 pendence, although occasionally in the history of the town, we are 
 confronted by facts which may seem to indicate a less worthy state 
 of feeling. The expedition to Canada required a large number of 
 soldiers, and Wells was required to furnish its proportion. At the 
 request of some of the inhabitants, a meeting was called on the 29th 
 day of July, 1776, to see if the town would raise money to encour- 
 age enlistments. A majority voted in the negative; thus at first sight 
 seeming to exhibit a feeling very far from patriotic devotion to the 
 great interests of freedom. But the people with few exceptions 
 were poor. Money was not easily raised by the masses. Some were 
 abundantly able to contribute liberally for these pressing objects. 
 They could easily dispense with their superfluities without encroach- 
 ing on the comforts of life. But the poor man found it hard to 
 raise his dollar. He had nothing but his lands, which the perils of 
 the rebellion could not reach ; while the few who were possessed of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 499 
 
 other property had a much deeper interest in the issue of the contest. 
 Most of those who had nothing else were ready, if required, to yield 
 their personal services, and they chose to compel those who were 
 better enabled to advance whatever might be needed, or subject 
 themselves to the alternative of a draft. 
 
 But, before the close of the year, soldiers were called for in far 
 greater numbers. These demands were very heavy on the people. 
 One quarter part of the entire militia were called into the service , 
 to be ready to march at a moment's warning. The quota thus asked 
 was too large to rely on the richer part of the people to supply it ; 
 and a town meeting was called on the fourth day of December, 1776, 
 to take measures for doing the part of Wells for the reinforcement 
 of the army, and it was then voted to allow three pounds to each 
 man who should enlist as a private soldier, and two pounds to each 
 non-commissioned officer, and it was further voted to raise two hun- 
 dred pounds, to be assessed on the polls and estates, for the purpose 
 of paying these bounties. The Declaration of Independence having 
 been read in all the churches after the close of religious services, all 
 entered into its spirit, duly appreciating the requirements of the 
 crisis. Personal hardships and dangers in the military service were 
 not the only impending trials. The year had not been crowned with 
 the usual harvest. The corn crop had been an almost entire failure 
 in Wells and vicinity. Most of the people had nothing but their 
 hands and their farms, on which they could rely for the maintenance 
 of their families. The men and women of the present day would 
 be astonished at the little of earthly goods on which the inhab- 
 itants' of that time Avere wont to wend their way onward, even 
 cheerfully, through the journey of life. But bread must be had at 
 whatever cost. This could now be obtained only by such commer- 
 cial intercourse as the perils of the war would admit. Mr. Lyman 
 was almost the only person who could supply the pressing demands 
 of the people. Dr. Sawyer, who had owned two vessels, which were 
 engaged in the West India and coasting trade, had deceased, and we 
 are not informed whether they left the Port after the war com- 
 menced. Mr. Lyman had two small coasters which had been em- 
 ployed in bringing corn from Salem and some of the southern ports, 
 and at this time he had on hand a large quantity. Like most men, 
 with whom the accumulation of property is the ruling object of life, 
 he took advantage of the necessities of the public, and demanded an 
 
500 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJKK. 
 
 exorbitant price, — two dollars a bushel. Few persons were able to 
 pay that sura. But there was no alternative. It must be bought. 
 So great was the demand and such 'the rush for it, that he was 
 obliged to close his door, and permit but one person to enter at a 
 time, it being impossible to deal it out in the pressure of the multi- 
 tude. The Indian bannock provided, life was sustained. We do not 
 mean to assert that farmers and the people generally, did not in 
 those days live comfortably. They were able to furnish themselves 
 with the substantials of life; the bounties which their own hands 
 had secured. But this year the annual blessings had been withhold- 
 en by the overruling Providence, and in the aspect of public affairs, 
 they looked not beyond such a supply as would meet the absolute 
 wants of their families. The great work of the moment was the 
 maintenance of freedom, without which all felt life to be of but little 
 value. 
 
 At this time, other work beside fighting the enemy was demanded 
 by the exigencies of the hour. It was necessary to consolidate the 
 energies of the republic; to establish a government which could 
 more wisely and speedily bring together and appropriate the forces 
 of the new nation to the purposes of defense against the assaults of 
 the enemy; and at a meeting on the seventh of October, it was 
 " voted that this town consents that the present House of Represen- 
 tatives with the Council, if they think proper, may draw up a Con- 
 stitution and form of Government, and if the inhabitants of the 
 State approve of it, it shall be adopted." We suppose that this vote 
 was taken at the request of the government, to ascertain the public 
 feeling on that subject. 
 
 The year 1777 was marked by an excitement not less intense than 
 that of the year which had just closed. There was now little pros- 
 pect of any adjustment with the parent country. Those who had 
 adhered to the king and had lost thereby much of the respect of 
 their fellow-townsmen, and who thence felt that their popularity and 
 influence had been daily waning, began to be fully sensible of the 
 difficulties of their position. With no hope of a peaceable return of 
 the people to their allegiance, and subjected to the reproach and 
 scorn of every patriotic citizen, their situation was rendered still 
 more trying by the continual fear of personal injury from the devel- 
 opments of the mob spirit. It was with difficulty that this spirit 
 was repressed toward the traitors. Judge Say ward says, " the spirit 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 501 
 
 of disaffection and resentment to England in this vicinity, was high- 
 er than ever before." Still the people of Wells had thus far re- 
 frained from any violence toward these unfortunate men ; though 
 they regarded their residence among them as fraught with danger, 
 either from the effect of their disloyalty on the townsmen, or their 
 ministration to the aid of the enemy. At a town meeting on the 
 30th day of June, Capt. Stephen Titcomb was chosen agent, "to 
 prosecute such of the inhabitants of the town as are so inimically 
 disposed towards this State or the United States in America, that 
 their residence therein is dangerous to said States." 
 
 Whether the agent in any case exercised the authority committed 
 to him by this vote, does not appear on the records. If any attempt 
 of that kind was made, it was abandoned before proceeding to ex- 
 tremity. One's position as a loyalist at this time was most embarras- 
 sing. A law was enacted that " no one in preaching or praying should 
 justify England." So that if one's reason satisfied him that the 
 rebellion was without justifiable cause, in his communion with the 
 Almighty he had to be exceedingly careful not to suggest to Him his 
 true feelings in regard to that matter. It would have been perilous 
 to have prayed with the understanding and the heart. This restraint 
 upon the freedom of prayer and opinion, and the danger to which 
 those were exposed who did not agree with the multitude upon the 
 questions involved in the impending contest, led many to abandon 
 the country and flee to Halifax, or some other part of the king's 
 Provinces. We have no knowledge of more than one from Wells 
 who thus expatriated himself. Abraham Clark had no sympathy 
 with the rebellion, considering it as unjustifiable, and that its results 
 would be nothing less than the ruin of the country. He could not 
 abide the pending storm, and fled to St. John, in New Brunswick, 
 taking with him his family. How he reached that place we have not 
 been informed. But he went there a full loyalist, and was appointed 
 an overseer of the king's army, receiving a salary during his lifetime. 
 Two of his sons were in the British army against us in the war of 
 1812 — one holding the office of a Brig. General, the other that of a 
 Colonel. As it is, even at the present day, treason to party or 
 country is almost always the way to acceptance and promotion with 
 those to whom the traitor has fled. 
 
 The important fortress of Ticonderoga was this year captured by 
 the enemy, in consequence of which the State of Massachusetts was 
 
502 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 roused to the utmost exertion to reenforce the Northern army, and 
 thereby recover the lost ground, and " through the favor of heaven 
 to drive the enemy to an ignominious retreat." Accordingly it was 
 ordered that " one-sixth part of the able-bodied men in the training 
 band and alarm list should be called into and remain in the service 
 till the last of November, and that every person drafted should with- 
 in twenty-four hours be ready to march to the place of destination." 
 The previous draft in many places had not been fully responded to, 
 and to this failure the Legislature attributed the loss of Ticonderoga. 
 The orders in regard to this draft were therefore much more rigid 
 than the former. Many, probably not less than fifty men, were thus, 
 as in a moment, taken from their families and their labors for the 
 battle-field. The service was to be principally in New York. Al- 
 though the term was short, still it was long enough to bring great 
 affliction to the inhabitants. Many who went into this and other 
 services for their country during the year 1777, never returned. In 
 the battles near Ticonderoga and Crown Point seven or eight were 
 killed. Hammonds Tread well, on the 8th of July ; Joshua Hatch, 
 John Webber, Jonathan Webber, Stephen Drown, William Leonard, 
 and one Stevens, on the 7th. Ebenezer Stuart dropped dead on the 
 march, July 11th. 
 
 It being manifest to all that this separation of so many from their 
 families, and the loss thereby to agricultural labor, must result in 
 much suffering to the inhabitants, great exertion was made to provide 
 for the necessities of the poor and unfortunate. The families made 
 destitute were supplied by the town. And to counteract as much as 
 possible the propensity of grasping men to avail themselves of every 
 opportunity of adding to their wealth at the expense of want and 
 sorrow to others, the selectmen, under the authority of the statute, 
 established the prices of the principal necessaries of life. The follow- 
 ing are the prices of a few of the articles named in the schedule : 
 
 " Tow cloth, a yard wide, 2s. 8d. 
 
 Cotton and linen homespun cloth a yard wide, of the best home- 
 made sort, four shillings a yard. 
 
 A pine coffin for a grown person, nine shillings. 
 
 Dinner at taverns of boiled and roasted meat, and other things 
 equivalent, exclusive of wine, one shilling and sixpence. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 503 
 
 Flip made of the best West India rum at one shilling a mug ; if of 
 New England, tenpence. 
 
 Imported salt at ten shillings. 
 
 Home-made, of the best sort, twelve shillings. 
 
 Tailors for making a whole suit of clothes, twenty shillings." 
 
 "With nations as with individuals, deprivations, difficulties, and 
 trials are not to be regarded in the light of judgments or punitory 
 inflictions. They are in most cases plainly of the opposite character, 
 ministering to the best interests of the subject of them. The war 
 in which the people were now involved put their patriotism to the 
 test, and by its exercise imparted new strength to that noble element 
 where it existed, and perhaps by its compulsory measures, established 
 it in bosoms where before it had no hold. Iron and salt had hitherto 
 been obtained from abroad. But now the faculties of men must be 
 called into exercise in the production of both of these articles, and 
 accordingly in the beginning of the war some of the people conceived 
 the idea of supplying the country with salt. Theodore Lyman set up 
 an establishment for this purpose ; James Kimball, Jedediah Gooch, 
 and George Perkins another; and Richard Kimball and his son a 
 third. Two of these were located between the house of Thomas 
 Boothby and the sea, and the third on the point known as the Two 
 Acres. Some were built by Nathaniel Wells and others further 
 west. One of these produced about thirty bushels a week. It was 
 much better than that which was imported. The best sold for two 
 dollars a bushel, so that the owners were well paid for their enter- 
 prise. These works were continued several years until after the close 
 of the war, when the price of salt had fallen so low that the manu- 
 facture became unprofitable, and the works were abandoned. But 
 the people had learned by this experiment their complete independ- 
 ence of all other nations for its supply, when circumstances rendered 
 its importation impossible. 
 
 Iron was not less material for the business of life, and the capabil- 
 ities of the country for its production were called into exercise. 
 Before the war had commenced, and while the fears of the people 
 were excited by the anticipation of the conflict, the thought occur- 
 ing to some considerate minds that there might be a demand for this 
 article which ccmmerce could not supply, they resolved on the ex- 
 periment of its manufacture here. In 1774, a factory was erected on 
 
504 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the Mousara river, at the island below the present village dams. The 
 river did not then, as now, divide so as to make the present island, 
 this at that time being a part of the eastern shore. The shop was a 
 large one story building. Two forges only were used. It was built by 
 Joseph Hobbs, Ebenezer Rice, Benjamin Day, John Maddox, Jacob 
 Blaisdell, Moses Blaisdell, and David Hutchings. The material or 
 iron ore was obtained at different places, at Saco, Maryland Ridge, 
 Sanforcl, Arundel, and some on the western side of the road between 
 Wells and Kennebunk. Richard Gilipatrick afterward built a 
 factory on the western end of the present lower dam. The iron here 
 manufactured was said to have been very good for some purposes, for 
 axes, plows, chains, etc. Many relics of it are yet found in the town. 
 The most profitable part of the work was the manufacture of salt 
 pans, with which they supplied many towns in different parts of the 
 Province, salt being then made in various places. The iron was 
 made into bars weighing twenty-five pounds and upwards, and was 
 sold at five and six cents a pound. Some of the ore mines were 
 owned by the mill proprietors. Other owners of ore dug and hauled 
 it on their own account, receiving for it from two to four dollars a 
 ton. These factories were continued in operation nearly twenty 
 years. But commerce then became so extensive that iron from 
 abroad, and probably of a better quality, could be had at a less price 
 than was required to make a fair profit to the operators. But, now, 
 when the cost of iron is so high, and when science has so wonderfully 
 developed the latent capabilities of matter for meeting the wants of 
 man, and skill has been so educated as to do and perfect things 
 hardly dreamed of in the philosophy of the last century, the inquiry 
 may well suggest itself to the enterprising mind whether this work 
 may not here be profitably revived. We claim no special knowledge 
 of this department of human activity, and therefore do not pretend 
 to have formed an opinion on the subject. We merely make the 
 suggestion. But it may be well to add for the benefit of any one 
 who may examine the question, whether the enterprise now might 
 not be a paying one, that the labor required for the manufacture 
 must have been by no means arduous, as only about three-fourths of 
 a cent a pound were paid for it. A day's labor was about two shil- 
 lings and eightpence. For charcoal, from three to five cents a bushel 
 were paid. The necessaries of life did not differ materially in price 
 from the rates which are now current. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 505 
 
 On the first of December of this year, 1777, a meeting was holden 
 for the adoption of measures to supply the families of those who 
 were in the Continental service, and it was voted that it be recom- 
 mended to the several companies to provide necessaries for the fami- 
 lies of those who had been taken from their ranks. Having nothing 
 but this record, it is difficult to explain the procedure of the town. 
 To say the least of this recommendation, it is wonderfully cool. 
 One might infer that it was considered a high honor or benefit to 
 the companies thus to have supplied the ranks of the army, and that 
 this was a sufficient consideration for the assumption of the burden 
 of taking care of these families. But as we know that no such nig- 
 gardly spirit ruled in the hearts of the townsmen, we think it wise 
 to forego any attempt at an explanation. 
 
 Notwithstanding the uncertainties of the future, the people were 
 not disposed to suffer their energies to become torpid or idle. They 
 persevered in whatever work they had been engaged. It would 
 seem that there was but little prospect at this time of any profitable 
 employment for navigation. Waldo Emerson had commenced a 
 brig, which was in process of building when he died. Mr. Lyman 
 took the vessel to himself and finished her. He also built three 
 other small ones. These were intended for the West India trade. 
 Three of these vessels were captured by the enemy on the first 
 voyage. The fourth, rom some cause, was very unsuccessful. After 
 the war had actually begun, commercial marine intercourse must 
 have been exceedingly dangerous. A large business had previously 
 been carried on with the South and the West Indies by men in 
 Wells and York, the inhabitants of these towns owning navigation 
 in partnership. Judge Say ward, who had five or six vessels, was at 
 the close of the first year of the war bereft of nearly all, and also of 
 several cargoes which he had in the West Indies. Dr. Joseph Saw- 
 yer, John Wheelright, and some others in Wells were owners of 
 navigation at the same time. Sawyer dying in 1774, his vessels 
 were in the hands of his children ; but they shared the common fate 
 of the others early in the war. The sources of business abroad, if 
 not dried up, were virtually cut off from our commerce. But every 
 precaution was taken to guard against the effects of this failure. 
 Most people in their domestic arrangements were obliged to put 
 themselves on a war footing. Income failing, they had prudence 
 
506 
 
 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUKK. 
 
 and consideration enough to lead them to adapt themselves to their 
 circumstances. 
 
 The developments of the struggle this year were highly favorable 
 to the Provincials. Burgoyne with his army was compelled to sur- 
 render to the American forces. This capitulation sent a thrill of joy 
 throughout the country and inspired the people with new courage to 
 press on in the conflict. There was great rejoicing in Wells when 
 the news reached here. The inhabitants gathered together and con- 
 gratulated each other on the auspicious event, indulging in free liba- 
 tions of punch and other stimulants. They also found further 
 enjoyment and sport in trying their skill at a mark, which was a 
 common amusement in those days. In the evening, the house of 
 Samuel Hancock, a part of that now occupied by Henry Kingsbury, 
 was brilliantly illuminated. This, we suppose, was the first attempt 
 at such a manifestation of rejoicing in Wells. 
 
 Some of the measures adopted by the government during the war 
 may appear to those whose patriotic impulses are weak, as partaking 
 of too much severity, and inconsistent with that liberty for which 
 they claimed to be fighting. But it must be remembered that the 
 nation was yet in its infancy ; that the population of the United 
 States was small; and that being engaged in a contest with a power- 
 ful and heartless enemy, the full strength of the country must be 
 brought into the contest. The crisis was of such a character that 
 everything depended on a united front. All over the country there 
 were men who seized every opportunity to discourage accessions to 
 our military strength, and whose traitorous spirits led them to op- 
 pose the noble and patriotic impulses of the people by appeals to 
 their fears, and by all the ignominious arts which an evil mind could 
 suggest. Here and there was a minister of the gospel who did not 
 %esitate to exercise his official influence for the same unholy purpose, 
 rand the General Court of Massachusetts found it necessary, as a war 
 .measure, to impose the restrictions on preaching and praying which 
 we have before mentioned, for a violation of which a penalty of fifty 
 pounds was prescribed. It was also enacted that all military officers 
 and all attorneys at law should take the oath of fealty and fidelity to 
 the State of Massachusetts and of opposition to any measures of 
 George the Third to bring the State back to subjection. 
 
 These acts were then denounced by these sticklers for entire liber- 
 ty as arbitrary and oppressive, and as depriving men of their rights ; 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 507 
 
 but they had the approbation of all who were true to their country. 
 There were other acts which were far more arbitrary than these. 
 General Washington, in 1778, ordered every man to thresh his grain. 
 To such as are not accustomed to look beyond their own interests, 
 this order would seem to be an assumption of authority which was 
 not warranted by any jurisdiction which he had, whether civil or 
 military. But all interests were involved in the struggle. The 
 property, lives, and liberties of all the people were in jeopardy. 
 Every one was bound to make the necessary sacrifice. The immedi- 
 ate occasions for bread and forage must be responded to. 
 
 There was not much fear of any forcible seizure of the products 
 of the farms in this vicinity ; but in some other parts of the country 
 such confiscations were of absolute necessity. Men were taken from 
 their agricultural labors, and in some sections the earth had with- 
 holden its ordinary benefactions in return for human industry. The 
 obligations of men to their country are imperative ; yet how small 
 the number who duly appreciate them. 
 
 In January, 1778, the " Articles of Confederation and perpetual 
 union between the States, assuming the title of United States of 
 America," were adopted, and the various towns of the country were 
 called on to express their views in relation to the action of the Gen- 
 eral Congress. Wells instructed its representative to vote for a rat- 
 ification. No hope of adjustment of the matters in controversy 
 with England now remained, and very few desired any. The 
 strength of the people must be concentrated for the most speedy es- 
 tablishment of independence. All other questions were swallowed 
 up in this great object, and the town was awake to the demands of 
 it. 
 
 At a meeting, March 16th, called to answer the requisition for 
 more soldiers, it was voted to pay £20 to each man who should en- 
 list for the term of three years. This may seem to be a very liberal 
 bounty when compared with the previous benevolence of the town ; 
 but money had very much depreciated, and the £20 does not truly 
 express the amount awarded to these patriotic men. This remuner- 
 ation was but a slight inducement to this long service. Some of the 
 people loved the excitement of the conflict, and were ready to give 
 themselves to it when required ; others wished for employment, and 
 it mattered little what it was. 
 
 At this same meeting Joshua Bragdon was chosen to prosecute 
 
508 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 traitors to the confederation. Notwithstanding the war had been 
 in progress about three years, and the people were so deeply in- 
 volved in the rebellion that they could not take any retrograde steps, 
 there were still to be found indifferent and obstinate men who would 
 give no countenance or support to the great cause of freedom, and 
 who availed themselves of every opportunity secretly to aid the en- 
 emy in subduing the country to the power of the king. Probably 
 no one was willing to take this office of prosecutor of these men 
 more than one term. Mr. Titcomb, who held the office the preced- 
 ing year, we suppose, declined to accept it a second time. Bragdon 
 was a man of courage and resolution, and went into active service 
 in the army; but whether he carried out toward any person his offi- 
 cial obligations as prosecutor, does not appear on the records. 
 
 Delegates had been elected for the purpose of forming a State 
 constitution or form of government, which duty had been fulfilled, 
 and the result of their proceedings was laid before the several towns 
 for their approval. Wells took a decided stand against the constitu- 
 tion, as thus framed, having at a full meeting, on the 18th day of 
 May, 1788, voted unanimously against it. The objections to its ac- 
 ceptance are not found in any written evidence of the proceedings 
 of the meeting. But it seems somewhat singular that an important 
 instrument, which received the support of a convention of intelli- 
 gent citizens, should not have found a single friend among the in- 
 habitants. The party spirit of the present day had not then entered 
 into the counsels of the town. Men were actuated rather by a sense 
 of the public interests than by any personal or party ambitions. 
 Able men, having definite and decided views of any matter, would 
 gain the ear of the whole people, and, without any great exertion, 
 inspire all present with their views in relation to it. We are of the 
 opinion that this vote was the mere expression of the judgment of 
 one man. 
 
 The town was satisfied with the old government as it existed pre- 
 viously to the war, and at this meeting it was voted to direct their 
 representative " to join with other members of the General Court, if 
 it should be thought proper, in choosing a Governor, Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor, and Secretary, and also in adopting and confirming all parts of 
 the Constitution and form of Government that they were under be- 
 fore the commencement of the war with Great Britain, excepting 
 such parts of it as are repugnant to and inconsistent with a state of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 509 
 
 independence, to continue and remain during the present war, and 
 until a new Constitution shall be agreed upon by the inhabitants of 
 said State." 
 
 At this period there was great suffering in the army from the 
 want of suitable clothing, and the Legislature called on the people to 
 do what they could in the way of contribution. There were many 
 of the townsmen in the army, and one would have supposed that 
 this fact, conspiring with the deep interest in the great cause so near 
 the hearts of the people, would have called forth a generous re- 
 sponse, more especially when the articles needed were the product 
 of domestic industry, and easily furnished by almost every family. 
 We insert here the result in one district of the town. It does not 
 do much credit to our ancestors. The people indeed were needy. 
 The dearth of employment, failure of crops, and the harrassing fears 
 of what might await them, had a depressing influence on their hearts; 
 yet we must confess that it can hardly be looked upon as an exhibi- 
 tion of a patriotic devotion to their country. The following is the 
 memorandum of the generosity of the persons named. 
 
 " An account of the number of shirts and pairs of stockings and 
 shoes delivered to Stephen Titcomb, by the inhabitants of the Sec- 
 ond Parish in Wells, as a present for the Continental army, agreea- 
 ble to a request of the General Court of the State of Massachusetts 
 Bay, began to be collected the 9th of April, 1778 : 
 
 Shirts, Stockings, Shoes. 
 
 & 12s. 4d. cash, 
 
 Richard Boothby, 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Capt. Samuel Waterhouse, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Joel Larrabee, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 John Cousens, 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Jesse Larrabee, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Adam Ross, 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 James Ross, 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 John Gillpatrick, jr., 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 John Shackley, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Dea. Richard Kimball, 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 Israel Kimball, 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 William Wormwood, 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 John Mitchell, 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Obadiah Hatch, 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 . •? 
 
510 
 
 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KBNNBBUNE. 
 
 John Maddox, 
 Richard Thompson, 
 Samuel Kimball, 
 
 Shirts, 
 2 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Stockings, 
 
 Shoes 
 
 Israel Kimball, 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 Daniel Little, 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Eliphalet Walker, 
 James Kimball, 
 
 1 Returned. 
 
 2 
 
 Jabez Emery, 
 Obadiah Littlefield, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Widow Miriam Littlefield, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Ebenezer Coburn, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Capt. Nathaniel Kimball, 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Edmund Currier, 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Stephen Titcomb, 
 Samuel Littlefield, jr., 
 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Jotham Littlefield, 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Stephen Larrabee, jr., 
 Theodore Lyman, 
 Joseph Storer, 
 James Lord, 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 The names of those who would give nothing we omit, although, 
 when the object of history is considered, such omission is of doubt- 
 ful propriety. A great many of the neighbors of these men were 
 now in the service. No less than thirty-one of Nathaniel Cousins' 
 company, all living in Kennebunk, were on the battle-field this year. 
 The impulses of common neighborly kindness, one would think, 
 would have led them to a hearty contribution. 
 
 The representations made by the proper authorities of the suffer- 
 ings of the army, from the want of suitable clothing or from the 
 failure of other necessary supplies, must have had its effect in re- 
 tarding enlistments. Men were as ready to run the risks of battle 
 as to meet the certain discomforts of the service. Gen. Washington 
 complained much of the neglect of the States to forward their 
 quotas ; but it is not strange that the other complaints of the inade- 
 quacy of supplies should have thus hindered recruiting. Wells had 
 not been able to furnish its proportion of soldiers with the bounty 
 offered in March, and now, in the month of May, when called upon 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 511 
 
 for a draft, the town increased the sura, voting that each man who 
 should be drafted to serve in the Continental army nine months, as a 
 part of the quota assigned to the town, and actually serving, should 
 receive £30. It was also voted that the commissioned officers, with 
 the consent of the selectmen, may give such bounty as they think 
 proper to any who should enlist for three years, and anybody who 
 had advanced money since March toward paying soldiers to serve 
 three years, should be repaid. This certainly was liberal enough, 
 though it will also be remembered that current money had, at this 
 time, very much depreciated, and was daily becoming of less value, 
 so that the amount expressed in figures gives but a very indefinite 
 idea of its true worth to the soldiers. Still, the contribution was as 
 generous as the circumstances of the people would allow. 
 
 Though the pecuniary demands of the war were heavy, the effects 
 of the conflict Were not of such a distressing character as might at 
 first thought be supposed. The wars with the Indians had accus- 
 tomed them to deprivations, hardships and severe suffering. The far 
 more severe affliction of continual exposure to the awful cruelties 
 of savage vengeance, which they had borne for many years, rendered 
 the present trials comparatively light to those who were old enough 
 to have gone though that experience, and they were ready to meet 
 these new trials with a bold front. In the neighborhood of West 
 Point, our troops had met with some encouraging success. Many of 
 the Wells men were there ; and very favorable letters were received 
 from Col. Noah M. Littlefield and others. These successes kept alive 
 a hopeful and earnest spirit, which was strengthened by favorable 
 news from abroad. Congress also inspirited the people by assurances 
 that independence would be secured. The general aspect in the 
 southern States was far from favorable. To men disposed to fix their 
 eyes on the dark side, there was nothing discoverable in that direc- 
 tion which indicated a successful issue of the war. But the people 
 generally looked only at the state of affairs nearer home. 
 
 The subject of adopting a new State Constitution came again be- 
 fore the annual town meeting. But the people were not disposed to 
 take any action upon it now ; three-fourths of them voting against 
 its consideration. They were content that the representatives should 
 choose a Governor and Lieut. Governor for one year; but in the midst 
 of the other depressing demands of the time, they thought it not 
 best to trouble themselves with the work of forming a constitution. 
 
512 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 At a meeting July 5, 1779, John Wheelright, Nathaniel Wells, 
 John Maxwell, James Kimball and John Storer were chosen a com- 
 mittee to prepare instructions for the representatives, and also a mem- 
 orial to the General Court, representing the distressed condition of the 
 inhabitants of the town, and requesting the Legislature to afford them 
 such relief as the public interests would justify. As was represented 
 in the year 1770, the town was now much embarrassed, and unable 
 to pay the claims against it. The hearts of the people were also de- 
 pressed by the loss of so many valuable citizens. Col. Joseph Storer, 
 Capt. Daniel Wheelright and many others, influential in the manage- 
 ment of their municipal affairs, had fallen in the strife. There were 
 now but few to whom the people looked for counsel in this hour of 
 trouble. 
 
 A new expedition was set on foot. A large fleet of the enemy had 
 entered the Penobscot, and the government had made the speediest 
 arrangement to take them by surprise. Wells was called upon to 
 contribute largely to the expedition. Its most careful and energetic 
 men were called to take part in the enterprise, Major Daniel Little- 
 field, Capt. Samuel Sawyer, Nathaniel Cousens, Samuel Treadwell, 
 Joel Littlefield, Capt. John Winn. 
 
 From the necessity of the case, these were all required immediate- 
 ly to leave their homes and hasten to the transports. The fleet was 
 well armed and the soldiery well equipped for battle. Seventeen 
 vessels, mounting from sixteen to thirty-two guns each, and a large 
 number of transports and subsidiary vessels, containing three or four 
 thousand men, constituted a fleet which might well justify the hope 
 of the capture of the enemy's ships. The English commander had 
 no information of the intended assault until three or four days before 
 the arrival of the fleet on the 21st of July. Gen. Lovell, as soon as 
 he was able to land his army, commenced preparations for attacking 
 the enemy's fort. A cannonade was soon begun. But before any 
 material advantage had been gained, a large addition to the enemy's 
 vessels arrived in the bay. This new force, with the failure of our 
 own government to furnish the required number of soldiers, por- 
 tended to our officers a sure defeat, and all the works were aban- 
 doned. The vessels were run on shore; some of them burnt, some 
 captured, and the army made their escape in the best manner they 
 could through the wilderness, destitute of provisions, toward their 
 homes, which they finally reached through great suffering. A con- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 513 
 
 siderablc number never returned. The expedition was a sad one for 
 Wells. Two of its most valuable citizens, Major Daniel Littlefield 
 and Capt. Samuel Sawyer, men whose services the country needed 
 at this crisis, lost their lives in the contest. 
 
 Major Littlefield had been in the service in 1776 and 1777, and 
 Capt. Sawyer from the beginning of the Revolution ; being stationed 
 with his company eight months at Medford in 1775, and at various 
 places in New York through the year 1776. Both were brave men 
 and useful members of society. Their loss was deeply felt through- 
 out the town. 
 
 The depreciation of the currency was now a great obstacle to an 
 energetic prosecution of the war. A dollar in specie was equivalent 
 to thirty of the only money in circulation. This circulating medium 
 was made a legal tender. But little inducement to enlistments was 
 now held out by the proffer of any amount of it, so that it was with 
 great difficulty that the quotas of soldiers called for could be supplied. 
 Money was of little benefit. Even though wood was very abun- 
 dant, in some places, even Cape Neddock, a hundred dollars a cord 
 were paid for it. It was very much from this cause that the Penob- 
 scot expedition failed. The troops necessary for it could not be 
 obtained. Men were not willing to leave their families in want. 
 
 The troubles arising from this cause were much aggravated by the 
 petulance and bickerings of the few who never heartily entered into 
 the struggle for independence. Judge Sayward says of the Act 
 providing that the money in circulation should be a legal tender, " a 
 sin which deserves severe punishment in our rulers. To think that 
 men who used to be esteemed virtuous shall see the widows of our 
 formerly most valuable merchants that had their livelihood by money 
 at interest reduced to beggary, and their children paid off* by their 
 guardians with a thirtieth part of their dues, is a sin with which I 
 do not perceive that they are affected, but like the whore in the 
 Proverbs, wipe their mouths and say, what have I done?" This 
 depreciation he speaks of as " the effects of civil war and all unright- 
 eousness." " For several yoke of oxen sold before the war I must 
 now take only the keeping of two nights- for a horse, or for each 
 yoke." Such crimination of the government, and such murmurings 
 in the intercourse of life, could not fail in the paralyzing effects on 
 the spirits of the people. The facts stated by Judge Sayward were 
 a part of the bitter experience of many. His own losses were great. 
 33 
 
514 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 
 
 Having before the war eight or ten thousand dollars invested in 
 personal securities, on the income of which he had enjoyed a satis- 
 factory and honorable independence, and being now in his advanced 
 years, driven to accept for this sum two or three hundred, it is not 
 strange that his heart should have become embittered against some- 
 body for this unwelcome change of his circumstances. His was surely 
 a trying position. But in this regard he did not stand alone. Others, 
 and in fact almost all around him, were called to sacrifices not less 
 depressing. Being a follower of Christ, and having long maintained 
 an honorable standing in his church, he should quietly have submit- 
 ted to the common fate. 
 
 The government had done everything possible to prevent the 
 people from suffering, and many of the towns adopted resolutions 
 condemnatory of traffic in gold and silver, and by their votes deter- 
 mined to uphold the currency, and declared that no produce should 
 be sold within their limits at higher prices than ruled before the war. 
 The Legislature had also prohibited the exportation of all grains, beef, 
 pork, live stock, and other provisions, from any seaport. These were 
 necessary war measures, and all patriotic men cheerfully submitted 
 to them. 
 
 Perhaps the year 1779 is the most memorable of our periods of 
 scarcity and distress. The corn raised in the town fell far short of a 
 sufficiency to meet the wants of the people. They were obliged to 
 depend for a supply entirely on the west. The demand from the 
 east so augmented the price, that all the money in town was soon 
 absorbed in the purchase of bread. The poorer people had borrowed 
 all which was in the hands of the richer, who were obliged to part 
 with it to keep them from starvation. When the money was all 
 gone, they were necessitated to take the feathers out of their beds, 
 and the wool saved to clothe their children in the winter, send them 
 to Boston, and dispose of them to procure food for their families. 
 The taxes had been burdensome, and the land so unproductive that 
 many were reduced to penury. It was said by unimpeachable au- 
 thority (a leading man of the town), that " the land in Wells was so 
 poor and barren, that the horses, oxen, cows and sheep were not 
 more than Wo-thirds as large as they were in other towns of the 
 State. That such was the poverty of their pasturage, and the mean 
 quality of their hay, that twenty acres of land w r ould not pasture a 
 cow well." This has the aspect of a " tough story," and we do not 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 515 
 
 assume the responsibility of the statement. We judge it to be 
 somewhat strained. But there is no question that the people were 
 reduced to very great extremities. They had lost many of their 
 best men. They were obliged not only to furnish troops, but to ob- 
 tain them, they had to pay a large bounty, and one-half of the 
 amount of their wages while in the service, while the richer towns 
 paid no more. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, it was said in one of the newspapers at 
 this time, " that a great and patriotic spirit prevails in the county of 
 York." Nearly all the people were heartily engaged in the war. 
 They had faith that the issue would be favorable ; and, therefore, 
 never faltered in doing what they could. 
 
 In the beginning of this year, 1779, John Wheelright was chosen 
 to prosecute all who were inimical to the good cause. The people 
 did not hesitate to regard those as enemies to their country, who did 
 not cheerfully come up to its help in this hour of distress and peril. 
 Tories were called Tories. Men awarded to others the character 
 which their spirit and acts naturally suggested. The temper of the 
 town was very far from allowing them unrestrained liberty to in- 
 dulge or extend their iniquity. 
 
 At the same time Joseph Hubbard, Aaron Wheelright and Alex- 
 ander Maxwell were chosen a committee of correspondence. The 
 duties of this committee were to communicate with the government, 
 and with neighboring towns, as occasion might require, on all mat- 
 ters of common interest ; so that the necessities of the period might 
 be met at the earliest moment. These committees were deemed im- 
 portant to the safety of the republic, and demanded the best men of 
 the country. 
 
 A convention was called this year at Cambridge, for the purpose of 
 forming a Constitution for the State. Nathaniel Wells was the dele- 
 gate from this town. He may well be regarded, unless Dr. Henir 
 menway is excepted, as the most solid and considerate man in Wells,. 
 and well fitted for the duty thus assigned to him. 
 
 At the annual meeting in March it was voted to raise 10,000 
 pounds (over thirty thousand dollars), required for the various muni- 
 cipal purposes. The value of money then current, and by law a legal 
 tender for all objects, will be readily understood by the reader from 
 this fact. The extent to which this fancy currency had become the 
 medium of business, shows very clearly also to what straits the 
 
516 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 government had been driven by the exigencies of the times. Like 
 the poor debtor, the best it could do was to give its notes. But 
 while in its poverty it was the representative of almost all the towns, 
 it was not less so in its patriotic and determined spirit. 
 
 Our readers have all heard of the dark day of 1780. It was mem- 
 orable through life to all who lived at this .period. The sun was 
 darkened and the moon refused to give its light. Many of the igno- 
 rant and superstitious trembled with the apprehension that the great 
 day had come. It occurred on the 19th of May. Nothing unusual 
 marked the early hours of the morning. The sky was clouded and 
 there was a slight fall of rain. But extensive fires had been raging 
 a long while in the interior, and the atmosphere was filled with 
 smoke. The wind being at the West brought the whole volume to 
 the seaboard, and early in the forenoon the light began to fail, and 
 when noon arrived almost the darkness of night settled down upon 
 the households of the inhabitants. Men forsook their business ; the 
 cattle returned to their yards and the fotvls to their roost. Candles 
 had to be lighted in the houses, that the work of the family might 
 go on. A dense fog setting in united with the smoke, and thus hang- 
 ing over the town, obscured the sun during the remainder of the day. 
 The night was one of hideous darkness. But as the dark hours of 
 life seldom fail in the order of Providence to be followed by more 
 cheery manifestations, the murky atmosphere the next day had dis- 
 appeared, and all again gave themselves to their various pursuits. 
 It is difficult to explain some of the effects of this unnatural darkness. 
 After it had disappeared and the sun resumed its power, large num- 
 bers of birds were found dead in the fields and by the fences. Per- 
 haps they had flown early in the morning to a distance from their 
 nightly habitations, and regarding the strange darkness as only the 
 effect of clouds shutting out the sun for a few moments, waited for 
 the restoration until it was too late, and then in their attempts to 
 reach their lodging places, flew against the fences and buildings and 
 thus committed the involuntary suicide. 
 
 The convention at Cambridge had agreed upon a Constitution and 
 Declaration of Rights, and they were laid before the town at the April 
 meeting in 1780. The matter was new to the people. Most of them 
 had never even read a constitution of government, and as questions 
 of the highest importance affecting their personal, civil and corporate 
 relations were involved, it was thought proper before final action was 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 517 
 
 taken, to submit the whole subject to the careful examination of the 
 most wise and judicious of the citizens. It was accordingly com- 
 mitted to Rev. Moses Hemmenway, Rev. Daniel Little, Samuel 
 Waterhouse, John Mitchell, John Wheelright, Dea. Benjamin Hatch, 
 Amos Storer, Jonathan Hatch, James Littlefield, jr., James Little- 
 field, 3d, Capt. John Bragdon, Jeremiah Storer, Hanse Patten, Capt. 
 John Littlefield, Adam Clark and Capt. Joseph Winn. 
 
 This committee made a long report. It was, we presume, the 
 work of Rev. Mr. Hemmenway. And nothing of importance could 
 be short, which had to go through the ordeal of a careful and 
 critical examination by him. A verbatim copy would occupy too 
 much space in a work like this. In substance it objected and argued 
 the objections at length, that the Constitution did not give to the 
 executive a negative vote on the Acts of the Legislature, and that 
 the House of Representatives was too numerous. That it did not 
 require that the Governor should be of the Protestant religion. 
 That military officers should be appointed by the Governor, and not 
 elected by the subordinates. That the limitation of the period of 
 eligibility of the same person as treasurer to five years was unwise, 
 and that provision should be made in it for a convention in 1795 
 for its revision, and making such alterations as experience might sug- 
 gest ; and that this subject should not be left dependent on a two- 
 thirds vote of the people. 
 
 The town in its action on this report expressed its opinion as to 
 the necessity of a new form of government, and concurred in the 
 sentiments expressed in regard to the objectionable parts of it; but 
 at the same time declared if the convention disapproved of the 
 amendments suggested by the committee, that they would waive 
 their objections rather than have the constitution fail, if provision 
 was made in it for a convention within fifteen years, for amendments 
 in such parts as experience might show to be necessary. With such 
 a qualification of the vote, the Bill of Rights and Constitution were 
 accepted. Judge Wells being a member of the convention was not 
 on this committee. If he had disagreed with Dr. Hemmenway 
 there would have been no end of the controversy. Both of them 
 were men of unending replication to any adverse thoughts suggested 
 to the views which they held. 
 
 Under the provisions of this new constitution, Nathaniel Wells 
 was re-elected representative in October. Though the business of 
 
 
518 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 forming a constitution for the government of the people was a matter 
 of great moment, and affecting the action of all for years to come, it 
 was not felt to be of such magnitude as the controversy and struggle 
 for independence. That must be provided for at all hazards. How 
 the town should do its part was the serious and embarrassing inquiry. 
 At a town meeting, July 10th, it was voted to raise £18,000, about 
 $60,000 ; and, Oct. 12th, to raise a sum of money sufficient to pur- 
 chase 13,200 pounds of beef, and Oct. 16th, 20,000 pounds instead 
 of the 13,200. Although the amount thus to be raised may not have 
 exceeded altogether a thousand dollars in coin, the people must have 
 been much troubled by the inquiry where it was to come from. True> 
 they had been familiar with such embarrassments, and therefore 
 might not have suffered themselves to be discomforted by the recur- 
 rence of a new trial. A quota of twenty-eight soldiers from Wells 
 was now called for, to strengthen the army, and how were they to be 
 had? The current money afforded but a weak incentive to leave 
 one's family and home, and give his services, perhaps his life, to the 
 country. There was much sound patriotism surviving all the adver- 
 sities and hardships already experienced. Hope of a speedy close of 
 the war begun to lighten up the horizon and cheer their hearts, and 
 (what was no small inducement to some of them) the prospect of a 
 portion of plunder, kindled at least a faint desire to be in a position 
 to have the benefit of it. Col. Noah M. Littlefield had written home 
 to some of his friends of the effectual storming of Rocky Point, to 
 the great credit of our army, and that Jotham Littlefield and Mars- 
 ters Treadwell had each of them received seventy-nine dollars as 
 their portion of the enemy's property thereby secured. Such facts 
 at this period would have great weight with men who perhaps had 
 not seen so much money since the war began. At this meeting, 
 Capt. Joshua Bragdon, Joseph Hubbard, John Taylor, and Nehemiah 
 Annis, jr., were chosen a committee to ascertain upon what terms 
 soldiers could be procured for the three years' service. This was the 
 fixed term of service. Short enlistments had heretofore been the 
 bane of the country. They were authorized to go to the extent of 
 a hundred dollars in silver for a single recruit. The committee were 
 well fitted for their position. Bragdon had been an efficient laborer 
 in all war measures. But all their exertions were unavailing ; not a 
 single enlistment was effected. All the motives addressed to men 
 were powerless, by reason of the length of the required service and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 519 
 
 the hardships and perils which the people well knew must attend it. 
 Accordingly, at a meeting on the 25th of December, the committee 
 made report that their labors had been fruitless, and that there was 
 no prospect of procuring recruits upon the terms offered. There 
 Avas no alternative now but an enlargement of the bounty offered, or 
 a general submission to the draft. The town chose the former, and 
 voted that " each soldier enlisting, for three years, or during the war, 
 should receive as much hard money as would make ten dollars a 
 month while in the service, including all which he should receive 
 from the United States and this Commonwealth, and that the sum 
 of one hundred hard dollars, or an equivalent thereto in paper mon- 
 ey, according to the current exchange, should be advanced to each 
 soldier within six months from the time of engaging in the service 
 toward making his wages as valuable as before mentioned." 
 
 The existing committee having had as large a share in unavailing 
 labors as they thought duty or patriotism required, anew committee, 
 consisting of Capt. Daniel Clark, Capt. James Littlefield, Capt. Na- 
 thaniel Cousens, Capt. Hanse Patten, and Capt. Jeremiah Storer, 
 was chosen. These, with the treasurer, Joshua Clark, Adam Clark, 
 John Staples, John Taylor, and Abraham Annis, were authorized to 
 agree on any bounty which they should judge necessary as further 
 inducement, and if a bounty was agreed upon it was to preclude 
 any other. To meet any demands which might arise from this vote, 
 and for the beef which was to be furnished, it was voted to assess a 
 tax of one hundred and five thousand pounds in old Continental 
 currency. 
 
 The experience of the town as to the difficulty of raising soldiers 
 for actual military service did not differ widely from that of our late 
 civil war, excepting in the circumstance of pecuniary ability. New 
 England is now teeming with wealth, while in the days of the Rev- 
 olution there was not property enough among the inhabitants of 
 many of the towns to supply the common necessities of life. A 
 single individual of Kennebunk, with his present amount of proper- 
 ty, could have purchased the whole town of Wells. 
 
 This committee succeeded during this and the following year in 
 procuring a part, and perhaps all, the soldiery required of the town. 
 At the meeting in March, 1781, they were directed to proceed with 
 all possible despatch, and it was voted that no penalty should be im- 
 posed by the town upon any particular class which should be formed 
 
520 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUtfK. 
 
 for the purpose of providing one of the soldiers, provided such class 
 exert themselves in procuring a soldier and furnishing their propor- 
 tion of money or other articles necessary to pay such soldier his 
 bounty when thereto requested by said committee, and any penalty 
 incurred by any particular class complying with their duty should be 
 paid out of the town treasury. At the same time Theodore Lyman, 
 Daniel Clark, Hanse Patten, Capt. James Littlefield, Capt. Jeremiah 
 Storer, and Capt. Nathaniel Cousens were appointed a committee to 
 provide for the families of non-commissioned officers and soldiers in 
 the Continental army. A thousand pounds, hard money, was raised 
 for the purpose of procuring soldiers according to the votes of the 
 town, and eleven hundred pounds, hard money, to procure 10,461 
 pounds of beef for the use of the army, and twenty-two soldiers to 
 serve three months, and supply the deficiencies from depreciation of 
 former grants to be paid in hard money, or bills of credit of the new 
 issue, resting on the funds of the Commonwealth at the rate of one 
 and seven-eighths of a dollar in said bills in lieu of the hard dollar. 
 It was also voted that " each able-bodied man who should enlist as 
 one of the town's quota for three months should have a bounty of 
 four pounds, hard money, a month for each month in the service, 
 one-quarter to be paid when he marched from home," and that " the 
 chief commanding officers of the several companies of militia within 
 the town be requested forthwith to enlist twenty-two soldiers in the 
 whole for the service aforesaid, and that they be desired to exert 
 themselves on the occasion, as thereby they will honor their office, 
 serve the town, and probably promote the interests and happiness of 
 their country." 
 
 These last votes would seem to have been at the extreme verge of 
 the town's ability. They had exerted themselves to exhaustion to 
 fulfill their duty to their country. How far they succeeded, no rec- 
 ord within the reach of the author answers. It is probable that be- 
 fore the close of the year 1781 they had accomplished their work. 
 It was one of great difficulty, putting all their skill to the test. The 
 people must vote compensation in hard money. The currency was 
 powerless ; but this hard money was not to be found in their pockets. 
 It will be seen that the people divided themselves into classes to ef- 
 fect the necessary enlistments, and as they had no money they pro- 
 vided for payment in something equally as substantial. We take 
 the case of the people in Harrysickett. Their descendants will 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 521 
 
 leam from this something of the burdens which their ancestors were 
 compelled to assume to secure the independence of their country. 
 
 " Wells, Feb. 26, 1782. This day agreed with Robert Drake to 
 serve as a soldier in the army three years, with what each man turns 
 in to said Drake. 
 
 Thomas Meldrum, a cow, £6 Os. Od. 
 
 Roger Littlefield, a Do., 6 
 
 Nathaniel Taylor, 
 
 a Do., 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 Abner Fisk, 
 
 a Do., 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 James Gillpatrick, 
 
 a Do., 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 William Jefferds, 
 
 a Do., 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 Nicholas Gowen, 
 
 an ewe sheep, 
 
 £10s 
 
 .0. 
 
 John Wormwood, 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Simon Jefferds, 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Abraham Storer, 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Eleazer Clark, jr., 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Meturan Ricker, 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Stephen Ricker, 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Capt. Samuel Jefferds, a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Solomon Clark, 
 
 a 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Capt. John Cole, 
 
 2 
 
 Do., 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 John Meldrum, 
 
 1 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Ebenezer Wormwood, 1 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 John Clark, 
 
 1 
 
 Do., 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Isaac Storer, 
 
 1 
 
 Do., 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 A Coat & Shirt, 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 At this time six cows and fifteen sheep constituted a pretty good 
 bounty for the service to be performed, as strong hopes began to be 
 cherished that the great contest was near its close. The soldier was 
 sure of something substantial if he returned. It was not so with a 
 large portion of those who had been in the service. The Continent- 
 al money was of no other value than what the slightest hope im- 
 parted to it. Many a faithful servant of the Republic was obliged, 
 on his way home, to give even an hundred dollars for a single meal. 
 But those who remained at home managed their affairs more favora- 
 bly. Business men made their charges on a more reliable basis. 
 For example : Dr. Hall Jackson, of Portsmouth, was called to visit 
 
522 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 Pelatiah Littlefield, on account of the painful condition of one of 
 
 his limbs. His bill for his services was in this wise : 
 
 " March 4, 1783. Pelatiah Littlefield to Dr. Hall Jackson, Dr. 
 
 To visit and medicine for his leg, £2 16s. 4d., equal to 
 
 4 bushels & 3 pecks of Indian corn." 
 
 This total failure of the currency was a great grievance to all 
 classes, but more especially so to the brave men who had been long 
 absent from their homes ; whose farms in the meantime had run to 
 waste, and who had now, by its worthlessness, nothing to show for 
 their labors and perils, or of which they could avail themselves for 
 renewing and restocking their long neglected homesteads. 
 
 News of the surrender of Cornwallis was received here on the 
 27th of October, 1781. This victory lifted an immense weight of anx- 
 iety from the heart of the country*; but to no part of it did the news 
 of this capitulation come with more cheering inspirations than to the 
 households of Wells. It portended a brighter day. The people felt 
 that they were about emerging from a thraldom which to many fami- 
 lies had made even life a burden. Joy glistened in many eyes which 
 had been dimmed by the sad adversities of the long war. Houses 
 were illuminated ; men met and congratulated each other with the 
 earnest shake of the hand. Every face was lit up with the happy 
 emotions which welled from the depths of the soul. 
 
 During the course of the following year, 1782, while still endeav- 
 oring to obtain enlistments for the three years' service or during the 
 war, no pressing demand for recruits seems to have required any ex- 
 tra exertions to obtain them. The year glided by and the carnage 
 of war in the northern part of the Union was almost entirely stayed. 
 Great Britain was wearied with the conflict, and both parties were 
 anxious to end the wasting desolation. In 1783, the struggle was 
 brought to an end, and a day of rest came to the exhausted inhabit- 
 ants. All the powers of the town had been pressed to their utmost 
 tension to uphold the national arms, and the annunciation that the 
 strife was closed came over the people almost like a paralysis. The 
 continued action of seven years, kept alive by unfaltering patriotism, 
 being so suddenly stayed, and a dead calm prevailing all around, the 
 people could with difficulty so- realize their situation as to wake up 
 to the importance of renewing their energies in attempts to recover 
 their position before the war. The deprivations and distressing 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 523 
 
 hardships of so many years of severe trial had been so material a 
 part of their condition, and they had been so habituated to a life of 
 expedients to supply every-day necessities and keep themselves from 
 succumbing to the adversities which met them on every side, that in 
 being now released they felt as though their trials were material to 
 their daily existence ; so much and so completely can humanity be- 
 come reconciled, by long use, to any status in which one can be 
 placed. 
 
524 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Opposition to return of Refugees — The currency — First vessel 
 built on kennebunk river — flrst grocery store — first public 
 house— List of prominent business men— New road located— First 
 regular Post-office in Maine — Oldest tombstone in Kennebunk — 
 Stephen Larrabee— Prosperous condition of Kennebunk— Election 
 of State officers — Convention at Falmouth to consider question 
 of separation — opposition of wells — question submitted to the 
 people — The Brunswick convention — Tote of Wells relative to 
 annexation to new hampshire— convention of other towns fav- 
 oring annexation — separation — convention at portland to form 
 A Constitution— One-third of town meetings held at Kennebunk 
 — Meetings opened with prayer — Great freshet — Abatement of 
 taxes by General Court — Mails — Public houses — Where located 
 — Delegates to Convention for adoption of Federal Constitution 
 —John Bourne. 
 
 Though peace with Great Britain was hailed with so much joy by 
 the whole people, the public mind was by no means at rest. Matters 
 of great general concernment now presented themselves, for the action 
 of all whose patriotism was awake to the future interests of the re- 
 public The most bitter feeling prevailed against those who had 
 abandoned their country and gone over to the enemy at the begin- 
 ning of the war. One of the preliminaries for the settlement on the 
 part of Great Britain was, that the refugees should be permitted to 
 return to their former homes. This proposition was spurned by all 
 the people, and meetings were holden to protest against any such 
 provision in the treaty. The strongest resolutions were passed in 
 opposition to the proposal. Many avowed that they would rather 
 continue the war than accede to it. These refugees were denounced 
 as enemies of humanity, and as unfit to live in any Christian com- 
 munity, and their restoration to their former relations here, it was 
 said, would again imperil the peace of the country. 
 
 Those who have not been accustomed to read the public prints of 
 that day can have but a very imperfect conception of the excitement 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUEK 525 
 
 which prevailed on this question. All the large cities or towns in 
 New England and the middle States held public meetings, calling on 
 the people to refuse all sympathy and communion with these men, 
 stigmatizing them as murderers, traitors, and outlaws, and also calling 
 upon the States for such legislation as would forever debar them 
 from obtaining residence or foothold on our territory. New Bruns- 
 wick and Nova Scotia had been the principal places of refuge for 
 these unfortunate loyalists. Many of them were men of high moral 
 standing, and would have been useful citizens if restored. The con- 
 dition of these refugees in the enemy's country to which they had 
 fled was deplorable indeed. A writer from Port Roesway, says : " I 
 find the refugees to be the most miserable set of beings that it is 
 possible to conceive of. The king finds them provision at present, 
 otherwise they could not subsist. They live in huts and tents about 
 the woods, and appear to be the most dejected set of persons I ever 
 beheld. It is not possible for any person to conceive of their situa- 
 tion who has not seen it. Their looks plainly disclose their feelings, 
 and would almost incline the humane to pity them, were it not that 
 they can still make use of their tongues in the old language of rebels 
 and traitors." There were sixteen thousand of them in this place. As 
 this letter was written after the close of the war, I suppose the num- 
 ber must include many from the State of New York, who held their 
 residences there till peace was proclaimed, when the people would 
 not suffer them to remain. 
 
 But this question did not so deeply interest the people of Wells as 
 those of some other towns. We do not know of more than one man 
 who fled for refuge to the English flag. A few left the town during 
 the war, but we have been unable to trace them. These were men 
 who were frightened at the impending contest, and some whose 
 opinions and feelings did not harmonize with those of the multitude. 
 But they did not have the resolution to abandon the country. 
 
 The public credit was now also a matter of deep interest. No 
 business could be entered upon without a currency of permanent 
 value. That which had been in use was almost worthless. In the 
 beginning of 1783 there was in the town treasury about $60,000 
 Continental money. But this whole sum, apparently so large for 
 this small town, was not worth five hundred dollars in silver. It 
 became therefore a highly important matter with the people that 
 some suitable medium of exchange should be furnished before busi- 
 
526 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ness could be safely renewed. Sometime elapsed before this necessity 
 was obviated. Business was not immediately quickened into life. 
 
 From 1731 to the beginning of the war, the vicinity of the Little- 
 field mills on Kennebunk river was the theatre of the principal 
 business in the eastern part of the town. When these mills were 
 built cannot be clearly determined. The grants were made on both 
 sides of the river in 1680 and 1681, embracing the necessary privi- 
 lege and lands adjoining, and we think the saw-mill was erected soon 
 after, and perhaps the grist-mill. In 1731, the former is called the 
 old mill. In 1688, Robert Goliff was indicted for rafting down boards 
 on Sunday. As there was no occasion for rafting boards from Gooch 
 Creek, and at this time there was no other mill on the river, the 
 inference is reasonable that the Littlefield mill was in operation. 
 From 1688 to 1713 there could have been no opportunity for work. 
 Excepting for the short intermission between the wars of King 
 William and Queen Anne, men were necessitated to be continually 
 on their guard against the wiles of the Indians. If built after these 
 wars were over, it would not have been designated as the old mill. 
 
 Here were Richard Kimball, Nathaniel Kimball, Joseph Littlefield, 
 Samuel Littlefield, John Gillpatrick, John and Samuel Shackley, 
 
 James Ross, James Ross, jr, Jedediah Wakefield, Currier, 
 
 Samuel Gillpatrick, John Gillpatrick, jr., Thomas Kimball, Auley 
 McColley, Stephen Larrabee and others. Richard and Nathaniel 
 Kimball were pioneers in bringing this part of the town into note, 
 and clearing the ground for the service of man. They, with John 
 Mitchell, built the first vessel on Kennebunk river. Richard opened 
 the first grocery store. Nathaniel the first public house. They were 
 men to whom was entrusted much of the public business, as commit- 
 tee men and agents, and were leaders in enterprises to increase the 
 business of the neighborhood. The Shackleys were tanners and shoe- 
 makers. McColley was the tailor; Currier the joiner and cabinet 
 maker. The Littlefields were driving the mill and rafting their 
 boards down the river. Thomas Kimball, the Gillpatricks and Rosses 
 and Larrabee were vigorously tilling the land. Here were the garri- 
 son houses for protection from Indian ferocity ; two on the west, and 
 one on the eastern side of the river. The teams, in passing to the 
 mills, had wrought out a passable way, and in 1750 the people suc- 
 ceeded in having the main road from the west to the east duly lo- 
 cated by the mills, and the travel turned thither from the seaboard. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AtfD KENNEBTJNK. 527 
 
 In May, 1775, here was established the first regular post-office in 
 Maine, Nathaniel Kimball being appointed postmaster. Here also 
 the probate courts were holden. Richard Kimball was deacon of the 
 Congregational church after the Second Parish was established. For 
 the edification of the people he invited Mr. Powers, of Berwick, a 
 Baptist minister, to preach the gospel at his house ; and here on the 
 Sabbath, by the fear of hell and the hope of heaven, he frequently 
 exhorted the people to repent of their sins, and to greater activity 
 in the cause of their Master. Englishmen, Scotchmen, Scotch Irish 
 and Irish alike listened to his ministrations. There is no surviving 
 evidence that Mr. Little called the deacon to account for this exer- 
 cise of his Christian liberty. The oldest monument of the dead 
 standing in Kennebunk is also at this place, near the house of Owen 
 Burnham, bearing the inscription, iC James Ross, ae 35, died Aug. 16, 
 1749." 
 
 Died , 177-, Stephen Larrabee. In another place we 
 
 have given some few items of the history of this heroic and valuable 
 man ; but he merits a more particular biography. He was the son 
 of William Larrabee, who came here from North Yarmouth, being 
 driven from that town in the Indian war of 1676. To him we are 
 indebted in a great degree for the preservation of the settlement. 
 He was a man of uncommon decision of character, bold, resolute, 
 and fearless, at all times calm and collected, the man whom the exi- 
 gencies of the times required, fitted to fortify the spirits and 
 strengthen the hands of his comrades, while at the same time his 
 bearing kept in awe the savages who approached him. They re- 
 garded him as their most dangerous enemy, and it was important for 
 them to get him out of the way. Still they dared not, when they 
 had the opportunity, attempt to effect their object. On another 
 page we have stated that the Indians here inhabiting were never 
 known to be guilty of a violation of their treaty obligations, as indi- 
 cated by the pile of stones. Still the faith of the sergeant in their 
 fidelity was not sufficiently strong to lead him at any time to trust 
 himself in their power. He knew the importance of his own life to 
 the safety of his companions, and also the pressing anxiety of the 
 Indians to get rid of him. Thence he felt it to be his duty to take 
 every precaution for the preservation of his life. There was one of 
 the tribe who lived just below the house of John Freeze, of whose 
 
528 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 honesty he had strong suspicions. From his demeanor in time of 
 peace he was satisfied that he cherished some sinister intentions in 
 regard to him. He had a long time, evidently, been watching the 
 sergeant, keeping his eye on him when he went from the garrison. 
 On many occasions he had taken the liberty of following him abroad, 
 going with him into his field, or into the woods, under the pretense 
 of enjoying his company. Larrabee did not disclose to him his sus- 
 picions, but his eye was never averted from him. His mind was 
 made up that he ought not to suffer himself to be thus harrassed ; 
 his services were too important to his family and others to have his 
 thoughts thus diverted from his duties. He feared also that in some 
 unguarded moment he might become the victim to his wiles. He 
 had but one course to take. He must rid himself of this annoyance. 
 There was a deep gulley just above the house of Samuel Emmons, 
 about twenty rods below Wise's dock, at that time a great resort for 
 beaver. Aggawam was in the habit of going there at a very early 
 hour in the morning to look at his traps, carrying with him his gun. 
 The sergeant embraced the opportunity of following him on one of 
 these occasions, unobserved by the Indian or any one, and as he 
 stooped to remove a beaver from his trap shot him dead. As it was 
 a time of peace, and he would therefore be subjected to the penal- 
 ties of the law, he there buried him and his gun, at the bottom of 
 the valley. Although this action was well understood, no disclosure 
 of it was made by Larrabee till many years after. The gun was 
 dug up by Anthony Littlefield and was kept by him a long time. 
 Probably the Indians suspected the murder, but no evidence of it 
 could be had. This act of Larrabee in no degree diminished their 
 anxiety to relieve themselves from the fears with which he inspired 
 them. On the contrary, they became more anxious to place him be- 
 yond the power of injuring them. They had arranged in a time of 
 peace to accomplish this purpose. In the darkness of night, when 
 they supposed he was asleep, they entered the garrison, the gates 
 being then unfastened. From some cause, instead of going to bed, 
 he had taken his pillow and laid down before the fire. There were 
 six or seven of them. They supposed him to be asleep, but Larra- 
 bee's eye was upon them. They walked round him two or three 
 times as if to assure themselves that he was asleep. The sergeant 
 made no motion whatever ; but they delayed their work. Such was 
 their awe of him that no one had the courage to give the first blow. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 529 
 
 They felt that they had him completely in their power, but feared to 
 exercise it. He was prepared to ward off any attack ; but he deter- 
 mined to be still to satisfy himself of their real object. They con- 
 tinued hesitating or irresolute. At last he sprang from the floor, 
 and they were off in a moment. They were never known to at- 
 tempt his life afterward. 
 
 One more instance of his self-possession and fearlessness, will be 
 interesting to our readers. In the year 1752 a boom was placed 
 across the river just above the dam. The sergeant and another man 
 had brought down a raft of logs, and in order to let them into the 
 gut it was necessary to loosen one end of the boom. They had with 
 them a small boat used in the work of rafting. The water was very 
 high and rapid, a great quantity of rain having fallen. The sergeant 
 was in the boat which lay aside the boom in the middle of the 
 river. His assistant incautiously loosed the boom before he had op- 
 portunity to paddle the boat ashore. It swung round immediately. 
 He saw there was no escape for him. Horror came over his careless 
 companion. By'his thoughtlessness he had sacrificed the life of the 
 brave man. But the abyss ahead did not paralyze the sergeant or 
 deprive him of his presence of mind. He seated himself in the bot- 
 tom of the boat exclaiming, " here I go ; " and over the dam he went. 
 But not being in the least agitated, he so skillfully managed the 
 little craft when she plunged that she took in but two or three pails 
 of water, and glided safely down the rapids until he brought her to 
 the shore near the mill. The exploit was regarded as a wonderful 
 one, and added somewhat to his already established character for 
 bravery and self-control. 
 
 We need say nothing more of the character of Stephen Larrabee. 
 These few anecdotes will exhibit it in all its material elements. 
 
 A few years after the war, the various employments of the people 
 received an impetus which gave a rapid increase to the eastern part 
 of the town. Kennebunk was soon in a prosperous condition. Men 
 of various professions came in from abroad. The business of ship- 
 building was renewed in both parts of the town. The vessels built 
 were generally of light tonnage, fitted for coasting and the West In- 
 dia trade. This last employment was based entirely on the lumber 
 manufacture. Large quantities of boards and joist were brought in 
 
 from all parts of the county; and until the embargo of 1808, such a 
 34 
 
530 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 scene of activity in business was witnessed here as we can anticipate 
 in no future time. The roads were full of heavily loaded teams, and 
 the Landing was crowded with lumber. There were many gondolas 
 in the river, and most of them were in full employment. Kenne- 
 bunk was the center of business for the county. Saco and Biddeford 
 had not then started on their career of activity and improvement. 
 Factories were not in the thoughts of men of enterprise ; and the 
 Saco river was not well fitted for vessels of a large draft. 
 
 A Constitution of Government had been established by Massa- 
 chusetts, and the people now felt themselves at ease in the enjoy- 
 ment of liberty. Their thoughts had been for years absorbed in the 
 great questions which were in issue, and being released from all 
 anxiety and care in regard to their political rights and privileges, 
 they could safely turn their attention to their individual interests. 
 But first of all, they were called upon to place the government in 
 the hands of some one who they knew would be watchful and a 
 faithful guardian of those liberties for which so much precious blood 
 had been shed. A Governor, Lieut. Governor, Senators, and Coun- 
 cillors were to be chosen on the first Monday of April, 1783. There 
 was then no occasion for canvassing the town to ascertain how the 
 people would vote. There was but one spirit among them. All 
 looked to their country's weal. Demagogism had yet no place in 
 political action. John Hancock, remembered as the unflinching pat- 
 riot from the first to the last stage of the war, was the candidate for 
 Governor. The people reverenced that heroism and fortitude which 
 could fearlessly face all the power of British tyranny, in the determi- 
 nation to maintain the God-given rights of man. Though Governor 
 Gage denounced him and Samuel Adams as guilty of offenses " of 
 too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that 
 of condign punishment," and, therefore, no pardon could be accorded 
 to them, while it might be granted to every body else ; yet the people 
 well understood that all these pretended offenses were the acts of a 
 most noble and magnanimous spirit which elevated them far above 
 all charges of crime or rebellion. It needed no electioneering circu- 
 culars to place Hancock in the right position before the public. 
 Accordingly the votes for Governor in Wells being 42, were unani- 
 mous for John Hancock, and, for Lieutenant Governor, Thomas 
 Cushing had 38. For Counselors and Senators, Benjamin Chad- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 531 
 
 bourne had 17; Edward Cutts,9; Charles Chaney, 2; and Nathaniel 
 Wells, 28. 
 
 Perhaps there never has been a period from the time when Maine 
 fell under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, in which all the people 
 have been satisfied with this union. There was no natural geographi- 
 cal connection between the two Provinces. But we are not sure that 
 it was not well for Maine thus to have been brought under the gov- 
 ernment of the latter. Though the assertion that our people at this 
 time were outlaws, licentious, and reckless of all moral law, has no 
 basis in history ; yet it cannot be questioned that law and order were 
 not so highly regarded as to assure a stable and permanent govern- 
 ment among them. For a time the exercise of the authority of 
 Massachusetts over the District might have had a salutary influence, 
 and have done much to elevate the great mass of the people. For 
 more than a century past, we believe our population would well com- 
 pare with the inhabitants of that State. The remark of Daniel Davis, 
 Solicitor General of Massachusetts, that when he "went into that 
 country in 1782, in every part of which he bad discharged his pro- 
 fessional duties, the face of the country, the habits and manners of 
 the people, and those circumstances which are peculiar to a new 
 country, where all the institutions of society were disregarded and 
 neglected, would form a picture that would astonish the present 
 generation," is, we believe, if not entirely unwarranted, very much of 
 an exaggeration. This remark would comprehend, in its application, 
 the whole of Maine. We know that Davis was in the habit of 
 attending our courts in York, Cumberland, and Lincoln, and during 
 these professional visits he had the opportunity of estimating to some 
 extent the characters of the people. Courts everywhere are much 
 the same, so far as regards the character of those whose business 
 requires their attendance. But every one krUows that the develop- 
 ments of those tribunals do not exhibit civilization in a very favorable 
 light. From the frailties of the race, frightful iniquities are there 
 manifested or brought to light, and professional men are sometimes 
 auxiliaries to such exhibitions. The court then sat at Pownalboro', 
 where these special excitements growing out of contested land titles? 
 might have afforded a picture of even unusual depravity. But if it 
 is intended to say that the people of Maine at this period, as a whole, 
 had become so far corrupted that all the institutions of society were 
 
532 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 disregarded and neglected, we believe the statement to be without 
 any justifiable foundation. We do not claim an uncommon refine- 
 ment, or a type of life beyond that of other new communities. In 
 the early days, far beyond 1782, we must admit that iniquity abound- 
 ed; that ignorance did shed its blighting influence over almost 
 every household, from whence immorality and crime necessarily 
 followed. But at the time of which the writer speaks, the people 
 generally had become so enlightened and their intercourse with other 
 communities so extended, that a very fair state of morals existed in 
 the larger part of the District. We believe that the inhabitants of 
 Wells, and of all the adjoining towns, governed their lives by a 
 standard of morality as high as any in Massachusetts ; that the 
 institutions of religion, the worship of the sanctuary, the importance 
 of education, and the necessity of integrity in the business and 
 associations of life, were as highly regarded here as in other portions 
 of New England. The people had been well purified by the fires 
 through which they had passed. 
 
 But, as before observed, they had never been of one mind in regard 
 to the usurpation of Massachusetts in 1653. The spirit of opposition 
 to the rule of that State had been kept alive among the inhabitants, 
 and now began to develop itself anew in more open and active 
 measures to throw off the yoke which had so long been borne by the 
 inhabitants. The people of Wells manifested no disposition to join 
 in these measures. A convention was to be holden at Falmouth in 
 1785 to take the question of separation into consideration, and John 
 Storer was chosen a delegate to that meeting. But no effectual 
 action was there taken in relation to the subject, excepting to pro- 
 vide for another meeting at Falmouth on the last Wednesday of 
 January, 1787, and to request the towns in the District to express 
 their views on the sitbject, and send delegates to the convention. At 
 the annual meeting in May, 1786, it was again brought before the 
 town. But the townsmen did not sympathize with the movement, 
 refused to send a delegate, and at the same time voted that they 
 "disapproved of any application for a separation, or forming a new 
 government under the present circumstances." They wisely con- 
 cluded that having just emerged from a war in which all the towns 
 had greatly suffered, and by which they were much reduced in 
 property, it would be exceedingly injudicious to burden them- 
 selves with the expense of a new and independent administration. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 533 
 
 Massachusetts had taken a noble stand in the great struggle, and the 
 people of Wells believed that it would be for their interest that the 
 connection should not be severed, and that they should yet longer 
 6hare in the honor of her magnanimity and persevering patriotism. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the expression of the public feeling against 
 separation, the ambitious and discontented spirit of many of the 
 people would not suffer the matter to rest. Again, in 1792, the sub- 
 ject was agitated, discussed, and anew movement made to accomplish 
 the purpose of these malcontents. Still, a majority of the people 
 could not see sufficient reasons for the proposed change. The town 
 of Wells was steadfast in its opposition to the measure, and at a 
 meeting in May of that year, voted unanimously against it, and at 
 another meeting in December, voted to have no part in any proceed- 
 ings tending to that object; refusing to send a delegate to the con- 
 vention. It was also voted, that " a committee consisting of the 
 selectmen and town clerk inform the convention that it is the opinion 
 of this town that it is not expedient at present to apply for a separa- 
 tion of this District from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
 because the State debts are not yet adjusted, and, because, if this 
 District is formed into one State the people in the western and east- 
 ern parts thereof would not be so well accommodated as they are 
 under the present Government." This last argument was entitled to 
 much weight before the day of railroads and steamboats. It was 
 easier then for all the east and west seacoast to attend the Legislature 
 in Boston than it would have been at the present seat of Government 
 at Augusta, or perhaps at Portland. 
 
 Notwithstanding previous manifestations of public sentiment, the 
 agitators of this question were not content to acquiesce in it; but at 
 the meeting in June, 1794, again endeavored to secure the elec.tion 
 of a delegate to a convention in October. But? the inhabitants had 
 seen no occasion to change their views upon the subject, and voted 
 against the proposition. Still, the matter was not put to rest. Am- 
 bition and anxiety for office are not subdued by repeated defeats. It 
 is hard to yield and accept the situation. In May, 1797, the town 
 was again called to vote on the same question, and settled it so far as 
 Wells was concerned by a vote of fifteen yeas' and one hundred and 
 fifteen nays. But the zeal of the separatists had planted the leaven 
 among the people, and to some extent broken down the united oppo- 
 sition with which they had been contending. They had brought 
 
534 HISTOKY OF WELLS and kennebtjnk. 
 
 over fifteen advocates of the separation, and thus their strength was 
 renewed for further efforts, which they were not backward in making. 
 Party spirit had now found its way into the councils of the men of 
 Maine, dividing them into two parties, federalists and democrats. 
 This division was not yet sufficiently marked and effective to lead 
 the voters to disregard their own interests for mere party purposes. 
 The great question of the formation of a new State, thereby aban- 
 doning their long association with Massachusetts, was yet not sen- 
 sibly affected by mere party influences. The fifteen votes for 
 separation were probably obtained by the untiring diligence of the 
 friends of the measure, while the opponents had no reason for put- 
 ting forth any exertion in opposition. Now a more earnest campaign 
 began. The subject was again brought before the people in 1807, 
 and the town then voted more decidedly against the project than 
 ever before, giving eight votes only in the affirmative, and three 
 hundred and twenty in the negative. 
 
 Nine years passed away and the subject had slumbered. The Dis- 
 trict had rapidly advanced in population, and the central portion of 
 the people of the District having imbibed the thought that we were 
 of sufficient ability to control our own affairs, and to assume the dig- 
 nity of a State, again invoked the attention of the inhabitants to the 
 question. Petitions were presented to the Legislature in 1816, ask- 
 ing for the necessary proceedings to bring about the long sought re- 
 sult, and at the annual meeting in May the town took an informal 
 vote on the subject, as an instruction to the representative in the 
 Legislature, 27 voting in the affirmative and 152 in the negative. 
 A resolve was passed for taking the sense of the people on the ques- 
 tion of separation. But as it was considered that a bare majority, 
 which might not be a true representation of the united will of the 
 District, but only the result of extraordinary exertions of overheated 
 zealots, would not justify the act of division, it was made a condition 
 of the resolve that a majority of five-ninths, or five to four, should 
 signify their wish for separation. The vote was taken agreeably to 
 this resolve, and AY ells again expressed its determined opposition, 
 giving 374 votes in the negative and 47 in the affirmative. At this 
 meeting Joseph Dane, George W. Wallingford, Jacob Fisher, Nahurn 
 Morrill and Joseph Gilman were chosen delegates to the convention 
 at Brunswick, which was to be holden for the purpose of ascertain- 
 ing the result and adopting the necessary measure for carrying it in- 
 
• HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 535 
 
 to effect, if the requisite majority was obtained. This convention 
 will be memorable, as having originated what has since been denom- 
 inated the " Brunswick Arithmetic ; " whereby a majority of five to 
 four was eliminated out of a much smaller excess of the greater over 
 the lesser vote than mathematicians or legislators had been accus- 
 tomed to regard as essential for such a result. The General Court of 
 Massachusetts, not being so arithmetically wise, could not see this 
 matter in the light in which it was here presented, and it will be no 
 disparagement to the memory of the delegates from Wells to add, 
 that they had not been so educated that they could comprehend and 
 approve of it as a reliable and valuable science. A concise illustra- 
 tion of the principle adopted may be stated in a single sentence. If 
 the votes had been 100,005 in the affirmative and 100,004 in the neg- 
 ative, this would have been a majority of five to four, nothing being 
 taken into the account but the majorities. While Massachusetts re- 
 fused to ratify the conclusion of the authors of the report develop- 
 ing this new principle in arithmetic, and adopted by the convention, 
 it is believed that those who sustained it did not thereby add much 
 to their reputation for intelligence or political honesty. 
 
 Wells began to have serious apprehensions that the seceders would 
 accomplish their work. They had already obtained a majority of 
 the votes ; and the rapidly increasing population in the eastern part 
 of the district, while that of York county was advancing but moder- 
 ately, indicated very plainly that soon the requisite majority would 
 be obtained. Having so long opposed the separation, and being 
 fixed and rooted in the opinion that it would be attended with much 
 more evil than good, the inhabitants could not with composure look 
 forward to a defeat in the contest which had so long engaged their 
 attention and engrossed their feelings. The excitement on the sub- 
 ject had become so strong that some of the most intelligent and 
 candid assented to a proceeding which in the retrospect does not 
 seem to bear the mark of a calm and considerate wisdom. The 
 question had not been allowed to rest since the last vote upon it; but 
 the friends of the measure were incessant in their efforts to fix the 
 public sentiment in favor of a division. In the year 1819 they had 
 operated so successfully as to have the assurance of success on the 
 next trial. Accordingly, petitions were presented to the Legislature 
 for the appropriate resolve. The town of Wells at a meeting on 
 the 15th of May, indignant at the probable successful result of the 
 
536 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 indefatigable labors of these uneasy spirits, adopted the following 
 vote : " That George W. Wallingford, Joseph Dane, Nahum Morrill, 
 Joseph Gilman and Elijah Curtis be a committee to petition the Leg- 
 islature of New Hampshire, that Wells may be annexed to that 
 State, should the District of Maine be formed into a new State, and 
 Massachusetts will not consent that the town of Wells may still be 
 attached to her." A convention of all the towns west of Saco river 
 was also called, which passed a resolution of like character, that 
 these towns should be annexed to N"ew Hampshire. It would have 
 been rather a hopeless labor for any committee, or for the town, to 
 have set out on the enterprise of inducing the Legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts or New Hampshire to comply with the vote of the town of 
 Wells, to annex the inhabitants of this place to the latter State or 
 retain it as a part of the former. The request would not have been 
 so unreasonable if the annexation of the county had been asked. 
 
 But Wells was now destined, willing or unwilling, to be cut off 
 from its connection with Massachusetts. The commercial towns had 
 long enjoyed much intercourse with that Commonwealth. All our 
 coasting marine was employed in the trade with Boston ; and the 
 people had formed and sustained useful and pleasant relations with 
 that place. This business would not be sensibly affected by the sep- 
 aration. But the people felt that thereby, in some measure, they 
 were severing long continued and strong attachments. They were 
 also assured of increased burdens, and that they were to be governed 
 by men in whose political integrity they had not full confidence. 
 All the public burdens of the District had not, heretofore, exceeded 
 in amount twelve thousand dollars a year. This sum would not pay 
 the general officers in the new State. Great excitement grew out 
 of the controversy on this subject. But the Legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts, by the same argument which would induce Maine to hold 
 to its connection with that Commonwealth, induced that body to 
 give it up. Massachusetts was paying largely for the benefit of the 
 union. The speaker of the house appointed a committee almost 
 unanimous for separation. This committee reported a resolve, call- 
 ing on the people of Maine at a town meeting on the 26th day of 
 July, again to give in their votes on the question of separation, and 
 providing, if a majority of 1,500 were in favor of the movement, the 
 District should become an independent State. Though there was 
 now little hope of defeating the measure, it was discussed with a 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 537 
 
 great deal of zeal. Still the discussion was powerless in creating 
 any effectual opposition ; the result was beyond doubt. The people 
 were for separation, and Wells, which had fought so long against it, 
 was doomed to succumb ; though as a last manifesto it gave 49 votes 
 in the affirmative and 408 in the negative. More than three-quarters 
 of the votes in the District were affirmative, and thus the great ques- 
 tion was settled that Maine should be an independent State. 
 
 A meeting was holden on the third Monday of September to 
 choose delegates to a convention to be holden at Portland to form a 
 constitution. Joseph Thomas, George W. Wallingford, Joseph Dane, 
 Nahum Morrill and Samuel Curtis were elected. A constitution was 
 there formed and accepted by the people ; and on the fourth of March, 
 1820, Maine was admitted into the Union as one of the States of the 
 great confederacy. 
 
 We have thought it best thus to pursue this subject to its consum- 
 mation in a separation from Massachusetts, thinking that the reader 
 would thereby have a better knowledge of its history than from the 
 accounts of it interposed in the different stages of this work. We 
 now return to our point of departure, 1786. Noah M. Littlefield was 
 chosen representative, and was instructed to use his influence in 
 favor of a paper currency which should be made a legal tender for 
 all debts and taxes, with the exception of such as were, or should be, 
 assumed for the purpose of paying the foreign public debt. A cur- 
 rency of some kind was indispensable that business should go on, and 
 no better one could be extemporized than this. The financial con- 
 dition of the town was very much like that which followed the great 
 rebellion, although pressing much more heavily on the inhabitants. 
 The village of Kennebunk had now become sufficiently extensive to 
 make it a material and prominent part of the town. The people 
 there began to feel their rising importance, and thence to demand an 
 increase of their privileges. It was a long distance for many of 
 them to travel to attend the town meetings, which were then re- 
 garded as involving the interest of each one of the inhabitants, the 
 larger part of whom attended those holden for municipal purposes. 
 There were now in the territory of Kennebunk, or the Second Par- 
 ish, about 130 legal voters; and at the meeting in March, 1787, they 
 succeeded in securing the vote that, " one-third of the legal town 
 meetings shall in future be held in the Second Parish ; and the next 
 town meeting which is by law to be held on the first Monday in April, 
 
538 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBITNE:. 
 
 shall be held there." Town meetings being regarded as material agen- 
 cies for the public welfare, the people, conscious that an overruling 
 Providence was waiting to bless and prosper every good and impor- 
 tant work, felt it a duty and a privilege, on all these occasions, to 
 look to the Ruler of the world for the wisdom which was profitable 
 to direct. No town meeting was opened without the consecrating 
 prayer. It was good and strengthening, and elevating above all low 
 conceit, cunning, intrigue, inconsiderate and hasty action, to listen to 
 the devout and soul-stirring prayers of some of God's faithful ser- 
 vants in olden time. The hearty and sincere supplications of the af- 
 fectionate Jefferds, found a ready response in most hearts. The 
 prayers of Hemmenway, carrying with them angelic power, led many 
 to reason and to think deeply of the high responsibilities of life ; 
 while the intercessions of Little, the " Apostle of the East," inspired 
 their souls with the love of right and duty. Prayer was a guiding, 
 controlling influence, permeating town action ; not that the leaven 
 worked in all ; but in so large a proportion of the assembly, that the 
 best interest of the town was the ruling principle in municipal de- 
 liberation. 
 
 This long continued element has ceased many years to have its 
 place in our town assemblies. The wisdom of this world has as- 
 sumed to itself an ability not needing that from above. But we 
 cannot see in the abandonment of this holy usage of former days 
 any evidence of the moral progress of the race. 
 
 In addition to this change of place as to town meetings, the peo- 
 ple of the Second Parish felt the importance of having their propor- 
 tionate representation in the board of selectmen, and now claimed 
 to have two from that portion of the town. Accordingly, Benjamin 
 Titcomb and Nathaniel Cousens were chosen. 
 
 In 1785, another great calamity came upon the town in the repeti- 
 tion of the freshet of 1755, by which the saw-mill, grist-mill, the 
 lower iron works, the bridge, and, we believe, nearly everything on 
 the Mousam river were carried away. The saw-mill on the Kenne- 
 bunk river was also swept off. That of Storer, lower down on the 
 river, had never been rebuilt since it was carried away in the former 
 freshet of 1755. The iron works of Richard Gillpatrick remained, 
 but were so much injured that they were used but little afterward. 
 The lower works were rebuilt and the manufacture of iron continued 
 many years. This havoc of the waters was a great check on the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 539 
 
 growth of the village of Kennebunk. Much other damage was 
 done in Wells and in the adjoining towns. These losses came so 
 heavily on the people that it was difficult for them to pay their taxes, 
 and an application was made to the General Court for an abatement, 
 which was granted. Ninety pounds were deducted from the taxes 
 of Wells and five adjoining towns. 
 
 Though the town, from the various causes before stated, was poor, 
 and had, in fact, always been so, the population, after the close of 
 the Indian wars, was continually increasing. To such an extent 
 had it reached in 1761 that in that year no less than sixty different 
 persons were chosen as town officers. The people were establishing 
 themselves on the seacoast at the eastward, and travel was rapidly 
 on the increase. This was still on horseback, and men were accus- 
 tomed to move slowly. Fast horses were not the hobby of this pe- 
 riod. Taverns were now established all along the road. Pelatiah 
 Littlefield kept one where John S. Littlefield now lives ; James Lit- 
 tlefield near Wells Corner; Simon Jefferds where the late Samuel 
 M. Jefferds lived ; Capt. Nathaniel Kimball where Edward Haney 
 now lives, and two miles beyond, in Arundel, was the Patten House. 
 The main road at Cole's Corner turned to the right and also to the 
 left, the right branch tending down near the sea, and the left over 
 Cole's Hill through Harrysickett, both again coming together near 
 the bridge over Mousam river. In 1783, and many years afterward, 
 Cole kept a public house at the Corner. In 1800, Barnard and 
 Howard kept public houses in Kennebunk, the former where Daniel 
 Curtis now lives, and the latter in the old Michael Wise house. 
 The Barnard house was continued as a tavern till after the time 
 when this history ends. 
 
 We have no means of ascertaining when the first regular mail 
 was brought to Wells. Willis says that until 1760 there was none 
 east of Portland, and no newspaper published in Maine, and that 
 there was then no printing press east of Boston. He is in error in 
 this statement. There was a press in Portsmouth. The New 
 Hampshire 'Gazette was published there in 1756, and has continued 
 so to be published to this day. This paper was taken in Wells from 
 its commencement. Some of the files of this period are in the 
 hands of the author of this work. The tradition also comes through 
 such worthy sources that we feel ourselves authorized to state the 
 fact, that the mail, or what was then termed the mail, for seven years 
 
540 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 was brought from Portsmouth to Wells by a dog. It was carefully 
 made up, tied to his neck, and brought safely through. The dog 
 while thus on his way was killed by the Indians. We infer that this 
 must have been previously to 1760, when the wars had ceased. 
 There was then no regular post-office in Wells. In 1762, Samuel 
 March, of Scarboro, was carrier from Portsmouth to Casco Bay, but 
 we know of no established post-office in Maine until 1775, when Na- 
 thaniel Kimball was appointed for Kennebunk; the next was at 
 Georgetown, and the third at Portland. Willis says the first letter 
 from that office was sent to Kennebunk June 14, 1775. After March, 
 Joseph Barnard carried the mail on horseback in his saddle bags un- 
 til 1787, when he commenced carrying passengers, as related in 
 Smith and Dean's Journal: "This year the first attempt was made 
 to carry passengers and the mail in a carriage from Boston to Port- 
 land. Joseph Barnard, the old mail carrier, got up a two horse 
 wagon in January and put forth a most attractive advertisement, 
 stating that he should leave Motley's tavern every Saturday morn- 
 ing, arrive in Portsmouth on Monday, and leaving Portsmouth on 
 Tuesday, arrive in Portland on Thursday. Those ladies and gentle- 
 men who choose the expeditious, cheap, and commodious way of 
 stage traveling will please to lodge their names with Mr. Motley." 
 " Price for one person's passage the whole distance, twenty shillings." 
 
 In 1787, the Federal Constitution was submitted to the several 
 States for their adoption. This matter involved deeply the interest 
 of the country. The highest talent was required for action upon it. 
 A convention was to be holden at Boston on the second Wednesday 
 in January, 1788, to take such order upon it as the welfare of the 
 republic required. Rev. Dr. Hemmenvvay and Nathaniel Wells 
 were chosen delegates from the town of Wells. Having made this 
 choice, they voted not to give them any instructions. In this vote, 
 while paying a high compliment to the intelligence and wisdom of 
 the persons elected, they manifested a sense of their own insufficien- 
 cy to judge of and determine the expediency of the principles which 
 it embodied. To have instructed Hemmenway and Wells what to 
 do would have been a presumption which few of the inhabitants 
 would have been willing to have taken upon themselves. These 
 delegates embraced the collective wisdom of the town. Dr. Hem- 
 menway, though a minister of the gospel, felt that the country had 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 541 
 
 demands on him for his services; that his position did not relieve 
 him from his high responsibilities. Wells' impulses led him to seek 
 public life. He was a man of strong mind and deep thought. 
 Though the two could never agree on doctrinal theology, but were 
 always in controversy upon some speculative points in divinity, on 
 political questions they were generally of one mind, and we presume 
 that on questions arising in that convention they seldom disagreed. 
 Though this question of the adoption of the Constitution of the 
 United States excited great interest in most of the towns in the 
 county, and in other parts of the State, it does not appear to have 
 awakened much feeling in Wells. The people were strongly in 
 favor of it. The confidence which they had in the judgment of 
 Hemmenway and Wells led them to feel completely at ease in re- 
 gard to it. But a few attempted to excite opposition. Joseph Hub- 
 bard had been chosen representative in May, and he was anxious to 
 be a member of the convention, and succeeded in having a meeting 
 called the last of December, to see if the town would not elect an- 
 other delegate ; but the meeting refused to do so, and passed the 
 vote, as before mentioned, refusing to instruct the delegates before 
 chosen. It may be that, at this time, commenced the division of 
 parties in Wells ; but it was not sufficiently marked, we think, to 
 lead us to look upon it as a material breach in the unanimity which 
 prevailed many years afterward. 
 
 Died, July 17, 1788, John Bourne, aged eighty. He was born on 
 Smutty Nose Island, one of the group of the Isles of Shoals. When 
 Queen Ann's war closed, he came to the shore and located himself in 
 Kittery. He was educated as a mechanic, and engaged in the busi- 
 ness of ship-building. Nov. 8, 1727, he was married to Mary Cous- 
 ens, of Wells. He was a man of much energy and immovable 
 determination. Wherever his own reason or impulses directed, 
 there he would go, whatever consequences might impend. He had 
 an iron will, and everything must yield to it. He was accustomed 
 to say that he would maintain his ground at all hazards. He knew 
 nothing of concession when reason and conscience had adjudicated 
 what action was required. But still he was mild and gentle, and of 
 a very kind and lively disposition, seizing little children, whenever 
 he met them, with the hearty salutation, " you little dear," so com- 
 mon with many people. Even in his old age he would climb the 
 
542 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 tree for the purpose of getting apples for them. No better evidence 
 could be given of a kind and affectionate heart. 
 
 He was of very industrious habits, never suffering himself to be 
 idle. A great many vessels of all sizes were built by him, on the 
 Webhannet, Mousarn, and Kennebunk rivers. He continued in this 
 business more than fifty years. Most of his sons were educated to 
 the same profession. 
 
 He was also a captain of the militia, and was distinguished by 
 that title, one of the selectmen of the town, and a member of the 
 Congregational church. His wife died Aug. 12, 1776; but he did 
 not long live a single life. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was 
 a much better judge of a stick for building a ship than of one to 
 build up the old waste place in his heart. Pie went to Portsmouth 
 and there entered into a marriage contract with Mrs. Mary Langdon, 
 a widow. Probably this contract was the result of an acquaintance 
 or intimacy formed fifty years previously, when he lived in Kittery, 
 from which place he moved to Wells immediately after his first 
 marriage. He was married to this lady in October, 1777, and took 
 her to his home in Wells. His house was an ordinary one-storied 
 building, unpainted outwardly and perhaps inwardly. This woman 
 had enjoyed the luxuries of high life, and coming to Wells she 
 brought with her three servants, a male and two females, necessary 
 appendages of the style of living to which she had been accustomed. 
 With what wonder must the staid inhabitants, whose wives were 
 their own servants, cooks, and chambermaids, have viewed this at- 
 tempt to ape the style and fashion of aristocratic life ! With what 
 amazement must the people of the intervening towns have gazed 
 upon this equipage or retinue on its way to its lowly habitation in 
 this secluded villa! What could the man and woman have expected 
 in the installation of themselves in this limited home with such an 
 array of servants ? What was to be done with them ? How long 
 could one dependent on his physical exertions expect to maintain 
 such an establishment? But however marvellous such folly, much 
 of it is visible all along the journey of life. 
 
 She lived in this grand style a few years. A large proportion of 
 the earnings of his diligent life was soon squandered. He was 
 obliged to sell off his lands to meet her expenditures, and when his 
 property was so far reduced that they could no longer be sustained, 
 «he left with her servants and returned to Portsmouth. Whether 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 543 
 
 he ever met with her again we know not. One of the old servants, 
 we believe, was living a few years since, blind, and at a very ad- 
 vanced age, when one of his great-grandchildren called to see her. 
 She wished her to come up close to her, so that she might touch her 
 and see if "she felt like the Bournes." We are not aware that there 
 is anything peculiar in the physique of the family, so that a blind 
 person could determine the genuineness of one claiming to belong 
 to it. 
 
 After this time he spent a portion of his remaining years with his 
 daughter Storer, but most of his time in his own house, where he 
 died suddenly on the 17th of July, 1788, lying down merely to rest 
 after dinner and not again awaking. 
 
 Judge Sayward, in his journal under date of July 23, 1788, says : 
 " I hear Mr. John Bourne, of Wells, is dead, aged about eighty years. 
 He had built several vessels for me. A diligent laborer, a useful 
 man, of good moral character." 
 
 John Bourne was the ancestor of all the Bourne families in Wells 
 and Kennebunk. By his first wife he had the following children : 
 Mary, John, Benjamin, John, Joanna, Samuel, Joseph, Abraham, 
 Abigail, Isaac, Lucy, and Hepsibah. The first John died in infancy, 
 the second in youth. It is unnecessary further to elaborate this 
 genealogy. All inheriting the name can trace their descent from 
 one of these children. 
 
544 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Roads laid out — Road near the house of Oliver Perkins— Road 
 from the Mile Spring to Peabody's— Cat mousam road— Road from 
 Mo us am Landing— New meeting-house built by the second parish 
 — Assignment of pews — Meeting-house built at Alewife — Petitions 
 for aprpopriation of money there — baptist church organized 
 there— Baptist church organized at Maryland — Ordination of 
 Rev. Nathaniel Lord— List of members of the Society— Petition 
 to the General Court for division of the Parish — Remon- 
 strance of First Parish — Agreement as to money raised — Rev. 
 Joseph Eaton ordained— New meeting-house built. 
 
 In 1765, the Stamp Act was passed, and from the day of its enact- 
 ment till the great conflict commenced, which resulted in the 
 independence of the United States, it would seem that but little 
 else could be attended to than such matters as the necessities of life 
 required. No one could foresee what would be the result of the 
 complications of the home and Provincial Governments. Still, the 
 preparations for the future went on, and even when the burdens of 
 the war were on the country, those who were not direct actors on 
 the theatre of the conflict were engaged in making public improve- 
 ments. Several roads were laid out in various parts of the town. 
 In 1774, the still-existing road from Oliver Perkins', easterly by 
 Joshua Thompson's, was established. In 1778, that running from the 
 Mile Spring to the house of the late Isaac Peabody, and also the 
 road from the poor-house, by Thatcher Jones' to Cat Mousam bridge. 
 In 1781, it was voted that the road on the eastern side of Mousam 
 river, from "Mousam Landing" down by the iron works, four rods 
 wide, should be opened. This last road now became of new import- 
 ance, from the necessity of the manufacture of iron, which could not 
 be imported. 
 
 Yet though there would seem to have been so little occasion for 
 town action, the people in different parts of it had found means to 
 occupy their attention, and withal to keep up no small degree of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 545 
 
 excitement. Kennebunk had so increased before the severance of 
 the friendly relations of the Provinces to the mother country, that 
 the oldest portion of the settlement, from the Landing to the sea, 
 had lost its prestige of being the ruling part of the town. The rich 
 farming lands in Alewife had been taken up by an enterprising 
 body of men, who, feeling that they were not on an equal footing 
 with the inhabitants of other parts of the town in regard to their 
 parochial relations, began to look about them for larger conveniences 
 than they were then enjoying. We suppose, also, that the contro- 
 versy in Wells about their meeting-house was not without its effect 
 here. When towns are new and prosperous, its inhabitants almost 
 invariably become ambitious to emulate and keep pace with their 
 neighbors. The inhabitants of the older part of the town had deter- 
 mined to have a new and more commodious house of worship. "Not 
 to be outdone in improvements, a meeting of the Second Parish was 
 called in March, 1767, to consider the question of moving their 
 meeting-house to the County road, and it was then voted to make 
 such removal, twenty- three voting in the affirmative, and eight in the 
 negative. Stephen Titconib, Richard Boothby, Stephen Webber, and 
 Samuel Emons entered their dissent on the records. It was voted 
 also that the expense of removal should be paid by subscriptions, 
 and Joseph Storer, Richard Kimball, Nathaniel Kimball, Waldo 
 Emerson, James Hubbard, Stephen Titcomb, Obadiah Littlefield, 
 John Maddox, and Stephen Larrabee, were appointed a committee 
 to carry out the vote. Titcomb, of course, declined to act. But the 
 removal of the old house did not commend itself to their more con- 
 siderate judgment, and in July another meeting was h olden, at which 
 it was voted to take it down. It was objected by some that it was 
 not large enough for the accommodation of the Parish. But the 
 spirit of the parishioners was not equal to the work which was 
 pictured before them. The committee were of the most influential 
 men of the society, and able to do a large part of the work them- 
 selves, yet the subscriptions could not be had, and the whole matter 
 was suffered quietly to sleep. 
 
 Still, the conviction remained that the privileges of the sanctuary 
 ought to be equal to all, and that it should not be so located that a 
 large part of the parishioners should be obliged to travel seven or 
 eight miles, while the remainder traveled at most but three or four. 
 The meeting-house was located at the Landing, more than two miles 
 35 
 
546 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 
 
 from the center of travel. In 1771, John Cousins, jr., Samuel Cous- 
 ins, Jonathan Taylor, Benjamin Day, Benjamin Stevens, Obadiah 
 Hatch, John Maddox, Obadiah Littlefield, Richard Thompson, Na- 
 thaniel Cousins, James Smith, Samuel Littlefield, jr., Stephen Larra- 
 bee, jr., John Gillpatrick, jr., and Joseph Coburn, petitioned to the 
 Parish Assessors to call a meeting to consider the question of build- 
 ing a new church on the country road. A meeting was accordingly 
 called ; but those living near the old meeting-house, though above it, 
 did not wish to incur the expense, and uniting with those below, de- 
 feated the proposition. But matters of this character are not so 
 easily disposed of. The spirit of the people is seldom subdued by 
 any such adverse result as this. The next year a new petition was 
 presented by the larger part of these petitioners. At this time they 
 were successful, the parish voting to build a meeting-house where 
 the house of the First Parish now stands, fifty-six feet long and 
 forty-four feet wide. Joseph Storer, Richard Kimball, James Hub- 
 bard, Obadiah Littlefield, and Ebenezer Rice were chosen the build- 
 ing committee. It was also voted that common hands and the 
 building committee should have three and sixpence a day ; that on 
 the lower floor there should be forty pews, and in the gallery twenty- 
 five wall pews, and that all the pews should be disposed of accord- 
 ing to the rank of each person in taxation, the first or highest in the 
 list having the first choice. A little while after, it was determined 
 that there should be six pews more, and also a porch on the front of 
 the house. In conformity with the vote as to the disposition of the 
 pews, Joseph Storer was assigned No. 1, which was the first on the 
 right, at the entrance of the house. No. 2 was assigned to Waldo 
 Emerson, which was the first on the left. Such a choice does not 
 well comport with the sentiment of the present day. Nos. 23 and 
 22 were assigned to John Mitchell and Nathaniel Kimball. 
 
 In May, 1773, the width of the house was reduced to forty-four 
 feet. It was to be built with the side, or longest part, on the road. 
 But against the whole proceedings the people seaward entered their 
 protest, avering that the old house was large enough to accommo- 
 date all the people and needed no repairs. A selfish, illiberal spirit 
 is not a new element of human character. It reigned supreme in 
 many hearts at that time. The Christian church has never yet been 
 free from it. The golden rule is little regarded by many who claim 
 for it a supremacy over human action. The old house was nearer to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 547 
 
 them than the location of the proposed new one, and therefore, 
 whatever the inequality of privileges, or whatever wrong was done 
 to others, they insisted that public worship should be maintained at 
 the old house as before ; but their opposition was insufficient to pre- 
 vent the removal. 
 
 Though the pews were assigned, they were not yet erected, and 
 therefore changes could be made, and in August, 1773, it was voted 
 to increase the number of gallery pews to twenty-four, which were 
 drawn and assigned in the manner before prescribed. But little 
 seems to have been yet accomplished toward completing the build- 
 ing. It may be interesting to their descendants to learn how their 
 ancestors stood in the ranking which was then made. "James Hub- 
 bard, Waldo Emerson, and Stephen Webber were appointed a com- 
 mittee to rank each person according to the vote." The committee 
 fulfilled their duty, ranking the people as follows, and the pews were 
 assigned to each according to his standing. 
 
 FIRST RANK. 
 
 Richard Thompson, No. 26 ; John Gillpatrick, 9 ; John Gillpatrick, 
 jr., 3; Obadiah Littlefield, 27; Benjamin Day, 29; John Maddox, 
 44; James Smith, 32; James Hubbard, 12; Samuel Waterhouse, 7; 
 Edmund Currier, 11; Stephen Webber, 5. 
 
 SECOND RANK. 
 
 Samuel Burnham, jr., 30; John Wakefield, 4; Jedediah Wake- 
 field, 10; Benjamin Stevens, 14; Ebenezer Rice, 8; John Cousins, 
 25 ; John Taylor, 40 ; Widow Anna Shackley, 20 ; Adam Ross, 3 1 ; 
 Samuel Emmons, 38; James Kimball, 39; Nathaniel Cousins, 21. 
 
 THIRD RANK. 
 
 James Lord, 19; Samuel Cousins, 36; Mark Fisk, 18; Obadiah 
 Hatch, 6; Richard Kimball, jr., 13; Stephen Larrabee, jr., 35; Paul 
 Shackford, 34; James Wakefield, 16; Nathaniel Wakefield, 17; 
 William Wormwood, 37 ; Ebenezer Coburn, 15 ; Hezekiah Wake- 
 field, 33. 
 
 It was voted " that Deacon Stephen Larrabee and Mr. Benjamin 
 Stevens be appointed a committee to draw the pews in the gallery." 
 They were drawn thus : 
 
 FIRST RANK. 
 
 Ebenezer Rand, No. 1 ; Jonathan Taylor, 2 ; Jesse Larrabee, 3 ; 
 
548 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Samuel Mitchell, 12; John Dennet, 13; William Butland, 14; Jede- 
 diah Gooch, 11 ; Samuel Towns, 22. 
 
 SECOND RANK. 
 
 Jabez Emery, 19 ; John Kimball, 17 ; Joseph Wormwood, 16 ; 
 Samuel Kimball, 5 ; Daniel Hatch, 8 ; Samuel Littlefield, jr., 9; Jo- 
 seph Cousens, 21; Stephen Fairfield, 20; Anthony Littlefield, 18; 
 Samuel Cousens, jr., 6 ; Jotham Mitchell, 7; John Butland, jr., 4; 
 Abraham Day, 15 ; Samuel Stevens, 10. 
 
 Two of the pews on the lower floor were not drawn. Three of 
 the remonstrants against the removal, Stephen Titcomb, Richard 
 Boothby, and Thomas Boothbay, who lived below the old meeting- 
 house, had no pews assigned to them. The others came in and 
 claimed their rights. 
 
 On the 22d of November, 1773, it was voted "that the public wor- 
 ship of God be hereby removed from the old to the new meeting- 
 house." But to calm as much as possible the excitement of those 
 who were opposed to this removal, it was voted that there should be 
 five meetings more at the old house, at different times afterward. It 
 would seem that the house must have been in a very unsuitable state 
 for their religious services. We think that not a single pew had 
 been finished. But the peoj)le at this period were little accustomed 
 to the conveniences which the civilization of the present hour has 
 wrought out for man. Anything as a rest met the demands of the 
 hour in the sanctuary. Whatever its condition was, it was ever 
 afterward used for the exercises of the Sabbath. In 1777, it was 
 voted " to put up the body seats." In 1782, that those who have 
 pews should pay for them, that " the committee may finish the meet- 
 ing-house as far as the money goes." The money, evidently, came 
 very slowly. It was only to be had by great prudence and a large 
 expenditure of labor. Many who took pews and paid a part of the 
 consideration were unable to make the full payment, and the pews 
 were sold to others. The seats for the singers were to be built on 
 each side of the broad aisle, not far from the front door; but in 1782, 
 it was voted to finish the front gallery and provide seats for them 
 there. 
 
 Years passed, and several who had pews in the gallery and on the 
 lower floor, were still unable to pay for them. In 1786, those in the 
 gallery were sold, and in 1787, the committee were directed to insist 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 549 
 
 on immediate payment, and if any neglected, they were directed to 
 oust them from their possession. The erection had been more bur- 
 densome than was anticipated, and though anxious to hold their 
 seats, several were unable to do so. Great complaint was afterward 
 made of the injustice of taxing them for the support of the ministry 
 when they could not share in its benefits. Those who had thus 
 failed to obtain pews and the people in Ale wife and Cat Mousam, 
 who had come into the town or become of age in 1794, felt them- 
 selves much aggrieved in their relations to the parish, and petitioned 
 that the house might be finished and a tax assessed to pay the ex- 
 pense. We are unable to explain the motive of these petitioners, 
 unless the parish had, up to this time, neglected to set up all the 
 pews of which the house was capable, and if completed, more pews 
 might be provided for those who needed them. These complainants 
 seem to have had some good cause for dissatisfaction. Taxation 
 without compensation in some way, has never commended itself to 
 the people of New England, and we can conjecture no other benefit 
 to accrue to the petitioners in this proceeding than the one sug- 
 gested. 
 
 Since the inauguration of the movement of leaving the old house 
 and building a new one on the country road, there had been continu- 
 al discontent in the different parts of the parish. Votes were passed 
 at one meeting and annulled at the next. Nothing was stable. 
 Committees appointed for building or finishing were continually be- 
 ing discharged. During the period while the meeting-house was in 
 process of erection, about fifty meetings were holden, at which some 
 modification of previous action was sought, or some new measure 
 bearing on the completion of the house devised. No less than 
 twenty persons signed this last, petition, and requested that they 
 might be discharged from the parish if the meeting-house could not 
 be finished. None of those who lived below the old house signed it. 
 The malcontents therefore must have been numerous. Those below 
 who were entirely opposed to the removal, and those above who had 
 no rights in the new house, must have constituted nearly half of the 
 society. But the parish were not disposed to give any heed to the 
 petition, and resorted to the summary method, — so common to get 
 rid of a troublesome matter, — the immediate dissolution of the 
 meeting as soon as organized. Still, we think we can with confi- 
 dence say that there was but little ill-feeling engendered among the 
 
550 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 people by all the apparent discontent with the posture of their par- 
 ish relations. No one could be charged with any wrong to another. 
 Mr. Little always spoke of the society as united and dwelling to- 
 gether in harmony. 
 
 Perhaps the assumption that no one could be charged with wrong- 
 ing another in his action as a member of the society, needs some 
 qualification. Stephen Titcomb, according to the rule prescribed for 
 the assignment of pews, being the fourth in the order of taxation, 
 was entitled to the fourth chance of drawing or making a selection. 
 But, by some means he was deprived of it, and might have been 
 obliged even to take the nineteenth. How this error was brought 
 about we have no means of ascertaining. It surely was not reason- 
 able to expect him to be satisfied with such a deprivation of his 
 rights. 
 
 In 1799, all the committees for finishing the meeting-house were 
 discharged. The building had not then been completed, and was 
 not until after the great modification to which it was subjected in a 
 future year. The pulpit and front gallery were painted. But paint- 
 ing was not necessary to its completion. That was an adornment 
 which was not then an incident of the churches, and which few 
 dwelling houses received. The necessities of life were all that the 
 people could meet. The luxury of beauty was but little thought of. 
 
 But now, after twenty-five years of contention in relation to the 
 meeting-house, another project growing out of the prevailing dis- 
 satisfaction was started, which had no tendency to minister to the 
 peace of the people. The inhabitants of Alewife had built a meet- 
 ing-house for themselves. This was the old house which was standing 
 in that part of the town until within a few years. It was not built 
 from any division of sentiment, or any objections to the preaching in 
 the Congregational church ; but there were many who paid taxes for 
 the support of the ministry there, notwithstanding they had and 
 could have no rights in the meeting-house, who felt seriously the 
 inconvenience of traveling five or six miles to meeting, and they 
 thought it reasonable that Mr. Little should preach in their vicinity 
 a portion of the time. They built this house without apparent 
 difficulty, and in a very short time. In June, 1796, the following 
 persons petitioned that they might have part of the preaching in the 
 house which they had thus built ; or that they might have the pro- 
 portion of money which had been assessed upon them for the support 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 551 
 
 of the ministry. This petition was signed by Moses Hubbard, Ben- 
 jamin Titcomb, Reuben Littlefield, Jotham Littlefield, Joseph Gill- 
 patrick, Ebenezer Day, Joshua Taylor, John Taylor, jr., Ebenezer 
 Taylor, Ezekiel Wakefield, Adam Ross, Daniel Ross, Eliphalet 
 Walker, Joseph Ross, and Tobias Stone. Only one of these petition- 
 ers had a pew in the house of the Second Parish. The remainder 
 had no right in it whatever. All were men of influence and good 
 standing, most of them having come into the town or become of age 
 since the assignment of pews. This petition was summarily disposed 
 of by a vote to dissolve, passed immediately after its organization. 
 
 We are not in sympathy with this mode of treating respectable 
 complainants. There were some merits in their petition. They 
 were willing to pay what was required of them, and all that they 
 asked was a share in that for which they paid. They may not have 
 presented a claim which the Parish should recognize as such. It is a 
 fundamental principle of republicanism that every one should cheer- 
 fully submit to the inconveniences which are unavoidable, growing out 
 of principles which every one must acknowledge to be sound. Each, 
 cannot have the church or school-house at his own door. It must be 
 placed where it best subserves the convenience of all. This is a rule 
 which must everywhere prevail in republics. But parishes, we feel, 
 are bound to have some reference to Christian charity. As these 
 persons were excluded from any rights in the house, it was just and 
 Christian that they should have some benefit for the burdens which 
 they were required to bear. As to the request to return to them the 
 amount of the taxes which they paid in, probably, as the law then 
 stood, the Parish had no right to comply with it. But the rebuff did 
 not discourage the petitioners. In 1800, they petitioned again, that a 
 part of the present preaching of the gospel be granted to them at their 
 new meeting-house. At the meeting called to take this petition into 
 consideration, the leading petitioner, Benjamin Titcomb, was made 
 chairman. But as soon as it was organized, it was voted that the 
 meeting be dissolved. This procedure surely could not have been 
 very effective in the promotion of peace and harmony, and did not 
 give any real strength to the society. At any rate, the malcontents 
 did not lose courage, and in 1801 they applied for a territorial divis- 
 ion of the parish ; but their petition met with the same response as 
 before, in a permission to withdraw as soon as the meeting was 
 organized. In 1805, they asked for a division of the money raised 
 
552 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 between Mr. Fletcher, the new minister, and Elder Joshua Roberts, 
 who was preaching in the Alewife meeting-house. But the same 
 course was again pursued, and the petition dismissed. In this last 
 proceeding the people of that part of the town do not seem to have 
 taken the precaution which was in their power. The Puritanism of 
 Massachusetts had now in some degree relaxed its sovereignty as to 
 the popular theology, and the people were allowed to attend on and 
 support such a ministry as their own consciences approved. In 1804, 
 all who chose, on due notice, could have required the assessors to 
 pay over their several taxes to Mr. Roberts. But they seem not to 
 have taken advantage of the opportunity. 
 
 The Act of the Legislature of 1800, had a very serious effect on 
 the standing Congregational societies. The people were no longer 
 bound to maintain the regular ministry, if they chose to sustain one 
 of different character, and actually did so. They were required only 
 to contribute to the support of some religious teacher. A portion of 
 the inhabitants of Alewife determined to supply their own pulpit. 
 Baptist societies were now being gathered in many places, and in 
 1803 they organized a church among themselves, and soon after 
 Joshua Roberts, jr., was ordained as their minister. Benjamin Tit- 
 comb and about half of those who had signed the various petitions 
 for relief of which we have spoken, did not unite with the new 
 society, but continued their connection with the old. The people on 
 the Alfred road were content with their original relation to the 
 Second Parish, and did not ask for any change. But the institution 
 of the Baptist society put an end to all the discontent which had 
 prevailed ; and the two societies from that period have maintained as 
 harmonious relations as any one could expect from those who differed 
 widely in theological sentiment. 
 
 We return now to the old parish. It will be remembered that the 
 proposition to build a new meeting-house was defeated by the people 
 of Merryland, who were intent on another division, which they felt 
 their position demanded. The matter was allowed to rest for a short 
 time only. The project of building a new church was not abandoned. 
 It was renewed at a subsequent meeting and a vote obtained to 
 build, the discontents persevering in their opposition. There was 
 now no probability of a reconciliation; and those of Merryland, en- 
 couraged and strengthened by others in the adjoining town of Ber- 
 wick, came to the conclusion to organize a church as a nucleus for a 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 553 
 
 Baptist society. Accordingly, they associated themselves by signify- 
 ing their assent to a long creed of fifteen articles, conforming in the 
 main with the theology of Calvin. Thirty-four males and thirty- 
 three females thus became parties to the organization. It is seldom 
 that a church is started under more favorable circumstances as to 
 numbers. 
 
 In 1780, the church, or a portion of it, being in number but four- 
 teen, invited Nathaniel Lord, of Berwick, to become their minister. 
 The invitation was accepted, and November ninth appointed for the 
 meeting of the council and the ordination. The council consisted of 
 Elder William Hooper, Elder William Frost, Deacon John Knight, 
 of Berwick, Elder Samuel Shephard, of Stratham, Deacon Hennon, 
 Deacon Powers, and Elder Chadbourne, of Sanford. They duly 
 examined the brethren as to the soundness of their theology, and 
 the conformity of their faith with the teachings of the gospel ; and 
 also made due inquisition as to the experience of the candidate, and 
 his fitness for the position, and being fully satisfied on these matters, 
 voted to receive him into their watchful care as a brother, and pro- 
 ceeded with the customary ordination services to set him apart as 
 minister of the Baptist church in Merryland. Elders Shephard, Hoop- 
 er, and Frost, solemnly laid hands on him and ordained him to the 
 work of the ministry. Elder Shephard then addressed the people 
 who had assembled on the occasion. Elder Hooper preached the 
 sermon and made the ordaining prayer. Elder Shephard gave the 
 charge, and Elder Hooper the right hand of fellowship, and made 
 the concluding prayer. 
 
 On the second day of December, Gideon Hatch and Joseph Eaton 
 were chosen deacons, and on the third was holden the first regular 
 communion of this church. Thus a permanent separation from the 
 old society was perfected, as far as was in the power of these persons. 
 Several years elapsed before they had any regular house of worship. 
 The war was still prevailing, and the people were destitute and hard 
 pressed by its demands. But in 1791, the tide of prosperity return- 
 ing, the people received fresh inspirations for new zeal, in the im- 
 provement and establishment of their religious privileges, and set 
 about the work of raising and building a meeting-house. To perfect 
 their organization it was necessary that a society should be gathered 
 about the church. Accordingly on the third day of June, 1793, a 
 portion of the people, twenty in number, formed themselves into a 
 
554 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 
 
 society of the Baptist denomination. The following were the asso- 
 ciates for this purpose : Jeremiah Hubbard, Joseph Eaton, Joseph 
 Goodwin, John Withum, George Penny, Abraham Annis, Joseph 
 Hobbs, Nehemiah Annis, Moses Chick, John Hatch, Elisha Perkins, 
 Samuel Chadbourne, James Littlefield, Joseph Day, Richard Lord, 
 David Littlefield, James Pearce, Stephen Annis, Jonathan Hill, Josh- 
 ua Eaton, jr. 
 
 A majority of the people were not then of the Baptist denomina- 
 tion, and did not unite with the society. Some of them had em- 
 braced the religious views of the Free Will Baptists, and some ad- 
 hered to Congregationalism. But the principal part of them were 
 united in the opinion, that either the meeting-house of the First 
 Parish should be removed to a more central place, or the parish be 
 divided; or that the money raised in Merryland should be applied to 
 the maintenance of preaching in that part of the town. But the old 
 society was unyielding on all these points. No small excitement 
 was created by this collision of feeling, and there were not wanting 
 those who were ready to do what they could to intensify it. About 
 the time of the formation of this church a new denomination, calling 
 themselves Free Will Baptists, appeared in New Hampshire. This 
 sect had rapidly enlarged by the zeal and active labors of its advo- 
 cates, and as before stated, a portion of the inhabitants of Merryland 
 had become converts to its doctrines. Some of their preachers came 
 into Merryland, and stirred up the people by the presentation of their 
 new views of the Christian revelation. One Tingley, whether of 
 Calvinistic or Free Will sentiments we are not informed, was very 
 active in his endeavors to bring about a rupture with the old society. 
 We suppose his freedom in attempting to preach the gospel in the 
 limits of the regular parishes had not been regarded with much com- 
 posure, and perhaps he had not been favored with very satisfactory 
 treatment. At any rate, his zeal was directed altogether to the over- 
 throw of the regular church. He went about from house to house 
 on the Ridge, preaching his religious views, and stirring the people 
 to greater activity in their Master's cause. His prayers in the vari- 
 ous households to which he had access embraced the special suppli- 
 cation, that Congregationalism might be confounded, and its candle- 
 stick removed from its place. As might well be expected, under the 
 influence of an earnest ministry of this character, many were brought 
 to assent to his theology, and ceased to sympathize with the existing 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBLTSTK. 555 
 
 ministrations of the pulpit of the regular society. The opposition of 
 that society to their wishes, strengthened by these new views of the 
 religion of the gospel, created a feeling against Dr. Hemmenway, be- 
 lieving as they did that his feelings were enlisted against the new 
 society. In the midst of the excitement a small body of these mal- 
 contents went down to make known to him their objections to his 
 ministerial opinions, and action and to have "a free talk with him, 
 Mr. Elisha Hatch, a very good man, carried with him a sieve, and on 
 entering his house told him they came to sift him. The various par- 
 ticulars of this interview have not come to our knowledge. We 
 only know that they carried out the programme of their visit, and 
 spoke very freely, charging him with some mal-administration in his 
 office, especially condemning him for the admission of his wife to the 
 church, which they alleged he would not have done if he had ex- 
 amined her as he ought. 
 
 Having fortified themselves with a regular society, they renewed 
 the contest for independence. Having a large and respectable church, 
 they would present themselves before the public as worthy of re- 
 spectful consideration. They did not think it expedient again to ap- 
 ply to the old parish, but selected another field for action ; petition- 
 ing to the General Court for a territorial division. Notice was 
 ordered on their petition. The First Parish determined to oppose 
 it, and chose Nathaniel Wells and Aaron Clark a committee to em- 
 body their views in a remonstrance. Judge Wells was never back- 
 ward in stating his objections to any proposition in as strong terms 
 as the facts would authorize. The first objection in his report was 
 that there was no union in their religious sentiments ; that nearly 
 half were Baptists, or inclining that way, and if made a parish, there 
 was such a division among them they never would agree in the sup- 
 port of a minister of any denomination. Secondly, if they could, 
 they were too poor to support him. Thirdly, that many of the peo- 
 ple in Merryland were opposed to the establishment of the new so- 
 ciety. And, fourthly, that the line of division, as set out in the pe- 
 tition, was not the best one. But without waiting for the action of 
 the Legislature, the committee of the First Parisji came to the con- 
 clusion that it would be wise in them to save a portion of the tax 
 payers rather than lose the whole, as they might, if the Legislature 
 should grant the prayer of the petitioners, and they accordingly 
 agreed with the new society that all should be taxed as before ; and 
 
556 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 that the Baptist society should receive all that its members paid, de- 
 ducting the expense of collecting; and that any one might pay his 
 tax to the Congregationalist or to the Baptist minister, provided he 
 left a certificate of his choice with the town clerk on or before the 
 first of March annually. This agreement was assented to and com- 
 plied with by both parties. But the law, as enacted soon afterward, 
 being based on the same principle, rendered the agreement no long- 
 er material. Any one now could file his certificate with the town 
 clerk, and require his tax to be paid to any minister on whose ser- 
 vices he attended on the Sabbath. The society had rapidly increased, 
 and Joseph Eaton, and Joseph Goodwin of the Anabaptist church, 
 filed with the town clerk a certificate that Seth Hatch and fifty- 
 three others were members of that church. Thus, after many years 
 of struggle, and through much tribulation, they achieved a quasi 
 independence. No reasonable person can fail to commend them for 
 their perseverance, though all the acts of individual members cannot 
 be approved. The attack on Dr. Hemmenway was entirely unjust- 
 ifiable. Such, we suppose, was the judgment of the church. Elisha 
 Hatch was suspended from their communion. The cause is not 
 stated. But where one adequate appears, it is safe and just to at- 
 tribute it to that. 
 
 In 1793, Joseph Eaton "was approbated to improve publicly;" 
 and by his religious exercises in the following years, so far com- 
 mended himself to the society that they gave him a call to the min- 
 istry, asking the church for their concurrence. The church signified 
 their assent, and on the 20th day of February, 1798, he was ordained 
 as their minister. Elder Hooper, of Sanford, preached the sermon ; 
 Elder Bachelder, of Berwick, gave the charge ; Elder Lord the Right 
 Hand of Fellowship, and Elder Locke offered the prayer. The socie- 
 ty appeared to be now in a very flourishing condition. In the years 
 of Elder Lord's pastorate, it must have enjoyed great prosperity. 
 Many were added to the church. Part of them, we suppose, were 
 inhabitants of Berwick. In their prosperity they felt that the house 
 of worship was not what it should be. The pulpit had never been 
 erected. The only provision for the minister's comfort was a bench 
 to sit on. No desk was at hand on which he could rest his Bible. 
 The remainder of the house was probably in no better state for the 
 accommodation of the people. The singers' gallery furnished the oc- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 557 
 
 cupants with the same conveniences as those of the pulpit. "With- 
 out any heating apparatus in the winter season, the religious zeal of 
 the worshipers must have warmed their souls to a high ^degree, to 
 have enabled them to withstand its severities. But in 1800 they 
 came to the conclusion that such a state of things ought to contin- 
 ue no longer ; and they determined to build a temple more worthy 
 of them as a Christian society. Accordingly they erected the house 
 which is still standing, though modified and improved since in var- 
 ious ways. The cost of the structure, as far as completed, was 
 about 3,000 dollars. This must have been a heavy burden for the 
 society. There were no rich men to aid them with heavy contribu- 
 tions. But it was a house for the Lord, and men came forward will- 
 ingly for the work. 
 
 But .their prosperity was doomed to receive a material check in a 
 very short time. The neighboring territory was being rapidly popu- 
 lated. The people of Berwick were enterprising, and felt the same 
 need which these inhabitants had experienced, of having the church 
 nearer their own doors. They determined to institute a church 
 among themselves. Elder Lord had been preaching among them 
 with good success ; and application was made, in December, 1803, 
 by 76 members, for a division of the church ; these members wishing 
 to unite with others in Berwick in forming the Second Baptist church 
 in that town. The loss of this large number would be a heavy blow 
 to the Merryland society; but they felt obliged to assent to it; and 
 on the 28th of May, 1804, they were dismissed. This was a severe 
 trial to those who remained. They had had many trials in their 
 church relations ; being called upon very frequently by the disciplin- 
 ary rules of the denomination, to suspend brothers and sisters from 
 their communion. We have nothing to say on this assumed prerog- 
 ative of any church, excepting that it is one of momentous respon- 
 sibility, and demanding of frail, erring man, the most considerate 
 and prayerful judgment. Every man must bear his own burdens. 
 If he holds the truth in unrighteousness, the penalty is his. The 
 true church of Christ is not to be condemned on account of the 
 aberrations of some claiming to belong to it. In our opinion the best 
 course for christians to take in such cases is to leave judgment with 
 the Almighty. 
 
 Elder Eaton was continued pastor of the society till about the 
 
558 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 time when oar history ends. Such were then his infirmities that he 
 could no longer supply the pulpit. 
 
 The four societies. Congregational and Baptist, were the only reg- 
 ular ecclesiastical organizations at the time when we propose to end 
 this work. The Free Will Baptist, Methodist, Christian, Universa- 
 list and Advent were inaugurated after 1820. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 559 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Wolves— Bears— Anecdotes of William Butland— Deer and moose 
 —Beavers— Birds— Salmon— Bass and shad. 
 
 We have frequently referred to the troubles which our predeces- 
 sors experienced from the wolves which infested the forests in the 
 early days of the settlement. Bounties had been, and up to this 
 time continued to be, offered for their destruction ; but the exertions 
 to exterminate them had been ineffectual. We are inclined to the 
 opinion that their numbers had not been diminished from the first 
 ingress of the pioneers to the territory of Maine, to the middle of 
 the last century. Contact with civilization had actually increased 
 them, by furnishing a more abundant supply of food. The flocks 
 were a continual prey to their ravages. Wherever there was a set- 
 tlement, not only the wolves, but other wild animals which live in a 
 great measure on aliment in common with man, gathered in great 
 numbers in the recesses of the surrounding forests. The wolves 
 and the bears yet continued very troublesome in Wells, more espec- 
 ially in the eastern part of the town, along on the Mousam river. 
 William Day, who at this time lived just above the Cat Mousam 
 bridge, on the western side, on what was afterward called the Cous- 
 ens place, had as much as he could do to maintain his position as 
 " master of the situation." He was terribly harrassed by the con- 
 tinual ravages of the wolves upon his inclosures. From the deep 
 valley above his house and the tops of the adjacent hills, their 
 nightly howlings came to the ears of his family in " awful melody," 
 but only to rouse him to renewed resolution to exterminate them. 
 He exerted himself in this work, and was so far successful in reduc- 
 ing their numbers that the town granted him thirty acres of land for 
 his services in their destruction. It was dangerous for an unarmed 
 man to travel in this part of the town. As the population was now 
 rapidly extending, men were obliged to resort to new localities. 
 
560 HISTORY OF WELLS ASTD KENNEBUNK. 
 
 John Webber took up a lot beyond Day's, where the Webber fami- 
 lies now live. Here he cleared away the woods and built him a 
 house, to which he took the partner of his joys to share with him in 
 the trials which beset the pioneers on the new territories. Here her 
 womanly heart trembled daily while her husband was absent at the 
 saw-mill about his work. Her fears at one time got the mastery of 
 her, and she determined to follow him to his w r ork. She took her 
 babe and accompanied him to the mill, and there spent the day. At 
 sunset he took his axe and the child, and they started on their return 
 home. They had only passed Day's house when a flock of these 
 terrible pests came out upon them. He handed the child to his 
 wife, and taking his axe wielded it hither and thither to keep them 
 off, his wife keeping close behind him. They had a long distance to 
 go, but making as rapid progress as they could, and he exerting him- 
 self with the axe as much as possible, they finally reached their 
 home with safety, when they sent out the dog upon them; but he 
 was instantly torn to pieces. 
 
 About the same time, just over the line in New Hampshire, two 
 men went into the forests for the purpose of cutting wood, and there 
 separated. One of them was afterward found by his companion, 
 shockingly mangled. It appeared that he had been attacked by a 
 flock of wolves, and after a terrible conflict with them was overcome 
 and killed. Seven were found dead around him. 
 
 Bears were also numerous at the same time. They were not so 
 destructive as the wolves and were, withal, a little more cautious. 
 Yet they were sufficiently troublesome to make it an object with the 
 town to do what was possible to drive them away from the neigh- 
 borhood. The general law provided for a bounty for each one 
 killed. In 1754, John Storer killed five and one whelp. In 1769, 
 Daniel Gile, at Alfred, killed forty-one. They were met with very 
 frequently, but most people thought it best to let them alone where 
 they were not doing damage. The greatest injury which the settlers 
 suffered from them was in the destruction of their corn. This was 
 a favorite article of food with them, and it was not considered safe 
 to leave their corn-fields, which were always in close proximity to 
 the house, without some kind of protection. Generally, some one 
 w T as to have his eye upon them. Sometimes the dog would give the 
 warning. We think they were not so bold at this period as they 
 have been in some places within the present century, where they 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 561 
 
 have even had the courage to enter a cellar and walk off with a pot 
 of butter; but they were bold enough to enter barns and outhouses, 
 and carry off whatever they thought proper. They had a great rel- 
 ish for the meat of swine, and in fact for almost every article which 
 is regarded as the special food of man. Mr. William Butland had 
 several encounters with them while he lived at the Larrabee village 
 on Mousam river. " I was," he says, " hoeing in my field near the 
 house. It being in a time of peace, I had not taken my gun with 
 me. My hog had strayed a short distance from the house to near 
 the edge of the woods. All at once he began to squeal. In a mo- 
 ment it occurred to me that he was attacked by a bear. What was 
 to be done? Before I could get my gun he would surely kill him. 
 There was no alternative. I must risk my life or lose my hog. I 
 could not hesitate, but ran with my hoe to the scene of action. The 
 hog was struggling with the bear. I at him with my hoe, with all 
 my strength. He immediately left the hog and pursued me, while I 
 kept up a running fire with the hoe ; but as the hog was getting out 
 of the way, he turned back and seized him again. I at him a second 
 time, giving it to him hot and heavy with the hoe. He again left 
 the hog and renewed the combat with me; but I managed the hoe 
 so adroitly that he was not able to get so close to me as he wished. 
 Being so earnest after the hog, he again turned back, while I fol- 
 lowed him pell mell. He seized the hog, but at the same moment a 
 gun was fired, which put an end to the contest by killing the bear." 
 Mr. Wormwood, who lived m the house below, hearing the noise, 
 seized his gun and ran to the spot, and seeing the bear, shot him 
 before Mr. Butland was aware of his coming to the rescue. But 
 few persons now, we think, would have the courage to rush into such 
 a contest. 
 
 Butland had another encounter with a bear, which may interest 
 the reader. After his corn had fully grown, he discovered that a 
 bear entered the field every night and made considerable havoc with 
 it. The form'er contest had satisfied him that he had no reason to be 
 afraid of Bruin, and he was determined not to lose his corn. Day 
 after day, and sometimes in the night, he watched his field, having 
 with him his gun loaded for the trespasser. He would never come 
 to the corn while he was there waiting for him. But if he omitted 
 watching, the depredations were renewed. He had cut his stocks 
 
 and they were standing in shocks in the field. With his usual fear- 
 36 
 
562 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 lessness, he went out in the night with his gun, determined at all 
 hazards to risk a battle with him. He had learned that without a 
 complete concealment of himself, his waiting would be in vain. The 
 bear's eye in the night was much quicker than his own. He accord- 
 ingly went to the centre of the field, and taking a large bundle of 
 stocks, cut off the binding and tied them together at the top. 
 Spreading it open at the bottom, he drew it over his head and sat 
 down, so that there was then apparently only a large bunch of stocks. 
 He had been careful to seat himself in such a manner that the 
 bear would come up directly before him. He had been thus waiting 
 but a short time, when the wary animal came in sight and raised his 
 forefeet on the fence. Here he stood looking in all directions, so as 
 to assure himself there was no danger. After careful examination 
 and survey of the whole ground, he sprang over the fence, and, con- 
 trary to Butland's expectation, went around by the side of the field, 
 coming up directly behind him. He was now in a sad dilemma. 
 What should he do? The bear he saw was uncommonly large, and 
 in a hand fight he would stand rather a poor chance. He could not 
 fire his gun as he then was, and he could not turn around without 
 turning the bundle of stocks. But hesitation would not do. The 
 bear was all the while breaking off the corn and piling it in a heap. 
 He must turn or lose the bear and his corn. Accordingly, he turned 
 himself very moderately, moving at the same time the bundle of 
 stocks. This motion met the eye of the bear, and he set up a most 
 •hideous growl. Butland was still as death. In a moment, without 
 approaching the bundle, the bear again went to the work of breaking 
 off and piling up the corn. Having thus prepared for a good meal, he 
 laid down and began his feast. Butland then sat about changing his 
 gun to the other side of the stocks. This he succeeded in doing 
 unperceived by the bear. Being thus ready, he gently raised his 
 gun, which the bear discovered, and rising in terrific majesty on his 
 hind feet was about to spring on the bundle of stocks, when Butland 
 fired and inflicted a mortal wound. Poor Bruin ran to the fence and 
 attempted to jump over, but his strength failed him and he fell back 
 dead. When the gun was discharged it was so near him that the 
 hair was scorched. By the assistance of Sergeant Larrabee and 
 Wormwood, who came to his aid, the bear was dragged home to 
 Butland's house. His weight was between four and five hundred 
 pounds. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 563 
 
 Until about the commencement of the Revolutionary war, deer 
 w'ere very abundant in Wells. Herds of them, from ten to twenty, 
 were very frequently seen. They were in the habit of visiting the 
 marshes in great numbers. There was an island in Mousam river, 
 which was for them a great place of resort. This was called Deer 
 Island. Where it lies we cannot state. There is no island of any 
 magnitude in that river except one or two thatch beds near the sea. 
 As late as the year 1770, a deer was started by a dog, and in the 
 chase he ran into the parlor of Joseph Storer in Kennebunk, and 
 went out through the window. For many years deer and moose- 
 reeves were chosen at the annual town-meetings. These officers 
 were elected until the year 1786. What their duties were, or what 
 the necessity of the office, we have not ascertained. These animals 
 were not, of course, to be driven like sheep or cattle. 
 
 The moose, also, in the earlier period of the settlement, were found 
 here in considerable numbers. But they soon sought refuge away 
 from civilization, though some continued to visit their old haunts 
 nearly as long as the deer. One was killed by Ichabod Cousens near 
 the "great stump," which is frequently referred to in deeds in 1775. 
 This stump stood on the shore of the Mousam river, where the tide 
 flows, a rod or more from a large rock in the edge of the river, where 
 the road bends with the stream. Another was killed in 1760, 
 where the Second Parish meeting-house stands in Kennebunk, and 
 another on Hart's marsh about the same time. The last was seen 
 in 1778, crossing the road in Kennebunk where the post-office is now 
 located. 
 
 The rivers and ponds were great places of resort for beaver. 
 These were very abundant until late in the last century. A great 
 many of them were taken. Their skins were very valuable, being 
 worth about four shillings. One of the Boothbys, of Wells, in 1755j. 
 took seventeen of them. But it is believed that they have entirely 
 fled from the limits of the town, not one having been taken here 
 within the memory of the author. Their works are yet visible near 
 the banks of our river. The "beaver dams" are mentioned as mon- 
 uments in a great many conveyances. 
 
 Of the other animals still found here, and occasionally killed, it is 
 not necessary for us to speak. A word or two in regard to birds 
 may not be uninteresting to the young men. A hundred years ago, 
 pigeons in innumerable numbers haunted the woods near the sea. 
 
564 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Wells and Kennebunk afforded the very best feeding ground for 
 them. The whortleberries abounded on the plains, though then 
 covered with woods, and daily the pigeons took their morning 
 flight to the sea for salt. In the appropriate season they furnished 
 food for many of the families. They were easily taken by old and 
 young. Great quantities were killed on the marshes. The slaves 
 were expert in gunning. Women also occasionally tried their hands 
 in this kind of hunting, and with considerable success. But in the 
 last century they had not the inventions of the present, which have 
 made such havoc among them. The pigeon-stand introduced here 
 not far from the year 1810, was much used for more than thirty 
 years. This institution made great destruction of these valuable 
 birds, and we suppose was one of the principal causes of their forsak- 
 ing the feeding grounds here. With this device the experienced 
 gunner would get from one to three hundred in a day. Judge Clark, 
 Dr. Fisher, Joseph Hatch, John Low, and Joseph Porter used to 
 supply the whole village with this kind of food. But frequently 
 such had been the abundant supply, that many would not accept the 
 gift of them unless they were dressed. 
 
 Sandbirds or peeps were as numerous as the pigeons. Sometimes 
 they would almost cover the beaches. They were found on the flats, 
 on the river banks, on the marshes, and wherever there were ponds 
 or creeks. Though a very small bird, and requiring much labor in 
 the dressing, they were sought with great avidity as an article of 
 food. They were easily killed. They had none of that shyness 
 which they manifest now. It was nothing uncommon to take fifty 
 or more at a shot. Mr. John Bourne went down one morning in 
 pursuit of this game, taking a bag or basket to bring it home. This 
 he soon filled. He then pulled off his trousers, tied a string around 
 the bottom of the legs, and filled them full, and then returned home 
 well satisfied with his morning's work. In some particulars it will 
 be seen that the people during the Indian and Revolutionary wars 
 fared a little better than their descendants. 
 
 At one time salmon abounded in Mousam river, and they continued 
 to be taken in great quantities until about the year 1760, when man 
 had so obstructed the stream that it became unfitted for even a 
 temporary habitation. On their passage up they furnished the best 
 of food; but on their return in autumn they were almost worthless. 
 At the junction of Rankin's creek, cartloads were sometimes taken 
 
. HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUHK. 565 
 
 by one of the Wakefields. Before the close of the last century they 
 had ceased to visit any of the rivers in Wells. 
 
 Bass and shad were also very plenty in Mousam river. They were 
 taken in weirs which were built in different places. The most noted 
 place was near the mouth of the river, a few rods above Hart's rocks, 
 or near the old dam of 1792. But soon after the settlement was 
 initiated at Kennebunk, the bass came to the conclusion that it was 
 unsafe to attempt navigation in this river, and discontinued their 
 visits to it. The shad, possessing more spirit and a stronger attach- 
 ment to the old summer watering place, where their ancestry had 
 basked from the morning of creation, have not even yet been driven 
 entirely from the ground, although they have had to maintain it 
 through the most fearful perils. 
 
566 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Navigation — First vessels owned in Wells — First vessel built on 
 Mousam river— The proprietors of Mousam River Canal — Course 
 of the river changed— first vessel built on kennebunk river— 
 Prominent business men— Insurance by individuals— Marine dis- 
 asters—The French claims— Pier built at the mouth of Kenne- 
 bunk river— Small-pox— Hospital established. 
 
 There is no matter of a past century of historical importance in 
 the examination of which we are not almost invariably compelled to 
 feel that much of it is forever lost to the world. Time, with its relent- 
 less power, is constantly sweeping from the earth the vestiges of the 
 material action of the race that preceded us, in the occupancy of the 
 territory which we now inhabit, where no special pains have been 
 taken for their preservation. From the records or monuments of the 
 olden time, we derive but a very imperfect view of the moral, social, 
 or business life of those of the former centuries, who lie sleeping in 
 the earth under our feet. Tradition is not always faithful in things 
 left to its care. Much of importance is permitted to slip from its 
 hands. 
 
 No subject can be of more interest to mercantile men than that of 
 the commerce of the town, and we have to regret our inability to 
 give a connected history of its progress from the time when the first 
 vessel was launched on the Webhannet. In tradition we can find no 
 help. It has been only by the diligent study and research of many 
 years that we have been enabled to present to, our readers the brief 
 history which makes up this chapter. All our town histories have 
 strangely ignored this important subject, giving only here and there 
 in the thread of narration, a few facts which come in to complete 
 some other matter of historic value. We might have had material 
 assistance in the work of others, if the navigation and commerce of 
 the several seaport cities and towns had received that attention 
 which they so well merited. Our prosperity and success as a nation 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 567 
 
 are due to its commercial activities more than to any other branch of 
 human industry. Without it our agriculture, the principal employ- 
 ment of a large proportion of the people, would have been stinted 
 to the mere supply of personal necessities and comforts. There would 
 have been little community of interest, and still less of a well-ground- 
 ed and abiding patriotism. It was the moving impulse to all the 
 original investments of labor in clearing up the wilderness, and in 
 the successive business operations which have advanced the towns of 
 Wells and Kennebunk, and especially the latter, to their present 
 respectable position among the municipalities of the State. Kenne- 
 bunk, by the valuation of 1860, was the third town in Maine as to 
 the highest average amount of property to each inhabitant. Our 
 navigation has imparted life and energy to all other departments of 
 business. It has been the basis of our prosperity. 
 
 When Edmund Littlefield built his saw-mill at the first Webhannet 
 falls in 1641, he foresaw that the immense amount of timber which 
 was awaiting the demands of civilization, must inevitably be a source 
 of profitable employment to those who should have secured the 
 power of bringing it into the service of man; and that as a means 
 for that purpose, the Webhannet, Mousam, and Kennebunk rivers 
 would soon be supplied with the necessary amount of navigation. So 
 also must Sayward have been assured when he built the saw-mill at 
 Mousam in 1669. Edmund Littlefield's grandsons when they built 
 that on the Saco road, and Goff, when he built the mill in Arundel, 
 which goes by his name, must have been of the same faith. The 
 large quantity of lumber which must be here manufactured, would 
 find its way out of these rivers. 
 
 We cannot learn when the first vessel was owned or built in 
 Wells ; but the Webhannet and Mousam rivers began to be navi- 
 gated sometime previously to 1700. The mill in Wells was in oper- 
 ation in 1642, and that at Mousam in 1672. At the latter, large 
 quantities of lumber were shipped for Boston, being hauled down to 
 the landing place and there delivered on board the coasters. As we 
 know that many cargoes were here manufactured, and that there 
 was here no demand for lumber, it must have all been transported 
 in vessels elsewhere. Edmund Littlefield's mill, not being operated 
 by so great a power, and being in the neighborhood of the growing 
 village, supplied the demand created in that vicinity, and perhaps 
 furnished a surplus for exportation. But we have no specific knowl- 
 
568 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 edge of the vessels then employed at either of these places. In 
 ancient times it was seldom that the name of a vessel was mentioned 
 in any report concerning her. She was only distinguished or known 
 by the name of the master. Thus the first two vessels of which we 
 have any knowledge belonging to Wells were sloops commanded by 
 Capt. James Gooch and Capt. Samuel Storer, and when these ves- 
 sels were referred to, it was said Capt. Gooch or Capt. Storer sailed, 
 or arrived, or was spoken. These vessels had a memorable part in 
 our history. In the great battle of June 10, 1692, when they were 
 assaulted by an army of 500, and having on board but fourteen men 
 and a few muskets, with no ordinance and no other equipments for 
 the conflict, for forty-eight hours they bravely withstood the attacks 
 of the enemy, thwarting all their plans, killing several of their men, 
 and finally compelling them to retire from the field. The courage 
 and skill of these noble commanders and of their small crews, in 
 thus defending their vessels against such an unequal force, should 
 render their names imperishable. Gooch soon after manifested his 
 bravery in another encounter with a French vessel, of which we 
 have not been able to gather the details. But Cotton Mather speaks 
 of it in connection with the great battle in this wise : " This was as 
 worthy an action as is in our story, and it was not long before the 
 valiant Gooch, who bare his part in the action, did another that was 
 not much inferior to it, when he suddenly recovered from the French 
 a valuable prize they had newly taken." 
 
 During the progress of the Indian wars, which continued, with a 
 few years' intermission, till 1714, no vessels could have been built ; 
 but after that period the people set about the work of recuperation 
 with increased energy, and navigation was required to carry on busi- 
 ness successfully. 
 
 Pelatiah Littlefield, who kept a public house, entered into the 
 business of ship-building. He was an enterprising man, who aspired 
 after distinction among the men of his day, and perhaps suffered his 
 ambition to carry him a little beyond the dictates of prudence. He 
 did not count the cost of life or activity in its various channels. 
 Men generally were content with domestic fabrics for their apparel, 
 but he was not satisfied with a wardrobe of that kind. He was in 
 the habit of visiting Boston and associating with the merchants 
 there, and, consequently, feeling that he must have a wardrobe fitted 
 for such society, had his clothes made at that place. The ordinary 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 569 
 
 income of the farm and the tavern would not come up to his neces- 
 sities, and he entered on this new branch of business, adding to it a 
 small store of goods for trade. In 1728, he built a sloop for Robert 
 Barrett, and the same year another for himself and John Low, who 
 was to command her. These vessels were built at a place called the 
 " Six Acres," a little to the eastward of the Eldridge house. The 
 last vessel was called the Triton. She was employed in the coast- 
 ing trade to Boston, and also to Virginia. Saw-mills were now in 
 operation in various parts of the town, so that there was lumber for 
 exportation, even beyond the demand. She loaded sometimes with 
 wood ; but we have seen no evidence that she brought much profit 
 to the owners. These were the first vessels which we know to have 
 been built in Wells. 
 
 The next year, Joseph Hill, with John Batson, of Newcastle, built 
 a sloop of 55 tons. Batson sold his part to John Storer for £60 
 making the cost of the whole vessel about £120, or about $400. 
 This coaster was called the " Wells' Trial." Storer then kept a pub- 
 lic house. He described himself as a taverner. Men in that em- 
 ployment were almost the only persons who were in the way of 
 receiving money, as business intercourse with other places had been 
 very much restricted by the influence of the wars through which the 
 settlement had passed. This vessel was sold at Louisburg in 1735. 
 Storer was a man of much enterprise and of considerable business 
 capacity, and was much in government employ in subsequent years. 
 In 1733, Francis Littlefield owned the sloop Defiance, which, we 
 suppose, was built at Wells. In 1737, John Webber, James Little- 
 field, and John Winn purchased the schooner Prosperous, of York. 
 She was commanded by Winn, and was employed in the coasting 
 business. Winn was a man noted for his bravery. Some further 
 account is given of him in another place. At this period vessels 
 were sailed at thirds, that is, the master had one-third of the profits. 
 He was also allowed twenty shillings a month wages. 
 
 In 1739, another sloop was built by John Storer for himself and 
 Ebenezer Storer, his brother, a merchant in Boston. Navigation 
 does not yet seem to have been very prosperous as an investment, 
 and few people had the disposition or ability to engage in it. There 
 was no foreign trade. Some of the vessels made voyages to Canso 
 and up the St. Lawrence. They carried cattle to Montreal. The 
 voyages to Canso were perhaps the most profitable. Generally, the 
 
570 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 owners were content with very small profits, though these even 
 were not always received. Adversity, or want of skill in the con- 
 struction and management of vessels, seems to have attended all 
 enterprises in navigation ; but the owners were in the habit of tak- 
 ing i,he Christian view of these apparently unpropitious results. 
 Ebenezer Storer, under date of April 13, 1741, writes to his brother : 
 
 " The sloop is wholly lost. The crew were taken up by a vessel 
 bound from Bristol, in old England, to Philadelphia, so that the men 
 are all saved, which calls for our thankfulness, although we have 
 met with a great loss in losing the sloop ; but I hope it will serve to 
 6et our affections less on things below, which are perishing, and ex- 
 cite us to a more careful securing the true riches, which will never 
 fail. That it may ever be so is the prayer of your loving brother, 
 
 Ebenezer Stoker." 
 
 The towns of York and Kittery were much in advance of Wells 
 in their navigation. In 1746, York had twenty sail of vessels, be- 
 sides five fishermen. In 1751, Kittery had 944 tons, and York 680, 
 while Wells had but sixty. During the French and Revolutionary 
 wars but little addition was made to that of Wells. In 1757, Pela- 
 tiah Littlefield owned the sloop Maryland, of 70 tons. John Storer 
 being now in the employ of the government, Dr. Sayer, whose en- 
 terprise could not be satisfied with professional routine, turned his 
 attention to trade and commerce, and built several small vessels, 
 some of them in partnership with Judge Say ward, of York. He 
 built the "Three Friends" in 1760, of which Daniel Wheelright was 
 master ; the schooner Ranger in 1763. In 1767, Pelatiah Littlefield 
 and Jonathan Littlefield built the schooner Prosperous, of 88 tons, 
 the largest vessel yet launched in Wells. But this was more of an 
 undertaking than they anticipated ; Jonathan was embarrassed by 
 it, and his half was taken and sold on execution. Dr. Sayer contin- 
 ued to carry on the business till his death, in 1774, when he owned 
 in part four vessels, the Elizabeth, Three Friends, Ranger, and In- 
 dustry. These small vessels had now entered into the West India 
 trade, being engaged in carrying lumber of all kinds to these islands, 
 and returning with cargoes of rum, molasses, and sugar ; but the 
 Revolutionary war put an end to business on the seas. 
 
 After the war was over, it was some time before the interest in 
 commerce was revived. There were few men who had the money 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 571 
 
 i 
 
 to invest in navigation ; but John Storer, son of the John of whom 
 we have before spoken, embarked in the business on a larger scale. 
 In 1795, he built a large ship of 290 tons. Other vessels of small 
 tonnage were built previously, and continued to be built to the close 
 of the century. Nahum Morrill, who in after years became a lead- 
 ing man in the business of the town, entered into commercial life, 
 and soon engaged largely in the West India trade. 
 
 We now turn our attention to the Mousam river. This began to 
 be used for the purposes of civilization soon after the Webhannet. 
 On this river commenced the settlement of Kennebunk, and there is 
 no doubt that soon after the saw-mill of Sayward went into opera- 
 tion, coasters came into it freely and took the lumber here manufac- 
 tured. It must nearly all have been exported by water. There was 
 no other way of transportation, and there was no need of lumber 
 near the mill. But we have no definite information of the business 
 on the river. The Indian wars commenced in four or five years after 
 the saw-mill was built, and then all work in the vicinity was ended. 
 The mill was burnt, and nature soon resumed her original wildness. 
 More than half a century passed away before the white man again 
 found a dwelling place on its banks. A little village was now built 
 up not far from the sea, on its eastern side. The saw-mills were 
 again in operation; one having been built at Great Falls, and an- 
 other at Middle Mousam. Coasters came into the mouth of the 
 river and took the lumber manufactured by all of them ; so that 
 there must have been a large number of vessels here during the sea- 
 son. A road had been laid out from the upper mill down by the 
 others on the bank, near the water to the landing place below the 
 falls, so that from all the mills, convenient transportation to market 
 was provided for. At high water the river was about eight feet 
 deep. The mills were increasing in every direction, while around, 
 the pine was growing in great abundance ; gigantic trees, out of 
 which were cut boards between three and four feet in diameter, 
 whose relicts still hold their places in some of our ancient dwellings. 
 
 Ship building began at the Larrabee settlement. None of the 
 men of wealth in Kennebunk would listen to the suggestion of 
 investing in navigation. Bereft of what they had previously ac- 
 quired by the conflicts with the tribes, their energies were exhausted 
 in securing a foundation for a new start in life ; and none of them 
 had made such progress in pecuniary acquisition as to have a sur- 
 
572 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 plus to invest in vessels. Immigrants of after years, who brought 
 capital with them, were the only persons who could build or own 
 vessels. The first which was set up on this river was a small one by 
 John Butland, for a gentleman of Newburyport. She was built a 
 little below Sergeant Larrabee's fort. After this, he built six or sev- 
 en fov men in Boston, Salem and Newburyport. At some time dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary war he built a large ship, as she was called 
 in those days, designed as a letter of marque or privateer, for Sam- 
 uel Coffin, of Newburyport. She was about 240 tons, and pierced for 
 fourteen guns. Before this time, vessels had been built up the 
 stream, at the foot of the falls. Men of ability had come into the 
 town ; Joseph Storer, from Wells, Theodore Lyman, from York, 
 Joseph Churchill, Benjamin Brown, Tobias Lord and Richard Gill- 
 patrick. More than twenty vessels, brigs, schooners and sloops were 
 launched from the yards, on both sides of the river, from this period 
 to the time when ship building ceased on Mousam river, in the early 
 part of the present century. Some of these were set up during the 
 war. Being unexposed to the ocean, and so far from it, they were 
 regarded as safe, though no arrangements for defense had been made 
 at the mouth of the river. The location and the stream made ship- 
 building here very convenient. Though Mr. Lyman had removed 
 from the village to the Landing, he still continued to build on the Mous- 
 am river. The people interested in the mills and in navigation had 
 now come to the conclusion, that great improvements could be made 
 in the river with little expense. Its channel was too circuitous. 
 The long arm toward its mouth, and the wading place, over which it 
 passed, making the river shallow, could be obviated. The young 
 and energetic men, who began to feel the inspirations of a more 
 lively and extensive business, were awake to the great benefits which 
 might flow from the increased facilities which it was supposed a 
 change in the course of the river might furnish. Hart's Rocks were 
 then its boundary on the western side. It was concluded that the 
 stream might well have a straight course to the sea, passing out by 
 what has since been termed the Two Acres, and if successful in the 
 accomplishment of that object, a new impetus would be given to 
 business. But a few persons would be obliged to bear all the ex- 
 pense, and it was therefore judged necessary, as all were to reap the 
 benefit, that all should contribute to the cost of the enterprise. Ac- 
 cordingly, it was determined that a petition should be presented to 
 
HISTORY OF WELI3 AND KENNEBUNK. 573 
 
 the General Court for an act of incorporation, with the right of tak- 
 ing toll on all lumber passing down the river through the new 
 channel which was to be made. In 1792, a petition was thus pre- 
 sented, and the following persons were constituted a corportion un- 
 der the name of " The Proprietors of the Mousam Canal," with pow- 
 er to demand toll on every thousand of boards, shooks, staves, joists, 
 hoops, etc., passing out of the river, viz., Joseph Storer, Clement 
 Storer, Benjamin Brown, William Jefferds, John Low, James Kim- 
 ball, Richard Gillpatrick, Joseph Barnard, John Low, jr., Nathaniel 
 Conant, Henry Hart, John Butland, Nathaniel Spinney, Jesse Lar- 
 rabee and Michael Wise. The prospect was so favorable that men 
 were very ready to embark in] the undertaking. Many shares were 
 taken up by people of other towns. About eighty were taken by 
 people in Portsmouth. In the next year a survey being made, it was 
 determined to attempt an outlet at the western end of Great Hill. 
 All were satisfied that here would be found no obstruction by ledges. 
 The next year, 1793, a contract was made with Nathaniel Spinney, 
 who lived on the Neck at the eastern end of the Hill, to build a dam 
 across the river and make the new channel. This dam was erected 
 directly in front of the house of Henry C. Hart, and at the same 
 time the outlet opened. All the auspices were favorable. They had 
 excavated nearly to low water mark. The current set out with great 
 force, and there appeared no reason for apprehending any failure of 
 the project. All left the work at night full of encouragement. But 
 a severe storm came on, and the next day the dam was carried away, 
 and the stream immediately resumed its old channel and the new 
 one filled up. This unfortunate result of their labors chilled all the 
 ardor of the movers of the enterprise. Spinney, the contractor, was 
 dispirited by another unfortunate circumstance attending the raising 
 of the dam. In locating one of the piers, by some mishap it fell and 
 killed Phillip Webber. He was a brother-in-law of Spinney; and 
 the accident so affected him that all persuasion was ineffectual to in- 
 duce him again to take hold of the work. 
 
 But the courage of the company had not yet failed. Their labors 
 were to be renewed. A most unfortunate conclusion, however, was 
 adopted by the recommendation of stockholders in some other towns. 
 Though many opposed the changing of the place of the outlet, the 
 company determined to attempt it at the eastern end of the Hill, on 
 the ground that a much better harbor would be made. This ill-ad- 
 
574 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 vised change blasted all their hopes. The dam was rebuilt by Rich- 
 ard Gillpatrick, who contracted to fulfill the contract of Spinney and 
 open the new canal. But the survey of the route was miserably in- 
 adequate to the necessities of the work ; and they went on, blind as 
 to the obstructions which were to beset their operations. They soon 
 came in contact with a ledge which extended a great proportion of 
 the distance to be excavated, and there were no funds to overcome 
 this obstacle. Having exhausted all their available means, and the 
 remaining work requiring as much labor as had already been ex- 
 pended, it was left in this unfinished state fifty years, the channel, in 
 the highest tides, only offering seven or eight feet for the passage of 
 vessels. This obstruction at the mouth, caused the river to fill up by 
 the slabs which settled to the bottom, and other substances washed 
 into it from the banks, the water at the bottom being still for three 
 or four hours between the tides ; or perhaps it would be better to say, 
 always still. 
 
 The people continued to build vessels at the falls; and under the 
 influence of the hopes of a better river, some were set up of a larger 
 size than had been built here before. The first vessel which went 
 through the new canal, was a schooner belonging to Theodore Ly- 
 man, which passed out the first of February, 1794. About the same 
 time John Butland built, for Joseph and Clement Storer, a large ship. 
 It was with great difficulty and expense that she was got to sea. 
 Having reached the ledge, the water was found altogether insufficient 
 for her to pass out. But she could not be sufficiently raised, and the 
 only course was to raise the water. The great bay where the boats 
 now lie at anchor, did not then exist. George's Rock, as it is called, 
 was a part of the shore, the bay projecting inward no further. The 
 river here was of no greater width than in the upper end of the 
 canal. At this rock they built a dam, which luckily maintained its 
 position until the fresh water from above had raised the stream so as 
 to afford the necessary depth for the passage of the ship over all the 
 falls (as this obstructed part of the river has ever since been termed). 
 This perplexing experiment put an end to ship-building on Mousam 
 river, though two or three smaller vessels may have been built after- 
 ward. 
 
 "We, from our present stand-point, wonder that the Wells and 
 Mousam rivers should have been selected for the important purposes 
 of navigation, before the Kennebunk, a river furnishing abundance of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 575 
 
 water for any vessel which yet entered into the thought of any man to 
 build. There was ship-timber all along these rivers. Still, there was 
 something in the locality which rendered the Mousarn more favorable 
 for those who lived at the head of the river to prosecute this business 
 than the Kennebunk; and if, instead of building a dam below to re- 
 lieve Storer's ship, they had built it at the upper end, and expended 
 their money on the ledge, they might have made it a desirable river, 
 on which ship-building might have been carried on successfully to 
 this day. 
 
 But the interests of commerce from this time centered at the har- 
 bor of Kennebunk. This river, certainly the best of the three, was 
 neglected till a very late period. It was lumber alone which brought 
 the coasters to any of them. Littlefield's mill on Saco road, GofF's 
 mill, and Harding's, on Gooch's creek, were away from any other 
 habitations than those of the owners, and therefore did not do much 
 till the wars were over. There was no village on the river. The 
 Arundel settlement was at the Cape. James Huff owned a sloop. 
 Hovey, in his Journal, speaks of her as his old sloop, as early as 1742. 
 A few years afterward several Were built and owned there. But 
 we think none had been built on the Kennebunk before 1755. Many 
 coasters had been into the mouth of the river for lumber in former 
 years. The first vessel was built here on Mitchell's wharf by John 
 Bourne, in 1755. (This wharf was a few rods below that of the late 
 Bourne & McCulloch.) She was owned by John Mitchell, Richard 
 and Nathaniel Kimball, and Robert Elliott, of Salem, and was about 
 eighty tons. Great preparations were made for the launching, which 
 excited much interest. Great pains were taken to find a fat heifer 
 for the occasion. After much trouble a satisfactory one was secured, 
 and the whole animal was dressed and cooked to furnish a dinner 
 for the assembled multitude, who had come in from all the adjoining 
 towns. At the appointed time the vessel moved into the water 
 amidst the shouts of the spectators. All were then invited freely to 
 join in the feast. It was a great day for Kennebunk. 
 
 The circumstances attending this launching seem to indicate that 
 the exhibition was novel, and the occasion one of great public interest. 
 The fact that it took place in the year 1755, was related to the 
 author by one, then a boy of sixteen summers, who was present. 
 Therefore, we have had no hesitation in recording it as having occur- 
 red at that time. Yet, we have strong evidence that Stephen 
 
576 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Titcomb and John Mitchell built the schooner Endeavor in 1747 ; 
 and we should judge by this evidence that she was built on this river 
 But we have preferred to give full credit to the statement to the 
 author by a reliable man (then a boy), who was present, rather than 
 to assume a fact not based on clear testimony. 
 
 A schooner was built by Samuel Wakefield, son of James, in 1766, 
 in the yard recently owned by G. & I. Lord. This was the first 
 built up the river. The next year a sloop was built by Richard 
 Kimball. As timber was abundant and cheap, the spirit of ship- 
 building began to take strong hold of the people. Several vessels 
 were built in the few years following, most of them of small tonnage. 
 The first brig on the river was commenced by Waldo Emerson, in 
 the year 1773 ; but he died before she was finished. She was after- 
 ward completed by Mr. Lyman, who during the war built two or 
 three vessels. These were all intended for the West India trade, 
 though occasionally they ventured to Virginia for cargoes of corn. 
 Such was the introduction of ship-building on Kennebunk river. 
 
 Soon after the close of the Revolutionary war and the establish- 
 ment of the independence of the United States, lumber was turned 
 out from the mills in great quantities, and there was apparently 
 nothing in the way of a profitable investment in navigation. The 
 ship yards were filled with workmen. In a few years wharves were 
 built, and vessels of a larger size were receiving their cargoes for the 
 West Indies. Several enterprising men were now added to the set- 
 tlers in Kennebunk. Among them were Jonas Clark, Thatcher 
 Goddard, John Grant, Richard Gillpatrick, Oliver Keating, Tobias 
 Lord, John Bourne, Joseph Moody, John Low, Jacob Fisher, Daniel 
 Wise, Michael Wise, Joseph Hatch, and Jeremiah Paul. There 
 were also several active men in Arundel, whose interests were allied 
 to those of Kennebunk. All entered into navigation with spirit, an- 
 ticipating thereby the speedy acquisition of wealth, so that in 1798 
 we had ships, George, 262 tons; a new ship, 202 ; ship Phebe, 168; 
 Aurora, 195; Mercury, 180, and Sally, 179. Bark, Truxton, 132. 
 Brigs, Success, 152; Franklin, 149; Neptune, 117; Commerce, 122; 
 Panther, 142; Pallas, 135; America, 117; Union, 126; Franklin, 
 149; Hope, 115; Experiment, 117 ; Morning Star, 122 ; Polly, 102; 
 Rainbow, 140; Atlantic, 151 ; Alexander, 119; Horatio, 150; Na- 
 thaniel, 128; William, 132; Maine, 130; Snow Eliza, 135; and six- 
 teen schooners and twelve sloops. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 577 
 
 These facts would seem to indicate a high degree of pecuniary 
 prosperity ; but we are compelled to say that a more full history 
 does not warrant any such inference. Almost every man at this pe- 
 riod, with a few thousand dollars, or owning a respectable farm, was 
 interested in the navigation of the town. There were no insurance 
 offices, to which owners were accustomed to resort for the purpose 
 of obtaining insurance. Policies were signed by individuals specify- 
 ing against their names the amount they insured, so that farmers in 
 Alewife, traders, and other persons became insurers. Col. John Tay- 
 lor, Benjamin Titcomb, Samuel Waterhouse, Benjamin Brown, 
 Thatcher Goddard, Oliver Keating, sea captains and ship owners, in- 
 sured in this manner, for about four per cent, on a voyage to the 
 West Indies and back. Insurance by the year was not yet in vogue. 
 In estimating, therefore, the profit of navigation, the interests of all 
 concerned are to be taken into the computation. We suppose that 
 the art of building and managing vessels was not so well understood 
 then as now ; but from whatever cause, the result of all this com- 
 mercial investment, activity, and labor was no material addition to 
 the property of the town. We know but little of the details of the 
 voyages of these vessels ; but we have sufficient knowledge of our 
 ancient navigation in all its relations, to satisfy us as to the accuracy 
 of our judgment in this matter. Mr. Lyman, we have stated, built 
 four vessels during the war. Three of them w T ere captured by the 
 enemy on the first voyage. The fourth was very unsuccessful. 
 Capt. Hovey went out with a cargo or freight of cattle, many of 
 which were lost overboard the first night. Another, soon afterward, 
 loaded with lumber, was lost on the Keys near the West Indies. 
 Nathaniel Littlefield was shipwrecked in the West Indies in 1769. 
 Daniel Paul went out in one of these small vessels in 1760 w r ith a 
 load of cattle. Thirty-nine of them were lost overboard, and he re- 
 turned to port. In 1786, one of the sloops was lost on Plum Island, 
 at Newburyport. The crew succeeded in reaching the land, where, 
 wet and chilled, they found a haystack in which they burrowed ; 
 but soon, the tide rising to an extraordinary height, they were 
 driven from this refuge, and Mr. Curtis, the owner, and one man 
 were frozen to death. John Perkins succeeded in reaching the forty 
 but was very badly frozen. Though some of these facts may be ir- 
 relevant in this place, we insert them from the conviction that they 
 
 are matters of interest to those connected in the way of descent 
 37 
 
578 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 with the sufferers. In 1794, a brig of Mr. Adam McCulloch was 
 burnt while lying at the wharf. 
 
 These losses would, of themselves, furnish but little support to 
 our position ; but taken in connection with the great losses in the 
 years closing the century, they are not without their weight. The 
 war between France and England made sad havoc with the naviga- 
 tion of Kennebunk. For the benefit of those interested, we append 
 a statement of the losses which have come to our knowledge. The 
 United States Government, having received an equivalent for all 
 these losses, may yet, even after a delay of more than seventy years, 
 come to the conclusion that it is best to pay its honest debts. Our 
 information is probably imperfect as to the number of vessels of 
 which our people were unlawfully deprived, but we give such as we 
 have obtained : The brig Dolphin, owned by Tobias Lord, Daniel 
 Wise, and Richard Gillpatrick, was taken in 1793 ; brig Harmony, 
 owned by Jonathan Stone, Daniel Walker, and Wheelright Stevens, 
 in 1794; ship Sally, owned by Thomas Perkins, John Blunt, and 
 Thomas Perkins, jr., in 1798; ship Phebe, Lemuel Walker, master, 
 1799 ; schooner Phoenix, owned by Theodore Lyman, 1797 ; brig 
 Hope, owned by Daniel Wise and Dr. Keating; brig Atlantic, 
 owned by Tobias Lord, Samuel Lord, Nathaniel Lord, and Jonathan 
 Stone ; brig Betsey, Capt. Baker, owned in Wells ; brig Panther, 
 Capt. Merrill; sloop George, Capt. Grant, 1797; brig Fanny, Capt. 
 Gould, owned by Daniel Wise, Dr. Keating, Thomas Perkins, and 
 Joseph Perkins ; schooner Columbus, Capt. Mason; brig Harmony, 
 Capt. Burnham ; Snow Eliza, Capt. Ephraim Perkins ; brig Betsey, 
 Adam McCulloch, owner, 1797 ; brig Rainbow, Capt. John Grant, 
 1800; brig Fame, owned by Richard Gillpatrick and others; brig 
 Success, owned by Richard Gillpatrick ; schooner Mercury, owned 
 by John Bourne; schooner Fortune, owned by Tobias Lord and 
 Daniel Wise ; brig Active, of Wells, Capt. Gerrish, 1798 ; brig Ho- 
 ratio, owned by Eliphalet Perkins, and ship George. 
 
 A few of these were not condemned, but were subjected to great 
 expenditures and loss of time by the unlawful detention. There 
 were probably others of which we have not learned. The century 
 closes leaving an unfavorable history of the commerce of the town. 
 The enterprising men, who had for so many years expended their in- 
 dustry in business on the seas, in the period of declining life saw no 
 fruits of all their labors in this branch of human activity. They 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 579 
 
 nearly all died leaving no other property than their real estate, of 
 which they had become invested by patrimony or purchase in early 
 manhood. So closed the days of Pelatiah Littlefield, John Low, 
 Nahum Morrill, John Storer, Joseph Storer, Michael Wise, John 
 Grant, Jonas Clark, John Bourne, and Hugh McCulloch. 
 
 No more successful issue of life's labors cheered the hearts of any 
 of those who had spent their days in building vessels. We have 
 been unable to find the evidence that any one of them possessed in 
 his last days, a reasonable competency of the conveniences and com- 
 forts of life. John Bourne, the first master builder and contractor of 
 whom we have any knowledge, dying in 1787, built a large number 
 of vessels for townsmen and persons at the West, but died without 
 any property, excepting a very little real estate. So also did his son 
 Benjamin, who built many vessels and died in 1778, and John But- 
 land, who built the vessels on Mousam river. They gathered no 
 fruit from all their hard labors. The history of these three, we be- 
 lieve, is the history of all the ship-builders of Wells to the time of 
 which we speak, so that we may well say that the navigation of 
 Wells and Kennebunk, up to the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, wrought no great addition to the wealth of the town. Still, 
 here and there, a fortunate owner reaped the benefit of a successful 
 voyage, and a few acquired a very respectable amount of property. 
 These facts awakened and kept alive a desire for further adventures. 
 A profitable speculation of one man, though a similar enterprise of 
 ten others may have entirely failed, is almost always sufficient to 
 lead the multitude to try their luck in the same direction ; and about 
 the beginning of the present century the commercial business of the 
 town seems to have received a new impetus. In 1798, an attempt 
 was made to improve the Kennebunk river. It was believed that a 
 pier, built at the mouth, would be of service in deepening the water 
 and afford much aid in getting vessels to sea. The navigation for 
 vessels which were beginning to be built was not regarded as con- 
 venient or safe. The larger class were loaded in part at the wharf, 
 and then towed over the bar, where they were obliged to lie until 
 the loading was completed. This sometimes occupied many days. 
 An act of incorporation was obtained in 1798, authorizing the cor- 
 porators to build a pier at the mouth of the river, and allowing the 
 company to take toll on all vessels passing out. Most of the people 
 in the village of Kennebunk, at the Landing, and at the Port took 
 
580 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 stock in the company, a reasonable toll of five cents a ton being al- 
 lowed on all vessels passing out, and two cents on smaller vessels 
 exceeding ten tons. The pier was erected and a period of success- 
 ful navigation followed. A great number of vessels was added to 
 our commerce, nearly all of which were engaged in the West India 
 trade. Vessels of a larger capacity were beginning to be built, and 
 in the year 1811 two large ships, the Rubicon, 408 tons, and another, 
 479 tons, were built by Hugh McCulloch. But the war of 1812 
 blighted all the prospects of the ship owners. These two vessels 
 were built just below Durrell's bridge. One of them laid there dur- 
 ing the war; the other went to sea but did not return. All the 
 navigation during the years 18 12, 1813, and 1814 was laying up the 
 river out of the way of danger from the enemy ; but when the war 
 closed many of these vessels were of little worth. The great ship 
 of Mr. McCulloch had rotted and was nearly ruined, so that this last 
 period of commercial business terminated very much like the first. 
 Very few of the people were much better off from this last fifteen 
 years' adventure on the sea. Still, commercial ardor was not abated. 
 The navigation was again rapidly increased, and in 1820, when our 
 history ends, there were here owned five ships, forty-three brigs, and 
 a large number of schooners and sloops. The business after the war 
 was still confined to coasting and the West Indies. The crews were 
 almost entirely of our own people. There was no necessity for re- 
 sorting to any shipping agency to obtain the required number of 
 sailors, or of using the auxiliary, now so often resorted to, of stupe- 
 fying and benumbing the intellect of men, so as to secure them on 
 board the vessels, where they would first open their eyes to the fact 
 that they were not only under contract for a voyage to Europe, but 
 actually on the way. There was then drunkenness enough to satisfy 
 the wishes of the rumseller, but the owners had no occasion to avail 
 themselves of it to man their vessels for sea. Ship owners and sea 
 captains entertained very different views of their duties to seamen 
 from those which have prevailed in subsequent years. Whenever a 
 vessel arrived home from the West Indies, it was the custom of the 
 master with all his crew to present themselves at the house of wor- 
 ship on the first occurring Sabbath, to render thanks for the Divine 
 protection during their absence. This practice produced and main- 
 tained for the marine service a very different set of men from those 
 to whom the destinies of our shipping are now committed. The 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 581 
 
 seamen were daily furnished with their rations of mm while on the 
 voyage, but it was very seldom that they were unfitted for duty by 
 an unreasonable indulgence in the use of it. 
 
 The loss of so many vessels at the close of the last century, had 
 a very discouraging effect on many hearts. But Wells, then includ- 
 ing Kennebunk, had for many years been a commercial town, and 
 the people had come almost universally to feel that all their interests 
 depended on the activity of commercial business. And when navi- 
 gation ceased to meet with encouragement, all the employments of 
 the people failed in satisfactory returns. Lumber and agricultural 
 productions had no market. In 1801, these outrages on our naviga- 
 tion ceased, and business in all departments of life revived ; and, as 
 remarked in another place, a prosperous period soon commenced, so 
 that for six or seven years following, the town made rapid advances 
 in population and property. Ship-building was renewed with vigor. 
 All along the river at Kennebuuk Landing, vessels were going up 
 rapidly. The principal shipyards were here. Up to this period, and 
 to the time when our history ends, no vessels were built at the Port, 
 with the exceptions which we have stated. Vessels were also built 
 in Wells, but the number was much less than that of Kennebunk. 
 All these vessels varied in size from 200 tons, down to those of the 
 smallest size. Ship-timber came in from all the neighborhood. 
 Rock-maple was abundant, furnishing the best of keel pieces, and 
 masts for all vessels here built were to be had at a very moderate 
 price. The timber and plank were obtained at less prices than are 
 now paid for the freight of such material from the South. 
 
 The principal business of the larger vessels was in the West India 
 trade ; that of the smaller in coasting both east and west. New Or- 
 leans freights were not yet sought after. Lumber afforded abundant 
 cargoes for the supply of all the navigation. This revival of busi- 
 ness brought into Kennebunk many influential and active citizens ; 
 while some, children of previous settlers, arrived at maturity about 
 the same time. So that now, everywhere, activity was the general 
 order of life. Among the immigrants and energetic young men were 
 Robert Waterston, Isaac Pray, William Hacket, Nathaniel Frost, 
 Timothy Frost, John Hovey, Timothy Kiezer, Horace Porter, John 
 U. Parsons, Charles W. Williams, Joseph Hatch, Jeremiah Paul, Na- 
 thaniel Jefferds, Hugh McCulloch, Samuel Lord, James Titcomb, 
 
582 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 John Skeele, Stephen Thatcher, Abial Kelly, Parker Webster, Peter 
 Folsom, Thomas Folsom, Nathaniel Shute, Elisha Chadbourne. 
 
 I speak only of those who by mechanical profession, trade, or other 
 work, were instrumental in extending the business of the town. 
 Some of those mentioned, and others not satisfied with the prospec- 
 tive view, tarried here but a few years. Pomfret Howard, who kept 
 a public house, moved to Alfred; Nathaniel C. Little to Bangor; 
 Parker Webster who, with James Kimball, built and owned Wash- 
 ington Hall, went to Canada ; Tobias Lord to Alfred ; Thomas Fol- 
 som to Andover, and Waterston and Pray to Boston. 
 
 In 1806 a vessel arrived, having on board a person sick with the 
 small-pox. This fact suggested to the medical men the expediency of 
 establishing a hospital, and of inoculation for this disease, full faith 
 not then being given to the position that vaccination for the kine pock, 
 would afford an effectual remedy for any danger to which the people 
 might be exposed by its existence in the neighborhood. This had 
 indeed been practiced to a considerable extent. But its effectiveness 
 against the contagion had not been here satisfactorily settled. The 
 hospital was established at a spot a good distance from all dwelling- 
 houses, near the sea, about a mile east of Kennebunk Point, and was 
 under the care of Drs. Fisher, Emerson and Dorrance. A good many 
 took advantage of the opportunity and placed themselves under their 
 charge. Among the number were several who had had the milder 
 disease by vaccination. George Lord, Ivory Lord, James Bourne 
 and others of Kennebunk village, were of this class. The author of 
 this work, then only eight years old, was one of those who were sent, 
 or went there for the benefit of this obnoxious and revolting malady. 
 But it was very merciful towards him. He came out of the institu- 
 tion with a countenance unblemished ; and while in its power, he 
 was not restrained a single day from the enjoyment of the pure air 
 of heaven. Those who had had the kine pock were unaffected by 
 the inoculation. The disease would have no fellowship with them ; 
 and they returned to their homes in the confidence that vaccination 
 was a complete barrier to its attacks. 
 
 It is a matter of some doubt whether small-pox is much better un- 
 
 1 derstood now than it was at this time. Here were a large number 
 
 of persons at the hospital, some of whom had it severely, but only 
 
 one, a young man, died. The mother was' there having the charge 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 583 
 
 and care of him ; but in the midst of the worst stages of it she es- 
 caped from all contamination. The physicians were there day after 
 day mingling with all their patients, and returning home to their 
 families, and visiting the sick all around them ; and yet the infection 
 did not show itself anywhere beyond the limits of the hospital. 
 They disrobed themselves when they came just outside of the bound- 
 aries of the inclosure ; and when they returned were thoroughly 
 smoked before reinvesting themselves with their usual apparel. 
 
 At no period since the settlement commenced, has the town suf- 
 fered severely from what has been commonly denominated contag- 
 ions. Several times in the last century those diseases to which chil- 
 dren are most subject prevailed to a considerable extent, and many 
 died. The throat distemper occasionally appeared, though its rava- 
 ges were not very extensive. But in contrast with other neighbor- 
 ing towns the virulence of these diseases in Wells and Kennebunk 
 was much less severe. In 1816, the spotted fever prevailed, and sev- 
 eral died. So also about 1820, a great many were afflicted with a 
 fever. Of what type we do not remember. But none of them died ; 
 while in the neighboring town of Arundel great numbers were car- 
 ried off by it. 
 
584 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 The Jay treaty — Memorial of citizens of Wells relative there- 
 to — Address of the inhaitants to President Adams — His reply 
 —Political parties— Opposition of Wells to the Embargo— Pe- 
 tition to the President — Resolutions passed at Town Meeting 
 — Memorial to the General Court — The non-intercourse Act — 
 Memorial of the inhabitants of Wells to the president on the 
 war question — war declared — american vessels captured — the 
 privateer Gleaner— Rejoicing over the taking of the Guerierre 
 — Convention at Kennebunk to nominate candidate for Repre- 
 sentative to Congress — Toll-bridge built over Kennebunk river 
 — Bridge made free — Fishermen taken by privateers — The" Horse 
 Marine List " — Capture of the privateer Alexander — Bank 
 established — Public dinner to Hon. Cyrus King — The ship Bul- 
 wark off Kennebunk harbor— Soldiers called out— Sloop Julia 
 recaptured — committee of safety chosen — "company of exempts " 
 Privateer McDonough captured — The privateer Ludlow — Peace 
 declared — great rejoicing at kennebunk — vote of the inhabi- 
 TANTS of Wells on the fire proof question — Another great 
 freshet — Temperance— Court records kept at Kennebunk— Cus- 
 tom House moved to Kennebunkport — Death of Judge Wells — 
 Death of Thomas McCulloch— Biography of Nathaniel Wells. 
 
 No material disagreement on questions of political interest had 
 hitherto arisen to disturb the peace of the town. There were some 
 strong men among the inhabitants who were watchful of all public 
 relations of the country, and of the Legislature, and administrative 
 action of the Commonwealth ; men who were careful of their effect 
 on the special interests of the town. Dr. Hemmenway, Nathaniel 
 Wells, Samuel Emerson, Jacob Fisher, and Benjamin Brown, endeav- 
 ored to inform themselves and examine the merits of all measures 
 proposed for the public welfare. The remainder of the inhabitants 
 being for the most part engaged in agriculture, found little time to 
 devote to political or municipal economy, and generally trusted to 
 the knowledge of these prominent men to direct their action on all 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 585 
 
 subjects as citizens and as voters of the town. It is a mark of wis- 
 dom that they did so, for they were men in whom they could safely 
 confide. Their opinions of men and measures were adopted by the 
 people generally. There was seldom any wrangling on great ques- 
 tions. The people were generally harmonious and discreet in their 
 action. They were almost universally John Hancock men. They 
 had unshaken faith in him as long as he lived ; voted for him as Gov- 
 ernor ten or eleven times almost unanimously. This union led to 
 concurrent action on most questions. 
 
 The most interesting subject which came before the town at the 
 meeting in 1795, was Jay's treaty with England. This treaty, as is 
 well known, in consequence of some of its provisions, produced 
 intense excitement all over the country. The question of its ratifi- 
 cation became a matter of controversy in most of the larger cities 
 and towns. The people were divided as to its expediency. Ita 
 opponents assailed it with great violence. Copies of it were obtained 
 and burnt before the door of the British minister, and in Boston, 
 Jay was burnt in effigy. Even the integrity of Washington was 
 attacked. But the town of Wells took the matter very coolly, 
 there being at that time no unprincipled partizans to stir up discord 
 and strife for merely personal interests. 
 
 At the town-meeting, May 2, 1796, holden for the consideration of 
 this subject, John Storer was chosen moderator. The merits of the 
 treaty were discussed, and the following memorial unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 "To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States : 
 
 The memorial of the inhabitants of the town of Wells, in the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, respectfully states, that at the 
 adoption of the Federal Constitution they were and ever since have 
 been uniformly of the opinion, that the power of making treaties 
 with foreign nations was exclusively vested in the President of the 
 United States, with the consent of the Senate. That, accordingly, 
 the treaty with Great Britain, lately made and ratified by that 
 authority, has now become the supreme law of the land ; that the 
 faith of our nation is thereby sacredly and solemnly pledged for its 
 due observance, and that if carried into timely and honorable effect, 
 will produce many and important benefits to our country. 
 
586 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 But, as from recent information, they have serious occasion to 
 apprehend a dangerous delay, if not a total failure in the execution 
 thereof contrary to their rightful expectations, and being under 
 impressions of the strongest conviction that a continuance of the 
 differences with Great Britain, without a warrantable hope of an 
 amicable termination, or of indemnification for past losses, our com- 
 merce unprotected by a navy, subjected again to unlimited spoliation, 
 and that confidence in our national honor and fidelity so essential to 
 the peace and prosperity of a rising republic irretrievably forfeited, 
 will be among the inevitable consequences resulting from such 
 omission. They, therefore, with a spirit becoming independent free- 
 men, anxious for the welfare of their country in a situation so critical, 
 and with all possible respect for the representatives of the United 
 States, most earnestly request and recommend, that uninfluenced by 
 any partial considerations of policy, your Honorable House would in 
 their wisdom seasonably make the necessary provision for carrying 
 the treaty into full and complete effect." 
 
 The foregoing memorial was ordered to be subscribed in behalf of 
 the town by Nathaniel Wells, John Storer, Samuel Emerson, Jonas 
 Clark, and Benjamin Titcomb, and transmitted to George Thatcher, 
 representative in Congress. 
 
 In what respect this treaty was to be so beneficial to the town 
 does not appear. This favorable judgment was probably based, not so 
 much on the merits of the treaty itself, as on the fact that the matters 
 in controversy were settled. Peace and free intercourse were more 
 important than any provision of the treaty. Wells at this time had 
 a great many small vessels, and it was therefore very material to the 
 prosperity of the town that its navigation should have the free use 
 of the ocean, and of British and American marts. The unanimity 
 of the inhabitants on this question, we suppose, had its origin in their 
 personal interests. England had prohibited since the war any ves- 
 sels from the United States from entering her ports in the West 
 Indies. The treaty opened them to our vessels not exceeding sev- 
 enty tons. So that in this one respect it was very favorable to 
 Wells, and this concession on the part of Great Britain, we suppose, 
 inspired the inhabitants with the desire for its execution. 
 
 As before suggested, the harmony and quiet of the town had not 
 yet been disturbed by noisy and selfish partizanship. The people 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 587 
 
 had not sufficiently recovered from the embarrassments of the war, 
 to give their thoughts to other matters than the recovery of their 
 former condition. They were not sufficiently independent to leave 
 their daily labors for political scheming. Though in some parts of 
 the country there were manifest indications of a rising party spirit, it 
 had not yet reached the inhabitants of Wells. The votes for Gover- 
 nor may still be regarded as unanimous, there being in 1797 eighty- 
 four votes for Increase Sumner, and two only for James Sullivan. 
 At the town-meeting in May, 1798, for the purposes of strengthening 
 the union sentiment of the people, and to prevent the intrusion of 
 discord which threatened the peace of some other towns, it was 
 thought desirable to take the sense of the town on the condition of 
 the country, and to give the Government some expression of the 
 sentiments of the people in regard to the administration of national 
 affairs. It would seem to us of the present day, that the people 
 manifested rather an overweening sense of the importance of the 
 opinion of this little town, in the assumption that their views on 
 these questions could be a matter of any great interest to the Presi- 
 dent. But Wells was then an old town, and its severe trials and 
 unfailing patriotism were well known to all acquainted with its 
 previous history. Judge Wells also was not disposed to be forgotten 
 or lost in the crowd which was now beginning to press on for pre- 
 ferment, and at this meeting it was proposed by him to forward to 
 the President the following manifesto : 
 
 "Wells, May 7, 1798. Whereas, it appears that the French Gov- 
 ernment consider the country as divided in their political sentiments, 
 being partly in favor of their own Government, and partly in favor 
 of France; voted, unanimously, that this town is in favor of our own 
 Government, and that they highly approve of the conduct of the 
 present administration, and repose entire confidence in the wisdom, 
 integrity, and fortitude of the President of the United States, and 
 are ready to support such measures as shall be adopted by the Gen- 
 eral Government for the preservation of our liberty and property ." 
 
 "Voted, that Nathaniel Wells, Esq., Jonas Clark, Esq., and Dr. 
 Thatcher Goddard, be a committee to forward an address in substance 
 agreeably to the foregoing vote." 
 
588 HISTOEY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 In pursuance of this authority, the committee prepared and for- 
 warded the following address : 
 
 "To the President and Congress of the United States of America: 
 
 At the time when the agents of a foreign nation boast of their 
 intriguing talents, and of having a French party in this country 
 devoted to their interests, with whose aid they pretend they can 
 impose on the people of the United States, and by their deceptive 
 skill prevent them from uniting in opposition to the unreasonable and 
 unjust demands of France; and at a time when so many attempts 
 have been made to defame the administration of our government, the 
 inhabitants of the town of Wells have thought it expedient to 
 address you; and, accordingly, at their meeting held on the seventh 
 instant, unanimously directed us respectfully to declare to you, and 
 through you to the world, their firm and unshaken attachment to 
 their country, its constitution, its laws, and constituted authorities, 
 to declare to you their entire approbation of the measures from time 
 time adopted by the Supreme Executive of the nation in respect to 
 our foreign relations, and in particular towards the French Republic, 
 to declare to you their great indignation against those enemies of 
 our country, whether foreign or domestic, who have been busy in 
 sowing the seed of discord, and propagating an opinion that we are 
 a people divided from our government and opposed to its measures ; 
 and, at the same time to assure you that although they deprecate the 
 calamities of war, yet reposing the highest confidence in your patriot- 
 ism, wisdom, and firmness, they will most cheerfully afford every 
 support in their power for carrying into complete effect all such 
 measures as you shall deem necessary in defence of the country, and 
 for securing that freedom and independence which are equally dear 
 to the American people and their government. 
 
 Nathaniel Wells, 
 Jonas Clark, 
 Wells, May 10, 1798. Thatcher Goddard." 
 
 To this declaration of the patriotic spirit and resolution of Wells, 
 the following answer was received : 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 589 
 
 "To the inhabitants of the town of Wells, in the State of Massa- 
 chusetts : 
 
 Your address to the President and Congress has been presented to 
 me by your representative in Congress, Mr. Thatcher. Unanimous 
 resolutions at a meeting of one of our towns cannot pass without a 
 real unanimity of opinion and sentiment. Those of the respectable 
 town of Wells on this occasion are very satisfactory. The agents of 
 a foreign nation have had too much colour for boasting of their 
 intriguing talents, and of having a party in this country devoted to 
 their interests. Your unshaken attachment to your country, consti- 
 tution, and laws, your approbation of the measures of the supreme 
 executive authority of the nation, and resolutions to afford every 
 support in your power, are as honorable to your character as they 
 must be satisfactory to the nation and its government. 
 
 John Adams." 
 
 Philadelphia, May 28, 1798. 
 
 Adams had been into the District of Maine at various times, and 
 had some knowledge of the town of Wells. The inhabitants had 
 been in political sympathy with him, and to encourage them in this 
 relation, this nattering letter, we suppose, was written. It could 
 hardly have been expected of the President of the United States 
 that he should feel it a matter of duty or of complaisance thus to 
 have noticed this action of the town. But he was not accustomed 
 to neglect any duty, however small. 
 
 Notwithstanding this manifestation of the views of the people, 
 sustained by such high authority, the intriguers, as they were termed, 
 succeeded in sowing the seeds of discord among the people. Parties 
 grew out of the circumstances referred to in the memorial. Federal- 
 ists and Republicans very soon divided the population. This divis- 
 ion continued to gain strength, through the administration of John 
 Adams. The various interests of the people affected materially their 
 political principles. An honest, magnanimous patriotism seldom con- 
 trols the action of a large proportion of any community. We are 
 not speaking specially of either of the parties which were then con- 
 tending for power. We know not which of them is to be regarded 
 as the apostates. At any rate, the union in the town was broken. 
 At the meeting in 1798, Geo. Thatcher had a unanimous vote for rep- 
 resentative to Congress ; and at the meeting in 1800 almost the same 
 
590 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 unanimity prevailed. In 1802, the votes for Caleb Strong were 185, 
 and for Elbridge Gerry, 18. But in 1803 the unanimity was com- 
 pletely broken up. There were Federal and Democratic electoral 
 candidates. The former received 110 votes, the latter 176. There 
 was not sufficient excitement to call out all the voters. Men were 
 actively engaged in their business pursuits, and were not disposed to 
 leave them for matters of general interest. But the majority of the 
 town were now clearly Democratic. In 1807, the power reverted to 
 the Federalists. 
 
 The embargo declared the latter part of this year, 1807, did not 
 commend itself to the Federalists, or the majority of the people of 
 Wells. They were extensively engaged in navigation, and were 
 prospering in the employment of their ships, and had but little sym- 
 pathy with the fears of President Jefferson, that there would be great 
 exposure of our merchandise, seamen, and vessels, if permitted to go 
 to sea while the English and French decrees threatened them with 
 capture. All the leading men of the town were ship-owners. There 
 were more square-rigged vessels in Kennebunk than in any other 
 town in Maine, the total tonnage being about 8,000 ; and these own- 
 ers regarded themselves as having the right to determine whether it 
 was best to send them to sea or not. They chose to run the risk of 
 loss ; and they felt that neither the President, nor any one else had 
 a right to interpose measures against what they thought best in their 
 own business. They therefore took the embargo very seriously to 
 heart. It was the death blow to business. Jefferson came in for 
 anathemas everywhere and on all occasions ; and the representative 
 in Congress, Richard Cutts, received his full measure of reproach. 
 
 The people withstood this interference with their business as long 
 as possible. But their patience becoming exhausted, a town meet- 
 ing was called in August, 1808, and a committee, consisting of Na- 
 thaniel Wells, Joseph Moody, and Samuel Emerson, was chosen to 
 prepare a petition to the President, to be signed by the selectmen, 
 setting forth the views of the town on the embargo and asking for a 
 suspension of it. The committee presented the following, which 
 was accepted by the town, signed by the selectmen, and forwarded 
 to the President 
 
 u The inhabitants of the town of Wells, in the District of Maine, 
 in legal town meeting convened, respectfully represent, that they are 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 591 
 
 duly impressed with the importance of a ready submission to the 
 laws of our country, and feeling willing to endure personal privations 
 to add anything to the public good, have peaceably yielded our 
 wishes to the will of the nation, and have borne with great patience 
 the regulations with which we have been embarrassed. Placed by 
 an overruling Providence on a soil penurious of the conveniences 
 and comforts of life, we have hitherto resorted to the ocean for a 
 supply of what the hand of nature has denied us from the field. 
 From the union of these means, the sweat of the face has not flowed 
 in vain, and we have been enabled to obtain wherewith to make 
 glad the heart. Refraining from all political discussions of the poli- 
 cy of the restrictions on the commerce of the country, we are willing 
 to believe that, although it is a measure which strikes at the root of 
 our prosperity and happiness, the motives which originated them are 
 pure and patriotic, and we cannot but feel the most confident assur- 
 ance that when the course of events shall have been such that the 
 causes which gave rise to them shall have ceased, or proof the most 
 irrefragable demonstrates their inutility, the opportunity to the mar- 
 iner to again unfurl his sails will by our government be eagerly 
 embraced. 
 
 Although the turmoils of European nations give rise to embar- 
 rassments to our commerce, and those embarrassments are assigned 
 as the cause of our embargo, yet if those turmoils have produced a 
 chain of events which, in a considerable degree, remove those em- 
 barrassments and give birth to new sources of trade, we have hopes 
 the best founded that the several acts of Congress laying the em- 
 bargo will, in whole or in part, be immediately suspended. In the 
 revolution in Spain we believe we see opened a wide avenue to com- 
 mercial enterprise, and we feel assured that the wants of that people 
 will be the guarantee for the safety of an extensive trade. 
 
 Congress having invested you, sir, with the power of suspending 
 the embargo laws, whenever the French Decrees or the British Or- 
 ders in Council shall be rescinded, or such other events take place as 
 in your opinion it will promote the public good to suspend the same, 
 we seize with eagerness the present moment to request you to give 
 effect to that authority, or that you will be pleased to notify a meet- 
 ing of Congress for that purpose, should you believe the powers with 
 which you are clothed inadequate to the prayer of our petition, and 
 as in duty bound will ever pray." 
 
592 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 As all the country, more especially the commercial part of it, was 
 suffering in like manner as the inhabitants of Wells by the restraint 
 of navigation, we presume that other petitions were crowded upon 
 the President of the same character ; but none of them appear at 
 the time to have had any influence on Mr. Jefferson, and if they 
 were of like character with that of Wells, we do not discover any 
 special reason why they should. The pretenses of the petition that 
 the people had borne the evils of the embargo with great patience, 
 had no foundation whatever. They had no patience with it Con- 
 tinual murmuring was going up from every seaport, and the news- 
 papers of the day too plainly speak of Jefferson and his policy, and 
 % this inhibition of commercial intercourse, with great bitterness and 
 wrath. We do not say whether justly or unjustly; but we only al- 
 lege the fact, in opposition to the hypocrisy and prevarication of the 
 address. The people were not quiescent under the embarrassments 
 and trials which the embargo brought upon them. They believed 
 there was no occasion for it, and therefore they had the right to 
 complain, and did so from the beginning to the end of it. Jefferson 
 knew as well as everybody else, that our seaports were suffering from 
 this act of Congress, and that the whole seaboard was continually 
 fretting under its operation. The resolves adopted in January fol- 
 lowing, falsify this manifesto throughout. 
 
 The embargo was continued, and the people continued to murmur 
 under the grievance. On the 23d of January, 1809, another meeting 
 was holden,to consider what measures the town would take in refer- 
 ence to the embarrassments which had come upon the business of 
 the inhabitants by the action of the government. At this meeting 
 George W. Wallingford, Joseph Moody, and Joseph Thomas were 
 appointed a committee to consider the distress under which the peo- 
 ple labored, and to report such resolutions thereon for the town's ac- 
 tion, as the occasion might require. At the same meeting the 
 committee made report, and the following resolves were adopted, 
 with but six dissenting votes. 
 
 u Resolved, as the sense of this town, that we consider the protec- 
 tion of life, liberty, and property among the primary objects of civil 
 society ; that to cherish and guard them should claim the first atten- 
 tion of government, and that the dereliction of these fundamental 
 
HISTORY OF WEIXS AND KENNEBUNK. 593 
 
 principles should arouse to action the people, the legitimate source 
 of all government. 
 
 "Resolved, that to tamely submit to the first encroachment of 
 rights inalienable, and which have been expressly reserved by the 
 social compact, is as a recognition of the meanest slavery, and to 
 which a people worthy the appellation of freemen will never yield 
 while a single vestige of patriotism remains. 
 
 " Resolved, That we consider the several Acts of the general gov- 
 ernment, laying an embargo, unequal and unjust; and that it is a 
 duty we owe ourselves and our posterity, to resort to all legal means 
 to redress these injuries; among which remedies are those of peace- 
 ably assembling to deliberate and express our sentiments of the con- 
 duct of our rulers and of the state of our public affairs. 
 
 " Resolved, that we consider the right of navigating the ocean, as 
 legitimate as the air we breathe, — each derived from the same source, 
 and equally removed from the rightful control of every power but 
 that from which we inherit them ; an infringement of which is not 
 delegated expressly nor by implication ; not warranted by our politi- 
 cal relations, foreign or domestic, nor consonant with our national 
 honor, but wholly subversive of the objects of civil society. 
 
 " Resolved, That we deprecate the cringing sycophancy which has 
 marked the conduct of our national government toward the tyrants 
 of Europe, while we view with indignation and alarm its hostility 
 toward Great Britain. 
 
 " Resolved, That had an honest neutrality and a manly indepen- 
 dence (such as the great Washington pursued) been maintained to- 
 wards the belligerents, our national honor had been preserved, our 
 rights secured, and the miseries we suffer had been avoided. 
 
 "Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States is a blessed 
 gift of God to our fathers as a reward for their virtue, constancy and 
 patriotism, sealed with their best blood ; and we will defend it with, 
 our own. 
 
 "Resolved, That we deem the law of Congress of the ninth in- 
 stant an usurpation of power not delegated, and therefore not bind- 
 ing. 
 
 "Resolved, That Congress in restricting the communication be- 
 tween ports of the same State, have exceeded the powers delegated 
 38 
 
594 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 to them by the constitution of the United States ; that being a pow- 
 er reserved to the individual States, or to the people by the eleventh 
 and twelfth articles amendatory of that Constitution. 
 
 "Resolved, That we consider the conduct of our representatives in 
 Congress as basely servile to executive will ; highly treacherous to 
 his constituents, and justly deserving the execration of every friend 
 of his country. 
 
 "Resolved, That having no confidence in our national government, 
 we will direct our attention to the Legislature of our Commonwealth, 
 in whose wisdom and patriotism we have fullest confidence." 
 
 At the same meeting Samuel Emerson, Joseph Dane, John Bourne, 
 Nathaniel Wells and Nathaniel Frost were appointed a committee 
 to prepare a memorial to the General Court upon the same subject. 
 The following was presented and duly accepted by the town, and 
 the representative was directed to present it to the General Court : 
 
 " To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- 
 monwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled, January, 
 1809. 
 
 The inhabitants of the town of Wells convened in legal town 
 meeting on the 23d January, 1809, beg leave respectfully to repre- 
 sent, That they consider the embargo system, and the measures 
 adopted to carry the same into effect, as highly oppressive and against 
 the manifest spirit of the national constitution, in as much as it is 
 therein declared that the right of the people to be secure in their 
 persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches 
 and seizures, shall not be violated nor excessive fines be imposed ; 
 that they consider them as anti-republican, inasmuch as their effect 
 as to destroy that equal possession of property, without which repub- 
 lican institutions cannot exist, by making the rich man richer, the 
 man in competent circumstances poor, and the poor man poorer. 
 
 That they observe with great concern, that the majority of mem- 
 bers of Congress seem determined on war with one or both bellig- 
 erents. The absurdity of a war with both, and other circumstances, 
 make it evident that a war with Great Britain only is intended. They 
 feel it their indispensable duty to express their opinion that circum- 
 stances do not warrant hostilities with that nation, as they believe 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 595 
 
 our differences with Great Britain might be amicably and honorably 
 adjusted. 
 
 Your memorialists firmly believe that the same spirit which 
 wrought our independence, will preserve it ; that having, pursuant 
 to their constitutional rights, petitioned to the national government 
 for redress without effect, they rely on the State government for re- 
 lief from their present embarrassments. 
 
 We therefore ask your Honors to take the awful situation of our 
 country immediately into consideration, and may the God of mercy 
 and justice give you wisdom." 
 
 The committee who reported this memorial were men of discern- 
 ment and sound judgment, but we are unable to comprehend its 
 positions. How the embargo violated that clause of the constitution 
 which guarantees to the people the security of their persons, houses, 
 papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, we are 
 unable to discover. The embargo restrained them from sending 
 their vessels to sea for a little while ; and this was ordered for their 
 preservation and safety, exposed as they were on the ocean, where 
 every day our navigation was being searched and seized by foreign 
 nations. It is a strange construction of the constitutional provisio n 
 referred to, that this detention of our vessels a little while in port, 
 from national policy, contravenes its spirit. Our constitution is the 
 basis of the government ; every true citizen must feel the importance 
 of preserving its provisions inviolate. Those principles to be avail- 
 able for our security must be clearly set forth ; and no one should 
 seek to clothe them with a meaning which the authors never intended. 
 If the phraseology is not sufficiently precise and definite, it is subject 
 to amendment by the people. 
 
 Although there is no force in any thing presented here as argu- 
 ment, the facts stated have a true foundation. The inhabitants of 
 Wells were suffering exceedingly by the embargo. Their large com- 
 mercial marine was rotting at the wharves ; and as a consequence, all 
 the business of the town and surrounding country had become stag- 
 nant. The best of lumber was reduced in price to five or six dollars 
 a thousand, and West India goods and groceries, which had become 
 material to life, were so raised in price as to be almost beyond the 
 reach of many of the inhabitants. The owners of navigation, who 
 would seem to be more interested in its use and safety than any one 
 
596 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 else, did not perceive that there was any just occasion for confining 
 it at home. The fact that these protests against the embargo were 
 unanimously adopted, shows very clearly that the feeling of the 
 ship owners was that of the people also. They regarded the acts of 
 the government as tending to a War with England. They did not 
 believe that there was any sufficient cause for a rupture of our rela- 
 tions with that nation, and therefore had no sympathy with any 
 measures of that character. If our commerce had suffered from 
 British aggression, commercial men surely were the persons most di- 
 rectly injured by it. 
 
 While there is nothing in this memorial but the enunciation of the 
 great fact that our people were suffering from the embargo, which 
 addressed itself with power to administrative wisdom, in the first 
 resolves, we think, there are assumptions or principles avowed which 
 cannot be accepted by considerate minds. The fourth resolution is 
 very questionable. The world of humanity would not move on very 
 smoothly without government. Navigation would be of no great 
 value without law. Human action is not confined to land. The 
 ocean is a great theatre of business life, and human passions as much 
 need the directing and restraining hand there, as on the shore. God 
 gave to us the sea in the same sense in which he gave us the land ; 
 and though we do not claim to have entered very fully into the 
 councils of the Almighty, we are strongly inclined to the opinion 
 that He intended that human governments should legislate for one 
 as well as the other; and we also think there are some substantial 
 reasons for the judgment, that navigation would not be of any great 
 service to those concerned in it, if the position of the resolve should 
 find acceptance. Anarchy any where is not very favorable to pros- 
 perity. If we would resolve against a grievance, it is desirable that 
 our resolutions should carry with them sanctions of consistency and 
 rationality. 
 
 The embargo having been so unwelcome to the mercantile portion 
 of the community, and its operation so severe on the eastern part of 
 the country, Congress thought it expedient that it shoulcl be discon- 
 tinued, and that what was termed a non-intercourse Act prohibiting 
 trade at English or French ports, should be substituted in its place. 
 This modification of the Act relative to navigation had some effect 
 in subduing the excitement growing out of the embargo. Still, it 
 was not what the people wanted. But the government considered 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 597 
 
 our foreign relations to be such that some restrictions were necessary, 
 and this restriction was continued till 1810, when it was manifest to 
 the people of Wells that war was about to be the result of our com- 
 plications with England. The Republican party who were rapidly 
 gaining strength, were bent on war. Although great unanimity had 
 prevailed in Wells in regard to the embargo, a different state of 
 feeling was now awakened. The advocates of war had increased. 
 The Republican, or Democratic party in town, had become sufficient- 
 ly magnified to embrace a quarter part of the voters. Great excite- 
 ment necessarily ensued, and at the town meeting in 1810, for the 
 choice of Governor, Christopher Gore, the Federal candidate, received 
 three hundred and sixty-one votes, and Elbridge Gerry, the Demo- 
 cratic candidate, one hundred and thirty-two votes. But the ardor 
 of men for retaliating the wrongs and insults of Great Britain did not 
 hold out. Men are frequently very courageous when danger is at a 
 distance, but their enthusiasm is apt to cool at its near approach. 
 War with England was not so cheering in the immediate prospect 
 of it; and at a meeting of the town on the 27th of July, 1812, it 
 was moved that the sense of the people be taken "whether Wells 
 should declare for war or peace." A vote was accordingly taken — 
 four voted for war, and two hundred and forty-six against it. So 
 that virtually the town of Wells was unanimous against the war of 
 1812. 
 
 Having thus ascertained the sense of the townsmen on the subject, 
 it was thought necessary that a large committee should be appointed 
 to give expression to this feeling in a memorial to the President of 
 the United States, and Nathaniel Wells, George W. Wallingford, 
 Joseph Thomas, Joseph Dane, Tristam Gilman, Joseph Bourne, 
 Joshua Eaton, Benjamin Titcomb, Samuel Curtis, Samuel Water- 
 house, Nathaniel Cousins, John Cole, and Capt. William Cole, were 
 chosen. The struggle with Great Britain would be initiated with 
 some misgivings on the part of its supporters as to the consequences. 
 Apprehensions prevailed in Congress as well as in the Executive 
 department, that New England would not go into the contest. The 
 opposition to all proceedings tending to such a result was manifestly 
 very strong. We depended on our commerce for all business enter- 
 prise. In that interest the public feeling was absorbed. The 
 destruction of commerce was inevitable from a war with England. 
 The committee which had been chosen to express the sentiments o 
 
598 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the people in a memorial to the President, who were all men of 
 influence, entertaining this view of its effect on the town, reported 
 several resolutions embodying their sentiments, drawn up with great 
 care and deliberation by Judge Wells. They are too long for in- 
 sertion here. They begin with a recurrence to the first principles of 
 the constitution, and enunciate the dangers of party spirit, the 
 importance of the expression of public sentiment in regard to dis- 
 astrous expedients to which an inflamed spirit may bring the country, 
 and reiterate the common axiom of the right of the people to 
 assemble and petition for a redress of grievances. They then declare 
 the war to be unjust, unnecessary, and inexpedient; that the powers 
 of the government over the military ought to be carefully watched, 
 and concur with Governor Strong that the militia of the Common- 
 wealth should not be put under any other than their own officers, 
 sustain the address of the minority of the House of Representatives, 
 oppose the acquisition of any new territory, assert the submission of 
 the minority to the will of the majority, as a sound Republican prin- 
 ciple, and that a change of measures is only to be effected by a 
 change of rulers; that any alliance with France "whose diplomatic 
 intercourse is proverbial for its fatality and punic faith, should be 
 avoided;" that the inhabitants of Wells are " attached to the Union 
 as the last hope of a Republican theory, and that the restrictive sys- 
 tem is at variance with the design of the Union, and adverse to the 
 interests of the people." 
 
 Though these resolves may be politically sound, they expressed 
 simply the view of a small country town, and had no weight what- 
 ever in changing the policy of the government. It is somewhat 
 remarkable that the people of Wells should have thought otherwise. 
 An embargo was laid on the 4th of April, 1812, on all vessels in 
 port, and war was declared on the 19th of June following. • 
 
 The business of the town was soon at a stand-still. Lumber 
 immediately declined, and thence trade with the interior towns was 
 stopped. Our seamen were out of employment, and navigation still 
 at the wharves. Soon its effects began to be more directly felt. The 
 brig Concord, commanded by Daniel Tripp, was captured, though 
 while the captors were in the pursuit of another vessel, she made all 
 sail and escaped. The brig Hesper was taken and sent to Halifax, 
 and owners were now in constant anxiety for vessels which were still 
 at sea. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 599 
 
 England had been guilty of grievous offenses against our com- 
 merce in boarding our navigation and impressing our seamen. The 
 government and people had borne with these insults a long time, and 
 there was a lingering pride of country in almost every heart which 
 could ill brook these unwarrantable acts against our flag, and the 
 people generally were prepared to rejoice at any triumph over the 
 enemy on the sea. Ship-masters and mariners soon partook of the 
 war spirit, and were ready for revenge. " Free-trade and sailors' 
 rights," was now the moving spring of action. The old merchants 
 were not so ready to fall in with any open participation in a war 
 which they had regarded as uncalled-for and unjust. But these 
 mariners who were wedded to the sea could not endure an idle life 
 on the shore. Their energies demanded application to some employ- 
 ment. Though most of these men were opposed to the war, now 
 that it was upon them, they concluded that the most speedy way to 
 bring it to a close was to join in and help fight it out. They accord- 
 ingly obtained the schooner Gleaner, fitted her up as a privateer 
 with six guns, and with a crew of fifty men, under the command of 
 Capt. Robinson, she set out on a cruise ; but her career was soon at 
 an end. She captured one prize, and had just secured another, when 
 both the prize and privateer were taken, and the latter was ordered 
 to Halifax. The first prize, we think, never arrived at an American 
 port. The result of this enterprise was not very encouraging to 
 further operations of the same character. 
 
 The people of Wells had always been in favor of the augmenta- 
 tion of the navy. Their business was on the sea, and they wished 
 for its protection ; but they had no sympathy with the war opera- 
 tions on the land, and none offered themselves for the army. The 
 news of the capture of the Guerierre, on the 19th of August, was 
 received with great joy by all parties. The bell was rung, and the 
 people gathered together for congratulation ; a collation was pre- 
 pared, cannon were fired, toasts were drank, and gladness was upon 
 every countenance. The following were a part of the toasts which 
 the occasion suggested : " The American Navy. An enlightened and 
 patriotic administration of a commercial people will always patron- 
 ize this efficient species of defense." " The Frigate Constitution," 
 "The United States," "Isaac Hull," and "The Federal Constitu- 
 tion." 
 
600 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 As our voyages at this period were principally to the "West Indies 
 and back, most of our vessels reached their home port before the 
 war was generally known by the British navy at sea. There were a 
 few on the coast of Europe, but most of them arrived safely home. 
 The brig Dromo, Capt. Perkins, arrived in August, having on board 
 a Capt. Cassneau, who sailed from Boston Dec. 11, 1811, in a brig of 
 130 tons, which was capsized Dec. 15th. There were eight persons 
 on board. The vessel drifted about 161 days, and was near the 
 coast of Africa when the captain and one other man were rescued 
 by an English vessel in latitude 28° north and longitude 13° west. 
 They were afterward put on board the Dromo. The rest of the 
 crew had perished. We think that another such remarkable case of 
 preservation through the terrible perils of cold, storm, and hunger 
 is not to be found in history. 
 
 Though the capture of the Guerierre was very gratifying to the 
 people, it did not reconcile them to the war. The opposition con- 
 tinued not less bitter than at the beginning. A convention was 
 holden at Kennebunk in September, for the nomination of a candi- 
 date for Congress. The people came together without distinction of 
 party and nominated Cyrus King, of Saco. The unanimity contin- 
 ued about as it had been, and at the election, King, whose opinions 
 were strong against the war, received 622 votes, and Richard Cutts 
 41 ; so also at the choice of electors in the autumn, when Clinton 
 received 650, and Madison 72. In April following, Strong for gov- 
 ernor had 580, Varnum 97. 
 
 Though the general aspect of public affairs was discouraging, the 
 people maintained a reasonable courage and were not disposed to let 
 the time run to waste. Looking forward to a brighter day, when it 
 would be so much needed, they at this time built the long bridge over 
 Kennebunk river at the Port, and obtained a charter authorizing 
 them to take toll for their remuneration. This bridge has been of 
 great public benefit. In a few years after its erection, these tolls had 
 come to be regarded as burdensome and somewhat injurious to the 
 business of Arundel, and a petition was presented to the Court of 
 Sessions to lay out a new road, with a bridge at the Narrows. • This 
 was set on foot for the purpose of inducing the stockholders of the 
 toll bridge to dispose of it to the towns, at a low price, for a com- 
 mon highway. This object was finally accomplished ; the bridge, 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 601 
 
 after a few years from the time when this history ends, being made 
 a public highway and therefore free, was afterward maintained by 
 Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. 
 
 Many of our seamen and others employed themselves in fishing 
 during the war. Some of them, though in small boats, were cap- 
 tured, but were detained only a short time. They were treated 
 very kindly and released. Some of our sloops and small schooners 
 continued, though at great risk, to follow the coasting business. 
 Several of them were taken by the privateer Wolverine and sent to 
 Halifax. The schooner Friendship, bound to Boston, was taken, but 
 ransomed for $500. A great part of our business was done by land 
 coasters, four horse teams which ran regularly to Boston, and were 
 designated in our newspapers under the head of " Horse-marine 
 List." 
 
 One of the most exciting events of the war was the capture of 
 the privateer Alexander, of Salem, a ship mounting eighteen guns, 
 and commanded by Capt. Crowningshield. She was chased on 
 shore at the western end of Great Hill, a short distance from the 
 present mouth of the river, on the ninth of May, 1813. The Eng- 
 lish sloop-of-war Rattler had with her a small tender, and the first 
 report was that two British frigates had chased a small vessel into 
 the bay, and one of them had got on shore. The bell was rung, and 
 the people from all quarters gathered on the hill. An iron nine- 
 pounder was all the cannon which could be had, and an attempt was 
 made to drag it from the Port to the scene of action, but it did not 
 reach the ground. The Rattler was anchored about half a mile 
 from the shore, and the tender between her and the Alexander. 
 Many of the people were armed with muskets ; but a single broad- 
 side would have cleared the hill. While the people were waiting 
 with intense interest, and watching the movements of the enemy, a 
 flag of truce was sent on shore, and they were notified that the 
 captain had surrendered his ship upon condition of the release of 
 the baggage and personal effects of the crew, and that all resistance 
 from the shore would be fruitless. The people concurred in that 
 opinion, although this action of the captain would not have prohib- 
 ited the recapture of the ship if they had had the power. Still, 
 some of them wanted to give her a shot ; others wanted to prevent 
 the captors from carrying her off. But there were no means for any 
 effectual resistance. She was a beautiful ship, and it was terribly 
 
602 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 grating to the pride and sensibilities of the multitude to see her 
 taken and carried off. The whole affair on the part of the privateer 
 appeared to the spectators to have been blundering and cowardly. 
 After she struck the beach, a gun might have been pointed down- 
 ward and a hole made through her bottom, so that she would have 
 filled*. But the crew jumped overboard and made for the shore as 
 quickly as possible. One or two were drowned. The weather be- 
 ing calm, as soon as the tide rose the vessel was caged from the 
 shore, and very soon, with all sail set, was on the way to Halifax. 
 At the time of her capture she had on board 120 prisoners, having 
 taken seven prizes. 
 
 Notwithstanding the disastrous results of the war and its paralyz- 
 ing effect upon the business of the place, the merchants conceived 
 the project of establishing a bank. What particular necessity there 
 was for such an institution at this period, or what object was to be 
 accomplished by its operations, we have no knowledge. We do not 
 perceive how it would have given any impulse to business, or aided 
 any of the stockholders in the acquisition of the means of living. 
 But an act of incorporation was obtained in June, 1813, authorizing 
 a capital of $100,000. The stock was taken up, a building erected 
 (now the custom house), and Joseph Moody elected President, and 
 Henry Clark, Cashier. Business was commenced April 1, 1814. We 
 think it was never of any material benefit to the stockholders. So 
 great were the losses by the inability of their debtors to pay, that 
 when its business was closed, a very small part only of their invest- 
 ments was returned to them. 
 
 During the course of the year 1814, several brigs were fitted for 
 sea, to sail under the Danish flag; but this stratagem did not work 
 very advantageously. Four or five of them were captured and sent 
 into Guadaloupe ; most of them were condemned. These projects 
 for business being unsuccessful, the people generally continued op- 
 posed to the war, though a few had become reconciled to it. At the 
 election this year, Strong received 546 votes and Dexter 111. But a 
 more decided expression of public sentiment w r as manifested in a 
 dinner given to Hon. Cyrus King, in approbation of his course in 
 Congress in opposition to it. About eighty of the business men of 
 Wells and Arundel joined in the festival. Jacob Fisher presided at 
 the table. Samuel Emerson, Eliphalet Perkins, and John U. Par- 
 sons were Vice-presidents. Many toasts were drank, most of them 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 603 
 
 demonstrative against the government. Some further account of 
 the celebration will be found on a future page. 
 
 Though business was stagnant, something exciting kept the people 
 almost constantly awake. The Bulwark, seventy-four, was on the 
 coast, looking into the harbors. In June, she went into the Pool 
 and captured a ship of Thomas Cutts. The next day she appeared 
 off Kennebunk, inspiring many with great fear. Five companies 
 were ordered out and were kept under arms through Sunday. 
 Watchmen were posted at various places to give the alarm in case 
 of any attempt to land. All the vessels were moved up the river 
 out of sight. Some of the families sent their furniture to the inte- 
 rior. The money was removed from the bank. But the alarm soon 
 subsided. The Bulwark disappeared Sunday night and the compa- 
 nies were discharged. A fort or small breastwork had been built on 
 Kennebunk Point, and a company of artillery, of about thirty men, 
 was stationed there. This company was relieved by another of light 
 infantry, from Limington. They kept guard as far as Cape Porpoise. 
 This scout, it is believed, made the only successful capture which 
 was made by the inhabitants of Wells or Arundel. The sloop Julia, 
 of Boston, had been captured by a British cruiser and ordered to 
 Halifax. During her voyage to that port she encountered a violent 
 head wind, which drove her back on the coast of the United States. 
 The prize master put on board was ignorant of navigation, and hav- 
 ing no knowledge where he was, but supposing himself to be off 
 Nova Scotia, gave up the command to the captain, who ran her into 
 Cape Porpoise, where she was taken possession of by our guard. 
 
 Apprehensions of an attack at the harbor for a time kept alive 
 considerable anxiety, and a meeting of the inhabitants of Wells and 
 Arundel was holden at the Lord store, at the Landing in Kenne- 
 bunk, on the 19th of September, where a committee of safety, or 
 council of war, was chosen, to advise as to all measures which the 
 exigencies of the hour might require. Among these measures was 
 the formation of a company of exempts. Notice was given to all 
 persons who were exempt from military duty to come together, to 
 form themselves into a company for the common protection. Large 
 numbers responded to the call for this patriotic purpose. Sixty- 
 three of them were from Kennebunk. A company was speedily or- 
 ganized. Dr. Jacob Fisher was chosen Captain; Major John Taylor, 
 Lieutenant, and Major Timothy Frost, Ensign. John Low, Reuben 
 
604 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Littlefield, Joseph Porter, and Amos Stevens were Sergeants. Capt. 
 John Tripp, Capt. Joseph Taylor, William Taylor, and John Fiddler 
 were Corporals. Nearly all the leading men were enrolled in this 
 company; but they were not called to any actual service. There 
 had been no change of feeling as to the inexpediency and injustice 
 of the war. The company was organized for mutual protection. 
 At the next election the expression against the war was the same as 
 it had been before. 
 
 This awakening of the older men to the necessities of the hour 
 could not fail to have its effect on the younger. A new impulse was 
 given to privateering. Some in other places had acquired wealth 
 by embarking in it. Accordingly, workmen were soon engaged in 
 building a brig suitable for the purpose, and in a short time she was 
 completed, and armed with one long 24 pounder and four sixes. She 
 was named McDonough, and manned with seventy men, under the 
 command of Capt. Weeks. As she was built expressly for the pur- 
 pose of a privateer, high hopes were entertained of her success. 
 She put to sea amidst the cheers and good wishes of the people ; but 
 she had been out only one day when she was descried and pursued 
 by a British frigate. Both her topmasts gave way in the chase, and 
 five hours after that she was captured, and sent on her way to Hali- 
 fax. Had it not been for the disaster to her topmasts she might 
 have escaped. After their arrival at Halifax the crew were trans- 
 ported to England, where they were accommodated at Dartmoor, at 
 the king's expense, till the close of the war. 
 
 But the people were not discouraged by this unhappy issue of the 
 enterprise. Another brig of 208 tons was soon started, and was of 
 such a mould that the builders considered her a match for any of 
 the cruisers on the coast. She was built with great rapidity ; all 
 the work being hastened that she might be got to sea as soon as 
 possible. Peace rumors were floating about, and the enterprising 
 projectors, we suppose, feared that unless the greatest despatch was 
 made, all their hopes of acquiring wealth might be suddenly blasted. 
 She was soon finished, named Ludlow, and sent to sea under the com- 
 mand of Capt. Mudge. But though we speak of her as finished, such 
 was the haste to get her out of Port, that no part of her was painted. 
 Her armament was also very incomplete, and the provision for the 
 crew very scanty. All deficiencies were to be supplied by captures. 
 Prizes would supply them with every thing needed. She sailed for 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 605 
 
 Salem on the 22d of January, and from thence was soon again at sea. 
 But in course of a few days they began to realize the effects of their 
 folly in building too hastily. The brig leaked so badly, that the 
 pumps were required to be in continual operation. In a short time 
 it was discovered that they were insufficient to keep her afloat ; and 
 the brig was put away for Porto Rico, while the whole crew were 
 kept at work bailing out with buckets or whatever could be had 
 fitted for the purpose. Laboring thus night and day they succeeded 
 in reaching St. Johns, in the island of that name. It was said that she 
 could not have been kept above water another day. Here they were, 
 without money, without credit, and without any means of putting 
 the brig in a condition to go to sea. But in this time of need they 
 found a good friend who wished to go with his family to Havana, 
 and who proposed to furnish the money to calk her, if they would 
 carry him to that port. They were rejoiced to have the opportunity 
 of making such a contract; and without delay accepted his proposi- 
 tion. With this fortunate aid they succeeded in getting her out of 
 the water and repaired her. But before she was ready to sail, all 
 their dreams of riches from plunder on the ocean vanished, by the re- 
 ceipt of the news that peace with England had been declared. They 
 left St. Johns as soon as possible, and arrived at Havana, where they 
 landed their passengers ; sold their armament to obtain necessary 
 supplies and sailed for home, arriving at Portsmouth after a short 
 passage, and soon after at Kennebunk; where in April, 1815, she was 
 advertised for sale. 
 
 Before the Ludlow was finished, another brig of the same size was 
 on the stocks. But peace was declared before she was ready for sea, 
 and she was sold to some one in Boston. 
 
 Such was the result of privateering with the people of Wells and 
 Arundel. Not a prize vessel reached an American port. Thousands 
 of dollars were spent, but not a cent was earned. The war was in 
 every respect disastrous, and when the news of peace was received in 
 February, 1815, there was great rejoicing. The bell was rung and 
 cannon fired. The people gathered together and a grand cavalcade 
 was soon inaugurated, which started for the Port to congratulate 
 those who had been common sufferers with them in tue evils of the 
 war. The out-door commemoration was followed by a peace ball , 
 at which there was music and dancing, interspersed with free liba- 
 
606 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 tions of rum, gin, brandy and wine, in which male and female in- 
 dulged to their heart's content. 
 
 During this war many of the people, especially of the mercantile 
 class, found themselves out of employment. Idleness was no element 
 in the characters of these men. Life was of no value without an 
 active use of it. They must be doing something. As soon as the 
 weariness of the day was over, they were accustomed to amuse 
 themselves as well as they could by going from house to house and 
 playing checkers, cards, etc. In the daytime they could find solace 
 when meeting together, by imprecations on the government. It is a 
 great comfort to some men to enjoy freedom of malediction; to be 
 able to unburden their pent-up thoughts in emphatic words. Per- 
 fect composure under supposed wrong, whereby one's ruin is certain 
 to result, is not to be expected of frail mortality. Even good Chris- 
 tian men dealt out hard blows on the national administration. But 
 this spirit soon wore itself out, and the people generally, by the mid- 
 dle of the war, soothed by some of the naval victories, came to con- 
 cur in the sentiment that it was best to give to Great Britain an ef- 
 fectual a 1 monition that the liberty of the seas was not exclusively 
 hers. Some other matters in the year 1814, making a draft on their 
 purses, which were now but poorly supplied, withdrew their atten- 
 tion from this dead-lock on their navigation. Some of the people of 
 Alfred had become impressed with the thought that a fire-proof 
 building was necessary for the safety of our public records. These 
 impressions, it may well be presumed, grew out of a desire to expe- 
 dite the growth of that town. But the opposition to the movement 
 was not so much on account of the burden of the expense of erec- 
 tion, as on account of the proposed location. The people of. Wells 
 were urgent to have it built at Kennebunk. The necessity of such 
 a building no reasonable man could doubt. The question excited a 
 good deal of interest. The people generally felt that its decision 
 would have a material bearing on the location of the courts. The 
 public convenience would, without doubt, have been better subserved 
 by their location at Kennebunk than at Alfred. This judgment had 
 been freely expressed by committees having this matter in charge, 
 and by the Legislature. Of course there were some in Wells who 
 endeavored to rouse attention to this subject, so that when the feel- 
 ing of the county was to be tested by a popular vote, the town gave 
 559 votes for Kennebunk, and four only for Alfred. But this ballot 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 607 
 
 did not determine the question, and another trial was ordered the 
 next year, 1814, when 665 votes were thrown for Kennebunk, and 
 five for Alfred. But the general result was in favor of Alfred, and 
 the fireproof was built there. Had a little more public spirit been 
 infused into the masses of the county by the supporters of the Ken- 
 nebunk location, a different result would have been reached, and this 
 might have been the shire town of the county. 
 
 Other events in 1814 served to occupy the attention of the people. 
 A great freshet occurred in May, doing much damage to dams, mills, 
 and bridges. The bridge over the Mousam river in the village of 
 Kennebunk, was entirely swept away, and for some time foot travel- 
 ers were carried over by boats. But this excitement lasted only a 
 few days. Business of all kinds was stagnant, and thence the people 
 were idle. But idleness is not always an unmitigated evil. Sometimes, 
 in their dull and vacant hours, men are led to think of their sins, and 
 to look about them for a remedy for other and more dangerous evils. 
 In this dark hour, while there were many who were led to a freer use 
 of the intoxicating cup, there were others who were thereby awak- 
 ened to a sense of their obligations as members of society. The 
 distresses of families about them exhibited too clearly the degrading 
 iniquity from which they proceeded, to leave any doubt as to the 
 cause. Poverty works no hindrance to the ravages of the appetite 
 for intoxicating liquor. In many cases a man will give all that he 
 has for its gratification. Wife and children may be driven to despair, 
 and even to starvation, but there is no relenting of the mad passion. 
 The unfortunate subject may mourn over his fearful bondage, but 
 the power of releasing himself from it is gone; he is the doomed 
 slave. 
 
 So manifest was the increase of the ruinous sin of intemperance, 
 that those who had withstood its allurements began to feel that some 
 measures must be adopted to check the inebriate in his downward 
 path, and the town voted to publish the law against intemperance 
 and drunkenness. They might as well have published the law of 
 assault and battery, to restrain the lightning of heaven from assault- 
 ing their dwelling houses. God's law was always before the eyes of 
 men in the misery, disgrace, and perdition of those who were its 
 violators; and what could the mere knowledge of human law do 
 where this manifest law of God had failed ? This posting of a human 
 statute was powerless. The evil was in no measure stayed. Its 
 
608 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUSK. 
 
 dark shadows were all over the town as well as the country, and 
 this glorious inheritance of Christian civilization and civil and per- 
 sonal liberty was evidently tending to an ignominiousand dishonored 
 end. 
 
 In a few years after, more fortitude gained possession and took the 
 control of some hearts. A board of selectmen was elected in the 
 new town of Kennebunk, who resolved to face the enemy in the 
 boldest way, and they posted the names of about thirty of the 
 inhabitants of the town, notifying all the licensed retailers to furnish 
 " to none of them strong liquors, directly or indirectly," assuring all 
 violators of this order that the penalties of the law should be inflict- 
 ed on them. This, to those who were not already gone beyond the 
 saving power of self-respect, must have come with astounding effect. 
 One of the most fatal qualities of intoxicating liquor is its deceptive 
 power. The drunkard is seldom aware that he is a drunkard. 
 Though it is apparent to everybody else, yet he does not know it. 
 From many of these inebriates, imprecations undoubtedly came down 
 on the heads of these courageous town officers. But they were un- 
 moved by their anathemas. The result of this action of the select- 
 men was probably favorable to the cause of temperance. If none of 
 the wretched slaves themselves were rescued from their evil ways, 
 their children, we think, w T ere essentially benefited by this public 
 declaration of their fathers' shame. We have carefully looked 
 through the list, and we are not aware that more than two of the 
 descendants of these men have walked in the footsteps of their 
 fathers. 
 
 Not long after this manifesto against these intemperate men, a new 
 board of selectmen came to the conclusion that no licensed retailers 
 were necessary for the public good, and withheld all licenses for the 
 sale of ardent spirits. A few years after that, the general temperance 
 reformation began, and the new position was assumed that intoxi- 
 cating drinks were not necessary for any one. The people generally 
 resolved totally to abandon their use, and thenceforward the doctrine 
 of total abstinence has found favor and support with the public, as 
 the only antidote to that baneful indulgence which has ruined so 
 many who might otherwise have been useful members of society. 
 
 In 1815, Daniel Sewall, Clerk of the Courts, and Register of Pro- 
 bate, moved from York to Kennebunk, having purchased the new 
 house of John U. Parsons, who moved 4o Parsonsfield. Though 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 609 
 
 Kennebunk had not become the shire town, all the court records 
 were brought and kept here until Maine became an independent 
 State, when Jeremiah Bradbury was appointed Clerk, and they were 
 removed to Alfred. In this year the custom house which had been 
 established at this place since Kennebunk was made a port of entry, 
 was moved to the Port. Joseph Storer was the collector, and 
 George Wheelright, the deputy; and thereafter all the business was 
 done at that place, as it is now. The large number of vessels then 
 entering and clearing would seem to have made this change necessary 
 years before. The public appear to have been intent on making im- 
 provements in some way. A petition was circulated, asking the 
 Legislature to compel the owners of dams on Mousam river to open 
 a passage-way for salmon. This petition was presented at the next 
 session, and notice duly ordered upon it. But w T hen the subject 
 came up it appeared that some had not been notified, and thus the 
 measure was defeated. Why it was not taken in hand a second 
 time, we are not informed. The freedom of the river for this val- 
 uable fish might have been a very profitable acquisition to the town. 
 Another attempt was also made to have the term of the Supreme 
 Court then holden at York removed to Kennebunk; but this project 
 was unsuccessful. There was evidently a great want of spirit and 
 determination among the people generally. They were anxious for 
 improvements, but there was no resolution that they should be 
 made. 
 
 But the recovery of their personal status before the war furnished 
 the mainspring of action to almost every one ; and as all. of every 
 condition in life, felt the burdens of the war pressing heavily upon 
 them, the spirit of opposition to it did not at once die out. The 
 personal feeling against Madison on account of it continued during 
 life with many of them ; but this animosity was not extended to hi* 
 successor. All party feeling and all personal, selfish opposition was 
 allayed by the induction of Munroe as President, and a general ac- 
 quiescence was manifest in the proposition to give him a hearty re- 
 ception on his visit to Maine in 1817, the details of which wc have* 
 given in another place. 
 
 Judge Wells, the town clerk, died this year. It is a remarkable 
 
 fact that this office was holden by him and his father from the year 
 
 1738. Nathaniel Wells, then elected, was annually chosen until the 
 39 
 
610 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBXJNK. 
 
 year 1776, when he died. The son succeeded and was annually 
 elected during life. One of the most unfortunate incidents of our 
 elective system is the continual changing of the incumbents of 
 office. This has grown out of that party spirit which has sent de- 
 moralization through all the departments of our civil and municipal 
 administration. Men of experience, thoroughly versed in all the 
 routine of their official positions, are compelled to give place to 
 others, ignorant of the duties required, and in many cases having no 
 other fitness for them than the imputed qualification given by zeal- 
 ous membership of the party to which they belong. If our country 
 should ever come to the verge of ruin, its decadence will have been 
 wrought out by the gradual influence of this corrupting agency. 
 The spirit of party will override all genuine patriotism. 
 
 One of the sad events of this year was the death of Tiiomas 
 McCulloch, at Cambridge. He was the son of Hugh McCulloch, 
 and brother of the late Secretary of the Treasury. He had reached 
 the last year of his college life with unusual distinction. His high 
 intellectual powers and that firm moral principle which seemed to 
 have been interwoven with, or a material part of, his natural in- 
 stincts, together with that kindness of heart for which he was spec- 
 ially distinguished, attracted the love and good-will of all with 
 whom he had intercourse, and so won the favor and affection of his 
 classmates that they caused a monument to be erected to his memo- 
 ry. In this class were George Bancroft, Caleb Cushing, George B. 
 Emerson, Samuel I. May, now maintaining a prominent rank among 
 the intellectual celebrities of the country. This tribute of men of 
 that class to the memory of young McCulloch must be regarded as 
 giving high sanction to the memorial. The monument is a marble 
 tablet or slab, standing on six sandstone posts in the cemetery at 
 Cambridge, and bears the following inscription in Latin. As it will 
 be more acceptable to our general readers, we give the English 
 translation : 
 
 " Here lie the remains of Thomas McCulloch, a student of Har- 
 vard University, born in the town of Kennebunk, State of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 By nature he was most richly endowed with all the gifts of mind 
 and body which excite our love, delight, and respect ; moreover, 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AKD KENNEBUNK. 611 
 
 frank and pleasant in his deportment, he easily won the affection of 
 all before he sought it. He was desirous of honor and fame ; but 
 envy did not pollute his bosom, nor did calumny soil his lips. Most 
 studiously devoted to education and learning, he had explored all 
 the recesses of the human intellect and had plucked flowers from the 
 whole domain of literature, and now, after the completion of his 
 third academic year, from the highest pinnacle of literary honor 
 which he had reached by his talent and diligence, he descended, 
 alas ! to the tomb. For, hurried away by a most painful malady, 
 which had brought death to many unfortunate ones, on the 7th day 
 of September, 1817, he breathed most calmly his last. 
 
 Age 21. 
 The love of his fellow students hath raised this monument, their 
 tears have hallowed it." 
 
 From this period to the end of our history we know no material 
 facts worthy of record. Some considerable spirit was excited in the 
 last years of the union of the towns by the questions where the 
 town meetings should be holden, and whether a poor house should 
 be built. But the former, just at the crisis of a separation, became a 
 matter of little importance, and the latter, if an affirmative vote had 
 been given, would only have been a source of bitter contention, in 
 imposing a heavy burden on the inhabitants of Kennebunk, without 
 any compensatory return ; and all desired, knowing that division 
 must speedily ensue, to part in peace. 
 
 Nathaniel Wells, who, during his active life, had been one of 
 the most valuable and distinguished of the inhabitants of Wells, 
 died in 1816, on the sixth day of December, at the age of seventy- 
 six. His father, rightly estimating the importance of knowledge, 
 and perceiving in his son evidences of an intellect which might 
 bring him forward to honor and usefulness, determined to give him 
 the benefit of a liberal education. He was accordingly fitted for 
 college, and entered Harvard University in 1756, whence he gradu- 
 ated in 1760. He was there regarded as possessing endowments 
 fitted to give him eminence and rank among the great men of the 
 land. He was distinguished for strength of intellect, a tenacious 
 memory, deep thought, and uncommon power of argumentation. 
 
612 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 He made great proficiency in the acquisition of science, taking a 
 high stand among the students. 
 
 He does not seem to have been inclined to either of the profes- 
 sions. After graduation he resorted to the business of school keep- 
 ing, in which he employed himself many years. Afterward, by the 
 desire of his father, now far advanced in life, he returned to the old 
 homestead in Wells, where he spent the remainder of his days. 
 The people soon understood the value of such a man in the manage- 
 ment of affairs of common interest. His sound and ripe judgment, 
 quick perceptions, and general manliness of character gave him a 
 popularity among the townsmen which he never afterward lost. He 
 was, in consequence, early placed in positions of responsibility. In 
 1770, he was one of the selectmen of the town. In the trying peri- 
 od, perceived by him to be rapidly approaching, in which the souls 
 of men were to be tested, his opinions were received with great def- 
 erence. We think, from the evidence that we have, that he was not 
 immediately decided as to the proper course of action for the people 
 to pursue. He was satisfied that England was wrong; that her as- 
 sumption of rights over the colonies was unwarranted ; but what 
 should be done by the feeble colonies in opposition to her assump- 
 tions, was not so easily settled. He finally came to the determina- 
 tion that, as there was no reasonable alternative, the people must 
 fight. 
 
 Intelligence was received from Boston in May, 1773, that the lib- 
 erties of the country were in peril, and Mr. Wells was appointed one 
 of a committee of correspondence, to ascertain facts and determine 
 upon the proper action of the town. In 1774, he was appointed a 
 Justice of the Peace by Governor Hutchinson, which office he held 
 under various appointments during life. His father, who was town 
 clerk, died in 1776, and he was chosen to fill the vacancy. As there 
 were then no such political excitements or party interests, disorder- 
 ing the public well-being, as have prevailed in later years, he was 
 annually elected to the same office to the close of life. In 1779, he 
 was chosen a delegate to the convention at Cambridge to form a 
 constitution for the State of Massachusetts. In 1781, he was ap- 
 pointed by Gov. Hancock a special Justice of the Inferior Court of 
 Common Pleas ; afterward he was Chief Justice of the Court, rep- 
 resentative to the Legislature, and member of the Senate. He was 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 613 
 
 selected for various fiduciary trusts. He was also a member of the 
 convention at Boston, holden for the purpose of determining the 
 question whether the State would assent to the adoption of the pro- 
 posed constitution of the United States. He was on the commission 
 with Samuel Phillips and Nathan Dane, who had in charge the man- 
 agement of the eastern lands. In fine, his services were sought for 
 on all matters of public interest. He was the people's man, fitted 
 for any station, and always ready for duty. His opinions carried 
 with them great weight and controlled the . action of a majority of 
 the people. 
 
 The most prominent element of his intellectual character was a 
 proclivity to argumentation. He was cotemporary with Dr. Hem- 
 menway, who was one of the most eminent logicians of New 
 England, and found much of his happiness in the discussion of those 
 great questions which involve the eternal interests of men. On some 
 of these questions there was a wide diversity of sentiment between 
 the two. Judge Wells was strongly Arminian, not differing much 
 from the Unitarians of the present day. Whenever they came to- 
 gether, any suggestion of either adverse to the views of the other, 
 awakened at once a controversy of which neither of them would ever 
 weary. They had occasion to go to Berwick to attend some council 
 or association, and stopped at a public house. Probably, in continu- 
 ation of a debate begun on the road, they there got into an animated 
 discussion which was continued to a late hour in the evening, when 
 the Doctor said he would step out of doors a little while. The judge 
 responded that he would go, too. They went out together. The 
 landlord waited and waited, till his patience was exhausted. Not 
 knowing what might have happened to cause such a strange deten- 
 tion after twelve o'clock, he went out to ascertain the status of the 
 disputants. It is unnecessary to state where he found them. But 
 they were still in the very heat of the controversy, each wide-awake 
 in defending and taking care of his own opinion. 
 
 Neither of these men had any inclination to yield an opinion once 
 formed. All arguments directed to that end were parried or neutra- 
 lized in one way or another. They formed no judgment on any im- 
 portant matter without careful consideration; and thence felt that 
 their conclusions were sound, and, therefore, adhered to them with 
 great tenacity. Yet they were men of a liberal and generous spirit, 
 and entertained the kindest feelings toward each other. Judge 
 
614 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Wells was a deacon of Dr. Hemmen way's church, and was regarded 
 by all as a man of stern integrity. Difference of theological specu- 
 lation did not lead to denunciation or separation. The church of 
 Christ in those days, though it embodied a great variety of adverse 
 thought, went forward harmoniously in the work of the Master. 
 
 Judge Wells was an exceedingly useful man. On all matters in- 
 volving the interests of the town, he was consulted with great confi- 
 dence. Politically, he belonged to the Federal party, and was 
 regarded as one of its most prominent supporters in the District of 
 Maine. 
 
 As the Wells family is one of the oldest in the town, we give a 
 brief genealogical sketch of it. They all descended from Thomas 
 Wells, a physician, who came over from England in the Susan and 
 Ellen, Capt. Paine, in the year 1635* He settled at Ipswich, in the 
 State of Massachusetts, and died there in 1666. He married Abigail, 
 daughter of William Warner, and came to Wells in 1657. On June 
 29th of that year (1657), he purchased of William Symonds "two 
 hundred acres of upland and fifteen acres of meadow, having a dwell- 
 ing-house standing upon the same." He had children, viz. : Nath- 
 aniel, married Oct. 29, 1661, to Lydia Thurlley, and died December 
 
 15,1681. John, born ; died in Wells, April 11, 1677. Sarah, 
 
 born ; married John Massie, of Salem. Abigail, born ; 
 
 married June 19, 1661, Nathaniel Tredwell, of Salem. Thomas, born 
 
 Jan. 11, 1647; died July 10, 1734. Elizabeth, born ; married 
 
 Burnam. Hannah, born . Lydia, born ; married Mar. 
 
 25, 1669, John Ropes, of Salem. How long he continued here is 
 unknown, but he had an allotment of land on Little River, and in a 
 few years returned to Ipswich. His wife died in 1671. 
 
 John is the only one of the children in whom we have an especial 
 interest. He was left in possession of the farm in Wells, and married 
 Sarah, daughter of Francis Littlefield, of Wells, who was born Nov. 
 16, 1649. They were probably married in 1664 or 1665 ; he died the 
 11th of April, 1677, leaving four children, viz. : John, Thomas, 
 Patience, who married Nathaniel Clarke ; Sarah, who married first 
 Samuel Libley, of Salem, who was killed by the Indians in their 
 
 * Note.— It has been said that when he embarked from England, he took with him his wife, 
 Ann, then twenty years of age, who died soon after their arrival here; but we have not 
 satisfactory evidence of this fact. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 615 
 
 assault upon Haverhill, Aug. 29, 1708; and secondly, about Dec, 
 1710, John Sayer, of Newbury. John, the eldest son, became a 
 " mariner." He went to Boston, was there in 1702 and 1707. He 
 returned to Wells; was there in 1723. He married, probably while a 
 resident in Boston, Mary Peck, February 18, 1697. He made his 
 will, May 10, 1748, and died in that year. His estate inventoried 
 £2,000, a large sum for that time, including one negro, inventoried at 
 £100. He left three children, John, jr., a blacksmith ; Mary, who 
 married Maddock ; Hannah, who married Thomas Goodwin. 
 
 It appears by the town records of Newbury, that in 1696, Thomas 
 Wells married Sarah Browne, and had four children, who were killed 
 with their mother, by the Indians. Soon after the murder, Thomas 
 Wells returned to Newbury. The town records of Salem state 
 that "Thomas Wells, of Newbury, and Lydia Gale, of Salem, 
 were married Oct. 12, 1704." She was the widow of Abraham Gale 
 (who died about 1702), and daughter of John Ropes and Lydia 
 Wells, youngest daughter of Thomas Wells, of Ipswich. They had 
 three children. Nathaniel, born Aug. 21, 1705. He was the first 
 Deacon Nathaniel Wells, of Wells, and was town clerk for many 
 years. He died in Wells, in July, 1776 ; Joshua was born March 
 17, 1707 ; Lydia was born May 29, 1709. She married Samuel Clark. 
 
 Thomas, with his family, returned to Wells previously to March 3, 
 1718, as he was at that time chosen deacon of the church there. He 
 died August 26, 1737. 
 
 John, jr., son of John, married Deborah, the daughter of Depend- 
 ence Storer, of York, Me., October 11, 1733, and had eight children, 
 John, Samuel, Susanna, Samuel, Daniel, Dependence, Hannah, Mary. 
 
 Nathaniel, son of Thomas, previously referred to, and usually des- 
 ignated by the title of " Town Clerk," married about 1736, Dorothy 
 Light, of Exeter, N. II., and had six children, Dorothy, Nathaniel, 
 Robert, Martha, John Light, and Ebenezer. 
 
 Judge Nathaniel married Abigail Winn, January 1, 1770, and had 
 seven children, Dorothy, Nathaniel, David, Abigail, Theodore, Tim- 
 othy, Theodocia. 
 
616 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 The First Parish— Rev. Benjamin White ordained as colleague 
 with Dr. Hemmenway — His retirement and death — Revision op 
 
 THE CREED — INVITATION TO REV. DAVID OLIPHANT — REV. JONATHAN 
 GREENLEAF ORDAINED — THE SECOND PARISH— ADDITIONS TO THE MEET- 
 ING-HOUSE — Steeple erected and rell purchased — Description op 
 interior of the meeting-house — slnging — musical instruments — 
 Organ introduced— Stoves set up— Infirmity of Rev. Mr. Little— 
 Rev. Nathaniel H. Fletcher ordained as colleague— His address 
 — The creed — Marriage of Mr. Fletcher — Joseph Smith — His 
 attempt to overturn the meeting-house — jacor cockran — letter 
 of Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf to Rev. Mr. Fletcher — Action of 
 the Parish relative thereto— Sunday School organized. 
 
 In the year 1810, Dr. Hemmenway having become so infirm as to 
 be unable to preach, the Parish came to the conclusion that it was 
 necessary to obtain some one to supply the pulpit. He concurred in 
 this necessity, and in conformity with a custom then prevalent in the 
 churches, a fast was appointed for the 31st of October, to seek Divine 
 aid in a matter of so much importance. In pursuance of a vote to 
 this effect, Benjamin White, who was highly recommended, was em- 
 ployed as a candidate, and so well satisfied were the people with his 
 services, that it was voted to give him an invitation to settle as col- 
 league pastor. To induce his acceptance, the parish offered him five 
 hundred dollars as a salary, and after the decease of Dr. Hemmen- 
 way, the use of the parsonage, and a reasonable time to visit his 
 friends. The offer was then considered a generous one, and was ac- 
 cepted by Mr. White May 4, 1811. His pastorate was so short that 
 we deem it unnecessary to give in detail the ceremonies intro- 
 ductory to his ministry. He was ordained June 26, 1811. His 
 health was feeble, and much of the time he was under the necessity 
 of being absent from his parish. He was a true and faithful minister, 
 making it the great object of his life to lead his people to righteous- 
 ness. During the short period in which he was able to maintain his 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 617 
 
 position, he was very successful in his labors. Many were added to 
 the church. His bodily frailty, perhaps, contributed much to hia 
 power as a preacher. He felt that he was on the confines of the 
 grave; and the sympathies of his hearers were thereby more closely 
 drawn to him. But he was soon obliged to succumb to the relentless 
 power of disease. After long absence, he writes from Thetford, 
 March 9, 1814, "I have but a short time to tarry in this world." He 
 then submits the question of his dismission to his people. A council 
 was called on the 14th, and in concurrence with the church, it was 
 voted to dismiss him. He died on the 23d. 
 
 During the ministry of Mr. White, an important revision was made 
 in the creed and covenant of the church. We have regarded all 
 these expressions of belief as declarations of the minister only; and 
 we suppose this new enunciation of Christian doctrine and duty to 
 be the production of Mr. White. It was undoubtedly drawn by him 
 and assented to by the church, the people generally having so much 
 confidence in their minister, and so little in themselves, that they did 
 not attempt to qualify their creed by any thoughts which came up in 
 their own minds. Most Christians take an interest in these pronun- 
 ciamentos of religious doctrine, and find satisfaction in comparing 
 them with those of other churches. And, therefore, we insert this 
 new creed entire. 
 
 "Confession of Faith, and covenant adopted by the First Congre- 
 gational Church in Wells, Oct. 11, 1811. 
 
 You believe there is one God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
 who created, upholds and governs all things. 
 
 You believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be 
 a divine revelation from God, containing all the doctrines which we 
 ought to believe and all the duties which we ought to perform. 
 
 You believe that God first made man in his own image, consisting 
 in knowledge and holiness. 
 
 You believe our first parents sinned, and by sinning lost commun- 
 ion with God, and became exposed to his just displeasure. 
 
 You believe that Adam's posterity, in consequence of the union 
 constituted by God between him and them, are born destitute of 
 holiness, with hearts inclined to sin and under condemnation, and 
 must perish unless saved by Sovereign grace. 
 
 You believe that God sent his only begotten son into the world to 
 
618 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 make an atonement for sin, and hereby open a door of mercy for our 
 fallen race. 
 
 You believe regeneration necessary to eternal life, and to be the 
 foundation of every Christian grace. 
 
 You believe that God has established a church in the world, and 
 that none ought to be admitted to its ordinances except those who 
 give evidence of faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 You believe there are two sacraments in the church, Baptism and 
 the Lord's supper; and that it is the duty of professing [parents to 
 devote their infant offspring to God in Baptism]." This clause be- 
 tween the brackets was afterward stricken out, and the words, 
 " Christians to observe both these ordinances," inserted in their place. 
 
 " You believe in the doctrine of justification by faith, the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead, and final judgment. You believe that the whole 
 world will be assembled before God at the last great day, and be re- 
 warded according to their character; when the righteous will be re- 
 ceived into everlasting life, and the wicked punished with endless de- 
 struction. 
 
 These things you profess to believe. 
 
 Covenant. You now in a serious and solemn manner choose the 
 Lord Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost to be your God. 
 
 You engage, by Divine grace assisting you, to walk in all his com- 
 mandments in a blameless manner. 
 
 You engage to maintain the worship of God in his house on the 
 Sabbath, and as you have opportunity, to attend upon his daily wor- 
 ship in the family and in secret; to observe the Sacraments in the 
 Church, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and to support church dis- 
 cipline faithfully, according to the rule prescribed in the Gospel. 
 
 You engage to watch ever your heart and life in the fear of the 
 Lord, and guard against everything that may bring dishonor upon 
 the cause of the great Redeemer ; to seek the prosperity and en- 
 largement of this church as far as you have ability and opportunity. 
 
 This you covenant. 
 
 We now consider you a member (or members) of this church in 
 communion and folio wship with us, and engage to treat you with 
 that affection and watchfulness which your sacred relation to us re- 
 quires. And we earnestly desire that by our faithfulness we may as- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 619 
 
 sist each other in the service of our Redeemer, that we and you may- 
 obtain mercy of the Lord, and finally be prepared to enjoy his pres- 
 ence forever." 
 
 The following was afterward added as the second engagement : 
 " Yon engage to study the Scriptures in a careful and prayerful man- 
 ner, in order to learn the duties you owe to God, to your neighbor, 
 to yourself, and to your offspring." 
 
 Mr. White did not adhere strictly to the practice recommended by 
 the synod of 1662. He would not baptize the children of those who 
 were not members of the church in full communion. For the half- 
 way covenant he had no respect; believing that one could not be 
 honest in that profession who would not, also, come to the Lord's 
 Supper. This refusal to baptize the children of non-professors or 
 half-way Christians, touched the hearts of some of his society very 
 severely. They had long been accustomed to witness this ceremony 
 in the church in its free ministration, and felt that it was a great 
 sin to withhold its beneficent influences from any one. The sight of 
 even the most unworthy dedicating their offspring to the Lord, took 
 strong hold of their sympathies. They could no longer find peace 
 and comfort in a church which had thus failed to sanction this sacred 
 and endeared custom. William Boston and his wife Elizabeth, 
 though childless, requested to be discharged from the church, and to 
 be recommended to the church of the Rev. Mr. Fletcher. James 
 Rankins and Ruth Boston, also, for the same cause, left the society. 
 These, also, had no children for baptism. 
 
 After the dismission of Mr. White, Rev. David Oliphant was in- 
 vited to take charge of the society. He had been some years in the 
 ministry and was a very popular man. To secure his services the 
 parish offered him four hundred dollars and the use of the parsonage. 
 But the position did not meet with his acceptance. Yet he took ad- 
 vantage of the opportunity, presented by the invitation, of preach- 
 ing to the people an effective discourse. In his answer he states that 
 his health is feeble, the climate of the seacoast unfavorable to his 
 constitution, and the labor of a large scattered parish too hard for 
 him; and also that the offer of a salary was unreasonable, and he 
 regretted " that a people so long distinguished for their ardent de- 
 sires to have the Gospel preached to them, should at this time, when 
 
620 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 they need its sacred instructions more than ever before, set up so 
 strong a barrier against the enjoyment of its blessings as the refusal 
 of a proper support of it." It is somewhat questionable whether this 
 reply was in good taste, and prudent as became a servant of Christ. 
 Mr. Oliphant had been living in a larger and richer community, and 
 his notions of the appropriate salary for a minister were the offspring 
 of the associations which he there enjoyed. But in all these border 
 towns the people were limited in their means, and business paralyzed 
 by the exigencies of war, and no one could feel that it was a time for 
 the increase of salaries. Beside, the salary offered was as liberal as 
 that received by neighboring ministers. We believe that the pro- 
 fession should be so well remunerated for their services, that no anxie- 
 ty for family support should be allowed to prevent the clergyman 
 from giving his whole heart to his people. 
 
 Jonathan Greenleaf was afterward invited to preach as a candi- 
 date, and his services were so acceptable that the Parish unanimously 
 concurred with the church in inviting him to the ministry, and mak- 
 ing to him the same offer which was made to Mr. Oliphant. Mr. 
 Greenleaf, by letter of Feb. 13, 1815, signified his acceptance, adding 
 that it was no part of the plan of his life to become a parochial 
 minister, but that Providence had ordered otherwise ; and, in conso- 
 nance with this Divine direction, he should speak plainly. That he 
 should not cry peace to all, but should proclaim everlasting joy to 
 the good, and misery to the evil. He was ordained on the eighth 
 day of March, 1815. Rev. Mr. Mittemore, of Falmouth, made the 
 introductory prayer; Rev. Mr. Brown, of North Yarmouth, preached 
 the sermon ; Rev. Mr. Sweat, of Sanford, made the ordaining prayer; 
 Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Kennebunk, gave the right hand of fellowship ; 
 Rev. Mr. Calef, of Lyman, the charge, and also offered the concluding 
 prayer. 
 
 All the council were not in full accord with the doctrinal views of 
 Mr. Greenleaf, and some little controversy was awakened by his 
 expressions. But in the main, the members concurred. In his 
 preaching he fully carried out the programme prefigured in his ac- 
 ceptance. He was independent and decided in his theology, adhering 
 strictly to the doctrines assumed and declared by the early Synod in 
 Boston. Under him the old custom of baptizing the children of non- 
 professors who assented to the baptismal covenant, was revived. He 
 reverenced this practice of the forefathers, " believing that no person 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBtTNK. 621 
 
 would assume this covenant without faith in Christ, and that the 
 church was bound to receive the children of such to baptism, and 
 themselves to full communion whenever they desired it, if their lives 
 were such as become the Gospel ;" such persons so offering their 
 children to be regarded as putting themselves specially under the 
 discipline of the church. How this discipline was to be exercised, 
 does not appear. 
 
 From this time during the remaining years of this history, there 
 was much trouble in the church by the unfaithfulness of some of the 
 members. But the principle of forgiveness to the erring brother or 
 sister was still adhered to, in forgiving offenses upon mere confession 
 and alleged repentance. In our view, this was a most baleful prac- 
 tice, and had little tendency to restrain subsequent aberration. The 
 same persons in a very short time after forgiveness, again dishonored 
 their profession by going astray from the Christian path. We have 
 already expressed our opinion of this practice. 
 
 But a position was assumed in one case which, we think, cannot 
 find support in a sound Christianity. A member neglected to attend 
 public worship with this church for nine months, and in the meantime 
 attended a Baptist meeting, and had a Baptist minister preach in his 
 own house, whereby the church say, " religion was wounded, and its 
 enemies had occasion to blaspheme." We cannot concur in such a 
 judgment. Christ has but one church in the world, and all Christians 
 are members of it. Going from one meeting to another, or from one 
 church to another, or having any Christian minister preach in one's 
 house, is no departure from the law of Christian duty, and the ene- 
 mies of religion are never led to blaspheme by any such action. It 
 is the denial of religious freedom, the intolerant spirit which provokes 
 blasphemy in disbelievers. We hesitate not to say that if the de- 
 linquent had attended another Congregational church, and its minister 
 had preached at his house, no such grievous charge would have been 
 made against him. The offense was in thus manifesting his sympathy 
 with another denomination ; and we believe in the view of the com- 
 mon Father, it would have been a much more acceptable charity to 
 have continued to sympathize and love him as an anxious and earnest 
 disciple, than it was to receive one back into the church who had 
 been guilty of a criminal offense, upon the mere declaration that he 
 was sorry for his offense, and asked forgiveness. We pretend not in 
 any part of this work to express any opinion on the theology of any 
 
622 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 class of Christians. But religion is a personal matter, interesting the 
 individual more than any one else. His own conscience and reason 
 must guide him in the use of the means for its growth in his spirit. 
 If he has come to believe that the teachings of the Baptist are better 
 fitted for his improvement than those of the Congregationalist, 
 then it his right to avail himself of them, and by the change no dis- 
 honor is brought on the Church of Christ. But it should be made a 
 serious question with the church of departure, whether its denun- 
 ciations of such an one have their sanction in the law of God. 
 
 In a former chapter we have given a history of the various embar- 
 rassments and difficulties attending the building of the meeting-house 
 of the Second Parish. The work was protracted twenty-five years, 
 and then not completely executed. After all this delay, and the ex- 
 citing controversy to which it gave rise, it was found that the house 
 was not large enough to accommodate all the people. New resi- 
 dents had come in and the population was largely increased. A 
 young minister, with a clear voice and a mode of address more cap- 
 tivating than that of the old pastor, had been settled over the Par- 
 ish, and more of the townsmen were attracted to the sanctuary. It 
 now became necessary to make a material alteration to provide pews 
 for all. Accordingly, at a Parish meeting held on the 20th of June, 
 1803, it was voted that the meeting-house be enlarged, by making 
 an addition on the back side, not exceeding 28 feet, and not less 
 than 24, with the addition of a belfry, and that before proceeding, 
 the pews should be sold, as located according to a plan drawn by 
 Thomas Eaton ; but that no such work should be done if the sale of 
 the pews did not meet two-thirds of the expense. Tobias Lord, 
 William Jefferds, Jacob Fisher, William Taylor, and Joseph Moody 
 were appointed a committee to carry the vote into effect. At a 
 meeting on the third day of April, 1804, it was voted to purchase a 
 bell. 
 
 The pews were sold at auction on the 21st of September, 1803, 
 bringing sufficient prices to authorize the committee to proceed with 
 their work. A contract was entered into with Thomas Eaton to 
 make the contemplated alterations. But, notwithstanding this plain 
 vote of the Parish, it was determined to saw the building in two, 
 lengthwise, and move the rear half back twenty-eight feet, so as to 
 make the additional pews in the centre of the church, and leave all 
 the old pews uninjured. This was, we presume, more satisfactory to 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 623 
 
 the owners of the pews in the portion to be moved, as it would 
 leave them in precisely the same relation to the pulpit as before. 
 The rear half of the building was accordingly moved back, and the 
 intervening twenty-eight feet filled with the new pews. Previously 
 to this change, there were but three long pews on each side of the 
 broad aisle. These had been built a short time before the change. 
 Ten more were added on each side, and about sixteen square pews 
 in the other part of the house. The old roof was taken off and re- 
 constructed, with the end of the attic toward the road. The steeple 
 was erected in 1804, and the bell soon after raised to its position in 
 the belfry. It was first rung in the fall of that year at nine o'clock 
 in the evening. This was the third in the District of Maine, that of 
 Mr. Smith's church, in Portland, having been obtained in 1753, and 
 that of the Congregational church, in York, on the 20th of Septem- 
 ber, 1788. In its outward aspect, excepting the painting, the meet- 
 ing-house remains now as it was then completed. The contract 
 with Eaton was a hard one, and being satisfied of that fact, the Par- 
 ish subsequently gave him five hundred dollars. 
 
 Having thus erected a house of worship, not only satisfactory to 
 the people, but inspiring them with some degree of pride by its 
 magnificence, far excelling in beauty and symmetry any other in 
 Maine, they felt the importance of taking care of it, and in accord- 
 ance with the narrow view of religious instruction which then pre- 
 vailed, and still rules in many minds, the Parish voted "that no 
 orations should be delivered in it." Notwithstanding the increased 
 light which a progressive civilization is shedding on the world, great 
 moral darkness still hangs over a large portion of the race. Thou- 
 sands yet feel that religion has no need of knowledge or education. 
 Men cannot be made to comprehend the postulate that learning is 
 the handmaid of virtue ; that all the sciences even are ministering 
 angels to a healthy and substantial religion; that ignorance has been 
 the bane of godliness in all ages. Orations at that period, perhaps, 
 more than now, were an important agency in the diffusion of knowl- 
 edge. The orator labored hard to make his subject instructive and 
 valuable to his auditors. The house of God should always be open 
 for benevolent purposes, for every object involving the well-being of 
 humanity. But this old vote still remains on the record of the Sec- 
 ond Parish in full force. For one occasion it was suspended, but for 
 many years it has been disregarded. 
 
624 HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 As the internal arrangement of this house has been recently so 
 modified that it bears little resemblance to that of which we have 
 been giving an account, it may interest the descendants of the build- 
 ers to have some further description of it. In the house as erected 
 in 1774 there were no long pews ; they were all square, with seats 
 on the sides and ends. All the ancient churches w T ere arranged in 
 the same way. Over the pulpit, three or four feet above the head of 
 the minister, was the sounding board, octagonal in form, about eight 
 feet diameter and a foot or fifteen inches deep. This was hung at 
 the centre from the ceiling, and was supposed to give a louder into- 
 nation to the words of the preacher, causing them to reverberate 
 more distinctly through all parts of the house. Being neatly 
 moulded and finished, it was rather ornamental to the house. It 
 was continued in its place many years after the alteration in 1803. 
 These sounding boards were a part of the internal structure of all 
 the ancient churches. There were three aisles for access to the 
 pews, the broad, and the right and left; a pew for old men on the 
 left, and one for old women on the right, of the broad aisle. These 
 two pews were moved forward with the rear half of the house. 
 The front part of the galleries was painted, but no other portion of 
 the house, except the pulpit, the deacon's seat, just under it, at the 
 head of the broad aisle, and the pew of Dimon Hubbard. The ex- 
 terior of the house and steeple was painted a dark yellow, not 
 expressive of a very becoming taste in the people. 
 
 One memorable feature in the construction of this church, com- 
 mon to all churches of olden time, and regarded as indispensable to 
 the comfort of the worshipers, cannot be forgotten by the survivors 
 of that period. The seats were all furnished with hinges, so that 
 in rising for prayers the seat could be raised, and be sustained against 
 the back of the pew until the prayer, sometimes long enough to 
 weary the soul of the Christian, was ended; when simultaneously 
 all were let down, most of them dropping a few inches, and many of 
 them, especially when occupied by children, slammed down with an 
 impetus somewhat exceeding ordinary gravitation. So that any one 
 living within half a mile would have the clearest evidence that the 
 minister had ended his devotions ; and the preacher himself, especial- 
 ly after one of his long prayers, would have a response from the 
 seats tending to bring back his attention, at once, to things terres- 
 trial. There was also another little arrangement well adapted to 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 625 
 
 Wake up the sleepers, and parenthesize the sermon. Every pew had 
 one or two rests hanging down on the front. These the lazy and 
 sleepy could raise up to a horizontal position, sustained there by a 
 prop, and lean the head on it for a comfortable nap. Of the great 
 number of these in the house, at least two or three, by some motion 
 of the nervous sleeper, during the sermon would have the props 
 knocked from their places, causing the rests to fall with a detona- 
 tion which would startle not only the sleeper, but everybody else in 
 the house. 
 
 The part of the service belonging to the singers has always been 
 regarded as material to an effective public worship. In ancient 
 times it was a voluntary offering in all the churches. Men and 
 women united themselves in choirs for the purpose, because they en- 
 joyed sacred music. They sung with the heart, and sometimes, per- 
 haps, with the understanding. It has been but a few years since 
 this Christian custom has given way in any of our towns to a select 
 choir, paid in whole or in part. No such change had taken place in 
 the societies in Wells, down to the time when our history closes, and 
 it is believed that even at the present day, of the large number of 
 churches in the County of York, but very few have been compelled 
 to resort to a measure so fruitful of dissensions and so inconsistent 
 with the best interests of any religious society. With much more 
 consistency should the people be called upon to pay for their ser- 
 vices, all such as take part in the exercises of the conference or 
 prayer meeting. The mode of singing in all the churches of New 
 England, previously to the present century, was very uniform. The 
 custom had been for one of the deacons to read a line, which would 
 be sung ; then another, which would be sung, and so on to the end 
 of the hymn. Such was the usage in both the churches* of Wells, 
 all the congregation uniting. But in 1787, the people of the Second 
 Parish presented a petition to the Society, that some new action 
 might be taken in regard to the singing; that they would determine 
 whether they would have the psalm read, or whether it should be 
 sung without reading. On this petition it was " voted to Act Quia* 
 with the vote in the church the 22d of Nov. instant ; that is, to sing 
 the Fore Noon with Reading Line by Line. The Afternoon Vears 
 by Vears." Jacob Fisher and William Jefferds were appointed a 
 " Committee to Advise and Regulate the Singers." But it was a 
 difficult labor which was thus put upon them. The singers would 
 40 
 
626 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 not be regulated. The difficulty appears to have been that some 
 were lazy, and chose to sit down and sing, while others preferred to 
 stand. The choir still occupied the seats on the lower floor. One 
 would suppose that the sitting posture, whereby most of the singers 
 were out of the sight of the audience, would not be the most accept- 
 able to intelligent musicians. But the committee, being unable to 
 bring the parties to satisfactory terms, appealed to the Parish, and, 
 at a regular meeting, it was voted "That it is the Desire of the Peo- 
 ple in General that the Singers should keep their Seats." But this 
 arrangement continued only a few years. The singing seats were 
 very unfavorable to the freedom required in the performance of their 
 duties. There was then no organ in the church. The bass-viol was 
 the usual accompaniment or guide of the voices. Sometimes the 
 fiddle came in to enliven the music, especially after Dr. Emerson 
 came to Kennebunk, when its sharp, shrill strains constituted a ma- 
 terial part of it on all special occasions. Sometimes the clarionet was 
 added. It was not until about 1812 that the bassoon was intro- 
 duced. This was played by Daniel Whitney. With these several 
 instruments, the seats were very poorly adapted for the accommoda- 
 tion of the choir. A special meeting was called, in 1796, to see if 
 the Parish would move the singers into the front gallery. It was 
 voted to do so. To avoid all cause of complaint, as no very accept- 
 able provision was made for them there, it was further " voted that 
 the singers should not be disturbed until there is a hansome seat 
 built for them in the front Gallery; " and to make the position more 
 satisfactory, it was decided that they should have the whole front 
 gallery. But this did not entirely meet their wishes, and in 1813, 
 the Parish voted to " alter the front gallery to accommodate the 
 singers." Such was the posture of the music of this church until 
 1819, when it was voted "that the proprietors of the organ may have 
 liberty to set up the same." This instrument was manufactured by 
 Dr. Furbish, of Wells, and was obtained by subscription among the 
 members of the society. It was not of great power, as may well be 
 supposed, and on one or two interesting occasions, the bassoon and 
 bass-viol were summoned in as auxiliaries. 
 
 As a general postulate, it may be said that this religious society 
 has always been ambitious, perhaps beyond its ability, to make its 
 ihouse of worship vie in beauty and convenience with that of any 
 ■neighboring parishes, so that advancing time has been continually 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 627 
 
 suggesting improvements. While such an ambition evidently ex- 
 isted, it is remarkable that, for seventy years, in our cold New Eng- 
 land climate, the people should have left their hearthstones, where 
 they enjoyed the blazing heat of the old-fashioned fires, and trav- 
 eled, some of them, six or seven miles, in the severity of winter, to 
 sit in the church, and remain there sometimes two hours, enveloped 
 in a rigorous atmosphere, untempered by any artificial warmth. 
 Such an exposure now would be regarded as a manifestation of in- 
 sanity. But somehow or other, the people of that period had come 
 to feel that the severer the trials and endurances to listen to the 
 word of God, the more acceptable and profitable was the attendance 
 on the service of the sanctuary. The fires of the spirit were consid- 
 ered sufficient to sustain the necessary warmth of the body. For 
 anything that the author knows, the pious and the godly of those 
 days, with their firm constitutions, may have enjoyed these hours of 
 sacred worship with interest and composure ; but the memory of his 
 own experience, in his youthful days, yet reminds him that they 
 were not very grateful to sinners, neither can he be made to feel 
 that they were very profitable to souls. But even the older part of 
 the audience, hardened as they were by the returning rigors of fifty 
 winters, had not become sufficiently callous to withstand all the se- 
 verities without some artificial heat. This was furnished by the 
 hand-stove, always carried to meeting in the winter by the women 
 to keep the feet warm. Most of the men were in the habit of tak- 
 ing some internal stimulus to wake up the blood to a more lively 
 action during the hours of worship, and if that proved inadequate, 
 they assisted the circulation by knocking their feet together. But 
 the younger part, who were not in the habit of availing themselves 
 of either of these means, satisfied that they could worship a little 
 better when the earthly tabernacle was not trembling than when it 
 was, suggested the propriety of introducing some more effectual 
 heating apparatus. Accordingly, in 1821, on the petition of Edward 
 E. Bourne and others, the Parish consented that two stoves might 
 be set up in the meeting-house; and from that period, church-goers, 
 even the most spiritually minded, have never complained that warm- 
 ing the house of God was any impediment to their edification, or to 
 the growth of an acceptable piety. 
 
 In 1820, the house was repaired and thoroughly painted. In this 
 
628 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 satisfactory condition we here leave it for the consideration of facts 
 of more vital interest. 
 
 Toward the close of the century, Mr. Little's health began to fail, 
 and in 1799, in consequence of his infirmities, he was unable to con- 
 tinue the regular services of the church. It then became necessary 
 to make provision for the supply of the pulpit. Jonas Clark, Rich- 
 ard Thompson, and Joseph Moody were chosen a committee for that 
 purpose. Benjamin Green, who afterward became Chief Justice of 
 the Court of Common Pleas, preached three Sundays. After him 
 Mr. John Pipon preached several Sabbaths. His services were very 
 acceptable, and at a Parish meeting, July 8th, it was voted to give 
 him an invitation to settle as colleague with Mr. Little; but being 
 invited to a more acceptable position at Taunton, he declined the 
 call. William Jefferds, Jonas Clark, and Joseph Moody were after- 
 ward chosen a committee to continue the supply, and Nathaniel H. 
 Fletcher was invited to preach as a candidate. His services met the 
 approval of the people, and it was voted to extend to him a call to 
 settle as colleague pastor. Four hundred dollars were offered to him 
 as a salary, with the use of the parsonage property. On the 5th of 
 July, 1800, he signified his acceptance of the invitation, and the first 
 Wednesday in September was appointed for the ordination. John 
 Taylor, William Jefferds, Jacob Fisher, Thatcher Goddard, and Jo- 
 seph Moody were chosen "a committee for securing the meeting- 
 house, providing for the Council, and making arrangements for 
 ordination." 
 
 An Ecclesiastical Council was holden on the third of September. 
 Mr. Fletcher's theological views were read and adjudged satisfactory, 
 and it was unanimously voted to proceed to ordination. The usual 
 services were then performed agreeably to assignment. Rev. John 
 Thompson, of Berwick, made the opening prayer ; Rev. Dr. Tappan, 
 of Cambridge, preached the sermon; Rev. Dr. Hemmenway made 
 the ordaining prayer ; Rev. Silas Moody, of Arundel, gave the Right 
 Hand of Fellowship ; Rev. Jonas Clark, of Lexington, gave the 
 charge, and Rev. Edmund Foster, of Berwick, made the concluding 
 prayer. Mr. Little was unable to take any part in the services. Sat- 
 isfactory arrangements had been made with him whereby he was to 
 receive his stipulated salary during life, relinquishing all claim on 
 the parsonage property. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 629 
 
 Mr. Fletcher's theology as read before the council, recognized one 
 God as the Creator, the Holy Scriptures as a revelation from God, 
 given for instruction in righteousness; and declaring the doctrine of 
 universal depravity, that Jesus was miraculously introduced to the 
 world, and that in him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead, that by 
 his death he atoned for the sins of mankind ; after his ascension he 
 sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whose assisting influences are 
 necessary to our conviction, conversion, and salvation ; that Baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper are Christian ordinances, one a seal of initiation 
 into the household of Christ, the other to be kept as a memorial of 
 his death ; that Jesus Christ will be the final judge of the actions of 
 all, and from the righteous will divide the wicked, who shall go into 
 everlasting punishment, while those who exercise a living faith in 
 Christ, he will place on his right hand and crown them with unfad- 
 ing glory. 
 
 After the close of the ordination services, Mr. Fletcher read the 
 following address to the church : 
 
 " Under a deep conviction of Divine omniscience, I now, in this 
 public manner, renewedly declare my acceptance of your invitation 
 to settle as colleague pastor, with your present aged minister, the 
 Rev. Daniel Little. The full but singular unanimity which has 
 marked your proceedings, united with the consideration of that 
 friendly attention you have ever shown your aged pastor, calls forth my 
 thanks, renders my prospects delightsome, and demands my highest 
 exertions for the happiness of your immortal souls. Partaking of 
 human frailties in common with other men, I ask the remembrance 
 of me in your daily prayers to the throne of victorious grace, that I 
 may be directed by the God of wisdom, and be faithful to my trust. 
 
 Relying on your usual candor and fiiendship, and the promised aid 
 of our ascended Saviour, with mingled cheerfulness and humility I 
 engage in the sacred office, to the reputable and successful discharge 
 of which I solemnly consecrate my labors and my life. May that 
 endearing connexion which the transactions of this day are to 
 sanction, be continually ripening, till we shall all be triumphantly 
 gathered to our fathers, and be joined indissolubly with the redeemed 
 of the Lord." 
 
 At this time the following was the creed in use in the church, as 
 drawn up by Mr. Little, and which has been continued to this day : 
 
630 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 " You (and each of you), profess a serious belief in the Christian 
 religion, as taught in the sacred Scriptures, which you acknowledge to 
 contain truths of Divine inspiration, and to be the only perfect rule 
 of faith and duty. 
 
 You acknowledge the Lord Jehovah to be the only true God and 
 your God. 
 
 You own the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be the Re- 
 deemer and Saviour of mankind. And you expect the remission of 
 your sins and final salvation through him in the way of faith, repent- 
 ance, and that obedience to his command which the Gospel requires. 
 
 You acknowledge the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
 per to be of Divine institution and command, and that you will yield 
 obedience to them and to all other Divine commands, so far as Divine 
 assistance shall accompany and 'prosper your endeavors. 
 
 Upon this your professed belief of the Christian religion, we 
 declare your right to the privileges enjoyed in this church, and we 
 expect as you shall have opportunity, and a conviction of duty shall 
 direct you, you will give your attendance and testify your Christian 
 fellowship. 
 
 In this view of your relation to this church, we wish you a mutual 
 blessing from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 From the inauguration of the church, many people availed them- 
 selves of a scheme of partial redemption, whereby they were lifted up 
 half-way from earth to heaven ; not feeling free, as it was their wont 
 to say, to come up to a full acknowledgment of Christian disciple- 
 ship. This scheme was termed the half-way or baptismal covenant, 
 in assuming which the covenanter only acknowledged the truth of 
 the Christian religion, and the validity of its ordinances, for the bap- 
 tism of his children. This plan had a great many zealous advocates 
 and friends. The people generally reverenced this mode of dedi- 
 cating the young to God and the Christian life, and most parents 
 presented their children for baptism when but a few weeks old. But 
 it now began to lose its hold on the affections of the people, and the 
 ministry to feel that the ordinance administered upon such a confes- 
 sion merely, was of no real benefit to parent or child. Mr. White, of 
 the First Parish, as stated in the preceding chapter, came to the 
 conclusion no longer to follow the practice of baptizing the children 
 of such partial religionists, giving thereby great offense to some of 
 his society. 
 
HISTORY OF WELT£ AND KENNEBUNK. 631 
 
 Mr. Fletcher entered on his ministry under very favorable circum- 
 stances. The society was large, and the people prosperous. Many 
 were soon added to the church. Cheered and encouraged by the 
 prospect before him, and having full faith in the Divine inspiration 
 that it is not good for man to be alone, very soon after his ordination 
 he took upon himself the covenants of the most intimate earthly 
 relation, in a union with Miss Sarah Storer, daughter of John Storer, 
 Esq., of Wells. 
 
 Mr. Little continued to attend public worship when able, occasion- 
 ally taking part in the services. On Sunday, the third day of 
 October, 1801, he was at meeting in his usual health. The next day, 
 October 4th, while sitting in his chair conversing with some of his 
 family, a paralysis came over him, and his life was suddenly closed. 
 An immense concourse of his parishioners and friends attended his 
 funeral. He was interred in the burying-ground adjoining the store 
 of Henry Kingsbury, where a monument was erected to his memory. 
 This monument, with his remains, has lately been removed to the 
 new cemetery in the village. 
 
 It is well known to all readers of ecclesiastical history, that from the 
 year 1810 onward to 1820, a very important change took place in the 
 relations of the New England ministry. Discord began to break out 
 in the churches. Clergymen uttered widely different theologies. 
 Spiritual fends were thereby increased, and some of the regular 
 parishes were rent in twain. Sectarianism received new impulses, 
 and thence went forward, daily gaining strength in the formation of 
 new barriers against any reunion. This division of the standing 
 order was a Godsend to those who had no affection for it, who main- 
 tained that a free religion was the right of every man ; that any one 
 had the right to preach the Gospel as he understood it ; and that no 
 one should be compelled to pay for the support of a ministry of 
 which he did not approve. These men, and predecessors of similar 
 views, had been proscribed by Congregationalism, and prohibited 
 from preaching within its boundaries. Civil or ecclesiastical auth- 
 ority can never repress or subdue one's religious convictions, or 
 prevent the open expression of them. Opposition openly imparts to 
 them new strength. At this time all were obliged to pay taxes for 
 the support of some regular ministry. Excepting the Baptist societies 
 in Wells, there were no other than the original Congregational. 
 Strong feelings were now cherished by many against these older 
 
632 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 societies, on account of this compulsory support which they were 
 annually rendering, and it was an easy task to inflame the passions of 
 such persons to the adoption of any measures which might rid them 
 of this grievance. In the enthusiasm engendered by religious excite- 
 ment, men frequently imagine that all things are possible to them, 
 and artful adventurers may easily stir up their feelings to some 
 aggressive movement. They may be led to feel that they are fight- 
 ing the battles of the Lord in doing what they can to over- 
 throw the strongholds of their enemies. At this time, one Joseph 
 Smith, a Free Will Baptist, came to Wells, and went about from 
 house to house preaching this free religion, and endeavoring to arouse 
 the people and inspire them with a deeper interest in the things of 
 the spirit. To many, his words came with power. The passions of 
 his hearers were excited. He was wrought up to such a frenzy by 
 his successful labors, that he believed his mission was to overthrow 
 all error and destroy the works of the devil. Thus infatuated, and 
 perhaps sustained by the faith of some of his converts (having ap- 
 pointed and given notice of the day and hour), he came to the 
 village with a determination to upset the meeting-house. He evi- 
 dently had a full conviction that power would be given him from 
 on high for that purpose. Some of the people of the Parish were 
 present, but no one attempted to interfere. He went along the east- 
 ern side of the house and stopped midway, where he had a fair 
 opportunity to bring his power to bear. He had read what Samson 
 had done by Divine help, in pulling down the main pillar of the 
 temple and destroying the thousands there gathered ; and why should 
 he not have the same help in accomplishing a lesser work for the 
 overthrow of error? Having appealed to the source of all strength, 
 and full of the faith that his prayer would be heard, he applied his 
 hands to the sill, and straining every nerve and muscle to its utmost 
 tension, endeavored to lift it. But the building would not move. 
 Again and again he grappled with all his might; all his exertions 
 were powerless. Either he had miscalculated the power of faith, or 
 the character of his mission. He might, indeed, by perseverance 
 have removed mountains (small ones), but the meeting-house was 
 founded upon a rock, and all his efforts were in vain. He wa9 
 obliged to abandon the great work to which he had come with so 
 much confidence, and go away humbled and dejected by his failure. 
 One of the wags of the day endeavored to immortalize the story of 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBOTK. 633 
 
 this great effort, by clothing it in the garb of poetry, only the first 
 two lines of which have survived the " wrecks of time," viz. : 
 
 " Joseph Smith, the Baptistical rover, 
 Upset the whole town aad turned the meeting-house over." 
 
 Enough of the poem remains, however, to settle its historic value; 
 for in the very commencement he seems to have availed himself of 
 the " poet's license " in stating as a fact that which never occurred, 
 namely, the overturning of the meeting-house. 
 
 Notwithstanding this egregious folly, the zeal of the followers of 
 Smith was in no degree abated. Though all intelligent and consid- 
 erate men looked on with wonder, that rational beings could become 
 the subjects of such a delusion as to be drawn after this fanatic, mul- 
 titudes of men and women followed Smith in his wild vagaries, at- 
 tending his meetings and receiving his words as the inspirations of 
 one specially sent to awaken them to the great business of life. 
 Meetings were holden at private houses and in the fields, where the 
 frenzy of the assembly was roused to such an extent, that strangers, 
 never before having witnessed such manifestations, would have been 
 led to believe that they had fallen into a company escaped from the 
 mad-house. The admonitions and warnings of considerate and re- 
 flecting men, and the jeers of the thoughtless, were alike ineffectual 
 in subduing the mania which was thus degrading the humanity of so 
 many. In the midst of a sermon of Mr. Fletcher on Sunday, one of 
 these females came in, and rising from her seat in the gallery, poured 
 out her exhortation to the congregation, until her tirade was cut short 
 by the "muscular Christianity" of two or three of the congregation. 
 
 But this delusion was only the introduction or first stages of a 
 still greater which grew out of it, and made sad havoc of the virtue 
 and peace of many families in this and the adjoining towns. In 
 1815, one Jacob Cockran came to Kennebunk, holding himself out 
 as a preacher of the Gospel. We do not know that he claimed to 
 belong to any existing denomination of Christians. We presume 
 that he did not, for the religion which he enunciated was entirely or- 
 iginal. Of his previous life we know nothing, and his disciples were 
 probably as little acquainted with it. He contrived to get himself 
 introduced here, like Simon the sorcerer, giving out that he was 
 some great one. He appears to have been invested with some ex- 
 traordinary power, whereby he soon succeeded in bewitching some 
 impressible hearts and drawing them into sympathy with him. The 
 
634 HISTOKY OF WELLS AtfD KENNEBUNK 
 
 followers of Smith very readily fell in with, and took to heart, his 
 ministrations. He visited specially among the people in the lower 
 part of Kennebunk, holding meetings in various places. His services 
 found so much acceptance there that he was encouraged to take a 
 broader field ; and he came into the village and held his meetings at 
 Washington Hall. It is impossible to give any description which 
 can fully represent the character of these religious manifestations. 
 Though without education, Cockran was evidently possessed of in- 
 tellectual power. He knew the way to bring the sensibilities of the 
 unlearned into fellowship with him. The hall was crowded night 
 after night, though it was considered dangerous for the young to 
 come under the influence of his sorceries. He stood upon a table 
 where he could see all the countenances of his hearers, and there 
 went through with his exercises. One after another was led to cry 
 out and fall upon the floor. In the progress of the meeting many 
 were brought down in the same manner, some crying one thing, 
 some another. We do not suppose that there was any deception on 
 the part of these prostrates. The effect was actually produced by 
 some power in him which he wielded very adroitly ; all his subjects 
 manifesting the intensity of their impressions by some strange ut- 
 terances or unnatural contortions. Some fell into trances and con- 
 tinued so several hours; whether rapt in heavenly vision or not we 
 cannot say, as we never made enquiry of any of the subjects. A 
 considerable number of respectable citizens, as well as young females, 
 were drawn into, and gave countenance to this movement. Some 
 were finally brought into complete subjection to him. Meetings 
 were holden at some of the houses in the immediate vicinity of the 
 hall. Here a larger liberty was enjoyed, and the vociferations of the 
 disciples came to the ears of the outer world with greater force. A 
 stranger in his carriage was passing one of these houses when the 
 spirit of the meeting was at its height, and was so startled by the 
 screams which issued from it, that he directed the driver to stop and 
 run to the next house and notify the people that a murder was sure- 
 ly being committed there. At another time, six or seven young 
 women gathered on the meeting-house steps, and waving their hand- 
 kerchiefs, cried out, Glory to God! Glory to God! and, with other 
 ejaculations of a similar character, astonished the neighborhood. 
 Some of these females were of respectable standing in society, and 
 had had the benefit of a fair education. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 635 
 
 If Cockran's operations had had their limits in these meetings, no 
 very material injury might have resulted from them. But this would 
 not have satisfied his designs. The associations here were not suf- 
 ficiently familiar to meet the demands of his religion. He must 
 have a place which would be abiding, where the community of his 
 disciples could enjoy a common home and have all things common. 
 He accordingly found an impressible disciple in a neighboring town, 
 owning a large house, who was willing to open his doors and receive 
 the brethren and sisters under his roof. To make the home fit for 
 more complete freedom, some of the partition walls were taken 
 away, converting the rooms into one, so that day and night they 
 could enjoy all the communion and fellowship which they desired. 
 Here he broached the new doctrine that spiritual men should have 
 spiritual wives. This enunciation opened the eyes of a few of the 
 converts, and they withdrew from the community. For causes of 
 which we have not trustworthy recollection, a new project was 
 started, and Cockran and his coadjutors determined to build a house 
 fitted for their special accommodation. A lot of land was obtained 
 on the Buxton road, five or six miles from Saco, and a house erected 
 with the conveniences which the newly enunciated religion required. 
 Some females from Kennebunk became associates and part of the 
 great family. Here, under his own roof, Cockran and his disciples 
 preached, and carried out this religion. How large his community 
 was, we have not learned. But while here, in the exercise and en- 
 joyment of his spiritual freedom, violated law took hold of him, and 
 he soon found himself an inmate of the State's prison. We have no 
 further knowledge of him. 
 
 But the Parish was not disturbed by any such madness as this. 
 In 1817, a more serious matter engaged the attention of the people 
 of both parishes. No event in the history of Kennebunk has created 
 such an excitement as did the revelation, at this time, of an anony- 
 mous letter from Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf, minister of the First Parish, 
 to the Rev. Nathaniel H. Fletcher. This letter was received by the 
 latter a year before ; but Mr. Fletcher being of a discreet and careful 
 temperament, and anxious to discover the author, made no disclosure 
 of its reception to any one, even of his most intimate friends. His 
 ear, however, was always open to every utterance which might shed 
 a ray of light on the mystery. He could not, for a moment, enter- 
 tain the thought that it was the production of any one not a mem- 
 
636 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 ber of his society. He knew that there were a few of the Parish 
 who were not in full sympathy with his public ministrations, and 
 very naturally supposed that they might have been in some measure 
 accessory to this manifesto of dissatisfaction, and his eye was more 
 especially on their religious movements. By unremitted quietude, 
 and constant vigilance, from revelations which it is here unnecessary 
 to mention, a little light beamed on his mind, leading to the thought 
 that the letter might have been the production of some one who had 
 misrepresented his relationship to his society. In the council which 
 had gathered for the ordination of Mr. Greenleaf at the First Parish, 
 Mr. Fletcher manifested his non-accordance with some of the re- 
 sponses which were made by the candidate; more especially with 
 that in relation to the atonement. Mr. Greenleaf had said that he 
 believed that God himself had died on the cross. Mr. Fletcher im- 
 mediately added, "you mean, Mr. Greenleaf, the Son of God." To 
 which, Mr. Greenleaf rejoined, " No, sir, I mean God himself." This 
 little episode indicated a wide difference of opinion, and it occurred 
 to Mr. Fletcher that its effect on the mind of Mr. Greenleaf might 
 have been adverse to good fellowship ; and thence, harboring the 
 feelings which not unusually grow out of such a ministerial collision, 
 that he might have been the instigator of this aggression on his per- 
 sonal prerogatives. Having this thought on his mind, the field of 
 vision became much more limited, and he confined himself to watch- 
 ing more closely the language and operations of a few persons, whose 
 views he knew did not well harmonize with his own on religious doc- 
 trines, and by steady, persevering vigilance, he soon obtained light 
 sufficient to satisfy him as to the author of the communication, and 
 communicated the letter and all the facts to John Low and another 
 gentleman, two of the most efficient members of his Parish. These 
 persons immediately went to Mr. Greenleaf's house in Wells, exhibited 
 to him the letter, and charged him with being the writer. Mr. Green- 
 leaf at once acknowledged himself to be the author. We have no 
 remembrance of having been informed what further took place at 
 the interview. The purpose of the visit was fully answered in this 
 acknowledgment by Mr. Greenleaf. 
 
 There immediately arose great excitement in Kennebunk, while a 
 feeling of regret to a corresponding degree came over the people of 
 Wells by this development. Communications denunciatory of Mr. 
 Greenleaf were handed for publication to the editor of the Weekly 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 637 
 
 Visitor. But very wisely he declined their publication, on the ground 
 that it would embitter feelings already too intense on the subject, 
 and subserve no good purpose ; although the little paragraph had a 
 place in his next paper, that the great serpent had appeared in Wells 
 a little to the eastward of the meeting-house. Such was the indig- 
 nation of the Kennebunk Parish, and such the feelings of his own 
 people, and we may add, such was the position in which Mr. Green- 
 leaf found himself by the disclosure, that he deemed it necessary to 
 write another letter to Mr. Fletcher, setting forth and explaining the 
 motives and objects which led him to the unfortunate procedure. As 
 the whole transaction is within the memory of many still living, and 
 as we well know the strong feelings with which the religious views of 
 the people are cherished, we forbear comment on any part of it. Mr. 
 Greenleaf s explanatory letter, dated Aug. 8, 1817, is too long to be 
 embodied in these pages. But in explanation of the act which now 
 brought upon him such severe denunciation, he writes to Mr. Fletch- 
 er that he in conversation with him had signified his assent to the 
 principles of Calvin — that he had avowed the same at the ordination 
 of Mr. Payson ; and yet, that at home and abroad his sermons were 
 not marked by any such principles ; that pious people were not satis- 
 fied with his preaching, and that " he prayed like a man who had no 
 experience of grace in his heart;" and further, that he was making 
 additions to his church of people who gave no evidence of piety, 
 and that he was far from being satisfied with the evidence of his per- 
 sonal piety; and he thought he ought to be apprised of his errors. 
 But how to do this, was the question which troubled his mind. The 
 thought of a secret letter finally suggested itself as the only expe- 
 dient ; and after some further remarks, not by way of explanation, 
 but in acknowledgment of some error in his statements, and re- 
 affirming other statements, he proposed that the whole matter should 
 be hushed, and these letters destroyed. 
 
 To this Mr. Fletcher replied, that he had submitted the whole af- 
 fair to his society, and could make or concur in no proposition for 
 the adjustment of the controversy. 
 
 When the facts had .come to the knowledge of the people, a peti- 
 tion was presented to the assessors, signed by many of them, request- 
 ing that a meeting should be called to take the whole matter into 
 consideration, and to adopt such measures as justice to their spirit- 
 ual teacher, and to themselves as a religious society, might require. 
 
638 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 A parish meeting was accordingly holden on the first day of Septem- 
 ber, 1817. A large number gathered on the occasion. After being 
 duly organized, the letter of Aug., 1816, and that of Aug. 8, 1817, 
 were read. The first of these letters was as follows : 
 
 August 1816 
 "Rev Sir 
 
 you will excuse me for troubling you in this manner when 
 you understand the motive from which this communication springs 
 you will believe me when I say that I am one of your verry best 
 friends, and that i take this way of sending this letter by dropping 
 it secretly into the Post office and have disguised my hand writing 
 in order to save my feelings and your virtue while your enemies 
 have said many things against you your real friends have long felt 
 anxious that you should know something of their minds and I feel 
 safe in saying that I speak the sentiments of the greater part of 
 your people and among them of your best friends within a few years 
 past the publick opinion has changed in regard to doctrines and in 
 
 regard to religious things generally This is strikingly the case 
 
 in this society the doctrines generally called calvinistick which 7 
 years ago were not well received are now the most popular hence 
 you may account for the desire which no doubt you often hear ex- 
 pressed that you should exchange with calvinistic ministers, and not 
 with such as M r Webster the people have begun to see that you do 
 not preach as other Ministers do. when M r Calef or M r Greenleaf 
 preach here or when they happen any where to hear other preaching 
 they do see that there is a difference with your real friends see these 
 things and lament them they see with sorrow as you must also, as 
 soon as any become verry serious they leave the meeting and either 
 go to the baptist or stay at home and when they can go either to 
 wells or Arundell this is not the case at Arundell & Wells. In 
 these places when people become serious they go to meeting the 
 more when people here are asked the reason of this they say they 
 cannot be edified by your preaching that you do not preach like a 
 converted man yourself they say that in your preaching you seldom 
 or never insist on repentance for sin or the necessity of a change of 
 heart in order to salvation they say that the chief strain of your 
 preaching has of late been to perswade people to Join the Church 
 and not to become new creauteers I must confess their is too much 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 639 
 
 truth in this your preaching seems to rest in the outward works while 
 the heart is left out There is an other thing which to us looks mys- 
 terious, the people have understood that at M r Payson's Ordination 
 there was some difficulty and that you appeared to be satisfied & 
 acted with the Orthodox part of the council but you does not preach 
 as M r Payson does — dear Sir believe me your people are all eyes and 
 ear3 to see and hear all they can about this matter all your move- 
 ments are verry narowly watched both by friends and foes not how- 
 ever for the sake of putting you down but to discover what will take 
 place, they have tried to find out the opinion of the neighboring 
 ministers of the calvinistic stamp and are anxious to know whether 
 any of them will change with you. M r Greenleaf has preached here 
 several times though very much against the will of his people, and 
 as far as we can learn he does it from a sence of duty and perhaps 
 will continue so we cannot find that M r Cogswell M r Payson have 
 ever said that they would not exchange though from what I can hear 
 they will not untill they can find you preach out something which in 
 private conversation with them you pretend to hold as for what I 
 can hear they are pretty well satisfied with your conversation in 
 private and did you but preach openly the same sentiments, they 
 would gladly be In Fellowship with you will you not dear sir be 
 advised by one who is really a true friend to your best Interest If 
 you do beleive in the total depravity of the heart the necessity of its 
 being changed and other doctrines of the same kind as in private 
 conversation with other ministers you pretend to why do you not 
 
 preach something about it the opinion of the bulk of the people 
 
 has changed in regard to these things and did you desire to be popu- 
 lar you would not take a more ready way than to preach as M r Cogs- 
 well M r Greenleaf or M r Payson does It grieves and mortifies 
 
 your Friends to see you becoming unpopular as you certainly are — 
 and this society going down while others are rising this certainly is 
 the fact scarce ever a Sunday but more or less of this congregation go 
 either to wells or Arundell meeting or to the Babtist but when do 
 any of them come here scarce ever when you are at home do think 
 if it is not so. whence is it but that there is a difference in the 
 preaching. It is true that there are many Joining your church but 
 this by the more discerning part of your society as well as out of 
 town Is construed against you we see no alteration in many of 
 those who Join your church and we cannot find that they are any 
 
640 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 more religious than they were before still we find that to get people 
 to Join the church is the great point both of your late preaching & 
 of your conversation with the people these things stager the minds of 
 some of your real friends, this has Induced me to advice you in this 
 manner I entreat you not to be offended nor to try to find me out 
 these are things that I beleived it necessary you should know and I 
 could not say them to your face they are In substance what i beleive 
 are in the minds of three fourths of the people do I entreat of you 
 consider whether it is not as I have stated and whether there is not 
 a material difference between your preaching and the preaching of 
 those ministers I have mentioned and whether theirs is not more 
 agreeable to the scriptures and whether you can expect them to have 
 fellowship with you or your parish long hold together when you 
 pretend to one set of sentiments in private conversation & preach 
 others " 
 
 The foregoing is an exact copy both of the tenor and literature of 
 the letter. After the reading, George W. Wallingford, Joseph Dane, 
 and John Low were appointed a committee to take the letters into 
 consideration, and to make such report thereon as they should think 
 expedient. The committee, after due deliberation, reported the fol- 
 lowing resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : 
 
 "Resolved, That this Parish deem it their solemn duty to guard 
 with vigilance any attempts, from whatever source they may origi- 
 nate, to wound the peace or violate the rights of the man who has 
 been called by them to discharge the high and important duties of 
 instructing them and their children in the great truths of their holy 
 religion. 
 
 "Resolved, That we view with sentiments of surprise and alarm 
 the conduct of a neighboring minister, the Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf, 
 who has, through the medium of an anonymous letter, undertaken 
 to interfere in the parochial concerns of this Parish, to slander and 
 defame our pastor, and to alienate the affections of the people from 
 him; to charge him with duplicity in his sacred office; to libel and 
 traduce the church, by representing the persons who compose it as 
 devoid of piety, of Christian faith, and purity of life ; who has the 
 temerity to affirm that * within a few years past the public opinion 
 has changed in regard to doctrines, and in regard to religious things 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 641 
 
 generally,' and that this 'is strikingly the case in this society;' that 
 ■ Calvinistic doctrines are now the most popular,' whereby plainly in- 
 timating that the revelation of God to man, which for eighteen cen- 
 turies has been the Christian's best hope, is a creature of fashion 
 subject to constant change, and that it is our duty, in our belief and 
 worship, to make popularity our polar star. 
 
 " Resolved, That we highly approve the temperate, dignified, and 
 independent manner with which the Rev. Mr. Fletcher has treated 
 the aforementioned letter; that our confidence in him remains not 
 only unshaken and undiminished, but that in this new proof of his 
 correctness we have much to admire and applaud. 
 
 " Resolved, That we cherish feelings of friendship and good-will 
 towards our neighbors and fellow citizens of the First Parish in this 
 town, and ardently hope that no 'root of bitterness will spring up' 
 to interrupt that harmony and social intercourse which has so long 
 been maintained between the two societies collectively, and the per- 
 sons who compose them in their individual capacity. 
 
 "Resolved, That we consider it due to our reverend pastor, to 
 ourselves, and to the due preservation of civil and ecclesiastical or- 
 der in society, to take such steps and adopt such measures as will 
 discover our marked disapprobation of this sinister, though we fondly 
 hope impotent, attempt, under the guise of friendship, but with mo- 
 tives which we believe hostile to that liberty of conscience which is 
 the natural right of all, and which is guaranteed by our Constitutions 
 of Government, as well as in open violation of the best principles of 
 the Christian religion to produce schism, a spirit of rancor, and un- 
 christian feelings amongst us; and believing, as we do, that the be- 
 fore mentioned letter contains matter highly false, libellous, and 
 defamatory, though weak and imbecile in its style and manner, the 
 Parish assessors are hereby authorized and impowered to pursue 
 such a course in relation thereto as the laws of our country, the best 
 interests of society, and their wisdom shall direct. 
 
 " Resolved, That the letter of the Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf, of 
 the 8th of September last, written, as the author declares, with a 
 view to explain the motives which produced the one without a name, 
 dated August, 1816, and to make suitable apologies for any incor- 
 rectness therein, is of the same class of the first; that it has much of 
 the leaven of insolence and detraction ; that it only serves to devel- 
 41 
 
642 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 op the motives of the one without a signature, and proves, beyond 
 the reach of doubt, an officiousness and intermeddling, without ex- 
 cuse or apology. 
 
 " Resolved, That the clerk be directed to furnish and present Rev. 
 Mr. Fletcher with a copy of the above mentioned resolves." 
 
 The result of this unfortunate action on the part of Mr. Greenleaf 
 was very unfavorable to the peace and well-being of the town. 
 What effect it produced in his Parish we are unable, with any confi- 
 dence, to state ; but the union which had prevailed between the 
 people of the two Parishes suffered much under its blighting influ- 
 ences, and it was probably one of the material agencies which, in a 
 short time afterward, sundered the connection which, for more than 
 an hundred and fifty years, had been so harmoniously maintained. 
 
 This interference with another's sphere of duty is seldom produc- 
 tive of good to the Christian church. Religion is a matter between 
 one's self and his Maker. Freedom of thought and action, unre- 
 strained by what others may do and say, can only indicate the true 
 state of the heart. We look back now on the action of churches a 
 half century since, and wonder at much of their discipline and at- 
 tempted dealing with professed disciples; but our opinions and feel- 
 ings are only the result of an advanced stage of civilization. We 
 cannot help condemning some of the proceedings of the church of 
 the Second Parish. Mrs. Mary Jeffords, a friend of Mr. Greenleaf, 
 in 1818, asked a dismission from this church, and a recommendation 
 to the church in Arundel. This request, we feel, should have been 
 granted without hesitation; but instead of this liberal answer to her 
 application, Daniel Sewall, John Low, and the minister were chosen 
 a committee to wait upon Mrs. Jeffords, and learn from her the rea- 
 sons upon which it was based, and the causes of her absence from 
 worship with this church for nine months. Her reasons were readily 
 given, that she had somewhat changed her religious views, and she 
 thought she should be better edified under the ministrations of Mr. 
 Bayson. There is no doubt that she would have been, and as it is 
 the duty of Christians to aid in building up others in the Christian 
 life, this church should have bade her God-speed in her proposed 
 change. But the committee were not satisfied with this plain ex- 
 pression of her feelings, and requested her to give them her reasons 
 in writing, so that they might lay them before the church. This she 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 643 
 
 refused to do, and we think very wisely. But the committee re- 
 ported that this refusal was "contrary to the commands of the Gos- 
 pel and the spirit of the covenants," and therefore they would not 
 report that her request should be fully complied with. " But desir- 
 ing to exercise Christian charity, and considering the many imper- 
 fections of human nature," they recommend that she be dismissed. 
 The church unanimously voted to accept this report. But we do 
 not see in the action of Mrs. Jefferds anything contrary to the com- 
 mands of the Gospel or the spirit of the covenant which she had 
 assumed. 
 
 The same practice which prevailed in the First church, of requir- 
 ing a public confession, before the whole congregation, of those who 
 had been guilty of a violation of the seventh commandment, was 
 engrafted on the rules of this church, and was continued until the 
 t present century. A practice more adverse to the growth of the 
 Christian character cannot well be conceived. What benefit was to 
 accrue to such confessors, or the public, by the disclosure, is not read- 
 ily perceived. 
 
 In the year 1819, Mr. Fletcher, on an exchange with Rev. Dr. 
 Parker, of Portsmouth, took the opportunity of visiting his Sunday 
 School, which had been in operation two or three years, and satisfied 
 of its aptness as a means of promoting the Christian religion, on his 
 return, suggested the organization of one in his own Society. For 
 this purpose, he enlisted the services of two energetic men, John 
 Low and Daniel Sewall, deacons of his church, and on the 1st of 
 May, 1819, the following notice was published in the Kennebunk 
 Gazette : 
 
 " To all who regard the sanctity of the Lord's day, and the impor- 
 tance of instructing youth in the principles of the blessed religion of 
 Jesus Christ, — 
 
 You are invited to send your children to the Meeting House in 
 this Parish, to receive instruction in the Scriptures of truth, in a 
 manner best suited to their ages, circumstances, and capacities. 
 Those who are able are desired to bring a Bible, or testament and 
 primer, or any book containing the Assembly's Catechism, and any 
 other Christian catechisms on hand. Books will be provided for 
 those unable to procure them, and for such this instruction is more 
 specially designed. Kennebunk, May 14, 1819." 
 
644 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 The people all over the town responded to this notice, and on the 
 sixteenth day of May the boys and girls flocked to the meeting- 
 house, to inaugurate the first Sunday School in Kennebunk. This 
 being then the only religious society in the village, every denomina- 
 tion, Trinitarians and Unitarians, Baptists, Methodists, Universalists, 
 saints and sinners, all united in the proposed work. Teachers of all 
 speculative beliefs, if they were sound in Christian life, were allowed 
 to engage in the business of instruction. Rev. Mr. Fletcher had the 
 leading agency in its management. John Low and Daniel Sewall 
 were directors. The teachers with their classes were located in the 
 wall pews all around the meeting-house. These being filled, the 
 balance were placed in the square pews on the opposite side of the 
 aisle. There were upward of thirty teachers and 216 scholars. 
 Every teacher was at liberty to follow the suggestions of his own 
 mind in his teachings. The Bible and New England Primer were 
 the only weapons put into their hands, with which the Devil was to 
 be fought. It was then, the generally received opinion, that a per- 
 sonal devil was at the bottom of all the iniquity which ruined so 
 many of the race. Before the end of the year, Cummings' Ques- 
 tions were added. The general course of instruction, we think, was 
 limited to question and answer, and committing to memory verses in 
 the Bible and Watts' Hymn Book. As a consequence, the ambition 
 of the scholars was for pre-eminence in the amount committed to 
 memory. The result of all the labors of the year was thus footed 
 up at the end of the school in November : 
 
 Number of verses recited from the Bible, 31,725. 
 
 Number of verses from Watts' Hymns, 22,652. 
 
 Number of answers from different Catechisms, 63,519. 
 
 Total, 117,896. 
 
 How much benefit accrued to scholar and teacher from this mode 
 of instruction, we leave to the judgment of the reader. 
 
 We here close our ecclesiastical history. It is very imperfect. 
 Records have failed to give us the needed information. But we have 
 availed ourselves of all the facts with which years of diligent search 
 have supplied us. In some particulars, perhaps, we have erred — very 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 645 
 
 probably in the opinions expressed. But in our historical statements, 
 we have confidence that there are no important mistakes. The early 
 history of Wells, with years more of added labor, might have been 
 of deeper interest and more satisfying to its inhabitants. But, hav- 
 ing given to it all the attention consistent with our other duties, we 
 must here leave it, however imperfect it may be. 
 
646 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Agriculture — The crops — Corn and potatoes — The stock — Descrip- 
 tion OF THE EARLY HOUSES IN KENNEBUNK. 
 
 We have been unable to obtain satisfactory data, from which we 
 could give any special account of the agriculture of the town. The 
 municipal officers, from the initiation of the settlement, have been 
 very negligent in the preservation of papers which should have been 
 in its archives. We have several times before alluded to the narrow 
 sphere of the husbandry of the first settlers. During the course of 
 the Indian wars, there was nothing which could be regarded as the 
 regular annual culture of the earth. Sometimes all exertions for the 
 purpcse were entirely fruitless. At other times, particular sections 
 succeeded in gathering some moderate harvests, while other pro- 
 tions were defeated entirely by the devastations of the enemy. After 
 the close of the third war, the people were more confident of reaping 
 some fruit from their labors in the field. Additions were made to 
 the settlement. Many of those who had been driven from the east 
 by the ravages of the Indians, decided to remain in Wells and vicin- 
 ity. The Scotch Irish came into town in 1720 in considerable num- 
 bers, and soon became active and useful members of the settlement. 
 Those who had been living here had been obliged to fight their way 
 through trials and oppositions of which we have had no experience, 
 and therefore cannot well describe. They may, perhaps, well be said 
 to have been almost tired out. But the new comers brought with 
 them strong physical constitutions, and hearts eager for work. Many 
 places of protection or garrisons were now provided in the town, in 
 the event of a renewal of the war with the natives. These immi- 
 grants inspirited the old settlers, and thus all entered with zeal upon 
 their various branches of employment. As we have stated in an- 
 other chapter, Judge Wells regarded the soil in Wells as very un- 
 productive, and but illy fitted to give to the husbandman any en- 
 couraging return for the care bestowed upon it. But the testimony 
 
HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBCJKK. 647 
 
 of facts, a few years afterward, seems to us very much against this 
 judgment. It will be remembered that during the whole of the last 
 century none of the machinery, now so useful in agriculture, had 
 been brought into use. Everything must be done by the hand. But 
 in 1748, so successful had been the husbandry that the farmers gath- 
 ered their hundred fold. They did not give their attention to a 
 great variety of crops ; their corn, hay and flax being the principal 
 articles on which they depended for the support of their families. 
 They had yet no market abroad for any of their vegetable products. 
 Their lumber was the chief article of merchandise sent to other 
 marts. In the year named Nathaniel Hill raised 150 bushels of corn ; 
 Joseph Sayer, 280; Nathaniel Wheelright, 150; Eleazer Clark, 200; 
 Nathaniel Wells, 250 ; Samuel Clark, 200 ; Joshua Wells, 100. 
 
 Potatoes had not been a common article for cultivation. The 
 Scotch Irish had brought them into town in 1720, but as the people 
 were not familiar with their use and value, they probably did not at 
 once adopt them as edibles for the table, and perhaps the new comers 
 did not feel sure that the soil was adapted to their culture. But on 
 this subject we cannot speak with confidence ; although we know 
 that it was many years before they came to be regarded as an im- 
 portant crop. In the adjoining town of Arundel, Bradbury says, 
 they were not cultivated until after the settlement of Mr. Prentice, 
 which was in 1730. 
 
 Though lumber was the leading article of commerce, we suppose 
 the people relied somewhat on their dairies and their beef as sources 
 of income. They evidently could not make use of these for domes- 
 tic use only. They were as remarkable for their large stocks as for 
 their crops of corn. Nathaniel Hill kept nine cows and six oxen ; 
 Joseph Hill, eleven cows ; Sayer, thirteen cows and nine oxen ; Clark, 
 nine cows and six oxen ; Francis Littlefield, 3d, fifteen cows and five 
 two-year-old heifers and six oxen; Nathaniel Wells, eight cows and 
 eight oxen; Richard Boothby, seven cows; Richard Kimball, seven 
 cows and eight oxen. In 1751 there were between four and five 
 cows for every house in town. Our knowledge in relation to the 
 cattle of the ancient townsmen is very limited. But we have no 
 doubt that many more of the people kept stocks as large as those 
 which we have named. Neither have we any doubt that there were 
 others whose crops of corn equaled those which we have mentioned. 
 
 But immigration had now become so extensive in other parts of 
 
648 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KEKNEBUNK. 
 
 New England that the demand for lumber rapidly increased, and the 
 material for sawing was so abundant that farmers found the manufac- 
 ture of boards more profitable than tilling the soil; and they resorted 
 to milling and marketing their boards. Kennebunkhad not yet done 
 much in the way of agriculture. The twenty-five families there at 
 this time had come in principally for the purpose of building and 
 operating mills and supplying the lumber market ; coasters coming 
 into the harbor very freely to obtain cargoes of boards and other 
 materials for the erection of buildings at the West. But as soon as 
 the land was sufficiently cleared, they planted enough for family 
 needs. Still, this was considered as a corn region, and farmers who 
 relied on agriculture for income, gave special attention to that crop. 
 In 1784, the first year after the close of the war, potatoes had come 
 to be regarded as having a claim to a share in the husbandry of most 
 of the planters. The population had so increased that milling fur- 
 nished business for only a small proportion of the people. Farming 
 and ship-building began to have their appropriate share in their la- 
 bors. Public sentiment in Kennebunk concurred in that of Wells, 
 40 years before, that the corn crop was the most profitable ; and ac- 
 cordingly they made it their leading article of culture. Potatoes 
 had acquired a character for usefulness ; but it was many years after 
 this before they reached the position which they now have. In this 
 year John Gillpatrick and son raised 180 bushels of corn and 30 of 
 potatoes ; Richard Thompson, 180 bushels of corn and 140 of pota- 
 toes ; John Taylor, 150 of corn and 100 of potatoes; Isaac Kimball, 
 50 of corn, 35 of potatoes ; John Mitchell, 50 of corn, 50 of potatoes ; 
 Samuel Mitchell, 40 of corn, 20 of potatoes; John Gillpatrick, jr., 
 150 of corn, 40 of potatoes ; Obadiah Littlefield, 150 of corn, 40 of 
 potatoes ; Eliphalet Walker, 30 of corn, no potatoes ; Benjamin Day, 
 30 of corn, no potatoes ; James Smith, 80 of corn, 70 of potatoes ; 
 James Hubbard, 40 of corn, 20 of potatoes; Thomas Boothby, 40 of 
 corn, 20 of potatoes ; Stephen Larrabee, 52 of corn, 20 of potatoes. 
 Most of these persons raised from ten to thirty pounds of flax. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the people then relied on a harvest of 
 corn, and were successful in planting it. The evidence is strong that 
 the crop is as reliable here as anywhere else, if farmers would give 
 their attention to it. It, perhaps, requires more labor and more ma- 
 nure than in the Western States, but the expense of transportation 
 from the West to Maine is fully as much as the expense of its culti- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 649 
 
 vation here exceeds that of the West, and we think more. A good 
 farmer can become independent by the products of his farm, as well 
 as the mechanic or merchant, if he abhors the evil indulgences which 
 have counteracted the benevolent influences of Providence in his fa- 
 vor, as we believe most of our fanners now do. 
 
 The people of Kennebunk relied on their dairies, as well as those 
 in the older part of the town. They kept large stocks of cows. 
 Nathaniel Kimball had 6; John Gillpatrick and son, 8; Richard 
 Thompson, 6; John Taylor, 6; Israel Kimball, 6; John Mitchell, 7. 
 
 The iron mills created a great deal of business, and the farmer 
 came in for a large share of it. Many of them found employment 
 in the transportation of the ore, which was obtained in various 
 places. Others had ore on their own land, and hauled and sold it 
 by the bushel, or ton, to the manufacturers. Others hired the mill 
 and made their own iron, paying the rent by the product of their la- 
 bors. In this way, much of the heisure time of farm life was occu- 
 pied ; but still greater benefit accrued to farmers from other needs of 
 the mills. Great quantities of charcoal were necessarily consumed. 
 The material for this was then found on almost every farm, and. 
 most of them, we think, occasionally employed themselves in making 
 and carrying it to market. 
 
 After the Revolutionary war, the people seem to have looked less 
 to their labors in the field for a support of their families. Their 
 lands were, in some measure, neglected for other employments, 
 which the new state of things presented. The lumber trade, ship 
 carpentry, and sailor life presented attractions to many of the young 
 men, and thus the needed labor was taken away from many of the 
 homesteads, and the corn crops began to diminish. Though respec- 
 table harvests continued to be gathered till about the time of the 
 war of 1812, or two or three years after, when a severe frost in August 
 destroyed the entire crop, yet still they had become small in compar- 
 ison with those of the earlier years, and from that time many farm- 
 ers have even bought the corn required for their families. The crop 
 is small now for each individual, when contrasted with that of 1750. 
 
 It is remarkable that some of the names given to oxen have been 
 retained for two hundred years. John Wadley called his Spark and 
 Berry; Francis Littlefield, 3d, called one yoke Star and Colyer; an- 
 other, Mark and Lyon; the third, Swan and Sweeter. Spark, Star, 
 Lyon, and Swan are yet common names. 
 
650 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 In the early period of the town's history, beyond the year 1750, 
 the people appear to have had little regard to personal comfort. 
 The sweat of the brow was not given to the building of fine houses, 
 or to any of those domestic arrangements which modern progress 
 has made almost indispensable to comfortable and decent living. 
 The young of the present day can with difficulty be made to believe 
 that the first settlers in Wells made such limited provision for their 
 families as has been described in a former chapter. But a hundred 
 years afterward, household accommodations, aside from furniture, ap- 
 pear to have advanced at a very slow pace. The one hundred and 
 seventeen houses in 1748 were valued by the assessors at only twen- 
 ty dollars each. In this number there were, perhaps, one or more 
 houses of two stories; but there were, probably, a good many log 
 houses, not worth even the value here put upon them. The late 
 William Butland, who lived almost through a century, and whose 
 memory in his last days was as reliable as many of our records a 
 hundred years ago, because he not only knew what he stated, but 
 could always state clearly what he knew, wherein the maker of the 
 records frequently failed, stated to the author, that in his boyhood 
 there was not a house in the limits of the present town of Kenne- 
 bunk which had a square of glass in it, all being lighted by block 
 windows only. Such a device for illumination in the winter season, 
 it appears to us, was not very congenial to frail humanity. In 1795, 
 fifty years afterward, the house where Miss Elizabeth W. Hatch now 
 lives, on the top of Zion's Hill, had in it but thirty-six squares of 
 seven by nine glass. These were embraced in seven windows, prob- 
 ably all having but four squares, excepting the two front. Houses 
 were valued then by the squares of glass, or the degree of light 
 which they enjoyed, the number and size of the windows being an 
 important item in fixing their value. But a great change was now 
 working its way into the aspirations of the people. Mr. Little had 
 built a two-story house at the Landing, in 1753 ; a few others fol- 
 lowed his example. The war, however, prevented any rapid prog- 
 ress until its close. A spirit of enterprise then seemed to prevail 
 again among all the people. Tobias Lord built a house of three 
 Btories at the Landing. We think the village of Kennebunk had 
 come to be somewhat in advance of most of the towns in New Eng- 
 land. Mr. Little about 1790 had built a second house, the same 
 lately owned by Paul Stevens. Rev. Caleb Bradley, in his diary, 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 651 
 
 under date of April, 1798, says, " Left Judge Sewall's April 9th ; 
 rode through Wells and arrived in Kennebunk and put up with the 
 worthy Mr. Little, a man of a thousand, 19 miles. Kennebunk is a 
 beautiful place, and Mr. Little has one of the most beautiful ministe- 
 rial situations I ever saw. He has a very convenient house, a fine 
 garden, through the middle of which a small brook meanders, and in 
 the summer season, in the morning, a person may divert himself by 
 catching salmon trout." This house of Mr. Little was a very ordi- 
 nary building, without symmetry, painted red, and yet this worthy 
 man from Dracut regarded the house and its appurtenances as " the 
 most beautiful" establishment he had ever seen, thereby clearly sug- 
 gesting the fact that in all the towns through which he had passed 
 but little progress had been made in the style and architecture of 
 houses. Zion's Hill, now adorned with so many fine houses, had 
 upon it then but two ordinary two-story houses. Most of the peo- 
 ple were content with what we should now call very humble accom- 
 modations for their families. The earliest settlers had lived through 
 years of hardship and endurance, and had become so accustomed 
 and attached to their cheap dwellings that they had no disposition 
 for any change. Many of them thought much more of the house of 
 God than of their own, and would deny themselves comforts for an 
 honorable seat in it. James Wakefield, who lived near the McCul- 
 loch house, died in 1779. His house, after his death, was appraised 
 at thirty-three dollars, while his pew in the church was valued at 
 sixty-seven. 
 
652 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Vote of the inhabitants establishing the proprietary of the 
 town — Organization of the proprietors — Boundary line between 
 Wells and Coxhall renewed— Grant to proprietors of Coxhall 
 — Proprietary law suits — Vote of proprietors to divide— Lots 
 assigned by lottery — controversy in relation to thatch-beds — 
 Donation of certain lots by the proprietors — Votes confirming 
 titles — Carriages introduced. 
 
 "We do not find in early history any clearly defined and established 
 right to the Plantation of Wells in the town, or in individual inhab- 
 itants. The act of incorporation does no't imply title in the occu- 
 pants of the territory, neither do we find any grant of it by Gorges 
 or Massachusetts. The authority given to Wheelright, Boade, and 
 Rishworth, does not invest them with the fee. But in subsequent 
 years, those who had here taken up their residence, and maintained 
 their hold on the land which they occupied during the first three 
 Indian wars, seem to have come to the conclusion that they had ac- 
 quired, by their several possessions, the title to all the other lands 
 within the limits of the town. We cannot deny that by the exer- 
 tions which they had put forth for its protection against the inroads 
 of the savages, and by the severe trials which they experienced in 
 the defense of it, they well merited property in the soil. They had 
 saved it by their sacrifices and their labors, and thence we do not 
 feel called upon to make inquisition as to their strictly legal claims 
 to it. The lands had not hitherto been regarded as of material 
 value. All that was required of settlers, at the first attempts at set- 
 tlement, was that they should pay five shillings annually for every 
 hundred acres. Afterward, instead of this payment, the condition 
 of the grants was that they should occupy and make improvements, 
 unless prevented from so doing by the Indian enemy. But the war 
 being now closed, and the hopes of the people revived that a perma- 
 nent peace might follow, the townsmen began to regard the lands as 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 653 
 
 of more material value. Accordingly, on the 20th of March, 
 1715-16, they voted themselves to be owners in common of all the 
 ungranted land, as is stated in another part of this work. This vote 
 was the introduction of the proprietary of the town, and from this 
 period they and their heirs or grantees assumed the title of the soil, 
 and made grants according to their pleasure. To manage safely and 
 judiciously their interests in the township, it was necessary that a 
 proper organization should be effected, and on the 14th of May fol- 
 lowing, a meeting of the proprietors was called, and Joseph Little- 
 field was chosen clerk, and William Sayer, Joseph Hill, and Samuel 
 Hatch a committee to call meetings as often as might be needful. 
 It was also voted that an annual meeting should be holden on the 
 second Tuesday in February. Thus the town, as such, was divested 
 of all control of the lands from this date, and all legislation in regard 
 to them and all grants were thenceforth at the will of the proprie- 
 tors. Records of all subsequent action are to be found in the pro- 
 prietors' books. 
 
 But a great many grants had previously been made by the town. 
 These were all subject to conditions of improvement, and it was no 
 easy matter to determine those which had been made effectual to the 
 grantees by the fulfillment of the conditions. Many of these grantees 
 did nothing toward a compliance with the terms of their grants. 
 The terrors of Indian warfare, and the consequent hopelessness of 
 any successful improvements, led many of them to neglect their 
 lots altogether, and others to leave them, even though they had made 
 some progress toward reducing them from wildness to the purposes 
 of agriculture. John Wheelright, Jonathan Harmon, and Samuel 
 Emery, were chosen a committee to " search the town book relating 
 to the former grants, and report the forfeitures ;" and John Wheel- 
 right, Daniel Littlefield, and Moses Wells, "a committee to run the 
 land lying between the land granted and Kennebunk river, and renew 
 the bounds between Wells and Coxhall." 
 
 The last-named committee, in regard to the boundary of the 
 adjoining plantation, reported May 25th the line to be as follows : 
 "On a white Oke tre at the head of a guley at the upper gorner of 
 the guley above the greate falls where the saw mill formerly stood 
 with the letters W & C, and so from said tree due South West to 
 Mousam river, and Northwest to Kennebunk where we marked Elm 
 tree with letters W & C, bounds were fixed Nov. 5, 1701." 
 
654 HISTORY OF WELLS AKD KENNEBUNK. 
 
 The proprietors of Coxhall many years previously had asked for a 
 grant of a portion of this land between Kennebunk and the Mousam 
 river, next adjoining their Plantation. We have been unable to 
 ascertain the motive for asking or making this grant, and we do not 
 see any good reason why it should have been made. But it seems 
 that in 1691, a mile of this land between the two rivers was thus 
 granted to the proprietors of Coxhall. But, for the same reasons, 
 we suppose, which prevented the occupation and settlement of the 
 lands in other parts of the town, the Coxhall proprietary failed to 
 settle the lot which was transferred to them. But now, willing to 
 encourage the settlement, the proprietors of Wells, who were anxious 
 to have the adjoining territory occupied and improved, regranted this 
 same land to Coxhall, "excepting any grants which may be made, 
 mill privileges and lots, and rights of flowing, and rights to lay logs 
 and convenient way for hauling logs, that may or have been built 
 on Alewife Brook; also, privilege of cutting timber on said land ; 
 and also on condition that proprietors of said Coxhall settle four 
 families within two years, or two families in each year, and after- 
 wards as many families as there are hundreds of acres. And, if said 
 proprietors shall build mills on the river, then to leave sufficient 
 passage-way for logs down the river to mills in Wells on the river." 
 If all the conditions were not fulfilled, the grant was to be void. 
 
 It does not appear that the purposes of this grant were carried out 
 by Coxhall. The line of Kennebunk is straight from York to Ken- 
 nebunk river. Such a jog as was here contemplated, extending into 
 Kennebunk a mile between the Kennebunk and Mousam rivers, 
 would have materially disfigured the town of Wells, as then existing; 
 and the town of Kennebunk have lost a large tract of valuable land, 
 and, if measured by its present status, many valuable citizens, with the 
 Great Falls, the most important mill-site within its limits. It is prob- 
 able that they were unable to induce any one to settle on it within 
 three years. Men did not feel confident that peace wag so firmly 
 established with the tribes that they could with safety locate them- 
 selves at a place so remote from aid and protection. The saw-mill 
 which was built here had been burnt by them, and it was almost 
 presumptuous to attempt to rebuild and renew the manufacturing of 
 lumber. But some of the Wells settlers were not easily dishearten- 
 ed, and in 1720, the proprietors granted to Col. John Wheelright, 
 Samuel Hatch, and the heirs of Joseph Taylor, two hundred acres on 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 655 
 
 the northeast side of Mousam river adjoining Great Falls, and four 
 acres on the west side. Under this grant the mill was rebuilt. 
 
 In 1722, the committee who had been appointed to make an ex- 
 amination of the records, and ascertain upon what conditions grants 
 had been made, reported to the proprietors that it was expedient for 
 every grantee to prove his own fulfillment according to the terms of 
 his grant. But their report does not seem to have been satisfactory, 
 and a new committee, consisting of Joseph Hill, Samuel Emery, John 
 Wells, and Samuel Hatch, and the clerks of the proprietary and of 
 the town, was chosen to search the proprietor's and town records, 
 examine what lands had been granted on conditions, what the con- 
 ditions were, and whether they had been complied with. This com- 
 mittee made the same report as the preceding. 
 
 The proprietors now began to place a little higher estimate on the 
 value of their lands. A great deal of valuable timber had been 
 wasted in various ways. Men had been driven or cut off from their 
 work from the pressure of various causes, and, in consequence, a great 
 deal of lumber was found perishing on the commons ; and it was 
 voted that where logs had lain on the ground four months or more, 
 any proprietor might haul them away and convert them to his own 
 use. A committee was also chosen to prosecute any persons who 
 should thereafter be found trespassing on their lands. 
 
 A few years after this, in 1732, it became a subject of complaint 
 that the settlers cut logs and hauled them to other towns to be sawn 
 into boards. If these logs were taken from one's own land, and 
 hauled into other towns for manufacture, these proprietors certainly 
 had no right of objection to such procedure. Every man had a 
 right to do what he pleased with his own. If the logs belonged to 
 the proprietors, they could, of course, encumber the sale with such 
 conditions as they thought proper. It was undoubtedly for the 
 interest of the town that its own citizens should have the benefit of 
 the labor to be bestowed on the timber cut on its lands ; and when 
 the owners were exerting themselves to enhance the value of their 
 proprietary, the vote might be excusable as helping forward that 
 object. 
 
 At this time, the proprietary became involved in several law-suits 
 with Capt. Elisha Plaisted, William Eaton, Samuel Emery, and 
 Francis Littlefield. Of the precise nature of these suits we are not 
 informed. But, as is generally the effect of judicial investigation, 
 
656 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 they created some considerable excitement, and as a necessary conse- 
 quence, some bad feeling was engendered. A meeting was holden 
 to take the necessary measures to ferret out the money which had 
 been paid to the clerk by the collector ; and to ascertain why the 
 expenses of the suits already incurred had not been paid. Fifty 
 pounds had been raised for that special purpose. It seems to have 
 been supposed that there was sufficient money in the hands of the 
 clerk to meet all these expenses. But the agents who had charge of 
 these suits and paid the necessary expenses, now sued the proprietors 
 to recover their bills. The charges of lawyers in those days were 
 small in comparison with those now made by the profession. The 
 expenses of the suit with Plaisted were nearly $300. We know not 
 how this sum was paid. But it would have required the sale of a 
 large tract of land to discharge it. At a subsequent meeting, they 
 voted to pay Eaton £16 6s., Emery, £20, and Francis Littlefield, £24 
 These payments probably settled these suits. 
 
 These lands, though increased in value, were of no direct profit to 
 the proprietors, but on the contrary, were a source of unceasing dis- 
 sension and complaint. We suppose that those who had come into 
 the town since the usurpation of 1716, claimed that they had as 
 good a right in them as those who were inhabitants at that time. 
 Many changes of ownership had taken place by death and assign- 
 ment, and it was now difficult to ascertain who the proprietors were. 
 It was therefore determined, at a meeting in 1734, that a careful 
 examination should be made and the true ownership established and 
 recorded. Accordingly,- John Storer, Samuel Stewart, and Samuel 
 Tread well, were appointed a committee for this object, and, as if this 
 committee could not adjudicate honestly in regard to their own 
 rights, Samuel Wheelright, Joseph Sayer, and Nathaniel Wells were 
 chosen a committee to determine their interests. At the same meet- 
 ing it was voted that every person having a house and land in the 
 town should be a proprietor. This vote must have quieted all the 
 malcontents, who had not before been recognized as stockholders of 
 the common estate. The committee reported the names of one 
 hundred and eight proprietors, owning three hundred and sixty-seven 
 shares, several owning from one to sixteen. According to this report, 
 there were at this time at least one hundred and eight houses iij the 
 town. 
 
 The proprietors continued for many years to lay out lands and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 657 
 
 make grants, on condition of improvements in two years, and occu- 
 pancy for five years. But, as the proprietary had been managed, it 
 was of little or no value to the owners. They began to tire in the 
 the care of the lands, which, while it brought to them no profit, was a 
 source of vexation. Men laid out lots to which they had no right. 
 The stockholders in the concern therefore came to the conclusion 
 that it was not desirable to hold them any longer, and began to talk 
 of dividing the remaining lands among the proprietors. By the 
 division, each man would have a tract which would be his own, and 
 worth more to him than any interest in common. At a regular 
 meeting in 1764, it was voted to divide six thousand acres, and Jos- 
 eph Sayer, Joseph Storer, Nathaniel Wells, John Wheelright, Capt. 
 James Liltlefield, and Richard Kimball, were appointed a committee 
 to make the division. 
 
 The next year, 1765, this committee reported that the lands be- 
 tween Kennebunk and Mousam rivers from the head of the township, 
 three miles downward into the town, and all the lands by Baker's 
 Spring and on Berwick line, extending three miles from said line, be 
 laid out into lots, three quarters or more of which should be laid out 
 into lots of one hundred and twelve acres each, making proper allow- 
 ance for the quality of the land, so as to make " each lot nearly of 
 equal goodness," and the rest to be laid out "in such lots as the com- 
 mittee allow, and will best suit the proprietors ; and that two able 
 surveyors be appointed for the laying out and making and numbering 
 said lots ;" and, also, a committee to give them instructions. There 
 does not appear to have been any final action for dividing this six 
 thousand acres. There would be a great deal of land left which 
 would still be a source of care and trouble; and in 1771, it was voted 
 to divide twelve thousand acres. The committee fulfilled their duty 
 and divided the quantity into lots. The lots thus divided, the pro- 
 prietors determined to assign by lottery to the various persons own- 
 ing legal rights in the common. Joseph Storer, Nathaniel Wells, 
 and Nicholas West, were appointed a committee to prepare for the 
 drawing. The lands were embraced in three divisions, designated as 
 North, Centre, and West. The North Division contained common 
 and some other lands between Kennebunk and Mousam rivers. The 
 Centre Division, lands between Mousam river and the Sanford road ; 
 and the West Division, lands between Berwick line and Bald Hill 
 marsh, and three lots adjoining York line. Thero were now one 
 42 
 
658 HISTOKY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 hundred and twelve proprietors, some owning three, others two, and 
 one, some only parts of a right. On the first day of February, 1773, 
 a proprietors' meeting was holden at the house of Pelatiah Littlefield 
 for the purpose of drawing the lottery. It -was an interesting day 
 for the people. Every man was sure to draw a prize, as there were 
 no blanks in the scheme. Though the committee were required to 
 make the lots as nearly as possible of " equal goodness," they w r ere 
 necessarily of somewhat different value from their location, or their 
 adaptation to individual purposes. Of course, every one awaited the 
 result with anxiety. Stephen Titcomb and John Cole were chosen 
 to draw the lottery. All needed preparations having been made, the 
 committee proceeded in their work, and the various lots as marked 
 out and numbered were thus assigned to the various owners. We 
 have but little knowledge of these proceedings, excepting that which 
 the record affords. But we have no doubt the day was a memorable 
 one to the proprietors of the township of Wells. 
 
 Previously to this division, a lot of two hundred acres had been 
 granted to the Second Parish, also one set apart for a parsonage in 
 Merryland. There had been a controversy about some thatch -beds 
 in Ogunquit river, and Michael Wilson, Samuel Curtis, and John 
 Cole had been appointed a committee to settle it. A thatch-bed 
 had been granted to Gershom Maxwell, which had very much in- 
 creased. The committee were of the opinion that this increase 
 ought to belong to the lot, and that the thatch-beds which had been 
 given to Josiah Winn and George Jacobs, by the Providence of God, 
 in covering them with sand, had been greatly diminished, and that 
 it would be well that others, which had come up in said river to the 
 value of about five acres, should be divided between the heirs of 
 these two owners now deceased. t; Nevertheless, as there is about 
 two acres and a quarter of said pieces which lays between the 
 thatch-bed of Mr. Maxwell and his land, we think it best and most 
 fit that the heirs of said Mr. Maxwell have free liberty to purchase 
 the same of the heirs of said Mr. Winn and Mr. Jacobs, for the 
 value of it, if they see fit, which value, we think, is about ten dol- 
 lars." 
 
 After the division had been completed, there remained some land 
 in the ownership of the proprietary, of no great value at this time. 
 The several holders of common rights were very indifferent as to 
 their disposition. They voted to give fifty acres to Rev. Mr. Hem- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUKK. 659 
 
 menway, fifty to Rev. Daniel Little, thirty to William Day, as stated 
 in another place, for his enterprise in destroying wolves ; and as 
 they had become thus liberal in their benefactions, others took ad- 
 vantage of the opportunity and applied for grants. John Huston, 
 jr., petitioned for a donation to help him support his father and 
 mother, and fifty acres were allowed to him. James Boston, with a 
 presumption for which it would be difficult to find a parallel, peti- 
 tioned for a grant on account of his suit against John Stevens, 
 which had excited such commotion through the town, by which he 
 endeavored to disturb the boundaries and land-marks of all the lots 
 which had been peaceably acquiesced in for a hundred years, and 
 they gave him fifty acres. Others asked because their lots were not 
 so good and convenient as they wished. The petition of Richard 
 Hill, a negro, will not be uninteresting to our readers : 
 
 " To the proprietors of lands in the town of Wells. The petition 
 of Richard Hill humbly showeth that he has a piece of common land 
 enclosed in his field, belonging to said proprietors, that would great- 
 ly accommodate your petitioner, who is poor but wishes and strives 
 for a honest living among the free born sons of America. There- 
 fore prays that the spirit of benevolence, which so generally dwells 
 within the breast of the proprietors of said town, may burst forth 
 with so much compassion to a poor African, although happy in hav- 
 ing a dwelling, poor as it is, in such a community where freedom 
 and happiness reign, as to grant him and his heirs the small and un- 
 cultivated tract of barren soil prayed for, which will greatly add to 
 the happiness of your petitioner when he is toiling and sweating to 
 obtain a honest self-support for a numerous family. 
 
 his 
 
 Wells, April 11, 1796. Richard X Hill." 
 
 mark 
 
 In response to his petition, a grant was made of all that land on 
 the south side of the brook, between the land of Rev. Daniel Little,, 
 and the land which he bought of Major Cousens, and the Sanford 
 road, " reserving a road through for black Chance." Chance lived 
 on the eastern side of the brook. This was part of the lot on which, 
 Nathaniel Bragdon now lives. 
 
 The lands of the proprietary were now reduced to a very small 
 amount. A grant was made in 1778, to the heirs of Samuel Wheel- 
 
660 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 right, of one hundred and fifty acres. This grant was satisfied on 
 small lots in no less than twenty-three different places between that 
 year and 1812. The tract of two hundred acres which had been re- 
 served at Merryland for a parsonage, had not been given to that so- 
 ciety until 1808 ; when a hundred acres were given to it; the use or 
 income of which was to be applied to the support of the ministry ; 
 and the other hundred was donated, with the right of selling it and 
 investing the proceeds in other lands; or of retaining it as a fund, 
 the interest of which might be applied to the same purpose. At 
 the same time Nathaniel Wells, Jonathan Hill and Joseph Gil- 
 man were appointed a committee " to make a survey of the outlines 
 of the proprietors' lands which remain undivided and return' a 
 plan of the same." On the nineteenth day of June, 1809, they con- 
 firmed all former proceedings of the proprietary according to their 
 true intent and meaning, regardless of all formality ; and at a meet- 
 ing on the thirteenth day of July, 1812, it was voted that "the copies 
 and records of the three plans of the common lands heretofore sur- 
 veyed, copied and recorded by Nathaniel Wells, jr., clerk of the said 
 proprietors, be and they are hereby accepted and confirmed as au- 
 thentic descriptions of the lands laid down on them, and as being of 
 equal authority with the old original plans;" and it was further voted, 
 that " the committee for dividing the commons, be directed to cause 
 all the lands already surveyed to be divided into lots, and to prepare 
 for drawing the same." These instructions do not appear to have 
 been complied with. The corporation never afterward gathered to- 
 gether/ The committee have all gone to their graves. All the of- 
 fices of the association are vacant, and the few little ungranted tracts 
 of land remaining in the different parts of the town are either ten- 
 antless, or have been taken up by some persons who have thought it 
 best not to permit them to run to waste. 
 
 From its organization to 1803, the corporation had but two clerks ; 
 Joseph Littlefield from 1715 to 1760, and Benjamin Littlefield from 
 1760 to 1803. Nathaniel Wells, jr., followed till 1809, from which 
 time Judge Wells held the office until his death in 1816. 
 
 We have before remarked that all the traveling in the early years 
 of the settlement was on foot or on horseback. Such was the crude 
 state of the roads that no other method could well be adopted. Pos- 
 sibly this was not the only reason that prevented any change to what 
 we might deem a more convenient mode of locomotion. The settlers 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 661 
 
 had for an hundred years enjoyed the ride on the saddle and pillion. 
 The old are invariably conservative. Things to which they have 
 been accustomed through the various stages of life, take strong hold 
 of their sympathies. It is difficult to reconcile them to a change. 
 The old-fashioned way of riding was peculiarly pleasant to them; 
 and even the young men and young ladies found it so congenial that 
 they were not ambitious for any innovation. But public conven- 
 ience, and the necessities of life, with commerce and business rap- 
 idly increasing, led to the use of some kind of carriages. A horse- 
 back conveyance for men and women in storms or severe cold, did 
 not answer the wants of the people. Joseph Storer had a chaise be- 
 fore he moved from Wells to Kennebunk. Judge Paine, in 1755, 
 passed through the town in one of these new vehicles and stopped 
 at Kimble's tavern. All the village rushed there to see it. In con- 
 sequence of the bad state of the roads, Storer seldom rode out in 
 his. The old fashion still had charms not easily got rid of. It was 
 a light task to prepare the horse for the ride. But in a few years, 
 chaises passed through the village very frequently. The incumbent 
 was generally some one of note on account of his wealth, office, or 
 professional standing. Soon an ambition for distinction in traveling 
 in the style of the grandees of the country seized upon others of the 
 inhabitants, which could not be satisfied but in the acquisition of the 
 chaise. The old and affectionate mode of riding, must give way for 
 the new conveyance adopted by the leaders of fashionable life ; and, 
 strange as it may appear, Mr. Little, the minister, was the first person 
 in his Parish who presumed to break in upon this venerable usage. 
 At a meeting of the Parish in 1792, it became important to obtain a 
 discharge of his claim for the income of the Parish lands ; and he 
 proposed to them that if they would give to him enough to obtain a 
 good family chaise, he would give them a receipt in full of all claims 
 which he had on the lands. To this proposition the Parish acceded, 
 and voted to give him twenty pounds for the purpose. Mr. Little, 
 though a humble man, had some of the ambitions of common life. 
 He had also traveled on horseback more than any other one of his 
 Parish, and at his age, might well be wearied with that mode of con- 
 veyance. His exchanges, also, rendered it necessary for him to have 
 some protection from the severity of the weather. His wife was old, 
 and suffered much from sickness. It was well, therefore, that he 
 should make this provision. But the action of the minister was con- 
 
662 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUNK. 
 
 tageous, and soon others followed his example ; though the old cus- 
 tom of riding on the saddle and pillion was continued by many of 
 the inhabitants, nearly to the year 1820. Horses were then almost 
 universally relieved from the double burden of male and female ; 
 though men and women continued for several years to use the saddle 
 and side-saddle. Old Ruthee Boston, as she was always called, came 
 from Wells to Kennebunk on horseback, bringing in her saddle-bags 
 " good cornfed eggs," for market, as long as she was able. The light 
 wagons, now so common, were a subsequent institution. The only 
 carriage for a horse was the horse-cart, used almost exclusively for 
 carrying lumber and materials for all the purposes of life. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 663 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Roads— When and where located— Price of labor on roads in va- 
 rious years — By-law of town relative to cattle going at large. 
 
 We have given an account of several of the early located roads 
 in other parts of this work. We subjoin a brief sketch of those 
 which have been subsequently established. In the first century of 
 its existence, the town was evidently not very anxious for the in- 
 crease of its highways. Each man had provided for himself a path, 
 and when all his labors were needed for the necessary support of his 
 family, he did not feel disposed to build roads for the accommoda- 
 tion of others. The bridge over the Ogunquit river was not built 
 till the people were compelled to do it by indictment. So also, 
 when the king's highway was extended through Kennebunk to Saco, 
 the inhabitants of the towns were very backward in yielding to the 
 order of court. The bridge over Kennebunk river at Littlefield's 
 mills, where there would seem to have been great necessity for it, 
 for the benefit of the inhabitants and mill owners, was not built till 
 several years after it was ordered. We suppose each town excused 
 itself by the neglect of the other, and that Wells was successful in 
 casting the delinquency on Arundel, as in 1736 that towD was in- 
 dicted for its neglect. But Wells then failed to do its part, and 
 neglected to furnish the bridge for three years after, and the people 
 then took hold of the work only because they were forced to do 
 so by an indictment, a very effectual specific for a disregard of mu- 
 nicipal obligations. How hard it was, at this period, to draw even a 
 very small sum from the pockets of the people, may be understood 
 from the fact, referred to in another place, that in this same period 
 several of them got up a petition to the selectmen to call a town 
 meeting, " to see whether our town book shall be a charge to the 
 town, or whether the book shall support itself or not." 
 
 A reliable history of the main road through Wells and Kenne- 
 
664 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 bunk is not now to be had, from the fact that the various orders in 
 relation to it, made by the court, could not be carried out, in conse- 
 quence of ruptures with the Indians preventing the necessary labor; 
 or if carried out, no return was made of the work expended on it. 
 
 In the year 1719, a jury of twelve, by order of the General Ses- 
 sions of the Peace, laid out a highway from Cape Neddock river to 
 Saco Falls, " gone the way to Wells as the road now goes till it 
 comes near to Jacob Perkins', thence to cum out upon the left hand 
 as the trees are marked till it comes to Josiah's river above the first 
 falls, thence through the town of Wells as the road now goes to the 
 corner of Nathaniel Clark's cornfield upon the left hand, and from 
 the said corner between Clark and Cole's land till we come opposite 
 against the head of Cousens' land, to said Cousens' land, and from 
 thence between Cousens' and Cole's as the line runs till we come to 
 the Little river where the old way formerly was; from thence keep- 
 ing the old way till we come to Mousam river, and from Mousam 
 river as the road now goes to Kennebunk river to the usual wading 
 place below the mill, thence keeping the old road to Saco lower falls 
 below the old fort, which way we have viewed and laid out to the 
 best of our judgment." 
 
 This road was accepted at the October term in that year. In the 
 warrant for the location, the first river to be passed was described as 
 " Little river, called Josiah's river," so that there must have been in 
 the town two streams called Little river. 
 
 It is very obvious that at an early day in the century a road actu- 
 ally existed by Littlefield's mills over Kennebunk river. This might 
 have been a thoroughfare made by the teams daily visiting the mills. 
 This road, located in 1719, was recognized by the court in 1726, and 
 we are of the opinion that it was at least partially made soon after 
 it was laid out. There was, evidently, before 1731, a road above 
 the mills, which, we think, is the main road now traveled, and has 
 in some instruments been called the old road to Saco. From Wells 
 to Kennebunk, through Harrysicket, it was called the Saco path. 
 
 In 1730, a road was laid out, eight rods wide, on the western side 
 of Kennebunk river, beginning eighty rods above the saw-mill, and 
 running down to the common flowing of the salt water, at the "Up- 
 per Landing Place," or to the Pool, which was in the bend of the 
 river at the foot of the falls. Boards were here landed on the top of 
 the hill and sent down to the water in slips made for the purpose. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND JKENNEBUNK. 665 
 
 This road had been reserved in a grant of land and mill privilege in 
 1680, and was laid out now by request of David Littlefield and Jo- 
 seph Littlefield, who had acquired a right in the mill and privilege. 
 This road, we think, from its uncommon width, was laid out more 
 for the purpose of landing logs or lumber than for travel. Four rods 
 would have w^ell answered all the objects of a road. It was abso- 
 lutely necessary for John Storer's mill below the Pool to accommo- 
 date all the teams from Arundel and the mills above. It has not 
 been open to the public for many years. 
 
 In 1731, a road was laid out '-between John Wells' and William 
 Symonds', beginning at the Great Swamp, commonly called Gooch's 
 Swamp, and running northwest to Mousam Path," thence "to the 
 head of John Wells' lot." The Great Swamp was down by Theo- 
 dore Clark's. 
 
 In 1735, a road was laid out from the highway leading to 
 Berwick, beginning at the house of Job Low, and by several houses 
 in Merryland to Samuel Hatch, jr.'s, land, and from Hatch's to Capt. 
 John Storer's, as the old Merryland road then went, and then down 
 to the king's highway, near the house of Francis Saver. 
 
 In 1752, the road from the bridge in the village at Kennebunk 
 was again located, running by the meeting-house (then at the Land- 
 ing), by John Mitchell's to the sea, and from the Boothbys, as it 
 now runs, to old Susa Butland's, where it turned off across Lake 
 Brook, and came out at the Landing to the sea and Port road, near 
 Nathaniel Wakefield's. In 1760, the road from old Susa's was 
 continued upward, to James Hubbard's, making the present sea 
 road. 
 
 In 1761, the road from Cole's Corner, through Harrysicket, by the 
 house of the late Luther Stevens, to Cat Mousam bridge. In the 
 same year, road "from the top of Cole's Hill, by Samuel Clark's line, 
 northwest till it comes to the road that leads to Little river mill, and 
 thence as the road then ran that leads to the bridge above Little 
 river mill." In 1776, the following vote was passed at a regular 
 town meeting: "Voted that the road between land of Samuel and 
 Daniel Clark and land of John Cole, from the county road down to 
 the Spruce Swamp, be given to John Cole in exchange for a road 
 laid out through his land above Little river mill." We do not un- 
 derstand the object and effect of this record, and must therefore 
 leave it to the judgment of the reader. The road from Cole's Cor- 
 
666 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ner by Joel Stevens' ended at the mill or the bridge. In 1765, an 
 addition was made to it by a road "leading from Cat Mousam bridge 
 out to the Alfred road." 
 
 In 1760, the road from Adam Ross's house " as the old road then 
 ran, between Deacon Stephen Larrabee's and Samuel Littlefield, jr.'s, 
 land, then to Alewife bridge, then between John Maddox's and Rich- 
 ard Thompson's, then to the old road from Great Falls down to the 
 Mousam mills, then down the east side of Mousam river to the 
 Landing place, where salt water flows." 
 
 In 1765, "road from Lyman down to the road at Great Falls," 
 thus completing the road from that town to the Landing. 
 
 In 1771, "road from Little river mill to the Branch mill, to the 
 town road leading to Upper Mousam mill." 
 
 During the Revolutionary war there was no pressing occasion for 
 new roads. The burdens on the people were sufficiently onerous 
 without any voluntary additions to them. But there were some old 
 settlers in the neighborhood of Cat Mousam who had, through many 
 trials and much exposure, cleared away the forests and built them- 
 selves houses; and having timber to haul to the market, they felt 
 that they ought to have more convenient access to the village, and 
 in 1778, the town laid out the road leading from Major Cousens', 
 near the almshouse, by Phillip Hatch's and Amos Stevens', to Cat 
 Mousam bridge. 
 
 Four or live years before the war began, the people had become 
 impressed with the opinion that there must of necessity be a demand 
 for iron, and that this could not be met by imports from abroad, and 
 there being abundance of ore in this vicinity, several persons in Ken- 
 nebunk, desirous of securing a water power on Mousam river, applied 
 to the town for a grant of the bank, and a discontinuance of a part 
 of the road on the eastern side. At the meeting in 1771, the subject 
 came before the town. But the record is so imperfect, that it is 
 uncertain what was done. It was voted to discontinue three rods of 
 the width of the road down to the Landing.' But whether the subse- 
 quent refusal to grant the land embraces also the discontinuance of 
 the road or not, cannot be determined. The action of the town in 
 1811, implies the continued existence of the six-rod road as originally 
 located, and as extending down to the Landing. It is impossible to 
 define the Landing by precise boundaries. It has been considered as 
 extending down to the great stump, which was the relic of a large 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 667 
 
 white pine mentioned in some of the deeds. This stump stood on 
 the bank of the river, about a rod from the large round rock lying 
 in the edge of the river. 
 
 In 1785, as business began to revive, it was found necessary to 
 have a public landing by the river in the middle of Wells village, 
 and application was made to the selectmen for such a location near 
 the Sayer house, since owned by Joseph Gilman. The town complied 
 with the request, and a lot was laid out for the purpose, and a road 
 leading to it from the main highway. The following roads were also 
 established : 
 
 . In 1792, a way from the main road near John Storer's store, be- 
 tween the Mills lot and Storer's land, running back to the Merryland 
 road. 
 
 In 1794, a "town way at Upper Alewife, beginning at the main 
 road and running between Joel Larrabee's and Ebenezer Coburn's 
 lands, to Joseph Cousens', about a mile, then between Cousens' and 
 Joseph Gillpatrick, thirty-nine rods to Thomas Jones', then to David 
 Thompson's." 
 
 The same year, a town way by the dwelling houses of Pelatiah 
 Littlefield, jr., and Ebenezer Gilman, and land of Jonathan Littlefield, 
 Major Daniel Littlefield's heirs, and Joshua Getchell on the north, and 
 Samuel Curtis' land on the southerly side ; then by Abraham Little- 
 field's to the road, to be two rods wide, and to be used with bars. 
 
 Another road, "Beginning at the road near William Littlefield's, 
 and running between him and Capt. Jonathan Littlefield." The 
 petitioners to make the road and keep it in repair. 
 
 In 1796, a "town way from the village bridge over Mousam river, 
 down by John Bragdon's, to Gould's causeway." 
 
 Also, " a road from James Bragdon's and Samuel Trafton's at York 
 line by Jacob Littlefield's house, school-house near William Hilton's, 
 Edward Hilton's house to near Josiah Littlefield's grist-mill, Miriam 
 Littlefield and Solomon Stevens to Ebenezer Gilman's land." 
 
 In the same year, the short piece of road from Ebenezer Coburn's, 
 by Ezekiel Wakefield's, to the bridge over Kennebunk river. 
 
 1797. The road to Sabady Point. Beginning at Wadley's Land- 
 ing, and running south sixty-nine east, sixty rods to the small 
 
 creek, then down on the marshes, then turning round and running 
 up by the great ditch, then round to the left to the road. 
 
668 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Road, beginning at the County road near Benjamin Morrison's, and 
 running to the town road, near Robert Getchell's. 
 
 Road, where Burnt mill road connects with the County road lead- 
 ing to Berwick, then fifty-four rods over the bridge, then thirteen 
 rods to Jeremiah Storer's fence on the mill privilege ; the road three 
 rods wide. 
 
 Road from Jeremiah Littlefield's Landing, through Samuel Curtis' 
 field to the top of the hill, seventy-six rods, to the County road. 
 
 In 1805, the main road now traveled, called the turnpike, from 
 Wells to Kennebunk. 
 
 In 1807, road from Joshua Furbish's store, near Pelatiah Little- 
 field's, to the Neck at the sea, and the old road discontinued. 
 
 In 1810, the selectmen were directed to open the town way from 
 burnt mill to the town way leading to the Baptist meeting-house. 
 
 In 1811, the road on the eastern side of Mousam river, six rods wide, 
 was again opened. So, also, in 1813, the road from Ebenezer Co- 
 burn's and Joel Larrabee, jr.'s, by Thomas Jones', to the Alfred road. 
 In 1814, the road from Abial Kelly's, now Joseph Sargent's, to the 
 sea. 
 
 In 1814, a road was located, beginning at Bald Hill road, near 
 Capt. John Hatch's, and running to Oak Hill road. 
 
 In 1819, the road over Great Hill was opened. This ancient 
 traveled way about this time became the subject of much excitement 
 among parties interested in the use of it, and a great deal of testi- 
 mony was taken in regard to its boundaries. It was a part of the 
 only traveled way from the west to the eastern part of the Province, 
 during the first hundred years from the initiation of the settlement. 
 Travelers passed from the beach across the lower part of the hill, 
 the road at the eastern end turning round and running by and 
 near the Gillespie house, as it was then termed, which stood at the 
 end of the point of upland as it now remains, and thence turning 
 northeasterly it crossed the " Two Acres" to the bathing beach. The 
 house built by Dr. Sawyer stood on the Hill near this road, and was 
 afterward occupied by John Burks. In various deeds and instru- 
 ments it is called the Burks house. The Gillespie house previously, 
 we think, was the house of Nathaniel Spinney, which had been built 
 on the site of the John Webber house, a little below the present 
 public house of Owen Wentworth, and was from thence moved down 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. G69 
 
 to the Neck, as the Point was then called. Here Spinney lived 
 when the Mousam river canal was opened. He was an eccentric 
 character, taking advantage of every opportunity to manifest it. Soon 
 after his house was located here, a large whale came on shore near 
 Boothby's house. The jaw bones were secured by him and put up 
 before his front door, where they remained many years, in order that 
 every person who called to see him might be able to say that he 
 had been in the jaws of a whale. 
 
 Another house, which we suppose to have been the first, was built 
 on this point by Ephraim Poke. The ancients thought that this was 
 identical with the Burks house. It may have been so. But if so, 
 Burks occupied it before Sawyer. Poke was one of the Scotch Irish, 
 and the Neck derived its name from him. From what reason, the 
 writer does not know. He was always distinguished by the name of 
 Grandfather Poke, though we must infer that he was a young man, 
 from the fact that when he moved into this house in 1731, he had 
 just been married to Miss Margaret McLean. In attempting, a few 
 years afterward, to ford the river on horseback, when the tide was 
 higher than he had supposed, he and his horse were drowned. 
 
 The subject of roads has always been one of deep interest to the 
 town. Convenient passage-way from one's homestead to the various 
 places to which his business or pleasure might call him, has always 
 been and always will be, a ruling motive in the action of men. This 
 principle is so universal, and, withal so reasonable, that every wise 
 legislator or townsman should have made it an important question, 
 how it could be responded to to the greatest extent, and at the 
 same time the town or the State receive the least detriment. In the 
 days of the early settlement of the country, when lands were of so 
 little value, that one without money could locate himself almost any- 
 where, sites were selected for dwellings and convenient agricultural 
 labor, without regard to what others were doing, had done, or would 
 do in the course of time. They built their houses on hills, or on 
 necks projecting into the sea, or in valleys adjacent to intervales, and 
 made paths for their own convenience. These paths by use gradual- 
 ly acquired the character of roads, and other pioneers located 
 themselves in reference to a convenient use of them, and this custom 
 has prevailed with settlers in most of the old towns, even down to 
 the present time. So that the face of these towns is as unsym- 
 metrical as possible, exhibiting no order or beauty in the aspects 
 
670 HISTORY OF WELLS AOT> KENNEBUNK. 
 
 which human hands have given them. The town has suffered exceed- 
 ingly from this irregular growth. The burdens which it has imposed 
 have been on the increase from the time when the first tree was 
 felled. A single instance will exhibit the effects of this irregularity 
 on a large number of the inhabitants of York county. From Ken- 
 nebunk to Alfred, the most direct road would be over an entire plain. 
 No hill would intervene. Yet one man had established himself on 
 Taylor's Hill, another on the next, and their paths were made to give 
 them the most convenient passage to and from their dwellings. 
 When it became necessary to lay out a highway between the two 
 towns, an old-fashioned rumseller, who regarded himself as a public 
 benefactor in placing himself there to minister to the thirsty souls of 
 hard laboring teamsters who were working their way by him, had 
 built his shanty on one of these hills, and was there waiting to supply 
 them with the needed stimulus; and when the committee came on 
 about a hundred years ago, to locate a way between the interior and 
 the seaboard, this man urged and entreated them to take this route 
 up and down these hills, lest his benevolent business should be de- 
 stroyed, and the public deprived of his kind ministrations. The 
 commissioners yielded to his entreaties, and laid out the road now 
 traveled ; and, as a consequence, the people of this and the other 
 shore towns have been obliged, for a hundred years, to travel over 
 these long hills, and probably must continue to do so for a hundred 
 years to come. 
 
 While yet any,, of our towns or plantations are not so far settled 
 as to make the arrangement impracticable, the authorities should 
 exercise their wisdom in marking out the roads over them, crossing 
 each other at right angles, so that every settler in determining his 
 location, in seeking his convenience for travel, should so locate his 
 dwelling and other buildings as to have the best accommodation by 
 the highways thus established; and not find it necessary afterward 
 to ask the public to assume burdens which his own free choice has 
 caused. Our towns will then make some show of wisdom in their 
 organization, and at the same time give every needed facility to the 
 residents for intercourse with other places. The towns of Wells and 
 Kennebunk are cut up by roads leading in every direction, many of 
 which would have been entirely useless if a few appropriate ways 
 had been established earlier in the history of the town. 
 
 There does not appear to have been any uniform price for labor in 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 671 
 
 making or repairing roads. The rule for the year depended very 
 much on the persons present at the annual town meeting. Some 
 who had to pay money, it may well be presumed, would have the 
 price fixed, and the amount of money raised as low as possible. In 
 1771, the town voted not to repair the roads by a tax, intending that 
 every man should turn out and do his portion of the labor. In 1786, 
 two shillings a day were allowed for a yoke of oxen. In 1795, three 
 shillings a day for a man and two for oxen. In 1800, when business 
 was prosperous, it was voted to double the prices and allow a man 
 ten cents an hour, and six shillings a day for oxen. This continued 
 till 1815, when seven and a half cents an hour were allowed for a 
 man. 
 
 In 1786, to make the traveled road more definite, or the track 
 more uniform, the town voted that all sleds should be four feet wide. 
 This vote has been adhered to substantially to the present time. In 
 1801, a by-law was adopted that no horse or cattle should go at large 
 between the meeting-house, John Low's (now Mrs. Swan's), Joseph 
 Burnard's (now Daniel Curtis') and Durrell's bridge. This being a 
 by-law of the town it still remains in force ; the modifications of the 
 law by the Legislature not affecting any by-laws legally adopted by 
 the town. They can only be repealed by the action of the inhabi- 
 tants, at a town meeting legally called for the purpose. 
 
672 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Industry of the early settlers — Amusements — Dancing — Esquire 
 Brown's school— The first ball— Huskings— Card playing — Check- 
 ers — Keels and bowles — Costume. 
 
 In 'looking through our history from its commencement, the intel- 
 ligent and discriminating reader will perceive a marked distinction 
 between all the different generations which have followed each other 
 from that time. The first settlers were very ignorant men, having 
 neither time nor opportunity for mental culture. They had no books, 
 and, for many years, no schools. The knowledge of all, both young 
 and old, was such only as they acquired by experience. They knew 
 the needs of their cattle, and understood the means necessary to 
 meet them ; the use of the axe, the plow, the rake ; how and when 
 to plant their corn and grain, and when to harvest them ; how to 
 construct their boats, how to fish, how to load their guns, how to 
 prepare their tinder and strike their fire ; and how to do all things, in 
 doors and out, necessary to sustain life. But all of them in council 
 together, for days and months, could not have made the most 
 common article now in every house, and indispensable to domestic 
 life — the friction match. Modern improvements and conveniences 
 were so much beyond their conception, that one suddenly transferred 
 from 1660 to 1870, would almost feel that he had been transplanted 
 from earth to a higher state of being ; and in this respect he would 
 not be much mistaken. He would not know the use of innumerable 
 implements, domestic, agricultural, and mechanical, which w r ould 
 meet his eye at every step. 
 
 But we have already, in another chapter, spoken of the habits, 
 manners, customs, socialities, superstitions, knowledge, and life gen- 
 erally of these settlers, and their successors for more than a hundred 
 years. We propose now to give, as well as we can, an account of 
 life in Wells in all its aspects, in the later period through which our 
 history extends. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 673 
 
 We are inclined to the opinion that the intervening time between 
 the Revolutionary war and the embargo of 1807, was the most re- 
 markable for the industry of the people. The war had exhausted 
 whatever finances they possessed. Every man had been obliged to 
 do his utmost for the common cause in the way of contribution ; but 
 now an ambition to recover their lost position, to restore the wastes 
 of the seven years' neglect of farms, resulting from their absence in 
 the service, to re-surround themselves with the comforts of life, and 
 even acquire a pecuniary independence, found its way into almost 
 every heart. The people, male and female, were alive to the general 
 purpose of acquisition ; the first grand instrumentality for the accom- 
 plishment of that object was industry. This was the marked char- 
 acteristic of the day; every nerve and muscle was made to do its 
 appropriate work ; the housewife and the daughters were up long 
 before the sun, and each in her assigned sphere, was putting her skill 
 and power to the test, in compelling whatsoever her hands were upon 
 to come up to its full measure of work. They had no occasion to 
 paint the rose on the cheek ; it bloomed there from natural physical 
 culture. All the blandishments which now require even wearied 
 skill and labor, clustered about the person without the ministry of 
 female fingers, or female pride. Nature was the artificer of all that 
 the mother or daughter desired in this regard ; neither man nor woman 
 then complained that God's sun shone fifteen hours in a day, for the 
 labors of life. The thought of six or eight hours diligence in busi- 
 ness as all that life required, had not yet entered the minds of the 
 people ; the music of the spinning wheel, whirling at the rate of fifty 
 miles an hour, and chanting the beauties and praises of activity, 
 greeted every one who entered the threshold, with its cheering and 
 enlivening salutations. There was no time for family discord ; all 
 were in the height of enjoyment, in the rapid progress of their work. 
 We attempt occasionally to sketch or portray the domestic life of the 
 olden time ; but any description that we can give, is but a poor rep- 
 resentation of it. We have a dim recollection of it in our childish 
 days ; the music of a happy industry is still sounding in our ears, 
 from all parts of the house. The loud beatings of the loom ; the 
 dashing of the churn ; the whirl of the spinning wheel, with the 
 accompaniment of the merry song, are all yet fresh in our memory. 
 We will not attempt a description of it ; we may apply our utmost 
 skill in getting up the " old folks' concert," yet the best that we can 
 43 
 
674 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 do is but an invention of the imagination. The action of the age 
 cannot be brought back ; the music of ancient industry had charms 
 which cannot now be revived ; we must have the inspirations of 
 those days, if we would comprehend the enlivening activities of the 
 household. Females must renounce the frivolities of dress, and dive 
 with their whole soul into the work of the ancients, if they would 
 realize the satisfactions and joys of their domestic industry ; if they 
 would bring home to their own hearts the solid pleasures which the 
 wives and daughters of Dr. Hem men way, Mr. Little, Judge Wells, 
 Dr. Sawyer, and the solid farmers of the last century experienced, 
 when they presented to them their new clothing wrought out to 
 completion by their own hands. These leading men of that day 
 were proud of appearing before friends and the public in the home- 
 spun coat and trowsers. With a salary less than three hundred dol- 
 lars, what could these ministers have done without these ministering 
 angeh to provide for them? Industry was a habit of female life ; it 
 required resolution, sometimes, to bring it into subjection. There 
 was an old Mrs. Goodwin, living just beyond Kennebunk river, Avho 
 was accustomed frequently to walk to the village, and who always 
 took her knitting work with her, and plied her needles all the way 
 from her home to the stores ; she said it was not worth while to idle 
 away her time when she could work just as well as not. 
 
 But the habits of men were not less firm in the same direction ; 
 the sexes did not differ much in their ambition for an amelioration of 
 their condition. We suppose that one-half of the men had been 
 trained in the school of actual war; in the terrible conflict which 
 they had gone through, they had learned to baar labors and severities 
 of every character. Many of them had gone into the service at an 
 early age, and had thereby trained their constitutions to the endur- 
 ance of almost any amount of bodily exertion ; so that, to rise before 
 the sun, and work till darkness forbade prolongation of labor, re- 
 quired no extraordinary resolution. There w r as now nothing in the 
 way of activity and enterprise ; the mills were being driven with the 
 utmost speed, all around the axe w T as being laid to the root of the 
 tree. The ship-yards were scenes of bustle ; and all manifested the 
 intense desire of retrieving their condition before the war, and availed 
 themselves of the means to that end. Thence industry and frugality 
 were the watchwords of the hour ; to carry on a work of any kind, 
 the laborer must have his rations of liquor ; out of his bed before 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 675 
 
 sunrise, he must have his sling of rum and molasses before proceed- 
 ing to his work ; at ten o'clock, and at three in the afternoon, he 
 must have his grog. Without these ministrations there was no work ; 
 if the employer failed to furnish the stimulus, he could not have the 
 labor ; in fact, no one thought of securing it, without making proper 
 provision of this kind. The grog was regarded by all as the effect- 
 ual agency for labor; bone and muscle without it were thought to 
 be unfit for any heavy work. With most laborers, the regular supply 
 was all that was necessary for the day; but some few were just as 
 regular in supplying themselves with extra glasses. 
 
 Still, exhaustion seldom followed the close of the day's work ; in 
 the evening, in doors and out. all was cheery ; the men would gather 
 together, generally out of doors, and would amuse themselves with 
 the songs, not remarkable for their poetic beauty, or high-toned mo- 
 rality, which were sung one after another, in the old-fashioned melo- 
 dy ; or by the rehearsal of some story, generally accompanied with 
 some gesticulation, to give it effect. We are of the impression that 
 the day's work, on the whole, brought to these industrious men fully 
 as much good cheer as comes to the workmen of the present day. 
 In this account we have had in view principally the workmen in the 
 ship-yard, in which we were accustomed to spend so much time in 
 our youthful days. 
 
 In the house, the evenings were not less fruitful of enjoyment ; 
 the mother would generally protract her labors into the evening 
 hours. The knitting work would be seized upon ; but this was re- 
 garded as a recreation, rather than a labor. The girls were at liberty 
 for the dance, the play, or the romp. The games of these years were 
 few ; the inventive powers of the race had not then been turned in 
 that direction. Bat and ball, cricket, firing at a mark, gunning, skat- 
 ing, sliding down hill, were about all the out-door amusements of the 
 age. But the dance is an institution which has never lacked friends; 
 young and old alike have had their part in it. The contra dance, 
 the waltz, cotillion, and polka had not come into vogue in the early 
 part of the period of which we are speaking; the dancing propensi- 
 ties of the people previously to the war were exhibited in the lively 
 Scotch reel. Esq. Brown, as he was always called, came to Wells in 
 1784; he was an active, energetic man, full of life and merriment;, 
 and being disposed to infuse life and animation into the hearts of the 
 people, he got up the ball. Dancing had before been confined to 
 
676 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 private houses, and of course but a small number could participate ; 
 the ball was to be more comprehensive ; people from far and near 
 were invited to share in its joys. It now became an important in- 
 stitution ; one was holden every fortnight, and all had the liberty of 
 attending. The contra dance was introduced as the general exercise 
 and amusement of the evening ; the cotillion was a subsequent addi- 
 tion, not used till within the present century. The British hornpipe 
 may have been previously in use, but we have no record or tradition 
 to that effect; the French rigadoon and German waltz soon followed 
 the contra dance ; the Hungarian polka did not come into the cata- 
 logue of dances until after 1820. Balls during this period commend- 
 ed themselves to the almost universal public sentiment ; parents vied 
 with each other in dressing their daughters for these interesting 
 occasions ; and young men felt the importance of cultivating such a 
 demeanor and acquiring such graces of manner, and so familiarizing 
 themselves with the punctilio of fashionable life, as to be sought as 
 the partners of the most fashionable and polished females. Much of 
 the courtly amenity, courteous suavity, easy and attractive carriage 
 of the gentlemen of the old school, was learned and acquired in the 
 associations of the ball-room. Vulgarity found no countenance 
 among the attendants of these amusements. 
 
 But the institution, as then conducted, was not without its ten- 
 dency to demoralization. The customs of social life were pressed 
 beyond a safe and reasonable limit. Wines and liquors of the var- 
 ious kinds then in use were an indispensable part of the provisions 
 for these occasions. Politeness required at the close of every dance 
 that the wine-glass should be presented to the lady partner; and the 
 thirst engendered by the exercise must be ministered to by all en- 
 gaged in it. The result was, that in continuing the entertainment to 
 a late hour in the night, some of the assembly were in a condition 
 not very creditable to one made in the image of the Infinite. The 
 closing up of these popular amusements did not improve until many 
 years afterward. While the love of, and fellowship with, intoxicat- 
 ing liquors were gaining strength in the community, the ball-room 
 indulgences kept pace with it. So that it became at least doubtful 
 whether the morale of those dancing assemblies was what every good 
 citizen should wish. This exhibition of their effects and dangerous 
 tendencies, led the church of the First Parish to take the matter in- 
 to consideration, and May 1, 1811, they " voted that we will bear 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 677 
 
 testimony against the practice of attending balls." But the people 
 generally have never concurred in this expression. The abuse of 
 the amusement was condemned, rather than the amusement itself. 
 This abuse was sustained by the customs of society. When the doc- 
 trine of total abstinence was accepted by the public, the dangers of 
 the ball room were materially obviated. Ardent spirit ceased to be 
 an element in the preparation made for them. We suppose that the 
 man who should now attempt to introduce any of the old stimulants 
 into the ball room would have but little respect from the company. 
 
 As the dancing school has never been one of our public institu- 
 tions, we have no sure resort to obtain the knowledge of its intro- 
 duction in Wells. The first of which we have any account was kept 
 in the winter of 1798. From that period they have been very fre- 
 quent. Children at an early age have had the benefit of them. 
 Scholars have attended from all parts of the town, and the associa- 
 tions to which they have been inducted have led to many of those 
 marriages, whose results have been so auspicious to the parties as 
 well as to the public. 
 
 But our predecessors at this period were accustomed to make most 
 of life's labors matters of enjoyment. Some of them specially so. 
 The husking was almost as captivating as the ball. Much larger 
 crops of corn were then raised than at the present day. Several 
 failures in the seasons, years ago, discouraged farmers from much re- 
 liance on this crop. The rapid settlement of the Great West so in- 
 creased the supply, and thence diminished the price, that it became 
 more profitable for farmers in this section of the country to turn 
 their attention to other products. The large crops of former years 
 made the husking assembly a very beneficent institution. The mass 
 of corn sometimes gathered into the barn would have been appalling 
 without it. Every preparation was made for the important occasion. 
 Pumpkins were baked, pies in .abundance prepared, and the men and 
 women of the neighborhood, with the young men and maidens, were 
 invited to join in the activities and festivities of the evening. Never 
 did they come together in greater glee or with hearts in better mood 
 for enjoyment. We may talk of the interest and excitements of the 
 levees of modern times, and of the magnificent displays and entice- 
 ments of the tables, overburdened with nuts, almonds, figs, raisins 
 and fruits of every clime, jams, jellies, julips, sweetmeats, mints, cakes 
 of all descriptions, and the et cetera which make up the parade oa 
 
678 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 these occasions; but the anticipations and realizations, we believe, 
 do not take hold of the heart as did those of these evening gather- 
 ings in the olden time. Men and women were not then overburdened 
 with the cares of life. Such was the limited province of their daily 
 labors, that they were not troubled about the results of business com- 
 plications or the safety of stocks, bonds or notes. Their farms, cattle 
 and dairies having been attended to, the work of the loom and spin- 
 ning wheel well done, they were ready with their whole souls for 
 any sport that could be got up. The restraints of modern refine- 
 ment had no place here. The work went on. Stories were told, 
 songs sung, and merry jokes passed ; and occasionally toward the close 
 of the work, the plump and rosy cheek received that tribute for 
 which Providence designed it, and which it so well merited ; the coy- 
 ness and bashfulness of that age seldom interposing any objec- 
 tions to its full fruition. 
 
 After the work of the husking had been accomplished, all resorted 
 to the house, where they partook, with good appetites, of the abun- 
 dance which had been prepared for the occasion; closing up the 
 whole entertainment by the four-handed reel, led by the music of 
 the fiddle, the only instrument then in use for the direction of the 
 dance. While we are sure that these gatherings were valuable aids 
 in the routine of the firmer, we are very confident that no immorali- 
 ty had a part in them. The neighbors separated and went home in 
 good humor, feeling that they had done a good work, while at the 
 same time, the hours had been spent in jollity and frolic. 
 
 Among the amusements which have had their day in Wells, we 
 think card-playing is the oldest. This was probably introduced here 
 by the first settlers. John Cousins was indicted for playing cards on 
 Sunday in 1667, on the complaint of one William Haynes, though 
 the jury found him not guilty. This game has maintained its place 
 in society through all the years of our history ; sometimes being the 
 principal amusement of the evening, and keeping that position for 
 years ; then losing its interest and for a long period seldom resorted 
 to; then coming again into use, and so continuing, perhaps, for a 
 generation, and again losing its attraction. In the period of which 
 we are speaking it was a very common pastime of the evening. The 
 men of business were accustomed to meet at the neighboring houses 
 for the enjoyment. The game of checkers was also one of the co- 
 temporary amusements. Backgammon, we think, was not known 
 ere until within the present century. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 679 
 
 In ancient times another game was in use, of the character of 
 which we have no knowledge. It bore the name of Keeles and 
 Bowles, but we have been unable to find the explanation of it. It 
 may have been the ancient designation of bowling. It was resorted 
 to in the days of the Indian wars ; when one would suppose that 
 men, shut up in the garrisons for years, would be permitted to avail 
 themselves of any amusement which could wear away the weary 
 hours of their imprisonment. But no one was allowed to enjoy it 
 or have the benefit of it without license. Even John Wheelright 
 and Joseph Storer, the leading defenders of the town against the 
 savages, spending their property and time in this good work, were 
 indicted for keeping Keeles and Bowles at their houses in the worst 
 stages of the war in 1693, when their garrisons were crow r ded with 
 men and women, taken off from their work and obliged to spend 
 their days in the weariness of idleness. If this game represents that 
 of the bowling alley, it lost its prestige for several generations, not 
 recovering its place until the war of 1812, when it was again revived 
 in Wells. 
 
 No other amusements, as historical, occur to our mind. There 
 were up to this time but few books in the town, and only two or 
 three newspapers taken. The novel had yet no place in our litera- 
 ture, so that the evening enjoyments were found principally in the 
 stories told by the father or mother, in riddles or songs which people 
 more readily learned in those days than at the present, when so much 
 and such various matter crowds upon the intellect. 
 
 We suppose that the great conflict for independence, though ex- 
 tremely burdensome and distressing to the people, was yet produc- 
 tive of much good. Some useful lessons were taught by it. Not 
 only could there have been little tendency to anything like extrava- 
 gance in the general management of households, for few had the 
 means for any such folly, but some profitless and unnecessary cus- 
 toms even lost their hold on the public mind from the deprivations 
 which all experienced. Few people had the ability to make the 
 parade at funerals so general before the war, and, in consequence, the 
 unreasonable and inconsistent expense for these occasions ceased to 
 be incurred. While the incentives to industry were so great, mo- 
 tives to frugality were not less urgent. The war taught them the 
 habit of saving, and the simple diet to which the people were forced 
 during its pendency, was continued many years afterward. As a 
 
680 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 general postulate, we think, we may affirm that the farm furnished 
 almost the entire edibles of the family. It has always been said 
 that the people of Wells lived much on hasty pudding. This, we 
 know, was a very general article of food. Some of the leaders in 
 social life were well satisfied with this provision for their tables. 
 Dr. Palfrey, in his History of New England, says that " baked beans 
 and indian pudding was almost the universal dinner for Sunday." 
 We have been unable to trace this custom more than a century 
 back, but we know that it has long prevailed in Wells, and have no 
 doubt that it was coeval with the first settlement. The custom was 
 a Christian one, designed to give all opportunity to attend public 
 worship on Sunday. Salt fish on Saturday was also the dinner uni- 
 versal. This last, not being based on any such necessity, has failed 
 to retain favor in modern times. Tea and coffee now began to be 
 used freely by all, and so continued till the war of 1812, when they 
 were abandoned by many families, and children began to be edu- 
 cated to the use of cold water, which many now prefer to either of 
 these articles. The horrors of war are not* without alleviating in- 
 fluences. Probably the whole cost of that struggle, in a material 
 view, has been more than paid by this change in the domestic econo- 
 my of the country. 
 
 The costume of females was generally of domestic manufacture. 
 The girls clothed themselves from the work of their own hands. 
 Ginghams were most commonly worn, though pressed woolens were 
 frequently a part of the wardrobe. It was seldom that a girl was 
 seen dressed in silk. Some of the prosperous heads of families ap- 
 peared in the magnificent brocade furnished by the loving husband, 
 who was not willing that his wife should be behind any of her 
 neighbors in the adornment of her person. These dresses were sel- 
 dom worn, and were objects of special care, so that they have come 
 down even to the present day in a state of good preservation. 
 Many a young lady of fashionable life has appeared to great advan- 
 tage in the rich and costly habiliments of her grandmother; but 
 these vestures were the exceptions to the general rule. It would do 
 one good to go back nearly a century and enjoy for a while the in- 
 tercourse of families where the skill and taste of young ladies were 
 manifested in neat and comfortable dresses, entirely the work of 
 their own hands. There would be more early marriages if those 
 days could again dawn upon the people, and more happy homes. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 681 
 
 But what can Ave say of the boys? They were then generally 
 given over to nature, permitted to go where, and do as, they pleased. 
 In the enjoyment of this liberty it was matter of little importance 
 what were their vestments. Their recreations were such that their 
 garments were in continual peril. The cheapest suits met all their 
 wants. Climbing trees and fences, wrestling, fishing, and the like 
 sports of entire freedom, then as now, made sad havoc with jacket 
 and trousers. Strength of texture was the u main point" in the se- 
 lection of the materials. As we have stated in another place, leath- 
 er trousers were very common for boys. But as a general rule, 
 economy was the order of the house, and all had to be satisfied with 
 garments of home-made cloth. The author very Avell remembers 
 that he had no other than a homespun coat till he had been two 
 years in college, when he was invested with what was termed a 
 "boughten one," and he imagines that he was as happy in his earlier 
 outfit as he was in this. The smaller boys were clothed almost en- 
 tirely in the cast-off* garments of their fathers or elder brothers. 
 Young children were not accustomed to wear shoes or stockings 
 during the warm season. This remark is true of rich and poor. 
 Within the present century, boys and girls living in the outskirts, 
 would start from home on Sunday with their shoes and stockings in 
 their hands, and not until they were coming into the village, did 
 they stop to put them on. The habit, we think, was more from the 
 pleasure of traveling barefoot on the part of the children, than from 
 any economical impulses on the part of parents. These were the 
 days when boys and girls were trained for the labors of life; when 
 constitutions were built up impregnable to the necessities, exj)osures, 
 and labors which all humanity must meet. 
 
 This general frugality, in connection with the habits of the people, 
 saved the town almost entirely from the burden of pauperism. Pre- 
 viously to the present century, it was never deemed necessary to 
 raise money specially for the support of the poor. We have in a 
 former chapter mentioned one or two cases where, by misfortune, 
 persons had become chargeable; but until within this century the 
 burden on the town from this cause had been very light. Pauper- 
 ism is, to a great extent, the legitimate result of the extravagance 
 and free living of the people generally. The example of those who 
 are abundantly able to provide for themselves all the comforts and 
 even luxuries of life incites others, who are not able, to imitate them 
 
682 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 in their expenditures. Every family seeks to appear as well as its 
 neighbors. This ambition is an instinct of the race. Many thus 
 live beyond their income, and thereby, when some unpropitious 
 event transpires, fall into poverty and distress. Men of large wealth 
 think little of the effect of their example on the community in 
 which they live. The town of Wells had but little property at the 
 time of which we are now speaking. Nearly all the inhabitants 
 lived on a very moderate income, and pauperism was almost un- 
 known. In 1767, Mehitable Danforth fell into distress and in need 
 of assistance. If there were any others supported by the town, the 
 fact has escaped our observation. So that in 1800, only one thou- 
 sand dollars was raised for all town expenses, excepting highways 
 and schools. At this time the whole population was about 4,000. 
 But business now began to be prosperous, men enlarged their opera- 
 tions, and thus, increasing in wealth, began to adopt a more expen- 
 sive mode of life. Tables were now liberally furnished. The cup- 
 board was supplied with the best of liquors. Others, whose income 
 would not allow it, felt the impulse to keep pace with their more 
 fortunate neighbors in their enjoyments, hospitalities, civilities, and 
 dress. Thousands of hogsheads of rum, gin, brandy, etc., were 
 brought into the Port every year, and thus drunkenness, another 
 fruitful source of poverty, began to prevail extensively among the 
 inhabitants. The expenses of life with many soon exceeded their 
 receipts. The husband died, or by some accident was incapacitated 
 for labor, and pauperism of the family ensued. We have not been 
 able to trace this evil by statistics, but at the time of the division, 
 the bill for the support of the poor in each town constituted a no in- 
 considerable item of its expenses. So few people had fallen into 
 such distress as to need assistance from the town, that when misfor- 
 tune to that extent came to one, he felt so humbled by the adversity, 
 that he must needs make some apology for it. The following letter 
 to the overseers of the poor will perhaps interest our readers : 
 
 " Bowdoin, May 21, 1806. Gentlemen. I cannot express to you 
 the sorrow I feel that I have at last unfortunately become trouble- 
 some to my native town ; but accumulated sorrows continue to 
 break on my devoted head, and I endeavor, as w r ell as I can, to rec- 
 oncile my mind to God's Providence, and hope through the strength 
 of God's Holy Spirit I shall at last come off victorious, although 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBFJNK. 683 
 
 death should dissolve the body. Since I left the town of Wells, 
 misfortunes have caused me to make several removals, and according 
 to the best of my information I am still considered a lawful inhabit- 
 ant of that town. About a year since I expect I received a wound 
 incurable. When I thought all was well evil was nigh at hand, for 
 a tree was accidentally thrown upon me, and when apparently dead 
 I was unexpectedly restored to life. At present I have no other 
 earthly refuge but the laws of the land. Downing Goodwin." 
 
 Among the charges of Bowdoin for his support from March 14th 
 to May 30th were, every week, two quarts of brandy, or nearly six 
 gallons in the whole, and three gallons and a quart of rum. 
 
684 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Death of Washington — Services at the churches — Fourth of July 
 celebrations at kennebunk— dinner to hon. cyrus klng— recep- 
 TION of President Monroe. 
 
 There are some occasions in the progress of time, interesting to 
 the inhabitants of a town, which cannot be classed with any of the 
 usual themes that make up the chapters of its history, and on that 
 account have not usually had a place in such works. But they are 
 sometimes of value and even of deep interest to the existing popula- 
 tion, as showing the changes wrought by the lapse of years, in the 
 opinions of men, the usages of life, and in the characters of those 
 who had a part in them. We propose, therefore, to giye a brief 
 account of such events as at the time appear to have excited the 
 special attention of the inhabitants. 
 
 The Revolutionary war brought news daily to the ears of the 
 people, sometimes of a joyous, and at other times of a sad import. 
 The latter was regarded by many good men as a judgment, and 
 people gathered together in the house of God for a fast. When any 
 brilliant success was achieved, the occasion was seized upon as one 
 for rejoicing. The sorrowful was seldom specially noticed. But the 
 great event which came home to all hearts, was the death of 
 Washington, in 1799. This event was duly noticed by the people 
 throughout the United States. Every town made some manifesta- 
 tions of grief in assembling for eulogy, oration, and prayer. The 
 people of Wells gathered together at the First Parish church, where 
 services befitting the occasion were performed by Dr. Hemmenway 
 and Elder Eaton. The former delivered an address which was pub- 
 lished. These services took hold of the feelings of the people, and 
 had the uncommon effect of inspiring them with the desire of rend- 
 ering to their pastors some appropriate reward, which was developed 
 in a subscription paper, as follows : " We, the subscribers, being 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 685 
 
 impressed with a patriotic sentiment and a sincere desire to encour- 
 age and reward the virtuous performances of every class of citizens, 
 so far as our abilities may permit, do with cheerfulness contribute 
 the small sums placed against each of our names, for the special pur- 
 poses of procuring two good suits of superfine black broadcloth, and 
 trimmings for the same. One of which to be presented to Rev. Dr. 
 Moses Hemmenway, and the other to Rev. Mr. Joseph Eaton, by 
 our committee that may hereafter be appointed to carry our said 
 wishes into effect. Requesting each of them to aceept it as a token 
 of our respect for their sublime services when convened with our 
 fellow citizens on the 22d of February last to express our heartfelt 
 sorrow for the death of Gen. George Washington." The amount 
 required was raised, and the committee chosen for the purpose car- 
 ried out the object of the subscription. The coats were made by 
 Stephen Tucker, of Kennebunk, for each of which the charge was 
 16s. 6d. The materials for Hemmenway's were $20.33 ; for Eaton's, 
 $20.30. It is well for ministers to be assured that their public ser- 
 vices are acceptable ; but whether an expression of the public feeling 
 in this mode is wise, we think, admits of some question. 
 
 In the Second Parish more extensive preparations were made for 
 the solemnization. The pulpit was draped with mourning, and a 
 large urn, four or five feet in height, was placed in the deacon's seat 
 in front, and covered with black broadcloth. It was continued there 
 a long while, and then transferred to the attic, where it remained 
 many years. At the time of the celebration all the little girls were 
 dressed in white, with a black belt round the waist, on which was 
 inscribed in large letters, " Washington." Some of the ladies also 
 had similar belts rpund their muffs. All marched in procession to 
 the meeting-house, where an eulogy was pronounced. 
 
 We suppose that the Fourth of July may have been commemor- 
 ated in Wells in some of the years of the last century. But we 
 have been unable to find any record or memoranda of such a cele- 
 bration. In 1803, great preparations were made for the occasion. 
 The people of Arundel united in the arrangements, and " all around 
 who felt glowing in their bosoms true patriotism and a love of 
 country," were invited to take part in it. All assembled at the hotel 
 of Major William Jefferds, in Kennebunk, and marched to the meet- 
 ing house, where, after prayer, an original hymn was sung. This was 
 
686 HISTORY OF WELLS AKD KENNEBUNK. 
 
 followed by an oration by Dr. Samuel Emerson, and an ode by 
 Stephen Sewall. The oration and ode were published. The former 
 we have not at hand. The ode we have in our possession. The last 
 verse is as follows : 
 
 " But where is the Hero, our Sire, Guardian Head, 
 In wisdom unrivalled, in arms all victorious! 
 Are his counsels forgotten ! He, lost with the dead! 
 And perished his deeds, so transcendently g'.orious? 
 No, our heart is his tomh, 
 There his virtues shall bloom, 
 Till the last trumpet sound, and creation consume. 
 For he was the angel sent down from high heaven, 
 With the Charter of Rights by Omnipotence given." 
 
 After these public services, the procession returned to the hotel, 
 where a large number partook of one of the substantial dinners of 
 the olden time. The toasts drank on the occasion have been taken 
 care of by oblivion, and are beyond our reach. We suppose that it 
 was the crowd gathered on this occasion in the newly finished meet- 
 ing-house, that led to the adoption of the vote of the Parish, that no 
 orations should be delivered in it. 
 
 The day was also celebrated in 1809. Jacob Fisher having pre- 
 viously been chosen president, and Capt. Nathaniel Frost, marshal, a 
 procession was formed at Jeffcrd's hotel, and marched " to the meet- 
 ing-house, led by a band of music. 5 ' Prayer was offered by Mr. 
 Fletcher, " and an oration delivered by Joseph Dane, Esq., which for 
 elegance of diction, richness of metaphor, and correctness of senti- 
 ment, was unrivalled by few compositions of the kind." 
 
 The following were some of the toasts drank on the occasion : 
 
 Fourth of July, 1776. And the people said, let there be Inde- 
 pendence, and it was so. Yankee Doodle. 
 
 James Madison. President of all the United States. 
 
 Song, Jove in his chair. 
 
 Embargo Policy. It cuts down the tree to kill the caterpillars. 
 
 Downfall of Paris. 
 
 Great Britain. A speedy and honorable treaty. No splitting on 
 " Point no point." British Grenadiers. 
 
 Beauty, Bravery, and Bumpers. Rural Felicity. 
 
 By the President. False patriots and street spouters. They have 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 687 
 
 yet to learn that " in cooking a calf's head, the brains and tongue 
 ought to go together." 
 
 By Col. Mitchell. When insulted, every citizen a soldier, and 
 every soldier a citizen. 
 
 By Mr. Michael Wise. Old Wells, always on duty. 
 
 By Dr. Emerson. Dr. Osgood, the only Christian who dared com 
 bat Apollyon. 
 
 " The hall was hung with green boughs, and much taste was dis- 
 played in the decoration of the tables." The music was under the 
 direction of Dr. Emerson. 
 
 In 1811, the day was celebrated by the Federalists. Hon. Na- 
 thaniel Wells was president of the day, and Geo. W. Wallingford, 
 vice-president. The American flags were displayed in several places, 
 and guns fired. As in 1803, Dr. Emerson delivered the oration, 
 which was published. A large company partook of dinner at Jeff- 
 erd's hotel, where an original hymn, by Stephen Sewall, was sung. 
 Some few of the toasts drank on this occasion may interest our 
 readers. 
 
 The Commonwealth. She was strong like Samson; her head is 
 now in the lap of Delilah. 
 
 Democratic love of country. Keep what they get, catch what they 
 can, whether by right or by wrong. 
 
 The American Navy. Seventy-fours for Prebles; dry-docks and 
 gunboats for land-lubbers. 
 
 Christopher Gore. Slander dares not wag its tongue at him. 
 
 By Judge Wells. May all join us as one, rejecting every thing 
 tending to destroy the independence which we this day celebrate. 
 
 May all unite in the expulsion of malevolence, and in cultivating 
 a benevolent temper and disposition of mind towards political and 
 all other enemies, as well as friends. 
 
 May we candidly communicate the reasons on which our opinions 
 are founded, and kindly receive similar communications from others. 
 
 May all act agreeably to the dictates of their understanding ; seek 
 
688 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 for truth as for silver, search for it as for gold, and embrace it with 
 delight. 
 
 At this most important crisis, let all unite in adopting and pursuing 
 such measures as are best calculated to promote the interest, the 
 honor, the prosperity, the glory, and happiness of the United States. 
 
 By Eliphalet Perkins, Esq. The town of Wells: may it continue 
 firm in Federal principles. 
 
 In 1814, the day was noticed by a party to the sea, where an awn- 
 ing was spread, toasts drank, and amusements indulged in according 
 to the tastes of the company. The parties on their return were taken 
 charge of and escorted from the Landing by the juvenile company, 
 under command of John Frost, to Washington Hall, where they 
 separated. 
 
 One of the most interesting occasions in the history of the town 
 was the public dinner to Hon. Cyrus King, on the 12th day of May, 
 1814. He was then the representative in Congress, having been 
 elected by a large majority over Richard Cutts. Wells gave six 
 hundred and twenty-two votes for King, and forty-one for Cutts. He 
 had been very prominent in debate in Congress, making some strong 
 speeches against the President and his administration, which were 
 highly satisfactory to the leaders of his party, and the dinner was 
 tendered to him as a manifestation of their high appreciation of his 
 services. It was provided at Jefferd's Hotel, in his best style ; Jacob 
 Fisher presided at the table. Samuel Emerson, Eliphalet Perkins, 
 and John U. Parsons, were vice-presidents. Many toasts were pro- 
 posed, but as none were remarkable for wit or pungency, we quote 
 only the following : 
 
 Gov. Strong. The bulwark of our constitution. 
 
 Our Army. Gen. Dearborn, unfit for service ; Gen. Wilkinson, 
 Hull'd in storming a gristmill. 
 
 Remarks were made and sentiments given by King, Judge Thatch- 
 er, Judge Wells, Thomas Perkins, Esq., John Low, and others. At 
 this time some of the people had been experimenting with merino 
 sheep, just introduced here. Among others, Joseph Thomas had been 
 testing their value ; but his experience had been very unfavorable. Be- 
 ing urged repeatedly for a toast, he replied, "Well, if I must, I must; I 
 give you, ' Free trade and sailors' rights ; but damn the merinos.' " 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 689 
 
 During the presidency of Monroe, party spirit, the most unwhol- 
 some element of our civil life, was nearly put to rest, and all were 
 ready to unite in rendering to the chief magistrate the honor due to 
 him, and to the office which he so satisfactorily filled. In the year 
 1817, he made a visit to the Eastern States, intending to go as far 
 as Portland ; Weils and Arundel united in making preparation for 
 his reception at Kennebunk. A meeting was holden at Washington 
 Hall on the 23d of June for the purpose, and Joseph Dane, Henry 
 Clark, George W. Wallingford, Simon Nowell, Horace Porter, John 
 U. Parsons, Joseph Storer, Samuel Curtis, jr., and George Wheel- 
 right, were chosen a committee to make the necessary arrangements. 
 The cavalry, under the command of Capt. Elisha Chadbourne, and 
 the field staff, and platoon officers of the fourth regiment, on horse- 
 back and in uniform, were ordered out for the escort. Major John 
 Frost, Barnabas Palmer, Edward E. Bourne, and John G. Perkins 
 were appointed marshals. On the 16th of July the President was 
 met in Wells Village by the committee of arrangements, where he 
 was introduced to the chairman ; after a brief delay, he proceeded 
 under the escort of two companies of cavalry, and of the division 
 and brigade officers, followed by a large number of people in car- 
 riages and on horseback. His approach to Kennebunk was an- 
 nounced by the discharge of cannon and the ringing of the bell. 
 The procession reached Jeffords' Hotel about noon ; the street was 
 filled with the multitude of old and young. The company here took 
 refreshments ; after which the President was addressed by George 
 W. Wallingford, Esq., as follows : 
 
 "The committee designated by the inhabitants of Kennebunk and 
 its vicinity, bid you welcome to Maine, and particularly to that part 
 of it in which they reside. The novel spectacle of seeing among 
 them the chief magistrate of the Union, excites sensations of no 
 ordinary class ; and equally evincive of their strong attachment to 
 the government of their choice, and of their high respect for the 
 man who has been called by the voluntary suffrages of the people to 
 preside over its destinies. 
 
 In this visit, sir, our citizens discern your paternal solicitude to 
 make yourself acquainted with the various sections of the country 
 and the people who inhabit them, and we are charged to assure you 
 that they have a deep interest in the progress and happy termination 
 of your journey. 
 44 
 
690 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTTNK. 
 
 We congratulate you, sir, upon the present peaceful state of our 
 country, and that your administration of the government commences 
 under circumstances so pleasant to yourself and auspicious to them ; 
 and we assure you that our citizens have the fullest confidence that 
 the best interests of the people will be promoted; and their prayers 
 to heaven are, that at some future period, when you shall retire from 
 your present elevated position, you may receive the acclamations of 
 the whole people made happy, under an administration marked for 
 its wisdom, its mildness and spirit of conciliation." 
 
 To which the President made a very long and interesting reply, 
 speaking of the great benefits resulting to the country from concilia- 
 tion and unity, and of the great satisfaction which he found in the 
 assurances of those whom he had met, that he had been in any way 
 instrumental in producing this happy state of things ; that we were 
 bound together as one community, and that nothing but disunion 
 would prevent us from attaining the highest eminence as a nation. 
 That a perfect union among the people had been and would continue 
 to be the highest desire of his heart. 
 
 At the special invitation of Hon. Joseph Storer, he made a short 
 visit to his house. His accomplished wife, well versed in the fash- 
 ionable etiquette of high rank, had spread her table, adorned with re- 
 freshments, prepared and set out in her best style. After partaking 
 of her splendid hospitality, he returned to the street, his carriage hav- 
 ing been diiven beyond the meeting-house, in order that all the peo- 
 ple might have opportunity of seeing him as he was on his way to it. 
 The bridge was very tastefully decorated by arches thrown across, 
 covered with evergreen, and ornamented with flowers which the 
 ladies had gathered from their gardens. Flags also were displayed 
 all along the street. Multitudes of inen, women and children had 
 •gathered to see the President. They arranged themselves in rows 
 •on each side of the street, extending as far as the carriage, so that 
 each had a fair opportunity of gratifying his or her curiosity. Hav- 
 ing passed through the spectators he entered his carriage, and 
 slowly passed on, cheered by the shouts and hurrahs of the multi- 
 tudes. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 691 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Prosperity of the town — Newspapers established — "Annals of the 
 Times"— u The Kennebunk Gazette "— " The Weekly Visitor "—The 
 Wells social library— The Kennebunk Fire Society— Engine pur* 
 chased. 
 
 From 1790 to the embargo in 1807 we must regard as the palmy 
 period of the town's history. The people were animated with the 
 assurances of progress, and a general impression prevailed that the 
 villages of Kennebunk and Wells were destined to a rapid growth. 
 The ideas of some of the inhabitants were chimerical to the last de- 
 gree. In 1803, Joseph Gillpatrick advertises his house for sale, 
 standing at the junction of the Branch and Harrysicket roads, where 
 the house of the French Acadians stood, and recommends the loca- 
 tion as " a most convenient stand for business, and suitable either 
 for an Inholder, Retailer, or almost any other occupation whatever." 
 
 The general aspect of business affairs was, without doubt, highly 
 encouraging to the inhabitants, and attractive to others seeking a 
 settlement. This prospective advancement was one of the incen- 
 tives to the enlargement of the meeting-house in Kennebunk, with 
 the building of a steeple and the procurement of a bell of very re- 
 spectable size. It also induced the establishment of a newspaper 
 press. In 1803, Stephen Sewall commenced the publication of the 
 "Annals of the Times." The first number was issued Jan. 13th, 
 bearing the motto, " Illumed by truth's refulgent ray, Reason shall 
 guide and justice sway." The terms were $1.50 per annum. It 
 seems to have started under very favorable auspices, so far as regard- 
 ed the patronage of advertisers. Many persons in Portsmouth ad- 
 vertised their goods in its columns, and also a respectable number in 
 Wells and other towns in the county. The paper of Feb. 10th con- 
 tains a long advertisement of Edward Parry, of his stock of dry 
 goods in his store on Congress street. Two of C. Pierce, of his 
 books and stationery, on Buck street; of Brierly, of his dry goods, 
 
692 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 on Broad street ; of Joseph and Joshua Haven, of their fall and 
 winter goods, on Court street ; another of C. Pierce, of tickets in 
 the South Hadley Lottery; Tobias Lord, jr., of Kennebunk, of "a 
 few hhds. of excellent flavoured Tobago and St. Croix Rum by hhd. 
 and bbl. for cash or approved credit;" of Phineas Hemmingway, of 
 his new house and barn and excellent well, near the meeting-house ; 
 of Joseph Porter, for a smart, active lad as an apprentice to the tin- 
 man's business, with an " N. B. — A few barrels excellent Cyder still 
 remaining on hand ; " of Hale Wait, for an apprentice at the shoe- 
 making business about the age of 14 years; of Phineas Cole, who 
 says he is about to remove, for his debtors to settle their accounts ; 
 of Nathan Morse, of Arundel, of a similar character; a list of let- 
 ters remaining in the post-office, Kennebunk, and two advertisements 
 of the printer, of a long list of books for sale at his office. But the 
 subscription patronage was insufficient to sustain it. It was contin- 
 ued two years, when its publication was discontinued. Sewall was 
 endowed with a good intellect, but does not appear to have tasked 
 it very severely in the management of the paper. He did not 
 trouble himself about editorials. Occasionally it contained respecta- 
 ble communications on political questions and matters of local inter- 
 est. Evidently he was not enamored of his' profession. He did not 
 find pleasure or satisfaction in the expression of his own views. 
 Though imagination was one of his leading attributes, he seldom 
 gave it play in his columns. He wrote the ode for the Fourth of 
 July, 1803, which was sung with effect on that occasion. Some of 
 his poetry of subsequent years, we think, is extant, though not acces- 
 sible to us. His position as publisher of this paper not meeting his 
 aspirations, he abandoned it in 1805, moved to Scarboro, and there 
 established himself as a Thompsonian physician, traveling about and 
 administering to invalids the "sweat" prescribed by that class of 
 medical practitioners. 
 
 In the beginning of 1805, another atttempt was made to establish 
 a newspaper press in Kennebunk, by William Weeks. This enter- 
 prise was not so successful as the former. The paper was denomi- 
 nated the Kennebunk Gazette. We have a single copy of it, dated 
 July 24, 1805. From this specimen, we are of the opinion that the 
 people took but little interest in sustaining it. Though this was the 
 nineteenth number, beside the postmaster's notice of letters remain- 
 ing in the office, it contains but a single advertisement. The paper 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 693 
 
 is made up entirely of collections, containing nothing editorial, and 
 no original communication, so that we are unable to judge of the 
 merits of Mr. Weeks as an editor. It was continued but a little 
 while, when the publisher moved to Saco, thence to Portland, then 
 to Portsmouth, where in 1809 he became the publisher of the New 
 Hampshire Gazette. 
 
 A fourth paper, denominated the "Weekly Visitor," was started 
 in 1809, by James K. Remick. The publisher seems to have had 
 more sympathy from the public than his predecessors. The adver- 
 tising support of a newspaper, we suppose to be very essential to its 
 success. This was very liberally given to the Visitor. A great 
 deal of original matter was also furnished. Previous failiires proba- 
 bly moved the people to a more active interest in its success than 
 they manifested in the earlier enterprises. The paper soon acquired 
 a satisfactory footing and maintained its position between thirty and 
 forty years, though its name was afterward changed to " Kennebunk 
 Gazette." By a wise and prudent management of the financial con- 
 cerns of the establishment, the publisher acquired a very comfortable 
 independence, which he transmitted to his son and only heir. 
 
 All the publishers of these papers, iu addition to the work of their 
 profession, kept a book store, supplying to the public stationery, 
 school books, etc. To the curious in regard to the changes which 
 have taken place since the century began, it would be interesting to 
 examine and compare the catalogue of books then advertised for 
 sale, with those which are now found in our book stores. 
 
 The people now manifested a greater interest in an improvement 
 in the conveniences, comforts, and refinements of life. Accessions 
 had been made to the population of men of different views from 
 those who had heretofore been leaders in social and municipal action. 
 Dr. Gates, Benjamin Brown, Dr. Frost, Joseph Moody, Dr. Emerson, 
 Jonas Clark, Dr. Goddard, Dr. Keating, Dr. Gilman, Joseph Thomas, 
 George W. Wallingford, Joseph Dane, Parker Webster, Stephen 
 Sewall, Rev. Nathaniel H. Fletcher, and others, active and enterpris- 
 ing men, had located themselves in the two villages of Kennebunk 
 and Wells. These men needed the intellectual enjoyments to which 
 they had been accustomed, and in 1802 started a subscription for a 
 social library, and succeeded in establishing one of a very respecta- 
 ble character, under the name of Wells Social Library, containing a 
 hundred or more valuable works. The benefits were limited to 
 
694 HISTORY OF WELLS AKD KENNEBmTC. 
 
 the owners of the shares. This library was increased from year to 
 year till the number of volumes reached about 300. Persons inter- 
 ested in the study of the progress of the race, would find matter for 
 meditation, in contrasting the character of the reading at that time 
 with that of the present day, by an examination of the literature of 
 this library, and any one now found for public use in the town. Such 
 had been the change in the taste of the people that this ancient li- 
 brary, forty years afterward, was seldom resorted to, and the stand- 
 ard useful works which it contained were permitted to rest on the 
 shelves for years, until they were finally sold at auction. Works of 
 fiction have, to a great extent, usurped the place of those of valuable 
 knowledge. 
 
 Another enterprise of great importance was started in the village 
 of Kennebunk about the same time. Houses had been built, stores 
 and stocks of goods increased, and it was felt that provision should 
 be made to protect them from fire. Accordingly, an association was 
 formed for this purpose, denominated the Kennebunk Fire Society. 
 Each of the members was required to furnish himself with a pair of 
 leather buckets, a long ladder, a roof ladder, and to be ready imme- 
 diately on notice of fire, to run with the buckets to the scene of con- 
 flagration. As there was then no bell to give such notice, every one 
 felt it his duty, as soon as he saw indications of it, to cry fire. This 
 was repeated by all within hearing. As thus the intelligence was 
 transmitted to every part of the town almost as quickly as it could 
 be by telegraph, no bell would answer the purpose so well as this 
 universal voice. But unfortunately, this practice has been super- 
 seded by the bell, and very few people now think of personally giv- 
 ing this timely notice that a building is on fire. Many cases have 
 occurred, in which those living but a short distance have known 
 nothing of it till the fire had done its work. Subsequently to the 
 institution of this association, an engine was purchased and submit- 
 ted to its control. From the organization of the society down to 
 the present time, annual meetings have been holden for the choice of 
 officers, and for an inquiry into the condition of the equipments of 
 the several members, and for the enjoyment of a generous supper. 
 Every man who owns buildings in the village should be a member of 
 this society. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 695 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 Military history of the town — The cavalry — Artillery — Flag 
 Presentation— General muster. 
 
 We have been in doubt under what head our brief military history 
 should be classed. Perhaps it will be as appropriate in this as in any 
 other chapter. 
 
 Some kind of militia system, designed for training all the male 
 inhabitants to the use of arms, has been maintained almost from the 
 time of the institution of government. The various modifications to 
 which it has been subjected in the intervening time, we do not think 
 it important to notice. Probably the reader would not find in its 
 details, matter of sufficient interest to compensate for the reading of 
 it. After the Revolution, the policy of preparing fcr war in time of 
 peace was accepted by all the people, and by law, all between eigh- 
 teen and forty-five years of age were enrolled in the train bands. 
 There were six or seven companies in the town of Wells. These 
 were required to meet at least four times a year, for drill and im- 
 provement. This liability to military duty was not congenial to many 
 of the young men. The reluctance to drill so often, with some little 
 ambition for military display, induced the formation of a company of 
 cavalry in Wells and Kennebunk toward the end of the last century. 
 About sixty were enrolled in the ranks. Dr. Keating was chosen 
 captain ; John Low, lieutenant ; Robert Towne, of Kennebunkport, 
 ensign ; and Joseph Moody, cornet. We are unable to give a par- 
 ticular account of it. But we can say that an exhibition of this 
 troop in full array, with their red coats and other habiliments, would 
 not be an uninteresting spectacle to the present generation. After 
 Keating, the captains were Nathaniel Frost, Joseph Dane, Benjamin 
 Smith, and Elisha Chadbourne. This company was maintained more 
 than thirty years. 
 In 1817, an artillery company was formed in Wells, embracing 
 
696 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUSTK. 
 
 several members from Arundel, and with the company at York, con- 
 stituted a battalion. It was organized by the choice of Barnabas 
 Palmer, as captain, William W. Wise, as lieutenant, and Edward E. 
 Bourne, as ensign ; Davenport Tucker was chosen clerk. A neat 
 uniform was provided, so;that in its marches through the streets, it 
 made a respectable display. Two brass six-pounders were furnished 
 for it by the government. On the 27th of August, 1818, a flag was 
 presented to it by Miss Sarah Grant, as a donation from the ladies of 
 Kennebunk. The communication accompanying the presentation 
 will be interesting to our readers. "Captain Barnabas Palmer, Sir: 
 In compliance with the request of the ladies of this town, I have 
 executed and in their behalf, send you this standard. As a donation 
 to you and the company of artillery you have the honor to command, 
 you will please to accept it. Let peace be your motto. But if the 
 awful clangor of arms from a foreign and invading foe should sum- 
 mons you to unfurl it in the presence of the enemy, may it be sacred 
 to liberty, to your own and your country's honor. Let that spirit 
 which animated a Spartan band animate your breasts, and surrender 
 it only with your lives. If, in the hour of danger, it should triumph- 
 antly wave, and under the protection of heaven guide you to victory, 
 remember that it was given by females who believe that humanity 
 no less than valor, is an ornament to the soldier. 
 
 Accept, with this, Sir, the assurance of my respect and esteem, and 
 may He who commands the grand armies above, protect you, and at 
 last adorn your brow with the laurels of His victory. 
 
 S. Grant." 
 
 To which Capt. Palmer made the following reply : 
 
 Dear Madam, In behalf of the Wells and Arundel artillery com- 
 pany,! accept with gratitude the standard you have sent me. Should 
 a foreign assailant dare invade our soil, be assured that this flag and 
 the sentiments you have expressed, could not fail to inspire our breasts 
 with courage. Displayed in defense of our country's rights, or un- 
 furled in the field of battle,, so long as liberty is dear to our hearts, 
 no stain of dishonor shall tarnish it. Relying on the justice of our 
 cause and the favor of heaven for victory, may it be the rallying 
 point of our freedom or death. 
 
 Accept, madam, for yourself, and be pleased to present the grateful 
 acknowledgments of the company to the respected ladies, the donors 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 697 
 
 of this color. Assure them that we shall always be ambitious to 
 
 deserve their approbation, and whilst we have a just regard for virtue 
 
 and for ourselves, this superb testimony of their respect shall never 
 
 be abased by insubordination in times of tranquility, nor inhumanity 
 
 in the day of victory. May their liberties be protected, their rights 
 
 defended, and their hearts illuminated, with the joys of that freedom 
 
 which is eternal. 
 
 B. Palmer." 
 
 Of this company the visitor remarks : " We have witnessed with 
 pride and pleasure their martial appearance and correct discipline. 
 This company is a valuable addition to the brigade." 
 . Capt. Palmer, soon after, was elected Major of the battalion, and 
 Edward E. Bourne was appointed adjutant. William W. Wise was 
 chosen to supply the vacancy caused by the promotion of Capt. 
 Palmer. 
 
 In the fall of every year there was a general muster, as it was 
 termed, all the troops of the regiment assembling on the parade 
 ground in Kennebunk, on the easterly side of the Alfred road, just 
 above the house of Oliver Perkins. The companies were generally 
 ordered to be on the parade at nine o'clock in the morning. So that 
 long before daylight some of the soldiers were on their way to the 
 place of inspection. Girls and boys were not less earnest to be there 
 at an early hour. Twenty or thirty tents were put up on the high 
 ground several days before. On muster day they were well supplied 
 with gingerbread, buns, apples, cider, liquors, and various articles at- 
 tractive to the people. Men and women, in carriages and on horse- 
 back, were gathered there from all places within the bounds of the 
 regiment. Every one felt that he must leave his labors and go to 
 the training. We speak of the early periods of the institution. 
 The exhibitions of the occasion will never escape from the memory 
 of cotemporaries. The captains and all the officers, with the excep- 
 tion of those of the cavalry and artillery, wore the cocked hat. 
 This, with the other uniform and trappings with which they were 
 invested, and their official position, inspired them with a dignity to 
 which they were entirely unaccustomed, and the pomp and display 
 which they manifested in marching on the parade, when the com- 
 panies were forming into line, under the music of drum and fife, 
 were generally highly elevating to the spectators. The author was 
 
698 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 an officer on one or two of these occasions, and he very well remem- 
 bers the thought he then had of the importance and dignity of the 
 military office. During the day, in some of the neighboring houses, 
 there was music and dancing, which was kept up to a late hour in 
 the evening. 
 
 How much profit the public derived from these gatherings for in- 
 spection and review, we have no means of estimating. But that the 
 cause of temperance and morality was not materially advanced by 
 them, we have little reason to doubt. The sympathies of the people 
 at length became estranged from them ; and the attendance on the 
 muster was gradually lessened, until they were finally dispensed with 
 as not favorable to the public welfare. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 699 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Division of the town — Kennebunk incorporated. 
 
 The town of Wells, as incorporated, contained about 40,000 acres; 
 being too extended a territory for a single township. Six miles 
 square, as a general rule, is sufficiently large for our ordinary munic- 
 ipalities. It is desirable that all inhabitants should have convenient 
 access to the places of public meetings ; and that these places should 
 be so near the centre of population, that the people may gather to- 
 gether with the least trouble and inconvenience. Townsmen, for 
 the common good, should endeavor to promote a kind, friendly, and 
 frequent intercourse ; those whose interests are common, and to be 
 affected by the same administrative action, should be acquainted with 
 each other, and understand something of each other's condition. In 
 large places, whether in territory or population, these objects cannot 
 always be effected ; the geography of a town may be of such a char- 
 acter, or the population so numerous, as to preclude any such desira- 
 ble knowledge. The town of Wells was commenced in the vicinity 
 of Webhannet river ; and here a village had grown up many years 
 before any successful attempt was made to settle what is now the 
 territory of Kennebunk. This village had become a place of consid- 
 erable business ; while at the eastward of it, for three or four miles, 
 the forests had scarcely been touched by man. The lands between 
 the Mousam and Kennebunk rivers were not occupied till about sev- 
 enty-five years after, excepting by the erection of three or four saw- 
 mills. After the close of the principal Indian wars, the villages in 
 Kennebunk started into being, and soon had a population of hun- 
 dreds. The people began to avail themselves of the commercial 
 facilities of Mousam and Kennebunk rivers, and soon lumber tended 
 toward these places for shipment; so that in a little while Kennebunk 
 and Wells were distinct places of business, four or five miles apart. 
 There was thus a tendency to separation ; lumber would seldom be 
 
700 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 transferred from one place to the other; trade from the surrounding 
 settlements centered at one place or the other, as most convenient ; 
 the inhabitants of the villages traded at home as far as they were 
 able to do so. Thus the acquaintances and sympathies of the two 
 sections were materially hindered. Men of the same town did not 
 know each other; and therefore the interests of all did not come 
 home to the hearts of the townsmen. Neighborhoods, and free and 
 familiar intercourse, are very material to promote liberal and generous 
 relations. Indeed, the institutions of the Sabbath came in to qualify 
 in some measure, the estrangement which must be a consequence of 
 this non-intercourse in business. There is a no more certain bond of 
 union and interest among intelligent and considerate men, than that 
 which has its basis in frequent religious communion. They thus are 
 made to feel, that as travelers in a strange land, they have a common 
 journey to accomplish ; and their hearts are ready to respond to 
 mutual wants and to proffer needed kindnesses. But here the house 
 of worship was from six to ten miles distant from those living in 
 Kennebunk, and a part of the time the route was beset with appalling 
 dangers. There were no well-traveled roads, and the people had no 
 carriages ; it was a tedious journey much of the time, for one-half of 
 the town. In the winter season it was impossible for the distant vil- 
 lagers often to appear in the house of God ; in consequence of this, 
 many of them attended worship only so far as was necessary to es- 
 cape the penalty of the law. 
 
 In the course of a few years after the commencement of the settle- 
 ment in Kennebunk, the people there began to feel that it was not 
 right for them to pay a tax for the support of schools, and at the 
 same time be shut out from their benefit ; and a vote was obtained 
 at the town meeting in 1741, that the school should be kept four 
 months at the house of James Wakefield, at the landing. The next 
 year they were authorized to procure their own school-master, the 
 town agreeing to allow them all that they paid of the school tax. 
 This was the first distinct recognition of different sectional interests. 
 Having succeeded in this one measure, the next year they petitioned 
 that they might be set off into a separate precinct. This petition 
 was not granted ; but the town voted to pay them thirty pounds 
 toward what they had expended in schools and for the ministry of 
 the Gospel. But the time had arrived when the people began to 
 feel their importance, and the next year they pressed for still higher 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 701 
 
 privileges, claiming that the town should help them build a meeting- 
 house, and allow them six months' preaching yearly, or set them off 
 into a distinct precinct. The town was not satisfied that they were 
 entitled to so much consideration, and refused to comply with their 
 wishes. The people of Kennebunk would not rest easy under this 
 refusal ; and in 1746 petitioned again for an allowance for the sup- 
 port of the Gospel, and that they might be set off as a distinct Parish. 
 In this application they were unsuccessful ; not wearied, they applied 
 again in 1747 for aid in building a meeting-house ; but, as before, the 
 town declined to accede to their proposition. These unfavorable re- 
 sults did not in the least diminish the sense of their own importance ; 
 they had grown rapidly, and perhaps thought more of themselves 
 than they ought ; but they now determined to resort to a different 
 tribunal. In 1749, they petitioned to the General Court to set them 
 off as a distinct Parish ; the town voted to oppose the measure, and 
 chose Samuel Wheelright agent for that purpose. But it was learned 
 that any further opposition would be unavailing, and at the meeting 
 in May, 1750, the town gave its consent to a division of the Parish. 
 As the people no longer attended public worship in Wells, the 
 reasons for a division of the town now became stronger than before ; 
 but this one important object having been accomplished, the people, 
 for a long time, were content to continue the union. There were 
 many persons in Kennebunk who had previously been inhabitants of 
 Wells, and their attachment to the old town they were unwilling to 
 sunder; it was also felt that a larger town carried with it a greater 
 prestige, and more commanding influence, than towns of minor ex- 
 tent. The Revolutionary war, also, with its deprivations and depress- 
 ing influences, shut out the subject altogether from the thoughts of 
 the inhabitants; though some few persons in Alewife, in 1777, peti- 
 tioned the Second Parish, then embracing all Kennebunk, that a 
 committee should be chosen to petition the General Court that this 
 Parish might be "set off from the town as a precinct or district, to 
 do their own business, in a measure, by themselves." The Parish 
 complied with the prayer of this petition, and chose Stephen Larra- 
 bee, Richard Thompson, and Benjamin Stevens a committee for that 
 purpose; but the Legislature of Massachusetts had then much more 
 important business on hand, and nothing was done respecting the 
 application. The town does not appear to have taken any action in 
 reference to this petition. All felt the need of husbanding whatever 
 
702 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 they had and of avoiding any expenditures not absolutely demanded. 
 The administration of the municipal affairs of one town could be 
 carried on at a much less expense, than if devolving on two separate 
 governments. But in 1755, the Parish determined that they ought 
 to have a portion of the parochial funds, and made application to the 
 old Parish for that purpose. The petition met with a favorable re- 
 ception, and two hundred acres were obtained ;. this w r as appropri- 
 ated as a parsonage. Thus stood the relations of the two Parishes 
 till some years after the war. In 1787, another vote was taken look- 
 ing toward a division of the town. One-third of the town meetings 
 were to be holden at Kennebunk. This vote satisfied the present 
 demands of the people of that village, and the subject of dividing 
 the town was quieted until the close of the century, when, in 1799, 
 some of the inhabitants again mooted the inquiry whether the peo- 
 ple in the eastern part ought not to insist upon a separation. Ken- 
 nebunk had now about eight hundred inhabitants. They were 
 almost entirely separated from the western part of the town in busi- 
 ness and intercourse, while the woods between them remained about 
 as it w T as a hundred years before. They were as much separated 
 from each other by unsettled land as though they were much farther 
 apart. But a majority, including some of the most influential citi- 
 zens, were opposed to separation. A petition was presented to the 
 town praying for a division. Wells opposed the petition, and John 
 Storer was chosen agent for the town to resist it. A committee, 
 consisting of Nathaniel Cousens, Benjamin Titcomb, Samuel Burn- 
 ham, Jeremiah Hubbard, and Nathaniel Wells, were appointed to 
 prepare a remonstrance. Three of this committee lived in Kenne- 
 bunk. The prospect of success was therefore not very encouraging. 
 The Parish, at its annual meeting in April, voted " that it is the de- 
 sire of the inhabitants of this Parish to be set off from the town of 
 Wells, and to be incorporated into a separate town by themselves, 
 agreeably to the prayer of a petition for that purpose now pending 
 before said town of Wells, seventy-six voting for and four against 
 this motion." 
 
 Col. John Taylor, Jonas Clark,. Esq., and Dr. Thatcher Goddard, 
 were appointed a committee to lay the matter before the town, and 
 urge their assent to partition. They were also directed to petition 
 the General Court for an act of incorporation. The committee failed 
 in obtaining a division, and the subject was dropped for many years. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBOTK. 703 
 
 In 1814, the friends of the measure renewed their exertions for 
 division, and at the May meeting succeeded in obtaining a vote, in- 
 structing the representatives of the town to prepare a petition to the 
 Legislature for that purpose. But at the adjourned meeting in May, 
 it appearing that many of the inhabitants of the Second Parish were 
 opposed to the procedure, the vote was reconsidered. This was in 
 war times, when the spirit of the people was much depressed, all 
 business stagnant, and no prospect of speedy amelioration presented 
 itself. 
 
 In 1819, some further progress was made toward municipal inde- 
 pendence, by a vote that one-half of the town meetings should be 
 holden in the Second Parish. In 1820, the war being over, various 
 circumstances combined to create a different state of feeling, and all 
 the inhabitants of Kennebunk joined in the movement for division. 
 Unexpectedly to them, inhabitants of the town voted unanimously 
 for it. Kennebunk now contained 2,145 inhabitants, and Wells was 
 satisfied that the time for separation had come. The people had 
 dwelt together in harmony for a hundred years, cherishing the kind- 
 est feelings toward each other until the year 1816, when these 
 relations were sadly wounded by an event which the intelligent 
 reader will have learned from another chapter, though the influence of 
 this painful occurrence had now in a great measure ceased. The 
 disruption of the municipal tie came over the people of the old town 
 with somewhat of sorrow, yet they came to the conclusion that the 
 interest of harmony and good-will would be subserved by it, and 
 that it would be doing injustice to those dwelling in the new town 
 any longer to withhold their assent to separation, and thus the long 
 connection sustained through all the common labors and trials of 
 the later Indian, French, and English wars, was mutually dissolved. 
 
 In conformity with the vote of the two parties, all opposition was 
 withdrawn, and the first Legislature of Maine, on the twenty-fourth 
 day of June, 1820, ratified their agreement by the following Act : 
 
 u An Act to divide the town of Wells, and incorporate the north- 
 easterly part thereof as a town, by the name of Kennebunk. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 in Legislature assembled, That all that part of the town of Wells, in 
 the County of York, lying northeasterly of the following line, viz. : 
 Beginning at the sea, at the mouth of Little river; thence running 
 
704 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 up the middle of said river to the mouth of the Branch river ; thence 
 up the middle of said Branch river, to the line between said Wells 
 and Stanford, with the inhabitants thereon, be and the same hereby 
 are incorporated into a separate town by the name of Kennebunk, 
 and vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities, and sub- 
 ject to all the duties and requisitions of other corporate towns agree- 
 ably to the constitution and laws of the State. 
 
 Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of said 
 town of Kennebunk shall be holden to pay the arrears of all taxes 
 which have been legally assessed on them, together with their pro- 
 portion of all assessments which may have been voted by, and debts 
 due from, said town of Wells at the time this Act may take effect ; 
 said proportion to be ascertained by the last valuation of the respec- 
 tive towns. And the said inhabitants of Kennebunk shall be entitled 
 to receive their proportion of all assessments voted by, and debts 
 and taxes due to, said town of Wells at that time ; and also their 
 proportion of the personal property (except as hereinafter mention- 
 ed), to be divided according to the valuation aforesaid. 
 
 Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all persons belonging to 
 said town of Wells, who shall be chargeable, as paupers, when this 
 act may take effect, or shall afterwards become chargeable, shall be 
 considered as belonging to and having their settlement in said town 
 of Wells or Kennebunk, respectively, accordingly as their settlement 
 may have been gained on the territory of the one or the other, at 
 the time this act may take effect, and in future shall be chargeable to 
 such town only; and the unascertained expenses up to said time of 
 all paupers residing out of said town of Wells, but belonging there- 
 to, shall be paid by said towns in proportion to the valuation before 
 mentioned. 
 
 Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the real estate owned by 
 said town of Wells, shall belong to said Wells or Kennebunk accord- 
 ing to the local situation thereof within their respective boundaries ; 
 and the town's stock of powder, balls, flints, guns and camp equip- 
 age on hand at the time this act may take effect, shall be divided be- 
 tween said towns in proportion to the number of men borne on the 
 rolls of the militia of the respective towns at said time. 
 
 Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the privileges of obtain- 
 ing clams, seaweed, and rockweed from the beaches and flats in said 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 705 
 
 towns, which the inhabitants have been accustomed to use from time 
 immemorial shall continue in common as heretofore. 
 
 Sec. 6. And be it farther enacted, That any Justice of the Peace 
 for the county of York is hereby empowered, upon application there- 
 for, to issue his warrant, directed to any freehold inhabitant of said 
 Kennebunk, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants there- 
 of, qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at such convenient place 
 and time, as shall be appointed in said warrant, for the choice of such 
 officers as towns are, by law, authorized and required to choose and 
 appoint at their annual meetings. 
 
 Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect 
 from and after the thirty-first day of July next. 
 
 Approved. William King." 
 
 June 24, 1820. 
 45 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 OP 
 
 EARLY INHABITANTS OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 An alphabetical arrangement of the following biographies would 
 seem to be the most natural and convenient, and my first intention 
 was so to arrange them. I found, however, upon examination, that 
 they were not written immethodically, as might at first glance appear, 
 but were classified according to the several professions and trades — 
 generally in the order in which they became citizens — and in many 
 instances, were so connected by reference from one to another, as to 
 render it necessary to carry out the original plan of the author. 
 
 The inconvenience arising from this arrangement is obviated by 
 an index, by reference to which the name of any person can as readi- 
 ly be found as if placed in alphabetical order. 
 
 The index may, perhaps, be fuller than might, to the general read- 
 er, seem necessary. I have endeavored to note every allusion to the 
 names of persons, however incidentally mentioned, in order that the 
 citizens of Wells and Kennebunk, and others interested in the gen- 
 ealogy or history of the early inhabitants, may readily avail them- 
 selves of all the information here given in relation to them. I could 
 not fail to notice, as I went along, how these oftentimes slight allu- 
 sions to an individual, showing his peculiar characteristics; his acta 
 in town and private affairs; his family and business connections; 
 when taken collectively, furnish a concise history, and show at once 
 his private worth and capacity, and his value as a citizen. 
 
 That the index might be as concise as possible, I have, in the main, 
 made merely a general reference to the page, leaving to the reader the 
 task of hunting out the special matter in which he is interested. 
 
 E. E. b., jr. 
 
708 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 DANIEL LITTLE. 
 
 Died Dec. 5, 1801, Rev. Daniel Little, aged 78. Mr. Little may 
 well be classed with the eminent men of the last century; not so 
 much on account of any intellectual prominence, as from his un- 
 wearied devotion to the great object to which he had dedicated his 
 life. We cannot claim for him uncommon mental vigor ; for clearly 
 that was not an element of his character. But he was an earnest, 
 vigilant, industrious and faithful watchman over the great interests 
 of humanity; a true disciple of his Lord and Master. He was one 
 of the working men of his age. He had not the benefit of a liberal 
 education ; but was favored with an intellectual culture, which gave 
 him confidence, and qualified him for an effectual teacher to the great 
 body of men who fill the land. The honorary degree of A. M. was 
 conferred upon him by Harvard College in 1766. 
 
 He began his mature life by teaching school, the best employment 
 to qualify him for the work of his future years. To be a successful 
 preacher, one must be versed in human character, as forming in early 
 life. He was employed as a teacher in Kennebunk in 1748 ; and in 
 the autumn of that year he supplied the pulpit several Sabbaths. 
 He studied divinity with Rev. Joseph Moody, of York, and preached 
 at Portsmouth, Berwick and York. At the former place he was a 
 prominent candidate for the pulpit. He had engaged to supply the 
 desk at York on a certain fast-day. Moody, who had taken a deep 
 interest in him, learning that he was to preach that day, took pains 
 to ascertain where he was to lodge ; and rising early in the morning, 
 went to the window of his bed-room and cried out: t; Daniel Little! 
 Daniel Little! The birds are up and praising God, and you are here 
 asleep. You have the sins of a whole nation to confess to-day and 
 yet are asleep." Having thus started the slumberer from his bed, he 
 instantly disappeared. Little rose and opened his widow, but no 
 one was to be seen. He thus received some useful instruction as to 
 the value of time, which, as his after life v manifested, he never for- 
 got. 
 
 His action as a school teacher, and his services in the pulpit, had 
 made a very favorable impression on the people of Kennebunk, and 
 in 1751, he was invited to settle with thern as their minister. The po- 
 sition thus tendered to him was not a very desirable one as regarded 
 compensation. But, as he observed in his answer, he "had witnessed 
 such a happy degree of charity and brotherly love among the people, 
 
REV. DANIEL LITTLE. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 709 
 
 he was drawn toward them, and with a ready and cheerful mind ac- 
 cepted their call." In those days hut little notice was taken of one's 
 special views of religious doctrine. Congregationalism was the 
 dominant religion ; and, in fact, almost the exclusive religion of New 
 England. But he was educated and graduated, as to his theology, 
 from the Assembly's Catechism. The business of the preacher then 
 was to exhort and lead men to righteousness. Seldom was anything 
 said about those matters of speculation which, in later years, occu- 
 pied so much of the attention of Christians. There was not an edu- 
 cated man among his thirty parishioners, and it required no uncom- 
 mon ability to preach to them the word of a true life. It was said 
 that he was " uncommonly gifted in prayer." He visited much from 
 house to house, never leaving without commending the inmates to 
 the Divine blessing. As was said by one of his parishioners, he 
 " would pop in and pray with the family, and be off in a moment." 
 
 By his familiar intercourse with his parish, he acquainted himself 
 with their various characters, and thus learned what kind of religious 
 instruction was needed. 
 
 Having acquiied the reputation of being an active, common-sense 
 minister, well versed in the human life, and the varieties of human 
 nature from which it proceeded, he was early selected for a broader 
 field of labor. In 1772, he was appointed by the u Trustees for the 
 Eastern Mission," for missionary service in the eastern portion of the 
 District of Maine. That part of the Province had just begun to be 
 settled. His labors under this appointment were very arduous. 
 There were no roads, and he was obliged to travel on horseback 
 through forests, and much by boat among the islands, and on the 
 rivers, and was occasionally in much peril. Under the inspirations 
 of a lively faith, he was not disheartened by the difficulties of his 
 mission ; but persevered in his work with a cheerful heart. " The 
 more I labor," he says, "for the good of others, the more peace and 
 comfort within." Of the result of his labors on this first tour we 
 have no definite information. 
 
 He went again in 1774. The scene of his labor was about Union 
 river; at Gouldsborough, Bluehill, Mount Desert, Castine and Bel- 
 fast. He preached and baptized in barns, private houses, and where- 
 ever convenient and accessible places could be found. The people 
 left their homes and traveled twenty or thirty miles to hear him. 
 Children walked seven or eight miles to attend public worship. He 
 
710 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 was zealous in urging the people to the Christian life, and was more 
 especially diligent in combating the free use of intoxicating liquors. 
 During the three months of this mission he baptized 253 persons, and 
 admitted several to the Christian church, beside attending several 
 funerals, and uniting several couples in marriage. This last service 
 was performed without pay, considering that it was inconsistent with 
 the benevolent intention of his mission to receive any compensation 
 for any special labor here performed. He was treated with great 
 kindness. The hospitalities of every house were freely tendered to 
 him. 
 
 While on this mission, he was deeply afflicted by the continually 
 recurring scenes of wretchedness and ruin brought upon the families 
 by the rumseller; and he denounced his murderous traffic with all 
 the ability with which God had invested him. Beside the services of 
 the Sabbath, he appointed other days of the week for religious con- 
 versation and for public instruction. He preached at Deer Isle to 
 crowded congregations. During his former mission he had instituted 
 a church at Blue Hill, and it was now in a prosperous condition. 
 Twenty-seven families had united, and persevered in the support of 
 public worship. Among all the families in the vicinity there was but 
 one horse. Mr. Little occasionally had the use of him, but most of 
 his journeying was on foot ; so that his labors were very arduous 
 and exhausting. He passed an interesting Sabbath at Deer Isle, bap- 
 tizing on that day twenty-five persons ; admitting three to the church, 
 administering the communion service, and occupying four hours in con- 
 versation with interested inquirers. After this he went to Camden . 
 preached, and baptized six children. The next day he walked five 
 miles, and preached, and baptized as many more. Here he closed 
 this mission, having traveled in boats 500 miles, and having been 
 subjected to such severe exposures that his health was materially im- 
 paired ; yet he said that he had been " specially cared for by a kind 
 and gracious Providence," and that he drew from his preservation 
 from danger the encouraging thought that his life was preserved to 
 redeem time and do more for the glory of God. 
 
 On his way home, there being no bridges, he was frequently 
 obliged to swim his horse. He reached Kennebunk on the eleventh 
 of October, where, he says, " I found my dear wife and children 
 comfortable, except my very dear daughter Peggy, whose fits still 
 continue. I have been absent from a tender, loving family and 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 711 
 
 friendly, affectionate people three months and eleven days. To find 
 them and my house and interest under the care and preservation of 
 Divine Providence, to this day, calls aloud for devout thanks. But 
 one death since my absence in the Parish, and but one person for 
 whom public prayers have been offered in affliction. These blessings 
 of heaven at home, together with the numerous signals of the Divine 
 care and benediction in journeying home and on the waters abroad, 
 and especially my various tokens of success to my various public 
 and private labors as missionary, I hope will be remembered, with- 
 out period, to the honor of the blessed God and his Son, Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. And may the dear people to whom (though in- 
 finitely unworthy) I have been called to preach the everlasting Gos- 
 pel, and the dear churches of Christ who have no minister, be 
 supplied with faithful servants and pastors, that the numerous sheep 
 and lambs may be led in the footsteps of the Redeemer's flock, to 
 the praise of God and the Lamb forever and ever. Amen." 
 
 So satisfactory had been Mr. Little's success on this mission, that 
 his services were demanded several times afterward for similar la* 
 bors. We have particular account of these labors on some of his 
 expeditions. He was thus engaged, we think, in 1782. The embar- 
 rassments of the Revolutionary war precluded any missionary action 
 in distant parts of the State. In 1786, some charitable, public-spir- 
 ited individual employed him to go on a mission to the tribe of In- 
 dians on the Penobscot river, "to instruct them in the knowledge of 
 the Christian religion, and their children in useful human literature." 
 To aid him in this work, he had, in addition, a manifesto from Gov. 
 Bowdoin, recognizing the importance of the enterprise, and calling 
 upon the citizens to give him their assistance in a work of so great 
 interest. 
 
 He left his home on the 31st of July, and traveled on horseback 
 through Falmouth, Bath, Wiscasset to Warren, and from thence 
 to Bagaduce or Castine. At Warren he preached in the old meet- 
 ing-house, where the rain poured down almost as freely on the min- 
 ister and congregation as though they had been out of door. From 
 Castine he went up the river to Bangor. He was received very fa- 
 vorably by the Indians. He had designed to establish a school 
 among them, but he soon satisfied himself that the Catholic priests 
 were opposed to any such institution. He had also been requested 
 
712 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 to attend Gen. Lincoln, Gen. Putnam, and Dr. Rice, commissioners, 
 to negotiate a treaty with the Indians for the purchase of some of 
 their lands on Penobscot river. On this occasion he had a free con- 
 versation with the tribe, and soon after started his school; but the 
 priest discouraged the Indians, and he was obliged to abandon it, 
 though they were at first highly delighted with it. Mr. Little took 
 this opportunity to learn the language of the natives, having the aid 
 of one of them, who had acquired some knowledge of the English. 
 Devoting his spare time to this study, he soon was able to repeat 
 their numbers. He afterward prepared a full vocabulary, which is 
 said to be in the library of Harvard College. He translated the 
 Lord's prayer into the language of the Penobscots. 
 
 But his principal business was the instruction of the people in 
 Christianity, and his labors, in the main, were to that end. He 
 thought but little of forms in his appreciation of the public needs. 
 He felt that religion was of the heart, and the one thing needful. 
 In surveying the field of duty, he saw that the ministry of the Gos- 
 pel was the great instrumentality by which men were to be trained 
 to the true life. A church near Bangor had given a call to a man of 
 the name of Noble to settle as its minister; the invitation had been 
 accepted. The prominent act of his mission at this time was his in- 
 stallment. Forms and decrees of councils were not allowed by him 
 to override the welfare of his fellow-men. The only inquiry with 
 him was how the services should be performed. There were no 
 ministers to be invited for the occasion. He did not hesitate, but 
 determined himself to induct him to the sacred office. The candi- 
 date had an orchard, in which, besides his fruit trees, were several 
 oaks affording shade. Under these Mr. Noble had erected a plat- 
 form upon barrels, for the purpose of the installation. A large assem- 
 bly gathered to witness the ceremony. Mr. Little took upon himself, 
 and went through, all the services of ordination, offering the prayer, 
 preaching the sermon, and giving the right hand of fellowship. The 
 whole was completed without other council than that of his own 
 conscience. Though we enjoy and reverence the long-used custom 
 of consecrating a minister to his responsible and solemn work, we 
 cannot but admire the independence and resolution of Mr. Little in 
 forming his own judgment as to the merits of the candidate, and 
 bravely ordaining him to the work of the ministry. He soon after- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 713 
 
 ward returned home, preaching the Gospel at various places on the 
 route, baptizing children, and advising, comforting, and praying, as 
 was expected of ministers of that day. 
 
 In 1787, he again went on a mission, having Rev. Abial Abbot as 
 an associate. They went to the Kennebec and Penobscot, through 
 all the villages, and returned to the Ossipee town, in York county, 
 and to Sanford, preaching and baptizing everywhere, and admitting 
 people to the church. 
 
 In 1788, he was appointed commissioner to complete the treaty 
 with the Indians, which had been initiated the previous year, to re- 
 move themselves to another place, the rapid extension of our popu- 
 lation rendering such removal necessary. They received him with a 
 great deal of ceremony and in a kind and respectful spirit ; but all 
 his labors with them were unavailing. They insisted that God had 
 placed them there for his service ; that they had no knowledge of 
 writing, and therefore should not put their names to the paper he of- 
 fered them. " All we know," they said, " we mean to have a right 
 spirit and a right heart." Orsong was the leader in the conference 
 on the part of the Indians. He was evidently a man of strong in- 
 tellect, which by some means he had labored to cultivate. He had 
 acquainted himself with three or four different languages, perhaps by 
 the aid of the French priests. In a conversation with him, Mr. Lit- 
 tle inquired in what language he prayed. After repeating this in- 
 quiry two or three times, he gravely and reverently replied, "No 
 matter what. The Great Spirit knows all languages." He was in 
 advance of the age, having imbibed some of the current sentiments 
 of a much later period. Having concluded his speech, he turned to 
 the interpreter and said, " Is this Mr. Little a minister?" Having 
 received an affirmative reply, he turned to him and said, <c Brother, 
 ministers ought not to have anything to do with public business 
 about lands. To-day is Saturday. They ought to be preparing for 
 the Sabbath. There are other gentlemen who might act in this 
 business." So persevering were the Indians in their determination 
 not to perfect the treaty, that Mr. Little, after telling them as they 
 had refused to do as they agreed, they must not expect any favor 
 from heaven, or from government, left them and returned home. 
 
 He had been so much engaged in these Christian missions to the 
 new settlements in the east, and so much to the satisfaction of the 
 governor and council, that he was called the " Apostle of the East." 
 
714 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Nearly all the children, probably, then dwelling in the places where 
 he labored, were baptized by him, and if there are at this day any 
 abiding there who were among the children of the first settlers, per- 
 haps they owe their long lives to their early consecration by him to 
 the great principles of temperance and Christian morals. 
 
 We are inclined to the opinion that Mr. Little enjoyed this fre- 
 quent roving abroad more than the continued routine of ordinary 
 parochial life. He was disposed to a life of activity, enterprise, and 
 even difficult labor. This feeling led him in 1784, with Dr. Belknap, 
 Dr. Cutter, Dr. Fisher, and six others, to visit and ascend Mount 
 Washington. This, in those days, w T as regarded as a noteworthy 
 feat. Up to that year, few had attempted it. There w T ere no accom- 
 modations for the purpose. They met, by agreement, at Colonel 
 Mullen's, in Conway, on the 23d of July, where they obtained pilots 
 and axemen. They arrived at the foot of the mountain about four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, near a meadow, where the Saco and the An- 
 droscoggin take their rise. Here they built a camp and tarried 
 through the night. This was on the easterly side of the mountain, 
 and about half a mile from New river, which, they stated, commenced 
 far up in the mountain, and in its course down acquired at the base 
 power enough to carry a saw-mill. The next morning early, the 
 main body of the company set out on the ascent. Dr. Belknap being 
 very corpulent, and Dr. Fisher of feeble constitution, did not attempt 
 the exploit. Two-thirds of the rise was covered with a dense growth 
 of wood, which then for a mile dwindled in height and size, till the 
 trees disappeared, and nothing was met with but short moss and 
 grass, which was soon passed by, and all traces of vegetation disap- 
 peared. Thence they climbed over loose rocks till they reached 
 what they called the " Sugar Loaf," which, they stated, rose about 
 three hundred feet. They attained the highest point in about six 
 and a half hours. * Plere," said Mr. Little, " i3 grand prospect. The 
 heavens clear upon our first arrival. The houses on Connecticut 
 river open to view with the naked eye. Numerous large mountains 
 on every side, but the northwesterly sometimes appearing in rays of 
 very clear sun, and very soon shut out from sight by the ascending 
 vapor and thickening clouds, and then appearing again. This diver- 
 sity of scenery closed in a thick fog, and as cold as November, which 
 prevented our return to our camp at the foot of the mountain, any 
 further than the first growth of wood, large enough for a good fire 
 
HISTOEY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 715 
 
 for the night." The next morning they reached their camp at an 
 early hour, but not so much fatigued as to prevent them from start- 
 ing immediately on their return home. At this time, the mountain 
 and wilderness around it were entirely trackless, and therefore they 
 were not able to make the ascent and return in a day, as proposed. 
 Dr. Fisher and Mr. Belknap, we think, must have passed rather an 
 anxious night. The next night they camped at Coos, and after 
 traveling through bushes and over windfalls, returned home through 
 the Notch. Mr. Little speaks of the Notch as " a place grand and 
 curious, where the Creator has marked a central road through an 
 extensive and fertile country to the Province of Canada. This 
 Notch of the mountains, so called, is the termination of the northwest- 
 erly side of the great, and the easterly end of a less .mountain. The 
 nearest approach is thirty feet, and the rocks of each side nearly 
 perpendicular, from twenty to sixty feet, and some places one hun- 
 dred feet in height, and nearly half a mile in length, through which 
 the westerly and main branch of Saco river passes, a small stream 
 except in a great freshet. Here the State of New Hampshire has 
 shown the boldest works of art in New England, and, by removing 
 the loose rocks, and blowing into the side of the mountain to widen 
 the passage sufficient for the water and the road, have made a road 
 smooth and almost upon a level, fit for any carriages, by which a way 
 is opened from Upper Cohos to Conway." The party estimated the 
 height of the mountain above the sea at nine thousand feet. 
 
 This was one of the first concerted ascents of Mt. Washington by 
 a large party, and, therefore, though not necessarily a part of the 
 history which we have undertaken, we have thought it well to give 
 a detailed account of it, for the use of others who may have occasion 
 for it in any future description of this now famous place of summer 
 resort. 
 
 We have before stated that Mr. Little was not eminent as a 
 preacher, but as a working man, ever looking to the welfare of society, 
 we think, there were at that time few who were his superiors. The 
 missionary labors of which we have given a brief account, had their 
 counterpart in the life which he passed in the more limited sphere 
 prescribed by his parochial settlement. He was always employed in 
 devising some means for the promotion of the good of his parish- 
 ioners. He took the lead in all measures suggested for this purpose, 
 his opinions being entitled to great weight. He was much in the 
 
716 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 habit of visiting, and holding free and familiar conversation with his 
 people, enquiring into all their worldly affairs, and advising with 
 them as to the best method of managing their farms, their domestic 
 concerns, and business of whatever character. His inventive powers, 
 and propensity for some useful discoveries, were very prominent ele- 
 ments of his character. 
 
 It is a little remarkable that, previously to 1770, no sleigh had 
 ever been used or ever seen within the bounds of his Parish. The 
 people had from the earliest settlement no other mode of winter 
 travel than on horseback. Mr. Little sat about a remedy for this 
 inconvenience, and contrived something to answer the purpose of 
 runners. It would be difficult to give any proper description of 
 them. From conversation with his cotemporaries, we were not able 
 to draw any information as to their construction which would be 
 satisfactory. All the answer which our inquiries in that direction 
 elicited was, " I wish you could see it." This, perhaps, carried with 
 it as much significancy as to its symmetry and beauty, as it would have 
 been possible to have given. The whole establishment must have 
 been a decided attraction to his parishioners. 
 
 Mr. Little was a member of the American Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences, and, as such, he liked to show out in their publications. In 
 addition to that pride, a little of which still holds sway in the most 
 humble heart, he felt it a pleasant duty, so far as he could, to aid in 
 the diffusion of useful knowledge. He had imbibed the opinion that 
 some better method than that in use could be devised for making 
 steel, and he gave much careful attention to the subject. He con- 
 cluded that he had discovered a process by which this object could 
 be effected. He had not the materials or instruments to carry out 
 this process, neither had he the funds by which they could be ob- 
 tained. But his townsmen had great confidence in him, and were 
 thus assured that they were to have this article manufactured at their 
 own doors. This was at an important period of our history. We 
 had scarcely began to be a manufacturing people, and were in the 
 midst of a war, cutting us off from foreign marts, so that our needs 
 of this article could with difficulty be supplied. All were anxious 
 that the benefit of the discovery should not be lost by Mr. Little's 
 inability to go on with the work. The people being poor, and unable 
 to render him the assistance needed for the completion of a shop, and 
 the procurement of apparatus, it was recommended to him to apply 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 717 
 
 to the General Court for aid. As it was to be a public as well as a 
 private benefit, it was considered that he was entitled to public en- 
 couragement. Accordingly, in 1778, he petitioned to the Legislature 
 for assistance. It was believed that the project was feasible, and the 
 following resolve was passed : 
 
 "Resolve for enabling Rev. Daniel Little for manufacturing steel. 
 
 Resolved, That there be paid out of the public treasury to the 
 Rev. Daniel Little, of Wells, a sum of money sufficient to enable 
 him to erect a building of thirty-five feet by twenty-five feet for the 
 purpose of manufacturing steel; also, to build a furnace and con- 
 venient blacksmith's forge, and to enable him to purchase utensils 
 requisite for preparing and examining the bars, provided the whole 
 does not exceed £450, on condition that said Little shall engage to 
 carry the art of manufacturing steel to as great perfection as possible 
 within the reach of the present knowledge, or any future acquire- 
 ments, and to communicate the same without any reserve to the 
 General Court of this State when they judge it will be most bene- 
 ficial to the public." 
 
 The aid of the £450 thus granted enabled him to proceed in his 
 work ; he erected forthwith a respectable building, near his house, at 
 the Landing, subsequently occupied by his son, David Little, and 
 afterward by William Tibbets. The building was used for a long 
 time as a joiners' shop, and stood there till within a few years. A 
 large furnace was constructed, somewhat resembling a baker's oven ; 
 the utensils were all prepared agreeably to his instructions; the ma- 
 terials provided, and the operations commenced. But alas for all 
 his calculations, and the hopes of the public ! The laws of nature 
 were against him ; his philosophy was not sufficiently extensive. 
 There was a stubborn disposition in some of the materials, which all 
 his wisdom could not subdue, and his fond anticipations were blasted. 
 Reluctantly, and much to his mortification, he was compelled to 
 abandon his enterprise. He was never required, it is believed, to 
 communicate to the Legislature any improvements which he had 
 made in the process of manufacture. The manner in which steel 
 was to be made is not material to state ; his own account of it will 
 be found in one of the volumes of the American Academy. There 
 is no doubt that his scheme was well considered and digested ; the 
 theory was good for ought that could be discovered before it was put 
 to th j test; but like many plausible projects which the inventive 
 
718 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 powers of man have suggested, it was doomed to failure, because in 
 some of its relations it had not the support of philosophical principles. 
 
 Mr. Little was, in some measure, visionary, like the larger portion 
 of the race ; and in some cases was too hasty in his conclusions, not 
 stopping to consider all the circumstances, which might have led to, 
 or defeated, a particular result. He was earnest to help humanity. 
 It may seem very strange to us of the present day, and hardly con- 
 sistent with the dignity of one of high social standing, not a medical 
 scholar, to have given such an article to one of the most respectable 
 publications of the country ; yet, in 1783, he published in one of the 
 volumes before referred to, a communication, headed, " The effect of 
 a clay poultice in a cancerous case." In those days, such a produc- 
 tion might have enured to his credit with a portion of society, but 
 would not add much to one's reputation at the present time. 
 
 He was highly respected as a man and a Christian. Though far 
 advanced in life, he was selected as one of the trustees of Bowdoin 
 College, at its establishment. He manifested much interest in the 
 education of the young ; and was rather sensitive to the rules of 
 accurate and sound learning. Though frequently failing himself in 
 a correct use of language, he could not endure the errors of others ; 
 bad grammar neutralized all the effect of a discourse ; religious in- 
 struction, he thought, ought to be clothed in a pure garment. In one 
 of his missionary tours to the eastward, he preached at Goldsboro', 
 where a teacher by the name of Chase was then preaching to the 
 people. He remarks in his journal: "Said teacher I invited to read 
 the psalm, but he miscalled three words in one small portion. His 
 attitude and blunders gave the people fresh occasion to know for 
 what they admired him. How much grace he may have in his heart 
 I know not; but the lowest for genius, learning, or manners, that 
 ever I knew, who assumed the character of a public preacher. I 
 wish his sayings among this people may not occasion some division 
 about the subject of baptism, which is the only subject on which he 
 can make himself popular; but how a subject so mangled and mur- 
 dered can give birth to devotion, is a mystery. Such men are to be 
 pitied and prayed for, who take the flights of a wild and disordered 
 brain for the genuine dictates of wisdom, and the much to be de- 
 sired noble elevation of the spirit of God." 
 
 Mr. Little was a staunch Congregationalist, and his prejudices, like 
 those of the early Puritans, strong against any interference with the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBT7NK. 719 
 
 principles and order of that denomination ; and probably this ebulli- 
 tion against this preacher had its origin, in some measure, from this 
 deep-set bias. It does not appear that he was often selected as the 
 preacher on important occasions ; he preached the sermon at the 
 ordination of Paul Coffin, at Buxton, in 1763 ; there is no record of 
 his preaching any other such sermon, excepting that of Mr. Noble, 
 on the Penobscot. At the association of ministers of this county at 
 Biddeford, in 1789, he preached from the text, " Now we are all here 
 before the Lord." He preached also at the inauguration of the town 
 of Waterboro', by the election of its first town officers, April 5, 1787, 
 and delivered an address in 1792, before the trustees of Fryeburg 
 Academy. When, in 1775, the political sky began to be overcast, 
 and the stout hearts of many of the leading men began to quail at 
 the prospect of a struggle with Great Britain, a day of prayer was 
 appointed on the 21st of June, at York ; Mr. Little preached the 
 sermon, from Lam. 3 : 6. 
 
 These comprise all his public addresses, of which we have any in- 
 formation, excepting his sermons in the ordinary ministrations of the 
 pulpit. He was distinguished for his devotional exercises, and was 
 generally selected to offer the prayer at ministerial associations, and 
 on important public occasions. The sermon at the ordination of 
 Coffin came very near being lost to the assembly. The settlement in 
 Buxton, then called Narraganset No. 1, was small, and the residents 
 far apart ; the roads in the winter season were frequently so far 
 obstructed by snow as to be impassable, even on horse-back. This 
 winter of 1763 was of uncommon severity, and was long remembered 
 for the great quantity of snow which fell. Mr. Little and Mr. Hem- 
 men way, with their delegates, the day before the time appointed, 
 started on snow-shoes to travel the whole distance, being about 
 eighteen miles, taking the nearest route through Lyman and Hollis. 
 After reaching the latter town, they lost their way; but finally reached 
 the Saco river, some distance beyond Buxton. Here darkness came 
 upon them, and they were obliged to remain during the night, suffer- 
 ing from cold and hunger; but by dint of great exertions in the 
 morning, they succeeded in reaching the meeting-house, just in sea- 
 son to take their parts in the ordination services. Having the con- 
 stitutions which the habits of those days had formed, they came out 
 of this adventure unharmed. Mr. Little had been subjected to all 
 
720 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 kinds of adversities in his various tours, and had thus acquired great 
 power of endurance. 
 
 We have already given more space to this biographical sketch of 
 the first minister of Kennebunk than may seem to some to be proper 
 for a town history ; but in the compilation of this work we have 
 followed no prescribed rules. Our intention has been to save from 
 oblivion historic facts, even though they may have but little connec- 
 tion with the subject suggested by our title page. These sketches 
 of the men of the olden time can subserve the purpose of biography 
 only by some degree of detail of the incidents and activities of their 
 lives. The few prominent facts set forth, as in a Biographical Dic- 
 tionary, would afford no interest, and but little profit, to the reader. 
 The lives of the worthy men of the former ages are a legacy for the 
 benefit of those of subsequent years. The time of their births, their 
 professions, relationships, deaths, are matters of little consequence, 
 unless made important by their example, their nobleness of soul, and 
 their usefulness to the world. It is the "lives of good men " which 
 "remind us that w T e can make our lives sublime." 
 
 Of Mr. Little's theology we are bound to speak. He was educated 
 at a period when Christian polemics, or, at least, questions which 
 have agitated and divided the church of the present day, had not 
 engaged the attention of the religious world ; the terms, trinity, 
 atonement, election, native depravity, were not canvassed. Most 
 Christians w T ere satisfied to let them alone. Some other subjects more 
 directly connected with the Christian life were beginning to awaken 
 and excite the attention of the clergy. These afterward enlisted the 
 intellects and zeal of Hemmenway, Hopkins, Edwards, and other 
 eminent theologians of the last century. Mr. Little, we presume, 
 accepted the creed of the age, not thinking portions of it material, 
 or as affecting his action in the Christian ministry. We suppose that 
 the covenant signed by him, and the original members of the church, 
 at its incorporation, was drawn by himself; so also was the creed 
 which was established soon after. These in words recognized the 
 doctrines now received by a large portion of the church. They were, 
 of course, by the first eighty-four persons who were then, and who 
 became members of it under Mr. Little's ministry. But they were 
 matters which did not take hold upon their lives, or in any way con- 
 trol their action ; we may thence infer that they were not accustomed 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 721 
 
 to inquire into their precise import, or examine the authority for 
 them. We may perhaps say the same of Mr. Little to the later days 
 of his ministerial life. He had not considered it worth while to 
 spend holy time in discussing doctrines, and enforcing them upon his 
 hearers, when he did not perceive their materiality to a true Christian 
 life. His heart was bent on doing good, and on awakening men to 
 their true interests ; but as the time approached in which his earthly 
 ministrations were to be closed, he was led to examine the creed 
 which had for so long a period been responded to by those who came 
 into the church, and he came to the conclusion, that the doctrines of 
 which we have before made mention, were not sustained by Divine 
 revelation, and all of them were stricken from it. We do not know 
 how this change was brought about ; in the years of his missionary 
 labor, and those that followed, there are no records of any meetings 
 of the church ; but during this period this great change was made. 
 A new covenant, in the hand-writing of Mr. Little, was used, and 
 the same has been continued to the present day. He may have as- 
 sumed authority to substitute this in place of the former, or he may 
 have been instructed to do so by a vote of the church. We have 
 no knowledge of the theological opinions of any member previously 
 to the present century. When Mr. Fletcher, the successor of Mr. 
 Little, was ordained, the profession of faith, which had thus been 
 instituted, was recognized as the voice of the church, and was after- 
 ward often repeated before the congregation ; so that, with Mr. 
 Little, the whole church virtually abjured the original creed. It 
 does not appear that any of the neighboring ministers or churches 
 objected to this modification of doctrinal belief; or that, at any of 
 the conferences, the subject was even suggested. The peace of the 
 church was unaffected ; and harmony ruled in all their future councils.. 
 During his long ministry the kindest feelings were entertained toward, 
 him by his parishioners. John Storer, Esq., of Wells, gave him fifty 
 acres of land ; and his people generally were very liberal in their 
 donations to him. In concluding his sermon at Waterboro', he says, 
 "The parish of which I have had the honor and pleasure of being a 
 minister more than thirty years, contained at my first settlement but 
 thirty families. I settled with them in perfect harmony, under the 
 influences of that love and friendship which the Gospel inspires. I 
 have lived comfortably among them, neither rich nor poor. No con- 
 tention, no complaint of the Gospel as a burden." 
 46 
 
722 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 For many years he resided at the Landing, owning and occupying 
 the house next above that of the late George W. Bourne. The four 
 magnificent elms in front of that house were set out by him. After- 
 ward he built and occupied that on the Sanford road, lately owned 
 by Paul Stevens. 
 
 On Sunday, Dec. 4, 1801, Mr. Little attended meeting in his usual 
 health. The next day, while sitting in his chair and conversing with 
 his family, paralysis seized him and terminated his life. An immense 
 concourse gathered at his funeral. He was interred in the burying- 
 yard near the store of Bourne & Kingsbury, and a monument erect- 
 ed over his grave, with the following inscription : 
 
 * Blessed are they who have turned 
 many to righteousness. 
 
 This stone 
 is affectionately dedicated 
 by the Second Parish in Wells 
 to the precious memory 
 of their first Pastor, 
 The Rev. Daniel Little, A. M., A. S. S., 
 who was ordained March 17, 1751, lab- 
 oured with them in peace and love for 
 fifty years ; and died Dec. 5, 1801, M 78. 
 
 Memento mori, preached his ardent youth, 
 Memento mori, spoke maturer years, 
 Memento mori, sighed his latest breath, 
 Memento mori, now this stone declares." 
 
 Mr. Little was married to Miss Mary Emerson, daughter of Rev. 
 Joseph Emerson, of Maiden, in 1751, by whom he had three children, 
 Joseph, Mary, and Daniel. His wife died June 2, 1758, JE 32. 
 
 He was again married to Miss Sarah Coffin, daughter of Colonel 
 Joseph Coffin, of Newburyport, in 1759, by whom he had Nathaniel, 
 Sarah, Margaret, David, and Hannah. She died Dec. 19, 1804, M 78. 
 All the family left Wells but David, who engaged in trade, ship- 
 building, and farming. He died July 27, 1843, M 76. His first wife 
 was Sally Chase, of Newington, to whom he was married in 1793 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 723 
 
 and by whom he had the following children, Hannah, Charles, Caro- 
 line, Sarah Ann, and George. The mother died Sept. 15, 1815, M 
 46. Charles became the leading partner of the firm of Little, Brown 
 & Co., of Boston. George established himself at Fort Wayne, Ind., 
 where he has carried on an extensive and profitable business. Han- 
 nah became one of the family of Charles ; Caroline married Elijah 
 Bettes and Rev. George W. Cressey ; and Sarah Ann married William 
 Lord, jr. 
 
 Mr. Little's second wife was Mrs. Mary Hovey, of South Berwick. 
 
 The remains of Rev. Daniel Little, and of his descendants, have 
 been recently removed to the new cemetery near the First Parish 
 church. 
 
 MOSES HEMMENWAY. 
 Died April 18, 1811, Rev. Moses Hemmenway, D. D., aged . 
 
 Dr. Hemmenway graduated at Harvard College in 1755 ; and, it is 
 supposed, studied for the ministry with his uncle, Phineas Hemmen- 
 way, with whom he had prepared for college. While at Harvard, he 
 was distinguished for his strong and clear intellect, and for his argu- 
 mentative power. He was here placed in such relations as to neces- 
 sitate the continual exercise of all his intellectual ability. John 
 Adams, Governor Wentworth, President Locke, Judge Sewall and 
 Tristam Dalton were his classmates. During their college life, these 
 eminent men were in the habit, when together, of testing their logi- 
 cal powers or training themselves for argumentation. By collisions 
 of opinion, sometimes real, sometimes assumed, Hemmenway ac- 
 quired that propensity for controversy, and that skillfulness in de- 
 bate, for which he became eminent in after years. John Adams 
 in one of his letters says : " When I was in cojlege I was a 
 mighty metaphysician ; at least I thought myself so, and such men 
 as Locke, Hemmenway and West thought me so too, for we were 
 ever disputing, though in great good humor." Adams was his spec- 
 ial friend, and kept up a correspondence with him several years after 
 they graduated. In a letter to Judge Sewall a few months before 
 Hemmenway's death, he says, " The melancholy news you gave me 
 of Dr. Hemmenway, affects me very much. My affection for him, 
 which began when we entered college, has continued and increased 
 till it has become veneration." 
 As Cambridge was then the head-quarters to which towns and 
 
724 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 r 
 
 parishes resorted to obtain supplies for the pulpit, a committee 
 was chosen by the First Parish in Wells, to visit that place ami ob- 
 tain some one to preach as a candidate. Hemmenway was recom- 
 mended to them as a young man of superior ability, and well quali- 
 fied for that purpose. From the very flattering account which was 
 given of him, he was engaged to come to Wells. He began to 
 preach after studying divinity about a year. He had already 
 ofiiciated at Lancaster, Boston, Townsend, Wrentham and New Ips- 
 wich. Many of the clergymen of that day were somewhat eccen- 
 tric, and inclined to exhibit this element of character in their inter- 
 course and public ministrations. Witnessing so often this exhibition 
 of singularity among those who were the leading spirits in the min- 
 istry at that time, his mind had became imbued with the thought that 
 it was effective in drawing attention to the speaker; or, perhaps, it 
 might have been a prominent feature in some one who had impressed 
 him as a model for imitation. 
 
 On the Sunday when the new minister was expected, the people 
 had gathered at the door of the church, when, at the regular hour, a 
 small man, of dark complexion, passed by them into the house, with- 
 out stopping to speak to any one, and went directly to the pulpit. 
 No one but the committee had seen him, and no one suspected him 
 to be the minister. But after waiting the usual time, when all was 
 still, he rose, stepped forward to the desk and ejaculated, " Tongs ! 
 tongs ! tongs ! to take a coal from thine altar, O God, to touch the 
 lips of thine unworthy servant, that he may speak to this people the 
 words of everlasting life." 
 
 This odd debut was not without the effect of awakening the atten- 
 tion of the congregation, and in leading them to follow closely his 
 train of thought; expecting, perhaps, every moment some similar 
 strange enunciation. The town then contained a population of in- 
 dustrious yeomanry, inured more to hard labor and to the difficulties 
 in the way of acquiring the comforts of the physical, than to medi- 
 tation on matters which took hold of the spiritual nature. Most of 
 them had had but little education. A few had enjoyed the benefit 
 of a more liberal, intellectual culture. But as a whole, metaphysical 
 seience, scriptural exegesis, and elaborate investigation were not the 
 elements of a pulpit service which would take hold of their affec- 
 tions, or captivate their attention. The direct application and ex- 
 hortation were the only effective portions of a public discourse. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNk. 725 
 
 Though these were seldom wanting, Hemmenway's sermons were 
 almost entirely wrought out through a train of continued argument, 
 culminating in the establishment of some moral proposition. Such 
 addresses are not calculated to find sympathy in the untrained intel- 
 lect. On this account as well as others, his first ministerial perform- 
 ances were probably not of a character to draw to him the hearts of 
 his hearers; so that he preached a whole year at Wells before he had 
 laid a foundation in the sympathies of the Parish, for a permanent 
 settlement. We have wondered that he could have so far ingra- 
 tiated himself with the mass of the inhabitants as to have secured a 
 settlement. But in his long probation his intellectual power was 
 recognized by the educated portion of the Parish; and through their 
 influence, aided by some little pride among the people in having an 
 able man for their minister, he was invited to become pastor, and was 
 ordained on the eighth day of August, 1759. 
 
 In this early period of his ministerial life, he appears to have had 
 no difficulty in preparing himself for the pulpit. He wrote with 
 wonderful facility. On any passage of Scripture a host of thoughts 
 were always waiting their turn to meet his demands in the process 
 of argument or elucidation. In the next mouth following his ordi- 
 nation, he preached seven consecutive sermons on the text, "The 
 Lord is not slack concerning his promises." With an intellect so 
 fruitful, his people might well anticipate for him a career of growing 
 usefulness and eminence. 
 
 He not only wrote with ease, but with great confidence. In 1767, 
 he issued his first publication, embracing Seven Sermons, on the ob- 
 ligation and encouragement of the unregencrate to use the means of 
 salvation ; which involved him in a controversy with Dr. Hopkins. 
 In 1772, he sent forth another volume entitled, " A vindication of the 
 power, obligation and encouragement of the unregenerate to attend 
 the means of grace, against the exceptions of the Rev. Samuel Hop- 
 kins." For these works of Hemmenway there was a very great de- 
 mand. The first edition of 2,000 was speedily exhausted, and a new 
 edition issued. 
 
 A few years after his ordination, Nov., 1762, he was married to 
 Miss Mary Jefferds, daughter of the former minister. This connec- 
 tion was exceedingly felicitous as to his professional advancement. 
 The tendency of his mind was almost exclusively to study. The 
 c omforts, or even necessities of the body, seldom had any part in his 
 
726 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 thoughts. His mind was continually absorbed in some labor, to per- 
 fect which, was for the time, the exclusive matter of interest; and 
 when this was accomplished, another was always at hand. It was 
 well for him, under these circumstances, that he had a connubial 
 companion, able to supply all deficiences in his character as head of 
 the household. She assumed the entire care of the family ; furnished 
 the table, and carried on the domestic administration, so that his 
 meditations were not interrupted by any demands from that quarter. 
 
 He was given to no physical indulgences, and therefore had no 
 contests with passions, which might, in some degree, have counter- 
 acted this supreme tendency to abstraction from the ordinary cares 
 and pastimes of life. He smoked but little, though he always kept 
 his pipe in order for the accommodation of his guests. In conformity 
 with the fashion of the day, and with the sentiment prevailing at 
 that time, that alcoholic stimulants were necessary for the healthy 
 working of the physical system, he partook moderately of the pure 
 liquors then in use. We are not sure that it would not have been 
 better for himself and for the world, if he had suffered his body to 
 come in for a little larger share of that attention which men are ac- 
 customed generally to yield to it. A little more devotion to calis- 
 thenics might have infused more life into his organization, quickened 
 and strengthened his intellect, and prolonged his days of usefulness. 
 All history bears testimony against bodily inactivity. 
 
 Dr. Hemraenway's personal appearance did not indicate him to be 
 a man above the grade of ordinary life. We can, with safety, say 
 that his features and dress, to a stranger, would suggest that he was 
 indifferent to social conventional proprieties, and was working his 
 way onward in the world by manual rather than intellectual labor. 
 His clothing was of the plainest and most economical character, and 
 such as was adapted to his comfort, regardless of style or fashion. 
 It was all of domestic manufacture, the fabric of his own house, or 
 of those of his parishioners. He never appeared in the pulpit, even 
 when he preached in Boston, in any other than a homespun suit. 
 Instead of an overcoat for out of door use, whenever an extra gar- 
 ment was necessary, he wore a sack. Some describe it as a gown, 
 which was of loose construction, and kept together in front by a belt 
 buckled tightly around the waist. We do not remember seeing him 
 more than once. That was in our boyhood, and we have ever since 
 thought of him, as we then saw him going into the pulpit, as a fac- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 727 
 
 simile of John the Baptist. His hat was the old-fashioned, three- 
 cornered cocked-up, as then termed. At the present day not much 
 ministerial dignity would be awarded to one from such a personal 
 exhibition. But he was inclined to be independent of human ordi- 
 nances, when not imperative or ministering to his comfort. 
 
 This peculiar and simple mode of dress sometimes, among those 
 to whom he was unknown, exposed him to discomforts, as well as 
 deprived him of that respect and attention which all would readily 
 have accorded to one of his standing in the theological world. The 
 common sentiment of civilization has always demanded some regard 
 to the proper adornment of the person. He was expected to pass 
 through Newburyport on his way to Boston to preach the election 
 sermon. Dr. Spring called on the keeper of the public house in that 
 town, and asked him to give his compliments to Dr. Hemmenway 
 when he arrived and invite him to come and dine with him. The 
 day was rainy, but the weather did not prevent him from traveling, 
 though he performed all his journeys on horseback. Carriages were 
 then scarce in all our country towns. Dr. Spring waited for him to 
 a very late hour, and then called at the hotel to learn if they had 
 had any report of him. The landlord was absent, but his wife in- 
 formed him that they had had no company during the day, except- 
 ing an old man who was out in the kitchen ; that he had come and 
 put up his horse himself, and after sitting a while in the bar-room, 
 asked liberty to sit by the kitchen fire to dry himself. Dr. Spring 
 went to the kitchen, and, to his surprise, and the overwhelming mor- 
 tification of the landlady, discovered in the contented old man the 
 long-expected Dr. Hemmenway. She had told him, while sitting 
 there, that she was momently expecting the great Dr. Hemmenway; 
 but the remark induced no revelation of his identity with the ex- 
 pected guest. He was quietly waiting the drying of his clothe3, 
 which had been pretty well drenched. He enjoyed a practical joke 
 of this character. 
 
 While this indifference to his personate as manifested in his ap- 
 parel, precluded all prepossession in his favor, his physical imperfec- 
 tions were not without their influence in the same direction. In 
 stature he was rather small, and in his mien there was nothing capti- 
 vating. In the latter period of his life, he was both monoculous and 
 near-sighted, and the gestures and motions which frequently ac- 
 company such deficiencies, are not apt to secure to the subject of 
 
h- 
 
 25 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 them, the ready sympathies of those with whom he comes in contact. 
 These facts in his exterior manifestations will readily explain the 
 embarrassment of the distinguished clergyman of Boston, when he 
 introduced him to his pulpit, as narrated in the Annals of the Amer- 
 ican Pulpit. "I was peculiarly tried," he reinarks, "after I had in- 
 vited him to spend the night with me, since I could do nothing less 
 than invite him to preach for me next day. But would not my con- 
 gregation blame me for introducing into my pulpit a minister so 
 utterly lacking in personal dignity? But I had gone too far to re- 
 trace my steps, and accordingly my guest was invited to take my 
 place in the public services. Still I felt ashamed of having thus 
 committed myself; but soon after he commenced his prayef I began 
 to be less ashamed, and before he had finished his sermon I felt 
 ashamed of myself and my performances in the pulpit." 
 
 While he thought little of personal dignity, he was at the same 
 time equally indifferent to his personal comfort. As we have stated, 
 he always journeyed on horseback, and this in the most moderate 
 way, seldom pressing his horse out of a walk. It mattered not to 
 him what the weather was, pleasant or unpleasant, stormy or fair, 
 the horse proceeded at the same independent, quiet gait. He was 
 always in a deep study, whether on the highway or in his chair; 
 even while at the washbowl, every one would observe his lips con- 
 stantly responding to his unspoken thought. Being thus completely 
 absorbed in meditation, distance was passed over without weariness 
 or impatience, while probably he was not conusant of the lapse of 
 time. While on a journey to Boston, on an exceedingly warm day, 
 be was overtaken by a gentleman going to the same place, who ac- 
 costed him with the salutation, " Well, old gentleman, where are you 
 going?" The doctor replied that he was going to Boston. "You 
 don't expect to get there to-night, do you?" "Yes," he answered, 
 "I think I shall, if I don't travel too fast." The stranger kept along 
 with him as long as his patience could endure the moderate pace, 
 and then hastened onward ; but before he reached his destination 
 his horse gave out, and he was obliged to put up for the night. In 
 due time the doctor came up, and steadily passing on, reached Bos- 
 ton in the evening. 
 
 The economy of his domestic administration was in harmony with 
 his peculiar characteristics. We do not suppose him to have been 
 in any sense parsimonious. The intellectual in him was the all-con- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 729 
 
 trolling power; the body was little thought of. In fact, it was the 
 complete slave to his mind. His salary was small and his family 
 large, and therefore he may have regarded it as a Christian duty to 
 be as economical as possible in his family expenditures. But what- 
 ever was the motive, his mode of living was remarkably abstemious 
 and patriarchal. His daily fare was of the most simple kind. All 
 his life his appetite in the morning, and for the most part at night, 
 was satisfied with the bowl of porridge or gruel. His family were 
 not, it is presumed, subjected to the same limited supply of their 
 bodily wants. 
 
 But Dr. Hemmenway's eminence was based on his character as a 
 divine, and it is in this aspect that history is concerned in the pres- 
 ervation of such memorials of him as have survived. We have not 
 room, neither would it be consistent with the principle which we 
 have assumed as our guide in this work, to enter into any discussion 
 of his theological opinions. With many, our views, probably, would 
 not find acceptance. From his published works the reader will read- 
 ily learn his opinions on the controverted questions of that day. It 
 is well known to all versed in modern ecclesiastical history that in 
 the latter part of the last century, the Congregational ministers of 
 New England preached Christianity almost entirely as a religion of 
 the life. When, in the first part of the present century, religionists 
 began to turn their attention to the inquiry whether the Assembly's 
 Catechism, which had theretofore been the rule or standard of theo- 
 logical belief, was the legitimate representative of Gospel truth, it 
 was found that men who had taken it implicitly, as a platform of 
 faith, had widely different views of its import. The explanations of 
 its terminologies exhibited very discordant sentiment. The creed of 
 the church in Wells recognized the " true God, Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost," omitting the ascription of equality in power and glory, 
 but none other of the controverted doctrines of the present day ap- 
 pear in it. Hemmenway preached the atonement to the full extent 
 of the meaning now awarded to it, bating the fact of the death of 
 the Infinite; but we cannot assert, without qualification, that he was 
 of the Calvinistic faith. We think he was denominated "a moder- 
 ate Calvinist." Every one then had some idea of the significancy of 
 this appellation. The manuscript sermons of other cotemporary 
 neighboring ministers which I have examined, like his, fail to recog- 
 nize the death of the Infinite as the material element of the sacr.fico 
 
730 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 on the cross. We do not assert that such was not his belief, but in 
 the many of his sermons which we have examined, we have not dis- 
 covered that he entertained any such view of the crucifixion. Still, 
 we may well claim his expositions of Scripture as assimilating him 
 more to the orthodoxy of our own times, than to the faith of any 
 other denomination. 
 
 The body of the sermonizing of the half century of his ministry 
 was of a practical character, addressed to the supposed capabilities of 
 men, to their consciousness of ability to do what God required of 
 them. Ministers assumed that men could be Christians if they had 
 the mind to be. But little discordant sentiment appeared, we think, 
 in the ordinary preaching of the Gospel. One of the exciting causes 
 of the sectarianism of the present day, did not then exist. The 
 Parishes had by law their definite boundaries, and all residents were 
 within the fold. A general unanimity of sentiment prevailed from 
 the fact, that all received their religious instruction from the same 
 desk. Or, perhaps, it may with more propriety be said, there were 
 no clear, definite, and fixed opinions on the controverted questions of 
 the present age, as no circumstances existed to awaken an interest in 
 them, or excite to their investigation. Heresy had not then, as now, 
 the opportunities of invading and pulling down the regular church. 
 
 Dr. Hemmenway was of the class of ministers who were thus 
 striving for the promotion of practical religion. In his controversies, 
 he was actuated by the belief that the positions of his opponents 
 were at war with it, and tended to neutralize the effect of Gospel 
 ministrations. His work on the church, published in 1792, when his 
 intellectual energies were in their highest vigor, will unfold to the 
 patient and careful reader very clearly the character of the religion 
 that he inculcated. The whole work, and it is one of some magni- 
 tude, manifests a power of discrimination and analysis, a depth of 
 thought, and a logical, symmetrical, and cogent argumentation, not 
 surpassed in any theological production of New England in the last 
 or present century, though every one may not appreciate many of 
 his nice distinctions. This discourse recognized none of the doc- 
 trines the discussion of which, in the present century, has marred the 
 peace of the American church. It denies the right of any one to 
 require of proponents for admission to its privileges and fellowship, 
 any other confession of faith than that demanded by the apostles, a 
 sincere belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as the son of God. It main- 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 731 
 
 tains that moral sincerity, and a life not scandalous, give the right of 
 access to the Christian ordinances. In the day of its publication, it 
 commended itself to all denominations, with the exception of those 
 who regarded immersion as a prerequisite to the eucharist. The 
 practice of the liberal church accords with its leading position. 
 
 While Dr. Hemmen way's power of argumentation was unequaled 
 by that of any one in this State, and unsurpassed by that exhibited 
 in the writings of others in New England, his sermons were not 
 effectual in the production of the immediate results to which this fast 
 age is wont to look as the evidence of a minister's power. Whatever 
 the issues of ministerial labors, gradual or immediately resulting, 
 there was at no time any striking exhibition of the effect of his ad- 
 dresses on the people. They were directed to the reason of men, to 
 bring about that mental conviction which would urge to Christian 
 life. His Parish was much attached to him, and unbroken harmony 
 marked the connection between pastor and people during his min- 
 istry. 
 
 Perhaps this last remark needs some qualification. The upper part 
 of the town embracing what is denominated Merryland, was anxious 
 to have ministrations of the Gospel nearer home, and measures were 
 adopted for that purpose. But the town manifested no disposition 
 to accede to any new division of the Parish. This opposition to 
 their wishes very naturally created some dissatisfaction. 
 
 Aside from this local disaffection, as before stated, Dr. Hemmen- 
 way's ministry was not disturbed by any discordant feeling among 
 his parishioners. The additions to his church were few. But still it 
 is not to be doubted that the power of Christian truth was continual- 
 ly operating in the improvement of the moral sense, and the strength- 
 ening of the kingdom of righteousness. He had no disposition to 
 compromise the truth in the least degree, to commend himself to any 
 portion of his hearers. He was unsparing in his denunciations of 
 dramshops and other iniquities. Neither was he disposed to shirk 
 any duty that his office required of him. However difficult and 
 laborious the matter of inquiry, his soul went into it with all the 
 earnestness of a determination to fathom it. lie sought for sound, 
 logical conclusions. The material to carry out and sustain his points 
 was sometimes brought out by "hard scratching." He wrote all his 
 discourses, whether for the pulpit or the press, in his large, old-fash- 
 ioned chair, with its two broad arms. This chair is still in the pos- 
 
732 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 session of bis grandson, and on the left arm are three or four 
 indentures or abrasions, extending diagonally across it, and of con- 
 siderable depth, which were made by the scratching of his finger-nails 
 when he was in agony for an appropriate thought. During 'the 
 winter season, he sat with his family by the fire, taking a box on his 
 knees, on which he wrote his discourses. Similar marks of his some- 
 times difficult labors appear on the walls near which he sat. The 
 theological metaphysics of his age demanded intense study. On 
 most of these, it appears to us, reason was exalted above revelation, 
 and the conflict between the contending parties was thence such as 
 allowed free scope for the application of all their intellectual energies. 
 In the discourse on the church, containing about as much as an ordi- 
 nary duodecimo volume, no quotations are made from the Scriptures. 
 Principles are assumed as recognized by reason and revelation, and 
 thence by a regular consecutive train of thought, dictated and con- 
 trolled by a sound logic, he is carried onward to the conclusion at 
 which he is aiming, not being delayed by the opposition of merely 
 verbal instructions interposed by the Scriptures. The Bible he seems 
 to have regarded as a compilation of principles, and these he laid 
 hold of with the assurance that they would carry him safely through 
 whatever labyrinth he might be involved in, in the pursuit of sub- 
 stantial truth. Though, in his warfare with the giants in theology, 
 with whom he felt it to be his duty to contend, he w r as independent 
 of Scripture phraseology in his ministrations to his people, he fre- 
 quently fell into the practice of the clergy in giving prominence and 
 effect to every word of his text. Though such a habit lightens essen- 
 tially the labors of the preacher, we do not suppose that he indulged 
 in it from any motive of that nature. He was highly evangelical, 
 reverencing the Gospel. Yet he probably took to heart the injunction 
 of the apostle, "to judge himself what was right." 
 
 This method of theological warfare was adapted to train the 
 soldiers of the cross to become intellectual athletes. The power 
 was to be created by long-continued, careful, and far-reaching inquiry 
 and investigation. The subjects of controversy as believed on one 
 side, were most momentous, and, therefore well adapted to call into 
 exercise all the intellectual ability that an all-controlling interest 
 could excite to the work. In 1767, he published seven sermons on 
 the obligation and encouragement of the unregenerate, of 204 pages, 
 as we have before stated. In 1769, Dr. Hopkins issued a discourse 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 733 
 
 on the state and character of the unrcgenerate, in answer to Mills, in 
 which he maintained that the nnregenerate could do nothing toward 
 the moral change demanded for salvation; that all the exercises of 
 one in that condition were sinful, and, therefore, that the Christian 
 should be willing, for the glory of God, to suffer eternal destruction. 
 In answer to this, in 1772, Hemmenway published his " Vindication 
 of the power, obligations, etc., of the unrcgenerate to attend the 
 means of grace, against the exceptions of Samuel Hopkins, in his 
 reply to Mills." To this Hopkins replied, and Hemmenway rejoined 
 in 1774. In 1781, he published a sermon on Baptism. In 1784, he 
 preached the Election Sermon, which was published. In 1792, he 
 issued his work on the church. There was great demand for this work. 
 A large subscription of several thousand was obtained for it. Dr. 
 Emmons replied to it, in a dissertation on the Scriptural qualifications 
 for admission to the Christian sacrament. To this Hemmenway 
 rejoined in 1794, by "Remarks on Dr. Emmons' Strictures." This 
 was followed by a sur-rejoinder from Dr. Emmons in 1795. 
 
 It is no part of our work to express an opinion of these publica- 
 tions ; the views which readers would cherish as to their ability or 
 conclusiveness would, we suppose, be determined very materially by 
 the views which they have of the moral government of God, or of 
 the special revelation of truth as set forth in the Gospel. But it 
 cannot be denied that much logical power, clearness of perception 
 vigor of intellect, and severe mental discipline, are manifest in these 
 works of Dr. Hemmenway. 
 
 He was so sensible of the importance of consideration, and of 
 accuracy in the enunciation of his thoughts, that he never preached 
 extemporaneously. His sermons were written, to the last word to 
 be uttered ; and he never attempted to commit them to memory ; so 
 that there could be no eloquence in the delivery of them, excepting 
 that of the heart, and of a sound conviction that the propositions 
 were based on truth ; and that they were of vital interest to his 
 hearers. The earnestness of such an assurance will lay hold of the 
 attention of reflecting men. He held his sermon in his hand, and 
 near his eye. Being in the latter part of his life deprived of one 
 eye, and near-sighted, his personal appearance in the pulpit, as we 
 have already remarked, had nothing in it to fasten attention upon 
 him ; but an intelligent auditor soon found himself absorbed in his 
 argument. The outward was lost sight of in the manifestations of 
 
731 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 the inner man, as exhibited in the case of the distinguished clergy- 
 man of Boston, before related. 
 
 In one respect he was specially faithful to his convictions of duty; 
 he never left his argument half finished. However long the sermon 
 might become by the full elucidation of his text, he was not disposed 
 to forego the labor of its composition, or to spare the patience of his 
 hearers in its delivery; so that his parishioners, who still survive, 
 speak of his Sunday services as being so protracted, that they did 
 not reach their homes, though but a short distance from the meeting- 
 house, till candle-lighting. Few parishioners at the present day, 
 especially in a winter season, when, as then, the atmosphere of the 
 house is not modified by any artificial heat, would long submit to 
 such unreasonable demands upon their attention. But those whose 
 mental discipline enabled them to follow him in his train of reason- 
 ing, became with him absorbed in the question in issue ; and those 
 who had not this ability sat under him without impatience or weari- 
 ness, from that complacency which came with the thought that they 
 were listening to one of acknowledged ability, of whom they were 
 proud of being regular hearers. But nevertheless, the discomforts 
 of the body sometimes over-rode all incentives to patience, and some 
 became uneasy under such protracted religious services. His prayers 
 were proportioned to his sermons. In his long devotional addresses, 
 he was not exceptional ; long prayers were the custom of the day. 
 Ministers seemed to feel that their effect was in proportion to their 
 length. Mr. Smith, of Portland, in his journal in 1749, says, "I was 
 an hour in each of the first prayers; had uncommon assistance;" 
 and again in 1750, he says the same. Dec. 25, 1775, " I almost killed 
 myself in prayer." Rev. Joseph Moody, of York, at the time of the 
 siege of Louisburg, in 1745, on the occasion of a fast at York, as be- 
 fore stated, prayed two hours and a quarter. Some of Hemmenway's 
 people gathered up courage to hint to him that shorter prayers would 
 be more satisfactory ; and sent word to him that if he would shorten 
 all his services, they would give him a barrel of cider. They thought 
 this would be a daily reminder of the necessity of a little more 
 brevity in his preparations for the pulpit. Though not a very strong 
 inducement to qualify his sense of ministerial duty, it was regarded 
 as a pleasant hint that he had presumed a little too much on their 
 patience. He accepted the proposition, and, to some extent, curtailed 
 his discourses. He had perceived that some of his most devoted 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 735 
 
 supporters, who were engaged in active business during the week, 
 and who were very regular attendants in the sanctuary, were in the 
 habit of going to sleep soon after the exercises commenced. While 
 walking to meeting one Sabbath, he was overtaken by one of his 
 friends of this character, who said to him, "I see your dog is going 
 to meeting with you." " Yes," he replied, " he is very much like 
 some of my parishioners; he goes to meeting constantly, and as soon 
 as he is in his place in the pulpit, he lays down and goes to sleep." 
 All such admonitions were received very pleasantly by his people. 
 
 His wife, also, sympathized very much with the people, in their 
 dissatisfaction with the unreasonable length of his pulpit exercises. 
 Having sometimes found that his feet were colder during his Sunday 
 ministrations than was consistent with a proper regard to his health 
 and comfort, he said to her, "I want you to make me a pair of moc- 
 casins." She answered him without hesitation, " I won't do it ; you 
 preach so long now that you tire all the people out ; and if you get 
 a pair of moccasins it will be worse still. When your feet get cold 
 you ought to leave off." 
 
 He was peculiar in his family devotions; the religious world of to- 
 day would not probably assent to their wisdom. The philosophy of 
 family religion would seem to require that it should be presented to 
 childhood and youth in its most attractive and pleasant aspects ; that 
 it should not be tedious in any of its requirements. But his soul 
 was so engrossed with the Gospel, and it was to him so suggestive ; 
 and he was thence so intent on the sublime thoughts which flowed 
 out of every sentence, that time was almost annihilated when its 
 pages were before him ; and it did not occur to his mind that all the 
 young and old present did not accord with him in the interest of the 
 service. No matter how many persons were present, every one was 
 required to read a full chapter. He had eleven children ; when all 
 were present, with the parents and other inmate friends and guests, 
 one would suppose, that with his long prayers, there would not be 
 much of the forenoon left for business, or to the children, for study 
 or amusement. Such a custom strictly followed, through all one's 
 childish and youthful years, would not be likely to imbue him with 
 a love of the Bible or of family devotions. 
 
 Though the great business of his life was the contemplation of the 
 things of the spirit, and the unfolding and elucidation of a theology 
 which, in his vision, was the true one, fitted for the nurture of the 
 
736 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 soul for heaven ; or, perhaps, I may better say, though logic applied 
 to the working out of the problems of man's duties, life, and destiny, 
 was his life, his meat and drink, yet, when from any cause, he was 
 made to relax from his all-absorbing ratiocinations, he was very 
 pleasant, social, and genial in his intercourse ; rather inclined to 
 witticism. When he went abroad, he made himself a familiar and 
 enlivening companion. While in company with some of his breth- 
 ren, at the eastward, waiting for the ferry across the Presumpscot 
 river, the wig, then a common article of ministerial comfort and dig- 
 nity, became a subject of conversation. One of the number re- 
 marked that he had just obtained one, and found it very comfortable, 
 and turning to Hemmenway, said, "Doctor, why don't you get one?" 
 He readily replied that he had no occasion for it ; but for some of 
 the brethren he thought it very well, "to cover more abundantly the 
 part which lacketh." A little different version of the story appears 
 in the "American Pulpit;" but the gist of the story is the same. 
 
 In his parochial intercourse he made his fellowship very familiar 
 and acceptable ; so that his people not only respected him for his 
 intellectual standing, but were attached to him for the personal qual- 
 ities which made him an interesting companion. As it is with most 
 intellectual men, he unbent himself more, when abroad, than at his 
 own fireside. When the industrious man is at home, in the imme- 
 diate scene of his usual employments, his mind is in a state of unrest, 
 unless in the pursuit of his labors, which are the food and nourish- 
 ment of his soul ; but when away from their attractions, there are 
 no such interferences to obstruct the exercise of his conversational 
 powers. The mass of mankind, of whatever moral grade, are capti- 
 vated by anecdote and witticism ; and the intellectual man who has 
 at command treasures of that description, cannot fail of a hearty 
 reception in any company. Dr. Hemmenway's mind was very im- 
 pressible to wit and exciting story; and he had always on hand, for 
 use, a fund on which to draw for the edification of his parishioners, 
 in his ministerial visits. He manifested himself on such occasions 
 more as the neighbor or intimate friend of the family, than as their 
 spiritual teacher. Perhaps he felt that such relaxations were neces- 
 sities for himself, while they enlivened and cheered the hearts of his 
 people, in the midst of the routine and drudgery of daily life. This 
 element of his mental composition w r as more strikingly exhibited at 
 weddings. However much may be said of the solemnity of the con- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 737 
 
 summation of the connubial contract, human nature will never har- 
 monize with any theory of moral sentiment which regards it as an 
 occasion for serious religious consideration, and this he well under- 
 stood, as did all the divines of the last century. The wedding gar- 
 ment was one thing, and the funeral another. At weddings his fund 
 of story was drawn upon with great freedom, and he was the life of 
 the assembly. As both pastor and parishioners regarded these occa- 
 sions as giving license to all to make glad and be merry, they in no 
 degree detracted from the solemnity and impressiveness of his pulpit 
 ministrations. The people were made to feel that he was a man of 
 like passions and sympathies with themselves ; that he was a brother, 
 and that those subjects which his more exalted intellect, by constant 
 study and research, had taught him to regard as of vital importance 
 to himself, were of equal moment to them. They would, therefore, 
 cheerfully rejoice with him on occasions of rejoicing, and consider 
 with him in hours of serious reflection. 
 
 Dr. Hemmenway was settled at a period when the ministerial of- 
 fice was regarded as a permanent one, both by pastor and people, so 
 that the former might safely make his calculations for life, and lay 
 the foundation, sure and strong, for extensive usefulness in his Par- 
 ish. But toward the close of his ministry, serious inroads began to 
 be made on this long-established law of the ministerial connection, 
 and these parochial settlements were tending toward no other basis 
 than the unstable element of the popular will ; and he foresaw that 
 the minister, instead of striving by all means to save some, would be 
 obliged to resort to all means to please his parishioners. If they 
 would not endure sound doctrine, he must so far qualify it as to de- 
 tract from its efficiency. As he knew not what a day might bring 
 forth, he must be continually on the watch lest his own steps should 
 slide. The settlements of the present day cannot make giants in the- 
 profession. To be a man in one's position, it must be the ruling in- 
 quiry of his life how he shall grow and be useful in it, not how he- 
 shall keep himself in it. No one can apply his energies with confi- 
 dence to the building up of his house, when he feels that the founda- 
 tion must be continually watched, lest it should slide away from 
 under it. Hemmenway was conservative, and foresaw that this 
 change in long-established ecclesiastical usages might be followed 
 with very serious consequences to Christian theology and the minis- 
 trations of the pulpit, and therefore it did not commend itself to his- 
 47 
 
738 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 mind. Whether his view of the matter was sound or not, it is not 
 here necessary to inquire. But the change had in it nothing with 
 which he could sympathize, and although it did not affect his rela- 
 tions, he spoke of it in no very mild terms. In conversation with 
 some one in regard to an ordination which had. occurred, he re- 
 marked that the ministerial relation formed now-a-days resembled 
 very much the installation of a cat in a new home. For a time all 
 the intercourse of the cat with the family was very smooth, gentle, 
 and affectionate. Every one would fondle and caress her. It was 
 pussy, pussy, poor pussy ; but in a little while it was " scat, you 
 bitch." There is nothing very beautiful in the similitude, but the il- 
 lustration is by no means an inapt one. He never studied beauty of 
 language so much as he did the effect of it. 
 
 Many anecdotes are still current of Dr. Hem men way ; but we 
 have already given as much space to his biography as seems . to be 
 consistent with the design of this work. He was the most eminent 
 of the inhabitants of Wells, and we have felt that we could not do 
 justice to his memory in a more concise sketch of his ministerial 
 character. He was highly esteemed by his professional brethren and 
 others in high intellectual, moral, and political life. Beside the con- 
 troversial discourses before named, he preached many others, usual 
 on special occasions. Among them the Dudlean Lecture, and the 
 annual sermon before the convention of Congregational ministers. 
 
 He received the degree of D. D. from Harvard College in 1785, 
 and from Dartmouth in 1792. He did not limit his labors to his 
 particular sphere as a clergyman, and while he insisted stenuously 
 for the liberty of the pulpit, he was not less earnest in the maintain- 
 ance of the personal and civil rights of the people. In the great 
 struggle for independence he was foremost among the inhabitants of 
 Wells, and was the author of the resolves passed by the town, pledg- 
 ing the support of its inhabitants, through whatever hazards, to all 
 measures which might be adopted looking to the establishment of 
 freedom. In 1787, Dr. Hemmenway and Nathaniel Wells were 
 chosen by the town delegates to the convention to be held in Bos- 
 ton in January, 1788, to consider and act on the proposed federal 
 constitution, as stated in another place. This subject became a mat- 
 ter of deep and absorbing interest. Near the close, a large commit- 
 tee was appointed to consider the many amendments which had 
 been proposed, and all felt the great need of hasten ng their work. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 739 
 
 So great was the interest, that it was proposed that the committee 
 should sit on Sunday, in order that the business might be expedited. 
 Dr. Hemmenway rose in his place and said, "It is lawful to do good 
 on the Sabbath. I have no scruples." 
 
 Dr. Hemmenway had the following children : Sarah, born Sept. 2, 
 1763; Phineas, Dec. 1, 1764; Mary, Aug. 21, 1766; Elizabeth, July 
 2,1768; Moses, June 5, 1770; Jonathan, Oct. 6, 1772; Samuel, 
 March 22, 1775 ; Eunice, April 28, 1777 ; Ralph, Dec. 25, 1779 ; Jane, 
 May 30, 1782; Abigail, July 9, 1786. 
 
 The biographical sketch of Dr. Hemmenway, which we have giv- 
 en, will enable the reader to form an opinion of the general charac- 
 ter of his parochial intercourse and ministrations. He followed St. 
 Paul's example, and reasoned with the people. During his pastor- 
 ate there were no special seasons of religious awakening. He left 
 the passions of men to the control of their reason ; making it an im- 
 portant object to maintain peace and good will among his hearers. 
 This was interrupted only by the Merrylanders, who thought their 
 geographical position ought to be more kindly considered by the 
 Parish. 
 
 In the contract for his settlement, it was agreed that his annual 
 salary should be eighty pounds, or $266.67. Such an offer for the 
 entire services of one of so much promise, must seem to the ambi- 
 tious, though not overpaid ministry of the present age, as an indig- 
 nity unbecoming a religious society. But those were not the years 
 when the land was teeming with wealth. Our towns were then just 
 liberated from the terrors and ravages of the Indian wars. The peo- 
 ple had but little personal property. The town was unable to pay 
 its debts, and so continued for many years afterward. The salaries 
 of the neighboring ministers were no higher. Laboring men had but 
 two shillings a day. Schoolmasters had about the same. The offer 
 was as generous as, under the circumstances, a reasonable religion 
 would justify. But in a few years the currency had greatly depre- 
 ciated, and Dr. Hemmenway found it difficult to sustain his family. 
 The Parish then voted that they would cheerfully agree, that "his 
 salary of eighty pounds should from time to time, thereafter, be 
 made good according to its original value as estimated in articles the 
 produce of the country;" and Nathaniel Wells, Dea. Benjamin 
 Hatch, Capt. Daniel Clark, Joseph Wheelright and John Storer were 
 chosen a committee to carry out the vote. They voted also, " to 
 
740 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 have a free contribution every Sunday, and have a subscription, to 
 pay him 'according to the regulating act.'" 
 
 After the Revolutionary war was over, independence acknowl- 
 edged and the country had entered upon a career of prosperity, the 
 people of Wells, partaking of the common zeal for improving their 
 condition, seized with energy upon the various means for improve- 
 ment and acquisition which were at hand. A successful navigation, 
 inspiring life and animation in all other departments of human in- 
 dustry, had been started by the enterprising men of the town ; and 
 all around people had rapidly recovered from the depressing circum- 
 stances of the war, and in a few years were abundantly able to pay 
 their faithful servants more liberally. But this was the industrial 
 period of our history, when every one was striving for property, and 
 with this ambition grew up a selfish spirit, which clung to every item 
 of income. Dr. Hem men way had lived for thirty years on a very 
 limited fare, not much better, perhaps, than that of John the Baptist. 
 He had a large family to support, and he felt that his parishioners 
 were not doing him justice in leaving him to eke out life with the 
 small annual provision of two hundred and sixty-seven dollars. But 
 the people were too intent on gain to loosen in any measure the grasp 
 upon their income, and declined answering his petition for an in- 
 crease. The doctor was a modest man, and did not avail himself of 
 the argumentum ad hominem as he ought. His conviction was, that 
 his duty required him to reason with his hearers, and not to address 
 their passions. If he had indulged a little more in this lower appeal, 
 he might have been more successful in his application, although there 
 may have been reasons on the part of the people which have not 
 come down to us. 
 
 It is very manifest that his parishioners did not fully appreciate 
 his services. The church before his ordination were unanimous in 
 his favor. But he was a growing man. No winter intervened in his 
 labors. Thought, incessant thought, marked his life. Thus he out- 
 grew his hearers ; so that the common mind could not follow, him in 
 his discourses ; and many of his people, even in the early period of 
 his ministry, could not find in the church that edification which was 
 necessary to meet the longings of the spirit, and, therefore, frequent- 
 ly failed to attend public worship. The church, aware of the evil 
 which must result from this neglect, in 1765, appointed a committee 
 to take this matter into consideration, and endeavor to awaken the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 741 
 
 people to the importance of going to meeting on the Sabbath. John 
 Bourne was " appointed to visit all the families from Ogunquit to 
 TreadwelPs Brook; Pelatiah Littlefield, from Tread well's Brook to 
 Littlefield's mills; John Storer, from Littlefield's mills to Hill's 
 Brook; Deacon Saver, from Hill's Brook to Joshua Clark's; Dea. 
 Wells, from Joshua Clark's to Nathaniel Gould's ; Samuel Jefferds, 
 from his house to the Branch river ; Joshua Goodwin, from the 
 Branch river to Amos Storer's ; Benjamin Hatch, jr., from Phillips- 
 town (Sanford) to Charles Annis'; Daniel Morrison, that part of 
 Merryland from Charles Annis' to Capt. Littlefield's ; D'Chaney and 
 John Maxwell, the rest of the Parish where they live." This com- 
 mittee did not report in writing the various reasons assigned for 
 non-attendance. Such a document might have been very service- 
 able to the ministry in subsequent years. But the labor of the com- 
 mittee does not appear to have been very effectual. A year after, 
 they were requested by the church to renew their exertions; and the 
 minister was requested to urge on the congregation, the importance 
 of a more constant attendance. The general observance of the Sab- 
 bath, we believe to be necessary to the maintainance of order and a 
 sound morality among the people. But an unwilling attendance 
 cannot be of much profit. The services must take hold of the feel- 
 ings of the hearer. His attention must be arrested ; and the prime 
 inquiry of churches and ministers should be how is this to be brought 
 about. It required much resolution in the winter season to face the 
 rigors of the cold when our meeting-houses were so poorly protected 
 from its intrusion. One must have had a good share of religious as- 
 surance to withstand an atmosphere in which the water for baptism, 
 an hour or two after it was brought in, had frozen to such an extent, 
 as one minister says in his diary, that it was difficult to break the ice 
 with the hand. 
 
 The church at the same time was not without its faithless ones ; 
 and it was found necessary to devise " means for maintaining due 
 government and discipline in the church, and preventing scandals 
 and neglect of public ordinances." Men and women were repeated- 
 ly admonished for their disregard of church obligations. Confes- 
 sions of the violation of the commandments were demanded of mem- 
 bers, though forgiveness was readily awarded. The church was 
 large, and we do not suppose that the proportion of delinquents was 
 1 arger than in other communions at this period. The Parish num- 
 
742 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 bered 250 families after the Baptist society was formed. During his 
 pastorate, Dr. Hernmenway baptized 1652 persons. The church as- 
 sisted by their pastor and delegates in the ordinations of Paul Coffin 
 at Buxton, in 1763, Nathaniel Webster at Biddeford, in 1779, and 
 Nathaniel H. Fletcher at Kennebunk, in 1800. All the Congrega- 
 tional churches in Maine during his life were regarded* as sister 
 churches. The Baptist society had made some inroads, which very 
 naturally disturbed the peace of the old Parish. But the controversy 
 was finally settled, so that all strife was at an end, though no good 
 fellowship existed between the two. 
 
 But the Merrylanders do not seem to have been disposed to let the 
 matter rest, as it had been adjusted. They had gathered into the 
 new society a large number of those who had been supporters of the 
 Congregational ; so that the latter was obliged to allow them a hun- 
 dred dollars a year of the tax collected for the support of their min- 
 ister, and aid with the remainder received from their taxes, in finish- 
 ing their meeting-house. The Baptist society, not satisfied with that, 
 petitioned that they might be incorporated as a territorial parish. 
 This society was opposed to their petition, and the prayer of it was 
 not granted. In 1807 they again made application for an allowance 
 or grant of a tract of land to aid them in the support of their minis- 
 ter. But the Parish or town peremptorily refused to make any such 
 donation ; declaring that they would make no grant to any third 
 Parish. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 743 
 
 The town of Wells, during the period embraced in this history, 
 was never so disturbed by the litigious spirit of the inhabitants as 
 to need the continued residence of one of that class of men, whose 
 business is to take care that the peace of society is maintained, and 
 that men do justice to each other when his professional services are 
 required. The work of the lawyer cannot be too highly appreciated. 
 The field of his influence is extensive. He may herein be a great 
 blessing or a great curse to the community, the minister of heaven 
 to still the tumult of passion, promote concord and peace, and make 
 righteousness the ruling principle in the relations of life ; or the 
 promoter of discord, confusion, and every evil work. At times there 
 has been litigation among the inhabitants, although as a general rule 
 for more than a hundred years past, quiet and peace have reigned in 
 this community. Still, from the occasional lawsuits to which we 
 have referred, it has sometimes been thought that Wells afforded a 
 desirable stand for a lawyer, and two or three of the legal profession 
 have opened offices at Morrill's Corner. But they had remained 
 there but a very short time, scarcely long enough to be regarded as 
 townsmen. Kennebunk seems to have been more successful in the 
 acquisition of professional men, though the first lawyer, Sylvanus 
 Wildes, who came here in 1690, did not find sufficient encourage- 
 ment to remain a year. But the prospect soon so brightened that 
 ever since, the town has had a sufficient number to subserve the pur- 
 poses of justice. 
 
 JOSEPH THOMAS. 
 Joseph Thomas came to Kennebunk in 1792. He graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1786, and soon after engaged in teaching in 
 Portlan i. He there studied law with Hon. Daniel Davis. He was 
 endowed with a good share of intellectual ability, and soon secured 
 a fair business. He was given to joking, and availed himself of every 
 opportunity of entertaining his friends in that way. He was well 
 
744 1 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 versed in legal principles, though he was not in the habit of diligent 
 study to learn what application the Courts had made of them, or 
 how they had been warped from their legitimate import and effect. 
 But while in Court, his ear was open to any perversion or misappli- 
 cation of them. Judge Widgery, in some action of assault and bat- 
 tery, had charged the jury that a man had a right to make his mark 
 on the ground, and to say to another that if he stepped over it he 
 would knock him down. Upon this, Thomas started for his board- 
 ing-house, where Widgery and several of the lawyers had accommo- 
 dations, and took his stand at the gate. Seeing Widgery approaching, 
 he took his cane, and drawing a mark across the gateway, said to 
 him, "Now, Judge, there is my mark, and if you step over it I will 
 knock you down." After considerable parleying, Thomas being 
 anxious for his dinner, waived his rights, and permitted him to pass 
 in. 
 
 A couple were anxious to be married, and as there was no minister 
 at hand, they came to Thomas for his services as a magistrate in per- 
 forming the ceremony. He was busily engaged in writing, but 
 stopped to enquire what they wanted. Addressing himself to the 
 man, he inquired if he wanted to take that woman for a wife, and, 
 turning to the woman, asked if she wished to take the man for her 
 husband, and then went on with his writing. The parties sat still 
 and waited till their patience was exhausted ; when the man spoke 
 to Mr. Thomas, and told him they were in a great hurry. " Why, 
 then," he replied, " don't you go along." " Why, we want to be 
 married first." " Married ! you have been married more than half 
 an hour." On his explaining the matter and stating to them the 
 requisitions of law as to the ceremony, the parties left, though, pro- 
 bably, not without some little misgivings as to the perfection of the 
 bonds of wedlock. 
 
 In a few years after he came to Kennebunk, Thomas was able to 
 provide for himself a house, and built that which has been occupied 
 for many years by George Mendum. He married Miss Abigail 
 Russell, of Barnstable. Many years he was one of the selectmen. 
 He was also Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions, and representa- 
 tive to the Legislature ; also, a member of the convention for the 
 formation of the State Constitution. 
 
 In the later years of his life he was exceedingly corpulent, weigh- 
 ing nearly three hundred pounds, so that he was seldom seen away 
 
• HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 745 
 
 from his home, excerpting in his wagon. He was never disposed to 
 put himself forward, or to assume any superiority over others ; but, 
 on the contrary, was retiring in his demeanor, and disposed to peace 
 and quiet. He died Jan. 20, 1830, aged 67, leaving a wiclow, but no 
 children. 
 
 GEORGE W. WALLINGFORD. 
 George W. Wallingford came from Somersworth, N. H., and 
 opened an office in Kennebunk, in 18 — . He graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1795 (being then but seventeen years of age), and studied 
 law with Dudley Hubbard, of South Berwick. Finishing his col- 
 legiate course so early in life, he must have been a very good scholar. 
 He was a hard student in his profession, and soon acquired a very 
 respectable rank as a lawyer, entering on the legal arena fearlessly 
 with any of the professional men who were accustomed to attend 
 our Courts. At this time, there were but few lawyers in the interior 
 of the County, and many of his clients came from distant towns. 
 His reputation was soon established as a learned and discreet coun- 
 selor, and an able advocate, and he gained the confidence of the 
 people. He took a deep interest in public affairs, and was several 
 years elected representative to the Legislature of Massachusetts. He 
 was a member of the famous Brunswick Convention of 1816, though 
 having no sympathy with its doings; also a member of the Conven- 
 tion at Portland for the formation of the State Constitution. Some of 
 the provisions of that instrument he regarded as unequal and unjust, 
 and, therefore did not sign it. Such, also, was the judgment of his 
 associates of Wells, and of several others. He was opposed to the 
 separation of Maine from Massachusetts. But when it became inev- 
 itable, he insisted that his constituents should have their proper 
 proportion of influence in the Legislative and administrative councils. 
 
 Integrity and righteousness were controlling elements of his char- 
 
 i 
 acter. 
 
 In 1806, he married Miss Abigail Chadbourne, of Berwick, by 
 
 whom he had one daughter, who was married to Dr. Dow, of Dover. 
 
 His wife died Jan. 1, 1808, aged 23. In 1815, he married Miss Mary 
 
 Fisher, daughter of Dr. Jacob Fisher, by whom he had five children, 
 
 Lucretia, George, Olive, Sophia, and Helen. 
 
746 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK 
 
 JOSEPH DANE. 
 
 Joseph Dane came from Beverly, Massachusetts. He graduated 
 at Harvard College in 1799, distinguished with the second honors of 
 a class which numbered many who afterward became eminent in the 
 various professions. One of the most effectual aids which can be 
 given to a scholar is to place him in a position where a spirit of 
 emulation is continually being excited, and his energies summoned 
 to daily exercise. Mr. Dane wisely improved the opportunities which 
 he enjoyed, became a ripe scholar, and was thus well prepared to 
 enter on the study of the law, which he pursued in the office and 
 under the direction of the Hon. Nathaniel Dane, of Beverly. He 
 was admitted to the bar in 1802, and in the same year opened an 
 office in Kennebunk. Being well versed in legal principles, quick in 
 his perceptions, careful and considerate in his action, he found ready 
 acceptance with the people, and soon had an extensive practice. 
 There was no more thorough and reliable lawyer in the County, 
 although his natural aversion to anything like display led him to 
 decline, in a great measure, the argument of causes to the jury. But 
 his counsel was regarded as wise and safe, and his advice was sought 
 with great confidence. His character during his long life was un- 
 blemished. He was chosen one of the Executive Council of Massa- 
 chusetts, but declined the office ; also, representative to the United 
 States Congress to supply the vacancy made by the transfer of Mr. 
 Holmes to the Senate, and, also, for the succeeding term. He was a 
 delegate to the convention for forming the Constitution of the State ; 
 afterward a member of the Senate, and six years of the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 He married Mary, daughter of Hon. Jonas Clark, by whom he had 
 two sons and one daughter ; Nathan, five years State Treasurer ; 
 Joseph, now in the practice of law ; and Mary, who married Porter 
 Hall, both now deceased. Mr. Dane died May 1, 1858, aged 79. His 
 widow died February 18, 1872, aged 82. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 747 
 
 JOSEPH SAYER 
 Joseph Sayer was the first regularly established physician of 
 Wells of whom we have any account. He was the son of Francis 
 Sayer, whose father was also named Francis. He was born Dec. 8, 
 1706. A full sketch of his biography has been given in a preceding 
 page. 
 
 JONATHAN CLARK. 
 Jonathan Clark was the second established physician of Wells. 
 He was the son of Eleazer Clark, and was born May 4, 1737. He 
 married Mary Wheelright, and researches have furnished us with no 
 evidence of his qualifications, character, or extent of practice. He 
 studied medicine, and his circuit of business, we have been led to 
 suppose, embraced the people living at the Branch. Dr. Bulman, of 
 York, up to the time of his death, in 1746, had practised in the low- 
 er part of the town. 
 
 DAVID BENNET. 
 A Dr. David Bennet was occasionally in the practice of his pro- 
 fession at Wells about 1742; but we have obtained no information 
 as to his established location, or of his professional character. We 
 suppose that he was the father of George Ben net. 
 
 EBENEZER RICE. 
 Dr. Ebenezer Rice came to Wells in 1763. He graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1760, and having finished his preparatory pro- 
 fessional studies, selected Wells as the field for the exercise of his 
 profession. He located himself in that part of it called Kennebunk, 
 occupying the house built by Jonathan Banks, where William Lord 
 now lives. Finding some reasonable encouragement, in 1765 he was 
 married to Martha Wells, daughter of Nathaniel and sister of Judge 
 Wells. Though liberally educated, he was but a good common- 
 
748 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 sense physician, not remarkable for any one attribute. He was in- 
 terested in, and an active member of, the second Parish, and for 
 several years its clerk and one of the prudential committee. But, as 
 stated in another place, the terrors of the impending Revolutionary 
 conflict were too mucli for his timorous nature, and he fled to the in- 
 terior of Massachusetts with his children. His wife died in 1773. 
 He was again married to Miss Elizabeth How, of Marlborough, in 
 April, 1775. Probably that was his place of refuge. He died in 
 1822. 
 
 EDWARD KITCHEN TURNER. 
 The next physician was Edward Kitchen Turner, who gradu- 
 ated at Cambridge in 1771, and came to Wells after the commence- 
 ment of the war. He also established himself in the village of 
 Kennebunk. He was of a widely different temperament from Dr. 
 Rice, and entered into the contest with England with a patriotic and 
 self-sacrificing spirit. Soon after coming here he resolved to take an 
 active part in the war, and shipped on board a privateer, which went 
 to sea and was never afterward heard of. 
 
 GIDEON FROST. 
 After Dr. Turner, came Dr. Gideon Frost. We know nothing 
 of his education. Turner's place having become vacant, he hastened 
 to secure the stand; but his professional business not fully meeting 
 his desires, he went into navigation and built one or two vessels. In 
 1781, he married Henrietta Thayer, of Uxbridge, Mass. 
 
 JACOB FISHER. 
 There seems to have been something very attractive to medical 
 men in the locality of Kennebunk in the few years immediately fol- 
 lowing the close of the Revolutionary war. Young physicians, 
 though the population was yet small and the field for professional 
 employment very limited, were captivated by the prospects which it 
 held out to them. Soon after the close of the war, Dr. Jacob Fish- 
 er, who had been in the service as a soldier, resolved to avail him- 
 self of its opportunities. He had not enjoyed the benefits of a 
 college education, but was endowed with good intellectual powers, 
 and was of a fearless and decided character. In addition to the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 749 
 
 practice of his profession, he assumed the business of an apothecary, 
 and in a few years embarked in navigation. In the latter branch of 
 business he was not very successful. His attention was then turned 
 to agriculture, in which he took a deep interest. He was a man of 
 good judgment, and influential in all municipal and parochial action. 
 He was much inclined to fun, and all the enjoyments which earth 
 afforded, even to the last of his days. His newspaper advertise- 
 ments and original communications, which appear in the Weekly 
 Visitor and Kennebunk Gazette, will be read with iuterest. 
 
 He availed himself of every opportunity to perpetrate a joke. 
 Many amusing anecdotes were current in his day as originating with 
 him. He was specially gratified in playing off his tricks and his fun 
 with his hired men. One just arrived from the " ould country" 
 called on him for employment. He readily bargained with him for 
 his labor, and then told him the first thing he wished him to do was 
 to go to mill. After pointing out to him the location, and getting 
 the corn upon his shoulder, he told him to be very careful and keep 
 his eye upon the miller, for sometimes he would steal the corn. In- 
 tent on doing his work faithfully, he reached the mill, and the miller 
 seized the bag and emptied it into the hopper. In a little while he 
 saw him returning to it with a two quart measure, dash it into the 
 corn, fill it, and turn to carry it off. As quick as thought the faith- 
 ful Irishman sprang upon him and knocked him down, and turning 
 his corn back into the bag brought it home. 
 
 Another came to the doctor for employment. He conversed with 
 him as to his capabilities, and noticing in all his utterances an un- 
 common proclivity for the use of high-sounding words, told him 
 that he did not think it best to hire him. " Why not?" asks the 
 applicant. " Because I can't afford it. It would cost me more to 
 hire you than anybody else. I must go immediately and buy a dic- 
 tionary and have it always handy in my pocket." 
 
 Though laboring in his various ways for sixty years, he left but 
 little property, not stinting himself in his enjoyments. He died Oct. 
 27, 1840. His wife died a few weeks before. He left the following 
 children : Mary, widow of the late George W. Wallingford ; Lavi- 
 nia, widow of Horace Porter; Charlotte, widow of John Skeele ; 
 Eliza, wife of Israel W. Bourne ; Sarah Ann, widow of Ivory Jef- 
 ferds, of Bangor. Two other children, Benjamin, and Hannah, wife 
 of Edward Greenough, died before him. 
 
750 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 JOHN GATES. 
 Dr. John Gates came to Wells from Rutland, Mass., about the 
 same time with Dr. Frost, selecting the village for his residence. In 
 a few years afterward, he built the house now occupied by his vener- 
 able daughter. He was married to Mary, daughter of Dr. Heramen- 
 way, Nov. 23, 1786. By her he had three children : Nancy, born 
 Nov. 23, 1787 ; Mary, July 25, 1790 ; Charles, Nov. 20, 1792. He 
 was a very skillful physician, and favored with a large practice, his 
 services being sought by people of Sanford and of other neighboring 
 towns. But, like the other physicians, he entered into navigation, 
 building a part of a vessel. He died June 6, 1796, leaving but a 
 small property. The fees of the physician in those days compared 
 very well with the salaries of the clergy. Previously to the settle- 
 ment of Dr. Gates, a Dr. Powers had occupied this field of medical 
 practice a little while, but we have no further knowledge of him. 
 
 OLIVER KEATING. 
 The next physician following Dr. Fisher was Oliver Keating, 
 who came here from York in 1785. He established himself at the 
 Landing in Kennebunk, at that time the principal centre of business, 
 and where he enjoyed the patronage and aid of Theodore Lyman. 
 He was an active, energetic man, and was the principal mover in 
 getting up the company of cavalry, of which some account has al- 
 ready been given. He followed the example of Mr. Lyman, and 
 moved to Boston in 1799. As he turned his attention to a different 
 branch of business, a more particular account of him has been given 
 in another chapter. 
 
 THATCHER GODDARD. 
 Dr. Thatcher Goddard came from Worcester, Mass., about 1786, 
 and established himself in Arundel, where he remained three or four 
 years, and in 1789 or '90 moved to Kennebunk, where he occupied 
 the house of the late Adam McCulloch. But, as was the case with 
 all his predecessors in the profession, the proceeds of medical prac- 
 tice did not come up to his anticipations, and in 1802 he moved to 
 Portland, and entered into mercantile business. There he remained 
 a few years, and then moved to Boston, where he died, leaving a son, 
 Thatcher Goddard, and several daughters: Mary, who married 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 751 
 
 William Goddard ; Susan, who married John G. Perkins, of Kenne- 
 bunkport ; Caroline, who married Francis O. Watts, formerly of 
 Kennebunk; Miranda, who married Augustus Peabody, of Boston ; 
 Eunice, who died unmarried, and Lucy, still living, unmarried, and 
 diligently laboring for the great human family. 
 
 SAMUEL EMERSON. 
 Dr. Samuel Emerson came from Hollis, N. H., to Kennebunk in 
 1790. He was educated at Harvard College, graduating in 1785. 
 He established himself in the village, and soon acquired an exten- 
 sive practice, the population of Wells and neighboring towns having 
 rapidly increased since the peace with England. He was an ardent 
 admirer of the liberal arts, much interested in the promotion of sci- 
 ence, and an earnest lover of music, especially that of the sanctuary. 
 He was a fifer in the Revolutionary war when only eleven years of 
 age. He was given to hospitality, and had an extensive acquaint- 
 ance with the literary men of New England. He labored diligently 
 in his profession over sixty years, and was present at the birth of 
 over four thousand children. Finding his position soon after estab- 
 lishing himself at Kennebunk satisfactory, and the prospect of a suc- 
 cessful practice encouraging, he united in marriage with Miss Olive 
 Barrel!, daughter of Nathaniel Barrel), of York. They had nine 
 children. Three died in infancy. Joseph Barrell, George Barrel!, 
 and William Samuel were educated at Harvard University. Ralph 
 engaged in mercantile business in France* afterward moving to San 
 Francisco. Joseph studied medicine, and after qualifying himself 
 for the practice, established himself at the South, and died from the 
 kick of a horse in 1823. George engaged in teaching, and became 
 distinguished among the instructors in Boston, receiving the degree 
 of Doctor of Laws from Harvard in 1859. William studied medicine, 
 and located himself at Alton, 111., where he died in 1837. Olive 
 married Shephard Norris, of Boston, and is now living as his widow 
 in Milwaukee, Wis. Sarah married Edward Watts; after his death, 
 Dr. G. Heaton, of Boston. The mother died June 13, 1844, aged 
 73; the father, Aug. 7, 1851, aged 86. 
 
 JOSEPH GILMAN. 
 Dr. Joseph Gilman came to Wells in 1794, establishing himself 
 at MorrilPs Corner. For many years he had a good practice in his 
 
752 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 profession. Being of a kind and generous spirit, he seldom retained 
 money sufficient for his necessities. He was of the Hopkinsian 
 school on religion, and being thence not in perfect accord with all 
 the pulpit ministrations, he seceded with several others from the an- 
 cient church, and inaugurated a second Congregational society. The 
 next year after he came to Wells he was married to Hannah, daugh- 
 ter of Rev. Daniel Little. She died Aug. 20, 1801. In 1805, he 
 married Hannah, daughter of John Grant. By his first wife he had 
 four children : Elizabeth, born Aug. 3, 1796 ; Ebenezer, born Aug. 
 9, 1797; Hannah, born Jan. 27, 1799; Sarah L., born Aug. 24, 1800, 
 By the second wife he had Theodosia, born March 23, 1806; Ann 
 Frances, born March 6, 1808 ; Martha Ann, born July 2, 1812 ; 
 Mary, born December 2, 1814; Francis, Sept. 18, 1817. He died 
 Jan." 4, 1847, aged 75. 
 
 JAMES DORRANCE. 
 
 Dr. James Dorrance came from Sterling, Conn., to Wells in 
 1802, and located himself at Kennebunk Landing. He soon ac- 
 quired a good practice, which he maintained several years. But 
 having received a personal injury by overturning his carriage in the 
 night, and being confined a long time in his house, it became neces- 
 sary for him, in some measure, to change his business, and he en- 
 gaged in ship building in company with Isaac Kilham ; but in this 
 he was not very successful. He moved to Portland in 1820, where 
 he remained till 1830, when he returned to Kennebunk. 
 
 He was married to Nancy Brastoe June 13, 1802. She died in 
 September, 1826. He was again married in 18 — to Mrs. Mary F. 
 Wallingford, widow of George W. Wallingford. By the former he 
 had four children : Oliver Brastoe, Sarah, Lemuel K., and Lucretia. 
 Sarah died many years since. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 753 
 
 JOSEPH STOKER. 
 
 Joseph Storer came from Wells to Kennebunk in 1757. He was 
 educated at Harvard College, graduating in 1745. We have not 
 learned that he prepared himself for any one of the three principal 
 professions. As was customary, he probably taught school a little 
 while. He engaged in trade, occupying the upper room of the farm 
 house of Charles Parsons, then painted red, the first painted building 
 in Kennebunk. He then built the mansion house of Mr. Parsons, 
 though it has been in some measure enlarged and modified. Beside 
 the business of the store, he engaged in milling, and carried on traf- 
 fic in lumber of the various kinds. He was a truly patriotic man, 
 and when the clouds were gathering, and the political atmosphere 
 portended the fearful storm which afterward came over the land, he 
 entered into the spirit of the hour, and was ready for any sacrifice 
 that the liberties of the people might require. He was chosen rep- 
 resentative from the town, and was instructed to vote for independ- 
 ence if that question should, in any way, present itself for his action, 
 and if he should be of the opinion that the public exigencies re- 
 quired it. He was true to his instructions, and was afterward com- 
 missioned as colonel of a regiment, and went into the war; but he 
 had little opportunity for acquiring military glory. He was taken 
 sick while in the service, and died at Albany Oct. 23, 1777, aged 51. 
 
 Col. Storer must be regarded as standing at the head of the citizens 
 of Kennebunk, perhaps from his pecuniary status, as well as from his 
 personal qualities. In the assignment of pews in the new meeting- 
 house in 1772, that on the right hand of the door, No. 1, then regarded 
 as the most eligible, was awarded to him ; while all others, with the 
 exception of John Mitchell, Nathaniel Kimball, Waldo Emerson, and 
 Deacon Richard Kimball, were subjected to the result of lot. He 
 was one of the selectmen. When he established himself in Kenne- 
 bunk he had but little property, but by industry and economy he 
 
 soon became independent, and at the time of his death, was the 
 48 
 
754 HISTORY of we:lls and kennebtjnk. 
 
 richest man in Wells. He was married to Hannah March, of Green- 
 land, March 4, 1753, who died Feb. 27, 1790, M 54. Her cotempor- 
 aries awarded to her a high character. He had two sons, Joseph and 
 Clement. The latter studied medicine, and established himself in 
 Portsmouth, where he passed his life. Joseph remained in Kenne- 
 bunk, owning and occupying the old homestead, was appointed 
 postmaster, and afterward Collector of the Port. Sept. 15, 1808, he 
 was married to Priscilla Cutts, of Portsmouth. But the marriage 
 resulted in no additions to the Storer family. He died Sept. 30, 
 1833, JE, 76. After his death, the widow disposed of the home 
 establishment, and moved to Washington, where she resided with a 
 nephew. Afterward they removed to Prospect Hill, Fairfax County, 
 Virginia, where she died Feb. 10, 1860, aged 86. Mrs. Storer was 
 distinguished for her refined and attractive manners, and for that 
 graceful etiquette so acceptable and pleasant to all, whether asso- 
 ciates or strangers. 
 
 SAMUEL PRENTICE. 
 Samuel Prentice graduated at Harvard in 1771, and soon after 
 came to Kennebunk. For many years he was engaged in teaching. 
 He built the old Dominicus Lord house on Water street in 1779, or 
 rather one of the buildings connected with the salt works, was pur- 
 chased by him, removed to that spot and made into a dwelling-house. 
 He added to the upper end of it a small building, which he used as a 
 store, in which he traded six or seven years, keeping school at the 
 same time. This house as then finished would probably not exceed 
 in value twenty-five dollars. The young men of the present age 
 may learn a useful lesson from this fact. The men of Wells then 
 accommodated themselves to their circumstances. They cheerfully 
 dwelt in mere tents until the way was clear for more ample accom- 
 modations. Oct. 24, 1776, Prentice was married to Dolly Day. He 
 was the first commissioned Justice of the Peace, we think, in Kenne- 
 founk ; also, one of the assessors of the Second Parish. He taught 
 schools in several of the Districts, and we have no doubt was well 
 qualified for that responsible position. What disposition Providence 
 finally made of him or his wife, has not been ascertained. He has 
 left here no tokens of his existence. After his exit, his house was 
 occupied by John Bourne. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 755 
 
 JAMES OSBORN. 
 James Osborn was the son of John Osborn, of Charlestown, Mass. 
 In early life he went into the service of his country in the Revo- 
 lutionary war, and was in Capt. Danforth's company of Col. Nixon's 
 regiment. After the war was over, in 1784, he came to Kennebunk. 
 Here he was first employed as a clerk in the store of Tobias Lord. 
 A few years after, he commenced teaching school, and for twenty-five 
 years was employed in that capacity in the various Districts of the 
 town ; a part of that time, in addition to his labors in the school, 
 doing business as a trader in the store of Prentice. In 1790, he 
 erected the house now standing near the store of his son, James 
 Osborn. The w r estern end was fitted for a store, in which he traded 
 several years. He was an honest and worthy man, and, for the 
 period in which he lived, a good teacher. In 1787, he married Nancy 
 Lord, of Berwick, by whom he had four children, Samuel, John, 
 James, and Mary. She died June 10, 1832, aged 69. He, Nov. 10, 
 1836, aged 76. 
 
 BENJAMIN BROWN. 
 Benjamin Brown came to Kennebunk in 1782. Of a lively and 
 zealous temperament, he soon interested himself in the place and 
 the people, and took hold of business of various kinds with a good 
 deal of energy and resolution. He went into trade, and in 1784, 
 built the house now owned and occupied by Edward E. Bourne, jr., 
 then the most costly in the two villages. The eastern end of it was 
 occupied as a store, in which he did considerable business. He was 
 commissioned as Justice of the Peace, and opened an office for 
 
 marine insurance. In 1787, he was married to Mary , of Boston. 
 
 She was the life and joy of his house, and infused into him that 
 cheerful spirit so necessary to meet all the demands of out-door life. 
 She was a lady of strong intellect and attractive demeanor, and 
 adorned with all the social and Christian graces which make the 
 charm of connubial life. She died on the 21st day of April, 1794. 
 He was again married to Miss Eunice Orne, of Lynnfield, in Nov.^ 
 1795. Soon after this he removed to Philadelphia, where he sudden- 
 ly died, in January, 1802. 
 
756 HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 JOHN BOURNE. 
 Joiin Bourne, son of Benjamin, when only sixteen years of age 
 enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and continued in the service on 
 the borders of Canada one year. In 1780, being then 21 years of 
 age, he came to Kennebunk, having been trained by his father as a 
 ship-carpenter. Feb. 6, 1783, he was married to Miss Abigail Hub- 
 bard, daughter of Captain James Hubbard, who died at Cambridge 
 in the beginning of the war. By the joint industry and providence 
 of husband and wife, he soon found himself possessed of capital ade- 
 quate to the business of trade ; and he built and opened a store at the 
 Landing. About the same time he erected his house, the same still 
 standing next below that of the late Adam McCulloch. He had be- 
 come master-workman of the shipyard ; and having purchased the 
 land joining the river, he commenced ship-building on his own ac- 
 count. There he built many vessels for Theodore Lyman, William 
 Gray, of Salem, and others. Afterward he engaged in navigation, 
 and built vessels for his own use; taking into partnership with him 
 John Low, under the firm of Bourne and Low. They carried on 
 business successfully, until the embargo and war not only made the 
 business profitless, but reduced their finances to a very low condi- 
 tion. His wife died on the 10th of December, 1787. They had 
 three children ; Olive, born July 10, 1784; Samuel, Dec. 1, 1785, and 
 Benjamin, Sept. 3, 1787. He was married to Miss Sally, daughter of 
 James Kimball, June 19, 1788. They had three children ; John, born 
 Nov. 1, 1789; James, Aug. 5, 1792, and Charles, Dec. 10, 1793. This 
 second wife died May 29, 1794. He had now six small children to 
 be taken care of; and taking still more closely to heart the teachings 
 of the Bible, that it is not good for man to be alone; and regarding 
 duty as more imperative than the customs of society, Sept. 10, 1794, 
 he was married to Mrs. Eliza Wildes, widow of Capt. Israel Wildes, 
 of Arundel, who had three small children, Susan, Elizabeth and Abi- 
 gail; all of whom were brought into the family. Before any of' 
 them arrived at maturity, six more were added to the number ; four 
 boys, Israel, Edward, Thomas and George, and two girls, Julia 
 Ann and Olive Leighton ; making a household of fifteen. But the 
 number never disturbed the mother's equanimity. Her judgment 
 was, that it was as easy to take care of a large flock as a small one. 
 There were giants fdr labor among the women of those days. They 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 757 
 
 were equal to any work and ready for any enjoyment. It would bo 
 interesting to copy here, from her journal, the minutes of some of 
 her days' doings. But we cannot so extend this sketch. Notwith- 
 standing the magnitude of the family, the father was able as early aa 
 1806 to buy the house and business stand of Theodore Lyman, paying 
 for it $5,000. He was a representative in the Legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts and a Justice of the Peace. His sons, Israel, Edward and 
 Thomas were educated at Bowdoin College. George chose another 
 path in life. The father died June 6, 1837, aged 78 ; the mother, 
 Sept. 6, 1844, aged 79. 
 
 TOBIAS LORD. 
 
 Tobias Lord was the son of Tobias Lord of Arundel. When a 
 young man, fourteen or fifteen years of age, he went to Moulton'a 
 Mills, in Sanford, to live with a relative. He was there taught to 
 labor during the working hours of the olden time, from early morn 
 until dark. His principal employment was in getting lumber from 
 the mills at a distance from the house with a team of six oxen. With 
 this team he would start in the morning, take on his load and reach 
 home at night. The barn being half of a mile from the road leading 
 to Kennebunk, the oxen were taken from the cart, which was left 
 standing there until morning, and driven to the barn. The whole 
 work of the day was attended with peril. The wolves were always 
 on the watch, though they were great cowards. The only way in 
 which he could reach his home was by riding one of the oxen, and 
 keeping them back with a club or some kind of a bludgeon. They 
 came around him in flocks night after night, but he was able success- 
 fully to defend himself. 
 
 When he arrived at maturity he was commissioned as Lieutenant, 
 and went into the service in the Revolutionary war. He was in the 
 company of Capt. James Littlefield at the time of the surrender of 
 Burgoyne. In 1778, he came to Kennebunk and settled on Water 
 street, building a small house opposite the saw-mill, which in after 
 years was called the Gillespie house. At the same time he built 
 a small store a few rods above. Here he engaged in ship-building 
 on the Mousam river. In 1785, when the great freshet occurred, he 
 was building a vessel, and had about finished the planking. The 
 freshet carried her off, and landed her in another place. But she was 
 left in such a position that he was able to complete and launch her. 
 
758 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 He built several others on this river; but judging the Landing on 
 Kennebunk river a more convenient place for his business, he trans- 
 ferred it to that place. There he enlarged his operations. But var- 
 ious adversities soon checked his prosperity. He lost several vessels 
 by shipwreck. In those days there were no insurance offices to as- 
 sume maritime risks. To him most of these losses were total, and 
 he became embarrassed. Under these depressing circumstances he 
 went to William Gray of Salem and told him his condition. So high 
 an opinion had Mr. Gray of his integrity, that he told him to go on 
 with his ship-building and he would take care of him. He did so, 
 and again prosperity attended him ; and though some of his vessels 
 were taken by the French, he still maintained a safe pecuniary stand- 
 ing. He was hospitable to all the teamsters who came in from the 
 country. But his hospitality became too burdensome for his family ; 
 and to alleviate their labors, he abandoned his business and moved 
 to Alfred in 1803. In 1790, he built the large three-storied house in 
 which he lived; and which time had dealt with so severely that a 
 few years since it became necessary to take it down. In 1808, he 
 returned to Kennebunk, and died suddenly at the house of Francis 
 Watts, Jan. 16th. He left the following children : Nathaniel, who 
 married Phebe Walker; Tobias, who married Hannah Perkins; 
 Samuel, who married Hannah Jefferds ; George, who married Olive 
 Jefferds ; Ivory, who married Louisa McCulloch and Olive Bourne 
 Emerson ; William, who married Sarah Cleaves ; Francis A., who 
 married Frances Smith ; Hepsibah, who married Robert Waterston ; 
 Abigail, who married Charles W. Williams ; Mehitable and Betsey, 
 who married Francis Watts, and Lucy, who married Hercules M. 
 Hayes. 
 
 JONAS CLARK. 
 Among the merchants who settled in Kennebunk in the last cen- 
 tury was Jonas Clark. In 1784, he established himself in Portland; 
 but the prospects for business in Kennebunk being very favorable, in 
 two or three years he removed here, and entered into partnership with 
 Condy, under the firm of Clark and Condy, occupying a part of the 
 house of the late Daniel Wise as a store. Afterward they moved to 
 a store on the site of the house of the late Capt. William Williams. 
 He was soon after appointed a special justice of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, and in 1808, a standing justice of the same court, which 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 759 
 
 office he held until 1811. He was also collector of the customs after 
 the establishment of the office at Kennebunk until 1810. In 1815, 
 he was appointed Judge of Probate, and continued in that office until 
 1827, when, on account of failing health, he resigned. He was also 
 many years Notary of the Public. 
 
 He married Sarah, daughter of Dr. Edward Watts, of Portland, 
 in 1789, and died, after a long and severe sickness, on fifth day of 
 November, 1828; leaving daughters, Mary, wife of Hon. Joseph 
 Dane, Betsey, wife of Moses Savary, of Bangor ; Caroline, second 
 wife of Joseph M. Hayes, of Saco, and Sarah and Martha Ann Ware, 
 who have since died. 
 
 NAHUM MORRILL. 
 
 Nahum Morrill, son of Rev. Moses Morrill, of Biddeford, came to 
 Wells in his boyhood, being one of the family of John Storer. Hav- 
 ing arrived at maturity, he entered into trade a short time after the 
 war. Being of an active turn, he made rapid advances in influence 
 and business, acquiring the respect and confidence of the community. 
 In a short time his place of trade acquired the name of Morrill's 
 Corner, which it has ever since retained. Every one who could 
 muster a little money was then going into the West India business, 
 in which many were very successful. Morrill fell in with the current, 
 and embarked in navigation. He built and owned several vessels. 
 The large quantities of lumber, boards, shingles, staves, and hoops 
 brought to market, kept the price reasonably low, and vessels gener- 
 ally made a fair profit on their outward cargoes ; while the return of 
 rum, molasses, and sugar, was not less favorable to the owners. Some 
 of the vessels and cargoes were taken by the French. But he 
 enjoyed a good prosperity, till the embargo, followed by the non- 
 intercourse and war, during which most of our merchants went down. 
 Morrill suffered with others, so that in the remaining years of his 
 life he was reduced to a bare competency for the support of his 
 family, though his enterprising spirit was not subdued. He took a 
 strong interest in public affairs, and represented the town in the 
 General Court, was town treasurer, and one of the delegates to the 
 Convention at Portland for the formation of the State Constitution. 
 
 He was married to Miss Sarah Littlefield, Dec. 3, 1789, by whom 
 he had ten children. Hannah, born Dec. 16, 1790 ; Samuel, Aug. 25, 
 1792, who died in 1795; Sally, July 28, 1794; Mary, March 19, 1796; 
 
760 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Isabella, March 13, 1798 ; Samuel, Feb. 4, 1800 ; Moses, Nov. 2, 1802 ; 
 Nahnm, July 6, 1804; Ann Maria, July 27, 1806; and Nahum, Oct. 
 24, 1808. Samuel was educated at Bowdoin College, and is a physi- 
 cian of very respectable standing in Boston. 
 
 SAMUEL CURTIS, Jr. 
 
 Samuel Curtis, Jr., was a native of Wells, descending from one 
 of the early inhabitants. He engaged in trade in early life, for a 
 while making that his chief employment. Afterward, following in 
 the footsteps of Morrill, he invested in navigation. Here he was 
 more successful than Morrill, and the measures of government did 
 not so materially reduce his property. He was well versed in the 
 condition of public affairs, was representative in the Legislature, and 
 a delegate to the Convention for forming the Constitution. He 
 interested himself in the affairs of the church, and was one of the 
 leaders in the secession from the First Parish in his last years. He 
 adhered to the Calvinistic theology according to the views of the 
 most rigid of that sect. In all his intercourse he exhibited himself 
 as governed by the rules of the Gospel, endeavoring to deal justly, 
 and in all things to act uprightly. 
 
 In Nov., 1800, he married Lydia Littlefield, daughter of Capt. 
 James Littlefield, by whom he had the following children : Mary, 
 born Aug. 25, 1802; Olive, June 14, 1804; Sally, Aug. 27, 1806; 
 Lydia, Dec. 4, 1808; Joseph, Nov. 14, 1810; Samuel, Oct. 5, 1812; 
 Benjamin White, Nov. 8, 1815; Abigail, 1817; and Harriet, 1820. 
 His wife died May 12, 1823, M 44. 
 
 In 1827, he was again married to Miss Olive Storer, daughter of 
 John Storer, Esq. But this marriage brought no additions to the 
 human family. Mr. Curtis died in 1845, at the age of seventy. 
 
 JOHN LOW. 
 John Low was the son of John Low, of Lyman. When he 
 arrived at mature life in 1791, he established himself at Kennebunk; 
 the activity of the lumber and West India trade at that time pre- 
 senting strong inducements to young men. He occupied the house 
 of Tobias Lord, on Water street, and opened a small store for trade. 
 In 1792, he was married to Rachel Francis, of Beverly. He soon 
 enlarged his operations, taking an interest in navigation, and after a 
 few years formed a partnership with John Bourne, under the firm 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 761 
 
 name of Bourne & Low. They owned several vessels, which were 
 employed in the West India trade. The embargo and war, so de- 
 structive to the navigation of the country generally, were specially so 
 to the commerce of Kennebunk. Though pursued afterward by 
 some of the merchants, it never recovered its prosperity in the trade in 
 which it had been employed. Mr. Low suffered with the many others, 
 so that at the close of life his house and a little land constituted all 
 his possessions. He was a man of unswerving integrity, governing 
 his life by Christian principles, and always ready to give his help in 
 every good work. He was a member of the church, a faithful dis- 
 ciple, and a useful citizen. His closing days were brightened by the 
 elevating hopes which true religion inspires. He died Jan. 19, 1833, 
 aged 65, leaving no child to inherit his virtues. His wife died April 
 6, 1851. 
 
 WILLIAM JEFFERDS. 
 William Jeffeeds, the son of Samuel Jefferds, moved from 
 Wells to Kennebunk in 1777. He had been educated as a fuller, and 
 built a mill for the purpose of carrying on his trade, by the iron 
 works, at the western end of the lower dam. Here he employed 
 himself for several years, from 1785 until his son Nathaniel had 
 acquired the requisite age and skill to continue the business; when 
 having a predilection for hotel keeping, he surrendered the fulling- 
 mill to him. His father having kept a public house many years, he 
 was well grounded in the mysteries of the inn-holder. He bought 
 the small one-story house of Dominicus Lord, standing on the site, 
 and a part of, the present public house now owned by Mr. John 
 Baker, which he enlarged, adding to it another story. This proving 
 inadequate for the public accommodation, it was further enlarged by 
 raising the roof and adding a third story. . It afterward became a 
 house of considerable note, and has been distinguished as the Jeff- 
 erds tavern, nearly all travelers making it an object to obtain 
 accommodations here for the night. He had some military tastes, 
 and was elected and ever after known as Major. He died April 28, 
 1820, aged 67. His wife was Olive, sister of Richard Gillpatrick. 
 They had the following children : Nathaniel, William, George, Olive, 
 Clement, and Ivory. His wife died April 29, 1831, aged 75. 
 
762 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 
 
 RICHARD GILLPATRICK. 
 
 Richard Gillpatrick was the son of James Gillpatrick, who was 
 the son of Thomas, who came over to this country from Ireland, 
 with eleven children, and landed at Saco in 1620. James came to 
 Wells in 1734. Richard, the son, while in his minority, was bound 
 to James Kimball as an apprentice to learn the trade of a blacksmith 
 and continued with him till he arrived at his majority. He then 
 assumed that business on his own account, working in a shop stand 
 ing at the eastern end of Brown street, in Kennebunk. The next 
 year he built and traded in a small store, a rod or two from the 
 shop. Being skillful and industrious, he rapidly acquired prop- 
 erty, and in a year or two put up an iron factory, where the machine 
 shop stands. He, in a short time, became the owner of all the land 
 afterward owned by the factory company, on the west side of the 
 river; and in 1784, when his business had become so extended that 
 larger conveniences were required, he built a large store where that 
 of Samuel Clark now stands. Then he added navigation to his 
 business, and built several vessels on the Mousam river. Two or 
 three of these he owned wholly or in part. One new brig of which 
 he was sole owner, and another of which he owned a part, were 
 captured by the French. But he persevered in his various employ- 
 ments, strengthening his position until the embargo of 1807, which 
 was soon followed by the war, when the fate of many others befel 
 him. But the factory fever prevailing throughout the country 
 enabled him to make a good sale of all his land on the river. He 
 also owned one-half of the cotton factory standing on the site of the 
 present saw-mill, which he also sold, so that now he was placed in 
 comfortable pecuniary circumstances. But he did not long enjoy 
 them. His intellect failed, and the remainder of his life was a blank. 
 He died Sept. 15, 1828, aged 75. 
 
 He was married on the eleventh day of February, 1776, to Mary, 
 daughter of Capt. James Hubbard. They had three children, Dimon, 
 Sally, and Daniel. His wife died March 20, 1794. In 1795, he was 
 married to Dorothy Rose Moody, of York, daughter of Samuel 
 Moody. They had five children, William, Elizabeth, Mary, Maria, 
 and Lucy. This wife died May 2, 1847, aged 77. Dimon married 
 Elizabeth Rogers ; Sally, Benjamin Smith ; Daniel died in early life. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 763 
 
 William married Sophia Goodrich ; Elizabeth, Benj. F. Green ; Mary, 
 Edward E. Bourne; Maria, William B. Sevvall; Lucy, Burleigh 
 Smart. 
 
 DANIEL WISE. 
 Daniel Wise died May 6, 1843, aged 82. He was the son of 
 Capt. James Wise, and grandson of Rev. Jeremiah Wise, of Berwick. 
 In his early days his father was disposed to bind him as an apprent- 
 ice to a blacksmith. But that business, though then as prosperous 
 and successful as any of the employments of the time, did not meet 
 his aspirations. The sea presented to him charms which superseded 
 all other influences, and he turned his attention that way. He enter- 
 ed into the service of the United States in the Revolutionary war. 
 About the time of its close he came to Kennebunk, and entering 
 upon a seafaring life, soon became master mariner, and rapidly ac- 
 quired property. He became enamored of Miss Hannah Hubbard, 
 daughter of Capt. James Hubbard, who had died at Cambridge, and 
 was married to her Feb. 23, 1786. He purchased the land and built 
 his house where that recently built by his son George now stands, 
 and became part owner of several vessels, some of which were cap- 
 tured by the French. But, notwithstanding these losses, he was 
 independent. He built the large store which a few years past was 
 removed, and traded a little while ; then gave his attention to the 
 cultivation of his farm, the safest and happiest employment of life. 
 They had the following children : Betsey, born Oct. 18, 1786 ; John, 
 
 Jan. 20, 1791; Mary, Oct. 4, 1794; Daniel, ; George, April 19, 
 
 1811; and Hannah, May 23, 1813. The mother died Oct. 15, 1851, 
 aged 84. 
 
 MICHAEL WISE. 
 Michael Wise was the brother of Daniel, and came to Kenne- 
 bunk four or five years after the establishment of peace. He opened 
 a store, and engaged in the traffic of West India goods and groceries, 
 taking into partnership with him John Grant, jr., under the firm of 
 Wise & Grant. They soon took an interest in navigation, but with 
 others suffered by French spoliations. Grant afterward formed a 
 partnership with his father, John Grant, and went to sea several 
 voyages as master. In subsequent years, William W. Wise, his son, 
 became a partner with his father. He was married, in 1792, to Miss 
 
764 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Hannah Kimball. They had the following children: William, 
 
 Hannah, Isaac, Edward, Michael, Eliza, and Augustus. He died, 
 
 Dec. 20, 1833, aged 67. His widow afterward married Jeremiah 
 Paul. 
 
 BENJAMIN SMITH. 
 Benjamin Smith came to Kennebunk in 1797, when he was but 
 twenty years old. He here satisfied himself that a bakery was es- 
 sential to the demands of the day. The great number of vessels 
 sailing from the Port created a demand for bread, and he immediate- 
 ly got up such an establishment and carried it on several years, when 
 he abandoned it for trade and mercantile pursuit on a larger scale. 
 He entered into partnership with Horace Porter, under the firm of 
 Smith & Porter. They did a large business in the purchase and sale 
 of lumber, became ship owners, employing their navigation in the 
 West India trade. By their fidelity and diligent attention to busi- 
 ness, they acquired the confidence of the public, and in a few years 
 were numbered among the rich men of Kennebunk. Mr. Smith, 
 having met with none of the adversities and drawbacks to which 
 those who came to Kennebunk a little before him were subjected, 
 continued to increase in wealth to the end of life, and left to his 
 children an estate exceeding that of any one who had previously de- 
 ceased. He was a member of the Christian church, and honored his 
 profession by a true life. He died March 22, 1834, aged 57. He 
 was married, in 1799, to Sarah, daughter of Richard Gillpatrick. 
 She died June 22, 1812, aged 31. His second wife was Dorothy C. 
 Dutch, who died June 22, 1856, aged 71. He had the following 
 children : Elizabeth, Dorothy, Joseph, Francis, Benjamin, and Susan. 
 
 STEPHEN TITCOMB. 
 Died May 23, 1815, Stephen Titcomb, aged 93. He came to 
 Kennebunk from Newburyport in 174-, and located himself near the 
 Kennebunk river, in the rear of the house of George Dresser. He 
 was an energetic, enterprising man, and embarked freely in various 
 kinds of business ; built a mill on Middle river, in Arundel, sawed a 
 large amount of lumber, built aud owned coasters, entered into 
 trade, etc. Having acquired a respectable property, he built for 
 himself a large house, the same now occupied by Dresser. This was 
 constructed with garrison defenses, the Indian wars not having then 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 765 
 
 ended. In a few years these defenses ceased to be necessary, and 
 the building was modified as it now appears. He was a patriotic 
 and religious man, in the early part of the Revolution taking a de- 
 cided stand in favor of the rights of the colonics. Immediately on 
 receiving notice of the battle at Lexington, he started at the head of 
 twenty-two of his company for the place of conflict; but when he 
 reached Portsmouth, was advised that the troops were not needed, 
 and returned home. He was chosen agent of the town to prosecute 
 all who were inimical to the State or the United States; was a cap- 
 tain of the militia in Kennebunk, one of the selectmen, an active 
 member of the Second Congregational Parish, and for several years 
 its treasurer and one of its assessors; also, a leader among the found- 
 ers of the church. 
 
 Being an active business man, he kept his physical powers in rea- 
 sonable exercise, and thereby lived to an advanced age, dying May 
 24, 1815, in his 94th year. 
 
 He was married to Abigail Stone, of North Yarmouth, in 1748. 
 By her he had Joseph, born Oct. 21, 1749; Benjamin, May 21, 1751 ; 
 Stephen, Oct. 3, 1752; Sarah, Aug. 19, 1754; Abigail, June 1, 1756 ; 
 Samuel, May 27, 1758 ; John, Feb. 16, 1752. His wife died June 19, 
 1814, in her 90th year; John, Oct. 19, 1795; Abigail, June 19, 1809; 
 Stephen moved to New Sharon ; Sarah married Daniel Mitchell, and 
 moved to Arundel ; Samuel moved to the eastward. 
 
 Benjamin remained in Kennebunk, establishing himself on a large 
 farm in Alewife. His first wife was Mary Burnham. They had the 
 following children : Benjamin, born April 24, 1780 ; Hannah, Sept. 
 22,1781; James, March 14, 1783; Mary, Sept. 24, 1784; Joseph, 
 June 5, 1786; Hannah, Feb. 19, 1788. His wife Mary died May 3, 
 1788. He was afterward married to Hannah Bragdon, by whom he 
 had Abigail and Lydia. She died July 21, 1809, and he was again 
 married to Mrs. Mary Gates, widow of Dr. Gates, and daughter of 
 Dr. Hemmenway. They had no children. He was a useful man ; 
 many years one of the selectmen of the town, and a faithful member 
 of the Christian church. 
 
 JOHN MITCHELL. 
 John Mitchell came from York about 1740. He had had a good 
 common education and was a man of sound moral principle. In 
 early manhood he became a professor of the Christian religion. Be- 
 
766 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 fore he came to Kennebunk, in his immature years, he had tried the 
 Bea; but the mariner's life was not congenial with his disposition, 
 and he determined to try other branches of business for a support. 
 He selected a lot for a form, built a large two-storied house, the first 
 of that kind in Kennebunk, and gave his labors to agriculture. He 
 then added a little interest in navigation, and built the first wharf 
 on the west side of Kennebunk river. The troubles with the In- 
 dians, or the continual fear of the renewal of war with them, led 
 him to build a garrison house for the protection of his family and 
 others who might seek a refuge there in time of danger. He inter- 
 ested himself in all matters involving the general interests of hu- 
 manity. He felt deeply the value of public worship, and exerted 
 himself to secure its maintainance nearer to the people in the east- 
 ern part of the town than the old church in Wells. He was active 
 in bringing about the division of the Parish, and was a liberal con- 
 tributor to the erection of the meeting-house at the Landing. This 
 church was one of the most effectual means in obtaining the incor- 
 poration of the Second Parish, and he was chosen the first clerk, 
 treasurer, and assessor. He was also one of the original members of 
 the church. 
 
 He was constable of the town in 1751, but for some cause, which 
 we have been unable to learn, was removed from that office by the 
 Court of Sessions; by what authority we know not. We believe 
 his character was unstained by any failure of integrity. 
 
 He died leaving the following children : Lydia, born Nov. 13, 
 1744; Jotham, Nov. 2, 1746 ; Lucy, March 28, 1748; James, June 
 18, 1751 ; Benjamin, July 11, 1753 ; Mary, June 17, 1755. 
 
 JOHN GRANT. 
 Died Nov. 3, 1825, John Grant, aged 80. We should feel that 
 we were guilty of a great wrong were we to withhold the tribute 
 justly due to the memory of this worthy man. He made no special 
 display in any department of life ; yet his character was such as to 
 merit the affectionate remembrance of every lover of his race. He 
 was a solid man in every sense of the word ; a gentleman of the 
 school of the 18th century. Amidst all the vicissitudes which 
 marked his condition, he was the same incorruptible, faithful servant 
 of right and duty. His grandfather was an Englishman, who came 
 over to this country in the beginning of the last century, having for 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 767 
 
 his companion a Mr. Malcolm ; the families of the two, we suppose, 
 having lived in the friendly and dignified relations which distin- 
 guished the nobility of Great Britain. The daughter of Malcolm 
 was educated in Boston ; highly accomplished, and familiar with the 
 etiquette and all the refinements of high iife. Among other aristo- 
 cratic notions in which she indulged, she was accustomed to have a 
 barber to dress her hair every morning with flowers. Capt. Wise, 
 one of the sons of Rev. Jeremiah Wise, of Berwick, was fascinated 
 by her charms, and she became his wife. He then moved to Berwick, 
 where he lived in true English style. The issue of this marriage 
 was three sons and one daughter, Jeremiah, Daniel, Michael and 
 Sarah. Sarah was the belle of Berwick. When she had come to 
 maturity, John Grant, then a wholesale merchant in Boston, came to 
 Berwick, and was captivated with the attractions of the scenery, 
 and with the attentions which he received from the people. 
 
 The Malcolms and the Grants when they visited Berwick, came in 
 the style of the grandees of the Province. Young Grant, of course, 
 was the object of a flood of civilities. Possessing the many attrac- 
 tions with which the graces of the true gentleman invest the person, 
 he soon impressed the heart and secured the affections of the daugh- 
 ter of Captain Wise ; and in due time she became his wife. But 
 much to her disappointment, instead of taking up her residence in 
 Boston, Grant's attachment to Berwick had become so strong, that 
 he determined to close his business in Boston and move there. Ac- 
 cordingly, he opened a store for trade in Berwick, or what is now 
 termed South Berwick. But he no sooner commenced business than 
 a great freshet carried off his store and all his merchandise. The 
 store went down the river, and was secured at Portsmouth ; but all 
 his goods were lost or destroyed. About the same time a vessel and 
 cargo, of which he was part owner, was totally lost. 
 
 He then started in business anew, as partner with 4 Hon. Richard 
 Cutts, in the traflic of West India goods and groceries. But he was 
 again doomed to disappointment. A gang of thieves entered the 
 store in the darkness of night, and carried off the entire stock of 
 goods. They were tracked and pursued to the eastern end of the 
 Province, but all exertions to overtake them were fruitless. 
 
 But Grant was a persevering man, active and industrious ; still 
 self-possessed, cheerful and determined under all the adversities of 
 life. He suffered no delay, but starting again in the same business 
 
768 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 alone, he went to Portsmouth and purchased goods to the amount of 
 five hundred dollars; brought them up in a gondola, which readied 
 South Berwick late in the evening. They were put into the store; 
 and, wearied with the day's work, he went home and retired to bed. 
 On going to the store in the morning, the goods had all disappeared ; 
 the thief, as if to see how completely he could perfect his work, hav- 
 ing carried off every article except a single paper of pins. He had 
 no doubt who the robber was. But such were his sensibilities, and 
 so adverse was he to being, even under the most aggravated circum- 
 stances, the instrument of bringing distress upon a family, that it 
 was not in his heart to take measures to unfold the crime and pun- 
 ish the offender. But at a subsequent period the thief found a home 
 in the State's prison, where he died, having previously made confes- 
 sion of this and other offenses. 
 
 Notwithstanding these repeated misfortunes, so rapidly following 
 each other, his enterprising spirit was in no measure subdued. 
 Neither were the elements of his social character in the least degree 
 affected. He was still the same thorough gentleman in his domestic 
 and friendly intercourse; pleasant and respectful to all. The Revo- 
 lutionary conflict having commenced, he readily took sides with the 
 people in opposition to the English government, and being " chosen 
 by the General Court" in 1776, as Quarter-master of the Suffolk and 
 York regiments, he went into the army. How long he was in this 
 service, we are not informed. After the war was over, he came to 
 Kennebunk. Here he soon entered on a profitable business. Being 
 of a kind and generous temperament, he drew to his store a large 
 custom, and in a little while more than retrieved his former pecuni- 
 ary condition. His son Edward went into partnership with his uncle 
 Michael Wise. The firm did an extensive business; and in Jan- 
 uary, 1804, Grant being desirous of being relieved, in a measure, 
 from its cares and burdens, took his son into partnership with him, 
 under the firm of John Grant & Son. 
 
 JOHN STORER. 
 John Storer was the son of John, and grandson of Col. John. 
 In the early days of manhood he appears to have been animated 
 with a very worthy ambition for some prominent part on the stage 
 of life. He began business as a trader, and had such success that he 
 was encouraged to follow in the footsteps of many others of the 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 769 
 
 townsmen and enter into navigation. This he did with a good deal 
 of spirit, and perhaps without proper precaution. In 1795, he built 
 the largest vessel ever built in Wells or Kenn'ebunk up to that time, 
 being a ship of 280 tons. What was the result of this enterprise to 
 him, we are not informed. We know that the finale of all his busi- 
 ness was unfavorable, and that the labors of his life terminated very 
 differently from his early anticipations. But he maintained a good 
 degree of popularity with the people. In 1785, he was chosen one 
 of the selectmen, and again in 1791. This^office he then held for 
 sixteen successive years. In 1785, he was also chosen town treas- 
 urer. This office he held twenty-five years. In 1791, he was chosen 
 representative, and continued to be so chosen until 1800. After 
 that, in 1804, he was again chosen, and annually thereafter for five 
 successive years ; so that it is manifest his character and qualifica- 
 tions commended him very strongly to his fellow-citizens. But 
 while he thus retained the respect and good-will of the people, he 
 was unsuccessful in acquiring any property beyond the demands of 
 prudent and ordinary life. 
 
 His wife was Hannah Morrill, daughter of Rev. Moses Morrill, of 
 Biddeford, to whom he was married Dec. 24, 1772. They had a 
 large family of children. The first two died in infancy. Sally, their 
 daughter, married Rev. Nathaniel H. Fletcher; Mary, William Cole ; 
 Elizabeth, unmarried ; Hannah, married William Gooch ; John Lang- 
 don, Samuel, Olive, married Samuel Curtis. This first wife died 
 May 25, 1790. 
 
 He was married again, May 12, 1793, to Elizabeth Scamman, of 
 Saco, widow, and a daughter of Rev. John Fairfield, by whom he 
 had the following children : Martha Ruggles, wife of Lauriston 
 Ward, Esq., of Saco; Mary Ann, Caroline Langdon, wife of Samuel 
 B. Morrill and George Starrett ; Hannah, wife of Dr. E. G. Moore; 
 Harriet Elvira, wife of Ralph Hobbs, and Almira, who died at the 
 age of eleven. 
 
 hugh Mcculloch. 
 
 Hugh McCulloch was the son of Adam McCulloch, who lived in 
 Kennebunkport, though his place of business was Kcnnebunk, where 
 he carried on trade at his store, standing on the bank of the river, 
 about half a dozen rods below the house of Samuel Roberts. He 
 came from Scotland. He first employed himself in teaching in vari- 
 49 
 
770 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 ous places. Having acquired a little property, he invested it in 
 trade, beginning business in Kennebunk about 1768. His son Hugh 
 came to Kennebunk at the time when Dr. Goddard removed to 
 Portland, and purchased his house. He was the most spirited and 
 courageous man of that period, entering into trade and navigation 
 on a large scale. He built many vessels, and soon owned several 
 brigs and ships employed in the West India trade. He acquired 
 property rapidly, and in a few years became the richest man in town. 
 But the war fell heavily upon him. Everything that he had was in- 
 vested in the two large ships nearly finished when it was begun. 
 These vessels became worthless, and his incidental business nearly 
 died out, so that after the war was over the enthusiasm of previous 
 years of activity was gone. Chronic disease enfeebled his constitu- 
 tion and his energies failed. But he was destined to a trial more 
 severe than the loss of his property in the death of his son at Cam- 
 bridge, in 1817, to which we have alluded in a former chapter. Still 
 his Christian faith did not forsake him. He trusted in an overruling 
 Providence for a merciful deliverance from all his distresses. 
 
 He married Abiel Perkins, daughter of Thomas Perkins, Esq., of 
 Kennebunkport, April 10, 179-. They had five children: Adam, 
 who married Hannah Chase, of Newburyport, Thomas, Louisa, who 
 married Ivory Lord, Eliza, and Hugh, late Secretary of the United 
 States Treasury, who married Eunice Hardy. He died 18 — . 
 
 WILLIAM BUTLAND. 
 In another chapter we have related some feats of William But- 
 land, one of the ancients of the town, with whom the author en- 
 joyed the good fortune of a personal acquaintance. We have spec- 
 ial remembrance of this worthy old man. He was born in 1737, and 
 retained all his faculties, to a wonderful degree, to the end of a life 
 extending almost through a century. We frequently saw him in his 
 last days, and derived from him much of the valuable history which 
 is embodied in this work. His memory was remarkable, not show- 
 ing any indications of decay, taking clear and firm hold of events in 
 the middle of his life, as well as of those cotemporary with his boy- 
 hood. He started in life when there were no means for education, 
 and grew to manhood in the midst of those excitements which the 
 wars of 1745 and '55 produced. He dwelt in the midst of Indian 
 wigwams, and was familiar with all the developments of Indian life 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KBNNEBUNK. 771 
 
 and character ; well acquainted with Wawa, the chief Sachem, and 
 others of the tribes dwelling on the Kennebunk and Mousam rivers. 
 No sympathy for these savages could, for a moment, find a resting- 
 place in his bosom. He could have no fellowship with any wrong. 
 He abhorred them for their outrages on humanity. He had wit- 
 nessed and heard of their iniquities in his childhood, which made a 
 deep impress on his heart, and the fire of revenge for their fiendish 
 crimes, which was then kindled, continued to burn to the close of his 
 life. He hated the Indian as the common enemy of everything 
 good. As a manifestation of his hatred, he related that when he was 
 only nine years old, being shut up in the house alone, while his par- 
 ents had gone to meeting on the Sabbath, he saw one of these red 
 men looking in at the keyhole of the door. He at once seized a 
 spindle which had been taken from the spinning-wheel, thrust it 
 through and put his eye out. The judgment and action of child- 
 hood, in relation to wrong and its punishment, grow out of their as- 
 sociations. The example of parents, where there are no counteract- 
 ing influences in the education of the schools, is the unfailing 
 instructor of the child. 
 
 Born and trained in the midst of peril, and accustomed to all kinds 
 of exposure and labor, Butland grew to manhood, with a constitution 
 impregnable to all the assaults of the various diseases and evils 
 which are the bane of human life. He early went into the shipyard, 
 and there learned to wield the broad-axe, thereby strengthening his 
 muscles and nerves by the severe labor of fourteen or fifteen hours a 
 day, which was in that period the measure of bodily exercise. Solid 
 food and regular daily work almost made giants of some of these 
 bold, fearless, and industrious men of the middle of the last century. 
 Butland became distinguished for his unparalleled physical strength. 
 In the young life of the author, a feat which he had performed was 
 frequently mentioned. The fact was so well authenticated, that 
 there was no room for doubt as to its truth. A teamster, in conse- 
 quence of the depth of the ruts, had found his wheels so obstructed 
 that the oxen's strength was insufficient to draw them out. He had 
 in his cart nearly a ton of hay. Butland, who was passing while the 
 man was in this troublesome predicament, remarked that he would not 
 give much for a yoke of oxen that could not move so light a load as 
 that. " Not so light, neither," replied the man. " Why," says But- 
 land, " I can lift it myself." " Not exactly," answered the teamster, 
 
772 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 " but I should like to see you try." Upon this challenge, he immed- 
 iately got beneath the cart, and placing his back under the axle, 
 actually raised the whole load from the ground. 
 
 His intellectual constitution also, in its growth, kept pace in some 
 good degree with the physical. Though uneducated, the manifesta- 
 tions of this fact were plain. But his distinguished characteristic, as 
 before stated, was his clear and distinct memory. Failure of this im- 
 portant element in the last years of a protracted life, seems to be the 
 general doom of the race. But he was not the subject of this com- 
 mon fate. His knowledge of the events transpiring in all stages of 
 his life appeared to be equally reliable. 
 
 His earthly life had been one of hardship and trial. From some 
 cause with which we are not acquainted, he had not acquired the 
 means of a comfortable support in his old age. In looking over the 
 list of those who finished life's labors in the end of the last or the 
 beginning of the present century, we find scarcely an individual who 
 left to his children anything but his interest in his lands. One would 
 almost think that the acquisition of property was no object of their 
 lives. They worked and spent only to live. This remark we make 
 in reference to farmers only. Here and there a trader left a small 
 property to his heirs. We think the farmers were liberal in their 
 expenditures for their households, indulging them to the full extent 
 of the annual products of their farms, sometimes feasting to their 
 heart's content; at other times when their products were small, 
 limiting themselves to the necessaries of life. Many of them died 
 leaving no avails of life's work. Among these was Mr. Butland. He 
 was poor and dependent in his last days. Yet he was cheerful and 
 contented with his lot. The last time we saw him, in the ninety- 
 fifth year of his age, he was walking with a quick step across the 
 field, braving a heavy northwester, and crying out, " Hard-a-lee, 
 fore-sheet and fore-top boling, maintopsail halyards let go," as buoy- 
 ant in mind and heart as though he had been the richest man in 
 Kennebunk. 
 
 NATHANIEL COUSENS. 
 
 Nathaniel Cousens was the son of Ichabod Cousens, who was 
 
 the son of Thomas, the first of that name in Wells. Ichabod, the 
 
 father, was an enterprising man, generally engaged in milling. He 
 
 lived in Wells in the earlier portion of his life, but in 1745, moved 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 773 
 
 over to Kennebunk. He was a soldier in the old French war, and 
 died with the small-pox contracted while in the service. At what 
 period the ancestors came to Wells, no record informs us. In the 
 assumption of a right to all the common lands by those who were 
 inhabitants in 1716, Cousens does not appear to have had a share, 
 though we are confident he lived here about that time. His son, 
 Nathaniel, was born in 1739, and to him we are indebted for much of 
 our information in regard to the ancient history of the town. He 
 was educated as a carpenter; devoted many years to framing build- 
 ings ; afterward labored in the shipyards and in milling, as long as 
 his constitution maintained its strength. In his vigorous years he 
 exercised considerable influence. He was a soldier with his father in 
 the French war of 1755, and at various times, amounting to four or 
 five years, in the Revolutionary war, in which he was an ensign, 
 lieutenant, adjutant, and after the war was over, a major of the 
 militia, having been a captain before the struggle commenced. He 
 was also one of the selectmen of the town, assessor, and many years 
 clerk of the Second Parish. He was endowed with much physical 
 power, gained by the laborious experiences of life, and lived to the 
 advanced age of ninety-five years. Ichabod Cousens, the father, 
 married Ruth Cole, July 26, 1714, had eight children : Catharine, 
 born June 26, 1715, married John Wormwood ; Thomas, born Sept. 
 26,1717, married Ann Goodwin, of Berwick, 1740; Ichabod, born 
 Nov. 10, 1719; John, born Nov. 16, 1722, married Sarah Davis, 1759; 
 Benjamin, born Sept. 28, 1724, married Hannah Simpson, 1753; 
 Samuel, born 1726, married Susanna Watson, of Alfred, 1757; Jos- 
 eph, born Sept. 2, 1728, married Hannah Edgecomb, of Biddeford, 
 1754 ; Ruth, born Oct. 19, 1731, married John Wakefield, June, 1748. 
 
 BENAIAH CLARK. 
 Benaiah Clark was the son of Nathaniel Clark, whose father 
 also was Nathaniel Clark, who came to Wells previously to 1700. 
 All these generations have occupied the spot now the homestead of 
 their descendant, Theodore Clark, Esq. Benaiah was one of the 
 selectmen of the town many years. His unswerving integrity in- 
 spired the public with unlimited confidence in him, and he therefore 
 had the respect and good-will of the people. He confined himself 
 chiefly to agricultural pursuits, his farm being so extensive as to re- 
 
774 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 quire his whole attention. His wife was Dorothy Wells, eldest 
 daughter of the late Judge Wells. 
 
 JEREMIAH HUBBARD. 
 
 Jeremiah Hubbard died Oct. 21, 1825. He was one of the 
 marked men of the town, not on account of the influence that he 
 exerted, but from the uncommon intellectual power with which 
 nature had endowed him. He derived no special advantage from 
 the schools in his early days. Education at that period was not the 
 prime object of parents. They gave to their children only such 
 instruction as the town school afforded, and not always the full 
 benefit of that. Their circumstances required all the aid that their 
 children could give them in carrying on the work of the farm. But 
 Hubbard cultivated his intellect, his natural impulses pressing him to 
 the acquisition of knowledge. His thoughts were rapid, and he had 
 a good command of language. Quick in his perceptions, and of a 
 lively, social temperament, his conversational powers were never idle 
 while in the company of congenial friends. He possessed faculties 
 and acquirements which would have given him a prominent place in 
 life, if he had kept the physical man in subjection. But in his day, 
 temptation met him on all sides, and yielding too easily to its power, 
 he failed in the high calling set before him. Though uneducated, he 
 wrote rapidly, and, generally, with accuracy. He was for many years 
 one of the selectmen of the town, and might have been the com- 
 petitor of Judge Wells or any other townsman for political office. 
 He was employed much in surveying. 
 
 He married Hannah Hobbs, Jan. 4, 1781, and had five sons and 
 four daughters. 
 
 STEPHEN LARRABEE. 
 Stephen Larrabee was the son of Sergeant Stephen Larrabce, 
 distinguished for his bravery in the Indian wars. He was one of the 
 selectmen from 1779 to 1786, and many years deacon of the Second 
 Congregational church. We have a distinct remembrance of him as 
 he appeared in our younger days, but we have no special knowledge 
 of his peculiar characteristics. His business relations were not such 
 as to bring him prominently before the public. We well remember 
 one of his habits of speech, it being an invariable impulse with him 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 775 
 
 to say, " Yes," in response to any charges against him, or to any 
 question asked, " Yes, yes, I guess I will ; yes, yes, I gues3 I won't ;" 
 were, we suppose, merely significant of his acceptance of a readiness 
 to reply, and the latter clause his answer. He was kind-hearted and 
 easy of approach. We believe his character to have been beyond 
 exception. 
 
 BENJAMIN LITTLEFIELD. 
 
 Benjamin Littlefield was one of the substantial men of the 
 town. His parents were familiar with the experiences of the settlers 
 in the times of the Indian wars, and he was taught the necessity of 
 courage to meet the events of life, and diligence and industry in its 
 ordinary pursuits. Like others born in that day of hardship, he had 
 but few opportunities for education. But he so improved those that 
 he had, and acquired so much of the rudiments of knowledge, that 
 in 1760 he was chosen the clerk of the proprietors of the township, 
 and held that office forty-three years. He spent his life in milling 
 and farming. He was the owner of the grist-mill near his house, and 
 had an interest in the saw-mill in which he found employment. He 
 was a man of very correct habits, and of a modest and retiring dis- 
 position, choosing to keep aloof from the bustle of the world, and 
 therefore did not exei*cise that influence which a more frequent inter- 
 course with the world, and a more active interest in town affairs, 
 would have given him. 
 
 In 1776 and 1777, he was one of the selectmen of the town. He 
 died Oct. 5, 1821, at the age of ninety-one, leaving children and 
 grand-children who have maintained an honorable standing in society. 
 
 AARON WARREN. 
 Though it is not within the scope of this work to make special 
 mention of those who came here to reside after the commencement 
 of the present century, we feel it to be a duty not to suffer the name 
 of a worthy man, whose diffidence and modesty precluded him from 
 making any overt demonstrations among his fellow citizens, to be lost 
 from the records of time. The future historian of Wells might other- 
 wise find no memorial of his moral worth. We allude to Aaron 
 Warren. By the fire of 1870, in Kennebunk, our sketch of his 
 early life was consumed. But our memory of it^is sufficient for our 
 limited purpose. We think he came to Wells in 1806. He was edu- 
 
776 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 cated as a physician. The Revolutionary war coming on, he deter- 
 mined to take an active part in it, and enlisted as a private in the 
 army. During its continuance he went into the service several times 
 for short periods. But his principal service was in the navy, in which 
 he was appointed assistant surgeon, being assigned for duty in the 
 schooner Fly, on board of which he was continued several months. 
 After the war was over, he established himself as a physician in Pitts- 
 ton, Maine. But being a diffident man and unobtrusive, he made no 
 show in his profession ; and thence, like many others of similar char- 
 acter, met with no favorable recognition among the people. The 
 same cause has made the lives of thousands inefficient and unprofi- 
 table. Being disheartened by ill success in his profession, he aban- 
 doned it and came to Wells, where he secured a little farm, and went 
 into the business of making reeds. The loom then was in every 
 man's house, and the daughters were taught to strengthen their arms 
 and prepare themselves for usefulness and enjoyment as wives and 
 mothers, by the manufacture of the solid homespun dresses for the 
 families. This branch of household labor required a large number of 
 reeds ; so that possibly, at that time, he received a respectable in- 
 come from this source. But we have no special knowledge of that 
 matter. He lived retired, and, we suppose, in later years the boun- 
 ties of earth were not very liberally bestowed upon him; the sound 
 of the beatings of the loom having ceased to be heard in our dwell- 
 ings, and thence his spirit was somewhat depressed. 
 
 In his religious sentiments he was much in accord with the Friends ; 
 but there being no one of that denomination within the boundaries 
 of his business circuit, with whom he could have communion, he was 
 too much in the habit of solitary thought. As he advanced in life, 
 heaviness in his heart increased. But toward its close, a brighter 
 day dawned upon him. A new pension law was passed, and his 
 heart was cheered with the hope which it inspired ; although he did 
 not dare to put any dependence upon relief from that source. He 
 came to the author of this work, and gave him a detailed account of 
 all his Revolutionary services, during five or six different periods. 
 He enlisted in the State of Connecticut, and supposing that all his 
 comrades were dead, and even if living had forgotten him, he was 
 fearful that he should be unable to establish his claim. But after 
 long and persevering exertion every necessary allegation was proved. 
 When we had succeeded in obtaining the proof of one service, which 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 777 
 
 would give him about twenty dollars a year, we went early in the 
 morning to communicate to him that fact, and meeting him on the 
 road, stated to him this favorable result of our labors. He imme- 
 diately turned about, went to his home, took his bed, and did not rise 
 again for the day, being entirely overcome by the glad news. 
 
 He finally secured a pension of three hundred and twelve dollars 
 a year, by which the remainder of his days were cheered ; and he 
 finished his life in the possession of all the necessary comforts of 
 earth. 
 
 50 
 
778 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 Among the farmers of the last century were many active, solid 
 and useful men. The business of this worthy class of the townsmen 
 was generally limited to their agriculture. Some of them carried on 
 lumbering to a considerable extent ; but their business relations were 
 not so extensive as to leave behind them such memoranda as would 
 suggest to the author their personal characters. We have, there- 
 fore, been obliged to limit our biographical sketches to those men 
 whose employments made them more prominent in their intercourse 
 with others. Many of the farmers left to their descendants that most 
 valuable of all memorials, the example of a noble and Christian life. 
 There was as much greatness of soul among these men, as in those 
 whose position in society gave them opportunity of making their im- 
 press on the more abiding records of human life and action. It was 
 through the unflinching patriotism of many of these brave men that 
 the settlement was preserved through the savage wars which deso- 
 lated all the eastern part of Maine. Many of them were examples 
 of a noble and self-sacrificing patriotism in the great national con 
 flict. Among these were Capt. John Littlefield, Pelatiah LIT- 
 TLEFIELD, NICHOLAS CoLE, JOSIAH WlNN, RlCHARD KlMBALL, NA- 
 THANIEL Kimball, Thomas Wells, Nathaniel Wells, Nathan- 
 iel Clark, Capt. James Littlefield. 
 
 JOHN LITTLEFIELD. 
 Ensign John Littlefield died March 11, 1790, aged 37. He 
 was a young man of a stirring, patriotic spirit, arriving at maturity in 
 the day when men's souls began to be tried by the threatening as- 
 pect of the complications with the mother country. On the first call 
 for military service he enlisted for the struggle — went to Cambridge 
 in 1775, where he continued for eight months, and was afterward in 
 the battle of Brandy wine. In this contest he barely escaped death. 
 
HISTORY OP WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 779 
 
 At two different times bullets went through his clothes. But the 
 imminence of death in this contest did not frighten him from duty. 
 He went into the service again. But the deprivations and sufferings 
 of the war made sad inroads upon his constitution ; and at its ter- 
 mination, the vigor of life was so much impaired that he never 
 recovered the full strength of manhood. He finally died of con- 
 sumption, leaving a widow, Miriam Littlefield, who forty years 
 afterward received a liberal pension from the government. 
 
 NOAH MOULTON LITTLEFIELD. 
 Noah Moulto^ Littlefield was the son of Pelatiah Littlefield, 
 the first. He was distinguished by this middle name when he ar- 
 rived at maturity, although we have seen no evidence that it was 
 a part of his original appellation ; and in our account of the names 
 used in ancient days, we have not regarded him as invested with this 
 mark of distinction. He belonged to a family of brave men ; was 
 brother of Major Daniel Littlefield, who was killed in the battle of Bag- 
 aduce. In his early years he was chosen a captain of the militia ; and 
 being placed in that position, and ambitious to show himself worthy 
 of it, he very naturally turned his attention to military science, and 
 thus while acquiring the needed practical knowledge, he could not 
 fail in seeing all along that the patriotic spirit must direct it to carry 
 out his knowledge with effect. A man cannot be a good officer by 
 the acquisition merely of military science. His fitness for the battle- 
 field was appreciated when the portents of the war began to wake 
 up the people to the demands of the hour. He was first ordered with 
 his company to take care of the beach, in which he was employed 
 six months. After that he went into the more active service abroad, 
 "being chosen by the Legislature" colonel of a regiment. After- 
 ward he was brigadier-general of the local militia. We are not' par- 
 ticularly acquainted with his train of service while thus engaged in 
 the war. But he was a long time in it. He lived on the Wheelright 
 farm, occupying the ancient house of that family, and for the most 
 part employed himself in coasting and agriculture ; though he owned 
 parts of one or two vessels, which he was engaged in building even 
 during the war. After the close of the great contest, in 1786, he was 
 chosen one of the selectmen. He was also representative to the Leg- 
 islature. He died Oct. 25, 1821, aged 84. His wife was Martha 
 Richardson, to whom he was married Dec. 22, 1761. 
 
780 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENKEBUNK 
 
 JOSEPH HUBBARD. 
 Joseph Hubbard was one of the well-known men of the town. 
 He was a tanner, and from the nature of his business had an exten- 
 sive acquaintance with its inhabitants. Being a man of free conver- 
 sation and strong political tendencies, he exercised some considerable 
 influence in municipal affairs. He was rigorous in disposition, and 
 decided in his opinions. He was elected colonel of the regiment 
 embracing the town of Wells, and was noted and always distin- 
 guished as Col. Hubbard. This office he appreciated very highly. 
 One of his soldiers came to salute him on the morning when he first 
 invested himself with his regimentals. As the colonel came to the 
 door, the private raised his gun in the usual way of salutation, and 
 fired. The charge entered a puddle of filth made by the sink-spout, 
 and completely besmeared the new buff breeches of the superior, 
 then a material part of his official wardrobe. Dr. Hemmenway told 
 him that he thought it would have frightened him somewhat; but 
 he replied that he should have stood his ground if it had blown him 
 into the sky. The salutation was not very gratifying in its results, 
 but he accepted it as an intention to honor him in his new position. 
 He was representative from 1787 to 1791, three years one of the se- 
 lectmen, and several years a deputy sheriff. His wife was Ann 
 Gowen. They had nine children, four sons and five daughters. The 
 late Joshua Hubbard, Esq., was his youngest son. 
 
 ISAAC POPE. 
 Major Isaac Pope died in June, 1820, aged 76. Our recollec- 
 tions of him are not such as to enable us to give any sketch of his 
 character. We knew him well as one of uncommon urbanity, distin- 
 guished all his life for that suavity of manner and general dignity of 
 deportment which characterized the old English gentleman. To 
 this he must have been trained from early life. Politeness seemed 
 to be a controlling element of his nature. Under all circumstances, 
 he demeaned himself with much acceptance in social life. Even 
 when impressed with the conviction that a wrong was done to him, 
 or when anything was said in disparagement of his personal rights, 
 or when offended by the acts or speech of others, his denunciations 
 were always qualified by those gracious terms which aristocracy re- 
 gards as material in the intercourse of refined life. In these quali- 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 781 
 
 ties of personal dignity and bearing, he probably had no superior in 
 Wells. His habits of life were very much in unison with those of 
 the higher classes in England. In some respects he carried them a 
 little further than New England sentiment would approve, indulg- 
 ing himself freely in those comforts which his taste dictated. It was 
 on this account, probably, that he failed to leave anything for his 
 heirs ; his estate, like that of many other good citizens, being insol- 
 vent. He was a brave and efficient officer in the Revolutionary war. 
 After his discharge from that service, he was one of the selectmen 
 several years, and for a time was engaged in coasting, to which he 
 added some attention to agriculture. 
 
 Under the Act of 1818, he received a pension sufficient to sustain 
 him in his declining years ; but he lived only a little while to enjoy 
 it. He left a large family of children, who are respectable and influ- 
 ential members of society. 
 
 JOHN COLE. 
 Major John Cole died April 23, 1797, aged — . The Coles have 
 maintained their inhabitancy in Wells from its first settlement. 
 Several of them were killed by the Indians. Nicholas was driven 
 from North Yarmouth in the first war, and afterward made Wells 
 his home ; but the terrors of all the subsequent wars did not drive 
 them from their position here. Major Cole was a military man from 
 early manhood, having then been chosen and commissioned as lieu- 
 tenant. He had many experiences which would fit him for that 
 character. One could not live at the time when the barbarities of 
 the savages were so frequently inflicted on the peaceable settlers 
 without having much of the war spirit awakened within him. He 
 was advanced by regular gradation to the rank of major: was one 
 of the selectmen from 1779 to 1785. Most of those of this name 
 have been carpenters and millmen, though some of them have given 
 their undivided attention to farming. Nicholas Cole and his son, 
 Nicholas Cole, were many years surveyors for the town and the pro- 
 prietors. 
 
 JOSHUA BRAGDON. 
 Joshua Bragdon came from York some time before the Revolu- 
 tionary war, and was engaged in business when the relations between 
 the colonies and the mother country began to exhibit a threatening 
 
782 HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBUNK. 
 
 aspect. He was an enterprising man, and for several years previous 
 to the conflict for independence was engaged in ship building. The 
 proceedings of England began to interfere very much with his pros- 
 perity, and he looked upon them in the light in which they were 
 viewed by John Adams, James Otis, and other patriots of the day, 
 and some of the warlike spirit began to stir within him. According- 
 ly, as soon as the first gun was fired, he was ready for the contest. 
 He had no patience with the wavering and cowardly, and especially 
 with those who dared to come out against resistance of arbitrary 
 power. He was chosen as a fit agent to prosecute all those inhabit- 
 ants who were iniraically disposed toward the country, and whom it 
 was dangerous to harbor among the people. He went into the ser- 
 vice at various times, and was a good officer. After independence 
 was secured, and the war was over, he was several years one of the 
 selectmen of the town. In 1785, he represented the town in the 
 Legislature, and in subsequent years was often on important commit- 
 tees having in charge civil and municipal affairs. He was a solid, 
 temperate man, always maintaining a fair character. 
 
 JOHN RANKIN. 
 
 John Rankin was the son of James Rankin, of Wells. He was 
 born Nov. 4, 1775, and died May 11, 1857. In the earlier years of 
 his life, his business was on the sea, coasting, etc. He was a man of 
 fair natural abilities and sound morality, having much confidence in 
 himself, and inclined to an active, industrious life. After he aban- 
 doned the sea, he gave his attention to farming and surveying. He 
 afterward acquainted himself in some measure with probate proceed- 
 ings, and gave his aid to such as needed it in the settlement of es- 
 tates in his vicinity. He was also a Justice of the Peace, and in the 
 habit of sitting f in the trial of causes. On one occasion, in the 
 course of his argument, one of the counsel in the case, who had the 
 reputation of being a little sharp in his " practices," remarked, by 
 way of illustration, " They say that I am a great rascal, and I sup- 
 pose I am," and hesitated a moment, when the " Captain," as he was 
 familiarly called, hurried him up by the rather equivocal compliment, 
 " Well, well, sir, you can go on ; nobody disputes your word." 
 
 Capt. Rankin was a man of good strong common sense. 
 
HISTORY OF WELLS AND KENNEBTJNK. 783 
 
 BARAK MAXWELL. 
 Barak Maxwell died Jan. 21, 1816, aged 84. We have no re- 
 corded facts from which we are enabled to deduce his character, but 
 we are inclined to the opinion that it was one of considerable inter- 
 est. From the knowledge that we have of him, we think he must 
 have been extensively known. He kept the public house in Ogun- 
 quit, which was established many years back in the last century, and 
 was continued until railroads put an end to patronage. Like almost 
 all landlords in the olden time, he was a great politician. As a class, 
 having intercourse with all the traveling portion of the community, 
 and being in the habit of free conversation with their guests of vari- 
 ous opinions, they became well versed in all subjects of popular in- 
 terest. Some of these landlords were thoroughly posted in the 
 political affairs of the day, and were able to argue the questions aris- 
 ing, with a good deal of ability. Having listened so often to the 
 suggestions of both parties, they had abundant opportunity to weigh 
 their force and effectiveness, and not unfrequently entered into the 
 contest with much feeling. Paul Woodbridge, of York, as before 
 stated, became so indignant with those who would not come into the 
 spirit of the Revolution, that he would furnish no entertainment for 
 them at his house, and put up his sign with the inscription, " Enter- 
 tainment for the Sons of Liberty." Maxwell became not less ear- 
 nest, although he was not so exclusive, providing well for all. Judge 
 Thatcher, of the Supreme Court, used frequently to visit New Hamp- 
 shire, traveling in his carriage. At one time he stopped at Maxwell's 
 to dine. They soon entered upon a discussion, which was interrupt- 
 ed by the dinner bell. The judge told the landlord to have his 
 horse ready at the door, so that he might start immediately after 
 dinner, as he wished to arrive at his journey's end before night ; but 
 before he could get into his chaise, Maxwell resumed the " thread of 
 his discourse," and the discussion went on, and was continued with- 
 out interruption until four o'clock, when the judge terminated it by 
 getting into his chaise and driving off. Maxwell must have been a 
 man of considerable intellectual strength, as well as zeal, to havo de- 
 tained the judge so long with his argument. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbot, Rev. Abial 713 
 
 Acadians, removal of 433 
 
 Adams, Catharine 300 
 
 " Nathaniel 442 
 
 " James ...160,227,288 
 
 " John, President, reply to address 
 
 of inhabitants of Wells 589 
 
 Adams, Jonathan 371 
 
 " Joshua 372 
 
 Address of inhabitants of Wells to Pres- 
 ident Adams 587 
 
 Agriculture 646 
 
 Agreement of landholders establishing 
 
 Tines 445 
 
 Alden, Abiather 475 
 
 Alexander, Privateer taking of ' 601 
 
 Allen, Lewis 188, 191, 260 
 
 Andrews, Jane , 154, 157 
 
 " Elisha 202 
 
 " Ralph 187, 191 
 
 Andros, Stephen 483 
 
 Ambereuse (Indian) 328 
 
 " Annals of the Times " (newspaper) — 691 
 
 Annls, Abraham 519, 654 
 
 " Charles '. 330, 335, 741 
 
 " Stephen 483, 554 
 
 " Nehemiah, jr 518 
 
 Artillery Company organized 695 
 
 Arundel incorporated 312 
 
 Ashley, William 83, 100, 123, 191 
 
 Asof , John 70, 83 
 
 Austin, Samuel 
 
 25, 32, 59, 70, 123, 156, 191, 331 
 
 Avalanche on Kennebunk River 119 
 
 Ayer, Daniel F .442 
 
 Bachelder, Elder 556 
 
 Bagshaw, John 372, 384 
 
 Baker, Capt. Christian 252 
 
 Baker's Spring 34 
 
 Bank, the Kennebunk 602 
 
 Banks, Jonathan 482, 747 
 
 " Lieut 279 
 
 Baptist Society, organization of .652,J554, 556 
 
 Barkhouse, Francis 83, 123, 191 
 
 " James 191 
 
 Baptism 3, 7, 364 
 
 Barnard, Joseph 540, 573, 671 
 
 & Howard 539 
 
 Barnes, Abraham 482 
 
 Barrel, Olive 751 
 
 " Nathaniel 751 
 
 Maria 495 
 
 " Nathaniel 496 
 
 Barret, John. ..25, 30, 59,81, 100, 156. 191, 240 
 
 « John, jr 25, 32, 60, 81, 187 
 
 Barret, Robert 343, 569 
 
 Barrows, Abraham 462 
 
 Bass 666 
 
 Bass, Peter 83, 182,191 
 
 Bates, Henry 227 
 
 " James 191 
 
 '* John ...191 
 
 Batcomb 336 
 
 Batson, John 343, 569 
 
 " Stephen 22, 25, 26, 47, 81 
 
 " Stover 191 
 
 Batten, Joan 157 
 
 Baxter, Mrs. 325 
 
 Bayridge, Ebenezer 318 
 
 Bears 560 
 
 Beaver 663 
 
 Bell firstln Kennebunk 424 
 
 Bennett, David 747 
 
 11 George 747 
 
 " John 83,123 
 
 Berwick 16 
 
 " Attacked by Indians 257 
 
 Bills of credit issued by Mass 343 
 
 Birds 663 
 
 Blaisdell, Jacob 482 
 
 « Moses 483 
 
 Blunt, John 578 
 
 Boade, Henry 
 
 10, 13, 25, 32, 35, 37, 47, 59, 72, 191 
 
 Bonighton, Richard 10, 153 
 
 Bonithon, John 71 
 
 " Thomas 71 
 
 Booth, Robert 25, 26, 37, 38, 155, 191 
 
 " Thomas 64 
 
 Boothby, John 434 
 
 •• John, jr 482 
 
 " Richard. .330, 347, 361, 394, 398, 400 
 403, 404, 423, 438, 5C3, 545, 548, 647 
 
 " Thomas 313,503,648,648 
 
 Boston, contribution in aid of 401, 468 
 
 Boston, Elijah 487 
 
 " Gershom. . . , 372 
 
 11 Hannah 294 
 
 " James 191, 227, 303, 830, 444, 659 
 
 ** Jonathan 482 
 
 " Joseph 372, 384 
 
 *' Nathaniel. 133 
 
 " Ruth ...619,662 
 
 " Shebuleth 372, 384 
 
 " Timothy 482 
 
 " Thomas 
 
 83, 123, 181, 191, 256, 288, 303, 372, 384 
 
 " Thomas, jr 227 
 
 " William 619 
 
 Boundary line between Wells and Cape 
 
 Porpoise settled 89 
 
 Boundary line between Wells and Kit- 
 tery 304,305 
 
786 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bonndary line between land owners in 
 
 Wells, controversy relating to 444 
 
 Boundary line bet. Wells and Coxhall. . .653 
 Bounties paid to soldiers. . .507, 511, 519, 520 
 
 Bowles, Joseph 
 
 22. 24, 25, 30, 35, 60, 100, 187, 191, 229, 304 
 
 Bowles, Joseph, jr 191, 229 
 
 Bourne, Abigail 643 
 
 " Abraham 543 
 
 - Benjamin 543, 579, 756 
 
 " Charles 756 
 
 - Edward E . .627, 689, 696, 697, 756, 763 
 
 " George W 497, 756 
 
 •' Hepsibeth 429,543 
 
 " Isaac 543 
 
 •« Israel W 749, 756 
 
 " James 582 
 
 " Joanna 543 
 
 " Julia A 756 
 
 " John. .321, 409, 447, 449, 487, 495, 497 
 
 •• " Biography of 641 
 
 « •« Children of 543, 564 
 
 575, 576, 578, 579, 594, 741 
 
 " " Biography of 756 
 
 •' Joseph 543,597 
 
 " Lucy 543 
 
 « • Mary 543 
 
 " Olive 756 
 
 " Richard 321 
 
 " Samuel 543, 756 
 
 «« Thomas 756 
 
 Bradbury, John 484 
 
 Bragdon, Daniel 433, 473 
 
 " Hannah 765 
 
 ■* James 667 
 
 John 517, 667 
 
 " Joshua ... 450, 464, 483, 507, 518, 781 
 
 Brastoe, Nancy 752 
 
 Bridge first over Kennebunk river 312 
 
 " over Ogunqtut river 90 
 
 Brown, Benjamin 572, 573, 577, 584, 693 
 
 « " Biography of 755 
 
 " Henry 116, 185,187, 191 
 
 « Rev. 620 
 
 " John 114 
 
 " Judah 97 
 
 " Mary 443 
 
 " Philip 394 
 
 " Esq., 675 
 
 Buckley, Edward 104 
 
 Bugg, John 181, 191 
 
 Bulland, William 154 
 
 Bulman, Alexander 381 
 
 Burditt, Rev. George 5 
 
 «• " " Indictment of 6 
 
 Burgoyne, rejoicing at surrender of 506 
 
 Burks, John 330, 371, 395, 403, 668 
 
 Burnham, Elizabeth 428 
 
 " Mary 765 
 
 " Samuel 482,547,702 
 
 Burrows, Rev. George 171 
 
 '« " " Trial and execut- 
 
 ion of. .. .174, 208, 210 
 
 Bush, John 25, 32, 60, 81, 191 
 
 Bushnell, Isaac 372 
 
 Buss, John 165, 191 
 
 JButland, George 84, 86, 330 
 
 " John. .83, 188. 191, 227, 302, 321, 330 
 
 « " Anecdote of 387, 395, 402 
 
 434, 482 (548 jr.), 572, 573, 574, 579 
 
 « Nathaniel 487 
 
 ' ■ Susa 665 
 
 William 
 
 83, 100, 191, 434, 443,548, 561, 650 
 ••"« Biography of 769 
 
 Cage, The 224 
 
 Calef, Rev. 620 
 
 •Cambell, John. 
 
 Canaway, John 272, 384 
 
 Cape Neddick joined to Ogunquit 30 
 
 " Porpoise line between Wells and 
 
 settled 89 
 
 Cape Porpoise, submission of to jurisdic- 
 tion of Mass 45 
 
 Car , king's commissioner 66 
 
 Carr, James 114, 116, 191 
 
 Card playing 678 
 
 Cattle going at large, by-law relating to.671 
 
 Cavalry company organized 696 
 
 Ceaser 22 
 
 Chabinocke Sagamore, deeds to Wad- 
 
 leigh 21 
 
 Chadbourne, Abigail 745 
 
 " Benjamin 460,530 
 
 " Elder 553 
 
 " Elisha 582. 689, 696 
 
 " Humphrey 304 
 
 " Samuel 481,554 
 
 Chaise, first in Wells 661 
 
 Chambers, George 188, 191 
 
 Champernoon, Francis 163 
 
 Chance, Black 659 
 
 Chaney, Charles 531 
 
 " Daniel 365, 447, 450, 483, 741 
 
 Charter of Maine 4 
 
 Chase, Hannah 769 
 
 " Simon 483 
 
 " Sally 722 
 
 Cheater. John 84, 85, 100, 191, 309 
 
 Checkley, Elizabeth 492 
 
 Chick, Moses 564 
 
 Church, first in Wells 36 
 
 " dissolved by commissioners 43 
 
 " Covenant of 287, 617 
 
 " List of members 288 
 
 " Females admitted 292 
 
 " Second Cong 394 
 
 «' " Covenant 630 
 
 " " Music 625 
 
 " " Organ introduced 626 
 
 1 " Stove* 627 
 
 Churchill, Joseph 477, 481, 672 
 
 Cider, manufacture of 414 
 
 Clark, Aaron 450, 555 
 
 '« Abraham 501 
 
 •' Adam 448, 450, 517, 519 
 
 " Benaiah 773 
 
 " Daniel 488, 519, 520, 665 
 
 " Eleazer 330,335, 347,647 
 
 •« Eleazer, jr 521 
 
 " Elimuel. . . . • • • • 372 
 
 " Henry 602, 689 
 
 " James 330,337,342 
 
 " Jonas, 441, 564, 576, 579, 586, 587, 628 
 693. 702, 746. Biography of 758. Chil- 
 dren of Marv, 759; Betsey, 759; Caro- 
 line, 759; Sarah, 759; Martha A., 759 
 
 " Rev. Jonas 628 
 
 " Jonathan 434,747 
 
 " Joshua 619, 741 
 
 41 Mary 746 
 
 •« Nathaniel 
 
 226, 227,288, 291, 302, 330, 347, 664, 772, 777 
 
 Clark, Samuel 330, 347, 366, 647, 666 
 
 " Solomon 521 
 
 " Theodore 778 
 
 Claiss, Peter. 70 
 
 Clayes, John 70, 83, 191, 208, 210, 303 
 
 Cleaves, George 60 
 
 " Sarah 768 
 
 Cloyes, Peter 83, 123, 191 
 
 Thomas 83 
 
 " Nathaniel 
 
 185, 208, 210, 223, 228, 291, 303 
 
 Cluff, John 442 
 
 Coburn, Ebenezer 610, 647, 667, 66* 
 
 " Joseph 439 , 646 
 
 Cochran, Jacob 633 
 
INDEX. 
 
 787 
 
 Coffee and Tea, when introduced. . • — 414 
 
 Coffin, Col. Joseph 722 
 
 " Paul 441, 719 
 
 M Sarah 722 
 
 Cole, Isaac 279 
 
 " John 191, 521, 597, 658. 665, 780 
 
 " Nicholas, 25, 32, 59, 82, 90, 100, 186 
 191, 221,240, 257. Death of 259, 780 
 
 " Nicholas, jr 
 
 191, 299, 303, 305, a30, 348, 777, 780 
 
 " Phineas 692 
 
 •• Remick 482 
 
 " Ruth 772 
 
 '« Samuel 299 
 
 " Thomas 191 
 
 Death of and wife, 221, 225, 226 
 
 " William 
 
 25, 32, 37, 40, 60, 82, 94, 100, 191, 597 
 
 Colburn, Rollins 482 
 
 Commissioners sent by Massachusetts 
 
 into Maine to demand submission 29 
 
 Commissioners sent to Canada to ex- 
 change prisoners 262 
 
 Compact between Gorgeana, [Kittery 
 
 and Wells ! 16 
 
 Conant, Nathaniel 573 
 
 Controversy between Littlefield and 
 
 Winn 337 
 
 Convention at Boston to form Federal 
 
 Constitution 540 
 
 Convention at Brunswick 534 
 
 Convention at Falmouth 532 
 
 Convention at Gorgeana 16 
 
 Convention of towns west of Saco river 
 
 favorable to annexation to N. H 536 
 
 Convention at Portland to form State 
 
 Constitution 537 
 
 Convention at Kennebunk to nominate 
 
 representatives for Congress 600 
 
 Cornwallis, rejoicing at surrender of 522 
 
 Corwine, Jonathan 114 
 
 Costume of early inhabitants 414, 680 
 
 Cotton, John 159 
 
 Court, first in Maine 153 
 
 " Drummer 165 
 
 " Holden at Saco 6, 65 
 
 u « ,< York 65,66 
 
 " " Wells 15 
 
 " " " Gorgeana 22 
 
 Courts, where holden 154 
 
 " Expenses of 155, 156 
 
 " Records returned to Kittery. ... 226 
 
 Cousens, Capt. 203, 212 
 
 " Benjamin 385, 395, 398 
 
 " Hannah 428 
 
 " Ichabod, 330, 335, 371, 394, 404, 
 437, 663, 772. His children : Catharine, 
 Thomas, Ichabod, John, Benjamin, 
 
 Samuel, Joseph, Ruth 773 
 
 Cousens, Isaac 143, 192 
 
 " James 431 
 
 ' ' John 437, 450, 547 
 
 " John, jr 546 
 
 Joseph 395, 431, 482, 548, 667 
 
 " Mary 541 
 
 " Nathaniel, 434. 443, 481, 510, 
 612, 519, 520, 538, 546, 647, 597, 702, 772 
 
 Cousens, Samuel 437, 646, 647 (548 jr.) 
 
 Thomas, 83, 187, 191, 395, 398 
 
 401,404,428,431 
 
 " William 450 
 
 Cram, John 483 
 
 Crediford, Benjamin 330 
 
 - John 371 
 
 " Joseph, 226, 330, 337, 342, 371, 483 
 
 «« Josiah 330 
 
 Creek, Capt. C 210 
 
 Cromwell Oliver, petition to 68 
 
 Crops, the (corn and potatoes) 647, 648 
 
 Cross, John 47, 83, 192, 228 
 
 " John, jr 192 
 
 " Joseph 83, 192,242 
 
 " Mary 356 
 
 Currency, depreciation of 513 
 
 Currier, Edmund 439, 482, 510, 647 
 
 " 526 
 
 Curtis, Benjamin 187, 192, 371 
 
 - Elijah 636 
 
 " Joseph 279. 372 
 
 " Samuel, 450, 537, 597, 658, 667, 668 
 689. Biography of, 760. Children: 
 Mary, 760; Olive, 760; Sally. 760; 
 Lydia, 760; Joseph, 760; Samuel, 760; 
 Benjamin, 760; Abigail, 760; Harriet, 760 
 
 Curtis, William 372 
 
 " Death of 383 
 
 Cushing, Thomas, votes for .630 
 
 Cutts, Edward 631 
 
 " John , 227 
 
 " Priscilla 754 
 
 " Richard 590, 600, 688, 767 
 
 Dagget, Joseph 82 
 
 Dane, Joseph, 534, 536, 637, 594, 597, 640, 
 686, 689, 693, 695. Biography of 746, 759 
 
 " Thomas, capture of 259 
 
 Dancing 225, 675 
 
 Danforth, Isaac 371 
 
 " Thomas 156 
 
 " , 65,203 
 
 Dark Day, The 516 
 
 Davis, Enoch 343. 371 
 
 " Death of 383 
 
 " Sarah 772 
 
 " James "• 450 
 
 " John 184 
 
 Day, Abraham ' 648 
 
 " Benjamin 504, 546, 647, 648 
 
 " Dolly 754 
 
 " Ebenezer 551 
 
 11 Hilton 385 
 
 " Joseph 654 
 
 " Nathaniel 483 
 
 " Robert 483 
 
 " William, 437, 559, 659 
 
 Dealing, William 482 
 
 Dean, Richard, teacher 352 
 
 «« John 371,384 
 
 Deaths at Louisburg, list of 383 
 
 Declaration of Independence read in 
 
 churches 489 
 
 Deer 668 
 
 Denmark, James 227 
 
 Dennet, John 548 
 
 Dennie, John 442 
 
 Dennison, John, jr 482 
 
 " ** Commissioner for Mass. 63 
 
 Devil's Invention, The 161 
 
 Devotion, Philip 371 
 
 Diamond, John, Death of 212, 215 
 
 Division of the town 699 
 
 Donnel, Col 383 
 
 " Capt 374, 467 
 
 " Nathaniel 450 
 
 Dorrance, James 682 
 
 " " Biography of 752 
 
 Dorman, Jabez 355 
 
 * Capt. Jesse, his company? 483 
 
 Domer, Moses . . .330 
 
 Dover, Indian attack on 219 
 
 Downing, Joshua 279 
 
 Drake, Robert 62t 
 
 Drake's Island, escape of Indians from.. 259 
 
 Drisco, John 191 
 
 Drown, Moses .434, 483 
 
 " Stephen 434, 602 
 
 Drought 463 
 
 Drowning of Wakefield and others 266 
 
788 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ducking Stool 131 
 
 Drummer, Shubuel 167 
 
 ** ** Death of 211 
 
 Dunnahoe. Capt 374 
 
 Dunham, Eleazer 434, 437 
 
 « Ichabod 371 
 
 Durrell, Peter, murder of family of 325 
 
 " Thomas 185, 192 
 
 Dutch , Dorothy C 764 
 
 Dymond, John 83 
 
 Eaton, Joseph 553, 654, 556, 557, 685 
 
 " Joshua, jr 551, 597 
 
 " Thomas 622 
 
 " William 330, 665 
 
 Earthquake 431 
 
 Edgecomb, Hannah 773 
 
 Edwards, Malachi 330, 339, 350 
 
 " Joshua ...342 
 
 Eldridge, Abigail 167 
 
 John 191,330,372 
 
 Elections 530 
 
 Ellenham,William 159 
 
 Elliot... 16 
 
 Elliott, Robert 575 
 
 Elvins, Rev 398 
 
 Elwell, John 321 
 
 Embargo of 1807. Petition of inhabi- 
 tants of Wells relative to 590 
 
 Embargo of 1812 598 
 
 Emerson, Joseph 25 
 
 * " Court at his house 
 
 30, 59, 103, 128, 191 
 
 « Mary 722 
 
 " Rev. Joseph 492, 722 
 
 " Samuel 582, 584, 586, 590, 594 
 
 602, 686, 687, 688, 693,. Biography of. . 751 
 
 Children of Joseph, B., 751 
 
 George B., 751; William Samuel, 751 
 Ralph, 751; Olive, 751, Sarah, 751 
 
 Emerson, Sarah 493 
 
 " Waldo 439, 453 
 
 «■ «« Biography of 492 
 
 " « Children of 
 
 492, 545, 546, 547, 576 
 
 Emery, Anthony 154, 304 
 
 " Jabez 510,548 
 
 " Job 482 
 
 " John 297 
 
 " Mary 356 
 
 " Rev. Samuel 284 
 
 " •« " Ordination of 
 
 289, 302, 330, 348, 349, 408 
 
 " Samuel 452, 462, 653, 655 
 
 " Tabathy 297 
 
 Emons, John 434 
 
 Obadiah 482 
 
 '« Samuel 363,394,528,545,547 
 
 Endicott, Gilbert 182, 187, 191 
 
 Eppes, Daniel 309 
 
 " Simon 309 
 
 Eppiford 186 
 
 Evans, Abner 434 
 
 « Edward 318, 363, 371, 402 
 
 " John 434 
 
 " William 434 
 
 Exeter, Plantation of 13 
 
 Expedition for capture of Rasle 321 
 
 Fairfield, John 331, 371 
 
 « Stephen 482, 548 
 
 Falmouth, Convention at 532 
 
 Farrow, George 146, 191 
 
 Fast Day 65, 142, 362 
 
 Fayrweather, Rev. Samuel 364 
 
 Feathery, Anthony 191 
 
 Felt, Capt. John, Death of 319 
 
 Ferry over Kennebunk river 46 
 
 " " Mousamriver 85 
 
 Fiddler, John 604 
 
 Fire-proof building erected in Alfred. . .606 
 
 Fire Society, Kennebunk 694 
 
 Fisher, Jacob 534, 564, 576, 582, 584 
 
 602, 603, 622, 625, 628, 686, 688 
 
 " " Biography of 748 
 
 " Charlotte 749 
 
 " Eliza 749 
 
 '« Hannah 749 
 
 11 Lavinia 749 
 
 " Mary 745,762 
 
 " Sarah A 749 
 
 Fisk, Abner 421, 483 
 
 *< John 483 
 
 " Mark 647 
 
 Fletcher, Rev. Nathaniel H 
 
 552, 620, 628, 635, 643, 693, 721 
 
 " Pendleton 208, 261, 371 
 
 " Rev. Seth 96, 97, 101 
 
 * Capt. 374 
 
 Folsom, Peter 582 
 
 " Thomas 582 
 
 Foster, Rev. Edmund 628 
 
 Four Mile Brook 227 
 
 Fourth of July Celebration 685 
 
 Frances, Rachel 760 
 
 Freas, John 395, 402 
 
 French Claims 578 
 
 Freshet 266, 431, 538, 607 
 
 Frost, Charles 158, 184, 221 
 
 •f Gideon 693, 748 
 
 " John 188, 191, 434, 688, 689 
 
 " John,jr 191 
 
 " Goodman, killed 201 
 
 " Nicholas 33 
 
 " Nathaniel 201,581,594,686,695 
 
 " Timothy 581,603 
 
 " William.. 185, 187,188, 191,226,227,233 
 
 " Elder William 553 
 
 Furbish, Joshua 668 
 
 " William 159, 189 
 
 Funerals 422 
 
 Furniture of early settlers 239 
 
 Gard, Roger 10 
 
 Garrisons, description of and where lo- 
 cated 195 
 
 Garrison, attempt of Indians to surprise 
 
 Larrabee's 386, 389 
 
 Gates, Dr. John 693, 750 
 
 " Charles 750 
 
 " Mary 750,765 
 
 " Nancy 750 
 
 Getchell, Joseph 330, 335, 353 
 
 " Joshua 450, 667 
 
 " Robert , 668 
 
 " Zachariah 483 
 
 Gibbs, Robert 113 
 
 Gibson, Richard 158 
 
 Gile, Daniel 560 
 
 Gillespie, John 301 
 
 Gilman, Ebenezer 667 
 
 Joseph 534, 536, 660, 667 
 
 " " Biography 751 
 
 " Children of. ..Elizabeth, 762 
 Ebenezer, 752 ; Hannah, 752 
 Sarah L., 752 ; Theodosia, 752 
 Ann F., 752; Martha A., 752 
 Mary, 752; Francis, 752 
 
 " Tristram 597 
 
 Gillpatrick, James 372, 482, 487, 521, 762 
 
 •' John 355,395,398,402 
 
 404, 437,438, 526, 547. 648, 649 
 " John, jr.394, 509, 526, 546, 547, 648 
 
 '« Joseph 551, 667, 691 
 
 " Joshua 482 
 
 " Olive 761 
 
INDEX. 
 
 789 
 
 Gillpatrick Richard 
 
 482, 504, 538. 572, 573, 574, 576, 578 
 
 Biography of 762 
 
 Children of Diraon, 762 
 
 Sally, 762; Daniel, 762; William, 
 762; Elizabeth, 762; Mary, 762 
 
 Maria, 762 ; Lucy 762, 764 
 
 " Samuel 526 
 
 " Thomas 313,330 
 
 Goddard, Dr. Thatcher 
 
 441, 576, 577, 587, 628, 693, 702 
 
 Biography of 750, 769 
 
 Children of. ..Caroline, 751 
 Eunice, 751; Lucy, 751 
 Mary, 751; Miranda, 751 
 
 Susan 751 
 
 " "William 751 
 
 Godfrey, Edward 15, 16, 18, 29 
 
 " John 153 
 
 Goliff , Robert 526 
 
 Gooch, Benjamin 259, 275, 303 
 
 " Creek 301 
 
 " James 70, 123 
 
 " " Death of 145, 177, 191 , 212 
 
 " Jedediah 441, 482, 503, 548 
 
 " John 25, 30, 35. 59, 70, 78 
 
 " " Children of . . . . 79, 123, 191, 355 
 
 «• John, jr 79, 191 
 
 Goodale, Jedediah 482 
 
 " John 408, 449, 450 
 
 " John,jr 450 
 
 " Samuel 482 
 
 Goodrich, Sophia 763 
 
 Goodwin, Ann 773 
 
 " Bartholomew 481 
 
 " Downing 683 
 
 " Joseph 554, 556 
 
 " Joshua 741 
 
 Paul 483,487 
 
 " Thomas 450 
 
 " William 483 
 
 Gorgeana, Court holden at 15 
 
 " Convention at 16 
 
 • * Compact with Wells, Kittery , 
 
 and. 16 
 
 Gorgeana, incorporation of the city of . . .19 
 Gorges Sir Ferdmando, charter to .... . 4 
 
 " " " House of 5 
 
 « " " Grant to 14 
 
 " " " Heir of sends 
 
 agent to assert claim. . : 62 
 
 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, title of pur- 
 chased by Mass 180 
 
 Gorges, Ferdinando, 2d 335 
 
 n Thomas 5,9,10 
 
 " Henry 341 
 
 Gould, Nathaniel 450, 741 
 
 " Thomas 483 
 
 Gowen, Ann 779 
 
 " James 460 
 
 " Nicholas 521 
 
 Grant, Edward 768 
 
 " Hannah 752 
 
 " John 576, 578, 679, 752, 763, 766 
 
 «« Peter 157 
 
 " Sarah 696 
 
 Grants to various persons 
 
 185, 187, 226, 228, 299, 335, 659 
 
 Gray, Joshua 451 
 
 Grten, Benjamin 628 
 
 " Benjamin F 763 
 
 " Rev. Percival 168. 191 
 
 Greenleaf, Rev. Jonathan, ordination of .620 
 ** " " Letter of to 
 
 Rev. Mr. Fletcher 635 
 
 Grc enough, Edward 749 
 
 Guerierre, rejoicing at taking of 599 
 
 Gunnison, Hugh 61, 96, 154 
 
 Guttredge, James 226 
 
 Habourne, George 191 
 
 Hackett. William 581 
 
 Haile, Master 442 
 
 Haley, Andrew 66 
 
 Hamlin, Joseph. 361 
 
 Hainans, George 191 
 
 " John 182,183,191,227,303 
 
 " Nathaniel 330 
 
 " William 32, 89, 191 
 
 Hammond, Benedictus 418 
 
 " Jacob 302 
 
 " Jonathan 65,70.123,185,187 
 
 193. 199. 207, 210, 227, 256, 285, 655 
 
 " William 25 
 
 50, 59. 70. 78, 94, K.0, 102, 123. 193, 232, 304 
 
 Hancock, John, votes for in Wells 630 
 
 " Samuel 440, 441, 478 
 
 ** " Biography of 493, 606 
 
 Haney, John 434 
 
 " Robert 442 
 
 Hansel, Rowland . , 157 
 
 Hawthorne, Commissioner for Mass 63 
 
 Harding, Israel 124, 191 
 
 u Stephen 141, 247 
 
 " *' Attack on his house. . . 
 
 248, 303, 323, 330, 403 
 
 Hardy, Eunice 769 
 
 Harrington, Nathaniel 353 
 
 Hart, Henry 573 
 
 Hatch, Abraham 483 
 
 " Benjamin 
 
 330, 335, 371, 417, 447, 464, 478, 488, 517 
 
 " Benjamin, jr 450, 741 
 
 " Daniel 548 
 
 " Elisha..... 555, 556 
 
 " Eunice 417 
 
 " Francis 483 
 
 " Gideon 434,483,553 
 
 " Jemima 417 
 
 " John 330, 450, 554, 668 
 
 " Jonathan 450,517 
 
 " Joseph 417, 564, 576, 581 
 
 " Joshua 502 
 
 " Lemuel 450 
 
 " Mary 417 
 
 " Obadiah 509,546,647 
 
 " Philip. . . .69, 64, 83, 191, 330, 417, 666 
 
 " Samuel 83,191,226 
 
 227, 256, 303, 330, 348, 358, 417, 653, 654, 655 
 
 Hatch, Samuel, jr 330, 666 
 
 •' Seth 556 
 
 Hatherly. Henry 191 
 
 Hayes, Hercules M 758 
 
 " Joseph M 769 
 
 Heard, John 222, 442 
 
 11 Capt. 279 
 
 Heaton, George 751 
 
 Hathersy, Robert 83, 154, 159, 191 
 
 Hemmenway, Mary 750 
 
 " Rev. Moses, ordination of 
 
 368, 465, 517. 5o8, 540. 541, 565 
 684, 616, 628. 658, 685, 719 
 
 Biography of 723, 766 
 
 " Rev. Phineas 868 
 
 Hermon, Deacon 653 
 
 Hewitt, Archelaus 830 
 
 Hill, Abiah 261 
 
 " Benjamin 356, 460 
 
 " Hannah 333, 366 
 
 11 John 208, 210 
 
 " Jonathan 450, 554,660 
 
 " Joseph 
 
 228, 266, 288, 302, 305, 330, 335, 343 
 
 " " Biography of 356 
 
 " " Children of 
 
 356, 357, 408, 450, 569, 663, 665 
 
 " Mary 460 
 
 " Nathaniel 356, 408,647 
 
 " Olive 492 
 
 " Peniah 366 
 
790 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hill, Richard 659 
 
 " Roger 202, 233, 355 
 
 " Samuel 27, 261, 262, 288, 303, 330 
 
 " Rev. Samuel 492 
 
 " Sarah 408 
 
 Hilton, Edward 667 
 
 •< Elizabeth 491 
 
 " Robert 191 
 
 " Wil iam 63, 667 
 
 Hobbs, Hannah 774 
 
 •' Joseph 504 
 
 " William 70, 83 
 
 Hooke, William 153 
 
 Hodsdon, Nicholas, death of 259 
 
 Hooper, Elder William 553, 556 
 
 Horn, Joseph 483 
 
 Howard, Eleazer 483 
 
 " Pomfret 582 
 
 Howell, Morgan 89 
 
 Houses, first in Wells 47 
 
 *« description of 239 
 
 " description of in Kennebunk. . . 650 
 
 Hovey, John 581 
 
 Mary 723 
 
 " Polly 442 
 
 How, Elizabeth , 748 
 
 Huston, John . ..372, 659 
 
 Hutchins, David 504 
 
 Hutchinson, Edward 9, 25, 37 
 
 " Dimon 482 
 
 " Eliab 223 
 
 " Susanna 37 
 
 Hubbard, Abigail 756 
 
 " Dimon 482 
 
 " Dudley 745 
 
 " Hannah 763 
 
 " James 431. 438, 462, 464 
 
 " " His company roll 
 
 481, 483, 545, 546, 547, 648, 665, 756, 763 
 
 " Rev. Jeremiah 104, 554, 702 
 
 " Jeremiah 774 
 
 " John 483, 493 
 
 " John Heard 418,450 
 
 " Joshua 779 
 
 " Joseph 515, 518, 541, 779 
 
 " Mary 762 
 
 *' Moses 551 
 
 " Philip 279 
 
 " Warwick 450, 452 
 
 Huff, James ^.575 
 
 Huskings 677 
 
 Indian deed to Wadleigh 21 
 
 Indian attack on Wells 
 
 143,146,207,213,263,265 
 
 " " " York 219,257,263 
 
 '« « " Dover 219 
 
 " " " Berwick 257 
 
 " " " Kittery 219,257,263 
 
 h « « Winter Harbor 257 
 
 " " " Cape Neddick 145 
 
 " " " Brunswick, Falmouth, 
 
 Scarboro', and Saco 386 
 
 Indian Raids 315 
 
 Indians. 400 captured at Dover 144 
 
 Indians resident in Kennebunk, Traits, 
 
 Powwow, etc 326 
 
 Indians, bounty given by Mass. for 
 
 scalps of 334 
 
 Indian's ingenious device of escape 
 
 from Drake's Island 259 
 
 Indian treaty at Wells 219 
 
 Indians attempt to surprise Larrabee's 
 
 Garrison 386, 389 
 
 Indictments, various 
 
 6, 60. 63, 103, 125, 154, 157, 182 
 
 Industry of early inhabitants 673 
 
 Inhabitants of Wells after incorpora- 
 tion, and before 1670 83 
 
 Inhabitants of Wells, list of, in 1726. . . .330 
 
 Insurance, marine 577 
 
 Intoxicating liquors (law in relation t© 
 
 sale of 134) 411, 471, 608 
 
 Ireland, immigration from 312 
 
 Iron, manufacture of 503, 649 
 
 Jackson, Hall 522 
 
 Jacobs, Benjamin 372 
 
 " George. 330. 342, 482, 658 
 
 " Trial and Execution of. . 426 
 
 " John 342,450 
 
 " Jonathan 483 
 
 " Margaret 427 
 
 Jail, erection of 62 
 
 Jaques, 321 
 
 James, William 159 
 
 Jay Treaty 584 
 
 Jefferds, Hannah 758 
 
 " Ivory 749 
 
 " Mary 643 
 
 " Nathaniel 581 
 
 " Olive 758 
 
 " Samuel M 539, 741 
 
 " Capt. Samuel 521 
 
 " Rev. Samuel 356 
 
 " " Ord'nof..358,361,363 
 
 " " Death of 364,379, 
 
 396, 398, 447, 538 
 
 M Simon 364,434,521,539 
 
 ■ « William . . .521 , 573. 622, 625, 628, 685 
 
 " « ' Biography of 761 
 
 " « Children of. . . .Nath'l, 761 
 
 William, 761 ; George. .761 
 Olive, 761 ; Clement. ... 761 
 
 Ivory 761 
 
 Jellison, Benja 371, 384 
 
 Ichabod 372 
 
 * John 321 
 
 » Mary 725 
 
 " William 483 
 
 Jepson, James 371 
 
 " William 313 
 
 Joceline, Henry 10, 60, 64. 65, 66, 153 
 
 " Thomas 153 
 
 Johnson, James 110 
 
 " Priscilla 154 
 
 " Stephen 482 
 
 " William 70,83 
 
 Jones, Thomas 441. 667, 668 
 
 Jordan, Robert 60, 64, 104, 159 
 
 Judiciary system. . .' . 152 
 
 Jurors, Grand, fees of 155 
 
 Keating, Oliver. . . ,496. 576, 577. 578, 693, 695 
 
 '« " Biography of 750 
 
 Keels and Bowles 225, 679 
 
 Kelly, Abial 582, 668 
 
 * Catharine 443 
 
 Kennebunk, first settlers in 84 
 
 " Origin of name 109 
 
 Named 302 
 
 ■■' Title to claimed by Daniel 
 
 and Simon Eppes 309 
 
 " Sloop captured at 257 
 
 " First road to 92 
 
 " First house in Ill 
 
 ** First grocery store in 526 
 
 " River, Avalanche on 119 
 
 " " first bridge over 312 
 
 " Court Records kept at 609 
 
 " Attempt to remove courts to 609 
 " Description of early houses 
 
 in 650 
 
 " Gazette 692 
 
 " Fire Society 694 
 
 " Act of Incorporation of — 703 
 Keene, John 372 
 
INDEX. 
 
 791 
 
 Kiezer, Timothy 681 
 
 Kilgore. Joseph 482 
 
 Kimball, Beniamin 460, 487 
 
 " Caleb 330,358,361,363,372 
 
 " Eleazer 448 
 
 " Hannah 764 
 
 " Hezekiah 483 
 
 " Isaac 648,649 
 
 " Israel, jr 441, 609, 610 
 
 443. 503, 510V512,' 647) 573," 582^ 756,' 762 
 
 «' John 482, 648 
 
 " Joshua 371 
 
 " Death of 383, 403 
 
 " Nathan 482 
 
 " Nathaniel 330, a^, 371, 
 
 395, 393, 402. 404, 438, 478, 488, 510, 526, 
 527, 539, 540, 545, 546, 575. 649, 777 
 
 Kimball, Richard 546, 575, 576. 647, 657 
 
 " " Escape of, 322, 355, 395. 398 
 
 402,404,434, 503, 509, 526. 527, 545, 777 
 
 Kimball, Richard, jr 434, 547, 647, 777 
 
 Sally 756 
 
 '* Samuel 510, 548 
 
 1 Thomas 198, 395, 398, 402, 526 
 
 King. Charles, order of in relation to 
 
 jurisdiction of Maine 64 
 
 King, Cyrus 600 
 
 " m Public dinner to 602, 688 
 
 " Phillip's war 137 
 
 " William's war 193 
 
 Kingman, Ebenezer P 442 
 
 Kittery, commissioner's court at 29 
 
 " Convention at 16 
 
 " Boundary between Wells and. . . 
 
 304 305 
 
 " Indian attack on 257.' 263 
 
 Knight, Ezekiel 25, 30, 31 
 
 35. 47, 69, 64, 68, 70, 94, 102, 123, 191, 303 
 
 Knight, Ezekiel, jr 70, 191 
 
 « John 553 
 
 * Sarah 346 
 
 in, Gussian 192 
 
 Lafgbton, William 471 
 
 Lake Brook .301 
 
 Langdon. Mary 642 
 
 Lancton , Rev. 368 
 
 Lane, John 154 
 
 M Capt. 279 
 
 Larrabee, Jesse 547, 573 
 
 " Joel 509, 667(jr.), 668 
 
 «< Stephen 316, 321 
 
 •' " Garrison of .. ; 316 
 
 " " Attempt to surprise. . . 
 
 386, 394, 398, 404, 430, 431, 438, 469, 481, 526 
 
 Larrabee, Stephen, Biography of 
 
 527, 545. 648, 666 
 
 " " jr 610,546,547 
 
 " " «f Biography of 774 
 
 " William 275, 300, 330 
 
 Lassell, Joshua 871 
 
 Latimer, Thomas 86 
 
 Lauson's Creek 301 
 
 David 330,355 
 
 Leader, Richard 15 
 
 Ledyard, Nicholas 309 
 
 Leonard, William 502 
 
 Lester, John, Teacher 353 
 
 Lewis, Ebenezer 318 
 
 Lindsey. Mathew 872 
 
 Libby, Nathaniel 442 
 
 Library, Wells Social 693 
 
 Little, Rev. Daniel 395 
 
 " " " Ordination of 398 
 
 431,436,438,487,510,617 
 
 638.550.628,650,659, 661 
 
 " « H Biography of . . . 708 
 
 Little, Rev. Daniel, Children of Joseph, 
 
 Mary, Daniel, Nathaniel, Sarah, Margaret, 
 
 David, and Hannah 722 
 
 Little, David 717, 722 
 
 " " Children of .Hannah, Charles. 
 
 Caroline, Sarah Ann, and George 728 
 
 Little, Hannah : 762 
 
 Littlefleld, Aaron 262 
 
 " Abraham 482,667 
 
 " Annas 74 
 
 " Anthony 
 
 25, 32, 80, 191, 318, 821, 628, 648 
 
 " Benjamin 450,600,776 
 
 " David. . 226, 303, 330, 348, 554, 666 
 
 H Daniel 
 
 288, 303, 304, 305, 480, 512, 513, 653, 667, 778 
 Littlefleld, Dependence. . . .303, 330, 347, 349 
 
 " Dolly 443 
 
 f Eleazer 372, 482 
 
 " Edmund.,10, 25, 32, 37, 38, 60, 73 
 
 " " Children of. ...74. 82, 89 
 
 94, 100, 155, 185, 186, 191, 227, 239, 363 
 
 Littlefleld, Edmund, jr 363, 483 
 
 " Eliab 227, 338, 340, 342, 450 
 
 M Elizabeth 338 
 
 " Francis 25,32 
 
 62. 70, 74, 100, 167, 187, 191, 193, 208, 233 
 
 Littlefleld, Francis, death of 
 
 281, 330, 348, 569, 647, 655 
 
 " Francis, jr 
 
 25, 32, 68, 70, 74, 100, 187, 191 
 
 •* Francis, 3d 192, 491, 649 
 
 " Hannah 356 
 
 Isaac 147, 191, 450 
 
 " Jacob , 667 
 
 " James 
 
 188, 191, 201, 223, 233, 300, 330, 372, 447 
 Littlefleld, James, death of , 383, 409, 434, 449 
 
 " James, jr 191 
 
 372. 517, 519, 520, 539, 554, 569, 657, 777 
 
 Littlefleld, James, 3d , 517 
 
 " Jane 223 
 
 " Jedediah 482, 487 
 
 " Jeremiah 355,450, 668 
 
 " Jeremiah, jr 450 
 
 H Job, drowning of 266 
 
 '« Joel 612 
 
 " John. . 25. 68, 70. 89, 100, 123, 140, 
 
 177,180, 184,185,191.193, 
 
 205, 208, 223, 304, 330, 335, 
 
 336, 348, 360. 449. 462, 464, 
 
 478, 480, 482, 517, 777 
 
 " John, jr 181, 447, 777 
 
 H John S 539 
 
 H Jonathan 187, 188, 191, 217 
 
 " " Wife's defence of gar- 
 
 rison, 217, 288, 291, 303, 
 330, 358, 415, 460, 667 
 
 '* Jonathan, jr 450, 481 
 
 " Joseph, 186, 191, 227, 303, 330, 343, 
 450, 481, 62b, 653, 660, 665 
 
 " Joshua 450 
 
 " Josiah 192, 256 
 
 *.* r Capture of 267 
 
 " " Death of, 273, 288, 291, 336, 
 
 408,667 
 
 Jotham 610,518,551 
 
 " Lydia 337 
 
 M Mehitable 491 
 
 Miriam 510,667,778 
 
 " Drowning of 266 
 
 Nathan 186 
 
 Nathaniel 192, 330, 577 
 
 Nehemiah 460 
 
 Noah M.. . .450,464, 481, 483, 611, 
 518, 637 
 
 " Biography of 778 
 
 Obediah 437, 610, 545, 646, 
 
 547,648 
 
792 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Littlefield, Peletiah.. .350, 408, 414, 415, 422, 
 
 447, 449, 522, 539, 568, 570, 
 
 579, 658, 668, 741, 777 
 
 " Peletiah, jr 667 
 
 " Peter 330, 335, 360, 365, 450 
 
 Priscilla 356 
 
 " Reuben 651, 604 
 
 " Roger 521 
 
 " Samuel 186. 192, 318 
 
 *' Escape of.. 322. 330, 363, 
 
 395, 437, 526, 666 
 
 " Samuel, jr. .330, 510, 546, 548, 666 
 
 Sarah 759 
 
 " Tabitha, capture of 253 
 
 " Thomas. . .25, 32, 70, 100, 123, 191 
 
 « William 667 
 
 Lock, Elder 556 
 
 Lockwood, Richard 157 
 
 Look, Elizabeth 185 
 
 M John .300, 371, 402 
 
 Loring, Rev. — 367 
 
 Lord, Aaron 372 
 
 " Dominicus 761 
 
 " George ..582 
 
 " Ivory 582, 769 
 
 « James 437, 510,547 
 
 «' Nason 482 
 
 " Nathaniel 578 
 
 " Rev. Nathaniel 553, 556 
 
 M Richard 554 
 
 M Samuel 578, 581 
 
 " Tobias. . 572, 576, 578, 582, 622, 650. 692 
 
 N « Biography of 757 
 
 " " Children of Nathaniel, 758 
 
 Tobias, 758 ; Samuel 758 
 
 George, 758 ; Ivory 758 
 
 William, 758: Francis A. . .758 
 
 Hepsibah, 758 ; Abigail 758 
 
 Mehitable, 758; Betsey 758 
 
 Lucy 758 
 
 Louisburg, list of vols, from Wells at. . .371 
 
 Expedition to 369 
 
 Low, Daniel, killed 315 
 
 " Job 330, 335, 665 
 
 " John. . . 564, 569, 573, 576, 678, 603, 640, 
 642, 643, 671, 688, 695 
 
 " " Biographyof 760 
 
 " John, jr 573 
 
 «« Jonathan 482 
 
 " William 330 
 
 Lovewell's war 314 
 
 Lygonia Patent 15 
 
 Lyman, Rev. — 368 
 
 " Theodore 493, 494, 499. 603, 510, 
 
 520, 572, 574, 578, 757 
 
 Lucy 496 
 
 Lyn, Ephraim 157 
 
 •' John 309 
 
 Lynde, James 114 
 
 " Simon 113 
 
 Maddox, Henry ; . 303, 330, 482 
 
 " John 
 
 395, 403, 504, 510, 545, 546, 547, 666 
 
 Madockawando 207, 212, 219 
 
 Magner, John 482 
 
 Mail carried by a dog 540 
 
 Maine, State of, separation from Mass. .537 
 
 Manning, John 191 
 
 March, Hannah 754 
 
 " Major 222 
 
 " Samuel 540 
 
 Marriner, Thomas 83 
 
 Marriage Ceremony 418 
 
 Marsh, Henry 311 
 
 Martin, Richard 146, 169, 192, 308 
 
 " Susanna 443 
 
 Masters, Abram 187 
 
 " John 187, 191 
 
 " Nathaniel 83, 123, 192 
 
 Masterson, Nathaniel 66 
 
 Massachusetts, claim of jurisdiction over 
 
 Maine 18 
 
 Massachusetts, claims of jurisdiction, 
 
 action of Wells relating to 179 
 
 Massachusetts, purchase of title of 
 
 Gorges by 180 
 
 Massachusetts, submission of inhabitants 
 
 of Wells to jurisdiction of 32 
 
 Maxwell, Alexander 615 
 
 " Barak 4L0,782 
 
 " David 450 
 
 " Gershom..330,335,350,36i,450,658 
 
 " John 450,512,741 
 
 McColly, Auley 526 
 
 McCulloch, Adam 474, 578, 769 
 
 Hugh 579,580,581,610, 769 
 
 " " Children of: Adam, 
 
 Thomas, Louisa, Hugh, Eliza 769 
 
 McCulloch, Louisa 768 
 
 " Thomas, death of 610 
 
 McDaniel, John 372, 383 
 
 McDonald. John 330 
 
 McLean, Margaret 301 
 
 McLellan, Brice. 313, 330 
 
 McMillan, Alexander 227 
 
 Meader, Daniel 483 
 
 Medole, James 330 
 
 Meetinghouse 284. 345, 347, 446 
 
 " Second parish built 
 
 393, 438, 545, 622, 632 
 
 " At Alewife 550 
 
 " Baptist 657 
 
 Meldrum, John 482, 521 
 
 Thomas 521 
 
 Mendum, Goody 154 
 
 " Robert 65 
 
 Merrill, Abel S30 
 
 Merryfield, Simeon 372 
 
 Merryland 186 
 
 Militia organized 62 
 
 " Ordered out to guard Kenne- 
 
 bunk river 603 
 
 Military company of exempts organized.608 
 
 Military History of the town 696 
 
 Miles, Thomas 25, 32. 60, 81, 191 
 
 Mills, Nicholas Cole's 315 
 
 " Jonathan Hammond's 185 
 
 " Edmund Littlefield's 47 
 
 " John Littlefield's 185 
 
 " Joseph Littlefield's 185 
 
 " Joseph Littlefield and William 
 
 Frost's 186 
 
 Mills, Henry Say ward's 112, 186 
 
 " Joseph Storer's 315 
 
 Ministers, Rev. John Wheelright 36 
 
 ** " Seth Fletcher 96 
 
 " " Joseph Emerson 103 
 
 H " Jeremiah Hubbard 104 
 
 * " Robert Paine 164 
 
 «« " John Buss 166 
 
 " " Samuel Emery 284 
 
 '« « Samuel Jefferds .358 
 
 " « Gideon Richardson 366 
 
 ** u Moses Hemmingway 368 
 
 " « Daniel Little 396 
 
 « " Nath'l H. Fletcher 628 
 
 Mittemore.Rev. Mr. 620 
 
 Mitchell, John 394 
 
 398, 403, 4i 4, 434. 438. 469, 478, 482, 488 
 509. 517. 526, 546, 575, 576, 648, 649, 665 
 
 Mitchell, John, biography of 766 
 
 " " Children of: Lydia, 
 
 Jotham, Lucy, James, Benjamin, 
 
 M ary 766 
 
 Mitchell, Jotham 648 
 
 " Samuel 548, 648 
 
INDEX. 
 
 793 
 
 Monroe, President, reception of 
 
 Moody, Dorothy Rose , 
 
 44 Rev. Joshua 
 
 44 Joseph, biography of 
 
 495, 676, 590, 592, 602. 622, 628, 693, 
 44 Joseph, children of. .Eliza, Jos- 
 eph G., George B., Theodore L 
 
 Moody, Rev. Joseph 378, 708, 
 
 44 Rev. Samuel 289,378, 
 
 " Capt. Samuel 
 
 «' Rev. Silas 
 
 Moory, Nicholas 187, 
 
 Morrison, Benjamin 482 , 
 
 44 Daniel 335,361,450, 
 
 44 David 
 
 44 Josiah 
 
 14 Nathan 
 
 44 Samuel 
 
 Morrill, Rev. Moses 396, 398, 
 
 44 " Nahum...534, 536, 537, 571, 
 
 " " Biography of 
 
 44 Children of.. Han- 
 
 nah, Samuel, Sally, Mary, Isabella 
 Samuel. Moses, Nahum, Ann M. .759, 
 
 Morse, Master 
 
 Moose 
 
 Morgan, Francis 
 
 " Sarah 
 
 Mordan's Cave 
 
 Mousam river, new canal cut 
 
 Moulton, Jeremiah 320, 
 
 44 Judge 
 
 " Captain 321, 
 
 Moxus (Indian chief) 
 
 Mudge, Captain 
 
 Mugg (Indian chief) 
 
 41 Treaty with 
 
 44 Death of 
 
 Murch, , capture by the indians 
 
 Mussell, Thomas 100, 
 
 Muster, General 
 
 Muchmore, James 
 
 762 
 167 
 
 734 
 359 
 270 
 628 
 191 
 668 
 741 
 330 
 482 
 318 
 450 
 769 
 579 
 759 
 
 760 
 442 
 563 
 157 
 158 
 132 
 572 
 432 
 473 
 376 
 207 
 604 
 145 
 148 
 150 
 387 
 191 
 697 
 157 
 
 Names, Christian 417 
 
 Nason, Richard 304 
 
 Neale, Francis 64, 156 
 
 Needham, Nicholas 9, 25, 37 
 
 Negroes 407 
 
 Negro Hill 409 
 
 Newcomb, Rev. 359 
 
 Norris, Shephard 751 
 
 Nowell, Simon 689 
 
 Nubery, Thomas 169 
 
 Oare, James 187, 191 
 
 Ogunquit, Cape Neddick joined to 30 
 
 Olipharit, Rev. David 619 
 
 Orne, Eunice 755 
 
 Osborn, James 442 
 
 44 " Biography of 755 
 
 " John 755 
 
 44 Mary 755 
 
 44 Samuel 755 
 
 Packer Capt. , 257 
 
 Paddock, Judah 311 
 
 Page, Robert 313 
 
 Paine, Rev. Robert 164, 191 
 
 Palmer, Barnabas 689, 696, 697 
 
 Parish, incorporation of 2d Cong'l 894 
 
 44 Covenant 396, 398 
 
 44 List of members of Second Con- 
 gregational church 398 
 
 Parsonage built 346 
 
 " stockaded 847 
 
 Parsons, John U 581, 602, 608, 688, 689 
 
 44 William. 303 
 
 51 
 
 Patten, Hanse 450. 517, 519, 520 
 
 44 Mathew 330 
 
 44 William 360, 480 
 
 Paty, Thomas 83, 1 10 
 
 Paul, Daniel 577 
 
 •' Jeremiah 676, 681, 764 
 
 Paupers, Danforth, Mehitable 682 
 
 •' Goodwin, Downing 683 
 
 44 Smith 349 
 
 44 Elizabeth 350 
 
 44 " Margaret 360 
 
 44 " Mary 350 
 
 44 Tucker. Daniel 3o0 
 
 Peabody, Augustus 751 
 
 Peace declared, rejoicing at 605 
 
 Pearce, James 654 
 
 Pendleton, Brian 33, 90, 101, 140, 144 
 
 Penny, Allen 482 
 
 " George 554 
 
 44 John 482 
 
 " Pelatiah 483 
 
 44 Thomas 330,335 
 
 Penobscot Expedition : 512 
 
 Pepperell, Sir William 372, 470 
 
 44 William, son of Sir William. 4<0 
 
 Pequawkett Expedition 323 
 
 Perkins, Abiel 769 
 
 44 Eliphalet 578, 602, 688 
 
 Elisha 554 
 
 44 Ephraim 578 
 
 44 George 503 
 
 44 Hannah 758 
 
 Jacob. . . 331, 337, 341, 342, 348, 350, 
 664 
 
 John 577 
 
 44 John, G 689, 751 
 
 44 Joseph 578 
 
 " Thomas 460, 578, 688, 769 
 
 44 Thomas, jr 578 
 
 44 William 487 
 
 Petition to Legislature for separation 
 
 from Massachusetts 534 
 
 44 to Legislature that Wells be 
 
 set off to New Hampshire 536 
 
 Philip, King .138 
 
 Pier built at mouth of Kennebunk River . 579 
 
 Pierce, Daniel 86 
 
 44 David 309 
 
 Pierson, Peter 97 
 
 Pigeons, wild 564 
 
 Pipon, John. . : 628 
 
 Plains, The great 186 
 
 Plaisted, Elisha, marriage and capture 
 
 of *. 278,656 
 
 Plaisted, Robert 279 
 
 Plummer, Honestus 496 
 
 44 Theodore 496 
 
 Poke, Ephraim , 301, 669 
 
 • ' Robert 331 
 
 Pormotte, Elias 27 
 
 ' ' Philemon .22," 26, 27, 37, 94* VA, 191 
 
 Pope, Isaac 779 
 
 Porter, Horace 581, 689, 749 
 
 44 Joseph 564, 604 
 
 Post-office, first in Maine 527 
 
 Pounds and impounding 806 
 
 Powers, Dr. 750 
 
 44 Deacon 553 
 
 Pray, Isaac 581, 682 
 
 Preble, Humility 418 
 
 44 Jedediah 372 
 
 " Joseph 119 
 
 Prentis, Samuel 441 
 
 44 " Biography of 754 
 
 Preston, Edward 23 
 
 Prices, Tariff of 602 
 
 Privateers 599, 601, 604 
 
 Proprietors of Wells 228, 652 
 
 44 Division of lands of by lot. .667 
 
794 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Public houses, where located 539 
 
 Puddenton, Lieut . 195 
 
 Punishments, Sale at auction of offender .224 
 
 " Ducking stool 131 
 
 " Stocks 224 
 
 " Cage 224 
 
 Quakers 362 
 
 Quebec, taking of 436 
 
 Queen Anne's War 243 
 
 Rabourne, George 47 
 
 Ramanascho, quit-claim of to Wadleigh. 21 
 
 Rand, Ebenezer 547 
 
 Rankin, James 619, 781 
 
 ** John, biography of 781 
 
 Rasle, Father, death of 321 
 
 Raynes Francis 159 
 
 Reaves, Garret 83 
 
 Read, James 372, 384 
 
 " John .83, 128. 191 
 
 Records, Court, kept at Kennebunk 609 
 
 Records of Town. 229 
 
 Refugees, opposition to 524 
 
 Remick, James K 693 
 
 Revolutionary War 498 
 
 Reynolds. William 46 
 
 Rhodes, John 227 
 
 Rice, Ebenezer 462, 476, 504, 546, 547 
 
 " " Biography of 747 
 
 Rich, Peter 330, 372 
 
 Ricker, Stephen 487, 521 
 
 " Meturan 521 
 
 Richardson, Rev. Gideon, ordination of .366 
 
 " Death of, 368, 423, 
 
 431 
 
 « Caleb 330 
 
 John 191 
 
 . « Martha 778 
 
 Rigby, Col. Alex 15 
 
 Ring, Joseph 257 
 
 Rishworth, Edward. . 10, 15. 25, 37, 39, 47, 59, 
 64, 65, 156, 191, 211 
 
 River, Josiah's 664 
 
 Road first laid out in Wells 45 
 
 " from Kittery to Kennebunk 90 
 
 Roads, when and where located 92, 526, 
 
 544, 663 
 
 Roadman, John 157 
 
 Roberts, Elder Joshua 552 
 
 Robinson, Francis 10 
 
 " Mathew 371 
 
 " " Death of 383 
 
 William 372 
 
 Capt.— 279 
 
 Rogers, Rev. — 359 
 
 •< Daniel 442 
 
 " Elizabeth 762 
 
 " George 158 
 
 " Richard 183 
 
 Ross, Adam 434, 437, 509, 547, 551, 666 
 
 " Daniel 551 
 
 " James 187, 509, 526, 527 
 
 ' ' James, jr 526 
 
 " John 313, 330, 482 
 
 " Joseph 551 
 
 Rouse, Gapt 374 
 
 Russell, Abigail 744 
 
 Sabady Point 667 
 
 Saco, submission of to Mass 45 
 
 •• Attacked by Indians 386 
 
 Salmon 564 
 
 Salt, manufacture of 503 
 
 Sambo (slave), capture and escape of — 277 
 
 Sampson, James ..330 
 
 S Mrs. .killed 275 
 
 Sandbirds 564 
 
 Savary, Moses 759 
 
 Sayer, Benjamin 321 
 
 " Captain 481 
 
 " Daniel 303, 356, 371, 450 
 
 " Eunice 491 
 
 " Francis 303, 330, 357, 358 
 
 " Henry... : 140 
 
 " Joseph, death of 246 
 
 " Mary 261 
 
 " William • 191 
 
 230, 385. 288. 299, 303, 305, 347, 450, 653 
 
 Sawyer, Ebenezer 408, 450, 464, 
 
 " Biography of 491 
 
 " Joseph 
 
 347, 348, 361, 447, 449, 450, 474 
 
 " " Biography of 
 
 489, 505, 647. 656, 657. 747 
 
 " Samuel 403, 482, 512, 513 
 
 Sayward, Henry 83, 109, 185, 191, 335 
 
 " Jonathan 
 
 384. 459, 466, 473, 484, 485, 490, 605. 513, 570 
 
 Scadlock, William 89 
 
 Scammon, Elizabeth 769 
 
 Scipio. 483 
 
 Scotchman's Brook 116 
 
 Schools 307. 352 
 
 First school-house in Kennebunk.440 
 
 " Sunday, established 643 
 
 " Teachers, Adams, Nathaniel 442 
 
 Ayer, Daniel F 442 
 
 Coffin, Paul 441 
 
 Cluff, John 442 
 
 Dennie, John 442 
 
 Ellis, 439 
 
 Haile, Master 442 
 
 Hancock, Samuel 441 
 
 Haney, Robert 442 
 
 Heard, John 442 
 
 Hovey. Polly, first fe- 
 male teacher 442 
 
 Kingman, Ebenezer P.. 442 
 
 Ledyard, 3(9 
 
 Libby, Nathaniel 442 
 
 Lyn. 309 
 
 Martin, 308 
 
 Moffat, 438 
 
 Morse, Master 442 
 
 Osborn, James 442 
 
 Parrott, 439 
 
 Prentis, Samuel 441 
 
 Rogers, Daniel 442 
 
 Snow, James 442 
 
 Swainson, Robert 442 
 
 Tread well, 3S0 
 
 Ward, Jonathan 442 
 
 Webber, Edmund 442 
 
 Settlement, first of Wells under Gorges. . 9 
 
 Sewall, Daniel 484, 608, 642, 643 
 
 " Stephen 686, 691, 693 
 
 11 William B 763 
 
 Shackley, Anna 547 
 
 •' Daniel 441, 443 
 
 " John 509,526 
 
 " Samuel 394, 398, 526 
 
 Shackf ord, Paul 434, 547 
 
 Shad 565 
 
 Shapleigh, Nicholas 10, 15, 33, 62 
 
 Shephard, Elder Samuel 553 
 
 Shipbuilding 343, 505. 529. 566, 570, 576 
 
 Shipwreck of troops on Mt. Desert 385 
 
 Shute, Nathaniel 582 
 
 Simmington, Andrew 313 
 
 " George 313,330 
 
 Simpson, Hannah 773 
 
 " Henry 160 
 
 Sinkler, John 372 
 
 Skeele, John 582, 749 
 
 Slates, Henry ; 227 
 
 Slaves 356, 406 
 
INDEX. 
 
 795 
 
 Small Pox 582 
 
 Smart, Burleigh 703 
 
 Smith, Benjamin 695, 762 
 
 " ** Biography of 764 
 
 " " Children of Elizabeth, 
 
 Dorothy, Joseph, Frances, 
 
 Benjamin, Susan 764 
 
 *' Frances 758 
 
 « James 483, 546, 547, 648 
 
 " John 83, 156, 191 
 
 " John, jr 191 
 
 " Joseph 632 
 
 " Rev. Thomas 367, 398 
 
 Snelling, Capt 374 
 
 Snow, James 442 
 
 Social life of early settlers 234 
 
 Spinney, Nathaniel 301, 573, 668 
 
 Spotted fever 583 
 
 Squando. Sachem ; 139 
 
 Stackpole, John 475 
 
 Staples, John 450, 519 
 
 Stevens, Amos 604, 666 
 
 Benjamin 361, 431, 546, 547 
 
 " Jeremiah 450 
 
 " Joel 443, 482, 666 
 
 " John 444, 659 
 
 " Joseph 330, 450, 482 
 
 Moses 303, 330, 443 
 
 " Paul 650 
 
 " Samuel 434, 482, 487. 548 
 
 " Solomon 667 
 
 " Wheelright 578 
 
 Stewart, Ebenezer 502 
 
 " Reuben 482 
 
 " Samuel 
 
 227, 302, 330. 313, 347, 353, 357, 361, 656 
 
 Stewart, Samuel, jr 330, 450 
 
 Stillman. Elias 156 
 
 Stock Farm 647 
 
 Stocks, The 224 
 
 Stockade built around Parsonage 347 
 
 Stone, Abigail 765 
 
 " Jonathan 578 
 
 *' Tobias 551 
 
 Storer, Abraham 482, 521 
 
 " Amos 482. 517, 741 
 
 " Benjamin 149, 191 
 
 " Clement 573, 574 
 
 " Ebenezer 261, 386, 482, 569, 570 
 
 " Elizabeth 769 
 
 " Hannah 769 
 
 " Isaac 482, 487, 521 
 
 " Jeremiah 181, 191 
 
 226, 288, 299, 303, 330, 347, 517, 519, 620, 668 
 
 Storer, John 
 
 330, 335, 347, 351, 357, 358,' 365, 371, 402, 414 
 482, 447, 448. 454, 612. 532, 560, 569, 570, 579 
 585, 686, 631, 656, 665, 667, 702, 721, 741, 760 
 
 Storer, John, Biography of 768 
 
 " " Children of. . Martha R., Mary 
 
 A., Hannah, Harriet E., Almira 769 
 
 Storer, John, jr 671 
 
 JohnL 769 
 
 " Joseph 187,191 195,199 
 
 205, 207, 208, 210, 222. 225, 227. 256, 285, o02 
 
 Storer. Joseph. Biography of. 331. 358. 367,430 
 
 439, 449, 450, 453, 462 464,488.510.512,545.646 
 
 663, 572. 673. 574, 579, 609,657,661,679,689 690 
 
 Biography of 763' 
 
 Storer, Joseph, jr., Drowning of 266 
 
 " Mary 261,769 
 
 " Olive 760. 769 
 
 " Samuel 177, 181 , 191 , 202, 212, 769 
 
 m Sarah 631 
 
 4< Sally 769 
 
 " Rev. Seth 367 
 
 " Seth 386 
 
 •* William .141 
 
 Story, Augustine 26 
 
 Stover, Sylvester 92 
 
 Stratton, John 9, 12 
 
 Stuart, Daniel 487 
 
 « Robert 118. 187, 191 
 
 " "Widow , house burned by 
 
 Indians 389 
 
 Stuart. Samuel 460 
 
 Sullivan, James 473 
 
 •' John 472 
 
 Swan, Capt. 874 
 
 Swainson, Robert 442 
 
 Swett, Lieut. 149, ltO 
 
 m Rev. 620 
 
 Symonds, Hartakendon. . .73, 80, 81, 121, 191 
 
 William 
 
 59, 86, 142, 143, 191, 665 
 
 Talcot, Peter 323 
 
 Tappan, Rev. Dr 628 
 
 Tar. manufacture of 183, 311 
 
 Tariff of prices established by municipal 
 
 officers 502 
 
 Taxation of the colonies 458 
 
 Taxes 181, 184, 185, 256, 404, 539, 655 
 
 Taylor, Ebenezer 551 
 
 " Eliphalet 482 
 
 1 ' John 157, 518, 519 547, 577, 603 
 
 628, 648, 649, 702 
 
 " John, jr 551 
 
 " Jonathan 403, 546, 547 
 
 ' ' Joseph . . . 225, 227, 228, 330, 371, 437, 
 6 4, 654 
 
 " Joshua 482, 551 
 
 11 Nathaniel 521 
 
 " Seth 482 
 
 " Thomas 15a 
 
 " William 191, 330, 604, 622 
 
 Tea and Coffee introduced, 414, 467, 477, 680 
 
 Tea Party at York , 467 
 
 Temperance 607 
 
 Thatcher, George 686, 689 
 
 " Stephen 582 
 
 Things. Jonathan 25, 30, 35, 60, 80, 191 
 
 Thomas, Joseph 537, 597, 688, 693 
 
 ** "■ Biography of 743 
 
 Thompson, David 403, 667 
 
 Rev. John 357, 367, 398, 628 
 
 " Richard. .394, 398. 510. 516 547, 
 
 628, 648, 649, 6C6 
 
 Thorp, John 104, 157 
 
 Three Mile Brook 227 
 
 Throat distemper 351 
 
 Tibbets, Ebenezer 4*2 
 
 Tilton, Abram 83, 123, 185, 191 
 
 Tingley, 654 
 
 Titcomb, Benjamin 
 
 441, 538, 551, 552, 577, 686, 597, 702 
 " ** Children of... Benja- 
 
 min, Hannah, James, Mary, Joseph, 
 
 Hannah. Abigail, Lydia 765 
 
 Titcomb, James 681 
 
 Stephen 395,398 
 
 403, 404, 443, 601, 510, 545, 648, 676, 668 
 
 Titcomb, Stephen, biography of. 764 
 
 »' •• Children of. .Joseph, 
 
 Benjamin, Stephen, Sarah, Abigail, 
 
 Samuel, John 7f6 
 
 Titles to land confirmation of 336 
 
 •« •' •« " " by Mass. . 64 
 
 Titular distinctions 4l7 
 
 Titus, Joseph, killed 274 
 
 Tom, old 409 
 
 Tories, prosecution of 601, 607, 615 
 
 Town, division of 699 
 
 Town meetings, times of holding 354 
 
 «' " H olden at Kennebunk..537 
 
 «« " Opened with prayer 638 
 
 Towne, Jesse 394, 398, 40.J 
 
 " Joseph 395 
 
 " Robert 095 
 
796 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Towne, Samuel 437, 548 
 
 * ' Thoma8 395 
 
 Trafton, Samuel 667 
 
 Treadwell, Charles 309 
 
 " Hammonds 502 
 
 M Masters 518 
 
 Samuel . 330, 348, 353, 450, 512, 656 
 
 Treaty at Canso 150 
 
 with Mugg 148 
 
 " with principal Sagamores 219 
 
 Tripp, Daniel 598 
 
 « John 604 
 
 Trott, John 83, 191 
 
 Trow, John 482 
 
 Tucker, Daniel 350 
 
 " Davenport 696 
 
 " Israel 331 
 
 " Sergeant 279 
 
 " Stephen 685 
 
 Turner, Edward K 748 
 
 Tyler, Andrew 353 
 
 Valuation of "Wells 405 
 
 Varney, William 227 
 
 Vaughn , Wm. T .496 
 
 Vines, Richard 10, 84, 153 
 
 Volunteers from Wells at Louisburg, 
 
 list of : 371 
 
 Votes for governor, etc., in 1783 .530 
 
 " « " " " 1797 587 
 
 " " « " " 1810 597 
 
 « " «< « « 1812 600 
 
 Votes of inhabitants of Wells' on separ- 
 ation from Mass 534, 536 
 
 Votes of inhabitants of Wells on adop- 
 tion of Constitution 500, 507, 517, 540 
 
 Votes of one third of town meetings 
 to be at Kennebunk 537 
 
 Wadleigh, John, Indian deed to 
 
 21,25,32,35,81,100,191,649 
 
 " Robert 32, 59, 81 191 
 
 Wakefield, Ezekiel 483, 551 , 667 
 
 Gibbens ...321 
 
 " Hezekiah 547 
 
 James 227,266 
 
 331. 347, 353. 394, 398, 403. 438, 547, 651 
 Wakefield, Jedidiah.. .394, 398, 401, 526, 547 
 
 John 25,32.81,89,191 
 
 321, 331. 355. 394, 398, 403, 404. 547, 773 
 
 Wakefield, John, jr 385, 394, 398, 401 
 
 1 ' Nathaniel 
 
 321. 331, 395, 403, 404, 430, 547, 665 
 
 Samuel 434,576 
 
 " William, drowning of 266 
 
 Walcott, Maj. Gen 375 
 
 Waldron, Capt. Richard 167 
 
 . . commissioner for Mass 63 
 
 Walker, Daniel 578 
 
 " Eliphalet 510, 551, 648 
 
 « Lemuel 578 
 
 " Phebe 758 
 
 " Mrs. Richard, death of 388 
 
 Wallingford. George W 
 
 534, 536, 537. 592, 597, 640, 687, 689, 693 
 Wallingford, George W. biography of. . 745 
 
 Wallis, John 83 
 
 Ward. Jonathan 442 
 
 Wardell, William 
 
 22, 25, 31, 32, 37, 40, 60, 81. 191 
 
 War, King William's 193 
 
 " Lovewell's 314 
 
 " Queen Ann's 243 
 
 " Revolutionary 498 
 
 Ware. Capt. Daniel 257 
 
 Warren, Aaron 775 
 
 " Commodore 374 
 
 " James 157 
 
 Washington, Public services upon death 
 
 of 684 
 
 Watts, Francis O.. . , 751, 758 
 
 «' Dr. Edward 759 
 
 " Edward 751 
 
 " Sarah 759 
 
 Wawa (Indian chief) 320, 326 
 
 Waterhouse, Samuel 
 
 321, 482, 509, 517, 547, 577, 597 
 
 Waterson, Robert 581, 582, 758 
 
 Watson. Susanna 773 
 
 Webb, Charity 418 
 
 Webber, Benjamin 482 
 
 " Edmund 442 
 
 '• Ezekiel 482 
 
 " John 301 
 
 319, 343, 395, 403, 404, 482, 502, 560, 569, 668 
 
 Webber, John, jr 482 
 
 " Jonathan 395. 602 
 
 " Joseph 371 
 
 " Philip, death of 573 
 
 " Samuel 192 
 
 " Stephen 395, 398, 545, 547 
 
 Webster, Parker 582, 693 
 
 Weer, Anne 313 
 
 Weeks, Capt 604 
 
 «* William 692 
 
 Weekly Visitor established 693 
 
 Welch, Edmund 371, 483 
 
 " Joseph 483 
 
 Weld, John 149 
 
 Wells, first settlement of 9 
 
 " Court holden at 15 
 
 " Origin of name of 24 
 
 " Boundary line between Cape 
 
 Porpoise and 89 
 
 " Kittery and 304, 305 
 
 " Compact between Gorgeana, Kit- 
 tery and 16 
 
 " Incorporated by Mass. Com'rs 32 
 
 " Vote of. inhabitants claiming title 
 
 to land in 302 
 
 " Municipal officers appointed 35 
 
 " First church in 36 
 
 " Members of 37 
 
 " List of inhabitants 330, 404 
 
 " First road laid out in 45 
 
 « County tax of in 1725 346 
 
 " First houses in 47 
 
 " First actual settlers 48 
 
 " Shire town 71 
 
 ' < Attacked by Indians, 143, 245, 263 , 265 
 
 " Attack under Mugg 146 
 
 " " " Moxus 207 
 
 " Social Library 693 
 
 " Treaty with Sagamores at 219 
 
 " Valuation of 404 
 
 »' Vote of inhabitants on separa- 
 tion from Mass 534 
 
 " Vote of inhabitants establishing 
 
 Proprietary 652 
 
 " Memorial of Inhabitants of, rel- 
 ative to Jay treaty 585 
 
 " Address of inhabitants of to 
 
 President Adams 587 
 
 " Resolves of inhabitants of in re- 
 lation to embargo 592 
 
 " Memorial of inhabitants of to 
 General Court in relation to 
 
 embargo 694 
 
 u Memorial of inhabitants of to 
 President in relation to em- 
 bargo 597 
 
 Wells, Dorothy 774 
 
 " Nathaniel. . 347. 361, 447, 449, 474. 503, 
 
 512 515 517,631,540,555, 
 
 584, 586, 587, 590, 594, 597, 
 
 609 
 
 '• " Biography of. . 611, 647, 656, 
 
 657, 660, 687, 702, 747 
 
INDEX. 
 
 797 
 
 Wells, Martha 747 
 
 •' Nathaniel, jr . .449, 452. 462. 660, 777 
 
 " John. ... 70, 83, 181, 192, 303, 331, 346. 
 
 655,665 
 
 " Joseph 434 
 
 " Joshua 347, 361, 448, 647 
 
 " Martha 443 
 
 • ' Moses 663 
 
 « Thomas 24, 83. 192, 246 
 
 " Deacon Thomas. . . .296, 299, 303. 331, 
 360, 408, 777 
 " Genealogical sketch of the fam- 
 ily of 614 
 
 Wentworth, William 25, 27, 37, 155, 191 
 
 West, John 69, 83, 100, 192 
 
 " Nicholas 667 
 
 Weymouth, Edward 159 
 
 Wheelright, Aaron 615 
 
 Daniel 434 
 
 « Esther 264 
 
 ** George 609,689 
 
 " Hannah, Marriage of 278 
 
 " John. . .10, 14. 25. 37, 49. 50, 147 
 
 191, 193, 195, 200, 205, 207, 208, 210, 223, 225 
 244, 256, 324, 331, 333, 341, 347, 348, 357, 364 
 
 Wheelright, John, Biography of 390 
 
 " " Will of 391.408,447 
 
 '* •« jr.... 191, 288, 302. 257, 449 
 
 460, 462, 505, 512, 615, 517. 653. 654. 657, 679 
 
 Wheelright, Joseph . 302, 331, 348, 450, 480, 488 
 
 •« Nathaniel 647 
 
 " Samuel 
 
 64, 65. 123, 142, 177, 180, 183, 185, 191, 193 
 199, 207, 210, 226. 229, 231, 323, 331, 347, 65S 
 
 Wheelright, Sarah 864 
 
 ** Thomas 
 
 25, 80, 35, 50, 59, 191, 298, 336, 348, 371 
 
 White, Bev. Benjamin 616 
 
 " Francis 65 
 
 11 Charles 372 
 
 " John 25,32,60,81,192 
 
 " John.jr 81 
 
 " Peter. Children of 434 
 
 Whitney, Daniel 626 
 
 Wiggin, James 68 
 
 Wildes, Elizabeth 756 
 
 " Sylvanus 743 
 
 Wilkins, Joseph 483 
 
 Willard, Col 375 
 
 Williams, Charles W 581, 758 
 
 " Samuel 483 
 
 Wilson, James 383 
 
 " Michael 872, 658 
 
 Wincoll, John 156 
 
 Winn, Francis 483 
 
 " John 334, 353, 365, 447, 512, 6C9 
 
 " John, jr 450 
 
 " Joseph 267. 450.6i7 
 
 " Josiah . .228, 831, 658, 777 
 
 «• Josiah, ir 331, 337 
 
 " Nathaniel 451 
 
 Wiswell. Noah 196 
 
 Wis-?, Daniel 676, 678 
 
 " " Biography of 763 
 
 " " Children of. .Betsey, John, 
 
 Mary, Daniel, George, Hannah 768 
 
 Wise, Rev. Jeremiah 359. 867, 767 
 
 " Michael 673, 576, 679, 687 
 
 ** " Biography of 763, 768 
 
 " " Children of William, 
 
 Hannah, Isaac, Edward, Michael, 
 
 Eliza, Augustus .- 764 
 
 Wise, William W 696, 697, 763 
 
 " Jeremiah 767 
 
 " Daniel 767 
 
 «■ Michael 767 
 
 - " Sarah 767 
 
 Withers, Thomas 15, 159 
 
 Witchcraft 174, 425 
 
 Witham, John 654 
 
 Wolves 8, 354. 559 
 
 Wood , Sally S 443 
 
 Woodbridge, Paul 466, 486 
 
 Wooden , John 192 
 
 Woodman, Mary 429 
 
 Wormwood, Abner 482 
 
 ** Abijah 483 
 
 Benjamin 394, 398, 482 
 
 " Ebenezer 621 
 
 " Eli 434.483 
 
 Jacob 70.83 
 
 James 483 
 
 John 482,521.772 
 
 " Joseph 385, 395, 398, 548 
 
 " Thomas. . .275, 320, 331, 402, 482 
 
 •« Thomas, jr 402 
 
 William ... 83, 159, 318, 509, 547 
 Wyer, Peter 64, 473 
 
 York, Boundary between Wells and. ... 33 
 
 County Congress 470 
 
 Commissioners' Court at 29 
 
 Court holden at 65, 472 
 
 Indian attack on 211, 219, 263 
 
 Tax for building jail at 30 
 
 Tea party at 467 
 
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