■
 
 Bgamenttcus, Bristol, 
 <3orQeana, J^ork 
 
 AN ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED BY THE 
 
 Hon. JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER, 
 
 President of the Maine Historical Society 
 
 IN 
 
 YORK, MAINE, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary 
 of the Town, 
 
 Together with a Brief History of York and a Descriptive 
 Account of the Celebration of this Anniversary, 
 
 with A 
 
 Complete Index op Names and Historic Events 
 AUGUST 5, 1902 
 
 Published by the Old York Historical and 
 
 Improvement Society, York, Maine 
 
 1904
 
 flDarfts printing Ibouee, 
 tPovtlanCt, /Be.
 
 Contents 
 
 Officers of Old York Historical and Improvement 
 
 Society, ....... i 
 
 Announcement, ...... 2 
 
 Preface, ........ 3 
 
 Flag of Massachusetts Bay Colony, by Barbour Lath- 
 
 rop, ........ 7 
 
 Historical Address, delivered by James P. Baxter — 
 
 Agamenticus, Bristol, Gorgeana, York, . . 9 
 Historical Sketch of York, by Frank D. Marshall, 34 
 Program of the Celebration of the 250TH Anniver- 
 sary of the Town of York, Aug. 3RD and 5TH, 1902, 83 
 Card of Invitation, ...... 91 
 
 Guests Present at Exercises Aug. 5TH, 1902, . . 92 
 
 Persons who Took Part in Historic Tableaux, . 94 
 
 Commemorative Exercises on Village Green, . . 96 
 
 Address by Hon. Edward C. Moody, ... 96 
 
 Remarks by Mr. Walter M. Smith, President of the 
 
 Day, 97 
 
 Citizens' Welcome, by Hon. John C. Stewart, . 99 
 
 Address by Gen. Joshua h. Chamberlain, . . . 104 
 
 Address by President Tucker, of Dartmouth College, 108 
 
 Remarks by Hon. Thomas B. Reed, . . . no 
 
 Address by Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., . . . in 
 
 Address by Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, . . . 113 
 
 Remarks by Mr. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), . 119 
 Reception to Maine Historical Society at Coventry 
 
 Hall, ....... 121 
 
 Sketch of the Congregational Churches and Minis- 
 ters of York, a Paper Read by the Rev. Sidney 
 
 K. Perkins, ....... 122
 
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 ©fffcers 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ®l& H)ork Historical anfc Improvement Society, 
 
 3PO* tf(e \|ear 1903-4. 
 
 President : 
 The Rev. FRANK SEWALL, D. D., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Vice Presidents: 
 
 First— WALTER M. SMITH, Esq., Stamford, Conn. 
 Second— Capt. JOHN DENNETT, York, Me. 
 Third— Mrs. THATCHER LORING, Brookline, Mass. 
 Fourth— THOMAS NELSON PAGE, LiTT. D., Washington, D. C. 
 Fifth— Mrs. GEORGE L. CHENEY, New York City. 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer : 
 Miss FLORENCE A. PAUL, York, Me. 
 
 Board of Directors: 
 
 BRYAN LATHROP, Esq., Chicago, Ills. 
 
 FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON, Esq., New York City. 
 
 Hon. EDWARD O. EMERSON, Titusville, Pa. 
 
 Mrs. ELIZABETH BURLEIGH DAVIDSON, York, Me. 
 
 Mrs. MARY S. PERKINS, New York City. 
 
 LOCK WOOD De FOREST, Esq., New York City. 
 
 Miss MATTIE O. BARRELL, York, Me. 
 
 Curator of the Oi,d Gaol Museum: 
 Miss SOPHIA TURNER, York, Me.
 
 Hnnouncement 
 
 The Board of Directors of the Old York Historical and 
 Improvement Society appointed, at a meeting held in Septem- 
 ber, 1902, a committee, consisting of the Rev. Frank Sewall, 
 D. D., President of the Society, Frank D. Marshall, Esq., of 
 Portland, and Miss Ellen Dennett, of York, to publish the 
 oration of the Hon. James P. Baxter delivered at the recent 
 Anniversary Celebration, together with a brief history of the 
 Town of York, and an account in detail of the celebration, on 
 August 5th, of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of 
 the organization of the Town of York. Mr. Marshall in pre- 
 paring the historical account has drawn largely from the 
 valuable records compiled by his grandfather, the late Hon. 
 Nathaniel G. Marshall; Miss Dennett has rendered valuable 
 aid through her accurate knowledge of biographical and 
 personal details. The committee are indebted to the officers 
 and speakers at the celebration for the kindly furnished 
 photographs and abstracts of remarks ; and for generous aid in 
 publication given by the Selectmen of York, by Mr. Francis 
 Lynde Stetson, and by Mr. Walter M. Smith. It is hoped 
 that the volume will prove a contribution of value to our local 
 history, and a pleasant souvenir for those who participated in 
 the celebration which it commemorates. 
 
 Frank Sewall. 
 
 Coventry Hall, August 31, 1903.
 
 preface 
 
 The purpose of this little volume is to preserve in lasting 
 form the events in the observance of the two hundred and 
 fiftieth year of the incorporation of the Town of York, Maine. 
 Besides the anniversary oration of the Hon. James P. Baxter, 
 the editing committee has also inserted an article, which is 
 simply intended to mark certain cardinal points in the town's 
 history, in order that those who are not familiar with it may 
 gain the general information necessary to an appreciation of 
 the events celebrated on August 3rd and 5th, 1902. 
 
 The commemoration exercises were fittingly begun on Sun- 
 day evening, August 3rd, by a union service held in the old 
 First Parish meeting-house. A congregation which com- 
 pletely filled the church listened to the impressive exercises. 
 "Early Religious L,ife and Customs" was the subject of the 
 address to be delivered by Rev. Elihu Snow. Unfortunately 
 Mr. Snow could not be present, and the Rev. Mr. Perkins 
 read the paper. Mr. Snow most instructively told of the 
 peculiar and hard conditions under which our forefathers 
 worshipped God. He praised the piety and simple faith of 
 the godly men of early New England days; and, while 
 thankful for the reasonable liberality and unity which the 
 years have developed, he regretted the loss of much which 
 characterized these men. Rev. Mr. Abbott, of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, and Rev. Mr. Goss, of the Christian 
 church, sketched the beginning and development of their 
 respective denominations. Although both churches are now 
 approaching a hundred years of life, and both, from their 
 inception to the present, have numbered within their fold 
 
 3
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 their full proportion of the men and women who have served 
 well the town, yet necessarily neither denomination as a body 
 corporate had those close relations with the old municipality 
 of York which the First Parish (Congregational) possessed, 
 dating its existence back to the year 1662. The Rev. Sidney 
 K. Perkins told of the Congregational churches of York, and 
 of their pastors. His paper appears in full in this volume. 
 An interesting feature of this service was the singing of the 
 favorite hymns and anthems of the olden time, including 
 "Strike the Cymbal" and "Jerusalem, My Happy Home." 
 The benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Frank Sewall, 
 D. D., of Washington, D. C, ancestrally connected with 
 Shubael Dummer, the first pastor of the parish of York, who 
 was massacred by the Indians in 1692. 
 
 Tuesday, August 5th, was announced by the firing of a 
 sunrise salute from the old Palo Alto cannon, and by the 
 ringing of the church bells. At ten o'clock the procession 
 was formed, consisting of United States Marines ; the histori- 
 cal tableaux on floats ; the York Volunteer Fire Company, 
 created a military organization for the occasion and author- 
 ized to bear arms by courtesy of His Excellency, John F. 
 Hill, Governor of Maine, costumed and representing Captain 
 Johnson Moulton's Company of Volunteers, 1775; the floral 
 and trades floats, and the school children of York, in all 
 forming a procession of more than half a mile in length. 
 
 Hotels, private residences, and stores along the route of 
 the procession, and as far as York Corner, were appropriately, 
 and in many instances elaborately, decorated with flags and 
 bunting, amid which could frequently be discerned the 
 restored first ensign of New England, showing the red cross 
 and the pine tree. Few, indeed, were the buildings along 
 
 4
 
 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 «
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 the four miles of highway traversed which did not have some 
 bit of color in honor of the day. 
 
 The route of the procession was from York Beach to York 
 Harbor; thence to the village. The historical part of the 
 pageant alone required the appropriate costuming of a hun- 
 dred individuals, from King's courtiers and Colonial officers, 
 in full regimentals, to sombre Puritans. The general excel- 
 lence of the whole parade was the result of much labor by the 
 committee having it in charge, together with the willingness 
 of the many participants to expend time and money in prep- 
 aration. 
 
 On this day was hoisted over the Old Jail the flag designed 
 after the ancient flag of New England, bearing the red cross 
 and the pine tree. The original design bore in the centre of 
 the cross the monogram of the crown, with the letters J. R. 
 for Jacobus Rex. The drawing is from authentic records in 
 the British State Paper Office in L,ondon, and the design, 
 with the King James II monogram restored, appears on the 
 title page of this volume. This flag, together with the large 
 American flag on the main flagstaff of the building, were the 
 generous gifts, in honor of the day, of Mr. Walter M. Smith, 
 the President of the Old York Historical and Improvement 
 Society. 
 
 In the early afternoon there gathered around the old Court- 
 house on the village green, in the clear, bracing air of a per- 
 fect August day, an assemblage numbering into the thou- 
 sands. It represented not only all that is best in an old and 
 thrifty New England community, but also many hundreds of 
 summer residents coming from every section of the Union. 
 Upon the platform erected in the shade of the old building 
 was grouped as distinguished a gathering of men as perhaps 
 
 5
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ever came together, in this generation at least, for a like occa- 
 sion in any New England town. Here were spoken the last 
 public words of Thomas B. Reed. Almost unannounced he 
 quietly came among his friends, those who were his official, 
 professional and social associates in Washington and in New 
 York, and those who for so many years were proud of him as 
 their representative from the old First District of Maine. He 
 spoke only too briefly — a characteristic, humorous excuse for 
 what he termed an intrusion ; an allusion to his friend the 
 great humorist, which was later to arouse and turn the wit of 
 Mr. Clemens upon Mr. Reed, and then a few comprehensive 
 words of almost unwonted soberness upon the nobility and 
 responsibilities of citizenship. Exact words may be forgot- 
 ten, but their import must remain fresh in the minds of scores 
 of listeners. 
 
 The memorable day closed with an aerial display of fire- 
 works and a water carnival on L,ake Gorges. The heavy 
 clouds which overhung the water reflected the hundreds of 
 vari-colored lights and rendered the display doubly attractive 
 to the hundreds of spectators who gathered upon the shore 
 and along the old mill dam. 
 
 This commemoration day, so singularly beautiful, and, to 
 quote the words there delivered by the distinguished edu- 
 cator, "uncovering the human side of this old town which in 
 its quality and tone matches so well its setting in sea and 
 sky," cannot but have enduring influence for good in the 
 community, stimulating a healthy pride in this old munici- 
 pality which has a beginning unique in American history, 
 and which has held an honorable place among the old New 
 England towns for two and a half centuries. 
 
 Frank D. Marshall. 
 
 6
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Gbe flag of fl&assacbusetts 3Ba^ Colony 
 
 Mr. Barbour Lathrop has kindly furnished the Old York 
 Historical and Improvement Society with the result of his 
 researches in relation to the earliest flag of New England as 
 follows : 
 
 "The first mention I could find of a special flag for the 
 New England Colonies was copied from documents in the 
 British State Paper Office, which is given with a drawing of 
 the flag. 
 
 "It says: 'The New England ensign in 1686 was a white 
 ground with broad red cross and a golden crown over a 
 golden monogram.' My rude copy of the letters is this, 
 (J. R.). The flag was something like this. (Here is given 
 a drawing corresponding to the design on the cover of this 
 book.) 
 
 "In 1704, and again in 1705, mention is made of 'the 
 ensign of New England' as follows : 
 
 " 'A red ground with a jack of white ground with a red 
 cross' (as above) 'and a half globe in upper pole square of 
 white.' 
 
 "Preble, in his 'History of the Flag of the United States,' 
 says : 'This was undoubtedly the earliest symbol of a union 
 of the colonies.' 
 
 "In 1737 a French book upon flags of different countries 
 gives a picture of 'The New England ensign,' with the 
 design the same as the one mentioned above, with a change 
 
 7
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 of color for the ground, to blue, and a full globe instead of a 
 half one, thus : J 
 
 "A pine tree was a favorite emblem of Massachusetts, and 
 was used on coins minted as early as 1652. This pine tree, 
 represented in green, replaced the globe of the jack of the 
 New England ensign at some unknown date. But it was 
 the flag flown over the American breastworks at the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, as proved by credible eyewitnesses. The pine 
 tree was green. With apologies for untutored drawing, 
 
 Barbour L,athrop."
 
 Hon. James P. Baxter, 
 Portland, Maine.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Hgamenticus, Bristol, 
 (Soroeana, H?ork. 
 
 Address Delivered on the 250TH Anniversary of 
 the Town of York, August 5TH, 1902. 
 
 By JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty years ago a town was born. Today 
 we greet it. It was born amid confusion and tumult ; it 
 lives in peace and prosperity. Two hundred and fifty years 
 is but a fleeting moment on the dial of time ; but with us, 
 children of men, it comprises many generations and involves 
 the precious experiences of many human lives. We regard 
 such antiquity with respect ; we bow to it with reverence. 
 We go back and with the eye of imagination look upon it as 
 it was in the beginning ; primeval forests frowning upon the 
 shores of an eternal sea ; wild glades tracked only by savage 
 man and savage beast; skies blue and bright as now, brood- 
 ing over vast solitudes, whose silence seemingly is never to 
 be broken by the restless spirit of achievement. Such was 
 this scene upon which we look today not long anterior to the 
 natal day of the Town of York. But ambitious souls, with 
 the quickened vision of seers, had pierced the mists of the 
 great ocean, unexplored and unknown, which hid from com- 
 mon sight the western world. Cabot had set foot on the for- 
 
 9
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 bidding shores of Labrador; Cartier had mingled with the 
 strange men of Hochelaga ; Popham had knelt with Christian 
 devotion beneath the ancient oak of Sabino, and Smith, after 
 adventurous voyages along the perilous shores of North 
 Virginia, had returned to England to tell to eager listeners of 
 the delectable country to which he gave the name of New 
 England, entitled by a later writer the New English Canaan, 
 a land flowing with milk and honey. Among the earliest 
 who had taken an interest in western colonization was Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges, related through the Champernouns to 
 Gilbert and Raleigh, who had won distinction in England's 
 wars with Spain, and was anxious to see English power estab- 
 lished in the New World, which Spain and France, unloved 
 by loyal Englishmen, were regarding with greedy eyes. He 
 was interested in the Great Charter of James, and in the voy- 
 ages of Pring, Popham, Dermer, Rowcroft and others, to 
 these shores, and for his persistent efforts to colonize them 
 has been happily denominated the Father of American Col- 
 onization. In this man the Town of York is particularly 
 interested, since it was his dream to make here a great city, 
 the chosen seat of governmental, religious and commercial 
 power, which was to dominate his Province of Maine. Just 
 when the pioneer settler erected his cabin upon the wild 
 banks of the "Organug," now the York river, no record 
 reveals, nor may we ever know his name. For a long time 
 before the history of this region begins, waifs from many 
 lands, rough fishermen, covetous adventurers, and social out- 
 casts of all kinds, scattered here and there along the sea 
 coast and contiguous river banks, living as best they could 
 upon the spoil of sea and wood, and disappeared leaving no 
 vestige of their lives behind. 
 
 10
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 "L,ost 'mid the shadows of the eternal past 
 Which thought explores in vain." 
 
 No part of the coast of Maine offered greater attractions for 
 such waifs than this, and knowing that a century before the 
 date of the birth of York, scores of vessels annually visited 
 the more inhospitable coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, 
 we may properly believe that these shores so alluring and 
 profitable were visited and occupied at the same period. Yet 
 it is not until 1639, the year of the date of Gorges' Charter 
 of the Province of Maine, that the history of this region 
 really becomes distinct. There were many settlers here at 
 that time, some who had come over seas to fish and had con- 
 cluded to remain in the country to pursue their vocation ; 
 some, who desiring to obtain land for husbandry, had emi- 
 grated from the older colony of Massachusetts Bay, and 
 others who had probably wandered hither without any well 
 defined purpose. These formed a heterogeneous population 
 of ill assorted elements, and being without any real order of 
 government, were turbulent and disorderly. Such was the 
 condition of affairs when Sir Ferdinando was awarded his 
 charter of the Province for which he had labored for many 
 years, and assumed financial burdens. This charter merits 
 one consideration, inasmuch as it confers almost regal power 
 upon the grantee ; indeed, in the history of American 
 charters it may be regarded as unique. Permit me to briefly 
 outline some of its extraordinary features. The grantee was 
 empowered to build, dedicate and consecrate churches accord- 
 ing to the laws ecclesiastical of England, and to control the 
 patronage of all churches in the established Province, and 
 further, he was endowed with all the rights, privileges, and 
 prerogatives which the Bishop of Durham, one of the most
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 powerful bishops in England, could exercise in his bishopric. 
 Thus the entire ecclesiastical machinery of the Province was 
 entrusted to the guidance of one man. But this, extraordi- 
 nary as it may seem, is but a part of this remarkable instru- 
 ment. By it the grantee was given full power to pardon 
 offenders against the laws of the Province ; to raise and main- 
 tain troops to enforce his power and to execute martial law 
 upon those who resisted his authority. It would indeed be 
 difficult to frame a charter conferring larger powers upon an 
 individual than this charter conferred upon Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges. Having accomplished what he himself tells us he 
 had been laboring for under a burden of trouble and at great 
 expense during forty years of the best portion of his life, 
 which, it is well to notice, carries us back to the year 1599 as 
 the initial point of his interest in American colonization, he 
 proceeded to develop his scheme of government. The plan 
 adopted was fashioned after Saxon models, which had existed 
 in England from remote times. First he divided the Province 
 into eight bailiwicks, and these into "sixteen several hun- 
 dreds," subdividing the latter into "parishes and tithings as 
 people did increase." 
 
 A board of councillors was then formed consisting of Sir 
 Thomas Josselyn ; Richard Vines, the founder of Bidde- 
 ford ; Francis Champernoun, the nephew of Gorges ; Henry 
 Josselyn, then residing at Black Point ; Richard Bonython, 
 the founder of Saco ; William Hooke and Edward Godfrey. 
 Subsequently he substituted in place of Sir Thomas Josselyn 
 his cousin, Thomas Gorges, a young barrister, whom he made 
 his deputy governor and entrusted with the office of Secretary 
 and Keeper of the Province Seal. His "Ordinances for the 
 better government" of Maine provided for a chancellor for
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 determining rights of property ; a treasurer for the receipt of 
 the public revenue ; a marshal of militia ; a judge, marshal, 
 and officers of the marshal's court ; an admiral with his lieu- 
 tenant, or judge, to determine maritime causes ; a master of 
 the ordnance, whose office it was to take charge of the public 
 stores belonging to the militia for sea and land, and a secre- 
 tary for the service of the Governor and Council. To his 
 councillors were added eight deputies, to be elected by the 
 freeholders of the several counties, as councillors for the 
 state of the country, who were authorized to sit in the courts, 
 established in the Province, "and to be assistants to the presi- 
 dents thereof, and to give opinions according to justice." 
 As though to deprive settlers of the last shred of liberty, no 
 sale of land was valid unless the consent of the council was 
 first procured. What a door was here opened for abuse ! 
 But we must remember that this was in the closing years of 
 the reign of Charles the First, when royal power was attain- 
 ing its climax, and royal disregard of the rights of the people 
 was preparing the way for revolution, as it subsequently did 
 with such terrible results in France. But I must not burden 
 you with further details of the elaborate scheme devised by 
 Sir Ferdinando for the government of Maine, but proceed to 
 review events which followed the setting up of his govern- 
 mental machinery. The initial adl of the new government 
 was the establishment of a court at Saco on the 25th of June, 
 1640, which was declared to be for the preservation of justice 
 throughout the Province. Owing to the lawless condition of 
 affairs which had prevailed in the Province promotive of dis- 
 putes and misunderstandings among the settlers, the court 
 found plenty of business to occupy it. In due time, the 
 deputy governor, Thomas Gorges, arrived in the Province. 
 
 13
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Very wisely he had stopped on the way to make the acquaint- 
 ance of the Massachusetts magistrates, and to ask their 
 advice relative to the best methods of procedure to be adopted 
 in setting his government in motion. In this he had been so 
 successful as to secure the commendation of Winthrop, which 
 speaks well for his diplomacy. He had been informed before 
 leaving home, and without doubt correctly, that Massachu- 
 setts, through her agents in L,ondon, was attempting to per- 
 suade the king to hinder his designs as she was apprehensive 
 that he might be employed to regulate her own affairs ; 
 besides, he knew that many of the settlers in Maine were call- 
 ing upon Massachusetts to establish order in Maine, "as if," 
 Sir Ferdinando somewhat impatiently says, "they alone were 
 the supreme lords of that part of the world." It must, there- 
 fore, have been with considerable satisfaction that he departed 
 from Boston with the consciousness of having secured a good 
 understanding with Governor Winthrop. He was met upon 
 his arrival at Bristol, the name which had supplanted that of 
 Agamenticus, with a severe disappointment. A mansion, 
 large and imposing for the time and place, had been erected 
 for him on the bank of the Organug and furnished in a style 
 befitting the dignity of the expected governor, but, owing to 
 the prevalent lawlessness, had been nearly dispoiled of its 
 belongings so that he found himself on his arrival with little 
 to conduce to his comfort. The political affairs of the settle- 
 ment he found controlled by a dissolute man, who, under the 
 garb of a preacher, was exercising a baneful authority over 
 the people. Him he promptly arrested, and, obtaining an 
 execution against him, succeeded in driving him from the 
 country. His government was now in fairly successful oper- 
 ation and Thomas Gorges was anticipating a long continu- 
 
 14
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 ance of profitable authority. His administration of affairs 
 was generally satisfactory, and there seemed to be no good 
 reason to apprehend disaster. Let us pause and consider the 
 conditions existing at this moment in New England. Here 
 were two contiguous governments, that of Winthrop on the 
 one hand and that of Gorges on the other, founded upon prin- 
 ciples wholly irreconcilable, which had long been in conflict 
 on English soil, and were soon to be tested by the shock of 
 arms. Massachusetts, in spirit certainly, if not always in 
 practice, was a government of the people, for the people and 
 by the people, while that of Gorges was of the lord proprietor, 
 by the lord proprietor and for the lord proprietor. Which, we 
 may well ask, would be most likely to flourish among such 
 a people as had sought the New English Canaan in order to 
 be free from the trammels of aristocratic power ? Even then 
 it would have required no prophet to foretell the result, and 
 yet Gorges in the seclusion of his closet was shaping magnifi- 
 cent schemes for the future development of his Province, and 
 watching with satisfaction the successful inauguration of his 
 distant government. Apparently he needed nothing but 
 money to bring his plans to speedy fruition, but he had 
 influential friends, and owing to a wide spread discontent 
 among the masses, emigration to New England was rapidly 
 increasing and this would ensure him financial support ; 
 besides, he had good reason to expect royal aid when he 
 could show his new Province to the world in all the splendor 
 with which its future had been pictured to his imagination. 
 But England's government itself, based upon the same prin- 
 ciples upon which he was complacently building, had long 
 been threatened with disruption, and suddenly the Great 
 Rebellion, which had smouldered unnoticed, save for occa- 
 
 15
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 sional rumblings, which had attracted but momentary atten- 
 tion, burst forth, carrying terror and destruction throughout 
 the realm. Summoned to judgment royalty arose from its 
 throne to meet the rage of a long suffering and outraged peo- 
 ple who forthwith seized upon Wentworth, a man of noble 
 powers, but one of the royal instruments of oppression, and 
 dragging him to Westminster Hall tried him for his life 
 before the eyes of the king and queen, and, while doing so, 
 regardless of that "Divinity which doth hedge a king," they 
 munched their vulgar food, and guzzled their vile beer from 
 upturned bottles in the royal presence, as if kings and queens 
 were but of common clay ; aye, and heedless of royal entreat}- 
 as well as of justice, they cut off Wentworth's head. The 
 scene of this trial is worthy of the French Revolution, and 
 the description of a Carlisle. Not content with the punish- 
 ment to Wentworth they seized upon the sacred person of 
 Archbishop Laud and threw him into a dungeon from which 
 he finally went to the scaffold, while Prynne and other popu- 
 lar favorites were taken from prison and given a royal recep- 
 tion by the London populace. They even forced the judges, 
 who had truckled to the royal will, to pa}- heavy fines which 
 were used to aid the popular cause. England had entered 
 upon a reign of terror, and the friends of Gorges, upon whom 
 he counted for assistance toward his colonial enterprise, fled 
 the country, or were helpless ; yet. undismayed, confident in 
 the stability of the divine right of kings, the old man contin- 
 ued to amuse himself with the puppets of viceregal authority. 
 Resolving to make Agamenticus the seat of power in his 
 Province of Maine, he erected it into a borough, exempting 
 and freeing "His Majesties liege people" therein from the 
 power and command of any governors in the Province "other 
 
 16
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 than in calling them as assistants" to repel invasion and sup- 
 press rebellion. The especial privilege of electing a mayor 
 and board of eight aldermen was conferred upon the inhabi- 
 tants of the favored city. This board was empowered to 
 make ordinances for the government of the borough, to hold 
 courts and erect fortifications for public protection. The 
 charter bestowing these privileges upon the people of Aga- 
 menticus was dated April ioth, 1641,* and on the first of the 
 following March, he had elaborated a still grander scheme for 
 Agamenticus upon which he now bestowed a new name, 
 Gorgeana. The borough, which was a town corporate 
 usually governed by a bailiff appointed by the lord-grantor of 
 the borough charter in connection with a house of burgesses, 
 he advanced to the dignity of a city, by which it might appro- 
 priately become the seat of a bishop, and gave it a territorial 
 extent of twenty-one miles. 
 
 Starting with the assertion that he was the absolute lord of 
 the province, and had through God's assistance "settled the 
 said province and inhabitants thereof in a hopeful way of 
 government," and desiring "to further and advance the 
 same," he provided for a municipal government, comprising 
 a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four councilmen, to be 
 annually chosen, and, also, for a recorder and town clerk. 
 Two courts were appointed, one called a "Courtleet or L,aw- 
 day," to be held twice every year, "within a month of the 
 Feasts of Easter or Michaelmas, for the good government and 
 weal public of the said corporation, and for the punishing of 
 all offenders, the same to be kept by the recorder for the time 
 being, and the fines, payments, and amercements from time 
 to time to be to the use of the said mayor of the said town for 
 
 *New style. 
 
 17
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 the time being forever." The other court was "to be held 
 upon Monday of every week forever, and the proceedings to 
 be according, or as near as may be, to the court of his 
 Majesty's Court of Chancery at Westminister, wherein the 
 mayor for the time being to sit as judge with the recorder and 
 aldermen, and the town clerk to be clerk and minister of said 
 court." From this court appeal could be taken to the Lord 
 Proprietor or his deputy, if entered within four days after the 
 decree of the court. There were also to be "two or four 
 sergeants to attend on the said mayor," who should be 
 "called forever sergeants of the white rod." These were 
 to be "eledled and chosen by the mayor and aldermen," 
 whereof the mayor "was to have a double voice." To the 
 "mayor and commonality" was granted a corporate seal, and, 
 as in the former charter, they were empowered to eredl fortifi- 
 cations for the public defence. I have given as briefly as 
 possible an outline of the Charter of Gorgeana, which pro- 
 vided for a government comprising forty-three officials, prob- 
 ably more than half the number of male inhabitants. It is to 
 be especially noticed in this charter that Sir Ferdinando, who 
 was a zealous churchman, had made Gorgeana appropriate 
 for an episcopal residence according to the English model, 
 hence his intention to make it a bishopric becomes clear. 
 This intention exactly accorded with the royal order as 
 expressed in his charter which was to settle ''''The religion 
 now possessed in the Church of England and ecclesiastical gov- 
 ernment now used in the same, with as much convenient speed as 
 may be" Massachusetts must have observed this with appre- 
 hension and dislike, as it ran diredlly counter to her own 
 policy. Adopting Sir Ferdinando 's point of view we can 
 better understand the calm assurance with which he contin- 
 
 18
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 ued to elaborate his schemes of government at this alarming 
 juncture. Confidently expecting a speedy re-establishment of 
 royal power in the kingdom, he was simply arranging affairs 
 to take advantage of it. It was plain that with the restora- 
 tion of royal authority, emigration, which had been for 
 several years active in England, would receive a fresh 
 impulse, and where hundreds had fled the country to escape 
 the rigid rule of king and bishop, thousands upon the 
 re-establishment of that rule, triumphant in the vindication of 
 its asserted rights, would turn to the New World for refuge. 
 Why might not he, the loyal servant of the king and church, 
 by exercising the authority with which he was invested, turn 
 this vast stream of emigration into his Province of Maine, 
 and make Gorgeana the metropolis of New England ? With 
 his faith in the right divine of kingly rule this was no idle 
 dream; indeed, it was one which he might well regard as 
 possible of accomplishment. But we know how faulty were 
 the premises upon which his calculations were based. No 
 sooner had the tocsin of revolution sounded, than the stream 
 of emigration, which had for some time been setting toward 
 the New World in an ever widening flood bearing much of 
 the best blood of England, stopped as though it had been 
 arrested in its course by the hand of divine power. Men saw 
 as though a flash of light had suddenly revealed it in the 
 long prevailing gloom, a possible pathway to freedom at 
 home. Why then should they face the perils of the sea and 
 the hardships of life in a savage land when the jewel they 
 sought might be found and enjoyed by their own firesides ? 
 Ship-owners, who had been doing a prosperous business in 
 transporting emigrants to New England, saw their ships 
 swing idly at their anchors, while they sat in their counting- 
 
 19
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 houses with gloomy faces waiting for passengers who never 
 came. But misfortunes ever hunt in company, and while 
 these events so threatening to his fortunes were transpiring 
 at home, his colonial possessions were menaced by unex- 
 pected dangers. A pernicious rival was actively but quietly 
 at work undermining the very structure upon which he was 
 building his airy fabric of government. This rival was the 
 restless and ambitious George Cleeve, to whom he had 
 whilom granted a patent to the peninsula upon which Port- 
 land now stands, subsequently called Portland Neck, but 
 who, by his efforts to establish his claims, had incurred the 
 hostility of the friends of Gorges. When, therefore, Gorges 
 set up his new government, Cleeve, whose ability and posi- 
 tion in the narrow circle of men interested in the larger 
 affairs of the new settlements in Maine, would naturally have 
 entitled him to some recognition, was wholly ignored. 
 Cleeve must have felt this slight keenly, and he shortly had 
 an opportunity to retaliate. In 1630, a patent had been 
 granted to a company of adventurers covering territory forty 
 miles square between Cape Porpoise and Sagadahoc river. 
 Gorges himself had named this territory Lygonia, in honor 
 of his mother, Cicily Lygon, but the grantees never having 
 established de facto possession of their grant, he had regarded 
 it as invalid. Cleeve knew of this patent and, possessing 
 himself of the facts connected with it, he sailed at once for 
 England, where he saw that the changed condition of gov- 
 ernmental affairs would be unfavorable to a royalist like 
 Gorges. Arriving in England he found a valuable ally in 
 Thomas Morton, the author of the New English Canaan, a 
 man of unsavory reputation, who had been banished some 
 time before by the Massachusetts authorities, and who was 
 
 20
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 now a parliamentary lobbyist. Among the men at that time 
 occupying high positions in the Cromwellian government 
 was Sir Alexander Rigby, and with him Cleeve was soon in 
 treaty. The result was that Rigby was induced to purchase 
 the disused patent and to appoint Cleeve deputy governor of 
 the Province of Lygonia, which comprised the most valuable 
 portion of Sir Ferdinando's possessions in Maine. With his 
 commission in hand Cleeve at once sailed for New England 
 to assume control of his government, and to oust his old 
 enemy, Vines, then acting as Sir Ferdinando's deputy gov- 
 ernor, for Thomas Gorges had left the Province and hastened 
 home to aid in supporting the royal cause. 
 
 Arriving in Boston Cleeve at once sought to enlist the 
 sympathies of the Massachusetts authorities in his behalf. 
 Knowing how distasteful to them was the vice regal govern- 
 ment of Gorges, he confidently counted upon their active 
 support in establishing his authority in Maine, but the astute 
 Winthrop and his associates were studying the situation in 
 Maine from a more practical standpoint. They not only 
 knew that their northern boundary had not been defined, and 
 shrewdly suspedled that when it was it would be found to 
 include a considerable portion of Maine ; but they were too 
 prudent to assume dangerous responsibilities, so they enter- 
 tained the new deputy governor pleasantly, and contented 
 themselves by notifying Vines unofficially of the transfer of 
 power to Rigby and his representative, Cleeve. Cleeve well 
 knew from experience the persistent spirit of Massachusetts, 
 and that without her power behind him his position would be 
 precarious, hence he must have returned home much disap- 
 pointed. He, however, entered into a contest with Vines for 
 the possession of the government with his usual energy ; but,
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 while the struggle was being pursued with varying fortunes 
 to both parties, the news of the battle of Naseby, so fatal to 
 the royal cause, reached Vines, who, disheartened, threw up 
 his commission and abandoned the country, leaving the gov- 
 ernment in the hands of Edward Godfrey, a man no less able 
 and loyal to his trust than himself. A decision by the com- 
 missioners for Foreign Plantations to whom Parliament had 
 referred the case, confirming the validity of Rigby's claim, 
 was, however, the final blow to the hopes of Gorges, and, in 
 the summer of 1647, he died, having completed his brief nar- 
 ration with these remarkable words, showing his submission 
 to the divine will. "I end and leave all to Him who is the only 
 Author of all goodness, and ktwws best his own time to bring his 
 will to be made manifest, and appoints his instruments for the 
 accomplishment thereof : to whose pleasure it becomes every one 
 of us to sub?nit ourselves, as to that mighty God and great and 
 gracious Lord, to whom all glory doth belo?ig." I may have 
 trespassed upon your patience in discussing these particulars 
 which I have elsewhere more fully discussed, but I believe 
 that they may be many times repeated with profit, forming as 
 they do an important portion of the early history of this part 
 of our State, and here, in closing my narration of Sir Ferdi- 
 nando Gorges' former connection with York, I may be par- 
 doned for suggesting the erection in this town of a fitting 
 memorial to the man, who so persistently labored to promote 
 its importance. With the end of Sir Ferdinando's efforts to 
 extend the importance of Gorgeana, and the firm establish- 
 ment of Cromwell's power in England, Massachusetts felt 
 that the time had arrived for her to stretch the scepter of her 
 authority over Maine, a considerable portion of which she 
 found might by a strict interpretation of her charter, be 
 
 22
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 legally brought within her dominion. Maine had long been 
 a menace to her system of government. A continual effort 
 from the first had been made to make it the center of royal, 
 and, especially, prelatical power in New England. A study 
 of the subject reveals this. In 1607, the Rev. Richard 
 Semour came here with the Popham Colony to establish ritu- 
 alistic worship, and in 1623, "The Rev. William Morrill 
 accompanied Robert Gorges, bearing authority to 'superin- 
 tend the Churches of New England.' " So also in 1636, 
 with William Gorges came the Rev. Richard Gibson to estab- 
 lish episcopacy in Maine, and, finally, as a culmination of 
 the project, Gorgeana was made a bishopric and centre of 
 ecclesiastical authority for Maine, and, by implication, all 
 New England. The royal purpose as well as that of Gorges 
 must have been clear to the Massachusetts magistrates, and 
 they must have realized that its accomplishment would be 
 fatal to their own system of government. Episcopal rule in 
 Maine then must have been regarded with dread by Puritan 
 Massachusetts, which abhorred everything which savored of 
 Rome, and she must have been ready whenever occasion 
 offered to avert the ever threatening evil. The establish- 
 ment of the Commonwealth in England furnished the long 
 hoped for occasion, and, in 1652, Massachusetts dispatched 
 commissioners here to assume the direction of affairs, and 
 Gorgeana, now York, entered upon a new chapter of its his- 
 tory. Go back with me a moment and take a glance at the 
 town as it then was. 
 
 The inhabitants were not like those of Massachusetts; men 
 who had left home and friends for religious freedom. They 
 were here to better their worldly condition. Many of them 
 cared little for any religious form of belief, and lived as fancy 
 
 23
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 led them ; but most of them affirmed themselves to be favor- 
 able to the Episcopal order of worship. We find a low state of 
 moral life prevalent in the community. The courts adminis- 
 tered by rude and unlettered men were occupied with cases 
 of moral delinquency of a disagreeable nature, and the shock- 
 ing punishments meted out to offenders of both sexes are not 
 calculated to enhance our respect for the judiciary. Most of 
 the cases were for intemperance, slander, the breaking of the 
 eighth commandment, profanity and other infractions of the 
 moral code, such as might be expected in a new community 
 made up of heterogeneous elements with no dominant pur- 
 pose to unite, and with little religious teaching to enlighten 
 it. Their domestic conditions were pitiable. Their dwell- 
 ings, built for the most part of logs, sheltered families fre- 
 quently of ten or twelve persons, and comprised two, or, at 
 most, three rooms containing for furniture, a rude bench, two 
 or three rough stools, a plain unpainted table, and one, possi- 
 bly two, coarse beds. With such conditions how could one 
 expect modesty and decorum to flourish? Fish and game 
 were plenty in the woods and near-by waters, and hogs, root- 
 ing in the clam beds, furnished a supply of meat for winter 
 use, if the bears and especially the wolves, which disturbed 
 the sleep of the tired settlers, did not destroy too many of 
 them. But the wolves were less troublesome than the prowl- 
 ing savages, who at any time might surprise the sleeping 
 settlers, and after nightfall the children would start with fear 
 at any unusual sound. In winter, one could not get about 
 except upon snow-shoes, owing to the depth of the snow, 
 which often compelled entrance to one's house by the roof or 
 an upper window. Such is a faint picture of York as it was 
 in the year of our L,ord, 1652, when the Bay Commissioners 
 
 24
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 assembled to notify its inhabitants that henceforward the rule 
 of Massachusetts was to be extended over them. Of course 
 there was a divided opinion in the community. Many wel- 
 comed the new government which would bring them order 
 and a generally improved condition of affairs; but there were 
 also many others, friendly to the Gorges government, who 
 would not be reconciled, and some of those, like Godfrey, 
 Josselyn and others, were influential; but Massachusetts did 
 not yield to any opposition. A pair of stocks, a cage, a 
 whipping-post and a ducking-stool* for scolding women, 
 were set up to accommodate the people of this part of Maine, 
 and were kept well employed. The rule of Massachusetts 
 was severe, but it was beneficial, and the order that it 
 established, though far from perfect, led more settlers of a 
 desirable kind to Maine, thereby improving the character of 
 her citizenship. Indeed, Maine owes to Massachusetts a 
 large debt of gratitude for her so-called usurpation. Nine 
 years after her assumption of authority, the rule of Cromwell 
 having come to an end, and royalty restored in England, the 
 heir of Gorges succeeded in getting parliament to declare 
 adversely to the claims of Massachusetts, and royal commis- 
 sioners were dispatched to New England to re-establish the 
 authority of the king. The rule of Massachusetts had been 
 judicious, and a majority of the people favored it, but there 
 was still a considerable number loyal to the memory of the 
 Lord Proprietor, especially in this town. Although the com- 
 missioners presented an order signed by the king's own hand 
 commanding Massachusetts to restore the territory and juris- 
 
 * The ducking-stool was a seat suspended from a pole over the water, 
 the offender being strapped thereto and submerged a sufficient num- 
 ber of times to satisfy the sentence of the court. 
 
 25
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 diction of the province to the heir of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
 Massachusetts was obdurate and refused to relinquish her 
 claims, and, when the royal representatives appointed officers 
 to govern the province, Massachusetts sent her commis- 
 sioners to York to hold court, with orders to arrest and pun- 
 ish persons resisting her authority. Affairs continued in this 
 unsatisfactory condition until Massachusetts in 1667, suc- 
 ceeded in purchasing the charter of the province of the heir 
 of Gorges, which gave ample validity to her title. 
 
 To establish the simple worship of the Congregational 
 faith, as well as to foster education was always a chief consid- 
 eration with Massachusetts, and a church was soon organized 
 and placed under the charge of the Rev. Shubael Dummer, 
 who. with his wife, a daughter of Edward Rishworth, a citi- 
 zen of York and man of much note in Maine, exercised an 
 important influence upon the community. For a score of 
 years they continued their unremitting labors, and, we have 
 reason to believe, with a large measure of success. The 
 history of York during this period of its vicissitudes, its 
 struggles, and constant alarms from threatened attack by a 
 savage foe instigated by the French, who were bent upon 
 destroying the English settlements, will ever be of interest to 
 the student of New England history. 
 
 The long dreaded blow finally fell upon this town. A 
 band of savages in the winter of 1692, led by Frenchmen, set 
 out from the Penobscot, being joined on the way by allies 
 from the Kennebec, to attack the western settlements, and on 
 the night of February 4th, encamped upon the wooded slopes 
 of Mt. Agamenticus, from whence they could look down 
 upon the little village of York, and see the twinkling lights 
 in the houses of those they had marked for destruction. 
 
 26
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Some of these houses were fortified, and a watch kept, which 
 probably deterred the wary savages from making a night 
 attack, for they waited until dawn before leaving their 
 uncomfortable lair. Then as the light began to appear they 
 crept towards their prey, partially concealed by the snow 
 which was now silently falling about them. The watch at 
 this hour had doubtless ceased, and they approached the 
 doomed village unperceived. A door of one of the houses 
 opened and a boy came forth with his axe. Soon he was 
 engaged at his task unconscious of impending danger, when 
 suddenly he was seized by rough hands, forced to answer a 
 few fierce questions, and then his head was split open by a 
 hatchet, and he was left dying upon the new fallen snow. 
 
 The savages dividing into two parties, now began their 
 cruel work, butchering men, women and children alike ; 
 "Even infants in the cradle were not spared," says the 
 Frenchman, Villebon, in his account of the massacre. 
 Owing to the exposure of York to attack, Dummer had been 
 frequently urged to leave the town, but had refused, declar- 
 ing that he would remain and share the dangers of those 
 whom he had, says Mather, "Converted and edified by his 
 ministry." He was just mounting his horse when struck 
 down by a bullet. His wife and son were taken prisoners. 
 Contrary to their usual custom a number of old women and 
 children, who appeared too feeble to take the long journey to 
 Canada, which was the destination of the captives, were 
 released when the savages left the ruined village. Among 
 these was the delicate wife of the dead pastor. Her son, 
 however, was a prisoner, and frantic with grief, the bereaved 
 woman returned to the savages begging for his release, but 
 was roughly sent away. Motherly affection prompted her to 
 
 27
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 renew the attempt, and she again returned to the savages to 
 pray for his release. The only reply she received was, that 
 as she wanted to be a prisoner she should have her desire. 
 She was therefore compelled to follow her cruel captors ; but 
 a march through the wilderness in the dead of winter without 
 suitable shelter and food was enough to test the endurance of 
 the hardiest man, and she soon perished. Of the fate of her 
 son no authentic record has been discovered. Mather was 
 moved by this terrible event to express his feelings in rhyme 
 after this manner: 
 
 "Dummer the shepherd sacrificed, 
 By wolves because the sheep he priz'd, 
 The orphan's father, church's light, 
 The love of heav'n, of hell the spighL" 
 
 The destruction of York and the death and captivity of 
 nearly the entire population were so disheartening, that the 
 few who escaped contemplated an abandonment of the settle- 
 ment, but a few clung to their old dwelling place, and these 
 formed a nucleus for a new town. 
 
 With the inauguration of a new government in England 
 under William and Mary, owing to continued agitation, for 
 the rule of Massachusetts was watched in England with a 
 jealous eye, a new charter for Maine was made, and it arrived 
 just after the destruction of York. It provided for a legis- 
 lature consisting of two branches, and this town, in spite of 
 its condition, was represented in both its branches. The 
 condition of the town was, however, deplorable. Poverty 
 and continual alarms from threatened attacks by the sav- 
 ages prevented any considerable growth. The destruction of 
 the Pequawket tribe by Lovewell afforded temporary relief, 
 but the French continued their pernicious efforts against the 
 
 28
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINS. 
 
 English settlers, and it was not until New England, aroused 
 by the necessity of an aggressive warfare, transferred the war 
 to French territory and captured their stronghold at L,ouis- 
 burg, that peace seemed assured. In this splendid achieve- 
 ment citizens of York participated. The fall of Louisburg 
 was the most important event which had occurred in New 
 England, and was hailed with demonstrations of joy as it 
 gave assurance of tranquil times. Its relinquishment, how- 
 ever, by England was a sad blow to the hopes of the poor 
 colonists, and it was not until its second and final recapture by 
 Wolfe in 1758, and the extinguishment of French power in 
 New France, which shortly followed, that peace with the 
 savages was fully accomplished. 
 
 From this time York began to thrive and soon became a 
 fairly prosperous fishing and farming community. With all 
 danger from their French and savage neighbors removed, 
 an era of prosperity at last dawned upon the coast towns of 
 Maine in which York, owing to her favorable position and the 
 sturdy character of her inhabitants, shared. Settlers from 
 neighboring colonies found their way here, and with strong 
 arms cleared the forests and laid the foundations of a pros- 
 perous settlement, so that where a short time before poverty 
 and discouragement abounded, thrift and prosperity began to 
 flourish. When the War of the Revolution came, calling to 
 the men of New England to strike a blow for freedom, this 
 town was not backward in contributing efficient aid to the 
 popular cause, and during the gloomy years which followed, 
 full of alarms and discouragements, the people of York laid 
 their lives and treasures a willing sacrifice upon the altar of 
 Liberty. Again, in the War of 1812, the citizens of York 
 responded with alacrity to the bugle call which summoned 
 
 29
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 them from boat and field to the defence of their rights. 
 Since Maine became a sovereign State in 1820, the history of 
 York, though it has not been marked by any startling events, 
 has been that of a peaceful and happy community, worthy to 
 be regarded with pride by her sons and daughters. As in 
 the earlier wars in which this country, since it became a na- 
 tion, has been unfortunately engaged, the war with Mexico, 
 the Civil War and the late war with Spain, you have always 
 displayed your patriotism, as no doubt you will continue to 
 do in the future, should this country be drawn into conflict 
 with other powers, which let us hope may never happen. 
 
 Thus far we have turned the eye of retrospection towards 
 the past. We have reviewed together its history, and striven 
 to re-people these pleasant scenes with the forms of those who 
 once lived their lives among them. So much for the past ; 
 what of the future? What will your town be when you 
 assemble to commemorate its third centennial ? For there 
 are a few now within sound of my voice who will be here to 
 witness that event. What you will be is of more importance 
 than what you have been. One thing is certain ; the world 
 will have changed. Great inventions and discoveries will 
 have been made ; perhaps a new force, more efficient than 
 steam or electricity, will have been harnessed to the chariot 
 of progress. Widely separated communities will have been 
 brought nearer to each other than we dream of to-day; the 
 productive world will no longer be dominated by ignorance 
 and misguided by crude theories ; agriculture will have 
 assumed a place nearer its true one in the estimation of men, 
 and literature and art. twin lights of civilization, will illum- 
 ine the way of progress ; hence it will be a better ordered 
 world and nearer our ideal, though far below what we hope 
 
 30
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 it may become in some more remote future, when Christian- 
 ity shall more perfectly direct its course. 
 
 I have denominated literature and art as twin lights of 
 civilization; neither are found in savage life ; the bark 
 inscription, the carved war club and painter feather are the 
 first signs of their existence. I go farther and say that the 
 use made of these lights is the measure of civilization. 
 
 In the past, we, of New England, have not found time to 
 devote to art ; beauty has been ignored in our devotion to 
 utility, and we have left our cities and towns, especially our 
 country towns, to grow at random. This is not as it should 
 be ; they should be beautified and adorned. The Greeks 
 understood this better than we have hitherto, and beautified 
 their surroundings with adornments, the relics of which still 
 excite the admiration of mankind. Take up this work then ; 
 make your town beautiful, that it may be a growing joy to 
 those who follow you. As this is one of the oldest towns in 
 the State, let it be the foremost in this work. A splendid 
 example, which every citizen of the State should behold, may 
 be seen at Rumford Falls. Such an achievement could only 
 be compassed by the brain and heart of a Hugh Chisholm, 
 and it forms a nobler monument to him than one of brass. 
 
 In this work do not forget memorials of your past, of the 
 men who have contributed to your betterment. I do not 
 mean by such memorials as monuments which savor of mortal- 
 ity, but real works of art. In a city in Germany, many years 
 ago, a rathaus, or city government building was begun, and 
 is now drawing towards completion ; something from year to 
 year having been added to it according to its original concep- 
 tion. All the material used in its construction is of local 
 origin, and the work in it has all been accomplished by local 
 
 31
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 artisans and artists. This building is the embodiment of the 
 city's history. The walls and ceilings of its many rooms are 
 decorated with historic scenes from its founding to a recent 
 period ; each room exhibiting one or more chapters in its life 
 and progress. The carven doors, the adornments of frieze 
 architrave, and even the finely wrought iron work bear his- 
 toric designs, and the faces which everywhere present them- 
 selves to you in sculpture or painting are those of former citi- 
 zens. What memorials can excel these ? I know of none 
 which equal them. You of York are blessed with natural 
 surroundings of great beauty and a population noted for 
 moral and intellectual worth. I know of no surer promise of 
 a happy future to our beloved land than such a community ; 
 fearing God, loving education, temperance and thrift. We 
 are here to recognize these virtues ; to take part in an act of 
 history ; to record our faith in popular institutions ; in prog- 
 ress inspired by love of God and love of man. These two 
 give dignity to humanity, and irradiate it with the spirit of 
 deity. Yesterday humanity bowed to the pitiless spirit of 
 force ; today it greets the angel of liberty ; tomorrow it will 
 hail the reign of universal brotherhood. War has blackened 
 the pages of history and stained them with tears and blood ; 
 the history of this town, as well as the history of the world ; 
 but, henceforth, we may hope that peace will keep them 
 stainless and undefiled. 
 
 "Oh first of human blessings ! and supreme ! 
 Fair peace ! how lovely, how delightful thou ! 
 By whose wide tie, the kindred sons of men 
 Live brothers like, in amity combined, 
 And unsuspicious faith ! While honest toil 
 Gives every joy, and to those joys a right, 
 Which, idle, barbarous warfare but usurps." 
 
 32
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Cultivate, then, all the arts of peace ; fertilize your fields ; 
 plow, and harrow, and sow, and reap with thankful hearts 
 the harvests that they yield. L,et industry enrich your town 
 that genius may find room to adorn it with memorials of its 
 past, and philanthropy with schools and libraries, and what- 
 ever ministers to the true upbuilding of man, for industry 
 clears the way of progress. The history of York is not such 
 as men, dominated by the false dogma that might is right, 
 call great. Its pioneers flaunted no emblazoned arms nor 
 knightly shield, but with dauntless hearts and stout arms led 
 the way like a forlorn hope into the wilds of Agamenticus to 
 plant deep the foundations of civilization. To them belongs 
 the meed of praise, greater than that to victorious generals or 
 founders of mighty dynasties, for they laid enduring founda- 
 tions. We salute their memory. 
 
 33
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Historical Sketch of |£ork. 
 
 By FRANK D. MARSHALL. 
 
 On the 5th day of August, 1902, the Town of York 
 formally commemorated its two hundred and fiftieth anniver- 
 sary as a town established by Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
 Yet here, in the year 1642, on the banks of a river called 
 Agamenticus, antedating by a decade and more this Puritan 
 municipal franchise, was established the first city in Amer- 
 ica, under the name of Gorgeana. Here was to be the 
 capital of the Province, and the seat of the bishop; the 
 evident intention of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, "Lord Palatine 
 of the Province of Maine," being to set up a government 
 on lines sharply opposed to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 
 matters both civil and ecclesiastical. How far his dream of 
 vice-regal sovereignty across the seas came true has already 
 been told by Mr. Baxter. 
 
 Bancroft writes: "In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold, a dis- 
 creet and intrepid navigator, . . . undertook the direct voy- 
 age from the British Channel to America. From the Azores, 
 to which he was borne by contrary winds, he ran a westerly 
 course . . . but it was only after seven weeks that he came 
 in sight of Cape Elizabeth, in Maine. Following the coast to 
 the southwest, he skirted 'an outpoint of wooded land'; and, 
 about of the fourteenth of May, he anchored 'near Savage 
 
 34
 
 Mr. Frank D. Marshall, 
 Portland, Maine.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 rock,' to the east of York harbor. There he met a Biscay 
 shallop; and there he was visited by natives." Thence he 
 stood south and on the fifteenth discovered Cape Cod. If 
 Bancroft has rightly interpreted the narrative of Gosnold, he 
 was the first Englishman known to have seen the coast 
 of York. Just a year later Martin Pring, with the Speedwell 
 and the Discoverer, craft of less than fifty tons burden, 
 coasted along these shores, and discovered York River, even 
 if he did not ascend it. But Captain John Smith, picking 
 his way along these shores in the summer of 1614, traced 
 their indentations with business-like accuracy upon his great 
 map dedicated to Prince Charles, and more clearly plotted 
 the river and shore line of York, as well as its great hill. 
 On his return to England, Smith submitted the map to Prince 
 Charles, then a boy of some fifteen years, who changed, as 
 Smith tells us, about thirty-five "barbarous Indian names" 
 for others, "in order that posterity might be able to say that 
 that royal personage was their godfather"; hence Agamenti- 
 cus was named Snowden Hill, and "Boston" was located at 
 its base. 
 
 Thus, in a large measure, the coast became known in a 
 general way to Gorges, Popham and other promoters of trade 
 and colonization, and drew their attention. 
 
 Gorges says he "had long known Lieut. -Col. Norton, who 
 had raised himself from a common soldier to his present posi- 
 tion." He speaks of him as an industrious man, who well 
 understood whatever he undertook, and who was strong to 
 carry it out. Gorges obtained a patent for Norton and asso- 
 ciated with him his grandson Ferdinando Gorges, "conceiv- 
 ing that he would thus be better fortified in his rights." 
 Under this patent, issued in December, 1631, twelve thousand 
 
 35
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 acres were granted to Norton and others on the east side of 
 York River, while a like amount on the west bank was given 
 to the grandson. Gorges writes that thereupon Norton and 
 his associates "hastened to take possession of their territory, 
 carrying with them their families and other necessary pro- 
 visions, and I sent over for my son my nephew, Capt. 
 William Gorges . . . with some other craftsmen for the 
 building of houses and erecting saw mills; and by other 
 shipping from Bristol some cattle with other servants, by 
 which the foundation of the plantation was laid. . . ." 
 
 Preceding this expedition must have gone Edward God- 
 frey, a steadfast defender of the rights of Gorges and a man 
 whose character stands out strong and able. In 1654 
 Godfrey, then in England, filed a claim against Massachu- 
 setts Bay, wherein he recited that he had been a resident of 
 York for a quarter of a century "and was the first who ever 
 built there." This fixes the first permanent settlement in 
 1629; yet, in all probability, at least summer fishing stages 
 earlier existed on the shores of York River, but nine miles 
 distant from the Piscataqua plantation of 1623, notably on 
 "Stage Island," or "Stage Neck," as later called.* 
 
 Thus came to York the first settlers. The names of many 
 prominent in town and province affairs are now forgotten ; 
 others are perpetuated by resident descendants, while many a 
 son of the great West comes back to the old Agamenticus, or 
 Bristol settlement, not only because its summer shores are 
 pleasant, but to wander for a season in the paths of his 
 ancestors. Prominent among the emigrants, in addition to 
 
 •Belknap, Williamson and others fix the date of settlement of York 
 as early as 1622-23, but they do not adduce authorities to substantiate 
 their statement. 
 
 36
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Norton* and Godfrey, were Francis Raynes, Arthur Bragdon, 
 Henry Dunnells, Thomas Bradbury, John Puddington, 
 Richard Banks, Sylvester Stover, Hugh Gale, Roger Garde 
 Henry Simpson, William Hooket, William Ellingham, 
 Sampson Anger, Nicholas Davis, John Twisden, Senior, 
 Richard Burgess and John Allcock. 
 
 Probably many of these and their immediate successors 
 were "such young persons as being married have neither 
 howse nor home of theire owne but what they can get by 
 their labors." These Gorges described to be best fitted for 
 emigrants. However that may be, during the first decade of 
 the settlement's existence not a few men came who possessed 
 education, self-reliance and good character. At this time, 
 although a "chapel or oratory" is referred to, there was no 
 settled minister. The settlement during the brewing troubles 
 in England was, nominally at least, loyal to Charles First 
 and to the Church ; and, as subsequent events show, a few of 
 its men of standing were strong in their faith. As early as 
 1634 their future L,ord Palatine wrote his sovereign, express- 
 ing a desire to here set up and firmly establish the church ; 
 and the king had expressly commanded Gorges to settle 
 with all convenient speed the ecclesiastical government of the 
 Church of England. 
 
 In April, 1639, the king made Gorges I,ord Palatine of the 
 Province of Mayne, conferring a high degree of feudal 
 authority. The old cavalier then aspired to come hither in 
 
 •Little is known of Walter Norton, "who had raised himself from a 
 common soldier." He died previous to March, 1638, leaving as his 
 only child Jane Simpson, wife of young Henry Simpson who was prob- 
 ably one of the original settlers of the town. 
 
 tWilliam Hooke was "Governor of Agamenticus" in 1638. 
 
 37
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 person, and set about building a ship for his conveyance ; 
 but by some mishap it fell upon stocks and was ruined. 
 Thereupon Thomas Gorges, a nephew, or "cousin" as such 
 kinsmen were then called, was dispatched as Deputy Gov- 
 ernor. He was from the Inns-of -Court, a barrister, barely 
 twenty-one years of age, and a man of ability and judicious 
 temperament. Up to this time the community, with those 
 contiguous, had been accustomed "to order their affairs as if 
 they alone were the supreme lords." In 1640 Thomas 
 Gorges reached Agamenticus and established his authority. 
 The court records show that he controlled with vigor. He 
 found there "the wily and corrupt George Burdett," in the 
 guise of a clergyman, working iniquity. Burdett was 
 arrested, indicted and convicted of various crimes. Thomas 
 Gorges returned to England in 1643 and joined the Round 
 heads as a I^ieut. -Colonel in the Somerset Militia, later 
 becoming a member of Parliament from Taunton. The 
 cellar of his residence at York is still pointed out on the 
 banks of the river. 
 
 On April 10th, 1641, Sir Ferdinando Gorges created the 
 little Agamenticus settlement into a borough with the 
 "church chapel, or oratory"* as the center thereof; and on 
 March 1st, 1642, he issued his charter, as "L,ord of y e 
 Province of Mayne," changing the borough into a "citie" 
 . . . and ordained "that y e Circuite of y e said Incorpora- 
 tion . . . shall extend from y e Beginning of y e Entrance of 
 y e River ... & so up y e said River seven Inglish miles, 
 and all along y e East & North East side of y e sea shore 
 
 *The writer doubts whether this chapel was actually built, at least as 
 early as 1641, although it would be gratifying to have evidence that it 
 did then exist. 
 
 38
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Three English miles in Breadth from y e Entrance of y e said 
 River, and up into y e Mayne Land, seven miles, Butting 
 with y e seven miles from y e sea side, . . . that y e same 
 from henceforth be . . . called by the name of Gorgeanna, 
 and . . . to have continuance forever. ..." 
 
 Then followed all provisions "for better governing y e said 
 Citie," including the selection of the mayor, aldermen, 
 "common councill" and recorder, as well as for a "Court 
 L,eete," and a Court of Justice, proceedings to be "accord- 
 ing . . . to his Maj est Court of Chancery at Westminster." 
 There were officials called "Sergants of y e White Rod" to 
 "serve and return all precepts." Moreover all lands were to 
 "bie holden of y e Kings Majestie ... In free and Comon 
 Cotage, and not in Capite." A market was established; 
 also fairs were to be held "... upon the feast day of St. 
 James and St. Paul." Then followed a right of appeal in all 
 causes to the I^ord Palatine ; and a clause giving all the 
 privileges "as the City of Bristol holdeth." 
 
 Such in effedl was the old feudal machinery, with all its 
 refinements, for governing and developing a community of 
 about three hundred souls planted on a rugged coast, con- 
 fronted by an endless forest, and but two days' journey from 
 Massachusetts Bay, ready at the first plausible excuse to 
 reach out and assimilate these "men to the eastward." 
 
 Thomas Gorges was the first mayor. On his return to 
 England, Roger Garde, the recorder, succeeded him in office. 
 Then Governor Winthrop said "they made a taylor their 
 mayor" — an observation of doubtful grace coming from "the 
 grandson of a clothworker." The records show Garde to 
 have been a man of education ; and that he had a standing in 
 the community is apparent not only by his becoming chief 
 
 39
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 magistrate, but also from the fact that Thomas Gorges com- 
 mitted his private estate to his care. He died in 1645 and 
 was buried with military honors. Edward Godfrey was the 
 third mayor of the city. 
 
 Meanwhile the aged Sir Ferdinando had taken up arms for 
 his king. He became a prisoner of Cromwell, was released, 
 and died in 1647, having spent a fortune and a lifetime in col- 
 onizing adventures. John Gorges succeeded to his estates. 
 
 Hearing nothing from their Lord Palatine, and their sov- 
 ereign dethroned, discouragement to Royalists in Gorgeana 
 was inevitable. After all, its people were but yesterday 
 residing in Kent, Somerset and Sussex ; and the rising tide 
 of representative government in the mother country would 
 soon and often bring ships to these shores bearing news to 
 find quick response here. On both sides of the Atlantic the 
 pulse of English thought beat much the same. It was now 
 prudent for Royalists to be passive, if not submissive. God- 
 frey was most outspoken for the rights of the charter, and 
 later suffered accordingly. It was under these conditions 
 that in 1649 the citizens met those of Kittery and Wells and 
 resolved : * 'whereas Sir Ferdinando Gorges is dead : and for 
 the better ordering . . . till Further Authorryty shall come 
 out of England ... to unite into a boddy pollitick ... to 
 see the's parts . . . regulated according to such lawes as 
 formerly have been exercised." They chose Godfrey gover- 
 nor. 
 
 In October of the same year a "Generall Courte" was 
 holden at Gorgeana "before the right Worp 11 Edward God- 
 frey, Dep. Gov r . Mr. Nicholas Shapleigh, Mr. Abraham 
 Preble, Edward Rush worth, Assistants." It took cognizance 
 of civil, criminal and ecclesiastical matters. At this time the 
 
 40
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Grand Jury presented William Hilton for "not keeping 
 vittual and drink at all times for strangers and inhabitants." 
 Mr. Hilton was the ferryman at York Harbor, and was evi- 
 dently the first man to keep a public house in that now flour- 
 ishing and beautiful summer resort. 
 
 The Court further decreed that "all who are out of a 
 Churchway and be orthodox in judgment and not scandalous 
 in life, shall have full liberty to gather them-selves into a 
 Church estate . . . and every Church hath Frie liberty of 
 Election and ordination of all her officers . . . provided they 
 be able pious and orthodox." Although there was then 
 probably no settled minister, it is reasonably certain that for 
 years past Episcopal clergymen had often conducted worship ; 
 also that Puritan ministers labored among the people, notably 
 Rev. Mr. Thompson, "pious and learned." 
 
 It may be said in passing that probably religious freedom 
 was not the master motive of a majority of the first settlers 
 in Gorgeana, or York, as it was professed to be in Massa- 
 chusetts Bay. The men who came at the bidding of Gorges 
 were colonizers ; they were to hold and populate the country 
 for their Eord Palatine. In conveyances they frequently 
 described themselves as planters ; in those days titles were 
 more carefully and properly applied than now. Hence it is 
 not surprising that among them may have been adventurers, 
 and some reckless characters who, not passing muster under 
 rigid Puritan laws, here sought shelter beyond the Piscataqua 
 shore. 
 
 Yet it cannot be denied that Massachusetts Bay had some 
 motive in giving ready ear to tales of lawlessness that may 
 have come down the coast to Salem and Boston. With her 
 the spirit of expansion then prevailed. York's records, both 
 
 41
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 civil and criminal, do not greatly differ from those of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay towns. Vague stories long repeated may 
 merge into tradition, and tradition into accepted history, 
 which until more recent years we have taken largely from 
 Massachusetts. What reason is there to believe that these 
 immigrants and colonizers were not, in the aggregate, as 
 sober minded, industrious, law abiding and intelligent as 
 their English kinsmen three score miles to the south ? 
 
 Meanwhile there had come within the city limits a new 
 element. The uprising of the Scots in the forties had made 
 it convenient, if not necessary, for certain Cavaliers to seek 
 new homes across the sea. So along the river bank grew up 
 a hamlet known to this day as "Scotland." The descendants 
 of Pierce and Micum Mclntire, Robert Junkins, Thomas 
 Donnell, Joseph Grant* and other Scotchmen, still dwell 
 there, and have for more than two hundred and fifty years 
 been prominent in town affairs. 
 
 In the summer of 1652 Massachusetts Bay, having con- 
 strued its great charter to embrace much of Maine, sent a 
 commission "to treat with the gentlemen of the eastward." 
 Governor Godfrey! refused to submit, resolving to exercise 
 jurisdiction "until it shall please Parliament, the Common- 
 weal of England, . . . otherwise to order, under whose 
 
 •Banished by Cromwell in 1645 or 1647. 
 
 tEor obvious reasons Edward Godfrey does not appear in office after 
 1652. Part of the time he was in England struggling for the heir of 
 Gorges ; in 1655 Massachusetts Bay stripped him of much of his 
 estates. At the restoration he again went to England. In 1663 he 
 died a prisoner for debt in the Fleet, Ludgate, aged 79 years. In 1665 
 York regranted his homestead lands on the south side of York River, 
 to Anna Godfrey, his widow. 
 
 42
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 power and protection we are." Yet even in Gorgeana the 
 majority was against him, so he writes, "whatever my body 
 was enforced to do Heaven knows my soul did not consent 
 unto." Some open violence followed in the town, but Mas- 
 sachusetts prevailed, and it was doubtless better that she did. 
 The charter was revoked, and thus after ten short years, the 
 first city in America ceased to exist. "Thorough" was the 
 shibboleth in Massachusetts Bay as well as in England, so 
 not even a well-deserved and euphonious name was left this 
 little settlement in memory of its founder. Massachusetts 
 Bay, granting citizenship to those who took "y e Oath of 
 Freedom," conferred the less graceful name of York. Thus 
 began its corporate existence.* 
 
 The vicissitudes of those early days may be traced from the 
 records of the town. By 1660 York was growing rapidly 
 and flourishing, as is evidenced by land grants. Yet the 
 title to the Province was still in litigation, adherents to 
 Massachusetts Bay continuing dominant. But now that 
 the crown was restored to Charles Second, even Massachu- 
 setts Bay feared, at times, lest its own great charter be 
 annulled. When the fortunes of the Gorges heirs, at brief 
 intervals, would be uppermost, land grants in York would 
 almost cease, in fadl none are recorded in 1661-2; in 1663 
 but one grant was "laid out to John Frost ffisherman." 
 The King's commissioners visited the town in 1665 and made 
 proclamation requiring the inhabitants to submit to the 
 
 *The Commissioners' Court was held at Gorgeana on the 22nd of 
 November, 1652; sitting, Simeon Bradstreet, Bryan Pendleton, Tho: 
 Wiggine, Sam'll Symonds ; Edward Rishworth, Recorder. On that 
 day the legal existence of Gorgeana, or Agamenticus, ceased, and 
 York began as a body corporate. York Records, Part I, Folio 27. 
 
 43
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 immediate protection and government of the King ; but proc- 
 lamations do not make stable government, so in July, 1668, 
 for the second time commissioners from Massachusetts 
 Bay arrived, this time with a military escort. A turbulent 
 scene followed at the meeting-house, but again the Puritan 
 authority was established and "a few prominent individuals 
 who would not submit were summarily dealt with." Finally, 
 in 1677, the Justices decided that the claim of young Gorges, 
 as heir, was valid. Then he offered to sell his title to the 
 Province to the King, presumably for the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, the favorite son of Charles Second. But the agents 
 of Massachusetts Bay lost no time in quietly crossing the sea 
 to make a purchase; and for ,£1,250 Gorges passed a clear 
 title to Massachusetts Bay — to the furious indignation of the 
 King, it is said. Thereupon follow page upon page of land 
 grants in the records of this town, until the year 1682, when 
 the King directed a writ of quo warranto against the charter 
 of Massachusetts Bay, and once more the records show noth- 
 ing granted. 
 
 Thus for thirty years York, the seat of provincial govern- 
 ment, and the place last reconciled to the rule of Massachu- 
 setts Bay, was a storm center of the contesting claimants. 
 The last fitful cloud vanished in 1684, when President Dan- 
 forth, authorized by Massachusetts Bay Colony, "y e now 
 Lord Proprietors," confirmed to the inhabitants all rights 
 and privileges "to them formerly granted by Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges." The instrument conferring these rights was an 
 indenture, "Between Thomas Danforth Esq. president of his 
 Maj ties Province of Mayne, in New England, on the one 
 party, and Major John Davis, Mr. Edward Rushworth, 
 Capt. Job Alcock and Lieut. Abraham Prebble, Trustees on 
 
 44
 
 OP THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 y e behalf and for y e sole use and benefit of y e Inhabitants of 
 y e Town of Yorke." The consideration of the deed is "That 
 they y e abovesaid Inhabitants . . . forever hereafter as an 
 acknowledgement of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and his Assigns, 
 right to Soyle and Government, do pay twelve pence for 
 every family whose Single Country rate is not above Two 
 Shillings, and for all that exceed the sum of Two shillings, 
 in a single rate, to pay three shillings pr. family annually in 
 money to y e Treasurer of said Province, for y e use of y e 
 Chiefe proprietor thereof." 
 
 Thus it would seem that in this instance Massachusetts 
 Bay chose to rest on her title as assignee of Gorges' heirs, 
 rather than by her interpretation of the famous line north of 
 the Merrimac. 
 
 Of the Trustees, above named, Abraham Preble and 
 Edward Rishworth are best remembered. Abraham Preble, 
 senior, was one of the earliest settlers. L,ieut. Abraham 
 Preble was generally styled junior. Both men were adtive in 
 town affairs, as surveyors, town clerks and selectmen. lieu- 
 tenant Preble was representative to the General Court. 
 Preble is a name long and favorably known in the State of 
 Maine. Edward Rishworth has descendants, but none bear- 
 ing his name. He was born in Lincolnshire, England, and 
 married Susan Wheelwright, daughter of John Wheelwright, 
 vicar of Bilsby. He came from Exeter to Gorgeana in 1647 ; 
 was recorder of the Court in 1651, and in 1653 represented 
 York in the General Court at Boston. He submitted to the 
 Royal Commissioners on their visit to York, before referred 
 to, and was thereupon appointed one of the Justices. Three 
 years later, in 1668, he was removed by Massachusetts Bay ; 
 but in 1673 he apologized and was restored to office, and in 
 
 45
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 1 680-8 1 he was made chancellor under the Gorges Charter 
 acquired by Massachusetts Bay ; also secretary of the Prov- 
 ince. He died in 1691. While he displayed unusual facility 
 in gaining office under the dominant faction for the time 
 being, he seems to have performed his varied public trusts 
 faithfully and well. He made for law, order and industry in 
 town and provincial affairs, and his name should not be 
 forgotten. 
 
 Since the history of the old First Parish is taken up else- 
 where in this volume, it will be here touched upon only at one 
 or two points. Volume one, page twenty, of the Town 
 Records reads as follows : "Wee the Selectmen of the Town 
 of York, have given unto the Townhouse for the use of the 
 Ministry, a certain parcell of marsh, lying about John Pearses 
 Cove, above it, and joining unto William More on the other 
 side, containing one acre or thereabouts : 
 5 July ; 1653 : Wieeiam Hieton, 
 
 Peter Weare, 
 John Aecock, 
 Arthur Bragdon, 
 Richard Banks." 
 
 This was the beginning of numerous grants of land to the 
 ministry, some of which the Parish holds to this day, 
 "unreversable as an inheritance given promised and con- 
 firmed thereunto for the perpetual use and benefit of y e Min- 
 istry henceforth unto all succeeding generations." 
 
 The first meeting-house was located on the slope of the hill 
 on the northeasterly side of "Meeting House Creek," near the 
 road leading from York Village to Sewall's Bridge. 
 
 In 1662 Shubael Dummer came from Newbury and began 
 
 46
 
 Thk Barrel:. Mansion, York.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 a pastorate which was to end only on his death by the hands 
 of the French and Indians on the morning of January 25th, 
 1692. He lived near Roaring Rock on the Norwood Farms, 
 also having a considerable tract of land "near the Rivers 
 mouth," called "Farmer Allcock's Neck" by the sea. 
 
 In the annals of York the events of 1692 have been related 
 from generation to generation. The following is from the 
 manuscript of the late Hon. Nathaniel G. Marshall, who was 
 an authority on the history of his town. "This was a fatal 
 year. . . . On the twenty-fifth of January [or February 
 4th] ... a descent was made by a body of Indians, at which 
 nearly all the inhabitants on the north side of the River were 
 either slain or taken prisoners and carried into captivity . . . 
 This town, protected in a measure by the villages growing 
 up in the interior and on either hand, did not suffer much 
 until this year 1692 . . . when it was nearly annihilated. 
 All the property and accumulations, recorded in the preced- 
 ing pages [referring to town records], the result of seventy 
 years' toil, were swept away, and loved ones . . . were 
 either slain or carried into captivity by the Indians, who were 
 beyond doubt urged on by the French ; and it is a tradition 
 not to be doubted that the Indians who made the attack . . . 
 were commanded by French officers, perhaps in disguise 
 ..." So far as known the torch was put to every house in 
 the locality mentioned, excepting only the four or five garri- 
 son houses, the meeting-house and the old Gaol. 
 
 Another account, from one whose memory extended back to 
 within a hundred years of the event, is that the expedition 
 was equipped in Canada, the regions lying to the north and 
 east being generally thus designated, with York as the objec- 
 tive point and that it consisted of nearly as many French as 
 
 47
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Indians, in all exceeding one hundred and fifty. Reaching 
 the outskirts of the settlement at night the expedition piled 
 its snowshoes around a large rock, still pointed out. Then it 
 separated, a Frenchman and an Indian covering the entrance 
 to each dwelling, daybreak or the first gunshot to be the sig- 
 nal for a general massacre. Among the first to fall was Rev. 
 Shubael Dummer, and then began a cruel slaughter almost 
 the equal of Bloody Brook. Arthur Bragdon, Jr., a young 
 man, attending his traps suddenly came upon the pile of 
 snowshoes. Realizing their import, knowing himself sur- 
 rounded by an unseen, unmerciful foe, he fled to Fort Head 
 at the Harbor, and there hid among the overhanging 
 rocks. Presently an Indian dog appeared, with its mouth 
 strapped tight, looked at him and trotted away. He knew 
 an Indian would soon come, guided by the dog. Again 
 Bragdon started on, followed the shore up river and found an 
 old canoe, crossed over, and gave the alarm to the dwellers 
 on the "South Side," who fled for their lives. Had Bragdon 
 been able, by fire or knife, to have destroyed those snow- 
 shoes, doubtless there would have occurred within sight of 
 old Mt. Agamenticus a struggle as bloody and as famous as 
 any in the Deerfield Valley ; for the alarm given, the men of 
 Kittery and Portsmouth started in pursuit. But it was a 
 hopeless chase. The French and Indians had the start by 
 several hours, and were beyond reach, though impeded by 
 their captives. Among the latter was a sturdy youngster, 
 who escaped. He is known to history as Colonel Jeremiah 
 Moulton, a scourge to the Indians, and a valiant officer in the 
 war with France. 
 
 Of the six succeeding years we have this account from an 
 unknown man who writes: "When I was about nineteen 
 
 48
 
 OP THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 years old, I was pressed a soldier . . . and was stationed at 
 York. When I first came hither there was no settled minis- 
 ter, and very little of so much as ye form of religion ; but on 
 ye contrary an abundance of levity and vanity, although it 
 was soon after ye destruction of a great part of ye town by ye 
 Indians." 
 
 One painful result of the sack and massacre was the 
 destruction of every mill. Therefore the inhabitants were led 
 to negotiate with Capt. John Pickerin, of Portsmouth, as 
 appears by an open letter submitted by Pickerin wherein he 
 speaks of "ye straits and necessities of your town for want of 
 a Corn Mill." His terms were finally accepted in 1695 
 by an indenture executed on behalf of the town by 
 Samuel Donnell, Alva M. Preble and Arthur Bragdon, and 
 sworn to before "Wm. Peperill : Jus. Peace," father of the 
 hero of L,ouisburg. Thereby the town secured its corn mill, 
 which was a necessity, and therefrom incidentally sprouted 
 sufficient litigation relative to timber and mill rights to trans- 
 mit to the succeeding generation, even for thirty years. 
 
 At the age of twenty-three, Rev. Samuel Moody, but one 
 year graduated from Harvard College, commenced his labors 
 at York, arriving May 18, 1698. On petition the General 
 Court at Boston assisted in his support by a grant of £\i 
 sterling, and the town voted "that there is a whous to bie 
 built forth with for yous of ye Ministry ... ye Demenssions 
 as foloeth, Twenty eight fout in Length and twenty fout wied 
 with a L,entoe att one end ... to be two Story high with 
 three fiere plesses." Twenty pounds were raised for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Thus Samuel Moody commenced a pastorate covering half 
 a century of troublous and uncertain times, relying on the 
 
 49
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 voluntary offerings of his people. Usually the town would 
 vote to "mend his fences," "to cut his hay," and to "supply 
 him with fierwood." It also voted to * 'garrison" his house 
 "with square timber of oak or . . . hemlock . . . with two 
 suitable Baskins or Flankers." 
 
 In 1 710 it was decided to "have a New Meeting house 
 . . . fifty foot square, and to be built Every Way Pre Portion- 
 able." This was the second house of worship, or the third, if 
 the "church chapel, or oratory," mentioned in the charter of 
 1 64 1 as being the center of the borough limits, was actually 
 built. 
 
 It was here that John Harmon, Joseph Sayward, Micom 
 Mclntire, and others were given "ye hinde seat in . . . our 
 meeting house in ye Gallery, Provided they fill it." Since 
 these gentlemen were not filling a "hinde seat" in civil 
 affairs, it is fair to assume that they were not under the ban 
 of Father Moody, but were in fadl thus granted further 
 accommodation for their families or servants. 
 
 To revert to Rev. Samuel Moody: He possessed a character 
 as strong and as well fitted for his times as can be found in 
 any New England town. He was able, fearless, a man of 
 faith and zeal, and with all these was blessed with more 
 charity and benevolence than can be usually ascribed to his 
 contemporaries in the ministry. Twice he welcomed 
 Whitefield, the great revivalist. Whitefield wrote in his 
 journal: "Hither I came to see one Mr. Moody, a worthy, 
 plain and powerful minister . . . though much impaired by 
 age. . . . He has lived by faith for many years, . . . and 
 has been much desipsed by bad men and as much respected 
 by true lovers of the blessed Jesus. He came as far as 
 Hampton to meet me. ... As I came along I was surprised 
 
 50
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 to see such improvement made in a place of about one hun- 
 dred years' standing and could not but fancy myself in old 
 England." 
 
 When seventy years old Father Moody sailed as chaplain 
 in the expedition against Eouisburg. With him he carried 
 an ax, declaring it to be "the sword of the L,ord and of 
 Gideon," to demolish the images in the Catholic house of 
 worship. He died in 1747, having scored deeply in the life 
 of the town. The only son of Samuel Moody was Joseph, 
 born in 1700, and graduated from Harvard College in 17 18. 
 He was the great-uncle of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and was 
 locally known as "Handkerchief Moody," and undoubtedly 
 from Emerson, as friend and neighbor, Hawthorne heard 
 much of York characters, and thus took his cue for The Min- 
 ister's Black Veil. Joseph Moody seemed not only eminently 
 fitted for public life, but to have entered into it with much 
 interest and success. At twenty-one years of age he appeared 
 as Town Clerk ; later he was Register of Deeds for York 
 County, and at thirty years was Judge of the County Court. 
 There seemed before him a long and brilliant career ; but his 
 father insisted on his entering the ministry. This he did, and 
 in 1732 was ordained first pastor of the Second Parish in York. 
 There he preached for six years, when there grew upon him a 
 peculiar melancholia. Gradually his eccentricities became 
 accentuated, and keeping aloof from his townsmen, eating 
 alone, at all times he veiled his face with a handkerchief ; 
 hence the name of "Handkerchief Moody." He died in 
 I 753- Rev. Mr. Lyman said of Joseph Moody, "He died a 
 martyr to his own declaration that he 'could not preach.' " 
 
 Under the earliest Massachusetts Bay laws church member- 
 ship was generally a prerequisite to being a "freeman" with 
 
 51
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 full right to participate in town affairs. By the Charter of 
 Gorgeana it was the "freeholders," those possessing real 
 estate, who chose the Common Council. On the abrogation 
 of the charter in 1652, the laws of Massachusetts Bay came 
 in force here, and by the Charter of William and Mary, 1691, 
 liberty of conscience was "allowed in the worship of God, 
 to all Christians except papists," and religious tests for 
 voting were abolished. Thereafter "freeholders and other 
 inhabitants owning property" participated in public affairs. 
 Nevertheless rates for support of the ministry were by law to 
 be levied as other town charges. The separation between the 
 church and the state was not effected until Maine ceased to 
 be a part of Massachusetts in 1820,* although, in later years, 
 it is understood that the collection of the rates was not 
 always strictly enforced against Baptists and others who 
 protested. 
 
 The following vote brings to bear so many of these early 
 statutes that it may well be given in full. 
 
 "Att a L,egall Town Meeting Holden in York Decem r y e 
 15 th 1702. 
 
 Resolved by the freeholders and Princable Inhabitanc of 
 this Town of York aforesd : to give unto the Rever d Mr. 
 Sam 11 Moody our Minister and Pastor for his Preaching unto 
 us this year insuing. Beginning att this Day of the Date the 
 full sum of Sixty Pounds, in or as Money : the which Sixty 
 Pounds shall be L,eved upon all Ratable heads and estates 
 according to Law : to be leved and Preportioned by the 
 Selectmen of our said Town : and Gethered by vertue of a 
 Warrant from them and Paid according to their ord s . . . 
 As also a Day Work a year of each Man in this Town as 
 
 * Constitution of Maine. 
 
 52
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Was before ordered : and our sd Minister the privledg of y e 
 Parsonage : and it is further ordered that y e Contrebution be 
 Cept up : & all and every of our Inhabitanc that doe contri- 
 bute Money : on Sabath Day or Days, Doe put it in Paper 
 and Write his or her Name thereon : in order to Discount 
 it from or out of their Tax : y e above Writen Read and 
 Voted." 
 
 With the revival of religious interest the first public pro- 
 vision was made for the support of a schoolmaster. "... 
 Aprill y e 15 th : 1701. Pursuant to a vote of This Town for 
 a scool Master the said Selectmen Indented and Bargened 
 With Mr. Natha 11 ffreman to Ceep a free Scool for all y e 
 Inhabitanc of our Town of York for which the Town to pay 
 said ffreeman for one year eight pounds in. or as Money and 
 three penc pr. week for Taching to Reade : and four penc : 
 pr week for Writing and Sifering and no moor." Mr. Free- 
 man was employed from year to year until 17 10, when he 
 contracted for the term of seven years to keep a "Free School 
 to instruct and teach all persons . . . from five years old and 
 upwards, that shall come unto him ... in seasonable school 
 time, to begin at Eight of y e Clock in y e morning & to con- 
 tinue until Eleven in y e forenoon, and in y e afternoon to 
 begin at one of y e Clock, and to end at five of y e Clock, or 
 according to y e Custome of Schools ; to Teach all such as 
 come unto him in Reading, Writing & Cyphering, as they are 
 capable." The town also promised "for y e encouragement 
 of said Mr. Nath 11 Freeman above named, — as School-Master, 
 to Build for his own proper use & benefit forever ... a 
 Dwelling House, twenty two foot Long, eighteen foot wide 
 and eight foot between joynts, with a brick Chimney, with 
 
 53
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 doors, floors and stairs Convenient, suitable to live in . . . 
 and to pay 'a sallary Thirty pounds pr year.' " 
 
 On somewhat similar terms Dr. Alexander Bulman set- 
 tled in town, being "freely given" ^ioo provided he gave 
 "security for his continuance in y e town during life." Dr. 
 Bulman lived at York Village, and led the arduous life of the 
 early country doctor, gaining knowledge largely by experi- 
 ence, combining the duties of doctor and apothecary, pound- 
 ing his own drugs, healing as best he knew, and standing 
 second only to the judge and the minister. Dr. Bulman died 
 in 1745 of fever in the service of the Crown at Louisburg. 
 The next year it was voted to "give Doct. Burchstead of 
 Lyn an Invitation to settle in this Town," but apparently he 
 did not come. 
 
 Other early physicians were Dr. John Swett who fol- 
 lowed Dr. Bulman, and practiced until his death in 1790. 
 He lived on the south side of York River, and was active in 
 town affairs. Dr. Job Lyman,* a contemporary of Dr. Swett, 
 survived him. Their work was taken up by William Lyman 
 and Josiah Gilman, the latter a man of positive and out- 
 spoken views, of strong prejudices, and a firm believer in the 
 old and common practice of bleeding patients. Before they 
 had passed away two young physicians of the newer school, 
 Caleb Eastman and Jeremiah Putnam, commenced a practice 
 covering fifty-six years, ending with their death in 1873 and 
 1877 respectively. 
 
 The first decade of the eighteenth century was a trying one 
 for the people of the Province, and York had already suffered 
 as had few New England towns. Land grants, wills and 
 other conveyances of the period from 1692 to 17 13 bear 
 
 *Married the daughter of Jeremiah Moulton. 
 
 54
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 pathetic evidence of its dangers, losses and sorrows. When 
 families were broken up or wiped out of existence by the 
 massacre of 1692, lands reverted to the town, to be regranted 
 to newcomers, and wills provided for the possible return of 
 relatives "in captivity with the Indians,"* or "carried captive 
 into Canada." During the year 1704 no town record was 
 made. "The third Indian war upon the inhabitants of 
 Maine, called 'Queen Anne's War,' broke out in 1703, dur- 
 ing which year more grants of land had been made for set- 
 tling purposes than in any previous year. In the latter part 
 of 1703 two of York's most useful and energetic citizens were 
 killed, to wit, Arthur Bragdon, Senior, and Matthew Austin. 
 In the years 1704- 1705 the war raged furiously; also in 1706 
 and 1707, when the Stover family were slaughtered . . . 
 and Benjamin Donnell, a prominent man, was slain. "t 
 
 Out of the hardships and dangers of two decades of Indian 
 warfare, there developed two leaders and colonial soldiers, 
 Captain John Harmon and Colonel Jeremiah Moulton. The 
 latter, a child of but four years, could remember the sack 
 of the town and his escape through the snow. As a youth 
 he saw the town gradually recover, to be again endangered 
 and distressed by the third war. John Harmon had also 
 passed through those trying days and his name had already 
 become known and feared by the Indians. Together, in 
 the summer of 1624, these men planned and led the third, 
 and only successful expedition against Norridgewock which 
 resulted in the destruction of the Indian village, the tragic 
 death of Father Rasle', the most noted of French Catholic 
 
 *See will of Henry Milbury providing for his daughter Dorothy, 
 "in captivity," 1695; York Wills. 
 tRecords of Nathaniel G. Marshall. 
 
 55
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 missionaries then in New England. The destruction of this 
 mission, and the death of this implacable leader of the 
 insurgent Indians, marks the end of French influence among 
 the New England Indians. York men formed a large pro- 
 portion of the punitive expedition. 
 
 It is authentic tradition that either John Harmon or his 
 kinsmen, apparently possessing an inborn hatred of the red- 
 skins, enticed a band of Indians to the shores of Meeting 
 House Creek, in time of peace, and there killed them. 
 Father Moody, with his accustomed vigor, denounced the 
 act, and prophesied it would come to pass that the name 
 of Harmon would cease to be in the town. His words have 
 come true, although descendants under other names still 
 dwell here. The Harmons were an old and influential 
 family. Their houses were on the shore of York River at 
 the Harbor. 
 
 Colonel Moulton was also sheriff of the County of York, 
 and held various town offices. He went with Sir William 
 Pepperrell in the expedition against Louisburg, being in 
 command of the Third Regiment of Massachusetts troops. 
 Many York men were under him, notably Francis Raynes 
 and John Kingsbury. The latter, a youth of eighteen years, 
 was wounded in the siege, and had his leg amputated by I,. 
 D. Leopold, Surgeon of the Royal Hospital and Convent at 
 Iyouisburg, so says the surgeon's receipt "pour avoir fait la 
 amputation de la jambe de Mons. Jean Kingsbury." For 
 half a century he stumped around on a wooden leg, a useful 
 citizen as Selectman, Justice of the Peace, and a member of 
 the Committee on the Crisis of 1774. Colonel Moulton's son, 
 Jeremiah, Junior, was a colonel in the Revolutionary Army 
 and died from "army fever" in 1777. He in turn had a 
 
 56
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 son, Brigadier General Jotham Moulton, commissioned Feb- 
 ruary 8th, 1776.* 
 
 By 1730 the Indians had been forced north and eastward, 
 life and property in this locality was becoming reasonably 
 secure, and the inhabitants had so increased that the old meet- 
 ing-house was too small — meeting-houses in those days being 
 the usual place for all public gatherings. Hence a commit- 
 tee was chosen and reported "that ... an Addition be 
 made to sd Meetin House of Nine foot at each End, that 
 there be built a new Plain Roofe & [a steeple] at y e West 
 end." The Parish in 1744 voted to build "a new meeting 
 house where y e old one now stands, seventy feet long and 
 fifty feet wide." Three years later, in the last days of 
 Father Moody, the old house was torn down and the "stuff & 
 material" went into the construction of the present First 
 Parish church, which stood, with minor changes, until 1881, 
 when it was remodeled to its present condition. 
 
 As in most old New England towns, affairs of the parish, 
 land grants, acts of charity, and of public defense are all 
 intermingled in the town records. The following scattered 
 extracts shed light on the life of the period. 
 
 "March 12, 1727. Voted that forty pounds be raised and 
 delivered to our reverend pastor towards the defraying the 
 charges of Mrs. Moody's funeral." 
 
 "1730. Voted that if any person or persons are disposed 
 to fence in the Burying Place near the Meeting House at their 
 own cost, they have Liberty to do the same, provided it be 
 done with a decent and sufficient fence." 
 
 "1731. Voted that the Select Men be desired to prosecute 
 in the L,aw Mr. Zaccheus Trafton for entertaining John 
 
 "Catalogue of the old Gaol, p. 24, ed. 1903. 
 
 57
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Deland contrary to I,aw, who is become a Town charge, if 
 they see cause of Action : Zaccheus Trafton enters his dissent 
 against this Vote." 
 
 "Voted that the Thanks of this Town be given to our 
 Representative Mr. Richard Milberry, for his good Service in 
 Standing by the Priviledges of this Province, in the General 
 Assembly & That he be desired to continue to do the same." 
 
 "1732. Whereas John Smith hath by God's Providence 
 lost one of [his] Leggs, & has been at great Expense in 
 obtaining a Cure &c, Therefore granted to sd John Smith the 
 Sum of Fifty Pounds." 
 
 Nearly every town meeting for a hundred years or more 
 passed votes in substance as follows : 
 
 "Voted there be liberty for swine to go at large well yoked 
 & ringed as the law diredts." 
 
 "Voted that Four Pounds be paid out of the Town Stock 
 for every grown Wolf that shall be killed within the Bounds 
 of this Town." 
 
 At a meeting held January 28, 1734, the town did its part 
 toward providing a court house. 
 
 "Voted that this Town will Joyn with y e County in build- 
 ing of a Court House in this Town, which House shall be for 
 y e Use of sd County to hold Courts in & for a Town House 
 for y e Use of this Town, to meet in, on all Public Times, if 
 they see cause : The Dementions of sd House to be as fol- 
 loweth, viz: Thirty Five Foot Long & Twenty eight Foot 
 wide : Twenty Foot Stud : the lower Story Eight Feet & a 
 Half high : the upper Eleven Feet and a Half, and y e Beames 
 of y e Upper Story to be crowning, Eighteen Inches, & to 
 have a Pitchd Roofe ; both Rooms to be Plaistered & White- 
 washed and well Glaized with Sash Glass, and to be Finished 
 
 58
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 with Joynery Work, according to y e direction of y e Com- 
 ittee, that are & shall be appointed by the County & Town, 
 and yt the one Half of y e Charges arrising in building 
 & Finishing sd House, shall be bourne by this Town." 
 Another court house was built in 1811, being, in fact, the 
 present town hall at York Village. It probably stands a 
 little back from the site of its predecessor. Until 1760 York 
 was the shire town for the whole Province of Maine. There- 
 after it was the shire town for the County of York until 1832, 
 when the county offices and records were removed to Alfred. 
 Probate Court continued to be held in York, at stated times, 
 until 1 87 1. 
 
 This resolution passed in town meeting, March 12, 1734 : 
 "Whereas, It is an Indesent thing the Dogs Should be 
 suffered to come into the Place of Publick Worship, in Time 
 of Divine Service, & is often the occasion of great disorder & 
 disturbance by their Quaraling & fiting . . . Therefore, 
 Voted & enacted that if any Person, . . . shall suffer his or 
 her Dog to come into either of the Places of Publick Wor- 
 ship, ... in time of Divine Service, the Person, so offend- 
 ing shall Forfeit and pay to the Use of the Poor . . . the 
 Sum of Five shillings to be Recovered by the overseers of the 
 Poor, before any of his Majesties Justices of y e Pea. in this 
 County." 
 
 It was not without reason that many people were accus- 
 tomed to bring their dogs to the church door. Sunday ser- 
 vices were long, consuming much of the day, and those who 
 attended from the outskirts of the town probably did not, 
 even as late as 1734, feel wholly free from the danger of 
 attack by a few marauding Indians not unwilling to take 
 life by ambuscade if opportunity was presented. Within less 
 
 59
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 than a decade men had been killed in Berwick and in Kit- 
 tery, and the Eastern Indians had not yet concluded the 
 final treaty of peace with Massachusetts Bay. Moreover, 
 the flocks were for many years to come endangered by 
 wolves, which were under the ban of a large bounty. Hence 
 keen and faithful dogs were many and were deemed a protec- 
 tion, both to life and property, and were undoubtedly quite 
 constant companions of the masters and their families. 
 
 The territorial limits of the Borough of Agamenticus, as 
 well as the City of Gorgeana, were defined with reasonable 
 certainty, and in 1652 the Town of York embraced the same 
 limits, which remain today substantially unchanged.* Aside 
 from the lots parcelled out to the first settlers, there remained 
 a great tradl of wild and primeval land mostly lying back 
 from the river and coast. This was the "Comon lands" held 
 by the town, from which for good cause lots were granted by 
 vote of the freeholders and laid out to new settlers and 
 worthy residents. The grant would be by brief vote, of 
 which the following is a fair example: "Granted to Mr: 
 Sam 11 Doniel fifteen acres of Land between the Land of 
 Stephen Preble de sed and y e Little fresh Brook cal'd the 
 fresh water, if he can find it Cleer of all former Grants." 
 Subsequently the grantee would see that his grant was duly 
 "laid out" and surveyed by the town surveyor and entered on 
 the town records. Occasionally the vote was coupled with 
 the condition that the grantee should "come and settle in 
 this town." Such are quite frequent immediately following 
 the devastation of 1692. Among the earliest and choicest 
 
 *It will be noted that the northeasterly boundary has been some- 
 what extended. See city limits, p. 38. 
 
 60
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 grants were those "for the use of y e Ministry," some of 
 which are still held by the First Parish. 
 
 By 1732 the remaining common lands lay well inland 
 around Mount Agamenticus. Becoming more inaccessible, 
 it was less practicable for the town as a body to manage them, 
 especially to prevent trespassing and cutting of timber. 
 Hence in that year it sought a "just & equal method to 
 order & dispose of the Common and undivided Land." 
 Fifteen leading citizens were constituted a committee. Some 
 months later their report was made and rejected; "and after 
 long Debates" and an adjournment, it was "severally put 
 to vote how many of Eight shares each man shall have — 
 None to have more than Eight Shares." About three hun- 
 dred shareholders were thus constituted, and thenceforth 
 became the Proprietors of the Common Lands. This body 
 held meetings and kept its organization until about 1820. 
 By that time all of the original tract, however remote, 
 embraced in the grants of Gorges and his agents, had been 
 reduced to individual possession. 
 
 In 1743 the town "Granted unto Such Person or Persons 
 as will accept of & undertake it, Liberty to Build a Bridge at 
 their own Cost over York River, Some where between Col. 
 Harmons Wharfe and Mr. Donnells Point of Rocks, above 
 the Ferry : Provided there be a sufficient way Left for Sloops 
 to Pass & Repass, and the Inhabitants to have free liberty 
 Pass over the Same without any thing to Pay. (Francis 
 Raynes enters his Desent aGainst the above or last Vote.)" 
 
 "Voted that if said Bridge shall be built over said River, 
 it Shall be, by Capt. Samuel Sewalls Wharfe. (Thomas 
 Donnell enters his desent aGainst the Last Vote.)" 
 
 61
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Why Francis Raynes, who lived on the other side of 
 the river, objected to passing over both free and dryshod 
 instead of by boat cannot be well imagined. Probably 
 Thomas Donnell was protecting his ferry interests. This was 
 the beginning of an agitation which, in 1757, resulted in the 
 construction of the first pile drawbridge in America. The 
 builder was Samuel Sewall, an engineer of wide reputation, 
 who was engaged years later in the construction of the first 
 Charles River bridge. Soundings were made and the length 
 of each pile made accordingly ; and all four were then joined 
 by a cap piece and braced. This section, or pier, was then 
 floated to its proper place and driven home by a heavy log 
 arranged as a trip hammer, rather than as the modern pile 
 driver. Major Sewall's plans still exist and may be seen in 
 the Gaol Museum. Those who saw the ingeniously con- 
 trived float of Mr. George Main in the historical parade of 
 August 5th, could gain an excellent idea of the method of 
 construction of the original bridge. It is said that some 
 of the original piles may still be found protruding from the 
 mud under the present bridge, which is a substantial con- 
 tinuation of the original structure, repaired and strengthened 
 from time to time to meet the increasing burdens. 
 
 In 1740 it was voted "that the Select Men take into their 
 charge all the Great Gunns that belong to the Town & keep 
 them in their possession, till further orders," and seven years 
 later it was voted "That Capt. Nath 11 Donnell, Capt. Samuel 
 Sewall and Samuel Bragdon Jn r be and hereby are Impow- 
 ered to dispose of the Great Guns belonging to this Town, 
 and Purchas Smaller on [es] with the Produce of them, for 
 the Use of this Town according to their discression, and to 
 be dun as soon as Conveniently may be." 
 
 62
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Two of these remained in existence until quite recent years, 
 when the town, not realizing their historical value, in a 
 spasm of economy allowed them to be sold as old iron for 
 ballast to the captain of a coasting schooner. One was taken 
 out at a down-east port and used at a Fourth-of-July cele- 
 bration, where it burst. The other sunk with the schooner. 
 How old the "Great Guns" were no one knows, but tradi- 
 tion says they were sent over by Gorges. 
 
 In these vigorous temperance times in the State of Maine 
 it is of interest to learn the local sentiment of a century and 
 a half ago relative to liquor legislation, although we do not 
 know how stringent the proposed bill may have been. 
 
 "At a Legal Town Meeting holden in York, Aug 1 i, 1754, 
 Jeremiah Moulton, Esq., chosen Moderator. 
 
 "The extradt of the Bill relating to the Private Consumption 
 of Spirituous L,iquors, within this Province, with his Excel- 
 lency, the Govern" Speech thereon being read, and, after 
 mature consideration and Debate upon the same ; 
 
 "Voted, That the said Bill (in the apprehention of the 
 Town) is Grievous, burthensome and Inconsistent with the 
 natural Rights of every private Person & Family : . . . and 
 that Mr. John Bradbury, their Representative, not only con- 
 tinue his Endeavours against the said Bills passing, and there- 
 by comply with the Sentiments of his Constituents, but also 
 Return his Excellency the Thanks of this Town, for his 
 Paternal care of their Rights and Privileges, so dear to them, 
 and giving them opportunity of standing up for the same, 
 praying his Excellency the Bill may not pass into a I^aw." 
 
 On November 20th, 1772, the Town of Boston, at a legal 
 meeting received the report of its Committee of Correspond- 
 ence, prepared by James Otis. There assembled, the towns- 
 
 63
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 people took issue with the King and Parliament, protesting 
 against the raising of revenue' without consent of the col- 
 onies, the appointment of unconstitutional officers, supported 
 by fleets and armies in times of peace — twelve men-of-war 
 were then in Boston harbor — the restrictions on manufac- 
 turers, and many other grievances. They also voted to 
 appeal to all towns in the colony "that the collected wisdom 
 and fortitude of the whole people might dictate measures 
 for the rescue of their happy and glorious constitution."* 
 "These worthy New Englanders," said Chatham, as he read 
 the report, "ever feel as Old Englanders ought to do." Act- 
 ing on this appeal the freeholders of York assembled on 
 Monday, December 28th, 1772, and took action which was in 
 full accord with the movement for the colonial union, so soon 
 to take formal shape, and develop beyond the control of royal 
 governors and their misguided sovereign. 
 
 York's action was as follows : 
 
 "1. Resolved: That as the Inhabitants of this Town are 
 faithful and loyal Subjects of his Most Gracious Majesty, 
 King George the third, they are well Intitled to his most 
 Gracious favour ; and to be protected and secured, not only 
 in their natural and Constitutional Rights as Englishmen, 
 Christians and Subjects ; but in all and every the Rights and 
 Priviledges contained in the Royal Charter of the Province. 
 
 "2. Resolved, as the opinion of this Town, that divers of 
 those Rights, Liberties and Priviledges have been broken in 
 upon and much Infringed, to the great Grievance of this 
 Town, and Justly alarming to the Province. 
 
 "3. Resolved, That in the opinion of this Town, It's 
 highly necessary some just and reasonable measures be 
 
 ♦Bancroft, Vol. Ill, p. 423. 
 
 64
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 adopted for the Speedy Redress of such Grievances, so 
 burdensome and Distressing to us : which if made known to 
 our most Gracious Sovereign — we cant but flatter ourselves 
 (as our cause is so just) that would be pleased to remove 
 them. 
 
 "4. Voted, that our Representative at the Gener 1 Court, 
 use his utmost Influence and Endeavors for the speedy- 
 Redress of our Grievances, in such wise moderate and pru- 
 dent way and manner, as shall appear to him most fit, 
 & likely to take effedr, ; and as his Wisdom and Judgment 
 shall dictate. 
 
 "5. Voted, that the Clerk give out a Copy of the Proceed- 
 ings of the Town at this Meeting to the Select Men, who are 
 desired to Transmit the same to the Selectmen of Boston; 
 with the Thanks of this Town to that Town for the early 
 care they have taken of our Invaluable Rights and Privi- 
 ledges, and the Zeal they have for preserving the same." 
 
 Thomas Bragdon, Esquire, was the town's representative 
 at the General Court which convened at Boston, January 
 6, 1773, in a memorable session, which baffled Governor 
 Hutchinson and transmitted the proceedings of Boston in 
 organizing provincial Committees of Correspondence, to 
 Richard Henry L,ee of Virginia. Two months later the 
 burgesses of Virginia, led by Lee, Carr and Patrick Henry, 
 responded to the suggestions of the Massachusetts legislators, 
 and thus laid the foundation for the union of the colonies. 
 
 While it is not claimed that York outdistanced all other 
 towns in hurling defiance at his Brittanic Majesty, yet it is 
 evident that its leaders were men of affairs, keen, able, and 
 possessing in full measure the pervading spirit of free govern- 
 ment. They knew and could draw the distinction between 
 
 65
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 so-called traitors, or revolutionists, and God-fearing English- 
 men protesting against oppression. Did Otis or Hancock 
 or Adams speak more clearly than the following expression ? 
 
 "At a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of 
 the Town of York, regularly assembled at the Town House, 
 on Monday the 20th. Day of Janry, 1774, 
 
 "The Hon ble John Bradbury Esq. chosen Moderator. 
 
 "The Town immediately proceed to choose a Com tee 
 namely : The Hon ble John Bradbury, Esq r Thomas Bragdon 
 Esq r Capt. Joseph Holt, Capt. Dan 1 Bragdon, Capt. Edward 
 Grow & Mr. John Kingsbury to consider in what manner the 
 Town's Sentiments may be best expressed on the present 
 Important Crisis, and make Report to this Meeting upon y e 
 Adjournment tomorrow. 
 
 "Voted this Meeting be Adjourned to tomorrow, two 
 oClock afternoon. 
 
 "Upon the Adjournment viz 1 : Tuesday Jan. 21st. two 
 oClock afternoon : 
 
 "The said Com tee Reported, which, with the Amendments, 
 is as follows : 
 
 "The Com tee appointed by the Town to Consider in what 
 manner the Sentiments may be best express' d on the present 
 Crisis, beg leave to Report: 
 
 "That the People in the British American Colonies, by 
 their Constitution of Government, have a Right to Freedom, 
 and an Exemption from every Degree of Oppression & 
 Slavery. 
 
 "That it is an Essential Right of Freemen to have the dis- 
 posal of their own Property, and not be Tax'd by any Power, 
 over which they have no Control. 
 
 "That the Parliamentary Duty L,aid upon Teas landed in 
 
 66
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 America for the express purpose of raising a Revenue, is in 
 Effect a Tax upon the Americans, without their consent. 
 
 "That the several Colonies and Provinces in America have 
 ever Recognized the Protestant Kings of Great Britian as 
 their lawful Soverign : and it doth not appear, that any Par- 
 liament have been parties to any Contract, made with the 
 American Settlers in this howling Wilderness. 
 
 "That this Town approve the Constitution Exertions & 
 Struggles made by the Opulent Colonies through the Conti- 
 nent, for preventing so fatal a Catasthrophe, as is Implied in 
 Taxation without Representation: and that we are, and 
 always will be ready, in every Constitutional Way, to give all 
 assistance in our Power to prevent so Dire a Calamity. 
 
 "That a Dread of being Enslaved ourselves, and, of Trans- 
 mitting the Chains to our Posterity, is the Principle Induce- 
 ment to these Measures. 
 
 "Voted that the Sincere Thanks of this Town are Justly 
 due, and hereby are given all such Persons in this, and the 
 several Provinces & Colonies on the American Continent, 
 especially to our Brethren of the Town of Boston, so far as 
 they have Constitutionally exerted themselves in the Support 
 of their Just Liberties and Privileges." 
 
 Daniel Moulton, Town Clerk, adds: "Which was Read 
 Paragraff by Paragraff and accepted, and, thereupon Voted 
 that the Town Clerk Transmit a fair Copy to the Town Clerk 
 of Boston: and then the Meeting was dissolved." 
 
 The news from Lexington reached York about nine o'clock 
 on the evening of April 20th. Before the next sundown a 
 company of over sixty men, under Capt. Johnson Moulton, 
 equipped and provisioned, had marched from the town and 
 crossed the Piscataqua to join the troops around Boston. 
 
 67
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Thus, beyond question, York has the distinction of having 
 sent forth from the State the first soldiers in the struggle for 
 liberty.* 
 
 On this same twenty-first of April, the remaining citizens 
 assembled and in meeting 
 
 "Voted that the several Constables as have any of the pub- 
 lic Moneys of this Prov ce in their Hands, or have any to 
 Gather, & have hitherto neglected to pay the same : That 
 they forthwith Collect and pay the same to Henry Gardner, 
 Esq r agreeable to the proposal of the Provincial Congress : 
 and that this Town will Indemnify them for their so doing. 
 
 "Voted that if the Constables are Deficient in their Collec- 
 tions or any part thereof, such Deficiency shall be hired and 
 sent up by the Selectmen as soon as possible to the said 
 Gardner. 
 
 "Voted that Messrs. John Swett, Edw d Grow, Sam 1 Har- 
 ris, Joseph Grant & Jere h Weare be a Com tee to Correspond 
 with the several Towns in this Province. 
 
 "Voted that there be a Military Night Watch at the Har- 
 bour's Mouth, Constantly kept: of four men each night: two 
 on each Side and the Col° of the Regiment of Militia be 
 desired to regulate the same, and to include those of the 
 Alarm L,ist. 
 
 "Voted that the Selectmen at the Towns expense procure 
 a sufficient quantity of Indian Corn, as they shall Judge 
 necessary for the Town's Stock, & to be delt out according 
 to their discretion." 
 
 The meeting further" Voted that the Com tee of Inspection, 
 with Jotham Moulton, Esq. Sam 1 Jnnkins & Matthew Richie, 
 
 *See "Capt. Johnson Moulton's Company," address by Nathan 
 Goold, Esq., Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., 1899. 
 
 68
 
 • is 
 
 o 
 « 
 
 o 
 Pi 
 
 < 
 
 w 
 w
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 be a Com tee to Waite on Jonath n Sayward, Esq. for a View 
 of such L,ett r or Letters as he has receivd. from the late 
 Gov r Hutchinson, or others & make such Remarks upon the 
 same as they think necessary & make report to this meeting 
 on the adjournment. Town having been somewhat uneasy 
 and disaffected with conduct of Jonathan Sayward, Esq. sup- 
 posing to be not hearty & free for the support & Defence of 
 our Rights, Liberties & Privileges in this Dark & difficult 
 Day, but rather favoured the contrary: He came into the 
 Meeting & made a Speach upon the Subject : Whereupon 
 the Town Voted it was Satisfactory." 
 
 Jonathan Sayward, thus suspected of holding Tory princi- 
 ples, regained the confidence of his townsmen. Nothing is 
 known to confirm their suspicion. It is not improbable that 
 the Governor did correspond with Sayward, since the latter 
 was a man of influence in the community and wealthy for 
 those days. For many successive years, prior to the Revolu- 
 tion, he had been York's representative to the General Court 
 at Boston. Undoubtedly he had then formed the acquaint- 
 ance of Hutchinson, as a fellow representative from Boston. 
 To men of Sayward's type and interests, and of his years, it 
 meant much to take the irretraceable step of his townsmen 
 on that twenty-first of April. With many other York men 
 Sayward was in the expedition against Louisburg in 1745, 
 commanding the sloop "Sea Flower." His ancestors were 
 mill owners as early as 1658. He engaged largely in South- 
 ern and West Indian trade. His wharves are gone, but his 
 house stands, with its white oak sills, upon the banks of 
 York River at the harbor. On its walls hangs the portrait 
 by Copley of the only daughter, the beautiful Sally Sayward, 
 together with the portraits of her parents by Blackburn, the 
 
 69
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 teacher of Copley. Sally Say ward married Nathaniel Bar- 
 rell, an old York family originating in Hertfordshire, Eng- 
 land.* 
 
 June 5th, 1776, a month before the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, the town instructed Joseph Simpson, Esq., its rep- 
 resentative, to advise the General Court: "That if the 
 Hon ble Congress should for the safety of the Colonies declare 
 them Independent of the Kingdom of great Britain, they 
 the sd inhabitants will Solemnly engage with their Lives and 
 Fortunes to Support them in the measure." 
 
 Under date of the 12th of August of that year, recorded in 
 the plain, even handwriting of Daniel Moulton,t for nearly 
 forty years town clerk, appears in full the Declaration of 
 Independence. This was spread upon the records pursuant 
 to an order of Council, July 17, 1776, providing that "a copy 
 be sent to the minister of each Parish and of every denomina- 
 tion within this State : and that they severally be required to 
 read the same to their respective congregations as soon as 
 divine service is ended in the afternoon of the first Lord's 
 Day after they shall have reced it, — and after such Publica- 
 tion thereof to deliver the said Declaration to the clerks of 
 their several towns . . . who are hereby required to record 
 the same . . . there to remain as a perpetual MEMORIAL, 
 thereof." 
 
 Throughout the revolution the town's records show that it 
 bristled with patriotism ; and the part it played in the great 
 struggle has never been adequately told. The majority, both 
 of officers and of rank and file, who on April 21st, 1775, set 
 
 *The old Sayward house is now the summer home of Rev. Mr. 
 Wheeler of Worcester. 
 tDaniel Moulton was son of Col. Jeremiah Moulton. 
 
 70
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 out on their forced march toward Lexington, later saw active 
 service. Capt. Johnson Moulton became Lieutenant Colonel 
 of the 7th Continental Regiment under Prescott, and took 
 part in the Long Island campaign. Other York men in the 
 war were Capt. James Donnell, who was in the siege of Bos- 
 ton, at Ticonderoga, at the surrender of Burgoyne, at Valley 
 Forge, and at Monmouth. Another was Maj. Samuel Darby, 
 who commanded a York County company at Valley Forge 
 and who saw hard service elsewhere. 
 
 Bounties were repeatedly provided, guns, ammunition and 
 clothing supplied, and every effort was apparently made to 
 fill the town's quota ; saving only one occasion in September, 
 1777, when meeting declined to vote money "for the encour- 
 agement of those who will enlist in the Continental Army for 
 three years or during the War." 
 
 L,ess than a month previous every militia man who marched 
 4 'to the Reinforcement of the American Army and continue 
 in service, till the last of Nover. next" was voted six pounds 
 "as a Bounty over and above . . . Wages and Rations." This 
 action, although patriotic in intention, was but a sample of 
 that which Gen. Washington repeatedly protested against, 
 and from which the American forces, both north and south, 
 suffered so much in effectiveness. During the first years of 
 the war short enlistments and the consequent uncertainties 
 and constant changes in the forces were a source of weakness 
 and positive danger to the cause of independence. Other 
 and even sufficient reasons, which do not appear of record, 
 may have led to this action of September, 1777 ; we trust 
 so. On no other occasion does it appear that York failed 
 to aid and encourage both the Continental army and the 
 militia. 
 
 71
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 For half a century York's foremost citizen was David 
 Sewall. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1755, a 
 classmate and lifelong friend of John Adams. He was 
 admitted an attorney in 1760, and thenceforth for sixty-four 
 years, he was closely identified with the town's interests, his 
 name appearing on almost every recorded page of the town 
 meetings. 
 
 It was during the administration of President Washington 
 that he built his beautiful, stately residence, now known as 
 Coventry Hall,* the summer home of Rev. Frank Sewall, 
 D. D., of Washington, D. C. Here Judge Sewall entertained 
 President Munroe on his "progress" eastward. The Presi- 
 dent traveled in his private coach, the horses being furnished 
 en route, and the officers of the York County regiment of 
 militia, mounted, acting as escort from the Maine line. The 
 President was met at the Wilcox tavern by Judge Sewall and 
 escorted with great solemnity to his mansion on the hill. 
 
 David Sewall was buried in the old burying ground. 
 Upon his tombstone is engraved : 
 
 Consecrated to the memory of the 
 
 Hon. David Sewall, I/L. D. 
 An elevated benevolence was happily directed by an 
 enlightened intellect. Conscientious in duty he was ever 
 faithful in its discharge. Piety with patriarchal simplicity of 
 manners conspired to secure him universal esteem. 
 
 •Coventry Hall is named from Coventry, England, whence Henry 
 Sewall, son of the mayor of the town, migrated to Newbury, Mass., in 
 1634 ; from him and his wife, Jane Dummer, are descended the Sewalls 
 of New England. For a further account of Coventry Hall and its 
 building, with portrait of David Sewall, see the article "In an old 
 Colonial Library," in the New England Magazine for December, 1895, 
 by Rev. Frank Sewall. 
 
 72
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 His home was the abode of hospitality & friendship. In 
 him the defenceless found a protector, the poor a Benefactor, 
 the Community a Peacemaker, Science, Social Order & Reli- 
 gion an efficient Patron. 
 
 Distinguished for his patriotism, talents and integrity, he 
 was early called to important public offices which he sustained 
 with fidelity and honor. 
 
 Having occupied the Bench of the Supreme Court of the 
 State and District Court of the U. States with dignified 
 uprightness for forty years without one failure of attendance, 
 he retired from public life in 1818 and died Oct. 22, 1825 aged 
 XC years. 
 
 DEATH but entombs the body, 
 LIFE the Soul. 
 
 The war of 181 2 was hardly more popular in York than in 
 most other New England seaboard towns. Yet a volunteer 
 company was maintained, and the river's mouth was guarded 
 by a battery on Fort Head. The ramparts there are still 
 quite clearly defined. Moreover, on one occasion the towns- 
 people had an opportunity to show their mettle, and they 
 responded in no uncertain way. It happened that in the 
 summer of 1814 the British fleet, with H. M. S. Bulwark, 
 seventy-four guns, flagship, was blockading Portsmouth and 
 the adjacent ports. The primary object was to destroy ship- 
 ping at Kittery navy yard. The British had captured a small 
 pink-sterned schooner named the Juno, put swivel-guns 
 aboard and with an armed crew were capturing and burning 
 unsuspecting coastwise craft. One Sunday while the Juno 
 was pursuing a fisherman up the coast several of the towns- 
 people saw the chase and with muskets hurried out to the 
 Nubble. Concealing themselves they signalled the pursued 
 to stand in close. In she came by the point, and the Juno 
 
 73
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 followed. As the latter passed the half dozen men behind 
 rocks opened fire. When a Donnell fired a red-shirted sailor 
 fell. The British ineffectually returned the shots, although 
 a bullet spatted upon the flat rock which Donnell had placed 
 before himself. The Juno was forced to bear off, and the 
 fisherman escaped. The shooting and death of the British 
 sailor was confirmed by captives then on the Juno, but who 
 were soon after released. All this fusilade led to further 
 alarm. A man rushed to the doorway of the First Parish 
 meeting-house, but stood silent until Rev. Mr. Messenger fin- 
 ished his prayer. He then announced, "I think the British 
 are landing on the Nubble." The congregation was dis- 
 missed, the York artillery, an independent company, mus- 
 tered and with its single field-piece forthwith started to meet 
 the enemy. When the company had reached L,ong Beach 
 the cause of the alarm became known and the march ended. 
 
 The spirit which hastened those untrained militiamen to 
 meet British seamen was the same which impelled their 
 fathers toward Lexington on that April morning in 1775. 
 They thought, with good reason, that the enemy was at 
 hand, yet they did not know in what numbers ; nor did they 
 wait to learn. Forthwith they went out to meet him, pre- 
 pared to do their best. 
 
 South of the meeting-house lies the old burying ground, 
 the resting place of generations both known and forgotten. 
 For two and a half centuries it has been God's Acre until no 
 vacant spot remains within its enclosure, in fact today the 
 present generation walks and drives unwittingly over the 
 graves of its ancestors beneath the highway which has 
 encroached upon its eastern side. Among the graves com- 
 monly pointed out is the so-called "Witch's Grave" with a 
 
 74
 
 Skwael's Bridge, York River. 
 
 "The Witch's Grave," Old Burying Ground.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 heavy stone slab resting its length between the headstone and 
 footstone, but no witch lies buried here. A century ago this 
 woman died and was buried. Her husband was about to 
 remove from town, and to prevent the hogs, "well yoked and 
 rigned as the law directs and allowed to go at large," from 
 disturbing the grave, he considerately placed the heavy stone 
 across it. 
 
 Upon a rocky knoll, facing the old court house, is prob- 
 ably the oldest public building of the English colonies in 
 America, the old county prison, built in 1653-4. On the 
 first floor is a massive stone dungeon. On the floor above 
 are cells of hewn oak timbers with windows grated by double 
 and triple rows of bars. The prisoners received their food 
 through apertures heavily barred and fortified by sections of 
 mill saws. Undoubtedly each cell has contained as prisoners 
 not only respectable men whose only offense was an inability 
 to pay a small debt, but with them hardened criminals, drunk- 
 ards, vagabonds and "common railers and brawlers." Still 
 this jail could not but compare favorably with the damp, 
 revolting prisons of other States, such as the underground 
 cells used in Connecticut. To those prisoners who could 
 give bond for the purpose was given the "Liberty of the 
 yard," the "yard" consisting merely of certain prescribed 
 limits extending each way from the Gaol. One of the limits 
 was the door of the meeting-house "to the end Persons 
 having the Liberty of the yard may attend Public Worship." 
 It was not uncommon for a prisoner to be "sold for the term 
 of three years to pay costs and charges." A schoolmaster 
 was imprisoned for inability to "furnish bond to keep the 
 peace"; and another of the same vocation, also styled "Gen- 
 
 75
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 tleman," was likewise punished for "teaching school without 
 being qualified according to law." 
 
 For more than two hundred years this old prison on the hill 
 served to execute sentence upon evil doers. The story that 
 its walls would tell must, from their very existence, be that 
 of evil doing, suffering and perhaps of misguided persecu- 
 tion.* Its adjuncts were the stocks, and the whipping post ; 
 and from it have gone to the gallows on "Stage Neck," at 
 York Harbor, at least two men to suffer death, while it 
 has detained many others who were destined to receive cap- 
 ital punishment. Its erection marks the downfall of a prom- 
 ising Royalist colony, a community which enjoyed the favor 
 of its ill-fated sovereign, and was the extravagant hope of its 
 Lord Palatine. For more than a generation there were those 
 in Maine who wore with ill ease the collar of Massachusetts 
 Bay ; and may not these stout old walls have been so 
 promptly built not only to punish lawlessness, but also to 
 be a veiled warning to those who would still in secret drink 
 the health of the son of King Charles ? The Gaol has now 
 come to a happier use under the care of the York Historical 
 and Improvement Society, which maintains it as a museum 
 of local antiquities. Here the society has secured from the 
 townspeople a loan collection of heirlooms and relics which 
 does credit to bygone days in the old town. 
 
 Two of the colonial taverns remain at the Village, although 
 both have long since ceased to be public houses and are now 
 spacious summer residences of descendants of former owners. 
 One, the old Wilcox Tavern, was built by Edward Emerson 
 on land leased from the Parish. Its rear door opens directly 
 
 *For further account of the old Gaol see introductory article by the 
 •writer, appearing in catalogue of Museum at Gaol, 1903. 
 
 76
 
 XIX 
 
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 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 among the graves of the burying ground, where close at hand 
 lies Norton Woodbridge, its keeper in Revolutionary days. 
 It passed to Captain Wilcox, a gentleman of the old school, 
 and has sheltered many men famous in state and national 
 affairs, notably John Adams and James Munroe. It is now 
 owned by Walter M. Smith, Esq., of Stamford, Connecticut. 
 
 The other tavern has passed down to Hon. Edward O. 
 Emerson, of Titusville, Pennsylvania, a descendant of an old 
 York family. In Revolutionary days it was occupied by 
 Paul Dudley Woodbridge, an ardent loyalist, whose sign 
 expressly stated that here was entertainment for none but 
 patriots. 
 
 The old Stacy Tavern, demolished in 1870, deserves a 
 word of remembrance. It was located on the brow of the 
 hill on the southerly side of Meeting House Creek, near the 
 bridge. In earliest days, before the Saywards built the dam 
 across the mouth of the creek for their tide mills, this water 
 was navigable for small craft up to the tavern. An old 
 timber taken from it, marked "1634," indicates the year of 
 its erection. The house was notable for the great size of its 
 chimney, which was said to have been so built as to include 
 in its foundation a considerable part of the cellar. It was a 
 popular meeting place a century and more ago. William 
 Stacy, who lived in the tavern, was on the Ranger and 
 landed with Paul Jones at the burning of Whitehaven. 
 There are those still living who remember the old Revolu- 
 tionary pensioner, who so often told his boyhood experiences 
 sailing under the little Scotchman. 
 
 Numerous other old taverns, and quasi public houses, have 
 long since disappeared or wholly changed in character. 
 
 Travel in the earliest days was either by boat along the 
 
 77
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 coast to adjacent ports, mostly to the south, or by mere 
 bridle paths skirting the shore. Of course there were high- 
 ways before 1700, but they could hardly have been wrought 
 roads. Those first mentioned are not formally laid out, but are 
 simply strips "a pole and a half or two poles wide" reserved 
 as a path or way in making grants, the exadt location being 
 determined largely by subsequent usage. The first highway 
 to be duly laid out and recorded was in 1699, being known 
 as the "County Road Through the Town." It extended 
 from Wells over the seawall of Long Sands, through York 
 Village and on to Berwick, with a branch to "the lower End 
 of the Town . . . along a way as has Bin formerly" to the 
 Say ward mill. One of the very earliest ways was down over 
 Stage Neck, across the ferry to the south side of York River, 
 through or near the Allen estate, thence on to Brave Boat 
 Harbor to another ferry, and continuing to the Piscataqua 
 plantations. William Hilton, before referred to, a man of 
 great physical size and strength, was the ferryman at Stage 
 Neck. The first recorded act. of the new town in 1652 was 
 that Hilton shall have the use of the ferry for twenty years, 
 "and he is duly to attend the sd. ferry with Cannoes suffi- 
 cient for the safe transportation both of strangers and Towns- 
 men." The toll was "two pence a piece every stranger & 
 four pence apiece for every beast or horse which he swim- 
 meth over, or that are swum over by any strangers them- 
 selves." Other ferries were established farther up York 
 River, one just below the site of Sewall's Bridge, and 
 another near Rice's Bridge. Sylvester Stover also had a 
 ferry at Cape Neddick in 1652. 
 
 Soon after 17 10 a line of post riders was established 
 extending from Portsmouth as far as Philadelphia, and a 
 
 78
 
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 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 little later into Virginia. Doubtless from this time, or at 
 least after the close of Indian hostilities in 17 13, York was in 
 regular weekly communication with towns to the south. In 
 those early days of the post the weekly mail would probably 
 consist of little more than a dozen letters, a package or two, 
 and a few copies of the News-L,etter (1704), or the Boston 
 Gazette (17 19), or the New Hampshire Gazette (1756). 
 Probably more travel and news matter passed by water than 
 overland. But by Revolutionary times a regular system of 
 post riders passed through, and as far north as Falmouth, 
 now Portland. The writer has no definite information as to 
 when the first line of coaches, or stages, made regular trips 
 through the town. Not unlikely it was as early as 1770. 
 
 A century and more ago the population of York was some- 
 what larger than is its strictly resident population today ; but 
 its property valuation was probably not one-tenth as much. 
 The West India trade was considerable, as was the coastwise 
 shipping. Also fishermen sailed both to the Grand Banks 
 and to "Georges" as late as 1850. It was not uncommon for 
 schooners and some larger craft to be built along the shores 
 of York River. One shipyard was well up river in the 
 vicinity of Scotland,* and another near Marshall's wharf, 
 below Sewall's Bridge. The latter yard and adjoining wharf 
 property were in very early times an active place of business. 
 Donnell's ferry was at this point, and later Capt. Joseph 
 Tucker, in Revolutionary times and for some years later, 
 carried on business here and built several vessels. Capt. 
 Tucker was a man of considerable prominence in town affairs 
 and a representative to the General Court at Boston. His 
 
 *A schooner was built inland near "Beech Ridge" and hauled to the 
 launching place by oxen. 
 
 79
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 dwelling house, located at the head of his wharf, was 
 removed about 1870, and much of its timber entered into the 
 original structure embraced in the present Yorkshire Inn at 
 the Harbor. Other points of commercial activity were 
 Captain Samuel Sewall's wharf, on the south side of the river 
 near the bridge which bears his name ; also the Sayward 
 wharves of very early times, later owned by the Barrells, 
 located just south of the present railroad bridge. Below 
 these were those of the Harmons, the Varrells and the early 
 Donnells. From Cape Neddick River the old-fashioned 
 sloops and smaller schooners carried on a general coastwise 
 traffic, especially the shipping of wood and lumber. 
 
 The schooners of a century ago, and less, did not average 
 near one hundred tons burden, while the ships did not, as a 
 rule, exceed three hundred tons. We say that they and their 
 cargoes were small and insignificant. True it is ; but those 
 were the days of small things commercially, measured by the 
 vast industries of today. Yet then the great commercial 
 activity of New England seaports consisted largely in the 
 traffic of just such craft as sailed in and out of the port of 
 York, a town of far greater relative population than now. 
 Had it kept relative pace numerically with Boston since the 
 close of the Revolution it would now be a city of nearly 
 ninety thousand inhabitants. Of course no clipper ships 
 sailed out of this little river with its swift current and devious 
 channel, but from the town have hailed some of their finest 
 captains. 
 
 It must have been about the middle of the last century that 
 the future of York seemed least inviting. The steam railroad 
 had been built inland, avoiding the town and diverting the 
 travel which had hitherto passed through by stage coach, and 
 
 80
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 which made "Marm Freeman's" at Cape Neddick one of the 
 famous taverns on the post road between Boston and Port- 
 land. It had also ceased to be the shire town, the courts 
 were removed, and moreover, the shipping had dwindled to 
 the few coasters and fishermen. 
 
 The town's new industry began in the early seventies, 
 when the first summer hotels and cottages were built ; and 
 travelers, leaving the cars at Portsmouth, arrived in town 
 dusty and weary from the ten miles' jaunt in a rocking stage- 
 coach. But the air was invigorating, its wooded drives and 
 quiet elm-shaded highways were attractive, and its firm, 
 smooth beaches were unsurpassed. The steam railroad came 
 in 1887 and supplanted the stage coach ; hotels and board- 
 ing-houses multiplied and improved, and substantial cottages 
 of summer residents more thickly dotted its rocky shores. 
 The growth of the town as a summer resort, to which all 
 energies are now more or less directly turned, has been espe- 
 cially rapid during the last six or eight years. Within its 
 limits have been developed four quite distinct summer vil- 
 lages, York Harbor, York Beach and York Cliffs, beyond 
 Cape Neddick River. Also along the sea wall betwixt 
 "L,ong Sands" and "Bear Berry Marsh" of olden days, 
 facing a splendid beach a mile and a half in length, is the 
 fourth community, known as Long Beach. Even York Vil- 
 lage, from earliest days the town's center in public affairs, is 
 now being invaded by summer residents, not including those 
 who come back to open ancestral halls. Thus "these parts," 
 with a resident population of a trifle less than three thousand, 
 annually, between the months of June and September, 
 expand into a community of nearly ten thousand souls, who, 
 to quote a Puritan soldier stationed in York two centuries 
 
 81
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ago, possess and are bent on "an abundance of levity," even 
 though many come from Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 Unlike many old New England towns York is not now 
 decadent. Probably the man does not live who will see the 
 town become of importance in commerce or in manufacturing 
 industries. Its development is set along other lines which 
 largely preclude the activities of commercial life. Its pros- 
 perity lies in its cool, bracing air, its pure brooks and ponds, 
 the winding tidal river, rugged shore line and firm beaches, 
 in its green fields and groves of hickory, oak and pine. 
 Nature has been lavish to this old town ; and its association 
 with the beginnings of New England add a certain character 
 and charm to its quiet nooks and corners. Thus naturally it 
 has come to be the summer home of hundreds who here seek 
 health, recreation or rest. 
 
 York is a better town today than ever before, and its abid- 
 ing prosperity and a surpassing future can best be assured by 
 the well-directed energy of even a score of its citizens, mind- 
 ful to preserve its natural beauties and zealous for every well 
 directed civic movement. 
 
 To use words from a prediction by its old L,ord Palatine, 
 may it speedily become, even as never before, a "Fair Towne 
 ... a very flourishing place." 
 
 82
 
 Hon. Edward C. Moody, 
 
 York, 
 
 Petitioner to Town Meeting for Observance of 250th 
 
 Anniversary.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 1652 1902 
 
 program 
 
 of the Celebration of the 
 
 Zxoo Ibunfcrefc anfc fiftieth anniversary of 
 tbe Gown of Uorfc, flDatne, 
 
 August 5, 1902. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 The Committee of the Town of York appointed at the Town Meet- 
 ing, March, 1902: 
 
 Mr. J. Perley Putnam, Mr. Charles H. Junkins, 
 
 Mr. Joseph P. Bragdon, Mr. Harry H. Norton, 
 
 Mr. William T. Keene, Mr. George F. Plaisted, 
 
 Mr. Malcolm Mclntire, Mr. J. Howard Preble, 
 
 Mr. Henry Plaisted, Mr. George E. Marshall, 
 
 Mr. Samuel T. Blaisdell, Mr. Joseph W. Simpson, 
 
 Mr. William O. Barrell, Mr. Daniel Weare, 
 
 Mr. Josiah N. Norton, Mr. John F. Plaisted. 
 
 The Joint Committee of the Town and the Old York Historical and 
 Improvement Society : 
 
 Mr. J. Perley Putnam, Mr. Walter M. Smith, 
 
 Mr. George F. Plaisted, Hon. E. O. Emerson, 
 
 Mr. William T. Keene, Rev. Frank Sewall, D. D. 
 
 83
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 General Secretary, Mr. George F. Plaisted, 
 
 Treasurer, Mr. Wilson M. Walker, 
 
 President of the Day, Mr. Walter M. Smith, 
 
 Marshal of the Parade, Mr. J. Perley Putnam. 
 
 Committee on the Program and Invitations — Rev. Frank Sewall, 
 D. D., Hon. Edward O. Emerson, Mr. Walter M. Smith. 
 
 SPECIAL COMMITTEES. 
 
 ON HISTORIC PARADE. 
 Frank D. Marshall, LL- B., Mrs. James T. Davidson, Mrs. F. 
 Doubleday, Mrs. Hungerford, Miss Mary Louise Smith, Miss Theo- 
 dosia Barrell, Miss Katherine E. Marshall, Miss Ruth Putnam, Miss 
 Florence Paul, Miss Elizabeth Perkins, Mrs. George L. Cheney, Miss 
 Rachel K. Sewall, Miss Constance Emerson, Miss Elizabeth T. 
 Sewall, Miss Ellen M. Dennett. 
 
 ON MUSIC. 
 
 Mr. George F. Plaisted. 
 
 ON THE WATER CARNIVAI,. 
 Messrs. Freeman Sewall, Eugene Sewall, Burleigh Davidson, 
 Russell Cheney. 
 
 ON FIREWORKS. 
 
 Mr. Walter M. Smith. 
 
 ON ENTERTAINMENT. 
 Mr. W. T. Keene, Mr. N. H. Shattuck, 
 
 Mr. Joseph P. Bragdon, Mr. Samuel A. Preble, 
 
 Hon. John C. Stewart, Hon. E. O. Emerson, 
 
 Mr. W. M. Walker, Mr. Frank D. Marshall. 
 
 PRESS COMMITTEE. 
 Mr. George F. Plaisted, Mr. Edwin D. Twombly, 
 
 / Mr. William J. Neal. 
 
 84
 
 Mr. J. Pkrley Putnam, 
 
 York, 
 
 Chairman of Board of .Selectmen.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 ON SUNDAY EVENING, AUGUST 3rd, 
 
 A UNION REUGIOUS SERVICE OF THANKFUL 
 COMMEMORATION 
 
 will be held in the 
 
 Meeting House of the "First Church of Christ" 
 
 in York Village, Organized 1662, 
 
 with the Music of the OLDEN TIME, 
 
 and Addresses by the REV. ELIHU SNOW, on the 
 
 EARLY RELIGIOUS LIFE AND CUSTOMS, 
 
 and by the REV. SIDNEY K. PERKINS, on 
 
 The Churches and Ministers of the Town of York. 
 
 The Rev. D. C. Abbott will describe the beginning of the "Meth- 
 odist," and the Rev. John A. Goss that of the "Christian" Church 
 movements. 
 
 Organist and Music Director, Miss Katherine E. Marshall. 
 
 TUESDAY, August sth. 
 
 At sunrise and sunset a Salute will be fired from the Palo Alto Gun 
 on Paul Hill under direction of the Hon. Edward C. Moody, and the 
 Church Bells will be rung. 
 
 THE PARADE. 
 
 Mr. J. Perley Putnam, Marshal. 
 
 Aids. 
 Mr. W. J. Simpson, Mr. Frank H. Ellis, 
 
 Mr. W. T. Keene, Mr. Jos. P. Bragdon, 
 
 Mr. A. M. Bragdon, Mr. Fred G. Winn. 
 
 The Parade will form at 9 o'clock A. M., at York Beach, and at 
 10 A. M. will move by Long Beach and York Harbor to York Village 
 and York Corner, returning to York Village for Commemoration 
 Exercises. 
 
 85
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ORDER OF PARADE). 
 
 Marshal and Aids. 
 Mounted Escort. 
 The Marine Band of the Navy Yard at Kittery, Me. 
 Detachment of United States Marines, Captain Russell, com- 
 manding. 
 Historical Parade Illustrating 
 Incidents and Characters in the History of York. 
 Kearsarge Fife and Drum Corps. 
 Floral Parade. 
 The Public Schools. 
 
 TABLEAUX ON FLOATS. 
 
 I. 
 
 1614. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, 
 
 Unfolding his "Great Map of New England" before Prince 
 
 Charles, who names this locality Boston, and Mt. Agamenticus 
 
 "Snadoun Hill." 
 
 II. 
 
 1631-2. 
 COL. WALTER NORTON, 
 
 and Colonists from Bristol, England, sent by Gorges to take 
 possession "by which the foundation of the plantation was 
 
 laid." 
 
 III. 
 1642. 
 THOMAS GORGES, Mayor of Gorgeana, 
 
 Roger Garde, Recorder; "Sergants of Ye White Rod," and 
 
 Aldermen. 
 
 IV. 
 
 I652. 
 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY 
 
 assumes control. Right Worshipful Sir Richard Bellingham 
 and Sheriff Norton. Edward Godfrey refuses to submit, 
 resolving to exercise jurisdiction "until it shall please Parlia- 
 ment otherwise to order." 
 
 86
 
 Hox. Edward O. Emerson, 
 
 Titusville, Pa., 
 
 Executive Committee.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 V. 
 1 692. 
 SACK AND MASSACRE 
 
 by French and Indians. Killing of Rev. Shubael Dummer, first 
 pastor of the Parish, at his house near Roaring Rock. 
 
 VI. 
 CHRISTIAN SACHEM St. Aspinquid of Mt. Agamenticus. 
 
 VII. 
 
 1745-47- 
 SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL 
 
 presenting Col. Jeremiah Moulton with silver tankard, a gift 
 from King George II. for valiant conduct at Louisburg. 
 
 VIII. 
 1761. 
 MAJOR SAMUEL SEWALL 
 
 builds "The Great Bridge" over York River; first pile draw- 
 bridge in America. 
 
 IX. 
 
 1774. 
 DANIEL MOULTON, 
 
 Town Clerk, in Town Meeting reading "paragraph by para- 
 graph," the resolutions asserting of "Right to Freedom," pro- 
 testing against taxation without representation, and pledging 
 support "especially to . . . brethren of the Town of Boston." 
 
 X. 
 
 1775- 
 VOLUNTEERS 
 
 ("Men of the Alarm List") under Capt. Johnson Moulton, 
 
 responding to the call from Lexington, April 21st, 1775 — first 
 
 troops to leave Maine in the struggle for independence. 
 
 XL 
 
 1816. 
 PRESIDENT MONROE 
 
 received by Judge David Sewall, escorted by officers of First 
 
 Regiment of Maine Militia. 
 
 87
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 XII. 
 CHARACTERS. 
 
 The Tithing Men. 
 
 Pirate Trickey weaving his rope of sand. 
 
 Palo Alto Cannon and veteran of Mexican War. 
 
 Our Visitors from Auld Lang Syne. 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE EXERCISES, 
 
 On the Green, in the Rear of the Town Hall. 
 TUESDAY, AUGUST 5th, 2 O'CLOCK P. M. 
 
 MUSIC, THE MARINE BAND, 
 
 R. L. Reinewald, Bandmaster. 
 
 1. Grand March, "Tannhauser," Wagner 
 
 2. Overture, "Fest," Leutner 
 
 3. International Fantasia, on Patriotic "Airs of Two 
 
 Continents," arr. by Rollinson 
 
 The Hon. Edward C. Moody will introduce the 
 President of the Day, Mr. Walter M. Smith 
 
 INVOCATION— The Rev. David B. Sewall, former Pastor 
 of the First Parish Church. 
 
 READING OF PSALM CXV.— The Rev. D. C. Abbott 
 of the Methodist Church. 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE HYMN, Isaac Watts 
 
 Tune— ("St. Martin's.") 
 Let children hear the mighty deeds 
 
 Which God performed of old, 
 Which in our younger years we saw, 
 And which our fathers told. 
 
 He bids us make His glories known, 
 
 His words of power and grace ; 
 And we'll convey His wonders down 
 
 Through every rising race. 
 
 88
 
 Mr. George F. Pi.aisted, 
 York, 
 
 Secretary of Executive Committee.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Our lips shall tell them to our sons, 
 
 And they again to theirs, 
 That generations yet unborn 
 
 May teach them to their heirs. 
 
 Thus shall they learn, in God alone 
 
 Their hope securely stands, 
 That they may ne'er forget His words 
 
 But practice His commands. 
 
 CITIZENS' WELCOME, by the Hon. John C. Stewart. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS, by the President of the Day. 
 
 ORATION, by the Hon. James Phinney Baxter, President of the 
 Maine Historical Society and of the New England Genealogical 
 and Historical Society. 
 
 SINGING, led by the Band, "The Star Spangled Banner." 
 
 Short addresses by distinguished guests, among whom will be 
 Thomas Nelson Page, Litt. D., Samuel L. Clemens ["Mark Twain"], 
 Litt. D., President Tucker of Dartmouth College, Francis L. Stetson, 
 Esq., of New York, the Honorable Thomas B. Reed of New York and 
 Major General Joshua L. Chamberlain, Ex-Governor of Maine. 
 
 SINGING.—' 'America. ' ' 
 
 BENEDICTION.— The Rev. Sidney K. Perkins. 
 
 OPEN AIR CONCERT BY THE MARINE BAND, 
 On the Village Green, from 6.30 to 7.30 P. M. 
 
 ILLUMINATED BOAT PARADE, 
 On Lake Gorges from 8 to 9 o'clock. 
 
 FIREWORKS. 
 
 Promptly at 9 o'clock will begin an Aerial Display of Fireworks 
 from the south shore of Lake Gorges, under the management of the 
 celebrated Pain Co. 
 
 89
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 The Maine Historical Society, at the invitation of the Committee, 
 have made this celebration their Field Day for the present year. 
 They will attend a reception given them by the Rev. and Mrs. Frank 
 Sewall, at Coventry Hall, the old "Judge Sewall Mansion," between 
 five and six o'clock. 
 
 The OLD JAIL, erected in 1653 and still preserving its dungeons, 
 court-room and sheriff's residence, now devoted to a Colonial Museum 
 of valuable local relics, household utensils, books, manuscripts, com- 
 missions, coats-of-arms, etc., will be open to visitors from 8 A. M. to 
 6 P. M. Admission, 15 cents. Catalogues and Views for sale. 
 
 RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 The upper hall in the Town House will be set apart as a reception 
 room, for the convenience, during the day, of guests from abroad. 
 
 90
 
 Rev. Frank Sewall, D. D., 
 
 Washington, D. C, 
 
 Chairman Committee on Program and Invitations.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Carb of Invitation. 
 
 1652-1902 
 
 The Joint Committee of the 
 
 TOWN OF YORK, MAINE, 
 
 and the Old York Historical and Improvement Society 
 have the honour to invite 
 
 to be present at the Celebration of the 
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 of the 
 
 Incorporation of the Town 
 
 To be held 
 
 On the Meeting-House Green of York Village, on 
 
 Tuesday, August Fifth, Nineteen Hundred and Two at 
 
 Two o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 J. Peri<Ey Putnam, Chairman. 
 
 Frank Sewali,, 
 Edward O. Emerson, 
 Walter M. Smith, 
 
 Committee on Invitations . 
 
 9i
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 (Buests present. 
 
 Acceptances were received from the following invited 
 guests, who were seated on the platform with the officers of 
 the day during the exercises of Aug. 5th on the Village 
 Green : The President, Secretary and Visiting Members of 
 the Maine Historical Society ; Mr. Justice McKenna of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States ; Gen. Joshua L. Cham- 
 berlain, Ex-Gov. of Maine; Woodbury Langdon, Esq., 
 New York; Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., New York; Dr. 
 J. B. Ayer, Boston ; Hon. Edward S. Marshall, York ; John 
 J. I^oud, Esq., Weymouth, Mass.; J. Windsor Brathwaite, 
 Esq., Kennebunkport ; A. G. Cumnock, Esq., Lowell, Mass.; 
 Hon. Thomas B. Reed, New York; William Dean Howells, 
 Litt. D., New York; Thomas Nelson Page, Litt. D., Wash- 
 ington, D. C; Samuel L. Clemens, Litt. D., New York ; Pres- 
 ident Tucker, Dartmouth College ; Ex-Gov. F. W. Rollins, 
 New Hampshire; Charles Eustis Hubbard, Esq., Boston; 
 Hon. Augustus F. Moulton, Portland. 
 
 Letters of appreciation and regret were received from the 
 following : The President of the United States ; His Excel- 
 lency the Governor of Maine ; His Excellency the Governor 
 of Massachusetts ; the Honorable William P. Frye, U. S. 
 Senator; the Honorable Eugene Hale, U. S. Senator; Presi- 
 dent Eliot of Harvard University ; President Hyde of Bowdoin 
 College; Hon. W. H. Moody, Secretary of the Navy; Hon. 
 
 92
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 James O. Bradbury of Saco ; Capt. John Dennett of the U.S. 
 Revenue Service; Charles Ray Palmer, I,!,. D., New Haven, 
 Conn.; Charles F. Adams, Esq., Boston; John Fogg, Esq., 
 New York; William Bruce King, Esq., Washington, D. C; 
 James D. Smith, Esq., New York; Ex-Governor Henry B. 
 Cleaves of Portland; Maj. Gen. Augustus B. Farnham, 
 Adjutant General of Maine. 
 
 93
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 persons wbo Gook part in tbe UMstortc 
 tableaux, august 5, 1902. 
 
 Historic Float I. — Capt. John Smith unfolding the "Great 
 Map of New England" before Prince Charles. Capt. Smith, 
 Dr. E. C. Cook; Prince Charles, Clarence Grant; Pages, 
 I,ewis Raynes and Marshall Putnam. 
 
 Float II. — Col. Walter Norton and Colonists from England 
 taking possession in behalf of Gorges. Col. Norton, Everett 
 Goodwin ; Colonists, Percy Boyd, Elmer Patch, Aug. Han- 
 son, Arthur Baker, Miss L,ucy Johnson and Miss Mary 
 Hanson. 
 
 Float III. — Thomas Gorges, mayor of Gorgeana, Roger 
 Garde, Recorder, and "Sergants of Ye White Rod" and 
 Aldermen. Sir Thomas, John Regan ; Roger Garde, Walter 
 Hammil ; Sergeants, Joseph and Elroy Moulton ; Aldermen, 
 John Dowd and Elwin Webster. 
 
 Float IV. — Massachusetts Bay Colony's assumption of 
 authority. Right Worshipful Sir Richard Bellingham and 
 Sheriff Norton. Edward Godfrey refuses to submit. Sir 
 Richard, Roy Titcomb; Sheriff Norton, B. S. Woodward; 
 Godfrey, William Staples. 
 
 Float V. — Sack and Massacre by French and Indians. 
 Killing of Rev. Shubael Dummer. Dummer, Arthur Brag- 
 don ; French and Indians, Harvey Goodwin, Dallas Bickford, 
 Edw. Woodward and Raymond Brewster. 
 
 Float VI.— Christian Sachem St. Aspinquid, Howard 
 Goodwin. 
 
 94
 
 Mr. William T. Keene, 
 
 York , 
 
 Executive Committee.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Float VII. — Sir William Pepperrell presenting Col. Jere- 
 miah Moulton with silver tankard, a gift from King George 
 II., for valiant conduct at Louisburg. Sir William, Samuel 
 Thompson ; Col. Jeremiah Moulton, Edward Thompson. 
 
 Float VIII. — Building of Sewall's Bridge by Major 
 Samuel Sewall. Major Sewall, Geo. Main ; assistants, Jef- 
 ferson Main, Benjamin Kimball, Ed. Kimball and Josiah 
 Murphy. 
 
 Float IX. — Town Clerk Daniel Moulton reading the first 
 declaration of independence, "paragraph by paragraph." 
 Daniel Moulton, Willis G. Moulton. 
 
 No. X. — Minute Men. George Gray, captain ; Chas. 
 Blake, ist lieutenant ; forty men from York Volunteer Fire 
 Company. 
 
 Float XI. — President Monroe, received by Judge David 
 Sewall. President Monroe, John Young; Judge Sewall, 
 William Card. 
 
 Float XII. — Pirate Trickey, binding sand with a rope, 
 Gardner Donnell. Palo Alto Cannon, 1847 and 1865. Our 
 Visitors from Auld Lang Syne. 
 
 The excellence of the historical parade was due to the inde- 
 fatigable efforts of the special committee on Historic Parade, 
 Frank D. Marshall, Esq., Mrs. James T. Davidson, Mrs. 
 F. Doubleday, Mrs. Hungerford, Miss Mary Louise Smith, 
 Miss Theodosia Barrell, Miss Katharine E. Marshall, Miss 
 Ruth Putnam, Miss Florence Paul, Miss Rachel Kenyon 
 Sewall, Miss Elizabeth Trufant Sewall, Miss Elizabeth 
 Perkins, Mrs. George L. Cheney and Miss Ellen M. Dennett. 
 
 The ladies of the Committee rode in the stage-coach from 
 York Beach to the Village Green wearing costumes suitable 
 to "Our Visitors from Auld Lang Syne." 
 
 95
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Commemorative Exercises on tbe IDillaae 
 
 (Breen. 
 
 The Hon. Edward C. Moody addressed the assemblage as 
 follows : 
 
 ''''Ladies and Gentlemen , Fellow Citizens : 
 
 "In the warrant calling the annual town meeting of York 
 held March 13th this present year, an article appeared on the 
 petition of six men — Wilson M. Walker, Albert M. Bragdon, 
 A. H. Bowden, W. T. Keene, E. F. Hobson and one other 
 — To see if the town would vote to commemorate its 250th 
 anniversary. It so voted. The York Historical Society 
 joined hands with the town. The booming of cannon, the 
 ringing of bells, the strains of martial music, the elaborate 
 decorations, the passing of the splendid parade through our 
 streets, all speak thus far in memory of the olden days. 
 And now we shall be told of those who founded and fostered 
 this ancient borough. 
 
 " 'What was his name ? I do not know his name. 
 I only know he heard God's voice, and came : 
 Brought all he loved across the sea, 
 To live and work for God — and me ; 
 Felled the ungracious oak ; 
 With rugged toil 
 Dragged from the soil 
 The thrice gnarled roots and stubborn rock ; 
 With plenty filled the haggard mountain side ; 
 And when his work was done, without memorial died. 
 
 96
 
 Mr. Walter M. Smith, 
 
 Stamford, Conn., 
 
 President of the Day.
 
 OP THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 No blaring trumpet sounded out his fame : 
 
 He lived, he died — I do not know his name. 
 
 No form of bronze and no memorial stones 
 
 Show me the place where lie his mouldering bones : 
 
 Only a cheerful village stands, 
 
 Built by his hardened hands ; 
 
 Only one thousand homes, 
 Where every day 
 The cheerful play 
 Of love and hope and courage comes ; 
 These are his monuments, and these alone — 
 There is no form of bronze; and no memorial stone.' 
 
 "My friends, I am not here to weary you. It is a public 
 honor, my personal pleasure, to present to you the President 
 of the York Historical Society as the President of the day, 
 Mr. Walter M. Smith." 
 
 Mr. Smith's Remarks. 
 Mr. Moody, Ladies and Gentlemen ; 
 
 For the distinguished honor of presiding over this assem- 
 bly I am indebted, sir, to your committee. I thank you for 
 your kindly introduction. In making my grateful acknowl- 
 edgment of your courtesy, I desire to voice the sentiment of 
 your committee, and of your fellow townsmen, in according 
 to you, sir, the inception of the movement which has culmi- 
 nated in this tribute to Old York. 
 
 Shall we not, with grateful hearts, reverently bow our 
 heads while Rev. David B. Sewall asks God's blessing upon 
 this gathering. 
 
 Then followed the invocation by the Rev. David B. 
 Sewall, former pastor of the First Parish Church. 
 
 This was followed by the reading of Psalm CXV by the 
 
 97
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Rev. S. C. Abbott, of the Methodist Church, and the sing- 
 ing of the Commemorative Hymn by Isaac Watts, "L,et 
 Children Hear the Mighty Deeds." 
 
 The following letter from the President of the United 
 
 States was then read: 
 
 White House, Washington, July 23, 1902. 
 My dear Sir: 
 
 Your favor of the 19th instant has been received, and the President 
 has requested me to assure you that he warmly appreciates the 
 cordial invitation which you extend to him. 
 
 It would afford the President genuine pleasure to be present at the 
 celebration to which you refer, and he regrets that plans already made 
 will preclude him from sending an acceptance. 
 
 Thanking you in the President's behalf for your thoughtfulness 
 
 and courtesy, believe me, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Geo. B. Cortelyou, 
 
 Secretary to the President. 
 Mr. Frank Sewall, 
 Chairman, etc., 
 
 York Village, Maine. 
 
 After the Commemorative Hymn followed remarks of the 
 President introducing Hon. John C. Stewart: 
 
 11 Sons and Daughters of York, Honored Guests : 
 
 "Those of you who went forth in the morning and have 
 returned in the evening of your days to pay this mark of 
 respect to the Old Home, I greet you and bid you welcome. 
 "For two hundred and fifty years York has been the syno- 
 nym of unstinted hospitality. It is my privilege to present 
 to you one of her most respected citizens, who will extend to 
 you her old-time cordial welcome. 
 
 "I have the pleasure of introducing to you Hon. John C. 
 Stewart." 
 
 98
 
 Hon. John C. Stkwart, 
 York.
 
 OP THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Citizens' Welcome, by Hon. John C. Stewart. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 To extend to you the welcome of the citizens of York is 
 especially pleasing because of the presence of so many of 
 our non-citizen residents, whom we, as a body of citizens, for 
 the first time meet in a common assemblage. For many 
 years you have been coming and going, seeing and meeting 
 us as we have seen and met you without becoming really 
 acquainted with each other. You will, I know, pardon me 
 if I take some of my time in telling you who we are and 
 what we think of you. 
 
 Consulting your maps you will find midway between 
 Altruria on the south and Carnegia on the north a small 
 country bearing a strange and almost unpronounceable name, 
 the ancient appellation of the territory which we recognize as 
 "Old York." Formerly it was inhabited by a race of people 
 honest, hardy, peaceable, home-loving. Jealous of their own 
 rights they were careful not to infringe those of their neigh- 
 bors. Some cultivated the soil, while others roamed the 
 sea. Their flocks and herds delighted some, while others 
 boasted of their rule over the ocean and idolized their trim 
 and stately vessels. "Mild-eyed" oxen were their beasts of 
 burden and furnished their motive power. They had little 
 money and very little use for what they had. Their necessi- 
 ties were few and were readily supplied by their farms and 
 the sea. Their lands descended from father to son and were 
 very rarely alienated. Did ambition seize one of our sons 
 and drag him from his ancestral home he was mourned as 
 are all prodigals, and, if he returned, was received with the 
 welcome of his class. Sometimes we heard of his success in 
 
 99
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 the great world beyond, but still we mourned his absence 
 and only mentioned him as a warning to others. 
 
 One summer, many, many years ago, an adventurer from 
 your world came among us. We received him kindly, never 
 dreaming of the result. The next year he returned and 
 brought one or two of you with him. You were so well 
 pleased that you brought some of your friends the next year. 
 They, in turn, had friends who desired to see our pleasant 
 country. They came and we began to realize that the "ruth- 
 less invader" had taken possession of our territory. You 
 roamed our pastures at will without asking our consent and 
 sometimes forgot to put up the bars, or close the gate after 
 you passed through. Occasionally a stone wall fell as you 
 climbed it and you did not know how to rebuild it. Our 
 cattle and sheep seemed to catch your restless spirit and 
 began to wander from their confines. We preferred our 
 mutton and beef on the hoof but were compelled to put it on 
 the table. Then you wanted to build summer homes for 
 yourselves. You wanted to purchase our ancestral acres. 
 You tempted us with money. The first Charles had granted 
 the original patent to our ancestor and we cherished that doc- 
 ument almost as much as we did our land. Part with our 
 heritage ? Never ! We locked our doors and pulled down 
 our curtains that we might not even see you pass ! Still you 
 persisted. You wearied us by your constant importunings 
 and in a moment of weakness we yielded. We took your 
 money ; you got our land ! When we realized what we had 
 done remorse seized us. Our ancestors had toiled for ages to 
 make these acres what they were and we had sold them for 
 your money ! Apparently you felt no remorse or regrets. 
 You built tasty and, to our minds, luxurious residences.
 
 OP THE TOWN OP YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Then you wanted more land ! We declined to sell it. You 
 added more money to the already tempting pile. We took 
 it ! You built other houses. Then you demanded roads. 
 We refused to build them. You appealed to the courts and 
 forced us to yield. The old stage coach running to Ports- 
 mouth, N. H., three times a week began to make daily trips. 
 Its advent no longer called all the inhabitants of the village 
 together. Still you were not satisfied. You must have a 
 railroad. That brought more of you and you demanded the 
 trolley. Here we drew the line. No devilish "broom-stick 
 train" should destroy our quiet abode. It is here. 
 
 And today, for the citizens of York, I extend to you our 
 most cordial and hearty welcome. You have improved our 
 homes, built our schoolhouses, repaired our churches, given 
 us roads equal to any in the country towns of our state, 
 brought the markets of the world to our doors, established 
 libraries for our use, and seem constantly to be planning for 
 our welfare. We appreciate all these things. Whatever of 
 prejudice there may have been in the past is gone. You 
 have been our friends. We are yours. 
 
 And now to the worthy sons of a proud ancestry who have 
 gone out into other parts, and who come home today to 
 participate in these festivities, we say "Welcome." The 
 blood of the Moulton, the Bradbury, the Say ward, the 
 Norton, the Brackett, the Raines, the Sewall and scores of 
 equally deserving ancestors has made itself felt in every state 
 and territory in the Union. We welcome you today to the 
 home of your ancestors. 
 
 To the strangers who are with us we give a most hearty 
 welcome. You come from all walks of life to aid us in cele- 
 brating this day. We appreciate your presence. And while 
 
 IOI
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 we make it a festal day I would recall the early struggles of 
 our ancestors in conquering the wilderness with its savage 
 inhabitants, their patriotism for their sovereign, the king of 
 Great Britain ; their love of freedom which led them to draft 
 in yonder church the first Declaration of Independence ever 
 written in America and send it by special messenger to the 
 "Selectmen of the town of Boston" with the message that 
 should their town decide to throw off its allegiance to King 
 George they would aid them "with their fortunes and their 
 lives"; the great struggle for liberty which followed a few 
 years later and made this day possible. 
 
 Introductory Address by the President 
 of the Day. 
 
 The citizen, the perennial visitor, the stranger within our 
 gates, are all gathered here, fittingly to celebrate with us the 
 birthday of dear old York. I am glad we are here today, 
 and that we have the privilege of uniting heart and hand and 
 voice in this grand demonstration of love and affection for 
 this spot, so sacred to many of us with tender memories. 
 
 Even yonder churchyard pays silent tribute to this theme, 
 and to those who at their country's call passed on. 
 
 If Old York has one distinction more than another, it is 
 that she stands alone in her historic associations. We are 
 most happy in having as our guests today a large delegation 
 of the Maine Historical Society. Their honored President 
 also represents in the same capacity the New England 
 Genealogical Society : there is no man in the state better 
 qualified to tell us who and what we are. 
 
 I have the honor, and the very great pleasure, of intro-
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 during to you as orator of the day, Honorable James P. 
 Baxter of Portland. 
 
 Here followed the oration, by the Hon. James Phinney 
 Baxter, president of the Maine Historical Society and of the 
 New England Genealogical and Historical Society. 
 
 L,ed by the band, the assembly now sang "The Star 
 Spangled Banner." 
 
 President's Remarks Continued. 
 
 We have upon the platform men representative of the 
 bench and the bar, the peers of any in the world ; others 
 renowned in literature and the arts; we have those who, by 
 their magic pen, have expressed in poetry and prose their 
 thoughts so eloquently that they have turned our hearts to 
 laughter as they have moved our eyes to tears. The educa- 
 tors of our youth are here, as are the merchant, the farmer, 
 the mechanic. The humorist whom all Americans delight to 
 honor ; the soldier who has carried our flag to victory, who 
 when called upon responded with the best that was in him. 
 
 The hardest task of your chairman has now befallen him, 
 in that he has given his word that some of these will not be 
 called upon to serve at the feast to which you have been 
 invited ; nevertheless, they are here to honor Old York, and 
 for this we love them. 
 
 We will first have a word from that veteran Christian 
 soldier and patriot who has four times been elected Governor 
 of Maine, and while he needs no introduction to an Old York 
 audience, I am proud to present to you, General Joshua L,. 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 103
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Remarks of General Chamberlain at the York 
 Celebration. 
 
 Mr. President, and Gracious Friends : 
 
 I am not one of your appointed speakers; I am one of 
 your relics. I had the honor some time ago of giving the 
 "sermon" at the re-dedication of your historic old church 
 here : and I dare say your Committee of Arrangements 
 thought that was enough of my preaching for one generation. 
 But now, called up by your courtesy to speak, even amidst 
 these great men whose words are eagerly heard far and wide 
 over the land and beyond the seas, some ancient blood in me 
 gives the boldness to offer what I may among the testimonies 
 of the day. 
 
 Carlyle has said, in that epigrammatic style by which one 
 aspect of truth is put for the truth itself, "The hands of for- 
 gotten brave men have made it a world for us." In one way, 
 this is true ; and it bears no blame to us. We cannot store 
 in our treasuries of remembrance all the good deeds, nor 
 write on enduring tablets or even hold in mind at once, the 
 names of all those who have done brave work for man. It 
 would be like trying to keep a list of all the great-grand- 
 fathers we have had. A century or two of that reckoning 
 would break down our understanding. 
 
 But this truism is not perfect truth. We do not forget the 
 service, nor the men and women, that have had part in mak- 
 ing our life and lot. We cannot keep a list of all their 
 names ; but only of those whom circumstances, favorable or 
 adverse, have made conspicuous, — not necessarily for that, 
 the most deserving. But the story of their deeds we cherish, 
 and the transmitted power of their spirits we feel, as part of 
 
 104
 
 Major Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, 
 Brunswick, Maine.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 the great life to which we belong. The impressive ceremonial 
 of this day, — this assemblage of strength and beauty all 
 attuned to one high harmony of honoring remembrance, 
 shows the great laws on a mightier side. Today you both 
 accept and discriminate the truth in that epigram of the for- 
 gotten. Indeed, to have uttered it is to remember the for- 
 gotten. And today you prove that you remember those men 
 and women gone from sight, even those without a recorded 
 name, the relics of whose brave work remain in pictur- 
 esque and venerated form, and whose well-doing still lives, 
 absorbed into our lives. 
 
 Perhaps it is a peculiarity of human life that it is a contin- 
 uity. A specific difference this, from other earthly lives. 
 With us, too, all things change and pass ; but their effects 
 are transmitted and multiply, even though often transmuted 
 into unrecognizable identities. None of us lives to self, nor 
 wholly dies. Man's work is largely of inheritance. It is 
 something more than evolution ; it is by a spiritual selection 
 that is different from natural selection. "Survival of the 
 fittest," indeed; but what or who shall be called the fittest? 
 Not, surely, the strongest of body only, nor chiefly ; but the 
 spiritually strongest. And who shall analyze this, in its 
 powers and offices ? 
 
 We are interested in the things of ancient use. Their 
 quaintness of form and simplicity of arrangement please us, — 
 if they sometimes amuse us. We are glad somebody has 
 dug up the stumps and got the stones out of the fields, and 
 smoothed the way to our ease and comfort. But such things 
 as these are not what we most truly respect. It is the spirit 
 that bravely faced these difficulties, — the courage and forti- 
 tude which overcame the obstacles of nature and the assaults 
 
 105
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 of enemies, savage or civilized. We look even with rever- 
 ence at that life which prepared the way for ours. I do not 
 say, for better things ; for we are not sure that life is better 
 now, looking at its essential truth and character, its manhood 
 and womanhood. It is the strong characters which we honor, 
 and are proud to claim as our predecessors. What if they 
 are not, in a mere physical way, our ancestors ? We are the 
 inheritors of those whose powers and virtues we honor and 
 love. They are in truth our progenitors, — those whose spirit 
 has been received into our own. Through liking we take on 
 likeness. 
 
 Those whose names we honor today, and the many whose 
 names have been transcribed to unseen rolls, we recognize in 
 the continuity of life, the inheritance of example, the persist- 
 ence of vitalizing ideas and principles, as our fore-bearers, — 
 if not what the Scotch call "forebears." 
 
 The persons who came here in the early times were strenu- 
 ous characters. They were robust in body, mind, and will. 
 They were independent, individualistic ; — making all the 
 stronger substance when their differences are interfused, har- 
 monized, polarized, — like chemical combinations, the result 
 better perhaps for use than either of the simple elements by 
 itself. The court records of this old county show some 
 original notions of individual rights ; some peculiar adjust- 
 ments of the moral code adapted to unprecedented circum- 
 stances and untrammeled ideas of liberty. The courts appear 
 to have had quite a conventional code. The kinds of crimes 
 and misdemeanors were curious; — "Theeing and thouing 
 of people." — "speaking discornfully of the Massachusetts 
 Court": — "refusing to pay assessments for the support of 
 
 106
 
 OF THE TOWN OP YORK, MAINE. 
 
 Harvard College," aud things like that, — miniatures of the 
 the minor Mosaic laws ! 
 
 You citizens bear in mind that I absolved you from being 
 all necessarily blood-relatives of these worthies of the court 
 records ; indeed, the character of some of the disorders implies 
 that Cumberland was in the old time part of York. We 
 don't know all our relatives. But anyway the people who 
 have lived here have marked characters of strength. If there 
 is anything conducive to this in environment, surely it must 
 be abundant here, in a region so rich of earth and strong of 
 sea, so healthful of atmosphere, so beautiful of aspect, — so 
 favorable for life in its various experiences and demonstra- 
 tions, as this old battle ground and garden of the heroic 
 times. 
 
 We recognize with admiring respect these representative 
 citizens here who bear the same names or heart's blood as 
 those who so long ago repudiated the mastery of anybody 
 or anything earthly over them. But others, too, who came 
 in later, and we who are deemed worthy to come in today to 
 share this service of honor, — we desire to offer our tribute of 
 remembrance for the strong and brave who here took the 
 initiative in making this a world for us; for we, too, claim to 
 have part in this inheritance of brave beginnings. 
 
 The President : 
 
 "Will you now permit me to introduce one who holds a 
 very large and very warm place in the hearts of boys, old and 
 young, not only of Maine, but of all the States of America, 
 President Tucker, of Grand Old Dartmouth." 
 
 107
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 President Tucker's Address. 
 
 President Tucker's address was as follows : 
 
 It is well for those of us who are guests of this ancient 
 town to be reminded that something more than nature is 
 included in its hospitality. Personally I am indebted for the 
 introduction we are having today of this bit of local human 
 life which has unmistakable quality and distinction about it. 
 I am indebted for the change in the type of men which it 
 gives us — a change from the type with which we are growing 
 familiar to the point of weariness. 
 
 There are fashions in men as in everything else. We 
 become as conventional in our estimates of our kind as in our 
 estimates of things. Wendell Phillips used to say, you 
 remember, that he made his lecture on the "Lost Arts" to 
 take the conceit out of Yankees. The modern man who 
 exploits nature, who does his work at a second remove from 
 her with the thousand appliances which he puts into his 
 hands, had his peer in the man who, long before his arrival, 
 wrought his work at first hand with nature, sometimes with 
 her, sometimes against her. 
 
 The scantier his equipment, the heavier the draft which he 
 had to make upon himself, upon his courage, his patience, 
 his invention, his faith. This habit of drawing on himself 
 may have made him unsocial, and to our way of thinking 
 sometimes unlovely, but he had the fibre out of which the 
 web of civilization is woven. As some one has said about the 
 Puritan, "We may laugh at him when he isn't round, but if 
 we happen to stumble on him we instinctively take off our 
 hats." 
 
 And on the other hand the claim of this old historic life is 
 
 108
 
 Rev. William J. Tucker, D. D. 
 President of Dartmouth College.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 that it had a background. Modern life has no perspective. 
 It is all foreground. Everything is in plain sight. And 
 in the absence of mystery we try to satisfy ourselves with 
 bulk — with numbers, that is, and amounts ; we live in the 
 atmosphere of mathematics and mechanics. But in those 
 days behind every new corner on their shores there was 
 the mighty spirit of adventure or the mightier principles 
 of political and religious freedom. Every settlement had 
 its cause and reason in the great movements which were 
 taking place over the seas. This little settlement of York 
 was a pawn on the chessboard of old world politics. The 
 game was played by wireless telegraphy. A word from the 
 court at Versailles, and the Indians stole down from the 
 north on this errand of death. It was one continual move 
 and countermove between English and French, and it was 
 the settler who marked the play in the fate of his wife and 
 children. In fact, as our historians have found, the best 
 place to study the old world politics of that time is here, not 
 there. Quebec with its story of incessant intrigue or of open 
 fight is the veriest bit of old world life on either continent. 
 
 I will add a word of more personal indebtedness to this 
 occasion. One of the interesting things in my work is the 
 constant mingling, as one sees it, of the currents of life from 
 the old stock and the new in the process of the higher educa- 
 tion. As might be expected the new is on the whole gaining 
 upon the old. The physical vitality of the new peoples, and 
 their willing sacrifice for social gains is telling in education. 
 Indeed the result is at times so marked that I have been 
 compelled to say that it is easier in the educational world to 
 make blue blood out of red blood, than to make red blood out 
 of blue blood. It is reassuring, therefore, to come into one of 
 
 109
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 the homes of the old stock, and to find that family life teems 
 on strong and uninterrupted in its flow. I recognize the 
 names of men from this town in my own college — there are 
 doubtless others elsewhere — who have in them the blood of 
 the men of the old time, whose deeds have brought us here 
 today. It is reassuring, I say, to get away for a little from 
 the ubiquitous self-made man among us into the presence of 
 men whom the L,ord is making according to the old formula 
 — from generation to generation. 
 
 I acknowledge, Mr. President, from my point of observa- 
 tion the comforting and reassuring influence of this day's 
 proceedings, and I express once more my indebtedness for 
 the uncovering of the human side of this old town, which in 
 its quality and tone matches so well its setting in sea and sky. 
 
 The President : 
 
 "We have the unexpected pleasure and the honor of the 
 presence of one whom Maine has lost that the Empire State 
 might gain, and one whom the whole country delights to 
 honor, the Statesman, Hon. Thomas Brackett Reed, whom 
 I beg to introduce." 
 
 Mr. Reed's Remarks in Brief. 
 
 Mr. Reed said that by looking upon the programme, and 
 finding his name not enrolled there, one might consider his 
 presence an intrusion were it not for the fact that his ances- 
 tors came from York, although so far as he could learn they 
 never occupied any high position of trust. In fact he had 
 hard work to discover that they ever existed ; and certainly 
 they held no position of great emolument, judging from his 
 financial condition when he arrived. He did not wish to, 
 
 no
 
 Hon. Thomas Bra^kett Reed, 
 New York City.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 but could not help thinking of this platform as a pulpit, for 
 he was fain to draw a moral from the picture presented before 
 him. He thought that with the high example set by their 
 illustrious ancestors, the descendants of the settlers of York 
 should so conduct themselves as to increase the nobility and 
 civilization of the world in which they move. 
 
 The President : 
 
 "York has attracted to her borders those whom other less 
 favored spots have failed to capture. We have made a most 
 fortunate acquisition to our summer colony in the person and 
 family of one of New York's most eminent counsellors. It 
 gives me profound personal, as well as official pleasure, to 
 introduce Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., of New York." 
 
 Mr. Stetson's Remarks. 
 
 Since Gorges, nine generations have stood upon the earth, 
 but now and here we think only of such of them as have 
 found their homes in York. How does this community differ 
 from many others? In degree only and not at all in kind. 
 It is a fair type of the settlements on this New England 
 coast, and shares their characteristics. 
 
 A gentle tidal stream, not too long or wide for familiar 
 use, with a sun-set glory of its own, slowly seeks the eastern 
 ocean, from which it is almost shut away by a tongue of land 
 rising abruptly at the channel's mouth. A few slight inden- 
 tations of the shore, with two projecting points and a nubble 
 and a cape. Some rocky cliffs, not over high or rugged, and 
 three softly sloping beaches. Islands far out at sea to the 
 south and east, with lights at night, and one low mountain 
 inland at the northwest.
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 By these physical features you have long been identified, 
 but only within the last quarter century have they allured 
 from distant homes and former fields of pleasure the many 
 strangers whose joy it is here to find their chosen rest and 
 recreation. Clearly, then, upon this quarter millenial day 
 you have gathered, not to dwell upon the charm of stream and 
 shore and sea, but rather to commemorate the community 
 which upon this rock bound coast for more than two hun- 
 dred years has sustained life and faced death with cheerful 
 fortitude. One leader you have had worthy to give dis- 
 tinction to the town which he honored for almost a century. 
 David Sewall, like him from whom he took his name, was a 
 man after God's own heart, and his people's prophet. It is, 
 however, not any leader, but the people themselves to whose 
 memory this day is piously devoted ; not the great achieve- 
 ments of the few, but the common duties bravely endured 
 and faithfully fulfilled by the many as part of the common 
 lot. The short and simple annals of these plain lives may 
 not each be told, but together they have made a commu- 
 nity, which in all essentials has shown little change from 
 year to year, and but slight variation from other towns upon 
 this coast. 
 
 In these New England communities life has been so 
 homogeneous as to seem to Matthew Arnold uninteresting, 
 and to many monotonous. But that single tone ever has 
 found its key in conscience, and has sought for harmony with 
 the revealed will of God. From communities thus attuned to 
 duty has come the calm resolution that captured the Philip- 
 pines, and the passion for justice and liberty that will make it 
 impossible to keep them captive. 
 
 Out of the present, as well as from the past, in the ful-
 
 Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., 
 New York City.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 ness of time will develop the millennium of right that shall be 
 the heritage alike of York, and of our beloved Union, which 
 after all is only an aggregation of Yorks. The dawning of 
 that millennium, though gradual as daybreak, is the confident 
 belief of all Americans, except the very few whose instinct is 
 despair. With them we will commiserate, but we will not 
 sympathize. Not despondency but hope is justified by the 
 record of our past progress, and by our present conditions. 
 At your next great feast of commemoration the sons and 
 daughters of York surely shall declare that here, and in New 
 England, life is not only true, but that it is also interesting; 
 and that your people are as generous as just." 
 
 The President : 
 
 "What can I say that you do not already know of the 
 author, the poet, the citizen, the genial friend, the man and 
 all that it implies and for which it stands. The possessor of 
 these attributes, our honored friend, will speak to you, Mr. 
 Thomas Nelson Page." 
 
 Thomas Nelson Page's Address. 
 
 The thoughts called up by such a celebration as this are 
 curiously diverse. The outside is all joy ; jollity ; merry- 
 making ; pride in achievement ; content with the present ; 
 hope and assurance for the future. And it may well be so. 
 We are gathered here today to celebrate the two hundred and 
 fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Town of York 
 — to celebrate more than this — for other places had a little 
 the start of us. Roanoke Island, Jamestown, Henrico, 
 Hampton, Plymouth, Salem, Kittery, Ipswich, and other 
 places claim to have been settled before us. But so were 
 
 113
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Messapotamia and Greenland. In colonization as in logic 
 and in war, the thing is not merely to assume a position but 
 to maintain it. Roanoke was destroyed by the Croatan 
 Indians ; Jamestown yielded to the deadly fever of the 
 autumnal marshes ; Plymouth was swallowed up by Mass- 
 achusetts. And so passed one and another. But York's 
 pre-eminence is based on her having survived all the chances 
 and changes of the two centuries and a half that have rolled 
 by since her people planted themselves on the fair slopes that 
 stretched beside the Agamenticus and like their great elms 
 struck their roots so deep and lastingly into the soil that they 
 have never since been eradicated. 
 
 It is this that we have assembled to celebrate. You, the 
 native-born people of York ; you, the descendants of the 
 settlers of York, and the rest of us who have come from other 
 Yorks ; but all with the blood and brawn and principles that 
 made and have kept this York continuously for 250 years. 
 The pride that we express today is in the fact that this town 
 which the fathers and grandfathers of you citizens of York 
 for six, seven, eight generations settled and kept settled 
 against all the forces of Nature and of Time, is, perhaps, the 
 oldest continuous chartered settlement of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race on this continent. Exposed to rovers of the sea on one 
 side ; to the fierce savages of the forest on the other, your 
 ancestors yet held their own with a grim resolution that 
 should be your personal pride as it is the national pride of us 
 who come from other sections of the country, and claim 
 kindred with you — that kindred which children of one blood 
 have who have played together, fought together, loved 
 together, suffered together and hoped together. The rigors 
 of winter, the niggard soil only inspired to greater effort and 
 
 114
 
 Mr. Thomas Nklsox Page, 
 Washington, I). C.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 gave them a sterner resolution and a stouter fibre. Here was 
 their home and here they lived from generation to generation 
 preserving the courage, the independence, the virtue, and the 
 civilization of the forefathers. 
 
 With the home and the town-hall, they were ready to meet 
 all problems of government ; with the meeting-house and the 
 jail they could defy the devil and control his children. 
 
 They lived in a stern age and they met sternness with 
 sternness, iron with iron. They feared God, but they feared 
 no man, and history says the governors had rather a stormy 
 time with them. If the governors were trying to get any- 
 thing out of them which was not their due, history very 
 likely tells the truth. They knew their rights, and knowing, 
 dared maintain. They did not live so much off to themselves 
 that they did not keep pace with public affairs, and when the 
 trouble came between the colonies and the mother country 
 they took their part and sent a deputation to Boston to 
 pledge their arms and their fortunes to the common cause. 
 Nor was their offer an idle boast, for we are told that within 
 twenty-four hours of the news of L,exington a company 
 marched for Boston. 
 
 You may well be proud of their achievement, you who are 
 descended from them. Coming as I do from an old house on 
 the banks of another York River in another colony planted 
 by the same people, I feel the thrill of pride in them as an 
 integral part yet kindred with my own people ; of that great 
 race which established trial by jury ; and the Writ of Habeas 
 Corpus ; who claimed the principle that government is based 
 on the consent of the governed, proved the right of local self- 
 government, and substituted for military tyranny representa- 
 tive government. 
 
 115
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Your country has opened up as your fathers never dreamed 
 of its being opened. You are within two hours of Boston, 
 within seven hours of New York and within two days of New 
 Orleans. Your climate which was once esteemed your great- 
 est handicap has proved a golden dower ; and people come 
 from distant states to partake of its benefits, paying you a 
 richer tribute than ever Rome levied on her barbarian tribu- 
 taries. 
 
 I was sincerely pleased to be asked to speak here today, 
 much more pleased doubtless than some of my hearers ; but 
 I cannot help that. My pleasure, apart from that natural 
 pleasure that a man has in hearing himself talk, is based on 
 the fact that it shows my interest in York — my virtue as a 
 citizen of York, was understood. I did not know before that 
 it was quite appreciated. 
 
 You may remember the story of the negro soldier who 
 spent the day on top of San Juan Hill with a pick. "Umph!" 
 he said as he drove his pick home, digging a trench, "I 
 never did spec' de day to come when I'd love a pick." I 
 never expected the day to come when I'd feel the deep 
 affection that warms my heart for these Yankees up here. 
 
 Has it ever struck you how strong is the resemblance ; 
 how universal are their characteristics ; how much alike they 
 are ? There are differences it is true ; but they are mainly 
 the difference between city breeding and country breeding — 
 the racial characteristics are the same. All the rest is 
 personal, a mere veneer. 
 
 The reason is that these people are all of the same race ; 
 all have the same history ; all have the same traditions ; all 
 have the same virtues and the same failings ; worship the 
 same God ; take pride in the same past ; look forward with 
 
 Tl6
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 hope to the same future and cherish the same aspirations for 
 this world and the next. 
 
 But elsewhere in our country are large numbers of people 
 of other races and with other traditions ; people who have 
 not the past that we have, but who, bred under tyranny, 
 have suddenly found themselves in a liberty which they 
 know not how to appreciate or to preserve. They have 
 become a part of our body politic, but are alien as yet to its 
 principles. They must either be absorbed into it or must be 
 held aloof from it. 
 
 As our fathers had their problems to solve, their enemies 
 to fight and conquer, their principles to establish and pre- 
 serve, so have we ours. 
 
 It is said that Republican Government is on trial with us. 
 If we fail, it is done, forever. 
 
 If history teaches any lesson it teaches that liberty, so slow 
 a growth that it takes centuries to come into being ; yet is so 
 delicate a growth that it may be cut down almost in a night. 
 We know that Eternal Vigilance is its price. It may exist 
 in its externals even under a tyranny not less real than that 
 of Rome, or Venice, or Mexico; but it can survive only 
 with a people who love it above wealth or power or fame or 
 life itself. None of us would be greatly surprised to find 
 tyranny in the form of monarchy re-asserting itself in France. 
 Many of us would be hardly surprised to find it reasserting 
 itself in some of our sister Republics of South America, 
 though it should keep its Republican name and form. But 
 all of us would be amazed to awake and find it existing in 
 our own land. This is ultimately because of the character 
 of our people. We have come to consider liberty as much a 
 part of our being as the air we breathe. Yet when we 
 
 ii7
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 reflect, it is only a little more than a hundred years since we 
 were under the dominion of a King who would as gladly 
 have reduced us to the condition of the Muscovites as Peter 
 or Paul of Russia, and it is only two hundred years since we 
 were the subjects of a King who sacrificed his kingdom to 
 his idea of privilege. 
 
 It rests with you to preserve what your forefathers secured 
 and handed down to you. It is on the sterling independence 
 of our American people ; on their love of liberty ; their 
 homely virtues that the hope of liberty and of virtue in the 
 world rests. 
 
 Wealth piles up in the central marts. The power of organ- 
 ization is so tremendous that it brings about vast aggrega- 
 tions of capital, till it is said that the inequality is such that 
 one-third of one per cent, of the population own seventy per 
 cent, of the entire property of the country in value; that is, 
 assuming that three hundred men own $100, one of these 
 owns $70, and the other two hundred and ninety-nine own 
 together the other $30. This would matter little if with the 
 wealth did not go hand in hand corruption — not mere per- 
 sonal corruption, for the corruption of one man counts for 
 little, but corruption by organization, corruption of the 
 fountain heads of legislation of justice. 
 
 With you rests the remedy — with you and your like the 
 home-staying, sturdy, independent American people. 
 
 The President : 
 
 "It remains for one who has recently come to us in the flesh 
 
 to round up this feast and to make smooth the rough places. 
 
 "If there is a human being in the civilized world, old 
 
 enough to think, who has not heard of Mark Twain, I am 
 
 118
 
 Mr. Samuel L. Clemens [Mark Twain], 
 New York.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 sorry for him. I desire publicly to welcome to York one 
 who can tell us something of this distinguished writer and 
 speaker, and at the same time to thank him for his kind 
 co-operation and presence. I beg to introduce Mr. Samuel 
 h. Clemens." 
 
 Remarks by Mr. Samuel h. Clemens. 
 
 Mr. Clemens began in a markedly characteristic vein to 
 say that he had come to York to instruct it in its ancient 
 history, to rectify the morals of its inhabitants and to other- 
 wise do valuable things in the way of didactics. He found 
 himself prevented from so doing by the example of another, 
 and noted with surprise that Thomas B. Reed should mis- 
 take a desk for a pulpit, especially as the speaker was one 
 who, in time gone by, had amazed the nations of the world, 
 the human race, and, added Mr. Clemens, "even myself!" 
 
 He said a letter signed "One of the Victims" had just 
 been handed him from the audience and contained several 
 compliments, things which he never overlooked ; and would 
 the writer please rise? The letter stated that there had 
 never been any but the best weather until he had come to 
 York, and seemed to place the blame entirely on him, 
 demanding that he either apologize or go away. The first, 
 he might do, but the alternative he would meet with a flat 
 refusal. In thirty-seven days he had had no fault to find 
 with the weather as he had stayed strictly at home, and the 
 rain seemed to come only when it thought it could catch one 
 out. For thirty-four of the thirty-seven days he had worked 
 and that was something he never before had been able to do. 
 The climate, he thought, prevented moral deterioration, for 
 he had worked four Sundays without breaking the Sabbath. 
 
 119
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 The author then said he was a little deaf, but not so much 
 so as to miss the many compliments which had preceded, and 
 not so blind as not to see that they all referred to him. 
 When Ex-Gov. Chamberlain referred to "the intellectually 
 brilliant," the speaker had noticed that he had looked 
 straight at him. To some this would be embarrassing, but 
 where deserved it was not so at all. 
 
 One of the most serious questions with which he had to 
 contend in York was matches. If he wished to smoke it 
 was next to impossible to get a light. He could buy only a 
 sort of match with a picture of the inventor on each box and 
 labelled "Safety." He felt free to say that they are so safe 
 one cannot light them. Even Satan, the inventor and a dis- 
 tant relative of his, can't use them for he has no appliances 
 to make them go, and is utilizing them to build cold storage 
 vaults for such choice morsels as Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, 
 Alexander VI ; and, added the speaker, "he has a wistful eye 
 on some other notables not yet started, and here present." 
 
 Another serious question for Mr. Clemens was the confu- 
 sion of post offices in this town — York Cliffs, York Beach, 
 York Harbor, York Village, York Corner, and so on. In 
 fact, one cannot throw a brickbat across a thirty-seven acre 
 lot without danger of disabling a postmaster ; they are as 
 thick as aldermen in the days of the old city charter. 
 
 If he stayed here he expected to attend York's tri-centen- 
 nial in fifty years, for already he had grown younger by many 
 years than he was on his arrival. 
 
 After the singing of America by the entire assembly stand- 
 ing, the Reverend Sidney K. Perkins, pastor of the First 
 Parish Church, pronounced the benediction.
 
 Stairway, Coventry Hall.
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 IReception. 
 
 At the reception given at the close of the public exercises 
 to the visiting members of the Maine Historical Society at 
 Coventry Hall, the old "Judge Sewall Mansion," there were 
 present, among others, Mr. James P. Baxter, Mr. Percy P. 
 Baxter, Miss Emily Baxter, Miss Madeline Baxter, Mr. and 
 Mrs. H. W. Bryant, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. H. S. Burrage, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Samuel Buffum of North Berwick, Mr. Edward A. 
 Butler of Rockland, Gen. J. L. Chamberlain, Mr. Henry 
 Deering, Mr. Nathan Goold, Mr. Isaac M. Emery of Ken- 
 nebunkport, Mrs. Harmon, Miss J. Crie, Miss Helen M. 
 Howarth, Miss Frances Howarth, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. 
 Moulton, Mr. Augustus F. Moulton, Mr. A. R. Stubbs, Mr. 
 and Mrs. A. L,. Talbot of L,ewiston, Mr. Richmond of Buffalo, 
 N. Y., Mr. Frederick S. Vaill, Mr. Joseph Wood, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Stephen H. Weeks, Miss Weeks, Dr. and Mrs. J. I,. M. 
 Willis, the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, Francis L,ynde Stetson, 
 Esq., and Mrs. Stetson, Mr. William Dean Howells, Miss 
 ^arah Orne Jewett and Miss Jewett, Mr. Thomas Nelson 
 Page and Mrs. Page, Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Smith, Mrs. 
 Hungerford, Miss Louise Smith, Mr. Frank D. Marshall, 
 the Hon. Edward O. Emerson and Mrs. Emerson, Miss Con- 
 stance Emerson, Mr. and Mrs. George L. Cheney, Mrs. 
 Thatcher Loring, Mrs. James T. Davidson, Mrs. Newton 
 Perkins, Mrs. Charles C. Barrell and the Misses Barrell, Mr. 
 John E. Staples, Mr. and Mrs. John Burleigh, Mrs. Matilda 
 Burleigh, Miss Ellen M. Dennett, Mr. Josiah Chase, Mrs. 
 Emma Paul, Miss Florence Paul and Miss Gertrude Paul, 
 Miss Maud Gelchrist Sewall, Miss Rachel Kenyon Sewall 
 and Miss Elizabeth Trufant Sewall.
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Zbc Cburcbee aito flMnietere of tbe 
 Gown of HJorfe. 
 
 A Paper Read at the Commemorative Service in the Parish 
 Church, on Sunday Evening, Aug. 3, 1902, by the 
 
 Rev. SIDNEY K. PERKINS, Pastor. 
 
 This sketch of the history of the churches and ministers of 
 York as it relates to the First Church and its true child, the 
 Second Church, in the Scotland or Upper Parish, is already 
 familiar to many present, so that for such hearers there is 
 nothing new to be said ; but for those who are strangers to 
 our history there may be special interest in the "twice told 
 tale." 
 
 That the early history of the First Church and Parish of 
 York was of unusual interest is indicated by the traditions 
 that have come down to us from the days when York was the 
 leading town in the "Province of Maine." The ecclesiastical 
 history begins at a somewhat later date than the story of the 
 town. But an old record says that "The people of this town 
 were probably supplied with preaching from the earliest set- 
 tlement of the place. It cannot be supposed that a people 
 who had been always accustomed to religious privileges, and 
 some of whom had left their native land for conscience's sake, 
 would be long without the stated administration of the Word 
 of God, and the ordinances of the gospel." 
 
 It was probably the intention of Gorges and his associates 
 to establish the Church of England here, for, in the words of
 
 Rev. Sidney K. Perkins, 
 Pastor of First Parish Church, York.
 
 OP THE TOWN OP YORK, MAINE. 
 
 the charter given by the King, it was declared that "Our will 
 and pleasure is that the religion now professed in the Church 
 of England and ecclesiastical government now used in the 
 same, shall be ever hereafter professed, and with as much 
 convenient speed as may be, settled and established in and 
 throughout the province." But no Episcopal church appears 
 to have been established in York, although some of its clergy 
 are mentioned as having officiated here. The first minister 
 known to have been resident here was Rev. Shubael Dum- 
 mer, an ancestor of one now on this platform (Rev. Frank 
 Sewall, D. D.). Mr. Dummer was a native of Newbury, 
 Mass., and a graduate of Harvard. 
 
 He was ordained to the ministry in this town. He per- 
 formed the unusual service of preaching his own ordination 
 sermon from the text, Psalm 80: 14: "Return, O I,ord, and 
 visit this vine." It is naturally inferred that, according to 
 the general custom, the organization of the church preceded 
 the ordination of the pastor; so that this church, notwith- 
 standing the loss of the early records, reasonably assumes its 
 organization to have been not later than 1673, thus making it 
 the oldest ecclesiastical organization in the State of Maine. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Dummer is described as "a very serious, godly 
 man," and he continued his service as minister to the people 
 of York until that sad morning, January 25, 1692, when the 
 settlement was surprised by hostile Indians, some fifty of the 
 inhabitants killed, and one hundred carried into captivity, 
 among the latter, the wife of Mr. Dummer. The minister 
 himself was shot and killed just as he was mounting his horse 
 near his house, which, tradition says, was near the "roaring 
 rock." 
 
 After the tragic death of the first minister, for a period of 
 
 "3
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 five years there was "little or no preaching in York." The 
 people were disheartened, and reduced in numbers and 
 resources in consequence of the Indian invasion. 
 
 In writing of this period, Rev. Rufus M. Sawyer, a former 
 pastor of this church, says that "The restraints of religion 
 were very much removed, and levity and wickedness rapidly 
 spread. 
 
 "A few, indeed, refined in the furnace of affliction, walked 
 near God ; while the majority, forgetting the faithful instruc- 
 tions of their deceased pastor, treated religion lightly, and 
 lived as though they were made for no higher purpose than 
 to eat, drink, and be merry." 
 
 It was at this time that a young man appeared on the 
 scene, who was destined to spend a long life in York, and to 
 wield an influence never to be forgotten. 
 
 This young man was Samuel Moody, also a native of 
 Newbury, Mass., like Mr. Dummer, his predecessor; and 
 like him also, a graduate of Harvard College. 
 
 Samuel Moody was only twenty-three years old when he 
 came to preach as a candidate to the people of York in May, 
 1698 — and it was two years later before he was ordained as 
 pastor. Young Moody came here in a true missionary spirit, 
 recognizing the poverty of his new parish. He settled with- 
 out a stipulated salary, disposed to live a life of faith in God, 
 and in his parishoners. Yet he did think it worth his while 
 to appeal to the legislature of Massachusetts for assistance. 
 This appeal was granted to the extent of twelve pound ster- 
 ling, or sixty dollars of our money. 
 
 A rare combination of courage, faith, and love is implied 
 in the willingness of this young minister, and his bride, 
 Hannah Sewall, of Newbury, only daughter of John Sewall, 
 
 124
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 to settle in this frontier parish which from that time onward 
 for nearly fifty years was never so free from peril of Indian 
 attack that men dared to leave their arms behind them when 
 they went to church. 
 
 The meeting-house first used stood below the dwelling of 
 William L,unt and this side the residence of W. T. Keen. 
 
 Later, the second house was erected, and was the original 
 building from which the house in which we are now assem- 
 bled has been successively remodelled. 
 
 It was erected during the lifetime of Father Moody. A 
 rare combination of qualities belonged to Samuel Moody, 
 making him loved, respected and even feared by his people. 
 Samuel Moody was distinguished for his unselfishness; his 
 own interests seem to have been among the last things he 
 ever considered. 
 
 Willing to live without a stipulated salary, he was equally 
 willing to give away what he received to anybody whose 
 need seemed greater. Many stories are told illustrating this 
 feature of his character. His good wife seems to have appre- 
 ciated her husband's virtues, or perhaps as she may have 
 sometimes thought to herself, his failings, for it is said that 
 on one occasion she took pains, when Mr. Moody was about 
 leaving home for a journey, to tie his his purse securely in 
 his handkerchief, tying several hard knots, so that the good 
 man might have time to think while untying them. But the 
 outcome was disappointing to Mrs. Moody, for finding the 
 knots hard, the husband lost his patience, and bestowed 
 handkerchief, purse, and all upon a poor beggar, saying, 
 "The L,ord must have meant that you should have it all." 
 
 On another occasion the good minister saw two geese flying 
 overhead, and the larder being low, he told the Lord that if 
 
 125
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 He would give him both geese he would give the best one to 
 a poor neighbor. Both birds came down, one was fat, the 
 other lean, but true to his word, in spite of his thrifty wife's 
 remonstrance, he sent the fat goose straightway to his poor 
 neighbor. 
 
 At still another time, a cold frosty morning, a poor woman 
 appeared at the door barefooted, and begged for shoes. Mr. 
 Moody promptly gave her a pair belonging to his wife, which 
 proved to be the only pair she had. When the good lady 
 became aware of her loss, the husband sought to appease her 
 wrath by saying that the L,ord would send another pair before 
 night. And as though to justify the simple faith of the good 
 man, in the course of the forenoon a neighbor came in bring- 
 ing a pair of shoes which he explained were too small for his 
 wife, and perhaps they would be acceptable to Mrs. Moody, 
 whose feet they fitted. These stories, and many like them, 
 illustrate the freedom from worldly care which characterized 
 this good man. 
 
 The parishioners were not insensible to the self-denials of 
 their pastor. They built him a house and hired a man to 
 manage the farm. At one time it is said that a negro was 
 purchased by the parish to do this work. But for only a 
 brief period did the First Parish of York appear in the role 
 of slaveholder. 
 
 Father Moody appreciated the thoughtfulness of his parish- 
 ioners but he steadily repelled any suggestions looking toward 
 the payment of a regular salary. In one of his sermons he 
 said that for twenty years he had been supported in a way 
 most pleasing to him, and had been under no need of spend- 
 ing one hour in the week in care for the world. 
 
 When he became an old man, an article was inserted in a 
 
 126
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 warrant for parish meeting "to see if the parish would settle 
 a salary upon Mr. Moody." Whereupon he attended the 
 meeting, and opposed the article when it was brought up. 
 
 His friends told him that he was now an old man, and 
 received only a poor support, and what little he did get came 
 from his best friends, and that it operated very unequally in 
 the parish. To all this Father Moody replied, "Who are my 
 best friends?" And not waiting for an answer he named a 
 number of persons, saying, "Are not these my best friends?" 
 It was assented to. "Well, are not these the best livers 
 in town?" They were certainly well off, and he replied, 
 "Yea, and they always will be so while they lay themselves 
 out for the support of the gospel." 
 
 It is a disappointment that no picture of Mr. Moody exists, 
 and that there is not even a description of his personal 
 appearance. In the current number of the New England 
 magazine — in an article on York — there is a silhouette of 
 Hannah Sewall, the first wife of Rev. Samuel Moody, but I 
 have seen nothing of the kind relating to Mr. Moody. Yet 
 we have such a clear portrait of the mental, moral, and spirit- 
 ual qualities of Samuel Moody that we can well spare the 
 physical likeness, and feel that we know the real man. 
 
 That he was capable of preaching a strong discourse, like 
 many another "Colonial parson," is evident from a printed 
 sermon still extant. The subject is suggestive, being, "The 
 Doleful State of the Damned — Especially Such as go to Hell 
 from Under the Gospel." 
 
 Such sermons from Mr. Moody bear witness to his stern 
 sense of duty. But this stern sense of duty was coupled, as 
 we have seen, with the utmost human charity and love for 
 his fellow men. 
 
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 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 He was in practical relations a bold and fearless preacher. 
 
 At one time when a wealthy parishioner had held on to his 
 large stock of corn in a time of great scarcity, in hopes of 
 raising the price, Mr. Moody preached from these words : 
 "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but 
 blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." 
 While the pastor was preaching this sermon, the offending 
 parishioner faced him with a look of stolid indifference. Mr. 
 Moody grew warmer, as he went on with his discourse, until 
 finally he lost all patience, and calling his parishioner by 
 
 name he cried, "Colonel I , Colonel I , you know I 
 
 mean you. Why don't you hang your head?" 
 
 Another day the same parishioner's wife came sweeping 
 into the church in a new hooped dress, then very fashionable, 
 and Mr. Moody cried from the pulpit: "Here she comes — 
 here she comes — gallant and top-gallant, rigged most beauti- 
 fully, and sailing most majestically, but she has a leak, that 
 will sink her to hell." Yet in the face of such direct attack 
 he was not asked to read his resignation. 
 
 Ministers and people were very forbearing toward each 
 other in those days. 
 
 Father Moody's style of preaching, as evident from such 
 anecdotes as those just mentioned, was very direct and in 
 marked contrast to the carefully written discourses of his 
 son-in-law, Rev. Joseph Emerson, of Maiden, Mass., who, 
 by the way, was the ancestor of the Emersons of York. The 
 people of York had a great admiration for Mr. Emerson's 
 sermons. This was known to Father Moody and he thought 
 he would imitate Mr. Emerson's method. 
 
 One trial was sufficient for Mr. Moody. Before he had 
 proceeded far in reading his sermon he stopped, and looked 
 
 128
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 around upon his hearers, and said: "Emerson must be 
 Emerson and Moody must be Moody — I feel as if my head 
 was in a bag. You call Moody a rambling preacher, and it 
 is true enough, but he is just fit to catch up rambling sin- 
 ners. You are all run away from the Lord." And then he 
 proceeded in his accustomed way of preaching. 
 
 But in spite of such eccentricities — and perhaps in part 
 because of them and because of his rugged strength — Mr. 
 Moody had a wide fame. He was always a welcome preacher 
 in Boston. 
 
 In Providence, also, he was instrumental in forming the 
 First Congregational Church, and the people there wanted 
 him to become their pastor, but York could not spare him. 
 Father Moody was a friend of Whitefield and gladly wel- 
 comed the great preacher when he came to York. Mr. 
 Moody's gift in prayer was regarded as remarkable. 
 
 It was believed that one of his prayers was instrumental in 
 obtaining the destruction of the French fleet in 1746. 
 
 Colonel Dummer Sewall, of Bath, but a native of York, 
 said of this prayer: "Yes — I recollect it — though I was quite 
 young. I remember the consternation that was depicted on 
 almost every countenance. But we had recourse to prayer. 
 The Church in York appointed a day for the purpose. On 
 that occasion Father Moody, in praying against the fleet, 
 brought to view the expression made use of in the Scriptures 
 with regard to Sennacherib, "Put a hook in his nose, and a 
 bridle in his lips, turn him back again by the way that he 
 came, that he shall not shoot an arrow here, nor cast up a 
 bank, but by the way that he came, cause him to return." 
 By and by the old gentleman waxed warm and raised his 
 hands and voice and cried out — "Good I^ord, if there is no 
 
 129
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 other way of defeating their enterprise, send a storm upon 
 them, and sink them in the deep." 
 
 It was afterward discovered that not far from the time of 
 this prayer a tremendous storm burst upon the enemy's fleet 
 and occasioned its destruction. 
 
 Father Moody was of heroic mould, and when seventy 
 years old, only two years before his death, he went with the 
 American army as chaplain in the Cape Breton expedition 
 that resulted in the capture of Louisburg from the French. 
 After the capture of the place, Sir William Pepperrell gave a 
 dinner, and Father Moody was invited to return thanks, 
 although many were afraid that he would consume too much 
 time in asking the blessing, so that the dinner would get 
 cold, and the British officers invited become offended. 
 
 But to the surprise and delight of all, Father Moody 
 delivered himself of this brief and appropriate grace, "O 
 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 for the work of eternity. Bless our food and fellowship on 
 this joyful occasion, for Christ's sake, Amen." 
 
 The old minister returned in health from this expedition, 
 and resumed his labors with his people, but his work was 
 nearly over, and two years later, in 1747, he fell asleep, 
 while he rested in the arms of his son Joseph, the first minis- 
 ter of the second or "Scotland" parish. 
 
 I have given a great deal of time to the Rev. Samuel 
 Moody, and I might easily have devoted all the time allowed 
 me this evening to a sketch of him and his work, as there is 
 more material concerning him than of any other man in the 
 pastoral succession here. And the work accomplished by 
 Father Moody deserves especial mention, because of its 
 
 130
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 achievements, and because of his own wide fame. Samuel 
 Moody came to a weakened and discouraged settlement and 
 to a feeble church. When he died he left a prosperous com- 
 munity and a church of over three hundred members, the 
 largest then existing in Maine. 
 
 He saw powerful rivivals during his ministry, and he wel- 
 comed them. But he also recognized the fa<5l that religion is 
 more than an emotion, and he earnestly sought to develop 
 strong Christian characters among his people. His success 
 was great if we are to measure it simply by the change which 
 transformed what has been described as a largely irreligious 
 community into one where it was rare to find a family where 
 prayer was not observed. The appreciation in which Rev. 
 Samuel Moody was held is summed up in the well-known 
 epitaph on his tombstone as he sleeps in "God's Acre" 
 across the way: "Here lies the body of the Rev. Samuel 
 Moody, A. M. The zealous, faithful, and successful pastor 
 of the First Church of Christ, in York. Was born in New- 
 bury, January 4th, 1675. Graduated 1697. Came hither 
 May 16th, 1698. Ordained in December, 1700, and died 
 here November 13th, 1747. For his further character, read 
 the 2d Corinthians, 3rd chapter and first six verses." Before 
 turning from the story of Mr. Moody it should be said that 
 he was the ancestor of many who are still resident in York 
 bearing the Moody name, and of many of other names ; and 
 also that he was the spiritual father of a much larger num- 
 ber. 
 
 The people of York seem to have been in no haste in 
 securing the successor of Father Moody, for it was more than 
 two years after his death when the Rev. Isaac Lyman was 
 ordained as the third pastor of this church, Dec. 20, 1749. 
 
 131
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Mr. Lyman was a young man, a native of Northampton, 
 Mass., where the name of Lyman still continues to be one 
 of the most honored. Isaac Lyman, unlike his two prede- 
 cessors, was not a graduate of Harvard, but of Yale. His 
 ministry here was a long and faithful one. For more than 
 sixty years he was known as the pastor of this church, 
 although during the last ten or twelve years of his life he 
 had a colleague. He was evidently a man of very different 
 type from his predecessor, Mr. Moody, but the record is 
 that "Mr. Lyman ever sustained the character of a faith- 
 ful minister of Christ." His labors were successful. It is 
 recorded that in 1756 when he had been seven years pastor, 
 the town was visited by a revival of religion. 
 
 "The great earthquake in November, 1755, was a means of 
 awakening the attention of a great number. As the fruits of 
 this revival about forty persons united with the church." It 
 is also a matter of record that at the close of Mr. Lyman's 
 long ministry, "he had the satisfaction of seeing his people 
 united and profited by his labors." "They regarded him," 
 it is said, "with the veneration of a beloved father," and 
 when he had been gathered to his rest the Rev. Dr. Hemmen- 
 way, of Wells, preached his funeral sermon and paid a high 
 tribute to his character. Rev. Mr. Lyman was the father of 
 nine children. 
 
 An aged woman, still living in York, told me recently that 
 she had a clear memory of Madame Lyman, who was living 
 at an advanced age when this woman was a little school- 
 girl. 
 
 Although Lyman, as a family name, has disappeared from 
 York, the reverend pastor has many descendants here who 
 bear other names. 
 
 132
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 President Eliot, of Harvard University, is a great-grand- 
 son of Isaac Lyman. 
 
 The house until recently occupied by Miss Almira Allen, 
 was built for Mr. Lyman. 
 
 The pastorate of Isaac Lyman was the longest ever known 
 in York. Then followed the shorter pastorates ; first, of his 
 colleague and successor, Rev. Roswell Messinger, for nearly 
 fifteen years. Moses Dow, fourteen years. During Mr. 
 Dow's pastorate there was a division which resulted in the 
 formation of the M. E. Church. Rev. Eber Carpenter fol- 
 lowed Mr. Dow. His was a strong character, and he gained 
 such a hold on the regard of many of the parishioners in his 
 pastorate, five and a half years, that several children were 
 named for him. 
 
 Mr. Carpenter married a Lyman, and his body lies in the 
 Lyman lot in what is now known as the Grant farm. Rev. 
 John Haven followed Mr. Carpenter with a pastorate of four 
 years. His wife, dying here, was the first to be buried in 
 what was then the "new" cemetery. 
 
 Then came Rev. John L. Ashby, and he remained here 
 nearly eight years. Rev. William J. Newman succeeded 
 Mr. Ashby, and died greatly beloved after a brief ministry 
 of nine months. The Rev. John Smith, represented here 
 tonight by his son, Mr. Walter M. Smith, and by two daugh- 
 ters, was settled over this church October 9, 1850, and dis- 
 missed at his own request, on account of the ill health of 
 Mrs. Smith, March 20th, 1855. This was Rev. Mr. Smith's 
 last settled pastorate. He is said to have excelled as a pas- 
 tor, and his departure was regretted. 
 
 Rev. William A. Patten succeeded Mr. Smith with a three 
 years' ministry. Mr. Patten's pastorate occurred at a stir- 
 
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 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ring period, just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Mr. 
 Patten still abides in his native town of Kingston, N. H., in 
 a vigorous and honored old age. Until quite recently it 
 might have been said of him that "his eye was not dim, nor 
 his natural force abated." 
 
 After Mr. Patten came Rev. Rufus M. Sawyer, who is 
 recorded as "stated supply" from October ist, 1861, till mid- 
 summer, 1866. The name of Mr. Sawyer is a precious mem- 
 ory to many among us. His pastorate about covered the 
 period of the Civil War, and there was no question of his 
 patriotism. Neither was there any question of his devotion 
 as a minister. A revival of religion, still remembered, some 
 of whose fruits have been a blessing to the church ever since, 
 distinguished his pastorate. 
 
 Rev. John Parsons succeeded Mr. Sawyer in a brief pas- 
 torate of two years and a half. On September 28th, 1870, 
 Rev. Benjamin W. Pond was installed pastor, serving the 
 church from May, 1870, until September, 1873. 
 
 Rev. David B. Sewall followed Mr. Pond in a pastorate of 
 fourteen and a half years. Mr. Sewall, in his honored and 
 useful old age, is always a most welcome visitor in his former 
 parish. 
 
 The successors of Mr. Sewall in the pastorate have been 
 the Rev. Geo. M. Woodwell and the Rev. Melvin J. Allen, 
 prior to the coming of the present pastor. The pastorates of 
 both Mr. Woodwell and Mr. Allen have been so recent that 
 they need no words of mine to describe them to their friends 
 and late parishioners. 
 
 It was the early practice of the church to ordain elders, but 
 I have seen no list of names. Many names have been 
 honored among the clerks and deacons and other officers 
 
 i34
 
 OF THE TOWN OF YORK, MAINE. 
 
 connected with the church and parish. Comparisons among 
 these names would be indeed invidious, and the fear of omit- 
 ting some deservedly cherished restrains me from mention- 
 ing any. It should be remembered that imperfect or missing 
 records prevent the making of the complete history or even 
 sketch that we would like to give. 
 
 The history of the First Church and Parish of York is one 
 well worth a better treatment than I have been able to give 
 to it in the brief time allowed for preparation. But the town 
 of York has been a better and happier town because of the 
 true and noble lives that have been nurtured under the 
 influences in its First Church of Christ. It is fitting that I 
 add a few words in regard to the Second or "Scotland" 
 Church in the "Upper Parish." This parish was formed in 
 1732, when the first minister, Rev. Joseph Moody, was 
 ordained. I said at the beginning of this address that the 
 Second Church was the true child of the First Church. The 
 relationship was certainly very close, for the first member- 
 ship was composed of those who had been parishioners of this 
 church. 
 
 The first pastor, too, was the gifted son of Father Moody. 
 Bright, indeed, must have seemed the prospects of the new 
 church and the newly ordained pastor. None could foresee 
 that after a period of about six years the brilliant mind of the 
 minister would ever afterward be clouded, but so it came to 
 pass that Rev. Joseph Moody came to be locally known as 
 "Handkerchief Moody," and more widely as Hawthorne's 
 "Veiled Parson." This man in spite of his mental infirmity 
 was like his father, remarkably gifted in prayer. His famous 
 long prayer in the First Church while his father was absent 
 on the Iyouisburg campaign was found to have been coinci- 
 
 i35
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 dent with the battle. And was it an accident that in the 
 midst of that long petition Joseph Moody's entreaties were 
 turned to thanksgiving as though he saw the victory 
 achieved ? 
 
 The "Scotland" Church has had a long and useful history. 
 Good men have occupied its pulpit — no less than fourteen 
 pastors — and three others enrolled as "supplies" having 
 served there. The name best known after that of Moody is 
 L,ankton. Father L,ankton's memory is cherished by many 
 who are his descendants living in this town and its vicinity. 
 But it is because there has been a true "apostolic succession" 
 in the ministry of these two historic churches that they still 
 live and seek to glorify the name of Him who is their Lord 
 and Master. 
 
 136
 
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