Maine State Legislature
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE The following document is provided by the LAW AND LEGISLATIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY at the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library http://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib Reproduced from scanned originals with text recognition applied (searchable text may contain some errors and/or omissions) MAINE STATE ARCHIVES COUNTIES, CITIES, TOWNS AND PLANTATIONS OF MAINE: A Handbook of Incorporations, Dissolutions and Boundary Changes Prepared by The Maine Historical Records Survey Project Division of Professional and Service Projects Work Projects Administration Portland, Maine The Maine Historical Records Survey Project 1940 Maine State Archives Augusta, Maine Published under Appropriation No. 04065.1 PREFACE This Handbook, compiled in the 1930's from extant records and inventories by the Federal Historical Records Survey Project for Maine, contains in one vo1tune data that ~vou1d otherwise require time-cons tuning research. The Title and Table of Contents are self-explanatory. Helpful to the researcher using the Handbook are the explanatory notes and the listing of abbreviations and symbols. A bibliography cites sources for detailed study. As stated in the first section, Jurisdictions, "the development of government in Maine can be more easily understood by considering the area as three separate geographical units: from St. Croix River to St. Georges River - Acadia; from St. Georges River to Kennebec River - Province of Maine." The second section, Early plantations and Towns, is an "incomplete list ... submitted as a basis for further research." Editorial work in preparing the manuscript for publication was provided by Miss Susan o. Ostroff of the Maine State Archives staff who was responsible for critically reviewing the text and footnotes and furnishing statutory citations to legislative references which generally omitted them in the original manuscript. Other staff members that assisted in the publication project include Mrs. James A. White, Mrs. Ralph N. Sylvester and Miss Sylvia J. Sherman. The task of final editing of the publication was undertaken by Mrs. Peter A. Isaacson, Chairman of the Archives Advisory Board, and a former associate with the Federal Writers' Project in Maine. The Handbook which is now offered in published form does not represent a completed work as of this time; and is issued by the Maine State Archives ~vith the expectation that further research will be under taken to extend its coverage over the approximately forty years that separates the completion of the original manuscript and the present publication. A first step toward this goal has been taken with the replacement of the list Maine counties, cities, towns and plantations existent, July 1, 1940 by current data published in the 1980 Federal Census Report for Maine. The nature of the publication lends itself to the possibility of omissions or errors. Any such errors or omissions called to the attention of the Maine State Archives will be corrected in future revisions of the Handbook. Samuel S. Silsby, Jr. State Archivist iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface . ........... iii Abbreviations, Symbols and Explanatory Notes vii Introduction ix 1. Jurisdictions 1 II. Early Plantations and Towns 9 III. Counties 21 Androscoggin County 23 Aroostook County 25 Cumberland County 27 Franklin County 29 Hancock County 31 Kennebec County 33 Knox County •• 37 Lincoln County 39 Oxford County . • 43 Penobscot County 45 Piscataquis County 49 Sagadahoc County 51 Somerset County . 53 Waldo County 57 Washington County . 59 York County 61 IV. Plantations 63 V. Districts 111 VI. The Early Town of Madawaska 115 VII. Towns .• 125 VIII. Cities 197 IX. Towns, chronologically 201 X. Counties, Cities, Towns and Plantations Existent, 1980 211 XI. Bi b liogr aphy 219 v ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES Abbreviations An Androscoggin County Ar Aroostook County B.K.P. Bingham's Kennebec Purchase B.P.P. Bingham's Penobscot Purchase C Cumberland County ch(s) chapter(s) compo compiled by E.B.K.P. East of Bingham's Kennebec Purchase ed. edited by, edition E.D. East Division E.K.R. East of Kennebec River E.P .R. East of Penobscot River F Franklin County H Hancock County ibid. in the same place idem the same inc. incorporated intro. introduction Ke Kennebec County Kn Knox County L Lincoln County M.D. Middle Division n. note N .B.K.P. North of Bingham's Kennebec Purchase N.B.P.P. North of Bingham's Penobscot Purchase N.D. North Division N.P.C. North of Plymouth Claim N.W.P. North of Waldo Patent no(s). nt.nnber (s) o Oxford County org. organized p., pp. page, pages passim in various parts Pe Penobscot County Pi Piscataquis County Pref. preface pt. part R Range Rev. ed. Revised edition Sa Sagadahoc County So Somerset County T Township T.S. Ti tcomb' s Survey vol(s). volt.nne(s) Wal Waldo County Was Washington County W.B.K.P. West of Bingham's Kennebec Purchase W.E.L.S. West of east line of the state W.K.R. West of Kennebec River W.P.R. West of Penobscot River Y York County L_y. frCYd)C<(.L1 ku;;s cf 1\\.a<,>CtLh\...\.-,et:t~ (-t~( v. \,\d~cQ;it"_5 vii -t\Ic \('';\Ltf1\E- f\-'-U)\~-) ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES Symbols Secretary of State MSS, Record of Plantations, 4 vols. Secretary of State MSS, Miscellaneous Records, 7 vols. current Explanatory Notes All descriptions of area are designated according to present county boundaries. Province Laws of Massachusetts are designated by chapter number only. All laws later than March 15, 1820 herein cited by chapter number only are Private and Special Laws of Maine. Massachusetts Resolves, prior to 1820, and Maine Public Laws and Resolves following that date, are fully cited. viii INTRODUCT ION By DORRIS A. ISAACSON Chairman, Archives Advisory Board A significant body of work of enduring value in the study of the development of government in this Country was produced by the Historical Records Survey, a Federal Relief Program during the disastrous Depression years of the 1930's. In view of Maine's early settlement, important in the research usage of public records in the field is the substantive compilation on Maine's counties, cities, towns and plantations prepared by the Maine Historical Records Survey Project. Completed in 1940, this definitive Handbook encompassing incorporations, dissolutions and boundary changes is published for the first time by the Maine State Archives. Some 40 years ago, the National Historical Records Survey brought together in integrated listings an enormous quantity of widely scattered public records, with legal and other source references and explanatory notes. Many of these public records had been abandoned to neglect and deterioration in attics, cellars and other nooks and crannies across the land, destined to be lost forever. At many levels, the Survey awakened public awareness of the importance of public records and the need for their preservation and protection. Not until after World War II however, did the states begin to formulate public records programs along the lines of those initiated by the National Archives which had been established in 1934. Maine's public records program got under way in the 1960's when the l02nd Legislature in 1965 enacted the Archives and Records Management Law, which established the institution of the Maine State Archives to carry out the pol icies and princi ples of an integrated public records system. Since the Historical Records Survey of the 1930's was concerned with official documentation having legal characteristics, and was a source, rather than a resource, in 1936 the Survey program became a nation-wide independent unit as part of so-called Federal One which also included the cultural units of theatre, art, music and writers' projects. Initially, in 1935, the Historical Records Survey had begun under the Federal Writers Project to which the Survey "contributed heavily in the early research for the American Guide Series", according to The Dream and the Deal (1979), an account of the Federal Writers Project by its national editor, Jerre Mangione. In 1939, the Emergency Relief Act initialed the Congressional death sentence of the Historical Records Survey as well as the cultural projects. Under new pressures in the changing political atmosphere created by the ix imminence of the Second World War, the Roosevelt Administration began to de-emphasize its Depression-oriented programs. The independent Historical Records Project, along with the writers, music, and art units were allowed to continue for a time under state sponsorship provided that the states paid twenty-five percent of the cost. They were finally phased out in the early 1940's. In the aftermath, much valuable research material delineating the character of America and her people was left in limbo, notwithstanding the salvage efforts of the National Archives. For instance, the wealth of unpublished material from the Maine Writers Project was dumped into Casco Bay when no repository could be found. Fortunately, the Maine His torical Records Survey survived and has been preserved, to become, through publication by the Maine State Archives, a valuable and useful legacy now and for future generations. x 10 JURISDICT IONS JURISDICTIONS After more than 150 years of overlapping and discordant proprietor ships and jurisdictions and another 150 years of established government, Maine today has 16 counties, 21 cities, 418 towns, 65 plantations, and hundreds of unsettled townships. In the Colonial period there were but few towns and these were widely scattered. A number of counties under various jurisdictions flourished for short periods prior to 1716 when York County was enlarged to embrace the entire area of Maine. As the seat of any central government was generally distant and its jurisdiction uncertain, each early settlement organized its own individual form of government. l Later, in several instances the inhab itants called a meeting and elected town officers soon after the township had been laid out in lots by the proprietors or even by the General Court of Massachusetts.