Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine THREE CENTURIES OF FREEPORT9 MAINE BY FLORENCE G. THURSTON AND HARMON S. CROSS FREEPORT~ MAINJt: 1940 The entire contents of this book are copyrighted, 1940, by Harmon S. Cross and Florence G. Thurston No extracts or illustrations to be used without written permission " 'Mayne'. Butt in this province there is a bay J called Casco Bay) in which there are many islands) two outlets to the sea) many good harboU,rs and great store of ffish and oysters) crabs and lobsters. In this province) as in all the rest) there are great store of wild ducks) geese and deer in their seasons) straw­ beryesJ rasberyesJ goosberyesJ barberyesJ and severall sort of bill­ beryesJ severall sorts of oakes and pines) chestnut trees) wallnut trees and sometimes four or five miles together: the (more) north­ erly the country) the better the timber is accounted." - Report of the Royal Commissioners About New England in 1665. FOREWORD HE purpose of this book is to preserve as many as possible T of vanishing traditions, that present and future genera­ tions may know something of how their ancestors lived and achieved. Since it is impossible to record all that has hap­ pened during the three centuries which have elapsed, even though the facts were available, we know that much has been omitted. Nevertheless, we believe that enough has been in­ cluded to cause pride in the hearts of native Freeporters and to assure other residents that they live in no mean town. So many have assisted by suggesting sources of information and furnishing us with material that we are unable to name them all here. However, it would be doing an injustice if we did not mention the invaluable aid which the B. H. Bartol Li­ brary has rendered through its librarian, Miss Grace M. Rogers. and her assistant Miss Mildred P. Stowell, by their unfailing cooperation. We acknowledge the generosity of those citizens and friends. of the town who helped to finance the necessary research: Paul L. Powers, Alpheus G. Dyer, L. C. Maybury, George V. Hunter,. L. T. Patterson, L. L. Bean, L. Porter Soule, L. E. Curtis, Doc­ tors Gould and Howard, Ernest L. Varney, Mary A. Woodside~ Elwyn L. :Oavis, William W. Fish, Edward H. Davis, Linwood E. Porter, Perez S. Burr, John R. Lavers, Mark Polakewich, D. R. Arnold, Frank M. Barnard, Samuel L. Porter, Ellen 0. Tal­ bot, Grace M. Rogers and William G. Mitchell. CONTENTS I. EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORERS 3 II. INDIANS 5 III. EARLY GOVERNMENT AND ORIGIN OF TITLES 8 IV. FIRST SETTLERS 11 V. THE SECOND SETTLEMENT 20 VI. THE FINAL RESETTLEMENT 28 VII. MEANS MASSACRE 34 VIII. SETTLERS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 36 IX. FREEPORT IN THE REVOLUTION 39 X. INCORPORATION OF FREEPORT 43 XI. DEA TH AND TAXES 49 XII. FREEPORT 178g-1812 52 XIII. THE D.ASH 55 XIV. 1'1AINE BALLADS 65 XV. FREEPORT IN 1816 70 XVI. FREEPORT AND MAINE INDEPENDENCE 72 XVII. MILITIA OF THE NEW STATE 77 XVIII. THE SCHOONER ZELF AND BARK GLEN 81 XIX. THE CIVIL WAR 86 XX. CAPT. JOSIAH A. MITCHELL 93 X Contents XXI. SHIPBUILDING IN FREEPORT 124 XXII. HOJtV A JtVOODEN SHIP WAS BUILT 130 XXIII. TALES OF THE SEA 139 XXIV. FREEPORT SQUARE 146 XXV. B. H. BARTOL LIBRARY 157 XXVI. SCHOOLS 160 XXVII. OLD NEIGHBORHOODS 168 XXVIII. EARLY TRANSPORTATION 189 XXIX. EDMUND B. MALLET 196 XXX. SOME SHORT BIOGRAPHIES 199 XXXI. ORGANIZATIONS 204 XXXII. RELIGION 211 XXXIII. CIVIC AJVD MILITARY DATA 223 INDEX 239 ILLUSTRATIONS Yacht Clubhouse, South Freeport, about 1900 facing 3 From a Sketch by Leon Banks Freeport Square and Holbrook Tavern in the Sixties j.44 Mast Landing, 1902 j.44 Working model of the Dash, 1812 j.56 Trophies captured by the Dash j.56 Dash in Pursuit of ship Five Sisters 60 Otis L. Coffin on Veteran's Furlough in the Sixties j. 88 A group of Civil War Veterans j.88 Capt. ]osiah A. Mitchell j.94 Capt. Mitchell's Horne as it Appears Today j.94 The Tam O'Shanter in the Soule Yard j. 126 West Side of Main Street, 1889 j. 148 East Side of Main Street, 1889 j. 148 The B. H. Bartol Library j. 158 The Universalist Church j. 158 The Frank Pettengill House · j. 170 The former Capt. Greenfield Pote House j. 170 Bridge at Porter's Landing 179 Casco Castle j. 194 Edmund B. Mallet f. 196 J. Arthur Stowell, for whom Legion Post is named j.206 Congregational Church 213 The First Baptist Church Built in Freeport 217 Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine i:: 0- ~ 0 0 O').... ..... 0- ..c- i;;:: .....,- CJ- THREE CENTURIES OF FREEPORT, MAINE I EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORERS OLLOWING the announcement of Columbus's discovery of a new world the English government sent John and Sebas­ Ftian Cabot to sail along the northeastern coast of the pres­ ent United States. This was in 1498-1499, but no attempt was made to explore until more than a century later when in 1602 Gosnold sailed along the coast of Maine. The following year Martin Pring discovered Casco Bay. In 1604 the French explorer Champlain, who described the Maine coast and made charts of the principal harbors, was not· able to find any native who could give exact information re­ garding Europeans, a possible proof that none had heretofore closely examined her shores. The next year, however, George Weymouth, an English captain, lured five Indians on board his vessel, the Archangel, and took them to England. The memory of this treachery must have been one of the obstacles which the early settlers met when trying to establish friendship with the Indians.. It is true that one of the five, Squantum by name, was returned and in 162 1 visited the Pilgrims at Plymouth and proved that he bore no grudge against the race to which his kidnappers belonged, but, nevertheless, distrust was implanted which was one of the factors contributing to cause the bloody wars which later ravaged early Maine settlements. The idea of capturing the Indians was not new for in 1500 Casper Cortereal, a Portuguese navigator, in a similar manner but on a larger scale carried away fifty-seven men and boys and sold them as slaves in Spain. Perhaps this earlier outrage had been forgotten in the more than a century which had elapsed before the coming of Champlain but it was unfortunate that Weymouth should have chosen a time to repeat it there two years before the attempt by Popham to establish a permanent settlement on the Kennebec, practically in the same region as the scene of the later kidnapping. It is very likely that the many islands which shut out the fore­ side of Freeport from the open sea and the shoal water along 4 Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine the shore at low tide prevented a close examination of that township by early voyagers. Their time for exploration was limited to a few months of summer and their attention was pri­ marily given to a search for shoals where fish abounded and to the necessity of procuring a cargo valuable enough to defray the expense of the voyage. The famous John Smith came to the New England coast in 1614, having whales, mines, fish and furs as immediate objec­ tives. It developed that the whales 1¥ere not of the right kind to yield oil or bone and mines were not to be found, so the Cap­ tain with eight men left the ship and in a small boat explored from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. All that he says which relates to Freeport and which must be shared by all towns on Casco Bay is: "Westward of Kennebeke is the country of Aucocisco in the bottom of a large deep bay, full of many great isles, which divide it into many great harbors." The real exploration of our shores was probably made by nameless adventurers, seeking fish, lumber and furs, who made no records if they were successful in their quest lest these should fall into the hands of some rival and on the other hand could see no reason to waste time writing of their failures. We learn that the Council of Plymouth sent a vessel under Sir Richard Hawkins in 1615 to explore the coast of the pres­ ent New England, but finding the natives at war sailed along to Virginia. In 1616 Sir Ferdinando Gorges despatched a ship und~r Richard Vines and another in 1618 under Captain Ed­ ward Rocroft for the same purpose. Also in 1616 four ships from Plymouth and two from London were able to catch full cargoes of fish, which they took to England and Spain. Monhegan to the east and Saco to the west were frequented by fishermen and may have been more or less permanently oc­ cupied before the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, but the lands at the "bottom of the large deep bay" were prob­ ably less often visited. Later there came a market for the lum­ ber which was so good and plentiful within the boundaries of the future Freeport, thus attracting a more stable class of set­ tlers than that of wandering fishermen. II INDIANS HAMPLAIN, in his explorations, found no fixed settle­ ments of the Indians. He ,vas told that the savages lived C at the head waters of the rivers and the carrying places from stream to stream. There were some living along the coast, perhaps in the summertime, when shellfish could be obtained. The great shell heaps found at various places along the coast prove that enormous quantities of oysters, clams and quahaugs were consumed by people living here before the whites ap­ peared.