Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney
BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from
THE STATE of MAINE. 39
pany who proved to be rank Puritans. In 1629, The Plymouth Com- pany granted to the New Plymouth colony a tract of land 15 miles wide on each side of the Kennebec River, and extending from Swan Island to the great bend in the river near Norridgewock. In the same year grants were also made to the settlers on the Saco River. One patent was issued to Richard Vines and John Oldham, of a tract of 4 miles on the shore and 8 miles back from the river, on the southerly side; and another to Thomas Lewis and John Bonython of a similar tract on the northerly side.
In 1630 the Lygonia Patent, sometimes called the Plough Patent was granted to a company who proposed to devote their energies to agriculture. The patent appears to have been granted under a mis- conception, as it interfered with the rights of Gorges and was the cause of much strife in the early years of the settlements. The terri- tory purporting to be conveyed, was 40 miles square, extending on the coast from the Kennebunk to Royals River. In the same year the territory between Muscongus Bay and Medomac River was granted to some persons who had trading houses there. This was the Muscon- gus Patent, which, nearly a hundred years later, passed into the pos- session of the Waldo family, and thus became known as the Waldo Patent. The Pemaquid Patent, issued in 1631, was the last issue by the Plymouth Company in Maine. It included the territories lying between the Medomac and Damariscotta rivers. West of this was the Sheepscot plantation in what is now the town of Newcastle. j In 1632 commenced the troubles with the French, which continued
I until the fall of Quebec, in 1759. The first act of hostility was the
' plunder of the Pilgrims trading station on the Penobscot by a party
of French fishermen who thought themselves excused from punishment for the outrage by the French claim to the territory. Another was the plunder of the trading vessel of Dixy Bull; and this misfortune
caused Bull to turn plunderer also. After robbing several small ves-
sels he made an attack, in 1632, upon Pemaquid, but was beaten off without having secured much plunder. A force of four vessels from Massachusetts Bay and Piscataqua River was sent in pursuit of the marauder; but he had left the coast. He. was subsequently executed in England.
In 1635 the Plymouth or New England Company was dissolved, and its territory was divided into twelve provinces, four of which fell within the present limits of Maine. The first, including the region between the Penobscot and St. Croix, was assigned to Sir William Alexander, and was named the County of Canada; the second lay between the Penobscot and Kennebec, and was given to the Duke of 1 ^ York, who soon named it the County of Cornwall; the third embraced
the territory between the Kennebec and Androscoggin ; the fourth division extended from the Androscoggin to the Pascataqua. Both the last were given to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who named his jirovince New Somersetshire. In 1636 Gorges, nephew, William Gorges, came over as Governor; but he soon returned to England. Three ! years later, Gorges procured a charter from the King, giving him
rights of government in his province. Its name he now changed to Maine,—whence we obtain the name of our State. In 1642 Gorges planned the capital city of his province, locating it on the York River. It had been known as the plantation of Agamenticus, but he now
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