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

40    GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

changed it to Goigeana, extending its corporate jurisdiction over a
tract of twenty-one square miles. It never had over three hundred
inhabitants, and ten years later, it was changed to the town of York.
Before long there were conflicts of title and of authority in Maine
among so many different claimants. The French made good their
claim to the territory east of the Penobscot by bolding possession of
it; and upon Gorges’ death those holding their territory under the
Lygonia Patent contended with those who held under the several
patents of Gorges. The government of Cromwell during its sway,
favored Rigby, the holder of the Lygonia Patent—and a Puritan—
against Gorges, who was attached to the Church of England and the
royal line. The Massachusetts Bay Government was frequently called
upon for protection and adjudication of rights in Maine; and, on re-
examining their charter, and making a new survey, the authorities
found they could make a plausible claim of jurisdiction over New
Hampshire and Maine as far as the Penobscot. This territory was
therefore adopted as a part of the commonwealth, under the name of
Yorkshire. In 1652, commissioners appointed by Massachusetts came
into Maine, and set up her government with very little opposition.
The militia of Maine was organized by the General Court, and magis-
trates appointed; the people were admitted to suffrage, having the
privilege of sending two delegates to the General Court.

Under the Puritan rule in England, the New England colonies,
with the assistance of a few vessels and men sent by Cromwell, recov-
ered from France the whole of Acadia,—by which term the French at
this time designated eastern Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
In 1664, Charles II., who had now been called to the throne of Great
Britain, made his brother, the Duke of York, Viceroy of New England.
The Duke also induced his brother to give the portion of Maine lying
between St. Croix and the Penobscot, in addition to that between
the latter river and the Kennebec, which he held before. At the
request of the Duke, the King appointed three commissioners to assist
the deputy-governor, Colonel Richard Nichols, in settling the affairs of
New England. When they appeared in Boston, the General Court
rejected their authority. They then went to Maine, where in 1665,
they overthrew the government of Massachusetts and set up one of
their own. The King recalled the commissioners in the following year,
and when Governor Nichols returned to England in 1638, Massachu-
setts immediately took steps to revive her authority. In 1773, the
Dutch recaptured New York, and Governor Lovelace, who had suc-
ceeded Nichols, returned to England. There being now no superior
authority to oppose, the authority of Massachusetts quickly changed
the province of Maine back to the county of York and made the
county of Cornwall into the county of Devonshire; and now Maine
had three representatives in the General Court.

Then for a short time the settlements were peaceful and flourishing;
so that in the beginning of the year 1675, there were thirteen towns and
plantations within the present limits of Maine, while the inhabitants
numbered between five and six thousand souls. The Indian popula-
tion at this time numbered about twelve thousand. In July 1675, King
Philip’s war broke out in Massachusetts; and in September the tribes
of Maine commenced hostilities. Their first warlike act was at the
plantation of Thomas Purchas, in Pejepscot (Brunswick), which they