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
%
BINGHAM PURCHASE.
school property, having a value of $4,000. The valuation of estate in 1870 was $201,017. In 1880 it was $201,471. The rate of taxation in the latter year was two per cent, for the money tax. The population in 1870 was 826. In 1880 it was 828.
Bing-ham Purchase refers to two tracts of land in Maine, secured about 1785 to 1790, for the eastern one, and 1793 for the western, by William Bingham, a wealthy merchant and banker of Philadelphia. These tracts consisted of about 1,000,000 acres each ; one lying in south-eastern and the other in western Maine. The boundaries of the eastern tract was as follows :—Beginning at the north-western corner of No. 8, at Union River, thence north 30 miles and including one tier north of the end of that line, excepting the corner township; thence east to the St. Croix ; thence south by Den- nys River to the north-eastern part of Whiting, thence westward north of Machias to the starting point,—embracing a total of 50 town- ships. In western Maine the north line of the purchase is the same with the north line of townships in Range VII, which strikes near the middle of Moosehead Lake on the western side; thence southward on the eastern line of the western tier of towns in Piscataquis County, to the south-eastern corner of Wellington, the south-western town of the county; thence westward on a line with the southerly line of that town,To the south-western angle of Mount Abraham township ; thence northerly to the boundary line first described, striking it about one mile and a quarter west of the eastern line of the north-eastern town- ship of Franklin County, on the Canadian border. This comprised about 1,000,000 acres,—above 40 townships.
The history of these purchases is as follows: The title of most of
the unsettled lands in Maine was in the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts. Needing money, that government, in 1786, took steps to dispose of a large quantity of land in eastern Maine by lottery, in the hope that the drawers of prizes would settle their lands. This hope was not realized; and soon after the drawing, Mr. Bingham, who also had drawn many of the townships, purchased most of the remainder. The western tract was contracted for by General Knox, by the advice of Gen- eral Lincoln, of Massachusetts, who had explored the territory. Lack- ing funds to pay for his purchase, and being so much occupied with his duties as Secretary of War that he was unable to attend to this property, he transferred his contract to his friend Mr. Bingham, who deserved well of the country, having rendered much financial aid dur- ing the Revolution. Mr. Bingham died in Bath, England, in 1806, leaving one son, who settled in Montreal; two daughters, who mar- ried the brothers, Alexander and Henry Baring, of the eminent bank- ing-house of that name, in London, and two other daughters who married J. R. Ingersol and William Miller, of Philadelphia. Soon after Mr. Bingham went to England, he appointed a young man named John Black as his agent to manage his lands in Maine; and this duty he attended to until his death in 1856. Alexander Baring eventually became a peer of the realm, with the title of Lord Ashburton. Without the approval of her cabinet the queen of England appointed him as Envoy Extraordinary to the United States, in 1842, to settle the northern and eastern boundary question; hence the treaty framed by him and Daniel Webster,—at that time
PREVIOUS PAGE ... NEXT PAGE
This page was written in HTML using a program written in Python 3.2
|