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
YORK. £07
noted scout, pursuing the savages with unrelenting hate at every op- portunity. In August, 1746, a party of thirty-two Indians secreted themselves near the lower falls for the purpose of surprising Weares garrison, killing Philip Greely, who came in their way. This was the last attack of savages which occurred within the limits of the town.
From this time until the Revolution, the people of Royalls River i
had peace; but in that momentous stru-rgle the inhabitants of what is now Yarmouth were not surpassed in their devotion to the American j
cause. On the 20th of May, previous to the Declaration of Indepen- !
dence, they voted unanimously to engage with their lives and for- j
tunes to support Congress in the measure.
Many distinguished people have resided in the town. One of the earliest was the Rev. Ammi R. Cutter, who was settled as pastor in 1730, but subsequently studied medicine. He led a company to the siege of Louisburg in 1745, remaining there as surgeon of the garrison after the surrender. The town has two Congregational churches, and one each belonging to the Baptist, Universalist and Roman Catholic '
denominations. The North Yarmouth Academy is situated in Yar- mouth village, and notwithstanding a good town high-school, it still flourishes. Yarmouth has ten public schoolhouses, and the school property belonging to the town is valued at $3,500. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $1,034,336. In 1880 it was $1,022,670. The rate of taxation in 1880 was 11 per cent. The population in 1870 was 1,8 VI. In the census of 1880, the figures are 2,021.
York, in the county of tho same name, is a sea-coast town, and the southernmost but one in the State. Within its limits was established the first English city in America. In 1641 a tract near the mouth of York River, three miles square, was incorporated by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, proprietor of the province, as the town of Agamenticus. In 1642, Gorges, desirous of a suitable capital for his Province of Maine, replaced the town corporation by a chartered city, upon which lie be- stowed the name of Georgeana. Its limits Avere seven miles inland from the sea by three in breadth; and the Agamenticus (York) River formed its south-western boundary. The date of the first settlement of York is not known. Edward Godfrey, once governor of the pro- vince, affirmed that he was an inhabitant in 1620 and 1630, and the first that built there. In 1643 Gorgeana is believed to have had between 250 and 300 inhabitants. Captain William Gorges, nephew of the proprietor, had been appointed by him governor of the province, having come over with his commission in 1635. He appears to have visited England about the time of the breaking out of the war between the Puritans and King Charles I., preceding the establishment of the commonwealth and the protectorate of Cromwell. The death of the proprietor of the province, Sir Ferdinando, occurring in 1647, and nothing being heard from Governor William Gorges, the inhabitants of Kittery. Gorgeana, Wells, and probably the Isle of Shoals, met in con- vention at Gorgeana, and formed themselves into a confederacy for mutual protection and just administration of the government, and Ed- ward Godfrey was chosen governor. In 1652, when Massachusetts ex- tended her jurisdiction over the province under a new interpretation of the boundaries of her charter, the name of the city was changed to York, and that of the province to Yorkshire, to avoid the city charter
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