Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
Ontario
Legislative Library
v y
MAINE PIONEER SETTLEMENTS
Sofcoki
BY
HERBERT MILTON SYLVESTER
-*'""
BOSTON
. 115, Clarke Co,
26-28 TREMONT ST.
1909
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Copyright, 1907, by Herbert M. Sylvester
All rights
* M.\!ylvester
MAINE PIONEER SETTLEMENTS
OLDE CASCOE
OLD YORK
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
PEMAQUID
THE LAND OF ST. CASTIN
AUTHOR'S EDITION
This edition is limited to one thousand copies
printed from the face type. This is No.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
18 INSCRIBED
BY THE AUTHOR
TO
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN, LITT. D.
WHOSE WORK HAS ENSURED HER
A PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF ALL
LOVERS OF THE SWEET AND
WHOLESOME IN LITERATURE.
THE EPISTLE
DEDICATORY
IRANKLY, my friend,
if there is on earth a
panacea for the ills to
which the human
mind is heir, one
might cry out " Eu-
reka!" when one has
known the infinite
variety of dear Penel-
ope, the delightful spontaneity of Timothy, the
whimsical charm of the Goose Girl, and the delicious
freshness of Rose o' the River.
11
12 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY
A doctor of letters indeed, to diagnose the frail-
ties and follies of one's kind and then to pen such
potent prescriptions. But what enjoyments (and
sane enjoyments, it should be whispered, lest lovers
of bizarre effects in printer's ink should be disturbed)
peer like laughing elves from every page of your
work! And what wealth of inward satisfaction must
have come to the creator of these merry folk, from
Mrs. Grubb and Mrs. Ruggles, down to Old Kennebec
and Jabe Slocum!
These visionary people, so deftly assembled by the
spell of an inexhaustible fancy, sound all the familiar
notes in the gamut of Nature, from the fantastic
beauty of some imaginary environment to the homely
experiences of simple lives like our own. There are
notes of bird songs; the music of the wind-fingered
leaves, or of the grasses bending under the caress of
the June breezes; the whirl of a spinning-wheel and
the monody of the river; the glow of wonderful sun-
sets; the drip of the rain on the roof, — ah! I find
them all as I follow your wand across the page.
Thanks to the mythical Cadmus, whose ingenuity
in the amusing of the royal offspring evolved the
alphabet; and to the enterprising Gutenberg, who is
credited with the first movable types, the maker of
books has ever prospered (and the writer of books as
well) on that curious juggler's art, the making of
some thing out of nothing; for genius is always a sort
of juggler!
How fortunate you have been! Like Jason who
tore the Golden Fleece from the branch above the
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY 13
sleeping dragon in the sacred grove of Colchis, you
have found your magic wand in some mysterious
place hidden from others, and I would I might borrow
the silken thread of your Ariadne. Really, I have
been looking for the old woman and her peacock as
I have fished up or down one stream and another,
but as yet they exist for me only in the imagination
of the wizard Hawthorne. After all, I apprehend
you have been more intelligently industrious than
some others, which is likewise greatly to your credit,
and that, I apprehend, is the chief secret of genius,
the ability to be intelligently industrious.
Upon the topmost of my library shelves, looking
down at me as I commune with my friends before
my library fire, is the portrait of a gentle-faced
woman. The glint of the firelight is in her eyes.
There is a shimmer of its glow in the fair hair that is
surmounted by a mortar-board of classic suggestion
that is singularly becoming. Over the shoulders is
draped a likewise classic gown, that, with the coronet-
like mortar-board, tells the beholder that the portrait
is that of a doctor of letters.
One takes especial delight in the reading of pages
wrought by a hand one has held for a moment in
one's own. There is the subtlety of a virile touch,
the delicious suggestion of a presence but faintly per-
ceptible like the odor of a delicate perfume that
lingers on the air to betray the coming and going of
a friend. It is like the glow of the sunset on the
evening cloud to lend a rare charm to the moments.
Thought takes wings and flies fast and far, and
14 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY
Memory, like the dervish's pomatum, quickens the
vision, and my friend is with me.
There is a choice companionship that is priceless,
in this picture of a gracious womanhood. I have
only to reach over to the library table and pick up
her last book, and with the covers open, lo! she is
speaking to me. Her words sound upon the ear
audibly, and the spell of actuality sways the moments.
If the rain is beating on the roof, or the hour is a
quiet one, I apprehend that the doctor is in her
office at her prescription writing.
Write on, dear woman, and out of your knowledge
and observation of life weave anew its complexities
into the charming fabrics that make us more and more
in love with it ; and may your tribe increase. Whet the
subtle discernment common to your sex, to a keener
edge, if it may be, and by a process of painless surgery
cut out the sores that fester and rankle in the human-
ity that crowds to our very doors. Like your Tur-
rible Wiley, in "Rose o' the River/' we all suffer from
"vibrations" of one sort or another, and sometimes
it takes our neighbor's discrimination to discover it
to us. It is not always the kindest sort of thing, nor
done in the kindest way, but it counts just the
same in the self-weighing process at stock-taking
time.
Write on, dear woman, for I doubt not you have
as many tales stored away in the gray matter under
that mortar-board of yours as was accounted to the
story-telling spouse of the fabled Schariar; tales, too,
as veracious and fascinating.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY
15
Kindly accept this inscription from a fellow
author as an evidence of his sincere admiration for
the charming art in literature which is assuredly yours,
and as a pledge of his loyalty to a friendship which is
at once a surprise and a pleasure, as well as a valued
compensation.
I am most cordially yours,
HERBERT MILTON SYLVESTER.
PREFACE
x
PREFACE
IKE good old Isaac
Walton, the angler
after the wary trout
follows the stream,
up, always up, until
he finds the bub-
bling spring isolated
in the deeps of the
wilderness, over the
moist and verdure-
broidered rim of
which breaks the
trickling rill that
far below among
the meadow lands broadens out into the placid river,
deep, silent, inscrutable, and stately in its flow, always
swept along by the impetus of a living force to
ultimately merge into the limitless sea.
19
20 PREFACE
The man of scholarly inclination, especially if he
have the tastes of the antiquarian, and many another
who finds time to indulge in casual research, follows
with a like enthusiasm and a like pertinacity the
thread of tradition, that flowing down the stream
of the accumulating years is lost in the great
flood of accumulating historic events that are as
responsive to the touch of To-day. Like the
trained and sensitized finger tips of the physician,
they are counting the beats of a pulse that began its
iterations with the as yet unlocated advent of Time,
to cease only when the history of men's achievements
shall cease to be written.
One likes to strip the white bark from the birch for
himself, and with the blade of his own knife shape
the gold-lined chalice with which he may dip from
the cool depths of the woodland spring its liquid
crystal, whose beneficent and healing waters he
quaffs with a relish akin to exaltation. He revels
in this familiarity with the primeval and his heart-
beats quicken. His spirit is lifted up and he begins
the translation of Nature for himself. He deciphers
the hieroglyphics on the rinds of the centuries-old
trees. He reads the altitude of the sun in the slant
shadows. Poems are written on the leaves that strew
the woodland floors, and he hears the music of the
spheres in the low-pitched murmurous speech of the
wind-stirred foliage, among whose drooping mosses,
pendant from the ancient hemlocks, bearded
" Like Druids of eld,"
PREFACE
21
he discovers Delphic oracles wherein the secrets of the
centuries and the wisdom of the Infinite are withheld
from all other than the priesthood of Nature her-
self.
Having in view the force of the metaphor, one is
ever seeking to acquire the subtle mystery by
which the Daedalian maze of early tradition and the
somewhat obscure landmarks of contemporary events
may be discovered, located, and verified, with a view
always to the possibility of regaining the safe ground.
With this in view, the author desires the reader to
go with him over a somewhat, perhaps, unfamiliar
ground, trusting that in this rehabilitation of the
early ventures of the earliest known English land-
promoters, there may yet be found some unculled
flowers by the wayside.
I. The Forerunners.
II. The Winter Harbor Settlement.
III. The Isle of Bacchus.
IV. The Story of "A Broken Tytle."
V. The Romance of Black Point.
VI. The Sokoki Trail.
PAGE
Half-title 1
Vignette 5
Headband, Epistle Dedicatory 11
Initial 11
Tailpiece 15
Headband, Preface 19
Tailpiece 21
The Trail 23
Sketches 25
Tailpiece 30
Headband, Forerunners 37
Initial 37
On the St. John River 41
Zeno Chart 44
Portuguese Map 47
A Bit of Old Honfleur 50
25
26 ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Autograph, Janus Verrazanus 53
Reprint of Verrazanus' Map 55
Ribero Map 56
Suggestion from the Cabot Map ....... 58
Gosnold Expedition — Site of his Barricadoe . . 59
Hakluyt'sMap 61
De Laet's Map 64
Captain John Smith's Map 65
Cape North, Cape Breton. Supposed Landfall
of Cabot, 1497 67
Des Lines' Map 76
John White's Map 80
Michael Lok's Map 84
Juan de la Cosa's Map 88
Ruysch's Map 90
Ruscelli's Map 94
Tailpiece 102
Headband, Winter Harbor Settlement 105
Initial 105
Winter Harbor, Mouth of Saco River 107
The Site of the Vines Settlement 110
Mouth of Saco, opposite Camp Ellis 115
Biddeford Pool, where Vines Wintered, 1616-1617 120
Inner Mouth of the Pool 129
An Ancient Wharf, the Pool 134
The Old Graveyard on Fletcher's Neck 140
Autographs, Vines and Jenner 143
ILLUSTRATIONS 27
PAGE
Fort Hill, Entrance to the Pool 147
Wood Island 154
Stage Island 159
Basket Island and Breakwater 162
Stratton and Bluff Islands 166
The Gooseberries, East Point, Fletcher's Neck . . 171
Tailpiece 172
Headband, the Isle of Bacchus 175
Initial 175
Chart of Richmond's Island 178
Map of Cape Elizabeth 185
Richmond's Island 188
Pond Cove 192
Boaden's Point, Mouth of Spurwink River . . . 195
Mackworth Island 200
The Bold Shore of Cape Elizabeth 206
Buena Vista — Spurwink River Bar 208
Hubbard's Rocks, Higgin's Beach 211
Pooduck Shore 214
Cape Elizabeth's Oldest Church 220
Autographs of Winter and Jordan 223
Site of Boaden's House, Spurwink Ferry . . . 226
Old Robinson House 234
Cape Elizabeth Light 237
Tailpiece, The Signet Ring 240
Headband, The Story of "A Broken Tytle" . . . 243
Initial .... 243
28 ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Cape Small Point, Sand Dunes 246
Sdbino . . 250
Signers of Patent of 1621 255
Fort Scammel, House Island, where Levett Built
His House 260
John Dee's Map of Lygonia 262
Old Man of the Sea, Pemaquid Point 267
A Scarborough Fisher's Hut 270
Vignette 274
Fisher's Hut, Ogunquit 277
Cliff Walk, Higgin's Beach 283
Cape Porpoise 287
Old Draw and Beach, Kennebunk 299
Tailpiece 301
Headband, The Romance of Black Point .... 305
Initial 305
Map of Black Point 310
Confluence of Dunstan and Nonsuch Rivers . . 314
Autographs, Cammoke and Jocelyn 315
Prout's Beach, Front's Neck, south of Boaden's
Ferry 320
Map of Blew Point 323
On the Road to Dunstan's, Boulter's Creek . . . 329
Site of Cammock's House on Prout's Neck . . . 335
Ferry Rocks, Cammock's Neck, Bar at Mouth of
Owascoag 340
Northern River , . 351
ILLUSTRATIONS 29
PAGE
Scottow's Hill 354
Site of Scottow's Fort 359
The Sinuous Nonsuch 367
LMey's River, near Site of Corn Mill 369
Massacre Pond 373
Old Front's Neck House 376
Ferry Place, Garrison Cove 378
Black Rock, Site of Alger's Flakeyard 381
Castle Rocks, Prout's Beach 383
Southgate House, Dunstan Abbey 385
A Modern Byway of Old Scarborough 388
Head of Alger's Creek, near Site of Westbrook's
Mill 389
Winnock's Neck 390
Site of the Old Plaisted Garrison 391
Old Richard Hunnewell House 394
Site of Storer Garrison 396
Mill Creek 398
Tomb of King Family 400
Richard King House, 1745 401
Autograph of Thos. Westbrook ........ 403
Tailpiece, Indian Knoll 404
Headband, Sokoki Trail, Hiram' Falls 407
Initial 407
Mount Washington, from the Saco 412
Chocorua, from the Saco 420
Conway Meadows, Pegwacket 424
30
ILLUSTRATIONS
White Horse Ledge, Pegwacket 427
W adsworth Hall 430
The Wadsworth Silhouettes 432
Artist's Brook, Conway 441
Fort Mary, 1699 444
Saco Block House, 1730 447
Mount Willey 450
Echo Lake 453
Chart of Lovewell' s Pond 455
Autograph, John Lovewell 457
Lovewell's Pond 458
Lovewell Monument 461
Battle Brook 463
Tailpiece, The City 465
PRELUDE
Rain is on the roof; visions crowd the stair;
The magic of an olden song is on my pane ;
I stroll along the tide-drenched sands again.
Wind-sped, with noiseless footfall, here or there
To seaward creep the specters of the air.
A dun-hued strand, from off a tangled skein
Of inlet, marsh, and bluff, its wrinkled stain
Unwinds betwixt the sea and wood ; and where
Loomed storied pile and sculptured frieze, is naught
Save turquoise waters — shores of cloth of gold —
Chanting the slow dirge of years, subtly wrought
With tales of voyagers bold, lore of old
Saco, when Fort Mary's sunset-gun brought
The gray dusk into Night's deepening fold.
THE FORERUNNERS
THE FORERUNNERS
F one were to search for the beginning
of the Sokoki trail, to follow it down
the unknown and unknowable span
of years to its tragic blotting out
along the sands of Love well's
pond, one would go to the origin
of the great Abenake family whose
smokes for unnumbered centuries,
uprising above the shag of wilder-
ness woods of this nuova terra of
Gomez, blew away one ill-starred day to seaward,
to lightly kiss the dun sails of Cabot, perhaps, but
surely those of Cortereal, Du Monts, Weymouth,
and Capt. John Smith; for these latter met the
aborigine, to whom these pale-faced adventurers and
their white-winged ships were but forerunners of
greater things.
As to the origin of the Abenake, the original Indian
family of northeastern North America, if one were to
37
38 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
delve deeply enough into the history of races, cross-
ing over the desert of conjecture into certainty, one
might undoubtedly trace its ancestral beginnings over
the northwestern ice floes of Behring Strait into the
northern limits of Asia; but that were an impossi-
bility, for the lack of even savage tradition. Only
racial characteristics are left for the ethnologist.
The Abenake, of which the Sokoki were a strong
branch, are worthy of a moment's attention, for the
reason that the reader is about to make a personally
conducted tour through the country once the patri-
archal domain of this Indian family, of whom the
famous Paugus was the last and most notable chief.
According to M. Ventromile, the Abenake comprised
a large portion of the Indian race commorant to the
country between Virginia and Nova Scotia. In fact
they comprised it in its entirety.
The Abenake, or to designate them correctly, the
Wdnbdnbdghi, or more literally still, Wdnbdnbdn (the
people of the Aurora Borealis), were the original
Indians, the original settlers of the country, the
limitations of which have already been given, and they
may be said to have occupied the whole northeast
section of North America even as far as Labrador,
including as well the aborigine of Newfoundland.
Father Ducreux brought out a history of Canada in
1660. It contained a map upon which the Abenake
are located. Perhaps he may be regarded as good an
authority as any by reason of his superior opportunity
for intercourse with the Indian himself, and as a
propagandist of the Jesuit religion and French influ-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 39
ence among the Abenake tribes. His limitations of
the Abenake, however, are somewhat narrow, as
compared with the deductions of M. Ventromile, for
the former locates this widely dispersed family
between the Kennebec and Lake Champlain, — their
main settlements being on the headwaters of the
Kennebec, the Androscoggin, and the Saco Rivers.
Another river is shown upon the Ducreux map, for
which no name is given, but which M. Ventromile
supposes to be the Presumpscot. One error of the
Jesuit historian is to be noted, — he locates the
Sokoquies between Boston and the Connecticut River ;
but it was along the Saco that this one of the five
great Abenake villages was located, and with a second
on the Kennebec and a third on the Penobscot, the
tale of the Abenake settlements of importance in the
afterward province of Maine was told.
Rale in his dictionary gives the names of these
villages as Ndrrdntswak (where the river falls away),
the last village of this great family, and which is
commemorated by the Rale monument near the
banks of the beautiful Kennebec in the near vicinage
of modern Norridgewock ; Anmessukkantti (where
there is an abundance of large fish), Pdnnawdnbskek
(it forks on the white rocks). M. Ventromile says:
"These three villages are those of this State." The
names of the two Abenaki villages of Canada are
Nessawakamighe (where the river is barricaded with
osier to fish, or where fish is dried by smoke), and it
is the present village of St. Francis of Sales. The
other Canadian Abenaki village is St. Joseph or
40 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Sillery, called formerly by the Indians Kamiskwa-
wangachit (where they catch salmon with the spear)."
This author credits the Abenake with " evident marks
of having been an original people in their name,
manners, and language. They show a kind of civil-
ization which must have been the effect of antiquity,
and of a past flourishing age."
There has been much curious and interested
research to resolve the word Abenake into its original;
and, from a careful and exhaustive examination of
the authorities, M. Ventromile is undoubtedly correct
when he assumes Wanb-naghi to be that original —
Wanb (white), meaning "the breaking of the day,"
and naghi (ancestors), or the east-land ancestors, to
translate liberally.
Capt. John Smith was a careful and curious anno-
tator of what he saw in his voyages to his "New
England," and his relations of the North American
Indians, or that aborigine who frequented those parts
of the coast visited by him, are among the earliest and
most authentic. This was in 1614, when he named
the Isles of Shoals the Smith Isles. After these
relations of Smith, come those of others, and which
may be good in part, or bad in part, as their state-
ments of fact may be founded upon impression or
observation concerning tribal location or assign-
ment.
Mr. Frederic Kidder makes eight tribes out of the
Abenake family, of which the Sokoki or Pequawkets
were one, and whose habitat was along the Saco
River until 1725, when the remnant of that once
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
41
powerful tribe, decimated by plague and the larger
part of a century of warfare with the English settlers,
emigrated to Canada to become lost in the folds of
other tribes who likewise found among the woods of
St. Francis of Sales a brief panacea for the disinte-
gration which had begun long before the overthrow
of the French domination south of the St. Croix, a
disintegration that was most sharply accentuated by
ON THE ST. JOHN RIVER
Moulton and Harmon in their raid upon Norridge-
wack, its destruction, and the death of the astute
and subtle diplomat, the Jesuit Rale. With the
Jesuit Mission went the treacherous savage.
The beginning of the Sokoki trail for the student
of history and the romanticist begins with the
flitting across the aboriginal vision of ghostly sails
breaking the blue shell of the sea horizon, as strangely
propelled landward and coastwise by the invisible
Spirit of the Wind, with huge bellying wings flapping
42 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
and snapping, giving utterance to strident and unto-
ward noises, and whose decks were thronged with the
pallid apparitions of the Old World civilization.
These were the ships of the early explorers, and one
is certain that the Indian watched these monstrosities
of sailing craft from the tree-embossed crags of the
coast from Cape Breton to Cape Cod. He hid him-
self from Cabot to be kidnapped by the Cortereals,
hunted by Verrazzano, to be employed as a guide by
Du Monts, and courted and educated by Weymouth
and Smith. Such were the aborigine's first glimpses
of eastern civilization, perhaps; for there are those
who have acquired something of a respectable fol-
lowing, and who assert with definiteness of detail, that
even Columbus had his predecessors, so far as any
legitimate claim could be made to being the first dis-
coverer of the American continent.
If one listens to Oviedo, one has the story of
Garcilasso de la Vega who sailed from Madeira, and
who being driven west discovered land, "and who
being shipwrecked, was harbored by Columbus in his
house," and who is supposed to have died in 1484,
having given his knowledge to Columbus who after-
ward profited by it: The date of La Vega's dis-
covery does not appear; but De Galardi "states it as
an indisputable fact" in his work published in 1666
which he dedicates to the Duke of Veraguas, a descen-
dant of Columbus. It is claimed by others that
Columbus gained his knowledge of a western conti-
nent from the Sagas of the voyages of Eric the Red
upon his voyage to Iceland, in 1477. It is undis-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 43
puted that Iceland and Greenland were commercially
acquainted at that time, but the scholarly Winsor
puts forward the supposition that "if Columbus
knew of them, he probably shared the belief of the
geographers of his time that Greenland was a penin-
sula of Scandinavia."
Winsor goes on to say, "The extremely probable
and almost necessary pre-Columbian knowledge of
the northeastern parts of America follows from the
venturesome spirit of the mariners to those seas for
fish and traffic, and from easy transitions from coast
to coast by which they would have been lured to
meet the more southerly climes."
De Costa accepts the Icelandic theory, while Ander-
son, claims it distinctly, and it must be admitted with
a great deal of reason. Estancelinin his "Researches,"
etc., Paris, 1832, claims that Pinzon was a companion
of Cousin, the Dieppe navigator who reached South
America in 1488-1489, became an inmate of Colum-
bus's family, and who was later associated with
Columbus as his pilot in 1492. Parkman is inclined
to accept the story, and Paul Gaffarel considers the
voyage of Cousin as " geographically and historically
possible." Even Columbus himself makes mention
of having found a "tinned iron vessel" among the
natives of Guadaloupe, which leads him to admit
traces of an earlier European vessel having come by
some means to this western continent. As Winsor
says, "strange islands had often been reported; and
maps still existing had shown a belief in those of San
Brandan and Antillia, and of the Seven Cities founded
44
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
in the ocean waste by as many Spanish bishops, who
had been driven to sea by the Moors."
Despite the fog, there is a deal of solid ground in
these relations, and I am of the opinion that Martin
Alonzo Pinzon was here before Columbus. Stripped
of the romance that has ever been the garb of Colum-
bus at the hands of the earlier writers, he does not
appear to have been the great character he has been
drawn; for his shallows are as apparent as his deeps,
and perhaps more so.
From the alleged discovery of the Fortunate
Islands by the Carthagenians, nearly thirteen hun-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 45
dred years, according to Winsor, elapsed before
Bethencourt settled his colony upon them, but they
appeared upon Sanuto's map of 1306, according to
Camden, as well as upon another well-authenticated
map of 1351.
Thirteen hundred years !
News traveled slowly in those days, to be sure.
There were no iron ganglia so the world might sense,
as it were, on the instant the doings or achievements
of men. There was no Hoey, no Morse, and the ink
horn was as dilatory as the contemporary donkey one
still finds among the hills of Spain.
"A querulous inquiry! " shouts the matter-of-fact
annalist. "Heresy !" cries another, whose house of
cards is toppling as some new document is wrenched
from its musty hiding-place. Well, much that was
once heresy is now a well-recognized truth. The
conscientious delver in history, especially that which
appertains to the sometime centuries, finds the
interrogation point to be about the only punctuation
type in the font.
But to the Indian the explorer of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries must have seemed a veri-
table Roc, had he ever heard of so wonderful a bird,
low-flying from headland to headland under the
shadow of his wide sails; dipping a prow in the St.
Lawrence; folding his huge wings for a night's anchor-
age in some placid bay; prodding the windings of
some sinuous Sassanoa; grubbing the sassafras woods
of Cape Cod for that aromatic; building houses of
stone and wood in the mouth of the St. Croix, or
46 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
kidnapping here or there a half -hundred Abenake for
the markets of Spain, Cortereal-fashion.
And it is this same Cortereal who came after the
Cabots, who may be regarded, after Cabot, 1498, as
one of the earliest of these navigators who came and
went laden with the incubus of their imaginings as
they made the home port, from time to time, with
varying fortunes.
It was in 1495 when Spain was occupied with the
imaginings of Columbus, who still held to the cer-
tainty of a direct northwestern passage to the Indies,
that young Immanuel succeeded to the throne of
Portugal. Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese, had been
despatched to the Indies some time before with some
idea of discovering a shorter route, but found his way
thither by the Cape of Good Hope. Immanuel was
inclined to make another venture with the same
object in view, but to the westward, following the
course of the Cabots, of which he had gathered suffi-
cient indications, and he hoped thereby to find a way
to the land of spices, the odorous Zipango, and through
what might be thought reasonably to exist, a north-
west passage between the islands supposed to have
been located by Cabot. With this in mind, he engaged
Gasper Cortereal, who was of a somewhat famous
family of navigators, and which had been created of
the Portuguese nobility by an admiring and graceful
king, — loao Vaz Cortereal being the hereditary
governor of Terceira, — a distinction accorded him
for his alleged discoveries and great learning in matters
of navigation.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
47
It is asserted by the Portuguese that loao Vaz
anticipated Columbus some thirty years in the dis-
covery of the Western Continent. Be that as it may,
the more one reads the less sure is one of the old
stamping-ground. It is, however, undoubtedly a fact
that this "New Found Land" was known to the
Basques and Icelandic mariners in its more northern
limits long before Columbus found his way to His-
paniola. This belief in Columbus is a sort of family
tradition, and these
abrupt deviations
from the old ruts
give one a jolt now
and then which is
somewhat painful to
the mental dyspep-
tic in matters of
historical research.
However startling
the assertion that
Amerigo Vespucii never saw the continent which
received his name, nevertheless the assertion is true,
and is as well established as could be expected, with
so much rubbish of the Peter Martyr sort. Gay
establishes the Vespucii alibi completely.
The Cortereals, both lost on these new shores, and
possibly amid the fogs of Labrador, entering into the
projects of Immanuel, fitted out jointly a small fleet
of two vessels with which Gaspar sailed away from
Lisbon in 1500 to the New World. He soon returned
from this voyage. Gaspar was the son of loao Vaz,
48 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the Governor, and had been doubtless initiated into
the mystery of navigating to these new lands. He
had a sufficient license from Immanuel, and his course
was to the northwest from Lisbon, and upon his return
he reported the discovery of land in a high latitude,
possibly Greenland, which name was given the coun-
try by him. But few details are preserved of this
first voyage; but the interest it aroused was such
that the following year another expedition was de-
spatched. He set out from Lisbon with three ships
on the 15th of May, 1501, changing his course to a
more westerly direction which he kept for a distance
of two thousand miles, and which brought him to a
country unknown up to that time. He followed the
coast a great distance, but found no end to it, but
instead, several large rivers, among which was possibly
the Saco. He concluded it to be a part of the coun-
try discovered by him in his voyage of the year before
still farther to the north, to which, by reason of ice
and snow, he was unable to attain. He was con-
vinced that the country was not an island. It was
populous and a number of the natives were carried
to Portugal and sold as slaves. A bit of broken
sword was found, also a pair of silver earrings, which
indicated a previous acquaintance with the Euro-
peans. But two of the three ships that sailed away
in May ever returned. The first came into Lisbon
October 8, and another three days later; but that
one which was piloted by Gaspar never returned.
In fact, nothing was ever heard of Gaspar Cortereal
after, although his brother Miguel fitted out a search-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 49
ing expedition of three ships, sailing away in 1502,
May 10. Upon the arrival of this fleet on the Ameri-
can coast, the fleet was divided the better to prosecute
the search, agreeing beforehand upon a rendezvous
upon the 20th August. Only two of this fleet met
as arranged, and from this date on for some time
these two ships waited for Miguel. Miguel did not
appear, and the season being somewhat advanced,
sail was made for Lisbon. This was the last ever
known of Miguel. The next year a search party was
sent out for Miguel, but its errand was a fruitless one.
This ended practically the efforts of Portugal to find
a new way to the Indies. Little has come down
from the Cortereals, for no extended reports of their
voyages exist.
The consolidation of France into a united kingdom
dates from around 1524, when the wife of Francis I.
gave the hereditary succession of Brittany to the
French crown. It had been a country of feudal
fiefs, of which Normandy and Brittany were notable
as containing many mariners. Among the most
noted of these were the Angos of Dieppe which along
with Honfleur and St. Malo was well known for its
daring sea voyagers. The Brittany fishermen were
on the coasts of Newfoundland as early as 1504, of
which Cape Breton, which received its name from
them, is a substantive proof; for it is found upon the
earliest maps. 1506 found Jean Denys of Honfleur
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two years later
Thomas Aubert, of Dieppe, brought to Brittany sev-
eral savages from the North American coast. These
50
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
adventurings gave a substantial prestige to the
Bretons, and their services at a later period were
much in demand as pilots to America. The Bretons
were a hardy race and great fishermen who made
long voyages, and it is not unlikely that Beliefs
A BIT OF OLD HONFLEUR
claim has merit when he states unequivocally, that
these fishermen were acquainted with this new coun-
try years before the Cabots looked out over its ice
floes. Bellet says the Basques had caught codfish,
"baccalaos" along the Newfoundland coast two hun-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 51
dred years before Columbus touched at Hispaniola,
which from a geographical and historical point of
view is as likely to be true, as that Columbus was
the first European who ever saw any part of the
western continent. The isolated situation of the
Basques, local policy, and lack of disseminate knowl-
edge would naturally make them secretive. They
might have known of the Cabot voyages, although
they occurred some six years before those of the
Cortereals which were contemporary with the naming
of Cape Breton.
The fame of the Breton fishermen had extended to
Spain as early as 1511, nor was jealous Spain averse
to employing them as pilots to America, notwith-
standing her own mariners had for the previous
nineteen years been making almost constant voyages
thither. Bellet in a degree has a right to be taken
seriously.
About 1518, according to M. d'Avergne, who
evidently quotes Lescarbot, Baron de Lery attempted
a French settlement somewhere along this American
north coast; but it proved a failure. It is thought
the cattle which years after were found on Sable
Island were originally brought hither by Lery, and
that they had propagated from the original stock.
It was two years before this effort of de Lery, that is,
about 1516, that the Breton Nicholas Don is supposed
to have sailed athwart the coast of Maine from his
description of the people of the country, according
to Peter Martyr, who refers to a letter written by
Don to the Spanish emperor. He says "he had
52 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
found the people of that country of good manners
and fashion, and that they wore collars and other
ornaments of gold."
Don doubtless found the Indians as he described
them, but as to the ornaments of gold, one is reminded
of the romancing of Ingram about the famous city
of Norombegua. No doubt the Indians were pos-
sessed of ornaments of crude copper which may have
been obtained from the Indians about the great lakes,
or taken in some of their warlike excursions, for the
Algic race to which these aborigines belonged were
great rovers, and outside of their principal villages
gave full play to their nomad inclinations.
This country of the explorer was a far country, and
required something of endurance and a high order of
courage to accomplish the voyage necessary to reach
it, and the little ships of the time, whose triple decks
offered little resistance to the tempestuous weather
often encountered, seem hardly to have been the
craft for rough outside buff e tings; and it was for this
reason that one story is good until another is told,
that there was so much of the marvelous in the
relations of the New World experiences. The
greater the lie, the greater the explorer's credit at
Court; and these explorers in many cases seemed to
vie each with the other in these wild tales, as if there
were something of a mutual interest in imposing upon
the credulity of the gaping populace who undoubt-
edly thronged the wharves as these homecoming
adventurers warped their weatherbeaten craft to
one berth or another. As for the French explora-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 53
tions, Giovanni da Verrazano, supposed to be a
Florentine by birth, born somewhere about 1480, set
out from France under the royal license. In 1521
he was known as a French corsair, having before that
been a traveler of some experience, as he had been
in Egypt and Syria, quite a journey for those days.
He had some acquaintance with the East Indies. He
is credited with having sailed one of Aubert's ships
out of Dieppe to America in 1508. In his career
as a corsair, he levied tribute on the Spaniards as
they went to and from their American provinces,
many of them laden heavily with treasure, under
the name of Juan Florin, or Florentin. Doubtless
it was this portion of his career that gained him the
interest of Francis I. It is credibly declared by the
annalists of those times that his first voyage of dis-
covery was connected with one of these freebooter
cruises. This voyage was made probably in the
year 1523, and according to the Spanish chronicles,
this bold highwayman of the seas in that year cap-
tured a considerable shipment of gold and silver sent
by Cortes to the emperor of Spain. Verrazano, or
Florin, as one chooses, took his prize into La Rochelle.
Verrazano in his letter to Francis I makes men-
tion of the success of his depredations on Spanish
commerce. On his first venture of discovery he set
54 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
out with four ships, but was driven by tempes-
tuous weather to return to Brittany, the Normandie
and Dauphine being disabled. Later, he continued
his voyage with the Dauphine, leaving the re-
mainder of his fleet behind. January 17, 1524, he
was at the Desirtas Rocks, near Madeira Island. He
is supposed to have made his first landfall in the
region of Cape Fear, on the Carolina coast. After
his long voyage his first search was for a harbor, and
the prow of the Dauphine was turned to the south-
ward for "fifty leagues." The coast still continued
low and sandy and flat. Finding no safe anchorage,
he shaped his course northward until he came to a
higher country but no satisfactory harbor. He kept
to his climbing the coast until he came to the mouth
of a great river that widened into a reach of waters
three leagues in circumference, evidently the Hudson
River. Taking up his voyage again, he sailed to the
eastward until he sighted a triangular-shaped island,
which he named Louisa, for the king's mother. This
is supposed to have been Block Island, though by
some it is set down as Martha's Vineyard. Verra-
zano did not land here, but kept along the coast to
what appears to be the vicinage of Newport. He
notes five islands and a bay twenty leagues around.
He makes copious notes as he sails, and his descrip-
tions are fairly recognizable. It appears that he
remained here about two weeks. Ramusio says it
was May 6th he hoisted sail, sailing fifty leagues
easterly, when the coast made a sharp turn to the
north, along which he kept for the distance of a
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 55
hundred leagues. This would have taken him beyond
Boston and left him, possibly, along the York shore,
and perhaps off Winter Harbor. He found the
natives clothed in skins and he mentions the high
mountains inland, which could have been none other
than the White Mountains, and it is off the coast of
southern Maine that these mountains are most easily
distinguishable. He notes that the
lands were more open, and that there
were no woods, which is typical of
the wide marshes that
spread out about
Hampton, and still
farther east beyond the J \i^
Piscataqua. And in this A/^^vijDns.ti
connection he mentions that he counted thirty-two
islands in the distance of one hundred and fifty miles:
Doubtless the Isles of Shoals were among these, and
they were perhaps among the first that he noted. It
is not improbable that these islands were those of
Casco Bay, as he makes no particular mention of
so large an aggregate of islands elsewhere. From
this he keeps on to Cape Breton. From thence
he sails direct to France, arriving at Dieppe early in
56 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
July. His letter to the king is dated at Dieppe,
July 8, after which Verrazano drops out of sight.
Biddle thinks that Verrazano went to England,
and was there employed as a pilot, and that he is
the Piedmontese pilot who was killed and eaten by
the savages in Rut's expedition of 1527. Ramusi
says he went a second voyage to America and died
there. Asher agrees with Biddle. An old cannon
was discovered in the St. Lawrence which has been
associated with the Verrazano expedition and ship-
V
:^^j
wreck there. According to the Spanish archives,
Juan Florin was captured by the Spanish in 1527 and
hung at Colmenar, somewhere between Toledo and
Salamanca; but according to a French document
Verrazano was at that time fitting out a fleet of
three ships for a voyage to America. Whatever
might have been his fate is uncertain, but these
varying accounts show the versatility of the annalist
of the times.
About this time another Portuguese sailed from
Corunna, 1525, occupying ten months in his voyage,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 57
and during which time he is reputed to have sailed
from Cape Breton to Florida. He gave the Penob-
scot the name "River of Gomez," according to
Ribero. He named the Hudson the "San Antonio."
His explorations were extensive, but the accounts of
his labors are scanty. The northwest passage was
the grand quest of all, and that Gomez failed to dis-
cover such sufficiently accounts for the silence of the
Spanish historian as to the voyage of Gomez.
Thevet is reputed to have voyaged hither, but the
stories of his discoveries are so conflicting that the
authorities do not give much of credence to his
relations.
There was an old saw,
"The time once was here,
To all be it known,
When all a man sailed by,
Or saw, was his own. "
And it so happened that out of these many sailings
by the English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French
that there was some confusion as to priority of title,
if such could exist without actual occupation and
colonization.
During the reign of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and
Mary, 'the discoveries of the Cabots were apparently
forgotten. The great opportunities for fishing along
the northeastern coast of America were taken advan-
tage of in the most desultory way; but the idea of
colonization seems never to have entered the English
mind. There was an interregnum of nearly eighty
58
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
years between the voyages of the Cabots and that of
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in 1583, who was lost at sea.
Raleigh planted a slender colony on the Carolina
coast, but it was an ill-starred venture, as ultimately
the colonists starved or were slaughtered by the
savages. These ventures, however, were not with-
out their value, as the Virginias might not so soon
have been opened up to the English settler.
The French were not more energetic, for not only
was the north coast, the " Baccalaos" of Cabot,
ignored until the arrival at the St. Croix of the Du
Monts expedition, but the whole delightful coun-
try south was left unexplored until the coming of
Hendrik Hudson, in the Half Moon, in the year 1609,
and who made his first landfall at Nova Scotia,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
59
whence he sailed as far south as Chesapeake Bay,
exploring the whole coast, with stolid Dutch persis-
tence, and it is not unlikely that he dropped anchor
within the shelter of our Winter Harbor, as he noted
the rivers carefully, especially the Hudson, up which
he sailed some distance, giving it his name, by which
it is still known. Hudson could have had no better
memorial than this grand river of the Kaatskills.
Hudson was more fortunate in this than his contem-
GOSNOLD EXPEDITION — SITE OF HIS BARRICADO
poraries, for it seems to be the only instance of like
character.
Before the voyage of Du Monts, 1604-1605, the
adventurous impulses of the English were stirred
somewhat to despatch in the summer of 1602 the
nucleus for a New World plantation. This expedition
left English Falmouth under Gosnold, and after a
short voyage, in point of time they landed on the
Massachusetts south shore, where they were to lay the
foundation of the new colonization; but the strange
60 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
ness of their surroundings, and the wild and uncouth
character of the aborigine, and principally their lack
of courage, sent them all aboard ship as it made
preparations for the home voyage. So they sailed
back into Falmouth harbor as empty handed of
achievement as they had departed. The only result
was the giving of the name of Queen Elizabeth to
the island upon which they landed.
Perhaps the succeeding ventures were due as much
to Richard Hakluyt, prebendary of St. Augustine, as
to any other, as he seems to have been one of the
most lively factors in encouraging voyages of dis-
covery to the new country by the Bristol merchants.
Hakluyt' s efforts resulted in the departure of Martin
Pring with the Speedwell and the Discoverer the next
year, 1603. Pring sailed away from Bristol April 10,
1603, and on June 7 he was at the mouth of the
Penobscot. Here was a safe anchorage, good fishing,
and a pleasant country. The Fox Islands in Penob-
scot Bay got their name from Pring at this time.
From the Penobscot he followed the trend of the
coast, noting as he sailed the inlets and rivers, and
here and there a spacious bay, until he reached the
Piscataqua, up which he sailed to discover it to be
hardly more than an arm of the sea. Retracing his
course, he kept still southward, following the river
channel, to turn Cape Ann, thence cutting across
Massachusetts Bay, until he came to the English land-
fall of the preceding year. Here was Whitson's Bay,
overlooked by Mount Aldworth, "a pleasant hill,"
both sturdy English names of Pring's selection.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
61
Pring's main object was to make a close survey of
the coast, and incidentally to acquire some com-
mercial profit, which he did, filling his small ships
with sassafras and furs. In October he had reached
Bristol, his voyage out and home having been made
in six months.
The next voyage hither on the part of the English
62 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
was in 1605, but as his exploration covered only that
part of the coast of Maine which included Monhe-
gan, Pemaquid and the Sagadahoc, it is not neces-
sary to note in this volume more than the fact that
Weymouth made a voyage, the details of the same
coming more peculiarly within the scope of the vol-
ume to come later in its place in this series.
The interest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges was aug-
mented by the report brought home by Weymouth,
and in the following year, Henry Challoner, who had
two of the natives along whom Weymouth had
carried to England, set out for the Maine coast in
one of Gorges's ships; but Challoner, instead of sailing
northward to Cape Breton, shaped his course more
to the southward, or rather West Indiaward, to
unfortunately fall into the hands of the Spaniards.
It is probably true, that of all who came to this
New England in the English interest, no one individ-
ual gave greater impetus to the ultimate English
colonization than did Capt. John Smith. In 1609,
when Smith sailed up the Thames, he brought the
enchantments of Virginia in his train. One of the
most conspicuous of the later western world voy-
agers, humane, gentle, and of considerate mind,
bold of spirit, fearless of heart, and bluff of manner,
traveled and wise in the ways of the civilization of
the times, withal much of a gentleman, Smith had
many and strange tales to tell, and an admiring and
constantly augmenting constituency of listeners.
Gifted in narrative, keenly observant, assimilative,
possessing a prominent bump of causality, fertile in
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 63
expedient, and witty, no doubt, he was bound to be a
boon companion; and as he dropped into one tavern
or another he was a welcome guest. It is easy to
believe that he did not neglect the occasion to drop
here and there a handful of seed into the waiting
ground. What exploits of love, war, and travel
among strange peoples tinged with the glamour of
his distance from all these former experiences; what
episodes of danger by land and sea did he not pour
into ears titillating with mild delight as he swept his
entranced listeners along upon the tide of his recol-
lections, stimulated by a subtle wit and a like lively
imagination! But it is due to Smith to admit that
his imagination rarely if ever got the bits in its
teeth to run away with the fact as he understood it.
He was the Argonaut of his time, and like the palmer
home from the old Crusades, he was everywhere
generously received as the bearer of strange tidings
of a like strange and far-off country.
It was two years before this last-mentioned visit
of Smith to America that Raleigh Gilbert came
hither, 1607, with George Popham to make an
abortive attempt of the settlement of Pemaquid, and
which is mentioned incidentally as following Wey-
mouth's voyage of 1605 to the same locality.
It was in 1613 that the notorious Argall was sent
from the Virginias to destroy the Biard and Masse
Mission of St. Sauveur, at Mont Desert, which he suc-
ceeded in doing very effectually, dislodging the French,
whom he conveyed to the Virginia settlements to
augment that colony. This could be considered
64 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
hardly more than a somewhat drastic service of
notice upon the French Court that it must not en-
croach upon this stretch of wilderness to the south-
ward at least of the St. Croix River; but it smacks of
something of the rude and somewhat covetous tem-
per of the times, and stamps Argall as a fitting
instrument in the hands of a jealous prerogative.
He fulfilled his instructions to the letter, as it might
be supposed he would from one's knowledge of his
character and subse-
h <r^\
\ ^V quent career, the
V^ "P "§1 most notable epi-
A\ \ "k^T$> s°de m which was
his kidnapping of
Pocahontas, whom
he held for ransom,
but who was finally
taken to England,
where she was
of Rebecca, to after-
ward marry John Rolfe, who figures as the intimate
friend of Ralph Percy in Miss Johnstone's exceed-
ingly picturesque romancing of the days at James-
town when it took a hogshead of tobacco to offset
the value of a likely young English maid, and per-
haps a modicum of English pluck and a good sword
arm to defend her.
It was a year after this onslaught of Argall upon
the Mont Desert Mission, or in 1614, that Capt. John
Smith made his fourth and possibly most important
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 65
voyage, observing the coast from the Kennebeke to the
Piscataqua in an open boat with a portion of his
crew. This was the voyage which brought him to the
Isles of Shoals, upon which he landed and of which
he took possession in the name of Charles I. He
gave them the name of the Smith Isles/ He made
a map of the coast, to which he gave the name of
New England. He made the acquaintance of its
bays, inlets, and rivers, and was made aware of the
great quantities of fish that abounded in them. He
landed here or there, as his inclination led, and made
the acquaintance of the natives, their habits, garb,
and manner of living and getting a livelihood; and
then he wrote a graphic description, the best of its
66 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
time, of what he had seen, locating one place after
another by giving them English names, not forgetting
his own Shooter's Hill in English Kent some eight
miles from London, a name he gave to an elevation
inland a little from his Harrington Bay, which is
bordered on the west by the spacious Scarborough
marshes. The country about the Kennebunk River
he designates as Ipswich. Old Agamenticus he trans-
lates into Snadoun Hill, and old York he calls Boston.
His River Forth is evidently the Fore River of Casco
Bay, perhaps the Presumpscot. From Cape Eliza-
beth to Cape Ann the contour of the shore line is
surprisingly accurate and intelligible. He locates
the Piscataqua, but does not name it; the Isles of
Shoals are topographically correct in their placing
on this map. His work was published in 1616,
London, and it gave a great impetus to the schemes
for the colonization of these new shores revolving in
the English mind at that time. Four years after, the
foundations of the Plymouth colony were laid on
Cape Cod, over which settlement Monhegan claims
some precedence in point of time by reason of a
portion of Rocroft's crew having wintered there,
1618-1619, when they were taken off by Dermer, who
came over in one of Sir Ferdinando Gorges's vessels.
Smith's object was to engage in mining for gold and
silver, but he found neither. He did find great
shoals of fish. This was disappointing to those
interested in the venture, whereat, he said, in his
account of the country, "Therefore, honorable and
worthy countrymen, let not the meanness of the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
67
word fishe distaste you; for it will afford as good gold
as the mines of Guiana or Potassiel, with lesse hazard
and charge and more certainty and facility. " Twelve
years after this was written with certainly prophetic
vision, one hundred and fifty fishing vessels were sent
hither in a single year from Devonshire alone. His
prophecy was abundantly verified.
CAPE NORTH, CAPE BRETON. SUPPOSED LANDFALL OF CABOT, 1497
In addition to the project of searching for valuable
minerals "to make trials of a mine for gold and
copper," he was "to take whales." If none of these
were to be had, he was to lay in a cargo of " fish and
furs." He makes note, "We found this whale
fishing a costly conclusion. We saw many, and spent
much time in chasing them, but could not kill many;
68 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
they being a kind of jubartes, and not the whale that
yields fins and oil as we expected. " As to the mines,
he opines that the master of the ship used that as a
pretense to get a charter party. He mentions in his
boating along the coast that in the length of his
journey he counted forty habitations along shore, the
principal of which were at Penobscot. He notes
Casco Bay after this fashion: "Westward of the
Kennebeke, is the country of Aucocisco, in the bottom
of a large, deep bay, full of many great lies, which
divides it into many great harbours." Hunt, who
was here with him, made a most scandalous use of
his opportunity, remaining behind to capture thirty
of the Abenake, whom he is said to have taken to
the Malagas, at which place they were sold as slaves.
Hawkins sailed down the coast in 1615 to take a
passing glimpse of the wilderness he had come so far
to explore. He may have landed, but that is to be
doubted; for he found the natives engaged in inter-
necine warfare. Nor was Hunt's kidnapping exploit
so stale that it was likely to commend any of his race
to the confidence of the aborigine. In later years, as
the settler along this section of the New England
coast covering the territory from Casco to York
discovered, the memory of the Indian was wrought
into a proverb, "As good as an Indian's memory."
The savage never forgave an injury or forgot a
kindly act. These settlers reaped the whirlwind so
indifferently sown by the crafty and unscrupulous
trader, few of whom got their deserts so peremptorily
as did "Great Walt" Bagnall, of Richmond's Island;
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 69
but the midnight assault was the savage method of
conducting war, and what is the killing of men but
massacre, and back of it all, what better right had the
European to these hunting-grounds of the aborigine
for centuries, than had Argall to expel the French
Jesuits from Mont Desert, killing all who resisted,
burning their cabins and carrying away captive the
living remnants? To use a common phrase, what is
the odds, except that the retaliation of the Abenake
was the vicious protest of a ruined race against the
English mode of extermination.
Hawkins sailed farther south to Virginia. His
voyage hither has little of import and nothing of
geographic or historic value, except that he might be
mentioned in chronological order as one of the
forerunners of the tide that was soon to set so strongly
to these shores.
It was, however, in the succeeding year, 1616, that
Richard Vines sailed to New England under the
auspices of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, that one begins to
feel some warmth from the fire kindled by the Cabots
and replenished from time to time afterward by the
Cortereals, Verazano, and those who came after.
The name of Richard Vines smacks of locality, as if
one were getting within smelling distance of one's
own chimney smokes, or as if one had caught a glimpse
of the home gable from some adjacent hill-top after
a long journey through a seemingly interminable
wilderness. He passed the winter at the mouth of
the Saco River, the winter of 1616-17. What is now
Winter Harbor was the scene of his brief pilgrimage,
70 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
from whence he returned to England in the spring.
Here, for the first time, he looked out upon the pano-
rama of a New England autumn, and upon a wilderness
of woods glorious and irresistibly fascinating in the
mystery of color that comes with ripening of the
summer foliage. It must have been a revelation to
his English vision, this emptying of Nature's dye-
pots over the wooded wastes, while the days were
filled with soft and sleep-distilling silences. Never-
theless, they must have been busy days, engaged as he
must have been in putting up the rude shelters that
were to protect him from the inclemency of the
approaching season, and perhaps what surprised him
most was the low rumble that filled the woods at broken
intervals, but he solved the mystery when he saw the
partridge drumming on his secluded log. What
a stirring of new life is in him as he treads
"the unplanted forest floor, whereon
The all-seeing sun for ages hath not shone ;
Where feeds the moose, and walks the surly bear,
And up the tall mast runs the woodpecker. "
How one would have liked to have kept him
company as
"He roamed, content alike with man and beast!
Where darkness found him he lay glad at night ;
There the red morning touched him with its light. "
But one can agree readily with Emerson,
" Go where he will, the wise man is at home,
His hearth the earth, — his hall the azure dome. "
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 71
And so; undoubtedly, Vines made the acquaintance of
this roadless Utopia. One can see him from day to
day as he looked out from the hewn lintels of his
cabin door upon the miracle of Nature, and from
amid a succession of solitudes, — for was not each day
a solitude by itself? Whether Vines had any of the
mystic in his nature, I do not know, as I am uncertain
whether he wrote of his experiences. I wish he might
have had something of the later Thoreau, however;
for it is the mission of the mystic
"To tell men what they knew before,
Paint the prospect from their door, "
and here was, better than all that, a daily unfolding
of Nature's pungent pages, and one may say hitherto
unscanned, and as Vines drew in long breaths of their
odorous elixirs he must have anticipated the poet,
saying to himself,
"Who liveth by the ragged pine
Foundeth a heroic line, "
especially as the low gray clouds of November began
to fly in hurtling masses across the sky, and the night
frosts to nip more sharply. Then, when the clouds
had blown away and the rough winds from the
western mountains had found some other vent and
there dawned
" one of the charmed days
When the genius of God doth flow,
The wind may alter twenty ways,
A tempest cannot blow;
72 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
It may blow north, it still is warm;
Or south, it still is clear;
Or east, it smells like a clover-farm ;
Or west, no thunder fear."
Then the Indian summer, with its dulcet suggestion
of mild October, as if Summer had kept her best and
fruitiest wine for the close of the gracious feast, had
come, — the crowning revelation so far. Those were
the days when he wished for the companionship of his
intimates across the water, for he knew he could
never tell them a tithe of the seductive influences that
hedged those brief days about when the sun dropped
behind the marge of the Sawquatock woods all too
quickly. With the next dawn the gray clouds had
again stretched themselves across the sky and the
winds seemed more roughly edged. There was a new
sound dropping earthward from somewhere overhead,
but it was only the honk of the southward-flying wild
goose. Here was opportunity for another voyage of
discovery 5 but all he saw was a winged harrow, nor
that for long; for,
"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky
Arrived the snow. "
The tiny pellicles smote his face to get tangled in his
beard and there was a new exaltation that possessed
him as he caught this untranslatable caress of Nature
on his ruddy cheek. After a look out and across the
darkening sea toward Old England, and another at his
ship as he noted her safe mooring, he went into his
cabin to be beside
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 73
"the radiant fireplace enclosed
In the tumultuous privacy of storm, "
which, after all, was only a prosaic forecastle stove, —
so much for one's romancing. This phenomena
must have colored his thought with something of
futurity, tinged as it was with its suggestion of arctic
inclemency.
So it was
"The free winds told what they knew,
Discoursed of fortune as they blew;
Omens and signs that filled the air
To him authentic witness bear;
The birds brought auguries on their wings. "
From what came after it is safe to assume that
Vines enjoyed this embargo of Nature, and to one
acquainted with the New England climate and the
locality, it is not a far stretch of the imagination to
follow him through these winter months, fishing and
hunting, or whiling away the short days bartering
with the aborigines for the latter's treasures of choice
furs, or measuring the evening's span by the waning
of his firelight. One can see even now of a winter's
day the picture which grew familiar to the first of his
kind to make a close acquaintance with these Saco
shores, with the limitless sea before and the dusky-
green woods behind, separated only by the audible
line of the surf that is whiter even than the immacu-
late snow above it.
But the days begin to lengthen and he feels uncon-
sciously for the south winds of the opening spring days
74 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
when he will ship his anchor that has so long lain idle
in the ooze of Winter Harbor. He sees already
"through the wild-piled snowdrifts
The warm rosebuds glow "
among the English hedgerows, and when he has done
bending his sails he will haul them taut, and when
they have bellyed to their fill with the impatient
winds, he will off for bonnie England. These were
doubtless the pleasantest of his stay here, for they
were roseate with anticipation and laden with fruition.
He seems to have kept no journal, and it is a pity
he did not do so. His report to Gorges must have
been of an encouraging nature, however, as the latter
despatched Rocroft hither the following year, 1618,
who signalized his advent on the coast by the capture
of a French bark. Transferring the French crew to
his own craft, he sent it straightway to England, keep-
ing on for the mouth of the Saco in the captured bark.
His intention was to winter here and fish, as did Vines,
along the immediate coast; for between Pescadouet
(Piscataqua) River and Richmond's Island was unsur-
passed fishing-ground. He had the benefit of Smith's
acquaintance and undoubtedly had the opportunity
well recommended to him; but an untoward event
interfered with his commercial projects. His crew
mutinied, according to Willis, while anchored at the
mouth of the Sawquetock (Saco), but he suppressed
the outbreak promptly, marooning the ringleaders
on the Saco sands and leaving them to get on as best
they could, after which he sailed away for Virginia,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 75
where he was killed in a drunken brawl. These dis-
contents made their way to Pemaquid, where they
were found the following year by Dermer, who came
over in one of Gorges's vessels, — a doubtful tale, as
Gorges is silent on the matter, as well as Dermer.
Five years later there were fifty vessels fishing
along this coast, and which at that time from a shore
point of view must have presented a lively aspect.
But to go back to the forerunners of these pros-
perous times, Jean Alphonse, Roberval's pilot, was
the romancer of his day, and in comparison with
The vet, who says he was here in 1556, seems to be
the greater Munchausen. De Rut is almost as
barren of veracity. He claims to have been the first
to sail across the waters of Massachusetts Bay, but
the best authorities are silent as to his alleged voyage,
and perhaps the only excuse the author has for
referring to Alphonse at all, is for this, that others
have been inclined to quote his somewhat obscure
descriptions, as if there may have been some founda-
tion for them, which is evidently not the fact. Some
of these tales of early discovery are as unreal as any
of those of the " Arabian Nights Entertainments,"
when rocs, magic carpets, and enchanted horses were
the flying-machines that traversed limitless seas and
deserts as they carried travelers from Persia to the-
Indies, or elsewhere, with a swiftness that would make
Morse's dots and dashes seem slow indeed. It may
have been thus with Andre Thevet, who, in his
monkhood, had perhaps mastered the secrets of
"blackletter" as he moped about the cloistered
76
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
library of his monastery, which, in his time, was a
repository of learning and literature, when alchemy
and occult investigations were component parts of
the fog of superstition that impelled Jacomo di
Gastaldi in his map of New France, made about the
year 1550, to surround his " Isola de Demoni" (Demon
Island) which appears just north of the now New-
foundland with flying devils. This island is known
-..jEJlFf
mtt
as Sable Island and as well for its ragged reefs and
dangerous tides.
Thevet, like Amerigo Vespucius, may have wormed
himself into the secret experiences of others, and so
have woven the sleazy fabric which is everywhere
overshot with incongruity and unreality. One has
only to recall Rosier, the annalist, and Champlain
of the Weymouth expedition, and Hosier's suppres-
sion of the parallel of Pemaquid, to realize how careful
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 77
many of these explorers were to keep the exact
location of their landfalls a mystery. But for
Strachey, Hosier's story would be as unintelligible
as it always was, but the discovery of the former's
very ancient and entertaining account of Weymouth's
visit to Pemaquid makes Rosier's account clear.
Kohl says " the English merchant, Robert Thome,
in his well-known letter to De Ley, ambassador of
Henry VIII to the Emperor Charles, says that 'in
Spain none make Gardes (maps) but certain appointed
and allowed masters, as for that peradventure it
woulde not sounde well to them, that a stranger
shoulde knowe or discover their secretes." This
seems to have been the policy of such governments
as sent out explorers, and supports the argument that
before 1492 discoveries may have been made, the
reports of which may be moldering in the archives
of Portugal, or elsewhere, and of which many have
come to hand in these later years and which have
enabled the historiographer to form opinion upon a
more secure foundation.
Verrazano gave the name "Prima Vista" to the
country of his discovery ; Ortelius, " Nova Francia " ;
and generally, the older map makers have given the
name "Norumbegua" to the New England section
of it. The Blauws called it "Nova Belgica" and
"Nova Angelica." Richard Hakluyt, in his "Dis-
course on Westerne Planting," speaks of these
sections as Canada and Hochelaga, the latter in
connection with Cartier, also of Norumbegua in
connection with "Stephen Gomes." Hakluyt has
78 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
been accused of being "tedious" by here and there a
writer whose taste in things literary may not be
equal to detecting the fine flavor that lurks in his
prose, but he is as great a romancer in his way as
was Sir Walter Scott; nor is he to be credited alto-
gether with this very interesting work, for, accord-
ing to Dr. Leonard Woods, Sir Walter Raleigh
directed it largely, for which very reason of its dis-
tinguished collaboration, and being a faithful mir-
ror of the impulses that led up to the settlements on
the coasts of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Maine, the
work is far from being liable to so grievous a charge.
Here are a few lines from the "Epistle Dedicatorie"
to his "Divers Voyages," 1578. "I marvaile not a
little, that since the first discourie of America, which
is now full fourscore and tenne years, after so great
conquests and plantings of the Spaniards and Portin-
gales there, that wee of England could neur haue the
grace to set fast footing in such fertill and temperate
places as are left as yet vnpossessed of them."
There is a quaintness, a grace, and a smacking of
good reasoning in this brief quotation that is delicious
and whets the appetite for more. Hakluyt was a
comparatively young man, and his work is yet warm
with the hot blood of his enthusiasm. He was a
genuine furnace for argument with which to stir the
temporizing Elizabeth and her favorite, Leicester,
into colonial competition with the arrogant Spaniard.
These tales of Spanish discovery, conquest, and
aggrandizement, New World marvels, the exploits of
Cortes and Pizarro in the land of the Aztecs, were the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
79
romances of the times, the Arabian Nights tales to
set on fire the adventurous spirits of London some-
time home from Holland wars and the Huguenot
struggles in France, and to "set on foot the gold-
hunting expeditions of Frobisher," the efforts of
Raleigh in the Virginias, and the voyages of the
Gilberts.
Hakluyt's acquaintance was wide and his glean-
ings here and there indefatigable. He was con-
tinually anxious, "if by our slackness we suffer not
the French or others to prevente us" from reaping
in this new field. Ribault and Verrazano are given
great weight and as well the Zeni. Hakluyt has the
prophetic eye and he writes as if impelled by some
great inward inspiration. He takes the best at hand
and gives it to us, nor is he in the least degree respon-
sible for the extravagances poured into his ears by
these marvel-making navigators, nor had he any
means of verifying their stories.
Dr. Wood says, "In causing this Discourse to be
written and laid before the Queen, Raleigh had hopes
to lead her to assume the position and duties of the
chief of the Princes of the Reformed Religion, to
influence her imagination, convince her judgment,
and overcome her nigardliness." Hakluyt was his
interpreter, and he begins his "Discourse" with
these words, —
"Sefnge that the people of that parte of America
from 30. degrees in Florida northeward unto 63.
degrees (which ys yet in no Christian princes actuall
possession) are idolaters; and that those which
4i
J$ ,}
/""»
fif3l>*«*4*
80
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Stephen Gomes broughte from the coaste of NORUM-
BEGA in the yere 1524. worshipped the sonne, the
moone, and the starres, and used other idolatrie, as
it is recorded in the historic of Gonsaluo de Ouiedo,
in Italian, fol. 52. of the third volume of Ramusius;
and that those of Canada and Hochelaga in 48. and
50. degrees worshippe a spirite which they call
Cudruaigny, as we read in the tenthe chapiter of the
second relation of Jaques Cartier, whoe saieth: This
people peleve not at all in God, but in one whom they
call Cudruaigny; they say that often he speaketh with
them, and telleth them what weather shall followe
whether goode or badd, &c., and yet notwithstand-
inge they are very easie to be perswaded, and doe all
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 81
that they sawe the Christians doe in their devine
service, with like imitation and devotion, and were
very desirous to become Christians, and woulde faine
have been baptized, as Verarsanus (Verrazano)
witnesseth in the laste wordes of his relation, and
Jaques Cartier in the tenthe chapiter before recited —
it remayneth to be thoroughly weyed and considered
by what meanes and by whome this moste godly and
Christian work may be perfourmed of inlarginge the
glorious gospell of Christe, and reduginge of infinite
multitudes of these simple people that are in errour
into the righte and perfecte way of their saluation."
Twenty-one brief chapters make up the Hakluyt
MSS. In the third chapter he quotes Jean Ribault, a
navigator of Dieppe who established a colony of
French Protestants in the neighborhood of Port Royal
on the Carolina coast, 1562, and where he built a
fort to which he gave the name of Charles. Ribault
wrote an account of this voyage fortunately, for in
1565 he was despatched with reinforcements to Rene
de Laudonniere's colony, founded the year before
at Fort Carolina on the St. John's River in Florida,
but Ribault was shipwrecked on his return voyage
and finally killed by the Spaniards. This quotation
is almost as tropically luxuriant in its description as
the marvels of vegetation it enumerates; and it was
just such alluring tales as kindled the fire of this
delightful "Discourse."
In the succeeding parts of the work he quotes from
Gomes, Cartier, Verrazano, and Stephen Bellinger, of
Rouen, who " f ounde a towne conteyninge fourscore
82 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
houses, and returned home, with a diligent descrip-
tion of the coaste, in the space of foure monethes,
with many commodities of the countrie, which he
shewed me." This was in the Norumbegua coun-
try. " . . . For this coaste is never subjecte to the
ise, which is never lightly seene to the southe of
Cape Razo in Newfounde lande."
Had he wintered with Vines at the mouth of the
Saco, his opinion on the matter of ice would have
been subject to a sharp revision; but it is just these
vagaries, then stated as facts, that make the Hakluyt
narrations so entertaining as giving " color to the cup "
of this delectable romancer. This allusion to Hak-
luyt, somewhat expanded in view of the province of
this chapter, has been made, as having been the not-
able English writer of the time on the explorations of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His work
exerted an acknowledged influence, and to his feed-
ing of the English propensity, then in the chrysalis
stage, of territorial acquisition, is due the subsequent
activities of the English along the coast of Maine and
the Canadas.
This story of the old navigators would be incom-
plete without a glance at some of their charts, for in
this connection they are luminous with suggestion,
as they became, one after another, the vanes that
pointed the way hither; and then, one finds delight in
poring over these in some degree ancient vagaries
of the cosmographers who drew their coast lines
while one after another of these sea captains held the
candle, by the flickering light of which they wrought
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 83
their marvels and christened here and there a head-
land, bay, or river.
With one of these old charts outspread before one
while the contributions of the woodlands of this
selfsame Norumbegua glow athwart one's library
hearth in these later days of American civilization,
one goes a-voyaging on one's own account, and one
gets on the Mormon's goggles, and with a courageous
hand on the tiller sails out into the buffeting seas, and
with his face wet with salty spray listens for the cry
from the mast-head, "Land!" The winds howl
through the network of stays overhead and the
sails flap in the veering gusts, but the " Isola Demoni "
is safely passed, and skirting the coast of Ramusio's
Norumbegua with Champlain and Du Monts after
our wintering at St. Croix, we look in upon the beauti-
ful bay of the Penobscot, to later explore the wind-
ings of the Sasanoa, and then keep on down the coast,
oblivious to the beauties of Casco Bay and as well
ignorant of them because at our distance from them
the coast line seemed a continuous one, " we entered
a little river (the Saco) which we could not do sooner
on account of a bar, on which at low tide there
is but one half a fathom of water, but at the flood, a
fathom and one half, and at the spring tide two
fathoms, within are three, four, five, and six." Here
we were in the Chouacoet country, where we found
they " plant in gardens, sowing three or four grains in
one spot, and then with the shell of the 'signoc'
they gather a little earth around it: three feet from
that they sow again, and so on." And what beautiful
84
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
fields of maize, this "wheat of India," the stalwart
Indian corn that yellows through the autumn days
along the painted New England hillsides. And this
is the romance of a single map, and more, for while I
gaze absently at the glowing embers on my hearth,
recalling Hakluyt, out of their heats wends the
procession of these old navigators, as the train of
ghosts with Prince Edward at their head trailed across
the vision of Richard as he slept on Bosworth Field,
except that the errands of these crowding apparitions
are of the most peaceful and entertaining character
to lead one over old ways into new and pleasing
speculation.
One of the earliest charts of a date about 1400 upon
which Greenland is
shown with much
accuracy was made
by the Zeni brothers,
and according to
Kohl, was published
around 1558. Fro-
bisher used thi s
chart, upon which
northern Scotland,
Jutland, and Norway
are delineated; also
the Faroe Group.
Iceland appears in
its proper position and Newfoundland is outlined.
Andrew Zeno says he came to this country (Drogeo),
with Zichmni, who is identified with Mr. Henry
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 85
Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, by John Reinhold Forster,
and later by Richard Henry Major. Drogeo, Kohl
thinks, corresponds to present New England. Zeno
tells a strange story of his visit hither for which I
am indebted to the research of Kohl, who gets his
relation from Lelwel. The Zeni went to Finland,
and where among other things they caught this tale
of a Frieslander along with the fish they had gone
after in their setting out from the Faroes. The
Frieslander, years before, went on a fishing trip
with some companions to the westward. A great
storm came up which drove them off their course,
and far to the west even to Estotilland, a coun-
try where the people carried on a commerce that
extended as far north as Greenland. The country
was one of exceeding fertility. High mountains
broke its middle distances, and it was toward them
they were taken to the ruler of the country, who in
some way had come into possession of a few books
written in Latin, which were in reality a dead lan-
guage, as he did not understand them. The language
of these people had no relation to that of the Norse,
and they were up to that time an unknown race.
The king observing that his visitors made use of an
instrument in sailing by which he was assured long
voyages could be made with safety, induced them to
make an excursion to a neighboring country con-
siderably to the southward. This they called
"Drogeo." Here they met with a ferocious people
who at once attacked them. In this unexpected
onslaught all were killed except one, who was captured
86 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
and used as a slave. After many weary days and
almost as many adventures, this one escaped to make
his way through the wilderness that intervened to
Greenland, from whence he succeeded in reaching the
Faroes. He said this Drogeo country extended far to
the south and had all the appearance of being "an-
other world," that it was peopled by many savage
tribes who wore skins and lived a wandering life
hunting and fishing, with no other occupation.
Their weapons were the primitive bow and arrow
with which they engaged in war or killed their game ;
and they were always at war, so they were expert in
the use of these weapons. Still farther to the
south lived a race who dwelt in houses, and had
cities and great churches, and who understood the
arts, and who possessed precious metals and knew
their uses. The most significant part of this strange
tale is, that they had gods to whom they sacrificed
such captives as they secured in their many wars.
All this is strongly suggestive of the Abenake at the
one extreme, while at the other is balanced the
Aztec.
What a romance to glean from a Scandinavian
fisherman, voyager, and escaped slave, and which
smacks somewhat of the long time later adventures
of Captain John Smith! It is a pretty tale and a
tragic one, but how much of fable may be woven into
its rather slack fiber is for the close student of the
very earliest suggestions of discovery hitherward,
but whose determinations, however, must be ever
subject to revision.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 87
One is reminded in these historical discussions of
the colloquy between Hamlet and Polonius, —
Ham. " Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in
shape of a camel?"
Pol. " By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed."
Ham. "Methinks it is like a weasel."
Pol. "It is backed like a weasel."
Ham. "Or like a whale?"
Pol "Very like a whale."
So they leave the question indefinitely settled,
after all, whether it is a camel, a weasel, or a whale.
Puck puts it about as well, -
"I'll follow you. I'll lead you about around,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar ;
Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire,
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire at every turn. "
Lelwel makes a map upon which he locates Drogeo
in the latitude of Maine. As for the Zeni chart,
Kohl says that "it is the first and oldest map known
to us, on which some sections of the continent of America
fiave been laid down." As I have before observed, it
is a very interesting and suggestive bit of cosmography
and its ancientness is not disputed.
A map by Juan de la Cosa, 1500, is among the
earliest. It is thought to have been compiled from
Cabot's chart made on his first voyage. According
to de Ayala, such a chart existed, as he said he saw it.
Cape Race is shown on this map as Cavo de Ynglaterra,
but Humboldt is inclined to locate this headland
88 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
as nearer the St. Lawrence. Kohl favors the first
proposition. On this map occurs the inscription,
" Mar descubieto por Yngleses," west of which is an
expansive bay which Kohl takes for the Gulf of
Maine. He notes a promontory which hooks sharply
outward into the sea, which he thinks is intended for
Cape Cod. As this German historian says, "Cape
Cod is the most prominent and characteristic point on
the entire coast from Nova Scotia to Florida." It
tf^o
has a hornlike shape, and makes the figure of a ship's
nose, and in that way got its name from the North-
men, "Kialarnes" (Cape Shipnose). This map,
Kohl suggests, is the first upon which "the Gulf of
Maine and the Peninsula of New England" was ever
shown. This old-fashioned projection distorts the
proportions of the coast line, the northern part ap-
pearing longer than that of the lower latitudes.
Reinel, 1505, was a famous Portuguese pilot.
Cave Raso appears for the first time on this map
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 89
(flat cape) out of which the English evolved Cape
Race. Sable Island appears as Santa Cruz. There
is another map of unknown authorship which gives
North America as consisting of four islands. On
this appears the Terra Bimini, our Florida, visited
in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, in 1519 by Alaminos, and
the following year by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon.
This word, Bimini, was attached to the land of palms
by Ponce de Leon, whose voyage was in reality a
search after that mythical Fountain of Eternal Youth ;
nor was he the only believer in this Norumbegua-like
fable, as many a bold, credulous navigator had before
him sailed to and fro, searching out the mystery of
its location; but like the Golden City of Ingram, it
was ever an elusive quest.
Labrador appears upon this map across which is
inscribed in Latin the legend, " This country was first
discovered by Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, and he
brought from there wild and barbarous men and
white bears. There are to be found in it plenty of
birds and fish. In the following year he was ship-
wrecked and did not return; the same happened to
his brother Michael in the next year." On this map,
a wide waste of water covers the territory now known
as New England.
The map of Johann Ruysch of a date eight years
later shows great art in its construction, and it is
engraved. Near Greenland on the original is a
scientific note: "Here, the compass of the ship
does not hold, and the ships which contain iron cannot
return/' Humboldt accepts this as a proof that
90
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Cabot and Cortereal had made note of this variation
of the needle as their ships neared the true pole,
which it was hoped Peary might have discovered
in his voyage begun in 1905. "Island" (Iceland)
and Newfoundland are easily located on this map.
Honfleur is credited with having made a map of this
$f*
*~7
part of the Terra Nova, in 1506, which Kohl thinks
"may have been used" by Ruysch. Here is Bacca-
laos as an island, and Cape Race becomes Cape de
Portagesi. The St. Lawrence Gulf and its headlands
are indicated.
Schoner's map is dated 1520. This map maker's
idea of the Western world was that it was composed
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 91
mostly of islands. It is of interest from this fact as
showing the trend of the cosmographic mind of the
Nuremberg school. On this map South America is
most prominent and is drawn as an island of continen-
tal proportions. Cuba appears on this map for the
first time, with Newfoundland and Labrador. New
England is shown as Terra Corterealis. But little
attention is paid to Cabot. As a piece of cosmo-
graphy it compares with the story of Jean Alphonse
of his course across Massachusetts Bay.
The map of Nicholas Vallard, 1543, or soon after,
is from an art point of view a beautiful production.
It is crowded with figures in Portuguese garb and
the natives in the skins of the animals common to the
region. It is elaborately suggestive of the locality
which is evidently based upon Roberval and Cartier.
It is a work of Portuguese origin, and the figures are
drawn from the life by, it is said, a French painter.
There is an interesting story of its abstraction by
copy from the secret archives of Portugal which were
guarded with great secrecy. Further than its
attractions as a production of fine art it is of little
interest to the New Englander, although Casco Bay
is identified by its many islands. There is a fort
depicted; the wild animals common to the country
are drawn in with lifelike simplicity and truthfulness.
It reminds one of the famous French miniature
paintings.
Kohl makes a drawing of a map from Ramusio, and
originally drawn by Gastaldi of the date of 1550,
which is a picturesque production, and embellished
92 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
by figures of the aborigines, their weapons, their
rude huts. Hills and mountains and trees appear in
corrrect perspective, and the fisheries are delineated,
all with artistic accuracy and feeling. It is a map
of La Nova Francia, giving a small corner of Maine.
It is the work of an artist, and is strongly suggestive
of the voyage of Denys, Aubert, and Verrazano.
Cartier, 1534-1535, does not seem to find a place
here, which suggests that it may have been of earlier
origin, else Cartier's occupancy of the St. Lawrence
would have been noted ; for it was a voyage greater in
results than any of his French predecessors. This
map is really the production of the celebrated Fra-
castro, of Verona. It is supposed that Gastaldi's
connection with it is wholly of a clerical character.
There is an island set down upon it, doubtless Sable
Island, as the "island of demons," and there are
numerous little winged devils depicted as hovering
about its shores, which certainly is a unique feature,
and suggestive of the danger of sailing too near its
coast. It is placed near the mouth of Da vis's Strait.
On this map the coast of Maine is apparent by the
chain of islands that extend from the St. Croix south-
ward. Maine is designated as "Angeulesme," over
which are woods, indicating the "Mark-land" of
the Scandinavians (land of the woods), suggestive
of their voyages hither. Here are the Abenake with
all the indices of a pastoral, peaceful existence, the
prose relation of some keenly observant navigator,
translated into a picture story, to remind one of the
Abenake messages similar to that made by one of
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 93
Rale's converts who had supposed from the Jesuit's
absence, somewhat extended beyond the usual time,
that he was dead and so had posted along the river
bank, to tell the story to other of his Abenake brothers,
a bit of picture-illuminated birch bark. These
picture messages were common after the English
began their inroads upon the Indian villages. It
reminds one of Dighton Rock as well. This map is a
picture in itself, and, moreover, a diminutive picture
gallery. Here are the lissome deer; the rabbit with
ears laid well back and running, rabbit-fashion; the
bear makes up a part of the local animal exhibit ; a
wee bit Indian is trying his skill with bow and arrow
upon a brace of very patient birds under the tutelage
of an elder. It seems to be something of a holiday
with the dwellers of the country, a sort of Dutch fair.
Some are taking an afternoon nap; others are
seemingly discoursing with graceful gesticulations;
others are indulging in a "Merry-go-round," a
sort of Maypole dance, or perhaps singing some
aboriginal "London Bridge is falling down." It
does not matter, as they seem to be greatly enjoy-
ing themselves. Others are posed upon the shore,
anticipating Boughton's " Pilgrims' Farewell, " eyeing
the ships that are dipping over the horizon, while
others seem actually to be making love openly,
Dutch fashion, indulging in embraces "right out in
meeting," a most unblushing display of the aboriginal
affections. Haunches of venison are drying on poles
stretched between the trees, altogether a literal
translation of Utopia, to make Parmentier exclaim,
94 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
"Gil habitori di gusta terra sous gente trattabili,
amichevoli e piacevoli."
That the cod fishery trade was well established at
that time is proven by the parallel lines drawn on this
map indicating the Grand Banks which set in about
the St. Croix and extend eastward to double Cape
Race and running to the northward to terminate at
the Isle of Demons.
Ruscelli made a map, 1561, on which Larcadie
_ Temw)|0l)m^r
JWta I'] gaccafflj
,tt»l-
'*K
appears for the first time. Michael Lok's map
follows, on which the Maine coast is located at a
glance. This map of Lok's is supposed to have been
drawn from "an olde and excellent mappe" given by
Verrazano to Henry VIII, which is doubtless the one
referred to byHakluyt in his "Westerne Planting,"
where he says, " There is a mightie large olde mappe in
parchmente as yt shoulde seme, by Verasanus, traced
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 95
all alonge the coaste from Florida to Cape Briton with
many Italian names, which laieth oute the sea,
makinge a little necke of lande in 40 degrees of lati-
tude, much like the streyte necke or istmus of Dari-
ena. This mappe is nowe in the custodie of Mr.
Michael Lok." Here is the mythic isle of the Seven
Cities some considerable distance to the eastward of
Norumbegua.
According to Ortelius, two hundred maps were
made in the sixteenth century.
Among the curiosities in the ancient literature of
maps is a production by Agnese, 1530, which makes
the continent of South America to look like a huge
sunfish, while that of North America resembles
nothing so much as one of those huge birds of the
cretaceous period, the ichthyornis, for instance.
The head forms the northeastern part, the shores
most familiar to the French and Portuguese; the neck
is the contour of the New England coast, while the
body and the attenuated legs stretch southward to
the Mexican Gulf. Agnese seems to have expressed
in his map an opinion common to the time, for
Hakluyt says, "There is an olde excellent globe in
the Queenes privie gallory at Westminster, which also
semeth to be of Varsanus makinge, havinge the coast
described in Italian, which laieth oute the very self
same streit necke of lande in the latitude of 40.
degrees, with the sea joynninge on bo the sides, as
it dothe on Panama and Nombre de Dios; which were
a matter of singuler importunce, yf it shoulde be true,
as is not unlikely/'
96 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Hakluyt quotes David Ingram, the romancer of
Norumbegua, with whom he seems to have struck an
intimate acquaintance, which must have been of a
most pleasing character, having in mind what a
superb post-graduate liar, manipulator of a rainbow
chaser's imaginations, tempered by the heats of
Bimini and the frigidities of Newfoundland alike, he
was ! Hakluyt goes on to say with childlike credulity :
" Moreover, the relation of David Ingram confirmeth
the same ; for, as he avowcheth and hath put it down
in writinge he traveled twoo daies in the sighte of the
North Sea."
I apprehend all the navigators of that century were
not much unlike in dealing out their wares of mar-
vellous sights and experiences. They were all ro-
mancers, else the first voyage hither, perhaps, would
have yet to be made. The romancer goes in the
van of events and ahead of the prosaic plodder who
keeps to the "main chance" coining the brains of
unstable genius into comfortable bank accounts,
houses, and profitable investments. If one desires
to accumulate, it does not pay to get too far ahead of
his time.
According to Hakluyt, once more, the Mercators,
father and son, held to the Agnese idea that North
America was a "streit necke" of land. This Agnese
map was the first to show the ocean routes from the
old world to the new, and is a prototype of the
modern atlas, in its way. It seems to be based on
the discoveries of Magellan, and is ambitious as
attempting to show the Western Hemisphere. A
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 97
passage is drawn across the isthmus of Panama, and,
as before remarked, New England shows a like
attenuation. It attracts one's attention, as that
section of the coast is the limit of the writer's en-
deavor.
Ribero, 1529, is especially attractive for its his-
toric interest, and from the fact that the Ribero
chart was the result of a royal commission appointed
by Charles V, which was presided over by Don
Hernando Colon, a son of the famous Christofer
Columbo. Ribero, Spanish-born, was a member of
that commission, being recognized as an expert
maker of maps. He was not a navigator, but a
scholar, and his "compilations" were doubtless
from the best authorities. To quote a note of Kohl :
"In the year 1529 he composed a similar map of the
world, which in exactness and beauty surpassed that
of 1527." It was a work of "great accuracy," and
as it was " composed at the command of the Emperor
Charles V," it has been ever since given precedence
over many other maps by accepted authorities, and
has been copied by the best geographers. The head-
land of Cape Elizabeth is drawn and the White
Mountains are located by Ribero.
There is an alleged map by Sebastian Cabot, but
that he was an adept in cosmographic art has never
been credited to his skill as a navigator. Doubtless
he drew, as did most of the navigators, as a bit of
personal memoranda, a rude outline of the coast so
indifferently observed at so many knots an hour. On
this map is the "Baya de S. Maria," which is doubt-
98 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
less the mouth of the Saco ; for, just to the eastward,
the "Cabo de muchas islas" appears, and is easily
set down as the low promontory of Cape Elizabeth.
Farther yet, to the eastward, is the "Baya Fernosa"
(Penobscot). These locations are definite and are
easily and legitimately appropriated. The authen-
ticity of this map, however, is doubted.
With Champlain and Captain John Smith, 1604-
1605 to 1614, the making of maps of the exploring and
colonization period, so far as applicable to the im-
mediate coast of Maine, was done. Following Slater,
whose allusion to Champlain's work cannot be im-
proved upon, one makes a fit close to this brief notice
of the cosmography based on the earliest voyages.
He says:
"As a geographer of the King, Champlain had
been engaged in his specific duties three years and
nearly four months. His was altogether pioneer
work. At this time there was not a European settle-
ment of any kind on the eastern borders of North
America, from Newfoundland on the north to Mexico
on the south. No exploration of any significance of
the vast region traversed by him had been made.
Gosnold and Pring had touched the coast; but their
brief stay and imperfect and shadowy notes are to
the historian tantalizing and only faintly instructive.
Other navigators had indeed passed along the shore,
sighting the headlands of Cape Anne and Cape Cod,
and had observed some of the wide-stretching bays
and the outflow of the larger rivers; but none of them
had attempted even a hasty exploration. Cham-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 99
plain's surveys, stretching over more than a thousand
miles of sea-coast, are ample and approximately
accurate. It would seem that his local as well as his
general maps depended simply on the observations
of a careful eye; of a necessity they lacked the
measurements of an elaborate survey.
"Of their kind they are creditable examples, and
evince a certain ready skill. The nature and prod-
ucts of the soil, the wild teeming life of forest and
field, are pictured in his text with minuteness and
conscientious care. His descriptions of the natives,
their mode of life, their dress, their occupations, their
homes, their intercourse with each other, their
domestic and civil institutions as far as they had any,
are clear and well defined, and as the earliest on
record, having been made before Indian life became
modified by intercourse with the Europeans, will
always be regarded by the historian as of the highest
importance."
Smith's map seems like an old acquaintance, and
with that, it being the last, and perhaps the best for
us, one can dispense with all the other lucubrations
except from the curio collector's point of view, for
the day of their wisdom has long since passed. They
are notable, barring the ambitions they stimulated,
for their mingling of credulity, erudition, and fable,
the strange productions, many of them, of mere con-
jecture put out at a time, when to make a map was
to earn a brief notoriety or a lasting reputation.
Like a few works of the Latin and Greek writers,
some of these cosmographies have become classics.
100 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Fortunate was that one who was able to sift the
probable from the marvellous, and to close his ears to
the siren notes that floated over seas from St. Bran-
dan's and the island of the Seven Cities.
The sailings to and fro of these ancient navigators,
however, have more than a passing interest, colored
as they were, with romance of the sea and the strange-
ness of the shores which they finally reached, fraught
with unknown and hidden dangers. It was a high
emprise that led them over the sunlighted waters
or through alternate glooms with only the far-off
lamps of the stars to light their way; and one can
imagine the subtle thrill of exultation that vibrated
from peak to keelson, as the lookout, after long days
of peering through the sea mis!s, shouted from the
mast-head, "Land!"
So this story of the maps is the story of the
explorer. Like a song without words, one reads,
although nothing is written. Only a corrugated line,
a wrinkle of commonplace printer's ink, a few names
in a strange tongue make up the score over which one
pores in delicious uncertainty, to translate as one
pleases; weaving romance upon romance, gleaning
as much from the bias of the annalist, perhaps, as
from the truth that now and then flashes out, as
from some Pharos, from its solid headland. But one
prefers the gritty sands of Winter Harbor to the
quotation from Champlain. It is like a bit of Nature
on the studio wall that is born of the romance of the
brush ; one prefers the landscape itself to the choicest
description of its charms.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 101
Looking back over the way one has come, one
perforce admits that the rude actualities of life glow
with softer color the farther one gets away from them.
Emerson says,
"A score of miles will smooth
Monadnock to a gem. "
These olden days are the peculiar realm of the
modern romancer. Out of the idolatrous Incas
Prescott has wrought a dream of barbaric splendors.
Irving revamps the pettinesses of Columbus into a
prose idyl. The savagery of the Abenake is a bad
dream to be dispelled by a familiar voice; while the
credulity of Cotton Mather and the brutality and
ignorance of Stoughton are ink blots upon an other-
wise comely page; for the shag of the wilderness is
broken and shorn. Its rude aborigines carried the
wildness of the woods with them as they went; yet,
as one strolls along the yellow sands at the mouth
of ancient Sawquetock to watch the ghostly sails as
they climb the horizon of the sea, with the thought
of these old voyagers in mind, visions of their doings
troop through the brain in an almost endless suc-
cession. But with the roar of the Saco Falls comes
the whir of the busy mills, and these once realities
that ended hereabout with the last advent of Smith
and the coming of
"Factor Vines and stately Champernon,"
fade away.
He is indeed lucky who can shut his ears to the
102
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
vibrant spindle to wander a little into the Land of
Romance; yet luckier is that one who can saturate
himself with the atmosphere of fantasies and dreams.
A dreamer ! All hopeful men are dreamers, and
happy is he whose dreams
" fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away/'
with the break of every dawn.
THE WINTER HARBOR SETTLEMENT
THE WINTER HARBOR SETTLEMENT
NCE past Crawford Notch,
winding its way through a
dusky defile of its birth-
place among the snows of
the Waumbek Methna, and
thence through an appar-
ently interminable wilder-
ness, the virgin Saco makes
its final leap over the rag-
ged scarp below Indian Island, to tumble, with a
jubilant roar to merge into the huge bowl of the
ocean six miles away at Winter Harbor, whose tides
sweep ceaselessly to and fro across a broad horizon
to eastward, even to the far shores whence the am-
bitious and enterprising Vines sailed in the summer
of 1616, with his handful of Argonauts, to build a
new Carthage along the forest-clad shores of Winter
Harbor; for it is safe to assume, in this first ven-
105
106 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
ture of Vines, a predetermined purpose possessed him
to effect hereabout a foothold which would enable
him at his later convenience to consummate a per-
manent colonization.
Much had been objected in opposition to the
inducements of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, that the cli-
mate of Smith's New England, so much vaunted by
Hakluyt in his "Westerne Planting," was cold and
unpropitious. Vines's first expedition, somewhat in
the nature of an experiment, disproved this, the
results of which were of the most satisfying and
encouraging character. At the time of his coming
Nature was dominant along these shadowy shores.
The dense woods extended inland from the solitary
sea, unsurveyed and limitless, a terra incognita of
silences broken only by the beating of the winds
against these shores of verdure, the more musical
whispering of the leaves of the dense deciduous
growths, the drowsy runes of the running waters
punctuated, as the summer waned, by the faint
staccato of the acorn quitting its cups with the frost,
a staff of dainty tonic quality upon which were writ
as well the varied notes of the feathered tribes,
now and then accented by the wail of the nomad
fox and the more ominous complaint of the preda-
tory wolf.
It was a veritable wilderness, the antiquity of
whose antecedents dated back to the Laurentians of
the Hudson Bay country, the " Height of Land " from
whence the glaciers ebbed north and south; so
one may say these shores are as old as the world.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
107
The centuries overlap them as the leaves of their
forests their unhumanized floors. Here was the
exquisite sculpturing of Creation garnished by
indulgent Nature.
Here, upon the marge of the sea where it beats over
Winter Harbor bar to follow the ever-narrowing
contour of the land even to the foam streaks that
spin away from the tumbling waters of Saco Falls,
as one marks the boundaries of the original Vines
WINTER HARBOR — MOUTH OF SACO RIVER
settlement, one is possessed of a gallery of choice
landscapes, and all are in the "original." With the
ever-widening sea before, and the curving shores
behind and landward, the stream dwindles into a
tumultuous ribbon of silver, and one is bewildered
with his visual riches; so many are the nooks and
corners and bits of nature that await the brush or
pencil of an Inness or a Smiley, or even the transitory
contemplation of the less gifted; but in a way we
are all children of Dame Nature and enjoy her feasts
in our way. But here are the happy hunting-
108 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
grounds for every nature lover where one can dream
and drowse at one's content if one has the leisure;
for even now one finds secluded spots that have
much of the hereditary quality of the untamed and
untameable solitary beauty of sea and shore that
greeted Vines, as he for the first time broke these
placid waters in twain as he pushed his shallop
shoreward to take possession of the wide lands
secured to him later by his patent from the Council
of Plymouth on that eventful first day of February,
1630, and in which John Oldham was associated with
him, but who left Vines to his own devices. His
neglect to occupy any part of these Saco lands
eliminates him from further consideration, except
that Oldham settled at Watertown and was killed
by the Indians in 1634. He was a member of the
first General Court of Massachusetts.
Here was to be the nucleus of a prosperous settle-
ment.
If one would have a sensing of the loneliness, as
well as the picturesqueness of a virgin landscape not
at all unlike that which greeted Vines, a sail along
the coast of Maine in these modern days will dis-
cover even yet many a patch of its original shag by
which is unfolded to the modern vision the same
rugged wildness that hedged about the vessel of
Vines as the winter of 1616-1617 came and went.
But Vines had been here before as early as 1609.
Hereabouts, nowadays, is the haunt of the summer
idler, the dilletanti of pleasure, not one of whom,
I suppose, ever thought of a little fire of driftwood on
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 109
the sands, out of its pregnant incense haply to coax
back the romance of the days of Richard Vines, or to
conjure from the buried years the ghosts of those
who blazed the first woodland trails, or outlined the
bridle paths that wound with devious sinuosity
eastward to Machigonie or westward to Godfrey's
settlement thirty miles away on York River, and on
still farther to old Ketterie and the Pascataquay
River, through the pillared naves of a primeval forest
peopled with ghostly shadows and pregnant with
danger.
One does not need the assistance of Jenner to
become innoculated with the romance of the sea,
for its invigorating salty winds will do that along with
the broken rhythm of its ceaseless surf and the zenith-
dyed waters that merge imperceptibly into the wide
arch of the limitless ether, and this locality has the
peculiar legacy that has come to it by direct kinship,
which is that of being romance saturated.
Winter Harbor forms the southern shoulder of
Saco Bay, which is hedged in on the north by famous
Prout's Neck, and on the south by Fletcher's Neck,
which boldly thrusts its hare's head toward Wood
Island Light. It is a harbor of few islands, but many
reefs over which the seas break constantly, to shear,
as it were, huge fleeces of snowy-white wool from their
dripping backs until the trough of the sea shoreward
is piled with iridescent foam. Beach, Whale's Back,
Washman's, and Dansbury are less than a half mile
offshore, while the Gooseberries dangle temptingly
under the nose of the hare. Wood Island is not so
110
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
far away but these gooseberries of rocks remind one of
the stepping-stones across Deering's Guzzle over in
old Ketterie. One would not need seven league
boots. A pair that would span a half mile would
get one over to the Light, dry shod. From Hill's
Beach, Basket, Stage, Tappan and Wood islands
THE SITE OF THE VINES SETTLEMENT
are a-row, like so many huge beads strung on a two-
mile stretch of thread, and with something of method,
as if Nature had begun a causeway of rock to the land
of Cabot, but ceased abruptly as the water got above
her ankles, throwing her burden to one side or the
other in her alarm, and it lies to-day where she dropped
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 111
it at Sharpe's Rock and Ram Island Ledge, a jagged
disarray of hungry monsters of the inner bay that ever
lie in wait for the heedless mariner, and that make the
line of surf across the mouth of the Saco almost con-
tinuous. At the base of Fletcher's Neck and almost
entirely closed in by a solid scarp of earthworks, north
and south, alike, is the Pool, a triangular sheet of
water with perhaps a scant three miles of shore line,
the placid surface of which would offer a most prosaic
page of nature but for the less than a dozen islands
that break water here or there and that vary in size
as the tide is at its ebb or flood. Midway of the
northern rim of this neck of Fletcher's, and at the
easterly corner of the Pool, or rather midway the ex-
treme southerly trend of Winter Harbor, is the gut
through which the waters rush in or out, as the tide
serves, and it may have been here in this natural
basin that Vines moored his craft, possibly to put
up his winter shelter somewhere along its western
land wail on what is now the site of Biddeford. At
high tide here was water sufficient to float a fleet,
and here, according to Levett, was an ideal anchorage
and an absolutely safe one at all times for " two ships."
If one could get one of Esther Booker's witch
bridles about the neck those old times, one could get
a nearer view of events and so state things with some
degree of accuracy. The best one can do, however,
is to emulate the weird arts of
" Viswamistra, the magician,
By his spells and incantations,"
112 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
and out of the driftwood along shore, the sea-whitened
bones of shipwreck pregnant with the mystery of life
and death, build a slender pyre. Something of its
own kind that has been dipped in
"a sulphurous spirit, and will take
Light at a spark, "
fused in the bowels of ancient Sicily, will serve as a
fire stick. A moment later and the sea-green flames
kindle, and as my fire grows, I see
"the long line of the vacant shore,
The seaweed and the shells upon the sand,
And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,
As if the ebbing tide would flow no more. "
I hear
"The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,
And hurrying come on the defenseless land
The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar,"
and then, lacking Gulnare's magic powder of aloes, I
throw upon my driftwood blaze a handful of sun-
bleached sand, and the smoke is woven into strange
shapes that hover a moment like wraiths before they
fly away on the wind, and tan-colored sails
" Gleam for a moment only on the blaze,"
and with them
0
" Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,
Such as gleam in ancient lore ;
And the singing of the sailors,
And the answer from the shorp "
and that is all.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 113
There are sails athwart the horizon, but their hulls
are low and long, and entirely unlike those of French
Du Monts or English Vines; but the wind veers, and
with the veering of the wind the spell is wrought.
The wilderness is here, and a ship is luffing over the
bar and making toward the painted woods that streak
the interminable shores with the pigments of the
first October days.
I am reminded by Willis, as emphazing the isolated
condition of the country to which Vines came, that
prior to 1603 there was not one European family on
the whole coast of America from Florida to Green-
land. This is true, although before that date three
efforts had been made to colonize the coast of the
Virginias which practically included the coastline
south of the Chesapeake. All these had failed, as did
Gosnold's abortive effort of 1602 on the Massachusetts
coast when he built his "barricadoe" on the sands of
Cape Cod. Such, also, was the experience of Lery
at Cape Sable.
Outside of Massachusetts Bay, which was visited
briefly by Sir William Alexander, the southern boun-
dary of whose patent was at Pemaquid and up the
Kennebec, 1622, the first real settlers in this region
were David Thompson, who has been accredited as
an agent of Gorges and Mason, and who was ousted
ultimately by Neale, which raises some question as
to how far he was authorized by those two English
colonizers to take up or appropriate lands about the
mouth of the Piscataqua; for, it was at Odiorne's
Point that Thompson built his " stone house/' which
114 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
he vacated immediately upon Neale' s arrival here,
and which Neale immediately preempted. Thomp-
son came undoubtedly from Plymouth Colony, and
I am of the opinion that he had slender right as
against the Gorges or Mason interest by reason of his
precipitate departure upon Neale's coming hither.
Farther up the Piscataqua, on the Dover side, Edward
Hilton built his cabin, in 1623. William Hilton
accompanied his brother Edward. Doubtless these
men came over here by the encouragement of Gorges,
neither having any "paper rights." Hilton was
undisturbed, and the following is found in the " Cata-
logue of Patents " : " A Pattent granted to Ed. Hilton,
by him sould to mchants of Bristoll they sould
it to my Lo. Say and Broke s, they to sume of
Shrusbery : in Pascatowa, many towns now gouerned
by ye Mathesusets (1628)." I find the following in
the same Catalogue : " 1622. 1. A Pattent to David
Thompson of Plimouth for a p* of Piscatowa River
in New England."
Christopher Levett was here, 1623, and he writes
of his voyage to New England; he had been to the
Isles of Shoals: "The next place I came unto was
Pannaway, where M. Thompson hath made a planta-
tion, there I stayed about one month, — " What
seems inexplicable to the author is that Thompson
with his "Pattent" of 1622 should retire from his
"stone house" upon the approach of Neale, abandon-
ing his improvements and betaking himself else-
where, as he did. This Odiorne's Point is the present
Rye.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 115
Referring again to the early settlements, there was
a fishing station at Monhegan as early as 1621, but
the settlement of Monhegan may be said to date
from 1625.
Levett's account of his experiences about this
Saco country as he returned from his sojourn at
Thompson's is so interesting and so saturated with
incident that I do not hesitate to introduce it as
making the way for the occupancy of Vines clearer,
lending to these pages for a moment the vision of the
voyager who built the first house in Casco Bay.
MOUTH OF SACO OPPOSITE CAMP ELLIS
Levett had left "Cape Porpas" behind, with the
view of dropping anchor in the mouth of the Saco,
but what befell him is best related by himself.
" About four leagues further east, there is another
harbor called Sawco (between this place and Cape
Porpas I lost one of my men) ; before we could recover
the harbor a great fog or mist took us that we could
not see a hundred yards from us. I perceived the
fog to come upon the sea, called for a compass and
set the cape land, by which we knew how to steer
our course, which was no sooner done but we lost
116 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
sight of land, and my other boat, and the wind blew
fresh against us, so that we were enforced to strike
sail, and betake us to our oars, which we used with
all the wit and strength we had, but by no means
could we recover the shore that night, being embayed
and compassed about with breaches, which roared in
a most fearful manner on every side of us; we took
counsel in this extremity one of another what to do
to save our lives; at length we resolved that to put
to sea again in the night was no fit course, the storm
being great, and the wind blowing off the shore, and
to run our boat on the shore among the breaches
(which roared in a most fearful manner) and cast
her away and endanger ourselves we were loath to do,
seeing no land nor knowing where we were. At
length I caused our killick (which was all the anchor
we had) to be cast forth, and one continually to hold
his hand upon the rood or cable, by which we knew
whether our anchor held or no : which being done we
commended ourselves to God by prayer, and put on
resolution to be as comfortable as we could, and so
fell to our victuals. Thus we spent that night, and
the next morning; with much ado we got into Sawco,
where I found my other boat."
In the original patents of this territory, this river
is given the name, " Swanckadock."
Here, Levett "stayed five nights, the wind being
contrary, and the weather very unseasonable, having
much rain and snow, and continual fogs.
" We built us our wigwam, or house, in one hour's
space. It had no frame, but was without form or
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 117
fashion, only a few poles set up together, and covered
with our boat's sails, which kept forth but little
wind, and less rain and snow.
"Our greatest comfort we had, next unto that
which was spiritual, was this : we had fowl enough for
the killing, wood enough for the felling, and good
fresh water enough for drinking.
" But our beds was the wet ground, and our bedding
our wet clothes. We had plenty of crane, goose,
ducks, and mallard, with other fowl, both boiled and
roasted, but our spits and racks were many times
in danger of burning before the meat was ready
(being but wooden ones).
" After I had stayed there three days, and no likeli-
hood of a good wind to carry us further, I took with
me six of my men, and our arms, and walked along
the shore to discover as much by land as I could:
after I had traveled about two English miles I met
with a river " (the Saco below Indian Island), "which
stayed me that I could go no further by land that day,
but returned to our place of habitation where we
rested that night (having our lodging amended); for
the day being dry I caused all my company to accom-
pany me to a marsh ground, where we gathered every
man his burthen of long dry grass, which being spread
in our wigwam or house, I praise God I rested as con-
tentedly as ever I did in all my life. And then came
into my mind an old merry saying, which I have
heard of a beggar boy, who said if he ever should
attain to be a king, he would have a breast of mutton
with a pudding in it, and lodge every night up to his
118 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
ears in dry straw; and thus I made myself and my
company as merry as I could, with this and other
conceits, making use of all, that it was much better
than we deserved at God's hands, if He should deal
with us according to our sins.
"The next morning I caused four of my men to
row my lesser boat to this river, who with much ado
got in, myself and three more going by land; but by
reason of the extremity of the weather we were
enforced to stay there that night, and were con-
strained to sleep upon the river bank, being the best
place we could find, the snow being very deep.
" The next morning we were enforced to rise be time,
for the tide came up so high that it washed away our
fire, and would have served us so too if we had not
kept watch. So we went over the river in our boat,
where I caused some to stay with her, myself being
desirous to discover further by the land, I took with
me four men and walked along the shore about six
English miles further to the east, where I found
another river which stayed me." (This stream was
undoubtedly Goosefare Creek.) "So we returned
back to the Sawco, where the rest of my company and
my other boat lay. That night I was exceeding sick,
by reason of the wet and cold and much toiling of
my body: but thanks be to God I was indifferent well
the next morning, and the wind being fair we put to
sea, and that day came to Quack." (House Island
in Casco Bay, where Levett afterward built, was a
part of Quack. His description of Casco Bay, and
of Fore River which he explored and as well the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 119
Presumpscot, which he ascended to the Falls, is the
first ever given.)
"But before I speak of this place" (Quack) "I
must say something of Sawco, and the two rivers
which I discovered in that bay which I think never
Englishman saw before.
"Sawco is about one league northeast of a cape
land. And about one English mile from the main
lieth six islands which make an indifferent good
harbor. And in the main there is a cove or gut,
which is about a cable's length in breadth, and two
cables' length long, there two good ships may ride,
being well moored ahead and stern; and within the
cove there is a great marsh, where at high water a
hundred sail of ships may float, and be free from all
winds, but at low water must lie aground, but being
soft ooze they can take no hurt.
Levett's description of the Pool is excellent, but
there is no doubt but Vines in his voyage of 1616
made excursions into the surrounding country and
was even better acquainted with the country than
Levett, and it is likely from the way Levett writes
that he was unaware of Vines being here seven years
before. The probable reason why nothing has come
down from Vines of a descriptive character is because
of the secretive disposition of the man who preferred
not to say much of what he had seen until he should
be able to avail himself of his personally acquired
information, hoping thereby to secure the location
for himself as he subsequently did, and thereupon
founded his settlement. It was simply an indication
120 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
of Vines' s shrewdness, yet had he made a few notes
of his first sojourning here, they would have been as
jealously cherished as have those of Captain John
Smith and of Levett.
Levett goes on : " In this place there is a world of
fowl, much good timber, and a great quantity of clear
ground and good, if it be not a little too sandy. There
hath been more fish taken within two leagues of this
place this year than in any other in the land.
" The river next to Sawco eastwards, which I dis-
covered by land and after brought my boat into is
the strangest river that ever my eyes beheld. It
flows at least ten foot water upright, and yet the
ebb runs so strong that the tide doth not stem it. At
three quarters flood my men were scarce able with
four oars to row ahead. And more than that, at full
sea I dipped my hand in the water, quite without the
mouth of the river, in the very main ocean, and it was
as fresh as though it had been taken from the head of
the spring.
"This river, as I am told by the savages, cometh
from a great mountain called the Chrystal hill"
(the White mountains) "being as they say one
hundred miles in the country, yet it is to be seen at
the sea side, and there is no ship arrives in New
England, either to the west so far as Cape Cod, or to
the east so far as Monhiggen, but they see this moun-
tain the first land, if the weather be clear."
Levett never came back to the house he built on
House Island, for he was later commissioned by
Charles to make a sea voyage. He died as he was
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 121
returning to Bristol and was buried at sea. Much
that is known of Levett after his return to England
is due to the untiring research of the Hon. James
Phinney Baxter, and which he personally gleaned
from the Bristol Records and in London.
Levett makes note that he found Weymouth here
on the coast this same year, and writing of the climate,
he says: "Yet let me tell you that it is still almost
Christmas before there be any winter there, so that
the cold time doth not continue long. And by all
reason that country should be hotter than England,
being many degrees farther from the north pole."
But there were no weather maps in those days with
their isothermal lines; for all that, Levett was a
philosopher. He inquires: "Yet would I ask any
man what hurt snow doeth? The husbandman will
say that the corn is the better for it. And I hope
cattle may be as well fed in the house as in England,
Scotland, and other countries, and he is but an ill
husband that cannot find employments for his
servants within doors for that time. As for wives
and children if they be wise they will keep themselves
close by a good fire, and for the men they will have no
occasion to ride to fairs or markets, sizes or sessions,
only hawkes and hounds will not then be useful."
For all our digression from our fire of driftwood it
is still blazing with much cheerful snapping, and with
another stick or two added to it, one can ramble for
a short space over the adjacent sands, and perchance
discover upon its unstable page a few, as yet, unob-
literated footprints of the earlier days.
122 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
No doubt it was upon the land bordering upon the
westward edge of the Pool that Vines dug the trenches
for his house and set his "palisadoes," upright and
joined together, after the fashion of the dwelling
places of the earliest comers. He may have put his
low roof on these supports and shingled it with bark,
or have brought his sails ashore and used them
instead. He may have cut his timbers and hewn
them and tre-nailed them together after a more sub-
stantial fashion and roofed it in with strips of rifted
ash, closing the interstices with clay from the adjacent
swamps, for it is likely there were one or more in the
near neighborhood. He might have done all this
and have built him a substantial chimney out of the
shale that one finds in abundance along the seashore,
but even that is doubtful if Gorges's relation is true.
Levett in his nosing around this locality with curious
eye would have found some remnant of a former
occupancy, which he did not, as he would have
mentioned it at length in his story of his sail from the
Isles of Shoals to Quack. He is silent; nor did he
discover any trace of European footprint, for he
thinks himself the first Englishman to set eyes on the
locality, ignoring Smith, who was over here in 1614
and who makes special mention of the Saco. Vines
had kept his secret so well that Levett passes him
without even a nod of recognition.
In Gorges's "Brief Narration" one finds the only
footprint of Vines. He says, writing after 1630, as
one would gather from his introductory note, " Find-
ing I could no longer be seconded by others, I became
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 123
an owner of a ship myself, fit for that employment,
and under color of fishing and trade, I got a master
and company for her, to which I sent Vines and others
my own servants with their provision for trade and
discovery, appointing them to leave the ship and
ship's company for to follow their business in the
usual place (for I knew they would not be drawn to
seek any means). By these and the help of those
natives formerly sent over, I came to be truly in-
formed of so much as gave me assurance that in time
I should want no undertakers, though as yet I was
forced to hire men to stay there the winter quarter
at extreme rates, and not without danger, for that the
war had consumed the Bashaba and most of the
great sagamores, with such men of action as had
followed them, and those that remained were sore
afflicted with the plague, so that the country was in a
manner left void of inhabitants. Notwithstanding,
Vines and the rest with him that lay in the cabins
with those people that died, some more, some less
mightily (blessed be God for it), not one of them
ever felt their heads to ache while they stayed
there."
It is clear from this that Vines and his crew spent
the winter on the vessel. But Gorges alludes to
Vines but briefly, yet later on, and in relation to the
despatching of Francis Norton to the Piscataqua
country, he says: "And I was the more hopeful of the
happy success thereof, for that I had not far from
that place Richard Vines, a gentleman and servant
of my own, who was settled there some years before,
124 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
and had been interested in the discovery and seizure,
as formerly hath been related."
Gorges was greatly ambitious and broadly disposed
in his schemes for the colonization of New England,
but he failed of the fruition of his ardent desires.
He had a prophetic eye ; for, a generation later, his
travail "for above forty years, together with the
expenses of many thousand pounds" had borne a
rich fruitage to others.
It would have the better suited me had I found
some unevenness in the land hereabout which I
might have had pointed out to me as one of the
illegible lines from which I might decipher something
of the story of Vines's earliest sojourning here, how-
ever unauthentic it might have been, for it would
have delighted me to have thought of him as watch-
ing the phenomena of the approaching snow, as
"The sun that brief December day
Rose cheerless over hills of gray,
And, darkly circled, gave at noon
A sadder light than waning moon.
Slow tracing down the thickening sky
Its mute and ominous prophecy,
A portent seeming less than threat,
It sank from sight Before it set. "
And, when
"Unwarmed by any sunset light
The gray day darkened into night,
A night made hoary with the swarm
And whirl-dance of the blinding storm,
As zigzag wavering to and fro
Crossed and recrossed the winged snow, — '
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 125
he piled his leaping fire higher with wood, I would
have liked to have sat with him a little as he dis-
cussed his plans about one thing or another, to have
ruminated over my visit later, when
"Oft died the words upon our lips,
As suddenly from out the fire
Built of the wreck of stranded ships,
The flames would leap, and then expire. "
I would have enjoyed swinging an axe with him
as the pile of firewood grew before his door, after
the good old New England fashion, with the mercury
down to zero, the wind blowing a gale and the sharp-
edged snow hurtling along with even pace, to paint
one's cheeks the hue of the rose. I am afraid I
should have felt a woman's delight in the furnishing
of a new house, had I been able to have assisted
Vines in getting his rude cabin with its like rude
furnishings, ready for a housewarming. I would
have pulled out the ruddy coals on the rough earthen
hearth and set the flip a-simmering with the same
sacrificial zest I would feel as I broke a bottle over the
prow of a ship leaving the ways to take her first dip
in the sea. We would have had a huge open fire-
place that would have taken up one end of the cabin,
and we would have kept it aflame had it taken all the
trees on Fletcher's Neck, and when we could think of
nothing else, we would have taken up the study of
astronomy from the vertical telescope of the chimney ;
for, had it been built after the fashion of the times, it
would have held in its opening half the constellations,
126 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
including that of "The Bear/' and which, according
to the traditions of the "Grandfather Days," was
not an uncommon happening as some hungry Bruin
made the low cabin-roof a highway of his predatory
explorations.
Perhaps it was by reason of the plague of which
Gorges makes mention that led Vines to keep to his
ship and which proved such a terrible scourge to the
Indians; for, the Jesuit Missionary Biard, in 1611,
estimated the Abenake population of what afterward
became the province of Maine, to have been of a
round number above nine thousand, of which the
Sokoquies made up fully thirty-five hundred. The
fighting force of this tribe has been estimated by one
writer as about nine hundred warriors before the
plague. After that, probably less than a hundred
warriors comprised their fighting force. In 1726,
according to Captain Gyles's census of the Indians
of Maine, the Sokoquies above the age of sixteen,
numbered twenty-four.
This plague, while so destructive to the Indian,
made the way of the settler much easier. It is
doubtful if the colonies could have made much
headway at colonization with the original Abenake
population extant. The English would have been
swept away like leaves before the wind with such a
horde let loose upon them. As it was, they were
driven in southward as far as the country round about
the Piscataqua, and even the settlement of Boston felt
some throes of anxiety. Eastward of this river for
over a half century the savage tide was at its flood,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 1 27
to beat against the garrison walls of Scarborough
with varying fortunes.
One might regard this visitation of smallpox
among the aborigines as a special dispensation of
Providence to make the way easier for the New
Civilization. That such was the result is certain.
But our fire of driftwood on the sands is burned
out, and the phantom ship of Vines, of which we
have not even the name, has pulled her shadowy
reflections from their depths in the green waters of the
Pool, along with her anchor, to dissipate into thin
air, leaving across the wake of her moorings just a
bar of summer sunshine, as if those oak-tanned sails
of Vines had never sniffed the odors of the Saco
woods.
With the issuing to Vines of the Patent of the Ply-
mouth Council began the colonization of the Saco
country.
In the year 1630 five grants were made of these and
adjacent lands, or within the limits of what became
the Maine province. They were:
" Jan. 13. To William Bradford and his associates,
fifteen miles on each side of the Kennebec River,
extending up to Cobbisecontee ;
"Feb. 12. To John Oldham and Richard Vines,
four miles by eight miles on west side of Saco river
at its mouth ;
" Feb. 12. To Thomas Lewis and Richard Bonigh-
ton, four miles by eight, on the east side of Saco river
at the mouth;
"March 13. To John Beauchamp and Thomas
128 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Leverett, ten leagues square on the west side of Pen-
obscot river, called the Lincoln or Waldo Patent ;
"To John Dy and others, the province of Ligonia,
or the Plough Patent, lying between Cape Porpus
and Cape Elizabeth, and extending forty miles from
the coast."
This latter inspires a query, as it covers the Vines
Patent.
Under the Plough patent (so called, evidently, from
the fact that the ship Plough brought over Dy and
his adventurers) a ship was fitted out by Dy, and
he and his colony arrived upon the Saco in the
summer of 1630; but whether before or after Vines
it is uncertain. These adventurers did not concur
with Vines in his opinion of the place, clearly ; for they
turned their backs upon its goodly forest and its
excellent harbor, and sailed away to Boston, to be
dispersed wherever their individual inclinations led.
Vines began his work on the Biddeford side of the
river, engaging his enterprise with all his energy and
good judgment in his endeavor to comply with the
conditions of his grant, so that within seven years from
the date of his patent he should have transported
fifty persons hither at his own expense, ostensibly
colonists. This was an easy condition, as with each
passing year the inducements increased instead of
lessening, and once the fact established that there
was profit, and comfort as well in the accumulation
of it, the tide of emigration from England would set
westward with ever deepening influence, as it did.
Vines made a wise selection of his site, for the build-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 129
ing up of which all things were propitious. He had a
waterway at his door which would afford him one of
the best of common carriers and at the least expense.
At the foot of his lands was an ample harbor. About
him, and inland, were the riches of the unscarred
timber-lands, and about the roots of whose mast-
like shafts was heaped a fertile soil. There were
some cleared lands here, possibly by the fires which
the savages had kindled from time to time to roast
INNER MOUTH OF THE POOL
their corn or broil their venison. Here were marshes
waiting to be cut as he disembarked and which would
afford not the worst of fodder against the coming
winter, and as Levett says, there was "fowl for the
killing, wood for the felling/' and good water to drink.
The balance was to be wrought out by Vines, and
which it will be seen he accomplished with profit to
himself and a reasonable degree of contentment and
honor.
130 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
No account exists to my knowledge whereby one
may know the number of the people who stood by as
Richard Vines made his seisin, except that there
were "nine witnesses and perhaps Mackworth who
came over with him, was here." He is reputed to
have made frequent voyages after 1616 to the Saco,
and it is not at all improbable that there might have
been some of his representatives of servants here
upon his arrival to extend their greeting that things
were about the same as when he sailed away before.
Of those who were here as colonists, Vines leased to
each one hundred acres of land. These old leases,
many of them may be verified by a glance at the
ancient York records. One lease was made to John
West some eight years later for a consideration of
annual rent of two shillings and one capon. Twenty
years later land was held at a higher premium. This
effort of Vines was well seconded by the patentees on
the east side of the river. They were the proper sort
of men to engage in so strenuous an enterprise, and
while they wrought as individuals, their interests
were mutual. These men were Richard Bonighton
and Thomas Lewis, who held a patent of similar
proportions to that of Vines and under similar con-
ditions. The east and west sides of the river were
occupied about the same time in that summer of
1630, and for that reason, so far as this relation goes,
the Saco will not be considered as possessing the
virtues of a boundary line, but the rather as a lively
suggestion of many things held in common and
undivided. The original settlers have made this
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 131
easy, for until 1653 the plantation was known as
Winter Harbor, and from that down to 1718 it was
organized as Saco, then to be incorporated as Bidde-
ford (from by-the-ford on old English Torridge).
In 1762, the east side became Pepperrellborough, to
find its old name of Saco again in 1805, and Saco
it has been for a century.
Vines and Bonython, became, both of them, at an
early day, two of the notable men of the section, as
both were made members of the court of the province,
with joint jurisdiction over all matters of law, and
whose jurisdiction, nisi, was limited by damages of
fifty pounds. It was not until 1639, April 3, that
Gorges succeeded in getting the royal assent to his
exercising sovereign powers in his New England
province or palatinate. That secured, he organized
his courts, and the civil government was established
with something of stability. Captain William Gorges
was a nephew of Sir Ferdinando, and it was in 1635
that the mantle of authority fell to his shoulders.
The following year, having arrived hither, he estab-
lished the first court, whose members were termed
commissioners. This court held its first session at
Saco. If one is curious to see the first minute on
its docket, here it is: "At a meeting of the Com-
missioners at the house of Captain Richard Bonighton,
this 21st day of March, 1636, present Capt. William
Gorges, Captain Thomas Cammock. Mr. Henry Joce-
lyn, Gent., Mr. Thomas Purchase, Mr. Edward God-
frey, Mr. Thomas Lewis, Gent. "
As a proof that the times were up to the proper
132 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
pitch, four persons were arraigned for getting drunk,
who were promptly disposed of at five shillings the
individual. George Cleeve, who had moved to Cascoe
three years before from the Spurwink lands claimed
by Winter, talked too much and was mulcted in the
sum of five shillings. Commissioner Bonighton, with
Spartan firmness, had his son up before the court for
incontinency with his frail servant, Ann, for which
the son John got a fine of forty shillings and the
maintenance of Ann's illegitimate offspring, while
poor Ann felt the rigors of the law to the extent of
twenty shillings of her wages. It is evident that the
new community had brought from the mother
country a sufficient supply of quarrelsomeness and
litigious disposition, of waywardness and passion, so
that this court would not be wanting in matters to
be deliberated in law.
At this session, an order was entered on the docket :
"That every planter or inhabitant shall do his best
endeavor to apprehend or kill any Indian that hath
been known to murder any English, kill their cattle or
in any way spoil their goods, or do them violence,
and will not make them satisfaction." This might be
taken to be slightly drastic and one-sided, but running
down the ancient minutes one finds this court in the
year following instructed Mr. Arthur Brown and Mr.
Arthur Mackworth to compel one John Cousins who
lived on an island near the mouth of RoyalPs River
out in North Yarmouth, and who afterward moved
to York, to make full recompense to an Indian for
wrongs committed against him.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 133
This court seems to have accomplished its labors
and then to have gone to sleep, for its record after
1637 seems to have been abruptly terminated. It will
be noticed that this court was made up of men from
about the Province. Cammock and Jocelyn were
from Black Point; Purchase was from New Meadows
River in Brunswick; Godfrey was from York, as was
Gorges. These seem, at the time, to have been the
principal men outside of Kittery, in the jurisdiction.
Before this court came in, in May of 1636, some light
is thrown upon the administration of affairs locally,
by a record that has come down from the Winter
Harbor settlement: " Feb. 7, 1636. It is ordered that
Mr. Thomas Lewis shall appear the next court-day at
the now dwelling house of Thomas Williams, there
to answer his contempt and to shew cause why he
will not deliver up the combination belonging to us,
and to answer such actions as are commenced against
him." The machinery of government theretofore
was by agreement in writing among the settlers as
to the manner in which they were to hold themselves
toward one another, and this writing was the " com-
bination" which Mr. Lewis was charged with with-
holding from his associates. This mention of Richard
Bonighton's partner, Lewis, as a member of this
court, was shortly before his death, which occurred
within a year or so thereafter, and thus the original
trio was broken.
There seems to have been some considerable ad-
hesion of purpose on the part of Vines, as he seems to
have departed but once from a strict attention to his
134
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
interests at Winter Harbor. This was when he
became interested for a brief interval with Aller-
ton, in the latter's ventures on the Penobscot.
The Plymouth Colony had a trading station at Penob-
scot, and Allerton represented the colony as its factor,
but his conduct of affairs was somewhat disappoint-
ing to his principals. He engaged in business outside,
and mixed the accounts of the colony with his own,
interfering with their trade on the Kennebec, and as
AN ANCIENT WHARF. THE POOL
well endeavoring to divert trade from the Penobscot
trading-house to his own private emolument. Aller-
ton finally located at Machias, contrary to the agree-
ment of Vines with La Tour. Trouble came from this
eastern venture of Allerton's. Two of his servants
were shot, and he was driven elsewhere. In 1641,
Vines, evidently with a view to smoothing the rough
places somewhat, made a visit to La Tour, who at
that time was at Pemaquid. He took the inebriate
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 135
Wanner ton along with him. There they found the
impetuous and retaliatory D'Aulnay, who immediately
placed both under arrest. Abram Shurt, a man of
large local influence at Pemaquid, succeeded in
obtaining their release, and they were allowed to
depart. This abrupt interruption of Vines's pacific
and courteous visitation was doubtless due to the
bitter spirit of quarrel between D'Aulney and La
Tour, the former resenting the evident feeling of
amity between his countryman and Vines. Vines
has always been known by annalists as "Factor"
Vines. He no doubt carried on a brisk trade at
Winter Harbor, and that formed his occupation; but
he was none the less aware of the importance of
religious instruction as a means to an end, and that
end was the maintaining the proper standard of
morals. Here was the first organized government
on the now Maine coast. Under the royal grant by
which Gorges was enabled to establish this colony,
the establishment of the service of the Church of
England was authorized, and to Gorges was given the
nomination of the ministers to such churches as might
be set up in the province. The character of the colony
was Episcopal. Vines has been reputed to have been
a deeply devout man, and this is supported by such
recorded matters as have come down to us. Doubt-
less the community which made up the Winter
Harbor settlement was selected originally by Vines
with a view to especial fitness for the new citizen-
ship he proposed to confer upon such as kept him
company across the water. As a matter of fact,
136 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
hardly any of early charters fail to insist upon
some provision for religious instruction of an Epis-
copal character. Many of the Gorges patents contain
definite stipulations to that effect. It is to be noted
that when Robert Gorges was invested with the
authority of the " General Governor of New England"
by the Plymouth Council, the Rev. William Morrell,
a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, was constituted
superintendent of churches in the Gorges colonies,
and sent over to perform the functions of that office,
which, as it turned out, was to exercise but a slight
influence over the religious tendencies of the Maine
province.
Here, at Winter Harbor, or Saco, one of the
earliest considerations was to provide religious in-
struction. Thirty-one pounds, fifteen shillings were
raised for the support of the minister, and so it
came about that in 1636 the Rev. Richard Gibson
came to them, who went from settlement to settle-
ment along the coast, missionary-like, but his main
efforts in the early days of his coming hither were
given to the building up of a stable religious society,
and it was here at this settlement that the first
Episcopal Church body with any permanence of
character was organized. An attempt had been
made before this at Pemaquid, but had failed. In
1637 Richard Gibson was living on Richmond's
Island, where he ministered a part of the time. He
was well known on the Piscataqua, for he preached
at Portsmouth, or Strawberrybank, whose settlers
had, as early as 1639, "set up common prayer,"
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 137
organizing a parish, laying out a parsonage lot of
fifty acres, and building a chapel and a minister's
house. In 1640 the Rev. Mr. Gibson had left the
Saco field and become permanently established at
Portsmouth. He did not get on very well with
Winthrop, who says, " He did scandalize our govern-
ment;" adding, "He being wholly addicted to the
hierarchy and discipline of England, did exercise a
ministerial function in the same way, and did marry
and baptize at the Isle of Shoals, which found to be
within our jurisdiction," all of which was contrary to
the law of the Massachusetts Colony.
The final result of his preaching was his being taken
into custody and sent to Boston, where he was held in
confinement until he acknowledged the jurisdiction
of the Massachusetts government. This was a
species of persecution common to the Winthrop
interest, but the offending clergyman was allowed to
leave under what would be termed to-day a nolle
prosequi. He was the first pioneer of the English
Church, a "good scholar, a popular speaker, and
highly esteemed as a gospel minister by the people
of his care." Being such, one is interested in following
the earlier steps of his career among his chosen people.
He was an ardent adherent to the form of service
established by the church of his faith and openly
asserted that he saw no reason why New Hampshire
should be so arbitrarily disposed of by Massachusetts
in the government of her church affairs.
This clergyman was followed at the settlement on
the Saco River, by the Rev. Robert Jordan, afterward
138 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
best known as being the husband of John Winter's
daughter, and who, through her, absorbed the
interest of the Trelawny heirs in due time, to profit by
the somewhat questionable thrift of his father-in-
law, if one is to base an opinion upon recorded facts.
The Rev. Mr. Jordan came over from his Exeter
diocese about 1640 under the influence of Trelawny,
the Patentee of the Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth
lands from Spurwink to Fore River. The head-
quarters of the Trelawny interest were at Rich-
mond's Island, where John Winter had located the
Trelawny trading-houses, and where Bagnall closed
his human account. This clergyman was young,
not having attained above twenty-eight years, and
is spoken of as being "a welcome laborer." Willis
notes that " the religious condition of the community
at this time, east of the Saco, was decidedly, if not
exclusively, in favor of the Episcopal form of gov-
ernment and worship." Another writer, Thornton,
says, "Maine was distinctively Episcopalian, and
was intended as a rival to her Puritan neighbors."
This was in direct accordance with the purposes of
Charles I.
The Puritans looked with jealous eye on these
religious observances of the people in the Maine
Province, and had formed their plans for taking at
the first favorable opportunity its control as it had
taken over New Hampshire. No active interference
was undertaken until 1642, when Mr. Gibson was
summoned by the Massachusetts authorities to show
cause why he should continue to baptize children
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 139
and perform the rites of the Church of England " con-
trary to law."
Going back to 1636-1637, the only existing record
of church organization in the settlement, apparently,
is quoted: "1636 7ber 7, (September 7). The book
of Rates for the Minister, to be paid quarterly, the
first payment to begin at Michaelmas next." With
this are given the names of the colonists active in
the matter, and the amounts subscribed by each.
There are six of them; but others, some fifteen, are
mentioned as interested in the maintenance of
religious instruction. This is but a fragment, but
like the parts of some strange fossil of the antedi-
luvian days, which is sent to the Smithsonian to be
reconstructed and rehabilitated into a likeness of its
original self, so the antiquarian puts this remnant
within easy reach, and out of it he builds his old log
church, arranges its interior, invests its pulpit with its
original personality, arrays its attendants in the sober
garb of the time. Then he plays usher, to set each in
his or her accustomed place to engage in the devout
observance of that beautiful service of the English
Church, which, to Winthrop, was a scandal to the
government and "contrary to law." The first
church built at Boston was undoubtedly a pro-
totype of the one built at Winter Harbor. It was
of logs, of course, and as to dimensions it may have
been of the size of a country schoolhouse, and in its
architecture it resembled a small barn. Its eaves
were low; its windows were few and scantily glazed;
its entrance was on one side, and without doubt, for
140
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the lack of carpenters and fit tools, benches were
used instead of the old-fashioned and stately stall or
pew common to the'churches in the mother country.
It did not matter so much in those early days how
the goodman and his good wife were accommodated,
nor was there much distinction between individuals,
but the rather a democratic mingling of personali-
ties, with here and there among the settlements a
Vines, a Champernown, a Mackworth, or a Cammock.
No site is pointed out as the place where stood this
THE OLD GRAVEYARD ON FLETCHER'S NECK
historic chapel of logs, with its rudely constructed
pulpit and its roughly hewn benches, its half dozen
windows with their four lights of seven-by-nine
glass, and its door, a single slab rived from some
huge pine butt-log. Its furnishings may have been
brought from over the water, but there is no record
pointing to so extravagant a detail. If the English
custom of using the churchyard a's a place of inter-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 141
ment prevailed, no excavations as yet have unearthed
any evidences of such location. It is not to be
apprehended that there was anything elaborate in the
appointment of this old church or chapel, or that the
community or parish was favored with an Olmsted to
lay out a symmetrical enclosure for a kirkyard with
its accustomed insignia of mural mosses and dusky
foliaged trees; but here were trees enough, the con-
temporaries in age of any that grew in the kirkyards
of old England. So far as the outward aspect is to
be entertained, kirkyards are like old wine, to be
mellowed by long years, and to be endeared by
intimate acquaintance. The New England burying-
ground is a type common to the occupancy of bleak
hillsides or wind-swept knolls, whose crudities
smack as well of climate as of the rustic conception of
what "is good enough." Like the paintings of some
particular artist not particularly endowed with
originality, to see one specimen is to be able to dis-
cover the authorship of all others by the same brush
without glancing at the lower left-hand corner for the
hieroglyphic of the painter. It serves the purpose,
however, and covers up just so much space on the
much-abused wall. So Mother Earth's bosom shows
many a fast-healing scar in untoward and untidy
places, but what does it matter where the body
sleeps if the eternal atom lives in the bosom that
nursed it originally into a living flame !
But this first church must have been at Winter
Harbor, for the nucleus of the settlement was there,
its various crafts of trade, fish curing, and one may
142 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
well believe, home building. It was a convenient
place for the shipping that, about this time, 1636,
began to lend something of a commercial aspect to the
locality. The fisheries were an important factor and
had a local prominence in the enterprises of the time.
Richmond's Island was in its flower of promise under
the " grave and discreet" Winter, while the neighbor-
ing Isles of Shoals was in the heyday of its prosperous
traffic of the sea, and just across was old Ketterie
where Champernowne, landlord Bray, and the astute
Pepperrell were laying the foundations of individual
fortunes. Winter Harbor was a prosperous com-
munity from the first, and there are no relations to
show that its people were otherwise than a peaceful,
industrious, and law-abiding folk. No doubt the
personality of its founder, Vines, had much to do with
this; at least one is constrained to think so when one
recalls the bickerings, ambitions, jealousies, and
passions that seemed to obtain in other and not far-
away contemporary settlements.
The Puritan Thomas Jenner was preaching as
early as 1641, his labors extending over a brief
period of two years, when he went to Weymouth.
It does not appear that the Episcopalians objected
to his office, but rather that he was welcomed with a
true Christian spirit, and his way made easy so far
as it might be so disposed by lay cooperation. Vines
appears to have been a Christian gentleman endowed
with virtues of patience and forbearance.
It seems that this Puritan minister held some
correspondence with Winthrop, 1640, in which he
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
143
gives his impressions of the Episcopalians of Winter
Harbor. It seems that the coming of this clergy-
man was due to the efforts of Vines, who had some
correspondence with Winthrop. Vines's letter to
Winthrop of January 5, 1640, in part lifts the curtain
from the portrait. That part only having direct
reference to Mr. Jenner is quoted.
" To the right Worshipfull his honored ffriend, John
Wenthrop: Esq. at Boston, thes in Massachusetts.
" Right Worshipfull, — I received your letter con-
cerning Mr. Jenner; acknowledging your former
courtesies to my selfe, and for your furtherance of a
minister for vs, our whole Plantacion ar greatly
behoulding vnto you. We haue ioyned both sides of
our river together for his mayntenance, and haue
willingly contributed for his stipend 47li per annum:
hoping the Lord will blesse and sanctifie his word
vnto vs, that we may both be hearers and doers of the
word and will of God. I like Mr. Jenner his life and
conversacion, and alsoe his preaching, if he would lett
144 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the Church of England alone; that doth much trouble
me, to heare our mother Church questioned for her
impurity vpon every occasion, as if Men (ministers,
I mean) had no other marke to aime at, but the paps
that gaue them suck, and from whence they first
received the bread of life. . . .
Rich: Vines."
The remainder of this letter is taken up with a
discussion and defense of the good name of Gorges.
Cleeve, of Casco, was of a jealous and contentious dis-
position, and twenty days later Vines despatches
another letter to Winthrop, from which the follow-
ing is quoted:
"I shall humbly intreate your advise herein, what
course is to be taken, that I may free my selfe from
blame and the malice of Cleiues who is a fire-brand of
dissention, and hath sett the whole province together
by the yeares. I make bould to trouble you herin, as a
case of greate difficultie, desireing your answeare by
the first convenience." And then, like the gentle-
man he must have been, he adds with a touch of
sweet amenity — " I vnderstood by Mr. Shurt that
you desired some gray peas for seed. Out of my small
store I have sent you a bushell, desiring your accept-
ance thereof, ffrom
Your ffriend and servant,
Rich: Vines."
"Gray peas," a bushel of tiny spheres, each one
holding the germ of a little world of romance, an
oasis of suggestive picturesqueness in nature amid
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 145
this atmosphere of self-seeking to bring the gladness
of spring, the graciousness of summer, and the plenti-
tude of autumn as a fit setting for the scenes and the
characters that fill our little stage at Winter Harbor.
I am heartily delighted with those "gray peas," for I
can see them from their planting among the other
treasures of the old farm garden, and I follow them
with all the cherishing solicitude of their sower, to go
with him in the season of their garnering to enjoy
their bounty. So it is,
" One touch of Nature makes the world akin."
But suppose one takes a glimpse of this pioneer
community through the lens of the Puritan Jenner.
His colors are not so limber, and like some spring
waters, it has a brackish taste, this letter of his
written from Saco in 1640. Here is Mr. Jenner's let-
ter entire:
"To the Right Worship his very louing & kind
friend Mr. Wintrop, at his howse in Boston in N. E.
guie theise I pray.
" Worthy Sir : — My due respect being remembered
to you, I heartily salute you in the Lord; giueing you
humble thanks, for your favorable aspect which
hath alwaies bin towards me, (though of me most
undeserued,) and especially for your late kind letter
on my behalf e ; for which sake I was kindly imbraced
aboue the expectation of my selfe, & others, and am
still (I thank God) loueingly respected amongst them :
but not without some hot discourses, (especially about
the ceremonies;) yet they all haue ended (through
146 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
mercy) in peace ; and for aught I can percieue, doe prize
the word, & relish it, dayly better than other, and some
promise faire; euen in Mr. Vines his family. But
generally they were ignorant, superstitious, & vitious,
and scarce any religious. Ffre leaue they giue me to
doe what soever I please; imposeing nothing on me,
either publikly or privately, which my selfe dislike,
onely this, Mr. Vines & the captaine (Bonython) both,
haue timely expressed themselues to be utterly against
church-way, saying their Patent doth prohibit the
same; yet I, for my part neuer once touched upon it,
except when they themselues haue in private dis-
course put me upon it by questions of their owne,
ffor I count it no season as yet to go build, before
God sends vs materials to build with all. Thus
being in some hast, I end humbly crauing your
prayers :
Your worships to command
Tho: Jenner."
By this letter it seems there was some move to
build a place of meeting, but whether because the
original was too small or because at that time there
was no church edifice, must remain undetermined.
The inference would be that there was no sufficient
place of worship, or perhaps the locality was incon-
venient. Be that as it may, there is such a dearth
of authentic record that the matter must be left
undecided.
In 1643, Vines wrote again to Winthrop complain-
ing about the disposition of Cleeve to get into a
quarrel. Cleeve had got quite a hamlet about him-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
147
self at Casco, and in the meantime Winter had kept
up a hot pursuit in the direction of Casco River which
he claimed was the name rightfully for that of the
Presumscot, and to the certification of which he
brought numerous depositions, the result of all which
was a lawsuit, which was finally adjudicated by the
local court of which Thomas Gorges was the presiding
justice. The associate justices were Richard Vines,
Richard Bonython, Henry Jocelyn, and Edward
Godfrey. The jury brought in for the plaintiff, and
FORT HILL— ENTRANCE TO THE POOL
the title to the lands east of Fore or Casco River
was established in Cleeve. But the tables were soon
to be turned against the Oldham and Vines patents.
The fourteenth of June, 1645, was an eventful
day in the fortunes of these New England promoters.
On that day Charles engaged the Puritans under
Cromwell at Naseby, and was obliged to leave Eng-
land to take refuge with the Scots not long after.
Treacherously betrayed by the latter into the hands
of Cromwell, September 21, 1646, the Puritans were
148 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
in full sway in England and the high-churchmen of
that country were harrassed, prosecuted, and mur-
dered by Cromwell's fanatics. It was at this time
Jenner was preaching at Winter Harbor. With the
king in safe custody, the Winthrop influence was
in the ascendency, but Winthrop still kept his gloves
of velvet for company use. He was aware of the
differences growing up in England against the un-
fortunate Charles and bided his time. In 1643
Cleeve left o a his voyage for England, to serve in the
Puritan army, by which he was able to enlist the
Rigby interest. The Gorges patents were annulled
on the ground of latent fraud, and the Gorges titles
were confirmed to Alexander Rigby, who appointed
Cleeve his first deputy for the Province. The Gorges
and the Trelawny influence went down with Charles,
and as a matter of course the New England adherents
to their interests lost caste politically with the Crom-
well faction. Parliament was again in session, from
which, on April 28, 1643, according to Willis, a com-
mission was issued directed to Winthrop, Mack-
worth, Henry Bode, and others, to examine into
certain articles exhibited by Cleeve to parliament
against Vines. To his Petition to parliament Cleeve
forged the names of Mackworth, Wadleigh, Watts,
and several others of the well-known colonists, which
fact was disclosed at the court held at Saco in October
of 1645. Winthrop kept on his gloves of velvet and
declined the parliament commission, as did Mack-
worth and Bode. That Cleeve was an active factor
in this matter is accentuated by the effort on the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 149
part of Cleeve to smirch the character of Vines, and is
good evidence of malice. In 1643, the same year of
his voyaging across to England, Cleeve had returned
to Boston, where he tried to acquire the influence and
protection of the General Court, alleging his fear of
open opposition to the exercise of the commission
which he brought along with him from Rigby, mak-
ing him deputy governor of Ligonia, which extended
from Pemaquid to For pas. Upon the arrival of
Cleeve within his bailiwick he made known his author-
ity, to be vigorously opposed by Vines who imme-
diately called a court at Saco. Vines had the
main support of the colonists and was elected deputy
governor the following year, in the Gorges interest.
So there were two deputy governors, and each had
his faction. Cleeve wrote Vines that he was willing
to submit the matter of jurisdiction to the Massachu-
setts government, and sent his ultimatum by Richard
Tucker. Upon Tucker's arrival at Saco he was
arrested and imprisoned, to be released upon his bond
for his appearing at court and his intervening good
behavior.
Upon that, Cleeve wrote to Winthrop, with the
result that Vines went to Boston, 1644, for a con-
ference with Winthrop, but which resulted in Win-
throp adhering to his previous neutral course. While
Cleeve's rushlight of coveted power burned but
feebly from that on, with the complete triumph of
Rigby's party it gathered fresh flame, and Cleeve
approached Winthrop again, but his letter was so
inoperative that, in October following, Vines held his
150 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
court at Saco as usual, and Vines was again made
deputy governor, with the provision that if Vines
"should depart, Henry Jocelyn to be deputy in his
place." A tax was laid, and Casco was taxed for ten
shillings.
With the capture of Bristol by Cromwell, Gorges
was taken prisoner and his estates plundered. He
was thrown into prison and is supposed to have
died not long after. This was in 1645. This same
year the Saco court ordered "that Richard Vines
shall have power to take into his possession the goods
and chattels of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and to pay
such debts as Sir Ferdinando is in any way indebted
to pay." Likewise a public fast was ordered to be
" solemnly kept upon Thursday, 20th of November
next, through this Province." The death of Gorges
was a loss to the province, and to Vines no doubt
it brought a sharp barb of distress.
Vines had led an active and honored life here at
Winter Harbor, doing what he could for his settlers
and those who came to the settlement later. His
attitude in regard to religious matters gave a health-
ier tone to the community, and had Winter and
Cleeve been more pacific, and less quarrelsome and
greedy of land and personal influence, possibly Vines
might have lived among his chosen people to a ripe old
age. His forbearance with Mr. Jenner shows the
gentle side of his character, who went away from
Saco three years after.
With Mr. Jenner's going the vacancy in the Winter
Harbor church remained to accent his value to his
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 151
people. Why he left is not certain, but he died not
long after, and it is reported in straitened circum-
stances. The court had charge of matters ecclesias-
tic, and as the place was without a minister, when it
went into session at Wells, later, it ordered that one
Robert Booth, who was reputed to be a man of charac-
ter and high standing in his community, and a devout,
and as well a man of some brains, natural and ac-
quired, "have liberty to exercise his gifts for the
edification of the people," not an uncommon occur-
rence in these more modern days where the people are
rich in spirit and poor in pocket.
It is somewhat singular that nothing remains to
show where the first church foundation stones were
planted, being much less fortunate in that respect
than York, Kittery, or even Casco. There seems to
have been no authentic records left, and perhaps the
reason for this lies in the fact that the organization
was Episcopalian and the times were soon to become
rigidly Puritan. It only needed the firm hand to
lay its weight on recalcitrant laymen and ministers
who worshipped "contrary to law/' as the Episco-
palians of the province did, hardly a half dozen years
later; for Winthrop pulled off his gloves of velvet in
1652 and proceeded to take within his palms the
reins of government of the Maine province on a fiction
of the Merrimac boundary, when those who did not,
"after the most straitest sect of our religion," demean
themselves as Puritans, were ordered out of town.
But Booth was supported by the town appropriation,
and as well voluntary contributions from the people.
.
•
152 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
In a conveyance of land at Winter Harbor, 1642,
in connection with one of the boundary lines, Church
Point appears. It must have been named in reference
to the location of the church of the time. It may be
regarded as offering a suggestion of much historic
weight. One annalist of things pertaining to those
old days and their happenings queries, "Was it not
named for one Captain Church? " There is no record
of any man of that name who had acquired any, or
sufficient notoriety to warrant a supposition of that
nature. Major Church, of Brackett's woods fame,
was born in 1639; and the only other military charac-
ter of that name was in the Arnold Expedition. It is
not likely that it would be named for a sea captain,
and I do not find the name was among the Winter
Harbor contingent at any time. I believe it has
direct reference to the fact that the early church was
located in its immediate vicinage. There was, how-
ever, a Congregational meeting house here about 1660-
1667, the location of which is indicated by a cluster
of ancient graves, whose faded outlines are not as
yet obliterated utterly by Nature. As one stands
beside these worn pages spread out at one's feet,
the text of which is written in the verdant hiero-
glyphics of nature, a cluster of bluets, a tuft of wild
violets, a medley of weeds, or the softer pile of the
grasses, and essays to read the story of these humble
lives, which after all is but the story of
"The meanest floweret in the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies, "
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 153
sounding always the note of immortality, one recalls
with a sigh with Horace Smith,
"Thinking is but an idle waste of thought,
And nought is everything, and everything is nought. "
The Vines settlement was along the sheltered
rim of the Winter Harbor shore. How many cabins
there may have been we have no means of knowing,
but we have the names of Bonython, Gibbins (prob-
ably one of Levett's men left on House Island),
Waddock, Boad, Scadlock, and Samuel Andrews, who
died prior to 1638, and to whose widow Vines con-
firmed the title to one hundred acres of land, with
the privilege of procuring hay from the marshes at an
annual quit rent of twelve pence, payable at the
feast of "St. Michaell the arkangell," and which are
suggestive of a rude and hardy people.
Here is a stanza common to the time of which we
write,
"And when the tenants come
To pay their quarter rent,
They bring some fowl at midsummer,
A dish of fish at Lent ;
At Christmas, a fat capon;
At Michaelmas, a goose ;
And somewhat else at New Year's tide
For fear their lease may loose. "
It was a rude and hardy life they lived. Their
first homes were log cabins, the eaves of which were
low; their interiors were plastered with clay from
the meadows. Their chimneys were roughly built
of flat stone, their crannies stuffed with mud, within
154 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the jambs of which could be clustered the whole
family, with the bright stars aglow in the huge open-
ing at the top, or the snow and the rain beating down
its generous flue to set the back-log a-sputtering with
discontent at the advent of so unceremonious an
interference. There was often a lack of clothing, but
plenty of wood, and generally something to eat.
The axe and the gun were the weapons of necessity.
The former was the tool of the clearings and the
roughly hewn walls of their houses and the winter
WOOD ISLAND
fire, while the gun was the surcease of many a
prowling wolf or screaming panther; and as for the
larder, a bear steak, or a haunch of venison, a brace
of ducks or a bag of grouse would hardly come
without the gun. Everything smacked of hardi-
hood. Even the corn had to be dibbled into
the soil between the blackened stumps of the rick.
The women like the men were gifted with great
courage, which was mellowed and made beautiful by
a stock of patience and cheerfulness. They were
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 155
days when one went a-foot or remained at home;
nor was there much to call one from home unless the
grist got low; but those were the days of the samp-
mill, a rude affair of the mortar and pestle sort that
would hold a half bushel of shelled corn, which was
converted into a coarse meal by pounding with the
pestle which was attached to a limb of the old-
fashioned well-sweep family, which greatly facilitated
the up-and-down movement which accomplished the
somewhat toilsome process of grinding. Not always
was there a wooden floor, even, under the feet of these
cabin dwellers. As one might believe, there were not
many idle days for these pioneers; for the clearings
were to be widened as rapidly as possible. The
farms were to be their main resource. Some were
fishing when the weather served, while others were
at work about the fish-flakes that began to line the
slopes. Of course a rude wharf was among the first
of the public improvements, and the ships as they
came for a few days' stay, or a brief touch of the
Winter Harbor acquaintance, were each an episode
that brought the settlement shoreward with a de-
lighted greeting.
When the sun had gone down, the silence of the
original wilderness prevailed, to be broken in upon
by the same untoward sounds that had ever been
its peculiar enlivenment; but sleep is sleep, the world
over, and while these sounds surged through the
gloom of these Saco woods, the weary settler slept,
while the mother held her little ones within a closer
reach. So the night went. With the gray of the
156 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
morning tne ash-covered coals were raked open and
the hearth was soon aglow, while from the ragged
chimney top the smoke spun away on the morning
wind, and along the winding paths that led from
cabin to cabin the settlers were out to see what the
day was to be like, while indoors the housewife got
the breakfast of corn bread ready. The children
dressed themselves and were off to the nearest spring
for water. Everybody had something to do. There
were no idle hands, for idle hands made idle mouths.
Those were friendly days with the Abenake; for their
wigwams were often near neighbors to the more
civilized cabin, and the savage made himself "boon
welcome" wherever he happened to be, the fumes
of his stone pipe mingling with that of his white h&st,
after which he would roll himself in his blanket, and
with his back to the glowing fire he would drowse
the night away while the settler and his wife slept, or
lay awake, as their acquaintance with their visitor
warranted. But the aborigine was docile enough
when not inflamed with the aqua vitae with which
the settlements were abundantly supplied in those
days. The favorite seat was on the settle, which was
generally hardly more than a rudely hewn plank.
Somewhere about the room was a chest of drawers,
an old-fashioned highboy, perhaps brought from over
the water. Along the fire mantel were set in modest
array the dishes of pewter off which the family ate;
and above these was the gunrack and along the
jambs hung the nets and fishing lines. In one corner
leaned a pair of oars, roughly shaven and clumsy.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 157
In those times wherever wood was used, there was
sure to be enough of it, as the tools of the period
show. They were rude times when the rye and
barley heads were cut off and the grain rubbed out
by hand, for there were no threshing floors, nor did
it occur to these practical folk to adopt the primitive
fashion of using mother earth's bosom as a garner
floor after the oriental manner. Sure enough, they
had plenty of time, and perhaps it did not matter,
for nothing was so' much condemned as waste.
According to the scripture, it is the diligent hand
that maketh rich, but then it was the careful hand
that made life secure. A tiny grain was worth much
as a seed, and there were times when seed was scarce ;
but the prudent settler was sure to set apart enough
for the spring planting or sowing where it would be safe
from the mice and the squirrel, while the remainder
was doled out with sparing hand; not that these
people were mean or stingy, for that would be far
from the truth, but careful to see Candlemas found
them with a little more than half their autumn store
on hand. It was simple thrift, and nothing more.
In those days a hole in some adjacent hillside served
as a cellar, and the hay for the cattle was stored in
stacks after the fashion of the Middle West in these
modern days, while the cattle were housed from the
inclemency of winter in a log shed that opened into
the southern quarter. The evening lamp was of the
most primitive sort. Its oil was the congealed
varnish of the pitch-pine, and its wick was the
fiber of the tree in which its original saps were distilled,
158 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
while the rude hearth made an ample socket for this
arc light of nature. These open fires, and in the
early days these sufficed all the necessities of the
settler, were the sacrificial altars, while their chimney
tops were the distributors of their varied incense.
It was over them that the morning, midday, and
evening repasts were prepared, and it was above
them that the sooty crane extended a beneficent
arm. Longfellow had not then unloosed
"the magician's scroll
That in the owner's keeping shrinks
With every wish he speaks or thinks,
Till the last wish consumes the whole, "
to reveal the mystic treasures of this servant to the
pots and kettles of the domestic realm. These open
fires gave heat by day and they made pictures on the
walls and sang songs of the woods after nightfall.
These settlers were altogether poets and mystics,
else they would have had no thought of whether the
midday of February were fair or foul, nor voiced the
couplet,
"If Candlemas day be fair and bright
Winter will take another flight, "
for the old saw of the groundhog and his shadow on
the snow was pregnant with the sensing of their
latent superstitions. Poets, did I say? Yes, they
were poets, but they were unaware of it. Sons of
Nature, as Timseus says, they were trees with their
roots growing in the air. They wrote poetry, but
they used a dibble instead of a pen, an invisible
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
159
writing that required the heat of the sun to make its
lines legible. Mystics they were as well, else they
would not have delved in the soil, fished the seas, or
built their cabins, and likewise propagated their
race. They had not the eyes of Lyncseus, yet they
were not blind, by any means. They saw the agaric
spring up in a night. They called it a toadstool,
but they knew not the mystery of its propagation,
yet it was subject to the same law as themselves.
They found "no history or church or state" here
interpolated on land or sea or sky or the round
STAGE ISLAND
year. They did find, however, the enchantments of
the original wilderness as God made them, and they
were rarely tonic and medicinal. Here was room
for all the senses and food for all talent and as well
genius. Their literature in chief was what they
were able to translate from the constantly wide-open
page of Nature. Perhaps it was well they had no
other. Take the summing up of " Tiraboschi, Warton,
or Schlegel," and their aggregate of "ideas and
original tales" comprises the measure. All else in
literature, to coincide with Emerson, is of the essence
of variation, an old song reset and revamped, and yet
160 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
never wholly obscured by a multiplicity of variations.
Like the germ hidden in its husk of chaff, the vital
thought long ago planted by another is there.
But these settlers had no time for literature. As
for their church, they brought with them the creed of
their ancestors, and out of its suggestion of the
Divinity they shaped their ends as its light shone into
their souls. Out of the bubbling spring they drank
inspiration, and in the pungent caress of the wintry
sleet was the spur to a more active effort and inven-
tion. The reflection of the trees or the sky in the
placid waters served them a better art than that of a
Turner or a Corot; and each clump of pines or hem-
locks that swallowed up the smokes of their cabins
was richer in harmonies than the spinet of a Mendels-
sohn. They lived in the realm where Nature turned
out her sturdiest products, to breed their share of a
notable race. Here was something better than the
seven wonders of the world, — it was Nature in the
original, unexpurgated, uncurtailed. The "magical
lights" of the heavens showed them their way, by
day or night, and enhanced their gifts by a benignant
radiance. Every dawn was a book of prophecy,
and every sunset a gazetteer of the day's doings.
They had no need of literature, poetry, or science,
for they had not yet arrived at the adequate powers
of adaptation. Their lessons in these were visual,
and they had but to look out of doors and theirs was
the privilege of a free translation. Each read to his
taste and his need. Their philosophy was the cult of
materialism, the philosophy of "Motion, and of
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 161
Rest." These were the mysteries to be unlocked,
and like Ali Baba, they caught the echo of the magic
word, to open up the wealth of Nature as they loved
it best, as a reversionary legacy to unborn generations;
for here were all the elements of Force waiting to be
fused in the crucible of the new civilization.
A well-known writer reads Guizot and complains
that the latter did not define civilization. It is
probable that the French historian refrained, not for
want of a definition, but because of the multiplicity
of definitions of which the word is susceptible. I
think this must be true; for, were I asked to define,
I should have to conform to my own point of view,
that here was a process of unconscious yet inevitable
evolution; as if, from the chrysalis stage, the inner
crudities were emerging into outer symmetries; as
if necessity plied the whip, or desire stimulated the
abortive effort wholly to achieve some power of secret
ambition to repeat itself, until at the last some genius
for labeling things gathers these multiplied results of
social amenity, culture, arts, sciences, and literature,
under the shelter of a generic term.
A frost out of season or a dark day were lines in
italics to be committed to memory, and which were
as exhilarating to the tongue as old wine; for the
craft of Nature was not wholly solved by them, and
these untoward happenings that called for a candle
at midday kindled the smouldering ashes of their
superstition; and then, as Nature resumed her
wonted and familiar guise, and got her balance back,
they picked up the threads of their commonplace
162 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
experiences. So they went, to the end, thought,
beauty, and virtue increasing to become the ultimate
ends of their strivings.
Their stanch resource was the primeval forest.
Here was the settler's larder. It tempered the
inclemency of the winter and the fury of the summer
tempest toward the roofs that hugged their shadows.
It gave him his light and heat. It held as well, its
scourge, rose-like, as the lurking place for wild beasts;
but with the sunlight and the wide sea before, these
were like to be forgotten, unless it were the season
BASKET ISLAND AND BREAKWATER
of the palatable wild grape or of the abundant
fruitage of the canes of the blackberry or raspberry.
It was among such scenes and under the sway of
such influences that this Winter Harbor colony began
its existence. Its peaceful and almost prosaic history,
from an internal point of view, betrays the mild,
temperate, and salutatory character of its master-
mind, Vines. He knew the full worth of character,
as is evident from his solicitude for the spiritual
welfare of the settler under his immediate guidance.
Vines preceded Carlyle, but left it to Carlyle to voice
his thought, that "religion makes society possible."
Except for the naturally quiet and reserved side to
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 163
this earliest pioneer of the Saco, he would have played
his part as prominently as did Winthrop; but he
tired of the interference of his neighbor Cleeve at
Casco Neck; the bickering of Winter, who from his
isolated trading post on Richmond's Island let fly a
frequent shaft of cupidious discontent; and the ill-
concealed policy of Winthrop, who through his
Puritan propagandists, like Jenner, drove nails into
the Episcopal coffin as fast as the average layman
of the Church of England belief of the times could
pull them out.
To an honest man, honestly determined, these
games on the Saco checkerboard were engaged in
with reluctance on the part of Vines. He was like a
high-spirited horse besieged by gnats on either flank.
Nor were the amenities of trade and its accompany-
ing profits, and which was of growing importance in
fish, furs, agricultural products, and manufactured
lumber, sufficient to enable him to ignore with a well-
simulated indifference, the subtile policy of Winthrop
that was bound to find here and there a patch of
fertile soil amid the steady accretions which Vines's
settlement was taking on. Vines could not but
realize that the balance of personal influence would
shift abruptly when the time came, as it did. It was
inevitable that the plus sign in the personal equation
should become a minus; for Cleeve was an actual co-
adjutor of the plans of Winthrop, though he was
unconscious of the fact. Cleeve kept up a not infre-
quent communication with the Richelieu of the
Massachusetts colony, nor did Winthrop fail to temper
164 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
his breath to the coal that burst into a lively flame in
the latter part of 1643 upon Cleeve's assumption of
the function of Deputy President under the protection
of the Puritan Rigby. English Royalism, apparently
wounded to the death, had succumbed to the fledge-
ling influence that played midwife at the birth of the
Non-Conformist opinion that found safe asylum at
Leyden, and whose stature was in nowise stunted by
the rugged climate of Cape Cod. It had more than
exceeded the anticipations of its Non-Conformist
relatives in England, under the wise yet jealously
rigid administration of Massachusetts Bay.
Vines and his settlers had learned much beside the
Indian method of planting maize. Stratton's law-
suit against an old kettle, the forgeries of Cleeve, the
empty vaporings of John Bonython against the
Episcopal Gibson, the gossip of Cleeve about Winter's
wife, indicated an atmosphere surcharged with
litigious currents, of which the founder of the Winter
Harbor settlement had a surfeit.
Gorges a prisoner, held in a common gaol, and
subject to the not over merciful or considerate
fanaticism of the later slayers of Charles, whose doom
was irrevocably settled with the surrender of Bristol,
to touch the shores of Finality three years later,
stood for impotent politics.
Cleeve of Casco had assumed the Puritan garb,
and with a yoeman arrogance that betrayed the mis-
fit of his honors, undertook as well to reflect the
questionable luster of Naseby and Mars ton Moor,
that was but the weak afterglow of fires that had
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 165
burned down, by donning the Provincial ermine as
the chief magistrate of the Lygonia lands, and by
which the Gorges patents were gorged at a single
gulp.
With this came the inevitable conflict of jurisdiction.
Rigby's deputy president had an attack of heart
failure in Boston, and appealed to the General Court
for protection while he began his sharklike meal off
Vines and his adherents, but he was advised to broil
his own fish as best he could. Cleeve returned to
Casco, put on a bold face, convened his court at
Casco, confirmed his associates, and made his demand
on Vines. Vines was unyielding in his loyalty to the
Gorges' rights; nevertheless, Cleeve was constantly
aggressive. Winthrop, appealed to now and then,
refused his mediation. Cleeve put hobnails on his
shoes and strode sturdily off to oust Vines, dissolve
his court at Saco, and create general havoc; but
Vines remained imperturbable and undismayed to
open his court as usual, at which he was chosen deputy
governor by the leading planters of the province,
whose local leaders were augmented by Mackworth,
Bonython, and Jocelyn. Cleeve everywhere got the
"cold shoulder" unless within his little bailiwick
of Casco Neck where he played the part of a Hampden
to a limited field. At the Saco election, Jocelyn was
elected as Vines' assistant; for it was even then
broached that Vines was about to close out his inter-
ests and sail away, as he sailed hither from old Eng-
land, to a new country.
He had no liking for Cleeve, and it was evident
166 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
he intended to avoid a controversy. He had dis-
covered long before what Cleeve's Spurwink partner,
Tucker, was just surmising. Tucker's knowledge of
Cleeve's inequalities of character and his implacable
disposition was forced home when he had resolved to
remove his interests to Portsmouth, leaving Cleeve to
his own devices. A postscript of a letter of the Rever-
end Jenner in February of 1646 to Winthrop throws
a sidelight upon their mutual affairs. "Sir, I haue
lately ben earnestly solicited by one Mrs. Tucker, an
STRATTON AND BLUFF ISLANDS
intimate friend of mine, & an approved godly woman,
that I would writ vnto your worship; that in case Mr.
Cleaue & her husband (Mr. Tucker) shall happen to
haue recourse to your selfe, to end some matters of
difference betweene them, now at their departure
each from the other, that you would be pleased, as
much as in your lye, not to suffer Mr. Cleaue to wrong
her husband, for though her husband hath ben as it
were a servant hitherto to Mr. Cleaue, yet now at
their making vp of accounts, Mr. Cleaue by his sub-
till head, brings in Mr. Tucker 100 li. debter to him."
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 167
This might be taken as a substantial arraignment of
Cleeve 's integrity in business matters from the
Tucker point of view, which must have been of the
most intimate character. But one must allow for a
certain bias in these representations which from a
most generous disposition toward the parties involved
indicate friction.
Vines foresaw that the power of Cleeve was likely
to be unbridled in the near future, and that he would
drive more hobnails into his shoes, so that his tread
might be the surer. Cleeve was likely, as well, to
limit his rough-riding only by his ingenuity to harrass
and damage such as had stood across his road there-
tofore, and by whom he had been effectively ob-
structed in his ambitions for the acquisition of wider
territory, and the power incident to a recognized
influence, of which disturbing inclinations Vines had
already become abundantly aware.
It was at this juncture that Vines's foresight ren-
dered him most excellent service. The Gorges influ-
ence in abeyance, he would be without adequate
protection or adequate remedy at law; so he sold his
Winter Harbor interests to Dr. Robert Child of
England and took ship to sail away to the mild climate
of the Barbadoes, where he engaged in the practice of
medicine, leaving behind the controversies and the
crudities of pioneer life that had been his portion for a
half generation. From Saco to Casco Neck there
was much of human perversity and litigious ebullition,
as has been heretofore commented upon, along with
the haling of Cleeve to court by Winter in an action
168 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
of slander, which was duplicated by the Rev. Mr.
Gibson because the somewhat awry disposition of
John Bonython led him to assail the curate as "a
base priest, a base knave, a base fellow," which
was more an indication of a limited vocabulary on
Bonython's part than of any special damage to the
fair fame of the preacher. But the needle got under
the skin to make the teacher of spiritual things
wince, and the court mulcted the respondent Bony-
thon in the sum of six pounds and six shillings,
and expense and costs at twelve shillings and six-
pence. Such was the estimate of wounded feelings
in those days, and which were evidently more tenderly
considered than two hundred years later when one cent
and costs have come to be the prevailing size of the
salve prescribed by one's peers under the direction
of modern justice, when it would have been more to
the minister's profit to have kept out of law and
turned the other cheek to his adversary.
These incidents are but sidelights, but they light
the way along so one easily distinguishes the chips on
the shoulders, and which were apparently as numer-
ous as epaulets in times of war. It is no wonder that
a man of Vines's temperament should weary and suc-
cumb finally to a legitimate disgust and a desire to be
well rid of it all; but with the departure of Vines the
settlement lost its most diligent and solicitous friend.
One can imagine Vines sailing away, every bond
cut loose except the warm friendships left behind, as
of Bonython, Jocelyn, and Mackworth, and Cam-
mock, as well. Perhaps the keenest regrets were
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 169
sounded as he thought of those who had been his
servants and co-helpers in the conducting of his own
fortunes, all of whom, of course, kept him company
to his ship as he uttered his last friendly words of
counsel and suggestion. One can hear them shout-
ing a bon voyage, such as could come by the words
readily; for I like to believe that the parting with so
excellent a friend would beget a tear from those who
were left behind. He was their Moses, and the limit-
less horizon the Pisgah whither he was sailing, as
" The broad seas swelled to meet the keel
And sweep behind."
Of all the notes indelibly written upon the recollec-
tions of the chroniclers of those times, not a dis-
paraging word of this man. Vines, Champernoun, and
Jocelyn were the Chesterfields of the coast settle-
ments from the Piscataqua to Casco. They made a
notable triad. I apprehend there was sorrow in the
heart of Vines, as if he had been exiled, as in fact
he was, by considerations of an immediate personal
character. Here he had spent the best years of his
life, and he was like an old man leaving the old home
with all its comfortable nooks and ingles, for the new
and untried with its unfamiliar environments.
Undoubtedly, of all others, Richard Bonython,
Vines's co-pioneer who came from amid the gorse of
West Cornwall, stood closest to the latter. They
were associate members of the same court, and Bony-
thon was of that grave and gentle demeanor that
would appeal warmly to Vines. Bonython's son
170 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
John, the outlaw, was ever a rebellious and way-
ward fellow. Baxter calls him "Reprobate"; and
then he remarks, " such was the unflinching rectitude
of the father, that he entered a complaint against
him for threatening violence to Richard Vines. "
What experiences must have crowded upon Vines'
recollection as the Saco shores faded away, of court-
ships among the young people, of marriages, births,
illnesses, and death, for Winter Harbor was a little
world apart to him, whose sympathies were as rich
as though they had been more plentifully endowed
with humanity. The old burying place, of which no
trace remains, must have held the mother of the
daughter who kept her father company. Perhaps it
was on some rough hillside whose broken lines were
made smooth and straight as the distance grew. He
must have had some thought of that once Merrie
England before the Puritans had felled the Maypoles
and ploughed up the "dancing greens" and which
he had some time left to the less sturdy ambitions.
If Cleeve gloated over the retirement of Vines from
the magistracy, his departure from the Province, and
his voluntary defeat, his own ascendency was of
brief duration, and, at last, with Massachusetts for
the whip-hand, shorn of his importance and his
means he found the lees of fallen ambitions and
straitened circumstances as bitter as had others
before him. The Rigby rights had been annulled to
the Lygonia Lands by the English courts and the
heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges had been reinstated
in their succession under the original grant to Gorges.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 171
Winter Harbor had its day, as had the Trelawny
trading houses at Richmond's Island, the Isles of
Shoals, and maritime Kittery. Yet Winter Harbor
is not wholly of Past; for, it has become, like many
once prosperous pioneer settlements, a summering
place, a resort for the pleasure seeker, and a soil of
scant fertility for the antiquarian.
Its islands and broken reefs lie asleep in the summer
sunshine, or grow restive under the lashing of the
•^2 "^
"<*
THE GOOSEBERRIES, EAST PL, FLETCHER'S NECK
storm-driven seas, and when the tempest has flown
the sky is again luminous with all the glory of myriad
dyes whose invisible drippings give the sea its pig-
ments to reflect all the colors of the prism. Along
the yellow sands the surf weaves ribbons of snowy
insertion to make more brilliant the green of the
slopes and the marge of the woodland. Among all
this wealth of verdure not a tree or vestige of root
that knew the touch of Vines remains. Only the
sands, the seaweed-smothered rocks and the sea,
and the bowl of the pool that shrinks and grows with
the eternal tides, and the historic river out of all the
days long gone greet to-day.
172 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Such is the mutability of Time, the labors of Nature
spread on this random page. As one runs, one reads,
"In Being's floods, in Action's storm
I walk and work, above, beneath,
Work and weave in endless Motion!
Birth and Death,
An infinite ocean ;
A seizing and giving
The fire of Living;
Tis thus at the loom of Time I ply. "
Nature does not give her children kindergarten
blocks with which to amuse themselves, but she
smites them in the face with her logic club of eternal
change, and thunders out, "Look up! Look out!"
so we may see her garb more intently, to discover it
to be "the visible garment of God." So, only the
apparition of the Winter Harbor settlement remains;
and but for man's love for the sea and the wide
outdoors, even its site would have reverted to a
semblance of its original shag.
One may say of Vines,
" Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. "
%w«
THE ISLE OF BACCHUS
THE ISLE OF BACCHUS
HE Isle of Bacchus, now better
known as Richmond's Island,
and which lies a little way out
to sea from the Scarborough
shore, is perhaps one of the
most interesting landmarks
of the early pioneer ad-
venturings along the Maine
coast, for this reason, that it was
here that one of the earliest
trading establishments was begun, and which may be
said to date back to the coming hither of George
Richmon as early as 1620, and whose story is told by
the Troll of Richmond's Island in an earlier volume
of this series. So far as Richmon himself is known,
his history is included in the brief relation which the
Troll gave me, and of which the reader has become
175
176 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
aware, and which perhaps may not be further adverted
to in this place.
It is probable that the first European to visit this
island was Champlain, who came here in 1605, as he
sailed along the Maine coast with Du Monts, and
which, according to the memoranda left by Champlain
of his experiences in that voyage, was endowed with
a wondrous verdure. Champlain gave the name to
this island by reason of its luxuriant vineries which
grew here in wild profusion, and no doubt it appeared
to him in those early days of the summer of 1605,
after his bleak experiences at the settlement in the
St. Croix, as a limited Paradise. According to
Champlain here was a place which was wonderfully
endowed by nature with all of the attraction incident
to a wooded island lying not far from the mainland,
and which offered a safe harborage and was, so far
as its physical features were to be considered, not
only easy of access, but in its low, rolling slopes espe-
cially adapted to occupation. Champlain undoubtedly
came here a second time, for he passed on to the
southward, making a survey of the coast, which
appears to be verified by his abundant notes, explor-
ing the mouth of the Saco, an adjacent stream which
found its outlet at the Winter Harbor of Vines, and
keeping on, still, to the southward across the mouth
of the Piscataqua, standing off against the Isles of
Shoals, until the low reef of Norman's Woe and the
bald rocks of Cape Ann opened up to him the wide
expanse of what since the Puritan occupation has been
known as the Bay of Massachusetts. He undoubtedly
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 177
continued this voyage farther southward and per-
haps touched the nose of Cape Cod; for, as such, it
was designated by the early Norse navigators. It
was in July of this year, 1605, that he anchored off
the Isle of Shoals, and it is not improbable that it
was later in the season, on the return voyage of Du
Monts toward St. Croix, that a second visit was made
to the Isle of Bacchus, at which time the grapes of
which he speaks were just beginning to ripen, and
which, on account of their abundance, inspired him
to give this island of perhaps two hundred acres of
area, the classic name by which it is known to the
antiquarian. One is interested in the impressions
which Champlain at that time must have received
as he came to this beauty spot, one of a multitude of
others of a similar attractiveness which lay beside
and across the prow of the ship in which Du Monts
kept his course toward Cape Cod. For it is true the
interest which one takes in places of this character
which have become notable through their early
associations, historically, is satisfied only as one has
been able to extract from all available sources the
information afforded by a diligent research; as if one
had squeezed the orange dry, so to speak; and not
the less for this reason, that the atmosphere which
surrounds the story or tradition incident to the
particular place is not only of historic incident, but
of fascinating interest and charming romance.
It is of interest, therefore, to quote briefly from
Champlain. He says:
"As we paffed along the coaft we perceived two
178
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
columns of fmoke which fome favages made to attract
our attention. We went and anchored in the direc-
tion of them behind a fmall ifland near the mainland
where we faw more than eighty favages running
along the fhore to fee us, dancing and giving way to
their joy. Sieur de Monts fent two men together
with our favage to vif it them. After they had f poken
fome time with them, and affured them of our
friendf hip, we left with them one of our number, and
they delivered to us one of their companions as a
hoftage. Meanwhile, Sieur de Monts vif i ted an
ifland, which is very beautiful in view of what it
produces; for, it has fine oaks and nut-trees, the
foil cleared up, and many vineyards bearing beauti-
ful grapes in their feafon, which were the firf t we had
feen on all thefe coafts from Cap de la Heve. We
named it He de Bacchus."
The small island referred to by Champlain is
Stratton Island and the place of anchorage was on
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 179
the north side, and nearly east of Bluff Island, which is
something like a quarter of a' mile distant. The
place where the smokes rose from the fire of the sav-
ages was along the promontory once known as Black
Point but now as Prout's Neck. It was along these
sands the Indians came dancing in their joyful
anticipation of an acquaintance with these French
navigators. Champlain's interpreter was Panounias,
who came along from the St. Croix. Lescarbot
describes this Isle de Bacchus as "a great island
about a half a league in compass at the entrance of
the wide Bay of Choucoei. It is about a mile long and
eight hundred yards in its greatest width." The
Cap de la Heve is the cape of the same name which
now appears on the coast of Nova Scotia. These
notices of this once historic island are of the earliest
importance and for that reason are of especial interest;
but the first documentary mention is of "a small
island, called Richmond" in the grant to Walter
Bagnall; but Bagnall, before this concession from the
New England Council had reached him, had paid the
penalty of his unscrupulous greed.
It may refresh the recollection, if a brief allusion is
indulged in at this point in our narrative as to the
first actual occupation of this place for commercial
purposes. In the previous voyages of one explorer
and another, glowing tales of the wealth of this wild
country distinguished the indefinite cognomen of
Nuova Terra, of which very little was known beyond
the indentations which marked its rugged coast line.
It is true that the Bretons had fished off the shores
180 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
of Newfoundland and had found some considerable
profit thereby, but it remained to Champlain to give
impetus to the trade, which, a few years later, laid
the foundations of the trading posts that found
isolated lodgment from the Penobscot to the Pis-
cataqua, of which Monhegan, Richmond's Island,
Winter Harbor, and Kittery became the most notable.
George Richmon, who was of English descent,
though coming from Bandon-on-the-Bridge, a little
hamlet on the river Bandon, some twenty miles
from Cork, impelled by his adventurous disposition,
found his way thither prior to 1628. Here he en-
gaged in the fishing business, and it was here he was
said to have built a vessel, which, if true, would
afford the first instance of its kind hereabouts, unless
it had been preceded by the small vessel launched
about that time at Monhegan. It was in 1628 that
he relinquished whatever rights he may have had to
the. use and occupation of this island to Walter Bag-
nail, a man of somewhat unsavory reputation, and
who by his unjust dealings with the Indians perhaps
merited his untoward fate. It is safe to assume that
Christopher Levett may have been here around 1623,
as at that time he was spying out the coast with a
view to erecting a permanent domicile, which he,
afterward in the same year, built upon House Island
at the mouth of Casco Bay. Bagnall carried on a
truck trade here with the savages successfully,
amassing, according to Winthrop, a small fortune for
those days, of 400£. It is doubtful if BagnalFs trad-
ing-house was other than a single building of rude
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 181
construction; but such as it was it sufficed its pur-
poses.
Recalling Champlain's description of its fertile
places, with here and there a copse of deciduous
growth, its fruity vines and its pleasing aspect, one
has to stretch the imagination to make out of its
outlying ribs of rock and wind-swept slopes of slender
verdure the oasis of the days of the Du Monts expedi-
tions. After BagnalPs murder the grant from the
New England Council became inoperative; this grant
to Bagnall was made December 2 of 1631, and if one
goes by the records, he had been in this country
something like seven years. This grant to Bagnall,
however, was preceded by the grant to Robert Tre-
lawny and one Moses Goodyeare, of the adjoining
mainland by a single day. The rights to Richmond's
Island are sustained to the Trelawny interest with
" free libertie to and for the said Robert Trelawny and
Moyses Goodyeare, their heires, associatts, and
assignes, to fowle and ffishe, and stages, Kayes, and
places for taking, saving, and preseruinge of ffishe to
erect, make, maintaine, and vse in vpon, and neere
the Ileland Comonly called Richmonds Ileland, and
all other Ilelands within or neere the limitts and
bounds aforesaid which are not formerly graunted to
the said Captaine Thomas Camock as aforesaid."
Going back to Bagnall for a moment one has but a
meager record from which to glean concerning his
personal history. Winthrop says he was "a wicked
fellow" (but Winthrop was biased), and "some-
times servant for one in the bay." He has been
182 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
associated with notorious Tom Morton, of Merry
Mount, and who was such a thorn to Winthrop with
his May-pole festivities and boon companions. He
had a ready wit and an inclination to indulge it in
satirical verse, which might lead one to qualify
Winthrop's classification of this man. Mr1. Baxter
suggests in his lucid notes to the Trelawny Papers that
Bagnall may have been "one of the four men from
'Weston's Company ' (the Morton fellowship) whom
Christopher Levett says he left with others, in 1624,
in charge of his strong house and plantation in this
vicinity." Morton was here at Richmond's Island
during BagnalPs occupation, and it was during this
visit to his old acquaintance, probably, that he dis-
covered the whetstones about which he has written
so extravagantly. It is possible that the grant to
Bagnall from the New England Council of December
2, 1631, was procured through Morton's influence,
then in England, who was a good Episcopalian
and as well an open friend of Gorges. There is
little doubt, according to the nature of the times, but
that Morton and Bagnall were boon companions,
and had, between them, emptied many a stoup of
aqua vitse, and as well, under the influence of their
potations, perpetrated many a quip of rough-set
pungency upon the staid habits of their common
enemy, the Puritan. The wit of the times was of
the rudest character, and which readily found its
way under the thin skins of the Puritans, to fester,
with the ultimate result of Morton's final elimination
from the Bay Colony.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 183
In these days this island is shorn utterly of the garb
of Nature, unless one excepts its sleazily woven
carpet of wild grasses that is stretched across its
uneven floor from shore to shore, with here and there
a streak of gray where the ledges crop out, with the
shifting sands that have followed the swirl of the gale.
Along shore, the yellow sands gleam and flash in the
summer sunshine. The belated plover drops in here
for a brief rest, but in lesser numbers and with a
more notable shyness. The sand-peeps teeter up and
down as if always on the verge of inevitable failure
to preserve a doubtful balance as they tread the rim
of the ceaseless surf; and with the gulls, that like
uneasy spirits haunt the offing, and an intermittent
flight of ducks, make up the animate in Nature here-
about. A single thread of smoke spins away from
a lone chimney to seaward on the winds that scour
the Scarborough flats, where two centuries ago was a
settlement of some solidarity. One sees here in these
later days a lone dun-roofed farmhouse whose very
isolateness makes emphatic though silent protest
against the vandalism imposed by the needs of man.
And yet, to one who delights in Nature, pure and
simple, these wind-harried slopes lack none of the
exhilaration of the great outdoors for all its lack of
the nooks, ingles, and copses of sylvan beauty which
so evidently captivated Champlain. The same gor-
geous cloud sails, the same turquoise skies, the same
restless flow of the sea in and out, held apart by the
same roseate horizon that lights up at dawn or at
sunset with the eternal fires of the sun, prevail as in
184 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the days of Champlain. The winds blow in and out,
catching up by the cap-full the life-sustaining mystery
of the sea; and now as then the same dripping,
smothering fogs roll in, to be drunk up by the same
sun that glanced along the jack-staff of Du Monts.
These phenomena of Nature are the same now as
then, while the same hoarse notes of the tides, the
timekeepers of eternity, beset these low shores as
when the savages slunk away on that night of Oct.
3, 1631, sheltered within the midnight gloom, with
Bagnall lying voiceless, insensate, athwart the floor
of his trading-house.
This island lies not far from the mainland with
which it is connected by a rib of sand, over which
one may pass at low tide with some degree of con-
venience. In Bagnall's time the fur of the beaver
constituted its principal trade. These skins were
highly prized by the English and which the Indians
brought in considerable quantities to exchange for
"kill-devil" (rum), or such other "truck" as the
English found possessed a peculiar temptation to
the aborigine. Bradford says, September 21, 1621
(he had just made a visit to the Indians), "We re-
turned to the shallop, almost all the women accom-
panying us to truck, who sold their coats from their
backs, and tied boughs about them, with great
shamefacedness, for indeed they are more modest
than some of our English women are."
The most lucrative trade, however, was carried on
with the Indians of Narragansett. This tribe was
a numerous one, and was a tribe of traders. Wood
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
185
speaks of them as minters of wampum. This wam-
pum was the currency of the Indian, and he says,
rfland.
FoiO I dnc|
yit*d-
6UIF
"or
AVAIWE
"They forme out of the inmost wreaths of Peri-
winkle-shells" this medium of value. "The North-
186 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
erne, Easterne, and Westerne Indians fetch all their
Coyne from these Southerne Mint-masters. From
hence they have their great stone pipes, which will
hold a quarter of an ounce of Tobacco. Such is
their ingenuity & dexterity, that they can immitate
the English mould so accurately, that, were it not
for matter and color, it were hard to distinguish
them; they be much desired of our English Tobac-
conists, for their rarity, strength, handsomenesse,
and coolnesse." Wood further says that with the
coming of the English these Indians had devoted
their energies to gathering furs from the tribes farther
inland, thereby making of themselves what we term
in these days of traffic, middle-men. They bought
these furs for little or nothing, and bringing them
to the English they exchanged them for such com-
modities as they liked best, the more remote tribes
being entirely ignorant of the final disposition of
the fur, or to use Wood's language, "so making
their neighbors' ignorance their enrichment."
This was the state of affairs at the time of the
Trelawny Patent and its granting. It was on the
18th day of January, 1632, that Trelawny and Good-
yeare executed to John Winter and Thomas Pomeroy
a power of attorney, " Giving vnto our said Attorneys,
or one of them, our full and whole power in the prem-
ises, Ratifying, allowing, and accepting all & what-
soeuer our said Attorneys, or one of them, shall doe
in the Premises by fource and Vertue of (these)
Presents. In witness whereof wee the said Robert
Trelawny and Moses Goodyeare haue here vnto sett
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 187
our hands and (seals)." This is the first appearance
of John Whiter of Plymouth, "Marryner," upon the
stage upon which, for the next thirteen years, was
to be played the commonplace drama in which the
greed and desire for personal aggrandizement on the
part of Winter was to be, perhaps, the single thread
upon which were to be strung, like beads, the like
commonplace episodes of traffic that gave to this
trading-post its local importance.
It would seem that Winter's connection with
Richmond's Island as the representative of Trelawny
was something in the nature of an accident. It is
evident from the correspondence between Captain
Thomas Cammock and Trelawny that the latter was
inclined to engage in the enterprise of which this
Richmond Island trading-post was the principal part
of the venture. Cammock was an Englishman of
good connection, and by his relationship to the Earl
of Warwick was possessed of some influence. Cam-
mock was to take possession of Richmond's Island
on Trelawny 's account, but as the former came
ashore from his English voyage, he made a misstep
on "Mr. Jewell's stage" and had his shoulder put
out of joint; and it is interesting here to recall this
George Jewell who hailed from Saco and who was
drowned in Boston Harbor some five years after
this event. Folsom says he was returning to his
ship from a drinking bout on shore, and as they
rowed away he lost his hat, and " fell into the water
near the shore where it was not six feet deep and
could not be recovered." Jewell's Island in Casco
188 THE SOKOK1 TRAIL
Bay, which has been connected with many tradi-
tions that have been related of Captain Kidd and
his buried treasure, once belonged to this George
Jewell, and has carried his name since that time.
This accident to Cammock prevented him from
engaging in the activities which were almost impera-
tive for the successful management of the Trelawny
business at Richmond's Island, and that seems to
have been the reason why the original enterprise
found in Winter its active commercial exponent.
So it was Winter who took possession of Richmond's
RICHMOND'S ISLAND
Island and received the livery of seizin from Richard
Vines in that year, 1632. Winter was in Trelawny's
employ at that time without a doubt, and it was in
that year, when, before sailing to England to confer
with Trelawny, Winter served a notice to quit upon
Cleeve and Tucker at Spurwink. Winter did not
return until the early part of the following year, and
it was then, being fully empowered to act in the
premises, that he succeeded in ousting the Spurwink
settlers who along in midsummer pitched their dwell-
ing place at Machegonie. What might have been
the outcome with Cammock at the Trelawny trading
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 189
post is conjectural, but the story of Winter has been
written by himself.
Winter has been described by Jocelyn, who was
here at Richmond's Island in September of 1639,
"where Mr. Trelane kept a fishing," in the suggestive
words, "A grave and discreet man, employer of 60
men upon that design," and which one may resolve
as to their meaning as suits him best. For myself I
seem to see a man not unaware of his opportunity for
personal gain, and whose determination to improve
the opportunity left no time for the indulgence of
those amenities of countenance which could afford
much of satisfaction or personal attraction to those
with whom he came in contact. Whatever had been
the experience of this man Winter before his entering
into the employ of Trelawny, one has but little means
of knowing. Trelawny was a Plymouth merchant.
It is probable that Winter was in his employ,
and had made several voyages to this coast prior
to 1632. Doubtless Trelawny was aware of the
qualities which are so graphically outlined in the
simple words used by Jocelyn in his description of
this man. If one takes the trouble to inform himself
of the correspondence of Winter during the time he
acted as Trelawny 's agent, and up to the time of
Winter's death in 1645, one cannot but conclude that
he was a "good manager of his employer's affairs,
exacting from all under him the fulfillment, to the
letter, of their bonds of service. " And if one follows,
as well, his litigious contest with his neighbor George
Cleeve, who lived at Casco Neck, which occupied
190 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
most of the years of Winter's living at Richmond's
Island, he may become convinced as well of the wily
characteristics with which he seemed to be abundantly
endowed, and which certainly do not recommend him
as a man of tractable temper, to say the least. Here
were wide lands over which Winter had full control,
a trading-post, which, according to one annalist of
the times, had grown from the single cabin and store-
house of Walter Bagnall into a compact settlement of
sixty houses, supported by a lucrative trade, con-
trolled by a man whose scruples toward all others, as
well as his principal, had succumbed to the single
desire to enrich himself at the expense of all with
whom he came in contact.
In 1634, Winter writes to Trelawny of affairs at
Richmond's Island, and it is evident that he has a
desire to return to England. As to this desire Winter
writes on the eleventh of June to Trelawny, "For I
haue nother Intent as wt but to Com away in the
Speedwell." This letter of June is supplemented,
however, by other letters written to Trelawny later
in the season and some of which are of more encourag-
ing character. From these letters one gets an
insight into Winter's character. He seems to be a
man of slow, conservative methods, if one goes by
what he writes his principal; but it is apparent that
he is making things respond after a profitable fashion,
which, however, he does not allow himself to betray
in his reports to Trelawny. Doubtless when Winter
came here he found an unimproved situation. In
the prior occupancy of Bagnall, we have nothing to
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 191
indicate that Bagnall engaged in any agricultural
pursuits, but it seems that Winter began to plant
and to sow, and engaged in the rearing of hogs and
goats at the very inception of his enterprise. In his
letters to Trelawny he seems to show "poor mouth";
or in other words, there is a querulous note of com-
plaint that the fishing is poor, or that the men are
unruly and inclined to be idle. In July of this year he
writes after this fashion: "I haue written you by
sundry Conveyance how all thinges doth go with vs,
and by Mr. Pomeroy at large: herin Inclosed I haue
sent you the bills of ladinge of such goods & money
as we haue made this yeare. We had bad fishinge
this sommer; we find the wynter fishinge to be best.
Mr. Pomeroy hath made a poore voyage; he was
heare at reasonable tyme, but business hath not gon
well with them; he arrived heare the second of
February, but to late for fishinge hear, as the yeares
do fall out, to make a voyage."
He seems to take an especial pleasure in throwing
some shadow of discouragement across the enter-
prise, and, as if to accentuate all this, he says in this
same letter, "I haue an Inten, God willinge, to Com
home the next yeare, and so will all our Company
that Came out with me except 2 of them, which I
haue agreed with all to stay at the house at the
maine, to set Corne and looke to our piggs, which I
hope hearafter will yeld better profite." There is
another inference to be gathered from this reference
to the Winter correspondence, which is that John
Winter did not come here with any definite purpose
192
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
in connection with the Trelawny interest. Trelawny
had, without doubt, a good knowledge of Winter's
character, and regarded him as a capable and reliable
servant. Winter had no doubt made voyages for
Trelawny, and by reason of his prior acquaintance
had taken charge of the plantation on account of the
failure of Cammock to act as had been intended in
his stead. The accident which prevented Cam-
POND COVE
mock from engaging in this New World enterprise the
reader already has knowledge of, and Winter was at
once installed in his place; but one regrets, having in
mind Trelawny 's final impoverishment, that Cam-
mock had not been able to carry out the original
purpose.
There is no question but what Winter was a valu-
able man, in many respects, to Trelawny; but one
can readily gather that the former, once well estab-
lished as the chief factor at Richmond's Island,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 193
would be very slow in yielding up his foothold to
another. As one reads Winter's letters, so carefully
collected by Mr. Baxter, one is compelled to acknowl-
edge Winter's shrewdness in his tempering of these
complaints and suggestions of possible failure, with
hopes of more profitable returns. He says in his
August letter of 1634, "I do not se any seed that
we sow heare but proues very well & brings good in
Crease, & Cattell, gootes, & hedges proues very well
in every wheare in the Country," which speaks well
of the fertility of the soil. In the letter of the fol-
lowing month he makes another allusion: "There
is nothenge that we set or sow but doth proue very
well: we haue proved divers sortes, as barley, pease,
pumkins, Carrotts, pasnypes, onnyons, garlicke,
Raddishes, turneups, Cabbage, latyce, parslay, mil-
lions, and I thinke so will other sortes of hearbes yf
the be sett or so wen." But in the same letter there
is a note of discouragement which seems to be put
in by the way of a balance to keep these high pros-
pects down to the level of even less than a moderate
success. He says: "For the tradinge with the
Indians I am almost weary of yt, for I sent out a
boote 3 tymes & hath goot nothinge; the trade with
the Indians is worth little except be with them that
dwelleth in the Rivers amonge them; the bootes
that do Constantly follow the trade do fall back-
wards & ar hardly able to pay for any goods before
they haue goods to get the bever, and we must be
faine to trust them with goods, yf we meane to put
yt away & receaue bever for yt; when the haue goot
194 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
yt, goods doth pas at Reasonable Rates at the Eng-
lish, yf the price of bever do hold vpe, or else yt will
be bad, for heare with vs theris no other payment
for goods but bever." It is interesting to note the
art with which he introduces these suggestions, as if
to moderate any anticipations of any considerable
profits. The year later, in 1635, he writes Trelawny:
"The fishing this last winter In January, February,
& March, was Indifferent good fishinge. The 10th
of February last we had a lost of 3 mens Hues In
their boote to sea: havinge a freat of Cold frosty
weather, the bearinge a saile to recover home filled
their boot that they Could not free herr againe that
they dyed with the Cold; for the next day after we
found the boote ridinge to an anker full of water,
& the bootes maister & mydshipman dead in her,
but what became of the foreshipman we did never
yet know. Then I put 3 youthes to sea againe, but
did me but little good, for the best of them was but
a foreshipman; the weare but bad fishermen for the
Carriage of a boote."
Perhaps what seems to the reader to be a method
was nothing more than the natural desire on the part
of an honest man to keep his principal well informed
of the difficulties under which the enterprise was
being conducted, and probably the best criterion of
Winter's success would be a reference to his balance
sheet. He goes on in this same letter to say that he
has good hope for the land business if it were stocked
with cattle and goats. He makes mention that the
winter preceding had been a hard one for " swyne, "
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
195
and rates his loss "betwixt 50 or 60 pigs, younge &
old, & we had 90 or ther about that did liue all the
winter, though somewhat Chargable, but yet of
them you shall find good profitt hereafter." In
1634, he had completed his buildings. At his com-
ing he must have found an island barren of shelter,
as Bagnall's trading-house was burned by the Indians
after they had wreaked their vengeance upon that
dishonest trader, and undoubtedly the first serious
work of Winter was to provide shelter for himself
BOADEN'S POINT, MOUTH SPURWINK RIVER
and the men who came over with him. He gives a
description of this first house. He says: "I haue
built a house heare at Richmon Hand that is 40
foote in length & 18 foot broad within the sides,
besides the Chimnay, & the Chimnay is large with an
oven in each end of him, & he is so large that we Can
place our Chittle within the Clavell pece. We Can
brew & bake and boyle our Cyttell all at once in him
with the helpe of another house that I haue built
vnder the side of our house, where we set our Ceves
& mill & morter In to breake our Corne & malt & to
dres our meall in, & I haue 2 Chambers in him, and
196 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
all our men lies in on of them, & every man hath his
Close borded Cabbin: and I haue Rome Inough to
make a dozen Close borded Cabbins more, yf I haue
need of them, & in the other Chamber I haue Rome
Inough to put the shipe sailes into and all our dry
goods which is in Caske, and I haue a store house in
him that will hold 18 or 20 tonnes of Caske Under-
neath: & vnderneath I haue a Citchin for our men to
eat and drinke in, & a steward Rome that will hold
2 tonnes of Caske which we put our bread & beare
into, and every one of these romes ar Close with
loockes & keyes vnto them." This house was built
on the island, for he goes on in the same letter to say:
"At the maine we haue built no house, but our men
Hues in the house that the old Cleues built, but that
we haue fitted him som what better, and we haue
built a house for our pigs. We haue paled into the
maine a pece of ground Close to the house for to set
Corne in, about 4 or 5 akers as near as we Can Judge,
with pales of 6 fote heigh, except the pales that the
old Cleues did set vp, which is but 4 f oote & £ ; he had
paled of yt about an aker & J before we Came their,
& now yt is all sett with Corne and pumkins:" and
one notes his reference to George Cleeve, who a year
before had, with Tucker, departed for Casco Neck to
the eastward. This reference to Cleeve as "old
Cleues" throws a strong light upon the character of
Winter, and indicates emphatically the animosity
which had been aroused between these two men who
in the following years were to supply the local
courts with more or less litigation. This one expres-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 197
sion prepares one for much that occurred in the after
career of this man who had more or less trouble with
his servants, who were always leaving him. One does
not require an over-lively imagination to conjure up
this "grave and discreet man" overseeing his em-
ployees with the cold scrutiny of an exacting task-
master, whose common trait was that of a thrift
which was augmented by constant jealousy, and, in
some cases, open meanness. In his letters he com-
plains that his neighbors undersell him and that
they will not combine with him to keep the price of
beaver down, and the prices of such commodities as
he has for sale, up. We find him measuring the
contents of his "hodgsheads of aqua vitae" by
inches. His men fail to keep their engagements with
him, and he seems always to be in trouble with
somebody. Had Cammock taken charge of Tre-
lawny's enterprise instead of this man Winter, the
story of the early settlement of Casco Bay would
have undoubtedly furnished a different reading; for,
doubtless, Cammock would have allowed Cleeve and
Tucker to remain at Spurwink, as would almost any
other fair-minded man, having regard to them as an
advantage rather than a hindrance to the projects
of Trelawny. This may be inferred from Cammock 's
subsequent relations with Cleeve, which seem to be
of a friendly character, especially after the advent of
Mitton, who, as a lover of the gun and rod, found a
pleasant companionship with Cammock. Winter's
evident disposition was to clear the domain included
in the Trelawny grant of all who might possibly
198 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
interfere with his projects, which resulted finally in
the absorption of his master's interest. And then
again it was on the mainland, and probably the same
improved by Cleeve, that the most suitable spot for
planting was found, and it was doubtless here that
Winter carried on his agricultural pursuits. The
country hereabout was practically unoccupied before
the coming of Richard Bradshaw. Winter came
over here in 1630, with his wife and daughter, and
this was in the lifetime and occupancy of Richmond's
Island by Bagnall. Winter evidently found the
immediate country attractive, and here he remained
in the immediate vicinity until he went to England
to confer with Trelawny in regard to the Richmond
Island enterprise. Richard Bradshaw had, before
Winter's coming, made an exploring voyage to New
England, and had obtained a grant of land here
which was described as lying on the " Pashippscot. "
His delivery of land, however, was taken on the east
shore of the Spurwink, and immediately opposite
Richmond's Island. This delivery by "turf and
twig" was made to Bradshaw by Neal, who had been
sent over by Gorges and Mason in the spring of the
year of Winter's coming, as governor of the Piscat-
aqua colonists, who were to make their settlement at
the mouth of the Piscataqua River. There is no
question but what this delivery of seizin by Neal to
Bradshaw was regarded as a perfectly valid title to
the land; for, in fact, whatever of territory in New
England was held by one individual or another was
obtained in this way; and, outside of the Bradshaw
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 199
title, the validity of these holdings were unquestioned.
So far as the geography of this section is concerned
it was practically an unknown country, and grants,
were taken, here and there, where they did not
interfere with each other; nor, was even this observed
where the conditions could be safely ignored, as is
well indicated by the occupation of John Stratton and
others of adjacent territory. Bradshaw considered
his title sufficient, and it should have been so re-
garded by Winter, as both received their title from
the same source. It is about this time that Rich-
ard Tucker came, to whom Bradshaw sold his grant.
Tucker formed a copartnership with George Cleeve.
Tucker had acquired his right by purchase, while
Cleeve took up adjoining land under the Crown
promise of a grant of land to be selected by himself.
These two men "joined" their interest and they
used the word "right," each supposing his occupa-
tion and his title to be a reinforcement of the other's.
It was a coveted territory evidently, and these two
men proceeded at once to build and to enclose
ground for the raising of crops. It was off a little to
seaward from the cabins of these two men that
Richmond's Island lay, and a little west was what
is known as Stratton Island, just off Black Point,
and which island still bears nominis umbra, the name
of its first occupant. Still farther to the westward,
upon the eastern bank of the Saco River, Bonython
and Lewis had built their cabins; while upon the west
side rose the smokes of the settlement of Richard
Vines. Over eastward at Menickoe was the home
200 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
of Alexander Mackworth. This place is now identi-
fied by the near Mackey's Island. Mackworth called
this place Newton. Upon House Island was the house
of Christopher Levett, occupied from time to time
by the straggling fishermen.
From the Saco to the Presumpscot, with which
territory this story is mostly concerned, was an
unbroken tract of
wilderness. That
there were openings
here and there where
the grasses and the
flora common to this
section grew luxuri-
MACKWORTH ISLAND
antly is evident, because it was within these oases of
verdure that these settlers built their cabins, felling
the forest about them, and widening out their openings
from year to year with their "burns." This country
was threaded with brawling brooks and more stately
rivers, which abounded with trout and salmon. It
was up and down these that these English sportsmen
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 201
like Thomas Morton and Cammock and Mitton went
whipping the streams at their leisure, with nothing
more than a lure of red cloth to fill their creels.
These woods, as well, were the haunts of game, and
along the seashore was an abundance of edible fish
and wild fowl. These men, coming from the old
world where outdoor sports were the peculiar privi-
lege of the landed aristocracy, revelled in the freedom
of these unlimited enjoyments, and it is no wonder
that, as one ship after another came hither from the
home country, they should send back to their friends
such glowing tales as one is reminded of in the works
of Hakluyt. It was during the summer of 1631 that
the good ship Plough came over, and they who came
with it were known as the Company of Husbandmen,
and who a year before had received a grant from the
Plymouth Council of a tract of country forty miles
square, and which was described as lying between
Cape Porpoise and the Sagadahoc River. Less than
a dozen men occupied the stretch of shore included
in this grant, and the arrival of the Plough at this
time, with its accession of men and women, was a
matter of much importance from the possibilities
that their coming suggested. It was the first body
of emigrants to come over, and here was the oppor-
tunity for the creation of a new society in which the
patriotism common to the English people might
find root, and grow into a body corporate, which
would enable them to protect themselves in their
rights and privileges of race and religion; and then,
there were the interests which would inevitably arise
202 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
by reason of growing competition and growing pur-
suits. One can imagine, however, that these original
settlers were keenly interested in the rights which
these new colonists were likely to assert under their
patent. These patents were of value because they
were issued only to favorites or to those who were
likely to improve them by actual occupancy; and it
was this patent that was likely to exert an important
influence in the land controversies which were inevi-
tably to occupy the attention of those who were to
come after them. Bagnall, alive at this time, un-
doubtedly began to think of his own rights because
his occupancy of Richmond's Island was fortified by
nothing better than a squatter's right, and it was
through Thomas Morton undoubtedly, who was in
high favor with Gorges at that time, that he suc-
ceeded in obtaining the patent mentioned by Saints-
bury. It was on the second of December in this
year that this island was granted to Bagnall by
Gorges, and it included fifteen hundred acres on
the Scarborough mainland. But it is a matter of
history that when this grant was issued Bagnall had
passed beyond the necessity of maintaining his rights
of occupancy, as in the October preceding he had
been murdered by the Indians, and every vestige of
his occupancy reduced to a heap of ashes. These
grants are interesting to recall from the fact that
the Council made small distinction as to how far one
grant was likely to interfere with another; for, on
November first, a month and a day prior to the
Bagnall grant, another grant had been made to
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 203
Captain Thomas Cammock, who was a relative of
Earl Robert of Warwick. Warwick was a member
of this Council from which these grants were being
issued, and Cammock had been in their employ.
Undoubtedly he came over with NeaPs company,
which located on the Piscataqua, and it may be
readily assumed that he built in that section; but
exploring the country farther to the eastward, he
had found a more attractive outlook, and with his
disposition to enjoy the sports which had un-
doubtedly in England been the means of affording
a considerable degree of pleasure, he was peculiarly
interested in the possibilities for an indulgence of his
desire by that point of land which runs out into
the sea opposite Richmond's Island, and which to-day
is known by its old name of Prout's Neck. It was
here he decided to make his permanent abode. He
returned to England, and through the influence of
his uncle, the Earl of Warwick, he obtained a grant
of Black Point.
To one who sails up and down the coast even in
these later days, the dense growths of evergreen,
which under certain atmospheric conditions make
a black wall against the lighter verdure inland, were
a part of Nature's adornment of this territory known
to these early settlers as Black Point. Below was
the emerald of the sea, separated from them by
ribbons of yellow sand or bastions of gray rock;
and one can imagine the beautiful picture and the
picturesque characteristics of its wild landscape; and
it is not difficult to imagine the enthusiasm which
204 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
such would arouse in the mind of a man of Cam-
mock's training. It was during this visit home
that he saw Robert Trelawny at Ham, the Cornwall
family seat of the Trelawny 's, and it is safe to assume
that this visit of Cammock's lent a deep color to the
ambitions of Trelawny to found along the Scar-
borough shores a trading station which should not
only be a means of profit, but as well an outlet for
such of the Plymouth people as were inclined to
better their condition. Cammock's knowledge of the
country was ample, without any question, and he
was able to give Trelawny in detail a pleasing de-
scription of its characteristics; and it was undoubtedly
this interview which determined Trelawny, who had
no doubt been revolving the scheme for some time
previous, to locate his venture in the territory where
Cleeve and Tucker had pitched their tents. Gorges
was a man of his word. He had given his promise
undoubtedly that this patent of December second
should be issued to Bagnall, and Gorges, once having
promised, kept on to the fulfillment of his word.
It is notable in an examination of the Trelawny and
Goodyeare patent that while Richmond's Island was
not included in the same, yet the rights which they
obtained under it would have practically precluded
Bagnall, as its occupant, from carrying on any busi-
ness of profit to himself. It is clear that the intent
of the Trelawny and Goodyeare patent was to nullify
every advantage which had been granted to Bagnall,
and it discloses a finesse in that this Trelawny patent
was granted a day prior to the one which bore Bag-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 205
nail's name. The practical effect of this Trelawny
patent was to cover in to the territory on the main-
land, Richmond's Island, and it could not be con-
sidered other than an important adjunct to the
fifteen hundred acres granted Bagnall on the main-
land shore. If the fee of Richmond's Island was in
Bagnall, as it was in truth, it was in a sense so mort-
gaged as to its emoluments and actual improvements
to Trelawny that only the latter had the right to
fowl, fish, and build stages and trading houses and
wharves necessary to the carrying on of a profitable
enterprise. An examination of the Trelawny patent
shows this right to be without limit; and under it,
every valuable possibility which the island pos-
sessed was absorbed; and it was perhaps best, as a
matter of Providential interference, if such it can be
called, that Bagnall should have been eliminated
from the scene of action, as undoubtedly he, being
the weaker party, would after perhaps more or less
unpleasant controversy have been compelled to
retire from the field.
It is a far cry over the years backward to the
spring of 1632, and it is difficult for one in these
times of thickly settled areas, in what was once a
wide and unbroken wilderness, to ever so faintly
realize the isolation of those two sole occupants,
Cleeve and Tucker, of this Spurwink country. No
doubt then, as now, the snows piled their drifts in
the wake of the wild storms that, from time to time,
prevailed along the coast in the winter season, and
one can look, as it were, with these lone settlers from
206 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the doors of their cabins out over the wide white
wastes of the Scarborough marshes, where perhaps
the only suggestion of life was the wild flight of the
gull, or the startled flapping of wings as some belated
duck broke cover. As the winter days went, the
tides surged in and out; the creeks spun their tangled
yarns of blue athwart the snow-choked marsh grasses,
and it was only as the December days drew to an
end that the sun hung a little longer above the
horizon.
After a look outward upon the sea, barren of every
vestige of sail, turning inward to the blazing fires
upon their broad and rough-set stone hearths, they
began anew the discussion anent Winter. Doubtless
they counted the days, much after the fashion of their
posterity, to when the first bevy of crows would
sweep up from the southward, and upon their ears
would fall the first spring note, the loud haw-haw
of these newcomers as they circled over the ever-
greens inland, or scoured the black mud of the flats
for some stray morsel. And so the days went, and
the nights, with their silences so deep as to be almost
audible to the waiting ear. But the sun crept up
from the south higher yet, and higher, and with it
came the winds that ate up the snows. Hints of
green were painted along the brown hillsides, and still
their look was ever to seaward.
Winter had sailed away to England two months
before, but, as has been recorded, not before he had
served notice upon these alleged interlopers that
they must go elsewhere; and there is no doubt but
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 207
what Cleeve and Tucker engaged in many a solicitous
and curious discussion as to what might be the out-
come of Winter's interference. Tucker relied upon
his title from Bradshaw, and Cleeve upon his occu-
pancy under the edict of James. Cleeve's title was
an implied one, he relying upon the proclamation of
King James, which granted one hundred and fifty
acres of land to such subject as "should transport
himself over into this country upon his own charge,
for himself, and for every person he should so trans-
port. " But this proclamation was ignored upon the
creation of the Plymouth Council, which began
immediately to issue grants covering the territory
occupied by men whose title was no better than that
of Cleeve.
They had garnered the crops of the previous year,
and enjoyed their substance during Winter's absence;
but they knew full well that with the coming of the
spring days this truculent advocate of the Trelawny
interest would return, for here was a delightful
country and an attractive, abounding in undeveloped
possibilities of trade and landed wealth. Its out-
looks were wide and to the settler limitless, with the
marshes and the unbroken sea before, and the low
green islands just offshore, clad, as in the days of
Champlain, with a luxuriant foliage that, as the buds
began to burst, lent a new and more vivid coloring
to the landscape. Behind was the rim of woods,
dense, unscarred, that widened out, an unexplored
waste of unshriven verdurous forest, and as in the
earlier days, meshed with the salt creeks and the tide
208
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
rivers that were the only feasible highways. Here
was one a most at their door, the sinuous Spurwink.
If one had leaned with Cleeve against the rough
lintels of his cabin door on the morning of the 17th of
April of this year, 1632, he would have looked out upon
this untamed landscape, of which even now there is
some suggestion as one scans the yellow marshes to
seaward. No doubt, then as now, in season, the air
was vibrant with the songs of the northward-flying
birds, or darkened with the flights of a myriad sea
BUENA VISTA— SPURWINK RIVER BAR
fowl. The sun painted upon the sea the same
inimitable opalescence pictured in the sky above, and
upon the farthest horizon of the ocean was piled in
purple folds the diaphanous haze wrought by the
soft winds from the south.
One would have seen more, even, than this ; for, far
away, breaking through this purple rim of the sea
was the glint of a white sail. It is not difficult to
imagine the thrill of anticipation that answered to
this discovery; for as these two men watched with
vague yet hopeful conjecture, this phantom sail
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 209
loomed into certainty, heading its course straight
toward the old wharves that marked the occupation
of Bagnall at Richmond's Island. One can feel
even the yearning, the hunger for a glimpse of their
own kind and a bit of news from the home land.
One hears the rattle of the sails as they slide down
the masts, and the raucous cries of the sailors borne
landward as they make safe anchorage.
But Cleeve and Tucker had not long to wait, and
they did not wait; for it is not unlikely that they
unmoored their own boat and pushing away from
the yellow sands of the Spurwink lands hastened
Richmond Island-ward with a greeting of welcome
to the newcomers. These anticipations, however,
must have been short lived; for no sooner had they
reached the island then they found the aggressive
Winter, who had made the attempt to dispossess them
of their holdings the year previous. It was John
Winter, who later with his artisans and his fishermen
was to build up a trading station on this island which
afterward became so notable. And at that time they
learned from Winter that Trelawny's patent was a
valid grant, and that it covered the reach of coast
from Cape Elizabeth to the Spurwink River. If
Winter's natural disposition was at any time harsh
or overbearing, it is most likely that those qualities
prevailed forcefully on this occasion; for he doubtless
iterated his demand, and with a rough insistance, on
Cleeve and Tucker, for them to quit the premises
which for two years they had had under improvement
in the immediate neighborhood.
210 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
It is not unlikely at this time that Winter, appre-
ciating the usefulness of these two men to his enter-
prise, invited them to become his servants; but
having in view Cleeve's subsequent career, one can
readily conceive Cleeve's attitude toward such a
proposition. Cleeve was not a man to act in a sub-
ordinate position under any circumstances, having in
mind the controversy in which he afterward engaged
with so prominent and influential a man as Richard
Vines. He had not forgotten, as an Englishman, the
relations which obtained between master and servant
in the old country, and he had no reason to doubt but
the same state of things would prevail in this new
land, under the direction of a man with whom he had
already had high words.
Considering the rough setting of the times, it has
always seemed strange to me as I have become
acquainted with their story, that these two men of
such undoubted energy and virulent personality
should have separated without bloodshed. Perhaps
Cleeve was satisfied to bide his time, trusting to cir-
cumstances and opportunity to enable him to repay
Winter with interest for the oppression and the
injustice which, to Cleeve, seemed to be of the essence
of Winter's intent. Less than a week after the arrival
of Winter, another sail broke the horizon. It was
that of Cammock. Cammock was likewise interviewed
by Cleeve, but without result. One can imagine the
thoughts that surged through the minds of Cleeve and
Tucker as they drove their boat through the surf,
over the bar and beyond the quiet waters of the Spur-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
211
wink, to renew in their cabins the discussion of their
dilemma, which could not be other than disturbing,
for the reason that every element of uncertainty as
to the determination of Winter had been removed.
Cammock no doubt warned Cleeve and Tucker that
it was useless for them to resist the demands of
Winter; nor is there any doubt but these demands
were made after the most offensive fashion, and
possibly with the intention of arousing the anger of
these two men into some overt act, whereby they
jr — — ~^-51SS^
HUBBARD'S ROCKS, HIGGIN'S BEACH
could be more summarily disposed of. They met
Winter's demand, however, with outward indifference,
and undoubtedly began the consummation of their
plans for the season of planting, close at hand.
Walter Neale at this time was attending to the
affairs of Gorges and Mason on the Piscataqua, and
it was to Neale that Winter went for relief. Neale
was applied to for his official assistance, which was
at once granted. These alleged squatters were
served with a formal notice to quit, to which Cleeve
was still indifferent. Nor was Winter, at that time,
212 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
as we may well believe, in a way, able to use other
than "civil process." He was not in a position to
employ force; for it is evident that his coming to
Richmond Island at this time was simply to make
preliminary arrangements for a more permanent
occupancy and development of the proposed Tre-
lawny settlement. As it appeared later, his plans
were to return to England, that he might obtain the
necessary means and assistance for the ultimate
development of the Trelawny interests.
At this time there was at Casco the house which
Levett built, in 1623, and he found there three men,
John Badiver and Thomas and Andrew Alger.
When Levett left House Island in 1624, he says he
left "ten men" in charge of his house. There is no
doubt but these three men were of that party; so
it came about that after securing their assistance
and leaving them in charge of his affairs at Richmond
Island, he again set sail for England in July, and
Cleeve and Tucker were left undisturbed to harvest
the crops which they had that year planted on the
uplands along the Spurwink marshes. Cleeve and
Tucker knew this respite was to be but brief, and
that they would be obliged to enter into his service
or to leave their cabins. They wanted no part of
Winter or his oversight, so they began their explora-
tions eastward, where they might begin anew the
building of their home.
A half score of miles to the eastward was a wide
and well-sheltered bay, the region about which was
known to the Indians as Aucocisco, which, later
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
213
tripping from the English tongue, became perverted
into Kasko. It was here on a well-timbered neck of
land of sightly elevation that these men in 1633
drove their stakes and set up their log cabins.
John Winter arrived at Richmond's Island on his
return from this last voyage to England, March 2,
1633, and with his return began the immediate
migration eastward of these two Spurwink adven-
turers whose story has been heretofore merged into
the Romance of Casco Bay. Winter was left in
sole possession of the Spurwink lands, a possession
not without its anxieties. He writes Trelawny that
ships from Barnstable, England, had been at Rich-
mond's Island in his absence, the crews of which
having little regard for the proprietary rights of
Trelawny or the objections of Badiver and the
Algers, had used his stages for drying fish, and com-
mitted other mild trespasses. Along with that, he
expresses fears of a marauder who had been sailing
up and down the coast eastward, robbing the settlers.
He wrote Trelawny for weapons of defense, and at
once set about the work of fortifying the island with
the ordnance and the muskets brought over shortly
after on one of the Trelawny vessels. Such was his
zeal in these preparations, and the readiness with
which Trelawny responded, that in a year's time he
was able to protect himself from ordinary assault.
This was in 1633, and no sooner had Cleeve and
Tucker vacated their cabins on the bank of the
Spurwink than Winter entered into their immediate
occupancy.
214
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Winter died in 1645. The years intervening were
busy years for him. They were years of episode,
and at the time of Winter's death this fishing station
had become notable for its products of fish and furs,
and its lucrative trade. It became a port of import-
ance. According to an annalist of the times, its
harbor was frequently thronged with vessels from
England and elsewhere, bound hither on various
POODUCK SHORE
enterprises. Some came to fish; some with mer-
chandise from Spain; some on voyages for beaver
and the furs common to the section, and to trade
with the settlers and the savages who frequented the
coast.
Wines from Spain, strong liquors from the West
Indies, formed a staple of exchange, and they were
paid for mainly with the harvest of the sea. Many
of these ships brought cargoes of rum, which were
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 215
not only disposed of among the savages, who had
become accustomed to its use, but as well the fisher-
men, who, coming in with their fares, entered upon a
debauch which not only wasted their wages but got
them into debt.
Some of these vessels which came laden with
cargoes of rum and aqua vitse were singularly yclept.
Here was the "Holy Ghost"; farther out in the
channel was anchored the "Angel Gabriel," and
between the two was the "White Angel, of Bristol,"
a trio surrounded by sister ships of like strange and
inapplicable nomenclature. Perhaps this was not so
singular, for the age was about to merge into the
Cromwellian period, when Biblical names were
affected by Dissenter and Roundhead alike, and
piety was more frequently expressed in speech than
exemplified in the actions of men.
To quote Jocelyn, who writes of the Indians:
"Their drink they fetch from the Spring and they
were not acquainted with other until the French
and English traded with that cussed liquor Called
Rum, Rum-bullion, or kill-devil. . . . Thus instead of
bringing of them to the knowledge of Christianitie,
we have taught them to commit the beastly and
crying sins of our Nation for a little profirt." He
says in his Nova Britannia: "They have no law but
nature. They are generally very loving and gentle."
Winter drove a thriving trade in this commodity.
Winter had his wife along with him, and his
daughter Sarah, and from his letters we glean the
size of shoes the latter wore, which were number
216 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
eight, and also the color of her petticoats, which were
of a brilliant scarlet.
These Winters, husband and wife, were of sordid
clay, a well-matched couple, who threw to others
cheese parings, as an indifferent master brushes the
crumbs from his table for his dogs and cats. He
levied taxes, and woe betide that one who failed in
his rents or labor. Even the minister was mulcted
of his scant stipend. A letter of Richard Gibson to
Trelawny throws some light upon this disposition.
It seems that Winter exacted rent of the parson,
who writes Trelawny: "Never minister paid rent in
thes Land before mee, but have houses built for
them & the Inheritance given them withall. I haue
spoke to Mr. Winter of it but he hath not had leasure
to do anything yett: I feare he will not sett rnee out
such land as will be Comodious for my vse." This
strain of meanness, which seems to be suggested in
this letter, was as well shown to his servants in his
employ. Winter pressed them hard at times, and
many of them left him in the middle of their con-
tracts, and some of them brought suits against him
to recover their wages.
He was greedy; for in 1640, in June, Winter was
presented by the grand jury on the complaint of
Thomas Wise, of Casco, for exorbitant charges. In
addition to this complaint there were three others
of a similar character, one of which was made by
Richard Tucker. This was at the first court held
under the new order of things established by Gorges,
who had an idea of personally assuming the jurisdic-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 217
tion over his province in Maine. We know that
previous to this he had had built a mansion at Gor-
geana, to which he never came.
But Cleeve was a thorn continually in the side of
Winter. Winter made a visit to England about 1636,
and he left one Hawkins in charge of the plantation.
The pigs and the goats were depleted from one
cause and another, and he says in another letter:
"Some the Indians have killed and the wolves have
killed some other, but how it is I know not. " It is
upon this foundation, according to Baxter, that
Trelawny charges Cleeve with inciting the Indians
to destroy his cattle. If the truth were known,
perhaps it was due to the indifference and the negli-
gence of the servants of Winter, who took that way
to account for their own negligence. It is a side
light, however, which shows the disposition on
Winter's part to accuse Cleeve of a malicious and
mischief-breeding disposition. There is no doubt
but Cleeve felt some secret gratification whenever
disaster befell the enterprises of his enemy; for each
was avowedly and openly the contemner of the other ;
and perhaps this is a natural feeling between these
two rivals for local influence and aggrandizement.
Neither was the man to yield to the other.
Winter's wife seems to be off the same piece with
Winter himself as to her shrewish thrift, for Winter
writes Trelawny in July of 1639 : " You also write me
that you ar informed that my wyfe will giue the men
no mylke. Yt may be that she will not giue every
on mylke as often as they Com for yt, but I know that
218 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
all the Company haue mylke 4, 5, & 6 meales in a
week, boyled with flower, which som of them haue
Complained haue had mylke to often. ... & whereas
you say the Complaine the would be better weare yt
not for my wyfe, I answer for this also I do not
gaine say yt, but yt may be shee will speake shrood
words to som of them somtymes, for I know som of
them haue Com for their bread when the haue had
yt befor, which doth make her out of passion with
them. She hath an vnthankefull office to do this
she doth, for I thinke their was never that stewward
yt amonge such people as we haue Could giue them
all Content."
Complaints were made against Winter's wife as
well, that she beat the maid. Winter expresses
himself to Trelawny, and perhaps Winter's relation
of this matter will be as interesting in the original
as otherwise. "You write me of som yll reports is
given of my Wyfe for bea tinge the maid; yf a faire
way will not do yt, beatinge must, somtimes, vppon
such Idlle girrells as she is. Yf you thinke yt fitt
for my wyfe to do all the worke & the maid sitt
still, she must forbeare her hands to strike, for then
the worke will ly vndonn. She hath been now 2
yeares £ in the house, & I do not thinke she hath
risen 20 times before my Wyfe hath bin vp to Call
her, & many tymes light the fire before she Comes
out of her bed. She hath twize gon a mechinge in
the woodes, which we haue bin faine to send all our
Company to seeke. We Cann hardly keep her within
doores after we ar gonn to beed, except we Carry the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 219
kay of the doore* to bed with vs. She never Could
melke Cow nor goat since she Came hither. Our
men do not desire to haue her boyle the kittell for
them she is so sluttish. She Cannot be trusted to
serue a few piggs, but my wyfe most Commonly must
be with her. She hath written home, I heare, that
she was faine to ly vppon goates skins. She might
take som goates skins to ly in her bedd, but not given
to her for her lodginge. For a yeare & quarter or
more she lay with my daughter vppon a good feather
bed before my daughter beinge lacke 3 or 4 daies
to Sacco, the maid goes into beed with her Cloth &
stokins, & would not take the paines to plucke of her
Cloths: her bedd after was a doust bed & she had 2
Coverletts to ly on her, but sheets she had none after
that tyme she was found to be so sluttish. Her
beating that she hath had hath never hurt her body
nor limes. She is so fat & soggy she Cann hardly do
any worke. "
Quoting from Winter in another place, he says:
"Whereas you say the men Complaine she hath
pinch t them of their allowance. I spoke of yt in
the Church afore all our owne Companie and Mr.
Kingston & his Company what answere the gaue for
that foull abuse giuen here . . . but it may be shee
will speake shrood" (sharp and censorious) "words
to som of them somtymes."
What a quaintly humorous revelation !
As for the tragedies of the island there seems to
have been one after the slaying of Bagnall, and that
was the drowning of the maid Tomson, and we will
220
THE SOKOK1 TRAIL
let Winter tell her story. "The maid Tomson had
a hard fortune. Yt was her Chance to be drowned
Cominge over the barr after our Cowes, & very little
water on the barr, not aboue i foote, & we Cannot
Judge how yt should be, accept that her hatt did
blow from her head, & she to saue her hatt stept on
CAPE ELIZABETH'S OLDEST CHURCH
the side of the barr. A great many of our Company
saw when she was drowned, & run with all speed to
saue her, but she was dead before the Could Com to
her. I thinke yf she had lived she would haue
proved a good servant in the house: she would do
more worke than 3 such maides as Pryssylla is."
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 221
This Pryssylla, from Winter's description, was
evidently not of the Mullens stock.
It was in these early days at Richmond's Island
that hither came Richard Gibson, the first Episcopal
minister, who doubtless came over with Winter on
his last voyage to England, and who preached at
the solicitation of Vines, both at Saco, or the rather
at Winter Harbor and at Richmond Island. But
Winter could not get on with the parson, as is evi-
denced by the Reverend Gibson's letter to Trelawny.
It is said that this spiritual teacher did not seem to
be properly considerate of the charms of the fair
Sarah, for whom it seems Winter had ambitions.
It was a case of leading the horse to drink when the
animal was not thirsty, else he had already been more
readily affected by the charms of dainty Mary Lewis,
the daughter of Bonython's partner on the east
banks of the sinuous Saco, and whom he shortly after
married. There is no doubt but Mary made as good
a spouse as would have been the fair Sarah, while
the former, to the preacher, was infinitely more
preferable.
It was a time when scandal was rife, when the
virtue of a woman was held somewhat lightly; but
although some unpleasant things were said of the
Mary Lewis as a maid, Richard Gibson was satis-
fied with his choice, and as well satisfied to let the
world wag its myriad tongue as it would. It was not
long after this he left Saco for Portsmouth, where
he soon got into controversy with Winthrop over
church matters, which resulted in his imprisonment
222 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
for a brief period; for the Massachusetts Colony
brooked no disrespect to its governmental institu-
tions. It was not long after that Gibson left the
country, and his subsequent history is somewhat
involved in obscurity.
Under Winter's thrifty administration this lonely
island in the edge of the sea was transformed into a
populous community, and a church was built here
in which Robert Jordan officiated, following close
upon the spiritual ministrations of Gibson, whose
indifference to the charms and evident willingness
to be wooed of na'ive Sarah so effectually aroused
the ire of this paternal matchmaker, as if Mrs.
Winter might not have better succeeded at so deli-
cate a task. From what happened shortly after, it
may be assumed that the fair Sarah, as she sat de-
murely attentive to the homilies of Robert Jordan,
who in those days was young and vigorous, when the
years sat lightly upon his shoulders, was not with-
out her share of fascination and seductive mystery;
for the young minister doubtless readily discovered
the way of the wind, and availed himself of its gentle
offices, and made port safely. It was not long after
that Sarah Winter became the head of the Richmond
Island parish, from the feminine point of view, and
from her sprung the long line of Jordans, — a pro-
lific and honorable descent.
Robert Jordan may be regarded as the first per-
manently settled clergyman hereabout, and, as such,
a glimpse at the man may not be uninteresting. He
was an Oxford University man, being identified with
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 223
Baliol, 1632. It seems that Robert Jordan and
Thomas Purchase were of kin. Jordan was born in
English Worcester, and, Baxter says, "of plebeian
rank." He was matriculated at nineteen years of
age, and Winter says he came to New England in
1639. He found the tide of affairs at Winter's trad-
ing post at their flood, and it seems that he was of
sufficient shrewdness to take advantage of his oppor-
tunity. His alliance with the daughter of Winter
4-*
AUTOGRAPHS OF JOHN WINTER AND ROBERT JORDAN
was a master stroke; for hardly more than a half
decade of years later he had assimilated the extensive
interests of Trelawny here, to become a man of
landed wealth, as the times went, and of no incon-
siderable influence. Bred in the Church of England,
he had undoubtedly won his pulpit spurs in the home
country, and once on this side, he had unhesitat-
ingly thrust his feet into the old shoes of Gibson,
which he found^not at all irksome, taking up his
church work with a ready acquiescence to conditions,
224 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
and which he no doubt prosecuted with the virility of
a robust physique fortified with an ample courage.
He was a man of brilliant parts, of a ready wit, of
evident tact, and not averse to labor amid a rough-
set and uncouth people. He found the wind blowing
in his face the greater part of the time, and the soil,
while not wholly unregenerate to the spiritual dogma
for which he stood, was of an unkindly and sour
disposition. Plant as he would, Apollo failed to
water or God to give much increase. He found him-
self constantly face to face with the sour-visaged Pur-
itanism of the Winthrop hallmark; and Mr. Baxter
says in a footnote to the Trelawny Papers, "dis-
couraged by opposition, and the word within him per-
haps becoming ' choked by the deceitfulness of riches/
he finally gave up the ministry and devoted himself
to his private affairs."
He was a man who knew how to care for his own,
for he little brooked interference with his affairs or
his property, and here and there among the court
records of the times he appears as a frequent party
to the quarrels over boundary lines and personal
rights as a plaintiff or defendant. If one makes
close scrutiny into the character of some of these
litigious proceedings, Jordan, for now one has to
forego the clerical dignity by which he was first and
best known, does not shine with an untarnished bril-
liance. There is a mist across the face of the mirror
that resolves itself into the hieroglyphic of a selfish
and even mercenary character. His letter to Tre-
lawny, having regard to the acrid litigation pending
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 225
between Winter and Cleeve over the title to Casco
Neck, and to which Trelawney never had even a
shadow of right, is a notable lapse from the integrity
generally accorded him. He was an influential man
in the Province, a man of parts. Had he remained
in England, he doubtless would have taken high rank
among the Church of England divines. It was with
a determined persistence that, despite the strictures
of Winthrop, and the Bay government, he adhered
to the High Church forms and ceremonies, and his
christening font is to this day exhibited by the
curator of the Maine Historical Collections with sin-
cere feelings of local pride and antiquarian interest
and sympathy. Upon the breaking out of the Indian
disturbances of 1676 Jordan retired to Portsmouth,
on the Piscataqua, where, in 1679, he closed an
active and, for those days, notable career, — a career
that was crowded with episode. The broad areas of
Cape Elizabeth best represent the ancient plantation
of this man and the scenes of his traditional activi-
ties, and, where, as well, maybe found numerous of
his descendants to-day, among whom the writer may
be counted, who is but one remove from the direct
line.
The story of this man is the history of his times.
Little there was in this section in which his hand was
not to some degree felt, whether or not it was appre-
ciated. As interesting as it might be to recall some
of them, this story is essentially that of another.
About the time of Robert Jordan's coming there
was in the family of Winter a maid whose charms
226 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
were not less seductive than those of the lissome
Sarah, — the fair-haired Wilmot Randall, in whose
mischievous eyes was the purple of the English violet
and upon whose cheeks was the bloom of the English
rose, and in whose rounded lines were concealed the
suggestive and delicious mystery of girlhood merg-
ing into the perfections of a youthful and lovely
womanhood. This English flower came over in
Winter's little ship, and in Robert Jordan's company,
and it is somewhat singular that Jordan should have
SITE OF BOADEN'S HOUSE, SPURWINK FERRY
escaped the glamour of her beauty. It is evident
that Cupid had otherwise decreed. Once at Rich-
mond's Island she bound herself out to Winter as a
maid servant for a term, which was later to be sum-
marily terminated.
Here was a motley community, the like of which
could not exist anywhere in the New England of
to-day. As one wanders over the treeless area of this
historic island in these later days, one falls to dream-
ing strange and unfamiliar dreams. One shuts one's
eyes, and across the opaque disk of the retina come
and go unfamiliar figures in unfamiliar garb. Un-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 227
familiar voices fall upon one's ears, and one is fol-
lowing after, up and down byways and footpaths
long since obliterated, that like the cow lanes of old
Boston seem to lead everywhere, yet, after all, to
nowhere in particular. It is a bit of old England in
miniature, — a little fishing port in whose activities
all take humble part according to their several abili-
ties and inclinations, with this man Winter, Selkirklike,
overseeing and directing with a cool and calculat-
ing method their energies; watchful and jealous
visaged, with a hawklike alertness moving about his
diminutive empire, dropping here and there a trucu-
lent word of reminder or caustic reproof. Up and
down these byways are pitched the dwelling places
of these strange people, with their faces bent always
outward to the sea, as if the wide-open spaces of the
limitless horizon, the sea and sky, were the more
cheerful outlook. The real reason of this looking
always away from the land may have been the attrac-
tion which a southern exposure invariably commands
with its light and warmth as the winter days nar-
row to a standstill in mid-December. As one goes
through the older coast towns one sees the same order
of things to-day, especially in old Kittery farther to
the southward along the Maine shore.
I note that these cabins are scattered from one
end of the island to the other, unless in close prox-
imity to the storehouses they huddle somewhat,
as if a sense of security compelled a closer com-
panionship. There was no lack of elbowroom, and
this settlement naturally extended to the uplands
228 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
along the Spurwink, where were arable lands, where,
according to Winter, one needed but to drop the
seed to get abundant return. Neighborliness in
those far days was cherished as now, differing only
in degree, — a difference which in these matter-of-
fact days would hardly score on the side of that
hospitality that leaves the bobbin out for even the
stranger to pull; for those were the borrowing days,
neighbor from neighbor, from the ruddy coals upon
a jealously tended hearth to the rude tools that
made existence possible, and even to the coveted
contents of the old pine meal-chest that hugged the
rough wall of every cabin kitchen.
One would give much to be able to find even a
single bypath over which these men of the old days
went and beside which the children plucked the wild
flowers as they dallied on their errands. One would
like to know where the sills of Robert Jordan's church
were laid. In fact, what would one not like to know
of the incomings and outgoings of that far period?
One knows these bypaths were crooked enough, but
whether they were originally laid out by the cows or
the roysterers, who night after night made merry
in Winter's taproom over their stoups of rum, to
afterward write the story of their homegoing in as
many zigzag lines of indecipherable hieroglyphic
across lots or in the loose soil of an adjacent garden
of the old-fashioned sort, is wholly a matter of
conjecture. But those old gardens of the old-fash-
ioned English sort, there must have been some here;
for wherever the wholesome English lass pitched
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 229
her fortunes, there sprung up under her dainty tread
the tall spikes of the hollyhock, the sweet-scented
mints, the thyme, and the pungent sage.
Picturesque and beautiful must have been the
breaking of the summer dawn upon this Isle of
Bacchus, with its clustered roofs that nestled cosily
along the dew-wet slopes, while skyward twirled
through the stagnant air as many savory house
smokes, to as slowly blend into the visible ether, the
incense from as many hidden altars, where burned
with wavering strength and weakness the fires of a
crude civilization, fed with the same hopes and
fears and passions that beautify or disfigure the
domestic living of these later days when social con-
ditions are more intelligent and more exacting.
The days of the flax-wheel were yet to come, albeit
the Puritan lasses of Boston were becoming dili-
gently attendant upon the first spinning school, and
out of the acquirements of which subtile wizardry
was to come the old-fashioned loom to become a part
of the eternal foundation of that thriftiness and
frugality that aptly led the characteristics of the
old-fashioned New England woman, the old-fashioned
and beautiful Priscillas. Of a truth, however,
Priscilla Mullens, of the tradition of John Alden's
wooing, had not as then mastered the trick of twist-
ing John's heart strings into the maze of tawny
fibers that shortly afterward, not unlikely, grew
under her dainty fingers into the glistening webs
that were left athwart the green to rot and bleach
in the summer days of mingled sun and rain.
230 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Of all these old-time happenings at Richmond's
Island, not a foot-print is to be seen along its yellow
sands. There is not a stain of umber in the moist
soil to show where some old threshold had rotted
away, or where it might have held apart the hos-
pitable lintel. The winds bring no sensing of the
pungent smokes of its once rude chimneys, from the
ragged tops of which once on a time those self-
same winds spun the romance of the Fire Spirit in
whose sinuous yieldings was hidden the Spirit of the
Woodland that once owned to all the blandishments
of untamed Nature to charm the eye of a Champlain.
There is little to suggest the enterprise of which
Winter was the head, or the Algers, John Levett, or
John Burrage, all of patriarchal fame, and who
have left a notable posterity.
Among these was young Nicholas Edgecomb, of
kinship with the famous English family of the name.
It was this young Edgecomb who was to tinge the
cheeks of the lovely Wilmot Randall with a ruddier
hue. Cupid sent his shaft to its mark at the first
bend of his bow. What a delicious bit of romance,
could one get at even its ravellings to pull out here
and there a thread! Winter promptly frowned upon
the advances of the amorously inclined Edgecomb,
and in this he was promptly abetted by his re-
sourceful spouse, who possibly had left her own
romance back in Old England in the garret, as one
of the "worn outs" to be discarded. Mrs. Winter
was, evidently, of a shrewish disposition, and one can
imagine the espionage, the jealous, duenna-like
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 231
predacity that fell to the lot of this, to young Edge-
comb, charming girl. Plead as he would, Edgecomb
was unable to obtain a release of the bond -maid, so
he purchased her freedom outright, after which the
course of their wooing undoubtedly went with that
smoothness that he carried off his treasure trium-
phantly; and, once at the Saco settlement, between
them they laid the foundation of a numerous Edge-
comb family, with here and there another Nicholas
and a fairer and sweeter Wilmot, if such were
possible.
If one reads the Winter letters collated by Mr.
Baxter, that are known to the antiquary as the
"Trelawny Papers," their pages are thronged with
phantoms and each becomes a living picture in
which the personalities of Winter and Cleeve domi-
nate, and into which Robert Jordan is projected to
give them the touch of finality; for it was not long
after Cleeve had lighted his hearth fire above the
sands of Machigonie Point that Winter, with char-
acteristic greed, laid claim to all the territory between
the Spurwink and Presumpcot rivers. He began
legal proceedings in the local courts to oust Cleeve
from Casco Neck. Numerous affidavits were had of
men whose acquiantance with the locality went back
to the coming of Christopher Levett, each and all of
whom made ready oath that the Presumpscot stream
was, and had, ever since their earliest coming, been
known as Casco River.
This controversy lasted for years, with Winter
ever upon the heels of Cleeve like a hound after a
232 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
wild boar, and that was hardly concluded before
the death of Winter; but Cleeve, through the sturdy
honesty of Thomas Gorges, prevailed in the premises,
who came, finally, to enjoy his holdings on the shores
of picturesque Casco Bay without further interfer-
ence. In fact, Death settled the score; otherwise
Cleeve and Winter were likely to have been embroiled
in litigious quarrel longer. As it was, Cleeve was
practically impoverished, and in his declining years
found himself shorn of property, influence, and even
the cherished friendships of those he had known
longest.
Winter was notably greedy, and he would have
gobbled the entire Maine Province had he been
unmolested. He cut Cammock's hay and carried
it off, nor is there any record that he ever made him
any recompense for it. He boldly claimed land out-
side the Trelawny grant, casting envious eyes across
the silvery Spurwink to the fair pine lands of Black
Point, perceiving it to be a goodly heritage. Every
move of Cleeve was followed with catlike scrutiny;
and hardly ever out of court, being of an exceeding
litigious disposition, is it any wonder that the Tre-
lawny venture on Richmond's Island should find
its way ultimately down the "red lane" of Winter's
absorbing appetite for personal aggrandizement; or
that Trelawny 's heirs begged in vain for the restora-
tion of their patrimony from so apt a pupil as Robert
Jordan.
The old couplet is doubtless as applicable to Winter
as to others
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 233
"The evil men do lives after them;
The good, too oft interred with their bones. "
The smirch attaches to the garb of the son-in-law, the
smirch of covetousness; for property in those days,
as now, was a means to an end, to power and local
influence, which latter were sufficient unto the needs
of the average colonial conscience.
At Winter's death this wide territory fell by heir-
ship to his only child, the wife of Robert Jordan, and
through her to Jordan himself. From the time
that Winter came when he discovered that the
"Barnstaple" men had appropriated his fishing
stages, and of which he informed Trelawny after the
following querulous manner: "We have not strength
as yet to resist them," and, "yf yt be lawfullfor any
one to take up any of the place that I have taken
heare for your vse, you must not expecte to have
but little Rome for the ship to fish heare when she
cometh with provisions for vs, and to take away the
fish from vs that God shall send vs. You are nothinge
at all the better for a patten for a fishing place heare
yf another shall take yt from vs at their pleasure,"
Winter seemed to be always in trouble.
Before Winter's decease, the seeds of dissension
and rebellion in England had been sown, the final
results of which were Edgemore, Naseby, and Bristol.
With the surrender of Bristol, the capture of the
first Charles, the imprisonment and death of Gorges,
the protectorate of Cromwell and the final behead-
ing of Charles, and the obliteration of the bankrupt
Trelawny, the way to the annulment of the Gorges
234
THE SOKOK1 TRAIL
patent was made easy. Then came the reign of the
spoilsman. The Plough patent of 1630 was resus-
citated and turned over to the willing Rigby as the
Lygonia grant, and which included practically all
of the Trelawny interests, and over which Cleeve
was deputed to act as the official head. With
Trelawny insolvent, dead, Winter had obtained
judgment against his principal for a considerable
OLD ROBINSON HOUSE
sum. This judgment lapsed into an irrevocable
title, and which became ultimately vested in Robert
Jordan. Some seven years later, or in 1652, the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, which had bided its time
patiently to when the Episcopal "heresy" that had
got some foothold from the Piscataqua, eastward,
might be peremptorily disposed of, assumed forcible
control of the local government of the Maine province.
This it maintained until the Restoration, when the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 235
Commissioners of Charles II reinstated the royal
government at York and the Rigby patent was in
turn ignored, and all the rights of the heirs of Sir
Ferdinando Gorges to the Palatinate of Maine were
restored by the English courts. Thus the shadows
upon the title of Robert Jordan were removed, and
which was strengthened by the purchase of the
patent rights of the Gorges heirs by the Bay colony,
which terminated the regime of the royal commis-
sioners at York in 1668. Thus Jordan's fee in the
broad lands of the Cape Elizabeth shore was made
absolute.
In a story of this character it is not feasible to go
into a mass of detail, but it would naturally follow
that in time the trading-station at Richmond's
Island would be forced to take cognizance of other
and similar ventures along the adjacent coast. Such
was the fact ; for in the lifetime of Winter prosperous
trading-stations had been established at Kittery, on
the Saco at the Vines settlement, at Casco, and at
Monhegan. These ultimately became the active
rivals of Winter's enterprise, and which, after the
latter's death, became merged in ultimate desuetude;
so, that of all the human evidences of a prosperous
community of considerable proportions that once
had existed at Richmond Island, not the slightest
vestige remains. Robert Jordan came over here in
1641, and for all his active cooperation with Winter
this abandonment of a once cherished and much to
be desired domain was so complete that only a
barren spine of rock and a heap of impoverished soil
236 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
stretched out in the edge of the sea, like some emerald-
backed monster, denuded of its once verdurous
beauty and stripped of every association of interest
or value. Every memorial of those who once lent
color to its activities is obliterated. The place
where John Winter was resolved into dust is unknown.
One walks over Richmond Island to-day from one end
to the other, and hears only the low moan of the
sea, the swash of the tide, the sullen roar of the surf
or the scream of the seabird. Only the ceaseless
smiting of the sea along these outer shores choked
with devil-apron and the debris of ocean-fed weeds;
only the isolation of nature to keep the sea apart
from the land is all left of the past. Even the
tradition of those far days is scant, and one has
only the lines penned by Winter to Trelawny from
which to glean the story, marred with evident and
intentional misrepresentation, and washed out in
the vitriol of Winter's own heart blood, — for in
them one finds the nude portrait of their author
painted with his own hand and with trenchant
technique.
One conjures up the low roofs of this semi-ancient
people, and among them one sees Richard Mather,
who here sought asylum from English persecution.
Here is Tom Morton, of Merry Mount, who gave
Winthrop so many nightmare rides on his pungent
shafts of wit and angered him with his Maypole
dances and boon carousals across the Quincy marshes,
and not so far but sounds of hilarious revel made
echo even in the streets of old Boston. How he
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
237
scored Winthrop in his New England Canaan,
torreador fashion! Here comes Thomas Jocelyn,
the gentleman made famous by his "Two Voyages,"
with Richard Vines and Cammock, both accepted
friends of Gorges; while from the lips of Richard
Gibson one hears the litany of the Church of England
for the first time on these afterward historic shores.
And not the least among all these worthies is the
recollection of the author of " New England's Pros-
pect/' William Wood.
I have said that no vestige of this prior occupancy
of Richmond Island was left; but I forgot, as one is
wont to do, for, in 1855, a man plowing athwart the
thin soil of these once famous island slopes turned
238 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
up with his plowshare an earthen pot, a bit of old
cracked pottery which the children following along
the furrow, as children will, appropriated for a
childish voyage of curiosity. Scraping off the dirt,
moist and yellow and cool from the plow, there
was a glint of a strange metal. Here were mingled
gold and silver coins and a signet ring of gold, of
quaint and beautiful artisanship, and many of them
contemporary with the days of the Winter occupancy,
and the same described by the Troll of Richmond
Island as the property of Walter Bagnall and stolen
by Squidraysett before the Bagnall trading-post was
put to the torch by the savages. Did the Indian
Sagamore drop this old pot as he made haste to get
over the bar before the tide on that fatal night, or
was it the saving of some other, and which was
overlooked in the flight of 1679, when the savages
came down from the eastward to kill and burn?
It is recorded that in the neighborhood of the hiding-
place of the old pot were traces of rotten wood, as
if here may have been the habitation of some thrifty
settler of Winter's and Jordan's time, or of the time
of Bagnall. Willis inclines to its being a part of the
theft of the savage; but it is more reasonable to look
upon it as an overlooked or forgotten relic of a former
thrift. If one is curious, and wishes for a descrip-
tion of the coins so safely hoarded for so long a time
in this frail hibernacle of ruddy clay, and which are
now to be seen among the treasures of the Maine
Historical Society, a footnote to one of Willis' delight-
ful pages which make up that out of print volume>
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 239
his story of early Portland will afford ample informa-
tion. These coins may have been part of some
buried treasure, and the author is of the opinion that
such is the fact, borne out by the de*bris of an old
sill or timber, not unlikely the remains of an old
cabin of the early Bagnall regime.
As one recalls this incident, strange pictures again
crowd the brain, and it is a motley crew that troops
across the vision as one sits Selkirk-like upon some
outcropping ledge above the ruins of this mimic
Carthage of more modern times. In these days a
single lone, low-browed dwelling stands for a sug-
gestion of a humanity effete, decayed, except that
its essence has been transmitted through a long line
of descent to these days, a humanity once pregnant
with all the passions, the loves, and animosities of
one's kind; and one can feel the weird influence that
comes with every gust of wind from off the sea;
which, like some disembodied spirit with an intangi-
ble presence, mocks at the revel of nature in its utter
obliteration of what was once so real and so tangible.
The little harbor is thronged with ships, a throng of
phantom sails, and one hears the strident creaking
of the stays, the flapping of idle sails, and the hoarse
shouts of the sailors. One gets the savory smell of
the drying fish on the flakes, which, after all, is but
the salty breath of the sea. Over on Black Point,
dubbed Prout's Neck nowadays, is the smoke of
Cammock's cabin, which, after all, is but the trail
of mist coaxed by the summer sun from the rising
tide.
240 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
There is nothing much attractive about this island
in these days. It is an isolated place; yet, like a
spring bubbling over its emerald cup to trickle down
the roadside to keep the traveler cheerful compan-
ionship, its scant blades of grass are ever ajar with
the lingering romance of ancient traditions. One
finds here only these blades of grass, a tangle of
weeds and gray ledges painted with lichens, stones
that once echoed to the footsteps, that, made over
two centuries ago, still sound down the years, as they
ever will, as the footsteps of those who in part made
the civilization of the New England of to-day possible.
It is a far cry, as the author has already avouched,
nor yet so far but that the wizard wand of one's
imagination let loose along this island slope raises,
Witch of Endor-like, a goodly company of spirits
such as throng the strange world of dreams and
drowsy fantasies; and, would the trees but grow again
and the wild grapes weave anew their festoons of
verdurous fruitiness, this Isle of Bacchus would
make the vision of Champlain a present reality.
THE SIGNET RING
THE STORY OF "A BROKEN TYTLE
THE STORY OF "A BROKEN TYTLE"
F one wishes to go back to the be-
ginning of things under the English
i. influence on these shores of the New
World, 1606 is as good a date as
any at which to set up one's theodolite
• and from which to run one's courses;
for, April 10 of that year was the
date of the original charter to the
Southern Colony, and, which, a year later, had
resulted in the settlement of Jamestown on the
coast of Virginia. This Southern Colony was a
clique of adventurers of much wealth and as well
of much influence at the English court. Much
was expected of this second enterprise, and it
243
244 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
may be said to have been successful, for the James-
town settlement proved to be a permanent one, and
not long after its establishment a profitable enter-
prise. It found a fertile soil and a genial climate,
nor were its physical features less suggestive and
pleasing. Its forests were thronged with appetizing
game, likewise its bays and inlets; and its surround-
ing waters were stocked with delicious edibles.
This southern colony, or to be more exact, the
London company, included in its grant all the terri-
tory between Cape Fear on the Carolina coast and
the middle of New Jersey, that is, all lands between
the 34 and 41 degrees north latitude.
This company was exceeding fortunate in that it
pitched upon a middle ground, whose extremes of
climate were not burdensome. It was a country of
fine rivers, which found their way to the bays and
tide waters through a land that had only to be
scratched lightly to bloom with a semi-tropic luxuri-
ance. Here were wild fruits in abundance in season.
It was the land of the rose and the vine. It was the
land of the aborigine, whose chronic attitude toward
the newcomers was one of open and too frequently
aggressive hostility. The romantic fiction of Captain
John Smith and Pocahontas is strung upon these
early days, and helps to fix in the mind the locality,
which by reason of its being the second earliest
English attempt at colonization, and of its relation
to the abortive efforts which were likely to follow
in its wake, should not be forgotten.
It may strike the reader that it is the history of
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 245
that early Virginia settlement which is to be the
subject of this sketch, but a brief notice is necessary,
foreign as it may seem, for its sequence is formed by
the issuing of what Vines in a letter to Winthrop
designated as a "broken tytle," and which later
was the cause of much controversy over the land
titles along the southern coast of the province of
Maine. This first Virginia colony was but indif-
ferently successful for the first two years of its
career, but an accession in 1609 of five hundred per-
sons, of whom twenty were women and children,
gave it a new' impetus. Shortly after this, the rais-
ing of tobacco became the chief industry, to which
the soil and climate were peculiarly adapted. The
most ordinary shelter was all that was necessary to
protect these people from heat or cold, for at no time
of the year was there any notable inclemency of the
weather. The exportation of tobacco became ulti-
mately the business of the colonists. It was their
currency which was minted by the mild and salubrious
influences of the southern sun into vegetable gold.
A decade had gone when one spring day, it was in
1619, an English vessel dropped anchor in Jamestown
harbor laden with an unusual freight. There were
ninety English lasses aboard who were to be bartered
to the Jamestown planters as wives for one hundred
pounds of tobacco per pair of ruddy lips, the pro-
ceeds of which were applied to the expenses of trans-
portation. With these came a labor contingent of
one hundred convicts, and about this time a Dutch
vessel with a small cargo of negroes to lay the founda-
246
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tion of the slave trade that afterward assumed such
ominous proportions.
If one desires a vivid picture of the scene which
was enacted upon the arrival of these young English
maids, one can do no better than to appeal to the
riant imagination of Miss Johnston, whose romance
of Ralph Percy and the wooing of his dainty English
CAPE SMALL POINT, SAND DUNES
wife makes a realistic episode of the early days of
this first English foothold. It was this year that
the colony established the assembly, an elective
form of government, which six years later was
annulled by the whimsical Charles, and its power
vested in an oligarchy made up of a governor and a
council, from which overt act of kingly prerogative
was doubtless evolved the germ of the colonial
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 247
secession. The story of this colony down to 1609,
when the London company was reincorporated under
the title of "The Treasurer and Company of Adven-
turers and Planters of the City of London for the
first Colony in Virginia/' is a romance smeared with
the hot blood of tragedy.
To quote from an old English play is to discover
the incentives that impelled or actuated these
early adventurers to come hither and to plant a
colony on the spot selected by Smith, one of the first
council of Jamestown, and which location was so
strenuously opposed by Gosnold.
Seagull, a character in "Eastward Ho!" says:
' ' I tell thee golde is more plentiful there than copper
is with us; and for as much redde copper as I can
bring I'll have thrise the weight in gold. Why, man,
all their dripping-pans . . . are pure gould; and all
the chaines with which they chain up their streets
are massie gold; and for rubies and diamonds, they
goe forth in Holydayes and gather them by the
sea shore, to hang on their children's coates and
sticke in their children's caps, as commonly as our
children wear saffron gilt brooches and groates with
holes in 'hem." As Brock says, Seagull pictures a
life of ease and luxury, the climax of allurement,
with "no more law than conscience, and not too
much of eyther. "
Richard Hakluyt was perhaps as guilty as Seagull,
and rude was the awakening on the Susan Constant,
the God-Speed, and the Discovery as their anchors
broke the emerald waters of the Powhatan, now the
248 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
classic James. For all his great services to American
colonization Hakluyt had all his information at
second hands, and he was oftentimes too credulous
a listener. Reference has been made heretofore to
his work, "A Discourse on Westerne Planting/' and
he says in his preface to his " Principal Navigations" :
"I do remember that being a youth, and one of her
Majestie's scholars at Westminster, that fruitfull
nurserie, it was my happe to visit the chamber of
Mr. Richard Hakluyt my cosin, a Gentleman of
the Middle Temple, well known unto you, at a time
when I found lying vpen his boord certeine bookes
of Cosmographie with a vniversal Mappe: he seeing
me somewhat curious in the view thereof, began to
instruct my ignorance by showeing me the divisions
thereof."
It seems that these revelations to young Hakluyt
were emphasized by the reading by his " cosin" of the
one hundred and seventh Psalm, concerning those
who go down to the sea in ships; so he continues
in his preface: "The words of the Prophet, together
with my cosin 's discourse (things of high and rare
delight to my young nature), I tooke so deepe an
impression that I constantly resolved, if euer I were
preferred to the Vniversity, where better time and
more convenient place might be ministered for these
studies, I would by God's assistance prosecute that
knowledge and kinde of literature, the doores whereof
(after a sort) were so happily opened before me."
Hakluyt found his burial place in Westminster Abbey
in 1616, but not before his life work of inspiring the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 249
redemption of the New World was in a way of being
accomplished.
This brief reference to Jamestown leaves one on
the verge of 1620, with thirty-six years intervening
between the Raleigh Expedition under Philip Amadas
and Arthur Barlowe, who anchored in New Inlet,
July 4, 1584, going by a small boat a few days later
to Roanoke where Grenville landed a colony the fol-
lowing year, and which, in 1606, had disappeared
utterly, with the result that the location was aban-
doned by Raleigh, entirely. As we have seen, the
next attempt at colonization, after many dangers, out
of which came annihilation almost, much dissension
and mingled vicissitude, became a permanence on the
banks of the James.
Following the incorporation of the London com-
pany, the interests of which, as we have seen, were
located on the James River, came the establishment
during the same year of "the adventurers or asso-
ciates of the northern colony of Virginia." This
colony began an ambitious settlement under the
auspices of Popham and Gilbert on the Sagadahoc
River at Sabino, now better known as Hunnewell's
Point, which was known as the Popham Colony
which a year later was transferred to Pemcuit, the
story of which has been the subject of much acrid
controversy and clouded with much of speculation
and empty conjecture. The story of this venture
properly belongs to the fourth volume in this series
and is touched upon in this connection but incident-
ally. It is conceded upon good authority, especially
250
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such voyagers as Captain John Smith and his con-
temporaries, that, from the year 1607, to the advent
of the Mayflower, here was a trading-post and a
favorite harboring for the English fishermen. And,
while it is true that 1607 witnessed the abandonment
of the Sabino colony by Gilbert and his partisans, it
is certain that the Popham interest represented by
some forty-five of the original colonists, found its
way to Pemaquid, an adjacent point to the east-
SABINO
ward, and .that there was continued through more
or less acute fluctuations of vitality, the original
project of George Popham to found a new career for
himself and his followers. The settlement at Pema-
quid, to use the language of another writer, was "a
languid exotic," but the thread which began its
unwinding at Sabino was never wholly lost hold of;
for the Popham influence kept it securely twisted
about its forefinger, and it may be stated uncon-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 251
ditionally, that from 1607 there was at Pemaquid a
secure English foothold, as Plastrier found to his
chagrin when he was compelled to surrender to Pop-
ham's good ship, the Gift of God.
The material from which this opinion is deduced
is abundant, incontrovertible, and to the fair mind,
satisfactory. However unprofitable or even insig-
nificant in its local importance this nucleus at Pema-
quid may have been, its continuity must be accepted.
The natural abandonment of the original enterprise,
resulting from the death of Popham and the disin-
clination of Gilbert to encounter the hardships of
another Sagadahoc winter, was productive of much
discouragement among the members of the company
promoting the enterprise. While the organization
of the company survived the withdrawal of many of
its influential and wealthy patentees, Sir Ferdinando
Gorges and the sons of Popham represented the for-
lorn hope, and it was through these latter that the
interest in the Pemaquid settlement was kept up,
though perhaps but slenderly. This is the first
appearance of Gorges, one of the original patentees
of the Northern colony, who twenty years later was
to exercise a powerful and lasting influence in the
settlement of the province of Maine, and to achieve
for himself the fatherhood of its colonization. Of
the meetings and records of this company, Deane
says, " we have no trace. "
All active exertions on the part of the company
having ceased, Gorges sent out fishing, trading, and
exploring expeditions in turn, apparently never
252 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
doubting the consummation of his belief in the
ultimate settlement of all the territory adjacent to
the Sagadahoc. He despatched Vines hither in 1609,
1616, Vines finally laying the permanent sills to his
house on the edge of Biddeford Pool in 1630. Con-
temporary with Vines was Weymouth and Rocroft,
who sailed their ships hither in the interest of Gorges,
the fires of whose ambition for the establishment of a
prosperous English colony between the Kennebec
and the Merrimac never waned. There is no doubt
but Gorges and the Popham heirs between them
held the vital spark, that, with the incorporation of
the "Council for New England/' November 3,
1620, burst into a lively flame.
The patentees in this latter company numbered
forty, the majority of whom were persons of dis-
tinguished rank, and of whom thirteen were peers,
some of whom stood very near to the first James in
importance and influence.
The title of this third company which was projected
in March, 1619, in a petition to the Privy Council
of the Crown, urged forward by Sir Francis Popham
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who with others were
recognized as the "heirs, successors, and assigns"
of the contract of 1606, and to which "letters patent"
were granted on the last-mentioned date, was the
"Council established at Plymouth, in the County of
Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and govern-
ing of New England in America." In history, as a
state paper, this patent is known as the "Great
New England Charter. " As Sewall says, it " is in law
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 253
and fact the complement of the royal contract of
April 10, 1606; and is related thereto as a deed to its
escrow. "
Here was opportunity for a monopoly. Gorges
was not slow to discover its possibilities and to improve
them. Probably no Englishman of the time was in
closer touch with this new land, or better equipped
in his knowledge of its products. For fourteen years
he had almost yearly sent out his captains, who had,
by their relations, afforded him a store of information
of the most practical character. No doubt they had
colored their stories to match Gorges' s expectations,
but, in the main, his information was at first hands
and was fairly accurate. This patent to the New
England council had not been gained without stren-
uous opposition on the part of the Southern colony.
Parliament had sustained the contention of the
latter, but the king was the boon friend of these
adventurers, and ordered the great seal to be affixed
to the New England patent, which was to be ex-
pected, as many of the privy council were among the
patentees.
The monopoly to be desired was that of the fisher-
ies. It was the bone over which Parliament, which
had not met for seven years, began a lively quarrel;;
for the New England grant carried with it the sole'
privilege of fishing along its shores, which the Sir
Edward Sandys declared worth "one hundred
thousand pounds per annum in coin." Parliament
advocated "freer liberty of fishing," and enacted in
the Commons, December 18, 1621. "Sir Ferdinando
254 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Gorges and Sir Jo. Bowcer, the patentees for fishing
in and about New England, to be warned to appear
here the first day of next Access, and to bring their
patent, or a copy thereof." Subsequently the king
dissolved the Parliament, but not before it had
spread upon its records a protest vindicating its
privileges, which the king obliterated by tearing the
obnoxious protest from the Journal. Gorges was
twice before the committee of the House. He was
examined by Sir Edward Coke, who declared the New
England patent " a monopoly, and the color of plant-
ing a colony put upon it for particular ends and
private gain." Gorges showed a deal of adroitness,
and always courteous, told the story of his expeditions
which he had carried on to his great cost and dis-
couragement, and it was only the proroguing of
Parliament that prevented the passage of the law
granting free fishing. As it was, these disputes,
lasting over a period of two years, held the affairs of
the council for New England at a standstill during
that time.
The territory embraced in this patent lay between
the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees north latitude,
that is to say, all that country lying southward of the
Kennebec to the Merrimac. This patent once freed
from the opposition of the Southern colony, the plans
of the New England company were formulated. It
included the laying out of a county forty miles square
on the Kennebec River. A city was to be built at
the junction of the Androscoggin and the Kennebec.
Already a ship had been built for the use of the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
255
embryo colony, and the keels for others were to be
laid immediately, and which were to be used as con-
voys and defenses on the New England coast. Members
were assessed one hundred and ten pounds, individ-
ually, but only this levy was accomplished; for, with
the coming in of Parliament, February 12, 1623, the
fight against the Gorges company was renewed.
The following minute appears on its records: "Mr.
SIGNERS OF PATENT OF 1621
Neale delivereth in the bill for freer liberty of fishing
on the coasts of North America." "Five ships of
Plymouth under arrest, and two of Dartmouth,
because they went to fish in New England. This
done by warrant from the Admiralty. To have
these suits staid till this bill have had its passage.
This done by Sir Ferdinando Gorges his patent.
Ordered that this patent be brought into the Com-
mittee of Grievances upon Friday next. "
Gorges was the active spirit, and it was seemingly
256 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Gorges who was on trial. He made an address to the
committee of the House, but it had no weight; for,
the movement against him was a popular one and
was led by men of no less importance than Sir Edward
Coke. Gorges felt this attack upon his enterprise
keenly, and he complains, " This then public declara-
tion of the Houses . . . shook off all my adven-
turers for plantation, and made many quit their
interest. "
It is not over difficult to paint a picture from a
mental point of view of the situation. Gorges was
the moving spirit, the mainspring of events. He
was energetic, forceful, sanguine, and diplomatic.
As has been before said, he was adroit in his manip-
ulation of his kind. It was a get rich quick propo-
sition, with an alluring prospect. It had all the
elements of fascination that lends to the western
silver mine of to-day its halo of frequent and enormous
dividends. Because it was a terra incognita, it was
the more attractive, the more plausible, and as an
enterprise, possible. But little was known of the
severity of the New England climate, and absolutely
nothing as to the quality of its soil or its adapta-
bility to immediate uses, an experimental knowledge
of both of which was absolutely necessary to the
successful establishment of a thriving colony. Fish
and furs were abundant, and undoubtedly trade was
the primary object. But trading-stations and fish-
ing-stations were imperative. It was known that
the country was heavily timbered, and it was believed
that mines for silver and gold could be profitably
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 257
worked. Captain John Smith came hither in 1614,
to dig gold. Like a sensible man he at once saw the
advantages to be derived from the fishing industry,
and recommended to his countrymen that they drop
their mining schemes and go to fishing. But fishing
was not for earls and the titled patentees who made
up the Gorges company, and who evidently were
something of a fair-weather set; for it was true
that when the popular storm broke, the majority of
them ran to shelter, and whether from policy or the
more mercenary conclusion that there was no money
in the enterprise for them, is and will be always an
open question.
Abandoned as he was by all but Warwick, Goche,
and a few others, sure, however, of the support and
influence of the king, his activity subsided. The
company was left to its fate, and was apparently a
defunct institution. Affairs with Spain for a time
attracted the attention of Gorges, whither and against
which power he was despatched upon an errand for
the king. Meantime London lay under the ban of
the plague, and for a year commerce was at a stand-
still, even the judicial functions of the courts being
discontinued. It was shortly after this that Brad-
ford came over to solicit the interest of the council
for New England in a matter of correcting some
abuses on the part of the Dutch and English fisher-
men that had begun to assume formidable pro-
portions along the coast to the eastward of the
Plymouth colony. This aroused Gorges to action,
and the scheme of colonization was raked over anew,
258 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
and from out the embers a new fire was lighted on
the old hearth.
To go back a triad of years, to 1623, and before
Neale's bill for free fishing had been injected into
the "plot" of these alleged monopolists, and when
Gorges "promoting" the company, and endeavoring
to get it upon a solid financial basis, was met with the
pertinent suggestion from those who were pressed
for their assessments, that their interest or share •
should be set out to them, the council decided to
divide the entire territory of New England among
those interested "in the plot remaining with Dr.
Goche, " Dr. Goche was the treasurer of the corpora-
tion. To quote the record, the reason for this
ripping apart of Benjamin's coat, is, " For that some
of the adventurers excuse the non-payment in of
their adventures because they know not their shares
for which they are to pay, which much prejudiceth
the proceedings; it is thought fit that the land of New
England be divided in this manner; viz., by 20
lots, and each lot to contain 2 shares. And for that
there are not full 40 and above 20 adventurers, that
only 20 shall draw those lots." This drawing was
had at Greenwich on Sunday, June 29, 1623, at which
the king was an attendant, and as well master of
ceremonies.
The record gives a quaint description of the pro-
ceedings. It states that there was given to the
king " a plot of all the coasts and lands of New Eng-
land, divided into twenty parts, each part contain-
ing two shares, and twenty lots containing said
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 259
double shares, made up in little bales of wax, and
the names of the twenty patentees by whom these
lots were to be drawn." There were eleven patentees
present. These drew for themselves. Nine other
lots were drawn for the absentees, and the king
himself drew for Buckingham's who was in Spain
and as well those of two others.
Nothing immediate, however, came of this pro-
ceeding, perhaps because it was so soon followed by
the antagonistic attitude of Parliament. With the
action of Parliament, 1623-1624 the company had
received its quietus. It is to be noted, that early in
this eventful year, or on May 5, 1623, this company
made a grant to Christopher Levett, who sailed away
to New England at once, and who, after a season
of prospecting and visiting, built a substantial shelter
on a small island in Casco Bay, opposite Machigonie
Point. It was not until 1628 that a second and
third grant were made respectively to the settlers at
Plymouth for a trading-post on the Kennebec, and
to Rose well, Endicott, and others of Boston. The
following year recorded a grant to John Mason on
November 7, but this was not confirmed by the
king, who was jealous of the powers intended to be
conferred on Mason by the New England council,
as was evidenced in the language of the grant, powers
which, although vested in the original patentees,
were not transferable, or to be exercised by other
than the parent company. Ten days later came the
Laconia grant. Other grants followed these two of
1629 with varying rapidity.
260 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
In 1630 came the grant of a tract forty miles
square to John Dye and others. The details of this
patent are meager, for the original patent dis-
appeared, and it is not known that there is a single
copy of it in existence. A definite description of
the boundary lines of this patent, for that reason,
is impossible. Mention of this patent is made for
the reason it was made to play not many years later
a very important part under the Cromwell Protec-
FORT SCAMMEL, HOUSE ISLAND, WHERE LEVETT BUILT HIS HOUSE
torate. It was issued on the 26th of June of the
above-mentioned year. Hubbard locates this grant
as "south of the Sagadahoc River," "twenty miles
from the seaside. " Maverick, an annalist circa 1660,
says, " There was a patent granted to Christo : Bat-
chelor and Company in the year 1632, or thereabouts,
for the mouth of the River (the Kennebec is probably
meant) and some tract of land adjacent." Sullivan
mentions "Two Islands in the River Sagadahock,
near the South Side thereof about 60 miles from the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 261
sea." There are no islands of this description in
this river, which is conclusive of the unfamiliarity
of the company with the territory intended to be
granted.
Dye came over, but no livery of seizin was ever
given him, nor did he ever exercise any rights of
possession, although from a manuscript of contempo-
rary origin to be seen at the Maine Historical Society
which had its author in one of the attorneys for the
heirs of Col. Alexander Bigby the following is gleaned :
" In the year 1630, The -sd Bryan Bincks, John Smith
& others associates go personally into New England
& settle themselves in Casco Bay near the Southside
of Sagadahock & lay out considerable Sums of Money
in planting there & make laws & constitutions for
the well ruling & governing their sd Plantations &
Provence. "
Winthrop is the safer authority to the contrary.
It is of interest to note right here, before con-
sidering subsequent grants by the Council for New
England, that the boundaries of the Plough patent
and province of Lygonia were approximated and
laid out by commissioners who were given that duty
in 1846, as being bounded on the east by the Saga-
dahoc and Pejepscot rivers, and on the south by
the Mousam River, which empties into the sea at
Cape Porpoise. From the seacoast westerly, the line
extends inland forty miles. By what authority are
these arbitrary bounds established without profert
of the original patent in the absence of a duly certified
copy, and in the face of a letter from one of the
262
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
London partners that Gorges "douth afferm that he
neur gaue consent, that you should haue aboufe
forte mills in lenkth and 20 mills in bredth, and
sayeth that his one hand is not to your patten if
it haue anne more; . . . and that there was one
Bradshaw that had proquired letters patten for a
part as wee soposed of our fformer grant, so wee
think stell, but he and Sir Fferdinando think it is
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 263
not in our bouns ... so whe haue dun our good
wellse and haue proqured his loufe and mane pro-
mases that wee haue no wrong. Wee bestoud a
suger lofe vpon him of sume 16s prise, and he hath
promised to do vs all the good he can. "
This Bradshaw was the one who had his grant at
" Pashippscott " of fifteen hundred acres, "above the
hedd ... on the north side thereof," November 2,
1631, and the same who was accorded the same
acreage on the east side of the Spurwink River by
Captain Neale, and which Bradshaw sold to Tucker,
who being ejected from his title went with Cleeve to
Casco.
On February, 12, 1630, grants were made to Vines
and Oldham of the west side of the mouth of the
Saco, while on the same day the east side was granted
to Bonighton and Lewis. These men took immediate
possession of their assignments. The next year,
November 1st, Black Point was granted to Thomas
Cammock. A month later to a day Robert Tre-
lawny and Moses Goodyeare received a grant of
Richmond Island and the adjacent mainland east of
the Spurwink River, and which extended eastward
to the Casco River. This grant comprised fifteen
hundred acres, more or less, evidently, for, as acres
went in those days, they were exceeding generous.
Cammock had fifteen hundred acres, and the Saco
River grants extended up that stream eight miles.
These grants, however, were all within the limits
of the original grant to Gorges and Mason of August
10, 1622, which was bounded on the east by the Ken-
264 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
nebec and on the south by the Merrimac. With the
subdivision which was made between Gorges and
Mason when they dissolved their land partnership,
this paper has nothing to do. But in 1632, Pema-
quid was granted to Aldworth and Elbridge. In
1634 twelve thousand acres on the Agamenticus
were granted to Edward Godfrey, and to Gorges the
same area on the west side of that river. This
division between Gorges and Mason was made hi
1635, the Gorges interest extending from the Pis-
cataqua to the Kennebec, between which river and
the Sagadahock Mason was granted another plot
estimated to contain ten thousand acres; while
eastward of the St. Croix the entire territory was
that same year granted to Sir William Alexander.
Neither Mason nor Alexander ever took possession of
the two latter grants.
With the foregoing references to the grants of the
council for Xew England, the student of the history
of the period, so far as it refers to the colonization of
the province of Maine, will be enabled to pass easily
to the consideration of the Lygonia grant. This
grant had its foundation in a defunct and inoperative
patent to John Dye and his associates; but as to
who these people were or their after careers, along
with then- brief sojourn on the southern coast of
Maine, a few words will suffice. The earlier mem-
bers of the Company of Husbandmen, for so they
were called, came over in the summer of 1630, in the
ship Plough. There were ten of them, and they
made their landfall in the vicinity of Pemaquid.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 265
As to their names, it does not matter, though some
of them are matters of record, while others have
become lost or utterly obliterated from the record of
events current of their time. There was, however,
one Brian Kipling, which in these later days of
international literature is suggestive of that prince
of litterateurs whose surname is the same. This
Brian came along with the Bachiler contingent.
Those of the Plough were the advance guard of a
"peculiar sect" known as the Family of Love, which
good old Christopher Fuller transposes or alludes to
as the "Family of Lust." Henry Nicholas of
Westphalia, once known as an Anabaptist, was the
original herald of its creed that religion was love,
wholly. Like many other creeds that have had
their foundation in fine sentiment, this in particular
in time resulted in a grossly immoral teaching and
practice, and which became such a stench to the
English nostril that the crown began a rigid investi-
gation of their behavior, with the result that these
Familists were blown away, and dispersed upon the
same winds that absorbed the smokes of their cate-
chisms and other paraphernalia, which were literally
burned at the stake.
For a hundred years after, the doctrine broke out
in spots, sporadic-like, to be finally ridiculed out of
existence or into palpable disrepute, so that but a
few of the sect who had found lodgment in London
were left, and out of which this levy of ten was made,
who took to themselves the title of "The Company
of Husbandmen, " to come over in the Plough under
266 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the leadership of John Dye, whose object was an
effective colonization, with the primal object of an
unrestrained proselytism to the tenets of its religion,
and which colony was to be conducted as an unlimited
partnership. It was, in fact, to be a diminutive
commune, to become a member of which the only
credentials required were a ten-pound note and a
religious affiliation.
Its business head was made up of John Dye, " dwell-
ing in Fillpot Lane, " Grace Hardin, Thomas Jupe, and
John Roch, "dwelling in Crooked Lane," London;
but, as has hereinbefore been asserted, these "f an-
na tics" made no permanent occupation of the terri-
tory set out in their patent; nor were they ever
invested with a shadow of right under the same, or
a scintilla of proprietorship other than the parch-
ment that followed them over the next year in
charge of the company's attorney, and of which Win-
throp makes brief mention. Once here, attorney
Richard Dummer held the patent until it was re-
turned to England. For his services he received
from Dye a grant of eight hundred acres on Casco
Bay, which was as inoperative as the original grant.
Dummer was one of the Familists, in a way. He
was one of those who "dubled his adventure" along
with Stephen Bachiler, the unworthy pastor of this
fickle flock, whose affairs were ultimately spread upon
the records of the colonial court of Boston. It was
a tiny South Sea bubble, with charges of fraud and
deceit, of which Dummer came in for his full share.
The epitaph of this futile venture was stark bank-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
267
ruptcy, but London was too far away for it to be
read there before the Whale and the William and
Francis were on their way to Sagadahoc with reen-
forcements for the colony sent out the year before.
These ships last named set out from England on the
7th and 9th of June, 1631, and it was the following
OLD MAN OF THE SEA, PEMAQUID POINT
month that John Dye and his tourists sailed into the
harbor of Nantascott in Massachusetts Bay. On
the latter ship came Governor Edward Winslow and
the afterward notorious Bachiler, who at Hampton,
at fourscore years, was adjudged to have been
guilty of an offense against the public morals "with
his neighbor's wife, " and wherefore he was banished
268 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the country. It was the girl wife of this same
Stephen Bachiler who was sentenced by the York
court to wear the "letter A on her left shoulder, " and
to stand in the pillory in the town square after having
been given forty stripes save one on the bare back.
Richard Dummer and John Wilson came in the
Whale. Dummer bore a commission, and also
brought the patent. In all, there were "about
thirty passengers, all in health." Dummer proved
to be the shrewdest of all these adventurers. Though
he "dubled" his contribution, he affixed to it a stout
string, so in the event of a failure of the scheme he
could recall it, as he did. According to a letter
from the London partners, "Mr. Dummer sent his
money into the hands of a friend, that would not
deliver it to vs, without bonde to paye it againe. "
Later, upon the sale to Colonel Rigby of the patent
by Dye, Parliament demanded the original parch-
ment which Dummer sent at once, and since which
time no trace of it has been in existence.
The local annalists have it that these Familists
found some lodgment on the shore of Casco Bay.
That they spent the winter of 1630-1631 in its imme-
diate neighborhood, or at least not farther away than
Pemaquid, is certain. It is not unlikely that Pema-
quid was the locality, as the mouth of the Sagadahoc
was their point of destination, and it is probable
they were protected by the shelters afforded by the
fishing station which had been maintained at Pema-
quid from the time of Popham at Sabino. They
were to plant their colony in this neighborhood, and
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 269
as for their attempting any agricultural pursuits at
either place, Pemaquid or Casco, that was out of the
question, for the season was well advanced upon their
arrival. One New England winter was evidently
enough for these Londoners, nor were they charmed
by the balmy spring which followed its going. So
they pulled their anchors out the Sagadahoc mud,
and shook out their sails, and made their course
southward along the coast. They sailed up Casco
Bay, and may have landed for some brief survey of
its environment, and they may not. In fact, it is not
known what they did between Sagadahoc and the
mouth of the Saco, where Vines was building his
city of log cabins. These voyagers were here for
several days, making note of the progress of events.
They had evidently familiarized themselves with the
marshes along the Scarborough shore and had located
the grant of Richard Bradshaw. Disheartened by
the rough and apparently inhospitable character-
istics of the coast, they left Vines and his Winter
Harbor settlement, sailing still to the southward to
next drop anchor off Nantascott, where we are able
to locate their advent by a memoranda in Winthrop's
journal under the date of July 6, 1631. In this con-
nection it is not amiss to refresh one's recollection of
the date of the Plough patent, which was June 26,
1630. A dozen days over a year's span had elapsed,
and the Plough colony had accomplished nothing.
Undoubtedly their course along the coast was a
leisurely one. They left Pemaquid in the flush of
springtide, perhaps not until the rare days in June
270
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
had come, to sail each day nearer the heart of sum-
mer. Its heats were no doubt grateful to these
children of a milder climate, after the pallid inclem-
ency of a winter at the mouth of the Sagadahoc.
Winthrop makes this note: "A small sail of sixty
tons arrived at Nantascott, Mr. Graves master.
She brought ten passengers from London. They
came with a patent to Sagadahock, but not liking the
place, they came hither. These were the company
A SCARBOROUGH FISHER'S HUT
called the Husbandmen, and their ship called the
Plough."
In a year after, these people were scattered through
the different settlements about Boston, and their
commonplace history closed. It has been a question
why the patent came to be granted, overlapping as
it did other valid grants, the title to which was still
further strengthened by an immediate and lawful
occupancy. It would seem as if Gorges's desire was
to plant colonies wherever he could induce people to
settle, else he betrayed a woful ignorance of the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 271
geography of the coast, from the Sagadahoc to the
Piscataqua. Ignorance of the whereabouts of Cape
Porpoise is the most plausible solution, for it is doubt-
ful if, in his friendship for Vines, to leave Cammock
and Bonighton unmentioned, he would have become
a party to so palpable an error. It may be noted
in this place that it was on the 2d of December, 1631,
that Walter Bagnall was granted Richmond Island,
and on the same day two thousand acres were
granted to John Stratton, of Shotley, which were
located on the south side of Cape Porpoise River, and
who took possession of the islands off Black Point,
one of which has since ever borne his name.
February 2, 1635, the patentees divided the terri-
tory by lot. As has been noted, the last grant was
to Sir John Alexander. Following this came the
surrender of the charter of the council for New
England on the 7th of June of the same year. The
company of patentees had no farther use for it. The
cow had been milked, and was now turned back into
the royal pasture. Gorges's subsequent activities
along the York coast are a matter of history.
It is a misfortune to those who come after, often-
times, that certain others have been before; but that
chickens come home to roost, is proverbial. It was
true in the case of George Cleeve, the resuscitator of
the latent vitality, if it ever had any vitality at all,
of the so-called Plough patent. It was like the
brand of the wicked thrown into the wheatfield of
the righteous; for, under the manipulation of the
settler of Casco Bay who played lago, with his spe-
272 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
cious forgeries and lies, to Gorges' Othello, Cleeve
for a brief space got the head of Vines under the
pillow of disrepute with his noble friend. Upon the
exposure of Cleeve's beguiling falsehoods, which had
resulted in the recall of William Gorges, nephew of
Sir Ferdinando, who had assumed the control of the
province immediately upon his arrival here in 1636,
by holding a court at Saco, March 21, the first ever
held in the Gorges jurisdiction, and the removal of
Vines from his offices, hardly two years later, and the
installation of himself, Cleeve, as deputy governor,
Gorges' action was speedy and conclusive; for, upon
discovering the jackal-like character of Cleeve, he
at once dismissed him from his service and rein-
stated Vines, adding to his honors by conferring upon
him the deputy-governorship of the province.
Cleeve, defeated and sore, went into retirement at
Machigonie Point, there to pour his acrid complaints
into the ears of his Roderigo, Richard Tucker, —
"by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no less a place,"
and who, no doubt, comforted his leader as best he
could; for Cleeve was the predominating spirit within
the purlieus of Casco Bay. One can hear him pour-
ing into Tucker's ears, —
"You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For naught but provender; and when he's old, cashiered:
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 273
Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are,
Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves ;
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them and, when they have lin'd their
coats
Do themselves homage ; these fellows have some soul ;
And such a one I do profess myself. "
Cleeve was a man hungry for power. He longed
for the fleshpots of Egypt, and his wits were being
held close to the emery-wheel of disappointed ambi-
tions. He hugs the ear of his Roderigo the closer,
who is later to arouse the household of Brabantio
with the annoyance of this prime conspirator, Cleeve.
What councils were held in Cleeve's cabin that
looked out upon the fascinating beauty and shifting
charm of this idyllic bay, in sun or storm, will never
be known; but one can hear, by a stretch of the
imagination, this plotter against the peace of his
neighbors, which included John Winter at Rich-
mond Island, of a surety, at his lago-like vaporings,
with Tucker occupying the entire front row, and who,
no doubt, applauded at the proper place; for Tucker
had a bone of his own to pick with Winter.
" I follow but myself ;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end ;
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at : I am not what I am. "
274
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
From what came after, this may be assumed to
have been the philosophy of Cleeve, the downright
purpose, assuredly. As Dr. Banks says, "That he
exhumed this forgotten skeleton, wired it together,
and made it dance to suit his schemes for personal
aggrandizement and private revenge rather than
from motives of
the common pub-
lic welfare," is ap-
parent; but who
suggested this
scheme, or by what
unfortunate incident
Cleeve fell upon it,
it is evident that once
thought of it was not
to be forgotten, or
neglected. His brood-
ing disposition al-
lowed him no time to
absorb the purifying
and uplifting influ-
ences that greeted his
vision with every dawn or with every set of sun.
He was oblivious to the reach of emerald waters
that stretched from his cabin door down the harbor
to mingle with the purple haze of its island-hemmed
horizon. His ears were not attuned to the music
of the bursting buds of the opening springtide,
the balmy caresses of the warm south winds, or
the roulades of song that burst from the throats
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 275
of the nest builders whose advent should thrill
the hearts of men with praise and thanksgiving.
Doubtless, like many another, he could distinguish
a duck with a shilling mark upon its wings from a
worthless crane planted in the mud, and mayhap he
knew the crow from the other feathered tribes; but
the whistle of the robin or the silver bell of the
thrush found no responsive chord in his heart; and
when the rain pattered upon his roof, liquid with
beneficent suggestion, he doubtless longed for the sun,
that he might be abroad, hatching the deep and
troublous designs to which his ambitions, ingenuity,
and desire for revenge were constantly urging him,
while he
"railed on Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms. "
According to the philosophy of Lorenzo, Cleeve
was a man
"fit for treasons, strategems, and spoils."
But his intrigue had carried him past the mark once,
as we have seen, he was about to set out upon a
more weighty project for place, power, and pr fit,
in which his chances for success were to be enhanced
by the political disruptions that were shortly to take
away the prestige of the king, and make England
a hotbed of civil war. It was near the end of 1642
that the news of the fight at Worcester between
Prince Rupert and the Parliamentarians reached
this side of the water; and it was shortly after that
Cleeve sailed away to England with the hope that by
276 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
taking advantage of the prejudice of the Round-
head for the Episcopal Royalist, he might acquire
such aid as would enable him to revivify the " broken
tytle, " as Vines designated the Plough patent, by
finding a purchaser for the same. Whether he had
made certain that that particular grant could be
purchased, or whether he went on the general prin-
ciple that a man will sell anything provided he gets
his price, is uncertain. That, however, was his
business in London; and once there he lost no time
in making fast friends with the rebels, espousing their
cause actively, and as well searching out John Dye
and his associates, such of them as were alive, or the
heirs of those who had deceased, haggling over terms
and securing the proper documents of assignment.
Apparently this was not a difficult matter, The
Familists had had enough of New England, bringing
to them, as it had, only financial disaster and legal
entanglement.
The battle of Worcester struck the knell of the
royalism of Charles I, and when the royal prestige
fell, Gorges tumbled as well. Gorges was a High
Churchman. His Palatinate of New Somersetshire
was established to offset with the Church of England
service the propaganda of Puritan Massachusetts
Bay. It was the desire of Charles I to build up a
strong Episcopal influence in these colonies of Gorges,
and that desire had been fulfilled in so far as Gorges
could fulfill it, in the face of an adverse Parliament at
home, and the politic Governor Winthrop south of
the Piscataqua. So it was not strange that Cleeve
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 277
should turn to the Roundhead interest for aid in
his schemes. They were his natural ally. It was
doubtless by reason of that very state of religious
antagonism that Cleeve found in Colonel Alexander
Rigby a willing ear. Rigby was one of the coming
men under the Cromwell regime so soon to be upper-
most in the direction of English politics. He stood
well with Parliament, and possessed its confidence
to a high degree, so that after the first Puritan
outbreak he was empowered to raise levies for the
Puritan forces, and, as well, commissioned to lead
them against the royal strongholds and adherents of
the king. He won some slight successes, but was
repulsed at Lathom House, 1644, after which he
went into temporary retirement.
It was prior to this event that Cleeve met Rigby.
The fight at Worcester took place September 23,
1642, and the sale from John Dye and his associates
of the Plough patent to Rigby was consummated
April 7, 1643, a little over a year later. Rigby could
not have been acquainted with the "unsavory
reputation" which had come to Cleeve through one
unsavory channel and another, his unscrupulous
methods, his litigations with his neighbors, and which
Governor Winslow of the Plymouth Colony summed
up in a letter to Winthrop: "As for Mr. Rigby , "
he writes, "if he be so honest good & hopefull an
instrument as report passeth on him, he hath good
hap to light on two of the arrantest knaues that ever
trod on new English shore to be his agents east &
west, as Cleves & Morton. "
A**
278 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Morton will be recalled as the "roysterer of Merry
Mount/' who prodded the Pilgrims so unmercifully
with his wit, and no less annoyance with his merry
entertainments. Morton was led to write a book.
He entitled it, "New English Canaan." He refers
to Richmond's Island, and takes particular delight
in rasping and ridiculing the Puritans with whom it
is evident he had several bones to pick, and he
cared less how little meat he left on them; and in
fact, if one looks at the bones carefully he will find
what appear to be the prints of a somewhat rabid
tooth. Of a waggish and withal generous sort with
his fellows, he has no love for Endicott. He estab-
lishes the date of his appearance on the scene, —
" In the Moneth of June, Anno Salutis 1622. It was
my chaunce to arrive in parts of New England with
30 servants, and provision of all sorts fit for a plan-
tation: And whiles our houses were building, I did
endeavour to take a survey of the Country: The
more I looked the more I liked it."
He set up his house at Merry Mount, which was in
the eastern portion of what is now the city of Quincy,
in Massachusetts, where he exercised his ingenuity
in providing the most hospitable of entertainment,
into the lively veins of which were injected the subtle
and insidious dissipations common to the hilarity of
the dance on the "green," or about the Maypole,
enlivened by frequent libations to Bacchus, or any
other heathen deity. Bradford is to be quoted if
one desires to take a look through the Puritan
camera.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 279
Bradford says, " Morton became lord of misrule (at
Mount Wollaston) and maintained (as it were a
school of Athisme — quaffing & drinking both wine
and strong waters in great excess. And, as some
reported 10 Ibs. worth in a morning. They allso
set up a May-pole, drinking and dancing aboute it
many days togither, inviting the Indian women for
their consorts, dancing and frisking togeather, (like
so many fairies or furies rather) and worse practises.
As if they had a new revived and Celebrated the
feasts of ye Roman Goddess Flora, or ye beasly
practises of ye Madd Bacchinalians. Morton like-
wise (to show his poetrie) composed sundry rimes &
verses, some tending to lasciviousness, and others
to ye detraction and scandall of some persons, which
he affixed to this idle or idoll May-pole. They
chainged allso the name of their place, and in stead of
calling it Mounte Wollaston, they call it Marie Mount,
as if this joylity would have lasted forever. But
this continued not long, for after Morton was sent
for England (as follows to be declared) shortly came
over that worthy gentleman Mr. John Indecott,
who brought over a patent under ye broad seall, for
ye government of ye Massachusetts, who visiting
those parts caused yt May-polele to be cutt downe,
and rebuked them for their profannes, and admin-
ished them to looke ther should be better walking;
so they now, or others, changed ye name of their
place againe and called it Mounte Dagen."
Morton was banished by the Puritans. He re-
turned in 1629, with Allerton, who had a trading-
280 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
house on the Kennebeck. He coasted somewhat
with Allerton, and it was likely about that time he
was at Richmond Island, where he fell in with Bagnall,
and who was no more in love with the Puritans than
was Morton. Morton was banished in 1630, and
according to Bradford, "he got free again and writ
an infamouse & scurillous book against many godly
and cheef e men of ye countrie ; full of lyes & slanders,
and fraight with profane calumnies against their
names and persons, and ye ways of God."
Morton's book bore the Amsterdam imprint and
is rare, few copies of it being in existence. Its date
was 1637. He makes special allusion to Richmond's
Island, — " There is a very useful stone in the Land
and as yet there is found out but one place where they
may be had in the whole Country. Ould Woodman'
(that was choaked at Plimouth after hee had played
the unhappy Marks man when hee was pursued by
a careless fellow that new come into the Land) they
say labored to get a patent of it himselfe. Hee was
beloved of many, and had many sonnes, that had a
minde to engross that commodity. And I cannot
spie any mention made of it in the woodden prospect.
Therefore I be gin to suspect his aime ; that it was for
himselfe, and therefore will I not discover it, it is
the Stone so much commended by Ovid, because love
delighteth to make his habitation in a building of
those materials where hee advises. Those that seeke
for love to doe it, Duris in Cotibus illium.
"This Stone the Salvages doe call Cos, and of
these (on the North end of Richmond's Island) are
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 281
store, and those are very excellent for edged tooles.
I envy not his happiness. I have bin there: viewed
the place, liked the commodity: but will not plant
soe Northerly for that, or any other commodity
that is there to be had."
This is evidently tipped with a pungent sarcasm,
and is perhaps written with a purpose to be misleading.
"New come into" is a reference to John Newcomin,
who was shot by Billington, and which begat some
scandal, for Billington was referred to by the Puritans
as "having shuffled into their company." As for the
"whetstones," Jocelyn alleges that "tables of slate
could be got out long enough for a dozen men to sit
at," but where, he does not say. It may have been
one of Jocelyn's romancings.
Among the tales of Morton is that of one of Wes-
ton's party, who stole the Indians' corn. The Indians
made complaint, and the thief was apprehended.
By the laws of the provincial court the punishment
was death. Morton says, "and the cheifs Com-
mander of the Company, called a Parliament of all
his people but those that were sicke and ill at ease."
The thief was a "lusty fellow" and the court an-
nounced that an able-bodied man was not to be
spared, and, " Sayes hee, you all agree that one must
die, and one shall die, this younge man's cloathes
we will take off and put upon one, that is old
and impotent, a sickly person that cannt escape
death, such is the disease one him confirmed that
die hee must, put the younge man's cloathes on
this man and let the sick person be hanged in the
282 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
others steede : Amen sayes one, and so sayes many
more.'7
Butler makes a fable of the suggestions of Morton
in "Hudibras":
"Our brethren of New England use
Choice malefactors to excuse,
And hang the guiltless in their stead,
Of whom the churches have less need,
As lately happened. In a town
There lived a cobbler, and but one,
That out of doctrine could cut, use
And mend men's lives as well as shoes,
This precious brother having slain
In times of peace, an Indian,
(Not out of malice, but mere zeal,
Because he was an infidel.)
The mighty Tottipotimoy
Sent to our elders an envoy,
Complaining sorely of the breach
Of league, held forth by Brother Patch,
Against the articles in force
Between both churches, his and ours;
For which he craved the saints to render
Into his hands, or hang the offender.
But they naturally having weighed
They had no more but him of the trade,
A man that served them in a double
Capacity to teach and cobble,
Resolved to spare him ; yet to do,
The Indian Hoghan Moghan too,
In partial justice, in his stead did
Hang an ola weaver, that was bed-rid. "
Morton, one may see, was an unscrupulous wag, and
there may be some truth in his poetry, which no doubt
was bad, to so have aroused the ire of the consid-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
283
erate Bradford. But the satire of Butler is delicious.
In these days Cleeve would be classed as a dema-
gogue, a bad man and a trouble monger, notwith-
standing the modest granite shaft raised to his
memory and which from its vantage point on the
eastern promontory of old Casco Neck overlooks the
scene of his early activities, and as well his evil
machinations.
CLIFF WALK, HIGGIN'S BEACH
This "New English shore" once transferred to
Rigby became immediately known as the province
of Ligonia. Dr. Banks queries as to the derivation
of the word " Ligonia," but supposes "it to be derived
from the family name of the mother of Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, viz., Cicely, daughter of William
Lygon, of Madresfield Court, Great Malvern, Wor-
cestershire." He says further, "But why Rigby
and Cleeve should desire to perpetuate the name
284 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
thus connected with their political rival and pro-
prietary claimant is difficult to explain."
Cleeve was a man of specious reasoning. He
undoubtedly urged on Rigby the integrity of the
original patent; described in minute detail its settle-
ments, of which there were several, — the unrest of the
settlers under the dominant influence, their leanings
toward the Puritan practices of the Massachusetts
Bay people, — and no doubt he dwelt upon the sym-
pathy and interest the Puritan outbreak in the home
country had aroused. He must have alluded to the
initial expense of promoting so prosperous a state of
affairs, and as well emphasized the fact that that
part of the original investment was well taken care
of; for the settlements were well able to take care of
themselves, and that the rents and profits would
readily and surely come to hand. These were un-
doubtedly the inducements that appealed to Rigby;
yet how he could shut his eyes to the moral rights
of others who had earned the privilege to their
holdings, and who had received their titles in good
faith, and had improved upon them so they had
become self-supporting, can be explained only by
the fact that at that time Rigby's occupation was
the sequestrating of the estates of the friends of the
Royalist, Charles. He had little sympathy for
Episcopalians, and it may have appeared to him as
a profitable speculation, calling for only so much
ready money as would suffice to satisfy the Familists.
How much that was is not recorded, but it was likely
a very small amount.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 285
All this resulted in Cleeve's return in the early fall
of 1643, bringing with him a commission as deputy
president of Ligonia. One can readily paint the
knavish exultation that gave alertness to his tread
as he went aboard ship to sail away to Boston,
and the oozing of his degenerate courage as he
sighted the gray ledges of old Agamenticus towering
above the shores of old York. The embers of his
conscience were not wholly dead, and he could but
realize the despicable character of his errand to
London, and, like a child in the dark, he was afraid
to go home alone; for, once in Boston, he appealed
to Winthrop for his moral and active support in the
dilemma in which he found himself, — that of a man
armed with a rebel's commission founded upon a
spurious title, and soon to be in the heart of a loyal
and royalist community, and moreover, a community
that rated him at his exact worth.
Winthrop, wary and politic, submitted Cleeve's
proposition to the colonial authorities, and the
General Court voted, September 7, 1643, that it was
" no meete to write to ye eastward about Mr. Cleaves,
according to his desire." But it is a matter of fact
that Winthrop wrote Vines, deputy governor at
Saco, in behalf of Rigby, unofficially. Winthrop did
not care to be openly identified with Cleeve, as it was
not like to suit his ultimate purposes, which were
the eventual appropriation of the Maine province to
the aggrandizement of Massachusetts.
Cleeve went on to Casco, where he found his Rod-
erigo patiently awaiting, there to fume and fret at the
286 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
impotency of his demands upon Vines. He employed
Tucker at once in the securing of signatures to a
memorial to the Winthrop government proposing
an alliance against the "ffrench and Indians, and
other enemyes," but it was a futile endeavor. Cleeve
was as vituperative as ever, Gorges and his friends
being the objects of his lively spleen.
In this regard, it is interesting to refer to a con-
temporary letter of Vines at this point, as illustrative
of Cleeve' s activity in this following year, 1644. He
writes: "2 dayes before our Court (Cleeve) tooke a
voiage into the bay, and all the way as he went from
Pascataquack to Boston, he reported that he was
goeing for ayde against me, for that I had threatened
him and his authority, to beate him out of this
Province. By this false report and many other
the like I am held an enemy to justice and piety. I
proffesse unto you ingenuously, I never threatened
him directly nor indirectly, neither haue I seen him
since he camme out of England. I haue suffered him
to passe quietly through our plantation, and to lodge
in it, although I haue bin informed that he was then
plotting against me. I am troubled at these seditious
proceedings; and much more at his most notorious
scandalls of Sir fferdinando Gorges, a man for his
age and integrity worthy of much honor; him he
brandes with the foule name of traytor by circum-
stance, in reporting that he hath counterfeited the
king's broade seale (if he haue any patent for the
Province of Mayne) ffor, says he, I haue searched all
the Courts of Record, and can finde noe such grant.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
287
How could he haue given that graue Knight a deeper
wound in his reputacion, the which I know is more
deare to him then all the wealth in America; he
likewise maynetaynes his false report of death, fflight
into Walles, not with standing a letter dated the
25th of 1 ber last, from a marchant of London, of
very good credit, and brought in Mr. Payne his ship,
which letter imports Sir fferdinando Gorges his good
health with the restauracion of his possessions
agayne. "
X
CAPE PORPOISE
Cleeve was sufficiently endowed with persistence of
a low order, that kind affected by the modern ward-
heeler, but when it came to dealing with a gentleman
of the Vines school he was as much at sea as a ship
without a rudder. He was out-classed, handicapped,
and Cleeve knew it; and Winthrop, as well; and
Winthrop with his discernment of men knew Vines
for the better neighbor despite the latter 'a lean-
ings toward Episcopacy, abhorrent to him as they
were.
Cleeve held his first court at Casco, March 25,
288 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
1643-4. He announced his government as extend-
ing "from Sackadehock to Cape Porpoise, being
aboue 13 leagues in lenght." He nominated com-
missioners and a " colonell-generall. " Before this
court was convened, Cleeve sent a communication to
Vines offering to submit the question of jurisdiction
to the magistrates of Massachusetts.
Here was a chance for Roderigo to rouse Braban-
tio's household:
" Rod. 'What, ho, Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho!'
lago. 'Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves!
thieves!
Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves!
thieves! ' "
The bearer of this message was Tucker who was
apparently a docile tool, and whom Cleeve set afloat
when his dirty work had been cleaned up, and who
aroused Brabantio so thoroughly that Vines promptly
placed Tucker in arrest to later bind him over to
next court at Saco on a warrant for "abusive
language." Being unable to procure bail, he was
held in durance over night, but the next morning
was released on his own recognizance.
The objection was not so much to the title to the
soil as to the sovereignty. The title to the soil was
conceded by Gorges to Rigby, and doubtless, with
any other intermediary than Cleeve, the matter
could have been settled amicably. Rigby 's character
was of a notably high order, and Gorges was willing
to do everything to promote colonization and the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 289
welfare of the colonists. Vines voices these senti-
ments in a letter to Winthrop in which he classes
Cleeve among the " incendiaries. " After 1644, Rigby
had drawn up a constitution for his province which
was "confirmed by the Earle of Warwick & others
the Commissioners appointed by Parliament for
Foreign Plantations, " but it afforded little advantage
to Cleeve, who spent his time in mustering to his
interest every recruit possible. Naturally he would
obtain the adherence of those dwellers in the vicinity
of Casco Bay, but Vines could count upon Arthur
Mackworth and others of like prominence at Casco,
while the leading planters of Scarborough, Saco and
the westward settlements upheld the Gorges govern-
ment. Mackworth was personally threatened by
Cleeve with personal violence, so deeply was Cleeve
exasperated and irritated by Mackworth' s friendli-
ness to his old friend Vines.
Any danger of personal injury was obviated by
the prompt intervention of the court at Saco, which
caused Cleeve to be warned that Mackworth must
not be disturbed by either himself or his lawless
followers; and the truculent Cleeve wisely, and
doubtless reluctantly, abstained from resolving Mack-
worth into original dust. Mackworth was a man of
too high a mark and of too notable a hospitality, a
gentleman, and a scholar, withal, to be the sport of
Cleeve's humor or brutality.
Robert Jordan, the Episcopal clergyman who mar-
ried a daughter of John Winter, was likewise a thorn
in the tender side of the Casco Bay politician, and if
290 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
he inherited John Winter's estate, he became as
well the residuary legatee of all the rancour, enmity,
and covetous surveillance between the former in his
lifetime and the Casco Bay agitator; nor was the
Rev. Robert Jordan a whit behind his deceased
father-in-law in wit or shrewdness in meeting the
subtle and unscrupulous methods of the cockle-like
Cleeve. Words, like the sea in the storm, ran high
to smite here or there, to fall back into their trough
of foam like broken waters. Cleeve's favorite appel-
lation for Jordan was "minister of anti-christ, " and
" prelatticall counsellar, " only to appoint him to an
associate justiceship on his own bench later. Jor-
dan's opposition to this rabid agent of Rigby was
reenforced by the activities of his neighbor, the
gentlemanly Henry Jocelyn, who was soon to succeed
Vines as deputy governor of the Gorges Province.
It was about this time, 1645, the discovery was
made that in 1643 Cleeve had forged the signatures
of nine of his neighbors to a petition to Parliament
to appoint a commission to investigate Vines' admin-
istration as deputy governor. The Commission,
made up of Winthrop, Mackworth, and Bode, refused
to act, and the nine planters against whom Cleeve
had committed the forgeries, of whom Mackworth
was one, deposed in court that they were ignorant
of the matter contained in the "Petition," declaring
" that they neither saw nor knew of said articles until
the said George Cleeves did come last out of Eng-
land," also, they "could not testify any such things
as are exhibited in the said petition." This, under
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 291
oath, was sufficient to nail the responsibility for the
"petition."
It would not be supposed that this denouement
of Cleeve 's rascality would elevate him in the opinion
of the province, for, that the forgery, wholesale in
its influence, was an act growing out of utter moral
degeneracy, considering its object, which was nothing
less than the corruption of Parliament, and the
loading with disgrace and contumely of an honest
conscientious servant and an upright man. If ever
forgery was a heinous crime, it was in this particular
case, and, but for the assumed powers of Cleeve
as Rigby's deputy president, Cleeve would have
suffered the penalty of the law. That he committed
this grave offense advisedly, is confirmed by his
naive confession, "the Parliament bid him doe it."
Cleeve made but little headway with his dis-
establishmentarian projects against the powers that
were in the province, yet he was still busy plotting.
He kept Winthrop constantly stirred up, and from
Massachusetts Bay eastward bubbles of his foment-
ing were continually finding their way to the surface
of events; and he so succeeded in wearying Vines
with his hornet-like attentions that Gorges' deputy
governor quit the contest in disgust, and the shores
of the Saco, alike, leaving Jocelyn to keep Cleeve
at bay as best he could.
The new governor of the Gorges Province, sustained
by Bonighton, Jordan and Mackworth, prepared anew
for the wordy fray; for so far the war had been one
of words only. At the Quarterly Sessions of the
292 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
fall of 1645, it was voted to forthwith "apprehend
Cleaves and Tuckar & to subdue the rest vnto their
obedience." A company of militia was organized
for offensive and defensive purposes, and "fitted,
themselves with bilbows & ordained Captain Bony-
thon, Colonel-General." This coming to the ear
of Cleeve, after a conference with his councilors
Royall, Tucker and Purchas, he called on Winthrop
in his alarm for protection, and a quotation from
Cleeve' s letter to Winthrop at this point is of
interest.
He writes Winthrop: "The heads of this league
are Mr. Henry Jocelyn, Mr. Arthur Mack worth, &
Ffrancis Robinson, which Mr. Mackworth did will-
ingly submit to Mr. Rigbyes authority formerly, and
did subscribe to his constitucions, & received a
Commission from him to be an Assistant & acted by
it till he was drawne away by the per sway sion of
Mr. Vines and Mr. Jorden, (one vnworthily called
a minister of Christ). From these two men all this
evill doth principally flowe, for though Mr. Vines be
now gone, yet he hath presumed to depute Mr.
Jocelyn in his stead, although he never had any
Commission soe to doe; yet he, by the councell of Mr.
Jorden, hath taken vpon him, as a lawful Magistrate
to come into Casco Bay & hath gone from house to
house, being accompanied with Ffrancis Robinson &
Arthur Mackworth & have discouraged the people of
Ligonia, & drawne them offe, some by f raude & some
by force, from their subjection to Mr. Rigbys lawfull
authority; contrary to their oathes freely and will-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 293
ingly taken, a true coppy whereof is herewith sent.
And have alsoe presumed to take deposicions of
severall people to accuse some of vs falsely and
slanderously with treason & other crimes, whereof
we are innocent; intending vpon those grounds to
deale with vs at theire pleasure, and thus we are
all destined by them vnto destruction, if the Lord
prevent not their wicked plotts against vs. "
Winthrop laughed in his sleeve, perhaps, as he
read this speciously wrought epistle, and, instead of
sending troops to keep the peace in Cleeve's limited
domain, wisely divided his attentions between the
belligerents, willing to let the internecine conflict
go on, with or without carnage, as it might happen.
He replied to Cleeve: "the differences grew vpon
extent of some Patents & right of Jurisdiction
wherein Mr. Rigby & others in E(ngland) are inter-
ested & letters have been sent to them from both
partyes, & answer is expected by first return, there-
vpon we have thought it expedient to perswade you
bothe to forbeare any further contention in the
meane tyme, & have written to Mr. Jocelin &c to
that ende, who having desired our advice, we may
presume that they will observe the same, & will not
attempt any acts of hostility against you; we doubt
not but you wilbe perswaded to the same; which we
judge will conduce most to Mr. Rigbys right, and
your owne & your neighbors peace. "
It is easy to glean from this letter wherein Win-
throp's sympathies lay. He favored the interest of
Rigby, but at no time before, or even then, was he
294 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
prepared to assume the guardianship of Rigby's
unpopular representative, or the interests under his
charge. Winthrop read the times aright, realizing
that the Rigby influence would prevail, with the
influence of Gorges eliminated, and the royal pro-
tection withdrawn, with Cromwell "on the box."
The result was that Jocelyn ruled at Saco, while
Cleeve kept feeble sway at Casco, a state of affairs
that prevailed until the following March, 1646, on
the last when Cleeve convened the Assembly for the
province of Ligonia at that place to which Governor
Jocelyn attended, with his militia, but not with the
bloodthirsty intent anticipated by Cleeve. The
Rev. Thomas Jenner, designated by Willis, as the
first minister of the Puritan faith to be settled in
Maine, and who stepped into the shoes of the Epis-
copal Richard Gibson when he left the Saco Parish,
was present at this court at Casco. His relation to
Winthrop of the incidents of that richly humorous
occasion are not to be improved upon.
He writes :
"To the Right Worshipfull his very worthy friend
Jo: Wintrop Esq. & Deputy Gouernor of N. E. at his
house in Boston give theise.
Right Worshipfull, — My due respects remembered
to you. This is to informe you (according to request
made vnto me, both by Mr. Jocelyne & Mr. Cleeve)
that in Cascoe Bay on the last of March the major
part of the Province of Lygonia meet together, at an
intended Court of Mr. Cleeve. Mr. Jocelyne & his
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 295
company came armed with gunes & swords, or both;
Mr. Cleeve & his company vnarmed. After sermon
was ended, Mr. Joselyne & his company separated
themselues about a furlong from Mr. Cleeve & his
company. They sent vnto Mr. Cleeve a demand in
writing (with all their hands subscribed,) to haue a
sight at his riginals, promising a safe returne. After
some hesitation & demur, Mr. Cleeve, vpon condition
they would come together into one place, promised
to gratify them. The which being publickely read
& scanned, the next morneing Mr. Jocelyne & his
company deliuered vnto Mr. Cleeve in writinge, with
all their hands subscribed, a Protest against Mr.
Righbies authority of gouerment, that is to say, in
any part of that bound or tract of land which Mr.
Cleeve doth challeng by vertue of his Patent, viz.
from sgcadehock River to Cape Porpus. They
furthermore required & injoined Mr. Cleave & his
company to submit themselues vnto the authority
and gouerment derived from Sir Fferdinando Gorges,
& that for the future they addresse themselues vnto
their Courts.
Lastly they demanded of Mr. Cleeve a friendly
triall concerneing the bounds afore sayd, ffor Mr.
Jocelyne would that Mr. Cleeve his terminus a quo
should begin 60 miles vp Chenebec River, because
the Patent saith, it must lie neere two Hands which
are about 60 miles from the sea. Ffor answer to
it the Patent also saith, the tract of land of 40 miles
square, must lie on the south side of Sacadehock-
River.
296 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Now Sacadehock-riuer reacheth but to Merry
Meeting, & then its branched into Begipscot, &
Chenebec, & is no further cald by the name of Saca-
dehock. Now Sacadehock River is a certaine and
sure place for one term of its bounds, but the Hands
ear doubtfull, which they are; more oure ther pos-
session was first taken. Mr. Cleeve in his answere
readily accepted their offer of a triall at Boston;
wherevpon they both bound themselues each to
other in a bond of 500 li. personally to appeare at
Boston the next Court after May, then and ther to
impleade each other.
Furthermore Mr. Cleeue demanded a sight of their
originals for gouerment, none being produced, he dis-
claimed obedience, and told ther was no equality
betweene his something & their nothing. It was
also agreed, that none of each company or party
should, at any time or vpon any occasion, be troubled
or molested by any of the other party or company,
vntil the suit aforesayd be ended.
Mr. Cleeue layd his injunction in particular on Mr.
Jordan, neuer more administer the seales of the
Covenant promiscuously, & without due order &
ordination, within the Province of Lygonia.
I must needs acknowledge, to their high commen-
dation, that both Mr. Jocelyne & Mr. Cleeue carried
on the interaction very friendly, like men of wisdome
& prudence, not giuing one misbeholding word each
together, such was the power of God's Holy Word,
aweing their hearts, Your letters were also very
valide, & gratefully accepted on both parties. Thus
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 297
after two or three dales agitation, each man departed
very peacably to his own home.
Thus, right worthy Sir, according to the trust
committed to me, I haue faithfully (though rudly)
composed the chiefe matters in that their transac-
tion, & haue here sent them vnto you. So I comit
you to God & rest.
Yours to command
Tho: Jenner."
Saco, 6, 2m. 46.
Cleeve and Jocelyn fulfilled their bonds to the
letter, and the "tryall" was had at Boston. The
jury returned a non liquet, with a recommendation to
the parties litigant, to await the decision of the
Commissioners for Foreign Plantations, of which the
Earl of Warwick seemed to be the leading spirit, and
which Commission on the 27th of March gave judg-
ment to Rigby, and the persistent Cleeve, with the
Lygonia Province a fact, de jure et de facto, began his
brief supremacy. Gorges was dead. Charles had
been beheaded. The English Commonwealth was
firmly in the saddle, with Cleeve on the Rigby
crupper. In 1650, the news came over the water of
the death of Rigby, and following it came the attempt
to oust Cleeve who had more enemies than friends,
and the disorder consequent upon an attempt to
establish an independent government, such as this
was.
This was followed by the departure of Cleeve for
England where with Mr. Edward Rigby he consulted
298 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
as to the turn to be taken in their affairs. It was
now the turn of Massachusetts to take advantage of
the mild anarchy of the province, which she did by
at once assuming the governmental direction of the
settlements of Maine. Cleeve returned from Eng-
land in the early part of 1653 to find the jurisdiction
of Massachusetts extended to include the Saco settlers,
after which time until 1658 he made a pretense of
power, and kept up a form of government at Casco.
Even then the conscience of England had begun to
quicken toward the son of Charles I who was waiting
across the Dover straits for the cry to come over
into Macedonia. The submission east of the Saco
practically concludes the story of what Vines was
pleased to term " a broken tytle. "
Dr. Banks sums up: "Thus after a turbulent
infancy of three years and an almost pulseless exist-
ence of thirteen years, the Province of Lygonia by
submission of its freemen 13 July, 1658, to the
authority of the Province of Massachusetts, completed
its short but interesting career."
From the beginning, its charter rights had depended
upon a most specious interpretation of its charter
provisions, and one does not need to speculate or
conjecture the original purpose underlying the
apparent obliquity of Rigby, the persistent dis-
honesty of Cleeve who preferred a muddy to a clear
stream for his fishing, or the wary, cat-like footfall
of Winthrop as he followed the rougher tracks of
these two. The plotting was as persistent, nor had
it all been germinated in the soil about Cascoe.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
299
Winthrop halloed, "'St, boy!" only too frequently,
and Cleeve, like the farm dog, went at his chasing
the cattle around the Lygonia pasture, while Win-
throp sat on the pasture wall and just whittled.
Massachusetts alone profited out of all these
acrobatics of Cleeve, and with the purchase of the
Gorges title from the Gorges heirs, which title had
been reaffirmed by the High Court of England upon
the restoration of Charles II, thereby annulling the
Rigby title and making all acts under it invalid, it
300 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
acquired a large and valuable accession of territory
and taxable area. It had brought to 'Gorges bank-
ruptcy; to Rigby only expense and annoyance; to
Cleeve a ragged and disreputable character. There
seemed to be a fatality always being twisted into the
fibre of its incident, and it is a sufficient commentary
on Cleeve's connection with the enterprise to note
that in his latter days he was in sore need of friends
and means. He died poor, for all his extensive
holdings of lands about beautiful Casco; and it was
a great fall from that day when, master of all Lygonia,
perhaps with Gloucester, he may have exclaimed,
"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made happy, "
by a Puritan parliament, and he was to wield un-
limited power over those he formerly chose to term
his enemies. Winter, however, was beyond his
reach. Robert Jordan, the "minister of antichrist,"
and Henry Jocelyn became his assistants. They,
with others,
"Maken vertue of necessitie,"
yielded as gracefully as they might, lowering their
heads to avoid the beam.
What a profound contempt, however, must the
well-bred and gentlemanly Jocelyn have had for
Cleeve, under-bred, uneducated other than by cir-
cumstances, whose instincts, grossly degenerate, had
made of him a self-confessed forger and sub-borner!
Cleeve must have realized this, clothed as he was
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 301
with the amplitude of power, as he presided on the
provincial bench, a weak dilution of Jeffries' arrog-
ance without the latter's spinal cord.
In this relation the author has had almost con-
stantly in mind these lines of that well of English,
good old Chaucer, —
"Who so shall telle a tale after a man,
He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can,
Everich word, if it be in his charge,
All speke he never so rudely and so large ;
Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe,
Of feinen thinges, or finden wordes newe. "
However acutely Chaucer may apply, it is a true
tale subtly tinged with all the color of a romance,
while the recalling of its incidents has been only the
putting of old wine into new bottles.
THE ROMANCE OF BLACK POINT
..
THE ROMANCE OF BLACK POINT
HE romance of old Scar-
borough, the hunting-
ground of Mogg, of Scit-
terygusset, of Squanto;
the traditional environ-
ment of Farmer Garvin's
cabin; the playground of
the wildling beauty, Ruth
Bonython, was begun
when the first smokes of
Richmond's Island blew inland over the swaying
marshes, to follow the silver thread of the Spurwink
through the tawny arras that widened out miles, up
and down the low shores that held the uplands
apart from the sea.
In the days of Richard Bradshaw, the first to hold
title to any of its fair lands, of Cleeve, of Tucker,
and of Winter with his rude crew of fishermen, it
was a wilderness, once within the shag of verdure
that crowned its higher levels. For a generation
after, counting down from 1630, it was but here or
there along their outer edge one might discover a
305
306 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
stack of hay, a patch of maize, a low roof, with per-
haps an idly-flapping sail against the river bank,
unless over on Black Point there might be discerned
the huddle of smokes that betrayed the settlement of
Captain Thomas Cammock.
It was prior to 1630 that John Stratton came here,
for the name of Stratton had been fastened upon the
islands off Black Point for a considerable interval
of time before Captain Thomas Cammock procured
his grant of fifteen hundred acres of Black Point lands,
to begin at once his considerable settlement here-
about. Before 1630, here was a resort of the Eng-
lish fisherman, where was gathered from the sea a
lucrative harvest; for it was off these shores the
best and most profitable fishing grounds were located,
where, at all seasons of the year, almost, after the
first voyage of Smith, an English sail might have
been sighted plying this adventurous industry.
There was a fishing stage at the mouth of the Pisca-
taqua at the Isles of Shoals, and an earlier one that
looked out over the Monhegan waters. This of the
Scarborough shore came about midway. Of this
industry, Prince, an annalist of the times, says, as
early as 1624, "the fishing-fleet in these waters
counted fifty sail." It will be recalled that it was
in 1623-4 that Christopher Levett collected here-
about, the material for his "Voyage into New Eng-
land." He made himself familiar with the waters
about the mouth of the Saco, and he describes Scar-
borough River, old Owascoag, "about six miles to
eastward, " and he says, " there hath been more fish
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 307
taken within two leagues of this place this year, than
on any other in the lands." Naturally, familiarity
with these waters would beget familiarity with their
shores.
Others coming hither after him must have been
impressed with the possibilities of this new land
which was apparently open to promiscuous occu-
pation. Here was an excellent soil, well-disposed,
and of virgin fertility and covered with virgin
timber huge of shaft and of mighty proportions,
within the mysteries of which the secluded haunts
of the beaver, the otter, and numerous other of the
fur tribes of North America were later to be levied
upon for the building up of the initial commerce
between the old and New World. These earliest
fishermen were more or less engaged in the fur trade.
As bale after bale of choice furs found its way across
the water, the cupidities of men were aroused, and
regular trading stations for the gathering of furs were
established. The Indian was the aboriginal trapper,
and for all the simplicity of his methods his harvest
for a brief period was an abundant one. The trader
was most always possessed of the requisite streak of
eye-singleness, and too often of the commercial kin
of Walter Bagnall who was not long in paying the
penalty of his greed. English rum became the
staple of the fur barter, but with every year the
harvest of furs became smaller, until a year or two
after John Winter's plantation had become solidly
established he wrote Trelawny that prospects of fur
trade for the future were of the most discouraging
308 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
character. For the sustaining of a commerce with
the home country fishing became compulsory, and
it was carried on for a generation after Cammock's
coming with great profit and a corresponding
energy.
At the time of the Cammock Grant, 1631, " Strat-
ton's Hands" were well known. They are referred
to in Cammock' s Grant to mark down the locality;
and it is safe to assume that these islands were
inhabited as a part of old Scarborough for a consid-
erable time before Bagnall's intrusion upon the
verdurous silences and grape-scented slopes of Rich-
mond's Island. John Stratton's coming hither is
more likely to have been contemporary with the com-
ing of George Richmon. It may be assumed that
their occupancy followed closely upon the heels of
Levett. Stratton may have come from the Isle of
Shoals, or he may have been one of the ten men left
by Levett at his house on House Island, when he
sailed away to solicit the aid of Charles in building up
his new city of York. The mainland adjacent to
these islands was known as "Stratton's Plantation"
before Cammock' s advent, and doubtless this designa-
tion of the country hereabout was originated among
the fishermen who had become acquainted with John
Stratton, and had perhaps enjoyed the rude hospital-
ities of his island cabin. But little is known of this
first comer, or rather first settler, over against the
odorous flats of old Scarborough. Of his personal
history hardly a shred is left. That he was of the
indifferent sort is apparent, else he would have left
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 309
somewhat of an account of his time, and yet it may
be that his isolation precluded even that. He was
living in Scarborough as late as 1641. Much specu-
lation has been indulged in as to whence he came,
all of which is shrouded in conjecture. It is not
impossible that he may have been of the Popham
contingent, wandering down from Sabino after the
desertion of that locality by Gilbert's men. Whence
he may have drifted hither, however, or whenever
he may have reached Stratton Island is beyond the
reach of the most industrious antiquary, for it is
safe to allege he is but twice or thrice referred to in
the old records. Perhaps the only direct reference,
from a local point of view, is contained in the records
of a court held at Saco, March 25, 1636, viz., "It is
peticioned per Mr. Ed: Godfrey that an attachment
might be of one Brass Kettell now in the hands of
Mr. Ed: Godfrey wch were belonging to Mr. John
Straten of a debt due now 3 yeares from Mr. Straten
to him ... the sd Kettell to be answerable to the suit
of Mr: Godfrey against next Court to show cause for not
pament." Brass kettles were an enviable possession
in those days, as may be said of any other sort, down
to a shallow skillet. This man, Stratton, is men-
tioned in the original charter of Wells ; so that such an
individual was commorant of the locality, at a very
early date, is indisputable.
It was a beautiful and an unpaintable picture or
a series of pictures stretched along this natural
gallery from the hazy headlands of Cape Elizabeth
to the knob of Cape Porpoise, when the sun rose out
310
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
of the sea in the east to flood the salt creeks with
molten silver and light up the softly undulating
saffron of the steaming marshes — the marshes that
run from the
black ooze of
the sea rim into
the dusky
shadows of the wooded
wilderness miles inland
even in these later days
And the salt creeks,
rivers rather, that had
their birth among the
mysteries of these black
barriers of spruce and
pine dripping here and
there from the silver spindle of some hidden spring to
find for its slender trickling thread the sheltering
coolness of the marsh grasses under the lee of Scottow's
Hill, or to gleam and scintillate between the sedgy
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 311
barrens that hemmed the edge of old Owascoag, when
Levett came upon it, swathed in snow, or to keep to
the uncertain trail of the sinuous Nonsuch that leans
to the eastward to throw its glistening arm about
Winnock's Neck, and after all find the same outlet
into the sea; or still farther toward the sunrise,
beyond the pines of Prout's Neck to where the Spur-
wink of Cleeve and Tucker ebbs and flows with a like
inconsistency or foams over its shallow sand-bar —
these were the only highways inland, that, like the
veins along the back of a human hand, made the life
currents that ran up and down this flat maze of color.
Here was a wide reach of open lands, carpeted with
the yielding tapestry of the riant marsh weeds,
sounding myriads of the color tones in Nature,
softly alluring to the eye and consonant with the
yielding courses of its water ways whose devious
directions are suggestive of the ways of the ruminant
herd across the tussocked pasture. Here were the
hayfields of the early settler, and they stretched
away to beyond the Alger Creek where Col. Thomas
Westbrook had a mill, and still northward, past
this same ancient Scottow's Hill, narrowing to a
point where the woods converged, the dusky silences,
where, a generation later, the sachem of the Sacoes and
the crafty and unregenerate Bonython plotted over
their stoups of English rum — the one for Mogg's
hunting grounds, and the other for Scamman's
scalp and the fair Ruth Bonython who was to weave
anew the tragedy of Jael and Sisera.
The winding streams that broke apart or seamed
312 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
these broad masses of color, the wide marshes that
rose and fell like the yellow scum of a huge bowl, the
bleached sands and their overhanging shags of awe-
some woods, the uneasy tides, and over all the blue
dome of the sky, all these made up the pictures that
with each recurrent dawn limned for John Stratton —
A low black wall at ebb tide,
A yellow sea at flood,
Stretching and shrinking to northward,
The salt marsh against the wood, —
while the waterfowl wrote across the slant rays of
the sun the hieroglyphics of its erratic flight. The
offshore winds were laden with the spices of an unex-
plored Cathay, mayhap faintly suggestive of the
creosotes distilled by the fires of a nomad Sokoki,
or subtly tempered by the savory incense of the flats
left bare by the receding waters. There was a
smell of the wild grape blossom, deliciously, intoxi-
catingly sweet; and, when the ruddy-cheeked autumn
had come, the more delicate scents of the pendant,
ripening, clustered fruitage swept across the inter-
vening emerald from the Isle of Bacchus on the
moist winds that came from far beyond old Pema-
quid.
Whether Stratton noted the panorama that put
on a new countenance with every shifting light, to
read from it the story of the signs and the seasons, one
never may know.
As one has seen, the English history of these
Scarborough lands, once a part of the Gorges palat-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 313
inate, began with the occupation of Stratton's
Island, and Champlain's Isle of Bacchus, known by
the more plebeian cognomen of Richmond's Island.
It was on these two islands that the leaven of coloni-
zation was planted, for here, and along the levels
of Black Point, one finds the nucleii of what came
after. Nor has one to wait very long, for soon,
beside Owascoag's
"tranquil flood
The dark and low-walled dwellings stood,
Where many a rood of open land
Stretched up and down on either hand,
With corn-leaves waving freshly green
The thick and blackened stumps between,
Behind, unbroken, deep and dread,
The wild untravelled forest spread,
Back to those mountains, white and cold,
Of which the Indian trapper told,
Upon whose summits never yet
Was mortal foot in safety set. "
This was the picture to break on the vision of the
voyager of Cammock's day, and for long days after-
ward; but nowadays one sees, looking over the low
dusky foliage of the Norway pines that find pre-
carious nourishment along the porous sands of
Prout's Neck,
" Behind them, marshes, seamed and crossed
With narrow creeks, and flower-embossed,
Stretched to the dark oak wood whose leafy arms
Screened from the east the pleasant inland farms
314 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
At full of tide their bolder shore
Of sun-bleached sand the waters beat ;
At ebb, a smooth and glistening floor
They touched with light, receding feet.
Northward, a green bluff broke the chain
Of sand-hills; southward stretched a plain
Of salt-grass, with a river winding down, "
as it did in the days when Mitton and Cammock and
Jocelyn awoke its silences with a rattle of musket-
shots, while the wild geese, the ducks, and the young
CONFLUENCE OF DUNSTAN AND NONSUCH RIVERS
flappers went scurrying up, down and across these
levels of salt-grass to finally fade away in the maze
of the Spurwink over and beyond Winnock's Neck.
To Thomas Cammock is due the settlement on the
mainland, and it was doubtless from his settlement
that the extensive areas of ancient Scarborough were
developed and wrought into farming lands. Of the
settlement at Stratton's Island but a single dwelling
remains to tell the tale of its former importance.
The same is true of Richmond's Island. Whatever
THE SOKOKI TRAIL . 315
of human interest they once possessed is hedged
about by tradition. Cammock was a kinsman of the
Earl of Warwick, as has so many times been asserted
by one historian and another, a nephew. He was a
favorite, else he would have been unlikely to have
secured so large a grant of the most desirable lands
along the New Somersetshire coast. He came over
with English ideas. He thought to establish a
feudal sovereignty. He leased his lands, and his
tenants built and farmed or fished, and paid their
rents. Cammock was a man whose first care was of
0
and for his own. He does not appear to have been
at any time interested in the politics of the province,
and it is a fact borne out by the only instance of his
office holding, wherein he acted as commissioner for
the province of New Somersetshire in 1636. Other
than this, very little has come down from which
much is known of him. He sold some of his land, and
the remainder he disposed of to his friend Henry
Jocelyn, reserving a fair share for his wife, and then
he sailed away to the West Indies where he died.
This was in 1643. Jocelyn came to Black Point to
316 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
make his home with Cammock in 1635. It was a
modern case of David and Jonathan. After a
reasonable period of mourning, Mrs. Cammock
became the wife of Jocelyn, which suggests something
of a romance akin to that of Michael Mitton and
Elizabeth Cleeve over at Casco Neck. This wooing
of the widow by Jocelyn is one of the green spots in
those days of strenuous living, when there was but
little time for the soft dalliance of Love. Life was
crude. Its household appliances were of the scant
tale that made only the primitive foods possible.
Their grist mill was a rude mortar and an unwieldly
pestle. The hot ashes of the open fire made an
ample baking pan for the potatoes after they had
been introduced from Cape Elizabeth, and the bread
as well. The stout iron crane that reached out from
either sooty jamb of the low but wide-mouthed
fire-place held kettle and skillet pendant over the
blazing birch logs. Meats were roasted on an iron
spit that was turned slowly by the children, red-
faced, with the perspiration oozing from every pore,
to beget a desperation in the youthful mind that was
evolved into the hardihood of the swiftly maturing
years. It was the Inferno of Childhood, to turn a
spit while the drip was caught in a tray hollowed
out of a halved hardwood stick, or where one's
possessions were less frugal, an earthern pan, — and
then there was the basting. When the repast was
on the table, the housewife had earned the right to
her meed of praise. . . . They were virgin days, and
days of a virgin soil, all swathed in the most primitive
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 317
of conditions, and conditions that had their limita-
tions. A three-legged stool stood for a chair, and
the long low meal chest with a bearskin thrown
over it was a royal divan. A bowl of samp and
goat's milk often comprised the entire course of the
frugal feast, while a bit of hoe cake and a dip of
mutton fat was rich fare, indeed. Mussels, clams
and lobsters were to be had for the scouring of
the sea shore after a storm, to be baked on the
hot stones under a smother of seaweed, a la
Aborigine.
This settlement of Cammocks was a notable one,
for it was not until 1636 that the settlers began to
penetrate the lands above the marshes and to
build substantial houses. There is little left to sug-
gest the "fifty houses" that the old-time annalist
credits to the Cammock hamlet, and that once made
the, for those days, considerable aggregate of human-
ity that lent activity to the scene, and, where even
now,
" Inland, as far as the eye can go,
The hills curve round like a bended bow, "
and across country, up hill and down dale are
" Old roads winding, as old roads will, "
but not to the old-time ferry or corn mill ; for those
are obsolete in these days of patent flours, and when
Steam and Electricity are become the Cromwells
of the Commonwealth of rival industries. But there
are
318 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
" glimpses of chimneys and gabled eaves,
Through green elm arches and maple leaves, —
Old homesteads sacred to all that can
Gladden or sadden the heart of man, —
Over whose thresholds of oak and stone
Life and Death have come and gone. "
It was to the eastward that these original builders
of old Scarborough crept from Cammock's house, and
toward the Spurwink. Cammock laid his sills about
midway of what became known as Cammock's
Neck, the extreme peninsula-like rib of land that
makes the east boundary of the ancient Owascoag's
mouth, and it was located on a line drawn due south
from Castle Rocks. The earliest highway was along
the sands of Eliot's Beach past Hubbard's Rocks, to
end at Ambrose Boaden's house which was near the
south-side mouth of the winding Spurwink. North
of Boaden's, were the homes of Bedford and Lapthorn.
These date from about 1640, and looked out across
the shine of the Spurwink and the limitless blue of the
sea, and always the dull thunder of the beach was in
their ears, and borne in from the bold rocks of Strat-
ton's and Richmond's Islands came the roar of the
breakers. As for Boaden, who was an experienced
voyager,
"The very waves that washed the sand
Below him, he had seen before
Whitening the Scandinavian strand
And sultry Mauritanian shore.
From ice-rimmed isles, from summer seas
Palm-fringed, they bore him messages;
He heard the plaintive Nubian songs again,
And mule-bells tinkling down the hills of Spain."
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 319
Boaden pitched his tent almost on the edge of the
sea, and he found a pleasant companionship in its
proximity, where in his leisure he might watch
"the green buds of waves burst
into white froth-flowers. "
Boaden was a mariner. He was the master and
owner of the vessel in which Cammock and his wife
took passage to this new country, and these lands
about the mouth of the Spurwink were his recom-
pense instead of money. It may be that he saw like
Keezar, through another magic lapstone, the people
come and go from east to west, and from west to east ;
for adjacent to Boaden's house was the first ferry.
This first ferry was ordered by a court held at the
house of Robert Jordan, July 12, 1658. According
to the record, it was "Ordered yt Mr. Ambrose
Boaden shall keepe the Ferry over Spurwink River
to Mr. Robt. Jordan, to ferry passengers from thence
as occasion serveth. In consideration whereof the
said Boaden is to have 2 pence for every person he
ferryeth or carrieth over in prsent pay, and 3d for
every such pson as hee bookes down. Ambrose
Boaden willingly attempts of this Ferry on ye Tearmes
by the Court appoynted."
One rarely thinks, as one speeds under the summer
or winter sun along the Spurwink marsh-levels behind
his steed of steam, whose white mane trails a mile
behind, of the rude ferry of Ambrose Boaden; for
nothing of it remains to tell the tale of house, ferry-
man, or the rude craft that labored slowly toward the
320
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
hither side as might happen. But one is able to
locate the old Boaden landmarks.
Strange to relate, but two murders had occurred
for the first twenty years of this rude yeomanry
civilization. In 1644, at Gorgeana a woman was
put to trial for murder, adjudged guilty, and exe-
cuted. In 1646, Warwick Head was murdered, and
Charles Frost was accused of the crime and tried.
PROUT'S BEACH, PROUT'S NECK, SOUTH OF BOADEN'S FERRY
Boaden was on the coronor's jury. This made up
the tale of Boaden's public services. Losing his
eyesight in 1670, he quit the ferry and rounded out
an honest and reputable career in 1675, when he was
laid away somewhere among these Scarborough
sands. No
"winding wall of mossy stone,
Frost-flung and broken, lines
A lonesome acre thinly grown
With grass and wandering vines, "
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 321
to mark his resting place, or the resting places of
his contemporaries. One searches and questions in
vain for the ancient sites of these burial places, but
those were not the days of the common burial ground ;
and query as one may,
"The Sphinx is drowsy
Her wings are furled :
Her ear is heavy, "
and one turns from his quest silently, resignedly, for
Nature holds the secrets of those early days, writing
the epitaphs of her children in ripples of verdure
across the once rude scars that for a brief space
demanded the unwilling attention of the thoughtless
wayfarer.
Stephen Lapthorn, a neighbor of Boaden's, was a
tenant of Cammock; and it was this same Lapthorn
whom Winter warned off the south shore of the Spur-
wink when he had begun to build his cabin not
unlikely opposite the first roof-tree to grow out of
these lands, that of Richard Tucker, whose sills have
long ago rotted into the indistinguishable mold in
which they grew, and the location of which is as
uncertain. Winter threatened to pull his house
down as soon as it was built; but Lapthorn kept to
his building and Winter to his cupidous fuming, of
which nothing came, as Cammock was not a man
to brook interference upon so slight a pretense as
that urged by Winter. There is no question, going by
the location of Lapthorn, but Tucker and Cleeve were
located about where the Spurwink begins to narrow
from a broad river mouth into a river bed, as Lap-
322 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
thorn's cabin is easily located by the old charts not
more than a half mile from the bank of the Spur-
wink, southward. Winter had occupied the cabins
of Cleeve and Tucker and had begun the tillage of
the lands which, with two years of planting, were
in a fair state of cultivation, and which were made
ready to his immediate use. .Humanity has ever
been gregarious, and it is not unreasonable to credit
these early settlers with the desire for companion-
ship, and in those days a glimpse of cabin smoke
mounting through the morning air was like a gentle
greeting to these hardy pioneers along the Spurwink.
Still north, on the road to what later became the
upper Spurwink Ferry, were the homes of Walter
Gendall and a half dozen others, whose smokes
drifted down on the west winds after 1660 to blend
with those of the Winter settlement over Richmond
Island way.
These lands were the roaming grounds of the Saco
Indians even after the Algers, 1651, began the
settlement about what was known then, as now, as
Dunstan's. Cammock's tenants settled closely about
him on the Cammock plantation, to make up the
settlement of Black Point; and it was not until 1636
that other cabin smokes began to curl upward of a
morning from Blue Point. It was Richard Foxwell,
a son-in-law of Richard Bonighton (Bonython) who
was the first settler at Blue Point whose house was
near the old landmark of Hake-tree, and a little
to the south of where Mill Creek saunters into the
larger Owascoag, now known as Dunstan's River.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
323
It was adjacent to the old-time Clay's Landing. As
for Hake-tree, I have been unable to discover why
it was so named, as I find no mention of it except
upon the old chart of Blue Point. It was closely
adjacent to Foxwell that Henry Watts built during
the same year.
324 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
The entire country between the Saco River and
the Spurwink was the territory of Black Point. Just
when the narrow tongue of land now known as Scar-
borough Beach began to be called Blue Point is
uncertain; but that it became a local cognomen,
according to Jocelyn, to distinguish it from the
settlement of Black Point where Cammock had built,
is granted. It was within the bounds of Black Point,
however, as John Bonython discovered after his
appeal to the provincial court to sustain his claim
to the estate of his deceased brother-in-law, Fox-
well.
As the days went the years multiplied, and these
settlements were more widely dispersed inland along
the Owascoag and Nonsuch, until the clustered
smokes of Swett's Plains began to tinge the waters
of the Nonsuch; while, over Dunstan-way, the two
dwellings of the Algers had become the center of a
half score of cabins. New clearings were being
made yearly, and the blackened stumps of these
yearly "burns" marked the limit of the Indian
occupation. To recall Cammock's coming in 1631,
almost a generation had gone before the settler had
begun to build much away from the seashore. In
those days the Sokoki wigwam and the cabin mingled
the incense of their hearth fires.
One sees with eyes half shut,
0
"here and there a clearing cut
From the walled shadows round it shut ;
Each with its farm-house builded rude,
By English yeomen squared and hewed, "
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 325
to recall the ways in which these lands were acquired,
as evidenced by the deposition of Jane the Indian,
the daughter of Wackwarrawaska, Sagamore of this
Owascoag country. This Jane reserved the right
that she, as well as her mother, should be allowed to
live in the vicinity, as if the deed were not made
from the Sagamore, and she settled on the north
side of Blue Point on a slender jut ting-out of land
that made into the Owascoag opposite Mill Creek.
To this day this nub of land is known as "Jane's
Point." It was not many years ago that traces
of her cabin might be seen. The rock which made
the back of her fireplace has been removed and
built into the chimney of one of Scarborough's sum-
mer cottages. The story of her fire is still written
upon it, and the licking flames that kept her warm
through the rough wintry weather that came down
across these bleak marshes, and lighted her rude
hibernaculum, and filled her soul with reminiscences
of the days before Owascoag's
"wave-smoothed strand
Saw the adventurer's tiny sail
Flit, stooping from the eastern gale ;
And o'er these waters broke
The cheer from Britain's hearts of oak,
As brightly on the voyager's eye,"
was unrolled the vision of these low levels of open
lands of Scarborough, seem anew to burst into a
lively heat to gild the letters that marked her parting
with her birthright. Whether its vandal possessor
can read their mystery is to be doubted. By good
326 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
rights the ghost of Jane Hunnup should haunt the
new hearth-stone with uncanny complainings. If
one could read the date of her burial in the grave
which is located near by, by the pliant verdure
which has obliterated its ancient mound, it would
be found to be 1675. She was known as Jane
Hunnup, and not far away is a bowl of sand
snuggled amid the tall grasses where a perennial
spring of crystal water, sweet and cooling to the
thirsty palate, bubbles, its face upward to the
sun, and croons with almost inaudible voice as its
tiny flood breaks over its green rim to mingle a
few minutes later with the tide. This is Jane's
Spring. As one watches these opalescent pearls
rising at irregular intervals from the bottom of this
sandy cup, it may be that it is the gentle respiration
of Jane, whose uneasy spirit, Naiad-like, ever haunts
the spot she once knew so well, and as a child of
Nature doubtless loved and cherished as a direct
gift of the Manitou.
Here is her confirmation of the Alger title to the
lands of Dunstan, made the 19th September of
1659.
"This aforesayed Jane alias Uphannum, doth
declare that her mother namely, Nagaasgua, the
wife of Wackwarrawaska, Sagamore, and her brother,
namely, Ugagogsukit and herself, namely, Uphannum,
coequally hath sould unto Andrew Alger and to his
brother Arthur Alger a tract of land begining att the
Mouth of ye River called Blew Poynt River, where
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 327
the River doth part, and soe bounded up along with
the river called Oawasscoga in Indian, and soe up
three score pooles above the falls on the one side,
and on the other side bounded up along with the
northernmost River that Dreaneth by the great hill
of Abram Jocelyns and goeth northward, bounding
from the head yt River South West, and soe to the
aforesayed bounds, namely, three-score pooles above
the Fall. This aforesayed Uphannum doth declare
that her mother and brother and shee hath already
in her hand received full satisfaction of the aforesayed
Algers for the aforesayed land from the begining of
the world to this day, provided on condition that for
tyme to come from year to year the aforesayed
Algers shall peacefully suffer Uphannum to plant
in Andrew field soe long as Upham: and the mother
Negaasgua doe both live, and alsoe one bushel of
corne for acknowledgements every year soe long as
they both shall live. Upham: doth declare that
ye bargan was made in the year 1651: unto which
shee dothe subscribe, the mark of
Uphanum X't. "
The foregoing is a curious document, and is sugges-
tive of one of the methods by which the Indian was
inveigled out of his moral as well as hereditary title,
and like Esau, he got but a mess of pottage. It
was this and similar titles obtained in much the same
way, or in a fit of drunken generosity, that the Indians
gave the settler an excuse for the encroachments
upon their hunting-grounds and fishing-places that
328 THE SOKOK1 TRAIL
were emphasized by the blackened stumps that
spectre-like, greeted the vision of the aborigine as
he went to and fro over his once domain, a stranger
in his own land. The savage was wont to set up his
wigwam in the settler's clearing, and to help him-
self to the product of his industry, or husbandry.
This, after a time, grew irksome to the settler, and
it was not long before the savage grew as suspicious
as the settler had grown ungenerous.
As if the Alger brothers were not satisfied with
this declaration of Jane, they obtained a second
acknowledgement of her in the year 1674. The
name of Dunstan was given to the territory. They
were from Dunster, England, and this corruption
commemorates the old English town in which their
childhood was spent. If one is curious to locate at
this day the site of the Alger houses, they have only
to find the ravine that extends down toward the
marsh which is very near the landing road of to-day
where it turns in a southerly direction into the
field of what was once the Horatio Southgate
farm. Arthur Alger lived on the northerly side of
this ravine, while Andrew built his house across on
the opposite slope. The Alger cellar is still pointed
out, and as one stands upon the ancient site and
surveys the surrounding country, one gets the im-
pression that these men were not oblivious to the
beauties of Nature; for, extending outward from
their feet toward the sea was a fascinating picture,
which is not much different in these days from
what was unfolded to them with every sunrise,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
329
except that the wooded lands have been broken
up into parcels; but here is the same undulating
grasses of the wide marshes, seamed and crossed by
threads of liquid silver, cyane, or dun, as the sky
be fair or foul, or as the sun be in the east or
west, or toppling from its zenith at mid-day. The
same wondrous verdure makes the glamour of the
farming-lands; and beyond the white line of the sands
stretches the wide sea where the ships go up and
down.
ON THE ROAD TO DUNSTAN'S, BOULTER'S CREEK
There is a spontaneity in Nature that gives buoy-
ancy to every human nerve, that intoxicates the
brain to make the poet sing, the painter to evolve
masterpieces. To the lesser genius it appeals
similarly, to uplift and strengthen the best purposes
in life. To sip the cool flood of Jane's Spring, up
and out-flowing from its weed besprent marge, is a
revelation to the palate accustomed to the faucet of
a soulless water company; and one might go farther
and compare it to a draught from the marble-lined
fountains of Caracalla filled from the snow-capped
hills of Rome and brought thither through the most
330 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
magnificent viaducts for a world to marvel at, —
Nature is Nature still, and superlative.
One likes to think that these men looked up from
their tasks often, to become inspired anew with the
promise that lurks always in the sunlit sky, yes,
and on the rugged face of earth as well; and yet,
while they saw, they plotted for possessions, nor did
they apparently stand for a trifle of honesty or dis-
honesty. They were of a superior race, of superior
manners, (in some instances one would involuntarily
exclaim, God save the mark!) and of superior
privileges.
At the period around and about the time of Jane's
first confirmation of the Alger title, the Indians con-
sidered that they were simply giving to their^English
acquaintance an interest in common to enjoy their
hunting-grounds. They could not foresee the civili-
zation that was to eradicate the barbarism for which
the Indian stood, and further to annihilate it; but
when they began to be driven from their hunting-
grounds, their maize fields and their clam flats, along
with other wrongs, the most palpable of which was
the plying them with rum whereby they were robbed
of their furs, their lands and their means of common
existence; when the Englishman claimed the abso-
lute fee in the lands, then the silken thread of friend-
ship was frozen into the bond of hate, and they drew
apart and sought the deeper wilderness, to let their
wounds breed and fester into the open violence
and outbreak of 1675, when the family of Robert
Nichols was the first to be slain and their house at
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 331
Blue Point burned. This was the first act of retalia-
tion. But the story of the tragedies that made
Scarborough the "bloody ground" of the early days
must not be anticipated, except that the Algers were
among the first prey of the savage.
Of the earliest Scarborough settlers somewhat has
been written and less is known. Little authentic
is known except from the court records, which for
the time were a sort of olla podrida, and even these
are scant, isolated events, happenings in which one
individual or another stalks across the lonely stage,
whose part can be made up as it were but by an
isolate incident in his career. Little or nothing is
recorded of the women of the time, except as they
are haled before the provincial courts at one session
or another to be judged of their misdemeanors, and
these, much to their credit, are limited to three or
four instances, of which one offense originated within
the purlieus of Scarborough.
Watts was presented in 1640, for "carrying bords"
on the Sabbath. He, with others, found in Robert
Jordan a cause of annoyance. He had some trouble
with him by reason of Jordan, as a minister, inter-
fering with Watts' domestic affairs. This clergyman
of Spurwink was the means of separating Watts'
wife from her allegiance to her husband. The court
held Nov. 7, 1665, records the following: "Mr. Henry
Watts haveing some discourse with Mr. Jordan, in
the presence of this Court, did utter these words,
that such as sayd Jordan was did much mis-
cheefe as hee conceaved, haveing their discourse
332 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
about keeping away Henery Watts his wife from
him."
The object of the record is apparent, and evidently
intended to stand to the prejudice of Jordan. From
an examination of the record, nothing further is
mentioned of this discourse. Jordan was then one
of the commissioners for the king, and was perhaps
trying his judicial pinions on Watts. Cleeve was the
dominant influence at Casco as the deputy-president
of Lygonia, exercising jurisdiction over Scarborough
as well. He attacked the titles of the Blue Point
planters who stood out against his assumptions,
holding under the grants from Bonython; but Watts
succumbed to the Casco magnate and had a grant of
one hundred acres adjacent to his house at Blue
Point. Watts was evidently of a politic disposition, as
this incident would warrant. Watts had a mill. This
was on Foxwell Brook and he conveyed one-half of
his interest to one Allison, and in his conveyance he
describes himself as "of Black Point, alias Scar-
borough in the village wee call Cockell," evidently
a village nickname. There is another record in
which Watts figures. In those days the officers of
the law were very jealous of their dignity. Of the
commissioners of Scarborough and Falmouth, Watts
was one. He in some way trod upon the official toes
of his colleagues and he was complained of before
the next court " for abuse of the Commissioners by
saying they had sent scandalous letters into the Bay. "
At the hearing the charge was considered to be of
vital importance. As an instance of the prompt
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 333
curbing of free speech the incident is a strenuous
illustration. Watts was somewhat of a politician
after the fashion of the day, and was a member of
the General Assembly of the province of Lygonia,
also a commissioner under Massachusetts, 1648; a
constable in 1659; also commissioner in 1660, 1661,
and chosen by his townspeople to the same office in
1664. The General Court of Massachusetts having
some suspicion of his loyalty, refused to confirm
this election. The time of his death, as well as
his age, is uncertain.
Watts and Foxwell for several years were the only
settlers at Blue Point, but in time there came George
Bearing and Nicholas Edgecomb who wooed and won
the lovely Wilmot Randall away from her bondage
to John Winter. In 1640, there were only these four
plantations at Blue Point. Bailey and Shaw came
later. These early commissioners were qualified to
hold courts and to try cases under fifty pounds,
so it is evident that Watts was a man of some parts,
and of much natural ability. William Smyth, who
with Foxwell administered on Cammock's estate,
came to Blue Point in 1640, and from that time on
this portion of Scarborough made a steady increase
in population. It is, however, to be noted that
Andrew Alger lived upon Stratton's Island in 1645,
but he came to Scarborough from Saco at the time
he took his Indian title from Wackwarrawaskee and
his wife.
I have never seen any record to definitely locate
the date of Jocelyn's marriage to Margaret Cam-
334 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
mock; nor do I know that it is of interest to others,
unless one is much inclined to the sentimental side
of life. But, as a member of the Cammock household,
and as a boon and cherished friend of Cammock, the
widow could not have been unaware of the delightful
qualities of Jocelyn which made him so acceptable
an inmate of the Cammock mansion. One cannot
but commend her wisdom and good taste. With his
English training, Cammock must have built here a
great house much after the English pattern. He
came over here with almost manor rights, and after
the fashion of the times, with his head agog with
feudal rights and privileges, he built with a view to
maintaining his prerogative as a feudal lord, as became
the nephew of the great Earl of Warwick.
Here was a great, old-fashioned house, with ample
grounds, and from its upper windows the sea was
visible from every gable. One would like to have
had an Enchanted Carpet so he might transport
himself backward over the centuries to have dropped
in of an evening upon this semi-isolate man with the
fair Margaret demurely ensconced in her wide-armed
chair brought from over the sea, and seated where
the firelight shone brighest, playing at hide-and-go-
seek among the loosened strands that hung about
her forehead like an aureole lambent, softly illumi-
nate, while beside the opposite jamb of the low
wide-mouthed fireplace these English gentlemen
discoursed soberly of the days back in old England,
or essayed to solve jointly the problem of the new
civilization for which they stood active sponsors.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
335
Anon a merry laugh made the leaping flame quiver
and stay a moment to catch the turn of the quip at
Winter's expense as some incident of his domestic
life found its way into the warp of the common
conversation.
There are two stout stone mugs on the embers at
their feet and a slender wreathing of steam, fragrantly
SITE OF CAMMOCK'S HOUSE ON PROUT'S NECK
odorous, the incense of its distillation, like the
wraith of some disturbed spirit, steals noiselessly
upward, to blend with the pungent smokes from the
cumbersome backlog smouldering in the resinous
heats of the Norway pine of which Cammock's Neck
furnished an abundance. Who knows but they were
talking of the English wizard, Shakespeare, who had
died fifteen years before, or poring over that famous
336 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
folio edition of 1623, recalling rare Ben Jonson who
prefixed some lines as a frontispiece to that first
edition, and whom they must have known among
their London acquaintance. The Bedford tinker,
who was to write the English Odyssey just forty
years later, was but three years old and had hardly
reached the dissenting age; but the Stratford player
was entertainment enough. Milton's great work was
yet fifteen years away, nor did they need that, for
there was no dearth of topic to while away the
privacy of this hospitable hearth. One can conjure
many a thing done and story told to make the raftered
solidarity of this great living room vibrate with
well-bred jollity, with quaint and credulous John
Jocelyn as annalist.
As one recalls it, it was a long, low-ceiled room,
with massive timberings and deeply-recessed windows
with wide stools, where one might sit as the rain beat
in from the sea on the spray-laden gale, or watch the
surging of the waters along the nearby sands, while a
brisk fire crackled its challenge from the antique
firedogs fashioned beside some old Flemish forge —
a bit of spoil from muddy Holland in the days of
Elizabeth, and borne over the straits by Leicester's
freebooters. And those long-stemmed pipes of ruddy
clay, what dreamy wreathings of visible intangi-
bilities were blown away from their capacious bowls,
weaving more softly the soft spell of the silence
that from time to time enwrapped these three
gentle folk! One can hear the house dog whine,
unconscious of his complaining, dreaming like his
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 337
master, mayhap, while Tabby's shadow reaches out
across the thick rug of fur while she blinks medita-
tively at the swirling smokes that choke the dusky
flue; and the odors of those steaming stoups come
again.
"The quaighs were deep, the liquor strong,
and on the tale, "
the goodwife hung, to make
"a comment sage and long,"
or to hold her peace altogether.
Undoubtedly Foxwell rowed over of an evening,
or Boaden strolled down the sands from Spurwink
mouth, and perhaps Mitton from Casco kept him
company, and then from mouth to mouth the stories
flew, while gay yet observant John Jocelyn drank
in every marvelous tale Cammock and Mitton could
invent. Henry Jocelyn,, unconscious perhaps of the
likelihood of his brother John's turning romancer and
putting all these tales into a book, shook with merri-
ment when unreason seemed most to be reason gar-
nished with the grace lines of some monstrous sea
serpent that made its haunt off the rocks of Cape
Ann, or merman slaughtered over at Casco Bay, as
if one were not likely to see the greatest monstrosities
imaginable with hardly more than the fumes of the
steaming-hot aqua vitce filling one's nostrils and
beclouding his brain, with the storm winds pounding
the gables,
While ever the loud-flapping flame
Plays, like an urchin at his game,
338 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Along the sooty chimney-back, there
Or here, as fickle as the April air ;
Cuffs the black pot hooks on the crane
That dumbly, like a weather vane —
The stoic of the winter gale —
Hung impotent above the fiery grail;
Or, as the night creeps to its flood
Along the rough-hewn walls of wood,
Writes many a mystic hieroglyph
In wraithe-like silhouette, as if
The woodland sprites and elves had made
Out of this maze of light and shade
A dancing floor; while 'neath the length
Of smoking forestick, with recurrent strength,
The embers that have caught the sunset glow,
Responsive to the storm wind's ebb and flow,
Croon the unwritten melody,
The endless rune of earth and sky;
While the stout roof tree, like a stringless harp
Shrills to each wild sea gust in protest sharp,
Or chants, dissonant, in a minor key
Its lesser part in Nature's minstrelsy.
It was a series of Arabian Nights entertainments,
differing only in its limitations.
One would have enjoyed watching Cammock as he
wrought his wild domain into the semblance of an
English landscape. His trees were grown for him,
and he had but to open up their shadows here and
there to let in the sunlight so the grasses would come
in; and what huge monarchs of the forest they must
have been! How they must have towered above
his roofs, and their somnolent shadows, deep and
cool, how restful! But not many years later, hardly
more than a decade, and Cammock sailed away never
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 339
to return. He went to the West Indies, where he was
taken ill and died. This was in September of 1643.
Henry Jocelyn, a like quiet man and of analogous
character and disposition, the favorite of Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, possessed the talisman to landed
wealth and a like domestic treasure. His energy
was not of the active stamp of Cammock's, and it
fell much short of that of George Cleeve or even
John Winter, yet firmly adherent to his rights, he
seems evidently to have found his greatest delight in
the new career opened to him by his matrimonial
venture.
Cammock had left to Jocelyn by will the bulk of
his property enhanced with all the charm of sylvan
retirement, reserving to his wife Margaret five
hundred acres. So far as Jocelyn was concerned,
there is not a doubt but the most delightful possession
was to be acquired. What a delicious romance was
woven as with silken thread, overshot with the mild
firelight, as the long winter evenings held these two,
Henry Jocelyn the bachelor, and Margaret Cammock
the widow, in its immaculate privacy! And then,
as the spring began to blow up from the south and
the buds to burst their waxen bonds, and the wild
songsters to mate and nest among the pendant
branches of the overshadowing trees, the hearts of
these two were growing younger with every spring
carol, and who were perhaps waiting for the red
roses to bloom among the ledges. It was then that
Jocelyn, with Margaret Cammock's willing and even
eager assent, made himself residuary legatee of the
340
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
choicest parcel of personal estate appurtenant to
Ferry Rocks, which must have been more beautiful
then than now, unshorn of their pristine environ-
ment when the smokes of the first fires on the Cam-
mock hearth blew seaward on the west winds, when
Jocelyn first partook of the fine old-fashioned English
hospitality inaugurated by the builder of this first
spacious roof tree at Black Point. One can imagine
what a congenial soul was John Jocelyn, the romancer,
FERRY ROCKS, CAMMOCK'S NECK, BAR AT MOUTH OF OWASCOAG
to gild these halcyon days, soon to be invaded by the
cares and responsibilities of public life.
It was in 1636 that Henry Jocelyn became identi-
fied with the administration of affairs in New
Somersetshire, as one of its commissioners, and this
seemed likely to be the limit of his desires for public
preferment. It was later that he took up the
burden of the fight with Cleeve for jurisdictional
supremacy when Richard Vines had wearied of the
aggressive interference of the magnate of Casco Neck,
only to withdraw from it when the royal commissioners
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 341
for foreign plantations had decreed that he should
do so.
John Jocelyn was a younger brother. He was a
traveled man for the times, and evidently had an
abundance of leisure on his hands. His eye had
grown observant, while he owned to a facile pen.
He was possessed of a willing ear, and too often a
credulous one. He was something of a story writer
on his own account ; and when fortified by the imagin-
ings of Mitton and his boon companions, his tales
had the flavor of Munchausen and bordered upon the
marvelous.
Here is one of his romances in which Richard
Foxwell, the son-in-law of Richard Bonython, is the
actor who stalks across a scene that might have
served as a broidery to one of Queen Mab's frolics.
Jojin Jocelyn says he had it from the lips of Foxwell
himself.
" Foxwell having been to the eastward in a shallop,
on his return was overtaken by the night, and fear-
ing to land on the barbarous shore, put off a little
farther to sea. About midnight they were awak-
ened by a loud voice from the shore calling 'Foxwell!
Foxwell ! come ashore ! ' three times. Upon the sands
they saw a great fire and men and women hand
in hand dancing round about it in a ring. After an
hour or two they vanished, and as soon as the day
appeared, Foxwell put into a small cove and traced
along the shore, where he found the footsteps of
men, women, and children shod with shoes, and an
infinite number of brands' ends thrown up by the
342 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
water; but neither Indians nor English could he meet
with on the shore, nor in the woods!" And so
Jocelyn is led to remark, "that there are many
stranger things in the world than are to be seen
between London and Stanes. "
Black Point was at this time, 1640, the most
rapidly growing locality along the immediate Scar-
borough shore. It was a prosperous and as well
progressive community. Here was made largely the
early history of the old town. John Jocelyn, writ-
ing of this settlement about 1671, says: "Six miles
to the eastward of Saco and forty miles from Gor-
giana (York), is seated the town of Black Point, con-
sisting of about fifty dwelling-houses, and a magazine
or doganne scatteringly built. They have a store
of neat and horses, of sheep near upon 7 or 800,
much arable and salt marsh and fresh, and a corn-
mill. To the south end of the Point (upon which are
stages for fishermen) lie two small islands; beyond
the Point north eastward runs the River of Spur-
wink." This settlement would compare superla-
tively with many a thriving town of modern Maine
whose boundary lines touch upon the edges of the
State's wild lands. What more definite description
could be given of this first settlement of Scarborough
outside of its personnel, and even that is indicated in
its recorded thrift! It is a homely picture of homes
and herds and flocks; and one is able to approximate
the population. It is a single statement of fact, but
so tinged with the suggestion of bucolic atmosphere
that the romance of its daily living is rich with the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 343
delicate colorings that lend a fascinating charm to
its realisms, and the like humble experiences of its
probable contingent of three hundred souls who were
making the history of a historic old town.
It was thirty-eight years before that the sills of
Cammock's ample roofs were laid on the neck of land
that bore his name for years after, and by whose
example of English sturdiness these lands were
upturned to the sun, Cadmus-like, and in whose grit
were sown the Dragon-teeth by which the aborigine
was finally exterminated.
Henry Jocelyn was the son of Sir Thomas Jocelyn,
Knight, of Kent, and whose name is first of those
commissioners who were to organize the government
to be established under the charter for the erection of
the province of Maine. Sir Thomas did not come
hither, but Thomas Gorges came in his stead.
Whether fortunately or otherwise, Sir Thomas was
unavoidably delayed in England.
One is able to locate the date of Henry Jocelyn's
coming by a letter written by Mason to Ambrose
Gibbins, May 5, 1634: "These people and provisions
which I have now sent with Mr. Jocelyn are to set up
two saw-mills." We know the saw-mills were set
up, and it is a matter of record that this letter was
received by Gibbins July 10 of the same year; and
that was when Jocelyn's ship slipped her English
anchors for a maiden dip into the flood of the Piscata-
qua. Jocelyn came as Mason's agent, and so acted
until the death of his principal, which occurred not
long after. It was while so engaged upon the banks
344 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
of the Piscataqua that Jocelyn made his tour of
exploration into the wilds of northern Vermont.
Morton, in his New England Canaan, an extremely
rare book in these days, describes Jocelyn as an
explorer. He says, "A more complete discovery of
those parts (Erocoise Lake, now Lake Champlain)
is, to my knowledge, undertaken by Henry Joseline,
of Kent, Knight, by the approbation and appoint-
ment of that heroic and very good Commonwealth's
man, Captain John Mason, Esquire, a true foster
father and lover of virtue, who at his own charge
hath fitted Master Joseline, and employed him to
that purpose."
The death of Mason upset the plans of this obser-
vant and energetic young man, and upon the disin-
tegration of the Mason colony, he went almost directly
to Black Point, by reason, according to Hubbard, of
some agreement between the former and Gorges.
This was in 1635. Here, for a space of nearly forty
years after, he played the role of the most distin-
guished citizen. He was a gentleman and a thor-
oughbred aristocrat, kindly and considerate in his
attitude toward others; well read in the literature
of his day and broadly disposed in his relations with
those about him, withal generous. Like Vines and
Champernown, with them he made up the famous
Chesterfieldian trio of these early days of the Gorges
Palatinate. The political history of the province
has already passed under the eye of the reader
through which runs the devious influence of George
Cleeve from the latter's threshold at Casco Neck to
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 345
the rocks of Cape Porpoise, and which may be
likened to a slack line upon which much of the
pioneer linen was hung to dry, and which was more
apt to trail in the dirt than otherwise.
That Jocelyn was directly connected with Gorges is
evident from the large grants of land privately made
to him by the latter; for his holdings of Scarborough
or Black Point lands became extensive and valuable;
so that in time he was the wealthiest land pro-
prietor hereabout, when wealth was hardly more
than an acquisition. It had no ameliorations other
than the delights of possession, a substantial living
in which might be included a comfortable shelter and
a fat capon with servants and hirelings at every turn.
His yacht was a stout shallop; for a cross-country
ride was only here and there a blazed trail through
a limitless forest. The almost sailless sea was before,
and the unexplored woodland behind; there was the
arduous hunt through shag and over morass and
marsh; a shot with a shoulder-dislocating blunder-
buss at apparently never-lessening coveys of wild
fowl; a huge open fire, a stoup of strong waters, a
pipe, the occasional companionship of some fisherman
who had left Winter to become his tenant.
These, with his few books, and the delightful
company of Margaret Jocelyn filled his well-bred
leisure, except when the cares of public affairs invaded
his domesticity to break the monotony of self, —
the canker of ennui. Wealth to Jocelyn meant
means, but the end which it finally served lay away
down "red lane"; and to anticipate that was where
346 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the most of Jocelyn's holdings went, as tavern-
keeper Scottow at Dunstan's might safely avouch
were he alive and at his trade as he "bookes down"
the ever-lengthening score; for Scottow in time
became the owner of the big house and the wide
lands surrounding it at Cammock's Neck, but which
he left in Jocelyn's charge, while the former there
carried on a fucrative "fishinge."
Henry Jocelyn was at one time to Black Point what
William Pepperell was to Kittery, but before his
death he had absorbed the greater part of his im-
mense wealth in lavish entertainment and almost
princely hospitality in the gratification of his inclina-
tion for boon living and companionship. Perhaps
he was wise in so doing; for money is not much after
all, except as it gives power to unscrupulous and
selfish ends to inevitably curse the individual who
has no other aim in life except to tear down his old
barn that he may build a greater. Dives's story is
repeated with each of his prototypes, and with but
little variation. It is only the rich who can afford
to keep a skeleton in the closet, or a portrait of some
one of its kin turned to the wall. The upper and the
nether stone are never still, and the miller is never
at loss for toll.
It were better for Jocelyn that he should share with
others that which came to him so easily; and it were
better that others did likewise. What a stupendous
conscience fund would be accumulated with its
countless contributions, if those who feed upon the
weaknesses, the confidences, and credulities of others
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 347
were to repent. Unfortunately the millenium is not
in sight, but like the comet that goes sailing through
the illimitable spaces of the sky to return to the
visions of men only after aeons of years have passed,
it will come. Mayhap it comes to each as he throws
his shovel down for the last time.
In 1636 Jocelyn became an associate on the
Provincial Bench under William Gorges. Vines,
Bonython, Cammock, Purchase, Godfrey, and Lewis
were his colleagues, making up the personnel of the
first court of New Somersetshire, and which was
held at Saco, March 25, 1636, the notable ear-mark
of which in this regard is the attachment of John
Stratton's old" Brass Kettell '' at Godfrey's instigation.
Jocelyn's commission was renewed in 1639.
The first general court of Maine convened at Saco,
June 25, 1640. John Wilkinson was appointed the
first constable of Black Point, and at which time
eight families made up the tale of its humanity.
Five years later, October 21, 1645, Jocelyn was
elected assistant deputy-governor in anticipation
that Deputy-Governor Vines was about to depart
from the province, which he did shortly after, sore
and weary with the burden which the Old Man of the
Sea who lived at Casco Neck had imposed upon
him. He was sick with the unalterable and unvoiced
contempt he felt for the unscrupulous conduct of
Rigby's agent, and had taken ship for a more quiet
and congenial atmosphere.
Upon Jocelyn fell the mantle of his Elijah and the
burden of maintaining the integrity of the Gorges
348 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
government. Upon his assumption of the adminis-
tration aggressive measures were resolved upon by
the less sensitive successor of Vines. Military
measures were agreed upon, and the scattered
cohorts of the middle province were assembled and
were solemnly invested with all the panoply of
war, and in due time they marched over to Casco,
where a parley was held with Rigby's Deputy-Presi-
dent Cleeve, the Magician of the "broken tytle/'
with the result that within the year Jocelyn and his
Colonel General Bonython had ducked their heads
at the cry of "down bridge!" and had become
subservient to the Rigby regime.
In 1648 the edge of Jocelyn's resentment had
worn off so he had been able to mount the Provincial
Bench, — this time as an associate of the persistent
and apparently triumphant Cleeve, in which act one
discovers the former fine sense of loyalty to his old
friend Vines swallowed up in the grosser instinct
that compels the wounded game to run to cover, and
possibly, at that time, the wing of Cleeve afforded
the safest covert. Jocelyn was a royalist by birth
and education. Cleeve was a Roundhead, and one
can realize the repugnance which Jocelyn may have
felt in submitting to the inevitable. He regarded the
elevation of Cleeve as an ebullition of the politics of
the times, and his yielding his allegiance to Rigby as
a bending before the storm which was to be but
temporary, as was evidenced by the almost immediate
uprising against Cleeve when the news of Rigby's
death was wafted over seas. Jocelyn not only
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 349
sympathized with this futile rebellion, but actively
encouraged it. It was the swinging back of the
pendulum to its proper stroke, and he espoused the
royal cause anew, which made him trouble, as it
resulted in his arrest by and his subsequent recog-
nizance upon complaint to the "Bay authorities."
He was, however, discharged upon his appearance at
Boston before the general court, according to the
terms of his bond, as was Robert Jordan, who was
apprehended with him. Jocelyn was too notable a
man to be dealt with severely; but his adherence to
the Gorges interest was a matter of principle rather
than sentiment.
Massachusetts had swallowed York at a gulp, and
Jocelyn's arrest was but the dust swept on before
the storm that was blowing stiffly to eastward as far
as Merry-meeting Bay. From this on, events moved
surely, and so July 13, 1658, became a notable day
for Black Point, when the commissioners from
Massachusetts came down to take the last bite of the
cherry at which for ten years that Puritan body
politic had been nibbling, — the Gorges domain.
Perhaps Jocelyn yielded too easily, and yet these
slenderly equipped provinces were illy able to make
a successful contest against their more powerful
neighbor. So the "Submission" took place and the
townfolk of Black Point agreed in writing "to be
subject to the Government of the Massachusetts Bay
In New England." This action was further ratified
by them under "solmn oath."
This agreement was a bill of particulars broken into
350 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
"Articles" designated by numerals, and which might
well be called a Bill of Rights, and which consisted
of eleven propositions. Of these, that most interest-
ing is article seven: "That those places which were
formerly called Black Point, Blue Point and Stratton's
Island, thereto adjacent, shall be henceforth called
by the name of Scarborough, the bounds of which
town on the western side beginneth where the town
of Saco endeth, and so along the western side of the
River Spurwink eight miles back into the country."
This town was named for the English Scarborough,
and although it has been clipped by irreverent or-
thoepists of some of the letters of its final syllable in
its journey down the years, the idem sonans has ever
made its identity certain. Article ten provided
" that the towns of Scarborough and Falmouth shall
have Commissioners Courts to try causes as high as
fivety pounds. "
Jocelyn and Henry Watts were the first com-
missioners under that article, and Jocelyn' s honors
were augmented by his being created one of the
magistrates for 1658, an office of more considerable
extensive jurisdiction. All these honors were merited
and sustained by the character of the man. It was
a sop to Cerberus, perhaps, while Cleeve, who had
made the way to this aggrandizement of Massachusetts
possible by his fomenting the state of partial anarchy
which prevailed throughout 'the Maine province
from Cape Porpoise to Clapboard Island after 1636,
was ignored and left to find by his own candle-light
his way through that obscurity that shrouded his
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
351
footsteps down the after years, and that deepened
as his peculiar heritage with each recurrent falling
of the
" Sere and yellow leaf."
Prior to 1659 the Maine province was wholly
under the Massachusetts administration; but with
the following year Charles II had been seated firmly
NORTHERN RIVER
on the English throne, and the hopes of the royalists
began to revive, so that a son of Sir John Gorges
petitioned the king to restore the province of his an-
cestors. The royal demand was made upon Massa-
chusetts to make restitution or show cause for their
occupation. This demand was ignored, and was not
complied with until 1676, but the following year
Massachusetts had without notice to the king
secured the province by purchase from the Gorges
352 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
heirs for the sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds.
This trick on the part of Massachusetts so incensed
Charles that he ordered the money returned by the
heirs, but in this case possession seemed to be not
only the nine traditional points of the law, but the
tenth as well. As it was, the "big fish" lost some-
thing to a still larger. It was an early exemplifica-
tion of the Yankee trait always to get something
for nothing.
Before all this happened, that is to say, twelve
years before Charles II attempted to "settle the
peace and security" of this province, the royal
government was represented by a judiciary which
first convened at Wells, the visible paraphernalia of
the powers that were. It was for this judicial body
to enact "that every towne should take care that
there be a pair of stocks, a cage, and a couking stool
erected between this and next Court. "
At next court, Scarborough, much to its credit,
was fined forty shillings for its non-compliance with
this semibarbarous edict. There were no shrewish
wives in town, unless one recalls Bridget Moore who
meddled somewhat in her neighbors' affairs and
troubled her neighborhood with her vapors. One
William Batten was before the court upon a similar
presentment, as was Joseph Winnock of Winnock's
Neck. Winnock had possibly tarried too long at
Bedford's Tavern, so that his tongue got loose to
run him a race across lots; and, whereat, he fell upon
Mr. Francis Hooke, the magistrate, averring that he
was sober and every other was drunk, after the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 353
fashion of men deep in their cups. His offense was
"abusing Mr. Francis Hooke Just: of peace, by say-
ing he was no more drunk than Mr. Hooke, and
called sd Hooke 'Mowne CalfeV Winnock was
mulcted in forty shillings and sent home to sober off,
his journey no doubt colored by the reflection that a
moon calf and a magistrate of Mr. Hooke's eminent
respectability were not to be confounded. It is
doubtful if these implements of contumely were put
to use in Scarborough.
In 1668 Jocelyn had retired from active affairs.
Black Point had grown from the three habitations
at his coming to a semi-populous community. After
Winter's death in 1645, the fishermen of Richmond's
Island came over to the Jocelyn settlement largely
and took up lands and became sober (as sober as the
times would allow), industrious planters, and many
of them laid the foundations of the families whose
names are common in Scarborough in these days.
They were a hardy, hard-headed race, inured to ex-
posure and the strenuous effort that made living
possible in the lean times which made up the early
years of the settlement, nor did Black Point differ
in this regard from the neighboring settlements of
the period.
In these days of the second generation, Dunstan's
had become a well-settled section under the lead
of the Algers, Abraham Jocelyn, and Scottow. Here
was Jocelyn's Hill until 1660, when it passed by
purchase to Captain Joshua Scottow, by whose sur-
name it has ever since been known.
354
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Scottow kept an ordinary at Dunstan's but Nathan
Bedford was the first to engage in tavern keeping in
Scarborough. It is not a far stretch of the imagina-
tion to environ one's self with the rough walls and
low ceiling of Bedford's taproom. Overhead were
the huge stringers that stretched from wall to wall
upon which the floors of the upper rooms were laid,
smoke stained and festooned with the tapestry of the
industrious spider. Across one side was the huge
SCOTTOW S HILL
fireplace with rough stone jambs within whose
black jaws sat a half-dozen cronies, each with a
steaming mug of rum in hand, swapping stories
between sips, or blowing whiffs of fragrant incense
from their long-stemmed pipes in which were alight
the romance of the Virginia tobacco fields, while
above the rude iron dogs with cheerful crackle
crooned the Spirit of the Fire, anon suggesting the
pallid winter sun, or as it burst into a livelier blaze,
the torrid heats of mid-August. One feels the grit
THE SOKOK1 TRAIL 355
of the sanded floor under foot, and listens to the rude
jokes that pass current with the like rude yeomanry.
This first tavern was located at Blue Point Ferry.
Bedford was town constable in 1665, and the court
records show that two years later he was reprimanded
by the justices " for not keeping due order in reference
to his ordinary. " High times there must have been
and not infrequently. In 1669 he has become more
emboldened, and has made his taproom a taproom
indeed. It was this year he was presented " for sell-
ing beare and wyne. " This was his second offense,
but he appears to have slipped the leash of the law.
In 1673 he was again presented, this time "for not
providing a house of Intertaynment for strangers."
This was obviated by his securing a legal permit
from the selectmen. One pleasantly conjectures
what sort of a sign hung at the corner of his gable.
I imagine "Red Lane Tavern" would have been
as good as any, for Bedford prospered in a way, and
"red lane" was a favorite byway with his constitu-
ents; for hard drinking in those days was common
as is a temperate abstinence to-day. Whether one
was born, married, or buried, the influence of the
hour was pitched to the quantity of rum or Canary
to be afforded. Bedford's Tavern was a common
resort, though Bedford himself was far from being
a popular townsman. It was a place for congenial
spirits, for story telling, and was frequented by
farmer and fishermen alike. It is a traditional fact
that his customers came from miles away, which
were certainly shortened by their dry lips and liquid
356 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
anticipations, to be as well curtailed on their ways
homeward by the oblivion and the drunken humors
imbibed from the numerous stoups of Bedford's
providing.
Bedford ended his tavern keeping in 1681 when
he came to a sudden termination of his career, as
was thought at the time, by violence. Suspicion
was fastened upon Scottow, then the wealthiest man
in the old town. Scottow was somewhat of a high-
handed character, and Bedford was somewhat in
disrepute. There had been words between the two,
and an inquest was held in August of that year.
The jury reported on the twenty-fourth day of that
month, "Nathan Bedford's body being vewed and
his corpes being searched by ye Jurie of Inquest,
and Mr. ffowlman, a Chyargion, sd Jurie did not
find any of these bruises about his head or body
to bee mortall without drowning wch they judge to
bee the cause of his death." In the following Sep-
tember the court ordered further investigation and
Scottow was summoned. In the record of May 30;
1682, "Scottow Cleared" appears on the margin.
The tale of contemporary trials for the taking of
human life hereabout is limited to the presentment
of James Robinson, the cooper, who was tried for
the Collins murder, but which resulted in an acquittal.
Scottow was a singular man. He was something of
an Indian fighter, a member of the Boston Artillery
Company, 1645, and a writer of tracts, and even
books.
It was in 1680 that the town was presented for not
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 357
maintaining a ferry at Black Point River. One finds
in the record of the court, 1682, "Wee psent the
town of Bla: Poynt for not keeping a ferry at bla:
Poynt River — The Court upon examination of the
case acquit the Town of this presentment, and finds
John Start as by testimony appearing hath under-
taken ye ferry wrby hee stands lyable to answer
any Neglect in ye Premises." Attached to this
finding was an order to Scottow to put in a better
ferryman. There were no roads. The seashore was
the common highway, and these ferries were indis-
pensable. In 1672 the court records show the fol-
lowing entry, "For the more convenient passage of
strangers and others from Wells to Cascoe the expe-
dition wrof is daly hindered by observance of ye
Tyde in travelling ye lower way wch by this means
may bee pvented, It is yrfore ordered by this Court
yt ye Towns of Wells, Sacoe, Scarborough, and Fal-
mouth, shall forthwith marke out the most con-
venient way from Wells to Hene: Sayward's Mills,
from thence to Sacoe Falls, and from Sacoe ffalls to
Scarborough above Dunstan, and from Scarborough
to Falmouth." This was about the line of the old
post-road over which the Portland stages went on their
way to Boston. It was some years after this order
before this highway was passable for travelers, but
it was the beginning of the good roads movement,
and as such should be remembered.
It was in 1675 that the Indians began to be trouble-
some, and after the incipient raid on the Purchas
cabin at New Meadows River the alarm became
358 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
general. It was in 1676 that Henry Jocelyn's house
became the object of attack. It is averred that the
Jocelyn manse stood over an old cellar very near
what is now known as Garrison Cove above Cam-
mock's Neck. It was a great house, and was forti-
fied as a garrison, and it held the key to the Neck,
being reputed to have been the strongest in the
province. It was resorted to by the inhabitants
indiscriminately, and, according to Hubbard, it might
have been made to have withstood all the Indians in
the province had it been properly defended. It was
here, October, 1676, that a considerable force of
Indians appeared under the leadership of Mugg. He
was a famous chief and had mingled with the Eng-
lish familiarly. He knew Jocelyn well, and with his
Indian diplomacy left his hundred savages in covert
and singly and alone approached the garrison which
was under the immediate command of Jocelyn, in
Scottow's absence, and proposed a "talk." Jocelyn
accepted the proffer, and engaged for some length of
time in a friendly conversation with Mugg, the con-
clusion of which was that Jocelyn should surrender
the garrison. Jocelyn returned to the garrison to
submit the ultimatum of Mugg, to discover that its
occupants other than his own people had taken to
the boats and were safely away. It was "Hobson's
choice" with Jocelyn, and he at once placed him-
self under the protection of Mugg, who returned to
his captives the same kindly offices he had been in
the habit of receiving from them. The garrison
in the hands of Mugg, the English abandoned the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
359
town by the following November, but before the
winter was out a peace was concluded between Mugg
and the Massachusetts government, and the sixty
captives were redeemed.
Jocelyn never returned to Black Point. The In-
dians were troublesome adjuncts under Mugg, who
broke his treaty at the first opportunity. This re-
MiftWJftM
SITE OF SCOTTOW'S FORT
suited in the building of Scottow's Fort in 1681, a bit
inland from Cammock's Neck. It grew as in a night,
and was a famous stronghold. Its site may yet be
distinguished by its remains which are not wholly
obliterated. It was not until 1688 that the final blow
fell upon Scarborough, when the last entry was made
in its town records for that century. It remained for
the plundering Andross to raid Castine's warehouses
on the Penobscot and thus set the torch to the Indian's
hand to light his way hither, when the sands of Scar-
borough began to be saturated with the ruddy tide
360 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
that was to consecrate it for all time as the "bloody
ground" of the provincial days. This may be called
the first settlement of Scarborough, otherwise to be
recalled as that of Black Point.
There is little left of its early history of a tangible
sort. Even the graves of its early settlers are un-
known. No relics are left of that earliest period.
Lechford, writing of their burials, says, "At burials
nothing is read, nor any funeral sermon made ; but all
the neighborhood, or a good company of them, come
together by the tolling of the bell, and carry the dead
solemnly to the grave, and there stand by him while
he is buried. The ministers are most commonly pres-
ent. The dead are buried, without so much as a
prayer, in some convenient enclosure by the roadside."
In Scarborough there was no bell to toll. A drum was
used instead, and this by judicial order. The manner
of conducting the funeral service in the days of early
Black Point may have had less form than this. The
site of the first church is located in the neighborhood
of the "Black Rocks" on the upper ferry road in
1663. This is on the east side of Libbey's River where
it merges with the old Owascoag. It must have pro-
fited by the services of Gibson, Jordan, and Jenner
somewhat.
The ecclesiastical affairs of these early days are as
much swathed in tradition as authentic record. After
"Master Jenner" there was an interegnum of several
years, but how long is uncertain. The Rev. John
Thorp was here somewhat before 1659 evidently, for
in that year he was brought before the court by Robert
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 361
Jordan and Henry Jocelyn for "preaching unsound
doctrine." No doubt Thorp was of the Puritan cult,
while the complainants were of the Episcopal belief.
Further tradition has it that in 1665 Black Point had
a settled minister who preached for an agreed salary,
but it is silent as to his name, his creed, or the length
of time he served his flock. This fact is substanti-
ated by the record of suits against sundry individuals
who refused to pay the " stypend" due from them for
his support. These were Quakers, of whom Sarah
Mills was one, and who was given "20 stripes" for
her adherence to Quakerism. In 1668 this pastor had
retired from the Black Point field. In May, 1668,
the court ordered the inhabitants to procure a min-
ister. That they did not obey is evident from the
record that the town was again presented in 1669,
also in 1670. In 1671 Black Point was being regu-
larly supplied.
In 1680 the Rev. Benjamin Blackman, a son-in-law
of Captain Scottow, was settled here. Scottow gave
him a deed of twenty-four acres of land at Dunstan
for a parsonage and a glebe, but two years later Black-
man had removed to Saco where he afterwards came
to own nearly a quarter of the Saco township, and as
well all the mills in the Bonython and Lewis settle-
ment.
The pastoral relations of the old town seem to have
been something of an intermittent character, as if
here were an arid soil and not peculiarly adapted to
the raising of spiritual crops. It was much the same
in the settlements of the time up and down the coast,
362 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
unless one excepts York and Kittery. Its popula-
tion was doubtless of a promiscuous character, made
up largely of fishermen who had turned planters, who
were of a bibulous disposition according to John
Jocelyn. He says: "The People in the Province of
Mayne may be divided into Magistrates, Husband-
men, or Planters, and Fishermen — of the Magistrates
some be Royalists, the rest perverse spirits; the like
are the Planters and Fishers, of which some be Plant-
ers and Fishers, others mere Fishers."
These "perverse spirits" constituted the sum of
Black Point's humanity. That it was a stony field
overspread with a thin soil and not over resourceful
in itself may well be believed. Then there was the
strenuous struggle for an existence made more pre-
carious by the common habit of indulgence in strong
liquors.
Jocelyn says further : " They have a custom of tak-
ing tobacco, sleeping at noon, sitting long at meals,
sometimes four times in a day, and now and then
drinking a dram of the bottle extraordinarily: the
smoaking of tobacco, if moderately used refresheth the
weary much, and so doth sleep. The Physician allows
but three draughts at a meal, the first for need, the
second for pleasure, and the third for sleep; but little
observed by them unless they have no other liquor to
drink but water."
This note of Jocelyn' s is a quaint and honest one,
and gives the pitch to the old-time song of labor
that made rich or sorely impoverished. It lets in a
flood of light on the ways of those days and one can
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 363
imagine the sottishness, the satyr-like lubricity, the
"boon-welcome," and hilarious settings of stage
scenery that stared at the Black Point minister at
every turn of the vision ; and the coarse ribaldry that
confounded his hearing. It must have been exas-
perating to "the cloth/' and I surmise the clergyman
had a right to get exasperated under stress, along with
the rest of humanity, at this semi-inebriate atmos-
phere of Black Point. Jocelyn in the same regard
notes that when the merchant comes to buy their
commodity which they have wrested from the sea
or the land he pays for it, "in the midst of their
voyages and at the end thereof," with liquor. The
merchant "comes in with a walking tavern, a Bark
laden with the legitimate blood of the rich grape,
which they bring from Phial, Madera, Canaries, with
Brandy, Rhum, the Barbadoes Strong water and
Tobacco; coming ashore he gives them a Taster or
two, which so charms them, that for no persuasion
will they go to sea," or do other work until the spigot
runs dry. It is a dark shadow, this, that stalks
across the picture of the times that one likes to
think of as pitched to the high key of a rugged thrift
and a like sturdy honesty of manhood. Jocelyn's
notes are the searchlights of the period and must
be taken as faithful transcripts of the prevailing
habits and character of the people. It may have
been that the unsettled state of political affairs at
this time, or from the interference of Massachusetts,
down, had somewhat to do with the erratic course of
ecclesiastical matters; for our annalist above quoted
364 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
says of 1671, "The year being well spent, and the
Government of the Province turned topsy-turvy,
being heartily weary, and expecting the approach of
Winter, I took leave of my friends at Black Point,
and on the 28th day of August shipt myself and my
goods aboard of a shallop bound for Boston." Joce-
lyn's observations at Black Point and the near vicin-
ity covered a period of about eight years and a half,
a sufficiently prolonged stay so that he may be con-
sidered as writing of his own people. At this distance
of time he seems a most loveable character.
George Burroughs, the afterward wizard of Casco,
was the next minister to come here, 1686, from Fal-
mouth. The province records contain the following:
" 30 March 1686. It is ordered by this Court yt the
Re: Cor: to give notice to Mr. Burrows, minister of
Bla: Poynt, to preach before the next General As-
sembly at Yorke." It is unfortunate that the church
records of the time were not preserved, and it may
have been that such were kept only to be destroyed
by the Indians in some one of their raids, as one
cabin after another was put to the torch. The
building of the first church is located in point of time
before 1671. Tradition puts it about 1665. Henry
Jocelyn locates its site very nearly. He writes of
the superstition of the Indians "regarding a flame
in the air from which they predicted a speedy death
of some one dwelling in the direction in which it first
appeared." He saw this " flame " — to remark, " the
first time that I did see it, I was called out by some
of them about 12 of the clock, it being a very dark
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 365
night; I perceived it plainly mounting into the air
over our church, which was built upon a plain little
more than half a quarter of a mile from our dwelling-
house." This would locate the site of the church
in a northeast direction from Ferry Rocks, perhaps
a half mile out upon the plain on the upper Ferry
road. Other than this, its site is wholly conjectural.
In 1681 occurred an episode of a somewhat prosaic
nature, being a not unusual happening before and
since in church parishes. A quarrel arose over the
moving of the meeting house. The committee to
whom it was left adjudicated "wee judge ye ffortifi-
cation set up by ye Inhabitants of Scarborough in
the plaine is both the safest and convenientest place
for it." For four years the quarrel raged and the
house was not moved. September 29, 1685, the
court eliminated or rather annihilated the opposition
by ordering a "fine of five pounds" to be levied on
every person who should obstruct the placing of the
meeting house on the spot selected for it, and Parson
Burroughs began his parochian labors immediately
thereafter, which were continued but for a limited
space. With his departure, in the parish of Scar-
borough, the spiritual field remained unplowed until
1720.
As before noted, Henry Jocelyn was not very active
after 1668. He became somewhat embarrassed, for
in 1663 he mortgaged all his property to Joshua Scot-
tow of Boston, the consideration being the sum of
three hundred and nine pounds, nineteen shillings, ten
pence. In 1666, for the additional sum of one hun-
366 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
dred eighty pounds sterling, he confirmed this mort-
gage and made the fee absolute in Scottow. This
included the whole of the Cammock grant at Black
Point, together with the seven hundred and fifty acres
granted him by Gorges, his "dwelling house, out
houses, fish houses, and stages, with other conven-
iences." He lived in the new house built by him
farther up the Owascoag until his capture by the Indi-
ans. There is no record of his widow's death, but she
went along with her husband to Pemaquid where he
was in service under Governor Andross in an official
capacity for the following six years, and where he died
in the early part of 1683. Governor Andross wrote
Ensign Sharpe at Pemaquid, September 15, 1680, " I
have answered yours of the 7th instant, except what
relates to Mr. Jocelyn, whom I would have you use
with all fitting respect considering what he hath been
and his age. And if he desire and shall build a house
for himself, to let him choose any lott and pay him
ten pounds toward it, as also sufficient provision for
himself and wife as he shall desire, out of the stores."
Henry Jocelyn was the most distinguished man of
his time within the Gorges palatinate, who was for a
longer period and more actively engaged in public
affairs than any other. As Willis says, " Nothing has
been discovered in the whole course of his eventful
life which leaves a stain upon his memory " : a just
tribute to an eminent man.
This is the story of Henry Jocelyn and a few of his
contemporaries at Black Point, a story of days that
now own to no remnant of its early importance, and
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
367
nowadays offers a stretch of shore broken only here
or there by clustered summer cottages whose dwellers
find little in common with the protogeners of the
locality. Old Black Point exists only in name. It
is the silent wand of a magician whose powers are
dead with the hand that once wielded it.
East or west, old Scarborough has no doorstep.
One crosses the boundary line as one would a seam in
a house floor, without seeing it. On the north are
THE SINUOUS NONSUCH
the uplands of Oak Hill and Dunstans, crowned with
a deciduous verdure that is a welcome relief after the
low flat marshes that border the Spurwink, Nonsuch,
and Dunstans' rivers. At the confluence of the two
latter is the broad Owascoag that flows out or in as
the tide serves between Cammock's Neck — better
known in these days as Prout's Neck — and Pine
Point, which latter is the seaward extremity of old
Blue Point. Along the edges of the marshes are
fringes of low Norway pines broken with the dusky
368 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
huddled spires of spruce, and behind these are the
gently rolling uplands brilliant with tourmaline colors
that give a rare tonic quality to the wide-reaching
landscape. Scarborough is a locality of magnificent
distances, its miles upon miles of marshes seamed
with tide creeks and rivers that gleam like threads of
blued steel entangled in a mesh of living verdure.
Here or there a glistening white sail tops the green
levels like a fleck of cloud that has dropped from the
sky.
It is a beautiful country, and a picturesque, aside
from its attraction for the antiquary.
If one has an inclination to search out the foot-
prints of a bygone people perhaps the Scarborough
Beach station is as good a place to pick up the trail
as any other, if one comes by rail. It is a good four
mile saunter to the extremity of Cammock's Neck,
which is dominated by a modern hostelry much fre-
quented by summer idlers. Halfway thither, one
crosses the first landmark of the olden days, which is
nothing less than a sinuous salt creek that winds in
and out the salt meadows, to keep on to the uplands
to the eastward. There was an ancient corn mill on
this creek and it was located near the highway, the
first to be built in old Scarborough. It was running
in 1663, and it was a very important accessory to the
community in the days when the corn and rye had to
be taken to Boston to be ground, else it was pounded
into coarse meal in the old-fashioned samp mill, which
was nothing but a huge block of wood hollowed out
with hot coals, and a like unwieldy pestle hung to a
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
369
diminutive sweep. This stream is Libby's River,
for it was here that old John Libby set his cabin.
This John Libby was from Broadstairs, County of
Kent, England. Broadstairs was a little coast town
some fifteen miles from Canterbury. He was of the
posterity of Reginald Labbe, an Englishman, who
died in 1293, the inventory of whose estate is worth
the recalling and the writer quotes : " Reginald Labbe
LIBBEY'S RIVER, NEAR' SITE OF CORN MILL
died worth chattels to the value of thirty-three shill-
ings and eight pence, leaving no ready money. His
goods comprised a cow and calf, two sheep and three
lambs, three hens, a bushel and a half of wheat, a
seam of barley, a seam of dragge or mixed grain, a
seam and a half of fodder, and one half-pennyworth
of salt. His wardrobe consisted of a tabard, a tunic
and hood; and his 'household stufiV of a bolster, a
rug, two sheets, a brass dish, and a tripod or trivet. . .
Possessing no ready money, his bequests were made
370 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
in kind. A sheep worth tewpence is left to the ' High
Aulter' of the church at Newton, and another of the
same value to the Altar and fabric fund of the church
at 'Eakewood.' His wife Yda received a moiety of
the testator's cow, which was valued at five shilling,
and Thos. Fitz Neoregs was a copartner in its calf to
the extent of a fourth. . . . The expences of his fun-
eral, proving the will, &c. were more than one-third
of the whole property. The charge for digging his
grave, was an even penny; for tolling the bell, two-
pence; for making the will, sixpence; and for probat-
ing it, eight pence."
It is a morsel of its kind, and a rare morsel at that,
with its " half -pennyworth of salt," and its "seam"
— horse load or eight bushels — " and a half of fod-
der." The name Libby is found differently spelled
Idem sonans seems sufficient. One finds it sometimes
Luby.
Stopping for a moment upon the bridge over Libby 's
River one looks westward to see the marshes widen out
into the low horizon of Pine Point, while to the east-
ward the stream offers the charm and seclusion of a
trout brook with its broidery of birches and maples;
for the meadow narrows as if about to impart some
rare confidence of Nature, and twists and turns with
an ever-varying and pleasing perspective.
A fourth of a mile farther on toward the Neck is
the road that turns sharply eastward to lead one to
olden Spurwink, where Ambrose Boaden kept a ferry
that ran across to Robert Jordan's and the toll was
twopence a trip for cash, but if the traveler had his
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 371
ferriage "booked" it was one pence more. But the
reader has already found his way to the Isle of Bacchus
and the country appurtenant, and one is not to be
diverted from the way to Cammock's Neck; for it was
from this latter locality emanated the earliest influ-
ences from a human point of view. Leaving the
Spurwink road to the left, once past a bit of shady
woodland, one comes out upon a low, wood-colored
house that of itself has no historic interest, except that
at the easterly edge of the garden, growing almost under
the shadow of its easterly gable, not many years ago
could have been traced the star-shaped scarp of Scot-
tow's Fort, which after the breaking out of the first
Indian war became a place of refuge for the settlers,
and about the palisaded walls of which skulked the
savage Sacoes with sinister fortune.
Adjoining the plantation of old John Libby lived
Christopher Collins, who was supposed to have been
murdered, for which supposed crime one James Rob-
inson, the Black Point cooper, was indicted June 26,
1666; but at his Majesty's court, "houlden at Cascoe,"
the grand jury found " that the sayd Collins was slayne
by misadventure, and culpable of his own death, and
not upon anie former malice." Robinson was ac-
quitted. Collins left a son, Moses, who was afterward
given twenty stripes for being a Quaker. It was a
year after the mysterious death of Christopher Col-
lins that Joshua Scpttow of Boston made his first pur-
chase of land in Scarborough. It was a part of the
Collins plantation. Scottow afterward came to own
nearly all that part of the Black Point settlement.
372 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
It was in 1681 Scottow began the building of his
fort, and it was at this time Thomas Danforth, as
president of Maine, conveyed to Joshua Scottow,
Walter Gendall, Richard Hunnewell, William Bur-
ridge, Andrew Brown, Ambrose Boaden, and John
Tenny, as trustees, the extensive township of Scar-
borough. The deed of trust bears date as of July 26,
1684. Scottow was the heaviest taxpayer, his assess-
ment being laid at £3 11s. 4d.
The Scarborough settlers had largely located about
Swett's Plains, through which part of Black Point the
reader has come to reach Libby's River, and it was
to form a nucleus of common safety Scottow was to
erect his fort. Scottow gave the land about the fort
between Moore's Brook and the southeast end of
Great (Massacre) Pond to the extent of two hundred
acres to the town on which the inhabitants should at
once settle, two acres being allotted to each family,
the houses to be set in alignment, and no one nearer
the fort than eight rods. It was the same plan pur-
sued at Cascoe. Black Point was at the height of
its prosperity, but there were clouds in the sky, and
they gathered and broke with a terrible finality about
the 21st of May, 1688; for that day notes the last entry
in the town records for the seventeenth century. And
it was after the fall of Cascoe, 1690, that Scottow Fort
was deserted, as were all the other garrisons east of
the Saco.
There are some curios in the little wood-colored
house, Indian relics, skulls, and copper plates taken
from Indian graves, which one is allowed to look upon,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 373
perhaps. This Great Pond is a sheet of fresh water.
It is a bit farther along the road to the Neck and it is
a pleasing feature of the flat landscape. Great Pond
and Massacre Pond are one and the same, and it takes
its name from a tragic episode that occurred in the
fall of 1713. News of the Peace of Utrecht had just
come to the settlers, who supposed that the savages
had withdrawn to their wilds among the woods of
St. Famille. A party of twenty settlers left the garri-
I'
MASSACRE POND
son on the Neck to go after the cattle which had
roamed at large during the summer, and among them
was Richard Hunnewell, the Indian fighter. Hunne-
well was at the head of the little squad, and other than
Hunnewell, who had a pistol, the remainder were
wholly unarmed. Among the alders in the edge of
Great Pond two hundred Indians were hidden in
ambuscade. As Hunnewell and his companions
passed the place of savage concealment, a hundred
muskets blazed and roared and nineteen of the unwary
374 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
settlers fell. A single man escaped to the garrison to
tell the murderous tale. They were buried in a com-
mon grave in a little field on the Neck.
Hunnewell was a terror to the savages. His cour-
age was of the indomitable sort, and his hatred of the
Indian after the slaying of his wife and child by them
was unappeaseable. They feared him as they did
Harmon and Charles Pine, to whom these three white
men bore charmed lives. In their encounters with
the settlers the savages must have suffered severely,
for the skeletons of seventeen savages were dug from
a common grave within the sound of the lapping
waters of Massacre Pond, and not far from there Hun-
newell fell into the ambuscade.
Almost two centuries after, a man was plowing
over these fields and his rude share turned a skull out
upon the furrow. The happening got abroad, as such
things will, and upon a careful excavation these skel-
etons were found buried in a sitting posture, and over
the heads of some of them were discovered the copper
plates already alluded to — the grewsome mementos
of some unwritten foray, the story of which was buried
in the old graveyard in the deeps of the stunted pines
that stretch away toward the Black Rocks, Blue Point
way.
As one goes up and down these byways of old Scar-
borough it is not easy to lay the phantoms of the old
days that come unbidden to keep one company with
the fresh winds that blow over the salty marshes; for
it was along the arable lands that border these low
levels that the episodes of the lean days in ancient
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 375
Scarborough's history press upon the recollection;
and one hears phantom steps by his side as he walks,
keeping to these footpaths that have grown into mod-
ern thoroughfares. It is not far from Massacre Pond
to where Cammock had his clustered roofs. A turn
in the road and the wide Owascoag gleams south-
ward in the sun, and the wide-spreading bare sands
stretch from Ferry Rocks to Ferry Place Point with
the tide at ebb.
One looks upon the picture of the drowsy sunlit sea
and shore with half shut eyes, and sees the low roofs of
Cammock's manse, with these shifting sands at his
right. A row of ancient willows lifts a verdant screen
against the garish yellow of the sand bar, and it is only
a stone's toss away to the left a little hollow is pointed
out as the place where Cammock planted his roof tree.
Almost under the drip of the eaves of the whilom
Prout's Neck House, a weather-stained hostelry within
the shadows of its magnificent elms and willows, was
Cammock's great barn. It is but a few yards from
this to the uneven lines of the old Cammock cellar
just by the corner of a dishevelled board fence where
the weeds show a vagrant bloom in the brilliant sun-
shine. One stops for a little to conjure up the Eng-
lish-patterned home of Cammock, and this nephew of
the English Warwick along with his contemporaries,
Winter, Cleeve, Vines, and Jocelyn, comes to keep one
cheerful company, and a rare quintette of ancient
story makers they are, with John Jocelyn to keep tabs
on their gossipings of horned snakes, mermans, and
other monstrosities.
376 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Looking through the break in these willows above
the shore, planted undoubtedly by Cammock or John
Larrabee and their ilk, one sees the grass-colored dunes
of Ferry Place, a curving uneven line of sun-bleached,
wind-driven grits where the Algers had their flake
yards, and near by which Henry Jocelyn built him
a goodly house after the fair Margaret Cammock had
become Margaret Jocelyn. It was at the end of this
point the Ferry road terminated. In 1658 the Owas-
coag and Spurwink ferries were established by law.
Boaden had set up his ferry at Spurwink, but it was
somewhere about 1673 the court indicted the town
for not providing a ferry across the wider Owascoag,
and the order was made : " In reference to ye ferry, Its
ordered yt the Town shall take course with the ferry-
man to pvide a good boate or Conows sufficient to
transport horses and to have 9d for horse and man,
and 6d for ferring ym over, and Sacoe River to have
ye same allowance."
Old Scarborough, like her sister settlements along
the York River and Kittery shore, owns to its tradi-
tional witch, and it may be said to possess not a few
of the younger generation of to-day. But the story
of the uneasy soul that sleeps, so it is related by some
of Scarborough's antiquarians of the modern school,
in one of Scarborough's burying grounds, and of the
venturesome man who essayed to shear the witch's
mound of its shag of hirsute verdure, is of the most
nebulous character. If there were ever haunted
houses in the old town to make the nuclei of hair-
raising tales, the ghosts have been laid long since.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 377
There is, however, a tradition that clings to Ferry
Place that may be worth the telling. Who the inhu-
man ferryman was is not related, but he was fond of
his fire, his mug, and his pipe, when the storm sprites
drove the slant rain up the Owascoag, better even
than the toll for his ferriage. It came about one
night, when the wind and rain beat in upon the shift-
ing sands of Scarborough River, an unlucky wight
found himself upon the Blue Point shore without
companionship or shelter.
Across the storm-roughened waters and through
the rack of the driving wet he saw the glimmer of
the ferryman's light, and, fearsome of the treacherous
sands, with the night shutting down so impenetrably
about him, he cried out through the lull in the tempest,
"Ho there, ferryman!"
Thrice his voice spanned the boisterous waters, and
thrice the ferryman ignored his hail.
"Ho there, ferryman!"
Weird and shrill smote the hail on the ferryman's
ears above the din of the tempest. He left his pipe
and mug. As he pulled the bobbin the latch flew up ;
the door flew open and the wind and wet blew in.
There he stood and listened, but he heard only the
wail of the wind and the swash of the troubled waters.
"What fool's abroad on such a night!" he shouted.
" Get to your boat, ferryman, I must cross the river !
Ho, ferryman!" came down the wind.
" Cross the river as you will, an' you may go to the
devil if you will, but I'll not put over the stream this
night!" shouted the ferryman through his hands; and
378
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
he went in to his fire, leaving the traveler to the drip-
ping winds and his own devices.
When the ferryman's hearth had grown gray and
the fire in his pipe had gone out and he could see the
bottom of his mug, he went to bed, but not to sleep,
with the storm beating upon the low gable of his hut
and the shrill cries of the stranded traveler sounding
in his ears. The next morning he was up with the
FERRY PLACE, SITE OF JOHN JOCELYN'S HOUSE, GARRISON COVE
dawn and going down to the shore, as he peered
through the misty drizzle he stumbled over the stark
corpse of the traveler where the waves had thrown it
up in mute rebuking for his inhumanity. The body
was buried in the now unmarked graveyard, under the
stunted pines amid the slant unlettered stones. But
now the old stones have disappeared, carried off by
impious hands to find ignoble resting places in one
and another of the neighboring cellar walls. Like the
site of Henry Jocelyn's old manor house, and the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 379
church that stood by the ferry road, and the Alger
flake yard, the ancient graveyard is obliterate. So is
the ferryman, but when the storm swoops down upon
the Owascoag and the winds are high, the gale even
now thrills with the cries of the tempest-beaten trav-
eler, and this ferryman, long since gathered to his
fathers, answers the hail. All one can make of these
mouthings is, "Go to the devil, go to the devil!"
And like old Trickey of the York shore, who wears out
every storm with his futile imprecations as he vainly
ties the elusive sands with his " More rope ! more rope !"
so the ferryman pushes his boat into the teeth of the
gale and through the pall of the night, to and fro,
across the stream, with the dank corpse of the traveler
at his feet; else he stands a specter within the lintels
of his long vanished hut as he listens for the empty
hail. When the storm is over the light goes out, the
spectral cries cease, and the ghost of the ferryman
and his spectral boat are burned away with the mists.
If one will look at the map of Blue Point the dotted
line will be noted leading away from the main road as
now followed to Cammock's Neck and toward the
Black Rocks. There is still a rut through the low
pines and white sands, and it leads one past the site
of the first church and out through the old flake yards
to Ferry Place, where Timothy Prout had his ferry
house and some quaint huts of the fisher folk who
may be seen any day going in their dories to the fish-
ing grounds outside, or coming in as it may happen.
Other than these huts of the fishermen there is noth-
ing here but the sand dunes, unless one notes a hollow
380 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
in the sod at the edge of the wood a little off the high-
road, the single footprint of a once human habitation,
possibly that of Henry Jocelyn, though it would seem
too far away from Ferry Place for such to be true.
Jocelyn's house looked out upon Garrison Cove, and
from this old cellar to the cove would be a consider-
able stretch of the vision with a clear vista cut through
the pines.
About Cammock's Neck was the most considerable
settlement of Black Point, and over by Jocelyn's was
where Nathan Bedford had his ordinary or tavern.
He was the ferryman as well, but later went over to
Spurwink. His high-backed settle and his great fires
were very attractive and were much frequented by
the settlers. He kept good "beere and wyne," and
he sold it, for which the court brought him up once
or twice with a round turn, but without much effect
evidently. It was a leisurely jog affected by the trav-
elers of those days, when carts were unknown and
everybody was in the saddle and Bedford carried on
a thriving trade. Like that of Christopher Collins,
his end was involved in some mystery and there were
hints of a foul crime, as has been heretofore noted, in
which Captain Scottow became involved. Not far
from Bedford's tavern was a garrison. It may have
been that in which Henry Jocelyn was captured when
his retainers had put out to sea in his last boat, leav-
ing him in the lurch to make his peace with the savage
Mogg. It may have been the garrison built by John
Larrabee in 1702 upon his return to Cammock's Neck,
after the savage onslaughts following 1690 when he
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
381
sailed into Garrison Cove to anchor near the Ferry
Rocks. It was located very nearly where the Prout's
Neck House now stands and was considered to have
been the most favorably located for defense of all the
Black Point garrisons. It was probably John Larra-
bee's fort, as there seems to be no mention of a prior
occupancy of any part of the immediate vicinity for
a like purpose. It was in this year of 1702 that
"Queen Anne's War" broke out. A truce had been
patched up with the Tarratines, but it was immedi-
p '; ,/f \ifl,\\<^-^' V !| ',, liV' r///i" .^-t^'.h /;/«"/
'
BLACK ROCKS, SITE OF ALGER'S FLAKE-YARD
ately broken by the appearance before the Larrabee
Fort of five hundred French and Indians under the
French Beaubasin. Beaubasin demanded an imme-
diate surrender of the place, but Captain Larrabee,
with only eight available fighting men, refused to
capitulate. Situated as it was upon the bluff above
the shore, Beaubasin at once saw the feasibility of
undermining, and at once set about the work. • The
bank is as steep and as high to-day as it was then and
the miners were utterly without the range of the mus-
kets of those in the fort. Murmurs arose among the
382 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
men in the fort, some of whom were inclined to sur-
render, but Larrabee sternly asserted that he would
shoot the first man who should again venture the word
surrender, and the cowardice was at once rooted out.
They patiently awaited the moment when the miners
should reach the cellar of the fort, but that moment
did not ensue, for a great rainstorm came and the
mine caved and filled, and the savages as they wrought
were at the mercy of the muskets of the fort. Shortly
after, the French and Indians withdrew and Larrabee
and his little force had maintained a successful de-
fense, but Spurwink and Pine Point had been com-
pletely desolated. It was such incidents as the above,
though without the terrible odds, that the Black
Point settler found stalking up to his threshold down
to 1745, and that they were strenuous as well as peril-
ous times is certain. Lean days they were of a surety.
Cammock's Neck is of considerable area, comprising
perhaps a hundred and twelve acres, in the main well
set up, with high wide outlook, excellent for tillage,
and as delightful a spot to idle away a summer as any
other on the Maine coast. It is picturesquely beau-
tiful, for the outer shores are masked by ragged
boulders and jagged ledges, with only Stratton's and
Bluff islands in the middle foreground to break a
limitless sea prospect. A riant verdure crowns the
land edge and there is a sinuous path one may follow
through the odorous bayberry bushes along the crest
of the Kirkwood cliffs and its surf -beaten rocks, olive-
painted with masses of seaweed, around to Castle
Rocks, which are overlooked by a trio of beautiful
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
383
summer homes, where Nature has been lavish with her
wilding bounty, for she has no need of an Olmstead
to curtail or enhance the abandon of her garnishing
this beauty spot. The outlook from the little foot-
bridge that spans a curious fissure in the rocks is unsur-
passed, unless from the veranda of the Evans cottage.
As a vantage point for the dreamer it is superb. From
foreground to horizon line where the pearl gray mists
CASTLE ROCKS, PROUT'S BEACH
weave the receding or incoming sails into argosies of
romance, every ripple of the placid sea is a line in
the poetry of Nature, to be translated only by the
mystic.
To the left is John Jocelyn's cave and the wide
sweep of Prout's Beach, a gracefully bending ribbon
of yellow sand that reaches around to Hubbard's
Rocks almost, and beyond is Higgins' Beach and the
foaming bar at the mouth of the Spurwink, the Buena
Vista where in the days of Cromwell, Robert Jordan
384 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
kept open house, and where began that long line of his
descendants that seems to have held to all the tradi-
tions and characteristics of its ancestors. Up, over
and beyond Prout's Beach the old fighting ground
about Scottow's Fort is in plain sight, while directly
fronting the vision is Richmond's Island, reaching
out its verdurous length from off the Cape Elizabeth
shore toward the seaward mists. One recalls George
Richmon, who is identified nominis umbra with this
disintegrate vertebrae of old mother earth showing
above the blue of its surrounding waters, its first occu-
pant after the visit of Champlain twenty years earlier
who found its grapes so delicious. Upon the heels of
Richmon crowds "Black Walt" Bagnall, the royster-
ing Tom Morton of Merrymount, and the grasping
John Winter, who swallowed the whole Trelawney
patent at a gulp.
It was from Richmond's Island that Winter, greedy
of everything his eyes compassed, made his forays
into Cammock's meadows along the banks of the
Spurwink when the wild grasses were in bloom, for
the former was not averse to making hay whether the
sun was out or in, as George Cleeve found to his cost
a year later. The Episcopal, Richard Gibson, fared
no better than Cleeve. His unappreciation of the
charms of the fair Sarah Winter ousted him from his
rectory here, for Winter, soured at his neglect of so
excellent an opportunity for wedlock, practically
starved the clerygman both in stomach and purse, so
that the latter was compelled to betake himself to
"Pascataquay." Those were days when instead of
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
385
a lone house amid treeless acres a hundred smokes
clambered up the invisible ladders of the air of a
morning as the fisher folk were astir; when for a single
sail luffing up to its anchorage were two score of Eng-
lish bottoms, their holds bulging with the finely woven
stuffs of England and the choice vintages of Spain,
and that afterward sailed away laden to their scuppers
with rich furs, salt fish, and pipe staves.
SOUTHGATE HOUSE, DUNSTAN ABBEY
Stirring times, indeed, prevailed at Richmond's
Island for the fifteen years prior to 1645, but somno-
lent enough in these days of steel thoroughbreds by
land and sea; for along the line of sea and sky, for a
glint of snowy sail is a low-lying trail of smoke; and
for the ring of a horseshoe on the rocks is the shriek
of the midday express, pounding across the trestle
over the Owascoag, that flies across the meadows.
386 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Bedford's tavern and the Blue Point ferry are a dream,
for the disillusionment is complete; but noisy, bustling,
iconoclastic To-day needs no sponsor, and may well
be forgotten with nothing better than a tennis racquet
or a golf stick to punctuate its tale of summer idleness.
These sturdy lichened rocks and yellow sands and
sleepy marsh lands of Cammock's Neck are potent
romancers and are redolent with stirring memories
from which the poor world has striven hard to fly
away, forgetful of ancestral traditions and ancestral
beginnings. If the schoolboy has his history book it
is sadly deficient in much he should be taught, espe-
cially the Scarborough school urchin, and redundant
in much rubbishy lumber. It is not unlikely should
these old garrison sites, these like ancient cellars and
landmarks of Jocelyn's days, be designated by some
generous soul by tablets of wood or metal, that not
only would the mental activities and local pride of its
youth be quickened, but the stranger within the gates
would find his entertainment doubled and time to
hang less heavily on his hands. A propos of this is
the remark dropped by the young man who drove
me along the old Southgate toll road to the site of
Vaughn's garrison. I had made a pencil sketch of
the place and as we returned to Oak Hill he asked,
"Do you think making pictures of these old places
amounts to much?"
"Not to the masses, possibly, but to the saving
remnant a very great deal," I replied.
"I don't see Anything in it," he responded with an
assumption of mature wisdom.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 387
"That is your misfortune, my friend," I suggested.
Then I inquired, "You are a native?"
"Yes."
"And do you know who built this road across the
salt marsh into Dunstan's?"
"Why, the town of Scarborough, of course!"
"No, old Robert Southgate built it and exacted a
toll of all who used it. Your town road ran farther
north through the woods and was the longer way
around. Later on the town acquired the road over
the marsh. That is interesting, is it not?"
"B'crackee! I should say 'twas!" was the genuinely
surprised exclamation.
"That goes with the 'pictures.' "
"Say, Mister, I'll have t' read that book o' yourn!"
and the sincerity of his voice was an assurance of his
interest.
One should be able to say to himself -
" Mine eyes make pictures when they're shut,"
and along these byways of old Scarborough the pic-
tures hang in time-worn shreds to be sure, but pictures,
nevertheless. They are painted along the sedge of
the marshes; etched upon the shifting sands of the
shore ; graved upon the adamant ledges, and brushed
into the bending verdure of the fields. They break
upon the vision at every turn of the road. They
hang from every bush. They flash suggestion from
the sunlit creeks; and out and in, over and across
these old places one may believe, if one likes, that old
John Stratton and Cammock and all their compeers
388
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
keep to these familiar and unfamiliar paths with noise-
less footsteps, mayhap brushing against one as they
pass, and one says, " It is the wind ! " They peer into
one's face out of eyeless sockets and their hands
reach out and one says, "It is a strand of spider's
web." Subtile voicings fill the ear to startle one to a
backward glance to see only his shadow, empty and
silent at his feet. It is an uncanny thought, but there
is a sudden chill in the air, a creepy feel of the flesh,
a quickening of one's feet, and a longing for one's
own kind.
A MODERN BYWAY OF OLD SCARBOROUGH
If one goes over the ground and along the ghost
walks of Black Point, as did the writer, he will find
himself at the end of his delightful jaunt at the turn
of the Spurwink road and half way to the station,
which is an easy walk of two miles. Half way along
on his return journey, he will be able to locate the old
church which was built in 1741 or thereabout, and
on the opposite side of the road the famous Ring tav-
ern, the contemporary of the old Stroudwater tavern
kept by the Broads, and a place of noted hospitality
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
389
in those hospitable days. Ring was here about 1728
and was one of the sixteen original members of the
Black Point church. The fame of his old inn extended
beyond the borders of old Black Point, for Parson
Smith, in his journal under the date of February 4,
1763, notes the setting out on "a frolic to Ring's of
Brigadier Preble, Col. Waldo, Capt. Ross, Doct. Coffin,
Nathl. Moody and their wives and Tate, and are not
yet got back, nor like to be, the roads being not pass-
HEAD OF ALGER'S CREEK, NEAR SITE OF' WESTBROOK'S MILL
able." The Tate here mentioned was not unlikely
William Tate, the trader at Stroud water. Parson
Smith notes on the llth, February, "Our frolickers
returned from Black Point, having been gone just ten
days." They were snowbound, and the Ring larder
was sorely taxed, for the snow was five feet deep on a
level and " mountainously drifted on the clear
ground." Southgate says, "Ring's tavern was on
the corner opposite the old meeting house, just where
the road to the Clay Pit meets the highway." But
390 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
time has not been so forbearing of this famous inn as
of its Stroudwater ilk, for it lives only in tradition,
while the latter holds its rooftree as stoutly to its
ample chimneys as a hundred years ago when the
coaches began to run between Falmouth, Portsmouth,
and Boston, cleaving the shadows of the Broad elms
as they went to and fro, while the former was nearly
three miles off the stage line. They were famous
hostelries in their day, nor could they be less with such
Falstaffian landlords as Silas Broad and David Ring.
All day afoot, the ghost of the old Ring tavern sug-
gested meat and drink. The vision of John Winter
brewing his English malt and basting Michael Myt-
ton's ducks wore a savory shadow, but it is not to be
doubted but the whilom spigot of the Black Point inn
dripped as good ale and its roaring fires turned as
toothsome a roast. Not being a disciple of Mrs.
Eddy the feeling of physical weariness, hunger, and
thirst was insistent. At the typical country store
which overlooked the station lamps that were show-
ing their first flicker a modern Hebe served me with
a bottle of ginger ale which was broached with a feel-
ing of mild satisfaction, although the carbonated con-
coction was something like a platitude of speech,
commonplace but wet, yet it could be identified
without special effort.
The following morning early, the train dropped me
at the Scarborough station, with Winnock's Neck as
an objective. Two options offered by way of ap-
proach to the Neck. There was the highroad around
by the ancient Hunnewell house; as to the other, there
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
391
was opportunity to turn hobo and to take to the ties
for a mile to a private crossing, when a turn to the
right through a swale and up a slight rise would reveal
the site of the once Plummer garrison on Winnock's
Neck. As one approaches Winnock's Neck by the
railway tracks one is struck with its picturesque dis-
position, the huddle of gray roofs amid their orchard
tops, where from a trio of ruddy chimneys the smokes
of the morning fires curl lazily up into the September
air. It has the look of an English landscape. On
either hand are the low marshes stretching away into
vistas of slow disappearing mists. It is a picture
at once charming and idyllic, for the low sloping ver-
dure of the Neck and the adjacent marsh lands fill
the perspective.
Fifteen minutes of hobo tramping through such a
delectable scenery, and pad and pencil were busy, with
the dew still on the grass and the apple tree that grew
392 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
in the edge of the old Plummer cellar, the marsh in
the middle foreground and the brown stacks of marsh
grass strung along the Nonsuch, and the farther woods
massed against the horizon were mine. This is old
Plaisted Point, but Plaisted had his house to the
northward on this same east side of the Neck. There
is, however, a plainly marked cellar on the west side
of the Neck on the slope of the Oliver field, which is
pointed out as the site of the Plaisted garrison, but
which is more likely to have been the cellar of the old
Winnock house, as it is almost exactly the location
of John Winnock in 1665. His house was near the
Indian village, which was just over the pasture fence
and where one sees what has always been known as
Indian Knoll. A stone's throw away in the edge of
the marsh there are considerable heaps of shells which
suggest the Damariscotta deposits, though less in num-
ber and size. Here, too, was the burying ground of
the savages where two skeletons were unearthed per-
haps a generation ago.
Some interest attaches to the Oliver farmhouse, for
in it are two doors once a part of the Plaisted garrison,
and their story is held with Sphinx-like tenacity
within the tiny peripheries of two bullet holes made
in some savage assault, possibly that same day Mrs.
Plaisted found twenty painted savages at her cabin
door. Her husband had gone down the Nonsuch
after fish and the courageous wife had been left at
home with a child of four years as her sole compan-
ion. The savages had surrounded the cabin and
were forcing the door when she discovered her danger.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 393
But her wits were equal to her peril ; for she began call-
ing out to her neighbors as if they had been actually
present, names of those feared by the savages as wily
Indian fighters, giving orders for defense to one and
another of her imaginary companions, rattling the
iron ramrod noisily in the barrel of her husband's
musket, while the child upset the chairs and every-
thing else movable, under the elder woman's direc-
tion. The ruse was successful and the savages took
to their heels after a shot or two at the Plaisted door.
Such was the woman whose last resting place is un-
marked and unnoted.
Living in this farmhouse is Mrs. Oliver, almost four-
score and ten, one of the old school women, the winter
of whose age has not affected the mild comeliness of
her features; for she must have been once a lissome,
handsome girl, one of those of whom it may be truth-
fully said:
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. "
I felt at once a profound reverence for this woman,
not only for the things she had forgotten, for
"prayer books are the toys of age, — "
things which I desired to know, but as well for the
pleasing coincidence that her maiden surname was
my own, and that coming from the Truro branch she
was closely allied to my ancestry. Her son, who is
attached to the railway service at the Scarborough
station, I found to be a man whose knowledge of local
394 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
sites, old roads, and boundaries appertaining to the
Black Point country was not only extensive but accu-
rate and suggestive of antiquarian tastes. It was a
profitable acquaintance I had with him for he showed
me a curious old chart which I much desired to repro-
duce with his comment, but for want of space it was
not allowable. He located two ancient mill dams on
the Nonsuch which do not appear on the ancient
charts of Black Point, one of which was just above
OLD RICHARD HUNNEWELL HOUSE
the adjacent bridge over that tide river. He told me
they were very ancient as in his boyhood they had
the appearance of to-day. According to Southgate
there were several saw mills on the Nonsuch, which
was well timbered.
From the foot of the Oliver field is the semi-oblit-
erate trail of an ancient road that skirted the Mill
creek marshes and that came out by Vaughn's garri-
son, making almost a straight cut through the woods
to the Dunstan's Corner highway, but it was neap
tide and one would have needed duck's feet to have
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 395
followed it over the marshes. It was left to keep to
the flat road that winds lazy like along the wooded
edge of Winnock's Neck on its east side and that ends
in the broad thoroughfare that runs from Oak Hill
to Prout's Neck. Where the Winnock's Neck road
turns into the main road is the ancient Hunnewell
house, reputed to be the oldest in Scarborough and
as having been built by Richard Hunnewell, the Indian
fighter, who was killed in the ambuscade at Massacre
Pond. I regard it, however, as more closely identified
with his son Roger who lived here many years. This
house is typical of the times of its builder. It is a
compact, low-posted, red-painted domicile with a trio
of narrow slits of windows in its blunt gables, a narrow
door with a like narrow window on either flank. Its
interior is ancient enough and odorous of the old days,
and while one stands upon its worn floor boards one
conjures in vain the ghosts of its forbears. Out-
wardly it has a prone and helpless look, while its win-
dows like browless eyes meet the stranger with a
meaningless stare as if with the demise of the Hunne-
wells its soul had taken flight as well. Its influence
is of the depressing sort to make one shudder involun-
tarily at the fate of the mother and her babe whose
life currents stained this self same threshold possibly.
This main road leads one into the charming purlieus
of Oak Hill where one comes out upon the trolley
line from Portland to Old Orchard and Saco. If it
were once true that all roads led to Rome it is a parity
of the truth to say that most roads in Scarborough
lead to Dunstan's, but whether one will walk or ride
396
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
is a matter- of choice. For comfort and despatch the
trolley is preferable, but for actual enjoyment in fine
weather the road is to be taken, for there are several
interesting spots past which To-day rushes with igno-
ble haste.
Going toward Dunstan's one's first landmark is
SITE OF STORER GARRISON— SMALL BUILDING PART OF
ORIGINAL BLOCK HOUSE
Boulter's Creek. This is notable for the row of fine
old willows that reach away southerly from the high-
way toward the marsh over an easy slope of upland
where amid a dome of tree tops is the so-called Kim-
ball place. At the southerly corner of the unpainted
house is a hollow in the grass from which not many
years since were removed the last remaining oaken
sills of Vaughn's garrison. One has come down the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 397
old road to Winnock's Neck thus far, and beside it is
a little one-story building that was once a part of the
original garrison house. It was a notable stronghold
and probably dates back to Robert Elliot, 1620, the
grandfather of the Welsh Elliot Vauhgn who came
here from Portsmouth in 1642. His father was Lieu-
tenant Governor George Vaughn. Twelve years later
Elliot Vaughn had returned to Portsmouth, but his
son William kept to the garrison.
Most of the block houses of the period were built
of logs a story and a half in height, perhaps twenty
feet on a side, with narrow slits in the walls, embrased
on the inside to an angle of about ninety degrees to
command an ample range outwardly, but Vaughn's
garrison was more ample for it accommodated eleven
goodly sized families for a full seven years within its
walls. It is known to some as the Storer garrison,
but that is a misnomer, perhaps on account of its
sometime occupancy in more peaceful days by Seth
Storer. It was famous as being one of the earliest
schoolhouses of Blue Point, as was the old meeting
house at Black Point where Samuel Fogg taught in
1741, to be paid "32 pounds in lumber for keeping
the school 6 months." Quaint old days, to be sure;
for four years before, Robert Bailey was paid seventy-
five pounds for a year, in lumber, as schoolmaster.
The first school was established in 1730 and carried
on by the quarter, alternately, at Dunstan's and
Black Point. Lumber was the current medium of
exchange, but at what rate one can only surmise.
Just over a slight hillock, after leaving Boulter's
398
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Creek, one crosses Mill Creek. Here just above the
upper edge of the highway are the remains of an an-
cient dam where was Harmon's grist mill, through
the ruins of which breaks a purling trout brook
which swirls and eddies about a basin alder-rimmed.
MILL CREEK— RUINS OF HARMON'S ANCIENT CORN MILL AND DAM
that looks for all the world like a goodly pot of emerald
dye so dense is the foliage over the stream and so per-
fectly does it mirror each twig and leaf. Stepping
from stone to stone in its sienna-painted bed to peer
into the mill pond above is to discover nothing more
than a jungle of matted alders which would daunt
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 399
the spirit of the most inveterate angler. But the
brook sings on its way, in and out, where shadows fall,
"Thick as the autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallombrosa, "
and the restless trout dart across the translucent shal-
lows or break water for the unwary fly, while the cat-
birds and the brown thrushes eye the intruder askance
for a moment and then the wildwood is agog with
their melodious gossip.
From the uplands near Mill Creek one sees the ver-
dant slopes of Scottow's hill. It was the property
of Abraham Jocelyn. Scottow had its two hundred
rolling acres of Jocelyn. It is a sightly eminence
crowned with a huddle of low roofs and domes of trees,
and at its foot on the east is a fringe of evergreen woods
that make a low-toned setting for the brilliant color-
ing of the hillside beyond. In the immediate fore-
ground is a rolling ground of fine fields and altogether
the picture is a fair one to look upon. It is not in
evidence that Scottow lived here any length of time,
if at all, as he became engaged in an extensive trade
at Black Point where he had numerous men and boats
in his service, and though he has been described as
a man "eminently religious in his habits," yet he was
"presented" for riding from Wells to York on the
Sabbath in 1661.
Here was a most hilarious demonstration upon the
coming of the news of the surrender of Cornwallis.
A great assembly gathered before the house of Solo-
mon Bragdon, and while the tar barrels were burning
400
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
at the top of the liberty pole on the hill, and over at
the house of Lieutenant Banks the military were
assembled where they consumed powder and liquors
with unstinting generosity, in Bragdon's kitchen two
of the staid citizens of the community mounted the
kitchen table where they held a war dance that would
have surprised the most agile of the savages who,
years before, had danced about their fires at Win-
nock's Neck. It was a wild time, for the celebrants
TOMB OF KING FAMILY
were not satisfied with wadding in their fieldpiece,
but they filled it with muskets and fired them away
into Nowhere. When the powder was gone the fiddlers
got out their fiddles and rosined their bows and the
good folk danced the night out. This somewhat
modern instance is related as it seems to be about the
only happening of the locality.
It is a smoothly broad highway, this ancient toll
road of Robert Southgate's. The town road was laid
out somewhat farther north over the higher lands and
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
401
was the first traveled way other than by the shore
and the ferries from "Sacoe ffalls to Scarborough
above Dunstan, and from Scarborough to Falmouth."
It was necessary " for the more convenient passage of
strangers and others from Wells to Cascoe, the expe-
dition wrof is daly hindered by observance of ye Tyde
in travelling ye lower way wch by this means may be
RICHARD KING HOUSE, 1745
pvented." It proved a roundabout way of travel, so
the marsh was dyked and the salt creeks bridged and
the Southgate toll road was open to the public.
From either bridge one can see the gully, on either
side of which the Algers had their cabins and just
below them was the cabin of the first Richard King.
At the same moment one gets the fine sweep of the
marshes that are lost in the low perspective of the
402 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
country about Foxwell Brook and the blue woods
beyond that fade away into soft indistinctness in the
mellow autumn haze. Winnock's Neck juts out on
the left, a mass of autumn colors, all perfectly modu-
lated to the gold of the ripened marsh grasses. Above
the dyke and just around the buttressing hillslope,
ragged with rank alders, are the Alger Falls where
was Jewett's mill and where about 1718 Col. Thomas
Westbrook had a saw mill until he went to Stroud-
water to engage in the raid upon the Rale settlement
at Norridgewack, but the Jesuit eluded him, only to
fall three years later by the musket of Lieutenant
Jacques of Harmon's company. The "upper falls"
were somewhat above the Jewett site. It was there
the second mill in old Scarborough was built, Jewett's
being the third in point of time. In Westbrook's day
there were numerous saw mills in Scarborough, the
larger part being along the Nonsuch. Along the Non-
such the timbers of numerous old dams have been
found where the tides were stayed to turn here or
there in their going the clumsy wheels that drove the
like clumsy up-and-down saws with hoarse shrieks
and groanings through the yellow hearts of the giant
pines that once covered these ancient lands of Black
Point. They are the footprints long ago lost in the
ooze of the marshes.
One may listen for the rune of the ancient tide mill,
but the water is past and the wheels forgot to turn
with the pine lands stripped of their treasures. Here
are the ghost walks of whilom Black Point, and it may
be the whispering of the aspen, leaves one likens to the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 403
scuffing of disembodied spirits. It may be the pound-
ing of the blood against the walls of the ear. For
that matter, it is what one likes best to think it, for
the ghosts are really about one in these old places.
Here is but a page of Scarborough's old-time ro-
mance whose olden flavor is accentuated and ripened
by a lapse of nearly three centuries. With kindred
happenings of so long ago it is not easy to weave the
old spell, for the charm of a story lies somewhat in its
fluency, and it is not possible to crowd into a few pages
the activities of two generations. Like a stream full
to its banks where the bushes and the tall water weeds
and the flaming cardinal flower droop to its brim to
faintly ripple its serenity, where one hears the swish
of the pendant boughs against the silence of the on-
flowing tide, so in the story one's listening ear should
catch the musical rhythm of each incident as it crowds
the heels of its fellow.
If the author in following the current of events at
ancient Black Point has been able to lend to them
something of life and some natural charm to his prose
so that the ear of his reader has caught, if only in
degree, the far-off sounds that were once audible to
Margaret Cammock in the days of her widowhood,
when Henry Jocelyn went a-wooing, his object has
been accomplished; for out of the episodes of those
404
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
olden days he has sought to twist a golden thread.
One sees as through a glass darkly when one goes back
over the years to the happenings of Jocelyn's times,
and it is to be hoped as he has pushed his shallop
through the surf of To-day into the wind-chopped
waters of Yesterday, as the spray breaks over its
dipping prow, one not only feels the sting of the salty
brine, but as well catches the prismatic colors that
like a hundred dripping dyes illumine each tiny drop
of its opalescent wet.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
HIRAM FALLS
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
RADITION is a bald-pated
fellow to go about with a
crooked staff cut from the
wildwood, with a knob of a
knot to fit his fleshless palms
wherewithal he may soften the
stoop in his spine or hide the
hitch in his gait. His note of
acquaintance is pitched to a
querulous complaining, and his
tongue is limber with the gar-
rulousness of age. He loves
his cronies best, and is ever ready with his tale,
which he varies with failing memory, and he is
a dear old fellow, if he does get things mixed
407
408 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
somewhat. His intentions are honest enough, and
"if Uncle Tommy White were alive" he could prove
the virtue of the tale. On the knife-scarred bench
of the old store at the cross-roads in the lee of
its ruddy stove, with feet outsprawled and head
thrown backward to show the scrawny Adam's apple
that like a slender hillock breaks the slimness of his
wrinkled neck, he sits and dreams and mouths his
brown quid between his toothless gums reminiscently
until buoyant, red-cheeked Romance happens in, to
half in derision, half in love, turn the spigot of the
old man's tongue. It is then the old fellow, with a
hint of drool on snowy beard, unrolls the tapestry of
the old days the while one saunters, as it were,
through the land of dreams.
Like ravelings of old yarns that seem to have a be-
ginning but never any end, the traditions of the Saco
River and the lands round about it gild the days that
were once of the country of Bygone and hover about
the old habitats, as the mists haunt the tumbling
waters about Indian Island, shifting, always shifting
their dyes under the variant sky, and ever and alway
the same mists since the Sokoki first paddled their
birchen canoes down stream, upblown on the salt sea
winds, to fall over the Saco woods in wreathings of
invisible moisture — traditions that quickly respond
to the sympathetic touch or flash upon one's surprised
vision pictures whose technique is the atmosphere of
centuries.
Here is a land of tradition indeed, from the ill-
starred day when the child-bereft squaw of Squando
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 409
cursed the English for the thoughtless act of a boat-
load of brutal sailors, to when the evening gun of Fort
Mary sent its first echo, as the winds happened to
blow, eastward to startle the silences of Black Point,
or westward toward the sunset to arouse Storer's gar-
rison from its drowsing within the darkening gloom
of old Wells.
The story of the Sokoki Trail begins for the reader
about fifty years after
" Traveled Jocelyn, factor Vines,
And stately Champernoon
Heard on its banks the gray wolf's howl,
The trumpet of the loon, "
The early Saco settlement was that of Vines and
Bonython. Down to 1676 its tale was that of a con-
stantly increasing aggregate of settlers. The open-
ings in the woods had grown wider, while the cabin
smokes had thickened, and the wigwam of the Sacos
kept the paleface company. One cannot do better
than to just here quote John Jocelyn. His portraits
of the aborigine are clear and withal quaint, and are
evidently just. He says: "As for their persons, they
are tall and handsome-timbered people, outwristed,
pale and lean, Tartarean-visaged, black-eyed, and
generally black-haired, both smooth and curled, wear-
ing it long. Their teeth are very white and even.
They account them the most necessary and best parts
of man.
" The Indesses that are young are some of them very
comely, having good features, their faces plump and
410 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
round, and generally plump of their bodies, as are the
men likewise; and as soft and smooth as a moleskin;
of reasonable good complexions, but that they dye
themselves tawny; many pretty Brownetts and
spider-fingered Lasses may be seen among them. The
old women are lean and ugly. All of them are of a
modest demeanor."
As one goes across the continent, once upon the
great western plains a glance out the car window may
perhaps afford a glimpse of a cluster of Apache tepees
among the sagebush, and it is to be apprehended
that the wigwam of the Sacoes was not much different
from the tepee. Jocelyn describes the wigwam of the
Saco tribe as built " with poles pitched into the ground,
of a small form for the most part square. They bind
down the tops of their poles, leaving a hole for the
smoke to go out at, the rest they cover with barks of
trees, and line the inside of their Wigwams with mats
made with rushes painted with several colors. One
good post they set up in the middle that reaches to
the hole in the top, with a staff across before it at a
convenient height; they knock in a pin on which they
hang their kettle, beneath that they set up a broad
stone for a back, which keepeth the post from burn-
ing. Round by the walls they spread their mats and
skins, where the men sleep whilst the women dress
their victuals. They have commonly two doors, one
opening to the South, the other to the North, and
according as the wind sets they close up one door with
bark, and hang a Deer's skin or the like before the
other."
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 411
He makes note that he has seen " half a hundred of
their Wigwams together in a piece of ground, and they
shew very prettily; within a day or two they have
dispersed/' or in other words, they have folded
their tents, Arab-like, and as silently, to follow Long-
fellow, stolen away. They were the nomads of the
wilderness, with "prodigious stomachs, devouring a
cruel deal, meer voragoes, never giving up eating as
long as they have it. ... If they have none of this,
as sometimes falleth out, they make use of Sir Francis
Drake's remedy for hunger, go to sleep," which was
a philosophical disposition of the situation, assuredly.
He asserts the aborigine acknowledged "a God and
a devil; and some small light they have of the soul's
immortality; for ask them whither they go when they
die, they will tell you pointing with their finger to
heaven, beyond the White mountains; and do hint
at Noah's flood, as may be conceived by a story they
have received from Father to Son time out of mind,
that a great while ago their Country was drowned,
and all the people and other creatures in it, only one
Powaw and his Webb (squaw) foreseeing the Flood,
fled to the White Mts. carrying a hare along with them
and so escaped. After a while the Powaw sent the
hare away, who not returning, emboldened thereby
they descended, and lived many years after, and had
many children, from whom the Country was filled
again with Indians."
Jocelyn calls them "poets," and says they reckon
their age "by Moons" and their day's travel by
"sleeps." These Indians about the Saco were typi-
412
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
cal of the Abenake family of Maine. Before the
plague of the smallpox found them they were a part
of the most powerful and oldest Indians, from a racial
point of view, from Cape Race to Cape Cod. Cham-
plain, writing of the Sokoki (and these savage clans
about the Saco were of that family), says: "The bar-
barians that inhabit it (the Saco country) are in some
respects unlike the aborigines of New France (Nova
Scotia), differing from them both in language and
MOUNT WASHINGTON FROM THE SACO
manners. They shave their heads from the forehead
to the crown, but suffer the hair to grow on the other
side, confining it in knots and interweaving feathers
of various colors. They paint their faces red or black ;
are well formed, and arm themselves with spears,
clubs, bows, and arrows, which for want of iron they
point with the tail of a crustaceous animal called
signoc (Horse-shoe)."
They were warlike, more so than their neighbors,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 413
and the Massachusetts tribes were in constant fear
of their forays. With the death of Paugus the Sokoki
retired to Canada, where they were merged into the
St. Francis tribe. It is in place to remark that the
two most famous sagamores were Squando and Assa-
cumbuit. The latter boasted he had slain with his
own weapons one hundred and forty English settlers,
for which atrocious service to the French he was in
1706 knighted by Louis XIV.
Suppose one runs down to Plummer's Point a little
south of what is now Oak Hill, in old Owascoag, now
Scarborough. One will find a considerable bank of
shells, the depth of which may be measured by feet.
" This is the place . . .
Let me review the scene,
And summon from the shadowy Past
The forms that once have been, "
for it was here on this spur of land where was their
principal village. It overlooked a wide reach of
marshes, the river and the blue of the bay to the
southward, while a natural bluff or ridge on the north
gave it some protection from the winds of that quar-
ter. Here was a great fishing resort and adjacent
were the choice hunting grounds over which they
roamed even after the Algers had induced Wackwar-
rawaska to give them according to the latter's intent,
a coparcenary interest in their ancient heritage.
Owascoag (place of much grass) was a favorite place-
of resort with the aborigine. On the flatlands the
signs of their occupation are everywhere to be found.
414 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
At every turn of the furrow are deposits of the shells
of the clam or the oyster, and now and then an old
Indian relic is upturned. It is left for the plowshare
to unroll the scroll of their unwritten annals, to bring
to mind the bronze figure of the aborigine, his face
smooched with the ochres he had discovered among
the secret mysteries of Nature, or the lampblack from
his council fire, a tuft of feathers of the hawk or the
eagle woven into his top-knot,
"leaning on his bow undrawn,
The fisher lounging on the pebbled shores,
Squaws in the clearing dropping corn,
Young children peering through the wigwam doors,
above the old Owascoag,
"The faded coloring of Time's tapestry. "
These shell deposits are especially abundant on the
Blue Point side of the river, and here very many sug-
gestions of Indian life, such as pipes, stone hatchets,
pestles, and arrowheads, have been found. Not long
ago an Indian grave was discovered on Winnock's
Neck. "The skeletons were found in a sitting pos-
ture, facing the South-East ; walled in on the four
sides with rock, and having a large flat rock over the
head. The bodies were seated on the surface of the
ground at the time of burial, the rocks placed about
them, then covered with earth; forming a mound
about 4 feet high."
This was a typical grave and accords with the de-
scription of the manner in which the savages disposed
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 415
of their dead among the Sacos, as recorded by Joce-
lyn. Down to 1671 this tribe had lived in close prox-
imity to the white settler. He had been a neighbor
and at times rather free with the settler's larder, and
it was only when King Philip engaged in his subtle
machinations for the destruction of the English settle-
ments that the friendship of the Sacos was likely to
be broken, that the Scarborough planter was in peril.
Squando was the sagamore of Saco. His influence
was considerable and his liking for his white neighbors
had led him to turn his back upon the arch conspir-
ator of Mount Hope. Some light on the character of
this savage flashes from the lines of Cotton Mather,
who describes him as a " strange, enthusiastical Saga-
more, who some years before pretended that God
appeared to him in the form of a tall man, in black
clothes, declaring to him that he was God, and com-
manded him to leave his drinking of strong liquors,
and to pray, and to keep the Sabbaths, and to go to
hear the word preached; all things the Indian did for
some years with great seeming conscience observe."
It was at this juncture when the settlers should
have exercised the most pacific discretion that an
untoward event occurred in which they had no part.
It is a matter of tradition, but the episode may be
taken to have happened, as its story has come down
over a space of two centuries in the main unchanged.
John Jocelyn in his notes describes the Indian as in-
stinctively a swimmer, and it was a common belief
that the papoose thrown into the water would swim
naturally like a wild animal. It was at this time
416 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
when Philip was plying Squando with his specious
designs, that an English vessel blew up the river to
anchor off Cow Island. Among the various diver-
sions indulged in by the sailors was a controversy
over the truth of Jocelyn's statement. It so happened
that the squaw of Squando with her papoose had set
out into the stream, whereupon the sailors manned a
boat and pushed off to meet the Indian canoe. The
light birchen craft was upset, throwing the mother
and child into the water. The mother got to shore
safely, but the papoose did not long survive the bru-
tality of the English.
Squando immediately, and perhaps not without
some show of reason, declared himself ready to join
Philip in his schemes of English annihilation. Not
long after the Sacoes were scalping and burning along
the entire coast to -eastward. The tradition goes far-
ther; Sakokis, the mother, revolving her own scheme
for revenge, sought out the medicine man of the tribe,
whose wigwam overlooked the scene of the tragedy,
and the great medicine man wrought a spell with his
fire smoke, his blown-up bladder skins with their
rattling peas inside, and his strange-smelling herbs.
When the signs came right in the sky, at that time
of the night when to-morrow becomes to-day, he
accompanied Sakokis to the place where the sailors
upset the canoe, just where the waters smooth out
below the falls, to begin his incantations. He chanted
mystic gibberish and poured his oblation of "bad
medicine" into the stream, which summoned his
Satanic Majesty, Hobowocko, who cursed the spot
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 417
roundly so that as long as the white man lives by
Saco waters three of his hated race must each year
drown in them.
The older inhabitants about the Saco, when there
is a drowning accident in its waters, will stop you and
tell you this tale. They may not believe in the curse,
but the romance of the story is always cutting its
teeth. But there were other causes to which this
outbreak was accredited. It may have been because
the English were prohibited from selling ammunition
to the natives, and which was necessary to their exist-
ence after their discarding of the bow and arrow. The
English were charged with having enticed some Cape
Sable Indians into their power whom they sold for
slaves. Doubtless some of the Narragansetts, who
had been despoiled of their territory and driven to
seek asylum among other tribes, found their way
hither to the Sacoes and the tribes eastward, by which
discontent and antagonism were fomented. There
were causes enough with the rum selling and cheating
which was accomplished under its influence, to forge
the bond of alliance between the Sacoes and the An-
droscoggins, and which resulted in the first outbreak
at "Pegipscot." Thomas Purchas was the first suf-
ferer in the raids of 1675, losing his ammunition and
his cattle. The savages, when called to book, excused
themselves by saying they had been cheated by Pur-
chas, and were simply taking their own. It may be
apprehended there was some truth in this, though it
did not apply to Purchas personally. Then came the
destruction of the Wakely family at Casco, which was
418 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
followed by the attack on Saco. The house of Rich-
ard Bonython was burned, also Major Phillip's mills.
One or two other houses were burned, but the raid was
ended by the major's promptness and courage. He
had but ten men while the raiders could count a hun-
dred painted devils, but he defended his garrison to
such purpose that the savages soon withdrew into the
woods to betake themselves to Blue Point, where
they scalped Robert Nichols along with several other
settlers. This was in September. From Blue Point
the savages bent their course across the Mousam,
leaving a trail of smoking cabins behind, to York, kill-
ing and burning as they went. The following month
they returned to the Owascoag country, falling upon
Dunstan where they shot both the Algers, the same
who had a deed of a thousand acres from Wackwar-
rawaska. Here they burned seven cabins. Leaving
Dunstan they next appeared at Falmouth, where the
torch was put to Lieutenant Ingersoll's house and two
men were killed. It is probable it was at this time
the attack was made on Robert Jordan's house. Jor-
dan had time to escape. This was burned, after
which the savages turned up at Spurwink where they
scalped the old ferryman, Ambrose Boaden. Jordan
got away safely to Great Island in Portsmouth Har-
bor. It was a serious inroad on the English, for it
was computed that from the first of August to the
latter part of November fifty settlers had been killed
and scalped while many others had been carried into
captivity. Only a severely cold winter that closed
in very early and that by the tenth of December had
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 419
piled the snow four feet in depth in the woods, put an
end to these depredations. Squando was an active
factor in these forays, but it was not until the next year,
according to Willis, that the English sailors upset the
canoe of Sakokis and her papoose below the Saco
Falls.
On account of the severity of the season the savages
were obliged to sue for peace, which they entered into
with Major Waldron at Dover. A permanent peace
was agreed upon and the settlers lapsed into the accus-
tomed feeling of security. The Sacoes and the An-
droscoggins were the perpetrators of these tragedies
of 1675, but in the succeeding onslaughts Madocka-
wando and Mugg were to take their full share in the
consequent violence and loss of life.
The settlements away from the Saco River north
and west were not so great sufferers as those along its
banks or on the coast. The Indian made the river
his highway. The same name, Aucocisco, was given
to the Saco (meaning the mouth of the river) as to the
waters about Casco Neck. It was in August of 1642
that Darby Field followed the course of the Saco into
the heart of the White Mountains. The story of the
wonders he had seen, stimulated Thomas Gorges and
a few friends to make the same venture the same
season, which they did in fifteen days.
John Jocelyn was the first to write out a narrative of
a journey up the Saco, and one will find it in his " New
England Rarites Discovered," which was published
in 1672. It is an interesting story to one who is
acquainted with the Relations of T. Starr King and
420
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Samuel Drake. From the author's point of view
"The White Mountains" of the late Julius S. Ward,
have in that delightful writer found their most loving
interpreter.
Jocleynwas their appreciative observer, and a propos
CHOCORUA FROM THE SACO
of that gentleman one is put in mind of Don Quixote
running a tourney with the windmill. Jocelyn was
an inquisitive fellow, and always nosing about for
rarities, withal something of a naturalist. He was
mid-woods one day on one of his numerous excursions
when he discovered what he took to be a new species
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 421
of pineapple from its scales. Elated with his dis-
covery, he made haste to capture the strange new
fruit. Longfellow embalms the incident,
"I feel like Master Jocelyn when he found
The hornet's nest, and thought it some strange fruit
Until the seeds came out and then he dropped it. "
Jocelyn himself utters a plaintive note, "By the
time I was come into the house they hardly knew me
but by my garments."
This visit of Jocelyn's to the heart of the White
Mountains was of course made while an inmate of his
brother's household at Black Point, but it does not
appear from any memoranda of his own in what year
the ascent of the Saco was made. It was somewhere
between 1663 and 1671, however. He had true
spirit of the adventurer and the traveler, storing his
memory with traditions and Indian lore. His de-
scription of Mount Washington, the first ever put into
narrative form and published, is photographic, and,
as being the earliest, is eminently quotable. He
writes :
"Fourscore miles (upon a direct line,) to the north-
west of Scarborough, a ridge of mountains runs
northwest and northeast an hundred leagues, known
by the name of the White Mountains, upon which
lieth snow all the year, and is a landmark twenty
miles off at sea. It is a rising ground from the sea-
shore to these hills, and they are inaccessible but by
the gullies which the dissolved snow hath made. In
these gullies grow savin bushes, which, being taken
422 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
hold of, are a good help to the climbing discoverer.
Upon the top of the highest of these mountains is a
large level or plain, of a day's journey over whereon
nothing grows but moss. At the farther end of this
plain is another hill called the Sugar Loaf, — to out-
ward appearance a rude heap of mossie stones piled
one upon another, — and you may, as you ascend,
step from one stone to another as if you were going up
a pair of stairs, but winding still about the hill, till
you come to the top, which will require a half a day's
time; and yet it is not above a mile, where there is
also a level of about an acre of ground, with a pond of
clear water in the midst of it, which you may hear
run down; but how it ascends is a mystery. From
this rocky hill you may see the whole country round
about. It is far above the lower clouds, and from
hence we behold a vapor (like a great pillar) drawn
up by the sunbeams out of a great lake, or pond, into
the air, where it was formed into a cloud. The
country beyond these hills, northward, is daunting
terrible, being full of rocky hills as thick as mole-hills
in a meadow, and clothed with infinite thick woods."
The picture is a familiar one to any who have fished
its streams or clambered up its bastions of rock, or
taken the more convenient carriage road from the
Glen, or the trestle road from Fabyans. His liken-
ing its peak to a sugar loaf is apt, and the pool reflects
the blue of the sky with every returning summer as
the ice melts under its cairn of rock to supply the
Summit House with the nectar of the gods. Far be-
low in the lowlands where the Saco winds slowly
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 423
through the intervales of Conway, old Pegwagget,
was the home of the Sokoki. They were as well
known by the name of the Pigwackets or Pequawkets
(or white swan Indians, for the white swan was com-
mon about Veazie's bog in Brownfield as late as 1785).
The Anasagunticooks were of the same locale, and
allied to the Sokoki as a branch of the great Abenake
family. Squando was one of the Sokoki sachems, as
was Assacumbuit. So was Chocorua, who flung him-
self from old Chocorua's topmost precipice to save his
scalp from being taken by the English, sounding his
dying curse as he tumbled to the spires of the forest
far below; and the inveterate Polan who was killed in
1750 in a fight in Windham along the shores of the
great Sokoki water, Lake Sebago, and was buried
under the roots of a beech tree,
"And there the fallen chief is laid,
In tasselled garb of skins arrayed,
And girded with his wampum braid.
The silver cross he loved is pressed
Beneath the heavy arms, which rest
Upon his scarred and naked breast.
Tis done : the roots are backward sent,
The beechen-tree stands up unbent, —
The Indian's fitting monument! "
a spot awaiting its location by some pilgrim of ro-
mance.
Old Pegwagget was the Conway of to-day, and it
was not until 1771, almost a hundred years after the
first Indian assault on Saco, that the first white settler
424
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
made his way through the wilderness to the Conway
meadows, the emerald intervales of New Hampshire.
Darby Field came here, as well as Gorges and Joce-
lyn, when the Indians were actuated by the most
neighborly of feelings, and all three were doubtless
CONWAY MEADOWS, PEGWACKET
entertained at Pegwagget village, of which they have
given us no particular description. Had they done so
we would have marveled at the regularity of their
streets along which stood their wigwams in regular
order, a symmetrical convention of aboriginal dwell-
ings and of such similarity with the exception of that
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 425
of Assacumbuit, the sachem, which was more showy,
roomy, and of greater height. If Darby Field's mar-
velous tales to his friends could have been taken in
shorthand I apprehend he would have said something
like this: "The houses were made with long young
saplings trees bended, and both ends stuck into the
ground. They were made round, like unto an arbor,
and covered down to the ground with thick and well-
wrought mats; and the door was not over a yard high,
made of a mat to open. The chimney was a wide-
open hole in the top; for which they had a mat to
cover it close when they pleased. One might stand
and go upright in them. In the midst of them were
four little trunches knocked into the ground, and
small sticks laid over, on which they hung their pots,
and what they had to seethe. Round about the fire
they lay on mats, which are their beds. The houses
were double matted ; for as they were matted without,
so were they within, with newer and fairer mats. In
the houses we found wooden bowls, trays, and dishes,
earthen pots, hand baskets made of crab shells
wrought together; also an English pail or bucket; it
wanted a bail, but it had two iron ears. There were
also baskets of sundry sorts, bigger and some lesser,
finer and some coarser. Some were curiously wrought
with black and white in pretty works, and sundry
other of their household stuff. We found also two or
three deer heads, one whereof had been newly killed,
for it was still fresh. There was also a company of
deers' feet stuck up in the houses, harts' horns, and
eagles' claws, and sundry such like things there was;
426 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
also two or three baskets full of parched acorns, pieces
of fish, and a piece of broiled herring. We found also
a little silk grass, and a little tobacco seed, with some
other seeds which we knew not. Without was sundry
bundles of flags, and sedge, bulrushes, and other stuff
to make mats. There was thrust into a hollow tree
two or three pieces of venison; but we thought it fitter
for the dogs." (Mourt's "Relation.")
This was the Abenake shelter, except where in the
winter the wigwam was a community affair, a long
narrow hut in which many families were hibernated,
with as many fires and smoke holes. When the in-
clemencies of the winter season prevailed these com-
munes were infinitely more cheerful and warmer, and
the Indian was notably a lover of his ease and his
comfort. In a rude way they understood the arts
and sciences. They were expert boat builders, tillers
of the soil, and propagators of maize and pumpkins
and beans; they were potters who shaped and burned
their clay into trays, jugs, and pans; they were work-
ers of stone, from which they made their hatchets,
chisels, and tomahawks; they knew the limited use of
copper and obtained it from the Lake Superior tribes,
who undoubtedly had a rude process of smelting. It
is not certain that long before the white man began
to bring them knives for their furs they had a metal
knife. They were astronomers and could read the
stars, and made the sun or the moon their timekeep-
ers. The sun enabled them to subdivide the day
while the moon marked the divisions of the year. Of
all the Abenake family, these Indians of the Pegwagget
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
427
meadows, the aristocracy of the Sokoki race, were the
most shrewd, subtle, and brave, unrelenting in their
hatred, and bloodthirsty in their greed for killing, of
the savages in the province of Maine, unless one re-
calls the Tarratine wolves who fawned about the feet of
the Jesuit Lauverjait, or the more untameable Nor-
ridgewacks, who were satisfied with nothing less than
hot English blood as the vehicle of the spiritual pap
WHITE HORSE LEDGE, PEGWACKET
which they imbibed from Rale*, who held them in
leash as does the master of the hounds his dogs.
While it is not within the province of this chapter
to tell the story of the settlement by the white man
of the beautiful Conway valley, and which was not
accomplished until the latter part of the eighteenth
century, yet it is a matter of co-relation in ways and
means to refer to the three or four first adventurers
in these parts, for that the pioneer life of the Copps,
428 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Pinkhams and Crawfords, Rosebrooks, and Whit-
combs was but a duplicate of that of the settlers at
and about the mouth of the Saco. Those were the
days of giants among men and women, and the tales
of their doings remind one of the labors of Hercules
and the other famous mythics that gilded the dreams
of childhood with a halo of marvelous realities.
Elwell says: "It required strength and courage to
enter this wilderness, reduce the forests, encounter
its savage beasts, overcome the awesomeness of its
towering peaks, and endure the severities of its cli-
mate." It was the same with those who made the
Bonython settlement, except that the river had ages
before swamped out a highway for it while the sea
let in the sunlight for good cheer. Rosebrook, who
built on the present site of the Fabyan House, once
traveled eighty miles through the underbrush and
over the fallen logs of a dense wilderness with a bushel
of salt on his back, while about the same time Major
Whitcomb toted a bushel of potatoes fifty miles
through the same wilderness, which he planted on his
new lands to harvest the succeeding autumn a hun-
dred bushels. Benjamin Copp was the first settler of
Jackson. He went in 1778 to build his cabin beside
the Ellis, twelve years before the next settler joined
him in his lonely companionship with Nature. The
nearest mill was ten miles away, to which he many a
time carried on his back a bushel of corn to be ground,
toting his meal home on his shoulders, less the toll
which the miller took for the grinding, which in those
days was a tenth. The Pinkhams, for whom Pink-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 429
ham's Notch was named, made their way thither on
snowshoes, with the snow levels of five feet in depth
choking the woods with their immaculateness. This
was in 1790, and their team comprised a hog, and a
handsled upon which all their household goods were
carried. Their log hut had been built before them,
but they found it buried in the snow. It was the
rudest of shelter, without chimney, window, or other
means of lighting except the smoke-hole in the roof
and the ill-fitting door that gave them entrance.
Elijah Dinsmore with his wife made their way,
eighty miles, through the dead of winter on snow-
shoes to their cabin, which had been log-piled the fall
before, the husband carrying on his back the house-
hold Penates in a great bundle. They slept at night
in the open air on the snow, relieved perhaps by a
thick matting of spruce boughs with a huge fire at
their feet. One can see him at the end of the day's
toilsome trudging through the thick woods searching
for some sheltered nook where he would camp for the
night, fumbling with his stiffened fingers for his box
of dried punk and his flint and steel with which to
start his fire. What a grateful incense that must
have been, the first smoke of the Fire Spirit which he
so carefully and sacredly guarded, as the swift twilight
fell athwart the great forest, the interminable wilder-
ness that environed him? I imagine Mrs. Dinsmore
brought the dry limbs to throw them on the fire, with
a grateful acknowledgement to the Hand that grew
them. One listens with an entranced mental vision to
the inspirations of a Mendelssohn as interpreted by a
430
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Gilmore or a Ghericke, but the music of that crack-
ling flame to the ears of the Dinsmores was the music
of the spheres.
Then came those giants, the Crawfords; but it was
left to hunter and backwoodsman Nash to discover
the head waters of the Sokoki Trail, the springs above
Crawford's Notch where the beautiful Saco is born.
These were a hardy race, yet they were only the fol-
WADSWORTH HALL
lowers of Vines and Bonython and their contempo-
raries from whose loins they sprung. If the pioneers
about the upper waters of the Saco felled the primeval
woods and burned them, to plant amid their blackened
stumps, so did they who lived about the shadows of
Indian Island. It was not long ago that the annual
" burn" was a common thing in Maine. Such is even
within my recollection. It was the only way of re-
claiming wild lands, by which the acres of tillage and
pasturage were to be increased.
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 431
As I recall one of these old "burns/' and I have
known of several, it is not difficult to paint the picture
of the widening acres that let the summer suns in
upon the low roofs of the cabins of these first settlers
about the mouth of the Saco. It was nearly fifty
years ago on the hilltop in the middle of the large
farmlands which I first knew as a boy, that there
stood in a compact massing of verdure some five
acres of primeval beech woods, the same that grew
there when the first settler in the township spent his
first night in the lee of a boulder hardly a rifle shot
away from their shadows. As if there were not tillage
lands enough, it was determined that this beauty
spot must be eradicated from the face of the earth it
had so long adorned. One June day when the foliage
was in its garb, the woodchoppers began on its north-
ern edge to fell these gray Druids. The huge trunks
were all dropped in the same direction, and the dese-
cration of Nature was followed up so thoroughly
that before the month was out not a tree was left
upright. Day by day the leaves wilted, to turn to
amber hue under the sun, and finally after the summer
work was well done, and the wind came right, rolls of
birch bark were lighted and a half dozen iconoclasts,
disposed at nearly regular intervals of distance about
the periphery of this doomed land, dropped their
brands' ends here and there on the run until the outer
rim was ablaze. Then with a roar that was like an
agonized cry, the fire swept upward pyramid-like into
the sky to choke it with a huge pall of yellow smoke.
An hour later where was once the verdure of the cen-
432
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
turies, was a flat expanse of dull, charring skeletons
and a stretch of fire-blackened scurf. For days,
until the rains came, wreaths of smoke curled from
here and there, some lodgement of the smouldering
fires that were nothing more than the ghosts of its
olden rinds of gray once scarred with many a jack-
GEN. PELEG WADSWORTH
ELIZABETH BARTLETT,
HIS WIFE
knife initial that the years had distorted into illegible
hieroglyphics.
Then the rains came, and the smokes were dead.
Then began the "piling," and as the spring opened
and the dry south winds drunk up the saps of winter,
these piles were burned. When the leaves on the oak
trees were of the size of a mouse's ear, the rick hoes
were got out, and the men with pouches tied about
their waists filled with the golden Indian corn went
over this black ground a-row. A crevice was cut into
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 433
the dusky scurf, and four yellow grains dropped there-
in to be pressed down with the sole of the boot, and
in this way the "burn" was traversed until the rick
had been planted. It was the olden pioneer way,
and by mid-July the corn was hip high, singing the
same song its ancestors sang by the banks of the Saco
in the days of Bonython, and what a mass of dusky
living green it was! And then it threw its tassels to
the winds ; and as the frosts came, in their stead were
the yellow wigwams of the corn-shocks, and then the
old-fashioned huskings, the pleasure gatherings of
the early days that took the place of the modern
swallow-tail functions with their interpretations of
"full dress" by its femininities that would have made
their grand-dams throw their linsey-woolsy aprons
over their abashed countenances in sudden dismay.
But those old days by the Saco, their strenuous
labors were sweet! They were
"Apples of gold in pictures of silver."
In reference to the garb of these pioneers, a ruling
of the Massachusetts General Court of September 3,
1634, and which after 1652 was the law of the Maine
province of which Saco was the central settlement,
ordained, "that no person, either man or woman
shall hereafter make or buy any apparel, either
woolen, silk or linen, with any lace on it, silver, gold
silk or embroidery, under the penalty of the forfeiture
of said clothes. Also all gold or silver girdles, hat-
bands, belts, ruffs and beaver hats are prohibited.
Also immoderate great sleeves, slashed apparel, im-
434 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
moderate great rayles, (neckerchiefs,) long-wings,
etc.
" Hereafter, no garment shall be made with short
sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arm shall be
discovered in the wearing thereof."
A drastic prohibition, verily.
Henry Jocelyn alludes to Saco about 1670. He
says, "About 8 or nine miles to Eastward of Cape
Porpus is Winter Harbor, a noted place for fishers,
here they have many stages. Saco adjoins to this
and both make one scattering town of large extent,
well stored with cattle, arable land and marshes and
a saw mill." Twelve years later there were three
mills at Saco. Cotton Mather says that Captain
Roger Spencer was the subject of the first entry on
the Saco Records, its date is September 6, 1653, and
was a permit to Spencer to set up a saw mill within
the town limits in consideration " that he doth make
her ready to doe execution within one year." It was
a daughter of Spencer's who married Sir William
Phipps, for her second husband.
The story of these years from 1675 toward the
middle of the eighteenth century is one stained with
the same dark tragedies that floated down the Saco
River, the Androscoggin, and the Kennebec, alike
the highways of savage incursion.
Here is an expression of the anxieties of the days
of the earliest of the savage raids, written two days
after the second attack upon Casco. It is super-
scribed " ffor the Honored Governor and Counsell for
the Matachusets at Boston, With all speed."
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 435
" Honored Governor together with the Counsell.
" I am sorry my pen must bee the messenger of soe
greate a tragedye. On the 1 1 of this instant wee heard
of many killed of naybors in Falmouth or Casco Bay,
and on the 12 instant Mr. Joslin sent mee a brief e let-
ter written from under the hand of Mr. Burras, the
minister. Hee gives an account of thirty-two killed
and carried away by the Indians. Himself escaped
to an island — but I hope Black Point men have
fetched him off by this time — ten men, six women,
sixteen children, Anthony and Thomas Brackett and
Mr. Munjoy his sonne onely are named. I had not
time to coppye the letter, persons beinge to goe post
to Major Waldron; but I hope he hath before this sent
the originall to you. How soon it will our portion
wee know not. The Lord in mercy fit us for death
and direckt ye harts and hands to ackt and doe wt is
most needful in such time of distress as this. Thus
in hast I commit you to Gidance of our Lord God and
desire your prayers alsoe for us.
Yours in all humility to serve in the Lord
Brian Pendleton."
Winter Harbor at night
the 13 of August 1676."
Peace was entered into the following winter, but it
was of short duration, for on the 13th of May, 1677,
a considerable force of Indians under the leadership
of Mugg appeared before the Jocelyn garrison at Black
Point and began an assault. Mugg found in Lieuten-
ant Tippen different metal from his old neighbor
436 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Jocelyn. This assault was persisted in for three days
with the result that the garrison lost four men —
three shot and one captured. Hubbard refers to
this event : " On the 16th, Lieut. Tippen made a suc-
cessful shot upon an Indian that was observed to be
very busy and bold in the assault, who at the time
was deemed to be Symon, the arch villain and incen-
diary of all the eastern Indians, but proved to be one
almost as good as himself, who was called Mugg."
Mugg was a dreaded foe, way-wised as he was in
the habits of the English, both as to their manners,
persons, and language. His death caused the savages
to take to their canoes to paddle away southward.
After this the people about the Saco had a brief re-
spite.
One is reminded of these lines,
"Who stands on that cliff like a figure of stone,
Unmoving and tall in the light of the sky,
Where the spray of the cataract sparkles on high,
Lonely and sternly save Mogg Megone?"
The romantic tale of the poet and his heroine, Ruth
Bonython, the wild flower of the Saco woods, the
daughter of outlaw John, is a tragedy of those days
in verse. The poet has taken great liberty with his
subject, as another might have done. But Ruth
Bonython was doubtless the "Eliner Bonython" who
for her lax morals was condemned to stand in a white
sheet for three Sundays in church.
Whittier closes his drama with the final act amid
the rough scenery of Norridgewock in the latter part
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 437
of August, 1774, an entre act of forty-eight years, dur-
ing which Bonython's daughter had paid the penance
of her misdeeds in the midst of her more moral Scar-
borough neighbors. His tale is a series of wild pic-
tures, from the moment he hears the
" whistle, soft and low,"
when a flame of savage satisfaction lights
"the eye of Mogg Megone! "
when Johnny Bonython steps out the shag of the
woodland shadow into the broken shaft of moon-
light. Bonython was the "character" of those days,
and was dubbed an outlaw and a renegade by the
General Court, and Bonython hurled back in return
his defiance of their edicts. He was the son of
Richard Bonython, or Bonighton, the co-grantee
with Lewis of these Saco lands. He became one of
the able magistrates of the province, but the son was
a most obstinate, and by some alleged degenerate
offshoot of a respectable family. His tongue was a
limber one, and it was no respecter of persons. He
was fined forty shillings in 1635 by the court for dis-
orderly conduct by complaint of his father, and as
well in 1640 for vituperative language toward the
Rev. Mr. Gibson and his wife, Mary, and later still
he was fined for the seduction of his father's serving
maid. This offense was not uncommon and one
recalls with reluctance the seduction of Mary Martin,
the daughter of Richard Martin of Martin's Point
beyond Casco Neck, by Michael Mitton. Poor Mary
438 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Martin went to Boston to hide her shame, and there
was guilty of the crime of infanticide for which she
went to the scaffold. This is apparently the only case
of infanticide of that early period. The morals of
the time were rather loosely drawn, and of which
George Burdett stood for a notable exemplar. John
Bonython was not a whit behind his predecessors in
his seeking out the fleshpots of Egypt. Outlawed in
1645, he defied all law and a price was eventually
put upon his head. He went by the sobriquet of
"Sagamore of Saco," and his epitaph, evolved by
some wag of the time, has preserved his memory
which his misdeeds should have obliterated.
"Here lies Bonython, Sagamore of Saco;
He lived a rogue, and died a knave
and went to Hobomoko, "
is his waggish memorial.
He contrived after a fashion to acquire a consider-
able estate. Whittier admits that he has taken some
freedom to himself in his story of Ruth Bonython,
and it may be that Bonython had from the Indians
a portion of his real estate, for he lived away from his
kind in the seclusion of the forest which has covered
the events of his life in obscurity. The tradition is
that he was killed by the Indians, but Folsome doubts
this. It is wholly a matter of conjecture.
As to the characters introduced by the poet, I find
no mention of Scamman by either Willis, South-
gate, or Bourne. Folsome makes no mention of
such a character. Hunnewell would have been more
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 439
in keeping with the character of Moulton and Har-
mon. The Scammons were Saco Quakers, and we find
one of Arnold's regiments commanded by a Colonel
Scammon, but that is all. It has often occurred to
the writer that here were the materials for a stirring
drama, but as yet they have been unused. Whittier's
"Mogg Megone" as tragic verse is picturesquely
fine and powerful from beginning to end, although
it would stand some slender cutting.
Here is something like. The deed of the land is
signed, and Mogg has succumbed to drunken sleep.
"With unsteady fingers, the Indian has drawn
On the parchment, the shape of a hunter's bow, "
and Bonython has the land. He has no further use
for Mogg,
" For the fool has signed his warrant. "
It is then the spirit of murder enters the heart of
the outlaw
"He draws his knife from its deer-skin belt, —
Its edge with his fingers is slowly felt ; —
Kneeling down on one knee, by the Indian's side,
From his throat he opens the blanket wide;"
but his hand stays its murderous stroke.
One can hear the drawn breath of Bonython as he
draws back from this drunken magnet which is to
draw the steel to it as certainly as the needle points
to the pole.
The silence is broken by the trenchant voice of the
girl, the once mistress of the man whose wet scalp
440 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
hangs at the side of Mogg and who has but one
thought — to avenge her lover. The firelight was
red, just as the poet said it was. The walls and the
ceiling were red, as was the fire; and there was the
smell of a foul deed in the rum-savoured air of that
close cabin, -
"Mogg must die!
Give me the knife!"
and into the girl's heart has come the spirit of
Scamman. She has spoken, but it was Scam-
man's voice; and Bonython, coward-like, turns
away to see
" on the wall strange shadows play.
A lifted arm, a tremulous blade,
Are dimly pictured in light and shade, —
and as he watches the pantomime
"Again — and again — he sees it fall, —
That shadowy arm down the lighted wall!"
The door creaks on its rude hinges. There is a
burden of unnatural sounds on the air. It might
have been the passing of Mogg's troubled spirit out
the narrow lintels of Bonython's door and which
seems always to have kept the fleeing Ruth untiring
companionship. But Bonython
"is standing alone
By the mangled corse of Mogg Megone. "
Here is tragedy, as vividly painted as if the painter's
pot had been filled with the purple tide of Mogg, and
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
441
each brush mark had betrayed a pulse beat. And
what a setting, the lone cabin in the dead of a wind-
less night, with only the shivering leaves that kissed
ARTIST'S BROOK, CONWAY
its roof, its dusky eaves, and the bare walls within,
to share the vengeance of Ruth Bonython.
Her burden is heavy.
442 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
"O. tell me father, can the dead
Walk on earth, and look on us!"
she cries to the Jesuit in his Norridgewock chapel;
for she has dreams of childhood, and the lingering at
her mother's knee.
" Sweet were the tales she used to tell
When summer's eve was dear to us,
And fading from the darkening dell,
The glory of the sunset fell
On wooded Agamenticus, —
When sitting by our cottage wall,
The murmur of the Saco's fall,
And the south wind's expiring sighs
Came softly blending on my ear,
With the low tones I loved to hear; "
yet, she was spurned by the Jesuit.
As one thinks of Rale and the part the poet makes
him play in this latter scene, one hears the shots of
Moulton pattering on those chapel walls, and sees
the stalwart form of Lieutenant Jacques breaking the
shadows of its dimly glowing candles, and Rale goes
the way of Mogg, and there comes out of the lull in
the battle in echoing word, — " Vengeance is mine
saith the Lord, I will repay!"
But the Saco of today — one cries out in
vain, —
" Raze these long blocks of brick and stone,
These huge mill-monsters, overgrown;
Blot out the humbler piles as well,
Where, moved like living shuttles, dwell
The weaving genii of the bell, "
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 443
and let the floods of the melting snows in the heart
of the mountains, where the Saco has its birth, sweep
its stout dams to seaward; and then,
"Wide over hill and valley spread
Once more the forest, dusk and dread,
With here and there a clearing cut
From the walled shadows round it shut ;
Each with its farmhouse builded rude,
By English yeoman squared and hewed,
And the grim flankered block-house bound
With bristling palisades around.
So haply, shall before thine eyes
The dusty veil of centuries rise,
The old strange scenery overlay
The tamer pictures of to-day,
While, like the actors in a play
Pass in their ancient guise along "
the old-time figures, so difficult now to recall.
If one could with a wave of the hand and a bit of
magic incantation cause the walls of the machine
works on the Saco to fade and swing back the years to
1693 one would see the first fort built on the Saco
River. Phillips' garrison house could hardly be
called a fort, but old Fort Mary was a fortification
of stone, and invulnerable from the savage point of
view. There was a truck house on the easterly side
downstream where the Indians brought their furs.
It was regarded as quite an important matter, the
establishment of this particular truck house, for it
was thought by the commissioners that those at Kit-
tery and Pemaquid were sufficient; but the Indians
prevailed, and this emporium of barter was built.
444
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
Its site can now be traced. Fort Mary was a veritable
city of refuge in the troublous times following its erec-
tion, but was demolished in 1708 and its available
material was removed to Winter Harbor, where a
stronger defense was erected, the remains of which are
still to be distinguished after so many years. If you
should happen at the house in Biddef ord where it is to
be seen, you might hold in your hands for a moment
the homespun dress once worn by a lass who knew
Fort Mary as a girl, and if you could translate the
FORT MARY, 1699
story written within the rim of the bullet hole in the
skirt it would tell you of two girls who ventured with-
out the walls of the old fort, and mayhap they were
after the first blooming arbutus. Anyway, they were
discovered by some prowling savages. Young women
were an especially coveted prey, and the savages laid
a plan to capture them unharmed. The wits of the
girls were not so slow but they took the alarm and ran
at deer pace for the fort. One of the savages sent a
musket ball after them, and this hole in the skirt was
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 445
where the bullet sculptured its fateful message. It
was a landmark of the times, this old stockade of rock,
and many a legend had its birth about its rugged walls.
After the fort at Winter Harbor was built the tide of
savage conflict was shifted nearer the sea, and it was
here the inhabitants were congregated for safety.
In 1730 a blockhouse was built farther up the river.
In close proximity is an old graveyard, and beside it
may still be seen the cellar where the blockhouse
stood as late as 1820. It was originally fortified with
cannon, which were mounted to be served from port-
holes in the upper story. These comprised the gov-
ernment defenses in this immediate neighborhood.
As the tide of savagery shifted, levies were made upon
these forts and the men were sent where they were
most needed, and upon short occasion they were not
spared.
Those were days of temporary dwellings. They
were thrown together at haphazard, covered with
bark, for their builders knew not when the woods
would echo with the whoop of the Sokoki, who left
always a trail of smoke to indicate their passing. It
was essentially a one-room cabin, scant in the necessi-
ties of living, and limited in its accommodations for
the ever increasing family. Race suicide had not
then loomed up as a threat to the social fabric. At
this day the things those people did and the things
they did without, smack of the land of Gulliver; and
though they did not succeed in extracting sunshine
from cucumbers, they certainly derived a deal of it
from Nature, with all the swift vicissitudes of life —
446 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
the perils of necessity, exposure, wild beast, and sav-
age reprisal. One wonders what they did when the
services of a physician were necessary, as they must
have been at times, except that these were the " pen-
nyrial" days, when the old woman and her herbs were
the potentials; when a sip of wintergreen was always
asteep on the hob and a swallow of thoroughwort was
worth more to a man's liver than the entire contents
of a modern drug store. The secret of it all was, good
habits, abundant occupation, a purpose in life over
which stark necessity held a taskmaster's whip. The
very simplicity of their living made most of the ills
to which their posterity have become endemic impos-
sible. They were immune against the epidemic.
Death was unavoidable, but it consorted usually with
extreme old age, if Nature were not interrupted by
accident, and it was not for years that the wan face
of the consumptive became common, and not then
until the virility of the race had become affected by
the privations or excesses common to the middle
pioneer period. The men were hard drinkers and they
dallied long at their cups, and the only reason Nature
did not succumb sooner was that there was no clay
in the molasses and the rum was as good as the
molasses. Adulteration is largely responsible for the
ills common to humanity; even one's habits are not
immune to adulterate morals.
But many of the clergy of the older days knew
something of physic, and their healings were extended
to the body as to the soul. From a glance at the early
court records it would seem as if there were a deal
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
447
of tinkering to be done with so many cracked reputa-
tions, but one passes lightly and hastily over those
blurs upon an otherwise strenuous page to conjure up
the strangeness of the country and the, to ourselves,
strangeness of the people.
One would greatly enjoy rapping upon the cabin
door of young Nick Edgecombe where he took the
lovely Wilmot Randall, to have stepped in upon
SACO BLOCKHOUSE, 1730
them at their first "at home" for a look about the
homely and scantily furnished interior, to take a seat
on the wood settle before the wide-mouthed fireplace
to watch the old-fashioned great fires leap up
the "catted" chimney of cobbled sticks smeared with
clay, to catch the song of the steaming kettle on the
pothooks, and to ruminate on the dimensions of the
wood pile and the cost of supplying this black maw,
and the length of time it will take to denude the
woodlands. How one would have liked a taste of
448 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
their venison fry, and a bite of corn cake baked in
the ashes. To have broken bread with them at their
humble board would have been a revelation; and that
linsey-woolsy dress, that held within its seams this
dainty English flower, to have held a shred of its
sturdy fabric between one's thumb and finger would
have sent shoddy to the rag bag. There is a ripple
of girlish laughter, a bar of sunshine on the floor, and
when young Nicholas is about, the fullness of living
swells up in her heart; and as for Nicholas, he holds
the title in fee absolute to the fairest possession in the
province.
The setting may be rough, but the picture is an idyl-
lic one.
In these days what could one do without the
pomme de terre hot from the oven, so that
" Whenne yee be sette, your knyf withe alle your wytte
Vnto youre sylf bothe clene and sharp conserve,
That honestly yee mowe your own mete kerve? "
The first delicious tubers were brought into the
province in 1719 to be planted on Cape Elizabeth soil
and from whence they were distributed over the ad-
joining townships. They were indigenous to the
Andes to be taken to Europe by the Spaniards. They
were exported from Virginia to England in 1586
where they were undoubtedly traced to the Spaniards.
Peter Martyr describes them, " They dygge also owte
of the ground certeyne rootes growynge of theim
selues, whiche they caule Botatas. . . . The skyn is
sumwhat towgher than eyther of the nauies or mussh-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 449
eroms, and of earthy coloure: But the inner meate
thereof is verye whyte."
So it was nearly a hundred years after the coming
of Richmon to the Isle of Bacchus before this vege-
table came into table use among the settlers, and it
was the rugged fare of the samp mill, the rude
mortar and pestle, and the wild game of the woods
that went to make the bone and sinew of this hardy
race. The surgeon who goes a hunting for the vermi-
form appendix nowadays would have found his chief
quest in the days of corn meal in the diligent search-
ing out the settlement poorhouse, of which it is
recorded there were none for many years. The
idlers were few, for labor was sweeter than the con-
tumely of the stocks, pillory, or the whipping post.
In that regard the Puritans were wise law-makers.
But this Sokoki Trail is a thread upon which are
strung hosts of legends. Just above the gateway
of the Notch is a basin of water, a patch of sky that
has nestled down amid the sedge and alders of the
plateau that slopes downward from the Crawford
House to merge into the gray shadows of Mount
Willard and the boulder-choked gorge above which,
like a bristling Briareus, towers the bastions of
Elephant's Head. It is a wild and ragged trail
through which seep the waters to emerge below like
a broken vein. Through this gloomy gorge, narrowed
to a stone's toss, is compressed the pathway of its
historic stream, the yellow grit of the team ruts, and
the attenuated lines of steel where runs the Smoking
Horse. It suggests Dante's descent to Hades. A
450 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
minute's walk, and a wondrous vision opens, and it is
here the Saco becomes the visible strand of silver that
ever and anon widens out with the accretion of its
mountain brooks that break the silence of every
mountain gully with an audibly tuneful rhythm, in-
terpreting one's thought as one listens, to enforce
upon one's self the overwhelming sense of the individ-
ual insignificance.
As one breaks the imprisoning walls of the gateway,
not far below, nestled among the greenery of the val-
ley, is the Willey House ; and here is the track of the
Willey slide of 1826, the scar of which remains — a
callous on the face of the mountain — that crawls
from its base up, like a tawny lizard, leaving a trail
so like itself as to seem a string of lizards. As one
looks at this scar it seems almost to undulate lizard-
like.
It was a wild storm that smote this mountain to
break from its granite masonries the two huge ava-
lanches that swooped down upon the swollen Saco
that August night. Had Willey remained in his
wooden shell with his family, the story would have
been of a mighty throe of Nature. As it was, the
family, Willey and his wife, five children, and two
hired men, lost their wits and rushed out into the
impenetrable obscurity of the night, and a tragedy
was written amid the debris of the mountain and
almost at the threshold of the old house which to-day
marks the scene. Only the house dog, which in some
way was unable to follow his master, was found in the
house by a traveler who happened over the road.
MOUNT WILLEY
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 451
For a long time the old rookery was shunned as a
thing accursed. It was known as the Notch House;
but time healed the gap. Nature assumed to cover
up the evidence of her crime with a more riant verdure,
while the river kept to its gurgle and ripple over the
rocks that choke the river bed, the same that came
off Mount Willey that fateful night. Nor would one
surmise but Nature had ever held herself a benign
mother to her trustful children ; for right here, up and
down the valley of the Saco, is a beautiful and pictur-
esque, and striking in its mountainous solidarity and
massiveness, outlook. Even when the sunshine floods
the valley it is a land of somber shades, and but for
the waters that seem everywhere to be inlaying the
mountain sides with sinuous strands of silver, trick-
ling silently, or boiling and foaming, or tossing and
writhing like Prometheus bound amid the anchored
rocks, it is a land of dumb solitudes, and a land of
wreathing mists. It is no wonder that the Sokoki
peopled it with evil spirits as they did, or that they
pointed toward it when they were asked where their
heaven lay.
Somewhat below the Willey ruin is Bemis, where
Nancy's Brook comes hurtling down from Nancy's
Pond that has its rise under the shadows of Nancy's
Mountain. It was in the seventeen hundreds, in
point of time, that over Jefferson way there lived a
mountain lass whose Christian name was Nancy.
She had a lover, a young man who helped about the
farm. The day was set for the marriage, and the
twain were to set off for Portsmouth where they were
452 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
to be made one. She had for a marriage portion a
small sum of money. This she intrusted to her swain.
With the money the fellow stole away from the farm,
leaving Nancy to conjecture as she pleased as to his
intents. But Nancy who was a resolute young woman,
kin to the natures which had bent their plowshares
to the rugged lands of this mountainous country,
determined to bring her recreant lover to terms if
love had not yet lost sway. Intrepidly, despite the
protestations of her family, she set out that nightfall
to overtake him.
Her road was but an obscure trail and but little
traveled. It was thirty miles to Bartlett, and not a
single habitation. Wild animals roamed the woods
that lay between, and the winter had set in. Once
out upon the trail the girl sped on buoyed by the hope
that she might find her lover camped for the night in a
rough shelter which had been built beside the trail.
On she strode, shod with hope, down the gray shadows
of the Notch, to ford the ice-cold Saco, plunging
through the clogging snows, to find the camp where
were some smoking embers and the silence of deser-
tion. Without resting she pushed on over the trail
until worn and weary she fell upon the marge of the
brook, which has since borne her name. Here they
found her under the sheltering spruces with the
feathery snow for her snood of maidenhood. Tra-
dition has it that the lover, when he became aware of
the fate of his betrothed, his victim rather, found his
burden too heavy, and wandering to the scene of
Nancy's tragic end filled the silences of its dreary
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
453
wilderness with his maniac shriekings until death
released his ghost which, according to Belknap, in
1784 still preyed upon the superstitious denizens of
these mountain fastnesses, and who besought him to
lay the uneasy spirit.
But here is a milder legend of these Saco waters.
When the savage inhabited these waste places, under
the shadows of one of these everlasting hills lived an
ECHO LAKE
Indian family. Its ornament was a daughter of
peerless charm, who was adorned with an intellect in
perfect accord with her personal beauty. Her father
was unable to find in his own or the neighboring
tribes a suitable mate for his jewel. Like a zephyr one
feels for a moment on his cheek, that speeds on
into the nowhere, this beautiful girl had disappeared.
Unceasing was the search, and as disappointing.
Her dainty moccasin had left no trace on the forest
floors, and in time the tribe came to mourn her as one
454 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
lost. Finally some of the hunters of the tribe who had
gone out in quest of venison found themselves beside
a babbling stream and there they saw the long-lost
maid bathing in the soft waters, and with her was a
youth of a beauty to match her own, with flowing
hair, as black and silken and long as her own. Sud-
denly they disappeared in the depths of the trans-
lucent pool, and as the hunters hastened to look into
it they saw only their own swarthy faces and the
pictured foliage over their heads. When they got
back to the village they told their story, and the
relatives at once knew her companion as one of the
kind spirits of the mountain, and thereafter they
adopted him as their son. When they were in want,
they called upon him for moose, and bear, and other
game, and beside the stream told him of their desires,
and lo, the animal would be seen swimming toward
them to be captured and slaughtered. As one reads
this, one calls to mind the tales of the brothers Grimm
and the marvels of the Hartz Mountains.
Here is the haunt of the artist and the romancer
alike. Only the brush of the dreamer has place here.
These mountains are as far beyond the mechanical
reproduction of the camera as they are beyond the
finger tips of an observer in the valley. So the Saco
made the trail of the Sokoki down through these nar-
rows of mountainous shag, to blend with the emerald
of the Conway intervales, still flowing seaward to
drink the water among the hills of Fryeburg that has
lapped the sands where Chamberlain and Paugus
washed their muskets one eventful afternoon. Love-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
455
well's Pond in Fryeburg was once known as Saco
Pond, and it was here the Sokoki fought their last
battle, after which they vanished, with the exception
of old Molly Locket.
There is an account of this battle written, so it is
alleged, by one Thomas Symmes, a local annalist of
Dunstable, and he is said to have gleaned his account
from Captain Seth Wyrnan, who brought the com-
pany home from the Fryeburg woods. Lovewell
left Dunstable for Pegwagget around April 16, 1725
with forty-six men. Symmes says, "Saturday, The
456 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
eighth of May, while they were at Prayers, very Early
in the Morning they heard a Gun; and sometime after
spy'd an Indian in a Point, that ran out into Saco
Pond." Upon conference, it was determined that the
gun was a ruse. Lovewell ordered the men to lay
down their packs, on the supposition that the savages
were before. It was a question of fight or retreat.
They looked to the primings of their guns, and loosened
up their auxiliary weapons, knives, and axes. Then
they began their march, exercising the greatest
caution againt a surprise.
Symmes says: "WHEN they'd Marched about a
Mile and a Half, or two Miles, Ensign Wyman spy'd
an Indian coming toward them, whereupon he gave
a sign, and they all squat and let him come on; pres-
ently several Guns were Fir'd at him; upon which the
Indian Fir'd upon Captain Lovewell with Bever shot
and Wounded him Mortally (as is supposed) tho he
made little Complaint, and was still able to Travel,
and at the same time Wounded Mr. Samuel Whiting;
Immediately Wyman Fir'd at the Indian and Killed
him; and Mr. Frie and another Scalp'd him.
"THEY then March'd back to toward their Packs
(which the Enemy in the meanwhile had seiz'd) and
about Ten a Clock, when they came pretty near where
they'd laid 'em on the North East end of Saco Pond,
in a plain Place, where there were few Trees and
scarce any Brush; The Indians rose up in Front and
Rear, in two Parties, and toward the English Three
or Four Deep, wi their Guns Presented: And the
English also Presented in a Moment and ran to meet
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 457
them; and when they came within a few Yards they
Fir'd on both sides, and the Indians fell amain, but
the English (most if not all) 'scap'd the first Shot, and
drove the Indians several rods. But the Indians
being more than double in Number to our Men, &
having soon killed Captain Love well, Mr. Fullam,
(only Son of Major Fullam of Weston) Ensign Har-
wood, John Jefts, Jonathan Kittridge, Daniel Woods,
Ichabod Johnson, Thomas Woods and Josiah Davis;
and wounded Lieutenant Farwell, Lieutenant Rob-
bins and Robert Usher in the place the Fight began,
The Word was given, to Retreat to the Pond, which
was done with a great deal of good Conduct, and
prov'd a vast service to the English (in covering their
Rear) tho' the Indians got the Ground where our Dead
lay.
" THE fight continued very Furious & Obstinate, till
towards night. The Indians Roaring and Yelling
and Howling like Wolves, Barking like Dogs, and
making all Sorts of Hideous Noises ; The English Fre-
quently Shouting and Huzzaing as they said after
the first Round. At one time Captain Wyman is
Confident they were got to Powawing by their strik-
ing on the Ground, and other odd Motions, but at
length Wyman crept up toward 'em and Fir'ing
458
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
among 'em, shot the Chief Powaw and brake up their
Meeting.
" SOME of the Indians holding up Ropes ask'd the
English if they'd take Quarter, but were Answer'd
Briskly, they'd have none but at the Muzzle of their
Guns."
The spirits of these brave men were of an indomi-
table character reenforced by a sense of the injuries
inflicted on the settlers, and as well by the detestable
treacheries practiced by the savage. They had in
mind as well the raid on Dunstable of two years before
and the two captives who were spirited off into the
wilderness, and for whom they held an avenging hand.
There was no faith to be placed in any offers of quar-
ter, and the thirty-four rangers had begun the fight
with these words falling audibly from their lips, when
Lovewell queried of them if it were " Prudent to ven-
ture an Engagement," — "We came out to meet the
THE SOKOKI TRAIL 459
Enemy; we have all along Pray'd God we might find
'em; and we had rather trust Providence with our
Lives, yea Dy for our Country, than try to Return
without seeing them, if we may, and be called Cow-
ards for our Pains."
Of the forty-six men who left Dunstable, ten were
left at a so-called fort a half day's tote back the trail.
Upon the remainder fell the brunt of the Indian am-
bush at Battle Brook. In the ambush eight men
were killed and three wounded. About mid-day
Chaplain Frye was killed, a Harvard graduate, and
a young man of great encouragement to his compan-
ions, who, as Symmes says, "When he could Fight
no longer, He Prayed Audibly, several times, for the
Preservation and Success of the company.
" 'TWAS after Sun set when the Enemy drew off,
and left our men the Field; And it's suppos'd not above
Twenty of the Enemy went off well. About Mid-
night the English got together, and found Jacob
Farrah, just expiring by the Pond, and Lieutenant
Robbins, and Usher unable to travel.
"Lieutenant Robbins desir'd they'd Charge his
Gun and leave it with him, (which they did) for seys
he, The Indians will come in the Morning to Scalp
me, and I'll kill one more of 'em if I can."
There was one man of them who showed the white
feather, and who at the first signs of an ambush took
to his heels backward over the trail to the fort " and
gave the Men Posted there such an account of what
had happen'd that they all made the best of their way
Home."
460 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
This was Benjamin Hassell, who, it seems, was
never punished for his desertion.
To John Chamberlain has been given the tradi-
tional credit of killing the noted Paugus, where they
were alleged to have gone to clean their muskets. It
was close by the mouth of the brook they met, and
each lost no time in his desperate exercise. Each
poured his powder and rammed home the ball simul-
taneously, and the ramrods dropped to the sand. * |
"Me kill you!" yelled the savage Paugus, priming
his musket from his horn.
"The chief lies!" challenged Chamberlain, dropping
his musket breech solidly on the hard sand to fill the
pan with its priming. A moment later his gun was at
his shoulder and his bullet had found the heart of the
savage, and the backbone of the fight was broken.
A pretty tale and a tragic one to tell by the winter
fireside, but its truth is doubted. Symmes made no
mention of it, but gives to Wyman the credit of
bringing off his remnant of nine unhurt and eleven
wounded, of which latter all are said to have found
nameless graves by the way. It is recorded that
Chamberlain was somewhat a courtier of the bowl
that inebriates, and that when in his cups he was
a boasting sort of a fellow; but had there been any
truth in the tale so oft told by Chamberlain, the quaint
Symmes would have made some note of so important
a turning point in the conflict. The probabilities are
that while the fact that Paugus was shot in the melee,
the excitement of the moments that were hedged
about with such desperate deeds and a like imminent
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
461
danger, would preclude any individual claim to the
distinction awarded to Chamberlain.
It was in 1624, less than a year prior to this fight
by the waters of olden Saco Pond, that Moulton had
exterminated the Jesuit Rale and his nest of Nor-
ridgewocks. This was an important factor in the
LOVEWELL MONUMENT
destruction of the French influence. Rale had held
them within the glamour of the beautiful service of
his religion, all of which had appealed strongly to
their mystic or superstitious side. No doubt but
Rale looked upon them as the legitimate weapons of
the Church Militant of which he was a vicar; but the
English had learned the wiles of the Indian and were
462 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
able to meet him on his own line of skulking tactics.
It was then the savage found a foe of which he had
need to be wary, for if the moccasin of the Indian
was as light as a feather, Moul ton's trod upon air.
With Lovewell's intelligence it has always seemed
singular he should have been open to so common a
ruse as drew him into the ambush that cost him his
life.
This fight at Lovewell's Pond broke the courage
of the Sokoki ; nor was it long before they had dis-
appeared from their old haunts about Pegwagget,
unless it was that one solitary remnant of the once
greatest family of the Abenake race, who had her
home in a deep cave under the shadows of Jockey
Cap according to tradition, and of whom the tale
runs that when her husband came down to see her
from Canadian St. Francis he brought another squaw.
Molly wished to accompany her savage mate back
to the headwaters of the St. Francis and her husband
suggested that the two squaws fight it out. Which-
ever overcame the other should be his squaw. The
squaws began the contest for supremacy and poor
Molly lost the day. Her husband, who had been
a passive onlooker of the fray, immediately betook
himself, with his second choice, Canada-ward, while
Molly, lone and discarded, kept to her cave under
Jockey Cap, where she was ever after feared and
avoided as a witch.
The story of the Sokoki Trail begins and ends with
tragedy. Where its waters are born out of the bow-
els of the earth, from Nancy's Brook, Willey's Slide,
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
463
and LovewelFs Pond, along its stately flood are deeps
of shadows, as well as the high lights of the cheerful
and life-giving sunshine. Its waters are colored with
legends which they whisper to the overhanging foli-
age as they flow. They have listened to the savage
councils of the Pigwackets whose like savage errands
they have borne to the affrighted settler of ax and
BATTLE BROOK
torch; they have heard the chant of the savage over
his dead, the low mourning note of the captive. All
these they have carried silently to the sea, unless
the roar of Saco Falls has blended all in one, to make
interminable elegy upon the days that have forever
passed away. Its incidents are as numerous as the
opalescent hues that mark each facet of its broken
waters.
464 THE SOKOKI TRAIL
It is in these days a stream of noisy thrift, and one
seldom recalls the byways of the Vines settlement at
Winter Harbor, narrow and sunny as its wider
thoroughfares are to-day. Its mastyards have gone
the way of its blockhouses and the huge shafts of
its forests; and its romance of Mary Garvin, and its
fishing-stages, yes, and those who laid the sills of
its first houses. For the towering giants of the olden
woods are the stacks of the factory smokes.
"The land lies open and warm in the sun,
Anvils clamor and mill-wheels run, —
Flocks on the hillsides, and herds on the plain,
The wilderness gladdened with fruit and grain."
One is forced to query with Cobbler Keezar,
"Would the old folk know their children?
Would they own the graceless town,
With never a ranter to worry,
And never a witch to drown? "
I really do not think they would, and moreover, I
am sure they would be afflicted at once with nostalgia
in its most acute form. But throw the lapstone,
as did Keezar, down the hill into the river; for one
has done with it. I do not think it was quite so genu-
inely good as that of Keezar's. Its fault was its
modern make, hardly to be concealed by its well-
simulated mold patches on its brazen hoop. But
one sits always on the bank like the idle fisher to
dream of those olden days, and the pictures grow
until one's brush is worn down to a stub, for it is
always the olden Saco keeping its way to the curv-
THE SOKOKI TRAIL
465
ing bay where Vines furled his dun sails in the ripen-
ing autumn of 1616, whose romance comes with
every reddening leaf of the maples, to bloom anew
with every bursting bud.
"And still in the summer twilights,
When the river seems to run
Out from the inner glory,
Warm with the melted sun,
The weary mill-girl lingers
Beside the charmed stream,
And the sky and the golden water
Shape and color her dream. "
F
23
S98
1909
V.3
C.I
ROBA
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