1822, March 14, Edward H. Page, aged 69. 1843, Dec. 16, Mrs. Hannah Page, aged 88. 1820, Jan. 16, Capt. Asa Palmer, aged 78. 1817, Oct. 26, Mrs. Lois Palmer, aged 63. 1833, July 30, Ezekiel Parshley, aged 51. MARRIAGES IN DENNYSVILLE.* COMMUNICATED BY PETER E. VOSE, ESQUIRE. Oct. 10, 1787, William Kilby and Mary Wilder. April 2, 1822, Stacy Ayres of Plantation No. 3, to Huldah Gardner.† May 22, 1822, Joseph Tarbell to Mary Chandler of No. 3.† July 25, 1822, Joseph Dudley to Sarah Salown (?)† Aug. 21, 1822, Ebenezer Ridgway to Margaret Clark.† Sept. 20, 1822, Wm. M. Brooks of Eastport, to Eliza Hobart of No. 10.† Nov. 3, 1822, John Crane of No. 9, to Mehetable Wilder.† Dec. 5, 1822, Manning Clark to Mary Dunbar.† Dec. 10, 1822, Perez Hersey to Mary Wheelock.† Dec. 21, 1823, Caleb Hersey, Jr., to Elizabeth De Forest. Feb. 24, 1824, Henry Dudley to Abigail Reynolds.† May 23, 1824, Ebenezer Chickering to Elizabeth Allen. Aug. 21, 1824, Josiah Bridges of Charlotte, and Elizabeth Leighton. Nathaniel Cox to Thirza Reynolds, both of No. 10. Dec. 22, 1824, William Farris of Charlotte, and Mary Jane Bridges. Oct. 16, 1825, Daniel Farris of Charlotte, and Sarah Bridges. Nov. 13, 1825, Robert Wilder and Hannah Cushing. Nov. 22, 1825, James McCabe to Mary Dorothy. Nov. 29, 1825, Abner Gardner, Jr., and Jane Babh. Dec. 11, 1825, Dugald C. McLanchlan to Lydia Wilder. Dec. 22, 1824, Jared Hersey and Lydia Hersey. May 7, 1826, Bela Wilder, Jr., and Mercy Hersey. Dennysville was incorporated Feb. 13, 1818; No. 3, Charlotte, incorporated Jan. 19, 1825; No. 9, Prescott, incorporated Feb. 7, 1827; No. 10, Edmunds, incorporated Feb. 7, 1828. † By Edler Benjamin Buck. Act Establishing Town Line between Bucksport and Orrington. 169 Dec. 30, 1825, John Cockrin and Elizabeth Blackwood. Oct., 1826, Thomas Clark of Perry, and Delia Pomroy. June 22, 1827, Benjamin L. Pomroy and Lucretia H. Morgan. Feb. 24, 1827, Simeon Smith and Rebecca Carter. April, 1827, Ezra Chase and Hannah Wilder. Dec. 14, 1827,Thompson Lincoln of Perry, and Sarah Jones of No. 10. April 20, 1828, John Clark, Jr., and Sarah Reynolds. July 28, 1828, Samuel Hersey and Thirza Hersey. March 3, 1828, Abigail Leighton of Easport, and Hannah Hersey. Jan. 23, 1829, Samuel Leighton, Jr., and Martha Farnsworth. Sept. 6, 1829, Cushing Wilder and Alice S. Crane of Prescott. Aug. 26, 1830, James Nichols and Sarah Ann Crane, both of Whiting. Sept. 12, 1830, Nathan Preston of No. 10, and Hannah Garnett of No. 14. AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE TOWN LINE BETWEEN BUCKSPORT AND ORRINGTON, 1821. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled, that the following shall be the dividing line between the towns of Bucksport and Orrington, namely: beginning on the east bank of Penobscot river at the south western corner of School lot, so called, on the proprietors plan of township number one east of Penobscot river; thence running on the southern line of said lot, to the eastern end of the same; thence across a gore of land to the south western corner of lot number eighteen on the second range of lots; thence on the southern line of said lot to the third range line; thence southerly on said range line to the southwest corner of lot numb r fortytwo on the third range of lots; thence easterly on the southern line of said lot to the western line of the fourth range of lots; thence northerly on said range line to the southwestern corner of lot number fifty-four; thence on the southerly line of said lot, to the eastern line of the fourth range of lots; thence northerly on said range line to Brewer's pond; thence following the westerly shore of said pond till it intersects the old line which formerly divided the towns of Bucksport and Orrington. And all that part of township number one, which lies northerly and westerly of said line shall belong and be a part of Orrington, and the residue of said township, as laid out by the proprietors, shall be within the limits of Bucksport. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal or alter any of the provisions of the second, third and fourth sections of an Act which passed the General Court of Massachusetts, entitled an Act to set off part of the town of Buckstown and annex the same to Orrington. [This act passed February 28, 1821.] 170 Petition to the General Court from Ebenezer Ball, 1811. PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT FROM EBENEZER BALL,* 1811. COMMUNICATED BY DR. JOHN F. PRATT. To His Excellency Elbridge Gerry, Esq., Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: The memorial and petition of Ebenezer Ball most humbly shows that at the Supreme Judicial Court holden at Castine in June last, he was convicted by verdict of a jury of the crime of murder and is now under sentence of death therefor; but he solemnly declares that of such a crime, if any degree of malice or premeditation are the essentials of it, he never has been guilty; and he begs your Excellency in your abundant mercy to consider and enquire into his case and to save him from a punishment which according to the laws should never have been decreed against him. That the gun which killed the man was not discharged intentionally, and that he never meditated or formed any design to kill this or any other man, that this fact also appeared at the trial as clearly as intentions can be made to appear; for the witnesses agreed in stating, that the stopping, turning, bringing down the gun, and firing were at the same instant; and one of them explicitly said as was indeed the fact, that the gun was laying over the left arm, and his right hand on the breach at the time of turning and firing, so that it must have gone off when he was but half turned, his side being towards his pursuers and when it was impossible to single out a (male?), and when surely if he were the cool blooded murderer he could not and would not intend to fire. Your petitioner lying under sentence of condemnation and considered as a monster by all utterly destitute and entirely friendless, sees in life very little to be desired; but conscious that men have pronounced him guilty, and not the laws, and that 'tis his duty to avert the unmerited doom; he presents himself before you, to beg for his life, and prays your Excellency to inquire of the Honorable Judge for whose patience and kindness at his trial he desires to be grateful, to certify to you the evidence for and against him together with their opinions delivered thereon, and other circumstances relating to the conduct of the jury, in forming their verdict; that you may see the propriety of hearing this petition. And he most humbly prays that after reading and considering the same, your Excellency would exercise the power vested in you, and in you alone of pardon, and extend your clemency towards him by pardoning his crime and restoring him again and immediately to the world, by changing his awful sentence into one more suited to his guilt? And as in duty bound will ever pray, (signed) EBENEZER BALL. Signed at Castine in the prison, August 25, 1811, in presence of (signed) NATHANIEL COFFIN, WM. ABBOTT. Ebenezer Ball was tried at Castine for murder in June, 1811, and hung there Oct. 31st, 1811. (See this magazine, vol. 3, page 61.) PETITION FROM CONDESKEAG PLANTATION. HANCOCK. CONDESKEAG PLANTATION Dec. 31, 1739. To the honorable the Senate house of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court convened : The petition of Jethro Delano, (appointed as agent) for the freeholders of said Plantation of Condeskeag Humbly Sheweth; that whereas several tax bills hath lately been sent us requesting the speedy payment of considerable sums of money, for the exeginces of government, therefore your petitioner flatters himself, that a little attention to the following facts, will convince your honors that the request was premature. As legal subjects we feel for the exeginces of government; and could wish, it was in our power to cast in our mite for its relief. Believe we may truly affirm that no part of the United States of America, are so needy as we, our lands abound with large hemlock trees: which makes it difficult for poor people to clear, without the help of oxen. Where fish and lumber are plenty, people always are kept poor; because the purchaser reaps all the profit of the poor man's labor. No people ever venter'd to settle an inhospitable wilderness, in more needy circumstances, than this people without money, provisions or farming utensils. Necessity drove us to lumbering, and fishing for a support, which hath much retarded the cultivation of our lands. In the late war, we had no succour; only from the British at Majabigwaduce at such enormous prices as considerably involved us in debt. Since the peace took place so many of our cattle have been taken to answer those demands at moderate prices, as renders the cultivation of our lands extremely difficult. Many of us have no other way to break up our lands or get our grain into the ground but with the hoe. Were obliged (for several years) to labor considerable part of our time on the British garrison, both in seed time and harvest. Had our cattle, sheep and swine, and wreck of household furniture frequently taken from us both by British and Americans, without any satisfaction; but such abusive language as if Heaven had deprived them. Those who tarried here and traded with the Britoners; were called rebels, the others who left their places, and went to the Westward, were called fools for leaving their property. Poverty at present deprives us from setting (a price) for what we have for market some think it oppresive, to be taxed for lands which we have no title to; nor the lest encouragement that we ever shall have, what encouragement have we, to make improvements on such lands, and what is a man's life worth, without the comforts and enjoyments of it. Being deprived of town priveleges, we are deprived of good orders consequently of roads for recreation, comfort or even necessity. Not five bushels of bread corn to a family, through the whole settlements for the approaching winter. Could your honors come into our huts, fare as we do, and look upon our half naked children, we should need no other petition to have these taxes postponed; in fact it is morally impossible to raise the money now called for. These, gentlemen, are facts, wherefore your petitioner humbly prays that your honors would take our needy and difficult circumstances, into your wise considerations, and free us from State taxes for the present. Or otherwise order the same to be appropriated to the use of sd. plantation, (viz :) for the support of the gospel, schools, roads &c. your petitioner as in duty bound, shall ever pray. (signed) JETHRO DELANO, And Agent for Sd. Plantation From Massachusetts Archives, by Dr. J. F. Pratt. HENRY JOSSELYN, THE FIRST AND ONLY ROYAL CHIEF MAGISTRATE OF MAINE. Henry Josselyn* was the son of Sir Thomas Josselyn of Mount Maschall County, of Kent, England. In 1634, he came to Maine as the agent of Mason. In 1635, he settled at Black Point, now Scarborough, when he was a commissioner under Wm. Gorges, and again in 1639, under Thomas Gorges. At this time his father Sir Thomas was in the country visiting his son, but soon left for England. In 1645, he was appointed deputy govenor in place of Vines and held the last term of the general court under the authority of Gorges at Wells July 1646. The Province of Massachusetts had been waiting for an opportunity to pounce down upon Maine claiming that their charter was an india rubber one, which gave them what they could take and hold. Josselyn and others held out as long as they could, but Massachusetts was the strongest and won. Commissioners came into Yorkshire and established courts. In 1654, he was summoned before their courts but he did not yet acknowledge their authority and refused to go, and was arrested and gave bonds. In 1657, he appeared before the court and was discharged from his bond. Josselyn had either to surrender or emigrate. He choose to stay. His submission to Massachusetts with others was dated July 13, 1758. The Massachusetts authorities knowing well the popularity of Josselyn appointed him commissioner or judge of the courts of Yorkshire. Josselyn seems not to have I am indebted to William M. Sargent's interesting article in the New England Historical and Geneological Register for July 1886, and to the History of Scarborough in volume three of Maine Historical Soceity Collections. |