HISTORY OF WINTHROP.

CHAPTER I.

Location-boundaries

early settlers-grants of land — soil timber — productions— scenery.

POND TOWN, as Winthrop was first called, was included in what has long been known as the "Plymouth Grant," or the "Kennebec Purchase." This grant, or purchase, comprised fifteen miles east of the Kennebec. River, and fifteen miles west of the river; beginning south at Merrymeeting Bay, where the Androscoggin enters the Kennebec River, and extending up the river to Skowhegan. The south line of Pond Town was five miles. long the west line about nine miles the north line seven miles, "more or less," the east line had two angles and its length is not stated.

A hunter, by the name of Scott, had visited the ponds and streams in Pond Town, for the purpose of obtaining

fur, prior to the settlement of any family.

Others had also been in the place for the same purpose. Mr. Scott had erected a hut for his shelter, near the Cobbossee Conte great pond, on the land, which the first settler afterwards occupied. Mr. Timothy Foster, looking out a place for the settlement of his family, met this Mr. Scott at Cobbossee, and bought his cabin &c., and paid him thirty dollars, but took no receipt for it. The creditors of Scott hearing he had sold to Mr. Foster, some two years after, sued Mr. Foster for the money he had paid to Scott, put him in jail about six months and subjected him to other expenses.

EARLY SETTLERS.

According to the best information I can obtain, Mr. Foster came himself in 1764, and brought his wife and ten children in 1765. He pitched his tent about eight rods from the great pond, on the lot now occupied by Mr. Jacob Robbins. Here the first framed building was put up, and is now the porch attached to the house where Hiram Foster lives.

The next family which came was Squier Bishop, his wife and six children, in the Spring of 1767. They were from Rehoboth, Mass. Families by the names of Foster, Fairbanks, Stanley and Pullen, came from Attleborough, Mass. Though several kinds of game were plenty, the early settlers did not come to be hunters. They had other designs and employments. The few inhabitants came into the wilderness to provide for their families, for whom they felt a lively interest. Had they been drones, they would never have thought of coming to Pond Town for a living, nor have encountered the toils and hardships incident to such a situation. They evinc

ed a spirit of indomitable resolution and perseverance by their efforts to rear up families in such a desert. But coming from that part of Massachusetts, where they had been accustomed to no other than old cultivated farms, they were wholly unprepared for the process of clearing the land. They seemed not to know that corn or grain would grow on unplowed ground. They felled the trees, trimmed off the limbs and burnt them as much as they could and put in their plow. In this way they obtained very light crops, and had it not been for their milk, game and wild fruit, they would have starved. How many years they pursued this course, is not known. But it was not until three brothers, Nathaniel, William and Thomas Whittier, came from New Hampshire to that part of Pond Town, now Readfield, and felled twenty acres of trees and went back. The next Spring they came and burned their fallen trees. It made a tremendous fire which alarmed some who had never seen the like. They cleared off what the fire had not consumed, planted their corn and returned to New Hampshire. Some thought the course these men took, bordered upon insanity. But the corn sprang up and grew. The report that a field of twenty acres of corn was growing and looked promising upon land that had not been plowed, awakened no small degree of curiosity. Not a few went quite a distance to see it. In the autumn, notwithstanding what the raccoons and bears had eaten and destroyed, they harvested a good crop. From this experiment, the emigrants from Massachusetts learned an invaluable lesson. They were taught how to raise corn and grain on burnt land. I have heard one of the early settlers say, that every day's work in falling, burning, clearing and

sowing, yielded him a bushel of wheat. In those days, that was good wages. One of the three from N. H., it is said, brought a bushel and a half of potatoes upon his shoulders from Hallowell to his farm.

GRANTS OF LAND.

The township was not sold to a few proprietors who might speculate and defraud individual purchasers. The Plymouth Company, or as they were then called, the

Colony of New Plymouth," granted lots to individual settlers upon specified conditions. In examining the records of the Plymouth Company, I find that on June 11, 1766, a lot of land was granted to Timothy Foster, "one mile long and one hundred poles wide, containing two hundred acres." This was lot No. 8, as delineated by a plan made by John McKecknie, who appears to have made the first survey of the town. The conditions of the grant were, “that the said Timothy Foster build an house not less than twenty feet square and seven feet stud, clear and bring to; fit for tillage, five acres of land within three years from the date hereof, and actually live upon the premises himself during said term, or in case of his death that his heirs, or some person under them shall dwell on said premises during said term, and that he or they, or some person under him or them shall dwell thereupon for seven years after the expiration of said three years; reserving to this propriety all mines and minerals whatsoever within the hereby granted premises, with liberty of digging and carrying off the same."

Squier Bishop had lot No. 17 granted to him, the same day, on the same conditions. Eben. Bly had lot No. 18 granted to him the same day, on the same conditions.

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Lot No. 10 was granted to John Needham, June 4, 1767, on the same conditions. Samuel Scott had lot No. 13 reserved for him; but Sept. 14, 1768, it was transferred to Samuel Needham, on the same conditions. Oct. 12, 1768, Abraham Wyman had lot No. 12 granted to him on the same conditions. Nathan Hall had lot No. 11 granted to him same day, on the same conditions. Jan. 11, 1769, Robert Waugh had lot No. 98 granted to him on the same conditions. Timothy Foster, Jr., had lot No. 5 granted to him, April 12, 1769, on the same conditions. The same day Phillip Snow had lot No. 30; Nathaniel Stanley, lot No. 18; Amos Boynton, lot No. 29; Peter Hopkins, lot No. 9; Benjamin Fairbanks, lot No. 6; John Chandler, lots No. 51 and 52 — all granted same day, on the same conditions. Nathaniel Floyd had lot No. 42 granted to him the same day. Stephen Pullen had lot No. 56 granted to him Dec. 14, 1768, on the same terms. Aug. 22, 1770, Ichabod How had lot No. 70; Joseph Chandler had lot No. 78; John Blunt had lot No. 22-all on the same terms. Aug. 27, 1770, Billy Foster had lot No. 7; Aug. 12, 1772, Jonathan Whiting had lot No. 101; Joseph Baker had lot No. 213; Samuel Stevens had lot No. 139; Stephen Jones had lot No. 14, on the same conditions. July 14, 1773, John Chandler had lot No. 99; Elisha Smith had lot No. 134; Squier Bishop had lot No. 55; Unight Brown had lot No. 64; Jonathan Whiting had lot No. 200; Richard Humphrey had lot No. 83, on the same conditions.

July 9, 1777, lot No. 247, according to John Jones' survey, was granted to the minister, who should be first settled in Winthrop. The conditions were, "that he