The Winslow Register
Compiled by 
Mitchell & Davis 1904.  
Kent's Hill: Published by the H.E. Mitchell Publishing Co. 
1904.
Pages 17-24.



Early Settlers and Settlements

In tracing the history of the town of Winslow we find that our task lies in tracing out the story of the settlement and development of the whole section along the banks of the Kennebec River, above Cushnoc, or Augusta as it was later called.  When the white man first gained a knowledge of the territory of this region along the Kennebec the forest resounded only to the stealthy step of the redman, and the waters reflected only the rude, rough features of the child of nature as he bended over them to cast the rude implements of fishing or seed a draught to quench his thirst.  For a long term of years after the first of the white man learned of the territory hereabout no progress or even attempts to settle were made.  The strife that was waged between the white man and the Indians made the whole of this region the secure home of the latter for a long time.  But with the advent of the trader came some small development of opportunity to settle.  From the 31st day of May, 1607, when the Popham expedition sailed from England to the mouth of the Kennebec and made preparations to establish there a colony, the fortunes of the Indian seemed to have been doomed.  There were may long periods of doubt as to whether the territory of this region was to belong to France or England; but there never was a time when there was any doubt that the Indian, sooner or later, must leave the scenes of his former domain.  The French adopted method which seem to have been well calculated to hold for a time the confidence and friendship of the redman, but their purpose was identical with that of the English and aimed at the control of the territory of the larger part of the whole North America Continent.  While the French were aiming at the subjugation of the Indian by diplomacy and apparent friendship, the English were carrying on their old and well known plan of subjugation by the might of the sword.  This policy entrusted to the adventurers whom they sent to establish their dominion, coupled with the deceit which was frequently practiced upon the Indian served only to make the English the more hated and the French more trusted.

This condition led to strife which was destructive of life and property as well as of the advance of civilization.  So long as the strife of arms continued little or nothing was done for the betterment of the region of the Kennebec.  When the fort at Winslow, Fort Halifax, was built in 1754 there was a certain amount of protection for the settlers offered, and from this time there was something done toward settlement.  But previous to this time the history of the section is a story of strife between the Indians and the English with the complications made by the French in addition.  Briefly the events of most importance following the establishment of a colony at the mouth of the Kennebec by Popham in 1607, as above stated, are the following:

The grant of territory known as the Plymouth or Kennebec Grant was made by the Plymouth Council on January 12, 1629.  This grant included all the territory on either side of the Kennebec river to the extent of fifteen miles from its banks, and extended from the vicinity of Topsham to the Wessarunsett river at Cornville.  Following this grant there was erected a trading house "up above on ye river in ye most convenientest place for trade."  This was undoubtedly at Cushnoc, or Augusta as it is now known.  Not long after this, some six years, the Plymouth Council became disheartened and surrendered it charter to the King of England.  Then by various acts and grants the King placed this and other territory, which included practically what is included in the present State of Maine, under the control of Sir Ferdinando Gorges.  His domain was designated as the "Province of Maine."  He sent his nephew, William Gorges, as Governor, and this gentleman established his capitol in Saco, and opened court there on March 28, 1636.  As there were not settlements yet on the Kennebec, Gorges exercised not jurisdiction, but the Pilgrim Colony mad a monopoly of the trade with the Indians.  But the trade with the Indians became in time so scanty that it was leased in 1649 to five parties, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, Thomas Price, Thomas Willett and William Paddy.  The consideration was a small sum and the lease was to run three years.  This lease was renewed till 1661 when the patent was sold outright to Artemas Boies, Edward Tyng, Thomas Brattle, and John Winslow.

One of the very first civil actions on the part of the people scattered along the Kennebec near it mouth, occurred on May 23, 1654, when sixteen men assembled in compliance with an order from the General Court of Massachusetts to one Thomas Prince to "summon the citizens on the river Kennebec that they might take as oath of allegiance and arrange a judicial code."  In accordance with this order the sixteen men, mentioned above, assembled at the house of one Thomas Ashley near Merrymeeting Bay on the above date, and besides taking the oath, "promulgated the first prohibitory law in the State of Maine."  It provided for penalties for the selling of liquors to the Indians.

We find that at the outbreak of King Phillip's War there were two men who had trading places at Waterville, Teconnet as it was then called.  They were Messrs. Clark and Lake.  In a short time the war assumed such proportions that the Maine Indians took part, and a large part of the traders about the vicinity of Arrowsic and at points further up the river were killed.  This conflict and those which followed were so destructive that as late as 1749 there were only two families left on the river above Merrymeeting Bay.  In 1749 nine of the heirs of the men who had bought the rights of the Plymouth Colony in 1661 met in Boston and organized and became incorporated in order to obtain their rights to the lands which had been bought by their ancestors, and to devise means to open the territory to settlement.  In 1753 the company petitioned Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts for the erection of a fort at Teconnet Falls.  This was the beginning of the opening up of the whole of the Kennebec Valley to settlement.  Teconnet was regarded as the strategic point by both the English and the French and by the Indians also who saw in this new move a thing dangerous to their interest.  But their protest was in vain and the fort was erected.  General Winslow was in charge of the eight hundred troops who accompanied Governor Shirley on this expedition.  It was he who laid out the fort and had charge of the operations about the scene of the fortification.  It toot but a short time for these English to build five building about Fort Halifax.  Soon a stockade eight hundred feet in length was put up, cannon and rifles were brought up the river I scows, and a wheel road was cut through from Fort Western at Cushnoc (Augusta).  When the works were completed Governor Shirley inspected them and very highly complimented General Winslow and his men.  Capt. Lithgow, who had been in command of Fort Richmond, was assigned to the command of Fort Halifax, and was given a garrison of eighty men.  We are informed that there was a whale boat express established between this place and Falmouth (Portland) which made the trip in twenty hours,, a rate of speed considered rapid for those times.

After the garrison was established at Fort Halifax it was soon learned that the Indians were determined to make trouble if possible.  No man was safe if he ventured beyond the limits of the fortifications.  Several were mortally wounded by the Indians.  They continued to make trouble till the summer of 1757 when the last skirmish with them occurred.  It is recorded that Capt. Lithgow had noticed for a few days that there were rafts drifting down the river, and concluded that the Indians had used them to cross at some point above and come down in attack on the settlement.  He sent a part of ten men down the river to give warning of the impending danger.  As these men were returning they were fired upon some ten miles below the fort, in the vicinity of Riverside, and two o f the party were wounded.  They returned the fire and continued the fight with such gallantry that the Indians fled after one had fallen, shot dead, and another wounded.  The Indians carried away these two on their backs to prevent their being taken prisoners.  The above skirmish occurred on May 18, 1757, and was the final shot of the redman, as a tribe, in this region.

The purpose of the fort was now realized.  It was the key to the region of the Kennebec, and had unlocked the valley to the axe of the settler.  It is of interest to note that the garrison was much reduced after a short time, and that the fort was dismantled after the close of the French and Indian War in 1763.  When Arnold passed up the Kennebec on his expedition to Quebec the large house within the fort was used as a hotel.  It was called the "Fort-House."  This building was used afterward as a dwelling house, meeting house, town house and later as a dancing hall and finally a home for the poor.  A Mr. Thomas tore the building down in 1797 and used some of it timbers in the construction of the Halifax House.  Capt. Lithgow remained at the fort for some time.  He was engaged in trade at this point.  He was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Lincoln County as early as 1760.  In 1772 he removed to Georgetown where he died in 1798 at the age of eighty-three.

Abbott says in his history of Maine, "Winslow was incorporated this year (1771) including the present town of Waterville.  Here was the famous Teconnet of the Indians; and it was on this point, on the neck of land formed by the union of the Sabasticook and the Kennebec, that Fort Halifax was reared.  As early as 1754, eleven families built their cabins at this frontier fort in the wilderness."  The Rev. E.C. Whittemore, in writing on this point, says, "Abbott states that eleven families settled in Winslow in 1754, but, if so, they have left neither trace or name."  We are inclined to believe that there were no permananent settlements of the bank sof the Kennebec at this point till somwhat after this date.

The flat land near Fort Halifax was cleared and cultivated in 1764 by Morris Fling, who built a log hut, and was the first farmer in the vicinity.  In 1766 the Plymouth Company issued a grant of land to several parties on several conditions, the most important being that the grantees must have fifty settlers on the land within four years time.  At the expiration of the time it was found that there were established on the territory the required number of settlers.  This was the first endeavor to settle the territory about Ticonic Falls.  The present town of Winslow is that part of the orginal town lying east of the Kennebec.  This town, whose Indian name was Ticonic and whose plantation name was Kingfield, had the distinction of being one of the first four towns incorporated in Kennebec County.  It was named for General John Winslow, and when incorporated, April 26, 1771, included what is now Waterville and Oakland.  We are unable to give the settlers in the order of their arrival which seems unneccessary since they came at nearly the same time.  We learn that those who settled on the river road south of the Sebasticook were:  Nathan Taylor, Mordecai Blackwell, Captain Timothy Hale, Hezekiah Stratton, John Flye, Levi Richardson, Captain Wood, Joseph Wheelright, David Hutchinson, Manuel Smith, Clark Drummond, Daniel Hayden, Esquire Swan, Francis Dudley, Daniel Spring, Ezekiel Pattee, Ambrose Howard, Samuel Pattee, John Drummond, Joshua Cushman, Franklin Dunbar, Charles Drummond, and Esquire Thomas Rice.

Those who settled in the central and eastern mart of the town were: Ephriam Wilson, Stephen and George Abbott, Jacob Tilly, Wentworth Ross, Samuel Haywood, Park Smiley, Joseph Hardison, George Nowell, George Nowell, Jun., Josiah and Jonas Hamlin, Esquire Brackett, Hamilton Bean, Luther Lamb, Martin Ward, Jonathan Furber, John Hobbie, Jabez Jenkins, Jabez Crowell, Barnum Hodges, Daniel, John and Amos Richard, Samuel Branch and Mr. Gliddon.



**********


NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and 
libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter 
information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other 
sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any 
other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of 
contents. <p>
<hr>

The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the 
information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information 
must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is 
always best to consult the original material for verification.