Encouraging Massachusetts Citizens to Emi- grate to the District of Maine in 1817 Sprague's Journal of Maine History. Vol. VIII Special Number, June 1920 No. 1. page 36-37 Encouraging Massachusetts Citizens to Emi- grate to the District of Maine in 1817 (From the Dedham Historical Register (Vol. X, No. 3) July, 1899.) Mr. C. K. Bolton, Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, recently called the attention of the Register to a folio broadside, printed in Dedham, which he had given to the Library of Bowdoin Col- lege. The title and description below, give some idea of the method of settlement of Maine lands in the early part of this cen- tury. It will be remembered that then Maine was a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. *** Public Lands in the District of Maine for settlement, Broadside. Dedham, A. D. ALLYNE, Printer. The "Commissioners of the Land Office, having addressed their fellow citizens in July last, on the subject of settlements contem- plated on the public lands in the District of Maine *** think and moral husbandmen, who are destitute of farms, to notice the proposals of a beneficent government, to improve their conditions in life *** by a donation of one hundred acres of good land to every actual settler." They say that they "have explored and opened a road through the Commonwealth's land in the county of Somerset, north of the settlements on Kennebeck river, in the direction of Canada;" that on "this road settlements may be made within one hundred miles of Quebec, sixty miles of which is through a settled country, that is frequently travelled with wagons in one day;" that a "contract is made for building a bridge over the Moose river, which is the only *** water obstruction to the traveller from Kennebeck to Canada," to be finished in July or August next;" that the "government of this state have provided for erecting a Saw and Grist Mill contiguous, for the benefit of the present settlement;" that there "will be two Townships sur- veyed into lots of one hundred acres on this road, and offered for settlement immediately;" that the "road from Penobscot in a direction for St. Johns, has been opened the last season a consid- erable distance;" that the "government have directed a settlement to be made on this road *** and Township Number Four, about twenty miles distance on said road, is designated *** for that purpose; that Five dollars expense will place any man on the spot, who will take a water passage from Boston early in May;" that the yoemanry of Massachusetts 'should' duly accredit the amount of their fellow citizens living in Washington, Penobscot and Somerset counties, where the public lands now offered as a donation to settlers are situated;" that the "Land Office in Bos- ton, northeast corner of the State House, lower floor," to Loth- rop Lewis of Gorham *** or Joseph Lee at Bucksport;" signed, "Edward H. Robbins, Lothrop Lewis, Joseph Lee," and dated "Land Office, 2d March, 1818," the "Selectmen of the respective towns are requested to deposit one of these advertisements with the town clerk *** and give publicity to the others *** as there is reason to believe, that one notification of the 9th of July, 1817, published in most of the newspapers, in August and Sep- tember last, did not come to the knowledge of one-fourth of the people of the State." (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * 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. * * * * 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.