\nI am often asked about the di fference in the names tTprovi nce of Mai ne;; and\u00a0!TOi str i ct of Ma i ne” . I n substance it is enough to say that “provi nce’! was the\u00a0title before the Revolution and TfdistricttT the title after Massachusetts became\u00a0one of the 13 original states. Let me tell you my authority for that statement.<\/p>\n
Burrage, in his ‘~Beginnings of the Province of Maine’~, says: “On August\u00a010, 1622 the Counci I for New England granted to Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John\u00a0Mason the territory between the Merrimack and the Sagadahoc Rivers: which the\u00a0said Gorges and Mason, with the consent of the president and the counci I, intend\u00a0to name the Provi nee of Ma i ne.”<\/p>\n
Maine’s greatest historian, Wi I liam, says that Massachusetts adopted its\u00a0new state constitution on June 14, 1780, and at that time adopted for Maine the\u00a0Congressional designation, ~istrict of Maine. A later historian, Varney, explains\u00a0more fully: “In 1779 Congress divided the whole country into districts\u00a0for the purposes of revenue and better adMinistration of the national laws. And\u00a0thus it was that we became the District of Maine — sti I I a part of Massachusetts,\u00a0yet having a United States court and district offices, as we have had\u00a0ever since.”<\/p>\n
In all the ten years of radio comment on the folk and folkways of Maine,\u00a0have seldom even mentioned Maine’s oldest recorded history, much less told\u00a0you about it in detai I. It is high time for me to give appropriate attention\u00a0to Judge James Su I I ivan, who pub I i shed his :iH i story of the Oi stri ct of Ma i ne fl\u00a0in 1795, a fu II quarter of a century before Mai ne became a separate state.<\/p>\n
Copies of that book are rare today. Fortunately one of them is in the Treasure\u00a0Room collecti on of the Col by Co liege Li brary.<\/p>\n
The title page gives us The following information: “The History of the\u00a0District of Maine, by James Sui livan. I I lustrated by a new correct map of the\u00a0District. Boston. Printed by I. Thomas and E. T. Andrews. Faust’s Statue,\u00a0No. 45 Newbury Street. 1795 \u2022 H<\/p>\n
It was Sui livan who first gave a careful public record of the early Maine\u00a0counties. He explained thaT The whole district remained in one county unti I\u00a01761, the County of York. In that year a line roughly corresponding with the\u00a0Saco River marked the western boundary of a new county named Cumberland, which\u00a0included al I the islands in Casco Bay, as well as the mainland between the Saco\u00a0and And roscogg in. A II the reST of Ma i ne was named the CounTy of Li nco In.<\/p>\n
On this program I have aften mentioned that huge old county of Lincoln,\u00a0whose county seat was Pownalborough, now the town of Dresden, on the east side\u00a0of the Kennebec. There the old court house, bui It almost 200 years ago, sti I I\u00a0stands, carefully preserved by the historical society of the modern Lincoln\u00a0County, with its county seaT at Wiscasset. It was in the old county of Lincoln\u00a0that four Kennebec towns were incorporated on the same day in 1771, the towns\u00a0of \\1 i nthrop, Ha I lowe I I, Vassa I boro and \\~i ns low.<\/p>\n
Sui livan goes on to explain that, after the Revolution, Lincoln County wasdivided into three counties, the two others being qiven the names of Hancock and \u00a0Wash i ngton \u2022 HWash i ngton County~:, he wrote, ~:comp rehends a I I the te rr i tory between\u00a0Hancock and the Province of New Brunswick, and oughT to extend to the St.\u00a0Croi x, but the Eng Ii sh have crowded in on the state as far as Cobsecook. H<\/p>\n
Thus, when Sui livan wrOTe his history in 1795, Maine had, instead of its\u00a0present 16 counties, only five. They ran in straight norTh-south lines, and from\u00a0west to east were York, Cumberland, Lincoln, Hancock and ~’\/ashington. Our own\u00a0Kennebec County was not seT off from Lincoln until four years later in 1799.<\/p>\n
In 1795 there were only nine towns in al I the area That is now the County\u00a0of Kennebec. In addition TO the four incorporated in 1771 — Winthrop, Hal 10-\u00a0wei I, Vassalboro and Winslow — Pittston had become a town in 1779, Readfield in\u00a01791, Monmouth, Mt. Vernon and Sidney in 1792. Then in 1795 Clinton, Fayette\u00a0and Li tchf i e I d were incorporated. Four more were added before the county was\u00a0separately established in 1799 Belgrade, China, Augusta and Wayne. So, when\u00a0Kennebec County was set up, it had 16 towns — eloquent testimony to the rapidity\u00a0of the county’s growth immediately after the Revolution. Our county now has\u00a029 Towns and cities, and one township which was formerly a plantation. Are you\u00a0surprised that, unti I a few years ago, we had a plantation in Kennebec County?\u00a0We did, indeed. Whi Ie the town of Unity is in Waldo County, Unity Township,\u00a0through which one travels on the road from Benton to Unity, is in Kennebec\u00a0County, and unti I it was disorganized in 1942 it was Unity Plantation.<\/p>\n
The 13 Kennebec towns that were incorporated after those first 16 in the\u00a018Th century were led by Vienna and Watervi I Ie in 1802, fol lowed by Gardiner in\u00a01803, Albion and Rome in 1804, and Windsor in 1809. Then came a lapse of \u00a03\u00a0years, unti I the incorporation of Benton in 1842, fol lowed by West Gardiner,\u00a0Manchester and Chelsea in 1850, Farmingdale in 1852, Oakland in 1873 and finally\u00a0Randolph in 1887.<\/p>\n
I have tol d you a II th is in order that you may rea Ii ze how very ear Iy in\u00a0our.hisTorySullivan’s book appeared. Maine was pretty much unsettled wi Iderness\u00a0in 1795; with its few incorporated towns lying close to the coast in York and\u00a0Cumber I and counties, a long the coast itse I f as far as Mach i as, and a. short di stance\u00a0up the Androscoggin, Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers. FortunaTely there was\u00a0inserted into Su II ivan’s book a I arge map wh i ch is i nscri bed: itA map of the\u00a0District of Maine, drawn from the laTest surveys and other best authorities by\u00a0Osgood Car I eton \u2022 ” The map is 22 x 17 inches ins i ze, so that it took cons i de rable\u00a0folding to insert it into a book 8t x 5 inches.<\/p>\n
Between Kittery and Portland the coastal towns shown on the map are nearly\u00a0the same as now, with the exception that not only what is now Kennebunkport,\u00a0but the enTi re Kennebunk area as we I I, i s desi gnated by the 0 I d name made fami\u00a0liar by Kenneth Roberts — Arundel. From Portland to Penobscot Bay the coast\u00a0was fa i r I y we I I sett led, but east of that bay the sett lements ‘tie <\/em>re sma I I and\u00a0few. Between Gouldsboro and Machias the map indicates not a single community\u00a0only range and lot numbers of unsettled land.<\/p>\n The northernmost sett lement I arge enough to have a name on the map was then\u00a0New Vineyard, near Farmington, in what is now Franklin County. The northernmost\u00a0eastern seTtlement was Bangor. North of B3ngor was nothing but woods. The 9reat\u00a0ferti Ie lands of the Aroostook were then unknown.<\/p>\n The map shows clearly the boundaries of the Waldo Patent, about which I\u00a0have told you so much, and it also shows the extent of the huge Bingham Purchase\u00a0of more than a mi Ilion acres.<\/p>\n Only six townships on the map are designated as particular grants, and\u00a0those were a II located in the area, the southern line of whi ch are the present\u00a0towns of Skowhegan, Norridgewock and New Vineyard. One of those townships had\u00a0been granted to a Massachusetts school, Taunton Academy. Two had been granted\u00a0to Maine’s own earliest academies, Berwick and Hallowell. Two had been made to\u00a0pri vate parties. The sixth is especi ally i nteresti ng. I t was a grant of two\u00a0townships marked on the Sullivan map as “granted to the sufferers of Portland.!T<\/p>\n That was the recognition given by the Massachusetts legislature to the fate of\u00a0the Port landers whose town had been burned by the British durinq the Revolution.<\/p>\n It is worth noti ng what the map te I Is us about towns a long the Kennebec in \u00a01795. North of Merrymeeting Bay, on the wesT bank, the town of Bowdoinham included\u00a0whaT is now Richmond, and on the east side the big town of Pownalborough\u00a0stretched a I I the way to the Sheep scot and the ocean reaches at Wi scasset 0\u00a0Pittston covered not on Iy its p resent area, but a II of Gardi ner and West Gardiner\u00a0and Farmi ngda Ie as we II. Ha II owe II too extended on both si des of the river’\u00a0and included the present areas of AugUSTa, Randolph and Chelsea.<\/p>\n By 1795 Vassalboro no longer claimed land on both sides of the Kennebec,\u00a0because its west bank area had been taken to form the town of Sidney. \\1i ns low\u00a0included all of Waterv; I Ie and Oakland, and north of Fairfield was the big town\u00a0of Canaan, covering al I of what is now Skowhegan and parts of Madison and Norr \u00a0i dgewock. North of Canaan was noth i ng in the great wi I de rness except the occasional\u00a0cabin of a lone settler and the seasonal camo of the few remaining Ind\u00a0i ans .<\/p>\n Over in the northern part of Cumberland County, where I was born, there\u00a0were already a number of towns. My own town of Bridgton had been settled for\u00a0near’ly 30 years. Fryeburg was a thriving community. Raymond already enjoyed\u00a0mai I service from Portland. Dtisfield had more than a hundred inhabitants. What\u00a0I like to cal I Bridgton’s foreign neighbors were then unknown — Sui livan’s\u00a0map shows no Norway, no Sweden, no Denmark, nor any Naples or Paris. This is\u00a0rather unfair to the Maine town of Paris, which contributed so much to our history\u00a0after Ma i ne became a state. I n fact, the commun i ty at Pari s Hi II a I ready\u00a0had a g00dly number of settlers before the Revolution and the town was actually\u00a0incorporated in 1793. Thus we deduce that, although Sui livan’s book was published\u00a0in 1795, the map he inserted in it was drawn before 1793. The map itself\u00a0carries no date, but in the lower right hand corner appear the words: “A map of \u00a0those parts of the country most famous for being harassed by the Indians long\u00a0after their first settlement, and more particularly treated in Judge Sui livan 1s\u00a0Hi story of the Oi stri ct of Ma i ne. n<\/p>\n Especially significant is what the map tel Is us about the northern boundary\u00a0of Maine. It places that boundary along what it cal Is the High Lands, extending\u00a0from the New Hampsh ire line, north of the Rang Ie I ey Lakes, runn i nq ina northerly\u00a0direction across the St. John River, so that the whole watershed on both\u00a0sides of that river fell within the territory of Maine, unti I it came near the\u00a0present New Brunswick community of Fredericton.<\/p>\n Many years were to e lap se after 1795, and many quarre I s were to ensue, i neluding\u00a0the bloodless Aroostook Wart before in 1842 Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton\u00a0would sign the treaty which gave Canada possession of all lands on the\u00a0north and east banks of the St. John, and considerable territory on the west\u00a0bank.<\/p>\n Let me close this account of Sui livan’s history by tel ling you what he says\u00a0about Maine climate: PThe weather in the District of fl.1aine is found to be colder\u00a0than it is in the same degree of latitude on the other continent. Therehave\u00a0been many attempts to explain this. Dr. Robertson supposes that, as our\u00a0east wind generally produces soft, warm weather, and our north and west winds\u00a0cold weather, our cold is occasioned by northerly and westerly winds raised on\u00a0the mountains and chi lied before they reach us. Others say our climate is caused\u00a0by our thick and heavy covering of forests. Dr. Holyoke says our cold comes\u00a0from the great number of evergreen trees in our woods. This idea is new, but\u00a0it applies with great force to the District of Maine, where the forests are composed\u00a0a I most who II y of hem lock, spruce, pine and fi r. Y!<\/p>\n Incidentally Judge Sui livan had never heard of the Arctic current and the\u00a0Gulf Stream. And with that comment on different views of an olden day, I must\u00a0say good night for old times’ sake.<\/p>\n Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #355, Broadcast on November 17, 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}