1631, from the Council of New England, signed by the Earl of Warwick and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The patent conveyed to them twelve thousand acres of this section including the site of the town. Over this territory they were to exercise civil authority, and many exclusive rights were granted them. A notarial copy of this patent is owned by the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts. The agent of Aldworth and Elbridge was Abraham Shurte whose name appears in records of Pemaquid. No doubt much of its influence and prosperity was due to his sagacity, knowledge, wisdom, and honesty in dealing with the Indians. More than once he made peace between them and the white men and averted trouble for the colony. His usefulness extended to old age, but he was spared the sight of the desolation of the place for which he had worked so long and well. Other grants of land in the territory of Pemaquid have been claimed which have seemed to conflict. To go, however, into a discussion of these disputed early land titles would be impossible. But there was a disposal of land about Pemaquid earlier than those mentioned above, and it was the first deed of land properly executed in New England. In August, 1905, there was placed near the present landing at New Harbor, which is about a mile and a half from ancient Pemaquid, a monument to commemorate the passing of this deed, fifty years before that of William Penn. The deed is as follows: "To all people whom it may concern know ye, that I Capt. John Somerset and Unnongoit, Indian Sagamores, being the proper heirs to all the lands on both sides of Muscongus river have bargained and sold to John Brown of New Harbour this certain tract or parcel of land as followeth, that is to say, beginning at Pemaquid Falls and so running a direct course to the head of New Harbour, from thence to the south end of Muscongus Island, taking in the island and so running five and twenty miles into the country north and by east, and thence eight miles northwest and by west, to Pemaquid where first begun. Το all which lands above bounded, the said Capt. John Somerset and Unnongoit, Indian Sagamores, have granted and made over to the above said John Brown of New Harbor, in and for consideration of fifty skins, to us in hand paid to our full satisfaction for the above mentioned lands and we the above said Sagamores do bind ourselves and our heirs forever to defend the above said John Brown and his. heirs in the quiet and peaceable possession of the above said lands. In witness whereunto the said Capt. John Somerset and Unnongoit have set our hands and seals this fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord God One thousand six hundred and twenty-five. "Capt. John Somerset "Signed and sealed. "July 24, 1626, Capt. John Somerset and Unnongoit, Indian Sagamores, personally appeared and acknowledged this instrument to be their act and deed, at Pemaquid, before me "Abraham Shurte. "Charlestown, December 26, 1720. Read, and at the request of James Stilson, and his sister Margaret Hilton, formerly Stilson, they being claimers and heirs of said lands, accordingly entered. "Per Samuel Phipps. "One of the Clerks of the Committee for Eastern Lands." not Notice that the deed was recorded for almost one hundred years. Somerset, or, as it is most commonly spelled, Samoset, was always a friend of the white men. Here is another bond between Pemaquid and Plymouth, for Samoset, the Sagamore of Pemaquid, was the one who met the Pilgrims with the words, "Welcome, Englishmen!" and told them that his home was far to the eastward "a day's sail with a great wind." The precision and conciseness of this first New England deed written. at Pemaquid is remarkable, as well as the neat acknowledgment, the same form as in common use now. N. I. Bowditch, Esq., of Boston, dedicates his book on Suffolk surnames as follows: "To the Memory of A. Shurte; the Father of America Conveyancing, whose name is associated alike with my daily toilet and my daily occupation." The settlement at Pemaquid seems to have lasted about the same time as that of Jamestown, Virginia, or until 1696. Its greatest prosperity was probably from 1677 to 1689 when it was the capital of the ducal province of the Duke of York, afterward James II, and for whom it was called Jamestown. The first years of its existence record little organized government. We read of the lawlessness of all the Maine settlements of the earliest days. Under the Aldworth and Elbridge patent with Abraham Shurte agent and magistrate, a regular government was established and continued through the New York and Massachusetts administrations. Authorities agree in calling Pemaquid the chief center of trade law L and authority. After its rebuilding and renaming in 1677 many stringent laws were enacted for its government. A custom house was erected; it was the only port of entry and clearance; courts were re QLD PAVING established; more substantial houses were built; religious duties and habits were fostered by the government. "For the promotion of piety it was ordered that a person be appointed to read prayers and the Holy Scriptures." Pemaquid was raided in 1632 by the pirate, Dixey Bull; destroyed by the Indians in 1676 and 1689. and by the French and Indians in 1696. Though the fort was rebuilt in part at least, never again did the town regain its former life. Finally in the time of the Revolution, with the destruction of Fort Frederic, the site was utterly abandoned. Grass, shrubs, and vines covered its site; the plow was driven over its streets. The first movement toward unearthing the secrets buried here was made by the Maine Historical Society, which held field days here in 1869 and 1871 with the result of stimulating research and preventing further destruction. In 1893 the Pemaquid Improvement Associa tion was formed for the purpose of "excavating, preserving and restoring the relics, forts, and other objects of interest at Old Pemaquid." Much has since been done to carry out the plan. Mr. J. H. Cartland, a resident, has been very active, and devoted much time in searching out and putting on permanent record the facts ascertained. His book, "Ten Years at Pemaquid" (from which extracts for this article have been made), is very valuable and interesting. The work of research needs funds. Here on this spot where stood the rival of Jamestown, Virginia, Plymouth and Boston; the buffer town in the contention between the French and English; where England erected. her best fort on American shores, foundation remained when the first excavations were made, and the stones lay in heaps around it. Now the walls have been partially restored throughout. Many years ago portions of the walls standing were broken down and much of the stone dumped into the water near the shore. Four forts have stood here; but what is seen are the ruins of Forts William Henry and Frederic, particularly the former. In 1630 or earlier, the inhabitants erected a fort or stockade which was called called Fort Pemaquid, also Shurte's Fort. This is said to have been destroyed in Dixey Bull's raid. There is no record of its restoration, though probably some kind of a fortification existed. In 1677 a year after the first destruction of the town by the Indians in the horrors of King Philip's war, a strong redoubt was erected under the direction of Andros, Governor of New York (afterward of Massachusetts and New England). This was called Fort Charles and was, the ancient record "a says, wooden Redout with two guns aloft and an outworke with two Bastions in each of which two greatt guns and one att ye Gate; fifty souldiers with sufficient ammunicon, stores of warre, and spare arms victualled for about eight months and his Royal Highness sloope with four guns to attend ye Coast and fishery." as No doubt the French invited the Indians to make their attack which resulted in the downfall of this fort in 1689. Fort William Henry, the next fort, was the most formidable one England had in America, built, as Mr. Cartland says in his book, "to declare and maintain the claim and the rights of the English to the eastern territory, and also to restrain the Indians from encroachment on the western settlements." Sir William Phips, the Governor of Massachusetts, a native of this locality, who won fame and riches by finding the sunken gold in the Spanish main, built this fort in 1692. Phips had in 1690 captured Port Royal and restored to the English this eastern country, including that lost by the fall of Fort Charles and Pemaquid. Fort William Henry was square, with a circumference of seven hundred and thirty-seven feet. Its walls six feet and more thick, stood twenty-two feet high on the seaward side, and in the rear ten feet. The great rock was included in the corner tower, which was twenty-nine feet high. Diagonally opposite this tower was a bastion. Over two thousand loads of stone were used in its construction. For its erection and armament England paid twenty thousand pounds. Eighteen cannon frowned from its ports, and it had a garrison of from sixty to ninety men. It seemed to the people then, as it must now to us, that a fort so strongly built, thoroughly armed and equipped, might successfully fly England's flag with defiance to all enemies; but it was not so to be. Pemaquid was the border town, the bulwark of the English against the French and Indians. No sooner was Fort William Henry planned and built than the French commenced to plan against it. Only four years later, August 14, 1696, Chevalier D'Iberville with three ships of war, one the "Newport" just captured from the English, and accompanied by two hundred In dians, invested it by sea while more Indians surrounded the fort and town by land. D'Iberville mounted heavy mortars on the opposite river bank and threw bomb shells into the fort. This together with the rain of cannon balls from the ships completely demoralized the garrison. Probably the presence of the terrified people of the town in the fort made defence much more difficult. Great had been the boasting of Captain Chubb, their commander, that he would hold the fort against anything brought against it; but how vain; it seems to be the opin THE ANCIENT FORT REBUILT ion generally that this fine fort was surrendered with very little resistance on his part. Enough work has been done in excavating to show what this stronghold must have been when new. A great many cannon balls and fragments of shells have been picked up all over the peninsula, relics of the bombardment. Many are in the museum. But the bulk of them have been sold as junk. The fourth fort was simply a rebuilding or repairing of Fort William Henry. Colonel David Dunbar came here in 1729 with a royal commission to rebuild, furnish and garrison the place. He gave it this new name of Fort Frederic. During the French and Indian trouble of that century it served as a protection and bulwark. But when the colonies went to war with the mother country the people dismantled it for they feared the British might use it against them. To say that "the pavements echoed with the thronging feet" was true at Jamestown of Pemaquid; for the spade has revealed the fact that the principal street at least was paved with small stones and had gutters and sidewalks, probably like those in the homeland. Some of this paving has been removed in the process of agriculture, but apparently most of it remains. A section of the very stones pressed by the feet of the long-forgotten men and women whose lives were here is now uncovered and shown to visitors. More would be uncovered but for the relic hunters. Some years ago when a few feet of it were exposed to public view every stone was carried away in a very short time. It became necessary to securely enclose the part uncovered. Among the laws of Jamestown, as the capital, was one commanding that all trading should be done before the houses on the principal street between sunrise and sunset. There are affidavits of men on record that this paved street extended from the shore to the cemetery, a distance of maybe threeeighths of a mile, according to their observation more than sixty years ago. No one knows exactly how much paving there is. It has been found in several localities. The number of houses here very early can be estimated by the cel |