The Portland daily press., 1877-03-23
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The Meeting Kesferday-Down Among
the Dead Notwithstanding MOwaft
Abstract of Papers Read-The Dutch
Conquest in Maine.

the Dead notwithstanding Mowat
| Abstract of Papers Read-The Dutch
Conquest N Maine.
The Maine Historical Society began its seq
Sion in the Common Council chamber yester
day morning, the temporary President the
hon. q. j. Gilman, in the chair, and its Sec
Rotary, the venerable Professor Packard, at the
desk. Outside the membership of the Society
the attendance was not large the general pub
J lie being too busy making history to feel much
interest in the proceedings of the grave and
studlous gentlemen who are revising it OF
adding to the abundant material with which
future historians will have to work. Indeed
people fail to appreciate at its true worth the
work of the Society and its efforts to rescue
from oblivion the early history of the state and
the country. AT every session one paper al
least is sure to be read which is of general in
terest, and no paper is submitted from which
some valuable knowledge cannot be cleaned
The attendance of members at the present
meeting is large. Among those who had seats
In the chamber yesterday were Prof. Packard,
DR.. Champlin, Judge Shepey, the Hon. G. j..
Gilman, DR.. Lapham, Bishop Nicely, Judge
Howard, DR.. Thomas Hill, the Hon. George 7.
Davis, Canon Hayes, the Hons. Joseph Tit
comb Marshall Cram and Israel Washburn,
| Gen. John M. Brown, and Messrs William
Goold, A. G.. Tenney, G. j. Varney, S. L.
Boardman, Edward p Burnham and Lewis
Pierce.
The meeting was called to order by Secretary
Packard, and in the absence of President
l lxa fho r ~ r;oIr
was elected President pro tenpore. On taking
the chaif, Mr.. Gilman Stated that owing to the
disability of ex-President Woods, the standing
committee had entered into an arrangement
| with Mr. Deane of Cambridge to complete the
introduction to the Hackluyt manuscript. In
a few days the last proof sheets will be return
| ed to the printer, and the work will be forth.
| coming in two months. The seventh volume
| of the society's transactions is now ready for
the members. Since its last meeting, the So
ciety has lost Judge Ether Shepley, Hon. S. P.
Benson, Hon. B. G. Mailey, and Hon. w. T.
Sewall. Mr.. Sewall left bequest to the So
ciety. Mr.. Gilman also stated that he had in
tended preparing paper on the first draft of
the Constitution of the United States, in which
there is provision that the President of the
| d
| of the members of Congress. Mr.. Gilman
| hoped to have thes paper ready by the next
meeting.
After disposDg of the preliminary business
| it was determined to proceed at once to the
reading of papers, and those on the Secretary's
desk were submitted to the Society. The first
in order was memoir of the late Rev. Amos
Dean Wheeler, so long Unitarian minister at
Brunswick and Topsham, and so well known
and honorably remembered in conrec.
ton with the educational interests and literary
history of the state. This sketch was prepared
by his sons, and is fragment of the forth
coming history of the town of Brunswick.
Following this came a sketch by Mr..
Wheeler of Castine Of the life and doings of
Thomas Purchas the first settler on the Peiep.
scot claim, and one of the most notable men of
the early colonial times. Concerning every
act of his life there appears to be more or less
dispute. The date of his birth, the date of his
death, the years of his age even, are matters of
uncertainty. The paper made little attempt to
settle the disputed points, and contented itself
with giving the balance of probabilities wher-
ever there were sufficient data ON which to
base an intelligent guess Some new SUPPOSE
tions were offered provoked by the discovery of
the Trelawny papers. The author was inclin-
ed to fix the date of Purchas's birth at 1876,
and was very much inclined to doubt if he
reached the age of 1O1 years, as some chroni-
clers contend. 1t seems certain that he came
to Saco in 1926, and took up the Pejepscot
CLAIM two years after. In 1852 the
grant of the tract appears on the
cord Of
him and to George Way. This grant required
one fifth of the gold and silver mined on the
tract to be given to the King. But the Eng
fish revenues do not appear to have been
materially added to thereby In 1859 Purchas
placed his tract under the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts. One of the many mooted
points concerning him is the place of his resi-
dence. This Is doubtful despite the testimony
of hundred dispositions, (which does not
speak strongly for the veracty of our ances-
tors. The paper believes that he usually lived
at New Meadows, though the stair stone
house" mentioned SO frequently is supposed to
be on Fish-House Hill in Brunswick. Another
mooted point is the date of his second mar
rage though our author having in view the
long experience of mankind and the well.
that it was probably shortly after the death
of the first wife,
AT the conclusion of the reading of the paper
Gen. Brown called attention to the discovery
lately made that the assumed kinship between
Thomas Purchas and the Rev. Samuel Purchas,
the historian did not exist. (The paper had
suggested that Thomas was one of the 'spoor
nephews' of which the historian speaks.
Gen. Brown then submitted document from
Mrs. George Walker of this city, the document
being an account by Joseph Wheaton, an eye
witness. of the Machias naval engagement,
the first overt act by the Colonists against the
British Navy. At Gen. Browns suggestion
the Society extended its thanks to Mrs.
Walker.
The Secretary then read a paper by John E.
Godfrey of Bangor, on Capt. Mowatt the
British officer, who burned Falmouth in 1775.
The paper was in the nature of plea for a
more charitable judgment of this officer, and
adduced in his favor his kindness to the Penob-
scot people. The reading called forth some
discussion, Mr.. William Goold protesting
against the condoning Of Mowatt's offence in
violating his parole, and Gov. Washburn saying
a few well-considered words upon the modern
mania for "whitewashing' historical charac.
tiers of bad repute.
Gen. Brown communicated to the Society
suggestion by Mr. Thornton of Boston, cor
responding member, to the effect that a COM
mittee be appointed to search out the origin of
local names in Maine, names of towns, bays,
headlands, lakes, SC. Gen. Brown moved the
appointment by the chair of such committee,
and the motion was carried. Pending its ap-
pointment, the meeting adjourned until after
noon.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The first business in the afternoon was the
submission by the Corresponding Secretary, the
Rev. G. G. Hayes, of certain copies of docu-
ments among the colonial series of state papers
in the English Public Record office, made by
Sir Josiah Pierce for the benefit of the Society
The documents concern the controversy be-
tween the Kings surveyor and the Massachu
sets proprietors as to the ownership of the
lands between the Kennebec and the st. Crox,
and are: the opinion of Sir Philip York, the