The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-09-13

the scene, who, purchasing the grant of Brad
shaw, formed copartnership with George
Cleeve. In this copartnership Cleeve says
that he 'joined" his fright" with Tucker's
that is, his promise Of grant of land to be
selected by him, with the land already in pos
session of Tucker under the Bradshaw grant.
He evidently thought this 'right' was an i'm
portant factor in strengthening their title to
the coveted territory upon which they at once
began to build and enclose groundfo planting.
We will leave them for a brief space, to take
a glance at the condition of affairs in the
vicinity during the year of grace 1881. The
nearest neighbor to Cleeve and Tucker on the
Spurwink and Bagnall on Richmond's island.
was John Stratton who was living probably
alone, on the little island which still bears his
name little west of Richmond's island and
opposite Black Point. Farther west, upon the
eastern bank of the Saco, Richard Bonython
and E4omas Lewis, men Of energy and char
acteT, and opposite on the western bank,
Richard Vines, the trusted friend Of Sir Ferdi-
nando Georges, with few hardy men as brave
as themselves, were clearing the forests and
trying to create home in the wilderness.
Eastward the nearest neighbor was Alexander
Mackworth who, at this time, had doubtless
seated himself on the point be-
You'd Portland Neck which still
bears his name, but which was called by
the Indians Menickoe and by him Newton.
Within the radius of dozen miles or more,
these were their only neighbors, so far as we
know unless few struggling fishermen were
carrying on their toilsome employment at House
island and one or two other points still favorite
haunts for fsherfolk along the shore.
Far and near, all was an linbroken wilder
ness save tracts of land here and there which
had been burnt over by Indians, and had grown
up to grass, presenting charming openings in
the summer time, bright and fragrant with
wild flowers, and musical with the songs of
countless birds. The streams abounded with
trout and salmon which the "gentle angler
like Tom Morton, Cammock or Milton could
lure to his basket with a scrap of red cloth if
he possessed no more succulent morsel to offer
them. The woods, too, were full of game of
every sort, from the wild pigeons, which at
sunset, settled down upon the great pines
in immense focks, to the clumsy bears
which fshed for Holsters in the pools left
shallow by the ebbing tide Nor was the sea
less populous than the forest. Herring,
mackerel cod, and the much priced bass
crowded the waters adjacent to Richmond's
island and the Spurwink, and along the mar
gin Of the sea lowered numberless wild fowl
acceptable for food. Never had the newcom-
ers from the Old World, where game protect
ed with jealous care, was the peculiar privi-
lege of the rich, beheld such abundance, and
they wrote home extolling the country as a
new found paradise. Such was the condition
of things in 1881 while Cleeve and Tucker
were establishing themselves in their new
home, and looking forward to a profitable
trade with the rowing bands Of Indians which
camped about them ready to exchange the
valuable furs of the otter and beaver for gaudy
trinkets, and above all else for the deadly fire
water of the pale faces.
During the summer the ship Plough
arrived with band Of Adventures
called the Company of Husbandmen,
This company had obtained a grant, the
year before, from the council, of tract of land
forty miles square lying between Cape Por-
poise and Cape Elizabeth. The arrival of
colonists at this time was an event of impor-
lance, not only on account of the interest, So
cial and patriotic, which emigrants in a new
country instinctively take in the advent of new
corners Of their own race and religion, but
quite as much on account of the rival interests
which must necessarily arise, and Cleeve and
Tucker without doubt not only acquainted
themselves with the new colonists, but with
their patent; such documents being Of especial
interest to those who were now rapidly pos
sessing themselves of all the valuable coast
line of New England. This patent, we shall
see, was destined to play an important part in
the controversies which were to arise later.
While these events were taking place,
Bagnall, who was living as a squatter
merely upon Richmond's island, being anx-
ious to obtain a title to his dwelling
place, applied to the council for New England,
probably through Thomas Morton, who was
then in England, and in favor with Georges,
for grant of Richmond's island and other
territory, and on the I'd of December patent
was granted to him for this island and fifteen
hundred acres on the mainland. But when
the grant was made the unfortunate Bagnall
had ceased to live, for not being satisfied with
the ordinary, or rather extraordinary advan-
tages in trade which he possessed over the red
man, he had resorted to fraud, and being dis
covered in it, had been slain by one whom he
had wronged.
A month previous to the grant to Bagnall.
namely, on November Ist another grant had
been made to Captain Thomas Cammock who
was nephew to Robert Earl of Warwick,
and had been employed by the Council for
New England of which his noble uncle was
an influential member. Cammock had been
in New England with Mason's or rather
Neale's company, which had settled on the
Piscataqua, and had probably built there, but
had explored the country farther east after
wards. had been attracted by the beautiful
point of land opposite Richmond's island, now
known as Prouts Neck, and had deter
mind to make it his future home. Returning
to England, he had procured through the in
huence of his uncle a grant of the coveted
territory then known as Black Point on ac-
count of the dense evergreen growth with
which it was covered. and which gives, as is
well known, an almost black appearanc to a
coast line, especially when contrasted with
gray rocks or the lighter foliage of deciduous
trees in the vicinity. While in England, he
had visited Robert Trelawny at Ham, the
Trelawny family seat, and New England, from
which Cammock had lately come, was fruit
full topic Of conversation. Cammoek had q
practical knowledge of the country, and his
selection of Black Point probably determined
Trelawny in his choice of the adjoining terri
tory, where Cleeve and Tucker were located.
A patent OF Richmond island, we may reason
ably infer, had been applied for by Bagnall,
and promise of it obtained from Gorges,-
whose word once given would be adhered
to-before Trelawny and Goodyear applied
for their patent or this most important
adjunct to their grant would have been in
Guided in the patent to them, since they pos
sessed personal influence which Bagnal did
not enjoy. This is evident from their patent,
which discloses design to nullify as far as
possible nearly every advantage granted to
Bagnall; indeed, his patent, had he ever re-
ceived it, would have proved almost valueless
to him, for by what was doubtless a well
arranged piece of fnesse, the Trelawny patent
preceded his in date one day and practically
covered Richmond island as well as the adjoin-
ing mainland, although the Bagnall patent ap-
parently conveyed to the grantee the island and
fifteen hundred acres of the adjoining main.
True, Bagnall was to have the fee of Rich
mond's island, but so encountered as to be
| almost worthless, since the day before the con-
veyance of it to him, the right to fowl, fish and
erect stages and wharves for the prosecution Of
business was granted to another. This right
was without limit, and could have been made
to absorb every privilege of value which the
| island possessed, while the mainland opposite
| to it, east and west, where he undoubtedly ex-
| pected to have his additional fifteen hundred
acres, had also been granted to others. Had
| Bagnall lived, the grant to Trelawny would
| have proved a fruitful source of trouble in
which the weaker party would have been
| forced to the wall. AS it was, they held the
island under their grant of privileges and never
sought to fortify it by any subsequent
| instrument.
The season of 1852 opened upon the lonely
settlers on the Spurwink, who, it would seem