Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-03-01
"Who Owns Mount Desert ?"

tue Vicinity OF Dur nhIDOI, Has sts' sSeeu wv
siderable attention and given rise to no itti'
excitement and speculation.
Mr.. C. L. AcCleery, the correspondent o
the Boston Journal. went to Bar Harbor Il
investigate the facts of the case, and we cop.
below his statement relative to the matter q
printed in the Journal of the goth instant, q
follows:
The article recently published in one of thu
Boston papers regarding the insecurity ofiand
titles at Bar Harbor, grossly misrepresentet
the true situation, and was calculated to Dc
that popular summer resort great damage b,
ito exaggeration. Although dated at Bal
Harbor no one at that place appears to have
any knowledge OF its authorship, and the be-
lief appears to be that it was written else
where and for the purpose of misrepre
sentng the situation. The truth of the met
ter 10 that none of the elegant summer cot
tages that have been built at Bar Harbor are
located on the tract in question, and no one
of their owners need be afraid OF having writ
of ejectment served upon them. The LAND
which is alleged to have an imperfect title to
ito present proprietors lies northeast of line
running from the northerly end OF Turtle
Lake to the southwesterly end of the original
settlers lots. at the village of Bar Harbor.
From this those who are familiar with the To-
cality will see that it all lies north of Mt. ke-
DO and Great Hill and embraces White Cap
Mountain, the northerlv side of Green Noun
tain to the edge of Eagle Lake, and then run
ming around the southerly end of the lake 1t
extends westward to the southerly end OF
Lake Mcfarland. It also embraces a little
land on Duck Brook at the foot of Eagle Lake,
though the lake itself was not embraced IN
the deed None OF the land 10 within a mile
of the village of Bar Harbor. The history of
the transaction, which, it 10 claimed, renders
invalid the title of all the present holders OF
the land, in brief is as follows:
In 1855 VIM Goodwin ard Geo. M. Sew
france bought the land of Randall ). Clark,
and a. it was already under mortgage to An
drew M. Hall they gave their notes, secured
by mortgage, to Mr.. Hall. When the first
note became due Goodwin and Severance
found themselves unable to meet it, and the
matter being placed in the hands of Mr.. Dean,
an attorney, action was brought and the prop
erty Of the mortgagors was attached. Good
win and Severance then abandoned the prop
erty and Mr.. Hall entered into possession of
it, and subsequently assigned the mortgage
to Mrs Sarah Gilmore. Mr.. Dean, acting
erty, and Mrs. Gilmore finally gave him a
warranty deed of it. The taxes upon the
land since 1856 have been paid by either Mrs
Gilmore, Mr.. Dean or his grantees, and the
present proprietors claim that the abandon
ment Of the land by Goodwin and Severance
for more than twenty years deprives them of
the right of redemption. Certain it is that
Severance left the locality and has since then
made no claim to the land. In fact, when 4
piece of land embraced in the tract was re-
Gently conveyed he was asked TO give a quit
claim deed of whatever interest he might
have in it, which he did for no consideration,
and also with the remark that he did not own
any land at Bar Harbor. Since the land was
abandoned by Goodwin and Severance it has
been conveyed by thirty-six sales, nearly all
of which have been accompanied by war
ranty deed, and as 4 number of these trans
fers have been to companies of individuals
there have been At least seventy different
proprietors. The deft ct in the title has beer
known for long time, but the matter having
been examined by some of the best lawyers
in the State it has been considered safe
to make purchase within the tract and
to give and take warranty deeds of the same
In 1868 the mortgage given by Goodwin and
Severance and the two unpaid notes were
assigned to w. A. Farnsworth of Rockland
and Henry Morse and Merritt Austin of
Thomaston and they now remain in Mr.
Farnworth's possession.
A short time since Ivory w. Coombs of
Bangor and A. II. Seaburv of Boston, con-
ceving that as the mortgage had never been
forecosed and the land still stood in the
name of Goodwin and Severance at the
Registry of Deeds an opportunity was offered
for speculation, purchased the interests of
the Goodwin heirs for Sl100, Mr.. H. 4.
Ellington of Bangor acting as their agent in
the transactson. Ex-Governor ID. II. Davis,
Collector of Bangor, is also understood to
have acquired one half of Mr.. Severance's in
terest. These gentlemen will lay claim to
the land under the quit claim deed of Randall
5. Clark to Goodwin and Severance, and will
not probably care to have revived the ques.
ton of the right of redemption under the
mortgage, as that is in the possession of one
of the present proprietors, and is held for the
beaeft of the grantees of Mr.. Dean. The
amount now due upon the unforeclosed
mortgage is about $1,000. The amount of
land involved is from 250O to 5000 acres. and
10 worth about IS an acre.
The SETTLERS lots" which have been re.
ferred to above, extend about one mile
IL
origin can perhaps be best understood by a
brief glance at the history of the land titles
upon the island of Mt. Desert. The whole
island was first granted by Louis XIV, to
Baron de Ia Motto Cordllac, at one time
Governor of Detroit, who subsequently added
to his title Lord of Donaquee and Mt De.
sert." After the Revolutionary War the
granddaughter of De Ia Motto, who had mar.
ried Bartholomew GrepOire came with her
husband to Boston and urged the General
Court to confirm to her this French grant to
her father The General Court in 1887 grant.
ed to Maria Theresa de Ia Gregoire the east
ern half of Mt. Desert island and a tract OF
the main land, including a part of Ellsworth
the condition of the grant being that the
grantee should confirm to actual settlers ons
hundred acres of land, including their i'm
provements. Almost the entire shore of tn,
eastern part of the island was accordingl,
granted out by Maria Theresa to settlers ane
others, the lots generally extending a mile
back from the shore. These are what wer
above termed the settlers lots. The interior
of the island and portion of the shore wer.
atterward granted to William Bingham, an,
the Bingham estate granted to Gilmore ant
Brewer a tract lying about Eagle Lake an,
Green and Bubble Mountains. Gilmore AM
Brewer made a division of this tract, Brewe
taking the southeast side and Gilmore tn
northwest side of line running northeast an
southwest nearly over the top of Gree
Mountain. Gilmore conveyed the land t
Randall S. Clark, who gave back a mortgage
which was assigned to A. II Hall CLAIR
quitclsimed the the land to Goodwin an
Severance, who gave their own notes an
mortgage to Hall, - has been mentione