Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-01-16
TALLEYRAND'S BIRTHPLACE.
Prof. Sawtelle Replies to }. Sherman
Douglas Claim for Lamoine.


To the Editor of The Ellsworth
American:
The important communication
from ]. Sherman Douglas, ESQ.,, on
Prince Talleyrand, published in the
December 10 issue of The American,
has been read with much interest
, Mr.. Douglas has been good enough to
notice an article of mine which re-
/ Gently appeared in 'Spragues
/ journal of Maine History" wherein
! the theory was advanced that the
/ little lame boy of the story there re-
! lated might have been born at Sor-
rento, on the eastern side of French
mans bay.
The fortuitOus move on my part
which made Sorrento the scene of
action of the story, as | tried to point
/ out in my article, rests entirely upon
! deductive reasoning. First, upon
the fact that the old Indian name of
Frenchman's bay, Ottowakeik, is
found in English documents in the
Massachusetts Archives as Adowaket
and in documents in the French Ma
/ tional Colonial Archives at Paris
! (photostat copies of some of them
are in the Islesford collection at Lit
tie Cranberry Isle,) it is given as
Donaquet; second, upon the fact re-
lated by members of the Passama-
quoddy tribe, that their ancestors
once congregated in great numbers
at what is now Sorrento; third, that
both English and French traders
sought out the Indian settlement for
, purposes of barter which accounts for
the old Indian name; fourth, that
French coins have been dug up at diff
ferent times on the eastern side of
Frenchman's bay; and lastly, that
the name Ottowakeik (spell it
Adowaukeag, if you like, has been
contracted in both photography and
in geographical application to
Waukeag, now a peninsula on the
eastern side of Frenchman's bay.
AS words often fail, these de-
auctions are perhaps in error, and
may have been led far atield or cast
adrift by "Adowaukeag. On the
other hand, it must be confessed
that l spent considerable time cruis-
ing in my minds eye around the
periphery of Frenchman's bay, seek
ing any sort of evidence, direct or
negative which might locate the
birthplace of the French lad, before
tentatively deciding on Sorrento
At ancient Trenton, of which La
moine was once a part, | tarried for
some time on my imaginary sojourn,
for here was Township No. 1, east
of the Union river, granted by the
General Court of Massachusetts,
February %, 1862, to Ebenezer
Thorndike and others.
All grants between the Penobscot
and ST. Croix rivers were subject to
the kings approval, which was not
forthcoming because the English
Privy Council could not decide
whether the title of this Eastern
Maine territory lay with Massachu-
sets or Nova Scotia. incidentally,
only one of the ten or dozen grants
was ever validated by the king
Governor Demands grant of Mount
Desert Island, and that not until
I'LL Naturally, without clear titles,
these eastern settlements did not
flourish. But at the close of the
Revolution, title having reverted to
Massachusetts, the old proprietors
made every effort to reclaim what
had been granted TO them in 1862
C,,,ao,.,.o,,+l,, +boro GRO IN racord
1.,.its ,,o,;ti,,, oo,, ditions which
3tsl - 1rco "a . Gov. ,,oore
later. but to only one deposition is it
necessary to refer-that of Ebenezer
Thorndike original proprietor of
township No. /. east of the Union
river.
ctndents Of Eastern Maine history
viii recau tbat in 1872 The Ameri-
aan n,b1ishod como in,nortant
Iiltorip9I artioIos on Anoiont Tran-
t,, ~, 40 tforo,.of1o IvifIion, Free.
,, - C,arruGa1d The Froenor
,i,a,.,, ,,,o,,', rorrintod IN 1eQ9 NV INC
iato Co1onoI Tasanb w porfar in his
l,pon,ro,. I1istoricaI NTaooqi,,a 3" and
e,a., ~, an,,roa 7 auot a iron, Thorn,
~ $3.50