Maine History
Antiquarian: Pre-1940 References

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Abbott, John S. C. (1875). History of Maine: From the earliest discovery of the region by the Northmen until the present time. B. B. Russell, Boston, MA.

Baxter, James Phinney, Ed. (1884). Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine. 3 vols. Hoyt, Fogg, and Donham, Portland, ME. Reprinted in 1890 as The life and letters of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Prince Society Publications, 18 - 20, Boston, MA.  Reprinted in 1967, NY. W.

• Looking for a reprint of this.

Baxter, James Phinney, Ed. (1884). Trelawny papers: Edited and illustrated with historical notes and an appendix. Hoyt, Fogg, and Dunham, Portland, ME.

Baxter, James Phinney, Ed. (1889-1916). Documentary history of the state of Maine. 24 vols. The Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME.

• "In his preface to volume 24 the editor wrote: 'This volume completes the documents relating to the Indians of Maine...'  Volumes 23 and 24 are indeed the Indian volumes.  It seemed inappropriate to tabulate the chronological indices of these two volumes  because of the space which would be required.  Volumes 12 and 13 also have been noted because of the number of letters and petitions related to Indian problems.  It would be difficult to find chronological tables better prepared and more informative than those done in these volumes." (Ray, The Indians of Maine, pg. 31).

Baxter, James Phinney, Ed. (1894). Pioneers of New France in New England. Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY.

Beston, Henry, Ed. (1950). White pine and blue water: A state of Maine reader. City & Country Readers Series. Farrar, Straus and Company, New York, NY. IS.

Bradford, William. (1912) History of Plymouth plantation 1620-1647. Mass. Historical Society, 2 vols, Boston, MA.

Bradford, William. [1952] (1991). Of Plymouth plantation. Ed. by Samuel E. Morison. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY.

Brown, John Marshall. (1876). Coasting voyages in the Gulf of Maine made in the years 1604, 1605 and 1606 by Samuel Champlain. Maine Historical Society Collections 7. Series 1. E. Upton & Son, Bath, ME. pg. 243-266.

Burrage, Champlin, Ed. (1918). John Pory's lost description of Plymouth in the earliest days of the Pilgrim fathers. Boston, MA.

Burrage, Henry S., Ed. (1887). Rosier's relation of Weymouth's voyage to the coast of Maine, 1605. Gorges Society, Portland, ME.

• See our information file for a reproduction of James Rosier, A True Relation of Captain George Weymouth his Voyage. Made this Present Yeere 1605.

Burrage, Rev. Henry S. (1895). The first mention of Pemaquid in History. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Second Series, Vol. VI. pg. 53 - 62.

Burrage, Henry S. (1904).  The Plymouth colonists in Maine. Maine Historical Society Collections, 3rd series, vol. 1. Portland, ME.

Burrage, Henry S. (1914). The beginnings of colonial Maine 1602-1658. Marks Printing House for the State of Maine, Portland, ME. X.

• A comprehensive summary of the available literature on the early history of Maine by one of Maine's most prolific 20th century writers.  Burrage starts with The Relation of a Voyage unto New England by Rosier, continues with the Trelawny Papers, at the time a recently discovered manuscript pertaining to the history of Richmond's Island and then discusses Percival Baxter's publications including Gorges brief narration.
• "In the following pages an attempt is made to record the prominent facts with reference to the beginnings of colonial Maine.  To the earlier part of these beginnings, neither Sullivan in his History of the District of Maine (1795), nor Williamson in his History of the State of Maine (1832), devoted much space.  When they wrote, the known and accessible sources of information concerning those earlier undertakings were exceedingly scanty.  Careful research, however, especially in the last half century, has brought to light valuable original materials for the history of that earlier period, and the discovery of these materials has greatly enlarged our knowledge with reference both to facts and persons." (pg. ix).
• The Trewlawny Papers "...constitute a treasure-house of information with reference to business interests and other matters at Richmond's island and vicinity for quite a number of years beginning with 1631." (pg. x).

Burrage, Henry S. (1923). Gorges and the grant of the Province of Maine, 1622. Printed for the state, Augusta, ME.

Burrage, Henry S. (1926). George Folsom, John A. Poor, and a century of historical research with reference to colonial Maine. Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME.

Chamberlain, Joshua L. (1877). Maine: Her place in history: Address delivered at the centennial exhibition, Philadelphia, Nov. 4, 1876. Sprague, Owen & Nash, printers to the state, Augusta, ME.

Chase, Edward E. (1926). Maine railroads. A. J. Huston, Portland, ME.

Coe, Harris B., Ed. (1928). Maine: Resources, attractions, and its people. 5 vols. NY, NY.

Coffin, Robert P. Tristram. (1937). Kennebec: Cradle of Americans. Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., NY, NY.

DeCosta, Benjamin F. (1884). Norumbega and its English explorers. In: Winsor, Justin, Ed. Narrative and critical history of America. Vol 3. Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston, MA. IS.

• This whole chapter has been scanned and is available to read in our Norumbega information file.

DeCosta, B. F. (1890). Ancient Norumbega, or the voyages of Simon Ferdinando and John Walker to the Penobscot River, 1579-1580. Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY.

• See annotations in the Pre-Columbian visitiors bibliography.

Dermer, Thomas. (1841). Letter describing his passage from Maine to Virginia, A.D. 1619. Collections of the New York Historical Society, 2nd series, 1. pg. 343-354.

Dow, George Francis. (1922). Fort Western on the Kennebec: The story of its construction in 1754 and what has happened there. Gannett, Augusta, ME.

Drake, Samuel Adams. (1891).  The pine-tree coast.  Estes & Lauriat, Boston, MA. IS.

Eaton, Cyrus. (1851). Annals of the town of Warren in Knox County, Maine with the early history of St. Georges, Broadbay and neighboring settlements on the Waldo Patent. Masters, Smith and Co., Hallowell.  Reprinted in 1887 by Masters & Livermore, Hallowell and in 1968.

• This text contains information pertinent to the history of Davistown Plantation and coastal Maine.  Most of the annotations are in our information file for Warren, but other annotations are in the Davistown Plantation bibliography, Native American: Contemporary sources bilibliography and the information file on the Wreck of the Grand Design on Long Ledge, Mount Desert Island.
• "1618-1621. Monhegan was at this time a general resort for European fishermen and traders. A part of a crew of a vessel, sent out by Sir F. Gorges, spent the winter of 1618 and '19 on this island. [These were, probably, three men, the mutinous portion of the crew of Capt. Rocroft, a base fellow, sent out by the Plymouth company for trade here, and who had lately seized a French vessel as a prize at Monhegan. As a punishment, Rocroft landed on the Main these men whom he accused of mutiny ; who, to escape the desolation and exposure of a winter, houseless, on the banks of the Saco, reached Monhegan and passed a miserable winter there in the deserted cabins of a former population which had now, according to J. W. Thornton, Esq., retired to Pemaquid." (pg. 19).
• In 1621 Monhegan is mentioned as a 'a settlement of some beginnings;' and the following year provisions were obtained from the ships at this place, by the infant settlement at Plymouth, then suffering great scarcity.  The Island seems not to have been destitute of inhabitants, after this, down to the first Indian war.  From this Island resort, so busy at least in the warmer portions of the year, the attractive harbors of the Main had even now drawn pioneer settlers; and some cabins for fishermen and temporary residences were constructed at various points on the main land between the rivers St. George and Saco.  One of these earliest settlers was John Brown; who fixed himself at New Harbor, near Pemaquid, as early as 1621, and four years later obtained from the Indian Sagamores, in consideration of 50 skins, a deed of the land between Broad Bay and Damariscotta River to the extent of 25 miles into the country.  He and his descendants inhabited there till driven away by the Indians, and claimed the land till the adjustment of 1812. (pg. 19).
• 1622. Thirty sail of vessels this year entered at Damariscove, whose name Namaascovet, signifying a fish place, indicated its early importance as a fishing spot. To this place also came Gov. Winslow, of the Plymouth plantation, to draw supplies for his settlements famishing on the shores of Cape Cod, who says, 'I found kind entertainment and good respect, with a willingness to supply our wants, which was done, so far as able, and would not take any bills for the same, but did what they could, freely,' --which certainly indicates that the inhabitants of Damariscove were a thrifty and generous people." (pg. 19 - 20).
• "1623.  Fishermen and settlers also established themselves abut this time at Sagadahoc, Merry-meeting, Cape Newagin, Pemaquid and St. George's, as well as at Damariscove and other islands; though at St. George's it is believed there were not as yet any permanent residents.  Adventurers from other nations also frequented the coast; and it is said that the Dutch as early as 1607 and again in 1625 attempted to settle at Damariscotta.  Cellars and chimneys, apparently of great antiquity, have been found in the town of Newcastle; and copper knives and spoons of antique and singular fashion, are occasionally dug up with the supposed Indian skeletons at the present day, indicating an early intercourse between the natives of the two continents.  Similar utensils and the foundations of chimneys, now many feet under ground, have also been discovered on Monhegan, as well as on Carver's island at the entrance of St. George's river, where are said to be also the remains of a stone house." (pg. 20).
• "1688 Sir Edmund Andros made two expeditions to this quarter, in the first of which he attempted to take possession of the country east of Penobscot, but contented himself with plundering the Baron de Castine of his goods, furniture, and ammunition. This affair irritating the Baron, led the tribe over which his influence extended, to unite with the Abenaques in a second Indian war, which in August, of that year, was begun by an attack on N. Yarmouth.  In September, New Dartmouth was burnt, and the inhabitants, with the exception of two families taken prisoners, saved themselves only by taking refuge in the fort.  At the same time the fort and buildings at that part of New Dartmouth called Sheepscot were also destroyed and the settlements entirely broken up.  The Dutch settlers, discouraged, left the country; and both places, so lately and so long inhabited and flourishing, lay waste about thirty years." (pg. 28 - 29).
• "1692-99. In 1692 the celebrated stronghold, Fort Wm. Henry, was built of stone by Gov. Phips on the site of the old stockade at Pemaquid.  This, in 1696, was disgracefully surrendered by its commander, Capt. Chubb." (pg. 30).
• "1700. The year 1700 was distinguished by the suppression of pirates or buccaneers, who had for thirty years infested the American coast, and, since the late war, become very troublesome to the eastern coasting and fishing vessels.  Their leaders, Kidd and Bradish, were sent to England and executed.  But the stories of hidden treasures guarded by the ghosts of murdered slaves, which imagination and credulity have assigned to almost every island and headland along the coast, long continued to haunt the minds of the simple and try their courage and perseverance in fruitless attempts to disinter them.  Even at the present day, excited by some idle dreamer, or designing wag, a party is occasionally seen in solitary places near our river's mouth or on the neighboring islands, armed with charm of mystic power digging by the dim lantern's light for that treasure which, from some supposed omission of the rites required, still eludes their grasp and disappears. (pg. 31 - 32).
• "In Cushing about half a mile north of the old stone garrison house of Burton, and on the farm of the late Jacob Robinson, are the remains of an ancient excavation, for some unknown purpose.  The farm has been in the Robinson family from the first settlement of 1735, and their tradition is that their ancestor at his first coming found there these ruins of what was presumed to be an underground house.  It was about nine feet deep and in one direction 30 feet wide at least, walled up with hewn timber, and appeared to have been covered over, level with the surface of the ground.  It was situated on a point formed by the George's river on one side, and a creek on the other side extending into the land and ending almost perpendicularly.  From this abrupt terminus of the creek, extended into the supposed house a thoroughfare also walled with hewn timber, and covered high enough for a man to walk erect and wide enough to haul up a boat therein.  The timber has decayed, but part of the excavation still remains; and there are many theories as to its origin. Whether it was the rendezvous for pirates, or the retreat from Indian enemies of some lone European settler before the coming of our ancestors (who found it then in a state of decay) is quite unknown.  For our account of it we are indebted to Mr. I. J. Burton, of Warren." (pg. 32).

Elkins, L. Whitney. (1924). The story of Maine: Coastal Maine. The Hillsborough Company, Bangor, ME.

Elwell. (1876). Portland and vicinity. Reprinted by Greater Portland Landmarks, a facsimile of the original and later 1881 enlarged edition with a new forward.

Evens and Peck. (1880). History of York County, Maine. Philadelphia.

Executive Committee of the Maine Commissioners. (1898). Maine at Gettysburg, Report of Maine Commissioners. The Lakeside Press, Portland, ME. IS.

Farnham, Mary Frances, Ed. (1901). The documentary history of the state of Maine, 1603 - 1688. Vol. VII. Portland, ME.

Fillmore, R.B. (1924). Chronicles of Lincoln county. Kennebec Journal Print Shop, Augusta, ME.

Ford, Henry A. (1882). History of Penobscot county.

Gardiner, Robert Hallowell. (1936). Early recollections of Robert Hallowell Gardiner, 1782-1864. White & Horne Company, Hallowell, ME.

Greene, Francis B. (1906). History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Loring, Short and Harmon, Portland, ME. IS.

Giles, John. (1869). Memoir of odd adventures, strange deliverances, etc., in the captivity of John Giles. Boston, MA.

Godfrey, John E. (1876). The Pilgrims at Penobscot. Maine Historical Society Collections. First Series, VII. pg. 25 - 37.

Gorges, F. (1890). Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his province of Maine. In: Publications of the Prince Society. Baxter, James P. Ed., Vol. 2. No. 19. Burt Franklin, NY, NY.

• Also see "Gorges, Ferdinando. (1659). America painted to the life. Nath. Brook., London, England."
• There are virtually dozens or reprints and citations of Gorges; see below for one.

Gorges, Sir Fernando. (1622). A briefe relation of the discovery and plantation of New England: and of sundry accidents therein occurring, from the yeere of our lorde M.DC.VI to this present M.DC.XXII. Council of New England, Records of the council of New England, J. Haviland, sold by W. Bladen. Reprinted in American Antiquarian Society, Preccedings, 1865-1867, pg. 53-181, April 24th, 1867.

• As one of the principal backers of the Popham settlement in 1607, Gorges notes, memoirs, letters, and other written memorabilia, contain an immense amount of information about the early settlement of Maine. Some of this information did not come to light until the late 19th century.
• No current single edition of Gorges writings has yet to be compiled.
• The Gorges quotation on the death of the Bashabes if frequently cited by Maine writers such as Bourke and others and provides important information about the indigenous communities living on the central Maine coast at the time of Champlain's and George Waymouth's 1604 and 1605 visits.

Greenleaf, Moses. (1816). A statistical view of the district of Maine : more especially with reference to the value and importance of its interior. Addressed to the consideration of the legislators of Massachusetts. Cummings and Hilliard, Boston, MA.

Hatch, Louis C., Ed. (1919). Maine: A history. 5 vols. American Historical Society, NY, NY.

Hoyt, Edmund S. (1883). Maine state year-book and legislative manual, for the year 1882-83, from April 1, 1882, to April 1, 1883. Hoyt, Fogg & Donham, Portland, ME. IS.

Locke, John L. (1859). Sketches of the history of the town of Camden, Maine. Masters, Smith & Co., Hallowell, ME. IS.

Kingsbury, Henry D. and Deyo, Simeon L., Eds. (1892). Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine, 1625-1892. Blake, NY, NY.

Kohl, J.G. (1869).  Vol 1.  History of the discovery of Maine.  In: Collections of the Maine Historical Society:  Second Series:  History of the state of Maine.  Willis, William, Ed.  Bailey and Noyes, Portland, ME. IS.

• See annotations in the special bibliography: Pre-Columbian Vistiors to North America.

Lawrence, William. (1935). A life -- Robert Abbe. Bulletin IV, The Robert Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, ME. (out of print)

Levett, Christopher. [1628] (1988).  A voyage into New England, begun in 1623 and ended in 1624. In Maine in the Age of Discovery: Christopher Levett's Voyage, 1623-1624 and A Guide to Sources, Ed. by Roger Howell, Jr. and Emerson W. Baker, Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME. pg. 33-68.

Maine Historical Society. (1831 - 1916). Collections of the Maine Historical Society. First series, Vols. 1 to 10, 1831-1891; Second series, Vols. 1 to 10, 1890-1899; Third series, Vols. 1 and 2, 1904, 1906; Documentary series, Vols. 1 to 24, 1869-1916.

• This series of publications sponsored by the Maine Historical Society constitute one of the most important sources of information about pre-20th century Maine history.  These series are an essential reference for anyone studying any aspect of Maine history.  Almost all important 19th and early 20th century Maine historians have published one or more articles in these series, which are repeatedly referenced in this website.
• These series are not available through interlibrary loan, though copies of individual articles may be provided by the Maine Historical Society.  They are however, readily available to visitors to the Maine Historical Society Library on Congress St. in Portland.  Most of the series are located on the right hand side wall of the library and may be accessed by any member of the public.  Browsing through the wide variety of articles in each volume is one of the great pleasures of visiting the Maine Historical Society.

McKeen, John. (1857). Remarks on the voyage of George Waymouth to the coast of Maine, 1605. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. 5. pg. 309-338.

Popham, Captain George. (1857). Letter to King James I (written from Fort St. George on December 13, 1607). Collections of the Maine Historical Society 5. pg. 359-360.

Prentiss, Elizabeth. (1877). Pemaquid: A story of old times in New England. A.D.F. Randolph & Co., NY, NY.

Pressey, Henry A. (1902). Water powers of the State of Maine. Water Supply Paper No. 69. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

Prince, George. (1860). Rosier's narrative on Waymouth's voyage to the coast of Maine, in 1605, complete with remarks by George Prince showing the river explored to have been Georges River. Sister Maries Press, Bath, ME.

• A particularly notable essay on Maine history; George Prince contended that Rosier's narrative could only apply to the Georges River and not to the Kennebec or the Penobscot.  Previous historians, including William Williamson and Rufus King Sewall had contended that George Waymouth had explored the Kennebec River.  This location however did not match the description given in the narrative, particularly with respect to the nearby location of the mountains towards which Waymouth and his men attempted to reach on a hot summers day.  Since the publication of this edition of Rosier's narrative, Prince's interpretation of Waymouth's voyage has been accepted by all Maine historians with the notable exception of Rufus King Sewall, who had never in his lifetime acknowledged his error.

Pring, Martin. (1906). A voyage set out from the citie of Bristol...for the discoverie of the North part of Virginia. In: Burrage, H.S. Early English and French voyages: Chiefly from Hakluyt, 1534 - 1608. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY. Reprinted in 1934 and 1959 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Proper, Ida Sedgwick. (1930). Monhegan, the cradle of New England. The Southworth Press, Portland, ME. IS.

• A particularly interesting description of the early days of Monhegan Island.
• Recently reprinted and available at Borders.
• See our comments and extensive quotations from this text in the essay Tales of Ancient Monhegan, information files on Monhegan Island and the Italian Zeno's explorations in the Ancient Pemaquid section and annotations in the Ancient Pemaquid and Pre-Columbian bibliographies.

Rice, George Wharton. (1938). The Shipping days of Old Boothbay: 1775-1917. The Southworth-Anthoensen Press, Portland, ME. IS.

Robinson, Reuel. (1907). History of Camden and Rockport, Maine. Camden Publishing Company, Camden, ME. IS.

Rowe, William H. (1929). Shipbuilding days in Casco Bay, 1727-1890: Being footnotes to the maritime history of Maine. Yarmouth, ME.  Reprinted in 1966 by Bond Wheelwright Co., Freeport, ME.

Rowe, William Hutchinson. (1937). Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine: 1636-1936. Southworth-Anthoensen Press, Yarmouth, ME. IS.

Sawtelle, William Otis. (1932). Historic trails and waterways of Maine. Maine Development Commission, Augusta, ME.

Sewall, Rufus King. (1859). Ancient dominions of Maine. Elisha Clark and Company, Bath, ME. IS.

• See the annotations for this text in the Native Americans: Principal sources bibliography.
• One of our favorite regional antiquarians.

Sewall, Rufus King. (1876). Popham's town of Fort St. George. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Vol. VII. pg. 293 - 322.

Sewall, Rufus King. (1895). Ancient voyages to the western continent: Three phases of history on the coast of Maine. The Knickerbocker Press, NY, NY. IS.

• See the annotations for this text in the Native Americans: Special topics bibliography.

Sewall, Rufus King. (1896). Centennial: Memorial services of  old Alna meeting-house: Alna, Maine, September 11, 1889. Emerson, Steam Printer, Wiscasset, ME. IS.

• This extremely scarce pamphlet celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Puritan meeting house at Alna, formerly a part of Pownalboro, which was first broken into the towns of Dresden and New Millford in 1794.  New Millford included both what later became Alna in 1811 at the head of the tide and the falls above Wiscasset on the Sheepscot River, and Wiscasset Point now the town of Wiscasset.  One of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in Maine and one of only two surviving examples of Puritan meeting house architecture in Maine, the other is at Walpole, Maine, and still stands today; the Alna meeting house is located south of the milling sites at the head of the tide on the Sheepscot River.  This obscure publication, not intended for widespread circulation, and now among the rarities of Maine history, contains a paragraph or two of background information about the early history of  the "eastern parts" of the province of Maine, which are worth remembering, quoting, analyzing and discussing and which reference one of the most interesting unsolved questions of Maine's historic past.
• In this small pamphlet, Sewall notes the background history of the Alna meeting house including the French attempt to settle St. Croix Island and the English attempt to settle Fort Popham.  He also notes the construction of the first Puritan meeting house in Plymouth in 1622.  Using William Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606-1646 as his fundamental source, Sewall recounts the difficulties of the first settlers of Plymouth "Turning back to the incidents which led to the erection of this Puritanic relic of church service, at the 'fords and mills' of the upper tide-waters of the Sheepscot, now Alna, we find, that in the spring of 1621, the Pilgrims of Plymouth had lost half their number by want and disease.  Disease, want, and terror of savage surroundings, had so demoralized the survivors that despair pervaded the settlement.  In the extremes of their distress and calamity, but six or seven could be found able to help the sick and impotent.  In this emergency, suddenly the cry was heard in broken English, in the lanes of Plymouth, 'Much welcome Englishmen!'" (pg. 13).
• "A tall straight man, hair on his head black, long behind, straight before, and none on his face at all ; with a leathern girdle about his loins, and a fringe a span long or more, with a bow and two arrows in his hand, the one headed and the other not, boldly walked by the cabin doors of the hamlet, uttering these words of good cheer.  The effect was most salutary.  It was Sa-mas-set (Samosset of Pilgrim history) the savage Lord of Pemaquid.  His coming and presence in this emergency, among the sick and dying Pilgrims, it is said, was as the vision of an angel.  He told the Pilgrims all about the 'Eastern parts' whence he came and where he lived.  This seems to have been the first definite knowledge Plymouth had of Maine ; and it is related to Monhegan, Pemaquid and the notable Sagadahoc, afterward called 'Eastern Parts' by the Pilgrims." (pg. 14).
• "The Pilgrims had lived some sixteen or seventeen months on 'Plymouth Rock' and struggled through a second winter and had become reduced in number and supplies.  The hamlet was sorely distressed.  Entirely destitute of bread, they had lived on clams and other shell fish until all were greatly debilitated.  When planting was finished, their victuals were spent ; and at night they did not know where to have a bit in the morning, having neither bred or corn for three or four months together.  It was an emergency of starvation." (pg. 14).
• "Suddenly a boat was seen crossing the mouth of the Bay, and to disappear behind the head-lands.  A signal gun was fired.  The boat altered her course and headed into the Bay.   This boat was a tender of the 'Ship Sparrow' from the Pemaquid dependency of 'Damariscove' in Maine.  Seven men composed her crew ; and a letter from Maine was her cargo.  This waif from the 'eastern parts,' brought news where bread could be found." (pg. 14).
• "The Sparrow's boat's crew piloted the way, and Governor Bradford manned the Plymouth Shallop and cleared for the 'eastern parts' to buy bread.  She safely reached the shores of Samasset's home, where thirty ships were harboring for freight to England.  The representatives of the hungry Pilgrims were kindly received, and a Shallop load of bread furnished, without money and without price, which was a very seasonable blessing and supply, to the famished Pilgrims, who, by this incident, learned the resources of, and the way to the corn-fields and beaver haunts and fishing grounds of Maine." (pg. 15).
• "The fact was utilized at once.  The knowledge thus gained was improved by the Pilgrims, in securing possession, east and west of Pemaquid, of the river banks, at their mouths, for trade.  Good crops of corn thereafter grown and harvested at Plymouth, the Pilgrims sent their Shallop loaded, into the Kennebec.  The success of the voyage was a cargo of beaver pelts.  This proved an opening, to Plymouth acquisition of land title, on both shores of the Kennebec, 'fifteen miles wide,' by purchase of the Indians, January 13, 1629." (pg. 15).
• "In the meantime the commonwealth of Massachusetts had absorbed the Pilgrim territory, and also the ancient 'eastern parts,' and converted them into the 'District of Maine ;' and imposed its Puritan theories of the fundamental law of its civil polity..." (pg. 15).
• "At the site of the milling industries of old Pownalboro, an industrious and enterprising population had become resident near the falls and shoals or fords of the Sheepscot, before 'New Millford' was incorporated ; and as a Precinct the forces of Puritan religion and law had taken effect ; an in 1788 secured a site ; and prior to 1790 erected a 'meeting house,' by force of a Pownalboro tax, under constitutional laws ; and this structure is that House,--an outgrowth of Massachusetts church architecture, as well as in the form suited to social and public worship of God." (pg. 16).
• Sewall's obscure publication raises numerous questions: What were 30 ships loading in this region in 1621?  What is the source of this information?  How accurate is it?  Was the free bread received by the Pilgrims a commodity brought over from England by coastal traders, as alleged by _____?  Sewall refers to the falls at Alna as an ancient milling site.  Is there any chance that a grist mill was already located here in 1621?  If not, when was the first grist mill erected at this site?  Sewall implies the milling sites at the falls in Alna are very ancient, pre-dating the establishment of Pownalboro.  Were Native Americans growing corn and providing cornmeal for bread in barter for European trade goods at the time these 30 ships were in the area?  Where were these 30 ships located?  Only at Monhegan?  Isn't there some indication that the oral history of the early English settlers indicates these ships were loading (what products -- furs, fish, lumber?) not only at Monhegan but within the complicated tidewater estuaries, which included Wiscasset and Alna, formerly the probable location of the Indian village of Nebamocago (Dean Snow, The Archaeology of New England)?
• Champlain visited Wiscasset and the Sagamore Meteourmite in 1605 and found Native Americans of a radically different lifestyle from the Micmacs and Passamaquoddies living to the east; Champlain notes these Native Americans grew corn.  Were the Native American communities in this area the source of the meal used to make the Pilgrims bread or was the meal imported from England by the coastal traders known to have frequented Monhegan and the central Maine coast in such great numbers prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims?
• It is interesting to note not only Seawall's reference to the cornfields of the coast of Maine, but also his reference to the often referred to "Eastern parts" that refers not to Eastport, Lubec or Jonesport but to the Pemaquid region as the obvious center of trade, commerce and horticultural activities.  All contemporary historians agree and continuing contemporary archaeological research confirms that the tidewater of the Kennebec River as well as rivers east to the Penobscot (Sheepscot, Damariscotta, Medomak, Georges) were the central focus of English attempts to establish trading posts with the Indians.  Nothing in this body of written and oral history and archaeological research efforts provides the least evidence that the Native American communities who inhabited this area prior to the great epidemic of 1617 were the nomadic hunting and gathering Indians whose homeland was the St. Croix and St. Johns river drainage, as now contended by Bourque in Twelve thousand years: American Indians in Maine.
• This publication is now in the rare books collection of the Davistown Museum Library.

Sewall, Rufus King. (1896). Pemaquid, its genesis, discovery, name and colonial relations to New England. Lincoln County Historical Society, Lincoln County, ME. X.

Shipton, Clifford K. (1937). The New England Frontier. New England Quarterly. 20. pg. 25-36.

Sibley, John Langdon. (1851). A History of the town of Union. Benjamin B. Mussey and Co., Boston, MA. IS.

Spencer, Wilber D. (1930). Pioneers on Maine rivers: With lists to 1651. Lakeside Printing Co., Portland, ME. Reprinted in 1973 by Genealogical Publishing, Baltimore.

Sprague, John Francis. (1906). Sebastian Ralé: A Maine tragedy of the eighteenth century. Heintzemann Press, Boston, MA.

Sprague, John Francis. (1915). Baron de Saint Castin. Smith and Sale, printers, Portland, ME.

Sprague, John Francis. (1917). Sprague's Journal of Maine History, August, September, October 1917. John Francis Sprague, Dover, ME. IS.

Starkey, Glenn Wendell. (1920). Maine, its history, resources and government. Silver, Burdett and Company, NY, NY.

Sullivan, James.  (1795). History of the District of Maine. I. Thomas and E.T. Andrews, Boston, MA.  Reprinted in 1970 by Knowlton & McLeary, Farmington, ME, for the Maine State Museum, Augusta, ME. IS.

• "The age of Sullivan, then -- the age of the American Revolution and the early Republic -- was among other things an age of romance.  And few writers even of the official 'Romantic' age offered such a picturesque, imaginative, inspired accounting as Sullivan provided in his history of Maine. ...for an un-self-conscious expression of the romantic nationalism of the period, one can do no better than read Sullivan." (Clark, 1977, pg. 54).

Sylvester, Herbert M. (1908). Romance of the Maine coast in five vols. I. Romance of Casco Bay. II. Romance of old York. III. Sokoki Trail. IV. Ancient Pemaquid. V. The land of St. Castin. Stanhope Press, Boston. IS.

• Florid, but interesting.  Numerous inaccuracies have reduced the importance of this interesting writer.

Thayer, Henry O., Ed. (1892). The Sagadahoc Colony comprising the relations of a voyage into New England. Gorges Society, Portland, ME. Reprinted in 1970 by Research Reprints, NY, NY.

Thayer, Henry O. (1895). Beginnings at Pemaquid. Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society. Second series, Vol. VI. pg. 62-84.

• In this article Thayer thoroughly rejects Rufus King Sewall's theory of Popham Colony settlers removal to Pemaquid after 1607.
• "A definite stage of Pemaquid history begins with purchase, with legal forms, from the honored Somerset, or Samoset, and Unnongoit, Sagamores, in 1625.  The purchaser, whose name enters this pioneer conveyance of New England soil, had already been so long resident as to be styled John Brown of New Harbor." (pg. 83-84).
• "Includes 'The Relation of a Voyage Unto New England,' a manuscript found among the papers of Sir Ferdinando Gorges; an extensive and very erudite discussion of the literature bearing upon the Sagadahoc colony, beginning with Purchas, his Pilgrimes of 1614; and brief essays on other topics connected with this venture, including the inevitable Popham genealogy." (Clark, pg. 17).

Thayer, Henry O. (1906). Ancient Pemaquid. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Third Series, Vol. II. pg. 374 - 388.

• A continuing debunking of Rufus King Sewall's theory of the Kingdom of Pemaquid.

Thornton, J. Wingate. (1857). Ancient Pemaquid, an historical review. Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Vol. V. pg. 139 - 306.

Thurston, David. (1855). A Brief history of Winthrop, 1764 to 1855. Brown Thurston, Portland, ME. IS.

Warren, Fred M. translator. (n.d.). Extracts from the letters of the Jesuit missionary in Maine, Father P. Biard: From Carayon's lettres ined. 1612-1626. Read before the Maine Historical Society, February 26, 1891. pg. 411. X.

• "Returning from that river St. John our way was directed toward the Armouchiquoys.  For this two chief reasons actuated M. de Biancourt; the first, to receive news of the English and to know whether he could get the better of them; the second to barter for grain with the Armouchiquoys, to help us pass the winter without starving, in case we received no relief from France." (pg. 418).
• "Morning come, we continued our way up river.  They accompanying us, said to us if we wished some piousquemen (that is their wheat), we could easily turn to the right, and not go up river with great labor and danger; that by turning to the right, through the arm of the river which was shown us we could in a few hours reach the great sachem Meteourmite, who would supply us with everything; that they would act as guides to us, for they too were going to make him a visit." (pg. 420).
• "Meteourmite sent some of his people to apologize for the insolence of the morning, affirming that the whole disturbance had come not from him, but from the Armouchiquoys; that they had also stolen from us an ax and a gamelle (a large wooden bowl), which utensil he returned to us." (pg. 422).
• "Pentegoët is a very fine river and can be likened to the French Garonne. ...You cannot divine what is the Norembega of the ancients if it is not this for otherwise both the others and myself inquiring after this word and place have never been able to learn anything." (pg. 424).
• "We then, having gone up stream three leagues or more, encountered another fine river called Chiboctous, which comes from the northeast to empty into this great Pentegoët.  At the meeting of the two rivers there was the finest gathering of savages that I have yet seen.  There were eighty canoes and a long-boat, eighteen huts and about three hundred souls.  The most prominent chief was called Betsabés, a prudent and conservative man." (pg. 424).
• "And we also, very glad to be in a friendly country; for among the Etchemins, such as are those here, and the Souriquois, such as are those of Port-Royal, we are not on our guard any more than we are among our own domestics and, God be thanked, we have not yet fared ill by it." (pg. 424).
• "To the west and north live the Etheminquois, from the river St. John to the River Pentegoët and even to the river Kinibéqui.  The latter has its mouth under 43º 3'. ...They are nomads, haunting the woods and much scattered, because they live by the chase, by the fruits of the earth and by fishing." (pg. 426).

Wasson, George S. (1932). Sailing days on the Penobscot: The river and bay as they were in the old days. Marine Research Society, Salem, MA.  Reprinted in 1970 by Macdonald and Jane's, London. IS.

Wells, Walter. (1869). The water power of Maine. Augusta, ME.

Whittemore, Edwin Carey. (1902). The Centennial history of Waterville. Executive Committee of the Centennial Celebration, Waterville, ME. IS.

Wilder, Nat, Jr. (1910). A royal tragedy: When kings and savages ruled. Fireside Publishing Co., NY, NY. IS.

Williamson, William D. (1832). The history of the state of Maine; from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive, Volume I and II.  Glazier, Masters & Co., Hallowell, ME. Reprinted by The Cumberland Press, Inc., Freeport, ME. IS(2).

• See our extensive annotations of this text in the Native Americans: Principal sources bibliography.

Willis, William. (1831-1833). The history of Portland, from its first settlement: With notices of the neighbouring towns, and of the changes of government in Maine. Two volumes. Printed by Day, Fraser & Co., Portland, ME.

Wood, Richard G. (1935). A history of lumbering in Maine, 1820-1861. University Press [of Maine], Orono, ME. Reprinted on April 10, 1961 in The Maine Bulletin, Maine Studies No. 33. IS.

• We have excerpted so many quotes from this book that we have placed them into two information files: lumbering in Maine and potash.

Woodbury, Charles Levi. (1891). Pemaquid and Monhegan:  Address of Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury of Boston, before the Hyde Park Historical Society, February 26, 1891. Hyde Park Historical Society, MA. X.

• We have reprinted a copy of this speech in an information file.