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Welcome! to Northport, Maine
This history is
taken from an article first published in "The Northport
Budget", a short lived newspaper produced in the early
1900s. It should be noted that at the time of incorporation
Maine was still a part of Massachusetts, and Waldo County
was a part of Hancock County.
All the territory in this
area formed part of the Muscongus Patent, later known as
Lincolnshire, and finally the Waldo Patent, a subordinate
land grant that the Plymouth Council, which held the great
charter for New England, portioned out in Maine.
This charter was
originally granted in 1620, by King James I of England, to
forty noblemen, knights and gentlemen, and these men, the
Plymouth Council,, before surrendering their charter, made
several grants of land within the territory of Maine, of
which the Waldo Patent was one. Most of this great tract of
land came afterward into the possession of General Samuel
Waldo who acquired part as a reward for services rendered
the former owners, and part by purchase. It was for him the
tract was named (Waldo County).
General Henry Knox
acquired the estate in 1792. but six years later, on account
of financial difficulties, was compelled to mortgage, the
portion comprised within these towns to his friends, General
Lincoln and Colonel Jackson.
This mortgage was in 1812
assigned to Messers. Isreal Thorndike, David Sears, and
William Prescott of Boston. Belmont afterwards became the
property of Samuel Parkman and Benjamin Joy of the same
city.
With increase in number of
inhabitants the settlements were formed into plantations and
finally into the towns of today.
More than one and one
quarter centuries have passed since the first settlement was
made in this section and the changes that have come with the
many years are very great. The trails marked by spotted
trees have given way to excellent roads and drives, the
little clearings of the settlers have been replaced by well
tilled farms, broad meadow lands and villages, and on the
seashore where once stood a few scattered log huts of hardy
fishermen, there are today cozy cottages and beautiful
summer residences overlooking the bay.
Only tradition, a few
records and the moss covered gravestones are left to remind
us of the men who came into the unbroken wilderness and made
the beginnings of these towns.
Northport, the 106th town
in Maine, was originally the northerly part of the
plantation of Duck trap. It is bounded on the North by
Belfast and Belmont, on the East and south by Penobscot Bay,
and on the West by Pitcher Pond and the Town of
Lincolnville. The area is about 25 square miles, The surface
is rough and broken by many hills , but there is much good
land for farming. The coast is irregular, and there is but
one important harbor, Saturday Cove.
Early Settlements
Outlines of what is
thought to have been a prehistoric road exist in Northport
near the bluff, and indicate the possible presence here of
the Northmen or other early voyagers centuries ago.
The earliest authentic
record of early settlers here , however, places the
settlement sometime in the earlier part of 1780-90. In 1790,
when the first census was taken, the settlement had become a
flourishing community with a population of 278.
One of the earliest white
men to land on these shores was James Miller, an early
settler in Belfast, who, on his way from New Hampshire to
take up land in Belfast touched at Northport one Saturday in
1769, thinking he had reached his destination. He called the
mistaken locality Saturday Cove.
At one time in the early
days of the first settlement in Belfast, Robert Miller was
returning in a boat from Camden with a bag of meal when he
went ashore at Northport to get a dinner prepared at a cabin
here, which was probably the only one in Northport at the
time. He found the family ill and destitute and shared with
the members his bag of meal.
Among the earliest
permanent settlers in this place was David Miller who took
up land on the shore evidently about 1786. John and
Catherine Wadlin came not long afterward. They had a family
of twelve children. Captain Thomas Burkmar, a soldier of the
Revolution, came prior to 1795, and took up a great tract of
land of two or three hundred acres. He became a leading man
in the settlement. John, Thomas Jr. and Joseph, who were
probably all of the same name, though spelled in various
ways, were early settlers also. John and Thomas Jr. were
probably sons of Thomas, Joseph who had at least a hundred
acres of land, was probably a brother.
Nathaniel Sylvester came
here before 1792.
Micajah Drinkwater, son of
Joseph and Janet (Lathem) Drinkwater, was born on Cousins
Island January 25, 1739. He married Elizabeth Bradford of
Kingston, Mass. and settled in Northport with his sons Zenas
and Josiah. The Drinkwater settled on the shore road not far
from Duck Trap and were here in 1793.
Church History
Probably the first
clergyman to visit settlers in Northport was the Reverand
Paul Coffin, D.D., who was here August 12, 1796, as the
guest of James Beattie.
The old Methodist Church
at Saturday Cove was built about eighty years ago. (From
19xx) The church burned about twenty years after
erection.
Mr. C.H.Bryant of Bristol
was instrumental in building the Methodist Church at East
Northport. The corner stone was laid November 1, 1900, but
the church was not dedicated until February 22,1903.
The church at Saturday
Cove was erected through the efforts of the Ladies' Aid
Society. It was dedicated a Baptist Church.
Military History
Among the early settlers
of Northport were several veterans of the Revolution and
earlier wars. Sturdy pioneers, with little fear of the
rigors and hardships of life in the wilderness. Among them
were Major Ebenezer Frye, a veteran of both the French and
Revolutionary Wars, and Captain Thomas Burkmar, a soldier of
the Revolution.
During the War of 1812,
like other towns on Penobscot Bay, Northport was exposed to
the attacks and depredations of the British stationed at
Castine, and warships which cruised along the coast of
Maine.
On the 23rd of September,
1814 two barges filled with British soldiers made an attack
on Saturday Cove. Elizabeth Drinkwater, the young wife of
West Drinkwater, observed their approach and notified
Zachariah Lawrence, whom she chanced to meet. Lawrence went
to the shore with his gun and secreting himself, began to
give orders as to a force of soldiers, and fired at the boat
from different points.
The British withdrew for
reinforcements, and during their absence West Drinkwater,
Alban Elwell, Solomon Frohock and David Alden, collected a
force and prepared to meet them when they returned. The
English, with reinforcements and a swivel gun, drove the
defenders back and plundered the store of Jones Shaw and
several houses. The damage and loss of the citizens of
Saturday Cove amounted to between three an four hundred
dollars. Many of the townsmen were in the service in this
war. August 31, 1812, sixty men were enrolled under the
command of Capt. Jonathan Frye.
Petition for
Incorporation
The petition of the
inhabitants of the plantation in its original form (many
names misspelled and incorrectly written) is an authentic
list of the earliest settlers in this town.
Petition accompanying
chapter 40, Acts of 1795.
Commonwealth of
Massachusetts:-
To: The Honorable the
Senate and the Honorable the House of Representatives of
said commonwealth in General Court assembled at Boston
January 1796.
The petition of the
subscribers inhabitants of the northerly part of a
plantation called Duck Trap in the county of Hancock humbly
shews that the inhabitants have for a long time struggled
with the difficulties arising from their unincorporated
state and are now become convinced that in order to insure
themselves the advantage of the laws of society, and of due
regulations it will be necessary for them to be vested with
the powers, privileges and immunities of incorporated towns.
-
The plantation now called
Duck Trap is of too considerable an extent to form one town,
and the inhabitants have agreed upon such a Division as will
be mutual accommodation to both parts. -
Your petitioners pray that
the land above describes, with the inhabitants living within
the same tract may be incorporated with al the privileges,
powers and immunities of tons in this Commonwealth into a
town by the name of Knox - and as in Duty bound shall ever
pray - Duck Trap 16 December 1795.
Laws of Massachusetts - An Act to
Incorporate
An act to incorporate the
northerly part of a plantation called Duck Trap, in the
county of Hancock, into a town by the name of
Northport.
Be it enacted by the
Senate and House of Representatives in General Court
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the
northerly part of a plantation called Duck Trap, in the
county of Hancock, contained within the following
description to wit: beginning a t Little River, so called,
on the line of the town of Belfast; thence running a
southwesterly course round the shore of the bay called
Penobscot Bay, and round Duck Trap Point, so called, to the
line dividing Joshua Adams land from land belonging to John
Wade; thanes upon said line northwest by north or till it
strikes the head of a pond about a mile from the shore; from
thence across said pond the same course till it strikes the
line dividing Henry Pendleton's land from the land of George
Pitcher; thence northwest by north so as to make six miles
from the shore; thence northeast by east three miles and one
sixteenth; thence south twenty two degrees; east ninety rods
to the southwesterly line of Belfast; thence north sixty
eight degrees east upon a line of Belfast, three miles and
eighty nine rods to the first mentioned boundary, together
with the inhabitants within said district be and hereby are
incorporated into a town by the name of Northport with all
the powers, privileges and immunities of other to owns in
this Commonwealth. Approved February 13, 1796.
We hope you have enjoyed these pieces of Northport
history. If you have information of historical interest
please e-mail us at webmaster@maineweb.com
