Class F a,7 
 
 Book --C Q \3) (o 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 PEAKS ISLAND 
 
 AND ITS PEOPLE. 
 
 ALSO 
 
 A SHORT HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HOUSE ISLAND, 
 
 PORTLAND, MAINE. 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN GOOLD. 
 
 
 portland, me. 
 
 The Lakeside Press. 
 
 1897. 
 
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 NOTE. 
 
 In presenting this history of two of the best 
 known islands in Portland Harbor, it has been the 
 intention of the author to give only the story of 
 the early days of those islands, and of the families 
 who have contributed to their history. 
 
 It has been truly said that it is human to err, 
 and if the reader finds that errors have crept into 
 the narrative, it must be expected, as a perfect 
 history has yet to be written. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. Introduction. — Names of the Island. — 
 
 Area of Islands. — Early Houses, . 7 
 
 II. Titles to Peaks Island. — Captain John 
 Waite and Family. — Brackett and 
 Trott Lands, 12 
 
 III. The Stone House. — Its Location and 
 
 History. — " The Refuge." — George 
 Felt, Jr., and his Massacre. — Indian 
 History, ...... 21 
 
 IV. Revolutionary Alarm. — Shipwreck. — 
 
 Harbor Frozen.— A Hermit. — Soldiers 
 of the Rebellion. — Regimental Build- 
 ings. — Religious Meetings. — Home of 
 the Ancestors of Two Famous Ameri- 
 cans, ....... 31 
 
 V. Steamboat Lines. — Steamers Kennebec, 
 
 Antelope, Casco, Gazelle, and others, 40 
 VI. Family Historie s. — Brackett, Trott, 
 Woodbury, Parsons, Jones, Skillings, 
 Sterling, Trefethen, Scott, .... 46 
 VII. House Island. — The Owners and Some of 
 
 Their History, . . . . .77 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Peaks Island, Frontispiece 
 
 Map of the Harbor, .... Opposite Page 40 
 House Island, Opposite Page 77 
 
PEAKS ISLAND: 
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction. — Names of Island. — Area of Islands. 
 Early Houses. 
 
 " There are no times like the old times — they shall never be forgot! 
 There is noplace like the old place — keep green the dear old spot!" 
 
 Peaks Island is not famed in history or 
 song. The poet has not sung of its beauties 
 and the historian has passed it by, but it has 
 its history and its beauties are acknowledged 
 by all. 
 
 The earliest voyagers found Casco Bay 
 adapted for a playground and a summer 
 resort. Christopher Levitt, in 1623, said that 
 there was good fishing and much fowl. He 
 found plenty of salmon and other good fish 
 in Fore River. Michael Mitton told Josselyn 
 of seeing a merman who came and laid his 
 hands on the side of his canoe and that he 
 chopped off one of his hands and that he then 
 sank, dyeing the water with his purple blood. 
 Josselyn said, "Trouts there be a good store 
 
8 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 in every brook two and twenty inches long." 
 These tales were told almost two centuries 
 and a half ago to induce people to make onr 
 bay their future home. This was before the 
 da}'S of the summer resort advertiser. 
 
 The names that Peaks Island has borne 
 at different times are of much interest in its 
 history. The first known name of the island 
 was Pond, but that name was changed by 
 George Cleeve to Michael's Island in 1637. 
 Probably about 1661 it was called Munjoy's 
 Island, for George Munjoy, and then about 
 1670 it became known as Palmer's Island, for 
 John Palmer, which name it seems to have 
 borne up to the re-settlement of the town in 
 1 7 16, although it was then sometimes called 
 Munjoy's Island. Perhaps soon after the 
 town was re-settled the island became to be 
 known as Peaks Island, although there is no 
 known reason why that name was taken. 
 Joseph Peake was a soldier in Capt. Domini- 
 cus Jordan's Company in 1744; he may be 
 the man for whom it was named, as he must 
 have lived at Cape Elizabeth or perhaps on 
 the island. There appears no record of any 
 person of that name ever owning the island 
 before 1741, when it was called Peaks Island. 
 
 The name has no special significance to 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 9 
 
 us, but it is well to keep the old familiar 
 names of our islands and localities. They 
 have long ago become historic and are known 
 landmarks. Let the coming generations know 
 them by the same names that they are known 
 to us. It will make their history much more 
 interesting to those who will come to enjoy 
 their beauties. 
 
 Peaks Island is the most popular island 
 in the bay ; partly because of its accessibility, 
 but more from the fact that the visitors feel a 
 freedom that they experience on no other 
 island. You are allowed to wander unmo- 
 lested through the fields, along the shores 
 and through their woods, and leave with a 
 kindly feeling toward the island and its peo- 
 ple. Portland is fortunate to have such a 
 playground almost at its very door. 
 
 The cit}' proper has an area of 1,666 
 acres, and the islands within the city limits 
 have an area of 2,963 acres. The areas of 
 these islands are: 
 
 Peaks Island, 
 
 720 acres 
 
 IyOiig Island, 
 
 912 " 
 
 Cushing's Island, . 
 
 266 " 
 
 House Island, 
 
 20 " 
 
 Iyittle Diamond Island, . 
 
 80 " 
 
 Great Diamond Island, . 
 
 468 " 
 
IO 
 
 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Crotch (Cliff) Island, . 
 
 114 acres 
 
 Hope Island, 
 
 18 " 
 
 Little Chebeagne Island, 
 
 72 " 
 
 Jewells Island, 
 
 221 " 
 
 Cow Island, . 
 
 28 " 
 
 Ram Island, . 
 
 18 " 
 
 Marsh Island, 
 
 14 " 
 
 Other small islands, 
 
 12 " 
 
 Total, 
 
 2,963 acres 
 
 Peaks Island is next to the largest of 
 them all, and in its widest part is one and 
 one-half miles long, and one and one-quarter 
 broad. It had, in 1896, a resident population 
 of 343. In the early times it was probably 
 covered with a growth of hard wood, of small 
 size, and bushes. For two centuries there 
 was not a regular road or a horse upon the 
 island. The farm work was done by oxen. 
 The inhabitants were formerly engaged in a 
 little farming and a good deal of fishing, but 
 of late years the entertainment of summer 
 visitors has engaged most of their attention. 
 
 At the time of the Revolution there were 
 probably but three houses on the island: 
 Thomas Brackett's, Benjamin Trott's, and 
 the house near Trefethen's Landing, where 
 Capt. John Waite had lived. In 1830 there 
 were on Peaks Island thirteen families and 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. II 
 
 seventy inhabitants. In 1833 there were the 
 following houses there: Joseph Reed's, occu- 
 pied by his sons-in-law, Nathaniel S. Millett 
 and Walter S. Hatch ; Benjamin Welch's, John 
 T. Brackett's, now the Peaks Island House, 
 Joshua Trott's (the old Trott house), Luther 
 Sterling's (the Mansfield house), Benjamin 
 Trott, Jr.'s, with Francis and Charles Wood- 
 bury's, near Trefethen's Landing. They 
 were all one-story except John T. Brackett's 
 and Joshua Trott's, which were two. 
 
 Many families have lived on the island in 
 different generations who have had no titles 
 to the land, who have been long, long for- 
 gotten. It is one of the most beautiful 
 islands in Casco Bay, and must increase in 
 popularity as the years come and go. It is 
 now a community of itself, and the appear- 
 ance of the island is the best evidence of its 
 prosperity. The outlook from almost any 
 point is fine. The view toward White Head, 
 and also that from the bluff toward the 
 setting sun, is as beautiful as can be found 
 on our coast. 
 
 " This is the place. Stand still, rny steed, 
 Let me review the scene. 
 And summon from the shadowy Past 
 The forms that once have been." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Titles to Peaks Island. — Capt. John Waite 
 and Family. — Brackett and Trott Lands. 
 
 " The Past and Present here unite 
 Beneath Time's flowing tide, 
 Like footprints hidden by a brook 
 But seen on either side." 
 
 The history of Peaks Island commences 
 almost with the settlement of Portland, and 
 perhaps before. When Capt. Christopher 
 Levitt was here in 1623 and the next year, he 
 and his men were, no donbt, frequent visitors 
 to this island. They were probably the first 
 white men to land much there. George Cleeve 
 and Richard Tucker settled Portland in 1633 
 and built themselves a log house near the spot 
 where the poet Longfellow was born in 1807. 
 By that settlement they acquired one hundred 
 and fifty acres of land each, on Falmouth 
 Neck, as Portland was afterwards called. 
 
 In 1637, by a commission from Sir Fer- 
 nando Gorges, for letting and settling of lands 
 and the islands, Cleeve leased Pond (Peaks) 
 Island to Michael Mitton for sixty years, and 
 stated that the name should be Michael's 
 Island for Mitton, who had married his 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 13 
 
 daughter, Elizabeth. Cleeve. The island was 
 at first called Pond because of a pond upon 
 the eastern side, which still exists except in 
 the dryest times. The title was confirmed to 
 Mitton by Gorges in 1642, and again by 
 Cleeve, as Alexander Rigby's agent, in 1650. 
 Michael Mitton lived at Cape Elizabeth, near 
 the end of Portland Bridge, on a lot deeded to 
 him by Cleeve, in Rigby's name, in 1650. 
 Mitton died in 1660, and Cleeve probably about 
 ten years later — a very old man. 
 
 Elizabeth (Cleeve) Mitton, then a widow, 
 conve}^ed Michael's Island to John Phillips, a 
 merchant of Boston, in 1661, and George 
 Munjoy married his only daughter, Mary 
 Phillips. Their daughter, Mary Munjoy, 
 married John Palmer. Munjoy improved the 
 island and built a stone house upon it before 
 the year 1670, and probably fish stages and 
 flakes. There is no evidence that he ever 
 occupied that house. No other island has 
 been called Munjoy's Island in the records. 
 George Munjoy's place of business and dwell- 
 ing-house were on the lot on the west corner 
 of what is now Fore and Mountfort Streets, 
 but of course must have extended along Fore 
 Street. The house was fortified and known 
 as " Munjoy's Garrison." The seashore then 
 
14 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 was almost to the street and there was an un- 
 obstructed view of the harbor. 
 
 John Palmer, Munjoy's son-in-law, and his 
 family lived on Peaks Island several years 
 before 1675, in the stone house. Then it be- 
 came known as Palmer's Island, as it had 
 been given to Palmer's wife by her grand- 
 father, John Phillips. Mary Jordan, widow 
 of Samuel Jordan, ancestors of the writer, 
 stated in her deposition, made in 1741, when 
 she was an old lady, that Palmer and family 
 lived in the stone house on Palmer's Island 
 several years, until the Indians drove them 
 off, which was no doubt in 1675, at the be- 
 ginning of the King Philip's War. In 1680 
 George Munjoy died, aged 54 years. In 1681 
 the selectmen of the town "confirmed to 
 Mary, daughter of George Munjoy, senior, 
 deceased, all that island given her by her 
 grandfather, Mr. J. Phillips, by the name of 
 Pond Island or Mr. Munjoy's Island." This 
 was John Palmer's wife. She and, probably, 
 he were carried away or killed by the In- 
 dians some years later, and were never heard 
 from. 
 
 Peaks Island was claimed by the posterity 
 of Cleeve and Mitton, and the owners of the 
 Phillips' title from the heirs of Mary (Mun- 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 15 
 
 joy) Palmer, who were then Parson Thomas 
 Smith and Capt. John Waite. Anthonj^ and 
 Joshua Brackett were the Mitton heirs, and 
 in 1 741, at York, there was a lawsuit relating 
 to the title of four thousand acres of land, in 
 which Peaks Island was included. Parson 
 Smith says in his journal, under date of June 
 23, 1741 • "Our great case came on this 
 morning, and was not finished till between 
 nine and ten at night. " The next day he 
 says: "The jury brought in against us"; 
 but in 1742 he claimed to own one-third part 
 of Peaks and the same of House Island. The 
 case of the title to Peaks Island was again 
 tried in the Inferior Court in 1762; this time 
 by Capt. John Waite, probably alone, and 
 again in the Superior Court in 1763, when it 
 was decided that the Phillips' title, repre- 
 sented by Capt. Waite, was entitled to two- 
 ninths of the island, which was called 134 
 acres and 54 square rods. Parson Smith 
 seemed not to have shared with Waite in that 
 award. He left the following memorandum 
 in his own handwriting: "Capt. Waite recov- 
 ered against the Bracketts two-ninths, i. e. 
 one-ninth he purchased of Pullen and wife 
 (Palmer heirs), which some years before I 
 had purchased of them and the deed recorded ; 
 
1 6 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 whether that may not be considered my pos- 
 session." Pullen sold his share twice, and 
 Capt. John Waite got the title of the whole 
 two-ninths, which was set off on the north 
 side of the island. The line then established 
 is now from the centre of " Spar Cove," on the 
 back side of the island, looking to the second 
 chimney from the north end of the Maine 
 General Hospital, and the remains of a stone 
 wall can be seen which divided the land. 
 This includes all the land about Trefethen's 
 and Evergreen Landings. 
 
 Capt. John Waite was a singular and 
 eccentric man. He was born in 1700, and was 
 the son of Jonadab Waite, of Newbury, Mass. ; 
 was the captain of a coaster that ran between 
 Falmouth and Boston as early as 1737, and 
 first lived about where the Portland Company 
 shops now are. His wife was Sarah Kent, a 
 daughter of John Kent, Jr., of Newbury, whom 
 he married in 1724. She died Jan. 22, 1773, 
 aged 69 years. Captain Waite was selectman 
 of the town four years. He enjoyed the soli- 
 tude of the island and built himself a house 
 near Trefethen's Landing. It is said that he 
 built two fire-places in one room, one for him- 
 self and wife and the other for the servant. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 1 7 
 
 In moving to that house he was, as Parson 
 Deane wrote, 
 
 " Seeking quiet, sought in vain 
 In courts and crowds of busy men."' 
 
 He had ten children and a distinguished 
 posterity. His children were Benjamin, born 
 in 1725, who was major in Col. Samuel Waldo, 
 Jr.'s regiment in 1762 ; Hannah, born in 1727 ; 
 Sarah, born in 1730; Col. John, Jr., born in 
 1752; Stephen, born in 1754; Abigail, born 
 in 1739; Mary, Isaac, Rebecca, and Emma. 
 
 Col. John Waite, Jr., married, in 1758, 
 Hannah Jones, daughter of Phineas Jones, 
 and she died Dec. 14, 1807, aged 69 years. 
 They had thirteen children. Colonel Waite 
 did not reside on the island, but was a large 
 land owner there for over fifty years. 
 
 Colonel Waite was the captain of the 
 schooner Jolly Philip, and his vessel was in 
 the expedition to the Bay of Fundy, in 1755, 
 to remove the Acadians from the Basin of 
 Minas, and carried a cargo of them to Georgia. 
 That is a sad story. The transporting of 
 those poor French people is described as where 
 "might took the place of right and the weak 
 were oppressed and the mighty ruled with a 
 rod of iron." It was when "wives were torn 
 from their husbands, and mothers, too late, 
 
1 8 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 saw their children left on the land, extending 
 their arms in the wildest entreaties." 
 
 They were the neutral French mentioned 
 in the histories of those times. Many tears 
 have been shed for those unfortunate people 
 by the readers of Longfellow's Evangeline, 
 and no excuses for that act have been fully 
 satisfactory, and never will be as long as man 
 has an atom of human sympathy. 
 
 Col. John Waite, Jr., commanded the sloop 
 Swallow, that was impressed into the Louis- 
 burg expedition, of 1757, under the Earl of 
 Loudon, which ended so unsuccessfully and 
 unsatisfactorily. In 1759 the same vessel 
 was impressed into the expedition to Quebec, 
 which was composed of about a hundred sail, 
 under the command of Commodore Sir Charles 
 Saunders. Colonel Waite was an eye-witness 
 to the operations of the siege and saw the fall 
 of that city when the gallant General Wolfe 
 was killed. 
 
 Colonel Waite was captain of the battery 
 in Col. Samuel Waldo, Jr.'s regiment in 1762, 
 sheriff of the county for over thirty years, 
 colonel of a regiment of militia at the time of 
 the Revolutionary War, and a conspicuous 
 patriot of Falmouth Neck during those trying 
 times. He died Jan. 20, 1820, aged 88 years> 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 19 
 
 having been an active and prominent citizen 
 of Portland. 
 
 Capt. John Waite, the father, was living 
 on Peaks Island in 1765, and Dr. Deane visited 
 him and in his journal calls it "Capt. Waite's 
 Island." The two-ninths of the island came 
 into the possession of Col. John Waite, Jr., in 
 1805, and then the other seven-ninths were 
 owned by Benjamin Trott and Thomas Brack- 
 ett with his son John. Capt. John Waite died 
 Nov. 3, 1769, aged 69 years, and was buried 
 in the Eastern Cemetery. 
 
 The balance of the island, or seven-ninths, 
 which the Court decided belonged to the 
 Mitton heirs, was the southern part. This 
 land came into the possession of the Brackett 
 family, because Thomas and Anthony Brack- 
 ett married the daughters of Michael Mitton. 
 On the re-settlement of the town, Thomas 
 Brackett's grandsons, Anthony and Joshua, 
 sons of Joshua, returned and claimed their 
 land, among which was Peaks Island. Joshua 
 Brackett sold his part of the island to Ben- 
 jamin Trott, who had married his daughter 
 Thankful in 1761. The deed was dated Feb. 
 5, 1762, andfsays together with "my dwelling- 
 house and barn with appurtenances." The 
 consideration was £26 13s. 4A. The house 
 
20 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 was a large, two-story wooden one and stood 
 about opposite the Bay View House, on the 
 other side of tjie Avenue. 
 
 Benjamin Trott sold his land with his 
 stock of cattle to his sons, Joshua and Benja- 
 min, Jr., for ^40, Oct. 10, 1784. The division 
 line between the Bracketts' and the Trotts' 
 land was in the ravine south of the Bay View 
 House, where a piece of the wall can still be 
 seen. This line ran across the island. The 
 sons, Joshua and Benjamin Trott, Jr., divided 
 their land in 181 2, the division line running 
 across the island east to west. Joshua Trott 
 had the southerly half and Benjamin Trott, 
 Jr., the northerly half. 
 
 Thomas Brackett sold his daughter Mary, 
 who had married Joseph Reed, two acres with 
 one-half of the wharf, in 1807. This land 
 was in front of the present Mineral Spring 
 House, and that is their house remodeled. 
 This house may have been built by Thomas 
 Brackett. The first wharf on the island was 
 built opposite that land before 1807. 
 
 " The heaving tide 
 In widen'd circles heat on either side." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Stone House. — Its Location and History. — 
 "The Refuge." — George Felt, Jr., and his 
 Massacre. — Indian History. 
 
 " 'Tis pleasant, through the loop-holes of retreat, 
 To peep at such a world." 
 
 Munjoy's stone house must have been 
 located on the southern point of the island, 
 about four rods northeast of the Brackett 
 family cemeter}^ fence, on land now owned by 
 Mrs. Torrington. Its location is an unsettled 
 point in history, but there can be plainly seen 
 where sometime a house must have stood, 
 which is now unknown in tradition or history. 
 When the late Henry M. Brackett plowed the 
 land, many years ago, the location of a house 
 was distinctly marked by the color of the 
 earth. An iron pot was turned out, with 
 other articles usually found among the ruins 
 of an old house. The ashes and charcoal 
 found plainly indicated the location of the 
 fire-place. There are clam-shell heaps, near 
 the bank, which must have been made in the 
 earliest times. Mrs. Torrington, who came 
 to the island in 1833, recollects many stones 
 
22 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 about this locality, that have since been 
 hauled away, that were so arranged as to 
 indicate that they had been placed about a 
 dwelling-house. 
 
 The stone house was built there probably 
 because then there were two houses on House 
 Island; it was in sight of the settlers at Cape 
 Elizabeth and the fortified house on Cushing's 
 Island, which is claimed was then built. It 
 was a sightly location and could alarm its 
 builder, George Munjoy, at his garrison house 
 on Fore Street, west corner of Mountfort, by 
 guns or fire. It was almost in range of the 
 fortified house on Jewells Island. These 
 houses may not all have been built until after 
 this one, but it shows that there was a plan 
 in their location. An examination of the 
 island shows no other foundation of a house 
 where a family would have been likely to 
 have lived several years in those times. 
 
 "The Refuge," so-called, off from Central 
 Avenue, a few rods southeast of Robert M. 
 Gould's cottage, has nothing about it to indi- 
 cate a dwelling-house. It was probably a 
 place of refuge in the time of the Revolution 
 to which the soldiers and the owners drove 
 their sheep and cattle to hide them from the 
 British cruisers who were prowling about our 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 23 
 
 coast. The traditions indicate that. The stones 
 were said, by the older people, to have been 
 piled into the form of a house, but the}^ were 
 probably put there for protection against the 
 weather or for a place to defend themselves in 
 case they were attacked. 
 
 In September, 18 14, when the British fleet 
 was hovering off our harbor and was expected 
 to attack Portland, the inhabitants of the 
 island thought that they might be obliged to 
 leave their homes for safety, and preparations 
 were made to go to "The Refuge," on the 
 other side of the island, as their fathers had 
 done, but the fleet never came. 
 
 The stone house was occupied several 
 years by John Palmer and his family, until 
 they were driven off by the Indians in the 
 King Philip War, in 1675. Then the house 
 was probabfy abandoned. The next year the 
 tragedy in which George Felt, Jr., and six 
 others lost their lives occurred on this point. 
 Felt lived at Mussel Cove, now in the town of 
 Falmouth. He was the son of George Felt, 
 of Broad Bay, and in 1662 married Philippa 
 Andrews, daughter of Samuel and Jane An- 
 drews. Jane Andrews married for her second 
 husband Arthur Mackworth, for whom the 
 island of his name was called. 
 
24 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 George Felt, Jr., fled from his home in the 
 summer of 1676, because he saw the smoke 
 of the burning buildings of the other settlers, 
 that had been fired by the Indians. He 
 carried his family to Cushing's Island, then 
 called James Andrews' Island, where they, no 
 doubt, found others who had also left their 
 homes. Here they were soon reduced almost 
 to starvation, as they had been unable to bring 
 much food with them. The men were forced 
 to go to Peaks Island for sheep for food, 
 understanding the danger. They went on a 
 Saturday and the scene that followed is best 
 described by Hubbard, who wrote of it the 
 very next year. George Felt, Jr., went "soon 
 after to Mount Jo}^es Island (Peaks) to fetch 
 sheep, where they landed seven men ; but the 
 Indians presently set upon them, they pres- 
 ently betook themselves to the ruins of a 
 Stone House, where they defended themselves 
 as long as they could, but at last they were 
 all destroyed either with stones cast upon 
 them or else with the enemies shot, except 
 one, who though at first it was hoped that his 
 wounds were not mortal yet soon after died 
 thereof. Among them was George Felt much 
 lamented, who had been more active than any 
 other man in those parts against the Indians, 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 25 
 
 but at last lost his life amongst them in this 
 too desperate adventure." 
 
 Richard Martin, in his letter at the time, 
 said that some of the party were burned in 
 the house. The house was set on fire by the 
 Indians and destroyed. Little do we realize 
 now the terror that this event caused among 
 the remaining women and children then left 
 on Cushing's Island, who had lost their hus- 
 bands and protectors. Felt's wife removed to 
 Salem, Mass., married twice there, and died 
 in 1709. He was about thirty-seven years 
 of age and left four children. The story of 
 his father's life is a pitiful one in connection 
 with the history of North Yarmouth. 
 
 In writing of the times my father quoted 
 the following passage of scripture: a In those 
 times there was no peace to him that went out 
 nor to him that came in, but great vexations 
 were upon all the inhabitants of the country." 
 
 In 1688 another Indian war broke out, one 
 cause of which was Governor Andross, in the 
 frigate Rose, robbing Baron Castin's residence 
 at Bagaduce, now Castine, Me. In September, 
 1689, Joseph Prout wrote that there were two 
 hundred Indians then on Palmer's (Peaks) 
 Island. Major Benjamin Church, the hero of 
 the Swamp Fight in Rhode Island in 1675 
 
26 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 (the descendants of some of the soldiers in 
 that battle were granted the townships of 
 Gorhani and Buxton), was sent here with a 
 force to defend Falmonth from an attack. 
 The Indians had massacred the inmates of 
 the garrison at Cocheco, now Dover, N. H., 
 June 27th, and murdered Major Richard Wal- 
 dron with many others. They accused him 
 of cheating them by not crossing off their 
 accounts at settlement and for using his fist 
 in the scales when he was weighing and call- 
 ing it a pound. He defended himself with 
 his sword from room to room until he was 
 overpowered by the savages. They took off 
 his clothes, placed him in an arm-chair on a 
 table and proceeded to torture him in the 
 most cruel manner. The Indians obliged the 
 family to get them a supper while they were 
 dealing with Major Waldron. He was then 
 seventy-four years of age. They gashed his 
 breast with their knives saying, as they did 
 so, "I cross off my accounts, " and then cut- 
 ting off his finger joints said to him, " Now 
 will your fist weigh a pound? " They cut off 
 his nose and ears and forced them into his 
 mouth until he became faint from loss of 
 blood. Then they killed him with his own 
 sword. The Indians killed twenty-three and 
 carried away captive twenty-nine. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 2J 
 
 Major Waldron's daughter Esther, then 
 twenty-five years of age, the Indians probably 
 took at that time. She had married first 
 Henry Elkins, who died soon after their mar- 
 riage, and in 1686 she married Abraham Lee, 
 whom the Indians killed at the same time 
 they did her father. Mrs. Lee was found at 
 Peaks Island with the Indians by a Dutch 
 privateer in September. What that young 
 woman underwent in that three months will 
 probabty never be known, but her sufferings 
 in mind and body must have been terrible. 
 She was ransomed from the Indians by the 
 captain of the privateer, who took her on 
 board his vessel, where she was found by 
 Colonel Church, who of course proceeded to 
 interview her as to the number and intentions 
 of the Indians. She said that the party of In- 
 dians that she came with to Palmer's Island 
 had eighty canoes and that she did not see 
 all. The Indians told her that when they all 
 got together they would have seven hundred 
 men. This may be an overestimate of the 
 number there. Captain Davis said there 
 were three or four hundred. She could not 
 tell whether Baron Castin was with them or 
 not, but said that there were several French- 
 men in the party. The Indians were probably 
 
28 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 the Norridgewocks, Canadas, and Penobscots, 
 and their place of rendezvous was Palmer's, 
 now Peaks, Island. The}^ were there for a 
 purpose. Mrs. Lee, after leaving Casco Bay, 
 married Richard Jose, the sheriff of the prov- 
 ince, and outlived him and married the fourth 
 time, went across the ocean, and died on the 
 Island of Jersey. 
 
 The Indians had been assembling several 
 days on Palmer's (Peaks) Island, preparing 
 to attack Fort L^tyal and the settlement on 
 the Neck, now Portland. They probably had 
 little rest in the night of Oct. 20th, as they 
 must have been early astir. Peaks Island 
 never saw another such a night as that. 
 Hundreds of Indians in their war paint and 
 feathers were preparing for a surprise. It 
 was long before the dawn of da}^ that they 
 were quietly embarking in their canoes to 
 make their attack on the rear of the town. 
 They were armed with guns and were expert 
 marksmen. Josselyn says several years before 
 this that "it was a poor Indian that did not 
 have two guns." They probably proceeded 
 around Munjoy Hill into Back Cove, landed 
 on its western shore, and were soon dis- 
 covered by twelve camp fires, seen by the 
 Bracketts, when they were preparing their 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 29 
 
 morning meal before making the attack. 
 They proceeded to Brackett's, now the Deer- 
 ing farm, and were there at dawn of day, 
 when a battle was fonght between Colonel 
 Church's soldiers and the Indians, during 
 which the latter were driven off and the town 
 saved, to be destroyed the following year. 
 John Palmer was wounded in this battle, but 
 not seriously, as he attended a council of war 
 in November. 
 
 This is the last record of the Indians occu- 
 pying Peaks Island, but it must have been a 
 place of common resort for them during the 
 years that so many were about the bay, 
 which is confirmed by the traditions. 
 
 There was an Indian battle on Jewells 
 Island in September, 1676. A party of Indi- 
 ans from Arrowsic attacked a party of settlers 
 who had fled to that island, on which was a 
 fortified house, for safety. The settlers, feel- 
 ing secure, were surprised, but after a stub- 
 born fight drove the Indians off, several 
 being killed, while but three of the English 
 lost their lives. Two women and two children 
 were taken away by the Indians. 
 
 Those brave early settlers who stayed by 
 their homes and their lands, and contested 
 their right to occupy them for the purposes of 
 
30 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 civilization, laid the foundation of our state. 
 They must have been conscious of the service 
 they were rendering to posterity or they would 
 have abandoned those rude homes and lived in 
 more secure places. 
 
 " All these scenes do I behold, 
 These, and many left untold." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Revolutionary Alarm. — Shipwreck. — Harbor Froz- 
 en. — A Hermit. — Soldiers of the Rebellion. — 
 Religious Meetings. — Home of the Ancestors 
 of Two Famous Americans. 
 
 " Never mortal builder's hand 
 This enduring fabric planned." 
 
 The tradition that a company of sol- 
 diers of the Revolution paraded on the island 
 is probably true. When Capt. Henry Mowat, 
 with his fleet of five vessels, arrived in our 
 harbor, on the 16th of October, 1775, they 
 anchored near the islands, which must have 
 been in front of Peaks Island, in Hog Island 
 Roads, between House and Hog Islands. This 
 was in plain view of Benjamin Trott's and 
 Thomas Brackett's houses. Three men de- 
 serted from the fleet to Hog Island in a boat, 
 and delivered themselves up to the militia 
 with their boat. They were Charles Stuart, 
 quartermaster, John Elliot and Daniel Sheet- 
 land, foremastmen. The people of Falmouth 
 Neck, now Portland, then supposed that the 
 fleet had come for sheep and cattle for the 
 
32 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 British forces in Boston. There were large 
 stocks of cattle on the islands, and for their 
 protection a large portion of Capt. Joseph 
 Noyes' and Capt. Samuel Knights' companies, 
 then stationed on the Neck, were quietly sent, 
 at dusk, to guard the sheep, cattle, and hay 
 there. The next day the wind was strong and 
 the vessels warped up and anchored off the 
 town. Late that afternoon the inhabitants of 
 the Neck learned that their, then defenseless, 
 town was to be destroyed. They had no means 
 of defense, not a gun mounted, and were almost 
 destitute of powder. The town could have 
 been occupied without destroying it, but 
 Mowat had secured orders to "burn, sink, and 
 destroy, 1 ' and proceeded to do it. He remem- 
 bered the "Thompson War" of the May 
 before. The burning of Falmouth Neck made 
 patriots of all its inhabitants, and placed 
 Mowat's name, to an American, among the 
 cruel tyrants of history. 
 
 SHIPWRECK. 
 
 The saddest event that has happened on 
 the island in the memory of those now living 
 was the wreck of the schooner Helen Eliza, 
 of Gloucester, Mass., Capt. Edward Millett, 
 of Rockport, Mass., in the great gale of Sept. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 33 
 
 8, 1869. She parted her cables and was 
 driven ashore in the darkness on to the rocks 
 on the ontside of the island. The crew took 
 to the waves, bnt of the twelve aboard, only 
 one, Charles Jordan, of Rockport, sncceeded 
 in reaching the shore alive. Ten of the bodies 
 were recovered. The captain's body was 
 found in a cove on the harbor side of the 
 island. The vessel was ground to pieces on 
 the rocks and strewed along the shore. Long- 
 fellow in his poem, "The Wreck of the Hes- 
 perus," describes vividly this wreck on Peaks 
 Island. 
 
 "Down came the storm, and smote amain 
 The vessel in its strength ; 
 She shuddered and paused like a frightened steed, 
 Then leaped her cable's length. 
 
 "The breakers were right beneath her bows, 
 She drifted a dreary wreck, 
 And a whooping billow swept the crew 
 Like icicles from her deck." 
 
 HARBOR FROZEN. 
 
 The harbor is seldom frozen hard enough 
 for persons to cross the ice to the city. The 
 writer crossed on the ice from the city and 
 returned the same way, Feb. 15, 1875. That 
 day a sleigh with two persons went from the 
 city and returned with safety. William T. 
 Jones then said that the last team he remem- 
 
34 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 bered coining to the island was about 1845, 
 about thirty years before. 
 
 A HERMIT. 
 
 Solomon Bartlett, an old but a robust 
 man, lived a hermit's life on the Waite land, 
 back in the woods, about fifty years ago. He 
 was a squatter. After he had lived there 
 nearly twenty years, nearly long enough to 
 establish a claim to the land, the young men 
 of the island, while he was away at one time, 
 took up his house bodily and placed it on a 
 barren ledge, where he found it on his return. 
 This had the desired effect and he left the 
 island. 
 
 SOLDIERS OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 In the War of the Rebellion the following 
 young men of the island entered the service 
 of their country : James W. Brackett, Wesley 
 Scott, and Andrew Fisher served in the gal- 
 lant First Maine Cavalry Regiment. Wesley 
 Scott was captured by the enemy and died in 
 Salisbury Prison, Jan. 2, 1865, aged 19 years, 
 6 months, and 22 days, and a monument was 
 erected to his memory in the Biackett Ceme- 
 tery. Gilman L. Brackett served in the Coast 
 Guards and John T. Sterling served on the 
 steamboat Greyhound on the James River. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 35 
 
 RELICS. 
 A few years ago Wilber F. Ricker found 
 on the shore on the outside of the island two 
 cannon balls which were badly rust eaten. 
 One was about the size of a twelve-pound 
 solid shot and the other was egg shaped, with 
 a ruffle on the largest diameter. How they 
 came there is a matter of conjecture, but they 
 evidently had laid in the water many years. 
 One was added to the collection of war relics 
 of the Fifth Maine Regiment Association and 
 the other is in possession of the finder. 
 
 REGIMENTAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 The regimental buildings, on the shore 
 opposite White Head, are of no particular 
 historic interest in themselves, but they have 
 been built by the survivors of two of Maine's 
 bravest regiments in the Rebellion. Those 
 men have made good history for our state, 
 and "they have dared to walk with death" 
 that we might have a united country. 
 
 The Fifth Maine Regiment was known as 
 a fighting one, and no place was too hot for 
 them. All that is necessary to say of their 
 bravery is that they were one of the twelve 
 picked regiments in the " Bloody Angle " at 
 Spottsylvania, which was said to have been 
 
36 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 the bloodiest conflict of the war. The}^ took 
 more prisoners during their service than they 
 ever had names on their rolls, and captured 
 six battle flags on line of battle in a hand-to- 
 hand fight with the enemy. In their building 
 they have one of the best collections of war 
 relics in this part of the country. 
 
 The Eighth Maine Regiment bows to none 
 for valor shown on the battle field. The sur- 
 vivors can tell of the bombardment of Port 
 Royal and Charleston, how they raised their 
 flag over Fort Pulaski, what they did at 
 Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and 
 how they, under General Sheridan, helped 
 chase Lee's army to their surrender at Appo- 
 mattox. Their tattered battle flags are now 
 silent witnesses that are proudly treasured by 
 our state. Neither of these regiments lost 
 a flag. 
 
 RELIGIOUS MEETINGS. 
 
 Up to 1832 the religious services were 
 held in a hall that was used for all other pur- 
 poses. That year the first school-house was 
 built on Peaks Island, and for eighteen years 
 served also for a meeting-house. The Rev. 
 Stephen Bennett was the pioneer minister. 
 He used to row every other Sunday from 
 Chebeague Island to preach to the people in 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 37 
 
 the school-house. He was an eccentric and 
 earnest man who was interested in the good 
 of his fellow-man. He was outspoken in his 
 remarks, frank in conversation, and had the 
 respect and esteem of all. He married, in 
 1854, Mrs. Mary A. W. Winship, of Portland, 
 where, it is said, he finally moved and died. 
 
 In 1850 a new school-house was built, 
 which also served for the meetings. It was 
 dedicated by proper services and Rev. Benja- 
 min Freeman preached the dedicatory sermon. 
 In i860 Rev. W. N. Richardson, a Methodist, 
 was appointed pastor, and Nov. 15th a Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church was organized. The 
 present church was soon built, and dedicated 
 July 25, 1861. Rev. C. C. Cone, the Presiding 
 Elder, preached the sermon at the dedication. 
 Rev. C. W. Blackman was appointed pastor 
 in 1862 and remained two years. Rev. Joseph 
 Hawkes followed him in 1864, and in 1865 
 Rev. B. Freeman was the preacher and re- 
 mained three years. He was an earnest and 
 faithful man, who was much interested in the 
 welfare of the people. In 1868 Rev. Asbury 
 C. Trafton was the pastor and remained three 
 years. In 187 1 Rev. J. H.Trask was appointed 
 and remained two years. Rev. John C. Perry 
 followed him in 1873 and then the parsonage 
 was built. 
 
38 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 The following pastors were subsequently 
 appointed: Rev. Hezekiah Chase, 1876-78; 
 Rev. True P. Adams, 1879-81; Rev. Charles 
 S. Parsons, 1882-84, and then in 1885 followed 
 Rev. J. B. Lapham, and after him came Rev. 
 Kinsman Atkinson, Rev. John Collins, and 
 then the Rev. Frank W. Smith, the present 
 pastor. By the efforts of the members of the 
 congregation a bell was purchased and put 
 into the tower in 1886. 
 
 The Second Advent Society has held 
 meetings in the town hall for several years 
 under different preachers. 
 
 THE HOME OF THE ANCESTORS OF TWO 
 FAMOUS AMERICANS. 
 
 Peaks Island can claim to have been the 
 home of the ancestors of at least two famous 
 Americans. 
 
 John Lothrop Motley, the historian and 
 diplomat, the friend of Bismarck, who died in 
 1877, was the son of Thomas Motley, Jr., of 
 the firm of noted merchants of Boston, Thomas 
 and Edward Motley. He was the great-grand- 
 son of Capt. John Waite, through his young- 
 est daughter, Emma, who married Thomas 
 Motley, senior, for her second husband. 
 
 The Hon. Thomas Brackett Reed, who, as 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 39 
 
 Speaker of the National House of Represent- 
 atives, is next in power to the President, and 
 who has demonstrated his fitness for the high- 
 est office under our government, is a son of 
 Peaks Island. It has been the home of his 
 father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, 
 and he is a descendant of George Cleeve, the 
 first settler of Portland. 
 
 The rugged experiences of their ancestors 
 laid the foundation of the lives of the success- 
 ful men of Maine who have honored their old 
 homes and the homes of their fathers. 
 
 " There is no place like the old place where you and I were born! 
 Where we lifted first our eyelids on the splendors of the morn." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Steamboat Lines. — Steamers Kennebec, Antelope, 
 Casco, Gazelle, and others. 
 
 "Honor to those whose words or deeds 
 Thus helped us in our daily needs." 
 
 The first attempt to run a steamboat to 
 the islands was in the year 1822, by Capt. 
 Seward Porter. This was one year before he 
 brought the steamer Patent here. The steam- 
 boat was called the Kennebec, but was nick- 
 named the " Horned Hog." It was the old 
 hull of a flat-bottomed craft with a small and 
 imperfect engine in it. 
 
 It was a great novelty to go to the islands 
 without sails or oars and drew crowds of 
 passengers from the little town. It was no 
 uncommon occurrence for the engine to refuse 
 to drive the boat against the tide, and it had 
 to be assisted by the passengers treading the 
 paddle-wheels round, which was easity done as 
 they were uncovered. The following couplet 
 was written at the time by a local rhymster : 
 
 "A fig for all your clumsy craft, 
 
 Your pleasure boats and packets ; 
 The steamboat lands you, safe and soon, 
 At Mansfield's, Trott's, or Brackett's. 
 
 "And down below they keep the stuff, 
 And everything is handy; 
 My jolly boys, I'll tell you what, 
 That steamboat is a dandy." 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 4 1 
 
 Several years before any attempt was made 
 to run a regular line to Peaks Island, a small 
 steamboat came here from Saco and ran for a 
 short time, one summer, for transient parties 
 to the islands. 
 
 In 1850 Horatio G. Cook, a boat builder 
 and machinist, who was born in Portland, in 
 December, 18 15, and whose father was of the 
 same name, built the steamboat Antelope, to 
 run to the islands. She was fifty-five feet 
 long, eight feet wide, and the hull was thirty 
 inches deep. She had a three-horse power 
 engine, and could carry one hundred passen- 
 gers. This steamer was a side-wheeler and 
 ran two summers. 
 
 In the winter of 185 1-2 Mr. Cook built the 
 steamboat Casco, which was about seventy- 
 five feet long, twelve feet wide, and the hull 
 was four feet deep. She had a horizontal 
 engine of two twelve-inch cylinders and a two- 
 foot stroke. This steamer was also a side- 
 wheeler, as were all of the steamboats Mr. 
 Cook built, and could carry three hundred 
 passengers. The Casco ran to Peaks and 
 Cushing's Islands until the winter of 1 860-1, 
 when Mr. Cook built the steamboat Favorite. 
 Cyrus F. Sands became a partner with Mr. 
 Cook in this and the following boat. The 
 
42 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Favorite was about one hundred feet long, 
 fourteen feet wide, and the hull was six feet 
 deep. She had the same engines that were 
 in the Casco, whose hull was then laid up. 
 The engines were geared up three to one to 
 increase the power. This boat could carry 
 four hundred passengers. She ran two years 
 and then went into the hands of the govern- 
 ment and was used South during the war. 
 Later this steamer was brought to Boston, 
 where she was changed to a propeller and was 
 finally destroyed by fire. 
 
 In 1863 an engine was put into the old 
 hull of the Casco and she ran to the islands 
 that summer. In the winter of 1863-4 Mr. 
 Cook built the Gazelle, and the Casco went 
 to Freeport and was finally cut up. The 
 Gazelle was one hundred and five feet long, 
 eighteen feet wide, and the hull was six feet 
 deep. Her engine had a two-foot cylinder and 
 four-foot stroke. She could then carry eight 
 hundred passengers. This steamer ran to the 
 islands several years, then was lengthened 
 twenty feet, when she could carry one thou- 
 sand passengers, although she was limited to 
 six hundred. Her name was changed to the 
 Forest City, and her last season was in 1895, 
 since which she has been sold and went to 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 43 
 
 Baltimore. Messrs. Cook and Sands disposed 
 of their interest in this boat in 1874. 
 
 Before i860 there was a stern-wheel steam- 
 boat named the Clinton that came here from 
 the Kennebec River and ran as an opposition 
 boat part of one summer. The stern-wheeler 
 Teaser also ran one summer to Scott's Landing. 
 
 William Oxnard ran the steamer Island 
 Queen two summers, when she was burned 
 and he built the Gipsy Queen, using the 
 same engines, but they were not large enough 
 for the hull. This line landed at Brackett's 
 Landing, opposite White Head, but did not 
 run long. There have been other opposition 
 boats that have been taken off after running 
 a short time. 
 
 In 187 1 the Peaks Island Steamboat Com- 
 pany was formed and built the steamer Ex- 
 press, which was placed in charge of Capt. 
 A. S. Oliver. This company was composed 
 mostly of people who lived on the island, and 
 the object was to establish a line to run the 
 entire year. The Express was a propeller and 
 fitted for towing when not employed on the 
 route. This was a successful enterprise as 
 long as they confined themselves to this boat. 
 
 An opposition line was established by C. H. 
 Knowlton, and he ran the propellers Tourist 
 
44 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 and Minnehaha several years. These boats 
 with the Express and the Forest City, with 
 their rights and privileges, were all absorbed 
 into one conipan}^ which is now represented 
 by the Casco Bay Steamboat Company and is 
 giving satisfactory service. 
 
 Capt. Alfred S. Oliver, the veteran of the 
 island line, was born in Georgetown, Me., in 
 1832. He went to California in 1850 and 
 commenced steamboating on the Sacramento 
 River. He returned to Maine and went into 
 the tow-boat business. Captain Oliver first 
 ran to the islands in the steamer Lily, in 
 1870, and she was burned after running but 
 one season. He then became captain of the 
 Express, in 1871, and has continued on the 
 route under the successive companies since 
 that time. He has always been a pleasant 
 and courteous officer to the patrons of the 
 several lines, and is remembered as the cap- 
 tain who did his whole duty, with his boat, in 
 the great steamboat fire of 1873. 
 
 For nearly twenty years the steamboats 
 were run but about three months' time, from 
 the middle of June until the middle of Sep- 
 tember, but since 187 1 there have been regu- 
 lar trips run all the year round. For many 
 years the steamers touched only at Peaks and 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 45 
 
 Cushing's Islands, but new lines have been 
 put on until nearly every island of any con- 
 siderable size in Casco Bay is now touched by 
 some steamer during the season. 
 
 "A ship is a thing 
 That you never can be quiet in, 
 By wind or steam 
 It's all the same, 
 'Twas so with me." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Family Histories. — Brackett, Trott, Woodbury, 
 Parsons, Jones, Skillings, Sterling, Trefethen, 
 Scott. 
 
 "There is history in all men's lives." 
 
 The people of a locality make its history, 
 and a history of the people is almost a his- 
 tory of that locality. Those who settled early 
 on Peaks Island were mostly hardy fisher- 
 men's families or those that went down to the 
 sea in ships. They were people who knew the 
 secrets of the sea as only those can know who 
 brave its dangers. They were the Waites, 
 Bracketts, Trotts, Woodburys, Parsons, Ster- 
 lings, Welchs, Jones, Trefethens, Skillings, 
 Scotts, and others, who have come and gone, 
 and each has done his part, humble or other- 
 wise, in the battle of life. 
 
 It is fitting that the story of their lives 
 should be preserved, that those who come after 
 them may know who they were and what 
 were the events in their lives that went to 
 make up the histor}^ of the island while they 
 lived. They were a settlement by themselves 
 and shared each other's joys and sorrows. 
 They saw the sun rise from out of the sea and 
 the ocean was their highway. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 47 
 
 It is a story of the fathers who have 
 passed beyond or are stepping one side for 
 the 3^onnger generation to assume the respon- 
 sibilities of life. All is not told and never 
 will be, as much that would now interest us 
 died with them. 
 
 BRACKETT. 
 
 The Brackett family is the most promi- 
 nent one in the history of Peaks Island. It 
 was known as Brackett's Island for man}^ 
 years. The family are descendants of George 
 Cleeve, the first settler of Portland, and as a 
 family have been modest, unassuming, and 
 honorable. They have sealed their right to 
 Cleeve's land by their own blood. 
 
 The two first settlers of the name at 
 Falmouth were killed by the Indians while 
 defending their homes. Bracketts served 
 through the French and Indian Wars, were 
 at the siege of Louisburg in 1745, and several 
 from Old Falmouth served in the Revolution- 
 ary Army. The long list of their names on 
 the rolls of our state in the late Rebellion 
 shows that the spirit of patriotism has not 
 departed from the family. 
 
 The emigrant ancestor was Anthony 
 Brackett, who came to Boston from Scotland 
 
48 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 about 1629 and was called "the Selectman." 
 He was at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1640. His 
 sons, Anthony and Thomas, came to Fal- 
 mouth probably before 1662. Anthony mar- 
 ried Anne Mitton, and Thomas, her sister 
 Mary, daughters of Michael Mitton, whose 
 wife was Elizabeth Cleeve, a daughter of 
 George Cleeve, who with Richard Tucker 
 settled Portland in 1633. After the death of 
 Mitton, his widow married a Harvey. Her 
 other children were Elizabeth, who married 
 Thaddeus Clark, and Martha, wife of John 
 Graves. 
 
 Thomas Brackett was killed at Clark's 
 Point, where the Gas House now is, by the 
 Indians, Aug. 11, 1676, and his wife, Mary 
 Mitton, and her children were carried off b}^ 
 the Indians and she died within a year. Her 
 children returned to the Piscataqua River, 
 now Portsmouth, N. H. Thomas' son Joshua, 
 who was about two years of age at the time 
 of his capture, was the father of Joshua, Jr., 
 and Anthony, of whom the Bracketts and 
 Trotts of Peaks Island are descendants. The 
 same day that Thomas Brackett was killed, 
 his brother Anthony and wife, Anne Mitton, 
 were captured with their children on their 
 farm, now the Deering farm, and carried away 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 49 
 
 by the Indians. Her brother, Nathaniel Mit- 
 ton, resisted and was killed. He was the last 
 of the family name here. The escape of 
 Anthony Brackett and his family in an old 
 canoe is a matter of history. It is said it was 
 through her penetration and fortitude that 
 the escape was effected, and as Willis says 
 " places her in the rank of heroic women." 
 They went to the Piscataqua River, his father's 
 home, but returned to Falmouth in 1679. He 
 became a selectman, captain of a company, 
 and was killed in the battle on his farm in 
 October, 1689. He has descendants living in 
 the vicinity of Portland. 
 
 Joshua Brackett, Jr., grandson of Thomas, 
 was born at Greenland, N. H., in 1701, came 
 to Falmouth before 1728, and lived in a log 
 house about where Gray Street now is, where 
 by industry and frugality he improved his 
 condition, and then built a frame house about 
 opposite the head of High Street, on Con- 
 gress, where he lived and died in March, 1794, 
 aged 93 years. His fifth child, iMtivm^ born 
 in 1737, married, in 1761, Benjamin Trott and 
 soon moved to Peaks Island. They are the 
 ancestors of the family of that name there 
 and from whom their land on the island was 
 inherited. 
 
50 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Anthony Brackett, brother to Joshua, Jr., 
 born in 1707, probably came to Falmouth 
 before 1728. He married, first, Sarah Knight, 
 in 1733, and second, in 1756, Widow Keren- 
 happuck (Proctor) Hicks, who died in 1822, 
 at Gorham, aged 93 years. He lived near 
 the corner of Brackett and Danforth Streets, 
 where he died Sept. 10, 1784, aged yy years, 
 and was buried on his farm, but his body was 
 taken up, about 1850, and removed to Peaks 
 Island, where he was laid near his descend- 
 ants in the Brackett Cemetery. He owned 
 all the land on the southeast side of Congress 
 Street from about Oak to Vaughan Streets, 
 and his brother Joshua owned all the land on 
 the northwest side of Congress Street from 
 below Casco to Stroudwater Bridge. Anthony 
 had ten children, John, Thomas, James, Mary, 
 Joshua, Elizabeth, Kezia, Samuel, Nathaniel, 
 and Sarah. The oldest son was Capt. John 
 Brackett, of Col. Edmund Phinney's regiment, 
 who died in the army in September, 1775. The 
 second son, Thomas, born in 1744, is the ances- 
 tor of all the Bracketts of Peaks Island. He 
 married, in 1762, Jane Hall, from Narraguagus, 
 now Cherry field, Me., and probably moved to 
 the island before the Revolutionary War. 
 They were living there in 1782, when his 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 5 1 
 
 father transferred to him all his interest in 
 Peaks Island. His wife, Jane, died in 18 10, 
 aged 70 years, and Thomas Brackett died in 
 18 15, aged 71 years. 
 
 Their children were: John, born in 1763, 
 who married, in 1789, Lucy Snow, daughter 
 of David Snow, of Orleans, Mass., a soldier 
 of the Revolution. Elizabeth, born in 1766, 
 married Capt. James Sawyer, and died in 1799, 
 aged 33 years. Sarah, married, in 1789, John 
 Fabyan, who was her cousin, born in 1766. 
 He was the son of Joshua, Esq., and Sarah 
 (Brackett) Fabyan, of Scarborough. John 
 Fabyan lived at Scarborough, had fourteen 
 children, and died at Leeds, Me., about 1833, 
 aged 67 years. Patience, born in 1775, and 
 died, unmarried, March 10, 1794, aged 19 
 years. Mar}-, born in 1776, and married, in 
 1796, Joseph Reed. He was an intelligent 
 and respected citizen. They were the grand- 
 parents of Hon. Thomas B. Reed. 
 
 The children of John and Lucy (Snow) 
 Brackett were: Jane H., born in 1791, married 
 Capt. Charles Bradbury, in 1825, had no chil- 
 dren, and died in 1826. John, Jr., born in 
 1794, and married, in 1817, Mary A. Hadlock. 
 Mary S., born in 1796, married, in 1816, 
 George D. Welch, and, in 1848, Ira Hilborn, 
 
52 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 of Minot. Thomas, born in 1799, who died 
 in 1819. David, born in 1800, who died in 
 1804. Sally C, born in 1802, who married 
 Francis B. Smith, in 1826, bnt had no chil- 
 dren. Lncinda S., born in 1804, who married 
 Benjamin Welch in 1825. Almira, born in 
 1807, and died in 1819. James S., born in 
 1 8 10, who married Ann Margaret Jones, sister 
 of William T. Jones, in 1838, and had bnt one 
 child, James W. Brackett. James S. Brackett 
 died in 1839, aged 29 years, and his wife died 
 in 1850, aged 37 years. The youngest child 
 was Henry M., born in 181 2, who married 
 Sarah M. Hadlock, in 1833, bnt had no chil- 
 dren. John Brackett died Dec. 1, 1835, aged 
 72 years, and his wife, Lncy, died June 15, 
 1842, aged 75 years. 
 
 The children of Joseph and Mary (Brack- 
 ett) Reed were: Mary B., born in 1800, who 
 married Walter S. Hatch in 1821. Elizabeth 
 S., born in 1802, who married, in 1823, Nath- 
 aniel S. Millett. Thomas B., born in 1803, 
 who married, in 1838, Matilda P. Mitchell, 
 and died in 1887, aged 83 years. Joseph, Jr., 
 born in 1806. Jane, born in 1807. Smith, 
 born in 1809. William, born in 181 1. Daniel 
 born in 18 13. Lydia W., born in 18 14, who 
 married Abraham T. Sterling, in 1841, and 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 53 
 
 Emily P., born in 1819, who married, in 1841, 
 William S. Trefethen. Joseph Reed died 
 April 1, 1852, aged 82 years, and his wife, 
 Mary, died Nov. 13, i860, aged 84 years. 
 
 The children of John, Jr., and Mary A. 
 (Hadlock) Bracket! were: Seth H., born in 
 1 8 18, married, in 1843, Elizabeth A. L. Libby, 
 and died in 1877. Sarah H., born in 182 1, 
 married Joseph Trefethen, in 1838, and died 
 in 1868. He was a nephew of Henry Tre- 
 fethen, of Honse Island, and died in 1884, 
 aged 69 years. John Thomas, born in 1823, 
 married Eunice A. Randall, in 1846, and died 
 in 1894. Samuel H., born in 1825, married 
 Sophia Cressey, in 1854, and died in 1875. 
 William S., born in 1827, married Adelia P. 
 Harmon, in 1850, and died in 1886. Elijah E. 
 H., born in 1830, and died in 1837. Henry E. 
 H., born in 1832, married, first, in 1856, Julia 
 E. Hsley, and second, in i8$8, Margie Clif- 
 ford. James G. H., born in 1835, and died 
 the same year. Albert, born in 1836, and died 
 in 1840. Gilnian L., born in 1840, married, 
 in 1862, Mary Ann Libby, and lives on the 
 island. Mary A., born in 1842, and died in 
 1847. Epps G. H., born in 1846, married, in 
 1867, Mary E. Rice, of Cranberry Isles. 
 
 John Brackett, Jr., lived at one time on 
 
54 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Island Avenue, near the Parsons' land, west 
 side of the island. The cellar of his house 
 can still be seen on the east side of the Ave- 
 nue. He, with Henry Parsons, built the 
 stone wall that is now near the cellar. John 
 Brackett, Jr., died May 21, 1869, aged 75 
 years, and his wife, Mary A., died May 18, 
 1880, aged 79 years. The heirs of John 
 Brackett, Jr., own about forty-five acres of 
 land on the island between the Welch and 
 Hilborn land and the Trott line in front of 
 the Bay View House, across the island, from 
 shore to shore. 
 
 George D. and Mary S. (Brackett) Welch 
 had one daughter, Almira B., who married 
 William T. Jones for his first wife. George 
 D. Welch died Oct. 26, 1828, aged 33 years, 
 and his wife, Mary S., died Sept. 24, 187 1, 
 aged 75 years. 
 
 Benjamin and Lucinda S. (Brackett) 
 Welch had five children : Benjamin, Jr., born 
 in 1827. Lucy Elizabeth, born in 1828, and 
 married James J. Knowlton in 1849. Susan 
 Jane, who died young. Mary Adeline, born 
 in 183 1, who married, in 1852, Charles S. 
 Adams, who died in 1880, aged 54 years. 
 George Deake Welch, born in 1833. Lucinda 
 S. (Brackett) Welch died in 1837, aged 33 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 55 
 
 years. Mrs. Adams lives at Peaks Island. 
 Her two brothers and sister live in California. 
 
 Henry M. Brackett died Nov. 1, 1871, aged 
 59 years. His widow, Sarah M., who was a 
 niece of John Brackett, Jr.'s, wife, married, in 
 1877, Dr. James Torrington, and they reside 
 in the house on the sonth side of the island. 
 She came from the Cranberry Isles and was 
 the daughter of Samuel, Jr., and Eunice 
 (Richardson) Hadlock, of Bass Harbor. She 
 is the oldest resident of the island, and was 
 born in 18 15. The house in which she lives 
 was built by Henry M. Brackett, about 1836, 
 and the house at the south oLit was built by 
 Seth H. Brackett, his *hym&&, about 1853, 
 which was the first boarding-house built on 
 the island. There was formerly a wharf and 
 landing near these houses, to which the 
 steamers ran regular trips, but it has fallen 
 to decay and is now gone. 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. (Welch) Adams is the only 
 one of the Welch and Hilborn heirs living on 
 their land here. Their possessions amount 
 to about eighty-five acres and run from shore 
 to shore, but not in a straight line. It extends 
 from the Union House to Greenwood Garden 
 and is a public playground for all. The cot- 
 tage lots are all leased. The house in which 
 
56 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 she lives was formerly called the ''children's 
 house," because their mother died when they 
 were young and left them the house. They 
 were always spoken of as "the children." 
 The house has been rebuilt, but originally it 
 was a house that was taken down at Cape Eliz- 
 abeth and brought to the island about 1829. 
 
 The dwelling-house of James W. Brackett, 
 in Greenwood Garden, was built by his mother, 
 Mrs. James S. Brackett, in 1847. He owns 
 the Garden and the land back, holding its 
 width, to the back shore, amounting to over 
 forty acres. Mrs. Torrington owns all the 
 land, excepting three lots which she has sold, 
 beyond James W. Brackett's to the southeast 
 shore. She has about ninety acres of land in 
 her lot. 
 
 The descendants of Thomas Brackett, of 
 Peaks Island, own, altogether, about two hun- 
 dred and sixty acres of land on the island 
 that they and their ancestors have owned for 
 two hundred and sixty years. It came from 
 George Cleeve, the first settler of Portland, 
 and is a record of constancy of which the 
 family have a right to feel proud. 
 
 " O land that once my fathers trod, 
 O sires I cannot see ! 
 May I your future make as dear 
 As you the past to me! " 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 57 
 
 TROTT. 
 
 The Trott family were among the earliest 
 to make Peaks Island their home. Benjamin 
 Trott and his wife, Thankful Brackett, prob- 
 ably moved there in 1762. 
 
 John Trott, the first of the name at Old 
 Falmouth, was probably the son of Samuel 
 and Marcia Trott, and grandson of Thomas 
 Trott, of Dorchester, Mass. He was born 
 Dec. 20, 1700, and was there before 1725. His 
 wife's name was Lydia. He had thirty acres 
 of land granted him, on the eastern side of 
 Long Creek in 1727, three acres more the next 
 year, and in 1729 ten acres additional. Their 
 children were: Abigail, born in 1725, and 
 married, in 1743, William Pitman. Benjamin, 
 born in 1726, who died young. John, born in 
 1727. Lydia, born in 1729, and married, in 
 1757, Solomon Avery. Thomas, born in 173 1, 
 and married, in 1759, Sarah Knapp. Deliver- 
 ance, born in 1733, who died young. Mary, 
 born in 1735. Benjamin, born in 1737, who 
 married, in 1761, Thankful Brackett and went 
 to Peaks Island, and Deliverance, born in 1738, 
 who married, in 1755, Mathew Tobin. 
 
 Thomas Trott was a cordwainer, and in 
 1 76 1 bought a farm at Windham, where he 
 moved soon after. He was selectman there 
 
58 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 in 1 7 74-^76, '77 and '80, and in the Revolu- 
 tionary War was captain of the town company 
 of militia. He died there in 182 1, aged 90 
 years, and his wife in 1837, aged 97 years. 
 
 Benjamin Trott had sons Benjamin, Jr., and 
 Joshua, and daughters Betsey, who married 
 Daniel Bartlett, of Freeport, in 1707; Mary, 
 who married Samuel Rand ; Abigail, who mar- 
 ried Samuel Woodbury, and Thankful. 
 
 Benjamin Trott, Jr., married, in 1799, 
 Susannah Bartlett, and their children were: 
 Samuel, who married, in 1835, Jane B. Par- 
 sons. Benjamin, who married Ann Bennett, 
 in 1824. Thomas B., who married, in 1840, 
 Deborah Lincoln. Betsey, who married, in 
 1824, David White. Sarah Ann, who married 
 George Trott, in 1835, and Lydia, who mar- 
 ried, in 1826, Obadiah Eastman. 
 
 Joshua Trott married, in 1799, Elizabeth 
 Bartlett, and had the following children: 
 William ; Daniel, who married Saral Bartol, 
 in 1835; George, who married, in 1835, Sarah 
 Ann Trott, his cousin; Jane, who married 
 Michael Rawley, in 1826; Polly, who married 
 John Rawley, in 1825, and Sally, who mar- 
 ried, in 1827, Abraham Murray. 
 
 One of the mothers of the island, of poetic 
 turn of mind, made the following rhyme about 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 59 
 
 the marriages of the daughters of this family, 
 by which those now grandfathers remember 
 their names : 
 
 "John Rawley married Polly, 
 Mike married Jane, 
 Abraham Murray married Sally, 
 
 I am sure they needn't complain." 
 
 WOODBURY. 
 
 The Woodbury family were among the 
 early people of Peaks Island. Samuel Wood- 
 bury, the first of the name there, probably 
 came from Beverly, Mass., at latest, early in 
 this century. He married Abigail Trott, 
 daughter of Benjamin and Thankful (Brack- 
 ett) Trott, who, no doubt, was born on the 
 island. It is thought that Samuel Woodbury 
 was at first a farmer for, or tenant of, Col. 
 John Waite. Later there was probably an 
 arrangement made with Colonel Waite's heirs 
 that after the payment of a certain sum, in 
 installments, the Woodburys should have a 
 deed of the Waite land. The children were : 
 Benjamin, who married Lydia Avery, in 181 3, 
 had a son, Robert, and died on Long Island. 
 William, who married Thankful Rand, a sis- 
 ter to Samuel Rand, and died on the island. 
 James, who married Lucy Johnson, in 1833, a 
 sister to Alexander Johnson, Jr., who had a 
 
60 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 daughter, Eliza Jane, who married Bradley P. 
 Wallace, in 1854, and a son, James F. Wood- 
 bury. James Woodbury died at Long Island. 
 Francis, born in 1801, never married, but 
 after his father's death was always called 
 "Sam," and who died Oct. 6, 1861, aged 60 
 years. Joshua, who never married. Charles, 
 born in 1802, who married, first, Ruth Day, of 
 Phipsburg, Me., in. 1825, wno died ^ n x 868, 
 aged 63 years. He married, second, Cynthia 
 Doughty, in 1869, and died Nov. 24, 1870, 
 aged 68' years, and left descendants. There 
 were two daughters, Nancy, who married Mr. 
 Hatch and died about 1832, and Thankful, 
 who never married. William lived where the 
 Oceanic House stands and Charles nearly to 
 Evergreen Landing. 
 
 The}' labored many years, having in view 
 the payments for the land. Samuel Wood- 
 bury lived in a log house that stood where 
 the "Wallace house" stands, on Island Ave- 
 nue, south of Trefethen's Landing. Joshua 
 and Francis Woodbury built the present 
 house there over sixty years ago. Before 1820 
 Joshua, Francis, and James Woodbury moved 
 to Cushings Island, near White Head, but 
 their title to the land not being satisfactory 
 they removed their house from the island. 
 This may account for the cellar found there. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 6 1 
 
 As early as 1834 William, James, Francis, 
 and Joslina Woodbury divided the land, al- 
 though they had no deed of it. This may 
 have been done to divide also the responsi- 
 bility, so that each would pay but their share. 
 Samuel Woodbury and his wife lived to be 
 very old people and died on the island. The 
 tradition is that he was an honest, uneducated, 
 and hard-working man. 
 
 The Waites' two-ninths of the island was 
 inherited by the two daughters of Col. John 
 Waite, Nancy, who married Nathaniel F. Deer- 
 ing, and Luc}^, who married Capt. Samuel 
 McLellan. In 1839 Nancy W. Deering con- 
 veyed her undivided half to Lucy McLellan, 
 and in 1840 she deeded all to Alexander John- 
 son, Jr., for a consideration of $1,500.00, and 
 received a mortgage in return to secure pay- 
 ment. Johnson, the same day, sold about 
 thirty acres at Evergreen Landing to John 
 Sterling, of House Island, and two da}^s after- 
 wards sold Francis Woodbury twenty-eight 
 square rods, over fifty-eight acres, at the west- 
 ern end, next to the Trott line. This left 
 the strip through the middle at Trefethen's 
 Landing and back of it. Two years later 
 (1842) Henry Trefethen, of House Island, 
 bought of Lucy McLellan the unpaid note of 
 
62 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Johnson's, with unpaid interest, for $502.72, he 
 giving a quitclaim deed to the land. In 1847 
 Trefethen deeded the land to Francis Wood- 
 bury for $500. Alexander Johnson, Jr., mar- 
 ried Lydia N. Woodbu^, in 1824, an d after dis- 
 posing of all interest in Peaks Island moved to 
 Long Island, and was soon after drowned. 
 
 The land known as the Francis Woodbury 
 farm is the land he purchased of Johnson in 
 1840. It was a strip forty-seven and one- 
 half rods wide on the Trott line, extended 
 from shore to shore, and consisted of over 
 fifty-eight acres. Then there was a right of 
 way across it. This farm was divided equally 
 between six heirs and assigns, lengthwise, in 
 1865. These six parts were owned by Thank- 
 ful Woodbury, Charles and Henry Trefethen, 
 Jr., Simeon Skillings, Eliza Jane Woodman, 
 Emily P. Trefethen, and William Woodbury. 
 There was an irregular piece of land from the 
 original farm on the western end, containing 
 two and one-half acres, that William Wood- 
 bury had bought in 1849. 
 
 The unhappy termination of Joshua Wood- 
 bury's life, in about 1838, brings us back to 
 the family's effort to purchase the land. The 
 time arrived when Joshua and Francis were 
 to make their last payment, as they supposed, 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 63 
 
 and get their deed. They sold a pair of oxen 
 which they could hardly spare to get the 
 money, and went to the city to get their 
 deed. They were unsuccessful, but all the 
 reasons, perhaps, are not now perfectly under- 
 stood, and they returned to the island some- 
 what disheartened. Joshua expressed the 
 opinion that they never would get the deed. 
 The two brothers and their sister, Thankful, 
 were living in the Wallace house. Joshua 
 and Francis went out fishing on Saturday, 
 and Joshua felt badly about his troubles on 
 his return. They left their fish in their boat 
 over Sunday that they were to carry to the 
 city on Monday, as was their custom. Sun- 
 day the sister went out into the woods, and 
 while she was away Joshua urged Francis to 
 go to the boat to look after the fish, which he 
 did. While both were gone he went to the 
 barn and on the scaffold cut his throat to end 
 his troubles, which had unsettled his mind. 
 He was a man who made a practice of reading 
 his Bible every Sunday. He believed that 
 he had not been justly dealt with, and the 
 disappointment he could not stand. His 
 death shocked the people of the island, and it 
 is told as the most horrible event that has yet 
 happened among them. The older people 
 
64 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 remember these brothers as well-meaning bnt 
 uneducated men, and by many it is believed 
 that if they had been more accustomed to 
 matters of business their affairs might have 
 turned out differently. Of such men 
 
 " Be to their faults a little blind, 
 Be to their virtues very kind." 
 
 PARSONS. 
 
 Henry Parsons was an early resident of 
 Peaks Island. He was born June 24, 1782, 
 and when he was eighteen years of age his 
 father was drowned. He came from Glouces- 
 ter, Mass., and first went to the island in 
 1804, and at that time there were but four 
 houses there. He had probably just married 
 Sarah Sawyer, a daughter of Samuel and 
 Hannah Sawyer, of Cape Elizabeth, aud she 
 died Feb. 27, 1830, aged 49 years. He mar- 
 ried her sister, Hannah Sawyer, in 1832, and 
 she was born June 4, 1795, and died Jan. 5, 
 1865, aged 69 years. He died on the island, 
 Jan. 4, 1862, aged 79 years. Their children 
 were: Samuel S., born in 1805, married, first, 
 in 1826, Jane Holden, sister of the late Charles 
 Holden, Esq., and second, in 1854, Catherine 
 Lincoln. Mary F., born in 1806, married, in 
 1833, Nathaniel S. Millett, and died Dec. 4, 
 1896, aged 90 years. Jane B., born in 1808, 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 65 
 
 and married, in 1835, Samuel Trott. Henry, 
 born in 18 10, married, in 1840, Eleanor Bartol, 
 of Lisbon. Charles, born in 18 13, married, in 
 1835, Eliza Lincoln. Martha, born in 1816, 
 and died the next year. Sarah, born in 18 19, 
 never married, and died in 1846, aged 26 years. 
 John S., born in 1834, married, in 1858, Ellen 
 Johnson, and James T., born in 1835, and 
 married, in 1866, Frances A. Simonton, of 
 Cape Elizabeth. The last two of the children 
 were by the second wife and they are living 
 at South Portland. 
 
 Henry Parsons first bought land on Peaks 
 Island in 1828, which was about four acres on 
 the south side of the Waite line, but on the 
 side of the hill, which he purchased of Ben- 
 jamin Trott, Jr. In 1834 he purchased nearly 
 three acres more, of John Brackett, Jr., by 
 the same line, near Brackett's house, and five 
 and two-thirds acres on the shore, making 
 altogether nearly thirteen acres, which is still 
 owned by his family. 
 
 JONES. 
 
 William T. Jones was a prominent citizen 
 of Peaks Island in his time. The story of his 
 life is one of credit to him. He was left an 
 orphan at twelve, and at fourteen walked from 
 
66 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Portsmouth, N. H., to Boston to seek his for- 
 tune, where he soon found employment in a 
 tavern, where Capt. John Brackett, Jr., first 
 met him. He wished to come to Portland 
 with Captain Brackett in his vessel, which was 
 consented to as he took a fancy to the boy. 
 This was about 1832. He learned the cooper's 
 trade and spent several winters in Cuba at 
 work at that trade. He established the cooper 
 business on Peaks Island and his shop was 
 where the Union House stands. In 1840 he 
 married Almira B. Welch, daughter of George 
 D. Welch and granddaughter of John Brack- 
 ett. She died in 1841, aged 22 years. He 
 married again, in 1848, Eliza A. Chamberlain, 
 daughter of Abia and Sibyl (Merrill) Cham- 
 berlain, of Scarborough. Her grandfather, 
 Joshua Merrill, was an officer in the Revolu- 
 tionary Arnry. She came to Peaks Island in 
 1847 as a school-teacher, has lived on the 
 island about fifty years, been closely identified 
 with its progress, and enjoys the respect and 
 esteem of not only her neighbors and friends 
 but many who have been her guests from all 
 parts of the country. 
 
 Mr. Jones, in 1855, altered his cooper shop 
 into a restaurant and was the pioneer in the 
 business on the island. In i860 he built the 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 67 
 
 Union House, which he and his wife kept 
 until his death, and his wife has continued 
 the business since. The Union House, since 
 first built, has been enlarged and for many 
 years was the house of the island. 
 
 Mr. Jones was a man of marked ability 
 and a leading and enterprising citizen. He 
 was prominent in the formation of the Peaks 
 Island Steamboat Company, which built the 
 steamer Express in 187 1, and established 
 regular communications with the city for the 
 entire year. He died suddenly, in 1880, aged 
 62 years, a respected and honored man. Jones 
 Landing was named for him and the name 
 should never be changed. 
 
 The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jones are : 
 Ellen Tappan, who married Christopher Wa}^ ; 
 James Brackett, who married Paryntha M. 
 Salter, of Burlington, N. S. ; Winthrop Stan- 
 wood, who married Arietta Foster, daughter 
 of the late Dr. Thomas A. Foster ; Alice Eliza, 
 a school-teacher in Portland; Herbert Abia, 
 who married Flora M. Salter, of Burlington, 
 N. S., and four children who died young. 
 
 SKILLINGS. 
 
 The Shillings family came from Cushing's 
 Island. Robert F. Skillings went to Peaks 
 
68 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Island in December, 1843. He was born in 
 1819, married, in 1842, Harriet vS*? Trefethen, 
 and had nine children. His brother, Simeon 
 Skillings, Jr., went to the island about i860. 
 He was born in 18 18, married, in 1848, Nancy 
 E. Sterling, and had eight children. Their 
 sister, Sarah A. Skillings, was born in 182 1, 
 married, in 1843, Smith C. Hadlock, who 
 came from the Cranberry Isles, and they have 
 lived on Peaks Island abont fifty years. They 
 are children of Simeon and Nancy (Adams) 
 Skillings, who were married in 181 2, and 
 went abont that time to live on Cushing's 
 Island, on land that she inherited from her 
 great-grandfather, General Jedediah Preble. 
 They had eight sons and four daughters, all 
 born on that island. He acquired six-sev- 
 enths of the island, and about i860 the whole 
 title passed to Lemuel dishing. 
 
 Nancy Adams, wife of Simeon Skillings, 
 was the daughter of Francis and Nancy 
 (Preble) Adams, married in 1786, and grand- 
 daughter of Jedediah, Jr., and Avis (Phillips) 
 Preble, of Castine. She was the great-grand- 
 daughter of General Jedediah and Martha 
 (Junkins) Preble, of Falmouth Neck. 
 
 Simeon Skillings, of Cushing's Island, 
 was the son of Simeon and Mary (Skillings) 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 69 
 
 Skillings, married in 1769; grandson of Ed- 
 ward and Mary (Mills) Skillings, married in 
 1732; great-grandson of Josiah and Elizabeth 
 (Lydston) Skillings, married in 1708; great- 
 great-grandson of John and Elizabeth Skill- 
 ings, and great -great -great -grandson of 
 Thomas and Deborah Shillings, who came 
 to Old Falmonth as early as 165 1. Thomas 
 Skillings, the first of the family, died in 1667. 
 
 STERLING. 
 
 The Sterling famify have been identified 
 with House and Peaks Islands about seventy- 
 five years. The name was originally Starling 
 and was changed after coming to House 
 Island. 
 
 The first of this family known to us was 
 Joseph Starling and his wife, Mary, who set- 
 tled at New Marblehead, now Windham, Me., 
 about 1750, and proceeded to clear land for 
 a home. Here he had six daughters and one 
 son, Josiah, born. They probably moved from 
 Windham about 1765, and may have gone to 
 Bristol, Me., where he died about 1780. His 
 son, Josiah, was born in Windham, Jan. 29, 
 1762, and married, Nov. 2, 1783, Mary Tre- 
 fethen. She was the daughter of Henry Tre- 
 fethen, and was born at New Castle, N. H., 
 
JO HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 Nov. 28, 1763. She died Feb. 12, 1838, aged 
 74 years. Josiah Starling died Dec. 28, 1832, 
 aged 70 years. They probably lived at Friend- 
 ship and, perhaps, at Monhegan Island. They 
 had eight daughters and five sons. 
 
 John Sterling, son of Josiah, was born in 
 Friendship, May 4, 1785, and married, Dec. 
 11, 1804, Patience Browe, who was born in 
 Bristol, Me., July 5, 1784. She died Dec. 3, 
 1853, aged 69 years. He married, for his 
 second wife, Mrs. Experience (Higgins) Fogg, 
 in 1856, who died at Freeport. He died Aug. 
 10, 1870, aged 85 years. 
 
 John Sterling's children .were all bv his 
 first wife, and were as follows : (jhtififety born 
 in 1807, and married, in 1828, Philena Gove. 
 Seth B., born in 1809, and was lost overboard 
 from the schooner Experiment, in 1835, off 
 Cape Sable. He was 25 years of age and left 
 a widow, Mary Trefethen, at Portsmouth, with 
 two sons, Thomas and Seth. Mary, born in 
 18 1 2, and married John Blake, in 1829. Caro- 
 line, born in 1814, married, in 183 1, Samuel 
 Rines, and she died July 16, 1841. John, born 
 in 18 16, and died in 1835, aged 19 years. 
 Patience, born in 18 19, and married Robert 
 Robinson. Elizabeth, born in 182 1, and mar- 
 ried Nathaniel Harrington. Phebe, born in 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. J I 
 
 1823, an d married, in 1848, Isaac N. Sylvester. 
 The youngest was Alpheus G., born in 1828, 
 married, first, Maria L. York, in 1853, and 
 second, Adelia D. Scott, in 1873. He lives on 
 the old home place on House Island. 
 
 John Sterling came from Monhegan Island 
 to House Island about 1822, and bought one- 
 quarter part of the island, where he moved 
 and carried on the fishing business. He 
 bought the Edward Mansfield house on Peaks 
 Island, about 1824, for his oldest son, Luther. 
 This house is now owned by Seth B. Sterling, 
 and is on Island Avenue. Luther Sterling 
 married, in 1826^ Elizabeth Cudworth, of 
 Bristol, who was born in 1800 and died in 
 1888, aged 88 years. He lived the most of 
 his life on Peaks Island, and was a seafaring 
 man. He had nine children : Nancy Eliza- 
 beth, born in 1826, and married, in 1848, Sim- 
 eon Skillings, Jr.; Luther A., born in 1829; 
 John T., born in 183 1 ; Joseph C, born in 1833 5 
 Seth B., born in 1835 ; James H., born in 1837 5 
 William A., born in 1839; Robinson E., born 
 in 1842, and Melvin C, born in 1844. 
 
 Luther Sterling saw the fight between the 
 Enterprise and Boxer from Monhegan Island 
 in 1813. He was a boy of nine years of age 
 at the time. He said that at the time of the 
 
72 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 battle the surgeon, the captain of the top, and 
 two marines from the Boxer were on shore 
 and were unable to get on board before the 
 engagement commenced, and stood with the 
 people of the island. The fight was quite 
 near the island as he always told of it to his 
 acquaintances and family. 
 
 Luther Sterling saved the life of a young 
 lady named Maria E. Harwell, of Manchester, 
 N. H., in August, 1849. She was thrown 
 overboard from the yacht Odd Fellow in our 
 harbor, and he saw the accident and went to 
 the rescue, arriving in time to save an almost 
 extinct life. In her gratitude to her, then 
 unknown, rescuer, she came to Portland the 
 next spring determined to find who he was, 
 and after weeks of inquiry found it was he. 
 She presented him with a family Bible, in 
 which she, in her own hand, inscribed her 
 gratitude to him for saving her life, with fer- 
 vent hopes for his success and happiness. 
 Luther Sterling died April 16, 1880, aged 75 
 years. 
 
 John Sterling bought for his next son, 
 Josiah, in 1840, about thirty acres of land on 
 Peaks Island, at Evergreen Landing, of Alex- 
 ander Johnson, Jr. Of this lot it was said that 
 it " was set off to William Woodbury in 1834." 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 73 
 
 Josiali Sterling lived here, having married, 
 in 1828, Philena Gove, of Edgecomb, Me. His 
 children were: Robert Thayer, born in 1830, 
 and married, in i860, Catherine J. Craig. He 
 died Jnne 19, 1876. Patience Augnsta, born 
 in 1832, and married William Keene, of Bris- 
 tol. Qnincy, born in 1833, and died in 1835. 
 Josiah, Jr., born in 1835. Mary Caroline, born 
 in 1837, who married, in 1855, George M. 
 Latham, and died in 1858. Elizabeth C, born 
 in 1839, and died the next 3^ear. Elizabeth, 
 born in 1840, and married Andrew England. 
 John E., born in 1843. Qnincy M., born in 
 1845, an d Brnnette, born in 1847. Josiah 
 Sterling died Sept. 25, 1889, aged 82 years. 
 
 TREFETHEN. 
 
 The Trefethen family are of Welch origin. 
 The first ancestor known to this family was 
 Henry Trefethen, of New Castle, N. H., a 
 shipwright, whose wife, Deborah, was a grand- 
 daughter of Robert Jordan. They were alive 
 in 1760. Henry Trefethen made for himself 
 a clock case of solid mahogany and purchased 
 the movement in England. In his will he 
 left the clock to his son Henry, to go to the 
 next one of that name in each generation, and 
 it is now owned by his great-grandson Henry, 
 at Peaks Island, and still keeps good time. 
 
74 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 His son, Hemy Trefethen, Jr., went to 
 Monhegan Island, and his sister, Mary, mar- 
 ried Josiah Starling in 1783. They were the 
 parents of John Starling, who came to House 
 Island about 1822. Henry Trefethen, third, 
 son of Henry, Jr., acquired a title in House 
 Island in September, 1823, and later the one- 
 half not owned by the government was divided 
 equally by purchase between John Starling 
 and himself. The dwelling-honse was occu- 
 pied by both families, but was divided through 
 the middle crosswise, so that each family had 
 their half separate from the other. The busi- 
 ness of the families was always carried on 
 separately. 
 
 Henry Trefethen, third, of House Island, 
 was born on the island of Monhegan about 
 1797. His wife was Mary Thompson, of 
 Friendship, Me., who was born about 1795. 
 Their children were: Harriet N., born in 
 182 1, who married Robert F. Skillings, in 
 1842, and lives on Peaks Island. William S., 
 born in 1823, wno married, in 1841, Emily P. 
 Reed. Jane H., born in 1825, wno married 
 David Fairweather, in 1851, and Caleb Blake, 
 in 1856. Henry, Jr., born in 1828, and died 
 in 1833. George, born in 1830, who married 
 Abby Chamberlain, of Scarborough, in 1851. 
 
HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 75 
 
 Charles E., born in 1832, married, first, Caro- 
 line Willard, in 1852, and second, in 1859, 
 Louisa A. Keith. Henry, Jr., born in 1833, 
 married, first, Mary E. Hamilton, in 1853, 
 and second, in 1861, Apphia T. Holbrook, and 
 Elizabeth, born in 1836, who married, first, 
 Newton Gross, of Buckfield, and, second, 
 Daniel E. Angell. Henry Trefethen died 
 June 29, 1880, aged 83 years, and his wife, 
 Mary Thompson, died Sept. 2, 1880, aged 85 
 years. 
 
 William S. Trefethen moved to Peaks 
 Island about 1844; Charles E. Trefethen 
 about i860, and Henry Trefethen, Jr., about 
 1875. Trefethen Landing receives its name 
 from this family. 
 
 SCOTT. 
 
 Baxter Scott, the first of the name on 
 Peaks Island, came from Georgetown, Me. 
 He was the son of Joseph Baxter Scott and 
 Eleanor Trafton. He first lived on Cushing's 
 Island and afterwards was a farmer on Hog 
 (Great Diamond) Island. He was born April 
 6, 1808, married Mary P. Manson, who was 
 born in 1805, and died May 7, 1873, aged 6j 
 years. They bought the porgy factory, land 
 and wharf, in April, 1868, and soon after 
 
j6 HISTORY OF PEAKS ISLAND. 
 
 moved to Peaks Island, north side. They also 
 purchased other land. 
 
 Their children were: Lafayette W., born 
 in 1838, married Lizzie J. Trefethen, in 1863, 
 and died Dec. 3, 1885, aged 47 years. Valarie 
 J., born in 1840, who died, unmarried, in i860 
 aged 19 3^ears. Azubah A., born in 1843, wno 
 died, unmarried, in 1867, aged 33 years. 
 George W., married, in 1870, Elizabeth H. 
 Putnam. Adelia D., who married, in 1873, 
 Alpheus G. Sterling, of House Island, and 
 Manson W., who married Mrs. Eliza (Savage) 
 Smith, and lives in Boston. Baxter Scott died 
 May 8, 1893, aged 85 years. 
 
 What was known at one time as Scott's 
 Landing is now the Steamboat Landing, but 
 was formerly the old Brackett Landing. 
 
 " So closed our tale, of which I give you all 
 The random scheme as wildly as it rose : 
 The words are mostly mine." 
 
HOUSE ISLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE OWNERS AND SOME OF THEIR HISTORY. 
 
 " Oh ! give me a home by the sea 
 Where the wild waves are crested with foam." 
 
 House Island, from its proximity to 
 Peaks, has some history in common with that 
 island. For the last three-qnarters of a cent- 
 nry the families of both islands have been 
 closely connected and the interests of one have 
 been that of the other. This island has never 
 been a pleasure resort, bnt has been occu- 
 pied by those engaged in the more serious 
 occupation of the fisherman; those "who have 
 enriched the country by drawing wealth from 
 the seas." The story of the island's name 
 and that of its owners becomes more interest- 
 ing as time rolls on, and should be so cared 
 for that the succeeding generations may have 
 the advantage of the knowledge in our time. 
 
 House Island has borne that name from 
 the earliest times. As early as 1661 it was 
 "commonly called House Island," and in 1663 
 there was an old house upon it, and a new one 
 
 L.ofC. 
 
j8 HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 
 
 that had been built by "Joseph Phipenny." 
 An old house in 1663 might have been a new- 
 one when Capt. Christopher Levitt spent the 
 winter of 1623 and the next summer in the 
 harbor. On the southeast side of the island, 
 on the north side of the cove, are the remains 
 of the foundations of two buildings, one now 
 partly washed away, of which nothing is 
 known. The Sterling family have lived on 
 the island seventy-five years, and have never 
 heard any explanation of why they were there 
 or any traditions about them, although they 
 have expressed an interest to know. The 
 present old house was built very early in 
 this century by John Green Walden. The 
 old foundations may be those of the two 
 first houses on the island. There seems to 
 be no reason why any one should have taken 
 the trouble to have leveled off the ground. 
 Then the settlement at Portland was of little 
 account and they would have been likely to 
 have built on the south side of the island. 
 Perhaps one may date to Levitt's house? 
 The description of Levitt's Island, where he 
 lived, applies as well to this island as to any 
 other, and certainly it is "an island lying 
 before Casco (Fore) River." The name of the 
 island indicates that it was the first island to 
 
HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 79 
 
 have a house upon it. Many difficult questions 
 have been settled in time and this ina}' be. 
 
 House Island was early improved by per- 
 sons in the fishing business. The first recorded 
 deed, Oct. 23, 1661, says Nicholas White, of 
 Casco Bay, planter, sold one-quarter of the 
 island to John Breme, a fisherman, with the 
 house, for X5-3S., but reserved the right for 
 Sampson Penley to make fish upon it during 
 his life and to have refusal of the purchase if 
 he should sell. In September, 1663, Penley 
 levied an execution on one-quarter of the 
 island, with half of the old house and all of 
 the new house together with half of the stages, 
 and March 9, 1664, Penley sold all his interest 
 to George Munjoy for £ij. In November, 
 1663, William Noreman, a fisherman, sold a 
 quarter part of the island and a quarter part 
 of the house, for X3-15S., to George Munjoy. 
 The price would indicate that the house must 
 have been a rude affair. Munjoy finally 
 acquired the whole title to the island, which 
 was confirmed to his widow by President Dan- 
 forth in 1681, and it descended to his heirs. 
 In the inventory of his estate, in 1685, House 
 Island was valued at ^30. 
 
 Probably after the re-settlement of Port- 
 land, about 1716, House Island was claimed 
 
80 HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 
 
 by John Wallis, who owned the land at Spring 
 Point, where Fort Preble now is. He may 
 have been granted it by the town. This John 
 Wallis, with many others, returned to Spring 
 Point in the spring of 1703, as peace had been 
 declared. There were then nine families living 
 near that Point not protected by any garrison. 
 The Indians came suddenly npon them, in 
 Angnst, while the men were away, and killed 
 twenty-five persons and took several prisoners. 
 Among the killed were Thomas Lovitt and 
 his family, Joel Mediver, and the wives of 
 Josiah and Benjamin Wallis and of Michael 
 Webber. The wife of Joseph Wallis was 
 taken captive. Webber's w T ife was horribly 
 mutilated and several children were killed. 
 Josiah Wallis escaped and carried his son 
 John, then abont seven years of age, to Spur- 
 wink, part of the way on his back. For many 
 years after no one lived there. 
 
 In the division of John Wallis' estate, in 
 1724, it was agreed among the family that 
 House Island should be kept for the equal 
 benefit of all the heirs and not divided. The 
 children were Josiah, James, Joseph, Benja- 
 min, and Susannah Wallis. Perhaps Dorcas 
 Lane, wife of John, was a daughter, and 
 Joshua Woodbury was interested in the estate, 
 his wife's name being Sarah. 
 
HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 8 1 
 
 Martha Munjoy, wife of Josiah, of Bos- 
 ton, who was a grandson of George Munjoy, 
 sold, in 1722, one-ninth of House Island 
 to Col. Penn Townsend, of Boston. Townsend 
 sold the next day one-half of his purchase to 
 John Buttolph. These fragments of the title 
 to the island were probably purchased by 
 Parson Smith until he had acquired one-third, 
 as he stated in 1742. 
 
 Peter Woodbury, of Cape Elizabeth, a son 
 of Joshua, purchased House Island of the 
 Wallises and Parson Thomas Smith, and, in 
 1798, he sold it to Abigail Barstow for $333.33. 
 She became the wife of John Allen, in 1800, 
 who soon died. Then she. married, in 1803, 
 Enoch Hsley, being his third wife, and died 
 in 1842, aged 88 years. 
 
 Jedediah Collins, a merchant of Portland, 
 purchased the island in 1799 at an advanced 
 price of one hundred dollars, and sold it at 
 the same figure to John Green Walden, in 
 1801, who was then living on the island. The 
 purchase price indicates that whatever house 
 there was then there must have been of 
 little value. Walden probably built, soon 
 after his purchase, the present old house, 
 where he lived. In 1808 he sold the southern 
 half of the island, about twenty acres, to the 
 
82 HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 
 
 United States, and the deed of that land has 
 the only reference to the name Howe's, as 
 applied to the name of the island. There 
 appears no reason for it, as no person of that 
 name, as far as known, ever owned the island. 
 
 John Green Walden came from Salem and 
 carried on fishing and farming. His son, 
 Capt. Green Walden, who died at Cape Eliza- 
 beth in 1875, aged 78 years, was a coxwain of 
 a guard boat in the harbor during the War of 
 1812, and received a pension for the service. 
 In 1830 he was appointed second lieutenant 
 in the revenue service, promoted to first lieu- 
 tenant the same year, and was made captain 
 in 1838. He served in the Mexican War with 
 credit and retired from the service in 1857. 
 A writer who knew him personally said of 
 him that " he was a courageous man who was 
 always seeking an opportunity to assist 
 another." The father, John Green Walden, 
 had another son named Nathaniel, and daugh- 
 ters Mary, and Anne who married Edward 
 Mansfield, in 1817, and lived on Peaks Island. 
 John Green Walden's wife, Mary, died in 
 1843, aged 76 years. 
 
 John Sterling bought an interest in one- 
 half of House Island in 1822 and moved there. 
 The next year Henry Trefethen, both from 
 
HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 83 
 
 Monhegan Island and relatives, purchased 
 the balance of the title to one-half of the 
 island and also moved there. They soon 
 after each owned one-quarter of the island by 
 purchase. Both were engaged in fishing, but 
 separately. One-half of the island is now 
 owned by the United States, one-quarter by 
 Alpheus G. Sterling, who lives there, and the 
 other quarter by George Trefethen, trustee, 
 and Harriett Skillings, his sister. It was 
 used for fishing purposes up to within a 
 few years, but the flakes so familiar to our 
 younger days are used no more. In early 
 times, probably, the island was covered with 
 trees and bushes, but they have long since 
 been destroyed. 
 
 When the first Fort Scammel was built, in 
 1808-9, on the highest point was erected an 
 octagonal block-house of timber, with a point- 
 ed roof of eight sides, on which was placed a 
 carved wooden eagle with extended wings. 
 On each of the eight sides of the block-house 
 was an embrasure or port-hole and a gun. 
 The upper story projected over the lower story 
 two or three feet, and the buildiug was painted 
 white. It presented from the harbor a pictur- 
 esque appearance. During the rebuilding of 
 the fort, about the beginning of the Rebellion, 
 
84 HISTORY OF HOUSE ISLAND. 
 
 the block-house was taken down. The fort was 
 named for Gen. Alexander Scammel, a gallant 
 officer of the Revolution, and a classmate and 
 friend of Gen. Peleg Wadsworth. In case of 
 an emergency Fort Scammel could be used to 
 defend the main channel and White Head 
 passage with but slight alterations for modern 
 guns. 
 
 The story is told. It is but a part of Port- 
 land's history, a city u seated by the sea," that 
 has no rival as a summer home. Those who 
 here live know its beauties, and those who 
 spend their vacation days in our harbor 
 depart with its praises warm upon their lips. 
 Longfellow, who was born in "an old square 
 wooden house upon the edge of the sea," says : 
 
 " I remember the bulwarks by the shore, 
 And the fort upon the hill ; 
 The sunrise gun with its hollow roar, 
 The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er, 
 And the bugle wild and shrill. 
 And the music of that old song 
 Throbs in my memory still: 
 'A boy's will is the wind's will, 
 And the thoughts of youth are long, 
 long thoughts.'" 
 
yo2