Proprietors of Plantation or Township #4 in the County of Washington

In January 1762, David Marsh and 352 others petitioned for a land grant between the Penobscot River and Nova Scotia. The Massachusetts General Court granted six new townships between the Penobscot and Union Rivers and another six east of the Union River (#1 Trenton, #2 Sullivan, #3 Gouldsboro, #4 Steuben, #5 Harrington, and #6 Addison). The Court approved the grant with the same conditions for establishing settlements as noted below. However, the grants did not consider settlement claims from the French, and overlapping claims caused difficulty for all involved.

For detailed information on the history of Maine land grants, see History of the Public Land Policy of Maine, 1620-1820.

In 1785, the General Court issued a resolve (Chapter 41. Report on the Petition of Samuel Freeman, Agent for the Proprietors of Four Townships Lying Eastward of Union River) as follows:

The Committee on the subject of unappropriated lands in the county of Lincoln, to whom was committed the petition of Samuel Freeman, Esq.; agent for the proprietors of four Townships lying eastward of Union River, which with two other Townships, viz.: No. 2 and 3 [Sullivan and Gouldsboro], were conditionally granted on the twenty-seventh day of January, A.D. 1764, to sundry persons named in the grant, viz.: No. 1 [Trenton], to Paul Thorndike and others; No. 4 [Steuben], to Edward Small* and others; No. 5 [Harrington?] to Josiah Sawyer and others; and No. 6 [Addison], to Nathaniel Parker and others; – take leave to report, that in their opinion, it will be expedient to confirm the grant of said Townships, No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6, on the following conditions, viz.:That the Proprietors of the same pay to Government for each of said Townships, the sum of Twelve hundred and fifty pounds, in the consolidated notes of this Commonwealth, within one year from this time, with interest.That in each Township they build a suitable meeting house for the public worship of God, and settle a learned Protestant Minister, and make provision for his comfortable and honorable support, and that in each Township there be reserved and appropriate four whole rights, or sixty-fourth parts, for quantity and quality, in the division of the same, for the following purposes, viz.: One for the first settled Minister, his heirs and assigns forever; – one for the use of the ministry; – one for the use of a grammar school forever.That fifty acres be allows and assigned to each settler, who settled therein before the twentieth day of January, 1783, his heirs or assigns, in consideration of his performing the duties of a settler, or shall contract to perform, within six years, the duties of a settler as prescribed in this report; and the said fifty acres to be assigned the settler…shall be laid out to include the whole of his improvements…without doing great damage to the Proprietors; – and where the lot shall be laid out, so as not to include the whole improvements of the settlers, he shall have liberty to purchase the remainder of such lands…or to receive from the Proprietors at a reasonable allowance for such extra improvements, at the settlers election.And in the case of any disagreement about the said price or allowance, or any other matter relating to a settlement, that the same be decided by disinterested men, one of whom shall be chosen by the Proprietors, one by the settler, and in case they cannot agree, the third by two chose aforesaid.That each settler shall have liberty, at any time within twelve months of this date, to purchase of the said Proprietors, fifty acres for quantity and quality of the unlotted lands in the township where he is settled, at a price not exceeding three shillings per acre.Provided nevertheless, that where any agreement has been made, or shall be made, between a Proprietor or Proprietors, and a settler or settlers, as to terms of settlement, such agreement shall not be violated.

Source: Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court 1784-85

*Edward Small: b.1739, d.1796 Falmouth, ME; there is not a lot of information on this family – it appears Edward did not settle in the Steuben area, but his brother John relocated to Milbridge/Cherryfield area.

In 1793, Samuel Freeman again petitioned the General Court, with a subsequent resolve stating that the previous resolve “is found ineffectual for the purposes for which it was intended” specific to Townships 4, 5, and 6. Declaring the resolve of 1785 “null and void,” the court further resolved:

“That the Townships No. Four Five and Six be sold under the direction of the Committee for the sale of Eastern Lands for the Benefit of the Commonwealth and of the Proprietors of said Townships, respectively – the proceeds of said sale to be divided as follows, viz. One-third part thereof shall be applied to the use of the Commonwealth, and two-thirds to the use of the Proprietors…And the said Committee, with such agent as the said Proprietors respectively at a meeting duly warned shall appoint for the purpose shall be and hereby are impowered to make and execute a Deed or Deeds thereof to the purchaser(s)…Provided nevertheless that the Committee aforesaid together with the Proprietors respectively, may if they agree thereto cause a division in the lands in said Township to be made in such manner as they shall see fit in the proportion aforesaid, to set off one-third of said Townships respectively to the use and benefit of the Commonwealth and two thirds to the use and benefit of the Proprietors…provided there shall be allowed and assigned to Alexander Campbell Esq. in Township No. 4 three hundred acres…and to each of the other settlers…who settled thereon before the 20th day of January 1783…a lot of one hundred acres…the settlers severally paying…the sum of thirty shillings for each and every one hundred acres assigned them…And the Proprietors of said Townships respectively may demand of the present possessors of land settled…on their refusing to pay the sums required by this resolve, as a condition of quieting them in such possessions.”

Source: Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court 1792-93. Additional information on the Committee for Sale of Eastern Lands is located here.