Cushing; and John Crawford, jun. from the upper part of Warren Village, ascended St. George's River, to "take " land. up All of them were natives of Scotland, and came to this country in childhood with the Stirling colony which settled in Warren. In their hunting and lumbering excursions, they had undoubtedly become well acquainted with the value of the lumber and the nature of the soil. On a knoll eight or ten rods from Seven-tree Pond, about forty rods west of the ledge in Joseph Gleason's field, and thirty rods north of the outlet of Crawford's River, from which the knoll was then separated by low, wet ground, they built a camp, the cellar belonging to which has been recently filled. On the top of the camp were a few boards which they brought from Warren. Here James Malcom and Archibald Anderson intended to reside. James Anderson and John Crawford, jun. took possession of the Robbins Neck, and ran a possession-fence from the head of Seventree Pond to the St. George's, a short distance below Bachelor's Mills. The four residents lived together in the camp.1

1774.

There seems to have been some understanding between these men and Thomas Flucker, who represented the Waldo heirs, that they should become owners of the Mill Farm on Crawford's River. The Mill Farm was surveyed, and on the plan it is called "Mr. Archibald Anderson's Lot." The description which is written on the plan contains names supposed by some to have been of later origin. It is probably the oldest document in existence, of which it can be said there is no doubt that it has particular reference to this town.

and Sparks's Writings of Washington, iii. 235. It may be added, that the claim was confirmed to the Stirling family about the year 1833. Before Union was incorporated, it was called Taylortown as often as Stirlington.

1 David Dické, of Warren.

"Lincoln, ss. St. George's River, May 13th, 1774.Then surveyed this lot of land for Mr. Archibald Anderson, at a place called Seven-tree Pond, on St. George's River, without the bounds of any town; but in the county of Lincoln and province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England; beginning at a white oak-tree standing on the eastern side of said Seven-tree Pond, said tree marked on four sides; and from thence running east two hundred and twenty poles to a red oak-tree marked on four sides; and thence running south two hundred poles to a stake and heap of stones standing on the west side of Crawford's Great Pond, said stake is marked on four sides; and then running west one hundred and eighty poles to an elm-tree standing on the east side of said Seven-tree Pond, said tree is marked on four sides; then running northerly by the side of said pond, as the shore layeth to the bounds first mentioned; to contain two hundred and twenty-four acres and one hundred square poles, as appears by this actual survey taken by me, Nathaniel Mesarvy, sworn surveyor of lands."

The plan, which is not very exact, is on a scale of forty poles to one inch. From the appearance of Seventree Pond, the survey seems to have been made when the low ground on its borders was covered with water and frozen over. The south line of the mill-lot crosses Crawford's River from west to east near the falls, perhaps a very little south of them; the north line appears to coincide nearly with the south line of John F. Hart's land. The Mill Farm, or mill-lot, included the farms now owned by Messrs. Vaughan, M.Guier, Daniels, and Alden, on the south side of Crawford's River, and on the north side all to John F. Hart's southern line.

In the spring of 1774, when this survey purports to have been made, Dr. John Taylor, of Lunenburg, Mass. entered into a negotiation with Flucker, for the entire gore of unappropriated land, of very irregular shape, which lay between the lands belonging to the "Twenty Associates, called the Lincolnshire Company," and the towns of Waldoborough, Warren, and Camden. Taylor raised the objection of pre-occupancy by the Anderson party. Flucker is said to have replied, that they had not fulfilled their agreement;

they had been cutting lumber and making staves, but had not paid any thing, nor done any thing towards clearing the land or introducing settlers. In their justification, it has been said they did not then know it was practicable to get a crop of rye or Indian corn from burnt ground. Flucker agreed to protect Taylor from harm; and the bargain was concluded, as some of the aged inhabitants say, for about ninepence an acre. Dr. Taylor soon sailed to Sheepscot, with one Capt. Decker, in a slaver so filthy that the smell was almost intolerable, as it had just returned from a voyage for negroes. He was accompanied by John Butler and Phinehas Butler, two young men who were bound out to him till they should be twentyone years of age. For their services they were to receive one every-day suit and one handsome suit of clothes, and one hundred acres of the land which Taylor had purchased. Besides these, were Thomas Wright, from Lunenburg, Samuel Searles, and Stephen Wyman. According to an agreement of Decker with the captain of a fishing-schooner, the party was carried to the St. George's, and landed at the Lower Rips, or Miller's Landing, on Saturday, July 16, 1774. John McIntyre, who kept a ferry, sold a ferry-boat to Dr. Taylor. On Monday, the boat, baggage, provisions, axes, agricultural implements, &c. were carried across the neck from Boggs's Landing to the river above Starrett's Bridge. The company rowed up the St. George's. They landed near the mouth of Crawford's River, on the north side of it, expecting to find and occupy the Anderson camp. But, as it was sunset, and too late to search for it in a wilderness where they were all strangers, the boat was drawn up with a view to their camping down where they were. Taylor then said to his companions, that, as they had been wonderfully preserved by a kind Providence during their voyage and journey, they ought to return

Dr.

1 Phinehas Butler, of Thomaston, who furnished a great part of the information in this chapter.

thanks for the protection of Heaven. Accordingly, he stood up by a majestic tree in this wilderness, and began his devotions. Suddenly, the party was started by the rustling of leaves and crackling of limbs. Their excitement was not diminished either by the awful stillness and solitude of the place, or by the darkness which was fast gathering around them. The doctor paused. Every one looked eagerly for the cause of the noise. Their fears, however, were soon quieted. There came rushing by them a frightened moose. The doctor resumed and finished the prayer. This was probably the first public act of devotion ever performed by a white man within the limits of the town. Such were the peculiar circumstances and the spirit in which the pioneers began the arduous work of settling Union. The serious and the ludicrous were comically combined.

Dr. Taylor and his companions passed the night in the open air. Early the next morning, they discovered the camp within a very few rods of their resting-place. They took possession of it. It was the only shelter they had during the season. The same day, Tuesday, July 19, they began to cut down trees near the ledge in Joseph Gleason's field. Accordingly, this may be regarded as the day on which the first blow was struck with a view to a settlement of the town. As the persons who came previously did not make a permanent establishment, this is the day which should be kept in remembrance for centennial celebrations.

Before a week elapsed, the Anderson party came and claimed the place. High words passed between them and Taylor. The doctor told them he had bought the land, and should at all events make a settlement on the mill-lot, where he then was; but that each of them might have a hundred-acre lot in any other part of his purchase. They indignantly rejected the offer, and went off.

Dr. Taylor's party continued to labor through the season. They felled the trees on several acres, principally on the north side of the river, beginning at Seven-tree Pond, and working towards Crawford's

Pond. In the fall they went away. Taylor hired out John Butler and Phinehas Butler in Thomaston, where they passed the winter. Upon going to Massachusetts, Taylor got the following deed1 executed :

"KNOW ALL MEN by these presents, that we, Thomas Flucker, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, Esq. and Hannah Flucker his wife, Isaac Winslow, of Roxbury, in said county of Suffolk, Esq. and Francis Waldo, of Falmouth, in the county of Cumberland, Esq. all of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, in consideration of the just sum of one thousand pounds, lawful money, to us in hand paid before the delivery hereof by John Taylor, of Lunenburg, in the county of Worcester and province of Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, physician, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, have given, granted, bargained, and sold, and do by these presents give, grant, bargain, sell, alien, and fully, freely, and absolutely convey and confirm unto him the said John Taylor, his heirs and assigns for ever, a certain tract or parcel of land lying on St. George's and Madomock Rivers, in the county of Lincoln and province aforesaid, being a township containing thirty-four thousand five hundred and sixty acres of good land, bad land, and water, butted and bounded as followeth to wit, beginning at a birch-tree marked, which is the north-east corner of Waldoborough; thence running south seven degrees east by said Waldoborough, two miles and an half to a hemlock-tree marked; thence due east across Seventree Pond and Crawford's Pond, so called, six miles and two hundred and fifteen rods to a stake and stones at the line of the township called Camden, belonging to the Twenty Associates, called the Lincolnshire Company; thence northwest by north crossing Sunnyback Pond, so called, by the land of said Twenty Associates, eleven miles and eighty rods; thence south-west by west 2 five miles and twenty-four

The copy of the deed, and several abstracts of other deeds, have been furnished through the kindness of the Rev. Uriah Balkam, of Wiscasset.

2 Among the papers of the late T. L. Jennison, M.D. of Cambridge, Mass. is a memorandum purporting to be by David Fales, Esq. of Thomaston, "that the western line of Dr. Taylor's township was not run in its proper place when the town was laid out, and that the courses given in the deed were according to the direction of the magnetic needle, and not on a true meridian."