When was Eliot Settled?

    When a town claims to be "settled" what exactly does that mean?  The standard for "settled" is permanent settlement.  This means one individual or family came to live in an area and there has been a permanent habitation within the boundaries of that area ever since.  So what about Eliot?  Well, since Eliot has only existed as a separate town since 1810, when we discuss the issue of when Eliot was "first settled", are we actually referring to when the town of Kittery was settled or when the first settlement occurred within the boundaries of modern Eliot?  Read on for the answer.  

So when was Kittery settled?  Kittery was incorporated as a town in 1647.  But first settlement can occur before incorporation.  What do the records say?

Everyone knows or should know that New Hampshire was first settled in 1623.  There are competing claims as to whether Portsmouth or, more specifically, modern Rye can claim the first settlement, or Dover.  Although there are compelling arguments that Edward Hilton arrived at Dover Point much later than 1623.  I will mostly stay out of those controversies for now.  But what was happening on the Maine side of the Piscataqua River at this time?  The only thing that was happening was Abenaki life.

  

Corn.  The Abenaki were experts at growing corn, and it didn't take long for the Hiltons to see that the Abenaki had already planted cornfields on the Eliot side of the river.  In fact William Hilton was growing corn in a field on the Eliot side of the river by 1630, at the location where Sandy Hill Farm is now located on River Road.  In 1632 Captain Walter Neale acting on behalf of Sir Ferdinando Gorges discovered William Hilton's cornfield and buildings on the Eliot side of the river and promptly destroyed the buildings and chased Hilton off the lands.  William Hilton was squatting on these lands that ultimately belonged to Sir Ferdinando Gorges after he and Captain John Mason divided their grants in 1629, with Mason getting all lands in what would become New Hampshire, and Gorges getting the Maine side of the Piscataqua.  Gorges then granted large blocks of land to his loyal agents including Thomas Cammock who received the lands where Hilton planted his corn in 1633.  Was the fact that William Hilton was planting corn in modern-day Eliot a sign that Eliot was "settled"?  My personal take on this is that this was a corn field, and perhaps outbuildings to store tools and maybe a place to get out of a sudden storm.  William Hilton had a wife and small children in 1630.  I find it hard to believe that they would live all alone on the Maine side of the river when a thriving and growing settlement existed across the river at Dover (Hilton's) Point where his brother's family lived.  In any case whatever was happening on these lands ceased in 1632.

Gorges Deed to Cammock

    Did Thomas Cammock then settle on this land in 1633?  By that time Cammock already had a large grant of land at Black Point in modern-day Scarborough and would end up settling on that grant until the end of his life.  In fact he sold his Piscataqua grant to John Trewogy on behalf of Alexander Shapleigh in January 1636 so it doesn't appear that Cammock was interested in settling on these lands where Hilton planted his corn.

    A little south of these lands was the grant of Thomas Wannerton.  Wannerton, in 1634 or 1635, invited his friend Nicholas Frost to come join him and live on a part of his land which Nicholas Frost promptly did.  This implies that Thomas Wannerton was already living on his land in 1634 or 1635 and was soon joined by his friend Nicholas Frost.  The only way we know that the year was 1634 or 1635 is from a deposition given in 1673 by Phillip Swadden who testified to knowing that Wannerton gave the land to Frost "about thyrty eight or thyrty nine years since" as no official deed was ever recorded for that land transfer.

After these original three 1633 grants to Cammock, Wannerton, and Henry Josselyn, more settlers came and the area which is now Eliot was truly settled.  So as far as when Eliot was "settled"?  I personally like the 1633 date.  That is when the ball really started rolling with settlement.  If we took a time machine back to 1633 we might encounter somebody living on these earliest grants, but I think by 1634 we definitely would encounter settlers here.  I have seen no evidence of any sort of settlement on the Maine side of the Piscataqua in 1623.  So maybe after we let Portsmouth and Dover have their 400th fun in 2023, we can come along 10 years later and have our own fun.

Who was Dennis Downing?

    When researching Eliot's history one name that keeps coming up is "Dennis Downing".  The main reason is his was one of the three names listed as victims of the Ambush Rock Indian attack in 1697.  As the story goes, Major Charles Frost, Phebe Heard, wife of John Heard, and Dennis Downing were all struck down in that fateful ambush.  But we also read of the immigrant Dennis Downing who settled on part of the land which became known as the Bay Lands in 1650.  This immigrant Dennis Downing occupied about 30 acres of land which today makes up the Riverview development and Frost Tufts Park off the south side of Old Road.  Were these two the same Dennis Downing?  I will first see what I can find out about the earliest Dennis Downing who settled in the area of, what is today, Frost Tufts.

Location of Dennis Downing's homestead

    Various genealogy articles state that Dennis Downing lived in the "Spittlefields" section of London and married the widow Anne Daines in 1634.  Dennis and Anne along with two sons, John and Joshua came to New England in 1650.  His birth year is generally given as 1615 most likely to conform to his marriage date of 1634.  So Dennis was about 35 when he came to settle in Kittery and worked his trade as a blacksmith.  There are historical records that indicate that he had a residence at Crooked Lane in Kittery in addition to further up the river in what is now Eliot possibly due to his work as a blacksmith.  Dennis Downing acquired the property at what is now Frost Tufts Park in December 1650 in a deed from George Smith of Dover, NH who was authorized by John Newgrove to sell his lands to Dennis who was already a tenant on his land.  It is surmised that John Newgrove acquired this land from Henry Jocelyn who received the original grant of land that included all of the Bay Lands from his work on behalf of Captain John Mason. (See this link for more on the history of the Bay Lands.)

York Deeds Book 1 Folio 16

In 1652 Dennis Downing was one of the signers of the Submission to Massachusetts which placed Maine under the control of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

Mark of Dennis Downing

 

His estate was passed down to his son Joshua in 1676 (York Deeds Book 3 Folio 115) well before Dennis was dead.  Eventually when the Bay Lands were sold in 1699 to Joseph Hammond, John Fogg, Matthew and David Libbey and Stephen Tobey, there would be a land boundary dispute between Joseph Hammond and Joshua Downing.  A possible subject for a future post.

So is this Dennis Downing the same Dennis Downing that died at Ambush Rock in 1697?  The evidence shows that Dennis Downing born about 1615 was alive in 1690, but by 1698 he was deceased.

York Deeds Book 4 Folio 151

The immigrant Dennis Downing would have been 82 years old when the Ambush Rock attack occurred.  Major Charles Frost was 66 when he died in the same attack.  Phebe Heard was 27.  Would Dennis Downing at 82 years of age, have ridden on horseback from his homestead near the Piscataqua River to attend church services in the Unity Parish, modern day South Berwick?  Another clue presents itself in the following:

Old Eliot Vol 1 Page 84

Lyman Hammond's estate included most of the land in what today is the Eliot Boat Basin, or "Dead Duck Inn".  This is nowhere near the homestead of the immigrant Dennis Downing.  There is a mention of a 1694 land grant to a "Dennis Downing Jr." of 40 acres at "Beaver Dam":

Old Eliot Vol 4 Page 75

This would seem to imply that there was a younger Dennis Downing.  Perhaps a son or grandson?  I have not been able to link this land grant to the "estate of Mr. Lyman Hammond".  More research is needed.  I will update this post if new information comes to light.