Richmond Island Fishery First Maine Settlement
Robert Trelawney Imported Fishermen from England As First Settlers
Aug 12, 2008
The first habitation by Europeans was on Richmond’s Island, which explorer Samuel Champlain visited about 1605. By 1638, Robert Trelawney, who operated a trading post there, was employing 60 men in his fisheries. This area is now in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, just south of Portland.
It is not known what English ports these ships sailed from, but it is likely that most sailed from Devon or nearby ports because the passengers were primarily fishermen from Devon and Cornwall. Some came on three year contracts and left their families in England.
The Ship Welcome
The Welcome sailed before Jan. 10, 1632/33, with John Winter, one of Trelawney's agents, as master, and arrived March 2. When it returned to England about July 15 a Capt. Gill was master.
Passengers: Thomas Dustin, founder of the Dustin family in New England; Matthew Cammage, fisherman at Richmond Island, who was murdered in Boston in 1654; Edward Fishcock, who was at Richmond Island and probably returned to England; Charles Hatch from Newton Ferris, Devon, at Richmond Island and returned there in 1637; and, Arthur Heard, who came to the Trelawney plantation and probably returned to England.
There were more: Peter Hill, possibly from Saltash, Cornwall, who was at Richmond Island and returned in 1635; John Hoskins and Richard Pynne, who probably returned to England; Thomas Kinge, at Richmond Island; John Mills, at Black Point; Roland Okers, Henry Roberts and Henry Townsend, who were all at Richmnd Island and probably returned to England; John Wilkinson, at Richmond Island; and, John Winter of Holberton, Devon, who was at Richmond Island and in charge of the Trelawney patent.
The Ship Hunter
The ship Hunter arrived Feb. 2, 1633/34 with Owen Pomeroy, master, and sailed back to England in July with the same master. Passengers were:
Thomas Arrowsmith, who was at the Trelawney plantation and probably returned to England; Richard Corber, Joseph Crase, Thomas Treleage, and John Sanders, who were all at Richmond Island and probably returned to England; William Heborne and William Tucker, about whom nothing is known; and, Robert Weymouth, who was at Richmond Island and may have come from Dartmouth in Devon.
The Ship Agnes
The Agnes sailed sometime after March 26, 1636, with John Winter, master, and arrived May 24, 1636. It returned to England in June with a Capt. Bowes as master. The passengers were:
Rev. Richard Gibson, an Anglican minister from Cambridge, who was at Richmond Island; Arthur Gill of Saltash, Cornwall, at Richmond Island; Peter Gullett, at Richmond Island and died later in 1636; Andrew Heifer, at Richmond Island; Reynold Jenkins, who may have come from Broomfield, Somerset, was at Kittery; and, John Lopes and Tobias Short, who were at Richmond Island and probably returned to England.
Companion articles titled “Libby Family Founder Among First Maine Arrivals” and “First Maine Arrivals: Fishermen & Family Founders” have more passenger lists.
SOURCES: Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, 1928-1939 by Noyes, Libby and Davis, 2002 reprint (Gateway Press: Baltimore)
Search for the Passengers of the Mary and John: West Country Ships and Passengers, 1620-1643, by Burton Spear (1993: Toledo).
