Lynde's or Lines Island; the colonial frontier in Maine

A colonial blockhouse in Kent, Maine. There were few of these around the Kennebec Territory.

I have read accounts of Indian raids rolling back the frontier in colonial times. On a visit to Maine my brother in law loaned me a copy of the “History of Woolwich, Maine, a Town Remembered” by the Woolwich Historical Society, 1994. In it I found an account of just how long it sometimes took before an area was resettled.

In the mid-coast region of Maine, about 40 miles north of Portland is an island in the Kennebec River.  It is south of Chopps Point, north of the City of Bath on the western shore and the town of Woolwich on the eastern shore. I will quote the book.

“The whole [island] was purchased by Christopher Lawson from Derumkin, the chief Sachem of the Androscoggins. It is believed the date of the deed was 1649 but records were lost during the first Indian war.

A dozen years later Lawson sold the island to Edward Camer (Keemer) of Boston… …Keemer dwelt upon it fourteen or fifteen years until the [King Phillips] war forced him away. No longer willing to take risks with the warring Indians, he sold his property to Samuel Lynde of Boston, Dec. 24, 1677, thus named Lynde’s Island.

From colloquial speech and careless enunciation the “D” was dropped and Lynde’s became Lines Island, as spoken and written.” [Lynde not showing up to settle the land aided this.]

[Lynde was a businessman and a judge in Boston.] “…Purchases from settlers driven from homes were a speculative venture of little money against hope of future values. Mr. Lynde’s coming at a time of peace to possess his property is not believed and even a tenant’s occupation is uncertain. A few years passed and none would venture to enter Kennebec Territory to seek a home. …But lying along the route of the Indians on the Kennebec, the island remained unsettled for eighty years from Lynde’s purchase.”

Other settlers in the area returned to their farms within a few years. But this island saw settlers chased off for eighty years, until well into the French and Indian War. It is a tale of early colonists fleeing the violence of frontier warfare and selling their property rights for a pittance to those wealthy enough to sit on the investment for generations.