Swans Island
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Location: Swans Island, Hancock, Maine, United States
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies Maine Hancock_County_Maine
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Swans Islandis a town in Hancock County, incorporated on March 26, 1897 from Swan's Island Plantation. Swans Island was earlier known as Burnt Coat Island or Burle-cote Island and was purchased by James Swan in 1786. The purchase included 23 islands
Click here for Swan's Island, Maine
| Important Dates |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 7, 1786 | James Swan (1754-1830) Burnt Coat Island purchase |
| 1789 | Hancock County (set off from Lincoln County in 1789) |
| March 26, 1897 | Swan's Island incorporated from Swan's Island Plantation |
| 1901 | Added Calf Island and West Black Island from Long Island Plantation |
Contents |
Villages, Locations and Settlements
| Villages, Locations and Settlements | Settler/Namesake/Note |
| Atlantic | |
| Minturn | |
| Swan's Island | |
| Burnt Coat Harbor | 1791 "King" David Smith, 1st permanent settler |
| Hockamock Head | 1793 Moses Staples, 2nd permanent settler |
| Stanley Point |
|
| Harbor View. |
Historical Names
Pioneer Settlers
| Pioneer Settler | Arrival Year |
|---|---|
| Adams, John | 1840 |
| Babbidge, Courtney | before 1814 |
| Barbour, Solomon | 1843 |
| Benson, Jephtha | |
| Billings, Enoch | 1826 |
| Bridges, Moses | 1847 |
| Carpenter, Richard | |
| Clark, Samuel C. | |
| Thomas Jefferson Colomy (abt.1805-1884) | |
| Isreal Conary (abt.1794-1879) | 1820 |
| Cook, John | |
| Davis, William | 1798 |
| Dunbar, Thomas | |
| Fife, William | |
| Finney, John | |
| Peter Gott (1755 - 1839) | 1814 |
| Hardy, Silas | |
| Herrick, Kimball | 1839 |
| Abraham Holbrook (abt.1808-) | 1836 |
| Joyce, James | 1806 |
| Kempton, Seth | |
| Kempton, Samuel | |
| Kempton, Zachariah | 1821 |
| Kench, Thomas | 1777 |
| Kent, Samuel | |
| Kiff, Alexander | 1841 |
| Hardy Lane (1821-1886) | 1835 |
| Oliver Lane (1822-1902) | 1835 |
| Lennan, Bryant, Rev. | |
| Robert Mitchell (1790-aft.1861) | 1821 |
| Elias Morey Jr (1790-1867) | |
| Nutter, Alexander | |
| Nutter, William | |
| Prince, Joseph (1756 - 1803) | 28 Oct 1790 - 29 June1795 (Owned & Resided at Swan's Island) |
| Jacob Somes Reed (1803-1888) | |
| Remick, Joseph | |
| Rich, John | 1798 |
| Sadler, Thomas | |
| Sadler, Moses | |
| Smith, "King" David (1760 - 1840) | 1791 |
| Sprague, James T. | 1820 from Union, Maine |
| Stanley, William (1789 - 1851) | 1814 |
| Staples, Moses | 1793 |
| Stewart, Gushing | |
| Benjamin Stinson (1788-1867) | |
| Stockbridge, John | 1816 |
| Col. James Swan(1754 - 1830) | Non-Resident Proprietor |
| Swan, James Keadie | Non-Resident Proprietor |
| Toothaker, Joseph | |
| Torrey, Levi | 1814 |
| Joshua S. Trask (1808-1851) | 1825 |
| Valentine, John |
Early Settlement dated February 28, 1798 : "... to David Smith, Joshua Grindle and Moses Staples one hundred acres of land each; to John Rich, William Davis, David Bickmore, Isaac Sawyer, and Knowlton thirty acres each, all to be taken on the Great Island ; and to Samuel Emerson sixty acres on Marshall's Island, and to any other fisherman, who owns his fishing boat and who may settle on the Great Island, ten acres...." "'A history of Swan's Island,Maine
Islands
The state of Maine lists more than 40 Islands that are part of Swans Island Maine Islands
| Islands | Settler/Namesake/Note |
| Burnt Coat Island | Brûle Côte or Swans Island |
| John's Island | |
| Hatt Island | |
| Harbor Island | Thomas Kench about 1777 |
| Marshal's Island | |
| Little Marshal Island | |
| Loud Island | |
| Pond Island | |
| Westly | |
| Calf Island | aka Opechee Island |
| Eastern Calf Island |
Images
|
| Working Wharf. |
|
| Scenic View of Harbor. |
Preserving Life The Way It Was _ Photos https://swanshistory.pastperfectonline.com/Photo
Maps
|
| Clip of 1860 Swan's Island. |
- Swans Island on Google Maps
|
| Clip from large Map _ 1776 Burnt Coat Island. |
Stories
Varney's Gazetteer of the state of Maine has the following:
Swans's Island Plantation, in Hancock County, is situated south-west of Mount Desert Island and east of Deer Isle, being about equally distant from each. It has communication with Tremont, on Mount Desert, by boat. The soil is very rocky, but potatoes and hay yield fair crops. The rock is granite and a gray rock containing gold and silver ore. A mining company has recently erected a crushing mill. Fish-barrels, oil-cloths and boats are the principal manufactures.
The Methodists and Baptists each have a society and preaching on the island. There arc five public schoolhouses, valued with other school property, at $1,200. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $27,805. In 1880 it was $49,856 The rate of taxation in 1880 was 3£
per cent. The number of polls in 1880 was 130.
Small's HISTORY OF SWAN’S ISLAND ' has the following:
In order to get the required number of settlers, Swan sent out to the surrounding towns that he would give one hundred acres of land to any settler who would bring his family, build a house, cultivate the land, and that, at the end of seven years, he would give him a deed, free of expense, for the land which he had so improved. Quite a number of families came from Deer Isle, Sedgwick, Mount Desert and other places. There was a great demand for laborers. Many found employment at the mills. A large number chopped logs in the forest, others with ox teams drew them to the mill where they were manufactured into lumber. Many coasters from other places came to take the lumber to market, and Old Harbor took on a lively aspect.
THIS AGREEMENT made this twenty-fifth day of February, A. D. 1785, between the Committee appointed by a Resolve of the General Court of the twenty-eighth of October, A. D. 1783, on the subject of unappropriated Lands in the County of Lincoln, in behalf of this Commonwealth, of the one part, and James Swan, of Dorchester, in the County of Suffolk, Esq., of the other part. [page 17] Also see attached Image: Burnt Coat Division of Islands, with Naskeg n upper left corner of Map.
|
| 1785 LAND GRANT to COL. EDY, JAMES SWAN & OTHERS, on this MAP, See Naskeg aka Naskeg Point as boundary in Swans Purchase of off shore Islands within three miles of any part of the said Burnt Coat Island. |
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS to James Swan
Sources
- A history of Swan's Island, Maine. Ellsworth, Me by Small, H. W.
- THE BANGOR Historiral Magazine. VOLUME III Page21 Burn Coat or Swan's Island
- [Space:Hancock_County_Townships] see James Swan's Purchase
- Swans Island, Hancock County mainegenealogy.net
- Wasson, Samuel. 1878. A survey of Hancock County, Maine. Augusta [Me.: Sprague, Owen & Nash, printers.]
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