e "Pemaquid Proprietors," in which
capacity he acted for many years. It was sometimes called the "Drowne
Claim." In 1747 he had the whole tract of land surveyed, and was
instrumental in causing forty or more families to settle in that region.
That he became blind, or nearly so, as early as 1762, is attested by a
deed of land at Broad Cove (Bristol, Maine), made in that year to Thomas
Johnston; a note in the margin of which states that it was "distinctly
read to him on account of his sight;"[9] but the signature is written in
a large, plain hand. He died January 13, 1774, aged ninety-one years. He
had a daughter, Sarah, who, in 1757, was married to Rev. Jeremiah Condy,
who, from 1739 to 1764, was pastor of the First Baptist Church, of which
church Mr. Drowne was a deacon. As a metal worker he made the
grasshopper, Indian, and other vanes; but that he ever carved a pump
head, urn, gate-post, "Admiral Vernon," or any other wooden image, there
is not a scintilla of evidence; nothing but the figment of a romancer's
brain.

The following letter to his nephew, Honorable Solomon Drowne of
Providence, Rhode Island, is here printed by the kindness of Henry T.
Drowne, Esq., of New York, who has many of the old papers of the Drowne
families. It was written soon after his nephew's marriage, and is an
interesting document; full of a sympathetic and kindly spirit; showing
that the customs of his church, the Baptist, of that day, were very
similar to those of the Evangelical churches of to-day; and gives an
instance of "Catholic Christian Spirit" worthy of note. The use of the
colon instead of the period is also noticeable:

BOSTON [Massachusetts],

August y'e 18, 1732.

LOVING KINSMAN:

Yours I received and have considered the Contents, and pray that your
spouse may be directed and assisted by the grace and holy spirit of
God to live in all good conscience before Him and this being the
indispensable Duty of everyone when come to the use of Reason, with
all seriousness to search the Scriptures, from thence to learn our
Duty; and, then with Humility to devote ourselves to God, which is our
reasonable Service; and, this being the awfulest solemnity that poor
mortal man ever transacts in, whilst in this world: being to enter into
Covenant with the Most High God. In the Concernment of a precious soul
for a vast Eternity, ought to be entered upon with earnest prayer to
God for his grace, that it may be su