nder the management of
Richard Vines. By two patents, both dated February 12, 1630, this
settlement was divided into two parts--one to Vines and Oldham, one to
Lewis and Bonighton--each extending four miles along by the sea-shore
and eight miles along the river-banks. These two tracts formed the
township of Saco, a part of which now bears the name of Biddeford. In
1625 the settlement of Pemaquid is known to have occurred, but it was
not patented till February 14, 1631, by the Bristol merchants
Aldsworth and Elbridge. Next in order of settlement was probably the
trading-post of the Plymouth colony at Kennebec, for which a patent
was obtained in 1628.

Many other patents were issued by the Council for New England. Thus,
March 13, 1630, John Beauchamp and Thomas Leverett obtained a grant of
ten leagues square, between Muscongus and Penobscot Bay upon which
they set up a factory for trading with the Indians; while the modern
city of Scarboro, on Casco Bay, occupies a tract which was made the
subject of two conflicting grants, one to Richard Bradshaw, November
4, and the other to Robert Trelawney and Moses Goodyear, December 1,
1631.[21]

Three other patents issued by the Council for New England, and having
an important connection with subsequent history, remain to be
mentioned. The first, December, 1631, granted twenty-four thousand
acres ten miles distant from Piscataqua to Ferdinando Gorges (son and
heir of John Gorges), Samuel Maverick, and several others. Many
settlers came over, and the first manager was Colonel Norton, but in a
short time he appeared to have been superseded by William Gorges,
nephew of Sir Ferdinando Gorges.[22]

After the division in 1635, by which his title between the Piscataqua
and the Kennebec was affirmed, Sir Ferdinando Gorges erected the coast
from Cape Elizabeth, a few miles north of Saco, as far as Kennebec,
into a district called New Somersetshire.[23] Two years later Gorges
obtained from King Charles a royal charter constituting him proprietor
of the "province or county of Maine," with all the rights of a count
palatine.[24] The provisions of this charter are more curious than
important. The territory granted, which included Agamenticus, was
embraced between the Piscataqua and Kennebec, and extended inland one
hundred and twenty miles. The lord proprietor had the right to divide
his province into counties, appoint all officers, and to execute
martial law. But while his rights were thus