1814: Abigail’s second husband Benjamin Jordan dies aged 76, burial place unknown but possibly at Spurwink in one of the Jordan family plots.
1825 Oct/Nov: There are no records of the intervening 27 years since the last deed, presumably life on the farm was running smoothly. In two deeds of 1825 Charles Jr. buys out the interests of his brother William Wentworth, and sister Nancy & husband James Maxwell* in two pieces of upland and one of salt marsh (59 acres) left to them ‘in common and undivided’ by their father Charles Peabbles. This was possibly the same properties Charles Sr. bought from Abigail’s brother Capt. John Wentworth c.1770. (* In 1726 a James Maxwell bought from Samuel Jordan 60 acres on the north side of Alewife Brook to Pond Cove, so Nancy’s husband was likely a neighbor, as were her brother’s Mitchell wives. At the time of the deeds Nancy & James were living in ‘Lisbun, County of Lincoln’ and William lived in ‘Danvill, County of Cumberland’.)
1826, Feb 22: An Act in the Maine Legislature grants Joshua Mitchell, Samuel Waterhouse, Charles Peabbles, Richard Jordan, Elliot Jordan, their associates & successors, incorporated as the Proprietors of the Cape Elizabeth Canal, the power to build a canal from Great Pond, north one half mile to the salt marsh for erecting dams and mills as public convenience may require, providing there is no interruption or interference with the Alewife fishery (the town regulated the Alewife fishery approx. 1780 – 1840)
1830: Around this time Charles Jr. & Anna’s son John & his new wife Hannah Weiman Jordan (married 1828) build a new house and 100′ barn nearer to the road (many years later called ‘the old rent’, see map).
Children of John and Hannah Weiman Jordan Peabbles:
1.Elizabeth Ann b.14 June 1829, d.30 Sept.1848
2.William Wentworth b. 16 April 1831, d.4 Feb. 1901, m.2 Dec. 1853 Rachel Nason Ray
3.Charles b.24 Aug.1833, d.14 Jan. 1907, m.4 July 1855 Sarah Millet Johnson
4.Michael James b.2May 1835, d.11 Oct. 1904, m.1861 Louisa Cotton
5.John Albert b.2 Aug. 1837, d.13 Dec. 1917, m.1862 Eliza Jane Brown
6.Hannah Henrietta b.28 Dec. 1840, d.26 Aug. 1927 unmarried
1835: Abigail Wentworth Fernald Peabbles Jordan dies at the age of 92, and after 57 years is reunited with her 2nd husband Charles Peabbles in the family burial ground she created by Alewife Brook. She leaves the farm in the capable hands of Charles & Anna and their children.
1836, Sept. 14: Charles Jr. continues to buy out his siblings’ share in their father’s upland & marsh. This deed is from his niece Mary & husband Joseph Jordan who inherited an eighth share in their mother Margery’s (Charles’ sister) portion.
1837, May 4: With his mother gone and Charles Jr. now 70, he looks to ensure his Mother’s legacy for the next generation. Charles & Anna’s youngest son Andrew & new wife Mehitable Mitchell are deeded Alewife Cove below the road, also one other lot of land beginning at the grist mill at the road, “being all the residue of my real estate, which I have not this day deeded to my son John” plus one half of the grist mill & privilege and one half of the sea dressing on the shore (seaweed for fertilizer). Andrew W. & Mehitable live with Charles Jr. & Anna, who both live into their 90s. During Andrew’s lifetime a sawmill is added to the farm.
1837-1843: Charles Jr.’s sons John & Andrew (who already own separte parts of the farm from their father), in four more deeds, continue to jointly buy out their cousins’ Charles, Benjamin, Nancy & William (Margery’s children) eighth shares in the 2 parcels of upland and one of salt marsh inherited from Grandfather Charles. This would leave the two brothers in control of the whole farm.
1844 Dec. 31: A deed from John to Andrew conveying 16 acres of upland and marsh from the road to Great Pond, which their father Charles Jr. had given to them in common.
1845 Jan 6: A deed from father Charles and sons John & Andrew selling to John Buzzell (in some deeds Burrell), Physician, land near Great Pond starting at a stake in the fence on the south side of Fowler Road, then in a straight line to stakes on Peabbles Island and Thoms Point (both on Great Pond), then southerly to the sea, then westerly to the mouth of the Spurwink, then northerly by the river to Ignatus Jordan’s land, then easterly by Jordan’s land to Fowler Road and the starting point (no acreage given), granted to Charles as heir to Margery Wentworth, formerly Pepperrell, given to her by Robert Elliot. Together with the priviledge of opening a ditch or canal from the road near the mill dam to the Great Pond, the center to be on the dividing line between John & Andrew’s land (the center of Alewife Brook, from below the mill dam to Great Pond) as set forth in their deed of Dec. 31, 1844 (above), with the privilege of going to and from the canal at all times to remove obstructions. Also several other deeds of this period including assurances from John D. Burrell not to flood John & Andrews lands, if necessary by digging a ditch around Peables Island, and to complete the Canal within one year. Buzzell also conveyed a share in the land to George W. Smith, who had signed some of the deeds as Justice of the Peace.
1847, June 5: A deed from John to Andrew, 11 acres, 10 rods “beginning at a large rock by the side of the road near the mill dam” , includes a map showing a narrow strip of land along the canal. I don’t have a copy of Charles Jr.’s deed to son John to know exactly what John inherited, but it would appear the brothers are separating the farm roughly in half along the present boundry line between Peabbles Cove & Alewife Cove.
1849, June 25: Incorporation by the State Legislture of the Great Pond Mining & Agrigcultural Company, run by shareholders John D. Buzzell and George W. Smith, for the purpose of harvesting peat moss, iron & other minerals and cultivating cranberries. The company did make charcoal from the peat moss and advertised it as a medicinal deodorant and disinfectant. A report from 1857 says the whole of Great Pond was drained for the successful cranberry bogs, quite a feat for the times I would think, but a complete disaster for the migration of breeding Alewives. The fishery had already been declining from dams, etc. on the brook, so perhaps it was no longer considered an important source of bait fish.
1849: John Marr conveys to John Peabbles one third interest, in common, of Ram Island, containing nine acres in all.
1849: Andrew & Mehitable build themselves a new house (now the Alewive’s Brook Farm house) beside Charles & Anna’s old house.
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