Massachusetts (Colony) : The colony of Massachusetts Bay was first settled by the Pilgrims, who landed at Plymouth on Cape Cod in 1620. The patent of the Massachusetts Bay Company was confirmed by royal charter in 1629. After the restoration of Charles II, however, troubles with the home government multiplied. The annexation of Maine in 1652 was not recognized and, in 1684, the royal charter was revoked. A new charter in 1691 united Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth and Maine as one royal colony of Massachusetts. Conflict between the government of Massachusetts and the home government was frequent and the colony may be said to have spearheaded the American Revolution that broke out in 1775.
The Kennebec River territory in Maine, which as mentioned above became part of Massachusetts in 1691 (and remained so until 1820), fell within the grant made to the Plymouth Company by James I in 1606. In 1620, when the Plymouth Company was reconstituted as the Council for New England, the original grant was confirmed and the new instrument became the foundation for all subsequent New England land grants. One such grant was made by the New England Council in 1632 to Thomas Purchase and George Way. On that grant, supplemented by various Indian deeds, rested the title of the proprietors who made the Pejepscot purchase from the estate of Richard Wharton in 1714 and settled Brunswick Township in 1715.
The same territory was also included in the charter given to Captain John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges (ca. 1565-1647) in 1622, which Mason and Gorges divided between them in 1629. Conflicting grants to landed proprietors and governmental changes, not to mention the conflict between France and England over the territory, all contributed to a particularly tangled legal situation in the region that led to many lawsuits. The dispute between the Kennebec proprietors documented in this collection was settled by compromise in 1766.
Bernard, Francis, Sir, 1712?-1779 : Sir Francis Bernard, Bart. (1712-1779) was the only child of the Reverend Francis Bernard, rector of Brightwell, Oxfordshire, England, by Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Richard Winlowe of Notley and Lewknor, Oxfordshire. He was a student at Christ Church, Oxford. After graduation, 1736, he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and for some years practised on the midland circuit. In 1741 he married Amelia Offley, who was the niece both of Colonel Samuel Shute (1662-1742), a former governor of Massachusetts Bay, and of the first Viscount Barrington.
With the influence of the second Viscount Barrington, Bernard was able to secure his appointment in 1758 as governor of New Jersey. After two years successful rule, he was transferred in 1760 to Massachusetts Bay. His rigorous application of the home government's policy, for which he was given a baronetcy after his recall in 1769, undoubtedly hastened the outbreak of the Revolution. He died at Aylesbury, 16 June 1779.
