From Soldiers to Settlers: The Petition That Founded Pearson and Hobbstown

     In the mid-1700s, long before Maine became its own state, soldiers were sometimes rewarded for their service with land grants. One such man was Moses Pearson. In 1744, he led a company during the first siege and capture of Louisburg in what was known as the Cape Breton Expedition, part of King George’s War. Seeking recognition for his efforts, Pearson sent the following petition to the General Court of Massachusetts.

"To the Honorable Spencer Philips, Esq. Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief in and over His Majesty’s Providence of Massachusetts Bay in New England, and to the Honorable, the council and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, January , A.D. 1749 : 

“The petition of us the subscribed humbly sheweth, that whereas we were in the expedition against Louisburg and the settlement adjacent, then under the command of the command of the French King, being in said service , not only until, but for some considerable time after the reduction thereof to the obedience of the King of Great Britain, and some of us detained there for the defense of Louisburg until relieved by his Majesty’s troops from Gibraltar, being about 16 months from the time of entrance into said service, to our arrival at respective homes, the fatigue of which service your excellency and Honors are well knowing to, and our wages but low in said service, and as ( many of us) were put out of our usual way of business, it terminated very detrimental to us, and as many of us have no lands for settlement, nor wherewith to purchase any ; therefore, we pray your honors to grant us a township of the contents of six miles of some of the unappropriated lands of said Province, somewhere in the county of York, to be settled by your petitioners in such time and under such restrictions as your excellency and Honours in your known wisdom shall see meet, to enjoin us, and as your petitioners in duty bound will ever pray.” 

The petition was signed by the following :

Moses Pearson, George Knight, Isaac Ilsley, Jacob Clefford,

James Springer, Jeremiah Springer, Jeremiah Springer, Jr.;

Gamaliel Pote, Nathaniel Ingersoll, Samuel Graves, Ebenezar

Gustin, James Gilkey, David Dowty, Benjamin Sweetsir, Jeremiah

Pote, Samuel Clark, Thomas Brackett, Elisha Pote, Samuel Lunt,

Jr., Job Lunt, Samuel Hodgskins, John Clark, John Anderson, Moses

Hodgskins, Joshua Brackett, Phillip Hodgskins, John Fowle, John

Robison, Richard Temple, Stephen Clark, John Clark, Jacob True,

Josiah Huniwel, Samuel Lowell, John Owen, Jr., Jacob Graffam,

Joshua Moody, John Irish, William Reed, Abraham Sawyer, John

Roberts, Penivel Berton, George Williams, Willliam Pitman, John

Ayer, and Samuel Atwood.

On Friday April 20, 1750 the General Court of Massachusetts accepted the recommendation. The land granted to the group was as follows: 

“That a township six miles square on the northwest side of the line from Sebago Pond ( Lake) to the Head of Berwick against Gorhamtown and No.1 ( Buxton) be and hereby is Granted to Captain Humphrey Hobbs and Company and to Captain Moses Pearson and Company and those who have signed the petition. 

The new town was to be called Pearson and Hobbstown. The men of these companies were to take associates so the whole number of grantees were 120, sixty to settle in seven years. 

   As part of their settlement obligations, the Proprietors had to construct homes measuring sixteen by eighteen feet with seven-foot-high walls, and clear five acres of land. To guarantee compliance, they were required to give bonds to the Treasurer of the Province—a task overseen by a committee made up of Jabez Fox, Ezekiel Cushing, and Enoch Freeman. Within five years, the community also had to build a church and secure the services of a minister.

          .

Taken from the unpublished History of Standish by Dana E. Edgecomb.