The Founding of Pearsontown (Standish), Maine

The Founding of Pearsontown (Standish), Maine

This is a most detailed history which begins in 1750 with the granting of land comprising the town now known as Standish to veterans of King George’s War (the fifth of the French and Indian Wars) for purposes of settlement. The township of 39,000 acres included Frye’s Island and the greater part of the neck of land now known as Raymond Cape, which was annexed to the town of Raymond in 1869. The town was originally named Pearsontown after Captain Moses Pearson who led a company of soldiers to victory at the siege of Louisburg. This history, which includes information about neighboring towns as they relate to Standish, continues through the early 1800s, and covers such topics as the original survey, drawing of lots and list of grantees and the numerical designation of the rights drawn by them, construction of the fort and meeting house, short biographies of individual settlers (1757–1800), settlers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, accounts of ministers, the town’s involvement in the Revolutionary War, the Congregational Church, the Methodist Society of Gorham, Buxton and Standish, the Baptist Church, accounts of Proprietors’ meetings, school teachers, taxation, incorporation of the town, genealogical research, and much more. Also included are a previously unpublished article by Marshall Pierce written in 1881 called “The History of Steep Falls,” a Proprietors’ map of Pearsontown, a plan of the five-acre lots in Pearsontown granted to settlers who agreed to remain in town during the French and Indian War (1755–1760), early 1900s photos of Standish, and a complete full-name index.