Some Prominent Men of Kennebunk

Here are some examples of how slavery was not uncommon amongst the prominent businessmen of early Wells (which included Kennebunk until 1820).

“In 1728, a grant was made, by the ‘proprietors,’ of the old mill lot to Joseph Hill and John Storer, which was laid out and the bounds renewed, “as formerly of three hundred acres of land on the northeast side of the Mousam River, adjoining the river and falls, and one acre on the west side, with all the privileges of the fall and river, which was formerly granted unto Henry Sayward, of York.”……..Hill and Storer built a saw-mill on the old site in 1730, which was very successfully operated for several years….The business activity of by-gone years was now resumed.  Vessels came up to the landing-place bringing such supplies as were desired.”¹ “In 1730, Joseph Hill, Samuel Wheelwright, John Storer and Francis Littlefield were selectmen of Wells, all of whom were enterprising mill owners.”²

Of these four early prominent mill owners of Wells/Kennebunk, at least three were enslavers.

Joseph Hill (1670-1743) “was a prominent man among the inhabitants.”¹ On Oct 19, 1741, Joseph and Sarah Hill brought “Tom, a Negro” and “Will, a Negro” to be baptized as infants “in the Church at Wells.” In his 1742 will, Joseph Hill left “my Negro Boy Tom” to his wife Sarah.  He also left to Sarah “the service of my Negro man Sharper… to be for her use during her Widowhood.  He left “my Negro man Plato” to his son Nathaniel, and also “after ye term is Ended which my Negro Sharper is to serve my Wife, my Will is that the said Negro shall be ye servant of my said Son Nathaniel.”

The 1743 probate abstract for Joseph Hill states:  “1 Negro man named Sharper at  £37/10/0, a Negro named Plato at £37/10/0, a Negro boy named Tom at £20.”  An additional abstract record from 1750 states:  “Legacies ment[ion] relations: Sarah Hill, wid, who receives Negro boy and Negro man named Will, Nathaniel Hill, s[on], receives a Negro Man.”

“In addition to those stated in his will, Joseph Hill owned Dinah and Scipio.”³

“Col. John Storer (1694-1768) was a builder and owner of ships and mills, town treasurer, a prominent officer at the Siege of Louisburg, Cape Breton Island, Canada, representative to the General Court, and judge of the Inferior Court. He was the executor of his father’s will and had the homestead.”⁴

John’s father, “Joseph, was shrewd as a business man and a valuable citizen in every respect.  He obtained from the town and the ‘proprietors’ many grants of land… He was regarded as the richest man in Wells at the time of his decease, being in possession of real and personal property valued at five thousand dollars. His large landed property in Kennebunk appears to have fallen into the hands of his widow and his son John, born September 5, 1694, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Hill, in 1722.  To him and his father-in-law were granted the three hundred acres of land and the water power on the Mousam originally granted to Sayward, and they built a saw-mill and perhaps a grist-mill on the site of Sayward’s in 1730.”⁵

“John was distinguished for his bravery, patriotism and open-handed benevolence.  He was at the taking of Louisburg, C.B., in 1745….Joseph, [his] eldest son, continued his father’s business in Kennebunk and in 1757 became a resident of the Second Parish, the first of the name who made it his permanent home [eventually building the Storer mansion].”⁶

From Frost’s probate abstract pp. 632-3:  “Inventory of the estate of John Storer, Esq., late of Wells, appraised, dated Wells, 12 Nov 1768, by John Wheelwright, Nathaniel Kimball & Samuel Jeffords, at £4358/15/1 ….  includes [near the end of a lengthy list] a Negro woman, £6.”

There’s another unusual provision in John’s probate records:  a payment to a Negro boy.  From Frost’s probate abstract pp. 690: “Joseph Storer’s account of costs and disbursements of £533/14/6 as admor of the estate of John Storer includes payments … to Peter, Negro boy, 64/ …. Att & all, York, 1st Monday in January 1773.”  Was Peter previously enslaved or employed by John Storer?  Why was this payment included in his estate?

Francis Littlefield also enslaved at least one individual.  This record comes down to us from a court proceeding.  “In ca. 1738, Cato, owned by Francis Littlefield of Wells, stole goods at Kittery from the Rev. John Newmarch, Samuel Newmarch, and Samuel Hixon.  He was convicted and ordered to restore goods and pay a £4 fine or suffer fifteen stripes.  He was also to pay the above men triple the value of stolen goods or was to be sold for the same sum by those men for a term of six years.  Cato was “committed until sentence be performed.”  [source:  York County General Session of the Peace, Maine State Archives, Augusta, ME – 10: 147-48]⁷

1 Edward Bourne, The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820 (Portland: B. Thurston & Company, 1875), 355

2 Daniel Remich, History of Kennebunk from its Earliest Settlement to 1890 (privately published, 1911), 39-40

³ Daniel Remich, 88

⁴ Edward Bourne, 408

⁵ Daniel Remich, 535

⁶ Daniel Remich,

⁷ Patricia Q. Wall, Lives of Consequence – Blacks in Early Kittery & Berwick in the Massachusetts Province of Maine (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Marine Society, 2017), 156