Editing Boothbay, Maine (section)

==History==

The [[Abenaki]] people who lived in the region called it Winnegance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The origin of the name Boothbay, part I |url=https://www.boothbayregister.com/node/43449 |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=Boothbay Register |language=en}}</ref> The first European presence in the region was an [[English people|English]] fishing outpost called [[Southport, Maine|Cape Newagen]] in 1623. An Englishman by the name of Henry Curtis purchased the right to settle Winnegance from the Abenaki [[Sachem]] Mowhotiwormet in 1666. However, the English were driven from their settlements by the Abenaki in 1676 during [[King Philip's War]]. The colonists returned after the war ended. In 1689, during [[King William's War]], they were driven out again. Winnegance was abandoned entirely, and remained a desolate waste for 40 years.<ref name="Coolidge">{{Cite book  | last = Coolidge  | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield  | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge  | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n90 59]–60| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref>

[[Image:Boothbay.jpg|thumb|left|Welcome to Boothbay sign featuring the motto ''Pelegrinis cibum dedimus'', [[Latin]] for "We fed the [[Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]]"]]

Colonel David Dunbar, governor of the [[Territory of Sagadahock]], established a settlement called Townsend, after [[Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend|Lord Charles Townshend]], in 1730, and convinced approximately 40 families of [[Scotch-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]], largely from the north of [[Ireland]], to settle there. Some were [[veteran]]s of the [[Glorious Revolution|Revolution of 1688]]. The settlement survived and was incorporated as the town of Boothbay on November 3, 1764. In 1842, [[Southport, Maine|Townsend]], now called Southport, split from Boothbay and was incorporated as its own town, followed by [[Boothbay Harbor, Maine|Boothbay Harbor]] in 1889.<ref name="MAGDE">{{cite book |last= Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums |editor=Doris A. Isaacson |title=Maine: A Guide 'Down East' |year=1970 |publisher=Courier-Gazette, Inc. |location=Rockland, Me | pages = 325 }}</ref>