Editing Matinicus Isle, Maine (section)

==History==
Matinicus is an [[Abenaki]] word meaning "far out island."

The island was probably long used by the [[indigenous people of North America]] as a place for [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]], and [[Europeans]] probably started visiting the island in the 16th century.<ref name=":0" /> Early documentation of the island comes from John Josselyn's 1671 account of [[New England]]:

<blockquote>Sagadehock to Nova Scotia is called the Duke of York's Province. Here Pemaquid, Matinicus, Monhegan, Cape Anawhagen…are all filled with dwelling houses and stages for fishermen, and have plenty of cattle, arable lands and marshes.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

The island is also mentioned in the May 1717 deposition of two sailors whose trading ship was commandeered off of [[Cape Cod]] by [[Piracy|pirates]] from the ship ''[[Whydah Gally|Whydah]]''. They testified that they were forced to sail north with the pirates (under captain [[Richard Noland]] of the ''Whydah's'' sister ship ''Anne Galley''), who then took a launch "to Matinicus, where they took a [[sloop]] belonging to Colonel [Stephen] Minot, one shallop belonging to Captain [John] Lane and three [[schooner]]s."<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24882?msg=welcome_stranger|title=Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period by J. Franklin Jameson}}</ref>

In March 1726, Lieutenant Governor Dummer of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] documented the early tension between the Native Americans and Europeans in a letter to Captain John Giles:

<blockquote>I very much resent this liberty [the Native Americans at Matinicus] have taken in killing the [livestock] which belong to the English, which is contrary to the Articles of Peace and that common justice which the English and Indians owe to one another.<ref name=":0" /> </blockquote>

In 1750, Ebenezer Hall became the island's first permanent settler.<ref name=":0" /> Accompanied by his family, he built a house, commenced [[fishing]] and [[farming]], and claimed territorial rights to the island. He burned the grass on nearby Green Island to produce [[hay]] for his [[livestock]], infuriating the [[Penobscot people|Penobscot tribe]], who still used the islands for fishing and sealing. Twice the tribe wrote letters to [[The Crown|Royal]] authorities in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], complaining about Hall. In the second, delivered for forwarding on April 25, 1753, to [[Richmond, Maine|Fort Richmond]], they warned, "if you don't remove him in two months, we shall be obliged to do it ourselves."<ref name=":0" /> Though Hall was ordered to leave Matinicus, he continued his residence there, and the Penobscots waited not two months but a little over four years before taking action. After a multiple day [[siege]] on his house, they killed and [[Scalping|scalped]] Hall on June 10, 1757.

In the following decades several families, including that of Ebenezer Hall's son, moved to the island, and at the census of 1790 there was a total population of 59.<ref name=":0" /> The population continued to grow, and on October 22, 1840, the island was formally organized as a [[Plantation (Maine)|plantation]].  
[[File:Air taxi landing 35ME.jpg|right|thumb|280x280px|Air taxi landing at Matinicus Island Airport]]
As a maritime community, the residents of Matinicus have long worked as sailors and fishermen. The early days of fishing for cod, mackerel, and herring gradually gave way to [[lobster fishing]], which continues as the dominant industry on the island today. The importance of this industry to the livelihood of island residents has led to territorial disputes. In July 2009, an island fisherman shot and wounded a fellow fisherman in a dispute over the locations of individual lobster-fishing rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bangordailynews.com/2009/07/25/news/midcoast/shooting-on-matinicus-shifts-fishermenrsquos-focus-to-lsquoselfpreservationrsquo/|title=Shooting on Matinicus shifts fishermen's focus to 'self-preservation'|last1=Curtis|first1=Abigail|website=The Bangor Daily News|date=25 July 2009|access-date=2017-02-15}}</ref>

The plantation has one church, the Congregational Church of Matinicus, which was built in 1906 and currently holds Sunday services during the summer months and serves as a general community function hall.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/jobslides/443/|title="Dedication of The Congregational Church of Matinicus [Maine], June Six" by Herbert Keightley Job|journal=Early Ornithology Lantern Slides by Herbert Keightley Job|date=21 March 1909|language=en|access-date=2017-02-13|last1=Job|first1=Herbert}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.workingwaterfrontarchives.org/2006/07/01/matinicus-marks-centennial-of-island-church-with-running-water/|title=Matinicus marks centennial of island church - with running water!|first1=Eva |last=Murray|date=2006-07-01|website=The Working Waterfront Archives|access-date=2017-02-13}}</ref> The island is a routine stop for the Maine Seacoast Mission's vessel the ''Sunbeam'', which offers [[pastoral care]] as well as [[nursing]] and [[telemedicine]] facilities.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.seacoastmission.org/islands/|title=Islands - Maine Seacoast Mission|newspaper=Maine Seacoast Mission|access-date=2017-02-13|language=en-US}}</ref>

The island's inhabitants have served as first responders to emergencies in the waters of [[Penobscot Bay]]. On January 16, 1992, residents of Matinicus responded to a distress call from the ''O.A. Harkness'', a nearby sinking [[tugboat]], ultimately rescuing the three crew members.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=February 1993|title=Miraculous rescue off the Maine coast|url=https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-nostalgia/yankee-magazine-cover-february-1993/|journal=Yankee|volume=57}}</ref> On July 17, 2011, island fishermen rescued 4 occupants of an airplane that [[Water landing|ditched]] into the waters off of Matinicus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/20/news/midcoast/pilot-helps-leads-rescue-efforts-after-plane-crash-off-matinicus/|title=Pilot helps lead rescue efforts after plane crash off Matinicus|last1=Steeves|first1=Heather|website=The Bangor Daily News|date=20 July 2011|access-date=2017-02-13}}</ref>

[[Image:Harbor Low Tide Panorama (Matinicus Island, Maine).jpg|thumb|center|800px|Panorama of the harbor in 2006]]Matinicus Island Library, founded in 2016, was featured by [[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian Magazine]] in 2022 for buying books banned by other organizations in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |last2=Williams |first2=Emily |title=This Small Library Off the Coast of Maine Is Collecting Banned Books |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-small-library-off-the-coast-of-maine-is-collecting-banned-books-180979861/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> The library is run by volunteers and partially funded by the [[Stephen King|Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation]].