Editing York County, Maine (section)

==History==

===1622 patent===
The first patent establishing the Province of Maine was granted on August 10, 1622, to [[Ferdinando Gorges]] and [[John Mason (governor)|John Mason]] by the [[Plymouth Council for New England]], which itself had been granted a royal patent by [[James I of England|James I]] to the coast of [[North America]] between the [[40th parallel north|40th]] and the [[48th parallel north|48th parallels]] "from sea to sea". This first patent encompassed the coast between the [[Merrimack River|Merrimack]] and [[Kennebec River|Kennebec]] rivers, as well as an irregular parcel of land between the headwaters of the two rivers. In 1629, Gorges and Mason agreed to split the patent at the [[Piscataqua River]], with Mason retaining the land south of the river as the [[Province of New Hampshire]].

Gorges named his more northerly piece of territory [[New Somersetshire]]. This venture failed, however, because of lack of funds and colonial settlement. Also failed was a venture by Capt. [[Christopher Levett]], an agent for Gorges and a member of the Council for New England. With the King's blessing, Levett embarked on a scheme to found a colony on the site of present-day [[Portland, Maine|Portland]]. Levett was granted {{convert|6000|acre|km2}} of land, the first Englishman to own the soil of Portland. There he proposed to found a settlement named [[York]] after the city of his birth in England. Ultimately, the project was abandoned, the men Levett left behind disappeared, and Levett died aboard ship on his return to England from the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. One part of Levett's scheme did survive: the name of York, which now adorns the county.

The now-decommissioned [[Fort Levett]] on [[Cushing Island, Maine|Cushing Island]] in [[Casco Bay]] is named for Capt. Levett.

===1639 patent===
In 1639, Gorges obtained a renewed patent, the [[Gorges Patent]], for the area between the [[Piscataqua River|Piscataqua]] and [[Kennebec River]]s, in the form of a royal charter from [[Charles I of England]]. The area was roughly the same as that covered in the 1622 patent after the 1629 split with Mason. The second colony also foundered for lack of money and settlers, although it survived the death of Gorges in 1647.

===Absorption by Massachusetts===
In the 1650s the nearby [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] asserted territorial claims over what is now southern Maine, and by 1658 had completely absorbed what is now southwestern Maine into [[York County, Massachusetts]].

The first known and recorded offer for a purchase of land in York County is in 1668, when Francis Small traded goods with the [[Newichewannock]] tribe of this area. Their Chief Wesumbe, also known as Captain Sandy, was friendly with Small and warned him of a plot against his life. A group of renegade tribesmen planned on murdering Small instead of paying him with the furs that were owed to him. Small escaped after watching his house in what is now Cornish, Maine, burn to the ground. Small returned and rebuilt. The Chief made up the loss by selling Small all the lands bounded by the Great and Little Ossipee Rivers, the Saco River, and the New Hampshire border. Known now as the five Ossipee towns, the tract included all of Limington, Limerick, Cornish (formerly named Francisborough), Newfield and Parsonsfield.

The large size of the county led to its division in 1760, with [[Cumberland County, Maine|Cumberland]] and [[Lincoln County, Maine|Lincoln]] counties carved out of its eastern portions. When Massachusetts adopted its state government in 1780, it created the [[District of Maine]] to manage its eastern territories. In 1805 the northern portion of York County was separated to form part of [[Oxford County, Maine|Oxford County]]. When Maine achieved statehood in 1820 all of the counties of the District of Maine became [[List of counties in Maine|counties of Maine]].