Deeds of Mount Desert Island
Peters Plan - F21
a project of
V. F. Thomas Co. - P. O. Box 84 - Hulls Cove, Maine 04644
info@vfthomas.com
(updated 28 November 2023)
In 1761 the first settlers of European origin moved onto Mount Desert Island and brought with them a concept of individual land ownership. Between that date and the division of the island by the General Court of Massachusetts, the name for the legislature of that state (which included what is now Maine), there were land sales, very few of which are recorded in the Hancock County Registry of Deeds. One was the sale of a lot of land to Benjamin Bradstreet Stanwood by Thomas Foss on 10 April 1784. From the description this appears to cover at least some land that was later sold by Bartholomew and Maria Theresa De Gregiore to Solomon Higgins (1:363–364; 28 March 1792) and/or to Humphey Stanwood (1:376–377; 2[8?] March 1792.
1:15–16
Date: 10 April 1784
Town: Bar Harbor
Grantor: Thomas Foss
Grantee: Benjamin Bradstreet Stanwood
Description: boundaries given but no land area,
Bounded by the land of Israel Higgins on the easterly side;
on the brook known by the name of Sallsborough’s [Salisbury’s] Brook [now Eddy Brook] on the northerly end; and
on the westerly side by land that was Ebenezer Sallsborough’s [Salisbury’s].
Grantor obtained this parcel via ???:???
Grantee disposed of part of this parcel via ???:???
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1:376–377
Date: 2[8?] March 1792
Town: Bar Harbor
Grantors: Bartholomy DeGregoire and Maria Theresa DeGregoire
Grantee: Humphrey Stanwood
Description: 100 acres
Beginning at a birch tree that stands at the southeast corner of Solomon Higgins' lot, the bounds between him and Humphrey Stanwood;
run first due S 240 rods;
then due W 80 rods to a hemlock tree;
then due N 162 rods to a fir tree;
then N 45° E to the first-mentioned bound.
Note: Humphrey Stanwood used this parcel as collateral for a loan from Jeremiah Stevens (11 October 1821; 42:57–58). The loan was discharged on 15 June 1825 (65:186–187).
Note: When the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations presented more than 6000 acres to the United States of America on 10 June 1916 (568:509–521), the land to become the Sieur de Monts National Monument and ultimately Acadia National Park, the description of the land started with "Beginning at a large hemlock tree". Nearly 125 years earlier, in March of 1792, this hemlock tree marked the southwest corner of the parcel conveyed by this deed.
Grantor obtained this parcel via: grant from the General Court of Massachusetts
Grantee disposed of this parcel via ???:???
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78:321–322
Date: 25 May 1839
Town: Bar Harbor
Grantor: Humphrey Stanwood
Grantee: Enoch H. Leland
Description: 100 acres; “together with all the buildings thereon [being?] the one-half of the lot on which I now live, which was deeded to me by William Green
Beginning at the southeast corner of a lot of land formerly owned by Solomon Higgins;
then due S 240 rods;
then W 80 rods;
then N 162 rods;
then N 45° E to the first-mentioned bound.
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