i am seeking an history of the "french grant" in hancock co me. the
western line of my property in hancock is apparently one of the oldest
surveyed lines in this county if not maine and is part of something
called the french grant on an old survey map of what was then called
trenton maine. i would like historical background, maps, etc.

---

Request for Question Clarification by journalist-ga on 19 Oct 2002 14:54 PDT

Is this the text you are looking for?  I could locate no Trenton or
Hancock in the grant but it is in regards to early Maine settlements
known as the Cranberry Isles.  If this is the information you need,
please let me know and I will post it an an answer and claim the fee:

http://www.cranberryisles.com/history.html

I have another source which references the following in greater
detail:

"Washington County ME was a part of Lincoln County, Province or
District of Massachusetts, until Hancock and Washington Counties were
incorporated 25 Jun 1789 [BHM pg 1623-1624]."

I just want to be sure I'm on the right track before posting my
findings as an answer.

Hello,

Sieur de Lamothe Cadillac, a recently married minor nobleman who
awarded himself his own title, received 100,000 acres along the Maine
coast from New France (Quebec) in 1688 (1). His grant included Mount
Desert Island and 1 league (about 3 miles) on either side of what is
today the Union River, as far inland as 2 leagues from the sea (2).

Cadillac, who would later found Detroit, did not spend much time in
Maine; instead, he moved back to the real Acadia (today's Nova
Scotia). French settlements in the grant were focused on the island,
not the mainland (3). After the Revolutionary War, the Massachusetts
legislature awarded half of Mount Desert Island to Cadillac's
granddaughter (4).

I was unable to find a map that shows the grant. The Rootsweb page on
the Town of Hancock (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/6241/hancock.html)
provides the e-mail address of someone with a history book on the
town. You may also try the Hancock County Geneology Society
(http://ellsworthme.org/hcgs/) for more information.

I hope this answer meets your needs. If not, please request
clarification.

References

(1) "History of Acadia," Acadia National Park
http://www.nps.gov/acad/history.htm

(2) "Cadillac," Dictionnaire general du Canada
http://pages.infinit.net/lej/diction/laumet.htm

(3) "A Brief History of Ellsworth, Maine," City of Ellsworth
http://ci.ellsworth.me.us/stathist.html

(4) "Mount Desert Island Maine," Diamond Pass Publishing Inc.
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:me3vB2-J2EYC:www.diamondpass.com/r5/5.49%2520Mount%2520Desert.html+Sieur+Cadillac+Maine&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Search strategy:

"French Grant" Hancock Maine
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22French+Grant%22+Hancock+Maine

Sieur Lamothe Cadillac Maine
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Sieur+Lamothe+Cadillac+Maine

Mount Desert Island French Cadillac
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Mount+Desert+Island+French+Cadillac

Sieur Cadillac Douaguek
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Sieur+Cadillac+Douaguek

history Hancock Maine
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Hancock+County+Maine

Ellsworth Maine history
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Ellsworth+Maine+history

The State of Maine has a wonderful archives site that is a "pointer"
to a wealth of information...that is, the information itself is not
available online, but the archive will let you know what exists and
where to get it.  For instance, at the following page:

http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/military/revlist2.htm

Maine State Archives, Revolutionary War Land Grants, and Pension
Applications they list two land grants for Trenton (there may be
others as well...I just took a quick look) for Haynes, Ephraim and
Haynes, Perley.

At http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/land1.htm they detail all
the key
"Land Office Records In the Maine State Archives" and include the
interesting tidbit of info that Maine separated from Massachusetts in
1820 (who knew?).  The list includes:

Deeds and Related Materials, 1749-1949
Massachusetts Deeds, 1794-1828  
Records of Deeds of Confirmation, 1841-1843  
Treaty Deeds, 1868-1879 (Maine lands confirmed under the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842)
Records of Deeds, 1828-1940  
Deeds of Land Sold for Taxes, 1848-1854; 1909-1945  
Records of Land and Settlers' Certificates, 1842-1884  
"Miscellaneous" Records of Deeds, 1798-1949  
Revolutionary War Land Grants, 1830's 
Field Notes, 1803-1890
The field notes give information about boundary lines, forest growth,
topography, distances, and related information about the areas
surveyed. They frequently contain information about hardships or
unusual occurrances encountered during the survey.

And of course, they have Maps: 

 http://www.rootsweb.com/~mecumber/pst4.html

Including 5 maps of Trenton all dated prior to 1800.

Good hunting

The Maine State Archive has several old maps of Hancock County, which
may have the grant marked on them:
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~mecumber/pshi.html).