18th Century

Town of York, Maine Mural – 1700s

During Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), York continued to endure frequent raids by Native warriors, prompting the construction of numerous garrisons, including the McIntire Garrison—recognized as Maine’s oldest scientifically verified building. In the subsequent Dummer’s War (1722–1725), York men played a leading role in the 1724 raid that destroyed the Wabanaki settlement and mission at Norridgewock on the Kennebec River. As Indigenous communities were devastated by warfare, disease, and displacement, the threat of further attacks gradually diminished.

By the mid-eighteenth century, York had become a prosperous coastal town connected through merchant networks to the wider British Empire in North America and the West Indies. The town’s most successful merchant, Jonathan Sayward (1713–1797), lived in a house that still stands in York Village today. Under the spiritual leadership of Rev. Samuel Moody (1675–1747), minister of York’s First Parish from 1698 until his death, the town experienced a powerful religious revival during the Great Awakening of the 1740s.

Many York men fought for American independence during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), serving in some of the conflict’s most consequential campaigns, including those at Saratoga and Philadelphia.

Eighteenth Century York History

Timeline compiled by Town of York Historian James Kences

1701–1709

April 1701 – Nathaniel Freeman hired as schoolmaster.
1702–1703 – Outbreak of war between France and England (Queen Anne’s War).
September–October 1703 – Indian attacks on coastal settlements, including the farmstead of Arthur Bragdon Jr.
1705 – Lucy Moody buried; her stone is the oldest dated marker in the Village Burying Ground.

1710–1719

December 1710 – The Nottingham Galley wrecked at Boon Island.
1711–1712 – Multiple Indian attacks documented.
1713 – End of Queen Anne’s War.
November 9, 1713 – Birth of Jonathan Sayward.
1718 – Registry of Deeds and Superior Court ordered to be placed in York.
March 1719 – Meetinghouse built in the western part of town.
October 1719 – Order issued for the construction of the county prison, the first reference to the Old Gaol.

1720–1729

August 1720 – First entry in the surviving diary of Rev. Joseph Moody.
July 1722 – Outbreak of Dummer’s War (Indian war).
August 12, 1724 – Capt. Johnson Harmon and Jeremiah Moulton lead the attack on the Jesuit mission town of Norridgewock; Father Sebastian Rasle killed.
January 1726 – Nineteen men organized for the construction of a dam and mill complex at Meetinghouse Creek.

1730–1739

1730–1732 – Second Parish in the western part of town legally established by the legislature.
1732 – Division of the inner common lands.
1734–1735 – Construction of the county courthouse.
July 24, 1735 – Execution of Patience Boston.
1737 – Enlargement of the Gaol; a wooden structure added to the original stone building.
Autumn 1738 – Rev. Joseph Moody experiences a breakdown and begins wearing the handkerchief veil.

1740–1749

May 1740 – Earliest reference to the future Emerson–Wilcox House in the village.
1741–1742 – York becomes an epicenter of the Great Awakening in northern New England.
1745 – Louisbourg Campaign undertaken as part of King George’s War with France.
March 1747 – Construction of the fourth meetinghouse.
November 13, 1747 – Death of Rev. Samuel Moody.
December 1749 – Rev. Isaac Lyman ordained as successor to Rev. Moody.

1750–1759

1750 – Death of Rev. Joseph Moody. Estimated town population: 2,511 people.
March 20, 1753 – Second division of the common lands (date associated with this division).

1760–1769

January 17, 1760 – Jonathan Sayward begins his diary.
May 12, 1760 – Thomas Moody departs on the march to New York for the final campaign against French Canada.
1764 – Number of houses recorded at 272; 292 families in the First Parish and 105 in the Second Parish.
1764–1765 – Parliament’s revenue measures spark unrest; Stamp Act violence.
July 20, 1765 – Death of Col. Jeremiah Moulton.
1768 – Circular Letter episode; Jonathan Sayward listed among the “Rescinders,” marking the end of his legislative career.

1770–1779

September 27, 1770 – Rev. George Whitefield delivers a sermon at the First Parish meetinghouse; he dies at Newburyport three days later.
April 15, 1773 – David Sewall plants four elm trees between the townhouse and the meetinghouse.
June 1774 – John Adams visits York on circuit court business and converses with Jonathan Sayward.
September 23–24, 1774 – York “Tea Party”; tea removed from the ship Cythia.
April 1775 – Outbreak of the American Revolution; York soldiers march in response to the Lexington Alarm. Committee of Correspondence, Safety, and Inspection formed.
January 1, 1777 – 129 of the town’s 607 men are serving in the army.
June 1777 – Lt. Josiah Bragdon at Ticonderoga as Gen. Burgoyne’s army advances from Canada.
May 1779 – York rejects the proposed Massachusetts constitution.
Summer 1779 – Penobscot expedition (Penobscot operation).

1780–1789

1780 – Inflation escalates due to depreciated currency; enemy privateers off the coast jeopardize local fishermen.
September 1783 – End of the Revolutionary War.
1783 – Slavery effectively abolished in Maine under the Massachusetts Constitution.

1790–1799

1790–1793 – Joseph Tucker appointed Collector of Customs.
1794–1796 – Construction of Coventry Hall by David Sewall.
May 8, 1797 – Death of Jonathan Sayward.