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The charters given to Sir Ferdinando Gorges for the Province of Maine and for Gorgeana (former name for York) reflected that the King of England showed favor towards Gorges. King James I granted the first Charter of Maine to Gorges but James died in 1625. The successor was Charles I, son of King James I and granted the Charter of Gorgeana. However, that was about to change as political upheaval was happening in England in the early years of the town.
The English Civil Wars (1642-1651) reflected the political upheaval in England and this included the beheading of King Charles I in 1649 for treason. Oliver Cromwell victories in battles in the Civil Wars gave his significant power in England to form a new government. From 1649 to 1660, England was without a monarchy and was called a Commonwealth. Also, during this time period, Sir Ferdinando Gorges passed away in May 1647.
The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were not aligned with the King Charles I and the death of Charles I became an opportunity to exercise their power in New England. The “Great Migration” of 1630-1640 saw 20,000 Puritans migrate to Massachusetts and extend their religious beliefs.
It began with Massachusetts claiming their charter boundaries included Maine, as Maine was desirable for it’s timber, furs and harbors. Surveyors were sent out to redefine the boundaries of Massachusetts and emissaries were dispatched to sow the seeds of joining Massachusetts. In 1643, Massachusetts created the confederation of New England colonies for mutual protection. Maine and Rhode Island were excluded because of their religious differences. In 1651, the Cromwell government of England showed favor to Massachusetts and sent a letter to the towns in Maine that they were in the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.
In June 1652, commissioners from Boston to Kittery to treaty with the townspeople on submission but the townspeople refused. Massachusetts then issued an ultimatum to Kittery to submit by October. With no answer from Kittery, the commissioners were instructed to return and demand compliance, bringing along military support. After lengthy parlays on November 16, 1652, Kittery offered to accept union on certain “conditions”. The commissioners demanded that they submit first and the “conditions” would be discussed later. After several citizens were arrested for speaking disrespectfully of the commissioners, a majority of Kittery signed (44 in number).
Although Sunday intervened, these victorious emissaries lost no time to carry the campaign to Gorgeana while the spirit of conquest was in the saddle. The usual “loving letter and friendly” was sent here immediately addressed to Nicholas Davis and Capt. John Davis, who were charged with the duty of warning the people of “Acomenticus” to assemble at the tavern of Nicholas Davis “between seven and eight of the clock” on Monday the twenty-second, and appear before the commissioners “to setle the government.” The letter concluded with the usual pious expression of hope that the results would “tend to the Glory of God.”
A careful list of the inhabitants had been made showing the sequence of houses and occupants for the use of their campaign agents. This advance guard had gone “from house to house threatening and perswading if they did submit wee should enjoy all our Rights and priviledges either by Patent or otherwise”.
The content of the Gorgeana meeting with the commissioners only exist from the commissioners report. It only references debate, many questions and objections but not specifically what they were. Aside from the general objection to the entire proceedings, based on such a distorted rendering of their charter in its geo¬graphical relationship and the overturning of an established government, it is probable that objections were made to the prospect of domination of the clergy in civil administration, to the banishment of ministers of the Established church and to the savage treatment meted out to persons charged with holding alleged, “heretical” views. The report goes on to say that the “ objections were removed” but whether by argument or removal of the objectors, as at Kittery, does not appear. The result was a foregone conclusion. The commissioners had come to “setle the government” as decreed by the Massachusetts authorities with an instructed commission sitting as judges! The stage show had been enacted and posterity was informed by these drill sergeants that the verdict was unanimous! “With a full and joinct consent,” they say, the people of Gorgeana “acknowledged themselves subject to the Government of the Massachusetts in New England.” That is, all but one did so. The report adds: “only Mr. Godfrey did forbeare untill the vote was passed by the rest, and then imediately he did by word and vote express his consent also.” Godfrey has told of this scene, the bitterest moment of his life, in simpler phrase. “Whatever my Boddy was inforsed unto Heaven knowes my soule did not consent unto.” Edward Godfrey was the first settler in York and at the time of the meeting was the Governor of Maine. Fifty people signed the submission.
All of the lands granted by the Charter of Gorgeana were taken. It should be noticed that the Boston commissioners addressed their notices to the “Inhabitants of Acomenticus,” a name which had been superseded ten years since by that of Gorgeana. The use of this name was purposely ignored by the Massachusetts officials, as the legal title carried with it a recognition of the name of Gorges, whose inheritance they were despoiling, and the retention of it would be a continual reminder of their illegal proceedings. It must be wiped off the map so that no more remembrance of it would remain in the minds of men. In the progress of their usurpation through the Province of Maine it was the only name of a settlement which they changed, and it is impossible to escape the conclusion that it was a deliberate exhibition of petty spite heaped on the memory of the dead knight (Sir Ferdinando Gorges). In bestowing his name on the town, almost at the close of his long efforts in promoting colonization in Maine, he had indulged the pardonable hope that it would be his lasting memorial whereby future generations might recall the part he had played in establishing English civilization on the American continent. It was not to be. The Massachusetts commissioners plucked his name from the town he had incorporated and fostered and gave it the entirely meaningless name of York. York had then a significance as the name of an English city which had been recently surrendered by the Royalists to Cromwell in the Civil War.