|
York County, forming the south-western portion of the State, grew into its present name and form by degrees, and during a
long period. Its beginning may be considered to have been the establishment of the government of the Province of Maine in 1640, by the
proprietor, Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The limits of this province extended from the Piscataqua River to the Kennebec. The province
soon came to be considered as two districts, first spoken of as the East and West districts, or counties, of which the Kennebunk River was re-
garded as the dividing line. The town of York being the shire town of the western section, that portion gradually came to be called York
district, or county, the other being called Somerset, or New Somerset. The Kennebunk River also proved to be the western boundary of the
temporary Province of Lygonia. In 1652, Maine came under the control of Massachusetts, and the Isles of Shoals and all the territory
northward of Piscataqua River to the White Mountains, and thence eastward to Penobscot Bay, were included in the re-named and ex-
tended jurisdiction of Yorkshire. All this was overturned by the King's commissioners in 1664, who revived the divisions as established
by Gorges, and formed the territory east of the Kennebec into the county of Cornwall. In 1677, however, Massachusetts purchased the
Province of Maine of Gorges' heirs; and again Yorkshire was extended eastward as far as the Kennebec. In 1716, the General Court
ordered the extension of Yorkshire, so as to include all the settlements eastward; and accordingly Penobscot Bay became again the eastern
boundary. In 1735, courts were ordered to be held at York and Falmouth, and the county received its present name. The establishment
in 1760 of the new county of Cumberland, gave York County its present boundary on that side. In 1805, Oxford County was formed, when
York County first assumed its present limits.
|
