forest commissioners report. 121 



Ancient Grants. 

 The third great source of island titles is grants from the 

 British Crown, proprietors, and in some instances Indian grants, 

 prior to the Treaty of Peace in 1783. 



An investigation of these grants takes us back to some of the 

 earliest settlements on this Continent, and makes one almost 

 entirely dependent on historical works for information con- 

 cerning them. 



These grants were made with little actual knowledge of the 

 geography of the country, and not only over-lapped each other, 

 but often covered the same territory as previous grants. This 

 fact was the cause of almost endless contention and litigation, 

 which retarded the settlement of the lands for many years. 

 These claims of adverse claimants under these various grants, 

 purchases from the Indians, and possessory titles, as far as the 

 main land is concerned were finally adjusted, often by grants 

 of other territories, as the simplest way of adjustment where 

 there was an abundance of land of little value. 



Islands, as well as mainland, were included in these ancient 

 grants, but were probably of not enough value or consequence 

 to receive much attention in tlhose adjustments that confirmed 

 land titles along the coast. Any attempt at this late date to 

 definitely trace the title of many of these islands back to some 

 particular grant would perhaps be impossible. 



Some of the best authorities I have found on these early 

 grants are the following : 



Sullivan's History of the District of Maine 



James Sullivan — 1795 

 Statistical View of Maine 



Moses Greenleaf — 1816 

 A Survey of the State of Maine 



Moses Greenleaf — 1828 

 Oliver Frost's Report on Lands Reserved 



Land Agent's report of 1839 

 Sources of Land Titles in Maine 



Hon. Chas. W. Goddard, 4th revision 

 of Maine statutes — 1883 

 Introduction in Volume I, York Deeds 

 History of the Wild Lands of Maine 

 Land agent's report of 1908 



