removed from Somerton to the Neck. It became necessary, therefore, that the meetings of the church should be transferred thither also. At first the meetings were held in the house of William Chapman, in King street. In 1699, William Elliott, one of the members, gave the church the lot of land on Church street, on which the meeting-house of the First Baptist church in Charleston now stands, and a house of worship was erected on this lot, either in that or the following year.

Mr. Screven was now more than seventy years of age, and, his health having declined, he asked to be relieved of the duties. of his sacred office. His request was granted, and he addressed some words of affectionate counsel to the church, embodied in a treatise entitled, "An Ornament for Church Members." The manuscript was carefully preserved by the church, and published after Mr. Screven's death. No copy of this treatise, as far as I can learn, has come down to us. Morgan Edwards, who, a century ago journeyed from New Hampshire to Georgia, gathering "Materials Toward a History of the Baptists," had a copy in his possession, probably while in Charleston. A quotation which he made from the closing paragraph is as follows: "And now, for a close of all, my dear brethren and sisters (whom God hath made me, poor unworthy me, an instrument of gathering and settling in the faith and order of the gospel), my request is that you as speedily as possible supply yourselves with an able and faithful minister. Be sure you take care that the person be orthodox in the faith, and of blameless life, and does own the confession put forth by our brethren in London, in 1689."

But Mr. Screven did not at this time wholly withdraw from ministerial service. Having received a grant of land, on which Georgetown now stands, he removed thither, and as opportunity offered and his strength permitted, he preached to the destitute around him. In 1706, the Baptist church in Boston, which had in vain endeavored to secure a pastor in England, turned to Mr. Screven in its extremity, and earnestly entreated him to return to New England, and take the pastoral oversight of the church by which he was ordained. Although so far advanced in years, he was at first inclined to accede to this request; but just at this time his successor in the pastorate in the church in Charles

ton died, and receiving a call from the church to return and resume his pastoral labors with them he felt that he could not decline, and he sent to the church in Boston, accordingly, the following letter, dated June 2, 1707:

Dearly beloved, this may inform you that I have many thoughts of heart about you, and am much concerned for you; and hope I may say, my prayers are to God for you. Though I am not with you, nor can I come as I was inclined to do, our help being taken from us: for our minister who came from England is dead, and I can by no means be spared. I must say it is a great loss, and to me a great disappointment, but the will of the Lord is done. I have longed to hear that you were supplied with an able minister, who might break the bread of life among you; but if the Lord do not please to supply you in the way you expected, your way will be to improve the gifts you have in the church. Brother Callender and Joseph Russell I know have gifts that may tend to edification, if improved. I think you should call one or both of them to it.

The church in Boston acted upon this suggestion, and called Mr. Callender, to whom Mr. Screven wrote August 6, 1708, as follows:

I rejoice that you are inclined to, and employed in, the blessed work of the Lord for the support of his cause. [And the letter closes with these words:] I have been brought very low by sickness, but I bless God I was helped to preach and administer the communion last Lord's day, but am still weak. Our society are for the most part in health, and I hope thriving in grace. We are about ninety in all. I rest your affectionate brother and fellow-laborer, in the best of services, for the best reward.

It is not thought that Mr. Screven removed his family to Charleston at this time; but his labors in behalf of the church which he had formed, and to which he had given so much of the strength of the best years of his life, were continued as he was able until his death, which occurred at Georgetown, October 10, 1713, at the completion of the eighty-fourth year of his age. Pure in life, affectionate in disposition, abundant in every good work, honored and revered by all, he commended the Gospel which he preached, and came to the "grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season." His tomb on Screven street, in Georgetown, is still to be seen, and his memory is lovingly cherished, not only by a numerous posterity *- he had

The descendants of William Screven are among the most honored of the people of South Carolina at the present day.

eleven children-but by the Baptists of South Carolina and of all the Southern states.

In the interest of bibliography I may add that Rev. William G. Whilden of Greenville, South Carolina, one of Mr. Screven's descendants to whom I am indebted for some of the materials of this paper, informs me that Mrs. Schoolcraft, formerly a resident of Beaufort, S. C., wrote a history of the Screven family which was published. He had heard, however, of only a single copy, which was destroyed in Sherman's raid; and my own inquiries with reference to the book have not as yet brought to light another copy.

THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, May 20, 1886.

BY REV. AMASA LORING.

THE early history of Cumberland county reveals the significant fact that four of the Judges of its early Court of Common Pleas were inhabitants of North Yarmouth. When the first was appointed the town was comparatively young, only about forty years having elapsed from the beginning of its permanent settlement, and from its second incorporation. Its population and business relations were small. It was remote from the seat of provincial power and could have had but few friends or advocates near the appointing personages. Still within about thirty years, these four men, not previously of great public notoriety, not learned in the law - but men of good native endowments, of unflinching integrity, of sound judgment, of unsullied reputation, or as the statute expressed it, "substantial persons placed in that honorable and responsible position.

were

The period of their administration was peculiar. It embraced the incipient struggles and eventual political convulsions of the Revolution, the transition from colonial dominion to state authority, the introduction of a new code of laws, without precedents, judicial rules, or authoritative decisions. Yet one of them passed through the whole period of these civic commotions undisturbed in his judicial activity; two held office during a part of it; all except one, who resigned, held their places for more than twenty years, two dying in office, and three were in succession Chief Justices of the Court.

According to William Willis, Esq., the Court met as usual in July, 1775; but no sheriff was present, no jury had been summoned, no entries were made, no cases tried, and it adjourned after deciding two cases which had been continued from the previous term. But in October, 1776, it met again and proceeded with its business, not recognizing the authority of the King, but of the people.

During this period the Judges were not compensated by a fixed salary, but received a certain amount for every entry and trial; and this was divided among them and the clerk. In those Revolutionary times the pay was very small, but it increased rapidly at a later period.

The legal profession was not then crowded; trials were not then intolerably drawn out, and "law questions" did not burst out like leaves in springtime. True there was then a Superior Court, answering in all respects to the present Supreme Court, but it held only two terms each year in the "District of Maine," and kept its records in Boston; so that in all probability appeals were not eagerly made, and the Inferior Court arbitrated most of the legal controversies.

Removed, as we now are, nearly a century from the public services of these men, it is not easy to make up a full biography of any of them; but a few scraps of their personal history, still to be found, can be snatched from oblivion.

JEREMIAH POWELL.

Jeremiah Powell was the first of these judges. He was the only son of John Powell, Esq.; was born in Boston, and lived there until he attained manhood. As the history of father and son is closely interwoven, it becomes necessary to notice briefly that of the former.

John Powell was born in Charlestown, Mass., March 7, 1669, or more probably 1683, and married Anne Dummer, a sister of Lieutenant Governor William Dummer. As Mr. Dummer left at his death no children of his own, he bequeathed a large part of his property to the children of his sister, Mrs. Powell, and thus increased the wealth of Judge Powell. Mr. Powell was Governor Dummer's private secretary for the next few years after his marriage, and eventually engaged in mercantile business in Boston. His connection with North Yarmouth comes into notice with its third and permanent settlement. Twice had its pioneer settlers fled from their savage invaders, leaving their homes to be plundered and burnt, and their possessions to be laid waste.

In 1684, this large township had been granted by Thomas Danforth to Jeremiah Dummer, Walter Gendall, John York