Georgetown, Maine

Variant name of place

George-Town

Geographic position

43.8045° N, 69.7467° W

Sources

http://www.georgetownme.com/

General note

Located between the Sheepscot and Kennebec Rivers, Georgetown is an island situated in southern Maine. The Abenaki Indians originally termed the island Eroscohegan, which means good spear fishing. It was purchased from Chief Mowhotiwormet by an English fisherman named John Parker in 1649, in exchange for a hogshead of rum and many pumpkins. During Metacom (King Philip)'s War, the English settlements in the Kennebec River Valley were burned, leading to the abandonment of the island. War and Indian attacks continued to impede English settlement on and off until the fall of Quebec during the French and Indian War, when English settlers began repopulating the area. Aaron Kinne wrote a letter to Eleazar Wheelock reporting on Indian tribes in the area of Georgetown and the possibility of converting them to Christianity. Kinne notes that there are several tribes who might be open to Protestant Christianity if their alliance with the French had not already predisposed them to Catholicism.