On October 7, 1673,
Massachusetts, relying on a new survey of its northern border, and responding to the
Dutch capture of
New York in August 1673 as a result of the
Third Anglo-Dutch War, claimed 200 square miles (500 km2) of the
Duke of York's territory east of the
Kennebec River in present-day
Maine, including the
Pemaquid settlement, and established a new county there. On May 27, 1674, this county was named
Devonshire. Cornwall was implicitly reduced to the area north of the Massachusetts claim.[2][3][4] Cornwall and
Devonshire were lost to the
Abenaki Indians in
King Philip's War in the Autumn of 1675.[5] Cornwall County was recreated on November 1, 1683, conforming to the original grant, still part of New York.[6] Cornwall continued unchanged until the Spring of 1687, when it was transferred to the expanded
Dominion of New England, extinguishing New York's claim to the land.[7] Cornwall County was transferred from New England to
Massachusetts in 1692 and called
Yorkshire. Much of this region became part of
Maine when it was split from
Massachusetts in 1820.
^Reid, John G; Maine, Charles II and Massachusetts: Governmental Relationships in Early Northern New England.;
Portland, Maine: Maine Historical Society Research Series Number 1; 1977; Page. 138.
^Massachusetts. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.; Vol. 5; Page16.
^New York: Commissioners of Statutory Revision:Colonial Laws of New York from the year 1664 to the Revolution, including the Charters of the Duke of York, the Commissions and instructions to Colonial Governors, the Duke's Laws, the Laws of the Dongan and Leisler Assemblies, the Charters of Albany and New York, and the acts of the Colonial Legislatures from 1691 to 1775, inclusive. Report to the Assembly #107, 1894. five Volumes.
Albany, New York; 1894 - 1896.Chapter 4; Volume 1; Page 122.
^Barnes, 69-70; New Hampshire. Laws of New Hampshire, Including Public and Private Acts and Resolves, 1680–1835, 1:166, 171.