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not without much difficulty succeeded in saving it from forfeiture. Mr. Hazen attributed much of his success on the occasion to the fact that after Mr. Simonds had removed to Maugerville in 1778, he and James White, at their own expense, had erected farm houses and settled four families on the marsh, in addition to the one or two houses that had been previously built at the expense of all the partners, and he claimed that had it not been for the efforts of himself and James White both grants would have been forfeited. In their evidence in the chancery suit Hazen and White express the opinion that there was no greater necessity for Mr. Simonds' absence than for their own, and they considered that the reason of his removal from Portland Point was because all trade and business from which any benefit or advantage might have been derived had ceased, and because he wished to cultivate and render valuable his lands at Sheffield. They believed he would not have removed at all if they had not themselves remained on the lands at the mouth of the river to take care of them.

In February, 1784, Hazen and White being very desirous of securing a legal title to the whole of the Sebaskastaggan, or "Great Marsh," and knowing nothing of any negotiations between Simonds and Lieut. Fletcher, wrote to Mr. Simonds asking him to come down and attend to their joint interests; also to get Samuel Peabody to come down with his surveying instruments in order to run the lines of the second grant. Mr. Simonds seems to have had some very troublesome neighbors about this time, and fearing to expose his family to their tender mercies, he was obliged to content himself with sending a letter by the hands of Samuel Peabody explaining the cause of his detention and enclosing a description of the bounds of the two grants. A few days after Mr. Peabody's departure