Hamilton Shores

We are building a comprehensive (well, eventually comprehensive; this is a work in progress) database of every deed associated with our family in Bluehill Neck, Maine.

Note we say Blue Hill Neck purposefully as our family has owned land on both sides of the Blue Hill/Brooklin border, but always on Blue Hill Neck (the land between the Salt Pond and the Ocean).

Our first ancestor to arrive was James Carter, Sukey Carter’s Grandfather. We know he arrived in 1770 or 1771 and settled on the Neck, although we have not been able to find a record of his land grant – the earliest record we have found is from 1795, and within it it references land he already owned. The earliest reference we have found to him is in the book “Jonathan Fisher, Maine Parson” by Mary Ellen Chase. There is a map of Blue Hill in 1794 that shows him residing on the Neck on the Blue Hill side but right up against the Sedgewick, now Brooklin, border. There is a first edition of that book in our Family Library. 

James Carter was a blacksmith, a trade he learned from his father, and likely traveled between Sedgwick (Brooklin was not yet a town) and Bluehill serving both communities. Eventually both he and his sons settled on Long Island, although he eventually came back to Blue Hill and died there in 1818.

James’ granddaughter, Susan (“Sukey”), married Thomas Hamilton in 1828 when he was 18. The first real estate record we’ve found is from 1831, when Thomas purchased 66 acres on the neck from John Carter, his father in law.

Also worth noting the significant purchase that Sukey made in 1855. She purchased 64 acres from Amos Allen (namesake for Allen’s Cove) for $1,500. We believe this is the land on which we sit today, because the previous land would have likely been on the Blue Hill side, and this is the first record we can find in Sedgwick, now Brooklin.

You can see all of these records and more below.