The original town of Pittston included Gardiner and West Gardiner on the west side of the Kennebec, and Pittston and Randolph on the east side. In 1670 Alexander Brown settled in old Pittston, but was killed by Indians in 1676. In 1751 Captain John North laid out the town in lots, and in 1754 a few settlers made their appearance. Settlements were made on both sides of the river as early as 1760, and the entire territory of the four towns was comprised in the plantation of Gardinerston, so named in honor of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, who in 1754 received large tracts within the domain and later was instrumental in inducing settlers to emigrate thither. In February, 1779, the territory mentioned, with the exception of lots 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, on the south edge of the west side, which were joined to Bowdoinham, was incorporated into a town called Pittston. It was a first proposed to call the new town Gardiner, but the attitude of Doctor Gardiner during the revolution debarred him from this honor, and it was named for the Pitt family - Hon. John Pitt having, in 1779, introduced the bill for its incorporation in the legislature.

The first town meeting was held in the inn of Henry Smith, on the east side of the river (known as Smithtown in the present Pittston), from which the ferry was run for many years. For twenty-four years the territory as first incorporated remained a single town, but in 1803 all the tract west of the river was set off to form the then new town of Gardiner. The region comprised in the present town of Pittston is the most southern of Kennebec county, east of the river. It is bounded by the town of Dresden on the south; Alna and Whitefield on the east, Chelsea and Randolph, the new town more recently erected from Pittston, on the north; and Kennebec river on the west.

Settlers. - The first settlers made their clearings along the river. Henry Smith located in 1764 on the west side of the river, and August 5, 1772, he moved to the east side and settled above Angry's point, opening the first inn of the town. Thomas Agry came to the point which still bears his name - where the ice houses of the Independent Ice Company stand - in 1774. Here were built the first vessels above Bath. Seth Soper settled, in 1779, next to Agry, and William and Moses Springer took up land near Agry's point about the same time. In 1761, four brothers, Reuben, Jeremiah, Oliver and Benjamin Colburn, settled above Agry's, and formed a settlement then known as Colburntown. Here they built vessels, and where the late Gustavus A. Colburn resided, Major Colburn, his grandfather, constructed the bateaux for the Arnold expedition to Quebec, the beautiful growth of white oaks that covered the bank of the river making it a most suitable spot for the work. He was assisted in his labors by the Agrys, Edward Fuller and other, all settlers on the river.

William Barker settled in 1780 and opened an early store near William B. Grant's. He sold four settlers' lots, in 1781, to Eleazar Tarbox, who fifty-one years afterward, was buried on the land. Edward Fuller, about 1760, settled on the farm now occupied by his grandson, Benjamin F. Fuller. Next north of this Nathaniel Bailey settled in 1762; and later, next north of his lot, Frederick Jackins settled. In 1787 David Mooers settled on the lands of George A. Yeaton. Next south of Edward Fuller was the clearing of Abner Marson, made in 1768. Marson was subsequently captured and carried away by the Indians. Henry Bodge settled early next below Marson's; and below Bodge lived Dea. Elijah Jackson, who settled in 1781. Hubbard Eastman settled below, next to Jackson's. On this lot are the Prebble hills, where a hole eighty feet deep was made in digging for gold. Search for the precious metal was prosecuted nearly every summer for many years, but without substantial results.

In 1763 Martin Haley bought one hundred acres next below Eastman, in the southwestern corner of the town, and here was raised the first English hay of the town. Up the river Samuel Oakman, a shipbuilder, settled in 1772, and near Smith's Hotel John and Henry Noble settled. John Taggart bought a farm, in 1773, of Major Reuben Colburn; and after the revolutionary war Levi Shepherd settled where John F. Bragden lives.

The west site of the town, along the Kennebec river, was of the most importance in those early days. Shipbuilding was carried on at every available place along the river; a ferry was run from near Smith's tavern, to the opposite side of the river; and the tavern itself was the central gathering place for town meetings well into the present century. On the uplands the early settlers found an abundance of oak, and in the intervales, pine, from which vessels were made, and of which large quantities were rafted to other localities. The first saw mill and the first grist mill stood at the mouth of Nehumkeag creek. They were owned and run by Edward Lawrence and Franklin Flitner. (pages 712, 713)

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