In 1771, the Kennebec land was incorporated as the town of Hallowell. In 1797, the upper and middle parishes of Hallowell broke off and formed the settlement of Augusta, known briefly as Harrington. When Ancient Hallowell was first incorporated, it included present-day Hallowell, Augusta, Chelsea, and large parts of Farmingdale and Manchester. The town originally covered some 90 square miles.

Hannah Gay is the first woman listed as a taxpayer for real estate in Ancient Hallowell – the year was 1772 (the record for 1771 no longer exists). Hannah paid both real estate and personal estate taxes, and was the tenth highest taxed that year of the 50 who paid real estate taxes. (Ninety-six taxpayers are listed.) Between 1772 and 1830, out of nearly 2,000 taxpayers listed on tax accounts noted by historian Charles E. Nash, 39 are women. The tax list covers personal estate as well as real estate. Contemporary images of eighteenth century women include “property-less” and “owned by their husbands,” but this was not always the case. While the English law of coverture applied in early Maine (once a woman married she became the legal property of her husband, with the concomitant rights of protection and obligation) some women, although few, spent portions of their adult lives single (for reasons of widowhood, desertion, or late marriage) and some never married. Ancient Hallowell tax records indicate that such women lived in Augusta during the eighteenth century. Although they may not have held property or possession of equal value to men or in the same proportion to men, women did own property and they paid their taxes, as the records clearly show.

The Burton House was built in 1789 and taken down in 1856. It is seen here as depicted in North’s History of Augusta.

The first bridge over the Kennebec opened in 1797, the same year Augusta separated from Hallowell. This fancifully designed structure must have delighted, as well as puzzled residents, but it made crossing the Kennebec easier, at least for a while. This wooden toll bridge served for nearly twenty years until it collapsed in 1816. The next bridge did not appear until 1818, so the earlier ferry service was called back into business for two years. The first and the three subsequent bridges were in the same location as the current Father Curran Bridge. The large Memorial Bridge did not open until the mid-twentieth century.

Site 5.1 Sources:

	Nash, Charles Elventon. The History of Augusta: First Settlements and Early Days as A Town. Augusta, ME: Charles E. Nash & Son, 1904.
	North, James W. The History of Augusta Maine. Somesworth, NH: New England History Press, 1981. New forward by Edwin A. Churchill. Originally published in 1870 by Clapp and North of Augusta, ME.
	Ulrich, Laurel. Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750. New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1982, 1st Edition.
	Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1990; Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, 1991 (paperback).