Pride Farms first appearance in the falmouth records appears to be 1753 in the very first lot plan for the area. The Executioner's son Joseph appears numerous times in the very earliest Falmouth Town Records. His first appearance in town records is an Animal Brand registration on 1/20/1726, two years before his new Land Registrations "Granted and Laid out" on 12/27/1727, 4/1/1728, and 5/1/1728 on Falmouth Neck, todays Portland. The three Lots "Granted and Laid out" do not include Pride Farm. This was the heyday of the Great Puritan Landgrab, as many Falmouth residents of this period show up in the records 'grabbing' multiple land grants as the town suddenly shifted from the banks of the Presumpscot to the new harbor. They literally divided up the harborside area with stakes in the ground, and proceded to grant the parcels among themselves. The brand registration indicates he was obviously living somewhere nearby with animals throughout 1726 and 1727 before any land gets registered. Appropriately placed land matching Pride Farm, is credited to Joseph Pride in 1753 in News Articles but a copy of the actual grant described is elusive. Misc p37, p42, p76
Falmouth Historical Society research "found" that the fugitive family left no land registrations before an 1867 purchase from the Purintons, Thats truely a surprise, given the 17 pages of deeds for the Pride family in the deed index between 1760 and 1870. [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10]. Many are in the Duck Pond area, an astounding 680 in all, with additional dozens before 1760 listed on FamilySearch.org currently being investigated. Clarification of this will take a while given hundreds of pages of handwritten deeds to go through, each with obscure geography. However to date no deed has been uncovered between Pride and Purinton in 1867. (see for yourself with a free account please drop a note if you find anything to update). Investigation ongoing.
Records are purported to say Pride farm was purchased from the Purinton family, its original builders in 1867, 209 years after the executioner arrived,... by the executioners great great grandson, Alexander (Executioner 1637, Joseph 1686, Capt Joseph 1726, Henry 1757, Alexander 1802). But Henry's tombstone ( Alexander's father who died 1836) is in the Gowen Cemetary next-door, as are the tombstones of his brother Henry (1852) and sister Nancy (1848). 11 Prides in all. Go a short distance in any other direction from Pride Farm Road and you will also find additional Pride burials, and 39 nearby burials are pre-1870 !! The Names of Lord (Thomas), the Executioner (Joseph), and the Executioner's wife (Jane) are all there as well as all the other family names of Lord Pride.
Every single census lists Prides occupying Pride Farm from the start.
The 1790 census lists the one Lord, two Purintons,
one Huston and Seven Prides all within a few lines of each other.
In the 1810 census there are 9 Prides listed in Falmouth,
but by 1820 all but two moved to nearby towns primarily Cumberland and Westbrook,
leaving William and Francis who continue on.
The 1850 census lists Six Prides in dwelling "338" and Nine Purintons in dwelling "339".
The Pride home (dwelling 338) may have burned sometime in the 1850's.
The 1860 Census only lists
Joseph Pride living in the Lord House on Mast Road with the elderly Abigail and her daughter Eunice, and he is
buried with them in the Lord-Lowell Cemetary (boat launch).
The 1880 Census lists the Prides rehoused in dwelling 330, between the Purintons in dwelling 329,
and Hustons in dwelling 331, with the Purintons still in residence more than two decades after the "sale".
All 1900 census records were destroyed.
