William Screven emigrated to Boston from Somerton, England about the year 1668. Desiring to start a Baptist church, he was informed that he would be violating the law of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, so he moved to Kittery, Maine. But then Massachusetts acquired Maine and the authorities again began to apply their laws against Screven and his church. On this day in 1682, Screven was brought before the court at York which concluded: “This court having considered the offensive speeches of William Screven, Viz.’ his rash inconsiderate words tending to blasphemy [against infant baptism, and attendance in the state church], do judge the delinquent for his offense to pay ten pounds into the treasury of the county or province. And further the court doth further discharge the said Screven under any pretence to keep any private exercise at his own house or elsewhere, upon the Lord’s Days, either in Kittery or any other place within the limits of this province, and is for the future enjoined to observe the public worship of God in our public assemblies upon the Lord’s Days according to the laws here established in this Province, upon such penalties as the law requires upon his neglect of the premises.”
Brother Screven and his church endured the persecution of the government for more than a decade. At that point the bulk of the congregation determined to move to South Carolina eventually forming the first Baptist in Charleston and the first Baptist church in the south. As far as Maine is concerned, there isn’t word that another Baptist church existed there for more than a century. Humanly speaking, tens of thousands of people lived and died in that place without the ministry of a good Baptist church.
Source – “This Day in Baptist History” by W. Thompson and D. Cummins