In the winter of 1661 a man by the name of Francis Small began keeping a “trading house” somewhere in the vicinity of what is now Limington and Cornish. Many Indians became largely indebted to him, promising him furs and other valuables in the spring. The Indians later plotted an easier way to extinguish their debt and conspired together to surround and burn his house down on a particular night.In 1770, the original unrecorded deed from Captain Sunda to Francis Small was located by his family from over 100 years before. The heirs of Nicholas Shapleigh knew they had an interest in the deed and therefore in 1772 appointed a committee “to go up and possess the land”. In May of 1773 this committee, accompanied by a surveyor and chairman, went out into the wildernesses and marked what eventually became the towns original boundaries. Later thru the Supreme Court, Smalls’ heirs took possession of Cornish, Limington, Newfield and ½ of Limerick while Shapleighs’ heirs took possession of Parsonsfield, Shapleigh, and the other ½ of Limerick.

The town we now know as Shapleigh was officially incorporated in 1785 as the 43rd town containing approximately 20,000 acres with a current population of 2,326.