The population is 278.

In 1790 the first United States Census count is taken. Ducktrap and Canaan Plantations combined have a population of 278. Throughout the town’s history census information provides only the barest picture of life in Lincolnville. The man listed as a "farmer" might also be a shoemaker, a carpenter, a fisherman, a harness maker, a tinsmith, a woodsman, a cooper, a horse dealer, a wheelwright, a fiddle player, a hunter, a politician.
The woman listed as "keeps house" might also be a midwife, a net maker, a weaver, a spinner, a seamstress, a gardener, a storekeeper, a schoolteacher, a landlady, a nurse, a musician.

Shipyards at Ducktrap and Lincolnville Beach produce some 53 vessels of record from 1792 through 1867 – sloops, schooners, brigs, barks. These ships are often owned locally, and sail with a Lincolnville captain and crew. Not recorded are the hundreds of smaller boats, the wherries, dories and other boats used by the farmer-fishermen of Lincolnville.

1793: the Schooner Catherine is built at Ducktrap. She is 85 tons, 68 feet under Captain Lemuel Drinkwater.

In 1799 Hezekiah and Eunice French come from Billerica, Massachusetts to a height of land above the present Lincolnville Beach and build a cabin. Before long the area is known as French’s Beach.

These and other early settlers struggle through lean years; they might go "for weeks…without any bread, and without meat for more than half the time…and…live in huts incomparably worse than ordinary stables."

NEXT