 In 1680 Danforth was chosen president in the District of Maine by the Massachusetts assembly . The colony had previously governed this territory ( roughly the land between the Piscataqua and Kennebec Rivers in what is now southwestern Maine ) , but its right to do so had been stripped by King Charles after protests by the heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges , who had long @-@ standing claims to the area . Agents for Massachusetts then purchased the territory from the Gorges heirs , and Danforth was appointed to administer it . The territory had been devastated and many properties abandoned during King Philip 's War , and Danforth acted in effect as a Lord Proprietor , making land grants and reestablishing towns such as Falmouth and North Yarmouth . Danforth was rewarded by the colony with a grant of an island in Casco Bay for this work , which he oversaw until 1686 . 
