They left England in 1631 on the ship Plough, but for unknown reasons failed to take possession of their Maine patent, and instead continued on to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling in communities there.
A falling-out between Gorges and Cleeve precipitated the latter's return to England, where he located Dummer, holder of the original patent, and engineered its sale to Parliamentarian Colonel Alexander Rigby in 1643.
[3] Cleeve returned to New England with both a large land grant of his own from Rigby and a commission as Deputy President of the Province of Lygonia – the unusual title from Parliament’s approval of a constitution for the new jurisdiction.
Because its area included a large part of Gorges' Province of Maine, Lygonia's jurisdiction was vehemently protested by settlers whose deeds and titles now came under new governance and possible dispute.
In 1647, the Puritan Parliament affirmed Rigby's contested title to Lygonia lands over Gorges' own, and the two Maine provinces coexisted with some cooperation in settling issues of overlapping jurisdiction.
In 1665, the Royal Commission for Regulating Plantations finally declared Edward Rigby's authority null and void, but because of the Massachusetts action Lygonia had already ceased to exist.