The Pejepscot Abenaki Indians, a sub-tribe of the Anasagunticooks (now Androscoggins), used to own the land that is now Topsham. They called the this area "Sawacook." The Pejepscot Abenaki controlled the Androscoggin River. They lived and fished at Pejepscot Falls. But a plague, probably smallpox brought by Europeans, killed most of the tribe's population in 1615-1616.