Col. John Storer (1694-1768) was a builder and owner of ships and mills, and a prominent citizen. He enslaved a "Negro woman" who was included in his estate and possibly others.
"Inventory of the estate of John Storer, Esq., late of Wells, appraised, dated Wells, 12 Nov 1768, by John Wheelwright, Nathaniel Kimball & Samuel Jeffords, at £4358/15/1 ... includes [near the end of a lengthy list] a Negro woman, £6." - Frost's Probate Abstracts, Vol. I - pp. 632-3
"Joseph Storer's account of costs and disbursements of £533/14/6 as admor of the estate of John Storer includes payments ... to Peter, Negro boy, 64/ ... Att & all, York, 1st Monday in January 1773." - Frost's Probate Abstracts, Vol. I - p. 690 It is not known whether Peter was previously enslaved or employed by John or Joseph Storer.
"Col. John Storer was a builder and owner of ships and mills, town treasurer, a prominent officer at the Siege of Louisburg, Cape Breton Island, Canada, representative to the General Court, and judge of the Inferior Court. He was the executor of his father's will and had the homestead." - FamilySearch.org record
Joseph Storer, father of John "was shrewd as a business man and a valuable citizen in every respect. He obtained from the town and the "proprietors" many grants of land ... He died in 1720, aged eighty-two years, leaving a widow and eight children. He was regarded as the richest man in Wells at the time of his decease, being in possession of real and personal property valued at five thousand dollars. His large landed property in Kennebunk appears to have fallen into the hands of his widow and his son John, born September 5, 1694, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Hill, in 1722. To him and his father-in-law were granted the three hundred acres of land and the water power on the Mousam originally granted to Sayward, and they built a saw-mill and perhaps a grist-mill on the site of Sayward's in 1730. 'Storer's garrison in Wells,' so referred to as the refuge of fugitives from Indian atrocities, was built by his father soon after the commencement of the Indian Wars and continued to be maintained as an effective stronghold under the management of his son to their close. John was distinguished for his bravery, patriotism and open-handed benevolence. He was at the taking of Louisburg, C.B., in 1745 ...Joseph, [his] eldest son, continued his father's business in Kennebunk and in 1757 became a resident of the Second Parish, the first of the name who made it his permanent home [eventually building the Storer mansion]." - Remich, pp. 534-35
John Storer "began business as a trader, and had such success that he was encouraged to follow in the footsteps of many others of the townsmen and enter into navigation ... In 1795, he built the largest vessel ever built in Wells or Kennebunk to that time, being a ship of 280 tons." He also served for many years as selectman, town treasurer, and representative. - Bourne, pp. 768-769
Bibliography:
The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820 - by Edward Bourne (1875)
History of Kennebunk from its Earliest Settlement to 1890 - by Daniel Remich (1911)
Maine Probate Abstracts Vol I 1687-1775 - John Eldridge Frost (1991)
FamilySearch.org record for John Storer, located at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/M213-XML
