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WALDOBORO
Gc 974.102 W14m 1146200
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
6
GEN
750
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01187 6346
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofw00mill_0
toms truly Jan LMiller
HISTORY
of the Town of
WALDOBORO,
Maine,
By
THE F
SAMUEL L. MILLER.
ILLUSTRATED.
-
EMERSON, PRINTER, WISCASSET, 1910.
1146200
PREFACE.
7.50
In the preparation of the History of Waldo- boro we have responded to the request of many 0 residents and former residents of the town. Near- ly forty years ago we began to collect information for this work, and many who freely gave this in- formation have passed to the life beyond. In no sense have we attempted to make this a genealogy.
In the prosecution of the work we have avail- ed ourselves of the records of the town, county, State and United States. We have consulted books, pamphlets and traditionary information. From the Massachusetts archives at the State House, Boston, the Boston Public Library, the Maine Historical Society, Eaton's Annals of Warren, and Johnston's History of Bristol and Bre- men, we secured much valuable information. We are under especial obligation to Prof. Henry L. Chapman of Bowdoin College, William D. Pat- terson, Esq., of Wiscasset, A. R. Reed, Esq., of Waldoboro, and others for assistance.
Sou
We hope our critical readers will take into consideration the many difficulties involved, re- conciling conflicting statements, and verifying tra-
4
PREFACE.
ditions, especially in the first twenty-five years of our history, for which we have no written records. The German language, too, has been a source of much inconvenience.
With this brief explanation we submit the History of Waldoboro.
SAMUEL L. MILLER. Waldoboro, June 1, 1910.
CHAPTER I.
THE WALDO PATENT.
A history of the Town of Waldoboro, Maine, properly begins with an account of the MUSCONGUS, or WALDO PATENT. In 1606 a grant was made to the Plymouth Company of the northern part of the territory claimed by the English. During the previous year Capt. George Weymouth had been dispatched across the Atlantic, and on the 17th of May had anchored at Monhegan.1 In 1607 the Plymouth Company established what is known as the Popham colony, at the mouth of the Kennebec river, which, however, only remained one year. In 1614 the Plymouth Company sent out from London Capt. John Smith, who, ranged the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod. On his return, prince Charles, afterwards, king Charles I, being presented a map of the territory, gave it the name of New England. This name was officially recog- nized in the charter by which that monarch granted the territory between 40° and 48º N. lat- itude, to "The Council of Plymouth," which, in 1620 took the place of the "Plymouth Company."
Monhegan was at this time a general resort
I. Indian name for Grand Island.
6
HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
for European fishermen and traders. Temporary settlements were also made on the mainland. John Brown was located at New Harbor as early as 1621 and in 1625 obtained from the Indian Sagamores Samoset and Unongoit, in considera- tion of fifty skins, a deed of the land between Broad Bay and Damariscotta river, to the extent of twenty-five miles into the country. John Brown and his descendants remained there till driven away by the Indians. They claimed the land un- der this deed till the adjustment of 1812.
About 1630 serious apprehensions were en- tertained that the Council of Plymouth would be dissolved. Laboring under this fear the Council made various hasty grants, among which was the grant, March 23d, 1630, to Beauchamp and Lever- ett, called the"Lincolnshire, or Muscongus Patent," or grant. Its extent was from the seaboard be- tween the rivers of Penobscot and Muscongus,' to an unsurveyed line running east and west and so far north as would, without interfering with any other patent, embrace a territory equal to thirty miles square and included nearly all of the present counties of Waldo and Knox, and a portion of Lincoln. The grant was made to John Beauchamp of London, and Thomas Leverett of Boston, Lincoln County, England .? No price was paid
I. Called by the Indians Seremobscus.
2. Eaton's Annals of Warren.
7
THE WALDO PATENT.
for this tract; it was thought that the settlement of the section would enhance the value of others. The same year a trading station was established on the Georges river, in what is now Thomaston. This settlement was broken up by King Phillip's war, which terminated in 1678. After this, with the exception of a few weak settlements, the whole territory lay desolate for nearly forty years.
After the death of Beauchamp, Leverett, by right of survivorship, succeeded to the whole patent. On the death of Leverett in Boston, 1650, and of his wife, 1656, the patent passed into the hands of their son, Capt. John Leverett, after- wards governor of Massachusetts colony.
In 1720 John Leverett, President of Harvard College, a grandson of Governor Leverett, had become proprietor of the Muscongus Patent. He associated with himself others and they were known as the "Ten Associates." Subsequently twenty more, including Jonathan and Cornelius Waldo, were admitted into the company, under mutual obligations for procuring settlers.
In 1731, the claims of the Thirty Proprietors being disputed, Samuel Waldo, of Boston, who had secured by purchase, or inheritance, from his father, Jonathan Waldo, a considerable interest in the Muscongus Patent, was sent to England to effect an adjustment. He succeeded so well that, on his return, the Thirty Proprietors joined in sur-
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
rendering to him for his services, one half of the Patent. Subsequently he acquired title to the whole region, which thereafter was known as the WALDO PATENT.
On the death of Samuel Waldo in 1759 the land descended to his four children, Samuel, Francis, Lucy and Hannah. The last named be- came the wife of Thomas Flucker, Secretary of the Province. Flucker afterwards purchased the shares belonging to Samuel. Lucy died without children. Flucker and Francis Waldo were Tories and their property became forfeited to the State. In 1774 Henry Knox, afterward a Revolutionary general and the first Secretary of War, married Miss Lucy Flucker, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Waldo) Flucker and the grand-daughter of General Waldo. After the Revolution General Knox purchased four-fifths of the whole Patent; the remainder was the property of his wife. Thus in his own right and the inheritance by his wife, he became sole Proprietor of the Waldo estate.1
The Waldo family was of German descent. Jonathan Waldo resided and traded in Boston. He died May 26, 1731. His son Samuel, who styled himself "the hereditary lord of Broad Bay," was born in England in 1696. He also became a
I. Many of the farms in this vicinity were originally conveyed by deeds direct from General Knox and some of these documents, yellow with age, bearing his peculiar signature, are still in existance.
9
THE WALDO PATENT.
merchant in Boston, on King, now State, street.
Samuel Waldo's children were Samuel 2d, Francis, Ralph, Hannah and Lucy. Samuel Waldo, 2d, was a graduate of Harvard College, resided in Portland and was Judge of Probate. He died April 16, 1770, aged 47 years, leaving a widow and several children, the eldest being Samuel, 3d. This third Samuel settled in Port- land and died Oct. 18, 1798, leaving several children, the eldest being Samuel, 4th. The widow of Samuel Waldo, 2d, in 1804, married Salmon Chase, a Portland lawyer, an uncle of Hon. Salmon Portland Chase, Chief Justice of the United States.
Samuel Waldo, Sr., was know as General Waldo, a title he earned by his conspicuous ser- vices in the capture of Louisburg, where he was third in rank. He was a gentleman of great en- terprise and worth, possessed of much activity and perseverance. According to tradition he made no less than fifteen voyages across the At- lantic, which was no small undertaking in those days. His name is perpetuated in this State by two towns, a county and a mountain. He was a stout, portly man of dark complexion and com- manding appearance.
General Waldo made occasional visits to this section and after his death his son came several times to look after the estate, or to sell lands.
10
HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
Eaton says it is believed General Waldo's military conduct was unexceptionable. With re- gard to that towards the settlers, although he seems to have been cautious and shrewd in making bargains, we do not find that the Irish settlers, who had been in the country and knew what to expect, had any particular complaints to make. But the Scotch and Germans, who received his offers in their own country and formed their judg- ment of them according to what they had there known of upland. meadows, tide waters, etc., were wretchedly disappointed and complained most bitterly of his deception, and non-performance of conditions.
In 1759 a force was sent up the Penobscot to take possession of the river and surrounding terri- tory. Governor Pownal, who accompanied the expedition, selected a site on Fort Point, in the present town of Stockton Springs, for the erection of a strong fort to be named Fort Pownal. As soon as the work was begun Governor Pownal and General Waldo, with a strong guard, ascend- ed the river to near the head of tide waters and went ashore on the east side. General Waldo took great interest in this expedition under the supposition that the Waldo Patent extended to the point they were then visiting. The story of his death rests upon a widely current tradition. It was to the effect that, after landing, General
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THE WALDO PATENT.
Waldo withdrew a few paces, and looking around, exclaimed: "Here are my bounds!"-and instantly fell dead of apoplexy. This occurred May 23d, 1759, it is supposed in what is now the city of Brewer. The body was brought down the Penob- scot to Fort Point (Fort Pownal) and buried with military honors. In July following the body was removed to Boston and interred in King Chapel cemetery. The inconspicuous tablet marking his grave may be seen near the city hall side of the enclosure.
CHAPTER II.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The town of Waldoboro is bounded on the north by Jefferson, Washington and Union; on the east by Union and Warren; on the south by Friendship, the waters of Muscongus Bay and Bremen; on the west by Nobleboro and Jefferson. Its north line is three and a half miles across while near the centre the town broadens to seven miles and from Pemaquid Pond on the west to Havener's Pond on the east, it is nine miles. Its length north and south, from the Washington line to the extreme point of Jones' Neck, is thirteen and a half miles. The area of the town is 25,376 acres, more or less. The northern half of the town is in the shape of a coffin. According to the United States Coast Survey, the spire of the Baptist Church is situated 44 degrees, 5 minutes, 44 1-2 seconds north latitude, and 69 degrees, 22 minutes, 6 I-2 seconds longitude west from Greenwich.
The Medomak river rises in the town of Liberty,' runs through the western part of Apple- ton, forms the division line between Washington and Union, and enters Waldoboro in the centre
I. M. F. Hanly, Esq.
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TOPOGRAPHY.
of the north boundry line, a short distance above Medomak Pond. Before it reaches Waldoboro, it receives two considerable tributaries, one from the east, called Pattingall's stream, which rises in the eastern part of Appleton, and runs through North Union to the Medomak; the other, which rises in Liberty and runs through Washington Pond and Washington village to the Medomak. Medomak Pond, through which the river flows, receives the overflow of Little Medomak Pond, situated a mile eastward. At Winslow's Mills a stream enters the river from the Kaler Pond situated on the Nobleboro line. After receiving several minor tributaries the Medomak reaches tide water at the village, which is very near the centre of the town, draining about sixty-two square miles in its course of twenty-one miles. The river from the head of tide to Broad Bay, some three miles below, is somewhat shallow. The flats on both sides of the channel have been gradually filling up, undoubt- edly aided by the growth of salt grass. A mile or more below the village occurs a shoal in the channel, known locally as the "Middle Ground," which seriously interferes with navigation.
Three miles below head of tide the river ex- pands into Broad Bay, which is more than a mile wide, narrowing again between the lower end of Dutch Neck and upper end of Jones' Neck, into a passage called the "Narrows," which is also
14
HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
marked by a small rocky island called the "Nar- rows' Rock." From this point the river continues its course, divided below the narrows into two channels by Bremen Long Island and Cow Island, and empties into Muscongus Bay eight or ten miles from head of tide. The river formerly abounded with salmon. Alewives have been more or less abundant and smelt have always been taken in the spring. In recent years smelt fishing through the ice has become a considerable industry.
Besides the ponds already mentioned, Gross Pond, in the southwestern part of the town, is noted for its steep banks and great depth of water, which give it a place among the natural curiosities. The western line borders Pemaquid Pond three quarters of a mile and extends the entire length of Duck Puddle stream and pond, and on the eastern line we find Sidensparker's and Havener's ponds.
Dutch Neck, a large peninsula, forming the western shore of Broad Bay, was evidently once an island. The tide which makes up an inlet from Broad Cove at the present time, nearly reaches the waters of Medomak river at Meeting House Cove.
The geological features of the town are common to those of this part of the country. Countless ages ago the earth was vastly hotter
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TOPOGRAPHY.
than it is now. While cooling it has been con- tracting and this contraction going on slowly, caused the sedementary, organic and igneous rocks, which formed the crust of the earth, to yield more to the strain in some places than in others. Consequently we find the surface of Waldoboro elevated into ridges and depressed into valleys. Many of these ridges are of con- siderable elevation though none are distinguished as mountains. The village is situated between two ranges of hills which rise to the height of two or three hundred feet, and the highways by which it is approached from any direction, except the north, pass over high hills, which our forefathers made no attempt to avoid. Prock's Ledge, near the village is a prominent elevation of rock, and in the southwestern part of the town, on the Bremen road, the rock rears itself perpendicularly many feet above the highway. Rocky precipices are found in other parts of the town.
The igneous rocks, produced from materials fused by intense subterranean heat, and forced in- to veins of adjacent rocks, while in fluid condition, have produced excellent granite. The largest quarry of granite in town and the only one ex- tensively worked, is that of Booth Brothers & Hurricane Island Granite Company, north of the village, from which, among other contracts was taken the stone for an extension to the State
16
HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
House at Augusta, and for the Naval Academy buildings at Annapolis. The Waldoboro granite is fine grained, light colored rock, composed of small crystals of feldspar and quartz with only specks of black mica."
The land was once covered by water. As the waters subsided, or the sea bottom was pushed up, terraces were formed by the action of the waves of the sea. One of these terraces may be seen in Levitt Storer's pasture on the east side, and similar terraces may be traced on the hillsides west of the river. That the land was once sea bottom is further proven by the alluvial deposits. In making excavations far above present tide water, substance is found closely resembling ma- rine flats in which sea shells are often embedded.
The entire territory, at some remote time, was covered by ice. Grooves and scratches upon ledges and rocks show the action of the glacial period, which is also shown in the deposit of masses of rocks and bowlders brought down by the ice. On the farm of W. J. Ewell, east of South Waldoboro road, is an immense mass of stone 45 feet long, 32 feet wide, and 9 1-2 feet above ground, weighing more than a thousand tons. This stone shows the tremendous force of
I. C. H. Hitchcock was in error when he reported limestone in Wal- doboro. None was ever discovered. Lime was formerly manufactured here from stone transported by water from Thomaston.
17
TOPOGRAPHY.
the glacial action. Another feature resulting from the drift period is the "horseback," or ridge of sand and gravel, one of which extends from the Union road to the North Waldoboro road south of the Benner mill brook.
The soil of this region is shallow, the under- lying rock frequently protuding. The soil is generally a sandy loam, while clay abounds in many places. Brick has been manufactured here for local uses.
Nearly all the swamps contain peat, locally known as muck. In the northwestern corner of the town is a large marsh, or bog, which extends across the line into Jefferson.
Where the primitive forest was composed mostly of deciduous trees, like the oak, maple and beech, upon being cut away, the succeeding growth has been found to be made up mostly of coniferæ, as the spruce, pine and fir. The original forest contained many trees of magnificient white pine.
Abundant evidence exists of the work of that industrious little quadruped, the beaver, and many of the brooks in town have dams and meadows produced by these animals, which disappeared be- fore the advance of civilization.
CHAPTER III. EARLY SETTLEMENT.
No evidence appears that the Indians ever had any permanent abode at Broad Bay, as the valley of the Medomak was called, but resorted here only in roving bands for the purpose of hunt- ing or fishing; or, in later years, to dispute pos- session with the detested white settler. Little is known of the races of aboriginal people that roamed through the unbroken forests of this re- gion for centuries previous to the coming of the white man. Historians mention a bashaba, or great ruler, whose authority extended over many tribes, and whose sagamores, or sachems, ac- knowledged him as their common sovereign. One of the great divisions of the aboriginal inhabitants of Maine was the Abenaki. They were divided into four tribes, one of which, the Wawenocks, oc- cupied the territory extending from the Kennebec to the Penobscot. The great bashaba is believed to have been of this tribe, and whose principal residence was probably near Pemaquid. The name Wanenock signifies fearing nothing, very brave. They seemed to have been less inclined to war than other tribes, and for many years no
19
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
serious trouble occurred between them and the settlers. In the devasting war between the western and eastern Indians, about 1615, the Wawenocks were greatly reduced and they were still more seriously affected by the dreadful epi- demic of 1617. When Broad Bay was first settled only a few families of this tribe survived and these soon afterwards went to Canada and joined the St. Francis Indians. The only evidence we have of their presence here are the stone axes, chisels, spear and arrow heads, or the chips of flint from which they were made, frequently found in this vicinity.
Thirty-five years ago, in a series of articles published in the Lincoln County News on the early history of Waldoboro, we expressed some skepticism in regard to the claim for any settle- ment of Europeans at Broad Bay previous to 1748. Later inquiry brought to light evidences which have lead us to change our first conclusions.
The first indication was the record at Salem, N. C., of people born at Broad Bay, Maine, at an earlier date. Secondly, Dr. M. R. Ludwig pub- lished in 1866 a memorial of Philip Christopher Vogler, who emigranted to America in 1742 and "located near Broad Bay, in New England." The third convincing evidence was found in a letter" written by Rev. John Wm. Starman in 1848. In
I. Vol. V. Maine Historical Society's Collections, page 403.
20
HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
this letter Mr. Starman states that "a few German emigrants began the original plantation of Waldo- boro; it is supposed they came over in the sum- mer, or autumn, of 1739. It was first the abode of only two or three families to which accessions were made in 1740. The Eastern and Canadian Indians, in what was called the Spanish war fell upon the settlement in May, 1746, reduced their habitations to ashes, killed some of the people, and carried the residue away captives. The settlement lay waste till 1748."
If we take Williamson's History of Maine, Sewall's Ancient Dominions of Maine, or Eaton's Annals of Warren, as authority, there was a settlement at Waldoboro, then known as Broad Bay, as early as 1740. Eaton says: "The same year, 1740, forty German families from Brunswick and Saxony, tempted by the imposing offers, which the indefatigable Waldo, when in Europe, had made and caused to be circulated in their language, after first landing at Braintree, Mass., arrived at Broad Bay, and laid the foundation of the present town of Waldoboro. Prior to this there was no settlement nearer to St. George than Pemaquid and Damariscotta." Among those early settlers Eaton mentions one John Ulmer, who acted as preacher, and afterwards removed to Thomaston (now Rockland), and from whom de- scended the extensive Ulmer family of that vicini-
21
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
ty. According to these authors, this feeble Ger- man colony settled on both sides of the bay, or river, and, after suffering incredible hardships, was entirely destroyed by the Indians as previous- ly mentioned. The houses were burned and many of the people killed, or carried into captivity. Those, who escaped, fled to St. George or Pema- quid.
In 1896, Mr. Edgar O. Achorn, a Boston law- yer, a descendant of the Waldoboro "Eichorns,"I made exhaustive researches of this subject, the results of which were embodied in a paper read before the New England and Maine Historical Societies. From the documentary evidence Mr. Achorn secured, he reached the conclusion that the first settlement of Waldoboro was made in 1742; that the transport arrived at Marblehead in October of that year; that the colony consisted of about one hundred and forty souls. "All of the writers from whom I have quoted seem to have been in error in fixing the date of the first expe- dition in 1740. Eaton was in error when he stated that they first landed at Braintree; and Mr. Keller was a month behind the calendar when he dated his letter the '6th day of the 9th month in the
I. The original German name meaning fruit of the oak. Mr. Edgar O. Achorn says : "Wherever you find the name of 'Achorn,' which is a corruption of the German name 'Eichorn,' you may know that the person burdened with it reverts back to Waldoboro, for nowhere else was such an abortion on this name ever perpetrated".
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
year 1742.' What become of this colony in sore distress, as it seems to have been in 1743, is still to my mind a matter of inquiry and of doubt. Their petition for a ship to be sent to their relief to bring them from eastern parts so that they may be employed in such business as to enable them to support themselves, their wives and children, was not granted."
Mr. Achorn continues: "I am not inclined wholly to adopt Eaton's views that they lingered until the expedition to Louisburg, 1745, then all enlisted under Waldo' and removed their families to that place. But I think that evidence as exists will confirm the conclusion that the large majority did so enlist, and that the remnant only fell a prey to, or were dispersed by, the Indians in May of the following year,-1746."
But while we now admit the evidence that a settlement of Germans was located at Broad Bay as early as 1742, we are inclined to believe it was not the first settlement in this locality. In 1873 Rufus K. Sewall, of Wiscasset, the well-known historian, in a letter to the author, stated: "Wal- doboro had its earliest settlement in the expansion of the Pemaquid population." With well-record-
I. In 1744 two regiments were organized, one commanded by Col. William Pepperell, of Kittery; the other by Col. Samuel Waldo, of Fal- mouth. In the latter regiment 270 men were credited to Georges and Broad Bay.
23
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
ed settlements in Bristol, Boothbay and New- castle and on the George river a century previous to 1742, it would be strange if the many attrac- tions of this locality had escaped observation. John Taylor had an abode on the Damariscotta river at Oyster Shell Neck and Sander, or Alex- ander, Gould lived as near as Broad Cove. William Hilton settled in what is now Bremen in I735. Eaton states that on arrival of these (first) German settlers "they found, established in their neighborhood, near Broad Cove, a Mr. Burns and a man by the name of Boice Cooper, both recently from Pemaquid." Johnston's History of Bristol states that William Burns, being dissatisfied with his location, removed to Broad Bay at the invita- tion of Waldo but being driven away by the Indians, he took his family to Scituate and in 1748 returned to Pemaquid. In 1742, in anticipation of war with France, all the forts, or block houses, including Broad Bay, received aid. In 1743 the legislature appropriated {1.280 for putting the eastern coast in a state of defence. Of this sum £75 was apportioned to Broad Bay, but its ex- penditure was delayed. All these evidences ap- pear to establish the authenticity of this early settlement.
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