USA > Maine > Knox County > Warren > Annals of the town of Warren; with the Early History of St. George's, Broad Bay and the Neighboring Settlements on the Waldo patent > Part 15
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On the 13th November, 1790, Capt. Thomas Kilpatrick,
* D. Dicke. T. Kirkpatrick. Mrs. O'Brien.
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who had commanded the militia of the upper plantation during the late war, and probably retained his commission up to this time, died at the age of 77 years. Having lived un- married, his estate passed into the hands of his sister Eliza- . beth and her son, John Shibles. To supply the vacancy in the militia, the people assembled and nominated Patrick Porterfield as a suitable candidate. But through the influence of Captain Goldthwait, who commanded Fort Pownal on the Penobscot, and in his journeys to the seat of government had become acquainted with John McIntyre, who kept a tavern and ferry as before mentioned, the appointment was given to the latter, and he continued to exercise the office of Captain down to the commencement of the revolution. William James was Lieutenant, and perhaps Reuben Hall Ensign, under him. The regiment, at this time extending to the Ken- nebee and including the settlements there, was commanded by Col. Lithgow of Hallowell ; and Moses Copeland acted as adjutant. The militia at this time seems to have fallen in many places into a state of neglect. Commissions were little estecmed, many of the regiments were without officers, mus- ters were neglected, young men were not enrolled at the proper age, and the royal Governors seemed rather to encour- age than correct this negligence .*
The disposition to disuse British goods continued to increase throughout the country. Domestic economy, art, and manu- factures, were encouraged ; gentlemen began to appear in garments produced on this side of the ocean, and people soon found they could live very comfortably without resort to England. Cups, saucers, plates, bowls, and other dishes were made of wood ; and the turning and vending of these articles became an employment of some importance. This neighborhood was supplied with them by a man from Duck- trap by the name of Dunbar, whose singularities were the cause of some merriment. Subsisting wholly, in his excur- sions, upon the hospitality of the people, he had learned to accommodate himself to its uncertainty, and by loosening or tightening his girdle as occasion required, contrived to appro- priate a good share of the abundance offered him and to feel little inconvenience from occasional want. His reply, when enquired of if he would have more food, was uniformly "I guess I'll do," the ambiguity of which, left it at the option of the host to furnish more or not ; in either alternative he
* A. Kelloch, Ist. Capt. Sproul. R. Hall, Ist. 2 Will. His. p. 387.
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always acquiesced, having never but once been known to refuse what was offered. At the house of Mr. Porterfield, it was determined to put his powers to the full proof. After · repeatedly answering, " I guess I'll do," and having swallow- ed fifteen cups of coffee, and a whole quarter of lamb, he at last exclaimed, " Enough 's enough ; and enough is as good as a feast," and jumped up from the table .*
There being as yet no clothing mills in this part of the country, the inhabitants mostly depended upon such garments as their own ingenuity could supply. The men in summer ordinarily wore what were called petticoat trousers made of tow cloth, and in winter, small clothes of deer or sheepskin. In these garments they appeared at meeting whenever they were able to have one. Some of the Germans wore their linsey woolsey trousers through the winter; and most of them, at other seasons, wore them to church without stockings or shoes. At St. George's some of the more forehanded had a dress suit, which, with the stability which then prevailed in the fashions and the few occasions on which it was need- ed, answered their purpose for a great number of years.
The dress of a gentleman was formal and stately, com- pared with that of the present day. On the head was placed a fine, napless, beaver hat, with a brim two feet broad turned up on three sides, so as to hide the low crown in the middle which exactly fitted the head ; one side of extra width was placed square across behind, while the angle formed by the other two, directly over the nose, gave the countenance an imposing appearance and formed a convenient handle by which on meeting with persons of dignity, it was raised with all the gravity of ceremony. This first defence of the mind's citadel, when not in use, was preserved in a large, triangular, oaken box, under lock and key. Under the hat, the head was still farther defended by a wig, which varied at different times and with different persons from the full bottomed curls on the shoulders, to the club or tie wig, which had about a natural share of hair tied behind, with two or three very formal curls over each ear. The coat was made with a stiff, upright collar, reach- ing from ear to ear, descended perpendicularly in front, with a broad back, and skirts thickly padded over the thighs, and ornamented with gold or silver lace. The waistcoat was single breasted, without a collar, and the skirts rounded off,
* N. Libbey.
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descending over the hips. Small clothes were buttoned and buckled at the knee. Stockings covered the rest of the leg ; and the foot was defended with a shoe, secured at first with a moderate sized silver, or other metallic, buckle, which con-« tinued to increase in size and vary in shape till it covered a great part of the foot. For a riding dress, were worn small clothes of deerskin, and boots with tops sloping upwards so that the fore part came higher than the knee, and fastened by a girdle which buckled above the knee. Jack-boots were afterwards used, with tops turned down of white. The shirt was furnished with ruffles at the bosom and wrists. As the wristband with its ruffie appeared below the coat sleeve, the sleeve buttons were no inconsiderable part of its ornament. These were not attached as at present to the wristband, which had only button-holes at each extremity, into which two buttons connected by one or more links of a chain, were inserted. These, for common, every day wear, were com- monly made of brass, or other metal, and usually cost from six to twelve cents a set. Those who were able, and especially females, who used the same ornament above the elbow, had a set for dress occasions made of silver or gold and set with stones and diamonds. But so little were the superfluities of dress used here, that when one young man of the Catholic branch of the Boggs family made a visit here from Philadelphia, considerable difficulty was expe- rienced in finding a woman capable of doing up his ruffles in the proper style.
In would be interesting to trace the various changes in this costume down to the dandy dress of the present day. But we have neither the room nor the means for detailing such frivolities. Suffice it to say that formality gradually gave place to convenience; and though new absurdities occasionally arose and continued in vogue for a while, yet almost all the permanent changes have been on the side of utility and convenience. During our intercourse with the French in the revolutionary war, many fashions were adopted from them, particularly the close pantaloons, which continued with slight variations till the fall of Buonaparte, when the loose wide trousers gathered at the hips, were borrowed from the Cossacks, who entered France in the service of the Russian monarch. The wig continued, from time to time, to shrink in its dimensions, till just after the revolution, when it was only a skull cap of short hair cut square before and behind. These were succeeded by the long queue and club of native hair, sometimes eked out and augmented with borrowed
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honors ; till, about the commencement of the nineteenth century, the good old custom, recommended by St. Paul, of wearing short hair, began, and, notwithstanding the fre- quent attempts of foppery to abolish it, seems likely from its convenience to maintain its ground.
Willingly would we describe the dress of our female ances- tors, and paint the belles of the olden time ; but so short lived are female fashions, and so often are they repeated, that we are unable to trace their order and succession, or even to catch the prevailing ton of any particular era. Only some glaring absurdity, such as the high heeled shoes, the hoop petticoat, the waist compressing stays, and the crape cushion, are preserved of these evanescent fashions. Silk, brocade, fine linen, chintz, and patch were used by such as had the means and inclination to obtain them. The recently married wife of one of the citizens, a native of Boston, caused some sensation by two silk dresses which she occasionally wore at meeting. One of these was called a sack, open before and showing an underdress of the same material. This display of dress must have sadly contrasted with a windowless meet- inghouse and seats of rough boards, and gave her a reputation for pride, which, brought up as she had been, she was not conscious of deserving. Calico, which was then four shillings a yard, was but little used ; the various fabrics of the present day were unknown ; and such of my fair readers as supply all their wants by the fashionable process of shopping, and who spin nothing but street-yarn, may be amused to learn how, in general, the same wants were supplied by the belles of this early period. Flax being committed to the ground by the men, their part was nearly or quite accomplished. When it was grown to maturity, the women and girls repaired to the field, pulled it from the ground, and bound it up in small bundles. It was then transported to the barn on poles, or by the men with oxen. Here the seed was beat from it by the same hands that pulled it, when the bundles were taken to an adjacent field, unbound, and spread open in parallel rows. Here it remained some weeks, till wind, rain, and dew had sufficiently decomposed the stalks, when it was again bound up and deposited in the barn. There it remained till the lat- ter part of winter, when the men, if out of employment, otherwise the women, proceeded with a suitable instrument to break up the stalk into fragments, leaving the fibres of the cuticle entire. These last were cleansed by an operation called swingling, twisted up in small handfuls, and removed to the house ; there the material underwent the operation of
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hackling and combing to free the hair7, or long and strong fibres, from the tow which was short and weaker. The for- mer was then put on the distaff and spun on the foot wheel. A part of this was used without farther preparation, as warp to be filled with a woof prepared from the tow which was carded and spun on the great wheel. This was called tow cloth, and worn for shirts and trousers by the men and boys. Another portion designed for female wear, was spun with a finer thread, variously colored, and woven in checks or stripes. Another portion, designed for sheeting and table linen, under- went a farther process called bucking. This was done by placing it at the bottom of a cask filled with ashes, through which water was made to pass, and the lie returned again and again, till the alkaline action upon the yarn was sufficient. It was then laid upon the snow, or grass, and kept moist till sufficiently whitened by the sun. After this it was woven, and the cloth spread again to complete its whiteness. Some- times linen warp was filled with wool, and, in later times, with cotton ; both which articles were carded and spun by hand. To aid these processes, what were called spinning- bees or wool-breakings were resorted to, when all the girls in the neighborhood would collect and card or spin till night, sometimes being joined by the young men and finishing the day's work with a dance.
Such being the tedious process, it is not strange that the fair Germans, brought up to out-door work, should sometimes prefer purchasing their apparel in Boston with the proceeds of hoeing and reaping. Elizabeth Kaler, afterwards the wife of Joseph Ludwig, worked eight days this year at hoeing potatoes for John Ulmer at eight pence a day ; a man's wages at the same time being two shillings. Gowns, as female dresses were then called, being usually open before, were, in the absence of bonnets, readily inverted over the head as a defence against sun or rain. So convenient was this custom, that it had not entirely disappeared among our German neighbors at the commencement of the present cen- tury ; at which period, umbrellas though introduced were but little used .*
Though witchcraft was generally believed by the first set- tlers, and perhaps more intensely by the emigrants from the west, who came imbued with the Salem delusions, yet little actual mischief seems to have resulted from it in this region. If among the Germans there were few professed witches,
* Mrs, J. Fuller. Jos, Ludwig, Esq.
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they had those who pretended to cure diseases by charms and incantations ; and this power continued down to the very era of mesmerism. At St. George's, now and then a cow or an ox was elf shot ; and occasionally some individual of singular appearance was dreaded by many, as possessing the evil eye, which, as far back at least as the days of Virgil, has had the power of bewitching cattle .* Against its effects, however, they felt perfectly secure, if by presents they could procure from him the expression of "God bless you." Some of the Scotch, on their first setting down in the woods, are said to have prayed earnestly for protection against the witches and warlocks, and the things that cry boo in the meadows. But, after becoming acquainted with loons, frogs, and other vocal tenants of the woods and marshes, they began to hear with delight the sounds they dreaded before. The fairies and elves continued their sports at times, till after the revolution- ary war. But the whole tribe of invisible beings seem to have accompanied the settlers from Europe rather from per- sonal attachment, than from any expectation of making a per- manent settlement in the new world. As the first emigrants died off, the creatures of their imagination gradually aban- doned the new generations that sprung up, and, except perhaps now and then a freak in some obscure quarter, no longer trouble the community.
But though these creatures of fear and fancy were more or less carly repudiated by the understanding, it was not so easy to displace them from the imagination, or efface the impressions they had made on the mind. In the scarcity of books which prevailed at that day, added to the privations always incident to a new settlement, few means were found of gratifying, by reading, that love of marvellous adventure and moving incident so pleasing alike to the learned and ignorant. This want was supplied, as in the middle ages, and the ages more remote that preceded the invention of letters, by ballads, songs, and stories, which cheered the long evenings and stormy days of winter. These were made up of real encounters with bears and savages on the one hand, and those of giants, witches, and demons in enchanted castles on the other. Being related by those who in earlier life had shuddered over them as realities, they were listened to with thrilling interest by other children in their turn, whose minds were thus early imbued with a secret
" Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos."- Ec. III.
*
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horror, which on every unexpected appearance, every un- usual sound, was ever after ready to startle and affright them. Thus a secret, lurking belief, disavowed indeed by the under- standing, but retaining a strong hold on the imagination, has been handed down, and upon some minds still exercises a powerful influence. Unlucky davs, haunted houses, and evil omens, are not wholly unheard of at the present day.
In the want of books and other means of education which prevailed, it is rather surprising that so few children grew up without learning to read and write. But privileges are gen- erally prized in proportion to their scarcity. A few books sometimes occupy more time, and impart more thorough instruction, than a multitude, carelessly read and indifferently pondered. The Bible and hymn book, the primer and al- manack, were in almost every house, and a sunday school in every family. Other schools, when any there were, were resorted to with a zeal for learning in proportion to their infrequency ; and many persons, with only a few months schooling, became in after-life extensive readers, and wrote and spelled with accuracy. Fales was a competent instructer for those in his neighborhood, and others of more slender acquirements were occasionally employed in other places. Some invalid unable to labor, some widow or single woman not otherwise employed, were all that the settlers had the means to compensate. Among these was Bartholomew Killeran of the lower town, who was altogether helpless from a paralytic affection of his lower limbs. He taught school in various places, and amongst others at the house of Moses Copeland for the children of that neighborhood. He was highly esteemed for his amiable disposition, and not the less so, that, in place of the birch and ferule, he was obliged to make use of loaf sugar to stimulate and encourage his pupils. One of his children, the Hon. Edward Killeran of Cushing, was long known as a successful, polite, and accommodating master of a packet coasting between this river and Boston, and afterwards as a member of the Legislatures of Massa- chusetts and Maine. The acquirements of the son argue well for the ability of the father as an instructer. A Mr. Mott was also employed for a while farther up the river. He afterwards settled, we believe, at Medumcook, and was favorably remembered here .*
Nor were the settlers better able to provide for religious, than
R. B. Copeland. T. Kirkpatrick, &c.
13
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for literary, instruction. A transient visit was occasionally made by some traveling clergyman or missionary, who preached and baptized for a short time, and was sometimes induced, by voluntary contributions, to remain for a longer period. Among those to whom the place was thus indebted in the interval between the close of the last Indian and the beginning of the revolutionary war, may be mentioned the names of John Dennis, - - Drown of Portsmouth, Levi Hart and Joel Benedict of Connecticut, - Wadham, John Strickland, - - Scales, Ezekiel Emerson of Georgetown, Alexander McLean of Bristol,* and a Mr. Porter, who in 1774 seems to have spent several months in the place. To many of these clergymen, considerable sums, nominally, were paid ; but as the tenor is not stated in the account of Mr. Copeland, who acted as treasurer, their true value cannot be given with certainty. Their visits, though few and far between, were, on that account, all the more dearly prized ; and long journeys were made by aged men and feeble women with infants in their arms, accompanied by bare- headed and barefooted children, to hear the words of mercy and peace proclaimed in the name of their Redeemer. Happy, perhaps, might it now be, if the good produced were in the same proportion to the privileges enjoyed.+
In the autumn of this year, a saw-mill was erected on Back River by Mr. Pebbles, in connexion with his father-in- law, Mr. Ray, or Rea, of Boston. The latter had acquired considerable property in the tailor's business, and was in- duced to invest a portion of it in this undertaking. The place, however, was ill-chosen, with no convenient brow for landing lumber ; the dam was long and expensive ; and the mill stood a great distance from the shore. It did some busi- ness the first season ; but the frosts of winter lifted the dam ; and the whole work after a few years was abandoned.
The growing hostility between the royal Governor and the representatives of the people, between power and principle, custom-house restrictions and freedom of trade, continued to increase, and the people more and more to take part in it. The only custom-house in the eastern province was estab- lished at Falmouth, of which Francis Waldo, second son of the General, was collector. Other members of this family
* Mr. McLean, a native of the Isle of Sky, came in 1773 to Pema- quid fort, was settled and continued the minister of Bristol till his death in 1805.
+ M. Copeland's Leger and MS.
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had been promoted to official stations by the royal governors ; and this circumstance naturally, if not necessarily, led them to take sides with the King.
1772. In the apportionment of the County tax, and probably also the State tax, if any were called for, the two plantations on St. George's river were, from this year, in- cluded together as one, and the sum of ££21, 10s. Id. asses- sed upon them. In consequence of this, the inhabitants of both assembled together for the choice of assessors ; and the meetings were held alternately in the upper and lower town. At a meeting held in the upper town, McCobb of the lower was chosen moderator. Upon this, Capt. McIntyre exclaimed, " what ! McCobb, McCobb forever ?" That gen- tleman remarked he was not anxious for the office, and was ready to relinquish it. "To whom ?" said Mclntyre. "To you, if agreeable." " Ah well," said he, taking the chair, " now things go on regular." We are not to infer from this that Capt. McIntyre was over greedy of office, but only frank and fearless in manner, disdaining all concealment or hy- pocrisy. In one of these years, the collection was under- taken by Reuben Hall on the western side of the river, and by Joseph Copeland on the eastern. The latter, after col- lecting a part, suffered the remainder to linger along till Susanna Annis who lived in his family, for want of paste- board, made use of the tax-bill to stiffen her bonnet; and the collector was at last obliged to sell a yoke of steers to raise the money. The depreciation of the paper currency, in the mean time, helped him so much that his loss was not great .*
In this and the preceding year, much distress was occasion- ed by a malignant fever which prevailed on this river, and carried off many of the inhabitants. Its victims in the upper town were Mrs. Porterfield, James Lermond, John Miller, 2d, Margaret Miller, and perhaps others.
1773. The plantation of Broad Bay, was in 1773 incor- porated into a town by the name of Waldoborough. Its boundaries were described by courses, distances, and monu- ments, so inconsistent with each other that it was impossible to follow them, which gives some countenance to the story that the surveying party took with them too much liquor for the nature of their work. This incorrect survey was fafterwards the cause of some' dispute between Waldo- borough and Warren, which was arranged by mutual consent,
* Rec. C. of Sessions .A. Kelloch, 1st, &c.
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and the line surveyed and marked by James Malcolm, Esq. This line was again called in question by the authorities of Waldoborough, and established by order of the Supreme Court in 1836. As this act of incorporation in some meas- ure disconnected the settlement from that of St. George's, we shall pursue its history no farther than that of the latter place requires ; hoping that some one competent to the task will give its story in a manner worthy its prosperity and the character and enterprise of its inhabitants ; not forgetting to do justice to its German fathers, among whom were particu- larly distinguished Jacob and Joseph Ludwig, who in spite of every disadvantage found means to acquire enough of the English language to enable the former to record the early transactions of the town intelligibly, and both of them to represent it efficiently in the Legislature of Massachusetts .*
The stock of tea having accumulated in England in conse- quence of its disuse in America, many cargoes were, this year, shipped to the latter, in the expectation that, when once landed and the duties paid, it would find its way into the country and meet with purchasers. Three cargoes arriving in Boston, every means was used to induce the consignees not to receive it ; and when these failed, and the town meeting, held on the subject, prolonged its deliberations to a late hour in the night without coming to any determination, seventeen men, dis- guised like Indians, boarded the ships on the evening of the 16th December, and threw 342 chests into the water. One of this party was Benjamin Burton, the second of that name, of the lower St. George's, then about twenty-three years of age. Being accidentally in Boston on board a coaster, and hearing
* Jacob, or, as baptized, John Jacob Ludwig, was about 18 years old at the time of his arrival in America. In the latter part of the French and Indian war he seems to have resided in Boston where he enlisted into the army and did service at Ticonderoga, Lake George and Crown Point, and was promoted to the rank of Orderly Sergeant. When the town was incorporated in 1773 he was chosen the first Town Clerk and one of the first Selectmen, which offices he continued to fill with few intermissions for 40 years. IIe frequently represented the town in the Legislature and sustained other town offices. In 1776 he was appointed Captain of a company sent to Machias for the protection of that place. In 1788 and at several subsequent periods he was elected a Notary Public, and in 1789 appointed a Justice of the Peace, which latter office he held till near the close of his life. His knowledge of both English and German eminently qualified him to act as a magistrate among a mixed population nearly ignorant, as they for a time were, of each other's language. He retained his facul- ties up to the time of his death, Jan. 1, 1826, at the age of 91 years and 5 months. - Col. J. Ludwig, &c.
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