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 9
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Boggs, alone, was bred to farming, and fully entered into its spirit. He had quite a stock of cattle, which he, in winter, kept in a long hovel of logs and bark, on his farm, then at the northern extremity of the settlement, and now occupied by J. and J. W. Boggs. These ranged the woods in summer, and were wintered on fresh and salt hay, cut on the native meadows, and preserved in stacks ; for, as yet, there was no barn on the river. He had always a plenty of meat, but used no tea or coffee. His wife, inviting Waldo to her house, promised him " butter as yellow as the croon o' goold." The three lots, which he selected for himself and sons, were chos- en, not more for their excellent soil, than for their situation and privileges. They were at the very seat of the alewife fishery, which afforded an ample resource in times of scarcity ; and, being on the confines of the settlement, opened an invit- ing field to his restless and daring spirit, in the opportunities presented for hunting and trapping. The Indians complained of his trespassing on their reservations. Indeed, the uppermost lot was so evidently within their claim, that, when Samuel Boggs, 2nd, subsequently commenced clearing it, he did not venture to erect his house upon it, but placed it just over the line, on the lot below.
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Whilst residing in Boston, during the preceding war, one of Mr. Boggs's daughters formed a connection with a young man from Ireland, residing in Philadelphia, who was well off, with regard to property, but of the Roman Catholic religion. This was a sufficient objection to the match in the mind of the father, who in his own country had been so bitter a foe to Catholics and tories, and had al- lowed his zeal to carry him so far in hunting up and ex- posing them, that he found it necessary to leave the coun- try for safety. He, accordingly, set his face resolutely against the match. The daughter persevered, and was dis- inherited. Maternal affection, however, still lingered in the breast of the mother, who contrived, without the knowledge of the father, to give her a small dower, chiefly in linen, of which they brought great stores from Ireland. This she effected by leaving it in situations agreed upon, whence the daughter might take it without exciting suspicion. The name of her husband is not recollected; there being no farther intercourse between the families, except one visit, many years afterwards, from one of her children .*
Others of these early settlers had resided in Boston, either during this war, or prior to their settling at St. George's, and worshipped with the Presbyterian society of Scotch Irish under the pastoral charge of their countryman, Rev. John Morehead, in Long Lane, now Federal Street. This society was formed in 1727, and the house in which they worshipped, originally a barn, together with the land on which it stood, was, June 9th, 1735, sold to the society, by John Little, for the sum of £140 and 5 pence, in good public bills of credit. After the death of Mr. Morehead, in 1773, the society assum- ed the Congregational order, and has since been distinguished by the services of such eminent men as Belknap, Channing, and Gannett, their present pastor.t Boggs, and perhaps some others of the settlers here, had been educated as Episcopa- lians ; but the greater number were Presbyterians, and most of them exemplary in all the Christian observances. As usual with the church to which they belonged, all, for those times, had received a good elementary education. Many wrote a fair hand ; and none, so far as known, were unable to read and write.
The Germans, at Broad Bay, also returned after an absence of three years, and revived their ruined settlement. A saw-
* Mrs. I. Fuller, L. Parsons, 1st, A. Kelloch, 2d.
t Chris. Reg. vol. 28, No. 44.
ANNALS OF WARREN.
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CONRAD HEYER,
BORN APRIL 10тн, 1749.
(From a pencil sketch, taken in 1850, by Wm. E. Rivers.)
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mill was built where Sproul's has since been, by Ector and Martin, who were of English descent, and came from the westward .* A number of families, we know not exactly how many, also arrived from Germany ; among whom the earliest birth was that of Conrad Heyer, who is (May 1st, 1851,) still living in the upper part of Waldoboro'. He was the son of Martin Heyer, and born at Schenk's Point ; enlisted in the army in the fall of 1775, served upwards of two years, has ever been a hard-working, temperate man, and now, at the age of 102 years, is able to read fine print without glasses, though his hearing is somewhat impaired.
In 1749, an effectual attempt was made to redeem the paper currency, which was now so depreciated that one ounce of silver would purchase 50s. of old, and 12s. 6d. of the new, tenor bills. Determined to redeem the whole of them, take them in, and substitute a specie currency exclu- sively, the General Court laid a direct tax upon the Province of £75,000 sterling, which they allowed to be paid in these bills at the rate of 45s. old tenor, or 11s. 3d. new tenor, for every Spanish milled dollar, thence forward called 6s. lawful money, or 4s. 6d. sterling. Accounts were kept both in old tenor and lawful money till the time of the revolution.
1750. Truck-houses were again supplied with goods, and trade opened with the Indians. All traffic with them by private individuals, was forbidden. But, in 1750, peace was partially interrupted by an affray at Wiscasset, in which one Indian was killed, and two others badly wounded. Three men were arrested and tried for this murder ; but, as was usual in those days when an Indian was killed, none of them were convicted by the jury. This led to acts of retaliation on the part of the more western and northern Indians, in which the Tarratines took no part; yet these acts, and the many rumors which they gave rise to, filled the more eastern settlements with alarm. This was the more distressing in consequence of the small force that remained for their pro- tection ; the garrison at St. George's consisting of only 15 men, and that at Pemaquid of six. Col. Cushing, who now commanded the eastern regiment in Yorkshire, was ordered to detach 150 men to scour the woods from Saco to St. George's.
1751-'2. But the northern Indians returning to Canada, no further hostilities, except some acts of private revenge,
* Joseph Ludwig, Esq.
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were committed ; and, Aug. 3d, 1751, Sagamores, from the Penobscot to the St. Johns, met the government commission- ers at St George's, and gave the fullest assurances of peace and amity. Every practicable method, subsequent to peace, was used to keep the tribes tranquil. Two trading houses were opened and well supplied ; Wm. Lithgow being ap- pointed, in 1752, truckmaster at Richmond fort, and Capt. Bradbury at St. George's ; and a confidence began to be strongly entertained in the future safety of the settlers.
Thus far, the settlement at St. George's, though a meeting- house had been built for them, seems to have had no other preaching than that of some transient visitor, or occasional missionary. But, about this time, the Rev. Robert Ruther- ford came to the place, and, for some years, officiated in the double capacity of preacher to the people and chaplain to the garrison.
To pave the way for a conciliatory conference with the Indians, Government transported to Fort Richmond and to St. George's six hogsheads of bread and six barrels of pork, to be distributed among them; and, Oct. 20th, four commis- sioners were met at the latter place by delegations of Saga- mores from all the eastern tribes, except the Mickmacs and those of St. Francois. Col. Louis, a Penobscot chief, in behalf of the rest, expressed his joy at this meeting for the preservation of peace. In order to bury the mischief that is past, he said, we must proceed upon Dummer's treaty, by which the English were to inhabit as far as the salt-water flowed, and the Indians to have the rest. If we are not dis- turbed in our right, it will end in peace, otherwise " it would set all these lands on fire." He went on to express his approbation of the commander and truckmaster, but com- plained that the prices of goods were higher than at Albany, whither some of their tribe went to traffic ; and that too much rum was dealt out to their women and young men, to the former of whom they wished none to be given, and only
moderate quantities to the latter. They also requested a house might be built for them to lodge in, near the mill, a bridge made across the stream there, and a causeway over the long meadow adjacent. The commissioners endeavored to satisfy them on all these points, promising compliance, so far as practicable, with their requests. Complaints were made by and against some of the other tribes ; but, after mutual explanations and promises, all appeared satisfied ; and the provisions of Dummer's treaty were solemnly renewed, a salute fired from the guns of the fort and the country
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sloop, and three loud huzzas given by both English and Indians. The next day, presents were distributed, belts of wampum delivered, an ox given them for a feast, and they mutually took leave, and departed. The ratification was executed under seal, and witnessed by 32 persons, among whom were " Rev. Robert Rutherford, chaplain, Jabez Brad- bury, captain, Thos. Fletcher, Joseph Robinson, Thos. Kilpat- rick, John Shibles, Benj. Burton, Wm. James, Joshua Treat, David Kelloch, Samuel Boggs, Moses Robinson, John McIn- tyre, John Howard, Samuel Howard, and John Ulmer," be- sides others with whom we are less acquainted .*
1753. On the 20th Sept. of the following year, a similar conference was held, when the Commissioners with sundry other gentlemen arrived in the river St. George's on board the sloop Massachusetts, Capt. Thos. Saunders, master. In the afternoon, the Commissioners being seated at a large table near the fort, attended by a number of gentlemen and other spectators, and some of the Chiefs and other of the Penobscot tribe being seated over against them, a long talk was held upon the price of wampum, beaver, and other articles, in which the Indians said, " Capt. Bradbury and Lieut. Fletcher are very good men ; we like them well, and desire they may be encouraged ;" but complained that goods were higher than formerly, and that sometimes there was but a scanty supply at the truck-house. After receiving full explanations and further assurances, they appeared satisfied ; the treaty of 1749 was ratified and signed by 30 or more of their chiefs ; presents were made them by the commissioners ; a dance was performed by the young Indians; and the con- ference ended by drinking the health of King George, and wishing the peace might continue "as long as the sun and moon shall endure."+
It was during this interval of peace, that an Indian doctor, by the name of John Hart, established himself a little above the settlement at St. George's, at the rapids still known as Hart's Falls, where he had a wigwam, and cultivated a patch of ground. He was allowed to remain unmolested, and, ac- cording to tradition, died and was buried there. There was said, also, to have been a garden of medicinal plants culti- vated by the Indians on the eastern side of White Oak Pond, by them called Pawnoke.}
* Printed Indian Conference, 1752.
+ Print. Conference of 1753.
: D. Dicke. Rev. J. L. Sibley of Cambridge.
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In the mean time, Gen. Waldo was not idle in procuring new emigrants. In 1752, twenty or thirty German families, who had arrived the previous year in Massachusetts, whither they had been invited and partially provided for by Govern- ment, were induced to remove to Broad Bay, and settle with their countrymen there, on the Dutch Neck, and down about the Narrows. Possibly by means of these, others were in- vited to come over from Germany; as it is said fifty families were, that year, added to the settlement there. They came from the highlands, where wine was abundant, and bitterly complained of the want of it here. There were some school- masters among them, but no regular clergyman, although religious meetings were kept up on the Sabbath without in- terruption. Probably Mr. Ulmer continued to exhort, and, in some measure, act the part of a clergyman .*
In 1753, Samuel Waldo, son of the General, visited Ger- many, and circulated proclamations inviting farther emigration. Of these, the author has been unable to obtain a copy, and cannot give the precise conditions offered the emigrants. An unskilful translation of a German letter, on file in the Massa- chusetts Records, after giving an account of Mr. Waldo's military achievements, the quality and unencumbered title of his lands, and the adaptation of the climate to the German con- stitution, contains the following. "Such and the like favor- able circumstances might, I should think, animate our Ger- mans, here and there, to move into such a fruitful land so well situated on the sea and rivers, with such good right, and privileged, regulated, and of such a mighty and reasonable Lord possessed and parently governed, who offers it to those that are able to pay their passage without ever expecting the least reward or pay for it, where they may serve God after their Protestant religion, and are able to maintain them and others."+ According to the statement of those who were young at the time, Waldo was to give them 100 acres of land each, adjoining the salt-water where wood would bring 4s., or a German dollar, per cord, and, during the first season, furnish them with suitable dwellings and provisions. The offers made, whatever they were, induced sixty families more, to emigrate from that country. Leaving their native homes, they passed more than twenty miles by land, em- barked in small boats upon the Rhine, descended that river to Dusseldorf, where they remained awhile for others to arrive,
Joseph Ludwig, Esq. + Mass. Rec. filed July 4, 1785.
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and then proceeded to Amsterdam. Embarking on board a ship, they left that city ; but touched at Cowes. Here, several of their number died. Among these was John Joseph Lud- wig, father of Jacob and Joseph Ludwig, from whom all those of the name in the vicinity are descended. He was of Wen- demalhae in Nassau-Dillenburg, and his two eldest children brought a certificate of membership of the church there. Others were from Franconia, Swabia, and Wirtemburg. From Cowes they sailed to Portsmouth, and thence to St. George's river. At Pleasant, Point they were transferred to a sloop, which they filled as close as they could stand, and were car- ried round to Broad Bay. They arrived there in September. Some were crowded into a house near where the Heads afterwards erected a store; some were disposed of among the other settlers ; and the remainder, far the greatest num- ber, were put in a large shed erected for the purpose, near the present dwelling of J. Bulfinch, Esq. This shed was sixty feet long, without chimneys, and utterly unfit for hab- itation ; yet here these destitute exiles, neglected by their patron, whose promises in this instance, either from his ab- sence or other cause, were wholly unfulfilled, dragged out a winter of almost inconceivable suffering. Many froze to death ; many perished with hunger, or diseases induced by their privations ; and their graves are, or were a short time ago, to be seen near the bridge. The old settlers were too poorly supplied themselves, to afford much assistance to the new comers, who were fain to work for a quart of buttermilk a day ; and considered it quite a boon when they could gain a quart of meal for a day's labor. They sought for employ- ment, also, at Damariscotta and St. George's ; and many of the children were put out to service in those settlements. They were unacquainted with hunting; and such was the scarcity of provisions, that even those who had money were unable to procure them .* The next spring, Waldo appointed Charles Leistner his agent, to dispose of the emigrants, and deal out the provisions provided for them. Instead of the hundred acres of land promised them, on the salt-water where wood would bring 4s. a cord, this agent took them back two miles into the heart of the wilderness, and there, perhaps
* Though generally poor, there seems to have been some money among the emigrants, as it is said, that, of the three schoolmasters with them, one was so wealthy, and in consequence, so arbitrary, that, on any dispute arising, when arguments failed, he used to threaten to knock down his opponent with a bag of Johannes.
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from fear of Indian hostilities, assigned them a half acre, each, in a compact cluster. Here, they built their huts, carrying up boards, or covering their roofs with bark, in the best man- ner they were able. Peter Mühler or Miller, built something of a house, quite a distinguished one among its neighbors. They cleared up their small lots, and planted them as well as they could. The same year, George Varner built a grist- mill, near the saw-mill before mentioned, partly on his own, and partly on Waldo's account. Leistner, a man of educa- tion, had been appointed, by their Prince in Germany, to superintend the expedition, and protect the emigrants from imposition. He exercised the powers of a magistrate during his life, but did not entirely escape the murmurs of the set- tlers, who, in their privations and jealousy, accused him, perhaps without any foundation, of selling, for his own benefit, the provisions which had been furnished for them .*
Whilst his son was procuring emigrants in Germany, Gen- eral Waldo himself was not idle. Being in London, about this time, he issued printed circulars, inviting emigrants to settle upon his lands " on the great River St. Georges, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the colony of New-Eng- land." These lands he describes as being fifty leagues N. E. of Boston, in lat. of 43º 40' N. He represented the climate to be as wholesome and safe for British constitutions as any part of South or North Britain ; that there was com- monly hard frost and snow for about three months every winter, during which the sky was so serene that the weather was never prejudicial to health ; that the soil was as fertile as most lands in South or North Britain, being commonly black mould with a bottom of blue or yellow clay ; that the ground was capable of producing plenty of Indian Corn, Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, Beans, Peas, Hemp, Flax, and Roots of all kinds, and of raising Black Cattle, Swine, and Sheep ; that, besides summer feeding in the woods, natural meadows abounded, and the whole summer season being commonly fair, great provision of hay might be made early and secured with small expense; that the timber consisted of Oak, Beech, Maple, Elm, Birch, and all kinds of Fir or Pine, all which were in such demand at Boston as to pay for clearing the lands, and well adapted for making pot and pearl ashes ; that the waters abounded in cod, haddock, salmon, stur- geon, mackerel, eels, smelts, bass, shad, oysters and lobsters ;
* Joseph Ludwig, Esq. Dep. of Jacob Ludwig, Esq.
Com. Rep. 1811, p. 164. Col, J. Ludwig, Jr.
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that there was fine opportunity of hunting ; wildfowl, moor- deer, and beaver being abundant. He stated the religion of the Province was chiefly Calvinistical or Presbyterian ; and all sorts of Christians, except Papists, were allowed the free exercise of their religion. Upon these lands, emigrants were invited to settle, on condition of having their lands free for the first nincteen years, and after that, to pay a small quit-rent, which was to vary, according to the time the settler chose to have it commence, from ten to forty shillings per hundred acres. He agreed, also, to aid them in procuring cattle, horses, grain, with all necessary victual, seed, and whatever else is needed, at the prime cost. He offered, at the same time, to transport, at his own expense, house and ship carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, lime-burners, brick- makers, and ingenious millwrights, and those acquainted with building wooden dams across rivers, and to give them employment. Finally, if, on their arrival in America, they did not find all things by him stated to be strictly true, he agreed to pay them for their time, and take them back at his own expense. He concluded by naming certain agents, in Glasgow, who were authorized to enter into any special agreement with such as chose to emigrate, respecting any matters that might be judged necessary, particularly the method and expense of embarkation .*
These offers attracted the attention of sundry persons in Stirling, Glasgow, and other places in Scotland, who, after consultation, entered into an agreement, the terms of which are not exactly known, to emigrate. Some of them, who were without families, agreed to work for Waldo four years in payment of their passage. Others, at stipulated times after their arrival, were to pay for their passages as well as for supplies furnished. Being collected for embarkation to the number of sixty, besides ten or more children, who went passage free, they went on board the brig Dolphin, Captain Cooters, in the summer of 1753, and, after touching at Pis- cataqua, where they remained a week or more, arrived in George's river in September. Dr. Robinson had contracted with Waldo to erect a house, and have it ready for their reception on their arrival. This he commenced near the house occupied by the late Capt. Dagget, since rebuilt by his grandson, E. B. Alford. He built the walls of logs, and par-
* Original Circular, printed without date, in possession of Mr. G. Anderson ; and recorded in Reg. Office, Wiscasset.
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titioned the inside into fourteen rooms designed to accom- modate the whole company, which contained that number of families. But from the want of materials, or other cause, the roof was never made, and the structure remained unfin- ished and unoccupied till the timber decayed. In conse- quence of Robinson's failure to complete his job, the emi- grants scattered round and lived the first winter with the old settlers. Provisions were supplied them by Waldo ; who ap- pointed Boice Cooper a kind of commissary to take charge of, and deliver them out at stated times. The names of these emigrants were Archibald Anderson, John Dicke,* Andrew Malcolm, John Miller, John Crawford, Thomas Johnston, John Mucklewee, John Brison, Andrew Bird, John Kirk- patrick, John Hodgins, John Carswell, John Brown, Robert Kye, - Grenlaw, Wilke, - Beverage, -
Auchmuty, and ---- Anderson. They were mostly mechan- ics, and unacquainted with all agricultural operations, except reaping and threshing. Malcolm was a Glasgow weaver ; and Archibald Anderson, who married his sister and belonged to Bannockburn, was of the same trade, and had worked in the same city. Dicke of Stirling, was a maltster and brewer, Miller a delf-ware manufacturer, Kirkpatrick a cooper, Hodg- ins a bookbinder, Crawford a shepherd or herdsman, and Auchmuty a slaie maker. Having the promise of lands within two miles of tide waters, they naturally looked forward to the comforts of city life to which they had been accustom- ed at home ; and fearful of Indian hostilities, and unacquaint- ed as they were with the wild beasts that frequented the woods, they could not think of going to separate farms, and fixing their habitations at a distance from each other.t
1754. Accordingly when the spring opened in 1754, they went out to the place assigned them for a new city, and took possession of their half acre lots, on which they erected small log huts, in a continuous street between the present house of Gilbert Anderson and the school-house No. 13. To this embryo city they gave the name of Stirling, in honor of that from which most of them had come. They had to learn even to cut down a tree, and supposed nothing could be done in husbandry until the trees and stumps were entirely eradi- cated. Some of these settlers had been delicately brought up. Mrs. Dicke was the daughter of a Laird, and unused to any kind of domestic labor ; but this distinction was here
* Pronounced, and often spelled, Dickey.
+ A. Anderson, Ist, and 2d., D. Dicke, &c,
8
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only one of disadvantage and inferiority. Kirkpatrick, Johns- ton, and some others, being unmarried, worked four years for Waldo according to agreement. This was of great advant- age to them, as they thereby acquired the use of the axe and a knowledge of the various operations incident to the clearing up of new lands. James and Archibald Anderson, John and perhaps Margaret Miller, John and Ann Crawford, John and William Dicke, James Malcolm, whom many of my readers will remember, and probably others, were then child- ren or infants born in Scotland. The first child, born after their arrival, was Mr. Dicke's, and named Waldo, for which the General promised to give him a lot of land as soon as he should get large enough to wear breeches. But the General dying, the promise was never fulfilled. Education, with the most of them, had not been neglected ; and the few books they had, especially the bible and psalm-book, were doubly dear to them from the absence of public worship in their dreary and desolate exile. Mr. Crawford, who, while employed as a shepherd in his native country, had committed a great part of the bible to memory, used every Sabbath to call at the house of one or another and recite portions of Scrip- ture, accompanied with commentaries, exhortation and prayer. Yet their expectations were disappointed, their spirits cast down, and, bringing with them the superstitions of their coun- try, and unused to the labors their situation required, they groaned under a load of bodily and mental suffering. Strange sights, strange sounds assailed them ; fireflies glared in the woods, frogs croaked in the ponds, and loons uttered their unearthly cries in the evening twilight. They contended with hunger and cold, witches and warlocks, till in the following year, the Indian war compelled them to enter the fort for protection.
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