USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 1 > Part 21
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Twenty-five families, according to the most conservative estimate, would mean something in an excess of a hundred persons added to the Broad Bay population. Ludwig further observes that they all came from the same general district, the highlands, where wine was abundant, and bitterly did they complain of the lack of it at Broad Bay. There were some schoolmasters among them, but no regular clergyman. At this point there is brought to a close these two unhappy odysseys, led by a modern Ulysses whose craft and deceit fell so far short of that of his ancient prototype, that they plunged him into irretrievable disaster. On September 14, 1752, the Aulic Counsellor Luther addressed his long Memorial to the Lieutenant Governor and the Massachusetts House of Rep- resentatives, setting forth his interpretation of the misconduct of Crell in his recruiting methods, denouncing him in forthright lan- guage, and withdrawing all further support from the Province so long as Crell remained its Commissioner.41 In consequence the land grants originally offered to Crell by the Province were with- drawn on June 7, 1753. He had likewise failed in the terms of his contract with General Waldo, and, in consequence, received no grant within the limits of the Waldo Patent. At this point the Commissioner for New England vanished from our history amid general condemnation which was unwarranted, for while Crell was the cat's paw manipulated by the big Province monkey, there was behind the big monkey a smaller monkey of quicker wit and a more agile schemer, who secured the lion's share of the chestnuts for himself.
To provide a complete list of the old Waldoborough Ger- mans who came to Boston in 1751 and 1752 on the ships Priscilla and St. Andrews and who in these and subsequent years reached Broad Bay would be impossible, but since these fifty families are known to have settled in the main on the west side of the river and on the Necks, it would follow with reasonable certainty that the early landholders in these areas would provide us with a fairly
40 Eaton, Annals of Warren, 1st ed., p. 81.
41Mass. Records, XV A, 222.
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reliable index, and such data is available and doubtless has high genealogical value. Here we shall list only a few of the best docu- mented cases. They include the Burketts, the Eugleys, the Hahns, the Jungs, the Orffs, the Rieds, the Heaveners, the Walcks, the Hoffses, the Stahls, the Oberlochs, the Winchenbachs, the Grosses, the Storers, the Seiders, the Achorns, the Creamers, the Lauers, the Smouses, the Wohlfahrts, and Johann Ernst Knöchel, probably a schoolmaster, who was Waldo's assistant in the migra- tion of 1753. He ultimately settled in Newport, Rhode Island. Detailed research would undoubtedly result in some deletions as well as substantial additions to the families here listed.
There is little data available on the problem of the initial adjustment made by these migrants to their new home. The 1751 group reached Broad Bay in the spring of 1752, and those who came to Boston in that year reached the Medomak in late Septem- ber or early October. This was a more opportune season of the year in which to strike root, since it afforded time to prepare for the harder winter season and also gave to General Waldo the time to make an adequate provision for their maintenance during the first winter. But Broad Bay was just at this time not a place of plenty, and these groups clearly faced the problems of scarcity, though not with the same degree of acuteness as had confronted their predecessors. One great advantage to them was that there was now at Broad Bay a solidly established settlement which had recently been blessed with a few years of peace, a fact which rendered its grip on economic security a far less tenuous one. Under such conditions, the immigrants of 1752 found a pattern of living already worked out by their predecessors which they were able to adapt to their immediate profit, and the hardships of the first years were mitigated to a considerable degree.
XI
THE LAST OF THE GERMAN MIGRATIONS
Absent thee from felicity a while And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
A HROUGHOUT THE TWO YEARS of Joseph Crell's activity in the Rhineland as the Commissioner of Massachusetts Bay, the shadow of Samuel Waldo had been ever in the background. This astute entrepreneur had recognized the crusader trait in the character of Counsellor Luther and had sedulously avoided giving him offense by carefully screening his own basic interest and part in Crell's project. When, in 1752, the break came between the Com- missioner and the Counsellor, Waldo had sided with the latter and had served as an interpreter of Luther's case to the Massachusetts Bay authorities. This element of design or purpose in Waldo's course seems to have been based on the realization that Luther was the one man above all others in the Rhine district who could aid him materially in his Broad Bay project. Waldo had not been satisfied with his allotment of immigrants from the two Crell migrations and had seen by midsummer 1752 that Crell's work was near its end. Accordingly he started to formulate plans where- under his Broad Bay project would be the beneficiary of a large- scale migration.
To achieve this end it had become clear to him that he would have to free himself from the discrimination of the shipping mo- nopolies in the great Dutch ports. Consequently, he decided to send across a ship of his own large enough perhaps to carry five hundred freights. At a date late in the autumn of 1752 he ap- proached Luther for the purpose of securing his backing for the plan. His aim, and the extent to which Luther's support was given, is set forth in the paragraph of a letter addressed to Josiah Willard, the Secretary of the Province, under the date of October 31st, 1752:
I have done everything in my Power to confirm Mr. Luther in his favourable Sentiments of the Province and to excite him not to suffer
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the Reputation he has acquired for it to dwindle, but continue his Efforts for the obtaining a Number of good substantial People to go over the ensueing Year, he is very obliging and his last Letter professes himself as hearty as ever in his Attachment to the Province, but absolutely refuses acting in his own Name; should he proceed on the Plan of Mr. Crell, or make any use of his Name, he is of Opinion that it will be derogatory to his honor, and that it will be so to accept of any private Commission, such as mine, or the Kenebec Gentlem's will be, he therefore concludes not to suffer his Name to be made Use of in any Publications; but con- descends to propose to me that if I will send this Year any Proper Per- son into Germany he will protect him as he did Crell, and recommend him to the several Offices he caused the last and foregoing Years to be erected: for Orders to keep alive the interest the Province has acquired the two last years in Germany, I have determin'd that my Son shall em- bark herein, althô it will be attended with considerable expence, and I can have no Dependance that the People, which may go over the next Year will settle on my Lands; I would rather have hired a Man either here or in Germany for this Service, the Expences would have been less, being a Mercenary he would be looked on as a Werber, or a "Neu- Laender," which Sett of People it's the declared Resolution of Mr. Luther and several other Persons of Worth to suppress, for their repeated Vil- ainys and Irregularitys.1
From this paragraph it is clear that Luther's interest was still along the lines of the original Province project and that he was still insistent on the principle that any emigrants he assisted in recruiting should retain full freedom to choose where in New England they wished to settle. In short, his aid could not be secured on any other basis. It was also at about this time that the local German rulers, aroused by the abuses practiced by unofficial recruiters, were putting stringent regulations into effect and im- prisoning those who violated them. Hence Waldo found it imprac- tical to operate openly in the sole interest of his project at Broad Bay, for thereby, as he implies, his agents would have incurred the enmity of Luther .and the risk of being checked by the local rulers. In Germany, then, he was compelled to accept Luther's principle; but at sea and aboard his own ship, he would be free to dispose of his cargo as he wished. On this basic point Luther's position is made clearer by the fact that in 1752 he had refused the offer of a township made to him by the Kennebec Proprietors, which he could settle with his own immigrants, because of his rigid adherence to the principle that his fellow countrymen should be free to settle in areas of their own choice. With the basic reser- vation in mind relative to the disposition of his own emigrants, Waldo had accepted Luther's aid.
By 1753 emigration in Germany had taken a new turn which was decidedly in Waldo's favor. The Lords of Trade and Planta- tions in England had by investigation ascertained that more emi-
1Mass. Records, XV A, 212-215.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
grants had been sent to Nova Scotia than could be advantageously accommodated.2 In fact, conditions in the German colony at Lünenburg had come to such a pass by 1753 that order had to be restored by force of arms. This arose from conditions which, according to the Governor, Lord Cornwallis, were as follows: 1. There were too many immigrants; 2. They were of a class not to the advantage of the Province; 3. They had been induced to migrate on the basis of promises which could not be fulfilled. In consequence, he recommended to the Parliament that no further arrangements be made for sending emigrants to that area. This brought an end to the activities of Mr. Dick in the Rhine district and cleared the field for Waldo of a man who had been one of Crell's most active and resourceful competitors. Meanwhile, as has been indicated, Luther having offered his support to Waldo on the condition that the latter would send a trustworthy man to Germany who would deal in a legitimate and economical man- ner with those Germans who desired to emigrate, the General had decided to send his eldest son and heir, Captain Samuel Waldo, to assume full charge of the project.
In the autumn of 1752 Waldo sent the first of his official announcements to Frankfort, which Luther had printed in the local press of that city, as well as in the papers of Speyer, Mann- heim, Heilbronn, and other towns. This advertisement made it known that in the coming spring, "one of the Proprietors of Massachusetts Bay has determined ... to come to Germany him- self and to enroll the people who are in a position to pay their ocean passage, and to convey and accompany them in person in ships chartered for that purpose." Such people it was stated would be enrolled only "with the most gracious permission of their re- spective rulers,"3 which was undoubtedly a reference to the regu- lations recently thrown around this activity by the Rhine princes as a check to long-standing abuses. This was also the reason that of all Broad Bay immigrants only those of 1753 brought passports with them. The passport of Joseph Ludwig is given here as typical of the kind of document brought to Broad Bay by all those in this migration:
No. 2665. Whereas Joseph Ludwig of Niederroth, in the Principality of Dietz, is willing to depart from this country for America, and whereas in con- sequence thereof he has duly applied for the necessary papers of Dis- missal from his citizenship, and whereas we do not hesitate to disagree with his request:
Now, therefore, such papers are herewith granted to him, and he 2British Archives, Report of Lords of Trade and Plantations, VIII, 391. 3Ober-Post-Amts Zeitung, Frankfort am Main, No. 184, Nov. 17, 1752.
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is consequently released as a subject of the most gracious regency of this country.
Signed, Dillenburg, June 16, 1753.
L.S. The President, Privy Councillors, Privy Judiciary and Administra- tors, of the Prince of Orange-Nassau.
Fr. Fybra.
In all respects Waldo's initial advertisement was in con- formity with the stipulations laid down by the princes as well as with the conditions imposed by the humanitarian scruples of Coun- sellor Luther.
In the beginning of the year 1753 Waldo's German secretary, Johann Ernst Knöchel, arrived in Europe. Under date of January 11th he sent from Holland a document of considerable length which was published by Luther in two sections in the Ober-Post- Amts Zeitung of January 20th and 23rd. It bore the heading: "De- scription of the Colonies in British America, especially of New England, along with a Sketch of the Life of General Waldo." It is a revealing document. With brief mention it passes over the Ger- man settlements in Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia and is somewhat more specific in reference to the German settlement of the Kenne- bec Proprietors4 and the settlement of the Boston merchants at New Germantown near Boston. The story of Waldo's own life and lands is considerably expanded. His estates are referred to as "Massachusetts Bay, which belongs almost entirely to Mr. Samuel Waldo." There then follow certain details of Waldo's life and achievements couched in language that is fittingly feudal in tone:
He has the thoroughly established reputation of being one of the most just men in the world, full of magnanimity and altruism, and an Englishman to the very tips of his fingers. The lands which he possesses and rules are of vast extent; and he is more of a father than a regent to his subjects.
In this document it should be noted (as though he enter- tained doubts of the validity of the title to some of his lands) that he gives the fullest assurance of the legality of his claims:
In the years 1730 and 1731 Mr. Waldo had all his deeds and grants investigated, so that no counterclaims could be raised or validated. The original grant dates back to 1629 and has since been augmented by pur- chases. At the end of every Indian War his claims have been recognized in the peace by the Indians and the chiefs representing them. Finally in the year 1732 he had all his rights Confirmed by the King and Council in London, from whence the necessary orders were issued to the Gov- ernors in America to his complete satisfaction and that of his present and future subjects.
"The present town of Dresden.
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Such a fruitful land with all rights assured, ruled by such a powerful and just Lord, he offered free of costs to such as were in a position to pay the costs of their own transportation.
In late January Waldo's secretary, Knöchel, arrived in Frank- fort and went as a guest to Counsellor Luther's home, where he set up his emigration office. He shortly published notices of this fact in Heilbronn, Speyer, Mannheim, Worms, Kitzingen, Erlan- gen, and Herborn, and at the same time established new agencies in other centers, among which the one in Dillenburg under Magis- trate Bredenbeck was the most noteworthy. Through the work of this bureau and these agencies, Knöchel was in a position at the beginning of March, according to H. A. Rattermann, to send a small transport of emigrants via Holland to Boston.5 We can find no trace of such a migration, and if it occurred at all, it may have been a mere palliative to Luther's Province dream. To further such a dream was not, as we know, Waldo's real purpose.
By mid-March "the Hereditary Lord" himself, along with his son, Captain Samuel, reached Frankfort with a passport "made out in the name of the King," enjoining all subjects and officials of His Majesty to permit General Samuel Waldo to pass "free and unhindered" through all British territories. Furthermore it re- quested
all servants, officers and subjects of all Princes and States [who were allied with or friendly to the King] to permit the said General Waldo to pursue his journey to Frankfort on the Main, or to any other place in Germany or in Switzerland . .. in order to collect the people of the Protestant faith, who may wish to settle in the aforesaid Province of Massachusetts Bay. And further ... to permit him, the aforesaid General Samuel Waldo, and also such persons as in the aforesaid manner shall suffer themselves to be united with him, to travel together with their guides and all their effects, free and unhindered, through Switzerland and the various countries of Germany to Holland, in order to embark at Amsterdam or any other seaport of that country, to be transported to the aforesaid Province of Massachusetts Bay.
At this time the name of the British monarch carried im- pressive weight on the continent of Europe, and in this document Waldo possessed a tool calculated to impress petty princes, to secure their cooperation, to lift tariff barriers, to eliminate delays, and to expedite in every way the execution of his project.
At Frankfort Waldo was received by the British Consul and the magistrate of the city with great honor. There he left his son Captain Samuel as his agent with plenary power, while he went on to Regensburg to secure from the Reichstag6 the permission to recruit emigrants in the different principalities. This commission
5Der Deutsche Pionier, XVI Jahrgang (Cincinnati, 1884-85).
6The Imperial Assembly.
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he placed in the hands of the British Ambassador, Mr. Onslow Burich, and then returned through France to England. Meanwhile his son had taken up residence at Luther's house, and from there directed the emigration bureau which continued to function until the autumn of 1753.
Soon after his arrival in Frankfort, young Waldo released to the newspapers an announcement which made known his pres- ence in the city, his purpose in being there, and the following places to which prospective emigrants might apply: Luther's Type Foundry and the Office of Eichenberg's newspaper in Frankfort, Leucht and Allerger's printing office in Augsburg, Mr. John L. Martin's (merchant) in Heilbronn, and Mr. Goethel's printing office in Speyer. This document included a warning against all il- licit recruiting and outlined in general what those interested in migrating might expect in the way of land allotments.7
In connection with this announcement, Captain Waldo had the following circular printed and broadcast throughout the Rhine district:
THE SUBSTANCE IN BRIEF OF THE PRINCIPAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONDITIONS RESPECTING THE SETTLEMENT OF FOREIGN
PROTESTANTS IN THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS
BAY IN NEW ENGLAND, ESPECIALLY BROAD BAY
There then follows a sort of preamble sketching the location of the Province, its government, with due emphasis laid on local autonomy; the city of Boston, its size and location; the quality of the soil, the forests with their lumber; the fruit grown; the flax and hemp, and the plentitude of wild game. Then follows an out- line of the terms offered by Waldo governing conditions of set- tling at Broad Bay:
No. 1. That those who will of their own accord, and with the permission of their government, settle in Broad Bay, shall dwell to- gether in certain divisions consisting of one hundred and twenty. In every such district there shall be given to the church two hundred acres; to the first preacher settling among them, two hundred; to the school, two hundred; and to each of the one hundred and twenty families, one hundred acres, equal to more than one hundred and twenty German acres. And this land, provided they dwell upon it seven whole years, either in person or through a tenant, shall be guaranteed to them, their heirs and assigns forever, without their having to make the slightest recompense, or pay any interest for it. Unmarried persons of twenty-one years and upward, who permit themselves to be transported hither, and venture to build on their land, shall also receive one hundred acres, and be regarded as a family.
No. 2. All such foreigners, provided they are Protestants, so soon as they arrive in New England, like all other subjects of His Britannic
TOber-Post-Amts Zeitung, Mar. 23, 1753.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
Majesty, will enjoy the protection of the laws; will be authorized, so soon as the one hundred and twenty families are together, to send a Deputy of the General Court to represent them; will not be obliged to bear arms nor to carry on war; in case war should arise they will be protected by the Government; and the free exercise of all Protestant religions will be granted them. On the other hand, the government afore- said demands nothing further than that every one hundred and twenty families shall call and support a learned Protestant minister within five years, reckoning from the time of the grant.
No. 3. There shall be given to the colonists on their arrival neces- sary support for from four to six months, according as they arrive early or late in the season. But only those will have the advantage of this who shall go thither under the direction of the agencies heretofore indicated.
No. 4. And if one or two Protestant preachers, provided with good testimonials from the consistories and church meetings, and unmarried, whose care is the salvation of souls, should resolve to trust to Provi- dence and the good will of Samuel Waldo and should go forth imme- diately at the beginning with the rest, they shall receive besides their free passage a small stipend of fifteen pounds sterling for two years out of the above named capital. It is also hoped that their Congregations will do something in addition. Boards for the first church which is to be built shall also be given and delivered to them. It is to be further noted that the first families going thither, even though there should be several hundred of them, can all select their residences either in a sea- port or on navigable rivers, where they can cut wood into cords for burning, or into timber for building material, and convey it to the shore where it will always be taken of them by the ships for ready money and carried to Boston or other cities, and from thence whatever they need will be brought back in return at a reasonable rate. By means of this the people are not only able at once to support themselves until the land is fit for cultivation, but are also freed from the trouble and ex- pense of making wagons and travelling by land, to which difficulties it is well known Pennsylvania is subject. Furthermore, the aforesaid gov- ernment has heard, from the people themselves who have already come from Pennsylvania, of the unjust treatment (well-known to the world without any such announcement) which befell them upon the sea after they had sailed from Holland. In consequence it has already passed a law to prevent such occurrences in the future on the voyage from Holland to Boston. By this law not only the ship captains who bring the people over, but those who accompany them must govern their conduct, other- wise they will receive punishment, and be compelled to give the people satisfaction; and also the ship itself will be taken care of. Thus are mis- chances in various ways prevented, and everyone is made secure.
In order to avoid undue wordiness little more need be said. Anyone can easily gather from what has been here stated, that it has not been the intention to persuade people to join this migration. Those who with- out this had resolved upon such action of their own accord should be on their guard against allowing themselves to be deceived. In this way they can unhindered embark on their journey in the name of God and with governmental passports when the next announcement is made to the public. Whoever in addition to this wishes to inform himself more definitely in regard to any point, may apply to the houses and places of address made known in the Imperial Mail newspaper of March 23, 1753, or by prepaid letters.8
8The copy of this document was brought to Broad Bay in 1753, and there came into the possession of John Martin Schaefer. In 1880, owned by a descendant of
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This document is unique in the literature of its type, and there are a few of its salient differences which should here receive further emphasis. First of all, its terms are general, therefore less explicit and binding on the proprietor and less likely to render him liable, in event of violation, to action by legislature or court. Again, the psychological approach is entirely different, wherein every phase of the migration is presented as being safeguarded by legal enactments. This, of course, gave a most potent and pleasant odor to the bait, and the assumed indifference as to whether or not the fish took the bait, since there would be too many who would any- way, added to the allurement of the offer. In the third place, the project was here cast into the framework of the New England program in order to lull any suspicions of Luther and to secure his very essential aid.
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