USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 1 > Part 44
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
The earliest mills on the river were two sawmills con- structed at the First Falls in 1743. These were destroyed in the Indian attack of 1746, and for the remainder of the war the fate of the settlement was at so low an ebb that there was no thought of anything except survival. Just after the close of the war in 1749 two men, Ector and Martin by name, came from Massa- chusetts and built a sawmill on the west bank of the Medomak at the lower falls. This fact is recorded by Cyrus Eaton, whose source was Joseph Ludwig, who came to Broad Bay in 1753. It has been stated by Miller that before the expiration of this year Georg Werner had constructed a gristmill at the Great Falls. The uneconomic character of such an act has been discussed in an earlier chapter, and the facts lend no weight to such a statement.
Throughout the French and Indian War the only mills in the colony were those at the lower falls and these were able to function only because they were under the guns of the mill garri- son. Following this war, in the period of land expansion, Captain John Ulmer acquired the rights at the Great Falls and probably erected mills in which William Snowdeal, on the next lot south, had an interest and probably actually operated them. On June 22, 1765, Captain Ulmer had the mill lot at the Great Falls surveyed by John Martin, Jr.,27 and the following year he sold it "to George
25 Ibid., Bk. IX, p. 233.
26R. G. Albion, Forests and Sea Power, p. 233.
27Lincoln Co. Deeds, Bk. IV, p. 138.
390
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
Werner of Pownalborough, mill wright, with all the appurten- ances belonging thereunto." In the same deed Snowdeal relin- quished his right and title to the lot and all its appurtenances to Werner.28 In the same year, 1766, Werner had his new lot re- surveyed, and the plan, together with a written description of the bounds are on file with the Register of Deeds at Wiscasset.29 This mill is still referred to as "the old Kinsell Mill," but Kinsell, a son-in-law of Werner, was a relatively late owner and operator, for it was on February 1, 1786, that Georg Werner, "for £20 paid by John Kinsell," sold to him a one-quarter part of a double sawmill on the "Third Falls."
In these early days practically all mill sites in the town were in use. Those on smaller streams and brooks which could only operate seasonally were also objects of eager exploitation. In the period of the Revolution there were probably no less than twenty- five mills in the town devoted to every type of work in which power was essential. Those on the upper Medomak were, of course, the most valuable since here there was sufficient water to operate in season and out. These sites, after the French and Indian War, had come under the control of Captain John Ulmer, who was best qualified of all the Germans to assess the future economic expansion of the settlement. In consequence he acquired all the sites around the lower falls on the east side, including Lot No. 23, the lower mill site. After operating the mill for a number of years he sold it on October 18, 1770, to John Martin Schaeffer for £50. Schaeffer in turn sold the mill the following January to Andrew Schenk.
Captain Ulmer also sold to Matthias Römele on February 10, 1771, for £60, the one-hundred acre lot, No. 24 east side, thirty- nine rods wide, with a gristmill and dam. In 1770 Ulmer con- veyed to John M. Schaeffer "the full one half part of a certain saw mill at Broad Bay on the west side of Broad Bay fresh water river," the other half of the mill belonging to John Ulmer, Jr.30 In this same area was a sawmill the lot of which had been acquired of William Wagner by Matthias Achorn in 1761. This site, too, with its mills changed hands frequently. In 1772 as we have stated, a three-quarter right was sold to George Kline and Achorn's two sons. In 1773 Matthias sold his one-quarter right to Captain Solo- mon Hewet, and the next year Kline and the two Achorns also conveyed to Captain Hewet, for £100, all their claim to a lot "bounded east on Broad Bay river or falls, south on the land of Solomon Hewet, north on the lot of John Pinner [Benner] run- ning a W.N.W. course back into the country till 100 acres are
28Lincoln Co. Deeds, Bk. V, p. 251.
2 Ibid., Bk. 8, p. 33.
"Ibid., p. 29.
391
Land Titles and Troubles
completed, with all rights to two grist mills, houses and barns, and all other privileges."31
The mill lots on the Slaigo Brook, there being no less than four, were also objects of eager interest. At the lower falls of the brook the power had been used since very early times - possibly by Captain Lane, who owned it, and by the Scotch-Irish of the 1736 settlement. When Lane's connection with the colony was broken off, the lot reverted to General Waldo, and thereafter when property was sold on the brook, the power rights were usually reserved. The lower falls were, however, included in young Waldo's deed of April 20, 1769, to Andrew Schenk. The eastern side of the second falls on the brook was, when first known, in the possession of Georg Werner, and was conveyed by him on Aug. 13, 1770, to Jacob Lauer, who, deciding to migrate to North Carolina, sold his property in September 1770 to Waterman Thomas. In October two years later, Georg Werner, having acquired rights on the upper Medomak at Great Falls, conveyed his remaining Slaigo rights to Waterman Thomas for £66 13s. 4d. in a tract of ten and three quarters acres:
being the east part of Lane's Point, beginning at a stake at the wa- ters of the Bay at the mouth of a small brook about 22 rods westerly from the middle of Slaigo Brook where it empties into the bay, thence N. 8° W. 32 rods to a birch tree, thence N. 27° E. 12 rods and a half to a stake and stones, thence N. 36° E. 62 rods to a stake, all by the land of Andrew Shank, then E. 18 rods by land of Waldo heirs to a hemlock marked on four sides at Slaco brook aforesaid, thence S. by said brook, including the same and the fall and the Grist mill thereon, to the first bounds.32
Thus by the autumn of 1772 all power sites and mills on the lower Slaigo Brook were in the hands of Andrew Schenck and Squire Thomas. This is an important fact in the history of the town, especially so since the latter gentleman was one whose mind played with large objectives, and who built up at this location a business so varied and of such magnitude that for decades it was an open question whether the final nucleus of population, to wit, the village, would find itself at the head of tide or in the area around the foot of Thomas' Hill.
The deeds in the old Lincoln County Courthouse covering property rights and transfers in the Waldoborough area provide interesting and suggestive reading. Many of them suffuse our history with warm human meaning, bringing to light many an unknown fact, suggesting strange incidents, and ofttimes affording deep revelations and offering insights into the tragedies, the spites, and the romances of the pioneer fathers. What, for instance, is
31Ibid., Bk. 10, p. 253. 32 Ibid., p. 252.
392
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
the meaning of the strange grant of John Friedrich Heidenheim to Elizabeth Light?
John Heidenheim was born in 1714 and probably came to Broad Bay in 1752. In 1765 his farm was No. 37 on "Dutchmen's Neck," the third lot south of Ada Winchenbaugh's present home. He married Mary Elizabeth, born December 11, 1754, and had two children, John Peter, born December 8, 1777, and Maria Christiana, born April 8, 1779. John Friedrich died in the year 1781, in his sixty-seventh year of age. On November 29, 1776, he had effected a transfer of his property in a deed containing this sentence: "In consideration of the good will and love I have for Elizabeth Light, I do hereby convey to her the lot on which I now live, being lot 37 in Elijah Packard's Plan containing 91 acres, 100 poles."33 Was this Elizabeth the Mary Elizabeth of the Town Records who at twenty-two married the man of fifty-six on the sole condition that his property be conveyed to her? And what of Heidenheim's first wife, Maria Magdalena? In five years Mary Elizabeth was a widow and only an old deed hints vaguely at an old man's romance.
A little clearer is the tragedy of old Frantz Eisele's last days. Eisele came to Broad Bay between 1748 and 1753 and settled on Lot No. 12, east side. This farm, next south of the Jasper J. Stahl lot, was occupied by Melchior Schneider in 1742 and was probably sold to Eisele when the former moved to Thomas' Hill ridge. As it was a common custom among the Germans to provide their sons with land, Eisele and his wife, Mary, divided the lot in 1777, and gave one half of it to their son, Michael, who had married into one of the neighborhood families. When Mary died Frantz took up his residence with his son and daughter-in-law, who came of a family famed for its evil disposition. Things went badly, and in the course of time the aged man was without a home. As a sequel a deed drawn in 1790 gives us the final chapter in Eisele's life in these words:
... for and in consideration of Charles Sidenspire taking me into his care and trust and providing for me in proper food and clothing, and washing and bedding, and all other things proper for me to live in a comfortable state of life, and provide doctors for me in sickness, I give all my right to a lot or farm that I have lately lived upon between Ludwig Castner's and Michael Eisley's lots, being one half of a lot I formerly owned and disposed one half unto my son Michael Eisley.34
This tragic experience is somewhat exceptional, for in general the Germans cared for their old folks as a sacred rite. By this
33Lincoln Co. Deeds, Bk. 12, p. 93. 34Ibid., Bk. 25, p. 200.
393
Land Titles and Troubles
time, however, the old culture was crumbling and the new social outlooks and patterns were coming into vogue.
In concluding this chapter on land and land troubles, men- tion should be made of the deed of David Holzapfel who, in prepa- ration for his migration to North Carolina, conveyed his lands on the river to Captain Solomon Hewet. In this act of conveyance the sweet, simple and Christian character of the man is revealed, as well as the spirit which governed his dealings with his fellows, and which he must have believed should characterize all human relationships. As in other deeds his bounds are all exactly defined, and then there is a little and significant additional statement: "with the consent and by agreement with my neighbors."
On this note of calm human trust and concord this chapter comes to a close, for by 1765 all the settlers, with the exception of a few outraged and militant spirits, were able to feel reasonably secure as to the ownership of the land on which they were living.
XIX
THE INFLUX OF THE PURITANS
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around, And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew. GOLDSMITH
WR E HAVE ALREADY SEEN that at Broad Bay the period from 1760 down to the American Revolution was a restless era. This was the period when families and groups of families started concen- trating in areas where they have remained in many cases down to the present day. The Hochs, Orffs, Achorns, and Weavers clanned in the Orff's Corner district; the Shumans, Bornheimers, Walters, and Newberts in North Waldoborough; the Benners, Levensalers, and Castners in Belscop; the Seidensparkers, Voglers, Minks, and Clines in East Waldoborough; the Eugleys, Creamers, and Waltzes in West Waldoborough; the Winchenbachs, Heav- eners, and Stahls on Dutch Neck; and the Gross clan in the Gross Neck area.
These shifts from farm to farm and the overflow into the deeper, back recesses of the Plantation gave the more resourceful and practical-minded among the "Dutch," and the Puritans as well, a chance for handsome profits as local real-estate brokers, and there were those who were not slow to take advantage of such openings. These were men who in the main had been in the colony from the earliest days, or who had brought some little capital with them from the Old World in the form of Spanish gold dollars, or who by their superior intelligence, thrift, and keen appreciation of the economic chance, had been quick to speculate and amass small reserves. Their superiority was unquestionably recognized and admired by their more boorish neighbors. From the beginning they had been leaders in the settlement and were very generally accepted as such. In early land deeds they are characterized as "gentlemen." In fact, this was the basis of the first class or social distinction to obtain at Broad Bay. If a man earned his living by working the soil, he was "a farmer," a "yeo- man," or a "husbandman." If he made money in trade or specula- tion he was a "gentleman." The Germans, thoroughly accustomed
395
The Influx of Puritans
to the class society in their homelands, accepted this order as a part of the nature of things.
Among these early "gentlemen" at Broad Bay were Captain John Ulmer, Captain Charles Christopher Godfrey Leisner, Colonel William Farnsworth and "Doctor" John Martin Schaeffer. In the half-and-half group there were, among others, Matthias Achorn, Jacob Ludwig, and Andrew Schenck, who were some- times millers, farmers, tanners, and sometimes "gentlemen." These men were among Broad Bay's first capitalists. Their manipulations are a part of our early history.
William Farnsworth, gentleman, and a solder in the French and Indian War, started his land speculations at Broad Bay by buying up some of the lots owned, improved, and then abandoned in the Fifth Indian War by the Scotch-Irish settlers who formed the nucleus of the "Town of Leverett" in 1736. In August 1760 he bought for £60 of Elizabeth Vass of Gloucester, "widow of John Vass late of Broad Bay, and Jeremiah Vass of Gloucester, mason," three lots of land, "numbers 23, 24 and 25" on the eastern side of Broad Bay, each containing one hundred acres.1 These were the three lots just north of Rood's (now Farnsworth's) Point. In July 1767 Farnsworth sold of his three hundred acres parts of lots 25 and 26 containing ninety acres to James Sweetland of Broad Bay for £30. Thus he disposed of less than a third of his acreage for half its original cost, which was certainly a nice profit.2 In March 1764 he had further increased his holdings in this area by purchasing of Thomas Waterman of Marshfield, mariner, for £53 6s. 8d., the whole of Lot No. 26, the old Dennis Cannaugh farm containing ninety acres, extending across Long Cove and embracing the northern section of the present Farns- worth Point.3 Two years later he purchased of Charles Leisner for £40 the major part of the old Patrick Cannaugh lot, No. 22, next north of his Vass lot, which contained sixty-six acres and forty poles.4 In 1770 he sold a part of No. 22 to Joshua Howard for £40, thus covering his original cost, and keeping a generous portion of the lot in his possession.5 In 1768 Farnsworth bought of James Sweetland for £5 the second lot on Rood's Point, it being an extension through the Point of Lot No. 27.6 Previously he had purchased of Jonathan Robbins the tip of the Point, which had been an extension of Lot No. 28. This placed him, by 1768, in possession of the entire Point. These are but a few of Farnsworth's
1Lincoln Co. Reg. of Deeds (Wiscasset, Me.), Bk. 3, p. 116.
2Ibid., Bk. 8, p. 32.
3Ibid., p. 34.
4Ibid., p. 35.
6Ibid., p. 36.
"Ibid., p. 37.
396
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
land deals, which covered territory eastward to the Penobscot and provided him with a comfortable income, a leisurely life, and the prestige of being one of the early leaders in the Broad Bay settle- ment. Down to the year 1800 his name is constantly recurrent in the history of the town.
Captain John Ulmer was the major real-estate broker on the Medomak in early days, and some of his deals were set forth in an early chapter. It was he who, after the last Indian war, acquired the land from Clark's old shipyard to a point above the lower falls, an area running from these two bounds back deep into the country and embracing most of the present-day village and built- up sections east of the river over the "Willett Hill." The record of this transaction is not to be found in the Wiscasset records, but it is probable that the property came to him through the Waldo heirs. His interests extended over an area reaching to the Penobscot and through the back sections of Broad Bay. A typical example of his activity was a deal made in 1772, when he, Matthias Remilly and Philip Ulmer had surveyed for themselves by William Farnsworth a huge tract on the west side of the river "above the head of Broad Bay and some miles up the said river above any present settler." This was nothing short of unwarranted land ap- propriation, but disposing of small lots to future settlers would be smart and exceedingly lucrative. In 1779 Ulmer sold his one third of this tract to Remilly for £500, a sum which was pure profit.7
In the early 1790's Ulmer was disposing of his local holdings. It is an important fact in the history of the village area that in 1794 he sold to David Doane of Eastham, County of Barnstable, Massachusetts, for £600 a tract on the east side joining and being a part of the lower falls, beginning at a stake about thirty rods above the falls, then east 658 rods to a stake, then south 68 poles, thence west 622 poles to a stake on the east side of the river, then north by the river to the first bound. This lot contained two hundred and sixty-four acres and was 68 poles in width. It included one gristmill and one sawmill, and significantly excepted a half acre on the east side below the county road (the present Frist Bridge) which Ulmer had previously given to the town for a public land- ing.8 Ulmer then transferred his residence to the Rockland area, and ultimately went to live with one of his sons, George or Philip, who had settled at Duck Trap, now Lincolnville. These details were but a phase of Ulmer's financial dealings, for he was also a banker or moneylender at a period in our history when a delin- quent debtor received small consideration in his trouble. The Cap-
"Lincoln Co. Deeds, Bk. 13, p. 180. 8Ibid., Bk. 32, p. 12.
397
The Influx of Puritans
tain was no exception to the general practice. We are taking, by way of illustration, a loan of £18 which he made in 1780 to Charles Brotmann. When the latter failed to pay, Ulmer instituted suit and recovered damages to the extent of the £18 plus £17 costs of the suit. Appraisers were appointed who surveyed Brotmann's lot as follows:
. .. beginning at the mill pond, west side on line of Matthias Achorn, dec., and Charles Boardman, then across Boardman's lot to a line be- tween Boardman and William Snouteil [Schnaudel or Snowdeal] as will contain three acres, thence on Snouteil's line to the mill pond.
This area was assigned to Ulmer and it is significant that this river frontage was the most valuable part of Brotmann's lot. Soon thereafter the latter sold out and took up new lands in North Waldoborough in the district of Medomak Pond. Similar procedures were followed by Ulmer against others, among them John Gottfried Overlock.
Such a treatment of debtors remained invariable practice for many years. We shall cite one more example, an amusing, ludi- crous, and tragic one, yet typical of the temper of the times. It was in 1816, and on January the 17th, when John Hahn received judgment against John Matthews for $33.14 damages plus $14.53, the cost of the suit, Matthews was unable to pay. Accordingly Henry Flagg, John Stahl, and Jacob Winchenbach, Jr., were ap- pointed appraisers for the purpose of surveying an amount of Matthews' property equal to the judgment. The line extended through the dwelling house
. . . thence south to the northwest corner of said dwelling house, thence by the back or west side of the main body of said house to the middle thereof, thence east through the entry of said house to the road, thence to the bound first mentioned, meaning to include the north room of said dwelling house, the chamber over the same and one half of the said front entry with the land under the same.
In the meantime "the body of said Matthews" was committed "unto our Gaol in Wiscasset in our County of Lincoln."9
Captain Charles Leisner was another of the major real-estate manipulators of early days. His position in the 1750's as Waldo's representative in the colony provided him with a small reserve of capital which he employed with shrewdness and intelligence. His dealings are too numerous for detailed outline here, but a single case will furnish an insight into his margin of profit. He purchased the old Patrick Cannaugh lot, No. 22, in the old town of Leverett for £29 5s. 8d., and sold part of it in 1766 to William Farnsworth
"Lincoln Co. Deeds, Bk. 92, p. 153.
398
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
for £40, and the remaining part to Ezra Pitcher for £40. At such a favorable rate of purchase and sale Captain Leisner was on the road to riches, but he never quite arrived, for his death in 1769 brought an end to his activities at a time before the real-estate market had reached its peak development.
After John Ulmer, the most zealous capitalist at Broad Bay was that versatile acrobat, John Martin Schaeffer. His land specu- lations extended from the Georges to the Damariscotta River valleys, and many properties passed through his hands. Among these was the old James Littel farm of the Town of Leverett located in the Slaigo district, which he bought for £66 13s. 4d. "payable in eighteen months with interest"; the Philip Vogler farm, Lot No. 9, purchased for £100 and sold to Stephen Andrews of Boston in 1774 for £120; Lot No. 8, the Captain A. F. Stahl farm, bought of Lorenz Seitz, Jr., in 1773 for £150 along with all the stock "comprising one yoke of oxen, 8-9 year-olds, three cows, one steer between two and three years old, 2 yearling calves, three calves, nine sheep and four swine." This enumeration is of interest since it shows the normal amount of stock on a one-hundred acre Broad Bay farm at this time. Along with extensive trading in mill lots Schaeffer acquired the old Parker Feyler farm, Lot No. 4, after the death of Leisner in 1769. After his removal to Warren around 1790 he disposed of both the Stahl and Feyler lots to his daughter Margaret. In addition to these more centrally located deals Schaeffer followed the common practice of having large sections of the unoccupied lands of the town surveyed and set aside for himself, for which there was always a ready demand, from a centrally overflowing population, and a most satisfactory profit.
There were other entrepreneurs among the Germans. Of these Matthias Achorn was an habitual dickerer, and Jacob Ludwig a more conservative capitalist operating on a smaller scale and content to buy a piece of land here and there and wait for a rise in the market, or settle on it one of his many sons. Andrew Schenck was a somewhat later comer at Broad Bay, and at first his major interest was in mill lots or stream sites, but his speculations gradu- ally increased in scope, and in 1793 when Waterman Thomas became involved in financial difficulties, Schenck took a mortgage for £198 15s. 11d. on the Thomas house, barns, mills, and lands by the Slaigo Brook and along Thomas' Hill. All these men ac- cumulated capital as a result of their foresight and enterprise and became the wealthiest at Broad Bay in early days. Their market was a good one, for with the late 1760's the tide of English migration from the Boston area began its surge into the town,
399
The Influx of Puritans
and these Puritans were, in the main, men who had cash to pay for what they wanted.
As soon as there was a settlement on the Medomak there was trade with the Boston market. This trade was carried on in small coasters commanded by captains from the south shore of Massa- chusetts Bay. In their frequent visits to the colony these men had the chance to become acquainted with the people, to know the country and size up its possibilities. So long as the Indians were a threat they maintained their families in the safe precincts of the Boston district, but with the return of peace following the French and Indian War, and the final settlement of the Indian problem, the Puritan invasion from the shores of the Bay got under way. There were a number of reasons for this migration. In the first place, officers and soldiers in the recent war had importuned the General Court for service grants in the unoccupied areas of Maine, and a very considerable number of people were set up in this way. In the second place, Maine land was supposed to be better than that of Massachusetts and was far cheaper. The sale of a place in the Boston area and the purchase of a farm in Maine left its owner with a considerable cash balance. The migration to the Waldoborough area was made up largely of people of this latter class, well to do, energetic, and highly capable.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.