USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 1 > Part 58
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Inspite of all this [persecution] I paid him a call and found him very friendly. I, however, serene and of good courage in the presence of my God, told him of my sole purpose here [at Broad Bay], and with that ended my call and took friendly leave. He promised to visit me soon, saying that he certainly must do that, since he expected to be able to persuade me to become his assistant in preaching and in the keeping of school. I replied that I was here only to serve the few who had asked it of me, and that I could go no further in that matter.11
There is no further record of Doctor Schaeffer's educational program, and it is extremely doubtful that it ever projected be- yond this stage. The Doctor just was not interested in the profits accruing to mankind from education.
The Lutheran and Moravian brands of early education at Broad Bay were further augmented in a somewhat lesser degree by that of the Reformed Church. This came about with the mi- gration of 1752 which had in it two schoolmasters of the Re- formed Church who later became active as lay preachers and teachers to the Reformed group. The records of the period con- tain references to their religious work, but little that would en- lighten us on the educational side. This is understandable in view of the fact that their teaching was private in character. Both men in their teaching followed the practices and patterns of their Lutheran and Moravian colleagues. One of them, name unknown, lived on the west side on Lot No. 9, on a part of which the present Lutheran church now stands. This lot originally ran in a general easterly direction twenty-five rods in width to the river bank, and it was near the shore that the unknown schoolmaster had his cabin. In the deed of the Pemaquid Proprietors to Andrew Weller under date of September 21, 1763, one of the bounds is described as follows: "South by Lot No. 9, in the occupation of the late schoolmaster."12 This unknown teacher, it is to be inferred, had lived and labored no later than 1763, and on his demise without valid title to the land, it was granted by Shem Drowne to the "Dutch" as one of the two school lots originally promised to them by General Waldo.
1Soelle, Kurze Historische Nachricht etc., Morav. Arch. (Bethlehem, Penna.). [Italics mine. ]
12Lincoln Co. Registry of Deeds (Wiscasset, Me.), VII, 84. [Italics mine.]
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
Of the second of these Reformed schoolmasters the name is known, but little more. He was Heinrich Lange, or anglicized, Henry Long. Here again a deed is the source of our meager in- formation, a deed under the date of July 22, 1767, in which Martin Sidelinger conveyed to Henry Long, schoolmaster, "a lot at Broad Bay containing five acres, which I fenced and improved some years ago, and which said Henry now dwells upon."13 The bounds of the lot defined in detail locate the schoolmaster in the area of a mile above the lower falls. At the time of the incorporation of the town he was the only one of the five early schoolmasters still engaged in educational work. John Ulmer had become a pros- perous capitalist, Hahn and Soelle had gone to "other parts," and one of the Reformed schoolmasters had died. If any others among the German settlers had taken up the work of schoolmastering, there is no record of their names.
This educational fumbling and chance instruction in the early days at Broad Bay had one quite terrible implication. Such little schooling as there was, was entirely centralized. All the schoolmasters lived and taught in, or rather close to, the present village area. After 1760 population expanded rapidly to the very outer periphery of the town's bounds, a fact which placed three quarters of the pupil population beyond possible access to any schools or teachers. In these outer areas great masses of children were born and grew up as utter illiterates. Still worse, when they in turn became parents, they were indifferent in the main to edu- cational values. It was in this manner that illiteracy and limited educational standards became a fixed tradition in the town, for these back-district folk constituted a strong majority, and in Town Meetings they were little prone to raise monies for educational purposes. Ignorance like a pall of darkness settled over the outer areas of the town, and it was not until the present century that it was completely dispelled. The condition is given its proper emphasis at this point, for it colored the history of the town darkly for a century and a half.
In 1773 the Plantation of Broad Bay became the Town of Waldoborough. Township status brought many new obligations, among which, under the terms of an old Massachusetts law, was a legal compulsion to maintain a church and free schools. For the Germans this created a problem, since they already had the semblance of a school system that was German, and to them it seemed to work out in a reasonable, satisfactory way. Under it those who wanted education for their children could have it by paying the costs; those who could not send their children to school by reason of the fact that they were too economically
13 Lincoln Co. Deeds, V, 213.
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necessary at home, and those who were disinterested were not being taxed for the training of other peoples' children. So things were working out rather well as they were. A system of free schools would raise problems and cause embarrassment; it would entail general taxation, a practice to which the majority was op- posed, and it would raise the language issue. Should German be the medium of instruction, such schools would be meaningless to the Puritan children; were both languages to be used, that would mean two schools in a single center and as such an unacceptable tax burden; were English to become the sole medium of instruc- tion in such a school system it would make the subject matter unintelligible to many of the young Germans, and worse still, it would be a fatal blow to religion, for the old Germans were rigidly set on keeping the doctrines, teachings, and preachings of their church in a language they could understand.
To them the two institutions, their language and their church, could not be separated without bringing about the ruin of the latter. Therefore they would not depart from their present edu- cational arrangement. If the Puritans wanted schools for their children they were free to do exactly what certain Germans were doing, that is, hire their teachers and let them function in the way now current in the colony. They could also join together in a neighborhood and build their own log school; it would only be just that those should furnish the labor and material whose children were the ones to reap the profit, and this is just what the early Puritans had to do. So it was that the first English schools in Waldoborough had to be patterned on the semi-private system of the Germans. However, they had a somewhat broader curriculum, and were under the direction of better trained teachers.
For a quarter of a century after 1773 the conservative Ger- man majority at Broad Bay successfully resisted in one way or another every effort on the part of the Puritan minority, sup- ported by a handful of the more progressive Germans, to in- augurate a system of free public schooling in the town. The record of school affairs in the minutes of the Town Meetings is a scanty one, but interpreted in the light of the German majority view and as their way of maintaining the status quo, it becomes highly meaningful and even tactically ingenious. In almost every meeting the minority hammered on this issue, but in one way or another the ponderous conservative majority deflected, turned back, or steam-rollered them, down to the very end of the century.
The question of schools was projected into the first meeting of the new town that took up fiscal matters. Article IV, of the warrant of October 19, 1773, read: "To see what sum of money the Town will agree to raise for the Support of a school in said town." The majority met the issue indirectly by a vote "that the
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fourth article in the warrant concerning the school be not acted upon." The following spring the question was brought up again, and on March 15, 1774, the raising of money was placed under the ban of the majority for both "Preaching and Schooling." From this point on to March 4, 1776, the pages containing the minutes have been carefully excised from the clerk's records by some unknown vandal, but in the interim no headway apparently was made on the school issue. In 1776 the pro-school group tried new tactics, and on July 9th there appeared in the warrant an article "to see if the town will raise money to have schooling for six, eight or twelve months." A half-loaf is better than no loaf, and they probably hoped to draw for a six-month school a siz- able vote from those who would oppose a more general measure because of their uncertainty of what it might mean in terms of taxes. On July 25th the rejection of this article is recorded in almost churlish words: "The town will not raise money for .. . schooling in the town." And why should it, since what educa- tion there was in the town was being run in the manner the majority wished?
The next move apparently of the free-school party was to evoke the power of the old seventeenth-century Massachusetts school law, and in this way to bring these obdurate "Dutch" to a full stop. The method used becomes clear in the warrant of December 4, 1779, Article V: "To see if the town will vote to raise money to keep a Schoole in sd. town by a complaint of the Grant Jury." Here was the threat of an indictment and this was serious, indeed, for failure to comply might mean that the General Court would levy a heavy fine on the town. But this was wartime and affairs were at loose ends everywhere and especially so in Maine. State troops had been defeated and dispersed in the ill-starred Penobscot campaign; the British were firmly established at Castine and furnishing a safe base for Tory raids in all parts of the county.
Taking advantage of all this confusion, the majority on December 20th laid article V on the table until March, and then on March 3, 1780, voted "to defer action on the school warrant." Finally on April 4, 1780, it was voted "to raise £40 for keeping a school," and that the selectmen were "to regulate the schools in four quarters in said town." This looked like a substantial vic- tory for the supporters of free schools, but in reality it was prob- ably almost meaningless. In the first place, money had depreci- ated to the point where it was of little value. In the second place, the selectmen had the power "to regulate four schools." What they did with their £40 appropriation of hard cash cannot be known with certainty, but from the practice of a few years later it seems probable that this appropriation, of little value at best, was allocated on a per capita basis to those few families under expense
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for the education of their children in existing schools of a semi- private nature.
In the following year, 1781, the warrant for the March meeting contained an article "to see if the town will vote to hier a minister for the ensuing year and a Schoolmaster also." On March 12th the answering vote was "not to raise money for school." The Germans cannot be wholly blamed for such consistent reluctance to expend monies for education. Contributory factors were a war inflation, dire poverty, heavy taxes, and a substantial debt which undoubtedly moved some to vote to hold the purse strings tight who otherwise would have given their support to education. The year 1782 was a repetition of the same story: "Voted not to raise money at this time for schooling." On March 7, 1785, "the vote being called to raise a sum of money for schooling, was passed in the negative," and not until 1789, when the Federal Govern- ment had restored confidence by the adoption of measures for the resuscitation of business and credit, did the town pass its second appropriation for education by voting "to raise £30 to be layed out in a school or schools in this town." In the May meeting it was decided that "the town be divided into four parts as to keep- ing a schoole and each part to draw on town treasurer one fourth the money voted at a town meeting held the fourth of May, 1789." At best the sum was small, and £7 10s. to each quarter would pro- vide little in the way of schooling, hence it is possible that the appropriation was allotted sectionally to those who were paying the tuition of their children in the private schools, as before.
In 1790, £40, and in 1791, £80 were raised for schooling with the proviso that this money was to be paid "by way of orders who have got them schooled." This rather cryptic phrase can only mean that as of yore those who had children in school could draw their proportional share of the appropriation to help in defraying the expense of their schooling. All previous appropria- tions, we believe, had been dispensed in this way which was de- cidedly to the advantage of the Germans since it did not change their system, and by reason of their numbers, gave them the lion's share of the appropriation for their own purpose. These early appropriations apparently were paid in goods, in which many in the town were still paying their taxes. This condition of affairs is revealed in the following article in the warrant of De- cember 5, 1791: "To see if the Town will vote to pay the school tax in money in order to keep a town school." From this article it may be inferred that a town school, or free school, had not been held up to this time. As was to be expected, the article was rejected by the majority simply voting that it was "not to be acted upon."
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In 1792 the first little break in the dike was made. On May 7th it was voted "to raise £40 to keep a school or schools in this town," and "to raise £20 in addition to the above sum to be layed out in public schooling." The meaning of this double-barrelled appropriation is not clear, but the phrase "to keep a school or schools in this town" does reveal the absence of any set pattern of education existing at this time. It was, however, at about this time that a few school districts were defined in the town. All this time the Puritan element was becoming stronger, both from inner growth and fresh accessions from without. This increased power seems to have been reflected in 1793 in an appropriation of £100 "to be laid out in public schooling," and it was stipulated that "the selectmen divide the £100 in proportion to the several districts." At the same time a census was authorized in "each School Dis- trict to take an account of the number of Familys and children so as to proportion the money according to there numbers and circumstances attending there unto and to make a report of the same." (Italics mine.)
This census was a rather simple matter, each family, if it were interested, turning in to the census taker a list of its chil- dren's names with their ages. It does show that at this time the town was divided into nine school districts, and the names of the census takers provides a clue for identifying the districts: "The first District on the point, Mr. Jacob Winkepaw," clearly the Dutch Neck; "Second District, Mr. Stephen Simmons," West Waldoborough; "Third District, Capt. Ludwig," probably upper west side Winslow Mills area; "Fourth, Mr. Levensaler," general North Waldoborough area; "Fifth District, Mr. Damouth," the mid-northern area; "Sixth Distrek, Capt. Samson," the present vil- lage area; "Seventh District, Mr. Fitzgerald," the eastern part of the town; "Eigth Distrect, John Studley," the southern east side; "Ninth Distreck, Jacob Benner," Belscop area.
This 1793 appropriation was also possibly weighted in the interest of the Germans. The term "circumstances" was open to interpretation and made it possible to allocate the monies to the poorer families, which would exclude the children of a good many of the English families. Action taken in May 1794 seems to have been pointed against such an abuse, if it existed, for the town voted that "districting shall be the same as last year, and all persons shall have the right in their district to a school." (Italics mine.) This phraseology would suggest that heretofore all had not had this right, or what is more probable, that in some districts no schools had been held. At any rate, such an arrangement did not seem to commend itself to the majority, for in the April meeting of this year only £60 was raised for schooling. This re-
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duction may have been due to German influence, since allotment on a per capita basis, while it would not embarrass the Germans greatly, would leave the English minority in the town scanty sup- port for its program. In the May meeting (planting time in the back-districts) the English seem to have been in the majority, so the vote was reconsidered and "£100 was raised for schooling this year." In the June meeting the proponents of economy as- sembled - or was it the German-language group? - and the ap- propriation was the subject of controversy, but it was kept at the £100 level.
In 1795 the Reverend Ritz made his appearance on the scene as pastor of the Lutheran Church. He knew little English and preached only in German, but despite this fact and according to Cyrus Eaton "he had the good sense to advise his parishioners to abandon their German schools and to give their children an English education."14 This advice was sound inasmuch as it was in line with that which would inevitably take place, and possibly it was heeded by a few of his followers, which in a small way may have reduced the influence and voting strength of the in- transigents. From this time on to the end of the century there was no further move to curtail appropriations, the figure being maintained in 1795 at £100; and thereafter, with the adoption of the Federal currency of dollars instead of pounds, $333.00 was raised each year down to 1800 for the support of schools.
The district unit as the basis of the educational system was already firmly established by the end of the century. In 1797 the first move was made toward district autonomy in school matters by introducing the agent system, an agent being some resident in a given district who was empowered to handle school affairs in his district. In the warrant of May 10, 1797, there was an article "to see if the town will vote that each district of this town shall choose a school committee." On this article the town voted "that the selectmen superintendend the schools in this town and that they forthwith order some suitable person in each District to warn the Inhabitants to hold a District Meeting for the purpose of choosing a school committee." Theoretically this committee would be in control in its own district with the agent acting as its ex- ecutive officer. This move, presaging the shape of things to come in the educational system of the next century, served to transfer the differences between the Teuton and the Puritan from an oc- casional clash in Town Meeting to a perpetual wrangle in the districts, and since unity of action at this time could not be se- cured in this way, it was voted, perhaps by a German majority, on May 3, 1798, "not to choose a school committee in each dis-
14 Annals of Warren, 2nd ed. (Hallowell, 1877), p. 287.
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trict." Down to the end of the century the practice carried on of each man drawing his school money according to the number of his children, and if a German, using the same for the education of his children, if at all, under a German teacher. So long as the money so drawn was used for educational purposes in the town, no restrictions were laid down governing its specific use. In this manner the Germans throughout the century were able to main- tain the predominance of their language as an essential adjunct, in their minds, to their religion.
This exposition of the status of education in Waldoborough down to the year 1800 has been set forth in documented detail. Its minutiae have had the twofold objective of making clear the step by step development leading to the somewhat better-known nineteenth-century educational setup, and secondly to reveal the clash between the quasi-feudal culture of eighteenth-century Ger- mans and the new, highly democratic tradition of the Puritan.
The struggle, however, should not be thought of as engend- ering bitterness or racial tension. On the contrary, the Teuton and the Puritan got along together extremely well; they were good neighbors who cooperated freely, intermarried, and where lan- guage was not a bar enjoyed together a friendly, social life. Fric- tion between them was no greater than would arise in the present day between groups animated by different political or educational philosophies. The Puritan quite naturally wanted to live in a town where his children would have the same religious and edu- cational advantages enjoyed by those in similar American com- munities; and the old Germans were quietly and resolutely de- termined that that language should survive which they held vital to the perpetuation of their church, dearest to them of all their traditions and institutions.
There can be no doubt that during the eighteenth century they held their ground well, although in ways they could neither sense nor foresee the Puritan was making headway and his culture slowly and subtly filtering in. It has been observed by Doctor Moses R. Ludwig, himself born at the close of this century, that around 1800
teachers of the English language began to be employed, first in private families, and then in our public schools. Newell W. Weatherbee of Barnstable, Massachusetts, was engaged in the early part of 1800, and may justly be said to be the first teacher who inspired the children with a love for English Literature, instead of their vernacular dialect.15
With the advent of Mr. Weatherbee, the second phase in the de- velopment of the town's schools began.
15Genealogy of the Ludwig Family (Augusta, 1866).
XXIV
THE LAST OF THE PROPRIETORS
Be strong my heart, thou hast borne fouler things before.
HOMER Odyssey, Book xx
A T THE CLOSE OF THE FRENCH and Indian War the Plantation of Broad Bay was a string of farms, in general of one hundred acres each, with a twenty-five rod frontage on the water, reaching from the tip end of Dutch Neck north along the river to about a mile above the lower falls, and from there, on the eastern bank, running south along the water and around the bay to the Narrows. Back of this river fringe of cleared land lay the ungranted forest areas of the Waldo Patent. The validity of this Patent's claim to the western bank had proved very costly and illusory indeed to the settlers, but on the eastern shore nothing had ever hap- pened to disturb their confidence in the slightest degree.
Following the last of the Indian wars the expansion of the colony had been a natural one. Some of the settlers, having found lots removed from the river which were attractive, settled on them, and sold their old farms to wealthier members of the settle- ment or to incoming Puritans. Again, young men coming of age would select land to their liking in the forest area, clear it, build a cabin, and here bring a young bride to found a new home. This squatting took place with the express or implied understand- ing that the proprietor would grant a title when the usual price per acre had been paid, and in fact, a representative of the Waldo heirs visited the settlement from time to time to receive monies due on newly settled lands and to grant titles to the same. Thus the expansion of the settlement followed a course that was normal in all respects.
In an earlier chapter changes in the ownership of the Waldo Grant were outlined down to the year 1773. At this time, the major part of free lands in the Patent, including all such lands east of the Medomak within the town limits of Waldoborough, were legally vested in Thomas Flucker, son-in-law of General Waldo and Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The
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proprietary rights of the Patent were administered by him in an orderly and legal way down to the outbreak of the Revolution, but with the advent of war, confusion set in, and the basis was laid of new land troubles which were to vex the settlers for the next thirty years. It all started with the fact that the Waldos and their in-laws were Tories, among the most conspicuous ones in the entire colony. This marked them all for the vengeance of the patriots, and when Lord Howe evacuated Boston in March 1776 the Waldos, the Winslows and the Fluckers fled with the British Army to Halifax.
Toryism was a red-hot issue in Massachusetts, and there was much talk of the confiscation of all Tory property by the state. All this was common gossip in Waldoborough, and the belief became general that with Mr. Flucker practically an outlaw, the unoccupied lands in the town were now free land. Some legal confirmation was given this view in September 1778, when a law was passed by the General Court under which the estates of three hundred and ten Tories in Massachusetts were confiscated, among which were those of Francis Waldo of Falmouth, and Thomas Flucker of Boston, heirs of the Waldo Patent. All that was not covered by legal title was held by the people as forfeited and on the same footing as other public lands.
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