USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 2 > Part 3
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Your wessel with Kinsel comes on very slow. I seen her yester Day. She hath only the frame up . . . says she will be raty in August. ... Mr. Paine says he will let11 him iron as fast as he wants it, says he must have money for his men that work on the vessel. . . .
Friedrick Kinsell could get no lode for the schuner. . . . I went with him to Gen. Knox to Thomaston and bought a freight for $8.00 per thousand.
In August of this same year Johannes Dieffenthaler, Smouse's agent in Trinidad, was quoting to Mr. Demuth some rather hand- some prices on Waldoborough products, the following of which are here listed: "Lumber, $58.00 M., Shingles, $10.00 M., Staves, $56.00 M., Salt fish, $8.00 per hundred, Beef, $14.00 bbl., Pork, $24.00 bbl., Butter, 18-24 per pound, Flour, $16.00 per bbl.," and he adds longingly in the way of a personal request, "a little Ger- man cheese from your mother's house."12
In the summer of 1802 Captain Smouse was back again in the river and with a malignant disease on his vessel, the Bartholo- mew, either yellow fever or malaria. He was held in quarantine at Schencks' Point. On August 13, 1802, the selectmen instructed him as follows: "as reported to your schooner is liable to have the infection of a malignant fever on board, you will not bring
10Geo. Demuth to Capt. Smouse, Martinique, May 2, 1801.
11Supply.
12Mr. Dieffenthaler was a German.
13
The Beginnings of the Great Industry
her any further up the river . . . you may land what rum you have on board ... hides must be soaked in salt water."13
Apart from his own labors and profits Captain Smouse pro- vided a large market for the farmers and business men of Waldo- borough, broke many a local lad into the ways of the sea, and made work of all kinds for the town's artisans. A few little ex- cerpts from his small account book here following afford some insight into the scope of the activity centering around his enter- prises:
Nov. 23, 1801 John Koon [Kuhn] entered [shipped] for $125.00 a year. George Achorn and Jim Givens entered both on bord schuner Friendship for $100.00 yer yr.
Schooner Friendship, disbursements.
George Achorn entered 23 Nov. 1801 at $10.00 per month.
John Demuth for $16.00 per month.
John Sides, Dec. 1, 1801, at $20.00 per month.
Seners Thomson entered Decemr 5, 1801 for $20.00 per month.
Thomas Gellert entered on Monday, December the 21, 1801 at $20 per month.
Expences schooner Friendship, Dec. 1, 1801.
To Wincenbach painting the cabin
$8.00
to ten gallons mollassis
6.75
to Keen for pich [pitch] 1.50
to Mathis [Matthews] for 31 bu. corn
184.00
to ditto for bat hash [battening hatch]
.34
to ditto for marlin spick [spike]
.34
to James Hall for graving14
4.00
to Spragg [Sprague] for loading
7.00
to Paine for one baril tar 5.50
to Labe and Manning for rafting boards
6.64
to Rum for Lape and his people rafting boards at Esqu. Thomas 1.00
to one Cord Wood on Bord 2.00
Expenses schooner Friendship Dec. 16
to one lantarn $1.34
to 5 gallons Rum. mine 5.84
to 10 gallons rum, Fitzgerald's 11.68
to clearing out 7.15
Schooner Batholamy
Joseph Miller enter'd on Bord schooner the 30th day of November, 1802 at 7 dollars per month.15
Wm. Larman (Lermond) enter'd for to go a voyage in sail Schooner for 15 dollars per month the 22 day of December, 1802.
Captain Thomas Burns to Captain George D. Smouse, Martinique, Mont- serratt, February 5, 1803. ... I sold my cargo for 21 dollars per M. and took rum for payment, it being all that I could buy.
Captain Smouse from late 1803 seems to have centered his personal activities at Waldoboro and to have directed his enter-
18Orders in possession of Carroll T. Cooney, Jr., Waldoboro, Maine. 14Cleaning a vessel's bottom.
15Still in the crew Dec. 11, 1803, when he received $31.09 wages.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
prises from that center. On September 9, 1803, the selectmen approved "of Capt. George Demuth Smouse as a suitable person to keep a Publick inn and to sell spirtuous liquors by Retail in this town." Here he conducted his inn, his store, and his West Indian trade. It is doubtful if he ever returned to the scene of his earlier activities. His health seems to have been undermined by some tropical disease, possibly malaria, and mindful of the uncer- tainties of this life he made a will on April 17, 1801, and that his wishes might be made effective beyond doubt, had its terms recorded in the Office of the Register of Probate at Wiscasset.16 In this document he made provision for his father and mother by settling an annual income on them of $1500.00, and "they are to keep and take care of the little boy Nicholas Smouse until he is fourteen years of age and then bind him to some good master in Boston to learn a Rigger or Tailor trade." Up to the age of four- teen they are "to let him have all the schooling possible they can." When he should set himself up in his trade $500.00 of the sum designated for the parents was to revert to the boy "for his sole use."
George Smouse, Sr., had also made provision for this little boy as early as 1800, for on November 10 of that year he deeded to him twenty acres of his farm for "the love I bear to my grand- son, Nicholas Smouse," and for the sum of $10.00 reserving "one acre by the road for a burying place for the use of the freshwater people."17 The farm is the old Boyd Creamer place on the Wins- low's Mill Road, and was the old Smouse Homestead which George Smouse, Sr., was occupying as early as 1765.18 The old cemetery here mentioned lies on a knoll in the field on the east side of the road opposite the house. Here were interred the remains of George Smouse, where they rested for one hundred and twenty-five years and then were removed and placed in the old German cemetery by Messrs. William Reed and Warren Weston Creamer.
Captain George D. Smouse died in March 1806, at the age of forty-seven. In his last years he made a second and final will omitting all reference to the little Spanish or Creole, Nicholas, but providing as in the first will for his parents, while the residue of his estate went to his local wife and children. For the period in which he lived and from a small-town enterprise Captain Smouse accumulated a sizable estate. He was engaged in an uncertain busi- ness in uncertain times. The confiscation of his property by the Spanish Governor of Orinoco, and his losses through seizures by foreign privateers probably reduced the size of his estate substan- tially. At the time of his death he owned five eighths of the
16Bk. 59, p. 22. 17Lincoln County Registry of Deeds (Wiscasset, Me.), Bk. 46, p. 66. 18Cf. above, "George Smouse's Plan," Bk. 46, p. 66.
15
The Beginnings of the Great Industry
schooner Rising Sun, commanded by Captain Timothy Weston of Bremen, long actively and prosperously engaged in the coasting trade. This property was appraised at $1875.00, and the appraisal of Smouse's schooner Barthelemy, of one hundred and fifteen tons, was set at $1900.00. His homestead farm of ninety acres, now owned by Millard Winchenbach, was valued at $4000.00, and another piece of real estate of one hundred and sixty acres re- ceived an appraised value of $800.00. The total inventory, con- servatively arrived at as always, was $14,000.00 in round figures, a very considerable property in a time and place when a Revolu- tionary pensioner was able to live on a stipend of $8.00 a month.
Captain Smouse was not the largest-scale operator in the Waldoborough of his day, but he was the most venturesome. The maritime activity of the town in the eighteenth century was so considerable that in no sense was it limited to his enterprises. The fishing industry drew Waldoborough men and Waldoborough boats. Captains Ewell and Miller receive reference in contemporary papers and there were Waldoborough vessels and many Waldo- borough skippers engaged in the coastal trade and Atlantic ship- ping. In reality there was much coming and going and a mighty stir on the river, but of this romantic and venturous story the record is gone. Only a simple memorial slab reveals the fact that Captain Peter Hilt died at sea in 1785, and that Captain John Francis Miller was lost at sea in 1785 or 1786. Of the many others the record is even less revealing, and it can only be concluded that the curtain is finally drawn on some of the most daring and fascinating episodes in our history.
In these years, in every part of the world, the men from this town who went down to the sea in ships faced hazards other than those natural to the elements. The savages in the inland waters of the Pacific Northwest were almost invariably treacherous; the Chinese coastal areas swarmed with pirates; Mediterranean waters were infested with Barbary corsairs, and the British Navy as- sumed the right to abduct and impress American seamen when- ever its ships happened to be short of needed hands. A brief glimpse of these hazards is found in the letter of a Waldoborough captain to the owner of his ship in Boston. This letter is presented here in full as the concluding word in this chapter. It appeared in the Eastern Herald and Gazette of Maine, Portland, under the date of March 30, 1797, and under the caption "Pathetic Letter." It follows:
Algiers, Nov. 19, 1796
Sir: - When I wrote you last I was on bord the Turkish Gally that took me; but perhaps you did not receive the letter. I will now inform you that on the 2nd of August last, distant from Malaga 5 or 6 leagues, I was captured by a Barbary corsair belonging to the Bashaw of Tripoli, mounting 14 guns and 110 men consisting of Turks and Moars. On the
16
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
20th of August the same corsair captured the U. S. brig, Sophie, Capt. O'Brien. On the 8th of September we arrived at Tripoli where your ship, the Betsey19 was condemned and the crew made slaves. The Sophie's cargo was cleared, having a Passport from the Dey of Algiers. It is cus- tomary for the Captains of the Corsairs of Tripoli to have one slave out of the crew. Accordingly the Captain of the Corsair took me for his slave, and being not entirely destitute of humanity, told me I was at lib- erty to go away when I pleased. I pleaded all that lay in my power for Mr. Hinckley and the boy, James Bridgham, but to no purpose, as the Bashaw positively refused to let them go until the U. S. made a peace with him and ransomed them. I then embarked on bord the brig, Sophie on the 19th of September and arrived at Algiers on the 2nd of October where I have remained till this time, and as I do not wish to return to America till I have tried to get Mr. Hinckley and the rest of the crew at liberty, I am going from here in a brig for Tunis and from thence to Tripoli, and I hope I shall succeed as the French Ambassador goes in the brig, who I hope will have some influence with the Bashaw, but must leave that for time to determine.
Please to tell Mrs. Bridgham not to be concerned for her son, for I will get him away or tarry there a slave myself.
I beg you will recollect the $400.00 you insured for me; if you will get them when they become due and deliver them to Mr. Barber, he will forward them to Mrs. Sampson, which will greatly oblige me and to some measure alleviate a distressed family, as it is uncertain when or how I shall return to America.
Mr. William Boardman, Merchant, Boston.
I am, etc., Chapin Sampson
To this letter the journal adds this note: "Captain Sampson belongs to Waldoboro in the County of Lincoln, where his wife and family now reside."
Captain George D. Smouse's influence on the economic future of the town was pervasive and enduring. His own bold and romantic career was a focal point of public interest; he gave sub- stance to the dream of gold in the seas; in his vessels a generation of Waldoborough youth were trained, and from these many future ship captains were graduated; he brought the produce of the Indies to the table of local folk, and he guided home industries into the production of commodities that were exportable. To- gether with Squire Thomas he gave the push to the local economy that pointed it to a destiny on the sea.
19 Possibly the Waldoborough built Betsey, 1794, of 72 tons.
XXVII THE GERMAN PROTESTANT SOCIETY
Unser Herr Gott war ja Deitsch OLD PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN SAYING
B Y THE TURN OF THE CENTURY the Lutheran congregation in Waldoboro found itself definitely handicapped in many ways in the management of its affairs by reason of the fact that it had no corporate or legal standing. It was accordingly decided to seek such a status and the General Court in Boston was petitioned for an Act of Incorporation. The desired grant was made on Feb. 28, 1800, when an act was passed by the General Court "to incorporate a Religious Society by the name of the German Protestant Society in the Town of Waldoboro in the County of Lincoln." The in- corporators named in the act were Jacob Ludwig and ninety-four other members in the religious society.
Those named were the following: John G. Bornemann, John Benner, John Borchhard, Cornelius Bornheimer, Martin Benner, Peter Crammer, John Cramer, Jacob Cramer, George Clouse, Christopher Crammer, Jacob Crammer, Georg Dahlheim, Daniel Eichhorn, Georg Eichhorn, Daniel Filhauer, Peter Gross, Conrad Gross, Andrew Genthner, Jacob Genthner, Andrew Hofses, An- ton Hofses, Conrad Heyer, Mathias Hofses, George Hofses, Georg Heibner, Charles Heibner, Michael Hoch, Georg Hoch, Godfrey Hofses, Christian Hofses, Mathias Hebner, William Kaler, Charles Kaler, Jacob Kaler, Frederick Kinsell, Paul Kuhn, John Kinsell, Francis Keizer, Joseph Ludwig, Asamus Lash, John Light, Paul Lash, Jacob Ludwig, Jr., Joseph H. Ludwig, John Miller, Frank Miller, Charles Miller, John Martin, Frank Miller, Jr., Philip Mink, Valentine Mink, Paul Mink, Peter Mink, Charles Mink, Philip Neubert, Charles Oberlach, Joseph Oberlack, Henry Oberlack, Frank Oberlack, John Orff, Frederick Orff, John Stahl, Henry Stahl, Christian Storer, Charles Storer, Conrad Seyder, Jacob Schwartz, Philip Shuman, Katharina Shuman, Georg Shuman, Peter Schwarz, John Schnowdeal, Peter Schnowdeal, Jacob Win- chenbach, John Christopher Wallizer, Christopher Woltzgruber,
18
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
Charles Walch, John Winchenbach, Jr., Andrew Woltz, Daniel Woltz, John Weaver, Andrew Wagner, Cydonia Welt, Henry Winchenbach, Georg Woltzgruber, John Winchenbach, Henry Walch, Jr., John Walch, Jr., John Weaver, Mathias Woltz, and Jacob Winchenbach, Jr.
In this list of incorporators the varieties of spelling of cer- tain family names are a matter of interest. The spelling, however, gives little indication of the original German orthography, for al- ready at this time the practice of anglicizing names was far on its way. The absence of a great many names of old families is also a conspicuous feature. Some, to be sure, had already migrated, and a few families had become extinct as to name, but others who were still numerous in the town, such as the Castners, Procks, Feylers, Werners, Schencks, Comery's, Demuths, Hahns, Levensalers, Walters, Smouses, and Eugleys, appear not to have been among the more active members of the church, and in some cases were associated with other religious groups.
From the time of its incorporation the German Society was meticulously legal in the manner in which it transacted its business. Meetings were called through the issuance of a warrant exactly as is done in the case of our Town Meetings in the present day. The first warrant for such a meeting was issued by Jacob Ludwig and is here presented as issued. It may be taken as the prototype of all later warrants, of which as many as a half dozen might be issued in the course of a single year:
Lincoln: To Jacob Winchenbach of Waldoborough in said County of Lincoln Gentleman one of the members of the Ger- man Protestant Society in said Town of Waldoborough Greeting. .
You are hereby Required in the Name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Warn and Give Notice to all the members of Said Society, to meet to Gether on Thursday the third Day of April next at ten of the Clok in the forenon, at the Meeting House of Said Society in said Town - to act according to the Corporation granted by the Gen- eral Court, February the Twenty Eight one thousand eight hundred ....
1 ly: To Chuse a Moderator to Regulate said first Society Meeting.
2 ly: To chuse a Clark
3 ly: To chuse a Treasurer
4 ly: To chuse all necessary officers for said Corporation - and you are to make Return of this Warrant at the Time and Place Above mentioned.
Given under hand and Seal and by the Power invested in me by Autority, the eighteenth Day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred.
Jacob Ludwig, Justice of the Peace
At this meeting Capt. Joseph Ludwig was chosen moderator, Jacob Ludwig, clerk, and Jacob Winchenbach, treasurer. There- after the meetings of the Society in its earlier years were held with
19
The German Protestant Society
great frequency. During the cold months of the year it was the custom to meet at the church and then to adjourn immediately to the near-by house of Charles Kaler, where deliberations might be conducted under conditions of warmth and comfort. The minutes of these meetings were taken down by Jacob Ludwig in his minus- cular script in one of his characteristically small notebooks, and were later transcribed to the large record book now in the posses- sion of the Trustees of the Society. These transcriptions are not entirely complete.1 The untranscribed records do, however, fur- nish many interesting little side lights, such as, on the back side of the first page of Ludwig's notes, the following notation in his hand- writing: "No. 23 and 24 and 31 vacant Pews, Price from $12 to $14."
Jacob Ludwig continued his clerkship until the meeting of Jan. 30, 1815. It seems from the minutes that Jacob, now an old man, had come to the meeting and for once had forgotten to bring his famous notebook. This fact caused some remark to be made, probably of a jocular nature, whereupon the old man in a huff resigned and soon thereafter joined the church of his guiding light, Isaac G. Reed, which was the Congregational Society. Following this unexpected turn in events, Jacob Bornheimer was elected clerk pro tem of the meeting. The next regular clerk was Christopher Crammer who officiated as such until his death in 1827. On the 5th of May of that year he was succeeded by his son Christopher Crammer, Jr. The first recorded deacons or elders of the new Society were William Kaler, Michael Hoch, Frank Miller, Jr., and Peter Crammer, who were elected May 21, 1803.
The first preacher under the new covenant was the Reverend Friedrich Augustus Rodolphus Benedictus Ritz. His pastorate co- incided with the heyday of the Society's enthusiasm and strength. Its affairs proceeded with relative smoothness, and there is little in the records from which the new pastor's personality can be in- ferred, but the Reverend John J. Bulfinch, who knew people who remembered Mr. Ritz well, notes that "he preached exclusively in German and was a man of high Christian character and education, and commanded the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He was successful in his work and large numbers were added to the church during his ministry."2 His salary never seemed to have reached an impressive figure. From 1802 to 1806 it stood unchanged at the level of $230.00 per year. There were unquestionably many perquisites such as hay, wood, and food which enabled him to sup- plement his meager income.
1Beginning 1812 the minutes of meetings were not entered in the church book, which contains only the warrants. These minutes, however, exist in manuscripts in the possession of the Sexton, Mr. Herbert Standish. The regular entries were resumed in 1815.
2"A New England Relic of the Lutheran Church," Lutheran Observer, Phila., April 12, 1889.
20
HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
Despite the scant compensation paid to its pastor the Society was frequently in arrears and seems to have depended on the pas- tor's account of funds received rather than on its own treasurer. The following is both a typical and frequent entry in the records: "May 21, 1803. Voted to choose a Committee to wait on Mr. Ritz to see how his Sallery stands. Mr. Winchenbach, Mr. Gross and Jacob Ludwig a Committee for that purpose."
In the winter of 1810, Mr. Ritz died and he died poor, for on April 1, 1811, the town voted to "defray the funeral expenses of the Rev. Augustus Ritz." The expenses of his last illness were apparently assumed by one of his parishioners, for on March 28th the Society voted a Committee "to settle with Mrs. Ritz, and William Kaler. Capt. Stahl, Joseph Ludwig and Christopher Cram- mer the committee." On April 2, 1811, the church "voted to Get a Pear of Grave Stones for the Rev. Mr. Ritz," and on May 6th of this year, it was voted that "the Mrs. Widow Ritz have the bene- fit of the School Land the Present Year." This land was the un- used section of the lot on which the church and cemetery are lo- cated, and which, as previously indicated, was on Sept. 15, 1795, allotted to Mr. Ritz for his use only - he having during the years of his pastorate worked the soil like his parishioners to eke out his meager existence.
This grant of the Society's land clearly caused a good bit of subsequent trouble, for Mrs. Ritz was loath to relinquish the lot. In September 1812 Capt. John Stahl headed a committee "to settle with Mrs. Ritz and report next meeting." Capt. Stahl's committee apparently could not settle and lost its relish for the task, for on Jan. 9, 1813, it was voted that "a new committee be chosen to notify Mrs. Ritz to produce all her papers and chose an agent for herself if she wishes to have a settlement with the Society." Mrs. Ritz had in reality no legal case but her obduracy won her point in part at least, since on July 14, 1813, it was voted "to accept the report of the Committee to pay the Mr. Ritz estate $70.95." This contro- versy, however, was slow in dying. As late as March 1817 it was voted to give reconsideration to the two acres of land which "it is believed by some was promised to Mr. Ritz." The final settlement came seven years later when it was voted "to accept the report of the Committee to give the heirs of Mr. Ritz $20.00 and Mr. Charles Kaler $15.00 for them to quitt all their demands against the Society."
Clearly Mrs. Ritz had been left in indigent circumstances and her stubbornness rose in part from her needs. On May 18, 1815, Isaac G. Reed assumed the guardianship of her two sons, Augustus Friedrich and Augustus,3 and on April 15, 1839, the selectmen of
3Reed papers in possession of Mrs. Warren Weston Creamer.
21
The German Protestant Society
the town were authorized "to furnish Mrs. Ritz with partial sup- port." This is merely one of the many tragic incidents characteriz- ing the period of the church's decline in the first half of the nine- teenth century.
As a people the Germans have loved music perhaps as do no other people, and singing has always played a large part in their social and religious life. With the Waldoboro Germans this was the case from their first religious service in the first Broad Bay church. In all the history of the parish, however, there never was an organ or any other kind of instrument in the church. Its role was taken by a head singer whose function it was with his pitch pipe to set the pitch and then start the hymn. In this period this essential service was performed by Frank Miller, Jr. In the meet- ing of April 21, 1800, it was voted "to agree with some man to be the head singer or set the tune." At the next meeting on May 20th, it was recorded that "Mr. Frank Miller, Jr., will not serve as head singer under eight dollars per year." His terms were apparently met, and in 1803 an assistant singer was appointed who was none other than Conrad Heyer in his fifty-fourth year. At this time Mr. Heyer had been singing in the church choir for forty years, and he was destined to lead the singing at the last service ever to be held by the old Germans in Waldoboro.
In the days before the parish possessed hymn books it was the custom of the pastor to read the words of the hymn by coup- lets, the congregation singing each couplet as soon as it had been read and then waiting for the next. This practice continued in the church for many years, and tradition has preserved a humorous incident arising out of this procedure. Mr. Ritz's successor, the Reverend Mr. Starman, it seems, was overprone to dwell on his bodily infirmities, and certainly in his later years he had sufficient grounds. One Sabbath he rose in the pulpit and as he wiped his eyes he remarked:
"Mein sight ist poor, mein eyes ist dim, I scarce can see to read dies hymn."
The congregation immediately took up the couplet and sang it. The startled preacher hastened to say in his broken English:
"I did not mean to sing dies hymn, I meant to say mein sight ist dim."
These words were picked up and sung by the congregation as was its wont. Whereupon the old gentleman, exasperated, blurted out:
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