USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of the town of Waldoboro, Maine > Part 2
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CHAPTER IV.
PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
In July, 1748, it became known that the con- tending powers, England and France, had agreed upon the preliminaries of peace, and although the definite treaty was not signed, at Aix-la-Chapelle, till Oct. 7th, the eastern Indians discontinued their ravages and bloodshed. Following this treaty Governor Shirley arranged for several Indian chiefs to visit Boston where their friendly professions were favorably received. Confidence in the peaceable disposition of the Indians was so strong that the garrisons were reduced and settlers who had sought refuge in the block houses, returned to their farms on the Georges river and at other points. It is very well established that some of those driven away from Broad Bay in 1746, re- turned but whether before or after the arrival of another colony is uncertain.
In the meantime the persevering Waldo was not idle. Through the efforts of his agents be- tween twenty and thirty families were induced to leave their native land and seek new homes in the wilderness of Maine. This colony, which Judge Groton states numbered about fifty people, arrived
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
in the waters of Broad Bay in the autumn of 1748, probably in November.
The place of their landing became known as Schenck's Point,' named for one of the settlers who afterwards became its owner. It was not then the beautiful spot which now attracts the eye. Those pioneers gazed out upon that expansion of the river, which rightly derived the name of Broad Bay, while behind them was the unbroken, path- less wilderness, with not an acre cleared nor a house standing.
The vessel in which they came sailed away, and they were left to face the stern realities of their condition. The severe winter of this climate was upon them; they were without shelter and scantily supplied with provisions. Hastily con- structed log huts provided the only protection from the inclmency of the season. Well preserved traditions furnish convincing proof of the terrible hardships and sufferings of these first settlers on the banks of the Medomak.2 The only name among those who composed this colony, which
I. This site is now occupied by the summer residence of John J. Cooney, Esq., of New York, one of the most attractive spots on the Me- domak river.
2. Medomac-Also written Madaamock, and Madahumic. This variation suggests the form Matta-am-ock; Matta meaning not,-namas, fish,-ock, place; implying the part of the river where the ocean fish are not found, as not being able to pass above the tide-water over the falls called Chegeewunnussuck, just above the village of Waldoboro."-U. S. Coast Survey Report of 1868.
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
has come down to us with any certainty, is that of Martin Heyer, who died from exposure and hun- ger during the winter, a few months before his son was born. This birth, which was the first in the colony, occurred April 10, 1749, and the boy was named Conrad Heyer.
CATEDROCESS
SON& CO. PHILAS
CONRAD HEYER.
With the coming of spring they began to clear the land for cultivation, though they possessed little knowledge of such work and the tools and implements brought from Ger- many were poorly
adapted to their needs.
We can scarcely picture in our imagination the appearance of the region at this time. The beholder viewed from the waters of Broad Bay the hills and valleys on both banks covered with the unbroken wilderness. The more adventure- some settlers soon explored the region and dis- covered the lower falls of the river at the head of tide where in 1749 Ector and Martin, two men of English extraction, arrived and built a saw mill. This mill was on the western side of the river, op-
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
posite the mills which were known later as Sproul's Mills.
Eaton states, on the authority of Joseph Ludwig, that in 1752 twenty or thirty more Ger- man families, who had arrived the previous year in Massachusetts, whither they had been invited and partially provided for by government, were in- duced to remove to Broad Bay and settle with their countrymen there, on Dutch Neck and down about the narrows. There were some school- masters among them but no regular clergyman, although religious meetings were kept up on the Sabbath without interruption. Probably Mr. Ulmer continued to exhort and in some measure act the part of clergyman.
Mr. Starman says that in 175 1, between twenty and thirty families came over, and their necessities were relieved at the public expense as well as by private charities. It is difficult to understand whether referred to the 1748 or the 1752 colony.
John Ulmer, who subsequently removed to Rockland, possessed a natural fluency of speech and no lack of confidence. His religious services he occasionally rendered, also, for the edification of those who assembled in his humble log cabin in the latter place. These clerical functions, how- ever, seem not to have wholly withdrawn his mind from earthly possessions, nor prevented him from the occasional use of profane language; for the
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
story is told that, on one occasion in the midst of his religious services, perceiving his potato patch in danger, he suddenly broke out with: "Donner and blitzen! Yacob, Yacob, dare is de tam hogs in the pertaters! tousand teifel! run, run, trive dem out and put up de fence."
CHAPTER V. GENERAL WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
In 1753 General Waldo's son, Samuel Waldo, 2nd, visited Germany and caused to be published the circulars which induced a large part of our an- cestors to settle here. A few years ago a copy of this circular was found among the private papers of the late John W. Shepherd of Belfast, a son of one of the early settlers of Waldoboro, and was translated by Dr. A. T. Wheelock of the same city. It is here published in full as a part of our local history.
EXTRACT FROM THE IMPERIAL POST NEWSPAPER NUM- BER FORTY-SEVEN, MARCH 23, 1753.]
The Royal British Captain Waldo, hereditary lord of Broad Bay, Massachusetts, having arrived in Germany from New England, and having taking up his abode in the dwelling of Hofrath Luther, this is made known to all those who intended to go to New England this spring, and are seeking permission from their respective governments, and who further are able to pay the passage money, to the end that they may apply either to himself, or these already made known places of address, viz: Luther's type foundry, and the
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
office of Eichenberg's newspaper in Frankfort, Leucht and Allerger's printing office in Augs- burg, Mr. John Lewis Martin (merchant) in Hil- broun, and Mr. Goethel's printing office in Spires, (all of which are hereby made known to be regu- larly authorized, where, also, any other informa- tion may be obtained), and learn what is abso- lutely certain in regard to their journey, and make their contracts; while at the same time there is not the slightest notice to be taken of those people who go about, sending back and forth, and undertaking that for which they have no authority ; although much may be undertaken in the name of New England, and the people stirred up by those who have not received the slightest commission therefor. Accordingly, all other persons beside the above fully empowered houses, even if they profess to treat in the name of Samuel Waldo, Brigadier General in the royal army of Great Britian ; or pretend to do business for the advan- tage of his colony, where most of the Germans have settled; and if even American letters have already passed through their hands, and they have had some useless business transactions with men, ships, &c., not in the appointed places ; or produce other sealed documents, attested of little worth, which savor of the old custom; all such persons, in so far as they have received no orders from the aforesaid houses, will be shut out from all concern
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GENERAL WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
in the matter. But at the same time, by virtue of the full power of attorney situated at Frankfort, all and everything will be considered as binding, which may be done by the highly esteemed son of this gentleman, the hereditary Lord of Broad Bay, or by the aforesaid fully empowered houses.
The promised one hundred and twenty acres, German measure, will be measured out to each as his own property, and that of his heirs in the same manner as if Gen. Waldo himself had transacted the business, and had been personally present. While, then, the people are warned to apply no where else then at the aforesaid places, and not to undertake the journey at once, without special papers of assignment and acceptance, (which every man in the neighborhood must obtain and thus secure himself) and thus be sure of his free pas- sage ; because it is intended to take only a suitable number of those who can pay their entire passage, or at least the half of it (as in the case of some), and not all, as affirmed in the excitement got up here and there, by certain utterly unauthorized persons, in the name of New England, about which we hear of the greatest indignation being produced-at the same time it is intended to op- pose all fraud, to treat the people justly, and to confer a heritage on those who pay the whole passage money, on which no unfair demands will be made, as has been the evil custom ; but what is
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
for their advantage will be pointed out to those who are emigrating.
The time of departure, and the place of gathering, with any further information, will be made known to all.
To this it is now added that the passes al- ready made out for this purpose in the name of His Britannic Majesty, by the Duke of New Castle, Secretary of State, together with the need- ed documents connected with it, also the suitable letters of recommendation to his excellency, Onslow Burrish, the Royal Minister at the honor- able States Assembly at Ratisbon, are already given out.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAINE,
MARCH 23, 1752.
The substance in brief, of the principal circum-
stances and conditions respecting the settle- ment of foreign Protestants in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, especially Broad Bay.
This province lies, and extends itself in breadth along the Atlantic Ocean, in general, east-north-east and south-south-west, from forty- one degrees to forty-three degrees north, and five hours west, according to the meridian of London. Its land is made up of great districts, or divisions, which belong to the government itself, or to the
33
GENERAL WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
most prominent settlers, or to gentlemen residing in England, to whom it was transferred by the crown, as Pennsylvania; therefore the economy or form of government rests upon almost the same basis as that; except that each of these districts can make certain domestic arrangements without depending on the General Assembly therefor, which otherwise might not be accomplished.
Boston, the principal city of this Province which has been already built more than one hun- dred and fifty years, and is occupied by a great number of English inhabitants, in good circum- stances, lies about midway between Philadelphia and Halifax in Nova Scotia. It is distant from this last named Province about five hundred English miles, and separated from it by a great bay called the Bay of Fundy. The climate is ac- knowledged to be healthy, and the soil is exceed- ingly fruitful, since the wood which grows there is mostly oak, beach, ash, maple, and the like, and it yields all manner of fruit as in Germany, but hemp and flax in greater perfection. Also, there is much game in the woods, and many fish in the streams, and every one is permitted to hunt and fish.
The government of Boston, from whence is a well built road and regulated mail to go to Penn- sylvania, which lies only sixty-five or seventy Ger- man miles from it, has lately, in an assembly held
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
Nov. 23d, 1479, granted to the foreigners, for a beginning in its Province, four townships, each more than twenty thousand acres (German) in extent, where they can settle. Since, shortly after, a ship full of Germans arrived from Phila- delphia, and announced that some hundred fami- lies would follow them, and other property holders in the same Province followed their example, and granted a great part of their lands on similar con- ditions; in particular his Britannic Majesty's Brig- adier General Samuel Waldo on these considera- tions, viz :-
No. I. That those who will of their own ac- cord, and with the permission of their government, settle in Broad Bay, shall dwell together in cer- tain division, 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 substi- tute, 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 up- wards, who permit themselves to be transported
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GENERAL WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
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 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 to the General Court to represent them; will be obliged neither to bear arms nor 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 aforesaid de- mands nothing further than that every one hun- dred 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 necessary support for from four to six months, according as they arrive early or late in the season. But only those will have the ad- vantage of this who shall go thither under the direction of the places of address atoresaid.
No. 4. And if one or two Protestant preach- ers, provided with good testimonials from the consistories and church meetings, and unmarried, whose care is the salvation of souls, should resolve
1146200
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
to trust to Providence and the good will of Samuel Waldo, and go forth immediately, at the beginning, with the rest, they shall receive besides their free passage a little supply of fifteen pounds sterling, for two years, out of the above-named capital. Also it is hoped that their congregations will also 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 re- marked that the first families going thither, al- though there should be several hundred of them, can all select their residences either in a seaport or on navigable river, 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 which the people are not only able at once to sup- port themselves until the land is fit for cultivation, but also are freed from the trouble and expense of making wagons, and traveling by land, to which difficulties it is well known Pennsylvania is sub- jected. Also, the government aforesaid has heard from people themselves, who have already come from Pennsylvania itself, the unjust treatment (well known to the world without any such an- nouncement) which befell them upon the sea, after
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GENERAL WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
they had sailed from Holland, and has already made a regulation to prevent the like, for the future, in the voyage from Holland to Boston; ac- cording to which, not only the ship captains who bring the people over, but those who accompany them, must govern their conduct by the prescribed regulations, otherwise they will receive punish- ment, and be compelled to give the people satisfaction ; and also the ship itself will be taken care of. Thus are the like mischances in various ways prevented, and every one is made secure.
In order to avoid prolixity, this is suffered to suffice. Any one can easily gather out of what has been said, that it has not been the intention to persuade people to this expedition: and those who without this had resolved upon it of their own accord, will try their best not to suffer themselves to be deceived; and thus can, unhindered, carry out their journey in the name of God, upon the next time announced to the public, with govern- mental passports. He who in addition to this, wishes to inform himself more definitely with re- gard to any point, can apply to the houses and places of address made known in the Imperial Mail newspaper of March 23, 1753, or by prepaid letters.
We, Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle, Count of Clare, Lord of
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
L. S. Houghton, Baron Pelham of Laugh- ton, Knight of the Royal Order of the Garter, member of his Majesty's Secret Council, and first Secretary of State, &c.
To all Admirals, Captains, Officers, Gover- nors, Mayors, Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, Commanders, Custom House Officers, Overseers, Inspectors, and all others whom this pass may concern, greeting : This passport, made out in the name of the King, goes forth to desire, and demand of you, that you allow and permit the bearer of this pass, Gen. Samuel Waldo, one of the principal Proprietaries in that part of the King's lands which lies on Massachusetts Bay, New England, together with his servants, his ef- fects, and whatever is needful to him, to travel free and unhindered from hence to Harwich, or to any other seaport in England, that he may there embark and pass over to Holland. Further, also, we hereby pray and desire, that all servant, officers, and subjects of all Princes and States, who are allied with, and friendly to the King, will permit the said Gen. Waldo to pursue his journey to Frankfort on the Maine, or to any other place in Germany or in Switzerland, with the permission of the several Princes and States whom this may concern, in order to collect the people of the Protestant faith, who may wish to settle in the aforesaid Province of Massachussetts Bay. And
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GENERAL WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
further, in accordance with this, 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, to- gether 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 this country, to be transported to the aforesaid Province of Massachusetts Bay. Finally, all the King's servants who may chance to be in any territory of the aforesaid Princes and States, are hereby besought to support and to protect the aforesaid General Samuel Waldo in his purpose, so that he may easily carry out his plans aforesaid, and put them into effect.
Given at Whitehall, the second day of March, 1753, in the twenty-sixth year of the King's reign.
CHAPTER VI.
SECOND PERMANENT COLONY.
The glowing inducements held out by Gen- eral Waldo in the announcement published in Chapter V, had its effect upon the peasantry of Germany, oppressed by wars and taxation. Sixty families in different parts of the valley of the Rhine immediately made preparations to emigrate. Leaving their homes in Kinderroth, Franconia, Swabia and Wirtemburg, some of them traveled more than twenty miles by land to the Rhine where they embarked in small boats and descend- ed the river to Dusseldorf, in which place they waited for others to arrive and then proceeded to Amsterdam.
Embarking on board ship they sailed from the port of Amsterdam in June, 1753, but touched at Cowes, Isle of Wight, where several of their number died and were buried on the island. One, at least, left the company there and proceeded to London where he remained and amassed a fortune in the manufacture of paper.'
I. This was Thomas Muhler, or Muller, or Miller, whose brother Frank reached Broad Bay with the colony and was the ancestor of the Waldoboro Millers. His wife Anna, who died Oct. 26, 1820, never learned to speak the English language. Thomas died single.
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SECOND PERMANENT COLONY.
From Cowes they sailed for Portsmouth and thence to St. George's river. At Pleasant Point they were crowded into a sloop as close as they could stand, and brought around to Broad Bay, where they arrived in September (1753) and, ac- cording to Waldo's circular, should have received six months support. Yet they were left wholly unprovided for during the winter. A few found shelter among their countrymen who came in 1748; others were crowded into a house near the present town house; but the greatest number were lodged in a shed erected for that purpose. This shed was west of the street running from Kaler's Corner and across the street from the lo- cation of the late canning factory. It was sixty feet long, without chimneys, and utterly unfit for human habitation. , Here these destitute people, deserted by their patron, dragged out a winter of inconceivable suffering. Seventeen died from exposure and starvation, or from diseases induced by their privations, and were buried on a knoll in the field west of the shed. This spot, which can be easily identified, should be enclosed and mark- ed with a suitable monument by the descendants of the early settlers whose remains rest there.
The previous settlers were too poorly sup- plied themselves to render the new comers much assistance. Eaton states they were fain to work for a quart of buttermilk a day and considered it
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HISTORY OF WALDOBORO.
quite a boon when they could obtain a quart of meal for a day's labor. They sought for employ- ment on the Damariscotta and St. George's and many of the children were put out to service in those settlements. With hunting and fishing they were unacquainted and clams appear to have been the only article of food they were able to obtain themselves. With clams and a little meal they made a kind of soup. Some of the settlers brought money with them, but even they were un- able to procure food, so great was its scarcity. It must be remembered that the region was then a wilderness with here and there feeble settlements. Railroads were unknown and even common wagon roads had not been built.
The next spring Waldo appointed Charles Leistner his agent to allot the settlers their prom- ised lands and deal out their provisions, which probably were transported hither by water as soon as the river opened. Leistner' was a man of edu- cation and exercised the powers of a magistrate during his life, but did not escape the murmurs of the settlers, who, in their privations and jealouses, accused him, perhaps without reason, of selling for his own benefit the provisions which had been furnished for them. He also showed much injustice in the allotment of their farms.
I. Leistner, whose signature shows excellent penmanship, spelled his name Leissner on a petition to Gov. Shirley in 1756.
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SECOND PERMANENT COLONY.
Instead of one hundred acres on "navigable rivers," they were taken back nearly two miles westward into the wilderness where they were as- signed half an acre each in a compact cluster. There they built their huts in the best manner they were able. They cleared up their small lots and planted them as well as they could, stirring up the soil with rude hoes, the only implements they had for that purpose. This settlement was in what is known as the "Waldoboro Woods," back of the Ritz farm. Its remains could be traced a few years ago, from which it appears that an attempt was made to enclose the settlement with a wall.
This huddling together may have been by Leistner's orders, or from fear of Indian hostilities, or from both. We have no means of knowing how long this arrangement existed, but have reasons to suppose that it was of short duration, and that these people were soon assigned farms of the same proportions as the others, on both sides of the Medomak.
Before the expiration of the year 1753 George Werner1 (afterwards Varner and now Vannah)
I. William D. Patterson, of Wiscasset, has a diagram of George Werner's land and mill privilege, surveyed by John Martin, July 31, 1766. The lot extended from the Medomak river to "House Lot Pond," as Kaler's Pond was then called. It shows that the Kinsell mill privilege, so called, was on the easterly end of this lot and proves that this was the site of Werner's grist mill.
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