USA > Maine > The history of Maine, from the earliest discovery of the region by the Northmen until the present time; including a narrative of the voyages and explorations of the early adventurers, the manners and customs of the Indian tribes, the hardships of the first settlers, etc > Part 38
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This, however, was but a temporary arrangement. The rival claims were still to be adjudicated. Two years passed away while the question continued to be discussed by the two gov- ernments. In the year 1841, William Henry Harrison was President of the United States, and Daniel Webster Secretary of State. The sudden death of Pres. Harrison introduced the Vice-President, John Tyler, to the Presidential chair. The importance of the boundary question induced Mr. Webster still to remain in the office of Secretary, though differing with Mr. Tyler in political views. In the year 1842 Lord Ashburton came to Washington, the British ambassador authorized to form a new treaty for the settlement of the boundary. An extra session was called of the legislature of Maine. Commissioners were appointed to confer with Lord Ashburton and Secretary Webster upon this subject. The troublesome question was soon brought to an amicable settlement. England greatly needed a portion of this territory, that there might be free communi- cation between New Brunswick and Canada.
Maine surrendered a considerable tract which was of but little value. In compensation the United States received terri- tory of much greater value, on the borders of Lakes Champlain and Superior. The National Government paid Maine one hun-
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dred and fifty thousand dollars for the surrender. The State also received two hundred thousand dollars, as re-imbursement for the expense she had incurred in defending the integrity of American territory. The Senate of the United States ratified the Ashburton Treaty, as it was called, on the 20th of August, 1842. Impartial judgment must pronounce the conduct of Maine, in this whole affair, to have been patriotic and wise.
In the year 1841, Mr. Edward Kent again filled the chair of chief executive. The subsequent governors have been : -
1843. Edward Kavanagh (Acting)
Newcastle.
1844. Hugh J. Anderson
Belfast.
1847. John W· Dana
Fryeburg.
1850. John Hubbard
Hallowell.
1853. W. G. Crosby
Belfast.
1855. Anson P. Morrill
Readfield.
1856. Samuel Wells
Portland.
1857.
Hannibal Hamlin .
Hampden.
1857.
Joseph S. Williams (Acting) .
Augusta.
1858.
Lot M. Morrill
Augusta.
1861.
Israel Washburn
Orono.
1863.
Abner Colburn
Skowhegan.
1864. Samuel Cony .
Augusta.
1869.
Joshua L. Chamberlain .
Brunswick.
1871.
Sidney Perham
Paris.
1874.
Nelson Dingly, jun.
Lewiston.
.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRATION.
Origin of the Movement- The Plan adopted -Mission of Mr. Thomas to Sweden -Wise Measures Triumphantly Successful -The Voyage of the Immigrants - Their Hospitable Reception -New Sweden - The Primeval Forest-Labors of the Colonists -Their Industry and Prosperity -Increas- ing Immigration - Interesting Letter from Sweden - Present State of the Colony -Future Prospects.
O NE of the most interesting events which has ever occurred in the State of Maine is what may be called the Scandi- navian immigration. For this important movement, the State is mainly indebted to the sagacity and energy of Hon. William W. Thomas, jun., of Portland.
Mr. Thomas graduated at Bowdoin College in the year 1860. Two years after graduating he was appointed vice-consul at Constantinople, and soon after consul at Galatz in the princi- pality of Moldavia. His services there were considered so important, that the Department of State deemed him worthy of a vote of " special thanks."
In the year 1863 he was appointed consul at Gothenburg, in Sweden. He remained there three years; became familiar with the language, and acquainted with the manners and customs of the people. Upon resigning this important office, the State Department again took occasion to express its high appreciation of his measures as a public officer.
In the year 1866 he opened an office, as a lawyer, in Portland ; and in 1869 became one of the commissioners in the settlement of the public lands of the State. In 1870, invested with the office of Commissioner of Immigration, he sailed for Sweden, where he recruited a colony, returned with its members to
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Maine, and founded New Sweden in our northern forests. He then took a seat in the State Legislature, and, in the years 1874 and 1875, was Speaker of the House.
Such, in brief, was the origin of this very important move- ment, which merits a more minute detail of its progress from its commencement to its present success.
The subject of Swedish immigration had been, for some time, a topic of public discussion, when Gov. Washburn called the attention of the legislature to it, in his message of 1861. The troubles of the times engrossed all the energies and thoughts of the people, until Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain was called to the gubernatorial chair. He eloquently urged the question upon the legislature. It was fully discussed. Three commissioners were appointed to report what measures were necessary to in- duce settlements in the unpeopled townships. These were Hon. Parker P. Burleigh, William W. Thomas, jun., and Hon. William Small. The commissioners, having carefully explored Aroostook County, reported, in 1870, in favor of making vigor- ous efforts to establish a Swedish colony in Maine. It was pro- posed that an agent should be sent to Sweden ; that he should endeavor to collect twenty-five families, with their pastor, and conduct them across the Atlantic, to what was then township No. 15, in the 3d range. Here, in a perfectly healthy climate, very similar to their own, with fertile soil, abundant timber, pure water, and pure air, ample farms were to be assigned them without cost. None were to be received but honest and indus- trious farmers and laborers with their families, who had suffi- cient property to pay the expenses of their passage.
Mr. Thomas was sent on this important mission. Taking passage on the steamship "City of Brooklyn," he landed at Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 16th of May, 1870. Here he established his office, and spread broadcast over the land circu- lars inviting immigration, and truthfully describing the country offered them for their future homes. Mr. Thomas also travelled extensively, conversing with the people upon the subject, by the road-side, in the public vehicles, and at their homes. Particular stress was laid upon the fact, that none would be accepted but those who could bring the most satisfactory testi-
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monials for integrity of character, and for industry and skill in their several callings.
The Swedes are a highly industrious, moral, and Christian people. Their religious institutions were essentially like those prevailing in Maine. Recruits soon began to appear. Each man brought credentials from his pastor. No doubtful case was accepted. In this way a colony of picked men, with their wives and families, was collected.
The colonists and their friends met on the 23d of June, in the Baptist Hall in Gothenburg, to enjoy a public collation. Over two hundred Swedes were present. Addresses were made by the commissioner and by Swedish gentlemen. It was a momentous occasion, and appropriately closed by prayer.
At noon of Saturday, June 25, Mr. Thomas, with his adventurous and confiding band, sailed from Gothenburg, in the steamship "Orlando." The commissioner had been in Sweden but forty days. There must have been something singularly potent in the influence of Mr. Thomas, to enable him to induce these worthy and intelligent men to abandon home .. and country, to cross a stormy ocean of four thousand miles, and to hew out for themselves new homes in the wilderness of a strange land; with no contract, and nothing upon which they could rely but their faith in the honesty of the commissioner. It is indeed refreshing to one who is weary of describing the wrong and outrage with which earth is filled, to be able to record that Mr. Thomas was true to his trust.
The colony consisted of twenty-two men, eleven women, and eighteen children; fifty-one in all. The noble character of these men may be inferred from the fact that they took with them their pastor, their sabbath, and their church observances. . In addition to the farmers and their religious teacher, there was a civil engineer, a blacksmith, two carpenters, a basket-maker, a wheelwright, a baker, a tailor, and a shoemaker. The women were neat, industrious, and expert in the use of the spinning- wheel and the loom. It was said of the men, " All are tall and stalwart, with blue eyes, light hair, and cheerful, honest faces. There is not a physical defect or blemish among them." 1
1 Commissioners' Report, p. 5.
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
The emigrants landed at Halifax on the 13th of July, traversed the peninsula, crossed the broad Bay of Fundy, and ascended the River St. John. They arrived at Tobique, on the St. John, in New Brunswick, on the 21st of July, and the next day, Friday, July 22, drove across the border into Maine. At Fort Fairfield the American flag was raised to welcome them, a salute was fired in honor of their arrival, and they were wel- comed by addresses from Judge William Small, and from Rev. Daniel Stickney of Presque Isle. There was quite a festivity at the Fort on this joyful occasion ; and many settlers from the surrounding region had assembled to present the hand of frater- nal welcome to the strangers. How beautiful is peace !
The Swedes were invited to a sumptuous collation in the Town Hall; and then, with grateful hearts and strengthened resolutions, they continued their journey still farther north, to find their new homes. As they approached Caribou, five hun- dred people met them, and escorted them into the village with the salute of cannon and the music of a fine brass band. Here again their hearts were cheered by words of welcome from John S. Arnold, Esq. ; and their bodies were refreshed with an abundant feast, and they were hospitably entertained through the night. Mr. Thomas acted as interpreter on these occasions.
At noon of Saturday, July 23, 1870, the emigrants reached their new home, to which they gave the name of New Sweden. It is said there is no better township in the State. It is in the latitude of the flourishing city of Quebec. The land is undu- lating, and covered with a splendid growth of maple, birch, beech, and ash. Brooks flow through all the little valleys, and the soil is remarkably free from stones. The State, previously to the arrival of the strangers, had cut a road through the forest to the township ; had felled one hundred and twenty-five acres of trees, and had constructed for them six comfortable log houses. The long line of heavily loaded wagons wound their way along the newly constructed road, with the primeval forest, in its gigantic grandeur, rising on either side. The colonists, upon their arrival, used one of these houses as a store- house, while the fifty men, women, and children, though crowded, were comfortably accommodated in the other five.
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
The sabbath dawned happily upon this favored little band. Sweetly the melody of their Swedish hymns blended with all the voices of nature around them. There was, of course, some choice in the farms; but the question was amicably adjusted by drawing lots. The settlers were divided into groups of four friendly families, and the farms into clusters of four, with the cottages to be reared at the contiguous corners. Thus intimate friends could form one neighborhood. Mr. Thomas reports : -
" Every Swede was convinced that just the right lot had fallen to him; and was enabled to find something about his possessions which, in his eye, made it superior to all others. So surely does ownership beget content- - ment." 1
With hands made stronger by joyful hearts, the Swedes went to work clearing up their farms. One hundred acres of forest were assigned to each. The houses, which had been built for them, were very comfortable residences, of peeled logs, eighteen feet by twenty-six, on the ground. They were one and a half stories high, with seven feet between the floors. There were two logs above the second floor beams, which, with a square pitch roof, gave ample room for chambers. The ground floor was divided into three apartments. There was one front room sixteen feet by eighteen one bedroom ten feet square and a pantry eight feet by ten. On this floor there were four windows, and one window on the front gable end above.
In the general room of each house, there was a Hampden cooking-stove, with a funnel running out through an iron plate in the roof. These cottages, full of interior comfort, were architecturally picturesque ; and the inmates, happy and grate- ful, entered upon their labors with great zeal. Within a week after their arrival, these our prosperous adopted citizens wrote a joint letter to their friends in Sweden, in which they said that Maine had kept its faith with them in every particular ; that the land was fertile, the climate pleasant, and the inhabit- ants friendly. They strongly advised all their countrymen who thought of emigrating to America, to come to the congenial
1 Commissioners' Report to the Legislature, p. 9. We are indebted to this admirable report, which must make every son of Maine proud of his State, for nearly all the facts recorded in this chapter.
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
climate, the rich soil, and the kindly neighborhood of New Sweden, in Maine.
This letter was widely circulated by the journals in Sweden. In the fall the Swedes had made such progress in their clear- ings, that every farmer had sown an acre or half an acre with wheat or rye. The colony rapidly increased. On the 14th of September, twelve additional emigrants arrived ; and on the 31st of October twenty more followed, directly from Sweden. There were three births and two marriages. The sabbath, the greatest blessing God ever gave to man, shed its benignant influence upon the happy, religious colony. A sabbath school was opened for the children, and divine service was regularly con- ducted by their excellent pastor.
Through the wise forethought of the surveyor of the town- ship, Hon. Noah Barker, fifty acres in the centre of the settle- ment were reserved for public uses. This land belonged to the State. Here the State erected a building thirty feet by forty-five, two stories high, with a very capacious cellar, frost- proof. A neat tower, surmounted by a vane, rose from the front gable end. A store-room and offices were on the lower floor. The second story contained a large hall, thirty feet by forty-five, which was used for a church, a schoolhouse, and public meetings in general.
The main body of the emigrants had arrived in the midst of the heat of summer. The houses were not prepared to bid defiance to the blasts of a Maine winter. But cold weather was a foe whom the Swedes knew well how to encounter. As the autumnal nights grew long, and severe frosts began to set in, they all turned their attention to promoting the comforts of their own firesides. With split planks, they made their floors double, leaving a space of six or eight inches between. This space they filled with dry earth, making a floor so tight that the fiercest wintry blast could not force through it a single breath of air. The upper ceiling was also made perfectly tight with matched boards. They hewed the round logs which com- posed the walls, within and without, so as to present nearly a square surface. The interstices between the logs were filled very compactly with dried moss. Over this they nailed, both on the outside and the inside, strips of cedar.
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
Thus the houses, out of doors and within the rooms, pre- sented a finished aspect, smooth and perpendicular. The rooms were attractive. Neither clapboards, stone, nor brick could present a more perfect defence against the fiercest storms. Fuel was abundant. When the little households were gathered around these bright, warm firesides, it mattered little to them how low the mercury might sink in their thermometers. The climate was so healthy, that, in the autumn, it was said that there had not been a day's sickness of man, woman, or child in New Sweden.
The houses, with all the improvements, remained the prop- erty of the State for five years from the arrival of the colonists. If, in the mean time, any one abandoned the place, he left his cottage and his land in the hands of the State. If he or his heirs retained the cottage as their home for that length of time, it became, with the hundred acres, his or theirs in fee simple. The expense of transporting the colony from Sweden to Maine was four thousand dollars. The immigrants paid every dollar of this. They also took with them into New Sweden, three thousand dollars in cash and six tons of baggage. This was adding just so much to the riches of the State.
Every Swede who set out with the original company from Scandinavia, with the commissioner, adhered to his pledge, and settled in New Sweden. Every one who promised soon to follow did so. Not one of them sought a home elsewhere. And we do not learn that any one of them, at any time, aban- doned the enterprise. In December, 1870, but five months after the arrival of the colonists, the following results, in an official report, were announced : -
" A colony of one hundred and fourteen Swedes -fifty-eight men, twenty women, and thirty-six children - have paid their own passage from Sweden, and settled on the wild lands of Maine. Seven miles of road have been cut through the forest. One hundred and eighty acres of woods have been felled. One hundred acres have been hand-piled, burnt off, and cleared ready for a crop, and twenty acres sown to winter wheat and rye. Twenty- six dwelling-houses and one public building have been built.
" A knowledge of Maine, its resources and advantages, has been scat- tered broadcast over Sweden ; a portion of the tide of Swedish immigration turned upon our State, and a practical beginning made towards settling our
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wild lands, and peopling our domain with the most hardy, honest, and industrious of immigrants."
It is pleasant to witness the interest with which Sweden, the mother country, watched over the welfare of her sons and daughters in this distant land. A prominent member of the Swedish Parliament, one of the most distinguished of Swedish philosophers, wrote to the governor of the State of Maine, mourning over the departure of their citizens, and yet rejoicing in view of their prosperity. In this letter he said, -
" Your commissioner, Mr. W. W. Thomas, jun., one evening last summer, assembled his little colony of immigrants to partake of a collation, where good wishes and kind words were exchanged. We, the remaining friends, left with confidence our brethren and sisters in his care: his last and firm assurance was, ' All that has been promised will be kept.'
" Yes, sir, these promises have been kept, but not only that : they have been far surpassed by your generosity. The poor immigrants, landing on your shores, have been received and greeted with the most friendly wel- come. Their homes established, their future secured, they have not been disappointed in their hopes by the difficulties and grievances of the real state of things.
" The young colony will probably be the nucleus of an extended coloni- zation ; and you will not, sir, I feel sure, find the hardy Swedes ungrateful, and unworthy of your kindness : they would then, surely, be unworthy of their origin.
" The colony of ' New Sweden ' has requested and authorized the writer of this letter to convey to you, Honorable Governor of the State of Maine, the expression of their sentiments of deep gratitude ; and you will kindly allow me, sir, to add thereto the expression of the same sentiments of many other Swedes, who have followed the immigrants with their sympathies.
" Allow me at the same time to express to the people of Maine, who have received their new brethren with so much cordiality, the thanks of the colo- nists ; who have mentioned more especially two gentlemen, Mr. W. W. Thomas, jun., and Mr. P. P. Burleigh, land-agent, as objects of their grati- tude and high esteem.
" May the young colony of ' New Sweden' grow and flourish, not only in material strength, but even in developing their moral and intellectual faculties ! And may the new population thus add to your State and to your great Republic a good and healthy element of moral power from the Old World, and, becoming imbued with the spirit of your free institutions, reflect that spirit on their native land !
"What we have lost, at present, in the old fatherland, will then not have been lost to humanity: on the contrary, the trees have only been trans-
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planted on a fresher soil, where they will thrive better, and give richer and more abundant fruits. God bless the harvest! God bless your land !
"I am, sir, with the highest esteem,
" Your obedient servant,
"G. A. HEDLUND "
Gov. Chamberlain had taken a deep interest in this en- terprise, and had fostered it with truly parental care. The State erected, in all, twenty-six houses for the immigrants who arrived in the year 1870. Since then the Swedes have erected one hundred and four houses in addition. Thus their settle- ment, early in 1875, numbered a hundred and thirty houses. . They have also the same number of barns. Two steam-mills and a water-power saw-mill have been put in operation. There is a very prosperous store in the centre of the village; and it is generally admitted that the Swedes manufacture the best shaved shingles in the county. Their great prosperity may be inferred from the fact, that they owned, at the commencement of the year 1875, twenty-six horses, five colts, forty-one oxen, a hun- dred and twenty-one cows, nine heifers, fifty-one calves, sixty- eight sheep, and a hundred and twenty-five swine. They had good roads. A post-office was established in their village. : On the 14th of October last, one hundred and thirty-three men came forward to take the preliminary steps toward becoming citizens of the land of their adoption.
The Swedes are Protestants, and eminently a moral and reli- gious people. They have a day-school, taught by their pastor. There is an average attendance of eighty scholars. The Eng- lish language is the chief study. Most of the children over ten years of age can read, write, and speak English respectably well. There are now more than one hundred native Americans born of these Swedish parents.
About one thousand Swedes have been led to emigrate to this State, who have not taken farms in New Sweden, but who have settled in Maine, and are engaged in various useful employ- ments. The young girls are highly prized as house-servants ; and the men are greatly valued for their industry and their integrity. The population of New Sweden now amounts to about six hundred. There are not less than sixteen hundred
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Swedes in the State of Maine. These have all paid their own passage, have brought with them one hundred thousand dollars in coin; and it is estimated that their value, as a producing force, is worth to the State one million six hundred thousand dollars.
It is now certain that this valuable Swedish immigration will continue to flow into Maine. All special State supervision over the colony has ceased. The settlement is steadily advancing in prosperity. Rapidly the forest is disappearing, and giving place to cultivated fields smiling with rich harvests. The Swedes have won for themselves a very desirable reputation. Kindly feelings arise whenever one is introduced to man or woman as coming from Sweden.
It is believed that this successful enterprise in founding the colony of New Sweden will eventually lead a large emigration of the population of Scandinavia to our vast northern domain. The Northmen, justly called the "sea-kings " of Northern Europe, were the first discoverers of the shores of New Eng- land, centuries before the eyes of Columbus caught a glimpse of the tropical islands of this New World. The inhabitants of Maine will ever present a cordial welcome to all the descend- ants of those bold adventurers.
" Honor to whom honor is due." The State owes a debt of gratitude, which it will be ever happy to acknowledge, to the illustrious citizen whose sagacity planned this great enterprise, and whose energy and humanity have contributed so much to its successful achievement. The Hon. P. P. Burleigh, in a report as land-agent of the State, writes, -
" For this new impulse in the great pioneer work of settlement, the State is principally indebted to the skill and untiring efforts of the commissioner of emigration, Mr. W. W. Thomas, jun., who has, on both sides of the Atlantic, devoted himself to the cause in a manner worthy the thanks of the State. The success which has thus far crowned his efforts is a fitting testimony to his faithfulness and ability in the conduct of the enterprise."
CHAPTER XXV.
THE PICTURESQUE ATTRACTIONS OF MAINE.
Portland and Casco Bay - Seashore Resorts -Isles of Shoals - The Beaches - Cape Arundel and Old Orchard - Bath to Rockland, and up the Penobscot - Mount Desert-Lake Sebago-Mt. Pleasant and the Saco -The Valley of the Androscoggin -Rangeley Lakes and Sandy River - The Kennebec Valley - Moosehead Lake and the Aroostook.
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