Sir William Pepperrell
Sprague's Journal of Maine History

VII             AUG.  SEPT.  OCT. 1919                           No. 2
pages 59-77


Sir William Pepperrell

Maine as a district and as a state has had four of her citizens
knighted for activities of worth and super-importance by the Eng-
lish government:   Sir William Phips, in the seventeenth, the first 
Sir William Pepperrell  and the second Sir William Pepperrell in 
the eighteenth, and Sir Hiram Maxim in the nineteenth century.

The parents of the first and the last named were poor in worldly
affairs and unable to bestow upon their children such educational 
privileges as the youth of their times, who were fortunately 
circumstanced, generally received.  With the exception of the sec-
ond  Pepperrell none of them were college graduates.  Phips, espec-
ially, was born and reared in conditions of real destitution.

Sir William Pepperrell's father had acquired some property, had
established a profitable commercial business and his children never
knew from actual experience the meaning of poverty as the Phips
family or even, in lesser degree, as did the Maxims.

His father Colonel William Pepperrell, was a Welshman, a native
of Ravistock Parish, near Plymouth in Wales. (1)  The exact date of 
his birth is not known.  His parents were of the common laboring
folk and, when twenty-two years of age, he left his native shores 
for America and settled on the Isles of Shoals, some ten or twelve 
miles from the mouth of the Merrimac, within the borders of what
is now the state of New Hampshire, and nine miles southerly from 
Kittery Point.  Here he pursued the vocation of deep sea fishing
for several years, during which time he accumulated a small amount 
of money that he invested in fishing boats, which he let to neighbors 
less frugal or fortunate that himself.  This was the beginning of 
the foundation of what was at the time an immense fortune and
that gave the Pepperrell family wide-spread influence and power
throughout the colony as well as an enviable credit and reputation 
in England.
		
_____
(1)Usher Parsons' Life of Sir William Pepperrell (Boston, 1855) p.1.

A few years prior to this John Bray emigrated from England to 
America and made a home for himself and family at Kittery Point.
He was an expert boat builder and later became a large guilder and 
owner of ships.  He also acquired wealth and was a man of prom-
inence in the community.

One of his family was a daughter, Margery, less than two years
of age when he sailed from England and when he begun life at 
Kittery Point.  Young Pepperrell frequently had business with 
John Bray.  So, after a residence of five or six hears there, and 
after having met and become acquainted and much smitten with
the charms of the daughter, Margery, then a comely girl in her 
'teens, he naturally decided that Kittery was a more promising 
location for him than the rather barren and lonesome Isles of 
Shoals, which boasted of no such attractive young girl among its
settlers as Margery Bray.  When she was seventeen Pepperrell
sought her hand in marriage but her tender years were offered as 
an objection by her parents.  The young man from Wales pros-
pered in fishing, shipping and trade, and when Margery had
attained to what her father conceived to be a proper age for wed-
lock, he wisely consented to the union and made the happy couple


a wedding gift of a piece of land, the site of the present Pepperrell
mansion in Kittery.

When Captain John Smith visited Piscataqua in 1614, a large
Indian population flourished there.  This Indian settlement was
called Newichewannocks, whose sachem lived at Quampegan (now
South Berwick).  Soon afterward a fatal epidemic swept off a 
large portion of his tribe making it more accessible for English
settlers who began to arrive as early as 1623.  In the early years houses 
were erected in the Piscataqua valley near the water's edge.
The communication between the settlers was carried on by water for the 
first fifty years; then rough bridle paths were constructed through 
the woods.  The building of lag houses was gradually extended
away from the coast line and along these paths, which eventually
developed into highways for ox-carts, chaises and other vehicles of 
that day, and the high power autos of this day.

Mills increased on the small rivers and lumber and ship-timber
floated down the river in rafts to be shipped to various European
and American ports.  But the most extensive and lucrative busi-
ness was the fisheries.  This became a great industry.  They were
carried to may parts of the world and exchanged for tobacco and
corn from the south; for tropical goods from the West Indies;
dry goods, sails, naval stores, cordage, wines and fruit from Eng-
land, Spain, and Portugal.  It was this business that the Pepper-
rells and Brays were engaged in.

The disastrous Indian war of King Philip, in 1675, was a fatal
blow to these prosperous people.  And after its close Indian depre-
dations continued to such an extent that there was but little change
for the better until Governor Phips, in 1693, built forts at Pema-
quid and at the mouth of the Saco river.  Yet the Pepperrells,
conducting a business on the ocean, did not suffer from the raids 
and conflagrations of the Indians, following the close of the King 
Philip war, as did many others on the Maine coast.  They pros-
pered and with their surplus earnings invested in lands until they
became the largest land owners in that vicinity.

William Pepperrell, Junior, Sir William Pepperrell, was born at
Kittery Point, June 27, 1696.  As a boy he attended the village 
school where he acquired only rudimentary learning; but under 
the guide of a competent private tutor he was taught land survey-
ing, became proficient in ship navigation and learned something
of geography.  From childhood to manhood he lived in the midst

of savage warfare and breathed the air of self protection by the 
shedding of blood.  The events, which he heard the most of as a 
youth, were tales of Indians burning villages and scalping his 
neighbors all the way from Kittery Point to Casco Bay.  Reared
among such scenes it was only natural that he should have been 
imbued with a military spirit when only a lad.  At sixteen he aided
in keeping ward and watch, and bore arms in patrol duty.

On the death of his only brother, Andrew, the firm name of 
William Pepperrell & Son was changed to The William Pepperrells.

When not attending school, he assisted in his father's store,
which was laborious, for they dealt in provisions, naval stores and 
similar heavy merchandise.  His recreations were generally water
sports with boys and girls, who were the children of fishermen, and
hunting game in the adjacent forests.  Thus, both his work and 
play tended to promote muscular development and the power of 
enduring fatigue.  They gave him a robust frame and vigorous
mental quality.  Such a live ever makes strong men, physically,
mentally and morally.

In 1716 the Pepperrells bought of the agents of Benjamin Black-
man who had purchased it from the original proprietors, Gibbons
and Bonython, a large tract of land which included a considerable
 portion of what is now the city of Saco, extending from the ocean
several miles along the Saco river.  Within it were the water
powers where are now situated the cotton mills and other manu-
facturies of that busy burg.  This purchase, while made in the 
name of the elder Pepperrell, was purchased for his son, William,
then a minor, and subsequently conveyed to him.  In 1729 young
Pepperrell bought land adjoining to such an extent that he was soon
the sole owner of nearly all of Saco, then named Pepperrellboro,
and Scarboro.  He erected mills and sold lots to settlers, all of 
which increased their income and constantly augmented the value
of their estates.  Soon after the Saco purchase he arrived at the
age of twenty-one years.  He assumed, as a partner of the firm
of Pepperrells, the duties of an outside manager, having charge
of the improvements made there and of contracting for the building
of vessels on the Piscataqua and Saco rivers.

That ship building had become very profitable with them is illus-
trated by the fact that the ship carpenters of the Thames com-
plained to the government in 1724 that their trade was being
impaired by the Pepperrells and other ship builders in New Eng-

land.  For the purpose of favoring British manufacturers, parlia-
ment had prohibited the manufacture of woolens in America for
exportation from one colony to another, and in London were fav-
ored by an act forbidding the hatters of the colonies to employ
more than one apprentice.  Hence, fostering colonial ship building
harmonized with England's narrow and selfish policy of restricting
manufacturing here and incidentally inured to the welfare of the
Pepperrells.

The younger Pepperrell also conducted much of the trade of his
firm with Boston and in London.  Theirs had an ascendency
over all other mercantile houses in New England.  Thus the young
man was brought into close and intimate connection with the 
public men in Boston.  This lead to an entrance into the delightful
Boston aristocracy of that period, by which means he cultivated
courtly manners and an address of ease and politeness.  The his-
tory of the Puritans has been written for us in two kinds and by 
two classes of writers.  One by the methodical historians and plod-
ding antiquarians, by those delving into the dry details of all the
events, the other by the poet, the dramatist, and the novelist.  Both
have instructed us and pleased our fancy.  Upon Hawthorn's pages

we behold the ancient Puritan society; austere, solemn, prayerful,
rigid; and we also see the later colonial aristocracy laced and pow-
dered, with its dignified and proper dancing and amateurish indul-
gence in frivolities which their forbears had forbidden as having
been designed only by and for the enemies of God.  William Pep-
perrell lived in the days of the latter.

With them he was a favorite.  At an early age honors sought
him.  He was commissioned justice of the peace at the end of his
minority and was soon offered the captaincy of a company of cav-
alry.  From this he was promoted to major and then made colonel,
which placed him in command of all the militia of Maine.  In 1726
he was chosen representative to the General Court of Kittery,
which then included Eliot and the year following received further 
political promotion as appears by the following notice:

Boston, June 1, 1727.
Sir,--I am directed by the Honorable Lieutenant-Governor and Council
to acquaint you that you are elected and appointed a councillor or assistant
for the ensuing year, and that your attendance at the council-board is 
desired as soon as may be.
Your humble servant,
J.WILLARD.

Among the Boston families which William met socially was that 
of Grove Hirst, a man of distinction in the colony.  He was a 
successful merchant, had acquired much wealth, was well known
and influential throughout New England.  His wife was a daughter
of Judge Sewall of the Supreme Court.  The Hirsts were con-
nected by marriage with that most excellent, famous and eccentric
individual whose name and doings are strangely intertwined with 
almost everything and everybody of consequence in early York or 
Kittery, the Reverend William Moody, better known as Parson
Moody.

Grove Hirst had a daughter prepossessing and attractive and
regarded as a beautiful young lady by young Pepperrell and one
other that we have information of.  He had met the lady in the
social circles of Boston and when she was visiting at Parson
Moody's he made frequent calls and was quite attentive to her.
The other admirer chanced to be none other than the parson's own
son who as a schoolmaster in York.  Possibly an embarrassing 
situation.  But Pepperrell was successful in love as well, as after-
wards, in war, and succeeded in winning Mary's affections and on 

March 16, 1723, they were united in marriage.  The Pepperrell
mansion at Kittery was enlarged and became their home.

In 1730 Governor Belcher had a friend who he desired to make
clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, but this was a prerogative of 
the judges to appoint and they preferred the old incumbent.  A
sort of dead-lock or political contest was on between the governor
and the court.  It was furious but short.  While the court were 
not compelled to obey his wishes he possessed the power to sum-
marily remove them and appoint others in their places.  This he
immediately proceeded to do.  His new appointees were William
Pepperrell, Junior, chief justice, Samuel Came, Timothy Gerrish,
and Joseph Moody, associates.  In this arbitrary fashion the gov-
ernor succeeded in placing his favorite in office.  This was Ameri-
can politics in the first part of the eighteenth century.  Mr. Pep-
perrell was not a lawyer by set about in his usual energetic man-
ner to qualify for his new position.  He commenced by ordering
from London a law library.  He read law as any law student would
have done in those days, and devoted all of his spare moments to 
informing himself regarding the rules of law and court procedure.
That he continued to hold this place until his death, in 1759, is 
assurance that he made a good judge.

The causes which led to the capture of Louisburg in 1745 are a 
part of the epic story of a New France in the New World.
Dreamed of by the explorers and discoverers of the sixteenth, it
was vitalized by the adventurers, missionaries and colonizers of the 
seventeenth century and for more than a hundred years was a
tragic conflict between the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin for 
supremacy until Wolfe captured Quebec in the eighteenth century.
Acadia, including ancient Nova Sotia, and English settlements
along the sea coast and rivers of Maine, constituted much of its
battle ground.  Cape Breton, an island guarding the approaches to 
the St. Lawrence, was in the early part of the seventeenth century
in the possession of the English colonists.  By treaty in 1632 it
was restored to France.  In 1710 with the fall of Port Royal, which
was taken by New England troops and renamed Annapolis, Cape
Breton again fell to the English as did the rest of Acadia.  The
English held this island by possession until the treaty of Utrecht 
in 1713, when what is now Nova Scotia was ceded to Great Britain,
France retaining the island of Cape Breton and renaming it Isle
Royale.  This was all of New France that then remained of all 
her Atlantic possessions.


France immediately began to fortify the harbor, formerly know
as English Harbor, giving it a new name, Louisburg, in honor of
the French monarch Louis XIV.  Whether or not the English
representatives at Utrecht overlooked the strategic importance of 
this situation is not clear.  But is was a menace to the interests
of Great Britain and her colonial possessions.  A fortified seaport
on the ocean front of the island could not be otherwise.  Ever
since the days of Governor Phips, New England had been incessant
in warning the home government of the dangers of French inva-
sion, but many times without avail.  Generally the English adminis-
trations did not take a lively interest in anything regarding Ameri-
can affairs until some serious, international condition developed in
European politics that endangered her colonial interests.  Such a
situation arose in 1743.

England had been involved in war with Spain.  It was feared 
that the reverses of Spain would drive her to drawing France into 
the conflict as an ally and leaders in New England had forseen it
and striven to awaken the government to what seemed to them

impending perils.  Events during the first of that year proved their
fears to be well grounded.  Early in October a government
schooner arrived at Boston from England, bringing dispatches to 
all the governors that in ten days after her departure war with 
France would be declared, and orders for the Admiralty to all
naval commanders on the coast to prepare for hostilities.

Colonel Pepperrell received the following letter from Governor 
Shirley:
Boston, October 10, 1743.
Sir -- Having received advices for Great Britain that there is great dan-
ger of a rupture with France, I think it necessary and accordingly direct
you forthwith to advertise the exposed towns and settlement hereof, and
to take proper care that the inhabitants secure themselves and families
against any sudden assault from the Indians, and that they do not expose
themselves by being too far from home in this time of danger, and that the
companies in your regiment that are not much exposed, be in readiness
to relieve any of the neighboring places in case there should be any occa-
sion for it.  I am, Sir,
Your friend and servant,
W. SHIRLEY

On the 13th, Pepperrell writes to all his captains a copy of the 
foregoing, and adds:
I hope that he who gave us our breath will give us the courage and pru-
dence to behave ourselves like true-born Englishmen.
Your friend and humble servant,
W. PEPPERRELL.	

France declared war March 15, 1744, and England two weeks
later.  The people in no part of the colonies took deeper interest
in the preparation for the capture of Louisburg than did the inhab-
itants along the coast of Maine, who for years had endured so much
suffering and distress from the Indians allied with the French
against the English.  It was the principal theme of conversation 
in every home, shop, mill and store and in all the pulpits as well
Boston realized better than London the necessity of wresting Louis-
burg from the French is safety to trade and navigation and the very
existence of the colonies was to be insured.  Each province at that 
time maintained one or more armed vessels.  The General Court
was divided upon the expediency of undertaking this enterprise
without powerful aid from England.  A large number of its mem-
bers were conservative, lacked faith in the possibility of success
and opposed it.  Had a less resolute and resourceful man than

Shirley been governor the project would probably have failed of 
maturing.  The governor's foresight was greater than any of the
others and his determination to accomplish his purpose was un-
wavering.  In the latter part of 1744, he wrote letters to the mini-
istry imploring them to co-operate with him in protecting colonial
interests.  Early in January (1745) orders were dispatched to
Commodore Warren, then at the West India station, to proceed to
New England with his squadron and co-operate with Governor
Shirley in protecting the fisheries.  The whole subject of the pro-
posed expedition had to be acted upon by the General Court.  The
governor desired to know in advance what its action would be.
Then he deemed it necessary that for a time all of the plans should
remain a secret.  Early in January he requested its members to
take an oath of secrecy regarding a proposition that he was about
to lay before them.  Secrecy was observed for some days until a 
member of the legislature, who was a pious deacon, and had a habit
of raising his voice when talking to the Lord, was overheard in his
private devotions invoking Heaven for its blessings upon the gov-
ernor's secret plans.  When it thus became known the boldness of 
scheme astounded everyone.  It was referred to a committee 
who reported adversely and it was supposed that it was on the dis-
card pile forever.  But Shirley could not thus be thwarted.  He
caused petitions from merchants in Boston, Salem and other parts
to be circulated and presented to the legislature, requesting a 
re-consideration of its action.  After quite a protracted debate a 
final vote was taken, January 26, 1745.  Shirley's friends carried
it by a majority of one vote.  From that time on the people of the 
colonies were seething with patriotism.  All were united on protect-
ing Americans interests by removing once for all from this continent
the French menace.

The first and most difficult task before Governor Shirley was the
choice of a commander of the expedition.  New England had no
trained military officers of experience.  After much consideration
and consultation with public men of the colonies, the selection of 
William Pepperrell, of Kittery, was decided upon.  He was well
and favorably known throughout New England, was extensively
engaged in the fisheries, popular and wealthy.  In the vernacular 
of today he was a good "mixer" of agreeable manners and had 
long since held the office of president of the governor's council.  His
patriotism was unquestioned and all had faith in his sterling quali-

ties and a belief that he would succeed.  Having decided after
considerable hesitation to accept of the command, he entered on 
the duties with his usual tenacity and determination.  He advanced 
five thousand pounds tot he province from his own fortune.  The
enlistment was rapid, owing much of its success to the popularity 
of Colonel Pepperrell.  Religious feeling ran high.  Pepperrell 
took Parson Moody along as chaplain of his regiment.  The good
parson's religious zeal ingrained with more or less bigotry impelled
him to carry upon his shoulder a hatchet "for the purpose of 
destroying images in the French Catholic churches."  Deacon
John Gray of Biddeford wrote Pepperrell:  "O that I could be
with you and dear Parson Moody in that church, to destroy the 
images there set up and hear the true gospel there preached." (2)  In
less than two months from the day the court voted, a military force
of 4,220 men had been recruited.  Of these 3,250 men were from 
Massachusetts, about one-third of which were from Maine.(3)   He
now bore the military title of Lieutenant-General.

Nova Scotia proper extended westward from the Strait of Canso
to Cape Sable and was then in possession of the English who had 
two garrisoned forts in it, one at the mouth of the Strait on an
island called Canso, and the other on the north side in the Bay of 
Fundy, called Port Royal, or Annapolis.  The commander at 
Louisburg on hearing that war had been declared attacked and cap-
tured the Canso garrison and conveyed the prisoners to Louisburg
before news of the declaration of war had reached Boston.  A
similar expedition was directed  against the fort at Annapolis but
Governor Shirley anticipating hostilities had sent reinforcements
which enabled it to repel the assault.  This was the situation when
Pepperrell with his troops left Boston March 24, 1745,  and arrived
at Canso on the first day of April.  Pepperrell sailed from Canso
and landed on the place selected the following morning.  Com-
mander Warren, learning on his way to Boston that Pepperrell had
sailed, changed his course for Canso.

Space will not permit us to describe the siege in detail.  On
May 7, Pepperrell and Warren sent to Commander Duchambon,
in the name of the king, a demand to surrender.  This Duchambon
refused to do.  There was some misunderstanding between Pep-
perrell and Warren before a complete co-operation of their forces
was perfected.  Late in the afternoon on the 15th day of June,

____
(2) Ib. 52.
(3) Maine at Louisburgh, Burrage, p. 21.

Duchambon sent a flag of truce to Pepperrell's lines, asking for a 
suspension of hostilities and terms of capitulation.  These were
agreed to and finally completed on the 16th on June 17th the
provincial troops entered Louisburg at the southwest gate with 
General Pepperrell and Colonel Bradstreet at the head of the column
and the other higher officers in the rear.  The French troops were
stationed in front of their barracks.  Dr. Henry S. Surrage in his 
Maine at Louisburg (supra.) page 42, in describing this scene says:

Salutations were exchanged, and then the French "with their arms, music
and standards" marched down to the shore, and were taken on board the
transports which were to return them to their native lands.

About two thousand of the inhabitants of the city, six hundred 
and fifty veteran troops, thirteen hundred and ten militia, and the
crew of the French war vessel, the Vigilant, were transported to 
France requiring fourteen ships for their removal.

As Pepperrell viewed the magnitude and strength of the enemy's
fortifications, he exclaimed, "The Almighty, of a truth has been
with us."

Directly after the surrender of Louisburg, General Pepperrell
gave a banquet to the officers who had so bravely conducted the
siege.  Some of the gentlemen expressed their apprehension that 
dinner would be spoiled waiting for the chaplain's long blessing.
But for once the parson surprised and pleased them with brevity.
When all were ready, Mr. Moody lifted up his hands and eyes to 
heaven and said:
Lord, the mercies thou hast bestowed, and thy mercies and benefits have
been so wonderful, that time is too short to express our sense of thy good-
ness; we must leave it for the work of eternity.  Fill us with gratitude, 
and bless what is set before us on this occasion of joy, for the sake of 
Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The capture of Louisburg inscribed on its pages a new chapter 
in the history of the world; a forward step in the progress of 
American independence was taken and a new name added to the 
roll of Anglo-Saxon heroes and patriots.

Among the officers and soldiers engaged in this expedition, who
were then and later prominent in the public affairs of the District 
of Maine, were General Samuel Waldo, whose name by reason of 
the "Waldo Patent," and in other ways, is indissoluble interwoven
with our early history; Colonel Jeremiah Moulton, Colonel Dudley
Bradstreet, Colonel Arthur Noble, Morris O'Brien, then from Scar-
boro, and later of Machias, the father of Jeremiah O'Brien, who
planned and organized the capture of the British armed cutter, the 
Margaretta, in Machias Bay, June 12, 1775, and the first American
to haul down the British flag in a naval battle.

Pepperrell remained at Louisburg until July 4, 1746, when he
departed for his home in Kittery.  During all the time of this tarry 
there his duties were arduous, his responsibilities great, and his 
trials, discouragement's and perplexities many.

The Louisburg affair was a most excellent preparatory course
for the great drama of the revolution that fate had in store for 
them a little more than a quarter of a century later.  It was music 
from the same old fifes and drums used at Louisburg that rallied
the patriots at Lexington and Bunker Hill.  Its recollection
strengthened their confidence and self-reliance and inspired them
with a new spirit of nationalism.  Statesmen of foresight in other
parts of the world realized that a new factor in its affairs had
appeared.  Mr. Hartwell said, in the House of Commons, in 1775,
that the colonists

took Louisburg from the French single-handed without any European
assistance, -- as settled an enterprise as any in our history, -- an ever-lasting
memorial to the zeal, courage, and perseverance of the troops of New
England.

Yet stubborn stupidity blinded the eyes of royalty in 1776, and
the birth of a new nation dedicated to freedom and human rights 
resulted.

The children of Sir William and Lady Mary (Hirst) Pepperrell 
were Elizabeth, b. December 29, 1723, and Andrew, b. January 4,
1726.  They had two other children that died in infancy.  Eliza-
beth married Nathaniel Sparhawk, May 1, 1742.  Their son Wil-
liam Sparhawk, by the will of his grandfather, Sir William, became
heir to his great estate, conditioned that he should change is name
to Pepperrell.  In pursuance of this his name was changed to Pep-
perrell by the Legislature of Massachusetts.  In October, 1774, 
fifteen years after the decease of his grandfather he was created a 
Baronet. (4)   He married a daughter of Colonel Isaac Royall of Med-
ford.  He was pronounced royalist and at the beginning of the 
Revolution (1775) went with his wife to England where he lived
until his death in London, December 2, 1816, when the title became
extinct.
______
(4)American Baronets No. 5, p. 150, No. 6, p. 187, No. 8, p. 250.  Putnam's Mag.
for Sept., 1857, v. X. p. 407.

Andrew Pepperrell, the second child of Sir William, graduated 
with honors at Harvard College in 1743.  A writer of those time 
in speaking of him says:  "To personal beauty in him were added
grace of manners and elegant accomplishments, rarely attained in 
our hemisphere at that period."

In 1746, he was betrothed to a highly accomplished and beautiful
young lady, Miss Hannah Waldo, daughter of General Samuel
]Waldo, associated with his father in the siege of Louisburg.  They
had been warm friends for a life-time and their families were on
terms of closest intimacy.  The alliance was hailed with joy in 
both homes.  And right here we find ourselves within the realm of 
romance  --  romance that has enchantment and yet is strange; where
love intertwines with tragedy and all is overshadowed with mystery.
For a half century this story seems to have run down through the 
pages of history in this wise:  that the wedding day was appointed;
wonderful preparations were made in a style and magnitude never 
before known in New England.  It brought not only the elite from
Maine but distinguished society people from other parts of the 
colonies as well, for all were delighted to contribute to the happi-
ness of and do honor to the son and daughter of two of their 
beloved heroes of Louisburg.  That at the last moment before the 
entire assembly the bride discarded long years of devoted love and 
blighted the live of her lover by abruptly declining to give her hand
in wedlock; and that Andrew disappointed and heartbroken on the 
second day, thereafter, dropped dead is the streets of Portsmouth,
and that on the third day the wedding party, gathered from far and 
near for a merry marriage feast, followed his cold remains to the 
silent tomb of his ancestors for their eternal rest. (5)  Usher Parsons
wrote the Life of Sir William Pepperrell in 1855.  In this work
the author published certain letters as a "vindication" of Miss
Waldo.  He states that the "Pepperrell papers have been scattered
to the four winds"and that it was only after much research "that
enough have been gathered to set the affair right."  Several of 
these letters, which passed between Sir William and General
Waldo, are exceedingly friendly expressing mutual hope that the 
union would be consummated.  Nathaniel Sparhawk, in one of his
letters wrote:

The love affair between Andrew Pepperrell and Miss Waldo, now of four
years' duration, is still pending, much to the annoyance of both families,
as well as trying to the patience of the young lady.(6) 
_____
(5)Curwin's Journal and Letters, p. 582.
(6)Parsons' supra, p. 219.

That all of their friends and relatives took a hand in helping on
the match seems apparent.  Stephen Waldo, a merchant of Boston,
and a relative of Waldo, wrote to Andrew:

I hope, my friend, it will not be long before we have the pleasure of see-
you in town to disappoint the enemies as well as to complete the 
approaching pleasure, which you have in view, in enjoying the society of so
charming and desirable a young lady as is Miss Hannah.(7)  

It appears that there was much procrastination in the affair to 
the evident vexation of all their friends.  Some, it not all of this
was caused by the ill health of Andrew.  Parsons says:

*** but a few days before the one appointed for the wedding
arrived, Andrew wrote to her that circumstances had occurred which would
make it necessary to defer to another day which he named as more con-
venient to himself. *** She returned no answer; the guests from
far and near, minister and all, assembled at the appointed place, when she
enjoyed the sweet revenge of telling Andrew that she would not marry 
one who had occasioned her so much mortification, and who could not have
that love and friendship for her that was necessary to her happiness.

That is was a bitter disappointment to the two families is proven
by these letters.  General Waldo wrote to Sir William from London:

I was greatly chagrined at the new of my daughter's changing her mind 
and dismissing your son after the visit you mention, which I was apprised 
of by her, and concluded the affair would have have had the issue  I had 
long expected and desired.
_____
(7)ib.

Parsons naively remarks that 

The young lady enjoyed more consolation than any of them.  In less than
six weeks she was led to the altar by Thomas Flunker, Esquire, secretary of 
the province.

From the evidence produced by Parsons that part of the Curwin
account relative to Andrew's sudden death in Portsmouth seems
to fall.  Other writers since Parson, like William Goold in his 
"Portland of the Past" seem to concur in the conclusions arrived 
at by him regarding this episode.  And yet we cannot escape the 
thought that possibly the Honorable Secretary and Miss Waldo, 
had they so desired, could have related something that might have
made it all clearer than it has ever since the days of their ill-
fated betrothal.

Whatever the facts may have been, is there not buried in that
musty bit of eighteenth century history, material for a fascinating 
tale of love and intrigue?

And here we may be pardoned for diverting to the fact that when 
the first belchings of the American Revolution startled an amazed
world, a young Boston rebel was deeply in love with Lucy Fluker,
a daughter of this union, much to the regret of her aristocratic 
parents who were fervent loyalists.  It was a case of flagrant dis-
obedience if not of actual elopement, when in defiance of parental 
authority she persisted in marrying the one who later became the
Patriots hero and Washington's friend, General Henry Knox.

Regarding the grandson who inherited his fortune and title, 
Cecil Cutts Howard in a brochure, The Pepperrells of America, 
says:

William Pepperrell Sparhawk born in 1746, married Oct. 24, 1767, Eliza-
beth, daughter of Mary (McIntosh) Royall of Medford, Mass.  He became
chief heir of his grandfather (Sir William Pepperrell) on condition that, 
at twenty-one years of age, he should drop the name of Sparhawk and be
known as Sir William Pepperrell.

_____
(8)Judge Samuel Curwin, author of Curwin's Journal and Letters (supra) was
of the old New England family of that name and was born in Salem in 1715, and
graduated at Harvard in 1735.  He was engaged in commercial pursuits and a 
person of great influence in the colony.  He was captain of a company under 
General Pepperrell at Louisburg.  When the war of the Revolution broke out he
remained a loyalist and removed to England.  He was an intimate friend of the 
second Sir William Pepperrell, also a loyalist, who fled to England. Thus he 
must have had first hand knowledge of the Pepperrell family.  He was a man of 
learning and ability as is fully disclosed by his writings.  The work above 
referred to contains, besides the journal and letter, several sketches of Louis-
burg survivors, and noted loyalists on of which is "The Pepperrells of Kittery,"
and in it is this account of Andrew.  The material for this book was prepared 
and edited by George Atkinson Ward, A. M., a well-known historical writer, and 
published by Leavitt, Trow & Co., New York, and Wiley and Putnam, London,
(third edition) in 1845.  In view of these facts, it is hardly conceivable that 
Judge Curwin could have been so much in error as Parsons' version of the
matter would indicate; and even if he had been misled it is fully as strange
that so careful a writer as Ward should not have discovered the fact.

In 1767, on arriving at his majority, his grandfather's wishes were agreed
to and he assumed the title.  He has been known as Sir William Second, 
and also, in the family as "young Sir William."  The year before assum-
ing the title, he graduated from Harvard College, as was later a coun-
cillor and mandamus councillor.  A royalist, he fled to England in 1775, 
with his wife, children and wife's parents and kindred.  His wife died on 
board ship and was buried in Halifax, N. S., Oct. 8, 1775.  "Young Sir
William" received a great deal of attention in England and was painted by 
West, in a large group which represented his as he was when he presented
his brother Tories to the king, carving the King's most gracious favor.

Judge Curwin in his work herein referred to says of him:

The fortune of General Pepperrell far exceeded any that had been
amassed in New England, and his enterprise and public spirit shed a wide-
spread influence around.  He loaned a large sum for the furtherance of 
the expedition he was destined to command.  And notwithstanding that
Franklin and other prominent men of the middle and southern provinces
pronounced the contemplated siege and attack of Louisburg to be Quixotic,
so satisfied was Pepperrell of the feasibility of the plan, and that the reduc-
tion of that stronghold of the enemy was an object of vast importance, that
he willingly hazarded fortune, fame, and live itself, for its accomplishment.

His zeal in the business imparted new life to the people, and he finally
succeeded in influencing the co-operation of all the New England governments.

Fortune adhered to him in this, as in all his commercial enterprises, and 
to the good judgment he displayed, as well as to his example of personal
bravery, is the final success of the expedition mainly to be attributed.

The Honorable Everett Pepperrell Wheeler of New York, who 
has made exhaustive research into the history of Sir William Pep-
perrell, in a pamphlet published in 1910, entitled "Memorial in 
support of the nomination of the name of Sir William Pepperrell,
to be inscribed in the Hall of Fame of Great Americans," gives a 
most able and valuable summary of his career and achievements. 
From this we make the excerpts which follows:

*** He was the most enterprising and successful colonial merchant
and one of the most distinguished colonial statesmen.

He was a skillful and successful colonial general.  Under his leadership
regiments from the different colonies learned to co-operate against regular
troops entrenched behind strong fortifications.  The veterans of Louisburg
were the backbone of the New England forces at the beginning of the
revolution.

*** He was a typical American; typical of the time when the exi-
gencies of life were such that a man of talent could not limit himself or
his intelligence to one particular occupation, but when the necessities of 
the situation in which our fathers were placed, compelled him to play many 
parts, which in a later and more complex civilization would be filled by 
different individuals.

*** Jealousy on the part of Governor Shirley kept him from service
in the field at that time, (1755) but he exerted himself actively to raise 
troops for the war going then going on with the French, and was entrusted
with the command of the forces which guarded the frontiers of Maine and 
New Hampshire.  Just as the war began to be successful, on the sixth day 
of July, 1759, he died.

***He was the most conspicuous figure in America during the war
of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War, and thus achieved a
greater international reputation than any American prior to the Revolution.
His achievements at Louisburg have been fully referred to.  At the begin-
ning of the Seven Years War, he as appointed by the Crown a major-
general and was efficient and successful in the work entrusted to him by
the Newcastle ministry.  But the campaign generally was unfortunate.
When Pitt came into power he sent over tow efficient generals Amherst 
and Wolfe, and gave Pepperrell the chief command in the colonies appoint-
ing him a lieutenant general in the Royal Army.

Had it not been for sickness he would have taken the field and actively 
shared the glories of Quebec and the capture of Fort Duquesne.  The plan
of the campaign which led to the overthrow of the French sway in Canada,
and prepared the way for the American revolution, was fought according
to the plans laid down by Pepperell.

*** A fisherman's son, he raised himself to honor and wealth.
Although not bred a lawyer, he presided with ability as a Chief Justice.
Although not trained a soldier, he commanded the armies of the colonies
with courage, fortitude, foresight and success.  No record has ever been leaped 
to light that casts a shadow upon his memory.  Just and upright in all his 
own dealings, he knew how to be generous and merciful to others; fearless
and resolute himself, he knew how to encourage the wavering, and stimulate
the doubting.  He was polite without insincerity, liberal and hospitable
without extravagance.

The one controlling purpose of his life was duty.  He became in youth a
member of the Congregational Church, and continued a devout and con-
sistent adherent to its principles.  But he was free from that narrowness
and bigotry that disfigure the character of some of New England colo-
nial leaders.  At home and abroad, in the counting-house and in the Legis-
lature, on the bench or in command of the provincial army, he embodied in 
action the religious conviction that became in youth and essential part --
indeed, the foundation of his whole character.  Perhaps the best evidence
of this is that prosperity never made him arrogant, or marred the simplicity
and straightforwardness of the man.  And thus, to the day of his death,
he enjoyed alike the confidence of the Indians in the Maine forests, the 
British governors sent to rule the provinces, the merchants of Boston and 
London, the aristocracy of Beacon street, and his neighbors at Kittery.

He was intimately friendly with Jonathan Edwards and others of that
group of intellectuals of New England, of whom Edwards was a leader. 
His close associates were people of culture and eminence.

In these pages we have only attempted to slightly touch upon 
some of the principal incidents in the life of this famous son of 
Maine, beloved by the people of his province and honored and 
respected by the government of Great Britain.

His military career is an important chapter in the history of the 
French wars for 1745 to 1758.

He was one of the first, if not the very first, to advocate building
a fort on the Penobscot.  Subsequent to his death his advice was
heeded and Governor Pownal erected the fortification (Fort Pow-
nal) that bore his name and was of unmeasureable importance to 
the settlements of eastern Maine.

His life work as a publicist and military leader was really carry-
ing into effect the same policy -- a more vigorous one by the crown
against the French -- that Governor Phips, another eminent Maine
character was nearly a century before the father of.

Sir William Pepperrell died at his home in Kittery, November
6, 1759, and Lady Pepperrell died there November 25, 1789.  Par-
sons (supra) p. 320 says:

His funeral obsequies were attended by a vast concourse.  The drooping
flags a half mast on both shores of the Piscataqua, the solemn knell from
neighboring churches, the responsive minute-guns from all the batteries,
and the mournful rumbling of muffled drums announced that a great man
had fallen and was descending to the tomb.

______

THE RHYME OF THE BARONET'S NAME.

Would you learn to rightly spell
The ancient name of Pepperrell?
Just as the Baronet of old
Wrote it out in letters bold?
Then these simple lines recite,
And you will surely have it right:

Of letters four, make ten from these,
P's and r's and l's and e's;
Begin with P and e, and then---
Use all the letters that you can;
That is to say, in Pepperrell,
Use doubles p and r and l.

-JUSTIN HENRY SHAW.

(c) 1998
Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society
<http://www.rootsweb.com/~meandrhs>  
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