sionally heard in the church of Waldoboro. During the Revolutionary War the Maine Germans were heartily patriotic. When to their great indignation their Tory minister refused to read the Declaration of Independence, a layman, A. Schenck, translated and read it to the people. The foregoing chapter intended to show that even at the extremities of the American colonies, Georgia and Maine (Massachusetts), the Germans took firm root early in the eighteenth century, almost at the time of the formation of those colonies. Geographically Ebenezer and Waldoboro are the Alpha and Omega in the history of the German element before the period of the Revolution. 1 Judge Groton's statement, Collections of the Maine Historical Society, series 1, vol. v, pp. 403–411. CHAPTER X THE LOCATION OF THE GERMAN SETTLERS BEFORE 1775; THEIR DEFENSE OF THE FRONTIER; AND AN ESTIMATE OF THEIR NUMBERS The location of the Germans before the Revolution marked by counties (present boundaries) — Two facts impress themselves: (1) that the Germans occupied the best farming-lands and (2) that they were almost directly on the frontier from Maine to Georgia — Their defense of the frontier; on the Mohawk; and during the French and Indian War The services of Conrad Weiser and Christian Frederick Post, as envoys to the Indians, etc. An estimate of the number of settlers of German blood in the thirteen colonies in 1775. - To see at a glance the location of the German settlements before the Revolution, a map has been prepared (following this page), based upon a study of the population by counties, according to their present boundaries, that were inhabited by Germans.' As far as our present sources of information tell us, the counties inhabited by Germans were as follows: In the province of Massachusetts, the counties of Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, of the present state of Maine; and the county of Franklin, in the northwestern part of the state of Massachusetts. In the province of New York the Germans inhabited portions of Dutchess, Ulster, Columbia, and Greene counties along the Hudson; Schoharie, and the counties along the Mohawk, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer, and portions of Oneida, Saratoga, 1 Where the population was about one half (or more) German, the shading is dark; where about one third, a lighter shade appears. If a German population existed less than one third, but still of importance and influence, the shading is faint. and Schenectady. The German counties of Pennsylvania, exclusive of Philadelphia, were Montgomery, Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh, Lebanon, Dauphin, York, Chester, Northampton, Monroe, Cumberland, and Adams; of Maryland they were Baltimore, Frederick, Washington, and (in part) Carroll counties. New Jersey was thickly settled by Germans in Hunterdon, Somerset, Morris, less so in Sussex, Passaic, Essex, and (in the southern part) Salem counties. All the counties of the Valley of Virginia had strong German populations; in West Virginia, Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties; in Virginia, Clarke, Frederick, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham; also, though fewer in number, Augusta, Rockbridge, Bath, Botetourt, Montgomery, Wythe, and others. East of the mountains in Virginia the following counties: Madison, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Loudoun, Prince William, Albemarle, Greene, Louisa, and Orange; scattered settlements existed in the Isle of Wight and Henrico counties, and elsewhere. In the Alleghanies Germans had located in the counties of Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, all in West Virginia, along Patterson Creek, and the South Branch of the Potomac. In North Carolina the westerly counties, then on the frontier, along the Yadkin and Catawba rivers, viz., Davidson, Stanly, Cabarrus, Rowan, Iredell, Catawba, and Lincoln were populated by Germans from Pennsylvania; the counties of Forsyth and Stokes were settled by German Moravians; earlier settlements existed on the seacoast, in Craven (Newbern) and Brunswick (Wilmington) counties. German settlers in South Carolina filled the counties of Orangeburg and Lexington; portions of Barnwell, Newberry, Abbeville, Fairfield, Richland, Edgefield, Beaufort (Purysburg), and Charleston. In Georgia the Germans were most numerous in |