Melchior Uhlmann

The Melchior Uhlmann Family


Switzerland 1742 to Halifax 1749


Melchior Uhlman immigrated to America from Beringen, Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland in 1742 [5]. He and his wife Mary Magdalena and their first born, Cornelius, arrived at Broad Bay, Massachusetts (now Waldoboro, Maine) around the 28th of September 1742 aboard the ship Lydia [1]. Melchior was recruited by Samuel Waldo's agent, Sebastian Zouberbuhler who himself was a fellow Swiss. Zouberbuhler had made several trips back to the Old Country recruiting settlers for Waldo's lands in Maine and Massachusetts. Many of his recruits became indebted to Zouberbuhler and indeed Melchior and John Uhlman were still listed on the estate papers of Zouberbuhler after his death in 1773. Emigration fees of 14 pounds, 4 shillings, 6d., were still listed as owing by Melchior Uhlman to Zouberbuhler [1].

At the early settlement of Broad Bay, in the wilds of early Maine, the new immigrants experienced intolerable conditions. Not only were supplies and assistance of any kind particularly scarce, they had to deal with hostile native Indians, who were encouraged by the French to drive out the new settlers.

Governor William Shirley organized an army to attack the French stronghold at the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. "In 1744 two regiments were organized, one commanded by Col. William Pepperell, of Kittery; the other by Col. Samuel Waldo, of Falmouth. In the latter regiment 270 men were credited to Georges and Broad Bay" [2]. Specifically due to the intolerable conditions at the time, "….a large majority did enlist" [2]. Many men took their families as well, or perhaps brought them later after the battle. "Faust (The German Element in the United States, vol. I p. 252) says many of the foreign settlers who had been having a hard time on Waldo's lands in Maine enlisted in 1745 for the expedition to Louisbourg" [3]. A statement made by Pepperell, commander of the expedition, says: "A full third of the Massachusetts contingent, or more that a thousand men, are reported to have came from the hardy population of Maine, whose entire fighting force, as shown by the muster rolls, was then but 2885". "Maine's part at Louisbourg in 1745, therefore, was a most distinguished one. It is a matter for regret that, in the absence of official rolls, it is not now possible to present a complete list of the men who served in the three Maine regiments in that memorable campaign. Only a few names of those who served in Waldo's regiment have come down to us…."[6].