Newsgroups: soc.roots
Date:         Sat, 7 Nov 1992 23:13:52 -0500
Reply-To:     Carol Botteron <botteron@BU-IT.BU.EDU>
From:         Carol Botteron <botteron@BU-IT.BU.EDU>
Subject:      Smallpox Ship in Maine, 1838
Comments: To: ROOTS-L@VM1.NoDak.EDU

(Tom Lincoln, I hope you see this)

My gggm, Sarah Brown Greenleaf, was born in Starks, Maine in 1822.
Her grandfather and some of his brothers were in the Revolutionary War
and were given their choice of $10 in gold or 100 acres in inland
Maine.  They all chose the land and settled in Starks.  (This is a
family story; any substantiation?)

Sarah's uncle William Greenleaf and his wife owned Squirrel Island, in
Boothbay Harbor, given to them by the wife's father Captain Merrill.
Sarah sometimes visited her relatives there.  The following is as she
told it to her granddaughter, who wrote it down:

"It was one of those summers when Sarah Greenleaf was about 16 years
old, when she was visiting at Squirrel Island, that her cousin
Rosalind and herself set out in their row-boat for Boothbay for a
pleasure ride, that they entered Boothbay Harbor only to find a black
flag on a ship that had entered the harbor, the cause of which
resulted in the quarantine of all those in that vicinity on account of
smallpox.  Rosalind managed to escape along the coast, where she knew
a fisherman.  She borrowed his fishing dory and, being an expert
oarsman, rowed back to the island and reported her experience to her
father, who notified Sarah Greenleaf's parents.

"Sarah Greenleaf, who was not as fortunate as her cousin Rosalind, was
ordered to get on board the boat and take care of the sick, who were
dying in great numbers.  Sarah, however, did nobly, in one instance
taking care of a little baby that finally died while in her arms.
Sarah was fortunate, in that she did not contract the smallpox due to
the fact that she was vaccinated before she went aboard the boat.  She
did, however, have varioloid after she returned to Squirrel Island."
[Varioloid is a modified and mild form of smallpox occurring in a
patient who has had a pervious attack or has been vaccinated.]

"Not being allowed to be near anyone, by orders of her Aunt Rosalind,
on account of her varioloid, Sarah Greenleaf was placed in a building
alone, and away from the rest, where she had to take care of herself,
the best she could.  No help was given to her with the exception of
some hot water that was brought to her by two little girls who were
visiting on the island.  She made an herb tea with the hot water and
herbs that she had brought with her that were used for the sick on the
boat where she had been taking care of the sick.  Her mother, Martha
(Sawyer) Greenleaf, soon came and took care of her until she was able
to return to her home."

Questions:

I have checked histories of Boothbay but found no mention of smallpox
ships.  Not surprising, I guess.  Any other way to check this?

Any guesses on what the herbs were?

The next thing we know of Sarah was four years later in 1842, when she
got married in Ashland, Mass.  Her parents etc. stayed in Maine.  She
didn't tell her granddaughter why she moved from Maine to Mass.  The
best reason I can guess would be to work in a mill.  Her family were
poor enough to need extra income, and she probably didn't want to
visit Squirrel Island again.  I have heard that representatives of
mills in Mass. went around rural Maine about 1840 recruiting girls to
work in the mills.  Anyone know any sources of info?

aTdHvAaNnKcSe!
Carol Botteron     botteron@bu-it.bu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.roots