The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1897-09-16
NAMES IRISH TOWN.
Benedicta-Its History, It's Beauty and Its |
Continued Prosperity.

Benedicta-1ts History, Its Beauty and Its
Continued Prosperity.
In no state of the Union are racial
lines drawn more closely than in
Maine. Though Yankees are the
original settlers, after the Indians,
they have never been able to get a
foothold in several thriving villages.
Waldoboro, which was colonized
from Holland $50 years ago, is still
90 per cent Dutch; Madawaska,
where the Arcadian refugees found
homes in 1850, is more than 95 per
cent French, and New Sweden, which
was settled by emigrants brought
over from Sweden by Minister W.
W. Thomas in Grants first admins
tration, has but two Yankee fami-
lies. Though all of these people
make good citizens and add greatly
to the wealth of the state, it is prob
able that Benedicta, the one almost
exclusively Irish settlement in
Maine, beats them all in point of
thrift and in general prosperity.
Several picturesque historians
have said that Benedicta was colo
nized from the ''slums of Boston, =
statement which is resented by the
town residents and which the real
facts in the ease do not warrant. In
the early days of this century the
Catholic churches of Boston were
poor, every parish having many
members who struggled hard to live.
Not few of the men drank more
liquor than was good for them and
passed many days of valuabletime
in serving out sentences imposed by
the courts.
Keenly alive to the needs of his
people, Archbishop Benedict Fen
wick, the predecessor Of Archbishop
Williams, went to the general court
of Massachusetts and bought town
ship of wild land in Aroostook coun-
ty, Me. Though the purchase was
made when Maine was province OF
Massachusetts, no settlers were sent
to the new land until after 1880,
when Maine had been state for ten
years. Then the bishop began to
colonize the new township, sending
two or three families at time to
the Maine wilderness. Though the
whole plan was an experiment, it
proved a success, and when the war
broke out the township contained a
population of more than 400.
Having established themselves as
lumbermen and farmers, the resi-
dents applied to the legislature for
charter, naming the place Bene-
dicta in honor of it's founder. The
town of Benedicta was incorporated
in 1872, and, though the timber is
now cut off and though potatoes
bring but 80 cents a barrel at the
nearest railroad station, the people
continue to prosper. THS settlement
is one of the model villages in Maine.
| The village streets have asphalt
sidewalks and are well lighted. An
expensive town hall has been erect
ed lately, and the people worship In
one of the finest and largest Cath
Ollie churches in this state. The town
is free from debt, and good houses,
we'll dressed people and other signs
of prosperity are seen everywhere.
Of the $50 families living in town,
90 have reared IA or more children
each. There is not a pauper Or a
beggar in the town, and, though the
place boasts of no millionaires, there
are several well to do men in town,
and everybody is above want. Elk
cept the descendants of three fami-
lies which squatted here before 1920,
every resident of the town is of Irish
descent. New York Sun.