Person:Daniel Wardwell (2)

On January 24, 1755, at York, Province of Maine, intentions of marriage were posted by Daniel Wardwell, 20, and Sarah Staples, 21. Not until 1997 was the parentage of Sarah Staples resolved by record. In addition, there was a question of how many wives Daniel had: a parish clerk (or a transcriber) had used the given name "Mercy/Mary" as the "wife of Daniel" in the baptismal records of three of Daniel's children (Sarah, Daniel II, and Mercy); the clerk had confused Sarah Staples with Mercy, wife of Daniel's brother Jeremiah.

Sarah (Staples) Wardwell, daughter of Anna (Thompson) and Hezekiah Staples, was baptized as an adult on October 26, 1755, at York; and at the same time, their first born child, Eliakim, was also baptized.

Daniel became a very successful captain of sloops and schooners in the coastal trade from York to Bagaduce (now Castine) and to other ports. In April of 1774, Daniel removed his large family from York to Penobscot, where he took up Lot 79, Peter's Survey. He now owned 200 acres of land (80 rods on the water). In addition he purchased another 100 acres (60 rods on the water) from the original owner John Black. In Penobscot, their last child, Samuel, was born.

"Sarah was said to be the first to practice mid-wifery east of the Penobscot River and to have attended 500 cases and never lost a woman or child under her wonderful skill and care."

In 1775, after "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired at Lexington and Concord on April 19th, Maine had its opportunity to enter the Revolutionary War. On June 12, 1775, the men of Machias of Washington County, coastal Maine, captured the British schooner Margaretta and two British sloops, Polly and Unity. This action is considered to the first naval engagement of the War.

Captain Daniel was Master of the privateer Tryphena in 1775, his two sons Jeremiah and Daniel II serving aboard as crew. Daniel was one of the four men of Penobscot serving on the Committee of Safety in March of 1776.

Serving on the Committee of Safety must have been difficult for Daniel, for as it was in all wars, family loyalties were divided. In 1776, daughter Tryphena, 15, married Finlay Malcolm and around 1778 daughter Abigail, 17, married Daniel Brown. Later, both men would be named as "Loyalists".

"Daniel and his family moved to what was the original Hosea Wardwell Farm on Wardwell's point in 1778."

"In 1779, the British took possession of the port of Bagaduce, and Captain Daniel's sloop Polly was seized by Commodore Mowatt, of infamous memory, and confiscated for the use of King George. Mrs. Wardwell, whose maiden name was Sarah Staples, started on foot for Bagaduce, a distance of seven miles, to demand of General McLean the release of her husband's sloop. On the way she was met by a British officer of rank, who demanded her business with the General. She opened her broadside on the officer, all her guns double shotted. He, in a burning passion, drew his sword and threatened to thrust her through; undaunted, she bared her bosom, and bade him strike, at the same time calling him a (word faded here) cowardly British dog. The Briton did not strike, but such was his admiration of her pluck that he made a favorable report to General McLean and the sloop was released with ransom."

It was also in 1779, that Daniel, his son Jeremiah, and son-in-law Findlay Malcolm, were listed as owners of the schooner Thomas Williams.

At the end of the War in 1783, Daniel's two eldest daughters, Abigail and Tryphena, with their husbands and children, were transported by the new United States government to St. Andrews, Nova Scotia. His 13-year-old daughter Mercy Wardwell went along as a "nanny" but soon returned to Penobscot. Two years later at St. Andrews, daughter Sarah Wardwell, 20, married Neal Brown, a British soldier.

After the War, Daniel served twice as Representative to the General Court at Boston, as Maine was still under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. He was said to be "a man of sterling qualities".

Captain Daniel Wardwell was 68 1/4 years of age when he died in 1804 in Penobscot. Sarah (Staples) Wardwell was a widow for over 15 years, dying in 1817, age 83 1/2.

Descendants of Sarah and Daniel included 4 Methodist ministers; 3 medical doctors; 20 descendants "lost at sea"; and 15 serving in the Civil War, where three died. -Eliakim Wardwell of York, Maine With an Informal Collection of His Descendants through the 7th Generation, Majorie Wardwell Otten 2002

Penobscot Selectman in 1790.

1. ↑ York, Maine Vital Records.
2. ↑ Maine Families in 1790 1:280.
3.   WARDWELL, DANIEL, in Daughters of the American Revolution. Genealogical Research System.