Westbrook’s settlers remembered

The immigrants who settled in Westbrook – specifically, the Woroncke (Polish), Zaharis/Zahares (Greek), Guimond (French) and Conant (English) families – were the subject of a May 28 slide show and talk by Suzan Norton at the Westbrook Historical Society. The hall was filled, with well over 50 present. We heard many interesting facts about these families, beautifully prepared by Suzan. Here are a few:

Conant family – The first settlers in Westbrook were from Beverly, Mass. Joseph, Sarah and Samuel Conant arrived in 1725. They walked to York, then canoed to Saccarappa down the middle of the Presumpscot River. Indians were on both sides of the river, watching, with drawn bows and arrows. Joseph built the first sawmill in 1726. His brother Samuel’s gristmill made 100 bushels of corn in one particular year. It was the only such mill in Maine, between Yarmouth and Kittery.

Sir Roger Conant was knighted for his work with the Indians. He was born in Devon, England. He was a conforming Puritan who left New Plymouth because of rigid principles of separation by the Pilgrims.

There was a picture of Percy and Philip Conant. Percy is the father of our well-known Westbrook lady, Ellie Conant Saunders. Her father worked for B. G. Pride for 43 years, harvesting ice and hauling coal. We saw a picture of Ellie and her sisters, who all worked for dentist Dr. Whitney, whose wife was Mildred Stevens Whitney, a cousin to Percy Conant. We also saw a picture of Ellie and her husband, Donald Saunders, who was mayor of Westbrook from 1968-1972. Ellie was also pictured as marshal in a Together Days Parade.

Zaharis family: This Greek family came to the United States in the early 1900s. When Jim Zaharis’s father, Louis, came he was a fruit peddler. He had $17 in his pocket. He also was a veteran of World War I. Louis’s brother, George, came to America two years later, started a pool room on Main Street, and later had a grocery business.

Of interest, the Kourapis and the Zahares families both came from the same town of Amphiklia, Greece. Today there is one distant cousin in Old Orchard Beach who still owns a store there, under the Zahares family name.

There is an early picture of the business on West Valentine Street. Later a second floor was added. Jim remembers pumping gas here when it was 10 cents per gallon (some different from today’s prices). A baby carriage is pictured outside. Now you can see a house beside the store. The previous picture had fields on either side. Louis Zahares was very prosperous. There was an article in the Portland paper about his Million Dollar Project for houses along new Gorham Road and Longfellow. He had an 11-acre timber plot in Scarborough. At one time he owned 23 homes in Westbrook.

When industry came to Westbrook, the immigrants followed, as labor was needed.

In 1935 the Louis Zaharis family all went to Greece. They visited for three months. The family in Greece in 1935 was very prosperous. Some cousins were furriers. Many of the American relatives came back to America wearing fur coats.

The Guimond family: Alfred Guimond was born in 1874 in Cap St. Ignace, Quebec, and came to Westbrook when he was 7 years old, in 1861.

The slide shown was of Diane Turgeon Guimond’s grandparents, Alfred and Claudia Guimond. Her grandmother always told her kids and grandkids that in her town in Quebec, the blueberries were so big, that it took only one to make a pie. Her grandfather worked at Dana Warp Mill, retiring in 1939. There were slides of Alfred Guimond on a motorcycle and at a canyon in 1949; both Guimonds at a canyon in 1953, when they were 79 years old; and early pictures of the Guimonds with friends.

The Woronecke family: John Woronecke was from Helinka, Poland. He was born in 1887 and died in 1951. He learned to read and write in the Russian Army in World War I (the Russians invaded Poland, and many Poles were forced to be in the military). He told his family he guarded the wine cellar in the Kremlin; his brother was sent to Siberia, but later escaped. His wife, Amelia Lenkowicz, came to United States in 1914, at age 22, from the town of Musta, Poland. She was born in 1892. She may have arrived in Boston, as she stayed there for one year before coming to Westbrook.

In a slide, the wedding of John and Amelia was shown. John worked at S. D. Warren and she worked at Dana Warp when she first arrived. She told her daughters, Stella and Mary Ann, that when World War I ended, she recalled whistles blowing and bells ringing.

Some of the pictures from Stella’s album include many from relatives in Poland. Another slide shows the Woroneckes on their farm on County Road. It was located near Smiling Hill Farm, and it burned in 1958. The girls grew up bilingual, as Mrs. Woronecke did not speak English in her home. Mary Ann remembers when she was in the sixth grade that her father relied on her schooling to help him pass his citizenship test. He learned a great deal of history from Mary Ann’s lessons.

In one of Stella Woronecke Blanchette’s photo albums are two pictures of her uncle, who was dragged from his bed to join the Russian Army. He escaped from Siberia and later joined the English resistance and ended up in Iran. She also had a picture of a basket, made by Amelia Woronecke, for gathering mushrooms. Roger Knight gave it to Stella and Pete Blanchette for their 25th wedding anniversary, knowing they had lost most of their family items in the fire of their home. Mrs. Woronecke’s daughters say she was like a midwife, having many home remedies. She used a large aloe leaf stored in vinegar, for wounds. At Christmas Eve, Mrs. Woronecke put hay on the table and laid a tablecloth over it for Christmas dinner, the following Christmas Day. It was a Polish custom, signifying the stable where the nativity took place.

Another slide showed Mr. Woronecke with Pete Blanchette and Lucien Blanchet, brothers who married his daughters, Stella and Mary Ann. Another picture showed Pete’s grandparents.

The Westbrook Historical Society will be open from 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Saturday during Westbrook’s Together Days.

Cookies remembered

Today’s recipe is from “Pot Luck,” 1947, compiled by Wednesday Informal Group, of the Women’s Fellowship, First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, Cambridge, Mass. It was submitted by Betty Morrell

OATMEAL COOKIES

1 cup of melted shortening

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg, well beaten

1 cup quick Quaker oats

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cornflakes

1 cup sifted flour and 1/2 teaspoon soda

Add sugars to melted shortening and blend well. Add egg, vanilla and rest of dry ingredients. Make dough into balls, a little smaller than walnuts. Press down with a fork and bake in moderate oven (350 degrees), for 10 minutes.