I like to imagine that Lizzie May settled into a happy life in Maine surrounded by her four adoring step-brothers. Like any young farm girl of the day she probably did needlepoint and played with hoops and other such games with her brothers but may have been oblivious to the undercurrent of War that gripped the Nation.
War, however was on everyone else’s mind. The War which had begun in 1861 was becoming more and more serious. Newspapers which were hard to come by were probably eagerly sought out in the Ulmer household. By 1863, Charles the oldest brother had enlisted and was sent straight to the front. This changed the family dynamic in many ways but none were more affected than young George.
Just fourteen, George worshipped his older brother Charley and was eager to follow him to war. Against his family’s wishes young George who was small for his age, enlisted. Enlisting didn’t automatically get him mustered into service. He purchased a horse with money he had earned and rode from town to town in search of a recruiter who would send this very young, very eager boy off to war.
In George’s own words from his memoirs:
I had enlisted four times in different towns, and each time I went before a mustering officer, I was rejected. “Too small” I was every time pronounced, but I was not discouraged or dismayed–the indomitable pluck and energy of those downeast boys pervaded my system. I was bound to get there, for what I didn’t know, I did not care or didn’t stop to think. I only thought of the glory of being a soldier, little realizing what an absurd-looking one I would make; but the ambition was there, the pluck was there, and the patriotism of a man entered the breast of the wild dreamy boy. I wanted to go to the front–and I went.
After several unsuccessful attempts to be mustered into the service at Augusta, which was twenty-five miles from our little farm, I thought I would enlist from the town of Freedom and thereby get before a different mustering officer who was located in Belfast. I had grown, I thought, in the past six weeks, and before a new officer, I thought my chances of being accepted would improve; so on a bright morning in September I mounted my “gig,” … kissing my little step-sister good-bye, with a wave of my hand to father and brothers who stood in the yard and door of the dear old home, I drove away, and as I did so I could see the expressions of ridicule and doubt on their faces, while underneath it all there was a tinge of sadness and fear.
Well, I arrived in Belfast. Instead of driving direct to the stable and hotel, and putting my horse up, I drove direct to the office of the mustering officer... I entered that office like a young Napoleon. I had made up my mind to walk in before the officer very erect and dignified, even to raising myself on tiptoe. On telling the clerk my errand, he ushered me into an inner office, and imagine my surprise–my consternation–when, swinging around in his chair, I found myself in the presence of the very officer who had rejected me in Augusta so many times.
“Damn it,” said he, “will you never let up? Go home to your mother, boy, don’t pester me any more. I will not accept you, and let that end it.”
I tremblingly told him “I had grown since he saw me last, and that by the time I was mustered in I would grow some more, and that I would drum and fight, if it should prove actually necessary.”
Thus I pleaded with him for fully one hour. Finally he said, “Well, damned if I don’t muster you in, just to get rid of you. Sergeant, make out this young devil’s papers and let him go and get killed.” My heart leaped into my mouth. I tried to thank him, but he would not have it. He hurried me through, and at 5:30 P. M., September 15, 1863, I was a United States soldier. “
And so the happy Ulmer household would have more upheaval when they learned that George was to join his brother in battle.
me and lizzie may 
Thanks, Jenn, for sharing your path of discovery. The first-hand documents are fascinating, and must have been thrilling to find. I always tell my students that research is about the journey, and there is no “one way” to get there. So many young people who start research are frustrated that they don’t find “the one answer” they think they need immediately.There is never one correct answer, however, but a passage through documents, interviews, journals, etc. that must lead the researcher, Everest-like, through different trails and camps until enough evidence is amassed to give the researcher a point of view or stance on his or her subject. Thanks for showing that this process CAN be interesting. We’ll talk more later, but I’d love to show my students your site!
I can certainly agree with the previous comment that was posted above. You are a wonderful writer and I have enjoyed reading your material. Research is time consuming and pain-staking, but rewarding when the puzzle pieces come together and reveal a fascinating tale like Lizzie May and George T. Ulmer’s story. I wonder if you have discovered any information about Philip Ulmer, George T. Ulmer’s father, and his grandfather. Was George T. Ulmer related to Major Philip M. Ulmer and General George Ulmer of Waldoboro, Maine? These Ulmer brothers were involved in the American Revolution, and became successful entrepreneurs at Lincolnville, and Belfast after the Revolution. It would be interesting if George T. Ulmer was a descendant in this same Ulmer family who were original German settlers in Waldoboro (originally the Broad Bay settlement) as early as 1743.
Patricia-
I am so glad that you are enjoying my little blog. I thoroughly enjoy the research but as i am not a professional researcher by trade, it can be a cumbersome task. So far I have been unable to unearth the birth records for either Lizzie May or George. I have been hoping to unearth the lineage so that I could see if George and Charlie’s father was indeed a descendant of the Phillip T. Ulmer from Revolutionary War times. I have traced them to their deaths but would like to know more about the family.
More research for me!
Enjoy and if by chance you unearth something please let me know.
Most Sincerely,
Jennifer Phelps
Thank you so much for your prompt response to my posting. There may be some birth records of George T. (Thomas) and Charlie Ulmer in Waldoboro, in Thomaston, or in Lincolnville, Maine. All of the Ulmer family members who settled in Maine in the mid-1700’s were related to the same Ulmer family patriarch, Johannes Jakob Ulmer, who was one of the original founders of the Broad Bay settlement (later renamed Waldoboro). He brought his family from the duchy of Baden-Wurttemburg (near the City of Ulm and the Enzburg vicinity of Germany) as immigrants to America on the sailing transport, Lydia, as early as 1743. (The City of Ulm was named for the family. People from the vicinity of Ulm were called Ulmers). The ship’s first landing was in Marblehead, which was a part of Salem, MA at the time. Major Philip Martin Ulmer and General George Ulmer, his younger brother, were the grandsons of Johannes Jakob Ulmer, this original founder. Philip and George’s father, Jacob Ulmer, died at sea when the boys were very young. The boys were cared for first by their grandfather, and later, the boys were raised in the home of their 28 year old Uncle John Ulmer. When Philip was old enough, he joined the Broad Bay militia. In spite of his small size and body structure, he showed leadership and ingenuity as a young teenager. He became actively involved in shipbuilding, navigation, and merchant trading in the Ulmer family business. After the “call to arms” following the battle of Lexington and Concord outside of Boston, Philip became involved with the siege of Boston. His younger brother, George Ulmer, was captured at sea while fishing outside Marblehead harbor by theBritish warship, Lively.
The British captain of the Lively tried to impress the captured fishermen into the British naval service. George, however, jumped over the side of the ship and made his escape, swimming to shore under gunfire from the ship’s captain. The other captured fishermen who tried to escape were put into chains and taken below decks. George made his escape through the outskirts of Boston, swimming across the Charles River under cover of darkness, and made his way to the American lines at Prospect Hill where his brother, Sergeant Philip Ulmer was stationed at the time. The story of the two Ulmer brothers during the American Revolution is a very exciting and interesting one. The Ulmer brothers fought in many battles throughout the American Revolution. Philip Ulmer was involved in the battles on Lake Champlain in 1776 as an Ensign, and was a participant at the Delaware River crossing with Gen. Washington’s army. He served as a Lieutenant in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and he was a participant in the battle at Saratoga in 1777 with Colonel Vose’s regiment, and at Valley Forge with Gen. Glover’s Regiment. He resigned from the Continental Army at Valley Forge in early 1778 after serving with General Lafayette and General De Kalb’s regiment on a special assignment. He returned to Waldoboro in April 1778. He again enlisted in the state militia in Colonel McCobb’s regiment, and he was elevated in rank and given his own militia company whose purpose was to build defensive fortifications and barracks at strategic locations along the seacoast of frontier Maine. Captain Philip M. Ulmer, a militia officer with Colonel McCobb’s regiment, lead his company in the militia charge with the US Continental Marines, climbing the steep cliffs of Dyce’s Head at Castine while under heavy enemy gunfire from above. He was badly injured in the thigh during the intense fighting to capture the British held fortification, Fort George, but he remained on the field of battle and continued to lead his militia company in spite of his painful injury. Because of his heroic leadership and valor during the disastrous Battle of Penobscot Bay in 1779, General Wadsworth elevated Philip Ulmer’s rank to Major. Major Ulmer personally served the general on special assignment until the end of the war. Philip limped the rest of his life. The leg was later re-injured during the War of 1812, and it became infected and eventually took his life in 1816. During the War of 1812-1815, Philip Ulmer served as the wartime adviser and Selectman for the Town of Lincolnville, and he was actively involved with the militia company of invalid soldiers in the District of Maine. Major Philip Ulmer’s sons, Jacob and Charles, were officers with the local militia in frontier Maine during the War of 1812 as well. Major Philip Ulmer’s young son, Philip Jr. (who may be the father of the characters in your story) was still a young child at home in Lincolnville during the War of 1812, and he knew the fear, anxiety, and deprivations caused by war.
If your George T. Ulmer is indeed the son of Philip Ulmer Jr. and his wife, Mary Waterman Thomas, and the grandson of Major Philip Martin Ulmer (born on December 25, 1751), then I may be able to help fill in some of the questions that you may have about the Ulmer family from frontier Maine. There was another Philip Ulmer, a cousin, who was born in 1776 to Captain John Ulmer Jr. and his wife, Mary Catherine (Remilly). John was the uncle who raised the two young Ulmer brothers mentioned above, after their grandfather died. John Ulmer Jr. was a shipbuilder, merchant sea captain, and a militia officer who sailed in the sea defense of frontier Massachusetts in the Province of Maine. He was the son of Johannes Jakob Ulmer, the militia Captain of the Broad Bay Guards and the leader of the settlement community. John Ulmer Jr. was the younger brother of Jacob Ulmer, the father of these two Ulmer brothers mentioned above. Uncle John Ulmer Jr., who first lived in Waldoboro and Marblehead, MA. He later returned to Waldoboro after the death of his father where he became a wealthy entrepreneur as a real estate investor and land speculator. He moved to Rockland in the 1790’s, and developed a thriving family shipbuilding, lime producing, and shipping business at the entrance of the Penobscot Bay. Uncle John Ulmer also had sons named George and Philip who were militia officers. (Philip, the son of uncle John Ulmer was also a Major in the state militia in the War of 1812.) Other Ulmer descendants were given those same family names including my own father, John, and uncle, George. I have found that the only successful way to tell the Ulmer family names apart is by their birth dates.
You may find that the burial sites for George Thomas and Lizzie May Ulmer are near the family home in the Belmont/ Belfast vicinity of Maine near the Penobscot Bay. Other Ulmer relatives, including Major Philip Ulmer of Lincolnville and his brother, General George Ulmer and other relatives have been laid to rest along the shores of the Penobscot Bay as well.