History of Albanians in Maine
Encyclopedia
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
left their homelands to work the mills of Southern Maine.
The Pepperell Counting House was a factory in Biddeford, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
that is thought have served as a mosque for early Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
immigrants to the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
mill industry around 1900. Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
also came to southern Maine around this time period, many of them settling around the York Manufacturing Company in nearby Saco
Saco
- Place names :Angola* Sacomar, Angola - marshalling yardsUnited States* Saco, California* Saco, Maine** Saco Bay ** The Saco River in Maine and New Hampshire* Saco, Missouri* Saco, MontanaMozambique* Saco Bay...
, Maine. They came to Maine, as most immigrants did, that is without much money and with little earning power. They are believed to have lived on campus at the mills and rarely ventured off. By 1915, it is believed that a large enough community of men came to Pepperell Counting House that formation of an early mosque occurred. However, it is believed that the Spanish Flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
swept through the area with the returning US soldiers in 1918, killing many of the towns inhabitants, including many of the Muslims.
Woodlawn Cemetery and Muslim Burial Ground
Evidence of the Muslim community in Biddeford in the early twentieth century is found mostly in the Woodlawn Cemetery on West Street in Biddeford. When visiting the cemetery today, it is noticeable that the tombstones in this part of the cemetery face a different direction than other sections of the cemetery. The Muslim burial ground has headstones facing MeccaMecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. Some of the headstones have an engraving of the star and crescent, symbolizing Islam. Other grave markers note that the deceased was an “Albanian Muhamedan”—meaning, a follower of the Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, or as is most commonly known, a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
.
Death Records of Biddeford's Muslim community
There are death records of a few of the Albanian men who worked in the mills and remained in the Biddeford area. While there is no mention of their religious background, the records do note that the deceased were born in Albania. One death record even notes that the deceased was a member of the York CountyYork County, Maine
York County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. In 2010, the population was 197,131. Its county seat is Alfred.Founded in 1636, it is the oldest county in Maine and one of the oldest in the United States....
Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
society, which may signify that the few Albanians continued to gather around their ethnic culture rather than the religion of their upbringing.