Thursday, October 19, 2017

Bible of John Jay McClellan and Lydia Gilman (Redington) McClellan of Skowhegan, Maine


Bible that belonged to Lydia Gilman (Redington) McClellan with entries from her first marriage to John Jay McClellan.  The last entry is that of her daughter Emily, who died in 1861.

A note from the Bible's seller indicates that the McClellans lived on Clinton Street in Brooklyn and spent summers at the summer residence of Lydia's tea magnate grandfather, presumably Nathaniel Gilman.  Nathaniel's son George founded the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company.

Four years later John Jay McClellan would die, but that fact is not reflected in the Bible, nor Lydia's subsequent marriage to a Mr. Bradford, who was identified in one source online as homeopathic doctor Thomas Lindsley Bradford, who practiced medicine in Skowhegan before leaving the State about 1877.  They divorced - but I haven't found a record of either the marriage or the divorce.   A brief online biography of Dr. Bradford mentions only a wife he married in the 1880s.


The Bible, which measures approximately 11-1/2" by 8-1/2" by nearly 2", was published by Lamport, Blakeman & Law of 8 Park Place, New York, New York.


Entries in the Bible include:
  • Marriage of John J. McClellan and Lydia G. Redington on January 1, 1851
  • Birth of John Jay McClellan on December 28, 1822 [son of Judah Alden McClellan and Elizabeth (White) McClellan]
  • Birth of Lydia Gilman Redington on August 24, 1832 [though that last digit is hard to decipher] [daughter of Isaac Redington and Elizabeth (Gilman) Redington
  • Birth and death of Emily Redington McClellan, born October 31, 1852; died March 13, 1861.  The death entry contains notes that she died while on a visit at Waterville, Maine, with her mother, and that the body was returned to Brooklyn, New York, to be buried in the Gilman tomb at the Green-Wood Cemetery.  Her body may have been returned to Maine at some point, as she's listed on the burial record of her parents and noted as being buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery at Waterville, Maine, though perhaps just named on the stone.  Note that this record gives her father's birth year as 1823.
  • Birth of John Redington McClellan on December 8, 1854  [benefactor of Redington Memorial Home, named for Lydia Gilman (Redington) McClellan Bradford.






Tucked in the Bible:


If you have information on the McClellan, White, Redington or Gilman families, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

1 comment:

  1. I have this same Bible handed down by family members. It's listed with information about the Bacon's and Roberts from TN in the 1800s. Is this Bible of monetary or historical value? There is no copyright or date on the cover page but it states that it was published by Lamport, Blakeman & Law, No. 8 Park Place, New York. Thank you.

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