Thursday, September 16, 2010

Old Photograph of Mrs. Nellie (Drinkwater) Cushing, widow of Peter Giddings Cushing, Bangor, Maine



Photograph of Mrs. Nellie Cushing, West Broadway, Bangor, Maine.  The imprint of the photographer appears to be Preble, Waterville, Maine, but I'm not positive of that.  The handwriting on the back is very faint - I'm not sure you'll be able to make it out, so I'll quote the text: Mrs. Nellie Cushing, West Broadway, Bangor, Maine"




From online research:


The Mrs. Nellie Cushing pictured is likely the former Ellen Drinkwater who married Peter Giddings Cushing in July 1868.  I've been able to find out very little about her, and I'm not even sure if Drinkwater was her maiden name.  On the 1900 Census, her birth month and year are given as October 1852, but this is not always reliable.  I'm assuming the photograph was made before 1884 when Nellie married for the second time, to Walter Woodside, about eight years after Peter's death.


From online research, hopefully correct:


As yet I've only found possibilities for Ellen Drinkwater.  I got her maiden name from online sources, so cannot be sure she was born a Drinkwater.  Here are some possibilities:
  • Ellen Drinkwater, born about 1856, in the 1860 Census of Bangor, Maine - daughter of Maxim and Deborah
  • Ellen Drinkwater, born about 1853, in the 1860 Census of Northport, Maine - daughter of West and Martha Drinkwater
  • Hellen S. Drinkwater, born about 1852, in the 1860 Census of Northport,  Maine - daughter of Henry and Deborah.


Peter Giddings Cushing was born in Frankfort (in a section now possibly a part of Winterport, Maine) on 9 May 1848, the son of Peter and Eunice Colby (Dorr) Cushing.  It's possible that Eunice's maiden name was Colby, and Dorr her name from an earlier marriage.  I haven't yet found a source that gives the names of her parents.  Peter's paternal grandparents were Nehemiah and Deborah (Briggs) Cushing.


Peter died about eight years after his marriage to Ellen, on 19 April 1876.  If my sources are correct, he and Ellen had four sons between 1868 and 1873: Herbert Giddings Cushing; Lewis Cushing; Ralph (who may have changed last name to Woodside - or not); and George Henry Cushing.  Lewis died in infancy in 1873.


By the 1880 Census, son George Henry was living with his grandparents, Peter and Eunice Cushing, in Iowa.  He died in July, 1900 on Long Island, New York;  just a month earlier, in the 1900 Census, he was living with his Aunt Minna (Cushing) Cook in Steam Mill, Georgia.


Nellie remarried, to Walter Woodside, in 1885.  One of the sons, Ralph, lived with them, up until the 1920 Census.  Herbert Giddings Cushing may also have lived with them early on, but was apparently gone from their household by the 1900 Census.  I found what may be an enlistment form for him, dated 1901.


It's possible that Walter Woodside's parents were David and Elizabeth (Phinney) Woodside, as listed in a genealogy of the Woodside and related families posted online.


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented here, please leave a comment or or contact me directly.  Thanks!


For more information, please see the page at the Maine and Maritime Canada Genealogy network on Ellen Drinkwater and her husbands Peter Giddings Cushing and Walter Woodside.


A map of Frankfort, Maine:



View Larger Map



A map of Bangor, Maine:








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