Sunday, January 26, 2020

1945 Photograph of a Haying Party, presumably at the Litchfield farm at Hartland, Maine: Litchfield, Woodman, Jordan, Sawyer


Photograph, dated 1945, of a cheerful haying party, presumably at the Litchfield farm in Hartland, Maine.

 I believe the people are:
  • Thomas Jefferson Litchfield, at far left, and wife Maude Iona (Staples) Litchfield, one of the two women second and third right - of Hartland, Maine
  • Tonya (Woodman) Watson, the little girl on the hay pile, granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson Litchfield and Maude Iona (Staples) Litchfield.  Her mother was their daughter, Bernice I. (Litchfield) Woodman of Hartland, Maine.
  • Cora Mae (Lewis) Cookson Hight Jordan, one of the two women, second and third right - of Hartland,  Maine
  • Twins Harvey D. Sawyer and Hartley D. Sawyer, grandsons of Cora Mae (Lewis) Cookson Hight Jordan. The twin's mother was Cora's daughter, Ola Madeline (Hight) Sawyer.
  • As for Roger, presumably at far right, "the boy she [Cora] brought up" - did the person writing the identification mean that Cora merely brought Roger along for the day to help with the haying, or did Cora help to rear Roger?


If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Please be cautious when leaving information about living or recently deceased people.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Three Photographs Related to the Bowles and Reeves Families of Groton, South Dakota


Three photographs of members of the Bowles and Reeves families of Henry Township, South Dakota, and Sparta, Wisconsin.

The families were apparently connected when Ethel Emma Reeves moved from Wisconsin to Groton, South Dakota, and married merchant Wesley Edward Bowles there.

In the photograph above, twins Frank Elmer Bowles and Fred Clark Bowles, with the added information that they were born on December 24, 1881 and that they were sixteen years of age in the photograph and were wearing their "first store suit".


Frank and Fred were the sons of William Bowles and Mary Ann (Bredner ?) Bowles.  I found Mary Ann's maiden name in Fred's death certificate, but other records would be preferable.

A brief description of the William Bowles family appears in EARLY HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY, A LITERATURE OF THE PEOPLE, BY TERRITORIAL PIONEERS AND DESCENDANTS. This states that William and Mary Ann were born in Scotland, married in Canada and lived in New York for a time before arriving with their horses and other possessions to Henry Township.  Frank and Fred are said to be the first set of twins born to the new homesteaders in the area.

The photograph below shows what appears to be another member of the Bowles family and may actually depict Frank Bowles or Fred Bowles, or Wesley Edward Bowles or another Bowles relative. This photograph was taken at the Hatton Sisters studio of Groton, South Dakota.


The third photograph shows James Reeves, his wife Emily Jane (Steele) Reeves and their daughters Edith Emma Reeves and Cora Mabel Reeves.  This photograph was apparently taken about 1887 as the parents would have a third daughter, Ella Mae Reeves, in 1888.  In 1880 the family was living in Sparta, Wisconsin.


Edith Emma Reeves, who was born in 1877, moved to Groton, South Dakota about 1898 and was working there as a jeweler at the time of the 1900 Census.  She married merchant Wesley Edward Bowles, who may be the man pictured in the second photograph, about 1906.  Wesley gave his place of birth as Canada in numerous records; his World War I draft registration card shows that he was a U.S. citizen by virtue of his father's naturalization.

Hopefully a reader will provide details on how Wesley Edward Bowles ties in with the Bowles twins Frank and Fred. Was he perhaps an older brother or older half-brother, born while William was in Canada, or was he a cousin to the twins?

If you have corrections to the details above, or additional information to share, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Photograph of Elmer Bertrand Lincoln; "brother of "Augusta"; photo by the Purdy studio of Boston, Massachusetts


Photograph of a young man identified on the reverse as Elmer B. Lincoln, "Brother of Augusta".  The photograph was taken by the J. E. Purdy & Co. studio of 145 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts.


From brief online research, hopefully correct - corrections and additions requested:

Elmer Bertrand Lincoln, according to his Massachusetts Masons card, was born 26 July 1884 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and died 16 April 1941.  He was a chemist.

Elmer was the youngest child of Charles Sullivan Lincoln, a Civil War veteran, and second wife Celestna R. (Cook) Lincoln, who were natives of Eastport, Maine, and Perry, Maine, respectively.  Among Elmer's siblings, including two older half-brothers, was sister Augusta Hobbs Lincoln, who married Charles L. Higgins in 1900.

In 1923 Elmer married Bertha Irene Lawrence, who was born in 1893 at Somerville, Massachusetts; they had at least one child, a son named after his father.  Elmer and Bertha, who died in 1957 in Germany, are buried in the Forest Glen Cemetery at Reading, Massachusetts.

If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, please leave a comment or contact me directly.



Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Photo of Hebert Sparks & Earnest Silvester, possibly Maine, and possibly Herbert Raymond Sparks & George Ernest Sylvester


Small photograph, approximately 3-1/2+" by 2-1/2", of two men identified on the face as Hebert Sparks and Earnest Silvester.

It's possible these were misspelled names for Herbert Sparks and Ernest Sylvester.  Nothing on reverse.

The photograph was found with a collection of photographs from mostly Maine. Interestingly, Varney Cemetery in Brunswick, Maine, contains graves for:

This Herbert, a native of Small Point, Maine, was raised at Bath, Maine, and worked at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, for many years. The Bowdoin President's Report for the Year 1967-1968 included a brief obituary for him.

Ernest may have been the George Ernest Sylvester mentioned as Brunswick Fire Chief in the Bowdoin Alumni Magazine issue of October 1959.

If you recognize either of these men from family photographs or research and can make a positive identification of at least one of them, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Camden, Maine, in the 1820 Census; then in Lincoln County; as of 1860 in Knox County

Camden, Maine, in the 1820 Census - then in Lincoln County; as of 1860 in Knox County.

Boundary changes since 1820:
  • annexed land from Warren in 1836
  • set off land to what is now Rockport in 1891
  • another part set off to Rockport in 1893

See an alphabetical list of the heads of households farther below.   Note: the 1820 Census lists the names of heads of households only; see the original sheets for a tally of everyone in each household by age range and gender.

Enumerated population of Camden in the 1820 Census: 1825 inhabitants.

Enumerator: Thurston Whiting

The enumeration of Camden appears on Sheets 265-270; use the arrow at top left of each image to page forward.

This particular enumerator's handwriting, his use of abbreviations and the smears on his sheets have made indexing his enumerations particularly difficult.  Please look over the total list to be sure you haven't missed the person you're seeking.

If you find errors or have information to share on any of the people listed below, please leave a comment.

Heads of Households; Sheet numbers
? ? - given name may begin with S - smeared268
Jacob Acorn267
John Acorn267
Philip Acorn267
Mary Adams270
Daniel Andrews266
James Andrews266
John Annis267
Samuel Annis267
Isaac Arbiton - presumably Isaac Orbeton266
Amos Barns267
Abel Barns268
Benjamin Barns268
Edmund Barns - not sure of surname268
Daniel Barrett270
Ephraim Barrett268
Benajah Barrows266
Peter Barrows267
Stephen Barrows266
Isaac Bartlett269
Alden Bass268
Hosea Bates269
William Blake271
David Blodgett267
John Bloom270
Betsey Bowers268
John Bowers267
John Bowers, Jr.267
Joseph Bowers267
Abraham Bradford271
Elijah Bradford271
Joseph Bradford271
Benjamin Brewster267
Daniel Brewster271
Ira Brewster267
William Brewster265
Thomas Briggs266
Abel Brown - not sure of given name268
James Brown267
Joab Brown266
Joseph Brown266
Nathan Brown268
Philemon Brown267
William Brown267
Mark Bucklin271
Ezekiel Burgess266
? Burrows - possibly John or Thomas or ?266
Simeon Carey269
John Carll268
Rufus Carll268
Benjamin Carlton267
William Carlton270
Robert Chase269
Samuel Clark270
Ebenezer Cleaveland267
David Clough267
Joseph Clough271
Asa Conant267
David Conner267
Richard Conway270
Stephen Coombs267
Nicholas Cooper268
Jonathan Cotterell268
Pelatiah Cotterell268
Calvin Curtis268
James Curtis268
John Curtis266
Benjamin Cushing268
Abner Cuttler265
John Dary269
Lewis Dary269
John Davis270
Huldah Dillingham269
Joshua Dillingham269
Lemuel Dillingham269
Mercy Dillingham269
Nathaniel Dillingham269
John Eager268
Joseph Eaton270
William Eaton270
Walter Edmonds265
John Eells269
John Ellens270
Jesse Fay268
John Fay270
Sarah Fay269
Silas Fay269
Timothy Fay269
Benjamin Fisk267
John Fisk267
Adonijah Flagg269
Isaac Flagg268
Philip Fogler267
Stephen Frost267
Ephraim Gay267
John George266
Tilson Gould269
William Gould267
Jacob Graffam269
Amelia Gregory265
Luther Gregory271
William Gregory265
William Gregory, Jr.265
John Gross270
E? Grover - given name perhaps Leonard or Edmund266
Frye Hall268
George Hall266
Joseph Hall268
William G. Hamlen266
Edward Hanford269
Joshua Harding269
Joseph Hardy269
Elliza Harkness271
John Harkness271
William Harkness270
Charles Harrington267
David Harrington or Hanington268
Moses Harrington267
Polly Harrington269
Jospeh Haskell266
William Hassan267
Deborah Hathaway268
Polly Haynes - not sure of surname268
Benjamin Hemmenway266
John Hender268
Samuel Hewitt268
Waterman Hewitt266
Benjamin Higgins269
Ebenezer Hobbes269
Elisha Hobbes270
Bulkly Hodgman269
Job Hodgman268
Job Hodgman, Jr.268
Charles Hopkins269
Richard Hopkins268
John Horton267
Asa Hosmer268
Nathaniel Hosmer268
Abner Howe269
Jonah Howe or Josiah Howe268
Samuel Hunt268
Joseph Huse269
Job Ingraham266
John Ingraham266
Josiah Ingraham266
Bela Jacobs270
Margaret Jacobs269
Peter Jocelyn268
George Johnson267
Abraham Jones271
James Jones265
Lydia Jones270
Robert Jordan271
William Joyce266
Solomon Keef268
Catharine Keen266
James Keen266
Reuben Keen266
Moses Kelloch265
James Laurence269
Alfred Lindsey270
John Manning271
Daniel Mansfield268
Joel Mansfield269
Newell Mansfield269
Thomas Mansfield269
Nathaniel Martin270
Samuel Martin266
John May266
Shubael Mayhew270
William McFarland269
Daniel McKeller267
Samuel McLaughlin - not sure of given name271
John Melvin267
Jonathan Meriam270
Polly Molineux269
Charles Morse269
Joseph Myrick269
Abraham Norwood266
Jacob Norwood265
William Norwood268
John Nutt266
William Nutt266
Abraham Ogier267
Lewis Ogier268
Lewis Ogier, Jr.268
Peter Ogier267
William E. Ogier268
Isaac Arbiton - presumably Isaac Orbeton266
Peter Ott270
Henry Oxton266
Daniel Packard267
John Packard266
Reuben Packard269
Ashur Palmer270
Barzillai Palmer269
Josiah Palmer269
Moses Parker270
William Parkman268
Jacob Patch268
William Paul271
Arthur Pendleton270
Isaac Pendleton269
John Pendleton270
Benjamin Perry266
Henry Perry266
Oakes Perry268
Thomas Perry266
William Perry266
Thomas Pike270
William Porterfield271
John Preble268
Moses Prescott266
Stephen Prescott266
John Prince268
Joseph Read271
Abraham Richards271
Asa Richards269
James Richards267
James Richards268
Moses Richards268
Robert Richards269
Samuel Richards269
Philip Robbins266
Philip Robbins, Jr.266
George Robinson270
Daniel Rollins267
David Rollins271
Joseph Ross271
Nathaniel Russell 268
Samuel Russell - not sure of given name268
William Rust267
Anna Sartle - not sure of surname268
John Sartle - not sure of surname268
Joseph Sherman270
Joseph Sherman, Jr.269
Thomas Shibles266
George Simmonds266
Nathaniel Simmonds266
James Simonton267
William Simonton266
William Simonton269
Herman Smith271
Peleg Smith268
Asa Spaulding268
James Spaulding267
Thomas Spike268
Thomas Spring266
Thomas Spring, Jr.267
William Spring266
Aaron Stackpole266
David Starrett269
George Start269
John Stimpson269
Benjamin Tarbell269
Eleanor Thomas267
Jesse Thomas269
John Thompson269
John Thompson, Jr.271
Eben Thorndike270
Joseph Thorndike270
Larkin Thorndike267
Paul Thorndike270
Robert Thorndike267
Robert Thorndike, Jr.267
David Tolman267
Joseph Tolman266
Samuel Tolman265
Samuel Tolman, Jr.265
Shepard Tolman268
William Tolman265
Joseph Trafton271
Jacob Trussell or Frussell or ?269
Moses Trussell271
Abel Tyler271
Simeon Tyler270
Simeon Tyler, Jr.270
Isaac Ulmer267
William Upham266
Henry Waterman266
Jonah Waterman266
Joseph Waterman266
Joseph Waterman, Jr.266
James Watson267
Charles Weatherbee270
John Welch268
Betsey Wentworth267
Cornelius Williams266
Richard Wilson266
Benjamin Witham266
Mather Withington or Mother Withington270
Ephraim Wood269
Sally Wood268
Daniel York270
Caleb Young267

Camden, Maine, in 2020