Saturday, May 9, 2020

1864 Payments On Behalf of Wife and Mother in Robbinston, Maine, of Civil War Soldier Thomas N. Kerr; in 1860s/1870s Ledger of Financial Transactions of Robbinston


Thomas N. Kerr, age 29; then serving in Company K of the 6th Regiment; payments made in 1864 on behalf of his mother in Robbinston, Maine.

Found on numbered page 31 in a ledger of Robbinston, Maine, financial transactions from the mid 1860s to the 1870s.

Payments were made on behalf of:
  • Margarett Kerr, age 77; mother

 Thomas N. Kerr (about 1833-1871) - this FindaGrave memorial contains much genealogical information.

Thomas' mother Margaret was born in Ireland; I didn't find a record for his father, unless he was the John Kerr who was enumerated as a head of household in Robbinston in the 1840 Census and then disappeared from the records, which would tie in with the fact that Thomas' mother was apparently a widow by 1850, as shown below.

1850 Census of Robbinston, Maine - Thomas Carr; mother Margaret Carr; John Leman

1860 US Federal Census of Robbinston, Maine - Thomas N. Kerr and his mother Margaret - farming

 Maine, State Archives Collections, 1718-1957 - Thomas N. Kerr
  • single, farmer; born in Robbinston, Maine; still living there at time of enlistment
  • 5' 6-1/2" tall, with sandy complexion, blue eyes, sandy hair
  • enlisted 6 May 1861 for a period of 3 years
  • mustered in at Portland, Maine, on 15 July 1861
  • corporal in Company K of 6th Infantry
  • discharged for disability on 18 April 1864

Maine Marriages, 1771-1907: Marriage Intention of Thomas N. Kerr of Robbinston, Maine, and Mrs. Clarissa Jones of Perry, Maine; entered on 23 November 1864 by Levi P. Brown, Town Clerk of Perry. "Certificate for the above was never called for."

Whether they actually married or not, Thomas N. Kerr and Clarissa (Loring) Jones Kerr were living together with Clarissa's daughter Clara Melida Jones, from Clarissa's first marriage to Bartlett Jones, at the time of the 1870 Census of Robbinston, Maine, and Clara took the name Kerr.

Maine, Veterans Cemetery Records, 1676-1918:
  • born July 1833, Robbinston, Maine
  • died 1 January 1871; buried in Picnic Hill Cemetery, Section B, Lot 170 [presumably what is now the Brewer Cemetery]
  • enlisted 6 May 1861 at Portland, Maine
  • discharged 18 April 1864
  • corporal in Company Y of the 6th Regiment

After Thomas' death, Clarissa operated a hotel in Robbinston, Maine, as noted in the 1880 Census. A mention in the 1882 Maine State Year-book identifies the hotel as The Woodbine House, located in South Robbinston, Maine.

An 1895 notice in a collection of newspaper articles about Robbinston mentions that Miss Clara Jones had arrived from Lowell, Massachusetts, to spend a few months.  This same collection contains mention of the burning of the Woodbine House in 1898.


If you have more information on the family of Thomas N. Kerr, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

The ledger measures about 13" by 8" by 1/2" and contains entries for almost 50 families and many pages of other financial transactions. About half of the 178 numbered pages have entries. The ledger is missing its covers; the first page of what remains is shown below.


Soldiers and sailors listed in the ledger
  • The numbers in parentheses indicate specific pages in the ledger.
  • Many of the men listed below were born in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia and may have returned to Canada after the War.  See the map below to see how close New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were, particularly in the Age of Sail.
  • If you have information on any of the men listed below, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

The List, Alphabetized

Note: the map indicates that Robbinston, Maine, is in Saint Andrews Parish ME.  However, Saint Andrews Parish is across the mouth of the St. Croix River in Charlotte County, New Brunswick

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