1938 Birthday Postcard from Eliza M. Fox to her brother Silas V. Smith, Maine

Birthday Postcard sent by Mrs. Eliza M. Fox to her brother Silas V. Smith, on August 2, 1938.

I found an Eliza Smith of Stow, Maine, who married Augustus W. Fox of Lovell, Maine.  

What's throwing me is that Eliza had an uncle named Silas V. Smith, but I didn't find that she had a brother by that name.   However, Silas V. Smith married a woman named, according to the Maine Marriages online database, Gracie M. Smith of Stow.  Could this have been the same Grace who was the older sister of Eliza?   If so, then Silas was not only Eliza's uncle but also her brother-in-law, and that would be the source of brother/sister relationship.

Eliza was born in Maine in April 1896, the daughter of James M. and Emma Lucretia (Lowe) Smith of Stowe, Maine, in Oxford County.   After her marriage to Augustus W. Fox, she lived in nearby Lovell, Maine and had at least two sons.   I believe Augustus, born about 1883 in Maine, was the son of John and Stella Fox of Lovell.

Silas V. Smith was born in Maine in August 1884, the son of Salmon and Elizabeth (Betsey) L. (Nickerson) Smith.   Salmon Smith and James Smith, Eliza's father, were brothers, sons of Simon and Mary Ann Frye (McKeen) Smith.  

Silas married Gracie M. Smith 12 October 1907.   I don't know if the couple had any children, but there were none living with them in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 Censuses.    

If you have any corrections or additions to the above information on the Smith and Fox families of Oxford County, Maine, please leave a comment in the comments box or contact me directly.

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1925 Commencement Program, Sherman High School, Sherman, Maine

Eleventh Annual Commencement, Sherman High School, Sherman, Maine, June 17th, 1925

Music
Invocation - Rev. Frederick Parker
Salutatory, Harold Sleeper
Class History, Eva Dickinson
Music
Class Prophecy, William Jordan
Presentation of Gifts, Cora Joy
Class Will, Otho Esty
Music
Address to Undergraduates, Eva Perkins
Valedictory, Viola McNally
Music
Presentation of Diplomas, H. A. McLellan
Benediction, Rev. Frederick Parker

If you have information to share on any of the people mentioned above, please leave a comment for the benefit of other researchers.

Beautiful Tudor Style House - Possibly Ireland, Possibly North America - Recognize it?

I've had a request from a person in Donegal, Ireland to post this photograph in the hopes that someone might recognize this fabulous house.  The photograph, with no identification of the people or location, was found in an old box in the ancestral home.


This Irish family had members who emigrated to the US.  The family has recently reconnected with a branch that settled in Kansas, but there may be other branches in the US or Canada, or worldwide.


If you recognize the house, please get in touch with me, and I will relay the message or, if you wish, connect you directly.  


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1909 Photograph of elderly Capt. D. H. Clancy; Malden, Massachusetts

Photograph dated 1909 of an elderly D. H. Clancy of Malden, Massachusetts; taken by Fred Green, 140 Court Street, Boston, Massachusetts.

From online research, and assuming I have the correct D. H. Clancy:


David H. (possibly Henry) Clancy was born 4 January 1836 at Dresden, Maine, the son of David and Elvira (Heath) Clancy.  His paternal grandparents were David and Bethiah (Call) Clancy.  I haven't yet found any information on Elvira Heath.


If my information is correct, David H. Clancy's paternal great grandmother was Elizabeth Goux, whose father Daniel Goux (the surname eventually morphed to Goud, Goude, Good, etc.) came from the Montbeliard region of France to North America and eventually to Dresden, by way of Newfoundland, in the mid 18th century.  I found this information thanks to the lucky break that Elizabeth's sister Suzanne married Mark Carney and found her way into a book about the genealogy of the Carney Family.


On 9 February 1857 at Dresden, Maine, David Henry Clancy married his wife Ellen.  I have no information on her; censuses give varying dates of birth and states of birth.  The couple is found in Massachusetts in the Censuses of 1870 and beyond.  I found David in the 1910 Census of Malden, Massachusetts, where he indicated he was a widower.


In the 1880 Census of Somerville, Massachusetts, David H. Clancy called himself a Provision Dealer.  Earlier, in the 1870 Census of Boston, Massachusetts, he indicated he owned a Fish Store.  Perhaps therein lies the connection to his sobriquet "Capt." on the photograph.  Or he could have been in the military; he was the right age for duty in the Civil War.  In the 1860 Census, he's in Dresden with his parents David and Alvira C. (in other places shown as Elvira) and his many siblings; unfortunately, no occupation is listed for him. 


The couple had a daughter Lillie.  She grew up to marry Ernest Newbegin, who was born 17 September 1856 in Boothbay, Maine, the son of George Henry and Ora Caroline (McClintock) Newbegin.  By the 1930 Census Lilly was a widow, living in Malden, calling herself a "guest" in a large household of disparate people.  I couldn't find a record of any children for this couple.  I realize the price label says "Grandpa", but I think that was an editorial comment by the contemporary seller.


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


A discussion of Dresden, Maine, on Wikipedia, with mention of the Huguenots, who were among the first settlers there.


Map of Malden, Massachusetts:



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Map of Montbeliard, France:



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circa 1903 Photograph of Chester Cleveland Flanders, age 19, b 1884, Mayfield, Maine

Photograph of Chester Cleveland Flanders in a uniform and holding an intriguing object. Perhaps a reader will be kind enough to forward an opinion. See the comments section.

Chester was born December 25, 1884, at Mayfield, Maine, the son of Daniel and Clara Estelle (Jacobs) Flanders. Chester's paternal grandparents were Barnet C. and Susannah (Ford) Flanders. I haven't yet been able to find Clara Estelle's parents or even if Jacobs was actually her maiden name.

In 1911, according to the Maine Marriages online database, Chester married Nancy Belle Goodridge/Goodrich, who was born in March of 1895 at Brighton, Maine, the daughter of Wentworth & Laura (York) Goodridge/Goodrich. See the comments section for more information on Wentworth Goodridge and Laura (York) Wentworth

Chester and Nancy lived in several towns in Somerset County, the county of their birth, and possibly at Augusta, Maine. There are records for four children born to them, but two apparently died young, a son in infancy and a daughter in her teens.

Chester died in 1956 and Nancy Belle in 1958. They're buried in the Evergreen Cemetery at Solon, Maine.

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

2 Groups Photos, one with Sherman Braley; the other with Gracie Braley, probably of Benton, Maine

Group photo of schoolchildren that includes Sherman Braley, according to a handwritten entry on reverse.   No photographer's imprint or location given.

The second group photo of schoolchildren includes Gracie M. Braley, according to a handwritten entry on the reverse, the same handwriting as in the photograph with Sherman Braley.  Again, no photographer's imprint or location given.

Researching online, I find that Sherman and Gracie M. Braley were the children of Elijah and Ila (Reynolds) Braley of Benton, Maine.  Sherman Braley was born in Maine, 11 May 1888, according to his World War I draft registration card.  Gracie M. Braley was born in Maine, in August of 1883.  


Elijah Braley or Brailey, as I found it sometimes indexed, was born in July of 1856, the son of Hezekiah and Elsie (Reynolds) Braley.  Ila (Reynolds) Braley was born about Dec 1862, the daughter of Richard Reynolds and possibly his wife Martha.


I found an entry for Sherman Braley in the Maine Marriages online database; if this is the correct Sherman Braley, he married Ruth Withee in 1913.   I haven't yet found him in the 1920 or 1930 Censuses; hopefully, if he served in the World War I, he survived it.  


I believe that Ruth Withee was born in August of 1893 in Madison, Maine, the daughter of John and Frances (Howard) Withee, born in Winslow and Lee, Maine, respectively.  If this is the correct Ruth Withee, her father was dead by the 1900 Census, and his widow and daughters were boarding with the Thompson family in Waterville, Maine. 


In 1910, according to the Census, Ruth was living in Vassalboro with her mother and sister Emily; they are indexed incorrectly as Wither, not Withee.  The record of the 1913 marriage of Sherman Braley and Ruth Withee indicates that she was living in Vassalboro, so that is a hopeful sign.


As for Gracie M. Braley, she was living as a servant in the Owen Salley family of Fairfield, Maine, in the 1910 Census.  I haven't yet found her in the 1920 Census, but in 1930, she was living as a servant in the household of Orrin Learned family, also of Fairfield.  She perhaps never married.


If you have any information on the Braley or Withee families of the central Maine area towns of Waterville, Fairfield, Benton, Vassalboro or Unity, I would be very pleased to hear from you.


Below is a map of Waterville, Maine.  If you zoom out, you will find Benton, Fairfield, Vassalboro and Unity.



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1875 letter from Jesse Davis to Assessors of Webster, Maine (now part of Sabattus, Maine)

Letter sent by Jesse Davis, then of Lisbon, Maine, to the Assessors of Webster, Maine on April 3, 1875.  

Webster, whose name was changed to Sabattus in 1971 in honor of an Anasagunticook Indian chief, is located near Lewiston and Lisbon, Maine, in Androscoggin County.

Note that the letter is dated April 3d, 1875 but the postmark looks like 1876, though it's possible it was a faint postmark and someone changed an obscure 5 to a 6.  I've also scanned the back of the envelope so you can see where someone has added contemporary text of "Lisbon Me. 1876 - #147".  I suppose it's possible that Jesse Davis got the year wrong when he dated his letter.  If that's the case, he may have been suffering the aftermath of having his leg amputated a year or two before, as the result of a carriage accident.

From online research, I've determined, hopefully correctly, that Jesse Davis was born in Webster in 1814, the son of Jonathan and Rebecca (Larrabee) Davis.   Jonathan Davis was the son of Jesse and Hannah (Curtis) Davis.   

Here's a link to a short biography of Jesse Davis in Maine, a History, Maine Historical Society, 1919: http://books.google.com/books?id=rH95AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=%22Jesse+Davis%22+%22Lisbon+Maine%22&source=bl&ots=28axTKUoOa&sig=Rkvrp8XwxXA1lWdWpTdr0bkPANA&hl=en&ei=KlRdTPmSH4H98Abbna23DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Jesse%20Davis%22%20%22Lisbon%20Maine%22&f=false

Jesse married Mary Ann Woodberry of Litchfield, Maine, the daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth Woodberry.  Jesse and Mary Ann had four children, two of whom died before their time, a son Albert at 24 and a daughter Adda Elizabeth at 16.  Their daughter Emily Jane married F. W. Dana of Brookline, Massachusetts.  Daughter Sarah Louise married Morrill Newman Drew of Portland, Maine.

Jesse was a highly respected man in Webster, Lisbon and beyond.  He was a selectman for Webster, an Androcoggin County Commissioner and spent time at the State Legislature.  He was a justice of the peace and an officer in the state militia.  For twelve years he was treasurer for the Town of Lisbon, Maine, and he participated in the formation of Manufacturers National Bank of Lewiston.  He dealt in real estate in Androscoggin County and Bangor, Maine.

Transcription:  [If you can decipher some of the words or phrases I have left out, or if you have corrections to make, please let me know.  Thanks!]

Lisbon April 3d, 1875,

Messrs. Assessers of Webster

I write this to call your attention to the valuation of my Dill [?] Lot as it is called situated at Sabattusville.  I wish you would look to see if it has not been taxed the same for quite a number of years back.  I have sold the larger part of it, as J. Wesley Maxwell will tell you.  I wish you to ask him about it to then see if it is taxed as other property in the village is.

The Lot taxed to Massey [?] last year will be taxed to N. W. Farwell, Lewiston this year.

A Lot of worthless Bog, taxed to S. S. Starbird, Lewiston he wishes to call your attention to it, once belonged to the Levi Temple farm.  He bought on a time when it was thought that peat was going to take the place of wood.  He got awfully shaved as he says in the purchase.  He says if you or any other man or [?] will give $50.00 for it you shall have a perfect title to the same.  I was doing some business the other day with him and he wished me to call your attention to it.  I think from what I know of it, you will find little or no value there.

Wishing you much happiness in your official positions, 

I remain yours truly

Jesse Davis

[Along the left margin reading up]   The West Curtis Lot near Wyman's and the Hines lot in the East part of Webster to be taxed to me.

It's my hope that you have found this heirloom meaningful, from either a genealogical or historical perspective.

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Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com

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