Saturday, April 17, 2021

c1925 Photograph of the Eastport, Maine, City Council

c1925 photograph of the City Council of Eastport, Maine. The reverse contains identifications of the men, in the handwriting of Councilor Karl Wilfred Jewers (1896-1977).

The photograph was taken by the Milliken studio of Eastport, Maine.
If you have a correction to the information below, please leave a comment.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

1907 Photograph of the Grand Jury Panel of Washington County, Maine


Reprinted, with permission, from the Heirlooms Reunited blog

1907 photograph, measuring 5" by 7", of the members of the Grand Jury of Washington County, Maine, taken in front of the Calais Court House.

The names of the men appear on an accompanying paper, image below, but only as a list, not matching names to faces.

If you recognize any of these men from your family photographs or research, please leave a comment, in the hope that the men can eventually be identified by face.


Grand Jury for Washington County, Impanelled October Term, 1906.
In alphabetical order:

*  This photograph was taken in front of the Court House at Calais, Wednesday, April 24, A.D. 1907.  Juror Bogue does not appear in the picture, he having been unable to attend Court at the April Term on account of sickness.

Some of the towns mentioned

Saturday, April 10, 2021

c. 1890s photograph of Maple Point School, Robbinston, Maine; Lillian Daggett and Sadie Daggett


Reprinted, with permission, from the Heirlooms Reunited blog, which has comments

Circa 1890s photograph of students at the Maple Point School in Robbinston, Maine.  Maple Point is presumably the Maple Point in the southwestern part of the town, on Boyden Lake.

Handwriting on the reverse mentions "Misses Sadie and Lillian G. Daggett, South Robbinston, Washington County, Maine, P.O. Box 71".

Unfortunately, assuming that these two girls are actually in the photograph and not written merely as recipients, no positioning is given.


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

Sadie May Daggett (1885-1974) and Lillian Gertrude Daggett (1889-1979) were the daughters of George Albert and Harriet R. (Nodding or Noddin) Daggett.   

Sadie May Daggett married twice:
  1. Nathan C. Stanton, son of Jonathan William Stanton of South Thomaston, Maine
  2. Albert Ford Merrill, Jr., son of Albert F. and Abbie (Littlefield) Merrill of the Waterville, Maine area.  Sadie was Albert Ford Merrill's third wife.   Albert died in 1949 and Sadie in 1974.

Lillian Gertrude Daggett married Earl James Hancock, son of James and Cora Hancock, of the Waterville, Maine area.  They had at least two children.  In the 1930 Census, Lillian's mother Harriet is shown living with them in Waterville. Earl died in 1974 and Lillian in 1979.

During the 19th century, Robbinston was a shipbuilding center. William Wallace Bates and his father Stephen built ships there or near there before leaving for Wisconsin around the 1850s, where their Maine and Maritime designs revolutionized shipbuilding techniques on the Great Lakes.

If you have corrections, additional information and/or if you recognize any of the students, please leave a comment. 

Thursday, April 1, 2021

1912 Photograph of Students in the Class of 1914 at Boynton High School in Eastport, Maine


Photograph taken on the steps of Boynton High School in Eastport, Maine, on November 18, 1912 of students in the Class of 1914.

Identificatons on the reverse were penned by Karl Wilfrid Jewers (1896-1977).
The Students

If you can identify the student whose last name is MacIntyre, or if you have information to share on any of the students, please leave a comment. 

Monday, March 29, 2021

c1914 Photograph of Students in Eastport, Maine; Most IDed

c1914 photograph of students at Eastport, Maine; most are identified, presumably long after the photograph was taken.  Nothing on the reverse.

Click on the photograph to enlarge it.

If you can identify one of the unidentified students or correct an incorrect identity, or if you have information to share on any of the students, please leave a comment.

Front row:

Middle Row:

Back Row:

Aftermath of the Accident of a Hudson Motor Car at Calais, Maine; owned by Sullivan of Lubec, Maine


Vintage snapshot of the aftermath of an accident at Calais, Maine, on July 20, year unknown, involving a Hudson Motor Car owned by a Mr. Sullivan of Lubec, Maine.


Hudson Motor Cars were in production from 1909 until 1957.  The company was founded by Detroit department store owner J. L. Hudson.  In 1929, the peak year of production, some 300,000 Hudson and Essex cars were built.  Hudson merged with Nash Motors in 1954, creating American Motors.

Perhaps you have a theory as to the particular Mr. Sullivan who owned this vehicle; if so, please leave a comment.

Vintage Map of MacMaster Island in New Brunswick in Passamaquoddy Bay


Reprinted, with permission, from the Heirlooms Reunited blog

Vintage postcard sized piece of MacMaster Island, situated in Passamaquoddy Bay near L'Etete and Little L'Etete Passages and St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.  The card was printed by Stanford's Geographical Establishment, London.

There's nothing printed or written on the reverse.

Someone appears to have typewritten over whatever was the original Letter A entry and substituted Willingdon Harbour, on the Little L'Etete Passage side.

Willingdon Harbour may have been named for Freeman Freeman-Thomas, Viscount Willingdon, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1931 to 1936.    


Vintage Postcard of Bocabec River, Bocabec, New Brunswick, Canada


Old postcard of a view of the Bocabec River at Bocabec, New Brunswick, Canada, not far from St. Andrews and Passamaquoddy Bay.  

Smith College historian William Francis Ganong (1864-1941), who was born at Saint John, New Brunswick, conjectured that the name might derive from where the gorge-like area of the stream opened up into a wider section subject to tidal effect.  An original Passamaquoddy name for the region sounded like Po-ka-besk.  More of Ganong's theory can be read here.

Many Loyalists settled in this area after the American Revolution.

Map of the Bocabec river or stream:


View Larger Map


Sunday, March 28, 2021

Two Old Photographs of Dwellings at Robbinston, Maine; Johnson family & Sherman Hill Road

Early 1900s

Reprinted, with permission, from the Heirlooms Reunited blog.

Two large, old photographs of what appear to be dwellings in Robbinston, Maine, one of them belonging to the Johnson family and another on Sherman Hill Road.

A paper scrap taped to the reverse of the photograph, at top, of the Johnson farm:

Lelia Johnson (Tremble) in door Johnson Farm.  Delilah Johnson right (Robbinston)  Route 1 by store/jewelry maker on left - Machias.

Lelia had a younger sister named Delilah, but there's no one younger than the girl in the doorway.  Either the woman at right is an aunt Delilah or other relative or the person making the identifications got the sisters mixed up.


The second photograph may be older than the first one shown.  From the paper scrap taped to the reverse: "house on Sherman Hill Rd 3/4 way on right (recently burned) (8/02).

Possibly late 19th century


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

Lelia J. Johnson (1897-1990) was born at Robbinston, Maine, on 28 January 1897, daughter of Malcolm Johnson and Margaret A. (Jollotta) Johnson.  As noted in the identification on the top photograph, Lelia would marry Herman Henry Trimble (1895-1979) [not Tremble].

Lelia's younger sister  Delilah Margaret Johnson [shown as Deliah on her birth record] was born at Robbinston, Maine, on 29 November 1906.

If you have information to share on the Johnson and Trimble families or who lived at the dwelling on Sherman Hill Road, please leave a comment or contact me directly.


Six Washington County Women at Gorham Normal School in the 1890s; inscribers in an Autograph Album

Six women from Washington County, Maine, inscribed pages in the mid 1890s in an autograph album while they were students at Gorham Normal School in Gorham, Maine, now part of the University of Southern Maine.

One of them, Mary Elinor Harvell, would have been fairly young to have been a student, but it's possible.

See a another blog post about the album, belonging to a Myra, which contains the inscriptions of students from other places in Maine and out of state.

In alphabetical order by name:

In alphabetical order by Home Town:

South Addison, Maine

Helen J. Reynolds of South Addison, Maine;
inscribed at Gorham Normal School in Gorham, Maine, on January 1, 1894

West Lubec, Maine

Esther A. McFaul of West Lubec, Maine;
inscribed at Gorham Normal School on February 27, 1893

Machiasport, Maine

Annie B. Hanson of Machiasport, Maine;
inscribed at Gorham Normal School on March 13, 1893

Perry, Maine

Lizzie Doring of Perry, Maine;
inscribed at Gorham Normal School on January 6, 1894

Sadie C. Lincoln of Perry, Maine;
inscribed at Gorham Normal School on March 29, 1893

Robbinston, Maine

Top: Mary Harvell of Robbinston, Maine;
inscribed at Gorham Normal School 

If you have information to share on any of these women, please leave a comment.

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Payments made by Robbinston, Maine, to Families of Soldiers and Sailors Serving in the Civil War

Many pages in a ledger listing the payments made by the Town of Robbinston, Maine, to the families of about 50 soldiers and sailors serving in the Civil War.  

Note: Some of the servicemen were born in Maritime Canada and may have returned to Canada after the War.  

The ledger, measuring about 13" by 8", contains 178 pages in all, about half full, not only listing the payments to families but also tracking other municipal business, including expenses for building the Phelps Bridge, bridges at Nash's and Low's, town officers' accounts, etc., in the 1860s up to 1872.

Most pages tracking payments to the families of men serving in the Civil War show one family individually, as you see above, in the case of the family of unmarried Frederick Stanhope (1846-1898).  These pages usually include the serviceman's unit as well as his family members' names and ages, and, in a few cases, information about service, battles and death.  

Alphabetized List - Click on a name to see a separate blog post on each, showing an image of his page in the ledger, along with further information on his life, family and service, with links to primary sources, when available.  If you have information on any of the men listed below, please leave a comment.

The number in parentheses after a name indicates a specific page in the ledger.

Friday, March 26, 2021

1916 Commencement Program for Boynton High School at Eastport, Maine


Reprinted, with permission, from the Heirlooms Reunited blog.

1916 Commencement Exercises for Boynton High School at Eastport, Maine, held at the Baptist Church at two o'clock.

The Boynton High School building was designed by Gridley James Fox Bryant in 1847.  In 1917, Boynton High School was closed and replaced by a new building, renamed Shead Memorial High School.  Since that time the Boynton High School building has been used by various businesses and organizations, including several decades as the home of Eastport City Hall.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

  • Processional, Mrs. Nicholas
  • Prayer, Rev. Albert E. Berrie (1875-1937)
  • Music, "Somewhere"; "Gaily the Echoes Ring", Boynton High School Chorus
  • Salutatory, "At Washington", Rena Blanche Turner
  • History, "Notes from my Diary", Gladys Lewis Warnock
  • Essay, "A Model City", Lucy Helen Colwell
  • Prophecy, "In 1925", Avis Belle Loring
  • Music, "Whispering Hope", "Barcarolle", Boynton High School Chorus
  • Mathematical Demonstration, Clifford Merrill Bishop; John Henderson McCart
  • Presentation of Gifts, John Clarence Muldoon
  • Valedictory, "Colonial versus Modern Education", Mary Virginia Chevrier
  • Presentation of the Holmes Scholarship and English Composition Medals, Mayor Fred T. Eldridge (1871-1927)
  • Address, Samuel A. Elliott, D.D., L.L.D.
  • Presentation of Diplomas, Mr. Herbert H. Kilby 
  • Class Ode
  • Benediction
  • Recessional


Class of 1916

College Preparatory Course

Commercial Course
  • Jeanette Morrison Boyd - Jeannete Morrison Boyd (1897-1989), who married Albert H. Winchell
  • Lucy Helen Colwell - Lucy Helen Colwell (1898-1965), who married 1) Frank A. Marchant
  • Arthur Stanley Gregory - Arthur Stanley Gregory (1897-1978)
  • Avis Belle Loring - Avis Bell Loring (1897-1976), who married John Archibald MacMillan
  • Vera Leland - Vera Leland (1897-1958), who married 1) Arthur Leroy Sadler and 2) William Franklin Davidson
  • Ashton Morton Mabee - Ashton Morton Mabee (1897-1972)
  • Donald Whitney Silver - Donald Whitney Silver (1896-), who married Alice Loring Wilson

English Course

Class Officers
President, John Clarence Muldoon
Vice-President, Lucie Kilby Atwood - Lucy Kilby Atwood (1898-1996), who married Ronald Bibber Wadsworth
Secretary, Arthur Cameron Hilyard
Treasurer, Gladys Lewis Warnock - Gladys Lewis Warnock (1897-1975), who married Ralph S. Hayes

Faculty
Jennie A. Grindle, Principal
Helen N. Hanson
Arthur A. St. Onge
Harley H. Sawyer

Thursday, March 25, 2021

1914 Photograph of Students at Boynton High School at Eastport, Maine


Duplicate 1914 photographs of students at Boynton High School in Eastport, Maine, by the Greenlaw studio. 

One photograph has identifications written on the reverse by student  Rena Blanche (Turner) Jewers (1896-1982).  The other photograph, shown at the end of this post, has identifications written over the people themselves.

Please leave a comment if you have information on anyone mentioned below.
The reverse mentions:
  • Junior Class of 1914 with 26 members; teachers:
    • Mr. Patton, Principal
    • Miss Grindle - Jennie A. Grindle
    • Miss Mitchell
    • Miss Moholland
  • Senior Class with 22 members; teachers:
    • Miss Grindle, Principal - Jennie A. Grindle
    • Mr. St. Onge - Submaster - Arthur A. St. Onge
    • Miss Hanson, English teacher - Helen N. Hanson
    • Mr. Sawyer, Commercial teacher - Harley H. Sawyer

Students identified

Duplicate photograph, with nothing on reverse, but many identifications on the front.


If you have corrections and/or information to share, please leave a comment.