1889 :: Photo of Jerusha

On this date in our family history . . . the 2nd day of December . . . in the year 1889 . . . Mrs. A.F. Smith poses for a photo in the studio of Gardner & Philbrick in Biddeford, Maine . . . aka Jerusha Marilla Barker, Mrs. Smith was born in 1841 in Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine . . . married Atwood Frank Smith in 1857 in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . and died in 1899 at fifty-eight years of age . . . this Jerusha is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

Mrs. A.F. Smith

Biddeford

Maine

Dec. 2nd 1889.

$3.00

We Stand at the Head

Our Photographs of all kinds are made bet-

ter if possible than before the rush. Certainly

as durable as any in the State. We make

Cabinets for the extremely low price of

$3 PER DOZEN.

GARDNER & PHILBRICK

131 MAIN ST., BIDDEFORD.

Biddeford Daily Journal, March 24, 1888

1685 :: Birth of John Kimball

On this date in our family history . . . the 7th day of February . . . in the year 1685 . . . according to the History of the Kimball Family . . . John Kimball is born . . . 





This John Kimball is a 7th great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog, as follows . . .


JOHN KIMBALL 1685-1763
&1705 ELIZABETH CHAPMAN
|
MEHITABLE KIMBALL †1797/
&1744 TIMOTHY BARKER 1720-1752
|
ASA BARKER 1748-1822
&1767 LUCY PORTER 1751-1822
|
JONATHAN BARKER 1785-1860
&ca 1805 MAHITABLE PORTER FARNUM 1785-1811
|
TIMOTHY BARKER 1809-1870/
&1831 JERUSHA LAKIN HOBBS 1810-/1870
|
JERUSHA MARILLA BARKER 1841-1899
&1857 ATWOOD FRANK SMITH 1837-1907
|
THOMAS WARREN ALONZO SMITH 1866-1920
&1894 EVA MAY BRACKETT 1874-1936
|
ELIZABETH MARILLA SMITH 1912-1932
&1929 ROBERT E HENRY 1905-1976
|
Keeper's Mom [living]
&1950 FORREST LEE POUNDERS 1927-1996
|
Keeper

1762 :: Birth of Jerusha Milliken

On this date in our family history . . . the 15th day of June . . . in the year 1762 . . . it is said that Jerusha Milliken is born in Cumberland County, Maine . . . her parents are Edward Milliken and Elizabeth Harmon . . . Jerusha grows up and marries Rufus Levi Merrill in 1781 . . . and they become the parents of multiple children, including Phineas Merrill . . . Jerusha is a 5th great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .

 

1763 :: Death of John Kimball

On this date in our family history . . . the 10th day of May . . . in the year 1763 . . . according to the History of the Kimball Family . . . John Kimball dies in Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts . . . it is unknown at this time where his remains were laid to rest . . .




This John Kimball is a 7th great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog, as follows . . .


JOHN KIMBALL 1685-1763
&1705 ELIZABETH CHAPMAN
|
MEHITABLE KIMBALL †1797/
&1744 TIMOTHY BARKER 1720-1752
|
ASA BARKER 1748-1822
&1767 LUCY PORTER 1751-1822
|
JONATHAN BARKER 1785-1860
&ca 1805 MAHITABLE PORTER FARNUM 1785-1811
|
TIMOTHY BARKER 1809-1870/
&1831 JERUSHA LAKIN HOBBS 1810-/1870
|
JERUSHA MARILLA BARKER 1841-1899
&1857 ATWOOD FRANK SMITH 1837-1907
|
THOMAS WARREN ALONZO SMITH 1866-1920
&1894 EVA MAY BRACKETT 1874-1936
|
ELIZABETH MARILLA SMITH 1912-1932
&1929 ROBERT E HENRY 1905-1976
|
Keeper's Mom [living]
&1950 FORREST LEE POUNDERS 1927-1996
|
Keeper

1752 :: Death of Samuel Brackett

On this date in our family history . . . the 27th day of April . . . in the year 1752 . . . 80-year-old Samuel Brackett dies in Berwick, York County, Maine . . . this Samuel is a 4th great-grandpa to Jerusha Marilla Smith nee Barker (1841-1899) . . . who is paternal grandma to Elizabeth Marilla Henry nee Smith (1912-1932) . . . who is the maternal grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and this Samuel Brackett is also a 1st cousin three times removed to Peter Brackett (1838-1927) . . . who is the adoptive father of Eva May Smith (1874-1936) . . . who is the mother of the above mentioned Elizabeth . . .


Samuel Brackett, the First in Berwick

In addition to the above, H.I. Brackett also wrote in his Brackett Genealogy (1907) that . . .

On the [Samuel Brackett, Jr.] farm [York County] is a family burying ground where are the graves of Samuel Brackett, Jr., and of his wives. At his grave is a well preserved headstone. In the yard are graves unmarked by stones, and these are thought to be the graves of Samuel, Sr., and of his wife, Elizabeth Botts.

Ancestor Appreciation Day

Remembering the Grandmas . . . 

for Ancestor Appreciation Day . . .





I hear the voices of my grandmas
Calling out from a distant past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."

Tell the children of our wanderings
Let the kinfolk hear the tales
How we braved the new horizons
How we blazed the olden trails.

How we buried too many babies
How we struggled to keep them fed
How we caressed the hands of our loved ones
As they lay dying on their beds.

How we endured many a hardship
With an eye to the future goal
To create a more promising future
And to keep our family whole.

They were as different from each other
As the scraps in a crazy quilt
Yet once the pieces were sewn together
Another generation they had built

I can sense them calling out to me
From the gloaming of my past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."






Begotten . . .
and may they never be forgotten . . .
Remembering my Grandmas . . .

• Berta Mary Sharp, and her mother, Nellie Lemaire
• Elizabeth Marilla Smith, and her mother, Eva May Brackett
• Ima Lois Muston, and her mother, Emma Patience Nettles
• Jerusha Marilla Barker, and her mother, Jerusha Lakin Hobbs
• Josephine Wingfield Davis, and her mother, America James Fears
• Mahala Lee Roberts, and her mother, Patsy Gill
• Mary Alexandrien Lemaire, and her mother, Elizabeth Waring
• Mary Annie West, and her mother, Sarah Mildred Carter
• Mollie Olive, and her mother, Clementine Jordan
• Nancy Virilla Quinn, and her mother, Sushannah
• Phoebe Merrill, and her mother, Olive Jane Goodwin

The above family poem was composed by BeNotForgot back in 2009 in response to a challenge posted at Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Poetry and Genealogy . . . and the Wordle (name cloud) was created at wordle.net . . .

Sentimental Sunday :: Memories of New England

One year ago, in October of 2011, my youngest sister and I loaded up our about-to-be-80-year-old Mom and made a road trip from central Texas to the coast of Maine for an extended stay in a beach house at Old Orchard Beach . . . and afternoons spent gathering seaglass on Peaks Island . . . and mornings spent walking the paths of the Victorian garden cemetery overlooking the Saco River where Mom's young mother was laid to rest in 1932 . . . some of the photographic memories of those days have been preserved on the pages of a book created via MyCanvas at ancestry.com . . . a digital photo album entitled Memories of New England highlights the pages of that leather-bound book, which was presented to Mom for her 80th birthday earlier in 2012 . . . 

 

Our adorable Mom was born near Boston, Massachusetts . . . but spent most of her growing-up years with her paternal grandparents in central Texas . . . her Father had left the dry dusty farmfields of West Texas in 1927 to join the Navy . . . and wound up spending time along the coast of Maine with one of his shipmates . . . where both of them met their future wives . . .

Mom's parents, Robert and Elizabeth (aka Bob and Betty), were married in July of 1929 . . . their first child (a boy) was born in May of 1930 in Lynn, Massachusetts . . . followed by Mom in January of 1932 . . . and then 19-year old Elizabeth died three days later . . .

Mom never visited her Mother's grave until October of 1977 . . . which was the first time we made the trek to New England from Texas . . . we went back again in 1981 . . . and then in 1998 . . . 2011 was our fourth trip . . . and we are already making plans for trip #5! . . . in the meantime . . .

Mom was talking just this morning about wanting to print copies of her photos of that trip, and share them with family members . . . she doesn't know it yet, but with this post, I am doing the sharing for her (sorry, Mom!) . . . remember that ALL of the photos in the following albums were taken by Mom with her digital camera . . .

TO MAINE AND BACK THRU MOM'S EYES . . . this album contains images captured by Mom along the road . . .

• MAINE
  
  
  • Dunstan Cemetery . . . at Scarborough in Cumberland County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal 2nd great-grandparents, William Thurston Merrill (1816-1898) and Olive Jane (Goodwin) Merrill (1821-1895), are buried here . . . along with numerous other kinfolk . . .
  • Eastern Cemetery . . . at Gorham in Cumberland County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal great-grandma, Phoebe Ann (Merrill) Morse Tripp (1848-1927), is buried here . . .
  • Greenwood Cemetery . . . at Biddeford in York County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal great-grandparents, Atwood Frank Smith (1837-1907) and Jerusha Marilla (Barker) Smith (1841-1899), are buried here . . .
  • Hills Beach . . . at Biddeford Pool in York County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal grandparents, Thomas Warren Alonzo Smith (1866-1920) and Eva May (Brackett) Smith (1874-1936), owned and operated a florist business in Biddeford in the early part of the 20th century . . . as part of that business, T.W.A. Smith did landscaping at Biddeford Pool . . .
  • Laurel Hill Cemetery . . . at Saco in York County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal grandparents, Thomas Warren Alonzo Smith and Eva May (Brackett) Smith are buried here, along with their children, including Mom's Mother . . .
  • Nubble Lighthouse . . . near the entrance to the York River in York County, Maine . . . aka Cape Neddick Light Station . . .
  • Old Orchard Beach . . . in York County, Maine . . .
  • Peaks Island . . . in Casco Bay near Portland, Maine . . . we have photos of Mom's maternal family members at events on this Island from the early part of the 20th century . . . and Mom's 9th great-grandpa, Michael Mitton, once owned Peaks Island . . .
• MASSACHUSETTS . . . this album contains images of the house where Mom was born . . . and the beach where she played as a child . . .
• NEW HAMPSHIRE . . . Mom's parents honeymooned at Alton Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire . . . where her Mother also spent time as a child . . .

1860 :: Barker Boarding House

 

On this date in our family history . . . the 18th day of June . . . in the year 1860 . . . Timothy Barker is enumerated at the Keeper of a Boarding House in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . this Timothy is a 3rd great-grandpa of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . also in the same household is his wife, Jerusha (my 3rd great-grandma) . . . and their married daughter, Jerusha, and her husband Atwood Frank Smith (my 2nd great-grandparents) . . . LUV the handwriting of the enumerator, Jere E. Lord, on this census page . . . possibly aka Jeremiah E. Lord who died in 1864 in Biddeford . . .

Sentimental Sunday :: The Voices of my Grandmas

Remembering the Grandmas . . .
for Mother's Day . . . 

I hear the voices of my grandmas
Calling out from a distant past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."

Tell the children of our wanderings
Let the kinfolk hear the tales
How we braved the new horizons
How we blazed the olden trails.

How we buried too many babies
How we struggled to keep them fed
How we caressed the hands of our loved ones
As they lay dying on their beds.

How we endured many a hardship
With an eye to the future goal
To create a more promising future
And to keep our family whole.

They were as different from each other
As the scraps in a crazy quilt
Yet once the pieces were sewn together
Another generation they had built

I can sense them calling out to me
From the gloaming of my past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."

Begotten . . .
and may they never be forgotten . . .
Remembering my Grandmas . . .

• Berta Mary Sharp, and her mother, Nellie Lemaire
• Elizabeth Marilla Smith, and her mother, Eva May Brackett
• Ima Lois Muston, and her mother, Emma Patience Nettles
• Jerusha Marilla Barker, and her mother, Jerusha Lakin Hobbs
• Josephine Wingfield Davis, and her mother, America James Fears
• Mahala Lee Roberts, and her mother, Patsy Gill
• Mary Alexandrien Lemaire, and her mother, Elizabeth Waring
• Mary Annie West, and her mother, Sarah Mildred Carter
• Mollie Olive, and her mother, Clementine Jordan
• Nancy Virilla Quinn, and her mother, Sushannah
• Phoebe Merrill, and her mother, Olive Jane Goodwin

The above family poem was composed by benotforgot back in 2009 in response to a challenge posted at Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Poetry and Genealogy . . . and the Wordle (name cloud) was created at wordle.net . . .

1899 :: Death of Jerusha Marilla

On this date in our family history . . . the 17th day of November . . . in the year 1899 . . . Jerusha Marilla Smith nee Barker dies in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . and is laid to rest in the Greenwood Cemetery in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . this Jerusha is the paternal grandma of Elizabeth Marilla Henry nee Smith (1912-1932) . . . who is the maternal grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . Jerusha is a daughter of Timothy Barker and Jerusha Lakin Hobbs . . . on the 23rd day of December in the year 1857,at the age of 16, she became the bride of Atwood F. Smith in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . they had at least two children who died before 1865, and then a 3rd child born in 1866, Thomas Warren Alonzo Smith (1866-1920), who is the father of Elizabeth . . .

My Ahnentafel for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Randy Seaver's challenge for this evening is to List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places. Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them. Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each. So . . . 


When I get mine all figured out (see the chart and ahnentafel below) it does seem that my "dominant ethnicity or nationality" (based on my great-great-grandparents) is . . . American? . . . with a large helping of the South . . . and just a pinch of down Maine (via my maternal grandma and her ancestors). 


One more generation back might take one branch across the big pond to France, but other than that, all known branches have been on American soil for several more generations, before connecting back mostly to England, with a few from France.


One line, Josephine #25, does appear (at this time) to connect waayyy back to the Kings and Queens of England and France and Ireland and Portugal and Scotland and Spain . . . and even if this potential royal connection winds up being untrue, it sure has been an interesting journey through history to look at these characters as potential ancestors, and real people, instead of just boring names on the pages of a history book.

State	%
Alabama	31.25
Georgia	12.50
Kentucky	6.25
Maine	18.75
Mississippi	6.25
Texas	12.50
Unknown	12.50

This 8.5 x 14 pale green Standard Pedigree Chart (generated by Family Tree Maker) hangs on the bookcase that sits one foot away from my computer perch (not actually a chair, but one of those ergonomic kneeling stool thingies) -- so this version of my ancestor list is always available as a quick reference. And my ahnentafel is on permanent display on one of my other sites (pre-blogspot days) -- gonetotexas.proboards.com. My great-great-grandparents from that ahnentafel (with their actual ahnentafel numbers) --

[16] Joseph W. POUNDERS (c.1822-bef.1880) married before 1867 in Alabama to
[17] Nancy Virilla QUINN (1847-1930)

• Joseph & Nancy were both born & died in Alabama
• Joseph's parents -- Lemuel Samuel Pounders & Mary Margery Holcomb -- were born in North Carolina
• Nancy's father -- John Quinn -- was born in Tennessee & her mother -- Susannah -- in Alabama

[18] Unknown* unknown ? relationship ? in ? Alabama ? to
[19] Sushannah HOLLAND (1841-1930)

• Sushannah was born in Alabama & died in Texas
• her father -- Edward Holland -- was born in Tennessee & her mother -- Mary Annie Fretwell -- in Alabama
• * Great-great-grandpa #18 will probably never be known. The purported father (Isaac Cain) of my great-grandma (the only daughter of Sushannah Holland) appears to have died during the war between the states . . . while "their" daughter appears to have been born in 1873 . . . about 10 years after he died . . . Sushannah drew a confederate pension on the man she claimed was the father of both of her children . . . and it stated that he died during the war (1861-1865).

[20] William Alexander MUSTON (1854-1936) married before 1880 in Texas to
[21] Mary OLIVE (c. 1853-c. 1897)

• William was born in Alabama & died in Texas
• Mary was born in Georgia & died in Texas
• William's father -- William Thomas Muston -- was born in South Carolina & his mother -- Rebecca King -- in Alabama
• Mary's father -- Littleton Olive -- was born in Georgia & her mother -- Clementine Jordan -- in South Carolina

[22] Joseph Helidorah NETTLES (1832-1890) married 1871 in Texas to
[23] Mary Annie WEST (1852-1939)

• Joseph was born in Alabama & died in Texas
• Mary Annie was born in Mississippi & died in Texas
• Joseph's parents are unidentified at this time
• Mary Annie's father -- Richard C. West, Jr. -- was born in Kentucky & her mother -- Sarah Mildred Carter -- in Alabama

[24] William Pascal HENRY (1836-1912) married 1864 in Texas to
[25] Josephine Wingfield DAVIS (1842-1899)

• William was born in Kentucky & died in Texas
• Josephine was born in Georgia & died in Texas
• William's parents -- Thomas Henry & Mary Kirtley -- were born & died in Kentucky
• Josephine's parents -- Milton Grant Davis & America James Fears -- were born in Georgia, where her mother died while her father died in Texas

[26] Samuel Houston SHARP, Sr. (c.1839-c.1885) married 1861 in Texas to
[27] Mary Alexandrien LEMAIRE (1843-1876)

• Samuel & Mary Alexandrien were born & died in Texas
• Sam's father -- John M. Sharp -- may have come to Texas from Tennessee
• Sam's mother -- Mahala Lee Roberts -- was born in Louisiana & died in Texas
• Mary Alexandrien's mother -- Elizabeth A. Waring -- was born in Maryland & is presumed to have died in Texas
• Mary Alexandrien's father is believed to have been born in France, & to have died at sea

[28] Atwood F. SMITH (1837-1907) married 1857 in Maine to
[29] Jerusha Marilla BARKER (1841-1899)

• Atwood & Jerusha were born & died in Maine
• Atwood's parents -- Hiram B. Smith & Betsey T. Flood -- were born & died in Maine
• Jerusha's parents -- Timothy Barker & Jerusha Lakin Hobbs -- were born in Maine & are presumed to have died in Maine

[30] Unknown** unknown ? relationship ? in ? Maine ? to
[31] Phoebe MERRILL (1848-aft.1920)

• Phoebe was born & is presumed to have died in Maine
• both of Phoebe's parents -- William Thurston Merrill & Olive Jane [Goodwin or Mason] were born & died in Maine
• ** Great-great-grandpa #30 will probably never be known. It does appear that Phoebe Merrill gave her baby girl, Eva Mae, to her older sister, Lizzie (Merrill) Brackett, to raise as her own.

New England's Dark Day in 1780

The History and Antiquities of New England ...Embracing the Following Subjects, Viz:... Anecdotes, Traditions, Remarkable & Unaccountable Occurrenceswith a Great Variety of Curious & Interesting Relics of AntiquityBy John Warner Barber    
In or near the area of the southern part of Maine were living at this exact time in history certain ancestors of ours, including (but not limited to) . . . Daniel Merrill & and his wife, Hannah Runnels . . . and their son, Levi Merrill & his wife, Jerusha Milliken . . . and Jerusha's father, Edward Milliken . . . and Edward's father-in-law . . . Samuel Nathaniel Harmon. 

Also Thomas Thurston and his wife, Lucy Fenderson . . . and his widowed mother, Martha Piper. 

Also Morrill Hobbs and his wife, Miriam Brackett . . . and his widowed mother, Abigail Urann Hobbs . . . and Miriam's parents, John Brackett and Miriam Thompson . . . and John's father, Samuel Brackett.

The darkness commenced between the hours of 10 and 11 A.M., and continued to the middle of the next night. It was occasioned by a thick vapour or cloud, tinged with a yellow color, or faint red, and a thin coat of dust was deposited on white substances.

The wind was in the southwest; and the darkness appeared to come on with clouds in that direction. Its extent was from Falmouth, (Maine,) to New Jersey. The darkness appears to have been the greatest in the county of Essex, (Mass.) in the lower part of New Hampshire, and Maine; it was also great in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

In most parts of the country where the darkness prevailed, it was so great, that persons were unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their clocks or watches, dine, or manage their domestic business, without additional light; 'candles were lighted up in their houses; the birds having sung their evening songs, disappeared and became silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all around as at break of day; objects could be distinguished but a very little distance; and every thing bore the appearance and gloom of night.'

The following is an extract of a letter from Dr. Tenney to the Massachusetts Historical Society, giving an account of the dark day of May, 1780.

"You will readily recollect that, previously to the commencement of the darkness, the sky was overcast with the common kind of clouds, from which there was, in some places a light sprinkling of rain. Between these and the earth there intervened another stratum, to appearance of very great thickness. As this stratum advanced, the darkness commenced and increased with its progress till it came to its height; which did not take place till the hemisphere was a second time overspread. The uncommon thickness of this second stratum was probably occasioned by two strong currents of wind from the southward and westward, condensing the vapours and drawing them in a north-easterly direction. I remember this observation was made by an anonymous writer in one of the public papers soon after the event.

As I set out the next day, from my father's at Rowley, to join my regiment in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to inform myself what were the appearances in different parts of the country between here and Pennsylvania. The result of my enquiries, on that journey, and after my return, was that the darkness was most gross in the county of Essex, the lower part of the State of New-Hampshire and the old Province of Maine. In Rhode-Island and Connecticut it was not so great, and still less in New-York. In New-Jersey the second stratum of clouds was observed, but not of any great thickness; nor was the darkness very uncommon. In the lower parts of Pennsylvania, if my recollection does not fail me, no extraordinary appearance was noticed. Through this whole extent the lower stratum had an uncommon brassy hue, while the earth and trees were adorned with so enchanting a verdure as could not escape notice, were amidst the unusual gloom that surrounded the spectator. This gradual increase of the darkness from southwest to northeast, which was nearly the course of the clouds, affords a pretty good argument in favour of the supposition that they were condensed by two strong currents of wind blowing in different directions. To these two strata of clouds we may, without hesitation, impute the extraordinary darkness of the day."

1752 :: Samuel Brackett

On this date in our family history . . . the 27th day of April . . . in the year 1752 . . . 80-year-old Samuel Brackett dies in Berwick, York County, Maine . . . this Samuel is a 4th great-grandpa to Jerusha Marilla Smith nee Barker (1841-1899) . . . who is paternal grandma to Elizabeth Marilla Henry nee Smith (1912-1932) . . . who is the maternal grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and this Samuel Brackett is also a 1st cousin three times removed to Peter Brackett (1838-1927) . . . who is the adoptive father of Eva May Smith (1874-1936) . . . who is the mother of the above mentioned Elizabeth . . .


Old Kittery and her families
By Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole: ""


In the book, Old Church Lore by William Andrews (1891), the author states that . . .

In America, the Puritans made some very curious Sunday laws. Walking, riding, cooking, and many other natural needs of life were forbidden. Sports and recreations were punished by a fine of forty shillings and a public whipping. In New England, a mother might not kiss her child on a Sunday. . . . the captain of a ship, who, on his return from a long voyage, met his wife in the street, and kissed her, and for the offence had to pay ten shillings. Another Boston man was fined the same amount for kissing his wife in his own garden. The culprit refused to pay the money and had to endure twenty lashes. . . . In past ages, attending church was not a matter of choice, but one of obligation. . . .

See also . . . Early days of church and state in Maine (1910) by Robert Hale (1889-1976) . . .

Begotten & never forgotten

I hear the voices of my grandmas
Calling out from a distant past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."

Tell the children of our wanderings
Let the kinfolk hear the tales
How we braved the new horizons
How we blazed the olden trails.

How we buried too many babies
How we struggled to keep them fed
How we caressed the hands of our loved ones
As they lay dying on their beds.

How we endured many a hardship
With an eye to the future goal
To create a more promising future
And to keep our family whole.

They were as different from each other
As the scraps in a crazy quilt
Yet once the pieces were sewn together
Another generation they had built

I can sense them calling out to me
From the gloaming of my past
"Please do not let us be forgot.
Record our stories that we may last."




Begotten . . .
and may they never be forgotten . . .
Remembering . . .   

Berta Mary Sharp

and her mother, Nellie Lemaire

Elizabeth Marilla Smith

and her mother, Eva May Brackett

Ima Lois Muston

and her mother, Emma Patience Nettles

Jerusha Marilla Barker

and her mother, Jerusha Lakin Hobbs

Josephine Wingfield Davis

and her mother, America James Fears

Mahala Lee Roberts

and her mother, Patsy Gill

Mary Alexandrien Lemaire

and her mother, Elizabeth Waring

Mary Annie West

and her mother, Sarah Mildred Carter

Mary Olive

and her mother, Clementine Jordan  

Nancy Virilla Quinn

and her mother, Sushannah

Phoebe Merrill

and her mother, Olive Jane Goodwin

The above family poem was composed by me in response to a challenge posted at Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Poetry and Genealogy . . . and the Wordle (name cloud) was created at wordle.net . . .

Mom's Great-Grandmas

The prominent name in each of these four "wordles" are my great-great-grandmas on my Mother's side. 

The other names on each individual "wordle" are the surnames I currently have associated with each of these women. 

Our Josephine and Nellie (aka Mary Alexandrien) and Jerusha and Phoebe were all born in the 1840s.





Jerusha married Atwood F. Smith in York County, Maine in 1857. Their son, Thomas Warren Alonzo Smith, is my great-grandpa.





Phoebe's daughter, Eva, married the above mentioned T. W. A. Smith in 1894 in York County, Maine.





Josephine married William Paschal Henry in 1864 in Brazoria County, Texas. Their son, Edgar, is my great-grandpa.






Nellie married Samuel Houston Sharp in 1861 in Liberty County, Texas. Their daughter, Berta, married the above mentioned Edgar Henry in 1895.

P.S. The "wordles" in the above collages were created at wordle.net [defunct]. Randy Seaver over at geneamusings.com told us about this fun little word generator.

1745 :: Miriam Thompson weds John Brackett

On this date in our family history . . . the 4th day of July . . . in the year 1745 . . . in Berwick, York County, Maine . . . Miriam Thompson becomes the bride of John Brackett . . . this Miriam and John are 2nd great-grandparents of Jerusha Marilla Smith nee Barker (1841-1899) . . . who is a 2nd great-grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .



Brackett Genealogy Descendants
of Anthony Brackett of Portsmouth
and Captain Richard Brackett of Braintree.
With Biographies of the Immigrant Fathers,
Their Sons, and Others of Their Posterity
By Herbert Ierson Brackett: