When I speak of Published Genealogies, I am referring to genealogies of an area which include many different surnames. Genealogies of a particular surname are called family genealogies and may or may not be published. Town and county histories are included here because they not only give you a glimpse of the life your ancestor was living in a certain area, they may also provide you with some genealogical information.
Published Genealogies
Many Maine and New England resources for genealogy and biographical information were published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Family Genealogies
Histories of families come in a variety of shapes and sizes and also vary in the amount of information they provide, the reliability of the information and the ease with which they can be used.
To find out if a genealogy is available for your family, seach MINERVA by subject, and enter [surname] Family. Remember that surnames can be spelled many different ways, so be prepared to try several spellings to get to the information.
City and Town Histories:
A published history of a town will often include vital records, biographical sketches of prominent citizens and/or genealogical information. Maine communities with large Franco-American populations are well represented in this genre. In some cases the smaller Franco community has created its own history.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Obituaries
Another good source of family information, particularly from the mid to late 20th century, is an obituary from the newspaper. Many obits include date of birth, date of death, name of parents, spouse, children and siblings and place of burial. There aren't obituaries for all deaths, and sometimes they contain little useful information, but it's always worth taking a look. The Penobscot Times papers are available at the Old Town Library and on microfilm at the University of Maine - Fogler Library. Fogler also has microfilm of the Bangor Daily News and other Maine newspapers. Historical societies and libraries are beginning to transcribe or scan obituaries into computer databases, so you may have some luck doing an online search, but so far, a very small percentage of this work has been completed, so if you have access to the papers for the town or city where your ancestor died, and have a death date, going to the source is your best bet. If you don't know a death date or place then you will want to look at one of the available indexes mentioned above. Abbott Memorial Library in Dexter has created an Obituary database that currently includes obits from 1944 to present. The Maine Newspaper Project at the Maine State Archives is a list of Maine Newspapers that indicates date of publication and holdings at various libraries and archives.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Moving Back in Time
Let's revisit some earlier sources to see if we can find more information about the parents of our neighbors.
Following up on Ray Spinney's family in the 1930 census, I'm going to look for his mother and father's marriage in the marriage index. I searched for Bessie Reed (Remember, her mother, Abbie Reed, was living in the household) and found Bessie M. Reed of Milford married Byron P. Spinney of Old Town on 12 Dec 1910. Bessie then married Charles Burruley of Orono on 8 Jun 1929. In the 1920 Census, Byron, Bessie, Raymond, George and Howard are all living on Main St. in Bradley. It was hard to find because the surname was spelled Spenie and indexed as Spruce or Spence. So now we know that Byron either died between 1920 and 1929 or he and Bessie were divorced.
Delores shows up in the 1920 census as well, as the step-daughter of Alfred Wickett. His wife is Myrtle, so presumably her mother. The name Myrtle Bamford sounds right to me as the name of Dot's mother. I couldn't find a marriage of Myrtle and Alfred Wickett. This census does tell me that Myrtle was born in Canada and was a trained nurse. I found Myrtle Bamford in the death index and her death date was 9 Jul 1978.
A search through the 1920 Census doesn't turn up Charles Lowell or Harry and Mabel, who I suspect are his parents, but in 1910, there they all are living on Davis Street, Harry H., 37; Mabel, 34; Frances, 10; Doris, 9; and Charles W., 6. Living next door are Mary A. Lowell, age 64 and daughter Mary, 26.
Woodrow Burr's father Fred married Elvester Spencer of Argyle on 1 Dec 1894. According to the book "The Penobscot Spencers" (written by Thelma Spencer D'Auteuil and available at the Old Town Library,) Elvester was born 1 Jun 1874 the daughter of ???? and died in 1940. Fred was born about 1872 and died in 1953.
In the 1930 census we found Dorothy Bailey living with mother Vina and Vina's mother Grace Sleeper, so I looked for Vina Sleeper in the marriage index. When I didn't find anything, I looked for any Sleeper who married a Bailey. I found Verna E. who married Richard C. Bailey on 14 Jul 1914. In the 1920 census, I found Verna, Dorothy and Janet living with Verna's parents, George and Grace Sleeper in Milford.
Following up on Ray Spinney's family in the 1930 census, I'm going to look for his mother and father's marriage in the marriage index. I searched for Bessie Reed (Remember, her mother, Abbie Reed, was living in the household) and found Bessie M. Reed of Milford married Byron P. Spinney of Old Town on 12 Dec 1910. Bessie then married Charles Burruley of Orono on 8 Jun 1929. In the 1920 Census, Byron, Bessie, Raymond, George and Howard are all living on Main St. in Bradley. It was hard to find because the surname was spelled Spenie and indexed as Spruce or Spence. So now we know that Byron either died between 1920 and 1929 or he and Bessie were divorced.
Delores shows up in the 1920 census as well, as the step-daughter of Alfred Wickett. His wife is Myrtle, so presumably her mother. The name Myrtle Bamford sounds right to me as the name of Dot's mother. I couldn't find a marriage of Myrtle and Alfred Wickett. This census does tell me that Myrtle was born in Canada and was a trained nurse. I found Myrtle Bamford in the death index and her death date was 9 Jul 1978.
A search through the 1920 Census doesn't turn up Charles Lowell or Harry and Mabel, who I suspect are his parents, but in 1910, there they all are living on Davis Street, Harry H., 37; Mabel, 34; Frances, 10; Doris, 9; and Charles W., 6. Living next door are Mary A. Lowell, age 64 and daughter Mary, 26.
Woodrow Burr's father Fred married Elvester Spencer of Argyle on 1 Dec 1894. According to the book "The Penobscot Spencers" (written by Thelma Spencer D'Auteuil and available at the Old Town Library,) Elvester was born 1 Jun 1874 the daughter of ???? and died in 1940. Fred was born about 1872 and died in 1953.
In the 1930 census we found Dorothy Bailey living with mother Vina and Vina's mother Grace Sleeper, so I looked for Vina Sleeper in the marriage index. When I didn't find anything, I looked for any Sleeper who married a Bailey. I found Verna E. who married Richard C. Bailey on 14 Jul 1914. In the 1920 census, I found Verna, Dorothy and Janet living with Verna's parents, George and Grace Sleeper in Milford.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Census Records
The next resource that we will look at is the United States Census. The first federal census taken in the U.S. was in 1790 and for the first 6 decenniel censuses, the only names recorded were those of heads of each household. All other household members were indicated by a tally mark in the appropriate age range and gender. In 1950 they started to record every member of the household, though relationship to the head of the household was not indicated until 1880. The 1890 census is not available as it was destroyed by fire and only fragments remain. The most recent census availble to us is 1930, but in 2010, the 1940 information will be released. We can access the census images on microfilm at the University of Maine Fogler Library or on the Internet at Ancestry.com. If you don't have a subscription to Ancestry.com you can use it at the Bangor Public Library. BPL provides card holders with remote access to HeritageQuest which includes many of the census records, but not all years.
Since I am interested in finding the names of the parents of my Davis Street neighbors, I went first to the 1930 census.
I wasn't able to find Alcide Burke, but I found Marion Broderick living with her mother, Jennie on Stillwater Ave in the home of her Aunt, Nora Bloodsworth. When I looked at the other people living nearby, I found the family of Louis and Beatrice Bourque living next door. They had 9 children, one of whom was Alcide P. One of the sisters of Alcide was named Violet and I remember that Burkie had a sister, Violet, who I believe roomed with the Burr's at one time. So this seems like the right guy, and now we know that he was probably French-Canadian and his name was originally Bourque. We can verify that information later with another source.
Since I am interested in finding the names of the parents of my Davis Street neighbors, I went first to the 1930 census.
I wasn't able to find Alcide Burke, but I found Marion Broderick living with her mother, Jennie on Stillwater Ave in the home of her Aunt, Nora Bloodsworth. When I looked at the other people living nearby, I found the family of Louis and Beatrice Bourque living next door. They had 9 children, one of whom was Alcide P. One of the sisters of Alcide was named Violet and I remember that Burkie had a sister, Violet, who I believe roomed with the Burr's at one time. So this seems like the right guy, and now we know that he was probably French-Canadian and his name was originally Bourque. We can verify that information later with another source.
This seems like a good place to interject a word of caution about census records. There is lots of incorrect information in the census, so don't believe everything you read, and be creative when searching for information. Think about it - A census taker who may or may not have cared
about getting accurate information, spoke to one member of the family, who may not have known exact ages, middle names, place of birth, etc. and recorded what he or she heard in a sometimes illegible handwriting. In many cases the images we see of the census have been hand copied from the original. If you are using a digital index, another person has interpreted what the original
or copy of the original says and has created this index. That leaves lots of room for mistakes. I was looking for my own grandparents, Robert and Norma Huyett, in the 1930 census. I knew they were probably in Hagerstown Md. but couldn't find them. Since Norma is a somewhat unusual name, I tried looking for all Normas in Hagerstown. I found Norma Hugetty. When I looked at the image, I could see that it was indeed the right family, but the y had been interpreted the y as a g and the loop from a name below had been seen as a y at the end of the name. I wouldn't have found them if I hadn't done some creative searching.
I next looked at Ray and Dot Spinney. I found Raymond H. Spinney, age 18, living in Bradley, with his mother Bessie and his step-father Charles H. Burruley and brothers George Spinney and Howard Spinney. Also living in the house is the mother-in-law of Charles Burruley, Abbie M. Reed. This could mean that she is Raymond's grandmother and Reed may be his mother's maiden name. More investigation would prove or disprove this bit. I wasn't able to find Delores Bamford in this census.
I did find Charles W. and Florence Lowell in the 1930 census, living on Stillwater Ave. with son Charles, Jr., age 4. Tick and Florence had a granddaughter that was a year or two older than me and I once asked Tick to be my grandfather, but I was still surprised to find that my mother was only 3 years older than Charles, Jr.
Other Lowells in the 1930 Census include Harry and Mabel living at 28 Davis St. and Ava M. living with her daughter and son-in-law Mary and Daniel Lambert at 32 Davis. Seems like a good chance that they are at least some relation to Charles but a look at the 1920 or 1910 census will probably give us more information.
Woodrow Burr was living on South Main Street in 1930, at age 17, living with his parents Fred and Elvester Burr. Dorothy Bailey, age 15, and sisters Janet, Virginia, and Phyllis, were living on the County Road in Milford with mother, Vina, and grandmother, Grace Sleeper.
We're going to leave the census for now and work with the information we have found to fill in some information on our charts.
Using Vital Records
Maine Municipalities have been required to report vital records to the state of Maine since 1892. Prior to that time any birth, marriage and death records that were created by local government were kept by the towns or cities. Some of these early records have been lost in fires and some have just disappeared. In small towns and townships the records were often kept in the home of the clerk and some were eventually discarded. In the 1920's the state made an attempt to collect older records, but only 20% of the towns and cities provided copies. Some of those records were published by the Maine Historical Society in the mid to late 20th century and those volumes are available in many libraries throughout the state. In recent years, Picton Press in Rockland has also been publishing vital records for many Maine communities and they vary in the time frame that they cover and what information they include. Records from 1892 - 1922 are available in the Maine State Archives and microfilm copies of those records have been deposited at several locations in the state. The Maine Office of Vital Records maintains the records for 1922 to present, though you will find that 1922-1955 are also available at the state archives on microfilm. Indexes to Maine Marriages from 1892 to 1996 (with a 10 year gap from 1966-1976) and Maine Deaths from 1960-1996 are available at the Maine State Archives. These indexes will help you narrow down your search in the actual records, but will not provide you with the information that the record will. (Another source for death information is the Social Security Death Index. This resource covers the period from 1960 to present -within a few months - and covers the whole country. It also provides a date of birth in most cases.) For more information about the Maine vital records see the Genealogy Resources page of the Archives website. There are other sources for vital record information and the Old Town Public Library has these items available:
City of Old Town, Maine - Death Index 1939-January 31, 2003. Compiled by the City Clerks Office, 2003.
Forrest Hill Cemetery roster: Old Town, Maine. Ray Arthur Willette.
Marriages of St, Joseph's Catholic Church, Old Town, Maine. Robert E. Chenard, 1993
In these resources, I found the following information about Davis Street families:
Alcide P. Burke married Marion E. Broderick on 15 Aug 1936
Alcide died 29 Oct 1998
Percy R. Wedgewood married Hattie C. Dow on 20 Jul 1922.
Percy was born on 22 May 1889 and died on 30 Jan 1978
Hattie was born on 5 Apr 1886 and died on 14 Mar 1966
Percival Russell Wedgewood was the son of Frank Augustus Wedgewood and Blanch Russell Estabrook.
Robert F. Huyett (of Hagerstown, MD) married Frances H. Sirois on 9 May 1943
Robert was born 3 Mar 1921 and died 18 Jan 1989
Frances was born 11 Jun 1922 and died 15 Jan 2001
Raymond H. Spinney married Delores U. Bamford on 12 Sep 1931
Raymond was born 10 Jun 1911 and died 13 May 1997
Delores was born 18 Jun 1913 and died 4 Jun 1990
Charles A. Crawford married Natalie A. Hilchey on 21 Dec 1946
Charles died 3 Jun 1989
Natalie was born 25 May 1920 and died 16 Jan 2004
Charles W. Lowell married Florence Foss (of Machias) on 1 Sep 1925
Charles died 6 Sep 1965
Florence died 31 Dec 1966 (in Calais)
Woodrow W. Burr married Dorothy V. Bailey on 12 Apr 1936
Woodrow was born 13 Mar 1913 and died 12 Mar 1986
Dorothy was born 1 Feb 1915 and died 10 May 1995
City of Old Town, Maine - Death Index 1939-January 31, 2003. Compiled by the City Clerks Office, 2003.
Forrest Hill Cemetery roster: Old Town, Maine. Ray Arthur Willette.
Marriages of St, Joseph's Catholic Church, Old Town, Maine. Robert E. Chenard, 1993
In these resources, I found the following information about Davis Street families:
Alcide P. Burke married Marion E. Broderick on 15 Aug 1936
Alcide died 29 Oct 1998
Percy R. Wedgewood married Hattie C. Dow on 20 Jul 1922.
Percy was born on 22 May 1889 and died on 30 Jan 1978
Hattie was born on 5 Apr 1886 and died on 14 Mar 1966
Percival Russell Wedgewood was the son of Frank Augustus Wedgewood and Blanch Russell Estabrook.
Robert F. Huyett (of Hagerstown, MD) married Frances H. Sirois on 9 May 1943
Robert was born 3 Mar 1921 and died 18 Jan 1989
Frances was born 11 Jun 1922 and died 15 Jan 2001
Raymond H. Spinney married Delores U. Bamford on 12 Sep 1931
Raymond was born 10 Jun 1911 and died 13 May 1997
Delores was born 18 Jun 1913 and died 4 Jun 1990
Charles A. Crawford married Natalie A. Hilchey on 21 Dec 1946
Charles died 3 Jun 1989
Natalie was born 25 May 1920 and died 16 Jan 2004
Charles W. Lowell married Florence Foss (of Machias) on 1 Sep 1925
Charles died 6 Sep 1965
Florence died 31 Dec 1966 (in Calais)
Woodrow W. Burr married Dorothy V. Bailey on 12 Apr 1936
Woodrow was born 13 Mar 1913 and died 12 Mar 1986
Dorothy was born 1 Feb 1915 and died 10 May 1995
Getting started
The first step for anyone interested in tracing their family is: Start with yourself and work back. Get a basic family chart like this, and start filling in the blanks with you as number 1. Fill in as many dates and places as you can, because this information will be helpful to you down the line. Talk to family members, and look at family records that you or they might have. Keep in mind that any information, particularly dates, that you get from family members will have to be verified with primary documents, but this information will ususally get you headed in the right direction. Primary documents that you or family members might have include birth, marriage and death certificates, military records, copies of wills or property deeds. Look also for photographs, especially useful are those that identify the subjects, newspaper clippings of family events or obituaries (two of my great-aunts clipped and saved obituaries of family members and I have found them to be a great source of information), family bibles, church records or certificates, family correspondence, diaries and any other documents that record the life events of your family members.
Once you have gathered and recorded all of the information that you have readily available to you, you can start filling in the blanks. You will want to record information about more than just your direct ancestors. You will find that siblings are equally important. In order to record all of these children, you will need a different form, a family group sheet.
The family group sheet will give you space to record information about each child in a family including spouses and marriage dates. You will fill out one of these forms (either in paper or electronically) for each family that you encounter on you way back through the history of your family.
To start my research of Davis Street Families, I wrote down the names of people as I could remember, starting at the bottom, south side of the street and working up and around.
1. Burkie(Alcide) and Marion Burke - actually on Brunswick Street
Austin Bearce family
2. Leslie and Mrs. Jollymore
3. Percy and Mrs. Wedgewood
4. Bob and Fran (Frances Sirois) Huyett
5. Ray and Dot (Dolores Bamford) Spinney
6. Charlie and Natalie Crawford - actually on Fourth St.
7. Tick (Charles) and Florence Lowell
8. The Old Maids
9. Woody and Dot (Dorothy Bailey) Burr
Once you have gathered and recorded all of the information that you have readily available to you, you can start filling in the blanks. You will want to record information about more than just your direct ancestors. You will find that siblings are equally important. In order to record all of these children, you will need a different form, a family group sheet.
At this point, I should mention that I don't use either of these forms any more. I have a computer program that I find a great time saver and a much more efficient way to keep my family information in order. I think filling out the forms is a great way for a beginner to get an idea of what information is important, and there are some genealogists who still prefer to use the paper forms, but I always recommend using a computer program if you have the resources available to you. I use FamilyTree Maker, but there are several others and even one you can download for free from the LDS website, Personal Ancestry File. Here is a site that compares and reviews the various genealogy software products that are available.
The family group sheet will give you space to record information about each child in a family including spouses and marriage dates. You will fill out one of these forms (either in paper or electronically) for each family that you encounter on you way back through the history of your family.
To start my research of Davis Street Families, I wrote down the names of people as I could remember, starting at the bottom, south side of the street and working up and around.
1. Burkie(Alcide) and Marion Burke - actually on Brunswick Street
Austin Bearce family
2. Leslie and Mrs. Jollymore
3. Percy and Mrs. Wedgewood
4. Bob and Fran (Frances Sirois) Huyett
5. Ray and Dot (Dolores Bamford) Spinney
6. Charlie and Natalie Crawford - actually on Fourth St.
7. Tick (Charles) and Florence Lowell
8. The Old Maids
9. Woody and Dot (Dorothy Bailey) Burr
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