Digging Down East

Saturday, December 13, 2014

52 Ancestors: #48 Mark Samuel Leighton (1885-1970)

Mark Samuel Leighton, my great grandfather, was born on this date in 1885 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the second child of Enoch Oscar Morse Leighton and Lillian Brackley, and their only son.

By the time Mark was 14 years old, in the 1900 Census, he was living on Sherwood Street, in Portland, Maine, with his mother, his older sister Maud, his grandmother, Mattie Crilley, and a 16-year old cousin, Alice Lovell (transcribed as Lover), the daughter of his aunt Louisa.

Five years later, the two first cousins, Mark and Alice found it necessary to marry, as Alice was expecting a child. They traveled to Berlin, New Hampshire, to do so.

The marriage appears to have been simply a formality, to legitimize my grandmother's birth. Mark did not stay with Alice, but instead seems to have had a desire to abandon his daughter Mattie Louise, who was born January 5, 1906. He was listed in the 1910 Portland (Me.) City Directory, a carpenter on the Grand Trunk Railroad, as having moved to Winnipeg, Canada.

Once in Canada, Mark became a Canadian citizen, and went to work for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. After a few years, he appears to have reconsidered, and filed a Declaration of Intent to become a U.S. Citizen, but he never followed through with it.

He did, however, return to the States in time to serve in the United States Navy during World War I. He remained stateside, serving on ships in Boston and Hingham, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut.

After the war, he married Corrinnabelle Hicks, another Navy veteran, in Durham, Maine, on May 21, 1921. Together, Mark and Corrinna had four daughters and a son:

Merlyn, b. 1923

Arlene, b. 1927

Jeannette, b. 1928

Bertha "Betty", b. 1933

Donald, b. 1940

Mark, Corrinna, and their family settled in the Durham, Maine, area, with Mark working at various carpentry jobs. During the Depression, he worked for the WPA. According to his obituary, he was also a shipfitter at the Bath Iron Works.

Sometime in the 1960's, Corrinna extended an invitation to my grandmother and my father's young family. I have a memory of attending a large summer gathering as a child, of meeting Corrinna, but not my great grandfather. Perhaps this was some kind of reconciliation, since, up to that time, my grandmother had not been acknowledged as a half-sister. Being almost 20 years older, she was often referred to as "Aunt Mattie."

Mark passed away on July 7, 1970, at the VA Hospital (Togus), in Augusta, Maine, and is buried next to his wife Corrinna, in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, in Augusta.

Sources:

1900 US Census; Census Place: Portland, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 591; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1240591.

1920 US Census; Census Place: Portland Ward 9, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: T625_640; Page: 18A; Enumeration District: 62; Image: 1020.

1930 US Census; Census Place: Falmouth, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 830; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 12; Image: 355.0; FHL microfilm: 2340565.

1940 US Census; Census Place: Durham, Androscoggin, Maine; Roll: T627_1469; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 1-21.

Ancestry.com, Maine Military Men, 1917-1918 (Provo, UT, USA, The Generations Network, Inc., 2000), www.ancestry.com, Database online.. Record for Mark S. Leighton.

Ancestry.com. New Hampshire, Marriage Records Index, 1637-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Maine Department of Health and Welfare, certificate of death 70-05916 (1970), Mark Samuel Leighton; Office of Vital Records, Augusta.

“Maine, Marriage Records, 1705-1922,” Ancestry.com(http://ancestry.com : accessed 20 Jan 2013), marriage record image, Mark Samuel Leighton and Corrinnabelle Hicks, 21 May 1921.

"Maine, State Archive Collections, 1718-1957," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KG9Q-CRN : accessed 9 December 2014), Mark Samuel Leighton, 11 Jun 1917; citing Military Service, United States, State Archives, Augusta.

Maine State Archives; Cultural Building, 84 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0084; 1908-1922 Vital Records; Roll #: 33.

Mark S Leighton tombstone, Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Augusta (Kennebec County), Maine; photographed by Pamela Schaffner on 22 August 2011.

“Mark S. Leighton,” obituary, Portland (Maine) Press Herald, 9 July 1970.

Mark Samuel Leighton declaration of intention (1916), naturalization file no. 1470, District of Maine.

Marriage certificate, prepared by Isabella S. Macduff, Clergyman. September 24, 1905. Berlin, New Hampshire.

National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 (Provo, UT, USA, The Generations Network, Inc., 2006), www.ancestry.com, Database online.. Record for Mark Samuel Leighton.

"New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLHP-B7L : accessed 06 Oct 2013), Mark Leighton and Alice N. Lovell and , 1905.

***

This is the 48th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at

No Story Too Small.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

52 Ancestors: #47 Suther Ross Bustin (1908-1990)

Suther Ross Bustin, always known as Ross, my maternal grandfather, was born on this date in 1908 in Portland, Maine, the second of four children born to Fred Bustin and Melvina Hamilton, and their first son.

Ross in a baby carriage
Morrill St., Portland

Both of Ross's parents were immigrants from Canada, his father from New Brunswick, his mother from Nova Scotia. Ross and his siblings were the first generation to extend these two families into the States.

In the 1910 US Census, my grandfather is listed as "Suther R." However, he never used his first name, and always was known as "Ross," and officially as "S. Ross." At the time of this census, and for his entire life, my grandfather lived in a neighborhood of Portland, Maine, known as Morrill's Corner.

This is an historical map of Morrill's Corner, which dates about 30 years before the Bustins moved in. The Corner is actually at the very top of the map, at the point, and was formed by the confluence of Forest Avenue, Stevens Avenue, and Allen Avenue, as in the yellow inset.

By the 1920 Census, my grandfather was 11 years old and already working. Even though he is enumerated as "Luther R.," his occupation is listed:

This a picture of Ross during his teen years at the Corner.

By this time, the Bustins had moved from 6 Morrill Street to 846 Forest Avenue. Ten years later, the 21 year old was listed as "S. Ross" in the census, and was still living at home at 815 Stevens Avenue, working for a plumbing company.

It was later that same year, 1930, that he married my grandmother, Harriet Cheney Smith, the younger daughter of Wylie Smith and Bertha McCain.

Ross and Harriet lived for a short while with Harriet's recently widowed father at 92 Spring Street in downtown Portland, but soon welcomed their first child, my mother, Marilyn Louise, on November 20, 1931. They eventually moved back to Morrill's Corner, to 1158 Forest Avenue, where the 1940 Census taker found the young family. Ross was listed as a truck driver, probably for Cushman's Bakery.

Ten years later, the couple welcomed their second child, a daughter Norma Sherrill, on May 1, 1941. My grandparents purchased their only home in 1948 at 24 Mayfield Street, off Bishop Street, in Morrill's Corner. They paid $4,000 for a home where three generations would gather for many holiday gatherings over the next 30 years.

My grandfather always had a strong work ethic. For most of his working life, he worked for the Portland Coach Company, the predecessor of the Metro, Portland's bus company. Even after he retired from Portland Coach, he drove a school bus for the City of Westbrook.

He loved children, and was famous for taking neighborhood kids to the Arbor Street fire barn for an outing. He was always seen around Morrill's Corner, talking to the neighbors, and passing along the local news. He was fond of saying that he could stand in the middle of the Corner and point out every place he ever lived.

Grandpa
1980

Grandpa
1986

Grandpa and Mom - 1988

Ross Bustin passed away in Portland on April 19, 1990. He is buried with my grandmother in Evergreen Cemetery, in Morrill's Corner.

Sources:

1910 US Census; Census Place: Portland Ward 9, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: T624_539; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0100; FHL microfilm: 1374552.

1920 US Census; Census Place: Portland Ward 9, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: T625_640; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 59; Image: 908.

1930 US Census; Census Place: Portland, Cumberland, Maine, ED 75, roll 831, page , image 796.

1940 US Census; Census Place: Portland, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: T627_1476; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 3-110.

Ancestry.com. Maine, Birth Records, 1621-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Cumberland County (Me.) Real Property Records, Deed for 24 Mayfield Street, Portland, Maine, Book 01918, Page 72, Document #7825, dated 6/15/1948.

Maine Department of Human Services, certificate of death 90-02896 (1990), S. Ross Bustin; Office of Vital Records, Augusta.

Maine. Record of a Marriage (30 Dec 1930), S. Ross Bustin and Harriet C. Smiith; Maine State Archives, Augusta; photocopied from microfilm July 2, 2012.

“S. Ross Bustin, official for Portland Coach,” obituary, Portland (Maine) Press Herald, April 20, 1990.

S. Ross and Harriet C. Bustin tombstone, Plot 206, Section V, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela Schaffner on 7 August 2009.

***

This is the 47th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at

No Story Too Small.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

52 Ancestors: #46 Charles L. Ingalls (1839-1864)

Charles L. Ingalls, the husband of my half 1st great grand aunt, was born on this date in 1839 in Bridgton, Maine, the fifth of seven children born to Ebenezer Ingalls and Irene Pierce Gray, and their second son.

Charles was a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of the town of Bridgton, Phineas Ingalls. Phineas Ingalls (1758-1844) was the second of six brothers who came to Bridgton from Andover, Massachusetts. These six Ingalls brothers prospered in Bridgton, and left their mark on the history of Bridgton.

Charles was an Ingalls who, though he lived a very short life, connected to my family, through my 2nd great grandmother, Harriet Cross Libby.

Before Harriet married my second great grandfather, Jonathan Seavey, she was married to Eben R. Richardson. Together Harriet and Eben had two children, Mary Frances and Elizabeth B. Elizabeth B, died at age 3, and is buried in Sandy Creek Cemetery, in Bridgton, near her parents.

It is the surviving Mary Frances, known as Fanny, whom Charles L. Ingalls married on May 26, 1861. He was 21 and Fanny was 20.

Although Charles was eligible for the Civil War draft, I have found no evidence that he served.

In any event, Charles died at the young age of 24, in Bridgton, on August 23, 1864. He and Fanny had no children. After the war, Fanny went on to marry a second time Albion Simpson, a war veteran, with whom she had three children.

I found Charles' grave in Sandy Creek Cemetery during my trip to Maine this fall.

Sources:

Year: 1850; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M432_251; Page: 289A; Image: 275.

Ancestry.com. Maine, Birth Records, 1621-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Ancestry.com. Maine, Marriage Records, 1713-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Charles L. Ingalls tombstone, Sandy Creek Cemetery, Bridgton (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela Schaffner on 17 October 2014.

History of Bridgton, Maine 1768-1994. Bridgton Historical Society, Camden, Me. Picton Press, c1993, p.27.

"Maine, Births and Christenings, 1739-1900," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4HT-L21 : accessed 30 Nov 2014), Ebenezer Ingalls in entry for Charles L. Ingalls, 03 Dec 1839; citing BRIDGTON,CUMBERLAND,MAINE; FHL microfilm 10591.

"Maine, Vital Records, 1670-1907 ," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-31553-19379-75?cc=1803978 : accessed 01 Dec 2014), Delayed returns for vital records 1670-1891 > Huntoon, 1862-Ireland, 1818 > image 4226 of 4851; State Board of Health, Augusta.

"United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDC9-NVV : accessed 01 Dec 2014), Ebin Ingalls, Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," Fold3.com; p. 40, household ID 326, NARA microfilm publication M653; NARA microfilm publication M653. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 803437.

***

This is the 46th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at

No Story Too Small.