Monday, May 26, 2014

52 Ancestors: #21 Hugh Libby (1793-1872)



Hugh Libby, my third great grand uncle, was born on this date in 1793, in Gorham, Maine, the seventh of thirteen children born to Allison Libby and Sarah Dam, and their 4th son.

In 1814, at the age of 21, Hugh, the son of a Revolutionary War patriot, joined a local militia raised in Portland, Maine, as a private in Captain Skillings' Company, in Lt. Col. Nichols' Massachusetts Regiment.



Twelve years later, Hugh married his cousin (their mothers were sisters), Theodosia Small, of Limington, in York County. They were married in Limington on March 23, 1826. From 1830 to 1870, Hugh is listed in censuses as either a "farm laborer" or "laborer" in Gorham. However, according to church records, in 1831 he was admitted to membership at the First Parish Church there, and served as its sexton for many years. He probably received a small stipend for such services.

Hugh and Theodosia together had five children:

Elizabeth, b. June 23, 1828, who died young
William Henry, b. Feb. 28, 1830
Ellizabeth Dam, b. Jan. 1, 1832
John Francis, b. May 17, 1834
Thomas Roby, b. Dec. 17, 1839

Hugh died July 8, 1872, in Limington.





Theodosia survived him by 22 years. As you can see from the death record above, they are both buried in the Small-Thompson Tomb, off the Shaving Hill Road, in Limington. One of the two American flags honors Hugh's service in the War of 1812.

Photo credit: Karen Watson / Ancestry.com


Photo credit: Karen Watson / Ancestry.com

Another descendant and Ancestry member, Karen Watson, and her father, spent the entire summer of 2005 clearing and restoring this burial site. Karen's dad made this beautiful sign. 

Credits:

1830 US Census; Census Place: Gorham, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 312; Roll Number: 46, Hugh Libby.

1840 US Census; Census Place: Gorham, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 531; Image: 993, Hugh Libby.

1850 US Census; Census Place: Gorham, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 278A; Image: 25, Hugh Libby.

1860 US Census; Census Place: Gorham, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 59; Image: 814, Hugh Libby.

1870 US Census; Census Place: Gorham, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 296B; Image: 67, Hugh Libby.

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

Ancestry.com. Maine, Death Records, 1617-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010, Hugh Libby.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Adjutant General Military Records, 1631-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011

First Parish Church, Gorham, Maine, membership records; downloaded database from Gorham (Me.) Historical Society website (http://www.gorhamhistorical.com/vital-records), for Hugh Libby.

Libby, Charles Thornton. The Libby Family in America, 1602-1881 (Portland, B. Thurston and Co., 1881), p.167.

"Maine, Marriages, 1771-1907," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F46G-MRM : accessed 24 May 2014), Hugh Libby and Theadosia Small, 23 Mar 1826; citing Limington, York, Maine, reference IN 319 p 233; FHL microfilm 11533.

McLellan, Hugh Davis, History of Gorham, Maine (Smith & Sale, 1903), pp.621,624.

"Public Member Trees," database, Ancestry.com, "Watson Jones Family Tree," for Hugh Libby (b. 26 May 1793), with linked images.

U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999, Hugh Libby.

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This is the 21st in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

52 Ancestors: #20 Edward Skillings (1711-1779)



Edward Skillings, my sixth great grandfather, was born on this date in 1711, in either Scarborough or Kittery, Maine, the second of five children born to Josiah Skillings and Elizabeth Lydston, and their second son. His older brother John had died at age 10, and his youngest two siblings both died so young there is no record of their names. His sister Elizabeth lived to adulthood, married twice, and had a large family.

Edward married Sarah Mills (some sources say Miller) in Scarborough or Kittery, Maine, on March 23, 1731/2. It is recorded in the records of Scarborough's Congregational Church. Sarah was born December 25, 1712, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the daughter of Benjamin Mills and Lydia Fernald.

Edward and Sarah lived in Scarborough and attended the First Congregational Church there.



In December of his marriage year, Edward was given a deed of land by his mother's second husband, Roger Deering, consisting of 100 acres of land in Scarborough, 1/6 of 1/2 of a sawmill on the Nonesuch River, and 1/6 of 1/2 of the stream.

Photo credit: Doug Kerr / Creative Commons


Edward and Sarah had 13 children, three of whom they named Josiah:

Elizabeth, b. 1733
Josiah, b. 1734; d. 1745
Lydia, b. 1736
Sarah, b.1738
John, b.1740
Catherine, b.1743
Josiah, b.1745; d. 1747
Simeon, b. 1747
Mark, b. 1750
Josiah (twin), b. 1752
Benjamin (twin), b. 1752
Rebecca, b. 1754
Edward, Jr., b.1756

Edward died in Scarborough on November 3, 1779 of smallpox, at 68 years of age. Although it is unknown when Sarah passed away, both Edward and Sarah were buried in what is known as a "lost cemetery," on Pig Knoll, on a crest alongside Running Hill Road. 


Photo credit:

U.S. History Images

Scarborough, Maine
[CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources:

Davis Walter Goodwin, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis, 3 volumes. (Baltimore, MD, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996), 2:605-606.

Descendants of Thomas and Deborah (?) Skillings of Cumberland Co, Maine (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~arlene/Skillings/sources.htm#f418b)

Find-a-Grave memorials for Edward and Sarah (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2368981)

Libby, Charles Thornton. The Libby Family in America, 1602-1881 (Portland, B. Thurston and Co., 1881), p. 97.

Sargent, William M., Esq, "Records of the First Congregational Church in Scarborough, Maine," Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder multiple (Baptisms: 2:162; 3:8-12; Marriages: 2:83-90; 144-150; 238-243).

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This is the 20th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.

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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

52 Ancestors: #19 Susan Morse Marston (1804-?)



Susan Morse, my third great grand aunt, was born on this date in 1804, in New Gloucester, Maine, the 4th of 10 children born to Enoch Morse and Eunice Russell, and their first daughter.

As with many of my female colonial ancestors, I know little about Susan. The granddaughter of John Morse, a member of Colonel Edmund Phinney's Regiment of Foot, in the early days of Maine's engagement in the Revolutionary War, she undoubtedly grew up in an environment of anxious anticipation, predicated by the newly formed nation. The towns of Gray and New Gloucester contributed a significant portion of rebellious fervor in those early days, and I imagine she probably met and conversed with many a newly minted patriot.

Photo credit: Serge Melki / Creative Commons


On October 21st, in 1827, Susan and Simeon Marston filed their intention to wed in Gray. Together, they had four children, all born in Gray:

Andrew J., b. 20 October, 1831
John M., b. 17 January 1833
Rebecca, b. 20 January 1835
Samuel M., b. 16 July 1842

After Simeon's death in 1847, Susan married a second time, in 1850, this time to Daniel Leighton of Falmouth. Daniel Leighton was the son of Hatevil Leighton and Lucy Staples, and had been married before, to a Mary Staples.

There exists no evidence as to when Susan died, although it was probably between 1860 and 1870. Her grave is also a mystery.

Photo credit:

Colonial Woman Williamsburg 
By Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA (Colonial Woman Williamsburg  Uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources:

1830 US Census; Census Place: Gray, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 165;  Roll Number: 46, Simeon Marston.

1840 US Census; Census Place: Gray Town, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 139; Page: 547; Image: 1025, Simeon Marston.

1850 US Census; Census Place: Gray, Cumberland, Maine;  Page: 219A; Image: 423, Susan Marston.

1860 US Census; Census Place: Falmouth, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 11; Image: 390, Susan Leighton.

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

Black, Howard G., Jr. Vital Records of Gray, Maine to the Year 1930 (Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 2004), p.141.

Leighton, Perley M. A Leighton genealogy: descendants of Thomas Leighton of Dover, New Hampshire. Compiled by Perley M. Leighton based in part on data collected by Julia Leighton Cornman. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical  Society, 1989.) p. 248.

Maine families in 1790. (Picton Press, 2009), Vol. 10, p.388 viii.

Marriage returns of Cumberland County, Maine, prior to 1892. Maine Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 29. (Picton Press, 1998), p.43.

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This is the 19th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.

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Monday, May 5, 2014

52 Ancestors: #18 Stephen Blizzard Bustin (1877-1964)



Stephen Blizzard Bustin, my great grand uncle, was born on this date in 1877 in Mechanic Settlement, Kings County, New Brunswick, the fifth of nine children born to Samuel James Bustin and Mary Elizabeth Ross, and their third son.

As far as I can determine, Stephen lived and farmed the great portion of his life in Elgin, Albert County, although he may have lived his last years in Moncton, Westmorland County.  

His youngest brother being my great grandfather, Frederick Parker Bustin, I often heard him referred to as one of the two "old batchelors." The other brother who remained unmarried was Stephen and Fred's brother Walter Samuel Bustin.

This is a picture of Stephen Bustin, thankfully annotated by my great grandmother.


Stephen died at the age of 86, in the Moncton City Hospital on January 9, 1964, and is buried with his brother Walter, in the Riverbank Community Cemetery in Sussex Parish.

Sources:

1901 Census of New Brunswick, Elgin, Albert County, Stephen Bustin, transcribed digital image, Automated Genealogy (http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/View.jsp?id=1809&highlight=40&desc=1901+Census+of+Canada+page+containing+Stephen+Bustin) : accessed 4 May 2014.

1911 Census of New Brunswick, Elgin, Albert County, Stephen Bustin, transcribed digital image, Automated Genealogy (http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/View.jsp?id=1951&highlight=32&desc=1911+Census+of+Canada+page+containing+Stephen+Bustin) : accessed 4 May 2014.

"Canada Census, 1881", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MV63-1BM : accessed 12 Mar 2014), Stephen Bustin in entry for Samuel Bustin.

"Canada Census, 1891," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MWKZ-PZ9 : accessed 04 May 2014), Stephen Bustin, Elgin, Albert, New Brunswick, Canada; citing Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; Library and Archives Canada film number 30953_148099.

New Brunswick. Dept. of Health and Social Services. Vital Statistics from Government Records (RS141), Reg. 1147, Vol. 262, Microfilm F20890. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada. http://archives.gnb.ca/. Accessed  and downloaded 5/4/2014.

New Brunswick Genealogical Society, Capital Branch, compilers. “Riverbank Community Cemetery” Database. New Brunswick Cemeteries. (http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/Cemeteries/?culture=en-CA/ : accessed 28 May 2012), database entry for Stephen B. Bustin.

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