Digging Down East: Falmouth

Showing posts with label Falmouth. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

52 Ancestors: #41 George Leighton (1727-1807)

George Leighton, my fifth great grand uncle, was born on this date in 1727 in Dover, New Hampshire, the fifth of eleven children born to Thomas Leighton and Susannah Chesley, and their third son.elat

George married Dorothy Hall, also of Dover, on August 22, 1753. She was the daughter of Hatevil Hall and Sarah Furbish. Like the Halls, George was a Quaker.

Sometime before 1760, with possibly three young children in tow, George and Dorothy settled in Falmouth, Maine, where George became a successful landowner. Land records from Cumberland County show dozens of George's land transactions. He often purchased the rights to common and undivided land from proprietors or their heirs. Often Dorothy would co-sign, waiving her dower rights. Most holdings were described as north of the Presumpscot River, but some were in Cape Elizabeth.

George is listed in Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots of the Revolutionary War / Maine as George Laten, not as soldier, but as a provider and hauler of timber.

Together, George and Dorothy had eight children, the oldest five born in Falmouth:

Pelatiah, b. c1753

Jedediah, b. 1757

Sarah, b. 1758

Hatevil, b. 1760

Abigail, b. 1762

David, b. 1767

Paul, b. 1770

Silas, b. 1771

It was commonly believed that many members of this particular branch of the Leighton family were laid to rest in a granite tomb off the Hardy Road, near the Blackstrap Road, in what is now West Cumberland, Maine. However, there is also a Jedediah Leighton's Family Cemetery in the area, where this photo was taken. Further research will confirm or deny that this is George Leighton's headstone.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. New Hampshire, Births and Christenings Index, 1714-1904 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

"Public Member Trees," database, Ancestry.com, "Bennet-1," for George Leighton (b. 18 Nov 1727), with linked images.

Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Deaths [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001.

Fisher, Carleton Edward and Sue G. Fisher, Soldiers, sailors and patriots of the Revolutionary War / Maine (National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, 1982, p.457)

Hall, David Brainerd, The Halls of New England (Albany: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1883), p.165.

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.) pp. 55-56.

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This is the 41st in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at

No Story Too Small.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

52 Ancestors: #23 Daniel Leighton (1787-1860)

Daniel Leighton, my 1st cousin 5x removed, was born on this date in 1787, in Falmouth, Maine, the third of six children born to Robert Leighton and his cousin Hannah Leighton, and their second son.

In 1814, Fort Edgecomb, near Wiscasset, became an important base
in defending against a possible British attack on mid-coast Maine.

Photo credit : Wikipedia

At the age of 27, he journeyed northeast to Vassalboro, Maine, and on September 24, 1814, he joined Capt. J. Collins' Company of Lieut. Col. E. Sherwin's Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, with the junior officer rank of Ensign. There he saw action off the coastal town of Wiscasset, Maine.

Following his short military stint, he returned home to marry Hannah Cole, a Falmouth woman, the daughter of Ebenezer Cole and Elizabeth Field, who was four years his junior.Together, Daniel and Hannah had eleven children:

James, b. 1815

Elizabeth "Nancy", b. 1816

Sarah Elizabeth, b. 1819

Robert, b. 1821

Sewell Prince, b. 1822

Lois, b. 1824

Susan, b. 1825

Hannah, b. 1829

Daniel Edwin, b. 1831

Abigail, b. 1833

Andrew, b. 1836

Daniel is listed in the 1850 and 1860 as a farmer in Falmouth. In 1860, his household included Leonard and "Nancy" Wilson, his oldest daughter and son-in-law, and Edwin and Hannah Morrill, another daughter and son-in-law.

Daniel died in Falmouth on September 6, 1860, in Falmouth. His widow, Hannah, outlived him by 18 years, and is listed in the 1870 census, at age 79, living with their son Sewell.

Daniel and Hannah are both buried in the Methodist Cemetery, then known as being on Duck Pond Road in Cumberland, Maine. The road is now known as Goose Pond Road.

Maine Veterans Cemetery Record
for
Daniel Leighton

Present-day location of the Methodist Cemetery

Daniel Leighton's Grave
A cracked, sinking flagstone

Hannah Leighton's Grave

Sources:

1850 US Census; Census Place: Falmouth, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M432_250; Page: 106B; Image: 398, Daniel Leighton.

1860 US Census; Census Place: Falmouth, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M653_437; Page: 4; Image: 383, Daniel Leighton.

1870 US Census; Census Place: Falmouth, Cumberland,Maine; Roll: M593_539; Page: 231A; Image: 466, Hannah Leighton.

Direct Data Capture, comp. U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999, Daniel Leighton.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 10 June 2014), memorial page for Daniel Leighton (unknown–unknown), Find A Grave Memorial no. 96819615, citing Methodist Cemetery, Cumberland, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 10 June 2014), memorial page for Hannah Leighton (unknown–1878), Find A Grave Memorial no. 96819581, citing Methodist Cemetery, Cumberland, Maine.

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.) pp. 103, 226.

"Maine, Veterans Cemetery Records, 1676-1918", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KXQZ-1XQ : accessed 10 Jun 2014), Daniel Leighton, 1860.

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This is the 23rd in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

52 Ancestors: #5 Hannah Wilson Leighton (1760-1813)

Hannah Wilson, the second wife of my 5th great grandfather Joseph Leighton, was born on this date in 1760, in Kittery, in the Province of Maine, which was then part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Hannah was the 5th child of eight children born to Joseph Wilson and Mary Mansfield, and their 3rd of 4 daughters. The Wilsons were early and prominent settlers in Kittery and neighboring New Hampshire, as far back as 1641.

In 1792, at the age of 32, Hannah married Joseph Leighton on the 13th of December. Joseph's first wife, with whom he had 13 children, had died earlier that year in March. Five of the 13 children were under 20 years of age when Hannah became their step-mother.

All 13 of Hannah's step-children had been born in Falmouth (now Portland), in Maine, and it is to Falmouth that she moved to start her new life. Her new husband was well established in the area, having purchased large tracts of land in Falmouth and North Yarmouth, some of which he had already deeded to his third son, Ezekiel.

Hannah's husband, my 5th great grandfather, was also a Quaker, having married first Mercy Hall, the daughter of Hatevil Hall, founder of the Falmouth, Maine, meeting. This is the first evidence of my Quaker roots.

Falmouth (Quaker) Meeting House
Present site:
Lincoln Park, corner of Federal and Pearl Street

Hannah gave Joseph five more children:

Jeremiah, born 21 May 1793

Jane, born 28 July 1794

Dorcas, born 2 March 1796, who died at 2 yrs. old.

Ann, born 9 August 1797

Dorcas, born 2 October 1801.

Her oldest son, Jeremiah, is buried at Evergreen Cemetery, in Portland. I will be taking a picture of his grave this summer/fall. Perley Leighton has her daughter Ann and husband Henry Huston buried in the Methodist cemetery in West Falmouth, which is now off the Blackstrap Road in Cumberland. It has lots of Wilsons, so I will definitely look for them there. Her youngest daughter Dorcas and husband Ebenezer Cobb Libby lived in Gray and are buried in the Gray Village Cemetery.

Hannah died on August 22, 1813. I do not yet know where she is buried, but I now have quite a few leads.

Sources:

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 2 Feb 2014), memorial page for Jeremiah Leighton (unknown-1884), Find A Grave Memorial no. 118625868, citing Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 2 Feb 2014), memorial page for Dorcas Libby (unknown-1832), Find A Grave Memorial no. 116189050, citing Gray Village Cemetery, Gray, Maine.

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.) pp. 57-58.

Stackpole, Everett Schermerhorn. Old Kittery and Her Families. Lewiston, Me.: Press of Lewiston Journal, 1903, p.783.

Sketch credit:

Portland Freedom Trail. http://www.portlandfreedomtrail.org/

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

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Capt. Andrew Leighton

In the West Cumberland Methodist Cemetery

In memory of

Capt. Andrew Leighton

who died

June 16, 1830

AEt. 68.

Andrew Leighton, my fourth great grandfather, was born in Falmouth (now Portland) Maine on June 7, 1762, the son of Joseph Leighton and Mercy Hall. In 1780, he married Mary Weymouth of Gray, Maine, and, with her, had 12 children.

In 1790, he was living in North Yarmouth and in 1808 was elected a Captain in the 6th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.

Capt. Andrew laid out the county road from Falmouth to Portland, and was a prosperous lumber trader, dealing in ship's timber.

In 1800, he built and operated the Leighton Tavern on the Gray Road in West Cumberland, which was the stage route from Falmouth to Bakertown (now Lewiston).

Leighton Tavern, Cumberland, ca. 1921

Captain Leighton died in North Yarmouth on June 16, 1830.

In 1971, the tavern was moved to Schooner Rocks, in Cumberland Foreside and restored.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Enoch's Grave ~ Sunday's Obituary

It all began innocently enough. Another grave to find, in another small Maine town. The Falmouth Historical Society proving not only to be the most difficult to locate, but the least helpful of those I visited during this trip, I stopped in at the Falmouth Memorial Library.

Having been a town librarian myself, I have a great love and respect for these enclaves of local lore, and Falmouth did not disappoint. There I found a copy of Death notices from Town of Cumberland, Maine, Annual Reports 1891-1960, wherein I found the listing for my ancestor:

Leighton, Enoch M. Apr 4, 1926 Falmouth 8o Ys. 6 Ms 18 ds.

It was off to the Town Office!

The extremely helpful staff there retrieved the 1926 Ledger from the safe upstairs, and there he was:

But, alas, no record of where he was buried.

So, it was back into the Portland Public Library to check the April 4-6, 1926 Press Herald on microfilm for a death notice or an obituary. BINGO!

Portland Press Herald, April 6, 1926, Page Three, col.1

After a brief visit to the Maine Historical Society, it was back in the car to head to Cumberland Center. Having tramped through 3 Falmouth cemeteries last summer, and feeling confident I had not found him there, I walked through the cemetery right where the Tuttle and Blanchard Roads meet, but to no avail. The graves in there were way too old. Next it was Moss Side, pictured above, where I again came up empty.

Then I re-read the death notice from the Press Herald.

Funeral services were at the Universalist Church, Cumberland Center, with interment at Cumberland Center. Could they be referring to the Cemetery, one I referred to as the Universalist Church Cemetery, that I had explored last summer on the Gray Road, where, as it turns out, Enoch' parents are buried?

I never found a headstone in that Universalist Cemetery for Enoch, my Great Great Leighton Grandfather. He may be there with no marker, my hunch about the cemetery could be wrong, or there may be another explanation. But this is not the end of the search!