My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Daniel Miller and Patience Stevens of Limington, Denmark and Bridgton, Maine

Daniel Miller, my 4th great grandfather, was born about 1788, according to his gravestone in the West Bridgton Cemetery, stating he was 74 years old when he died.  The Faylene Hutton Cemetery Collection record (available on familysearch.org) was dated July 1989. By the time the Bridgton Historical Society added his memorial to findagrave.com, in 2012, the gravestone had sunk further into the ground, and it was more difficult to read. They therefore recorded his birthdate as 1798.

The earliest census record that records his birthplace, the 1850 U.S. Federal Census for Bridgton, Maine, only records it as Maine. I have no information on his parents.

On October 4, 1812, Daniel and a young woman named Patience Stevens indicated their intention to marry, in Limington Maine.

On November 26th, they were married by an "Elder in the Baptist corporation in Limington and Limerick."

By the time Daniel and Patience were married, they were already parents to the first of eleven children. Son William had been born in January of 1812 in Limerick, Maine. It is William's death record, in 1906, which gives a hint as to his mother's origins. There, Patience's birthplace is recorded as Berwick, Maine.

I came across a burial record in the Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection (available on familysearch.org) which may indicate a connection.

The above Patience (Brown) Stevens was the wife of a Jacob Stevens, and she apparently came from Berwick. She was born around 1778, and could be my 5th great grandmother, given her age (20 years older than my Patience), and having the same first name. Further research, including finding this Stevens Plot, during my next trip to Maine, is definitely in order.

Map of Stevens Plot, courtesy of Steve Dow

1856 Map of Limingon, Maine

All tolled, Daniel and Patience had the following children:

William, b. 1812 in Limerick, d. 1906

Stephen, b. 1814 in Limington, d. ?

Mary, b. 1816 in Limington, d. 1819

 with the following all born in Denmark, Maine

Eunice, b. 1820, d. 1886

Daniel, b. 1823, d. 1882

*Patience S., b. 1825, d. 1887

Lyona, b. 1827, d. 1853

Thomas, b. 1829, d. 1909

David, b. 1830, d. 1831

James O., b. 1832, d. 1916

Mary Jane, b. 1834, d. 1876

*my 3rd great grandmother

Daniel Miller died July 21, 1862, in Bridgton, Maine. His wife Patience passed away on June 6, 1881. They are buried side by side in West Bridgton Cemetery (sometimes referred to as Sawyer Cemetery) on No. High Street, in Bridgton, Maine.

Sources:

1850 U.S. Census; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M432_251; Page: 277A; Image: 251.

1860 U.S. Census; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M653_437; Page: 2; Image: 691; Family History Library Film: 803437.

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

Daniel Miller tombstone,  West Bridgton Cemetery, Bridgton (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela Schaffner on 7 July 2013.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  2 March 2016), memorial page for Daniel Miller (1798-1862), Find A Grave Memorial no. 98175991, citing West Bridgton Cemetery, Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  2 March 2016), memorial page for Patience Stevens Miller (1782-1881), Find A Grave Memorial no. 98176822, citing West Bridgton Cemetery, Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine.

Lewis Stevens, Vital records of Bridgton, Maine:  (Rockland, Maine:  Picton Press, 2007), pp.118-119.

"Maine, Faylene Hutton Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1990," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-40626-6774-75?cc=2242151 : accessed 13 January 2016), Miller - Moor > image 92 of 3425; Maine State Library, Augusta.

"Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-40627-40428-58?cc=2241461 : accessed 2 March 2016), Stevens, Micajah-Stinson, John F > image 93 of 1531; Maine State Library, Augusta.

"Maine Marriages, 1771-1907," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F46L-Y93 : accessed 14 February 2016), Daniel Miller and Patience Stevens, 04 Oct 1812; citing Limington, York, Maine, reference IN 215 p33; FHL microfilm 11,533.

"Maine Marriages, 1771-1907," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F46L-Y97 : accessed 14 February 2016), Daniel Miller and Patience Stevens, 26 Nov 1812; citing Limington, York, Maine, reference IN 219 p 41; FHL microfilm 11,533.

Map of York County, Maine (https://www.loc.gov/item/2011588007/)

Patience Miller tombstone,  West Bridgton Cemetery, Bridgton (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela Schaffner on 7 July 2013.

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Thomas Cross, Lucy Hovey, and My Gorham Roots

My 4th great grandfather, Thomas Cross, was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and was baptized there on December 20, 1741. He was raised in the village of Bradford (present-day Haverhill) by his mother and father, Thomas Cross and and Sarah Bordman.

He married Lucy Hovey, daughter of Joseph Hovey and Rebecca Stickney, in Bradford, Massachusetts, in November of 1767. Beginning the following year, they began their large family, which numbered 10 children by the time they moved to Gorham, Maine.

Thomas farmed land which was part of Captain Phinney's first settlement in Gorham, and kept a store adjacent to the homestead. Besides farming and running his store, Thomas was appointed a deacon of the First Parish Church in the village, and continued in that capacity until his death. He was also a member of Gorham's Committee to Hire Soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and, as such, is a DAR Patriot (A028166).

McLellan, Hugh Davis, History of Gorham, Maine (Smith & Sale, 1903), p. 173.

All of the Cross sons settled in Portland, Maine, and two of their daughters found husbands there.

Their eldest son, Joseph, married Betsey Duston. They are buried in Eastern Cemetery, Portland, as are sons Thomas, Leonard and Amos Hovey. Leonard and Amos Hovey were part of Captain A.W. Atherton's Company, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Nichols' Regiment of the Massachusetts Militia (District of Maine), which was raised in Portland during the War of 1812.

Daughter Betsey married Captain Jonathan Stevens. They are buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in present-day Falmouth, Maine.

Daughter Sally married Captain Enoch Preble. One of their sons was Real Admiral George Henry Preble of the U.S. Navy, fondly known as "The Father of the American Flag." The Prebles were originally interred in Eastern Cemetery, Portland, but, as space required, and as the attraction of Evergreen Cemetery (on Stevens Avenue) grew, their remains were moved and reinterred in Evergreen.

Daughter Lucy married James Phinney (1741-1834) of Gorham. They are both buried in Eastern Cemetery in Gorham.

Daughter Lois, my 3rd great grandmother, married Allison Libby III, and they are both buried in North Street Cemetery, in Gorham.

Son William married Eliza Stevens, and was a sea captain. In a sad twist of fate, he passed away on the day before his father died, and, as McLellan writes in his History of Gorham, "father and son were borne to the grave on the same hearse." 

Thus were my 4th great grandfather, Thomas Cross, and my 3rd great grand uncle laid to rest in Gorham Cemetery:

Inscription

Here lies

Deac. Thomas Cross

born in Ipswich,

Ms. Nov. 18, 1741.

died Feb. 15, 1819;

having been a Deac. of this

Church 15 years.

Also in the same grave his son,

Capt. William Cross;

born Aug. 21, 1779,

died Feb. 14, 1819.

Remaining verse:

No passing mortals and surviving friends

Regard....eloquence of death

Who more than...angelic tongue

My 4th great grandmother, Lucy Hovey Cross, lived two more years, and is buried beside her husband, and with her two daughters, Rebekah (age 19) and Harriet (age 8).

Inscription

Here lies

Mrs. Lucy Cross

wife of Deac. Thomas Cross

born at Boxford, Ms. Mar. 16,

1748. Died May 21, 1821.

By her side lie their children

Rebekah Cross,

born Jan. 20, 1774,

died Apl. 11, 1794.

And Harriet Cross,

born Oct. 20, 1790,

died Mar. 14, 1798

***

Postscript: From 1978 to 1980, I was the Town Librarian in Gorham, Maine. I attended services and taught Sunday School at First Parish Church, and walked past the Gorham Cemetery on South Street every day on my way to work. Little did I know at the time that my 4th great grandparents were resting just over the wall...

Sources:

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

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Daniel Hovey Association, The Hovey book, describing the English ancestry and American descendants of Daniel Hovey of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1914.

Daughters of the American Revolution. "GRC National Index." Database. DAR Library. (http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/default.cfm)

Deac. Thomas Cross and William Cross tombstone,  Gorham Cemetery, Gorham (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela  Schaffner on 5 July 2012.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Joseph Cross (1768-1819), Find A Grave Memorial no. 101640076, citing Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Betsey Cross (unknown-1829), Find A Grave Memorial no. 101640062, citing Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Thomas Cross (1769-1833), Find A Grave Memorial no. 101640086, citing Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Betsey Stevens (1772-1838), Find A Grave Memorial no. 99202084, citing Pine Grove Cemetery, Falmouth, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Sally Cross Preble (unknown-1848), Find A Grave Memorial no. 99202084, citing Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Lucy Phinney (unknown-1863), Find A Grave Memorial no. 119022309, citing Eastern Cemetery, Gorham, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Lois Cross Libby (1784-1860), Find A Grave Memorial no. 117092715, citing North Street Cemetery, Gorham, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Leonard Cross (unknown-1867), Find A Grave Memorial no. 101640079, citing Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  16 Feb 2016), memorial page for Amos Hovey Cross (1788-1842), Find A Grave Memorial no. 101640061, citing Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine.

Fulk, Dori, comp.. Bradford Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.

"George Henry Preble," (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Henry_Preble).

Lois Libby tombstone, North Street Cemetery, Gorham (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela  Schaffner on 7 August 2013.

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

Mrs. Lucy Cross, Rebekah Cross, and Harriet Cross tombstone, Gorham Cemetery, Gorham (Cumberland County), Maine; photographed by Pamela  Schaffner on 5 July 2012.

Pierce, Josiah, A history of the town of Gorham, Maine (Portland, Maine, Foster & Cushing, 1862).

Preble, George Henry, Genealogical sketch of the first three generations of Prebles in America, with an account of Abraham Preble the emigrant, their common ancestor, and of his grandson Brigadier General Jedediah Preble, and his descendants (D. Clapp and Sons, 1868).

Records of the Massachusetts volunteer militia called out by the governor of Massachusetts to suppress a threatened invasion during the war of 1812-14. Published by Brig. Genl. Gardner W. Pearson, the adjutant general of Massachusetts, under a resolve of the General court,  (1913), p. 241 : accessed 16 Feb 2016. Private Leonard Cross and Private Amos Hovey Cross in Captain A.W. Atherton's Company, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Nichols' Regiment. Massachusetts Militia; District of Maine. On April 16, 1814. Raised at Portland; digital images, www.hathitrust.org (http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009833259).

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : A Libby But Not A Direct Ancestor

My "4th great grandfather," David L. Libby, was born in Limington, Maine, on June 2, 1807, the second of ten children born to Daniel Libby and Dorcas McDonald, and their second son. After marrying Charlotte Stevens in Limington in 1827, and together with her, had one daughter named Eunice, he appears to have relocated his family to Penobscot County, farming in the town of Clifton.

Year: 1850; Census Place: Clifton, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M432_264; Page: 281A; Image: 565.

Ten years later, he, wife Charlotte and two of their children are still in Penobscot County, but in the town of Levant.

Year: 1860; Census Place: Levant, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M653_446; Page: 985; Image: 480.

Twenty years later, David and Charlotte are empty-nesters in their 60's, still living in Levant.

Year: 1870; Census Place: Levant, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M593_554; Page: 166A; Image: 336.

David and Charlotte had seven children:

Eunice, b. 1827

William Swasey, b. 1829

David, b. 1832

Charlotte, b. 1834

Hall J., b. 1836

Harriet, b. 1839

Isabelle, b. 1842

It is their son, William Swasey Libby, however, who married the single mother Patience Miller in 1854, who proves that David L. Libby and Charlotte Stevens are NOT my 4th great grandparents by blood. Let me explain.

Patience Miller, my 3rd great grandmother, is listed in the 1850 Bridgton, Maine, census as the 24 year old daughter of Daniel and Patience Miller. Also listed is a 7 year old female named "Heneryetta" Miller. I have been unable to locate a birth record for this child, and believe that she is the daughter (perhaps born out of wedlock) of the 24 year old Patience.

Year: 1850; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M432_251; Page: 277A; Image: 251.

William S. Libby and Patience Miller were married in Denmark, Maine, four years later in 1854.

By the 1860 census in Bridgton, William S. and Patience Libby have a 16 year old daughter named Heneritta.

Year: 1860; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M653_437; Page: 28; Image: 717.

And 20 years later, when Henrietta, by then herself a widow of Alexander Griswold, is listed in the 1880 Bridgton census as the step-daughter of William S. Libby.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 477; Family History Film: 1254477; Page: 41A; Enumeration District: 023; Image: 0332.

I believe it is highly unlikely that there was a formal adoption, but it is clear that William S. Libby gave his wife's daughter his last name. He was not the natural father of Henrietta, however, and therefore, not my 3rd great grandfather by blood. Which means his parents, David L. Libby and Charlotte Stevens, are NOT my direct 4th great grandparents.

The lineage reads as follows:

Patience Miller (1825-1887), unmarried mother of Henrietta, married to William S. Libby
  daughter Henrietta Miller/Libby, married to Alexander Griswold
     daughter Nettie Griswold, married to Clarence Seavey
        son Howard Seavey, married to Mattie Leighton
           son Richard Seavey
             daughter Pamela Seavey

I may never know the name of this 3rd great grandfather.....and hence, this set of 4th great grandparents.

Sources:

1850 US Census; Census Place: Clifton, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M432_264; Page: 281A; Image: 565

1860 US Census; Census Place: Levant, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M653_446; Page: 985; Image: 480

1870 US Census; Census Place: Levant, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M593_554; Page: 166A; Image: 336.

1850 US Census; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M432_251; Page: 277A; Image: 251.

1860 US Census; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M653_437; Page: 28; Image: 717.

1880 US Census; Census Place: Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 477; Family History Film: 1254477; Page: 41A; Enumeration District: 023; Image: 0332.

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

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Taking Sides During the American Revolution

     When you grow up in New England, the American Revolution is all around you. Historic sites appear at left and right, field trips from school include museums and exhibits glorifying the struggles and battles of the war, and school assignments invariably include literature and histories depicting famous soldiers and generals.

     It never entered my consciousness, before I began my genealogical research, that my ancestors included individuals and families who sided with England and its King. My 4th great grandfathers, however, include both Patriots and Loyalists, It was, in fact, a deep and complex dilemma for many, often resulting in the uprooting of families, and their resettlement in distant lands. My 4th great grandfather Thomas Bustin migrated from North Carolina, fought with Burgoyne in New York, and was among those evacuated onto one of many ships bound for Saint John, in Canada. My 4th great grandfather Hugh Cowperthwaite, a Quaker, grew up in New Jersey, and also found himself compelled to move to Canada, in support of the Crown.

     Three of my 4th great grandfathers fought for independence in the Revolutionary War, Allison Libby II (15th Massachusetts Regiment), Benjamin Griswold (Massachusetts Continental Line), and William Prior (Connecticut Continental Line). Two more of my 4th great grandfathers supported the Patriot cause, however, without engaging in actual combat.

     Deacon Thomas Cross, living in Gorham, Maine, was a member of Gorham's Committee to Hire Soldiers.

     Moses Seavey, of Rye, New Hampshire, was a signatory of that colony's Association Test. His father-in-law, my 4th great grandmother Huldah Locke's father, Elijah Locke, signed as well. The Association Test, also known as the Patriot Test, was written by the New Hampshire Committee of Safety. In Rye, it began:

WE, the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage, and promise, that we will to the utmost of our Power, at Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with ARMS, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets, and Armies, against the United American COLONIES.

     The Test referred to a resolution passed by the Continental Congress on March 14, 1776, which called for two actions: the signatures of every adult male who was willing to take arms against the British, and the names of all who refused to sign. Their signature indicated their obligation to oppose the "hostile proceedings" of the British fleets and armies. The returns of such documents (there were others, like Maryland's List of Associators and New York's Signers of the Association) gave the signers of the Declaration of Independence assurance that their acts would be sanctioned and sustained by the citizens of the country. Town officers in New Hampshire were requested to obtain these signatures, who in turn sometimes selected a local "Committee of Safety," to carry out this order. Only white males above 21 years of age ("lunatics, idiots, and negroes excepted") were asked to sign this document. Not everyone qualified to sign agreed to do so, and not all of those who refused to sign were considered "Tories."

     There are numerous signers of Rye's Association Test with the surnames Seavey, Locke, Foss, and Philbrick, which I am sure figure in my family tree somewhere, so this document may lead me forward in my continuing genealogical research.

     Four of my 4th great grandfathers appear in the Daughters of the American Revolution's Genealogical Research System:

4th Great Grandfather     Ancestor Number

Moses Seavey                  A101196

Allison Libby II                  A070199

Thomas Cross                  A028166

Benjamin Griswold           A048653

A fifth 4th great grandfather, William Prior, is not in the DAR's GRS, but his complete Revolutionary War service record and pension file are available at Fold3.com

Sources:

Allen, Francis Olcott, History of Enfield Connecticut, Vol. 2 of 3. (Lancaster, Penn.: Lankersham Printing Co., 1900)

Daughters of the American Revolution. "GRC National Index." Database. DAR Library. (http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/default.cfm)

Genealogy & History of New Hampshire (http://www.nh.searchroots.com/glossary.html)

New Hampshire Revolutionary War Association Test, Town of Rye. (http://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/new-hampshire-genealogy/association-test/rye.htm)

Parsons, Langdon B. History of the Town of Rye, New Hampshire, from its discovery and settlement to December 31, 1903. (Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Printing Co., 1905)

Revolutionary Soldiers. A List of the Names of the Men Who Fought for Independence, and Who Are Buried in Vermont. St Albans Daily Messenger (Saint Albans, Vermont), Saturday, August 19, 1905, p.2, (via Genealogybank.com)