Portland Maine Genealogy – Access Genealogy

Biographical Sketch of Samuel N. Hawkes

Assistant attorney-general of Kansas with a residence at Topeka, Samuel N. Hawkes is one of the older members of the Kansas bar, and had been in active practice in various parts of the state for more than thirty years. He came to Kansas with a training and education received at one of the oldest eastern universities, and his career had been one of uninterrupted success and influential participation in the life of his own community and the state. He was born at Portland, Maine, May 8, 1861, a son of Charles M. and Susan A. (Whitney) Hawkes. His father, who … Read more

Genealogy of the Fox Family of Taunton, Massachusetts

The Connecticut-Massachusetts branch of the earlier family of this name of the old Bay State is one of long and honorable standing in New England, and as well of historic connection. The especial family here considered, and which for designation is styled the Taunton family, is that of pome of the descendants of Capt. Jabez Fox, of Berkley, Mass., one of whose sons was the late Henry Hodges Fox and the latter’s son the present Hon. William Henry Fox, lawyer and judge, who for forty and more years has been judge of the First District court of Bristol county and otherwise prominently identified with the public affairs of the city of Taunton.

Biographical Sketch of Nathaniel Parker Willis

Born in Portland, Maine, January 20, 1806, died at his country home, Idlewild, Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, January 20, 1867. His chief works are: Melanie, Lady Jane and other poems; Pencillings by the Way; Inklings of Adventure; Romance of Travel, comprising Tales of Five Lands; People I Have Met, or Pictures of Society and People of Mark; A Health Trip to the Tropics; Out of Doors at Idlewild; Paul Fane, or Parts of a life else Untold, a Novel. Edgar Allen Poe, in a review of the literary work of N. P. Willis said: “As a writer of `sketches’ properly so called, Mr. … Read more

Genealogy of Edward A. Gammons of Wareham, MA

EDWARD A. GAMMONS of Wareham, well-known citizen and banker, is a native of that section of the State, born in South Wareham Jan. 15, 1842, son of William and Deborah Bryant (Gallt) Gammons. The Gammons family is supposed to be of English origin, and is found in many parts of New England. The name has been variously spelled – Gammons, Gammon, Gamon, Gamons and Gamans. One Philip Gammon, a fisherman, of Casco, and later of Portsmouth, N. H., was married prior to 1690, his wife being the eldest daughter of John Parrott; and there was Robert Gammon, of Pemoquid, who … Read more

The ancestry of Joshua Dow of Avon, Maine

The ancestry and posterity of Joshua Dow of Avon, Maine traces from John Dow and Johan Coop of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. The first descendant in America, Henry Dow, came from England to America in 1637 with his wife, four children, and a maid. He first settled at Watertown, Massachusetts before relocating to Hampton, New Hampshire. He wrote his surname variously as Dow, Dow and Doue. One of the first Dow to settle in Avon, was Joshua, son of John and Betsey (Strout) Dow, who moved from Portland to Avon soon after his brother and sister, and settled before 1828 near Mt. Blue and Mt. Blue Pond.

Surnames: Briggs, Bryon, Crockett, Davenport, Dickey, Doue, Dow, Dowe, Dresser, Dunham, Esty, Hall, Harnden, Harradon, Hinkley, Kinney, Kittredge, Ladd, McLaughlin, Mitchell, Orberton, Pettingell, Richardson, Ross, Sampson, Sedgeley, Stinchfield, Vining, Walton, Webber, and Worthley.

Biography of John Shackford Kimball

John Shackford Kimball was an enterprising lawyer of Boston and a business man of Burlington, Ia. A son of David and Abigail (Perkins) Kimball, Pembroke, N.H., April 28, 1812. His descent from Michael Kimball, who married Bettie Runnells, came through David Kimball of the second generation and David Kimball of the third, who married Abigail Perkins. The fifth generation is now represented by John Stevens Kimball. Mr. Kimball’s parents died at Pembroke when he was thirteen years old, leaving nine children-Betsey, Asa, Perkins, John Shackford, Abigail, Sarah Towle (widow of Timothy Colby, of Concord ), Joseph, Mary Lewis (widow of … Read more

Genealogy of Arnold Family of Abington Massachusetts

The Arnold family of Abington, one of the oldest in southeastern Massachusetts, is ably and worthily represented at the present time by Capt. Moses N. Arnold and his brother, William B. Arnold, both veterans of the Civil war and well-known shoe manufacturers of North Abington. The first of the family in America was Joseph Arnold, of Braintree. Going a step backward, crossing the ocean, the first of the Arnold family to adopt a surname was Roger Arnold, who was a descendant in the twelfth generation from Ynir, showing the Arnolds to be of great antiquity, the family having its origin … Read more

A History of Peaks Island Maine and its People

A history of Peaks Island and its people: also a short history of House Island, Portland, Maine. In presenting this history of two of the best known islands in Portland Harbor, it has been the intention of the author to give only the story of the early days of those islands, and of the families who have contributed to their history.

Biography of John Dovell

JOHN DOVELL. – Mr. Dovell is one of those men who have belabored fortune, and have knocked about the world until it is sufficient to turn one’s hair gray simply to listen to their adventures. A native of the Azores, of Portuguese parentage and born in 1836, he came to Portland, Maine, at the age of fourteen, and learned shipbuilding. He left in four years and plied his trade in New Orleans, shipping thence to Liverpool, and coming as ship’s carpenter from that foreign port to San Francisco. He soon came up the coast to Portland, Oregon, and worked upon … Read more

Baxter Family of Norwich Vermont

The Baxters of this town came here from Norwich, Connecticut, a town which their ancestors with others from Norwich, England, assisted in founding about the year 1632. Elihu Baxter, with his young wife, Tryphena Taylor, to whom he was married October 24, 1777, arrived in Norwich the same year, and here fifteen children (six daughters and nine sons) were born to them, twelve of whom lived to grow up and have families of their own. Mr. Baxter settled on the farm that subsequently became the home of Hon. Paul Brigham. He later removed to the farm where Orson Sargent lives, … Read more

Candage Genealogy of Blue Hill, Maine

James Candage was the son of James and Elizabeth Candage, who settled upon the Neck in 1766 from Beverly, Mass., born May 9, 1753; married Hannah, daughter of John Roundy, April 13, 1775; she was born at Beverly, August 4, 1753; died March 12, 1851, aged 97 years, 7 months, 8 days; he died Jan. 12, 1819, aged 65 years and 8 months. Their children were: Elizabeth, Samuel, Gideon, Sarah, James, Azor and John.

Biography of William E. Leighton, M.D.

Dr. William E. Leighton, who is devoting his time to the practice of surgery in St. Louis, was born in Portland, Maine, May 9, 1892, a son of the late George W. Leighton, who was a descendant of an old Massachusetts family which was founded in Cohasset in the early part of the seventeenth century by one of the name who came from England. One of the ancestral lines is traced back to the Packard family of Boston. Later descendants participated in the Revolutionary war. George W. Leighton, the Doctor’s father, was in the granite business and during the Civil … Read more

Records of First Church in Falmouth Maine

Baptisms and Admissions from the Records of First Church in Falmouth, now Portland, Maine

The contents of the book on the records of First Church in Falmouth Maine were gleaned for and first appeared in the historical and genealogical columns of the Portland Evening Express. It contains a brief history of the church, followed by a list of its members from 1727 through 1855, a register of marriages from 1750 through 1853, and an alphabetical list of baptisms, presumably from the organization of the church. The appendix, comprising exactly half of the book, is made up of historical information, both ecclesiastical and secular, relating to Falmouth and its vicinity.

Aucocisco

The name of the territory about Casco Bay and Presumpscot River, in the area now included in Cumberland County, Maine. It was also sometimes applied to those Abnaki Indians by whom it was occupied. Since the section was settled at an early date by the whites, the name soon dropped out of use as applied to the Indians, or rather it was changed to “Casco,” but this was a mere local designation, not a tribal distinction, as the Indians referred to were Abnaki. The proper form of the word is given by Willis as Uh-kos-is-co, ‘crane’ or ‘heron,’ the first … Read more