Bingham librarian compiled burial lists

Though I don’t think I ever met her, Nancy Hamlin Davis surely would have been one of my favorite librarians. With help from her mother, Ruth Hamlin, Davis compiled many lists of cemetery inscriptions for the Upper Kennebec Valley in the 1990s when she was at Bingham Union Library.

You can find these lists on the Web site of the Old Canada Road Historical Society at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~meocrhs/cemeteries.htm

On the Web site are:

• Bingham: Bingham Cemetery, Fall Brook Cemetery on Mahoney Hill, Route 201 south of town, Owen’s Field Cemetery and Rte 16 toward Mayfield.

• Brighton: Brighton Cemetery, York Cemetery.

• Caratunk: Moore Cemetery across from schoolhouse, Rte 201 between Caratunk and The Forks, and Caratunk Cemetery Rte 201 south of town Part II.

• Concord: Concord Cemetery on Rte 16 known as Cassidy Cemetery, Concord Corner Cemetery by Kenneth Robinson’s, Huggins Cemetery by Clyne Bigelow’s, and Felker Cemetery on Savage Hill.

• Embden: Pleasant Dale or Murphy or Boothby Cemetery.

• Gilman Corner: Gilman Corner Cemetery.

• Jackman: Holden Cemetery, compiled and submitted by Sean Dubois of Moose River.

• Mayfield: Clark Cemetery on Old Stage Road.

• Moscow: Sugar Town Cemetery, Union Cemetery partial transcription, Pierce Hill Cemetery.

• Pleasant Ridge: Pleasant Ridge Cemetery.

• Solon: Solon (Pierce Hill) Cemetery, Route 201, fairly close to picnic area; cemetery by Embden Bridge, end of Solon.

• South Solon: South Solon Burial Ground, est. 1835.

• The Forks: Durginville Cemetery, Bean Cemetery on Mountain Road, contributed by Frances Durgin Stuart.

The cemetery that is marked “new” on the Web site is the Brighton Cemetery.

If you know of Maine cemetery inscriptions online, let me know and we’ll share the information in Family Ties.

Marilyn Sterling-Gondek did the electronic transcription of these listings.

I mentioned earlier that Ruth Hamlin had helped her daughter compile many of these listings. It so happens that today is Ruth’s 90th birthday. Happy Birthday, Ruth!

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With the New Year almost upon us, what are your goals for your genealogical pursuits in 2009? Here are some possibilities:

• Organize your material, whether by surname or by section of the family — such as having one notebook for the ancestors of each of your four grandparents.

• Visit a library you haven’t been to before.

• Pick one family line and focus on it.

• Go to a meeting of a genealogical society and ask advice on one of your brick walls.

• Survey your collection of genealogical books, and consider whether you still “need” all of them. Ask a library in your area whether the facility would like to have one or more of your books.

• Help someone else with genealogy. Doing so will sharpen your skills.

• Volunteer with a historical society, and give that facility copies of your family information and photos. My family gave my dad’s U.S. Navy uniform, with ribbons and patches, to the Abbot Historical Society. The society also has a dress that belonged to his grandmother, Hattie Moore.

• Send in a genealogy query to Family Ties at the address listed below. You could hear from “new” cousins.

And thank you for your continued support of Family Ties, which first began in this newspaper in 1984. Happy New Year.

3438. GERRISH-ROGERS. Seek information on descendants of John Gerrish (a brother of my Lucy), born 1799 in New Hampshire, and Abigail “Nabby” (Rogers), married Oct. 24, 1822, Windham. Moved to Greenville about 1831. The 1850 census listed John’s mother as Mary, age 84. Some of John and Abigail’s children were: Abby, Moses, Margaret, Ellen, Isaac, Daniel, Alonzo and James, who died in the Civil War. Barbara Brown, PO Box 94, Kenduskeag, ME ; Bdbrown734@aol.com

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail queries to familyti@bangordailynews.net.