Every few pages, there’s another old-fashioned picture of a child, a whole family or people at school or work. The words are equally beckoning.
“My earliest Christmas memory took place at a logging camp in the woods,” writes Beulah Hughes Roix of Presque Isle. “My mother was cooking for my father and Uncle Hampton. I was five years old and my brother, Hampton, was seven.”
Beulah remembers the plastic cow she got that Christmas, while her brother received a plastic horse. With pieces of cedar from the wood box, Hampton made sleds for the toy animals.
Let’s go back for a minute. You say you’re already lost trying to recall who was who among this Hughes family of Allagash?
Three footnotes at the bottom of Page 1 in Beulah’s story will get us sorted out:
ä Beulah’s parents were Thomas William Hughes, 1885-1968, and wife Delia Jackson, 1891-1967.
ä Uncle Hampton was Hampton Joseph Jackson, 1885-1967, who married Ann Hughes, 1887-1962.
ä Beulah’s brother Hampton was Joseph Hampton Hughes, 1920-1991, whose wife was Lula Rachel Walker, born 1932.
In just two pages, we’ve discovered the treasures of “Christmas In Allagash: The Early Years,” published in 2009 by the Allagash Historical Society. Photos and history, with bits of genealogy.
The 320-page book, with more than 100 photographs and more than 200 footnotes — genealogical footnotes, we should emphasize — was edited by Cathie Pelletier, the well-known novelist who has loved Allagash for a very long time.
Many people were involved in this wonderful project, among them Allen Jackson, whom Pelletier credits for “extensive research for dates and ancestral names.”
Some footnotes list a whole family, or close to it. How many of the 17 children of William, 1881-1954, and Alice (Walker) Hughes, 1890-1971, could you name?
Sharol Hughes Griffin’s chapter lists 13 girls and three boys, for a total of 16 children born from 1910 to 1932: Isabelle, Elizabeth, Mary Myrtle, Marguerite, Eva Alice, Ethel Mary, Laura, Nelson H., Henry H., Glenn R., Winnifred P., Joyce M., twins Freida A. and Rena E., Sharol and Mina A.
Sharol’s sister, Winnifred Hughes Russell, includes in her chapter mention of buying “younger brother Lyman” a pair of skis one year. So Lyman D. Hughes, born in 1934, may be the fourth boy, bringing the total number of children to 17.
We can confirm much of Will and Alice’s family by looking at household No. 19 in the 1930 census of the town of Allagash, Aroostook County.
Will told the census taker that he owned the property, which was a farm valued at $1,500. He and Alice had been married 21 years. They and their children were born in Maine. Will’s dad was born in English Canada.
Children listed in the 1930 census were: Eva, 13; Ethel, 11; Nelson, 7; Henry, 5; Glenn, 4; Winnie, 3; Joice, (sic) 2; and twins Arlene and Ellene, 7 months.
The first four daughters were already residing outside the home. Daughter Laura had died young in 1922. Arlene and Ellene were probably Freida A. and Rena E.
The book was dedicated to the memory of Edith Leola McBreairty Kelley, whose legacy includes work on family genealogies for the town. She also founded the Allagash Historical Society.
The volume was published in memory of the one person Allagash lost to war — Melford Joseph Pelletier, a sailor killed in the attack on the USS Wasp on March 19, 1945, off Japan.
The price for “Christmas in Allagash: The Early Years” is $30. For ordering info, e-mail northmainebooks@aol.com or call Marilyn McBreairty at 398-3148.
McBreairty, Hafford, Henderson, Jackson, Kelly, Pelletier, O’Leary, Hughes, Walker.
“Christmas in Allagash” is a treasure year-round.
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The Penobscot County Genealogical Society will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, in the Lecture Hall at Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St.
Dale Mower, president of the Maine Genealogical Society and well-known webmaster, will present “A Walk on the Internet, Focusing on Online Census Information,” “Tips on Online Indexes” and “What to Do When Your Ancestor Disappears.”
Dale is bright, knowledgeable and experienced in guiding genealogists from the very young to the most senior.
All are welcome, and refreshments will be served.
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I filled out my 2010 Census form promptly and thoroughly, as I asked our readers to do. I had every intention of mailing it, but wound up carrying it around in my purse for weeks.
So, about quarter past 6 on May 11, a charming fellow named Rick Wheeler stopped by my house and filled out the form for me — two people living there as of April 1, 2010; both in their 50s; no babies, no homeless people.
It took us barely five minutes to complete the form.
Yes, I gave him the birth dates for my husband and myself. All of the information on the questionnaire will be confidential until April 1, 2082 — that’s 72 years from now.
Rick told me he enjoys taking the census and meeting people. I felt compelled to tell him that I write and talk about census records regularly, and have urged everyone to send in their questionnaire promptly.
So if a census taker comes to your door, take a few minutes to make sure your household is counted. It could make a difference to Maine — and to you.
Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail queries to familyti@bangordailynews.com.
