You may remember me writing or saying that I’ve cut back on buying genealogy books, or even that I’ve given certain volumes to libraries or made plans to do so because my sons really can’t read my mind about what to save, what to donate and where.
Well, mostly. But there will always be those books that are just so full of good things that they need a home on my bookshelves.
Then, too, there is the occasional mammoth tome I just have to have because it has — believe it or not — one page that I really want in original print.
What can I say? Such a book is “Biographical Review Volume XXIX Containing Life Sketches of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook Counties, Maine,” published in 1898 by Biographical Review Publishing Co. in Boston. That’s 735 pages.
My ancestor in this illustrious book is Sumner R. Bennett, “a prosperous farmer of Abbot.” The sketch tell us that Sumner was the son of David and Lucy (Clark) Bennett. Their children who grew to maturity were David H., Sumner R., John, George H., Lucy, Martha and Louisa. Lucy the mother died at 65 in Parkman.
Sumner farmed in Monson for eight years before purchasing a farm in Abbot in 1868, not far from what we call the Moosehorns. The farm contained 240 acres, a fact of interest to me because although my great-grandmother sold it in the 1940s, I believe, my dad eventually bought it in the 1960s, or a good portion of it anyway. We call it the woodlot, and it is still in the family.
Sumner married Roxana Briggs of Parkman, for whom I was named, and they had Mary; Emma; Charles, who married Allura Draper, daughter of Jerome and Rhoda (Patten ) Draper; Frank, who married Lulu Weymouth and moved to Washington State; Eugene; and my great-grandfather, Walter Sherman Bennett, born in 1865.
Here are a few examples of the many other sketch subjects in the book:
— William Daniel Waugh, second selectman of Starks, son of Randall and Ellen F. Waugh, grandson of William W. Waugh, son of Elijah Waugh, “and, without a doubt, grandson of James Waugh Sr., a native of Townsend, Mass.”
— Augustus Osgood Gross of Deer Isle, senior member of the store-owning firm Gross & Spofford, son of Frederick A. and Harriet C. (Small) Gross, and grandson of Moses Gross.
— George H. Hunter, of the firm Hunter, McMaster & Co., merchants of Pittsfield, born in Bowdoinham to Robert and Jane (Henry) Hunter.
— Albert H. Sawyer, of Calais, lumber manufacturer of the city, son of Thomas and Maria (Dyer) Sawyer.
These books were sometimes known as vanity books, but so what? They offer a lot of biographical and genealogical information, not to mention town or state where the family came from. Is every fact accurate? Not necessarily, but they may be good clues. And even if the subject of the sketch is not your ancestor, maybe a sibling or in-law or other relative is.
I found this book at Gary Woolson Bookseller on Route 9 in Newburgh. You will often see his sign outside when he’s open, and his collection is impressive. The store is not accessible to the handicapped, and you have to look to see where the stone steps are, but they are there. I had been hoping to purchase this book for many years, and it was very affordable. And yes, I will make plans for it to be donated to a library at some point.
Happy browsing.
For i nformation on researching family history in Maine, see Genealogy Resources under Family Ties at bangordailynews.com/browse/family-ties. Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402, or email familyti@bangordailynews.com.