Ah-ha. Another possible clue to Ga’s Scottish ancestry, from yet another painting.
When I began my search for the Scottish ancestors of my great-great-grandmother, Mary Alice (Cummings) Bennett Lord, the painter from Greenville, who lived 1859-1954, the year was about 1977.
Clue 1 was the painting of the storm-tossed seas by Tantallon Castle, the subject of one of my dad’s paintings by Ga. We know it’s Tantallon because she wrote it on the back of the canvas.
The family story, handed down by my grandmother Ione (Bennett) Moore, was that the Scottish heritage came from Ga’s mother, Sarah Abigail (Hildreth) Cummings. But the Hildreths seem to be English. Further, we don’t know the name of Ga’s great-grandmother, the mother of Henry True Hildreth.
We were relatively sure Mary Lord never went to Scotland, but my dad thought she might have painted Tantallon from a postcard. A few years ago that mystery was solved when I found a painting of Tantallon Castle online by Thomas Moran — the same view Ga painted.
The second landscape of Ga’s I have — make that had — was an unidentified scene of trees and a stream I owned for many years — until son Tony asked if he could have it when he moved to Minnesota years ago. Of course, I gave it to him, and whenever he moves I look to see where he and Heather will hang it in their new home.
Painting 3 is a small landscape of a lake or something that came from my Aunt Mary Campbell, and was in my hands only briefly before my mother said she’d like to have it to replace the Tantallon painting she had just passed on to me.
Out of sight, out of mind, for the most part. But shortly after my granddaughter Arabelle in Minnesota turned 1, I started thinking about that third painting, and decided she also needed a painting from Maine. So the next time I went to see my mother, I took down the painting so I could write “for Tony” on the back so he would eventually get it.
And what do you know, but Ga had written “Swan Island, Loch Lomond” on the back. Now I’m checking out pictures of that location online to see if I can identify a photo or painting Ga may have used as a model.
So we have Loch Lomond, and we have Tantallon, the ruins of which are in North Berwick, not far from Dunbar, Scotland. Ga’s ancestor Robert Dunbar came from Dunbar to Hingham, Massachusetts, around 1635 or so, but I think it doubtful she would have known about that Scottish line.
Ga’s father was Silas Harris Cummings, a descendant of Silas Harris, whose Sherman and Launce ancestry provides her royal line back to Edward I, and also to Malcolm III of Scotland and wife, St. Margaret.
She probably didn’t know about that line way back, either, but her grandson Paul Bennett and his wife Emma, who lived in Freeport, did visit England and Scotland, including St. Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh Castle.
There is a nice article in the August-September 2015 issue of Scotland Magazine, which is available in some bookstores.
I have seen enough examples of Mary Lord’s handwriting to identify her penmanship on the back of her paintings. She also wrote January 1928 on the back of the Loch Lomond painting, an era when I think she did some of her best work. Someone else wrote her name and $1 on the back of the canvas. I’m guessing that’s what it cost her to have it framed in 1928.
I guess I’d better ask my sister and brother if I can look at the back of the paintings they have. Who knows what we will learn.
A new Stepp
I was tied up the day we expected Ali Rae Stepp to enter the world in July, so I emailed Martha ahead of time I’d be pleased if she sent me a note to let me know that all had gone well — and she did.
I thought it would be cute if Andrew and Charlene named Mackenzie and Morgan’s little sister Meringue — especially since the girls’ grandmother is such an outstanding cook. No luck. They already had Ali Rae picked out.
Her middle name is a variation of Martha’s maiden name McCrae, and also a tribute to the girls’ grandfather, William Raymond Stepp, who died in July two years ago.
We all will have stories to tell Ali Rae about Bubba. I also look forward to explaining to her that so many of us used to get hugs from Bubba, and we’ve been saving them to give to her.
For information 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, ME 04402, or email familyti@bangordailynews.com.