"Next to Last" - Week 48 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge

ALAXIS STEWARD, my 4th Great-Grandfather, was the son of John and Abigail "Nabby" (Whitcomb) Steward, the "next to last" child born unto them in Canaan, Maine. His name can be seen in many records with numerous spellings, from Alaxus, to Alexis, Alaxses, Alexis, etc.

From the Canaan, Maine town records [Bk 1776-1883, pg 19: on Family Search], "Alaxus" can be seen near the bottom of list, born December 4th 1812.

The same list of children can be seen in the July 1924 Stewart Clan Magazine [link: Vol. 3, No. 1, pg 99] 

He married CHARLOTTE (HARNDEN) REED, the daughter of John and Lydia (Hersey) Harnden, and widow of Orrin Reed [Harnden also written as Harding, Harden, etc], at her home in Milburn. Intents were filed on 22 Jan 1835, and they were married on 10 March 1835 [see Skowhegan VR for early Milburn records, incl Book OR-1, pages 18 for intents and pg 31 for marriage]. 

​He is seen here in the 1840 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine census, listed near his father John Steward. Some of the numbers likely belong to the Reed children of former widow Charlotte, as only Lydia and Thomas would have been born by 1840.

​They had the following known children, as seen in the Skowhegan census records, 1850-1870:
i. Lydia H. Steward, b.ca. 1836; d. 24 Apr 1904
ii. Thomas Steward, b. ca 1838; d. 22 Oct 1897 [bur Sunset Cem, North Anson: Find a Grave entry]
iii. Phineas P. Steward, b. 17 Mar 1841; d. 11 Dec 1911 [bur Wadena, MN: Find a Grave]
iv. Deborah B Steward, b. 3 Nov 1842; d. 6 Jan 1908; Marr William H White [bur Southside Cem, Skow]
v. Lucius Steward, b. 26 Aug 1844; d. 7 Nov 1900 ["Luceus" on grave: Find a Grave]

They lived in Skowhegan through the 1870 census, and then Alaxis and Charlotte, with sons Phineas and Lucius, went west and settled in Minnesota. Their story can be found here, in an earlier blog entry:
Alaxis Steward, from Maine to Minnesota
Thomas Steward, Alaxis' son, also has his own page, my 3rd Great-Grandfather

Week 47 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge - "Thankful"

​THANKFUL, I truly am, for the availability of records that are online these days! Gone (for the most part) are the days of driving up to Concord, hoping to find an empty metered parking spot (good luck with that if the State House was in session), and signing up to use a microfilm reader at the State Library. The race was then on to find and copy as many records in the allotted usage time, with hopes that no one else will arrive and want to use the same machine, if the others were also taken.

One of my key research areas was the town of New Castle, New Hampshire, where a great many of my ancestors had resided. With there being a large amount of records pertaining to this town on microfilm, I spent a great deal of time copying or printing out hundreds of pages of tax lists and town meeting notes. These same films are now available for viewing on Family Search, making the process of revisiting these old families much easier! 

That said, I made myself (well, and anyone else that comes across this page) a listing of the volumes of records available for New Castle, with links added for ease in finding the different books contained on the films. Currently only browseable, perhaps they'll be indexed online some day. Now, THAT would save time!
​

NEW CASTLE, New Hampshire Town records, 1690-1899  [Family Search]

Volume 1 is a transcript of
vol. A town records 1693-1707
vol. C town records, lot layouts for 1709-1725

Volume 2:
vol. M fragments of town records 1696-1829
vol. B fragments of town records 1698-1735 [begins on pg 47]
vol. O town records 1699-1839 [page 305]
vol. L town records 1715-1829 "on 160 slips of paper" [page 355]

Volume 3:
vol. D town records, 1756-1807; vital statistics 1805-1854 [begin on pg 118]
vol. I vital statistics 1762-1858 [pg 240]

Volume 4:
Vol. N town accounts 1701-1849 
Vol. E town accounts 1770-1815 [starts on pg 191; with Thomas Bell account book, 1774]
Vol. F town records 1809-1839  [starts on pg 353]

Volume 5:
vol. G inventories and tax records 1812-1822
vol. H inventories and tax records 1823- 1825 [begins on pg 624]

Volume 6:
vol. K tax records 1690-1770 ("333 loose papers", numbered in chrono order and entered into book)
The date listed in front of volume is wrong, as records extend into the 1820's on this film

Volume 7:
vol. P tax records and inventories 1700-1836
vol. J town accounts 1712- 1826 [begins on pg 223]

Week 46 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge for 2018

​​A "Random Fact"... that, in May 1969, the 10.7 mile section of Route 236 that runs from the Kittery, Maine Traffic Circle to Route 4 in South Berwick was named for my Great-Uncle, Harold L. Dow.

The 52 Ancestors Challenge for Week 45 is "BEARDED"

​My 3rd Great-Grandfather, JAMES WILLIAM BROWN of Kittery, Maine, is my obvious choice for this week's challenge! Other than a photo of him in 1863, the only other pictures I have of him are from his elder years. 

The photo below is of James and his granddaughter Helen Kramer. No date on back of picture, but she was born in 1893.

James was born in Kittery, Maine on 28 Dec 1841. He died there on 5 May 1923, aged 82, and was buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery. He was married to Emily A. Waitt (1840-1919), and they had five children.

Other blog posts about him and his family on this site:
- The Browns of Locke's Cove, Kittery, Maine
- "Heirloom"
- His daughters: Emily J (Brown) Kramer and "The Maiden Aunt" (May F. Brown)
- His wife: Emily A (Waitt) Brown
​- His father: Elihu D Brown of Kittery

- I also have a page about him on my 27th Maine website:
​https://www.the27thmaine.com/brownjamesw.html

Week 44 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge - "Frightening"

It was a Sunday evening, the 30th of March 1656, the night that Old Goodwife Walford turned into a cat. This was according to the testimony of a Susannah Trimmings of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who was walking home that night when she was confronted by Jane Walford. "Lend me a pound of cotton" she demanded, to which Susannah refused. First verbally threatened by Walford, she was then "struck as with a clap of fire", before the witch vanished by the water side "in the shape of a cat". This was Mrs. Trimming's testimony, under oath, at court on 18 April 1656. Her husband, Oliver, also testified, saying that his wife returned home in a sad condition and could not speak, as if something in her throat prevented her from doing so. She finally was able to speak "Lord have mercy upon me, this wicked woman will kill me". In court weeks later, she still complained of being ill.

Jane Walford was brought into this court in June 1656 along with son Jeremiah (likely the witness who said he was at Goodman Walford's home, with his wife being there the entire night). Several others entered court, including John and Agnes Puddington, who relayed the story of a yellow cat that would follow the wife of W. Evans all day. One day, Mrs Evans visited the Puddington home, and the yellow cat arrived that evening. John attempted to shoot it, but his gun failed to work. Two other cats joined the party and then "the yellow one vanished away on the plain ground", the other two also taking off.

Another testimony came from Nicholas Rowe, who claimed Jane Walford visited his bedroom on two occasions following her being accused and, without saying a word, placed her hand on his chest, causing him great pain and making him unable to speak. Mr. Rowe (or Roe) was no stranger to the courts - he and his wife Elizabeth had been in Dover court back on the 3rd of October (3rd of 8th month) 1648, being sued for slander, as the wife had accused Jane Walford of being a witch [NH State Papers Vol 40, pg 38]. Mrs. Row had been found guilty in that case, and was ordered to publicly announce at public meetings in Dover and Strawbery Banke that she had done Jane wrong. This Elizabeth Roe actually had several cases against her on this court date for slander and other ill speech which resulted in a public whipping verdict.

The 1656 Trimmings case was dropped, with Jane being discharged from the court on 7 May 1657 [NH State Papers Vol 40 pg 129].  She would return again (now a widow), on 28 June 1670 [Vol 40, pg 258], when she charged Robert Couch for slander, after he called her a witch. She won this one as well.

JANE, the wife of THOMAS WALFORD, was my 10th Great Grandmother.

​Below is a clipping of a French map of Portsmouth, dated around 1782 [from the Leventhal Map Center]. This inlet of water, known as Sagamore Creek since at least the late 1600's, for a time was called "Witch Creek". Was this because of the Walford family, who lived along this body of water? A different creek, located further south of this, now carries this name.

Sources:
"Witchcraft in New Hampshire" - N.H. State Papers [Vol 1, pg 217-219]
"New Hampshire Court Records" in [State Papers Vol. 40]