Noble historian finds some things truer than others

So often I have turned to the 1882 History of Penobscot County to check out early settlers and the formation of this town or that city.

The mammoth tome lists Andrew Webster, clerk, as author of the 1790 petition asking the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to “incorporate us into a town by the name of Bangor.”

Doubtful, says Carol Smith Fisher of Brewer, a Bangor native who has been doing a lot of research on the Queen City.

That work leads her to believe that it was the Rev. Seth Noble himself, the minister who named Bangor and who actually wrote the petition. Further, he took the petition to Boston.

Fisher also located the original incorporation papers for Bangor – signed by John Hancock as Massachusetts’ governor – at the Massachusetts State Archives, and on Sept. 22 presented a wonderful copy of the document to the city of Bangor during a council meeting. As the county history points out, the city’s copy probably was destroyed by rats and mice long ago.

Husband Ken Fisher came to the council meeting costumed as the Rev. Seth Noble, and three generations of descendants of Noble and wife, Hannah (Barker) Noble, also attended.

I don’t know whether Seth is a cousin to my Gloucester Nobles or not. My Peggy Noble married Isaac Bennett in Gloucester in 1771, I believe. They are buried in Guilford.

Seth was born in 1743 in Westfield, Mass., to Thomas and Sarah (Root) Noble. He was one of at last 10 children.

While my early Noble roots remain elusive, I know for sure I’m a cousin to Col. Jonathan Eddy, for whom Eddington is named. In Bangor’s incorporation papers, Hancock directed Eddy to get Bangor going, and “to issue a warrant to call a meeting to chuse all such Officers as towns are by law required to chuse in the month of March or April annually.”

Eddy descendants are numerous in New England and beyond, and there is a large family history. The Rev. William Eddy was vicar of St. Dunstan’s in Cranbrook, England, during the time of Shakespeare.

Back to Bangor. A 1787 petition would have called the community Sunbury, an idea not well received because it was also the name of a Canadian town and brought up bad memories of the Revolution.

This is a very shortened description which includes some of what Fisher has learned. I can’t wait to see the book she is working on about Seth Noble.

It’s wonderful to see family reunions still taking place. I was so interested to get a note from Opal Bradford Smith in Carmel stating that 91 people turned out for the Aug. 30 reunion of the descendants of Civil War veteran Peleg Bradford Jr. of Carmel and Frank V. Small.

Appropriately, the event was held at the recreation field in Carmel. Opal Smith was the oldest Bradford descendant attending, and Bradford A. Small was the oldest member of the Small family.

“The youngest Small was the great-great-granddaughter of Frances Small Sawyer, Christen Ruhlin. The youngest in attendance of the Bradford family was Allyson Jayne Nadeau of Carmel, and Trenton Ellis of Glenburn,” she wrote.

Further, Mrs. Smith explained, attendees included two who are eighth-generation descendants of Peleg Bradford Jr. and have lived in Carmel since birth:

. Seth Jarvis, son of Robert W. Jarvis Jr., son of Ina Smith Jarvis, daughter of Opal Bradford Smith.

. Allyson Jane Nadeau, daughter of Randall A. Nadeau, son of Iris Smith Nadeau, daughter of Opal B. Smith.

Peleg Bradford Jr. served in the 1st Maine Artillery and is buried in Carmel. I find him particularly fascinating because a fair amount of information is available on him.

Melissa MacCrae and Maureen Bradford in 1997 edited “No Place for Little Boys: Civil War Letters of a Union Soldier.” The letters had been transcribed and donated to the University of Maine Special Collections by Orono resident Richard Bradford, descendant of Peleg.

Allen J. Voisine, secretary of the Aroostook County Genealogical Society, tells us that the next meeting will be held 6:30 p.m. Oct. 16, in the Caribou Room, Caribou Public Library. The topic will be “Basics on How to Start Your Genealogy” by Dennis J. Prue.

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