It’s always a treat to peruse a town history and find information on the roots of some of the early settlers. In 1992, the Sidney Bicentennial Committee published “History of Sidney, Maine 1792-1992” through Picton Press, and finished up the 252-page book with brief genealogies of several families:

. Sawtelle, with origins in Groton, Mass.

. Swift; Sandwich and Wareham, Mass.

. Cowan; Merrimac, N.H.

. Marsh; Salem, Mass.

. Ballard; Oxford, Mass.

. Woodcock; Attleboro, Mass.

. Longley; Groton, Mass.

. Drummond (Scots-Irish); Georgetown and Arrowsic, Maine.

. Hammond; Falmouth, Maine.

. Tillson; Bridgewater, Mass.

. Manter; Madison, Maine, and Tisbury, Mass.

. Barnard; Salisbury, Amesbury and Nantucket, Mass.

. Goff; Windsor, Maine.

The history is available at Maine State Library and Fogler Library at the University of Maine.

The next three books we’ll mention also are available at both libraries, as well as Bangor Public Library.

One of the three, another very useful book put out by Picton in 1990, was “Abstracts of Penobscot County Maine Probate Records 1816-1866,” including abstracts of probate records from Hancock County 1790-1816, relating to that part of Hancock County set off as Penobscot County in 1816.

Edited by Ruth Gray, the project was the result of years of work she and Marjorie Marsh Quigg did recording information from records at the courthouse.

Here’s an example of one of the abstracts:

Eaton, Charles of Exeter, d. 21 July 1860, wife Lucille C., father Isaac Eaton, minor chn Charles O., Anson M., Edgar C., Lucian A., Joseph P., Augustus C.; their grandfather Joseph P. Chandler gdn. Administrator E. Augustus Chandler. (39:193) volume and page of bound volume.

Also published in 1990 by Picton was “Vital Records of Mount Desert Island Maine and nearby islands 1776-1820,” edited by Alice MacDonald Long.

Many of the vital records indicate the origins of the various families. For instance, David Richardson and Molly Steel, who married in 1792 in Gloucester, Mass., had part of their family in that town before coming to Mount Desert Island in 1796.

The book also contains a chapter on cattle markings. You could tell that an animal belonged to Lt. Levi Higgins from the “hapany,” presumably a halfpenny marking under the left ear.

A 1989 book transcribed by Elizabeth M. Mosher was “Records of Rev. Edward F. Cutter of Maine 1833-1856.” A Congregational minister born in Portland, Cutter served in Warren for 13 years, then in Belfast for several years.

An introduction written by Justice David A. Nichols tells us that Edward was the sixth generation of the Cutter family, his line going back through Levi, Captain William, the Rev. Ammi Ruammah, William and then Richard Cutter.

Also for your information, Picton reissued in 1989 a book from 1868, “The Records of the Church of Christ in Buxton Maine 1763-1817” during the pastorate of the Rev. Paul Coffin. These include marriages and baptisms.

The latest issue of The Maine Genealogist, printed quarterly by the Maine Genealogical Society, begins with Priscilla Eaton’s “The Family and Ancestry of Elisha Hatch of Wells, Maine: Early Baptist and ‘Sifter’ of the Minister.”

Elisha is described as one of “a small body of malcontents,” and one who actually took a sieve with him during a visit to let the minister know what his objections were.

I never heard of such a thing.

Other offerings in the February issue include the conclusion of Kathleen Canney Barber and Janet Ireland Delorey’s “The Houston-Huston Families of Falmouth, Maine;” the Waldron Family Sampler; and James W. Cummings’ “The Fate of Mary Ann (Spaulding) Cummings and Her Children.”

Membership in the Maine Genealogical Society is a terrific deal at just $20 a year. Send checks to MGS, Box 221, Farmington 04938.

3255. EMERY-NOBLE. Seeking maiden name, parents, birthdate of Ruhama Noble. She md. 1) James Emery of Hampden in Orrington, Dec. 5, 1790. James, age 32, drowned in the Penobscot River Sept. 15, 1792, and she then md. Rev. Seth Noble of Bangor, April 11, 1793. Children of Ruhama and Seth Noble: Betsy, Thomas, Polly and John Adams. Ruhama d. 1805, buried Montgomery, Mass. C.B. Smith Fisher, 601 Grandview Ave., Bangor 04401-3257.