URSUS bears load for Maine genealogists

If you’re into Maine genealogy, you have to meet my favorite “bear” – URSUS, formally known as the shared catalog of the University of Maine System, Bangor Public Library, Maine State Library, Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library.

URSUS can be an invaluable tool in telling you what’s available in genealogy – and where. Best of all, URSUS is as near as your computer, on the Web at http://130.111.64.3.

Look up anything you like by keyword, by title, by author, by subject or by number.

For instance, I plugged in “Gloucester, Mass.,” hometown of my Bennett, Wharff, Lane, Millett, Haskell, Riggs and other ancestors.

I found “Deaths at Sea: the Port of Gloucester,” also known as “Fishermen’s Memorial and Record Book,” by George H. Procter.

There was the familiar “History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann: Including the Town of Rockport,” by John J. Babson.”

And then there were three volumes of “Massachusetts Vital Record Transcripts to 1850: Gloucester, 1641-1849,” births, marriages and deaths, both in microfiche and in book form.

All of these can be useful in genealogical research.

Look up “baptisms” or the French “baptemes,” perhaps, for a keyword and see what you come up with.

Speaking of French and Franco-American, the theme of the Ste. Agathe Historical Society’s fall newsletter is the centennial of the Daughters of Wisdom, held this past summer.

Also honored in this issue were Edwina Dumond Dufour, Mother of the Year; In Memoriam, Louis Labrie; and Cecile Martin Ouellette Marshall, 103rd birthday.

Keep in mind that the society has a number of keepsakes available, among them:

. “Le Centenaire de St. Agatha,” $25.

. “History of St. Agathe Parish, 1889-1989,” $10.

. “Ste. Agathe Cemetery Records, 1889-1989,” $10.

. “Marriages of Ste. Agathe, 1889-1989,” $10.

. “Genealogist’s Handbook for Upper St. John Valley Research” by G.L. Findlen, $19.95.

. Year 2005 calendars, $7.

For postage, include $3 for the first item, $1 for each additional item. Send checks to Ste. Agathe Historical Society, P.O. Box 237, St. Agatha, ME 04772.

The Penobscot County Genealogical Society will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in the Lecture Hall at Bangor Public Library. The topic will be a visit with Orrington historian David Swett. There also will be a raffle for a turkey.

The new membership year began Oct. 1. If you haven’t renewed your dues, send $5 to Penobscot County Genealogical Society in care of Phil Getchell, Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St., Bangor, ME 04401.

The September-October issue of the Hampden Historical Society newsletter contains an interesting article by Alice Hawes on “Hampden’s Hallowed Ground,” the Old Burying Ground behind the Masonic Hall. This is no doubt the oldest cemetery in town.

The society is a very busy group with both the Kinsley House and Hannibal Hamlin’s old law office at 83 Main Road South in Hampden.

The fiscal year runs June 1-May 31, and membership is $10 single or $20 family, sent in care of Vivian Gresser, treasurer, P.O. Box 456, Hampden, ME 04444.

Join the society for its Christmas Fair Extraordinaire, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20; preview night 5-7 p.m. Friday, $2, dessert included.

3299. MOSHER-ATHERTON. Looking for information on my grandparents, George Lester Mosher, born in Old Town, and his wife, Mary Esther (Atherton) Mosher, born in Clifton, buried in Brewer. I have the book, “Descendants of Hugh Mosher and Rebecca Maxson through Seven Generations” and need the info to try to find the connection to this book. I also have the 1930 Bangor census on microfilm. I have traveled to Mosherville, New Brunswick, and checked the gravestones. My father, Earl Stanley Mosher, was born in Bangor in 1883. He is buried in Bristol, Conn. His wife, Mary D. Moonan, married him in Bangor, August 1926. Robert Mosher, P.O. Box 417, Pocasset, MA 02559; telephone (508) 563-3909; Rmosher108Adelphia.net

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