Home for a Bluebird” came down from the wall last week. With my aunt gone, I took down the painting of the little girl with blonde curls that had belonged to her for more than seven decades.

“Mary Alice Moore 4 years” was written on the back of the canvas in elegant writing. “Painted by her great-grandmother Mary Alice Cummings Bennett Lord 74 years, April 22, 1933.”

I thought about how special it was for my aunt to be the only girl in her family – as were her mother and grandmother before her.

The maternal line carries a special set of genes we know as mitochondrial DNA – which everyone has, but can be passed on only by females.

Aunt Mary’s mitochondrial DNA will not be carried further. Her only daughter predeceased her and had no children.

So what does a maternal line look like? It goes back through the mothers, like this (maiden names listed):

Ione Alvara Bennett, born 1902

Rena Alice Bennett, 1882 (same last name because Rena and husband Walter were second cousins)

Mary Alice Cummings, Greenville artist, 1859

Sarah Abigail Hildreth, 1826

Eleanor Currier, 1787

Abigail Burbank, 1764

The last three generations were from New Hampshire.

These women are all part of my ancestry, but this isn’t my mitochondrial DNA – because my dad is my link. He got the mitochondrial DNA in this line, but I don’t have it because he interrupted the female-only aspect of the line.

My mitochondrial DNA comes, of course, through my mother, Joyce Steeves Moore, who happens to be an only daughter. My line goes through her back to:

Edith Evelyn Roberts, born 1905

Etta Evelyn Eldridge, 1882

Agnes Rosalia Bray, 1850

Mary Payne, 1831

Clarissa Doolittle, 1795

Lozette Blakesley, 1765

Hannah Dunbar

The earlier ancestors were from New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

My mother has two daughters and a son, but my children are both boys. Only my younger sister has a daughter, Stephanie Taylor, to carry on our mitochondrial DNA.

So what happens to the charming oil painting? It won’t be mine, nor should it. My niece Stephanie will be the next keeper of “Home for a Bluebird.”

The painting will pass from the only daughter in one branch of the family to the only daughter in our immediate family two generations later.

Aunt Mary Campbell – and her great-grandmother Mary Lord – would have been pleased and proud.

The Wassebec Genealogical Society will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, in the conference room at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft. The speaker will be Debbie Roberge, editor of the Pine Cone and Tassel, a quarterly genealogical newsletter published in Maine. For information or directions, e-mail wassebec@yahoo.com, or call 564-3576.

The Moses Worcester Family Reunion will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at the Columbia town hall. The potluck lunch will feature baked beans and chop suey. Bring something to go with these dishes. There also will be a silent auction. “Please bring one item, old or new, highly valued or worthless, precious or funny, homemade or strictly sentimental.” Bob Hammond of Harrington will give a program on local history. For information, contact Ronie Strout at 483-4374 or RonieL@yahoo.com.

3335. BAYLEY-BAILEY-EMERY-FROST-CHUBBUCK. Samuel Bayley or Bailey, born Aug. 17, 1775, Bakerstown Plantation, son of Nathaniel Sr. and Martha (Emery) Bayley. Samuel died March 22, 1830, Baileyville, Washington County. He married July 7, 1808, in Alexander, Jane Frost, born Sept. 23, 1790, St. Stephen, New Brunswick, daughter of Jeremiah Sr. and Esther (Rolfe) Frost. Could use info on all 13 children, but especially son Isaiah Bailey, born Jan. 29, 1823, Baileyville, and wife Diadama Chubbuck, born Aug. 25, 1821. They married July 19, 1844. Also need Diadama’s parents and her birthplace. Deborah Cross, P.O. Box 3, Milo, ME 04463; henry@pivot.net.

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