N.H. Bragg history offers genealogy tidbits, photos

Let’s look at the early generations of one line of Bangor’s Bragg family.

. Thomas Bragg, 1690-1754, and Mary (Fiske).

. John Bragg and Eunice (Patten).

. Nathaniel Bragg, b. 1743, and Hannah (Moore).

. Isaac Bragg of China, Maine, and Hannah (Meigs), b. 1778, Barnstable, Mass., to Nathaniel Meigs and Mary (Wyatt).

. Norris Hubbard Bragg and Sophia G. (Crocker), who married Dec. 3, 1840, in Dixmont.

. Charles Fred Bragg, 1850-1921, and Florence (Wingate). (Norris and Sophia also had son Norris Everett Bragg and grandson Roland Everett Bragg).

. Franklin Everett Bragg, 1874-1951, and Grace (Woodbury).

Franklin Bragg’s children were Charles Fred Bragg 2nd and Frances Bragg, who married Donald J. Eames. Thus there have been both Bragg and Eames presidents of N.H. Bragg in recent times.

You could look all that up, but I found it in Trudy Scee’s “N.H. Bragg & Sons: 150 Years of Service to the Maine Community and Economy 1854-2004.”

Histories of businesses often contain a good bit of family information and clues as to its origins, especially when one family has owned the firm for a long time.

And in the case of a family that has been as active in the community as have Bragg and Eames descendants, a history can tell us a good bit about the community itself and various organizations such as Bangor Public Library and Good Samaritan Association.

Keep in mind, too, that a business history may include pictures of employees beyond those in the immediate family.

For instance, the Bragg book offers a photograph taken in front of the N.H. Bragg & Sons store in March 1942 – with names: Roland E. Bragg, George Small, Charles F. Bragg II, Charles Tuck, Franklin E. Bragg, Stan Craig, Donald J. Eames, R.E. Brooks, Mike Miles, Bernice Tinker, Stanley Palmer, Elizabeth Jude, Fred McHugh, Hank Peterson, Cliff Varney, Henry T. Dolan, Cecil H. Herring, Howard Libbey, Ernie Hamm, Henry A. Williams, Harold F. Whitmore, Jane Campbell, Eleanor Call, Natalie Bridgham, P.J. “Jim” Dolan, Frank McHugh, Percy “Sparky” Mailman, Ernest Trafton, Richard A. Sheppard, C.O. Doane, Elmer Dowling, Omar Gerrish, Rodney Gerrish, B. Getchell Grant, Charles “Mel” Varney, Victor A. Viola, Alva Varney, George Moore and Harold Small.

What a treasure. Another photo shows the five Wingate sisters and their husbands: Agnes and Silas Treat, Florence and Charles Bragg, Martha and Frank Cram, Helen and Will Hubbard, and Ada and Charles Wyman. Four of the five men – all except Hubbard – were involved with the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad.

“N.H. Bragg & Sons” is available in bookstores.

Surely you have a favorite ancestor or a favorite Web site or a resource you just can’t do without.

Stop by Bangor Public Library at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, and share in the “All My Favorite Things” program of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society in the Lecture Hall.

There will be hot chocolate and goodies, and you’ll meet some people who really know what’s where in the Bangor Room at the library.

3350. FLAHERTY-WILLEY. Would like to find out more about my great-grandmother, Rosamund Emma (Flaherty) Willey. In the will of my great aunt, Florence J. Willey Clark, there were named three others whose families I’d like to contact: Mae L. (Flaherty) Sawyer of Bangor (I think she has died); Lillian Ingersoll of South Portland; and Rita Sargent of Poland Springs. My great aunt died in 1956, and these ladies were named in her will, along with my great-grandmother. Suzanne Black, 13 Harborview Ct. 2B, Blue Hill, ME 04614; marblack@localnet.com

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