Hancock County’s 1881 atlas a treasure

When a flat package of a certain size comes in the mail from the Trescott Historical Society, it’s something wonderful.

Last week it was the reprint of “Atlas of Hancock County Maine,” subtitled “Compiled and Published under the direction of Geo. N. Colby by S.F. Colby & Co. Drawn from Official Plans, U.S. Coast Guard Survey Charts, and actual Surveys by H.E. Halfpenny & J.H. Stuart,” in Ellsworth, 1881. What a treasure.

Though I don’t know of any ancestors of mine who resided in Hancock County, there have certainly been several boatloads of cousins – pun intended – such as all those Haskells and Torreys on Deer Isle.

And what makes the Colby maps so wonderful is that they are “cadastral” maps, with names of people listed where their property was. You also will find schools, churches, cemeteries and some businesses marked.

Sometimes there are separate maps for certain areas, such as Green’s Landing on Deer Isle. Here we find markings for Steamboat Wharf, W.R. Lewis and Bros. Lobster Factory and P. Thurlow Store.

And when an atlas was printed in 1881, we have an easy way to cross-reference many of the listings, by using the 1880 U.S. census. You could look at the census for Deer Isle on microfilm at the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, for example, or check the transcribed census for the country free online on the LDS Church Web site at www.familysearch.org.

I looked up Jacob Stinson, who is on the Green’s Landing map, and found his household on the 1880 census. There he is, listed as a fisherman.

The map for Green’s Landing lists B. Barbour on one side of Stinson, and on the other side, in consecutive order, Mrs. Clark, J. McDonald and John Collins.

The 1880 census, which offers the “next household” and “previous household” features, confirms three of these four names.

On one side of Stinson we find the household of Benjamin B. Barbour, master mariner. On the other side, where we expect a Mrs. Clark, we find Elizabeth Gott, 63, as head of household. Next door to her are John McDonald and then John K. Collins. How about that?

A special added feature of this reprint, which was printed by Moon River Press in Whiting, is the 1790 census for these Hancock County towns. Of course, not every person was listed in 1790 – just the head of household and the rest of the family members by number: white males 16 and up, white males under 16, white females, “all other free persons” and “slaves.”

You will find the Hancock County atlas for sale at libraries in Washington and Hancock counties, museums and historical societies.

Or order by mail for $19.50, postage included, from Trescott Historical Society, P.O. Box 1, Whiting, ME 04691.

The historical society previously reprinted the Washington County atlas, and according to Bonnie E. Healy, the rest of the Maine counties are “in the works.”

That’s great news, indeed!

At the April 18 meeting of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society, cookbook chairman John Nelligan gave out certificates to members of the committee who did so much to make possible the printing of the PCGS Family Cookbook: Hugh Hastings, Sheila Curran, Edith Cushing, Celia Gray, Leland “Pete” McClarie and Jeannine Peters.

Proceeds of the cookbook purchase new resources for the Bangor Public Library’s Bangor Room, which is just full of Maine and New England local and family history books.

So, buy more cookbooks. To order by mail, send $8 plus $2 mailing per cookbook to PCGS, c/o Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St., Bangor, ME 04402. To save mailing costs, arrange to pick up your cookbook by calling 862-4785, or e-mail pcgscooks2@msn.com

Or purchase a cookbook at meetings of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society at 6 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month in the Lecture Hall at Bangor Public Library. Enter through the children’s department and take the elevator to the third floor.

Send genealogical queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or familyti@bangordailynews.net.