Event dedicates first frame house built in Pittsfield

Off a path in the Peltoma Woods, Tom Martin stepped onto a wide, flat rock and knocked on thin air. And everyone around him smiled at the idea of Tom knocking on the “door” to what used to be Moses Martin’s farm, the first frame house in Pittsfield.

Most especially, Kathy Palmer smiled, as well she should. Palmer is both the curator of the Pittsfield Historical Society and the regent of Eunice Farnsworth Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

As such, she was key to the Aug. 4 dedication of a new bronze plaque that will mark the Moses Martin homestead.

It was Elizabeth Pierce Lancey Chapter, now disbanded, which first marked the site in 1923. The boulder is still there, but the original plaque has been gone a long time.

So Palmer and Vrege Murray, state regent of the Maine State Organization, DAR, unveiled the new plaque that will be fastened to the boulder. Palmer had worked for two years on the project with Martha Hamilton, DAR state historian.

The Martin home isn’t there anymore, but the stone foundation still exists, surrounded by caution tape to keep visitors from tumbling into the hole.

Tom Martin, who resides in Madison, thanked everyone for paying tribute to his long-ago relative. It was his wife, Kathleen, author of a book on the Martin family, who pointed out that the dedication was being held on Moses’ birthday.

Moses and wife, Anna (Parker), are buried in the Village Cemetery on Peltoma Avenue, so we stopped there, too.

Moses, who was born in New Hampshire to John and Marcy (Goffe) Martin, served in the Revolutionary War. Marcy was a sister to Col. John Goffe, as well as to Margaret Goffe, who married Maj. John Moor of New Hampshire and Norridgewock. Quite the family of Patriots.

Moses and Anna Martin’s children were: Moses, Anna and Sally, born in Norridgewock; and Aaron, Jesse, David, Betsy, Cyrene, Lucene, Maria and Mercy, all born in Pittsfield.

For information on the Pittsfield Historical Society, write P.O. Box 181, Pittsfield, ME 04967, or visit the Web site at www.pittsfieldhistoricalsociety.org/

There are a good number of Pittsfield cemetery inscriptions on the site, as well as a photograph of the Moses Martin house.

I also enjoyed the photos under “Eisenhower 1955,” from President Dwight Eisenhower’s trip through Maine towns. I remember, at age 4, standing on Main Street in Newport with my family, watching the president ride by.

Moses Martin first came to what is now Pittsfield in 1794. He built a log house, and then a frame house in 1818.

Do you know where the first home in your community was built? Has it been marked so that future generations can know where it was?

By the way, the 1988 edition of Kathleen A. Martin’s “Martins of Mooretown: Related Families: Bayley, Bishop, Brock, Carter, Chamberlin, Goffe, Goodwin, Fowler, Lamb, Parker, Perkins, Reynolds, Sawyer, Silver and Wheeler” is available at the Maine State Library in Augusta. It traces the branch of George Martin of Salisbury, from Amesbury, Mass., to Goffstown, N.H.; Bradford, Vermont and central Maine.

The Machias Historical Society will remember the “1777 Siege at Machias” by British armed forces at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, at the town boat landing at the dike on U.S. Route 1, Machias.

The story of the little-known battle, which occurred over the two-day period of Aug. 13-14, 1777, will be recalled by members of Hannah Weston Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. A service of remembrance also will be conducted by the DAR chapter.

Anyone interested in learning more about this often “forgotten battle” is invited to attend.

The Hancock County Genealogical Society will meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, in the Riverview Room on the bottom floor of Ellsworth Public Library. Debbie Roberge will speak on “Maine Men at Andersonville Prison.” All are welcome. For information on HCGS, call Patti Leland at 276-5305 or e-mail pattieleland@roadrunner.com

The Maine Military Historical Society will hold an open house noon-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, outside the main gate of the Maine National Guard headquarters at Camp Keyes, adjacent to the Augusta Airport terminal on Winthrop Street, Augusta.

A volunteer staff will be on hand and refreshments will be served.

3402. GRIFFITH-WORMWELL-GOULD-WARREN. Seeking birth record or info for Lamont Griffith, born March 1840 in Dixfield. I believe his father was John Griffith, who died 1848 in Livermore. John was first married to a Nancy Wormwell. Lamont was a son by a second marriage to a Sabrina Gould, married about 1839 in Dixfield. After John’s death, Sabrina married a Benjamin F. Warren on March 18, 1849. There was a Mantsier Griffith who was about the same age as Lamont in the Warren household in 1850. Could this be Lamont? Sabrina Gould Griffith died 27 July 27, 1854, and is buried in a Griffith plot in Dixfield. Joan Griffith Whitbeck, 292 North Hobcaw Drive, Mt. Pleasant, S.C. 29464; cjoan@comcast.net.

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