Vital records book yields an ‘armful of ancestors’

The covers were a bit tattered, and only two of the three volumes were available for purchase. But I had to have them, even though I’m the one who’s always urging people to thin out their jungle of books by passing some on to a library or historical society.

So why did I feel compelled to buy a couple of old books and pay their airfare home to Bangor? Because they say “Gloucester Vital Records” on the cover.

Do you remember the beginning, really early in your genealogical searches, when libraries yielded giant veins of records?

That happened for me nearly 30 years ago at Bangor Public Library when I found, in the card catalog, the drawer marked “Registers.” The card catalog is now on computer, but that magical drawer is still there, now on the back wall in the Bangor Room on the third floor.

The card for Gloucester, Mass., told me that BPL had three volumes of vital records – births, marriages and deaths.

Those vital records showed that the Bennett brothers who came to Guilford just about two centuries ago from New Gloucester in Maine – Isaac, Nathaniel and John – were actually born in Massachusetts.

Suddenly, I had all kinds of new ancestors – Wharffs and Haskells and Lanes and Milletts and Riggses and Hibberts.

The brothers, you see, were three of several children born to Revolutionary War soldier Isaac Bennett and wife, Dorcas (Wharfe).

So the Gloucester vital records, which include a good many references to church, family and Bible records, as well as town records, were a veritable armful of ancestors to this new genealogist.

Browse the local history section in the Bangor Room, and you’ll see what I mean.

To get an idea of the numerous vital records available at Bangor Public Library, Maine State Library and the University of Maine campus libraries around the state, visit URSUS at http://130.111.64.3/.

Choose “keywords” and type in “vital records Massachusetts,” for example – you’ll find 304 entries.

Bangor Public and Maine State libraries have vital records books on Massachusetts towns such as Carlisle, Stoneham, Westport, Shirley, Harvard, Charlemont, Milford, Gloucester and many, many others. Maine State Library has even more, including Plympton and Kingston.

You can check for vital records in Maine, as well, a category that is growing because Picton Press in Rockport is publishing a good number of books of vital records.

You’ve got an for an anniversary, but no date for either the newspaper or the anniversary – and no name except “Mrs.” for the lady in the marriage.

The only information in the photo caption is the husband’s name, the fact that it was their 52nd anniversary, and the names of their children. Actually, that’s a good amount of data.

If you think they’re from Maine, check the state marriage index for 1892-1966 and 1977-1996 on the Web at www.maine.gov/sos/arc.

Enter the husband’s name, and if they were married in Maine, you’ll likely find the wife’s maiden name, the date of marriage and the town of residence for each at the time of the wedding.

Add 52 years to the date of marriage, and it should tell you roughly when the photo was in the newspaper. In this case the wedding took place in 1898, so the anniversary was from 1950.

But is this the right family? A co-worker and I confirmed that they were by going to the census records for the town the husband and wife were from. We checked 1910 and 1920, and found listed several of the children’s names that were in the newspaper clipping.

Then we went back to the same Web site and checked the death index for 1960-1996, finding a death date for the husband. The wife wasn’t listed, so probably she had died before 1960.

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