Tree farmers’ roots run deep in Baldwin

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It stands to reason that people who appreciate the land would also feel connected to their personal roots.

So what fun it was to find that the 2007 National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year, Josiah and Kathleen Pierce of Baldwin, own Maine land that has, in part, been in the Pierce family for more than two centuries.

The Pierces own some 2,000 acres, with 360 acres in their family since 1785.

The press release from the American Tree Farm System gives that as the year that Pierce’s ancestor, also named Josiah, left Woburn, Mass., to work for the town’s namesake, Lloammi Baldwin.

The first Josiah Pierce built sawmills, developed a trade in fertilizer, and started a general store that is now the Federalist-style home where Josiah and Kathleen reside.

Pierce, 61, and his wife moved permanently to Maine from Rhode Island in 1994 to actively manage the land. It was his dad, Curtis Pierce, who bought land decades ago to expand the family holdings. The lands have been certified as a Tree Farm since 1961.

They work with a forester and update their management plan for sustainability, soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat and recreation.

Josiah Pierce has done much of the work himself, pruning and thinning to give the best trees room to grow. An island is set aside for campers and canoeists.

Pierce said in the press release that he was looking to the day that timber is not the only source of revenue from the land. He and his youngest son, who also lives in Baldwin, recently bought a nearby farm to start a corporate retreat. He envisions a time when groups of employees and board members from larger companies come to Baldwin for planning sessions, team-building and just to relax.

“We are looking at alternative ways to use the woodland,” said Pierce, a former president of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine. “This land has been in my family for 200 years, and we want it to be there in another 200 years.”

“I just love the shape of the land,” said Pierce. “When I’m out haying, I see the stonewalls my family built [and] the trees my father named in his childhood. I couldn’t live in a more beautiful place.”

John of Hingham or Thomas of Hampton?

If you count either one as your ancestor, you probably know that’s a Leavitt question. Are you descended from John Leavitt of Hingham, Mass., or Thomas Leavitt of Hampton, N.H.?

Either way, perhaps you’d be interested in joining the National Association of Leavitt Families Inc., which was first organized in 1934.

The annual family reunion will be held June 26-28 in Hingham to celebrate the 400th birthday of John Leavitt.

The NALF is based in Candia, N.H., and it has a Web site at www.leavittfamily-nalf.org

Dues are $10 a year, including a quarterly newsletter. Send membership form and check to NALF c/o Dick Leavitt, 23 Beacon Hill Road, Windham, N.H. 03087.

Perhaps you’d like to head north the last weekend in June to take part in the Acadian Festival June 26-29 in Madawaska on the northern border of Maine.

Each year a different Franco-American family is chosen for the big reunion held the same weekend, and this year it will be the Guerrette Family, descendants of Michel Queret dit Latulippe.

Web sites you might visit include:

. Madawaska Historical Society, at www.madawaskahistorical.org

. Acadian Festival, at www.acadianfestival.com

. Guerrette Reunion, at www.guerrettereunion.com

As I’ve said before, late June is a glorious time to visit the St. John Valley.

Activities will include a quilting show at Madawaska High School, a Guerrette Talent Show, a Charlemagne tournament, a bridge tournament, a bed race, street dance, golf scramble and re-enactment of the Acadian landing.

Join members of the Hampden Historical Society for their meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at the Kinsley House on Main Road, not far from the intersection of Kennebec Road in Hampden.

Jamie Holyoke will give a talk on the history of the Hampden Water District.

Join or renew your dues by sending $10 to HHS, P.O. Box 456, Hampden, ME 04444.

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