Edward Gilman II never left England, but many Washington County descendants are cousins, through him, to President Abraham Lincoln. That is the fascinating premise of “The Abraham Lincoln Connection,” the feature article in the spring-summer issue of The Pemmaquon Call, the twice-yearly journal of the Pembroke Historical Society.

The author of the article is Donald R. Sprague, a retired banker who lives in Belfast. It is most helpful that Sprague listed several sources he used in writing the eight-page piece, giving readers the opportunity to do research on their own if they wish.

President Lincoln, Sprague points out, was a descendant of Edward’s daughter Bridget (Gilman) Lincoln, while Cushing, Lincoln and Wilder families go back to another of Edward’s daughters, Mary (Gilman) Jacob.

Families in Washington County who have the Gilman connection to Lincoln, according to Sprague, are Allan, Ayers, Batson, Beatty, Bradbury, Cushing, Eastman, Hersey, Hobart, Kilby, Leighton, Lewis, Lincoln, Low, Mayo, Nelson, Reynolds, Soule, Sprague, Wentworth, Wheeler and Wilder.

Sprague also is the author of “Ancestors of Herbert B. and Ida Emma (Farnsworth) Sprague,” published in 1997.

To receive The Pemmaquon Call, join the Pembroke Historical Society for $10 individual, $15 family or $5 student, sent to PHS, 270 Leighton Point Road, Pembroke, ME 04666. Donations above the amount of dues are tax-deductible.

Also available by mail is “The Terquasquicentennial History of Pembroke” for $12 plus $3 mailing.

The museum at Union Square in Pembroke is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays through August.

Another fine newsletter is Insight, the publication of the Moosehead Historical Society in Greenville. The July issue includes “Loggers’ life hard, hours long,” by John H. Staples of Brunswick.

Tours of the Eveleth-Crafts-Sheridan House are available 1-4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. The society’s second location, the Center for Moosehead History, is in the former Ready Workers Community House. It is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with exhibits including American Indian artifacts and Greenville High School memorabilia.

To receive the quarterly newsletter, send in membership dues of $10 individual, $25 family, $5 student, $150 life membership for an individual, $250 for life membership for two people. The address is Moosehead Historical Museum, PO Box 1116, Greenville, ME 04441-1116.

This is a particularly good time for new members to join, as an anonymous donor has pledged to match new memberships through Labor Day.

The society has a Web site at www.mooseheadhistory.org

Bradford Heritage: Museum and Historical Society publishes a newsletter titled “Looking Back at Bradford.” The spring issue includes memoirs by Bruce Arlington Bailey on the Old Cider Mill, and 1856 letters from James Brackett.

Photographs received by the historical society recently include three donated by Mabelle Reeves of baseball teams from Bradford High School from 1936, 1937 and 1939. Other photos show the Storer homestead and the Williams farm.

Membership is $4 a year, sent to Bradford Heritage, 1163 Main Road, Bradford, ME 04410-3008.

The Bradford High School Reunion will be held 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Bradford Community Center. The museum and archives will be open 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the John B. Curtis Free Public Library.

If you have photographs, memorabilia, artifacts or genealogy, think about sharing them with a historical society so that others might enjoy them, too.

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