Abbot group offers cemetery records

If you’ve put together some genealogical work, please share it – somewhere, somehow.

It was wonderful to visit the Abbot Historical Society on Abbot Day, July 27, and see the folders and notebooks of family information that have been given to the museum.

Curator Melanie Bridge was one of the first to put together a copy of her work on the Welts family, which certainly helped me. My Julia Welts of Mercer married Thomas Holbrook, and they were parents of Susan D.W. (Holbrook) Moore Gales.

Mike Fogg has passed on copies of military information on his dad, G. Millard Fogg, to the museum, which reminds me that I need to copy pages from the military file on my father, Gayland Moore Jr.

You may know that cemetery inscriptions for the Old Cemetery, across the road from the current Abbot Town Hall, and the Blanchard Cemetery, on the back road in Abbot, were copied by members of the Maine Old Cemetery Association some years ago.

They are in MOCA records on microfilm at Bangor Public Library and the University of Maine’s Fogler Library in Orono, among others; and in the MOCA books at the Maine State Library in Augusta.

Those inscriptions are also on the Piscataquis County CD of MOCA inscriptions available, with index, through Picton Press at www.pictonpress.com.

I’ve been hoping that inscriptions for the Village Cemetery adjacent to the town hall would get done as well, and Robert Davidson has done that.

Even better, he has compiled the inscriptions for the three cemeteries into a booklet, “Abbot, Maine Cemetery Inscriptions.”

The Abbot Historical Society has the booklet available for $15, or $18 by mail. Send check to Abbot Historical Society, P.O. Box 65, Abbot 04406.

I purchased two copies of the book and am giving one to Bangor Public Library for the Bangor Room.

In many cases, Davidson added the wife’s middle and last names to the name that is listed on the stone, and parentage of those buried when known.

For instance, in the Albert G. Phillips lot in the Village Cemetery, the listing for his wife is Barbara Alice Bennett, 18 Jan 1932-Jun 1992, Dau of Alvarus and Norma Brown.

The intent is that Alvarus was a Bennett, and Norma’s maiden name was Brown. Many of us Bennett descendants “know” that, but it will be very useful information to researchers years from now.

In the Weymouth lot in the Old Cemetery, a listing notes that David Weymouth was born in Wales, Maine, to David Weymouth and Hannah (Bowie). Wife Irene was the daughter of Rufus Works and Abigail (Knox).

A Samuel Weymouth, 29 May 1766-3 Jun 1848 was listed of Lee, N.H. He moved to Sangerville in 1810, to Abbot in 1817, Davidson wrote, and his wife was Joanna Gile. That’s a good amount of research.

I am very pleased to have this book of cemetery inscriptions, and I think it’s wonderful that Robert Davidson has allowed Abbot Historical Society to publish it.

Join AHS for $5 sent to the same address as ordering for the cemetery booklet.

Some counties are fairly complete for cemeteries that have been inscribed by MOCA, which has published inscriptions in book form for York County, available at Bangor Public Library. Kennebec County has been published on CD.

Even though Piscataquis County is not complete, I find that the MOCA CD is worth having.

To see what cemeteries have been inscribed by MOCA, look at the county and town index at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~memoca/moca.htm.

Also, do check around for towns that may have cemetery information on the Web, including Sangerville, Houlton and Unity.

The Maine State Archives, located in the same building in Augusta as the Maine State Library, has announced new hours, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The annual Gray Reunion will be held Saturday, Aug. 16, at Victory Grange Hall on Bald Mountain Road in Orland.

Lunch will be held at noon. Bring a favorite casserole, salad or dessert for everyone to enjoy. Bingo will be played in the afternoon, along with horseshoes and games for the children. An auction also will be held.

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