Good for the Maine Historical Society for combining efforts with other state agencies to start up the Maine Memory Network.

The Web site at www.mainememory.org offers a variety of items, from pictures to diaries and other documents.

I plugged in the word “Piscataquis” and found a listing of 52 images, from the Folsom House in Sebec, circa 1850, to a 1924 group of women at the Brownville Centennial Pageant Grounds.

There also is a wonderful photo of men and workhorses in the snow near Blanchard.

It’s always interesting to peruse documents in original handwriting, such as John W.G. Dunn’s diary of hunting and fishing at Moosehead Lake Region in 1889. His guides were Henry Tremblay and John F. Hildreth.

If the novelty of deciphering the penmanship wears off, you can read the transcription included with each page.

The diary is fascinating. A portion of the Aug. 4 entry reads: “Walked to Lazy Tom up to dam and back to Grant Place road. Saw 1 grouse.”

A few days later, Dunn fished Bear Brook and caught 10 trout, all weighing 1 to 11/2 pounds.

The entry includes pictures of Dunn, possibly taken by his wife in 1904. He’s wearing a dress shirt, tie and vest, fishing pole in hand.

Other offerings on the site include items on suffrage, Civil War letters of Meshach P. Larry, and a nice series on samplers.

Users can view samplers by Polly Warren of Gorham, circa 1800; Mary Jones of Falmouth, 1755; Jane Wentworth, 1828; and Zilpah Wadsworth.

The sampler by 11-year-old Jane Wentworth is marked Brownville, but the lettering in the picture actually indicates Brownfield, which is in Oxford County.

I have a lot more looking to do, but I think this is a great start. Much of the information is set up to be used in schools, which is really the point of the site.

If you want to obtain prints or digital images of some photographs, there is the opportunity to purchase them. The material is copyrighted – contact the Maine Historical Society before using it.

One segment features Maine poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

I can’t say which is my favorite of his poems, but the one I remember best is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

The sixth- and seventh-grade classes learned to sing it at Sangerville Consolidated School in 1962, under the direction of Alice Mossler and Ethel Sawyer.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play

And mild and sweet the words repeat,

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Written during the Civil War, the poem’s middle portion speaks of despair. But the beginning and later verses are hopeful. May we all be full of hope this Christmas.

Now let’s talk about e-mail for a moment. When it’s good, it’s very, very good; when it’s bad …

A virus gobbled up all the Family Ties e-mail prior to Dec. 11. Usually I print out queries, but not all of the other correspondence.

If you sent something before Dec. 11, you may want to send another copy of it – familyti@bangordailynews.net.

Thanks for your patience.

Now for a lesson in how easy it is to forget the obvious.

On Dec. 3 I wrote about some of the sources I’d used to search for Charles and Amanda (Conary) Grover, and explained that checking city directories helped me narrow down their death dates.

Or, Clyde Berry reminded me, I could have checked the searchable database for Mt. Hope Cemetery at www.mthopebgr.com.

That would have been the quickest thing for me to do, but I didn’t think of it even though I’ve frequently used that database.

Under Grover, I find Amanda M., died May 31, 1936, in Brewer, at age 66 years, 11 months, 27 days.

Charles Alfred Grover, born in Green Hill, New Brunswick, died Feb. 5, 1917, in Bangor, age 48 years, 5 months, 29 days. The listing includes his birthplace, Green Hill, New Brunswick, and names of his parents, William M. and Sarah Grover.

It doesn’t list spouses in this case, but both are listed as buried in Lot 1918PG.

If the name Clyde Berry is familiar to you, you may know him as a board member of the Maine Old Cemetery Association, as the former State Master and current National Lecturer of Grange, or as author of “The Story of a Town: 1882 Glenburn 1972.”

Thanks for the reminder, Clyde, and for the query:

3162. CLAYTON-FERNALD. Looking for information concerning family of Charles W. and Sarah E. (Fernald) Clayton of Masardis and Ashland. Sarah was b. 1829, daughter of Mark and Louise (Berry) Fernald of Saco. She and Charles had six children. Sarah also had three sisters – Hannah, who md. Jonathan Berry in Bangor, lived in Glenburn; Emily, md. Warren Cressy, lived in Glenburn; Eliza, md. Joseph M. Megquier, lived in Glenburn. Would like to hear from members of Sarah’s family in order to add to genealogy and trace additional siblings of these four girls. Clyde G. Berry, P.O. Box 36, Palermo, ME 04354; or e-mail Brnbry@aol.com.

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