Unknown Family Members?

(Dixie's Note) Yesterday an old quilt was delivered to my door from my granddad's house. It is likely from the 1930's to the 1950's - although some of the prints might be older. Some of the prints might have been from dresses, others are from feedsacks. The maker is unknown. Of course, Mary Sargent often referred to handwork in her journal - making lace, knitting, quilting. It is unlikely that she contributed to this quilt. But perhaps some of the prints are ones she had saved from feedsacks or old clothes. Or it might have come from another family branch, or even outside of the family in some way.

Every family has these kinds of unknown treasures - artwork and handiwork made by someone and photo albums with pictures of people they don't know. Putting together family history is a bit like making a quilt - you find pieces here and there and you try to put it together as best you can to make sense.

Speaking of unknown family photos - here are a few pictures from Mary Butman Sargent's Photo Album that were not marked. It is likely that some of them are from the Maine Pendleton and Butman families, and probably family members and close friends known well enough to not need to be identified at the time. But here we are over 100 years later and have no clue who these people are.

Mary F. Butman Sargent, front right - one mystery solved, and quite close to home! My father emailed and said the couple above is likely to be Margaret and James Parse, her close friends. Margaret was Mary's niece, the daughter of her sister Margaret Ann (Butman) Sargent. The date on the photo finds Mary in Alton, but the following entry from Mary's journal is found from a few days before:

"September 7, Sunday - Took dinner at Margaret’s. James there. Pictures taken while we sat out talking. Jay came at 3:40 and in half an hour we started for Alton. Arrived about 7."

Here (below) is a photo of James Parse found on p. 167 in Searsport Sea Captains:

Another unknown couple above with dogs

A handsome young man above - but who?



Another unkown man...

An earnest unknown boy
but I know a present family member
with ears like that!

Hannah Butman Ford?
Mary Butman Sargent's sister?

Hannah Ford's daughters?

She looks like a dependable woman -
I wish I knew who she was!

Robert Lord Sargent: Carpenter, Housewright, Joiner, Gentleman

Toward the end of his life, Robert Lord Sargent set out on an adventure. His 1831 letter written from Mobile, Alabama shows him working for Bebe __ Clark at one Dollar and fifty cents per day "and Vitaels & Drink."

Click here to view scans of Robert's 1831 letter

Why would a man of 61 end up working in Alabama, far away from his roots and family? One theory is he may have traveled on his son's ship and decided to stay a while in Alabama. At that time his children were grown and perhaps he felt a freedom to travel. Another theory is that he hoped to make more money in Alabama than in Maine. In his 1831 letter he states that he may go to Texas in search of Spanish dollars. This 1831 letter is our last known record of Robert L. Sargent alive. It is a record of a man on a mission, working away, but missing his family.

Robert was born in the year 1771 in Marblehead, Massachusetts around October 6th. (Marblehead Vital Records, Vol. 1, pp 456). The population of Maine began to grow in the mid-1700's, after the Indian threat lessened. The offer of 100-acre lots free to anyone who settled in the northern province doubled the population of Maine from 12,000 to 24,000 between 1743 and 1763. By the end of the century, the number of Maine settlers had grown to more than 150,000.

Robert L. Sargent may have come to Long Island (Isleborough) to work first, as by c 1792 at the age of about 21 he married Mary Dodge, a daughter of Simon Dodge of the prominent Dodge family who were among the first settles there. He probably was apprenticed in the building industry at an early age to learn the carpenter's trade, the trade of his father Winthrop. By May of 1796 Robert paid $120 for 100 acres of land, probably in today's Searsport. He was 25 years old at the time. More deeds followed, and Robert was probably building houses on the parcels he bought. The book Remarks of My Life by Hezekiah Prince sheds light on what life might have been like for young Robert L. Sargent, a carpenter in Maine.

Here are notes of Robert L. Sargent's first purchase in Maine in 1796:

12 May 1796 - Hancock Registry, volume 4, page 210
(below from Waldo Registry)

Henry Lord of Prospect, yeoman, for $120 paid by Robert P. Sargent of said Prospect quit claim to "100 acres of land laying in Prospect and is bounded in following manner, to begin on the shore of the mouth of a small brook at a stake and stones, being bound between Winthrop Smith & myself, run North forty rods forty-two degrees West to a hemlock stump, then North fifteen degrees West, one mile and three quarters to a stake and stones, then north sixty-eight degrees East 50 rods to a yellow birch marked R. S. then south twenty-two degrees East a half a mile to a yellow birch marked R. S. then to run southeasterly a mile and a quarter till it comes to the shore at a stake and stones, it being 70 rods from the first mentioned bounds to the East, the upper fifty acres is half of a lot I took a permit of Benj. Shut Esq. Agent for General Knox at one dollar per acre, the front part, be the same more or less, I signed for to General Knox for four shillings per acre." The deed was signed by Henry Lords in the presence of Winthrop Smith and William Griffin. Wife Molly also gave up her right of dower.

And so begins Robert's many dealings in land over the course of his life.

Click here to view notes taken
of Robert's land transactions.

These notes were taken by JGS from the deeds and are not direct quotes of the deeds - dates and volume numbers for the deeds are noted for those who would like to do further research.

Robert L. Sargent and his father Winthrop Sargent are listed in the Waldo County Census as residents of Prospect, Maine. In the census under the heading "From Whence Came" both Robert L. and Winthrop are listed as coming from Beverly, Massachusetts. Deeds from that time describe Robert L. Sargent with various titles: carpenter, housewright, yeomen, joiner, and gentleman. We also know he was a deacon of his church.

We don't know why Robert Lord Sargent ended up in Alabama. We do know at the time of his writing his 1831 letter that he missed his family and had hopes to return to them in Maine bearing gifts. But 1840 foreclosures on land held by Robert L. Sargent suggest that Robert did not return to Maine. Perhaps he died of yellow fever in Mobile, a common cause of death in the region.

1831 Map of Alabama/Georgia

Or perhaps Robert did travel to lawless Texas,
in search of Spanish Dollars?

It's a mystery.
Any detectives out there?

Who Is That?

Anyone who has looked through a box of old family photos has played the "Who Is That?" game. It helps when you have a generation of people alive who knew the people. Or a document which might confirm a date on the photograph. We are fortunate that Mary F. Butman Sargent kept a guest book for her Searsport Cottage, and that a family member has transcribed that guest book. Here is the information given by the web-shy family member regarding who is in the picture above, taken at Mary's Searsport summer cottage. Here is the email I received concerning the picture:

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I was looking at the photo in your latest posting on SSOM, and trying to identify the people. You correctly identified Mary as the elderly lady in the middle. The boy on the far right is Herbert, and he appears to be about 15. In the background are the old cars, and they seem to date about 1920 or so.

I thought about Mary’s Guestbook, which I had earlier transcribed, and searched down through that about 1920 for mentions of dates where Mary and Herbert were present, along with (Mary's) son James, who I suspect is the man in the rear at the far left. I found several mentions, but the one that seemed most proper is the one below:

1921 July 4 at dinner. Wm. Ford. James

Sargent & Grace with Herbert & Margaret.

Lucy Sargent, Edith Parse, Leoessa Ford Curtis

Loessita Fredd & Mary Jerome.

From there we can guess at the identities of the other people. The ages of the people listed in the Guest Book in 1921 are as follows:

Loessita Curtis 5

Fred Curtis 6

Loessa Curtis (mother) 46

Lucy Sargent 43

From the above I would guess the man on the left in front of Jim might be William Ford. The boy on the near left would be Fred Curtis, the young girl beside him would be Loessita Curtis, and their mother Loessa (Ford) Curtis immediately behind them. To the right of Loessa would be Lucy Sargent.

I am not sure these are right, but they seem to fit. Mary Jerome (14) and Margaret Sargent (8) must be off playing elsewhere.

I am attaching the file on Mary’s Guest Book, which you probably already have. Some of the people I have copied this to might be interested, and maybe they will start keeping guestbooks.

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So the conbination of a date on a photograph and a guestbook kept by Mary give some clues as to who the people in the photograph might be. Perhaps there are some from the Ford, Jerome or Curtis family that might confirm the identities of these people.