The Puzzle Revisited January 11, 2018

        

Progress has been made on the lower part of the puzzle but I’m really struggling with the upper part.  Please note the missing piece on the right of the puzzle.  THE CAT is the villain.

Meanwhile it’s still raining outside.  Rain, rain, rain.  I think I prefer it to the icy conditions recently experienced on the East Coast.  I was particularly struck by the pictures of  ice and snow in Perkins Cove in Ogunquit Maine.

              

 

 

In Pursuit Of Joseph Reed July 5, 2017

I have an ancestor, one of my 3rd great grandfathers, who was born in Maine in 1780 and died in Maine in 1850.  He was married to Sarah Maddox who was born in Maine in 1770.  They had a daughter, Abigail Hinds Reed, who was born in December 1804 in Gloucester Massachusetts.  Abigail married Samuel Friend, 1806-1884.  Abigail and Samuel were my Great Great Grandparents.

They are buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Gloucester.  “He was respected for his integrity”   “Her life was a benediction”

Back to the question of my ancestor Joseph Reed.  Were his parents farmers? or involved in the fishing industry?  Were they part of the extended Reed family from Ireland?  from Kilkenny?  or Donegal?  or Londonderry?  or Scotland?  Were they Protestant, or Catholic?  Questions abound.

I have consulted one reference, a book which detailed many many Reeds but in my initial perusal I didn’t spot a Joseph Reed who fit the scanty information I have already.

 

 

Interested In Maine History? July 4, 2017

  Here’s the book for all history enthusiasts.  In a book store in Mystic Connecticut, I found this book about the history of Maine – titled The Lobster Coast, Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier, by Colin Woodard.  As one would expect, there’s quite a bit of detail about fish and the fishing industry, particularly  lobsters.  But there is also a lot to make one think about the rights of Native Americans and the rights and relationships between the original settlers and the subsequent waves of  “newcomers”, right up to the present day transformations of land use and the questions of distribution of wealth.

In my genealogy research I have been able to trace most of my ancestors back many generations.  At present I am trying to concentrate/focus on the immigration experiences of these branches in my family tree.  These would be the 6th-9th great grandparents.  About 90% of these forebears came to New England.  I have one case of an abrupt end of the trail with my 3rd great grandparents Joseph Reed and Sarah Maddox.  They were each born in Maine in the late 1700’s.  Joseph died in Maine in 1850.  Their daughter Abigail was my great great grandmother.  She was born in Gloucester in 1804.  But I do not have any information re Joseph and Sarah’s forebears, my 4th great grandparents etc.  Did they come to Maine as immigrants?  What happened to them in this remote and harsh part of the American frontier.  Did they perish in an encounter with one of the many tribes of Native Americans who raided the settlers villages and isolated dwellings.   I wonder.