The Edwards Family of Raymond Maine

Elijah Hamblen Edwards (1844-1928) came originally from Otisfield, Maine (which was founded by his Edwards ancestors) and moved to Raymond along with his brother Francis when they were just teenagers.  Elijah worked as a cutter, and married Eliza Jane Cobb of Poland Maine, and had six children together:

1.  Sarah Frances Edwards (1881-1964) was nicknamed "Fannie".  She married Eugene Bickford of Naples, Maine in 1897, who was 17 years older.

EUGENE AND FANNIE BICKFORD
RAYMOND, MAINE
(ABOUT 1910)

Fanny was unable to have children, but she adopted her sister Nell's son, Charles Granville Varney, when he was a boy, renaming him Charlie Bickford.  In 1945, Charlie was first to marry my aunt Laura Matilda Clarke, after divorcing his first wife, Phyllis Cummings.  Once Eugene passed in 1926, she lived for the last 12 years of her life in a small alley at 86 Myrtle Street in Portland's Bayside District.  She was a heavy smoker, and enjoyed listening to ball games on the radio.  She loved animals and would nurse birds back to health.  They called her "the bird lady".  Interestingly, her daughter Nell's ex-husband, Charlie Guptill, lived at 45 Myrtle Street just after divorcing Nell (and just before Fanny moved to the same small street).

FANNIE AND CHARLIE BICKFORD
(ABOUT 1916)

2.  Myrtle Lillian Edwards (1882-1962) married Chester Mosher of Naples, Maine at age 15.  She had one child, Roland Mosher (1921-2004), who ended up marrying Sadie Alberta Harriman after my Uncle Sonny Jim Clarke had been married to her.  When Chester died, Myrtle ended up in the Augusta Medical Center for Mental Disease (1940 Census) ("AMHI").  It's unclear if she truly had a mental issue, given that many people were put in such facilities who couldn't afford to pay for housing.  

3.  Nellie H. Edwards (1889-1985), nicknamed Nell, married George Albert Varney of Naples, Maine at the age of 15. They had a baby named Gertrude who lived from 1910-1912, and had Charlie Granville Varney in 1913.  Nell and George divorced shortly afterwards, and Nell gave Charlie up for adoption by her older sister Fanny Bickford, and moved in with Fanny too, at 162 St. John's Street (1920 Census). 

Charlie took his aunt Fanny's married name, and in 1935 Charlie Bickford married Phyllis Cummings and had three children at their home on Hanover Street in Portland's Bayside District.  Their youngest child, Eugene "Gene" Bickford, lived at 370 Payne Road, next door to my Grandma Emily Clarke, from about 1960-1995.  In 1945, Charlie married my aunt Laura Matilda Clarke of Scarborough.  They were only married a year.  Charlie married his third wife, Gilberte in 1961, and died in 1980 at their home in Southbridge, Mass.  

Nell eventually remarried to Charles W. Guptill in 1920, and had one daughter, Myrtle Guptill (named after her Nell's sister), who died am AMHI at 32 years old (where her Aunt Myrtle also had stayed a few years prior).  As a teenager, young Myrtle had fallen in love with a man who was much older, and Nell wouldn't allow her to see him.  She threw a fit and went crazy, and Nell had to put her in AMHI around 1946.

Nell and Charlie divorced eventually and by 1940 she was living with my great uncle Carlie Temm on Beech Ridge Road (as a "housekeeper"), and Charlie Guptill was living with his housekeeper Amanda in Portland, whom he later married.  Nell and Carlie Temm, however, had separate bedrooms and were never married, but were reportedly very happy together.  The kids in the Clarke family were told "to lean on or touch Uncle Carlie"...unknown why.

NELLIE EDWARDS
(ABOUT 1910)

NELLIE EDWARDS-VARNEY-GUPTILL
(ABOUT 1960)

MYRTLE GUPTILL
(1931-1963)

4.  Granville Edwards (1891-1970) was a fireman who lived in Naples Maine with his wife Edith Gardner and their five children (Ernest, Arnold, Mildred, Ann, and Gertrude who died in infancy).

5.  Charles Clinton "Tink" Edwards (1894-1983) moved up to Wilton with his wife Pearl and their four children, and worked in the woolen mill.  I believe his family may have also called him Clayton in addition to Tink.  Tink's oldest son, Leonard, was killed in action during WWII.

6.  Georgia Anna Edwards (1895-1975) married William Herbert Plummer in 1914.  She was known affectionately as "Georgieanne".  She and Herbert Plummer had two children:  Hazel (who died at age four), and Elwin (1915-1973).  Elwin was the second man from the Edwards family to marry my aunt Laura Matilda Clarke of Scarborough (whom Elwin met through the family), and Elwin named one of his daughters Hazel, after his deceased sister.  After Herbert Plummer died, Georgie lived in a small house right across the yard from the Plummer house and barn in Raymond (29 Gore Road).  All Plummer houses were torn down many years ago (in the 1990s).  Barbara & Arnold Mayberry also lived next door (Barbara Plummer was an adopted cousin of Elwin's), and Barbara had a pet capuchin monkey, among other animals.  Barbara ended up buying land from Georgie in the 70s before she died.

GEORGIA ANNA EDWARDS-PLUMMER
(ABOUT 1965)

GEORGIANNE EDWARDS-PLUMMER & NELL EDWARDS-GUPTILL 
(ABOUT 1965)

I find it of further interest that Elijah Edwards' distant cousin, Dennis Edwards of Freeport, married into the Temm family.  Dennis' father came from Otisfield, just like Elijah did, and Elijah's daughter Nell ended up with Carlie Temm.  There must have been a real family connection.