The Dressers of Scarborough Maine

WILBUR FISKE DRESSER
(ABOUT 1900)

The Dresser Road in rural western Scarborough is about 8/10 of a mile long, and was home to the historical Dresser family (originally from Rowley, Massachusetts) for over 150 years, from about 1735 to 1891.

The earliest record of the road being named Dresser Road that I have found to date would be a property deed dated December 1880 from Dominicus Libby to Sarah Jane Temm.

A history of the Dressers of Scarborough:

Around 1735, Nathaniel Dresser (1683-1749) migrated north from Rowley, Mass with his wife Elizabeth (1689-1736) and his son Richard Dresser (1713-1783) to the fertile farmlands of Scarborough.  Elizabeth died shortly after arriving.  Nathaniel was killed by an Indian on Scottow's Hill near the home of Leonard Libby.  Neighbor David Libby killed the Indian that did the deed. Nathaniel is reputed by the Scarborough Historical Society to have been the last person killed by Indians in Scarborough (American Indian Wars: A Chronology of Confrontations Between Native Peoples, copyright McFarland, Jun 8, 2015, written by Michael L. Nunnally).

The same year that Nathaniel died, his son Richard married Mindwell Munson of Scarborough.  They had six children, most of whom moved to neighboring Buxton:

-Mary Dresser married neighbor Elijah Libby, but she died young, and had no descendants.

-Mindwell Dresser married neighbor Elijah Libby after her sister died.  No descendants there, either.

-Richard Dresser moved to neighboring Gorham and married Temperance Hamblin.  They settled in Buxton with two sons, Joseph and Richard, Jr.

-Mark Dresser moved to Buxton, married Nancy Holbrook, and had twelve children. 

-Paul Dresser also moved to Buxton, and married Sally Holbrook (sister to Nancy!), and had at least eleven children.  Paul's son, Alfred Metcalfe Dresser (1807-1870) married his first cousin Martha Andrews Dresser (Mark's daughter).  This meant that Martha and Alfred were double cousins.

-Wentworth Dresser (1762-1842) was the only one in his immediate family to remain in Scarborough.  He fought in the Revolution (Private, Captain Roger Libby’s Company; joined 1 October 1779; discharged 23 October 1779; service with detachment of Cumberland County Militia under Nathaniel Jordan, Esq., at the Eastward. (Vol IV, p. 969, Massachusetts Soldiers & Sailors in the War of the Revolution).  He married Sophia Holbrook (sister to Nancy and Sally, mentioned above).  They managed the farm on Dresser Road.  They had eight children, all but one whom relocated to other parts of Maine:

1. Daniel Dresser moved to Saco, and married Sarah Libby of that town.  Their only child, Ira Dresser, relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio.

2. Sarah Dresser-Dewey-Smith also moved to Saco, and had four children with two husbands (both from Vermont).

3.  Ira Dresser married Nancy Smart and also moved to Saco, where they had eight children. Ira was a clothier at Saco Clothing Store, according to this ad from 1856.

4.  Robert Dresser married Sophia Rose and moved to Portland, where they had nine children.

5. Lydia Dresser married John Blake and moved to Portland, where they had five children.

6.  Israel Dresser married Elizabeth Banks and moved to Castine, and later Brewer, Maine, and had well over a dozen children.

7. Joseph Wentworth Dresser married Eunice Deering (daughter to Samuel Deering of Gorham).  They had five children and relocated to Kansas around 1855.

8. Josiah C. Dresser (1816-1868) was the youngest child of Wentworth, and the only descendant of the Scarborough Dressers to remain in Scarborough.  He kept the Dresser Road farm going until his death in 1868.  He married Lydia W. Junkins, and had three children in Scarborough:

-Emma Dresser (1853-1872) died young at age 19.

MELVILLE DRESSER

-Melville Dresser (1851-1885) married Ella Smith, and remained in Scarborough, but had no children.

-Wilbur Fiske Dresser (1848-1925), pictured above, kept the Dresser Road farm going after the death of his father.  He married his neighbor Sarah Eliza McLaughlin (part of the Scotch-Irish clan that migrated to Cumberland County and were early county founders).

SARAH MCLAUGHLIN-DRESSER
(abt 1899)

Additional photos of Wilbur and Sarah from around 1912, courtesy of the Dresser Family:

Wilbur expanded the farm's business around 1893, and got into dealing hay, straw, ashes and bale ties.  He kept an office at 12 Moulton Street in Portland for some time, and was also named Postmaster of West Scarborough in 1888.  The following year, his mother Lydia deeded him the entire Dresser properties in Scarborough before she herself passed in 1896.

By 1896, Wilbur expanded his business enterprises into real estate, and became a successful broker in Scarborough and all around Greater Portland.  His company, W.F. Dresser & Sons was then located at 80 Exchange Street.  This company managed the purchase, sale and mortgage of a variety of Cumberland County properties from after the Civil War through to the end of the Depression.

80 EXCHANGE STREET
(OFFICES OF W.F. DRESSER)
BEHIND 'FOX BLOCK' (WHICH IS NOW 'TOMMY'S PARK')
(1924)

80 EXCHANGE STREET
(2012)

In 1896, Wilbur also happened to be the Administrator to the Will of my 2nd great grandmother, Sarah Jane Temm, four years after her death.  In 1920, he also sold some land on Gorham Road to her son, John Henry Temm, who was my great grandfather.

By 1891, Wilbur had started selling off his land assets in Scarborough to others.  That year he deeded the Dresser farm to George Wolfe, and in 1897 he deeded neighboring property to Florence Bennett.  He left Scarborough during that time, but still handled many land deals there for several years.  Wilbur's exodus from Scarborough around 1891 marks the end of a long era of Dressers living in the Town.

By the 1900 Census he and his family were living on Atlantic Street in South Portland, and then he was living on his Payne Road property in South Portland for 1910, when they had a live-in servant, Eugene Foye.  

To be closer to his burgeoning real estate business, Wilbur moved the family to Portland just prior to the 1920 Census, to their new home at 1181 Congress Street in the Libbytown district.  The house was razed many years later to make way for the 295 Overpass and ramps.

1181 CONGRESS STREET
(1924)

Below is a brief account of Wilbur's five children:

IRA DRESSER
(abt 1885)

1.  Ira Hunt Dresser (1879-abt 1957) worked as a farmer, then trucking and moving, and later as a building nurse, and lived on Outer Congress Street in Portland with his wife Mildred Grover.  No children.

WILLIAM WATSON DRESSER
(abt 1890)

2.  William Watson Dresser (1881-1946) became president of W.F. Dresser & Sons upon Wilbur's retirement.  In 1915, William was elected as exalted ruler of BPOE Lodge 188 in Portland.  His brother Perley followed him ten years later.  In 1917, William married Edith Skillin of Portland, but she died five years later, bearing him no children.  William kept the business going until his own death, at which time he was merely a lodger and widower living on Neal Street, and running the business out of 22 Monument Square starting in 1940.

PERLEY CHASE DRESSER
(ABOUT 1920)

3.  Perley Chase Dresser (1885-1960) also lived in Portland, and was treasurer of W.F. Dresser & Sons.  He married Alice Barbour, and had no children.  When his brother William died, he ran the family brokerage business until his own death in 1960, which signaled the end of the family real estate business, which had begun around 1895.  In 1925, Perley was elected exalted ruler of BPOE Lodge 188 in Portland, as his brother had before him, but held the post for over 25 years.

4.  Leon Wentworth Dresser (1894-1967) also lived in Portland, and worked as a bank teller at Chapman National Bank.  He later was a partner in Millett Fish & Dresser (later Millett Rittenhouse & Dresser).  He and Phyllis Trefethen of South Portland married in 1916, just before Leon got drafted into WWI.  When Leon returned from the War, they had only one child, Richard W. Dresser (1924-1973), who married Mary Libby and moved to Boston around 1949 to attend business school at Boston University - and apparently stayed in that area.  Richard had only one child.  Leon & Phyllis lived in South Portland until their deaths.

HELEN MAY DRESSER-McDONALD
(about 1929)

5. Helen May Dresser (1902-1996) married William McDonald and had a daughter named Ruth McDonald-Roberts (1932-2009) (who had children and grandchildren of her own).

Most of the old Scarborough Dresser family is buried in Dunstan Cemetery in Scarborough.  While only two of Wilbur's children (Leon and Helen) bore him any descendants, there are no living Dresser descendants in Scarborough.  Their presence in Scarborough lasted from around 1735-1899, and the road they lived on is still named for them to this day.

Temm Family Migrations (Germany to USA)

My 2nd great grandfather, Marcus Timm of Hamburg who migrated to Maine around 1852, was one of several Germans bearing the Timm/Temme surname to have migrated to America in the 1800s.  This post will seek to track other similar families, using available records, to determine the possibility of a relationship to my Marcus.

Thanks to ship arrival index cards found on NARA microfilm, I was able to learn the following:

1.  A ship arrived in Baltimore on 1 October 1833 carrying 36 year old farmer Heinrich Timm, 27 year old woman Christine Timm, 7 year old boy Friedrich Timm, 5 year old girl Margaret Timm, and 2 year old Catherine Timm, all of Germany.

2.  A ship arrived in Baltimore on New Year's Day 1836 carrying a dyer named Joseph Temme of Germany.

3.  The ship Ernestine arrived in New Orleans on 4 Jun 1850, carrying 18 year old woman Louise Temme, all of Germany. 

4.  The ship Diana arrived in New Orleans on 8 Nov 1851.  On it were a number of Temme family members from Germany:  42 year old man F. Temme, 30 year old farmer A. Temme, 17 year old boy A. Temme, 15 year old boy E. Temme, 12 year old boy C. Temme, 8 year old boy L. Temme, 6 year old boy F. Temme.

5.  A ship arrived in Baltimore on 2 July 1869, carrying 56 year old woman Friedke Timm, 52 year old farmer Friedrich Timm, 26 year old woman named Arigote (sp?) Timm, and 18 year old woman Friedke Timm.

Cards attached below:

Other Timms found in Maine Directories, which may or may not be related to Marcus:

-Neils Timm, farmer/laborer:  Portland Directories (1895, 1896, 1898).  Lived on 24 Summit Street and worked at 13 Spring Street.  I wonder if this was a cousin of Katie's?  Maybe he was one of  Marcus' little brothers?

-Fritz "Fred" Timm, shoemaker, born in Germany Sep 1852 (migrated 1873, much later than Marcus), naturalized 1884:   Belfast/Camden/Rockland Directories (1875, 1877, 1899), lived on Mechanic Street in Rockland and Pleasant Street and Bridge Street, both in Belfast.  If there's any relation, then he'd be Marcus' nephew.

-Vernon Timm, millworker at S.D. Warren:  Portland Directories (1950-1964).  Lived on Pine Street in Portland with his wife Mary.

-H. Alan Timm, Executive VP of First National Granite Bank of Augusta (1962 Augusta Directory).  Lived on Manchester Street in Augusta with his wife Barbara.

-Frederick N. Timm, assistant manager, Personal Finance Co. (1948 Dover, NH Directory) lived on Barrington Street in Dover with his wife Marjorie.

-Christian Christoph Temme of Missouri was born around the right time to be a younger brother, and was a politician after the Civil War.

The McLaughlins of Scarborough

Robert McLaughlin Jr. was a farmer on the Beech Ridge Road in Scarborough, whose family lived on this property from about 1740-1914, and who were early founders of Cumberland County.  He was listed as Scarborough's member of the State House of Representatives in 1855.  He is referred to hereafter in this article as "Robert Jr."

Robert Jr. and his wife, Eleanor, had two children, Sarah Jane and William, and three grandchildren through William.  The entire family living on the McLaughlin Homestead, according to available census records are listed below (and written in boldface when they are known to have been buried at the family graveyard on their homestead):

McLaughlins buried at McLaughlin Graveyard on Beech Ridge Road:

• Robert McLaughlin, Jr. (1784-1871)
• Eleanor H. Clements-McLaughlin (1792-1863), Robert's wife
• Sarah Jane McLaughlin (1828-1848), Robert's daughter
• William McLaughlin (1829-1880), Robert's son (referred to elsewhere in this document as "William 1829")
• Catherine Mitchell-McLaughlin (1834-1908) (William 1829's wife).  When William died, she moved in with her daughter, at 223 Payne Road South Portland, where she died.
• Eliza A. Mitchell (1825-1895) (Catherine's sister) was a tailoress.  She died a spinster in Saco, having lived with the Carpenter, Lord (at the "Saco House"), Foss and Stevenson families as a boarder.
• Betsey E. McLaughlin (1855-1870), daughter of William 1829 and Catherine.  She died as a teenager

McLaughlins buried at Dunstan Cemetery in Scarborough (whom it is believed were buried elsewhere first, and removed to Dunstan - unclear where there original burial location was, but they all died prior to the burials at the family cemetery on Beech Ridge Road, so it's unlikely this was the original location) - also included here are headstone notes from Ron Romano, Portland Historian and Author:

• William McLaughlin (1706-1782) the main patriarch of these McLaughlins (referred to in this article as "William 1706") [William’s stone features the smallest rising sun I've found in the Bartlett Adams collection, made by Alpheus Cary c. 1805-1807. It is featured in my book about Bartlett on pages 146-147.  So this is clearly backdated.  He was probably buried in the back yard with a piece of field stone in 1782… since no stone shop was around then. Then, over 2 decades later, the family got him a professionally carved marker from the Adams shop.]
• Sarah Jameson-McLaughlin (1715-1818), wife to William 1706 [Sarah’s stone is unusual for its lack of decoration.  Just lettering — by Bartlett Adams himself, carved around 1825 - 1828 (it is his classic later lettering style from the mid 1820s to his death in 1828)]
• Robert McLaughlin Sr. (1752-1823), son to William and Sarah, and father to the Robert Jr. listed at the top (referred to in this article as "Robert Sr.") [Robert’s stone is a match to Sarah’s — undecorated but lettered by Adams around 1825 - 1828. Given their identical unusual appearance i think the family had them both made at the same time.]
• Martha Johnson-McLaughlin (1760-1851), wife to Robert Sr. [Martha’s stone is post-Adams and i don’t know the carver, but it is special since it is what we call a purple slate. These were produced in our area only from about 1840 to 1860 and are typically undecorated and with a square top and deeply incised letters.]
• Nancy McLaughlin (1784-1805), daughter to Robert Sr. and Martha, who died before her 21st birthday [Nancy’s stone is another of Alpheus Cary’s.  He was in the shop 1805 to 1807 and this one fits perfectly within that range as Nancy died 1805.  My guess is the family got her stone and William’s at the same time (from the same carver, at the same shop). And while Nancy got a very simple pinwheel design, the family chose the rising sun for the patriarch William]
• William McLaughlin (1789-1837) Robert Jr.'s brother (referred to elsewhere in this document as "William 1789")
• Agnes Hasty-McLaughlin (1796-1884) William 1789's wife

Other McLaughlins of Scarborough:

• Martha McLaughlin (1791-??), Robert Jr.'s sister, unwed
• Mary McLaughlin (1797-???), Robert Jr.'s sister, unwed
• James McLaughlin (1819-1895) William 1789's son, a carpenter who relocated to New Jersey.
• Charles McLaughlin (1827-1886) William 1789's son - buried at Evergreen Cemetery.  Charles was a successful grocer, and started up Charles McLaughlin & Company grocers.

CHARLES MCLAUGHLIN
(1827-1886)

CHARLES MCLAUGHLIN & CO
STORE ON CENTRAL STREET
ABOUT 1880
This firm began business on Commercial Street, No. 163,
near the head of Union Wharf, removed to No. 84 (Thomas
Block ) in 1860, where they remained until December, 1879,
when they removed to the large and spacious store on Central
Street (head of Central Wharf).

William 1829 took over the farm from his father Robert.  He and his wife Catherine had four children:

• Betsey E. McLaughlin (1855-1870), buried at the family lot mentioned above.
• Sarah Eliza McLaughlin (1859-1917) married in 1878 to real estate broker Wilbur Fiske Dresser (1848-1924), of the Scarborough Dressers (who had been in Scarborough since the Revolution, and have a public road named after them), and in particular, son to Josiah Dresser of Scarborough (1816-1868).  As an aside, Wilbur was executor of the Estate of my 2nd great grandmother, Sarah Jane Temm.  Sarah and Wilbur moved to Payne Road, in South Portland, after the McLaughlin homestead was no longer with the family (around 1890), and they took Sarah's widowed mother Catherine with them.  They had five children:  Ira, William, Perley, Leon and Helen.  Leon and Helen each had children.  Richard W. Dresser (1925-1973) was son to Leon, and Ruth McDonald-Roberts (1932-2009) was daughter to Helen.  Each of these descendants had children of their own.  In later years, after Sarah died of uterine cancer, Wilbur lived as a widower with his son Perley in Portland, before retiring to Scarborough, where he died.  Most of this family is buried at Dunstan Cemetery in Scarborough.
• Katie M. McLaughlin (1868-1943) worked as a stenographer.  She married Capt. Fred Phillips of Portland in 1899.  She quitclaimed her interest in the McLaughlin estate to her sister Sarah in 1901.  She and Fred lived in Portland for the rest of their lives, and are buried at Dunstan.
• Ada McLaughlin (1869-bef 1880)

KATIE MCLAUGHLIN
circa 1878

SARAH MCLAUGHLIN
circa 1878

To dig back into Robert Jr.'s roots, I will take from the e-book History of Cumberland County published 1880 by W. Woodford Clayton, where there is a brief history of the McLaughlins from Beech Ridge (going back to Ireland).  Here is the excerpt pertaining to their time in Scarborough (which contains appears to be at odds with some records I've found):

William and Robert McLaughlin, brothers, of the stock of the Luster McLaughlins, emigrated in the same vessel to this country, and settled in Scarborough, then virtually, so far as the Indians were concerned, a frontier town.  William was born in 1706; his wife, Sarah Jameson, was born in Plymouth, Mass., in 1715, and died in Scarborough, Jan. 21, 1818. [Robert was never married.] William and Robert cleared the farm on Beech Ridge, in Scarborough, now owned and occupied by his great-grandson, Robert McLaughlin. This family, like the other settlers of Scarborough, had their share of  trouble from the Indians, who, both in their own interest and in that of the French, made many incursions into the town. In those days the alarms of danger were frequent enough; the McLaughlins were obliged many a time to leave their home and seek security with the garrison on Scottow's Hill; and it was not until the peace of 1763 that they were finally safe from the depredations of the savages.

William McLaughlin was a town warden in 1777. He died in 1782. His son Robert, born in Scarborough, July 18, 1752, died May 8, 1823; his wife, Martha Johnson, was born Feb. 16, 1761, and died at Monmouth, Me., June 9, 1851. [Missing Robert Jr. 1784-1871] They had three sons and six daughters. Betsey, the eldest, married Edward Sargent, of Bangor; Sally and Nancy were never married ; Catharine married Henry Vanschaick Cumston, of Scarborough, afterwards of Monmouth; William; James; Dionysia married Wiggins Hill, of Bangor; Ruth married Joseph Hasty, of Standish ; Charles was never married ; James went to Bangor, operated in real estate, became quite wealthy, and died there Oct. 14, 1872, at the age of eighty-two ; his wife was Almira Tilton, of Scarborough. Charles, the youngest of the family, settled in Louisiana and became a large planter ; he died Dec. 19, 1835, in his thirty-eighth year. William took to farming like his ancestors, and was known as a man of good judgment, of strict integrity, and correct habits. He married Agnes Hasty (whose mother, Rachel Deane, was a niece of Parson Deane), by whom he had three sons, James, Robert, and Charles; he died at Scarborough, April 11, 1837.  Of these sons, Robert resides upon the old homestead, which has thus been in his family for four successive generations, about a hundred and thirty years.

Now, the Robert underlined above is cousin to Robert Jr. of this article.  He kept the farm of his father (William born 1789) going until his own death in 1912.  This farm was nearby to the other McLaughlin property, owned by William's brother (Robert born 1784).  Robert Jr. of this article has been omitted from this 1880 publication entirely.  I've added him in above in brackets.

According to a series of typewritten sheets of research found at the Scarborough Historical Society written by a member of the Tilton family (the "Tilton Papers"):

William [the immigrant] and his wife Sarah suffered very much from the fear of the Indians, though never attacked by them.  They often had to leave their house and go to the garrison on Scottow's Hill.  Mrs. McLaughlin feared very much at one time that her young child might by its cries betray her to the Indians, the child having died she then thought its death was a punishment for her wicked fears.  Axes and all farming tools had to be carried into the house at night to secure them from the Indians.  A sister of Mrs. McLaughlin married John Porterfield who was saved by her dog from being taken by the Indians when she went in the spring for water.

Now also according to the Tilton Papers, a brother of Robert Jr. was one James McLaughlin of Bangor, who, after retiring from his law firm, Hill & McLaughlin, became a devoted gardener and founder of the McLaughlin Plum in the 1840s.  James and his horticultural creation are also mentioned in The Fruits of America, published 1856.

According to p. 187 of the Jamesons in America, published 1901, a Robert McLaughlin of Scarborough married Hannah McKenney, born 1739, daughter to Margaret Jameson.  Given the age, this Robert MAY have been a son to the Robert who was brother to William who emigrated from Northern Ireland with him.  I've bracketed the notion above that Robert never married.  I don't think there were any other Robert McLaughlins of marrying age in Scarborough in the 1750s.  I feel quite confident this is a son to this Robert.

I've compiled a family tree, using available records, with the assumption that my theories are correct (click to enlarge).  I've highlighted in yellow the people who are buried at McLaughlin Graveyard, and in green are people I have located in Dunstan Cemetery in Scarborough.

McLaughlin House
100 Beech Ridge Road (at the end of Dresser Road)
Scarborough Maine

McLaughlin House
100 Beech Ridge Road (at the end of Dresser Road)
Scarborough Maine
Owned by:
Robert McLaughlin (1784-1871)
his son William McLaughlin (1829-1880)
and his daughter Sarah McLaughlin Dresser (1859-1917)
(note, the writing in pencil at the top "OE Woodbury, 179 Lincoln Street, S. Portland"
refers to the photo studio, not the residence shown)

As for the property owned by William McLaughlin (born 1829, son to Robert born 1784, and first cousin to the Robert mentioned above) (see pictures above)...

In 1902, Sarah McLaughlin-Dresser (William's daughter) sold this 100 Beech Ridge Road property to Thomas Lessard, with a deed restriction for a burial ground to remain on the property, reading as follows:

Reserving, however, the Burying Ground on said farm with sufficient room to build and maintain suitable fence around the same with right to enter at any and all times to repair fence or for any other purpose.

The McLaughlin Property went through several hands afterwards:  Benjamin Shaw, Harriette Harmon, Bridget Sheehy, and finally in 1935 to Bill Temm, Sr. of the Temm family, which family had once owned the farmland across Beech Ridge Road back in 1864.  The property was divided up for Bill's heirs, but in 1998 the land that carried the deed restriction for the cemetery described it as such:

Reserving, however, to the Scarborough Historical Society, as well as the heirs of those buried therein, the right to access the old burial ground on the above-described property, said burial ground and right of access being more fully described in a deed recorded in the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds in Book 727, Page 169.

This small graveyard for the McLaughlins who lived and thrived there is maintained with much care by the current property owners, the heirs of Bill Temm, Sr., even as of the recent edit to this post in 2022.

Only seven members of this family have gravestones here (the names are in bold above), but as you can tell from the photos below, there is quite a bit of space where more unmarked graves might lie, and one would assume they may likely be the remainder of the McLaughlins who lived on Robert's homestead...

The Mysterious Marcus Timm

My 2nd great grandfather was named Marcus Timm, and he was born in Hamburg, Germany (then part of Prussia) around 1824.  He was a sea captain who eventually settled in Portland Maine with his new wife, Nova Scotian Sarah Jane Brownrigg, in 1852.  It's unclear to me which year he officially migrated to the USA, but he doesn't show up on the 1850 Census, so I might be inclined to believe he migrated just prior to his marriage to Sarah.  Marcus' migration was one of several German Timm families migrating to the USA in the mid 19th Century.

The below painting shows a bustling Portland around the time of Marcus' arrival.  One of those ships could've belonged to him!

"Portland" by WS Hatton, 1854

The 1860 Census has Marcus listed as "William Brown", a Landlord on the East End in Portland, and his whole family carrying the surname "Brown".  Since he was named this way, I am guessing that (a) he adopted a portion of his wife's maiden name (Brownrigg), and that (b) one of his Christian names would be Wilhelm (German for William).  An 1891 tax deed describes Marcus' land in Scarborough (more on this below) as having been owned by "William Temm", so I'm quite certain that Wilhelm was one of his Christian names.

 

But how was he a Portland landlord?  I did a deed search and learned that in September of 1866 a William and Sarah Brown sold a property on the East End with an address of 17 Atlantic Street, to Adeline Hutchinson for $3,400 (today's value $51,500).  They had acquired this property in 1854 from John Weeks (Book 255/Page 308, Cumb. Co. Deed Registry).  This would match with the 1860 Census record, and would somewhat coincide with their purchase of the Scarborough property two years prior.  I wonder if at that point in time one had to show identification proving your name?  His name wasn't legally William Brown.  The Deed references that William is a merchant, and that Ms. Hutchinson was wife of John Hutchinson, Master Mariner.  This is another clue that lines up with Marcus' known profession of being a seaman.  (Book 347/Page 165 - Cumb. Co. Deed Registry).

17 ATLANTIC STREET
(1924)
POSSIBLY OWNED BY MARCUS TEMM (AKA WILLIAM BROWN) FROM 1854-1866

17 ATLANTIC STREET
(2011)

17 Atlantic Street (2022)

On the death record of his son, John Henry Temm, Marcus was listed as a Sea Captain born in Hamburg.  Just a few years prior to Marcus' death in 1868, his wife Sarah and her children moved to Scarborough, Maine (they also changed their names from Brown to Temm), and in 1864 purchased a great deal of property on the east side of Beech Ridge Road, which stayed in the Temm family until the 1920's.  Marcus and Sarah's property lay across the road from property which was purchased  in 1935 by Marcus' grandson William Temm, all of which is still in the Temm family today.  Where the money came from for Marcus and Sarah's $700 purchase of land, I'm not entirely sure.  In today's world, that would equal about $9,925.  It appears that Marcus had some success as a merchant mariner in Portland prior to the Civil War, and that Sarah's brother-in-law, who owned merchant marine flophouses, must have also done well enough to provide for his sister's family to some extent.

Marcus died 23 Nov 1868 of dropsy (edema).  His kids were ages 3 to 15 at the time, so they largely grew up without their father.  Marcus is believed to be buried in Forest City Cemetery, South Portland...since his brother-in-law Robert Brownrig had purchased that lot just a few weeks after Marcus' death.  Since Robert was a landowner at the time, I'm inclined to believe that the money Sarah Jane used for buying the land in Scarborough came from her brother.

That is the extent of what is known and proven regarding this ancestor.  Below is a thorough account of all stories, research, assumptions, and some questions regarding him, and the research continues.

My wonderful Great Aunt, Isabelle Temm, who passed away in 2011 just before her 90th birthday, was a passionate Temm genealogist.  In addition to all the information she had compiled about Marcus' many descendants, which information she had gracefully let me copy, she also shared with me the following family legend surrounding Marcus, which was carried through to her from her husband Edwin Temm (Marcus' grandson):

Marcus was a sea captain from Germany. He and his two younger brothers (names unknown so far) were all born in Hamburg, and during the Restoration of Germany they stowed away on a boat to the New World, in the 1840's, as they didn't want to get drafted into the Prussian wars at the time. They made it to North America intact (possibly Nova Scotia)...but the three brothers split up, and never spoke to each other again, sometime after arriving in the USA, presumably to escape authorities.

We believe one or more of the Temm brothers moved to Missouri, and had many descendants, since we have seen a large presence of Temms there.

Around 1990, Aunt Isabelle tried, in vain, to correspond with some Missouri Temms whom she had found in various directories.  They never wrote back.  A bit of research on the Temms found in Ancestry.com shows that many Temms do in fact live in Missouri, and also Wisconsin, and have lived there since the 1850s.

I do know from some professional genealogist friends of mine that the story above is VERY commonly told by many families.  The ship, the three brothers stowing away, the immediate separation upon arrival in America, it's all the same story.  So, one must take this with a grain of salt, as they say.  Additionally, how the name changed from Timm to Temm is an open question.  It could've stemmed from a simple typo, but it also could've been a deliberate name change.

I've also discovered a naturalization card from the Marine Court of NYC, dated 1842, for a Prussian named Wilhilm Temme.  If this was Marcus, he would've been only 16 or so, so I kind of doubt it.  But it's interesting that this person's naturalization hearing took place in a Marine Court. 

Mark Rabideau, a German genealogist online, informed me that if my ancestor's middle name was indeed Marcus, and not Mark...that would indicate that he was Catholic, and not Protestant. If so, the bulk of German Catholics lived in Bavaria. Some research in Bavaria might be worthwhile.  However, I learned while visiting Hamburg that there were very few Catholics living in Hamburg at that time.  It's more likely that Marcus was evangelical Protestant.

I've made contact with two Missouri Temms. Their common ancestor is Herman H. Temm, a druggist born 1833 in Westphalia Germany. We are wondering if Herman is one of Marcus' two younger brothers, as the timing seems right.

I've also found a tree on Ancestry that shows a large Timm family in Mecklenburg Germany (near Hamburg), with a Wilhelm as the eldest (born 1829), and the entire family eventually moving to Wisconsin and Nebraska at the end of the 1800's.  The parents in that tree (Christoph & Maria) died at sea with one of the children, while attempting to reach the USA.  I've sent an email to the tree owner to see if perhaps there is a link, but correspondence with these folks has yet to reveal a definitive link.

I went to Hamburg in May of 2012 to do some research.  While nothing definite came up, I learned a great deal about Hamburg archives, and narrowed the search, with the help of Dr. Wolfgang Grams, pictured below:

Here is a summary of what we determined, after over a dozen hours of digging through old books in the Hamburg Staatsarchiv:

1. The name "Temm" and "Temme" appear in almost NO records in Hamburg.  The common spellings of this name at the time of Marcus' birth (1824) were:  Timm(e), Tim, Thiemm(e), and Timman.  It's safe to conclude that "Timm" was most likely the true surname of research, given that it bears the highest frequency.
2. The name Timm has many dozens of instances in Hamburg from 1820 onward, but there are dramatically fewer instances just prior to that year.
3. Germans back then were usually born with three first names.  So there could've been an additional name that went with "Wilhelm" and "Marcus".
4. There were almost no Timms in Hamburg who were Catholic.
5. There was ONE Timm family during that period who went to the Reform Protestant Church of Hamburg.  This family patriarch was Herman Heinrich Daniel Timm born 1805, and it's possible that Herman was an uncle to Marcus.
6. There were very many Timm families during that time living in Hamburg who were registered with the Evangelical Protestant churches of Hamburg.  Many of them were in the districts of Altona, Pinneberg and Central Hamburg.  I was unable to extend this research to those districts due to timing, but I plan to do so remotely as best as I can.  If I cannot locate the actual 1842 birth record for Marcus, then there's no way of knowing which of these many Timm families could be related to him.
7. There were some Timme families living in Celle, Hanover, and Cloppenburg.
8. There were a few Temme families living in Paderborn, Osnabrück, Bielefeld, and Höxter.
9. I found two instances of a Marcus Timm in marriage indices from 1743 and 1752.  Either of these might be grandparents to my Marcus, given the rarity of the name Marcus in general.   Picture from the index found can be seen below, and pictures from the marriage records themselves can be found below that.
10. In looking at the many volumes of vital and church records, I was on the lookout for ANY instances of someone carrying a first name of Marcus.  I found nothing other than the point listed above at #9.  What I did find, however, were many instances of the first name "Marx".  I suppose that Marcus Timm could've been previously named Marx Timm, and there may have been another name change upon his migration to the USA.

Sources Searched in the Hamburg Staatsarchiv and a brief summary of results:

• General Geburts Register of Hamburg (1816-1836) - many Timm families, most of them registered with St. Michaelis of Altona, St. Catherine, and St. Jacobi, and just a few in St. Georg and St. Pauli, all Evangelical Protestant - Lutheran - churches)
• General Trau Register of Hamburg (1813-1831) - many Timm families, most of them registered with St. Michaels of Altona, St. Catherine, and St. Jacobi, and just a few in St. Georg and St. Pauli, all Evangelical Protestant - Lutheran - churches)
• German Reform Church Records (1816-1852) - one Timm family (Herman Temm - see point #5)
• Erd-und Glockeng Dom (1753-1803) - some Timm/Timmen
• St. Petri Reg Braüte (1652-1815) - Timms going back to 1652
• St. Petri Register (1603-1719) - Timme/Timman going back to 1603, with a few Temm individuals from 1679-1697
• St. Petri Register (1720-1815) - many Timm families
• St. Petri Register (1816-1849) - many Timm families
• St. Nikolai Register (1798-1815) - very few Timms
• St. Michael Register (1801-1815) - many Timm families
• St. Pauli Register (1800-1815) - some Timm families
• Heirats General Reg der Stadt (1831-1865 - many Timm families
• Verzeichnis der Braute aus dem Hachzeitenbeich den Wedde (1708-1810) - many Timm women
• Braütigame der Wedde (1708-1810) - many Timm men
• Landhschft. der Geestlande (1827-1874) - many Timm families, one Temme woman, Catharine Johanne Henriette Temme in 1846
• General Leichen Reg (1816-1819) - many Timm families after 1817
• General Leichen Reg (1820-1836) - many Timm families
• Erd-und Glockengeid St. Marien-Magdalenen (1710-1711) - very few Timms
• Erd-und Glockengeid St. Marien-Magdalenen (1733-1798) - very few Timms
  

TWO MARCUSES FOUND!

see Point 9

Here are the two marriage announcements in the church registers from 1743-1752.  I'm seeking help translating them.

Partial Transcription:
"Marcus Joachim Tim, [married] to Margaretha Elisabeth Rossland, leg. daughter."

Partial Transcription:
"Marcus Tim, citizen and bookkeeper, [married] to the virgin, Anne Elisabeth Thormöhlen, daughter of Johann Ludolf Thormöhlen."

If both of these marriage records are from the 1743-1752 period, then their relationship to each other  cannot be a father and son, or brothers.  So, only one of these Marcuses could be a direct ancestor to the mysterious Marcus Timm, if at all.

Online I recently discovered Hamburg City Directories from 1848.  There were quite a few Timms there, and any one of them could be siblings or parents to my Marcus:

Regarding Point 6 above, I recently found online, in the 1880 Altona Registers, a great many Timms listed.  See example below:

HAMBURG ARCHIVES

HAMBURG ARCHIVES