Ephraim Osborn (1749-1814)

Ephraim Osborn was my 4th great grandfather.  He, his brother Isaac, and their father Jedediah, were all Revolutionary War patriots from East Hampton, Long Island, along with their other brothers Jedediah, Jr. and Josiah.  Ephraim's DAR # is 160072.

Ephraim was born in East Hampton in 1749 (unknown date), to Jedediah Osborn (a millworker and 3rd generation descendant from the Osborns of Kent) and Deborah Miller (of unknown parentage).

At some point in the late 1760's Ephraim and his brother Isaac migrated north to Winslow, Maine, to seek out the farmer's life.  His brother Jedediah, Jr. stayed behind and died at age 24, during the Revolution.  His other brother, Josiah, married a Dolly Johnson and moved to New Haven, CT, where they had a large family.

Ephraim and Isaac made it to Winslow, Maine, through Pownalborough (now Dresden), a common port of entry for Maine immigrants (due to its distance from potential Indian invasion spots).  Ephraim worked as a constable in the town of Winslow (formerly known as Kingfield).  Ephraim's sheep mark & also the mark he used on his logs, which floated down the Kennebec, are recorded in Winslow (would like to obtain photograph).

In 1770, Ephraim married his first of three wives, who might have been named Atwood.  They had two boys {NOTE: there is reference in some research materials to a John Osborn born in 1770 who was son to Ephraim, but I've found nothing yet to back this up}:

1.  Ephraim Jr (1771-1821) worked as a blacksmith, and married Mary "Polly" Noble of Palmyra pictured below).  They had three children, (i) Sarah Jane Osborn-Brown (pictured below), who had 10 children of her own with her husband, George Abijah Brown (also pictured below) in Benton, Maine, (ii) Martha Mary Osborn-Gerald, who had six kids with her husband John, and lived in Benton and then Fairfield, and (iii) George Osborn, who died at 5 years of age (grave pictured below).

MARY "POLLY" NOBLE-OSBORN
WIFE TO EPHRAIM OSBORN, JR.

SARAH JANE OSBORN-BROWN
DAUGHTER OF EPHRAIM, JR.

GEORGE ABIJAH BROWN
HUSBAND OF SARAH JANE OSBORN

GRAVE OF YOUNG GEORGE OSBORN
AMES CEMETERY
BENTON, MAINE

Martha Osborn-Gerald, Ephraim Jr's youngest daughter, had seven children, the oldest of which was Amos F. Gerald.  Amos' daughter, Helen Gerald-Day, died young at age 32, in 1902.  Her husband, Holman F. Day of Vassalboro, moved to Portland Maine shortly thereafter, and lived in the Falmouth Hotel during the 1910 Census.  He established himself there and became a published author, later remarrying and moving to San Francisco, but living in Auburn for a time as well.  Holman's obituary below tells the tale:

Holman Day, whose novels of Maine's big woods and lumbering operations, brought him fame in the literary world a score or more years ago, died in his sleep in San Francisco early Tuesday, February 19.

A poet and playwright as well as a novelist, Day, who was 69, lived in California the past 15 years, producing motion pictures and interpreting a Yankee character on the radio.

A native of Vassalboro, Day began his career as editor of a string of local weeklies printed in Bangor by Union Publishing Company. In 1888 he, in company with the late Edwin Bunker bought the Dexter Gazette from M. F. Herring and was its editor for four years. Combining Dexter's two weeklies, the Dexter Gazette and the Eastern State, they made it The Eastern Gazette. Leaving Dexter in 1892 he became a special writer for the Lewiston Journal. His first outstanding work was "Up in Maine", a book of verse written when he was in Lewiston.

"Pine Tree Ballads" was his second verse collection. Then he began to write novels, reaching the apex of his fame with "King Spruce" and "The Ramrodders".

Holman Day wrote more than 300 short stories, 25 novels, numerous poetry, and several plays.

A Portland resident several years, Day was an enthusiastic member of Portland's Yacht club, cruising in a large power boat he named "Davy Jones".

Son of the late Capt. John R. and Mary Carter Day, Holman Day was graduated from Colby in 1887. Twenty years later his Alma Mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.

He was managing editor of the Union Publishing Company's publications in Bangor, and owner and editor of the Dexter Gazette. After his reportorial work on the Lewiston Journal he was managing editor of the Lewiston Daily Sun. From 1901 to 1904 Day was a military aide on Governor John F. Hill's staff.

Some of Day's better known books included "Blow the Man Down," "Rider of the King Log, " "When Egypt Went Broke," "The Skipper and the Skipped", and "Joan of Arc of the North Woods."

Day leaves a widow, Mrs. Florence Day, and a daughter, Mrs. Roy Kilner, of Boston.

Ephraim Jr. was killed by falling tree in Benton Maine (which was then a part of Clinton) in 1821.  He is buried in Benton next to his wife Polly.

GRAVES OF EPHRAIM OSBORN JR.
AND MARY NOBLE-OSBORN
AMES CEMETERY
BENTON, MAINE

Continuing on to the remainder of Ephraim's descendants:

2.  Benjamin Atwood Osborn (1774-1843) married Abigail Noble (sister to his brother's wife) of Winslow, and had eight children, ultimately settling in Lincoln, Maine.

In 1771, Ephraim was called to duty for the Revolution.  Fort Halifax (a national monument) was built in 1754 by John Winslow (whom the former town of Kingfield was named for) to protect Waterville from attack by French Canadians and Indians.   It was the site of Ephraim Osborn's post during the Revolutionary War.  He also served on the Committees of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety.

In August of 1777, Ephraim bought "Lot #41 of Winslow" (Kennebec Registry Book 49 - 307)


In March of 1782, the Town built a road from his property to Fort Halifax.
In 1780, Ephraim married his second wife, Sarah Brown.  It's not clear if the first Mrs. Osborn had died or divorced him.  Sarah gave Ephraim two additional sons:

3.  Josiah Osborn (1783-1850) was named after Ephraim's brother, and like Ephraim's brother, this Josiah too left town, and moved to New Brunswick Canada to raise his family.  He married Mary Munroe and had seven children.  There is a Winslow court record dated October 1828 which charges a Josiah Osborn with trespassing, but I'm not sure this is him, since Josiah lived in New Brunswick by then.  It's possible he was charged with this crime while visiting his homestead.  Further, a marriage intention record between an "Ephraim Osborn" & Mary Munroe, dated 11 Feb 1837, appears in Lincoln, Maine.  These could be different people altogether, but note should be made here.

4.  Jacob Osborn (1784-1859) married Dorcas Robbins, and stayed in Winslow, but was buried in nearby Benton with other Osborn relatives.  He had two children, a daughter born somewhere between 1826 and 1829, and a son born between 1831 and 1835.  This was gleaned from looking through old census records, which don't give names for children.

GRAVE OF JACOB OSBORN
AMES CEMETERY
BENTON, MAINE

In 1787, Ephraim became a surveyor of highways, possibly due to his experience working the road from his house to Fort Halifax.  Vol. 1, MA & ME Direct Tax Census of 1798, Winslow, Lincoln, ME page 417 C

Ephraim's second wife Sarah died in 1787, when these two boys were only toddlers.  Now, Ephraim's brother Isaac, who had been single the entire time Ephraim was starting his two families, had married Sarah Wyman of Winslow (daughter to William and Love Wyman) as late as 1787, twenty years after his arrival in Maine.  Sarah had a 17 year old sister, Lydia Martha Wyman (pictured below)....

LYDIA WYMAN-OSBORN

Now, Lydia was ready for marriage.  Ephraim needed help raising his two young boys, so Ephraim married his sister-in-law Lydia.  Lydia gave Ephraim an additional ten children (including my 2nd great grandmother Sarah Ann Osborn-Fuller) and settled in Fairfield, just across the Kennebec River from Winslow:

5.  Jemima was born in 1789, and married someone with the last name Lord.  No further information.

6.  Lydia (1791-1826) died of consumption.

7.  Hannah (1793-??) married Alexander Jackson and moved to China, Maine.  Their daughter, Eliza, married Isaiah Carr Estes.

8.  Martha (1795-1886) married her distant cousin, Zebedee Wyman of Vassalboro, and lived in nearby Benton, Clinton and Canaan, Maine.  They had eight children, including Jacob Osborn Wyman (1822-1904), who had one son, Eugene F. Wyman (1846-1920), who had one son, Lafayette Judson Wyman (1875-1940?), all of whom worked on the railroad.  Another of Martha's children was named Seth Fish Wyman, named for her brother-in-law Seth Fish who married her sister Jane.

9.  Jane (1798-??) married Seth Fish in 1819.  No further information, but it can be assumed they were close enough to Jane's sister Martha to cause Martha to name her son after Seth.  One tree claims that Jane Fish died in Ottumwa, Iowa, where her sister Sarah Ann moved to.  Need to verify.

10.  John Wyman (1799-1876) [might be confused with Isaac's son, John Wyman Osborn].

11.  William (1802-1893) married Fannie Graves, and moved to Harmony, Maine.  They had three children, Hannah Osborn-Whittier, Susan, and William Moses Osborn (middle name came from William's little brother Moses, who supposedly died young).

12.  Moses (1807-1827) drowned at age 20, according to an unnamed source.  However, another source claims that he was actually born in 1796 and married Eliza Hanson.  Need to verify.

13.  Sarah Ann Osborn-Fuller, my 2nd great grandmother, married Samuel Bean Fuller, had six children, and moved the whole family to Ottumwa, Iowa during the Civil War to start up a dry goods business.

14.  Louisa Emily (or Emily Louise) (1813-1887), was the last of Ephraim's 14 children, and never married.  She was a second mother to her many nieces and nephes, and was her mother Lydia's companion and caregiver most of her life.

Ephraim died in Benton in 1814.  While I was able to find several of his children's graves at the local cemetery, Ames Cemetery, I did not find his.  I read that he was buried in a family cemetery 3/4 miles north of Benton.

In 1823, the whole family, as heirs to Ephraim's estate, quitclaimed the 14 acre family homestead in Winslow to elder son Jacob, per below:

Book 49, page 307, 2 Jun 1823

Know all men by these presents, that we Lydia Osborn and Jemima Lord, Hannah Jackson, Martha Wyman, Jane Fish, John Osborn, Lydia Osborn, William Osborn, Arza Osborn, Moses Osborn, Sarah Ann Osborn, all heirs to the estate of Ephraim Osborn, deceased, of Winslow in consideration of Seventy dollars to be paid by Jacob Osborn of Winslow in the county of Kennebec, in the State of Maine, yeoman, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknoqledge have remised, released, and forever quitclaim, and do for ourselves and our heirs by these presents, remiss, release and forever quitclaim unto the said Jacob Osborn, his heirs and assigns forever, all the right, title and interest that we have in and to a certain strip of land lying and being in the town of Winslow aforesaid, located and bounded as follows, to wit., Beginning at Kennebec River at the north wall of Jacob Osborn's land that this said Jacob Osborn now lives on, thence running east south east on said Jacob Osborn's north line one mile, thence north-northeast about seven rods to the land that we mortgaged to Etianne (?) Gilman of Waterville, Esq. thence west-northwest to Kennebec River thence running on the bank of said river about seven rods to the first mentioned corner; containing about fourteen acres be it more or less. To have and to hold the aforementioned premises with all the privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging to him, the said Jacob Osborn his heirs and assigns forever; so thus neither are the said heirs, nor any of us, nor our heirs or any other person or persons claiming from or under us or them, or in the same right or stake of us or them, shall or will, by any way or means, have devise or demand any right or title to the aforementioned premises or their appurtenances, to any part or piece forever. In witness whereof, we the said heirs have hereto set my hand and will this second day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and twenty three. Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Joseph Osborn, Ebenezer Pratt.

Not signing: Hannah Jackson & Arza Osborn

Signing: 2 June 1823

Lydia Osborn

Lydia Osborn Jr.

Jemima Lord

Martha Wyman

Moses Osborn

Sarah Ann Osborn

John Osborn

Jane Fish

William Osborn

Citations:

The Centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine

Oral history written down by Maud Maple in the 1930's, and carried through the Fuller family (several errors appeared on this)

Somerset County Records

Kennebec County Records


U.S. Federal Census

Maine Death Records

Isaac Osborn & The Fairfield Homestead

Isaac Osborn (1755-1845) was a sea captain (just like his uncle Jonathan Osborn) and Revolutionary War veteran who lived in East Hampton, Long Island, New York, with his older brother Ephraim, and their father, Jedediah Osborn.  Isaac & Ephraim left Long Island in the 1770s, and moved to Winslow Maine and each married the Wyman sisters (Sarah and Lydia, respectively), and eventually settled in Fairfield, Maine (which was then deemed 'wilderness'), and lived farmers' lives.  Isaac's wife Sarah was "crazy," according to their granddaughter Clara.

On 10 November 1810, Isaac purchased, for $800, the land he had been living on for less than two years - a large farm lot on Skowhegan Road (now Route 201), in Fairfield (formerly known as Kendall's Mills), Somerset County, Maine (then still part of Massachusetts) 5 miles north, and across the Kennebec River, where many families were setting up large scale farmland.  Farming was a desirable new career at the turn of the 19th century for retirees such as Isaac.  This land had been worked on by Isaac's son, Jedediah, and an in-law of Jedediah's, Barnabas Jackson.

Below is the text of Isaac's deed for the initial 1810 purchase of Homestead land (later expanded):

Know all men by these Presents, that I John Getchell Jr. of Vassalborough in the County of Kennebec and Commonwealth of Massachusetts gentleman In consideration of Eight hundred Dollars paid by Isaac Osborn of Fairfield in the County of Somerset and Commonwealth aforesaid yeoman. (the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge) do hereby give, grant, sell and convey until the said Isaac Osborn and his Heirs and assigns forever, a certain tract or Parcel of land situate in Fairfield aforesaid & bounded & described as follows, viz: East by Kennebec River, South by land occupied by William Jewitt, West by the Second tier of lots from said River, & North by land improved by Barnabas Jackson and Jedediah Osborn, being lot No. 2 in fifteen mile lot D. one, & the same lot of land on which the said Isaac Osborn now lives TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the same to the said I. Osborn and to his heirs and assigns to his and their use and benefit forever. And I do covenant with the said Isaac Osborn and with his heirs and assigns, That I am lawfully seized in fee of the premises - That they are free of all incumbrances - That I will warrant and defend the same to the said Isaac Osborn and to his heirs and assigns forever, against the lawful claims and demands of any persons.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I the said John Getchell, Jr. have hereunto set my hand and seal this tenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ten.

Signed, sealed and delivered John Getchel, Junr. (his signature) in presence of Thos A. Hill

Wilson Colcord Kennebec ss. November 10, 1810.

Timothy and his five elder brothers expanded and developed the farm their father left him, and became quite successful and somewhat wealthy for it.  Timothy received the property from his father upon Isaac's death in 1845.  Timothy transferred the Homestead to his son William in 1882.  William transferred it to his son Elwood in 1949.  Elwood's grandson owned it until 2013, when he sold the property in pieces to non-family members, but this house was a staple of the Osborn family for over 200 years!

History of Isaac's TEN children:

-Jedediah (1788-1877), the eldest, set up a large family farm in 1822 in nearby St. Albans, and brought his father Isaac to live with him until Isaac died in 1845.  He married Sarah Jackson (who was raised by Quakers after running away from home).  They had seven children together, including their son, Sullivan Holloway Osborn, who left Maine in 1851 to join the California Gold Rush, and started his family there.

-Deborah (1790-1873) was named after Isaac's mother.  She married Zebediah Littlefield, and moved to Wisconsin.

-Isaac Jr. (1792-1874), soon moved to Saratoga, in NY State and started his family and farm there.  He and his wife Millie Morse had six children.  By 1870, they were all living in Grass Lake, Michigan.  Judging from the letter he wrote below in 1815 to his brother William at the Homestead, he was a poor speller, and wished to come home since apparently he left Fairfield due to his many fights with William:

"Letter addressed to William Osborn, State of Massachusetts, County of Summerset, Town of Fairfield - December the 10th 1815

Dear Brother

I must inform you that I am well at present and I hope that these few lines will find you enjoying the same. I received one letter sense I left home from you whitch pleased me mutch, you informed me that you hadant sold my property, which I wish you would sell them as quick as you can conveninenly and write to me and let me know ho you have sole them and I will come home. I have purchase me a plan in Middle Town in the Town of Half Moon in the County of Saratoga in the State of New York, and I follow my trad and it is as good a stand as in the State, and I must inform you further that I am Married and am a doing well, I was married to Mrs. Mille Moyes on 23rd of November in the year 1815. I mus inform that I am contented with the marriage state, you remember that you and I had a good many scrapes together when I lived to home. I am a fraid we shant have as many more, I wish you would remember me to Father an Mother and all enquiring friends.  You must inform the girls that I am sorry to leave them, but tis the case and they musant morn to much for me for it is all in vane, and you must in my part and yours in two sense it is so. I have no more in particular bu thare is some thing yet I will tell you now what it is it is some thing you may depend now you shal here it in a minit now it comes like something else here it is, I am tired of writing ad I must quit. My pen is poor my ink is pale my love to you shall never fail.   Isaac Osborn (Jr.)

-William (1794-1880) never married but lived in a house he built adjacent to his brother Timothy, and worked the farm with him.  William fought in the War of 1812, and received a pension the last two years of his life.  He also became a doctor.

-Jacob (1798-1830) married Lydia Burrill, and had one child, Milton.  They lived on the family farm, but when Jacob died young, Jacob's brother Timothy married Lydia.

-John W. (1800-1893) initially took a different path, and became a shoemaker, but eventually started a small farm in nearby Pittsfield and later Canaan (until his death there in 1893).  He lived for a time in New Brunswick (possibly to live with cousin Josiah from Winslow - son to Ephraim) and he married a Sarah B. from there.  They had their two sons, George and William there, but moved back to Fairfield by 1850.  Genealogists often confuse him with a John W. Osborn, son to Ephraim.  My theory is that the latter John doesn't exist at all.

-Sarah (Sallie) (1802-1897) briefly married a Humphrey Burgess, had a son Orlando, and ended up living by herself on the poor farm in Fairfield (odd considering that her siblings were successful farmers). Orlando moved to Nebraska.

-Timothy (1805-1898) (my 3rd great grandfather) married his widowed sister-in-law, Lydia Burrill, with whom he had three daughters, and stayed his whole life on the Homestead left to him and farmed and sold hay.  In 1882, he left the farm and house to his 21 year old son, William Noyes Osborne, who continued the hay business as well as starting up the Rocky Hill Spring Water company.  William left the property, and the family businesses, to his son Elwood (nicknamed "Eno"), who left it to his grandson Eric, who currently owns it in 2011.

-Annie (1807-1849) married Joshua Wing, who started his own farm in St. Albans, not far from her brother Jedediah.

-Mary (1811-1831), the youngest, died unmarried at age 19.

Below are a series of maps from the mid 19th century, whereupon we see the labeled house lots of many Osborns, Wymans, Burrills, Fullers, and other families which figure prominently into multiple family lines.  The dates may be off by a few years, and I'd welcome anyone in the know to correct them.


ca. 1850



ca. 1865

1875

1875

Letter from Ruth Osborn-Munnoch, great granddaughter to Isaac, writes the following about old Isaac, who had died 50 years before she was born:

"Isaac Sr. (I heard) once a year went to Bangor with a yoke of oxen, with a loaded hay rack of dried apples, cheese, butter, eggs or anything saleable, the trip (one way I suppose) took 3 days going and 3 days back as the driver used to walk beside the oxen.  Now how would anybody put away any savings selling dried apples, etc.  He would bring back flour, sugar and supplies for the winter."

Ruth had a very colorful writing style, and was very free with the family information, more of her letters can be found here.

CURRENT (2011) PICTURES OF THE OSBORN HOMESTEAD:

 

The Wymans of Winslow Maine

The Wymans in my family originally stem from Hertfordshire England.

Francis Wyman (1619-1699) was my 8th great grandfather, and he migrated to the New World with his brother John in 1644.  They settled in Woburn, Massachusetts.  John's son, John Jr., was killed in King Philip's War.

The Wyman family expanded throughout colonial Massachusetts for several generations, and I believe many traces remain there today.  Francis Wyman's grandson James (1702-1766) moved with his wife Bethia and their many children to Maine, eventually settling in Swan's Island in Pownalborough.

James' son William and his wife Love Chick (I verified that was her real name) were my 5th great grandparents, and they left Swan's Island for Bowdoinham in Sagadahoc County in 1765, and eventually settled in Winslow, Maine in 1770.  They ran the Wyman farm along the Winslow side of the Sebasticook River (now Kennebec River).  William possibly fought in the Revolution.  His wife, Love, was well known throughout Winslow as "Grandma Wyman".

According to Osborne family tradition, in March of 1783, William was felling a tree on his farm, and misjudged where he should be standing.  The tree fell on him, killing him (and supposedly another family member) instantly.  Grandma Wyman buried her husband (and possibly her son) at the spot where he died.  Family legend goes on to state that Grandma Wyman later buried her own father, Moses Chick, there as well (but according to some online trees, he had already died in 1738 in Berwick, in Southern Maine, so I'm not sure what the real story is here). 

According to Wyman genealogy site, a 1/4 acre reservation was made for the burial site, on a deed dated April 7 1806 by William's son Moses, who had sold to James Wall about 12 acres of the northwest corner of lot 36 of the property, reserving 1/4 acre 'near the Pond Hole where my father and others lie buried'.  However, this reservation was ignored in later deeds.  In 1891-3 Hollingsworth and Whitney Co. (now Scott Paper Co,) built a pulp mill on the land.  The 'Pond Hole' was filled in and the grave sites obliterated. The human bones unearthed were declared to be those of an ancient Indian burial ground.  Without further research, they were re-interred in a park near the town hall and marked with a commemorative stone.

Below is an excerpt from a letter from around 1910 written by Lydia Osborn-Fuller-Moody (my 2nd great grandmother) to Maud Maple-Miles (her husband's cousin):

"Your great grandmother's father [William Wyman] and, I think, her brother or uncle, are buried on the bank of the Sebasticook River in Winslow.  No one save these two were ever buried there and a few years ago, a man who owned the farm [at the time] said he should plough right over those old graves.  He was reported to the government.  The officer sent by the government to investigate found him ploughing the field.  Halted to talk to him a while, then asked 'What are you going to do with those graves?'  'Plow them under,' was the reply.  'Oh!  I wouldn't do that,' said he.  'Yes, I shall," said the owner of the farm.  The officer then made himself known, demanding in the name of the government not only that the graves be undisturbed, but that a substantial double fence be placed around them.  I was driving past there a few years since and was very glad to see a well-preserved double fence painted white."

Now, I'm curious as to the location of this mini cemetery, and if it's still around, 100 years later.  I doubt that the location is the Fort Hill Cemetery, which IS located along a southerly bank of the Kennebec, since that was an established area during 1910, and had hundreds of graves there even at that time.  But, there are several Wymans buried there, including grandchildren of William Wyman.

I also heard rumor that the Hollingsworth & Whitney Paper Mill (now owned by Scott Paper), when built, was the subject of some debate, since they had found bones at the construction site.   But that mill was built in 1892, so I don't think that it would be the same site as what I'm describing above, since again that was around as late as 1910.  But that mill is indeed along the eastern bank of the Kennebec, so it's possible.

Either way, William's death by tree left his wife Love with seven children to take care of.  She relocated to Waterville for the remainder of her years.  Her home was located at the site that was later occupied by the Elmwood Hotel (and is now a Rite Aid).

One of Love's children was my 4th great grandmother, Lydia "Martha" Wyman, who married Ephraim Osborn, and moved across the river to Fairfield, where the Osborns were already firmly established (especially thanks to the prosperous Osborn Farm run by Ephraim's nephew Timothy Osborn, who had married Lydia's sister Sarah).

LYDIA MARTHA WYMAN-OSBORN

(ca. 1860)

Lydia Wyman lived the duration of her life in Fairfield, and died in 1864 (aged 94) at the home of her daughter, Sarah Ann Osborn-Fuller (nicknamed "Ann"), just before Ann's family left Fairfield to start a dry goods business in Ottumwa Iowa.  During her later years, she would often go across the river by paddle boat with her daughter's family to the Winslow side of the river and visit the graves at the little Wyman site across the Kennebec, and also to get to her farm, where she had to milk her cows and manage the milking process.

Many of the Wymans grew to be successful in business (one founded Central Maine Power, another Wymans Dairy) and others more eccentric (Seth Fish Wyman who wandered off into the woods in Mattawaumkeag, Maine in the mid 1850s' to hunt and fish, never to be found again).

The pedigree of sisters Lydia & Sarah can be found below.  They are of 100% English colonial stock, with a very small percentage of Welsh (less than 2%) stemming from the John Day line:

Cousins Marrying? Why Not!

Poor Arthur Fuller. There were so many instances of his ancestors marrying as cousins, I made a valiant attempt at keeping a geek record of them, although most of them involve his royal ancestry:

1. Welsh sisters Isabel and Maud Marshall had great grandchildren that married, to produce Elizabeth DeBeauchamp, born in 1305.

2. English Roger DeClare's Great Great Grandson married his own Great Great Great Grandaughter, also to produce Elizabeth DeBeauchamp (poor Liz).

3. In the 1460's, John Stewart of Scotland married twice, and one kid from each marriage ended up with grandkids that married, to produce William Sutherland in 1558.

4. William Sutherland and Janet Innes of Scotland had two children, William and Elizabeth. William Jr’s. great granddaughter, Janet Sutherland, married Elizabeth’s great grandson, Henry Sinclair.

5. In the 1540's, George and Elizabeth Sinclair of Scotland had two kids, whose kids married, producing John Sinkler in 1630.

6. Two offspring of King Edward the Elder of England (Edward I the Elder and Elgiva), both half-siblings, got married and gave birth to Edgar the Peaceful. What’s more, Elgiva was a 4th generation maternal descendant, and 3rd generation paternal descendant, of King Ethelwolf of Wessex.

7. Back in 1780, two Osborn brothers from East Hampton NY married two Wyman sisters from Maine. Not an uncommon event, in and of itself, but THEIR grandkids ended up marrying each other to produce...guess who...Arthur Fuller, in 1868!

8. Thomas Perkins, born in 1475 in England had two kids, Alice and Henry, who supposedly married and had a kid, Thomas.

9. Fergus Lord and Elizabeth of England had two children, Gilbert and Margaret DeGalloway. They each had two kids that married, to produce Neil Carrick, born in Scotland, 1202. Neil was father to Margaret Carrick, was father to King Robert I of Scotland.

10. To make matters worse, Margaret DeGalloway was also grandmother to Neil Carrick’s wife, Margaret Stewart.

11. The parents of Alexander Sutherland (born 1534) are each 8th generation descendants of two separate daughters of King Robert the Bruce.

12. English brother and sister Marjory and David DeHuntingdon were each great grandparents to each of King Robert’s parents.

13. Aethelred the Unready had many children. One of them, his daughter Elfgifu, had a granddaughter, Ealdgyth, who married Aethelred’s son, King Edmund, to produce Prince Edward the Exile in 1016.

14.  John MacBean had two wives.  From his first wife, Hannah Lissen, he had a daughter Mary.  From his second wife, Margaret the indentured servant, he had a son Daniel.  Mary and Daniel's grandkids married to produce David Bean, Revolutionary War patriot.