I lost my dad to non-hodgkin's lymphoma in 1980, just about the time I heard through the family rumor mill about "The Book Of Dow", a memoir of those who shared that name through the beginning of the United States, had told a lie about James P. Dow's ancestors. They claimed him as the son of one Alexander Dow, but he wasn't Alexander's kin. There was some rumor about him being "adopted", there was one about him being from Chelsea, MA, and one of him being injured in an accident in the hay loft (or, alternately, drowned in the saw mill pond) in February 1876.
Since I was going to University of Maine in Orono and since they had "The Book of Dow", I took advantage, looking long hours into the pages to trace my ancestry back to the beginning....
One problem: I misunderstood the term "a conjecture" when related to the James who was Alexander's "son". I misunderstood until I was a young mother with a typewriter with a library card and a close association with the librarian once I understood that "conjecture" meant "an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information".
I started writing to the churches in the area, begging for information. Sometimes, all they could give me was "there was a fire, but let me look to see if that survived". (It never has to date.)
Then, my letter to Palermo was answered by Cheryl Benton, a "sort of" ancestor who still lived there and whose mother-in-law was still lived in the Benton house. She was able to provide me with dead-solid proof that James wasn't Alexander's boy. Alexander has a boy who is of the same age, but his name is Willie.....
Not a James in the lot!
She also gave me the name of the Orcutt who provided me with the "Roxanne and Samuel were special people, but they weren't related" and that James was born in Maine.
I started researching in Ancestry, starting at the Brown Library on their dime and finally getting my own Ancestry. Everything that the people who have written to me has proved true. I researched Grammy Dow's family tree and found the "indian in the woodshed" that my cousin teased me about. She was a Wampagneag named Oiguina Diguina (named "Margaret" when she married Gabriel Wheldon in 1619). I fully understand Gram's "Native American Pride", because this was one year before the Mayflower made it's landing, so OF COURSE it's more important than that stupid ship (even though we're related to the great-grandchild of John and Priscilla Mullins-Alden).
It's James that's the hold-up!
I've found a Mary Dow Evans who spent time in Albion with James and Susan (and Mary's husband, Elisha) just about the time Susan was due for the birth of her second child. The record was taken in Somerville by a lawyer, since neither Mary nor Elisha seemed to be able to write. It was dictated in 1878 and James was already listed as "deceased".
My sister came across a record that one James P. Dow died at the Augusta Mental Health Institute on February 26, 1876, but that was all the online records showed. We've been trying to get someone to go back to the record to see if James Belden or Susan Dow might have claimed the body, which my grandmother's records have as being "buried next to James Belden with no stone".
No luck.
I've found a William and Mary Dow in Augusta, Maine in both the 1850 (having a 14-year-old named Llewellyn and a 10-year-old named Eliza) and also in the 1860 census. In 1860, Llewellyn is gone (probably married) and Eliza is married to Albion Bangs and has two children, William and Mary, There's also a 7-year-old named James.
Only thing with this is the ten-year census shows the newly married (April 1970) Susan and James in Albion. Elisha Evans and James Belden are both in Palermo. In 1880, Susan and the three kids are all in Palermo in 1880....and she's married and living in Vassalboro in 1890.
What happened to James during that ten year span? Did he really drown? Have a farm accident? Or was he in AMHI?
I've found an entry in Enfield, Maine that a William Dow, Eliza Bangs, and the two children died between 1861 and 1862, but not what happened to them or where they're buried. (Enfield hasn't responded to any of my emails.)
I've found that Elisha married Mary in 1864, but is this considered "being adopted"?
I've recently received my grandmother's notes, which may reveal a little hint as to what happened.
But these things I have confirmed:
1) Samuel and Roxanne Lamont are NOT related, but they were good friends.
2) Alexander Dow is NOT related in ANY way, not matter how much you "conjecture". All of his actual children have done well, but we aren't related.
3) Llewellyn Dow claims no "mother" on his death certificate, but claims William Dow and "Somerville, ME" as his place of birth. Might he be why my dad's middle named was "Llewellyn"?
The research continues.......
June 1 -
After going through Gram's notes, the only thing listed as "Charles Greatgrandparents" refers to James and Fannie Belden. Nothing on his notes with Gram refers to any other "parents" for James.
Back to the drawing board.
Since I was going to University of Maine in Orono and since they had "The Book of Dow", I took advantage, looking long hours into the pages to trace my ancestry back to the beginning....
One problem: I misunderstood the term "a conjecture" when related to the James who was Alexander's "son". I misunderstood until I was a young mother with a typewriter with a library card and a close association with the librarian once I understood that "conjecture" meant "an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information".
I started writing to the churches in the area, begging for information. Sometimes, all they could give me was "there was a fire, but let me look to see if that survived". (It never has to date.)
Then, my letter to Palermo was answered by Cheryl Benton, a "sort of" ancestor who still lived there and whose mother-in-law was still lived in the Benton house. She was able to provide me with dead-solid proof that James wasn't Alexander's boy. Alexander has a boy who is of the same age, but his name is Willie.....
Not a James in the lot!
She also gave me the name of the Orcutt who provided me with the "Roxanne and Samuel were special people, but they weren't related" and that James was born in Maine.
I started researching in Ancestry, starting at the Brown Library on their dime and finally getting my own Ancestry. Everything that the people who have written to me has proved true. I researched Grammy Dow's family tree and found the "indian in the woodshed" that my cousin teased me about. She was a Wampagneag named Oiguina Diguina (named "Margaret" when she married Gabriel Wheldon in 1619). I fully understand Gram's "Native American Pride", because this was one year before the Mayflower made it's landing, so OF COURSE it's more important than that stupid ship (even though we're related to the great-grandchild of John and Priscilla Mullins-Alden).
It's James that's the hold-up!
I've found a Mary Dow Evans who spent time in Albion with James and Susan (and Mary's husband, Elisha) just about the time Susan was due for the birth of her second child. The record was taken in Somerville by a lawyer, since neither Mary nor Elisha seemed to be able to write. It was dictated in 1878 and James was already listed as "deceased".
My sister came across a record that one James P. Dow died at the Augusta Mental Health Institute on February 26, 1876, but that was all the online records showed. We've been trying to get someone to go back to the record to see if James Belden or Susan Dow might have claimed the body, which my grandmother's records have as being "buried next to James Belden with no stone".
No luck.
I've found a William and Mary Dow in Augusta, Maine in both the 1850 (having a 14-year-old named Llewellyn and a 10-year-old named Eliza) and also in the 1860 census. In 1860, Llewellyn is gone (probably married) and Eliza is married to Albion Bangs and has two children, William and Mary, There's also a 7-year-old named James.
Only thing with this is the ten-year census shows the newly married (April 1970) Susan and James in Albion. Elisha Evans and James Belden are both in Palermo. In 1880, Susan and the three kids are all in Palermo in 1880....and she's married and living in Vassalboro in 1890.
What happened to James during that ten year span? Did he really drown? Have a farm accident? Or was he in AMHI?
I've found an entry in Enfield, Maine that a William Dow, Eliza Bangs, and the two children died between 1861 and 1862, but not what happened to them or where they're buried. (Enfield hasn't responded to any of my emails.)
I've found that Elisha married Mary in 1864, but is this considered "being adopted"?
I've recently received my grandmother's notes, which may reveal a little hint as to what happened.
But these things I have confirmed:
1) Samuel and Roxanne Lamont are NOT related, but they were good friends.
2) Alexander Dow is NOT related in ANY way, not matter how much you "conjecture". All of his actual children have done well, but we aren't related.
3) Llewellyn Dow claims no "mother" on his death certificate, but claims William Dow and "Somerville, ME" as his place of birth. Might he be why my dad's middle named was "Llewellyn"?
The research continues.......
June 1 -
After going through Gram's notes, the only thing listed as "Charles Greatgrandparents" refers to James and Fannie Belden. Nothing on his notes with Gram refers to any other "parents" for James.
Back to the drawing board.
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