by Rev. Robert Lewis
To give some background to what follows, my Clough connection is through Irene Anderson Cluff, who married Robert Burns Anderson. They are my great-great-grandparents, as well as the great-great-grandparents of my brother Dave. Their daughter, Martha Jane Anderson, was my great-grandmother, as well as Dave’s. She married Austin Greenleaf Lewis (1830-1900). Dave and I descend from them through Thaddeus Austin Lewis (1877-1957) and Austin Edward Lewis (1907-1990), whom many of you knew. This column is about a cousin in my Lewis line. It’s about Vincent Durwood Lewis, whose great-grandfather was Gilman Stockbridge Lewis (b. 1835), a brother of Austin Greenleaf Lewis. Vincent was born 04 Dec 1919 and lived all of his life on Barter’s Island, which is part of Boothbay, Maine. Dave and I descend from both the Lewsises and the Barters. Both families settled on the island in the 1700s, when settlement began there. Vincent died, at age 92, on Friday, 13 July 2012. He was not a Clough, but was related to people who descend from John and Jane Clough of Salisbury, MA. His life story, and my experiences with him, might run parallel to the life stories of many of our Clough ancestors and other relatives, and parallel to our experiences with them.. Actually, I met Vincent. just once — in August, 2010. Lois and I visted Boothbay the week after the Clough reunion. Vincent and I exchanged family stories and connections. One of his grandsons was married just two weeks previously. The grandson’s wife is the manager of the general store in East Boothbay. Any of you who have small town connections in Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine can relate to that. Vincent, as the oldest resident on Barter’s Island, cut the ribbon last year when a new bridge was opened — a new bridge connecting Barter’s Island to the mainland. I haven’t yet seen the new bridge, but I have vivid memories of the old one — vivid memories of the road curving left and going downhill to the old span. Does life get any more “small town” than that? Vincent worked for many years at Bath Iron Works. He was an assistant foreman when he retired in 1983. During World War II he served in the Navy aboard the USS Randin. Lois’ and my travels have taken us to Boothbay twice in recent years — in 2008 and 2010. Paul went with us in 2008. Janna Day, a second cousin once removed and a former JCGS member lives there. I have spent hours doing resesarch at the Boothbay Harbor Historical Society. There are still some elusive ancestors whom I am trying to track down. I know who they were, but I don’t know who their parents were. Does that sound familiar to any of you? One possibilty is that one 3rdgreat- grandmother had been previously married and her 1st husband died quite young, perhaps in his 20s, in which case Kinney was not her maiden name but her first married name. Have any of you run into that as you have traced your family lines? I have, in one line on my mother’s side of the family. And have you found, as I have many times, that in many small towns, especially in northern New England, birth, marriage, and death certificates were not completely filled out. Family information was never recorded. Perhaps the town clerks knew who those people were. If you have been able to get past that phenomenon and found the information you were seeking, how did you do it? Would you be willing to write a genealogy column about what you did and how you made it work for you? I suspect, many other members could benefit from an account of your experience. It would certainly be an interesting column. I often marvel at the journeys on which our ancestors embarked — not only their passage across “the big pond” but their migrations after they settled here. Both times when Lois and I visited Boothbay, we drove there from Dover, New Hampshire — these days about a two to three our trip. The ground we covered was essentially the same as that covered by ancestors who migrated from Strafford County, NH, to Lincoln County, ME during the 1700s and the 1800s. I’ve often wondered how long it took them to make that trip and what they encountered along the way. Do any of you have stories about following in your ancestors’ footsteps? If you do, there’s another Bulletin genealogy column! If any of you have stories that run parallel to the ones in this column, perhaps you could share them at the reunion — if not with the whole group, then with those who sit near you at the luncheon, In addition to doing genealogy, it seems to me that sharing personal and family stories is one of the things we do and one of the JCGS’s reasons for being.
Volume 67, No. 3 August 2012