Jane (Miller) Sukeforth: 52 Ancestors #71

Jane Miller, my great-great-grandmother (#19 in my Ahnentafel chart), was born on 30 Jul 1810 in Friendship, Lincoln County, Maine.¹ Analysis of Friendship census records and other sources indicate that she was the oldest of five children of William Miller Jr.; their mother's name is unknown.²

Jane and her first cousin, Simon Sukeforth, entered their intentions of marriage on 8 August 1834 in Thomaston³ (her residence at the time) and on 16 August 1834 in Washington⁴ (his residence). No record of the actual marriage has been found, but they likely married shortly after 16 August, as the 1850 census implies that their oldest child was born in 1834.⁵

Marriage intentions for Simon Suckforth and Jane Miller, 8 Aug 1834, Thomaston, Maine

They had eight known children:

1. Thomas Sukeforth, b. 1834, married (1) Sarah A. Sprague, (2) Sarah A. Norwood
2. James Llewellyn Sukeforth, b. est 1836, married Eliza M. Clapp
3. Sarah C. Sukeforth, b. 1838, married Silas Kirk (my great-grandparents)
4. Mary C. Sukeforth, b. 1845, married George H. Chadwick
5. Addie E. Sukeforth, b. 1846, married Lyman B. Weever
6. William A. Sukeforth, b. 1850, married Mae Isadora Moolekamp
7. Franklin M. Sukeforth, b. ca 1851-52, d. 1875 unmarried
8. Lawrenton M. Sukeforth, b. ca 1854-56, married Abbie H. Clark

Jane (Miller) Sukeforth gravestone

Jane died on 29 Apr 1879 in Washington, Knox County, Maine, and was buried beside Simon and their son Franklin in Maple Grove Cemetery, Washington.⁶ For a view of all three stones, see 52 Ancestors: #16, Simon Sukeforth.

Unusually for these old gravestones, the following lines engraved on her stone are still clearly readable (closeup below):

     Dear mother, thou art gone to rest,
     The toils and cares are o'er.
     And sorrows, pain and suffering now
     Shall ne'er distress thee more.

Verse on Jane (Miller) Sukeforth gravestone

My descent from Jane (Miller) Sukeforth:

• Simon Sukeforth and Jane Miller
• Silas Kirk and Sarah Sukeforth
• Chester F. Kirk and Mary Milliken Hodsdon
• Roger M. Kirk + Kathleen Marie Murphy (my parents)

Jane is also my first cousin four times removed by descent from Johann Wilhelm Müller (William Miller Sr.) and Eve ______.

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SOURCES

1. Melville Bradford Cook, editor, Records of Meduncook Plantation and Friendship, Maine, 1762-1899 (Rockland, Maine: Shore Village Historical Society, 1985),  p. 75, birth of Jane Miller, 10 Jul 1810 (parents not named).  
2. Marshall K. Kirk, “Miller: Waldoboro & Friendship, Maine,” undated typescript of unpublished research notes, Marshall K. Kirk Research Files; privately held by the author, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
3. Original Records of Maine Towns and Cities: Town of Thomaston - 1727-1893, digital images (PDF), CD-ROM, 2 CDs (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2005), CD 2: image 102; "Volume 2nd of Town Records of the Town of Thomaston," p. 193, Simon Suckforth-Jane Miller marriage intentions, 8 Aug 1834.
4. Ella M. Hewins, "Washington, Maine early records", p. 41, Simon Suckforth-Jane "Millett" marriage intentions, 16 Aug 1834; FHL microfilm 859,058, item 5, image 746; typescript of extracts from original town records of Washington, Maine, of families, marriage intentions, and marriages, 1812-1871. 
5. 1850 U.S. Census, Lincoln County, Maine, Washington, p. 576 (penned), dwelling 296, family 296, Simon Suckforth household; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 14 Apr 2012).
6. Maple Grove Cemetery (Washington, Knox County, Maine), gravestone of Jane (Miller) Sukeforth, read and photographed by the author, 14 Aug 2012.

Favorite Name: The Good, The Bad, and the Mis-Indexed – 52 Ancestors, #58

The good thing about an ancestral line with a rare and/or unusual surname is that your ancestors are not readily confused with unrelated people of the same name. As I pointed out in Andrew Sukeforth: A Hessian in the Family, I can be virtually certain that anyone named Sukeforth, anywhere in the U.S., is my fourth or fifth cousin, or perhaps second or third once or twice removed. This is, to put it mildly, a great advantage over my Murphy forbears. That makes Sukeforth my favorite surname.

The bad thing about an ancestral line with a rare and/or unusual surname is that it confuses everyone else, including census enumerators, town clerks, and present-day record indexers, all of whom can seriously mangle such a name in diverse ways. That makes Sukeforth sometimes my ... less than favorite ... surname.

Andrass Suchfort, 1790 census

To begin with, the name started out as the German surname Suchfort. One of the very few times this family appeared in the records in that form is the 1790 census, before beginning its Americanization, first to Suchforth, then to Suckforth, and finally to Sukeforth.

   

Ebenezar Suchforth, census

   

E.G. Suckforth, census

So these three versions are all legitimate spellings; generally speaking, Andreas's children spelled it Suchforth or Suckforth, and their children transitioned to the standard modern spelling of Sukeforth. It was probably always pronounced with a long "oo" sound, i.e., "Sue-kforth" (not "Suck-forth"), and I wouldn't be surprised if the Sukeforth spelling evolved precisely to avoid the pronunciation that (you'll pardon the expression) "sucked."

Those legitimate spellings have spawned a wide range of misspellings and transcription errors over the years.

Wrong Spelling, Faithful Indexing

Sometimes the name was misspelled in the record by the census taker or clerk. This could be a case of phonetic spelling, like the first three examples, or a slip of the pen.

Leaving out the "e" is a fairly common phonetic error, as in Ernest Sukforth (census).

Less common is a misspelling of the second syllable, such as Frank Sukefourth (census).

My favorite phonetic spelling is this marriage register entry for Rachael R. Sookforth.

Here it looks like the census taker tried unsuccessfully to convert an "a" into a "u", resulting in Charles H Slakeforth.

The census takers in Alga Sukeforth's neck of the woods had a hard time with the name. One year he got carried away with the letter "f" and produced "Alga Sufeforth."

Another time they got it almost right, just missing an "h": Alga T Sukefort.


Right Spelling, Wrong Indexing

More frequently, the name appears to be correctly spelled in the record but an indexer, confronted with an unfamiliar name and bad handwriting, misinterpreted one or more easily confused letters.

Another rare instance of the original Suchfort spelling was mis-indexed as Andrew Suchford.

I think this was probably spelled correctly, but in such dreadful handwriting that the indexer came up with Arthur Sevkaforth (census).

Possibly written as Soukeforth, the ascender on the k was obscured by a descender from the line above, generating an index entry of Mary L. Soursforth.

More sloppy handwriting turned Lucius M. Sukeforth into a Sukefath.

In this census record the indexer morphed "fo" into "p" and "r" into "e", yielding Charles Sukepeth.

Easy to mistake a cramped "e" for an "i" and see Gertrude Sukiforth in a census entry.

That "k" masquerades as a variety of other letters, such as "h" in Carrie A Suheforth (marriage record)...

... "ln" in John Sulneforth (census)...

... and even as "r" in Benjamin Sureforth.

Or the "k" may be read as a "b", giving us Fred Subeforth (census)...

... Peasley [sic – Pearley] Suberforth (census)...

... or Racheal P. Subreforth (marriage record).

If the downstroke of the "k" is too long, it may even look like a "p" as in Lincoln A Supeforth (census).

This entry for Anna Sukeforth may actually have started out like Lincoln's, with the census taker misreading his own original "k" as a "p" to make another Supeforth in this final copy.

Wrong Spelling + Wrong Indexing

Finally, an original misspelling may be compounded by an indexer's mistakes.

The census taker misspelled Bessie Sukford, who was then indexed as Bessie Sukeford.

Probably that's a "k" in the "e"-deprived census listing for Sadie Sukforth, but the indexer saw a "p" and she became Sadie Supforth.

L = D = Z = P = S ?

A special case of the "misread letter" type of error is a misreading of the initial "S", resulting in such constructs as Lukeforth, Dukeforth, Zukeforth, and – my personal favorite – Puckforth. The most common of such variants by far is Lukeforth (or Luckforth), as a script "S" and "L" may be very similar, depending on the clerk's handwriting.

   

Earl L Luckforth [Suckforth], census

   

Thomas Lukeforth [Sukeforth], census

   

Harry I Dukeforth [Harry T Sukeforth], census

   

[Illegible] Zukeforth [Sukeforth], census

Eben. Puckforth [Suckforth], census

Not all instances of Lukeforth are due to a modern indexer's misreading. At least a few of them sport a clearly handwritten "L" on the census sheet or vital register page. Since the two examples shown below each include another L in the name for comparison, it's hard to believe the initial letter of the surname could actually be a misread S. I suspect these stem from transcription errors when a census taker made his final copy, or a vital record was copied from the original marriage license or register into a compiled register.

   

Earle L Lukeforth, census
[yes, his middle initial really was L]

   

Harold Lamont Lukeforth, birth register

And then there are the cases where the clerk's "S" and "L" are so similar that it's a toss-up whether the name as written is actually Sukeforth or Lukeforth. In this example from a marriage register, the bride two lines down from Maud E. Sukeforth (indexed as Lukeforth) conveniently has both letters in her name for comparison. I think Maud's name is actually spelled with an L here, but it's hard to tell for sure.

Unfortunately, those "Lukeforth" entries sometimes get carried over to compiled indexes and printed city directories as well, making it impossible to find the hidden Sukeforth either in an OCR index of the source or by looking at the page images, unless the researcher thinks to check for "Lukeforth" every time.

   

Gardner E Lukeforth, death index

   

Abraham B. Lukeforth, marriage index

Harriet Lukeforth, city directory

Sukeforths That Aren't

Of course, this can work in the other direction, too – occasionally some other name somehow gets interpreted and indexed as Sukeforth.

Here, an overwritten census listing for Preston Cutsforth was indexed as "Ruston Sutsforth", and then had an "alternative" interpretation as "Huston Sukeforth" added by a user.

The most bizarre name I've found indexed as Sukeforth has to be Cozette Evangeline Zikefoose.


So that ancestral line with the rare and/or unusual surname can be a blessing... or a curse. But on balance, a name like Sukeforth is a pretty good one to have in your family tree.

(This post was inspired by the "Favorite Name" prompt in Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge.)

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SOURCES

1. All image snippets clipped from Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Feb 2018).

From Down East Maine to Panama: Capt. Gardner Emerton Sukeforth

SS Ancon in the Culebra Cut

Today's Genealogy Blogging Beat post, noting the anniversary of the official opening of the Panama Canal on August 15, 1914, inspired me to write this profile of a relative who played an important – though largely unheralded – role in that opening: as captain of the SS Ancon, the steamer that made that historic passage.

Gardner Emerton Sukeforth was born 22 July 1849 in Washington, Waldo County (now Washington, Knox County), Maine, the seventh and last child of William Sukeforth and Ruth Emerton. Before his seventh birthday, his father had died and his mother had remarried, to Isaiah Pert, a sailor some 17 years her junior, and in 1860 Gardiner and three of his brothers were living with the Perts and their two-year-old half-brother in Sedgwick, Hancock County, Maine.

Gardner is nowhere to be found in the 1870 census, but according to a 2013 article¹ in Discover Maine magazine by Charles Francis, he

... left home while still a teenager² to live in the Penobscot Bay town of South Penobscot. His early years were spent working on a variety of ... fishing vessels and coastal schooners....

About 1872, Gardner and his older brother George were both living in Portland, Maine (though not at the same address), and working as coopers, a trade George no doubt learned from their father and passed along to his brother. George remained in Portland and married in 1874, while Gardner is found briefly coopering in Cambridge, Mass., then disappears until about 1880, when he was enumerated in Liberty, Maine, with his now-widowed mother, brother John, and half-brother Melvin.

He also shows up in the 1881 Portland directory at his brother's address, and may have used that as a home base for his sailing voyages, as he listed Portland as his residence when, on 7 February 1884, he married Clara L. Sargent in Lynn, Massachusetts. Although Clara and her parents, Thomas C. and Louise (Tribou) Sargent, had been residents of Lynn since about 1863, Clara had been born in Surry, Hancock County, Maine (not too far from Sedgwick or Penobscot), and the Sargents had lived there until at least 1860. Perhaps Gardner met the Sargent family before they removed to Lynn (though Clara would have been only a child), or later when they possibly returned to visit relatives.

The couple moved in with Clara's parents³ and remained in Lynn through about 1890, presumably sailing – then steaming – out of Boston-area ports. During this time they had two daughters, Annie in 1887 and Marion in 1889.

Then, in 1891, the Lynn directory says Thomas Sargent has "removed to New York city," and there is no listing for Gardner, but neither appears in New York – or anywhere else that I could find – until they both turn up at the same address in Brooklyn in 1894. I believe the explanation for that roughly four-year disappearance may be found in Francis's Discover Maine article:⁴

With the decline of the golden age of sail, Sukeforth switched to steamships.... [His] apprenticeship with steam came with the Red D Line.... For some five years beginning in 1886 [he] served on Red D ships operating between New York and South America. Then he moved to the West Coast, working the San Francisco to Japan Red D run. In 1896 he went to work for the Panama Railroad Steamship Company.

Though some of the details seem a little off – would he have been working a New York to South America run while living in Lynn? – this account has him moving to the west coast around 1891, exactly when he disappeared from Lynn. The fact that there are no San Francisco city directories on Ancestry between the 1891 and 1896 editions might explain my failure to find him there. (His appearance in Brooklyn in 1894 may mean that was when he worked the New York-South America run.)

His new employer, the Panama Railroad Steamship Company, was in effect owned by the U.S. government, which bought up most of the company's stock in 1897. The company's flagship, the SS Ancon, was in fact owned by the United States War Department and only leased to the company. And of course, the U.S. government was in charge of the construction and operation of the Panama Canal, along with everything else in the Canal Zone.

Capt. Gardner E. Sukeforth

By the time the Canal was finally ready to open in 1914, Gardner Sukeforth was the most senior captain in the company, and was selected to command the Ancon for its historic passage. As the largest vessel to pass through the canal until then,⁵ the Ancon would be tricky to navigate through the lakes along the canal, and there were no pilots specifically trained for the task. Although pilot John Constantine was technically in charge of the Ancon for the trip, the successful passage, in a record time of 9 hours and 27 minutes (they were planning for an 11-hour passage), was made under Capt. Sukeforth's direct supervision and command, using the canal blueprints and charts of the lakes as a guide – he himself had not previously made the passage. For a man who grew up sailing schooners along the rocky Maine coasts, it was probably a walk in the park.

Gardner Sukeforth continued to captain various ships for the Panama Railroad Steamship Company until his death from Bright's disease on 19 May 1920 in Dayton, Ohio, where the Sukeforths had lived since about 1917. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.

Gardner Sukeforth is my first cousin three times removed; our common ancestor is Robert Sukeforth.

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SOURCES

1. Charles Francis, "Gardner Sukeforth Opens The Panama Canal," Discover Maine, 2013, vol. 10, issue 5, pp. 81-83; digital images, Issu.com (http://issue.com : accessed 6 Dec 2014).
2. His leaving home may have had more to do with family turmoil than anything else; it appears that after a stint in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, Isaiah must have divorced Ruth, as he married again in 1868 and in 1870 was living with his new wife in Sedgwick, next door to Ruth's son Andrew. Ruth, meanwhile, had moved to Liberty, where she was enumerated under the name Ruth Sukeforth, along with her sons John (Sukeforth) and Clarence Melvin (Pert), and next door to her oldest daughter Martha and her family.
3. Gardner and Clara continued to live with her parents throughout their lives. No doubt his career as a steamship pilot and captain took him away from home enough to make it more practical for Clara and their children to live with her parents instead of keeping a separate household. 
4. Francis, "Gardner Sukeforth Opens The Panama Canal."
5. The Ancon's sister ship, the SS Cristobal, made the first unofficial passage on August 3rd.

Who Was the Father of David Sukeforth's Wife Abigail? Part 2

Continued from Who Was the Father of David Sukeforth's Wife Abigail? Part 1

After discovering the Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection record (below) claiming that David Sukeforth's wife Abby J. was the daughter of Daniel B. Grinnell,¹ the first thing I did was check the Hale Collection cards for David and Daniel to see if they were likewise cross-referenced. Well, David's card listed "Abby J. wife" as expected, but Daniel B. Grinnell's card lists only "Sarah, wife" and "Elijah, son" – no mention of a daughter Abby buried nearby.²

Abby J. Sukeforth card, Miller Cemetery, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection

Going back to Abby's card, I noted that above the table of names are the headings "The following names also appear on stone, monument or in cemetery" and "These names are the following relationship to the above". Also, the instructions at the top of the card are to "note relationship only when on the stones" (emphasis added). (Oddly, neither of the boxes are checked to indicate that the listed names – David G Sukeforth and Daniel B Grinnell – have their own card.) Were the stated relationships actually on the stones? I went looking for the memorials on Find A Grave. (I already had my own photos of the Sukeforth gravestones, taken on a 2013 trip to Maine.)

Abby J. Suckforth gravestone

In short, Abby's gravestone reads "wife of David G. Suckforth", with no mention of any relationship to Daniel B. Grinnell.³ None of the three Find A Grave memorials^{4, 5} gives any indication that Abby might be a Grinnell. Furthermore, according to Miller's Appleton Register of Deaths, Daniel Briggs Grinnell, besides the son noted on the Hale Collection card and his Find A Grave memorial, had four daughters, none named Abigail and none married to a Sukeforth or a Fossett.⁶ Nor could I find any other record of an Abigail Grinnell. This seemed to be a dead end.

I decided to further investigate the two Thomas/Abigail Fossett couples in the 1850 census. I was still bothered by the fact that there was no sign of either couple in subsequent censuses; I couldn't even find Ellen Fossett from the Union census record. (By the way, I have yet to find any record of Thomas Fossett's death.) Then I was struck by Lydia E. Fossett's middle initial – could Lydia E. be Lydia Ellen?

Lydia was no longer with her mother and stepfather in 1870, so I assumed she probably had married. Yes – on 11 Mar 1868, Lydia E. Fossett married George L. Robbins, both of Appleton.⁷ Unfortunately, recording of parents' names had not yet begun (would have been nice to find Abigail's maiden name!), and her middle name is not given, but maybe if I followed Lydia and George I'd find some clue.

George L. Robbins-Lydia E. Fossett marriage, 11 Mar 1868, Appleton, Maine

Sure enough, in the 1870 census, right next door to David and Abigail, there was George R. [sic] Robbins and Ellen, 22, with a 5-month-old son Alton!⁸ Just to make sure I had the right George Robbins (his middle initial is wrong), I then checked 1880: eight households away from the now-widowed David (but still on the same page) is George L. Robbins, with wife Lydia, 32, son Alton C, 10, and daughter Allice, 6.⁹ Clearly, Lydia and Ellen are one and the same. From 1900 on, she is Lydia E.; after George's death in 1905,¹⁰ she is living wih her married daughter Alice in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Not until her death in 1933 do we find her name completely spelled out, as Lydia Ellen (Faucett [sic]) Robbins.¹¹

1870 U.S. census, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, David Suckforth and George R Robbins households

Having established that Lydia sometimes went by her middle name, Ellen, even as an adult, I finally concluded that the two Thomas Fossett households in 1850 were very likely a double-enumeration of the same family, nearly two months apart: Henry Fossett's household in Union was enumerated on 29 July,¹² while the Thomas Fossett household in Liberty wasn't counted until 17 September.¹³ Henry's wife had died the previous December, so it's plausible that his son and family were staying with him for a time before returning to their own home in Liberty. The discrepancies in Abigail's and Lydia/Ellen's ages can probably be explained by Henry being the informant for his own household. Most likely Abby was calling her daughter Ellen at the time (and Henry reported her as such), but gave the girl's formal name as Lydia E. when they were later enumerated in Liberty.

Thus it appears that David Sukeforth's wife really was the former Abigail Jane Sukeforth who married Thomas C. Fossett. A closer look at the 1850 Liberty census reveals that Michael and Sophronia (Bagley) Overlock were enumerated only three households before Thomas Fossett (I missed this initially because the Overlocks were on the previous page).¹⁴ So Abigail remained close to home after marrying Thomas.

The only remaining question is how on Earth the MOCA compilations got Abigail Overlock confused with the Grinnells. Only when I reviewed all the photos I took in Miller Cemetery did I come up with a possible explanation. In addition to individual closeups of David and Abby Sukeforth's and Michael and Sophronia Overlock's markers, I also took this wide shot of the Overlock markers with the Sukeforth markers visible behind them.¹⁵ Their proximity, and the identical style of the markers, further links the two families. It's also worth noting that Michael Overlock lived his whole life in Liberty, and there are no other Overlocks in Miller Cemetery except for two of Michael's sons, so their only apparent connection is through their daughter's marriage to David.

Michael and Sophronia Overlock gravestones with David and Abby Sukeforth stones behind,
Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Maine

What does all this have to do with the Grinnells? Well, take a closer look at the row of stones that includes the Sukeforths. At full enlargement, Abby's marker is clearly recognizable, with David's to the left, partially obscured by Michael Overlock's. And just to the left of that, the next stone reads "ELIJAH/SON OF/Daniel B. & Sarah Grinnell." Apparently, the Grinnell lot is directly adjacent to the Overlock/Sukeforth lot.

Detail of Michael Overlock gravestone showing markers for Elijah Grinnell, David Sukeforth, and Abby Sukeforth behind
(click on the image to enlarge)

While there is no overall shot of the Grinnell lot on Find A Grave, comparison of the backgrounds of individual photos of Daniel's, his wife's, and Elijah's markers¹⁶ with the overall shot of the Overlock lot indicates that the row of markers from left to right is probably Daniel Grinnell, Sarah Grinnell, Elijah Grinnell, David Sukeforth, and Abby Sukeforth. The MOCA volunteer reading the gravestones, not realizing that the Sukeforths actually belonged with the Overlocks in front of them (and apparently missing the clues in the gravestone styles – the Grinnell markers look nothing like the Overlock/Sukeforth markers), must have made an unwarranted assumption about Abby's parentage based on this sequence, and ignored the instructions to record only what was on the stones.

Lesson learned: you can't trust that people filling out forms and creating transcriptions always followed the instructions. It's so tempting to add something that you just "know" must be true ... except it isn't.

David G. Sukeforth is my first cousin four times removed, with Andreas Suchfort (aka Andrew Suckforth) as our common ancestor:

Relationship chart for David Grafton Sukeforth and The Down East Genealogist

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SOURCES

1. "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 24 January 2016), card for Abby J Grinnell Sukeforth, 1877; citing Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox, Maine.
2. "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," cards for David G. Sukeforth and Daniel B. Grinnell; citing Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox, Maine.
3. Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, Abby J. Suckforth gravestone, read and photographed by the author, 8 Oct 2013. 
4. Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016), database and digital images, memorials # 86049433 and # 86049470 for David G Sukeforth and Abby J Suckforth, created by "Stone Finders" (1 Mar 2012), photos by "Dale & Patti" and "MJD"; citing Miller Cemetery (Burkettville, Knox County, Maine). Note that Burkettville is actually a part of the town of Appleton.
5. Find A Grave, memorial # 86016001 for Daniel Briggs Grinnell, created by "Stone Finders" (29 Feb 2012), photos by "Dale & Patti" and "MJD"; citing Miller Cemetery (Burkettville, Knox County, Maine). 
6. Royce Miller, ed., Register of Deaths From the Beginning Until 1950, Appleton, Maine, updated 6th ed. (Gloucester, Mass.: Appleton Historical Society, 1999-2001), p. 55, entry for Daniel Briggs Grinnell; daughters Nancy (m. Bailey Grinnell), Eunice (m. William Leighr), Sarah (m. Joseph Light), Levina (m. Charles House). 
7. Original Records of Maine Towns and Cities: Town of Appleton, 1729-1892, digital images (PDF), CD-ROM (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2005), pdf p. 312, George L. Robbins-Lydia E. Fossett marriage, 11 Mar 1868. 
8. 1870 U.S. Census, Knox County, Maine, Appleton, p. 29 (penned), p. 15 (stamped), dwellings 234-235, families 245-246, David Suckforth and George R Robbins households; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016).
9. 1880 U.S. Census, Knox County, Maine, Appleton, E.D. 100, p. 127-C, dwelling 67, family 71, George L Robbins households; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun 2012).
10. "Maine, Death Records, 1705-1922,” database and digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016), George L. Robbins (mis-indexed as George B.), 1905.
11. "Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016), Lydia Ellen (Faucett) Robbins, 1933, Quincy.
12. 1850 U.S. Census, Lincoln County, Maine, Union, p. 40/528, dwelling 286, family 296, Henry Fossett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Jan 2016); enumerated 29 Jul 1850.
13. 1850 U.S. Census, Waldo County, Maine, Liberty, p. 48 (stamped), dwelling 635, family 682, Thomas Fossett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Jun 2012); enumerated 17 Sep 1850.
14. 1850 U.S. Census, Waldo County, Maine, Liberty, p. 94(?) (penned), dwelling 632, family 680, Michael Overlock household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016).
15. Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, overview of Michael Overlock cemetery plot, photographed by the author, 8 Oct 2013. 
16. Find A Grave, memorials # 86016036 and # 86016077 for Sarah "Sally" Esancy Grinnell and Elijah Grinnell, created by "Stone Finders" (29 Feb 2012), photos by "Dale & Patti" and "MJD"; citing Miller Cemetery (Burkettville, Knox County, Maine).