Lyman S Kimball

When I first started my family history research, no one knew who Grandma Mary Smith's first husband was.  We knew that his last name was Kimball, but that was all.

As earlier posts in my blog show, I deduced that he may have been named Lyman Kimball.  This was later verified when I found the record of his marriage to Mary in 1851, in Dover, NH, where they both had been living in 1850 (as shown in the 1850 federal census).

I have been looking, to no avail, for some record of what happened to him, because in the 1860 census Mary and her daughter Sarah (Grandma Tomlinson) were living without him. 

I recently became aware that I have access to a lot of databases through the library at the university in Stevens Point, where I teach.  Last night I found the database called "America's Historical Newspapers (1690 - 1922)" and thought, "Why not?" 

I put in the parameters "Maine", "1850 - 1860" and the name "Lyman Kimball." 

PAYDIRT!  In the January 18, 1859 issue of the Portland Weekly Advertiser, under "Death Notices", I found him:







Lyman's middle initial was S!  He unfortunately passed away quite young. 

In 1850 both Lyman and Mary were working in the mills (textile mills, most likely) in Dover (although both were born in Maine). Lyman's occupation was "manufacture".  They boarded with a farmer and his large family, along with seven other young people about 20-21 years of age, and one 50 year old lady boarder.

They must have moved to Biddeford after their marriage in May of 1851, where their daughter Sarah was born in 1852.  The value of Mary's personal estate in 1860 was $100, and she had one boarder, Eli McBride, who was an "operative"  In the large mill towns of the east this meant a person worked as an operator of weaving, cloth cutting, or other such machinery that was involved in the making of fabric.

So - the mystery has been solved.  But since every other search I have done has yielded nothing, I doubt whether I will ever figure out who his parents were... or Mary's, for that matter.