A Brick Wall Finally Knocked Down?

The last information I had found about Grandma Smith's first husband Lyman Kimball was the notice of his death in the Portland Weekly Advertiser in January, 1859.  That was just over three years ago.

Now it seems as though the evidence points to his having been the son of Gibbens (AKA Gibeon) Kimball and his second wife Lydia Cleaves Peavy, and that he was buried in a not-too-long-ago discovered family graveyard, along with his father and several other family members (including a brother named Orin) in Lyman, Maine, where he was born.  

This is an excerpt from a book called York County, Maine Cemetery Inscriptions, p 1265. It would be consistent to say that Lyman L Kimball is our Lyman.  He did die in 1859, he was age 30 when he died, he did have a wife, and he was a father.  I can only hope that he was also an affectionate husband and a much esteemed citizen!  

In 1859 he and his family were living in Biddeford, which is very close to Lyman, and so it would be reasonable to have been buried in the nearby family plot where eventually his relatives were also buried.

The discovery of this family plot was interesting: 

War of 1812 soldier’s family plot yields remains

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Special to the BDN • January 29, 2007 7:26 am

LYMAN – A man who was digging with a backhoe on his property in southern Maine unearthed a War of 1812 soldier’s family plot.

“Somehow or another I wound up with a body. It was quite a shock,” said Roland Nadeau, who made the grisly discovery last summer.

Nadeau’s wife, Pauline, said the family had owned the York County property for 10 years. They had heard rumors that a soldier’s grave was in the area, but no one knew exactly where it was or in what war he had fought.

Nadeau’s backhoe found the site when it pulled up what turned out to be a man’s leg bone.

The Nadeaus notified the local police, who in turn called Maine State Police and the Medical Examiner’s Office.

They excavated the rest of the body and found an oval medallion in mint condition, about 3 by 6 inches, inscribed with the name Charles Kimball and his birth date. A few days later, another body turned up, along with part of a casket and some lead lining.

The Medical Examiner’s Office returned and removed the additional remains, covered the area with a tarp and some soil and told Nadeau to stop digging.

Lyman Code Enforcement Officer Mike Polakewich believes that because the bones were near an old foundation, the house there probably burned in wildfires that swept through the area in 1947, destroying wooden grave markers as well as the family homestead.

Additional research revealed that an old family cemetery was indeed on the site. It included burial sites of Gibbens Kimball, a soldier in the War of 1812, his wife and other Kimball family members.

Local officials and the Nadeaus have agreed to rebury the remains in the same location this spring after the snow melts. The town will maintain the site.

Ron Stewart, the commander of the local American Legion post, is working with the Veterans Administration to get a marker for Gibbens Kimball.

Pauline Nadeau said she and her husband planned to rebury the remains, put up a marker and have a minister come say a few words.

“If they fight for us, then they deserve our respect forever,” she said.

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https://archive.bdnblogs.com/2007/01/29/war-of-1812-soldiers-family-plot-yields-remains/  accessed 9/15/2020

I am grateful to Jim Hathorne, "the cemetery guy" who took the photos below, and sent me this email message on 9/21/2020: 

“Today is a bright early Fall day, the maple trees are starting to turn colors.  I decided this would be a perfect day to visit Gibben's and his son Lyman's grave site.

Lyman is a diamond shape town, not awfully big, but spread out.  To get to the center of town I go thru a small part of 2 other towns.  Then pass town hall and go thru a small part of another town!  It was a fun drive.

I also passed 9 of our over 100 small cemeteries.

I was able to drive right to Gibben's lot.  It is at the top of a gravel pit hill in the middle of nowhere.  I found Gibben's marker put up once he was "unearthed".  All others are non readable, unfortunately.  I tried my cemetery stone poking stick and found nothing.

So glad to help!  Jim, ‘the cemetery guy’”

Jim was a founding member of the Lyman Cemetery committee and served as its chair for two years.

He also wrote:

“Lyman Maine is/was a very rural farming town, very small in population, but large in  acreage.  Very nearby is Biddeford.  The Saco River runs right thru Biddeford. 

Biddeford became a thriving textile town very early on. 

I firmly believe Lyman Kimball was the son of Gibbens Kimball.  He and his young family lived in Biddeford as that is where the "work" was at the time.  He died very young.  They had to bury him somewhere.  By then there were cemetery plots for sale in Biddeford. 

He could be buried for free next to his dad in Lyman.  Lots of of open land.

Lyman had the custom to bury their loved ones in "the back 40" so to speak.  In that most were buried on the "homestead".  Thus Lyman having over 100 burial sites.”

I am so grateful to Jim for his help, and hope to someday make a trip out to Maine to see the area where so many of my ancestors (including the Libbys) lived so many years ago!