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.

---

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!

 

 

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. 

Great Grandpa Joseph Libby's First Family!

For many years I have known that Joseph Libby (my great-great-grandfather) had married twice.
Joseph was born Joseph Thompson Libby in December, 1825.  He was a twin with David.

Joseph married Hannah Lovett (or Leavit) in 1850.  They had two daughters:  Ida, born in 1851, and Fannie, born in 1854.


On January 30, 1870, Joseph married Sarah Adcox (Adcock) in Fannin, Texas.  They eventually had 7-8 children (several died at birth and one died as a toddler).  Their surviving children were Edward Ellison, my great-grandfather, and his sisters Ada, May, Ora and Alice.  The family lived in Waterloo, IA for a while and eventually ended up in Minneapolis.


But back to his first wife and his two daughters.  This has been an interesting search.

In 1860, in Piscataquis, Maine, Joseph and Hannah were divorced.  He was the plaintiff.  The divorce was granted in February.  On March 5, 1860, Hannah married John H Sewall (or Sewell).  That same year, Hannah gave birth a baby girl Louella.


The 1860 census lists John H Sewall, Hannah A Sewall, Ida E Libbey, 9, Fannie F Libbey, 6 living in Maine. 

On July 1, 1863, John registered for the Civil War Draft in Minnesota.  He is listed as a "moulder" living in St Anthony. 

In about May of 1866, Hannah and John had a son name William (Willie) Henry.

Louella died in May, 1862; Willie died Nov 15, 1870; and Ida Libby (now going by Sewell) died in 1864. All three of the children were buried in the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery (also known as Layman's Cemetery) on Cedar Avenue and Lake Street in south Minneapolis.  They are in Lot 27, Block K.

(On a side note, this is also the cemetery where my father's stillborn sister (unnamed) was buried.  She died at birth at 2639 Cedar Ave and is buried in Lot 50 Block E.)

The family appears again in the 1870 census, living in Minneapolis (and coincidentally and interestingly on the same page as Sarah and Otis Wescott, whose daughter Agnes eventually grew up and married Edward Libby, Joseph's surviving son!!). 

The next record I find is a record of a marriage between Fannie F Sewall and Henry L Norton on May 11, 1874 in Sacramento, CA.  This might be Joseph's second daughter by his first marriage with Hannah.  Henry and Fanie (sic) are listed in the 1880 census living in Mendocino, where he was a clerk in a saw mill.

There is a record of John Henry Sewell living in Fresno, CA by 1876, where he farmed.  John and Hannah are listed in the 1880 census. 

I was able to find that John died on September 23, 1924.  He is buried in the Washington Colony Cemetery in Fresno, CA.  And next to his stone is one that simply states "MRS SEWELL" and the date 92 (indicating a death date of 1892).  This is consistent with the fact that John is listed as a widower in the 1900 census.

So... almost all the mysteries are solved.  Joseph had two daughters by his first wife, Ida and Fannie.  Ida died young and is buried in Minneapolis.  Fannie MAY have been married in California to Henry Norton.  I am not sure if I will be able to verify that.  I have not found any death records for Fannie or Henry Norton.

Phew!  Now if I could just solve the mystery of Lyman Kimball.... 

Confirmation!!

Never say never! Tonight I was trying - once more - to see if I could find a record that would confirm that Grandma Smith (born Mary A Wall in Portland ME in 1830) married Lyman Kimball. They both lived in Dover NH in 1850, and worked at a mill. They are listed on the same page in the census.

I originally posted on this blog (in August 2006) that "Based on a variety of clues I have been thinking that perhaps Mary A Wall (who became a Smith when her daughter Sarah was about 10 or so) first married a man named Lyman Kimball in about 1851, and Sarah was born in Biddeford, ME in 1852. By 1860, Mary and Sarah were living in Biddeford alone (so her father must have died in the meantime)."

Tonight I found the record of their marriage: Lyman Kimball (born in Lyman ME about 1829) married Mary Wallis (sic) (born in Portland ME in 1830) on 28 May 1851 in DOVER NH. The clergyman who married them was named Elias Hutchins.

WOW. Never give up!

Otis Wescott's Family

Grandma Libby's father Otis H Wescott was the grandpa who "went to the drug store and never came home". I finally know for sure who his family was.

His parents were Jarvis H and Patience Wescott (sometimes spelled Westcott). Jarvis was born in Dec 1828 in Massachusetts. He was an iron moulder (as was Otis). Patience was born about 1832 in New Hampshire.

Otis was born in Connecticut in Oct 1851. By 1855 the family was living in Wisconsin, where Emma (1855) and Grace (1866) were born; they moved to Mpls in 1867, where Martha (1869) was born.

The following records were found:

1850 Jarvis (age 28) and Phila (sic) (age 20) living in New Hartford Connecticut.

1860 James (sic) and Patience Westcott in Janesville WI with Hosea H (sic) (8), Emma E (5) and Elida (1) [Eliza??].

1875 Javis (sic) and Patience Wescoot (sic), Grace (9) and M B (6) in Minneapolis. (Minnesota State Census)

1880 Jarvis H, Patience, Grace and Myrtle C Wescot in Minneapolis, at 1901 Washington Avenue. He is a foreman in an iron foundry. Grace is attending school and Myrtle is "at home." (Is "Myrtle" the same person as "Martha"?)

1885 Jarvis, Patience, Grace, Martha (is this Myrtle???) and OTIS are living at the same address in Mpls. This is just after the divorce. Martha is 16 and is listed as being blind.

1890 [Minneapolis Directory] all at 1901 Washington Avenue:
Jarvis Wescott - molder
Grace M Wescott - no occupation
Miss Myrtle B Wescott - musician

Otis Wescott - molder Listed with business address at 47th avenue north and Queen

1895 Jarvis, Patience, Myrtle and a Martha Levine at the same address on Washington Avenue. (Martha Levine is not a married daughter. Perhaps she is a boarder or a relative.)

1900 Jarvis and second wife Mary S [Osmer] Wescott and her son Melvin Osmer (age 10) living at 3610 21st avenue south in Mpls. They are just married.

1900 Otis H Wescott and his second wife Sarah (!) and daughter Azalia are living in Los Angeles CA. He is a moulder in an iron works.

By 1910 Otis must have died, because Sarah (now calling herself Sadie (!!) and Azalia are listed living together, but Sadie is a widow. Sadie lived until 1950. Azalia married Harold Broad in 1929 and either died prior to 1938 or they divorced and she remarried. (Up until 1936 Azalia Broad was listed in the California Voter Registration Records.) Jarvis also seems to be deceased by 1910.

I cannot be 100% sure that the Otis H Wescott in California is the man who was divorced by Sadie (Grandma Tomlinson) but he has the same date of birth, the same state of birth and the same occupation (iron molder), so I think it's him. (There are almost no other Otis Wescotts in the census records.)

Another interesting thing I found: in 1880, Otis and Sarah are listed TWICE in the federal census. Once in Mpls with their four children, and again in MILWAUKEE - just the two of them - living as boarders. Perhaps they went there for a job opportunity that ended up not working out. (Their ages, middle initials, his occupation, and their states of birth are the same, so I am fairly sure it's them.)

How interesting that after deserting his first family he lived for a time with his parents, then ended up in California and married to a woman with the same name as his first wife. Not only that, but both women (Sarahs who later went by "Sadie") were born in Maine. His second wife was 15 years younger than his first wife.

Also interesting is that Otis' sister was named Grace. I wonder if Grandma Libby (Agnes Wescott) and her siblings had a relationship with their father's family. Is it possible that Agnes and Edward's first daughter (Grandma Lohman) was named after Agnes' aunt?

And I wonder what kind of musician Otis' sister Myrtle was???

Our Descent From John Libby

The following information is from the book The Libby Family in America, 1602 – 1881, prepared and published by Charles T. Libby, Portland, ME, printed by B. Thurston & Co. 1882. (This book became Volume I of The Libby Family in America when two subsequent volumes were published in the twentieth century.) The numbering system that is used following the names identifies the birth order of each descendant in successive generations.

For example,
Henry Libby, 1647 – 1732 5 was John Libby’s fifth child
John Libby, 1700 – 1755 5-7 was the 7th child of the 5th child of John Libby
Jesse Libby, 1747 – 1822 5-7-11 was the 11th child of the 7th child of the 5th child
of John Libby… and so on.


John Libby, 1602 – 1682 The immigrant and patriarch

Henry Libby, 1647 – 1732 5

John Libby, 1700 – 1755 5-7

Jesse Libby, 1747 – 1822 5-7-11

David Libby, 1772 – 1853 5-7-11-2

Lewis Libby, 1797 – 1874 5-7-11-2-1

Joseph T Libby, 1825 – 1894 5-7-11-2-1-3

Edward E Libby, 1874 – 1937 = Agnes Everett Wescott

Their children: James Grace Horace Gertrude Donald (Buster)


John probably came to America around 1636, and the first record of his working here was from 1639. He worked for Robert Trelawny and his agent, John Winter. John was apparently in Trelawny’s employ from the summer of 1635 to the summer of 1639.

He had two wives. Nothing is known about the first, expect that she was the mother of all but two of his sons, and probably all his daughters. His second wife was named Mary; nothing else is known of her.

John Libby, 1602 – 1682

John’s children were:

John, b 1636 James Samuel
Joanna Henry, b 1647 Anthony, b ~1649
Rebecca Sarah, b 1653 Hannah
David, b 1657 Matthew, b 1663 Daniel

Henry Libby, 1647 – 1732 5

Henry was born in Scarborough, Maine, and was selectman of Scarborough in 1686. In 1690 he had to flee with his family (and his wife’s family) to Massachusetts, due to the Indian wars. He and his wife, Honor Hinkson, had 7 children: Mary, Samuel b. 1689, Sarah, James, Hannah, Elizabeth, and John.

John Libby, 1700 – 1755 5-7

Captain John Libby, married Mary Goodwin in 1728, and after she died in about 1735, he married Anna Fogg (9-5-2) in 1738. They had four children: Henry (died young), Hannah b. 1731, (married John Fogg, also a descendant of John Libby), Lucy, baptized 1735 and died in infancy, and Edward, b 1736, died young.

His second wife Anna gave him 10 children: twins Rhoda and Abner, b 1739, Olive, b 1741, Stephen, b 1743, twins Moses and Aaron, b 1745, Jesse, baptized 1747, Philemon, b 1749, Eunice, b 1752, and Seth, b 1755. He also had a son named Nathan, b 1766 by Lydia Libby, the widow of Mark Libby (10-5-3), one of John Libby’s great-grandsons.

Jesse Libby, 1747 – 1822 5-7-11

Jesse married Keziah March (11-6-1-1) in December 1769. He was a farmer in Limington, Maine, and also kept public house. He later sold his farm and kept a tavern at Hampden Maine for many years. Soon after the War of 1812 he sold the tavern, built a vessel and went to Philadelphia. Then he moved to New York City. After his wife died he returned to Hampden and died in 1822.

Their 7 children were: Jesse, David, b 1772, Samuel, b 1775, Anna, b 1781, Jane, b 1784, Richard, b 1790, and John, b 1893. John was a sailor, and went on a voyage from which he never returned.

David Libby, 1772 – 1853 5-7-11-2

David married Hannah Knight in August 1796. He was a carpenter and farmer. Born in Scarborough, he moved to Hampden with his father. In 1811 he moved to what is now Winterport and settled in the woods.

David and Hannah had 9 children: Lewis, b 1797, Hannah, b 1798, Mary, b 1801, Thomas Jefferson, b 1904, Jane, b 1907, Anna, b 1809, Julia, b 1812, Lucetta, b 1815, and Elvira, b 1820.

Lewis Libby, 1797 – 1874 5-7-11-2-1

Lewis was born in Limington and married Mary Ann Tompson (daughter of Joseph and Betsey (Clements) Tompson of Frankfort) in February 1822. He was a farmer. They had 12 children:

John Tompson, 1822-1826
Betsey Clements. 1824-1826
Joseph T
David twins born 5 December 1825
Mary E, b 1827
Married Albert Whitney. They show up in the 1870 federal census in
Bennington, Black Hawk County, Iowa (Waterloo is also in Black Hawk
County!), where Albert was a farmer. In 1870 they had 6 children from the ages of 2 to 17, all born in Maine.
Minot C, b 1829
John T, b 1831
Allen D, b 1833
Married Hannah J Garvey in Minneapolis in June 1866.
“He is now in business in Minneapolis. Children: Byron J, b 1867, Lewis, b 1868, Viola M, b 1871, Stella G, b. 1875, ??? b 1879”
Orren Lewis (known as Lewis), b 1837
Married Missouri Speicher, May 1876 in Waterloo, Iowa.
“Up to the time of his marriage he led a roving life, living in many places in Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, and other states. He first went west in 1858, and has lived there since, except Dec. 1867 – May 1870, spent at home. His chief occupation has been teaching school, but he has also been a trade and is now a hotel keeper. Since his marriage he has lived in Waterloo. Children: John F, b. 1877 and Thomas Ray, b 1879.”
Otis J, b 1839
In 1870, Otis was working on a farm and living with his wife Louise and son Lewis (age 3) in Waldo County, ME. In 1880, he was living with his wife Louise and son Earnest, age 3. His occupation was given as “HUCKSTER”. A huckster is a “seller of small articles, usually of cheap or shoddy quality, or one engaged in haggling or making petty bargains, that is, a certain type of peddler or hawker.”
Charles H, b 1842
Ann T, b 1844

Joseph T Libby, 1825 – 1894 5-7-11-2-1-3

“Lives in Waterloo, Iowa. He has a wife and three children.”
From the Additions and Corrections: “Joseph T Libby married Hannah J, dau. of Joseph Lovett of Hudson, and had children, Ida and Hannah.”

I’ve not been able to find out what happened to the daughters from his first marriage.

Newly Released Iowa State Censuses

More information has just become available with the publication of the Iowa State Censuses.

In 1885's census, Joseph T (61), Sarah E (38), Edward (10), Ora O (4), and Ada B (2) Libby are listed in Waterloo. Joseph is a laborer and Sarah is "keeping house". Also in the household are Sarah's younger sister Fannie Kite (21, and a widow) and her 3 year old son Claud.

Fannie remarried in 1886 to George H Crane, a stone mason. They had a daughter Myrtle Frances in 1887. She became a high school teacher and taught in Iowa and Detroit, Michigan. I believe that she died in 1979 in San Bernardino, California (and she never married).

Fannie died in April, 1915.

This narrows down the time when Joseph and Sarah moved to Minneapolis to some time in 1885, as (according to the records I have), May (their third daughter) was born in 1885, in Minneapolis. I'm not sure I have the month of her birth anywhere in my records, but the Iowa census was taken in January, so it could have been any time in 1885.