Author's notes: Memorial Day in New England, in my recollection and personal experience, is not just for remembering 'War Dead'. All over Maine and other New England states, Veterans' groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and citizen volunteers will lay flags at the graves of soldiers; those who died in battle, and those who survived , but were Veterans of all wars.
Memorial Day has also become a time for families to remember and honor their relatives; parents, grandparents, spouses, and other loved ones who have passed on from this life. It is in this vein that I want to begin a series of short postings to remember the men, women and children who died each month, and are interred at the Grand Trunk Cemetery.
Although I have already written about them in earlier posts, research often continues to surprise with little threads of information that add to their individual stories.
I do want to remind readers of this blog, that when the restoration project began in 2010, only 42 names of the dead existed in the city record. Forty two names survived of the 197 burials that took place, from sometime in the 1740's to the last burial in 1894.
Over time, and with persistance, we have been able to add five more names to the record. It is to be noted, that there were a number of children born to several couples, who died very young, but whose death records have been lost.
Fortunately, other sources indicated when these children were born, and when they died. In all probabliity, these young ones would have been buried here, along with their parents.
So, let's pick up a few more threads and remember those who died
in the Month of May!
On May 14, 1825, 197 years ago, William Sawyer, born to Anthony (1735 -1804) and Susannah (Marston) Sawyer (1738-1819) in 1763, died. Accordng to the Eastern Argus, dated May 17, 1825, published in Portland, William died at the age of 62.
William, one of thirteen children, was the third oldest son of Anthony and Susannah Sawyer.
On January 3rd, 1793, according to the journal of the Rev. Caleb Bradley, William married Tabitha Graves (1768 - 1857.) Although the couple had four children during their marriage, only two survived into adulthood.
William Sawyer, Jr. was born in 1794 and died at the age of 6 years in 1800.
Joseph Merrill Sawyer was born in 1795 and died in 1876, and a
daughter, possibly named Hannah, was born in 1798 and died in 1800 at the age of two years old, and a
son Crispus Sawyer was born in 1804 and died in 1873.
During the War of 1812, William, along with his brother, John Sawyer, Jr., his brother-in-law, Andrew Graves, and his son Joseph Merrill Sawyer served in the militia for the defence of the Port of Portland.
William is listed on the early records as a farmer by trade. Over the course of his marriage to Tabitha, the daughter of Lieut. Crispus Graves, there were a number of property transactions from Tabitha's father to her (through her husband), her sister Abigail Graves Sawyer, wife of John Sawyer, and her brother Andrew Graves, and his wife, Tabitha Cutter Graves. It is clear that the families' farms were close to one another and they maintained a close relationship throughout their lives.
The Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, vol. 4, listed a few inscriptions from the East Deering/Grand Trunk Cemetery. Here is Williiam and Tabitha Sawyer's as recorded in 1887.
On May 15, 1842, Emeline Blake, the 19 year old daughter of Samuel (1793 - 1846) and Martha H, Goold Blake (1803 - 1857), died. The cause of her death was not recorded. Emeline was one of six children and the oldest girl in the family. She was the second of the couple's children to die at a young age. When she was four years old, her two and a half year old brother, John died.
The Blakes, and there were several families, owned farms in an area close to the Grand Trunk Cemetery. All these Blake families were descendants of Jaspar Blake who ssettled in this area of Portland around 1736.
It is hard to imagine what size the farms were, although many were at least 50 to 100 acres. It is more difficult to define their exact locations. We do know that neighbors maintained relationships to one another for survival, particularily in the early days of the settlements and the villages.
Emeline Blake must have been well loved by her family, and greatly mourned her loss at such a young age.
Here is the inscription on her gravestone as it still existed in 1887.
There are two more deaths to remember later this month.
In the meanwhile, I want to extend an invitation to anyone who has a hour or so to spend with Joel and me, this Sunday afternoon at 1:30 PM at the GTC. Bring a rake, if you can, and meet us at the entrance to the children's play area to walk the short distance into the cemetery.
We will provide, bags, gloves and water. We will do a little raking of leaves and picking up broken branches from the winter.
We will also take the opportunity to place flags and wreaths for our Veterans and read their names aloud so they will be remembered.
Hope to see some of you on Sunday afternoon! Thank you in advance!
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