In Memorium: Lucy Hodsdon/Hodgton Blake and Isaiah L. Frank

    Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the United States,  and we will remember those who served our country throughout its history, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice with their deaths.  We also remember all those who served and continue to serve in the military.

    Memorial Day is also a day to remember our own beloved dead, and perhaps remember others who may have lived long ago, and are threads that form the fabric of  our mutual history.

    As promised, I would like to raise up to memory two individuals who lived and died in the place we call East Deering, part of the city of Portland, and are interred at the Presumpscot/Grand Trunk Cemetery.

    LUCY (HODSDON /HODGTON)BLAKE was born about 1769 to Benjamin Hodsdon ( 1702 - 1774) from Kittery, Maine.  Her mother is unknown.  Lucy was the youngest child if the record is accurate.  To this point, very little is known about her. 

     Lucy married William Blake on March 23rd, 1805, as recorded by the Rev. Caleb Bradley.  In August of 1805, Lucy's potential father- in - law, John Blake sold property to his son William.  In all probability, this twelve acre parcel was for William to build a house for his new bride.

    Sadly, The marriage lasted two years, Lucy Hodgton Blake  died on May 26th, 1807, at the age of 38.  Interestingly, the recorded obituary mentions that she was the daughter of Benjamin Hodgton.

    Lucy Blake's old death record does not give any information about the cause of her death.

    When the project to recover the Presumpscot/Grand Trunk Cemetery began in 2010, all that existed for information about William Blake's two wives, were their first names.  This is not an unusual occurance at that time, records were sparce. 

    We do know that Lucy Hodsdon or the other spelling:  Hodgton, existed and that she lived for a short time in East Deering, and she was the first wife of William Blake, and was buried beside him.

    ISAIAH L. FRANK was born on December 18, 1809, to William ( 1774 - 1836) and Nancy Lara Frank, (1785 - 1878), one of ten children.  He married at the age of thirty, Elizabeth Ann Sawyer on November 15, 1840.

    Elizabeth and Isaiah produced four children during their long marriage: 

Seward (1845 - 1890), Albert H. (1848 - 1929), Orin (1850 - 1881), and Mary Elizabeth (1853 - 1931).

 According to Census records, Isaiah was a farmer and lived in East Deering, off of Lunt's Corner and Ocean Street, in what was then part of Westbrook.

    Elizabeth Ann Frank died four years before her husband, and was listed as at the Eastern Cemetery Dead house.  It is thought that she may have been transfered to the Grand Trunk Cemetery to be interred with her husband Isaiah who died on May 27th, 1894.  

    Isaiah's burial is the last recorded burial at the Presumpscot/Grand Trunk Cemetery that we know.  Isaiah L. Frank died of old age, according to the death record.  He was 84 years old at the time of his death.

    However you choose to celebrate Memorial Day, I wish you all the best and hope that you will treasure the memories of those 

who contributed to the fabric of our lives.