Today is the last day of August 2022 and, although I haven't been able to visit the Presumpscot/Grand Trunk Cemetery in a while, because of the school construction project and my inability to walk too far over uneven surfaces due to my recent back surgery, none-the-less, I want to call to mind and memory three gentlemen who lived in the East Deering neighborhood and are interred here. I have previously written about each of them and followers of this blog can find more information about each of them.
"IN EAST DEERING, AUG. 22, MR. BENJ. SAWYER, AGED 73 YEARS.
(Funeral Services Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock, at the residence of Isaiah Frank, Lunt's Corner." Mortuary Notice , Sat. August 24, 1878
Portland Daily Press, Vol. 16, Page 2
Benjamin Sawyer was born in 1805 , the son of Zebulon (1778 - 1832) and Rebecca Ford Sawyer ( 1780 - ?). His paternal grandparents were:
Benjamin (1764 - 1818) and Miriam Sawyer (? - 1830). This Benjamin was a son of Isaac Sawyer Jr. (1707 - 1748) and Sarah Brackett Sawyer (1708 - 1784) , and a brother to Anthony Sawyer.
Theodore "Ted" Sawyer writes extensively about the 'Benjamin Sawyers and their relationship to one another and to the property they bought, sold or inherited in his "Back Cove to Quaker Lane."
Benjamin was a Ship's Carpenter who inherited land from his father Zebulon; a parcel of 18 acres near what is now Lunt's Corner off Ocean Avenue in Portland, In 1844, Benjamin sold the property to his brother-in-law, Isaiah Frank for $500 dollars with the provision that Isaiah and his wife, Elizabeth Ann take care of him because 'he is ill and unable to provide for his own support.' "The $500.00 is to be expended for his care and necessities."
The Federal Census of 1860, and 1870, shows Benjamin living with Isaiah and Elizabeth Ann and their four children until his death.
In August of 2019, I published a post entitled: Crispus Sawyer, Bachelor Farmer Resident of East Deering. The story of this man is interesting and maybe worth a second reading to followers of this blog.
Since that publication I believe that Crispus Sawyer was one of three surviving sons born to William and Tabitha Graves Sawyer. Crispus, probably named for his grandfather, Lieut. Crispus Graves, soldier of the Revolutionary War,was born on March 28, 1804 and died August 24, 1873 at the age of 69.
On October 27, 1874, the Portland Daily Press published the following:
CRISPUS SAWYER,late of Deering, deceased.
Petition that Joseph M. Sawyer may be appointed Administrator, presented by William Sawyer, a brother of said deceased.
And on January 25, 1877, the Portland Daily Press published this:
CRISPUS SAWYER, late of Deering, deceased, Petition that Cummings Rogers of said Deering, may be authorized to sell Real Estate, and distribute the proceeds after payment of expenses, presented by William Sawyer and als.;heirs-at-law of said deceased.
The final death to remember this month is that of John Barbour.
John Barbour was born to John M. Barbour (1773-1850) and Anna Wilson Barbour (1774-c.1825), one of ten children born to the couple between 1794 and 1822. John was born on October 12, 1801 and died at the age of 67.
The inscription in the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, vol 3,shows the date of his death as August 27, 1869, but there is some evidence that this is actually the date of his burial at the East Deering/Grand Trunk Cemetery. The Mortality Index of this year indicated that he died in July at the age of 67 while visiting Lycoming, Pennsylvania.
John Barbour married Jane Moses Morse,(1806-1881) daughter of Capt. Ephraim (1764-1843) and Rachel Noyes Morse (1771-1847), on July 1, 1826. During their marriage of 43 years, twelve children were born.
Today we call to mind these three men who died in the month of August, and were part of the fabric of the East Deering neighborhood. Although their monuments or memorial stones have vanished in the cemetery, we can still honor their memory, in the hope that they will be remembered still by any distant relatives and historical sleuths.
