Remembering Deaths in the Month of May

     On this last day of the month of May, having just celebrated Memorial Day on Monday,  it is appropriate to remember two women and two men who lived in the East Deering neighborhood of Portland, and died during this month . 

   For families, here on the East Coast, and particularly in New England, the month of May and Memorial Day is for remembering and honoring  our dead;  certainly our War dead, but also family members whose graves we decorate appropriately with flowers.

    Since the beginning of the project to recover the remnant that is the Back Cove/Presumpscot/ Grand Trunk Cemetery, setting out American flags to honor the Veterans of Revolution, War of 1812 and the Civil War has been a priority.  Additional flags are also placed here for the unknown soldiers, who probably lay in unmarked graves in this burial ground.  

    Remember, only 47 names survive in record, of the 197 burials thought to have taken place between the 1740's and the final burial which took place in 1894.

Flags decorate the graves of Francis Smith, War of 1812, and
Simon Davis, Revolutionary War.

Honoring the Unknown 

The Grand Trunk Cemetery Veterans Memorial

        Remembering the dead for me, is a way of connecting to history, both on a personal and communal level.  It's true, the dead to be remembered today,  lived a long time ago. However,  their lives, though unfamiliar to most of us, laid the foundation for the generations that followed, not in monumental feats perhaps, but by the everyday-ness of their existence.  

        William Sawyer, was the forth child of thirteen children born to Anthony (1735 -1804) and Susannah Marston Sawyer (1738 - 1819).  He was the third  son, and was born in 1763.  

    On January 3rd, 1793, he married Tabitha Graves (1768 - 1857), the daughter of Lieut. Crispus Graves.  The couple were married by the Rev. Caleb Bradley.

    

    Sadly, William and Tabitha  lost two children in the winter of 1800:  

a daughter, age 2 years, born in 1798, died on February 1st, and her brother, William Jr. age 6, born in 1798, died on February 2nd, just on day later.  

    William and Tabitha Sawyer did have other children who survived into adulthood,  Until recently, I found evidence of two male children:

Joseph Merrill Sawyer (1795 - 1876) and Crispus Sawyer (1804 - 1873). Both brothers are interred at the Grand Trunk Cemetery.

    Recently, another child appeared in  several family trees:  a Hannah Sawyer (1810 - 1859).  I wonder if she is named after her sister who died at the age of two, or her grandmothers; both  named  Susannah /Hannah?

    William Sawyer was a farmer who lived in close proximity to his brother John Sawyer and his wife Abigail Graves Sawyer and his brother-in-law, Andrew Graves and his wife, Tabitha.  William and John inherited land through their wives originally belonging to Lieut. Crispus Graves.

    The Grand Trunk  Cemetery Memorial is an enclosure containing the government issued markers of those Veterans we were able to identify, but whose actually grave sites are unknown.  William Sawyer, War of 1812, his brother John Sawyer, Revolutionary War and War of 1812, and his father-in-law, Lieut. Crispus Graves, Revolutionary War, and, his brother-in-law, Andrew Graves, War of 1812,  are memorialized  here.

              William Sawyer, died on May 14, 1825, at the age of 62 years.

    Emeline Blake was born in June of 1823 to Samuel (1793 - 1846) and Martha H. Goold Blake ( 1783 - 1857) in what was then considered part of  Westbrook.  Emeline was one of six children born to the couple.

    There is no record of what caused Emeline's death on May 15th , 1842 at the age of 19 years and 11 months.  There once was a gravestone lovingly erected in her memory which has since been lost,  it read:

    Lucy Hodsdon or Hodgton was born in Kittery, Maine , c. 1769 to Benjamin Hodsdon (1702 - 17740.  Her mother is unknown.

    Very little is known about Lucy  prior to her marriage to William Blake. In the Rev. Caleb Bradley's journal, we know that Lucy married William Blake (1774 - 1853.) on March 23rd, 1805.  Unfortunately, Lucy Blake died just two years later on May 26, 1807,  at the age of 38 years, and is buried along with William Blake  and his second wife, Sarah Blake.  Their graves are unmarked.

Copy of Death Notice for Mrs. Lucy Blake

      Isaiah L. Frank, born on December 18, 1809 to William ( February 11, 1774, born  in Gray, Maine - February 11, 1836, died  in Windham, Maine) and Nancy Lara Frank ( November 29, 1785 - January 14, 1878  died in Windham).

    On November 15, 1840, Isaiah Frank married Elizabeth Ann Sawyer (1819/20 - 1890).  The couple resided on Lunt's Corner, Ocean  Street, now Avenue,  on a farm.  They had four children during their marriage:

Seward Frank (1845-1918), Albert H. Frank (1848 - 1929), Orin Frank (1850 - 1881), and Mary E. Frank (1853 - 1931).

    Isaiah L. Frank is the last person to be buried at the Presumpscot/Grand Trunk Cemetery . He died at the age of 84 years and 5 months on May 27, 1894.

    Before ending this post, I want to extend an invitation to visit the Presumpscot/Grand Trunk Cemetery.  Now that warmer weather is here and the cemetery is more accessible because  the school building project is nearly completed.  I understand that some work on the grounds will be finished once school is out in a few weeks.  On the weekends, parking is available behind the building and walking across the soccer field is easier.

    

    On May 21st, Joel and I, along with  special assistance from Lynda Allshouse, Patti Theriault, and Norma Sawyer spent time, raking leaves and debris from winter, cleaned out the garden beds, put down mulch and planted some annuals to prep for Memorial Day.  We placed the flags and wreaths to honor our Veterans as you noted earlier in this post.  

Our Friend, Norma Sawyer

Lynda Allshouse Planting Flowers in Zoe's Garden

    

    The mulch and flowers were purchased with donations we received from our Friends, Steve and Nancy Sawyer and Ron Romano.  We always appreciate the continued support for the cemetery and hope that those of you who plan to visit Maine this summer will stop by and spend a quiet moment.

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    Finally, over the course of this project, it's been my pleasure to meet many people, some only through communicating through this blog and on Facebook.  One such person is Ryan Noyes who has shared his on findings and research on the Noyes and Lunt families . Ryan has been very supportive of my attempts to share the stories of these early residents whose final resting place is this cemetery.   

    It was a delight to meet Ryan Noyes in person and , for Joel and I to have the opportunity to tour the cemetery with him before he returned to his home in Michigan.

    Ryan was here doing research and visiting the graves of relatives.  He also was fortunate to be present for the unveiling of the sign for the Noyes Park.  Here are a few photos taken at the cemetery.