Going to a Party.....at the Cemetery

Reflecting.....

     Sunday, May 6th, 2018, was a day, not unlike today here in Portland, Maine.  It's over-cast with the possibility of showers.  Actually, when I left my house on Melbourne Street, van packed with three portable tables, a dozen rakes, rolls of garden bags, work gloves, water bottles and snacks for the workers, and sundrie other items, it was raining lightly.  I was hoping people would show up and not be discouraged by a few raindrops.  The nine young Junior Girl Scouts had spent many hours planning, preparing and encouraging people to participate in this annual Spring Cleanup at the Grand Trunk Cemetery.

     They would not be disappointed!  About twenty-five children, parents, grandparents, and old 'Friends of the Grand Trunk Cemetery' did come to work, share stories, re-unite, and play.  I borrowed the title of this post from a short article by Jennifer Fulwiler:

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/ennifer-fulwiler/going-to-a-party,,,,at-the-cmetery

I think one of the biggest benefits of these events,.....is the way they give you a sense of comfort about the cycle of life.  There's a palpable sense of connectedness among both the living and the dead.  Those of us still living are connected to one another, and we are connected to those who have passed, just as those who have passed were connected to one another, and to those who died before them.  We recognize names scrawled on name- tags, just as we recognize names carefully chisled on tombstones, and there is a feeling that we're surrounded by loved ones, both those alive on earth, and those alive on the other side.

     Since the very beginning of this project to recover, the remnant of this ancient brial ground, there has always been a sense of celebration; we refer to our fall Planting events as a parties  There has always been a joyous atmosphere and a sense of commaradery while working together for the common purpose of honoring the dead.  

     All of this was so evident this past Sunday with the activities, the hard work, the re-uniting of descendants of those interred here, and the educating of the young who will, hopefully continue to see the importance and value, of caring for our ancient cemeteries.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Ben and Norma Sawyer, descendants of Anthony Sawyer, grandson of the first Sawyer, Isaax Sawyer, Sr. who settled here in 1725

MaryAnne Wallace and Lynda Allshouse among the daffodils.

Kayla Theriault began this project in 2010, and continues to support the work at the cemetery

The tables set up in the field with crafts.

Mother and Daughter at the Bake Sale table to raise funds toward the new Cemetery sign.

The old Hoop and Stick game

You've got it, Grandfather!

Engaged in the Historical Scavenger Hunt

Janet Christopher, Machigonne Service Unit Manager has been a great supporter
 from the very start!

It takes team work!

Norma and Ben Sawyer have come out to support every event..

These two Brownie Girl Scouts learned a bit of cemetery history.

A supportive brother and a willing son:  thanks to young Mr. Hanscom!

The girls gather around to recive my thanks for a job well done!

Kayla shares her Girl Scout experiences.

The painted stones are a welcome addition.

Many 'Thanks" to Lilly Denis, Caitlin Rohde, Nora Hansom, Estelle Jones,Sophia Scola, Lindsey Bickford (not in pic),Ally Brady, JoJo Philbrook, Hadleigh McPartlan, and their Leaders:  Staci Hansom and Cheryl Denis.

     Many thanks to all who participated in the Annual Spring Cleanup Party.  This was a wonderful celebration of the living among the souls of those who died long ago in Portland and the East Deering Community.  For those of you who follow this blog, I hope when you are in Portland, you will take a little time to visit the cemetery behind the Presumppscot School.  Enjoy the gardens, sit for a moment and reflect in the quiet and peace of the burial 
site.

There was a bit of giggling from the girls when they read my shirt. 
They thought it read: "I see Dead People"

 An Addition

     I wanted to include the histrical scavenger hunt which the girl conducted for participants.  Thought it might be of interest to folks who might like to visit the cemetery this summer.  Although, for the time being, we've removed the small flags in favor of the traditional graveside flags for Memorial Day, a careful following of the hints, might be helpful and fun.

SPRING HAS FINALLY ARRIVED AND SO HAVE THE DAFFODILS

     Yesterday, I met Joe Dumais, Superintendent for Portland Cemeteries at the GTC to decide where our long-awaited sign would be placed to mark the location of the East Deering/Grand Trunk Cemetery.  Many residents in Portland have asked for such a sign because they really had no idea where the cemetery was located.

We will have the sign placed close to the driveway entrance to the Presumpscot School showing that the cemetery is behind the school.  

     Thankfully, another crop of committed young Girl Scouts is spearheading a project to increase participation in our annual Spring Cleanup with many activities of interest to children and families who come together this Sunday afternoon to offer their service to the City of Portland and to beautify this sacred burial ground.  The girls will also sponsor a Bake Sale table with a donation jar to help raise funds for the new sign.

     As I waited for Joe to arrive, I wandered about the cemetery and was thrilled to see that many of the bulbs planted last fall, and previous autumns,  had blossomed; a truly welcome sight to greet the Cleanup participants on Sunday.

Daffodils among the leaves to be raked up.

At the Cemetery Entrance

Reflection

      As I gazed on the bright yellow blooms, I thought about how far we have come to reclaim this small, sacred place, and how important a role the Girl Scouts, the young ones, have played in awakening the community to the importance of preserving our ancient cemeteries.  Cemeteries  serve not just as  monuments to the dead, but as records of the history of a place; in this case, the City of Portland and the Back Cove and East Deering communities. 

    When Samantha (Allshouse) Lopez and Kayla Theriault made the commitment to undertake their project to reclaim the Grand Trunk Cemetery,  what they found was a place in deplorable condition.  As Joe Dumais conveyed to this new group of Scouts: " the cemetery was the 'orphan child' suffering the results of age, abandonment, and extreme vandalism.  It really didn't look like a cemetery at all.  While the city did its best to cleanup the site, the Grand Trunk was only one of the twelve or so cemeteries for which the city is responsible.  He welcomed the girls' interest in continuing the work begun by Sam and Kayla and the other Girl Scouts, their families and the "Friends" of the Grand Trunk Cemetery.  
     
     The following is a brief pictorial history:

Condition of the gravestones for Simon Davis and Francis Smith
in 2010

Graffiti covering the stones of Silas and Frances Boothby

      The first cleanup at the Grand Trunk Cemetery took place in November of 2010 with Girl Scouts from my, then Junior Troop at Presumpscot School, where Samantha and Kayla, then Juniors in High School, asked for their assistance.  The city crew had come in previously to mow and pick up the broken branches and dead-fall from the trees.

These young ladies were 5th Graders here; 

they will graduate from High School this year!

     Through out the winter and early spring of 2011, Samantha and Kayla rallied community support making presentations to the East Deering Neighborhood Association, the Parents Council at Presumpscot School, Portland Trails and the Machigonne Service Unit, all while doing continuous research to prepare for the first ever tour of the Cemetery. 

      In May, they received help from their own sister Girl Scouts to ready the site for the tour where about thirty people from the community came on a blustery afternoon.  The girls prepared a brochure with historical information.

Dressed in period costume, Kayla and Sam led the tour of the cemetery

      After the initial events, annual Fall Planting Parties and Spring Cleanups were organized.  Families from the neighborhood, Girl Scout Troops, the Daughters of the American Revolution and our informal Friends of the Grand Trunk Cemetery came out to offer their service.  In 2014, the Girl Scouts of Maine Machigonne Service Unit was inspired by three, then Junior Girl Scouts to formally adopt the cemetery as a yearly project by encouraging Portland Girl Scouts to participate in both, the Fall planting and Spring Cleanup Parties.  These three girls planted small gardens with perennials  and daffodils.

Ella and Megan are 8th Graders today, and Emma, a freshman 

at Portland High School

     This Sunday, May 6th, 2018 from 1 PM - 3 PM, continuing the legacy of those Sam and Kayla, nine Junior Girl Scouts have decided that it is important to encourage the community to care for the Grand Trunk Cemetery by spending an afternoon cleaning and raking and taking part in some wonderfully planned activities.  

     The girls are Candidates for the Girl Scout Bronze Award, the highest level of achievement for Junior Girl Scouts.  In order to receive this award, girls must form a working team, determine a community need, decide on a viable and sustaining  'take action project' for that community while employing their individual and cooperative skills.  At this level, the project will involve about twenty hours of service.

     Here are some of the activities the girls have planned for those participating:

• Old Fashion Games:  Crochet, Hoop&Stick, Bean Bag Toss (Soccer Field)
• Crafts:  Pine Cone Feeder and Painted Rocks
• Historical Scavenger Hunt (Cemetery)
• Raking and Pick up of Brush and Limbs
• Bake Sale Table

     

I invite those of you who are able, to come out Sunday afternoon to support these wonderful Girl Scouts and play among the daffodils at 

the Grand Trunk Cemetery

Patriots' Day 2018

     The following verses are from, "LIBERTY: An Ode for the Celebration of the Battle of Lexington" by Hannah Flagg Gould. 

Dear is our Liberty

For great is the price that bought her,

And dear the memory

Of those, who nobly sought her!

Fair daughter of the skies,

As million after million,

In other days shall rise

Beneath thy wide pavillon,

There may they find their names enshrined,

Their memory green and spreading,

That all may know to whom they owe

The gifts thy hand is shedding!

O live, sweet Liberty,

The course of time pervading, Here may thy glory be

Still pure and never fading!

Tomorrow, Monday April 16th, we will celebrate Patriots' Day, a day of remembrance of those who participated in the war for Independence, the Revolutionary War.  Only Maine, Massachusetts and Wisconsin observe this day.  R.C. Carroon, Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution wrote:

The American Revolution was brought about by many men and women working together in a common cause.  History remembers the great, and near great, the Washington's, the Franklin's and the Jefferson's. History also records the stories of those who were made to play the villains, the Hutchinson's, the Arnold's and the Butler's what history does not often reveal, are the stories of the ordinary people who brought, by hard labor and great personal sacrifice, this nation into being. 

The real hero of the American Revolution is the common soldier, had he not been convinced of the rightness of the cause for which his leaders asked him to fight, the Revolution would never have succeeded.

     Four Veterans of the Revolutionary War are interred at the East Deering/Grand Trunk Cemetery and their stores are included in posts within this blog.I am including the post of the Dedication Ceremony for Joseph Lunt because of the two excellent speeches that reflect our reason for commemorating this day. 

 The following is a stanza from:

The Revolutionary Soldier's Bequest

by Hannah Flagg Gould

"Behold"the hoary veteran said,

"The silver scattered o'er my head;

A remnant of the auburn hair,

That curled in sunny clusters there,

When in the land that now is thine,

With bounding flock and fruitful vine,

While Freedom's banner waves unfurled,

The envy of a gazing world,

Life was but slavery to me;

And when I fought, my son, for thee.

     How ever you choose to commemorate the day, I hope you will remember our Veterans of the Revolutionary War as Patriots whose commitment paid for our independence and freedom as Americans.

A Few Loose Treads: Jacob Sawyer, Jr./ Announcements

Preface

     Though my intention was to keep my research about the brothers of Isaac Sawyer, Sr. to a minimum.  I did not explore the early York County deeds, confining my search of those I found in the Cumberland County deeds.  None-the-less, John and Jacob Sawyer, and their families, are important to the history of what we know today as Cape Elizabeth and South Portland, I hope that others who are so inclined, will be encouraged to explore further.  I did want to share a few things I learned before leaving this to others.

Picking up a few loose threads

     I recently attended a workshop/lecture sponsored by 'Spirits Alive',  that wonderful organization of volunteers responsible for the care and preservation of Portland's ancient Eastern Cemetery.  Ron Romano, author of his most recent book, "Portland's Historic Eastern Cemetery - A Field of Ancient Graves",  gave a wonderful and informative presentation.  I learned something I had never really considered, that the term 'graveyard' applies only to burial sites that are attached to churches.  Eastern Cemetery, and in fact, the Grand Trunk/East Deering Cemetery,  are to be referred to as 'burial grounds' since  each site is designated for burials, but, not attached to any church.

     In my last post, I included this photo of the 1st Church of Cape Elizabeth and the graveyard where many of the earliest settlers are interred, including John Sawyer and some of his children.  Fortunately, their gravestones have been well preserved and cared for.

This photo shows the Meeting House prior to its move across the street,
 on Cottage Road, with the graveyard.

     The church was constructed by citizens of Poorpudock and Spurwink after receiving permission from the General Council,  prior to the separation from the First Church of Falmouth, when this area would become the second parish.

The following is a brief history from the South Portland Historical Society: 

     In my pursuit of information about the Sawyer brothers; Jacob Sawyer, in particular, I found this agreement made by Jacob to his 'son-in-law' Walter Simonton in 1797.  At first glance, I wondered which of his daughters married a second time and why this agreement was reached so close to the man's death.  After, trying to find out more about the daughters, only one was a widow at that time, it dawned on me, that this document applied, not to the elder Jacob, but to his son, Jacob Jr.  

 

The Agreement and Disposition of Jacob Sawyer, Jr.'s Possessions to Walter Simonton

     Who was this Walter Simonton?  I learned that there were several Walter Simonton's in the history of Cape Elizabeth.  Apparently, the Simonton family migrated from Scotland and Northern Ireland during the resettlement of the town of Falmouth about 1718.  Andrew Simonton and his brothers, William and Walter sailed on the HMS "Roberts" and settled near Casco Bay.  This Andrew was the father of Walter Simonton, born on October 19, 1755 in Cape Elizabeth who married Lucy Sawyer, in 1791, the daughter of Jacob Sawyer, Jr.

     The following are offered to provide insight into the Sawyer and Simonton relationship:

Jacob Sawyer, Jr. died May 31, 1800 at the age of 81 years.

     This piece is from Vol. 3 of the Maine Genealogical Recorder showing the marriage of Walter Simonton and Lucy Sawyer on August 9, 1791.

    I have not found a great deal of information about Walter and Lucy or whether there were children, but here at least is what I found on Ancestry that might serve as a springboard to others who want to explore further.

     As to other Walter Simonton; the brother of Andrew Simonton, born in 1706 is also buried along with his wife at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

     Dr. Samuel Deane recorded in his Journal, dated October 29, 1806:

Walter Simonton, found dead." p.387  

The footnote gives more information about this young man and his sad death at a crucial time in Portland's history when many merchants suffered tremendous losses from the imposition of the non-intercourse act of 1806.

Walter Simonton, a merchant here, appeared to have drowned himself.  He was found dead at Clark's Point, on the beach.

This Walter Simonton was only 30 years of age.

     Clearly, the Simonton family played a key role in the establishment of the communities of Cape Elizabeth and South Portland in those early days of the resettlement.  Their name and legacy lives on in Simonton Cove off of Willard Beach today.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

      As has been our custom since the project to recover, our ancient East Deering/ Grand Trunk Cemetery, the 'Friends' of the  East Deering/ Grand Trunk Cemetery, and the Girl Scouts of Maine Machigonne Service Unit, will hold our annual Spring Cleanup on Sunday, May 6th.  This year, we are pleased to have an enthusiastic 'new' crop of Junior Girl Scouts who will be sponsoring the event as their Girl Scout Bronze Award project. 

     I recently met with the girls and their Leaders, together with Joseph Dumais, Portland Cemeteries supervisor, at the Wilde Chapel at Evergreen Cemetery, to answer questions and to hear the ideas which the girls have for  increasing participation by more  Portland Girl Scouts and their families.  The Girl Scouts presented a proposal and flyers at the local Leaders' meeting this week.

 Here is the flyer for the event.  My hope is that those who follow this blog, and live in the greater Portland area, will consider joining us for the afternoon of work, fun and service to this little historic burial site.

     Finally, I want to share the news that the Grand Trunk Cemetery is listed on the City of Portland's website of Historic Cemeteries with my write-up and a photo giving this small, but significant burial site valuable recognition and visibility.  Hope you will find the website informative.

https.//www.portlandmaine.gov/603/Historic/Cemeteries