Update: Maine Vital Records Fees

Most genealogists have heard about the recent increase in fees for obtaining a certified copy of a vital record (birth / marriage / death). The Maine State Office of Vital Records is now receiving $60.00 per copy.

LD 1648 (proposed legislative bill) has been submitted this session as an emergency bill that would require these fees to be changed back to what they were in September of 2009. It is felt by some that the new fees are inappropriate.

If you support this bill, you should contact your State Senators and Representatives to let them know your thoughts.

Also a reminder, these fees are only for copies being obtained from the State Office of Vital Records. We encourage genealogists to check with the town where these events occurred as the recent fee increase is only at the State level. The locally obtained copy may have a substantially lower cost.

Lunt, Derby, Severance Bible 1820s

Looking for help finding this family bible that had many entries on the Lunts and Derbys that lived in the Orono, Maine, area. There was also a letter that dated back to 1776.

The bible was bought off eBay in 2002. I tried to contact buyer to get info from bible and to see the letter with no luck. I would love to buy it back, it's part of my family history.

Keith Lunt
PO Box 88
Fort Ann NY 12827
Phone: 518-639-4613
E-Mail: luntkeith@yahoo.com

Vital Records of Litchfield, Maine

Maine Genealogical Society Special Publication #64 is now available. The Vital Records of Litchfield, Maine has been compiled by Marlene A. Groves.

The town of Litchfield is located in the southwestern corner of Kennebec County and is sixteen miles south-southwest of Augusta, the state capitol. The town was settled early and a survey in 1776 gives the names of these early settlers and the location of their lots. They were Benjamin Hinckley with lot 1, Eliphalet Smith with lot 2, Barnabus Baker with lot 3, Thomas Smith with lot 4, Benjamin Smith with lot 5 and Barnabus Baker, Jr., with lot 6. The town was first called Smithfield Plantation and incorporated as the 93rd town in Maine on 18 February 1795. Between 1827 and 1867 land was set off from Litchfield to the towns of Wales, Kennebec, West Gardiner and Webster.

608 pages, hard cover, 24,919 entry Every Name Index. 2010.

The book sells for $79.50, but MGS members pay only $69.50! For more information or to place an order, please visit Picton Press, official publisher of Maine Genealogical Society Special Publications at www.pictonpress.com.

To learn more about other MGS Special Publications visit our website at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs.

Membership number required to receive the MGS member discount.

Where to Write for Vital Records

Here's a site you might not think of for genealogical research - The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's website provides links to those who want to direct access to individual state and territory information. To use this valuable too, you must first determine the state or area where the birth, death, marriage or divorce occurred, then click on that state or area.

The site does provide guidelines to help ensure an accurate response to your request.

To access, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm.

An Epitaph of Note

With our cemeteries currently coated in a blanket of snow, cemetery hopping and research is a few months away for many of us. To fill the void, here is a gravestone that Janice Gower brought to my attention last summer which includes a lengthy epitaph full of genealogical and historical information.

The stone, located in the Raymond Hill Cemetery, is for Samuel Jordan who died October 11, 1850.

Mr. J. was the first lawful male child
Born in the town of Raymond and in
Early life entered upon an uncleared
Lot of land in the easterly corner
Of that town. Cleared away the forest
And built the buildings in which he
Lived and died. He was a great grandson
Of John Jordan of Cape Elizabeth
Who was a descendant of Rev. Robert
Jordan an English Presbyterian
Minister when emigrated to and first
Settled upon Richmonds Islands off
From Cape Elizabeth in the year 160.

Query - McIntire / Fogg

Seeking any info on Dorathy / Dorothy (McINTIRE) FOGG's ancestry. She m. Walter FOGG abt. March 1803. I believe that Dorothy was a sister to my ggg grandfather Benjamin McINTIRE of New Gloucester, Maine (who was m. to Maria PRINCE). Dorothy b. 30 Jun 1783 poss. in North Yarmouth, Falmouth (Portland), or New Gloucester. She d. 20 Mar 1868 and is buried in Old Valley Cemetery of Greene, Maine, with Walter FOGG and their 3 unmarried daughters. They moved to Greene from New Gloucester after 1st son Edmond b. 24 Feb 1804 and before next child, Sally, b. 23 Jun 1805. Dorathy and Walter raised at least 5 other children in Greene: Mary, Benjamin, Samuel L., George and Joan. Dorothy was in the 1860 census living w/son George FOGG and family.

Cynthia (McIntire) Johnson
Hillsboro, Texas
E-Mail: cindy.johnson@starband.net

Publication of Litchfield Vital Records

Expected Early 2010 --

Maine Genealogical Society Special Publication #64 - Vital Records of Litchfield, Maine

Compiled by Marlene A. Groves, this publication includes 608 pp., 24,919 entry Every Name Index.

MGS Member Price is $69.50 (Non-member price is $79.50).

For more information or to place an order, please visit Picton Press, official publisher of Maine Genealogical Society Special Publications at www.pictonpress.com.

To learn about other MGS Special Publications visit our website at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs.

Membership number required to receive the MGS member discount.

Kennebec County Deed Index

The website of the Registry of Deeds Office, Kennebec County, Maine contains a searchable database of their Land Records and Plans databases. Index information and document images that you'll see available on the website date back to the late 1700's.

It is free to search the database. Users must register first. Subscription to the database carries a cost of $50 per month. But as a non-subscriber, users have an unlimited view of index data and have the opportunity to purchase document images where applicable ($3.00 per page for land records or $7.00 per document for plans

Please visit the Registry of Deeds Office website at www.kennebec.me.us.landata.com.

Thanks to the Gowers for bringing this to our attention. As Jerry Gower points out, "even having access to the search index at home can be a big help and save time once at the deeds office."

Les Filles Des Roi

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

If you have French-Canadian ancestry, you probably have encountered the term "Filles du Roi" at some point in your genealogy research. Millions of today's Canadians and Americans can find one or more of the Filles du Roi in the family tree. I thought I would explain the term this week and also provide some historical background information.

The French term "Filles du Roi" translates literally as "the daughters of the King." Between 700 and perhaps 1,000 young, single women traveled to Quebec City, Trois Rivières, and Montréal from 1663 to 1673 as a part of a program managed by the Jesuits and funded by King Louis XIV.

These hardy immigrant women married and raised families. In fact, many of them raised large families in the tradition of the day. Many of their sons and daughters went on to also have large families, and so on and so forth for generations. As a result, millions of living people are descended from this group of pioneer women.

In the mid-1600s, most of the people arriving in what was then called New France were young French men intent on farming or fur trapping. Relatively few women traveled to the new land, which created a problem for these young men: there were very few women of marrying age.

As if the farmers and fur trappers didn't have enough competition finding wives, King Louis XIV sent almost 1,200 soldiers of the Carignan-Salières regiment to Québec in 1665 to fight the Iroquois Indians, who were aggressive and killed many settlers. The soldiers were deployed at strategic points of the territory to defend the colony and its residents. The regiment was successful, and a peace treaty with the Iroquois was signed on July 10, 1667. The Regiment then returned to France but left behind 400 soldiers and officers, aged between 19 and 30, who all agreed to remain in the country as settlers. With an additional 400 young men added to the colony, the marriage problems worsened. Jean Talon, intendant of New France, carried out the colony's first census. He recorded that the population was a bit more than 3,000, with 719 unmarried males and only 45 unmarried females living in the colony. This did not bode well for the future of the settlement.

In the custom of the day, the oldest daughter of a family in France received as large a dowry as possible from her parents to improve her chances of marriage. Dowries often included furniture, household articles, silver, land, or other inherited goods. Younger daughters of the same family typically received smaller dowries. Daughters of impoverished families often received no dowry at all, which reduced their chances of finding a suitable mate. These younger daughters were prime candidates for an opportunity in the New World.

Starting in 1663, the French government recruited eligible young French women who were willing to travel to New France to find husbands. The King of France offered to pay for transportation to New France of any eligible young woman. He also offered a dowry for each, to be awarded upon her marriage to a young Frenchman. Each woman's dowry typically consisted of 1 chest, 1 taffeta kerchief, 1 ribbon for shoes, 100 needles, 1 comb, 1 spool of white thread, 1 pair of stockings, 1 pair of gloves, 1 pair of scissors, 2 knives, about 1,000 pins, 1 bonnet, 4 laces, and 2 silver livres (French coins). Many also received chickens, pigs, and other livestock. Because the King of France paid the dowries instead of the parents, these women were referred to as the "Daughters of the King," or "Filles du Roi."

Their travels must have been difficult. In 1664, the Conseil Souverain reported to the French minister for the colonies, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, that sixty of the 300 people who embarked at La Rochelle the previous year had died at sea before reaching New France.

In France Madame Bourdon was made responsible for one hundred and fifty girls whom the king sent to New France in vessels from Normandy. She wrote that the young women in her charge gave her plenty of exercise during such a long voyage since they were of all kinds and conditions. Some were very badly brought up and very difficult to handle. Others were better bred and gave Mme. Bourdon more satisfaction.

There are many contradictory stories about the origins of these women. Some stories claim that they were mostly prostitutes who were forced onto ships in French harbors and sent to New France against their will. Other stories claim that these women were mostly recruited by Jesuits who insisted upon accepting only women of the finest moral character. The truth is probably somewhere between these two extremes. About 40 Daughters, called Daughters of Quality (filles de qualité), were from wealthy upper class families and had dowries of over 2000 French pounds. Several of the Daughters of Quality have provable descents from royalty.

On October 27, 1667, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Quebec intendant Jean Talon confirmed the recent arrival of the first young ladies. Jean Talon wrote:

Instead of the 50 that your despatch had me hope for, 84 young girls were sent from Dieppe and 25 from La Rochelle. There are fifteen or twenty from quite good families; several are real young ladies and quite well brought up…

The vast majority of the group was of French origin, although there were girls of other nationalities as well. According to the records of Marie de l' Incarnation, who knew many of these women, there were among them one Moor, one Portuguese, one German, and one Dutch woman.

Those who arrived safely usually found husbands within a few weeks. In fact, there are records of some of the young women marrying within days after their arrival in New France. Since many of them produced large families, hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people in North America today can find one or more of these young women in their family tree.

An alphabetical listing of all the Filles du Roi and their husbands is available on the Encyclopedia of Genealogy at: http://www.fillesduroi.org/src/Filles_list.htm

You can find a lot more information about the Filles du Roi on the World Wide Web. Some of the better sites include the following list:

In English:

A Scattering of Seeds: The Creation of Canada: http://www.whitepinepictures.com/seeds/i/12/sidebar.html

An essay by Peter Gagné on Quintin Publications' Web site: http://www.quintinpublications.com/fdr.html

La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan at http://www.fillesduroi.org/

In French:

Les Filles du Roi at Mouvement estrien pour le français: http://www.mef.qc.ca/filles_du_roi.htm

Les Filles du Roi at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alain.perron/fillesduroy.htm

Memoire de Sieur Jean Talon at: http://www.mcq.org/histoire/filles_du_roi/

A chart of the origins of the young women may be found at The Musée de la civilisation and the Musée de l'Amérique française: http://www.mcq.org/histoire/filles_du_roi/plan.html

If you do not read or speak French, the above sites can be translated into English by using the machine-generated translation services available at Google. The results will be grammatically incorrect and even humorous at times, but still quite readable.

There are many other Web sites devoted to the Filles du Roi. Use your favorite search engine to find them or click here for a search on Google.

Wassebec to discuss accessing LDS records

Wassebec Genealogical Society is scheduled to meet at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 14th, at the Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.

Jane Fox Whelden will be talking with the group about accessing the resources at the Family History Library in Bangor.

For more information about Wassebec, visit www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mewgs.

Learn about Bangor - A Century Ago

Penobscot County Genealogical Society will be meeting on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, at the Bangor Public Library in the Lecture Room. The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.

Wayne E. Reilly will be talking on "Bangor - A Century Ago." Wayne is retired from the Bangor Daily News after 28 years as a reported and an editor. His book "Remembering Bangor: The Queen City Before the Great Fire," contains more than 300 columns he has written for the newspaper about local history a century ago since his retirement.

The gathering is open to everyone. You don't have to be a member of the society to attend. Refreshments will be available.

Query - Hutchins

Seeking info on Joshua HUTCHINS (1760-1821) of Bakerstown (later Poland and Minot), Maine. He married 12-Dec-1788 at New Gloucester to Lydia PRINCE (1767-1839) and had the following children all born Bakerstown/Poland/Minot: Jonathan b. 1789, Isaiah b. 1791, Martha b. 1793, Rhoda b. 1795, Polly b. 1797, Isabella b. 1799, Olive b. 1803, Harriet b. 1806, Beulah b. 1808, Rachel b. 1810, and Rufus b. 1813. Three of the daughters married VERRILL boys.

Local history says he was a Rev. soldier and pensioner, but I have been unable to verify his service or locate a pension file. He is NOT Joshua HUTCHINS of Kennebunk. He is perhaps a brother or cousin to Benjamin (1756-1811) HUTCHINS of Bakerstown who m. 1790 at New Gloucester to Nancy RIDER and/or Joseph HUTCHINS (1764-1839) of Bakerstown (later Hartford) who m. 1794 at Turner to Sarah/Sally RUSSELL.

Would like to locate ancestry as well as connect with other descendants.

Nancy (Coffin) Lecompte
E-Mail: nlecompte@roadrunner.com

Websites by Nancy Lecompte

Nancy (Coffin) Lecompte has written advising of updated addresses for her websites containing not only her genealogical information, but some historical information which might be interest to researchers as well.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~nlecompte/stevens/index.htm
The Stevens Clan & 4 generations of Ancestors. This one covers her Irish Burns/Sullivan and English Stevens/Perry lines found in Lewiston, Auburn and Minot area of Maine.

http://home.roadruner.com/~nlecompte/proctor/index.htm
Nancy's Proctor ancestry, including a brief history of Early Falmouth (Portland) with 1775 Map and her family involvement in the Salem Witch Trials.

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/253201/person/-2103611421
this link will only work for Ancestry members
http://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-454583/samuel-proctor-maine
this one not as up to date, but should work for everyone
Descendants of Samuel Proctor (1685-1765) of Lynn, MA & Falmouth, ME attempting to identify and document at least 4 generations of descendants.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~nlecompte/patriot0.html
My Patriot Ancestors
A brief accounting of the military service of Nancy's ancestry during the American Revolution with notes on important events, etc.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~nlecompte/regiment/
The 6th (7th) Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Line
A story of Maine Men serving at Cherry Valley and in the Sullivan Campaign in the New York Theatre of War.

http://www.footnote.com/page/2549_cherry_valley_november_11th_1778/
The Cherry Valley Massacre - November 11th, 1778
An Account of the Event and Identity of the Soldiers who Died or were taken Captive by the British and Their Indian Allies.

And don't forget to visit Nancy's Ne-Do-Ba website at www.nedoba.org - Your home for accurate historical and genealogical information concerning the Wabanaki People of the Northeast.

Pejepscot to discuss the Washburn Family

Pejepscot Genealogy Society will meet on Sunday, January 10, 2010, at 2 p.m. in the Morrell Meeting Room, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick (enter from Middle Street at the end door).

Kerck Kelsey, a Freeport resident, will present a program on "Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family."

Please join your friends (and probably relatives!) for the program. Arrive early for refreshments and stay late for help with a problem you may be having finding a way through that brick wall. Members will be available until 5 p.m.

For more information, call 833-7371.

Largest Gathering of Family Historians in Canada

The Ontario Genealogical Society's next annual provincial Conference will take place in Toronto from Friday, May 14 through Sunday, May 16, 2010 at the Doubletree by Hilton - Toronto Airport. Toronto Branch is gearing up to host an event that promises something for every family historian.

The Conference 2010 theme is: “Essentials, Innovations and Delights”. A carefully-selected roster of top-rated speakers will deliver a content-rich program that is packed with relentlessly practical lectures and workshops and sprinkled with inspiring case studies.

Thomas W. Jones, one of North America's most highly respected and honoured genealogists, will lead off a special full-day lecture stream on Friday for the professional genealogist or advanced researcher, and will deliver the keynote Houston Memorial Lecture that evening.

The weekend programs will feature a full-day stream for the novice genealogist and two added specialized streams on the essentials of researching Dutch and Italian ancestry, and much more.

Saturday’s banquet speaker will be Karolyn Smardz Frost, the 1997 winner of the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction for her book I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland. Learn not only about Karolyn’s research subjects, the indomitable fugitive slaves, Thornton & Lucie Blackburn, but also about Karolyn’s own 20-year research odyssey.

New this year will be a closing plenary lecture, to be delivered by John Philip Colletta. People are still buzzing about his 2008 appearance at an OCAPG event in Toronto. Now we can all get to hear one of the most entertaining and informative family historians on the planet.

Extra options will include a pre-Conference "Hands-on Research" excursion, and a "Toronto's Irish Heritage" bus tour exploring the Irish connections in Toronto. And the ever-popular Marketplace will be back, with a full 10,000 square feet of display space.

For more about Conference 2010, visit www.ogs.on.ca/conference2010, and subscribe to the Conference blog to stay on top of the latest developments.

The Ontario Genealogical Society's three-day annual conference is the largest gathering of family historians in Canada. Conference 2010, hosted by the OGS Toronto Branch promises to be inspiring, delightful and a lot of fun. You won’t want to miss it!