Capt. Hiram and Nancy Staples Eaton and daughter Nancy Elizabeth "Lizzie" Eaton (Mrs. Nathaniel Dow)

When Nancy Elizabeth "Lizzie" Eaton was born on August 16, 1849, in Searsport, Maine, her father, Capt. Hiram Eaton was 34, and her mother, Nancy Staples Eaton was 30. She married Wilson Nathaniel Dow in 1872. They had seven children in 20 years. She died on March 1, 1920, in her hometown at the age of 70.

THOUGHTS: As I have started an in-depth look at the family of Hiram and Nancy Eaton and their children, I have been gripped by the tragic side of their lives.

Their first two children, Mabel and David, died in 1880 at just 7 and 2 years old. What happened that year?...I don't yet know. Their son Lester died at 38 and their daughter Ellen died a 28.

Hiram and Nancy's son Capt William Eaton was off of Tampico, Mexico and died when eaten by sharks! And son James Eaton married Nellie Wise and had a daughter. When daughter Lillian at age 30 and Nellie were at their home, Nellie fell and accidentally knocked over an oil lamp destroying their home with both women dying in the fire!

Hiram's daughter Lizzie Eaton married Wilson Nathaniel Dow and soon began to build their family. My Grandmother always told me there was a Dow surname in the family but she was unable to share the kinship. Found the Dows!

To me the most tragic loss was that of Lizzie's daughter Nellie who married Daniel Robertson. Nellie became pregnant with twins Gina and Nina, but found herself suffering from Eclampsia which is evidently a complication of blood pressure and even organ issues which results in mal grand seizures and even coma and death. Nellie died. Nina died. Gina suffered heart defect issues and died within 6 months. This young family was no more.

Lizzie Eaton Dow, daughter of Hiram and Nancy, was one of several siblings. Her brother Lester Clarence Eaton was my Great Grandfather. In her later years, as a widow, Lizzie lived with my Great Grandparents, Lester and Pru, at our family farm on Turnpike Road in Searsport in 1920. I finally have the Dow link and know someone else associated with my dearly loved family farm where I visited as a child, not often enough, to see my Grandmother, Esther Eaton.

There were other tragedies. And, there were many celebrations of love, life and living, I am sure; as there are in my generation. When researching genealogy, it is more common to find the losses and less common to find the celebrations.

I celebrate my ancestry.

My Great Great Grandmother's Recipe for a Very Good Sponge Cake

·        Three eggs

·        One and One-half cups sugar

·        Two cups flour

·        Two cups cold water

·        One teaspoonful cream tartar

·        One-half teaspoon Bird's soda

·        Salt

·        Flavor to taste

·        Take one cup of flour and sift the cream tartar well into it

·        Beat the eggs lightly and stir in sugar

·        Add flour and cream tartar mixture

·        Dissolve the soda into the water

·        Add water/soda, and salt and flavoring

·        Add the other one cup of flour

·        Bake slowly

·        Sprinkle sugar over the top when the cake has been in the over a minute or two

·        When done, the cake will have a light color and a sugary crust

This 1913 recipe is thanks to:

Emily Jane Pendleton Beach, my great great grandmother whose husband was Orin Utley Beach, Jr..   Emily was Esther Beach Eaton Bennett Homer's grandmother!

 

This is my great great grandmother's recipe.  It was published in the Knyvetta Cookbook in 1913, four years before she passed away in 1917 in Searsport. 

My mother used to talk about Emily' Jane's son, Capt. James Hervey Beach who worked for Standard Oil Company as a Captain and later a pilot on the rivers in China.  When Jim was 27, he married Eugenie Ella Staples who was born in Havre, France in 1875 and died in 1914 in Shanghai, China.  Their children were well liked by my mom. The three daughters were Ella, Doris and Helen, all of whom never married! My mom, Marjorie Emma Bennett, was named after Doris “Marjorie” Beach!

This photo is of my grandmother, Esther (Nana) being held by her mom, Emily Prudence, sister of Capt. Jim.  Looks like Capt. Jim's photo on the wall may be the one on the left.  This picture was taken on the family farm on Turnpike Road in Searsport.  Interesting.

  

Sears Island, Maine, and my Mom, Marjorie Bennett

This two-mile long and one-mile wide island is close to the mainland of Searsport Maine. The Wabanaki American Indians called it Wassumkeag which means shining beach or bright sand beach. When the island was discovered by European explorers before 1775 they named it Brigadier's Island. Regardless of its moniker, this land has historically been an uninhabited or sparsely populated island.  

The island, today and in the days when my mom lived in Searsport, was separated from the mainland as a barrier island due to its tidal bar.  When the tide came off  Penobscot Bay, it was an island; when the tide rolled out, she could walk or stroll to the island but, of course, had to be alert to the tides and the daylight so as not to get marooned overnight. 

I don't believe there were any farmhouses there when my mother was, but were in generations before her time in Maine. Actually, in the first 1790 census six families lived or squatted here among the birch and maples of Maine. Now visitors can find stones marking the cellars of long gone homes.  In 1917 a gas-powered piece of farm equipment created a fire that destroyed the few Sears Island farm buildings. 

During prohibition, the island was a secluded way to the smuggle liquor off the waters of the Bay. Perhaps this even occurred when mom played on the island - in the daytime, thank goodness - when she was still under the age of 10.

Mom and her brothers used to love to go to Sears Island to camp, swim, gather shells, picnic, snowshoe and horseback ride.  Hiking might be an adventure to people today, but in mom's day hiking was a mode of transportation - her mode, a means to an end. I believe the island is about 2 miles from her home on Turnpike Road in Searsport.  Since she walked to neighboring towns often, such as Stockton Springs to roller skate, the trek to Sears Island was a fairly short half-hour walk for her. Today there is a causeway to and from Sears Island, but no further.  Once on the island, people walk, bike or ride horseback to see more. 

LtoR: Albert, Gerry and Marjorie Bennett

Some sounds mom would hear were the waves lapping along the shoreline, whispering and swirling winds and leaves, and the unique bantering of sea gulls...and silence, blessed silence. 

The island waters in her day were known for abundances in lobsters, clams, scallops and such. No wonder I like seafood (but not fish particularly). Although I have been very near to Sears Island, I did not walk in her footprints of long ago. My grandmother and my great grandmother also walked and played on this island. I should have.

Love you Mom!

American Ship Phineas Pendleton

In 1866 in the small town of Brewer, near Bangor Maine, a new American sailing ship, the Phineas Pendleton, was built at the Dunning shipyard on the lower Penobscot River. This ship was destined to have a mere lifespan of 19 years. Per the book titled Brewer by Richard Shaw, the Phineas Pendleton sailed the China Trade and, per legend, only entered an American port once during 19 years. Shaw also noted that her lower masts were painted black as memorials to the death of three of the captain’s children following a diphtheria outbreak off the Peruvian coastline.


The owner and captain till 1873 of the sailing ship was Phineas Pendleton, Jr. and Company. His company had named the ship in honor of Phineas Pendleton, Sr.

Capt. Phineas Sr. is my 4th Great Grandfather and was born in Stonington, New London, CT in 1780 on September 26th.  He died February 26th in 1873 in Searsport, ME.  Searsport is the town famous for its China Trade sea captains and the home of many of my sea captain ancestors.  I descend from Phineas Sr. through his daughter Esther Houston Pendleton.

His son, Capt. Phineas Jr. is my 3rd Great Grand Uncle and was born in on August 29 in 1806 and died on the 19th of July in 1895, the same year as my husband's grandfather Charlie Cator was born. 

Jr's pic is right, Sr's is left.

   
The ship's dimensions were 185 feet long on deck, 37 feet breath of beam, 23 feet depth of hold and 1332 tons registered, with fastenings of copper and iron.


In 1885 she was scheduled for sale from Hong Kong to New York under Captain Blanchard of Searsport. On August 7^th, the Ship Phineas Pendleton was scuttled to extinguish a fire that began while she was lying in port in Manila. When a ship is scuttled due to fire, it is deliberately sunk. Water is introduced into the ship’s interior by means such as valves being opened, hatches being flooded, and even by setting explosives.

The Phineas Pendleton was a total loss.

In 1869 the ship was immortalized in an oil painting by Irish-born artist Charles Waldron of Liverpool, England. His studio was located in Seacombe from which he was able to observe the many vessels entering and leaving Liverpool Harbor.

Painting:  http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/collection/ship-phineas-pendleton

                                                                                      Donna Cator

Deadly Fires in the Family

Colonial Theater
Fire image: Alex-Murphy 

Dancing Grampa Austin Homer Who Had No Teeth

Loved Nana and Grampa Austin!!