A Barn Fire

Another great find from Chris Dunham, of The Maine Genealogy Network! If you have Maine ancestors, this site is a great resource. Chris has helped me several times before and is always willing to help brainstorm a genealogy conundrum. This snippet in the newspaper, The Oxford Democrat, published on May 20, 1864, describes a barn fire at the home of my third great-grandfather, Elias Mellen (E. M.) Carter.

Two barns with hay, grain, and farming implements were lost for a total estimated loss of $2000. One inflation calculator estimates that would be $30, 260 in today's dollars. The article says the fire was spotted by his son who spotted the light from the fire. There were several sons in the family. It could not have been my second great-grandfather, Augustus, because he was serving in the Civil War in 1864. It could have been Edward, age 20, Timothy, age18, or more unlikely, John, age 10. The Carters lived in Bethel, Maine in a section by the Androscoggin River, known as Middle Intervale.

The Oxford Democrat, May 20, 1864

In September 1861, the family lost five daughters in seventeen days to diphtheria.

Elias Mellen Carter
Augustus Mellen Carter
Edward Mellen Carter
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather