The Tragic Deaths of Two Brothers

My 5X great-grandparents, Joseph & Miriam (Lyon) Spurr had two sons named Robert. Both of them died in tragic accidents, thirty-one years apart. Both sons were logging at the time of their deaths. My family has been involved in logging for many generations and it's a dangerous business.

Robert #1
The first son named Robert was born on May 23, 1755 and died on February 23, 1774. A newspaper extraction says that he fell under a sled loaded with wood. There is a Findagrave memorial for him in Wrentham Center Cemetery, but it doesn't have a picture of his gravestone. The History of Otisfield says that he was "killed by a loaded sled running over him." This book says that his tombstone has the following inscription:

As I did walk the road, 

Down hill a sled with me, 

The team ran very fast, 

My fall was the death of me. 

He was killed by a sled in a moment.

Robert #2
The second son named Robert was born on July 15, 1774, just a few months after his older brother of the same name was killed. The second Robert died on May 18, 1805 in Otisfield, Maine. The History of Otisfield says that he was "killed by a landing of logs rolling over him, breaking his back, at Crooked River, Otisfield." This Robert is buried in Bell Hill Cemetery in Otisfield and Findagrave has a picture of his gravestone.

Robert (2) was married on September 21, 1802 to Sarah West. She raised their son, John, alone and remarried on November 9, 1826. Her second husband was Simeon Turner. John Spurr was born on December 15, 1805, five months after his father's death.

Joseph Spurr died on June 17, 1805, about a month after losing his second son named Robert. Miriam died on November 6, 1811.

Joseph & Miriam (Lyon) Spurr
Enoch Spurr
Roxanna (Spurr) Stanley
Mary Frances (Stanley) Carter
Edward Mellen Carter
T. Richard Carter - my grandfather.

Enoch & Abigail (Wight) Spurr

Enoch Spurr is my 4X great-grandfather. He was the son of Joseph & Miriam (Lyon) Spurr. He married twice and I descend from his family with his second wife. He was born on January 28, 1761 in Dorchester, Massachusetts and died in Otisfield on May 2, 1843. His first wife was Patty Druce of Wrentham, Massachusetts. She died on November 11, 1782 at the tender age of 21. Roxana, the only daughter of Enoch & Patty died on December 15, 1782. Both Patty and Roxana were buried in Wrentham. 

Enoch's second wife was Abigail Wight. According to the Ware Genealogy, she was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts on May 31, 1767 to Joseph & Abigail (Ware) Wight. Her parents were also early settlers of Otisfield. 

Enoch Spurr fought in the Revolutionary War and his pension file states that he was at the Battle of Monmouth, wintered at Valley Forge, and was present for the surrender of General Cornwallis. 

Enoch and Abigail are buried in the Cedar Crest Cemetery in Otisfield, Maine. I visited on April 21, 2016 and found that his stone continues to degrade. Another picture from a few years ago can be found on his Findagrave memorial. 

 

Children of Enoch & Abigail (Wight) Spurr

1. Martha Druce Spurr was born on September 12, 1789 and died on March 27, 1831. She married James Cheever on December 8, 1822. 
2. Roxana Spurr was born on February 29, 1792 and died on February 10, 1863. She married Edward Stanley on November 2, 1815. 
3. Abigail Spurr was born on March 5, 1794 and died on February 20, 1871. She married George W. Longley on March 2, 1826. 
4. Ann Spurr (twin of Abigail) died on December 28, 1873. She married Abel Longley on March 21, 1815. 
5. Margaret T. Spurr was born on July 15, 1796 and died on May 9, 1870. She married James Wight. 
6. Lydia Spurr was born on August 14, 1798 and died on November 25, 1870. She married Louis Jewel. 
7. Mary Spurr was born on August 15, 1800 and died on December 8, 1891. She never married. 
8. Enoch Spurr, Jr. was born on August 6, 1802 and died on November 3, 1883. 
9. Betsey Spurr was born on December 27, 1805 and died on January 6, 1889. She married Samuel Scribner on September 22, 1830. 
10. Sophronia Spurr was born on February 4, 1807 and married David L. Perley on October 27, 1885. 

Enoch & Abigail (Wight) Spurr
Roxana (Spurr) Stanley
Mary Frances (Stanley) Carter
Edward Mellen Carter
T. Richard Carter - my grandfather 

Revolutionary War Service
His parents journey to Maine

Information on Abigail (Ware) Spurr from Ware genealogy: Robert Ware, of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1642-1699, and his lineal descendants. Boston, Mass.: Charles H. Pope, 1901. 

Information on Enoch Spurr from: Spurr, William Samuel. A History of Otisfield: Cumberland County, Maine from the Original Grant to the Close of the Year 1944. Otisfield, Me., Otisfield Historical Society, 1994. PDF.

Closest To My Birthday, John Whiting - 52 Ancestors #4

This week's theme in the 52 Ancestors Challenge is to blog about the ancestor who has his or her birthday closest to your own (month, day). 

Birth Record of John Whiting

John Whiting is my 7th great-grandfather and he was born in 19 July 1665 in Wrentham or Dedham, Massachusetts to Nathaniel and Hannah (Dwight) Whiting and died in 1732 in the same area. He was married twice, first to Mary Billings, daughter of William and Mary ( ? ) Billings, on Christmas Eve in 1688, and second to Sarah (possibly Pond) Holbrook. 

John served as a a selectman in 1708, 1707, 1711, 1712, 1713, 1714, and 1715. His will names his wife Sarah, sons Nathaniel, John, and Eliphalet, daughters Mary Mann, Jerusha Slack, Jemima Wight, Zabiah Ware, Hannah Fisher, and Phebe Whiting and a grandson, Lewis Sweeting. 

He came from a family of millers, including his father and several brothers. In fact, Whiting descendants ran a mill in the area until 1823 when Hezekiah Whiting sold the right to Jabez Chickering (Whiting Genealogy). 

 



Children of John & Mary (Billings) Whiting:

1. Nathaniel b. 2 Feb 1691
2. Mary b. 14 Oct 1692
3. John b. 16 Jan 1695
4. Jerusha b. 2 Nov 1697
5. Jemima b. 5 Dec 1699
6. Zabiah b. 29 Dec 1701
7. Eliphalet b. 16 Sep 1705
8. Hannah b. 13 Feb 1707
9. Abigail b. 2 Oct 1708
10. Phebe b. 18 Jun 1710

My line: 
John Whiting
Jemima Whiting - 5th child of John & Mary (Billings) Whiting
Joseph Wight
Abigail Wight
Roxanna Spurr
Mary Frances Stanley
Edward Mellen Carter 
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Whiting Genealogy

Mappy Monday - Moving in an Oxcart

The migration of the Spurr family from Massachusetts to Maine

From A History of Otisfield p. 589 (see citation below). 
"They (the Spurr family) moved from Dorchester to Wrentham, previous to 1774 and lived there seven years. It is said they lived in Mansfield, Me. or Mass. for a time. They came to Maine in 1776 and lived one year in Saccarappa, a year and a half in Windham, and moved to Otisfield, September 3, 1779. They settled on lot 16 a little south of Spurrs Corner on the west side of the road. Some lilac bushes and the ruins of the old foundation remains (1930). John Spurr lived in the house afterward and then Joseph Knight moved it to his place on the opposite side of the road and occupied it for a woodhouse. It is said that the first night they spent in Otisfield, they camped beside a large stone near the road. (A portion of that stone has since been moved to Spurr's Corner and a memorial tablet placed upon it.) He is buried in the yard south of Spurr's Corner. Through a mistake of the stonecutters the name is spelled Spyrr, instead of Spurr. They had nine children living, all born in Dorchester, and all came to Maine unmarried. They came to Windham in an oxcart and were the fourth family in town."

Going to Otisfield to photograph the stone and tablet is on my genealogy road trip list. 

Joseph Spurr was born November 19, 1731 in Dorchester, MA and died June 17, 1805. He married Miriam Lyon on September 13, 1753. They were my 5th great-grandparents. 

Enoch Spurr b. January 28, 1761 in Dorchester, MA married Abigail Wight b. May 31, 1767 in Wrentham, MA. 

Roxanna Spurr married Edward Stanley on November 2, 1815. 

Mary Frances Stanley married Augustus Mellen Carter. 

Edward Mellen Carter married Fannie May Capen. 

T. Richard Carter was my grandfather. 

Source: 
Spurr, William Samuel. A History of Otisfield: Cumberland County, Maine from the Original Grant to the Close of the Year 1944 by William Samuel Spurr. Otisfield, Me.: Published by the Otisfield Historical Society, 1994. PDF.