The Spurr Memorial

Some April exploring took me to Spurr's Corner in Otisfield, Maine. I'd been wanting to go for awhile, just hadn't gotten around to actually doing it. My Spurr ancestors came from Massachusetts to Maine in 1776. I wrote about their migration in the post linked below. 

The History of Otisfield
"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."

Here is a picture of the stone and a close up of the plaque. 

Spurr's Corner Monument - April 21, 2016

SPURR MEMORIAL

SEPT. 3, 1779

JOSEPH SPURR AND HIS FAMILY 

SPENT THEIR FIRST NIGHT IN THE FIELD BESIDE THIS

STONE AND BUILT THEIR CAMPFIRE UPON IT

Plaque, April 21, 2016

Joseph & Miriam (Lyon) Spurr - came to Otisfield in 1779

Enoch Spurr

Roxanna (Spurr) Stanley
Mary Frances (Stanley) Carter
Edward Mellen Carter
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Moving in an Oxcart

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.

Golgotha Memorial - First Settlers of Amesbury

In 1903, the Amesbury Improvement Association placed a marker at the site of the first settlers' burial ground and called the site Golgotha. The memorial plaque lists eighteen first settlers, although not all were buried on this site. I recently visited the site to see it for myself. It's hard to imagine all the wilderness that existed in the 17th century where there are now so many buildings and so much traffic. I tried to get some photos that cropped out the modern elements.

Golgotha (in Aramaic) or Calvary (in Latin) refers to the hill resembling a skull cap just outside the old gate of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, buried in a tomb and rose in the Resurrection.  The dictionary definition includes "place of great suffering" or "place of burial."

My ancestors are John Bailey, John Hoyt, Henry Blaisdell, and Jarret Haddon.

John Bailey, Rebecca Bailey, Ruth Brown, Isaac Rogers, Rebecca Rogers, Stephen Blaisdell, Jr., Susannah Blaisdell, Stephen Rowe, Charles H. N. Rowe, Anna J. Rowe, Eva Hayes, Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Jarret Haddon, Mary Haddon m. Henry Blaisdell, Henry Blaisdell, Jr. John Blaisdell, Stephen Blaisdell, Stephen Blaisdell, Jr. - see above for the rest of the line.

John Hoyt, Thomas Hoyt, Israel Hoyt, Dorothy Hoyt, Alice Babb, Lydia Waterhouse, Alice Garland, Richard Hayes, Sydney Hayes, George Hayes, Eva Hayes, Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother


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