Who Were the Hanscom Brothers

WHO WERE THE HANSCOM BROTHERS? Prepared in 1991 by John Dudley

We’ll start our Hanscom line with a great grandson of Thomas and Ann Hanscom who had come to America and settled in Kittery

1) Aaron Hanscom, Sr. was baptized at Kittery on January 7, 1739. He died at Machias between 1810 and 1812. He married Sarah Seavey on January 10, 1764 at Scarborough. She was a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Scott) Seavey. They were early settlers of Machias, arriving there shortly after their marriage. Their children, all born at Machias, were: Nathan 1766 – 1847 at Old Crawford Cemetery, married Ruth Foster and Susannah Weston Lois born 1768, married Otis Pineo Aaron (born 1770, married Rhoda Smith Isaac born 1772, married Betsey Pineo, Betsey Drisko, and Eliza Corey Sarah 1773, married Daniel Averill Joseph 1774, married Sarah Fenlason Sylvanus born 1776/77, married Edith Averill Daniel born 1780, married Emma Hoit Thomas born 1784, married Polly Berry and Sarah Andrews Abigail born 1785 married Daniel Averill Moses born 1787, married Hannah Averill and Patty Kelly From #29 Hanscom Family Newsletter

2) Aaron Hanscom, Jr. born 1770 and died in Crawford between 1840 and 1850. He married Rhoda Smith (who died between 1812 and 1817). Their children were Elkanah (1792), Mary (1794, m. Foster), Lois (1798 – 1857, m. Nason), Ebenezer (1801 – 1881), Henry 1803), Aaron (1805), Elisha (1808), Bethiah (1812). (Note: Crawford Vitals list Aaron’s date of birth as March 17, 1767, and Rhoda’s dates as November 4, 1773 to December 1827.)

3) Elkanah Hanscom was born on January 10, 1792. He died on May 30, 1834. His wife was Fanny Foster Munson who was born on September 23, 1793. Fanny was a daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Foster) Munson, and a granddaughter of Wooden and Frances (Scott) Foster. Their Hanscom children were: Stephen Foster (see below), John B. born on February 1, 1816, moved to Minnesota, Rhoda born on January 3, 1819, married a Downs, then Nathaniel Grover and lived in Minnesota, Ezra born on July 24, 1822, married Mary Dow and moved to Minnesota, Mary C. born on August 3, 1825, Elisha born on January 3, 1829 and married Eliza Ann Vickery, Eliza born on January 3, 1829 and married Henry H. Seavey. Some of this material is from a February 1985 letter from Robert Hanscom to L. Gordon Gray, a copy of which was sent to A-CHS by T. Charlene (Gray) Norman.

4) Stephen Foster Hanscom was born on January 25, 1813 at Crawford. Stephen married Sally or Sarah Hatheway (1807 – 1859) of Plantation #14 on April 21, 1836. Three children came from this marriage, Elkanah, Ellsworth and Frances Elzina. Stephen died at Crawford between 1843 and 1850. His family was found in several homes in the 1850 census. In Plantation #14 at the Hatheway home we find Burnam Hatheway 67, Mary Hatheway 66, Sally Hatheway 33, Sally Hatheway 8, and Ellsworth Hanscom, 10. At the East Machias home of Lawrence and Sarah Larkin we find Sarah (Hathaway) Hanscom 40, and her son Elkanah 13. And at the house of John and Hannah Sprague, also in East Machias, we find Frances (Elzina) Hanscom at age 7. Robert Hanscom made the connection among these families. Mary Hathaway, Sarah Larkin, and Hannah Sprague were sisters. They were daughters of Israel and Mary (Seavey) Andrews. Thus the widow and children of Stephen Foster Hanscom were living with their grandmother and two great aunts. . 5) Ellsworth Melvin Hanscom born about October 6, 1839 at Crawford, and died on April 24, 1893. He was described as a lumberman and a farmer. He was buried at Wesley. He married Angeline Savina Gray at Wesley on October 13, 1861. Angeline was a sister of William Stephen Gray, being two children of Joseph Gray. Two Hanscom siblings married two Gray siblings, see Gray section in this article. Ellsworth and Angeline Hanscom resided on the “Nineteen Road” near the Township 19 town line in Crawford. Their children: Alice born June 5, 1865 and died unmarried on January 10, 1891 in Crawford. Clara, born ca 1869, on July 8, 1889 married James A. Weed, a preacher of Littleton, Maine on July 8, 1889. They had three daughters, Blanche (never married), Dorothy, and Angeline. All three died before 1982. Frederick E. The 1900 census gives his birth date June 1872. His gravestone at Guptill Cemetery, Wesley reads “1873 – 1962”. He was known as Fred. Harry O. was born on February 2, 1877, although the 1900 census gives his birth date as February 1776. He died at Machias on March 25, 1968. He was known as Dot. Linnie Marie was born May 21, 1884 and died on May 21, 1918 at Wesley. On August 22, 1904 she married Horace Almon Day at Princeton. Linnie was described as a dressmaker of Crawford. Horace was a son of John Willard (John Willard was born in Cooper on October 10, 1873, died on April 10, 1945 and is buried at Wesley Ridge Cemetery.) and Josephine Bridgermill (Guptill) Day. Linnie and Horace had four or five Day children: 1) Almon Wesley, 2) Horace Hanscom lived in New Hampshire, 3) Phyllis Arlene (married 1st Cliff Fenlason, 2nd Joe? Demity, and 3rd Carl Cox), 4) Carl Hanscom (1912 – 1990) married Eleanor Maker, and (5?) Josephine Kneeland listed in Carl’s obituary Horace Almon Day was to marry three more times according to the Day Genealogy.

On August 22, 1904, the time of the wedding, Willard Day was a resident of Colfax, Washington, and Josephine a resident of Wesley. Many Washington County men went west to work in the woods and mills to earn cash. The big pines were mostly cut off in this area by 1880, so lumbermen looked elsewhere for work. Also Pope and Talbot hired local men and advanced them the money for their passage west. Willard Day was among those who never returned east.

GRAY CONNECTIONS OF THE HANSCOM BOYS

Joseph Gray was born in 1806 and died probably in the 1870s in Wesley. He is buried in an unmarked grave in lot #48 at the Wesley Ridge Cemetery. He married in 1830 Abigail Jones of Bridgton, Maine (Intentions filed January 24 in that town). He was of “Plantation #25, Washington County. Abigail was born on March 20, 1808 a daughter of Samuel (Sr.) and Eleanor (Libby) Jones.

Joseph Gray married a second time, on February 13, 1852, to Thursia H. Huntley. She was of Wesley and a daughter of Isaac Smith (Sr.) and Sarah (Munson) Huntley.

The children of Joseph and Abigail Gray were:

1. Samuel Wesley was born February 26, 1831. 2. Harriet Jane was born on February 1, 1833 at Wesley. She married Jesse Huff in 1854. 3. Eliza A. was born on January 12, 1835 in Wesley. She married James F. Ramsdell in 1856. 4. William Stephen was born on February 3, 1837. He (of Wesley) married Frances Elzina Hanscom (of East Machias) in August 23, 1859, (intentions published on August 15). She was born in Crawford a daughter of Elkanah and Fanny Easter?? Or Foster) (Munson) Hanscom. William Gray died in 1922. See next section for the children. 5. Martha E. was born in 1839 and died at Machias on July 28, 1863, age 24. 6. Angeline S. (Salvina or Sevina) was born in 1842. She married Ellsworth Hanscom in 1861. 7 - 9 Possible other children were Abby, Eugene, and Arthur.

William Stephen Gray married Frances Elzina (1843 – 1917). William and Elzina were living in Wesley with his parents in 1850 with a baby son William, Jr. They were in Crawford according to the 1870 census with two children, Franklin (1862) and Manly (1866). Elzina, according to her death certificate, died on November 29, 1917. William and Elzina are the great-grandparents of A-CHS member T Charlene Norman.

Children of William Stephen and Frances (Hanscom) Gray (cousins of Fred and Dot): 1. Steven died at the age of nine, and is buried in lot #50, Wesley Ridge Cemetery. This likely is William, Jr. who was born ca 1850. 2. Frank William was born on January 23, 1863. He married Amelia Myrtle Hanscom on April 29, 1887. She was a daughter of Andrew Jackson and Emeline Luzon (Pierce) Hanscom. They lived in the Jacksonville part of East Machias and died in 1940. See the great image that Charlene Norman has shared of Frank and Amelia. 3. Manley was born on March 22, 1865. He married Gertrude Hanscom, and about 1910 married Edith Worrell. He had a store in East Machias and died in 1942.

Sources: Hanscom Family Newsletters, Census records, Vital records of Crawford, Austin Gray

THE HANSCOM BOYS REMEMBERED

Fred and Dot had a large bull and were called upon occasionally to take him to the neighbors. Once when the bull had been visiting Bertha McKeown’s cow, Bertha offered the usual 50 cent fee. Fred is quoted, “We don’t charge for those kind of services.”

“Dot and Fred couldn’t drive an automobile, but had a Model T Ford car with closed in windows. Fred (I think it was Fred) Niles worked for them, and would drive for them when they wanted to go to Machias or elsewhere. One day when coming up Day Hill, the bands in the transmission were slipping, so Niles stopped to make repairs. Dot said they had burned out the lamp wicks in the transmission.” Willie Woodruff also drove them to Machias.

In later years, Dot learned to drive, and they would drive to Harold Cousin’s house in Alexander, and from there would ride with Harold and his family to Arthur Flood’s or to Calais.

They did some of their shopping at Arthur Flood’s store on the Cooper Road in Alexander (what was then called the North Union Road). Dot apparently liked to chew tobacco, but Fred disapproved, and Fred was the older brother. This situation required that Dot and the store clerk use some devious tactics to get tobacco to Dot, and its price listed on the bill in a way Fred would not notice. Or did Fred know all along? The clerk was often Arthur’s daughter-in-law, Leota (Cousins) Flood, Nelson’s wife, and oldest daughter of Harold Cousins.

The Hanscom Boys had wonderful wood lots. Most remember them as all great huge spruce reaching to the sky with no or few branches. Most remember that they never cut a tree. Records show that our memories are not completely accurate. This undated scale slip, likely from the mid 1950s, indicates that the Hanscom Boys did grow and cut more than spruce.

Scale Bill - G. E. Hathaway – 427-2418

Fred & Harry Hanscom Home Land Crawford No. 19 139 spruce 8004 27 spruce 1636 44 fir 2386 136 fir 7665 51 fir 2947 1 hemlock 115 7 hemlock 509 16 cedar 683

These trees were not big trees. Were they cut to pay the 1956 tax bill? It’s unlikely that Fred, at age 82, and Dot, at age 78, cut this wood. Who did they hire to cut this wood?

Carl Hanscom Day, nephew of Fred and Dot, acquired the land after the Hanscom Boys died. They apparently had no will as Carl needed to get a court order granting him title to the land.