My on-going Genealogy Go-Over continues to bring me to some interesting realizations. While I have hundreds of photos taking from roughly the mid-1800’s to the 1950’s, I have few that are family group photos. However, while taking apart all my archival albums to have them scanned, I noticed that while a single group photo might not exist of many of my families, I have so many individual photos that I actually have pictures of whole family groups.
Here is the family of George Rogers Tarbox and Mary Elizabeth Scripture of Calais, Maine. George was born in 1818 in New Gloucester, ME and died in 1895 in Calais. Mary Elizabeth was born in 1827 in Mason, Hillsboro, New Hampshire. She died in 1866 in Calais.
The photos of George and Mary Elizabeth are among the oldest that I have:
George Rogers Tarbox and Mary Elizabeth Scripture
Knowing that Mary Elizabeth died in 1866 and looking at her dress, it appears that these photos were probably taken during the Civil War.
George and Mary had the following children:
1. Mary Elizabeth, born 24 Nov 1849, Newburyport, Essex, MA. She died 11 September 1850 in Newburyport and there are no known photos of her.
2. Elizabeth, born 19 July 1851, Newburyport, Essex, MA. She died 27 May 1928, Calais, ME. She married Charles Vickery on 24 September 1871, Calais, ME. He was born 2 March 1847, Maine and died 22 January 1900 in Calais, ME. Charles and Elizabeth had five children: Charles F., George T., Lizzie, Jeanette and Mary.
Charles Vickery and Elizabeth Tarbox
3. George Rogers, born about 1854, Maine; died 10 July 1864, Calais, Maine, aged 10 years old. Cause of death not listed. No known photo exists of him.
4. Nellie F., born 28 June 1856, Robbinston, Washington, ME (which today is part of Calais). She died 23 December 1927, Boston, Suffolk, MA. Nellie is my ancestress and I have yet to find a document that gives her middle name and/or explains whether “Nellie” was a nickname for anything else. She is ALWAYS called “Nellie.” She married Calvin Segee Adams on 1 February 1875 in Calais. Calvin was born 16 March 1843, Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada and died 15 January 1921, St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.
Calvin Segee Adams and Nellie F. Tarbox
I only have one photo each of Nellie, in profile, and her mother and the one of Mary Elizabeth is not quite as sharp as that of George. However, I think Nellie has the same long oval-shaped face as her mom. Calvin and Nellie had two children, Vera Pearl and Charles Edward.
5. Charles Franklin Tarbox, born 13 May 1859, Robbinston, Washington, Maine. Charles died 25 June 1941. He married Cleantha (Cannie) Cochran on 19 October 1881, Milltown, New Brunswick, Canada. Cannie was born 23 April 1864 in Nova Scotia, Canada and died in 1942, Calais, Maine. Cannie was reportedly the first woman to have cataract surgery at Boston Hospital. Charles and Cannie had four children, three surviving: George Roger, (Othelia) Fay – who lived into her 90’s and identified people in these old photos, Oliver Scripture, who died at age 13 in a hunting accident in Grand Lake Stream, ME in 1898 and Helen.
Charles Franklin Tarbox and Cleantha (Cannie) Cochran on left
6. Horace W., born 20 April 1860, Robbinston, Maine. He died 8 June 1914 of bronchial pneumonia in Sharon, Norfolk, MA. He married Elizabeth Eugenia Lane about 1880, probably in Calais. She was born 26 June 1859 in Calais and returned there to live after Horace died. She passed away in Calais on 9 April 1947 in Calais. It seems odd that I have no photos of either of them. They had one daughter, Elsie Venner Tarbox, who married Harry Winfield Perkins; they lived in Topsfield, Essex, MA.
7. Oliver Scripture, born 2 July 1863, Robbinston, ME. Oliver was named for his maternal grandfather. He died 15 January 1924 in Calais, ME. Ollie married Jennie Mingo on 1 June 1887, Calais, ME. She was born 17 July 1864 in Calais and died there on 12 August 1925. They had no children. I have no photo of Jennie. I do have one of Oliver, but I think he looks a lot like Charles, above and am wondering if these two aren’t the same person:
Oliver Scripture Tarbox
The Tarbox family was briefly involved in boat building, as George had a boat commissioned in 1862 and named it the Nellie Tarbox, which I discovered in the appendix to An International Community on the St. Croix by Harold A. Davis and published by the University of Maine Studies in 1974. I wonder where they found these records?
However, the long term family business was owning and running a granite rock quarry in the area. Oliver Tarbox designed and erected the Soldiers monument in Lubec, Maine, using granite from his quarry.
I consider myself to be the very lucky owner of these family pictures. I even have some original photos of the Vickery children, the Adams children and Fay Tarbox as a baby, along with several photos of George Sr.’s relatives.