Life changed quite a bit for the Tarbox family with the loss of wife and mother, Mary.

In 1870, George and his children were living in Ward 4 in the city of Calais. George was quite well to do compared to his neighbors, as he reported his real estate value at $4000 and his personal property at $400. His occupation was listed as tombstone manufacturer, which may have been the main product from the granite quarry at the time. Not surprisingly, Lizzie was enumerated with the job of keeping house while the younger children were at school.

Although George had no family close by, he kept in touch with siblings in the New Gloucester area. Whether contact was with in-person visits or by mail isn’t known, but family photos were shared. George and his younger brother, Benjamin, certainly shared a family resemblance:

It seems that big city life in Massachusetts wasn’t for Ben, either, as his children were all born in Maine. Ben didn’t remain in New Gloucester, though. He moved into the city of Lewiston, which bordered New Gloucester. Lewiston, at the time, like Lowell, Massachusetts, was known for its textile mills. Ben followed the same occupation as George started with and was a mill worker in 1860, 1870 and 1880, all in Lewiston.

George also kept in touch with his sister Susan (Tarbox) Greenwood’s family and received a photo of his nephew, Louis DeAlvere Greenwood, taken c1870:

The 1870s brought still more change in George’s life as he began to divest himself of real estate holdings. On 19 February 1870, he sold a parcel of the “back quarry” to George W. Hall of Boston for $300. A year later, on 15 March 1871, he quit claimed his homestead located on Main Street, Calais, which was described as part of the Pettygrew farm, for just one dollar to Harriet N. Rounds. Finally, on 20 March 1874, George was paid $2000 by Joseph Granger for George’s ownership rights to multiple parcels of land in the granite quarry. George was still relatively young – in his 50s – so perhaps quarry dust was having an effect on his health or else he preferred to have cash in his pocket.

Photography had become quite fashionable and affordable and George sat for a photograph c1875:

By 1880, George’s children were all grown and married, except for son Charles. Daughter Nellie had married Calvin Segee Adams in 1875 and the 19 June 1880 census showed the Adams household in Calais’s Ward 5 as home to Calvin, Nellie, Calvin’s daughter Lulu from his first marriage, son Charles plus George and Charles Tarbox. George was a gravestone manufacturer and Charles a marble worker. So, although George had sold his ownership stake in the business, he was still working.

George had been civic-minded throughout his adult life. After the demise of the Whig Party, to which he belonged in the 1850s when he lived in Newburyport, George joined the Republican Party.

In 1884, he presided over a Republican rally held in Calais:

George was still actively working in the stone manufacturing business and sponsored this ad in the General Directory of Calais, Maine and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, 1890-1891:

Representative Business Men of Calais, Eastport and Vicinity, Maine, published in 1892, Newark, New Jersey by George F. Bacon contained a short sketch about George’s business:

Little is known about George’s final years, other than he was living in Calais, likely with daughter Nellie’s family, until he died on 27 January 1895 of general exhaustion.

George was prominent enough in Calais that he warranted an obituary rather than just a death notice:

George was buried in Calais Cemetery with wife Mary and eventually joined by his son Oliver and Oliver’s wife, Jennie, sharing a family plot.

George and Mary (Scripture) Tarbox have descendants today. Their children Mary Elizabeth and George Rogers Jr. died in childhood and son Oliver married, but had no children.

Their other four children married and are the lines of descent from George today.

Elizabeth Tarbox married Charles Stiles Vickery, 23 September 1871 in Calais. Charles was born in Maine on 2 March 1847 and died on 22 January 1900 in Calais. Elizabeth survived him by many years, dying on 27 May 1928, also in Calais. They were the parents of five children.

Nellie F. Tarbox married Calvin Segee Adams on 1 February 1875 in Calais. Calvin was born on 15 March 1843 on Adams Island, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada and was the great grandson of Loyalist John Adams. He died on 15 January 1921 in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. Nellie survived him by almost seven years, passing away on 27 December 1927 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts while visiting daughter Pearl to get out of the harsh Maine winter. They were the parents of two children.

Charles Franklin Tarbox married Cleantha (Cannie) Cochran on 19 October 1881 in Milltown, New Brunswick, Canada. Cannie, as she was known, was born on 23 April 1859, New Brunswick, Canada and died in 1942 in Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts. Charles died shortly before his wife on 25 June 1941 in South Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts. They had four children.

Horace W. Tarbox married Elizabeth Eugenia Lane on 13 June 1881 in Calais. Elizabeth was born on 26 June 1859 in Calais and died on 9 April 1947, also in Calais. Horace predeceased Elizabeth by many years, dying on 8 June 1914 of bronchial pneumonia in Sharon, Norfolk, Massachusetts. They were the parents of one daughter.

For whatever reason, there are no known photos of Horace and Elizabeth. However, there are a number of unidentified subjects in photos to be shared at the end of this life sketch. Perhaps they can be found in that group.

Oliver Scripture Tarbox married Jennie Deborah Mingo on 1 June 1887 in Calais. She was was born on 17 July 1864 and died on 19 August 1925, both in Calais. Oliver died on 15 January 1924 in Calais. They had no children. There are no known photos of Oliver and Jennie.

The last section of the life story of George Rogers Tarbox will post on Saturday.