We’ve come to my direct line from William Tarbox and Judith Haskell, that of George Rogers Tarbox, my 3X great grandfather.

While George also had several family losses, his life appears to have been much more stable and happy than that of his siblings.

George Rogers Tarbox was born 14 December 1818, New Gloucester, Maine, the eighth child and sixth son of William Tarbox and Judith Haskell.

Like his siblings, George wasn’t predisposed to farming or life in a village, preferring a career in business in vibrant cities. He first appears in the Lowell, Massachusetts city directory in 1844.

By the 1840s, Lowell was a booming industrial city. George married (1) Deborah Elizabeth Grover, a local young lady also from New Gloucester, on 8 March 1848 in Lowell. Times were certainly changing as just a few short years earlier, an unmarried young lady would not be traveling/living/working in a big city, unmarried.

A land deed filed in 1846 and other Lowell city directories prove that from 1844-1849, George, his soon-to-be wife Deborah Grover, his brothers Benjamin, William and Plummer along with his unmarried sister, Deborah, were all residents of Lowell. They were likely drawn there by the lure of factory work as Lowell was becoming a huge center for textile manufacturing.

In fact, when George married Deborah Grover, his marriage record lists his occupation as “manufacturer,” but of what is not stated. George’s first marriage was very short in duration as Deborah died on 12 April 1847 of an “inflammation of the stomach” and her body was sent home to new Gloucester for burial. There were no children born to George and Deborah and whether her stomach inflammation was related to a pregnancy is unknown.

George left Lowell not long after Deborah’s death, next appearing in Nashville (today part of Nashua), Hillsborough, New Hampshire, which perhaps not coincidentally, was also an emerging center of textile manufacturing.

George married (2) Mary Elizabeth Scripture, 29 November 1848 in Nashville, New Hampshire. Mary’s family lived in Mason, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, just 20 miles from Nashua. Mary, too, might have been drawn to a job in the fabric mills.

How George and Mary met is not known since he was already living and working as an overseer in the Globe Mill in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts at the time the 1848 city directory was printed. George’s main job interest in his early married years was clearly the production of cotton textiles and the family remained there until 1853.

By 1854, the family had moved to Robbinston, a village outside of Calais, Washington, Maine, another thriving city, mostly into lumber and shipbuilding.

However, George changed industries from textiles, not to shipbuilding, but to the purchase of a granite quarry in Red Beach (today part of the city of Calais).

However, George liked life in Calais and he spent the rest of his life there, passing away on 27 January 1895. While looking at the lives of his siblings, I happened to notice that his sister, Deborah, died exactly one week before him, on 20 January 1895 in Auburn, Androscoggin, Maine and his youngest sibling, Plummer Chase, died two months after him on 25 March 1895 in Derby, Orleans, Vermont.

With mail service as it was, it’s not likely that George knew of his sister’s death, but Plummer might have been aware of Deborah’s and George’s passings.

Mary Elizabeth (Scripture) Tarbox predeceased George by many years, dying on 11 March 1866 in Calais, Washington, Maine.

They were the parents of seven children, three of whom have no descendants today.

Children:

1. Mary Elizabeth, born 24 November 1849; died 23 September 1850, both in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts. Mary has no descendants.
2. Elizabeth, born 19 July 1851, Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts; died 27 May 1928, Calais, Washington, Maine; married Charles Stiles Vickery, 23 September 1871, Calais, Washington, Maine. They were the parents of five children.
3. George R., born c1854, Robbinston, Washington, Maine; died 10 July 1864, Calais, Washington, Maine, aged 10 years. George has no descendants.
4. Nellie F., born 28 June 1856, Robbinston, Washington, Maine; died 232 December 1927, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; married Calvin Segee Adams, 1 February 1875, Calais, Washington, Maine. They were the parents of two children.
5. Charles Franklin, born 13 May 1859, Robbinston, Washington, Maine; died 25 June 1941, South Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts; married Cleantha (Cannie) Cochran, 19 October 1881, Milltown, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada. They were the parents of four children.
6. Horace W., born 20 April 1861, Robbinston, Washington, Maine; died 8 June 1914, of bronchial pneumonia, in Sharon, Norfolk, Massachusetts; married Elizabeth Eugenia Lane, 13 June 1881, Calais, Washington, Maine. They had one daughter, Elsie Venner Tarbox.
7. Oliver Scripture, born 2 July 1863, Robbinston, Washington, Maine; died 15 January 1924, Calais, Washington, Maine; married Jenny Deborah Mingo, 1 June 1887, Calais, Washington, Maine. They had no children.

In summary, George’s and Mary’s children – Elizabeth, Nellie, Charles and Horace – have descendants today.