Tag Archives: Harold Murchie

Adams, Calais, Mystery Photos

More on the Calais, Maine Class of 1905

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Yesterday, I shared a picture of the Calais High School Class of 1905 from Calais, Washington County, Maine. The only person known to me was my great grandaunt, Vera Pearl Adams Chadwick, seated in the center row to the right of the young man in the center.

There is a great website for those with Calais roots – my mother, grandparents, great grandparents and a great great grandmother were all born there – www.calaisalumni.org. I shared this picture with them, along with a copy of the program, which listed the names of the graduates.

I decided to see if I could find out who any of the other faces belonged to. Along the way, I figured that there were only 16 of them. I might as well try to find any descendants, who could help identify their relatives.

One more young lady had been identified by a grandniece. The petite young lady, third from the right, in the back row is Laura Ethel McKusick.

Since there were only five young men in this class and one of them, Harold Hale Murchie, became Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court, I decided to start with him.

HaroldHMurchieHarold Murchie at Dartmouth College

Comparing this photo to the group photo, Harold Murchie is the young man at the right end of the center row. Next, I looked for Harold Hitchings Burbank, who became a Harvard Professor of Economics. Here is a Dartmouth College photo of him:

HaroldHBurbankHarold Hitchings Burbank at Dartmouth College

This one was a little tougher. However, Harold Burbank was the class salutatorian and my Aunt Pearl earned honors. If seating placement had anything to do with class standings, then Harold Burbank, as the young man with the highest scholastic average, would be seated in the center of the center row. Also, as I compared the college photo with the class picture, Harold had a wide nose and ears that were tight to his head. He also had a roundness to his face. The hair is a lot shorter in college, but based on the ears and the nose and general shape of his face, I believe that Harold Burbank is, indeed, the young man in the center of the picture.

I had no luck finding photos of any of the other people, but if Harold and Pearl are in the center row, then the valedictorian should also be in there. That leads me to believe that Helen Eary Fox is the young lady to the left of Harold Burbank in the center row.

Next, I hoped that I could find descendants of these students and that they might have a photo or two to share. That will not be, as I discovered. I was actually quite surprised to find that eleven of these young people have no direct descendants living today – Vera Pearl Adams, Ellen Douglas Bates, Harold Hitchings Burbank, Howard Kenneth Dyer, Luella May Grover, Virginia Harrison Hume, Robert Harrison Kirkpatrick, Ida Woods McCoy, Ralph Bernard McGinn, Ella Jane McVay and Ethel Pearla Rourke.

Of the remaining five, Helen Eary Fox, Grace McCullough, and Florence Louise Randall each had children and they might have descendants living today. I just couldn’t pick up a trail after 1940. That leaves only two, Laura Ethel McKusick and Harold Hale Murchie who have proven descendants living in 2014.

Calais

School Days, Calais, Maine 1905

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1905 must be my lucky year. I found another photo, this of the high school graduating class of Calais High School, Maine among items I inherited from my cousin, Charles Chadwick. This, just a few days after my post about the elementary school class pictures in Hobart, Oklahoma in 1905, 1906, and 1907.

CalaisME1905GraduatesCalais Academy Class of 1905

This photograph is actually quite large – perhaps 12 inches by 18 inches. I no longer have the photo because I mailed it back to its proper home – Calais, Maine – which has a Calais High School Alumni  site documenting as many Calais High School/Calais Academy graduates as they can find.

Only two young ladies have been identified in the unmarked photo. Vera Pearl Adams who married Perce Chadwick is seated in the center row, third from the left. Ethel Laura McKusick is the petite young lady standing in the back row, also third from the left.

I even have a copy of the program with the names of the sixteen graduates, but that hasn’t helped:

1905CalaisHSGradProgramCalais Academy Class of 1905

Plus, one of them, Harold Hale Murchie, became Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court. I found two photos of Harold on line, one when he was a toddler and the other in his later years. Neither has helped identify him from among the five males in the senior class. I think he may be the young man in the center of the picture, but I am not sure.

I have been drawn in by all of these faces and I’m going to see if I can put any more of these names to these graduates!