I posted a request some time ago about the possibility of someone in the Massachusetts area doing a little leg work for me, but the only responder suggested all the things I had already tried without really helping much. Once again, I'm asking for someone who lives in Massachusetts, particularly the Chelsea area, to please go into the Chelsea Library and see if there is anything about the adoptions of children from Chelsea in the 1850's - 1870's range and let me know if you find anything about the following individual:

Name (as I know it): James Parker Dow

Born: Apx. 1850 or 1851 (date not recorded in any family sources)

Last recorded location: Palermo, Maine in 1870 (census for 1870 records 19 year old James and new bride, Susan L. Belden, 17, who were married in April of that year - but church records of the marriage were destroyed in a fire in the 1930's, so no record of his parents has been found after 30 years of searching)

Last known to be in: Vassalborough, Maine in February 1876, where he reportedly died by drowning in the pond at the sawmill where he worked, leaving his wife and three young children - buried next to Susan in an unmarked grave (per East Vassalborough Methodist Church, which owns the cemetery)

Searches completed: (1) Every census report from every town in Maine from 1850 - 1870 examined. This "James Dow" only appears in the one census for Palermo in 1870
(2) Nothing about an adoption of a child named James for the same time period by a family with last name of Dow recorded in Maine State Records.
(3) Extensive search of all school records on all Dows in Maine from 1850 - 1870 with no James listed at any schools
(4) Extensive search of all Lamonts (of every possible spelling) in Maine census for same time frames with same results as above
(5) Extensive search of all Massachusetts records available online or through Maine Historical Society - same results (adoption records not available online and must be examined at libraries or through Massachusetts State Library, as they don't allow inter-library loans and I can't afford the cost of research at $25 per hour nor can I afford to come to MA - especially with the current gas prices)

Family rumors (unable to prove):
(1) James was adopted

(2) Parents possibly named Samuel and Roxanne Lamont - though no one seems sure if Lamont was Roxanne's maiden name or married name or even if we are spelling it right - no written records ever located

(3) James was from Chelsea, Massachusetts (although census states he was born in Maine, but no town listed - & FYI, same census taker listed another relative who we have proven was born in Nova Scotia as being born in Maine, and the state has told me that the census records were only as accurate as the person going door to door chose to make them)

Thank you to anyone who is willing to spend a little time at the library - and please let me know if I can return the favor, as I am a member of the group "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness" and do this a lot for people who live out of state, but have ancestors in Maine.....