[tiggerella]

Hi -

I've been seeking information on my great grandfather, who was married April 26, 1870 in Palermo, Maine, but was rumored to have been a native of Chelsea, Massachusetts. In the town where I live, the town office kept information in the town records on marriages such as who the parents of both bride and groom were, where the bride and groom were from, and who did the marriage ceremony, but Palermo's records for most of the years before 1908 were destroyed by a fire. I have located relatives of my great grandmother who were able to give me her entire genealogical history, but haven't been able to locate a single thing about my great grandfather other than that he died in February 1876 (rumored to have drowned in an accident at the saw mill where he worked) and that he was buried in an unmarked grave next to my great grandmother, who was remarried and is in a grave marked as "Susan L. Jones". I have located the grave site and am petitioning the town for permission to mark my great grandfather's grave, but don't have the money to travel to Chelsea, Mass. To look through their town records for anything pertaining to my great grandfather at the current time - and after 20 years of searching to find the grave site, I'm worried that I'll run out of time on earth before I can find the rest of the info I seek.

If there are any members in the Chelsea, Massachusetts area willing to take a peek at the town records, I'm searching for a James Parker Dow, who would have been born in apx. 1850 or 1851, as he appears in the census of 1870 as being 19 and newly married to Susan Lovina Belden, 17. There is also a family rumor that he may have been adopted and that his parents were Samuel and Roxanna Lamont - or possibly Roxanna's name before marriage was Lamont and Samuel actually was a Dow? (The generation that would have been able to answer any further questions have all passed on without passing the information to my generation, so I've been having to grasp at straws... )

Thank you to any help anyone can give me.

[senator]

Not in Mass, but if you email me at [email protected] I will see what my sources have to help (no charge :) ).

I know how frustrating it is, I had the same problem and it has taken me years to get the family tree going. Believe me the information you gave is really a good start.

Sue
National Genealogical Society/
Association of Professional Genealogists

[tiggerella]

Sue -

I'll email you as you suggest, but wanted to post a very public "thank you" for your response.

Take care