Continuing on Page 2 of the Grant & Lilley Family Reunion Guest List.what will we encounter here. Closer relatives? Unknown relatives? Family friends? Lets find out together…
26. Mr. & Mrs. Geo. McGary & Family
Family #26 introduces a new Surname to the list of attendees of the reunion as well as revisiting a name from Part 2 : “Mr. and Mrs. George McGary & Family of Smyrna Mills.” Mrs. McGary is the former Freda Dow and the family would be the three oldest McGary children: Eloise, Carlton and Herbert. Mr. McGary is the Lilley family connection as he is the son of Thomas McGary and Lucy C. Lilley. Lucy is the daughter of Samuel & Hannah J. (Crane) Lilley. According to Ancestry.com, George McGary is the 1st Cousin 1x removed of the husband of my 2nd Great-Grandaunt, that is, he is the first cousin of George F. Lilley, who was the 1st husband of Nellie O. (Gardner) Lilley.
George B. McGary was born 3rd of July 1884 in Smyrna Mills, Aroostook Country, the 9th and last child of Thomas and Lucy Caroline (Lilley) McGary. When researching George B. one must be aware that he had an older brother George B. McGary, who was born in 1878 and died in 1881.
Because of the missing 1890 US Federal Census, George doesn’t appear until the 1900 US Federal Census, where he found living in Smyrna Mills with his parents and older brother Roger. He is listed as a 7 year-old scholar, but is also assisting on the family farm. On 26 Jun 1910, George McGary married Nellie E. Brown, the daughter of Herbert A. and Mary (Splan) Brown. She was born in Merrill, Aroostook County on 25 Jan 1890 and was employed as a local school teacher at the time of her marriage. George and Nellie would be the parents of 2 children: Herbert George, born in 1914 and Eloise S., born in 1915. Unfortunately, Nellie died of tuberculosis on 21 of February 1917, leaving her widowed husband with a 3 year-old son and 2 year-old daughter.
The 1920 US Census lists George B. Mary as married (again), his wife being Freda Dow. She was the daughter of Thomas J. Dow and Luella Small and was born in Island Falls on 29 July 1896. The couple was married on 06 Aug 1919 in Carleton, New Brunswick, Canada. However, George’s 2 children by Nellie are not living with the new family. They are found on the 1920 US Census as living with separate McGary uncles: Herbert with Roger’s family and Eloise with Frederick’s family.
Freda and George would go on to have 2 sons together, Carroll R. in 1925 and Carlton D. in 1927. Since both children were born after the 1922 Family Reunion, the “& family” here must be Herbert and Eloise. They are found reunited with their father and step-mother on the 1930 US Federal Census.
27. Harrison Grant
Harrison Grant, the 28th name on the Grant & Lilley Family Reunion is the son of George Washington Grant and Alice Maud McGinley. A number of his siblings also attended the reunion, including Charles Cleveland Grand and family, Frank G. and family, Harold E. and family, Alice Geneve Grant, Arthur W. and family and finally his mother Alice M. (McGinley) Grant. Like the others, Harrison Grant is the sibling of my 7th cousin 1x removed. And like his other siblings, he lived in the Oakfield most of his life.
George Harrison Grant was born the 25th of October 1888, the 5th of the 21 children born to George Washington Grand and Alice Maud McGinley. Named George Harrison at birth, he would go by Harrison his entire adult life, most likely to distinguish himself from his father George.
The first US Federal Census that Harrison appears on is from 1900. He is listed along with his 10 siblings as living on the family farm in Oakfield. Harrison was 11 years old and listed as a student, attending school for 5 months of the year. This was probably due to his assisting his father on the family farm. The 1910 US Federal Census has Harrison single, still at home, working as a Farm Laborer on the family farm. By the 1920 US Federal Census, Harrison is no longer living on the family farm. He is still living in Oakfield, but is a boarder in the home of Nelson and Dora Martin. He is working as a salesman in a General Store. Between the 1910 and 1920 Censuses, Harrison served in the US Army, enlisting on 15 Dec 1917 and being honorably discharged on 21 May 1919. He did serve overseas during World War I.
At the time of the Grant Lilley Family Reunion in 1922, he is listed on the guest list as being from Presque Isle.
28. Mr. & Mrs. Harry Marley & Family
Family #28 on the Guest List of the Grant & Lilley Family Reunion is “Mr. & Mrs. Harry Marley & family of Smyrna Mills.” Harry Marley is James Harrison Marley, son of Benjamin and Charlotte (Small) Marley and the brother of Crawford William Marley, who also attended the reunion with his wife and children. Harry, as he always was known by, was married to the Grant connection of the family, Ida Beaumont Grant, daughter of Henry Allen and Ada Lillian (Kelley) Grant. She was the half-sister of Crawford’s wife Electra Grant. She was also the sister of Leon Miles Grant, whose first wife was my 1st cousin 3x removed, May Viola Gerrish. Ancestry.com confirms this by listing Ida Beaumont as the sister-in-law of your 1st cousin 3x removed. We do like to keep everything ‘all in the family!’
Ida Beaumont Grant was born the 10th of February 1885, in Crystal, Aroostook County. She was the second child and eldest daughter of Henry Grant and his 3rd wife, Ada Lillian Kelley. As a child, she lived with her parents and siblings on the family farm in Smyrna and Dyer Brook. Beaumont, as she was called married Harry Marley, her half-sister’s brother-in-law on the 27th of May in 1903. James Harrison Marley was born the 2nd of July 1879 in Smyrna, Aroostook County. He was the youngest child of the five children born to his parents. The newly formed family remained in the Smyrna area.
The 1910 US Federal census has the family living in Smyrna, along with daughter Elspie, 2. In 1916 their second daughter, Charlotte was born and is present with her parents and sister on the 1920 US Federal Census. It is therefore logical that both girls (aged 15 and 6) attended the reunion with their parents and are represented as the “& family” on the list.
29. Harold Grant & daughter
“Harold Grant and his daughter, Phyllis of Oakfield” are the 29th family listed on the Grant & Lilley Family Reunion Guest List. Harold is the son of George Washington Grant and Alice Maude McGinley, another of the 15 surviving children that attended the reunion in 1922. Like all of his siblings before him, he is the sibling of my 7th cousin 1x removed.
Harold Edwin Grant was born on 29th of December 1886 on the family farm in Oakfield. He was a student who assisted on the family farm in 1900, but unlike his siblings, did not become a full-time farmer. He attended college and worked for the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad his entire career. This is reflected on the 1910 US Federal Census as he is listed as working as a Railroad laborer. The census also lists that he is married with no children. In fact, he married Idella “Della” Littlefield Benn on 4th of January in 1909. Della was the first-born child of Clarence P. Benn and Susan Adams. Like Harold, she was born on the family farm in Oakfield, Aroostook County.
Harold and Della were the parents of four children: Robert, who died shortly after birth; Phyllis, born in 1910; Lester, born in 1912 and Elizabeth, born in 1914. The three surviving children are listed with their parents on the 1920 US Federal Census. Based on the guest list entry for Harold Grant, it appears his wife and two younger children did not attend the reunion with him. I am assuming that Phyllis as the oldest child is the daughter referred to on the list.
30. Mr & Mrs. Ernest Hughes
The next family on the list is one that is very familiar to me, and one that has me completely confused as to why they are even present. “Mr & Mrs. Ernest Hughes of Sherman Mills, Aroostook are another of my direct Gardner relations. In 1922, Mrs. Ernest Hughes is the former Bertha Gardner. Bertha was the younger sister of my Great-grandmother Alice Mae Gardner. She was Ernest’s second wife, her older sister Susan was his first wife. That makes him the husband of my great-grandaunt twice over. The confusion I have is due to the fact that I can’t seem to find a relationship, direct or otherwise, to Ernest and either the Lilly or Grant families.
Ernest Waldon Hughes was born on the 11th of February, 1874, the only child of Samuel Nutter Hughes and his first wife, Viola Shaw in Mapleton, Aroostook County. Ernest’s mother passed away when he was only 2 years old. His father didn’t remain a widower long, as he married Lydia Ann Gardner, the youngest daughter of George Washington and Tabitha (Roberts) Gardner in 1875. They would become the parents of six children: Guy A.; Reuben R.; Everett George; Enoch Ripley; Edith May; Benjamin Jones.
The first US Census that Ernest appears on is the 1880 Census. He is a student, living with his father, step-mother and 2 half-brothers; Guy and Reuben. It would be nice to see what the 1890 US Census would have shown, as there were a number of changes that occurred between 1880 and 1890. The family grew to include the remaining 4 children, they moved from Mapleton to Township 7 and purchased a new farm.
In 1896, Ernest married his first wife, Susan “Susie” E. Gardner. Susie was the daughter of John Henry and Martha Pearson (Colby) Gardner and is the niece of Ernest’s step-mother, Lydia. They would become the parents of 5 children: Vernon E., Viola Martha; Clover Alice; Hollis and Kenneth Alden. The 1900 Census shows that Ernest and Susie are married, but yet to have children. Living with them is Ernest’s half-brother (and Susie’s 1st Cousin Reuben, along with 2 boarders. Ernest has started working as a Railroad laborer. Their son Vernon died on the 9th of October 1903 and was buried in the Dyer Brook Cemetery.
The 1910 Census shows that Ernest and Susie and their four children have now relocated to Dyer Brook. Ernest is now listed as a farmer, working on his general farm. Shortly after the census, the family relocated to Sherman Mills. Here the family relocated to a new family farm. However, tragedy struck the family on the 3rd of November 1911, when Susan E. (Gardner) Hughes passed away from complications of Tuberculosis. She was buried next to her son Vernon in Dyer Brook Cemetery. Ernest was left with four children. the youngest, Kenneth was only 3 years old. The children would not remain motherless for long as Ernest married Susie’s younger sister, Bertha Gardner on 13th of February 1913. They will become the parents of 2 children: Erlene Violet and Paul Arthur Hughes. The 1920 US Federal Census shows the family in Sherman Mills, with four children.
On 26th of August 1922 Ernest and his wife Bertha attended the Grant & Lilley Family Reunion. It’s unclear if any of the Hughes children attended with their parents.
Why are so many of my direct Gardner ancestors in attendance at the Grant & Lilley Family Reunion if they have no obvious Grant or Lilley family members?
Finding My Family Tree 