Family life

Abstract NA3123 Abbie E. Andrew, interviewed by Martha A. Timothy, May 10, 1984, at Andrew’s home in Portland, Maine. Andrew, born December 26, 1897 in Lisbon, New Hampshire, describes moving to Maine; attending Heseltine School; learning to sew; dressing for town; home-fried vs. store-bought donuts; two family helpers; family life; father’s New Hampshire businesses and notebook; graduation 1917; Simmons Bachelor of Science in Home Economics; Columbia for Masters in Teaching; taught in Africa...

Abstract Topics covered include Irish immigrant ancestry; education levels; misunderstandings of different cultures; living conditions as a new arrival to the United States; disposition of parents. Also included is information about North Hartland, VT - description of social life and mills in the region as well as tenants; learning women's roles; chores; marriage; sewing and cloth-making; food preparation; winemaking; entertainment; pets and livestock owned; travel and transportation over time;...

Abstract NA4205 Annia Warner, interviewed by Darlene Metcalf-Bergeron, February 22, 2008, in her house in Bangor, ME. Warner, age 48, talks about her early life in Costa Rica (CR); her family; moving to San José; meeting a Maine family; visiting ME on vacation; meeting her future husband and staying; the scarcity of Costa Rican immigrants; her parents’ reaction to her staying; becoming pregnant; getting married; her husband and two sons; learning English with Mr. Rogers; raising her sons bilingually;...

Scope and Contents

A collection of letters and diaries of a family during the mid-19th century. Includes diaries and letters of two brothers who fought with the 5th Maine Infantry during the Civil War. The family members were farmers from Topsham.

Abstract

1694 Cecile Boisvert, interviewed by Steffan Duplessis, Marcella Sorg, and Mark Silber, winter 1981, Lewiston, Maine. 38 pp. Tape: 1 1/4 hr. w/ handwritten trans. French. Boisvert talks about her life as a Franco-American. Text: handwritten transcript. Recording: T 1815 1-1/4 hour, French.

Scope and Contents

Letters and papers of the Coffin Family of Bangor, Me. Includes letters between Harold W. and Grace Bristol Coffin and their children, and a number of manuscripts written by Harold W. Coffin.

Scope and Contents The collection focuses on the Curran Family Homestead, a living history museum in Orrington, Maine. Interview topics include: memories of Alfred, Eddie, and Catherine Curran; dairy farming in East Orrington during the first half of the twentieth century; MA Crook and Sons Hillside Dairy; relationship between the Kimball family and the Currans; swimming in the Fields Pond in the summer; tobogganing on the Curran property in the winter; a genealogy of the Curran family; growing up in Orrington...

Abstract NA3725 Delia Michaud, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, June 21, 2005, at Michaud’s home. Michaud talks about being born in San Juan, a province of Argentina; coming to the United States in 1970; living first in Houston, Texas and then moving to Maine; cultural differences between Argentina and the United States; struggle of switching over from speaking Spanish to speaking only English; first experiences with Maine winter; highlights of Argentinean culture; family life in San Juan;...

Abstract NA1637 Edwin Houston, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives and William “Bill” Warner, August 12 and 17, and September 24, 1982, at Houston’s home in Brewer, Maine. Houston, one of the last and best of the rod makers for F. E. Thomas Co. of Bangor, Maine, talks about his life and his rod making skills; his early years in Holden, ME; his father; his genealogy; mother’s arrival from Sweden; Swedish community in Holden; Swede Hill; bees; his first fishing rod; his first job peeling logs; how he...

Abstract NA3125 Eva O. (Curtis) Bowering, interviewed by Barbara Switzer, April 3, 1984, at Eva’s home in Sebago Lake. Bowering, born on December 25, 1908, talks about sea captain grandfather’s days at sea; grandmother’s hard life in Harpswell; singing hymns in evenings; mother; maternal grandfather (bookkeeper for Portland-Rochester Railroad Company); Scotland, England, and Belgium; neighborhood growing up; Baby and cherry tree; Harry Marr (Portland’s Fire Chief); neighborhood Catholics, Jews,...

Abstract

NA1149 Jennie Flanders < Elliot Sidelinker, interviewed by Patricia Murkland, January 10, 1978, for AY 125, fall 1977, Veazie, Maine. Flanders and Sidelinker (her brother) about growing up in Veazie in a family of 14 children; Veazie history; and how Veazie has changed. Text: 14 pp., brief catalog. Recording: mfc_na1149_t1212_01<02. (T 1212). Time: 1 hour.

Abstract 1695 Juliette Filteau, interviewed by Steffan Duplessis and Mark Silber, February 19, 1981, Lewiston, Maine. Filteau discusses her childhood in Canada during the 1910s and 20s; moving to Lewiston in 1923; working in the shoe shop as a teenager; nuns and a convent in Canada; raising her daughter’s children; dates with her future husband; importance of religion and changes in Catholicism; leaving her alcoholic first husband, her catering business; opening her restaurant; dealing with drunks;...

Abstract NA3731 Katya Begitova, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, May 11, 2005, in her home, Trenton, Maine. Katya talks about being born in Moscow; moving to Bar Harbor, Maine in 2000; difficulty of working in Maine without being able to speak English; meeting her husband while working in Maine; being multicultural as a Russian in America; struggles and strategy to learning a new language; meeting other immigrants with similar backgrounds; Russian cooking compared to American; Russian crafts;...

Abstract 2556 Larry Moskowitz, interviewed by Laura Finkel, November 25, 1996, in Manhattan, New York. Moskowitz discusses Vietnam-era protests and activism at the University of Maine; activism straining his family relationships; the beginning of activism on campus; deciding the Vietnam War was wrong; Students for a Democratic Society [SDS] and their gradual acceptance on campus; influences that kept UMaine’s SDS chapter more sensible than others; supporting the Ounegan mill strike; discovering...

Content Description

The collection contains various letters, including some to Mrs. Ralph Blaisdell, Mrs. Nancy Blackstone, and Mr. Samuel Moody. Several letters are from Elizabeth Moody. The letters are dated from about 1823-1851 and mostly to the Livermore Falls area of Maine. The correspondence relates to family news and several mentions of cattle trading.

Content Description

The collection consists of two letters, on a single sheet of paper, written to Huldah Hayes of Berwick, Maine, and dated March 23, 1844. One is from Huldah's nephew, Gustavus Hayes; the other is from her brother, Jacob Hayes. The letters deal with current happenings and family news.

Abstract NA3719 Maria Baeza, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, March 28, 2005, in Baeza’s office, Bangor, Maine. Baeza talks about being born in Puerto Rico; growing up in Brooklyn, New York; coming to Maine over 30 years ago when she married a man from Maine; her first impression of Maine which was that there were so many white people; culture shock; rural setting after living in a large city; concern with safety; life in Puerto Rico before the age of 5 when she moved to the U. S.; difference...

Abstract NA3721 Maria Sandweiss, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, April 19, 2005, in the library at the Maine Folklife Center, UMaine, Orono, Maine. Sandweiss talks about being born in Peru; moving to Maine in 1993 with her husband; her first impressions of Maine; speaking English or Spanish with family; living in two cultures; maintaining culture of Peru; Peruvian foods; typical dinner; food cooked in the ground; pachamanca; special cultural objects from Peru; languages spoken in Peru; language...

Abstract NA3722 Maria Rave, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, April 1, 2005, at Thistles Restaurant, Bangor, Maine. Rave talks about being born in Colombia; coming to Ellsworth in 1985; moving to Bangor around 2001; being part owner of Thistles Restaurant; having two sons; language barrier at first in Maine; speaks Spanish and English; university education; difficult for younger son Santiago to adjust to school; sons graduating from Massachusetts College of Art; Santiago lives at home and manages...

Abstract NA3718 Mohammad S. Dar, interviewed by Katherine Durbin, May 8, 2005, at the Stillwater Convenience store, Bangor, Maine. Dar talks about being from Pakistan; coming to the United States in 1983; his reasons for coming to the United States and then to Maine; arranged marriage; positive experiences; finding other Muslim families; teaching cultural values; comparison between his childhood in Pakistan and that of his children in the United States; Lahore; food and meals as a child in Pakistan;...

Abstract NA3723 Norma Peters, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, May 12, 2005, at the home of Peters, Veazie, Maine. Peters talks about being born in Cartagena, Colombia; the differences between living in Panama and Colombia; differences in education; learning to speak English; marriage and children; first impressions of Maine; difficulty finding work; lived in Hampden and 6 years later moved to Bangor; teaching children Spanish; discrimination in Maine; making friends; teaching children to be proud...

Abstract NA3131 Robert Hartford Cram, interviewed by Alice Mary Pierce, October 15, 1986, Falmouth Foreside, Maine. Cram, born April 20, 1904, talks about his background and family; moving to Yarmouth; moving to Falmouth; taking trolley to Portland High School; working as a janitor; drafting in high school; home life growing up; his grandparents in Baldwin, ME; family genealogy burned; siblings; telephone; landscape school (Newark, New York); Jackson Perkins (nursery); working as a landscaper; built...

Abstract NA3960 Sue Ellen Mink Roberts, interviewed by Chris Roberts at her home in South Portland, Maine on March 13, 2003. Sue Ellen, Chris Roberts' mother, recounts her childhood growing up on the Johnson-Mink Farm, also known as the Mink Farm during the 1950s. She reviews a brief genealogy and leaving home in 1973 when she married; Ivan Mink's illnesses that create cognitive impairment that transitioned into dementia; her grandmother, Irene L. (Johnson) Mink, providing at home healthcare for a ...