Sukey (Susanna) Rice was born December 5, 1787 to Gershom Rice and Susanna Howe; she married Ivory Bigelow February 23, 1809. She died June 15, 1873 and Ivory died January 4, 1847 and are both buried in the "Brigham Cemetery" as are her parents.
Celeste's story : This pamphlet was found in a trunk in the home of Francis C. Peaks in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine in 1974. Francis died Feb. 23, 1974 just 3 days short of his 100th birthday. My mother, who did secretarial work for Francis for many years, and I were getting the contents of the house ready for an estate sale and decided to salvage this pamphlet primarily because of the genealogical content. It has been on a bookshelf in her home until a few weeks ago when she asked me to "sell it on the Internet or find it a home".
We are both glad we found the proper home after almost 200 years.
A little background on the families who lived in this house:
The house on East Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine was owned from 1838 to 1840 by Dr. Jonathan A. Smith. On September 17, 1841 the local newspaper reported "Benjamin Johnson, MD has taken the former residence of Dr. Jonathan A. Smith"
Dr. Benjamin Johnson lived from 1807 to 1869 and came to Dover-Foxcroft from the Frankfort/Winterport, Maine area. His first wife, Susan Louisa, lived from 1814 to 1852. They had two children; Laura Maria born 10/12/1837 and Seth Wellington born 9/11/1840. His second wife, Elizabeth Chadbourne lived from 1816 to 1891. Elizabeth Chadbourne of Kennebunkport, Maine, with her small son Francis and her small daughter Eliza, came to Dover Foxcroft to visit her sister, Mrs. John G. Mayo. Elizabeth's first husband Francis W. Chadbourne, was lost at sea dying of cholera in the South. While in Dover-Foxcroft, Elizabeth met and later married Dr. Benjamin Johnson, himself a widower. Elizabeth Chadbourne "came to live in Dr. Johnson's fine home"
Elizabeth's daughter Eliza married Joseph B. Peaks, a lawyer and Civil War Veteran. He was appointed Assistant Commisary General with the rank of Lt. Colonel on the staff of Gov. Selden Connor (1876 to 1878) and later became a member of the House of Representatives. Mr. Peaks' son Francis C. Peaks was also a lawyer and member of the House of Representatives. Francis and his sister, Annie Kenney, gave 800 acres on the shores of Sebec Lake in Dover-Foxcroft to the State of Maine which is now Peaks Kenney State Park. This home is now the Piscataquis County District Court building.
How this little pamphlet ended up in the trunk (presumably owned by Dr. Johnson) or what the connections may have been between the Rice/Bigelow families and the Johnson/Chadbourne/Peaks family is still a mystery to us.
The following is a recently received email relative to the above subject. Please note correction stated.
From:
"Roberta Fitzgerald" <[email protected]>
To:
<[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent:
Tuesday, December 04, 2001 1:54 PM
Subject:
Sukey Rice diary from Dover-Foxcroft
Greetings,
I
found your site when using Dr. Benjamin Johnson as my query. Dr.
Johnson is an ancestor or mine (brother of my g-g-g-grandfather, Cyrus
Boardman Johnson). In fact, my grandmother, Hattie Johnson Washburn,
raised her family of 9 children in D-F and at the time the house of E.
Main St was being prepared for sale to the town, my grandmother was contacted
about a trunk with Johnson "stuff". Now the trunk resides at my mother's.
I was looking for old ancestral photos last summer and found other documents that Dr. Johnson had saved. If I come across anything that connects Sukey Rice to the Johnsons or Wellingtons or Chadbourne's, I'll let you know.
Correction to your information on this page that I see immediately: Dr. Benj & first wife Susan had two children: Laura Maria Johnson (b. 10/12/1837) and Seth Wellington Johnson (b. 9/11/1840).
see
images of diary
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