That is exactly the town that my husband and I are from, Sanford, Maine. His parents and my grandparents, my mother and sister all worked in the mills. Goodall Mills. When the mills moved South his father went with it to So. Carolina. This is a very small world, isn't it? My grandmother started working there when she was 10 yrs. old. We visited there a couple of years ago and seeing the change in Sanford and along the beaches (rte 1) just didn't feel like home anymore. But it is still all so beautiful. The beaches themselves haven't changed too much, thankfully, but the tourism in the summer must be what most of the local people see as a blessing now that the mills are gone. Shoeshops have all gone also. Got to go to bed, am getting tired. I am so happy that we have met. ! !
*smile* It IS a small world, especially with the aide of the internet! I have no doubt our ancestors probably crossed paths. My father was thirty-seven when I was born, so my people were all long gone by the time I came upon the scene. My gran, that I mentioned, died in the spanish flu epidemic in October of 1918. I "do" genealogy, so I went to Sanford last summer and read about the mills a bit. There it was, the Cunningham name, in a history of Sanford reference book. It gave me the leads I needed to trace them back to Bute, Rothesay, Scotland! I have a subscription to Ancestry World and I found a census record with their names and where my great grands were born. It was a great breakthrough in my research. Doing that is so much fun! I'm glad we met too!
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This is a very small world, isn't it?
My grandmother started working there when she was 10 yrs. old.
We visited there a couple of years ago and seeing the change in Sanford and along the beaches (rte 1) just didn't feel like home anymore. But it is still all so beautiful. The beaches themselves haven't changed too much, thankfully, but the tourism in the summer must be what most of the local people see as a blessing now that the mills are gone. Shoeshops have all gone also.
Got to go to bed, am getting tired. I am so happy that we have met. ! !
Reply
I have no doubt our ancestors probably crossed paths. My father was thirty-seven when I was born, so my people were all long gone by the time I came upon the scene. My gran, that I mentioned, died in the spanish flu epidemic in October of 1918. I "do" genealogy, so I went to Sanford last summer and read about the mills a bit. There it was, the Cunningham name, in a history of Sanford reference book. It gave me the leads I needed to trace them back to Bute, Rothesay, Scotland! I have a subscription to Ancestry World and I found a census record with their names and where my great grands were born. It was a great breakthrough in my research. Doing that is so much fun!
I'm glad we met too!
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