MAINE MIGRATION PATTERNS... a thread of conversation on the Maine List...

I haven't heard anyone mention the migration out of Maine in 1816.  As I understand it, 1816 was called the "year without a summer", caused by a volcanic eruption in India which darkened the skys of Western Europe and New England for the entire year.Crops failed and it snowed every month of the year.  From the History of Castine, we learn that Penobscot Bay was completely frozen over during the winters of 1815, 1816 and 1817. You could cross the bay from Belfast to Castine by foot.  I suspect this exceptionally cold weather was caused by the same event. It began a migration of Maine farmers headed for the Ohio valley in search of warmer weather and better growing conditions. My own ancestor John Harvey left his farming habits of  20 years in Northport for Isle au Haut at exactly this same time period. I suspect that in order to make a living after such dreadful farming hardships, he had to turn to commercial ventures of the sea to make a living and feed the family. Does anyone else identify a migration out of Maine at this time or connected to this climatic event? Randy Harvey [email protected]

Another emigration from Maine undoubtedly was prompted by the year (1816) when it snowed every month, resulting in destroyed crops. Hence, the year was known as "1800-and-froze-to-death" or "the year without a summer."Thomas Hodgkin of Lewiston, Maine, recorded in his diary that he and another man bought the farm of William Brooks on April 29, 1817, which they later sold to nephew Jonathan Hodgkin (my great, great grandfather). Then on May 6, 1817, "wm Brooks and James ames started for the ohio on foot."  They returned by September 4, when Brooks is mentioned again. Brooks remained in Lewiston, but on September 24, 1817, Thomas Hodgkin records that the Ames family left in a wagon.Hodgkin's diary gives evidence of the 1816 difficulties.  He records cold weather on many days in June, including the June 8 entry: "The weather so cold that it frose the ground at night & Snowd Several times today - the wind very heavy."  On August 16, he indicates a poor hay year, "we had only 29 jags this year."  On Thanksgiving, November 28, Thomas notes "a great Scarsety" of food.- Douglas I. Hodgkin [email protected]

I've been reading the postings on migration and have a bit to add on the ME>MN migration.  My gr-grandfather, Elisha Cowan, and his twin Elias, left Maine around 1850 (I can't locate them anywhere on the 1850 census) and by 1854 were in Wright Co MN.  An elderly relative tells me they went there to "work in the woods" and also "to help quell the Indians." I have seen a large number of Maine people in the records while researching in Stearns Co, MN, also.  In fact, there is a township and village named Maine Prairie, in southern Stearns Co.  I have a book, "Minnesota Geographic Names, Their Origin & Historic Significance" by Warren Upham, that states: Maine Prairie township, organized in 1858, was named by its many pioneers from Maine, who came as its first settlers in 1856.  One of its villages or hamlets, named Maine Prairie Corners, founded in 1856-6, is on the site of a stockade and fort constructed in 1862 as a refuge from the Sioux outbreak. The name of this township was proposed by Aaron Scribner, who came from Aroostook County, Maine, and who later removed to Otter Tail County and there proposed the name of Maine township."  There is a Maine twp in Otter Tail Co, the book says organized 5 Sep 1871, named at the request of R. F. Adley, one of its first settlers, a native of Maine.  The book is full of references to Maine natives.  Mille Lacs County, Grenbush twp, settled in 1856, named for twp of Greenbush on the Penobscot River in Maine.  "Many of the settlers in this county, both for its pine lumbering and for farming, came from that 'Pine Tree State,' being therefore commonly called 'Mainites.' If anyone in Maine is compiling a list of "strays" you could certainly find lots of them in Minnesota! Jean Gobel Tacoma, WA

From: nighthawk <[email protected]>   I think it would be useful to have a list of migrations out of Maine. I will compile the list based upon your submissions, and will post the list on my web page. So, if you are aware of a migration out of Maine, besides the one to WI, please let me know. I need approximate date(s), place to which they migrated, and reason for the migration.     Thanks!Dana Edgecomb Standish, Maine US GenWeb host: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/4962/index2.html

"I think it was Mount Tamboura that caused the 1816 phenonema..."Correct: The Britannica tells us that (Gunung) Tambora blew its top violently in 1815, Island of Sumbawa, Indonesia -  caused much destruction & death to the islanders, and the mountain went from 13,000 ft. to 9,350 ft., and is considered now to be dormant. Bob Jackson