Hello, As often times happens, I see something on TV or in a newspaper which makes me curious about something. I go to look on-line and find that and then find something else which I become curious about. Etc. Early this morning I watched "Antiques Roadshow" where they were showing some Civil-War-era "cannons" and one of them was made by the Nathan T. AMES in Springfield, MA. I go to look on-line for information on this company and find many sites which mention him and all the swords and cannons his company made. I mention him on-line and someone tells me that AMES is a big name in Easton, MA. I go to find information on that, and I find out there is an AMES Shovel company in Easton. Oops. Took another look and found out that "Ames Shovels" have been mentioned on the "MassMoments" e-mails: http://massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=139 This site mentions "an historic site" .. http://www.easton.ma.us/Directory/Notices/Miscellaneous/Ames%20Shovel%20Shops%20Press%20Release%20Mass%20Most%20Endangered%2010%201%2008.pdf and this shows a picture of it: http://www.eastonmass.net/historic/shovel.htm There are many sites which mention "Ames shovels" but one of the sites coming up is about a museum in Maine: http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioAmesShovel.html I had to look at my map to see where Liberty, ME, is, and found it near Belfast, ME. This page mentions the beginning of this museum: http://www.davistownmuseum.org/about.html#staff This page mentions a booklet about toolmaking before 1870: http://www.davistownmuseum.org/publications.html Just an FYI for you. But, for the "Memories" List, there is probably a book somewhere which discusses the tools people used, or created, during each century in our country. Perhaps an ancestor invented one, or built a better one, etc. Betty (near Lowell, MA) FYI: I see that there are other towns near Liberty which are named Freedom and Hope. I'm curious how towns near Belfast, ME, came to have those names. In a previous search, I found this page which mentions an AMES patriarch: http://john.rootsweb.ancestry.com/Ames/0768-l.html And here is a man in Europe who influenced "America." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ames FYI: Last summer I met a man in MA who has the first name, Oakes. It's the first time I had heard that name, but here it is mentioned again: Oakes AMES.