----- Original Message ----- From: bbffrrpp To: mewashin-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, September 04, 2000 7:05 AM Subject: Town Clerks in Wash. County, Maine - computerized ?? Good morning, I have been researching the KIDDER surname for 7-8 years. And, several generations of Kidders were centered around Princeton, Maine. I have corresponded with the office of the Princeton Town Clerk a few times over the 7 years. A new lady took over the job close to 2 years ago, and she told me that she was just then starting the project of putting all the records of that office into a computer. Imagine the work involved! I was just wondering what the percentage rate was. How many Town Clerks in Washington County have a computer for their records, and how many don't? There was one Kidder who started my line of Kidder men in northern Maine*. He actually first settled in St. Stephen, NB, the sister-town of Calais, ME. But, his son, as an adult, moved to Calais. I call them "the two Calvin's." Even though the first Calvin might have had a Land Grant in Princeton, ME, it appears to have been the 3 sons of the second Calvin who finally settled there. But, that is where my great-grandfather was born in 1870. *The KIDDER surname was in Maine before it gained Statehood. My Calvin Kidder traveled through Washington County around 1785. But, a Richard Kidder settled in the towns near the present Dresden, Maine, around 1765. Between 1800 and 1820 twenty Kidder cousins were living in Maine. (All descendants of James Kidder (1626-1676) of Cambridge and Billerica, MA.) To get back to "the two Calvin's," Calvin Kidder (the son) married a Mary WILKINS in Amity, ME, around 1834. They had 7 children (I think)** One of the sons was Joseph Kidder, and he married a Clarissa WILKINS. She was the oldest of 6 or 7 children of George and Mary WILKINS. According to an 1861 Census they were living in Canterbury, NB, but they were listed as being "American," and 4 of their children were born in "America." If anyone knows where a George and Mary Ann Wilkins would have lived as a married couple from about 1835 to about 1852 in Washington County, I'd very much appreciate the information. **Either Clarissa Wilkins was the oldest child b1847, or George Wilkins was the oldest child, b1838. On the 1861 Census, he was a Head of Household at Age 22 with a wife, Sarah Wilkins. (He was also an "American.") "Calvin" and Mary Kidder who lived between Amity, ME, and Calais, ME, had well over 30 grandchildren.*** Possibly the number is closer to 40. So, there must be descendants of this Calvin Kidder (1799-1891) still living in Washington County. ***One of the reference books lists this Calvin and Mary Kidder as having a son, James Kidder b.1847. But, I can find no other reference to him anywhere. My personal roadblock (brick wall) in this research is finding out who the first Calvin Kidder (his father) married. There is no mention of a Mrs. Calvin Kidder from 1785 to 1834 anywhere! The first Calvin Kidder was killed in a mail-boat accident in the St. Croix River in March of 1799. His son, Calvin Kidder, wasa born in January of 1799. The only other Kidder woman who would have been the right age to have been the first Calvin Kidder's wife......was a Mrs. Mary Kidder who died in Portland, ME, at age 43, in 1819. But, again, no one has any information on her. AND, why was she living down in Portland, when her son was up in St. Stephen, NB? Unless she was ill and hospitalized in Portland? And, there is no record anywhere of any siblings of the Calvin Kidder b1799. Kidders ALWAYS had a dozen or so children. Why did this Calvin Kidder b1765 only have ONE child? (He came up from New Ipswich, NH.) Thanks for listening, Betty (near Lowell, MA)