Finding William Small Howe (part 3)

As we saw in Part 1 and Part 2 of Finding William Small Howe, after disappearing from the Colony of New Brunswick after the 1851 census William Small Howe was found in the State of Maine, USA. We still haven't found that smoking gun document that connects him with his parents after he moves to Maine but the evidence looks pretty good when it is presented as a bundle. So what else can we discover?

Since I have a paid subscription with Ancestry I will continue to search there...

The first hint that popped up is one from the U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current database. Since this is an index I want to check out the Find A Grave page to see if it is just a simple memorial page gleaned from other sources without a picture of the marker or, if we are very lucky, there will be a picture with other details provided.

And we are lucky!

The memorial has not just a picture of the marker but also a close up of the writing and calculated relationships.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for Dr. William S Howe (1835-1891), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825309, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jennifer Kelley.

But is this the right William S. Howe? We need to check the rest of the names on the marker. We find:

Grace E. Howe1	C. Emery Howe2	Annie P. Howe3

All three of those people were found in the 1870 Federal Census of Somerset County, Maine, USA in the household of William S. Howe. This looks to be the right family. Of course, that is assuming the family in the 1870 census is the right family. Might was well continue going down this rabbit hole unless some fact or event proves otherwise.

Now that I have the probable death date for William S Howe, Ancestry provided another hint. This time it is from the Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999 collection. This collection has digitized images of wills and probates. A wonderful find! It is presented as a virtual microfilm and it isn't just one image but the will and probate file for William S. Howe goes from image 383 to image 405. We even find the will itself:

"Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.ca: accessed 6 Jan 2017), William S Howe will dated 13 Jun 1891; citing Probate Court (Androscoggin County, Maine) 

William mentions his daughter Josie E. Howe and his wife Grace E. Howe. We saw them in the 1880 Federal Census, Somerset County, Maine, USA. So the will and probate appears to be for the same William S. Howe we have been following.

A hint from the U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 collection also appears. This is only an index and for the image of the index document it states, "Howe, Dr.,W.S., d. Aug,25,1891(T . Aug.26)". This is a pointer to the August 26, 1891 edition of the Boston Transcript. So, where do we find the Boston Transcript? The Vita Brevis blog of the New England Historical Genealogical Society posted on November 7, 2016 "Boston Transcript column now online" is a great write up on finding that newspaper so I will defer to them.

Unfortunately me for, the August 26, 1891 edition isn't in the Google News Archive. Murphy's Law strikes again...the August 25 edition has been digitized but not the 26th.

But wait a second

If I go to the August 25 edition and keep going through the pages I come to the August 26th edition. Interesting!

On page 8 of the Boston Evening Transcript under "Recent Deaths" I find this notice:

"Recent Deaths - Dr. W. S. Howe," Boston Evening Transcript, 26 Aug 1891, p. 8, col. 5; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 6 Jan 2017).

Captain in the First Maine Cavalry? I wonder where this will lead me?

To be continued...

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1. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for Grace E Howe (1834-1907), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825313, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jim.

2. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for C Emery Howe (unknown-1882), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825300, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jim.

3. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for Annie P Howe (unknown-1876), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825317, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jim.