Florence Huff or Florence Robbins, 1905-1992, Maine, Florida, Colorado

One thing that doing newspapers research has caused me to do is revisit the research for each person in my database. I'm making sure I've included every available record. I've uncovered a few mistakes and have found information added since the last time I looked, which has been a few years. Today I started looking at a person whose last name is either Huff or Robbins. I've got records that would indicate that both are possible. This puzzle started when I looked up Florence's marriage record.

Ancestry.com. New Hampshire, Marriage Records Index, 1637-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Name: Florence M Robbins
Marriage Date: 31 May 1930
Event Type: Marriage
Marriage Place: Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire
Birth Date: abt 1905
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Father's name: George Robbins
Mother's name: Harriet Lansing
Spouse Name: Frank A Anderson
Spouse Age: 27
Spouse Gender: Male
Spouse Father's Name: Joseph
Spouse Mother's Name: Julia Pierce
FHL Film Number: 2057170


Biddeford Journal, Biddeford, Maine 6 Jun 1980, Page 31

GOLDEN WEDDING - Frank and Florence Anderson of Goose Rocks Beach, Kennebunkport, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary May 31 at the home of her brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Ernestine Huff of Jenkins Road, Saco. Fifty relatives and friends attended the surprise party which was given by the honor couple's children, Joyce Anderson of Yuma, Colo., Guy Anderson of Biddeford and Judie Lenhart of Greeley, Colo., and the Huffs. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were married May 31,1930, at Portsmouth, N.H. They have lived in Biddeford and Kennebunkport ever since. Their family also includes seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

If you look up Florence Huff on Ancestry and check the Public Member Trees, you'll find four trees under both the names Florence Huff and Florence Robbins, with both women marrying Frank Anderson. So it would appear that I'm not the only confused person.

• Florence Huff's parents are William O Huff and Ivy M Clark.
• Florence Robbins' parents are George M Robbins and Harriet M Lansing. 

Here's the census layout.

• 1910 has a Huff entry.
  Florence is with the Huff family in Lyman, York, Maine.
  Her father William is married to Ivy in this census.
• 1920 has a Robbins entry.
  Florence is with the Robbins family in Biddeford, York, Maine.
  1920 has a Huff entry.
  Robert (Florence's brother) is still with his father William O Huff.
  William is married to Helen in this census.
• 1930 has a Robbins entry.
  Florence is there in Biddeford, York, Maine.
  1930 has a Huff entry.
  William is a boarder in Biddeford and is listed as divorced. He has no children with him.
• 1940 has no Robbins entry.
  1940 has a Huff entry. William is divorced and living with his son James. 

It would appear that based on the census entries and subsequent records that Florence started life as Florence Huff, and for some unknown reason, becomes Florence Robbins between 1910 and 1920. 

As an additional piece of information, in Florence's daughter Lillian Joyce's obituary, her mother is listed as Florence Robins. 

So what happened is a puzzlement. If you have information to contribute, please post a comment to this blog post.

Digging for Esther’s Husband

Joseph and Julia (Pierce) Anderson had a total of nine children. I’ve written about this family in this blog many times. I had tracked down info on all of them except child number two, Esther S. Anderson. In looking at the obituaries for Esther’s mother and older sister (Mary Hannah Anderson), I noticed that the list of pallbearers had a few familiar names and a few repeating names. Many other family members have obituaries but none of them include the pallbearers.

Julia’s Pallbearers (1956)

Odell Rich
John Chasse 

Gordon Eastman

Francis Marcotte

Roy Duross

Homer Garcia

Mary’s Pallbearers (1967)

Leo Machell

John Chasse

Guy Anderson

Maurice Duross

Roy Duross
Thomas Garcia

In a shot in the dark move, I decided to trace all of the pallbearers to see if any of them lead me to Esther. I knew that Esther was alive in 1912 at the time of the death of her younger brother, William Joseph Anderson. William’s obituary mentions that he is survived by three brothers and five sisters, which means he was the first of the nine children to die. In 1912, Esther was 27 and it seemed a reasonable assumption that she was married. The Maine marriage index had no marriage for her. So I began to systematically look up each of the pallbearers.

Since Roy Duross appeared on both lists, I started with him. I found that he worked at the Saco-Lowell Machine Shops, which is also where Frank Anderson worked. I assumed that Roy and Maurice Duross were family friends.

I could identify Guy Anderson as Frank’s son and John Chasse as Sarah Jane (Anderson) Chasse’s son.

I took a stab at Odell Rich and found that he was married to an Esther. But was it my Esther? I did the general survey search that every genealogist does and I found the following items:

• A New Hampshire Marriage Record for Odell C. Rich and Esther Anderson. Esther’s parents were listed as Joseph and Julia Anderson. Odell’s Esther was indeed my Esther.
• A 1920 census entry listed three children for Odell and Esther: Frances (b. Mar 1910); Odell (b. Apr 1912), and Eleanor (b. Oct 1913).
• A marriage record for Frances A. Rich to Gordon M. Eastman.  Gordon was one of Julia’s pallbearers.
• A marriage record for Eleanor E. Rich to Francis L. Marcotte. Francis was one of Julia’s pallbearers.

All circumstances point to my having tracked down Esther’s marriage. So here are all of the vitals.

Esther S. Anderson

b. Aug 1885 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, England
d. Before 1943 (If you can help, I’d love to hear from ya’.)
m. 4 Jul 1909 Somersworth, Strafford County, NH
Odell Cleveland Rich
b. 26 Dec 1882 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
d. After 1943 (If you can help, I’d love to hear from ya’.)
Odell marries a second time in 1943 to Ida Dunham Sweatt. I’m assuming that Esther dies while still married to Odell.

Child 1: Frances A. Rich

b. Mar 1910 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
d. 4 Jul 1985 Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine
m. 10 Jun 1939 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
Gordon M. Eastman
b. 15 Dec 1916 Lovell, Oxford County, Maine
d. 12 May 2006 Lovell, Oxford County, Maine

Child 2: Odell Cleveland Rich

b. 18 Apr 1912 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
d. 26 Apr 1973 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
m. 17 Dec 1938 Maine
Gertrude C. Mann
b. Oct 1918 Paris, Oxford County, Maine
d. If you can help, I’d love to hear from ya’.

Child 3: Eleanor E. Rich

b. 5 Oct 1913 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
d. 21 Feb 2001 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
m. 30 Jul 1942 Norway, Oxford County, Maine
Francis L. Marcotte
b. 17 Oct 1918  (If you know where, I’d love to hear from ya’.)
d. 13 Oct 2005 Norway, Oxford County, Maine

Future Research

I’m on the hunt for obituaries and burial locations. The Sun Journal seems to be the preferred newspaper for the obituaries. I’ll post an update when I learn more. In the meantime, if you're hunting for a wayward husband, you might want to examine the pallbearers in family obituaries to see if any of them look promising as a possible mate. 

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Anderson Cornucopia Continues

The McArthur Public Library in Biddeford, Maine rocks! I asked them to check five names in an obituary index. They checked the index, pulled the obituaries, and tried to send them to me for free since it was my first request. I sent them a small donation anyway.

I received the five obituaries in the mail today. I dutifully entered them in PAF (Yes, I still use old PAF--It works!). My next step was to add them to the Woodlawn Cemetery in Biddeford. On a whim, I decided to check before adding the names. Well a Mr. Charles Baker (God love his generous soul) had beat me to it. He had added a bunch of Andersons. I've emailed him asking that he transfer all of them to me. I don't think all of them are mine but you can never tell. If someone contacts me, I'll transfer the ones that don't belong to me.

Anywho--The following Find A Grave entries exist:
Memorial Name
63738637 Augustus B. Anderson (not mine?)
63739093 Donna Lee Anderson (maybe mine, maybe not mine)
64018091 Elizabeth G. Anderson w/obit
63695715 Esther Anderson (lots of info to add)
63738792 Hannah Dennett Anderson (not mine?)
63738487 Henry P. Anderson (have an obit to add)
63738438 Joseph Anderson (I picked up death year)
63368182 Julia (Pierce) Anderson w/obit
63368793 Mary Hannah Anderson w/obit
63738975 Matilda H. Anderson (not mine?)
63738741 Maud L. Anderson (not mine?)
63738448 William Anderson (I picked up a death year)

As soon as I can, I'll add the remaining obits and links to start creating a family tree.

The Anderson Family Spurt

Since Vivian contacted me about the Dodd family in the UK, I thought I'd revisit the Alexander McKee Anderson line, which is my other UK line. I'm not sure if people have started posting more or if I'm just getting better a hunting for it, but I hit a bonaza. I had always assumed that nobody in the Alexander McKee Anderson line came to the US. Jeeze was I ever wrong. It turns out that after Alexander died his widow Esther Ann (Pollard) Anderson emmigrated to the US with her son Joseph Anderson.

Esther arrived at Boston, MA aboard the Cephalonia on 2 Sep 1893. In her party are her son Joseph's wife, Julia (Pierce) Anderson, and their children Mary Hannah, Esther, Henry Pierce, and Sarah Jane. The family settles in Biddeford, York County, ME. So far, it appears most of the family stays in the area. Joseph uses his cotton industry experience to work in the mills. While in ME, the Anderson's have additional children: Richard Charles, Frank A (Alexander?), Jessie H, and Elizabeth G. Sometime before the 1920 census Joseph dies. Esther also dies before the 1920 census. Julia (Pierce) Anderson lives until 9 Nov 1956 (Find a Grave Memorial 63368182). I've requested photos to see what the gravesite reveals. Julia was buried in a family plot. I've requested additional pictures. With the weather, I'm sure I won't hear a thing until the spring.

Esther's youngest son, John James Anderson, and his family also come to the USA. They arrive in 1904. The traveling party include John, his wife Anna Ellen (Doran) Anderson, and one son Edward Michael. The family settles in the Saco/Biddeford area. John dies before the 1930 census, probably in Maine. Eventually, the family relocate to Springfield, Hampden County, MA. Anna (Annie) dies in Springfield 21 Aug 1972. Their two sons appear to stay in the area and probably have children that I've yet to discover.

I've also been able to find Samuel Smith (s/o Agnes Elenor Anderson and William Smith). Agnes is another of Esther's children. Samuel is the only one I've found of the Smith's in the US so far. However, after a two-day marathon tracking Andersons, I'm learning never to jump to conclusions.