For Immediate Press Release
The idea of forming an association of blacksmiths was recently conceived by a few people from eastern Maine interested in learning about and creating through this traditional art. Building a forge that this interested group can use for this end is integral to our mission. The forge is scheduled to be built at The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum. On Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 7PM, the first meeting of this association will be at The Curran Homestead, 372 Fields Pond Rd., Orrington, ME. All blacksmithing enthusiasts are invited to join us.
The Maine State Museum, with funds from the State of Maine’s New Century Community Program awarded The Curran Homestead a $2,651.44 Historical Facilities Grant to both improve their facilities for housing their historical collections and creating educational programming that focuses on blacksmithing. The farm and museum preserves and perpetuates family farm life as it was at the turn-of-the-20th Century. It recently purchased local rough cut hemlock to build a blacksmithing shed with the State Museum award. The structure will be built entirely by volunteers. In addition to housing its collection of blacksmithing tools and accoutrements, we anticipate that it will be an inviting learning and work place for amateurs, hobbyists, and professional blacksmiths alike, according to Robert Schmick, director of education at The Curran Homestead.
Schmick added that “the materials for the project have been delivered, but rain has delayed us only temporarily. We hope to break ground soon. A masonry forge will be located in one corner, and additional portable farrier forges will serve for blacksmithing round-ups and large group instruction and productivity. Through generous donations, we have amassed the key equipment for a typical late-19th century forge, including leg vises, a hand drill press, anvil, hammers, punches, chisels, hardy (s), tongs, but charitable donations of additional items are always welcome.
Bob Robinson of the Split Rock Forge in Stockton Springs, ME was especially instrumental in the original design of our smithy plan and the acquisition of much of our equipment. Robinson went through a formal apprenticeship as a blacksmith in his youth, and continues to work at a forge he built in the 60s. He has done demonstrations at some of The Curran Homestead's past events, and their popularity largely influenced our decision to create a permanent forge for the purpose of hands-on education at the farm.”
“These grants support community efforts to preserve and share the stories of our people, our towns, our families and how we lived our lives,” noted Joseph R. Phillips, Museum Director of the Maine State Museum. “Without these objects and buildings, important pieces of our Maine heritage would be lost.” Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap says a recent report to the Maine Legislature indicated many of Maine’s historical collections (photographs, paintings, natural history collections, letters, etc.) are in danger of being lost to mold, fire, theft, or misuse. “Maine has an estimated 200 million historical objects and records, many in facilities with little or no security, fire protection, or environmental controls. Maine people in local government, historical societies, and libraries are seeking help to preserve heritage,” Secretary Dunlap commented. Small grants have stimulated local citizens and organizations to commit more of their own resources to these projects. “Although financial support is important, recognition of local concerns and effort through an award should also generate a substantial amount of enthusiasm,” Phillips noted.
For more information about the Historical Facilities and Historical Museum Collections Grant Program, call the Cultural Resources Information Center at 287-7591 or email: maine.cric@maine.gov. For information about The Curran Homestead or the first meeting of the blacksmithing association, please contact: Robert Schmick at rpschmick1@aol.com, or 207-843-5550.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Home Depot Volunteers Spend the Day Building and Roofing at the Farm
John Mugnai, President of The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum announced today that twelve Bangor home Depot associates will be spending the day Wednesday (August 19) working at the farm on Fields Pond Road in Orrington.
Mugnai said this is the third year that Bangor Home Depot has committed to spending a day assisting with completing various projects proposed by The Curran Homestead. The Associates use the exercise as both a team-building experience and as a way to contribute to their skills and abilities in support of the non-profit organization’s mission of capturing for future generations the values and customs of rural America and demonstrate a time when self-reliance, cooperation, industry, and thrift were honored traditions.
Some of the Home Depot Associates will concentrate on replacing an asphalt shingled roof on a small carriage barn that houses the farm’s horse-drawn wagons while other Associates construct a new wood-frame garden shed with some new and some reused materials from a shed donated by Fred Hartstone of Bangor, who is a Bangor Home Depot Associate and a member of The Curran Homestead Board of Directors. The new materials were supplied by an award from Home Depot for the garden shed construction and the carriage ell roof replacement. Curran Homestead volunteers dismantled the Hartstone shed and transported used materials to the new site on the Holden side of the farm’s rock wall that defines a division in the town lines of Holden and Orrington. Curran Homestead volunteers will support the effort and offer a barbecue and other home cooked fare in appreciation for the Home Depot Associates’ volunteer contribution.
John Mugnai said "the family farm is vanishing and with each lost farm goes another symbol of Maine’s unique culture"; our goal at The Curran Homestead is to keep some of the traditions of that culture alive. Additionally, Andy Pursaitus and members of Troop 8 are working at the farm restoring an equipment shed as part of the requirements for Andy's Eagle Scout Project. Another project to begin soon involves the construction of a blacksmithing shed made possible through a State of Maine Historic Facilities Grant. This structure will allow for the demonstration of blacksmithing skills, the display of tools and equipment from the museum’s collection, and as an education center for those interested in learning or expanding their blacksmithing skills.
Robert Schmick, Director of Education at The Curran Homestead said "these projects will help us enrich the lives of our children, offer our community many opportunities for wholesome family fun, and serve as an excellent educational resource through museum displays and hands-on activities and programs."
Mugnai said this is the third year that Bangor Home Depot has committed to spending a day assisting with completing various projects proposed by The Curran Homestead. The Associates use the exercise as both a team-building experience and as a way to contribute to their skills and abilities in support of the non-profit organization’s mission of capturing for future generations the values and customs of rural America and demonstrate a time when self-reliance, cooperation, industry, and thrift were honored traditions.
Some of the Home Depot Associates will concentrate on replacing an asphalt shingled roof on a small carriage barn that houses the farm’s horse-drawn wagons while other Associates construct a new wood-frame garden shed with some new and some reused materials from a shed donated by Fred Hartstone of Bangor, who is a Bangor Home Depot Associate and a member of The Curran Homestead Board of Directors. The new materials were supplied by an award from Home Depot for the garden shed construction and the carriage ell roof replacement. Curran Homestead volunteers dismantled the Hartstone shed and transported used materials to the new site on the Holden side of the farm’s rock wall that defines a division in the town lines of Holden and Orrington. Curran Homestead volunteers will support the effort and offer a barbecue and other home cooked fare in appreciation for the Home Depot Associates’ volunteer contribution.
John Mugnai said "the family farm is vanishing and with each lost farm goes another symbol of Maine’s unique culture"; our goal at The Curran Homestead is to keep some of the traditions of that culture alive. Additionally, Andy Pursaitus and members of Troop 8 are working at the farm restoring an equipment shed as part of the requirements for Andy's Eagle Scout Project. Another project to begin soon involves the construction of a blacksmithing shed made possible through a State of Maine Historic Facilities Grant. This structure will allow for the demonstration of blacksmithing skills, the display of tools and equipment from the museum’s collection, and as an education center for those interested in learning or expanding their blacksmithing skills.
Robert Schmick, Director of Education at The Curran Homestead said "these projects will help us enrich the lives of our children, offer our community many opportunities for wholesome family fun, and serve as an excellent educational resource through museum displays and hands-on activities and programs."
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Curran Family Genealogy
A typed version of this family history was recently given to The Curran Homestead by Mary Elaine Curran Crowe, granddaughter of Dennis Curran ( Chief of the Bangor Fire Department during the Great Fire of 1902), great-granddaughter of Nicholas Curran, and great-great granddaughter of John Curran, brother of Bartlett Curran, the first of the Currans to immigrate from Ireland in the early 1830s, and the great-great-great granddaughter of Nicholas and Bridget Fallon Curran of Cloghmore, County Galway. Mary Katherine Curran and Alfred Curran, the benefactors of The Curran Homestead, descended from another brother of Bartlett Curran, possibly John Curran.
The foregoing pages are a brief review of the events in the lives of the Curran brothers and their cousin Pat, where they came from, where they settled in Orrington, Holden and Brewer, something about their descendants as far as we could gather from our researches including non personal opinions by the writer. There may be some errors but they are not of sufficient importance to affect the current in the lives of the Currans.
The Currans of Orrington, Maine and its environs originated from Cloghmore, County Galway, Ireland. Among the early Irish immigrants to arrive on the shores of the Penobscot River, and probably the first among the Currans was Bartlett Curran (c.1812-1872), who evidently sailed from the Port of the City of Galway in the early 1830s to the United States. In those days the approach to the City of Galway was not difficult; Curran lived in a small village situated on the shores of Galway Bay, on the road that leads to the wild and mountainous regions of Conenara, a western province of County Galway. The reason for his immigration and how he came to accomplish it remain uncertain and unrecorded; however, in June, 1836 there is a record of shared ownership with John Dean of Brewer a lot of land situated in the confluence of Orrington, Brewer, and Holden. It is also recorded that Curran bought Dean’s interest in the east half of the lot on June 23, 1836 so that he became the sole owner of a piece of land.
During this time Curran became acquainted with Catherine Patton of Orrington, the daughter of Tom Patton, and they married in 1838. They lived on his recently acquired land until in 1852 he purchased 120 acres from his father-in-law increasing his land holdings. In 1863, he bought another 50 acres from a Goodwin in Orrington, presumably adjacent to his other holdings. Curran continued to live and function on his farm along with his wife, Catherine, and a son Daniel E. Curran who worked the farm with his father. Bartlett Curran died in 1872 and left his estate to his wife and son. There is no record of Daniel E. Curran after this time. In 1880, Catherine remained on the estate alone, and there is no record of her death. In 1863, Bartlett Curran and his wife Catherine had granted 30 acres of lot 92 in Holden to John Curran and his son Nicholas B. Curran for the sum of $450. Bartlett Curran applied for citizenship with the local courts in 1840 and said that he was 28 years old.
In the late 1840s what are assumed to be the brothers of Bartlett Curran are recorded to have been living in the Bangor area. “These Curran Brothers were the sons of Nicholas Curran and Bridget Fallon in Ireland, and all were born in the vicinity of Cloghmore, County Galway. Cloghmore means “Big Rock,” and tradition tells us that on the shores of Galway bay and near this town there stood a boulder. There were a lot of smaller boulders which seemed to be the predominant product of their farms [ this passage was out of sequence, and it seems it belongs here making “Nicholas” the father of Bartlett, Tom, John , Mike, and cousin Pat the first of the Currans to immigrate to the US from Ireland ].”
They may have come during the Irish famine of 1846-1847. Their names were Tom, John, Mike, and a cousin Pat. They were 20-30 years of age at the time. Tom Curran declared that he had come to the US in 1848 having been born in 1816. Likely as the result of a suggestion from Bartlett Curran, Tom Curran bought 35 acres from Wiswell in January, 1853. This lot was in the vicinity of Field’s Pond in Orrington and not far from the holdings of Bartlett Curran. He married Bridget McDonough [?-1903]. Tom Curran died in 1861. He was survived by his children: Nicholas, William [?-1930], The foregoing pages are a brief review of the events in the lives of the Curran brothers and their cousin Pat, where they came from, where they settled in Orrigton, Holden and Brewer, something about their descendants as far as we could gather from our researches including non personal opinions by the writer. There may be some errors but they are not of sufficient importance to affect the current in the lives of the Currans.
The Currans of Orrington, Maine and its environs originated from Cloghmore, County Galway, Ireland. Among the early Irish immigrants to arrive on the shores of the Penobscot River, and probably the first among the Currans was Bartlett Curran (c.1812-1872), who evidently sailed from the Port of the City of Galway in the early 1830s to the United States. In those days the approach to the City of Galway was not difficult; Curran lived in a small village situated on the shores of Galway bay, on the road that leads to the wild and mountainous regions of Conenara, a western province of County Galway. The reason for his immigration and how he came to accomplish it remain uncertain and unrecorded; however, in June, 1836 there is a record of shared ownership with John Dean of Brewer a lot of land situated in the confluence of Orrington, Brewer, and Holden. It is also recorded that Curran bought Dean’s interest in the east half of the lot on June 23, 1836 so that he became the sole owner of a piece of land.
During this time Curran became acquainted with Catherine Patton of Orrington, the daughter of Tom Patton, and they married in 1838. They lived on his recently acquired land until in 1852 he purchased 120 acres from his father-in-law increasing his land holdings. In 1863, he bought another 50 acres from a Goodwin in Orrington, presumably adjacent to his other holdings. Curran continued to live and function on his farm along with his wife, Catherine, and a son Daniel E. Curran who worked the farm with his father. Bartlett Curran died in 1872 and left his estate to his wife and son. There is no record of Daniel E. Curran after this time. In 1880, Catherine remained on the estate alone, and there is no record of her death. In 1863, Bartlett Curran and his wife Catherine had granted 30 acres of lot 92 in Holden to John Curran and his son Nicholas B. Curran for the sum of $450. Bartlett Curran applied for citizenship with the local courts in 1840 and said that he was 28 years old.
In the late 1840s what are assumed to be the brothers of Bartlett Curran are recorded to have been living in the Bangor area. “These Curran Brothers were the sons of Nicholas Curran and Bridget Fallon in Ireland, and all were born in the vicinity of Cloghmore, County Galway. Cloghmore means “Big Rock,” and tradition tells us that on the shores of Galway bay and near this town there stood a boulder. There were a lot of smaller boulders which seemed to be the predominant product of their farms [ this passage was out of sequence, and it seems it belongs here making “Nicholas” the father of Bartlett, Tom, John , Mike, and cousin Pat the first of the Currans to immigrate to the US from Ireland ].”
They may have come during the Irish famine of 1846-1847. Their names were Tom, John, Mike, and a cousin Pat. They were 20-30 years of age at the time. Tom Curran declared that he had come to the US in 1848 having been born in 1816. Likely as the result of a suggestion from Bartlett Curran, Tom Curran bought 35 acres from Wiswell in January, 1853. This lot was in the vicinity of Field’s Pond in Orrington and not far from the holdings of Bartlett Curran. He married Bridget McDonough (?-1903). Tom Curran died in 1861. He was survived by his children: Nicholas, William (?-1930), Mike [Michael J. Curran or M.J. Curran ?] ( ?-1942 [actually 1941]), Tom Jr. ( ?-1913), and Martin. William left two sons, William and Tom; they lived in Bangor. A daughter married and moved to Portland.
John Curran (?-1885), next to Bartlett and younger by a year or two, probably came to the US about the same time as Tom along with his wife Sara [ or “Sarah” a.k.a “Sally”] Bearwell (?-1872), son Nicholas, and daughters Margaret and Bridget. In 1863 he acquired 30 acres from Bartlett Curran and presumably lived on this farm. His daughter Margaret married Coleman Lee, son of Mike Lee, an early Irish immigrant; they bought 40 acres of lot 25 adjacent to the land of Mike Curran (brother of Bartlett Curran) in 1866. Margaret died in 1925.
Bridget Curran (?-1913)( daughter of John Curran) married John Ford (?-1893), an immigrant from County Galway, one of the three brothers who settled in Holden. Their children were John Ford Jr., Margaret, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Mrs. Arthur Barton of Bangor, and James.
John Curran’s son Nicholas married Mary Mennihan (?-1877), sister of Dennis Mennihan, from the Town of Craughwell, County Galway. The children included John, Dennis, and Mary. Dennis married a Varley, daughter of William Varley, and their children included: Thomas R. Curran, US Marshall for the District of Maine, and proprietor of the Curran Bott Shop [sic Boot]. Dennis Curran, proprietor of the Connors Shoe Company, William Curran, US Internal Revenue agent, and John, Edward, Raymond, and Emmett [see family portrait].
When John Curran died in 1885, his grandson John inherited 10 acres. The remained of his land holdings went to his son Nicholas B. Curran. After the death of his first wife, Nicholas B. Curran married Alice Hamel. With this second marriage came Dan, James, and Alice. Dan lived on Broadway in Bangor and James lived in Dexter.
“The writer [of the original version of this genealogy ] contemplating the aforesaid deviations by one of the descendants of the Curran from the County Galway, feels that this is only one of the many evidences of aportasy [sic] [apostasy] which is occurring around us every day and can be attributed mostly to apathy and environment. In other words second marriages are sometimes fatal to sons of Irishman as far as maintaining their consistency in religion.
Mike Curran ( ?-1894), another brother of Bartlett, declared that he came to the US in 1851. He was a few years younger than John. In 1854, he purchased 30 acres in Holden and Orrington from Andrew Staple. This land was near Field’s Pond and adjacent to the land of John Curran and John Ford. Mike Curran married Margaret Moylan, the daughter of Martin Moylan and Maria Curran, who died in 1904 at the age of 87. In 1868 Mike Curran bought ½ lot 25, known as the Cobb Lot, and thereby increased his holdings in that vicinity.
In 1880 or thereabouts, there was a Nicholas Curran, about 40 years of age living near the Holden and Brewer line. At that time there were two sons, William and John, living with him, but there is no evidence of his wife. She must have died in the 1870s.
Nicholas Curran, son of Tom, is believed to have married Rosanna Dougherty, daughter of John Dougherty and Alice McAvey of Brewer.
Pat Curran, a cousin of the first Curran brothers, and probably a little younger, came later than the others. His mother, Sara McDonough Curran, came from Cluck a Lora, as it reads on her marker in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. This is probably meant to be Cloghmore, and this is the only evidence that we have for asserting that the Currans came from that town. Pat Curran married Barbara Morton, daughter of Mike Norton and Margaret Hannon (?-1897). In 1864 he bought 26 acres on the Wiswell Road in South Brewer from Goodwin. Here he lived with his wife and children: Dan E., Rose W., and Hannah. Eventually he moved to Rumford where he died as we have stated above; he is buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Bangor, ME.
Pat’s mother, Sara Donough Curran, died in 1864., Tom Jr. [ ?-1913], and Martin. William left two sons, William and Tom; they lived in Bangor. A daughter married and moved to Portland.
John Curran (?-1885), next to Bartlett and younger by a year or two, probably came to the US about the same time as Tom along with his wife Sara [ or “Sarah” a.k.a “Sally”] Bearwell (?-1872), son Nicholas, and daughters Margaret and Bridget. In 1863 he acquired 30 acres from Bartlett Curran and presumably lived on this farm. His daughter Margaret married Coleman Lee, son of Mike Lee, an early Irish immigrant; they bought 40 acres of lot 25 adjacent to the land of Mike Curran (brother of Bartlett Curran) in 1866. Margaret died in 1925.
Bridget Curran (?-1913)( daughter of John Curran) married John Ford (?-1893), an immigrant from County Galway, one of the three brothers who settled in Holden. Their children were John Ford Jr., Margaret, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Mrs. Arthur Barton of Bangor, and James.
John Curran’s son Nicholas married Mary Mennihan (?-1877), sister of Dennis Mennihan, from the Town of Craughwell, County Galway. The children included John, Dennis, and Mary. Dennis married a Varley, daughter of William Varley, and their children included: Thomas R. Curran, US Marshall for the District of Maine, and proprietor of the Curran Bott Shop [sic Boot]. Dennis Curran, proprietor of the Connors Shoe Company, William Curran, US Internal Revenue agent, and John, Edward, Raymond, and Emmett [see family portrait].
When John Curran died in 1885, his grandson John inherited 10 acres. The remained of his land holdings went to his son Nicholas B. Curran. After the death of his first wife, Nicholas B. Curran married Alice Hamel. With this second marriage came Dan, James, and Alice. Dan lived on Broadway in Bangor and James lived in Dexter.
“The writer [of the original version of this genealogy ] contemplating the aforesaid deviations by one of the descendants of the Curran from the County Galway, feels that this is only one of the many evidences of aportasy [sic] [apostasy] which is occurring around us every day and can be attributed mostly to apathy and environment. In other words second marriages are sometimes fatal to sons of Irishman as far as maintaining their consistency in religion.
Mike Curran ( ?-1894), another brother of Bartlett, declared that he came to the US in 1851. He was a few years younger than John. In 1854, he purchased 30 acres in Holden and Orrington from Andrew Staple. This land was near Field’s Pond and adjacent to the land of John Curran and John Ford. Mike Curran married Margaret Moylan, the daughter of Martin Moylan and Maria Curran, who died in 1904 at the age of 87. In 1868 Mike Curran bought ½ lot 25, known as the Cobb Lot, and thereby increased his holdings in that vicinity.
In 1880 or thereabouts, there was a Nicholas Curran, about 40 years of age living near the Holden and Brewer line. At that time there were two sons, William and John, living with him, but there is no evidence of his wife. She must have died in the 1870s.
Nicholas Curran, son of Tom, is believed to have married Rosanna Dougherty, daughter of John Dougherty and Alice McAvey of Brewer.
Pat Curran, a cousin of the first Curran brothers, and probably a little younger, came later than the others. His mother, Sara McDonough Curran, came from Cluck a Lora, as it reads on her marker in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. This is probably meant to be Cloghmore, and this is the only evidence that we have for asserting that the Currans came from that town. Pat Curran married Barbara Morton, daughter of Mike Norton and Margaret Hannon (?-1897). In 1864 he bought 26 acres on the Wiswell Road in South Brewer from Goodwin. Here he lived with his wife and children: Dan E., Rose W., and Hannah. Eventually he moved to Rumford where he died as we have stated above; he is buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Bangor, ME.
Pat’s mother, Sara Donough Curran, died in 1864.
The foregoing pages are a brief review of the events in the lives of the Curran brothers and their cousin Pat, where they came from, where they settled in Orrington, Holden and Brewer, something about their descendants as far as we could gather from our researches including non personal opinions by the writer. There may be some errors but they are not of sufficient importance to affect the current in the lives of the Currans.
The Currans of Orrington, Maine and its environs originated from Cloghmore, County Galway, Ireland. Among the early Irish immigrants to arrive on the shores of the Penobscot River, and probably the first among the Currans was Bartlett Curran (c.1812-1872), who evidently sailed from the Port of the City of Galway in the early 1830s to the United States. In those days the approach to the City of Galway was not difficult; Curran lived in a small village situated on the shores of Galway Bay, on the road that leads to the wild and mountainous regions of Conenara, a western province of County Galway. The reason for his immigration and how he came to accomplish it remain uncertain and unrecorded; however, in June, 1836 there is a record of shared ownership with John Dean of Brewer a lot of land situated in the confluence of Orrington, Brewer, and Holden. It is also recorded that Curran bought Dean’s interest in the east half of the lot on June 23, 1836 so that he became the sole owner of a piece of land.
During this time Curran became acquainted with Catherine Patton of Orrington, the daughter of Tom Patton, and they married in 1838. They lived on his recently acquired land until in 1852 he purchased 120 acres from his father-in-law increasing his land holdings. In 1863, he bought another 50 acres from a Goodwin in Orrington, presumably adjacent to his other holdings. Curran continued to live and function on his farm along with his wife, Catherine, and a son Daniel E. Curran who worked the farm with his father. Bartlett Curran died in 1872 and left his estate to his wife and son. There is no record of Daniel E. Curran after this time. In 1880, Catherine remained on the estate alone, and there is no record of her death. In 1863, Bartlett Curran and his wife Catherine had granted 30 acres of lot 92 in Holden to John Curran and his son Nicholas B. Curran for the sum of $450. Bartlett Curran applied for citizenship with the local courts in 1840 and said that he was 28 years old.
In the late 1840s what are assumed to be the brothers of Bartlett Curran are recorded to have been living in the Bangor area. “These Curran Brothers were the sons of Nicholas Curran and Bridget Fallon in Ireland, and all were born in the vicinity of Cloghmore, County Galway. Cloghmore means “Big Rock,” and tradition tells us that on the shores of Galway bay and near this town there stood a boulder. There were a lot of smaller boulders which seemed to be the predominant product of their farms [ this passage was out of sequence, and it seems it belongs here making “Nicholas” the father of Bartlett, Tom, John , Mike, and cousin Pat the first of the Currans to immigrate to the US from Ireland ].”
They may have come during the Irish famine of 1846-1847. Their names were Tom, John, Mike, and a cousin Pat. They were 20-30 years of age at the time. Tom Curran declared that he had come to the US in 1848 having been born in 1816. Likely as the result of a suggestion from Bartlett Curran, Tom Curran bought 35 acres from Wiswell in January, 1853. This lot was in the vicinity of Field’s Pond in Orrington and not far from the holdings of Bartlett Curran. He married Bridget McDonough [?-1903]. Tom Curran died in 1861. He was survived by his children: Nicholas, William [?-1930], The foregoing pages are a brief review of the events in the lives of the Curran brothers and their cousin Pat, where they came from, where they settled in Orrigton, Holden and Brewer, something about their descendants as far as we could gather from our researches including non personal opinions by the writer. There may be some errors but they are not of sufficient importance to affect the current in the lives of the Currans.
The Currans of Orrington, Maine and its environs originated from Cloghmore, County Galway, Ireland. Among the early Irish immigrants to arrive on the shores of the Penobscot River, and probably the first among the Currans was Bartlett Curran (c.1812-1872), who evidently sailed from the Port of the City of Galway in the early 1830s to the United States. In those days the approach to the City of Galway was not difficult; Curran lived in a small village situated on the shores of Galway bay, on the road that leads to the wild and mountainous regions of Conenara, a western province of County Galway. The reason for his immigration and how he came to accomplish it remain uncertain and unrecorded; however, in June, 1836 there is a record of shared ownership with John Dean of Brewer a lot of land situated in the confluence of Orrington, Brewer, and Holden. It is also recorded that Curran bought Dean’s interest in the east half of the lot on June 23, 1836 so that he became the sole owner of a piece of land.
During this time Curran became acquainted with Catherine Patton of Orrington, the daughter of Tom Patton, and they married in 1838. They lived on his recently acquired land until in 1852 he purchased 120 acres from his father-in-law increasing his land holdings. In 1863, he bought another 50 acres from a Goodwin in Orrington, presumably adjacent to his other holdings. Curran continued to live and function on his farm along with his wife, Catherine, and a son Daniel E. Curran who worked the farm with his father. Bartlett Curran died in 1872 and left his estate to his wife and son. There is no record of Daniel E. Curran after this time. In 1880, Catherine remained on the estate alone, and there is no record of her death. In 1863, Bartlett Curran and his wife Catherine had granted 30 acres of lot 92 in Holden to John Curran and his son Nicholas B. Curran for the sum of $450. Bartlett Curran applied for citizenship with the local courts in 1840 and said that he was 28 years old.
In the late 1840s what are assumed to be the brothers of Bartlett Curran are recorded to have been living in the Bangor area. “These Curran Brothers were the sons of Nicholas Curran and Bridget Fallon in Ireland, and all were born in the vicinity of Cloghmore, County Galway. Cloghmore means “Big Rock,” and tradition tells us that on the shores of Galway bay and near this town there stood a boulder. There were a lot of smaller boulders which seemed to be the predominant product of their farms [ this passage was out of sequence, and it seems it belongs here making “Nicholas” the father of Bartlett, Tom, John , Mike, and cousin Pat the first of the Currans to immigrate to the US from Ireland ].”
They may have come during the Irish famine of 1846-1847. Their names were Tom, John, Mike, and a cousin Pat. They were 20-30 years of age at the time. Tom Curran declared that he had come to the US in 1848 having been born in 1816. Likely as the result of a suggestion from Bartlett Curran, Tom Curran bought 35 acres from Wiswell in January, 1853. This lot was in the vicinity of Field’s Pond in Orrington and not far from the holdings of Bartlett Curran. He married Bridget McDonough (?-1903). Tom Curran died in 1861. He was survived by his children: Nicholas, William (?-1930), Mike [Michael J. Curran or M.J. Curran ?] ( ?-1942 [actually 1941]), Tom Jr. ( ?-1913), and Martin. William left two sons, William and Tom; they lived in Bangor. A daughter married and moved to Portland.
John Curran (?-1885), next to Bartlett and younger by a year or two, probably came to the US about the same time as Tom along with his wife Sara [ or “Sarah” a.k.a “Sally”] Bearwell (?-1872), son Nicholas, and daughters Margaret and Bridget. In 1863 he acquired 30 acres from Bartlett Curran and presumably lived on this farm. His daughter Margaret married Coleman Lee, son of Mike Lee, an early Irish immigrant; they bought 40 acres of lot 25 adjacent to the land of Mike Curran (brother of Bartlett Curran) in 1866. Margaret died in 1925.
Bridget Curran (?-1913)( daughter of John Curran) married John Ford (?-1893), an immigrant from County Galway, one of the three brothers who settled in Holden. Their children were John Ford Jr., Margaret, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Mrs. Arthur Barton of Bangor, and James.
John Curran’s son Nicholas married Mary Mennihan (?-1877), sister of Dennis Mennihan, from the Town of Craughwell, County Galway. The children included John, Dennis, and Mary. Dennis married a Varley, daughter of William Varley, and their children included: Thomas R. Curran, US Marshall for the District of Maine, and proprietor of the Curran Bott Shop [sic Boot]. Dennis Curran, proprietor of the Connors Shoe Company, William Curran, US Internal Revenue agent, and John, Edward, Raymond, and Emmett [see family portrait].
When John Curran died in 1885, his grandson John inherited 10 acres. The remained of his land holdings went to his son Nicholas B. Curran. After the death of his first wife, Nicholas B. Curran married Alice Hamel. With this second marriage came Dan, James, and Alice. Dan lived on Broadway in Bangor and James lived in Dexter.
“The writer [of the original version of this genealogy ] contemplating the aforesaid deviations by one of the descendants of the Curran from the County Galway, feels that this is only one of the many evidences of aportasy [sic] [apostasy] which is occurring around us every day and can be attributed mostly to apathy and environment. In other words second marriages are sometimes fatal to sons of Irishman as far as maintaining their consistency in religion.
Mike Curran ( ?-1894), another brother of Bartlett, declared that he came to the US in 1851. He was a few years younger than John. In 1854, he purchased 30 acres in Holden and Orrington from Andrew Staple. This land was near Field’s Pond and adjacent to the land of John Curran and John Ford. Mike Curran married Margaret Moylan, the daughter of Martin Moylan and Maria Curran, who died in 1904 at the age of 87. In 1868 Mike Curran bought ½ lot 25, known as the Cobb Lot, and thereby increased his holdings in that vicinity.
In 1880 or thereabouts, there was a Nicholas Curran, about 40 years of age living near the Holden and Brewer line. At that time there were two sons, William and John, living with him, but there is no evidence of his wife. She must have died in the 1870s.
Nicholas Curran, son of Tom, is believed to have married Rosanna Dougherty, daughter of John Dougherty and Alice McAvey of Brewer.
Pat Curran, a cousin of the first Curran brothers, and probably a little younger, came later than the others. His mother, Sara McDonough Curran, came from Cluck a Lora, as it reads on her marker in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. This is probably meant to be Cloghmore, and this is the only evidence that we have for asserting that the Currans came from that town. Pat Curran married Barbara Morton, daughter of Mike Norton and Margaret Hannon (?-1897). In 1864 he bought 26 acres on the Wiswell Road in South Brewer from Goodwin. Here he lived with his wife and children: Dan E., Rose W., and Hannah. Eventually he moved to Rumford where he died as we have stated above; he is buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Bangor, ME.
Pat’s mother, Sara Donough Curran, died in 1864., Tom Jr. [ ?-1913], and Martin. William left two sons, William and Tom; they lived in Bangor. A daughter married and moved to Portland.
John Curran (?-1885), next to Bartlett and younger by a year or two, probably came to the US about the same time as Tom along with his wife Sara [ or “Sarah” a.k.a “Sally”] Bearwell (?-1872), son Nicholas, and daughters Margaret and Bridget. In 1863 he acquired 30 acres from Bartlett Curran and presumably lived on this farm. His daughter Margaret married Coleman Lee, son of Mike Lee, an early Irish immigrant; they bought 40 acres of lot 25 adjacent to the land of Mike Curran (brother of Bartlett Curran) in 1866. Margaret died in 1925.
Bridget Curran (?-1913)( daughter of John Curran) married John Ford (?-1893), an immigrant from County Galway, one of the three brothers who settled in Holden. Their children were John Ford Jr., Margaret, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Mrs. Arthur Barton of Bangor, and James.
John Curran’s son Nicholas married Mary Mennihan (?-1877), sister of Dennis Mennihan, from the Town of Craughwell, County Galway. The children included John, Dennis, and Mary. Dennis married a Varley, daughter of William Varley, and their children included: Thomas R. Curran, US Marshall for the District of Maine, and proprietor of the Curran Bott Shop [sic Boot]. Dennis Curran, proprietor of the Connors Shoe Company, William Curran, US Internal Revenue agent, and John, Edward, Raymond, and Emmett [see family portrait].
When John Curran died in 1885, his grandson John inherited 10 acres. The remained of his land holdings went to his son Nicholas B. Curran. After the death of his first wife, Nicholas B. Curran married Alice Hamel. With this second marriage came Dan, James, and Alice. Dan lived on Broadway in Bangor and James lived in Dexter.
“The writer [of the original version of this genealogy ] contemplating the aforesaid deviations by one of the descendants of the Curran from the County Galway, feels that this is only one of the many evidences of aportasy [sic] [apostasy] which is occurring around us every day and can be attributed mostly to apathy and environment. In other words second marriages are sometimes fatal to sons of Irishman as far as maintaining their consistency in religion.
Mike Curran ( ?-1894), another brother of Bartlett, declared that he came to the US in 1851. He was a few years younger than John. In 1854, he purchased 30 acres in Holden and Orrington from Andrew Staple. This land was near Field’s Pond and adjacent to the land of John Curran and John Ford. Mike Curran married Margaret Moylan, the daughter of Martin Moylan and Maria Curran, who died in 1904 at the age of 87. In 1868 Mike Curran bought ½ lot 25, known as the Cobb Lot, and thereby increased his holdings in that vicinity.
In 1880 or thereabouts, there was a Nicholas Curran, about 40 years of age living near the Holden and Brewer line. At that time there were two sons, William and John, living with him, but there is no evidence of his wife. She must have died in the 1870s.
Nicholas Curran, son of Tom, is believed to have married Rosanna Dougherty, daughter of John Dougherty and Alice McAvey of Brewer.
Pat Curran, a cousin of the first Curran brothers, and probably a little younger, came later than the others. His mother, Sara McDonough Curran, came from Cluck a Lora, as it reads on her marker in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. This is probably meant to be Cloghmore, and this is the only evidence that we have for asserting that the Currans came from that town. Pat Curran married Barbara Morton, daughter of Mike Norton and Margaret Hannon (?-1897). In 1864 he bought 26 acres on the Wiswell Road in South Brewer from Goodwin. Here he lived with his wife and children: Dan E., Rose W., and Hannah. Eventually he moved to Rumford where he died as we have stated above; he is buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Bangor, ME.
Pat’s mother, Sara Donough Curran, died in 1864.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Author Wilbur Wolf Will Share His Memoir of a Farm Boy at The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum on Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 6:30 PM
As the first in a series of public oral histories at The Curran Homestead, author Wilbur Wolf, of Orlond, ME, will be offering signed copies of his Memoir of a Farm Boy as well as sharing some of its details in this talk and slide presentation at The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum, Fields Pond Rd., Orrington on May 28 at 6:30 PM. Wolf’s book, which was originally conceived as a memoir for his children, documents his family farm experiences in the 1930s and 1940s. Beginning with the almost two hundred year history of his parents’ upstate New York dairy, he offers details of early mechanization, animal husbandry, small town life, and poignant human relations in a rural community of the past.
According to Dr. Robert Schmick, Volunteer Director of Education at The Curran Homestead, “Wolf’s experiences are becoming more unique with each passing day in America as small family farms are consumed by corporate owned agro-businesses and many more are simply re-purposed for residential subdivisions and strip malls. It is not that the times that Wolf writes of were simpler; it is that there was a close knit community on hand to comfort people during good and bad times, people discovered their own entertainments, and there was both a necessity and personal pride in earning a living from the land and ones own industry that is no longer commonplace. There were a greater number of farms per capita in Maine and the rest of the US, and people not only had the ability to grow more of their own food but supply their local community with lower cost staples not tethered to world petroleum prices.”
Schmick added that “it is our mission at The Curran Homestead to preserve the traditions of the family farm, self-reliance, and ingenuity which were part of Wolf’s experiences, and through continued public talks like this we hope to both preserve a bit of this past so that it may continue to mold future generations. Come pick up a copy of Memoir of a Farm Boy, have it signed, and chat with its author Wilbur Wolf. Mr. Wolf may even play a tune or two on one of our early pipe organs after the talk. Coffee and homemade cooked rhubarb on shortbread will be served. Admission is free, but we are an all-volunteer non-profit organization and would appreciate your donations.
According to Dr. Robert Schmick, Volunteer Director of Education at The Curran Homestead, “Wolf’s experiences are becoming more unique with each passing day in America as small family farms are consumed by corporate owned agro-businesses and many more are simply re-purposed for residential subdivisions and strip malls. It is not that the times that Wolf writes of were simpler; it is that there was a close knit community on hand to comfort people during good and bad times, people discovered their own entertainments, and there was both a necessity and personal pride in earning a living from the land and ones own industry that is no longer commonplace. There were a greater number of farms per capita in Maine and the rest of the US, and people not only had the ability to grow more of their own food but supply their local community with lower cost staples not tethered to world petroleum prices.”
Schmick added that “it is our mission at The Curran Homestead to preserve the traditions of the family farm, self-reliance, and ingenuity which were part of Wolf’s experiences, and through continued public talks like this we hope to both preserve a bit of this past so that it may continue to mold future generations. Come pick up a copy of Memoir of a Farm Boy, have it signed, and chat with its author Wilbur Wolf. Mr. Wolf may even play a tune or two on one of our early pipe organs after the talk. Coffee and homemade cooked rhubarb on shortbread will be served. Admission is free, but we are an all-volunteer non-profit organization and would appreciate your donations.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
How to Do and Doing as Was Done; Maple Sugaring in Eddington
On a little less than an acre on Jarvis Gore Drive in Eddington, ME these past few weeks my four and a half year old son Gabriel and I rolled up our sleeves and literally took a stab at 6 or 7 maple trees of varying size (but not less than 12 inches in diameter) tapping them for their sap. The practice of tapping trees originated with Native Americans, and once sap was collected in quantity it was boiled to a sweet syrup. Many believe that Native Americans used the syrup to flavor meat and other things, whereas later Euro-Americans came up with the use of indulgent amounts of syrup for their flapjacks, waffles, and everything else that tastes good with it. I have been told that local Maine tribes tapped other trees like Beech in addition to maples of all varieties and box elders too. For the purposes of my own recent maple sugaring venture I didn't stick to sugar maples, which are often chosen for their high sugar content over other varieties of maples. I tapped all the large maples on my property, and these included a number of different types in addition to one or two sugar maples.
Because my son and I have seen trees tapped and sap boiled in recent years as I have made an attempt to have Gabe experience some of the things I experienced growing up in a small town and on the family dairy farm in Upstate New York, we weren't complete novices. My hometown itself is filled with low mountains, hardwood forests, and largely fallow fields from a one time thriving dairy industry that is, except for a few, now largely gone. Many of the trees and woods are still there, although much has been bulldozed and built upon in recent decades. The Town of Warwick is only 49 miles from Manhattan as the crow flies lying near the western part of the New Jersey Highlands, a stop on the Applachian Trail, which we know ends or starts close to here at Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park. As a Boy Scout I experienced Warwick's portion of the Applachian Trail first hand on a 50 mile hike in pouring rain to the well known stop, the Delaware Water Gap. There were many shorter trips on the Trail too by Troop 45 that had so much to do with my lifelong appreciation of the woods.
I can't say that my family ever tried to make their own maple syrup on the dairy farm I spent much of my early life on but as a 5 year old I experienced maple sugaring for the first time in Mrs. Bell's kindergarten class at Hamilton Avenue Elementary School in Warwick, NY in 1968. The school itself has been re-purposed as a community center ( my own Eagle Scout project involved repairing and painting two classrooms on the second floor for that purpose way back when), but many of the ancient maples on the property tapped during the spring of 1968 still stand.
Sometime during those important six weeks of sap harvesting Mrs. Bell's class filed out with the other kindergarten classes to an area on the hill above the school where an earlier version of the school had once stood before it was destroyed by fire in the 1920s; its brick footprint is still visible in the grass. Here were two rows of hardwoods that had once marked the entrance to the largely forgotten school. We stood giddily watching as one of the custodians drilled out a hole with a brace and tapped a metal spout in for the benefit of my class. The drips of the seemingly clear liquid were almost immediate as I recall. I only observed recently that sap has a faint amber hue to it when it comes from the tree.
Fortunately, for our own health, we didn't have to wait in the chilly morning air for the metal can that was attached to a hook under the spout to fill to a desirable level. Many of the nearby maples had already been tapped days before, their metal pails filled, and a large quantity of sap brought to the cafeteria kitchen to begin the process of boiling it into syrup long before we paraded out to witness the demonstrational tapping that morning. After we experienced the resounding tap, tap, tap of the sap from the maple, we filed back into school to the cafeteria to witness steam billowing out of the enormous stainless steel pots in the kitchen, and this fact makes me realize now how long ago that really was because they carried out that whole process on gas fueled stoves that taxpayers were undoubtedly footing the bill for.
The expense of gas heat might have been an issue to a few then but today it would simply be cost prohibitive. Accessibility to a wood burning stove makes the process affordable and possible for me today. It's no wonder syrup has practically doubled in cost this year because most commercial makers use more expensive fuels than wood to make their syrup. After my kindergarten class gave their requisite number of oohs and ahs we had a pancake breakfast with homemade, or rather school-made syrup. It was delicious.
It's funny how experiences like that stick with you. Many of our memories today are so often the result of a remembrance of a photograph or something that we experienced second-hand via television, so it is the recorded image or even the experience of someone else shared with us that becomes a large part of our memories rather than the pure and first-hand types of experiences like witnessing a tree tapping and eventually tasting the syrup that originated from it, or lacing on a pair of skates and spending several afternoons falling and getting back up to learn to skate rather than spending that same time watching Olympic hopefuls go through their practiced infinitum skate routines. That maple sugaring experience at Hamilton Avenue is one of my earliest and purest recollections because no one to my knowledge ever snapped a photo that day or has ever mentioned it to me in the four plus decades since. I have thought about it treasuring it for its affirmation of my somewhat romanticized notion of growing up in a small town named Warwick.
My stab at making syrup here in Eddington, ME has much to do with my recent work with the Curran Homestead Living history Farm and Museum in Orrington, ME. Since taking on a volunteer directorship in September, 2008, I have spent much time learning how to do and doing as was done. Most recently, I harvested block ice out on the 200 acre large Fields Pond, which lay directly across from the main house and barns, using hand tools as well as contributing to our recent annual Maple Syrup and Irish celebration where we cooked sap on a well-used Wood & Bishop stove in our formally designated "Sugar Shack" using a stainless steel evaporator.
Bob Croce, a board member of the farm and museum, handled the maple syrup demonstration, as he has done now for eighteen years. He taps trees on his own property near Dedham and cooks up some samples of varying amber color to have on hand for visitors to the annual celebration. He cooks up 10 gallons of the sap during the day of the event; consequently, he has been one of my main sources of information for going ahead and doing the process on my own.
Gabe and I tapped a number of trees that by the last week of March were already past their prime as far as sap getting goes; the holes I drilled for those were bone dry when I pulled out the brace bit. We found 3 or 4 trees that produced the majority of sap we collected, and these trees included one ancient maple that is close to the edge of Jarvis Gore Drive. It, I suspect, is one of the trees that had survived from those trees that long ago lined the entirety of the road from the Old Eddington Road (Rt.9) intersection along Jarvis Gore in old photographs from the late nineteenth century. New Englanders often planted a pair of sugar maples in the front of their houses in the old days, and the two identical in size maples near my own house may be from the Unitarian Universalist parsonage that was originally on the site of my house (1879) in the 1850s and before.
We collected roughly 9-10 gallons of sap using old galvanized tin pails and fitted lids borrowed from The Curran Homestead. I filtered the sap thoughly through four coffee filters set inside of a metal collander. There were moths, bits of bark, and dry spagnum in the sap water before filtering it. We boiled the sap down in some of my late grandmother's Presto Pressure cookers (circa 1950s) on top of our wood stove in the living room. It was a fairly simple process that required a little vigiliance to avoid burning the sap down to nothing and scalding the pot. For the most part, I just set the sap on the stove and checked it when I stoked the fire. I got about 10-11 ounces of dark amber syrup for my efforts that tastes just like the good stuff. I plan on keeping the syrup under lock and key until I can make a pancake and waffle breakfast with it this summer when some of my family comes up to Maine to visit. It will be an exercise in restraint to save the syrup that long; we love pancakes and waffles at our house.
Because my son and I have seen trees tapped and sap boiled in recent years as I have made an attempt to have Gabe experience some of the things I experienced growing up in a small town and on the family dairy farm in Upstate New York, we weren't complete novices. My hometown itself is filled with low mountains, hardwood forests, and largely fallow fields from a one time thriving dairy industry that is, except for a few, now largely gone. Many of the trees and woods are still there, although much has been bulldozed and built upon in recent decades. The Town of Warwick is only 49 miles from Manhattan as the crow flies lying near the western part of the New Jersey Highlands, a stop on the Applachian Trail, which we know ends or starts close to here at Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park. As a Boy Scout I experienced Warwick's portion of the Applachian Trail first hand on a 50 mile hike in pouring rain to the well known stop, the Delaware Water Gap. There were many shorter trips on the Trail too by Troop 45 that had so much to do with my lifelong appreciation of the woods.
I can't say that my family ever tried to make their own maple syrup on the dairy farm I spent much of my early life on but as a 5 year old I experienced maple sugaring for the first time in Mrs. Bell's kindergarten class at Hamilton Avenue Elementary School in Warwick, NY in 1968. The school itself has been re-purposed as a community center ( my own Eagle Scout project involved repairing and painting two classrooms on the second floor for that purpose way back when), but many of the ancient maples on the property tapped during the spring of 1968 still stand.
Sometime during those important six weeks of sap harvesting Mrs. Bell's class filed out with the other kindergarten classes to an area on the hill above the school where an earlier version of the school had once stood before it was destroyed by fire in the 1920s; its brick footprint is still visible in the grass. Here were two rows of hardwoods that had once marked the entrance to the largely forgotten school. We stood giddily watching as one of the custodians drilled out a hole with a brace and tapped a metal spout in for the benefit of my class. The drips of the seemingly clear liquid were almost immediate as I recall. I only observed recently that sap has a faint amber hue to it when it comes from the tree.
Fortunately, for our own health, we didn't have to wait in the chilly morning air for the metal can that was attached to a hook under the spout to fill to a desirable level. Many of the nearby maples had already been tapped days before, their metal pails filled, and a large quantity of sap brought to the cafeteria kitchen to begin the process of boiling it into syrup long before we paraded out to witness the demonstrational tapping that morning. After we experienced the resounding tap, tap, tap of the sap from the maple, we filed back into school to the cafeteria to witness steam billowing out of the enormous stainless steel pots in the kitchen, and this fact makes me realize now how long ago that really was because they carried out that whole process on gas fueled stoves that taxpayers were undoubtedly footing the bill for.
The expense of gas heat might have been an issue to a few then but today it would simply be cost prohibitive. Accessibility to a wood burning stove makes the process affordable and possible for me today. It's no wonder syrup has practically doubled in cost this year because most commercial makers use more expensive fuels than wood to make their syrup. After my kindergarten class gave their requisite number of oohs and ahs we had a pancake breakfast with homemade, or rather school-made syrup. It was delicious.
It's funny how experiences like that stick with you. Many of our memories today are so often the result of a remembrance of a photograph or something that we experienced second-hand via television, so it is the recorded image or even the experience of someone else shared with us that becomes a large part of our memories rather than the pure and first-hand types of experiences like witnessing a tree tapping and eventually tasting the syrup that originated from it, or lacing on a pair of skates and spending several afternoons falling and getting back up to learn to skate rather than spending that same time watching Olympic hopefuls go through their practiced infinitum skate routines. That maple sugaring experience at Hamilton Avenue is one of my earliest and purest recollections because no one to my knowledge ever snapped a photo that day or has ever mentioned it to me in the four plus decades since. I have thought about it treasuring it for its affirmation of my somewhat romanticized notion of growing up in a small town named Warwick.
My stab at making syrup here in Eddington, ME has much to do with my recent work with the Curran Homestead Living history Farm and Museum in Orrington, ME. Since taking on a volunteer directorship in September, 2008, I have spent much time learning how to do and doing as was done. Most recently, I harvested block ice out on the 200 acre large Fields Pond, which lay directly across from the main house and barns, using hand tools as well as contributing to our recent annual Maple Syrup and Irish celebration where we cooked sap on a well-used Wood & Bishop stove in our formally designated "Sugar Shack" using a stainless steel evaporator.
Bob Croce, a board member of the farm and museum, handled the maple syrup demonstration, as he has done now for eighteen years. He taps trees on his own property near Dedham and cooks up some samples of varying amber color to have on hand for visitors to the annual celebration. He cooks up 10 gallons of the sap during the day of the event; consequently, he has been one of my main sources of information for going ahead and doing the process on my own.
Gabe and I tapped a number of trees that by the last week of March were already past their prime as far as sap getting goes; the holes I drilled for those were bone dry when I pulled out the brace bit. We found 3 or 4 trees that produced the majority of sap we collected, and these trees included one ancient maple that is close to the edge of Jarvis Gore Drive. It, I suspect, is one of the trees that had survived from those trees that long ago lined the entirety of the road from the Old Eddington Road (Rt.9) intersection along Jarvis Gore in old photographs from the late nineteenth century. New Englanders often planted a pair of sugar maples in the front of their houses in the old days, and the two identical in size maples near my own house may be from the Unitarian Universalist parsonage that was originally on the site of my house (1879) in the 1850s and before.
We collected roughly 9-10 gallons of sap using old galvanized tin pails and fitted lids borrowed from The Curran Homestead. I filtered the sap thoughly through four coffee filters set inside of a metal collander. There were moths, bits of bark, and dry spagnum in the sap water before filtering it. We boiled the sap down in some of my late grandmother's Presto Pressure cookers (circa 1950s) on top of our wood stove in the living room. It was a fairly simple process that required a little vigiliance to avoid burning the sap down to nothing and scalding the pot. For the most part, I just set the sap on the stove and checked it when I stoked the fire. I got about 10-11 ounces of dark amber syrup for my efforts that tastes just like the good stuff. I plan on keeping the syrup under lock and key until I can make a pancake and waffle breakfast with it this summer when some of my family comes up to Maine to visit. It will be an exercise in restraint to save the syrup that long; we love pancakes and waffles at our house.
Maple Sap Flows at The Eddington School
Mrs. Diana Higgins' class at te Eddington Pre-School got a taste of maple sugaring this past monday, April 13, 2009 when Volunteer Director of education Robert Schmick of The curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum in Orrington was on hand to share the details of the sap to syrup process. A Native American legend that identifies the possible origin of maple syrup in America was shared with Mrs. Higgins' class along with the process and tools required for harvesting the sugar rich sap from maple trees. The group filed out in a single line to a nearby maple and witnessed the tapping of a tree with a hand brace. A bucket with lid was fixed to a spout for students to check daily on the process of sap flow, which has been considerable even though sap gathering has largely ended in the area. Mrs. Higgins, Teacher Assistant Marie Sekera, and students were given a taste of newly made Eddington maple syrup drizzled over homemade ginger ice cream from Frank's Bake Shop on State Street in Bangor, which pre-schooler Brian Bates of Eddington commented was "a very good idea."
The Curran Homestead hopes to tap more trees at the school next year, make syrup out at the farm in Orrington, and provide it for a pancake breakfast for the Eddington pre-school and kindergarten." This is the first of our developing outreach to area schools," said Schmick, "and we hope to bring more rural experiences, like maple sugaring, that are among the traditions of our regional identity, to both young and old in our community." For information about this or any of a number of programs The Curran Homestead can offer to your school or organization in the future, please contact Dr. Robert Schmick at rpschmick1@aol.com , or 207-843-5550.
The Curran Homestead hopes to tap more trees at the school next year, make syrup out at the farm in Orrington, and provide it for a pancake breakfast for the Eddington pre-school and kindergarten." This is the first of our developing outreach to area schools," said Schmick, "and we hope to bring more rural experiences, like maple sugaring, that are among the traditions of our regional identity, to both young and old in our community." For information about this or any of a number of programs The Curran Homestead can offer to your school or organization in the future, please contact Dr. Robert Schmick at rpschmick1@aol.com , or 207-843-5550.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
13th Annual Maple Syrup and Irish Celebration
Saturday, April 4, from 10AM-2PM, has been declared the date of the 13th Annual Curran Homestead Maple Festival & Irish Celebration Day by John Mugnai, President of the Living History Farm and Museum Board of Directors. The Curran Living History Farm and Museum on Fields Pond Road in Orrington will come to life with shared yarns spun about the good ole days around the wood burning stove. Meet Bodica and Mulls, the shaggy-haired Scottish Highland cows. Experience an ongoing demonstration of how to make maple syrup. Taste maple syrup and maple sugar sweets. Savor Cathy Martinage’s Irish stew (its main ingredient courtesy of Dan Hughes’ A Wee Bit Farm), and her Irish soda bread too. Sing along with the Irish folk music of Jerry Hughes and band, and hunt for Easter eggs with the kids. Also meet Hugh Curran, an expert of Celtic culture, mythology, and spirituality. It will be a step back in history to a simpler time of fun on the family farm. Admission for members and donors is $5 per adult and $3 per child (under 12). For non-members, admission is $7 per adult and $5 per child (under 12), and this includes refreshments and participation in all events.
Our featured farm animals include two rarely seen Scottish Highland cows sporting their long shaggy hair and horns. There will be someone to share the heritage of these Scottish Highland beef cattle that are known for their low fat, low cholesterol meat. Taste a sample of hormone and antibiotic free Highland beef courtesy of A Wee Bit Farm. It ranks among the best beef in terms of flavor. Board member Bob Croce and Jill Martel will make maple syrup and maple syrup beans for visitors in our onsite sugar shack. Other food offered will include a beef stew with biscuits, Irish soda bread, hot chocolate, and coffee. Ginger ice cream will be also served with a drizzle of maple syrup on top.
Hugh Curran will on hand at the Farm; he is an instructor of Ecology and Early Celtic Spirituality as well as courses for the Peace & Reconciliation Studies Program at UMO. A distant Irish relative of the Farm and Museum’s benefactor, the late Catherine Curran, and her brother Alfred, he spent much time at the farm sitting beside the wood-burning kitchen stove conversing with the late Currans. Curran’s experience includes five years as a Zen Monastic which convinced him of the many connections between the ideals of Zen and Celtic spiritual traditions. His experience also includes the directorship of an area homeless shelter. Curran’s many interests have led to his documentation of oral histories focusing on traditional Celtic story and myth. He is a published poet and has contributed articles to various journals. A DVD of one of his conversations with the late Currans will be shown at 1:30 at the Farm for those interested.
John Mugnai predicts that this 13th Annual Spring Event will be the best to date! Why a maple festival? It’s the late winter season when it’s time to harvest what may be the State’s oldest crop: maple sap. More importantly, Mainers simply need a party at the end of this long and especially snowy winter. For as long as anyone can remember, Mainers have been tapping trees, boiling sap, and sweetening their pancakes, biscuits, doughnuts, baked ham and baked beans with maple syrup; we help to preserve that tradition with this all volunteer staffed event . We are a non-profit educational center that preserves and shares the culture, values, and lifestyle of the family farm in rural eastern Maine from 1875-1950. We rely upon membership, donations, and the community for support.
Our featured farm animals include two rarely seen Scottish Highland cows sporting their long shaggy hair and horns. There will be someone to share the heritage of these Scottish Highland beef cattle that are known for their low fat, low cholesterol meat. Taste a sample of hormone and antibiotic free Highland beef courtesy of A Wee Bit Farm. It ranks among the best beef in terms of flavor. Board member Bob Croce and Jill Martel will make maple syrup and maple syrup beans for visitors in our onsite sugar shack. Other food offered will include a beef stew with biscuits, Irish soda bread, hot chocolate, and coffee. Ginger ice cream will be also served with a drizzle of maple syrup on top.
Hugh Curran will on hand at the Farm; he is an instructor of Ecology and Early Celtic Spirituality as well as courses for the Peace & Reconciliation Studies Program at UMO. A distant Irish relative of the Farm and Museum’s benefactor, the late Catherine Curran, and her brother Alfred, he spent much time at the farm sitting beside the wood-burning kitchen stove conversing with the late Currans. Curran’s experience includes five years as a Zen Monastic which convinced him of the many connections between the ideals of Zen and Celtic spiritual traditions. His experience also includes the directorship of an area homeless shelter. Curran’s many interests have led to his documentation of oral histories focusing on traditional Celtic story and myth. He is a published poet and has contributed articles to various journals. A DVD of one of his conversations with the late Currans will be shown at 1:30 at the Farm for those interested.
John Mugnai predicts that this 13th Annual Spring Event will be the best to date! Why a maple festival? It’s the late winter season when it’s time to harvest what may be the State’s oldest crop: maple sap. More importantly, Mainers simply need a party at the end of this long and especially snowy winter. For as long as anyone can remember, Mainers have been tapping trees, boiling sap, and sweetening their pancakes, biscuits, doughnuts, baked ham and baked beans with maple syrup; we help to preserve that tradition with this all volunteer staffed event . We are a non-profit educational center that preserves and shares the culture, values, and lifestyle of the family farm in rural eastern Maine from 1875-1950. We rely upon membership, donations, and the community for support.
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