A Tale of Two Brothers

Merrill Temple was my Grandmother Basford's Great Great Grandfather, he is circled in red in the image above. There are several things that make his story interesting and warrant a post. He was born in 1827 in Montville, Maine the third or fourth child of 14 children. The uncertainty of his birth order is that he may have been a twin. His sister, Clarissa, appears to have been born in the same year. I haven't been able to determine their exact birth dates so it's possible that one was born in late 1826 and the other in late 1827.

By 1850 he had moved to Troy and married Diana Bickmore, where he begain working as a farmer. When the census taker came to Troy on 13 June 1860 he and Diana had four children and were living next door to his brother in-law. He had no personal wealth, nor owned any property that had value, and the column entitled "Whether deafened, dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict" has "pauper" entered. Even though his occupation was listed as farmer. From the research I've done, "pauper" indicates that he was working but needed aid from the local parish. This by it's self isn't all that interesting, but then when the census taker came to Detroit, Maine on 18 July 1860 he and Diana are listed again. This time his personal worth is listed as $50 and his occupation is "Lumberman" and they are living next door to a different brother in-law. He still owns no property, but it's clear he got a break from some one. The brother in-law, Riley, has an occupation of "Day Laborer" so he's not working with him. But it does go to show the difference a month can make.

About 18 months later Merrill enlisted in the Army to go fight in the Civil War, 13 Jan 1862. He enlisted as a Private in Company G of the 14th Infantry Regiment. The first real action his unit saw as at the Battle of Baton Rouge on 5 Aug 1862, a Union victory. The regiment was fighting against battle hardened Confederate troops and got pushed back. The battle was a street to street battle with the Union forces in a controlled retreat. But the Union Navy was able lay on cannon fire and break the Confederate advance and force them to retreat, leaving the city under Union control. Merrill's G Company was involved in the fighting, though to what extent is unclear. He lived through the battle, only to die of disease at Camp Carrolton Louisiana on 12 Oct 1862. For details about the Battle of Baton Rouge visit: The Battle of Baton Rouge

Merrill wasn't the only "Detroit Temple" to serve in the Civil War, his older brother Levi also served. Levi's military carreer is much more complicated than Merrill's. He originally enlisted on 15 June 1861 as a Corporal in I Company of the 4th Maine Infantry Regiment. He is then granted a pension of $6 a year on 26 Sep 1861 and musters out of the Army the next day. He got one pension payment in September of 1861, then re-enlisted for three years on 25 Aug 1862. The interesting thing here is that a Levi Temple from Detroit also enlisted in M Company of the 1st Maine Cavalry on 9 Feb 1862. On 2 Sep 1862 the Adjudent General's report for the Cavalry Regiment records that Levi was "Detached with invalid corps". The most recent military record indicates that Levi mustered out of the Cavalry on 15 June 1864. I can't find any record of there being two Levi Temples living in Detroit in 1860. This leads me to believe the Levi who joined the Infantry is the same one that joined the Cavalry. I think it's possible the "re-enlistment" record is actually referring to a transfer from the Infantry to the Cavalry. Especially when in 1850 Levi's occupation was listed as "Blacksmith".

The other interesting fact about Levi, is that he legally divorced his first wife in April 1859. I don't have any
information as to the circumstances of the divorce, only that it happened. This was a fairly rare event in rural communities in the 1850's. It appears that he got married in Brooks, which is in Waldo county, in 1848 but the divorce was granted in Penobscot county. In 1860 the Census lists a different wife, and he was living in Troy, again in Waldo County.

I do find a Levi Temple living in Knox, Maine but he was born in 1821 and appears to have lived past 1880. The Levi who is Merrill's brother died in 1867. The only other Levi that is a direct relative to Merrill and his brother is their grandfather who died in 1821.

The stories of the Levi and Merrill give us a glimpse into the struggles and challenges that average people over came while living in central Maine before and during the Civil War, while adding to our family's history of military service. It also brings up questions we may never answer. Like how and when did Levi hear of his brother's death? Levi's unit was on the East Coast for all of the war and he didn't return home until 1864. Where was Merrill buried? I can't find him listed in any military cemeteries, nor is he listed as being in the Detroit Village Cemetery where his siblings are buried.

Basfords: Colonial Warriors

For Memorial Day Zeb and I put together some information about our recent relatives that we knew had served in the military. I've recently started filling in some details about our direct ancestors beyond Nathaniel and Keziah. It turns out that the further back I went the more interesting it got. There are several more veterans to add to the Basford Rolls. As before you can use the tree above to see the connections.

I'll start with Jacob Basford (1655-1735). He was the first of our ancestors to be born on this continent. The first, well unsurprisingly surprising, fact was that he was involved in an anti-government protest in 1684. It seems that the Governor had appointed a sheriff that the local citizens thught wasn't acting professional enough. Seems he was over enjoying his authority. So when the sheriff arrived in Hampton, New Hampshire to collect a fine from one of the townsmen, they ran him out of town. Jacob was one of the men that tied him to a horse and lead him out of town. His first military service was during The Second French and Indian War, or King William's War. It's not clear exactly which years he served but the war began about 1689 and lasted until about 1698. He then served in The Third French and Indian War also known as Queen Ann's War. We know that he served under Capt. Samuel Chesley, but not which years. There maybe more details if I looked for him, but I haven't done that yet. He then served on an expedition to Canada under Capt. Mathew Austin from 21 July 1710 to 14 Nov 1710; and then again in 1712, only this time under Capt. Phips. The unit rolls show he served 15 weeks and was paid 4 Pounds 10 Shillings.

Jacob's son James (1686-~1756) also served during The Third French and Indian War. His service was in Capt. Shadrack Walton's Company from  15 Dec 1710 to 9 April 1711. He was paid 4 Pounds, 17 Shillings and 8 Pence. It appears his enlistment was done in what is today Kittery Maine, as he entered into a one year "apprenticeship" there on 30 Oct 1710 to repay a debt of 50 Pounds. The unsurprisingly surprising fact about James? He owned and operated a sawmill in Chester New Hampshire in the 1730's.

James's son was named after his Grandfather, Jacob (1715 – 1760). His unsurprisingly surprising fact is that he was a Selectman for Chester, New Hampshire in 1758. His military service came in 1760 when he served in Capt. Hazzen's Company from 12 Mar 1760 until he died of wounds sustained in battle on 17 Nov 1760. His service was during an invasion of Canada that apparently took him through Albany, New York as a report filed by the Adjutant General places him there on 23 Oct 1760.

Which brings us to Ebenezer (1742 – 1816), Jacob's son. His military career started early, at only 18 or so. He joined his father in Capt Hazzan's Company for the expedition into Canada in 1760. Since both of their service time ended on 17 Nov 1760, Jacob's date of death, it's safe to assume he brought his father's body back to Chester, New Hampshire. Ebenezer was one of the men who signed Chester's "Association Test" on 14 Mar 1776. This document read:

"We, the subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage and promise, that we will, to the utmost in our Power, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, with ARMS, oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United American Colonies"

It seems that this document was signed in many towns in the Colonies as a way to ascertain who was loyal to the cause of the revolution. On 14 May 1777 Col. John Webster by order of Brig. Gen. Folsom was to recruit men to join the New Hampshire Regiments of the Continental Army. Ebenezer was one of the 14 that Col. Webster recruited. Col. Webster assigned Lt. John Lane to be the Ensign for the new recruits. Lt Lane was to lead the recruits to Portsmouth NH where they were to "guard the seacoast" for one month and then "Receve Such Further orders which May be give him from such as have a Rite to give them:...". I can find no further mention of Ebenezer in any of the New Hampshire Regimental Rolls. The next record I have of him is in 1780 when he marries Mehitable Young in Chester NH.

One outside possibility is that he served on the USS Ranger out of Portsmouth. The USS Ranger was built in Kittery, Maine and set sail from there on 10 May 1777. That would have put the ship in Portsmouth during Ebenezer's time there as it sailed for France in November of 1777.The original rolls for the ship have been lost, though there have been some attempts to reconstruct it from the ships logs and various petitions that were signed by the crew. Ebenezer doesn't show up on any of those documents, but these reconstructed rolls only hold about 100 of the 140 men that served on its' decks. The USS Ranger arrived back in Portsmouth from France in Oct of 1778. In plenty of time for Ebenezer to get married. What makes it doubtful that he was on the ship is that the USS Ranger appears to have had only one crew, and it left Portsmouth again in Feb of 1779 to patrol the Atlantic. It was captured in May 1780 by the British. It's possible that he was released from service in Portsmouth, but there are no records that confirm that. We may never know Ebenezer's exact role in the Revolution, but we do know that he went to fight and being an experience soldier it's unlikely he deserted.

So as it turns out the Basfords have a long history of military service that dates back to at least the early Colonial period. We can also see some common "Basford traits" in what I've dubbed unsurprisingly surprising facts. We have a long history in the woods business from Jacob owning a saw mill, to Stanley Sr. planting the apple trees to the last three generations having independent lumbermen in them. With Dad and Joan's activity in local politics it's neat to see that James was a town Selectman. Along that same vein, but less official, Jacob's involvement in the demonstration in Hampton and his Grandson signing the "Association Test" ties in nicely with our more recent generations being so opinionated.

So when we say it's in our genes, we mean it...

Sergeant Stanley Basford of the Quartermaster Corps

Thanks for "finding" this, Kim, a great document in our family's history.   She found this in a box full of photos, newspaper clippings, etc, that was up at the farm a few weeks ago.  Since she's been doing some research and looking at a lot of pictures and articles, maybe we can get her to share something with us.

Sorry about the fact that it's cut off on the edges; it's an inch or so too wide for my scanner...darn military documents!

Basford Veterans

On this Memorial Day of 2012 I'm finally getting around to doing a little post regarding the armed forces veterans of my direct line of the Basford family, with the assistance of Aaron who has done so much work on the geneology side of things.  (By the way, you should post a little piece regarding Margaret Scott)
My intention with this is to post a picture in uniform, outline their service in a short form and then invite folks to add a related anecdote in the comments if this sparks a particular memory.

Stanley Basford Sr, U.S. Army
Enlisted on 23 May 1917
Discharged on 20 May 1919

Served in Northern Germany as a baker.

Hershel Basford, U.S. Navy
Enlisted on Oct 1942
Seems that I remember he retired, but I can't find a record for his discharge or retirement. Maybe your mother can confirm that fact. What information I have is from a newspaper article from 1 Dec 1942.
Served as an Aviation Mechanic
Basic Training in Newport R.I.
Aviation mechanic training in Jacksonville Fla.
(It is my understanding he retired after 30 years, stationed on several occasions in San Diego.  Zeb)

Claire Gerry, U.S. Army
Enlisted on 21 Nov 1945
Discharged on 5 Dec 1946
Enlisted at rank of Private First Class (PFC)
Served in the Infantry.
Assigned to Camp Swift Bastrop, Texas for training.
Enlistment record shows occupation as "Skilled occupations in manufacture of electrical machinery and accessories, n.e.c."

Lemont "Bud" Gerry, U.S. Army
15 December 1954 to 24 August 1959.

Everett Pike, Jr, U.S. Marine Corps, Oct 1980 to Nov 1988,
attained the rank of Sergeant and served as a court-martial stenographer.
Stationed at Parris Island, SC; Camp Lejeune, NC; Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington, DC, and Camp Pendleton, CA (twice); awarded the Navy Achievement Medal, the highest peacetime award in the Marine Corps.

Aaron Basford, U.S. Army, Sep 1988 to Aug 1991
Attained rank of Specialist, served as a combat communications specialists (wireman, radio systems repairman)
Stationed at Fort Jackson, SC; Fort Gordon, Ga; Kelly Barracks, Darmstadt, Germany, HHC 547th Combat Engineer Battalion
Maine National Guard Sept 1991 to Feb 1996
Stationed at the Stevens Ave Armory, Portland Me; Western Ave Armory, Augusta, Me


I don't have a picture of Uncle Bill in uniform, but here is the information. He isn't a blood relative, but not sure where the line is for this. Just including the info in case you wanted it.
William Chambers, U.S. Navy
Enlisted on 6 Dec 1960
Discharged on 26 Feb 1962

If I were to look, I might be able to find one of my father, Everett Sr, who served in the Army from roughly 1958-1960 and he was stationed at Fort Dix, NJ; but again, as Aaron said above, not a Basford -- mostly certainly not LOL.

This piece was put together by myself and Aaron.  I hope this was informative and entertaining, showing some of our loved ones in a very different light.  If there is anything you'd like to add to this, or anyone, please feel free to do so in a comment.  I'll encourage my mother to put in what she knows of Dick's service.