Maine Biographies

Description

These two volumes of biographical essays appeared originally as Volumes 3 and 4 of Harrie B. Coe’s “Maine Resources, Attractions, and Its People,” published in 1928. While the first two volumes of the Coe opus ably reconstruct the political, social, and economic history of Maine’s people and her institutions, we have chosen to omit them here so that researchers may conserve their funds for the roughly 1,400 biographies found in the final two volumes. The subjects of the biographies, most of whom were born during the third quarter of the 19th century, are men who were either natives of Maine or who spent the formative parts of their lives there. On the whole, their ranks are dominated by farmers, businessmen, and professionals. As is characteristic of mugbooks of this era, most of the sketches in “Maine Biographies” give the subject’s place and date of birth, his educational background and military service, and then his career, civic interests, church affiliation, hobbies, and so on. In almost every case, the author furnishes the names of the subject’s parents, spouse, children, and spouse’s parents, usually citing the subject’s date of marriage and the dates or places of birth and death of at least these three generations of family members. In most instances, the subject’s lineage can be traced back to the first half of the 19th century.