Maine Memory Network

These deeply personal pieces were made for the family with the intimate care and intent reserved for a friend, teacher or loved one.

They were displayed in the home and became part of the family record.

Samuel and Lydia Libby raised their five children on the family homestead in Scarborough, which was built by his great-grandfather, John Jones, sometime in the 1600s.

Samuel was a skilled farmer and active in town affairs.

This register shows the family together – mother, father and five children. In the background is a memorial to an unnamed son who died at birth.

Some of these items were made as school assignments – children made them to learn stitching, drawing, or painting.

Others were made as wedding gifts, to mark particular anniversaries, or as a gift to a friend.

Some are memorials to a deceased family member.

Aged from years of exposure to the changing Maine seasons, this rooster weathervane sat atop the Libby family barn in Scarborough.

James Osborne included it in the family record; it must have been an important feature on the farm.

These objects and images served as family memories and a record of their moment in time.

This photograph of Ebenezer Libby with his wife, Mary, and their children in front of their home recreates a family record much like the one James Osborne painted of his parents and siblings in 1830.

A portrait of John Ham, part of a pair painted by an unidentified artist of Ham and his wife, Mary, in 1852.

The history of this portrait pair is lost. All that is known was written by the artist on the canvas to record the age of John and Mary at the time the painting was made.

Why did the Hams have their portraits painted? An anniversary? The marriage of a child or grandchild? Some other desire for a legacy?

Mary Ham had her portrait painted by an unidentified artist in 1852.

Her husband, John, also was painted at the same time.

This horn is attributed to the scout Joseph Wier and was made for Joshua Freeman.

Wier was a regular patron of the tavern Freeman operated on Middle Street in Portland.

Powder horns are made from the horns of cows, oxen, or other animals, and were used to carry gun powder.

Many are carved, many intricately, some with only the owner's name.

Samuel Libby(ee) was born in Scarborough in 1689 and was a particularly well-educated man.

He was a lieutenant, an indication of his service in a militia, and at one time or another held all office appointments in the young town of Scarborough.

As a land surveyor he was in high demand, with a career that spanned over three decades.

David Fletcher was probably a New England soldier at the time of King George’s War.

It has an image of Admiral Warren and several animals.

Of particular interest on this horn are the combined representations of land and sea: a sailor, soldier, trees, home, lighthouse and ships upon the water.

The carving reads, "Michael B. Goldthwait's horn 1756, At Fort Wm. henry Oct. 2 AD"

Michael B. Goldthwait, the owner of this powder horn, was a private in 1755-56 in Col. Jonathan Bagley's Massachusetts Regiment at Fort William Henry in New York.

Jacob Gay is believed to have carved this powder horn, owned by Elijah Bradbury, who was a corporal in Capt. Stephen Jenkins' Co., Col. Thomas Poor's Massachusetts Regiment from May 25, 1778, to Feb. 9, 1779.

David Noble Poor was a ship’s captain who sailed between Portland and Havana.

He made this small box, shaped like a book and inlaid with a star and compass design.