It seems fairly evident that James and Anna met in Augusta, Kennebec County, Maine and were married there c. 1841. They also probably started their family in Augusta because their first four children were born in Maine. Anna Evans, their fifth child was born in South Scituate in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Here is the list of the children:
1842 Emma Harriet, our ancestor
1848 Julia
1853 Katherine
1858 Charles F. W.
1862 Anna
Augusta is the capital city of Maine. Beside the Kennebec River, Old Fort Western is an 18th-century wooden fort, with a recreated general store. Exhibits at the Maine State Museum trace local and natural history. wikipedia
In the 1860 South Scituate, Massachusetts census, James is listed as a laborer. In the 1870 census James is a carpenter who is later listed, in an 1884 Michigan city directory, as a retired carpenter. As I mentioned to you readers in an earlier blog, James and Anna Evans adopted the infant child of their deceased daughter, Emma, in 1881, and cared for her until she was about two years old. Next, it became daughter Anna Evans' responsibility to look after little Edith Dickinson. Anna loved that experience and she and Edith were close companions for many years.
You may recall that this family followed their eldest daughter to Montcalm, Michigan after her marriage to Cyrus Dickinson. So, James and Anna lived in South Scituate for only about 7 years.
JAMES P. EVANS
BORN: abt 1814 in , , Sweden
MARRIED: abt 1841 in Augusta, Kennebec, Maine
DIED: bef 1893 in Evergreen Twp., Montcalm, MI
ANNA BILLS
BORN: abt 1824 in , , Maine
DIED: 3 Feb 1904 in Evergreen Twp., Montcalm, MI
SOURCES: US FED CENSUSES OF 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880; 1884 directory of Montcalm County, MI; marriage record of Anna Evans to Jos. Colson Googins, Jr.; Book, Elda Esch Dickinson: "Benoni Dickinson and His Descendants"
