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Note: This is one of the longer stories in our archive, topping off at about 21 pages. If you would like to read the entire story offline, you can download it here in Microsoft Word 2000 format to read at your leisure... The
Macomber Family Of Central Village
FACTS, HEARSAY AND MEMORIES It is quite possible that nobody will care to read what I am writing, but yet it may be of interest. Who knows? I was born in Westport, November 6, 1889, the youngest and now sole survivor or eight children of John A. Macomber 2d and Esther A. (Allen) Macomber. My birth is recorded in the Town of Westport Records and a more intimate record was made by my brother Edward L. Macomber around the margin of the November page of the Old Farmers Almanac with the additional information that the time was two thirty in the afternoon. I never felt in any way unwelcome as a child, but I later understood that certain relatives felt the family large enough. Perhaps it was because my mother was rather frail. A woman from the South Westport area sent word that Finis would be a suitable name. There was no discussion I am told over my name which was that of a sister of my father who died in childhood. She was much beloved in the family, perhaps even more because she was apparently retarded. The little daguerreotype of her which is in my possession, on first glance gives a picture of a pretty, little old-fashioned child. On closer scrutiny it shows a rather vacant expression. She was, I have been told, of a sweet disposition and was in no way objectionable. I believe she died of diphtheria which was prevalent in those days. My next older sister had been born on February 8th, the birthday of the first Marianna. My father wished to give her the name, but my oldest sister, Hattie, was extremely distressed over its use, feeling that a lack of intellect could in some way accompany the name and be a mark on the new baby. She was so upset that my father conceded his wishes and allowed her to name the baby, Mabel. She told me in later life that when I was born she felt she could no longer force her feelings and must succumb to the acceptance of what served the inevitability of lack of mind for me if I bore the name. The genealogy of both the Macomber and Allen families has been traced. The Macomber Book was the result of the work of a Mr. Stackpole. It is out of print I believe and the copy which belonged to my brother Edward L. Macomber is now in the possession of his daughter, Elizabeth S. Vinton. Mr. Stackpole, if I recall, recognizes in the introduction the help that he received form my brother in its compilation. I can well believe that he did help as my brother's interest in ancestry and history of Westport was very great. I shall not try to go back further than my great grandfather and for him I have no dates at hand. His name was John Macomber and he married Mary Slade who came from Somerset or Swansea. The distinction between those towns is not clear to me. I do know that she was of the Slade family for whom Slade's Ferry Bridge, which crosses the Taunton River to Fall River, was named. Slade's Corner and Slade's Corner Road in Dartmouth were named for a member of her family. In my young days a great aunt, Mary S. Macomber, took the stage once a year at Central Village which went to New Bedford "the south way" as it was usually said, to spend the day with Cousin Sarah Slade who lived in the white house at Slade's Corner. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
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