It was our final day.
Still one third of the Pemaquid Peninsula to explore.
The top, Damariscotta.
The town we walked almost daily.
The middle, Bristol.
Where we rented an old farmhouse.
By the dam.
The last part, the tip.
Fort William Henry.
Reconstruction of a fort from colonial times.
The art gallery, where local artists displayed creations.
The lighthouse.
Its accompanying museum.
Containing historical artifacts from fishermen, sailors.
One, a sea chest, owned by Francis Augustus Chadwick.
Pilot-navigator in the 1800’s.
Brought the first oil lamp into Bristol.
Look, Roseanne pointed, laughing.
The chest is on loan from the sea captain’s great granddaughter.
Do you think she wants it back?
Again, she chuckled.
For, instead of saying donated,
it clearly said on loan.
Would Mrs. Lillian Wallace
pluck it from its home?
Francis Augustus Chadwick
in 1919, laid to rest.
Is his great granddaughter still around
to pop up and claim the chest?
We do not know the answer
though we tried to hypothesize.
If you’d like to count generations,
take your time to analyze.
Lynn Benjamin
August 17, 2023
Roseanne’s hypothesis, which is completely unvalidated, is that Mrs. Lillian Wallace may have been born either some years before or after her great grandfather, Francis Augustus Chadwick died. She would have donated the chest in her 60’s, which might have been in the 1980’s. Roseanne thought that if she loaned it prior to the 1970’s or 80’s, her title (Mrs. husband’s name Wallace), according to the laws of coverture, would have contained her husband’s first name, not hers. It is unlikely that she is still living. So, the chest may be on permanent loan to the Lighthouse Museum!
