STONEHAM-Craig Edwin Adams, 74, of Stoneham, died unexpectedly early Tuesday evening Dec. 6, 2022 in the comfort of his own in Stoneham.

He was born on Apr. 24, 1948, in Norway, a son of Howard E. and Barbara A. (MacKenzie) Adams and attended local schools. Craig was in the first graduating class of the newly combined Oxford Hills High School at the time.

After high school, Craig served in the Army from 1967-69 and did a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Shortly after his return form the service, he married Kathleen Chandler on Sept. 26, 1970 in Lovell. They made their home for a few years in Albany Twp. before buying a home and settling in Stoneham.

Craig was a wood mill worker virtually all of his working career. He retired from CB Cummings in Norway in 2002 after working there for 19 years.

In earlier years he was a volunteer firefighter for the Stoneham Fire Department and really enjoyed their annual auction that he and Pete Fox rode around together gathering items for. He enjoyed the outdoors hunting and fishing and when poor health forced him out of the woods, he could often be found riding the back roads looking for deer during hunting season. He was tremendous history and genealogy buff and helped with Lovell Historical Society.

A close second to his family was Craig’s love for classic cars, especially his 1941 Ford Coupe.

He is loved by his wife, Kathy; a daughter, Bethany Cagle and her husband, John; a son, Jesse Adams and his wife, Nicole; grandchildren, Heather Adams, Amanda and Allyssa Rogers, Chandler and Spencer Adams; two great granddaughters, Rose and Lily; a brother, Brad and his wife, Karen and their daughter, Erin. He was predeceased by his parents.

A memorial graveside service for Craig was held , Friday, Dec. 16, 2022 at the Hillside Cemetery in Stoneham. Gifts may be given in Craig's memory to the Stoneham Fire Department, 47 Butters Hill Road, Stoneham, ME 04231. Arrangements are in the care of the Hall Funeral Home in Casco where condolences and tributes may be shared amongst family and friends at www.hallfuneralhome.net.

Stoneham lose another town elder with the passing of Craig Adams on December 6. He will be remembered. Condolences to the family and friends.

Brooke, the Chronicle baby, is 15 months old this Christmas. Seen here with her pack, Kineo, Pemi, Skidder and Baxter. Best buddy Reishi has done his annual tradition of photo bombing himself into the image. See if you can find all 4 Reishis. Below is last years photo. Look at how much Brooke has grown in ONE YEAR!!!

Katie Curtis picked December 26. This years official ice in day. Start gearing up for your ice out predictions in April. Though the ice is in, it’s not too thick. Best to wait for some more cold days to make it real safe.

You can purchase these beauties at the Town Clerk’s Office for $18. Make great Christmas presents.

What a saga this last storm was. Now that most everyone has power back all we have left is our stories and images. Text to 802-345-9193.

Scroll down to the end of the Chronicle to find out the true story of the snowman in the North Waterford window.

We have to act quickly!

Have you seen these roadside signs?

They aren’t selling anything. ESRB is a group of volunteer residents from the SAD72 towns. They’re working to get affordable internet service for our area. This is a local initiative to bring fast internet to all the residents of our towns while there is funding available to build the network. We have to act quickly to apply.

To help, go to ESRB.org or To help, go to https://www.mainebroadbandcoalition.org/speedtesting-link to take the speed test (take it often, speeds are variable!). If you know of a location that needs service, contact the town office, and ask them to put it on the map.

Send photos of your pet with suggestions for the role they will play in the story. Costumes optional but preferred. Below are some roles. Text photos to 802-345-9193 or email to barrylane55@icloud.com. Include the name of your pet and the character he will play in the story.

Ebeneezer Scrooge

Jacob Marley’s Ghost

Bob Cratchit

Tiny Tim.

Mrs Cratchet

Fezziwig. young Scrooges old joly boss

Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, Future

Bit parts

forlorn caroler who comes to Scrooges door and gets yelled at

Old men who come to ask Scrooge to donate money

Scrooges cousin

Little boy at the end who goes to get the prize goose.

40 people attended the recent Efficiency Maine Meeting in Waterford. Click on the button above to get more information about how to make your home more efficient and save money in the process.

Photo by Andrea and Adam Helm

circulation 131

This special History issue is dedicated to the beloved memory of Danny Barker, our town historian who passed away in November. We send our warmest thoughts and prayers and love ❤️ to the Barker family and to Danny’s wife, Geneva. History was Danny’s passion and Keewaydin Chronicle will follow his lead to continue exploring the dirt roads, farms , and maps of Stoneham’s past. The Barkers can trace their lineage back 10 generations to the first settlers of Stoneham.

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To subscribe send your email address to barrylane55@icloud.com. It’s free. If you like it, forward to a friend or have them forward their email to get on the list. Refresh frequently to see the latest breaking news.

Notice that Virginia Lake is Stone Pond and lake Keewaydin is Lower Stone Pond. Marilyn Jones told us about that in the last issue of the Chronicle.

• Marilyn Jones, who babysat Danny Barker,remembers Stoneham’s country doctor who was also Stoneham’s country pharmacy. How things have changed. A short story calledThe Doctor was written by Russian doctor/writer, Anton Chekov in the 19th century.

At little background from the Town Register published in 1906 by Mitchell and Davis may be useful.

1 The town of Stoneham is made up of a tract of 3,000 acres granted to Fryeburg Academy and now included in the western part of the town, a grant made to Richard Batchelder along the state line called the First Division, and the Second Division made to the same grantee, a part of which is now East Stoneham. This section was explored by hunters and trappers, and probably by lumbermen, before the close of the eighteenth century, but we have no proof of any settlement having been made until sometime later. When Elisha Allen came onto this tract in March 1822 from Norway he found but three families living in the vicinity of East Stoneham. These were Jonathan Sawyer, who had moved from Oxford and was probably the first permanent settler, located on the farm which ws so long occupied by his son, Joel S., now owned by E.S. Bartlett; Edward Wells, living on the north half of the farm now occupied by Levi McAllister; and Joseph Stevens who had a log cabin on the farm now occupied by James Merrill. Indeed, all were living in log houses, for the settlers in this locality had a hard struggle with nature to eek [sic] out a living from the rugged soil. These were all very poor,--and Mr. Allen did not add much wealth to the settlement. He stayed overnight at the cabin of Mr. Wells, then moved his family into a cabin which had been built by one Russell who had made a small clearing. A son and daughter of Mr. Allen are still living in East Stoneham, at an advanced age.

Edward Allen Holt Harpswell.

1 Mitchell and Davis, The Town Register: Waterford, Albany, Greenwood, E. Stoneham. Brunswick, Maine: H. E. Mitchell Co., 1906. Reprinted for the benefit of the redecorating and refurbishing of the East Stoneham Congregational Church and in observance of the bicentennial of the United States of America in 1976.

Chronicle reader Richard Dunham of Lovell Maine has shared a wonderful series of old family letters dating back to 1823, almost 200 years ago. I will be excerpting some of these letters throughout this months Chronicle. To download the whole pdf and read the background and footnotes of all the letters click on the button above. Thank you, Richard for sharing these historical treasures. NOTE: Stoneham was not a town in 1823. That’s why the address is Batchelder’s Grant.

From Richard Dunham:

Check out our old family letters. Perhaps excerpts would be enjoyed by your readers. I think it is fascinating how tough it was and how different it was to live in Stoneham in 1823.

Simple things like getting some sugar or some calico were big luxuries.

Sarah and Elixha our buried in the little family cemetery in the field that is at the entrance of Camp Susan Curtis. The pond used to be called Allen pond, but now it is trout lake. Beside the lake is Allen Mountain.

She writes to her mother comments like this

One thing I dislike in the Methodist Church is for giving lisence to almost everry one to preach so as to be all speakers and no hearers. I am glad you stayed whare you was. I wish I had. I am sorry Mr. Crease has left thiss place for he was an excellent speaker.5 I never reallise it so much as since he has bin gone. Iniquity seems to a bound while the love of money waxes bold among us. How many hard and impenitent harts thare in thiss place.

2 After Elisha Allen left the seafaring trade, he moved his family from Portland to Norway where two of their children were born: Jane Small Allen in 1817 and George Fox Allen in 1820.

3 Sarah was the oldest child of Elisha and Sarah Allen, then 12 years old. Jane was their third child, then four. George was at that time their youngest, 13 months and just learning to walk.

4 “Meeting” referred to religious services. At the time, however, they had no dedicated church.

5 Rev. Noah Cressey was pastor of the Congregational Church in Norway from 1807 until 7 Dec 1819.

6 Eunice Cooley was Sarah’s half-sister born about 1798 and probably a biological daughter of John Cooley and Prudence Small. She married Christopher Rand in Westbrook in 1817.

Letter #2 Sarah (Cooley) Allen to her mother Mrs. Prudence Ellender, Portland

Batchelders Grant June 22 1823

My Dear Mother I received your kind letter the other day and was verry glad to heare from you and that you was well and the rest of the folks. Little Moses you wrote was sick little Dear.7 I hope he is better before now. I wrote you a letter and sent it on to you. If you have not received it I think you will before long. I have a young son we call him Ashbel Green.8 Elisha did not like to call him Zechsiah.9 He is a nice babe. You sent word that you would send me a pare of shoes or some callaco. I am a goin to have a pare of shoes made out of that motoco [morocco?] Mrs. Fox gave me10 and if you can instead of any thing else send me a gownd. I don’t care how coarse or how thin I want one to ware to meeting for I have not any but my wooling one and if you can I will thank you and if you cannot it tis no mater. I should be glad of one of the calicoes they use to sell for foure pence per yard. We have meetings every Sabath. Mr. Douglass from Waterford we expect will come and preach soon to us.11 Look over the other side.

Dear Mother I now take my pen to inform you of our affairs here. We enjoy our health which is a great (blessing?) and I trust that providence smiles on the labour (of our) hands. Mr. Fox has done much for me for which I am in duty bound to thank the father of all mercies. My land was sold the 21st of June. I bid off my land for fifty dollars and Mr. Fox will I hope pay that and take a deed. The Creditors of the Estare feel disposed to favour the settlers and to let them have thir land cheap. The next lot to me was sold for two hundred and thirty six Dollars and is not so good a lot as mine so that I can have it for one quarter the value.12 This I may thank major (Kupell) of Boston for. I have got the best yoke oxen that there is in the County so that I think I am on the way to be better off than ever I was. Our grain and corn looks well and our cattle more so and some times I think I shall be rich.

Elisha Allen

We are privilege beyond all exspecttation. We have had a school here in oure house. Jane reads in her abs and George in his letters and he knows a bout all of his letters.

good bye Sarah Allen

7 Her sister Eunice Cooley Rand had a son Moses, but according to his gravestone he died 1862 age 35, which would establish his birth as 1827. Either the age on his gravestone is incorrect or the Moses referred to in this letter died young and a new baby was named Moses.

8 Ashbel Green Allen was born 11 May 1823, the fifth child of Elisha and Sarah (Cooley) Allen.

9 Her mother Prudence had a brother named Zachariah born 1763. Perhaps there was a proposal to honor him.

10 See note Letter #4.

11 Rev. John Douglass (1792-1878) came from Portland to Waterford in the spring of 1821 and was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church that year. He apparently preached on a circuit.

12 Oxford County Registry of Deeds (Western District) Book 10 Page 56. The deed dated 27 Jun 1823 confirms that Elisha paid $50 for Lot 4 Range 4, about 100 acres, from the estate of Josiah Bachelder, bounded westerly by the town of Lovell and Fryeburg Academy Grant, southerly by the town of Waterford, easterly by the town of Albany, and northerly by the unlotted part of Bachelder’s Grant. In exulting in his low purchase price, Elisha perhaps did not realize that the bid price (which was actually $256) for the lot next to his also included six other lots for a total of about 680 acres. The full deed is attached.

If you have access to family history, letters or photos of old Stoneham, that you would like to share, send them to barrylane55@icloud.com

In July the Chronicle interviewed Danny about the Knights of Pythias Hall and other Stoneham mysteries. We will be posting some of these clips in future issues,

Now that the leaves have dropped there's a nice view of Upper Kezar from GLLT's Heritage Loop around Mt. Amos. Sue

By Andrew Green

It’s just me and the dog tonight

Everyone else is gone

And we’re doing okay,

Glancing at each other

From time to time

As we like to do,

Yet minding our own business.

She’s on the couch

Stretched out from one end to the other

like a gymnast after nailing a landing.

I’m in the red chair with the paper,

The tv on in the background —

There’s another shooting somewhere

Another storm coming in

And the jackpot is getting bigger each day.

Outside, the wind, the rain and the dark,

But inside, alone with each other,

We are as cozy as a pair of evening slippers.

She ambles off for a drink of water

Then stops at my chair to check in

For a brief neck-rub hello, maybe a lick of my hand

Before she settles back to her position.

Soon, everyone will be home

And things will get loud and busy again,

But right now, we are both happy

for each other’s company

And get along pretty well, she and I.

When I comment about the news, she listens,

When I complain about the weather, she sighs,

Sometimes, she just closes her eyes.

Painter Eric Aho and Danny and Geneva Barker. Eric will be returning to Stoneham this winter to harvest ice on Lake Keewaydin and reproduce the image from the famous Marsden Hartley painting of the lake. This year all his efforts will be dedicated to Danny Barker.

With the recent gypsy moth invasion we are reminded how fast an ecosystem can be altered for the worse. We need to be vigilant and proactive. Are you interested in preserving our beautiful lake and its creatures for generations to come? You may want to join FOLK :Friends of Lake Keewaydin. Contact Adam at adamfhelm@gmail.com for more information.

Like the news itself, this Chronicle has no deadlines, only lifelines. It will be continually updated till the end of the current month. Keep refreshing to find new stories. Past editions can be found at link below. You are the reporters. Send news, pics and video links to barrylane55@icloud.com. We will publish everything that applies to our mission of building community on the lake and being stewards of our wild world or just sharing local stories and history of the lake and surrounding area. You are all reporters and the story surrounds us.

Tell your friends to subscribe to the free newsletter. Send emails to barrylane55@icloud.com to get on the list.

Email: barrylane55@icloud.com
Phone: 802-345-9193

eggs have gone up 1 dollar because the chickens are eating more to stay warm.

If you are 65 or older, subscribe to Stoneham Rescue and save lots of money if you end up using the ambulance service this year.

If you are single, send check for $35 to the address below. If you are a couple, send $55. You are also welcome to send more money as a charitable donation.

Ciaran, of the Shea’s cabin. Unlike the British Harry, he is a real potter and makes traditional Celtic goods. See links below. He even speaks Celtic so if you see him say. Dia dhuit!