Hello,

The Town of Waterville was just mentioned on the Kennebec Co. List this morning, and I found out there is a web site about "Early Waterville." I just searched on the site for my great-grandfather's 2 sisters who lived in Waterville ~1910, and I didn't find them mentioned.

Up in Princeton, ME, their parents were Joseph and Clarissa (WILKINS) KIDDER who had 6 children there (3 sons, 3 daughters) between 1870 and 1885. George "Sanford" was their first, then Julia, then Frank, then Ruth, then Clinton, then Aurelia "Rilla." All 6 married and had at least one child. Julia married John ROBINSON from north of Waterville, and they went directly to Waterville to live. They only had one child, a son, Leslie.

Soon after "Rilla" married John HARRIS and had 2 children with him, they moved to Waterville to live with John and Julia ROBINSON. This is the extended family in 1910:

Household Gender Age
Spouse John J Robinson M 40y
Julia E Robinson F 37y
Child Leslie F Robinson M 5y
John H Harris M 29y
Aurelie Harris F 24y
Fredrick C Harris M 8y
Daisy A Harris F 6y


I haven't looked at my notes on the ROBINSON family in a while, but I think I heard that Leslie ROBINSON had married but did not have any children - so no descendants.

The HARRIS family did not do well. First the couple separated, and then I can't find John and their son, Fred, after that. Rilla and her teen-age daughter remained in Waterville, but Rilla developed cancer and died young. Daisy had gone to live with another couple, and I can't find her after she was a teen-ager. One .guess. is that, when John and Fred came back for the burial of Rilla, they took Daisy to their new home (wherever that was). I've never heard of a marriage for Daisy, and someone suggested that might have been a nickname.

I thought I had mentioned these couples on this Board in past years, but I just checked the archives and I hadn't. But, long ago I mentioned that a non-related Reuben KIDDER had moved to Waterville from MA in mid-1770's, and he had descendants there.

The 1920 census has John and Julia ROBINSON back in Princeton, ME. And, they had another set of nephew and niece with them. Unfortunately the other married sister, Ruth MOORE (Alex Moore) both died young leaving 3 orphans. I'm told the 3 young children went to live with Alex's 2 MOORE aunts. And the KIRLIN teens with Julia in 1920 were Ruth's grandchildren, I believe.

That's all I'll say for the moment. I've been researching my KIDDER line for 20 yrs. and have a lot of information. Plus there is a 1941 "KIDDER book." And, there is a KIDDER web site run by a long-time researcher who has been trying to update the 1941 book for 20 yrs.

Betty (near Lowell, MA)


(on Lists and Boards for 10 yrs.; now an Admin for 9 Lists and 3 Boards, including a List and Board for CAN-USA-Migration and a List for New-England-Research)
(already a List for New-Eng-Gen)


P.S. I just noticed that this Board is not gatewayed to the Kennebec Co. List, so I'll go check the archives of the List for my old posts.

Hi again,

I forgot to mention that, over the 10 yrs. on-line, and from my old postings, I have .found. descendants of my great-grandfather's 2 brothers, Frank KIDDER and Clinton KIDDER. Both descendants researched their .tree. and wrote up a report on them. Early in their marriages, both families moved to Berlin, NH. Frank remained there. But, Clinton suffered a Stroke, and his wife was forced to move the family back to Princeton, ME. She had 4 young boys and a baby girl to care for, as her husband died soon after moving back to Princeton.

It is the 3 KIDDER sisters I haven't had much luck finding out about. Two of the sisters married in Houlton, ME, and the MOORE couple remained along that N.B. border. I have heard from a descendant of theirs. As I said, I have not been able to find out where John HARRIS went after 1920 (with his 2 children). And, I don't believe I ever found out definite information on Julia's son, Mr. Leslie ROBINSON. I just rechecked all the information now at www.familysearch.org and only 1910 and 1920 census information is available on him. So, no birth ~1905, no marriage, and no death for Mr. Leslie F. ROBINSON.

His ROBINSON grandfather was a minister in a town north of Waterville.

Betty (near Lowell, MA)

Hi again,

I just searched on-line for Leslie F. ROBINSON, Maine, and discovered a probable marriage record for him:

Name of Groom: Leslie F. ROBINSON
Groom's Place of Residence: Bangor, Me.
Name of Bride: Helena M. GILBERT
Bride's Place of Residence: Orono, Me.
Marriage Date: Thursday, 2 Feb. 1928


I didn't know he lived in Bangor; now that I know that I'll see if I can find Leslie and Helena in the 1930 census. I just looked at my map (in hand) and see that Orono is just north of Bangor. So, they were in Penobscot Co.

This is possibly the family of Helena:

Household Gender Age
Parent George Gilbert M 50y
Parent Clara Gilbert F 46y
Florence Gilbert F 19y
Ethell Gilbert F 14y
Agness Gilbert F 9y
Alice Gilbert F 7y
Helen Gilbert F 3y

Just an FYI. I'll go post on the other Lists about this couple.

Betty (near Lowell, MA)