We entered the US by crossing the bridge from Campobello Island to Lubec, Maine. After spending one night in Acadia National Park we headed for Guilford, ME to see where the Wharffs came from. My (i.e. Gil's) grandmother, Bertha Wharff, was born there, and her parents and grandparents died and were buried there. Guilford is a small town about 40 miles northwest of Bangor. The family came to the area before 1838 and moved to California in the 1870s or 1880s.
Gravestones of Isaac B. Wharff and his wife Sarah, my 3rd great grandparents.
Gravestone of Isaac Wharff and his wife, Hannah, my second great
grandparents. The gravestone inscription reads, "Erected affectionately to
the memory of our father and mother who perished in the conflagration of their
home Feb. 4, 1874. At the bottom it reads, "Walter Child, their nephew, also
perished with them."
We found a 1858 county map hanging in the Guilford Historical Society museum.
It shows the approximate locations of property owned by the Wharffs. It also
shows a Wharff Brook near the Wharff property.
The gentleman in the Historical Society office referred to this house as the
Wharff home, although we don't know which Wharffs lived there, and when. The
sign over the garage door congratulates a couple of graduates from what we
suppose is the local high school.
This road sign is about a quarter-mile down the road from the Wharff home.
The home is actually located at the corner of Guilford Center Rd and Butter Rd,
not on Wharff Rd.
This is a newspaper clipping we found in the Guilford Historical Society. The
clipping shows Low's Bridge, which in June 1983, was one of nine remaining
covered bridges in Maine. The bridge was built in 1857 and lasted until 1987,
when it was swept away by a massive flood. A town history states that the stone
work for the bridge abutments was done by an Isaac F. Wharff and comments favorably
on the quality of his work, since the bridge lasted 130 years. Isaac F.
Wharff was probably my second great grandfather, whom we know as Isaac Wharff
(not sure of his middle name); he was 46 years old when the bridge was built.
Since Low's Bridge was on the Federal Historical Registry when it was swept away in the flood in 1987, it was replaced with this bridge in 1990.
Our next stop was Portland to do some genealogy research on the Washburns, who were in New Gloucester, ME and married into the Wharff family. The Wharffs were in New Gloucester before moving to Guilford. We didn't have much luck, so headed for New Gloucester, which is about 20 miles north of Portland. We also didn't find anything in New Gloucester. The town itself was not very interesting; there didn't seem to be much there except for a town hall and a not very helpful library. The town probably suffers from being so close to Portland, so it doesn't seem to have much identity of its own.