Ellen Lincoln Matthew’s recollections of growing up in Dennysville, Maine,
are the subject of the Dennys River Historical Society’s monthly program
on Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Memorial Public Library.
Called “Nellie” by her family, she was born in 1906 and published her
reminisces in a small book entitled Childhood Memories in 1989 for her
children and grandchildren. Her well-written and delightfully informative
account vividly recalls her childhood on the Lincoln Farm, rebuilt by her
grandfather Dr. Albert Lincoln, a Civil War surgeon who turned country
doctor.

Her winsome descriptions of the place are easily recognizable to this
day: “A cedar lane, with occasional maples on both sides approximately an
eighth of a mile long led up to our house…. There was no heat upstairs, but
registers over the dining room stove and kitchen stove helped to heat the
two rooms directly over them…. Snow would sometimes sift through the
widows.”

Stories of everyday activities, washing, cleaning, schooldays and farm
work, interspersed with special events such as Memorial Day, picnics,
Thanksgiving and Christmas, connect the past to the present. Of the
holidays she wrote: “November, of course, was Thanksgiving. We always
had roast chicken and sometimes roast goose with all the farm vegetables,
and of course wonderful pies, apple, squash, pumpkin, and mincemeat—all
homemade, of course.” Of Christmas she says, “It was very simple, but
nothing can match the magic of that time.

The presentation at the Dennysville Library will be illustrated with
pictures provided by her daughter, DRHS member Priscilla Swanson, now
living in Connecticut. The public is welcome. For more details, please call
the Historical Society at (207) 726-3905.