Ancient Yarmouth & North Yarmouth Maine 1636-1936: A History

485 pp. 55 maps, charts, illus, portraits, early photos; index. 2000 (1937).

This attractive volume chronicles the settlement of the area around Casco Bay, including present-day Falmouth and Falmouth Foreside, Yarmouth, Cumberland, Harpswell and some of the bay islands, from the early 17th century down through the 20th century. Rowe was a skilled writer -- other books by him include the maritime History of Maine; Shipbuilding Days in Casco Bay; and Shipbuilding Days in Old North Yarmouth. Rich in insight, Rowe's accounts of the people who built these coastal towns, of the importance of the shipbuilding industry to the area and the state, and of the growth of commercial, educational, social, and ecclesiastical life in North Yarmouth and adjoining towns, combine to awaken in the reader a sense that this is history as it was lived.

Genealogical material includes lists and biographies that are a valuable assist in searching family lines. Among the appendices in Rowe's work are Indian Place Names, lists of town officers, state legislators, soldiers in the Revolutionary War, soldiers in the War of 1812, Army and Navy records, Civil War soldiers, roster of Yarmouth in World War I, pastors of Yarmouth churches from the 1700s, list of vessels built in Old North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, as well as the names of the builder of each vessel. A revised and updated "Locations Mentioned by the Author" section helps identify early historic landmarks whose surroundings have changed.

A new combined Subject and Every Name Index will make researching names and subjects much easier.