Chebeague Island, home of the extended Hamilton clan for 250 years, will host a Hamilton family reunion on July 15. “If you have ever wondered if you have a Chebeague connection,” says local historian (and Hamilton descendant) Donna Miller Damon, “this is the time to find out!”
Hamilton descendants carry hundreds of different surnames and live all over the United States. The Island Institute’s 2006 Island Journal featured an article about Chebeague’s Hamilton connection.
The island museum will be open, reference materials will be available and local genealogists and historians will be on hand to share stories and to help visitors find those missing links. At 1 p.m. there will be a guided tour of the cemetery. Numerous other activities are planned and the day will culminate with an illustrated talk by Damon, who will tell the story of Chebeague and the people who created and sustained this island community, which is soon to become Maine’s newest town.
For those who can’t make the reunion, the museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11-4 through September and by appointment at other times. Admission is free; donations are appreciated and fund the operation of the museum.
On June 23 the museum opened a new exhibit entitled Creating Community: The Hamilton Connection. The exhibit focuses on the entrepreneurial spirit of the Hamiltons and their many descendants, as they adapted to economic and social changes over the centuries.
The Society received grants from MBNA Foundation and the Maine Humanities Council to offset some of the costs of the exhibit. Carly Knight, an Island Institute Fellow, has been an integral part of the curatorial team.
For more information about the Hamilton Reunion or the Chebeague Island Historical Society call the Museum of Chebeague History at 846-5237, check the Chebeague website at www.Chebeague.org or email Donna Damon at publicservant1@aol.com.