Sunday, December 9, 2012

Photograph of William Clark Danforth, by Dover, Maine studio


Photograph, presumably a graduation photograph, by the Spurling Studio of Dover, Maine, of a man identified on the reverse as Wm. C. Clark.  

Information on the reverse indicates that William was in the Class of 1907 at Foxcroft Academy.  The towns of Dover and Foxcroft merged in 1922.



From online research, hopefully correct: [corrections welcome]

William Clark Danforth was born 2 September 1888 at Ellsworth, Maine, the son of Dana Herrick Danforth and Margaret (Clark) Danforth, who were born at Lagrange, Maine, and Surry, Maine, respectively.

At the time of the 1910 Census, William was living in his parents' household on the Foxcroft side of the Piscataquis River and working as a bookkeeper at a lumber mill or company.

He gave the occupation of merchant on his World War I draft registration card, completed in 1917.

By the time of the 1920 Census, he was still living with his parents but no occupation was listed, a sign that appears ominous in retrospect.  

At some point between 1920 and 1930, William became an inmate at a mental institution at Bangor, Maine, and lived there for many years.  He died at Bangor in 1966.

If he married, I didn't find a record of it.  It's hard to reconcile the photograph above with the hard life that William would encounter.

If you have corrections and/or clarifications to the information above, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks.


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