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Statement

Maine/350 Years is a long-term digital photography project on the history of the Tourtillott family’s journey from France to Rhode Island to Maine and eventually over to Illinois and Wisconsin. It started as a way to overcome loneliness, longing, and a desire for kinship. Over a decade ago I started researching this history. I’ve traveled to Maine, Illinois, and around Wisconsin. I’ve contacted Historians, research librarians, and historical societies in search of any traces of my family, their lives, their occupations. These images reflect the time spent in Maine searching for my ancestors, searching for cemeteries and gravestones, and creating a metaphysical bond to those people. This November I will return to Maine going deeper within my research and taking time to contemplate the journey, the time, the hardships of my ancestors. Connecting with them through my thoughts, actions, and meditations.

Below I’ve included a research response from the Maine Historical Society to give more context and understanding of the research process.

December 3rd, 2022

Dear Sunshine,

            Thank you for your research request, seeking information about Captain Abraham Tourtillott and his family in Maine. While we did not have family papers or official records here at Maine Historical Society, I was able to find some information about Abraham. Scans of some of the sources consulted follow this letter, along with a bibliography. As you had previously discovered, Capt. Abraham Tourtillott (sometimes spelled Tourtillott, Tourtilotte, or Tourtellott) was from Rhode Island and came to Maine after having received a land grant for his service in the Revolutionary War. Records indicate that he was born in Newport, RI on 20 June 1744. The first US census, taken 1790, lists Abraham at Conduskeeg Plantation in Hancock County, ME.

Since Abraham married his first two wives in Glocester, Rhode Island, it is reasonable to presume that he was related to an older man with the same name in Glocester: Abraham Tourtellot, born say 1698, died in Glocester, 23 November 1762. This Abraham was the only known grandson of Abraham Tourtellot and maternal grandson of Gabriel Bernon, a French Huguenot who came to New England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1686 and was active in Rhode Island mercantile and religious affairs for decades until his death in Providence on 1 February 1735.

Presuming that Capt. Abraham Tourtelotte of Maine belongs in the family of Abraham Tourellot of Glocester, he should therefore be an unrecorded additional son of Abraham himself, or son of one of Abraham's children old enough to have had a child about 1744. (Cook, 2022))

Maine Old Cemeteries Association Revaluation War Vol. III

Capt. Abraham Tourtillotte is concluded by many to be the son of Abraham & Phebe (Thornton) Tourtillotte who m Providence RI 11 Oct. 1747 and whose 15 children's births are rec there, but no Abraham is among them. In BHM 6:32, he is “said to be” the son of Benjamin Tourtillotte of Newport RI. IN Glocester RI deed 11:468, dated 1786, the wife of Benjamin's son Abraham is Dorcas.[3]

Tourtellott, Abraham 27a 1-3-3-0-0

Condukeeg Plantation, Hancock County

 


Cook, Brittany MHS, pg 1

The Edict of Nates helped to end the wars of religion in France, which had been raging for decades. It also ensured that the Protestant minority in France would have a measure of religious and political freedom, helping to establish France as a more tolerant and pluralistic society.

Maine Old Cemeteries Association Revaluation War Vol. 111 (1985)