Documentation for Abraham Somes and (1) Hannah Herrick; (2) Mrs. Joanna Beal


Abraham Somes, wife Hannah (Herrick), and their then four children (daughters Hannah, Patty, Lucy, and Prudence) were the first settlers of European descent on Mount Desert Island. Virginia Somes Sanderson, in her 1982 book The Living Past, quoted from a letter written by Abraham Somes that described his arrival on Mount Desert Island. He said that he "came down immediately after the War was over and peace ratified between Great Britain and the French and Indians—so that I could be safe in moving into the Wilderness; I came to this place which was in the autumn of the year 1761 and made a pitch on this Lot [where] I now live and in June, the year following, I moved my family and settled on the same lot and have occupied the same ever since".

Census Data - 1790

  free white males 16 and upwards free white males under 16 free white females
Abraham Somes 4 3 2

1790 Mount Desert, Hancock County, Maine:



The following reconstruction of Abraham Somes's household in 1790 is consistent with the census report above. Although James would have been 16 years old as of the census date of 2 August 1790, his apparent entry in the "under 16" column should not be unexpected given the often approximate data found in census records.
free white males 16 and upwards free white males under 16 free white females
Abraham (58) James (16) Lois (18)
Abraham Jr. (27) Jacob (13) Betsy (11)
John (23) Isaac (9)
Daniel (20)