2 ABIGAIL MILLER HAINES STOVER
Thirteen months after the birth of her older sister, Abigail Miller Haines came into this world in Hallowell, Maine, on May 10, 1830. Not much information of her life has been discovered so far, so we are left to speculate about much of it. Given the period and location that she lived in, though, it is highly likely that she and her family lived in a simple environment that was cold in the winter and had numerous pests roaming about, especially during warmer weather. There were no indoor toilets or running water. Food would have been largely what the family could produce themselves in the summer and preserve for the non-growing season.
There are some vague clues that Abigail may not have moved with her family to Fort Fairfield. Instead, she may have moved to the Salem, Massachusetts, area during her teenage years. Perhaps there was some member of the extended family that needed her help and invited her to live with them. An unmarried female during this era would have been engaged often in domestic services. At age 25, though, she married Nathaniel F. Stover in Georgetown, Essex, Massachusetts, in 1855. He was a machinist living in Salem, Massachusetts. Their first child, Lawrington Eugene Stover was born in 1856 in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Five years later, the Civil War began and Nathaniel enlisted in the 48th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in August 1862. At the time, Abigail was with child and second son George was born two months after his father’s enlistment. Nathaniel later served in the 3rd Massachusetts Artillery and died of disease on May 16, 1864, while in this regiment. His remains were buried in Oakhill Cemetery, Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Abigail applied for a pension from the government as a surviving widow of a fallen Union soldier. Life must have been incredibly difficult for her as she had two boys to care for. One wonders why she did not rejoin her parents in Fort Fairfield at this challenging time. Life became even more cruel eleven years later when her son George died of “brain disease” in January 1875. Son Lawrington worked in a clothing store. He married Philomene Pineau from Canada in 1885, ten days before his mother Abigail passed away at age 55. At least Abby knew at her passing that her son had found a good mate.
Abigail’s life does not appear to have been either easy or lengthy, but her one surviving son would provide her with a noteworthy legacy. Lawrington and Philomene would also have just one surviving child but one who achieved a higher status of life than his immediate ancestors. Education was very important in this family. Lawrington E. Stover, JR (1888-1971) was graduated from Harvard College in 1911 and became a banker and served in the military. He served in the Mexican Border Campaign in 1916 under BG John J. (Black Jack) Pershing. When the United States entered World War I, his national guard unit was activated as part of the 26th Infantry Division, the “Yankee Division.” He served in field artillery like his grandfather did fifty-three years earlier and was captain of a field artillery battery. The 26th Division was the second American division to arrive on the Western Front in France in September 1917 and spent 210 days in combat, and suffered 1,587 killed in action and 12,077 wounded in action. Later, in his 50’s Lawrington returned to active duty during World War II as an officer in the Army Air Corps. His professional career was also highly successful. He worked for State Street Bank and Trust Co. in Boston for 40 years, retiring as a vice president.
Lawrington, JR, married Clara Reeve Smith, a Radcliffe graduate, and they had two daughters: Jacqueline Anne Stover (1937-2010) and Caroline Stover (~1941- ). Jackie, a University of Wisconsin graduate, married Bruce MacIntyre of Marblehead, Massachusetts and they raised three daughters and a son. Bruce was in the insurance industry in Massachusetts but loved sailing and was a yacht club member. In 1973, Bruce and Jackie moved their family to Vero Beach, Florida, where Bruce’s love for boating continued. He became an owner of Vero Marine Center which won the Indian River County Best Small Business of the Year Award in 2013. Their children are known to have at least six children among them and most likely there is another generation of their descendants in existence but not identified by researchers at this time.
Jackie’s sister Caroline, a Penn State graduate, married a native of Philadelphia, Frank Rudolph Wolf, who would become a member of Congress representing a district in northern Virginia. Caroline and Frank had four daughters and one son. Undoubtedly, these five 2nd great grandchildren of Abigail Miller Haines Ellis have had children and grandchildren of their own, too, but they have not been identified yet.
Additional potential descendants of Abigail Miller Haines with surnames of MacIntyre, Cope, Wilkinson, and Wolf exist and help is needed in connecting with them so that they can be a part of celebrating the legacy of Abigail, a girl who moved from Maine to Massachusetts in her teen years, married a man who would lose his life in the Civil War, and who struggled as a pensioner to raise her two boys.
