A mysterious ring washes up on a Maine beach and the race is on to discover its secrets. Read on to learn more about this entrancing tale of joy, tragedy, and serendipity.
One day, on the sandy beaches of Kittery, Maine, near the iconic Lady Pepperell House, Carrie Arsenault noticed something. Investigating further, she got the surprise of her life!
As if taken right out of the famous Smeagol scene from Lord of the Rings, she, too, had found a fascinating ring.
On the inside was the cryptic engraving, "CCD to MAL Dec 25 1880".
It, of course, raised the immediate questions . . .
Was this an engagement or wedding ring? And more importantly, who were they?
Hoping to find some answers, Carrie went to the Kittery Hall of Records and started digging. Before long, she had found it! Charles C. Dixon married Miranda A. Lewis on 12 May 1881.
The Actual Ring That Carrie Found
Scott Drummey of Dover, New Hampshire had gotten wind of this amazing story and jumped in to help. He was able to find out that Charles and Amanda (she went by her middle name) had the joy of one daughter, Maude.
Eventually, Maude married and had two daughters of her own, Doris and Marion.
But then the trail went cold.
Via a genealogy newsletter, I learned of this fascinating story and endeavored to rejuvenate the search and to try and help find these elusive answers.
Thankfully, I was able to locate the marriage records for both of Maude's daughters and we were back to the races.
I found that, of the two daughters, only Doris had children. Twins, Ken and Carol.
Forwarding this information to the newspaper that carried the story, they reached out to Ken, and his half-siblings, Jean and Robert.
Amazingly, but in a stroke of sad serendipity, all of them just happened to be back in New Hampshire that week to be at the funeral of their sister, Carol.
In a meeting a few days later, Carrie gladly returned the ring.
The Ring Comes Home
Tragically, Amanda's story has an unhappy ending. Scott kept digging and was able to find that from at least 1900, she was a resident in Augusta at the State Hospital and died there in 1941.
As her brother, Robert, said "I never heard her mentioned, but now I know why."
This sure was a really fun story to delve into! And while I was able to locate the final pieces, it was the fantastic efforts of Carrie and Scott that got this going. They deserve just as much, if not more, of the credit for getting the ring home. Together, we "Lords of the Ring" pulled it off!
If you have any "mysterious" stories you'd like to explore, I'd love to help you!
Drop me a line or give me a call and I'll get started on it as soon as I can.
danny@hallgen.com
(888) 444-3211
Photo Credits:
Ring - ColiNOOB, Pixabay - Thank You!
Carrie 1 - Deb Cram - Thank You!
Carrie 2 - Portsmouth Herald - Thank You!
