Addie Lou Gordon was born on 30 January 1892 in Thorndike, Maine. Her parents, Eslie and Mary Ellen Gordon, were first cousins. Their uncle was John True Gordon aka The Thorndike Slayer, who murdered his youngest brother's family in 1873 with an axe.
I have not seen Addie's birth record, so I'm not sure if that's her actual given name or if it's short for Adelaide or something else. There's also some confusion about her middle name. She appears in documents frequently as "Addie L.". On her engraved tombstone, her name is spelled "Addie Lue", but she also has an aluminum grave marker that is spelled "Addie Lou". Since those are usually temporary and removed once there is an actual stone, I'm guessing that it was put down first. I've not seen any other family members with the "Lue" spelling, so I'm going with "Lou" until shown evidence otherwise.
According to Mary Ellen's 1901 petition for a divorce (which I don't believe was ever granted), Eslie deserted the family on 21 March 1898. Accordingly, Mary E. was listed as head of household with their six children in the 1900 Thorndike census. In addition to Addie, two of the other Gordon children would grow up to marry Raven descendants. Addie's brother, George Carl Gordon, would marry Ruby Geneva Merry and Addie's youngest brother, and Walter Carl Gordon, would marry Bernice Eloise Merry. Both of the Merry girls were half-sisters to Addie's future husband, George Henry Carson. The following image from the 1900 Thorndike census shows the Gordon family on lines 89–95:
As mentioned above, Mary Ellen petitioned for a divorce from Eslie in 1901. The following notice ran in the Republican Journal three weeks in a row, starting on 15 August 1901:
I can't find a death record, obituary or gravestone to corroborate, but it seems that Addie's eldest brother, Arthur E. Gordon, passed away in 1903. In 1907, Mary was still seemingly struggling to raise her children on her own and was evicted by the sheriff for not paying taxes, per this notice in the newspaper:
It looks like Eslie and Mary patched things up, because by the time of the next census in 1910, he was once again listed as the head of the Thorndike household. Addie's older sister, Hattie Mabel Gordon, had moved out and was boarding with the Sargent family in Searsport, Maine. Eslie, Mary and the rest of their five surviving children are on lines 14–19 in the image below:
On 2 July 1910, Addie married George Henry Carson in Brooks, Maine. Their marriage record follows:
Here is a scan of their marriage certificate:
On 13 January 1911, tragedy struck the Gordons. Addie's father, Eslie had traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to sell potatoes. On the train trip home, he seemingly vanished without a trace. The quality of this scan is pretty awful, but you can get the gist of the story as of 2 February 1911:
The day after Eslie went missing, workers in Newburyport, Massachussetts, were repairing some broken telegraph wires along the train tracks and found what would turn out to be Eslie's glasses and cap. Having no idea that anyone had even gone missing, it was not tied to Eslie's disappearance until Eslie's brother, Eben Gordon, saw mention of it in the Newburyport newspaper. It turns out that Eslie's body had most likely done the damage to the telegraph wires! Here's an article detailing the discovery of his personal belongings:
A couple of months later, Eslie was recovered from the Merrimack River on 28 April 1911 and his body was returned to Maine:
Addie gave birth to Ansel George Carson on 28 April 1911 in Thorndike, the exact same day that her father's body was found. Addie and George's second child, Mabel Addie Carson, was born in Thorndike on 19 July 1912.
Addie's mother, Mary, widowed with five children, married Leroy Staples in November 1912.
George and Addie had one more child, Leroy Eslie Carson, on 23 Oct 1913 before taking a six year break from having more children. On 22 December 1919, Kenneth Edward Carson was born in Belfast.
The 1920 census shows Addie and George and their first four children living in Belfast at 14 Pleasant Street and Addie's brother, Charles M. Gordon was living with them. Another one of Addie's brothers, Walter, and wife, Bernice (Merry) Gordon, were living next door at 12 Pleasant Street. See part of George and Addie's family on lines 47–50 in the following image:
The rest of the family is on lines 51–53 in the image below:
Exactly two weeks after the census was taken on 7 January 1920, Addie's mother, Mary Ellen, passed away at their home at 14 Pleasant Street at the age of 61 on 15 January 1920. Her five surviving children posted the following notice in the newspaper:
Doris Irene Carson was born to George and Addie on 6 September 1922 in Thorndike, followed by their final child, Florence May Carson on 7 May 1924 in Thorndike.
Addie died just 15 days after giving birth to Florence. I haven't seen a death record or an obituary, so I'm not sure of her cause of death, but I assume it was related to the childbirth.
Addie was buried in Thorndike Center Cemetery. Her husband, George Henry Carson, was buried next to her nearly 40 years later.
If you see any mistakes or know of information that isn't included here, please