Sylvia Ethel Burgess was born in Caribou, Maine, on 27 October 1882 to Wyman and Ida Burgess. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Sylvia (Roderick) Burgess. Her original birth record may have been lost (or never recorded), but the following one was submitted in 1944.
Sylvia was the oldest of seven children and appears to have been raised in Caribou, as the family was there on the 1900 census. Her mother, Ida, had died in 1899. Sylvia's father, the six living Burgess children, her cousin, and her cousin's son are on lines 24–32 in the image below:
A couple of years later, in 1902, she married Charles Albert Carson. Here are the two sides of their marriage record:
Charles and Sylvia Ethel had three children before the 1910 census: Gladys Hazel in 1904, Olive May in 1905 and Pearlie Glenwood in January of 1910. Olive passed away at around 10 months old in 1906 due to cholera infantum, so the 1910 census from Ashland, Maine, shows the family of four on lines 23–26 in the following image and it notes that Sylvia had given birth to three children and two were still living.
Unfortunately, Pearlie would also pass away young in June 1910.
Charles and Sylvia appear to have taken some time off from having children after losing two of their first three, but in 1919, Ray Norman Carson was born in Caribou.
I've not been able to find the family on the 1920 census, but other records indicate that they were living in Limestone, Maine. Veda Nadine Carson, their last child, was born on 9 February 1920 in Limestone. Two years later, Gladys married Hollis Boltseridge and started her own family. The 1930 census shows Charles, Sylvia and their two youngest children living in Limestone, per lines 64–67 in the image below:
In 1936, Charles got sick after working in a cold, wet cellar and passed away soon after. Sylvia, now listed by her middle name, Ethel, was living still living in Limestone and raising Ray and Veda. You can also see on lines 55–57 that she is working as a seamstress out of the home:
By 1950, her eldest daughter Gladys is a grandmother herself. Ray had joined the military and gotten married, and Veda had also moved out and had a child. Sylvia Ethel was living by herself back in her hometown of Caribou on York Street. See line 24 in the image below:
On 27 September 1956, Sylvia Ethel Carson passed away in Caribou. Her obituary follows:
Sylvia was buried with Charles in Ashland Municipal Cemetery.
If you see any mistakes or know of information that isn't included here, please