Warren Elwin Willard (1875–1945)

 

Warren Elwin Willard was born to Charles and Eliza (Raven) Willard in Oxbow Plantation, Maine. As I detailed on Eliza's page, the timing of Warren's birth and her death are still unanswered questions for me. Most records have Warren's birth year as 1876, but Eliza supposedly died in 1875. Even if he was born in 1875, there's still some question because by all accounts, Warren was born in September and Eliza supposedly died in August. 

 

The earliest record I've seen for Warren is the 1880 Census from Maysville, Maine, where he was living with Charles, his step-mother/aunt, and two of his half-brothers — Ira and Lyman Willard. Ira was from Charles Willard's first marriage and Lyman was from his third, to Warren's aunt, Amanda J. Raven. The Willard family is on lines 14–18 in the image below:

With the 1890 census having been lost to a fire, the next record I've seen for Warren is his 1900 Maine Marriage Record to Maybell Anderson. The couple was married in Oxbow Plantation (written "Ox Bow" at the time) on 7 January 1900:

The newlyweds were living in Oxbow Plantation with Maybell's parents on the 1900 census. See lines 13–17 for the Andersons and the Willards:

Later that year, their first child, Edna C. Willard was born in Oxbow Plantation on 6 September 1900. Unfortunately, she passed away at just 3 months old on 13 December 1900. Her cause of death was not listed on the death record, but Aroostook county had several dangerous viruses going around at the turn of the century. Over a decade passed before Maybell gave birth again.

 

In the meantime, the couple appeared on the 1910 census, now living in their own place on the Main Road in Oxbow Plantation. See lines 71 and 72 below:

Warren was always listed as a farmer on records from 1910 onward. According to "road tax" notices that were posted in the papers every two years, he owned 235 acres in Oxbow Plantation by 1906, 340 acres in 1916 and 310 acres in 1922. I haven't been able to find many other mentions of Warren in the newspapers, but it appears that he was also serving as the Chief in the fire department at one time, as evidenced by this mention in the Presque Isle paper:

On 22 April 1912, Maybell gave birth to twins Lois Eliza and Louis Anderson Willard. Louis would later change the spelling of his name to "Lewis".

Here's a photo of Lois, Warren, Lewis, and Maybell, probably from 1913:

Warren registered for World War I. Here's his draft card. It says he was born in "1776," which is definitely not the case:

In 1920, the Warren, Maybell and the twins were listed on lines 13–16 in the census for Oxbow Plantation. The family also hosted a couple of hired farm-hands:

Here is a rare newspaper mention in the local Oxbow news for Warren. I'm including the entire article because it references other relatives (Clarence Reed and Pearl Howes) and I'm not sure if he was involved with the Willard and Anderson saw mill or not:

By 1930, the twins were 18 and attending the Ricker Classical Institute in Houlton, Maine. They were both still a couple of years away from attending college at the Aroostook State Normal School in Presque Isle (now the University of Maine at Presque Isle). See lines 40–43 in the image below:

In 1938, the Willards appear to have hit hard times and the following foreclosure notice was posted in the local newspaper:

I don't know for sure, but I assume they managed to stave off the foreclosure, because the 1940 census says that they were living on a farm in Oxbow Plantation that they owned and was valued at $5,000. The twins, now in their late 20's, were employed but still living with their parents, per lines 31–34 below:

According to his granddaughter, Jean (Willard) Young, Warren suffered a stroke towards the end of his life and was very disabled. Jean also heard that Warren asked his son Lewis to shoot him, but Lewis refused. Warren passed away 18 November 1945 at the age of 70. His obituary:

Maybell would follow him less than a year later and they were buried together in Swett Cemetery in Oxbow.