The Edgecomb Historical Society will meet at my house, 234 River Road, April 24 at 2 p.m. A visit to Salt Marsh Schoolhouse is planned. The schoolhouse is being restored and repurposed by Susie Stephenson and Tom Blackford.

Speaking of history, I had a call from Michael Buse, known as "Tug," who lives in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. He was inquiring as to what information the Edgecomb Historical Society might have on a Captain Warren Gove, born in Edgecomb in 1816, to Thurston Gove, born 1784, and Polly Trask, both of Edgecomb, and who died at Puget Sound in 1892.

Warren went west, ostensibly to partake of the Gold Rush, along with two cousins, David and Albion Gove, born respectively April 28, 1828 and July 15, 1826. None of the three ever returned to Edgecomb.

The reason for Tug's interest is that Warren Gove built and piloted the first American-built steamship on Puget Sound. I myself have found very little, but from the invaluable D.A.R. transcriptions of vital statistics, done in the 1940s, I secured the nugget of Thurston's wife and date of marriage, but no list of offspring.

The DAR didn't hit the birth records. I have turned up several Solomons and Ebenezers. The common ancestor was Ebenezer Gove, a New Hampshire man, born 1703. I found a couple of Davids, but if David, brother of Albion, went west, he might not appear, as nor does Albion, at all.

David, according to Tug's research, came to a sad end, died of smallpox in Hong Kong in 1846. So the question I pose to my readers, particularly those of you descended from or related to the Gove Family, what can you add to this tantalizing biography?

Tug's eventual goal is to build a replica of Warren Gove's steamship, the Fairy, and man it, posing as Capt. Gove, in a Puget Sound theme park.

Hey Hey Way: Ava Carmolli, a member of the CLC YMCA's gymnastics team, took sixth place in the vault, seventh on bars and beam, fifth on floor exercises, placing eighth all around in April 13's match at the Old Town/Orono YMCA, competing against the OT/O team and teams from the Bangor area. Well done!

We have one Edgecombite who is running for the state legislature: Bill Coombs, an Independent candidate for the new House District 89!

The Schmid Preserve Committee has scheduled a workday for Sunday, May 4, from 9 a.m. to noon. This will include walking the River-Link Trail! Volunteers should meet at the Old County Road parking lot at 9 a.m. Bring appropriate tools, wear sturdy wet-proof shoes and clothing. Call Deb Sondergaard, 207-882-6265, for more details.

Daughter Daphne with Ben and Kate and with them, daughter Bisi up from North Carolina, arrived here on the last warm day of April, under-supplied, predictably. I keep telling them, "This is Maine, dollinks! You cannot trust the weather of Maine! Bring boots and thongs, flannel-lined jeans and bathing suits." We had a grand time, from poetry-writing challenges to Scrabble games, to the cranking out of ultra-rich chocolate ice cream and pineapple sherbet, to a brief glimpse of the schoolhouse, and then down to Salt Marsh Cove for picture-taking.

Bisi is learning photography, in pursuit of a mid-life career change, aiming at building websites and other such arcane pleasures of the 21st century. Grandson Ben is considering engineering. Young Kate at present wants to become a writer, like her cousin Chelsea M. Cameron of Pemaquid, who is getting national recognition as a young adults author.

I watch them all prosper and grow from the vantage point of 234 River Road, 207-633-2978 and jocam@tidewater.net. This column appears at www.edgecombme.com.