Documentation for William Vining - Nancy Ragoon


Family Data

The town of Durham, Androscoggin County, Maine, has photocopied its vital record books, and those photocopies are available for public viewing. Unfortunately, much of the photocopied material is very difficult to impossible to read. Below are (1) the page (greatly enlarged) that reports the family of William Vining and Nancy Ragoon and (2) an image of the gravestone of James E. Vining. All the information on the vital record page appears to have been entered at the same time (27 February 1865) by James Strout Jr., the town clerk, and covered events that occurred from about 15 to almost 75 years earlier. Note the contradictory information about the death date for James E. Vining (20 April in Durham's vital records and 22 April on his gravestone shown at the bottom of this page).




Census Data

  1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870
William Vining ? ? ? 58 63 dead
Nancy (Ragoon) Vining ? ? ? 52 60 ?
    Mary Jane Vining ? ? ? living in separate household
    Caroline Vining ? ? ? [living? in separate household]
    Elizabeth A. Vining ? ? [living? in separate household]
    Emily Vining ? ? 22 30 ?
    Bela A. Vining ? ? 20 29 ?
    James E. Vining ? ? dead
    Frances A. "Fannie" Vining ? 16 [living? in separate household]
    Sarah D. Vining dead
    Sarah Vining 8 19 ?


1850 Durham, Cumberland County [Durham is now in Androscoggin County], Maine - dwelling 122, family 136. Also living in this household in 1850 was Thankful Vining (87 y., b. Maine), William Vining's mother. (William's father, Bela Vining, died 17 February 1846.)



1860 Durham, Androscoggin county, Maine - dwelling 181, family 193:





Death Data

Gravestones for James E. Vining and Sarah D. Vining, children of William Vining and Nancy (Ragoon) Vining, in Sawyer Cemetery, Durham, Androscoggin County, Maine: