Riverside Cemetery - Lewiston, Maine

09/01/2026

Willard Temple married Sarah "Sadie" Osgood on June 2, 1873 in Durham. Willard was 20 and Sadie was 17. Their marriage was sadly short-lived as Sadie died in December of that year, just six months after their marriage. He never remarried. After her death Willard moved from Durham to Lewiston and in 1875 partnered with George Tash at 38 Lisbon Street. Tash & Temple was a clothing store that lasted for three years. After this business Willard continued in the clothing business until his death, though he often changed partners.

In addition to his clothing business, Willard was known for being one of the largest apple shippers in the state. In 1905 the Lewiston Daily Sun said "Mr. Temple is one of the most successful shippers to the European markets that the State can boast of." He had started engaging in this business in the 1890s and quickly became successful.

In January 1910 he was ill and went to Minnesota to have a surgery. The surgeons declined to operate on him, his illness being kidney cancer. Back in Maine he underwent surgery knowing that it was his only remaining option. He died in the Central Maine General Hospital on May 8, 1910, about two weeks after the surgery. His funeral was held from 44 Pierce Street on May 12th, followed by burial in Riverside.

08/25/2026

Thaddie Hamilton was born in 1855, the son of Daniel H. and Josephine Hamilton. Originally from Greene, the Hamiltons moved to Lewiston where Daniel was a lecturer in phrenology. Daniel was one of the original incorporators for Greenwood Cemetery, the original name of Riverside. Thaddie died on August 23, 1857 at the age of two years, seven months, and seven days, and was the first person to be buried in the new cemetery. We cleaned his stone this year and in the process we noticed that this fact is commemorated at the bottom of his stone with the line "the first buried in this cemetery."

08/23/2026

Save the Date for our second annual fundraiser! We hope to see you on October 24th. More details to follow!

08/20/2026

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08/18/2026

Edwin F. Morris was born in Westbrook in June 1880. As a young man his family came to Lewiston, and he became a skilled electrician who worked for the Lewiston, Brunswick, and Bath Street Railway. The railway was a system of trolleys which transported passengers between the three cities. In October 1906 he was instructed by his doctor to stop working because of his health. He died by the end of the week from the effects of diabetes in his home at 40 Bates Street.

His funeral was held on Saturday, October 6th from the Methodist Church, followed by burial at Riverside. The pallbearers were his coworkers from the Lewiston, Brunswick, and Bath Street Railway.

08/11/2026

Anthony J. Emery was born in New Hampshire in 1835. He married Laura Ellsworth in 1859 and they had at least three children together. In the 1860s the family moved to Lewiston, where they lived on College Street. Anthony had an interesting career selling popcorn, corn cakes, and corn balls at 18 College Street. In 1889, Anthony and Laura returned to New Hampshire, where they settled in Lake Village. The residents of Lewiston were sad to see him go, and an article in the Lewiston Evening Journal reported that "for a score of years or more he has been seen upon our streets in fair weather or foul, his basket on his arm filled with popped corn, corn-cakes and candy."

Sadly Anthony lived only for a year there before he died in June 1890, probably of a stroke, at the age of 54. His body was removed to Lewiston and the funeral was held in the Hammond Street church with Rev. Perry Chandler officiating. The funeral notice stated that "he was a very worthy, upright man, of quiet ways, and respected by all with whom he became acquainted."

08/04/2026

Vivian Esther Moody died on August 5, 1946. Inscribed on her stone are the words "She Gave Her Life For Others."

Born in 1930 in Phillips, Vivian was the daughter of Nial and Doris Moody. Her parents divorced in 1937 and later that year she entered the state care system. In the 1940s she lived with the family of Daniel J. Wellehan on Ware Street in Lewiston. The Wellehan family owned a summer cottage near Pine Point Beach in Scarborough, and on a visit there in August 1946, tragedy struck. Several children were playing in the water and 10 year old Robert Marshall fell from his tube. Vivian tried unsuccessfully to save him from drowning and sadly also drowned in the process. Her foster brother, James Wellehan, who was seven at the time, was rescued by his older brother Daniel.

Vivian was sixteen and a sophomore in Lewiston High School at the time of her death. The funeral was held on August 7th at the Teague and Stevens funeral parlor. The pall-bearers were four of her classmates: Elwood Warren, Roland Huard, Paul Bergeron, and Robert Harkins. She was buried in a lot that was purchased by her brother, Clinton Moody.

07/28/2026

Betty Lunn was born about 1822 in England. She married William Ward and they had at least one child, Mary. They came to the United States by 1860 when they were living in Lewiston. Their daughter Mary, who was about sixteen at the time, married Joseph Chadderton, another English immigrant. In 1862 William died and in 1864 Mary's husband died fighting in the Civil War. They seem to have moved to Chelmsford, Massachusetts as that is where Betty was living when she married Josiah Barlow of Lewiston. They returned to Lewiston, as did Mary and her second husband, Joseph Marshall.

Back in Lewiston, Mary lost two of her children who are buried in this same lot in Riverside. In 1875, at 31 years old, Mary died, survived by her husband and young son who was only about a year old. It appears that Joseph brough his son to Chelmsford after Mary's death and Betty went with them. According to an 1878 court filing, Josiah Barlow filed for divorce from Betty because she had moved to Chelmsford and refused to return home. The divorce was granted and Betty appears in the 1880 census living with her son-in-law and grandson. She may have left to take care of her grandson who was left without a mother.

Betty never remarried again, and died in Chelmsford in 1905, at the age of 83. Her body was brought to Lewiston to be buried with her family in Riverside.

07/21/2026

Nancy McKenney was born in Bowdoinham in 1839, the daughter of Zebadiah and Evaline Lancaster. As a child she moved to Gardiner with her parents and in 1862 she married Charles Brann. After their marriage they moved to Madison. They had three children, including a son Louis who would one day serve as governor of Maine. Charles died in 1877 and Nancy returned to Gardiner with her young children. In 1883 she remarried to Samuel C. McKenney, a jeweler in Gardiner. After his death in 1897 she came to Lewiston where her children were living.

Nancy died in 1901 in Lewiston. An obituary in the Lewiston Evening Journal ended by saying "she was a noble, Christian woman, possessing a happy, cheerful disposition and bringing sunshine to all with whom she was associated, and her death comes with great sorrow to all her friends and family."