For the third time in recent years, Thomaston Grammar School fifth graders have had the incredible opportunity to work with local historian/genealogist and Cushing resident Marie Sprague.

Mrs. Sprague, well-known in RSU 13 schools, recently spent three days educating students in Lynn Snow’s and Kim Linden’s fifth grade about ancestry. Classes with Mrs. Sprague included background knowledge on genealogy and kids were taught how to find ancestral information and the importance of reliable sources. She showed students how a pedigree is organized and how to organize the information for their family names.

Students and parents filled out a basic form with family information and returned these to school. Mrs. Sprague did further research for all 17 participating students, taking most pedigrees back six generations! The result were student-created poster board pedigree charts, many including family photos. Student pride was absolutely evident with the finished projects. These will be keepsakes for all families.

Mrs. Sprague‘s interest in genealogy began with her seventh-grade teacher, Alvah Clark. “Everyone was supposed to go back six generations, and I could not (do that) at that time. I had only one living grandmother, and my mother called her great aunt for more information,” said Sprague.

In high school, Marie started looking through local history books. Someone gave her the Cushing town report from 1895 to 1960. She treasured this.

As an adult, Sprague joined the New England Historical Genealogy Society from Boston where she could get books through the mail.  This is how she traced her family back to the 500's!

After the Internet came to be, Mrs. Sprague went on a query site and found lost relatives from her great grandfather who went to Kansas in the late 1800's. These relatives sent her pictures. Eventually, she joined ancestry.com where she could review scans of original records.  

Marie Sprague has published People Who Passed Through Cushing, Who Hezekiah Prince Talked About and plans to publish The Genealogy of Friendship this summer.

Excited about these lessons and projects on genealogy, Thomaston Grammar School fifth graders are now learning about genetics. The science behind the traits that they share with their parents, their genes, and their DNA is the perfect segue after building their family pedigrees.