Laura’s Granddaughter, Marcia Foss, provided the project with the following description of her Grandmother, “Laura was born in Newagen to Silas and
Salome Gilman in 1880. She attended a log cabin school house that was built in
the woods towards the center of Southport Island. She had four siblings - Newbert,
Bessie Ann, Almyra, and Robert.

She was 15-years-old when she married Alpheus Snowman in 1895, and they had six children - Austin, Mildred, Bertha, Thelma, Leland and Leslie Earl. When the couple were first married they lived with Laura’s parents, later building a home in Newagen which is not gone, but was beside the current residence of Linda Snowman Dowling. They raised pigs, had chickens, and a large vegetable garden, and my grandmother was proficient at preserving food for winter. The Snowman’s later built their forever home on the corner just before the Southport Memorial Library (the present day alpaca farm).

 

My Grandfather had a job at the Life Saving Station on Damariscove (even though he couldn’t swim). Later he left that job for lobster and herring fishing and would work in the shipyard during the winter. Laura was a wonderful mother, kind and patient, and worked very hard taking in laundry for rusticators and also cooked for them. Laura lived in Newagen all her life, except for a few winters that she and Alpheus moved to a rent in Boothbay Harbor, so the kids could go to Boothbay Harbor High School. During this time period, Alpheus worked some winters as a chef aboard fishing boats. Laura was widowed in 1959, and lived out the rest of her days in her home, and her son Earl lived with her to keep her company.

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A 1972 Boothbay Register article announced Laura receiving the Boston Post Cane, “On August 2, 1972, Jack (Alonzo Gray), former selectman, presented Mrs. Laura Snowman with the Boston Post Gold Cane. Mrs. Snowman will be 92 years old on October 25, making her the oldest citizen on Southport. Other in attendance at the presentation were Selectmen Eugene Huskins and Edward Tibbetts. 

 

"Members of the family present were Mr. and Mrs. Austin Snowman, Mrs. Mildred Barter, Mr. and Mrs. Hobert Chellis and granddaughters Karen and Ellen Arabas of Higgamum, CT, Mrs. Carleton Gamage of Skowhegan, Mr. Leland Snowman, Earl Snowman, and Mrs, Ted (Linda) Dowling. The Boston Post Gold Cane was in the family previously when it was held by Mrs. Snowman’s father, Silas Gilman, for many years. He was 84 years old at the time of his death.

“Miss Ellen Arabas took the above photo of her great-grandmother being presented with the Gold Cane. Laura Snowman has 13 children, 45 great-grandchildren, and ten great-great-grandchildren.”