Page Created May 2003

John Polis & Family

John Polis was born about 1832, probably in Maine, son of Joseph Polis of Old Town and Marie Marguerite, a Passamaquoddy woman. John died in service of small pox on 23-Jan-1864. He had enlisted in Company A, 17th Maine Infantry on 8-Dec-1863, about 7 weeks before he died.

His widow, Elizabeth Polis, who gives her maiden name as Elizabeth Thompson, was already twice a widow. She lost her only child, Franklin Peal, to the war about 2 years prior to John's death and her 2nd husband died the year before John.

The exact date of Elizabeth and John's marriage is unclear. Elizabeth gives several dates in the pension documents. First she gives 14-Sep-1863 "at Coolbrook NH by one Lewis Patol an Indian Preacher among them". On another form we see 25-Dec-1863 is written than crossed out [He enlisted on the 8th Dec!], and "a day in November" is written above it. She further states that she cannot furnish a marriage record nor a witness to her marriage, "as the Indian minister was a Traveler from place to place among the different families of Indians. She dont know where they might be found. The last she know they was in Canada."

John and Elizabeth were basket makers living a nomadic lifestyle. In the fall of 1863, right after their marriage, they were camped near the Grand Trunk Rail Road Station at West Pownal, ME. It is here that members of the Cushman family along with other locals "induced" John to enlist, to assist the town in filling it's quota. Elizabeth stayed in the area, living with Mr. Pierce that winter. It was here she received word of John's death, which arrived by letter from Robert Lowe, a local man and a sergent in John's Company. Elizabeth continued living the nomadic lifestyle and collecting a pension as widow of John Polis until about 1884. At that time she lost her pension and we lose track of her not long after.

John's first wife was Joan Corson of Brunswick, whom he married on 16-Jul-1856 in Brunswick. He was of Lincolnville at the time of this marriage. Joan was born 16-Apr-1839, daughter of Samuel Whitney Corson/Courson & Mary P. Coburn. The Corson family lived in Lisbon, Brunswick, and Lewiston at various times and the family had a rather poor reputation according to several different sources.

John & Joan had a daughter, Mary Isabelle, born abt 1857 and who died in June of 1883. Mary is found living with her Corson grandparents in the 1860 and 1870 census at Brunswick. Joan married 2nd about 1868 to William McIntosh, but the marriage only lasted a few weeks. She married 3rd on 20-Sep-1880 to John A. Dingley of West Bath.

Perhaps you noticed - John had two wives living at the time of his death! His first wife and daughter never made claim for his pension. It wasn't until 1884 the Pension Office discovered that perhaps Elizabeth was not John's legal wife and not entitled to his pension. Two different investigators looked into the matter in 1884 and the depositions they collected give us a interesting glimpse of Indian life in the mid 1800's.

Most of the information in the pension file about John and his family came from Joan Courson and other members of her family. Both investigators believed the Courson family were not reliable sources and untruthful in their statements. Never the less, we will present the picture they paint in their depositions, try to sort fact from fiction, and continue to search for new pieces of the puzzle.

John Polis - Deposition by Thankful (Corson) Fuller, sister of Joan
John Polis - Deposition F by Joan (Corson) Dingley, John's 1st wife
John Polis - Deposition D by Abbie (Corson) Colby, sister of Joan
John Polis - Deposition E by Mary P. (Coburn) Corson, mother of Joan
John Polis - Deposition by Elizabeth Polis, John's 2nd wife

So - here we have some wonderful information about John and his family, but it is full of contridictions. We must go about verifying what we can and try to put the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that makes sense.

We should start by creating a timeline of events.

date	event	source
1850	The Corson Family is living in Lewiston	1850 Census
spring 1856	John Polis is performing with John Newell	2 depositions
1856	John claims to be "of Lincolnville"	Brunswick record of marriage
16-Jul-1856	John & Joan are married in Brunswick	town record of marriage
November/December about 1857	Mary Isabell Polis is born to John & Joan	age in 1860 & 1870 census deposition of Joan
Jan-1858?	Margaret Polis, sister of John, dies Peter Polis, brother of John, is killed in a fight with John [Joan states this was January and the baby was about 6 weeks old] Joan refuses to live in the woods with John after this	2 depositions
Mar-1858	Joseph Porus age 47 [Polis - John's father ?] Mary Porus age 37 [can't be John's mother] Newell Porus age 15 Tomekin Porus [female] age 10 Peol [Peter] Porus age 37 Newell Porus age 40 John Porus age 28 [right age for our John]	Penobscot census
1860	Joan Polis & daughter are living with her parents at Brunswick	1860 Census
Sep-1861	John & Joan Polis living & working in Lewiston	deposition of Joan
Sep-1861	John Polis & George Eaton fake enlistment Joan says Cushman True? of Topsham was involved in this enlistment & brother, Reuben, was with them	deposition of Joan no record of enlistments!
22-Sep-1861	Reuben Corson enlists	military records
between 1861 & 1863	John Polis is reported KIA by George Eaton	deposition of Joan
about 1863	Joan Polis stops living with John [according to Joan, she was with John 7 years!]	deposition of Joan
late summer 1863	John Polis is at Colbrook NH with the St. Francis Indians	deposition of Elizabeth
fall 1863	John Polis & Elizabeth are married at Colbrook NH move down to West Pownal and camp	deposition of Elizabeth
8-Dec-1863	John Polis is "induced" by Greeley Cushman to enlist	depositon of Greeley Cushman & others military records
23-Jan-1864	John Polis dies of small pox while in service	military records
19-Apr-1864	Elizabeth Polis files for a widow's pension	pension records
about 1870	Mary Margaret Polis, mother of John, dies at Brunswick	deposition of Joan
1870	Mary Isabelle Polis with Corson grandparents at Brunswick	1870 census
about June 1883	Mary Isabelle Polis dies	3 depositions
about 1877	Joseph Polis, father of John, dies	deposition of Joan
about 1880	Joseph Polis, brother of John, at Old Orchard	deposition of Joan

We will continue this research and add any new findings on these pages. If anyone runs into John or his family while searching old records, please let us know.