LIVERMORE – Kerck Kelsey has been touring the country to share the history of his Washburn ancestors and to entice people to visit his family’s Maine homestead.

The Washburn brothers, born at a farm in Livermore that is now the site of Washburn-Norlands History Center, were instrumental leaders during the Civil War era and in the anti-slavery movement, said Kelsey, who is a trustee of the history center.

Kelsey, 71, of South Freeport, recently returned home from LaCrosse, Wis., where he did several presentations on his great-great grandfather, Cadwallader C. Washburn, who was a Wisconsin governor and five-term U.S. congressman from that state, a Union Army major general during the Civil War, and the founder of a flour company.

Cadwallader C. Washburn is buried in LaCrosse. According to the LaCrosse Tribune, which highlighted Kelsey’s trip, Cadwallader Washburn is memorialized in the Oak Grove Cemetery with a 22-ton, 45-foot tall granite obelisk.

Kelsey said he has been touring in the states where his Washburn ancestors made their reputations and fortunes, including Maine, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Mississippi to Wisconsin

“The biggest purpose is to spread the word to memorialize the extraordinary accomplishments of this family … from the most humble beginnings here in Maine,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey had visited Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi last April and had his picture taken in front of a bronze statue of his great-great grandfather. It was sculpted in 1919 by George T. Brewster and cost the federal government $2,148.

The older of the seven Washburn brothers grew up poor in Livermore before going off to make their fortunes and marks on history. The brothers sent money back home to support their parents and siblings.

Among the Washburn family was former Maine Gov. Israel Washburn Jr., a lawyer, five-term congressman from Maine and a founder of the Republican Party. Kelsey plans to turn over a 208-page manuscript he has written about him to publisher Picton Press in Rockland this week.

The softcover book, “Israel Washburn Jr.; Maine’s Little Known Giant of the Civil War,” is expected to be published by the middle of August and will cost less than $20. Half of the proceeds will go to benefit the living history center.

“Israel Jr. conducted a 10-year battle in Congress against the South’s control of the central government, which resulted in the creation of the Republican Party,” Kelsey said. “Along the way, he defied two presidents, the Supreme Court, and both major political parties, the Whigs and the Democrats.”

When war broke out, as a Civil War governor, he led Maine to raise more troops per eligible population than any other Northern state, Kelsey said.

He founded the Republican Party and was the most influential leader of it, Kelsey said.

Kelsey, earned a master’s degree in history from Harvard University at age 69, also has historical ties to Lewiston.

On the Kelsey side, his great-great-grandfather Albert Hannibal Kelsey built the mills in Lewiston that supplied much of the cloth needed by the Union Army, and also established and trained the militia in Lewiston that became Maine’s Third Regiment.

Proud to share’

Kelsey plans to keep lecturing while his energy lasts, he said.

He’ll be speaking during a “Party for the President” as part of 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Republican Party, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 14, at Norlands.

President George W. Bush has been invited, organizers say, but there has been no word if he will attend.

“I find this a great story,” Kelsey said. “I am proud to share this great story with audiences everywhere. … The story is so big it’s not just a familial genealogy, it’s the history of this country. When the country broke apart, these brothers joined together states across the north to save the country.”

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