When Emma Clara McGaffey was born on 18 May 1850, in Mount Vernon, Kennebec, Maine, United States, her father, George Wallace McGaffey Jr, was 29 and her mother, Elizabeth Jones Kelley Judkins, was 21. She married William John Drew on 30 March 1878, in Mount Vernon, Kennebec, Maine, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. She lived in Starks, Somerset, Maine, United States in 1880 and Somerset, Maine, United States in 1900. She died on 15 December 1905, in Mercer, Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 55, and was buried in Mercer, Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States.
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"In 1851, Maine outlawed the sale of alcohol, allowing exceptions only for ""medicinal, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes"". This made Maine the first state to experiment with prohibition. Neal Dow, mayor of Portland, believed that alcohol was linked to slavery and was also convinced by the Christian temperance movement. Dow ran into problems later for his anti-immigration rhetoric against the Irish, and also for breaking his own prohibition laws; although not a designated ""purchaser"", Dow personally purchased alcohol to distribute to local doctors, violating a technicality. As the citizens turned against him, Dow eventually ordered soldiers to fire on protesters. This marked a sharp decline in Dow's political career, and the Maine Law was repealed by 1856. Aspects of the law would remain in tact, however, and ultimately paved the way for the 18th Amendment, which prohibited alcohol on the national level."
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Irish: variant of McGaughey .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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