Just a note of interest. A friend of mine just found a 40 star flag in thier house wall in Winterport. After some research it was discovered that there was never offically a 40 star flag but in 1889 they were made to commemorate South Dakota becoming a state. Other states were admitted between '89-90 that year. North Dakota '89,Washington'89 Montana'89, Wymoing'90 and Idaho '90. I'll try to get a photo.
Will
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Devil's advocate, so-to-speak
Very exciting find Will!
This is speculation on my part and I have nothing to back this up but I wonder if it is possible for it to have been intended to commemerate any of the four states that entered the Union that same month.
I wonder if it is possible that someone, in anticipation of their state entering the Union, they made a flag for the occassion, only to learn that the order of entry was not as expected.
I don't know how the rule of law worked for such occassions but I wonder if it is possible to have expected the order to be different and then be wrong. Please correct me if I am wrong on this fact but I believe that popular belief at the time was that one state called "Dakota" was expected to join the Union. When in fact the territory was divided into two states at nearly the last moment.
Again, I know nothing about this. Havn't spent the time to research it either. But is it possible the flag was meant for Montana or Washington as well?
Now I would expect to find a 40 star flag in the Dakotas or Montana or Washington. But how did such a flag get into a wall in the state of Maine?
Great find in any case! Hope your friend dscovers more to the story some day...
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Michael Johnson