Notes on Rafanel from"Traditions and Records"

p. 185
    The adjoining large two- story house was built in 1882 byMr. and Mrs. Clark Hopkins on the siteof a small old one that had been built byAugustus Rafanel,grandfatherof Mrs. Hopkins.Mr. Rafanel owned a large tract of land here and kept a store.(100 acre strip between Peter Dolliver on the north and Andrew Tucker on the south near present day Henry Hinckley company).He and his wife came from France,bringing with them some valuable articles,such as silver,glass,chia,etc.,which are owned by the descendants.The Rafanels bought the land from Twisden Bowden.
 

p. 2119,220

In a lot within the churchyardd enclosed by a picket fence are the graves of Augustus Rafanel,who died in 1845,age 82 and his wife Nancy,whose death occurred in 1842at the age of 89.The verse on the gravestone of Augustus Rafanel is

"And let this feeble body fail
And let it faint or die
My soul shall quit this mournful vale
And soar to worlds on high.

Their son Simeon's stone records that he was born at Mount Desert and that he died Dec. 12 1820 at the age of 27.The verse on hisstone is one that was very popular about that time and is found in almost every burying groundin the town

"Remember now as you pass by
In bloom of health,so once was I
As I am now, so you shall be
Prepare for death and follow me"

Mr. and Mrs. Rafanel were married Apr 13 1785 at Bordeaux,France and came to Mt. Desert in the early days of its settlement.... household treasures that have been handed down to their descendants.These include some very fine china plates,choice little wine glasses,delicate old silver spoons and a quilt of the "old-time" copperplate print in mulberry and blue,the work of Mrs. Rafanel's own hands.In 1829 she purchased a Bibleand in it she wrote her family record in beautiful handwriting.On the first leaf of the book is written'Presented to Mrs. Ann Rafanel to her daughter Susan Rafanel, Annodomini 1829, Jan 8 Mount Desert.The name of Susannah Rafanel is stamped in gilt letters on the leather cover. The daughter Susan married John Moore and their daughter Mary Ann Strickland,married Clark Hopkins,and the Bible came down through the generations to Mrs. Hopkins daughter,then to her granddaughter,Mrs Celia Wilson Hamilton,in whose possession it now is.

Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville 1938