To mark the town’s 250th anniversary, this year’s Memorial Day parade will feature “legacy families.”

In honor of Cape Elizabeth’s 250th anniversary, this year’s Memorial Day parade will, in addition to recognizing veterans, showcase several of the town’s legacy families, from the Jordans and Maxwells to the Hannafords and Dyers, who all played a role in shaping the town’s history.

“These families have made significant contributions to the flavor and texture of this community over time,” said Barbara Powers, chairwoman of the town’s 250th Anniversary Committee. “Capers come together for the Memorial Day parade in order to honor the town’s veterans as well as those in active service. It seemed to be an appropriate time to honor those families who have made longstanding commitments to serving the town, as well.”

Each of the families that participate in the Memorial Day parade on Monday, May 25, will carry a sign, created by fourth-graders at Pond Cove School, that depicts their legacy family name.

The families were asked to trace their family heritage back at least 100 years. Jordan, Murray, Maxwell and Hannaford are just some of the names the 250th organizers identified in historic documents, newspapers, books, photos and other resources.

“Over the years, the Jordans, Hannafords, Maxwells and Dyers all were very active in local government and made Cape Elizabeth a nice place to live in now,” said Norm Jordan, a 10th-generation member of the Jordan family. “My great- great-grandfather, Clement, was a sea captain in the War of 1812 and his father, Steven, was a builder of the Spurwink Church” on Spurwink Avenue, Jordan said.

Jordan, 80, who is also a member of the town’s 250th Anniversary Committee and owner of “The Farm” on Ocean House Road, is a descendant of the Rev. Robert Jordan, one of the first settlers of Cape Elizabeth’s Richmond Island in 1641.

“He got married in 1643 to Sarah Winter. Her father (John Winter) ran the fishing business on Richmond Island,” Jordan said. “When her father passed away, he inherited the estate.”

The Hannaford family arrived in Cape Elizabeth from New Hampshire in 1790 and the Dyer family arrived from Massachusetts in the mid-1700s, said Jordan, who is also a member of the town’s historical preservation society. According to Jordan, the town was settled mainly by farmers and fishermen.

“They were all farmers. Even if they were ship captains, they had a farm,” Jordan said. “Cape was entirely farmland up until the early 1900s.”

Today, farms in Cape Elizabeth, including the William H. Jordan Farm, run by the Jordans, and Maxwell’s Farm, run by the Maxwell family, continue to thrive. Lois Bamford, daughter of Elsie Maxwell, and her husband, Bill Bamford, kept the legacy of farming alive for the Maxwells after the passing of Kenneth Maxwell, Elsie Maxwell’s husband, who started the strawberry fields on Ocean House Road in 1974.

The Maxwell family “begins with James Maxwell, who came to America in about 1718. He was one of the Scottish immigrants (and) he was the first selectman of Cape Elizabeth. And, William Maxwell was the first constable of Cape Elizabeth,” said Elsie Maxwell, 86, who plans to participate in the parade. Her sister-in-law, Arlene Maxwell Espling, is the oldest living Maxwell in town.

Randy Blake, a parade organizer and husband of Kathy Blake, a Hannaford descendant, said some of his children and grandchildren will be marching in the parade, including his 3-year-old granddaughter Lucy, who was named after Cape Elizabeth’s first school principal, Lucy Verrill, daughter of Rebecca Hannaford.

“The Hannaford name went out of the family and became Jordan, Verrill and other town names. They all sort of intermingled,” said Kathy Blake. “I am not sure if there are any surviving Hannafords now.”

“The Hannafords grew all the vegetables for Hannaford Bros.,” said resident Gerald Murray, whose father was a Hannaford and whose mother was a Murray. “My great-great-grandfather built most of the buildings in town. I live in one of the original Hannaford lots. I am one of the last descendants.”

According to Murray, Hannaford Bros. Co. incorporated in 1802 under the leadership of Howard and Edward Hannaford, brothers of Arthur Hannaford, who sold high-quality Cape Elizabeth produce from a one-horse cart on the Portland waterfront in 1883.

Cape Elizabeth was incorporated Nov. 1, 1765, and officially separated from South Portland in 1895. Six years later, a town hall was built by William Murray and dedicated June 19, 1901. The committee in charge consisted of Murray, Henry Jordan, Charles Ellsworth Jordan, Frank Peabbles and Albert Hannaford.

“Cape was a farming community that broke off from South Portland in 1895 in order to retain its rural character,” said Powers.

Members of the Murray family will also be joining the parade. According to Powers, the Murrays “were better known as builders and built many of the (architect) John Calvin Stevens homes located throughout the community, particularly in Delano Park and other coastal properties.”

Powers said there are several streets, coves, farms and businesses in Cape Elizabeth that reflect the family names, including Scott Dyer Road, where the Scott Dyer Homestead, purchased by “highly regarded sea captain” Scott Dyer in 1825, was once located.

Granddaughters of Kathy Blake, a descendant of the Hannaford family in Cape Elizabeth, are, from left, Charlotte Wainwright Blake, Lucy Marion Blake and Alyson Elizabeth Blackburn. The girls will be among those representing the Hannaford family in the Cape Elizabeth Memorial Day parade on May 25.Staff photo by Kayla J. CollinsRepresentatives from Cape Elizabeth’s legacy families will be featured in the Memorial Day parade on Monday, May 25. Pictured from left, are Norm Jordan, a 10th-generation Jordan family member; Elsie Maxwell, a fifth-generation member of the Maxwell family; and her daughter, Lois Bamford. Staff photo by Kayla J. CollinsKenneth Maxwell, late husband of Elsie Maxwell, who will be representing the Maxwell family in the Memorial Day parade on May 25, works on the family farm in 1998. Lois Bamford, their daughter, a sixth generation Maxwell, and her husband, Bill, took over ownership of the farm in 2007.Courtesy photo