As a direct descendant of Capt. Ephraim Sturdivant (Cumberland's first town treasurer), and a devoted resient of the town, Phyllis Ruth Sturdivant Sweetser (1989-1995) was encoraged to create a history of the town of Cumberland for the celebration of the bicentennial birthday of the United States in 1975. Her mother-in-law, Mary Pittee Sweetser, had written a fifty-page history of the town in 1921, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, so Phyllis had a good start from the family to accomplish her mission. Phyllis was the librarian at the Prince Memoiral Library, and also the school librarian at Greely Institute, thus was very familiar with books. This updated version of her efforts has been a long time coming, but shows that history continually moves on and changes.