Joseph Smith

I have decided begin my first post about my ancestor Joseph Smith. It was his story that got me interested in history as well as my family history.   In 1978, my Dad took me to the Village Cemetery in Corinna, Maine where his parents were buried.  Until that time, I don't remember really going to the cemetery.  While at my grandparents lot, I noticed there were several more Smith stones nearby.  I asked my Dad who these other stones were for?  He explained these were my grandparents, the other stones were my great-grandparents and my great-great-grandparents.  I asked about them and if my Dad knew them and he only remembered his grandparents.  However, he knew someone in town who knew all about them, his aunt Leona or my great-aunt.    My aunt Leona was 83 at that time and used a walker to get around.  As a young child, I would stay at my grandparents and my grandmother would allow me to call and talk to my aunt Leona which as a child of 4 or 5 was a big deal because I was not allowed to talk on the phone at home.  I know looking back, this probably gave my grandmother a break of being my entertainment so she could make our lunch or dinner.   But Leona remembered me and my conversations with her.  She said "I didn't always know what you were talking about, but you were so excited to tell me."

My great-aunt Leona and her husband Wilbur Judkins













Although, she could not recall every family story in detail and regretted she had not paid more attention as a child, she began to tell me my ancestry.  She started  showing me family photos, one of which was Joseph Smith.  She told me that Joseph was the first son of seven children of Daniel J. Smith, the town blacksmith and his wife, Elizabeth Wiggin.  When Joseph was about 18, stories of the gold rush in California were reaching Maine.  So he decided to head to California to make his fortune.  There were two ways to California.  One by land which was a dangerous journey over the Rockies and through Indian territories and could take up to a year to get to San Francisco.  The other was by sea, which was a shorter trip, but involved traveling down the East coast of the Americas, around the Horn of South America and back up the west coasts to San Francisco.  Joseph choose to go by sea and set sail from Belfast, Maine, around the horn and up the west coast to San Francisco.

We know Joseph was living at home in Maine on the 1850 census and left soon afterwards.  He was not part of the "Forty-niners", but arrived later in the gold rush period.  Joseph struck gold in 1856.  We don't how much gold he mined or how much money he made.  My great-aunt said she never heard him talk about his time in California and she probably wasn't even aware of how long he remained there after he struck gold.  Who knows what Joseph experienced and  saw during that time period in California.  He doesn't appear to have ever told any stories about it to his family or wrote about it.  He remained out west for several more years after finding gold.  He used some of money to have the only known photo taken of himself to celebrate.

Joseph Smith

Some of the money it was said was sent back to help out his parents and siblings.  Sadly, while Joseph was in California, all but one of his siblings died, three of them within a month of Tuberculosis in 1862.  My great-aunt Leona said that all of his siblings had died while he was away, but he had a brother, Ezra, who also survived.  Joseph was not living at home in 1860 and probably was still living in California, but to determine which of the hundreds of Joseph Smiths. Jos Smiths or J. Smiths living in California in 1860 make it difficult to determine which one is him.  Joseph returned to Corinna, Maine in 1863 by railroad. 

He purchased a large tract of land on Pleasant St. in Corinna where he built his farm.

The Joseph Smith Farm in 1897
In the photo l to r:  Emmie Smith holding her son Donald Smith, Arminda Smith, wife of Joseph Smith,
Jennie Smith with Leona Smith in carriage

Joseph married and had two children.  He gave money to Corinna Union Academy which he was a member of the board.  Joseph did not follow in his father trade of blacksmithing and that may have been because his brother, Ezra had followed their father into the trade.  Joseph instead became a farmer.

Joseph died November 7, 1911 at his home in Corinna, Maine and buried in the Corinna Village Cemetery.  His will left his estate to his son and $1000 to his daughter, Jennie.

gravestone of Joseph and Arminda Smith
Village Cemetery, Corinna, Maine