It begins with Joseph Smith, born May 2, 1835, in Loudon, New Hampshire. His parents moved to Corinna, Maine when he was three years old where his father was the town blacksmith. In 1850, he heard about the fortunes being made in the goldmines in California and not really wanting to follow his father’s trade, he left home for the West. He sailed from Belfast, Maine down the east coast of the Americas, “around the horn” of South America and back up the West coast to San Francisco. The overland route was considered unsafe and took the longest by going across the country in what was then known as “Indian territory “and over the Rockies to California. In 1856 at age 21, he struck gold and had the watch chain made (and possibly a watch, that was not passed down). He sent money home to his parents and remained in California until 1862, when he learned all but one of his siblings had died from consumption or now known as T.B. He returned to Corinna; Maine purchased a tract of land and built his home there with the money he had left. He married Arminda Devereaux from the neighboring of St. Albans, Maine in 1863 and they had two children. His occupation was listed as a farmer on census records, but his farm was small, and he had more than enough money to live on. He became a trustee of Corinna Union Academy where the next few generations of descendants would graduate. He died on November 7, 1911, in Corinna, Maine and the chain passed to his son.
Julius Clifford Smith was born on September 4, 1868, in Corinna, Maine. He was raised in Corinna with his sister, Jennie Smith. He graduated from the Corinna Union Academy in 1889. He married his classmate, Emmie Mower in 1894 and had three children. Sadly, Emmie died of T.B. in 1894 at the Greenville, Maine Sanitorium. He was called “Punka” by the family as his oldest granddaughter, Hilma Smith could not say “Papa” correctly. He was a house painter by occupation and inherited his family’s’ home in 1911. In 1926, he left a note with the watch chain stating, “when I am through, pass to Donald C. Smith, to keep in the Smith if possible and pass to his boy if he has one.” At the time, his son had only two daughters. Punka’s grandsons didn’t come along until the 1930s. In 1930, he married a widowed schoolteacher, Alice (Miller) Macomber. She would be the schoolteacher for most of her step-grandchildren. In 1946, The Smith family farm burned down. He then went to live with his son. He died on November 13, 1949, in Corinna, Maine and the chain passed to his son.
Donald Clifford Smith was born on March 4, 1897, in Corinna, Maine. After his mother’s death, he and his sisters were raised by his grandparents until their deaths and later by a housekeeper his father hired. Donald graduated from Corinna Union Academy in 1917 and joined the Army in 1918 during WWI. He never saw battle overseas and was stationed at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. After the war, he returned to Corinna and married Ethelyn Skinner in 1919. They took an old hen house from his father’s property and had it rebuilt into their home. Donald used part of the house for his business and family lived on the other side. They would have six children. Donald found work in the local mill in Corinna as a weaver for several years. He later did house painting like his father as well as doing wall papering in the area as his own business. After the fire that his father’s home in 1946, he had the front business part of the house converted to a small apartment for him and his stepmother. He died on November 11, 1967, in Corinna, Maine, shortlly before his grandson, Peter’s 4th birthday party. Donald left a will, but did not mention the watch chain. His personal belongings and estate were left to his widow. His oldest daughter, as executor of her mother’s estate in 1972, inherited the watch chain.
Hilma Edna Smith was born on May 11, 1920, in Corinna, Maine. Her name, Hilma, was Swedish as she was named after a woman that her mother lived with in New Sweden, Maine when she was a teacher there. She was raised in Corinna where she attended school and graduated from Corinna Union Academy in 1939. She married Thurlow Knowles in October 1939 and was the mother of four children. Hilma was always family-orientated and remembered fondly by her grandchildren, nieces and nephews, cousins, etc. For many she was considered the matriarch of the family by keeping in touch with as many relatives as she could over the years. She kept the watch chain until 1984, when she passed it to her nephew following her grandfather’s wishes to keep it in the Smith family if possible. She was aware of his interest in family history and genealogy, and made the promise not to sell it, but cherish it for the next generation. Hilma died February 21, 2011, in Bangor, Maine.
Peter Michael Smith was born in 1963 in Dexter, Maine, the son of Glenn and Shirley (Buzzell) Smith. His father being the youngest brother of Hilma Smith Knowles. His interest in his family history began in 1978 at age 14 when he and his father visited his great-aunt, Leona (Smith) Judkins. She told him the story of Joseph Smith going to California and the watch chain. He received the watchchain in 1984 from his aunt, Hilma as a Smith male interested in family history and promised to pass it down to another Smith descendant. His father Glenn Stanton purchased a pocket watch for the chain and gave it to him on December 24, 1989, as a Christmas gift. Glenn died June 28, 1996, in Gorham, Maine. Peter gave the watch and chain to his nephew in 2024.
Collins Michael Smith was born in 1997 in Hollis, Maine. He received the chain and watch on July 7, 2024, as a gift for his wedding in October of that year. He used them in his wedding to Sarah Picard.
The passing of the watch and chain at the wedding of Collins and Sarah Smith, 2024
