SMITH, Samuel

This is an excerpt from
Samuel Smith homestead circa 1815: On the Road from the Corners to Winthrop Mills.
The full 7 page essay is available via my web site: To Those Who Led the Way in Readfield, ME

The Samuel Smith homestead circa 1815 at 514 Winthrop Road.
This picture was taken about 1960.

Samuel Smith was born 19 Feb 1791 on the Smith homestead on Sturtevant Hill Road. His parents were Mathias Smith, Jr. and Temperance (Blossom)[i] Smith. His grandfather – also Mathias – had served in the French and Indian War; and both his father and grandfather were Revolutionary War veterans. Capt. Mathias Smith came from Martha’s Vineyard about 1770 – one of our first settlers in Readfield. His log cabin was located near Dead Stream; and his son Mathias built the large farm known as “Smith homestead” on Sturtevant Hill Road.[ii]
There were many other Smiths who lived in Readfield in the 18^th and 19^th centuries but we will focus here on Samuel and his wife Sally (Davis) Smith.

Samuel and Sally were neighbors as young people. Her father was Benjamin Davis, Jr. and they lived further south on Sturtevant Hill Road. Ben Davis was a successful orchardist and farmer. The Davis family oral tradition actually says that he developed the Ben Davis Apple. His father – also Benjamin Davis – migrated here from Truro, MA about 1800 and the elder Davis was a mariner by trade as were many other men who migrated here from Cape Cod and the nearby islands.[iii]

Samuel and Sally were married in Readfield Nov 11, 1815. He purchased the southern half of lot #67 – 80 acres – from William and Mary Gray on August 26, 1816.[iv]  In the deed part of the description says the land was located “on the road from the corners to Winthrop Mills.” His purchase included a total of 80 acres – 50 on the west side and 30 on the east side of the road. Samuel chose a spot on the east side of the road to build his home.

Samuel and Sally’s first child, Samuel Jr. was born October 15, 1816. Soon to follow were: 2) Sumner b.1819 3) Salmon b.1821 4) Silmon b.1823 5) Sorannus b.1825.[v] Of these five sons Salmon was the only one to remain in Readfield. The other children left the state: Samuel died in Iowa in 1877; Sumner moved to Roxbury, MA where he died in 1861; Silmon lived in Boston where he died in 1896; Sorannus also moved out west to Kansas and then Iowa.

In 1846 Samuel sold his homestead with 80 acres to his 25 year old, single son Salmon for $1,000.[vi]

It was very common for the elderly parents to live the rest of their days on the family homestead, with the child who took over the farm. That was not the case in this situation. Samuel went to live in Joseph Hutchinson’s Inn at Readfield Depot. The railroad came through town in 1849 and most of the boarders living there were working for the railroad in one capacity or another. There was no occupation listed for Samuel on the 1850 census so his reason for living there is open to interpretation. Perhaps he was the innkeeper’s helper; or he may have been a handy man for the neighborhood or the railroad. We may never know.

The 1850 census gives the strong impression that Samuel and Sally Davis had parted ways for she was living in Winthrop (near the North Wayne line) with a Gardiner family. Several others with different surnames were living there at that time as well. The head of that household was Benjamin Gardiner, “master mariner”. Her reason for living there is not known because there is no occupation listed for her either. Sally could have been a guest or family friend but I quicker think she was also a boarder.  In 1860 Sally was living with a Berry family in Wayne and again there is no occupation or relationship to the family listed. She may have been working as a domestic or taken in as a pauper but generally the census would include that information so I tend to think she was taken in as a guest or boarder there as well.

One interpretation of this situation could be that Samuel and Sally separated and Salmon would or could not choose between them so he bought the farm and his parents each received their share to live on and pay board elsewhere. Samuel died in 1852 and Sally in 1862. Interestingly, they are buried side by side in Readfield Corner Cemetery and Sally’s gravestone identifies her as the wife of Samuel Smith.[vii]

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[i] His mother Temperance was a Blossom from Monmouth, ME. The Blossoms were a prominent family in Monmouth and if one ever gets the chance to tour the Monmouth Historical Society one would see the Blossom House as part of their preserved buildings.

[ii] http://www.readfield1791.blogspot.com/2013/09/smith-mathias-jr.html accessed 11/20/2013

[iii] Boatman-Potter-Clark Family Tree; www.ancestry.com accessed 11/20/2013

[iv] Kennebec County Registry of Deeds Book 8/26/1816 Book 24 Page 323

[v] Clark, Dale Potter; To Those Who Led the Way: Readfield VR’s 1768-1913; self- published 2009; page 42. Available for purchase as are other historical books about Readfield at www.readfieldmaine.blogpot.com

[vi] Kennebec County Registry of Deeds Book 151 Page 338 August 3, 1846

[vii] There is no record of a divorce in the Kennebec County records.