The Smith family heritage in Vanceboro began with Moses Somes Thomas who was born on June 16, 1837 in Presque Isle, Maine.

Moses married Mary Jane Preble, who was born in Enfield, Maine. According to the 1880 census records, Moses and Mary lived in Vanceboro.

Moses was listed as a Lumberman. Moses and Mary had nine children. Their daughter Eva Estella Thomas was born in February, 1859 in Mattawamkeag, Maine. Eva married John Dixon who was born in St Croix, New Brunswick. Eva and John had 10 children.

John and Eva’s daughter, Julia Rae Dixon, here with her mother, was born on February 18, 1894 in Vanceboro, Maine.

Julia married Frank Alden Smith on June 9, 1914, in St Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. Frank was born August 15, 1880 in St. Stephen, son of Charles Franklin Smith and Isadora Ellsmore. Frank worked as a lumber jack and then, eventually, at the Hale Farm in Vanceboro. He died on October 1, 1941, in Calais, Maine. He is buried in the Vanceboro cemetery. Julia died on March 5, 1981 in Calais, Maine. She, too, is buried in Vanceboro.

Julia Dixon Smith
Frank Alden Smith Sr.
Frank Alden Smith Sr. at the Hale Farm

Julia and Frank had eleven children over 19 years, all born in Vanceboro:

Willa Pearl Smith was born on March 2, 1915

Myrtle May Smith was born on April 23, 1916

Joseph Henry Smith was born on January 19, 1918

Evie Estelle Smith was born on April 8, 1919

Charles Franklin Smith was born on April 6, 1920

Garnet Philmore Smith was born on December 6, 1922 

Annie Isadora Smith was born on August 2, 1925

Eugene Francis Smith was born on March 8, 1926

Lawrence Victor Smith was born on March 23, 1928

Frank Alden Smith was born on January 2, 1930

Clara Harriet Smith was born on September 23, 1934

Their sixth child, Garnet Philmore Smith, married Pearl Marion Essensa who was born on February 24, 1928 in St. David’s Ridge, New Brunswick. Garnet and Pearl had 10 children. The oldest daughter, Dorothy, graduated from Vanceboro High School in 1965 and soon after the family moved to Connecticut.