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OK, so this will go into my blog space eventually. I am just tinkering for now. Thanks for
your help!! ~Miss Rose
My father, Edward Smith, is well known in the commerce business in Bangor. You may remember him as the organizer of Katahdin
Ironworks Township. That was when I was merely a baby back in 1843. I had since moved with my mother to the coastal whaling
town of Mystic in Connecticut. My grandfather was ill and mother needed to go help tend to him.
I showed an adept ability
to handiwork and so I was then to stay with my brother in Saratoga Springs, New York so I could apprentice under the watchful
eye of Mme Demorest. Sadly, after only a brief time there, the Demorests moved to New York to expand the business and I returned
to Mystic. There, I met and married one Samuel Snow of the Massachusetts Snows. We settled in Rhode Island. Shortly thereafter,
this dreadful war began and upon the call, Samuel answered in the fall of '61. I had already established myself among the
sea captains' wives as a dressmaker and supported myself by their continued purchase of my designs.
Much to my distress,
we lost my dear Samuel in a battle near Cincinnati, a place called Covington, Kentucky in April of 1863. I couldn't bear to
live in Rhode Island without him, so I came back to my beloved Maine where I had sweet memories of my childhood. I continue
to sew and I even travel back to Rhode Island to put the finishing touches on designs for the ladies who still will only wear
one of my creations.
So now I lend my hand to the brave families of the 20th Maine. Last what we heard, they are heading
for a little town called Gettysburg. Here in the Brownville area are many a family with loved ones who have answered the call.
I am adjusting to the much more rural area I now live as compared to the bustle of the ever growing area in Rhode Island.
Sometimes I think this weather will simply drive me mad in my isolation, but spring will come soon and melt the cold away.
With that will no doubt come a busy season of traveling and preparation for next winter.
I must say, it is good to see
progress here in Maine as the rest of the nation seems to be moving ever so swiftly into the future. Sometimes, I can't help
but to wonder how new inventions are indeed good for us as a country. But I must confess, they do intrigue me.
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