Week 41 - What The Timeline Shows - Smith watch fobs

I’m going to take a somewhat broader approach to "What the Timeline Shows" today. For decades, my mother-in-law had a display of watch fobs and watches hanging on the wall just off her kitchen. When something has been part of your surroundings for that many years, it’s easy to take it for granted. 

As her health began to decline about 15 years ago, I began to inventory all that she had as she had told me about specific items that she wanted certain persons in the family to have.  I began taking pictures of the items and then put together a spreadsheet that she spent months looking at and writing in names for those that she wanted to have an exact item.  Many items she gave to them while she was still living and I'm sure they appreciated what was handed down to them personally.

I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her. Those visits gave us the opportunity to talk without interruption, and I loved hearing her tell stories about her family, her childhood, and the people who had been part of her life.  I’m especially grateful that I took the time to listen—and to write some of it down.

The watch fobs in question were the possessions of my husband's maternal great-grandparents Noble Ray and Edith Emily (Stewart) Smith. Ray was born August 8, 1888, in Piper, Ogemaw County, Michigan.  

                         

His father Edward had immigrated from Canada to Michigan and worked as a lumberman there before moving to a farm in Five Lakes, Lapeer County, Michigan with his wife Amanda (LeBar) and family.

Edith was born April 7, 1888, in Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan. She was the third born of five daughters of John and Margaret (Graham) Stewart. Edith was a schoolteacher and at one point boarded at the Smith's farmhouse.  That is where she met Ray.  One of those narratives told to me by my mother-in-law was that his older brother Claude also was interested in her. She chose Ray. Family stories state that Claude never married. 

                       

Ray and Edith were the parents of nine children although only seven lived to adulthood. (Wayne, Margaret, Clarence, Ruth, Virginia, Evelyn, *Noble Jr, *Myrle and Claude) 

They lived and worked on the family farm for the duration of their lives along with his parents Edward and Amanda. They are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, North Branch, Michigan.

Barbie


Note: The watches and fobs are in the possession of Ray and Edith's 3x great grandson M. Wallace







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