Linda Smith Hilton

Charles D. and Lavinia Smith

We don't have a lot of details about Linda's life before she married Willis. She was born in 1863 and was four years older than Willis. (Willis was 34 at the time of their marriage.) We know she lived in Foxboro, MA. Willis' daughter-in-law Frederica Hilton said he told her he met Linda on his way back home from his years out West (really, mid-west). He fell in love with her and invited her to Bremen to see if she thought she could live there. She said she could, so they were married and lived in Bremen for the rest of their lives. It is Frederica who also said that Linda was a milliner in Massachusetts.

In addition to taking care of her home and children, Linda led a very active life. She was Broad Cove postmistress for many years and helped Willis with the general store they operated. She ran a rooming house for summer boarders. She was a member of the Patriotic Club of Bremen, including a term as President in the 1930s when the ell was added to the Bremen Town House. She belonged to a Bremen sewing club, called the Ladies Improvement Society (maybe a forerunner of the Ladies' Aid?), and the Good Will Bible Club. She obviously had a great love for dogs and cats as almost every photograph of her also includes one of her pets. She also enjoyed her flower gardens and had roses growing all over the porch on their home.

Linda died from a stroke in April 1944 and is buried in the Broad Cove Cemetery in Bremen.

(This account above may not be completely accurate. If any of the cousins have different information that they heard from Linda, Willis or their parents, please let me know and I will correct it. Diane)