DEWITT SHELDON SMITH (1840-1908)

I encourage requests to write an article about someone. When I met with David McCarthy at the ANA convention, he suggested an article on DeWitt Smith. His name variously appears as DeWitt, Dewitt or De Witt.

DeWitt Smith was born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, on April 4. 1840. Records of his ancestry are a bit muddled. I believe some of the links in the FamilySearch site are incorrect. He was probably the son of Jared Smith (1802-1848). His mother was Caroline Julia Sheldon (1810-1845). Both parents died when he was young. He was raised by his grandmother and uncle Elizur. He attended the Deacon Alexander Hyde school and studied civil engineering.

During the Civil War, he served as a second lieutenant with Company H of the 49th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He served as Captain of the company during the battle of Port Hudson.

After his military service, he returned to Lee, Massachusetts, to join his uncle, Elizur Smith and cousin Wellington Smith with the Smith Paper Company. They had five mills in the area. In 1899 he became president of the company.

He also had interests in the banking business. He was the vice president of the Lee Savings Bank and a director of the Lee National Bank. He was a director of the Berkshire Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Pittsfield. He contributed funds for the Lee marble school and the new public library,

He was married on October 10, 1865, to Jane Elizabeth Jennie Graves (1843-1918). They had five children that survived. His home on Park Street had a two-acre lot with gardens and greenhouses. His collection of orchids was the finest private collection in the country with a value estimated at $30,000. Smith employed a staff or four gardeners to tend to his flowers. He sold his orchids in 1892.

Carl Wurtzbach contributed his recollections to Hobbies Magazine for March 1941.

During the early 80's I was the clerk who prepared the medicines for Mr. Dewitt Smith and family. I got him interested in coins, the result being that he formed one of the outstanding collections of United States for all times.

Smith was a life member of the American Numismatic Society. He joined the American Numismatic Association as member 178 in January 1894. He was followed by Carl Wurtzbach as member 179. In the June 1895 issue of The Numismatist, he reported that he collected United States silver and copper in uncirculated condition, U. S. $1 and $3 gold, U. S. mint marks in silver and in $1 and $3 gold; private issues of gold – California, Salt Lake City, Colorado, etc,; colonials in silver and copper. He had extensive collections of all of these.

He acquired the 1792 Washington President gold eagle from Lorin Parmelee and sold it with his collection to Virgil Brand. This was one of the highlights from the collection of Eric P. Newman, and described as Eric's favorite coin.

He died at home at Noon on June 25, 1908, and was noted as the wealthiest man in Lee. He was buried at Fairmount Cemetery in Lee, Massachusetts. In a tribute, Thomas Elder wrote. It is understood that his collection of American Colonials is unapproached by any other, while his private gold collection may be the finest known.

Local coin collectors are widely discussing the report that the celebrated collection of pioneer gold coins gathered by the late De Witt Smith, a wealthy paper manufacturer of Lee, Mass., has passed into possession of Field's Columbian Museum of Chicago for the sum of $35,000. It is said the coins would have fetched $50,000 at public auction.

Coin experts regard this as the most complete collection of various gold pieces that passed current in the early days of California, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado. Several of the coins, such as the five-dollar pieces issued by the private minting firms of Dunbar & Co, and Dubosq & Co, at San Francisco in 1850 and 1851, he picked up at a little in excess of face value. If offered at public sale today they would bring a thousand dollars or more each.

In Mr. Smith's collection was also said to be a $25 gold coin issued by Templeton Reid in California in 1849. Other than this specimen none is supposed to exist. The Philadelphia mint collection had one of these odd denominations twenty-five years ago, and one of the exhibit cases was broken into and the piece, together with several other rare California issues, was taken. Collectors place a value of $5,000 or more upon this piece.

Just four days earlier, a local newspaper, The North Adams Transcript, carried a contradictory story in their issue of October 15, 1908.

The buyer did not remain secret for long. The October/November 1908 issue of The Numismatist reported,

Chicago is to be congratulated on its acquisition of the great gold coin collection of the late DeWitt S. Smith of Lee, Mass., and individual congratulations to Mr. Virgil M. Brand, president of the Chicago Numismatic Society who is the reported purchaser.

In Mr. Smith's collection was also said to be a $25 gold coin issued by Templeton Reid in California in 1849. Other than this specimen, none is supposed to be extant. The Philadelphia mint collection had one of these odd denominations twenty five years ago, but one of the exhibition cases was broken into and the piece, together with several other rare California issues was stolen. Collectors place a value of $5000 or more upon this $25 piece.

This coin is problematical if it was the same coin stolen from the Mint. Authorities have been known to confiscate stolen coins. The coin cannot be traced through the Brand collection or authenticated after 1908.