Clyde Smith (1939)
Clyde Harold Smith (1876-1940), husband of Margaret Chase Smith, a U.S. Representative was born on a farm near Harmony, on June 9, 1876. He moved with his parents to Hartland in 1891 and attended the rural schools and Hartland Academy.
Smith taught school; served in the Maine House of Representatives (1899-1903 and 1919-1923). He engaged in the retail clothing and hardware business in 1901, was superintendent of schools of Hartland from 1903 to 1906, and was member of the board of selectmen of Hartland 1904-1907.
He moved to Skowhegan having been elected sheriff of Somerset County and served from 1905 to 1909. Smith engaged in the retail sales of automobiles, the hardware and plumbing business, and the newspaper publishing business in Skowhegan. He later engaged in banking and the real estate business and was a member of the board of selectmen of Skowhegan 1914-1932.
Smith served in the Maine State Senate 1923-1929, was chairman of the State Highway Commission 1928-1932, and was a member of the Governor’s council 1933-1937.
Elected as a Republican to the Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth Congresses, he served from January 3, 1937, until his death in Washington, D.C. on April 8, 1940, with interment in Pine Grove Cemetery, Hartland, Maine.
He was succeeded in Congress by his wife and future U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith.
Additional resources
Photo credit: Harris & Ewing. “Maine Representative. Washington, D.C., April 10. A new informal picture of Rep. Clyde Smith, Republican of Maine. 4-10-39.” http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2009013151/ (accessed December 11, 2017)
Clyde Smith Congressional Biographyhttps://history.house.gov/People/Listing/S/SMITH,-Clyde-Harold-(S000523)/ (accessed January 10, 2021)