Lillian Graham was the youngest daughter of Michael and Agnes Graham.  She was born in Newburgh, NY on June 2, 1858, and was given the name Mary.  When her parents died around 1859, Lillian was adopted by Hannah and Charles Smith, and she was renamed Lillian Margaret (or Margaretta).  In the 1860 census she was already living with the Smiths and had been given her new surname of Smith.  The family included a son, George, who was 8 years older than Lillian.  Charles Smith worked in  a paper mill.  In 1870 the Smiths were still living in New Windsor, and George had left home.

Lillian was known as Lillie.  She married William Chauncey Darrow on September 4, 1878.  The wedding took place in South Lee, MA, probably at the Church of the Good Shepherd.  The Rev. Arthur Lawrence officiated.  William Darrow was a station agent who also taught penmanship.  From a previous marriage, he had a one-year-old daughter named Cora. 

Lillian and William had four children of their own:

1. Stella Eva was born in South Lee, MA on August 10, 1879. On September 1, 1903, she married Frederick William Shippee, a skilled carpenter.  Stella was a talented seamstress.  She and Fred had a daughter Lillian, born in 1911.

2. William Rodman was born in Great Barrington, CT on June 11, 1884.  He was a telegraph operator, and he went by the name of Rodman.  Family legend says that he married a Catholic girl and was disowned by his father.  However, his death certificate shows that he was single when he died of TB at age 26.

3. Paul Chauncey was born in New London, CT on October 18, 1886.  He worked for the railroad and later became traffic manager for Simplex Wire & Cable. He married Jeanette Lane, and they had no children.

4. Helen Margaretta was born in Dayville, CT on November 11, 1890.  She died before her first birthday.

Lillian was separated from her Graham siblings when she was very young.  Somehow she maintained contact with most of them.  Lillian and James Alexander were very close, and they wrote frequently even as James traveled all over, - to Trinidad, Montana, Alaska, Washington, and more.  Several of Lillian’s letters to “Brother Jimmie” are still in existence.  At some time James gave Lillian a lovely gold necklace engraved, “James to Lillian.”

 Photos show that Lillian was a very attractive woman.  Apparently, she was quite petite.  In 1881 she wrote in a letter to her brother James, “I am growing fat in my old age.  I weight 116 lbs. now. When I was married, I weighed 95 lbs. Quite a change."

As evidenced by the birth places of their children, Lillian and her husband “Will” moved a fair amount.  However, they didn’t stray beyond Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Beside the towns mentioned above, the family also lived in Sheffield, Massachusetts. 

Lillian died in Dayville, Connecticut on July 16, 1901.  Her death certificate states the cause of death to be chronic gastritis and heart disease.  However, oral accounts of her death claim that the cause was complications from childbirth.  She and the baby were buried in the High Street Cemetery in Dayville.  For many years they had no grave stones.  When son Paul Darrow was older and able to earn some money, he purchased headstones and had them engraved.