Captain Samuel Watts was not only the wealthiest man in Thomaston, according to the United States Census report of 1840, but also the wealthiest man in the United States. At that time, three of the country’s only seven millionaires lived in Thomaston, and all were ship builders. Watts owned this plot of land and the single-story house to the south, while the smaller house once stood on this lot. Wanting a home that better reflected his standing, he bought the land next door, moved his original house there, and built this magnificent residence, the largest house in town. Its scale was such that a modern six-room ranch house could fit inside the front room, which measured more than forty feet long and over thirty feet wide. The home featured exquisite woodwork and very deep crown moldings. In an interior photograph taken in one corner of the dining room, Watts’s daughter Mary Jane Watts appeared with friends, seated on the right.