Adult adoptee seeks share of IBM fortune
On an island liberally sprinkled with the affluent andwell-connected members of such clans as Bush, du Pont, Rockefeller andCabot, the Watson family occupies a special place. Thefamily, descendants of Thomas J. Watson Sr., the founder of I.B.M.,owns more than 300 acres worth nearly $20 million on the northern tipof this sea-splashed idyll 90 miles northeast of Portland. Over fourdecades, various Watsons summering here have flown helicopters andother aircraft; driven antique cars and collected scrimshaw. The familyhas held an annual square dance at their compound, Oak Hill. Recently, though, the Watson name has surfaced in a different context,a most unusual lawsuit. It concerns Olive F. Watson, 59, granddaughterof the I.B.M. founder and daughter of Thomas J. Watson Jr., thecompany’s longtime chief executive; and Patricia Ann Spado, 59, herformer lesbian partner of 14 years. In 1991, Ms. Watson, then 43, adopted Ms. Spado, then 44, under a Mainelaw that allows one adult to adopt another. The reason, Ms. Spado hascontended in court documents, was to allow Ms. Spado to qualify as anheir to Ms. Watson’s estate. But less than a year after theadoption, Ms. Watson and Ms. Spado broke up. Then in 2004, Ms. Watson’smother died, leaving multimillion-dollar trusts established by herhusband to be divided among their 18 grandchildren. Re-enterMs. Spado with a claim: Because she was adopted by Olive F. Watson, shesaid, she is technically Thomas J. Watson Jr.’s 19th grandchild and istherefore eligible for a share of the trusts.