According to legend the first Smith in this genealogy was a weaver by trade who came to America from Ireland. Genealogical research has determined that Simeon Smith, gr.grandfather of George B. Smith, is the oldest Smith of this line on record.
In February, 2000, Alan Clark saw my Smith Legacy Gedcom on the Rootsweb WorldConnect site, and contacted me. According to Alan, Jonathan Smith was one of 18 children born to Simeon Smith and Betsey Gilman. Simeon was born in 1742 at Kingston,NH. Betsey was the daughter of Israel and Abigail Gilman of Gilmantown, NH.
Jonathan was born 31 Dec. 1777. Jonathan married Olive Hodgdon on 31 Jan. 1798 in Sandwich,NH(record obtained by Alan Clark). Jonathan lived in Stanstead for a time, then moved to Owls Head, NY.
Alan Clark is a direct descendant of Gilman Smith and an amateur genealogist. Alan reported that Gilman resided for a time in Chasm Falls, N.Y. After that he lived in Stockholm, N.Y., and he finally settled in Moira, N.Y., where he died in 1866. He was married twice and left children by both marriages. The sources for this information are Dr. Watson Harwood and Allan Clark of 822 W. Lancaster St., Orlando, Florida. . As of Feb. 2000 Alan was living in Jacksonville,Fl, and employed as a librarian. Alan and George Foss are THIRD COUSINS THREE REMOVED. The common ancestor is Jonathan Smith. Alan is the gr.gr.gr.gr.gr.grandson, and George is the gr. gr. grandson.
George B. Smith had knowledge that the Smiths were of Scotch-Irish heritage, but little else is extant concerning the origins of this Smith line. DNA analysis for George D. Foss(grandson of George B. Smith), reveals that his ethnicity is 100% European, of which 19% is from Great Britain, and 15% is from Ireland. If you combine his ethnicity from Great Britain and Ireland one gets 34% as possibly Scotch-Irish which is consistent with legend.
Scotch-Irish is purely a U.S. term used to distinguish the Presbyterian/Protestant Irish, mostly from Northern Ireland, who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1700's as separate and distinct from earlier and later Catholic emigrants.
It is well documented that all of the New England Smiths and their spouses were Protestants which identifies them as Ulstermen or Ulster-Scots, another name for the Scotch-Irish, since Ulster was the part of Northern Ireland in which the Scots were settled by the British. If one is to pursue the genealogical research for our “Smith the weaver” we need look no farther than the four counties of northeast Down, north and east Antrim, north Londonderry, and east Donegal where Ulster-Scots settled in the Plantation period, who by trade were weavers of linen or otherwise involved in textile manufacture.
We don’t know when “Smith the weaver” emigrated to America, but we know that there was a great need for emigration in the early days of the 1700’s because the Scotch-Irish were hit hard by warfare and religious persecution. Many paid passage by agreeing to 4 years as indentured servants in order to take advantage of the fertile and free land in the U.S.
It isn’t until we begin research on the Moses B. Smith family in upstate New York that we are privy to genealogical documentation that is verifiable. Moses B. Smith and his wife Betsey Ann Magoon are the parents of George B. Smith, and gr.grandparents of George D. Foss.
We have a more complete and accurate genealogical record for Betsey Ann Magoon than we do for Moses B. Smith. Smith family lore holds that Betsey Ann Magoon was full-blooded Irish, but they were wrong. Extensive research now proves that Betsey Ann was of Scottish descent. We now have in our possession a very complete genealogy of the Magoon clan that encompasses 14 generations. Betsey’s mother Melita Briggs may well have been of Irish descent, but we have no documentation to prove this. She is most likely of English descent. The modern surname Bridges, Brydges or Briggs derive from early medieval English topographical surnames for someone who lived near a bridge.
While Betsey was living at the home of her son Calvin Smith in Auroraville,WI. Winnie Smith Peck Reimienschnieder(daughter of Calvin), remembered that Betsey was a small woman with thin white hair which was combed straight back into a pug. She said Betsey smoked a clay pipe which she would put into the stove from time to time to bake it white again. Betsey was the daughter of Daniel Magoon and Melita Briggs(Daniels's 2nd wife). Betsey's youngest half- brother Gilman Magoon married Ruth Smith(a neice of Moses B. Smith), so it is evident how closely entwined the Smiths and the Magoons were.
We have in our possession a hard copy of the genealogical research by Nancy Wasko of the GenForum Magoon Message List. This hard copy consists of 14 generations of the Magoon Lines that connect with Betsey Magoon. The history accompanying that research reveals that the Scotch Magoon ancestors may have already made contact with Smith the weaver back in Ireland, It is possible that the Smiths and the Magoons came to America at the same time,but this is only speculation.
According to Dr. Watson W. Harwood, of Malone, N.Y., writing in 1897: "The Smith family in the areas around Malone, New York are descended from Jonathan Smith, who was born in New Hampshire* in 1777. He married, and after some years of further residence in New Hampshire*, and several more in Stanstead,Quebec, he came in 1838 to Chasm Falls,New York. He died in 1865, aged 88 yrs. He was the father of four sons and three daughters, all born in New Hampshire: Gilman, Israel, John, Moses, Diana, Betsey, and Olive."
Dr. Watson Harwood(1854-1934) was a physcian in Chasm Falls for 52 years.
*According to the U.S.Census of 1860(State of New York,Franklin County, town of Bellmont) Moses Smith reported that he was born in Vermont. This information conflicts with that of Dr. Watson Harwood, who reports that Moses Smith was born in New Hampshire. This could make a big difference in the thrust of the search for genealogical information related to this entire family. At this particular time I would lean towards the Vermont birthplace for Moses.
According to the 1860 census, Jonathan Smith, age 83, born N.H., was living with his grandson, John Smith, age 28.
I would like to thank Elida Thomas of Massena, New York(my 2nd cous.-1 removed) for sharing the genealogical work she carried out on the Smith line in New York State, Canada, and the New England states.
Elida is the gr.gr.gr.granddaughter of Jonathan Smith. She was born 27 March, 1927, at Owls Head,New York. Writing in July,2000, she says the foundations of the Smith homestead are still visible in the fields at Chasm Falls.
She is the one who located the records of Dr. Watson Harwood, who was an amateur genealogist in the area of Malone, and Chasm Falls(Owls Head), New York.
Dr. Harwood was also the family doctor for the Moses Smith family in Owls Head, so he was a contemporary of the Mose Smith family, and would thus be a first-hand source. His genealogical work was published in 1897. I don't have the exact citation for Dr. Harwood's publication, but no doubt it could most likely be found in the Historical Societies and libraries that cover upstate New York.
In Feb 2000, The names Simeon Smith and Betsey Gilman were obtained from information supplied by Alan Clark who is a direct descendant of Gilman Smith(1808-1866). Alan Clark is my third cousin three times removed, with Jonathan Smith as our common ancestor. The birthdate, birthplace, and marriage dates for Jonathan Smith were also obtained from the records of Alan Clark.
I would suggest that much more work needs to be done to corroborate, document, and verify the work Alan Clark did on the early Smith lines. This can be said for all of the earliest records in the Smith genealogy.
I would suggest a search be made for the burial place for Jonathan Smith in the River Street Cemetery, South of Whipplesville, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River Road(County road 25) in Chasm Falls, N.Y.
The genealogy of Betsey Ann Magoon is well documented, and her ancestry has been traced into the 1600's in Scotland. The ancestry for Moses Smith is not as complete, as we can only go back as far as his father Simeon Smith who was born in 1742 in Kingston, N.H. We note that the town of Kingston is located within a few miles of the coast of the Atlantic ocean, and it is reasonable to assume that the father of Simeon Smith was among those Scotch-Irish who were transplanted by the British( to America) along with members of the Magoon clan.
Research on the Smith lines prior to Simeon Smith has not been very productive. However, we can sort of "sneak through the backdoor" so to speak, by means of the Magoon genealogies. It turns out that the current descendants of the Magoons have been very active and productive in their genealogical research.
On December 23, 1998 I posted the following message on the GenForum Genealogy Page:Re:Betsey Ann Magoon, 1818 Canada/NY. "I am searching for the origins of the family of Betsey Ann Magoon. Betsey was born 13 Dec. 1818 in Canada(probably near the Canadian border). She may have had brothers named Bradley, Daniel, and Gilman Magoon. Betsey married Moses B. Smithin about 1836 or 1837 in Stanstead, Quebec."
This post really opened the flood gates as per the Magoon listers, and I made contact with several outstanding Magoon genealogists.
A lister named Mary Shearer replied to my query asking me to provide her with my Magoon Genealogy and connections. I replied, telling her that I was more interested in the "Smith" lines as opposed to the "Magoon" lines. I told her that the main reason I got involved in searching for the Magoons at all was to try and learn more about the origins of the "Smiths."--a sort of through the back door approach. My goal was to locate a Magoon genealogist who might have knowledge specific to my grgrandmother Betsey Ann Smith(nee Magoon), and provide possible leads to the Smith origins.
On 18 March, 1999 Mary wrote"I can't make a definite connection, but I have hunch Betsey's ancestry leads back to Gilmantown,NH. The names Magoon, Gilman, and Smith all exist at Gilmantown(Gilmanton). Betsey Gilman of Gilmanton moved to Stanstead,Quebec, only a few miles from the New Hampshire border. There is also a Sally Gilman of Stanstead who married a Jonathan Magoon."
Then after a short correspondance I was able to determine that another lister named Nancy Wasko and I were fourth cousins once removed. Using Nancy's data we were able to trace the Magoon line to my grgrandmother Betsey Ann Magoon. Here is how I fit into the Magoon lines according to Nancy: "John Magoon was my 4th grgrandfather. He was Betsy's uncle. Her father Daniel was John's brother. Here is my line:
Jonathan Leavitt Magoon and Betsey Bell Smith
(son) John Magoon and Electra Baxter
(son) Steward Magoon and Caroline Miller
(son) John Alanson Magoon and Julia Langmaid
(son) Carl Stuart Magoon and May Maria Ellison
(dau) Marian Lois Magoon and Abram Lester Crapser
(dau) Mary Louise Crapser and Lorin Walter King
(dau) Nancy Elizabeth King(me) and Michael Wasko
Jonathan Leavitt Magoon and Betsey Bell Smith are our common ancestors.
(son) Daniel Magoon(married three times-thriteen children).
(dau) Betsey Ann Magoon and Moses B. Smith
(son) George B. Smith and Serepta Jane Smith
(dau) Bessie Jo Lana Smith and Arthur Carl Foss
(son) George D. Foss(me).
Nancy reported that our ancestor Jonathan Leavitt Magoon and his father Alexander both served in the Revolutionary War. Jonathan and alexander are not listed in any of the DAR books, so you would have to prove your line all the way back to them.
Other listers contacting me were Mary Woodman and Larry Magoon, both outstanding Magoon genealogists.
On 11 April, 1999 Amy Bond Simpson wrote the following on the GenForum Genealogy Page: "If you are interested in any Magoon information, and you haven't joined our list, please contact me for a personal inviation. There are a group of us who are very actively searching for all descendants of Henry Magoon and his brother John."
Relying on the combined data bases of the above listers I have been able to uncover a great deal of information concerning the origins of the Smith genealogy. Our genealogical research clearly reveals that the Smith, Magoon, and Gilman families had their American origins in the geographical vicinity of Exeter,NH. during the 18th century.
In February, 2000, Alan Clark saw my Smith Legacy Gedcom on the Rootsweb WorldConnect site, and contacted me. According to Alan, Jonathan Smith was one of 18 children born to Simeon Smith and Betsey Gilman. Simeon was born in 1742 at Kingston,NH. Betsey was the daughter of Israel and Abigail Gilman of Gilmantown, NH.
Jonathan was born 31 Dec. 1777. Jonathan married Olive Hodgdon on 31 Jan. 1798 in Sandwich,NH(record obtained by Alan Clark). Jonathan lived in Stanstead for a time, then moved to Owls Head, NY.
Alan Clark is a direct descendant of Gilman Smith and an amateur genealogist. Alan reported that Gilman resided for a time in Chasm Falls, N.Y. After that he lived in Stockholm, N.Y., and he finally settled in Moira, N.Y., where he died in 1866. He was married twice and left children by both marriages. The sources for this information are Dr. Watson Harwood and Allan Clark of 822 W. Lancaster St., Orlando, Florida. . As of Feb. 2000 Alan was living in Jacksonville,Fl, and employed as a librarian. Alan and George Foss are THIRD COUSINS THREE REMOVED. The common ancestor is Jonathan Smith. Alan is the gr.gr.gr.gr.gr.grandson, and George is the gr. gr. grandson.
George B. Smith had knowledge that the Smiths were of Scotch-Irish heritage, but little else is extant concerning the origins of this Smith line. DNA analysis for George D. Foss(grandson of George B. Smith), reveals that his ethnicity is 100% European, of which 19% is from Great Britain, and 15% is from Ireland. If you combine his ethnicity from Great Britain and Ireland one gets 34% as possibly Scotch-Irish which is consistent with legend.
Scotch-Irish is purely a U.S. term used to distinguish the Presbyterian/Protestant Irish, mostly from Northern Ireland, who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1700's as separate and distinct from earlier and later Catholic emigrants.
It is well documented that all of the New England Smiths and their spouses were Protestants which identifies them as Ulstermen or Ulster-Scots, another name for the Scotch-Irish, since Ulster was the part of Northern Ireland in which the Scots were settled by the British. If one is to pursue the genealogical research for our “Smith the weaver” we need look no farther than the four counties of northeast Down, north and east Antrim, north Londonderry, and east Donegal where Ulster-Scots settled in the Plantation period, who by trade were weavers of linen or otherwise involved in textile manufacture.
We don’t know when “Smith the weaver” emigrated to America, but we know that there was a great need for emigration in the early days of the 1700’s because the Scotch-Irish were hit hard by warfare and religious persecution. Many paid passage by agreeing to 4 years as indentured servants in order to take advantage of the fertile and free land in the U.S.
It isn’t until we begin research on the Moses B. Smith family in upstate New York that we are privy to genealogical documentation that is verifiable. Moses B. Smith and his wife Betsey Ann Magoon are the parents of George B. Smith, and gr.grandparents of George D. Foss.
We have a more complete and accurate genealogical record for Betsey Ann Magoon than we do for Moses B. Smith. Smith family lore holds that Betsey Ann Magoon was full-blooded Irish, but they were wrong. Extensive research now proves that Betsey Ann was of Scottish descent. We now have in our possession a very complete genealogy of the Magoon clan that encompasses 14 generations. Betsey’s mother Melita Briggs may well have been of Irish descent, but we have no documentation to prove this. She is most likely of English descent. The modern surname Bridges, Brydges or Briggs derive from early medieval English topographical surnames for someone who lived near a bridge.
While Betsey was living at the home of her son Calvin Smith in Auroraville,WI. Winnie Smith Peck Reimienschnieder(daughter of Calvin), remembered that Betsey was a small woman with thin white hair which was combed straight back into a pug. She said Betsey smoked a clay pipe which she would put into the stove from time to time to bake it white again. Betsey was the daughter of Daniel Magoon and Melita Briggs(Daniels's 2nd wife). Betsey's youngest half- brother Gilman Magoon married Ruth Smith(a neice of Moses B. Smith), so it is evident how closely entwined the Smiths and the Magoons were.
We have in our possession a hard copy of the genealogical research by Nancy Wasko of the GenForum Magoon Message List. This hard copy consists of 14 generations of the Magoon Lines that connect with Betsey Magoon. The history accompanying that research reveals that the Scotch Magoon ancestors may have already made contact with Smith the weaver back in Ireland, It is possible that the Smiths and the Magoons came to America at the same time,but this is only speculation.
According to Dr. Watson W. Harwood, of Malone, N.Y., writing in 1897: "The Smith family in the areas around Malone, New York are descended from Jonathan Smith, who was born in New Hampshire* in 1777. He married, and after some years of further residence in New Hampshire*, and several more in Stanstead,Quebec, he came in 1838 to Chasm Falls,New York. He died in 1865, aged 88 yrs. He was the father of four sons and three daughters, all born in New Hampshire: Gilman, Israel, John, Moses, Diana, Betsey, and Olive."
Dr. Watson Harwood(1854-1934) was a physcian in Chasm Falls for 52 years.
*According to the U.S.Census of 1860(State of New York,Franklin County, town of Bellmont) Moses Smith reported that he was born in Vermont. This information conflicts with that of Dr. Watson Harwood, who reports that Moses Smith was born in New Hampshire. This could make a big difference in the thrust of the search for genealogical information related to this entire family. At this particular time I would lean towards the Vermont birthplace for Moses.
According to the 1860 census, Jonathan Smith, age 83, born N.H., was living with his grandson, John Smith, age 28.
I would like to thank Elida Thomas of Massena, New York(my 2nd cous.-1 removed) for sharing the genealogical work she carried out on the Smith line in New York State, Canada, and the New England states.
Elida is the gr.gr.gr.granddaughter of Jonathan Smith. She was born 27 March, 1927, at Owls Head,New York. Writing in July,2000, she says the foundations of the Smith homestead are still visible in the fields at Chasm Falls.
She is the one who located the records of Dr. Watson Harwood, who was an amateur genealogist in the area of Malone, and Chasm Falls(Owls Head), New York.
Dr. Harwood was also the family doctor for the Moses Smith family in Owls Head, so he was a contemporary of the Mose Smith family, and would thus be a first-hand source. His genealogical work was published in 1897. I don't have the exact citation for Dr. Harwood's publication, but no doubt it could most likely be found in the Historical Societies and libraries that cover upstate New York.
In Feb 2000, The names Simeon Smith and Betsey Gilman were obtained from information supplied by Alan Clark who is a direct descendant of Gilman Smith(1808-1866). Alan Clark is my third cousin three times removed, with Jonathan Smith as our common ancestor. The birthdate, birthplace, and marriage dates for Jonathan Smith were also obtained from the records of Alan Clark.
I would suggest that much more work needs to be done to corroborate, document, and verify the work Alan Clark did on the early Smith lines. This can be said for all of the earliest records in the Smith genealogy.
I would suggest a search be made for the burial place for Jonathan Smith in the River Street Cemetery, South of Whipplesville, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River Road(County road 25) in Chasm Falls, N.Y.
The genealogy of Betsey Ann Magoon is well documented, and her ancestry has been traced into the 1600's in Scotland. The ancestry for Moses Smith is not as complete, as we can only go back as far as his father Simeon Smith who was born in 1742 in Kingston, N.H. We note that the town of Kingston is located within a few miles of the coast of the Atlantic ocean, and it is reasonable to assume that the father of Simeon Smith was among those Scotch-Irish who were transplanted by the British( to America) along with members of the Magoon clan.
Research on the Smith lines prior to Simeon Smith has not been very productive. However, we can sort of "sneak through the backdoor" so to speak, by means of the Magoon genealogies. It turns out that the current descendants of the Magoons have been very active and productive in their genealogical research.
On December 23, 1998 I posted the following message on the GenForum Genealogy Page:Re:Betsey Ann Magoon, 1818 Canada/NY. "I am searching for the origins of the family of Betsey Ann Magoon. Betsey was born 13 Dec. 1818 in Canada(probably near the Canadian border). She may have had brothers named Bradley, Daniel, and Gilman Magoon. Betsey married Moses B. Smithin about 1836 or 1837 in Stanstead, Quebec."
This post really opened the flood gates as per the Magoon listers, and I made contact with several outstanding Magoon genealogists.
A lister named Mary Shearer replied to my query asking me to provide her with my Magoon Genealogy and connections. I replied, telling her that I was more interested in the "Smith" lines as opposed to the "Magoon" lines. I told her that the main reason I got involved in searching for the Magoons at all was to try and learn more about the origins of the "Smiths."--a sort of through the back door approach. My goal was to locate a Magoon genealogist who might have knowledge specific to my grgrandmother Betsey Ann Smith(nee Magoon), and provide possible leads to the Smith origins.
On 18 March, 1999 Mary wrote"I can't make a definite connection, but I have hunch Betsey's ancestry leads back to Gilmantown,NH. The names Magoon, Gilman, and Smith all exist at Gilmantown(Gilmanton). Betsey Gilman of Gilmanton moved to Stanstead,Quebec, only a few miles from the New Hampshire border. There is also a Sally Gilman of Stanstead who married a Jonathan Magoon."
Then after a short correspondance I was able to determine that another lister named Nancy Wasko and I were fourth cousins once removed. Using Nancy's data we were able to trace the Magoon line to my grgrandmother Betsey Ann Magoon. Here is how I fit into the Magoon lines according to Nancy: "John Magoon was my 4th grgrandfather. He was Betsy's uncle. Her father Daniel was John's brother. Here is my line:
Jonathan Leavitt Magoon and Betsey Bell Smith
(son) John Magoon and Electra Baxter
(son) Steward Magoon and Caroline Miller
(son) John Alanson Magoon and Julia Langmaid
(son) Carl Stuart Magoon and May Maria Ellison
(dau) Marian Lois Magoon and Abram Lester Crapser
(dau) Mary Louise Crapser and Lorin Walter King
(dau) Nancy Elizabeth King(me) and Michael Wasko
Jonathan Leavitt Magoon and Betsey Bell Smith are our common ancestors.
(son) Daniel Magoon(married three times-thriteen children).
(dau) Betsey Ann Magoon and Moses B. Smith
(son) George B. Smith and Serepta Jane Smith
(dau) Bessie Jo Lana Smith and Arthur Carl Foss
(son) George D. Foss(me).
Nancy reported that our ancestor Jonathan Leavitt Magoon and his father Alexander both served in the Revolutionary War. Jonathan and alexander are not listed in any of the DAR books, so you would have to prove your line all the way back to them.
Other listers contacting me were Mary Woodman and Larry Magoon, both outstanding Magoon genealogists.
On 11 April, 1999 Amy Bond Simpson wrote the following on the GenForum Genealogy Page: "If you are interested in any Magoon information, and you haven't joined our list, please contact me for a personal inviation. There are a group of us who are very actively searching for all descendants of Henry Magoon and his brother John."
Relying on the combined data bases of the above listers I have been able to uncover a great deal of information concerning the origins of the Smith genealogy. Our genealogical research clearly reveals that the Smith, Magoon, and Gilman families had their American origins in the geographical vicinity of Exeter,NH. during the 18th century.
As of July,1999, Jonathan Smith is the oldest documented person in the Smith genealogy of which I(George Foss) am a part. According to Dr. Watson W. Harwood, of Malone, N.Y., writing in 1897: "The Smith family in the areas around Malone, New York are descended from Jonathan Smith, who was born in New Hampshire* in 1777. He married, and after some years of further residence in New Hampshire*, and several more in Stanstead,Quebec, he came in 1838 to Chasm Falls,New York. He died in 1865, aged 88 yrs. He was the father of four sons and three daughters, all born in New Hampshire: Gilman, Israel, John, Moses, Diana, Betsey, and Olive."
Dr. Watson Harwood(1854-1934) was a physcian in Chasm Falls for 52 years.
*According to the U.S.Census of 1860(State of New York,Franklin County, town of Bellmont) Moses Smith reported that he was born in Vermont. This information conflicts with that of Dr. Watson Harwood, who reports that Moses Smith was born in New Hampshire. This could make a big difference in the thrust of the search for genealogical information related to this entire family. At this particular time I would lean towards the Vermont birthplace for Moses.
According to the 1860 census, Jonathan Smith, age 83, born N.H., was living with his grandson, John Smith, age 28.
I would like to thank Elida Thomas of Massena, New York(my 2nd cous.-1 removed) for sharing the genealogical work she carried out on the Smith line in New York State, Canada, and the New England states.
Elida is the gr.gr.gr.granddaughter of Jonathan Smith. She was born 27 March, 1927, at Owls Head,New York. Writing in July,2000, she says the foundations of the Smith homestead are still visible in the fields at Chasm Falls.
Dr. Watson Harwood(1854-1934) was a physcian in Chasm Falls for 52 years.
*According to the U.S.Census of 1860(State of New York,Franklin County, town of Bellmont) Moses Smith reported that he was born in Vermont. This information conflicts with that of Dr. Watson Harwood, who reports that Moses Smith was born in New Hampshire. This could make a big difference in the thrust of the search for genealogical information related to this entire family. At this particular time I would lean towards the Vermont birthplace for Moses.
According to the 1860 census, Jonathan Smith, age 83, born N.H., was living with his grandson, John Smith, age 28.
I would like to thank Elida Thomas of Massena, New York(my 2nd cous.-1 removed) for sharing the genealogical work she carried out on the Smith line in New York State, Canada, and the New England states.
Elida is the gr.gr.gr.granddaughter of Jonathan Smith. She was born 27 March, 1927, at Owls Head,New York. Writing in July,2000, she says the foundations of the Smith homestead are still visible in the fields at Chasm Falls.
The Gilman Families
On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE and its counties TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN. The original source of this information is in the public domain
SOURCE: History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885, 1108 pgs. page 785
GILMANTON was incorporated in 1727. It was named and originally spelled GILMANTOWN, from the fact that among the grantees of a charter, issued by His Majesty, King George, there were twenty-four persons by the name of GILMAN. The boundaries of this grant stated, "From the head of Barnstead, next to the town of Chichester; thence on the N.W. line to Winipissiokee Pond, or the river that runs out of said Pond, and from the first place where it began, to run N.E. Six miles; then N.W. two miles; then due N. to Winipissiokee Pond; thence on said Pond and river to meet the first line; provided it do not entrench on any former legall grante." The charter was signed on the 20th of May by His Majesty's Colonial Governor, John Wentworth. During the French War several frontier towns had been greatly tried by the raids of hostile Indians...and the settlement of Gilmanton was delayed for a series of years. In fact, there was not permanent settlement until the close of 1761. From 1727, the year the charter was granted, until 1766, a period of nearly forty years, the town-meetings were held in Exeter.
On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE and its counties TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN. The original source of this information is in the public domain
SOURCE: History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885, 1108 pgs. page 785
GILMANTON was incorporated in 1727. It was named and originally spelled GILMANTOWN, from the fact that among the grantees of a charter, issued by His Majesty, King George, there were twenty-four persons by the name of GILMAN. The boundaries of this grant stated, "From the head of Barnstead, next to the town of Chichester; thence on the N.W. line to Winipissiokee Pond, or the river that runs out of said Pond, and from the first place where it began, to run N.E. Six miles; then N.W. two miles; then due N. to Winipissiokee Pond; thence on said Pond and river to meet the first line; provided it do not entrench on any former legall grante." The charter was signed on the 20th of May by His Majesty's Colonial Governor, John Wentworth. During the French War several frontier towns had been greatly tried by the raids of hostile Indians...and the settlement of Gilmanton was delayed for a series of years. In fact, there was not permanent settlement until the close of 1761. From 1727, the year the charter was granted, until 1766, a period of nearly forty years, the town-meetings were held in Exeter.
Alan Clark is a direct descendant of Gilman Smith. In 1965, Alan Clark reported that Gilman resided for a time in Chasm Falls, N.Y. After that he lived in Stockholm, N.Y., and he finally settled in Moira, N.Y., where he died in 1866. He was married twice and left children by both marriages. The sources for this information are Dr. Watson Harwood and Allan Clark of 822 W. Lancaster St., Orlando, Florida. Alan is a direct descendant of Gilman and an amateur genealogist.
In February, 2000, Alan Clark saw my Smith Legacy Gedcom on the Rootsweb WorldConnect site, and contacted me. According to Alan, Jonathan Smith was one of 18 children born to Simeon Smith and Betsey Gilman. Simeon was born in 1742 at Kingston,NH. Betsey was the daughter of Israel and Abigail Gilman of Gilmantown, NH.
Jonathan was born 31 Dec. 1777. Jonathan married Olive Hodgdon on 31 Jan. 1798 in Sandwich,NH(record obtained by Alan Clark). Jonathan lived in Stanstead for a time, then moved to Owls Head, NY.
In February, 2000, Alan Clark saw my Smith Legacy Gedcom on the Rootsweb WorldConnect site, and contacted me. According to Alan, Jonathan Smith was one of 18 children born to Simeon Smith and Betsey Gilman. Simeon was born in 1742 at Kingston,NH. Betsey was the daughter of Israel and Abigail Gilman of Gilmantown, NH.
Jonathan was born 31 Dec. 1777. Jonathan married Olive Hodgdon on 31 Jan. 1798 in Sandwich,NH(record obtained by Alan Clark). Jonathan lived in Stanstead for a time, then moved to Owls Head, NY.
From the notes of Hepzibah Hodgdon(wife of Gilman), we have the following:
Caroline married Levi Dudley Cole (see Ethel Clark and Anna Cole who died in 1977).
Thie next child of Gilman & Hepzibah was Mary, born 1843. Mary married William Aiken.
Mary&William had a daughter Irene who married John Courtney(see John Courtney, Dickinson,NY, deceased).
The second wife of Gilman was Sophronia Bates.
Gilman&Sophronia had a daughter, Charity Smith, b. 1854. Charity married Marshall Gibbs(their grand daughter is Ethel Belnap). Charity's son Perry Gibbs, b. 1857.
Gilman&Sophronia's second daughter Christine,b. 1859; and their third, Adelaide, b. 1860.
The descent is: Gilman, Caroline Cole, Ethel Cole Clark, (???)Clark, and then Alan Clark
Elida said she and Ed were neighbors to Lucy Frary(dau. of Mrs. Clark) in Nicholville. Lucy married Milton Frary.According to Elida Thomas(letter Mar 17,2000) Gilman's first wife was named Hepzibah Hodston. They had a daughter, Caroline born in 1834.
Elida said the son of Gordon Cole and Anna Matthews was Grant Gordon Cole,b. 18 May 1922 in Nicholville. Grant cole married Ruth(??), and they had a son, Bruce. Their grandchildren are: Rachel & Nathan Cole, and Sherri Kozerski of Richford.
Elida lives in Massena,NY
Gilman was first married to Hepzibah Hodgdon on 4 Dec. 1823 at Cabot,VT. Hepzibah was born on 15 Jan. 1804, the daughter of Samuel Hodgdon.
Alan Clark as of Feb. 2000 was living in Jacksonville,Fl, and employed as a librarian.
Alan Clark and George Foss are THIRD COUSINS THREE REMOVED. The common ancestor in Jonathan Smith. Alan in the gr.gr.gr.gr.gr.grandson, and George is the gr. gr. grandson.
In a letter(01/19/2001) from Elida Thomas, reported that Caroline Smith,born 1834, in Moira,NY, married Levi Dudley Cole, and their children were Ethel Cole Clark (Alan's line) and Anna Cole. Mary, born 9 Jan. 1843 Moira, married William Aiken. Wife #2 was Sophronia Bates and their children: Charity Smith, born 1854, married Marshall Gibbs, Perry, Born 1857, Christiane, born, 1859 and Adelaide, born 1860. Ethel Belnap, who just died was the grand daughter of Charity.
It is obvious there are conflicting accounts reflected in the above writings. This means that there remains much to be done by future genealogists to get all of these conflicts resolved.
Caroline married Levi Dudley Cole (see Ethel Clark and Anna Cole who died in 1977).
Thie next child of Gilman & Hepzibah was Mary, born 1843. Mary married William Aiken.
Mary&William had a daughter Irene who married John Courtney(see John Courtney, Dickinson,NY, deceased).
The second wife of Gilman was Sophronia Bates.
Gilman&Sophronia had a daughter, Charity Smith, b. 1854. Charity married Marshall Gibbs(their grand daughter is Ethel Belnap). Charity's son Perry Gibbs, b. 1857.
Gilman&Sophronia's second daughter Christine,b. 1859; and their third, Adelaide, b. 1860.
The descent is: Gilman, Caroline Cole, Ethel Cole Clark, (???)Clark, and then Alan Clark
Elida said she and Ed were neighbors to Lucy Frary(dau. of Mrs. Clark) in Nicholville. Lucy married Milton Frary.According to Elida Thomas(letter Mar 17,2000) Gilman's first wife was named Hepzibah Hodston. They had a daughter, Caroline born in 1834.
Elida said the son of Gordon Cole and Anna Matthews was Grant Gordon Cole,b. 18 May 1922 in Nicholville. Grant cole married Ruth(??), and they had a son, Bruce. Their grandchildren are: Rachel & Nathan Cole, and Sherri Kozerski of Richford.
Elida lives in Massena,NY
Gilman was first married to Hepzibah Hodgdon on 4 Dec. 1823 at Cabot,VT. Hepzibah was born on 15 Jan. 1804, the daughter of Samuel Hodgdon.
Alan Clark as of Feb. 2000 was living in Jacksonville,Fl, and employed as a librarian.
Alan Clark and George Foss are THIRD COUSINS THREE REMOVED. The common ancestor in Jonathan Smith. Alan in the gr.gr.gr.gr.gr.grandson, and George is the gr. gr. grandson.
In a letter(01/19/2001) from Elida Thomas, reported that Caroline Smith,born 1834, in Moira,NY, married Levi Dudley Cole, and their children were Ethel Cole Clark (Alan's line) and Anna Cole. Mary, born 9 Jan. 1843 Moira, married William Aiken. Wife #2 was Sophronia Bates and their children: Charity Smith, born 1854, married Marshall Gibbs, Perry, Born 1857, Christiane, born, 1859 and Adelaide, born 1860. Ethel Belnap, who just died was the grand daughter of Charity.
It is obvious there are conflicting accounts reflected in the above writings. This means that there remains much to be done by future genealogists to get all of these conflicts resolved.
According to Elida Thomas on Jan. 19, 2001, Mary married John Courteney, and their son lived in Dickinson Center,NY. He is survived by a daughter.
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The next two children of the Jonathan Smith family to be documented below are John Smith(1806-1862) and Moses B. Smith(1813-1862). Their families account for the remainder of the Smith Genealogy presented here. No information could be located for the last three members of the Jonathan Smith family, i.e., Diana, Betsey, and Olive Smith.
The next two children of the Jonathan Smith family to be documented below are John Smith(1806-1862) and Moses B. Smith(1813-1862). Their families account for the remainder of the Smith Genealogy presented here. No information could be located for the last three members of the Jonathan Smith family, i.e., Diana, Betsey, and Olive Smith.
The 1860 census #653, Roll 754 for Franklin County lists #2315 John Smith, farmer, age 54, born N.H., and Rosalinde, 55, wife, born N.Y., dau. Ruth, 19, born N.Y. and son Gardner, 20, born N.Y.
The above census data is in conflict with certain previous data
#2316 lists John Smith, age 28, born in Canada.
The above census data is in conflict with certain previous data
#2316 lists John Smith, age 28, born in Canada.
According to Dr. Harwood, Delight Smith married and lived in New Hampshire. No other records are available
The 1860 census #653, Roll 754 for Franklin County, lists John Smith, age 28, born in Canada, the son of John and Roslinda(Hutchinson) Smith. His wife was Elizabeth, age 22, born N.Y. Jonathan Smith, age 83, born N.H. was living with them.
John and Elizabeth were married on 29 February, 1859 in Potsdam,N.Y. Their first child, Serepta Jane, was born on 28 Jan 1861, in Morristown, before John enlisted in the Army. Four boys and another girl were born in New York after he was discharged. In 1872 he moved his family to a farm located between Auroraville and Berlin,WI. His obituary has the family farming between Windom and Mt. Lake,MN in 1879. They then removed to River Falls,WI in 1883.
The following information was obtained from the National Archives in Wash.D.C.
War Dept. Adj. Gen. Off. Wash.D.C. 24 Mar. 1885.
John Smith, a private of Company "B", 192 Regiment, New York volunteers, was enrolled on the 22nd day of Feb. 1865 at Morristown for 1 yr. and is reported on the rolls of Co."B" to Dec. 31, 1865 present.
Regtl. return for May 1865 does not report him absent. Mustered out with Co. January 18, 1866 at Harper's Ferry,W.Va.
Name not found as sick(see morning reports from May 13/65 to Jan. 17/66) Co. returns us information. Regimental hospital records not on file. No evidence of disabilities. Asst. Adj.Gen.
DECLARATION FOR INVALID PENSION
State of Wis. Aug. 11, 1890. John Smith, aged 57, a resident of River Falls, Pierce Co. Wis. Enlisted on Feb. 22, 1856, in Co."B" 193rd Regt.N.Y. Vol in the War of The Rebellion, and served at least 90 days and was honorably discharged on Jan. 18, 1866. That he was unable to earn support by reason of the following disability, chronic diarrhea and rheumatism. His P.O. address is River Falls.
Signed, John Smith Witnesses: Robert Haddow & William Scroggie
PENSION DROPPED
John Smith who was last paid $14 to July, 1904 has been dropped because of death Aug. 24, 1904.
Obituaries for John and Elizabeth were found at the Area Research Center at UWRF, River Falls, Wisconsin. Microfilm of River Falls Journals.
OBITUARY-ELIZABETH SMITH. River Falls, August 26, 1897
Smith--at her home in Clifton, Aug. 19,1897, of heart failure, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, wife of John Smith aged 59 years. The deceased was born at Morristown,N.Y. in 1838. She was married to John Smith at Postdam, N.Y., Feb. 29, 1859. In the year 1872 the pair moved to Wisconsin, and thence, in 1879, to Minnesota. In 1883 they returned to Wisconsin and took up their home near River Falls, where they have since lived.
Mrs. Smith was a kind mother and held the cordial respect of all acquaintences. She leaves a husband and six children--Mrs. Serepta Smith of Irma,Wis., Enos Smith of Cumberland, Mrs. Carrie Nash and Fred, Herbert and Wallace Smith of River Falls.
The funeral was held at the home in Clifton, Aug. 21, Rev. E.D. Bewick Officiating.
OBITUARY-- JOHN SMITH. River Falls, August 25, 1904.
John Smith died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Eldon Nash in the Town of Troy, Wednesday morning, Aug. 24, 1904 from heart failure and dropsy, after a long illness. He was born at Charleston,Vermont, Sept. 15, 1831. His parents moved to northern New York when he was a child. He grew up in the vicinity of Pottsdam, where Feb. 29, 1859 he was married to miss Elizabeth Martin, who died seven years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Smith came to Wisconsin in 1872, locating near Berlin. In 1879 they moved to Cottonwood County, Minn. and in 1883 returned to Wisconsin, settling in St. Croix County. Mr. Smith enlisted in the army towards the close of the civil war in Co. B, 119th New York Infantry, serving until the end of the war. He was a good citizen, and accommodating neighbor, a kind husband and father. six children--two girls and four boys--survive their parents; Mrs. George Smith of Irma,Wis., Mrs. Eldon Nash of Troy(River Falls), Enos and Fred of Cumberland; Herbert and Wallace Smith of Clifton.
According to Isabel(183) John was very dark complexioned, and they called him "Black John", or" Black Jack."
John and Elizabeth were married on 29 February, 1859 in Potsdam,N.Y. Their first child, Serepta Jane, was born on 28 Jan 1861, in Morristown, before John enlisted in the Army. Four boys and another girl were born in New York after he was discharged. In 1872 he moved his family to a farm located between Auroraville and Berlin,WI. His obituary has the family farming between Windom and Mt. Lake,MN in 1879. They then removed to River Falls,WI in 1883.
The following information was obtained from the National Archives in Wash.D.C.
War Dept. Adj. Gen. Off. Wash.D.C. 24 Mar. 1885.
John Smith, a private of Company "B", 192 Regiment, New York volunteers, was enrolled on the 22nd day of Feb. 1865 at Morristown for 1 yr. and is reported on the rolls of Co."B" to Dec. 31, 1865 present.
Regtl. return for May 1865 does not report him absent. Mustered out with Co. January 18, 1866 at Harper's Ferry,W.Va.
Name not found as sick(see morning reports from May 13/65 to Jan. 17/66) Co. returns us information. Regimental hospital records not on file. No evidence of disabilities. Asst. Adj.Gen.
DECLARATION FOR INVALID PENSION
State of Wis. Aug. 11, 1890. John Smith, aged 57, a resident of River Falls, Pierce Co. Wis. Enlisted on Feb. 22, 1856, in Co."B" 193rd Regt.N.Y. Vol in the War of The Rebellion, and served at least 90 days and was honorably discharged on Jan. 18, 1866. That he was unable to earn support by reason of the following disability, chronic diarrhea and rheumatism. His P.O. address is River Falls.
Signed, John Smith Witnesses: Robert Haddow & William Scroggie
PENSION DROPPED
John Smith who was last paid $14 to July, 1904 has been dropped because of death Aug. 24, 1904.
Obituaries for John and Elizabeth were found at the Area Research Center at UWRF, River Falls, Wisconsin. Microfilm of River Falls Journals.
OBITUARY-ELIZABETH SMITH. River Falls, August 26, 1897
Smith--at her home in Clifton, Aug. 19,1897, of heart failure, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, wife of John Smith aged 59 years. The deceased was born at Morristown,N.Y. in 1838. She was married to John Smith at Postdam, N.Y., Feb. 29, 1859. In the year 1872 the pair moved to Wisconsin, and thence, in 1879, to Minnesota. In 1883 they returned to Wisconsin and took up their home near River Falls, where they have since lived.
Mrs. Smith was a kind mother and held the cordial respect of all acquaintences. She leaves a husband and six children--Mrs. Serepta Smith of Irma,Wis., Enos Smith of Cumberland, Mrs. Carrie Nash and Fred, Herbert and Wallace Smith of River Falls.
The funeral was held at the home in Clifton, Aug. 21, Rev. E.D. Bewick Officiating.
OBITUARY-- JOHN SMITH. River Falls, August 25, 1904.
John Smith died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Eldon Nash in the Town of Troy, Wednesday morning, Aug. 24, 1904 from heart failure and dropsy, after a long illness. He was born at Charleston,Vermont, Sept. 15, 1831. His parents moved to northern New York when he was a child. He grew up in the vicinity of Pottsdam, where Feb. 29, 1859 he was married to miss Elizabeth Martin, who died seven years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Smith came to Wisconsin in 1872, locating near Berlin. In 1879 they moved to Cottonwood County, Minn. and in 1883 returned to Wisconsin, settling in St. Croix County. Mr. Smith enlisted in the army towards the close of the civil war in Co. B, 119th New York Infantry, serving until the end of the war. He was a good citizen, and accommodating neighbor, a kind husband and father. six children--two girls and four boys--survive their parents; Mrs. George Smith of Irma,Wis., Mrs. Eldon Nash of Troy(River Falls), Enos and Fred of Cumberland; Herbert and Wallace Smith of Clifton.
According to Isabel(183) John was very dark complexioned, and they called him "Black John", or" Black Jack."
See the page for George B. Smith below for the complete genealogy of the family of Serepta and George B. Smith. Serepta was a second cousin to George B. Smith, and the maternal grandmother of George D. Foss.
Very little information is known of Enos Smith. According to the obituary for John Smith, Enos was living in Cumberland,WI as of Aug. 1904. His brother Fred was living with him at the time.
Above is a picture of Enos when he was a lumberjack at Irma,WI. in the early days. I also have a picture of his wife Minnie. Enos' brother Fred was living with them at the time.
Enos and his brother Fred frequently drove back and forth from Cumberland to River Falls by horse and wagon. The purpose of the trips is unknown, but it is interesting that the distance between River Falls and Cumberland is about 60 miles. They would make the trip in two days. The half-way point was located about a mile west of the intersection of Hwy 65 and Hwy 46.
Above is a picture of Enos when he was a lumberjack at Irma,WI. in the early days. I also have a picture of his wife Minnie. Enos' brother Fred was living with them at the time.
Enos and his brother Fred frequently drove back and forth from Cumberland to River Falls by horse and wagon. The purpose of the trips is unknown, but it is interesting that the distance between River Falls and Cumberland is about 60 miles. They would make the trip in two days. The half-way point was located about a mile west of the intersection of Hwy 65 and Hwy 46.
River Falls Journal
Obituary for Roy Franklin Smith:
Funeral services were held at 2 pm Friday, May 9, at the Methodist Church, River Falls, for Roy Franklin Smith, Rev. John W. Harris officiated. Interment was in Greenwood Cemetery, River Falls.
Pallbearers were John Ruemmele, Jacob Ruemmele, Art Foss, Otto Christenson, Maurice Wildasin and George Goodlad.
Mr. Smith was born April 17, 1889 in Cumberland, the son of Enos and Minnie Sampair. He spent his youth in Cumberland and where he worked at the livery stable and logging camps.
In 1914 he moved to River Falls where he operated the delivery service for the grocers. Mr. Smith married Blanch Westgate, July 19, 1916. The same year they returned to Cumberland where he went into the draying business.
The family moved in 1933 to a farm there. The Smiths farmed at Star Prairie, New Richmond, Hudson, River Falls, and Baldwin until 1948 when they moved to River Falls.
In 1945 he was stricken with arthritis and had been a semi-invalid ever since. He suffered a heart attack April 28 and died at his home Wednesday morning May 7, at the age of 63.
He is survived by his widow and seven children; Richard (Gladys) of Baldwin, Jean (Judd) Earlywine of Juda; Robert (Eva), Enos(Dorothy), Guy(Lois) of New Richmond; Ardith(Levern) Christenson, River Falls, and John at home.
He also leaves two sisters, Mrs. Carl Hogness and Mrs. John Brumbly, Compton California, and 11 grandchildren.
Obituary for Roy Franklin Smith:
Funeral services were held at 2 pm Friday, May 9, at the Methodist Church, River Falls, for Roy Franklin Smith, Rev. John W. Harris officiated. Interment was in Greenwood Cemetery, River Falls.
Pallbearers were John Ruemmele, Jacob Ruemmele, Art Foss, Otto Christenson, Maurice Wildasin and George Goodlad.
Mr. Smith was born April 17, 1889 in Cumberland, the son of Enos and Minnie Sampair. He spent his youth in Cumberland and where he worked at the livery stable and logging camps.
In 1914 he moved to River Falls where he operated the delivery service for the grocers. Mr. Smith married Blanch Westgate, July 19, 1916. The same year they returned to Cumberland where he went into the draying business.
The family moved in 1933 to a farm there. The Smiths farmed at Star Prairie, New Richmond, Hudson, River Falls, and Baldwin until 1948 when they moved to River Falls.
In 1945 he was stricken with arthritis and had been a semi-invalid ever since. He suffered a heart attack April 28 and died at his home Wednesday morning May 7, at the age of 63.
He is survived by his widow and seven children; Richard (Gladys) of Baldwin, Jean (Judd) Earlywine of Juda; Robert (Eva), Enos(Dorothy), Guy(Lois) of New Richmond; Ardith(Levern) Christenson, River Falls, and John at home.
He also leaves two sisters, Mrs. Carl Hogness and Mrs. John Brumbly, Compton California, and 11 grandchildren.
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Blanche came to River Falls to attend Normal School. She traveled from Clear Lake to River Falls on the train. She said that in those days the train was filled to capacity, and at times was unable to get a seat and had to stand in the aisle. In River Falls she stayed at the home of Wallace and Mary Eastman. It was at this tiBlme that she became aquainted with Bessie Smith(Foss). At that time Bessie was living with Eldon and Carrie Nash at their home on North Main Street in River Falls. Blanche and Bessie became very close chums.
In 1916 Blanche met Roy Smith and they were married in St.Paul that same year.
Soon after they were married they moved to Cumberland to live. Fred Smith lived with them for a time in Cumberland while he worked for the Bill Drake Dray Line there. Ezra Smith also lived with them for a time while he worked in the pea factory on Main Street located near the Italian Store.
She and Roy lived in Cumberland until 1935. During that time she said Bessie and Arthur Foss visited them quite often.
Belmer Miller told a story of how Roy once sold gasoline to Al Capone as he traveled through Cumberland. The Capone gang had a hideout in the vicinity. Roy said that Al Capone always gave Roy a $20 bill regardless of how much gas they bought. He said that at one time the local sherif attempted to arrest Capone when he came in to buy gas, but they aimed a gun at him and told him to forget about it--which he did. Blanche said this incident was accurately told.
Sometime in 1935 she and Roy moved to Star Prairie,WI. where they lived through some very hard times. She said they nearly starved to death at that time. From there they moved to a farm located about 4 miles North of New Richmond,WI. I(George Foss) remembers going to the farm with my folks several times to visit.
I was only 8 or 9 years old when we visited them at the New Richmond farm. During the afternoon us kids(old and young, girls and boys) got up a game of softball. In the evening I can remember them hand-milking cows by the light of kerosene lanterns which were slid along a wire strung along the alley, and it was moved along from stall to stall as they milked. There were no electric lights in the house--only kerosene lamps.
Then they moved to a farm located about 4 miles South of Hudson on County road F. It was here that Dad and I killed and butchered an old milk cow for Blanche and Roy. I held the cow's halter while Dad shot it in the curl spot between the eyes with a 22 rifle. When it fell Dad cut its juggler vein with a hunting knife. We then hoisted it up by the hind legs with a block and tackle and dressed it out.
From the place on County F Blanche and Roy moved to a farm South of Baldwin, then from there back to River Falls where Roy died in 1949.
In 1987 I attended Blanche's 90th birthday party which was held at the new Baptist Church in River Falls. Blanche also attended the annual Smith picnic in Glen Park in August, 1988. I had a nice visit with her. She broke down and wept as she told me about the death of her son Enos. She said she now had only one son left--John.
OBITUARY FOR BLANCHE A. WHITE
River Falls Journal
Blanche A. White, 95, a resident of The Lutheran Home, died Oct. 1, 1992.
The daughter of John B. and Nancy J.(Wood) Westgate, she was born April 3, 1897 in Clear Lake.
She attended rural schools and River Falls Normal School before teaching in country schools in Wisconsin.
She married Roy F. Smith on July 19, 1916. He died May 2, 1952.
She married Albert G. White in November of 1957. He died in April of 1981.
Blanche came to River Falls to attend Normal School. She traveled from Clear Lake to River Falls on the train. She said that in those days the train was filled to capacity, and at times was unable to get a seat and had to stand in the aisle. In River Falls she stayed at the home of Wallace and Mary Eastman. It was at this tiBlme that she became aquainted with Bessie Smith(Foss). At that time Bessie was living with Eldon and Carrie Nash at their home on North Main Street in River Falls. Blanche and Bessie became very close chums.
In 1916 Blanche met Roy Smith and they were married in St.Paul that same year.
Soon after they were married they moved to Cumberland to live. Fred Smith lived with them for a time in Cumberland while he worked for the Bill Drake Dray Line there. Ezra Smith also lived with them for a time while he worked in the pea factory on Main Street located near the Italian Store.
She and Roy lived in Cumberland until 1935. During that time she said Bessie and Arthur Foss visited them quite often.
Belmer Miller told a story of how Roy once sold gasoline to Al Capone as he traveled through Cumberland. The Capone gang had a hideout in the vicinity. Roy said that Al Capone always gave Roy a $20 bill regardless of how much gas they bought. He said that at one time the local sherif attempted to arrest Capone when he came in to buy gas, but they aimed a gun at him and told him to forget about it--which he did. Blanche said this incident was accurately told.
Sometime in 1935 she and Roy moved to Star Prairie,WI. where they lived through some very hard times. She said they nearly starved to death at that time. From there they moved to a farm located about 4 miles North of New Richmond,WI. I(George Foss) remembers going to the farm with my folks several times to visit.
I was only 8 or 9 years old when we visited them at the New Richmond farm. During the afternoon us kids(old and young, girls and boys) got up a game of softball. In the evening I can remember them hand-milking cows by the light of kerosene lanterns which were slid along a wire strung along the alley, and it was moved along from stall to stall as they milked. There were no electric lights in the house--only kerosene lamps.
Then they moved to a farm located about 4 miles South of Hudson on County road F. It was here that Dad and I killed and butchered an old milk cow for Blanche and Roy. I held the cow's halter while Dad shot it in the curl spot between the eyes with a 22 rifle. When it fell Dad cut its juggler vein with a hunting knife. We then hoisted it up by the hind legs with a block and tackle and dressed it out.
From the place on County F Blanche and Roy moved to a farm South of Baldwin, then from there back to River Falls where Roy died in 1949.
In 1987 I attended Blanche's 90th birthday party which was held at the new Baptist Church in River Falls. Blanche also attended the annual Smith picnic in Glen Park in August, 1988. I had a nice visit with her. She broke down and wept as she told me about the death of her son Enos. She said she now had only one son left--John.
OBITUARY FOR BLANCHE A. WHITE
River Falls Journal
Blanche A. White, 95, a resident of The Lutheran Home, died Oct. 1, 1992.
The daughter of John B. and Nancy J.(Wood) Westgate, she was born April 3, 1897 in Clear Lake.
She attended rural schools and River Falls Normal School before teaching in country schools in Wisconsin.
She married Roy F. Smith on July 19, 1916. He died May 2, 1952.
She married Albert G. White in November of 1957. He died in April of 1981.
He was the son of Roy and Blanche Westgate Smith born June 23, 1917 in Cumberland, Wis. In 1935 he moved with his family to New Richmond. He joined the army in May 1941, serving overseas in the North Africa and Italy invasion, spending one winter in dugouts on the beach at Salerno. Beside his battle ribbons he was awarded a Silver Star. He returned home from the service in August 1945.
Smith united in marriage to Gladys Danielson, Feb. 28, 1947. Through the years they opened their home to a number of foster children. He is survived by his wife, Gladys; mother, Mrs. Blanch White of River Falls; Three brothers -- Enos of Bayport,Minn.; John and Guy of River Falls; Two sisters---Jean(Mrs. Judd Earlywine) of Freeport,Ill.; and Ardith(Mrs. Levern Christenson) of Ellsworth. He was preceded in death by his father and one brother, Robert of New Richmond.
Smith farmed the Baldwin area for 25 years.
Family services were held at the Cashman Mortuary on Monday,Aug. 27 at 11 a.m. with Rev. Dennis J. Haines officiating. Funeral services were held at the Peace Lutheran Church of Baldwin at 1:30 p.m. with Rev. Milton Aarsvold officiating. Interment was in Greenwood Cemetery, River Falls.
Pallbearers were Olov Hawkness, Milton Lane, Richard Walton, Ralph Freeze, Orin Ylvsaker and Walter Schlammpp.
1. JUDD DAVIS EARLEYWINE was born October 1, 1919 in Stephenson County, Illinois. He married JEAN MAY SMITH April 13, 1945 in Fort Benning,GA. The daughter of Roy Smith and Blanche Westgate. She was born 17 Jan. 1919 in Cumberland,WI They farmed in Stephenson Co. Ill. for a number of years. later, Jean taught at Taylor Park in Freeport,ILL. and Judd worked for the highway dept. They now live in Freeport,ILL
Children of JUDD EARLEYWINE and JEAN SMITH are:
i. RICHARD JUDD EARLEYWINE, b. April 23, 1947, St. Clare Hospital, Monroe, WI. d. November 22, 1962 at the family farm in a tractor accident.
(my mother) ii. LINDSAY LEE EARLEYWINE, b. July 10, 1948, St. Clare Hospital at 4:00a.m., Monroe,WI
iii. MARY JO EARLEYWINE, b. November 22, 1949, Monroe,WI
iv. RACHEL ANN EARLEYWINE, b. February 7, 1953, Monroe,WI
v. SARA LOUISE EARLEYWINE, b. August 1, 1962, St. Clare Hospital, Monroe,WI; d. August 1, 1962
2. LINSAY LEE EARLEYWINE :b. 10 july 1948 in Monroe,WI at St. Clare Hospital at 4:00a.m. She married Terrance Patrick Hyland 17 Apr. 1971 in St. Victor's Catholic Church, Monroe,WI. He was the son of Michael Hyland and Leona Share. He was born 15 Dec. 1944 in Monroe,WI at the St. Clare Hosp.
Children of LINDSAY EARLEYWINE and TERRANCE HYLAND are:
(me) i. JOSEPH (Jay) PATRICK HYLAND, b. October 13, 1975, Monroe, WI at St. Clare Hospital at 9:13 a.m.
ii. KATHRYN (Katie) ANN HYLAND, b. 15 Sept. 1979, Monroe,WI at St. clare Hospita; at 1:17 a.m.(currently a soph. at UW-Madison)
3. MARY JO EARLYWINE was born November 22, 1949 in Monroe,WI. She married RUBEN VILLALOBAS 27 Nov. in Mexico. He was born 25 Nov. 1953 in Matamoros, Mexico.
Children of MARY EARLEYWINE and RUBEN VILLAOBAS are:
i. RUBEN JUDD VILLALOBAS, b. 16, Nov. 1977
ii. AMANDA JEAN VILLALOBAS, b. 15 July, 1980
4. RACHEL ANN EARLEY WINE was born February 7, 1953 in Monroe, WI. She married (1) MICHAEL JEFFERSON 10 Dec. 1979 in Rockford,ILL Son of Wayne Jefferson and Jane. He was born 13 Aug. 1951 in Mishawaka,Indiana. They were married on 10 May, 1997 in Rhinelander,WI He was born 8 June 1944 in Omaha,Neb.
Children of RACHEL EARLEY WINE and MICHAEL JEFFERSON are:
i. SARAH VICTORIA JEFFERSON, b. 25 May, 1983
ii. SAMANTHA RACHEL JEFFERSON, b. 25 May, 1985
One Item I noticed in your Smith notes was about Frederick Smith. You state he died around 1930 in Madison and is buried in a paupers grave. Do you know where the grave is? Jean Earleywine remembers "Uncle Fred," and how sad his story was. She remembers him living with her parents and how nice he was. She knew he died in Madison, but didn't know when it was or what they did with his body. Do you know?
Jay Highland
kajay@utelco.tds.net
Dear Jay,
Thank you for the nice letter, it is always fun to hear from a new relative, especially one of the younger ones interested in carrying on this work.
Your family and mine has had a long friendly relationship. This relationship all began when Blanche came to River Falls from Clear Lake to attend the Normal School and took a room in the home of Wallace and Mary Smith. Wallace and Mary were Aunt&Uncle to my mother Bessie(Smith) Foss. As a result, Blanche and Bessie became life-long friends and relatives. Our families have been close ever since.
I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of family history here, but I wanted to respond to your e-mail quickly to let you know how interested I am in pursuing our common knowledge about our respective families.
In the meantime, if you want something to "chew on" go to this URL:
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=gfosssmith
You will be able to search the Smith genealogy and get an idea as to what I have already published on the "Smith" lines.
George
__________________________
March 21, 2000
Jay Hyland,
Dear Mr. Foss,
My name is Jay Hyland, and I am a 24 year old graduate student in library science at UW-Milwaukee. My gr.grandmother was Blanche Westgate. My grandmother is Jean Earlywine(Smith). When I was younger ,my parents, sister and I would visit at the Lutheran Home in River Falls. We always had a good time; in fact I ended up going to UW-River Falls for my undergraduate degree in history and english. I got a job as a student assistant at the UW archives and started getting into genealogy. I've been hooked ever since. I really enjoyed reading the info you have on the Smiths. My major focus is on the Westgate side and I am trying to trace them. However, I haven't been able to find any relatives (other than my grandma) who can provide much info about them. Regarding the Smith side, I do have Enos Smith's obituary (Roy's father) if you would be interested in that. I also could tell you all the vital stats regarding my grandma, her siblings and the children, if you are tracing that far down in the generations. Since you are working on the Smiths, I don't suppose you would know of any Westgate contacts, but I'd be happy to share information with you that you might need. Look forward to hearing from you. Jay Hyland.
Children of JUDD EARLEYWINE and JEAN SMITH are:
i. RICHARD JUDD EARLEYWINE, b. April 23, 1947, St. Clare Hospital, Monroe, WI. d. November 22, 1962 at the family farm in a tractor accident.
(my mother) ii. LINDSAY LEE EARLEYWINE, b. July 10, 1948, St. Clare Hospital at 4:00a.m., Monroe,WI
iii. MARY JO EARLEYWINE, b. November 22, 1949, Monroe,WI
iv. RACHEL ANN EARLEYWINE, b. February 7, 1953, Monroe,WI
v. SARA LOUISE EARLEYWINE, b. August 1, 1962, St. Clare Hospital, Monroe,WI; d. August 1, 1962
2. LINSAY LEE EARLEYWINE :b. 10 july 1948 in Monroe,WI at St. Clare Hospital at 4:00a.m. She married Terrance Patrick Hyland 17 Apr. 1971 in St. Victor's Catholic Church, Monroe,WI. He was the son of Michael Hyland and Leona Share. He was born 15 Dec. 1944 in Monroe,WI at the St. Clare Hosp.
Children of LINDSAY EARLEYWINE and TERRANCE HYLAND are:
(me) i. JOSEPH (Jay) PATRICK HYLAND, b. October 13, 1975, Monroe, WI at St. Clare Hospital at 9:13 a.m.
ii. KATHRYN (Katie) ANN HYLAND, b. 15 Sept. 1979, Monroe,WI at St. clare Hospita; at 1:17 a.m.(currently a soph. at UW-Madison)
3. MARY JO EARLYWINE was born November 22, 1949 in Monroe,WI. She married RUBEN VILLALOBAS 27 Nov. in Mexico. He was born 25 Nov. 1953 in Matamoros, Mexico.
Children of MARY EARLEYWINE and RUBEN VILLAOBAS are:
i. RUBEN JUDD VILLALOBAS, b. 16, Nov. 1977
ii. AMANDA JEAN VILLALOBAS, b. 15 July, 1980
4. RACHEL ANN EARLEY WINE was born February 7, 1953 in Monroe, WI. She married (1) MICHAEL JEFFERSON 10 Dec. 1979 in Rockford,ILL Son of Wayne Jefferson and Jane. He was born 13 Aug. 1951 in Mishawaka,Indiana. They were married on 10 May, 1997 in Rhinelander,WI He was born 8 June 1944 in Omaha,Neb.
Children of RACHEL EARLEY WINE and MICHAEL JEFFERSON are:
i. SARAH VICTORIA JEFFERSON, b. 25 May, 1983
ii. SAMANTHA RACHEL JEFFERSON, b. 25 May, 1985
One Item I noticed in your Smith notes was about Frederick Smith. You state he died around 1930 in Madison and is buried in a paupers grave. Do you know where the grave is? Jean Earleywine remembers "Uncle Fred," and how sad his story was. She remembers him living with her parents and how nice he was. She knew he died in Madison, but didn't know when it was or what they did with his body. Do you know?
Jay Highland
kajay@utelco.tds.net
Dear Jay,
Thank you for the nice letter, it is always fun to hear from a new relative, especially one of the younger ones interested in carrying on this work.
Your family and mine has had a long friendly relationship. This relationship all began when Blanche came to River Falls from Clear Lake to attend the Normal School and took a room in the home of Wallace and Mary Smith. Wallace and Mary were Aunt&Uncle to my mother Bessie(Smith) Foss. As a result, Blanche and Bessie became life-long friends and relatives. Our families have been close ever since.
I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of family history here, but I wanted to respond to your e-mail quickly to let you know how interested I am in pursuing our common knowledge about our respective families.
In the meantime, if you want something to "chew on" go to this URL:
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=gfosssmith
You will be able to search the Smith genealogy and get an idea as to what I have already published on the "Smith" lines.
George
__________________________
March 21, 2000
Jay Hyland,
Dear Mr. Foss,
My name is Jay Hyland, and I am a 24 year old graduate student in library science at UW-Milwaukee. My gr.grandmother was Blanche Westgate. My grandmother is Jean Earlywine(Smith). When I was younger ,my parents, sister and I would visit at the Lutheran Home in River Falls. We always had a good time; in fact I ended up going to UW-River Falls for my undergraduate degree in history and english. I got a job as a student assistant at the UW archives and started getting into genealogy. I've been hooked ever since. I really enjoyed reading the info you have on the Smiths. My major focus is on the Westgate side and I am trying to trace them. However, I haven't been able to find any relatives (other than my grandma) who can provide much info about them. Regarding the Smith side, I do have Enos Smith's obituary (Roy's father) if you would be interested in that. I also could tell you all the vital stats regarding my grandma, her siblings and the children, if you are tracing that far down in the generations. Since you are working on the Smiths, I don't suppose you would know of any Westgate contacts, but I'd be happy to share information with you that you might need. Look forward to hearing from you. Jay Hyland.
New Richmond News
OBITUARY FOR ROBERT A. SMITH:
Robert Allen Smith, 615 E. 3rd St. New Richmond, Wis., died suddenly July 4, 1973 at his home.
Mr. Smith was the son of Roy and Blanch Westgate Smith. He was born July 22, 1920 in Cumberland, Wisconsin.
He married Eva Goodlad on September 28, 1941 in Grantsburg,Wisconsin, who survives him. They have two daughters, Janice(Dennis A. Johnson), New Richmond and Joyce(Roger M. Peterson), Lake Como, Florida.
He is also survived by his mother, Mrs. Al White, River Falls; three grandchildren (Timothy Johnson, Amy Johnson and Matthew Peterson), four brothers, Richard of Baldwin, Enos, Bayport,Minn., Guy and John, River Falls, two sisters, Jean (Judd Earlywine), Freeport, ILL., and Ardith (Levern Christenson) Ellsworth.
A family service was held at the Beebe Chapel Friday evening at 8 pm on July 6, with Father Vincent W. Walkowski officiating.
Services were held at the United Methodist Church on Saturday, July 7, at 2 pm with Rev. Edward Zager officiating. Mrs. Mike Barney played the organ during services. Military honors were conducted by the Butler Harmon Post 80 of the American Legion.
Casketbearers for Mr. Smith were: James A. Smith, Vernon L. Boetttcher, Milton Peterson, Cal Harmon, Jerry Priess and David Imrie.
Interment was in the New Richmond Cemetery. Arrangments were by Beebe Mrotuary.
New Richmond News
OBITUARY FOR EVA M. GOODLAD SMITH
Eva Mary Smith passed away at the age of 82 at Holy Family Hospital on March 27,1998.
Eva was born in Stanton Township on March 14, 1916. She was the daughter of James and Eva Guy Goodlad. On September 28, 1941 she was united in marriage to Robert A. Smith. Eva was a homemaker and mother of two daughters.
Eva was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Robert, sister, Viola Davies, and brother Donald Goodlad.
Left mourn Eva's death are her daughters, Janice Kay(Dennis) Johnson of New Richmond, and Joyce Ellen (Roger) Peterson of Siren; four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
Memorial services for Eva will be held on April 4, at 1:30 pm at the United Methodist Church in New Richmond, Beebe Mortuary of New Richmond is in charge of Arrangements.
OBITUARY FOR ROBERT A. SMITH:
Robert Allen Smith, 615 E. 3rd St. New Richmond, Wis., died suddenly July 4, 1973 at his home.
Mr. Smith was the son of Roy and Blanch Westgate Smith. He was born July 22, 1920 in Cumberland, Wisconsin.
He married Eva Goodlad on September 28, 1941 in Grantsburg,Wisconsin, who survives him. They have two daughters, Janice(Dennis A. Johnson), New Richmond and Joyce(Roger M. Peterson), Lake Como, Florida.
He is also survived by his mother, Mrs. Al White, River Falls; three grandchildren (Timothy Johnson, Amy Johnson and Matthew Peterson), four brothers, Richard of Baldwin, Enos, Bayport,Minn., Guy and John, River Falls, two sisters, Jean (Judd Earlywine), Freeport, ILL., and Ardith (Levern Christenson) Ellsworth.
A family service was held at the Beebe Chapel Friday evening at 8 pm on July 6, with Father Vincent W. Walkowski officiating.
Services were held at the United Methodist Church on Saturday, July 7, at 2 pm with Rev. Edward Zager officiating. Mrs. Mike Barney played the organ during services. Military honors were conducted by the Butler Harmon Post 80 of the American Legion.
Casketbearers for Mr. Smith were: James A. Smith, Vernon L. Boetttcher, Milton Peterson, Cal Harmon, Jerry Priess and David Imrie.
Interment was in the New Richmond Cemetery. Arrangments were by Beebe Mrotuary.
New Richmond News
OBITUARY FOR EVA M. GOODLAD SMITH
Eva Mary Smith passed away at the age of 82 at Holy Family Hospital on March 27,1998.
Eva was born in Stanton Township on March 14, 1916. She was the daughter of James and Eva Guy Goodlad. On September 28, 1941 she was united in marriage to Robert A. Smith. Eva was a homemaker and mother of two daughters.
Eva was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Robert, sister, Viola Davies, and brother Donald Goodlad.
Left mourn Eva's death are her daughters, Janice Kay(Dennis) Johnson of New Richmond, and Joyce Ellen (Roger) Peterson of Siren; four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
Memorial services for Eva will be held on April 4, at 1:30 pm at the United Methodist Church in New Richmond, Beebe Mortuary of New Richmond is in charge of Arrangements.
OBITUARY FOR LEVERN E. CHRISTENSON
River Falls Journal
Levern E. Christenson, 78, of Ellsworth died Tuesday, April 15, 1997.
He was born July 31, 1918, in River Falls, the son of Otto and Gladys (Olson). He attended River Falls High School, graduating in 1937. He married Ardith Smith on Dec. 28, 1944 at Hudson Methodist Church.
He was a farmer, buttermaker, salesman, and was employed at the Rural Electric Association. He also served in the U.S. Air Force.
He was a member of the Fletcher-Pechacek American Legion Post #204, and the Pierce County 40 et 8. He was also a member of the Ellsworth United Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Otto and Gladys; and two brothers.
He is survived by his wife Ardith; two sons: Dennis and Linda of Bemidji,Minn., and James and susan of Spring Valley; one daughter, Nancy and David Phernetton of Appleton; a sister, Shirley of Ellsworth; 7 nieces and 7 grandchildren.
Visitation was Thursday, April 17, at Cashman Mortuary in River Falls. Funeral was Friday, April 18, at United Methodist Church in Ellsworth with Rev. Janis Best officiating.
Interment was in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Ellsworth.
River Falls Journal
Levern E. Christenson, 78, of Ellsworth died Tuesday, April 15, 1997.
He was born July 31, 1918, in River Falls, the son of Otto and Gladys (Olson). He attended River Falls High School, graduating in 1937. He married Ardith Smith on Dec. 28, 1944 at Hudson Methodist Church.
He was a farmer, buttermaker, salesman, and was employed at the Rural Electric Association. He also served in the U.S. Air Force.
He was a member of the Fletcher-Pechacek American Legion Post #204, and the Pierce County 40 et 8. He was also a member of the Ellsworth United Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Otto and Gladys; and two brothers.
He is survived by his wife Ardith; two sons: Dennis and Linda of Bemidji,Minn., and James and susan of Spring Valley; one daughter, Nancy and David Phernetton of Appleton; a sister, Shirley of Ellsworth; 7 nieces and 7 grandchildren.
Visitation was Thursday, April 17, at Cashman Mortuary in River Falls. Funeral was Friday, April 18, at United Methodist Church in Ellsworth with Rev. Janis Best officiating.
Interment was in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Ellsworth.
OBITUARY FOR ENOS F. SMITH
River Falls Journal
Enos F. Smith, 62, of Bayport,MN., died March 7, 1988
He is survived by his wife Dorothy, one son, Jerry and his wife Kathleen of Stillwater,MN.; one daughter Patricia(Mrs. Roger) Waterman, Amery; four grandchildren -- Lauren and Tim Waterman, and Betsey and Andrew Smith; He is also survived by his mother Blanche White of River Falls; two sisters: Jean Early wine of Freeport,Ill., and Ardith Christenson of Ellsworth; one brother John Smith of River Falls. Services were held March 10 at St. Charles Catholic Church in Bayport,MN. Interment was at St. Michael's Cemetery, Bayport.
River Falls Journal
Enos F. Smith, 62, of Bayport,MN., died March 7, 1988
He is survived by his wife Dorothy, one son, Jerry and his wife Kathleen of Stillwater,MN.; one daughter Patricia(Mrs. Roger) Waterman, Amery; four grandchildren -- Lauren and Tim Waterman, and Betsey and Andrew Smith; He is also survived by his mother Blanche White of River Falls; two sisters: Jean Early wine of Freeport,Ill., and Ardith Christenson of Ellsworth; one brother John Smith of River Falls. Services were held March 10 at St. Charles Catholic Church in Bayport,MN. Interment was at St. Michael's Cemetery, Bayport.
The funeral for Guy was in the Congregational Church, Rev. Richard Hoblin officiating. Interment was in Greenwood Cemetery, River Falls,WI.
Guy was living with his family at 903 South Main Street, River Falls, WI., 540022 at the time of his death.
Guy was living with his family at 903 South Main Street, River Falls, WI., 540022 at the time of his death.
Joan graduated from River Falls high school in 1957
Her obit can be found on www.rootsweb.com/~wipierce
(press obit button)
Her obit can be found on www.rootsweb.com/~wipierce
(press obit button)
Ardith was the daughter of Minnie Smith's brother, Jim Sampair. Ardith's mother died when Ardith was just a babe. Her father was killed in a threshing accident leaving Ardith an orphan. Enos and Minnie Smith took her into their family and raised her. See the page for Jim Sampair.
Family lore has it that Ardith's uncle, Clarence Sampair, was an executive vice president for 3M Company of St. Paul,MN. He became millionaire. The exact relationship of Ardith and Clarence has not been documented. A biographical sketch could probably be obtained by contacting the 3M Company of St. Paul,MN. According to SSDI records, they have a Clarance(sic) Sampair, b. 16 Aug. 1900--d. Apr. 1980 in St. Paul. His SSN was: 477-05-9704. If the original SSN application was obtained, one could learn more about him. Also, his obit may be found in the archives of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Newspaper. Also, a Georgette Sampair was found in the SSDI. She was born 18 Jan. 1900, and died May 1988 in St. Paul. Her obit may be found in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and it might provide additional information.
Obit for Clarence Sampair
Sampair-Clarence B. Age 79 of 1465 Summit Avenue, St.Paul,MN. on April 30, 1980. Survived by wife Georgette A; dauhter, Mr.s William(Mary) Lynch; Sons, Patrick James; Joseph; Thomas; sisters. Mrs. oJhn(Vera) Tracy of St. Paul, and Mrs. William(Eleanor)Corcoran of Chicago,Illinois. Also 26 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Preceded in death by grandson Scott Sampair. Funeral from the O'Halloran&Murphy Snelling Avenue, 10:30am, Friday. Mass of Christian burial at St.Luke's Church, 11am. Interment, Calvary Cemetery. Visitation from 3 to 9am, Thursday. Memorials to OUr Lady of Good Counsel or donors choice. Attention Guild of Catholic women.other Roy: Ardith married John Brumbly, and they were living in Compton, California as of 1952.
ARDYTH was first married to a man named DRUCK. They had a son named "Jim."
According to SSDI ARDYTH BRUMBLY--b. 12 December 1905; d. February 1970 in Salt Lake City
Family lore has it that Ardith's uncle, Clarence Sampair, was an executive vice president for 3M Company of St. Paul,MN. He became millionaire. The exact relationship of Ardith and Clarence has not been documented. A biographical sketch could probably be obtained by contacting the 3M Company of St. Paul,MN. According to SSDI records, they have a Clarance(sic) Sampair, b. 16 Aug. 1900--d. Apr. 1980 in St. Paul. His SSN was: 477-05-9704. If the original SSN application was obtained, one could learn more about him. Also, his obit may be found in the archives of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Newspaper. Also, a Georgette Sampair was found in the SSDI. She was born 18 Jan. 1900, and died May 1988 in St. Paul. Her obit may be found in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and it might provide additional information.
Obit for Clarence Sampair
Sampair-Clarence B. Age 79 of 1465 Summit Avenue, St.Paul,MN. on April 30, 1980. Survived by wife Georgette A; dauhter, Mr.s William(Mary) Lynch; Sons, Patrick James; Joseph; Thomas; sisters. Mrs. oJhn(Vera) Tracy of St. Paul, and Mrs. William(Eleanor)Corcoran of Chicago,Illinois. Also 26 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Preceded in death by grandson Scott Sampair. Funeral from the O'Halloran&Murphy Snelling Avenue, 10:30am, Friday. Mass of Christian burial at St.Luke's Church, 11am. Interment, Calvary Cemetery. Visitation from 3 to 9am, Thursday. Memorials to OUr Lady of Good Counsel or donors choice. Attention Guild of Catholic women.other Roy: Ardith married John Brumbly, and they were living in Compton, California as of 1952.
ARDYTH was first married to a man named DRUCK. They had a son named "Jim."
According to SSDI ARDYTH BRUMBLY--b. 12 December 1905; d. February 1970 in Salt Lake City
Fred never married. However, I saw the records in the Lincoln County Court House in Merril,WI which states Fred was the father of twin girls born to Stella Downey on 29 June, 1901.
Not much is known about Fred. He worked the lumber camps near Irma,WI. when he was young., and then worked at odd jobs such as for the Drake Dray Line in Cumberland,WI., and as a farm hand in later years.
He lived with Enos and Minnie in Cumberland; with Fay and Gertie Miller in River Falls, in 1922; with Roy and Blanche Smith in Cumberland in the late 20's.
He was living with Harrison and Edna Smith at River Falls when he became so ill from the effects of alcoholism they had to send him to Madison to the hospital where he eventually died as a ward of the state. He was buried in a pauper's grave near the state hospital in Madison.
Mildred Cullman said that her "Uncle Fred" was a good-hearted, gentle person, but he was his own worst enemy, and became an alcoholic. She remembers that he stayed out on County Line at her folks house, and they were forever trying to get him dried out.
Jean Earlywine remembers "Uncle Fred," and how sad his story was. She remembers him living with her parents and how nice he was. She knew he died in Madison, but didn't know when it was or what they did with his body.
Not much is known about Fred. He worked the lumber camps near Irma,WI. when he was young., and then worked at odd jobs such as for the Drake Dray Line in Cumberland,WI., and as a farm hand in later years.
He lived with Enos and Minnie in Cumberland; with Fay and Gertie Miller in River Falls, in 1922; with Roy and Blanche Smith in Cumberland in the late 20's.
He was living with Harrison and Edna Smith at River Falls when he became so ill from the effects of alcoholism they had to send him to Madison to the hospital where he eventually died as a ward of the state. He was buried in a pauper's grave near the state hospital in Madison.
Mildred Cullman said that her "Uncle Fred" was a good-hearted, gentle person, but he was his own worst enemy, and became an alcoholic. She remembers that he stayed out on County Line at her folks house, and they were forever trying to get him dried out.
Jean Earlywine remembers "Uncle Fred," and how sad his story was. She remembers him living with her parents and how nice he was. She knew he died in Madison, but didn't know when it was or what they did with his body.
Carrie was a rather tall, homely woman, but was quite intelligent. She did most of the thinking for she and Eldon. She was an excellent seamstress and carried out all manner of womanly sewing crafts for which she was favorably recognized,
Carrie and Eldon never had any children.
Carrie was pestered with any number of maladys which caused her a great deal of pain. In those days it was a simple matter to buy pain-killing drugs right off the shelf. As a result, she became addicted to morphine and opium which eventually resulted in her untimely death.
According to the U.S. census of 1920 in River Falls, Carrie listed her father as born in Vermont, and her mother born in New York.
Eldon, at about age 1 or 2, moved from Nobleboro, Maine, to Diamond Bluff,WI with his parents.
Eldon's father was George S. Nash, and his mother was Barzana J. Eugley. Eldon had a sister Nellie who married a man named W.A. Hawkins. Another sister Eldie, married Wilson C. Warren. Another sister Addie, was what one could call a midget, although this might not be scientifically correct. She was a very small woman, about 4 feet tall, well proportioned, and physically normal. Both Eldon and Nellie were about 6 feet in height. Addie lived alone in River Falls, but I don't know how she supported herself, and she never married. She had a low I.Q. although on the same order as Eldon. Nellie was much more intelligent than either Eldon or Addie, in fact, she was said to have taught grade school at one time.
I remember Eldon's sister Nell and his niece Maud Hawkins when they called on Eldon at our home(in the Denzer house on Cascade Ave)- during the late 1930's when I was about 7 or 8 years of age. Their home was in Illinois. I also recall Eldon explaining the relationship of Beatrice, but I don't recall details.
I remember Eldon's sister Addie who lived alone in River Falls. She was a very tiny person who continued to dress in clothes that were of "turn of the century" fashion(long black dresses, and an old-fashiond hat. She seemed quite feeble and helpless as she walked along in very tiny steps. To me she appeared wrinkled and old. Her lower lip sagged out of shape, causing her to keep her mouth partly open(like she was always saying "ooh'") and she did not talk very plain. I think she wore old-fashioned rimless glasses.
I knew George and Margaret Warren and their daughter Joyce. They made their home in River Falls. I don't recall meeting Charles Warren.
Joyce Warren married Leo McCleavey, and they lived in River Falls. They had a son and a daughter. The son worked for many years as a carry out for Dick's Supermarket in River Falls. At the death of Eldon Nash, Arthur Foss gave Joyce the personal effects of Eldon. This consisted of one large trunk filled with a precious gold coin collection along with other memorabilia and objects.
U.S. Census-1920-City of River Falls
Eldon E. Nash 54Laborer
Carrie (Wife) 49
U.S. Census-1920-River Falls Twp
George Warren.......................head....................age 33
Charles Warren......................partner.................age 35
George S. Nash......................grandfather..........age 78(born in Maine)
Barzana Nash.........................grandmother.........age 76(born in Maine)
Addie Nash.............................Aunt..................... age 48 (born in Wisconsin)
OBITUARY FOR GEORGE S. NASH
River Falls Journal
George S. Nash passed away at his home Friday evening at the age of 78 years, 10 months and 7 days.
He was born in Nobleboro, Main, March 16, 1841. He was united in marriage to Barzana J. Eugley September 10,1862. They moved to Diamond Bluff Wisconsin sometime after 1866 and lived there for twentytwo years. Since then they have lived in River Falls. To this union five children were born, three of whom survive. Miss Abby died in infancy; Mrs. Wilson C. Warren died at the age of 27, in 1893, leaving two sons, Charles and George, who were reared to manhood by their grandparents, and who are still at home.
The surviving children, who, with their mother, are left to mourn the loss of a kind and loving husband and father, are Eldon Nash, Addie Nash and Mrs. W.A. Hawkins. The feeling of loss is shared with them by Mrs. Nash's six grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.
1920 U.S. Census:
William A. Hawkins age 40
Nellie(Nash) age 40
Maud (dau) age 15
Norman (son) age 11
____________________
Eldon Nash age 54
Carrie(Smith) age 50
NAMES COPIED FROM HEADSTONES IN GREENWOOD CEMETERY, RIVER FALLS
Barzana Nash..........................1843-1924
Addie Nash..............................1870-1947
Charles Warren.........................1884-1959
George Warren.........................1887-
Eldon Nash moved in with Arthur and Bessie Foss after his wife Carrie died in 1928. He planned to stay for only a short while, but remained with the Foss family until his death in 1952.
Eldon had a somewhat low I.Q., however, he could read and write, and could manage simple arithmetic. He loved horses, and had a profound gift in handling horses. He was Street Commissioner for the city of River Falls in the early 20's.
He always planted and maintained a large, well-kept garden from which he sold produce to supplement his income. He raised both raspberries and strawberries.
He was an extremely honest, gentle, and kind person. He professed to be a Methodist, but he very seldom went to church. He loved all the young women and girls from afar, but never went beyond that.
Norman Foss and John Prucha included a short piece about Eldon in their book "Kinnickinnic Years."(pp.138)-- Published in 1993. A copy of the book is held by the River Falls Public Library.
Carrie and Eldon never had any children.
Carrie was pestered with any number of maladys which caused her a great deal of pain. In those days it was a simple matter to buy pain-killing drugs right off the shelf. As a result, she became addicted to morphine and opium which eventually resulted in her untimely death.
According to the U.S. census of 1920 in River Falls, Carrie listed her father as born in Vermont, and her mother born in New York.
Eldon, at about age 1 or 2, moved from Nobleboro, Maine, to Diamond Bluff,WI with his parents.
Eldon's father was George S. Nash, and his mother was Barzana J. Eugley. Eldon had a sister Nellie who married a man named W.A. Hawkins. Another sister Eldie, married Wilson C. Warren. Another sister Addie, was what one could call a midget, although this might not be scientifically correct. She was a very small woman, about 4 feet tall, well proportioned, and physically normal. Both Eldon and Nellie were about 6 feet in height. Addie lived alone in River Falls, but I don't know how she supported herself, and she never married. She had a low I.Q. although on the same order as Eldon. Nellie was much more intelligent than either Eldon or Addie, in fact, she was said to have taught grade school at one time.
I remember Eldon's sister Nell and his niece Maud Hawkins when they called on Eldon at our home(in the Denzer house on Cascade Ave)- during the late 1930's when I was about 7 or 8 years of age. Their home was in Illinois. I also recall Eldon explaining the relationship of Beatrice, but I don't recall details.
I remember Eldon's sister Addie who lived alone in River Falls. She was a very tiny person who continued to dress in clothes that were of "turn of the century" fashion(long black dresses, and an old-fashiond hat. She seemed quite feeble and helpless as she walked along in very tiny steps. To me she appeared wrinkled and old. Her lower lip sagged out of shape, causing her to keep her mouth partly open(like she was always saying "ooh'") and she did not talk very plain. I think she wore old-fashioned rimless glasses.
I knew George and Margaret Warren and their daughter Joyce. They made their home in River Falls. I don't recall meeting Charles Warren.
Joyce Warren married Leo McCleavey, and they lived in River Falls. They had a son and a daughter. The son worked for many years as a carry out for Dick's Supermarket in River Falls. At the death of Eldon Nash, Arthur Foss gave Joyce the personal effects of Eldon. This consisted of one large trunk filled with a precious gold coin collection along with other memorabilia and objects.
U.S. Census-1920-City of River Falls
Eldon E. Nash 54Laborer
Carrie (Wife) 49
U.S. Census-1920-River Falls Twp
George Warren.......................head....................age 33
Charles Warren......................partner.................age 35
George S. Nash......................grandfather..........age 78(born in Maine)
Barzana Nash.........................grandmother.........age 76(born in Maine)
Addie Nash.............................Aunt..................... age 48 (born in Wisconsin)
OBITUARY FOR GEORGE S. NASH
River Falls Journal
George S. Nash passed away at his home Friday evening at the age of 78 years, 10 months and 7 days.
He was born in Nobleboro, Main, March 16, 1841. He was united in marriage to Barzana J. Eugley September 10,1862. They moved to Diamond Bluff Wisconsin sometime after 1866 and lived there for twentytwo years. Since then they have lived in River Falls. To this union five children were born, three of whom survive. Miss Abby died in infancy; Mrs. Wilson C. Warren died at the age of 27, in 1893, leaving two sons, Charles and George, who were reared to manhood by their grandparents, and who are still at home.
The surviving children, who, with their mother, are left to mourn the loss of a kind and loving husband and father, are Eldon Nash, Addie Nash and Mrs. W.A. Hawkins. The feeling of loss is shared with them by Mrs. Nash's six grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.
1920 U.S. Census:
William A. Hawkins age 40
Nellie(Nash) age 40
Maud (dau) age 15
Norman (son) age 11
____________________
Eldon Nash age 54
Carrie(Smith) age 50
NAMES COPIED FROM HEADSTONES IN GREENWOOD CEMETERY, RIVER FALLS
Barzana Nash..........................1843-1924
Addie Nash..............................1870-1947
Charles Warren.........................1884-1959
George Warren.........................1887-
Eldon Nash moved in with Arthur and Bessie Foss after his wife Carrie died in 1928. He planned to stay for only a short while, but remained with the Foss family until his death in 1952.
Eldon had a somewhat low I.Q., however, he could read and write, and could manage simple arithmetic. He loved horses, and had a profound gift in handling horses. He was Street Commissioner for the city of River Falls in the early 20's.
He always planted and maintained a large, well-kept garden from which he sold produce to supplement his income. He raised both raspberries and strawberries.
He was an extremely honest, gentle, and kind person. He professed to be a Methodist, but he very seldom went to church. He loved all the young women and girls from afar, but never went beyond that.
Norman Foss and John Prucha included a short piece about Eldon in their book "Kinnickinnic Years."(pp.138)-- Published in 1993. A copy of the book is held by the River Falls Public Library.
Cora is enumerated uner the 1910 census for River Falls,WI:
Cora C. Smith(head) age 27
Henry(son) age 12
Nina C. (Dau.) age 10
Robert (son) age 6
Cora separated from her husband Herbert because he became an alcoholic.
U.S. Census-1920-City of River Falls
Cora Smith...................head........age 46
Harrison......................Son..........age 22
Robert.........................Son..........age 16
The River Falls Journal reported that she sold her house on Locust Street, and purchased the house owned by Mrs. Sadie Griffin located on the corner of Spring and Second street in River Falls.
Family lore had it that Cora Glover and Lura Aldrich(Wally Smith) were somehow related. The connection was confirmed in March,2000, when the genealogical work of cousin Marlin Smith(son of Wallace Herbert Smith & Lura) showed that Cora and Lura were cousins on the Ensign line.
Marlin Smith has his maternal side traced back into the 1500's. His work can be viewed with surnames such as Smith, Glover,Ensign, Aldrich, and Webster on the LDS FamilySearch.org site.
I always wondered what the connection was between the Flints (Richard and Lee) with Cora Smith and her daughter Nina Deiss. This becomes clear when we see that Richard Flint was a brother-in-law to Cora Smith. Lee Flint rented a room from Cora for many years, and he loaned his late model Chrysler car to Nina Deiss to drive.
The death record for Herbert is recorded at the Pierce County Court House, Vol 7, pp391,15 August 1923.
"Herb" was a drinker which led to the marriage separation. Not much else is known about “Herb” and his life and times.
Cora C. Smith(head) age 27
Henry(son) age 12
Nina C. (Dau.) age 10
Robert (son) age 6
Cora separated from her husband Herbert because he became an alcoholic.
U.S. Census-1920-City of River Falls
Cora Smith...................head........age 46
Harrison......................Son..........age 22
Robert.........................Son..........age 16
The River Falls Journal reported that she sold her house on Locust Street, and purchased the house owned by Mrs. Sadie Griffin located on the corner of Spring and Second street in River Falls.
Family lore had it that Cora Glover and Lura Aldrich(Wally Smith) were somehow related. The connection was confirmed in March,2000, when the genealogical work of cousin Marlin Smith(son of Wallace Herbert Smith & Lura) showed that Cora and Lura were cousins on the Ensign line.
Marlin Smith has his maternal side traced back into the 1500's. His work can be viewed with surnames such as Smith, Glover,Ensign, Aldrich, and Webster on the LDS FamilySearch.org site.
I always wondered what the connection was between the Flints (Richard and Lee) with Cora Smith and her daughter Nina Deiss. This becomes clear when we see that Richard Flint was a brother-in-law to Cora Smith. Lee Flint rented a room from Cora for many years, and he loaned his late model Chrysler car to Nina Deiss to drive.
The death record for Herbert is recorded at the Pierce County Court House, Vol 7, pp391,15 August 1923.
"Herb" was a drinker which led to the marriage separation. Not much else is known about “Herb” and his life and times.
The records for the school census for District No. 2, Town of Kinnickinnic, St. Croix County in 1918, shows Howard age 17, Mildred age 15, and Raymond age 13.
Wallace and his family also lived out on the County line east of River Falls for a number of years.
All three children were highly intelligent people.
Mary's father was Charles Eastman, 1852-1948, and her mother was Dora, 1846-1914. Both of her parents died in River Falls, and are buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Wallace and his family also lived out on the County line east of River Falls for a number of years.
All three children were highly intelligent people.
Mary's father was Charles Eastman, 1852-1948, and her mother was Dora, 1846-1914. Both of her parents died in River Falls, and are buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Mildred attended grade school in Ellsworth,WI., then highschool at River Falls, and also the Normal School in River Falls. She graduated from RFHS in 1920. She lived in the state of Washington for three years, and then moved back to River Falls in 1923 where she was employed as a telephone operator for the Bell Telephone Company.
Mildred and Percy Pace lived on a farm about 7 miles north of River Falls along the Kinnickinnic River. It was here that both Ronald and Charles Pace were born. While they were living at that place Clarence "Toot" Smith lived with them.
Percy and Mildred then moved to a farm a few miles south along the Kinnickinnic which was about about an eighth of a mile south of the Old Kinnickinnic Church. Clarence "Toot" Smith moved with them at that time.
After Percy died Mildred purchased a house on South Fourth Street just south of the old tennis courts of the Normal School Southall campus. During the first year Bette and I were married we moved from our appartment in St. Paul to an upstairs appartment in Mildred's house. We were living there at the time of the birth of Georgia Ann Foss. When Mildred married Glen Martin in 1951 she sold her house. Bette and I then moved from that place into an upstairs appartment owned by Lulu Shella on West Maple Street.
After Glen Martin died, Mildred married Roy Cullman and lived in West Salem,WI.
Upon the death of Roy Cullman, Mildred moved back to River Falls and lived in a duplex located in a new housing addition on the West Side. She was living at this place at the time of her death.
I visited Mildred several times at her home on the Westside and we talked about family history.
Mildred and Percy Pace lived on a farm about 7 miles north of River Falls along the Kinnickinnic River. It was here that both Ronald and Charles Pace were born. While they were living at that place Clarence "Toot" Smith lived with them.
Percy and Mildred then moved to a farm a few miles south along the Kinnickinnic which was about about an eighth of a mile south of the Old Kinnickinnic Church. Clarence "Toot" Smith moved with them at that time.
After Percy died Mildred purchased a house on South Fourth Street just south of the old tennis courts of the Normal School Southall campus. During the first year Bette and I were married we moved from our appartment in St. Paul to an upstairs appartment in Mildred's house. We were living there at the time of the birth of Georgia Ann Foss. When Mildred married Glen Martin in 1951 she sold her house. Bette and I then moved from that place into an upstairs appartment owned by Lulu Shella on West Maple Street.
After Glen Martin died, Mildred married Roy Cullman and lived in West Salem,WI.
Upon the death of Roy Cullman, Mildred moved back to River Falls and lived in a duplex located in a new housing addition on the West Side. She was living at this place at the time of her death.
I visited Mildred several times at her home on the Westside and we talked about family history.
Charles graduated from RFHS in 1926--his photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook
OBITUARY- River Falls Journal:
Tamie Smith Dies at 68. Charles Raymond "Tamie" Smith died Saturday morning at Mounds Hospital in St. Paul,MN. He was taken to the hospital last Tuesday and underwent surgery there Wednesday. He never fully regained consciousness after the surgery. He died June 9, 1973. Born in River Falls, Smith died one day short of his 68th birthday. He was a graduate of River Falls high school and for a while operated a service station in St. Paul with his brother Howard "Red." In 1937 the Smiths moved back to River Falls purchasing a farm northwest of River Falls on Hwy. 65 where they have lived since. Smith joined the custodian staff at WURF in June of 1960 and remained there until his retirement may 25, 1973. Prior to retiring he was in charge of athletic equipment and facilities at Krges Center and Ramer Field. The Smith's sold their farm home recently and had just purchased a home on Division St. planning to move next month. Visitation was held at the Cashman-Segerstrom Funeral Home Monday with services held at St. Bridget's Catholic Church Tuesday morning with Rev. Dennis Meuhlemans officiating. Burial was at St. Bridget's Cemetery. Survivors include his wife Berths, two daughters: Gayle of Menomonie and Mrs. Kay Chernesky of Cleveland, Ohio. Two sons: Gerald of St. Paul and Neil of Hudson.; one sister Mrs. Roy Cullman of West Salem; one brother Howard "Red' of Silver lake,MN. Also surviving are 7 grandchildren.
Bertha graduated from RFHS in 1929--her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. Her photo also appears in the 1930 Meletean Yearbook of the River Falls Normal School--she was listed as a freshman.
OBITUARY- River Falls Journal:
Tamie Smith Dies at 68. Charles Raymond "Tamie" Smith died Saturday morning at Mounds Hospital in St. Paul,MN. He was taken to the hospital last Tuesday and underwent surgery there Wednesday. He never fully regained consciousness after the surgery. He died June 9, 1973. Born in River Falls, Smith died one day short of his 68th birthday. He was a graduate of River Falls high school and for a while operated a service station in St. Paul with his brother Howard "Red." In 1937 the Smiths moved back to River Falls purchasing a farm northwest of River Falls on Hwy. 65 where they have lived since. Smith joined the custodian staff at WURF in June of 1960 and remained there until his retirement may 25, 1973. Prior to retiring he was in charge of athletic equipment and facilities at Krges Center and Ramer Field. The Smith's sold their farm home recently and had just purchased a home on Division St. planning to move next month. Visitation was held at the Cashman-Segerstrom Funeral Home Monday with services held at St. Bridget's Catholic Church Tuesday morning with Rev. Dennis Meuhlemans officiating. Burial was at St. Bridget's Cemetery. Survivors include his wife Berths, two daughters: Gayle of Menomonie and Mrs. Kay Chernesky of Cleveland, Ohio. Two sons: Gerald of St. Paul and Neil of Hudson.; one sister Mrs. Roy Cullman of West Salem; one brother Howard "Red' of Silver lake,MN. Also surviving are 7 grandchildren.
Bertha graduated from RFHS in 1929--her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. Her photo also appears in the 1930 Meletean Yearbook of the River Falls Normal School--she was listed as a freshman.
Rufus and Melissa were married on 2 March, 1866 in Malone, N.Y. by Rev. Allan Millar in the Methodist church.
Elsa S. Eddy(believed to be the granddaughter of Rufus) was the informant on his death certificate. He had a stroke at age 74 and was quite feeble. Then he slipped on some ice and hit his head which resulted in his death.
CERTIFICATE OF DEATH STATE OF NEW YORK
Name: Rufus Gardiner Smith, male, Yankee, married.
date of death: March 5, 1915
date of birth: Jan. 17, 1840 age 75 yrs. 1mos. 15 da.
occupation: farmer-retired
Birthplace: Chasm Falls
Name of father: John Smith-born in New Hampshire
maiden name of mother: Rosalinda Hutchinson--birthplace unknown
He was feeble from a stroke over one year and died as the result of a fall hitting
his head severely.
Attended by W.H. Harwood,M.D.(This is the same Dr. Harwood who carried out genealogical research on the Jonathan Smith family).
Place of burial: Malone, N.Y., Mar. 7,1915. It is also possible that he is buried in the River Street Cemetery, South of Whipplesville, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River Road in Chasm Falls,N.Y.
DECLARATION FOR WIDOW'S PENSION
by Melissa M. Smith, age 65 yrs, a resident of Owls Head, Co. of Franklin,N.Y. That she is the widow of Gardiner Smith who was enrolled at Wanahatchie,Tenn. on Sept. 25, 1861 as a Corporal in Co."E"N.Y.Vol. and honorably discharged July 17, 1865. That she was married under the name of Melissa Davis to said soldier at the Town of Malone,N.Y. on Mar. 2, 1866 by Allen Miller Reverend. She had not been previously married.
signed, Melissa M. Smith
Living children: Austen G. Smith born: Apr. 15, 1887
Mahala A. Harwood testified as to the marriage of Melissa to Gardiner.
He enlisted in Co. E of the 60th Regt., N.Y. Infantry Vols. in 25 September, 1861( he was in Wanhatachee,Tenn at that time). He re-enlisted in the same company and regiment to July 17,1865 (he was mustered out at Alexandria, VA). He held the ranks of Private, Corporal, Sergeant, and Brevet 2nd Lt. He was described in his military records as 5 feet 11 1/2-inches tall, dark complexion, dark grey eyes, and black hair.
Elsa S. Eddy(believed to be the granddaughter of Rufus) was the informant on his death certificate. He had a stroke at age 74 and was quite feeble. Then he slipped on some ice and hit his head which resulted in his death.
CERTIFICATE OF DEATH STATE OF NEW YORK
Name: Rufus Gardiner Smith, male, Yankee, married.
date of death: March 5, 1915
date of birth: Jan. 17, 1840 age 75 yrs. 1mos. 15 da.
occupation: farmer-retired
Birthplace: Chasm Falls
Name of father: John Smith-born in New Hampshire
maiden name of mother: Rosalinda Hutchinson--birthplace unknown
He was feeble from a stroke over one year and died as the result of a fall hitting
his head severely.
Attended by W.H. Harwood,M.D.(This is the same Dr. Harwood who carried out genealogical research on the Jonathan Smith family).
Place of burial: Malone, N.Y., Mar. 7,1915. It is also possible that he is buried in the River Street Cemetery, South of Whipplesville, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River Road in Chasm Falls,N.Y.
DECLARATION FOR WIDOW'S PENSION
by Melissa M. Smith, age 65 yrs, a resident of Owls Head, Co. of Franklin,N.Y. That she is the widow of Gardiner Smith who was enrolled at Wanahatchie,Tenn. on Sept. 25, 1861 as a Corporal in Co."E"N.Y.Vol. and honorably discharged July 17, 1865. That she was married under the name of Melissa Davis to said soldier at the Town of Malone,N.Y. on Mar. 2, 1866 by Allen Miller Reverend. She had not been previously married.
signed, Melissa M. Smith
Living children: Austen G. Smith born: Apr. 15, 1887
Mahala A. Harwood testified as to the marriage of Melissa to Gardiner.
He enlisted in Co. E of the 60th Regt., N.Y. Infantry Vols. in 25 September, 1861( he was in Wanhatachee,Tenn at that time). He re-enlisted in the same company and regiment to July 17,1865 (he was mustered out at Alexandria, VA). He held the ranks of Private, Corporal, Sergeant, and Brevet 2nd Lt. He was described in his military records as 5 feet 11 1/2-inches tall, dark complexion, dark grey eyes, and black hair.
According to Elida Thomas, reminiscing in a letter to George Foss on July 5,2000: Elida recalls that Smith family lore held that Melissa's parents weren't overly pleased that their daughter married Gardiner Smith. They viewed him as an indolent man who was not destined for better things. Sometime after Moses and Betsey Ann Smith moved their family to Auroraville,WI., in 1869, Gardiner and Melissa(along with her parents, Jerry and Maryanne Davis) moved to Rush Lake Wisconsin. After both of her parents died at that place, Gardiner and Melissa returned to upstate New York.
Ella and Francis Nicholl were not married, they were the parents of Esta Nicholl. Ella married Gordon Mac Donald at a later date and Esta Nicholl was raised by them.
Ella's ashes were buried beside those of of Gordon and Esta in Springfield, MA. Ella raised Rowena Irwin as a teenager.
Ella's ashes were buried beside those of of Gordon and Esta in Springfield, MA. Ella raised Rowena Irwin as a teenager.
Paul was said to have the title of "Doctor" but whether he was an M.D. is unknown.
Paul's vital statistics can be found in Broderbund Family Archive #110, Ed 4.
SSDI:
Individual: Ferguson, Paul
Birthdate: Jan. 22, 1904
Deathdate: May 1972
SSN: 714-10-6742
Last Residence: NY 12921
Paul's vital statistics can be found in Broderbund Family Archive #110, Ed 4.
SSDI:
Individual: Ferguson, Paul
Birthdate: Jan. 22, 1904
Deathdate: May 1972
SSN: 714-10-6742
Last Residence: NY 12921
She and Thomas Eddy were married by the Rev. W.D. Marsh in the Methodist-Episcopal Church in Malone, NY. He was a farmer.
Elida Thomas writing on 19 July, 2000 reports that her parents knew the Eddy family very well, as well as the Chapmans, and the Comstocks(Stella). She said her parents never said much about Mary who lived "away" most of her life; however, it was said she wrote poetry which they believe was published sometime after the Civil War. Elida's parents said Elsie was killed in an auto accident near Shepherd's Bridge, a small landmark on the road between Malone and Owls Head. Her son, Paul was had a doctor's degree, but the field is unknown.
Elida remembers Elsis as a delightful little woman, handicapped by an enormous goitre that hung down on one side of her neck. Elsie and Harry never had any children.
Elsie copied the following family list from the Davis family Bible and sent the same to Florence Berk in 1951:
Jeremiah M.H. Davis(b. 1821)
Mary Anne Magoon Davis (b. 16 April, Stanstead, Canada)
Children: Silas W. Davis(b. 28 June, 1846, Malone,NY)
Mary Melissa Davis(b. 18 April, 1849, Malone,NY)
Arthur Wells Davis(b. 4 Feb. 1851, Malone,NY)
Harriet Ida Davis(b. 13 Nov. 1853, Malone,NY)
Willard Henry Davis(b. 15 Mar. 1858, Owls Head,NY)
Daniel Addison Davis(b. 21 Jan. 1860, Owls Head,NY)
Miron Elmer Davis, (b. 23 mar. 1861, Owls Head, NY)
Elida Thomas writing in 19 July, 2000 reports that Stella Chapman lived near to her parent's home in Owls Head. Elida remembers her as an elderly woman. Stella had one daughter, a big handsome woman, named Imogene. Elida remembers hearing Imogene playing her horm in the evenings and the breezes carried the sound nearly a mile across the meadows to her ear. She said poor Imogene had a hard life married to a man named Joe Whittamore. They had two daughters.
Elida remembers Elsis as a delightful little woman, handicapped by an enormous goitre that hung down on one side of her neck. Elsie and Harry never had any children.
Elsie copied the following family list from the Davis family Bible and sent the same to Florence Berk in 1951:
Jeremiah M.H. Davis(b. 1821)
Mary Anne Magoon Davis (b. 16 April, Stanstead, Canada)
Children: Silas W. Davis(b. 28 June, 1846, Malone,NY)
Mary Melissa Davis(b. 18 April, 1849, Malone,NY)
Arthur Wells Davis(b. 4 Feb. 1851, Malone,NY)
Harriet Ida Davis(b. 13 Nov. 1853, Malone,NY)
Willard Henry Davis(b. 15 Mar. 1858, Owls Head,NY)
Daniel Addison Davis(b. 21 Jan. 1860, Owls Head,NY)
Miron Elmer Davis, (b. 23 mar. 1861, Owls Head, NY)
Elida Thomas writing in 19 July, 2000 reports that Stella Chapman lived near to her parent's home in Owls Head. Elida remembers her as an elderly woman. Stella had one daughter, a big handsome woman, named Imogene. Elida remembers hearing Imogene playing her horm in the evenings and the breezes carried the sound nearly a mile across the meadows to her ear. She said poor Imogene had a hard life married to a man named Joe Whittamore. They had two daughters.
Elida Thomas writing on 19 July, 2000 remembers Austin Smith as a slightly built man married to Minnie Cook. Elida remembers Minnie's mother, and they called her 'Grandma Cook,' who was part Native American.
Gardner and Maynard Smith were the children of Austin and Minnie, but Minnie had James from another man prior to her marriage to Austin.
Gardner and Maynard Smith were the children of Austin and Minnie, but Minnie had James from another man prior to her marriage to Austin.
They made their home in Canada, probably somehwere near Stanstead, Quebec. No other records are available.
U.S. CENSUS(1870)--NEW YORK--FRANKLIN CTY.--TOWN OF MALONE
Gilman age 44 b. in Can. Farmer/head of family
Ruth(Smith) age 36 b. in NY wife
Edward age 13 b. in Can. son
Andrew age 11 b. in Can. son
Edgar age 2 b. NY son
Harriet age 8mo. b. in NY Dau.
Gilman Magoon was the younger half-brother of Betsey Ann Magoon.. Betsey Ann Magoon was the wife of Moses Smith. Ruth Smith was the daughter of John Smith, and a neice of Moses Smith.
For the complete genealogy of the Magoon line
See: URL http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ign.cgi?db=gfossmagoon
U.S. CENSUS(1870)--NEW YORK--FRANKLIN CTY.--TOWN OF MALONE
Gilman age 44 b. in Can. Farmer/head of family
Ruth(Smith) age 36 b. in NY wife
Edward age 13 b. in Can. son
Andrew age 11 b. in Can. son
Edgar age 2 b. NY son
Harriet age 8mo. b. in NY Dau.
Gilman Magoon was the younger half-brother of Betsey Ann Magoon.. Betsey Ann Magoon was the wife of Moses Smith. Ruth Smith was the daughter of John Smith, and a neice of Moses Smith.
For the complete genealogy of the Magoon line
See: URL http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ign.cgi?db=gfossmagoon
Moses B. Smith
Moses B. Smith and Betsey Ann Magoon were married on 11 February 1836, in Stanstead, Quebec, at the Baptist church.* They lived in St. Albans, Vermont for a time, then moved to Chasm Falls, N.Y. in 1839. There they settled in a nearby hamlet called Owls Head. They called Owls Head their home until the spring of 1869, when Moses with all of his children, except William, moved to a new homestead near Auroraville, WI. They also took their grandson Henry Harrison Smith Jr. with them. Henry Jr. was given up for adoption by his mother Hannah Jane Smith after Henry H. Smith Sr. was killed in the Civil War. In Wisconsin, Moses put up a log house for the family to live in, which still stands(as of 1965) just behind the present frame house. Moses bought out several neighbors until he had accumulated 248 acres of land(which in those days was a large place). Calvin Smith was Moses' youngest son. All of Calvin's children were born and raised in the little log house. This log house was being used, as of 1965, as a utility building on the farm.
Both Moses and Betsey are buried in the Auroraville cemetery.**
* This information was from Mary Woodman's genealogy of the Magoon/Magoun line. Marywoodman1@home.com.
http: corresponded with Mary Woodman several times, and I submitted my relationship to Betsey Ann Magoon. She included that data in her submission to the WorldConnect Project.
** Bette and I visited the Moses Smith homestead at Auroraville,WI. two times. Once in 1965, when we visited with Grace and Smith Angle, and saw the remnants of the old log house, and visited the Smith gravesites in the Auroraville cemetery. A second time in about 1990 when we visited with James Angle( owner in 1990). James Angle is now desceased and the farm has been sold.
U.S. CENSUS--STATE OF NEW YORK--FRANKLIN COUNTY--TOWN OF BELMONT
Moses age 48 b. in VT. a farmer/head of family
Betsey age 43 b. in Can. Wife
William age 21 b. in NY son
Harrison H. age 19 b. in NY son
Jane age 16 b. in NY dau.
Sanford age 14 b. in NY son
Milly Ann age 12 b. in NY dau.
Calvin age 6 b. in NY son
George age 4 b. in NY son
U.S. CENSUS--STATE OF WI--WAUSHARA COUNTY--TOWN OF AURORA
Moses age 57 b. in VT. Farmer
Betsey Ann age 53 b. in Can. Keeping House
Jane age 25 b. in NY Dau.
Milly Ann age 23 b. in NY Dau.
Calvin age 16 b. in NY son
George age 13 b. in NY son
Henry H. Jr.age 7 b. in NY. Grandson(adopted)
____________
OWLS HEAD -- A MICROCOSM OF CHANGE
By Elida M. Thomas
Published in THE QUARTERLY--July, 1963
of the St. Lawrence County Historical Assn.
In my memory there remains a place forever wild, forever beautiful. I see a plateau stretching away from a rearing bluff which stands sentinel over lakes and ponds, blueberry marshes and little farms. I say it is forever beautiful because that place was home. Can any other equal where we were young? Where we spent our youth, a place peopled by schoolmates and neighbors, many now gone but remaining with us in the pages of our memory.
I am speaking of a tiny hamlet, once a bustling town with two sawmills, two general stores, a garage, two churches, a depot, and a bit further down the road the uusual bar. It was comprised of people much like ourselves; the good and the bad, although none so extremely either as to be exceptional. On Sunday mornings the churchbells would ring, heralding the faithful, dressed in their carefully creased best, to service.
In recent years, this small village was on the decline. Nearly a ghost town, deprived of its railway services and help on the tax base, the depot gone, the general stores falling down or gone, no longer a sawmill to be seen or even its site, apparently only oblivion in view until suddenly it became smart to pick up country property for tax shelters, for camps and summer retreats for those fleeing the nuclear scare. Is a reversal in order; I could be speaking of any one of a number of places; this happens to be Owls Head, for many years its only fame being called 'the icebox of the north.' Today you will note many old homesteads being occupied once more; many plots have mobile homes and additions, many of the old places are in new hands. I wander the old paths and there is scarcely a remembered face, nor one that remembers mine. It is a lonely feeling. But the mountains never chages. It will always look back at me with its air of mystery, its feeling of permanence.
Settlers were already established in Malone by 1809, so it is natural to presume that as these people gave way little by little to the formation of a business district in the nucleus of that village then called Harrison, they would fan out and establish new homes, or farms along different roads leading out into the country. My great-great-grandfather was Madore Fountain, a hunter and trapper, a guide of some ability. He was born in Canada in 1812. it is said that his father was born aboard ship enroute from France. They migrated over to Westville, and on to Owls Head where Madore pursued his occupation of hunting, fishing, and trapping in various directions; toward Chasm Falls, Indian Lake, Wolf Pond, Ingraham Pond, and Ragged Lake. "Yep, the main road between Westcotts and Owls Head is laid out along Granpa Fountain's trap lines," Dad used to say.
Madore died in 1896 in his 85th year, leaving direct descendants among the majority of the community;s citizens.
In 1892 there was an important event in Owls Head, then called Ringsville. The Adirondack and St. Lawrence railroad(later known as the Webb Line) commenced operating between Malone and Saranac with connections with the New York Central at Herkimer, thus making it possible for people to get in an out of this rather secluded hamlet. Thus began the influx of the 'summer people'; people who would build camps and stay a while, some selling out for livlier places, some letting their places fall into a state of neglect and decay, but still more becoming semi-permanent, like the Fitches, Ostbys, and Dickinsons. These were for the most part, friendly, outdoor-loving folk who hired the same local people year after year and were greatly missed when they came no longer.
"Poor Mr. Ostby, went down with the Titanic," stated Morton Cross Fitch. Nearby Ragged Lake became a hunting and fishing resort in the 1850's. Mr. Bellows, owner of Bellows House (later the Banner House), Chaeaugay Lake, first had the idea of developing it as many of his guests from Montreal, New York City, Rouses Point,etc., wished to go deeper into the woods, according ly, access to Ragged Lake was opened and lodges established. One of the guests was noted English artist, Arthur F. Tait, who painted scenes for Currier & Ives prints during the 1855-6 seasons. At that time, access to the lake was over rough trails from Chateaugay Lake. When the Webb Line started operating, people could go in and out via Owls Head, only five or six miles down the mountain.
The summer people were always looking for a woman to open up camp and be there to cook for them, generally acting as housekeeper; and handyman to clear a path, make repairs, haul supplies, meet the guests at the station, etc. Usually a husband and wife took the job together, staying on the premises for room and board, plus a small salary.
Great-grandpa William G. Smith and his wife Mary Ann(daughter of Madore Fountain), worked for the Fitches at Ragged lake from 1896 - 1900. They owned various pieces of property in the area and gr.grandfather built many of the old houses there. William G. Smith was a veteran of the Civil War and for years kept a picture of Libby Prison which he delighted in showing to his guests. Myron Smith, their son, worked at Ragged Lake as caretaker from 1911 - 1917.
The early census contains many of the names of those who helped settle the community; the Benwares/Benoit family, apparently descended from Clovis Benware, all of whom should have carried the surname of Vaillaincourt, according to part-time genealogist Dr. Watson Harwood. Then the name Smith appears. Sometime in 1838-39, Moses Smith moved his family over from Stanstead,Quebec, and the 1850 census shows his name, his wife Betsey, and four of their children. The Smiths intermarried with the Benwares and the family of Madore Fountain. Madores' daughters married Butterfield, Sawyer, Lester, Smith, Ansbach, and Ashley. Mrs. Moses Smith was a Magoon, and her sister was Mrs. Jerry Davis. They carried the blood lines into the Davis and Simonds families. At one time there was a hotel at Owls Head called Magoons' Hotel. Morton Cross Fitch, in his 1933 History of Ragged Lake describes Madore Fountain and the Smith family at length, as did Mr. H.D. Stevens in the Malone Farmer in the February 13th issue in 1924. Their history is recounted again by Floy Hyde in her book titled Water Over The Dam.
My father, and grandfather both wanted to farm, but the soil was so soft and sandy, and the growing season so short, that this type of living had always to be augmented by something more lucrative. For years, Dad supplemented his income by trapping and guiding, and in later years, he worked at one of the factories; the "bronze works" in Malone or the Aluminum plant in Massena. He also raised hops and cut wood for both home consumption and for sale. Great-uncle Fred Benoit was the unofficial hop-king of our area. for he had spreading yards and a kiln. At the height of his production, the Syracuse paper ran an article calling him the Hop King of Franklin County.
I always felt that we had the prettiest view of anyone for we lived at the foot of the huge bluff with a broad meadow between, and then the brush and evergreens, the birch, the maples, and the poplars climbing slowly upward towards the summit some 2200 feet above. We looked at the crest almost straight on and with a bit of imagination, one could see why it was called Owls head.
Both Moses and Betsey are buried in the Auroraville cemetery.**
* This information was from Mary Woodman's genealogy of the Magoon/Magoun line. Marywoodman1@home.com.
http: corresponded with Mary Woodman several times, and I submitted my relationship to Betsey Ann Magoon. She included that data in her submission to the WorldConnect Project.
** Bette and I visited the Moses Smith homestead at Auroraville,WI. two times. Once in 1965, when we visited with Grace and Smith Angle, and saw the remnants of the old log house, and visited the Smith gravesites in the Auroraville cemetery. A second time in about 1990 when we visited with James Angle( owner in 1990). James Angle is now desceased and the farm has been sold.
U.S. CENSUS--STATE OF NEW YORK--FRANKLIN COUNTY--TOWN OF BELMONT
Moses age 48 b. in VT. a farmer/head of family
Betsey age 43 b. in Can. Wife
William age 21 b. in NY son
Harrison H. age 19 b. in NY son
Jane age 16 b. in NY dau.
Sanford age 14 b. in NY son
Milly Ann age 12 b. in NY dau.
Calvin age 6 b. in NY son
George age 4 b. in NY son
U.S. CENSUS--STATE OF WI--WAUSHARA COUNTY--TOWN OF AURORA
Moses age 57 b. in VT. Farmer
Betsey Ann age 53 b. in Can. Keeping House
Jane age 25 b. in NY Dau.
Milly Ann age 23 b. in NY Dau.
Calvin age 16 b. in NY son
George age 13 b. in NY son
Henry H. Jr.age 7 b. in NY. Grandson(adopted)
____________
OWLS HEAD -- A MICROCOSM OF CHANGE
By Elida M. Thomas
Published in THE QUARTERLY--July, 1963
of the St. Lawrence County Historical Assn.
In my memory there remains a place forever wild, forever beautiful. I see a plateau stretching away from a rearing bluff which stands sentinel over lakes and ponds, blueberry marshes and little farms. I say it is forever beautiful because that place was home. Can any other equal where we were young? Where we spent our youth, a place peopled by schoolmates and neighbors, many now gone but remaining with us in the pages of our memory.
I am speaking of a tiny hamlet, once a bustling town with two sawmills, two general stores, a garage, two churches, a depot, and a bit further down the road the uusual bar. It was comprised of people much like ourselves; the good and the bad, although none so extremely either as to be exceptional. On Sunday mornings the churchbells would ring, heralding the faithful, dressed in their carefully creased best, to service.
In recent years, this small village was on the decline. Nearly a ghost town, deprived of its railway services and help on the tax base, the depot gone, the general stores falling down or gone, no longer a sawmill to be seen or even its site, apparently only oblivion in view until suddenly it became smart to pick up country property for tax shelters, for camps and summer retreats for those fleeing the nuclear scare. Is a reversal in order; I could be speaking of any one of a number of places; this happens to be Owls Head, for many years its only fame being called 'the icebox of the north.' Today you will note many old homesteads being occupied once more; many plots have mobile homes and additions, many of the old places are in new hands. I wander the old paths and there is scarcely a remembered face, nor one that remembers mine. It is a lonely feeling. But the mountains never chages. It will always look back at me with its air of mystery, its feeling of permanence.
Settlers were already established in Malone by 1809, so it is natural to presume that as these people gave way little by little to the formation of a business district in the nucleus of that village then called Harrison, they would fan out and establish new homes, or farms along different roads leading out into the country. My great-great-grandfather was Madore Fountain, a hunter and trapper, a guide of some ability. He was born in Canada in 1812. it is said that his father was born aboard ship enroute from France. They migrated over to Westville, and on to Owls Head where Madore pursued his occupation of hunting, fishing, and trapping in various directions; toward Chasm Falls, Indian Lake, Wolf Pond, Ingraham Pond, and Ragged Lake. "Yep, the main road between Westcotts and Owls Head is laid out along Granpa Fountain's trap lines," Dad used to say.
Madore died in 1896 in his 85th year, leaving direct descendants among the majority of the community;s citizens.
In 1892 there was an important event in Owls Head, then called Ringsville. The Adirondack and St. Lawrence railroad(later known as the Webb Line) commenced operating between Malone and Saranac with connections with the New York Central at Herkimer, thus making it possible for people to get in an out of this rather secluded hamlet. Thus began the influx of the 'summer people'; people who would build camps and stay a while, some selling out for livlier places, some letting their places fall into a state of neglect and decay, but still more becoming semi-permanent, like the Fitches, Ostbys, and Dickinsons. These were for the most part, friendly, outdoor-loving folk who hired the same local people year after year and were greatly missed when they came no longer.
"Poor Mr. Ostby, went down with the Titanic," stated Morton Cross Fitch. Nearby Ragged Lake became a hunting and fishing resort in the 1850's. Mr. Bellows, owner of Bellows House (later the Banner House), Chaeaugay Lake, first had the idea of developing it as many of his guests from Montreal, New York City, Rouses Point,etc., wished to go deeper into the woods, according ly, access to Ragged Lake was opened and lodges established. One of the guests was noted English artist, Arthur F. Tait, who painted scenes for Currier & Ives prints during the 1855-6 seasons. At that time, access to the lake was over rough trails from Chateaugay Lake. When the Webb Line started operating, people could go in and out via Owls Head, only five or six miles down the mountain.
The summer people were always looking for a woman to open up camp and be there to cook for them, generally acting as housekeeper; and handyman to clear a path, make repairs, haul supplies, meet the guests at the station, etc. Usually a husband and wife took the job together, staying on the premises for room and board, plus a small salary.
Great-grandpa William G. Smith and his wife Mary Ann(daughter of Madore Fountain), worked for the Fitches at Ragged lake from 1896 - 1900. They owned various pieces of property in the area and gr.grandfather built many of the old houses there. William G. Smith was a veteran of the Civil War and for years kept a picture of Libby Prison which he delighted in showing to his guests. Myron Smith, their son, worked at Ragged Lake as caretaker from 1911 - 1917.
The early census contains many of the names of those who helped settle the community; the Benwares/Benoit family, apparently descended from Clovis Benware, all of whom should have carried the surname of Vaillaincourt, according to part-time genealogist Dr. Watson Harwood. Then the name Smith appears. Sometime in 1838-39, Moses Smith moved his family over from Stanstead,Quebec, and the 1850 census shows his name, his wife Betsey, and four of their children. The Smiths intermarried with the Benwares and the family of Madore Fountain. Madores' daughters married Butterfield, Sawyer, Lester, Smith, Ansbach, and Ashley. Mrs. Moses Smith was a Magoon, and her sister was Mrs. Jerry Davis. They carried the blood lines into the Davis and Simonds families. At one time there was a hotel at Owls Head called Magoons' Hotel. Morton Cross Fitch, in his 1933 History of Ragged Lake describes Madore Fountain and the Smith family at length, as did Mr. H.D. Stevens in the Malone Farmer in the February 13th issue in 1924. Their history is recounted again by Floy Hyde in her book titled Water Over The Dam.
My father, and grandfather both wanted to farm, but the soil was so soft and sandy, and the growing season so short, that this type of living had always to be augmented by something more lucrative. For years, Dad supplemented his income by trapping and guiding, and in later years, he worked at one of the factories; the "bronze works" in Malone or the Aluminum plant in Massena. He also raised hops and cut wood for both home consumption and for sale. Great-uncle Fred Benoit was the unofficial hop-king of our area. for he had spreading yards and a kiln. At the height of his production, the Syracuse paper ran an article calling him the Hop King of Franklin County.
I always felt that we had the prettiest view of anyone for we lived at the foot of the huge bluff with a broad meadow between, and then the brush and evergreens, the birch, the maples, and the poplars climbing slowly upward towards the summit some 2200 feet above. We looked at the crest almost straight on and with a bit of imagination, one could see why it was called Owls head.
Owls Head Mountain
William and Mary Ann were married on 20 September, 1860 in Malone, N.Y. by Rev. Ashbel B. Parmlee. They lived together until William died, a total of 61 years. William died on Mainstreet in the village of Owls Head, the Town of Belmont, in Franklin County, N.Y. He was buried in the River Street Cemetery, South of Whipplesville, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River Road in Chasm Falls, N.Y.
William served with the Union Army. He enrolled at Malone, N.Y. on 22 Nov. 1861, as a private in Co. A, 98th N.Y. Vols. He was discharged on 21 December, 1863 and then re-enlisted on 1 January, 1864. Finally, he was discharged at Richmond, VA., on 31 August, 1865. His personal description at the time was: height, 5 feet 6 inches; complexion, fair, blue eyes; and brown hair.
The 98th Regiment was under the command of Colonel William Dickson. William served in the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, IV Army Corps. Helater served in S.Ca, later in the 1st Division, 18th Army Corps,A.J. He participated in the flollowing battles:
Seige of Yorktown,Va, Apr 16, May 4, 1862.
Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862
Fair Oaks, May 31 to June 1, 1862.
Seven Oaks, June 25, 1862
Seven Oaks, July 2nd, 1862.
Park Walthall and Cheste Station, May 6-7, 1864
Swift Creek, May 9-10, 1864
Drewery Bluff, May 14-16, 1864
Bermuda Hundred, May 18-26, 1864
Cold Harbor, June 1-12, 1864
Parkersburg, June 15-19, 1864
Chaffin's Farm, Sept 29-Oct1, 1864
Fair Oaks, Oct 27-29, 1864
Fall of Peterseburg, Apr 2, 1865
Both William and his brother Henry survived the battle of Cold Harbor, which was a blood bath for the Union army.
William and his sons were great trackers and hunters. They were written up in a book by Morton Cross Fitch titled "Ragged Lake."
Winnie(72) said that her Uncle William and cousin Leslie(54) visited Wisconsin(Auroraville) when she was a little girl. She doen't remember William, but she does remember her cousin Leslie because they rode around on a stoneboat with him. This is probably part of the same trip where William and Leslie continued on out to Waddington,California to visit Jane Vedder(20). This was about 1903 or 1904.
In a letter(Elida Thomas to George Foss) dated July 31,01, Elida reported: "William G. Smith and wife, Mary Ann nee Fountain entrained for CA ca. 1903-1904. I never heard of Leslie going, too, but shall ask Milton, his son. Anyway, they visited Jane Smith Vedder who lived in Ferndale, Humbolt County. This was just before the great fire. Jane had left WI because Charles Vedder was afflicted with something, asthma likely. They took in roomers and she sold dairy products until their butter factory burned. I still have the shawl that Grandma Mary Ann wore on the train and have some vases she brought home and they were given to me by Alys Glazier Cox."
DECLARATION FOR WIDOW'S PENSION
State of New York, County of Franklin:
On this day 18th of February, A.D., 1921 before me, a Notary Public in and for the county and state aforesaid, personally appeared Mary A. Smith, aged 80 years, a resident of Owls head, County of Franklin, State of New York, who being duly sworn according to law, declares that she is the widow of William G. Smith, who enlisted under that name of William G. Smith, at Malone, N.Y. on the 22nd day of November 1861, as private in Co. A, 98th Regiment New York Infantry Volunteers, served at least 90 days during the war of the rebellion in the service of the United States, was honorably discharged on the 31st day of August, 1865 and died at Owls Head, N.Y. on the 16th day of February, 1921 of Arterio Sclerosis.
That she was married under the name of Mary Ann Fountain, to said William G. Smith on the 20th day of September, 1860 by Ashbel Parmlee at Malone,N.Y That her post office address is Owls Head, County of Franklin, State of New York.
Signed, Mary A. Smith
Mary Ann was descended from a family of woodsmen and guides. Her grandfather was born aboard ship enroute from France to Canada. He married an indian squaw. His son Medard hunted and trapped all through the area around Owlslhead and Malone, N.Y. The main road between Owlshead and Malone is laid out along his traplines.
Mary Ann is buried beside her husband William in the River Street Cemetery, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River road in Chasm Falls,N.Y. It is believed Jonathan Smith is also buried in that cemetery.
William served with the Union Army. He enrolled at Malone, N.Y. on 22 Nov. 1861, as a private in Co. A, 98th N.Y. Vols. He was discharged on 21 December, 1863 and then re-enlisted on 1 January, 1864. Finally, he was discharged at Richmond, VA., on 31 August, 1865. His personal description at the time was: height, 5 feet 6 inches; complexion, fair, blue eyes; and brown hair.
The 98th Regiment was under the command of Colonel William Dickson. William served in the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, IV Army Corps. Helater served in S.Ca, later in the 1st Division, 18th Army Corps,A.J. He participated in the flollowing battles:
Seige of Yorktown,Va, Apr 16, May 4, 1862.
Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862
Fair Oaks, May 31 to June 1, 1862.
Seven Oaks, June 25, 1862
Seven Oaks, July 2nd, 1862.
Park Walthall and Cheste Station, May 6-7, 1864
Swift Creek, May 9-10, 1864
Drewery Bluff, May 14-16, 1864
Bermuda Hundred, May 18-26, 1864
Cold Harbor, June 1-12, 1864
Parkersburg, June 15-19, 1864
Chaffin's Farm, Sept 29-Oct1, 1864
Fair Oaks, Oct 27-29, 1864
Fall of Peterseburg, Apr 2, 1865
Both William and his brother Henry survived the battle of Cold Harbor, which was a blood bath for the Union army.
William and his sons were great trackers and hunters. They were written up in a book by Morton Cross Fitch titled "Ragged Lake."
Winnie(72) said that her Uncle William and cousin Leslie(54) visited Wisconsin(Auroraville) when she was a little girl. She doen't remember William, but she does remember her cousin Leslie because they rode around on a stoneboat with him. This is probably part of the same trip where William and Leslie continued on out to Waddington,California to visit Jane Vedder(20). This was about 1903 or 1904.
In a letter(Elida Thomas to George Foss) dated July 31,01, Elida reported: "William G. Smith and wife, Mary Ann nee Fountain entrained for CA ca. 1903-1904. I never heard of Leslie going, too, but shall ask Milton, his son. Anyway, they visited Jane Smith Vedder who lived in Ferndale, Humbolt County. This was just before the great fire. Jane had left WI because Charles Vedder was afflicted with something, asthma likely. They took in roomers and she sold dairy products until their butter factory burned. I still have the shawl that Grandma Mary Ann wore on the train and have some vases she brought home and they were given to me by Alys Glazier Cox."
DECLARATION FOR WIDOW'S PENSION
State of New York, County of Franklin:
On this day 18th of February, A.D., 1921 before me, a Notary Public in and for the county and state aforesaid, personally appeared Mary A. Smith, aged 80 years, a resident of Owls head, County of Franklin, State of New York, who being duly sworn according to law, declares that she is the widow of William G. Smith, who enlisted under that name of William G. Smith, at Malone, N.Y. on the 22nd day of November 1861, as private in Co. A, 98th Regiment New York Infantry Volunteers, served at least 90 days during the war of the rebellion in the service of the United States, was honorably discharged on the 31st day of August, 1865 and died at Owls Head, N.Y. on the 16th day of February, 1921 of Arterio Sclerosis.
That she was married under the name of Mary Ann Fountain, to said William G. Smith on the 20th day of September, 1860 by Ashbel Parmlee at Malone,N.Y That her post office address is Owls Head, County of Franklin, State of New York.
Signed, Mary A. Smith
Mary Ann was descended from a family of woodsmen and guides. Her grandfather was born aboard ship enroute from France to Canada. He married an indian squaw. His son Medard hunted and trapped all through the area around Owlslhead and Malone, N.Y. The main road between Owlshead and Malone is laid out along his traplines.
Mary Ann is buried beside her husband William in the River Street Cemetery, now known as the Kempton(Kimpton) Cemetery, on River road in Chasm Falls,N.Y. It is believed Jonathan Smith is also buried in that cemetery.
Maps showing Owls Head and evirons
Map of the town of Malone, N.Y.
The progeny of William G. Smith in upstate N.Y.
Lawrence and his wife were still living on the old Myron Smith homestead in Owlshead, N.Y., as of 1968.
After divorcing Jean in about 1967 Maurice remarried to a woman named Ethel.
Maurice lived in Fort Covington in about 1975. He later moved to Chasm Falls into what used to be his camp.
Maurice lived in Fort Covington in about 1975. He later moved to Chasm Falls into what used to be his camp.
In a letter from Elida Thomas to George Foss dated July 31, 2001, Elida made the following report: " Our home was purchased by William G. Smith who set each son up in a place, (ecept Willie, who, I believe, received a gift of money,) when Wm. G. returned from the Civil War. We never lived on the Jonathan Smith homestead, Moses did not live there, nor raise his family there, either . . . I always heard Jonathan Smith was buried in Chasm Falls. The foundations mentioned back in the fields at Chasm Falls were old Gardner Smith's, I'm sure. The cemetery on the river road, (County Road 25,) is the Kimpton(sic) Cemetery."
Elida is the Smith genealogist who researched the Jonathan Smith family primarily in New York and the the New England area. She is the one who located the Smith family in Wisconsin. She obtained a copy of the 1870 U.S. Cenus for Waushara County in Wisconsin. This census recorded Betsey Smith as being 53 yrs. old, which would have been 4 yrs younger than her husband Moses. Jane and Milly were both shown to be 25 Yrs. old, and Elida thought they must be twins. Calvin was 16. Sanford and George did not appear on the census, and the grandson Henry was 7.
After Elida located this census she wrote some blind letters in the area of Auroraville, and eventually got in contact with Grace Angle who forwarded her letter to Winnie Riemenschneider, who give it to Haze Swenson, who gave it to me. After I wrote to Elida and we compared our genealogies we knew we had accomplished a big breakthrough. The two genealogies fit perfectly in all respects.
In the summer of 1968, Elida and her husband and daughter Melanie visited us at our home in River Falls.
Elida said she has been to the Franklin County Court House and thoroughly researched their records. In 1965 she visited Concord, N.H. and searched the files of the Historical Library there. She could not locate the land and probate records for Jonathan Smith.
Elida says that Carlton Niles of Moira,N.Y., is the grandson of Henry Smith Jr. He was in the gravestone and memorial business there. His Aunt Lucien Millar has the bloodstained bible that Henry Sr. had on his person when he was killed on Sept .19, 1864, at the Third Battle of Winchester,Virginia
In 1967 Elida went up to Owls Head to visit her folks who were still living on the Jonathan Smith homestead, and reported that the place is changing. She said it was always a farily secluded spot, but now the meadow across the road had been purchased for use as a race track for horses, and they have carried out a lot of earth moving.
Elida and I corresponded for several years until I had genealogy "burn-out," and I cut off all correspondence. I just had to put this genealogy to rest for a while. It was at that time that I started concentrating on the Foss Family File.
In Feb 2000 I made contact with Barbara Benware Burt on the internet and found that she was related to Elida's grandmother Mary A. (Benware) Smith. Barbara then supplied me with the addresses for Bert Smith and Elida Thomas. I wrote a letter to Elida. Barabara told me of the passing of Elida's 97-year old mother Alice.
I started corresponding with Elida in March,2000 once again.
Postal address for Elida as of June, 2000:
Mrs. Edwin Thomas
6 Spruce Street
Massena, N.Y. 13662 – 1310
Elida is the Smith genealogist who researched the Jonathan Smith family primarily in New York and the the New England area. She is the one who located the Smith family in Wisconsin. She obtained a copy of the 1870 U.S. Cenus for Waushara County in Wisconsin. This census recorded Betsey Smith as being 53 yrs. old, which would have been 4 yrs younger than her husband Moses. Jane and Milly were both shown to be 25 Yrs. old, and Elida thought they must be twins. Calvin was 16. Sanford and George did not appear on the census, and the grandson Henry was 7.
After Elida located this census she wrote some blind letters in the area of Auroraville, and eventually got in contact with Grace Angle who forwarded her letter to Winnie Riemenschneider, who give it to Haze Swenson, who gave it to me. After I wrote to Elida and we compared our genealogies we knew we had accomplished a big breakthrough. The two genealogies fit perfectly in all respects.
In the summer of 1968, Elida and her husband and daughter Melanie visited us at our home in River Falls.
Elida said she has been to the Franklin County Court House and thoroughly researched their records. In 1965 she visited Concord, N.H. and searched the files of the Historical Library there. She could not locate the land and probate records for Jonathan Smith.
Elida says that Carlton Niles of Moira,N.Y., is the grandson of Henry Smith Jr. He was in the gravestone and memorial business there. His Aunt Lucien Millar has the bloodstained bible that Henry Sr. had on his person when he was killed on Sept .19, 1864, at the Third Battle of Winchester,Virginia
In 1967 Elida went up to Owls Head to visit her folks who were still living on the Jonathan Smith homestead, and reported that the place is changing. She said it was always a farily secluded spot, but now the meadow across the road had been purchased for use as a race track for horses, and they have carried out a lot of earth moving.
Elida and I corresponded for several years until I had genealogy "burn-out," and I cut off all correspondence. I just had to put this genealogy to rest for a while. It was at that time that I started concentrating on the Foss Family File.
In Feb 2000 I made contact with Barbara Benware Burt on the internet and found that she was related to Elida's grandmother Mary A. (Benware) Smith. Barbara then supplied me with the addresses for Bert Smith and Elida Thomas. I wrote a letter to Elida. Barabara told me of the passing of Elida's 97-year old mother Alice.
I started corresponding with Elida in March,2000 once again.
Postal address for Elida as of June, 2000:
Mrs. Edwin Thomas
6 Spruce Street
Massena, N.Y. 13662 – 1310
Edwin's father was a soldier at Plattsburgh Barracks during WWI and had seen service in Tsien Tsien China and elsewhere. Edwin's grandfather was Major John D. Thomas, a major in the Confderate Army during the Civil War.
Edwin Fussell Thomas, 93,Massena
Monday, June 16, 2014
Massena - Edwin Fussell Thomas was born September 27, 1920 to a military family in Clinton County,NY. His father was Cpl Edwin Francis Thomas of Helena, Arkansas (son of Major John Dillon Thomas, CSA, Helena, Arkansas), and his mother was Myra Doody of Ellenburg,NY.
Edwin attended local schools in Plattsburgh and went directly into the Army where he spent the next ten years. He served in WWII and the Korean War and was honoable discharged. He married Elida M. Smith of Owls Head, NY, who survives, and five children were born to the couple: Lucy A., Gina P., Edwin A., Alice M., and Melanie J., who also survive.
Upon discharge, Edwin worked at Alcoa, Massena until there were layoffs which affected his department. He then worked for the Massena Police Department where he remained for seven years. He was then hired as plant security for Reynolds Metal Company where he stayed for 20 years. After retiring in 1982, Edwin and his family travelled and finally, he began a life of gardening and enjoying his twelve grandchildren. Edwin was a loving and kind father and grandfather and a generous and kind husband who will be greatly missed by all.
Services will be held privately at St. Helens Cemetery, Chasm Falls at the convenience of his family.
Arrangements are with the Donaldson Funeral Home, Massena, where memories may be shared online at www.donaldsonfh.com.
Edwin Fussell Thomas, 93,Massena
Monday, June 16, 2014
Massena - Edwin Fussell Thomas was born September 27, 1920 to a military family in Clinton County,NY. His father was Cpl Edwin Francis Thomas of Helena, Arkansas (son of Major John Dillon Thomas, CSA, Helena, Arkansas), and his mother was Myra Doody of Ellenburg,NY.
Edwin attended local schools in Plattsburgh and went directly into the Army where he spent the next ten years. He served in WWII and the Korean War and was honoable discharged. He married Elida M. Smith of Owls Head, NY, who survives, and five children were born to the couple: Lucy A., Gina P., Edwin A., Alice M., and Melanie J., who also survive.
Upon discharge, Edwin worked at Alcoa, Massena until there were layoffs which affected his department. He then worked for the Massena Police Department where he remained for seven years. He was then hired as plant security for Reynolds Metal Company where he stayed for 20 years. After retiring in 1982, Edwin and his family travelled and finally, he began a life of gardening and enjoying his twelve grandchildren. Edwin was a loving and kind father and grandfather and a generous and kind husband who will be greatly missed by all.
Services will be held privately at St. Helens Cemetery, Chasm Falls at the convenience of his family.
Arrangements are with the Donaldson Funeral Home, Massena, where memories may be shared online at www.donaldsonfh.com.
Dear George and Bette,
Thinking of you people for some reason this morning, I mean more than
usual, and wondering how YOU are faring? Its a dismal wet morning, fairly
mild but so clammy that we are all complaining about our joints aching and
sneezing and nose running.
I will not kid you, despite 5 caring kids, I am leading a lonely seemingly
hopeless life without Ed. Everything seems so pointless without him now but
enough-
We've had a brutal winter, but I think most of the country did, also. And
its still coming! Floods, mudslides, all the works. I think God is made at
us (not that I blame Him).
My time is spent reading my Bible and praying, I do a bit of painting or
thump on my keyboard. Don't get out much; don't really want to. Do tell me
what you're doing these days. Praying for you both- love, Elida
Thinking of you people for some reason this morning, I mean more than
usual, and wondering how YOU are faring? Its a dismal wet morning, fairly
mild but so clammy that we are all complaining about our joints aching and
sneezing and nose running.
I will not kid you, despite 5 caring kids, I am leading a lonely seemingly
hopeless life without Ed. Everything seems so pointless without him now but
enough-
We've had a brutal winter, but I think most of the country did, also. And
its still coming! Floods, mudslides, all the works. I think God is made at
us (not that I blame Him).
My time is spent reading my Bible and praying, I do a bit of painting or
thump on my keyboard. Don't get out much; don't really want to. Do tell me
what you're doing these days. Praying for you both- love, Elida
Dear Elida,
I,m so glad you wrote. But I detect a bit of despair. The death of a loved one can shake us to the core. People our age have been through this many times, but when it is your spouse or a child, it is awfully hard to deal with. You point out that even though you have the support of five caring children, even they cannot make up for the loss you feel being alone in your home without Ed. And Bette and I can certainly understand where you are coming from. We are so grateful that we still have one another, but even for us life is not what we remember, and what we would like it to be once again. Those days are gone forever, and as we bide our time in this home away from home we live only with our memories.
Living here in this senor apartment, we are acquainted with many widows and widowers who tell us daily what you just told us about yourself. Most of them have children who love them and would do any thing to keep them happy, but they all feel the same as you. Our oldest daughter who lives nearby(in very humble circumstances) tries to see us as often as she can, but she has her own life to live, and since Bette and I recognize this we turn the tables and try to help her as much as we can both financially and spiritually.
The keyword is “SPIRTUALLY.” You’ve already told us you pray regularly and rest on the Word of God. That is exactly what Bette and I do also. I’ve never made it a point to tell you, but I have made a personal study of theology for the past thirty years culminating with a summary of my research in a composition titled “A Treatise on God.” I would like to share what I have learned and what I believe, but there is no way this work will end up as a copyrighted book. Instead, my daughter has volunteered to help me place this work on the internet as a freebe. Whether this will ever come to fruition is strictly up to the Lord.
I,m so glad you wrote. But I detect a bit of despair. The death of a loved one can shake us to the core. People our age have been through this many times, but when it is your spouse or a child, it is awfully hard to deal with. You point out that even though you have the support of five caring children, even they cannot make up for the loss you feel being alone in your home without Ed. And Bette and I can certainly understand where you are coming from. We are so grateful that we still have one another, but even for us life is not what we remember, and what we would like it to be once again. Those days are gone forever, and as we bide our time in this home away from home we live only with our memories.
Living here in this senor apartment, we are acquainted with many widows and widowers who tell us daily what you just told us about yourself. Most of them have children who love them and would do any thing to keep them happy, but they all feel the same as you. Our oldest daughter who lives nearby(in very humble circumstances) tries to see us as often as she can, but she has her own life to live, and since Bette and I recognize this we turn the tables and try to help her as much as we can both financially and spiritually.
The keyword is “SPIRTUALLY.” You’ve already told us you pray regularly and rest on the Word of God. That is exactly what Bette and I do also. I’ve never made it a point to tell you, but I have made a personal study of theology for the past thirty years culminating with a summary of my research in a composition titled “A Treatise on God.” I would like to share what I have learned and what I believe, but there is no way this work will end up as a copyrighted book. Instead, my daughter has volunteered to help me place this work on the internet as a freebe. Whether this will ever come to fruition is strictly up to the Lord.
Dear Elida,
Got your card on Dec. 30, and you requested a reply via email.
It's true, I'm not much good sending a newsy Christmas card. I set out a day and try to send them all off at the same time.
Overall, Bette and I are getting along O.K. I have to be a 100% caregiver, because Bette is in such pain most of the time in her legs and back that she just can't function very well. I take care of everything. She has taken every strong pain pill known to man, and they tell her they can do no more for her. She has a pain surpressing gaget implanted in her back that cost the taxpayers $40,000, but it is no big help. She got that thing before Obamacare.
The reason we are moving to Deerfield Senor housing in New Richmond, WI. is sort of planning ahead. You can take a virtual tour of the place on the web. Just plug in Deerfield New Richmond,WI to get on. We can get a lot more help and assistance there than we get here. We think the doctors and hospital will be better. Also, our oldest daughter lives there and she is very helpful to us.
My sister LaVerne who lived in Madison,WI. passed away the past April 27. she was 92. I'm the lone survivor in the family, and now 86. My diabetes is progressing slowly such that both of my big toes are numb, and sometimes painful. Other than that I'm doing O.K.
We had thawing weather earlier, but it was down to 20 below this morning, and they say it will stay there for the next couple days. We have about a foot of snow on the ground, everything is white.
Bette is beside herself because we found out at the Christmas dinner that our grandson and his wife are expecting. She is always so envious of the other women living here who all have a raft of great grandchildren, and she had none(nor any prospects).
I hope all is well with you and yours, and I will be waiting for a reply.
Love, from Bette & George
Got your card on Dec. 30, and you requested a reply via email.
It's true, I'm not much good sending a newsy Christmas card. I set out a day and try to send them all off at the same time.
Overall, Bette and I are getting along O.K. I have to be a 100% caregiver, because Bette is in such pain most of the time in her legs and back that she just can't function very well. I take care of everything. She has taken every strong pain pill known to man, and they tell her they can do no more for her. She has a pain surpressing gaget implanted in her back that cost the taxpayers $40,000, but it is no big help. She got that thing before Obamacare.
The reason we are moving to Deerfield Senor housing in New Richmond, WI. is sort of planning ahead. You can take a virtual tour of the place on the web. Just plug in Deerfield New Richmond,WI to get on. We can get a lot more help and assistance there than we get here. We think the doctors and hospital will be better. Also, our oldest daughter lives there and she is very helpful to us.
My sister LaVerne who lived in Madison,WI. passed away the past April 27. she was 92. I'm the lone survivor in the family, and now 86. My diabetes is progressing slowly such that both of my big toes are numb, and sometimes painful. Other than that I'm doing O.K.
We had thawing weather earlier, but it was down to 20 below this morning, and they say it will stay there for the next couple days. We have about a foot of snow on the ground, everything is white.
Bette is beside herself because we found out at the Christmas dinner that our grandson and his wife are expecting. She is always so envious of the other women living here who all have a raft of great grandchildren, and she had none(nor any prospects).
I hope all is well with you and yours, and I will be waiting for a reply.
Love, from Bette & George
Henry H. Smith and Hannah Bohart were married by the Rev. Ashbel Parmlee in Malone, N.Y. on 24 August, 1861.
Henry joined the Union Army when he enrolled on 11 August 1862, at Malone, N.Y. in Co. H, 106th N.Y. Infantry Vols.( to serve 3 years). While he was in the Army a son was born to Henry and Hannah which they named Henry Harrison Smith Jr.
Henry Sr. never saw his son. He was killed at the third Battle of Winchester,VA on 19 September, 1864.
MILITARY RECORD OF HENRY SMITH SR.
Enlisted: 11 August, 1862, at Ogdensburg, N.Y.
Company: "B"
Regiment: 106th N.Y.Inf.
Brigade: 1st(Wilber)
Division: 3rd(Ricketts)
Army Corps: 6th(Sheridan)
Henry was involved with railroad guard duty initially. This duty wasn't normally exciting or dramatic, but they were involved in combat from time to time. After Sheridan took charge of the 6th Army they became involved in the pursuit of Lee's Confederates.
Approximately 60 letters written to his wife and folks while he was in the army are preserved at the home of Audrey Lehr of 2851 Cty E, Red Granite,WI. She also has a tintype photograph they believe is Henry in his army uniform. I have made copies of this picture.
Bette and I visited Auroraville and Red Granite,WI in 1965, where we met with Grace and Smith Angle, Hazel Swenson and Winnie Reimenschnieder, and Audrey and Oval Lehr. The letters and photograph of Henry Smith Sr. were still in the possession of Grace Angle. I pleaded with her to give these to the Wisconsin Historical Society where they would always be preserved, but she passed them along to Audrey Lehr instead. Grace gave away a couple of those letters. One to Elida Thomas, and one to Hazel Swenson. In 1992 Audrey Lehr's son made photocopies of the remaining 58 letters and gave me copies. I made contact with Capt. Creekman while searching the internet for genealogical information relative to the 106th NY Regiment. I translated those photocopies, and in 1999, I submitted the translations along with a copy of the Henry Smith Civil War photograph,to a Captain Charles T. Creekman, Jr., of 4812 King Solomon Drive, Annandale, VA 22003.
Capt. Creekman was a career Navy man who was personally interested in the Regimental History of the 106th New York Infantry. He planned to submit the letter and the photo to the Army's Military History Institute in Wash. D.C. where they will be made a permanent part of their collection.
Capt. Creekman believes the man in the photo is dressed as a cavalryman. I also showed this photo to a Civil War re-enactor who came to the same conclusion. This sheds some doubt as to the actual identity of the man in the photo--it may be possible that it is a photo of Henry's brother Sanford Smith who was a cavalryman. How this mistake could be perpetuated within the Moses Smith family I do not know. We will never know with certainty who the man is. Because of family lore, we assume it is Henry Smith.
WIDOW'S CLAIM FOR PENSION
State of New York, County of Franklin
On this 25th day of October, 1864, personally appeared before me, a county judge in and for the county and state aforesaid, Hannah J. Smith a resident of Bellmont in the County of Franklin and state of New York aged 26 yrears, who being duly sworn makes the following declaration, in order to obtain the pension provided by the Act of Congress approved July 14th,1862; That she is the widow of Henry H. Smith who was a Corporal in Company H commanded by Capt. Eugene Wilber in the 106th Regiment of New York State Vols, in the war of 1861; That her maiden name was Hannah J. Bohart and that she married to said Henry H. Smith on or about the 24th day of August,1861, at Malone,N.Y. in the County of Franklin and the State of New York by the Rev. Ashbel Parmelee a clergyman then residing in said town but who is now deceased and that she knows of no record or evidence of said marriage except a marriage certificate given dependent by said Parmelee at the time of said marriage a true copy of which and of the whole of the same is hereto annexed.
She further declares that said Henry H. Smith her husband, died in the service of the United States as aforesaid at Winchester in the state of Virginia on or about the 19th day of September 1864 from the effects of a gunshot wound received in the battle fought on that day at or near said place. She also declares that she has remained a widow ever since the death of Henry H. Smith and that she has not in any manner been engaged in, or aided, or abetted, the rebellion in the United States; and she herby appoints Horace A. Taylor of Malone, N.Y. as her lawful attorney, and authorizes him to present and prosecute this claim, and to receive and receipt for any orders of certificates that may be issued in satisfaction thereof. She further says that her said husband Henry H. Smith left only one child surviving him under 16 years of age whose name and age is as follows viz. Henry H. Smith born January 18th 1863 that said child is now with his mother this claimant in Malone, N.Y.
Also personally appeared before me, Moses Smith and Sherman Stancliff residents of said Franklin County, and State of New York, to me well known as credible persons, who being duly sworn, declare, that they were present and saw Hannah J. Smith sign her name to the foregoing declaration and that they have very reason to believe from the appearance of said applicant, and their acquaintance with her, that she is the identical person she represents herself to be, and know that said deceased recognized said applicant as his lawful wife, and that she was so recognized by the community in which they resided; and that they further say that they saw Henry H. Smith born Jnauary 18,1862 and that he resides with his mother, the above named Hannah J. Smith at Bellmont in the same County of Franklin.
Signed, Moses Smith Sherman Stancliff
REMARRIAGE OF HANNAH J. SMITH
Franklin County, Town of Bombay
Charles M. Clifford of said county being duly sworn says that he was the justice of the peace of said town in the year 1869, that he did on the 9th day of June, 1869 join in holy matrimony Willard Jackson of Bombay and Hannah J. Smith of the town of Malone.
According to Elida Thomas(Smith genealogy)," Hannah married Walter(sic) Jackson who worked on the railroad. The son of Hannah and Walter married Elizabeth("Libby") Smith. As a result, Hannah's mother-in-law was also her aunt. Elida says, "One wonders how the family felt about that? They hadn't wanted Hannah to marry Henry Harrison to begin with because he was so young and also because she already had an illegitimate child, and for that time, that was a scandal! After Henry was killed, and she remarried, Hannah gave up her baby Henry to the grandparents. In later years Moses had to go to court in order to receive the gov't allotment for the child Henry. It was meant to help rear the child but apparently Hannah had kept it for herself all those years. Hannah called herself Jane after her marriage to Walter Jackson. I remember my aunts being so enraged if anyone called up that old scandal, and they hotly denied it was true."
Names mentioned by Henry H. Smith Sr. in his Civil War letters:
Name identification Age, in 1864
Old Tip nickname for Henry H. Smith 23
Little Henry Henry Smith Jr. 2
Jane Jane M. Smith(Henry's sister) 19
Jane Hannah Jane(Henry's wife) 20
Father Moses Smith 51
Mother Betsey Smith 46
George George B. Smith(Henry's bro.) 9
Calvin Calvin Smith(Henry's bro.) 10
William William Smith(Henry's bro.) 26
Sanford Sanford Smith(Henry's bro.) 18
Milly Ann Milly Ann Smith(Henry's sister) 17
Mary Ann Mrs. William Smith 23
Myron Myron Smith(Henry's Cousin) 3
Gardiner Gardiner Smith(Henry's Cousin) 25
John John Smith(Henry's Cousin) 33
Ruth Ruth Smith(Henry's cousin) 22
Uncle Jesse Probably a Magoon??
Old Granny Glazier Smith neighbor at Owls Head
Old King " " " " "
Charley Glazier " " " " "
H.A. Nelson " " " " "
The Websters " " " " "
The Fountains In-laws to William Smith
The Leary's Smith neighbors at Owls head
The Custones " " " " "
The Skines " " " " "
The Burtons " ' " " "
Orin Firco " " " " "
Lora Chapman " " " " "
BURIAL PLACE OF HENRY SMITH
Department of the Army
Office of The Chief of Support Services
Wash. D.C. 26 March 1969
In Reply Refer to SPTS-MC Smith, Henry Harrison
Dear Mr. Foss:
This is in reply to your letter requesting information regarding the burial place of your great uncle, Henry Harrison Smith, a Civil War soldier.
A check of our files did not indicate burial by name of a Henry Harrison Smith, Company H, 106th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, in any of our listed burial locations.
From the information furnished in your letter concerning the time and place of death of your great uncle, there is a possibility that his remains were brought from the initial battlefield burial location and re-interred in the Winchester National Cemetery which was established in 1886 following the conclusion of the Civil War.
There is a possibility that the remains of Henry Harrison Smith may be among the long list of unknowns interred in the Winchester National Cemetery. Notations on this listing indicate that at least 5 of the unknown decedents had served with the 106th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry.
Sincerely Yours, Earl W. Zeig
Chief, Operations Section
Cemetery Branch, Memorial Division
Henry joined the Union Army when he enrolled on 11 August 1862, at Malone, N.Y. in Co. H, 106th N.Y. Infantry Vols.( to serve 3 years). While he was in the Army a son was born to Henry and Hannah which they named Henry Harrison Smith Jr.
Henry Sr. never saw his son. He was killed at the third Battle of Winchester,VA on 19 September, 1864.
MILITARY RECORD OF HENRY SMITH SR.
Enlisted: 11 August, 1862, at Ogdensburg, N.Y.
Company: "B"
Regiment: 106th N.Y.Inf.
Brigade: 1st(Wilber)
Division: 3rd(Ricketts)
Army Corps: 6th(Sheridan)
Henry was involved with railroad guard duty initially. This duty wasn't normally exciting or dramatic, but they were involved in combat from time to time. After Sheridan took charge of the 6th Army they became involved in the pursuit of Lee's Confederates.
Approximately 60 letters written to his wife and folks while he was in the army are preserved at the home of Audrey Lehr of 2851 Cty E, Red Granite,WI. She also has a tintype photograph they believe is Henry in his army uniform. I have made copies of this picture.
Bette and I visited Auroraville and Red Granite,WI in 1965, where we met with Grace and Smith Angle, Hazel Swenson and Winnie Reimenschnieder, and Audrey and Oval Lehr. The letters and photograph of Henry Smith Sr. were still in the possession of Grace Angle. I pleaded with her to give these to the Wisconsin Historical Society where they would always be preserved, but she passed them along to Audrey Lehr instead. Grace gave away a couple of those letters. One to Elida Thomas, and one to Hazel Swenson. In 1992 Audrey Lehr's son made photocopies of the remaining 58 letters and gave me copies. I made contact with Capt. Creekman while searching the internet for genealogical information relative to the 106th NY Regiment. I translated those photocopies, and in 1999, I submitted the translations along with a copy of the Henry Smith Civil War photograph,to a Captain Charles T. Creekman, Jr., of 4812 King Solomon Drive, Annandale, VA 22003.
Capt. Creekman was a career Navy man who was personally interested in the Regimental History of the 106th New York Infantry. He planned to submit the letter and the photo to the Army's Military History Institute in Wash. D.C. where they will be made a permanent part of their collection.
Capt. Creekman believes the man in the photo is dressed as a cavalryman. I also showed this photo to a Civil War re-enactor who came to the same conclusion. This sheds some doubt as to the actual identity of the man in the photo--it may be possible that it is a photo of Henry's brother Sanford Smith who was a cavalryman. How this mistake could be perpetuated within the Moses Smith family I do not know. We will never know with certainty who the man is. Because of family lore, we assume it is Henry Smith.
WIDOW'S CLAIM FOR PENSION
State of New York, County of Franklin
On this 25th day of October, 1864, personally appeared before me, a county judge in and for the county and state aforesaid, Hannah J. Smith a resident of Bellmont in the County of Franklin and state of New York aged 26 yrears, who being duly sworn makes the following declaration, in order to obtain the pension provided by the Act of Congress approved July 14th,1862; That she is the widow of Henry H. Smith who was a Corporal in Company H commanded by Capt. Eugene Wilber in the 106th Regiment of New York State Vols, in the war of 1861; That her maiden name was Hannah J. Bohart and that she married to said Henry H. Smith on or about the 24th day of August,1861, at Malone,N.Y. in the County of Franklin and the State of New York by the Rev. Ashbel Parmelee a clergyman then residing in said town but who is now deceased and that she knows of no record or evidence of said marriage except a marriage certificate given dependent by said Parmelee at the time of said marriage a true copy of which and of the whole of the same is hereto annexed.
She further declares that said Henry H. Smith her husband, died in the service of the United States as aforesaid at Winchester in the state of Virginia on or about the 19th day of September 1864 from the effects of a gunshot wound received in the battle fought on that day at or near said place. She also declares that she has remained a widow ever since the death of Henry H. Smith and that she has not in any manner been engaged in, or aided, or abetted, the rebellion in the United States; and she herby appoints Horace A. Taylor of Malone, N.Y. as her lawful attorney, and authorizes him to present and prosecute this claim, and to receive and receipt for any orders of certificates that may be issued in satisfaction thereof. She further says that her said husband Henry H. Smith left only one child surviving him under 16 years of age whose name and age is as follows viz. Henry H. Smith born January 18th 1863 that said child is now with his mother this claimant in Malone, N.Y.
Also personally appeared before me, Moses Smith and Sherman Stancliff residents of said Franklin County, and State of New York, to me well known as credible persons, who being duly sworn, declare, that they were present and saw Hannah J. Smith sign her name to the foregoing declaration and that they have very reason to believe from the appearance of said applicant, and their acquaintance with her, that she is the identical person she represents herself to be, and know that said deceased recognized said applicant as his lawful wife, and that she was so recognized by the community in which they resided; and that they further say that they saw Henry H. Smith born Jnauary 18,1862 and that he resides with his mother, the above named Hannah J. Smith at Bellmont in the same County of Franklin.
Signed, Moses Smith Sherman Stancliff
REMARRIAGE OF HANNAH J. SMITH
Franklin County, Town of Bombay
Charles M. Clifford of said county being duly sworn says that he was the justice of the peace of said town in the year 1869, that he did on the 9th day of June, 1869 join in holy matrimony Willard Jackson of Bombay and Hannah J. Smith of the town of Malone.
According to Elida Thomas(Smith genealogy)," Hannah married Walter(sic) Jackson who worked on the railroad. The son of Hannah and Walter married Elizabeth("Libby") Smith. As a result, Hannah's mother-in-law was also her aunt. Elida says, "One wonders how the family felt about that? They hadn't wanted Hannah to marry Henry Harrison to begin with because he was so young and also because she already had an illegitimate child, and for that time, that was a scandal! After Henry was killed, and she remarried, Hannah gave up her baby Henry to the grandparents. In later years Moses had to go to court in order to receive the gov't allotment for the child Henry. It was meant to help rear the child but apparently Hannah had kept it for herself all those years. Hannah called herself Jane after her marriage to Walter Jackson. I remember my aunts being so enraged if anyone called up that old scandal, and they hotly denied it was true."
Names mentioned by Henry H. Smith Sr. in his Civil War letters:
Name identification Age, in 1864
Old Tip nickname for Henry H. Smith 23
Little Henry Henry Smith Jr. 2
Jane Jane M. Smith(Henry's sister) 19
Jane Hannah Jane(Henry's wife) 20
Father Moses Smith 51
Mother Betsey Smith 46
George George B. Smith(Henry's bro.) 9
Calvin Calvin Smith(Henry's bro.) 10
William William Smith(Henry's bro.) 26
Sanford Sanford Smith(Henry's bro.) 18
Milly Ann Milly Ann Smith(Henry's sister) 17
Mary Ann Mrs. William Smith 23
Myron Myron Smith(Henry's Cousin) 3
Gardiner Gardiner Smith(Henry's Cousin) 25
John John Smith(Henry's Cousin) 33
Ruth Ruth Smith(Henry's cousin) 22
Uncle Jesse Probably a Magoon??
Old Granny Glazier Smith neighbor at Owls Head
Old King " " " " "
Charley Glazier " " " " "
H.A. Nelson " " " " "
The Websters " " " " "
The Fountains In-laws to William Smith
The Leary's Smith neighbors at Owls head
The Custones " " " " "
The Skines " " " " "
The Burtons " ' " " "
Orin Firco " " " " "
Lora Chapman " " " " "
BURIAL PLACE OF HENRY SMITH
Department of the Army
Office of The Chief of Support Services
Wash. D.C. 26 March 1969
In Reply Refer to SPTS-MC Smith, Henry Harrison
Dear Mr. Foss:
This is in reply to your letter requesting information regarding the burial place of your great uncle, Henry Harrison Smith, a Civil War soldier.
A check of our files did not indicate burial by name of a Henry Harrison Smith, Company H, 106th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, in any of our listed burial locations.
From the information furnished in your letter concerning the time and place of death of your great uncle, there is a possibility that his remains were brought from the initial battlefield burial location and re-interred in the Winchester National Cemetery which was established in 1886 following the conclusion of the Civil War.
There is a possibility that the remains of Henry Harrison Smith may be among the long list of unknowns interred in the Winchester National Cemetery. Notations on this listing indicate that at least 5 of the unknown decedents had served with the 106th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry.
Sincerely Yours, Earl W. Zeig
Chief, Operations Section
Cemetery Branch, Memorial Division
The George Foss family in Winchester, VA
This is an account of a trip I took with our family to the city of Winchester. I can’t remember the exact year, but I would guess it was sometime between 1970 and 1975. Prior to our trip I had been subscribing to the Civil War Times which in one of its issues highlighted the account of the third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864. The article made an hour by hour account of the battle with maps identifying the position of all of the companies as the battle progressed. And from the letter of Oscar Burnham(above) we know Henry was killed about high noon, and from the article we determined almost within a few hundred yards exactly where Henry was physically located on the battlefield when he was killed. Using those maps and using the present bed of the Opequon river as a reference point, I was able to walk over the site of that battlefield and stand nearly on the actual spot where Henry died—as I stood there recounting the battle in my minds eye, I was totally overcome. For me, that’s what genealogy is all about!
After visiting the actual site of the battlefield, we drove into Winchester and visited the cemetery where the soldiers of both North& South were buried. It is a large cemetery with a wall down the center separating the graves of the South from the North. On the Union side there is a large monument locating the burial site of the unknowns. Theoretically, that is the resting place for Henry Smith. The monument is a rose-colored granite spire about 10 to 12 feet in height placed on a large granite base. I didn’t record the message carved on it, except Herny’s 106th regiment was noted. We also visited the buildings that served as headquarters for Generals Sheridan of the North, and Stonewall Jackson of the South We saw the small building that George Washington used while he was there.
This is an account of a trip I took with our family to the city of Winchester. I can’t remember the exact year, but I would guess it was sometime between 1970 and 1975. Prior to our trip I had been subscribing to the Civil War Times which in one of its issues highlighted the account of the third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864. The article made an hour by hour account of the battle with maps identifying the position of all of the companies as the battle progressed. And from the letter of Oscar Burnham(above) we know Henry was killed about high noon, and from the article we determined almost within a few hundred yards exactly where Henry was physically located on the battlefield when he was killed. Using those maps and using the present bed of the Opequon river as a reference point, I was able to walk over the site of that battlefield and stand nearly on the actual spot where Henry died—as I stood there recounting the battle in my minds eye, I was totally overcome. For me, that’s what genealogy is all about!
After visiting the actual site of the battlefield, we drove into Winchester and visited the cemetery where the soldiers of both North& South were buried. It is a large cemetery with a wall down the center separating the graves of the South from the North. On the Union side there is a large monument locating the burial site of the unknowns. Theoretically, that is the resting place for Henry Smith. The monument is a rose-colored granite spire about 10 to 12 feet in height placed on a large granite base. I didn’t record the message carved on it, except Herny’s 106th regiment was noted. We also visited the buildings that served as headquarters for Generals Sheridan of the North, and Stonewall Jackson of the South We saw the small building that George Washington used while he was there.
The Battle of Winchester. September 19, 1864
Capt. Creekman believes the man in the photo is dressed as a cavalryman. I also showed this photo to a Civil War re-enactor who came to the same conclusion. This sheds some doubt as to the actual identity of the man in the photo--it may be possible that it is a photo of Henry's brother Sanford Smith who was a cavalryman. A comparison of photos of Sanford and Henry isn't conclusive, but Henry appears to have a ski-jump nose that ends in a button, while Sanford has a straight nose that ends with more of a point. Because of the age difference in the photos it is hard to compare their eyes. Sanford surely saw that photo himself and identified it for the family. It is also possible that Creekman made his conclusion based on Henry wearing high leather boots of a calvaryman. But we know from Henry's letters how proud he was to have purchased those boots, because they kept him dry running through high grass. Family lore contends it is Henry in the photo. We will never know for sure who the man in the photo is, but for the present we assume it is Henry Smith.
The Wisconsin Smiths
What follows here is the record of the Smiths upon locating in the state of Wisconsin. The children of John Smith and his brother Moses B. Smith remained as a close-knit family unit after locating in Wisconsin, so the history of both families has a common thread. This fact is evidenced by the marriage of George B. Smith(son of Moses) to his second cousin Serepta(daughter of John's son John). We now continue with the children of Moses B. Smith: Jane, Sanford, Milly Ann, Calvin, George B., and Henry Harrison Smith Jr.(adopted).
Henry Jr. was the only child of Henry Harrison Smith Sr., and Hannah Jane Bohart.
Henry H. Smith Sr. was killed at the battle of Winchester,Va on 19 Sept. 1864. In 1869 Hannah Jane Smith remarried. At that time she gave up Henry Jr. to his grandparents Moses and Betsey Smith who adopted him. Henry then moved to Auroraville,WI with Moses and Betsey, and lived with them until at the age of 16 he moved back to Chasm Falls,NY where he married and raised a family.
See the notes for Henry H. Smith, Sr., and Hannah Jane Bohart for more details.
Henry H. Smith Sr. was killed at the battle of Winchester,Va on 19 Sept. 1864. In 1869 Hannah Jane Smith remarried. At that time she gave up Henry Jr. to his grandparents Moses and Betsey Smith who adopted him. Henry then moved to Auroraville,WI with Moses and Betsey, and lived with them until at the age of 16 he moved back to Chasm Falls,NY where he married and raised a family.
See the notes for Henry H. Smith, Sr., and Hannah Jane Bohart for more details.
Jane was born in Owls Head, N.Y. In 1869, when she was 24 years of age, she moved to Auroraville,WI with her mother and father, Calvin, George, and Henry Harrison Smith Jr.
Jane met and married Charles Vedder of nearby Omro,WI when she was about 30 years old. Charles owned and operated a cheese factory in Omro. Jane and Charles had two daughters(Iva and Alta) born at Omro. Family lore has it that Alta was dropped as a babe which resulted in her having a deformity known as hunchback. This deformity plagued her all her life, and prevented her from having children of her own.
Charles Vedder had a health problem(TB?) which prompted him to move to California where he again operated a cheese factory in a little hamlet called Waddington. Waddington was located about four or five miles south of the town of Ferndale.
Charles died from the effects of TB at age 66 in 1895. Iva died from the effects of TB at age 15 in 1898. Both Charles and Iva are buried in the Ferndale Cemetery.
Jane's brother William G. Smith, and his son Leslie, both of Chasm Falls,N.Y., travelled to California to visit Jane in about 1903 or 1904. It is believed William went out there to assist Jane in selling out and helping her make a move back to Omro,WI.
After arriving back in Omro or Auroraville, Alta married Charles Blend, and then they along with Jane Vedder moved to a chicken farm near Magazine, Arkansas. Family lore has it that Charles Blend, Alta, and Jane, first moved to a place in Kansas, but no documentation has been located to support this.
Jane Vedder died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Blend, in Magazine,Arkansas on 26 May, 1923.
NOTES CARRIED OVER FROM SMALL POTATOES BOOK:
In September, 1988, Bette and I visited the cemetery in Ferndale, CA. This is where Charles and Iva Vedder are buried. We were unable to locate their graves at that time. We also visited the courthouse in Eureka and searched for their death records, but we were unsuccessful.
In October, 1988, I got a reply to a letter I sent to Ferndale,CA, in regard to the death records for Charles and Iva Vedder. This the letter I received:
Dear Mr. Foss:
Mike Moreland, funeral director, passed your letter on to me regarding Charles and Iva Vedder. Looking back into the burial records I find:
1. Iva E. Vedder 15 yrs. 6mos.5da.
Date of burial-----July 20,1898
2. Charles Vedder 66 yrs.
Date of burial-----Aug. 6, 1895
Lot 11 Block 1 Section 2
I personally did not go to the cemetery to check the headstones so I don't know if they even exist. Most probably they do--- as many are this old.
I hope this information is of help to you. If I can assist you any further, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Eunice Sanborn, Sec.
Ferndale Cemetery Assn.
P.O. Box 72
Ferndale, CA 95536 Ph: 707-786-4394
__________________________________________________________
While Bette and I were in Booneville, Arkansas, I found the following on microfilm in the Booneville public library:
NOTICE--Mt. Pisgah Community. JANE VEDDER. Died 26 May 1923 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Blend, in Magazine, Arkansas.
________________________________________________________
Jane Vedder is buried near her daughter Alta, and her son-n-law Charles Blend in the Old Union Cemetery, in Magazine, Arkansas. Jane died from a stroke brought on by high blood pressure. Bette and I visted their graves in October, 1981.
The story of how I uncovered the Vedder genealogy is very interesting. Winnie knew certain things about the Vedders, and had been trying to learn about them, but she had no hard facts. After I had discussed the Vedders with Winnie she suggested that Hazel send off a letter to Essie Proffit at Omro,WI. Winnie had corresponded with Essie Proffit years ago, and she knew that the Proffits had been close to the Vedders at one time. Below is the reply Essie Proffit made to Hazel's query.
Omro, Wisconsin, July 19, 1967
Mrs. Raymond Swenson,
River Falls, Wis.
Dear Mrs. Swenson,
In regards to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Vedder. The Vedders had a cheese factory across the road from our home. It burned years ago. If I remember they moved to California.
My grandmother, Mrs. Nancy Williams visited Mrs Vedder when she lived in Kansas. She and Alta then moved to Magazine,Arkansas. Mrs. Vedder died there. Do not know if she is buried there or in California.
Alta married but do not remember his name. Have looked thru a lot of old cards and letters to see if I could find a card from her. She did write to my mother, Mrs. Clara Proffitt, for years.
Perhaps if you write to the postmasters at Magazine he could give you information or would know someone there that could.
I notice in your letter you mention a Iva Vedder. There is a Mabel M. Vedder buried in Rushford cemetery. At the time of death she was 2 yrs., 11 mos., and 15 days old. She was born April 18, 1879.
I am sending pictures, thought you would like them.
Should know your Aunt Mrs. Angle. Hope I did help out some.
Sincerely, Essie Proffit
____________________________________________
Then, in the following September, Hazel got another letter from Essie Proffit which proved to be a real beakthrough.
Omro, Wisconsin Sept. 7, 1967
Dear Mrs. Swenson,
In trying to clean house, found these letters. Thot you would like them. Do not remember anything about Iva Vedder. Think she died years ago. This letter was written to my Grandmother. Do you have pictures like the ones I am enclosing. You may keep the letter and the pictures. Found this letter this a.m.
Alta and her husband must have moved a lot. The last address we had was Magazine, Arkansas.
Essie Proffit
____________________________________________
Below is a letter from Jane Vedder who was then living in Waddington,CA., to her mother Betsey Smith, who was living in Auroraville, WI. The letter was written in about the year 1894. I have copied it here exactly as Jane composed it, using the same spelling and punctuation. This is one of the letters Essie Proffit found and sent to Hazel Swenson. See the notes for Alta M. Blend for other letters and information about this family in California and Arkansas.
"Well Mother I got your letter and Millys and was glad to hear from you I thought as I am writing to Calvin I would write a few lines to you. I suppose you and Milly are having good times now I almost begrudge you your hapiness not that I would take it from you but how I should like to share it with you when I am here alone it almost seems as though I could look up and see you set here smoking and hear you speak but when I think of the distance between us it makes me very loansome but perhaps the time will come sometime when we can see each other again and have good times once more."
" I think you must be having California weather there now perhaps the climate will change so that Charley can go back there"-------[this seems to confirm the fact that Charles Vedder went to California for his health]------ "and he will think he is in California. Tell Milly that I think of all the old times and it seems if I had some one to talk over old times I should not be so loansome how I should like to be there to help her hush corn wouldn't our toungs fly but the corn mite not fly so fast I can almost imagine myself there now. Milly I suppose that baby is smart but cant beat ours how I would like to see her. I wrote a letter the fore part of the summer to Williams folks and Sanford and neather of them has answered them I do not know what reason is this I beleave makes 30 letters I have wrote this summer so you see I have done some writing. Hear is some peices the plaid is the childrens dresses"-------[she is referring to Alta and Iva]----- " and the calico is the babies aprons"----[I don't know whose baby Jane is talking about. I don't have any record of such a baby, although it sounds like it is hers?]---- " and gingham is my aprons well today is Monday and I am tierd we have a man boarding with us we are living on his place he has been living in Eureka for four or five years but now he is building a new house and will move on his place this winter He has boarded with us about half of the summer it makes me some work but we get three dollars a week and then he is good company besides we shall move on our place as soon as they get the factory done it is only a little ways from here it is very pleasant here today I wish you could see the roses I had sent to me this morning roses have been in blossom since sometime in april and the bushes look gree and are full of buds and flowers yet. it is just 14 years today since we were married I did not think than that I should be in California now I think i shall get two or three dozen hens when we get on our place and if eggs are as high next summer as they have been this I can make considerable from them I have got quite a lot of sewing to do and knitting and I want to knit some edging but dont know when I shall get time to knit it I am so discouraged that I cant half work Mother when you write to Henry give him our directions and tell him to write to me I would write to him but do not know how to direct kiss all the babies for me and write soon
from Jane to Mother
__________________________________________
Jane was 47 years old and her mother was 73 when this letter was written. It seems possible that Jane is making reference to a new baby in her letter. The Henry that Jane refers to is probably Henry Harrison Smith Jr. who was adopted by Moses and Betsey Smith, and was raised in Auroraville,WI. He would be about 30 years old in 1893 and would have been living once again in upstate New York.
Charles and Jane were married in about 1875 in Omro,WI. Charles owned and operated a cheese factory there(Rushford/Omro).
Charles had a serious health problem which prompted him to move his family and business to Waddington,CA. Although He didn't know it, he had TB.
Charles is buried in the Ferndale Cemetery beside his daughter Iva.(burial plot-Lot 11, block 1, section 2). They both died from the effects of TB.
Bette and I visited the area known as Waddington,CA, but nothing remains of the hamlet except for the residences which all appear to be small farms. We then drove a few miles to Ferndale and walked the Ferndale cemetery, but we were unable to locate the graves of Charles and Iva Vedder. We thought the Ferndale cemetery was very unique in the way the the graves were separated by low concrete borders, and the graves appeared to be elevated. The city of Ferndale is a quaint place catering to tourists. They have attempted to maintain the entire city as a turn-of-the-century village with all manner of 'gingerbread' homes and shops.
Jane met and married Charles Vedder of nearby Omro,WI when she was about 30 years old. Charles owned and operated a cheese factory in Omro. Jane and Charles had two daughters(Iva and Alta) born at Omro. Family lore has it that Alta was dropped as a babe which resulted in her having a deformity known as hunchback. This deformity plagued her all her life, and prevented her from having children of her own.
Charles Vedder had a health problem(TB?) which prompted him to move to California where he again operated a cheese factory in a little hamlet called Waddington. Waddington was located about four or five miles south of the town of Ferndale.
Charles died from the effects of TB at age 66 in 1895. Iva died from the effects of TB at age 15 in 1898. Both Charles and Iva are buried in the Ferndale Cemetery.
Jane's brother William G. Smith, and his son Leslie, both of Chasm Falls,N.Y., travelled to California to visit Jane in about 1903 or 1904. It is believed William went out there to assist Jane in selling out and helping her make a move back to Omro,WI.
After arriving back in Omro or Auroraville, Alta married Charles Blend, and then they along with Jane Vedder moved to a chicken farm near Magazine, Arkansas. Family lore has it that Charles Blend, Alta, and Jane, first moved to a place in Kansas, but no documentation has been located to support this.
Jane Vedder died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Blend, in Magazine,Arkansas on 26 May, 1923.
NOTES CARRIED OVER FROM SMALL POTATOES BOOK:
In September, 1988, Bette and I visited the cemetery in Ferndale, CA. This is where Charles and Iva Vedder are buried. We were unable to locate their graves at that time. We also visited the courthouse in Eureka and searched for their death records, but we were unsuccessful.
In October, 1988, I got a reply to a letter I sent to Ferndale,CA, in regard to the death records for Charles and Iva Vedder. This the letter I received:
Dear Mr. Foss:
Mike Moreland, funeral director, passed your letter on to me regarding Charles and Iva Vedder. Looking back into the burial records I find:
1. Iva E. Vedder 15 yrs. 6mos.5da.
Date of burial-----July 20,1898
2. Charles Vedder 66 yrs.
Date of burial-----Aug. 6, 1895
Lot 11 Block 1 Section 2
I personally did not go to the cemetery to check the headstones so I don't know if they even exist. Most probably they do--- as many are this old.
I hope this information is of help to you. If I can assist you any further, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Eunice Sanborn, Sec.
Ferndale Cemetery Assn.
P.O. Box 72
Ferndale, CA 95536 Ph: 707-786-4394
__________________________________________________________
While Bette and I were in Booneville, Arkansas, I found the following on microfilm in the Booneville public library:
NOTICE--Mt. Pisgah Community. JANE VEDDER. Died 26 May 1923 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Blend, in Magazine, Arkansas.
________________________________________________________
Jane Vedder is buried near her daughter Alta, and her son-n-law Charles Blend in the Old Union Cemetery, in Magazine, Arkansas. Jane died from a stroke brought on by high blood pressure. Bette and I visted their graves in October, 1981.
The story of how I uncovered the Vedder genealogy is very interesting. Winnie knew certain things about the Vedders, and had been trying to learn about them, but she had no hard facts. After I had discussed the Vedders with Winnie she suggested that Hazel send off a letter to Essie Proffit at Omro,WI. Winnie had corresponded with Essie Proffit years ago, and she knew that the Proffits had been close to the Vedders at one time. Below is the reply Essie Proffit made to Hazel's query.
Omro, Wisconsin, July 19, 1967
Mrs. Raymond Swenson,
River Falls, Wis.
Dear Mrs. Swenson,
In regards to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Vedder. The Vedders had a cheese factory across the road from our home. It burned years ago. If I remember they moved to California.
My grandmother, Mrs. Nancy Williams visited Mrs Vedder when she lived in Kansas. She and Alta then moved to Magazine,Arkansas. Mrs. Vedder died there. Do not know if she is buried there or in California.
Alta married but do not remember his name. Have looked thru a lot of old cards and letters to see if I could find a card from her. She did write to my mother, Mrs. Clara Proffitt, for years.
Perhaps if you write to the postmasters at Magazine he could give you information or would know someone there that could.
I notice in your letter you mention a Iva Vedder. There is a Mabel M. Vedder buried in Rushford cemetery. At the time of death she was 2 yrs., 11 mos., and 15 days old. She was born April 18, 1879.
I am sending pictures, thought you would like them.
Should know your Aunt Mrs. Angle. Hope I did help out some.
Sincerely, Essie Proffit
____________________________________________
Then, in the following September, Hazel got another letter from Essie Proffit which proved to be a real beakthrough.
Omro, Wisconsin Sept. 7, 1967
Dear Mrs. Swenson,
In trying to clean house, found these letters. Thot you would like them. Do not remember anything about Iva Vedder. Think she died years ago. This letter was written to my Grandmother. Do you have pictures like the ones I am enclosing. You may keep the letter and the pictures. Found this letter this a.m.
Alta and her husband must have moved a lot. The last address we had was Magazine, Arkansas.
Essie Proffit
____________________________________________
Below is a letter from Jane Vedder who was then living in Waddington,CA., to her mother Betsey Smith, who was living in Auroraville, WI. The letter was written in about the year 1894. I have copied it here exactly as Jane composed it, using the same spelling and punctuation. This is one of the letters Essie Proffit found and sent to Hazel Swenson. See the notes for Alta M. Blend for other letters and information about this family in California and Arkansas.
"Well Mother I got your letter and Millys and was glad to hear from you I thought as I am writing to Calvin I would write a few lines to you. I suppose you and Milly are having good times now I almost begrudge you your hapiness not that I would take it from you but how I should like to share it with you when I am here alone it almost seems as though I could look up and see you set here smoking and hear you speak but when I think of the distance between us it makes me very loansome but perhaps the time will come sometime when we can see each other again and have good times once more."
" I think you must be having California weather there now perhaps the climate will change so that Charley can go back there"-------[this seems to confirm the fact that Charles Vedder went to California for his health]------ "and he will think he is in California. Tell Milly that I think of all the old times and it seems if I had some one to talk over old times I should not be so loansome how I should like to be there to help her hush corn wouldn't our toungs fly but the corn mite not fly so fast I can almost imagine myself there now. Milly I suppose that baby is smart but cant beat ours how I would like to see her. I wrote a letter the fore part of the summer to Williams folks and Sanford and neather of them has answered them I do not know what reason is this I beleave makes 30 letters I have wrote this summer so you see I have done some writing. Hear is some peices the plaid is the childrens dresses"-------[she is referring to Alta and Iva]----- " and the calico is the babies aprons"----[I don't know whose baby Jane is talking about. I don't have any record of such a baby, although it sounds like it is hers?]---- " and gingham is my aprons well today is Monday and I am tierd we have a man boarding with us we are living on his place he has been living in Eureka for four or five years but now he is building a new house and will move on his place this winter He has boarded with us about half of the summer it makes me some work but we get three dollars a week and then he is good company besides we shall move on our place as soon as they get the factory done it is only a little ways from here it is very pleasant here today I wish you could see the roses I had sent to me this morning roses have been in blossom since sometime in april and the bushes look gree and are full of buds and flowers yet. it is just 14 years today since we were married I did not think than that I should be in California now I think i shall get two or three dozen hens when we get on our place and if eggs are as high next summer as they have been this I can make considerable from them I have got quite a lot of sewing to do and knitting and I want to knit some edging but dont know when I shall get time to knit it I am so discouraged that I cant half work Mother when you write to Henry give him our directions and tell him to write to me I would write to him but do not know how to direct kiss all the babies for me and write soon
from Jane to Mother
__________________________________________
Jane was 47 years old and her mother was 73 when this letter was written. It seems possible that Jane is making reference to a new baby in her letter. The Henry that Jane refers to is probably Henry Harrison Smith Jr. who was adopted by Moses and Betsey Smith, and was raised in Auroraville,WI. He would be about 30 years old in 1893 and would have been living once again in upstate New York.
Charles and Jane were married in about 1875 in Omro,WI. Charles owned and operated a cheese factory there(Rushford/Omro).
Charles had a serious health problem which prompted him to move his family and business to Waddington,CA. Although He didn't know it, he had TB.
Charles is buried in the Ferndale Cemetery beside his daughter Iva.(burial plot-Lot 11, block 1, section 2). They both died from the effects of TB.
Bette and I visited the area known as Waddington,CA, but nothing remains of the hamlet except for the residences which all appear to be small farms. We then drove a few miles to Ferndale and walked the Ferndale cemetery, but we were unable to locate the graves of Charles and Iva Vedder. We thought the Ferndale cemetery was very unique in the way the the graves were separated by low concrete borders, and the graves appeared to be elevated. The city of Ferndale is a quaint place catering to tourists. They have attempted to maintain the entire city as a turn-of-the-century village with all manner of 'gingerbread' homes and shops.
In October of 1981, Bette and I drove to Arkansas. The best information we had was derived from the letters and pictures supplied to Hazel Swenson by Essie Proffit. We knew that Alta had lived in Driggs,Ark. in 1920, and a group picture showed Alta & Charles Blend, Jane,Vedder, Milly & Count Goodnow, and John and Etta Horgan. They were holding up a sign that said "come to Magazine,Ark."
While we were in Magazine,Ark. I found two old gentlement sitting in chairs outside the local general store. I showed them the pictures and asked them if they knew of Charles and Alta Blend. At first they didn't think so, then, one of them lit up and said "that must be Uncle Charlie Blend--they rang the bell on him years ago." They then directed us to the home of Buford Elkins who they thought could tell us about the Blends. Buford wasn't home that day, so we left a note with my address and query. Then we went back to the general store and asked them what the name of their local paper was and also how to find the Old Union Cemetery.
It was a rainy day, so as Bette fixed us a sandwich lunch on the porch of the church, I searched the Old Union Cemetery row by row until I at last found the headstones for Alta and Charley Blend. However, I missed finding the stone for Jane Vedder that I learned later on was located only a short distance from Alta's. Then we drove to Booneville, Ark. and visited the newspaper office there. They were very cordial and volunteered to write an article about my queries and publish the picture of Alta and Charles Blend. Then we visited the local public library where I found the microfilm giving the obituary for Charles Blend. However, I couldn't locate the obituary for Alta.
A short while after we returned to Wisconsin we got a letter from Buford Elkins. He said he worked for Charley Blend when he was a teenager. Charley had a large chicken farm. Buford remembered Jane Vedder, and he said he liked the Blends a lot--that they were very good to him. He said Alta only lived a year after Charley died, and that she was a Mormon. Since there were no relatives Buford took care of all the arrangements and disposed of all their possessions. The informant on Alta's death certificate was G.S. Trowbridge. Alta died from chronic myocarditis and tuberculosis of the spine. This letter now clears up why no obituary for Alta was found. Buford said there were no relatives at the funeral. I never found out who got the money for their home, property and possessions, but I think Buford got it all.
Below is the letter written by Alta to her friend Josie Williams back in Wisconsin:
Waddington, Cal.
Nov. 24, 1895
Dear Josie,
Josie it has been quite a while since I received your letter. I have been thinking of answering it for a long time but have been so busy. Iva goes to school now and is getting along nicely. She weighs about one hndred and thirty pounds and is as tall as ma. That makes me think did we send you one of our pictures? They were taken two or three years ago and I can't remember whether we sent you one or not. We were talking about it but I can't remember. I have one I will send you if I didn't.
Tell Clara I would like some of her cranberries for thanksgiving. I don't expect to have any turkey but they will taste just as good with chicken. No I haven't been to school any for three years. I had to stop on account of poor health and now all my classmates are graduating and I don't want to go back. I don't think I could stand it anyway though I have better health than I have had for a number of years. Yes I have had a nice lot of flowers this summer and I have lots of bulbs to bloom in the house this winter. I have a black calla lily that I expect to bloom. They say it is handsome. Yes Mrs Lawson was Mr. Slingsburys daughter. Ann Slingsbury has very poor health. She is down in Southern California. Her and Kitty have been teaching school. Kitty has just bought a nice place and is having a nice house built on it. She had given her parents a life of ease I hear. Mrs. Stone her sister has moved down here just a few steps away. We have quite a little town here now. A store and a post office, two halls, a blacksmith shop and a cheese factory, and six dwelling houses all within a few steps of us.
I guess we will stay here for the present anyway. We like it on account of the climate. I would like to go back and see the folks but I wouldn't want to live there. Oh Josie I must ell you I have a nice gold watch a friend here gave it to me. It is real pretty and it has my name on it.
Well it will soon be Chirstmas. I suppose you will have a good time. I would like to have it snow on that day it would seem like you see pictures to have it snow. It looks pretty once in a while. It snows a little bit but never stays on the ground half a day. We are going to have a sled all ready and when it snows go out and slide down the hill. Last year it snowed a little and Iva went a making a sled, but before she got it made it went to raining and melted it all.
Well write soon, Good bye Alta
At the time this letter was written Alta would have been 17, and Iva about 13.
Below is a letter written from Arkansas by Alta to Mrs. Nancy William(the grandmother to Essie Proffit:
Driggs, Ark.
Dec. 17, 1920
My Dear Friend,
As the holiday season approaches I always feel as if I wanted to get in touch with all the old friends, not that I do not think of them at other times but the Christmas season seems especially to suggest old friends.
How has it been with you and yours the past year? You are dairying that seems to be the only branch in which farmers have done well this year. From all over the country one hears the same story it matters not whether they are wheat farmers, beef raisers, potato, peanut, rice, or cotton or corn growers.
We have not cause to complain I suppose as our chickens did well only we hadn't a large enough flock to make a very big income and Charlie raised a good crop of corn. We will feed it to the chickens so it doesn't matter to us if the price is low.
So far we have had pleasant weather no very cold weather. Charlie is plowing. We never have much bad weather until about Christmas. Ma is not very well. Has neuralgia pains that cause considerable discomfort at times.
Charlie has gotten over his hay fever again and is all right now. My own health is not very good this past summer. Those abscesses in my side trouble me all the time now. I don not have time to recuperate between them. However my appetite still stays good and I manage to get my wrok done, though Charlie has to help me with some of the heaviest of it.
This is getting late and I am sleepy so will not write a long letter.
With love and best wishes for you all,
I am your old friend, Alta Vedder Blend
Alta was 42 years old when she wrote this letter. My mother(Bessie Foss) had a picture of Alta in her album, and I can recall asking her who that was. I am sure mother had met Alta in person and that is how she got the picture. I also believe Alta visited Grandpa Smith(George B.) in River Falls in about 1935 or 1936. In my minds eye I can vaguely recall meeting this very small, somewhat deformed lady, and my mother telling me she was a cousin of some sort.
Charles Blend was married once before while he was living in Irma,WI. On 20 October 1889 he married Louise Furley. His occupation was listed as a lumberman and he was born in New England.
The death notice for Charles was found in the 1938 BOONEVILL DEMOCRAT newspaper, at Booneville, Arkansas.
OBITUARY FOR CHARLES F. BLEND
Boonville Democrat
Mt. Magazine Community- C.F. Blend
C.F. Blend, age 86, died at his home near Magazine Friday and was laid to rest in Old Union Cemetery Saturday with Rev. E.B. Goldsmith, pastor of the Baptist church at Magazine officiating.
Mr. Blend, affectionately known as "Uncle Charlie" to his friends was one of the country's best citizens, a leader in agricultural advancement as well as religious and community life and he will be greatly missed.
Mr. Blend's only living relative is his wife.
The U.S 1880 Census, Town of Rushford, Waushara County was found at the Research Center UWRF in River Falls.
Name Age Birthplace
Charles Vedder 51 New York
Jane 36 New York
Alta 2 Wisconsin
There was no 1890 Census--it was lost in a fire. There was no evidence of the Charles Vedder family in the 1885 Census for Rushford, and since their daughter Iva was born in Wisconsin, it is believed they moved to California in about 1882 to 1885.
While we were in Magazine,Ark. I found two old gentlement sitting in chairs outside the local general store. I showed them the pictures and asked them if they knew of Charles and Alta Blend. At first they didn't think so, then, one of them lit up and said "that must be Uncle Charlie Blend--they rang the bell on him years ago." They then directed us to the home of Buford Elkins who they thought could tell us about the Blends. Buford wasn't home that day, so we left a note with my address and query. Then we went back to the general store and asked them what the name of their local paper was and also how to find the Old Union Cemetery.
It was a rainy day, so as Bette fixed us a sandwich lunch on the porch of the church, I searched the Old Union Cemetery row by row until I at last found the headstones for Alta and Charley Blend. However, I missed finding the stone for Jane Vedder that I learned later on was located only a short distance from Alta's. Then we drove to Booneville, Ark. and visited the newspaper office there. They were very cordial and volunteered to write an article about my queries and publish the picture of Alta and Charles Blend. Then we visited the local public library where I found the microfilm giving the obituary for Charles Blend. However, I couldn't locate the obituary for Alta.
A short while after we returned to Wisconsin we got a letter from Buford Elkins. He said he worked for Charley Blend when he was a teenager. Charley had a large chicken farm. Buford remembered Jane Vedder, and he said he liked the Blends a lot--that they were very good to him. He said Alta only lived a year after Charley died, and that she was a Mormon. Since there were no relatives Buford took care of all the arrangements and disposed of all their possessions. The informant on Alta's death certificate was G.S. Trowbridge. Alta died from chronic myocarditis and tuberculosis of the spine. This letter now clears up why no obituary for Alta was found. Buford said there were no relatives at the funeral. I never found out who got the money for their home, property and possessions, but I think Buford got it all.
Below is the letter written by Alta to her friend Josie Williams back in Wisconsin:
Waddington, Cal.
Nov. 24, 1895
Dear Josie,
Josie it has been quite a while since I received your letter. I have been thinking of answering it for a long time but have been so busy. Iva goes to school now and is getting along nicely. She weighs about one hndred and thirty pounds and is as tall as ma. That makes me think did we send you one of our pictures? They were taken two or three years ago and I can't remember whether we sent you one or not. We were talking about it but I can't remember. I have one I will send you if I didn't.
Tell Clara I would like some of her cranberries for thanksgiving. I don't expect to have any turkey but they will taste just as good with chicken. No I haven't been to school any for three years. I had to stop on account of poor health and now all my classmates are graduating and I don't want to go back. I don't think I could stand it anyway though I have better health than I have had for a number of years. Yes I have had a nice lot of flowers this summer and I have lots of bulbs to bloom in the house this winter. I have a black calla lily that I expect to bloom. They say it is handsome. Yes Mrs Lawson was Mr. Slingsburys daughter. Ann Slingsbury has very poor health. She is down in Southern California. Her and Kitty have been teaching school. Kitty has just bought a nice place and is having a nice house built on it. She had given her parents a life of ease I hear. Mrs. Stone her sister has moved down here just a few steps away. We have quite a little town here now. A store and a post office, two halls, a blacksmith shop and a cheese factory, and six dwelling houses all within a few steps of us.
I guess we will stay here for the present anyway. We like it on account of the climate. I would like to go back and see the folks but I wouldn't want to live there. Oh Josie I must ell you I have a nice gold watch a friend here gave it to me. It is real pretty and it has my name on it.
Well it will soon be Chirstmas. I suppose you will have a good time. I would like to have it snow on that day it would seem like you see pictures to have it snow. It looks pretty once in a while. It snows a little bit but never stays on the ground half a day. We are going to have a sled all ready and when it snows go out and slide down the hill. Last year it snowed a little and Iva went a making a sled, but before she got it made it went to raining and melted it all.
Well write soon, Good bye Alta
At the time this letter was written Alta would have been 17, and Iva about 13.
Below is a letter written from Arkansas by Alta to Mrs. Nancy William(the grandmother to Essie Proffit:
Driggs, Ark.
Dec. 17, 1920
My Dear Friend,
As the holiday season approaches I always feel as if I wanted to get in touch with all the old friends, not that I do not think of them at other times but the Christmas season seems especially to suggest old friends.
How has it been with you and yours the past year? You are dairying that seems to be the only branch in which farmers have done well this year. From all over the country one hears the same story it matters not whether they are wheat farmers, beef raisers, potato, peanut, rice, or cotton or corn growers.
We have not cause to complain I suppose as our chickens did well only we hadn't a large enough flock to make a very big income and Charlie raised a good crop of corn. We will feed it to the chickens so it doesn't matter to us if the price is low.
So far we have had pleasant weather no very cold weather. Charlie is plowing. We never have much bad weather until about Christmas. Ma is not very well. Has neuralgia pains that cause considerable discomfort at times.
Charlie has gotten over his hay fever again and is all right now. My own health is not very good this past summer. Those abscesses in my side trouble me all the time now. I don not have time to recuperate between them. However my appetite still stays good and I manage to get my wrok done, though Charlie has to help me with some of the heaviest of it.
This is getting late and I am sleepy so will not write a long letter.
With love and best wishes for you all,
I am your old friend, Alta Vedder Blend
Alta was 42 years old when she wrote this letter. My mother(Bessie Foss) had a picture of Alta in her album, and I can recall asking her who that was. I am sure mother had met Alta in person and that is how she got the picture. I also believe Alta visited Grandpa Smith(George B.) in River Falls in about 1935 or 1936. In my minds eye I can vaguely recall meeting this very small, somewhat deformed lady, and my mother telling me she was a cousin of some sort.
Charles Blend was married once before while he was living in Irma,WI. On 20 October 1889 he married Louise Furley. His occupation was listed as a lumberman and he was born in New England.
The death notice for Charles was found in the 1938 BOONEVILL DEMOCRAT newspaper, at Booneville, Arkansas.
OBITUARY FOR CHARLES F. BLEND
Boonville Democrat
Mt. Magazine Community- C.F. Blend
C.F. Blend, age 86, died at his home near Magazine Friday and was laid to rest in Old Union Cemetery Saturday with Rev. E.B. Goldsmith, pastor of the Baptist church at Magazine officiating.
Mr. Blend, affectionately known as "Uncle Charlie" to his friends was one of the country's best citizens, a leader in agricultural advancement as well as religious and community life and he will be greatly missed.
Mr. Blend's only living relative is his wife.
The U.S 1880 Census, Town of Rushford, Waushara County was found at the Research Center UWRF in River Falls.
Name Age Birthplace
Charles Vedder 51 New York
Jane 36 New York
Alta 2 Wisconsin
There was no 1890 Census--it was lost in a fire. There was no evidence of the Charles Vedder family in the 1885 Census for Rushford, and since their daughter Iva was born in Wisconsin, it is believed they moved to California in about 1882 to 1885.
Until we had read the letters which were discovered by Essie Proffit in an old trunk in Omro,WI., in 1967, we did not know much about Iva Vedder. Winnie knew the name, but nothing more.
Iva was 15 years, 6 mos, and 5 days old when she died. She is buried beside her father Charles Vedder in the Ferndale cemetery, in Ferndale, CA. Burial was on July 20, 1898. The burial plot is Lot 11,Block 1, Section 2.
Below is a copy of a letter written by Iva Vedder to her friend back in Wisconsin:
Waddington,Cal.
Aug,. 11, 1897
Miss Josie Williams,
My Dear Friend,
There is a lady staying here and as mama and she have gone out calling and left me alone, I will rry to write something.
It has been very hot here lately, although I suppose you would not think it very hot; but we California bugs think it is dreadful.
I am naturally very happy, and I feel doubly so now because in June I successfully passed the horrors of a week of examinations. I am in the tenth grade now. Persons did not used to have examinations to get into the tenth grade but Superintendent Brown got a new wrinkle into his head and we poor mortals must abide by it. Now commences the pull for a diploma and I have to study night and day. I was the only person who tried last June, the questions everyone said were very hard, the hardest ever sent out; but for my part never having taken one before I thought they were dreadful. I do not have any of the studies I had last June next June but algebra. Last time I had all the common studies last June. History, Arithmetic, Algebra, Spelling, Geography, Drawing, Penmanship, Grammar. Next June I have Geometry, Music, Civil Government, Masterpieces of American Literature, Lockwoods Lessons in English, Physiology, Algebra, Drawing, Composition, Word Analysis. (Pity me) enough isn't it? I have the nicest teacher Miss Beckworth by name. She is just as full of fun as can be. She lives in Hydesville (5 miles from here); but the river is between her home and school so she is going to board here this winter. She comes with a horse or bike now. I was trying to learn to ride the bike the other night. We rode until we punctured the wheel then stopped; but I will learn.
We are going to have our house altered some soon. Some tore off and some tore on. We will have it painted on the outside and papered on the inside and all things honkadory. We will have a sitting room, dining room, three bedrooms, three closets, kitchen, store-room, pantry, hall, wash room, bath room, two porches, and two conservatories.
The lady that is staying here is a regular cut up. I asked her what I should say to you. She said send you her best regards, lots of love, and tell you to come and see her. Is that enough for you?
I just receive a package containing two volumes of Lorna Doone; but I havn't read them yet. Have you ever read them? and if so, do you like them? I am reading Tom Brown at Oxford now. I have just finished Tom Brown's School Days. Have your read them? I like them as well as anyy book for boys. I am writing this in an awful hurry for I want it to catch the mail at eight.
Allie went away last Sat. and won't be back until next Sunday. It is loansome without her. Our school house is about one mile from home. You asked me if I intended fitting myself for a teacher. I will answer in the affirmative. Yes if I can ever get to know enough. School teachers get from $80 to $90 a month here so you see it pays to be school teachers. The folks all want me to be a teacher and have always wanted to be one. If I pass all the examinations that is necessary this year I will get my certificate for teaching when I am sixteen or seventeen at the most, but likely I will not pass everything. We have over a hundred 2 qt. jars of fruit put up now, besides all our preserves and jellies.
I will send you pieces of our clothes. Well this has to catch the eight o'clock mail, so I will close.
Goodbye, from Iva
The black is mamas dress.
Iva was 15 years, 6 mos, and 5 days old when she died. She is buried beside her father Charles Vedder in the Ferndale cemetery, in Ferndale, CA. Burial was on July 20, 1898. The burial plot is Lot 11,Block 1, Section 2.
Below is a copy of a letter written by Iva Vedder to her friend back in Wisconsin:
Waddington,Cal.
Aug,. 11, 1897
Miss Josie Williams,
My Dear Friend,
There is a lady staying here and as mama and she have gone out calling and left me alone, I will rry to write something.
It has been very hot here lately, although I suppose you would not think it very hot; but we California bugs think it is dreadful.
I am naturally very happy, and I feel doubly so now because in June I successfully passed the horrors of a week of examinations. I am in the tenth grade now. Persons did not used to have examinations to get into the tenth grade but Superintendent Brown got a new wrinkle into his head and we poor mortals must abide by it. Now commences the pull for a diploma and I have to study night and day. I was the only person who tried last June, the questions everyone said were very hard, the hardest ever sent out; but for my part never having taken one before I thought they were dreadful. I do not have any of the studies I had last June next June but algebra. Last time I had all the common studies last June. History, Arithmetic, Algebra, Spelling, Geography, Drawing, Penmanship, Grammar. Next June I have Geometry, Music, Civil Government, Masterpieces of American Literature, Lockwoods Lessons in English, Physiology, Algebra, Drawing, Composition, Word Analysis. (Pity me) enough isn't it? I have the nicest teacher Miss Beckworth by name. She is just as full of fun as can be. She lives in Hydesville (5 miles from here); but the river is between her home and school so she is going to board here this winter. She comes with a horse or bike now. I was trying to learn to ride the bike the other night. We rode until we punctured the wheel then stopped; but I will learn.
We are going to have our house altered some soon. Some tore off and some tore on. We will have it painted on the outside and papered on the inside and all things honkadory. We will have a sitting room, dining room, three bedrooms, three closets, kitchen, store-room, pantry, hall, wash room, bath room, two porches, and two conservatories.
The lady that is staying here is a regular cut up. I asked her what I should say to you. She said send you her best regards, lots of love, and tell you to come and see her. Is that enough for you?
I just receive a package containing two volumes of Lorna Doone; but I havn't read them yet. Have you ever read them? and if so, do you like them? I am reading Tom Brown at Oxford now. I have just finished Tom Brown's School Days. Have your read them? I like them as well as anyy book for boys. I am writing this in an awful hurry for I want it to catch the mail at eight.
Allie went away last Sat. and won't be back until next Sunday. It is loansome without her. Our school house is about one mile from home. You asked me if I intended fitting myself for a teacher. I will answer in the affirmative. Yes if I can ever get to know enough. School teachers get from $80 to $90 a month here so you see it pays to be school teachers. The folks all want me to be a teacher and have always wanted to be one. If I pass all the examinations that is necessary this year I will get my certificate for teaching when I am sixteen or seventeen at the most, but likely I will not pass everything. We have over a hundred 2 qt. jars of fruit put up now, besides all our preserves and jellies.
I will send you pieces of our clothes. Well this has to catch the eight o'clock mail, so I will close.
Goodbye, from Iva
The black is mamas dress.
Milly moved from Owls Head, N.Y. to Wisconsin with her parents in 1869, at the age of 22.
Her age in the 1870 Wisconsin(Town of Aurora, Waushara County) census was given as 23, while her age in the 1880 census was given as 33, which is totally consistent. This would mean she was born in 1847. Her older brother Sanford was born scarcely 9 months before, but of course, this is possible.
A search of the records in the Lincoln County Court House in Merrill, WI came up empty. Winnie thought Milly was probably buried in the vicinity of Tomahawk,WI, but her records may have been kept in a nearby county.
The U.S. Census of June, 1880 for the Town of Aurora, Waushara County, obtained on microfilm at the UWRF Area Research Center:
Name Occupation Age Birthplace
Count Goodnow Farmer 33 New York
Milly A. Wife 33 New York
Vernon Son 6 Wisconsin
According to the records of Elda O'Connell:
The marriage certificate states occupation was farmer, ceremony performed by C.M. Clark, and both sets of parents were witnesses.
Her death record states she was married, residence was Irma, occupation was housewife. Cause of death was arteriosclerosis and she died at Sacred Heart Hospital. She was buried on August 28, 1923 in Oak Hill Cem., Irma,WI.
OBITUARY--Merrill Star Advocate
"Mrs. C.D. Goodnow, who with her husband came to Lincoln county in 1894, and who had been ill for a year with heart trouble, died at Sacred Heart Hospital, Tomahawk. She was born in Franklin County, New York. Surviving children are two brothers, George B. Smith of River Falls, and Calvin Smith of Auroraville, Wis. Rev. A. O. Protsman of the local Baptist church conducted services at the Irma church Tuesday afternoon."
Milly's brother Sanford was married to Melvina Goodnow, sister to Count Goodnow.
According to the records of Elda O'Connell:
He appeared on the census in 1870 in the Town of Aurora WI(Waushara Co) Count was 18, at home with his parents and brother Charles. He appeared on the census in 1875 in Town of Aurora,WI(Waushara Co). It lists Count 29, farmer, Milly A. 29, keeping home; Vernon 5, son at home; Dora 10mos, daughter at home. He died on December 12, 1933 in Woodruff,WI(Oneida Co). The Wisconsin State deathe record states he was widowed, cause of death was heart disease and old age, and place of death was Town of Woodruff. He was buried in Oak Hill Cem., Irma,WI.
OBITUARY--Merrill Star Advocate
"Funeral services for Count Goodnow, 81 years old, retired logging contractor and well known in this section of the state for more than forty years, was held at 1:30 o'clock Friday afternoon at Schram's undertaking parlors, Rev. W. Bloedow, Bapitst minister officiating. Interment took place in Oak Hill cemetery, south of Irma, and near the scene of his home and his work in the forests over a period from 1889 when he came here from Waushara county until about five years ago when he moved to Woodruff to live with is son, Vernon G. Goodnow. Mr. Goodnow died at Woodruff last Monday morning apparently from the inifimities of old age. He passed away peacefully in his sleep, doctors believed. The possessor of hundreds of friends, Mr. Goodnow was held in high esteem in this section, and news of his death was received as a shock. Born in Malone, New York in 1852, Mr. Goodnow moved westward when he was 17 years old, settling in Waushara county, before he moved northward to Irma where he commenced operations as a logging contractor. Besides his son, Mr. Goodnow also is survived by three daughters, Mrs. R.W. Miller and Mrs. F.L. Miller of Merrill, and Mrs. Loretta Horgan of Madison. He is also survived by his sister, Mrs. Melvina Smith, 86, who resides at Waupaca"
For several years around 1910 they lived in Arkansas, as did all of their children at various times, but they all returned to Wisconsin within a few years. Their farm, on which they had cotton fields and peach trees and also raised cantalope and watermelon, was located near the towns of Magazine and Booneville in Logan County. This later became part of the Rockefeller Research Farms, which are near Petit Jean Mountain.
Her age in the 1870 Wisconsin(Town of Aurora, Waushara County) census was given as 23, while her age in the 1880 census was given as 33, which is totally consistent. This would mean she was born in 1847. Her older brother Sanford was born scarcely 9 months before, but of course, this is possible.
A search of the records in the Lincoln County Court House in Merrill, WI came up empty. Winnie thought Milly was probably buried in the vicinity of Tomahawk,WI, but her records may have been kept in a nearby county.
The U.S. Census of June, 1880 for the Town of Aurora, Waushara County, obtained on microfilm at the UWRF Area Research Center:
Name Occupation Age Birthplace
Count Goodnow Farmer 33 New York
Milly A. Wife 33 New York
Vernon Son 6 Wisconsin
According to the records of Elda O'Connell:
The marriage certificate states occupation was farmer, ceremony performed by C.M. Clark, and both sets of parents were witnesses.
Her death record states she was married, residence was Irma, occupation was housewife. Cause of death was arteriosclerosis and she died at Sacred Heart Hospital. She was buried on August 28, 1923 in Oak Hill Cem., Irma,WI.
OBITUARY--Merrill Star Advocate
"Mrs. C.D. Goodnow, who with her husband came to Lincoln county in 1894, and who had been ill for a year with heart trouble, died at Sacred Heart Hospital, Tomahawk. She was born in Franklin County, New York. Surviving children are two brothers, George B. Smith of River Falls, and Calvin Smith of Auroraville, Wis. Rev. A. O. Protsman of the local Baptist church conducted services at the Irma church Tuesday afternoon."
Milly's brother Sanford was married to Melvina Goodnow, sister to Count Goodnow.
According to the records of Elda O'Connell:
He appeared on the census in 1870 in the Town of Aurora WI(Waushara Co) Count was 18, at home with his parents and brother Charles. He appeared on the census in 1875 in Town of Aurora,WI(Waushara Co). It lists Count 29, farmer, Milly A. 29, keeping home; Vernon 5, son at home; Dora 10mos, daughter at home. He died on December 12, 1933 in Woodruff,WI(Oneida Co). The Wisconsin State deathe record states he was widowed, cause of death was heart disease and old age, and place of death was Town of Woodruff. He was buried in Oak Hill Cem., Irma,WI.
OBITUARY--Merrill Star Advocate
"Funeral services for Count Goodnow, 81 years old, retired logging contractor and well known in this section of the state for more than forty years, was held at 1:30 o'clock Friday afternoon at Schram's undertaking parlors, Rev. W. Bloedow, Bapitst minister officiating. Interment took place in Oak Hill cemetery, south of Irma, and near the scene of his home and his work in the forests over a period from 1889 when he came here from Waushara county until about five years ago when he moved to Woodruff to live with is son, Vernon G. Goodnow. Mr. Goodnow died at Woodruff last Monday morning apparently from the inifimities of old age. He passed away peacefully in his sleep, doctors believed. The possessor of hundreds of friends, Mr. Goodnow was held in high esteem in this section, and news of his death was received as a shock. Born in Malone, New York in 1852, Mr. Goodnow moved westward when he was 17 years old, settling in Waushara county, before he moved northward to Irma where he commenced operations as a logging contractor. Besides his son, Mr. Goodnow also is survived by three daughters, Mrs. R.W. Miller and Mrs. F.L. Miller of Merrill, and Mrs. Loretta Horgan of Madison. He is also survived by his sister, Mrs. Melvina Smith, 86, who resides at Waupaca"
For several years around 1910 they lived in Arkansas, as did all of their children at various times, but they all returned to Wisconsin within a few years. Their farm, on which they had cotton fields and peach trees and also raised cantalope and watermelon, was located near the towns of Magazine and Booneville in Logan County. This later became part of the Rockefeller Research Farms, which are near Petit Jean Mountain.
According to the 1880 U.S. Census for Aurora twp., Waushara cty. Vernon Goodnow was listed as 6 years old.
Vernon and Delia were married on 25 May, 1903. The witnesses were: Mrs. Loretta Horgan and John Horgan.
Vernon remarried to Gladys Hayes on 3 February, 1915.The marriage was recorded at Lincoln county and states Vernon was age 39, a resident of the town of Birch, occupation laborer, and Gladys was age 16, born in Wisconsin
The information for Vernon, Dora, Loretta, and Grace Goodnow was found in the Lincoln County Court House, in Merrill, WI.
According to Elda O'Connell: Vernon died at Lakeland Memorial Hospital in Woodruff, occupation was retired laborer, and cause of death was myocarditis. He was buried in Evergreen cem. Woodruff,WI
According to the Lincoln County marriage record, Vernon was a lumberman and farmer and a resident of the Town of King. The marriage was a civil ceremony by M.G. Hoffmann and witnesses were John and Loretta Horgan. The family moved to Arkansas after the third child was born.
Vernon and Delia were married on 25 May, 1903. The witnesses were: Mrs. Loretta Horgan and John Horgan.
Vernon remarried to Gladys Hayes on 3 February, 1915.The marriage was recorded at Lincoln county and states Vernon was age 39, a resident of the town of Birch, occupation laborer, and Gladys was age 16, born in Wisconsin
The information for Vernon, Dora, Loretta, and Grace Goodnow was found in the Lincoln County Court House, in Merrill, WI.
According to Elda O'Connell: Vernon died at Lakeland Memorial Hospital in Woodruff, occupation was retired laborer, and cause of death was myocarditis. He was buried in Evergreen cem. Woodruff,WI
According to the Lincoln County marriage record, Vernon was a lumberman and farmer and a resident of the Town of King. The marriage was a civil ceremony by M.G. Hoffmann and witnesses were John and Loretta Horgan. The family moved to Arkansas after the third child was born.
According to research records of Elda O'Connell:
She died at the Holy Cross Hospital after suffering a heart attack.
OBITUARY--Merrill Daily Herald
"Mrs. David(Theodora Jane)Mavity, 302 North Foster Street, passed away at Holy Cross Hospital at 5:30 last evening after a weeks' illness. Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock at the Schram Funeral Home, where friends may call to pay their respects. The reverend Raymond Greene will officiate at the services and at the graveside in Merrill Memorial Park. Mrs. Mavity, who was born in Berlin,WI was 74 years of age. She was the daughter of Count Goodnow and Jane(s/b) Milly) Smith Goodnow. Mrs. Mavity was married to R.W. Miller in this city in 1891 and he passed away in 1943. She then was married in 1947 to David mavity, who operated a truck garden in Pine River before moving to Merrill a few years ago. Surviving in addition to her husband are a daughter, Mrs. Ray (Enola) Pophal of Merrill, and a grandson, Duwayne (Mickey) O'Connell, who is stationed with the air force at George Wright air base in Spokane, Wash. She was preceded in death by her parents and her first husband."
Robert and Dora were married on 20 May, 1899 in the Presbyterian Church in Merrill, WI. His occupation was lumberman. His father's name was Albert F. Miller, and his mother's name was Minnie.
LaVerne Gerhardt and Bessie Foss visited with either Dora or Grace Miller in Madison in the spring of 1945. LaVerne also recalls meeting either Enola or Elaine Miller while LaVerne was clerking in the Yost department store in downtown Madison at about the same time. We lost all rack of them since then.
Winnie said she visited at Dora's place at Irma at one time.
According to the research of Elda O'Connell:
The marriage record at Lincoln County indicates at the time of marriage, Robert Miller was a lumberman and his residence was Rock Falls,WI. Attendants for the wedding were Frank Miller(brother to Robert) and Grace Goodnow(sister to Dora). The marriage was performed by Rev. J.V. Hughes of the Presbyterian Church of Merrill. Dora and her sister Grace met the Miller brothers while the young men were wroking at a logging camp of Count Goodnow, which was at Garland Switch(on the Wisconsin River, about halfway between Tomahawk and Merrill.
Robert was a salesman at the time of death, he died of respiratory paralysis, acute cardiac failure. Information was provided by his daughter, Enola O'Connell. His residence was 601 Poplar, Merrill,WI.
OBITUARy --Merrill Daily Herald
"Funeral services for Robert Wm. Miller, 67, of 611 Poplar Street, who died yesterday at 8:10 a.m.. will be held Monday from the Taylor funeral home at 2 p.m. Mr. Miller was born in Trap City,Wis. He was married to Dora Goodnow, who survives. Also surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Enola O'Connell; a grandson, Duwayne O'Connell; three brothers, Frank and Otto Miller, Madison, and Ray Miller, Minneapolis; and five sisters, Mrs. Clara Gurskel, Virginia,MN; Mrs. Elva Caldwell, Neenah; Mrs. Nell Basel and Mrs. Martha Owens, Oshkosh, and Mrs. Anna Black, Arcadia, Cal. Mr. Miller was a member of the Scott Memorial Church. The Rev. David Johnson will officiate at the services."
At one time Robert had a general store in Doering and later in Gleason,WI. He enjoyed children and even let them play in the warehouse area of his store. He lost an eye from a gunshot accident. He also had a Graham Page car dealership in Wausau.
She died at the Holy Cross Hospital after suffering a heart attack.
OBITUARY--Merrill Daily Herald
"Mrs. David(Theodora Jane)Mavity, 302 North Foster Street, passed away at Holy Cross Hospital at 5:30 last evening after a weeks' illness. Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock at the Schram Funeral Home, where friends may call to pay their respects. The reverend Raymond Greene will officiate at the services and at the graveside in Merrill Memorial Park. Mrs. Mavity, who was born in Berlin,WI was 74 years of age. She was the daughter of Count Goodnow and Jane(s/b) Milly) Smith Goodnow. Mrs. Mavity was married to R.W. Miller in this city in 1891 and he passed away in 1943. She then was married in 1947 to David mavity, who operated a truck garden in Pine River before moving to Merrill a few years ago. Surviving in addition to her husband are a daughter, Mrs. Ray (Enola) Pophal of Merrill, and a grandson, Duwayne (Mickey) O'Connell, who is stationed with the air force at George Wright air base in Spokane, Wash. She was preceded in death by her parents and her first husband."
Robert and Dora were married on 20 May, 1899 in the Presbyterian Church in Merrill, WI. His occupation was lumberman. His father's name was Albert F. Miller, and his mother's name was Minnie.
LaVerne Gerhardt and Bessie Foss visited with either Dora or Grace Miller in Madison in the spring of 1945. LaVerne also recalls meeting either Enola or Elaine Miller while LaVerne was clerking in the Yost department store in downtown Madison at about the same time. We lost all rack of them since then.
Winnie said she visited at Dora's place at Irma at one time.
According to the research of Elda O'Connell:
The marriage record at Lincoln County indicates at the time of marriage, Robert Miller was a lumberman and his residence was Rock Falls,WI. Attendants for the wedding were Frank Miller(brother to Robert) and Grace Goodnow(sister to Dora). The marriage was performed by Rev. J.V. Hughes of the Presbyterian Church of Merrill. Dora and her sister Grace met the Miller brothers while the young men were wroking at a logging camp of Count Goodnow, which was at Garland Switch(on the Wisconsin River, about halfway between Tomahawk and Merrill.
Robert was a salesman at the time of death, he died of respiratory paralysis, acute cardiac failure. Information was provided by his daughter, Enola O'Connell. His residence was 601 Poplar, Merrill,WI.
OBITUARy --Merrill Daily Herald
"Funeral services for Robert Wm. Miller, 67, of 611 Poplar Street, who died yesterday at 8:10 a.m.. will be held Monday from the Taylor funeral home at 2 p.m. Mr. Miller was born in Trap City,Wis. He was married to Dora Goodnow, who survives. Also surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Enola O'Connell; a grandson, Duwayne O'Connell; three brothers, Frank and Otto Miller, Madison, and Ray Miller, Minneapolis; and five sisters, Mrs. Clara Gurskel, Virginia,MN; Mrs. Elva Caldwell, Neenah; Mrs. Nell Basel and Mrs. Martha Owens, Oshkosh, and Mrs. Anna Black, Arcadia, Cal. Mr. Miller was a member of the Scott Memorial Church. The Rev. David Johnson will officiate at the services."
At one time Robert had a general store in Doering and later in Gleason,WI. He enjoyed children and even let them play in the warehouse area of his store. He lost an eye from a gunshot accident. He also had a Graham Page car dealership in Wausau.
According to records of Elda O'Connell:
The marriage record at Lincoln county indicates Frank and Grace were married by Rev. J.V. Hughes of the presbyterian Church in Merrill. Attendants were Robert and Dora Miller (brother to Frank and sister to Grace).
Grace and her family would sometimes take the train from Irma to Gleason to visit relatives. When Thelma and Doris were young children, they moved to Arkansas and lived near Grace's parents for about three years, probably 1909-1912. Other members of the family had also moved to Arkansas for short periods of time.
Frank and Grace were married on 15 August, 1900 in the Presbyterian Church in Merrill,WI.
His father's name was Albert F. Miller, and his motherwas called " Minnie."
According to Elda O'Connell:
In about 1909 frank moved his family to Arkansas for about three year. His in-laws were living there at the time. At one time Frank owned a store in Irma with his brother Charlie - "Miller Bros. Grocery" - and later he built an ice cream parlor, which was later sold to the Gingham girls. He also ran the post office and was a musician, playing the violin at dances and other occasions. About 1927 the family moved to Madison.
The marriage record at Lincoln county indicates Frank and Grace were married by Rev. J.V. Hughes of the presbyterian Church in Merrill. Attendants were Robert and Dora Miller (brother to Frank and sister to Grace).
Grace and her family would sometimes take the train from Irma to Gleason to visit relatives. When Thelma and Doris were young children, they moved to Arkansas and lived near Grace's parents for about three years, probably 1909-1912. Other members of the family had also moved to Arkansas for short periods of time.
Frank and Grace were married on 15 August, 1900 in the Presbyterian Church in Merrill,WI.
His father's name was Albert F. Miller, and his motherwas called " Minnie."
According to Elda O'Connell:
In about 1909 frank moved his family to Arkansas for about three year. His in-laws were living there at the time. At one time Frank owned a store in Irma with his brother Charlie - "Miller Bros. Grocery" - and later he built an ice cream parlor, which was later sold to the Gingham girls. He also ran the post office and was a musician, playing the violin at dances and other occasions. About 1927 the family moved to Madison.
Loretta married John Horgan on 20 August, 1902. His occupation was listed as Merchant.
Loretta and John divorced.
According to Elda O'Connell:
Loretta was living in Ft.Atkinson,WI with her daughter Arleigh at 119 N.Main Street when she died.
According to Elda O'connell:
John Horgen had a store called the J.C. Horgen General Store at Glandon, which was near Gleason.
Loretta and John divorced.
According to Elda O'Connell:
Loretta was living in Ft.Atkinson,WI with her daughter Arleigh at 119 N.Main Street when she died.
According to Elda O'connell:
John Horgen had a store called the J.C. Horgen General Store at Glandon, which was near Gleason.
Winnie says her father Calvin was 16 years old when they came to Wisconsin in 1869.
According to Hazel, when Calvin was an old man and becoming senile, he took up with a younger woman from Chicago and married her. She was after the farm and what money he had. So, to save themselves and the family farm, his daughter Grace and her husband Smith Angle paid off the woman and got her to divorce Calvin. To pay off Grace and Smith angle, Calvin deeded the farm over to them. That is how Grace inherited the family farm.
The U.S. Census of 1880, Town of Poysippi, Waushara County was obtained from microfilm records held at the Research Center UWRF in River Falls, WI.
Name Occupation Age Birthplace
Calvin Smith Farmer 26 New York
Rosetta Wife 26 Wisconsin
Mary E. Dau. 1 Wisconsin
Betsey Mother 60 Canada
According to the 1870 census, Betsey was 53 which was consistent with her birthdate. In the above 1880 census she may have shaved a few years off her age to the census taker? Winnie said they called their daughter May Eliza instead of Mary E.
OBITUARY--CALVIN CLARK SMITH.
Calvin Clark Smith, 73, died at the Smith Angle farm home, near Auroraville at 7:15 o'clock a.m., Monday, January 4, 1927. He has been a farmer all his life and was in the best of health until six months ago. On Sunday afternoon at 4;30 o'clock he was suddenly taken ill and steadily grew worse. At 7:15 a.m., Monday he passed away. Death was due to hardening of the arteries and heart disease. The news of his demise was a decided shock to the many friends of this well known and respected resident.
The deceased was born in Owls Head, N.Y., on Jan. 26, 1854, the son of Moses and Betsey Smith. When only 16 years old he came to Auroraville with his family and lived there the major part of his life.
On Jan. 20, 1878, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Rosetta Morris at Auroraville. His wife was his constant companion until her death in 1914.
Mr. Smith is survived by three daughters and five sons. They are: Mrs. May Sisson, Irma,Wis.; Mrs. Grace Angle at home; Winniferd, River Falls; Milton, Auroraville; Clark, Antigo; Ray, Hudson; and Floyd, living in the West. One brother, George, also survives, he was the only brother of the deceased**. One child died in infancy.
Funeral services will be held from the family home at 1 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, with Rev. Dr. Walter J. Patton, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of this city, officiating. The deceased was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
**NOTE! The obituary states that Calvin had only one brother, George, which is a serious error. Calvin had three other brothers in addition to George; William, Henry, and Sanford.
Calvin and Rosetta are buried in the Auroraville cemetery.
Rosetta's father was Charles Morris, born 20 January, 1812, died, 1880.
Rosetta's mother was Phoebe Ann Hollenbeck, Born 6 December 1822, died, 1861
According to Hazel, when Calvin was an old man and becoming senile, he took up with a younger woman from Chicago and married her. She was after the farm and what money he had. So, to save themselves and the family farm, his daughter Grace and her husband Smith Angle paid off the woman and got her to divorce Calvin. To pay off Grace and Smith angle, Calvin deeded the farm over to them. That is how Grace inherited the family farm.
The U.S. Census of 1880, Town of Poysippi, Waushara County was obtained from microfilm records held at the Research Center UWRF in River Falls, WI.
Name Occupation Age Birthplace
Calvin Smith Farmer 26 New York
Rosetta Wife 26 Wisconsin
Mary E. Dau. 1 Wisconsin
Betsey Mother 60 Canada
According to the 1870 census, Betsey was 53 which was consistent with her birthdate. In the above 1880 census she may have shaved a few years off her age to the census taker? Winnie said they called their daughter May Eliza instead of Mary E.
OBITUARY--CALVIN CLARK SMITH.
Calvin Clark Smith, 73, died at the Smith Angle farm home, near Auroraville at 7:15 o'clock a.m., Monday, January 4, 1927. He has been a farmer all his life and was in the best of health until six months ago. On Sunday afternoon at 4;30 o'clock he was suddenly taken ill and steadily grew worse. At 7:15 a.m., Monday he passed away. Death was due to hardening of the arteries and heart disease. The news of his demise was a decided shock to the many friends of this well known and respected resident.
The deceased was born in Owls Head, N.Y., on Jan. 26, 1854, the son of Moses and Betsey Smith. When only 16 years old he came to Auroraville with his family and lived there the major part of his life.
On Jan. 20, 1878, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Rosetta Morris at Auroraville. His wife was his constant companion until her death in 1914.
Mr. Smith is survived by three daughters and five sons. They are: Mrs. May Sisson, Irma,Wis.; Mrs. Grace Angle at home; Winniferd, River Falls; Milton, Auroraville; Clark, Antigo; Ray, Hudson; and Floyd, living in the West. One brother, George, also survives, he was the only brother of the deceased**. One child died in infancy.
Funeral services will be held from the family home at 1 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, with Rev. Dr. Walter J. Patton, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of this city, officiating. The deceased was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
**NOTE! The obituary states that Calvin had only one brother, George, which is a serious error. Calvin had three other brothers in addition to George; William, Henry, and Sanford.
Calvin and Rosetta are buried in the Auroraville cemetery.
Rosetta's father was Charles Morris, born 20 January, 1812, died, 1880.
Rosetta's mother was Phoebe Ann Hollenbeck, Born 6 December 1822, died, 1861
Neither Isabel nor Winnie referred to the name Warren--they always called him Edgar.
Isabel says she saw Edgar in October, 1901. Edgar and his family were living on the East end of the Moses Smith homestead at Auroraville,WI.
Clark, Winnie, and Floyd Smith all moved in with May and Edgar in 1912. Then Edgar bought the George B. Smith place at Irma,WI. Hazel remembers visiting her Aunt May Sisson at Irma when she was a little girl. After that, Edgar and May finally ended up in Illinois City, Illinois, where they both died. Neither Isabel nor Winnie referred to the name Warren--they always called him Edgar.
Isabel says she saw Edgar in October, 1901. Edgar and his family were living on the East end of the Moses Smith homestead at Auroraville,WI.
Clark, Winnie, and Floyd Smith all moved in with May and Edgar in 1912. Then Edgar bought the George B. Smith place at Irma,WI. Hazel remembers visiting her Aunt May Sisson at Irma when she was a little girl. After that, Edgar and May finally ended up in Illinois City, Illinois, where they both died. Neither Isabel nor Winnie referred to the name Warren--they always called him Edgar.
Glen never married. As of 1969 he was living in Winner,S.D. He then moved to Cornell,WI and lived with his Aunt Emma Hodge. Winnie says that Sanford Smith lived across the road from Nate Hodge, a few miles from Auroraville,WI. It could be that Emma Hodge was related? Then he went back to Winner,S.D. I found the Social security no. for Glenn: 332-12-7886. I also found the SSDI for his Aunt Emma Hodge in Wisconsin. She was born on 3 July 1876 and died in March, 1963 somewhere in Wisconsin(probably in Cornell,WI).
He wrote to Hazel Swenson in about 1970 and told her he had a desire to visit River Falls, Chippewa Falls, Cadott, Tomahawk, Irma, and Auroraville. He also wanted to visit Illinois City, Illinois where his mother is buried.
He wrote to Hazel Swenson in about 1970 and told her he had a desire to visit River Falls, Chippewa Falls, Cadott, Tomahawk, Irma, and Auroraville. He also wanted to visit Illinois City, Illinois where his mother is buried.
Bette and I visited Auroraville in 1966. We took Hazel and her mother Winnie to visit Winnie’s sister Grace and the other relatives of the Angles. While we were there, Hazel directed us to the home of Flora Smith(wife of Milton). We visited with Flora and her son Vernon out in the yard for a few minutes.
Flora was 97 in 1985. At the time she was still living with her son Vernon in a suburb of Milwaukee as of 1987.
Flora was 97 in 1985. At the time she was still living with her son Vernon in a suburb of Milwaukee as of 1987.
Clark married Lillian Schmidt. She may have been related to the Ethel Schmidt that Charley Smith married in Auroraville.
Found in the 1910 U.S. Census for Clifton Twp., Pierce Co.,WI. Hired man working for John A. Chinnock.
Ray moved to River Falls in about 1950. His granddaughter Helen Spencer(Dau. of Helen L. Smith) moved with them. After a short time they moved back to Aruroaville.
Helen said Winnie took care of her for a while when she was a baby. Mathilda told Helen that Winnie was mixed up with the Ku Klux Klan.
Ray moved to River Falls in about 1950. His granddaughter Helen Spencer(Dau. of Helen L. Smith) moved with them. After a short time they moved back to Aruroaville.
Helen said Winnie took care of her for a while when she was a baby. Mathilda told Helen that Winnie was mixed up with the Ku Klux Klan.
Hazel said that Helen had at least two children born out of wedlock. One is Helen Spencer who was cared for by Winnie until she was about 2 yrs. old. Then she was taken by her grandparents and raised by them. Hazel didn't know what happened to the other child. Helen married a man named Walker.
Calvin and his family attended several Smith picnics in Glen park in River Falls in the 80's. Calvin was a disabled veteran of WWII. He was in the army.
She was living in LeSueur,MN as of 1985.
I knew her as "Aunt Winnie" because she was an aunt to my mother. I personally knew Aunt Winnie from the time I was a youngster in grade school until she passed away. I knew about Aunt Winnie and her daghter Hazel Swenson because they were in such a close friendly relationship to my mother, and because they lived in River Falls where we were always in close contact with the families.
Soon after I began my pursuit of family history I discovered from Hazel Swenson that her mother "Winnie" was the historian for the Smith family, and that Hazel herself was carrying on the work that her mother had started. We are now talking about the year 1965 when "Winnie" was now 73 years of age. They had written records, but those records were in a sorry state to behold. Neither "Winnie" nor Hazel were what you could scholars by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't for lack of intellgence--both were very bright people. They just did have a flare for the type of scholarship that was required for doing genealogy. They were too subject to heresay and myth. As soon as I got what records they did have I tried to make sense of it all. But my best results came later as I personally picked their brains and started a systematic genealogical research of my own.
The bottom line is, if it hadn't been for the personal family knowledge that came directly from Winnie and her daughter Hazel, I wouldn't have made the progress that I did. I owe them a great deal.
Winniferd(of possibly Winnifred) was known as "Aunt Winnie" by all of the relatives. For most of her life she was known as "Winnie" which she hated with a passion. In about 1960 she had her name legally changed to PEARL W., and using her married name it became Pearl W. Riemenschneider.
Winnie was born on the Moses B. Smith home place at Auroraville, and she remembered her Grandmother Betsey. She said Betsey was a short woman with thin, White, straight hair, combed straight back into a pug (this is how I remember Winnie. She also had white hair, combed straight back into a pug). She said Betsey smoked a white clay pipe, and that she would put it into the oven from time to time to bake it out and whiten it. She remembers when Betsey died, and she remembers the funeral. Betsey was living with Sanford Smith and Melvina at the time of her death in 1894. Their place was known locally as "The Sands." Winnie was eight years old at the time.
Winnie and Maybelle Drew(married Ezra Smith), grew up together in Auroraville. Winnie was three years older than Maybelle, but they became close friends and remained so all their lives. They were both saved and became born-again Christians in 1933 at the Pentecostal Church in River Falls.
Winnie said she was 14 years old when she quit school in 1902. She married Clark Peck in 1906 at age 18. Their first three children were born in Auroraville or Berlin, WI. Donald was born on August 16, 1914 in River Falls, WI.
Winnie then separated from Clark, and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith in River Falls.
Winnie and her first cousin Charles Smith became lovers. They wanted to get married, but legally they couldn't. Hazel remembers going with her mother Winnie to Superior where Winnie got a divorce from Clark Peck.
Since Winnie and Charles couldn't legally marry they simply lived together. They lived together from 1915 to 1923 in River Falls, Trego, And Minong, WI. While living at a place located on the southwest end of the section a mile north of Trego, that George B. Smith had homesteaded, she and Charley had a baby that was stillborn right at their home. They bought a small white casket for the baby and planned to take it to River Falls for burial. Hazel said she rode in the back seat of the car holding the little white casket and baby on her lap. As they passed through Shell Lake they stopped at the court house and filled out the proper death records. Then they proceeded to Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, where they buried the babe next to the Faye Miller Babe in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
After a while Winnie and Charles separated. Hazel went to Minnesota and went to school.
Winnie moved from Trego back to River Falls where she nursed for new mothers from 1923 to 1928. She got a job working at the Hammond Hotel, but she said she quit her job the day after Ezra Smith died on 24 May 1928.
In 1933 Winnie married Jake Riemenschneider. They were married on 20 September 1933 at the Full Gospel Mission(formerly, Pentecostal Church) in River Falls,WI.
The marriage notice as it appeared in the River Falls Journal was as follows: MARRIED: REIHMEINSCHNIEDER-PECK. Mrs. Pearl W. Peck and Mr. Jake Reihmeinschnieder, both of this city, were married at the Full Gospel Mission at 1:30 o'clock Wednesday, September 20, 1933. Rev. C.F. Ebert read the ceremony. The contracting parties were attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Michell.
The spelling of the name Riemenschneider varied over the years. When the current spelling was adopted I don't know for sure. Jake's first wife died when their youngest child(Milton) was only 9 months old(according to Jake's daughter Lucille, this info is not accurate). I was in grade school with the Riemenschneider children and knew them very well.
Winnie and Jake moved into what was then known as the Oakie place(now part of the UWRF campus). Winnie and Jake were married a total of 47 years. Jake died in 1983 and is buried beside Winnie in the Beldenville cemetery.
On 5 April,1966, while shopping for groceries at the Erickson supermarket in River Falls, Bette Foss met Winnie and Jake. After passing the time of day, Bette casually asked them to pay us a visit some day. Winnie quickly responded and said, "could you pick us up on the 12th at about 1:00 o'clock?" Bette, was somewhat flabbergasted at this quick request, but she agreed to it. Then Winnie pointed out how the people at the Skycrest Rest Home where they were living were going to celebrate the April birthdays. She said they deliberately served beer at these celebrations simply to antagonize she and Jake, so they wanted to get away from that. So, on April 12th I took a half-days vacation from my work at 3M, and Bette and I went into River Falls and picked up Winnie, Jake, and Hazel and brought them out to our house on Plainview Drive.
I recorded the following information during our visit:
When she lived at home Winnie said her dad Calvin butchered both hogs and beef. He butchered for other farmers also. Calvin owned a steam engine and thresed for many years in the neighborhood. In their home they ate lots of honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, and they had a large apple orchard. Hazel said that the first year after they had moved from Auroraville to River Falls, Aunt Grace sent them a full barrel of apples for Christmas.
Winnie, along with all her brothers and sister were born and raised in the original log part of the house that Moses Smith had put up. They all went to school in Auroraville. Once when they were kids she remembers that she and her sister Grace, and her cousins Belle and Gertie Smith, all slept together crossways in the bed. This was in the same house where my mother Bessie Smith was born. This was known as the Will Moon house in Auroraville, and it was a very small dwelling.
Winnie said Moses Smith bought out several farmers until the home place grew to 248 acres. George B. Smith and Serepta built a log house on the East end of the farm. She said that when she and Clark Peck were first married, they lived down in the pasture(I don't know what they lived in). She said her brother Milton also built a new home nearby, but it burned.
Winnie said she met Her Uncle William Smith and her cousin Leslie one time when they visited from New York. She said she also met "Libby" Jackson one time. She knew her Uncle Sanford Smith and her Grandmother Betsey very well because they lived nearby.
Bette and I visited Winnie and Jake while they were living in an apartment in the East end of Ellsworth one time and I recorded the following:
Winnie said her brothers Raymond and Floyd Smith came to River Falls because George B. Smith was there. Then Winnie came to River Falls in 1914 and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith.
Winnie said that in 1957 she became so sickly she sent for a prayer cloth from TV evangelist Oral Roberts. When it came in the mail she put it around her shoulders, and at that very moment Jake fell over backwards and became converted on the spot. Soon after that she and Jake travelled out West into Montana and Canada preaching to the Indians. Winnie said that they had a donut-making machine that they used for making donuts to serve to the Indians after they preached to them, but she said that when the Indians got their fill of donuts they would leave. Winnie proudly showed us the donut-maker they took with them on their missionary trips.
Hazel made the comment to Bette and me later on that she thought the Indians were smarter than Winnie and Jake.
Another time Winnie gave me the following information: According to her records, George B. Smith told her that his ancestor Smith was a weaver by trade and Scotch-Irish by birth. He was said to have been married three times, and that his third wife was a full-blooded Irish woman. Winnie said she started to get interested in family history while she was still a very young person.
While trying to get back into the early records she found that there was a Whitehead Smith, wife and children buried in the Auroraville Cemetery.. Somehow she made contact with Clare B. Smith who was one of the living children and obtained the following information: Whitehead Smith was born 14 Aug. 1811 near Hudson,N.Y. He died on 20 Sept. 1874 in Auroraville, WI. He married Catherine Southard who died on 22 Oct. 1868 in Auroraville,WI. Their children: Almira, William, Jed, Ralph, Alexander, and Mary.
The address for Clare B. Smith at that time was:
1541 Washington St.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI.(as of 8 Oct. 1966)
Winnie said her father Calvin told her that he thought that Ralph might hve been a cousin, but he wasn't sure.
My note: Since Whitehead Smith was born in 1811 as was the third child of Jonathan Smith, namely, John, it seems to me we have two distinct line here. One could speculate that Jonathan was an uncle to Whitehead. This would then make Whitehead and Moses first cousins and it would make Ralph and Calvin second cousins.
Another time Winnie told me that she was assisting my mother at the time I was born in 1927. We were living on Sixth Street in my grandmother Foss' house. Before I was born Hazel lived with my folks in the Cora Smith house on Spring Street( this house was torn down to make room for the Hardy fast food place). Hazel was going to the River Falls Normal School at the time. Aunt Cora kept an apartment for herself upstairs. My folks lived down stairs. It was at this time that Mother and Hazel went to adult confirmation at the Lutheran Church, and they were both confirmed. Soon after this grandma Foss became sickly, and we moved in with her. It was here that I was born.
Hazel made a copy of a letter her mother Winnie wrote to her on 13 December, 1966;
"Tues Morn,
Well got my head to working again. Have you ever sent Elida a drawing of thar letter Clare sent me? If not, will you send them to me and I will copy them. She might find something to go on. Some of those folks might be lving out there yet.
Well we had to go to town to buy a new ribbon before I could write anymore. I does wear out. I don't want to send her these but will copy for her. But I haven't heard from Clare yet. Wondering if I will. But I bet we all came down through those three marriages of Jonathan Smith. By next week will write anyway to her.
We sure got a puzzler from Mauston,WI. This Lucy sent it to us. We can't make out who it is.
Have a letter started to Lyle's. Got 5 cards so far, sent almost 50. Mabel Knutson is married agin, 6 times and out. Wrote in most of our cards, just have a few left.
We are getting each a new billfold with our Christmas money. So we cashed it now. Getting some pretty calendars. Already nice again but chilly. Ground just covered with snow.
We are going 40 miles to see about a church but we won't take it until spring for we want to keep this job. Will drive up on Sat. back on Monday. and keep this job for this is too good to lose.
Dot said Darlene and Walt is coming at Christmastime to Lyle's.
Our little dog was wormy so Dr. him two times. and we have almost house broke him too. We leave him alone is he ever glad when we get back.
Tell me what you find out. LaVerne is in Madison. She could find if there was a mrs John or Loretta Horrigan in the phone book or if Frank Miller still Lived there.
I got the address of the wida(widow) that lived with Uncle Sanford at Merrill,WI. The girls might lived there. Mabel and Edith Bronson. But they are married.
Mrs. William Bronson 607 W. 2nd St., Merrill,WI. The historical society could come in here again. Send all letters of hers along to me. I know what to say. I knew her as "Aunt Winnie" because she was an aunt to my mother. I personally knew Aunt Winnie from the time I was a youngster in grade school until she passed away. I knew about Aunt Winnie and her daghter Hazel Swenson because they were in such a close friendly relationship to my mother, and because they lived in River Falls where we were always in close contact with the families.
Soon after I began my pursuit of family history I discovered from Hazel Swenson that her mother "Winnie" was the historian for the Smith family, and that Hazel herself was carrying on the work that her mother had started. We are now talking about the year 1965 when "Winnie" was now 73 years of age. They had written records, but those records were in a sorry state to behold. Neither "Winnie" nor Hazel were what you could scholars by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't for lack of intellgence--both were very bright people. They just did have a flare for the type of scholarship that was required for doing genealogy. They were too subject to heresay and myth. As soon as I got what records they did have I tried to make sense of it all. But my best results came later as I personally picked their brains and started a systematic genealogical research of my own.
The bottom line is, if it hadn't been for the personal family knowledge that came directly from Winnie and her daughter Hazel, I wouldn't have made the progress that I did. I owe them a great deal.
Winniferd(of possibly Winnifred) was known as "Aunt Winnie" by all of the relatives. For most of her life she was known as "Winnie" which she hated with a passion. In about 1960 she had her name legally changed to PEARL W., and using her married name it became Pearl W. Riemenschneider.
Winnie was born on the Moses B. Smith home place at Auroraville, and she remembered her Grandmother Betsey. She said Betsey was a short woman with thin, White, straight hair, combed straight back into a pug (this is how I remember Winnie. She also had white hair, combed straight back into a pug). She said Betsey smoked a white clay pipe, and that she would put it into the oven from time to time to bake it out and whiten it. She remembers when Betsey died, and she remembers the funeral. Betsey was living with Sanford Smith and Melvina at the time of her death in 1894. Their place was known locally as "The Sands." Winnie was eight years old at the time.
Winnie and Maybelle Drew(married Ezra Smith), grew up together in Auroraville. Winnie was three years older than Maybelle, but they became close friends and remained so all their lives. They were both saved and became born-again Christians in 1933 at the Pentecostal Church in River Falls.
Winnie said she was 14 years old when she quit school in 1902. She married Clark Peck in 1906 at age 18. Their first three children were born in Auroraville or Berlin, WI. Donald was born on August 16, 1914 in River Falls, WI.
Winnie then separated from Clark, and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith in River Falls.
Winnie and her first cousin Charles Smith became lovers. They wanted to get married, but legally they couldn't. Hazel remembers going with her mother Winnie to Superior where Winnie got a divorce from Clark Peck.
Since Winnie and Charles couldn't legally marry they simply lived together. They lived together from 1915 to 1923 in River Falls, Trego, And Minong, WI. While living at a place located on the southwest end of the section a mile north of Trego, that George B. Smith had homesteaded, she and Charley had a baby that was stillborn right at their home. They bought a small white casket for the baby and planned to take it to River Falls for burial. Hazel said she rode in the back seat of the car holding the little white casket and baby on her lap. As they passed through Shell Lake they stopped at the court house and filled out the proper death records. Then they proceeded to Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, where they buried the babe next to the Faye Miller Babe in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
After a while Winnie and Charles separated. Hazel went to Minnesota and went to school.
Winnie moved from Trego back to River Falls where she nursed for new mothers from 1923 to 1928. She got a job working at the Hammond Hotel, but she said she quit her job the day after Ezra Smith died on 24 May 1928.
In 1933 Winnie married Jake Riemenschneider. They were married on 20 September 1933 at the Full Gospel Mission(formerly, Pentecostal Church) in River Falls,WI.
The marriage notice as it appeared in the River Falls Journal was as follows: MARRIED: REIHMEINSCHNIEDER-PECK. Mrs. Pearl W. Peck and Mr. Jake Reihmeinschnieder, both of this city, were married at the Full Gospel Mission at 1:30 o'clock Wednesday, September 20, 1933. Rev. C.F. Ebert read the ceremony. The contracting parties were attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Michell.
The spelling of the name Riemenschneider varied over the years. When the current spelling was adopted I don't know for sure. Jake's first wife died when their youngest child(Milton) was only 9 months old(according to Jake's daughter Lucille, this info is not accurate). I was in grade school with the Riemenschneider children and knew them very well.
Winnie and Jake moved into what was then known as the Oakie place(now part of the UWRF campus). Winnie and Jake were married a total of 47 years. Jake died in 1983 and is buried beside Winnie in the Beldenville cemetery.
On 5 April,1966, while shopping for groceries at the Erickson supermarket in River Falls, Bette Foss met Winnie and Jake. After passing the time of day, Bette casually asked them to pay us a visit some day. Winnie quickly responded and said, "could you pick us up on the 12th at about 1:00 o'clock?" Bette, was somewhat flabbergasted at this quick request, but she agreed to it. Then Winnie pointed out how the people at the Skycrest Rest Home where they were living were going to celebrate the April birthdays. She said they deliberately served beer at these celebrations simply to antagonize she and Jake, so they wanted to get away from that. So, on April 12th I took a half-days vacation from my work at 3M, and Bette and I went into River Falls and picked up Winnie, Jake, and Hazel and brought them out to our house on Plainview Drive.
I recorded the following information during our visit:
When she lived at home Winnie said her dad Calvin butchered both hogs and beef. He butchered for other farmers also. Calvin owned a steam engine and thresed for many years in the neighborhood. In their home they ate lots of honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, and they had a large apple orchard. Hazel said that the first year after they had moved from Auroraville to River Falls, Aunt Grace sent them a full barrel of apples for Christmas.
Winnie, along with all her brothers and sister were born and raised in the original log part of the house that Moses Smith had put up. They all went to school in Auroraville. Once when they were kids she remembers that she and her sister Grace, and her cousins Belle and Gertie Smith, all slept together crossways in the bed. This was in the same house where my mother Bessie Smith was born. This was known as the Will Moon house in Auroraville, and it was a very small dwelling.
Winnie said Moses Smith bought out several farmers until the home place grew to 248 acres. George B. Smith and Serepta built a log house on the East end of the farm. She said that when she and Clark Peck were first married, they lived down in the pasture(I don't know what they lived in). She said her brother Milton also built a new home nearby, but it burned.
Winnie said she met Her Uncle William Smith and her cousin Leslie one time when they visited from New York. She said she also met "Libby" Jackson one time. She knew her Uncle Sanford Smith and her Grandmother Betsey very well because they lived nearby.
Bette and I visited Winnie and Jake while they were living in an apartment in the East end of Ellsworth one time and I recorded the following:
Winnie said her brothers Raymond and Floyd Smith came to River Falls because George B. Smith was there. Then Winnie came to River Falls in 1914 and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith.
Winnie said that in 1957 she became so sickly she sent for a prayer cloth from TV evangelist Oral Roberts. When it came in the mail she put it around her shoulders, and at that very moment Jake fell over backwards and became converted on the spot. Soon after that she and Jake travelled out West into Montana and Canada preaching to the Indians. Winnie said that they had a donut-making machine that they used for making donuts to serve to the Indians after they preached to them, but she said that when the Indians got their fill of donuts they would leave. Winnie proudly showed us the donut-maker they took with them on their missionary trips.
Hazel made the comment to Bette and me later on that she thought the Indians were smarter than Winnie and Jake.
Another time Winnie gave me the following information: According to her records, George B. Smith told her that his ancestor Smith was a weaver by trade and Scotch-Irish by birth. He was said to have been married three times, and that his third wife was a full-blooded Irish woman. Winnie said she started to get interested in family history while she was still a very young person.
While trying to get back into the early records she found that there was a Whitehead Smith, wife and children buried in the Auroraville Cemetery.. Somehow she made contact with Clare B. Smith who was one of the living children and obtained the following information: Whitehead Smith was born 14 Aug. 1811 near Hudson,N.Y. He died on 20 Sept. 1874 in Auroraville, WI. He married Catherine Southard who died on 22 Oct. 1868 in Auroraville,WI. Their children: Almira, William, Jed, Ralph, Alexander, and Mary.
The address for Clare B. Smith at that time was:
1541 Washington St.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI.(as of 8 Oct. 1966)
Winnie said her father Calvin told her that he thought that Ralph might hve been a cousin, but he wasn't sure.
My note: Since Whitehead Smith was born in 1811 as was the third child of Jonathan Smith, namely, John, it seems to me we have two distinct line here. One could speculate that Jonathan was an uncle to Whitehead. This would then make Whitehead and Moses first cousins and it would make Ralph and Calvin second cousins.
Another time Winnie told me that she was assisting my mother at the time I was born in 1927. We were living on Sixth Street in my grandmother Foss' house. Before I was born Hazel lived with my folks in the Cora Smith house on Spring Street( this house was torn down to make room for the Hardy fast food place). Hazel was going to the River Falls Normal School at the time. Aunt Cora kept an apartment for herself upstairs. My folks lived down stairs. It was at this time that Mother and Hazel went to adult confirmation at the Lutheran Church, and they were both confirmed. Soon after this grandma Foss became sickly, and we moved in with her. It was here that I was born.
Hazel made a copy of a letter her mother Winnie wrote to her on 13 December, 1966;
"Tues Morn,
Well got my head to working again. Have you ever sent Elida a drawing of thar letter Clare sent me? If not, will you send them to me and I will copy them. She might find something to go on. Some of those folks might be lving out there yet.
Well we had to go to town to buy a new ribbon before I could write anymore. I does wear out. I don't want to send her these but will copy for her. But I haven't heard from Clare yet. Wondering if I will. But I bet we all came down through those three marriages of Jonathan Smith. By next week will write anyway to her.
We sure got a puzzler from Mauston,WI. This Lucy sent it to us. We can't make out who it is.
Have a letter started to Lyle's. Got 5 cards so far, sent almost 50. Mabel Knutson is married agin, 6 times and out. Wrote in most of our cards, just have a few left.
We are getting each a new billfold with our Christmas money. So we cashed it now. Getting some pretty calendars. Already nice again but chilly. Ground just covered with snow.
We are going 40 miles to see about a church but we won't take it until spring for we want to keep this job. Will drive up on Sat. back on Monday. and keep this job for this is too good to lose.
Dot said Darlene and Walt is coming at Christmastime to Lyle's.
Our little dog was wormy so Dr. him two times. and we have almost house broke him too. We leave him alone is he ever glad when we get back.
Tell me what you find out. LaVerne is in Madison. She could find if there was a mrs John or Loretta Horrigan in the phone book or if Frank Miller still Lived there.
I got the address of the wida(widow) that lived with Uncle Sanford at Merrill,WI. The girls might lived there. Mabel and Edith Bronson. But they are married.
Mrs. William Bronson 607 W. 2nd St., Merrill,WI. The historical society could come in here again. Send all letters of hers along to me. I know what to say. I knew her as "Aunt Winnie" because she was an aunt to my mother. I personally knew Aunt Winnie from the time I was a youngster in grade school until she passed away. I knew about Aunt Winnie and her daghter Hazel Swenson because they were in such a close friendly relationship to my mother, and because they lived in River Falls where we were always in close contact with the families.
Soon after I began my pursuit of family history I discovered from Hazel Swenson that her mother "Winnie" was the historian for the Smith family, and that Hazel herself was carrying on the work that her mother had started. We are now talking about the year 1965 when "Winnie" was now 73 years of age. They had written records, but those records were in a sorry state to behold. Neither "Winnie" nor Hazel were what you could scholars by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't for lack of intellgence--both were very bright people. They just did have a flare for the type of scholarship that was required for doing genealogy. They were too subject to heresay and myth. As soon as I got what records they did have I tried to make sense of it all. But my best results came later as I personally picked their brains and started a systematic genealogical research of my own.
The bottom line is, if it hadn't been for the personal family knowledge that came directly from Winnie and her daughter Hazel, I wouldn't have made the progress that I did. I owe them a great deal.
Winniferd(of possibly Winnifred) was known as "Aunt Winnie" by all of the relatives. For most of her life she was known as "Winnie" which she hated with a passion. In about 1960 she had her name legally changed to PEARL W., and using her married name it became Pearl W. Riemenschneider.
Winnie was born on the Moses B. Smith home place at Auroraville, and she remembered her Grandmother Betsey. She said Betsey was a short woman with thin, White, straight hair, combed straight back into a pug (this is how I remember Winnie. She also had white hair, combed straight back into a pug). She said Betsey smoked a white clay pipe, and that she would put it into the oven from time to time to bake it out and whiten it. She remembers when Betsey died, and she remembers the funeral. Betsey was living with Sanford Smith and Melvina at the time of her death in 1894. Their place was known locally as "The Sands." Winnie was eight years old at the time.
Winnie and Maybelle Drew(married Ezra Smith), grew up together in Auroraville. Winnie was three years older than Maybelle, but they became close friends and remained so all their lives. They were both saved and became born-again Christians in 1933 at the Pentecostal Church in River Falls.
Winnie said she was 14 years old when she quit school in 1902. She married Clark Peck in 1906 at age 18. Their first three children were born in Auroraville or Berlin, WI. Donald was born on August 16, 1914 in River Falls, WI.
Winnie then separated from Clark, and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith in River Falls.
Winnie and her first cousin Charles Smith became lovers. They wanted to get married, but legally they couldn't. Hazel remembers going with her mother Winnie to Superior where Winnie got a divorce from Clark Peck.
Since Winnie and Charles couldn't legally marry they simply lived together. They lived together from 1915 to 1923 in River Falls, Trego, And Minong, WI. While living at a place located on the southwest end of the section a mile north of Trego, that George B. Smith had homesteaded, she and Charley had a baby that was stillborn right at their home. They bought a small white casket for the baby and planned to take it to River Falls for burial. Hazel said she rode in the back seat of the car holding the little white casket and baby on her lap. As they passed through Shell Lake they stopped at the court house and filled out the proper death records. Then they proceeded to Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, where they buried the babe next to the Faye Miller Babe in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
After a while Winnie and Charles separated. Hazel went to Minnesota and went to school.
Winnie moved from Trego back to River Falls where she nursed for new mothers from 1923 to 1928. She got a job working at the Hammond Hotel, but she said she quit her job the day after Ezra Smith died on 24 May 1928.
In 1933 Winnie married Jake Riemenschneider. They were married on 20 September 1933 at the Full Gospel Mission(formerly, Pentecostal Church) in River Falls,WI.
The marriage notice as it appeared in the River Falls Journal was as follows: MARRIED: REIHMEINSCHNIEDER-PECK. Mrs. Pearl W. Peck and Mr. Jake Reihmeinschnieder, both of this city, were married at the Full Gospel Mission at 1:30 o'clock Wednesday, September 20, 1933. Rev. C.F. Ebert read the ceremony. The contracting parties were attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Michell.
The spelling of the name Riemenschneider varied over the years. When the current spelling was adopted I don't know for sure. Jake's first wife died when their youngest child(Milton) was only 9 months old(according to Jake's daughter Lucille, this info is not accurate). I was in grade school with the Riemenschneider children and knew them very well.
Winnie and Jake moved into what was then known as the Oakie place(now part of the UWRF campus). Winnie and Jake were married a total of 47 years. Jake died in 1983 and is buried beside Winnie in the Beldenville cemetery.
On 5 April,1966, while shopping for groceries at the Erickson supermarket in River Falls, Bette Foss met Winnie and Jake. After passing the time of day, Bette casually asked them to pay us a visit some day. Winnie quickly responded and said, "could you pick us up on the 12th at about 1:00 o'clock?" Bette, was somewhat flabbergasted at this quick request, but she agreed to it. Then Winnie pointed out how the people at the Skycrest Rest Home where they were living were going to celebrate the April birthdays. She said they deliberately served beer at these celebrations simply to antagonize she and Jake, so they wanted to get away from that. So, on April 12th I took a half-days vacation from my work at 3M, and Bette and I went into River Falls and picked up Winnie, Jake, and Hazel and brought them out to our house on Plainview Drive.
I recorded the following information during our visit:
When she lived at home Winnie said her dad Calvin butchered both hogs and beef. He butchered for other farmers also. Calvin owned a steam engine and thresed for many years in the neighborhood. In their home they ate lots of honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, and they had a large apple orchard. Hazel said that the first year after they had moved from Auroraville to River Falls, Aunt Grace sent them a full barrel of apples for Christmas.
Winnie, along with all her brothers and sister were born and raised in the original log part of the house that Moses Smith had put up. They all went to school in Auroraville. Once when they were kids she remembers that she and her sister Grace, and her cousins Belle and Gertie Smith, all slept together crossways in the bed. This was in the same house where my mother Bessie Smith was born. This was known as the Will Moon house in Auroraville, and it was a very small dwelling.
Winnie said Moses Smith bought out several farmers until the home place grew to 248 acres. George B. Smith and Serepta built a log house on the East end of the farm. She said that when she and Clark Peck were first married, they lived down in the pasture(I don't know what they lived in). She said her brother Milton also built a new home nearby, but it burned.
Winnie said she met Her Uncle William Smith and her cousin Leslie one time when they visited from New York. She said she also met "Libby" Jackson one time. She knew her Uncle Sanford Smith and her Grandmother Betsey very well because they lived nearby.
Bette and I visited Winnie and Jake while they were living in an apartment in the East end of Ellsworth one time and I recorded the following:
Winnie said her brothers Raymond and Floyd Smith came to River Falls because George B. Smith was there. Then Winnie came to River Falls in 1914 and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith.
Winnie said that in 1957 she became so sickly she sent for a prayer cloth from TV evangelist Oral Roberts. When it came in the mail she put it around her shoulders, and at that very moment Jake fell over backwards and became converted on the spot. Soon after that she and Jake travelled out West into Montana and Canada preaching to the Indians. Winnie said that they had a donut-making machine that they used for making donuts to serve to the Indians after they preached to them, but she said that when the Indians got their fill of donuts they would leave. Winnie proudly showed us the donut-maker they took with them on their missionary trips.
Hazel made the comment to Bette and me later on that she thought the Indians were smarter than Winnie and Jake.
Another time Winnie gave me the following information: According to her records, George B. Smith told her that his ancestor Smith was a weaver by trade and Scotch-Irish by birth. He was said to have been married three times, and that his third wife was a full-blooded Irish woman. Winnie said she started to get interested in family history while she was still a very young person.
While trying to get back into the early records she found that there was a Whitehead Smith, wife and children buried in the Auroraville Cemetery.. Somehow she made contact with Clare B. Smith who was one of the living children and obtained the following information: Whitehead Smith was born 14 Aug. 1811 near Hudson,N.Y. He died on 20 Sept. 1874 in Auroraville, WI. He married Catherine Southard who died on 22 Oct. 1868 in Auroraville,WI. Their children: Almira, William, Jed, Ralph, Alexander, and Mary.
The address for Clare B. Smith at that time was:
1541 Washington St.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI.(as of 8 Oct. 1966)
Winnie said her father Calvin told her that he thought that Ralph might hve been a cousin, but he wasn't sure.
My note: Since Whitehead Smith was born in 1811 as was the third child of Jonathan Smith, namely, John, it seems to me we have two distinct line here. One could speculate that Jonathan was an uncle to Whitehead. This would then make Whitehead and Moses first cousins and it would make Ralph and Calvin second cousins.
Another time Winnie told me that she was assisting my mother at the time I was born in 1927. We were living on Sixth Street in my grandmother Foss' house. Before I was born Hazel lived with my folks in the Cora Smith house on Spring Street( this house was torn down to make room for the Hardy fast food place). Hazel was going to the River Falls Normal School at the time. Aunt Cora kept an apartment for herself upstairs. My folks lived down stairs. It was at this time that Mother and Hazel went to adult confirmation at the Lutheran Church, and they were both confirmed. Soon after this grandma Foss became sickly, and we moved in with her. It was here that I was born.
Hazel made a copy of a letter her mother Winnie wrote to her on 13 December, 1966;
"Tues Morn,
Well got my head to working again. Have you ever sent Elida a drawing of thar letter Clare sent me? If not, will you send them to me and I will copy them. She might find something to go on. Some of those folks might be lving out there yet.
Well we had to go to town to buy a new ribbon before I could write anymore. I does wear out. I don't want to send her these but will copy for her. But I haven't heard from Clare yet. Wondering if I will. But I bet we all came down through those three marriages of Jonathan Smith. By next week will write anyway to her.
We sure got a puzzler from Mauston,WI. This Lucy sent it to us. We can't make out who it is.
Have a letter started to Lyle's. Got 5 cards so far, sent almost 50. Mabel Knutson is married agin, 6 times and out. Wrote in most of our cards, just have a few left.
We are getting each a new billfold with our Christmas money. So we cashed it now. Getting some pretty calendars. Already nice again but chilly. Ground just covered with snow.
We are going 40 miles to see about a church but we won't take it until spring for we want to keep this job. Will drive up on Sat. back on Monday. and keep this job for this is too good to lose.
Dot said Darlene and Walt is coming at Christmastime to Lyle's.
Our little dog was wormy so Dr. him two times. and we have almost house broke him too. We leave him alone is he ever glad when we get back.
Tell me what you find out. LaVerne is in Madison. She could find if there was a mrs John or Loretta Horrigan in the phone book or if Frank Miller still Lived there.
I got the address of the wida(widow) that lived with Uncle Sanford at Merrill,WI. The girls might lived there. Mabel and Edith Bronson. But they are married.
Mrs. William Bronson 607 W. 2nd St., Merrill,WI. The historical society could come in here again. Send all letters of hers along to me. I know what to say.
Clark Peck remarried and had a daughter named Norma. Norma married a man named Meton, and they were living in Janseville at the time of Hazel Swenson's death in 1977. Hazel told me she corresponded with her half-sister Norma.
Clark may have had other children by his second wife, but I do not have documentaion for this.
Soon after I began my pursuit of family history I discovered from Hazel Swenson that her mother "Winnie" was the historian for the Smith family, and that Hazel herself was carrying on the work that her mother had started. We are now talking about the year 1965 when "Winnie" was now 73 years of age. They had written records, but those records were in a sorry state to behold. Neither "Winnie" nor Hazel were what you could scholars by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't for lack of intellgence--both were very bright people. They just did have a flare for the type of scholarship that was required for doing genealogy. They were too subject to heresay and myth. As soon as I got what records they did have I tried to make sense of it all. But my best results came later as I personally picked their brains and started a systematic genealogical research of my own.
The bottom line is, if it hadn't been for the personal family knowledge that came directly from Winnie and her daughter Hazel, I wouldn't have made the progress that I did. I owe them a great deal.
Winniferd(of possibly Winnifred) was known as "Aunt Winnie" by all of the relatives. For most of her life she was known as "Winnie" which she hated with a passion. In about 1960 she had her name legally changed to PEARL W., and using her married name it became Pearl W. Riemenschneider.
Winnie was born on the Moses B. Smith home place at Auroraville, and she remembered her Grandmother Betsey. She said Betsey was a short woman with thin, White, straight hair, combed straight back into a pug (this is how I remember Winnie. She also had white hair, combed straight back into a pug). She said Betsey smoked a white clay pipe, and that she would put it into the oven from time to time to bake it out and whiten it. She remembers when Betsey died, and she remembers the funeral. Betsey was living with Sanford Smith and Melvina at the time of her death in 1894. Their place was known locally as "The Sands." Winnie was eight years old at the time.
Winnie and Maybelle Drew(married Ezra Smith), grew up together in Auroraville. Winnie was three years older than Maybelle, but they became close friends and remained so all their lives. They were both saved and became born-again Christians in 1933 at the Pentecostal Church in River Falls.
Winnie said she was 14 years old when she quit school in 1902. She married Clark Peck in 1906 at age 18. Their first three children were born in Auroraville or Berlin, WI. Donald was born on August 16, 1914 in River Falls, WI.
Winnie then separated from Clark, and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith in River Falls.
Winnie and her first cousin Charles Smith became lovers. They wanted to get married, but legally they couldn't. Hazel remembers going with her mother Winnie to Superior where Winnie got a divorce from Clark Peck.
Since Winnie and Charles couldn't legally marry they simply lived together. They lived together from 1915 to 1923 in River Falls, Trego, And Minong, WI. While living at a place located on the southwest end of the section a mile north of Trego, that George B. Smith had homesteaded, she and Charley had a baby that was stillborn right at their home. They bought a small white casket for the baby and planned to take it to River Falls for burial. Hazel said she rode in the back seat of the car holding the little white casket and baby on her lap. As they passed through Shell Lake they stopped at the court house and filled out the proper death records. Then they proceeded to Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, where they buried the babe next to the Faye Miller Babe in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
After a while Winnie and Charles separated. Hazel went to Minnesota and went to school.
Winnie moved from Trego back to River Falls where she nursed for new mothers from 1923 to 1928. She got a job working at the Hammond Hotel, but she said she quit her job the day after Ezra Smith died on 24 May 1928.
In 1933 Winnie married Jake Riemenschneider. They were married on 20 September 1933 at the Full Gospel Mission(formerly, Pentecostal Church) in River Falls,WI.
The marriage notice as it appeared in the River Falls Journal was as follows: MARRIED: REIHMEINSCHNIEDER-PECK. Mrs. Pearl W. Peck and Mr. Jake Reihmeinschnieder, both of this city, were married at the Full Gospel Mission at 1:30 o'clock Wednesday, September 20, 1933. Rev. C.F. Ebert read the ceremony. The contracting parties were attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Michell.
The spelling of the name Riemenschneider varied over the years. When the current spelling was adopted I don't know for sure. Jake's first wife died when their youngest child(Milton) was only 9 months old(according to Jake's daughter Lucille, this info is not accurate). I was in grade school with the Riemenschneider children and knew them very well.
Winnie and Jake moved into what was then known as the Oakie place(now part of the UWRF campus). Winnie and Jake were married a total of 47 years. Jake died in 1983 and is buried beside Winnie in the Beldenville cemetery.
On 5 April,1966, while shopping for groceries at the Erickson supermarket in River Falls, Bette Foss met Winnie and Jake. After passing the time of day, Bette casually asked them to pay us a visit some day. Winnie quickly responded and said, "could you pick us up on the 12th at about 1:00 o'clock?" Bette, was somewhat flabbergasted at this quick request, but she agreed to it. Then Winnie pointed out how the people at the Skycrest Rest Home where they were living were going to celebrate the April birthdays. She said they deliberately served beer at these celebrations simply to antagonize she and Jake, so they wanted to get away from that. So, on April 12th I took a half-days vacation from my work at 3M, and Bette and I went into River Falls and picked up Winnie, Jake, and Hazel and brought them out to our house on Plainview Drive.
I recorded the following information during our visit:
When she lived at home Winnie said her dad Calvin butchered both hogs and beef. He butchered for other farmers also. Calvin owned a steam engine and thresed for many years in the neighborhood. In their home they ate lots of honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, and they had a large apple orchard. Hazel said that the first year after they had moved from Auroraville to River Falls, Aunt Grace sent them a full barrel of apples for Christmas.
Winnie, along with all her brothers and sister were born and raised in the original log part of the house that Moses Smith had put up. They all went to school in Auroraville. Once when they were kids she remembers that she and her sister Grace, and her cousins Belle and Gertie Smith, all slept together crossways in the bed. This was in the same house where my mother Bessie Smith was born. This was known as the Will Moon house in Auroraville, and it was a very small dwelling.
Winnie said Moses Smith bought out several farmers until the home place grew to 248 acres. George B. Smith and Serepta built a log house on the East end of the farm. She said that when she and Clark Peck were first married, they lived down in the pasture(I don't know what they lived in). She said her brother Milton also built a new home nearby, but it burned.
Winnie said she met Her Uncle William Smith and her cousin Leslie one time when they visited from New York. She said she also met "Libby" Jackson one time. She knew her Uncle Sanford Smith and her Grandmother Betsey very well because they lived nearby.
Bette and I visited Winnie and Jake while they were living in an apartment in the East end of Ellsworth one time and I recorded the following:
Winnie said her brothers Raymond and Floyd Smith came to River Falls because George B. Smith was there. Then Winnie came to River Falls in 1914 and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith.
Winnie said that in 1957 she became so sickly she sent for a prayer cloth from TV evangelist Oral Roberts. When it came in the mail she put it around her shoulders, and at that very moment Jake fell over backwards and became converted on the spot. Soon after that she and Jake travelled out West into Montana and Canada preaching to the Indians. Winnie said that they had a donut-making machine that they used for making donuts to serve to the Indians after they preached to them, but she said that when the Indians got their fill of donuts they would leave. Winnie proudly showed us the donut-maker they took with them on their missionary trips.
Hazel made the comment to Bette and me later on that she thought the Indians were smarter than Winnie and Jake.
Another time Winnie gave me the following information: According to her records, George B. Smith told her that his ancestor Smith was a weaver by trade and Scotch-Irish by birth. He was said to have been married three times, and that his third wife was a full-blooded Irish woman. Winnie said she started to get interested in family history while she was still a very young person.
While trying to get back into the early records she found that there was a Whitehead Smith, wife and children buried in the Auroraville Cemetery.. Somehow she made contact with Clare B. Smith who was one of the living children and obtained the following information: Whitehead Smith was born 14 Aug. 1811 near Hudson,N.Y. He died on 20 Sept. 1874 in Auroraville, WI. He married Catherine Southard who died on 22 Oct. 1868 in Auroraville,WI. Their children: Almira, William, Jed, Ralph, Alexander, and Mary.
The address for Clare B. Smith at that time was:
1541 Washington St.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI.(as of 8 Oct. 1966)
Winnie said her father Calvin told her that he thought that Ralph might hve been a cousin, but he wasn't sure.
My note: Since Whitehead Smith was born in 1811 as was the third child of Jonathan Smith, namely, John, it seems to me we have two distinct line here. One could speculate that Jonathan was an uncle to Whitehead. This would then make Whitehead and Moses first cousins and it would make Ralph and Calvin second cousins.
Another time Winnie told me that she was assisting my mother at the time I was born in 1927. We were living on Sixth Street in my grandmother Foss' house. Before I was born Hazel lived with my folks in the Cora Smith house on Spring Street( this house was torn down to make room for the Hardy fast food place). Hazel was going to the River Falls Normal School at the time. Aunt Cora kept an apartment for herself upstairs. My folks lived down stairs. It was at this time that Mother and Hazel went to adult confirmation at the Lutheran Church, and they were both confirmed. Soon after this grandma Foss became sickly, and we moved in with her. It was here that I was born.
Hazel made a copy of a letter her mother Winnie wrote to her on 13 December, 1966;
"Tues Morn,
Well got my head to working again. Have you ever sent Elida a drawing of thar letter Clare sent me? If not, will you send them to me and I will copy them. She might find something to go on. Some of those folks might be lving out there yet.
Well we had to go to town to buy a new ribbon before I could write anymore. I does wear out. I don't want to send her these but will copy for her. But I haven't heard from Clare yet. Wondering if I will. But I bet we all came down through those three marriages of Jonathan Smith. By next week will write anyway to her.
We sure got a puzzler from Mauston,WI. This Lucy sent it to us. We can't make out who it is.
Have a letter started to Lyle's. Got 5 cards so far, sent almost 50. Mabel Knutson is married agin, 6 times and out. Wrote in most of our cards, just have a few left.
We are getting each a new billfold with our Christmas money. So we cashed it now. Getting some pretty calendars. Already nice again but chilly. Ground just covered with snow.
We are going 40 miles to see about a church but we won't take it until spring for we want to keep this job. Will drive up on Sat. back on Monday. and keep this job for this is too good to lose.
Dot said Darlene and Walt is coming at Christmastime to Lyle's.
Our little dog was wormy so Dr. him two times. and we have almost house broke him too. We leave him alone is he ever glad when we get back.
Tell me what you find out. LaVerne is in Madison. She could find if there was a mrs John or Loretta Horrigan in the phone book or if Frank Miller still Lived there.
I got the address of the wida(widow) that lived with Uncle Sanford at Merrill,WI. The girls might lived there. Mabel and Edith Bronson. But they are married.
Mrs. William Bronson 607 W. 2nd St., Merrill,WI. The historical society could come in here again. Send all letters of hers along to me. I know what to say. I knew her as "Aunt Winnie" because she was an aunt to my mother. I personally knew Aunt Winnie from the time I was a youngster in grade school until she passed away. I knew about Aunt Winnie and her daghter Hazel Swenson because they were in such a close friendly relationship to my mother, and because they lived in River Falls where we were always in close contact with the families.
Soon after I began my pursuit of family history I discovered from Hazel Swenson that her mother "Winnie" was the historian for the Smith family, and that Hazel herself was carrying on the work that her mother had started. We are now talking about the year 1965 when "Winnie" was now 73 years of age. They had written records, but those records were in a sorry state to behold. Neither "Winnie" nor Hazel were what you could scholars by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't for lack of intellgence--both were very bright people. They just did have a flare for the type of scholarship that was required for doing genealogy. They were too subject to heresay and myth. As soon as I got what records they did have I tried to make sense of it all. But my best results came later as I personally picked their brains and started a systematic genealogical research of my own.
The bottom line is, if it hadn't been for the personal family knowledge that came directly from Winnie and her daughter Hazel, I wouldn't have made the progress that I did. I owe them a great deal.
Winniferd(of possibly Winnifred) was known as "Aunt Winnie" by all of the relatives. For most of her life she was known as "Winnie" which she hated with a passion. In about 1960 she had her name legally changed to PEARL W., and using her married name it became Pearl W. Riemenschneider.
Winnie was born on the Moses B. Smith home place at Auroraville, and she remembered her Grandmother Betsey. She said Betsey was a short woman with thin, White, straight hair, combed straight back into a pug (this is how I remember Winnie. She also had white hair, combed straight back into a pug). She said Betsey smoked a white clay pipe, and that she would put it into the oven from time to time to bake it out and whiten it. She remembers when Betsey died, and she remembers the funeral. Betsey was living with Sanford Smith and Melvina at the time of her death in 1894. Their place was known locally as "The Sands." Winnie was eight years old at the time.
Winnie and Maybelle Drew(married Ezra Smith), grew up together in Auroraville. Winnie was three years older than Maybelle, but they became close friends and remained so all their lives. They were both saved and became born-again Christians in 1933 at the Pentecostal Church in River Falls.
Winnie said she was 14 years old when she quit school in 1902. She married Clark Peck in 1906 at age 18. Their first three children were born in Auroraville or Berlin, WI. Donald was born on August 16, 1914 in River Falls, WI.
Winnie then separated from Clark, and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith in River Falls.
Winnie and her first cousin Charles Smith became lovers. They wanted to get married, but legally they couldn't. Hazel remembers going with her mother Winnie to Superior where Winnie got a divorce from Clark Peck.
Since Winnie and Charles couldn't legally marry they simply lived together. They lived together from 1915 to 1923 in River Falls, Trego, And Minong, WI. While living at a place located on the southwest end of the section a mile north of Trego, that George B. Smith had homesteaded, she and Charley had a baby that was stillborn right at their home. They bought a small white casket for the baby and planned to take it to River Falls for burial. Hazel said she rode in the back seat of the car holding the little white casket and baby on her lap. As they passed through Shell Lake they stopped at the court house and filled out the proper death records. Then they proceeded to Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, where they buried the babe next to the Faye Miller Babe in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
After a while Winnie and Charles separated. Hazel went to Minnesota and went to school.
Winnie moved from Trego back to River Falls where she nursed for new mothers from 1923 to 1928. She got a job working at the Hammond Hotel, but she said she quit her job the day after Ezra Smith died on 24 May 1928.
In 1933 Winnie married Jake Riemenschneider. They were married on 20 September 1933 at the Full Gospel Mission(formerly, Pentecostal Church) in River Falls,WI.
The marriage notice as it appeared in the River Falls Journal was as follows: MARRIED: REIHMEINSCHNIEDER-PECK. Mrs. Pearl W. Peck and Mr. Jake Reihmeinschnieder, both of this city, were married at the Full Gospel Mission at 1:30 o'clock Wednesday, September 20, 1933. Rev. C.F. Ebert read the ceremony. The contracting parties were attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Michell.
The spelling of the name Riemenschneider varied over the years. When the current spelling was adopted I don't know for sure. Jake's first wife died when their youngest child(Milton) was only 9 months old(according to Jake's daughter Lucille, this info is not accurate). I was in grade school with the Riemenschneider children and knew them very well.
Winnie and Jake moved into what was then known as the Oakie place(now part of the UWRF campus). Winnie and Jake were married a total of 47 years. Jake died in 1983 and is buried beside Winnie in the Beldenville cemetery.
On 5 April,1966, while shopping for groceries at the Erickson supermarket in River Falls, Bette Foss met Winnie and Jake. After passing the time of day, Bette casually asked them to pay us a visit some day. Winnie quickly responded and said, "could you pick us up on the 12th at about 1:00 o'clock?" Bette, was somewhat flabbergasted at this quick request, but she agreed to it. Then Winnie pointed out how the people at the Skycrest Rest Home where they were living were going to celebrate the April birthdays. She said they deliberately served beer at these celebrations simply to antagonize she and Jake, so they wanted to get away from that. So, on April 12th I took a half-days vacation from my work at 3M, and Bette and I went into River Falls and picked up Winnie, Jake, and Hazel and brought them out to our house on Plainview Drive.
I recorded the following information during our visit:
When she lived at home Winnie said her dad Calvin butchered both hogs and beef. He butchered for other farmers also. Calvin owned a steam engine and thresed for many years in the neighborhood. In their home they ate lots of honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, and they had a large apple orchard. Hazel said that the first year after they had moved from Auroraville to River Falls, Aunt Grace sent them a full barrel of apples for Christmas.
Winnie, along with all her brothers and sister were born and raised in the original log part of the house that Moses Smith had put up. They all went to school in Auroraville. Once when they were kids she remembers that she and her sister Grace, and her cousins Belle and Gertie Smith, all slept together crossways in the bed. This was in the same house where my mother Bessie Smith was born. This was known as the Will Moon house in Auroraville, and it was a very small dwelling.
Winnie said Moses Smith bought out several farmers until the home place grew to 248 acres. George B. Smith and Serepta built a log house on the East end of the farm. She said that when she and Clark Peck were first married, they lived down in the pasture(I don't know what they lived in). She said her brother Milton also built a new home nearby, but it burned.
Winnie said she met Her Uncle William Smith and her cousin Leslie one time when they visited from New York. She said she also met "Libby" Jackson one time. She knew her Uncle Sanford Smith and her Grandmother Betsey very well because they lived nearby.
Bette and I visited Winnie and Jake while they were living in an apartment in the East end of Ellsworth one time and I recorded the following:
Winnie said her brothers Raymond and Floyd Smith came to River Falls because George B. Smith was there. Then Winnie came to River Falls in 1914 and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith.
Winnie said that in 1957 she became so sickly she sent for a prayer cloth from TV evangelist Oral Roberts. When it came in the mail she put it around her shoulders, and at that very moment Jake fell over backwards and became converted on the spot. Soon after that she and Jake travelled out West into Montana and Canada preaching to the Indians. Winnie said that they had a donut-making machine that they used for making donuts to serve to the Indians after they preached to them, but she said that when the Indians got their fill of donuts they would leave. Winnie proudly showed us the donut-maker they took with them on their missionary trips.
Hazel made the comment to Bette and me later on that she thought the Indians were smarter than Winnie and Jake.
Another time Winnie gave me the following information: According to her records, George B. Smith told her that his ancestor Smith was a weaver by trade and Scotch-Irish by birth. He was said to have been married three times, and that his third wife was a full-blooded Irish woman. Winnie said she started to get interested in family history while she was still a very young person.
While trying to get back into the early records she found that there was a Whitehead Smith, wife and children buried in the Auroraville Cemetery.. Somehow she made contact with Clare B. Smith who was one of the living children and obtained the following information: Whitehead Smith was born 14 Aug. 1811 near Hudson,N.Y. He died on 20 Sept. 1874 in Auroraville, WI. He married Catherine Southard who died on 22 Oct. 1868 in Auroraville,WI. Their children: Almira, William, Jed, Ralph, Alexander, and Mary.
The address for Clare B. Smith at that time was:
1541 Washington St.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI.(as of 8 Oct. 1966)
Winnie said her father Calvin told her that he thought that Ralph might hve been a cousin, but he wasn't sure.
My note: Since Whitehead Smith was born in 1811 as was the third child of Jonathan Smith, namely, John, it seems to me we have two distinct line here. One could speculate that Jonathan was an uncle to Whitehead. This would then make Whitehead and Moses first cousins and it would make Ralph and Calvin second cousins.
Another time Winnie told me that she was assisting my mother at the time I was born in 1927. We were living on Sixth Street in my grandmother Foss' house. Before I was born Hazel lived with my folks in the Cora Smith house on Spring Street( this house was torn down to make room for the Hardy fast food place). Hazel was going to the River Falls Normal School at the time. Aunt Cora kept an apartment for herself upstairs. My folks lived down stairs. It was at this time that Mother and Hazel went to adult confirmation at the Lutheran Church, and they were both confirmed. Soon after this grandma Foss became sickly, and we moved in with her. It was here that I was born.
Hazel made a copy of a letter her mother Winnie wrote to her on 13 December, 1966;
"Tues Morn,
Well got my head to working again. Have you ever sent Elida a drawing of thar letter Clare sent me? If not, will you send them to me and I will copy them. She might find something to go on. Some of those folks might be lving out there yet.
Well we had to go to town to buy a new ribbon before I could write anymore. I does wear out. I don't want to send her these but will copy for her. But I haven't heard from Clare yet. Wondering if I will. But I bet we all came down through those three marriages of Jonathan Smith. By next week will write anyway to her.
We sure got a puzzler from Mauston,WI. This Lucy sent it to us. We can't make out who it is.
Have a letter started to Lyle's. Got 5 cards so far, sent almost 50. Mabel Knutson is married agin, 6 times and out. Wrote in most of our cards, just have a few left.
We are getting each a new billfold with our Christmas money. So we cashed it now. Getting some pretty calendars. Already nice again but chilly. Ground just covered with snow.
We are going 40 miles to see about a church but we won't take it until spring for we want to keep this job. Will drive up on Sat. back on Monday. and keep this job for this is too good to lose.
Dot said Darlene and Walt is coming at Christmastime to Lyle's.
Our little dog was wormy so Dr. him two times. and we have almost house broke him too. We leave him alone is he ever glad when we get back.
Tell me what you find out. LaVerne is in Madison. She could find if there was a mrs John or Loretta Horrigan in the phone book or if Frank Miller still Lived there.
I got the address of the wida(widow) that lived with Uncle Sanford at Merrill,WI. The girls might lived there. Mabel and Edith Bronson. But they are married.
Mrs. William Bronson 607 W. 2nd St., Merrill,WI. The historical society could come in here again. Send all letters of hers along to me. I know what to say. I knew her as "Aunt Winnie" because she was an aunt to my mother. I personally knew Aunt Winnie from the time I was a youngster in grade school until she passed away. I knew about Aunt Winnie and her daghter Hazel Swenson because they were in such a close friendly relationship to my mother, and because they lived in River Falls where we were always in close contact with the families.
Soon after I began my pursuit of family history I discovered from Hazel Swenson that her mother "Winnie" was the historian for the Smith family, and that Hazel herself was carrying on the work that her mother had started. We are now talking about the year 1965 when "Winnie" was now 73 years of age. They had written records, but those records were in a sorry state to behold. Neither "Winnie" nor Hazel were what you could scholars by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't for lack of intellgence--both were very bright people. They just did have a flare for the type of scholarship that was required for doing genealogy. They were too subject to heresay and myth. As soon as I got what records they did have I tried to make sense of it all. But my best results came later as I personally picked their brains and started a systematic genealogical research of my own.
The bottom line is, if it hadn't been for the personal family knowledge that came directly from Winnie and her daughter Hazel, I wouldn't have made the progress that I did. I owe them a great deal.
Winniferd(of possibly Winnifred) was known as "Aunt Winnie" by all of the relatives. For most of her life she was known as "Winnie" which she hated with a passion. In about 1960 she had her name legally changed to PEARL W., and using her married name it became Pearl W. Riemenschneider.
Winnie was born on the Moses B. Smith home place at Auroraville, and she remembered her Grandmother Betsey. She said Betsey was a short woman with thin, White, straight hair, combed straight back into a pug (this is how I remember Winnie. She also had white hair, combed straight back into a pug). She said Betsey smoked a white clay pipe, and that she would put it into the oven from time to time to bake it out and whiten it. She remembers when Betsey died, and she remembers the funeral. Betsey was living with Sanford Smith and Melvina at the time of her death in 1894. Their place was known locally as "The Sands." Winnie was eight years old at the time.
Winnie and Maybelle Drew(married Ezra Smith), grew up together in Auroraville. Winnie was three years older than Maybelle, but they became close friends and remained so all their lives. They were both saved and became born-again Christians in 1933 at the Pentecostal Church in River Falls.
Winnie said she was 14 years old when she quit school in 1902. She married Clark Peck in 1906 at age 18. Their first three children were born in Auroraville or Berlin, WI. Donald was born on August 16, 1914 in River Falls, WI.
Winnie then separated from Clark, and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith in River Falls.
Winnie and her first cousin Charles Smith became lovers. They wanted to get married, but legally they couldn't. Hazel remembers going with her mother Winnie to Superior where Winnie got a divorce from Clark Peck.
Since Winnie and Charles couldn't legally marry they simply lived together. They lived together from 1915 to 1923 in River Falls, Trego, And Minong, WI. While living at a place located on the southwest end of the section a mile north of Trego, that George B. Smith had homesteaded, she and Charley had a baby that was stillborn right at their home. They bought a small white casket for the baby and planned to take it to River Falls for burial. Hazel said she rode in the back seat of the car holding the little white casket and baby on her lap. As they passed through Shell Lake they stopped at the court house and filled out the proper death records. Then they proceeded to Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, where they buried the babe next to the Faye Miller Babe in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
After a while Winnie and Charles separated. Hazel went to Minnesota and went to school.
Winnie moved from Trego back to River Falls where she nursed for new mothers from 1923 to 1928. She got a job working at the Hammond Hotel, but she said she quit her job the day after Ezra Smith died on 24 May 1928.
In 1933 Winnie married Jake Riemenschneider. They were married on 20 September 1933 at the Full Gospel Mission(formerly, Pentecostal Church) in River Falls,WI.
The marriage notice as it appeared in the River Falls Journal was as follows: MARRIED: REIHMEINSCHNIEDER-PECK. Mrs. Pearl W. Peck and Mr. Jake Reihmeinschnieder, both of this city, were married at the Full Gospel Mission at 1:30 o'clock Wednesday, September 20, 1933. Rev. C.F. Ebert read the ceremony. The contracting parties were attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Michell.
The spelling of the name Riemenschneider varied over the years. When the current spelling was adopted I don't know for sure. Jake's first wife died when their youngest child(Milton) was only 9 months old(according to Jake's daughter Lucille, this info is not accurate). I was in grade school with the Riemenschneider children and knew them very well.
Winnie and Jake moved into what was then known as the Oakie place(now part of the UWRF campus). Winnie and Jake were married a total of 47 years. Jake died in 1983 and is buried beside Winnie in the Beldenville cemetery.
On 5 April,1966, while shopping for groceries at the Erickson supermarket in River Falls, Bette Foss met Winnie and Jake. After passing the time of day, Bette casually asked them to pay us a visit some day. Winnie quickly responded and said, "could you pick us up on the 12th at about 1:00 o'clock?" Bette, was somewhat flabbergasted at this quick request, but she agreed to it. Then Winnie pointed out how the people at the Skycrest Rest Home where they were living were going to celebrate the April birthdays. She said they deliberately served beer at these celebrations simply to antagonize she and Jake, so they wanted to get away from that. So, on April 12th I took a half-days vacation from my work at 3M, and Bette and I went into River Falls and picked up Winnie, Jake, and Hazel and brought them out to our house on Plainview Drive.
I recorded the following information during our visit:
When she lived at home Winnie said her dad Calvin butchered both hogs and beef. He butchered for other farmers also. Calvin owned a steam engine and thresed for many years in the neighborhood. In their home they ate lots of honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, and they had a large apple orchard. Hazel said that the first year after they had moved from Auroraville to River Falls, Aunt Grace sent them a full barrel of apples for Christmas.
Winnie, along with all her brothers and sister were born and raised in the original log part of the house that Moses Smith had put up. They all went to school in Auroraville. Once when they were kids she remembers that she and her sister Grace, and her cousins Belle and Gertie Smith, all slept together crossways in the bed. This was in the same house where my mother Bessie Smith was born. This was known as the Will Moon house in Auroraville, and it was a very small dwelling.
Winnie said Moses Smith bought out several farmers until the home place grew to 248 acres. George B. Smith and Serepta built a log house on the East end of the farm. She said that when she and Clark Peck were first married, they lived down in the pasture(I don't know what they lived in). She said her brother Milton also built a new home nearby, but it burned.
Winnie said she met Her Uncle William Smith and her cousin Leslie one time when they visited from New York. She said she also met "Libby" Jackson one time. She knew her Uncle Sanford Smith and her Grandmother Betsey very well because they lived nearby.
Bette and I visited Winnie and Jake while they were living in an apartment in the East end of Ellsworth one time and I recorded the following:
Winnie said her brothers Raymond and Floyd Smith came to River Falls because George B. Smith was there. Then Winnie came to River Falls in 1914 and moved in with Ezra and Maybelle Smith.
Winnie said that in 1957 she became so sickly she sent for a prayer cloth from TV evangelist Oral Roberts. When it came in the mail she put it around her shoulders, and at that very moment Jake fell over backwards and became converted on the spot. Soon after that she and Jake travelled out West into Montana and Canada preaching to the Indians. Winnie said that they had a donut-making machine that they used for making donuts to serve to the Indians after they preached to them, but she said that when the Indians got their fill of donuts they would leave. Winnie proudly showed us the donut-maker they took with them on their missionary trips.
Hazel made the comment to Bette and me later on that she thought the Indians were smarter than Winnie and Jake.
Another time Winnie gave me the following information: According to her records, George B. Smith told her that his ancestor Smith was a weaver by trade and Scotch-Irish by birth. He was said to have been married three times, and that his third wife was a full-blooded Irish woman. Winnie said she started to get interested in family history while she was still a very young person.
While trying to get back into the early records she found that there was a Whitehead Smith, wife and children buried in the Auroraville Cemetery.. Somehow she made contact with Clare B. Smith who was one of the living children and obtained the following information: Whitehead Smith was born 14 Aug. 1811 near Hudson,N.Y. He died on 20 Sept. 1874 in Auroraville, WI. He married Catherine Southard who died on 22 Oct. 1868 in Auroraville,WI. Their children: Almira, William, Jed, Ralph, Alexander, and Mary.
The address for Clare B. Smith at that time was:
1541 Washington St.
Wisconsin Rapids, WI.(as of 8 Oct. 1966)
Winnie said her father Calvin told her that he thought that Ralph might hve been a cousin, but he wasn't sure.
My note: Since Whitehead Smith was born in 1811 as was the third child of Jonathan Smith, namely, John, it seems to me we have two distinct line here. One could speculate that Jonathan was an uncle to Whitehead. This would then make Whitehead and Moses first cousins and it would make Ralph and Calvin second cousins.
Another time Winnie told me that she was assisting my mother at the time I was born in 1927. We were living on Sixth Street in my grandmother Foss' house. Before I was born Hazel lived with my folks in the Cora Smith house on Spring Street( this house was torn down to make room for the Hardy fast food place). Hazel was going to the River Falls Normal School at the time. Aunt Cora kept an apartment for herself upstairs. My folks lived down stairs. It was at this time that Mother and Hazel went to adult confirmation at the Lutheran Church, and they were both confirmed. Soon after this grandma Foss became sickly, and we moved in with her. It was here that I was born.
Hazel made a copy of a letter her mother Winnie wrote to her on 13 December, 1966;
"Tues Morn,
Well got my head to working again. Have you ever sent Elida a drawing of thar letter Clare sent me? If not, will you send them to me and I will copy them. She might find something to go on. Some of those folks might be lving out there yet.
Well we had to go to town to buy a new ribbon before I could write anymore. I does wear out. I don't want to send her these but will copy for her. But I haven't heard from Clare yet. Wondering if I will. But I bet we all came down through those three marriages of Jonathan Smith. By next week will write anyway to her.
We sure got a puzzler from Mauston,WI. This Lucy sent it to us. We can't make out who it is.
Have a letter started to Lyle's. Got 5 cards so far, sent almost 50. Mabel Knutson is married agin, 6 times and out. Wrote in most of our cards, just have a few left.
We are getting each a new billfold with our Christmas money. So we cashed it now. Getting some pretty calendars. Already nice again but chilly. Ground just covered with snow.
We are going 40 miles to see about a church but we won't take it until spring for we want to keep this job. Will drive up on Sat. back on Monday. and keep this job for this is too good to lose.
Dot said Darlene and Walt is coming at Christmastime to Lyle's.
Our little dog was wormy so Dr. him two times. and we have almost house broke him too. We leave him alone is he ever glad when we get back.
Tell me what you find out. LaVerne is in Madison. She could find if there was a mrs John or Loretta Horrigan in the phone book or if Frank Miller still Lived there.
I got the address of the wida(widow) that lived with Uncle Sanford at Merrill,WI. The girls might lived there. Mabel and Edith Bronson. But they are married.
Mrs. William Bronson 607 W. 2nd St., Merrill,WI. The historical society could come in here again. Send all letters of hers along to me. I know what to say.
Clark Peck remarried and had a daughter named Norma. Norma married a man named Meton, and they were living in Janseville at the time of Hazel Swenson's death in 1977. Hazel told me she corresponded with her half-sister Norma.
Clark may have had other children by his second wife, but I do not have documentaion for this.
On Thursday, April 10, 1985, Hazel Swenson and her granddaughter Donna(Dau. of Richard Swenson), and her great granddaughter Serepta Jane paid me a visit. They came out to get a picture of Serepta Jane Smith for her namesake. While they were here we talked a little bit about family history.
Hazel told me about her father Clark Peck. She said he was a heavy drinker and that Winnie left him in 1914 when she was pregnant with Donald. They moved from Auroraville to Ezra and Maybelle Smith's home in River Falls. After that Winnie took up with Charlie Smith and they kept house at a place South of Baldwin. Then they moved to Trego in about 1917. This place was just a mile South and a mile West of the new Homestead being built by George B. Smith. They lived there a couple of years and then moved to Sandstone,MN where Hazel went to high school. Charley left Winnie at that time and moved back to River Falls. Floyd Smith came up to Sandstone and took Winnie and the three boys(Lyle, Veronon, and Donald) back to River Falls. Hazel stayed behind and lived with a Jewish family named Goresh to finish out her year in school. She said that year for Christmas she got a small cupcake paper filled with candy and nuts. She said the Goresh's treated her very well however.
Hazel graduated from River Falls high school in 1926. Her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. She was the captain of the girls basketball team that year. She said she worked for her board and room at that time.
After she graduated from high school she moved in with Art and Bessie Foss in Cora Smith's place on Spring Street She lived with them until they moved to Grandma Foss' home on Sixth Street.
Art Foss was working as a travelling salesman for a feed company. Hazel fondly remembers the times that Art taught her how to fish for trout in the Kinnickinnic, and, how after traveling all week, would take the family for long rides about the countryside on the weekends.
Winnie took care of me for the first ten weeks of my life. I was born at my Grandmother Foss' house on Sixth Street. Hazel recalled one time at that place when she paddled Bud for hitting his mother when she was pregnant with me. Hazel said Bud was a little devil.
I continued to visit Hazel from time to time at her apartment on North Main St. in River Falls. Sometime in January or February, 1992, she started suffering mild strokes. These strokes were not serious enough to hospitalize her until about May when she was unable to take care of herself. She was then moved almost directly across the street into the Lutheran Care Center. When I visited her there she was nearly bed-ridden, and suffered from a serious loss of memory. She could still visit in real-time, but could not recall much that happened even days earlier. I gave her a copy of the set of 60 civil war letters that Audrey Lehr had sent, but Hazel was unable to discuss genealogy.
OBITUARY FOR HAZEL L. SWENSON
River Falls Journal
Hazel L. Swenson died Oct 10, 1992 at The Lutheran Home: River Falls.
She was born July 14, 1907. She married Raymond L. Swenson on Aug. 13, 1927, and he died Sept. 8, 1977.
Mrs. Swenson is survived by her children and their spouses; Richard and Carol of Wilson, Gene and Pat of St. Paul, Helen Swenson of Florence, Ore., and Alan and Marlene of White Bear Lake, Minn.; 14 grandchildren; 21 great grandchildren; a half-sister, Norma Meton of Janseville; a half-brother, Lawrence Peck of Janesville; Two step sisters, Lucille Anderson of Hudson and Dorothy Nicholson of North Dakota; three step brothers: Conrad Riemenschneider of Clear Lake, Harold Riemenschneider of Perham, Minn., and Mlton Riemenschneider of Hager City; four sister-in-law: Louise Peck of North Dakota, Dora Mammenga of St. Paul, Effie Thurber of St. Paul, and Anna Swenson of Chanhassen, MInn.
The funeral was held at 11 a.m. Oct. 14, at Ezekial Lutheran Church with Pastor William Montgomery officiating. Interment was at the Beldenville Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Souren and Raffi Tashjian and Bert, Ed, Don, Scott and Doug Swenson.
Memorials are preferred to Ezekial Lutheran Church.
_______________
Hazel was very close to the Arthur Foss family from the time she came to stay with them when she entered the Normal School( c. 1925-26) in River Falls until her death. Like her mother, she was an avid student of family history. Because of her interest in genealogy, we became very close friends over the years, and we researched family history until she was unable to continue because of ill health.
On Thursday, April 10, 1985, Hazel Swenson and her granddaughter Donna(Dau. of Richard Swenson), and her great granddaughter Serepta Jane paid me a visit. They came out to get a picture of Serepta Jane Smith for her namesake. While they were here we talked a little bit about family history.
Hazel told me about her father Clark Peck. She said he was a heavy drinker and that Winnie left him in 1914 when she was pregnant with Donald. They moved from Auroraville to Ezra and Maybelle Smith's home in River Falls. After that Winnie took up with Charlie Smith and they kept house at a place South of Baldwin. Then they moved to Trego in about 1917. This place was just a mile South and a mile West of the new Homestead being built by George B. Smith. They lived there a couple of years and then moved to Sandstone,MN where Hazel went to high school. Charley left Winnie at that time and moved back to River Falls. Floyd Smith came up to Sandstone and took Winnie and the three boys(Lyle, Veronon, and Donald) back to River Falls. Hazel stayed behind and lived with a Jewish family named Goresh to finish out her year in school. She said that year for Christmas she got a small cupcake paper filled with candy and nuts. She said the Goresh's treated her very well however.
Hazel graduated from River Falls high school in 1926. Her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. She was the captain of the girls basketball team that year. She said she worked for her board and room at that time.
After she graduated from high school she moved in with Art and Bessie Foss in Cora Smith's place on Spring Street She lived with them until they moved to Grandma Foss' home on Sixth Street.
Art Foss was working as a travelling salesman for a feed company. Hazel fondly remembers the times that Art taught her how to fish for trout in the Kinnickinnic, and, how after traveling all week, would take the family for long rides about the countryside on the weekends.
Winnie took care of me for the first ten weeks of my life. I was born at my Grandmother Foss' house on Sixth Street. Hazel recalled one time at that place when she paddled Bud for hitting his mother when she was pregnant with me. Hazel said Bud was a little devil.
I continued to visit Hazel from time to time at her apartment on North Main St. in River Falls. Sometime in January or February, 1992, she started suffering mild strokes. These strokes were not serious enough to hospitalize her until about May when she was unable to take care of herself. She was then moved almost directly across the street into the Lutheran Care Center. When I visited her there she was nearly bed-ridden, and suffered from a serious loss of memory. She could still visit in real-time, but could not recall much that happened even days earlier. I gave her a copy of the set of 60 civil war letters that Audrey Lehr had sent, but Hazel was unable to discuss genealogy.
OBITUARY---RAYMOND SWENSON
Raymond Swenson was born April 18,1905 to Ludwig Swenson and Julia Johnson in Ellsworth township. He died September 8, 1977. He spen most of his life in this community.
He was married August 13, 1927 to Hazel Peck. He is survived by his wife Hazel; 4 children-- Richard of Wilson,Wis.; Gene of St. Paul, Helen Tashjian of Falls Church,VA.; and Alan of St. Paul; 14 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; 6 sisters -- Mrs. Harry Hope, Ellsworth, Mrs. Marvin Jennings, Ellsworth, Mrs. Lillian Thurber, Mrs. Dora Mamenga, Mrs. Effie Thurber and Miss Jeanette Swenson of St. Paul; also by many nephews and nieces.
He was preceded in death by his mother, father, 2 sisters and 2 brothers.
He was baptized and confirmed December 1, 1957 by Rev. Arthus S. Johnson.
He was buried in the Beldenville cemetery. Services were conducted by Rev. Jule Berndt. Pal bearers were 5 grandsons and 1 grandson-in-law-- Bert Swenson, Edward Swenson, Scott Swenson, Donald Swenson, Douglas Swenson, and Daniel Ross.
Services were held at the Ezekial Lutheran Church, Sunday, September 11, 1977, 1:30 p.m. Arangements by the Cashman Mortuary, River Falls.
Hazel told me about her father Clark Peck. She said he was a heavy drinker and that Winnie left him in 1914 when she was pregnant with Donald. They moved from Auroraville to Ezra and Maybelle Smith's home in River Falls. After that Winnie took up with Charlie Smith and they kept house at a place South of Baldwin. Then they moved to Trego in about 1917. This place was just a mile South and a mile West of the new Homestead being built by George B. Smith. They lived there a couple of years and then moved to Sandstone,MN where Hazel went to high school. Charley left Winnie at that time and moved back to River Falls. Floyd Smith came up to Sandstone and took Winnie and the three boys(Lyle, Veronon, and Donald) back to River Falls. Hazel stayed behind and lived with a Jewish family named Goresh to finish out her year in school. She said that year for Christmas she got a small cupcake paper filled with candy and nuts. She said the Goresh's treated her very well however.
Hazel graduated from River Falls high school in 1926. Her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. She was the captain of the girls basketball team that year. She said she worked for her board and room at that time.
After she graduated from high school she moved in with Art and Bessie Foss in Cora Smith's place on Spring Street She lived with them until they moved to Grandma Foss' home on Sixth Street.
Art Foss was working as a travelling salesman for a feed company. Hazel fondly remembers the times that Art taught her how to fish for trout in the Kinnickinnic, and, how after traveling all week, would take the family for long rides about the countryside on the weekends.
Winnie took care of me for the first ten weeks of my life. I was born at my Grandmother Foss' house on Sixth Street. Hazel recalled one time at that place when she paddled Bud for hitting his mother when she was pregnant with me. Hazel said Bud was a little devil.
I continued to visit Hazel from time to time at her apartment on North Main St. in River Falls. Sometime in January or February, 1992, she started suffering mild strokes. These strokes were not serious enough to hospitalize her until about May when she was unable to take care of herself. She was then moved almost directly across the street into the Lutheran Care Center. When I visited her there she was nearly bed-ridden, and suffered from a serious loss of memory. She could still visit in real-time, but could not recall much that happened even days earlier. I gave her a copy of the set of 60 civil war letters that Audrey Lehr had sent, but Hazel was unable to discuss genealogy.
OBITUARY FOR HAZEL L. SWENSON
River Falls Journal
Hazel L. Swenson died Oct 10, 1992 at The Lutheran Home: River Falls.
She was born July 14, 1907. She married Raymond L. Swenson on Aug. 13, 1927, and he died Sept. 8, 1977.
Mrs. Swenson is survived by her children and their spouses; Richard and Carol of Wilson, Gene and Pat of St. Paul, Helen Swenson of Florence, Ore., and Alan and Marlene of White Bear Lake, Minn.; 14 grandchildren; 21 great grandchildren; a half-sister, Norma Meton of Janseville; a half-brother, Lawrence Peck of Janesville; Two step sisters, Lucille Anderson of Hudson and Dorothy Nicholson of North Dakota; three step brothers: Conrad Riemenschneider of Clear Lake, Harold Riemenschneider of Perham, Minn., and Mlton Riemenschneider of Hager City; four sister-in-law: Louise Peck of North Dakota, Dora Mammenga of St. Paul, Effie Thurber of St. Paul, and Anna Swenson of Chanhassen, MInn.
The funeral was held at 11 a.m. Oct. 14, at Ezekial Lutheran Church with Pastor William Montgomery officiating. Interment was at the Beldenville Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Souren and Raffi Tashjian and Bert, Ed, Don, Scott and Doug Swenson.
Memorials are preferred to Ezekial Lutheran Church.
_______________
Hazel was very close to the Arthur Foss family from the time she came to stay with them when she entered the Normal School( c. 1925-26) in River Falls until her death. Like her mother, she was an avid student of family history. Because of her interest in genealogy, we became very close friends over the years, and we researched family history until she was unable to continue because of ill health.
On Thursday, April 10, 1985, Hazel Swenson and her granddaughter Donna(Dau. of Richard Swenson), and her great granddaughter Serepta Jane paid me a visit. They came out to get a picture of Serepta Jane Smith for her namesake. While they were here we talked a little bit about family history.
Hazel told me about her father Clark Peck. She said he was a heavy drinker and that Winnie left him in 1914 when she was pregnant with Donald. They moved from Auroraville to Ezra and Maybelle Smith's home in River Falls. After that Winnie took up with Charlie Smith and they kept house at a place South of Baldwin. Then they moved to Trego in about 1917. This place was just a mile South and a mile West of the new Homestead being built by George B. Smith. They lived there a couple of years and then moved to Sandstone,MN where Hazel went to high school. Charley left Winnie at that time and moved back to River Falls. Floyd Smith came up to Sandstone and took Winnie and the three boys(Lyle, Veronon, and Donald) back to River Falls. Hazel stayed behind and lived with a Jewish family named Goresh to finish out her year in school. She said that year for Christmas she got a small cupcake paper filled with candy and nuts. She said the Goresh's treated her very well however.
Hazel graduated from River Falls high school in 1926. Her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. She was the captain of the girls basketball team that year. She said she worked for her board and room at that time.
After she graduated from high school she moved in with Art and Bessie Foss in Cora Smith's place on Spring Street She lived with them until they moved to Grandma Foss' home on Sixth Street.
Art Foss was working as a travelling salesman for a feed company. Hazel fondly remembers the times that Art taught her how to fish for trout in the Kinnickinnic, and, how after traveling all week, would take the family for long rides about the countryside on the weekends.
Winnie took care of me for the first ten weeks of my life. I was born at my Grandmother Foss' house on Sixth Street. Hazel recalled one time at that place when she paddled Bud for hitting his mother when she was pregnant with me. Hazel said Bud was a little devil.
I continued to visit Hazel from time to time at her apartment on North Main St. in River Falls. Sometime in January or February, 1992, she started suffering mild strokes. These strokes were not serious enough to hospitalize her until about May when she was unable to take care of herself. She was then moved almost directly across the street into the Lutheran Care Center. When I visited her there she was nearly bed-ridden, and suffered from a serious loss of memory. She could still visit in real-time, but could not recall much that happened even days earlier. I gave her a copy of the set of 60 civil war letters that Audrey Lehr had sent, but Hazel was unable to discuss genealogy.
OBITUARY---RAYMOND SWENSON
Raymond Swenson was born April 18,1905 to Ludwig Swenson and Julia Johnson in Ellsworth township. He died September 8, 1977. He spen most of his life in this community.
He was married August 13, 1927 to Hazel Peck. He is survived by his wife Hazel; 4 children-- Richard of Wilson,Wis.; Gene of St. Paul, Helen Tashjian of Falls Church,VA.; and Alan of St. Paul; 14 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; 6 sisters -- Mrs. Harry Hope, Ellsworth, Mrs. Marvin Jennings, Ellsworth, Mrs. Lillian Thurber, Mrs. Dora Mamenga, Mrs. Effie Thurber and Miss Jeanette Swenson of St. Paul; also by many nephews and nieces.
He was preceded in death by his mother, father, 2 sisters and 2 brothers.
He was baptized and confirmed December 1, 1957 by Rev. Arthus S. Johnson.
He was buried in the Beldenville cemetery. Services were conducted by Rev. Jule Berndt. Pal bearers were 5 grandsons and 1 grandson-in-law-- Bert Swenson, Edward Swenson, Scott Swenson, Donald Swenson, Douglas Swenson, and Daniel Ross.
Services were held at the Ezekial Lutheran Church, Sunday, September 11, 1977, 1:30 p.m. Arangements by the Cashman Mortuary, River Falls.
Helen had her name legally changed from Tashjian back to Swenson.
OBITUARY IN RIVER FALLS JOURNAL, RIVER FALLS, WI
Helen Swenson, 71
Helen Swenson, 71, died May 28, 2002, at Fair Oaks Hospital in Virginia.
She was born Nov. 23, 1930, in River Falls.
Mrs. Swenson was the wife of the late Zohrab Tashjian, the mother of Souren Tashjian, Renee Collins, Sona Gauld and Raffi Tashjian; sister of Richard and Alan Swenson, and the late Gene Swenson; grandmother of Edward, Philip, Amber and Farren Tashjian, Catriona Gauld, Sergei Ward-Gauld and Adrianna Tashjian.
Funeral services were held June 1.
Contributions may be made to the leukemia/lymphoma society.
Arrangements were made by Everly Funeral Home in Fairfax, VA.
OBITUARY IN RIVER FALLS JOURNAL, RIVER FALLS, WI
Helen Swenson, 71
Helen Swenson, 71, died May 28, 2002, at Fair Oaks Hospital in Virginia.
She was born Nov. 23, 1930, in River Falls.
Mrs. Swenson was the wife of the late Zohrab Tashjian, the mother of Souren Tashjian, Renee Collins, Sona Gauld and Raffi Tashjian; sister of Richard and Alan Swenson, and the late Gene Swenson; grandmother of Edward, Philip, Amber and Farren Tashjian, Catriona Gauld, Sergei Ward-Gauld and Adrianna Tashjian.
Funeral services were held June 1.
Contributions may be made to the leukemia/lymphoma society.
Arrangements were made by Everly Funeral Home in Fairfax, VA.
Lyle's daughter, Darlene Norman, an avid genealogist, supplied me with a copy of the life story of her father Lyle:
"Mother was born May 24, 1888 in Auroraville, Wsconsin. When she was 16 in 1904, she married Clark Waldo Peck. A daughter Hazel born July 14, 1907. I was born the 20th day Sept. 1909. I was born in Waushara Co., Aurora Twp., a few miles northeast of Berlin, near a cranberry marsh.
Mother and Father divorced when I was real young. Dad passed away in 1928. He remarried. I have a half brother and half sister in Janseville, WI. Dad was a soldier in WWI.
I had two brothers, one born Aug. 15, 1911, and one born Aug. 16, 1914. Both deceased.
We moved to River Falls, in early years of my life. Then mother kept house for a cousin of hers on a farm. When I was 9 years old I was going to country school in rural Baldwin,WI. While there a neighbor boy had goats. He had a ladder up on a barn roof and the goats went up the ladder onto the roof. Another time they shot a beef in the barn and it chased everybody up in the hay mow. The next thing I rememberd we were moving from Baldwin to Trego or Minong,WI., as we lived at both places. Only we drove 125 miles with a covered wagon, 4 horses, 1 colt, and a dog behind. It took 4 days to get there. When we lived at Trego a bottle set the outhouse on fire from the sun shining on it. I had boils on my legs that left scars. After we moved to Minong we had to walk 3 miles to school. We made skiis and skied in the winter. Our neighbors lived about 1/4 mile away, they hauled water in cream cans from our place on a two wheeled cart. and I chopped one finger half off, still have the scar. Had a toe chopped off when I was 5 years old, had it sewn on again. I was about 13 years old then. Soon after that mother took us children and moved back to River Fallls. We had an apartment at a cousins place, and I went to school there until I was 17. When I was in school mother sent me and brother Vernon down to Auroraville(her home place) during the summer months while she worked out nursing. We picked rock on the farm for 50 cents a day for Aunt Grace and Uncle Smith. We also milked cows and did haying.
I quit school and went to work for a small farmer. He'd open a silo and 3 horses pawed it out onto a manure pile, ate it, and died. He wanted me to help burying them, so that started my farm life. I worked for a few years for 3 or 4 different farmers near River Falls. Then I worked one year at Oshkosh for Milkgrower for $40 per month. Mostly yard work, gardening, and had pigeons. Killed all and gave to Relief. I went back to River Falls in the fall of 1933. Then went to CCC camp at Aragon, WI. A farmer at River Falls got me out of the CCC.
Then in the spring of 1934 one of mother's brothers was back to Wisconsin from North Dakota, and wanted me to go west with him. So we started out west in an old car. We slept in a jail at Grandforks overnight, then we got to 6 miles east of Willow City, N.D. and got stuck in a snowbank. We left the car and walked to Willow City. There was 600 teams in town getting hay that was shipped in. His old boss was there, so we rode to the farm with him. I worked for him for a year or two then I got acquainted with Max Lauckner planting windbreaks in Aomoee county. I then worked for Earnest Lauckner for a few years. I worked for George Long at Kramer for 1 year or so.
I married Louise Lauckner on 19 November, 1938. We had a daughter born July 22, 1939. We moved to Deering, N.D. in the spring of 1939. Louise's father passed away in August, 1939. We farmed there for 1 year then moved back to Bottineau. A boy was born March 1, 1943, then another boy was born May 21, 1944. In the fall of 1944 we moved to Hills. I helped move elevators so we had a place to move in to. It was an old granary, 12 X 30. I cut logs and had them sawed, then built onto the place to make it 24 X 30. I dug the basement by hand, also a barn basement. Farmed with horses for many years. They were hard years. I did carpenter work for 5 years or so. Then I bought another 110 acres, then another 40, to make a total of 310 acres. I paid $9 per acre for the first 160, then $22 per acre for the 110, and $400 for the 40. I gave 140 acres to the boys. Then I had an ear cut off which was sewed back on by Dr. Malney. I had to sell some cows to pay the bill. I did yard work in Bottineau for one lady for 25 years. I also took care of the cemetery and dug graves by hand. Have lived at Hills for 37 years now.
I have had a bad heart for many years, and went on Social Security at age 62. I was on disability before that. I was 62 in 1971. In 1982 I worked for Green Thumb from May 1sr to Sept. 15th, 20 hours a week for minimum wage($125.02 every two weeks). Don't do much farming anymore. I help Ronald when I feel like it. I cut a little wood now and then if it isn't too cold. I do a little gardening in the summer.
A brother-in-law had a trailer on our place for 20 years or more. He passed away December 8th, 1981. We put up a pole barn where the trailer stood. We built it ourselves. Ron helped set the poles in the ground(they were green oak and very heavy).
Our oldest daughter got married in about 1962. She has two daughters, 19 and 21 years old. She lives at Prescott, WI. Our oldest boy has a boy 11, and a girl 6. They live in Portland, Oregon. Our 2nd boy has three boys and a girl, ranging in age from 11 to 4. They live at Bottineau,N.D. Our youngest daughter, born in 1947 has 2 girls and one boy, around 10 oldest, and 5 youngest. They live in Des Lacs, N.D. In April, 1983, I was in the hospital with pneumonia. It snowed 3-4 inches last night(April 17, 1983).
I had a bad year in 1983. it was too wet in the spring, and too dry all summer. The poorest potato crop we have since we lived at Hills. Had snow on my 74th birthday, 20 Sept. 1983. It is the 2nd of Oct now and we have had two frosty nights so far, but it is raining off today.
In the fall of 1944 we moved to Hills, and had a bad fall. We moved using a team and hay rack. We hauled sheep, pigs, and chickens on the rack, and tied the cows around the rack. We made a feed rack around, then built a straw shed. I had to haul the kids to school with a team, as we had no road yet. Then I would haul a jag of hay on the stone boat, enough for night and morning. I cut road sides for feed. There was a lot of woods in the hills then. Deer would sleep on the hill sides near the nouse. We kept sheep for many years, and they cleaned off the brush. I believe we sold our horse in the late 60's. when the children were through county school, they took the school bus. I used to do lots of deer huntng when 3 men from western N.D. came every year to hunt with me. We now go to the foothills of the Turtle Mountains to hunt. I have 2 hens, 8 little chicks and 2 cats at present."
OBITUARY--Bottineau,ND
Lyle D. Peck,80, died Tuesday in a Bottineau hospital. His funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. in First Lutheran Church, Bottineau, with burial in Zion Lutheran Cemtery, Kramer.
He was born Sept. 22, 1909 to Clark and Pearl Peck at Auroraville,WI., and grew up in that area. As a young man he came to North Dakota and worked on a farm near Kramer. He married Louise Lauckner Nov. 19, 1938, in Bottineau. They lived on farms near Deering and Bottineau before moving to a farm in the Turtle Mountains north of Bottineau in 1945.
He was a member of First Lutheran Church.
Survivors: wife; daughters, Darlene Norman, Prescott, Wash., Linda Brown, Des Lacs; sons, Lyle Jr., Gresham, Ore., Ronald, Bottineau; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; sister, Hazel Swenson, River Falls, Wis., stepsister, Dorothy Nicholson, Bottineau; several stepbrothers, stepsisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, all in Wisconsin.
Visitation will be Friday from 9 a.m. in Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau.
"Mother was born May 24, 1888 in Auroraville, Wsconsin. When she was 16 in 1904, she married Clark Waldo Peck. A daughter Hazel born July 14, 1907. I was born the 20th day Sept. 1909. I was born in Waushara Co., Aurora Twp., a few miles northeast of Berlin, near a cranberry marsh.
Mother and Father divorced when I was real young. Dad passed away in 1928. He remarried. I have a half brother and half sister in Janseville, WI. Dad was a soldier in WWI.
I had two brothers, one born Aug. 15, 1911, and one born Aug. 16, 1914. Both deceased.
We moved to River Falls, in early years of my life. Then mother kept house for a cousin of hers on a farm. When I was 9 years old I was going to country school in rural Baldwin,WI. While there a neighbor boy had goats. He had a ladder up on a barn roof and the goats went up the ladder onto the roof. Another time they shot a beef in the barn and it chased everybody up in the hay mow. The next thing I rememberd we were moving from Baldwin to Trego or Minong,WI., as we lived at both places. Only we drove 125 miles with a covered wagon, 4 horses, 1 colt, and a dog behind. It took 4 days to get there. When we lived at Trego a bottle set the outhouse on fire from the sun shining on it. I had boils on my legs that left scars. After we moved to Minong we had to walk 3 miles to school. We made skiis and skied in the winter. Our neighbors lived about 1/4 mile away, they hauled water in cream cans from our place on a two wheeled cart. and I chopped one finger half off, still have the scar. Had a toe chopped off when I was 5 years old, had it sewn on again. I was about 13 years old then. Soon after that mother took us children and moved back to River Fallls. We had an apartment at a cousins place, and I went to school there until I was 17. When I was in school mother sent me and brother Vernon down to Auroraville(her home place) during the summer months while she worked out nursing. We picked rock on the farm for 50 cents a day for Aunt Grace and Uncle Smith. We also milked cows and did haying.
I quit school and went to work for a small farmer. He'd open a silo and 3 horses pawed it out onto a manure pile, ate it, and died. He wanted me to help burying them, so that started my farm life. I worked for a few years for 3 or 4 different farmers near River Falls. Then I worked one year at Oshkosh for Milkgrower for $40 per month. Mostly yard work, gardening, and had pigeons. Killed all and gave to Relief. I went back to River Falls in the fall of 1933. Then went to CCC camp at Aragon, WI. A farmer at River Falls got me out of the CCC.
Then in the spring of 1934 one of mother's brothers was back to Wisconsin from North Dakota, and wanted me to go west with him. So we started out west in an old car. We slept in a jail at Grandforks overnight, then we got to 6 miles east of Willow City, N.D. and got stuck in a snowbank. We left the car and walked to Willow City. There was 600 teams in town getting hay that was shipped in. His old boss was there, so we rode to the farm with him. I worked for him for a year or two then I got acquainted with Max Lauckner planting windbreaks in Aomoee county. I then worked for Earnest Lauckner for a few years. I worked for George Long at Kramer for 1 year or so.
I married Louise Lauckner on 19 November, 1938. We had a daughter born July 22, 1939. We moved to Deering, N.D. in the spring of 1939. Louise's father passed away in August, 1939. We farmed there for 1 year then moved back to Bottineau. A boy was born March 1, 1943, then another boy was born May 21, 1944. In the fall of 1944 we moved to Hills. I helped move elevators so we had a place to move in to. It was an old granary, 12 X 30. I cut logs and had them sawed, then built onto the place to make it 24 X 30. I dug the basement by hand, also a barn basement. Farmed with horses for many years. They were hard years. I did carpenter work for 5 years or so. Then I bought another 110 acres, then another 40, to make a total of 310 acres. I paid $9 per acre for the first 160, then $22 per acre for the 110, and $400 for the 40. I gave 140 acres to the boys. Then I had an ear cut off which was sewed back on by Dr. Malney. I had to sell some cows to pay the bill. I did yard work in Bottineau for one lady for 25 years. I also took care of the cemetery and dug graves by hand. Have lived at Hills for 37 years now.
I have had a bad heart for many years, and went on Social Security at age 62. I was on disability before that. I was 62 in 1971. In 1982 I worked for Green Thumb from May 1sr to Sept. 15th, 20 hours a week for minimum wage($125.02 every two weeks). Don't do much farming anymore. I help Ronald when I feel like it. I cut a little wood now and then if it isn't too cold. I do a little gardening in the summer.
A brother-in-law had a trailer on our place for 20 years or more. He passed away December 8th, 1981. We put up a pole barn where the trailer stood. We built it ourselves. Ron helped set the poles in the ground(they were green oak and very heavy).
Our oldest daughter got married in about 1962. She has two daughters, 19 and 21 years old. She lives at Prescott, WI. Our oldest boy has a boy 11, and a girl 6. They live in Portland, Oregon. Our 2nd boy has three boys and a girl, ranging in age from 11 to 4. They live at Bottineau,N.D. Our youngest daughter, born in 1947 has 2 girls and one boy, around 10 oldest, and 5 youngest. They live in Des Lacs, N.D. In April, 1983, I was in the hospital with pneumonia. It snowed 3-4 inches last night(April 17, 1983).
I had a bad year in 1983. it was too wet in the spring, and too dry all summer. The poorest potato crop we have since we lived at Hills. Had snow on my 74th birthday, 20 Sept. 1983. It is the 2nd of Oct now and we have had two frosty nights so far, but it is raining off today.
In the fall of 1944 we moved to Hills, and had a bad fall. We moved using a team and hay rack. We hauled sheep, pigs, and chickens on the rack, and tied the cows around the rack. We made a feed rack around, then built a straw shed. I had to haul the kids to school with a team, as we had no road yet. Then I would haul a jag of hay on the stone boat, enough for night and morning. I cut road sides for feed. There was a lot of woods in the hills then. Deer would sleep on the hill sides near the nouse. We kept sheep for many years, and they cleaned off the brush. I believe we sold our horse in the late 60's. when the children were through county school, they took the school bus. I used to do lots of deer huntng when 3 men from western N.D. came every year to hunt with me. We now go to the foothills of the Turtle Mountains to hunt. I have 2 hens, 8 little chicks and 2 cats at present."
OBITUARY--Bottineau,ND
Lyle D. Peck,80, died Tuesday in a Bottineau hospital. His funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. in First Lutheran Church, Bottineau, with burial in Zion Lutheran Cemtery, Kramer.
He was born Sept. 22, 1909 to Clark and Pearl Peck at Auroraville,WI., and grew up in that area. As a young man he came to North Dakota and worked on a farm near Kramer. He married Louise Lauckner Nov. 19, 1938, in Bottineau. They lived on farms near Deering and Bottineau before moving to a farm in the Turtle Mountains north of Bottineau in 1945.
He was a member of First Lutheran Church.
Survivors: wife; daughters, Darlene Norman, Prescott, Wash., Linda Brown, Des Lacs; sons, Lyle Jr., Gresham, Ore., Ronald, Bottineau; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; sister, Hazel Swenson, River Falls, Wis., stepsister, Dorothy Nicholson, Bottineau; several stepbrothers, stepsisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, all in Wisconsin.
Visitation will be Friday from 9 a.m. in Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau.
LOUISE LAUCKNER TELLS HER STORY
"When my father Earnest Lauckner first homesteaded he lived in a sod house which was located about 1/2 mile west of the house which he later built. That house is still standing 4 miles East and 3/4 mile South of Kramer,N.D.
Mother and Dad had just purchased another 160 acres, then some hard years came. The crops were bad, and the grasshoppers were so bad at times you could not even see the sun. There were some bad dust storms also. The dust would pile up as high as the tops of the fence posts. There were some real hard winters while the children were growing up. Dad would haul water in barrels for the cattle in the winter. He would thaw the snow in the house.
We would go to school in the winter in a covered sleigh pulled with horses. It would be 25 to 30 degrees below most of the time. When the weather was nice the older children had to help out a lot with the farming, so they did not get as much eduaction as the young ones did. Sometimes after the family had been cutting grain all day, they would put the children to bed and continue to work by setting up the grain they had cut for that day. All the farming was done with horses. We had 14 or more horses at times.
Max, the youngest child, was only nine months old when Ida, our mother passed away. Max stayed with Mrs. Bill Teske for a few months until Dad could no longer afford her price, and he brought Max back home. Dad managed to keep the family together through those difficult years.
We gave away a lot of vegetables every year, as Dad always had a large garden. Dad would do a lot of canning, make sauerkraut, and make dill pickles which we really enjoyed. We all helped milk the 10 to 12 cows, and Dad would make butter and sell the rest to the creamery. Then he would buy salt, sugar, 1000lbs. of flour, and 10 to 15 boxes of apples. Dad would bake very good bread, dougnuts, and molasses ginger cakes.
Each fall Dad would kill 3 or 4 big pigs and make very good sausage. He would make blood, liver, and meat sausage. He would also make hams and bacon. He would make enough to last the winter months, even longer. Dad was a butcher by trade before he farmed. He would raise 100 or more chickens, set hens, turkeys. He would dry pick some of them and ship them to Chicago in wooden barrels. Sometimes they would not keep well.
We would go to church in a buggy, and go visitng in the buggy. We got our first car from Willow city around 1935."
"When my father Earnest Lauckner first homesteaded he lived in a sod house which was located about 1/2 mile west of the house which he later built. That house is still standing 4 miles East and 3/4 mile South of Kramer,N.D.
Mother and Dad had just purchased another 160 acres, then some hard years came. The crops were bad, and the grasshoppers were so bad at times you could not even see the sun. There were some bad dust storms also. The dust would pile up as high as the tops of the fence posts. There were some real hard winters while the children were growing up. Dad would haul water in barrels for the cattle in the winter. He would thaw the snow in the house.
We would go to school in the winter in a covered sleigh pulled with horses. It would be 25 to 30 degrees below most of the time. When the weather was nice the older children had to help out a lot with the farming, so they did not get as much eduaction as the young ones did. Sometimes after the family had been cutting grain all day, they would put the children to bed and continue to work by setting up the grain they had cut for that day. All the farming was done with horses. We had 14 or more horses at times.
Max, the youngest child, was only nine months old when Ida, our mother passed away. Max stayed with Mrs. Bill Teske for a few months until Dad could no longer afford her price, and he brought Max back home. Dad managed to keep the family together through those difficult years.
We gave away a lot of vegetables every year, as Dad always had a large garden. Dad would do a lot of canning, make sauerkraut, and make dill pickles which we really enjoyed. We all helped milk the 10 to 12 cows, and Dad would make butter and sell the rest to the creamery. Then he would buy salt, sugar, 1000lbs. of flour, and 10 to 15 boxes of apples. Dad would bake very good bread, dougnuts, and molasses ginger cakes.
Each fall Dad would kill 3 or 4 big pigs and make very good sausage. He would make blood, liver, and meat sausage. He would also make hams and bacon. He would make enough to last the winter months, even longer. Dad was a butcher by trade before he farmed. He would raise 100 or more chickens, set hens, turkeys. He would dry pick some of them and ship them to Chicago in wooden barrels. Sometimes they would not keep well.
We would go to church in a buggy, and go visitng in the buggy. We got our first car from Willow city around 1935."
See Belmer Miller and George Foss' book "Small Potatoes" for some incidents involving Vernon Peck in his early years.
He raised his family in River Falls, and in May, 1967 he moved to Springbrook, WI.
See Belmer Miller and George Foss' book "Small Potatoes" for some incidents involving Vernon Peck in his early years.
He raised his family in River Falls, and in May, 1967 he moved to Springbrook, WI.
OBITUARY FOR VERNON PECK
River Falls Journal
Vernon Ray Peck,Sr., rural Springbrook died February 28, 1979 at the Community Memorial Hospital, in Spooner, Wis.
He was born August 15, 1911 at Auroraville, Wis. He was married June 3, 1936 to Ruth Wilhelm at River Falls. He was employed as a carpenter at River Falls for many eyars. In may, 1967 the family moved to Springbrook.
Besides his wife, he is survived by seven sons, Gerald, South Braintree, Mass.; Raymond, Westland,Mich.; Wade of River Falls; Duane; Hudson; Jerome, Superior; Vernon Jr., and Jeffery, Springbrook. Two daughters, Jeanette Blodgett, Maiden Rock; and Janice Gardner, Frederick; 20 grandchildren and 2 step-grandchildren, his mother and step-father, Mr. and Mrs. Jake Riemenschneider, River Falls, a brother Lyle of Bottineau,N.D.; a sister, Hazel Swenson, River Falls; a half-brother, Lawrence Peck of Janesville; a half-sister, Norma Metear, Janesville. Three step-brothers, Harold Riemenschneider, Lake Elmo,MN.; Conrad Riemenschneider, River Falls, Milton Riemenschneider, Brighton, Mich.; two step-sisters, Dorothy Lauckner, Kramer, N.D., and Lucille Minder, River Falls.
The funeral was wat 2 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at the Dahl funeral home in Spooner, Rev. Veryl Schubert officiated with burial at Car cemetery. Vernon is buried in the cemetery which is located just south of the old red brick schoolhouse at Earl,WI.
He raised his family in River Falls, and in May, 1967 he moved to Springbrook, WI.
See Belmer Miller and George Foss' book "Small Potatoes" for some incidents involving Vernon Peck in his early years.
He raised his family in River Falls, and in May, 1967 he moved to Springbrook, WI.
OBITUARY FOR VERNON PECK
River Falls Journal
Vernon Ray Peck,Sr., rural Springbrook died February 28, 1979 at the Community Memorial Hospital, in Spooner, Wis.
He was born August 15, 1911 at Auroraville, Wis. He was married June 3, 1936 to Ruth Wilhelm at River Falls. He was employed as a carpenter at River Falls for many eyars. In may, 1967 the family moved to Springbrook.
Besides his wife, he is survived by seven sons, Gerald, South Braintree, Mass.; Raymond, Westland,Mich.; Wade of River Falls; Duane; Hudson; Jerome, Superior; Vernon Jr., and Jeffery, Springbrook. Two daughters, Jeanette Blodgett, Maiden Rock; and Janice Gardner, Frederick; 20 grandchildren and 2 step-grandchildren, his mother and step-father, Mr. and Mrs. Jake Riemenschneider, River Falls, a brother Lyle of Bottineau,N.D.; a sister, Hazel Swenson, River Falls; a half-brother, Lawrence Peck of Janesville; a half-sister, Norma Metear, Janesville. Three step-brothers, Harold Riemenschneider, Lake Elmo,MN.; Conrad Riemenschneider, River Falls, Milton Riemenschneider, Brighton, Mich.; two step-sisters, Dorothy Lauckner, Kramer, N.D., and Lucille Minder, River Falls.
The funeral was wat 2 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at the Dahl funeral home in Spooner, Rev. Veryl Schubert officiated with burial at Car cemetery. Vernon is buried in the cemetery which is located just south of the old red brick schoolhouse at Earl,WI.
Grace inherited the home place and all of its belongings from her father Calvin. See the notes for Calvin where Hazel tells how the farm went to Grace. The will stipulated that the farm remain in the family. James Angle was still living on the place as of this writing in 1987. It was in the family for 100 years in the year 1969. Grace also inherited approximately 60 letters written home by Henry Harrison Smith Sr. while he was in the Civil War. Grace gave several of these letter away, the rest were given to her daughter Audrey. I have exact copies of about 58 of those letters.
Bette, Winnie, Hazel, and I visited the Angles at their home in 1966. While I was there I made some copies of the Civil War letters and a tintype photo of Henry Smith in his army uniform. While we were there we drove over to Red Granite,WI to visit Audrey(Angle) and her husband Orval Lehr.
Grace sent us a napkin and picture of she and Smith at their Golden Wedding party, September 22,
OBITUARY FOR GRACE ANGLE
Mrs. Grace Angle--
Mrs. Grace Angle, 79, Auroraville, passed away Monday evening, November 2, at the Berlin Memorial Hospital.
She was born in Auroraville on April 21, 1891, and married Smith Angle on September 22, 1915. He died in 1968. Mrs. Angle has lived in the Auroraville area most of her life.
Survivors include a daughter, Audrey(Mrs. Orval Lehr) of Redgranite; a son James, of Auroraville; a sister Mrs. Winnefred P. Riemenschneider(sic) of River Falls; nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at the Boyd Funeral Home today, at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Arthur North officiating, and burial will be at the Shead Island Cemetery.
Hazel Swenson said she always thought of her aunt Grace as her second mother.
Smith and Grace were married on 22 September 1915 in Auroraville,WI.
Smith never traveled beyond the borders of Waushara County his entire life. He was a man of small stature, very good natured, and always wore striped bib overalls. I think he probably wore a suit only a few times during his lifetime. I had the pleasure of meeting him one time in 1966.
Bette, Winnie, Hazel, and I visited the Angles at their home in 1966. While I was there I made some copies of the Civil War letters and a tintype photo of Henry Smith in his army uniform. While we were there we drove over to Red Granite,WI to visit Audrey(Angle) and her husband Orval Lehr.
Grace sent us a napkin and picture of she and Smith at their Golden Wedding party, September 22,
OBITUARY FOR GRACE ANGLE
Mrs. Grace Angle--
Mrs. Grace Angle, 79, Auroraville, passed away Monday evening, November 2, at the Berlin Memorial Hospital.
She was born in Auroraville on April 21, 1891, and married Smith Angle on September 22, 1915. He died in 1968. Mrs. Angle has lived in the Auroraville area most of her life.
Survivors include a daughter, Audrey(Mrs. Orval Lehr) of Redgranite; a son James, of Auroraville; a sister Mrs. Winnefred P. Riemenschneider(sic) of River Falls; nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at the Boyd Funeral Home today, at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Arthur North officiating, and burial will be at the Shead Island Cemetery.
Hazel Swenson said she always thought of her aunt Grace as her second mother.
Smith and Grace were married on 22 September 1915 in Auroraville,WI.
Smith never traveled beyond the borders of Waushara County his entire life. He was a man of small stature, very good natured, and always wore striped bib overalls. I think he probably wore a suit only a few times during his lifetime. I had the pleasure of meeting him one time in 1966.
I visited the home of Audrey and Orval Lehr on two different trips to Auroraville and Red Granite. We exchanged Christmas cards for many years. She was the owner of the original Civil War letters of Henry Smith, as well as his tintype photo.
To me Floyd was one of those mysterious relatives who I knew as a child, but one I could never figure out how he was related until I carried out this work. I remember him as a sober kindly man who always recognized me on the streets of River Falls, and would say "hello George" whenever we met.
Floyd was a tall man with coarse features who was always dressed in work clothes, and showed the stain of chewing tobacco or snuff on his lips. He would always pass the time of day with my folks on a Saturday night in River Falls. I never heard a bad word spoken of him. He was one of those "live" and "let live" types who didn't seem to rock the boat.
The River Falls Journal reported on 8 August, 1918, that Floyd Smith of Fort Riley, Kansas spent Friday at the home of his Aunt, Mrs. Cora Smith.
Hazel Swenson told me that she compared Floyd to my uncle Clarence Smith in the way they spent their lives. Floyd worked as a janitor for the druggist Rosh Freeman and in the Tremont Building. He saved enough money to pay for his own funeral expenses, but he got sick and his money was used up before he died. He was buried in a pauper's grave in Greenwood cemetery in River Falls. He was living in Finn's Rest Haven that was located 1 block East of the Cedar Street Bridge. Hazel made the funeral arrangements.
According to LaVerne Smithh(Clifford), Floyd was buried in a pauper's grave(no marker) on the hillside in Greenwood cemetery in River Falls.
Hazel said Floyd liked to come out and visit her family, and he especially liked her recipe for hash brown potatoes.
Floyd was a tall man with coarse features who was always dressed in work clothes, and showed the stain of chewing tobacco or snuff on his lips. He would always pass the time of day with my folks on a Saturday night in River Falls. I never heard a bad word spoken of him. He was one of those "live" and "let live" types who didn't seem to rock the boat.
The River Falls Journal reported on 8 August, 1918, that Floyd Smith of Fort Riley, Kansas spent Friday at the home of his Aunt, Mrs. Cora Smith.
Hazel Swenson told me that she compared Floyd to my uncle Clarence Smith in the way they spent their lives. Floyd worked as a janitor for the druggist Rosh Freeman and in the Tremont Building. He saved enough money to pay for his own funeral expenses, but he got sick and his money was used up before he died. He was buried in a pauper's grave in Greenwood cemetery in River Falls. He was living in Finn's Rest Haven that was located 1 block East of the Cedar Street Bridge. Hazel made the funeral arrangements.
According to LaVerne Smithh(Clifford), Floyd was buried in a pauper's grave(no marker) on the hillside in Greenwood cemetery in River Falls.
Hazel said Floyd liked to come out and visit her family, and he especially liked her recipe for hash brown potatoes.
The George Bradley Smith Family
George & Serepta Smith were 2nd cousins. We don't have an exact marriage date for George and Serepta. but we can make an estimate from the birthdate of their firstborn, Ezra. Ezra was born on 17 March, 1879. Assuming this was not a "shotgun" marriage, then counting back nine months it would give an approximate marriage date of June, 1878.
ABOUT KISSIN' COUSINS?
Marriage between first and second cousins has long been a taboo in American society. Common wisdom holds that unions between such close relatives will produce children who are sickly or, worse, who suffer from major birth defects. But in 2002 research by Robin Bennett, a genetic counselor at the University of Washington, found that the genetic risks of marriage betwen first cousins have been greatly overestimated.
Bennett found that children from first-cousins are 1.7 to 2.8 percent more likely to have a serious birth defect than are chlidren of unrelated couples. Although the elevated risk is significant, "it is much lower than people have assumed," says Bennett.
There is a deep-seated belief in this country that first-cousin unions are harmful. Bennett believes that attitude may be rooted in American farmer's experience that extreme inbreeding produces unhealthy livestock. The idea that inbreeding is detrimental also has a solid theoretical basis. Biologists hold that unfavorable mutations, which pop up at random in all populations, will be gradually weeded out of large groups by wide-ranging interbreeding. But in small populations, individuals may be forced to inbreed, or mate with those that are genetically similar to themselves. Among these groups, the theory goes, there will be a build up of harmful changes. The high prevalence of Tay-Sachs disease among Ashkenazi Jews, for instance, is often cited as a prime example of the dangers of inbreeding within small groups.
Bennett concurs, noting that small, isolated groups that intermarry for generations, such as the Mennonites, are often at a higher risk for genetic disorders than are unrelated groups of people. But a single-generation first-cousin marriage is different than systematic close-relation marriages of a closed population, where mutations may have been built up over time. Two random cousins, should theoretically carry fewer mutations than members of a highly inbred population. Cousins aren't completely home free, however. If two individuals carry the same genetic mutation, their children can get a double dose--possibly resulting in disease. The chance that two unrelated people carry matching mutations is lower than that for cousins, who share, on average, 1/8 of their genes.
Given these variables, Bennett believes that first cousins should be given a choice. "For some cousins, the risk may be too high, but for others, it may be acceptable," she says. And because the risk of a birth defect is only a little above the background risk for unrelated couples, Bennett contends that disallowing cousin marriages actually amounts to a form of eugenics. "We hope that people will re-examine why such marriages are illegal," she says.
If you would like more on this subject go to http://www.cousincouples.com.
ABOUT KISSIN' COUSINS?
Marriage between first and second cousins has long been a taboo in American society. Common wisdom holds that unions between such close relatives will produce children who are sickly or, worse, who suffer from major birth defects. But in 2002 research by Robin Bennett, a genetic counselor at the University of Washington, found that the genetic risks of marriage betwen first cousins have been greatly overestimated.
Bennett found that children from first-cousins are 1.7 to 2.8 percent more likely to have a serious birth defect than are chlidren of unrelated couples. Although the elevated risk is significant, "it is much lower than people have assumed," says Bennett.
There is a deep-seated belief in this country that first-cousin unions are harmful. Bennett believes that attitude may be rooted in American farmer's experience that extreme inbreeding produces unhealthy livestock. The idea that inbreeding is detrimental also has a solid theoretical basis. Biologists hold that unfavorable mutations, which pop up at random in all populations, will be gradually weeded out of large groups by wide-ranging interbreeding. But in small populations, individuals may be forced to inbreed, or mate with those that are genetically similar to themselves. Among these groups, the theory goes, there will be a build up of harmful changes. The high prevalence of Tay-Sachs disease among Ashkenazi Jews, for instance, is often cited as a prime example of the dangers of inbreeding within small groups.
Bennett concurs, noting that small, isolated groups that intermarry for generations, such as the Mennonites, are often at a higher risk for genetic disorders than are unrelated groups of people. But a single-generation first-cousin marriage is different than systematic close-relation marriages of a closed population, where mutations may have been built up over time. Two random cousins, should theoretically carry fewer mutations than members of a highly inbred population. Cousins aren't completely home free, however. If two individuals carry the same genetic mutation, their children can get a double dose--possibly resulting in disease. The chance that two unrelated people carry matching mutations is lower than that for cousins, who share, on average, 1/8 of their genes.
Given these variables, Bennett believes that first cousins should be given a choice. "For some cousins, the risk may be too high, but for others, it may be acceptable," she says. And because the risk of a birth defect is only a little above the background risk for unrelated couples, Bennett contends that disallowing cousin marriages actually amounts to a form of eugenics. "We hope that people will re-examine why such marriages are illegal," she says.
If you would like more on this subject go to http://www.cousincouples.com.
Below are the death records for both George B., and Serepta Jane Smith
I knew my grandfather George Bradley Smith very well. He was my grandfather on my mothers side. But I never knew my grandfather Andrew Foss because he died before I was born. Our family was much closer to the Smiths than the Foss’s, and besides I had eleven Smith aunts and uncles, and only two uncles and an aunt on the Foss side. On top of that our family wasn’t especially close socially with any of the Foss’s, while at the same time mother was very close with her brothers and sisters(you could call them a clan). It was because of this clan-like relationship our family had with the Smith relatives that I was able to eventually construct a sizable Smith genealogy.
Grandma Serepta died before I was born, but I did know both of Grandpa’s other two wives. His second wife Ella died on 24 May 1932 when I was only five years old, but I still remember visiting at their home on Lincoln Street on the West Side of River Falls,WI. I can remember their house and just about how it looked inside. To keep me occupied while my folks were visiting, Grandma would dig out the stereoptican and several boxes of pictures. I loved to sit out on their front porch and study these 3-D pictures.
Grandpa took great pride in his home. Everything was in good repair and he always had a well-landscaped yard. He always seemed to live comfortably on the government pension money that was paid for his son Arlow who died from Spanish influenza in 1918 at the U.S. Navy base at Great Lakes Illinois. Grandpa like salt pork, boiled tea(he called it "biled" tea), and George Washington chewing tobacco. When he chewed, it was almost a ritualistic event. He would turn on the Amos 'n Andy radio show everyday after lunch, then he would sit in his specially-padded rocker, place a pail on a paper beside him, and then he would open his large can of tobacco, dip into it and extract a large pinch, throw his head back, and toss it in. Then, all alone, he would sit and do nothing but chew and spit, and listen to the radio. He had a full console model radio with a big speaker. Being hard of hearing, he would turn up the volume on full base. The entire neighborhood could listen to "Amos 'n Andy" all summer long without having to turn on their own radios.
Winnie said Grandpa never swore. His only emotional outbursts might consist of "by Cracky!", and "Gol Dern." My Dad said that Grandpa was a better than average hunter, and was a deadly shot with his Winchester lever-action(octagon barrel) 32-Special. Grandpa also liked to fish, and he preferred to catch and eat crappies. He managed to spend a week each summer at some northern resort fishing.
I also remember when Grandma Ella died. I didn't go to the funeral, but I do remember going to the house on the day of the funeral. The door was locked and my Dad had to enter the house through a window. What they were searching for I don't know.
The marriage record for Ella and Grandpa can be found in Vol 14, pp24, 7 April, 1919 in the Pierce County Ct.Hse., in Ellsworth ,WI. They first lived in Hayward, WI. before removing to River Falls. It was at Hayward when Ella was cutting grandpa’s hair out in their back yard they were accosted by a black bear. Ella saved grandpa by pouring boiling water on the bear. The bear ran off, but Grandpa was badly scalded at the same time. It should be noted that Ella was a cripple having one arm off at the elbow.
Grandpa married an old acquaintance Annie Schorn Lovely almost exactly one year after Ella died. I believe they were married in Minneapolis,MN by the justice of the peace.
Grandpa and Annie lived in three different places in River Falls until their health failed and they separated to go and live with their respective children--about 1942.
Grandpa lived first with his son Clifford and his family, then he moved in with daughter Gertie and her family, then with Arthur & Bessie Foss. Finally, after Bessie became terminally ill, Grandpapa moved to Lampson,WI. to live with his grandson Harold Smith and his family. Grandpa died at Harold's home on Dec. 14, 1945 at 10:20 p.m. from pulmonary edema-senility at age 90. His daughter Bessie(my mother) died two weeks later on Dec. 28,1945. I was in the Navy stationed in San Francisco at the time, and I made it home in time to be the last person Bessie recognized before slipping into a coma and finally death the following morning. She had been too ill to attend her father's funeral two weeks earlier. Then, to cap it off, on the day of my mother's funeral, when they went to pick up my father's sister Louisa Eaton to attend my mother's funeral, they found her dead in bed. This was a very traumatic time in my life.
When I returned to the Navy base at San Francisco the Marine Shore Patrol at the gate didn't like the looks of my papers that showed an emergency leave plus extension, so they put me in the brig until my ship finally got me released. What a chaotic time in my life!
OBITUARY FOR GEORGE B. SMITH
River Falls Journal
Father--George Bradley Smith, youngest son of Moses and Betsey Smith was born June 19, 1855 at Malone, New York. In 1877 he was united in marriage to Sarepta Jane Smith who passed away Dec. 1915. Thirteen children were born to this union, five preceding him in death. He has made this city his home for the past 27 year leaving here 3 weeks ago to visit his Grandson, Harold Smith of Lampson where he passed away Dec. 14, 1945 at the age of 90 years, 5 months and 26 days.
He leaves to mourn his passing eight children: Charles, Wallace, Clarence, Clifford, Gertrude, Bessie of River Falls; Belle of Delphos, Kansas and Ruth of Red Wing, Minn. also 40 grandchildren and 34 great grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at the Finn&Segerstrom Funeral Home Monday, Dec. 17, at 2:00 p.m.
Interment in Greewood Cemetery, Rev. Arthur Johnson officiating.
________
I would like to comment on the obituary given above as an example of the type of errors one encounters while doing genealogical research. I don't know who wrote that obituary, but I would guess that it came from one of his surviving children other than Bessie(she was too ill at the time).
For one thing, George Smith was born in Owls Head, N.Y.
Notice the spelling for Serepta is given as Sarepta. The correct spelling Serepta is found in prior records written by Serepta herself. See the obituary for Serepta under her notes.
At the time of his death, Grandpa didn't go to Lampson for a "visit," but to live permanently, because none of his immediate children could agree to take him after Bessie became too ill to care for him.
The obituary fails to mention the marriages of George to Ella(Ream) Annis and Anna(Schorn) Lovely. The marriage record for George and Ella can be found in Vol.14,pp24,in the Pierce County Ct.Hse., in Ellsworth,WI. The death record for Ella is found in Vol. 10, pp 306, 24 May, 1932.
From what I can deduce from the information I have found, Grandpa simply did not find what he was looking for his entire life. This is self-evident by following his movements over his lifetime, which was an almost impossible task. He moved approximately 16 times over the course of his married life, and fathered 13 children. Poor Serepta, she could be a poster child for “barefoot & pregnant.”
George B. Smith moved with his folks from Owls Head, N.Y., to a homestead in Wisconsin in 1869 at age 14. He is mentioned numerous times in the Civil War letters by his brother Henry. Then three years later in 1872, John Smith(nephew to Moses)of Morristown, N.Y. bought a farm that was probably very close to the Moses Smith farm near Auroraville, Wisconsin. His oldest daughter Serepta was 11 years of age at the time. Six years later in 1878 George and Serepta were married. Serepta was 17, and George was 23.
Auroraville and Irma
George and Serepta raised their family of 13 children over a span of 26 years from the time their first child Ezra, born in 1879 at Auroraville to 1903 when their last child Ruth was born in at Irma. We can follow the movements of George and Serepta by noting the birthplaces of their children.
Ezra born in Auroraville 1879
Charles born in Windom, MN 1880
Arthur born in Auroraville 1882
Myrtle born in River Falls 1884
Wallace born in Irma 1885
Gertrude born in Auroraville 1887
Belle born in Auroraville 1888
Ward born in Auroraville 1892
Clarence born in Auroraville 1895
Bessie born in Auroraville 1896
Arlow born in Auroraville 1897
Clifford born in Irma 1902
Ruth born in Irma 1903
We know that basically, George was a farmer, but it’s a wonder he ever harvested a mature crop, or was able to keep a roof over his family’s head. By examining the newspaper record while the family lived near Irma it indicates George had an entrepenurial spirit and ability that enabled him to survive with such a large family.
He started his family on the home place of his father Moses at Auroraville. Below is a photo of his family outside his parent’s log home that was built by Moses. That would later be the site of a modern frame home that Bette and I visited in 1966. The remains of the original log home were still visible at that time as part of a utility outbuilding.
The photo was probably made in the year 1886, because Serepta is not visibly pregnant with her next child, Gertrude, who would be born in Auroraville in 1887. The child in the high chair would be Wallace who is hardly a year old, born in 1885 at Irma. The lady on the front porch would be George’s mother Betsey Ann(age 66).
Grandma Serepta died before I was born, but I did know both of Grandpa’s other two wives. His second wife Ella died on 24 May 1932 when I was only five years old, but I still remember visiting at their home on Lincoln Street on the West Side of River Falls,WI. I can remember their house and just about how it looked inside. To keep me occupied while my folks were visiting, Grandma would dig out the stereoptican and several boxes of pictures. I loved to sit out on their front porch and study these 3-D pictures.
Grandpa took great pride in his home. Everything was in good repair and he always had a well-landscaped yard. He always seemed to live comfortably on the government pension money that was paid for his son Arlow who died from Spanish influenza in 1918 at the U.S. Navy base at Great Lakes Illinois. Grandpa like salt pork, boiled tea(he called it "biled" tea), and George Washington chewing tobacco. When he chewed, it was almost a ritualistic event. He would turn on the Amos 'n Andy radio show everyday after lunch, then he would sit in his specially-padded rocker, place a pail on a paper beside him, and then he would open his large can of tobacco, dip into it and extract a large pinch, throw his head back, and toss it in. Then, all alone, he would sit and do nothing but chew and spit, and listen to the radio. He had a full console model radio with a big speaker. Being hard of hearing, he would turn up the volume on full base. The entire neighborhood could listen to "Amos 'n Andy" all summer long without having to turn on their own radios.
Winnie said Grandpa never swore. His only emotional outbursts might consist of "by Cracky!", and "Gol Dern." My Dad said that Grandpa was a better than average hunter, and was a deadly shot with his Winchester lever-action(octagon barrel) 32-Special. Grandpa also liked to fish, and he preferred to catch and eat crappies. He managed to spend a week each summer at some northern resort fishing.
I also remember when Grandma Ella died. I didn't go to the funeral, but I do remember going to the house on the day of the funeral. The door was locked and my Dad had to enter the house through a window. What they were searching for I don't know.
The marriage record for Ella and Grandpa can be found in Vol 14, pp24, 7 April, 1919 in the Pierce County Ct.Hse., in Ellsworth ,WI. They first lived in Hayward, WI. before removing to River Falls. It was at Hayward when Ella was cutting grandpa’s hair out in their back yard they were accosted by a black bear. Ella saved grandpa by pouring boiling water on the bear. The bear ran off, but Grandpa was badly scalded at the same time. It should be noted that Ella was a cripple having one arm off at the elbow.
Grandpa married an old acquaintance Annie Schorn Lovely almost exactly one year after Ella died. I believe they were married in Minneapolis,MN by the justice of the peace.
Grandpa and Annie lived in three different places in River Falls until their health failed and they separated to go and live with their respective children--about 1942.
Grandpa lived first with his son Clifford and his family, then he moved in with daughter Gertie and her family, then with Arthur & Bessie Foss. Finally, after Bessie became terminally ill, Grandpapa moved to Lampson,WI. to live with his grandson Harold Smith and his family. Grandpa died at Harold's home on Dec. 14, 1945 at 10:20 p.m. from pulmonary edema-senility at age 90. His daughter Bessie(my mother) died two weeks later on Dec. 28,1945. I was in the Navy stationed in San Francisco at the time, and I made it home in time to be the last person Bessie recognized before slipping into a coma and finally death the following morning. She had been too ill to attend her father's funeral two weeks earlier. Then, to cap it off, on the day of my mother's funeral, when they went to pick up my father's sister Louisa Eaton to attend my mother's funeral, they found her dead in bed. This was a very traumatic time in my life.
When I returned to the Navy base at San Francisco the Marine Shore Patrol at the gate didn't like the looks of my papers that showed an emergency leave plus extension, so they put me in the brig until my ship finally got me released. What a chaotic time in my life!
OBITUARY FOR GEORGE B. SMITH
River Falls Journal
Father--George Bradley Smith, youngest son of Moses and Betsey Smith was born June 19, 1855 at Malone, New York. In 1877 he was united in marriage to Sarepta Jane Smith who passed away Dec. 1915. Thirteen children were born to this union, five preceding him in death. He has made this city his home for the past 27 year leaving here 3 weeks ago to visit his Grandson, Harold Smith of Lampson where he passed away Dec. 14, 1945 at the age of 90 years, 5 months and 26 days.
He leaves to mourn his passing eight children: Charles, Wallace, Clarence, Clifford, Gertrude, Bessie of River Falls; Belle of Delphos, Kansas and Ruth of Red Wing, Minn. also 40 grandchildren and 34 great grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at the Finn&Segerstrom Funeral Home Monday, Dec. 17, at 2:00 p.m.
Interment in Greewood Cemetery, Rev. Arthur Johnson officiating.
________
I would like to comment on the obituary given above as an example of the type of errors one encounters while doing genealogical research. I don't know who wrote that obituary, but I would guess that it came from one of his surviving children other than Bessie(she was too ill at the time).
For one thing, George Smith was born in Owls Head, N.Y.
Notice the spelling for Serepta is given as Sarepta. The correct spelling Serepta is found in prior records written by Serepta herself. See the obituary for Serepta under her notes.
At the time of his death, Grandpa didn't go to Lampson for a "visit," but to live permanently, because none of his immediate children could agree to take him after Bessie became too ill to care for him.
The obituary fails to mention the marriages of George to Ella(Ream) Annis and Anna(Schorn) Lovely. The marriage record for George and Ella can be found in Vol.14,pp24,in the Pierce County Ct.Hse., in Ellsworth,WI. The death record for Ella is found in Vol. 10, pp 306, 24 May, 1932.
From what I can deduce from the information I have found, Grandpa simply did not find what he was looking for his entire life. This is self-evident by following his movements over his lifetime, which was an almost impossible task. He moved approximately 16 times over the course of his married life, and fathered 13 children. Poor Serepta, she could be a poster child for “barefoot & pregnant.”
George B. Smith moved with his folks from Owls Head, N.Y., to a homestead in Wisconsin in 1869 at age 14. He is mentioned numerous times in the Civil War letters by his brother Henry. Then three years later in 1872, John Smith(nephew to Moses)of Morristown, N.Y. bought a farm that was probably very close to the Moses Smith farm near Auroraville, Wisconsin. His oldest daughter Serepta was 11 years of age at the time. Six years later in 1878 George and Serepta were married. Serepta was 17, and George was 23.
Auroraville and Irma
George and Serepta raised their family of 13 children over a span of 26 years from the time their first child Ezra, born in 1879 at Auroraville to 1903 when their last child Ruth was born in at Irma. We can follow the movements of George and Serepta by noting the birthplaces of their children.
Ezra born in Auroraville 1879
Charles born in Windom, MN 1880
Arthur born in Auroraville 1882
Myrtle born in River Falls 1884
Wallace born in Irma 1885
Gertrude born in Auroraville 1887
Belle born in Auroraville 1888
Ward born in Auroraville 1892
Clarence born in Auroraville 1895
Bessie born in Auroraville 1896
Arlow born in Auroraville 1897
Clifford born in Irma 1902
Ruth born in Irma 1903
We know that basically, George was a farmer, but it’s a wonder he ever harvested a mature crop, or was able to keep a roof over his family’s head. By examining the newspaper record while the family lived near Irma it indicates George had an entrepenurial spirit and ability that enabled him to survive with such a large family.
He started his family on the home place of his father Moses at Auroraville. Below is a photo of his family outside his parent’s log home that was built by Moses. That would later be the site of a modern frame home that Bette and I visited in 1966. The remains of the original log home were still visible at that time as part of a utility outbuilding.
The photo was probably made in the year 1886, because Serepta is not visibly pregnant with her next child, Gertrude, who would be born in Auroraville in 1887. The child in the high chair would be Wallace who is hardly a year old, born in 1885 at Irma. The lady on the front porch would be George’s mother Betsey Ann(age 66).
He moved to Windom,MN(following another relative) for a year or two before returning to Auroraville. In another year or two he moved to River Falls, where Serepta’s father had relocated. Then just as quickly he removed to Irma. A short time later he removed back to Auroraville where he remained several years until he once again removed to Irma in 1899. At Auroraville, His sister Jane was married to a successful man named Charles Vedder who owned a creamery at nearby Omro. By the time George returned to Irma at least three of his sons were working as lumberjacks at that place. His older sister Milly Ann had married a man named Count Goodnow who was a successful lumberman at Irma. No doubt that was a factor in his decision to locate there. The photo shows the family at their humble dwelling in Irma.
Back:Lto R- Belle, Gertie, Charley, Wally, Ward,Arthur and Ezra),Front: Serepta, Clifford, Arlow, Clarence,George holding Bessie. Ruth not born yet. Below are scenes of the family at Irma.
1895 Map of Lincoln County where you can see Irma, Giilbert, Chat, Merril and Tomahawk
Winnie said Ezra and his brother Charlie dated Miss Parrot, the teacher at the Lincoln County School at Irma,WI
Second marriage: River Falls Jounal, Feb. 17, 1909. Ezra G. Smith of Kinnickinnic and Miss Mabelle Drew of Milwaukee were married Feb. 17, 1909 at one o'clock at their future home, the Ensign place, in Kinnickinnic.
U.S Census 1920--city of River Falls
Ezra G. Smith age40 Carpenter
Mabel (wife) age34
Esther 10
Ellis 8
Dorothy 5
Amanda Mae 3
Clarabelle 1
Ezra worked for the railroad putting up water towers, pumping water, etc., in Altoona,WI. He also worked in a pea factory in Cumberland in 1924.
River Falls, Journal: Jan. 11, 1919. Ezra G. Smith narrowly escaped death last Sunday afternoon when a 22 caliber bullet from the rifle of a youthful nimrod struck him in the back of the neck as he was driving in the country a short distance South of town. The bullet passed through the collar of his overcoat and also through three folds of his shirt collar, penetrating the rear of his neck for about three inches, making a painful, though not serious wound.
Ezra's death record is recorded in Vol 8, pp118, 24 May, 1928, at the Pierce County Court House, in Ellsworth,WI.
OBITUARY FOR EZRA G. SMITH
River Falls Journal
Ezra George Smith died at his home here, Thursday, May 24, at the age of 49 years, 2 months, 7 days. He was born at Auroraville,Wis., March 17, 1879. In 1909 he was united in marriage to May Belle Drew and of this union were born eight children: one boy and sven girls, Ellis, Esther, Dorothy, Amanda Mae, Clara Belle, Velma, Evelyn, and Vidella. He leaves besides these, to mourn his loss a wife, his father, George B. Smith, four sisters, and six brothers, Mrs. Fay Miller, Mrs. Arthur Foss, Clarence, Clifford, and Ward all of River Falls. Mrs. Homer Annis, of Delphos, Kansas, Mrs. Vernon Erickson, of Red Wing,Minn., and Arthur Smith of Minong,Wis., and a host of friends and relatives. His brother and one sister preceded him
He bore his suffering through 9 weeks of his illness with the utmost patience.
The funeral services were held Saturday May 26th, at the First Baptist Church. Rev. O.A.
Second marriage: River Falls Jounal, Feb. 17, 1909. Ezra G. Smith of Kinnickinnic and Miss Mabelle Drew of Milwaukee were married Feb. 17, 1909 at one o'clock at their future home, the Ensign place, in Kinnickinnic.
U.S Census 1920--city of River Falls
Ezra G. Smith age40 Carpenter
Mabel (wife) age34
Esther 10
Ellis 8
Dorothy 5
Amanda Mae 3
Clarabelle 1
Ezra worked for the railroad putting up water towers, pumping water, etc., in Altoona,WI. He also worked in a pea factory in Cumberland in 1924.
River Falls, Journal: Jan. 11, 1919. Ezra G. Smith narrowly escaped death last Sunday afternoon when a 22 caliber bullet from the rifle of a youthful nimrod struck him in the back of the neck as he was driving in the country a short distance South of town. The bullet passed through the collar of his overcoat and also through three folds of his shirt collar, penetrating the rear of his neck for about three inches, making a painful, though not serious wound.
Ezra's death record is recorded in Vol 8, pp118, 24 May, 1928, at the Pierce County Court House, in Ellsworth,WI.
OBITUARY FOR EZRA G. SMITH
River Falls Journal
Ezra George Smith died at his home here, Thursday, May 24, at the age of 49 years, 2 months, 7 days. He was born at Auroraville,Wis., March 17, 1879. In 1909 he was united in marriage to May Belle Drew and of this union were born eight children: one boy and sven girls, Ellis, Esther, Dorothy, Amanda Mae, Clara Belle, Velma, Evelyn, and Vidella. He leaves besides these, to mourn his loss a wife, his father, George B. Smith, four sisters, and six brothers, Mrs. Fay Miller, Mrs. Arthur Foss, Clarence, Clifford, and Ward all of River Falls. Mrs. Homer Annis, of Delphos, Kansas, Mrs. Vernon Erickson, of Red Wing,Minn., and Arthur Smith of Minong,Wis., and a host of friends and relatives. His brother and one sister preceded him
He bore his suffering through 9 weeks of his illness with the utmost patience.
The funeral services were held Saturday May 26th, at the First Baptist Church. Rev. O.A.
Esther graduated from RFHS in 1928--her photo is in the Kinnic Yearbook. She married Roy Zarbock January 5, 1928. Were they married before she graduated?
Esther and Roy Zarbock separated in about 1935 or 1936. Their children went to live with Ellis and Elsie Smith. Roy remained in River Falls while Esther went to Minneaplois, MN to seek work.
LaVerne Gerhardt told me about the time she visited her cousin Clara Belle Smith in St. Paul,MN in about 1936 or 1937. She recalls going to Minneapolis to visit Clarabelle Smith who was working as a maid for a wealthy family and attending high school in that city. At that time she and Clarabelle visited Esther at her apartment which LaVerne recalled was located in a very sleazy section of either Minneapolis or St. Paul. While they stayed with Esther over a week-end, both she and Clara Belle were shocked at the carrying-ons that took place. They were both convinced that Esther was engaged in prostitution. LaVerne had to promise Clara Belle that she would not tell her folks what she saw. LaVerne said she never told anyone of this epsode until she told me about it in 1990
In about 1938 or 1939 Esther and her two children, Verna Mae and Robert moved to California.
Verna Mae remained in California with her mother, while Robert returned to River Falls where he attended high school. Apparently, sometime after graduation from high school Bob returned to California where he met his future wife.
Sometime in the 1970's Belmer and Lora while traveling through California stopped twice in Los Angeles and called Esther on the phone, but she never invited them out to her home on either occasion.
Esther made several visits to River Falls. She came for the funeral of her mother, her brother Ellis, her sister Amanda Mae, and for Ruth Erickson. While she was here for Ruth Erickson's funeral she stayed at with Verne Erickson at his home in Red Wing,MN. Normally, when she visited River Falls she would stay with her sister-in-law Elsie Smith.. Esther also attended several of the Annual Smith Picnics held in Glen Park in River Falls. She visited at our home on Plainview Drive one of those times.
Esther had diabetes. She developed cataracts in both eyes, and was operated on. She became blinded when by accident she mistook a caustic medicine in the medicine cabinet for her eye drops. Unlike her sister Amanda Mae, she could not accept her blindness and became very difficult to handle.
Pastor Dana E. Hanson of First Lutheran Church of Northridge, CA. Officiated at her funeral. She was buried in Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth,CA.
Leroy was born and raised in the vicinity of Beldenville,WI. He lived and worked in an around River Falls all his life. I knew him quite well for many years.
Leroy Zarbock was killed in 1957 in an automobile accident on Hwy 35, about 5 mi. N. of River Falls, at about 5 p.m. on a very foggy day. He was driving south towards River Falls after coming from his work at Anderson's in Bayport,MN, when he collided with another car almost head-on. I came upon the scene of the accident as I was returning to River Falls from work at 3M Co. in St. Paul.
Leroy was buried in the Beldenville Cemetery in Beldenville, WI.
Esther and Roy Zarbock separated in about 1935 or 1936. Their children went to live with Ellis and Elsie Smith. Roy remained in River Falls while Esther went to Minneaplois, MN to seek work.
LaVerne Gerhardt told me about the time she visited her cousin Clara Belle Smith in St. Paul,MN in about 1936 or 1937. She recalls going to Minneapolis to visit Clarabelle Smith who was working as a maid for a wealthy family and attending high school in that city. At that time she and Clarabelle visited Esther at her apartment which LaVerne recalled was located in a very sleazy section of either Minneapolis or St. Paul. While they stayed with Esther over a week-end, both she and Clara Belle were shocked at the carrying-ons that took place. They were both convinced that Esther was engaged in prostitution. LaVerne had to promise Clara Belle that she would not tell her folks what she saw. LaVerne said she never told anyone of this epsode until she told me about it in 1990
In about 1938 or 1939 Esther and her two children, Verna Mae and Robert moved to California.
Verna Mae remained in California with her mother, while Robert returned to River Falls where he attended high school. Apparently, sometime after graduation from high school Bob returned to California where he met his future wife.
Sometime in the 1970's Belmer and Lora while traveling through California stopped twice in Los Angeles and called Esther on the phone, but she never invited them out to her home on either occasion.
Esther made several visits to River Falls. She came for the funeral of her mother, her brother Ellis, her sister Amanda Mae, and for Ruth Erickson. While she was here for Ruth Erickson's funeral she stayed at with Verne Erickson at his home in Red Wing,MN. Normally, when she visited River Falls she would stay with her sister-in-law Elsie Smith.. Esther also attended several of the Annual Smith Picnics held in Glen Park in River Falls. She visited at our home on Plainview Drive one of those times.
Esther had diabetes. She developed cataracts in both eyes, and was operated on. She became blinded when by accident she mistook a caustic medicine in the medicine cabinet for her eye drops. Unlike her sister Amanda Mae, she could not accept her blindness and became very difficult to handle.
Pastor Dana E. Hanson of First Lutheran Church of Northridge, CA. Officiated at her funeral. She was buried in Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth,CA.
Leroy was born and raised in the vicinity of Beldenville,WI. He lived and worked in an around River Falls all his life. I knew him quite well for many years.
Leroy Zarbock was killed in 1957 in an automobile accident on Hwy 35, about 5 mi. N. of River Falls, at about 5 p.m. on a very foggy day. He was driving south towards River Falls after coming from his work at Anderson's in Bayport,MN, when he collided with another car almost head-on. I came upon the scene of the accident as I was returning to River Falls from work at 3M Co. in St. Paul.
Leroy was buried in the Beldenville Cemetery in Beldenville, WI.
According to David B. Murphy, Verna and Cal had a daughter that they gave up for adoption. Barbara and Cathy discovered the adoption papers among their grandmother's effects after she passed away. Barbara and Cathy succeeded in locating this long lost sister, but nothing else is know about this as of Sept.2001.
According to Yahoo People Search Verna M. Scovil, age 78 was living in Hawthorne,CA as of May, 06.
According to Yahoo People Search Verna M. Scovil, age 78 was living in Hawthorne,CA as of May, 06.
I’m not sure, but I think Bob Zarbock lived at the home of Ellis and Elsie Smith. I believe Elsie’s daughter Dolores Eckstrom also lived with Ellis and Elsie at the same time. I know virtually nothing of the lives of either Bob Zarbock or Dolores Eckstrom because both of them travelled in a different social world from me. I knew Bob Zarbock very well, and although we were never close, we were always friendly towards one another. I also remember Dolores as a kind and friendly person.
As a young man Ellis contracted a disease that left him crippled and nearly hunch-backed, which caused him to walk stooped over. His friends "Trig" Smuland and another man whose name I can't recall suffered from the same affliction and all three were crippled in the same manner.
It is well-known among family members and townspeople that Ellis Smith, Trig Smuland and a third friend all contracted syphillis when they partied with some women from a Carnival that came to River Falls.
Both Ellis and Elsie worked for the River Falls Launders & Cleaners. Ellis was seriously injured while operating a spin dry machine when it nearly pulled his arm off at the shoulder. He nearly died, however, he recovered from that although permanently crippled by it.
A TIME OF REMEMBERANCES
After the funeral for Ellis all the relatives met at the home of Elsie Smith. Amada Mae Dahn was rapidly losing her eyesight from the effects of diabetes and she wanted to see as many friends and relatives as she could at that time.
Esther talked about when the Smiths lived in Altoona, WI. while Ezra worked for the railroad. They lived in a boxcar which was outfitted much like a trailer house.
They told how Herb Smith(husband of Cora) was a heavy drinker and used to sleep off his drunks in the livery stable located behind the Hotel Gladstone.
Dorothy said she and her family all referred to Aunt Winnie as "Winnie Bads," but I never learned the reason for this. Winnie and May Belle were very close childhood friends back in Auroraville,WI., and Dorothy knew Winnie very well, especially those episodes related to her by her mother. They knew about Winnie and Charley being lovers, and they knew about Charley marrying Ethel Schmidt in Auroraville. They didn't know about Charlie having a son named John by Ethel, they always thought it was Winnie who had him. Nor did they know that Charles Smith was Charley’s son by his brother Wally’s wife Lura.
Dorothy told me that she was the one who helped name me when I was born. At first they planned to call me George Arthur, then George Bradley, and then Dorothy suggested George Delman which they all thought was pretty good. After a minutes thought, they all agreed this was a good name. My mother, Bessie, always told me that Aunt Maude Foss gave me the name Delman. In any event, my Uncle Chris Foss and Aunt Maude were my godparents at my baptism. Maybe that is how mother came to think of Aunt Maude as naming me?
Dorothy said that her Dad Ezra had a beautiful bass singing voice, but he would never sing in the church choir because he would start to choke as the result of a goitre.
OBITUARY FOR ELLIS MYRON SMITH
River Falls Journal
Ellis Myron Smith died at St. Joseph Hospital in River Fals, Sunday, Dec. 10, 1967.
He had been hospitalized for five weeks. He was born to Ezra and Mabel Smith, Dec. 22, 1911 in River Falls, and lived there all his life. He was married to Elsie Eckstrom Sept. 3, 1938. He was employed at the River Falls, Laundry 34 years as a dry cleaner. The past two years he was employed at Nor-Lake,Inc. in Hudson, Wis.
He leaves to mourn, his wife Elsie, one daughter, Delores(Mrs. Kenneth Kakac) of Prescott; five sisters: Mrs. Esther Zarbock, Downey, CA.,; Mrs. Velma Groover and Mrs. Wayne(Evelyn) McCoy both of Lantana, Florida, Mrs. Charles Helmick(Dorothy) of Yakima, Wash; Mrs. Arnold Dahn(Amanda) of L:e Sueur,Minn.; and one aunt, Mr.s Vernon Erickson(ruth) Erickson of Red Wing, Minn.; and one uncle, Clifford Smith of New Richmond, Wis. His mother and father and two sisters preceded him in death.
Visitation was held at Apostolic Church in River Falls,, with Rev. Dale Aarens officiating. Interment was in Greenwood Cemeterthe Cashman-Segerstrom Mortuary on Tuesday, with funeral services on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the y.
The Smith girls asked me to sit with them as a mourner.
River Falls Journal
Elsie Smith, 88, of river Falls, died tuesday, June 19, 1999 at The Lutheran Home, River Falls.
She is survived by a niece, a nephew , and friends.
The funeral was on Thurs. July 1, at 2p.m, at the Lutheran Home. Cashman Mortuary handled the arrangements.
Elsie's Social Security Number was 393-09-9669
She was survived by a niece, Ruth Hisel(Arthur) of 404 Timothy Lane, McHenry, Il 60050, and a nephew from Hager City,WI.
I knew Ellis and Elsie and her daughter Dolores Eckstrom Kakack very well. I rmember them seated at the bar in Trig Smuland's lounge. They seemed to have reserved seats in that bar. One could see them seated at the bar as you looked into the window as you walked down Main Street in River Falls.
After Ellis passed away Elsie attended the annual Smith picnic held in Glen Park in River Falls every year until her health failed. I have many photos of her at the picnic.
It is well-known among family members and townspeople that Ellis Smith, Trig Smuland and a third friend all contracted syphillis when they partied with some women from a Carnival that came to River Falls.
Both Ellis and Elsie worked for the River Falls Launders & Cleaners. Ellis was seriously injured while operating a spin dry machine when it nearly pulled his arm off at the shoulder. He nearly died, however, he recovered from that although permanently crippled by it.
A TIME OF REMEMBERANCES
After the funeral for Ellis all the relatives met at the home of Elsie Smith. Amada Mae Dahn was rapidly losing her eyesight from the effects of diabetes and she wanted to see as many friends and relatives as she could at that time.
Esther talked about when the Smiths lived in Altoona, WI. while Ezra worked for the railroad. They lived in a boxcar which was outfitted much like a trailer house.
They told how Herb Smith(husband of Cora) was a heavy drinker and used to sleep off his drunks in the livery stable located behind the Hotel Gladstone.
Dorothy said she and her family all referred to Aunt Winnie as "Winnie Bads," but I never learned the reason for this. Winnie and May Belle were very close childhood friends back in Auroraville,WI., and Dorothy knew Winnie very well, especially those episodes related to her by her mother. They knew about Winnie and Charley being lovers, and they knew about Charley marrying Ethel Schmidt in Auroraville. They didn't know about Charlie having a son named John by Ethel, they always thought it was Winnie who had him. Nor did they know that Charles Smith was Charley’s son by his brother Wally’s wife Lura.
Dorothy told me that she was the one who helped name me when I was born. At first they planned to call me George Arthur, then George Bradley, and then Dorothy suggested George Delman which they all thought was pretty good. After a minutes thought, they all agreed this was a good name. My mother, Bessie, always told me that Aunt Maude Foss gave me the name Delman. In any event, my Uncle Chris Foss and Aunt Maude were my godparents at my baptism. Maybe that is how mother came to think of Aunt Maude as naming me?
Dorothy said that her Dad Ezra had a beautiful bass singing voice, but he would never sing in the church choir because he would start to choke as the result of a goitre.
OBITUARY FOR ELLIS MYRON SMITH
River Falls Journal
Ellis Myron Smith died at St. Joseph Hospital in River Fals, Sunday, Dec. 10, 1967.
He had been hospitalized for five weeks. He was born to Ezra and Mabel Smith, Dec. 22, 1911 in River Falls, and lived there all his life. He was married to Elsie Eckstrom Sept. 3, 1938. He was employed at the River Falls, Laundry 34 years as a dry cleaner. The past two years he was employed at Nor-Lake,Inc. in Hudson, Wis.
He leaves to mourn, his wife Elsie, one daughter, Delores(Mrs. Kenneth Kakac) of Prescott; five sisters: Mrs. Esther Zarbock, Downey, CA.,; Mrs. Velma Groover and Mrs. Wayne(Evelyn) McCoy both of Lantana, Florida, Mrs. Charles Helmick(Dorothy) of Yakima, Wash; Mrs. Arnold Dahn(Amanda) of L:e Sueur,Minn.; and one aunt, Mr.s Vernon Erickson(ruth) Erickson of Red Wing, Minn.; and one uncle, Clifford Smith of New Richmond, Wis. His mother and father and two sisters preceded him in death.
Visitation was held at Apostolic Church in River Falls,, with Rev. Dale Aarens officiating. Interment was in Greenwood Cemeterthe Cashman-Segerstrom Mortuary on Tuesday, with funeral services on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the y.
The Smith girls asked me to sit with them as a mourner.
River Falls Journal
Elsie Smith, 88, of river Falls, died tuesday, June 19, 1999 at The Lutheran Home, River Falls.
She is survived by a niece, a nephew , and friends.
The funeral was on Thurs. July 1, at 2p.m, at the Lutheran Home. Cashman Mortuary handled the arrangements.
Elsie's Social Security Number was 393-09-9669
She was survived by a niece, Ruth Hisel(Arthur) of 404 Timothy Lane, McHenry, Il 60050, and a nephew from Hager City,WI.
I knew Ellis and Elsie and her daughter Dolores Eckstrom Kakack very well. I rmember them seated at the bar in Trig Smuland's lounge. They seemed to have reserved seats in that bar. One could see them seated at the bar as you looked into the window as you walked down Main Street in River Falls.
After Ellis passed away Elsie attended the annual Smith picnic held in Glen Park in River Falls every year until her health failed. I have many photos of her at the picnic.
I remember when I was a small boy going with my mother to see Dorothy with her new baby. However, as the story unfolded in our family, this is what really took place:
It seems that Clara Belle became pregnant while she was working as a maid and going to highschool in Minneapolis. Shortly before she was to deliver she went to live with her sister Dorothy and Charles Helmick. They lived in an apartment at 106 S. Fourth Street in River Falls. Dorothy feigned pregnancy for only a very short time by making herself up to look like she was pregnant. When Clarabelle had the baby, Dorothy jumped into bed and pretended the baby was hers. It really didn't fool anyone--however, everyone went along with the charade as though it really happened. Gene Helmick was born on 1 July 1937. Everyone in our family continues to believe to this day that Clara Belle was the real mother of Gene Helmick. This story was confirmed by David Murphy in Sept. 2000.
Dorothy and her sisters attended the 12th Annual Smith Picnic(Aug. 1977) at Glen Park in River Falls. They also visited at our home out on Plainview Drive at that time.
Copied from her funeral card:
In Loving memory of DOROTHY MARIE HELMICK
Date and Place of Birth January 16, 1914 River Falls,Wisconsin
Date and Place of Death March 5, 2000 Yakima, Washington
Graveside Service Terrace Memorial Park, Wed. Mar. 8, 2000 11:00A.M.
Officiating: Rev. Harley Dyck
Music selections: "Beyond The Sunset" and "In The Garden."
Casket Bearers: Richard Wood, Kenneth Stacy, Dustin Stacy,
Earl Helmick and Charles Helmick III
There was no written obituary.
It seems that Clara Belle became pregnant while she was working as a maid and going to highschool in Minneapolis. Shortly before she was to deliver she went to live with her sister Dorothy and Charles Helmick. They lived in an apartment at 106 S. Fourth Street in River Falls. Dorothy feigned pregnancy for only a very short time by making herself up to look like she was pregnant. When Clarabelle had the baby, Dorothy jumped into bed and pretended the baby was hers. It really didn't fool anyone--however, everyone went along with the charade as though it really happened. Gene Helmick was born on 1 July 1937. Everyone in our family continues to believe to this day that Clara Belle was the real mother of Gene Helmick. This story was confirmed by David Murphy in Sept. 2000.
Dorothy and her sisters attended the 12th Annual Smith Picnic(Aug. 1977) at Glen Park in River Falls. They also visited at our home out on Plainview Drive at that time.
Copied from her funeral card:
In Loving memory of DOROTHY MARIE HELMICK
Date and Place of Birth January 16, 1914 River Falls,Wisconsin
Date and Place of Death March 5, 2000 Yakima, Washington
Graveside Service Terrace Memorial Park, Wed. Mar. 8, 2000 11:00A.M.
Officiating: Rev. Harley Dyck
Music selections: "Beyond The Sunset" and "In The Garden."
Casket Bearers: Richard Wood, Kenneth Stacy, Dustin Stacy,
Earl Helmick and Charles Helmick III
There was no written obituary.
Gene was the out-of-wedlock child of Clarabelle Smith(biological father unknown). Gene is really a cousin to Christine(Helmick), Earl Helmick, and a half-brother to Gerald Michaels
River Falls Journal--- Clara Belle Smith daughter of Mrs. Ezra Smith, graduated from Miller High and Vocational School in Minneapolis, last Friday evening. She was 17 years old at the time.
Shortly after graduating from high school Clarabelle became pregnant from an unnamed man. She had been living in Minneapolis,MN with her sister Esther. To cover up Clara Belle’s pregnancy, her sister Dorothy pretended to be pregnant for a short period of time. When the baby was delivered by Clarabelle at some unkown location, it was immediately given to Dorothy who pretended to have mothered the child. This ruse didn't fool anyone. I remember going over to the Helmick home to visit Dorothy and her "new" baby while they were still confined to a bed. My mother said it was impossible to carry out that ruse, but Dorothy, Clarabelle, and others persisted. The baby boy was then permanently raised to manhood by Dorothy and Chuck Helmick out in Yakima,
Clara Belle Smith and Bert Michaels were married on 23 Sept. 1940 out in California. According to my present records I have the birth date for their son Gerald as August, 1939. I have never been able to resolve this seeming discrepancy.
Some years later Clara Belle and "Mike" moved to River Falls where "Mike purchased the Phillips 66 Service Station on Main Street from Milt Brooks.
In about 1951 Clara Belle and "Mike" entertained at an open house and family reunion in honor of May Belle Smith Bennett’s 80th birthday.. My Dad and I attended.
A daughter named Lynda Gale was born to Clara Belle’s sister Evelyn Murphy in 1953. Evelyn was terribly abused by William Murphy, and as a result she ended up with serious emotional problems for many years after that. I don't have any real facts to go on, but Evelyn told me herself that Clara Belle and "Mike" took Lynda into their family to raise. Sometime in about 1958 or 1959, "Mike" sold out and moved his family to California taking Lynda Gale with them. Bert was a pallbearer for Arthur Foss who died 10 June, 1958. This would have been in River Falls, WI.
After they returned to California with the child Lynda, Evelyn said that Clara Belle and "Mike" tried to adopt Lynda by proving that Evelyn was an incompetent mother. After Evelyn remarried in 1960, and Clara Belle died in 1963, Evelyn regained custody of Lynda.
I remember Lynda as a little toddler with Clara Belle and "Mike" when they lived in River Falls. See the page for Evelyn’s son David Murphy for more details.
Shortly after graduating from high school Clarabelle became pregnant from an unnamed man. She had been living in Minneapolis,MN with her sister Esther. To cover up Clara Belle’s pregnancy, her sister Dorothy pretended to be pregnant for a short period of time. When the baby was delivered by Clarabelle at some unkown location, it was immediately given to Dorothy who pretended to have mothered the child. This ruse didn't fool anyone. I remember going over to the Helmick home to visit Dorothy and her "new" baby while they were still confined to a bed. My mother said it was impossible to carry out that ruse, but Dorothy, Clarabelle, and others persisted. The baby boy was then permanently raised to manhood by Dorothy and Chuck Helmick out in Yakima,
Clara Belle Smith and Bert Michaels were married on 23 Sept. 1940 out in California. According to my present records I have the birth date for their son Gerald as August, 1939. I have never been able to resolve this seeming discrepancy.
Some years later Clara Belle and "Mike" moved to River Falls where "Mike purchased the Phillips 66 Service Station on Main Street from Milt Brooks.
In about 1951 Clara Belle and "Mike" entertained at an open house and family reunion in honor of May Belle Smith Bennett’s 80th birthday.. My Dad and I attended.
A daughter named Lynda Gale was born to Clara Belle’s sister Evelyn Murphy in 1953. Evelyn was terribly abused by William Murphy, and as a result she ended up with serious emotional problems for many years after that. I don't have any real facts to go on, but Evelyn told me herself that Clara Belle and "Mike" took Lynda into their family to raise. Sometime in about 1958 or 1959, "Mike" sold out and moved his family to California taking Lynda Gale with them. Bert was a pallbearer for Arthur Foss who died 10 June, 1958. This would have been in River Falls, WI.
After they returned to California with the child Lynda, Evelyn said that Clara Belle and "Mike" tried to adopt Lynda by proving that Evelyn was an incompetent mother. After Evelyn remarried in 1960, and Clara Belle died in 1963, Evelyn regained custody of Lynda.
I remember Lynda as a little toddler with Clara Belle and "Mike" when they lived in River Falls. See the page for Evelyn’s son David Murphy for more details.
I remember Velma as a very pleasant happy teenager. She interacted with our Foss family many times. She seemed to be a very bright person.
Velma had a topsy-turvy married life.
Her first marriage was to Theodore Tanfield on May 4, 1941. He was in the military. They had two boys, "Ted" jr., and Noel.
They divorced.
Then Velma married William Groover. they had one son William.
William Groover committed suicide
Then Velma remarried "Ted' Tanfield for the second time. Then she and "Ted' had another son name Ronald.
It is well-known that Velma became deeply involved in religious work of some kind. It was reported that she was involved in some far out cult--but this is only hearsay. In any event she became estranged with all of her former family. Velma died from cancer.
Velma had a topsy-turvy married life.
Her first marriage was to Theodore Tanfield on May 4, 1941. He was in the military. They had two boys, "Ted" jr., and Noel.
They divorced.
Then Velma married William Groover. they had one son William.
William Groover committed suicide
Then Velma remarried "Ted' Tanfield for the second time. Then she and "Ted' had another son name Ronald.
It is well-known that Velma became deeply involved in religious work of some kind. It was reported that she was involved in some far out cult--but this is only hearsay. In any event she became estranged with all of her former family. Velma died from cancer.
Evelyn was terribly abused by her first husband William S. Murphy. Family lore has it that he tried to murder Evelyn by poisoning her with carbon monoxide gas in their garage. This incident occurred in 1951. It is said that Evelyn nearly died from that, and as a result, she ended up with serious emotional problems for many years after that. In 1955 during Evelyn's recovery, her sister Clarabelle and her husband Mike Michels took Evelyn's youngest child Lynda and raised her as their own.
Evelyn moved back to River Falls in 1955 with her two sons Bill and David. The two sons were placed in foster homes in River Falls soon after that. David was a foster child of the Bersengs until he was age 12(1960). In 1959 Evelyn moved to Florida to live with another sister Velma(Tanfield) while her two sons remained behind. In 1960 she met and married Wayne MCoy a career Army man. That same year they moved to Albany,Ga. It was here that she was reunited with her son David in late 1960. Then in 1963 after Clarabelle died suddenly, she was reunited with her daughter Lynda who was then age 10.
Her marriage to Wayne McCoy proved to be good, and they lived happily together until his death in 1998 in Castlebury, Florida.
After Wayne died, Evelyn again suffered from deep depression, and she went to Colorado to live with her son Bill for a time until she recovered sufficiently to return to her home in Castlebury, Florida(a suburb of Orlando). After a short residence in Castlelbury she moved back to Colorado Springs to be near her daughter Lynda and her son Bill.
When her cancer returned and her death was imminent, she moved in with her son Bill in Divide,Colorado. She passed away on June 26, 2004, and according to her wishes she was cremated and her ashes were buried next to her loving, caring husband, Wayne McCoy, in Orlando,Fl.
I knew Evelyn very well as a teen ager. She was a very pleasant caring person. She had a heart of gold, deserving only the best things in life. But that wasn’t to be. Her first marriage and aftermath was a tragedy for both she and her three children.
At the time she returned to River Falls with her two sons she used to visit Bette and me and confided in us with her family problems. Bette and I didn’t realize how serious her life situation was at that time. It wasn’t until I began my genealogical research that I learned from her son David what a terrible life she had until she married Wayne. It was only then that she had any semblance of the good things life had to offer.
Evelyn moved back to River Falls in 1955 with her two sons Bill and David. The two sons were placed in foster homes in River Falls soon after that. David was a foster child of the Bersengs until he was age 12(1960). In 1959 Evelyn moved to Florida to live with another sister Velma(Tanfield) while her two sons remained behind. In 1960 she met and married Wayne MCoy a career Army man. That same year they moved to Albany,Ga. It was here that she was reunited with her son David in late 1960. Then in 1963 after Clarabelle died suddenly, she was reunited with her daughter Lynda who was then age 10.
Her marriage to Wayne McCoy proved to be good, and they lived happily together until his death in 1998 in Castlebury, Florida.
After Wayne died, Evelyn again suffered from deep depression, and she went to Colorado to live with her son Bill for a time until she recovered sufficiently to return to her home in Castlebury, Florida(a suburb of Orlando). After a short residence in Castlelbury she moved back to Colorado Springs to be near her daughter Lynda and her son Bill.
When her cancer returned and her death was imminent, she moved in with her son Bill in Divide,Colorado. She passed away on June 26, 2004, and according to her wishes she was cremated and her ashes were buried next to her loving, caring husband, Wayne McCoy, in Orlando,Fl.
I knew Evelyn very well as a teen ager. She was a very pleasant caring person. She had a heart of gold, deserving only the best things in life. But that wasn’t to be. Her first marriage and aftermath was a tragedy for both she and her three children.
At the time she returned to River Falls with her two sons she used to visit Bette and me and confided in us with her family problems. Bette and I didn’t realize how serious her life situation was at that time. It wasn’t until I began my genealogical research that I learned from her son David what a terrible life she had until she married Wayne. It was only then that she had any semblance of the good things life had to offer.
Evelyn "Lynn" Smith, age 17, high school photo
I got the following email from David Murphy on 7 Sept. 2001:
"Hello Cousin, I'm Dave Murphy, Evelyn's son. My half-brother Dennis somehow saw some information about my mom's family and forwarded it to me which had the link to you. By the way, I have a copy of the Smith History. Outstanding job you did. I have a lot of information that can fill in some of the "holes". For example...................
George Foss: The following information that I received directly from David Murphy has been edited by me to remove certain passages that I deem too explicit to repeat on this forum.
My father William S. Murphy was abusive towards my mom. I have several memories I would rather forget. However, you know what they say, "you can't pick your parents."
I stayed with relatives while my mother recovered(overcome by carbon monoxide) She never completely did. To this day, she carries the effects of cabon monoxide asphyxiation. By the way, she's doing fine and is living in Colorado near Bill Jr. and Lynda.
Your dates are a little off. Mom took Bill Jr. and I to River Falls in 1955. I started the first grade at what was then the River Falls Teacher's College. I have a class photo from the first grade with the date on it. I remember Clara telling my mother before we left, 'Lynn, it's going to be too much trouble taking that baby with you on that long train trip to River Falls. Why don't you leave Lynda with us and we'll send her to you after you get settled in.' About a year later Clara and Mike moved to River Falls where he ran the Phillips 66 station. Yes, I learned much later as an adult that Clara had an illegitimate child which of course was scandalous back then.
Eventually, I went to a foster home. In 1959, Velma invited mom to come to Florida and stay with her. Mom asked me my opinion because she didn't want to leave me in Wisconsin. I told her to go because I knew she would die if she stayed. Best thing she ever did. In 1960 she married my stepfather, T/Sgt Wayne F. McCoy, USAF, who was also the best thing that ever happened to me. In the summer of 1960 I was out of that hell hole foster home and on my way to Turner AFB in Albany, Georgia. I graduated from high school in Albany and enlisted in the Navy. After the Navy, I used my GI Bill to get my college degree and was commissioned in the USAF as a 2nd Lt. I retired as a Major in 1994. I was divorced from my first wife in 1995 and remarried Jittawadee Rodcharoen in 1998. Jitta is from Thailand and receive her Ph.D in Entomology from the University of California, Riverside. January of this year she asked me what I thought of her going on active duty in the Army as a Captain. After thinking it over we decided to do it. So now we are living in Queidersbach Germany. We've been here since June. I don't speak much German yet but I will before we come back.
I'd like to tell you more if you're interested. I don't know how old the link is that my brother forwarded to me so hopefully your email address is till good. I would definitely like to meet you one day (if I haven't already done so when I was a little kid in River Falls).
Bye for now. Hope that this message gets to you and that you are in good health. David"
I answered the above email, and got the following reply on 8 Sept. 2001: "George, I am so glad to hear from you! I have my Smith Family Heritage right here on my lap as I type. I don't have mom's address handy (it's in my address book which is out of sight at the moment) but her phone number is (719)597-5436. I'll get her new address for you as soon as I locate my address book. She is planning to come stay with us in Germany hopefully next month. Hope to keep her with me at least until Spring. Perhaps indefinitely.
There are a lot of skeletons in the Smith closet -- some of which I know about. However, I'm reluctant to discuss some of them because of the impact on people I care a lot about. For example, I have a first cousin who to this day doesn't know who his real mother is (was) and also doesn't know he has a brother. Do you know what I'm talking about? Sandy told Denise before she died and Denise told me. Mom, after quite a bit of pressure, confirmed it but made me swear never to tell about it -- to those of course who don't already know.
River Falls for the most part was a bad time for me. However, the hardships I went through there toughened me and taught me to stand on my own feet at an early age. Mom, through no fault was unable to take care of us after my grandmother and Vic died. By the way, you know that Vic made Maybelle's tombstone. Remember he was an engraver at Melgard Monument at the end of Main St. I used to hang out there occasionally and watch him work. Anyway, after grandma and Vic died things were really hard. Bill Jr. was in a boys home in Wittenberg. Mom would go to work as a practical nurse at the nursing home over near where Ellis lived around 3:00p.m. and I would be by myself until she came home in the early morning. I would get home from school, play with my friends and go home to an empty house with nothing to eat. I remember many times searching the cupboards over and over thinking perhaps I missed something. Basically, for a long time I ate lunch at school and pretty much nothing else. Before Bill was taken away, I remember a couple of times I would hear a knock at the door. When I answered it no one was there but there was a box of food. It wasn't until I was a grown man that I found out that it was Bill who had been stealing food from the local grocery or wherever, to feed me. Eventually he got caught with that and other things and was taken away. Later they took me too. I went to the Borgerson's (Rudolph and Fanny) and stayed there until Mom married Wayne. The Borgerson's didn't abuse me but I was never made to feel a part of the family. I was there to work and I sure did. Although, they had a spare bedroom for guests, I had to sleep on a cot in the hallway upstairs. On the other hand, Bill was abused at the Boy's Home. On one occasion, one of the house parents actually broke a canoe oar beating him with it.
I guess the thing I don't understand is that my uncle Ellis was just across town and did nothing. He had to know. My God, I would never allow my sister or brother's children go through what we went through. Mom said she had a falling out with him around that time because he blamed us for Grandmother's death. Apparently he thought we were too much for her - and maybe we were. I was just a little kid. But I sure treasure the time I spent with my grandmother. I used to hang out with her in that big kitchen a lot. We used to talk about everything. And, of course I went to church with her every Sunday and Wednesday too. Grandmother and I were pals and it brings tears to my eyes now as I write this remembering. Vic on the other hand was different. I don't think he liked me much or maybe he just didn't like kids much in general. He seemed grumpy all the time. I remember he had to run down to the basement to smoke and I think he took a nip now and then too ( it's hard to hide things from an adventurous kid).
Anyway, I remember River Falls well. I remember the night Roy(Zarbock) was killed in the car wreck. I remember he lived in Beldenville. The thing is, life got so much better when mom married Wayne. I owe him a lot. He married a woman with 3 children and eventually re-united all of us. I'll never forget the letter I got from mom when she told me to sit down if I wasn't already because she got married and was on her way to get me. You see, the worse part about being at Borgerson's was I didn't know how long I would be there or anything about my future for that matter.
One other thing. To this day I can never forgive Mike Michaels for what he did to my mother. Perhaps you knew him in a different light. I know Clara was frightened of him. I remember one Christmas season about a week before Christmas we were over at Clara's on one of the rare occasions I was allowed there. Mom had been trying to find something for Lynda and since she didn't have much money and since Lynda already had just about everything., it was hard for her. We were sitting on Clara's couch in the living room. Suddenly mom started to cry. She had noticed under the tree that the few gifts she had wrapped for Lynda had the tags changed from "from Mother" to "from Santa Claus." It broke her heart -- ans mine too -- and still does to this day. The last few months before Mike and Clara left for California in late 1958, they had started to let mom be around Lynda more and more. Lynda was allowed to stay with mom for a few hours at grandmother's. The day before they left Lynda was at grandmother's with mom. Mike came to get her and mom would not give her to him. A struggle ensued. Mom was holding on to Lynda and Mike slapped my mother seceral times as he ripped Lynda from her grasp. When he hit my mother, my dog Sandy went nuts. I didn't have to sic her on him. She bit the hell out of him. George, one thing I have to say. A man should think twice before striking a boy's mother in front of him because one day that boy will become a man and come after you. Mike is a lucky man for dying before I had a chance to come after him because I never forgot it and had every intention of kicking the crap out of him. For what it's worth, I had it out with my biological father as well for what he did to mom and us -- basically abused her and did nothing for us.
Anyway, I graduated from high school in Albany GA and enlisted in the navy in 1966 before the Army drafted me. I married Helen Glausier who was a local girl from Albany and we had 4 children. Christina Michelle, born 2 Aug 68, in Sanford FL., David Jr., born 29 Feb 76 in Northridge CA, Jeanette Renee` born 31 May 81 in Albany GA, and Brian Stanley born 30 July 82 at Vandenberg AFB,CA. I stayed married to Helen for almost 27 years and called it quits. She had a mental illness that got increasingly worse (manic depressive - BiPolar) and I got tired of re-building my life again and again after she repeatedly destroyed everything we had.
Oh yeah, after the navy, I completed my degree in Biology and was commissioned in the Air Force via ROTC at USC in Los Angeles. My first assignment was as a Minuteman II ICBM Combat Crew Commander at the 321st Strategic Missle Wing, Grand Forks, AFB,ND. Me and another Lieutenant spent 24 hours in a concrete bunker with keys to 150 thermonuclear warheads waiting to start armageddon. After that, I went to Vandenberg AFB initially to teach the weapon system and later as a Range Control Officer for what was then the Western Test Range. While there I found out the Air Force owned ships. I got a follow-un job as the Senior Military officer in charge of the Observation Island, a $1B platform for the Cobra Judy Program (you can look up both the ship and the program on the Internet). I used to sit off the coast -- very close off the coast -- of the Soviet Union and look, watch,, and listen. It was a fun job. After that, I went to Space Systems Division, Los Angeles Air Force Base,CA as Chief of the Mission Planning Division for Space Test and Transportation. I was responsible for finding space flight for DOD payloads on anything flying into space. I had secondary payloads on nearly every Space Shuttle flight either in a mid-deck locker or "GAS" can. That was probably the job that was the most fun. I got to go onboard the Shuttle Orbiters and do fit checxks to make sure the payloads would work properly and all kinds of other neat stuff. I have about 5 hours logged at the controls of the Space Shuttle Full Motion Simulator at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
I retired in 94 and went to work for a mosquito abatement district in Los Angeles where I met my present wife Jittawadee. She has a doctorate in entomology. She would advise me on the pesticides to use to kill mosquitoes, Black flies, ticks, and Africanized Honey Bees. Actually, I was the guy along with 2 of my field technicians who found the first established hive of Africanized Honey Bees(AHBs) in Los Angeles County. I was taping the recovery of a swarm for training purposes when I thought these bees were different. I took sample back to the lab and they tested positive for AHB. When it hit the news, the media used my film footage for all the news shots.
Jitta and I have a daughter, Cynthia Lorraine, born 7 Nov 1999 in Los Angeles. Yup, she was born on my mother's birthday. I intended naming her after mom anyway (Lorraine) but that just made it better.
Well, I better end this for now. Need to help Jitta with the baby. Again, I'm really glad to hear from you and would like to know more about the skeletons. I'm very interested to know more about what my grandmother was like as a young lady and also others. Bye for now, David
Reply to George Foss' email. 10 sept. 2001.
"To me the strange things that went on in the Ezra Smith family in regards to who was really who explained quite a lot. For example, it explains why Clarabelle wanted Lynda. We were at a family gathering for Thanksgiving around 1990 in Simi Valley CA when I was stationed at Los Angeles AFB. Denise, Richard, Bob Zarbok, and my mother were there. Denise spilled the beans and after my mother admitted it was true, we all looked at one another probably thinking the same thing. I can't emphasize enough that the cousin most affected by this doesn't know about it.(Foss: He is alluding to the fact that Clarabelle had an illegitimate child who was taken by her sister Dorothy to raise as a Helmick). After a lot of discussion with my mother and other cousins, we all agreed that things should best be left as they are. We're worried that the cousin in question, whom I'm sure after your message, you know what I'm talking about, will not be able to handle it. I'm not sure about Jerry. I want to tell him he has a brother but don't want it to come back to "me." I am tempted to discuss it with his wife to see what she thinks -- especially while my mother is still around to confirm. Again, I haven't done so because my mother asked me not to. Please be careful about the Family History updates.
Foss: the above is all water over the dam, because we now know that this information is now open for discussion because all of the persons involved know all the details.
Here's another twist. Verna and Cal had another daughter they gave up for adoption. This came to light after Esther died. Cathy and Barbara were going through her effects and found the adoption papers. They confronted Verna and she admitted it was true.
Apparently Verna and Cal were not getting along, were planning on splitting up and thought it best to give this new baby out for adoption. So they did. But they stayed together instead of splitting up. I think this baby was born after Barbara(Bobby Lynn). Cathy and Barbara located their long lost sister after a search.
I'm not sure what happened after that. I got my information from Bob Zarbok. He doesn't hear from his nieces much nor from Verna for that matter. The amazing thing to me is that even Bob didn't know about this incident.
Letter from David Murphy to George Foss, Dec. 2002:
"I think you will agree with me that this story seems to tie in several pieces of the Clara/Jerry/Gene saga. I'm telling this as I remember it without pulling any punches. I confess that even today I'm still upset at some of the things that happened when I was a boy in Wisconsin.
As you know my mother was overcome by carbon monoxide asphyxiation when I was a small child. She was brain damaged and although she has made a miraculous recovery some of the effects of that episode still plague her today. She is aware of her diminished abilities and a few years ago when I was having personal problems with my marriage and was really depressed I went to her for comfort as I guess the child in all of us will do no matter how old we are. At one point, she broke down and started crying telling me how she wasn't the person she was before the carbon monoxide incident and how she was aware of how changed she was because of it.
Anyway, about a year after Lynda was born, mon and dad split up. She hadn't recovered from the accident and her sisters, Esther, Velma, Sandy and Clara basically controlled much of her life making many decisions for her. Once, in the middle of the night Esther came and took us away from my dad. I can't blame her really as he was at times abusive. That was the last time my mother and father were together. We stayed with aunt Sandy (Vidella) for what seemed like several months and later stayed with Velma and Ted in Northern California when he was stationed at Travis AFB. I had my 6th birthday there. We stayed with them until he was assigned to Hickham AFB Hawaii. Ted had a friend who was temporarily assigned away and had an empty house. He arranged for us to stay there temporarily. I remember we had nothing and once some older neighbor kids took me in a wagon throughout the neighborhood collecting food.
In the Fall of 1955 mom's sisters arranged for us to go to Wisconsin. I remember when Clara told mom it would be too much for her to make the trip with all three children and suggested she leave Lynda with her temporarily until we got settled. I was very close to my baby sister and didn't like the idea of leaving her behind even for a little while. Little did I know I wouldn't get my sister back until she was 10.
So, we made the trip and I got to know my grandmother. I sued to hangout with her in that big kitchen at 130 E. Spring Street and we talked a lot. I even remember our old phone number. There were no area codes or prefixes. Ours was just 2210. We became very close in the short time I was with her until she died in 1957. About a year after we moved to Wisconsin, Clara and Mike moved there too. Mike bought the house across the street from Greenwood Elementary School and I think the Sinclair station on Main Street also.
This was a very bad time for us. My sister was kept away from me and I wasn't allowed to play with her or even see her much at all. I remember going to school and during recess I could see my sister in her yard and no one knew she was my sister. On rare occasions -- and I mean rare -- we would go over to Clara's or they would come over to Grandmother's house. I was never allowed to be alone and play with my sister. As far as she knew Jerry was her brother. He was with her all the time which made me angry. After all she was my sister, not his. (Keep in mind I'm recalling the memory from my child's mind at this time). Eventually, Clara allowed mom to baby sit Lynda during the day occasionally. I remember she insisted Lynda call my mother MommyLynn and call Clara Mommy Clara which even at my young age I thought was a bunch of crap.
I think one of the worst things that happened was during one Christmas season. Mom had very little money for Christmas and agonized over getting Lynda some presents because Clara and Mike had already bought her just about everything. Mom finally managed to buy Lynda a couple things she didn't already have., wrapped them and took them over to Clara's. A few days later on one of the very rare occasions we were over to Clara's house, Mom happened to see the gifts she had wrapped for Lynda under the tree and broke down crying. Turns out Clara and Mike had changed the tags. Instead of the one Mom had put on them they replaced them with new ones that said "From Santa" instead of "From Mommy." I tell you waht. It chokes me up even now after all these years when I remember seeing my mother cry over that.
An even worse thing happened later. Mike decided to move back to California in 1958. By now Mom was spending a lot more time with Lynda, age 5 at the time. When it came time for them to leave Mom was watching Lynda over at grandmother's house and Mike came over to get her. Mom was holding her and wouldn't let her go. Mike was trying to literally rip Lynda out of Mom's arms and when she wouldn't let her go he finally began to slap her. At that point both me and my dog Sandy attacked him. Sandy bit him pretty good and I got in a few licks too. I think I was about 8. The next time I saw Lynda she was 10 years old. I never forgot how Mike took Lynda away from Mom that day and vowed to go after him when I got older. He died before I got the chance but I'll tell you right now. If he hadn't died, I would have tracked him down and beat the crap out of him.
After grandmother and Vic died, things went down hill. Mom always had trouble finding work in River Falls. I remember she worked nights at Hillcrest nursing home. She would leave for work before I got home from school and would come home around mid-night. I would come home from school, play outside with my friends until they were called to dinner and then go home to an empty apartment with nothing to do and nothing to eat. I read books for entertainment. I remember many many times endlessly searching the cupboards hoping I had overlooked something edible. I'm not making this up[. That's the way it was. Bill Jr. was already placed in a boy's home a few months earlier and it was just Mom and me.
The welfare lady, Mrs. Golden would come occasionally to talk to mom about me. Eventually I found myself on a farm outside town. I stayed one summer on the Anderson farm and then went to the Alfred(Rudolph) and Fannie Borgerson's farm. I was there about 2 years. At Borgersons I was never made to feel part of the family. They had a large farmhouse with at least one extra bedroom completely furnished which remained empty. I slept on a cot in the upstairs hallway outside the door to the empty bedroom. I was there to work and that was pretty much it. Years later when I was in the Air Force stationed at Grand Forks AFB ND I took my family to River Falls on the way to Georgia and took them by the farm where I once lived. The family was still there and they treated me like a long lost son. I guess they were pretty amazed that this kid who slept in their hallway was now a Captain in the US Air Force. Their middle son was Wendall, who I absolutely hated when I was a kid there, and I became close friends as adults. He really changed as he grew up and I guess I did too. We stayed with his family a couple of times when we visited later on. They also came to stay with us in Grand Forks on one occasion. I've lost touch with im but would like to find him again. I hope he's still at the same house he built on the corner of the old farm.
Anyway, back to the story. Mom was pretty much dying. Clara and Mike had taken Lynda to California, and she had nothing to look forward to. She told me somtime in 1959 Velma asked her to come to Florida and stay with her and asked me my opinion. She didn't want to leave me in Wisconsin. I suggested she go. She did and a few months later I got a letter from her. She told me to sit down because she got married, he was a T/Sgt in the US Air Force and she was on her way to get me. My life changed completely after that. Mom arrived about a day after the letter. I grabbed the few things I had, walked out the farmhouse door and never looked back. We took the train to Albany Georgia where Wayne was stationed at Turner AFB. On the way home from the train station Mom turned around from the front seat and asked me if I intended to call him Wayne or Dad. That broke the ice and he has been Dad ever since. I miss him a lot. Next thing I know I'm on the Air Force Base living a normal life as a normal kid for the first time ever.
A couple of years after that, Clara died. Mom went to the funeral and informed Lynda that the woman in the coffin was not her mother but her aunt. Lynda had no idea. She was 10 years old and didn't know who her mother really was. Clara and Mike raised her as their child and even changed her name to Michaels illegally since there was no adoption nor any legal papers allowing them to keep her as far as I know. At the funeral home Mom brought Lynda home and Wayne informed Mike to keep his distance or he would find himself in jail for a very long time.
I guess in summary, Clara lost her first child (Gene) to Dorothy and I guess it made sense to her to take Lynn's child. It's still a puzzle to me how my extended family could allow this to happen. My mother was incapacitated from the carbon monoxide event but that was no excuse to allow another family member to steal her child. My uncle Smitty(Ellis) lived about a mile away and must have known the conditions we were living in after grandmother died. There is no way in hell I would allow my sister's children to go hungry if I had a dime in my pocket. What was he thinking?? What were all of them thinking?? I wish I could have asked him. I guess Bill did mention something to him before he died and Bill said he broke down crying and said he didn't know. How could he not? It's not like we were on the dark side of the moon from him. We were just down the street.
However, for what it's worth, as far as I'm concerned everything worked out in the long run. I have no bad feelings towards anyone with the possible exception of Mike. He had no right to do what he did by taking Lynda away from us. I understand he was very domineering towards Clara. Nevertheless, it shouldn't have happened the way it did. I think Clara went along with it or even encouraged it because of what happened to her own child (Gene).
When Lynda came back to us she was a bit confused at first but adjusted quickly. She went through some difficult teen years trying to find herself. She was pretty wild for awhile. She met and married Pat Gillihan and they had Lacy. They split up and she met her present husband Todd Davidson and had Heather.
That pretty much brings it up to date. Sorry to lay all this baggage on you but as the family historian this is how it was. (signed David)]]
Dear George, I'm very sorry to tell you that mom passed away in June. It happened right in the middle of our military move from Germany to Thailand. After I unplugged my computer for the move I no longer had ready access to the internet until we go settled into our new assignment just recently. My wife had a trip to Florida last March. We flew mon and her 'friend' out to Florida to visit with us. Mon's friend had been telling me that she had a checkup and was completely free of cancer. When I saw her in March I noticed a few growths on her head. She told me she had also been having a lot of abdominal pain. I made sure she got another checkup when she got back to Colorado. Later, coordinating with Lynda I soon learned that Mom's cancer was back, as I feared and Mom said she did not want to go through the chemotherapy again. I didn't try to talk her out of it. Although it saddened me very much I felt it was her decision. She lasted until June. I've been trying to deal with it and have not been doing all that well on the subject. I didn't expect it to be this hard but it is. I try to rationalize that she lived for over 80 years and had a full life. I guess I wasn't ready to let her go. I really wanted to take her on one last trip to Wisconsin. Mom and I were very close and very much alike. I just have to believe she is ok and with the rest of her family as she was the last of the Smith sisters and was very lonely. She missed dad and awful lot too. I still plan to make the trip to River Falls some day hopefully not in the too distant future. We will be in Thailand for 3 years most likley but will come back to the States for vacations and so forth while we are here. I want to show my wife and young daughter where I lived as a boy. I suspect River Falls has changed tremendously but there should be some memories left like the city park, North hall, schools I attended and so forth. I'm very sorry I didn't notify you sooner. I guess I've been trying to put it out of my mind somewhat. Anyway, I hope you are doing ok. Perhaps we can get together someday and talk about the "old days." I'd love to hear some family stories first hand. Meanwhile, take care cousin, David.
Tues. Jan. 4, 2005, Hi George, Mom's passing is kind of a blur for me. We were in the middle of moving out of Germany. I had hoped she would hold on long enough for me to get our stuff packed up and shipped as there was no practical way for me to leave that task for my wife to accomplish on her own, especially with a VERY active 4-year-old running about. It was further complicated in that it was a military move that is nearly impossible to re-schedule due to all the bureaucratic red tape. I made flight reservations to fly to Colorado immediately after our things were shipped but she passed away before I could get there. It is a bit confusingfor me in retrospect due to the time/date difference between Amreica and Europe and everything that was going on at the time. I believe she passed away on the 26th. She spent her last month at Bill's house in Divide,Colorado. Divide is up the mountain about 15 miles west of Colorado Springs. He arranged for cousin Denise to come out and lend a hand. Mom had pre-arranged to be cremated and her ashes placed with dad's (my stepfather Wayne McCoy) in Orlando Florida. Lynda has all the details. I'll email her and ask for them. Yes Lynda's name is spelled with a "Y" as she was named after my mother. As you know most everytone called her Lynn. My youngest daughter Cynthia Lorraine was named after my mother. Mom was very very excited about having a granddaughter born on her birthday. Lynda and Bill are both struggling with the falling economy and shrinking job market. Lynda's job migrated off shore to Singapore and Bill has increasing problems finding people to hire him since he is over 50. He found a great job as an construction inspector for a U.S. Air Force contractor. His office is located at the U.S. Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs. Poor Lynda has been reduced to working for WalMart down in the Springs for close to minimum wage. I don't know how she can afford the gas to drive to and from work every day. Her husband lost his job to off shore outsourcing also. I've gotten so that whenever I call a customer service line for whatever, I ask the person on the other end where they are physically located. If they won't or can't I refuse to do business with them. American Express is an example. If you call American Express for a question about your credit card you will be talking to some guy in India. After we left Germany, my wife went to San Antonio Texas to attend a class for the Army and Cynthia and I went initially to Florida and then to Colorado Springs and then back to Florida. We spent the summer in Florida while Jitta was attedning her class in Texas. She graduated in September and we joined her in Texas. Then we were delayed getting our Diplomatic passports for Thailand and didn't leave until late October. We finally found a house and moved in just before Thanksgiving. They said the earthquake could be felt in Bangkok but I didn't notice a thing. The first indication I had about the disaster was when I tuned into CNN later that day. Phuket and Phi Phi Island are far enough away from Bangkok that we didn't have any effects locally. However, I am thankfull because my wife is from Bangkok and has been wanting to take us to both places for several years. We were thinking of going there for the holidays but decided to stay home and celebrate with her family here in Bangkok. I don't want to think of what might have happened if we had gone there. Changing the subject, I am glad to hear you are in good health. I am looking forward to seeing you in the not too distant future hoepfully. I had considered renting an RV and making a vacation trip up north to Wisconsin and then over to Washington to see cousin Gene. That was the idea anyway. I figured Mom could rest in the back as we drove and we could pull over most anywhere to have meals and sleep for the night. We'll still make the trip but I may change my mind on the RV rental. Cynthia calls. I need to attend to her needs. She generally calls my every 5 minutes for something. She keeps me busy but keeps me laughing also. I'll get back to you later with Bill and Lynda's email addresses. Dave]]
On February 17. 2017, I (George Foss), emailed Leah Christensen(grandaughter of Clarabelle Smith Michaels) and asked her to update me on the whereabouts and lives of Bill and David Murphy, the sons of Evelyn Smith McCoy, and a sister to Clarabelle Michaels. Leah wrote back that to the best of her knowledge, Dave and his wife living in Germantown, Maryland. Their address:
11605 Tall Pines
Germantown, MD 20876
Ph: 301-972-0396
Leah Christenson said she hasn't seen either Bill or David since she was very young.
"Hello Cousin, I'm Dave Murphy, Evelyn's son. My half-brother Dennis somehow saw some information about my mom's family and forwarded it to me which had the link to you. By the way, I have a copy of the Smith History. Outstanding job you did. I have a lot of information that can fill in some of the "holes". For example...................
George Foss: The following information that I received directly from David Murphy has been edited by me to remove certain passages that I deem too explicit to repeat on this forum.
My father William S. Murphy was abusive towards my mom. I have several memories I would rather forget. However, you know what they say, "you can't pick your parents."
I stayed with relatives while my mother recovered(overcome by carbon monoxide) She never completely did. To this day, she carries the effects of cabon monoxide asphyxiation. By the way, she's doing fine and is living in Colorado near Bill Jr. and Lynda.
Your dates are a little off. Mom took Bill Jr. and I to River Falls in 1955. I started the first grade at what was then the River Falls Teacher's College. I have a class photo from the first grade with the date on it. I remember Clara telling my mother before we left, 'Lynn, it's going to be too much trouble taking that baby with you on that long train trip to River Falls. Why don't you leave Lynda with us and we'll send her to you after you get settled in.' About a year later Clara and Mike moved to River Falls where he ran the Phillips 66 station. Yes, I learned much later as an adult that Clara had an illegitimate child which of course was scandalous back then.
Eventually, I went to a foster home. In 1959, Velma invited mom to come to Florida and stay with her. Mom asked me my opinion because she didn't want to leave me in Wisconsin. I told her to go because I knew she would die if she stayed. Best thing she ever did. In 1960 she married my stepfather, T/Sgt Wayne F. McCoy, USAF, who was also the best thing that ever happened to me. In the summer of 1960 I was out of that hell hole foster home and on my way to Turner AFB in Albany, Georgia. I graduated from high school in Albany and enlisted in the Navy. After the Navy, I used my GI Bill to get my college degree and was commissioned in the USAF as a 2nd Lt. I retired as a Major in 1994. I was divorced from my first wife in 1995 and remarried Jittawadee Rodcharoen in 1998. Jitta is from Thailand and receive her Ph.D in Entomology from the University of California, Riverside. January of this year she asked me what I thought of her going on active duty in the Army as a Captain. After thinking it over we decided to do it. So now we are living in Queidersbach Germany. We've been here since June. I don't speak much German yet but I will before we come back.
I'd like to tell you more if you're interested. I don't know how old the link is that my brother forwarded to me so hopefully your email address is till good. I would definitely like to meet you one day (if I haven't already done so when I was a little kid in River Falls).
Bye for now. Hope that this message gets to you and that you are in good health. David"
I answered the above email, and got the following reply on 8 Sept. 2001: "George, I am so glad to hear from you! I have my Smith Family Heritage right here on my lap as I type. I don't have mom's address handy (it's in my address book which is out of sight at the moment) but her phone number is (719)597-5436. I'll get her new address for you as soon as I locate my address book. She is planning to come stay with us in Germany hopefully next month. Hope to keep her with me at least until Spring. Perhaps indefinitely.
There are a lot of skeletons in the Smith closet -- some of which I know about. However, I'm reluctant to discuss some of them because of the impact on people I care a lot about. For example, I have a first cousin who to this day doesn't know who his real mother is (was) and also doesn't know he has a brother. Do you know what I'm talking about? Sandy told Denise before she died and Denise told me. Mom, after quite a bit of pressure, confirmed it but made me swear never to tell about it -- to those of course who don't already know.
River Falls for the most part was a bad time for me. However, the hardships I went through there toughened me and taught me to stand on my own feet at an early age. Mom, through no fault was unable to take care of us after my grandmother and Vic died. By the way, you know that Vic made Maybelle's tombstone. Remember he was an engraver at Melgard Monument at the end of Main St. I used to hang out there occasionally and watch him work. Anyway, after grandma and Vic died things were really hard. Bill Jr. was in a boys home in Wittenberg. Mom would go to work as a practical nurse at the nursing home over near where Ellis lived around 3:00p.m. and I would be by myself until she came home in the early morning. I would get home from school, play with my friends and go home to an empty house with nothing to eat. I remember many times searching the cupboards over and over thinking perhaps I missed something. Basically, for a long time I ate lunch at school and pretty much nothing else. Before Bill was taken away, I remember a couple of times I would hear a knock at the door. When I answered it no one was there but there was a box of food. It wasn't until I was a grown man that I found out that it was Bill who had been stealing food from the local grocery or wherever, to feed me. Eventually he got caught with that and other things and was taken away. Later they took me too. I went to the Borgerson's (Rudolph and Fanny) and stayed there until Mom married Wayne. The Borgerson's didn't abuse me but I was never made to feel a part of the family. I was there to work and I sure did. Although, they had a spare bedroom for guests, I had to sleep on a cot in the hallway upstairs. On the other hand, Bill was abused at the Boy's Home. On one occasion, one of the house parents actually broke a canoe oar beating him with it.
I guess the thing I don't understand is that my uncle Ellis was just across town and did nothing. He had to know. My God, I would never allow my sister or brother's children go through what we went through. Mom said she had a falling out with him around that time because he blamed us for Grandmother's death. Apparently he thought we were too much for her - and maybe we were. I was just a little kid. But I sure treasure the time I spent with my grandmother. I used to hang out with her in that big kitchen a lot. We used to talk about everything. And, of course I went to church with her every Sunday and Wednesday too. Grandmother and I were pals and it brings tears to my eyes now as I write this remembering. Vic on the other hand was different. I don't think he liked me much or maybe he just didn't like kids much in general. He seemed grumpy all the time. I remember he had to run down to the basement to smoke and I think he took a nip now and then too ( it's hard to hide things from an adventurous kid).
Anyway, I remember River Falls well. I remember the night Roy(Zarbock) was killed in the car wreck. I remember he lived in Beldenville. The thing is, life got so much better when mom married Wayne. I owe him a lot. He married a woman with 3 children and eventually re-united all of us. I'll never forget the letter I got from mom when she told me to sit down if I wasn't already because she got married and was on her way to get me. You see, the worse part about being at Borgerson's was I didn't know how long I would be there or anything about my future for that matter.
One other thing. To this day I can never forgive Mike Michaels for what he did to my mother. Perhaps you knew him in a different light. I know Clara was frightened of him. I remember one Christmas season about a week before Christmas we were over at Clara's on one of the rare occasions I was allowed there. Mom had been trying to find something for Lynda and since she didn't have much money and since Lynda already had just about everything., it was hard for her. We were sitting on Clara's couch in the living room. Suddenly mom started to cry. She had noticed under the tree that the few gifts she had wrapped for Lynda had the tags changed from "from Mother" to "from Santa Claus." It broke her heart -- ans mine too -- and still does to this day. The last few months before Mike and Clara left for California in late 1958, they had started to let mom be around Lynda more and more. Lynda was allowed to stay with mom for a few hours at grandmother's. The day before they left Lynda was at grandmother's with mom. Mike came to get her and mom would not give her to him. A struggle ensued. Mom was holding on to Lynda and Mike slapped my mother seceral times as he ripped Lynda from her grasp. When he hit my mother, my dog Sandy went nuts. I didn't have to sic her on him. She bit the hell out of him. George, one thing I have to say. A man should think twice before striking a boy's mother in front of him because one day that boy will become a man and come after you. Mike is a lucky man for dying before I had a chance to come after him because I never forgot it and had every intention of kicking the crap out of him. For what it's worth, I had it out with my biological father as well for what he did to mom and us -- basically abused her and did nothing for us.
Anyway, I graduated from high school in Albany GA and enlisted in the navy in 1966 before the Army drafted me. I married Helen Glausier who was a local girl from Albany and we had 4 children. Christina Michelle, born 2 Aug 68, in Sanford FL., David Jr., born 29 Feb 76 in Northridge CA, Jeanette Renee` born 31 May 81 in Albany GA, and Brian Stanley born 30 July 82 at Vandenberg AFB,CA. I stayed married to Helen for almost 27 years and called it quits. She had a mental illness that got increasingly worse (manic depressive - BiPolar) and I got tired of re-building my life again and again after she repeatedly destroyed everything we had.
Oh yeah, after the navy, I completed my degree in Biology and was commissioned in the Air Force via ROTC at USC in Los Angeles. My first assignment was as a Minuteman II ICBM Combat Crew Commander at the 321st Strategic Missle Wing, Grand Forks, AFB,ND. Me and another Lieutenant spent 24 hours in a concrete bunker with keys to 150 thermonuclear warheads waiting to start armageddon. After that, I went to Vandenberg AFB initially to teach the weapon system and later as a Range Control Officer for what was then the Western Test Range. While there I found out the Air Force owned ships. I got a follow-un job as the Senior Military officer in charge of the Observation Island, a $1B platform for the Cobra Judy Program (you can look up both the ship and the program on the Internet). I used to sit off the coast -- very close off the coast -- of the Soviet Union and look, watch,, and listen. It was a fun job. After that, I went to Space Systems Division, Los Angeles Air Force Base,CA as Chief of the Mission Planning Division for Space Test and Transportation. I was responsible for finding space flight for DOD payloads on anything flying into space. I had secondary payloads on nearly every Space Shuttle flight either in a mid-deck locker or "GAS" can. That was probably the job that was the most fun. I got to go onboard the Shuttle Orbiters and do fit checxks to make sure the payloads would work properly and all kinds of other neat stuff. I have about 5 hours logged at the controls of the Space Shuttle Full Motion Simulator at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
I retired in 94 and went to work for a mosquito abatement district in Los Angeles where I met my present wife Jittawadee. She has a doctorate in entomology. She would advise me on the pesticides to use to kill mosquitoes, Black flies, ticks, and Africanized Honey Bees. Actually, I was the guy along with 2 of my field technicians who found the first established hive of Africanized Honey Bees(AHBs) in Los Angeles County. I was taping the recovery of a swarm for training purposes when I thought these bees were different. I took sample back to the lab and they tested positive for AHB. When it hit the news, the media used my film footage for all the news shots.
Jitta and I have a daughter, Cynthia Lorraine, born 7 Nov 1999 in Los Angeles. Yup, she was born on my mother's birthday. I intended naming her after mom anyway (Lorraine) but that just made it better.
Well, I better end this for now. Need to help Jitta with the baby. Again, I'm really glad to hear from you and would like to know more about the skeletons. I'm very interested to know more about what my grandmother was like as a young lady and also others. Bye for now, David
Reply to George Foss' email. 10 sept. 2001.
"To me the strange things that went on in the Ezra Smith family in regards to who was really who explained quite a lot. For example, it explains why Clarabelle wanted Lynda. We were at a family gathering for Thanksgiving around 1990 in Simi Valley CA when I was stationed at Los Angeles AFB. Denise, Richard, Bob Zarbok, and my mother were there. Denise spilled the beans and after my mother admitted it was true, we all looked at one another probably thinking the same thing. I can't emphasize enough that the cousin most affected by this doesn't know about it.(Foss: He is alluding to the fact that Clarabelle had an illegitimate child who was taken by her sister Dorothy to raise as a Helmick). After a lot of discussion with my mother and other cousins, we all agreed that things should best be left as they are. We're worried that the cousin in question, whom I'm sure after your message, you know what I'm talking about, will not be able to handle it. I'm not sure about Jerry. I want to tell him he has a brother but don't want it to come back to "me." I am tempted to discuss it with his wife to see what she thinks -- especially while my mother is still around to confirm. Again, I haven't done so because my mother asked me not to. Please be careful about the Family History updates.
Foss: the above is all water over the dam, because we now know that this information is now open for discussion because all of the persons involved know all the details.
Here's another twist. Verna and Cal had another daughter they gave up for adoption. This came to light after Esther died. Cathy and Barbara were going through her effects and found the adoption papers. They confronted Verna and she admitted it was true.
Apparently Verna and Cal were not getting along, were planning on splitting up and thought it best to give this new baby out for adoption. So they did. But they stayed together instead of splitting up. I think this baby was born after Barbara(Bobby Lynn). Cathy and Barbara located their long lost sister after a search.
I'm not sure what happened after that. I got my information from Bob Zarbok. He doesn't hear from his nieces much nor from Verna for that matter. The amazing thing to me is that even Bob didn't know about this incident.
Letter from David Murphy to George Foss, Dec. 2002:
"I think you will agree with me that this story seems to tie in several pieces of the Clara/Jerry/Gene saga. I'm telling this as I remember it without pulling any punches. I confess that even today I'm still upset at some of the things that happened when I was a boy in Wisconsin.
As you know my mother was overcome by carbon monoxide asphyxiation when I was a small child. She was brain damaged and although she has made a miraculous recovery some of the effects of that episode still plague her today. She is aware of her diminished abilities and a few years ago when I was having personal problems with my marriage and was really depressed I went to her for comfort as I guess the child in all of us will do no matter how old we are. At one point, she broke down and started crying telling me how she wasn't the person she was before the carbon monoxide incident and how she was aware of how changed she was because of it.
Anyway, about a year after Lynda was born, mon and dad split up. She hadn't recovered from the accident and her sisters, Esther, Velma, Sandy and Clara basically controlled much of her life making many decisions for her. Once, in the middle of the night Esther came and took us away from my dad. I can't blame her really as he was at times abusive. That was the last time my mother and father were together. We stayed with aunt Sandy (Vidella) for what seemed like several months and later stayed with Velma and Ted in Northern California when he was stationed at Travis AFB. I had my 6th birthday there. We stayed with them until he was assigned to Hickham AFB Hawaii. Ted had a friend who was temporarily assigned away and had an empty house. He arranged for us to stay there temporarily. I remember we had nothing and once some older neighbor kids took me in a wagon throughout the neighborhood collecting food.
In the Fall of 1955 mom's sisters arranged for us to go to Wisconsin. I remember when Clara told mom it would be too much for her to make the trip with all three children and suggested she leave Lynda with her temporarily until we got settled. I was very close to my baby sister and didn't like the idea of leaving her behind even for a little while. Little did I know I wouldn't get my sister back until she was 10.
So, we made the trip and I got to know my grandmother. I sued to hangout with her in that big kitchen at 130 E. Spring Street and we talked a lot. I even remember our old phone number. There were no area codes or prefixes. Ours was just 2210. We became very close in the short time I was with her until she died in 1957. About a year after we moved to Wisconsin, Clara and Mike moved there too. Mike bought the house across the street from Greenwood Elementary School and I think the Sinclair station on Main Street also.
This was a very bad time for us. My sister was kept away from me and I wasn't allowed to play with her or even see her much at all. I remember going to school and during recess I could see my sister in her yard and no one knew she was my sister. On rare occasions -- and I mean rare -- we would go over to Clara's or they would come over to Grandmother's house. I was never allowed to be alone and play with my sister. As far as she knew Jerry was her brother. He was with her all the time which made me angry. After all she was my sister, not his. (Keep in mind I'm recalling the memory from my child's mind at this time). Eventually, Clara allowed mom to baby sit Lynda during the day occasionally. I remember she insisted Lynda call my mother MommyLynn and call Clara Mommy Clara which even at my young age I thought was a bunch of crap.
I think one of the worst things that happened was during one Christmas season. Mom had very little money for Christmas and agonized over getting Lynda some presents because Clara and Mike had already bought her just about everything. Mom finally managed to buy Lynda a couple things she didn't already have., wrapped them and took them over to Clara's. A few days later on one of the very rare occasions we were over to Clara's house, Mom happened to see the gifts she had wrapped for Lynda under the tree and broke down crying. Turns out Clara and Mike had changed the tags. Instead of the one Mom had put on them they replaced them with new ones that said "From Santa" instead of "From Mommy." I tell you waht. It chokes me up even now after all these years when I remember seeing my mother cry over that.
An even worse thing happened later. Mike decided to move back to California in 1958. By now Mom was spending a lot more time with Lynda, age 5 at the time. When it came time for them to leave Mom was watching Lynda over at grandmother's house and Mike came over to get her. Mom was holding her and wouldn't let her go. Mike was trying to literally rip Lynda out of Mom's arms and when she wouldn't let her go he finally began to slap her. At that point both me and my dog Sandy attacked him. Sandy bit him pretty good and I got in a few licks too. I think I was about 8. The next time I saw Lynda she was 10 years old. I never forgot how Mike took Lynda away from Mom that day and vowed to go after him when I got older. He died before I got the chance but I'll tell you right now. If he hadn't died, I would have tracked him down and beat the crap out of him.
After grandmother and Vic died, things went down hill. Mom always had trouble finding work in River Falls. I remember she worked nights at Hillcrest nursing home. She would leave for work before I got home from school and would come home around mid-night. I would come home from school, play outside with my friends until they were called to dinner and then go home to an empty apartment with nothing to do and nothing to eat. I read books for entertainment. I remember many many times endlessly searching the cupboards hoping I had overlooked something edible. I'm not making this up[. That's the way it was. Bill Jr. was already placed in a boy's home a few months earlier and it was just Mom and me.
The welfare lady, Mrs. Golden would come occasionally to talk to mom about me. Eventually I found myself on a farm outside town. I stayed one summer on the Anderson farm and then went to the Alfred(Rudolph) and Fannie Borgerson's farm. I was there about 2 years. At Borgersons I was never made to feel part of the family. They had a large farmhouse with at least one extra bedroom completely furnished which remained empty. I slept on a cot in the upstairs hallway outside the door to the empty bedroom. I was there to work and that was pretty much it. Years later when I was in the Air Force stationed at Grand Forks AFB ND I took my family to River Falls on the way to Georgia and took them by the farm where I once lived. The family was still there and they treated me like a long lost son. I guess they were pretty amazed that this kid who slept in their hallway was now a Captain in the US Air Force. Their middle son was Wendall, who I absolutely hated when I was a kid there, and I became close friends as adults. He really changed as he grew up and I guess I did too. We stayed with his family a couple of times when we visited later on. They also came to stay with us in Grand Forks on one occasion. I've lost touch with im but would like to find him again. I hope he's still at the same house he built on the corner of the old farm.
Anyway, back to the story. Mom was pretty much dying. Clara and Mike had taken Lynda to California, and she had nothing to look forward to. She told me somtime in 1959 Velma asked her to come to Florida and stay with her and asked me my opinion. She didn't want to leave me in Wisconsin. I suggested she go. She did and a few months later I got a letter from her. She told me to sit down because she got married, he was a T/Sgt in the US Air Force and she was on her way to get me. My life changed completely after that. Mom arrived about a day after the letter. I grabbed the few things I had, walked out the farmhouse door and never looked back. We took the train to Albany Georgia where Wayne was stationed at Turner AFB. On the way home from the train station Mom turned around from the front seat and asked me if I intended to call him Wayne or Dad. That broke the ice and he has been Dad ever since. I miss him a lot. Next thing I know I'm on the Air Force Base living a normal life as a normal kid for the first time ever.
A couple of years after that, Clara died. Mom went to the funeral and informed Lynda that the woman in the coffin was not her mother but her aunt. Lynda had no idea. She was 10 years old and didn't know who her mother really was. Clara and Mike raised her as their child and even changed her name to Michaels illegally since there was no adoption nor any legal papers allowing them to keep her as far as I know. At the funeral home Mom brought Lynda home and Wayne informed Mike to keep his distance or he would find himself in jail for a very long time.
I guess in summary, Clara lost her first child (Gene) to Dorothy and I guess it made sense to her to take Lynn's child. It's still a puzzle to me how my extended family could allow this to happen. My mother was incapacitated from the carbon monoxide event but that was no excuse to allow another family member to steal her child. My uncle Smitty(Ellis) lived about a mile away and must have known the conditions we were living in after grandmother died. There is no way in hell I would allow my sister's children to go hungry if I had a dime in my pocket. What was he thinking?? What were all of them thinking?? I wish I could have asked him. I guess Bill did mention something to him before he died and Bill said he broke down crying and said he didn't know. How could he not? It's not like we were on the dark side of the moon from him. We were just down the street.
However, for what it's worth, as far as I'm concerned everything worked out in the long run. I have no bad feelings towards anyone with the possible exception of Mike. He had no right to do what he did by taking Lynda away from us. I understand he was very domineering towards Clara. Nevertheless, it shouldn't have happened the way it did. I think Clara went along with it or even encouraged it because of what happened to her own child (Gene).
When Lynda came back to us she was a bit confused at first but adjusted quickly. She went through some difficult teen years trying to find herself. She was pretty wild for awhile. She met and married Pat Gillihan and they had Lacy. They split up and she met her present husband Todd Davidson and had Heather.
That pretty much brings it up to date. Sorry to lay all this baggage on you but as the family historian this is how it was. (signed David)]]
Dear George, I'm very sorry to tell you that mom passed away in June. It happened right in the middle of our military move from Germany to Thailand. After I unplugged my computer for the move I no longer had ready access to the internet until we go settled into our new assignment just recently. My wife had a trip to Florida last March. We flew mon and her 'friend' out to Florida to visit with us. Mon's friend had been telling me that she had a checkup and was completely free of cancer. When I saw her in March I noticed a few growths on her head. She told me she had also been having a lot of abdominal pain. I made sure she got another checkup when she got back to Colorado. Later, coordinating with Lynda I soon learned that Mom's cancer was back, as I feared and Mom said she did not want to go through the chemotherapy again. I didn't try to talk her out of it. Although it saddened me very much I felt it was her decision. She lasted until June. I've been trying to deal with it and have not been doing all that well on the subject. I didn't expect it to be this hard but it is. I try to rationalize that she lived for over 80 years and had a full life. I guess I wasn't ready to let her go. I really wanted to take her on one last trip to Wisconsin. Mom and I were very close and very much alike. I just have to believe she is ok and with the rest of her family as she was the last of the Smith sisters and was very lonely. She missed dad and awful lot too. I still plan to make the trip to River Falls some day hopefully not in the too distant future. We will be in Thailand for 3 years most likley but will come back to the States for vacations and so forth while we are here. I want to show my wife and young daughter where I lived as a boy. I suspect River Falls has changed tremendously but there should be some memories left like the city park, North hall, schools I attended and so forth. I'm very sorry I didn't notify you sooner. I guess I've been trying to put it out of my mind somewhat. Anyway, I hope you are doing ok. Perhaps we can get together someday and talk about the "old days." I'd love to hear some family stories first hand. Meanwhile, take care cousin, David.
Tues. Jan. 4, 2005, Hi George, Mom's passing is kind of a blur for me. We were in the middle of moving out of Germany. I had hoped she would hold on long enough for me to get our stuff packed up and shipped as there was no practical way for me to leave that task for my wife to accomplish on her own, especially with a VERY active 4-year-old running about. It was further complicated in that it was a military move that is nearly impossible to re-schedule due to all the bureaucratic red tape. I made flight reservations to fly to Colorado immediately after our things were shipped but she passed away before I could get there. It is a bit confusingfor me in retrospect due to the time/date difference between Amreica and Europe and everything that was going on at the time. I believe she passed away on the 26th. She spent her last month at Bill's house in Divide,Colorado. Divide is up the mountain about 15 miles west of Colorado Springs. He arranged for cousin Denise to come out and lend a hand. Mom had pre-arranged to be cremated and her ashes placed with dad's (my stepfather Wayne McCoy) in Orlando Florida. Lynda has all the details. I'll email her and ask for them. Yes Lynda's name is spelled with a "Y" as she was named after my mother. As you know most everytone called her Lynn. My youngest daughter Cynthia Lorraine was named after my mother. Mom was very very excited about having a granddaughter born on her birthday. Lynda and Bill are both struggling with the falling economy and shrinking job market. Lynda's job migrated off shore to Singapore and Bill has increasing problems finding people to hire him since he is over 50. He found a great job as an construction inspector for a U.S. Air Force contractor. His office is located at the U.S. Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs. Poor Lynda has been reduced to working for WalMart down in the Springs for close to minimum wage. I don't know how she can afford the gas to drive to and from work every day. Her husband lost his job to off shore outsourcing also. I've gotten so that whenever I call a customer service line for whatever, I ask the person on the other end where they are physically located. If they won't or can't I refuse to do business with them. American Express is an example. If you call American Express for a question about your credit card you will be talking to some guy in India. After we left Germany, my wife went to San Antonio Texas to attend a class for the Army and Cynthia and I went initially to Florida and then to Colorado Springs and then back to Florida. We spent the summer in Florida while Jitta was attedning her class in Texas. She graduated in September and we joined her in Texas. Then we were delayed getting our Diplomatic passports for Thailand and didn't leave until late October. We finally found a house and moved in just before Thanksgiving. They said the earthquake could be felt in Bangkok but I didn't notice a thing. The first indication I had about the disaster was when I tuned into CNN later that day. Phuket and Phi Phi Island are far enough away from Bangkok that we didn't have any effects locally. However, I am thankfull because my wife is from Bangkok and has been wanting to take us to both places for several years. We were thinking of going there for the holidays but decided to stay home and celebrate with her family here in Bangkok. I don't want to think of what might have happened if we had gone there. Changing the subject, I am glad to hear you are in good health. I am looking forward to seeing you in the not too distant future hoepfully. I had considered renting an RV and making a vacation trip up north to Wisconsin and then over to Washington to see cousin Gene. That was the idea anyway. I figured Mom could rest in the back as we drove and we could pull over most anywhere to have meals and sleep for the night. We'll still make the trip but I may change my mind on the RV rental. Cynthia calls. I need to attend to her needs. She generally calls my every 5 minutes for something. She keeps me busy but keeps me laughing also. I'll get back to you later with Bill and Lynda's email addresses. Dave]]
On February 17. 2017, I (George Foss), emailed Leah Christensen(grandaughter of Clarabelle Smith Michaels) and asked her to update me on the whereabouts and lives of Bill and David Murphy, the sons of Evelyn Smith McCoy, and a sister to Clarabelle Michaels. Leah wrote back that to the best of her knowledge, Dave and his wife living in Germantown, Maryland. Their address:
11605 Tall Pines
Germantown, MD 20876
Ph: 301-972-0396
Leah Christenson said she hasn't seen either Bill or David since she was very young.
As of August, 2000, Lynda was said to be living in Glendale, Arizona.
As of June, 2002, she was living at the following address:
163 Aspen Circle
Divide, CO 80814
This is located northwest of Colorado Springs.
As of June, 2002, she was living at the following address:
163 Aspen Circle
Divide, CO 80814
This is located northwest of Colorado Springs.
River Falls Journal, March 30, 1939
"Vidella Smith, Joyce Hanson, and Gerald Kordoski, students at the State Teachers College Training School, entered art work in the fourth annual "Young America Paints" art exhibition which was to be held in New York City."
Vidella and I were only a year apart in age. I knew her quite well as a cousin, but when school was out in the spring of 1939, Vidella moved to California where her mother and sisters were. I was only 12 years old at the time. We never corresponded, but I met her again when she came back for her mother’s 80th birthday party held at her sister Clara Belle Michael’s home in River Falls.. My father and I attended that celebration. While she was in River Falls I remember we went to the Kandy Kitchen in River Falls and talked about family while having an ice cream treat.
Vidella (“Sandy”) and Milo Parks had two children, then they divorced, and she remarried to Roy McCann. She died very suddenly from a stroke at age 39. This was brought on by severe kidney failure and uremic poisoning.
"Vidella Smith, Joyce Hanson, and Gerald Kordoski, students at the State Teachers College Training School, entered art work in the fourth annual "Young America Paints" art exhibition which was to be held in New York City."
Vidella and I were only a year apart in age. I knew her quite well as a cousin, but when school was out in the spring of 1939, Vidella moved to California where her mother and sisters were. I was only 12 years old at the time. We never corresponded, but I met her again when she came back for her mother’s 80th birthday party held at her sister Clara Belle Michael’s home in River Falls.. My father and I attended that celebration. While she was in River Falls I remember we went to the Kandy Kitchen in River Falls and talked about family while having an ice cream treat.
Vidella (“Sandy”) and Milo Parks had two children, then they divorced, and she remarried to Roy McCann. She died very suddenly from a stroke at age 39. This was brought on by severe kidney failure and uremic poisoning.
Charley was born on a farm near Windom,MN in Cottonwood county.
He started out as a young man working in the lumber camps around Irma,WI. In later years he farmed or worked as a farmhand.
Uncle Charley was some sort of man. He fathered a child from one sister-in law, had on-going sexual relations with another sister-in-law, and fathered another child with a married first cousin. At least he kept his adulterous indiscretions within the family.
According to Winnie Charles was married to Ethel Clark Schmidt in Auroraville,WI. in about 1900. They had a son named John who has never been documented. Ethel was said to have been sent to prison for being a bigamist(this has never been documented).
Winnie said Charles went by the nickname "Bruegger John" as a young man, but the origin of this is unknown.
Winnie’s daughter Hazel Swenson said Charley and her mother Winnie were lovers and had a child together. See the page for Winnie Smith for the period when she and Charley lived together from 1915 to 1923.
In about 1930 Charles lived with is brother Wallace's family at Burkhardt,WI for a period of a year or so.
In about 1936 or 1937 he lived on a farm with his brothers Clarence and Clifford several miles North of River Falls. According to Belmer Miller, Charley had an on-going affair with his brother Clifford's wife LaVerne at that time. Belmer said that LaVerne told he and Lora that she slept with Charley to help pay for the rent. LaVerne didn't seem to have any compulsion about discussing her personal affairs.
Sometime between 1940 and 1945 Charley married a woman named Pearl Reese(no documentation exists for this union).
In 1948 Charley married a woman named Pearl Woods Dean in Minong,WI. They lived together until his death in 1953.
Charley and Pearl Woods Dean kept foster children at their home located about 5 miles West of Minong near Lake Nancy. Sometime in May,1953 their home was struck by a tornado. During the storm the wife and children went safely to the basement, but Charles stayed upstairs to watch and was carried away with the house. He was found badly injured several hundred feet from where the foundation of the house was. A week later he died from a cerebral hemorrhage at 1:30a.m. on July 2, 1953 in the Shell Lake hospital.
I visited the property several years later and saw the remains of the house and the basement. A picture of the demolished house is found in the Minong or Spooner newspaper. During this same trip I found his death record in the Washburn County Court House in Shell lake,WI. Pearl Woods Dean was the informant.
His obituary was found in the Spooner or Minong paper.
He started out as a young man working in the lumber camps around Irma,WI. In later years he farmed or worked as a farmhand.
Uncle Charley was some sort of man. He fathered a child from one sister-in law, had on-going sexual relations with another sister-in-law, and fathered another child with a married first cousin. At least he kept his adulterous indiscretions within the family.
According to Winnie Charles was married to Ethel Clark Schmidt in Auroraville,WI. in about 1900. They had a son named John who has never been documented. Ethel was said to have been sent to prison for being a bigamist(this has never been documented).
Winnie said Charles went by the nickname "Bruegger John" as a young man, but the origin of this is unknown.
Winnie’s daughter Hazel Swenson said Charley and her mother Winnie were lovers and had a child together. See the page for Winnie Smith for the period when she and Charley lived together from 1915 to 1923.
In about 1930 Charles lived with is brother Wallace's family at Burkhardt,WI for a period of a year or so.
In about 1936 or 1937 he lived on a farm with his brothers Clarence and Clifford several miles North of River Falls. According to Belmer Miller, Charley had an on-going affair with his brother Clifford's wife LaVerne at that time. Belmer said that LaVerne told he and Lora that she slept with Charley to help pay for the rent. LaVerne didn't seem to have any compulsion about discussing her personal affairs.
Sometime between 1940 and 1945 Charley married a woman named Pearl Reese(no documentation exists for this union).
In 1948 Charley married a woman named Pearl Woods Dean in Minong,WI. They lived together until his death in 1953.
Charley and Pearl Woods Dean kept foster children at their home located about 5 miles West of Minong near Lake Nancy. Sometime in May,1953 their home was struck by a tornado. During the storm the wife and children went safely to the basement, but Charles stayed upstairs to watch and was carried away with the house. He was found badly injured several hundred feet from where the foundation of the house was. A week later he died from a cerebral hemorrhage at 1:30a.m. on July 2, 1953 in the Shell Lake hospital.
I visited the property several years later and saw the remains of the house and the basement. A picture of the demolished house is found in the Minong or Spooner newspaper. During this same trip I found his death record in the Washburn County Court House in Shell lake,WI. Pearl Woods Dean was the informant.
His obituary was found in the Spooner or Minong paper.
Post cards to Arthur indicate Arthur was married to another woman as early as 1909 while he was a lumberjack at Irma,WI.(no documentation has been found).
Found in the 1910 U.S. Census for Clifton Twp., Pierce County,WI. Hired man working for Ed Fiedler.
According to Isabel: Arthur married Isabel Annis in August, 1911 in Hudson,WI. They were married by a judge, and it was a rainy day. After they were married they moved in with Homer and Belle Annis at Tabor, Canada. They came back from Canada to a farm on the ApRoberts place located about 6 miles northeast of River Falls, on the Kinnickinnic River. This was the same place that Eldon and Carrie Nash had rented previous to that. After a time on that farm they moved in with his brother Wallace and Lura on what was known as the Morrow place, located 5 miles South on the old Prescott road. Isabel said she couldn't get along with Lura, but she said any two of the Smith boys could farm together with never a cross word. From there they moved to Leads,N.D. in with Homer and Belle in the fall of 1918. In less than a year they lost everything and moved back to River Falls in the Spring of 1919. Then they moved to Trego in 1921 where Lyndon started grade school. In 1922 they moved to Minong onto the Webb farm.
From the Atlas and Farmers Directory of St. Croix County(1914)--Kinnickinnic Township:
Combined genealogies: Isabel and Homer Annis(brother & sister), married Arthur and Bertha Belle Smith(brother & sister)
Isabel said she was born on the Louis Perron farm which was located 80 rods South of the Kinnickinnic Church. George B. Smith lived on that place, as did Percy Pace.
Isabel said her father John Dennis Annis had another family in Indiana, and had several children before he abandoned them and came to River Falls,WI.
Isabel had three sisters and one brother: Bertha(first married to a Schorn, then to Willie Gilstad); Edith(married Andrew Swenson). Their children were: Ernie, Walter, and Clarabel; Eveline(married Adolph Holmes).
Isabel, Bertha, and John Schorn went to high school in River Falls.
Isabel graduated from the old high school in River Falls, then attended the Normal School from 1910-1911. While she attended the Normal School she boarded at Nels Heyerdahls. Everything dried up in 1910 and she had to quit school. She taught country school at East Knnickinnic near the Phillips place.
Found in the 1910 U.S. Census for Clifton Twp., Pierce County,WI. Hired man working for Ed Fiedler.
According to Isabel: Arthur married Isabel Annis in August, 1911 in Hudson,WI. They were married by a judge, and it was a rainy day. After they were married they moved in with Homer and Belle Annis at Tabor, Canada. They came back from Canada to a farm on the ApRoberts place located about 6 miles northeast of River Falls, on the Kinnickinnic River. This was the same place that Eldon and Carrie Nash had rented previous to that. After a time on that farm they moved in with his brother Wallace and Lura on what was known as the Morrow place, located 5 miles South on the old Prescott road. Isabel said she couldn't get along with Lura, but she said any two of the Smith boys could farm together with never a cross word. From there they moved to Leads,N.D. in with Homer and Belle in the fall of 1918. In less than a year they lost everything and moved back to River Falls in the Spring of 1919. Then they moved to Trego in 1921 where Lyndon started grade school. In 1922 they moved to Minong onto the Webb farm.
From the Atlas and Farmers Directory of St. Croix County(1914)--Kinnickinnic Township:
- H. Smith, R2, Sec 25, ac 40, Sec 26, rent ac 80, Sec 23, ac 30, Wife Isabel, child Lyndon.
Combined genealogies: Isabel and Homer Annis(brother & sister), married Arthur and Bertha Belle Smith(brother & sister)
Isabel said she was born on the Louis Perron farm which was located 80 rods South of the Kinnickinnic Church. George B. Smith lived on that place, as did Percy Pace.
Isabel said her father John Dennis Annis had another family in Indiana, and had several children before he abandoned them and came to River Falls,WI.
Isabel had three sisters and one brother: Bertha(first married to a Schorn, then to Willie Gilstad); Edith(married Andrew Swenson). Their children were: Ernie, Walter, and Clarabel; Eveline(married Adolph Holmes).
Isabel, Bertha, and John Schorn went to high school in River Falls.
Isabel graduated from the old high school in River Falls, then attended the Normal School from 1910-1911. While she attended the Normal School she boarded at Nels Heyerdahls. Everything dried up in 1910 and she had to quit school. She taught country school at East Knnickinnic near the Phillips place.
As reported in the SPOONER ADVOCATE weekly newspaper of Spooner,WI., Thursday, January 27, 2000
"MORE THAN 60 YEARS SHARED AS A COUPLE"
"Secret to longevity: Treat one other like a guest" By Julie Hustvet
Two large pictures of Lyndon and Grace Smith; the frist one was captioned "Young, and in love"--Lynny and Grace Smith, shown here in their wedding picture, were married in 1937 but kep it a secret and lived apart until they could afford to 'set up housekeeping' together.
The second picture was captioned: "Still Together'--Grace and Lynny Smith of Spooner are still in love and enjoying their marriage after 62 years together. In the background is a painting of their first home, where they lived for 14 years before moving to Spooner.
THE TEXT:
"The first eight years we were married we only lived together four," said Lynny Smith of Spooner.
Married secretly and living a part for several months, and then being separated by World War II for three years was not the most auspicious way for Lynny and his wife, Grace, to start life together.
But that did not stand in the way of building the strong union that today is in its 62nd year.
They count their blessing when they look back. No dreadful accidents or real trauma. A pair of "good kids." Always having a job. Shared interests and an appreciation of nature. No debt.
"We were raised in the Depression," Grace said. "So we were'nt using a lot of money. We were very careful of money. We could say no to our wants very easily. If you don't get into debt, if something goes, you always have money to fall back on."
It was money that at first kept them apeart when they married.
Lynny was living in Minong whe he met Grace, who had arrived there from Ladysmith in 1936 to work at a resort.
"Oh, he was so nice," Grace said. "He was soft-spoken and always polite and pleasant. But so shy he could hardly say hello to a girl.. Everyone liked him."
"He was introduced to me by a couple of old gentlemen in town who said, 'She's the one for you.' "
Before long, Lynny agreed with the gentlemen. She was always on his mind.
"Its like being cold," he said. "You can't keep thinking about it. She was just fun being around."
"Course I weighed 100 pounds," Grace interjected. "I never thought I was pretty, but other people thought I was."
"She had the prettiest legs in the county," Lynny said. "She had pretty feet. She made two tracks, her arches were so high. You couldn't help but look at her feet."
Grace admits to having had a liking for shoes. "That was my fetish, nice shoes," she said.
One of the couple's favorite activities in their courting days was going dancing.
"They always had a dance once a week at Tuttle's," Grace said.
"It's the Buck and Wing now," Lynny noted.
"There was always a big crowd," Grace remembered.
"If you had a buck you could go....."Lynny started, and Grace finished, "And have a good evening."
"Beer was five cents a glass," Lynny recalled.
"We've never been smokers or drinkers," Grace said, "so we were cheap dates."
A SECRET LIFE
On Sept 25, 1937, they married, telling no one.
"We had no intention of getting married, Grace said. :Nobody had any money. Things were desperate."
Lynny was making $5 a week, plus getting room and board. Grace couldn't move in with him, and they had no money for a home of their own.
But one day during a dance, a friend, Jules Richards, also of Minong at the time, suggested to Grace that she and Lynny marry. Grace didn't see any possibility of that with money being so tight.
People don't save any money until they get married, he said.
Later, when her job at the resort was done for the season and Grace told Lynny she had to leave, Lynny, naturally said he would miss her.
"So why don't you marry me?" she had joked.
"He said. 'Would you?' I was so taken aback," Grace said. "But the more I thought about it, I was crazy about him and I didn't really want to lose him."
So they wedded in secret, married by a minister in his home.
"I was too proud to let anyone know I was so foolish so set up housekeeping when we were so poor," Grace said. "We really weren't ready. We hadn't planned on being married. A year later we were ready because we bought a place to live. We started to have a married life then."
In the months between the wedding and settling into a $300 log cabin on three acres of piney woods, Grace returned to Ladysmith to take a job as a hat check at a nightclub along the Flambeau River, working for almost $3 a week and room and board.
The couple saw each other only once before they reunited in the spring. Lynny caught a ride to Ladysmith with someone who had a car and was going that way. He stayed overnight.
"Boy, was I happy to see him," Grace said.
MARRIED LIFE.
The Smiths lived in their cabin from 1938 to 1952 and then moved to Spooner, to the same home they have lived in now for almost 48 years.
One of Grace's personal philosophies about how marriage should be came from the owners of a Greek restaurant where she once worked. They told their employees to always keep busy and to treat each customer like a guest in one's home.
Grace said she made up her mind she was going to treat her husband that way.
"You're never impolite to him. You cook foods that he likes. You ask his input. And you don't argue."
Had Lynny been a "drinker or squanderer," she said, "I would have been spunky enough to demand my rights. I was a woman's libber before women's lib."
Grace is known for her cooking, and she said Lynny has never failed to thank her for a meal she has prepared. "He's just a very thoughtful, kind person."
"I was mighty good to him. Always have been," Grace said.
"She was so easy to be around. Never a problem," Lynny said.
"I was full of foolishness, and still am," she said.
Though the two have shared interests throughout their lives together -- especially hiking, canoeing, and square dancing, and thought they have many friends in common, they also nurtured individual pursuits.
"We realized early on," Grace said, "that when you get married, you don't own each other. You have to have your own friends. You have to be free to let them go."
"I've never worn jewelry," Lynny said, "My friends are my diamonds."
Trusting one another and being friends before becoming spouses are essential ina good marriage, Grace said. "Jealousy is thw worst thing you can have in a marriage."
Lynny agrees. "Iv'e known people who were jealous of each other, and it never worked out," he said. "Even if they don't split, I think it causes a lot of problems in their marriage."
When it come to having children, Grace suggests waiting five years so couple "have a chance to settle in together and get to know each other and have fun. That's what I told both of my children.
"We waited for a long time, wouldn't you know," Grace said. Two weeks after deciding the time had come to start a family, Lynny joined the Navy and the war effort.
"But the die was cast," Grace said.
Lynny served between 1942 and 1945, mostly in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian chain. Their son, Glenn, was born while he was over seas, and he carried a picture of mother and son with him. Glenn was 18 months old before Lynny could return home to see his son for the first time.
Their second child, Joyce, was born five years after Glenn, a spacing that Grace recommends to others considering expanding a family. "Having a baby in the house is such fun," she said, "and you can't give them much attention as you'd like to" when they are more closely spaced.
Now grandparents, Grace and Lynny look back on their 62-plus years together with pleasure and gratitude for the times they have shared.
It hardly seems that long to the couple.
"No, it seems like yesterday," Grace said.
___________________________
Bette and I spent a couple hours visiting Lyndon & Grace at their home in Spooner on Saturday, Mar. 11, 2000. We told them about the recent funerals of Jean Johnson and Kathleen Jarchow, and gave them the mementos that we picked up at the church. Then we discussed family history for most of the rest of the visit. Lyndon said he fell down the basement stairs a week ago and took a terrible tumble that left him quite sore and hurting in the right shoulder. Grace seems to be doing quite well.
Lyndon said they had a falling out with cousin "Nig" Smith over them giving "Nig" permission to set up a tree stand in their Minong woods in 1999. Seems that "Nig's" son and his friends built a road into the stand, put up a huge wooden structure(including a wood stove), and left all manner of camp "junk" scattered about. When Lyndon complained to "Nig" about their abusing their agreement, "Nig" got violently mad over it.
"MORE THAN 60 YEARS SHARED AS A COUPLE"
"Secret to longevity: Treat one other like a guest" By Julie Hustvet
Two large pictures of Lyndon and Grace Smith; the frist one was captioned "Young, and in love"--Lynny and Grace Smith, shown here in their wedding picture, were married in 1937 but kep it a secret and lived apart until they could afford to 'set up housekeeping' together.
The second picture was captioned: "Still Together'--Grace and Lynny Smith of Spooner are still in love and enjoying their marriage after 62 years together. In the background is a painting of their first home, where they lived for 14 years before moving to Spooner.
THE TEXT:
"The first eight years we were married we only lived together four," said Lynny Smith of Spooner.
Married secretly and living a part for several months, and then being separated by World War II for three years was not the most auspicious way for Lynny and his wife, Grace, to start life together.
But that did not stand in the way of building the strong union that today is in its 62nd year.
They count their blessing when they look back. No dreadful accidents or real trauma. A pair of "good kids." Always having a job. Shared interests and an appreciation of nature. No debt.
"We were raised in the Depression," Grace said. "So we were'nt using a lot of money. We were very careful of money. We could say no to our wants very easily. If you don't get into debt, if something goes, you always have money to fall back on."
It was money that at first kept them apeart when they married.
Lynny was living in Minong whe he met Grace, who had arrived there from Ladysmith in 1936 to work at a resort.
"Oh, he was so nice," Grace said. "He was soft-spoken and always polite and pleasant. But so shy he could hardly say hello to a girl.. Everyone liked him."
"He was introduced to me by a couple of old gentlemen in town who said, 'She's the one for you.' "
Before long, Lynny agreed with the gentlemen. She was always on his mind.
"Its like being cold," he said. "You can't keep thinking about it. She was just fun being around."
"Course I weighed 100 pounds," Grace interjected. "I never thought I was pretty, but other people thought I was."
"She had the prettiest legs in the county," Lynny said. "She had pretty feet. She made two tracks, her arches were so high. You couldn't help but look at her feet."
Grace admits to having had a liking for shoes. "That was my fetish, nice shoes," she said.
One of the couple's favorite activities in their courting days was going dancing.
"They always had a dance once a week at Tuttle's," Grace said.
"It's the Buck and Wing now," Lynny noted.
"There was always a big crowd," Grace remembered.
"If you had a buck you could go....."Lynny started, and Grace finished, "And have a good evening."
"Beer was five cents a glass," Lynny recalled.
"We've never been smokers or drinkers," Grace said, "so we were cheap dates."
A SECRET LIFE
On Sept 25, 1937, they married, telling no one.
"We had no intention of getting married, Grace said. :Nobody had any money. Things were desperate."
Lynny was making $5 a week, plus getting room and board. Grace couldn't move in with him, and they had no money for a home of their own.
But one day during a dance, a friend, Jules Richards, also of Minong at the time, suggested to Grace that she and Lynny marry. Grace didn't see any possibility of that with money being so tight.
People don't save any money until they get married, he said.
Later, when her job at the resort was done for the season and Grace told Lynny she had to leave, Lynny, naturally said he would miss her.
"So why don't you marry me?" she had joked.
"He said. 'Would you?' I was so taken aback," Grace said. "But the more I thought about it, I was crazy about him and I didn't really want to lose him."
So they wedded in secret, married by a minister in his home.
"I was too proud to let anyone know I was so foolish so set up housekeeping when we were so poor," Grace said. "We really weren't ready. We hadn't planned on being married. A year later we were ready because we bought a place to live. We started to have a married life then."
In the months between the wedding and settling into a $300 log cabin on three acres of piney woods, Grace returned to Ladysmith to take a job as a hat check at a nightclub along the Flambeau River, working for almost $3 a week and room and board.
The couple saw each other only once before they reunited in the spring. Lynny caught a ride to Ladysmith with someone who had a car and was going that way. He stayed overnight.
"Boy, was I happy to see him," Grace said.
MARRIED LIFE.
The Smiths lived in their cabin from 1938 to 1952 and then moved to Spooner, to the same home they have lived in now for almost 48 years.
One of Grace's personal philosophies about how marriage should be came from the owners of a Greek restaurant where she once worked. They told their employees to always keep busy and to treat each customer like a guest in one's home.
Grace said she made up her mind she was going to treat her husband that way.
"You're never impolite to him. You cook foods that he likes. You ask his input. And you don't argue."
Had Lynny been a "drinker or squanderer," she said, "I would have been spunky enough to demand my rights. I was a woman's libber before women's lib."
Grace is known for her cooking, and she said Lynny has never failed to thank her for a meal she has prepared. "He's just a very thoughtful, kind person."
"I was mighty good to him. Always have been," Grace said.
"She was so easy to be around. Never a problem," Lynny said.
"I was full of foolishness, and still am," she said.
Though the two have shared interests throughout their lives together -- especially hiking, canoeing, and square dancing, and thought they have many friends in common, they also nurtured individual pursuits.
"We realized early on," Grace said, "that when you get married, you don't own each other. You have to have your own friends. You have to be free to let them go."
"I've never worn jewelry," Lynny said, "My friends are my diamonds."
Trusting one another and being friends before becoming spouses are essential ina good marriage, Grace said. "Jealousy is thw worst thing you can have in a marriage."
Lynny agrees. "Iv'e known people who were jealous of each other, and it never worked out," he said. "Even if they don't split, I think it causes a lot of problems in their marriage."
When it come to having children, Grace suggests waiting five years so couple "have a chance to settle in together and get to know each other and have fun. That's what I told both of my children.
"We waited for a long time, wouldn't you know," Grace said. Two weeks after deciding the time had come to start a family, Lynny joined the Navy and the war effort.
"But the die was cast," Grace said.
Lynny served between 1942 and 1945, mostly in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian chain. Their son, Glenn, was born while he was over seas, and he carried a picture of mother and son with him. Glenn was 18 months old before Lynny could return home to see his son for the first time.
Their second child, Joyce, was born five years after Glenn, a spacing that Grace recommends to others considering expanding a family. "Having a baby in the house is such fun," she said, "and you can't give them much attention as you'd like to" when they are more closely spaced.
Now grandparents, Grace and Lynny look back on their 62-plus years together with pleasure and gratitude for the times they have shared.
It hardly seems that long to the couple.
"No, it seems like yesterday," Grace said.
___________________________
Bette and I spent a couple hours visiting Lyndon & Grace at their home in Spooner on Saturday, Mar. 11, 2000. We told them about the recent funerals of Jean Johnson and Kathleen Jarchow, and gave them the mementos that we picked up at the church. Then we discussed family history for most of the rest of the visit. Lyndon said he fell down the basement stairs a week ago and took a terrible tumble that left him quite sore and hurting in the right shoulder. Grace seems to be doing quite well.
Lyndon said they had a falling out with cousin "Nig" Smith over them giving "Nig" permission to set up a tree stand in their Minong woods in 1999. Seems that "Nig's" son and his friends built a road into the stand, put up a huge wooden structure(including a wood stove), and left all manner of camp "junk" scattered about. When Lyndon complained to "Nig" about their abusing their agreement, "Nig" got violently mad over it.
The following story was reprinted from the Washburn County Senior Focus--Official Newsletter of the Washburn County Unit on Aging, Vol. 8, Issue 1, January, 2001
The story was written by Bob Becker
GLEN AND BETTY SMITH LEAD ACTIVE, INTERESTING LIVES
Life's pathways often lead a person to distant corners of the world. And along the way, unique and interesting experiences are certain to be encountered.
Such is the case with Glen Smith and his wife, Betty of Minong.
Now 79, Glen was born at Trego in 1921. "I was named by my older brother, Lyndon. He liked the name, Glen," Smith told.
The family moved to Minong shortly after Glen's birth. "My father died when I was ten years old," Glen said. "My mother sure had a tough job rasing four boys, but she did a good job."
Meanwhile, Betty's parents had moved to Wascott from Nebraska. Her dad purchased and operated a resaurant in Minong. "I've lived almost my entire life in the Wascott-Minong area," Betty said.
The two remember well their early years. "The school bus was a horse and wagon in the warm weather and a covered sleigh in the winter." Glen commented. "I remember when the elementary and grade school burned in 1936. We didn't get back into the new school until 1939. In the interim, classes were held in the bank, a church, and the power house.
The power house housed the only electrical generator in town," he continued. "But only a few buildings were hooked up to it. People used kerosene and Aladdin lamps for light. We thought Aladdin lamps were the greates thing ever invented!"
Betty recalls her high school days.
"I stayed with Earl and Lillian Link all four years I went to high school," she said. "I remember that we weren't allowed to have dances in the new school because of the new floor."
"We played our basketball games in the village hall," Glen added. "The ceiling wasn't high enough, but it was all we had."
"And on Saturday nights, movies were held there," Betty said. "It cost a dime to get in."
Following graduation from high school in 1940, Glen attempted to join the Navy. Rejected because his upper body was too small, he spent the summer exercising to build muscle strength, and the following October, he was accepted.
Little did he know that World War II would break out in 1941, and that he would spend over six years on active duty.
That duty saw him serving on two aricraft carriers in the Pacific, ships that were involved in many major battles with the Japanese.
"I was aboard the carrier Saratoga for three years," he said. "We were involved in the Phillipines, New Guinea and Okinawa. We were torpedoed twice."
Discharged in 1947, Smith returned to Minong.
Betty, meanwhile, had enrolled in nurse's training in St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, graduating in 1947. She and Glen were married shortly thereafter.
That summer the two moved to California, where Glen spent a year attending Northrup Aeronautical Institute, earning an Aircraft and Engine Mechanis License.
The training made the resumption of his military career attractive, and in 1949, Glen re-enlisted, this time in the Army. Again, little did he know that a war would break out, this time in Korea.
"I spent 18 months in Korea," Glen told, "I was an operations sergeant in the unloading of ships at Inchon."
In his absence, Betty remained at home, living in Spooner and tending to their two daughters and a son. "It was a tough time, but we got throug it," she said. "I got a lot of help from Elmer Zach and his wife Gert."
Upon Glen's return, the two moved to the Sandia Army Base at Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Glen was an instructor in the testing, maintenance and storage of atomic weapons. And in 1963, after completing 20 years of active duty, he retired from the military.
Yet, another interesting chapter in his life emerged. In 1964, Glen went to work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as an aide in the wildlife management program at the district office in Spooner, a career that also lasted 20 years.
Over the years, the Smiths raised six children. Today, there are seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
As hobbies, Glen has enjoyed golf and pitching horseshoes. He has several golfing trophies that tesitfy to his ability. And he was the horseshoe pitiching champion of Washburn County in 1981.
In Recent years, he has added to building of model airplanes to his hobby list. The planes are gasoline-powered and flown by remote control.
For several years, he and Betty traveled in an RV trailer to winter in California and Louisiana. But Betty's rehabilitation regime for a recent bypass surgery has ruled out such travel for the present.
Betty Smith, 85, of Minong, died on Friday, May 15, 2009.
She was born on April 2, 1924, in South Sioux City, Neb., to
Gertrude and Harry Frahm. When she was a child her family made many trips to the
Wascott-Minong area and finally made the permanent move to the area in 1936.
Betty graduated from Minong High School in 1942 and then attended nurses'
training under the Cadet Nurses' Federal Training Program at St. Luke's in
Duluth. Pursuing her nursing career, she worked at St. Luke's in Duluth for a
short time, later at a hospital in Compton, Calif., and lastly at Presbyterian
Hospital in Albuquerque, N. Mex.
She married Glen Smith on Jan. 29, 1947, in Duluth.
Being an Army wife, Betty had to set up residence in many locales,
first in Fort Riley, Kansas, then in Spooner while her husband served 18 months
in Korea. Later they lived in Aberdeen, Md., for a short time, then in Fort
Gordon, Ga., then Sandia Base in Albuquerque, N. Mex., and they finally returned
to Minong in 1963.
Betty was a member of St. Mary's Church in Minong. She was a
member of the Altar Society and helped with fund-raising, funerals, and other
events.
Betty wrote a recipe column for Riverway Echo (Minong newspaper)
for many years and also drove a mini school bus for several years. Betty dearly
loved animals, especially dogs and cats. She had many pets over the years, her
favorite breed being the Chihuahua as she raised three of them.
Betty also loved shopping. She could spend hours in a mall
anywhere looking and buying. The CBS line-up of soap operas was a daily
past-time for Betty; she had to listen to many of them via radio before they
moved to TV.
Betty also loved to travel and visited many U.S. states and made
trips to London and Paris.
Betty is survived by her husband of 62 years, Glen; five of her
six children, Deborah (Ed) Kofal of Wascott, Mark (Cheryl) Smith of Grantsburg,
Dawn (Robert) DeSoto of Phoenix, Ariz., Dee Ann (Scott) Clark of Bloomington,
Minn., and Miles Smith of Trondheim, Norway; seven grandchildren; and five
great-grandchildren.
Betty was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Eugene, of
Quartzsite, Ariz.; and a daughter, Denise.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 22, at St. Mary's
Catholic Church in Minong.
Arrangements were entrusted to Edling Funeral Home in Grantsburg.
The story was written by Bob Becker
GLEN AND BETTY SMITH LEAD ACTIVE, INTERESTING LIVES
Life's pathways often lead a person to distant corners of the world. And along the way, unique and interesting experiences are certain to be encountered.
Such is the case with Glen Smith and his wife, Betty of Minong.
Now 79, Glen was born at Trego in 1921. "I was named by my older brother, Lyndon. He liked the name, Glen," Smith told.
The family moved to Minong shortly after Glen's birth. "My father died when I was ten years old," Glen said. "My mother sure had a tough job rasing four boys, but she did a good job."
Meanwhile, Betty's parents had moved to Wascott from Nebraska. Her dad purchased and operated a resaurant in Minong. "I've lived almost my entire life in the Wascott-Minong area," Betty said.
The two remember well their early years. "The school bus was a horse and wagon in the warm weather and a covered sleigh in the winter." Glen commented. "I remember when the elementary and grade school burned in 1936. We didn't get back into the new school until 1939. In the interim, classes were held in the bank, a church, and the power house.
The power house housed the only electrical generator in town," he continued. "But only a few buildings were hooked up to it. People used kerosene and Aladdin lamps for light. We thought Aladdin lamps were the greates thing ever invented!"
Betty recalls her high school days.
"I stayed with Earl and Lillian Link all four years I went to high school," she said. "I remember that we weren't allowed to have dances in the new school because of the new floor."
"We played our basketball games in the village hall," Glen added. "The ceiling wasn't high enough, but it was all we had."
"And on Saturday nights, movies were held there," Betty said. "It cost a dime to get in."
Following graduation from high school in 1940, Glen attempted to join the Navy. Rejected because his upper body was too small, he spent the summer exercising to build muscle strength, and the following October, he was accepted.
Little did he know that World War II would break out in 1941, and that he would spend over six years on active duty.
That duty saw him serving on two aricraft carriers in the Pacific, ships that were involved in many major battles with the Japanese.
"I was aboard the carrier Saratoga for three years," he said. "We were involved in the Phillipines, New Guinea and Okinawa. We were torpedoed twice."
Discharged in 1947, Smith returned to Minong.
Betty, meanwhile, had enrolled in nurse's training in St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, graduating in 1947. She and Glen were married shortly thereafter.
That summer the two moved to California, where Glen spent a year attending Northrup Aeronautical Institute, earning an Aircraft and Engine Mechanis License.
The training made the resumption of his military career attractive, and in 1949, Glen re-enlisted, this time in the Army. Again, little did he know that a war would break out, this time in Korea.
"I spent 18 months in Korea," Glen told, "I was an operations sergeant in the unloading of ships at Inchon."
In his absence, Betty remained at home, living in Spooner and tending to their two daughters and a son. "It was a tough time, but we got throug it," she said. "I got a lot of help from Elmer Zach and his wife Gert."
Upon Glen's return, the two moved to the Sandia Army Base at Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Glen was an instructor in the testing, maintenance and storage of atomic weapons. And in 1963, after completing 20 years of active duty, he retired from the military.
Yet, another interesting chapter in his life emerged. In 1964, Glen went to work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as an aide in the wildlife management program at the district office in Spooner, a career that also lasted 20 years.
Over the years, the Smiths raised six children. Today, there are seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
As hobbies, Glen has enjoyed golf and pitching horseshoes. He has several golfing trophies that tesitfy to his ability. And he was the horseshoe pitiching champion of Washburn County in 1981.
In Recent years, he has added to building of model airplanes to his hobby list. The planes are gasoline-powered and flown by remote control.
For several years, he and Betty traveled in an RV trailer to winter in California and Louisiana. But Betty's rehabilitation regime for a recent bypass surgery has ruled out such travel for the present.
Betty Smith, 85, of Minong, died on Friday, May 15, 2009.
She was born on April 2, 1924, in South Sioux City, Neb., to
Gertrude and Harry Frahm. When she was a child her family made many trips to the
Wascott-Minong area and finally made the permanent move to the area in 1936.
Betty graduated from Minong High School in 1942 and then attended nurses'
training under the Cadet Nurses' Federal Training Program at St. Luke's in
Duluth. Pursuing her nursing career, she worked at St. Luke's in Duluth for a
short time, later at a hospital in Compton, Calif., and lastly at Presbyterian
Hospital in Albuquerque, N. Mex.
She married Glen Smith on Jan. 29, 1947, in Duluth.
Being an Army wife, Betty had to set up residence in many locales,
first in Fort Riley, Kansas, then in Spooner while her husband served 18 months
in Korea. Later they lived in Aberdeen, Md., for a short time, then in Fort
Gordon, Ga., then Sandia Base in Albuquerque, N. Mex., and they finally returned
to Minong in 1963.
Betty was a member of St. Mary's Church in Minong. She was a
member of the Altar Society and helped with fund-raising, funerals, and other
events.
Betty wrote a recipe column for Riverway Echo (Minong newspaper)
for many years and also drove a mini school bus for several years. Betty dearly
loved animals, especially dogs and cats. She had many pets over the years, her
favorite breed being the Chihuahua as she raised three of them.
Betty also loved shopping. She could spend hours in a mall
anywhere looking and buying. The CBS line-up of soap operas was a daily
past-time for Betty; she had to listen to many of them via radio before they
moved to TV.
Betty also loved to travel and visited many U.S. states and made
trips to London and Paris.
Betty is survived by her husband of 62 years, Glen; five of her
six children, Deborah (Ed) Kofal of Wascott, Mark (Cheryl) Smith of Grantsburg,
Dawn (Robert) DeSoto of Phoenix, Ariz., Dee Ann (Scott) Clark of Bloomington,
Minn., and Miles Smith of Trondheim, Norway; seven grandchildren; and five
great-grandchildren.
Betty was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Eugene, of
Quartzsite, Ariz.; and a daughter, Denise.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 22, at St. Mary's
Catholic Church in Minong.
Arrangements were entrusted to Edling Funeral Home in Grantsburg.
According to Isabel, Baby Myrtle was buried in the Kinnickinnic Cemetery on the gravesite of John Dennis Annis. Winnie thinks this is probably correct. This has not been documented.
Lura Aldrich(Wallace Smith) and Cora Glover(Herbert Smith) were related through the Ensign line. Cousin Marlin Smith(son of Lura and Walace Smith) has his maternal lines traced back into the 1500's. Surnames such as Smith, Aldrich, Ensign, Webster, and Glover can be viewed on the LDS FamilySearch.org web site.
Her social security no. was 391-68-1584
U.S. Census-1920-River Falls Twp
Wallace H. Smith......................head.......age 34
Lura E. Smith...........................wife........age 32
Elwyn L...................................Dau.........age 9
Leora E...................................Dau..........age 6
Vycella M................................Dau..........age 5
OBITUARY FOR WALLACE HERBERT SMITH
River Falls Journal-- Wallace Herbert Smith (1885-1955)
Smith. -- Wallace Herbert Smith was born on May 9th 1885 at Irma, Wisconsin. He was the third son of Serepta and George B. Smith. He passed away at Finn's Haven Rest Home on Wednesday July 27, 1955. Mr. Smith had been in failing health for several months and had spent the past seven months at the rest home.
On November 23, 1910 he was united in marriage to Lura Aldrich of Little Sauk,Minn. To them were born eight children all of whom survive with exception of Leora(Mrs. Edwin Mayer).
Most of Mr. Smith's life was spent in farming near River Falls. For a few years he worked at the electric plant at Burkhardt, Wis.
In addition to his wife he leaves five daughters(Elwyn)Mrs. Lyle Waxon,(Vycella)Mrs. Glenn Waxon,(Olive)Mrs. Leo Crimmins all of Hudson, Wis., (Alice)Mrs. Gordon Evenson of Escanaba,Mich., and (Inez)Mrs. James Boney of Seattle, Wash. Two sons, Charles and marlin, both in the service of their country in Japan. Two sisters, Mrs. Homer Annis of Delphos, Kansas, and Mr.s Vernon Erickson of Red Wing,Minn. Two brothers, Clarence and Clifford of river Falls, 15 grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Two sisters and five brothers in addition to his parents have preceded him in death.
Funeral service were held at the Methodist Church in River Falls, on Saturday, July 30, 1955. Interment was held at Greenwood cemetery with Ralph Kofoed officiating.
Her social security no. was 391-68-1584
U.S. Census-1920-River Falls Twp
Wallace H. Smith......................head.......age 34
Lura E. Smith...........................wife........age 32
Elwyn L...................................Dau.........age 9
Leora E...................................Dau..........age 6
Vycella M................................Dau..........age 5
OBITUARY FOR WALLACE HERBERT SMITH
River Falls Journal-- Wallace Herbert Smith (1885-1955)
Smith. -- Wallace Herbert Smith was born on May 9th 1885 at Irma, Wisconsin. He was the third son of Serepta and George B. Smith. He passed away at Finn's Haven Rest Home on Wednesday July 27, 1955. Mr. Smith had been in failing health for several months and had spent the past seven months at the rest home.
On November 23, 1910 he was united in marriage to Lura Aldrich of Little Sauk,Minn. To them were born eight children all of whom survive with exception of Leora(Mrs. Edwin Mayer).
Most of Mr. Smith's life was spent in farming near River Falls. For a few years he worked at the electric plant at Burkhardt, Wis.
In addition to his wife he leaves five daughters(Elwyn)Mrs. Lyle Waxon,(Vycella)Mrs. Glenn Waxon,(Olive)Mrs. Leo Crimmins all of Hudson, Wis., (Alice)Mrs. Gordon Evenson of Escanaba,Mich., and (Inez)Mrs. James Boney of Seattle, Wash. Two sons, Charles and marlin, both in the service of their country in Japan. Two sisters, Mrs. Homer Annis of Delphos, Kansas, and Mr.s Vernon Erickson of Red Wing,Minn. Two brothers, Clarence and Clifford of river Falls, 15 grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Two sisters and five brothers in addition to his parents have preceded him in death.
Funeral service were held at the Methodist Church in River Falls, on Saturday, July 30, 1955. Interment was held at Greenwood cemetery with Ralph Kofoed officiating.
Gertie and Fay were married at the home of her father George Bradley Smith on the place known as the Julia Peskar farm which was located about a half mile north of the County Line out near the County Line School House in St. Croix Co.
Shortly after they were married they moved out to Oregon to live with Fay's brother Ed Miller. In about a year they moved back to Wisconsin. Then, in 1910 they moved to Eugene,Oregon where their first child Elery was born. In less than two years they moved back to River Falls to a place located about 1/2 mile West of River Falls on co.MM. This is where they were living when their second son Belmer was born on 9 March, 1913. Actually, Gertie went to live with Wallace and Mary Smith in River Falls where Belmer was born. According to Blanche White Fay and Gertie lived next door to the Eastman's in River Falls when their third son Wilbur was born. Blanche, with five other girls, was staying with the Eastman's while she was attending the Normal School in River Falls(1913-14). She said Mrs. Eastman looked after Belmer because Gertie was quite sick during her pregnancy with Wilbur, which was cause for great concern. It was Mrs. Eastman who first noticed that Belmer didn't use his right leg. Belmer disputes this saying that his folks knew right away after he was sick that he couldn't use that leg.
When Belmer was a small boy the Millers lived in the Lund house on the corner of N. Clark and Lincoln Sts. in River Falls.
Fay and his brother-in-law Charlie Smith were still working the logging camps up near Irma,Wis after Fay and Gertie were first married. Belmer said that Fay and Charlie would live and work at the camps most of the winter, and that when he came home for a visit, Gertie made him strip off his lumberjack clothes and take an antiseptic bath before he could come into the house. Then she would boil his old clothes in a pot outdoors.
U.S. Census-1920-River Falls Twp
Fay Miller..................................head........age 34
Gertrude Miller.........................wife.........age 30
EleryMiller................................Son..........age 9
Belmer Miller............................Son..........age 6
Wibur Miller..............................Son..........age 5
OBITUARY FOR EDWARD ELERY MILLER
Died--Edward Elery Miller. Born Aug. 16, 1847 in Erie,Pa. Died at the home of his daughter Mrs. William Hunter July 25, 1933. His father died at Camp Randall during the Civil War, both he and his father served the union as privates. Five children survive: Edward of Rochester,Wash., Mrs. Junie Crandall of Los Angeles,Calif., Mrs. Henry Beardlsey of Ellsworth,Wis., Mrs. William Hunter of River Falls, Wis., and Fay Miller of Prescott, Wis.
OBITUARY FOR GERTRUDE E. MILLER
River Falls Journal--Gertrude Elizabeth Miller
Mrs. Fay Miller, aged 60, died very suddenly Saturday evening, October 25, 1947, at the home of her son Wilbur, on East Cascade Avenue, where she was spending Saturday evening.
Funeral services were held from the Finn & Segerstrom Funeral chapel and the Lutheran House of Worship on Tuesday afternoon, with interment in Greenwood. Rev. Arthur Johnson officiated.
Mrs. Miller had been downtown earlier in the evening and with her husband, was spending the evening at the home of her son. She had been suffering from high blood pressure for some time.
Left to mourn her loss besides her husband, are a daughter, Mrs. Norman Johnson, three sons, Elery of Prescott, Belmer, of Mauston, and Wilbur of this city.
Fay had a sister named Pauline"Polly" who first married a man named Strout, and then to William "Bill" Hunter. William Hunter was also married before and had two daughters by that marriage.
U.S. Census-1920-City of River Falls
William Hunter age 39
Pauline (wife) 39
Burle Strout (step-dau.) 17
Fay Miller's sister Viola Etta Miller, married Henry L. Beardsley on 26 Feb. 1901 in Pierce County.
U.S. Census-1920--City of River Falls
Fay Miller age 34
Gertrude (wife) 32
Elery 9
Belmer 6
Wilbur 5
Shortly after they were married they moved out to Oregon to live with Fay's brother Ed Miller. In about a year they moved back to Wisconsin. Then, in 1910 they moved to Eugene,Oregon where their first child Elery was born. In less than two years they moved back to River Falls to a place located about 1/2 mile West of River Falls on co.MM. This is where they were living when their second son Belmer was born on 9 March, 1913. Actually, Gertie went to live with Wallace and Mary Smith in River Falls where Belmer was born. According to Blanche White Fay and Gertie lived next door to the Eastman's in River Falls when their third son Wilbur was born. Blanche, with five other girls, was staying with the Eastman's while she was attending the Normal School in River Falls(1913-14). She said Mrs. Eastman looked after Belmer because Gertie was quite sick during her pregnancy with Wilbur, which was cause for great concern. It was Mrs. Eastman who first noticed that Belmer didn't use his right leg. Belmer disputes this saying that his folks knew right away after he was sick that he couldn't use that leg.
When Belmer was a small boy the Millers lived in the Lund house on the corner of N. Clark and Lincoln Sts. in River Falls.
Fay and his brother-in-law Charlie Smith were still working the logging camps up near Irma,Wis after Fay and Gertie were first married. Belmer said that Fay and Charlie would live and work at the camps most of the winter, and that when he came home for a visit, Gertie made him strip off his lumberjack clothes and take an antiseptic bath before he could come into the house. Then she would boil his old clothes in a pot outdoors.
U.S. Census-1920-River Falls Twp
Fay Miller..................................head........age 34
Gertrude Miller.........................wife.........age 30
EleryMiller................................Son..........age 9
Belmer Miller............................Son..........age 6
Wibur Miller..............................Son..........age 5
OBITUARY FOR EDWARD ELERY MILLER
Died--Edward Elery Miller. Born Aug. 16, 1847 in Erie,Pa. Died at the home of his daughter Mrs. William Hunter July 25, 1933. His father died at Camp Randall during the Civil War, both he and his father served the union as privates. Five children survive: Edward of Rochester,Wash., Mrs. Junie Crandall of Los Angeles,Calif., Mrs. Henry Beardlsey of Ellsworth,Wis., Mrs. William Hunter of River Falls, Wis., and Fay Miller of Prescott, Wis.
OBITUARY FOR GERTRUDE E. MILLER
River Falls Journal--Gertrude Elizabeth Miller
Mrs. Fay Miller, aged 60, died very suddenly Saturday evening, October 25, 1947, at the home of her son Wilbur, on East Cascade Avenue, where she was spending Saturday evening.
Funeral services were held from the Finn & Segerstrom Funeral chapel and the Lutheran House of Worship on Tuesday afternoon, with interment in Greenwood. Rev. Arthur Johnson officiated.
Mrs. Miller had been downtown earlier in the evening and with her husband, was spending the evening at the home of her son. She had been suffering from high blood pressure for some time.
Left to mourn her loss besides her husband, are a daughter, Mrs. Norman Johnson, three sons, Elery of Prescott, Belmer, of Mauston, and Wilbur of this city.
Fay had a sister named Pauline"Polly" who first married a man named Strout, and then to William "Bill" Hunter. William Hunter was also married before and had two daughters by that marriage.
U.S. Census-1920-City of River Falls
William Hunter age 39
Pauline (wife) 39
Burle Strout (step-dau.) 17
Fay Miller's sister Viola Etta Miller, married Henry L. Beardsley on 26 Feb. 1901 in Pierce County.
U.S. Census-1920--City of River Falls
Fay Miller age 34
Gertrude (wife) 32
Elery 9
Belmer 6
Wilbur 5
