(Abbreviations: MLP = Marlene L Plambeck; TEP = Thane E. Plambeck)

Green plastic box

Lueth / Horn

Photo of Andreas W. (Andrew) Lueth (1852-1938) and Caroline Horn Lueth (1858-1937). PDF, 1pg. [Date TBD].

Andreas Lueth and Caroline Horn were a gutsy German couple who had crappy farm jobs in Schleswig-Holstein in the 19th century and decided to say "screw this, we're going to go to AMERICA and own our own farm." Which they did, never to return to Germany and their old friends. When they arrived in the port of New York, they recognized their "illegitimate" (ie, pre-marriage) son Wilhelm, age three, as their own, and later had a daughter Mathilda and several other younger children in the USA. Mathilda died in 1964, but not before she was photographed in Valentine, Nebraska with MLP holding TEP as a tiny kid in stupid-looking overalls.
Notes of MLP's meeting with Lueth family members. PDF, 2pg. June 1996.

Extract: "I [MLP] asked them what they could remember about their Grandma Caroline Lueth, my great Grandma. They remembered how quietly she walked---a skill we guess she learned young while working for the Grafin in Germany. Servants, like children, were to be seen but not heard. They said many times she just seemed to appear in a room. She was a lace maker and often served as a midwife to other women in the area. She spoke almost no English nor could she read or write it. If she wrote any letters to her children, none seem to have survived. More often her younger children were called upon to write for them. "Mama says or Papa says ______." The only thing we have and apparently all of her children had one was one of her German so-called "Heaven's Letter." I seem to be the only one who has a partial translation done by my grandma. It seems almost more like a superstition or omen than a religious writing. I think that Tillie told me Grandma Caroline got it from her mother which would date it back to the early 1800's at least."
Obituaries of Caroline Horn Lueth and Andreas (Andrew) W. Lueth. PDF, 2pg. (1937 & 1938).

Extract: Mr. Lueth grew to a young man in his native Germany. He was united in marriage to Carolina Horn in Luetzenburg, Germany, on June 18, 1882. Two days later they left on a voyage which brought I them to the United States, where they established their first residence at Mineola, IA [....]

Nicholas

Our Nicholas Family (4pg, PDF, 1995).

A concise four-page introduction to the people and genealogical lines represented in this subsection. The author is Marlene L. Plambeck (MLP), and she wrote this document in 1995.
Revolutionary War Pension materials of William Nicholas. PDF, 18pg.

MLP's direct revolutionary war ancestor. In the 1970s, she submitted closely related material to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in a successful effort to join that organization.
Letter from MLP to the Linn County Heritage Society (of Iowa), 23 Nov 1975. (1 pg, PDF)

Extract: My Grandfather Edwin L. Nicholas was born near Fairfax in Linn County, Iowa, 3 December 1870, the 3rd and youngest child of Holmes F Nicholas and Elizabeth Kerr Nicholas (nee Bradley). They were married in Linn County, 12 April 1863, as found in the Marriages Records, Vol 2 page 56. At the time of their marriage each had been married before and widowed.

Holmes was born 22 March 1812 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (His father William Nicholas was a pensioned Revolutionary War soldier). The wife of his youth was Sarah Keith; they were married in Columbiana County, Ohio, ca. 1833. Sarah died near West Liberty, Iowa, as the family moved west. They had 10 children, none of whom were born in Iowa.

Elizabeth Hoy Bradley was born in Richland County, Ohio, 13 February 1834 and married Amos Kerr there in 1854. This young couple left immediately by wagon for Iowa settling first in Johnson County. Family tradition says that Amos died of a fever caused by drinking water from a contaminated well. Elizabeth was also ill but survived and gave birth to a daughter Amy. To support herself and infant, Elizabeth became a pioneer school teacher settling finally in Linn county. She made inquiry of her acquaintances for a carpenter to repair her house. Mr. Nicholas came to do this work for her and they were soon married. Their eldest child Lillian was born ca 1864; William born ca. 1868 and my grandfather Edwin in 1870. Holmes is shown as living in Fairfax Township, Linn County, Iowa, in the 1860 and 1870 Federal Census.

The family moved to Cherokee County, Iowa ca 1879 and are listed there in the 1880 Federal census. Holmes died died near Marcus, Cherokee County in 1896. Elizabeth moved with her daughter Amy (Mrs. Robert C. Glass) to Seattle, Washington and died there in 1904.

My grandfather Edwin married Minnie E. Smith, daughter fo Jabez and Sarah Wirt Smith in Cherokee County 13 March 1895. (The Wirt Family had come to Iowa from Pennsylvania in 1855.) Edwin and Minnie moved to Knox County, Nebraska ca. 1900 and they celebrated their Golden Wedding. Edwin died in 1951; Minnie in 1956. Earl Nicholas, my father, is the youngest of their four children. (Sherman, Gladys, and Nona are others). [...]
Holmes & Sarah Keith Nicholas. A three-page typewritten document by MLP, dated 1999. Extract: "Sarah was not my [ie MLP's] great-grandma. My great-grandma was Elizabeth Hoy Kerr, nee Bradley, Holmes's second wife. But I have always known about Sarah 'Keith' and that she had died of lung congestion in 1855 [...]"
1838 Columbiana county (Ohio) land transfer deeds involving Holmes Nicholas (10 March 1838). Two page PDF, transcribed by MLP from microfiche, circa 1999. People mentioned in these deeds include the following: Sarah Nicolas, Benjamin Oran, Eustina Oran, Samuel Grisell, and David Johnson.
Holmes Nicholas Family Record (3 pages, PDF). A fascinating photocopy that seems to be in the handwriting of Holmes Nicholas, or perhaps Sarah Keith, and then continued in the hand of one or more of their children, possibly, with annotations written between earlier lines. Are these pages from a family Bible, perhaps? The final page is in a different hand on different stationery. Extract: "Holmes Nicholas was Born March 22nd 1812. Died July 29 1896. Sarah Keith was born July 23rd 1815 And departed this Life Nov 29th 1857. Samuel Nicholas was Born December 13th 1833 [...]"
Holmes F Nicholas obituary (2 pages, PDF). From the Cherokee Weekly Times, 13 August 1896. This document was located and transcribed by Joseph Roberts. Thanks, Joseph!
The Orphan Children (5 pages, PDF). This genealogy stuff is just too evocative sometimes. Tonight [27 Jan 2013] I've been sifting through photocopied pages from a mid-to-late 18th century family bible. My [TEP's] great- great- grandfather [Holmes Nicholas]'s first wife [Sarah Keith] has just died in 1857. He soon remarries a younger woman [Elizabeth Hoy Kerr] and they have more kids (one of whom ends up being my great-grandfather, Edwin L. Nicholas, so I'm not complaining that he spent little time in mourning). Anyway, there's a photocopy of an 18c letter written by Lizzie Boget (not sure who that is) to some of the children from Holmes Nicholas's first marriage. It includes at the beginning of it these song lyrics, copied out:

I CANNOT CALL HER MOTHER

The marriage rite is over
Although I turn aside
To keep the guests from seeing
The tears I could not hide

I wreathe my face in smiling
And I left my little brother
To greet my father's chosen
But he could not call her mother

She is a fair young creature
With meek and gentle airs
With blue eyes soft and loving
And silk and sunny hair

I know my father gives her
A love he had for another
If she were an angel
I could not call her mother

My father's in the sunshine
Of happy days to come
They have forgot the shadows
That darkened our old home

His heart is no more lonely
But me and little brother
Must still be orphan children
God gives us but one mother

Some web searches lead me to conclude that this is a song by Edwin Pearce Christy (b. November 28, 1815; d May 21, 1862).

MLP wrote the following transcription of the letter (it's included in the scanned doc):

girls I will send you a song, but I can't send you a tune I [?] you can sing it.

When you see her that I like to have come and seen her but I could not. I intend to write her before long. well Mary, Sarah, Amy, Armmie, all you write & tell Will to write, but shaw it is no use to tell him he will not do it. now I want you to soon, and _______. I don't whether you can read this or not. I have two more letters to write and am in a hurry. you can correct all mistakes.

Write very soon now
don't you put it off and
wait on another

Lizzie Boget

Direct your letters to Mill grove Poweshiek Co. Iowa
Family Group Sheet for Holmes Nicholas. 3pg PDF. This is computer printout by MLP dated 28 July 1993, with later annotations.
Family Group Sheet for Holmes Nicholas. 3pg PDF. This is computer printout by MLP dated 28 July 1993, with later annotations.
Obituary of Minnie E. Smith. From the Crofton (Nebraska) Journal, Thursday July 12, 1956.
Obituary of Edwin L. Nicholas. Typewritten transcript from an issue of the Crofton (Nebraska) Journal, 2 Aug 1951. The typist was probably Opal Nicholas, who did this work sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Studio portrait of Minnie Edna Smith at age 4. From a tintype, (~1876).

Studio portrait of Edwin L. Nicholas (ca 1890). Cherokee, Iowa

Studio wedding portrait of Edwin L. Nicholas and Minnie Smith Nicholas. Cherokee, Iowa. (~1895)

Portraits of Minnie Smith Nicholas her son Earl Emery Nicholas. (~1890 & ~1918 (?))

Two photos of Gladys and Sherman Nicholas as young children. These photos were taken in Harlan, Iowa

Marlene L. Plambeck in her grandmother's (ie, Minnie Smith Nicholas's) wedding dress. Valentine, Nebraska. (~1950s)

Photo of Edwin Lutellis Nicholas (b 3 Dec 1870; d 28 July 1951) and Minnie Edna Smith (b 12 July 1872; d 4 July 1956). (1pg PDF).

A 1200 dpi scan as a single PDF file (magnify it to get a good look at their faces). On the reverse, there are two annotations in different handwriting. One reads "Grandpa and Grandma Nicholas" (not sure who wrote it). The other one reads "Ed and Minnie" in the handwriting of MLP. Here's another version of this photo Edwin and Minnie, clipped to not have so much whitespace at the border, and here's one that's a closeup of another version Edwin Nicholas, only.
Studio portrait of the Edwin L. Nicholas family (~1910).

From left to right, Gladys, Edwin, Sherman, Minnie, and Nona, with Earl Nicholas (the youngest) in the front row.
Letter from Earl Nicholas to his sister Gladys, Sunday January 30, 1927. (5 pg PDF). Earl E. Nicholas was not well-suited to farm life, and his father Edwin L. Nicholas decided to send him to college at Wayne State College (in Nebraska), instead. This letter was addressed to Gladys as "Mrs Rollie McQuistan Jr, Bloomfield, Nebr."

[Transcription by TEP]:

1116 Pearl St
Wayne, Nebr.
Sun. 30, 1927

Dear Gladys:

I suppose you will surprised to hear from me, but I didn't have anything else to do so decided to drop you a few lines.

I was home last week end for the last time I guess until Easter vacation. Its a long old pull but I like it pretty well here so I think I can stick it out. I am going to be too busy this semester to think about going home. I am taking Zoology, Solid Geometry, Public School drawing, Theory of Education and last but not *least* Bookkeeping. I guess you know how much work there is to bookkeeping and I suppose that will occupy most of my time on Saturdays. The teacher assigns us a week's work at a time and I completed two week's work in one week's time so I guess it isn't so bad after all. If I could do two week's work in one all the time I could finish the eighteen week's course in nine weeks but I know that is impossible.

I suppose you heard that Nona got a new piano and I just had to go home and see it. I couldn't help kidding her about so foolish an investment, I do think she's crazy don't you? If she could play it, it wouldn't be quite so bad, but, gosh, I know more about playing a piano than she does. I don't believe some people ever will have any sense do you? Say, don't let her see this letter or she sure will go up in the air.

Well how is the big boy and the rest of the family? I never hear anything about you folks don't know whether you're still on earth or not. I guess you know how fluent a letter writer Ma is, I scarcely hear from them once in two or three weeks. If it wasn't for the Crofton paper don't believe I would know anything about the happenings at home.

I suppose you are wondering why I am writing to you on such fancy paper but I guess you know how well supplied I am with stationery and I've got to get rid of it some way so it wont pile up on me like it does on Nona.

Well it is nearly supper time so I guess I will have to close for this time. Don't forget to write once in awhile, altho, I'm not a bit homesick. I believe the boys down here would go crazy if they didn't get at least two letters a week. Whoa here I intended to close but forgot. Say Hello to Rollie for me.

With love

Earl
Family Group sheet for Edwin L. Nicholas, showing names of his four children (Sherman, Gladys, Nona, and Earl) and also the names of each of their spouses when they married. These are Margaret Morris, Rollie McQuistan, Raymond Oak, and Beatrice Opal Laase, respectively. ~Early 1980s worksheet by MLP.
Family group sheets (each a one-page document) for Sherman Lutellis, Gene Nicholas, Marion Gust, Rollie McQuistan, O. Raymond Oak, Rodney Oak, and Robert Elder.
8th grade graduation photo of Gladys Nicholas (standing, L) with her teacher Maude Aegerter (seated, R), with New Home pennants (PDF, 2pgs, front and back).

Gladys was a sister of Earl E. Nicholas. The pencil annotations are in the hand of MLP.
Nicholas siblings Earl (back row, left), Sherman (back row, right), Gladys, and Nona Nicholas (front row). (PDF, 2pgs, front and back; photo taken 25 April 1974).

Gladys, Sherman, and Nona were the three siblings of Earl E. Nicholas (each older than he). The annotations are in the hand of Beatrice Opal Nicholas, who wrote:

1-28-1897 Sherman is 77
8-4-1904 Earl is 69
4-26-1901 Nona [is] 73
12-16-1895 Gladys [is] 75
Note on two Golden wedding celebrations: (1) Minnie E Smith & Edwin L Nicholas (13 March 1945); and (2) Sherman Nicholas & Margaret Morris (1969). Three page manuscript with photo and MLP's handwriting (1980s?; 3pgs)
Photo Earl Emery Nicholas as a toddler (~1905/06?)
Four generation ancestor chart for MLP. Single page PDF, ~1978.
Five generation ancestor chart for MLP. Single page PDF, 10 Feb 1982.
Entire bundled set of MLP ancestor charts (from which the previous two charts are extracts). 9 pg PDF, 10 Feb 1982. Surnames included in this chart are as follows: Plambeck, Nicholas, Laase, Smith, Lueth, Horn, Parsons, Hoy, Smith, Ferris, Wirt, Meste, Vohs, Kuhn, Bradley, Moore.
Ancestor chart and Family group sheet prepared by MLP for Ardis Gust. This is an 8 page computer listing of the ancestors of Sherman Lutellis Nicholas (born 28 Jan 1897), followed by a listing of relatives of Sherman's daughter, Ardis Gust (organized as "Family group sheets"). (8pg PDF, annotated computer printout, 2 July 1992).
Photo of Earl Emery Nicholas and his father Edwin L Nicholas in his new Chalmers car (1913).

In an issue of the Crofton (NE) Journal dated 22 September 1983, in an article titled "Crofton's History in the News," compiled by Vivian Broder, she copied the following text that was taken from the 21 September 1913 issue of the same newspaper: "Ed Nicholas went to Sioux City last week and purchased a Chalmers touring car that is strictly up the minute." MLP annotates it: "Ed Nicholas in his Chalmers car purchased from Peters Bros in Marcus, IA (first cousins)." Here is a scan of that page from MLP's files.

Photo

Crossword Puzzle Dictionary

Our Baby Book, a journal kept by Beatrice Opal Nicholas, the mother of MLP, in the years 1935-1937. 24 pages, 9.9 Mb.

Extract: "On April 24th 1937 when you [MLP] were only a year and 7 months old, Daddy [Earl Emery Nicholas] received a telegram from Department of Agriculture telling him to report at Weather bureau station at Wichita Kansas. Daddy left that same day and mother and you stayed at Grandma Nicholas's house. Mother packed her things, and released the house on May 1, and stored her furniture in Grandma Laase's house at Neligh and then you and mother visited amongst relatives. We went to Madison So. Dak. to see Aunt Alma and cousin Ruth, to Sioux City, Emerson, and Wakefield. Then on May 31, 1937 you and mother took the train from Neligh and started for Wichita Kansas to be with Daddy, arriving here at 7:30pm June 1 and established a home at 1135 No. Topeka Ave. On September 13th we moved in Duplex at 718 So Wichita Ave. Daddy bought our first car, a ford V-8-60 - the 9th of November and on the 20th of Nov. we drove up to see relatives in Nebraska."
Obituary of Dr. C. H. Swift, Sr. "Crofton Pioneer Doctor Laid To Rest Saturday Feb 27th". PDF, 1pg. Crofton (NE) Journal, 4 March 1965.

I found this clipping tucked inside the front cover of MLP's baby book, and conclude that this doctor delivered her in Crofton, Nebraska on 27 Sept 1935. This clipping is dated 4 March 1965, and I originally didn't know from what newspaper it was taken. But on the reverse, there is an 1-line advertisement that reads "Use Journal Advertising," and there is currently (3 Dec 2012) still an address with the name "Crofton Journal" in Crofton Nebraska, so I believe the clipping came from that newspaper. I'm impressed that Dr Swift apparently held the USA record for the discus throw for a time in the early 20th century, probably during the time that he was a student at the University of Iowa.
Obituary of Dr. E. E. Stauffer. PDF, 1pg. The Wichita Eagle, Saturday September 29, 1951.

This is a second clipping tucked inside the front cover of MLP's baby book. Stauffer was a preacher at a Lutheran church in Wichita when MLP was growing up. Extract: "Dr. Stauffer traveled with William Jennings Bryan [...] in the height of the Chautauqua lecture period in the early 1910's. Both were associated with the Redpath-Horner Chautauqua circuit." In the item "My Baby", described below, "Mrs. Dr. Stauffer" is identified as the "first Sunday school teacher" of MLP.
My Baby, a journal kept by Beatrice Opal Nicholas, the mother of MLP, in the years 1935-1937. 12 pages, 4.8 Mb.

This is a smaller, folded paper baby book filled out by Beatrice Opal Nicholas in the years 1935-1937 that I found inside the larger one ("Our Baby Book," above). Unlike the larger baby book, it contains no photos. It records genealogical information in its final two pages: the birthdate of Opal's husband Earl Emery Nicholas (August 4, 1904); and that of her father Frank W. Laase (August 1, 1878), and her mother Mathilda Lueth Laase (May 23, 1883). It also lists the names and birthdates of the "Daddy's side" grandparents of MLP: Edwin L. Nicholas (b Dec 3, 1870), and Minnie Smith Nicholas (b 12 July 1872). Finally, it lists Andrew Lueth and Holmes Nicholas as two great grandparents.

On its back cover, the purchase place of the book is identified: Beckerbauer's Shoe Store, Neligh, Nebr.
The Drowning of Jabez Smith (1 pg PDF) On Thursday, 20 October 1881, one of my [TEP's] great- great- grandfathers (my mother's father's mother's father), drowned in the Mississippi river near Sabula, Iowa. His name was Jabez Smith, and he was the father of Minnie Edna (Smith) Nicholas. His work somehow related to ferrying mail back and forth between Iowa and Illinois. My mother [MLP] transcribed the following contemporary newspaper account in 1967 from a clipping from the Sabula, IA newspaper. It had been saved by one of his daughters, Sophia Wirt Scarborough, who at that time lived in Hayes, South Dakota.

THE BODY RECOVERED

The body of Mr Jabez Smith, who came to such an untimely death by drowning, on Thursday last, was recovered on Saturday forenoon about 10 o'clock. The chances of recovering the remains were considered so exceedingly hopeless that but few engaged in the search. The body was found in an eddy on the east side of the slough and about one hundred yards below the bridge, by Messrs Ira Overholt and C. G. Eldrege, of this city and H. B. Smith of Maquoketa, a brother of deceased. The trio had procured a long bar of iron with small hooks attached thereto at intervals, and with it proposed to make one last effort. At the first cast and before they had dragged three rods it was felt to catch to something and upon being brought to the surface it was found that one of the hooks was fast in the stocking of the drowned man. The corpse was immediately taken into the boat and brought to this place [Sabula, IA], and after slight preparations, taken to the home of the bereaved wife and children. An examination showed that the unfortunate man had received a very severe blow upon the forehead, that without doubt rendered him entirely senseless, thereby accounting for the fact that he did not come to the surface of the ater below the bridge and make some struggle before life was extinct. It is supposed by those best acquainted with the affair that the gunnel of the skiff struck the blow in tipping over upon him after he had been thrown out. The current rushing against the lower edge of the boat while the bottom was resting against the stringer of the bridge and the upper side was entirely out of the water, would bring it over with tremendous force. The features were calm and composed as they could [have] been had their possessor been wrapped in slumber instead of the mantle of death. This, with the fact that but very little, if any, water and been swallowed, shows that the horrors of death by strangulation were at least escaped, and that the deceased must have been rendered unconscious before he had fairly got under the water. The funeral, which was very largely attended, took place on Sunday afternoon, the memorial services being conducted by Rev. G. R. Manning of DeWitt and Rev. J. M. Ferris of this place. The remarks made by gentlemen were very appropriate, eloquent and affecting, being a credit to themselves and doing justice to the memory of the deceased, and many eyes beside those of relatives were filled with tears.

By request of the friends the deceased the obituary is withheld until next week.

[ My mother [ie, MLP] sought the aforementioned obituary in Sabula IA in the mid 1960s, and was told all the old copies of Sabula newpapers had themselves been dumped in the Mississippi some years earlier. This clipping above was saved by a sister of my great-grandmother. ]
Notes on Jabez Smith (3pg manuscript in MLP's handwriting, 1995)

[Transcription by TEP, with possible misreadings in []'s]:

The marriage license for Jabez Smith and Sarah Wirt [...] is the first official record of him in the U.S. They were married in the home of James Murphy but I have never determined any family relationships here.

My grandma Minnie Edna Smith Nicholas was their [third] child with her youngest brother James Hugh Smith born after his father drowned in the Mississippi River in 18[81].

Jabez owned land in __________.

Sold---moved to Harlan, IA (Why?) Wirt's there?

At the time of his death he was a mail sorter on the railroad, and rode the train across the river and back. Family story said that he was manoeuvering a [flatbed] boat back across the river to Iowa to arrive home early. This kind of boat was difficult to steer and it was thought that he got into a strong eddy (whirlpool) near the bridge pilings and it wrenched the "keel" out of his hands and hit him in the read (Re-read newspaper account).

The typed copy I made in 1967 was from the scrapbook of Sophia Smith Scarborough. Mom and I and Thane and Alison went to visit her daugther-in-law Carole Scarborough esp[ecially] to see the scrapbook. It was 104 [degrees] that day in Hayes, So. Dakota, and the water tasted very bad and looked discolored as well. Carole's husband ___________ saddled up some horses and gave the little kids a ride (T[hane] & A[lison]).

Their son Thomas Scarbo[rough] had won a gold me[d]al in Olympic rifle shooting and they had a room full of other silver platters, "loving" cups and other troph[ies] for his efforts and successes.

Check book

Notes about Wm [] died in Idaho

Ira George --- in Pender. (later one of his [?] in my class)

James Hugh --- [Lived] on family [farm] Harla[n] Co - Iowa

Eliza Kate --- married [C] P Taylor [...]

and Minnie

Obit for Ira in Pender paper --- St[ate] Hist[orical] Society?

Grandma Minnie went to help her mother's bro---Jasper Wirt---care for children after his first wife died in Cherokee [IA]. There she met Edwin L. Nicholas.
Notes on the family of Jabez Smith (MLP, undated 9pg PDF)

Notes on family members in various census notes (1880 Federal census; 1841 UK census; Lycoming Co (PA) 1850 census). Surnames menioned: Smith, Russell, Partman [...]. Information on the birthplace of Jabez Smith (Wooton Bassett, UK). Jabez Smith was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Sabula, IA.
Content from http://www.iowaoldpress.com/IA/Jackson/1881/OCT.html

Iowa Old Press Maquoketa Excelsior
Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa
October 22, 1881

JABEZ SMITH

Jabez Smith of Sabula was drowned in Plum River slough near Savanna, last Thursday. He was rowing a skiff, and in passing through some trestle work the boat was upset. Mr. Smith was a brother of Hugh Smith of this city, and has been for a number of years mail messenger on the Cedar Rapids line of the Milwaukee Road. He leaves a wife and several children in comfortable circumstances.

[transcribed by K.W., May 2009]
Content from Google books, "Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, Volume 2", by Edward Speer White, pg 1332. This book was published in 1915.

The late Jabez Smith, of Sabula, Iowa, was born in Wiltshire, England, January 5, 1842, and was drowned near Savanna, Illinois, October 20, 1881, being thirty-nine years nine months and fifteen days of age at the time of his death. He was educated in England and after leaving school, clerked in a store in his native land until he came to this country in 1864. Upon locating in America, he at once came to Iowa and located first at Miles, in Jackson county, and later moved to Sabula, where he resided until the time of his death. He engaged in farming for the first five years after locating in Jackson county, Iowa, and then followed the general merchandise business at Sabula, in the same county, for three years. He then became a railway mail clerk and was engaged in the government service until the time of hi5 death, in 1881.

Mr Smith was married September 5, 1867, to Sarah Wirt, the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Yound) Wirt. To this union five children were born: William, Ira, James, Eliza, and Minnie. William married Leora Teuill and has six children: Charles, Harry, Jay, Mabel, Cecil, and Bavia. Ira married Levian Richson and has three children: Gladys, Bernice, and Edith. James married Pearl Custer and has two children: Vera and Harold. Eliza became the wife of Arthur Taylor. Minnie married Edward Nicholas and has four children: Sherman, Gladys, Nona, and Earl.

Mrs. Smith and her parents were born at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. William Wirt was born May 10, 1817 and was married to Elizabeth Yound, September 24, 1840. In 1853 Mr Wirt and his wife and family drove overland from Pennsylvania with an ox team and located in Jackson county, Iowa, near Sabula, where they farmed until a short time before his death, when he retired and lived with his children until his death, October 16, 1893. His wife died December 10, 1885. Ten children were born to Mr and Mrs Wirt: James, deceased; Joseph, deceased; Margaret, deceased; Sarah, the wife of Mr Smith; Martha, deceased; William; Abraham, deceased; Albert, deceased; Sophia; and James, deceased.

Mr Smith was a loyal member of the Methodist Episcopal church throughout his life. Fraternally, he was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and politically he gave his support to the Republican party. He was a man of pronounced charitable tendencies and was always seeking to do good. As a companion, a father, a friend, a citizen, and a Christian, he is reverently remembered by those who knew him. His children and his children's children are now represented among the worthy citizens of Shelby county, where his widow is still living. She makes her home in Harlan, where she enjoys the highest regard of her large circle of acquaintances.

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