Munson Tales: Humphrey Bogart

WWI 1918

Thomas Munson>Samuel Munson>Samuel Munson>Mamre Munson> Mary Ives>Mary Bradley >Asahel Dewey>Sarah Dewey>Frances Churchill>Maude Humphrey>Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in 1899 in Manhattan to Belmont D. Bogart, MD and Maude Humphreys, 7th great granddaughter of Thomas Munson. He was raised at homes on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and at their lake home Canandaigua Lake in Upstate New York. It was there he and his friends put on plays. Never interested in academics, he attended two prestigious prep schools, but dropped out and with no other options, he joined the Navy, where he excelled. 

His post-Navy life led him to the New York stage, where his career was launched. There, he met and divorced his first twife and married his second. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 sent many actors to Hollywood, Bogart included. Starting at $750 per week at Fox Studios, Spencer Tracy become one of his best friends. He went back and forth from Broadway to Hollywood much of the early 1930s, but by the mid-1930s, he was in Hollywood permanently, playing mostly gangster roles at Warner Brothers for $550 per week. 

His wife Mary and he divorced in 1937. Bogart met his third wife, Mayo Methot. This 1938 union was tumultuous, including Mayo setting the house on fire, stabbing Bogart, and throwing crockery. Insanely jealous and a hard drinker, Methot would ultimately die of acute alcoholism, but not before she and Bogartdivorced in 1945. Bogart’s career was on high by the 1940s with outstanding leading man roles such as Maltese Falcon,Casablanca, and To Have and Have Not. 

On set of the latter movie, he met 19-year-old actress Lauren Bacall and started an affair. They married as soon as his divorce was final in 1945. The couple had two children. The marriage was a committed one if not always faithful. Bogart developed cancer in late 1954 and died in 1957. Bogart had a complex and interesting life and legend.

Recommended reading: 

Tough Guy Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart 

First published in The Munson Founcation Newsletter, Volume XXV, Issue 3, Dec 2023, by Lori Hahn

Death of a Dad

My father passed away on Jan 7, 2024 about 3 in the morning. I wasn't there. I had intended to spend his final moments with him, but death played a trick on us. We had been sliding with rapidity towards the end, but it all came sooner than predicted. I immediately got out of bed and drove to see him and be there for the funeral home. There was a sense of surrealness about his passing. I had been with him the previous day for some time - but I knew something was horribly wrong. He was trying to eat his oatmeal and he was struggling. I fed him a few bites and he fell asleep mid-bite. Once I made sure he had no food in his mouth, I tucked him in and went out to report his condition to the nurse. He couldn't speak. 

I've talked before about the complex relationship we shared. Though terribly sad for both he and my half-brother, his wife died five years previously. Soon after, my sister and I saw that he could not stay in his house and needed to move. We talked him into moving to our town (where he grew up) and into an independent living facility. After grousing for some little time, he began to love it there. He was the "Homecoming King," participated in a lot of activities, and flirted with all the women. Just the way he liked it. He always thought he was a charmer, and to those not too deeply in the know, he was. He loved to make people laugh. Yet, there was a darkness in him. A bitterness that never left him. An inability to see that the challenges in his life were most often of his own making. Just like it is for all of us.

It was tragic when he transitioned from his independent facility to the skilled nursing care.  He couldn't do what he wanted when he wanted. He hated the food. He went to all his rehab appointments down the hall and then did none of his part of the rehab job between appointments. He wanted out so badly, but he was the one who controlled his outcome and he just didn't do it. Finally, he became one with watching TV 18 hours a day. That was his sole activity. He had no strength left to stand or walk or bathe himself. He started to like the same, vile food. Slowly, whatever shred of dignity and self-determination he had went. And, he no longer cared.

There was one shining light in this horrible, awful outcome for my dad. He got right with all of his children. That was no mean feat. We all felt we were given the time with him we needed to ask the right questions, strip the armour from our hearts, gain the insight we needed to forgive, accept, and at last understand the core of who he was and how his own emotional pain drove so much of his life. 

So much of the past few years of my life were wrapped in dad things, I was at a loss for a while in what to do. Thankfully, I had estate things to manage that took some time. Then, there was nothing left to do. 

I think of him more often than I thought I would.

Genealogy Trail: Brush Valley - Home of the Brothers Smull

Last week I made the long-awaited trip to Brush Valley in Pennsylvania. This includes towns like Centre Hall, Rebersburg, Aaronsburg, Smullton, and other villages within Centre County at it's east end. I had the immense pleasure of having a tour guide, Evonne Henninger, who is the greatest historian of the area for whom I could wish. We spent the morning traveling around the valley and spent a bit more time in Rebersburg, the place my family had settled. I learned more in two days there than in years of studying from afar.

As a refresher, Johann Peter Schmoll and Julianna Sarah Mueller lived in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. They had ten children. Four of these went to Centre County to help build the Union Church in Rebersburg. Jacob, the oldest of the four, Peter, Henry, and the much younger Jesse. Jesse later returned to Montgomery County, but the others did not. The church was used from 1823-1876  by the Lutheran and Reformed denominations. According to Evonne, the bricks for the church were made along Elk Creek in Smullton (formerly Kreamersville) in the area of the Raymond Bair farm. Evonne drove me past this location. They razed this church after a Lutheran and a Reformed Church were built next to each other in 1876. The Amish recently purchased one of these, but neither is being used as a church at this time.

Jacob Smull's 1825
Georgian Style Home

After the building of the church, Jacob, Peter and Henry (1799) stayed on and became a big part of the community. Jacob ended up a building a German-influenced Georgian style house on E Main St in 1825 which still stands. He ended up dying in 1830. The two daughters of his marriage who survived to adulthood moved on to Lock Haven in adult life.

Peter, who is extensively written about here on the blog, left in 1847 for Stephenson County, Illinois. His entire family eventually joined him in that area.

That left Henry. Henry farmed and did whatever else he could to make a living. His first wife, daughter of one of the town's earliest residents, Elizabeth Royer, had seven kids. She died in 1834. Henry married immediately the former Catherine Kreamer, who was the widow of George Hosterman, who also died in 1834.  They combined their families and continued with life in Rebersburg. The couple had an additional five children.

One of the cool things he did was operate a toll house on Rockville Rd near Hwy 192. Toll houses existed on many roads in Pennsylvania. The tolls paid for maintenance and operation of the road since the government was not then involved. Henry Smull, in addition to his farm, had a toll house in Rebersburg. The toll house is on the right. Operators of such toll houses could earn a chunk of change each month as well. Tolls at one toll house were:

Henry Smull's Toll House on Right

Toll Gate Charges –

A score of sheep – 4¢ (score = 20)

A score of hogs – 6¢

A horse with his rider – 3¢

A score of cattle – 12¢

A sulkey with 1 horse and 2 wheels – 6¢

2 wheels & 2 horses – 9¢

4 wheels & 2 horses – 12¢

4 wheels & 4 horses – 20¢

Henry also had an opportunity to go to other parts of Pennsylvania and picked up ideas along the way. He

remodeled his toll house with unique diagonal design. During his time in Rebersburg, he also farmed. We went to the farm he ran between what was originally Kreamerville and Rebersburg. Today, the farm is in the hands of the Amish and a new homestead has been built.

Here is Henry's toll house with its unique design:

And here is the Henry Smull barn (later the C H Smull barn and now an Amish barn). This is an example of a L-shaped Pennsylvania barn.

There was so much more to learn about Henry and his kids on this trip. What I loved most is that I could feel the place and see the mountains and see how the villages connected to the mountains. It allowed me to gain perspective that no book or Internet record could provide. And, having a tour guide like Evonne was priceless. More to come.

B&W photos courtesy of Evonne Henninger of Penn's Valley, Past & Present

Pre-Clan Munson: Tuttle Madness and Mayhem

Reenactment of settler colony

CAPT THOMAS MUNSON > HANNAH MUNSON m. Joseph Tuttle

This tale is of one of the two daughters of Capt Thomas Munson, Hannah Munson. She married into the storied Tuttle family of Massachusetts.

Hannah was the youngest child of Capt Thomas Munson, one of the earliest citizens of the New Haven Colony and a signator of the Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony signed in 1639 and 1640. Hannah's future father-in-law, immigrant William Tuttle was also a signator. 

On 02 May 1667, Joseph Tuttle married Hannah in New Haven. His parents, William and Elizabeth, had come from England in 1635 on the ship Planter. I'm not quite sure Hannah knew what she was getting into marrying into this family, but she had at least nine children by Joseph. Joseph came from a large family, including sisters Mercy, Elizabeth, and brother Benjamin. 

Hannah's brother-in-law Benjamin got into a huge argument with his older sister Sarah, wife of John Slauson, on 17 Nov 1676. Benjamin shouted at her about her behavior from years before when Sarah and a young man were fined for kissing by the local magistrate. The story was somewhat longer, but it was scandalous to touch each other and oh, my goodness, kiss in those Puritan days. Was it a temper tantrum or madness that caused Benjamin to grab an ax and strike his sister until she was dead. Sarah left a baby girl and a bereft husband. Benjamin was tried and executed on 16 Jun 1677.

Sister Elizabeth married Richard Edwards in 1667. It is reported that the couple was fined because their first child arrived before the requisite nine months. The couple had many more children but after 20 years of marriage, Richard began to plan on a divorce.  He apparently discovered the first child was not his. He filed divorce and it was granted. Elizabeth was said to have gone mad and disappeared from the area, whereabouts and disposition unknown.

Mercy had married Samuel Brown of Wallingford in 1667 and they had children, included Samuel Brown, Jr. On 23 Jun 1691, Mercy inexplicably took an ax and struck her son three times in the head. He lingered some six days before succumbing to his injuries. At trial, the husband denied there was any sign of mental illness in Mercy, but neighbors and even Brown's son Joseph had seen odd behavior and language for some time before the murder. She was, however, found guilty and not insane at trial in Oct 1691 and was sentenced to death. Fortunately for Mercy, a strange confluence of events occurred, and she was saved from the executioner. She survived until at least 1695, most likely in a madhouse.

Watsonville Business District

Generations would pass and the Tuttles would survive and thrive. If there were further incidents, they were not saved for posterity. Some Tuttles moved to Morris, New Jersey and then on to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and then to Richland County, Ohio. 

Daniel Tuttle and his wife, Phebe Case, were married 21 Nov 1786 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. They had at least seven children, including son Hiram. Hiram and his family went west Iowa, settling in Van Horn County. 

Several of the Hiram Tuttle children went on to California and practiced in their various occupations. 

Morris Burns Tuttle hit the Pajaro Valley and purchased 300 acres and began raising fruit trees and farming hops for beer with one of his brothers. The Pacific Ocean has only the Santa Cruz Mountains between our Tuttles and the surf.

Morris Tuttle Mansion

Brother Iowa Tuttle also joined this endeavor. He was married with children. According to his brother Morris, he had talked about suicide before, so when Iowa did commit suicide in one of the outbuildings on the Morris Tuttle Mansion grounds in 1913, it was reportedly no surprise to Morris. Iowa loved his wife and children and many did not think his financial woes rose to the level of suicide. The thing was, Iowa had been shot twice in the head. The police talked to Morris quite seriously because  it was mighty odd that Iowa was able to fire two bullets into his head before dying, making it all quite suspicious. In the end, Iowa's death was declared a suicide by the coroner. Whether that had anything to do with Morris' affluence, we will never know.

Finally, cousin William Tuttle came down to Santa Cruz County from Rocklin, California in 1911 to stay in Morris' carriage house while he worked out his marital difficulties with his wife Hazel. Hazel was his first cousin and the couple had been wildly in love - at least until their marriage. It was downhill from there, despite the fact they were new parents of daughter Alice. William, a former employee of Southern Pacific railroad, had been unemployed for months. As the New Year of 1912 loomed, he returned home from Santa Cruz County, bought the baby some belated Christmas presents, talked to his wife in the kitchen, and after following her to the bedroom, shot her dead with two shots to the heart. He then shot himself. The baby was found unharmed.

Morris built a beautiful mansion in in south Santa Cruz County in 1899 that still exists today as a private residence. There are those who say the mansion is filled with the ghosts of Iowa and all the Morris Tuttle descendants who would die tragically young. 

Sources:

1. Babe Smiles at Tragedy, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, 31 Dec 1911, p 6
2. Trainman Kills Wife and Self, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California, 30 Dec 1911, p 1
3. Divorce, Murder, and Madness: The Puritan Tuttles of New Haven Colony, New England Historical Society, 2017
4. Tuttle Mansion: a haunted piece of history, The Pajoronian, by Johanna Miller, 30 Oct 2017
5. Haunted Santa Cruz, by Marianne Porter, History Press, 2016
6. Biography of William Tuttle, Access Genealogy
7. Had Threatened Suicide Before Saturday's Act, Santa Cruz Evening News, 30 Jun 1913, Mon, p 2
8. Widow of Late Iowa Tuttle is Left the Estate, Santa Cruz Evening News, 23 Jul 1913, Wed, p 1
9. A Brutal Murder, Ava Chamberlain, NYU Press, 2012

Side Road: About Lt Col Anita Johanna Dec

Anita Dec HS Graduation Photo

We had gotten to the point of just exchanging holiday letters. She still marked hers with "XX," her air traffic control  call sign. Our connection, though, had lasted over 30 years. I looked forward to her missives about her travels, though the last couple of years, she'd mentioned her concerns about her health and had not been traveling as far and wide. I found out she passed away in May of 2021, in the middle of the Covid crisis, of unknown causes, at the age of 68. She was single and never had children. There were no obituaries, but I was able to find some reference to her life and death, which I'm going to consolidate here (with references). She had impact on people who knew her. This is my tribute to Lieutenant Colonel Anita Johanna Dec. 

Born just five months after her parents' 1952 marriage, Anita Johanna Dec, was born to Hildegard Brandt born in Blasewitz, Seschen in Saxony, Germany (what during Anita's time in Germany was East Germany). Her family had lived in this area for several generations. Her father was from Poland and was a Polish POW of the Germans.  He was liberated by the French. Both her father's and her mother's families were war refugees when they arrived in the US. According to one account of Anita's childhood in Bayonne, New Jersey, her parents spoke only Polish at home and she went to a Polish-speaking elementary school. Once she learned English, beginning at age 6, she was often her parent's translator. She attended Queen of Peace Girl's High School in North Arlington, New Jersey, graduating in 1970.

She went to the University of Pittsburgh for college. Her degree was eventually in Economics with a minor in Russian. According to her, she was searching for an acceptable alternative to the required physical education class, so she signed up for ROTC. Now this was during the Vietnam War and women were still attached to the all-women's Woman's Army Corps (WACs). The university did not even have uniforms for women cadets. Anita was a born leader, and by her senior year, she was a student commander. She was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1974 and entered the air traffic control field. She would later get her master's in aviation safety.

Anita Dec in the ATC tower

Her places of service included: Mississippi; Indiana; Florida; Missouri; Galena Air Force Base, Alaska; Nebraska; Illinois; Germany; Virginia; and finally, New Jersey.

While at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, Anita was out to dinner with a friend who invited her to take the Mensa test with she and her son the next day. She agreed to go and in spite of falling asleep during the test, qualified, and spend the rest of her life as a member of Mensa, and even served as president of her local chapter in her last years. 

We both worked at the 1st Combat Communications Group in Wiesbaden, Germany (Lindsey Air Station). It was a sprawling mobile unit that took up several buildings on the base. 

One of our shared friends was 1Lt Patrick Cirgnani who was this stunningly handsome, witty and urbane officer and of course he was gay! We all smoked (egads!) and would sit around and smoke and joke. Sadly, this was the very beginning of the days of AIDS. The military had just started mandatory testing and many, many airman ended up being bounced out. Pat Cirgnani was one of them. He had been out in the field when they called him in and he left his boom box with Anita while he went back to HQ - he never went back to the field, instead, being sent back to the States for out processing. She never got to return it as he died within a couple of months back in the World. This loss was just the first of the many gay men who would lose their military careers and eventually their lives. 

One of the great things for Anita is after having such a small family (her parents and a brother born when she was 10), she got to connect with her mother's family in Germany. She loved those visits and had a great time and even when she returned to the States, she would still fly back to Germany to visit with them. 

She loved to shop - and anyone who was in the military during those days, the best shopping and eating was done in Berlin. In my first tour, I was not allowed to visit East Berlin because of my security clearance but during this tour, I had a lower clearance so I could go. I have my own adventures in shopping there, but I will keep this to recounting one of Anita's.

"She enjoyed shopping forays to East Germany where crystal, leather goods, handcrafts, and fancy gourmet meals were “dirt cheap.” She accompanied the wife of one of the civilian employees who drove a big Mercedes. The East Germans tended to contrarily delay traffic, so, to expedite passage through East German check points, they took Marlboro cigarettes and Sears and Penney’s catalogs to discreetly pass on to the guards. Their wives valued the catalogs to copy the clothing styles." 

The food in East Berlin was amazing. You could go to a 5-star restaurant and spend, including wine, under $20 per person for a 7-course meal. 

Then Major Dec & her 1CCGP boys of ATC @1988

One of the things most people did not know about her is she absolutely loved Rex Stout novels. Rex Stout was most famous for his Nero Wolfe books. We shared this passion and both held onto the entire set of his novels. Not many people share such an obscure love. She always got me when I made Archie Goodwin references.  It's those little things!

Her best friend during her time at Lindsey Air Station was Capt Jenny Johnson. She was a snarky, funny, short little gal who always made Anita laugh.

Right before leaving Germany, she took advantage of the best dollar to Deutschemark conversion rate in a couple of years and purchased a sleek black BMW 325 to take back to the US. She would tool down the tiny streets of Lindsey AS far faster than she probably should have.

In 1990, during the Gulf War, Dec worked on the logistics of getting war planes from the US to Europe and then to the Middle East. Part of the objective was to coordinate fighter jets and refueling tankers. That work was done out of Frankfurt. During her career, she also wrote instrument procedures, or mapping technology, for aircraft. 

"Years ago, it was really complicated, because we had to (write the procedures" by hand," she said. "It was very math intensive."

"At her last duty station, in New Jersey at the William J Hughes Technical Center, she helped develop and test new air traffic control voice switching systems. With all these credentials, when she retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, she was immediately hired for a civilian job testing air traffic control systems at the Tech Center."

She care for her elderly mother after her retirement in 1998 and her mother later died near her brother in 2005. Anita lived at her May's Landing address until her death.

Anita loved wildlife - and her cats. She became a donor to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in 2011 and eventually upped her donor game to participating in the Center's Caring for Critters program. The Center was also included in her estate plan. 

Her very active life also include her membership of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 825, Township of Hamilto Historical Society, Atlantic County Veteran's Advisory Board, and was a regular participant of the Delaware Valley Mensa book discussion group and coordinator of the Atlantic County Menas monthly dinners for over seven years.

Having her friendship and seeing her bright smile meant a lot to me. She was tough, but tender. Smart like nobody's business, and very approachable to all who wanted to reach out before she could reach out to her. I miss her, but she sure lived a great life. Listen to her recollections left with the Library of Congress here:

Anita J Dec Recording

"Air Force Veteran Skipped Gym Class, Found Military Career," The Press of Atlantic City, John DeRozier, Nov 11, 2016.

"Remembering Anita," Wildlife Center of Virginia, Oct 1, 2021, wildlifecenter.org Blog

Clan William: Mary Ann Munson and William Custer Smith, Part 3

Read Part 2  

Harland Smith

We left off with the death of Mary Ann Munson in 1888. She was a mere 51 years old. Many of the children had married by the time of her death, but some were still at home.

William Custer Smith found a second wife. At this time, I need to address "family lore." Within my family tree was a lovely lady who was the granddaughter of William & Mary Ann's son Harland - the guy who lived on the family farm with his wife and raced horses. She wrote an extensive letter full of her "memories," many of which were factually not true. You can read a bit about her reminisces here.

Her primary assertion was the woman W.C. married was previously married and had children. It was alluded the new wife was greedy and vengeful, casting out Harland and Fannie from the family farm. We'll get back to this lore as the story continues.

W.C.'s new wife was found in the family tree of his wife. His new wife was an unmarried "spinster" woman of 30 who was his wife's cousin. Specifically, she was the granddaughter of Mary Ann's sister Henrietta Munson Vaughn. Daughter of Sarah Jane Vaughn Simmons. The Vaughn/Simmons families had settled in Fayette County in NE Iowa. Just a few hours' buggy ride from the Smith farm in Fremont Township.

W.C. and Alice Simmons hopped on a train from Plainfield to Charles City and married March 20, 1893. They returned to the Smith farm and their lives went on. 

In the meantime, the rest of the kids grew up and married.

Edwin Smith married Kate Smull on 11 Jun 1890. The couple would fairly soon settle in Plainfield. Edwin was a laborer. They had 12 children. Wife Kate was known throughout the area for her expertise in wallpapering. 

Parker Smith, a struggling Baptist preacher, married Estella Irene "Stella" Pierson on 20 Nov 1896. After the turn of the century, they would spend the rest of their lives moving from church to church and into various leadership positions within the Baptist faith.  They would adopt one of Stella's nieces.

Young Mirt Smith

Mirt Smith married Emma Haehlen Schafstall on 22 Jun 1898 in Mower, Minnesota. Mirt was a barber. The couple would have three children. Mirt was known in the region for his award-winning chickens.  They lived in Waterloo for most of their marriage.

Mr & Mrs W. C. Smith did not have a long marriage. A massive stroke took W.C. on 16 Nov 1895 while going between the house and barn. According to the obituary, the turnout to say goodbye was a large one.

According to "family lore" as described by Harland's granddaughter, the widow stole the farm after W.C.'s death so she could leave it to her children. As I mentioned, not true. In fact I was able to find the documents that were with the courthouse and the current owner of the property. Alice, within a week of the death, sold the farm to the children for $2,040 on 22 Nov 1895. Each child owned an equal share. Son Parker managed the farm during this period at the behest of the family; my guess is Harland's departure had been caused by a similar family decision. 

Alice returned to her family and married a single Englishman named Arthur Sinderson 16 Aug 1898. She never had any children during her lifetime.

On 08 Mar 1897, Eva Smith Bryce sold her share to her siblings for $600. Finally, on 08 Dec 1898, the farm was sold to the Diedrich Dieke family for $5,040. 

This would be the end of the direct William Custer Smith-Mary Ann Munson story, but they would live on through the stories of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren's and great-great grandchildren's lives.

Click these links for more stories about William and Mary's families.

Clan William: Mary Ann Munson and William Custer Smith, Part 2

See Part 1 here.

William and Mary Ann Munson Smith set up house in Fennimore, Grant County, Wisconsin. The couple farmed during their time in Wisconsin. On 19 Sep 1854, they had their first child, Walter Clarence Smith. The next surviving child was Mary Madora "Dora" Smith, born in Hazel Green, Grant County on 23 Jul 1850. The third, was Harland Smith, born 02 Nov 1861 in Grant County. Finally, the fourth Wisconsin baby, Eva Elvira Smith was born on 05 Apr 1864 in Fennimore.

Butler County, Iowa Fremont Township Plat Map, 1895

In 1866, the Smith family packed up and moved to Fremont Township, Butler County, Iowa. On 16 Sep 1866, their fifth child, Ella Mae Smith was born in Fremont Township. The Smith's then purchased a farm one mile west of the town of Plainfield, in Butler County, from the widow of former Horton postmaster Amos Head. Head had cleared the land and made it livable. The Smith's purchased 140 acres of prime farm land for $800.00 on 01 Nov 1866. The farm was right on the county line between Butler and Bremer county. The couple worked together to build their house and barn. They had a large family to house and more were on the way.

In addition to the children, the couple also housed William's mother "Cathy"  and his mentally disabled brother, Isaac, and spinster sister, Sara. Along came sons Edwin (06 Jun 1869), Parker (01 Sep 1872), Mirt (09 Sep 1875), and baby John, born 09 Jun 1879 and died 28 Sep 1881. This would complete their family.

The house is the one William & Mary Ann Munson Smith
built. The people are the next family who lived there.

The couple completed their house and barn and as the older ones grew, they married off.  

The original farm and farm today. The house is long gone. The Dieke family have owned
the property for over 100 years and the farm is recognized as a Centennial Farm.

By 1880, William's mentally disabled brother, Isaac, was living in Wisconsin again, with another Smith brother, John. Mother Cathy is believed to have died in Fremont Township before 1880 and was probably the reason Isaac was sent to the oldest brother. Sister Sarah Jane was finally married off to a widower with a disastrous marriage record and history of alcohol abuse and violence, Francis "Frank" Doole, on 27 May 1887 in Floyd County. She did not get a happy ending.

Oldest son Walter had married Isabell Monteith in 1876 in Plainfield. Isabell was one of three Monteith sisters who married into the greater Smith family. The Monteith's hailed from Scotland and settled in Wisconsin.

Daughter Dora married a young businessman originally from Somerset, Pennsylvania, but had moved to Waterloo, Iowa on 21 Jun 1878 in Janesville, Iowa. His family made an indelible impression on the City of Waterloo through the next several decades. The couple would reside in Waterloo and husband Claude Lichty would build a manufacturing company which ran successfully during his lifetime.

Son Harland and Fannie had been married in a double ceremony with Harland's next younger sister, Eva Elvira on 21 Aug 1881. Son Harland and William loved to race horses and built a horse racing track on the property at it's southern side. They traveled the state racing horses and held races on their property. Harlan and his wife Fannie Magoon lived on the farm with the Smith's after their marriage in 1881. Fannie fed the chickens and worked the farm. She did the laundry in a vat on the lawn. Harland, reportedly, was far from industrious and just wanted to race his horses.  

Eva Elvira, who married farm laborer Arthur Marion Bryce on 21 Aug 1881 in a double ceremony with her brother Harland and his wife Fannie. The Bryce's moved on to Fort Dodge and then returned to Plainfield, where Arthur died young in 1886 and Eva did not remarry.

Daughter Ella Mae married farmhand and later railroad man Howard Cunningham on 30 Aug 1885 in Bremer County. They moved to Moberly, Missouri, one of the hubs of the Wabash Railroad.

Plainfield, Bremer County, IA sometime between 1874-1880

William and Mary Ann seemed to have a lot of friends in both Nashua and Plainfield, though Plainfield was where they went most often. Their mail was delivered to the Plainfield post office and that's also where they saw the doctor and did their shopping. Plainfield and Nashua were both thriving farm towns, with just about everything a family could need in those days in the 1880s.  

In 1888, Mary Ann took sick. She was expected to recover and though she was sick, no one expected her to die. She died on 24 Sep 1888. She was 51 and her youngest child, Mirt, was 13 years old. 

Life would change for the Smith family after Mary Ann's death. Family lore would prove false after a long research road.

Part 3 - After Mary Ann Munson Smith

Click these links for more stories about William and Mary's families.