William Custer Smith Family: Mirt Smith

JACOB SMITH > WILLIAM CUSTER SMITH m Mary Ann Munson > MIRT SMITH

Franz, Emma, and Anna Schaftall

Mirt Smith was the youngest of those Smith children who survived childhood. He was born 9 Sep 1875, in Butler County, outside of Plainfield on the family farm.

In June of 1898, he would marry Emma Schaftall (various spellings) in Mower, Minnesota. She was born to Franz Gehard "Frank" Schaftall and Anna Kruse in Feb 1880 in Jackson County, Indiana. Frank was an immigrant from Hannover in what was then Prussia who came to the US to Indiana with family members in 1864. There is an interesting side story about Frank's brother William's mysterious disappearance in 1897 you can read about here

Mirt was a barber by trade and the earliest reference I can find about him is in regards to his trade. In January 1899, Tom Stocks sold Mirt his barber shop in Nashua, which was located under the hardware store of Prudhon & Howard. In 1902 WH Tucker sold his interest in the barbershop of Tucker & McKenzie in Nashua to Mirt, who was then living in Charles City. In 1916, he joined the ownership of Smith & Haselman barbers and pool hall in Nashua where he had been barbering for some time

Mirt and Emma

In 1919, the Shaftalls moved in with the Smith's briefly. It was during this year they also moved to Waterloo in nearby Black Hawk County. It appears they did a little back and forth between Nashua and Waterloo for a while. In 1923, Emma and family cared for Mr. Shaftall, who died 27 Mar 1923 in Nashua. Mrs Shaftall remained in Nashua and Emma made frequent visits to her. She would suffer a major stroke in 1939 and never fully recover. She died in Waterloo on 30 Jun 1941.

In the 1920s, Mirt was either barbering or, in 1928, was found as a shipping clerk for a company in Waterloo. One of Mirt's passions was raising prize-winning poultry. An entry from the 1926 Minnesota State Fair said he won "First and fourth on cockerels; third on pullet; and fifth on young pen." He was also an avid hunter/fisherman and was part of a core group who started the fishing an gun club in Nashua in 1933.

806 Conger (Center)

The Smiths lived at 806 Conger St on the East side of Waterloo during their time there. It was a nice, quiet working class neighborhood during those years, made up of many immigrants and first-generation Americans.

Mirt would get very ill in the mid-1930s and on 29 Oct 1936, he died in Waterloo of jaundice at the young age of 61. His wife Emma would live for many years, and died in Los Angeles County, California on 05 Feb 1961.

Their three children were:

1. Treva Selecta Smith was born 26 Nov 1898 in Bremer County. Prior to her marriage, she was a stenographer for the owner of a clothing store in Waterloo. She married Julian James Beckius, born 12 Apr 1897 in Chickasaw County. In the early 1920s, she and James moved to southern California and resided in Los Angeles where Julius was in construction. In 1940 he was listed as a construction foreman. They had two sons: Julian James, Jr. and Harry Donald Beckius. Later in life, they would live in Sunland, California. Julius would die 01 Feb 1961 at age 63. Treva would remain active and be involved in community affairs. She died 05 Nov 1987 at age 88.

Franklin, Treva, and Erwin

2. Franklin William Smith was born 25 Jan 1901 in Plainfield, Bremer County. He would marry Glady Nelson on 28 Jun 1941 in the home of  Mr & Mrs Erwin Smith, 509 Olive St in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Their early marriage found them residing at 917 Dawson St in Waterloo, just blocks from where they had grown up on Conger St. At that time, Frank was an accountant with the Iowa Warehouse Company. The Smith's also moved to California, landing in Tujunga. Frank worked for over 25 years at the Flying Tiger Lines, Inc. and was manager of the revenue accounting office before his retirement. They were members of the Sunland First Baptist Church. While visiting a friend, Frank had a massive coronary and died in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Smith's had two daughters, Dolores and Verna.

3. Erwin Leroy Smith was born 03 Oct 1903 in Nashua, Chickasaw County, Iowa. He married Lida Viola "Viola" Haehlen, daughter of Rev Jacob Haehlen and Lida Evelyn Ludwig. She was born 14 Mar 1912 in Black Hawk County, Iowa. He was known as "Smitty." Like his brother Frank, Erwin was a real go-getter and was actively involved in the community of Cedar Falls and rose to the top ranks in his work. He graduated from Nashua High School and Iowa State Teacher's College. His first position after college was as an instructor in the manual training school in Evansville, Indiana. He returned to Cedar Falls and started to work for Clay Equipment, where he eventually became the head of the engineering department, executive secretary, and member of the board of directors for 35 years. Clay Equipment was one of the longest operating and most successful companies in Cedar Falls history. He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, 20-year member of  Riverview Park board, Rotarian and member of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The Smith's had two daughters. Erwin died 18 Feb 1969 and his wife died 03 Mar 1997.