William Custer Smith Family: Walter Smith

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

Walter Smith was the first born of William Custer Smith and Mary Ann Munson. He was born 19 Sep 1854 in Grant County, Wisconsin and came to Iowa with his family in the fall of 1865. On 29 Oct 1876, he married Isabelle Monteith in Plainfield, Bremer County, Iowa.

Edward Boyd Monteith & Agnes McCubbin

Isabelle was the granddaughter of Andrew Monteith and Isabelle Hendry of Wigtownshire, Scotland. The Monteith's and their children emigrated to the US at various times in the late 1840s/early 1850s. Her father and mother, Edward Boyd Monteith and Agnes McCubbin had arrived in the US in 1848 and lived in Vermont for three years, then moved to Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1854, they removed to Platteville.

Interestingly, three of the Monteith daughters would marry Smith men. Elizabeth married William Custer Smith's brother Jacob and Isabelle would marry William's cousin Alexander, son of his brother James Smith.

Surviving Smith Kids (missing are Eva and Ella, both died in 1924)

The couple moved from Iowa after the birth of their first child to Grant County, Wisconsin briefly
where their second child was born, and then moved on to North Dakota where their third child was born. They then returned to the Nashua/Plainfield area before the birth of their fourth child. Walter had done some farming but was known in the community for "a little bit of this, a little bit of that," doing anything from working a dray line, delivering ice, to managing the Commercial Club. He was known in town as being friendly and genial and had many friends.

Walter died 23 May 1930 in Nashua. Two of his sisters preceded him in death: Eva and Ella Mae. Isabelle would live until 27 Oct 1938 and also die in Nashua.

Walter and Isabelle would have four daughters and adopt a fifth:

1. Martha J. "Mattie Smith, born 1877 in Iowa. Married Elwood Edward Sutcliffe on 03 Oct 1900, in Waverly, Bremer County, Iowa. Had five children. They lived on a farm near Clarksville until 1943 when they moved into town. They would have five children. E.E. was born 12 Jan 1879 in Butler County and died 07 Spr 1962 in Charles City, Iowa. Mattie would die at the age of 96, 08 Jul 1873 in Waverly, Bremer County.

2. Maude Smith, born 09 Mar 1879, Grant County, Wisconsin. Married Frederick A Hanson 09 Sep 1918 in Owatonna, Steele, Minnesota. They had a child who died at birth and had no other children. Maude worked before her marriage as a clerk at various area stores in Nashua. Fred worked as a butcher and while working at Miller's Meat Market in Nashua he was struck ill and taken to the hospital. Fred, born 03 May 1876 in Nashua, died of complications of a strangulated hernia at the Waverly hospital 21 Mar 1926. He was 49. He was described as kind-hearted. Maude returned to work as a clerk in Van's Bargain Store in Nashua. She was a member of the Royal Neighbors and the Rebekahs, and very active in community life. She lived to the ripe old age of 96 on 10 Mar 1975 in Charles City.

3. Minnie Luella Smith was born on 09 Aug 1881 in North Dakota. She married Charles Alfred Scoles on 21 Jun 1900 in Waverly. They had 11 children adding to the already huge population of Scoles in the Nashua/Plainfield area!  Sadly, two of their daughters died of illness when very young. Charles was the son of John Wesley Scoles and Sarah Jane Huyler and was born 04 Oct 1876 in Floyd County. The Scoles would move to Minnesota in 1901 and live there until 1914, when they returned to Nashua.

He worked at various vocations including a stint at Nashua Lumber at the end of his life. While working, he fell from a roof at the lumberyard coal shed and broke his heel. This left him crippled up and sent him into a spiral of ill health due to the complications from his injury that lasted two years when he was felled by a series of strokes. He was 54 when he died in Nashua on 17 Apr 1931 in Nashua. Minnie, who was very close to her sisters, would travel with them and visit back and forth. She would died at age 91 at home, alone, the way she wanted it, on 23 Nov 1972 in Nashua. She was discovered by her children who had come to get her for Thanksgiving dinner.

4.  Frankie Smith was born in Mar of 1890 in Nashua, Iowa. She married Lloyd Lendo Baltzer, a harness maker, on 04 May 1914 in Mitchell, Iowa. They lived primarily in Lakota, Iowa during their marriage. They would divorce. She then married Thomas "Tom" Tamen on 20 Apr 1932 in Galena, Illinois. Tom was a widower with two children. His wife Clara had hanged herself. They would live for several years in Rantoul, Illinois where he was an instructor at Chanute Air Field, and Buffalo Center, Iowa before returning to Nashua. After the death of her husband, she wintered in Florida. Tom died 11 Nov 1969 at a hospital in Independence, Iowa and Frankie died 06 Jul 1990 at the age of 100. Frankie had no children.

5. Their fifth child, Betty Jane, born in 1927, was adopted as a baby when the Smith's were very old and after their death's was in the care of her sister Maude. I'd like to figure out who this child's parents were.  She was very close to her sisters, especially Maude and Frankie. She married Leland V. "Lee" Hahn on 22 Jun 1951. Lee was born on 27 Dec 1911 in Charles City and was 16 years old than Betty. They had four children. He worked for the Oliver Co. for 33 years and was a member of the Oliver Management Club. Lee died on 01 Aug 1972 in Nashua.