William Custer Smith: Harland Smith

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

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Harland Smith was the third child born to William Custer Smith and Mary Ann Munson. He was born
02 Nov 1861 in Grant County, Wisconsin and came with his parents to a farm two miles west of Plainfield, in neighboring Butler County, Iowa in the fall of 1865.

Harland and Fannie
Photos from Tom Rasmussen

On 12 Aug 1881, he married Miss Fannie Stout Magoon, daughter of Lowell Magoon and Rebecca Davis in Plainfield. She was born on 14 Jan 1863 in Fayette County, Iowa.

Information I recently found about Harland comes from the reminisces of Alyce Smith, Tom Rasmussen's mother and granddaughter of Harland.  Tom has posted much of this information. I'll transcribe portions below and you can see the original page 1 document here.

Page 1 of Alyce Smith Rasmussen Memories
Courtesy Tom Rasmussen

"My grandfather, Harland Smith, and his father, William Custer Smith, raced horses. Wm. Smith owned a farm 2 miles west of Plainfield, Ia. There was a race track on this farm. They went all around the mid-west to harness races - fairs as well as regular racing events.

By, the way, Wm C got his middle name, Custer, because George Custer's family (ed note: Emanuel Custer was George's father and Jacob Smith's neighbor) of the Smith's when they lived in Belmont County, Ohio.

After Mary Munson Smith died, Wm C. married again and shortly thereafter, died. His widow and her children got that farm and Harland and Fannie Magoon Smith, his wife, were left without anything but a couple of horses and sulkies and some paraphenalia.* My dad, William Lowell Smith, and his father now could only race occasionally and much to their chagrin, unsuccessfully. It was in their blood, however, so they had a difficult time of letting go and finding gainful employment. I think maybe my grandfather never did. I know my grandmother Fannie was the one who earned a living to make ends meet.*"

This does explain why I had difficulty figuring out what exactly Harland did for a living. Alyce goes on to discuss her father and then I discovered Harland was a one-eyed man!

"As a young girl, I remember Harland only from him telling about his artificial eye and how he got it while chopping wood and a piece flying into his eye cutting his eyeball. I also remember his dying. He had asthma very often and very seriously. He died from it. We went to his bedside to tell him goodbye. His breathing was something I can still hear - and the smell of something steaming on the stove - tincture of benzine (?) - to help him breathe."

Harland and Fannie had four children:

Percy & Edna Smith Corey

1. Orrin Smith, born 1882 and died in 1889.

2. Edna Mae Smith, born 05 Jul 1885 outside of Plainfield. She married Percy Corey on 02 Jun 1934
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Percy was born 09 Feb 1892. After living in Minnesota for many years, they moved to southern California, not too far from sister Leona Smith Spurgeon. Edna died 09 Jan 1959 in Long Beach and Percy on 04 Nov 1955 in Los Angeles County. They had no children.

3. William Lowell Smith was born 18 Feb 1890 outside of Plainfield. He married, Hazel Parks 12 Jul 1916 in Nashua. Hazel was born 10 Dec 1891 in Nashua, the daughter of Fred Parks and Minnie Alice Hicok. They had two children, Burton and Alyce (the author of the above letter). I'll write more about WL Smith in a later post.

4. Leona Smith was born 26 Apr 1895 outside of Plainfield. She married Walter Kermit Spurgeon, son of a local grocer/pastor on 27 Dec 1916 in Polk County. I have written about them before here and here. They had one child, Richard Kermit Spurgeon (1920-2000). After leaving Iowa, they settle for several years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Walter was in real estate sales.He had a sister living there as well and his asthma demanded a change in weather. When they moved to California, he worked as a grocery clerk.  He died on 20 Jul 1961 in Los Angeles County and she on 09 May 1976 in San Diego County

Harland died of complications of asthma and a cerebral hemorrhage on 21 Nov 1933 at home. Fannie would suffer a stroke in 1942 and would live until 31 Mar 1944.

This certainly clears up a lot about William Custer Smith as well. Thanks to Alyce Rasmussen (1924-2012), may she always rest in peace, for having the foresight to jot things like this down and to Tom Rasmussen for sharing his family history.

* Please see the new, updated information regarding the property of William Custer Smith after his death, here.