Orle Jay Smull was the eldest of Franklin Sylvester Smull and Clara Orcutt. He was born 27 Dec 1893 in Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa, during one of Frank's times away from Plainfield. Two sisters and a brother would follow Orle.
Plainfield 1912 Baseball Top Row: Earl Holmes, Orle Smull, Lawrence Smith, 4?, Ferrel Jenibric(?); Bottom Row: Clio Holmes, KennethThompson, Nathan Chester, John Burke, Gayland Mellinger |
During World War I, Orle joined the cavalry. On August 1, 1917, he departed from Plainfield to Waterloo, where he would then go on to Jefferson Barracks in St Louis. He was assigned to the 328th Auxiliary Remount Depot, Quartermaster Corps, at Camp Bowie in Arlington Heights, Texas. Camp Bowie was built in 1917 to accommodate training for the 36th Infantry Division.
Orle (left) and three fellow cavalry members at Camp Bowie, 1917 |
total of more than 100,000 men trained at the camp. Greble's retirement in September 1918 began a fairly rapid turnover of commandants that did not end until the camp ceased operation (ed note: 1919)."1
It doesn't appear as though Orle made it any further than Camp Bowie, and was discharged in March of 1919. Two years later, he would marry into the Cagley family, taking Ruth Vivian Cagley, granddaughter of pioneer Jacob Cagley and Martha Cuffel Cagley, daughter of Frederick Elmore Cagley and Miriam Ellena "Ena" Ingersoll Cagley, as his bride on 11 Nov 1921 in Oelwein, Fayette County, Iowa.
Their young life was chronicled by Ruth in a personal family memoir and I will excerpt a couple of bits from that, provided by Ruth's granddaughter.
"Orle J Smull and I were married in Oelwein, Ia Nov 11, 1921 at the Baptist Parsonage. That was a very cold year. We had had several snow storms and traveling was difficult for snow plows were not used then. Guess, one might say that our honeymoon was the ride from there to Waverly and there on to Plainfield, by train. We stayed with my folks for a month and by that time, our little house was finished. We had two rooms - one downstairs and one upstairs with a folding stairs so as not to be in our way. All the furniture we had was given us, a drop leaf table and a set of 4 chairs that had been Orle's Grandmother's, an old 2-burner kerosene stove to cook on in the summer, and a 2-hole laundry stove in the winter. It also served as a heater and I had a second-hand rocker. For the bedroom upstairs, a bed, dresser, and cedar chest that I had bought while teaching. The upstairs hadn't been plastered yet and we could see light in a few places where shingles gaped."Orle had been working in the cement business (most likely with the Orcutt's, who owned such an
Ruth Cagley Smull |
Ruth had saved money from her teaching jobs prior to her marriage and was able to outfit the family with an oak buffet, table, six leather-bottomed chairs, and a kitchen cabinet and they were able to use them in the Ford building.
Ruth, Orle, and young Norma stayed in that building until the fall of 1926, when the Charles Farnsworth buiding became available. Charles Farnsworth was the town blacksmith (his father, also a blacksmith, was one of the town's pioneer settlers). Since they still owed $150 on the Ford building, they used the last of Ruth's teaching money to pay off Mrs. Ford. Then, they borrowed $2,000 from Orle's uncle Sanford Orcutt to purchase the new building. Ruth would say that this was a disastrous financial and personal move for them. Needing repairs, drafty and uncomfortable summer and winter, they made their home there anywhere for 19 years. Ruth took in sewing to make up the money needed for extras for the now three kids for shoes and other necessities.
After purchasing two lots for $200, the Smull's sold the business when a $2,000 offer was made for their business in 1945. Maybe Ruth would get the nice house she'd always dreamed of. Stayed tuned...
Fred, Ruth, Ena, and baby Howard Cagley |
1 https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qcc03
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