Robert Smith & Flora Hinmon

JACOB SMITH > JAMES SMITH > JACOB SMITH m Elizabeth Monteith > ROBERT SMITH

Elizabeth Monteith Smith

Elizabeth Monteith was one of three of Edward Boyd Monteith's girls who married Smith's during this era. Jacob Smith and Elizabeth Monteith had three children: James Edward, Robert Alexander and Agnes.

Robert Alexannder Smith was born 04 Jun 1869 in Bremer County. He married Flora Hinmon on 01 Jan 1890 in Bremer County. Flora was born in July 1873 in Le Grand, Marshall County, Iowa. Her parents were George and Delilah Fuller Hinmon. Flora's sister Mary Elizabeth "Polly" married Andrew Jackson Surber, of whom I wrote previously. Flora's brother Alfred would marry Robert's sister Agnes as well!

Robert lived five years in Aberdeen, South Dakota, then primarily in Plainfield, until the couple moved permanently to Waterloo in 1916. While in Plainfield, he worked as a section man for the Illinois Central Railroad.

Rath Packing, Waterloo

Rath Packing Co. was a highly successful packing plant that was started in the mid-1800s in
Dubuque, Iowa. When the small plant burned down, the City of Waterloo lured the Rath's to Waterloo, where an operation was built and operated successfully until the 1960s/1970s, when packing plants experienced struggles. By the 1980s the situation was dire and the company became employee-owned. Finally, it collapsed completely in the mid-1980s. Robert spent 23 years working for Rath, as did  many of the citizens of Waterloo, as Rath was one of its major employers.

The couple had three children: Charles Henry, Florence Elizabeth, and Lucile D.

Back row: Charles on Left standing
Front row: Florence Smith, below teacher in bow tie, on left
Plainfield HS 1909

Robert died in Waterloo 17 Aug 1942 in Waterloo. His wife died of complications of a stroke on 07 Dec 1958, also in Waterloo.

Edward Boyd Monteith: Father of the Smith Wives

ANDREW MONTEITH > EDWARD BOYD MONTEITH m. Agnes McCubbin

Click on image to enlarge

Edward Boyd Monteith was born 12 Mar 1822 in Penninghame, Wigtownshire, Scotland to Andrew Monteith and Isabelle Hendry. The elder Monteith was "ag lab" or agricultural labor on the Merton Hall estate, owned then by William Boyd, then his son Edward Boyd, in Newton Stewart parish in Penninghame. This was hard work, with few financial rewards and it's totally understandable that the adult children of Andrew and Isabelle would start trickling over to the US for a better life.

The Edward Boyd Monteith & Agnes McCubbin Family

Edward and his wife, Agnes McCubbin, who he wed in Scotland, first stayed in Vermont for three years beginning in 1848 and then moved on to the budding frontier in Wisconsin. First, they stopped in Jefferson, Ohio, then on to Janesville, Wisconsin, then moved on in 1854 to Platteville. Edward was a stone mason by trade and helped build the State Normal School building in Platteville. They had a small farm in Liberty Township and eventually, purchased a farm in March 1869 from James McCubbin in Section 30 in Wingville Township, near Monfort, Grant County. In 1877, the plat maps shows he owned 193 acres. They later moved to Fennimore.

Edward died on 12 Nov 1911 in Fennimore. Agnes was born on 05 Apr 1823 in Scotland. She died 25 Jan 1913 in Fennimore, 

Elizabeth

Edward and Agnes had seven children:

1, Elizabeth: Born 19 May 1847 in Wigtownshire, Scotland. She married Jacob Smith on 15 Nov 1866 in Fennimore, Grant County. Jacob was born 04 Feb 1843 in Jefferson, Ohio to James Smith and Susanna Johnston, Jacob served in the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, Company H, with three of his uncles. He was mustered out on 13 Jul 1865. The family retains his Civil War musket. The family moved to the Polk Township, Bremer County, near the town of Plainfield in the 1860s, along with other family. They spent the remainder of their lives there with the exception of four years spent in South Dakota. They had three children. Jacob died 08 Jul 1916 in Bremer County. Elizabeth Monteith, well loved by those who knew her, survived until 16 Jan 1943 in Plainfield, where she died at the home of her daughter, Agnes Smith Hinmon.

2. Jessie: Born 25 Sep 1851 in Barnet, Caledonia, Vermont, she married Alexander Smith on 25 Dec 1866 in Grant County. Alexander was the son of James Smith and Susanna Johnston. He was born 16 Jun 1845 in Steubenville, Ohio to Jacob Smith and Catherine Randolph. They had a life full of pioneer adventures which are outlined here. Alexander died 24 Aug 1925 in Brook Park, Pine, Minnesota and Jessie died 21 Jan 1939 in Princeton, Mille Lacs, Minnesota. They had three children who settled in Minnesota and Canada.

3. James Robert ("Jim"): Born 31 Jan 1853 in Janesville, Rock, Wisconsin. Elizabeth A. Barger was born on 28 Dec 1854 in Wingville, Grant County. They married 24 Nov 1875 in Montfort, Grant County.  They had 12 children, two of whom died in infancy. One of the surviving children, Fred, died tragically in a drowning which also took the life of his sister's husband. You can read about it here. Elizabeth died 20 Oct 1923 and Jim died 30 Jul 1949 in Fennimore. 

James Robert Monteith Family

4. Isabelle:  Born 25 Oct 1854 in Grant County. She was married to Walter Smith, son of William Custer Smith and Mary Ann Munson, on 29 Oct 1876 in Plainfield, Bremer County, Iowa. You can read about Isabelle and her family at the Walter Smith link above. Isabelle died 27 Oct 1938 in Nashua, Chickasaw County and Walter died in Nashua on 23 May 1930.

James Woodward
Preston

5. Martha: Martha was born 09 Aug 1857 in Grant County. She married James Woodward Preston on 24 Dec 1877 in Plainfield, Bremer County, Iowa. James was part of the sprawling Preston family of Grant County. I wrote about his half-brother, Matthew Preston, here. Martha and James resided initially in Grant County, then moved to the Duluth, Minnesota area and farmed there. Martha's sister Jessie and husband Alexander also lived in this area. James died 06 Nov 1932 in Duluth and Martha died 16 Nov 1946 in Proctor, St Louis County, Minnesota. They had one child, Willie, who died as an infant.

6. Mary Agnes: Born in 1860, she married John Thompson Preston, brother of James. They moved to Howard County, Iowa after 1880. They had two children, Edwin James and Jessie Maud, before Mary died  in 1886 in Howard County. John lived with his brother and sister-in-law, James and Martha in Duluth in 1900, but moved to Proctor in St Louis County by 1910. He died 18 Oct 1927 in Proctor.

7. Margaret Ella "Ella":  Born 1862 in Liberty Township, Grant County. She married Miles E Helm on 25 Mar 1880 in Grant County. Miles was born in May 1857 in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. In 1880 they resided with the Edward Boyd Monteith's. In 1882, they were in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. In 1885, the couple was living in North Dakota, but by 1888, were back in Grant County. Ella died on 02 Aug 1897 in Milwaukee County. Miles' death date is not known. They had four children. 

8.William: Born in 1863, his death date is unknown and he's believed to have died in infancy.

The Andrew Monteith Family from Wigtownshire, Scotland

Wigtownshire

Andrew Monteith and Isabelle Hendry lived in Wigtownshire, Scotland when the family started to trickle into the United States. In 1841 and 1851, the family was living in Penninghame, Wigtownshire where they'd be found in the 1851 census.

Andrew was born in 1786, according the 1841 and 1851 English census. I have not found the confirmation of his origins, nor of his parentage.

He married Isabelle Hendry, 28 Apr 1816, in Penninghame. Isabelle was born 17 Aug 1895, purportedly in Aberdeenshire, almost 300 miles from Penninghame.

From about 1772 until past his own death, Merton Hall was owned by Edward Boyd's family. Andrew would name his son, born in 1822, Edward Boyd Monteith. Ownership of the estate would change hands frequently once it left the Boyd ownership. In 1841 it appears Andrew was living and working at Merton Hall in the agricultural portion of the property. He was a ploughman according to the 1851 census. Andrew was listed as "Ag Lab" in the 1841 census, which was pretty far down the totem pole of society (see this explanation for Shropshire which is universal during this time).

They had 11 children that I could locate. Between 1852 and 1856, they traveled from Wigtownshire to Liberty Township, Grant County, Wisconsin. Andrew applied for citizenship in 1856.

Isabelle Hendry in old age

In 1860, his real estate holdings were worth $1,200 and his personal estate $800. By 1870, he, his wife and son David lived in the home and David helped him farm. There, as of 1877, he held 42+ acres of land in the northwest corner of the township. Andrew died 19 May 1878 in Liberty. Isabelle would survive until 07 Mar 1891 and would reside with her son David and family in the Monteith home.

Three of his sons would serve with the 7th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War; one of whom died of injuries. The children of this marriage:

1. Mary Ann: Born 28 Jan 1816 in Penninghame, she married Alex McCullough on 04 Dec 1842 in Scotland. They arrived in American prior to 1860 and unlike her brothers and sisters, moved to Chicago. Her husband Alex kept saloon at 161 Market St (now Wacker St). They maintained the saloon at least through 1880. They had three daughters. Mary died 03 May 1884 in Chicago. Alex, born about 1808, has an unknown date of death.

2. Elizabeth (reported), born 1818 in Penninghame, no other information known. Unconfirmed.

3. James: Born 27 Jan 1820, Penninghame. Married Maria Louisa Hunter, born 06 Mar 1841 in Mercer, Pennsylvania on 01 Apr 1863 in Wisconsin. He died 08 Apr 1882 in Fennimore, Grant County, Wisconsin. She died 20 May 1917 in Fennimore. They had seven children.

4. Edward Boyd: born 12 Mar 1822 in Penninghame. Married Agnes McCubbin in Scotland. They arrived in the US in 1848, living in Vermont for three years, then to Janesville, Wisconsin, arriving at last in Platteville, Wisconsin in 1854. Edward died 12 Nov 1911 in Fennimore. More on Edward Boyd next. Agnes was born 05 Apr 1823 in Scotland and died 25 Jan 1913 in Fennimore. They had eight children, three of whom married grandsons of Jacob Smith.

5. Andrew: Confirmed birth 05 Jun 1824 in Penninghame. No other information available.

Merton Hall, Newton Stewart Parish, Penninghame, Wigtownshire, Scotland

6. William Boyd Monteith, 19 Jan 1826 in Newton Stewart (Penninghame). Married Mary Anna Maria Bleiler about 1866. They had 10 children. William died 18 Aug 1889 in Shooks Prairie, Green County, Wisconsin and Mary died 08 May 1913 in Monroe, Green County. I surmise that William Boyd was named after either the father of  Edward Boyd, owner of Merton Hall in Newton Steward Parish, Penninghame, or Edward's very successful second son.

7. Sergeant John Monteith was born 11 Jul 1829 in Penninghame. He married Elizabeth Dinsdale, born 24 Aug 1846 of Aysgarth, Yorkshire, England on 16 May 1866 in Grant County, Wisconsin. They had three children. He died 16 Jan 1901 in Wingville, Grant County and she on 17 Feb 1914 in Harrison County, Texas. John served in the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, Company H, as a Sergeant under his younger brother, Robert's command.

8. David was born 09 Mar 1833 in Penninghame. He married Elisebeth "Lizzie" Taylor Munden on 17 Jul 1872 in Lafayette, Wisconsin. He died 16 Jan 1901 and she before 1900. They had three children. David farmed his father's land and cared for his mother until her death.

9. Sergeant Samuel Monteith was born 01 Apr 1835 in Penninghame. He was killed in action in Antietam, Maryland on 17 Sep 1862. Samuel served in the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, Company H, as a Sergeant under his younger brother, Robert's command.

10. Josephine "Jessie" Elisabeth: Born 10 Aug 1838 in  Wigtownshire, Scotland, she married George Whitish in about 1854. He was born 20 May 1832 in Prussia and died on 26 Nov 1919 in Preston, Green County, Wisconsin. Jessie died 03 Apr 1909 in Preston. They had 12 children.

11. Captain Robert Wardrope Monteith was born 04 Mar 1840 in Penninghame. He Married Mary L Welch and had three children. During the Civil War, he worked his way from first sergeant to second lieutenant, then as adjutant to the 7th WI Inf and finally was company commander of Company H, 7th Wisconsin Infantry and led his men in many battles before being mustered out in September 1864. Mary was born on 20 Nov 1849 in Wisconsin and died 23 Oct 1929 in Madison, Dane County. He died 23 Sep 1894 in Madison.

Andrew Monteith Land in Liberty Township, 1877

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.

The Race to the Finish: Fred C Monteith & Martin Rector

Andrew Monteith > Edward Boyd Monteith > James Robert Monteith > Fred G Monteith and Martin Rector

The Monteiths were a sprawling family, headed by Scotsman Andrew Monteith and his wife Isabelle Hendry. The family had lived in Penninghame, Wigtownshire, Scotland. They had 11 children, all born in Scotland, and all the surviving children came to the Wisconsin area along with the parents, except oldest child, Mary Ann Monteith McCullough, who moved to the Chicago area with her husband.

Edward Boyd Monteith was a stone mason by trade and was the fourth of Andrew and Isabelle's 11 children. When he came to Platteville, Wisconsin in 1854, he was employed in the building of the State Normal School. He ended up settling on a farm near Liberty, Wisconsin. He and his wife Agnes McCubbin had eight children.

Edward Boyd Monteith

Edward's third child, James Robert and his wife Elizabeth Barger had twelve children. The oldest child, Agnes Mary Monteith married Martin Frederic Rector in 1898 in Preston, Grant County, Wisconsin. They had three boys before 1903, the youngest being only 10 months old at the time of the story. Martin and Agnes farmed near his parents at Spirit Lake, Iowa, having moved there the previous year.

Fred G. Monteith, at age 21, was the middle child of Edward Boyd Monteith. He was a schoolteacher in Grant County and was visiting his sister's family near the east shore of Spirit Lake, Iowa. His visit had lasted 10 days by November 28, 1903. He was scheduled to return to Fennimore, Wisconsin the following Monday.

On the fateful day in question, Martin and Fred had been to town, having been dropped off by the

Okibojiin the Sumertime

Rector's farmhand in the wagon. They told the team's driver, Sam Rettig, if he did not see them along the way back, to go on home. The two dropped their overcoats off at the Schumen's home and stated they would race across East Lake Okiboji by skate and would return to the farm that evening.  At 11 o'clock, Rettig had returned and found the men had not returned. By midnight, Agnes was extremely worried. Rettig notified Martin's father, Dr. A. E. Rector, who along with his brother, the dentist, went to the farm to wait for the dawn so a search could go on.

Fred at about age 15

It didn't take them long, once dawn broke, to find the hole through which both men had fell. Their bodies were discovered immediately and floating side-by-side. They had fallen into water of about 9-feet in depth and gotten their feet stuck in the mud, evidenced by the mud on their skates. Had it not by then been dark and sleeting or had they fallen just a "few rods" in either direction, where the depth and mud would not have been so deep, the outcome might have been completely different.

Martin, the eldest of 10 children, would have been 32 years old the following month. 

Martin's wife Agnes raised her boys and died without remarrying on 23 Aug 1925, at the young age of 49.

Many newswire accounts list the dead incorrectly, naming Fred's brother Llewellyn "Clyde" Monteith as among the dead. The initial article from the Spirit Lake Beacon, on December 4, 1903, listed the dead correctly.

Sideroad: The Preston Family

Matthew Preston

Jacob Smith > James Smith (and after that, it gets murky)

I find that sometimes, I get distracted when working on a specific line or family. Something outside of the direct line catches my fancy. This would be a case in point.

Matthew PRESTON founded the small town of Preston, Grant County, Wisconsin. He was an early settler there, having arrived from Yorkshire, England in 1851. His first wife, Elizabeth Little, also of Yorkshire, bore him seven children. Two of those boys, James Woodward PRESTON and John Thomas PRESTON, married two Monteith sisters, Martha and Mary Agnes, respectively.

They were daughters of Edward Boyd MONTEITH and feed into my line. EB Monteith's daughter Elizabeth married Jacob Smith, his daughter Jessie married Jacob's brother, Alexander, and his daughter Isabelle married Walter Smith, William Custer Smith's son  (my 2d great grandfather) and nephew to Jacob and Alexander. That's clear now, right?

Young Edwin Wesley Preston

Anyway - back to the PRESTON family. Matthew's first wife died in 1865. He headed back to England and brought back his new bride, Abigail Jane Heseltine, whom he married in 1868. In 1870, the Preston's moved to Platteville, Wisconsin. They too had seven children. Matthew donated 120 acres of land to Platteville for what was then Platteville Normal College what was later known as the University Farm. And this is where I took a major sideroad.

One of their sons, Edwin Wesley Preston, skeedaddled out of the area and little was found on him except the usual documents. He looked, on the surface, to be the least interesting of the set of seven kids of Abigail. How wrong could I be? He was not in the news much, but he was a one of the powerhouses behind what got reported.

He married the former Mabel Peck in 1900. They had no children.

According to a report from the Boston Herald on 20 Dec 1941, his story went a little like this:

Corinthian Club

He graduated from Wisconsin State Teacher's College but he had no interest in teaching; business was more of his forte. He was involved in a number of commercial enterprises in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere, when he came to Boston in 1913. He was connected to a group of New England publishers, representing their newspapers in the national advertising field. In 1915, his work was brought to the attention of James H. Higgins, at that time the publisher of the Herald-Traveler where he began working in their automotive advertising section. Before long, he was the advertising director.

As the Boston Herald-Traveler broadened its success, he became the general manager of the paper in 1927. He continued the success of the publication and it was said he, "disclaimed personal credit, saying it was much more due to those who worked so loyally in co-operation with him."

246 Beacon St Boston

His home in Boston was located at 246 Beacon Street a block from the Charles River. They had three servants to run the large brownstone. Edwin was a member of Boston's Algonquin Club, which was founded in 1886 by individuals who valued "accomplishment over inherited status." He was also a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club and other clubs throughout Boston.

From 1929 to 1937, he took several trips to Europe and more tropical locations aboard passenger liners. He also spent time in Florida, a warm alternative to California. Sometimes with his wife, and after her death in 1935, with other family members. Sometime around the time of Mabel's death, his niece, Ruth Tiffany, came to Boston and looked after her uncle and ran his household. I'm hoping to learn more on Ruth's life in Boston soon.

In 1940, he was forced by ill health to give up the active reigns of the Herald Traveler. He moved to Beverly Hills, California, where he died 19 Dec 1941. He died a very wealthy man and I believe a chunk of it ended up going to Ruth Tiffany. Look for a coming post that will discuss the Tiffany's of Hollister, California.