The Smiths: The Very Best Kind of Day

Yesterday, I drove up to Nashua to meet a cousin on the Smith side, Betty Jane Smith. There with her for the meeting were two of her kids and their spouses. I felt like I had been dropped into my own family, without all the expectations! Very nice, wonderful people. We told stories and shared photos. Betty is 94 years old and I spent time giggling with her - giggling - and laughing and smiling. She shared the most awesome family photos and filled in blanks in my knowledge about her father and mother, Walter Smith & Isabelle Monteith. At the end of the day, we had a piece of homemade pie, made by Betty, who had skipped church in order to provide the delicious treat for me - a virtual stranger. Did I mention how much I love Iowa?

Here is a beautiful photo of Isabelle, from her youth. As you might recall, Isabelle was one of three Monteith sisters who married Smith men. Jessie and Elizabeth married Walter's cousins, Alexander and Jacob.

Betty was adopted by Walter and Isabelle Smith after her birth. They were her biological great grandparents. She lived in the same house since she was born - the house Walter & Isabelle had lived in since they had "moved to town" sometimes around the turn of the 20th century.

The lovely Betty Jane Smith

Betty continued to live there after Walter and Isabelle died. Her adopted sister Maude moved in with her and finished raising her after Isabelle's death. When Betty married widower Leland Hahn, the family of Lee's two kids and their own two kids made the house their home. After Leland died, her second husband also lived in the home. Ninety-four years in the same house!

This is a particularly great photo of the Smith boys Mirt,  Rev Parker, Harland, Edwin, & Walter and sister Dora (Eva and Ella both died in 1924, so I'd put this photo at between 1924-1933):

They were at some kind of picnic - looks like some kind of pavilion behind them - perhaps the Nashua fairgrounds?

This is the boys and their spouses, except Edwin's wife, Kate Smull, This also includes sister Mary Madora "Dora" Smith and her husband BF Lichty, who lived in Waterloo.

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.

Middle Age Miasma or Murder Most Foul?

Jacob Smith > William Custer Smith > Mirt Smith married Emma Schafstall

Gerhard Heinrich Schafstall had a pile of kids in Prussia. Evidence suggests he emigrated as a widower in 1864, leaving from Bremen on the Norma and arriving in Baltimore in September 1864 at the age of 58, bringing his children with him.

Frank, Emma, and Anna Schafstall
Bradford, Chickasaw County, Iowa

The Schafstalls farmed in the Waymansville, Bartholomew County, Indiana area.  One of the children, Franz, married Anna Kruse in 1879. They had only one child, Emma Haehlen Schafstall, born in 1880 in Jackson County, Indiana.  Between 1880 and 1898, the Schafstalls had moved on from Indiana, arriving in the Bradford, Chickasaw County, Iowa area to farm. They lived near Walter Smith, whose brother Mirt married Emma in 1898. Emma married into our direct Smith line. By all acounts, this son of Heinrich lived an average life in an average community. His younger brother William's story turned out far differently.

Waymansville, Indiana

William was born in about 1856 in Prussia. William married Johanna Caroline "Carrie" Bode in 1880 in Indiana. They had one child, a son, Christian H "August" Schafstall, in 1883. Schafstall was a long-time farmer in the area but one day, he just disappeared off the face of the earth.

“Mr Schafstall disappeared July 14, 1897 (also his wife’s 38th birthday). He had been assisting the farmers in his neighborhood with their thrashing and on the morning of July 14th, drove to the farm of John Moorman. When he arrived there he was told that the thrashers working at Robert Elkins’ farm were in need of assistance and started to that farm. He drove a mule hitched to a single buggy. 

The mule was found hitched to a fence near the Moorman farm but no one was ever able to say in what direction Mr Schafstall went when he started into a neighboring cornfield. There is a lake in the vicinity of the Moorman home and for a time it was supposed that he might have fallen into the water and was drowned. It is said that Mr Schafstall was heavily in debt at the time of his disappearance.

According to one story current at the time of his disappearance, Mr Schafstall had considerable money with him as he had been to Seymour on July 13 and had sold a wagon load of wheat. It is said that he sold some wheat for a neighbor on the same day and left the wagon and the money at a farm house near Borcher’s church, where the owner obtained them the following day. He was fifty-four years old when he disappeared.” [Ed note: Records indicate he was 41]

 Seymour Daily Republican, Seymour, Indiana, Wednesday, December 31, 1913

In 1913, a woman on her deathbed had another story to tell:

No evidence was found whether the digging ever commenced, but one would assume that the discovery of remains would have made the news.  But, to twist the plot even further, his sister Julia, refuted the murder story, saying she'd heard last from her brother in a visit to her home 17 years previously in Cincinnati (about five years after his disappearance).

His wife Carrie, who died shortly before the death bed confession story came out, believed he had met with foul play, but his son August always believed his father had just picked up and left with cash in pocket. Was this a case of middle-age miasma or murder most-foul?  We'll never know. In 1913, he was finally declared dead and a stone marker was placed with the date of his disappearance as the date of his death.