SMULL: Jasper Gurney Smull One of My Favorite Stories

Jasper Gurney Smull, grandson of Henry Smull by his son Henry Kreamer "Harry" Smull, was born in 1901. He grew up and lived most, if not all, of his life in Rebersburg, Pennsylvania. He never married and it appears that he was a mama's boy.  For some time, he worked as a farm laborer in the area. To this day, the story of his time on the Walker farm told a story worthy of a made for TV movie. It remains one of the best stories I've run across, and there have been more than a few, in my family tree, which seems to have more than its fair share of nuts. Here is the story and here is a photo of Gurney, who lived until 1987.

SMULL: Henry Smull of Brush Valley

 I'm just now getting around to sorting through photos from my big trip to Pennsylvania, to hunt the trail of the Brothers Smull. My first post on my trip is here. I had such a great time with Evonne Henninger who runs the Facebook page Penns Valley Past and Present. Four Smull brothers arrived in Brush Valley to build the Lutheran church in Rebersburg: Jacob, Peter, Henry, and Jesse. Once building was complete, Jesse returned to the family while the three, Jacob, Peter and Henry, remained to build lives in the beautiful newly settled countryside on the other side of the Ridge and Valley Provice of the Appalachian Mountains, sitting between Nittany Mountain to the north and Brush Mountain/Shriner Mountain to the south. Peter was my third great grandfather. Jacob died relatively young but his home still stands on the main street in Rebersburg. Henry and his large family from his two wives, became part of the fabric of the area.

Henry's first wife was Elizabeth Royer, daughter of Johannes Christopher Royer and Magdalene Gross. The couple had seven children. Elizabeth died in 1834 at the age of 37, two weeks after she gave birth to their last child, Thomas Jefferson Smull. Henry then married the daughter of one of the prominent farmers Daniel Kreamer and Anna Kern) in the region, widow Catherine Kreamer Hosterman. They had an additional five children to add to the four children she had during her marriage to George Hosterman. George had died the same year Elizabeth Royer Smull died.  

I had not seen a photo of any of the Brothers Smull until I made my trip to Brush Valley. This is a photo of Henry, born in the 18th century, and his second wife, Catherine. This alone made the trip worthwhile.

Henry Smull and Catherine Kreamer Hosterman Smull c. 1860

Genealogy Trail: Brush Valley - Home of the Brothers Smull

Last week I made the long-awaited trip to Brush Valley in Pennsylvania. This includes towns like Centre Hall, Rebersburg, Aaronsburg, Smullton, and other villages within Centre County at its east end. I had the immense pleasure of having a tour guide, Evonne Henninger, who is the greatest historian of the area for whom I could wish. We spent the morning traveling around the valley and spent a bit more time in Rebersburg, the place my family had settled. I learned more in two days there than in years of studying from afar.

As a refresher, Johann Peter Schmoll and Julianna Sarah Mueller lived in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. They had ten children. Four of these went to Centre County to help build the Union Church in Rebersburg. Jacob, the oldest of the four, Peter, Henry, and the much younger Jesse. Jesse later returned to Montgomery County, but the others did not. The church was used from 1823-1876  by the Lutheran and Reformed denominations. According to Evonne, the bricks for the church were made along Elk Creek in Smullton (formerly Kreamersville) in the area of the Raymond Bair farm. Evonne drove me past this location. They razed this church after a Lutheran and a Reformed Church were built next to each other in 1876. The Amish recently purchased one of these, but neither is being used as a church at this time.

Jacob Smull's 1825
Georgian Style Home

After the building of the church, Jacob, Peter and Henry (1799) stayed on and became a big part of the community. Jacob ended up a building a German-influenced Georgian style house on E Main St in 1825 which still stands. He ended up dying in 1830. The two daughters of his marriage who survived to adulthood moved on to Lock Haven in adult life.

Peter, who is extensively written about here on the blog, left in 1847 for Stephenson County, Illinois. His entire family eventually joined him in that area.

That left Henry. Henry farmed and did whatever else he could to make a living. His first wife, daughter of one of the town's earliest residents, Elizabeth Royer, had seven kids. She died in 1834. Henry married immediately the former Catherine Kreamer, who was the widow of George Hosterman, who also died in 1834.  They combined their families and continued with life in Rebersburg. The couple had an additional five children.

One of the cool things he did was operate a toll house on Rockville Rd near Hwy 192. Toll houses existed on many roads in Pennsylvania. The tolls paid for maintenance and operation of the road since the government was not then involved. Henry Smull, in addition to his farm, had a toll house in Rebersburg. The toll house is on the right. Operators of such toll houses could earn a chunk of change each month as well. Tolls at one toll house were:

Henry Smull's Toll House on Right

Toll Gate Charges –

A score of sheep – 4¢ (score = 20)

A score of hogs – 6¢

A horse with his rider – 3¢

A score of cattle – 12¢

A sulkey with 1 horse and 2 wheels – 6¢

2 wheels & 2 horses – 9¢

4 wheels & 2 horses – 12¢

4 wheels & 4 horses – 20¢

Henry also had an opportunity to go to other parts of Pennsylvania and picked up ideas along the way. He

remodeled his toll house with unique diagonal design. During his time in Rebersburg, he also farmed. We went to the farm he ran between what was originally Kreamerville and Rebersburg. Today, the farm is in the hands of the Amish and a new homestead has been built.

Here is Henry's toll house with its unique design:

And here is the Henry Smull barn (later the C H Smull barn and now an Amish barn). This is an example of a L-shaped Pennsylvania barn.

There was so much more to learn about Henry and his kids on this trip. What I loved most is that I could feel the place and see the mountains and see how the villages connected to the mountains. It allowed me to gain perspective that no book or Internet record could provide. And, having a tour guide like Evonne was priceless. More to come.

B&W photos courtesy of Evonne Henninger of Penn's Valley, Past & Present

The Schmoll/Schmehl/Smoll/Smull Connection Looks Like it's Coming Together at Last

Two years ago, I wrapped up with what I could do on my 3X great grandfather, Peter Smull's family tree. I was blocked not knowing who his father and mother were, but I knew some things to help me in the dig. Still, it got me no further. With the advent of rampant DNA testing and more time, I think I have come up with a theory on the parentage of Peter.

The basic story is here and here. The stories involved my four Smull relatives:  Jacob, Peter, Henry, and Jesse. You can read other Smull stories here.

First, here's what I knew:

In Peter's grand-nephew's (brother Henry's grandson George's) bio in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania:

"...The first of the line in America was _____ Smull, the great-grandfather of our subject. He was a native of Ireland, whence he came to this country in the latter part of the 18th century to locate in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. Six of his children lived to adult age - two daughters and four sons, the names of the latter being Henry, Jacob, Peter, and Jesse. The Smull family in Brush Valley is descended from the first three sons, who were skilled masons, and all went at the same time to Rebersburg to build the wall for the Lutheran Reformed Church. They remained in the Valley, and living in German settlements, they and their children adopted the language and customs of their neighbors...
...Henry Smull, our subject's grandfather, born in eastern Pennsylvania, February 2, 1799; and, coming to Brush Valley in early manhood with no capital except his own abilities and strong physique, obliged to work for many years as a day laborer. He saved his money, however, and in time managed to buy a farm between Kreamerville and Centre Mill. The care of the place devolved mainly upon his family as he comtinued to work at his trade." 

There is a lot wrong with this. But, again, these are paid bios made by a company that did this in towns and villages across the country whose writer's were not necessarily worried about accuracy. George Smull, the subject, is bound to have made the same mistakes we all have in repeating our own family lore (I always think of a game of telephone). His grandfather died while George was a very young child. George most likely had no contact with the non-Brush Valley Smulls. And, they are definitely not Irish and German was their native tongue. Still - the most interesting thing I got out of this was there were two sisters and their non-Brush Valley brother was Jesse.

I then moved on to another Commemorative Bio - this time, for Henry Smull (1842), son of Peter (born in 1796 or 1797-depending on source) and who left Brush Valley for Stephenson County, Illinois in the mid-1800s. Henry's bio had this to say:

"HENRY SMULL, a retired farmer now residing in Macon County, is a native of the Keystone State. He was born in Centre County, Pa., February 23, 1842, and is a son of Peter and Mary (Waggoner) Smull, who were also born in Pennsylvania. The latter was of German descent. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a hero of the Revolution. He left the Old Country to avoid entering the army, and arrived in the United States just in time to aid the Colonists in their struggle for independence.

For seven years he participated in the Revolution. The father of our subject was born February 27, 1796, and died in February, 1869, being buried in Rock Grove, Stephenson County, Ill. His wife, who was born February 4, 1801, died and was buried in the same place in September, 1878. Mr. Smull was always a supporter of the Democratic party. He was a mechanic, and always followed the occupation of farming. He came to Illinois when Henry was a lad of twelve years, and located upon a farm in Stephenson County, where he spent his remaining days." Portrait & Biographical Record of Macon County, Illinois, 1893

The Schmoll I found who fit this criteria, was Johann Peter Schmoll, born 1752 in Eastern

Pennsylvania. Additionally, they had a son Jesse. Most interestingly, there were two sisters.

Finally, the gaps in the births of my Brush Valley brothers Smull fit in beautifully with Johann Peter Schmolls family tree. A fellow researcher also helped me connect Jesse to Johann Peter/Juliana Sara through a baptismal document that wasn't available to me when I started this.

But, I needed the time to work through all of this and there a still a couple of scruffy problems to clear up. Still, I feel fairly confident this theory is on the right track.

This is roster of children I believe were born to Johann Peter Schmoll and Juliana Sara Mueller:

Here is my big issue.  There is another Peter Smull, often attributed to Johann Peter and Juliana Sara who does not seem to have any supporting documentation to support his connection to those parents. Some have that Peter listed with a 1797 birth (I believe this is my Peter) and also with a 1790 birth. Both of these have been connected to Catharina Bischof as wife. I'm very interested to see if anyone has any evidence that Peter m. Catharina Bischof is actually connected to Johann Peter and Juliana.

While it is not unusual for Germans to have more than one child with the same first name, I don't think that's the case here. (See info on naming conventions here).

The volume of Schmolls/Schmehls/Schmoehl/
Smoll/Smull/Schmoels/Smeals in Pennsylvania during the 1780s-1880s is massive. In my DNA, I connect to no fewer than 30 in the 5th to 8th cousin range. Yet, I can find connections only to about a dozen of those (most have a DNA matches of under 15cM across 1 segment - which basically means we're all of some German descent).

That's my surmise. Look forward to other Smull/Smoll/Schmoll researchers who might have an alternate theory, other supporting facts, or theories. 

The Gramley Boys of Centre County, Pennsylvania

HENRY SMULL > SARAH SMULL m Samuel Gramley > TITUS & CEPHAS GRAMLEY

C. L. and Joanna Weaver Gramley

You can read about Sarah Smull and her husband Samuel Gramley here.

Titus Melaucthon (T.M.) and Cephas Luther (C.L.) Gramley were two three Gramley boys who survived to adulthood. Both found value in education and both became successful citizens in their communities.

C.L. Gramley was born 17 Sep 1852 in Rebersburg, a German community in the heart of Miles Township in Brush Valley. He lived on the family farm during his childhood, but then went on to increase his education and spent two years in the Clinton Seminary. He taught for a time to gain the funds to spend two years at Susquehanna University at Selins Grove and once graduated, Professor Gramley spent 17 years teaching at the Grammar School in Rebersburg. After that, he taught at the Normal School and various institutes during the summer months. In 1892, he was named County Superintendent of Schools, hired to fill out the term of the previous superintendent. He was elected and relected in 1893 and 1896.

C.L. married Miss Joanna Weaver in 1878. She was born in nearby Wolfs Store, Centre County in August 1852. They had two daughters, Gertrude, who died at age 15 in 1895 and Almah, born in 1882. His obituary references a son, Clement, though I could find no evidence of that son elsewhere.

C.L. and Joanna were very involved with the Lutheran Church. C.L. was chorister of the church and Sabbath School since 1875. He was a charter member and first Noble Grand of IOOF Lodge 103. Like his father before him, he learned the land survey trade as well and assisted his father in surveying until his father's death. Not an idle man, he and his brother T.M. opened a general mercantile business in Rebersburg. As his stature in the community grew, he also became vice president and director of the Farmer's National Bank in Millheim, which had deposits in 1924 of $600,000. C. L. died 20 May 1935 in Miles, Centre County, just a couple months after his wife died 12 Jan 1935.

T. M. Gramley

T.M. Gramley was born 31 Jul 1856 in Rebersburg. He attended school in the Harter district in Miles Township and then went on to the County Normal School at Milesburg to prepare for a teacher's life. He was tasked heavily at home, so completing his education was difficult, but he did it. At age 16, he became schoolmaster of a school in Porter Township in neighboring Clinton County where he gained an excellent reputation. He then entered the Penn Hall Academy and prepared for college, but ended up back Porter to teach another three terms and then went to Mackeyville Grammar to teach. He ended up teaching 14 terms, spending summers working the family farm. He was certified to teach in all grades and had a State certificate. He then went into business with his brother C.L.

T.M.'s partnership with his brother in the general mercantile trade lasted about two years, when T.M. sold out to pursue farming. He farmed in the summer and taught in the winter. In 1888, he formed another business partnership, this time with RG Eisenhart. They opened a general stock company called the Spring Mills Creamery Company, which remained active for many, many years.

Marriage to Miss Agnes Loose occurred on 18 Dec 1877 in Miles Township. She was born 07 Sep 1836 to Samuel and Elizabeth Brickley Loose. The Gramley's purchased the "Old Peter Wilson" house and upgraded it with modern conveniences and set about raising their family of five children. Education remained important through the next generation as well. Orpha attended Irving College in Mechanicsburg and S Ward attended Susquehanna University. At the time of the biographical sketch written about T.M., his youngest two children, Windom and Bruce were still at home. Their final child, Eugene Titus, would arrive 10 Dec 1899.

T.M. and Aggie were also active in the Lutheran church and T.M. held various offices all of his adult life. He was also a member of the IOOF along with his brother.

T.M. died 05 Oct 1938 and Aggie died 30 Jun 1939, both in Millheim.

Sarah Smull & Samuel Gramley of Centre County

Add caption

UNK SMULL > HENRY SMULL > SARAH SMULL m Samuel Gramley

Sarah Smull was born 15 Mar 1832 in Rebersburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania to Henry Smull and his first wife, Elizabeth Royer.

She married Samuel Gramley on 07 Aug 1849 in Aaronsburg in Centre County. Samuel was born 04 Mar 1827 in Rebersburg.  He attended school as he could during winter months. He loved mathematics. After he finished his rural education, he began teaching. His first school was a subscription school in 1848, after which he went to Mifflinburg Academy in Union County for 18 weeks where he trained to teach. He then taught in his home school and secured its first-ever blackboard. In Spring 1849, he spent 10 more weeks at Mifflingburg Academy and then taught again at his home school. he continued teaching until 1861, when he moved to one of his father's farms and began cultivating the land. He also studied surveying and became a surveyor.

Gramley served as elder in the Lutheran church and held the position of superintendent of the Sunday School for 34 years. And,despite his being a Republican in a heavily Democratic township, he was elected as justice of the peace in 1869 and held that job for 15 years. He also served as a county commissioner starting in 1870 until 1873. Since he didn't seem to have enough to do, he also served as the Centre Hall Mutual Insurance Co. representative for 25 years. He owned two farms and a house in town, making him a substantial citizen of the area.

Sarah and Samuel had eight children: Isabella (died in infancy), Tiras (died in infancy), Cephas, Sarah Annie (died young), Titus, Clement, Naomi, and Adah.

Sarah died 14 May 1880 in Rebersburg. Samuel remarried to Catherine Spangler Ocker, a widow with five children. Samuel died 13 Jan 1903 in Rebersburg.

I'll cover Titus and Cephas in a separate post.

Centre County, PA: Miles Township & Smullton's Inception

There's a Smull genealogy website out there that for all intents and purposes, is full sound and fury, signifying nothing. But it does pose some interesting questions, most of which a little research and tenacity has seemed to resolve. Still, it calls to our attention the town of Smullton. Not a town, really, but a stopping point that had a post office in Miles Township in Centre County, which is really the originating source of our Smull roots and their stories.

Miles Township

It was indeed named in honor of one of our ancestors, George H. Smull, grandson of one of the four original Brothers Smull, Henry.[UPDATE: since this was written, I have been able to connect the four brothers to others via the parents, Johann Peter Schmoll and Juliana Sara Mueller]. And for the simple reason that George managed somehow to get the village its own post office. Prior to becoming "Smullton," it was Kreamerville for decades. Again, a family tie in. Henry's second wife was Catherine Kreamer, daughter of settler Jacob Kreamer. That marriage produced five children, including George H. Smull's father.

Jacob Kreamer owned a lot of land and farmed in the narrow strip of valley at the edge of the mountains. Son Joseph took over the family farm. The Kreamers would remain a presence in the area through today.

George H Smull was the son of Reuben Smull and Louisa Gramley, Born 23 Jun 1869 in Rockville in Brush Valley, his father farmed in the area. Reuben would later purchase the Joseph Kreamer farm. Reuben was described as a "man of no pretensions, minding his own business, and this, by the way, is a characteristic trait in the family, which has poduced a number of substantial, successful, yet unassuming citizens."

George H Smull

George was their only child and attended all the schooling the area had to offer (which was still conducted exclusively in German) and then went on to schools in Spring Mills, Selins Grove, and even Dakota, Stephenson County, Illinois. After several years in Illinois, he returned to Pennsyvania. He married Daisy Blanche Stover, on 04 Jul 1891. The couple would have no children.

George spent some time in the circulation department of the Keystone Gazette in Bellefonte which gave him opportunity to travel the area. In 1896, he became an insurance agent for New York Life. He did well in this pursuit and ended up managing a number of neighboring counties. The couple had a home in Rebersburg, but preferred their country home on the farm.

In the early 1900s, the need for a post office became pressing for the citizens of the area. On September 24, 1904, the US Postmaster finally named a postmaster for the newly minted village of Smullton, George H Smull. It was considered a fourth class post office. "A fourth-class postmaster’s position was highly prized in rural America. Although the job paid very little, it drew trade into the postmaster’s store and conveyed the mark of a town leader on the lucky recipient," according to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. George resigned in early March of 1910 and a postal examination was held to replace him. That post office, like most fourth class post offices, eventually closed to consolidate postal operations. It shut its doors in 1957.

George died at the age of 58 on 06 Nov 1927 in Centre County. His wife Blanche moved to Harrisburg and supported herself as a clerk until her retirement. She died 18 Jan 1963 in Carlisle, Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

The nature of Smullton has changed over the years. This article on Smullton was published in 1991:

Smullton: Portrait of a 1-Street Town
by Barbara Brueggebors, Times County Editor
Nobody's quite sure just when or how Smullton got its start, but everybody agrees the Miles Township village didn't start out as Smullton.

"We were Kreamerville for quite a while," says 85-year-old native son, Raymond Bair.

"We got to be Smullton after George H Smull fought to get us a town post office."

The one street community is located along Smullton Road about a half-mile south of (and parallel to) Rebersburg in rural Brush Valley. Elk Creek twists and curves through the town and its outlying fields.

Smullton proper is just about the same size as it was when the post office came to town way back in 1902 (ed note; 1904). There are 38 houses (all but one owner-occupied), no stores or churches, one beauty shop. The post office closed in 1957.

A half -dozen farms cling to the village's outskirts and more than a dozen houses and mobile home sline the paved lane leading to Rebersburg.

Mr Bair still lives in the red brick farmhouse his father purchased just west of the village in 1899.

"He bought this place from Mariah Kreamer and her son, George," says the retired dairyman and electrician. "The house was built in 1880 from bricks made down here in this meadow."

Mr Bair's 101 acres stretch from the foothills of Brush Mountain on the south to the back alleys in Rebersburg on the north.

"When I was a boy, the Smullton kids all walked to Rebersburg for school," Mr Bair says. "There was a boardwalk then right alongside the lane. When the boards got bad they put in gravel; and finally, they let it grow over with grass."

Mr Bair can remember two blacksmith shops in town, one run by Harry Smull, another by Charles Bressier and his son, Wilmer.

The community had a church too - at least up until 1932, when the entire membership voted 8 to 7 to disband.

"That was the Methodist-Episcopal Church," Mr Bair recalls, "It's since been turned into a residence. Dean Matter lives there now."

Carl Winters' dad, Clayt, was the last to run the old Smullton Creamery, which burned down in 1918. Up until the fire, it did a thriving business with farmers east of Madisonburg.

Smullton had two general stores that took turns housing the post office.

"Scott Walizer had a store and a cobbler's shop where Warren Royer's trailer is now," Mr Bair sai. "The old building burned down about five years ago.

"Ed Smull's store was down near the church. That building later was moved to the west end of town," he added.

Once settled in it new location, the store was kept by Herbert Stover, who also opened a photographic studio on the second floor.

Mr Stover's son, John, now 72, lives right across the stree from his father's former store building which now is a residence.

"My dad was what you call a go-getter," John Stover says. "Besides taking pictures upstairs, he had a printing outfit and a loom in the back of the store. And he ran a coal yard over in Coburn for 14 years."

"Dad had skylights - half-inch thick glass with wire in it - put in the roof of the place so he'd have the right light for his photos."

Stover's Store, like so many of its counterparts in other rural communities, quickly became the town's social center.

"About every night of the week, the store was sitting full," John Stover recalls. "The men would play cards or just sit on the two big benches in there and eat peanuts or cheese and crackers. Saturday night was the big night. We sold homemade ice cream, and I'd have to make it - every Saturday."

After Herbert Stover died in 1946, Wilbur D Meyer took over the store and operated it another dozen years.

The benches were gone though and when Mr Meyer rang up his last sale in December 1959, the town was without a grocery for the first time in anybody's memory.

While Smullton hasn't changed much size-wise, Mr Bair sees changes in its makeup.

"It used to be that I knew everybody in Smullton, Rebersburg, Wolfs Store and most of the people in Millheim," he says.

"But, over the years, it seems like the bulk of our younger people moved out Unless they farmed, there just wasn't anything doing around here for them. Now there's people in Smullton I don't know."

Roy Brownlee, A Victim of the Philippine Insurrection

American Infantry Soldiers in Philippines

UNK SMULL > HENRY SMULL > ABIGAIL SMULL m Lorenzo Brownlee > HARRISON BROWNLEE m Carrie Morton > ROY A BROWNLEE

Daughter of Henry Smull and first wife Elizabeth Royer, Abigail Smull, married her husband, Lorenzo Brownlee, while living in her native Centre County, Pennsylvania. They resided in Clinton County at the 1850 Census and sometime around 1851, they came to Stephenson County, where many of Abbie's father's brother Peter's relatives had come years before.

The Brownlee's took the long overland journey by covered wagon and upon their arrival, Lorenzo set up business as a shoemaker, which he followed for many years.

The couple had six children: Mary Jane, Sarah Elizabeth, Harrison, Mattie, and William.

Harrison was born 18 Oct 1848 in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania. He married Carrie Morton and they had four children; three sons and a daughter. Carrie was born 12 Sep 1856 in Clinton County, Pennsylvania.

Their oldest son Roy Arthur was born 10 Aug 1876 in Stephenson County. He joined the Army and served in the Coastal Artillery in Washington state and then was shipped to the Philippines during the Philippine Insurrection which had started in 1899, in 1900 as part of Co C, 34th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Not long after his arrival, his family received word that he had died, but this report turned out to be false. In fact, he had not been shot at all, but was gravely ill. This report was partially credited to gossip as bits of information were known and passed along with more, incorrect information.

After spending months in the hospital there, he was medically discharged. Doctors could not figure out what was causing the painful problem with...his ear. On his return to the US, he stopped at an Army hospital in California in hopes the doctors there could figure out what was causing the painful discharge that seemed to have started during a period of severe fever while in the tropical environs of the Philippines.

His situation did not improve and he spent most of the remainder of his life in and out of Disabled Volunteer Soldier homes in Milwaukee and Ohio. Somewhere in there, he married, but to whom is not known. It's not believed he had any children. The 1940 census had him still alive, married, but living alone as a boarder in Freeport, Stephenson County, Illinois and that is the last trace of him.

Thomas Jefferson Smull Family: Dr. T. J. Smull, Jr.

HENRY SMULL > THOMAS JEFFERSON SMULL > THOMAS JEFFERSON SMULL, JR, PhD m Cora Anita Kemp

Click to enlarge

T J Smull is third from right, back row
ONU Football

Henry Smull was one of the Brothers Smull from Centre County, Pennsylvania. His son Thomas Jefferson Smull taught school and then decided he had a passion for the "mercantile life" and opened a general store in Mackeyville, Pennsylvania, a few miles from Mill Haven and Lock Port. He and his wife Harriet Transue had two children who survived to adulthood. Their son James Leroy "Roy" took over the family store and son Thomas Jefferson, Jr. went on to other things.

Thomas Jefferson Smull, Jr., was born 22 Sep 1875 in Mackeyville, Clinton County. He attended Central State Normal School in 1897 and 1898 in Lock Haven, playing on the baseball teams. In 1900 he entered Susquehanna University in Selingsgrove and also played baseball there. In winter of 1901, he entered Ohio Normal University which would later become Ohio Northern University. He was a standout in both baseball and football. In a football game against the famous Fielding Yost "Point a Minute" teams of the University of Michigan, Yost convinced Smull to come to Michigan on scholarship to play. Smull played five games of the U of Michigan's 11 games in 1904, but finished the season at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He had found that the academic schedule at Michigan just wasn't working for him and while he loved athletics, he wanted to get his education completed. In 1905, he returned to Ohio Northern as the Dean of the College of Engineering.

Dr. Thomas J. Smull, Jr.

Smull was instrumental in developing athletics teams at the University. He was fully in charge of all athletics from 1905-1908 until he asked that an Athletics Board be organized. He chaired that board for several years and was then named Honorary President and Advisor and served in that position until 1922. A good bit of what Smull did was to keep the play "amateur" by ending subscriptions by businessmen and ensuring that players were matriculated students. He helped in getting the school into the Ohio Athletic Conference in 1916.

He ably served as Dean of the College of Engineering and was fiercely devoted to the University. He and his engineering students were the driving force behind the change of the university name from Ohio Normal to Ohio Northern, to ensure that the engineering degrees didn't seem diluted by being issued by a mere Normal School. That change happened in 1903.

According to "Who's Who in America," was dean of Ohio Northern University's College of Engineering from 1905-17, executive secretary of the university from 1917-29, and business manager from 1929-42. He was also faculty manager of athletics. Additionally, Dr. Smull was a member of the Board of Examiners of the State Civil Service Commission from 1914-16, an appraisal engineer with the State Utilities Commission in 1915, and the senior member of Smull and Unger architects from 1912-30.

He was chairman and chief examiner for the Board of Registration of the Ohio Professional Engineers and Surveyors, a member of the Ohio Society of University Business Officers (president in 1941), the Ohio Athletic Conference (president in 1943), the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers (president in 1918), the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

In light of his many contributions the T J Smull College of Engineering was named in his honor.

After his retirement from the University in 1942, Dr. Smull was employed as materials engineer for the Ohio Department of Highways. He was also city engineer at Ada from 1906-23.

Miriam Smull Parkhill

He married Cora Anita Kemp 28 Mar 1894. She was born 29 Dec 1879 in Ada. Her father owned Kemp's Drug Store in Ada. Mrs. Smull died 12 May 1946 in Ada. Dr. Smull died 15 Feb 1962 in hospital in Lima, Ohio.

The couple had two children:

Miriam May Smull was born 08 Jul 1913 in Hardin, Ohio. She married Edwin Parkhill on 04 Oct 1935 in Ada, but they divorced. She headed the catalog department of Ohio Northern University's library. She resided in the home of her parents after their deaths. She had a bachelor's from ONU and a master's in English from OSU and a master's in library science from the University of Michigan. She worked in several Ohio communities prior to returning to Ada. She worked at ONU from 1959-1978 and then held the title Associate Professor Emeritus. She had a boy and a girl with Parkhill. She died 25 Mar 2001 in Columbus, Ohio.

TLK Smull &
Ruth Rhyne Smull

Thomas Leland Kemp Smull was born 04 Aug 1916 in Hardin. He first married Roberta Spidel of Chevy Chase, Maryland 22 Apr 1944 in Washington DC. They had one daughter and divorced. He then married Ruth Rhyn Hoover Kiertzner in 1964. Tom died 31 May 1999 in Alexandria, Virginia. You can read about Thomas and his career with the precursor to NASA and then NASA and his second wife, here.

Henry Smull Family: Thomas Jefferson Smull

HENRY SMULL m Elizabeth Royer (1) > THOMAS JEFFERSON SMULL

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Henry Smull was one of the four brothers Smull of Centre County, Pennsylvania. He was married twice. His second wife was Catherine Kreamer. They had five children after their marriage. His first wife was Elizabeth Royer, whom he married 11 Dec 1834. They had seven children. Elizabeth died on 26 May 1834 of complications of the birth of her seventh child, Thomas Jefferson Smull, the subject of this article. Thomas had been born 24 May 1834.

When he was a few days old he was sent to his grandfather Christopher Royer to be raised. He
attended public school. At age 15, after the death of his grandfather, he lived with his cousin Samuel Royer in Nittany Valley. It was during this time, he learned to speak English. Rebersburg was a German community. He continued his education while there and after he completed that, he taught for eleven terms in various schools in the area.

I have a feeling this is the location of the second
Smull store in Mackeyville

In 1857 he went for a brief few months to Valley Falls, Kansas and in 1859 he went to Illinois for a year, where he taught one year in Stephenson County. Many Smull relatives lived in Stephenson county during this time. On the way back to Pennsylvania, he stopped in Ohio and Philadelphia, where discovered a "desire to enter mercantile life." He took a clerk job in Lamar Township in Clinton County near Porter Township.

The Civil War interrupted his life in mercantile and he served briefly as a private in the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers and was honorably discharged.

In 1866, he formed a mercantile partnership of Beck, Smull & Co. in Hamburg (which became Mackeyville) for a year. That business did not succeed. Smull had started another venture the same year with F E Hays, which continued to 1870 when Smull bought Hays out. Being successful, Smull built a new store house to handle the volume of business in 1874.

Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Smull  married Harriet Transue on 01 Feb 1873 in Hublersburg, Pennsylvania, daughter of Peter Transue, a prominent farmer and his wife Elizabeth Best.

In 1889, his store was destroyed by a flood, costing $6,000 in complete loss. Interestingly, the safe was found two years later below Mackeyville. Though he had no debt, this left him nearly penniless.
Smull's reputation for good character allowed him to meet up with a Mr McDowell, who allowed Smull to buy a piece of property on the opposite end of town from his previous location and had good enough credit to rebuild.

Their final years were spent in Clinton County. Jeff died 10 May 1926 in Porter and Harriet died 24 Dec 1916.

They had four children; one died as an infant and another at 18 months. The two surviving children were:

Dr. Thomas Jefferson Smull, Jr., was born 22 Sep 1875 in Mackeyville. He married Cora Anita Kemp, daughter of David and Laura Kemp on 28 Mar 1894. She was born 28 Dec 1879. They also had two children: Miriam May and Thomas LK Smull. Dr. Smull died 15 Feb 1962 in Lima, Allen County, Ohio. Cora died 12 May 1946 in Ada, Hardin County, Ohio. I'll be writing more about Dr. Smull.

James Leroy "Roy" Smull, was born 07 Jun 1879 in Mackeyville. He married Hope Bower, born in 1882 in Pennsylvania. Roy clerked in his dad's store and later ran the Smull General Store and post office previously owned by his father. In 1933, he was named as a state Fish Board Commissioner. In 1946, Roy sold the store to Fred Kyle, who abruptly changed his plans and sold the store to Mr & Mrs Richard Edler. Smull was still acting as postmaster. Once the Edlers took possession in August of that year, the Smulls moved to live with their daughter in Schenectady. They had one child, Harriet A. Smull. Roy died 21 Dec 1963 in Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania and Harriet died 03 Apr 1952 in Schenectady, New York.

Stalag 17-B: Staff Sergeant Azzan C. McKagan

HENRY SMULL > ABIGAIL SMULL BROWNLEE > SARAH JANE BROWNLEE MCKAGAN > BENJAMIN MCKAGAN > AZZAN WILBER MCKAGAN > SSGT AZZAN C. MCKAGAN

B-17G (McKagan flew on the B-17F)
with view of village outside of
RAF Alconbury, Summer 1943

Henry Smull was one of the original four Brothers Smull of Brush Valley in Centre County, Pennsylvania. He remained in Centre County for his lifetime, unlike his brothers Jesse (Chester County) and Peter (Illinois). Generations later, a descendant of Henry, would be tested sorely during World War II.

Azzan C. "Mac" McKagen was born 25 Jul 1920 in Proctor, St Louis County, Minnesota to Azzan W. McKagan and Josephine Moe. In 1940, he lived in Granville, Milwaukee, Wisconsin where his father was a welder in a factory. He attended Rufus King High School in Milwaukee. Azzan joined the Army from Madison County, Florida on 06 Sep 1941 and was a high school graduate.

He served as a ball turret gunner on a Boeing B-17F, tail #42-29884 and was a staff sergeant assigned to the 326th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group (Heavy) stationed out of RAF Alconbury on that day. Most of the 92 BG had moved to RAF Bovingdon in May of that year. On his "22nd-and-one-half mission," his crew flew out of Alconbury with their group and began the assault on targets along the Ruhr.

According to McKagan, they had dumped their load and were on the return, when German fighters assaulted the American aircraft. You can read his account here:

"Wing Flaps Jammed
In the last fatal flight, the wing flaps on the plane were jammed down, slowing up the bomber over Cologne. The pilot put the heavy bomber into a 378--mile-per-hour dive straight down to force the flaps back up, and then leveled out at 3,000 feet for the run home. The crippled plane, with one engine shooting flaming oil, was picked on by a horde of lightning-fast German fighters. McKagan was knocked to the floor of the ship five times by gunfire and once when a German 88-millimeter shell exploded a few feet behind him inside the ship and riddled him with shrapnel. In the desperate duel with the German fighters, McKagan was hit in the right shoulder by a machine gun bullet which throw the socket out of joint and made the arm useless.

McKagan parachuted from the plane and landed 20 feet in front of the world famous cathedral of Cologne, where he beaten into insensibility by German civilians. He was rescued by two German privates who took him to a camp and threw him into a dungeon for four days, during which his wounded arm festered.

Finally, he was transferred to a German hospital run by Catholic Dominican sisters who prevailed upon a doctor to operate on the arm. The doctor said he would have to amputate, but McKagan refused. Through the pleas of the German sisters, the doctor agreed to try to save it, which he finally did. Four operations without anesthesia were necessary, however, and McKagan said the paid was beyond endurance  and he fainted a number of times. It was necessary for the doctor to extract shell projectiles from the bone and surrounding flesh and then put the arm back into the socket. Today the arm is good, but motion with it is limited.

Was Sentenced to Death

McKagan said he was sentenced as a saboteur by the Germans because he did not have his dog tag along and could not identify himself to the gestapo. They ruled he was to be shot, but at 3 am, Christmas Day, he was loaded into a train and taken to another shack and two days later transferred to a camp at Krems, Austria, in a box car loaded with 88 Allied prisoners..."

Waukesha Daily Freeman January 16, 1946

326 BS, 92 BG Patch

According to the Dutch record of the capture, the plane emergency landed in The Netherlands, in the province of Limburg in the village of Sevenum, not in Germany. There was also a church in the town square, lost due to bombing in the latter part of the war. All ten of the crew survived the rough landing or bailouts; nine of them were immediately captured and made POWs. The tenth, pilot Capt H. C. Johnson, evaded capture, but was later captured in Den Hague, Netherlands. The 303rd BG Hell's Angels record said they were shot down over Haltern, Germany which is about 70 miles from Cologne.

Officers and enlisted men were often sent to different camps. Mac ended up in an enlisted location. He was shipped to Stalag Luft XVII-B outside Krems, Austria.  Four of his crew would end up with him there: SSgt Harold D Broyles, SSgt Rudolph J Antala, SSgt Herbert W. Jackson, and TSgt Paul A Dicksinson. SSgt John Treon (tailgunner) ended up in Stalag Luft 4 in Pomerania. Capt Hans C Johnson and co-pilot 2Lt Donald Weir were placed in Stalag Luft 3 in Bavaria along with RW gunner Carlos  T, Gutierrez. The three of them would later be moved to Nuremburg-Langwasser). Navigator 2Lt Robert Doolan was put in Stalag 7-A in another Bavarian location.

A previous crew assigned to the 359BS. Azzan fourth from left back row.

At its peak in later 1944, over 138,000 prisoners were held in Wehrkreis XVII facilities, of many nationalities. To learn about the camp, its history, photos, a great journal, and its treatment of prisoners, visit this story.  

 James D. Pearson, Charles D. Edwards,
Junior Townsend and Azzan McKagan
Taken while in technical school before he
headed for Europe

He flew a TWA flight to New York on 18 Sep 1944. His son reports he was repatriated in a prisoner swap. He was then selected to go on a bond drive tour and then a Red Cross ex-POW tour and talked to families and others about his experiences. "The trip covered 22 states," and the highlight for him was his trip to Hollywood, where he and his fellow former POWs were invited to a party at "Pickfair," the legendary home of actress Mary Pickford (which she built while married to Doublas Fairbanks). He met several movie stars while there. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross (the 3rd highest award), the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart with 3 oak leaf clusters.

According to his son, during this time, he made friends with Gen Hap Arnold.

Now returned to "the world," he tried to start a "Barbed Wire Club," for former POWs in the Milwaukee area as some others had done in other cities to provide a place for the men to talk about experiences they couldn't really talk to others about. I don't know how successful that effort was. But he did also go to school and attended Carroll University for a year, studying insurance. He married Rose Mae Baker, who, according to their son, worked at the Pentagon, on 11 Apr 1945 in Alexandria, Virginia. His son said that Gen. Arnold loaned them his staff car for their honeymoon.

SSgt McKagan was allowed to join the regular army under a program where partially disabled combat veterans could reenlist. He first was assigned as a trainer at Aberdeen Proving Grounds before being shipped to Germany, where he died in a jeep accident in 18 July 1947. 

Stalag XVII-B, Krems, Austria

'Barbed Wire' Clubs Planned, Amarillo Daily News June 17, 1946Carroll Student Missed Death as Nazi Prisoner, Waukesha Daily Freeman January 16, 1946
Two Wounded in War Join the Regular Army, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wed, Mar 5, 1947
Azzan McKagan, Obituary, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Sat, Sep 20, 1947
Sgt McKagan Death is Told, Hurt in Accident, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Thu, July 24, 1947
Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945 (SGLO):  http://www.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/12-08-1943-sglo-t2788a-boeing-b-17f-42-29884-jw-j/
8th Air Force Operations History: http://www.8thafhs.com/index.phpAmerican Air Museum in Britain: http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/854WW2POW Info: http://www.ww2pow.info/index.php?page=directory&rec=93048
NationalArchives.gov: File unit: World War II Prisoners of War Data File, 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946 
Verliesregister 1939-1945 SGLO page 81
303rd Bomb Group Hell's Angels page: http://www.303rdbg.com/359johnson.html

MysteryMuddle: Solving the Mystery of the Early Smulls

George Henry Smull, the first subject of
the Smull Commemorative
Biographical Sketches

Way back in the day (sometime around 1825-ish), three brothers arrived in the Brush Valley, in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The story is not told through records, but through the centennial commemorative publications popular throughout the United States that profile prominent citizens and told the history of the town. Their accuracy was only as good as the transcriber and the subject providing the information so these publications often offer only mixed results.

Those Centre County Smulls were Henry, Peter, and Jacob. Another brother, Jesse, lived in another part of Pennsylvania and the two daughters referenced below have not been identified.

The Smull story is muddled by these very bio sketches. George Henry Smull, son of Reuben Smull, grandson of one of the three Brush Valley Smulls who first arrived to the area, Henry, was profiled in the J. H. Beers & Co. Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania, including the counties of Centre, Clinton, Union and Snyder Counties:

"The first of the line in America was _____ Smull, the great-grandfather of our subject (Henry, son of Reuben). He was a native of Ireland, whence he came to this country in the latter part of the

Centre & Clinton Counties, 1792

eighteenth century to locate in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. 

Six of his children lived to adult age - two daughters and four sons, the names of the latter being Henry, Jacob, Peter and Jesse. The Smull family in Brush Valley is descended from the first three sons, who were skilled masons, and all went at the same time to Rebersburg to build the wall for the Lutheran Reformed Church. They remained in the Valley, and, living in German settlements, they and their children adopted the language and customs of their neighbors. Of the brothers, Jacob, in later years, did an extensive business in cutting tombstones for the Rebersburg cemetery from native rock, and several of  these monuments are still standing. Jacob died at his home below Aaronsburg, and was buried at Rebersburg. Peter removed in later life to Stephenson county, Illinois, and died there." 

Just off the bat, this doesn't make sense. While there are some Smull's hailing from Scotland, the Schmoells, Schmulls, Smulls, Smalls, etc. hailed from Germany. The areas like Rebersburg were very German, speaking and conducting all of their business within their German communities in their language, educating their children in German, and maintaining their customs. It would not make sense for Irishmen to integrate into the German community. But who knows?  Intermarrying had already started.

Centre County Township Map, 1861

On that basis, I've since been looking for some other explanation and finally found one, which also may or may not be fully accurate. This taken from Portrait & Biographical Record of Macon County, Illinois, 1893 by Lake Publishing and the subject was Henry Smull (1842*), a heretofore unidentified child of Peter Smull and Mary Waggoner. There is one child of Peter and Mary whom I still have not identified, based on 1830 & 1840 census calculations. It tells a completely different tale about the same ancestor (the unidentified grandfather of both profile subjects):

"The latter (Peter) was of German descent. The paternal grandfather (unidentified) of our subject was a hero of the Revolution. He left the Old Country to avoid entering the army, and arrived in the United States just in time to aid the Colonists in their struggle for independence.

For seven years he (the unidentified grandfather) participated in the Revolution. The father (Peter) of our subject (Henry)was born February 27, 1796, and died in February, 1869, being buried in Rock Grove, Stephenson County, Ill. His wife, who was born February 4, 1801, died and was buried in the same place in September, 1878. Mr. Smull was always a supporter of the Democratic party. He was a mechanic, and always followed the occupation of farming. He came to Illinois when Henry was a lad of twelve years, and located upon a farm in Stephenson County, where he spent his remaining days."

I think this description may be more accurate, but may be bloated in the heroic description. Until it can be ascertained who the parents of the Brothers Smull were, it's all moot. I have yet to find one person who has a reasonable solution to the problem. What I know is that the family is not related, or is very distantly related to John Augustus Smull, the author of the Smull's Legislative Handbook. 

The big questions for me are:

• Did Jacob Smull have wife and children and if so, whom?
• Did Jacob Smull leave the Centre County area? No records of him exist, but the house which he built in Centre County is on the National Historic Register
• Who are the parents of Mary Waggoner, Peter Smull's wife? I have a case to put before the court of public opinion, but will share that later.
• And, finally, WHO ARE THE PARENTS OF THE BROTHERS SMULL?

*Henry Smull (1842) is the son of Peter Smull and Mary Waggoner and is listed with his birth year to differentiate him from Henry Smull, brother of Peter.

To Infinity And Beyond! Chuck Yeager Wasn't the Only One with The Right Stuff

UNK SMULL > Henry SMULL (my 3rd GG's brother) > Thomas Jefferson SMULL > Dr. Thomas Jefferson SMULL,Jr  > Thomas Leland Kemp SMULL married (2) Ruth RHYNE

Herbert H Hoover. Test Pilot

Ruth Rhyne was born to Richard and Edith Rhyne. She was born on 17 Nov 1921 and raised in
Stanley, Gaston County, North Carolina. She met a young man by the name of Herbert Henry Hoover from Tennessee whose father was visiting his sisters and family in Stanley. His father ended up marrying her aunt.  By the time she was a junior in college, Herbert had set his sights on marrying Ruth. Herb was working for Standard Oil as a pilot in South America. He left Standard to go to work as a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor of NASA. They married after her graduation in 1942 and moved near Langley, Virginia, where aircraft testing was done on the East Coast.

Though NACA was founded in 1915 to spur aeronautical research, the efforts at the time Hoover started working there were put towards World War II and then, after the war, to supersonic flight. The facility at Langley eventually led to the opening of Muroc, an adjunct facility in California (later Edwards AFB).

Herb thrived at Langley and tested hundreds of aircraft. He was the first person to test drive the X-1-2. Chuck Yeager had previously tested the X-1-1 (with a different wing weight) at Muroc. Yeager finally flew at Mach 1.06 and shortly thereafter, Herb became the first civilian and second person to break the speed of sound while flying in the X-1-2.

Bell X-1-2, Champine & Hoover

All this while, his wife had two young children and Ruth focused on the home. On one sad day, the chaplain from the base arrived to tell her that Herb had died flying a B-45 that broke apart mid-air. Declassified documents reveal his body most likely hit the broken plane on his way down. His parachute never deployed. His co-pilot survived with minor injuries. Ruth's oral history, including her thoughts on Chuck Yeager, are here.

A good friend insisted Ruth get out and find a husband and introduced her to Kurt, an Air Force pilot. After two years of marriage, he too died before his time - of a brain aneurysm. Her friend once again stepped up to insist she find a husband and introduced her to her boss, TLK Smull, an engineer and administrative manager at NACA. Recently divorced with a daughter, he married Ruth about 1964. Ruth recalled their meeting:

Then the same gal that introduced Kurt and me, my second husband, said, "You've got to come to Washington [D.C.] and meet Tom, my boss." She worked for Tom Smull, who was in the Office of Grants and Research. He was at Langley for about four years and then sent to Washington. I said, "I'm not ready to go out." They called me one morning—I was working in a church office at that time—and Lee's husband called and said, "Come on up and attend the Christmas party that my group is having." I said, "I'm not ready to go out." I said, "I'll call you tonight when I get back."

So I called him that night and I said, "I'm not ready to go out." He said, "Well, you get off your high horse and get up here," he said, "just consider it an evening out." Well, I made reservations on a flight to fly to Washington, and I got up that morning and there was snow on the ground, and I thought, "Oh, good, I don't have to do." I called the airport, "Yeah, planes are flying."

So I go, and I meet Tom. We just considered it an evening out, that's all it was, but he knew Herbert. They had worked together and they were friends. A couple weeks later, I got a letter from him, and his handwriting was terrible. I couldn't decipher what it was for my life. It took me about two days to read it. Finally, he says, "I'm coming to Langley for a meeting. Would you go have dinner with me?" So I did. He had a sailboat up near Annapolis [Maryland] with West River Sailing Club, and he’d invite me up to go sailing with him, and it just kind of developed. We had so many mutual friends, he knew the Reeders and the Bales, and it was just all ones that Herbert and I knew. So he asked me to marry him, so I did. We were married 35 and a half years.

~ NASA Headquarters NACA Oral History Project; Edited Oral History Transcript; Ruth Hoover Smull; Interviewed by Sandra Johnson; Virginia Beach, Virginia – 1 May 2008

Thomas L K Smull was born in Ada, Ohio in 1916 to Dr. T J Smull, Jr. and Cora Anita Kemp. He attended Ohio Northern University in 1937 and two B.A. degrees from the University of Michigan

Thomas LK Smull

in 1939, one in mechanical engineering and a second in aeronautical engineering. In 1949 he was awarded a Sc.D. in aeronautical engineering from Ohio Northern University.

He went to the Washington DC area where he started working for NACA - the precursor of NASA - in 1939. He started his career as a research engineer, but quickly moved up, putting to use his natural talents as an administrator and manager. He held positions from assistant to the director of NACA; chief, Research Coordination Division, NACA; director, Office of Grants and Research Contracts, NASA; special assistant to the administrator, NASA; program manager in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology, NASA; to special assistant to the director of Research, NASA. He authored articles on aeronautical and space issues and served on administrative and technical committees. He retired in 1974. Their boat and golf filled much of their retirement time.

Ruth, I believe, is still living and would be 94 now. Tom died after a long illness in 1999 and was buried in his hometown in Ada, Ohio. He left a daughter, an artist in California, her son, and two stepchildren.