Johnathan Smull Family: Jennie Elnora Smull

PETER SMULL > JOHNATHAN SMULL > JENNIE ELNORA SMULL m Jacob Smith

Click on image to enlarge

James & Jennie Wedding

Jennie Elnora Smull was born 27 Jul 1869 in Stephenson County, Illinois. She came to Bradford, Chickasaw County in 1876 with her parents and they later moved to Plainfield in Bremer County after Johnathan's death.. She met James Edward Smith, son of Jacob Smith and Elizabeth Monteith, and married him 09 Oct 1890. Jacob Smith is the brother of my 2nd great grandfather, William Custer Smith.

James Edward Smith was born 09 Oct 1867 in Bremer County, near Plainfield. In 1920, he was working as a section gang foreman for the Illinois Central railroad and work there for 43 years. He retired with a pension in 1937. Jennie spent a lot of time visiting with her sisters, to whom she was very close. Saidee Smulls daughter Jane Scofield, recalled in a 2015 interview, "She was very tiny, small-built, wore long-sleeved print dresses, lace collar, broach, and apron."

In 1939, this notice was posted in the paper: "Mr & Mrs Clifford Smith motored to Rochester, Minn., on Sunday and visited his father, Jim Smith, a patient in the hospital. Mr Smith is doing nicely, but it will be necessary for him to remain for another operation." 

James & Jennie 50th Anniversary

James died 12 May 1941 in Plainfield and Jennie died 09 May 1956 in Des Moines, Iowa. Her daughter Myrl lived in Ankeny, nearby.

The couple had seven children:

1. Clifford Ulysses Smith:  Born 31 Oct 1892 in Plainfield, he married Faith Edith Beine on 18 Nov 1916 in Plainfield. She was born the daughter of Charles Beine and Anna Elizabeth Toepfer on 15 Oct 1897 in Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa. 

In 1918, Clifford was appointed as a rural postal carrier. In 1920, he was working at an auto garage, As far back as 1929, he is seen working as manager at an electronics shop  as a radio repairman. Faith's father Charles owned a dry goods store in Plainfield. Clifford died 27 Sep 1972 in Plainfield and Faith in September 1991 in Clarksville.

The couple had one son, Lester, who was a bit of a bad boy, with minor skirmishes with the law. He married and settled down, moving to California, where he worked at a Lockheed bomber plant in Los Angeles. He died of complications of appendix surgery at the age of  25. They had one child. His wife, Jeanette Theresa Heck, returned to Iowa and remarried. 

Clifford & Faith 

2. Lawrence Leith Smith:  Born 29 Dec 1894 in Plainfield. He married Gertrude Lucille Ogbin on 15 Feb 1917 in Waverly, Bremer County. She was born 05 Nov 1899 in Bremer County to Dr. Eugene Ogbin and Stella Oberdier. Lawrence was a barber. He died 26 Mar 1974 in Waverly and she 26 May 1968 in Janesville, Bremer County. They had one child, Gwendolyn (Jeanne) Smith. 

3.  Myrtle Smith:  Born 01 Apr 1897 in Bremer County and she died in 1898.

4. Gailerd Leroy Smith:  Born 01 May 1900 in Plainfield, he married Helen Viola Smith (a different Smith line - the Lloyed Smith line) on 20 Apr 1924 in Waverly. Gailerd was employed by the Illinois Central railroad for 47 years. He died 29 Sep 1963 in Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, Iowa. Helen died 16 Jul 2002. They had three children. 

Jennie Irene & Don Shadbolt

5. Myrl Elizabeth Smith:  Born 26 May 1904 in Plainfield. She married Anton "Tony" Juhl, son of Nils Juhl and Jessine Kristene "Christina" Morgensen, on 02 Jun 1925 in Emmetsburg, Palo Alto, Iowa. Tony was born 02 Jun 1902 in Hampton, Franklin, Iowa. Anton ran Juhl Insurance Agency in Ankeny for over 40 years. He died 31 Oct 1977 in Ankeny and she died August 1995 in Ankeny. They had one daughter.

6. Jennie Irene "Irene" Smith:  Born 23 Jan 1907 in Plainfield. She married Donald Richard Shadbolt on 24 Jul 1941 in Schuyler County, Missouri. He was born 21 Jul 1913 in Lafayette, Allamakee County, Iowa to Rolland Shadbolt and Jessie Mabel Richards. Donald was a career Navy man who served during World War II and served as Chief Commissary Steward at various installations for the remainder of his career. He died 27 Feb 1987 in Norfolk, Virginia. Irene died in Reynoldsburg, Franklin County, Ohio on 07 Jun 2001. They had one son.

Jack & Jimmy

7. Devere "Jack" Smith:  Born 19 Oct 1909 in Plainfield. He marriage Leona Ruth Thompson. He worked as a railroad section foreman for the Illinois Central in 1930 and 1940 was listed as working in "private business." He and his wife divorced and his wife remarried. He had a heart attack and died 05 Oct 1949. His only child, James "Jimmy" Devere Smith, died tragically on 21 Jan 1950 of a heart attack at the age of 13 while shooting hoops in the gym at Plainfield High School.

Personal Interview: When an Interview Flops!

Where the Smiths-Smulls First Collide
James Smith & Jennie Smull Wedding
My interview subject's grandparents

JACOB SMITH > JAMES SMITH > JACOB SMITH > JAMES SMITH

PETER SMULL > JOHNATHAN SMULL > JENNIE ELNORA SMULL

I had traced a woman, who was still living and in her 90s, AND was willing to talk to me after a brief phone call. She is related to me on both the Jacob SMITH and Jonathan SMULL sides of the family so I thought this was going to be a major score. The trip would be 300 miles round trip to the southwest part of the state and would take an entire day of my copious free time.

I arrived and was let into their home by their 69-year-old son who I'm sure wanted to be there to ensure I wasn't an ax murderer. The couple I would speak to were both from the Plainfield area originally and lived there from the 1920s through the 1940s with stops in Cedar Falls and Ames. They maintained close ties to their extended family and the town where they started. They settled in another small Iowa town, where he worked as a large animal vet. The Dr., though a couple years older, seemed to have better recall than his wife.

The problem was that the Mrs.was lost in specific stories, which she repeated verbatim throughout the time I was there and then asked me repeatedly who I was and who I was related to. It reminded me a great deal of conversations I had with my great grandmother as she slipped in and out on a dime into her Alzheimer's ravaged mind.

Jennie Smull & James Smith
She is my great grandmother's sister.
That looks like a wedding cake
for an anniversary
but then look none too happy, do they? 

Her recollections and storytelling ability were naught. The Dr. was able to fill in some blanks and I was able to pull some information out of him without too much effort, but it had entirely shifted the focus of the interview. And, they were lovely and gracious people, I'd just arrived 10-15 years too late.

I spent about an hour there and got a few little nuggets on them, but little else. With the exception of a photocopy of a photo that ended up making this 300-mile trek part of the discovery of 2016 for me. I'm not going to publish that here yet.

They handed me a sheet of paper with a photo of my entire family - my great grandparents and all of  their kids, including my grandmother. It was taken, it appears, in the late 1920s  and is the only photo in existence that includes all of them. I'd never seen Edwin Smith, my great grandfather, nor Mary, who I've written about here before. And, now I've seen them.

After I left there, I traveled back towards home, but veered even further north and went to the Willow Lawn Cemetery in Plainfield. I'd been there once before, early in my genealogy work, and took selective photos of those I knew were related. I had no idea where the journey would end up taking me then and went home with a few dozen photos.

This time, I walked the cemetery again and again focused only on those I knew were related to me and it took 2.5 hours to take all the hundreds of photos.

I'll not look at this as a wasted day.