This month rather than diving deep into a family mystery that I’ve
solved, I’m going to do something a little different, I want to honor the birth
of one of my ancestors. On St. Patrick’s 1905 my Great-Grandpa William Byus
Smith was born in Elwood Indiana to Ara Smith and Eliza Olive (Bright)Grandstaff-Smith.
He was their 5th child together; I’m sure that if you would have
asked his parents they never would have guessed that they would end up with
eight more! (Let’s not forget that Eliza had a daughter named Bertha from her first marriage as
well.)
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| Rev. William Byus Smith |
Bill(as he was called) married for the first time in 1924 to
Anna O. Balser(who I wrote about on my blog in November 2016 in a piece called “The
Two Anna’s”) Anna and Bill’s marriage sadly ended in 1940 when Anna died. In
1941 (around the time he became a pastor) Bill married a widow and mother of
three young daughters named Mary Melissia (Webb)Eurick. Mary and Bill had two
children together: William Arthur Smith in 1942 and Nettie Bea Smith in 1947.
Bill died on the 18th of November, 1970. There is
a lot to tell about Bill’s life but today I just want to share some photos.
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| William B Smith (the youngest known photo of him) |
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| Bill at age 19 |
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| Anna and Bill Smith (the only know photo of Anna) |
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| Bill Smith taken in the 1930's on South R. st Elwood, Indiana |
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| Mary and Bill with their son Billy |
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Bill cutting one of his last birthday cakes.
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| Bill and Mary Smith |
