Saturday, March 18, 2017

Celebrating the life of Rev. W. B. Smith.

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.) 

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.        

William B Smith (the youngest known photo of him)


Bill at age 19

Anna and Bill Smith (the only know photo of Anna)




Bill Smith taken in the 1930's on South R. st Elwood, Indiana

 

Mary and Bill with their son Billy



Bill cutting one of his last birthday cakes.



Bill and Mary Smith