SMITH, Israel Alexander

SMITH, MADISON, GRENAWALT

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/20/2015 at 09:33:37

Obituary ~ Israel Alexander Smith
February 02, 1876 ~ June 14, 1958

The Annals of Iowa
Iowa State Historical Society
Volume 34, No. 6, 1958, Page 475-80.

Notable Deaths.

Israel Alexander Smith, editor, attorney, church leader, and former legislator, died at Bethany, Missouri, June 14, 1958, following a highway accident near Pattonsburg; born at Plano, Illinois, February 2, 1876, the son of Joseph and Bertha Madison Smith; moved with his parents to Lamoni, Iowa, in 1881, graduating from Lamoni High School in 1898, and attending Graceland College for two years; engaged in sales and insurance work, being manager of the Pentol Paper Company from 1902 to 1905, and did telephone work in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia for three years; performed editorial duties for the Saints' Herald from 1908 to 1914; represented Decatur county in the 34th General Assembly, admitted to the Iowa bar in 1912; for several years acted as private secretary to his father, president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; served as mayor of Lamoni, township clerk, town clerk, and as a member of the school board; practiced law in Independence, Missouri, following his father's death, and located briefly in Toronto, Canada; became a member of the stake high council in Independence in 1915, and called to the office of counselor to Bishop Benjamin R. McGuire, the general church Bishop, in April, 1920; had been president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since 1946; married to the former Nina Grenawalt, and had two sons, Joseph Perreine, and Donald Carlos.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2015