SMIT, John R. 1856-1946

SMIT, VANDERHEIDE

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 10/6/2014 at 13:59:45

John R. Smit Died on Friday; Was Near 90

John R. Smit died at his home in Grundy Center at six o'clock Friday evening, March 15. Had he lived another two months, he would have been 90. Old age and complications were the cause of his death.

Mr. Smit spent the greater share of his long life in Grundy county. He was born at Woener, Germany, May 18, 1856. In 1873 when he was 17 years old he came to America with other members of his family. The family bought a farm in Colfax township and made their home there. For six years John R. Smit worked for G. W. Warner on his farm five miles north of Grundy Center.

In 1880 Mr. Smit went to North Dakota where he took up a timber claim. He returned here four years later and was married on June 20, 1884, to Mikelina VanderHeide. The couple made their home on a North Dakota farm for five years, when they returned to Grundy county and Mr. Smit bought the farm owned by his parents and they lived there until they moved to Grundy Center in 1922.

Held Important Posts
Mr. Smit occupied many positions of public trust while a resident of the county. Important among them was a member of the board of supervisors from the Colfax-Lincoln district. He held this post for six years and rendered his county honest and efficient service. For several years he was a member of the county board of education. He served as a deacon and an elder of the Colfax Center Presbyterian church until the family moved to Grundy Center. After leaving the farm and coming to Grundy Center, he transferred his membership from the Colfax church to Bethany church in Grundy Center where he served as an elder up to the time of his death.

Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at the home at 1:30 and later at Bethany church, Grundy Center, with Rev. F. J. Langenberg officiating. Burial was in the Colfax church cemetery.

Survivors are five daughters and one son, Christine and Nettie, at home; Clara (Mrs. C. W. Engelkes, of Parkersburg); Hannah (Mrs. Henry Henricks, of Grundy Center); Mrs. Lena Abels of Grundy Center, and Henry J. Smit on the home farm. Fifteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; two brothers, H. P. Smit of Holland and M. A. Smit of Madison, South Dakota.

Preceded in death by his wife, two daughters in infancy, and one daughter, Mrs. John S. Dirks, in 1934; his parents, three brothers and one sister.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 21 March 1946, pg 6