SMITH, Ulysses Simpson 1869 - 1946

SMITH, NILES, BENZINGER, DOUGHTY, LONGNECKER, KEESEY, LOOSE, SHOOK, KLOPP, EWART, PATTERSON, HUNTER

Posted By: Richard K. Thompson (email)
Date: 2/5/2011 at 10:28:52

Fairfield Daily Ledger
Saturday June 22, 1946
Pg. 1 & 5

DR. U.S. SMITH DIES AT HOME NEAR AGENCY

Dr. U.S. SMITH, former pastor of Fairfield and president of Ia. Wesleyan college at Mt. Pleasant passed away at his farm home near Agency Friday evening at 7:40 p.m. following a short illness. He was stricken with a heart attack last Sunday and had been under a doctor's care since.

Funeral services will be held Monday at 10:30 a.m. in the Methodist church in Fairfield with Dr. L.H. Scheerer in charge, assisted by several ministers, all close friends of Dr. Smith. Burial will be in Evergreen cemetery.

Dr. Stanley B. NILES, president of Iowa Wesleyan College will deliver the sermon. Other pastors assisting will be Dr. Warren BENTZINGER; Rev. W. M. DOUGHTY, Agency; Rev. W.A. LONGNECKER; and Dr. W. R. KEESEY, Ottumwa; Rev. O.D. LOOSE and Rev. E.J. SHOOK will have charge of the services at the grave.

The body was taken to the Weston Behner funeral home where it will remain until Monday morning. It will be taken to the church where it will lie in state from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Dr. SMITH is survived by his wife and two daughters, Mrs. Edward W. KLOPP, Correctionville, Iowa, and Mrs. John L. EWART, Cedar Rapids. He is also survived by two grandchildren and several brothers and sisters.

Dr. SMITH was born in Davis county, Iowa, Feb. 2, 1869. He was the son of Samuel SMITH and Mary K., his father a Civil War Veteran coming to Davis county, in 1865.

He attended Iowa Wesleyan college, Mt. Pleasant and received the Ph. B. degree in 1900, and Doctor of Divinity degree in 1912. He married Eva May PATTERSON, Aug. 17, 1892 and to them two daughters were born, Hazel and Pauline. Mrs. SMITH died in Fairfield in 1930, and he later married Mary HUNTER of Washington, Iowa.

Dr. SMITH had completed serving nearly fifty years in the ministry of the Methodist church. He was first admitted to the Iowas Conference on trial in 1892, and was received into full membership in 1894. Ordinations were, a Deacon in 1894 and an Elder in 1896.

The Methodist church at Montrose was his first appointment, going there in 1892 and continuing until 1895. From there he was assigned to Batavia Methodist church where he preached from 1895 to 1897, when he was assigned to the Methodist church at West Burlington from 1897 to 1898. Then to Eddyville from 1898 to 1899. He then attended school for one year, and in 1900 he was sent to the Pulaski Methodist church until 1902.

From 1902 to 1903 he was preaching at What Cheer and from there he was assigned to Montezuma from 1903 to 1907. Then to the Washington Methodist church from 1907 to 1914, followed by assignment to the First Methodist church in Muscatine from 1914 to 1919.

It was then, in 1919, that he accepted the presidency of Iowa Wesleyan college, at Mt. Pleasant (sic. the obituary for his first wife, Eva, stated that he was president from 1914 - 1919. Evidently that was in error). He concluded his successful administration at this college in 1927 when he chose to return to active preaching in the conference. Being assigned to the Fairfield First Methodist church, in 1927, he served the church here until 1936, when he was assigned to the First Methodist church in Perry when he remained until 1940. From 1940 until 1942 he was at the Grace Methodist church in New London, serving there until 1942 when he was retired by the Iowa-Des Moines Conference of the church, due to his age.

It had been a long-time ambition of his to complete a half century in the active ministry of the church. However, dued to the fact that he was admitted to the converence "on trial" in 1892, and not received into full membership until two years later, he technically completed only 48 years of active ministry, when he was atomatically (sic. automatically) retired in 1942 by the conference.

After his official retirement, however, he continued quite active in the ministry, preaching frequently at Agency. He was much in demand as a public speaker, appearing frequently in this section of the state.

Aside from serving as president of the Methodist college in this conference, he was active in other affairs of the church, being a delegate to the General Conferences of the church in 1912, 1920, 1924, and 1936. He was also a member of the Uniting Conference of the Methodist churches in Kansas City, Mo., in 1939. In 1910 he took an extended trip through Europe, Egypt, Syria and Palestine.

He was a Mason, and a member of the Lions club, making his last public appearance in Fairfield when he addressed a special meeeting of the Lions club early this spring.

Following his retirement from the active ministry he and Mrs. SMITH had made their home on a farm south of Agency.

* Transcribed for genealogy purposes. I am not related to the person(s) mentioned.

Note: Buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Fairfield, Iowa. 3rd.175. Although his obituary mentioned that he remarried, it does not appear that his second wife Mary HUNTER SMITH was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.