Edward McMurray Smith (1953)

COURTNEY, CROSSLEY, FRY, GORMAN, GRAENING, MOORE, SMITH

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart
Date: 11/9/2006 at 19:49:41

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, October 28, 1953

ED M. SMITH, 82, Died Here Monday After Brief Illness - Was Editor and Publisher of Winterset
Madisonian for 54 Years.

Edward McMurray Smith, editor and publisher of the Winterset Madisonian for 54 years, died early Monday, Oct. 26, 1953, at the Madison County Memorial hospital in Winterset, after a brief illness.

Mr. Smith was stricken with a heart condition last Thursday night. Friday night his condition became more serious, and he was taken to the Memorial hospital. His death occurred about 4:15 a.m. Monday, in the hospital which his effors did so much to make possible.

Had he lived five more days, Mr. Smith would have been 83 years of age. He was born Oct. 31, 1870, in Jackson county, Iowa, a son of John M. and Jane Courtney Smith. His parents were Scotch-Irish immigrants, who had settled in New England first and came to Iowa in 1869. The family lived in Jackson county until Mr. Smith was 16 years of age, when they came to Madison county. They settled on a farm here in Jackson township.

Mr. Smith was educated in the rural schools of his community, and at the old Dexter Normal school, and Drake university in Des Moines. As a young man he taught rural school, but in 1898 he launched a long career of public service by winning election to the office of superintendent of Madison county's public schools. He served in that capacity through 1900.

On September 1, 1899, in partnership with Homer Thompson, he purchased the Winterset Madisonian from Fred Strong and Son. Four years later he acquired Thompson's interest in the newspaper, and from 1903 until 1938, he was sole owner and publisher. In that latter year, he sold a half interest in the newspaper to his sons-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Moore. However, he continued in active supervision of the editorial page of the Madisonian until his death.

His column of personal comment, under the title of "Timely Topics", was one of the most widely read and influential editorial columns in Iowa for more than a quarter century.

Mr. Smith returned to the field of public service in 1916, when he was elected to the state senate from the Adair-Madison county district. He served in the senate for eight years. There he headed the important Ways and Means committee as chairman for several years. Working in cooperation with Representative E. P. Harrison of Pottawattamie county, and the state code editor, he rewrote and codified the laws governing Iowa's printing. He also was co-author of the perpetual code law, designed to save taxpayers thousands of dollars. He always regarded the budget legislation as his outstanding accomplishment in the Iowa legislature.

In 1928, Mr. Smith was appointed by Governor John Hammill to fill the vacancy in the office of secretary of state, caused by the death of Walter C. Ramsay. He filled out Ramsay's unexpired term and later was elected to a full term, serving until 1930.

In 1930, he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Iowa, but lost a close primary contest to Dan Turner of Corning. Since that time he had devoted his efforts to the publishing business in Winterset, and to his farming interests in this community.

His public service also had included a term as postmaster of Winterset, from 1904 to 1908.

Mr. Smith was married June 1, 1898, to Evalyn Crossley of Patterson. They were parents of four daughters, one of whom, Dorothy, died in 1944. The wife and mother died in 1950.

Mr. Smith long was regarded as one of the leading journalists in the weekly field in Iowa. He was one of the early presidents of the Iowa Press association, serving in that capacity in 1922 and 1923. In 1933 he received the Iowa Press association's award as Iowa Master Editor, the second year in which that citation was made.

He was active for half a century in the affairs of both his community and his state. The Madison County Memorial hospital is a monument to his memory. It was he who took the first steps to organize and launch the hospital project, and his efforts were largely responsible toward the successful culmination of that project.

Mr. Smith had been a member of the First Presbyterian church in Winterset since he was 21 years of age. He was active in the Winterset Rotary club, was a 32nd degree Mason, Shriner, Knights of Pythias, and was affiliated with the Des Moines club, Prairie club and Sigma Delta Chi, honorary journalistic fraternity.

He was a member of a family of four brothers, James, Will J. and Sam C. Smith, all of whom preceded him in death.

He is survived by three daughters, Mrs. J. C. Moore, of Winterset; Mrs. P. K. Graening of Oklahoma City, Okla., and Mrs. Wesley L. Fry of Berkeley, Calif.; five grandchildren, John Edward Gorman of Winterset, Lt. j.g. James Wesley Fry and Meredith Anne Fry of Berkeley, and David and Gretchen Graening of Oklahoma City. Two grandchildren, Ted Fry and Jane Graening preceded the grandfather in death. He also leave two great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held this Thursday at 2 p.m. from the First Presbyterian church in Winterset, conducted by the pastor the Rev. George DeF. Fisher. Burial will be made in the Winterset cemetery.

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