Sidney P. (Rees) Pearson Smith (1895)

CHESSMAN, PEARSON, REES, SMITH

Posted By: Kent Transier
Date: 1/15/2007 at 20:46:38

The Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Friday, January 25, 1895
Page 2

Mrs. Sidney Smith, of Earlham, died on Saturday, the 19th inst., at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Chessman. She was eighty years of age, and had been a resident of the county since 1855. In the ante-bellum days her home was a well known station on the “underground railroad.”
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Stuart Locomotive
Stuart, Iowa
Friday, January 18, 1895
Page 7

An Old Settler Dead

Mrs. Sidney Smith died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Chessman at Earlham last Saturday. Had she lived until the 28th day of next month, she would have been eighty years of age. The deceased was the widow of John Pearson. The family came to Penn township [Guthrie County], settled in that part of the township which has since been known as West Milton in 1855. The Pearson mill was built and the home established. For many years Pearsons mill was an important place with the pioneers of this section. The Pearson home was always open to the traveler come from where he might, be his color white or black. Hospitality to the neighbor or stranger was a part of the religion preached and practiced at the Pearson home and so it was not strange that in those stormy times of slavery and anti-slavery that it should be made a regular station on the underground railroad. Many a poor negro, fleeing from slavery to liberty, has found a resting place under that roof, and food and good cheer from good Mother Pearson.
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Transcriber's notes: After the death of John Pearson, Sidney married Benjamin Smith. Burial was in the North Branch Cemetery.