Smith, Emma E. (Mrs. Melvin B.), 1863-1929

SMITH, WOODS, WELDAY

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:38

From the Rock Valley Bee, November 1, 1929:

Mrs. M. B. Smith Answers Summons

Mrs. Melvin B. Smith, a pioneer resident of Rock Valley, passed away in the hospital at Sioux Falls at 11:15 o’clock Monday evening, aged sixty-five years eleven months and twenty-eight days. Mrs. Smith had not been well for some time. A few days before her death she was taken to the Sioux Falls hospital, in hopes that the best medical skill there could help her, but in spite of all that they could do for her she passed peacefully away.

Mrs. Smith was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1863. When she was two years old her parents moved to Jasper county, Iowa, where she received her education and grew to womanhood. She was united in marriage with Melvin B. Smith at Hixon Grove Chapel on December 2, 1880. In 1885 she came with her husband to Sioux County. They settled on a farm near Rock Valley, and four years later moved to town where they have since resided.

Mrs. Smith was a member of the Methodist church and had been an active worker in the church since childhood. She was a talented musician and gave music lessons in this vicinity for the past forty years. During this time she has given lessons to 800 pupils. She was a woman who was highly esteemed by all who knew her and loved by those who knew her most intimately. She was a kind and loving wife and mother, and her place in the family circle can never be filled.

She leaves to mourn her death, her husband, M. B. Smith, two sons, Jessie J. Smith and Cecil M. Smith, and three daughters, Zoa and Pearl Smith, all of Rock Valley, and Mrs. Peter Van Horsen, of Bingham Lake, Minn., all of whom were with her during her last sickness.

Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon at two o’clock at the home in Rock Valley and at the Methodist church, and the remains were taken to Valley View Cemetery. The bereaved relatives have the sympathy of many friends in Rock Valley and vicinity.

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From the Alton Democrat, November 8, 1929, Rock Valley news:

Mrs. Melvin B. Smith, a respected pioneer resident of Rock Valley, was taken to Sioux Falls on Oct. 21 to the McKennan hospital to undergo an operation for cancer with the confident hope that relief might be obtained, but all that medical skill could do was of no avail and on Monday night Oct. 28, 1929 the celestial chariot swinging low, conveyed her liberated spirit to the blissful regions of immortality.

Mrs. Emma E. Smith, nee Woods, was born in Steubensville, Ohio on Nov. 1, 1863 and at the time of her demise had attained the age of 65 years. In 1865 she came to Jasper county, Iowa with her parents where she grew to womanhood and formed the acquaintance of Melvin B. Smith which ripened into mutual esteem and on Dec. 2, 1880 they were married at the Hixon Grove chapel. Six children were born to this union, one dying in infancy. In 1885 the family came to Sioux county and settled on a farm in this vicinity and four years later moved to Rock Valley where they resided until her demise. She was a member of the Methodist church from which funeral services were conducted. Burial took place in Valley View cemetery.

Besides her husband and five children she also leaves three sisters and five brothers to mourn her death.

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The Sioux County Cemetery Index has Smith, Emma E., b. 1863, d. 2 Nov 1929, Valley View Cem Rock Valley (an evident error in death date, since her death was reported in the Nov. 1 Bee).

FindaGrave.com gives her death date as 28 Oct. 1929, and includes a photo of her headstone, which just says “Mother Emma E. 1863-1929.” It gives her parents as William Woods (1823-1892) and Elizabeth Welday Woods (1827-1913); lists several siblings; and gives her husband as Melvin Benton Smith (1858-1943).