Horace Newton Smith 1840-1906

SMITH, BARNES, BONNEY, CHAPMAN, LORTON, HUNTER, SMITH, MCCOMB, JUSTICE

Posted By: Volunteer - Rich Lowe
Date: 2/17/2012 at 09:08:48

Horace Newton Smith.

Horace Newton Smith was born in Summit county, Ohio, December 29, 1840, and died at his home in Bonaparte July 3, 1906, aged 65 years, 6 months, and 5 days.

When he was eight years old he moved with his parents to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood. He enlisted in 1861 in Co. I, 1st Wisconsin, and was mustered out in the fall of 1864 at Milwaukee.

He then came to Bonaparte where he has since resided. April 11, 1866, he was married to Miss Louisa Barnes and to this union seven children were born. Julia died in infancy, and there remain to mourn their loss the wife and six children, viz., Mrs. Ada J. Bonney of Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Eva Chapman of Redwood Falls, Minn.; Mrs. Maud Lorton of Mt. Sterling, Iowa; Mrs. Mabel Hunter and Orin I. Smith of Bertrand, Nebraska; and Ethelle L. Smith of Bonaparte.

Besides these he leaves one brother and two sisters, W. E. Smith and Mrs. Tinette [sic - s/b Finette] McComb of Bonaparte, and Mrs. Helen A. Justice of Hutchinson, Kansas. There are also five grandchildren.

He was made a Mason in 1866 when he joined Bonaparte Lodge No. 73.

Funeral services were held at the late home Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock, the G. A. R. and the Masonic orders having charge of the service. The remains were interred in the Bonaparte cemetery.

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N. H. Smith died suddenly at his home Tuesday evening about ten o'clock. He had retired to his room for the night when the family heard him fall, but before they could get to his side he was dead.

Mr. Smith had been at work in his carpenter shop during the day and had been down town and was shaved in a barber shop about nine o'clock on the evening of his death. He had for a few days been troubled with illness which he thought was caused by a fall but he had not thought in of sufficient importance to consult a physician.

A letter to the writer from Ed. C. Entler of Keokuk contains a tribute to Mr. Smith which it were well to publish even without the consent of Mr. Entler who had written about another matter but had added these few lines concerning the man who had one year employed him in his shop.

"I just can't get it through my head that Mr. Newt. Smith is with us no more. To think of having seen him only a week ago, in apparently good health, and working at his bench, and then to see him no more. Yet, truly he died in a way that was worthy of him, after a days work, without pain."

"He surely had been a good friend to me. I had been looking for him to come down to Keokuk at most any time. He said he would come as soon as he finished a little work he had on hand. Truly, his work is finished, and well done."

"What would I not give for the experience, at my present age, that he has passed through. War, sickness, travel, and privation. yet out of it all a strong and well rounded character, with a pleasant and a kindly disposition, and a willingness to help others. I don't believe I ever saw him out of patience with a workman while in his employ, and that is saying a good deal. There occurs to me a quotation of Wordswoth's I believe:

That best portion of a good man's life:
His little, nameless, unremembered
Acts of kindness and of love."

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Source: Entler Scrapbook Collection, vol 3, Iowa Historical Library, Iowa City, IA Historical Library, Iowa City, IA