William S & Sarah Jane Smith

SMITH ASHMORE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/18/2010 at 19:09:40

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

William S and Sarah Jane Smith
By Henry and Bethel Wollman

William S Smith was born in Columbia County, New York, September 4, 1838. He was the sixth in a family of eleven. When a young man, he came with his family to Rockford, Illinois. On August 30, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, 146th Illinois Infantry where he served until the end of the war. He was one of five brothers who served in the war. William, Peter, Joseph, John and Benjamin. Joseph served as a body guard for President Lincoln when he delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. He also stood guard as President Lincoln’s body lay in state.

William left Illinois and came to Fayette County, Iowa, where he met and married Sarah Jane Ashmore, July 7, 1866.

Sarah Jane Ashmore Smith was born in Arena, Wisconsin, July 11, 1851. She came with her parents to Fayette County, Iowa, in 1864. Her family line can be traced back to 1737 when they lived in Virginia. Her parents, Carroll Omar Ashmore, 1819-1906, and Sarah Anderson Ashmore, 1820-1907, were early pioneers in the Correctionville community.

Sarah Jane was fifteen years old when she married William Smith. They lived in various places and then decided to move to Kansas where they lived for about ten years. They went by covered wagon in true pioneer style. Life was hard on the frontier. William would go out to western Kansas to hunt buffalo, leaving his wife alone with their small children. Indians often came to their home making for food, which she shared, if possible.

William and Sarah Smith and their growing family came to the Correctionville vicinity in 1885 and bought a farm. They were the parents of thirteen children, all of whom lived to adulthood. They were Mrs. William ‘Jeanette’ Clark, Mrs. Bob ‘Clara’ Bice, Mrs. Frank ‘Lydia’ Watson, William H, Mrs. Tom ‘Sadie’ Goff, Mae, Carl, Mrs. John ‘Luella’ Huss, Mrs. Harry ‘Minnie’ Brink, Mrs. Calvin ‘Jennie’ Pierson, Mrs. Robert ‘Mildred’ Madison, Robert and Clarence. In addition to her own children, she reared two grand-children and one great grandchild.

William Smith died in 1905. Mrs. Smith and several of the younger children continued to live on the farm until 1910 when they moved into Correctionville.

Mrs. Smith had many interests in addition to her family. Her church as most important to her. She was a charter member of the Bethel Evangelical Church in the country, as she was of Grace Evangelical Church in town. She was intensely patriotic, being a member of the GAR Women’s Relief Corps as her husband was for many years a member of the local Grand Army of the Republic post. One day especially looked forward to was ‘Decoration Day’. The family got up early and prepared food for a picnic and drove into town with a team and wagon to attend Memorial services at the GAR Hall. The picnic was held on the grounds south of the Hall. Huge barrels of drinking water were hauled in for the day. It was an all-day affair, the families in the community staying for the noon meal and supper. The afternoon was spent in visiting with relatives and friends.

Later when Mrs. Smith lived in Correctionville, two occasions each year were observed by the family--Mrs. Smith’s birthday on July 11, and the Christmas family dinner. The Correctionville News of July 1934 reports that 142 relatives attended a picnic in Copeland Park in honor of her birthday.

Mrs. Smith died December 29, 1938.