One Smith Family: (Part 6)

 

by Rocky Macy

(This is a continuation of the profiles of the forty-seven individuals who were defendants in the 1920 Newton County, Missouri, court case over the estate of William C. SMITH.  For more background and a complete list of plaintiffs and defendants,  please refer to the five previous articles in this series.)

6.  Nannie D. DAVIS was born Nancy Delilah SMITH to John A. and Delania (POE) SMITH in Missouri, on May 15, 1876.   Her father, John A. SMITH, was William C. SMITH’s older brother, and Nancy was William’s niece.

Nancy’s first known entry into the public record was on the 1880 US census which found her and her birth family living in Buffalo Township of Newton County, Missouri.  At that time the SMITH family had five members:  John A. (the father and head-of-household, age 48), Delania (the mother, age 28), Melvin “N.” (9), Nancy “A.” (4), and Joel W. (1).

The 1890 census was lost due to a fire, and by the time of the 1900 census Nancy had married Nathaniel Marian DAVIS (in 1898) and had a child.   The DAVIS household was located in South Creek Township of Lincoln County, Oklahoma, and included:  Nathaniel DAVIS (34), Nancy D. DAVIS (24), and “Elen” A. DAVIS (1).

“Nathan M. DAINE” (44) and his wife, Nannie DAVIS (34), and Ellen DAVIS (11), were residing in Sulphur, Ward 3, of Murray County, Oklahoma, when the 1910 census was taken.  According to that census they had had a total of three children, but only Ellen survived.

Sometime during the second decade of the 1900’s, the DAVIS family relocated to Oregon.  The 1920 census found them in Ontario Township of Malheur County.  (Ellen Antholin DAVIS had married James Howard LEWALLEN in Malheur County, Oregon, on September 17, 1919, and was no longer residing in her parents' home.)  Present in the parental home at the time of the 1920 census were the father and mother only:  Nathaniel DAVIS (54) and Nannie DAVIS (43).  James and Ellen (DAVIS) LEWALLEN have not been located on the 1920 census.

The 1930 census contained a surprise:  the addition of another child to the household of Nathaniel M. DAVIS (64) and Nancy “V.” DAVIS (53) who were still residing in Ontario Township of Malheur County, Oregon.  Naomi D. DAVIS was described on that census as being 13-years-old and a “daughter” to Nathaniel and Nancy.  Naomi disappeared from the public record after that entry.  (One possible explanation for Naomi"s presence could be that she was a daughter to Ellen who was born prior to Ellen's marriage to James Howard LEWALLEN.)

Nathaniel Marian DAVIS passed away on January 30, 1937, in Malheur County, Oregon, and Nancy was listed on the 1940 census in the household of her daughter, Ellen, in Ontario Township of Malheur County, Oregon.  In that household were James LEWALLEN (53), Ellen LEWALLEN (40), and children (all LEWALLENs) James H. (11), Esther (9), William (6), Florence (5), and Patricia (3).  Nancy DAVIS (age 63) was the final entry in the household.

Nancy Delilah (SMITH) DAVIS passed away on September 2, 1973. In Malheur County, Oregon.

7.   Stella M. DOTY  was born Stella May SMITH to John A. and Delania (POE) SMITH in Seneca, Newton County, Missouri, on February 6, 1881.   Her father, John A. SMITH, was William C. SMITH’s older brother, and Stella was William’s niece.

Stella’s first name appeared a couple of times in public records as “Estella,” though she was generally referred to as “Stella.”   Her middle name was sometimes spelled “Mae,” but “May” was the more common spelling in documents in which she was mentioned.  And her last name was sometimes listed as “DATY” in census records, though “DOTY” was the correct spelling.

The 1900 census for South Creek Township of Lincoln County, Oklahoma, captured Stella’s first appearance in the public record.  She was nineteen-years-old and still residing in the household of her parents, John A. SMITH (67) and “Delamia” SMITH (48).  Also in that household were four younger siblings of Stella's, all SMITHs:  “Jemmie” (James Carrol, age 16), Bennett A. (14), Hugh E. (11), and Robert M. (5).  Stella had two grown siblings, Melvin Festus SMITH and Nancy Delilah (SMITH) DAVIS who were married and living nearby in the same township and county.

Stella married William Thomas DOTY sometime between the 1900 and 1910 censuses.  (Their first child, Daisy Mae DOTY, was born in the state of Oklahoma on September 29, 1901.) William Thomas DOTY was the son of Samuel Bender and Elizabeth (BROWN) DOTY, and he had been born on June 22, 1863.   

The 1910 census for Sulphur, Ward 3, Murray County, Oklahoma, listed the head-of-household as William “G.” DOTY, and then spelled the other family members’ surnames as “DATY.”  The remainder of the family included the mother, “Estella” M. “DATY” (“39” - and should have been 29), Daisy (8), James (6) and Della (3).

When the 1920 census was taken the DOTY family was living in Gibbs, Johnson County, Oklahoma.  It had grown by four more children, and all were listed as “DOTY.”  The family included:  William T. (56), Stella (38), Daisy (18), James (16), Della (12), Laura (9), Archie (7), Robert (4), and Lula (1).

The DOTY family was still in Gibbs, Johnson County, Oklahoma, ten years later when the 1930 census was taken, and two additional children had been added.  Living in the household were the following, all DOTYs:  William T. (“56” - and should have been “66”), Stella M. (49), Della (23), Archie H. (17), Robert H. (14), “Eula” E. (11), Flora N. (9), and Ruth E. (6).

According to information on the 1940 census, the family was still in rural Johnson County, Oklahoma, in 1935, but by the time of the 1940 census they had relocated back to Sulphur Township, Murray County, Oklahoma.  Present in the household were the following, all "DATYs:"   William “F.” (76), Stella M. (59), Della K. (33), “Dalora” “M.” (19), and Ruth E. (16).

The following were the nine children of William Thomas and Stela May (SMITH) DOTY who survived to adulthood:  Daisy Mae (1901-1981, married Sylvia Charles STANFORD);  James Andrew (1903-1993, married Susie Myrtle QUINTON);  Della K. (1907-1977, apparently never married);  Laura Gertrude (1910-1993, married Henry Leonard WILSON);  Archie Henry (1913-1992, married Lula “Ruth” Atlas BILLINGS);  Robert Houston (1915-1974, married Edith Dell BILLINGS);  Lula E. (1918-1979, married Oscar J. GARRISON);  Flora Naomi (1920-1994, married Lee Carroll KIRBY);  and, Ruth Ella (1923-1995, married Clark CHAPMAN).  It is also believed that William and Stella had a daughter named “Delania” who died in infancy.

William Thomas DOTY passed away in Sulphur, Murray County, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1943, at the age of seventy-nine.   Stella died on April 15, 1970.  They are buried next to each other at Oaklawn Cemetery in Sulphur, Murray County, Oklahoma.

8.  Jim W. SMITH was born James Washington SMITH to Andrew Jackson and Clarinda (CARR) SMITH in Russellville, Pope County, Arkansas, on February 4, 1875.  His father, Andrew Jackson SMITH, was William C. SMITH’s older brother, and James was William’s nephew.

James W. SMITH was a five-year-old in the home of his parents in Prairie Township of Franklin County, Arkansas, when the 1880 U.S. census was taken.   Also in the household were the father, Andrew J. SMITH (age 44), the mother, Clarinda SMITH (33), and two older sisters, both SMITHs, Nancy C. (9) and Mary F. (8).

James Washington SMITH married Eliza Elmeda CAREY in Sebastian County, Arkansas, on February 6, 1896, and by the time of the 1900 census they had established their own household in Washburn, Logan County, Arkansas.  That census listed James W. as 25-years-old and Eliza E. as twenty-six.  There were no children in the household.  According to information contained on that census, James and Eliza were renting their home and he was working as a farmer.

The 1910 US census found James W. SMITH (34) and Eliza SMITH (36) living in Boone Township of Logan County, Arkansas, where he was working as a salesman in a grocery store.  The census also revealed that they owned their own home, but that it was mortgaged.  There were still no children in the household.

When James Washington SMITH registered for the World War I draft on September 12, 1918, he listed his residence as being in Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas.

By the time of the 1920 census James SMITH (44) and Eliza SMITH were still in Boone Township of Logan County, Arkansas.   He was working as a clerk in a dry goods store, and they owned their own home free of a mortgage.  There were no children listed the household on the census.

The 1930 census located Jim SMITH (55) and Eliza SMITH (56) in Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas.  They owned their own home, but it was on a different street than the one they had owned in 1920.  Their current home had a value of $1,800.  He reported working for a salary, though his job was not given on that census form.  The census also noted that Jim was able to read and write, but that he had not attended school.  Again, there were no children in the household.

The SMITH couple, James W. (65) and Eliza (67), were childless and still living in a home of their own in Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas, when the 1940 census was completed.  That census stated that James W. had attended elementary school through seventh grade.  It also said that he was working as a clerk in a dry goods store.

  
Eliza (CAREY) SMITH, who had been born on April 9, 1873, passed away at the age of seventy-eight  on September 3, 1951.  James Washington SMITH died on July 4, 1960, at the age of eighty-four in Poteau, LeFlore County, Oklahoma.  Both James and Eliza are buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Booneville, Arkansas, the town where they had spent most of their lives.

9.  Thomas SMITH  was born Thomas Walter SMITH to Andrew Jackson and Clarinda (CARR) SMITH in the state of Arkansas on October 14, 1884 (according to his tombstone).  The 1910 US census noted his birthday as September of 1883.    Thomas’s father, Andrew Jackson SMITH, was William C. SMITH’s older brother, and Thomas was William’s nephew.

The first appearance of Thomas Walter SMITH in the existing public record is the 1900 US census for Washburn, Logan County, Arkansas, in which he was living in the household of his parents, Andrew J. SMITH (63), and Clarinda SMITH (53).  Thomas W. was listed as being sixteen-years-old, and he had a younger brother in the household, Theodore N. SMITH, who was twelve.

“Thos” SMITH, age twenty-two, of Chismville, Logan County, Arkansas, married Minnie RANEY, age sixteen, of Leon, Franklin County, Arkansas, on December 10, 1905, in Logan County, Arkansas.  Minnie’s date of birth was November 13, 1891.

The 1910 census found Thomas W. SMITH (26) and Minnie SMITH (20) residing in Washburn Township of Logan County, Arkansas.  Also in the home were a son, Floyd SMITH (2) and a daughter “Ama” SMITH (0).  That census indicated that they were renting a farm. 

 
Thomas SMITH was heading a household in Prairie, Franklin County, Arkansas, at the time of the 1920 census.  The census taker listed his name, in cursive, as “T.W.” SMITH, and wrote it in such a manner that it was easy for the Ancestry.com census transcriber to record the name as “L.W.” SMITH.  Also in the household were Floyd (12), Anna (10), and another daughter, “Loise” (Lois, age 8).  Other members of the household were Thomas’s mother-in-law, Ellen RANEY (54) and her two adult sons, “Cesat” and Fred RANEY (both aged 27).

Thomas’s wife, Minnie Lee (RANEY) SMITH, had passed away on March 5, 1915, and his mother-in-law, Ellen RANEY, was undoubtedly involved in caring for his three small children.

Floyd SMITH, the son of Thomas and Minnie, filed a delayed birth certificate for himself with the state of Arkansas on September 24, 1969.   That document gave his full name as Floyd Emanuel SMITH and stated that he was born in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas, to Thomas Walter SMITH and Minnie Lee RANEY, both of Franklin County, Arkansas, on August 13, 1907.

    
Floyd Emanuel SMITH married Mittie DOUGLAS on December 14, 1941, in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas.  Mittie was born either on March 12, 1918 (according to their wedding certificate), or on March 12, 1919, according to their joint tombstone.  Floyd and Mittle are buried at the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas.

The only public record located thus far on Anna SMITH, Thomas and Minnie (RANEY) SMITH’s middle child, is the entry on the 1920 census for Prairie Township, Franklin County, Arkansas. At this point in time it is not known what became of her.

Lois SMITH was born on October 27, 1911, in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas.  Her middle name is recorded as “Ray” on her Arkansas birth certificate, and it is noted as “Ruth” on the internet Find-A-Grave site.    Lois married Towery PLUNKETT (1909-2008) in 1929.  When Towery passed away on August 27, 2008, the couple had been married just a few months shy of seventy-nine years. Los (SMITH) PLUNKETT died on December 28, 2008, in Tulsa, Oklahoma - four months after the death of her husband of nearly eight decades. Lois and Towery are buried next to each other at the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas.

Thomas W. SMITH died on September 22, 1931, in Charleston Township, Franklin County, Arkansas, the same community where he had been born.  His Arkansas death certificate stated that he was 48-years-old at the time of his death, an age that would have corresponded to the 1900 US census claim that he had been born in September of 1883 - instead of October 14, 1884, as inscribed on his tombstone.  The only relative mentioned on the death certificate was Thomas’s father “A.J.” SMITH.

Thomas Walter and Minnie (RANEY) SMITH are buried at the Spencer Cemetery in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas.

(The next installment of "One Smith Family" will contain more profiles of defendants in the 1920 lawsuit over the estate of William C. SMITH of Newton County, Missouri. All defendants are being profiled in the order in which they appeared in the legal notices of the times.)