Smith - Mary Kelsey
Mary Elizabeth Kelsey SMITH (wife of William Henry Harrison Smith)
14 April 1841 – 16 January 1898
Source: Crawfordsville Star 20 January 1898 p 5
Mrs. WHH Smith, who has been lingering between life and death for several months, passed away Sunday night. Mrs. Smith was a good woman and will be missed. She was active in church work and was a loving companion. She leaves a husband and six children, three sons and three daughters, to mourn. The funeral which was the largest in Darlington for many a day took place in the MEChurch of which she was a member at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Rev. Broomfield preached the sermon and interment was at the IOOF Cemetery. - kbz
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 21 January, 1898
Mrs. Mary E. Smith was born April 14, 1841, in Montgomery County, Indiana. After weary months of suffering she quietly laid down to rest Jan. 16, 1898, at noon of night. For many years Mrs. Smith had been a resident of Darlington and won universal respect and esteem by her quiet, unpretentious and Christian bearing. In the language of a gentleman spoken since her death, “She was one of our noblest women.” She was the daughter of Amos and Lydia Kelsey, both of whom now lie sleeping in the city of the dead near Darlington. She was married to W. H. H. Smith, Jan. 10, 1860. Six children were born to them, three girls and three boys, all now grown, married and with their father survive her, a well nigh heart broken family. The children engaged in business at various points, some at a distance, were regular in their visits to the old rooftree to see father and mother to get the strong hand clasp, the loving embrace, the affectionate kiss and gaze in the mother’s love-lit eye, which they knew could be found no where else in all the world. Only one is left to give them welcome, old, white haired and stricken with the saddest blow that can befall the human heart. Mrs. Smith was a woman of rare social qualities. Naturally easy and gracious, her smile was kindly assuring and her eyes beamed with good will to all. In religion she was a Methodist, and her faith in the doctrines taught was firm, unyielding and steadfast. Her every day life was beautiful in its simplicity and usefulness. She made her home a lovely and attractive spot for her family, but she lived not only for her own; the kindness of her nature could not be confined within four walls. Many will long remember her kind ministrations in times of sorrow. Hers was the fitting close of a well spent life. After long suffering, the messenger came. She had lived to see her children grown and settled, her regrets were drowned in suffering. She yielded to the summons and “gathered the draperies of her couch about her and laid down to pleasant dreams.”
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Friday, 14 January, 1898
Mrs. M. E. Smith, wife of W. H. H. Smith, died at her home in Darlington Sunday night at 11:30 after a long illness. The funeral was held at the M. E. Church Tuesday at 2 p.m. Private services for the family were held at the residence at 1:30 p.m. The deceased was born in this county near Mace, April 14, 1841, and has been a very efficient member of the M. E. Church for forty five years. She was one of the best known ladies in the county, having owned and run a millinery store for twenty five years. Deceased was the mother of six children, three boys and three girls, all living and married. The eldest son, George A., lives at Peoria, Ill., is General Agent for the Continental Fast Freight Line; the second son, Thomas E., lives at Terre Haute, and is Chief Train Dispatcher of the Michigan division of the Vandalia R. R.; William E., the third son, is R. R. Bill Clerk of the Vandalia at St. Joe, Mich. The three daughters, Mrs. Andrew Booher, Mrs. R. T. McGiffin and Mrs. Wm Burkett, all live at Frankfort, Ind