Smith - Morris Cory
Source: Crawfordsville Journal Crawfordsville, Montgomery County Indiana Thursday, January 15, 1981
Morris Cory Smith, 93, a resident of Crawfordsville for more than 83 years, died Saturday in Portland Oregon, where he had resided with his son for the past ten years. Mr. Smith was a great - grandson of Charity Farnsworth Smith who filed one of the earliest land - grant claims in Montgomery County, and was a direct descendant of Thomas A. Farnsworth, early Quaker settler from York, England, who in 1677 founded Bordentown, N.J., on the Delaware River. He was born April 2, 1887, near New Richmond, a son of Farnsworth A. and Dora Morris Smith, graduated from Crawfordsville High School in 1906 and was married November 13, 1913, to Madge Catterlin, a descendant of another Montgomery County land - grant family. After farming for some 20 years, he joined in the operation of the Catterlin & Smith Grocery on East College Street, eventually becoming the Morris C. Smith Grocery which continued operation for 21 years. He was a founder and served as president of the Producer's Dairy Association and owned and maintained two dairy farms until relatively recently. He served as president of the local Federal Land Bank for 27 years, was an active member of the Democratic Party, and was a lifelong member of the First Brethren Church following its merger a member of Christ United Methodist Church. He was preceded in death by his wife, Madge, age 83, after 57 years of marriage in 1970, and by his sister Nellie B. Smith age 95, this past year. He is survived by an only son, Robert Morris Smith, with whom he made his home in Portland. Services in Crawfordsville will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Burkhart Funeral Home with Professor Paul Mielke of Wabash College officiating and assisted by Rev. Robert Ostermeier of Christ United Methodist Church and Rev. Robert Ramsey of the Friends World Committee. Friends may call after 4 p.m. Thursday. Interment will be in oak Hill Cemetery. Following funeral services friends are invited to meet with the family at the home of Paul and Mary Lou Mielke, 308 E. Jefferson St.