The Surname is Smith

George E. Smith

I must admit that I am fascinated and frustrated with the Smith branch of the family.  I just can not figure out who my great grandfather is!  There are times that I think that my grandfather was in the Witness Protection Program.  He is like smoke.

George Elbert Smith was born 14 June 1875 in Viroqua, Wisconsin.  Died 5 Dec 1955 in Winner, South Dakota.

I am able to find nuggets of information, but they only beg more questions.  I believe that I have found him in several Federal Census, but when your name is George Smith and I believe that his fathers name is James A. Smith it is hard to be sure.

To complicate the issue there are several Public Trees on Ancestry.com which list a James A. Smith as the father of George E. Smith.  Great!  As you dig deeper you find that some trees list the James as James Andrew Smith and some as James Arthur Smith.  Most have James Married to Margaret Allen.  But the Death Certificate for George lists his mother as Louise, not Margaret.

Some have George's mother and spouse as Margaret Mae Fox.  That would be difficult.  Siblings abound.

• Armilda Smith born about 1867 WI
• Caroline E Smith born about 1869 WI
• Charles S Smith born about 1870 WI

If (and that is a big IF)  Armilda Smith is George's sister then I can trace her easily.  I know who she married and have several sources.  I also have in my possession a complete list of all the Smith's buried in the Viola Cemetery which is close to where George was born.

I should be happy right?  No, I can not prove that this is George's father and mother.  NO birth certificate, not baptismal certificate, not newspaper article, nada.  I do have his marriage license for his second marriage.

George and Sarah

George is a complicated man. I know that he was married twice at least.  I know that he was the same age as my mother's grandfather!  Talk about an age difference.  He had in essence two families.  I believe that his first wife's name was Amelia.  I have a census that lists George, Amelia and their two children.  I have a census that lists George with his new wife and children.  I even have a census that shows the first wife, Amelia living and their son living in the same house in 1920.  (The son disappears after that.  Go figure)

My plan now is to go to Salt Lake City to the Family Search Library to look at a book that they have on Wisconsin and hope that there is something that will help me separate the strands.

Wish me Luck!