Thomas Smith

Funeral Rites for Pioneer Citizen

T. A. Smith who came to Nemaha County in the fall of 1857, lived for a time in Brownville, and then Mr. Smith came to the homestead near Clifton in 1866, passed away February 24, 1932.

Mr. Smith had been in failing health for more than a year. On Wednesday morning he ate his breakfast, and then fell into a restful sleep from which he failed to waken.

Thomas Abraham Smith, third child of Peter and Eliza Blake Smith was born January 29, 1855 in Rock County, Wisconsin.

He was united in marriage with Ella B. Hawley October 29, 1882. Four children were born to this union, two sons Herbert Custer and Ralph Thomas died in infancy. Two daughters, Lillie Ann and Ada Eliza are at home to care for their mother in her declining years.

Mr. Smith united with the Baptist church in early childhood and kept the faith. He was a kind husband and father, strictly honorable in his dealings, a quiet home loving man.

Besides his family he leaves a brother David living at De Ridder, Louisiana, and a sister Miss Lucretia Smith of Auburn, Nebraska.

Funeral services from his late home February 26 at 1 o’clock,

conducted by Reverend

C. J. Bukoutz of Stella, Nebraska. Song service by Raymond Kiechel. Pallbearers were old neighbors, William Markland, Thomas Snodgrass, F. C. Gilbert, Fred Kiechel, E. N. Butterfield and Alfred Aldrich.

Burial was made in the Linden cemetery.

The Brock Bulletin

Thursday

March 3, 1932

Celebrated Her 85^th Birthday

Mrs. Ella B. Smith of the Washington vicinity, celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday Sunday, September 3, at which time her daughters, Misses Lillie and Ada Smith, entertained at their home in honor of the occasion.

Mrs. Smith received flowers and cards from her friends and relatives. Guests calling during the day were; J. W. Armstrong and Chester A. May of Auburn, Mrs. Fred Gauchat and daughter, Blanche, and sons,

Edward and Fred, Mrs. Mary Hansen and Paul and Alma Stoddard.

Mrs. Smith before her marriage was Ella B. Hawley, second child of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Hawley. She was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, September 3, 1859, crossed the Missouri river at Brownville in 1861 with her parents and sister, Emma. Her girlhood home was on land homesteaded by her father near Coryell park.

October 29, 1882 she married Thomas A. Smith, and lived on land belonging to Mr. Smith's father until 1911, when the forty acres upon which they built their home was given them, and she has lived here since. The late R. Coryell, who was justice of the peace, made out the deed to this property, which is treasured by the family.

Nemaha County Herald

Thursday

September 7, 1944

Pioneer Brock Lady

Passed Away

Ella B. Hawley, second child of William H. and Eliza Ann Walton Hawley, was born September 3, 1859 in Rock county, Wisconsin, and passed away June 24, 1948 at the age of 88 years, 9 months and 21 days.

For 13 years the family lived on a farm near Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1861, she, with an elder sister, Emma and her parents, came to the Nebraska territory. They made the trip overland in an ox drawn covered wagon. They ferried across the Missouri River at Brownsville, November 5, 1861. Here making their home near Brownsville for two more years.

March 1, 1864, Mr. Hawley and his family established a permanent home on a homestead. The filing was the 19th in the Brownsville land office.

On October 29, 1862, she was married to Thomas A. Smith. They started their homemaking on a farm belonging to Mr. Smith's father. In 1911 a 40-acre tract of land was given Mr. Smith and a house built upon this place. It was here that their entire married life was spent.

To this union there were four children born, Herbert C. and Ralph T., passed away in infancy, and two daughters, Lillie A. and Ada E.

Mr. Smith passed away in 1932.

At the age of 11 years, Mrs. Smith professed her faith in Christ and was baptized in the Nemaha River. She became a member of the Baptist church, and remained steadfast in her belief.

When a young girl an illness befell her, causing her to be left with impaired hearing.

Despite all of the early pioneer hardships with she endured, she secured an education at the Rosewood School.

She took an active part in the singing schools of those days, and in the Sunday school. At age 16 she became a member of the Grange and the Temperance Union. She derived much pleasure from reading. She was a great lover of flowers. Besides her many activities she took an interest in music and was a member of a quartette of young people for years in her home neighborhood. She was also keenly interested in art, and some of her own paintings grace the wall of her home.

She is survived by two daughters, Lillie A. and Ada E, two sisters, Mrs. Cora Sapp, Brock; Mrs. Daisy B. Brady, Lincoln; a number of nieces and nephews, and a host of friends. She was preceded in death by three sisters, Emma, in 1870, Grace Victoria in 1876; Mrs. Belle V. Huffman, in 1947, one brother Richard T. Hawley died in 1929.

Funeral services were held at the Armstrong-May funeral home Sunday, June 27, at 2:00 p.m. with Rev. William R. Nollmarm, pastor of the Peru Baptist church officiating. Raymond Kiechel sang, "Home of the Soul" and "Sweet Bye and Bye" with Mrs. Kiechel playing the accompaniment.

Pallbearers were: nephews: William Hawley, Charles Hawley, Charles Brady, Earl Brady, Harold Brady, and Ray Brady.

Those in charge of the flowers: Mrs. Hanson Aldrich, Mrs. Franklin Gilbert, Miss Norma Hawley, Mrs. Betty Bohling.

Interment was made in the Linden cemetery.

Relatives from a distance who were in attendance were: Mrs. Daisy B. Brady, Harold Brady, Earl Brady, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Sire, Lincoln; Charles Brady, Ray Brady, Omaha; Mr. and Mrs. Merion D. Smith, Mrs. Irma Smith, Table Rock; Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Hendrix, Humboldt.

Nemaha County Herald

Thursday

July 1, 1948

William Hawley Is

Ninety-One Years Old

Pioneer Resident of County, Has Lived in Nebraska

Sixty Years - Celebrated Anniversary of Natal Day

at Home in Lincoln, Tuesday, With Family Reunion.

William Hawley, a former resident of this county, and who

was among the pioneers of the Brock neighborhood,

celebrated his ninety-first birthday, Tuesday, at the

home of his daughter, Mrs. John D. Brady, 1528 Garfield Street.

All of his children and many of his grandchildren were present

at the family reunion which took place and during the day

a reception was held which was attended by many of his friends,

including a number of his neighbors from this county.

Mr. Hawley was born at Fairseat, Stanstead, Kent county, England,

February 22, 1830, near the close of the reign of George IV.

The reign of William IV terminated when Mr. Hawley was

a lad of seven.

In the fourteenth year of the reign of Queen Victoria, Mr. Hawley,

then nineteen years old, came to the United States, the ocean

voyage required twenty-six days. After a few months in New York

state he went to Wisconsin; then frontier country, and worked

for a year on farm, receiving $105 for his labor. Somewhat later

he bought forty acres of choice Wisconsin land for $11.25 an acre.

Mr. Hawley's memory is still clear, and his is able to recall

political history ante-dating the civil war. During the presidential

campaign of 1852 he heard General Scott deliver a campaign

talk at Rochester, New York, and in 1856 he voted for

John C. Fremont for president. The same year he was married

at Janesville, Wisconsin, to Eliza A. Walton, and to them were

born seven children, five of whom are living; R. T. Hawley,

Mrs. Thomas Smith and Mrs. S. Asa of Brock, Nebraska,

Mrs. B. V. Huffman and Mrs. John D. Brady of Lincoln.

There are nineteen grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Mr. and Mrs. Hawley and two small children came to Nemaha

county, Nebraska, in 1861, traveling by ox train, and taking five

weeks for the journey from Wisconsin. Two years later they

settled on a homestead about two miles southeast of where
Brock now stands. For several years Brownville was the

nearest trading point, and Mr. Hawley had to ford the Nemaha

river and drive twenty miles every time he wanted to get

the mail or buy a sack of flour. During this period two men filed

claims for a half quarter section adjoining his homestead,

but each deserted it after a brief stay and a third homesteader

acquired title to this farm. Which would be considered a

bargain at $40,000.00 today. Forty years ago, Mr. Hawley

predicted to some of his neighbors that Nemaha county would

some day sell for $40 an acre, and they laughed at him.

The death of his wife in 1904 separated Mr. Hawley from the

companion with whom he had journeyed for nearly fifty years.

In 1906 he married Mrs. A. Wright of Lincoln, who is now

past eighty years of age, and the two are operating a two-acre

farm at Fifty Third and B streets. This is Mr. Hawley's

fifteenth year in Lincoln.

Nemaha County Herald

Thursday

February 25, 1921