The Smiths of Brule County

This is a photo that appeared on an early post card of the Irish John and Susan Smith home. The original home is left and center of this photo, and the "new addition" on the right was added later. This

new addition was added by Susan while Irish John Smith was traveling to Ireland and Scotland in 1908 (see Irish John travels). This new addition later became the "home" for Frank and Eleanor Smith, while the rest of the Smith clan lived in the main structure. The center building was the formal living room and behind this living area was a bedroom. This bedroom also became known as the "death room" as many ailing Smith members, especially those who were in their twilight years, were moved to this room...and stayed until they passed onto their heavenly reward. Eleanor, for example, refused to move into this room when she was sick with cancer. There was no way she would stay in the "death room." On the left was the old kitchen, which fascinated Irish John's great grand children. It looked and smelled old...had old appliances and there were ancient relics of a time long past nesting peacefully among its many corners and cabinet spaces. The formal living area was also where the caskets were placed for the Irish wakes. I remember as a child not wanting to pass by the caskets, so I would exit the kitchen door, and take the sidewalk to Frank and Eleanor's "house" to watch TV. No way that I was going to pass by a dead person...

Regina T. Smith

The photo below is of Regina Smith, one of three children of Irish John and Susan Smith, who died in infancy. According to her birth record, she was born June 10th, 1898. Her death record notes that she died in 1899, unfortunately, we don't know how old she was at the time of her death. We can speculate, based on the photograph below, that she may have been one years old.

Frank Smith (whose real name was Owney Francis Smith) was born a few years later (1901), and according to family legend, Susan went to Wisconsin to give birth as she didn't trust the doctors in Kimball, South Dakota. The name "Owney" or Owen was a traditional family name for both the McPhillips (Susan's brother's name was Owney) and the Smiths (Irish John's brother was also known as Owen, or Eoin).

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Several photos of interest.

The Smith Family Farm

The farm was quite expansive in its later years. I used to look out the windows at the Smith farm and be amazed of how much land the family had accumulated over 100 years. By the time the farm was sold in the 1990s, there were seven sections of land. As we have seen in earlier research, Irish John also owned land in Bear Creek, Wisconsin; which was later owned by his daughter Maime Carroll.

Have you ever been to Ireland, with its rolling hills so green? Sure‘n it’s the fairest land that ever has been seen and those green hills of Ireland may be very far away but they’re close to every Irish heart no matter what the day.