An American Family History

Mary Ellen Smith Widaman Dixon was born in Meigs County, Tennessee on September 16, 1856. She was the daughter of Josiah Smith and Sarah Pitts. She was listed in the 1860 census as Mary E. age five and in the 1870 census as age fourteen. The 1870 census indicated that she could not write. 

About 1865, she and her family went by flatboat down the Tennessee River from Tennessee to Tazewell County, Illinois. About three years later they moved on to Chariton, Iowa.

She married Charles Franklin Widaman on October 25, 1890 in Dillon, Beaverhead County Montana. Charles was born in 1852 in Pennsylvania. His parents were Jacob Widaman and Agnes Jane Cary. 

Mary Ellen and Charles had two children. Clarence Arthur Widaman was born in August, 1892 in Idaho and Charles Franklin Widaman was born in November, 1894 in Iowa.  

Charles, Sr. passed away August 31, 1894, just a few months before his second son was born. Beulah Nadalsky wrote 

My grandfather was killed in a goldmine cave-in on my dad's first birthday. If I understand the story right, he died after rescue.

Her story is confirmed in the following news clipping

Charles Wideman, a son of Jacob Wideman was killed in the mines in Idaho. He leaves a wife and one child.

After her husband, Charles, died, she returned to Russell where she married George Washington Dixon on August 5, 1898. George was the son of Isaac Dorman Dixon and Nancy Allison. He was born in Lucas County, Iowa on August 26, 1857. 

The Dixon family appeared in the 1900 census in Lincoln Township, Lucas County, Iowa. They lived on a farm near there until March 1, 1908 when they moved to their farm near Osceola. 

In 1936 they moved to Osceola where they lived until his death on January 12, 1945. She passed away on January 13, 1949 at the age of 92. She was buried at Salem Cemetery in Lucas County, Iowa.

Meigs County is located in East Tennessee and was formed from Rhea County in 1836. In 1819 the legislature took over part of the Cherokee Nation which was on the south east bank of the Tennessee River and this is the land that became Meigs County.

Children of Josiah Smith, Sr. and Sarah Pitts Elizabeth Jane Smith Frank Allison Woodrow Smith Nancy Ann Smith Wilson Mary Ellen Smith Widaman Dixon David Henry Smith Josiah Allen Smith John Smith George Washington Smith William Smith Ida Belle Smith Hoops Sarah Catherine Smith Hoops Charles Elmer Smith Cora Edna Smith Downard