An American Family History

Maryon White's Memories of her Uncle Harry,
Spokane, Washington , December 23, 1991

Bill Smith's Memories of his Uncle Harry, Vashon, Washington, January 13, 1992

There are several stories of Uncle Harry that I got from my father, Bryan, which I will relate. Perhaps [my brother] Jack can correct them as needed. I don't remember Uncle Harry or Aunt Bess, although I have photos of them. Uncle Harry looked very much like [Ethel's son] John Taylor.

The Quilt of Three Feathers: Uncle Elmer, Uncle Harry and Dad (Bryan) slept together at the house in Chariton, Iowa. Dad was less than 12 years during that period. They had one blanket, which had only three feathers in it. Harry took two of the feathers, Uncle Elmer got one and Dad didn't get any. Dad always shuddered when it got cold from that memory.

Nxxxxx Ned: 
I don't mean the use the word "nxxxxx" in a pejorative way, but this is the way Dad told the story. Harry was very much of a fighter with his fists. "When he hit them, they went down" and then Harry went to get his hand fixed. Harry was mean to Dad, as he apparently was to many, but he also protected him. In Chariton, Iowa, there was a bully nxxxxx named Nxxxxx Ned, the leader of some gang of kids there. There was a confrontation between him and Harry. Nxxxx Ned says "Here Ben (made up name) "Hold my gloves," here Tom (Made up name) "Hold my hat," here Rastus (made up name) "Hold my coat" At that point one of Nxxxxx Ned's friends said "Nixxxx Ned, you better be careful, that's the boy who whipped so and so last week." Harry says "You're goddamn right and I am going to do the same to you." Nxxxxx Ned says "Rastus give me my coat, Tom give me my hat, Ben give me my gloves; I'm getting out of here."

Shooting with a 22 Rifle: Harry and Dad had a 22 rifle. They used it to shoot at a person in a field about a mile from them. Of course, at that range, it would have been inaccurate, but quite harassing to anyone being shot at--a kid thrill trick. 

Another story for which I have lost the details concerned Harry shooting a cigarette out of a man's mouth with a 22 rifle.

Sweet Revenge: Harry was slim and never very large. When he was in his early teens, he had a confrontation at Chariton, Iowa with a grown man. Knowing that he couldn't whip him, Harry told that man that when he (Harry) grew up he would find him and whip him. Many years later when they lived at Red Oak, Iowa and Harry was in his late teens, he went back to Chariton and found that man and beat him up badly.

I asked Dad why their father (Josiah) didn't control Harry. Dad said that he thought that after Harry got any size that their father was afraid of him. Although Harry was 5 years older than Dad, they apparently went around a lot together when they were kids.  When you were with Harry you enjoyed safe conduct through the neighborhood gangs at Chariton, Iowa. So there was sort of a bond between them, although Dad really didn't like Harry and was afraid of him. 

My father (Bryan) had a reflective conscience and meant to do the right thing. When Dad was in his 80's at the nursing home at Grey Bull, Wyoming, he told me that Harry, in dire straits, came to him for help when Dad was at Red Oak, Iowa. Dad was a young man then, Harry was racked with TB, as were many of his children, and they were destitute. Harry pleaded with Dad for help, but Dad proceeded to give him a moral lecture to the effect that you shouldn't try to have a baseball team until you can buy uniforms for them as a reference to Harry's large family and birth control.  Well, in his later years, at the nursing home in Greybull, Dad admitted that he had not done right by Harry then, and wished he could do it over.

In those days tuberculosis had no cure, and Bess made matters worse by going to a doctor that encouraged them to take creosote for it. The only members of the family that survived the tuberculosis were Bess and a daughter named Azalea. When I visited at Red Oak about 1979 or 80, I found some of the Lockharts who remembered Bess very well, but did not know where she was.

As children, Harry was ten years older than I and he was really good to me. He was small and very quiet. He was a good worker and often brought in quite a bit of money. I think he was Dad's favorite as he helped lay shingles a lot as Dad was a carpenter.  Mother was a very strong woman and she whipped Harry a lot and that meant a beating. I used to go upstairs and plug my ears.  She beat so hard and would not cry. It was usually because he had made Bryan cry about something. My Dad was never home when this occurred. Harry brought me my first long coat when I went to High School.

He married a nice good looking girl, Bess Luckhart, from Red Oak, Iowa. They were both too young, but he got a job as brakeman on train in Rock Springs, Wyoming, but quit and went to Minnesota as Dad wanted him to help with timber. They built a small house and had two or more children. He then moved to Omaha, Nebraska and had more family. He lived in a house that hadn't been fumigated and contacted TB which was very popular those days. He insisted the doctor keep it quiet so he lived for a few years. When Mother learned he was gone (she was in Wyoming) she cried so hard and said so many times she wished she hadn't beat him so bad. Most of his family contacted the same TB, but Bess was not listed as a carrier. She moved often in order to stay shy of the doctors. She finally landed in Tucson, Arizona. I wrote to her several times, but at that time, I think she only had 2 of the children left. Too bad I didn't go see her, but we drifted apart and I lost track of her.

Going back I failed to say I visited them in Omaha in 1925 or 1926. He was working and I was only there a day and night, but they were doing good and I had a wonderful visit. That was the last time I saw either one of them. At that time they had a good family, 2 boys, 3 girls and a little one Azalea.

I have very little knowledge of the Harry Smith family. I think I was told of the family buying some used mattresses and I guess those days they were sold as is, and several contacted typhoid. 

Typhoid fever is transmitted by the eating or drinking feces contaminated food or drink. Symptons include fever, profuse sweating, gastroenteritis and diarrhea. Typhomalarial fever has symptoms of malaria and typhoid fever. Typhus is a completely different disease and is spread by lice or fleas. The patient has fever, joint pain, cough and headache.