Elizabeth Hayden "Aunt Liz" Smith (1842-1927)
(Mrs. Jackson "Jack" Smith)
A PIONEER PASSES
MRS. ELEIZABETH SMITH ANSWERS CALL SUNDAY.
Mrs. Elizabeth Smith passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Morey, early Sunday morning at the age of 85 years. Mrs. Smith was the last survivor of the old Nehimiah Hayden family and had lived here all her life. She was a woman who was greatly beloved by all who knew her. Up to a short time ago she enjoyed good health for one of her years. For the past few years she has made her home with her children and had only been at the home of her daughter here a few days when she was taken sick.Funeral services were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Morey on Tuesday at 2 p.m. Rev. J.J. Simpson, of Crown Point, conducted the services. Interment was made in the Sherburnville cemetery beside her husband. Obituary next week.
A copy of the following unidentified newspaper article was found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal:
- Mrs. Elizabeth Smith was born in Lake County, Ind., May 12, 1842, died at Lowell, Ind., October 2, 1927, aged 85 years, 4 months, and 20 days.
January 23, 1859 she was married to Jackson Smith, whose death occurred on September 12, 1914*. To this union six children were born, Mrs. William Morey, of Lowell; Walton Smith of Crown Point; Mrs. B.G. Dewey, of Whiting; Mrs. Eva Dickey of Lafayette; Llewellyn Smith, of Chicago, all of whom were with her in her last brief illness. She also leaves 20 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
"Aunt Liz," as she was known to the community, was a pioneer of the county, the last of a large family of fourteen children of Nehimiah and Harriet Kitchel Hayden, who came to Lake County nearly a century ago.
The first years of her married life were spent on a farm near Sherburnville, where she was a member of the Methodist Church. She and her husband came to Lowell in the fall of 1904, where they lived on Liberty St. and where "Uncle Jack," as he was known to all, died.
The last years of her life, when failing health made it necessary to give up her home, she spent with her children coming to the home of Mrs. Morey where she expected to spend the winter only a week before her death. She was devoted to her children, and was happiest when they could all be about her.
A good woman is gone. She lived a long and useful life and the world is a better place for her having lived in it, and her life a beautiful memory.
Funeral services were held at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Morey October 4 at 2 p.m. The services were conducted by Rev. J.J. Simpson, former pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Lowell, assisted by Rev. Dougherty, pastor of the Lowell M.E. Church. Interment was made in the Sherburnville cemetery beside her husband. Undertakers Sheets and Son had charge of the burial service. The following grandsons acted as pallbearers: Leslie Dickey, James Dickey, Virgil Smith, Philip Dewey, Clarence Lowe and Forrest Smith.
* NOTE -- Although this obituary lists the death date of Jackson Smith as Sept. 12, 1914, a Pioneer History column from Nov. 26, 1980, by Town Historian Richard Schmal lists the year as 1915. Jackson Smith's own obituary, however, listed his date of death as Sept. 8, 1914.
Go to Elizabeth Hayden Smith, "Pioneer History Index," for further information.
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