Edward Y Smith-3rd Great Grandfather-Early Wisconsin Settler

Family Tree History and Research
Monday, March 12, 2018

Another discovery, this one closer to the "old Home Stomping Grounds" of my home state of Wisconsin. 
Belmont Wisconsin is the setting for this story....

I discovered my 3rd Great Grandfather, Edward Y Smith, through my research a few years ago, as his name was linked to his daughter,  my 2nd Great Grandmother, Izzie (Isadora) Smith Pope and through digging through books and online sites I found his birth and death date and that his Smith family line went back to New England through other trees. 

I also traced this line back to other lines of Early New England Settlers that intertwined with some of my other lines back then but I really couldn't break through any of the information to find much about this Smith line as Smith was a common name and things get very confusing. Until this last week....

A few days ago, I came upon a "commemorative Biography of Early Wisconsin Settlers" online and it has a plethora of "Life Sketches" on quite a few people (1000 plus pages) and in this book was an interesting sketch on a man named Edward Y Smith. 

The book I Found online:
J.H. Beers & Co. Commemorative biographical record of the upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano (Kindle Locations 13760-13765). Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.. 


I was astounded when I started to read about this man and his origins and who he was. I cried and felt like I was meeting him for the 1st time. To discover so much about my family from one story was very emotional.

I realize now that My grandparents must surly have known about their historic connections to New England and to the Pilgrims and the settling of the coast. 
Why they didn't preserve this history for their descendants such as me to know and cherish I can not fully comprehend.

I guess it is up to me to bring these souls back to life so that they are not forgotten. To me, to know one's ancestors is to one's self. Our family history sheds light on who we are.

Today I would like my family and my friends to meet my 3rd Great Grandfather and a few more of my ancestors that lived in the 1700s and 1800s and who are part of who we are today.

Just a few of the VERY COOL things I discovered because of this find is that:

• I discovered that my siblings and their children and I through our mother, have Scottish blood running through  our veins from Edward's wife Elizabeth Moyes, our 3rd Great Grandmother, who was born in Errol, Perthshire Scotland in 1834 and that our Moyes heritage goes back to the noble and royal families of Scotland (much research to do on this) and that a distant cousin named William Young Moyes was one of the passengers that sunk with the Titanic in 1912.
• I discovered a famous cousin named Katharine Elizabeth Dopp who was one of the foremost American Educators at the turn of the 20th century. She wrote textbooks that were used nationally in schools and also wrote Children's books which were widely read at the time. She would go on to become one of the 1st deans of the Chicago Normal School which would later become the University of Illinois at Chicago and while there she would be instrumental in designing parts of the public school system still used nationally. And her early education would start with the tutelage of one of my 3rd Great Grandmothers, the wife of the man this post
• I discovered that my siblings and myself and their children are related to Joseph Smith in this line,Joseph being the founder of the Mormon faith. 
•  I dsicovered A good portion of  this area of Wisconsin including Belmont and Waupaca were settled by my family lines that traveled from New England to the Midwest to settle on the rich plains in the Indian Territory.
• I discovered that I have many Smith cousins still alive in the Waupaca and Wild Rose area of Wisconsin and one (who as of 2005 at least) lives in the same neighborhood as my dad in Oxford Wisconsin! This line I discovered on another website lays out the generations of my Smith family line all the way back to New England and forward to the separating of lines at Edward and Elizabeth's children. This cousin's family then descends through son Lyman Smith and populates that area of Wisconsin and my line descends through daughter Isadora. (see below)

Generation No. 9

• 9. EDWARD Y9 SMITH (HARRISON8, SAMUEL7, SAMUEL6, SAMUEL5, JOHN4, JOHN BLAND3, JOHN SMITH (SMYTH)2 (SMETH), JAMES1 SMITH) was born March 29, 1833 in Martha Vineyard, Mass., and died October 05, 1885. He married ELIZABETH MOYES. She was born June 02, 1834 in Perthshire Scottland, and died February 11, 1928.
• More About EDWARD Y SMITH:
• Burial: Dopp Cemetary, Wild Rose Wisc.
• More About ELIZABETH MOYES:
• Burial: Dopp Cemetary, Wild Rose Wisc.
• Children of EDWARD SMITH and ELIZABETH MOYES are:
• 10. i. LYMAN10 SMITH, b. April 24, 1875; d. February 22, 1949. (Her line)
• 11. ii. JULIA E. SMITH, b. October 27, 1854; d. March 14, 1909.
• iii. ISADORIS SMITH, b. October 02, 1859; d. March 03, 1906. (My line)
• iv. OWEN SMITH, b. December 02, 1859; d. July 14, 1909.
• v. MAGGIE SMITH, b. August 11, 1863; d. December 21, 1920.
• vi. WALLACE SMITH, b. October 18, 1865; d. March 04, 1918.
• vii. CLIFFORD SMITH, b. June 15, 1869; d. December 07, 1912.
• viii. BERTHA SMITH, b. November 08, 1871.
• ix. OTHA SMITH, b. March 20, 1880; d. April 09, 1946.
• I discovered that a Dairy Farm that I stopped at a year or so ago while looking for the Pope family homestead in the area between Waupaca and Waushara counties on why 22 was owned by cousins I didn't know existed at the time (The Dopp Dairy Farm).

Edward Y Smith is John Repinski's third great grandfather!
John, Jane, James, Jackie, Jeff Repinski
 →  Marlene Grace Repinski 
your mother 
→  Raymond Harold Dietz 
her father 
→  Grace Elizabeth Dietz 
his mother 
→  Isadore Pope 
her mother 
→  Edward Y Smith 
her father (our 3rd Great Grandfather)

Edward Y Smith   
Gender: Male
Birth: 1877
Immediate Family:
Son of Harrison Smith and Sophronia Norton Smith 
Husband of Elizabeth C. Moyes Smith 
Father of Isadore Pope; Wallace A Smith; Otha A Smith; Lyman A Smith; Clifford H Smith; Owen C M Smith; Bertha Smith; Margaret Smith and Ruby Barlow
Brother of Cicero C Smith; Ann W. Smith and Louisa G. Smith 

Below is the sketch taken from the "Commemorative Biography". I have added my relationship to the names where possible....


Life Sketch of my 3rd Great Grandfather from the Commemorative Biography of Wisconsin

Edward Y Smith, during his lifetime was one of the intelligent, substantial and hard-working pioneers of Belmont township in Portage county. 

He was a descendant of an old New England family, but was not a man who courted notoriety. 
He attended strictly to the business of a farmer, and the work that lay before him was thoroughly done. 
No man stood higher in the esteem of the community than he. 

Mr. Smith was born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., March 29, 1833, the son of Harrison and Sophrona Norton Smith. 

My 4th Great Grandfather Harrison Smith was superintendent of the poorhouse on Martha's '\'ineyard and a descendent of a very old Vineyard Smith family starting with his 2nd Great Grandfather John Smith (circa 1621 birth in Hamtpon England) who immigrated from England in 1635 and arrived in New England and moved to Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard as one of the 1st settlers. 
 John married Elizabeth Goodale on June 10, 1643 and started a family which several generations later would result in Harrison....

Harrison had a family of six children, as follows: 
Jane, now living at Minneapolis, Minn., widow of Cornelius Blount, a merchant and early settler in Dakota; 
Lyman A., who moved to Missouri; 
Charles F., who died in Portage City; 
Edward Y.; 
Samuel B., who removed to Arkansas; 
Ann, a maiden lady, who lives at Decorah, Iowa; 

The older boys followed fishing, and frequently shipped in the whalers that put out from the adjacent coast. 
In 1849, when Edward was fourteen years old, his father moved west with his family, settling in Lisbon township, Waukesha Co., Wis. 

Harrison was a well-to-do man, and a thorough-bred '' Yankee, " priding himself upon his Puritan ancestry. 
He died on his farm about 1851, and his widow Sophrania survived only three months; both were buried in Lisbon township. 

Edward Y. Smith attended the schools of Massachusetts, and after the death of his parents in Wisconsin the home was broken up. 
He was a born farmer, and worked out for others. 
(I don't know what happened to the family farm at the death of Harrison..it may have went to one of the other children as from this narrative it seems that Edward bound himself out to other farmers for employment.)
While thus employed in the farming trade, he met his wife, Miss Elizabeth C. Moyes. 

*Our 3rd Great Grandmother, Elizabeth was born in Perthshire, Scotland, June 20, 1834, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Rogers) Moyes, who in 1840 emigrated to America, landing with their six children at Quebec, Canada. 
After visiting relatives in Canada they came to Lisbon township, Waukesha county. 
The children were as follows: 
Jeannette, now Mrs. W. D. Dopp, of Belmont township; 
John, who died in Dane county. Wis.;
*Elizabeth C. and Margaret (twins), the former being the widow of Mr. Smith, subject of this sketch, the latter being the widow of Gilbert Dopp, of Monterey, Waukesha county; 
James, of Lisbon township, Waukesha county;
 and Mary, now Mrs. Benjamin Dopp, of Monterey, Waukesha county. 

*John Moyes (our 4th Great Grandfather) was a poor man, and supported his family by hard work. 
His good wife ably seconded him, and in times of necessity proved a valuable assistant in the harvest field. 
John Moyes died December 2, 1847, on the small farm which he had purchased in Lisbon township. His wife survived until April, 1889, and passed away in Monterey, Wis., aged eighty-five years. 

Elizabeth C. , our 3rd Great Grandmother, was a self-made woman. 
She desired an education, but her parents were too poor to help her. 
She began working when twelve vears old for her board and for the privilege of attending school. When she began receiving wages for her services she gave the money to her parents to help pay for their home. 
She managed to obtain a good education, and thus fitted herself for teaching school. 
She taught a number of terms when wages were as low as ten shillings per week, and later also when ten dollars per month was rated a fair salary. 

The marriage of Edward Y. Smith, then a farm hand, to Elizabeth C. Moyes, this young schoolteacher, occurred December 2, 1853, at Brookfield, Waukesha county. 
For eighteen months after marriage she lived with her mother, while her husband worked many farms. 
He was then ready to found his future home.... 

He purchased eighty acres in Section 36, Belmont township. Portage county, and with his wife and young child Julia, and a few effects, started in a covered wagon for the distant home; they also brought with them a little stock, including one cow; the journey consumed six days. 

They settled in a little log cabin, 12x14 f^et, and here they passed their happiest years, sweetened as it was by the sense of ownership and independence. 
There was more comfort in that little log house than in the substantial home which followed it; here, too, four children were added to the family. 

Mr. Smith industriously continued his pioneer labors, and added to his farm from time to time until, at his death, which occurred through an accident, October 5, 1888, he owned 260 acres; he was buried in the cemetery near Towne, Portage county. 

Mr. Smith was a Republican, and while not a politician took an interest in public affairs, at times being called to fill some local office. 
He was a self-made man, one who worked hard for his home, and who was highly esteemed by all who knew him. 

The children born to Edward Y Smith Elizabeth Moyes Smith are: 
Julia, now Mrs. Samuel Riley, of Dayton, Waupaca county; 
Owen C, a tinner, of Tenipleton, Waukesha county; 
*Isadore S., now Mrs. Henry Pope, of Dayton township, Waupaca county; 
Margaret A., now Mrs. Fred Minton, of Lanark, Portage county; 
Wallace A., 
Clifford H., 
Bertha M;
Lyman A., 
The former three all at home, as is also Otha (an adopted son)

Since the death of Mr. Smith his widow has had charge of the farm. 
She has made additions to their home, one of the pleas-antest and most commodious in the township, and both before and since her husband's death she has proved herself to be a thorough business woman. 
She had been of great assistance to Mr. Smith, and is most highh' respected. 
Formerly a Con-gregationalist, Mrs. Smith is now a member of the Presbyterian Church.

_______________________________________________________________________________

After reading through my narrative above, I realized a few things:

• How Similar the lives of my 3rd Great Grandparents were to other early settlers such as Laura Ingels (also a distant cousin) with the hardships and joys that they shared...
• My mother's memories of some of these people were talked about as I do remember mom telling me about a great grandma who was a school teacher in the Waupaca area way back when....
• That I have many blood relatives who are alive today because of these ancestors that I have probably met and do not even know who they are.
• That I am lucky to have gotten to know these ancestors of mine and how proud I am to know that I and my siblings and their children descend from such amazing people.

Warm Regards,

My Family Historian