THE SMITH CLAN
It is interesting in following the roads, the trails, and towns where these SMITHS lived; the whole family stayed closely together. There seemed to be a ONENESS among the members of this family to stay together; where one went they all went.
All the time the Smiths lived in Utah, it seems there was no separation of any one of the children; the same when they moved to St. Thomas, and when they were driven from there and went to Pleasanton, New Mexico. They still stayed intact as a family. But when they moved to the Gila, it seems, sister, Mary was the first to leave the home nest and make her a nest of her own, with the aid of her newly found husband. But at that, she didn’t leave the family and didn’t go far away. Their next move was to the Chiricahua Mountains, and it seemed the family as a whole moved there. In 1892 Charles married Ida Smith and located in St. David, where Mary and Riley had settled. Then Sarah, the oldest daughter, married Parley Sabin and found a home in St. David also. And still later in life, Pa and Ma Smith, in their old age, moved there for the remainder of their lives. Still later, Martha, after her husband died, bought a home there and finished her life span in this dear little town–with brother, Bert, living just a few miles down the highway. What a family!
Later, Samuel, met a tragic death in the mountains and was brought to St. David for funeral and burial. Later, Joseph’s body was buried in the St. David cemetery, where the Smith family are sleeping together today. All but Hyrum and Bert. Hyrum’s heart was so full of his life, he lived in memory in those mountains and St. David. Trilby Plumb says, her parents, Mary and Riley Plumb, went right along with the Smith family from Eden, Arizona to the mountains, and they lived close to her parents for about twelve years. Can you beat that? A closer family TIE is hard to find.
Today, St. David is almost bereft of Smith relations; but they are sleeping there just the same; so tread softly when you enter the cemetery gate that you disturb not these dear ones. We feel they have earned their rest and are now busy on the other side; where there is much work to do for their dead ancestors, and where people never tire.
Hyrum, the baby of the family, died 2 June 1971 in Farmington, New Mexico. A few days before he passed away he told his wife that his parents and all of his brothers and sisters had been to see him lately but his brother, Bert. Still close family ties.
Laura McBride Smith