My Great Grandpa John M. Smuin died on this day 161 years ago. He lived in Ogden, then later had a grocery and dry goods store in Rexburg, Idaho. I don’t know much about him yet, and this photo is the only one I have of him. He’s seated, with his oldest son, John “Leroy” and his baby, also named LeRoy. The mother’s name is Edith (Duncan) . John’s son, Franklin, was my Grandpa, number eight of eleven children.
I went through Rexburg, Idaho in 2003 with the family on our way to Yellowstone and we went to the cemetery to find the headstone for John and his wife Harriet Matilda Barker Smuin. She is the daughter of Mary Ann Pain Holt. I had a one-page history about John’s life and the write up below about his funeral. It mentions several speakers, including Arthur Porter. When I showed it to the white-haired woman docent working that day at the local museum, she told me she was Arthur Porter’s daughter. She said she knew all the people mentioned here. I gave her a hug, knowing she had known my Great Grandpa. It made me feel one step closer to him.
Here is a picture I took of a newspaper article from a scrapbook found in the Rexburg Museum about the history of Rexburg:
In the book, History of Idaho: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests (published in 1914), Volume 3, p. 1206, I found this paragraph on a page about John’s son, William:
I’m happy to know what I know, but I sure wish I new more about John and Harriet.