MRS. NELLIE SMITH OLDEST PIONEER IN WASHTA VICINITY
Was Among Early Settlers Who Arrived There in 1873, After Covered Wagon Trip
HER AGE IS NOW 92
Some Experiences of Those Early Days Recalled in Interesting Story of Her Life
(By Inez Keck)
Mrs.
Nellie Smith, at 92, is the oldest “early” settler now living in this
part of Cherokee county. With her husband and five children she came to
Washta in 1873, the trip in a covered wagon lasting twenty-one days.
Mrs.
Smith was born in Kentucky, the state of fine horses and at an early
age was an able horseback rider. When she was twenty years old, she
moved to Illinois with her parents, riding on horseback most of the
journey. One covered wagon, a carriage and thirteen horses brought the
travelers thru the new country where thieves were so numerous that
their horses were, of necessity, kept in stockades or livery barns each
night.
She was married to Charles Smith in 1861, and they
lived in Illinois, where their five children were born, for twelve
years before coming to Iowa. She tells of the sheep they raised in the
early days, and of how she sheared sheep, carded, spun and wove the
wool, and made sweaters, socks, undershirts and other clothing for her
family.
The Smith family came to this vicinity fourteen years before
the railroad was built thru Washta. They bought 160 acres of unimproved
land, built comfortable farm buildings, broke the land, set out forest
trees and later an orchard. Mrs. Smith still lives on this farm at the
edge of Washta with her daughter, Cora, while the other surviving
members of her family, her son, Will and daughter, Mrs. Sara Gano, live
within calling distance. Her husband died in 1914, and three of her
children, Mrs. Mary Campbell of Cherokee, Cade and Mrs.
Effie Zimmerman of Jasper, Minn., also have passed on to the great
beyond.
Supplies were brought from Cherokee, Smithland and
Denison in those early days before any bridges had been built over the
Little Sioux river. They had no neighbors to the east of them and few
in any direction, and mail was brought to Washta twice a week on
horseback.
“Aunt Nellie” Smith has acquired a reputation as a
maker of quilts, often piecing as many as fifteen in a winter. Her
advanced age does not interfere with her hobby of quilt making. During
the world war she devoted all of her spare time in knitting for the
soldiers making helmets, sweaters, mittens and socks, almost without
end. She had a special interest in the soldiers, as her grandson was in
active service in France where he suffered the loss of a leg in battle.
The Cherokee
Chief, Cherokee, IA, Mon., Sep 5, 1927 |
