Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1914-03-25
JOHN SMITH REACHES
THE END OF THE TRAIL"
Had Lived IL Beetown About
Sixty-six Years.
Tribute to the Memory of Well Known
and Well Loved PIONEER Citizen
Now Passed Away.

'Sunset-and the end of the TRAIL
There the last faint footsteps, fail,
And go on alone
Into the untraCk ed ways;
l, who in other days
Blazed many a road straight up
To the peaks that touch the sun
But now is the climbing done.
No more to my feet the trail;
No more to my hand the rein:
No mOre-ah, never again
The sun and the winds, and free
The Tor stars over mel
AS the wilderness called went;
Now. deep and solemn and low
A M1ght1er CallS-and L CO..
John Smith was born in England.
December %, 1926. He came with his
widowed mother to America at the
age of six years, settling IN Dubuque
Iowa, when that city was but ham
let inhabited mostly by miners.
After two years residence there they
removed to the mining region of
PotOsi, Wis. The stern responsible
tiles of life fell early upon the young
shoulders. He experienced the hard
ships as we'll as the God-given joys
of the simple life of that early day.
When but boy he became an ex-
pert hunter and trapper. Deer,
wild turkey and small game we're
often added to the frugal store at
home. He had companion, Matt
Walker, who later because his broth
er-in-law and lifelong inseparable
friend. Together they blazed many
a trail, and for two score and more
of years they travelled the vast
wilderness that bordered the great
Father OF Waters" How many
times they have laid down together
seeking natures sweet restorer,
balmy Sleep" with mother earth for
pillow no covering but the
star-lit canopy OF the skies. In
unison they long dwelt as neighbors
both familiar and respected land
marks of old Beetown, and now at
last side by side they rest undivid-
ed in their last sleep.
In 1848 Mr.. Smith came to Bee
town. September 81, 1849 he was
united in marriage to Miss Martha
Walker. To the union was born
eight children. Two daughters,
Eliza Mrs. John Ralph and Emma,
one of Grant County's exemplary
teachers, with their mother preced-
ed the husband and father to that
bourne from whence none return.
The merciful hand of God released
HIM from an illness of ten weeks
duration at an early morning hour
March IA, 1914, at the advanced age
of 80 years. Those who survive are
Mrs. Conrad Papst, Dell Rapids, S.
D., Mrs. James RedmOn, LIE Mars,
Iowa, Frank, Lancaster, Will, Boze-
man, Mont, Mrs Hiram Cliff,
Bloomington (at whose home he
died), one half-sister, Mrs. Eliza
Bonham of Ismay, Mont, with
twelve grandchildren. Eleven great
grand children.
Mr.. Smith had been a miner and
farmer. He had held various posi-
tions of trust in township. He was
a man of frugal habits, and great
industry. He was widely known
and was held in high esteem, his
moral character was beyond re-
proach, and he was deserving of
the marked respect manifested at
at his burial by the presence of the
many who came to pay last tri-
butte The funeral services we're
held in the village church at Bee
town, Sunday following his demise.
He had been citizen there sixty six
years, claiming any residence else
where only temporary. He had laid
up fair competence, but he pre-
ferred the simple life. The old home
stead to which he had brought his
bride and from whence she departed
for the Better Land; where his chill
dren were born and from where
they passed into homes of their own
was to the aged father sacred spot,
which he refued to relinquish. Even
IN the grayness and solitude of lIfe's
eventide he could not be persuaded
to sever the tender ties that bound
to the old place and accept per-
manently the more comfortable
homes so freely proffered. He
pruned his fruit trees, he tended his
garden and his flowers, and his beds
of pansies were the admiration of
all passers-by All his work among
them seemed to be but loves labor.
Who shall say their uplifted bloom
SO like the innocent faces of child
hood, were not a solace to the old
and lonely heart for the smiles and
the mirth and gladness long since
gone away. He would not recognize
the Handicapped his great age. Life
in the open had preserved his
health and faculties to a remarkable
extent, and when the deadly illness
assaulted, while recognizing its sew
Gritty, he yet took the fighting
chance and with vitality nothing
less than wonderful, nature battled
with the destroyer. But he was a
patient sufferer. And often in the
long night vigils, he was heard
whispering in prayer, and bravely
and gently he submitted to the in
evitable.
Flowers, many of them, came