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Migration:
HARVEY M. SMETHERS, of Beatrice, was born in Lee county, Illinois, March 15, 1863. The sketch of
his brother, P. J. Smethers, elsewhere in this volume, gives due data concerning the family.
Harvey M. Smethers received his education in Illinois and after coming to Nebraska he attended the public schools
of Gage county. In 1885 he located in Beatrice, this county, where he clerked in a store for one year. He engaged
in the general merchandise business with W. J. Dunnick, under the firm name of Smethers & Dunnick. After a
short time Mr. Dunnick sold his interest in the business to A. H. Brubaker, and the business continued in the name
of Smethers & Brubaker for one year, when Mr. Smethers sold his interest in the enterprise and engaged in farming.
He continued farming operations only a short time and then returned to Beatrice and entered the hardware and implement
business. Later he engaged. in the pump and windmill business, which he later sold, and thereafter he was employed
by the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company for many years, as traveling salesman. Upon severing his connection
with the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company, Mr. Smethers went to Wyoming, where he was engaged in drilling for
oil, for about two years. He then returned to Beatrice and became manager of the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company's
retail department, which position he has occupied for the past twelve years.
In December, 1887, Mr. Smethers was united in marriage to Margaret Rosella Dunnick, daughter of George F. Dunnick,
a farmer in Kansas, where Mrs. Smethers was born. Mr. Dunnick later came to Nebraska and resided in Beatrice. Mr.
and Mrs. Smethers became the parents of three children: Lillian Eunice is the wife of Clyde A. Scott, of Omaha,
Nebraska ; Bertha Grace died in childhood; and Harvey Donald died at the age of ten years. The wife and mother
passed away in 1891. In 1893 Mr. Smethers wedded Alda Millie Randall, daughter of Charles Randall, who was born
in Boston, Massachusetts, and who came to the west and settled in Kansas many years ago: there he. engaged in farming
and later he came to Nebraska, where he now makes his home in Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Smethers have no children.
They are members of the Christian church and Mr. Smethers is a Democrat in his political allegiance. |
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| 1930 census lists Harvey M. Smethers, age 67 and Alda age 57 Gage Co, NB |
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History of Gage County, 1918
Summary of the Percy SMETHERS biography which is listed in full below.
Parents: Josiah Smethers (b. PA) and wife Mary Hill
Children born in Lee County IL.
Family then moved to Gage County, NB. 1878
8 children. 5 grew to adulthood. They were;
Cinderella, Percy J., Harvey M., James A., and Oscar Leon.
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PERCY J. SMETHERS, a representative retired farmer now residing in the city of Beatrice, established his home in
Gage county forty years ago and through his energy and progressiveness he developed and improved one of the fine
farm estates of Glenwood township, He was born in Lee county, Illinois, on the 3Oth of September, 1856, and is
a son of Josiah and Mary (Hill) Smethers, who were born and reared in Pennsylvania
and who came to Gage county, Nebraska, in 1878, the father taking up a tract of land on the Otoe Indian reservation
and having reclaimed the same into a productive farm. Upon his retirement from the farm he established his home
in the village of Lanham, this county, and there he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, honored as
sterling pioneer citizens of the county. Of their eight children five are living:
Cinderella is the wife of B. C. Burkett, a retired farmer residing in the village of Odell, this county; Percy
J., of this review, is the next younger;
Harvey M. is prominently indentified with mercantile enterprise in the city of Beatrice;
James is employed as a skilled iron worker in the same city; and
Oscar Leon resides in Wyoming.
The father was a Democrat in politics and he and his wife were consistent members of the English Lutheran
church.
Their marriage was solemnized in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and in 1853 they immigrated to Lee county, Illinois,
where they continued to reside until their removal to Nebraska, as already noted.
Percy J. Smethers acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county and was twenty-two years
of age when he accompanied his parents to Nebraska, in 1878. On the Otoe Indian reservation, in what is now Glenwood
township, Gage county, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, and here he reclaimed and developed the
fine farm on which he continued to reside for thirty-one years. His original house was little more than a hut,
and was built at a cost of forty-five dollars, and this constituted the family home for seven years. He then erected
a substantial and commodious farm house, and he also erected other good buildings on his homestead. In buying his
original farm Mr. Smethers paid for the same at the rate of three and one-half dollars an acre. In 1909 he sold
the property for one hundred dollars an acre. As a farmer he gave his attention to diversified agriculture .and
the raising of good live stock, besides developing a prosperous dairying business. Upon selling his old homestead
he purchased forty a:res of land lying adjacent to the city of Beatrice, and in the spring of 1917 he sold this
property for two hundred and fifty dollars an acre. He still owns a well improved farm of eighty acres in Glenwood
township.
In 1877 Mr. Smethers wedded Miss Mary Uhl, who was born in Lee county, Illinois, June 17, 1857, a daughter of the
late Hiram and Margaret ( Wilhelm ) Uhl, the latter of whom died in 1858, and two of her four children are still
living. Mr. Uhl ultimately contracted a second marriage, when Nancy Hughes became his wife, and of this union were
born four children. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Smethers the follow- ing brief record is given: Nettie
is the wife of W. A. Seitz and they reside in the state of Montana; Elroy resides in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska;
Maevi became the wife of Horace Loeber, who passed away November 26, 1917.
Mr. and Mrs. Smethers are earnest and zealous members of the Christian church and he is a valued member of the
church choir . In politics he gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party and while residing on his
farm he served for several years as township clerk. |
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