52 Ancestors 2020 – 15 – Fire – James Curtis Smalley

52 Ancestors 2020 – 15 – Fire – James Curtis Smalley

In considering who to choose for the theme “fire” I looked at the “aunts and uncles birthdays” for this week and tried to find someone who might fit this theme. It was a little bit of a stretch, but I finally decided to write about James Curtis Smalley. James was born in Adams County, Ohio, which had a rather disastrous courthouse fire in 1910. Of course James had moved away many years before the fire.

James Curtis Smalley was born 11 Apr 1862, the 4^th child of John Wilson and Rachel Ann (Hemphill) Smalley, during the time of the Civil War. His father enlisted in the Union Army on 14 Oct 1861, after James was conceived. Then, according to John's pension file, he was classified as absent without leave (AWOL) from 6 Feb 1862 until 3 Aug 1863 when he was arrested and placed in confinement until 31 Dec 1863. Thus his father may have been home when James was born. John then served until his discharge 28 Oct 1864 when he returned home.

The family moved farther north before the 1870 census where they were enumerated on the census in Clinton County, Ohio. There were at least 2 moves during the next ten years as they went to Illinois in about 1872 and then to Nebraska in 1879. James' youngest sister, Rosa, was born in Nebraska in June, bringing his number of siblings up to 12: Mary, Lafe, David, William, Isaac, Saber, Eliza, John, Joseph, Martha, Fred and Rosa. But sadly it was just a few months later, in Sep 1879, James' younger 13 year old brother Isaac died of typhoid fever.

The 1880 census shows their family in Saline County Nebraska. The family suffered another death as James' 18 year old sister, Saber, died in Dec 1885. It was about 1887 when the family moved again, this time southwesterly, as they went to Sherman County, Kansas. Both James and his father John settled on homesteads in Itaska Township, about 1 mile east of the County seat of Goodland, and received their patents in 1893.

But before proving up on his homestead, on 26 Nov 1889, James married 15 year old Stella Coffman, known as Stella Deatherage, as she was the adopted daughter of Charles and Eliza Deatherage. Their first child, a daughter, Iseal Fay, was born 20 Aug 1890. About 2 years later their first son was born, Earl Weaver. In 1894 the local Goodland newspaper listed James as a constable in Itasca Township.

It was in 1895 that Russell Ray was born, which was after James had been issued his patent. They may have moved south by then as they do not appear on the 1895 Kansas state census. Raymond Henry was born in Oklahoma in Aug 1897. Then death came to their young family when Russell Ray died in Jan 1898. He was buried at Cimarron Valley Cemetery in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. James and Stella and their 3 older children were listed on the 1900 census in Woods County, Oklahoma. They were probably there when Martha was born in Nov 1900, Bertha in Jun 1902 and Gilbert in Jul 1904. Again I found James mentioned in a Goodland newspaper in 1906, when it related the sad news that his 18 month old son had died of pneumonia. The family was apparently visiting in the area, staying at his sister Rosa's home. 1906 was also the year when James' name is included on the land ownership map of Township 21N, Range 10W on the southeast ¼ of section 24 in Woods County.

But the family did not stay in Oklahoma, for in the 1910 census they were shown in

Hemphill County, Texas, with 6 children in the household, which included Florence Frances who had been born in Texas in Nov 1908. James must have had wandering feet for the family was back in Oklahoma in Sickles Township in Caddo County by the 1920 census. Also in the household was their daughter Florence and Ninetta who probably was born about 1911.

Sometime in the next 10 years James and Stella made their biggest move, when they went west to California. They were enumerated on the 1930 census in Highland Township in San Berdardino County next to their youngest daughter, now married.

So from his birth in Ohio, then to Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, James

died in Highland California 7 Dec 1936. He was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernadino. Stella was also buried in that cemetery when she died about 30 years later in 1966.