Mrs. M. E. Smith Obituary
Newspaper clipping from Ozona Newspaper?? Jan 2
1948??
MRS. M. E. SMITH, 92, CROCKETT PIONEER, CALLED BY DEATH
Ozona Resident for 52 Years Buried in Services Wednesday Ranks
of the true pioneers of Crockett county and of Texas were
thinned with the death here Tuesday night of MRS. MARY ELIZABETH
SMITH, a residence of Ozona and Crockett county since 1895,, who
passed her 92nd birthday last September 20th. Mrs. Smith died at
her home here after a brief illness.
Funeral services were held at 10 o'clock this
morning from Ratliff Funeral Home, Rev. Horace M. KING , pastor
of the Ozona Methodist Church, conducting the service. Burial was
in Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Mrs. Smith, one of the oldest residents of
Crockett county, who was MARY ELIZABETH SHIPP, was born in
Llano county September 20, 1855. Her parents were Dr. and MRS.
A. A.. SHIPP, who came to Texas in the early days from Tennessee.
Memories of Indian raids during her childhood
in Llano county, of the hardships of the civil was days, of the
trials of the pioneer life in West Texas and of the later development
of Ozona and Crockett county were mingled in the mind of this pioneer
mother whose mind remained clear and whose life was full even to her
last days.
In an interview given on the occasion of her 82nd
birthday, Mrs. Smith recalled the life of her family in LLano county
in the early days when Indian raids were common.
Her father, a practicing physician, was often away on sick calls and
she recalled that she, her mother and two small brothers often
would sit in the dark of their home, afraid to light a lamp for fear
it would attract marauding redskins. She recalled that after she
was grown the Indians often would parade around their home at
night looking into the windows. It was impossible to keep
a saddle horse and many times children and wives were
hustled into a certain farm house for protection while the men
took up the trail of a band of raiders.
The SHIPP's moved to Bastrop for a short
time and from there to Caldwell county where they were at the
time of the Civil War. Mrs. Smith recalled that her father
waited on the Confederate soldiers, contracting from them what
was then known as "camp fever" which caused his death. She
remembered Confederate soldiers passing all day in front of
their home. She recalled also the hardships of the times, the
shortage of food, the
plundering by Northern soldiers who devastated growing fields
and destroyed food supplies in the home of southerners.
After Dr. Shipp's death, Mrs. Shipp moved
her family to Blanco and it was there that Mary Elizabeth met
JAMES SMITH, a cowboy. They were married in 1869 and soon
after they started west with their cattle, settling near Big
Spring. At that time the country was not fenced and they drifted
as far as New Mexico.
The Smiths moved to Ozona in 1895, their son
having come here five years earlier. Mrs. Smith had been
living in the same house here for over fifty years, her
daughter, Miss Lee Smith, living with her. Mrs. Smith is a
charter member of the Ozona Methodist Church and has held
membership in that church for over 60 years.
Mrs. Smith is survived by four children, AUSTIN
A. SMITH of Hope, NM; Mrs. J. L. TOOLE of Lamesa, Mrs. TOM
CASBEER and Miss LEE SMITH, both of Ozona. Thirteen grand children
and sixteen great grandchildren also survive.
*****************************************************************
There is also an obit for her in the San Angelo Standard Times
Additional items in this obit. Died at her home at 8:45 p.m.
Thursday. Pallbearers will be PARK HOLT, LAMAR CASBEER, J.
T. CASBBER, and MILTON SPURGER, all grandsons; JOE DAVIDSON and
HOUSTON SMITH. Fourteen grandchildren and 25
great-grandchildren.
Submitted by
Betty Varner on October 11, 2003
Back
to Obituaries
|