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Above:
Iowa boys with attitude - Young men hanging out. - G.Day Smith is left
and center in pictures above.
Above:
Could this have been the home of G. Day Smith's adoptive parents,
"Aunt Me and Uncle John" in Eldora, Iowa? I'm researching
this possibility.
Above: Grinnell College pals, class of 1907 with G. Day Smith, far right.
G. Day Smith Wrote a Memorable (but Forgotten) Poem in Those Years
March 12, 2007,
Dear Miles,
Following a Grinnell reunion in Washington, D.C., I met a fellow Grinnellian on our trolley ride homeward. When I sat down next to a smiling grey-haired lady she told me that she had known my father at Grinnell. This remarkable old woman (in 1956 she would have been about 70 - not so old to me at 81 today) then recited a poem that my father had written in those years form 1904 to 1907. Regrettably, my research in the basement archives of the library failed to reveal any poem that my father had published. Nor can I remember much about either the poem or the lady's name; both were from what my father referred to as the "oughts" (as in "class of ought seven").
Love, Gianna
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Day
graduated from Grinnell College in 1907.
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Above:
Ice skating
Right:
How you dress for tennis in the 1900s.
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Above:
From a series of photos with Grinnell college friends, 1904-1907,
most likely around 1907.
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Home
Sweet Home (below)
Above:
"Dining room at Eyra's in Eldora. 'My Bessie' took this hense
she isn't in it. Your place is between Jim and Frank." So reads
the inscription on the back, suggesting that this is Day's (adoptive)
family in Eldora Iowa, "Aunt Marriam and Uncle John". I
believe that Marrium "Aunt Mea" is fifth from left, and
her husband "Uncle John" is 2nd from left. Some of the same
faces are recognizable below, but somewhat older.
Above
and Below: Family Photos with G. Day Smith in Eldora, Iowa, circa 1900-1910
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Left
to Right, back row, Two unknown persons (Perhaps son-in-law and
daughter of Marrium and John?), and Aunt Marrium (aka Aunt Me).
Left to right, front row, G. Day Smith reclining, "Uncle
John"?, and perhaps John's brother or father? Same gentleman
appears in a few other pictures with the family.
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Day
told the genealogist Adele Andrews in or before 1940 that at various
times he and Bertha had lived in Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota.
If the story about Chicago is correct, presumably he also lived
in Illinois.
In
a letter to Gianna (K.C. Mo., 11-20-55) his wife Bertha Smith
wrote:
| "There
is a a mistake about the part concerning me. I never lived
either in Iowa or Minnesota. Your dad lived in Eldora, IA,
from the time he was 2 until 18, K.C. [Kansas City?] at Uncle
George's one year taking on extra work in H.S.; then in Grinnell
[where he attended college]; for a short time in Des Moines,
working on the Register & Leader; then Hannibal for two
years; Duluth, two years; Chicago with the Associated Press
for a short time, Jefferson City with the A.P. and Seattle." |
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Right, GD Smith in a crowd. I have a larger version of this photo. I believe that
this would be a college photo, and not from Eldora. Date? Probably
circa 1905-1908. Do the clothes or hat styles provide any clues
to dating?
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When
I asked my mother what "essential truth" I should know about
her father she replied "He had a mild sense of humor."
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Right:
Woman on horseback. Day collected many pictures of young women,
all unlabeled. This is one of the most romantic of them. I read
them as "souvenirs" of his younger days when he had
yet to find a wife.
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Above
and below: G. Day Smith, circa 1907 -1917, possibly
in Mitchell, South Dakota, probably when he was working as a mule
skinner in South Dakota. Since the picture above left appears in his
1917 class letters book, this series cannot be from later than 1917.
Above: 1917 at the latest |
Above: 1917 at the latest
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My
mother estimated that the four pictures above (and at top of page)
are from his mule skinner days, around 1905-1907, in his mid-twenties,
when after college he lived in South Dakota. However in fact he did
not graduate college until 1907, so these pictures are more likely
from between 1907 and the year 1917, when one of them appears in his
1917 class letters booklet.
Above
and below: Unlabeled and undated scenes from the photographs of G.D.Smith.
Could the photos above and below be from Mitchell, South Dakota, around
1910? My sources in Mitchell, South Dakota think not, and so, these
photos are probably best labled simply "scenes from the midwestern
and western landscape" through which G. Day Smith travelled in
his days as a journalist. I find these photos to be mind boggling. To think that my grandfather walked the streets of towns that looked like that!
According to the Andrews genalogy (1940) Day's career in journalism began at least as early as 5 years after his 1907 graduation from Grinnel.
"He has been a journalist, with the Kansas City Star since 1912." (p. 41)
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It probably began even before that. As we can see below, he is a merry writer in 1914, at the age of 32.
Below:
G.Day Smith reports back to the Grinnell College Class of 1907 in
the June, 1914 "Annual class Letter of Grinnell college", at age 32.
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G.
Day Says To the Editor: "Be Sure To Add Postscript"
Kansas
City, March 26, 1914:-- Dear Nineteen-Seveners: after several
days of looking Ariel and I have decided that it shall be one
of those Orioloe go-baskets that will make him look like a little
papoose. By him of course I mean our boy who is still too young
to receive a name, although several are under consideration
for him. It might be well to explain here, everything in the
order of its importance, that Ariel and I were married last
year a little after I was supposed to write my class letter
and didn't. Ariel is a Kansas City girl I met about two years
ago, but our partnership agreement was reached rather suddenly
and the ceremony was the shortest we could find. We have a little
cottage, some roses and room for an onion patch, an Irish terrier
and a canary bird in addition to "the boy."
It
might be news to some of the class also to know that I have
left the newspaper business and that as secretary of an aviation
company I expect to be the "advance man" for our entry
in the around-the-globe air race from Frisco next year. My wife
objected to my flying so I rarely go up in the air now, except
figuratively. Maybe on my trips I will get to see some of you,
but I certainly hope none of you will come to Kansas City without
looking me up. With best regards for all, I remain, strange
to say.
G.
Day Smith, '07
P.S.
This being the kind of a class letter I would like to have write,
why this was the letter I wrote. It is my opinion that the class
of 1907 has given the world no genius that has anything on me
as a liar. G.D.S.
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Below. A relatively young Day with pipe and friends, in front of cabin,
date and
location unknown. I speculate that this might be Day as a young journalist.
At
one point he was employed in journalism in Chicago, but lost that job
under circumstances that were unpleasant, but are unknown.
A few documents in his effects attest to the fact that Day attempted to enlist in the army during the Great War. He was not able to do so due to a health problem of some kind.
Considering that America's involvement and opportunities to enlist came late in the war (circa 1916?) he would have been almost 34, and surely a bit old for military service.
And so, not for lack of trying, Day survived the Great War and lived to marry and produce two daughters, Marrium (Swish) and my mother Gianna.
But before he married Bertha in 1920 (age 38), he joked in 1917 (age 35) to his 1907 Grinnell classmates about fatherhood as follows.
In the letter that follows, in the midst of the Great War he continues to strike a jolly note, but also is slightly melancholy with a line such as "...all my young heart cries out for."
Below:
A class letter, written in 1917 by G.Day Smith, when residing at 2812
East Sixth St., Kansas City, Mo.
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Kansas
City, Mo. April Fool, 1917 (Hold for release in June)
Welcome
back to the campus, 1917, greeting and handshakes!
After
our brief absence from the halls of learning, as 'twer, but
that reminds me: What is this report prevalent in certain quarters,
even of our class, that 1907 has been out of school ten years,
that it has been a decade since I rented a black robe and paraded
with the rest of you down the aisle of the Congregational church
into pews roped off with scarlet and white ribbons?
Absurd!
Preposterous! Faugh! Three Ha's in a row. I have even the matter
some attention and after figuring carefully, calling to my assistance
all of the mathematical knowledge I can recall from my courses
in trig and surveying, I am able to announce posolutely that
our diplomas were passed out just one year ago. This I suppose
accounts for the figure one that has appeared before the seven
in some of the recent calendars.
Here
is the correct dope:
After
graduation I was in Des Moines about a month on the Register
and Leader, then a month here in Kansas City on the Post. Next
I was city, country, society, police, musical, railroad, motor,
movie and dramatic editor of the Hannibal Courier Post for about
a month. That's three months. Then I went to the Duluth News
Tribune for, say, about two months and from there came here
again where I have been seven months on the Star. Three months,
plus two months, plus seven months, equals twelve months and
none to carry, equal one year. Quod erat demonstrandum. (Note
how the Latin quotations leap to my li-, typewriter.)
As
further evidence that we graduated just a year ago, I call attention
to the fact that I feel exactly one year younger although I
modestly admit that I appear almost ten years younger. This
estimate is made after making due allowance for the physical
improvement naturally following when I was relieved of the severe
strain of studying, attending Annual Board function, cutting
chapel and fussing.
As
proof that I am looking younger, I am sending two specially
posed kodak views, one of my present aspect and the other taken
when I was in college. I know only one was asked or expected
but there was no assurance even that would be printed and the
worst that can happen to these "Before and After"
pictures will be for them to be thrown away. And that will have
no effect whatever on my grand and glorious feeling of youth
that may be likened to that of the spring lamb.
I
summon all of you to take steps to correct these misstatements
about 1907 having been graduated ten years ago. Why, by and
by, they will be saying it was fifteen or twenty years ago.
The best way to contradict it is for every one of us to come
back to each commencement. No class that has been out of school
fifteen or twenty years ever had a full attendance at Commencement
and the enemy's logic will be confounded. No class that has
been out ten years ever bore down under full pressure on "I'm
Goin' to be '07 Until I die".
And
that's the melody that all my young being cries out for.
G.
Day Smith (1917)
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Above:
Courting Time - Day skating with unknown woman, date unknown.
I would guess that it is taken between his college graduation
in 1907 and his marriage in 1920.
After
an extended courtship by US mail, lasting many years (source, Gianna
Hochstein), Day moved to Kansas City to marry my grandmother, Bertha
(Schmidt) Smith, on June 19, 1920 in Hannibal MO, at the age of
38. Like him she was a journalist. She would have been 39 years old.
Gianna
told me that they delayed marriage for a long time because it was not
possible to consider marriage until he made $50/week. This, they agreed,
was the minimum that would make it possible for him to sustain a family.
When he got the job at the Star, and only then, marriage was possible.
So his marriage to his Bertha and to the Star were parallel and intertwined
and he continued with both until his death in 1946.
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Old
Legal Documents
Evidence
of their efforts to purchase a house following their marriage
in 1920 comes from some old legal documents in Gianna's possession.
On September 18, 1922, George W. Day (Attorney and Counselor at
Law, New York Life Building, Kansas City, Mo.) sent a letter to
Mr. and Mrs. G. Day Smith rendering his opinion about the "abstract
of title" for the purchase of a property in Kansas City.
He seems to advise them against it for various reasons involving
unresolved leins and debts. I mention this only because attorney
George W. Day is presumably George Willard Day (December 22, 1856
- January 25, 1927) the brother of G. Day Smith's biological mother,
Emma Kate Day.
George
Willard Day married Emma Worden on July 17, 1889 in Cleveland,
and had one child of which I am aware, Helen Day in 1890 (named
presumably after George Willard Day's sister Helen (Day) Kibee(?).
Helen Day bore Barbara Evans (1921) Dorothy Evans (1925). There
my own records currently end.
Since
I've seen a number of references to "Uncle George" in
Kansas City with whom G. Day Smith went to stay with around 1902
or 1903, to take additional high school work before going to Grinnell
College. It seems likely that this is the Uncle George to which
they referred.
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Above:
Day's uncle, George Willard Day (b. 1853), brother of his biological
mother Emma
Kate (Day) Smith.
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Above:
1929 - Day at age 47, family man. The only picture that I have seen of all four family members
in one photograph, G. Day Smith, Bertha Smith, my mother Gianna
Smith (about age 3) and my aunt Marrium Smith (about age 8). The photo is labeled
"At Unity Farm" on front, and "Taken Labor Day, 1929
- As you see, this is over 2 yr. old. It is a picture of my family
and me." This was probably written by Marrium. There was an
"X" marked on Marrium's image that I have partially removed.
My mother Gianna is on the left.
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Day
in the 1930s or 1940s. This is the portrait that appears in
pen and ink in his Kansas City Star obituary as well.
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The
inscription on the photo above reads: "George Day
Smith, ca 1940. He was an avid gardener, especially growing
scented flowers." On the front of the picture above,
at the bottom, it says "Dad in work clothes."
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Day
was a newspaperman, a Democrat at what my mother thinks was a Republican
leaning paper, the "Kansas City Star." He joined the newspaper
in 1912 at the age of 30.
More importantly, perhaps, he was a teetotaler among hard drinking newspapermen,
and so, my mother says, he never quite fit in at the newspaper.
Day
was a Roosevelt Democrat, and his wife, my grandmother Bertha, was a
Hoover supporter. However they compromised on religion. My mother explains
that although her mother was a devout Methodist, George's leanings were
toward non-belief and Unitarianism. They compromised on Congregationalism,
in which my mother was raised, and in which she took no interest.
The
other fact that I have been told about George Day Smith is that he liked
to garden. Every summer he wore a new straw hat.
He
died in 1946, thirteen years before I was born, at the age of 64.
Below:
Entire Text from Deaths Page for G. Day Smith, Date Stamped Sep 11
1946
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DEATHS
TRIBUTE
TO G.DAY SMITH
Services
Are Held for The Star's Assistant Sunday Editor
More
than 100 persons attended funeral services yesterday afternoon
for G. Day Smith, assistant Sunday editor of The Star, at the
Stine and McClure chapel.
Dr. G. Charles Gray, pastor of the Westminster Congregational
church who conducted the services, described Mr. Smith as a
modest, quiet and thoughtful man.
"He
was the first to disclaim the distinctions most men struggle
after," Dr. Gray said. "He was devoid of those jealousies
that sometimes mar human relationships. His was a modest but
deep pride in the work he had chosen. he did his day's work
as it came, with scrupulous respect for the task. He found a
joy in the progress of his job, giving personal thought to the
mechanics of run-of-the-mill tasks and encouragement to those
with lesser experience than he whose work passed across his
desk."
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Below:
Unsigned tribute to G. Day Smith from the Kansas City Star
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G.
Day Smith
"Over
a period of more than twenty-five years associates of G. Day
Smith in The Star's editorial rooms expected to find him at
his desk just as naturally as they expected the daylight each
morning. It seemed that he was always there and always earnestly
engaged in his work. As The Star's assistant Sunday editor he
was called upon to read an immense amount of copy and his constant
interest was in correct writing. He edited articles with the
utmost care but was always sympathetic in his criticisms - kindly,
gentle and modest in manner as he was industrious in his labor."
"Mr.
Smith's devotion to his work was matched fully by his devotion
to his family and his home. It was a most congenial family life
that drew the attention of friends and neighbors over a a long
period of years. With her background of newspaper experiences
Mrs. Smith followed closely the interest of her husband in The
Star. With the two daughters the Smiths made up a happy family
circle. The members had much in common in their education as
in their love of the home and the gardening to which Mr. Smith
gave much of his leisure time. The family grief at the death
of Mr. Smith is mingled with the happiness of memories which
are shared by the friends who knew him best"
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Below:
Primary obituary from the Kansas City Star
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G.
DAY SMITH IS DEAD
ILLNESS
FATAL TO THE STAR ASSISTANT SUNDAY EDITOR
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Long
Journalistic Career of "Whiz" Began as a Youth in
Iowa - Had Been Operated on in March
G.
Day Smith 64 years old, the Star's assistant Sunday editor,
died yesterday afternoon after an illness of several months,
part of which was spent at the Research hospital.
In
the latter part of March Mr. Smith, because of failing health
began a leave of absence from his work and entered the hospital
for treatment. After three weeks in the hospital he returned
to his home at 4915 Baltimore avenue, reentering the hospital
only for periodical examinations. He was admitted to the hospital
again Friday morning. His death at 2:55 yesterday afternoon
was unexpected. His doctor gave the direct cause of death as
uremic poisoning.
JOURNALISTIC
INTEREST EARLY
Interest
in journalism came early for Mr. Smith, known to his fellow
workers as "Whiz" and he began preparations for his
lifetime pursuit as a high school student at Eldora IA He was
born at Mitchell SD His mother died when he was 2 years old
and he was taken by relatives in Eldora to be reared.
English
and foreign languages were his favored subjects in high school
In 1902 Mr. Smith went to Central high school in Kansas City
for a year's study to become eligible for admittance to Grinnell
college. Grinnell, IA He ha completed the course at Eldora high
school, but it was not sufficient for pre-enrollment requirements
at the higher Iowa school.
He
was a contributor to the school paper, the College Cyclone and
an ardent follower of the Grinnell football teams. Friends on
the The Star's sport desk remember his telephone calls from
home to check on the results of the Grinnell games through many
years.
PRIDE
IN A DAUGHTER
This
June his younger daughter Miss Georgianna Smith was graduated
from his alma mater and it was with great pleasure that he attended
the commencement exercises and the reunion of his class. Following
his graduation from Grinnell, Mr. Smith was employed a year
by the Des Moines Register before he accepted a position on
the old Kansas City Post. From the Post he moved to the Hannibal
Mo. Courier-Post. where he met a fellow reporter, Miss Bertha
Schmidt, who later became his wife.
In
1912 he left the Courier-Post and was employed for the time
by the Star. He remained with the Star several years, then was
hired by the associated press and worked for the wire service
in Chicago and Jefferson City.
MARRIES
IN JUNE 1920
He
returned to The Star in 1920 and began his career on the Sunday
desk. He married Miss Schmidt June 19, 1920 and they came together
to Kansas City where they have lived all their married life.
"Whiz"
Smith found his greatest delight in journalism in the careful
editing of copy. He preferred to sit quietly editing rephrasing
smoothing and searching for the precise words to make the stories
he was to present to the reader as concise as possible.
Gentle
and soft-spoken Mr. Smith never raised his voice as he subtly
suggested to reporters revisions in their copy which would improve
a story.
He
leaves his wife and the daughter Miss Georgianna Smith both
of the home; another daughter Mrs. W.I. Longstreth and two grandchildren
Wallace I. Longstreth III and Janice Longstreth, all of Washington
D.C.
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Mrs. N. Schwartz did some great research on G. Day Smith's adoptive parents, Marrium and John, for which I'm very grateful. Here's part what she found.
February 15, 2007
I know that on your website (which by the way is very nice) you wanted to know if anyone knew anything about Mariam Stevens and John Porter.
Well, what I managed to figure out by census records was that George Day Smith's grandparents were George Willard Day and Marilla Clark (I know you know that), but did you know that they had 2 Stevens men living with them in the 1860 Trumball, Ohio Census?
The 2 were Thomas Stevens, age 25 and Elijah Stevens age 22. It just so happens that if you go back one more census (1850), you will see that Willard and Marilla had other Stevens children living with them and they were: Stoddard Stevens, 19, OH., Miriam (this is Aunt Me), 15, OH., Elijah, 13, OH., Marilla, 10., OH., and Laura, 7, OH.. They also had an Abner Clark, age 40 living with them. I assume this was probably her brother, but not sure.
If I had to guess what the connection was, I would guess that Mariam's (Aunt Me) mother was Marilla Clark's sister, this is just my best guess. After doing research on my own family for over 15 years you get pretty good at connecting the dots. I base that guess on the fact that Miriam had a sister Marilla so it would be quite a coincidence that they were being raised by a woman with the name Marilla also. Therefore I believe that this was their Aunt and Uncle but of course the 1850 and 1860 census records don't ask what the relationship to the head of house hold is. Oh well, if you don't already have this information it's something to think about. Hopefully I haven't confused you.
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Mariam and John Porter had only one child and it was a son. He was born in 1856 either January or June (I could not make out the census records). He followed in his fathers footsteps and studied law and became an attorney.
He married a woman by the name of Ellenore, born April 1863, Iowa to Edwin R. Bowe, born 1822, Ohio and Ann Jannett or Jannett Ann, born 1837 NY.
William and Ellenore had one child that I could find and her name was Hortense, born October 1886, Iowa. Based on Toledo, Tama, Iowa census records of 1870 Ellenore's (her name was spelled several ways) sister was also named Hortense (Hortense R) and she was born 1854, Ohio.
In 1900 Census records for Eldora, Iowa, William and family are living in close proximity to his mother and father. Also living with them are Ellenore's father Edwin R. Bowe, born August 1822, OH. he is widowed.
Couple of searching tips: I've see Mariam referred to as Mirium and Marilyn and some of the names that I gave you were exactly as found in the census records but they were notoriously wrong so don't go by that. I have Mariam listed as being born November 1835. OH.
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Below: Judge John Porter and Miriam Stevens Porter, the adoptive parents of G. Day Smith, in an article noting their 50th wedding anniversary, in about the same year when G.Day Smith would have entered Grinnell College.
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