The back of this cabinet card provided me with some great information, and without it, it would have been much harder to identify the right Mr. Herb Smith. It reads: “Uncle Herb Smith, Blanche Myers brother, 6 child of the family, Great uncle of Kenneth W. Pool” Thank you descriptive ancestor!

Herbert James Smith

Rather than searching for a Herb Smith of Illinois, I started with a Blanche Smith marrying a Myers. My first hit was a windfall. the 1920 Federal Census of Chambersburg, Pike county, Illinois, Blanche Meyers lived with spouse Henry Meyers, AND 1 year old grandson Kenneth W. Pool! Also living in the household was Jefferson Smith, aged 84, Blanche’s father. As it turns our, her brother Herb was a bit younger than she was – being the 6th child and presumed baby of the family. Herb wasn’t in the 1880 census with Blanche and her father, John Jefferson Smith, and rest of the Smith clan. Herb, I discovered later, was born in 1884. So the first time we find him with his parents is in 1900. By 1910 ALL the children have left home and John and wife Martha lived alone in Chambersburg.

This photo was taken in Griggsville, Pike county, Illinois. The same county the Smith family lived in throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. I’m not sure where Herb ended up in 1910, but in 1920 he appeared in Griggsville. He was married to a Viola, only 17 in 1920; Herb was 34. They had one child: Blanche Smith, very likely named for her aunt. In 1930 the small family was still in Griggsville, and the daughter was listed as Delia B. Smith.

From here, the online search moved to family trees. Most of those trees supported what I had found in documents. Online trees pointed to the fact that Herb had died in 1935 in Boone County, Iowa. His wife, Viola, on the other hand, lived until 1980. I’m eager to share this wonderful picture with the owners of these trees!