Mrs. J.B. (Gertrude) Smith

Mrs. Gertrude Dee Smith (1877-1957) joined the Ingleside Club, which donated funds and books to the Marengo Public Library.[1] From 1905-1906, she was the secretary of the club.[2] She had this leading position in the Ingleside Club during the time the library was established. Gertrude lived in Marengo for around ten years from around 1900 to 1920.
She was born in Nevada, Iowa in 1877. Gertrude was the daughter of Edward Allen Chapman,[3] from New York, and Isabelle L., a native of Pennsylvania.[4] She married John Brown Smith on June 28, 1899 in Nevada, Iowa at age 21.[5] John Smith was a railroad telegrapher during their stay in Marengo; they had no children together.[6] Gertrude died in 1957 at the age of 80 in Nevada, Iowa, which was the same town where she had been born.

-Kayla Hodgson

[1] Pauline Lillie, Marengo the County Seat Marengo the Town: A History, (Marceline: Walsworth Publishing, 1984), p. 280.

[2] Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs Year Book 1905-6, (Humboldt: Independent Press, 1905), p. 60.

[3] Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

[4] “1900 United States Federal Census,” Year: 1900; Census Place: Nevada, Story, Iowa; p. 15; Enumeration District: 0121; FHL microfilm: 1240460.

[5] Iowa Department of Public Health; Des Moines, Iowa; Series Title: Iowa Marriage Records, 1880–1922; Record Type: Textual Records.

[6] “1910 United States Federal Census,” Year: 1910; Census Place: Marengo, Iowa, Iowa; Roll: T624_407; p. 4A; Enumeration District: 0050; FHL microfilm: 1374420.

[7] Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.