Lulu Estella Bell SMITH ¹

   Other names for Lulu were Mrs. Joseph Freemna MIERS and Mrs. Lulu Estella Bell MIERS.

   User ID: P00050724.

  General Notes:

It is possible that the Smiths came from Scotland/Ireland, according to
Myrtle Van Loon, who had a telecon with Lucille Miers Webster on Sept. 9,
1999. Myrtle was married to Stanley Smith. Stanley was a brother to
Lucille's grandmother Lulu Smith Miers. Lulu and Stanley are children of
William Seth Smith, who is a son of George Ballanger Smith.

Lulu was always called Lulu as far as Lucille (Miers) Webster knew. On
the birth record, Lulu is shown as born in Knoxville, Rural Route, Marion
County, Iowa. She filed the birth record herself. In a family record it
shows her birth place as Attica, which is also in Marion County, Iowa.
Her family home was on a farm west of Attica and South of Knoxville.
Lulu's name was written as Lulu Estella Bell by her daughter, Velta
Kunkel. (see reference 1 below) Lulu wrote it as Lulu Estella or Lulu
E. (see reference 13 below. Lulu's name was given by Wanda Goering,
who's mother had given her Lulu's full name, as Lulubelle Estella (Smith)
Miers. George Gross gave Lulu's name as Lulu Estella Bell (Smith)
Miers. (see references 12 and 3 below)

Joe and Lulu were married by Rev. W. A. Jackson, Pastor of Attica
church. Lulu's brother Clarence George Smith signed for Lulu as she was
only 17 years old.

Joe and Lulu lived on the "D. B. Cherry place" east of Attica at one time
then moved to the Joseph Robuck place in Indiana Township, Marion County,
Iowa. Eventually, they moved to Knoxville where they lived for many
years. Joe died in his home at 302 East Jefferson Street, Knoxville,
Iowa.

Joe was a farmer, a carpenter and a school janitor. On his death record,
he is listed as a grocer. He was said to be of German-Dutch decent. He
was blind for about 40 years, becoming blind from either (both stories
were told) a detached retina or ashes in his eye as he was also janitor
at the east side grade school in Knoxville. As a result, for income, he
and Lulu sold milk from a little entry way to the back of their house
until their two sons, Clarence and Ancil, built an extra room on the
house for them from where they operated a small grocery store. A bell
jingled on the door to alert Joe of customers entering. They even had a
glass case with candy costing one cent. Joe also made and sold belts,
change purses and rubber mats for scraping mud off of feet before
entering homes. His blindness did not stop him and he could recognize a
person by their footsteps alone.

Lulu did not work outside the home but worked and operated the grocery
store beside Joseph. The front room in their house was rented out for
extra income and she was active in the community, still carrying the flag
in the Memorial Day Parade when she was approximately 76 years old. On
the death record, Lulu was listed as a home maker. After Joe's death,
their son Clarence received special permission from the city to place a
new 50 foot single-wide mobile home on the back yard of his home for Lulu
to live in until her death. That address was 313 South Roche Street,
Knoxville, Iowa. She said it was the best house she ever had. She died
at age 98 yrs. 8 months and 22 days in the nursing home in Knoxville.
She actively attended the Methodist Church.

Both funerals were at Bybee & Davis Funeral Home, 301 North Second,
Knoxville, Iowa, and both are buried in Graceland Cemetry, Knoxville,
Marion, Co., Iowa, Section 9 (North part of old cemetery), Lot 2. Their
son, Clarence was part owner of that funeral home.

Their granddaughter Lucille Miers Webster grew up, until a Junior on high
school, living on the southeast corner of the block only one block from
them in a stucco house at 1136 Jefferson Street, Knoxville, Iowa. She
therefore, spent a lot of time at their house. Note: the streets may
have been renumbered from the time Lucille lived there until Joe died.

Lulu made excellent egg noodles. Lucille liked them so well, that long
after she grew up, Lulu would make them for her when she came to visit
and Lulu even mailed some to her. Joe, although blind always knew
Lucille by her footsteps when they met on the streets of town. Joe also
used to have a box of chocolates once in a while that he shared sparingly
with Lucille. The brown paper cups the candy sat in smelled as good as
eating the candy had tasted.

"Grandma Miers" used to curl Lucille's hair with a curling iron that is
heated over a tall chimney on an oil lamp. Lucille's mother had a like
curling iron that was electric but no heat control, only hot. While
using either iron the singed hair could be smelled, but it did the
curling job. Grandma also picked flowers from her garden for Lucille to
wear to church on Easter and Mother's Day. She liked to give Lucille
hugs that conveyed a very special feeling.

Family get-to-gathers for Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving,
all the major holidays, and for birthdays of Lulu or Joe or their
children, were wonderful ways to know and enjoy the other family members,
besides ordinary visiting back and forth in each other's homes. Every
other year Christmas would be held on Christmas Day at Lulu and Joe's and
every other year it was the Sunday before so the families could go to the
other spouses family for Christmas day. The family drew names and had a
big dinner and gift exchange. The day before the Christmas dinner,
Lucille got to decorate Lulu and Joe's Christmas tree which was a branch
cut off of an evergreen in their back yard and stuck in a bucket of sand
held up by leaning against the wall in the living room. As soon as the
dinner was over, gifts opened and pictures taken, out went the tree.
Lucille took most of the pictures at these events as she had an interest
in doing so. Lucille has many happy memories of these family events and
of just being at her grandparents.

Lulu and Joe's daughter, Hazel, married Marvin Harvey, whose father was a
brother to Ike Harvey, husband of Myrtle Harvey, Lulu Miers' sister.

An interesting piece of data is that the Underground Railroad operated
through Knoxville and other southern and eastern Iowa towns in 1857 when
people tried to help slaves with their flight to Canada to obtain freedom
before the U.S. Civil War. Most came through Iowa from Missouri. This
data is provided in "Brief History of Corning and Adams Co., Iowa",
published for Corning's 100 years celebration in 1957.

Reference: Data about Lulu and Joseph Miers, unless otherwise noted, is
provided by (1) letters from
Velta Miers Kunkel, (2) Funeral Service/Memorial folders, (3) George W.
Gross Jr. of 1230 39th Ave., Vero Beach, Florida 32960, telephone
561-567-0743. George Gross was married to Lulu and Joseph's
granddaughter, Mildred Miers, daughter of Clarence. (4) Personel
knowledge of Lucille Miers Webster, granddaughter of Lulu and Joseph
Miers and daughter of Ancil W. Miers. (5) Myrtle Van Loon, Knoxville,
Iowa, provided data used in this genealogy in August, 1999 and in Sept.
1999, about the Smith family, the Etchers and BNS Smith's daughter, Jenny
Roebuck and her family and the Harveys. (6) A 97th Birthday gift to Lulu
Miers from Clarence and Ethel Miers where their marriage and their
children were listed on some Bible pages. (7) Marriage data was also
provided by the Marriage Record, Marion County, Iowa, 1845-1915, in the
Knoxville Court House, Book 7, page 599. (8) Joe's death record was
found in: Record of Deaths, Book 5, page 310, Marion County, Iowa, in
the Marion County Court House, Knoxville, Iowa. (9) Lulu's death record
was found in the record of deaths, Micro No. D-113, number at the top of
the page is 114, for Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa, December 27, 1979.
(10) Record of Births Marion County, Iowa, 1880-1892, Book 1, page 132.
Lulu's birth was not registered until September 2, 1942, given by Lulu E.
Miers, Knoxville, Iowa. (11) Cemeteries of Marion County, Iowa,
1776-1976 book by Marion Co. Genealogical society, published by R.C.
Booth Enterprises, Harlan, Iowa, with a publication date of 1974. (12)
Wanda Goering electronic mail (e-mail) dated April 4, 1998, to Lucille
Miers Webster, containing family history data. Wanda is Estella Kunkel
Goering's daughter. Estella is the granddaughter of Lulu (Smith) Miers.
(13) Typewritten pages, "Father's Family" by Lulu E. Miers.
@MI2312@

Lulu married Joseph Freeman MIERS, son of Isaac Freeman MIERS and Hannah Fowler JOHNSTON, on 2 Apr 1898 in Marion County, Iowa, USA. (Joseph Freeman MIERS was born on 25 Jul 1875 in Cass County, Iowa, USA, died on 5 Sep 1956 in Knoxville, Marion, Iowa, USA and was buried in Graceland Cemetery, Knoxville, Iowa, Block 10, Lot 2.)