Kenneth Love Smith, Sr.

Notes:

An article in the March 20, 2019 issue of The Sabine County Reporter reported about a reunion of Kenneth Smith of Bronson, and an army buddy, Carlton Oberholser, who were in drafted in October 1966, when Kenneth was just 19, took basic training togehter in Alabama, both eventually serving in Vietnam.

A front page article in the same newspaper announced his death from Covid-19, titled "Community Suffers loss of Smith, West Sabine Board President." His obituary was also published in the same issue. on page 9:

Kenneth Love Smith Sr., 74, of Pineland, TX passed away Tuesday August 31, 2021. Kenneth was born in Wharton, TX on February 6, 1947 to Britton and Helen Smith.

Kenneth spent most of his life in Sabine County and he loved it here.

He was a 1965 graduate of West Sabine High School. Soon after graduation he was drafted into the United States Army where he became Sergeant of the 19th Combat Engineer Battalion Company D, where he served a tour in Vietnam in 1967-1968. His experience in the Army played a very important role in his life. He frequently pointed out that the Army taught him the values of discipline, strength and team work. He knew how to get the job done. These values contributed to the many successes in his life. He was a proud Veteran and loved his country.

Kenneth was very dedicated to serving his community. He was a lifetime member of the Sabine County VFW and a longtime member of the Pineland Service Club. He was a part of many Pineland Day Steering Committees, he served as The Pineland Early Learning Center Board of Directors and was on the Board of the Sabine County Activity & Nutrition Center. He has served on the West Sabine ISD School Board off-and-on since 1975, and was currently presiding as President of the board.

Kenneth was the recipient of the Pineland Service Club's Community Service Award in 2017 for his dedication to his community and was always someone that could be depended on to step up and help where ever needed. One of his many passions was the youth in our community. He attended games, track meets, stock shows, bingos, bought raffle tickets, donated items for raffles, went to buffets and loved bake sales and cake auctions.

Kenneth never met a stranger and had many friends all over. He was a fishing guide in his younger years and owned his own business and was a successful Oilfield Consultant. Kenneth loved playing 42 and was known to travel many miles for a 42 game. He had a way about him like no other.

He was a loving Husband, Father, Peepaw, Brother, Uncle, Cousin and Friend. His generosity and fun loving spirit will be missed by so many. He was so very proud of his children, but his bond with his grandchildren was like no other.

Kenneth is survived by his beloved and devoted wife of 53 years on September 14th, Ernesteen Smith of Pineland, TX; children, Ken Smith Jr. and wife, Glenda, of Pineland, Jereme Smith and wife, Cerri,of Hallettsville, Tracee Collins and husband, Jason, of Pineland, Aaron Smith of Pineland, and Sarah Smith of Pineland; sisters, Vessie Ferrell and husband, Thomas, of Spring, and Janice Smith Stewart of Pineland; brother-in-law, Allen Jagneaux; grandchildren, Keven Smith and wife, Vanessa, of Hallettsville, Katie Smith of Austin, Travis Smith of Austin, Kory Smith of Victoria, Cecelia Loos of Victoria, Sr. Airman, Simon Loos of Valdosta Air Force Base in Georgia, Kwin Smith of Hallettsville, Jaxon Collins of Pineland, and Cooper Collins of Pineland.

He is preceded in death by his loving parents, Britton and Helen Smith and sister, Helen "Blossom" Jagneaux

Graveside services will begin at 10:00 a.m. Monday, September 6, 2021 in Plainview Cemetery under the direction of Starr Funeral Home with Bro. Curtis White and Bro. Floyd Wright officiating. Serving as pallbearers are Keven Smith, Kory Smith, Travis Smith, Simon Loos, Jaxon Collins, Cooper Collins, Doug Welch, and Rodney Burch. Honorary pallbearers are Brothers of the 19th Combat Eng. BN. Company D 67-68, Benny Jacks, Carlton Oesterheld, Millard Smith, and Stephen Parnell.



Military Honors will be provided by the Sabine County Honor Guard.

Condolences can be made and guest book may be signed online at starrfuneralhome.com. A full military honors ceremony will take place at Plainview Cemetery on Monday, September 6, 2021.

Finally, The Sabine County Reporter, on September 29, 2021, included an additional story titled "Recognizing School Board President and community leader, Kenneth Smith" This detailed the proclamation which recognized almost 48 years of dedication and service by board president Smith to the West Sabine community. The document, after being read into the minutes of the meeting and signed, was presented to Ernesteen Smith, wife, and Tracee Collins, daughter of Smith. They also received the name plate which marked Smith's seat for many years.:

A photo of Dr. Carnelius Gilder with Tracee Collins and Ernesteen Smith, with his name plate was included.

Kenneth married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living
3. Living

Notes:

The Sabine County Reporter
July 5, 1995, Page 8

Britton L. Smith

Britton L. Smith, 79, of Pineland died at 11:50 p.m. Thursday, June 29, 1995, at Medical Center Hospital in Nacogdoches.

Born June 23, 1916, in Sabine County't Time Community as a son of the late June A. and Vessie Mae (Brittain) Smith, he had lived in Pineland the last several years and was a member of the Methodist Church. Smith was a retired tank builder and boilermaker with Chicago Bridge & Iron and a member of the board of directors for First State Bank-Hemphill.

Survivors: wife, Helen L. Smith of Pineland; one son, Kenneth L. Smith of Pineland; three daughters, Helen Jagneaus of Sulphur, Louisiana, Vessie Lee Ferrell of Houston, and Janise Lynne Mobsy of Pineland; two brothers, Reece F. Smith of Milam and Rev. Aldous Smith of Nacogdoches; two sisters, Zelma Blessingame of Garland and Myrtis Short of Pineland; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the chapel of Starr Funeral Home Inc. in Hemphill with Bro. Aldous Smith and Bro. J. Milton Poindexter officiating. Interment followed at Liberty Springs Cemetery near Milam.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, May 2009)

Britton married Helen Lorraine Kopecky. Helen was born on 11 Apr 1923 in El Maton, Matagorda County, Texas; died on 11 Jan 1997 in Houston, Harris County, Texas; was buried on 15 Jan 1997 in Liberty Springs Cemetery, Milam, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Sabine County Reporter
January 15, 1997, page 8

Helen Smith

Helen Lorraine Smith, 73, of Pineland died Saturday, Jan. 11, 1997, at Hermann Medical Center in Houston.

Born April 11, 1923, in El Maton, Texas, Mrs. Smith had lived in Pineland since 1945. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Pineland and was a homemaker.

Survivors: a son, Kenneth Love Smith Sr. of Bronson; three daughters, Helen Louise JAGNEAUX of Sulphur, Louisiana, Vessie L. FERRELL of Houston; and Janice L. MOBSBY of Pineland; two sisters, Lydia GATES of Bay City; and Ollie NEDBALEK of Houston; nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Britton L. Smith, on June 29, 1995.

Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. today (Wednesday) at the chaple of the Starr Funeral Home Inc. in Hemphill with Bro. Aldous SMITH officiating. Interment will follow at Libery Springs Cemetery near Milam.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, February 2011)

Notes:

Married:
Issue: Helen m J.A. Williams, (children, Wendy and Holly); Vessie m Thomas Ferrell; Janice Smith, Kenneth L. m Ernestine King. (Issue: Kenneth L., Jr.) (White and Toole, p 33).

Notes:

"Old Timers of Sabine County, Texas" by Virgie Speights
Page 23

June Smith October 3, 1963

June Smith sat on the porch of his home near Pineland and regaled more than 100 persons at his 80th birthday party with tales of early days in East Texas.

Born at Sabinetown, he was the son of Henry and Martha Ann Morris Smith, and grandson of Shadrach Morris, who gave 200 acres of land in the early 1830s to found Sabinetown. His great grandfather, Gideon Morris, had donated a like amount for the founding of Morristown, Tennessee in the 1700s.

His father Henry Smith who died before he was born, came from England to teach school at Milam and Sabinetown. As a boy, he grew up the hard way, but with lots of fun and frolicking. He recalls working hard, long hours on logging rafts, floating logs to Orange. He did the cooking before he was old enough to push logs.

Frank Davis, a mail contractor, hired him at the sum of $5.00 a month to carry the mail from Hemphill to Geneva, when he was just a boy.

At the age of 18, Mr. Smith helped to move his sister and family, the Ide Russells from Louisiana across the Sabine to Sabine County. There was a post office, a church, a school, a doctor, F.S. Love and 52 families. June Smith stayed there and farmed, first with his sister's family and then with his own until recently when he had to move nearer a doctor. His wife the former Miss Vessie Brittain, is an invalid since a fall a few years ago, which broke her hip. His was the last family to leave this now deserted community. He moved over to Pineland to live in a house owned by his son, Brittain Smith, who lives nearby. He does, however, still drive over regularly to care for his cattle, fix fences and dream of wonderful years when he was raising his family there.
Not long after he helped move the Russells in an ox-drawn wagon, he met and married Miss Vessie Brittain, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Brittain. There was a church wedding in 1904 with Burnis and Mattie Lou Honeycutt Vickers as attendants.

The Brittains gave the couple 67 acres on which Ide Rusell helped his brother in law build a two room house with cypress shingles, stick and dirt chimney, big rooms and wide porches. There they worked hard, were self-sustaining and gradually prospered, buying more land, clearing and raising cotton for money crop, sheep for clothing, and hogs and cattle.

Mr. Smith refused to shear the sheep, but accommodating neighbors Abb Vickers and Perkins Harvey were willing to help out. He liked to raise hogs and trained his to come when he called. There was the whole country for the cattle, sheep, goats, horses and hogs to roam in, even being taken across the river into Louisiana when grass or cane shoots were better there.
Nothing was wasted. When land needed clearing, the whole community came in to help. Cooking went on for days, with food being cooked in huge iron pots. It was a frolic for the young people, who were expected to help in the work, though. The logs were used for houses, barns, rail fences, stove wood, etc.

At butchering time, the same community spirit prevailed and the same thrift and utilization of everything. Cold weather was necessary, and the meat saved by curing the smoke. Everyone had a smokehouse, quite large with a fire of hickory wood, kept smoldering for weeks in the center of the dirt floor. Meat was hung from the rafters to absorb that hickory flavor.

"They don't make that kind of meat these days," says Mr. Smith. They made what they called souse, now known as hogshead cheese. Excessive fat was trimmed off, after the sausage meat was set aside, and rendered into lard. Big iron pots outdoors over a fire were filled with these bits of fat, which were slowly stirred until nothing was left but cracklings. From these cracklings came the family soap. Lye, leeched from hardwood ashes, mixed with the cracklings, water added and cooked until bubbly thick. When cool, this soap was stored in crocks and used at laundry time. Clothes were boiled, after being soaked in soapy water, placed on a block and battled. This was to removed embedded soil from work cloths. The Smiths owned a "crackling squeezer", a luxury in those days, which squeezed the last bit of grease from the fat. Cracklings were also delicious cooked in cornbread. They also had a fine sausage mill.

Once Mr. Smith's four year old daughter, Eula, caught her finger in the sausage mill. Afraid to turn the mill for fear it would cut off her ginger, they carried her to Dr. Love, sausage hanging by a bit of skin. The doctor splinted it up and Eula, now Mrs. Judge Cordray, has her finger just a bit scarred.

Mr. Smith was active in church and community affairs. When the Rev CA Perkins an outstanding evangelist in the area, established the Methodist Sabine Circuit with both sides of the river as his charge, he credited Mr. Smith with being a factor in its establishment. He also owned the second car in Sabine County, a beautiful Model T Ford.

Besides Mrs. Cordray of Isla community, his children are Mrs. Zelma Blasingame of Garland, Texas, Reece Smith of the Sexton community, Brittain Smith of Pineland, and Aldous Smith, a Methodist Minister, of Dayton, Bulah, who married Roy Allen, died in 1930 and Clarence died in 1928. There are 19 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.

(Research):Census Information:

1920 Census
Texas, Sabine, JP 5
Enumerated 16 & 17 of January 1920 by Callin A. McDaniel
SD 326 ED 172 Sheet 10 A
184-185
Smith, J.A. Hd M W 36 M Tx England English Tx Farmer Own Fa
rm
Smith, Vessie Wife F W 34 M Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Beulah Dtr F W 14 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Eula Dtr F W 12 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Myrtis Dtr F W 9 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Reece Son M W 7 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Britton Son M W 5 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Clarence Son M W 10/12 Tx Tx Tx
Jones, Casey Servant M B 19 S Tx Ga Tx Farmhand

1930
Texas, Sabine County, JP 5
Enumerated April 14 & 15, 1930
ED 202-7, Sd 19 Sheet 4A Stamped 88
72-76
Smith, June A Hd Y M W 48 M 23 Tx England US Farmer
Smith, Docia M Wf F W 43 M 18 Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Reece T Son M W ? S Tx Tx Tx Laborer Farm
Smith, Britton L Son M W 12 S Tx Tx Tx Laborer Farm
Smith, Zelma Dtr F W 8 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Aldus Son W 6 S Tx Tx Tx
Britton, Margarett A Mother in law F W 68 Wd Tx Ga Al
Saupe?, Carme? Boarder F W 19? S Tx Tx Tx Teacher School

June married Vessie Mae Brittain about 1904. Vessie (daughter of Thomas Strouse "Bud" Brittain and Margaret "Peggy" A. Harvey) was born on 1 Oct 1886 in Time, Sabine County, Texas; died on 1 Oct 1968 in Sabine County, Texas; was buried in Liberty Springs Cemetery, Milam, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

It appears that Vissie's mother, Margarett E. Britton, a 68 year old widow, born in Texas, was living with them at the time of the 1930 Federal Census. Her father was born in Georgia, and her mother in Alabama. Her Texas Death Certificate indicates she was the daughter of Bud Brittian and Peggy Harvey. The informant was Mrs. Judge Cordray, a daughter.

Name: Vessie Mae Smith
Death Date: 01 Oct 1968
Death Place: Pineland, Precinct 2, Sabine, Texas
Gender: Female
Race: W
Death Age: 82 years
Estimated Birth Date:
Birth Date: 01 Oct 1886
Birthplace: Texas
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name:
Father's Name: Bud Brittian
Father's Birthplace:
Mother's Name: Peggy Harvy
Mother's Birthplace:
Occupation: Housewife
Place of Residence: Pineland, Precinct # 2, Sabine, Texas
Cemetery: Liberty Springs
Burial Place: Sabine County, Texas
Burial Date: 03 Oct 1968
Additional Relatives: X
Film Number: 2137188
Digital Film Number: 4188418
Image Number: 2673
Reference Number: cn 73705
Collection: Texas Deaths, 1890-1976


(Medical):Her death certificate also indicated she had been an invalid for about 40 years, with the cause unknown

Notes:

Married:
"There was a church wedding in 1904 with Burnis and Mattie Lou Honeycutt Vickers as attendants.

Henry married Mary Ann Morris before 1868. Mary (daughter of Shadrach H. Morris and Mary "Polly" Sarah Nelson) was born on 18 Feb 1836 in Louisiana; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married 1st a Roberts (sic) and 2nd Henry Smith. (White and Toole, p 63).

On the 1880 Sabine County census, a Robert Patrick, step-son, is listed in the household as well. (White and Toole, p 33).

Peggy Choate emailed, in February 2012, that " . Mary Ann was married first to Henry Patrick and they had 3 children: Ida Alice, Henry Hood and Robert Patrick. He died after the 3rd child was born. After Henry Patrick, died Mary Morris married Henry Smith. She then became know as Grandma Smith. She was present at my father's birth in Zwolle Louisiana in 1922. Present were Mary Ann Morris Patrick Smith, her daugheter Ida Alice Patrick Burns, granddaughter Mary Annie Burns Henderson and gtgranddaughter Martha Henderson McCormick and baby Hugh McCormick (my Dad). It seems that the women of that family are long lived."



(Research):

Census Listings:

1870 Census
Texas, Sabine County, Hemphill Beat No. 1, PO Hemphill
Enumerated 28 Jun 1870
Page 6
Smith, Henry 42 M W Teacher 500 200 England
Smith, Mary A 29 M W Keeping House La
Smith (sic), Ida Alice 8 F W La
Smith (sic), Henry H 6 M W Tx
Smith (sic), Robert L 5 M W Tx
Smith, Margaret 2 F W La
Smith, Simon W 1 M W Tx

1880 Census
Texas, Sabine County, JP 4
Enumerated 22 Jun 1880
Page 8 SD 1 ED 85
73-74
Smith, Henry W M 53 School Teacher England England England
Smith, Mary Ann W F 40 Wf Keeping House LA Tn NC
Smith, Margarett W F 11 Dtr At Home Tx
Smith, Morris W M 6 S Tx
Smith, Fountain W M 5 Son Tx
Smith, Eben W M 2 Son Tx
Patrick, Robert L W M 14 Stepson Tx

Notes:

Tombstone inscribed "At Rest-We will meet again-Aged 53 years and 3 months."

(Research):

Census Listings:

1900 Census
Texas, Sabine County, Precinct 5
Enumerated 13 Jun 1900
SD 8 ED 72 Sheet 14A
186-186
Brittain, Thomas S. Head W M Oct 1858 41 m 19 Tx Ark Tx Farmer
Brittain, Margaret Wf W F Feb 1863 37 M 19 3/3 Tx La La
Brittain, Robert Son W M Jan 1883 17 S Tx Tx Tx Farm Laborer
Brittain, Vessie M Dtr W F Oct 1886 13 S Tx Tx Tx
Brittain, Lena Dtr W F Sept 1892 7 S Tx Tx Tx

Thomas married Margaret "Peggy" A. Harvey on 26 Mar 1881. Margaret was born on 7 Feb 1862 in Texas; died on 2 Nov 1932 in Texas; was buried in Harvey Cemetery, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]