Ruth Elizabeth Smith

Brief Life History of Ruth Elizabeth

When Ruth Elizabeth Smith was born on 8 November 1915, in Charlevoix, Charlevoix, Michigan, United States, her father, Lee Romeo Smith, was 27 and her mother, Agnes Nixon, was 24. She married Walter Hammond Wiley Jr on 29 January 1943, in Florida, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. She lived in Johnson City, Washington, Tennessee, United States in 1950. She died on 13 April 1988, in Clearwater, Pinellas, Florida, United States, at the age of 72.

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Family Time Line

Walter Hammond Wiley Jr
1898–1959
Ruth Elizabeth Smith
1915–1988
Marriage: 29 January 1943
Kathleen Ruth Wiley
1944–2022

Sources (11)

  • Ruth S Wylie, "United States, Census, 1950"
  • Ruth Smith, "Florida Marriages, 1830-1993"
  • Elizabeth Flum Wiley, "United States, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918"

Spouse and Children

World Events (8)

1916 · The First woman elected into the US Congress

Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman to hold a federal office position in the House of Representatives, and remains the only woman elected to Congress by Montana.

1931 · The Parthenon is Built

In 1931, a full scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece was erected in Nashville, Tennessee. The Parthenon was meant to be temporary, but became a permanent part of Tennessee culture. It also has a replica of the statue of Athena the Goddess of War.At the same time a city over Memphis built  giant pyramid replica to remind everyone what the city was named for. 

1935 · The FBI is Established

The Bureau of Investigation's name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help citizens know that the Government is helping protect from threats both domestically and abroad.

Name Meaning

English and Scottish: occupational name denoting a worker in metal, especially iron, such as a blacksmith or farrier, from Middle English smith ‘smith’ (Old English smith, probably a derivative of smītan ‘to strike, hammer’). Early examples are also found in the Latin form Faber . Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents in other languages were the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is also the most frequent of all surnames in the US. It is very common among African Americans and Native Americans (see also 5 below). This surname (in any of the two possible English senses; see also below) is also found in Haiti. See also Smither .

English: from Middle English smithe ‘smithy, forge’ (Old English smiththe). The surname may be topographic, for someone who lived in or by a blacksmith's shop, occupational, for someone who worked in one, or habitational, from a place so named, such as Smitha in King's Nympton (Devon). Compare Smithey .

Irish and Scottish: sometimes adopted for Gaelic Mac Gobhann, Irish Mac Gabhann ‘son of the smith’. See McGowan .

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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