When William Adrian Smith was born on 6 August 1859, in Harrison, Iowa, United States, his father, Jed Webster Smith, was 20 and his mother, Mary Sellers, was 17. He married Mary Annetta Mattocks on 1 January 1882, in Harrison, Iowa, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in Jefferson Township, Harrison, Iowa, United States in 1860. He died on 3 January 1940, in Independence, Jackson, Missouri, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Mound Grove Cemetery, Independence, Jackson, Missouri, United States.
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Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
The Burtis Opera House opened in Davenport and could easily hold an audience of 1,600. It was a widely used facility and Mark Twain filled the house when he spoke on tour in 1869. It was also used to house Susan B. Anthony when she lectured on the woman's right to vote. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra played its first concert as the new Tri-City Symphony in the Opera House. An arsonist set fire to the building on the evening of April 26, 1921, and the building was severely destroyed. The building was rebuilt but was no longer used as an opera house.
Garfield was shot twice by Charles J. Guitea at Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881. After eleven weeks of intensive and other care Garfield died in Elberon, New Jersey, the second of four presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln.
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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