Edwin Booth Smith was born near Yellowbud and Chillicothe, Ohio. As an adult, he left Ohio for central Illinois where he met Josephine Van Dongen, whom he impressed by reigning his horses high as he passed by her in Decatur, IL. They had a child that was still born or died within only hours or days. They also had Howard Edwin Smith (my grandfather) in 1889. Shortly after Jeanette was born in 1903, EB moved the family to Knox County, in Northeast Missouri where land was cheap.
He liked dealing and kept moving the family around Northeast Missouri. During the depression, he lost the farm he had purchased near Palmyra. They eventually settled in LaBelle and is buried there in the city's cemetery.
View a poster of a stud horse, Lewis Jr., he had printed by the Decatur Republican. The original poster is 12 X 17.5 inches, so I reduced it in size for display here.