Maurice Warfield Smith

Maurice was born 18 February 1880 in Elkton, Todd, Kentucky, the oldest son and second child of John William Smith and Jennie Ella Mobley. His name was pronounced "Morris".


The John William Smith family, about 1900. Maurice is top left

Maurice married Ruby Valentine Fox on 24 December 1913 at the Episcopal Church in Gillette, Campbell, Wyoming.


The church in Gillette where Maurice and Ruby were married

Maurice and Ruby worked for Peter W. Ricketts, a cattle rancher who lived near Gillette - he as a ranch hand, she as a cook. They must have liked their employer, as their gave their oldest son William the middle name "Ricketts". William "Bill" was born on 5 November 1918 on the ranch, and second son Raymond Maurice was born 3 June 1921, in Gillette, Campbell, Wyoming.

Of his dad, Bill said:

I remember a winter day, a bright sunny day, my dad and I went horseback to look after the cattle and we found some of them dead. When I got back to the house, I was standing by the window looking out across the snow and I came to the realization that I was an individual and that someday I would have to die as those cattle had to do and I have never forgotten that day.

My dad got a job in the Midwest oil field and began work about September [1926]. We sold all our belongings except our car and clothes and household goods as well as my dad's share of the homestead for a total of about $300.00.

The first school I attended had barely room for the teacher's desk, the stove and four pupils' desks and the teacher's chair which was used to prop the door shut on windy days. There were three Eastwood kids, Ralph, Earl and Ina and me for a total of four. The teacher (Miss Reynolds) stayed at our house and my dad used to take us in the bobsled sometimes.

Eventually Maurice and Ruby moved to Big Horn county, Montana and settled on a farm near Lodge Grass, where they raised cattle and farmed and raised their boys.



U.S. Federal Census Record, 1930. The Smiths are family #23.


Sheep wagon built by Maurice and sons

Eventually Bill and Raymond married and raised families of their own. Raymond and his wife settled nearby with their family; Bill worked for Allis-Chalmers and sold farm equipment all over the Northwest.


Ruby and Maurice, about 1953

Maurice died 12 November 1956, Hardin, Big Horn, Montana, leaving behind Ruby, two sons and their wives, and five grandchildren. He was buried in Lodge Grass Cemetery.