True Republican, 16 July 1948
The long, active and Christian life of one of Sycamore's finest mothers ebbed to its end at 10:00 o'clock Wednesday morning when Mrs. Olin H. Smith passed away. Death ended five and one half weeks of illness at St. Mary's hospital in DeKalb. The 90 year old mother had had the misfortune to fall at her home on June 4, suffering an injury to her hip.
Lillian Viola Babcock was born in Elburn December 23, 1858 (Elburn was then known as Blackberry). She was the daughter of Albert S. and Stella Bundy Babcock who had come west from New York and had settled first at Blackberry, then Sycamore, moved to Oregon and then to California. Her father was an attorney who operated the county Abstract Company for many years.
She graduated from Sycamore high school.
On October 15, 1879 she was united in marriage to Dr. Olin H. Smith, Sycamore dentist, sportsman and mayor. He passed away August 5, 1939. Mrs. Smith was active socially and religiously in Sycamore's community life from her earliest years. She was not only a member of the Sycamore Methodist church but also served as organist, Sunday school teacher and as a member of the Ladies Aid busied herself in numerous charity activities.
It was 40 years ago this year that the Sycamore Woman's Club was formed and Mrs. Smith was one of its charter members . During the first World War she worked arduously with the American Red Cross here.
She was an accomplished musician. Not only did she play the organ and melodeon but she was a vocalist as well. Her thirst for knowledge kept her reading books and periodicals up to the time of her death. Yet, while she was involving herself in all these civic, church and patriotic activities she never lost pride in her home and devotion to her family.
She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Rose Smith Mussell; and a son, Atty. Lowell B. Smith, both in Sycamore. A sister, Mrs. Jane B. Woods in the state of Washington, is the last surviving member of her parental family.
Last rites will be conducted this Friday afternoon from the Kebil funeral home at 2:30 o'clock, Rev. Wayne Leighty will officiate. Burial will be in Elmwood cemetery here.
What a remarkable span of life she experienced. In the spring of her seventh year, the Civil War ended and Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. She watched Sycamore grow from a pioneer village without the library, court house or railroads into a city where now airplanes are common above it. Saw, too, the Spanish American War, and World War One and Two. Her children and grand children reflect her strong character and enviable intelligence. Her passing marks "finis" to an era. Sycamore's world seems the better for her having lived in it.
---------------------------------------------------
I do not manage the memorial for Lillian's husband, Olin. His obituary has much historical information.
True Republican, 9 August 1939
Dr. Olin H. Smith, 82 years old, for 61 years a practicing Sycamore dentist, and for six years (three terms) mayor of this city, died Saturday night, following an illness of but a few days. He was known as a man who loved the great outdoors, once a famous athlete, one of the first men who could run the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds and a member of the old Sycamore baseball team when that game was young.
Also he will be remembered as the man who started the movement for paved streets in Sycamore, paying especial attention to Main, State and Somonauk streets. Before then, Sycamore was content to get along with macadam streets and gravel roads.
Words are but feeble mediums in an effort to express the depth of feeling one experiences in the loss of a man one has known virtually all his life; a man who has aided his community and his fellow man in many ways. His cheery greeting will be missed, especially by those who knew him in the alert vigor of his young manhood, and saw him gradually descend the slope that leads to eternity. One of the men that made Sycamore the habitable community it is has passed to his reward.
Fraternally, he was a Modern Woodman and a Mason. He had a charming personality, a host of friends, both in Sycamore community, and in the north woods where he had been going on vacation for more than half a century.
Born in Bristol, Vermont, October 15, 1856, one of six children, Doctor Smith never spent more than two years of his life in his native place. Instead, Sycamore was his home from the time he was two years old to the day of his death. He was the son of James Monroe Smith, mechanical genius and inventor, and Martha Lowell Smith, sister of Luther Lowell, widely known as a lawyer and judge of the DeKalb county court for years. Judge Lowell, remembered by the older generation, died in Sycamore in 1904, at the age of 86 years.
Doctor Smith grew to manhood in Sycamore, obtaining the best education here that the schools of the community could afford. He then chose dentistry as his life work and obtained a degree from the Philadelphia Dental college in 1877. He returned to Sycamore after his graduation and opened an office.
When he first started to practice, he took office in the old historic Wilkins block, gone these many years. Since then, he officed in his own building, a wooden structure back of the Methodist church on Elm street. The building is a copy of picture that appeared in a Chicago newspaper. The interior carried out the idea of a hunting lodge, with furniture and decorations to match.
During his long residence in this city, Olin H. Smith was not only mayor, but president of the Kishwaukee Country club, and of the Sycamore Commercial association, as it was then known. He started the movement for better streets in Sycamore when he was president of the Commercial association. He was mayor from 1905 to 1910, inclusive, six years, being twice elected to that office.
Some of his last days were spent in the north woods that he had loved, and where he was known as being as good a woodsman as any native or Indian guide. Just before he returned to Sycamore for the last time, he went around his old haunts, bidding his friends goodbye, as he felt that he never would return to them again.
For years he maintained a cottage at Butternut Lake, Wis. Guests at his lodge overnight had their names carved on a great shield. One will remember his long walks, accompanied by his friend and companion, a Collie. Often, in the middle of the night, when he had had an especially trying day in his office, he would walk the city streets and country roads in the dead of night.
Two years after he opened his office in Sycamore, he married Miss Lillian Babcock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Babcock of Sycamore, the ceremony having been performed in Oregon on October 15, 1879.
His widow and their two children, Mrs. Rose Mussell, who lives in the family residence on Somonauk, and Lowell B. Smith of Mason Court, survive.
Four grandchildren also survive, they being, James Smith, a Waterloo, Iowa, newspaperman; Bruce Smith and Olin W. Mussel of Sycamore, and Mrs. Dorothy Mussell Lund of Rockford. His one great grandchild, Betty Mussell, resides in Sycamore.
Funeral services were held this Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the Methodist church, the Rev. Charles H. Draper, assisted by the Rev. Frank Weichlein, officiating, with burial in Elmwood cemetery. Rites at the grave were conducted by the Masonic lodge.
The long, active and Christian life of one of Sycamore's finest mothers ebbed to its end at 10:00 o'clock Wednesday morning when Mrs. Olin H. Smith passed away. Death ended five and one half weeks of illness at St. Mary's hospital in DeKalb. The 90 year old mother had had the misfortune to fall at her home on June 4, suffering an injury to her hip.
Lillian Viola Babcock was born in Elburn December 23, 1858 (Elburn was then known as Blackberry). She was the daughter of Albert S. and Stella Bundy Babcock who had come west from New York and had settled first at Blackberry, then Sycamore, moved to Oregon and then to California. Her father was an attorney who operated the county Abstract Company for many years.
She graduated from Sycamore high school.
On October 15, 1879 she was united in marriage to Dr. Olin H. Smith, Sycamore dentist, sportsman and mayor. He passed away August 5, 1939. Mrs. Smith was active socially and religiously in Sycamore's community life from her earliest years. She was not only a member of the Sycamore Methodist church but also served as organist, Sunday school teacher and as a member of the Ladies Aid busied herself in numerous charity activities.
It was 40 years ago this year that the Sycamore Woman's Club was formed and Mrs. Smith was one of its charter members . During the first World War she worked arduously with the American Red Cross here.
She was an accomplished musician. Not only did she play the organ and melodeon but she was a vocalist as well. Her thirst for knowledge kept her reading books and periodicals up to the time of her death. Yet, while she was involving herself in all these civic, church and patriotic activities she never lost pride in her home and devotion to her family.
She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Rose Smith Mussell; and a son, Atty. Lowell B. Smith, both in Sycamore. A sister, Mrs. Jane B. Woods in the state of Washington, is the last surviving member of her parental family.
Last rites will be conducted this Friday afternoon from the Kebil funeral home at 2:30 o'clock, Rev. Wayne Leighty will officiate. Burial will be in Elmwood cemetery here.
What a remarkable span of life she experienced. In the spring of her seventh year, the Civil War ended and Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. She watched Sycamore grow from a pioneer village without the library, court house or railroads into a city where now airplanes are common above it. Saw, too, the Spanish American War, and World War One and Two. Her children and grand children reflect her strong character and enviable intelligence. Her passing marks "finis" to an era. Sycamore's world seems the better for her having lived in it.
---------------------------------------------------
I do not manage the memorial for Lillian's husband, Olin. His obituary has much historical information.
True Republican, 9 August 1939
Dr. Olin H. Smith, 82 years old, for 61 years a practicing Sycamore dentist, and for six years (three terms) mayor of this city, died Saturday night, following an illness of but a few days. He was known as a man who loved the great outdoors, once a famous athlete, one of the first men who could run the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds and a member of the old Sycamore baseball team when that game was young.
Also he will be remembered as the man who started the movement for paved streets in Sycamore, paying especial attention to Main, State and Somonauk streets. Before then, Sycamore was content to get along with macadam streets and gravel roads.
Words are but feeble mediums in an effort to express the depth of feeling one experiences in the loss of a man one has known virtually all his life; a man who has aided his community and his fellow man in many ways. His cheery greeting will be missed, especially by those who knew him in the alert vigor of his young manhood, and saw him gradually descend the slope that leads to eternity. One of the men that made Sycamore the habitable community it is has passed to his reward.
Fraternally, he was a Modern Woodman and a Mason. He had a charming personality, a host of friends, both in Sycamore community, and in the north woods where he had been going on vacation for more than half a century.
Born in Bristol, Vermont, October 15, 1856, one of six children, Doctor Smith never spent more than two years of his life in his native place. Instead, Sycamore was his home from the time he was two years old to the day of his death. He was the son of James Monroe Smith, mechanical genius and inventor, and Martha Lowell Smith, sister of Luther Lowell, widely known as a lawyer and judge of the DeKalb county court for years. Judge Lowell, remembered by the older generation, died in Sycamore in 1904, at the age of 86 years.
Doctor Smith grew to manhood in Sycamore, obtaining the best education here that the schools of the community could afford. He then chose dentistry as his life work and obtained a degree from the Philadelphia Dental college in 1877. He returned to Sycamore after his graduation and opened an office.
When he first started to practice, he took office in the old historic Wilkins block, gone these many years. Since then, he officed in his own building, a wooden structure back of the Methodist church on Elm street. The building is a copy of picture that appeared in a Chicago newspaper. The interior carried out the idea of a hunting lodge, with furniture and decorations to match.
During his long residence in this city, Olin H. Smith was not only mayor, but president of the Kishwaukee Country club, and of the Sycamore Commercial association, as it was then known. He started the movement for better streets in Sycamore when he was president of the Commercial association. He was mayor from 1905 to 1910, inclusive, six years, being twice elected to that office.
Some of his last days were spent in the north woods that he had loved, and where he was known as being as good a woodsman as any native or Indian guide. Just before he returned to Sycamore for the last time, he went around his old haunts, bidding his friends goodbye, as he felt that he never would return to them again.
For years he maintained a cottage at Butternut Lake, Wis. Guests at his lodge overnight had their names carved on a great shield. One will remember his long walks, accompanied by his friend and companion, a Collie. Often, in the middle of the night, when he had had an especially trying day in his office, he would walk the city streets and country roads in the dead of night.
Two years after he opened his office in Sycamore, he married Miss Lillian Babcock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Babcock of Sycamore, the ceremony having been performed in Oregon on October 15, 1879.
His widow and their two children, Mrs. Rose Mussell, who lives in the family residence on Somonauk, and Lowell B. Smith of Mason Court, survive.
Four grandchildren also survive, they being, James Smith, a Waterloo, Iowa, newspaperman; Bruce Smith and Olin W. Mussel of Sycamore, and Mrs. Dorothy Mussell Lund of Rockford. His one great grandchild, Betty Mussell, resides in Sycamore.
Funeral services were held this Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the Methodist church, the Rev. Charles H. Draper, assisted by the Rev. Frank Weichlein, officiating, with burial in Elmwood cemetery. Rites at the grave were conducted by the Masonic lodge.
True Republican, 16 July 1948
The long, active and Christian life of one of Sycamore's finest mothers ebbed to its end at 10:00 o'clock Wednesday morning when Mrs. Olin H. Smith passed away. Death ended five and one half weeks of illness at St. Mary's hospital in DeKalb. The 90 year old mother had had the misfortune to fall at her home on June 4, suffering an injury to her hip.
Lillian Viola Babcock was born in Elburn December 23, 1858 (Elburn was then known as Blackberry). She was the daughter of Albert S. and Stella Bundy Babcock who had come west from New York and had settled first at Blackberry, then Sycamore, moved to Oregon and then to California. Her father was an attorney who operated the county Abstract Company for many years.
She graduated from Sycamore high school.
On October 15, 1879 she was united in marriage to Dr. Olin H. Smith, Sycamore dentist, sportsman and mayor. He passed away August 5, 1939. Mrs. Smith was active socially and religiously in Sycamore's community life from her earliest years. She was not only a member of the Sycamore Methodist church but also served as organist, Sunday school teacher and as a member of the Ladies Aid busied herself in numerous charity activities.
It was 40 years ago this year that the Sycamore Woman's Club was formed and Mrs. Smith was one of its charter members . During the first World War she worked arduously with the American Red Cross here.
She was an accomplished musician. Not only did she play the organ and melodeon but she was a vocalist as well. Her thirst for knowledge kept her reading books and periodicals up to the time of her death. Yet, while she was involving herself in all these civic, church and patriotic activities she never lost pride in her home and devotion to her family.
She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Rose Smith Mussell; and a son, Atty. Lowell B. Smith, both in Sycamore. A sister, Mrs. Jane B. Woods in the state of Washington, is the last surviving member of her parental family.
Last rites will be conducted this Friday afternoon from the Kebil funeral home at 2:30 o'clock, Rev. Wayne Leighty will officiate. Burial will be in Elmwood cemetery here.
What a remarkable span of life she experienced. In the spring of her seventh year, the Civil War ended and Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. She watched Sycamore grow from a pioneer village without the library, court house or railroads into a city where now airplanes are common above it. Saw, too, the Spanish American War, and World War One and Two. Her children and grand children reflect her strong character and enviable intelligence. Her passing marks "finis" to an era. Sycamore's world seems the better for her having lived in it.
---------------------------------------------------
I do not manage the memorial for Lillian's husband, Olin. His obituary has much historical information.
True Republican, 9 August 1939
Dr. Olin H. Smith, 82 years old, for 61 years a practicing Sycamore dentist, and for six years (three terms) mayor of this city, died Saturday night, following an illness of but a few days. He was known as a man who loved the great outdoors, once a famous athlete, one of the first men who could run the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds and a member of the old Sycamore baseball team when that game was young.
Also he will be remembered as the man who started the movement for paved streets in Sycamore, paying especial attention to Main, State and Somonauk streets. Before then, Sycamore was content to get along with macadam streets and gravel roads.
Words are but feeble mediums in an effort to express the depth of feeling one experiences in the loss of a man one has known virtually all his life; a man who has aided his community and his fellow man in many ways. His cheery greeting will be missed, especially by those who knew him in the alert vigor of his young manhood, and saw him gradually descend the slope that leads to eternity. One of the men that made Sycamore the habitable community it is has passed to his reward.
Fraternally, he was a Modern Woodman and a Mason. He had a charming personality, a host of friends, both in Sycamore community, and in the north woods where he had been going on vacation for more than half a century.
Born in Bristol, Vermont, October 15, 1856, one of six children, Doctor Smith never spent more than two years of his life in his native place. Instead, Sycamore was his home from the time he was two years old to the day of his death. He was the son of James Monroe Smith, mechanical genius and inventor, and Martha Lowell Smith, sister of Luther Lowell, widely known as a lawyer and judge of the DeKalb county court for years. Judge Lowell, remembered by the older generation, died in Sycamore in 1904, at the age of 86 years.
Doctor Smith grew to manhood in Sycamore, obtaining the best education here that the schools of the community could afford. He then chose dentistry as his life work and obtained a degree from the Philadelphia Dental college in 1877. He returned to Sycamore after his graduation and opened an office.
When he first started to practice, he took office in the old historic Wilkins block, gone these many years. Since then, he officed in his own building, a wooden structure back of the Methodist church on Elm street. The building is a copy of picture that appeared in a Chicago newspaper. The interior carried out the idea of a hunting lodge, with furniture and decorations to match.
During his long residence in this city, Olin H. Smith was not only mayor, but president of the Kishwaukee Country club, and of the Sycamore Commercial association, as it was then known. He started the movement for better streets in Sycamore when he was president of the Commercial association. He was mayor from 1905 to 1910, inclusive, six years, being twice elected to that office.
Some of his last days were spent in the north woods that he had loved, and where he was known as being as good a woodsman as any native or Indian guide. Just before he returned to Sycamore for the last time, he went around his old haunts, bidding his friends goodbye, as he felt that he never would return to them again.
For years he maintained a cottage at Butternut Lake, Wis. Guests at his lodge overnight had their names carved on a great shield. One will remember his long walks, accompanied by his friend and companion, a Collie. Often, in the middle of the night, when he had had an especially trying day in his office, he would walk the city streets and country roads in the dead of night.
Two years after he opened his office in Sycamore, he married Miss Lillian Babcock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Babcock of Sycamore, the ceremony having been performed in Oregon on October 15, 1879.
His widow and their two children, Mrs. Rose Mussell, who lives in the family residence on Somonauk, and Lowell B. Smith of Mason Court, survive.
Four grandchildren also survive, they being, James Smith, a Waterloo, Iowa, newspaperman; Bruce Smith and Olin W. Mussel of Sycamore, and Mrs. Dorothy Mussell Lund of Rockford. His one great grandchild, Betty Mussell, resides in Sycamore.
Funeral services were held this Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the Methodist church, the Rev. Charles H. Draper, assisted by the Rev. Frank Weichlein, officiating, with burial in Elmwood cemetery. Rites at the grave were conducted by the Masonic lodge.
The long, active and Christian life of one of Sycamore's finest mothers ebbed to its end at 10:00 o'clock Wednesday morning when Mrs. Olin H. Smith passed away. Death ended five and one half weeks of illness at St. Mary's hospital in DeKalb. The 90 year old mother had had the misfortune to fall at her home on June 4, suffering an injury to her hip.
Lillian Viola Babcock was born in Elburn December 23, 1858 (Elburn was then known as Blackberry). She was the daughter of Albert S. and Stella Bundy Babcock who had come west from New York and had settled first at Blackberry, then Sycamore, moved to Oregon and then to California. Her father was an attorney who operated the county Abstract Company for many years.
She graduated from Sycamore high school.
On October 15, 1879 she was united in marriage to Dr. Olin H. Smith, Sycamore dentist, sportsman and mayor. He passed away August 5, 1939. Mrs. Smith was active socially and religiously in Sycamore's community life from her earliest years. She was not only a member of the Sycamore Methodist church but also served as organist, Sunday school teacher and as a member of the Ladies Aid busied herself in numerous charity activities.
It was 40 years ago this year that the Sycamore Woman's Club was formed and Mrs. Smith was one of its charter members . During the first World War she worked arduously with the American Red Cross here.
She was an accomplished musician. Not only did she play the organ and melodeon but she was a vocalist as well. Her thirst for knowledge kept her reading books and periodicals up to the time of her death. Yet, while she was involving herself in all these civic, church and patriotic activities she never lost pride in her home and devotion to her family.
She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Rose Smith Mussell; and a son, Atty. Lowell B. Smith, both in Sycamore. A sister, Mrs. Jane B. Woods in the state of Washington, is the last surviving member of her parental family.
Last rites will be conducted this Friday afternoon from the Kebil funeral home at 2:30 o'clock, Rev. Wayne Leighty will officiate. Burial will be in Elmwood cemetery here.
What a remarkable span of life she experienced. In the spring of her seventh year, the Civil War ended and Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. She watched Sycamore grow from a pioneer village without the library, court house or railroads into a city where now airplanes are common above it. Saw, too, the Spanish American War, and World War One and Two. Her children and grand children reflect her strong character and enviable intelligence. Her passing marks "finis" to an era. Sycamore's world seems the better for her having lived in it.
---------------------------------------------------
I do not manage the memorial for Lillian's husband, Olin. His obituary has much historical information.
True Republican, 9 August 1939
Dr. Olin H. Smith, 82 years old, for 61 years a practicing Sycamore dentist, and for six years (three terms) mayor of this city, died Saturday night, following an illness of but a few days. He was known as a man who loved the great outdoors, once a famous athlete, one of the first men who could run the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds and a member of the old Sycamore baseball team when that game was young.
Also he will be remembered as the man who started the movement for paved streets in Sycamore, paying especial attention to Main, State and Somonauk streets. Before then, Sycamore was content to get along with macadam streets and gravel roads.
Words are but feeble mediums in an effort to express the depth of feeling one experiences in the loss of a man one has known virtually all his life; a man who has aided his community and his fellow man in many ways. His cheery greeting will be missed, especially by those who knew him in the alert vigor of his young manhood, and saw him gradually descend the slope that leads to eternity. One of the men that made Sycamore the habitable community it is has passed to his reward.
Fraternally, he was a Modern Woodman and a Mason. He had a charming personality, a host of friends, both in Sycamore community, and in the north woods where he had been going on vacation for more than half a century.
Born in Bristol, Vermont, October 15, 1856, one of six children, Doctor Smith never spent more than two years of his life in his native place. Instead, Sycamore was his home from the time he was two years old to the day of his death. He was the son of James Monroe Smith, mechanical genius and inventor, and Martha Lowell Smith, sister of Luther Lowell, widely known as a lawyer and judge of the DeKalb county court for years. Judge Lowell, remembered by the older generation, died in Sycamore in 1904, at the age of 86 years.
Doctor Smith grew to manhood in Sycamore, obtaining the best education here that the schools of the community could afford. He then chose dentistry as his life work and obtained a degree from the Philadelphia Dental college in 1877. He returned to Sycamore after his graduation and opened an office.
When he first started to practice, he took office in the old historic Wilkins block, gone these many years. Since then, he officed in his own building, a wooden structure back of the Methodist church on Elm street. The building is a copy of picture that appeared in a Chicago newspaper. The interior carried out the idea of a hunting lodge, with furniture and decorations to match.
During his long residence in this city, Olin H. Smith was not only mayor, but president of the Kishwaukee Country club, and of the Sycamore Commercial association, as it was then known. He started the movement for better streets in Sycamore when he was president of the Commercial association. He was mayor from 1905 to 1910, inclusive, six years, being twice elected to that office.
Some of his last days were spent in the north woods that he had loved, and where he was known as being as good a woodsman as any native or Indian guide. Just before he returned to Sycamore for the last time, he went around his old haunts, bidding his friends goodbye, as he felt that he never would return to them again.
For years he maintained a cottage at Butternut Lake, Wis. Guests at his lodge overnight had their names carved on a great shield. One will remember his long walks, accompanied by his friend and companion, a Collie. Often, in the middle of the night, when he had had an especially trying day in his office, he would walk the city streets and country roads in the dead of night.
Two years after he opened his office in Sycamore, he married Miss Lillian Babcock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Babcock of Sycamore, the ceremony having been performed in Oregon on October 15, 1879.
His widow and their two children, Mrs. Rose Mussell, who lives in the family residence on Somonauk, and Lowell B. Smith of Mason Court, survive.
Four grandchildren also survive, they being, James Smith, a Waterloo, Iowa, newspaperman; Bruce Smith and Olin W. Mussel of Sycamore, and Mrs. Dorothy Mussell Lund of Rockford. His one great grandchild, Betty Mussell, resides in Sycamore.
Funeral services were held this Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the Methodist church, the Rev. Charles H. Draper, assisted by the Rev. Frank Weichlein, officiating, with burial in Elmwood cemetery. Rites at the grave were conducted by the Masonic lodge.
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