•Part 1
Joyful news: Sylvia Kelly Smith, Franklinton resident, prolific author, and wife of the late Philip Smith, has written and released a sensational new book - "Branches from the Danner and Lytle Family Trees - From - North to South." Having penned a number of books, Ms. Sylvia stays on my radar. While I haven't been privy to all of her manuscripts, I have enjoyed my fair share, purchasing them for my collection. Sylvia Smith's publications include "A Gathering of Garrisons…," "A Parade of Parishes…," "Tracing Our Noblet Genes, Vol. I & II," "Baywood and Beyond (Smith/Pennington)," and "Branches from the Wall Family Tree of Amite County, MS, Vol. I & II (Emphasizing Jones, Facundus, Raborn)."
In her most recent masterpiece, she relates the material in story form. And who doesn't like a good story? Because I have already written columns on "Baywood and Beyond (Smith/Pennington)," I shan't cover that material again. My focus, for now, is the ancestry of Sylvia Smith's mother-in-law Anna Juanita Lytle Smith's family. Ms. Juanita, as she was known locally, was born in Terra Haute, Indiana, in December of 1916. So, her roots were in Indiana.
Digressing, it is a strange coincidence that as I pen this piece, I am a stone's throw from the Hoosier State. It is less than sixty miles from our vacation spot in Northern Kentucky. One naturally thinks of bourbon while in Kentucky. It was Mark Twain who said, "Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough." While I only admit to a sip, at present I'm focused on Ms. Juanita. And proximity to her beginnings makes me feel closer to the story.
Juanita Lytle Smith (1916-2007) was raised in Minden, Louisiana, where her family had moved around 1923 and where she graduated from Minden High School in 1934. But as many may remember, Juanita Smith (1916-2007) was a longtime Franklinton resident. She married Samuel Harrell Smith, Jr., and they were the parents of sons Phillip Harrell Smith (Sylvia Kelly), Kenneth Wayne Smith (Amy Jo Crowe Holliday), and James Qua Smith (Judy Spencer).
An LSU graduate, Samuel Harrell Smith, Jr., (1911-1993), who did extensive work with the Civilian Conservation Corps and was the St. Tammany Parish County Agent, was, in 1945, named the first Superintendent of the LSU Experiment Station which became the LSU Southeast Research Station in Franklinton. He also became manager of the Gulf Milk Association until he founded Smith Milk Company in 1959. And Sam Smith was also a civic activist, serving on the Washington Parish Community Action Board and as president of the Washington Parish Fair Association in 1969.
Juanita was part of the prestigious Order of the Eastern Star, diligently working her way up to Grand Worthy Matron of the Eastern Star for the state of Louisiana. And she also was the proprietor of Juanita's Gifts and Fabrics, which opened in Franklinton on Ellis, what we called the one-way street, in the 1970s. Her elegant establishment is where, as a child, I shopped with my mother. With beautiful merchandise ranging the gamut from china and crystal to the finest of fabrics, Juanita had a loyal following of local customers. I can still picture the shop's interior; it sparkled. And it is where Momma bought Daddy a birthday surprise - the grandfather clock that chimes on the hour in my foyer.
Ms. Juanita's mother, Mattie Belle Danner Lytle (1893-1976), who is buried in Ellis Cemetery, had also relocated to Franklinton where she lived with her daughter and son-in-law Samuel Harrell Smith's family. This came about when she was only forty-seven years old and her husband Grover Cleveland Lytle (1887-1940) passed away. Affectionately known locally as "Granny," Mattie enjoyed gardening; fishing; caring for ducks and chickens; sewing; quilting by hand; and shopping on Canal Street with the best of them. She was a lovely lady who had overcome obstacles in life.
Mattie Belle Danner Lytle was born in Clay County, Indiana, to Theophilis T. Danner (1862-1893) and Eliza Anna Bates Danner (1867-1935). Theophilis Danner descended from Phenise Bensley "Felix" Danner (about 1822-1900) and wife Rachel Greer Danner (about 1925-between 1870-1880). Little Mattie was the youngest of three children. Her older siblings were Henry Robert Danner and Catherine May Danner.
Sadly, Mattie's father Theophilis died in early 1893. He lamentably didn't live long enough to meet darling daughter Mattie, who was born in November of that year. Her mother Anna remarried in 1898, and as part of the union - her new husband Reuben John Overton didn't want to raise them - gave up her three children, placing them in an orphanage. While enough to make the angels weep, I would imagine times were hard for the widowed mother. But fortunately, Anna's mother Sarah Catherine Hixon Bates Gummere Behymer Wilson, with her husband William H. H. Wilson's support, retrieved the baby - Mattie - from the orphanage, raising her just like her own.
•Stay turned for the conclusion next week.
