Mary Hittle Dreisbach Smith
Mary, daughter of Isaac Eyer Dresbach, was born November 18, 1841. Here was an unusual life, unusual rural, educational and religious, nurturing from the very beginning. Her father was a most successful farmer and a devout Church-man, her mother a refined resourceful homemaker. Her grandfather was John Dreisbach, one of the founders of the Evangelical Association.
After a high school education in Circleville, Ohio and one and one-half years of teaching, she entered Greensburg Seminary, Ohio, in the fall of 1859 where she met President A.A. Smith and his son Henry Cowles Smith. She married Henry on July 30, 1863. They established their home in the West, at Plainsville, Illinois, where Prof. Smith had been appointed professor of music in the college. This home, transferred seven years later with the college to Napersville, Ill., became the dearest spot on earth to her family.
There was no limit to her hospitality. She entertained most royally, her wit, vivacity, her imagination never failed. She was a wide reader and appreciated all good literature. She was a deep student of the Bible. She was a woman of ceaseless activity, in the life of the College, church and community covering fifty-eight years in North Western College and fifty-one years residence in Napersville. Her public activities included pioneer work in the founding of the Womans' Missionary Society, the Womans' Christian Temperance Union, the Junior Temperance Organization, and the Band of Hope. She was an active member of the executive committee of the International Young Womans Christian Association.
Her interest in Missions dates back to 1872 when she organized a Childrens Missionary Band and a community-wide support for Miss Julia Dudly, missionary to Japan. Among her literary productions may be mentioned "History of the YWCA of North Western College," published in book form in 1908. At the organization of the College Chapel S.S. in 1870 she was appointed teacher of the Infant Class and so continued for 32 years. In teaching the truths of the Bible she used song and story, charts and blackboard illustrations, childrens' papers and nature objects lessons.
Her predominant characteristics were her never-failing good cheer and sympathy. Like her Master she went out among the sick with tender ministrations. She sought out the lonely ones and the strangers.
She was an unfailing counselor and guide to the young people and to the last a lover and companion to children. Nor were her home duties slighted, or the demands of the inner man. The fires burned bright in her fragrant, savory kitchen. Her mother's heart was so full that it overflowed the portals. She was a friend to the friendless and not afraid to point to the erring ones the danger of bad habits; her heart went in boundless sympathy to all the world.
On Mother's Day, May 8, she was the guest of honor at the special service of her old Sunday School. On the following Sunday she attended Church as usual. The next morning she was stricken with Cerebral Hemorrhage which resulted in death May 30, 1921.
Descendants of Henry Cowles Smith and Mary Hittle Dreisbach
Henry Cowles SMITH b: 1839
+Mary Hittle DREISBACH
b: Nov 18, 1841 Circleville, OH m: Jul 30, 1863 d: May 30, 1921 in Naperville, IL Father: Isaac Eyer Dreisbach Mother: Lydia Hittle
.... 2 Anna Mae SMITH b: 1864
.... 2 Fanny Eyer SMITH b: Apr 24, 1866 Plainfield, Ill d: Aug 21, 1949
........ +Fred Foster HILDRETH m: Feb 20, 1896 d: Sep 13, 1944
........... 3 Gladys Winifred HILDRETH b: Dec 08, 1896 Terre Haute, IN
............... +Carl Walter YOUNG m: Aug 22, 1924
........... 3 Gertrude Howell HILDRETH b: Oct 11, 1898 Terre Haute, IN
........... 3 Egbert Smith HILDRETH b: Nov 01, 1902 Terre Haute, IN
............... +Janet CARR b: 1907 m: Oct 11, 1930
.... 2 Martha Eliza SMITH b: Jul 05, 1868 Plainsville, Ill
........ +Robert Emmett TRAVIS b: Apr 02, 1862 m: Jun 26, 1894
........... 3 Robert Henry TRAVIS b: May 31, 1895 Owosso, Mich.
............... +Marian Elizabeth JONES b: 1905
........... 3 Ruth Cowles TRAVIS b: Aug 05, 1898 Owosso, MI
............... +Roy SIMPSON m: Jun 16, 1922
.... 2 Lucy Jewitt SMITH b: May 28, 1872 Naperville, IL
........ +W. L. NAUMAN m: Feb 04, 1902
........... 3 Lewis H. NAUMAN b: Jul 06, 1903
............... +Ethel KNIPP m: Feb 04, 1927 in Lindsay, OH
.... 2 Henry Augustine SMITH b: Oct 17, 1874 Naperville, IL
........ +Lucia May SMITH m: May 23, 1916
........... 3 Henry Augustine SMITH, Jr. b: Feb 10, 1919
........... 3 Patricia SMITH b: Nov 11, 1922
.... 2 Ralph SMITH
.... 2 Charles Arthur SMITH b: Nov 11, 1880 Naperville, IL d: Oct 07, 1902 in Chicago, IL
........ +Nellie FRANK m: Sep 24, 1902