Son of Isaac Smith (1800-1883),
and his wife
Martha Burke (1793-1857),
who were married on Oct. 19, 1826,
in Preble County Ohio.
Isaac and Martha Smith are buried
in the Riverside Cemetery, in
Dowagiac, Cass County Michigan.
---
The 1850 census shows that James
also had a sister named Ann Smith,
born about 1831, in Michigan.
------------------------------
James was married to
Malvina/Melvina Babcock,
in Oct. of 1853.
She was born Nov. 16, 1829, in
Stephentown, Rensselaer County New York,
and she died in 1911.
She was the daughter of
John Babcock (1795-1841),
and his wife
Sarah Kendall (1795-1876).
Malvina was one of eleven children,
only eight reaching adult age.
She came to Michigan in 1844.
Malvina was a school teacher.
She was listed as "Melvina" in
the census records, but listed as
"Malvina" in her two obituaries,
and in "A Twentieth Century History
of Berrien County Michigan"
by Judge Orville W. Coolidge, page 193,
and in "Portraits and Biographical Record
of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan,
pages 768 to 770..
---
One obituary for " Mrs. Malvina Smith",
was published in the "Niles Daily Sun"
newspaper, in Niles, Michigan, on
Jan. 16, 1911, page 1
(this one states that she died on
Jan. 16, 1911).
---
Another obituary for
"Malvina Smith", was published
in the "Niles Daily Star" newspaper,
in Niles, Michigan, on
Jan. 18, 1911, page 3, column 6.
---
They had the following four children:
---
1. Martha Smith,
born about 1853-1854 in MI.
Graduated from the Niles High School,
proficiant in music and art.
In the 1910 census of Berrien Co. MI
she is living with her sister Mary's
daughter Anna and husband
Bert Vrooman/Vrormon,
Anna's daughter Mary E. Vrormon,
her brother Charly R. Smith, and
their mother Martha [Malvina] Smith,
a widow, age 80, born in N. Y. about 1830.
d. Nov. 30, 1918, in Dowagiac,
Cass County Michigan.
Buried: Riverside Cemetery,
Dowagiac, Cass Co. Michigan.
---
2. Mary Smith,
born about 1856-1857, in MI.
Graduated from the Niles High School,
proficient in music and art.
m. Horace Greely Corell, on
March 21, 1878, in Berrien Co. MI
Mary died 19 months later.
They had a child
Anna Claudine Corell,
who married Bert Vroorman/Vroman,
of Dowagiac, Michigan, and had
a daughter named Mary E. Vroormon/Vroman.
Buried: Riverside Cemetery,
Dowagiac, Cass County Michigan.
---
3. Dr. Ethan Henry Smith, M.D.
Born 1863, in Berrien County Michigan.
He was a student in the classical course
at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor,
and also entered the medical department.
He graduated from the Bellevue Medical
Hospital College in 1889.
m. Minnie J. Saxe (born about 1860
in California),
on Jan. 25, 1894, in
Santa Clara, California.
In the 1910, 1920, and 1930, census,
they lived in San Francisco, California.
d. 1936.
He practiced medicine in Santa Clara, CA.
Buried: Mission City Memorial Park,
Santa Clara, Santa Clara County,
California (Plot: Section E).
---
4. Charles ("Charlie") R. Smith.
b. Aug. 10, 1874 (or 1875),
in Berrien Township, Berrien Co. MI.
m. Eva P. Mcnab, on
Feb. 9, 1907, in St. Joseph,
Berrien County Michigan.
She was the daughter of Fred Mcnab,
and his wife unknown Holmes.
He is listed as widowed in 1910 census.
d.
Buried: In the Riverside Cemetery,
Dowagiac, Cass Co. Michigan,
as "Charlie" Smith.
____________________________

James Smith died on Feb. 19, 1899,
on his father's old homestead
(which he had taken over),
in Section 24, of Berrien township,
Berrien County Michigan.
---------------------------
The following obituary for James Smith
was published in the
"Berrien Springs Era" newspaper,
in Berrien Springs, Michigan, on
March 1, 1899, page 3:
---
James Smith died Feb. 19, 1899,
in 72nd year of his age, and was
buried at Summervile [Sumnerville],
Wednesday, Feb. 22. Mr. Smith was born
in Preble county, Ohio, and came
to Berrien township in 1828
[OR in 1830, per the following article
in "A Twentieth Century History of
Berrien County Michigan"].
-----------
Note: The large headstone in the
Riverside Cemetery, in Dowagiac,
Cass County Michigan lists the
following names:
James Smith, Anna Corell Vrooman,
Mary Corell Smith, Charlie Smith,
Martha Smith, and "Father" (Isaac Smith],
and "Mother" [Malvina Babcock Smith].
------------------------------
"A Twentieth Century History of
Berrien County Michigan",
by Judge Orville W. Coolidge,
states the following on page 193:
---
In 1830, John Smith and his brother
Isaac Smith, whose parents were
pioneer settlers in Kentucky,
came from Preble County Ohio, and
settled in Berrien Township
[in Berrien County Michigan].
John located 96 acres in section 13,
and Isaac two hundred and 40 acres
in Section 24.
Both of these brothers lived upon
their farms till their deaths at
an extreme old age.
Isaac Smith's only son James Smith
died in 1899, at the old homestead
of his father, leaving a widow
Mrs. Malvina [Babcock] Smith,
sister of Hon. W. I. Babcock of Niles,
and three children: Martha, Dr. Ethan H.,
and Charles R. Smith.
-------------------------------
Note: See very large article on James
and his father Isaac Smith in:
"Portrait and Biographical Record
of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan",
pages 768 to 770.
--------------------------------