World War I Draft Registration card - living in Somer Township, occupation farmer261, #4856

1920 Federal Census - Somer Township, Champaign County, Illinois
-Earl H., head, age 27 - farmer
-Cecyle, wife, age 26
-Homer, son, age 6
-Philip, son, age 1

1930 Federal Census - Urbana Township, Champaign County, Illinois
-Earl, head, age 36 - farmer
-Cecyle, wife, age 35
-Homer, son, age 16
-Phillip, son, age 10
-Betty, daughter, age 1 year 2 months
-Cox, Clarence, lodger, age 20 - farm laborer

“My Dad (Homer Earl) had a breathing problem when he was young. The doctor suggested going to a dryer climate for a winter, so they spent the winter in Amarillo. Dad remembered cowboys tying horses to rails outside saloons on weekend nights. Regardless, Grandfather Bate purchased land which was being plowed up for crops and when he went back a year later, he sold the land for enough profit to build the house where my Uncle Ralph spent the first part of his married life. Roland, Harry, Mary, and Rex spent their early years there.”155

“It was about 1924 when my parents, Homer Earl and Cecyle Smith, moved to the Bate Smith house. The farm had a mortgage with an insurance company and when The Great Depression hit, it was not possible to make enough to keep payments, taxes, etc. and the place was lost.”155

In another section I mentioned Curly Elliott and Jim Springer. Fred Elliott, Curly’s father, purchased the farm from the insurance company. My wife, Lorene, is Fred’s daughter. She and I have spent a lot of time on the house repairs and barn repairs. However, the bsrn is falling down and will be demolished. Lorene has a life estate in the farm and at her death, it will go to our sons. I guess “what goes around comes around.”155

H. Earl Smith, 79, of R.R. 2, U, died at 4 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 29, 1972) at Burnham City Hospital, Champaign, where he had been a patient for two days.

Services will be 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Renner-Wikoff Chapel with the Rev. Clarence Nordling officiating. Burial will be in Mt. Olive Cemetery in Mayview.

Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.

He was born May 24, 1892, in Urbana Township, the son of A. B. and Mary Fitch Smith. He married Cecyle Mallow Jan. 17, 1912, in Somers Township.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Homer of Urbana and Phillip of Troy, Ohio; a daughter, Miss Betty Smith of Chicago; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents and three brothers.

A retired farmer, he spent his entire life in Champaign County. He was a member of the Methodist Church of Mayview and the Champaign County Farm Bureau.

Those who wish to make tangible expression of sympathy are asked to contribute to the Heart Fund.