T.A. Smith was born at Franklin, Texas in 1870. He was the son of Newton and Virginia (Calvert) Smith. Newton Smith, his father, served in the Confederate Army and died at the age of 27, a few months before Tom was born. Tom became a clerk in a hardware store before the age of sixteen. Most of his life was spent in the West as a cotton buyer, rancher, in real estate, and as a hardware merchant.Tom married Miss Sula Easter, daughter of Thomas T. Easter and Pera Grant Easter, in Franklin September 27, 1891. Mrs. Easter's mother was related to General U.S. Grant. Sula graduated from Franklin High School in 1887 and went on to a girl's school in Sherman, Texas. She was an accomplished pianist and gave piano lessons in Lorenzo. She also was an artist and some of her paintings are being preserved by her grandchildren.
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Smith had four children, Glynn, Gladys, Easter, and Edward Simmons. Glynn died at the age of three before the family moved to West Texas.
In the early 1900's T.Easter Sr., Sula'a father, came out west and bought three sections of ranch land. Two sections were west of Lorenzo and one was near Estacado. The land was purchased for three and four dollars an acre.
In 1907 Tom Smith brought his family to this area. The story has been told that they came by train from Houston to Plainview. The people that were to meet them lost their mules so the family was stranded in Plainview. They spent the night in a hotel and the next day they hired a wagon to get them to the Estacado area and later they settled west of Lorenzo.
They ran cattle on these little ranches until 1914 and then they started row crops.
Since there was no school in the Lorenzo area in 1907, Sula taught the children at home the first year. In 1908 until 1911 she and her children moved to Estacado and stayed with her family during the school year and then went back to the farm in the summer.
When the railroad came through Lorenzo in 1911, Sula'a family moved their mercantile and hardware business to Lorenzo on sleds (buildings and all). After this, Tom went into the hardware business and built up the largest business of its kind in the county. The hardware stock was valued at $20,000.
In 1920 Tom bought the farm and two story home in Lorenzo. The house was built in 1919 by O.C. Powers and was one of the most outstanding homes in this area. Here many social events were held. Later, John Hughes, Fred Wiese, Selman-Mercer and many others were boarders in the house.
Sula died at the age of fifty-five and Tom at the age of eighty-three.
Gladys Smith took up the talents of her mother. She also became a pianist, did china painting and had a fine doll collection. These are being restored by the grandchildren. Gladys died in 1973.
Easter Smith went into the farming business at an early age and is now retired.
Simmons Smith married Maudie McLaury, July 1921. She was the daughter of A.E. McLaury of Stephenville, Texas. Maudie began her teaching career in 1921 and taught periodically in this area until her death August 19, 1951. She was an active member of the P.T.A., and served as Vice President and President of the Fourteenth District from 1946 to 1950. She was an outstanding leader in church and civic affairs.
Simmons was engaged in farming and was an agent for the Continental Oil Company. He operated the business forty-nine years.
In 1938 Maudie and Simmons purchased the two story home and farm from his father. The home is now occupied by the granddaughter Mary Jo and her family.
Maudie and Simmons had three children, Edward S. Jr., Ronald, and Mary Jo. All three children graduated from Texas Tech University and lived in Lorenzo.
Edward is engaged in farming in the Lorenzo area. Ronald passed away May 9, 1998. Mary Jo has retired from teaching in the Lorenzo schools and is now serving Lorenzo as the Librarian.
Edward married Betty Fortenberry, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.O. Fortenbery of New Deal, Texas. They have two children: son Edward S. III (Eddie) of Floydada, Texas who married JenniSu. They have one son Eric. Eric is married to Lee Lane of Knox City. Daughter M. Shelly (Mrs. Bonner Smith) of Lubbock, Texas has three children, Bonny, Robin, and Brooke.
Ronald married Glenna Marlar, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Marlar of Lorenzo. They have two sons, Kyle and Kelly.
Mary Jo married Bobby Gene Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Smith of Lorenzo. Mary Jo and Bobby Gene are both graduated of Lorenzo High and also Texas Tech. They have three children: Sydney married Joey Nichols and they live in Petersburg with their four children: Jody, J'Rae, Taylor and Page. Second daughter is Stacy who lives in Brentwood, Tennessee with her husband Jeff Rothenberger and their two children, Travis and Alyse. Son Todd lives in Round Rock, Texas with his wife Carrie and children Trent and Tanner.
As members of families that have a long history in Lorenzo, Mary Jo and her husband Bobby Gene live in the house that was built by the Powers Brothers in 1919 for her grandparents T.A. Smith and Sula Easter who were some of the original settlers of the town. Mary Jo remembers family members telling that her grandmother at one time ran a boarding house in the upstairs part of the big white house and that Fred Wiese rented a room there when he was a young man.
Submitted by Mary Jo Smith
Source: "Once Upon A Plain...Echoes of Lorenzo", by Carroll Wayne Wallace sr. and Sydna E. Wallace; ©2000
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