My Genealogy Hound

MRS. LURENE S. GOULD, widow of Solon H. Gould, of Smith’s Ferry, who died in 1873, is the daughter of Milo J. and Sally J. (Street) Smith. Her grandfather, Lewis Smith, who was born in West Springfield, was a son of David Smith, whose father also was named David. Lewis Smith settled at Smith’s Ferry about one hundred and ten years ago. The great events of his life happened in his early years. He entered the Revolutionary army when a boy of sixteen, and was one of the great contingent of untrained militia which eventually conquered the best-trained army in the world. When scarcely twenty-two he married, and, with his good wife, shouldered the cares of house-keeping. They reared eleven children, all of whom became heads of families; and at one time five of his sons were living contiguous to each other on one street. A daughter Eunice, who is now the widow of Hiram W. Bagg, and resides in Erie, Pa., is a remarkably bright and active lady, though ninety-two years of age, and is engaged in various charitable enterprises, pursuing the work with all the zest of youth.

Milo J. Smith, the father of Mrs. Gould, was a man of good judgment and considerable force of character. He was a manufacturer of cider vinegar, and had a large farm at West Liberty, Ia., where he raised fine stock and horned cattle, in which he dealt quite extensively. In his native town he was a man of note, skilled in business matters; and he settled many estates. In politics he was a Whig and a Republican, and was a Representative in the legislature several terms, serving also as Selectman and Justice of the Peace. He died in 1884, at the age of seventy-six. His wife Sally J. Street, was born in what is now Holyoke. She lived to be sixty-five, passing away in 1874, and is interred in the family lot with her husband at Smith’s Ferry. They reared three children: Milo L., a farmer at Smith’s Ferry, who died in 1891, when about sixty years of age, leaving a son and daughter; Lurene, Mrs. Gould; and Josephine, who died in 1876, at the age of thirty-five.

In 1862 Lurene Smith became the wife of Solon H. Gould, a native of Charlestown, N. H., son of Joseph and Abigail (Hagar) Gould. Joseph Gould was a farmer and reared his son to the same vocation. He had but one other child, a daughter, who passed to the world beyond when but twenty years of age. Solon H. Gould’s life was a brief one, covering but thirty-five years. A daughter, Stella L., born to him and his wife, entered the valley of the shadow of death just at the dawn of womanhood.

Mrs. Gould retains her home at Smith’s Ferry, but spends part of her time with her nieces and nephews, and also travels a great deal, a few years ago having made the tour of Europe. She is a Congregationalist, belonging to the First Church, of which her husband was also a member.