Smith, Blanche Matilda, 1883-1906

Horace Manning Smith was probably born on March 17, 1855 in New York State, the son of Harvey C. Smith. By 1876, he had moved to Chicago, where he worked at the West Side bank of Preston, Kean, & Co. He corresponded with Fannie, a young woman who lived on her parent's farm in Winthrop, Conn. and they were married by May of 1878.

Fannie, who was born December 14, 1853, was the youngest of four children. She had a sister Jennie, who lived out west, and two brothers, one who was also out west, and Henry, who was often at sea. Henry's wife and three children probably also lived on his parent's farm, for Fannie referred to her three year old niece as her bedfellow. Fannie spent a couple years with her siblings in Illinois and Iowa, and she might have met Horace while she was out there. Fannie's father died suddenly in his sleep in March 1876, and her mother planned to sell the farm and move west. Fannie couldn't decide whether to continue living with her sister-in-law, move to Delaware and work as a dressmaker, or go west, although her inclination definitely seemed to be to move to Chicago and marry Horace, as she eventually did.

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