Thursday, October 28, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday--Smith Farm Lease 1927


At the end of the summer, my sister-in-law finished the final cleaning out of Helena's condo and on her way back to Mississippi, stopped here in North Olmsted for a visit. I became the proud new owner of additional pieces of family glassware and tucked inside the box were several envelopes. One contained this document dated April 1, 1927.

Grover Cleveland Smith was Helena's father. John A. (Andrew) Smith, her paternal grandfather. The family owned and farmed land in Clinton Township, Seneca County, Ohio. This document is a lease from John Andrew Smith to his son, Grover Cleveland Smith.

Grover Cleveland Smith agreed to pay his father the annual sum of $300.00 for the land outlined in the contract. Some of his duties were to repair all fences, to sow clover and timothy seed to keep the soil from deteriorating, to plant one half acre of strawberries and to keep the weeds cut.

When the lease was drawn up, Grover Cleveland Smith was married to Mildred Claudine Tate Smith and they had four children and one on the way.

Witness to the signing were:
Jesse C. Heebsh
Peter C. Welter

Relationship to my two sons
John Andrew Smith--paternal great great grandfather
Grover Cleveland Smith--paternal great grandfather

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

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