Clarrisa Hannah "Clara" Carhart (202) was born 15 Feb 1854 in Clark County, Missouri, United States.
1860 - US Federal Census - Berlin Township, Delaware, Ohio, United States (with grandparents)
1870 - US Federal Census - Adams Township, Keokuk, Iowa, United States (with parents)
1860 - US Federal Census - Berlin Township, Delaware, Ohio, United States (with grandparents)
1870 - US Federal Census - Adams Township, Keokuk, Iowa, United States (with parents)
Clara married William Lewis Nesmith (4478) on 18 Apr 1874 in Sigourney, Keokuk, Iowa, United States. William was born 24 Apr 1852 in Van Buren, Jackson, Iowa, United States to Joseph Thomas and Jenny Jane (Truscott) Nesmith.
Clara and William had the following children:
- Edgar Leroy Nesmith (4482) - born Jan 1876 in Iowa, United States and died 1943.
- Hal Joseph Nesmith (4479) - born 10 Sep 1882 in Kansas, United States and died 1943.
- Verne Louis Nesmith (4480) - born 9 Sep 1886 in Kansas, United States and died 1958.
- Aura Case Nesmith (4481) - born 4 Jul 1893 in Kansas, United States and died 1968.
1880 - US Federal Census - Wilson, Ellsworth, Kansas, United States (Occupation: Grocer)
1900 - US Federal Census - Wilson, Ellsworth, Kansas, United States (Occupation: Grocery Store Merchant)
1905 - Kansas State Census - Wilson, Ellsworth, Kansas, United States
1910 - US Federal Census - Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States (Occupation: Retail Grocery Merchant)
1920 - US Federal Census - Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States (no occupation)
1900 - US Federal Census - Wilson, Ellsworth, Kansas, United States (Occupation: Grocery Store Merchant)
1905 - Kansas State Census - Wilson, Ellsworth, Kansas, United States
1910 - US Federal Census - Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States (Occupation: Retail Grocery Merchant)
1920 - US Federal Census - Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States (no occupation)
William died 11 May 1920 in Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States. Clara died 16 Oct 1939 in Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States. They were buried in Gypsum Hill Cemetery, Salina, Saline, Kansas, United States.
A biography of William's life was published in A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written & compiled by William E. Connelley, 1918, and transcribed by Lorri Wray, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, October 21, 1999.
WILLIAM L. NESMITH is one of the Kansas pioneers. He has lived in this state more than forty years, having come here in 1874 with his young wife. Their wagon trip from Iowa was in the nature of a honeymoon journey. For a great many years William Nesmith was engaged in merchandising and in other affairs at Wilson, and is now a resident of Salina and a member of the grocery house of Nesmith & Son. His public spirit as a citizen and his generous contributions to educational institutions and moral movements have been on a par with his notable business success.
His birth occurred April 24, 1852, in a log house on a farm in Van Buren County, Iowa. His parents were Joseph T. and Jane (Truscott) Nesmith, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of England. William L. Nesmith grew up on the old farm of his parents in Iowa. His early education was acquired in the public schools. At the age of nineteen he qualified as a teacher and began that profession, which occupied him chiefly for a number of years. Altogether he taught seven terms in Iowa County. In April, 1874, at Sigourney, Iowa, he married Miss Clara H. Carhartt, who was born in a log house on a farm in Clark County, Missouri, on February 15, 1854, a daughter of Lewis and Nancy W. (Pearson) Carhartt, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio. Mrs. Nesmith, like her husband, became a teacher and taught four years before her marriage and one year after.
A few days after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Nesmith as bride and groom set out in a wagon on a wedding tour and arrived in Kansas on the 22nd of April. They remained in this state only three months, and then returned to Iowa, where Mr. Nesmith resumed his work as a teacher and farmer. His permanent location in Kansas was in 1877. At that time he located at Wilson and for thirty-one consecutive years was actively identified with merchandising in and around that point. Both Mr. and Mrs. Nesmith know what life in Kansas forty years ago meant. Their first home was a dugout. Practically all the hardships incident to pioneer life were part of their experience. The buffaloes had not yet disappeared from the plains and much of their provender was buffalo meat. Mr. Nesmith was one of the earliest members of the Episcopal Church at Wilson, and has always borne a large share in its activities. At Wilson he served as a member of the town council and one year as mayor. For more than a quarter of a century he was superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school at Wilson. He was also a leader in the temperance movement and other reforms in his community from their inception. It has always been a great gratification to him that he lived to see these moral movements accepted is a part of the practice and creed of the great majority of the people of the state. At the same time he prospered as a business man. In 1908 he removed to Salina, and there continued the mercantile business under the firm name of Nesmith & Sons. Mr. Nesmith owns the Nesmith Block, and was formerly owner of the well known Shaeffer cattle ranch in Lincoln and Russell counties. This ranch he sold in 1915 for $60,000. Since 1892 Mr. Nesmith has been one of the prominent members of the board of trustees of the Kansas Wesleyan University, and for four years served as president of the board. In 1913 he started the campaign for the endowment of a Bible chair at the university, a chair whose express purpose it is to teach Bible holiness. The endowment fund was set at $25,000 and he gave his personal check for $15,000 of that amount. Mr. Nesmith has never been a member of any secret society.
He and his wife have four children all sons, and briefly mentioned as follows: Edgar LeRoy, born January 25, 1876, married April 7, 1897, Anna Greenhalgh, and their three children are named Clarence Richard, William C. and Clara Lois. Hal Joseph, born September 10, 1882, married June 6, l906, Essie Stryker, and their three children are named Frank Albert, Harold and Margie. Verne Louis, born September 9, 1886, married Vera McGuire on April 18, 1908, and they have one child named Donald Louis. Aura Case, born July 4, 1893, graduated from the Kansas Wesleyan University with the class of 1914, won the first honors as orator of his school in the Inter-State Prohibition Oratorical Contest at Clinton, Missouri, June 20th of that year, and is now an active minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married November 10, 1915, Neva Porter, and has one child, Vera Lynette, born August 28, 1916.