Tombstone Tuesday - R.K. and Emma Smith

Smithland Cemetery

Smithland, Kentucky

Raleigh K. Smith and Emma L. Gautier were married 3 March 1912 in Livingston County, Kentucky. He was the son of Joseph D. Smith and Anna Coffer, according to Livingston County, Marriage Book 13, page 325. Emma Gautier was the daughter of J.W. Gautier and Ida St. John.  Following the death of R.K. Smith, Emma married the Rev. J.A. Vire. She died in Henderson, Kentucky 17 January 1948. Her death certificate #725 (1948) lists her birth date as 3 July 1890.

Published 10 March 2015, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Buried Treasure

A lot of stories are told about Smithland - some true and some not true. A couple of years ago a friend told me about some people finding something under the floor of a house so I was pleased to find the following article in the 4 August 1929 issue of the Evansville Press. The St. John property owned by the heirs of J.W. Gautier in 1929 is Lot #1, located at the corner of Front and Walnut Streets on the Smithland plat of town lots. At that time there was a two-story brick house on the lot. That house is long gone and there is a rental house there now.

What do you think? Did the strangers find a treasure box?  What did it contain? Who buried it?

Published 17 April 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/