World War I Series - Hollie J. Smith, KIA

 

Hollie J. Smith

Paulding, Ohio was the birthplace of Hollie J. Smith. He was enumerated on the censuses there with his parents, Charles Isaac Smith and Eva Estella Bable Smith, in 1900 and 1910. On October 9,1895, John Hollie Smith was born in Blue Creek, Paulding, Ohio, the second child and son of his parents.  Most of the time, he was referred to as Hollie, a name that distinguished him from every other John.

At 14, Hollie was not only at school, but working on an outside farm for wages.  He was joined by his older brother, James, who was 16.

Hollie joined the Ohio National Guard on July 21, 1917, when he was 21 years old. 

It wasn't long before he found himself in Newport News, Virginia, boarding the transport ship, "Pocahontas." Hollie was a member of the United States National Guard, Company G, 147th Infantry, 37th Division and he was headed to France.

Transport ship, the Pocahontas

A telegram to General Headquarters' on March 12, 1919, reported that Private First Class Hollie J. Smith was missing in action.  A comrade later reported that he was killed in action on the Verdun front in September 1918.  As in many cases, Hollie was buried on the battlefield near Cierges, Meuse, France,  He was disinterred and reburied on June 7, 1919, in the Argonne American Cemetery, and his father was notified in May of that year.

But, the family wanted Hollie home. So, he was disinterred once again and taken to Antwerp, Belgium, where he set sail for the U.S. On July 21, 1921, the body of Pvt. Hollie J. Smith arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey on the U.S.A. transport, Catigny. He was buried in the Soldiers' Circle at Riverside Cemetery in Defiance, Lot 185, Block 26, Grave 1.

"Hollie J. Smith

Hollie J. Smith was born October 9, 1895 at Paulding County, Ohio.  He died in France October 12, 1918, aged 23 years and 3 days.  He enlisted in the army in Co. G., 147th Infantry, 37th Division, July 31, 1917.  He trained at Camp Sheridan with the Defiance boys and went overseas with them.

He leaves to mourn his father, mother, six brothers, one in France and one recently discharged and four sisters and an aged grandfather, James Bable, of this city, and a host of relatives and friends to mourn his loss as he was one of the Defiance boys to give up his life.

He was the first of a family of 11 children to break the circle and a place is vacant in that sad home for him.  No flowers deck his lonely grave.  For him who nobly fell, fighting for the U.S.A., for the home he loved so well.  We know he is safe up there, where flowers always bloom, where the birds sing in the morning over the soldiers' lonely tombs."

In Memoriam

Hollie John Smith

James Bable - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

Born in 1839, James Bable spent most of his life in Paulding County, first with his parents, Joseph and Jane Bable, and later with his wives, Caroline Matty and Diana (Diadama) Forsyth.  

He first enlisted as a private in Company G, 14th Ohio Infantry on April 22, 1861, for a three month term.  After being discharged from that in August, 1861, he reenlisted in Company C, 68th Ohio Infantry in November of that year and he served until the end of the war. Company C was made up of mostly Paulding County men. In the 1890 veterans census, James noted that he had suffered from sunstroke on July 5, 1863; his unit would have been at the battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi.

James Bable married his first wife in July, 1860, before his enlistment.  When she died in July, 1866, he married again rather quickly, perhaps because a young child was left motherless.  In September of that year, he married Diana Forsyth. (Diadama on the wedding record.)  The couple settled in Auglaize Township, Paulding County where they can be found on censuses through 1910.  Diana had 14 children, but in 1900, only 10 were living.  

James worked as a day laborer here and there.  For awhile, he was a road supervisor in Paulding County and a cemetery sexton.  His children included Martha Ellen, Eva Estella, Emma Celestial, William Edmund, Edith, John, Hubert, Hollie F., Ray V., who were all named on the censuses.  In 1912, James and Diana moved to 1124 Perry Street in Defiance when they were quite elderly.

James died on January 31, 1922 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery.

 

James Bable at www.findagrave.com

On June 2, 1966, this photo, brought in my Mrs. Ray Kochel, a granddaughter of James Bable, was placed in the Crescent-News by Lloyd Tuttle.  Her information is a little wrong in that her grandfather moved to Defiance in 1912 and died in 1922, living in Defiance but 10 years.  Since, James Bable is the only one identified, maybe a reader will be able to identify another Civil War veteran.