Francis Clement (Schmitz) Smith Sr. (1887 - 1951)

Born 18 Jul 1887 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States

Husband of Frances M. (Stewart) Schmitz — married 2 Feb 1909 in Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada

Husband of Carrie E. (Unknown) Smith — married 15 Sep 1924 in Romulus, Wayne, Michigan, United States

Died 12 Mar 1951 at age 63 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States

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Biography

Francis (Frank) was born on July 18, 1887 to Clement Schmitz and Wilhelmina Wuelfing in Detroit, Michigan. When he married Frances (Fanny) Stewart on Feb 2, 1909, he was a 21 year old City of Detroit fireman. They married in Windsor, Ontario. They soon had a son, Francis W., Jr. Over the following years Frank works at a variety of occupations.

By the age of 29, when Frank completed his WWI draft registration on June 2, 1917 he was working as a motorcycle patrolman for the police department, living at 1060 Garfield, in Detroit. By the time of the 1920 Census, he is working as a truck driver, but still living in Detroit.

Two years later, on February 21st, he loses his wife Fanny due to a heart condition exacerbated by an auto accident. She was just 31 years old.

A few years later, on September 15, 1924, Frank marries Carrie Ruff (divorced) of Inkster, Michigan. They married in the nearby city of Romulus. On this record, Frank uses the surname Smith, as on all future records.

At the time of the 1930 U. S. Census, Frank and Carrie are living on Farnum Road in what was then called Nankin Township. That area is now in the Inkster. Nankin Township was slowly divided and incorporated by other surrounding townships and cities as well, and parts of it are also now in Redford Township, Plymouth Township, Garden City, Livonia, the city of Wayne, Westland and Canton township. Here in Nankin, Frank was the proprietor of a restaurant called Dande Hall Lunch Room, where Carrie worked as a waitress.

In 1940, Frank (now age 54) and Carrie are living at 29425 Michigan Avenue in Inkster, where they were living in 1935 as well. There is no occupation shown for Frank or Carrie, and son Frank, Jr. is living there with his wife, as well. Frank, Jr. is working as a spray hand in the automobile industry.

Frank passed away on Mar 12, 1951 in Detroit. He is buried in Union Chapel Cemetery in Inkster, Michigan, just a mile northeast of where he had lived.

Sources

• "Michigan Births, 1867-1902," database with images, FamilySearch [1](20 February 2021), Francis C. Schmitz, 18 Jul 1887; citing item 3 p 207 rn 3100, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, Department of Vital Records, Lansing; FHL microfilm 2,321,091.
• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch [2](accessed 16 November 2021), Clement Schmitz in household of Clement Schmitz, Detroit city Ward 11, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 128, sheet 17B, family 334, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,751.
• "Canada, Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927," database with images, FamilySearch [3](8 March 2021), Frank Clement Schmitz and Fanny Stewart, 02 Feb 1909; citing registration , Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,872,063.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch [4](accessed 16 November 2021), Frank C Schmitz in household of Mary M Stewart, Detroit Ward 16, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 233, sheet 11B, family 220, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 687; FHL microfilm 1,374,700.
• "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch [5](23 February 2021), Frank C Schmitz, 1917-1918.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch [6](2 February 2021), Frank C Schmitz in entry for Mary W Stewart, 1920.
• "Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925," database with images, FamilySearch [7](18 February 2021), Frank C Smith and Carrie Ruff, 15 Sep 1924; citing Marriage, Romulus, Wayne, Michigan, , Citing Secretary of State, Department of Vital Records, Lansing; FHL microfilm 4209970.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch [8](accessed 16 November 2021), Frank C Smith, Inkster, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1022, sheet 2B, line 55, family 37, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1031; FHL microfilm 2,340,766.
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch [9](20 January 2021), Frank Smith, Inkster, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 82-45, sheet 12A, line 34, family 255, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1827.
• "Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1952," database, FamilySearch [10](13 March 2018), Frank C Smith, 12 Mar 1951; citing Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing; FHL microfilm 1,973,237.
• Find a Grave, database and images [11](accessed 16 November 2021), memorial page for Frank C Smith (1887–1951), Find a Grave Memorial ID 47593226, citing Union Chapel Cemetery, Inkster, Wayne County, Michigan, USA ; Maintained by Brenda Ozog (contributor 47127449) .
• Michigan Department of Health, Wayne County Death Records, [12]