Loup County Historical Society

Loup County, Nebraska

Founders Page
including a tribute to Thurman A. Smith

"In 1940, the Loup County Historical Society was formed.

According to the September 19, 1940 Taylor Clarion, an organizational meeting was held at Mrs. Kitty Harvey's with 17 charter members in attendance.

The first elected officers: Anna Jarvis, President;
Frank Hubbard, Vice President; Marcia C. Smith, Secretary;
Laura Clemens, Treasurer; and Thurman A. Smith, Historian.

Mr. Smith, longtime owner and publisher of the Clarion, was instrumental in the Society and its greatest accomplishment, the Loup County Pioneer
Log Cabin Museum."

"Plans for the Museum were underway in 1941 and by the mid 1940s, it was completed. Much of the labor in constructing the cabin was volunteer. Various families . . . furnished or purchased logs while others donated landscaping items. Countless others donated or loaned articles for display inside the museum."
*Some of these original donors included:*
*Samuel G. Sears*	*Wayne Cook*	*John R. Ferguson*
*Sam Hesselgesser*	*Kitty Harvey*	*William D. Dunbar*
*Nettie J. Evans*	*Walter Worth*	*Mrs. Robert Rusho*
*Jacquetta McMasters*	*Mr. & Mrs. B. B. Holmes*	*Althea Wiley*
*Mrs. Messersmith*	William S. and Joe Campbell	*Mr. & Mrs. Guy Fletcher*
*John Dunbar*	*George W. Abbott*	*Mike Laughran*
*Bohy Brothers*	*Oscar Bowley*	*Ross Peterson*
*Mr. & Mrs. Frank Hubbard*	*Mrs. Ralph Rose*	*Eva Skiles*
*Sarah Britton*	*Lillian Wirsig*	*Ella Gurnsey-Donaldson*
*Phoebe Corell*	Mrs. & Mrs. Daniel W. Strohl	*Thomas Moore*
*Lem Britton*	*Ella Harlan*	*Robert Parkins*
*Martha Corrick*	*Otto Clay*	*Carl and Steve Copp*
*Jacob Strohl*	*Jack Parkin*	*L. A. Ruppel*
*Clara Cole*	*James Starke*	*Robert Wiley*
*William Stevens*	*Mrs. C. D. Shipley*	*Fred E. Replogle*
	*H. R. Brown*

Tribute to Thurman A. Smith

Thurman A. Smith, oldest son of Edwin B. and Anna L. Smith was born January 13, 1877 in New York. He came to Nebraska in 1880 and his family lived at Ord, Valley County. 1884 their family moved to Brewster, Blaine County Nebraska. He married Laura E. Hoyt on October 26, 1902. Their family included six children, five sons and one daughter. Moved to Taylor, Loup County, in 1920. Thurman A. Smith died on September 20, 1956, at age 79.
*Among his many accomplishments - - -*
School Teacher	Printing Trade
Newspaperman	Temperance Leader
Owner, and operator, of Taylor Clarion 1920-1940	Loup County Judge
Local Correspondent for National Newspapers	Nebraska Historical Writer
Poet	Collector of historical books, manuscripts, and scrap books
Organized Loup County Historical Society	Leader in the planning and organization of Loup Pioneer Memorial Museum
Thurman A. Smith, with the help of fellow his townsmen, landscaped park that surrounds the Loup Pioneer Memorial Museum	Many relics that Thurman Smith collected comprise collections displayed in the Loup County Pioneer Memorial Museum

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Text for this page has been extracted from the Loup County, Taylor NE Centennial 1883-1983 Book.
Permission and copyright 2002 - Loup County Historical Society, Taylor, NE 68879-0102

Created for Loup County Historical Society by Patricia C. Ash 2002
Updated: 24 April 2003