Mears Cummings Smiley

What follows are excerpts from an article about Mears and his wife's family by his daughter, Dorothea Holmes, published in 1986 as “Belgrade Company Ltd. et al.,” one in a collection of articles commemorating the Belgrade Centennial, 1886-1986, pp 9-11.

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Mr. Edward A. Stiefel went to Helena, Montana in 1895 and was working with the traffic department of the Southern Pacific Railway when he met Mr. T.C. Power. Associating with Mr. Power, Mr. Stiefel went to Belgrade in 1900 as manager and treasurer of the Belgrade Company, Ltd., in which he owned considerable stock. Mr. T.C. Power was President; C.B. Power, Vice-President; and G.J. Joyce, Secretary — all of Helena. Under Mr. Stiefel’s managership the Belgrade Company became one of the leading department stores in southern Montana and the largest enterprise of its kind in Gallatin County.

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When Ed Stiefel took over the store, he and Bert Newbury shared a house on the corner of Northern Pacific Avenue and Weaver Street. In 1901, the husband of Mr. Stiefel’s sister, Sophie Beerstecher, died. The Beerstechers had been living in Northern California. Sophie and her three daughters then moved to Montana to live with Mr. Stiefel. Mr. Stiefel and Bert Newbury lived on one house on Weaver St., while Sophie Beerstecher and the girls lived in an adjoining house — the two houses were connected by a board walk. Shortly afterwards, Ed Stiefel built a new house to accommodate his new family. This house was in the second block off Northern Pacific Avenue on Weaver Street. It too proved to be too small, so Ed Stiefel subsequently built a third and final residence in the next block of Weaver Street. It was a large two story house with full attic. There was a windmill, a large barn for buggy and horses, and a chicken house in back.

Dora was Sophie’s oldest daughter. She was thirteen when the family arrived in Belgrade. Alma was eleven at the time, and Ada was three.

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In 1916 Dora married a Bozeman banker, Mears Cummings Smiley, who had come to Montana from Battle Creek, Michigan. After their marriage, Mr. Smiley left Bozeman to become cashier of the Farmers Bank of Belgrade. He and Dora lived for several years in a large house near the elevator. Their daughter, Dorothea, was born while they lived there. The Bill Parkins were neighbors. The Parkins had two children, Bill, Jr., and Katherine Louise, who grew up in Belgrade. There was a Chinese laundry across the street in a cement building.

Dora and Mears later moved to a small house on the Northwest corner of Central and Weaver St. The blacksmith shop was at the end of the first block of Weaver Street, Charley MacDonald and his wife Alice, lived across from the Smileys on Weaver Street, and the Knudsen’s were next door in Ed Stiefel’s second house.

In 1921, Mears and Dora had a son, Richard C. Smiley, who was killed during World War II in Germany.

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During Ed Stiefel’s years in Belgrade he had given freely for the betterment of the community, as, aside from his family, Belgrade had been the heart of his being. Not only had he been manager of the Belgrade Company, but he was President of the Farmers Bank of Belgrade, and a member of the City Council as was also Mears Smiley. Both men served many years on the School Board. Ed was a director of the Montana Life Insurance Co., which became Western Life. At one time he served as a member of the Montana legislature. He and Mears Smiley were members of the Belgrade Masonic Lodge.

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Dora and Mears Smiley’s daughter, Dorothea, married Jack A. Holmes from Grass Range, Montana. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1940 and became a fighter pilot during World War II. After Mears’ death, Dora went to the Netherlands to live with Dorothea and Jack, then stationed in The Hague. She lived with them until her death in 1972.

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