Smith Family to See Ancestor Patriot’s Letter

To thousands of American families the historic cargo of the Freedom Train serves as a reminder of the parts their ancestors played in the molding of 13 raw colonies into the world’s greatest nation.

Such a family is that of Iredell McRee Smith, 4324 Forest Park Blvd.

A leather broker here, Smith is the great-great-grandson of the famous James Iredell who was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in 1790 by President Washington.

In 1774, Iredell resigned as collector of the crown revenue at the port of Edenton, N. C., in order to devote his full time to the American cause. A manuscript which he wrote in 1776 held out hope of reconciliation with Great Britain, even at that late date, but stated that such reconciliation only could come if England recognized the rights of her American colonists.

This manuscript is among the historic documents to be shown here on the Freedom Train. And the Smith family is waiting excitedly to read it.

In their own way, the Smiths have contributed to American history in the fighting spirit of their celebrated ancestor, Justice Iredell.

Smith’s two sons both served in the recent war. James Iredell Smith, 28, who takes his name from the jurist, was shot down over Germany during the war and spent 11 months in a prison camp. His brother, John McRee Smith, 22, a rear-old artist, lost his left eye fighting with the marines in the battle of Peleliu, one of the many South Pacific engagements in which he participated.

There are also two girls in the family, Miss Norine Smith, 21, employed as a secretary in the Army Service Center, and Miss Mary old Jacqueline. A pretty, dark-eyed brunette, Norine was urged by her co-workers to enter the Miss Freedom competition here but bashfully declined.

Nearly all that is left of the family’s mementoes of James Iredell are displayed in a museum named after the justice, in Edenton, N. C. Other priceless documents and heirlooms left by the patriot were destroyed during Civil War.

A family Bible; two volumes on James Iredell’s life, written after his time by a relative, and some silverware from the Revolutionary period are the only mementoes the family brought to St. Louis when Smith’s parents moved from North Carolina many years ago.