I am intrigued by the idea that Howard/Howorth might be the maiden name of Belinda/Melinda Garrett Shelton Smith. I went back to look at the census data tonight, and couldn't quite bring myself to believe that she would have remarried after the 1910 census and at the age of 89. I did, however, find one Howorth in the Illinois Death/Stillborn Index in Randolph Co., Illinois, so at least know there were Howorth's around there.

I wouldn't be too put off by the obituary that referred to Mrs. M. E. Smith in Temple, Texas. For many years I connected that reference to Belinda/Melinda, but after Margaret and I tracked down the marriage of Sarah Garrett to first the Hawkins and then the Greenberry B. Smith fellows, and found that Sarah had a son living in Temple and working as a city engineer, I knew the reference had the first initial wrong and that it referred to Sarah/Sallie Garrett Smith [whose place of death/burial also remains a mystery].

I am truly intrigued by the thought that any child of Belinda's might have known her maiden name of Howard/Howorth, when so many informants had no idea of their parents' parents' names. I don't count this out as fact, but until something else of substance pops up, it will be another intriguing idea only.

We have absolutely no primary proof that Belinda is a Garrett, other than the Shelton book's data and what her children may have known and left in legal documents. Her marriage license to Leonard Shelton is gone, probably in a court house fire, and the people who researched the Shelton book are both dead. They lived in California and I have no idea what happened to all of their research/papers/notes on interiews, etc. I would love to find that out, however.

Furthermore, there is no Proof that this Bible belonged to Johnson Harris Garrett and his wife Belinda C. Wilson, as the front cover and page that would have been filled out with their names is gone. It could have been their Bible that was filled out by one of their sons after Belinda's death in Temple, TX. It is evident that several different people made entries. I can send you pictures of the Bible and the pages that are now loose and in protective covering, separate from the Bible, if you want. You'd have to send me your email address.

Don't you think it is interesting that these two girls, Sarah and Melinda, married Smith's as second husbands? I cannot make a connection between them, and really wish I knew more about Levi Smith. How's your research on him going?

Marty