The Smith Children

Congregational minister Rev. George N. Smith and his wife Arvilla Powers Smith, natives of Vermont, had a passion to help the area Native Americans. The Smiths started the Old Wing Mission in 1839 to educate the Odawa (Ottawa) Native Americans. In 1849, two years after the Dutch arrived, the Smiths and the Ottawa left the Old Wing and moved north, founding the village of Northport.

The Smith family suffered great hardships while at the Old Wing. Arvilla sorrowfully expressed "... our dear little ones to the number of four, we laid away under the shade in the garden. One taken away, seemed to me like the angel of our household. She was but three years old and devoted to the deepest piety, she sang all the hymns we sung in the family and her voice was like a bird. Her little words reached many hearts. She sang during her last moments. I stood weeping over her and she said: 'Mama don't cry, I'm going to see Jesus'."

The plaque, donated by Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Pavloski reads: "The Smith Children, 1844, Esther Eliza Smith, the three year old daughter of Rev. George N. & Arvilla Smith died March 18, 1844.” Three siblings also rest by Esther’s side. Initially their graves were at the Old Wing Mission. The children's graves and marker, the oldest known in the area, were moved to this site in 1867.