Franklin, known by the preferred name "Stod," was to be named Stoddart Holbrook Smith. His uncle Franklin intervened, insisting that the oldest son of the family should be named after his father's oldest brother. Thus, he became Franklin Stoddart Smith II. He was born probably at 30 Willow Street just after the family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, and they were soon settled at 82 Union Street.
30 Willow St., Montclair
Stod and his sister Peggy spend a year at Starkey Seminary, by the shores of Seneca Lake. This was very likely due to the influence of their grandparents George and Anna Smith, who lived nearby. Perhaps they returned to Montclair when George and Anna died in 1911. Stod told his family (perhaps not his parents!) that he and Peggy caught a ride on a freight train that was passing through Starkey, clinging to a car to Watkins Glen about 20 miles away.
Stod worked at the family's soap factory in Manhattan when he was young. He recalled the flickering gas lights, and worked at putting the wrappers around the soap bars. He attended the Cloyne School in Newport and Stevens Institute in Hoboken, but left to enlist in the Navy during World War I. He was the radio officer on the battleship Louisiana, which was a training ship and later used for troop transport from France. He became sick from drugs used to innoculate diphtheria and had fond memories of the time spent with Peggy, who helped him recuperate on Peak's Island.
USS Louisiana
troops on the Louisiana arriving in New York from France
Peggy and Stod on Peak's Island
Stod met Ginnie Ellingwood while playing in the orchestra for the Montclair Players, a local acting troupe. After they were married, Stod became an executive at Wolf's Head Oil, of which his father-in-law was CEO. With Stod's parents and an architect friend of the family, Adrian von Schmid, Stod and Ginnie had one of three houses built on a cul-de-sac off Park Street in Upper Montclair.
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Stod's life took a dramatic turn when, due to his father-in-law's indiscretions, he was forced to leave Wolf's Head Oil and he and Ginnie divorced. He went back into naval service during World War II as an officer at a supply depot in Brooklyn. He married Lue Zimpel and eventually retired to Mt. Lebanon, PA. They enjoyed many years together and continued the family's long tradition of boating in the summer.
(1)
MT, Stod and Gig
Stod and Bino
Stod and Lue
children of Franklin Stoddart and Virginia (Ellingwood) Smith:
i. Franklin Stoddart III
ii. Virginia Jane
iii. Cynthia Comfort
child of Franklin Stoddart and Lucille (Zimpel) Smith:
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