George Smith and Caroline were married in Illinois had lived in the Galena area, where they had three children named Alf, Leo and Blanche. George died before long, so Caroline married a man named Bachenkeller who already had several children. Together they had one more child, Carrie.

In about 1902 Bachenkeller and Caroline homesteaded in South Dakota, eight miles north and one mile west of Groton. Before long, Bachenkeller and his children left Caroline and her children and disappeared, never to return.

Leo Smith soon took over farming that property, and by the late 1930s, his son Orval was living there. By then, Leo had moved to another farm on the same section of land, on hiway #37 some 8.5 miles north of Groton. As small farms there have been bought up by bigger operators, Leo’s farmstead has now completely disappeared. The trees were cut, the buildings removed and the entire farmstead plowed over, leaving no trace of Leo and Maisie’s many happy years there.