The Smith - Wambaugh Family

After much searching, following many red herrings, and barking up the wrong family trees, I finally determined Katie (Catherine E.) Smith Cook's parents were Charles Francis Smith and Mary Eva (called Eva) Thekla Wambach/Wambaugh, from Somerset County, PA, which is just north of the Maryland border. Charles Smith was born in Bavaria in 1824 and was most likely Schmidt when in Germany. (That name is not much easier to research.) Charles Smith had a large orchard on land that he purchased from his father-in-law, Louis "Napoleon" Wambach/Wambaugh. Charles and Eva Smith had 12 children from 1848-1873. Here is an excerpt from the book "The History of Early Settlers of Allegheny Township":

Charles F. Smith, a native of Germany, born in 1823, came to America at the age of sixteen, and commenced work in Bedford County, near Mann's Choice. He afterward purchased of his father-in-law, Lewis Wambaugh, the farm in Allegheny Township on which he now resides. Mr. Smith has the best orchards in Somerset County; indeed they will compare favorably with any in this section of the state. He raises all kinds of fruit in great quantities, and ships to local markets as well as to Altoona and other points. Twenty-two years ago, his farm of one hundred and fifty acres, of which eighty are cleared, was a dense forest. Mr. Smith, by industry and careful management, has today one of the finest and most productive farms in this section.

Eva died six years after her youngest child Marcellus (Mars) was born. I found a cemetery record from St. John’s in New Baltimore PA., and her headstone says she died June 30, 1879. Eva Wambaugh Smith was only 48 when she died, and with 12 kids, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no servants, that's no surprise. Within a year, Charles Smith remarried a widow, Elizabeth Reed Baldwin, who had also been the second wife of a widower, Benjamin Baldwin. She not only raised Benjamin’s children when he died, but two of her own, plus four or five of Charles’ children. We kindly refer to her as Second Hand Liz.


By 1870, Katie Smith had left home at age 18 (or younger) and become a domestic servant in the household of William O. Sprigg, a prominent, wealthy man in Allegany, Maryland. The John Cooke family resided in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland as well from 1850 onward, and so did a handful of Wambaughs. I have to assume Katie went to Maryland knowing someone there. I speculate a connection to the Spriggs, as one of William Sprigg's brothers lived in Somerset County, PA and was a grocer. Since Katie's father owned a big orchard, it's possible they knew each other. She must have met Joseph Cook sometime before 1873, because they have their first child (Anna) in 1874. They likely got married in Pennsylvania (since there are no marriage records for them in Maryland, and it was the bride's hom) and lived back in Maryland until 1885 or thereabouts, and then moved to Cleveland. We don't know why. It could have been because the Bedford County PA had some 70 taverns by 1880, so there was too much competition. 

Contrary to a family myth that boasts of a young Joe Cook standing on the roof of his house during the famous Johnstown flood, Joe Cook was not young, nor in Johnstown or anywhere in PA in 1889. He had already relocated to Cleveland by then. However, Eva's sister, Mary Catherine Suttmiller (and her husband and children) were in the flood and survived. We found the Suttmillers when upon discovering Katie Smith Cook's obituary in the Cleveland Public Library archives, the notice was shown to have been forwarded to newspapers in Altoona and Johnstown, PA. In 1929, Katie had siblings in Cambria and Blair Counties. That little tidbit helped me confirm the identity of the Smith family once and for all. Sometimes in this detective game you have to work sideways - through the siblings.

John and Louisa Cooke do not show up in any Ohio censuses with their son, Joe, since they disappear after 1880. According to one of our cousin's letters, Joe, their only child, supposedly went to his father's funeral in Maryland and brought his mother home to Cleveland. This must have occurred before 1900. If we had that 1890 census, it would have helped a lot. In any event, Joe's parents passed on rather young. John and Louisa arrived in the USA at ages 20 and 21, and would have been only 48 when Joe moved to Cleveland. It's still a mystery how and when they died.

Regina Smith, b. 1870 in  Bedford, Pennsylvania, was indeed the youngest daughter of Charles and Eva Smith and 18 years younger than her eldest sister, Katie. Regina moved to Cleveland in 1900, although she appeared in two censuses in 1900 – one with her brother Alphonse in Somerset County PA and another with John and Anna Evers in Cleveland. I nearly eliminated the entire family over this confusion. We presume she came to Cleveland and her brother thought she was coming back, or counted her for tax purposes. She stayed in Cleveland, lived with the Evers the first few years, then lived with the Cooks, then back at the Evers as a housekeeper/babysitter until after 1920, and then lived with the Cooks again until her death in 1927 at age 57. She never married.

Mary Eva Wambach’s family came from Hessen, Germany and arrived in Pennsylvania (Somerset County) sometime before 1850. There is a property record for them in 1848, but I have not found them before that year. They all appear in the censuses from 1850-1880. Her father was Louis (nicknamed “Napoleon” because it is rumored he fought against Napoleon III and was a German general, yet to be confirmed) and her mother was Catherine (Katarina) Rader/Rider. Her father lived to be 97, her mother lived to be 90. They are buried at the cemetery at St. John’s in New Baltimore along with the Smiths. Mary Eva had three brothers: Jacob, Franklin and Sylvester. Sylvester had a daughter he named Missouri. I wish all of our relatives had names like Missouri Wambach.
Incidentally, we are cousins (third cousin twice removed) of the former Los Angeles police officer and true-crime author, Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. (b. 1937), who shares our paternal great-great grandfather, Louis Napoleon Wambaugh. I've read lots of his books, and so should you!