Finding The Children Of Smith Willhite

One of the best ways to find out information about somebody is to research all their children. There is a good chance there will be something written about his or her father somewhere in their lifetime. This could easily be the case for Smith Willhite as most of his children stuck around the Toronto area. Smith had 5 girls and 2 sons. My relation comes through his son Lewis Franklin Willhite. The other son, William H. Willhite was a bit of a mystery before this 2011 visit to Toronto. I couldn't find much information about his death or his wife Anna. I was also curious if he had split from his wife. Based on a tip from the 1930 census, I wanted to check out the Coyville Cemetery. There was a Anna Willhite but no William in that census. Our search team set out in nearly 100 degree heat to walk through all the tombstones looking for any Willhites. After searching the entire cemetery, we all ended up at the only Willhites we could find, Ralph O. Willhite, a son of William H. We were disappointed not to find William. Then, we noticed just a few feet away, a grave engulfed in some decorative plants. We pulled the plants back and there they were! A nice tombstone of William H. Willhite and his wife Anna R. Dawson. We couldn't believe it....what a rush it was to find it right there. It was the only covered tombstone in the entire cemetery! Later, some of the documents we would scan at Linda's house about William H. would reveal some fascinating things about the younger years of his father Smith Willhite.