To add to the confusion & mystery which seems to surround Ed Smithen, I have now found a major piece of misinformation that will throw researchers off if they don’t catch it. Almost every cemetery index I have been able to find for Laflin Creek Cemetery in Grady County Oklahoma lists Ed Smithen’s year of death as 1971. The correct year of his death is 1936 which is clearly stated on his death certificate and engraved on his headstone.

I now manage the FindAGrave.com memorial page for Ed Smithen; it is #22480735. Hopefully, since many folks use FindAGrave.com informationto feed their online indexes, this correct information will show up in the future … unfortunately, most existing online cemetery indexes are rarely corrected and/or updated so the incorrect year of death will be there to confuse unwary researchers for a long, long time……