The Galer and Smith Families

Under construction

Washington Galer, son of a German immigrant who crossed the Atlantic to America in 1775, was born in Ohio in 1823. He lived in Ohio as a young boy, then Illinois as a young man and then moved to Iowa in 1852. In 1864, he joined the army and served in the First Iowa Battery. After the war, he was appointed postmaster by President Johnson and served a total of 26 years, until the second administration of President Cleveland.

In 1850, Washington married Lucinda Terrell in Michigan. They had five children, four of whom lived to adulthood. Clara Bell Galer was born on March 30, 1853. Her brother, Roger Sherman Galer, was born on March 8, 1855.

In 1864, he joined the army and served in the First Iowa Barttery. After the war, he was appointed to postmaster by President Johnson and served 26 years, untl the second administration of President Cleveland. Washington Galer died on March 17, 1905.

The Great Love Affair

Clara Galer and Ben Smith began a love affair that lasted fifty years. They suffered tragedies and heartbreak, but survived it all to be despite the odds. They had lost two young children to illness within days of each other and gave birth to a daughter who would carry on the family, losing two young sons early in her own marriage. The times were tough for the pioneering people of Montana. Though the famous live forever, the common people are forgotten as soon as the last person who remembers them dies. But through their letters and family stories, Clara and Ben's story lives.

The family bible that Ben recorded the births and deaths in survives more than a hundred years later, as do the stories of the two from their granddaughter, Grace Ralston. Grace remembered Clara as an unhappy grandmother, confined to a wheelchair with arthritus in her later years. Ben, Grace remembered as a kind man who reminded her of Santa a Clause with his white hair and kindly manner. After their daughter Mabel married Frank Ralston, Clara declined in health and died in the 1920's and Ben moved from Montana to Maine with his daughter and son in law.
Ben wrote his wife in the Anacortes General Hospital in Washington, "xxxx."


Clara married Benjamin L. Smith. Benjamin Smith, was born on March 8, 1855, son of Mumford Smith. Clara and Ben had one child, Mabel Smith, born in 1884.



Mabel's uncle, Roger Sherman Galer, an attorney from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, wrote A Layman's Religion, published in 1921 and Old Testament Law for Bible Students in 1922. Roger was born June 27, 1863 in Hillsboro, Iowa. He was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1893 and had a long, prominent career.