The headstone is that of our first Dallas County Sheriff. His grave is in the Miller Cemetery east of Adel on the south side of Highway 6.

Eli Smithson was the organizing sheriff of the county in 1847, and served as Dallas County Sheriff until 1849.

At the time of his death in 1851, Smithson was the operator of a ferry which carried travelers from one side of the river to the other where the North Raccoon river crosses what is now Hwy 169, north of Adel.

Smithson's probate was Dallas County's first. His wife Mary had died the year before, and her father W.W. Miller became the guardian of their children.

E.W. Smithson, son of Eli and Mary Smithson, is believed to have been the first white child (as opposed to Fox or Sac native) born in Polk County, Iowa (1845).