The Smith Families of Jasper County, Iowa

THOMAS SMITH, JR.

Prominent in the affairs of Newton and Jasper county and distinguished as a citizen whose influence was far extended beyond the limits of the community honored by his residence, the name of the late Thomas Smith, Jr., for a quarter of a century the able and popular street commissioner, stands out a conspicuous figure. Characterized by breadth of wisdom and strong individuality, and in all of his enterprises and undertakings actuated by noble motives and high resolves, his success and achievements but represented the result of fit utilization of innate talent in directing effort along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination led the 'd\\ and he long enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all classes, ha\ ing done much for the general upbuilding of the city and community and led a clean, upright life from his youth up.

Mr. Smith was born in England on March lo, 1834, and after a long and busy career he passed to his reward at Xewton. Iowa, on February 25, 1907. at the attractive modern residence at Xo. 623 South Farmer street, where Mrs. Smith still resides. He grew to manhood and was educated in England, emigrating to New York City at the age of twenty-one years, but remained there only a short time when he came west, and, finding Jasper county a place of future possibilities and delightful surroundings, he decided to make this locality his permanent home. Iowa then being in her first stages of development. He first located in Xewton township. l)ut soon afterwards came to the town of Newton, where he made Ihs home until his dealli. being very active up to within a year ami a half of that time, having resigned his position with the city in (order to spend his declining days in retirement, ill health forcing him to take this step, lie spent his early life engaged in agricultural pursuits, having in his youth worked with his father, J'thomas Smith, Sr.. a native of England and a prosperous farmer there.

In 1856 Thomas Smith, jr., was united in marriage with Mary Jackson, of Xcwtiin, Iowa, and to this union three children were born, only one of whom survives. b'rank, who is married and resides at Colfax, this county.

The first wife of Thomas Smith, Jr., died in 1872, and in 1874 he was united in marriage with Martha Hanson, of Newton, who was born September 14, 1849, the daughter of Thomas Hanson and wife, of Birmingham, England. To this union four daughters were born, three of whom are now living, namely: Minnie married John Gardner, a large land owner and farmer of Jasper county; Ida May married William Gardner, a brother of John Gardner; they live on a farm four and one-half miles from Newton and have two daughters, Mabel and Florence; Katie Belle married my Finch, of Newton.

Mrs. Martha (Hanson) Smith is the daughter of Thomas and Jane Hanson, of Newton, to which city they came in 18)5 from Birmingham, England. Here he soon began working at his trade, that of brick maker and holder. Their family consisted of fourteen children, namely: Emma, Mrs. Liza Lister, of Newton; William; Mrs. Anna Beach, who now resides in Birmingham, England; Mrs. Fannie Xewton, also of that city; Martha, now Mrs. Smith, of this review; Mrs. Jane Ferguson, who lives in Adel, Iowa; Mrs. bhn Woodrow, of Newton, Iowa; Mrs. Clara Clasb of Newton;

George is deceased; Arthur lives in Oklahoma; Charles is deceased; Anna Norris is now deceased; Thomas lives in the state of Washington.

Mrs. Thomas Smith, Jr., is the owner of considerable valuable property in Newton, including a substantial and well furnished residence, surrounding which are three acres of ground.

Mr. Smith was a Republican in politics and always took an active interest in local affairs. He was not a member of any church, being liberal in his religious views, although he inclined to the doctrine of the Methodists and attended that church in Newton with his family, they being members of the same.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

From the far-away land of Bruce and Burns, the bonny deaths of l)hiebell and thistle, the rugged north "countree" that has for centuries sent its hardy, honest, liberty-loving sons to help build the great republic of the West, has come to us one of our most highly esteemed and useful citizens, Alexander Smith, one of Jasper county's most extensive land owners, a man whom to know is to admire and respect, for, without other aid than a strong heart and willing hands, guided and controlled by right principles and a sound brain, he has fought his way from an obscure environment to the top of the material ladder and has long been one of the influential men of this locality.

Mr. Smith was born in the village of Forres, Scotland, on September 26, 1830. and he is the son of Robert and Jeannette (Lysle) Smith, both born in Scotland. The paternal grandfather was Alexander Smith, a farmer, and the maternal grandmother was of noble blood, being a sister of the Duke of Southed and in England.

Robert Smith came to America with his family in 1834 and located in Delaware county. New York, and there established a good home, and in that vicinity the son, Alexander Smith of this review, grew to manhood and he received his education at Roxbury, New York, having the honor of being a schoolmate of the famous financier. Jay Gould, and the scarcely less noted author and naturalist, John Burroughs, the former having sat on the left of the subject for a year and the latter just in front of him for three years. After leaving school at the age of eighteen years, Mr. Smith engaged in teaching for eight or ten years, during which time he met with great success and his services were in demand wherever he was known. He also clerked for some time in a general merchandise store. In 1865 he moved to Pella, Iowa, and rented a farm that fall in Jasper county. The country was wild and improvements hid been made here and there, but he had the foresight to see a great future for so rich a region and in due course of tune he had become one of the leading farmers here. Not long after his arrival he bought two hundred and forty acres, partly in Lynn Grove township and partly in Llk Creek township. Prospering through close application and good management, he added to his original holdings until he now owns eight hundred acres of as choice land as the county affords. He also owns four hundred acres in Lake county, Iowa, and two sections of land in North Dakota, all valuable and well located land. While general farming has been Mr. Smith's principal life work, no small part of his large competency has been derived from the live stock business; he has fed cattle annually for forty years, and he has met with a larger degree of success in this line than the average person. He has kept his land under excellent improvements and has a modern, convenient and well furnished home, in the midst of pleasant surroundings.

Politically, Mr. Smith is a Republican and while he has never sought leadership he has always stood ready to serve the public when necessary. He was treasurer of the school board of his district for a period of fifteen years.

Mr. Smith was married on June 12, 1864, to Sarah Voss, who was born in New Jersey, the daughter of John Voss and wife, and to this union seven children have been born, of whom three are deceased, the living being named as follows: Mrs. Amy Jeanette Sherman, who lives in Pasadena, California; Mrs. Emily Francisco, who is living in Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs. Mamie Nicholson, who lives in New Sharon, Iowa; Alexander Lyle.

The last named son was born on the farm he now operates in Lynn Grove township, Jasper county, on October 6, 1876. There he grew to maturity and assisted with the general work on the place during the crop seasons, attending the public schools during the winter months near his home, later the high school at Lynnville, and the Iowa State College at Ames, spending two years in the agricultural course there; he also attended the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. Thus well equipped for his life work from a standpoint of text-book training, he returned home to assist his father manage some of his farms and he has met with a large degree of success; being regarded as one of the most modern and scientific farmers in the county. He took charge of about six hundred acres two miles south of the town of Sully, where he has carried on general farming and cattle raising on an extensive scale, preparing for market and shipping from two to four car loads of cattle and two hundred hogs annually. Although he rents some of the land, he has general supervision over it all. Politically, he is a Republican and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Sully.

Alexander L. Smith was united in marriage with Elizabeth Jean Vaughn on May 2y, 1903. She was born in Pennsylvania, but was living at Burlingame, Kansas, at the time of her marriage. She is the daughter of W. J. and Emilv K. (Brown) \"augen. who moved with their daughter to Kansas when she was two years old, and the parents still reside in the Sunflower state.

Three children have graced the union of \x. and Mrs. Alexander L. Smith: Donald Lyle. born December 29. 1907; [name withheld], born July 27, 1909; Robert Vaughn, born November 4, 191 1. No family in the county is better or more favorable known.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

Many families throughout the United States during the past few decades have gone to much trouble and expense to collect their records back to the first settlement of their ancestor emigrant, thus laying the foundation of a permanent family tree in this country for the benefit and pleasure of all descendants. There can be no doubt of the importance of this step. One of these days, in the entailment of states, such a record will be invaluable to descendants. It will be found that those who do not have such a record will not be able to prove their right to inherit valuable property. The saving of such a record is simply a matter of self-preservation for the descendants. The Smith family, represented by John of this review, has preserved a fair record, good enough, perhaps, to make the claim certain in case of a suit over an estate, and this sketch will, to some extent, improve this claim.

John Smith, an honored veteran of the Civil war, long known as one of Jasper county's leading contractors and builders, who died at his home in Newton, October 11, 191 1, was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, February 2, 1843. He was the son of David and Henrietta (DeLap) Smith, the father a native of Tennessee and the mother of Kentucky. David Smith first moved to Illinois in the pioneer days, then to Iowa in 1854, locating near Burlington where he farmer for six years, later moving on a farm of one hundred nd sixty acres in McDonough county, where he lived until his death, in 1867, at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife died at the age of seventy-two, in Newton, Iowa. They were the parents of eighteen children, a large family even in those early days; twelve of these grew to maturity, namely: David; Mary Ripptoe, a widow; Mrs. Harrison Scott; Mrs. Rhoda Gaul, and John, of this review, all reside in Newton.

John Smith received what education he could in Schuyler county, Illinois, then a wilderness, in which lived Indians, wolves, deer, snakes, etc. Later he went to school in McDonough county. During the summer months he worked on various farms at fifteen and twenty cents per day. When but a boy he proved his courage and patriotism by enlisting in Company D, Twenty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served as a brave and efficient soldier for three years, one month and five days, being honorably discharged at the close of hostilities, having seen much hard service, participating in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, such as Fort Donelson, Fort Henry, Shiloh, Corinth, Bolivar, Vicksburg, Jackson, Natchez and many skirmishes.

Returning to McDonough county, Mr. Smith purchased a ditching machine which he operated for two years, then farmer for four years, and on August 19, 1870, he come to Newton, Iowa, where he engaged in farming and teaming. He also learned the brick and stone mason's trade, which he followed for many years, building and assisting to build possibly as many buildings and structures in Newton and Jasper county as any other man in this locality. He helped build every church in Newton except one. He was known all over the county as a very skilled and conscientious workman.

On March 26, 1866, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Mrs. Ursula Dern, widow of James M. Dern, who was killed in the battle of Bull Run during the Civil war. She was the daughter of Henry and Mary F. (Gore) Rayburn, natives of Kentucky, and Mrs. Smith was born in that state. Her father was in the war of 1812 and her brother served in the Mexican war. She is the sole and only survivor of the family of which there were twelve children, ten of whom grew to maturity. The others were, Nancy married Alex Bradshaw; McNeal; Amanda married James Kennison; Henry W.; Mary A. married Benjamin Lamb; John H.; Belinda married James Pilsher; Henrietta; Merritt C, who was in the Mexican war, and William Newton. Mrs. Smith was the eleventh child in order of birth. The parents of these children died in Ohio.

To Mr. and Mrs. Smith six children were born as follows: Samuel, who lives in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, is a farmer and traveling salesman; Delia is the wife of William Fisher, a jeweler of Des Moines; Audrey is the wife of A. C. Mowry, who is superintendent of the Colfax Telephone Company; Alta is the wife of Walter Nitche, a stock man of Omaha; Guy H. is a salesman in Omaha; Frank B. is deceased.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

I. S. SMITH.

I. S. Smith (or "Scott" Smith, as he is familiarly and universally called and known) was the seventh child of a family of ten children born to Jesse and Elizabeth M. (Johnson) Smith. The father was born in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, on December 27, 1832, and was the son of John B. and Sarah Smith. In 1862 he married Elizabeth M. Johnson, who was the daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Cramer) Johnson. She was born in Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania, May 10. 1840. After their marriage — about three years — Jesse Smith removed with his family from Pennsylvania to Iowa, and settled first in Scott county, on a farm. Five years later the family moved to Jasper county and purchased eighty acres of land in Buena Vista township; later other lands were added to this and at the present time Mr. Smith's holdings consist of two hundred and eighty acres upon which the son, Scott, the subject of this review, resides, the father having retired and moved to Newton in 1904, buying property there. Here Mr. Smith died, January 1 1, 191 1.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Smith are as follows: John B., born 1863, died in 1872; Joseph J., born in 1864, married Grace Young, lives in California; William Richard, born 1866, died in 1878; Edward B., born 1868, married Charlotte Castleman, lives on what was formerly a part of the old Smith homestead, and adjoining, in Buena Vista township; James A., born 1871, died 1878, of diphtheria; Frank, born 1873, died in infancy; Scott, of this sketch, born 1874; Alice May, born 1876, married Garrett Hasselman, lives on a farm in Marion county, near Oskaloosa; Anna M., born 1880, mar-ried John Philips, who died, and later she married Sherman Sanderson, resides in South Dakota; Charles H., born 1883, married May Callison, lives in Redfield. Iowa.

Jesse Smith was active in church aiTairs before his health failed. He helped build, financially and with his labor, the Baptist church at KilldufY, of which he and his wife are charter members.

Scott Smith began to work for himself at the age of twenty years. He rented a place from his father and farmer it for a while. In 1901 he bought one hundred and sixty acres in Buena Vista township] which he farmer for three years, when he sold it to Ike Barda and moved to Xewton. Imt one year later he moved back on his father's farm where he has since resided.

On February 15, 1899, Scott Smith was united in marriage to Anna M. Hill, daughter of J. B. and Elizabeth (Stanley) Hill, both natives of Indiana, she being the seventh child born in a family of eight. Mr. Hill, her father, was a large landowner in Buena Vista township, and a very fine man. He departed this life in 1900, at his old home place in Buena Vista township, his wife surviving him and now lives in Kellogg.

To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born four children, as follows: Clarence, born April 26, 1900; [name withheld], born January 2, 1906; [name withheld], born June 30, 1908, died September 2, 1909; Ester Evelin, born June 10, 191 1.

Besides farming, Mr. Smith owns and operates in partnership with his brother-in-law, Bert Hill, a threshing machine, also owning a fine automobile and is a progressive farmer. Fraternally, he is a member of the Iowa State Grange in Buena Vista. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Pleasant View. Mr. Smith has since bought the place on which he lives, his father's old homestead.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.