Evan Smith

As printed in 1903

EVAN SMITH.

Evan Smith, whose home is in Coalcreek in Prairie township, needs no special introduction to the readers of this volume, but the work would be incomplete without the record of his life. A native of Ohio, he was burn in Belmont county, May 31. 1819, and on the paternal side is of English origin, although the family was established in the new world several generations ago. His father, Thomas Smith, was a native of Virginia, burn in either Harrison or Loudoun county in 1787, and there he spent the first years of his life. In the year 1800 he accompanied his father, Samuel Smith, on his removal to Ohio, the family becoming pioneers of Columbiana county. They settled on the Ohio river and during the winter of 180.? Samuel Smith entered a section of land, which is now a part of the town-site of Salem, and there in the midst of the dense forest he hewed out a farm. When he took up his residence upon this property his home was fifteen miles from any white habitation, and the family endured all the hardships and privations known to pioneer life. His last days were spent in Washington count)', Ohio, where he died when in his ninetieth year.

Thomas Smith, the father of our subject, was reared amid frontier scenes, and early became familiar with the arduous task of clearing and improving a new farm. Soon after going to Ohio he was cured of white swelling in the leg by an Indian doctor, the red men being still very numerous in the locality. On starting out in life for himself he engaged in the manufacture of brick for seme time, but when our subject was two years old he removed to a farm and devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. He died at Salem, Ohio, in 1850, at the age of sixty-four years, ami his wife passed away in the spring of 1860. She bore the maiden name of Nancy James and was also a native of the Old Dominion, her birth having occurred in either Loudoun or Harrison county, Virginia, in 1792. Her father was Samuel James, who was born in Wales, while her mother was of English descent, Thomas Smith and wife were married in Belmont county, Ohio, and became the parents of eleven children, eight of whom reached man and womanhood, four sons and four daughters.

Of this family Evan Smith is the fifth in order of birth and the second son, though he is the oldest son that reached years of maturity- He made his home in the county of his nativity until fifteen years of age and then removed with his parents to Columbiana county, Ohio, and later to Morgan county, that state. It was in the latter county that he was married on the 24th of November, 1841, to Miss Mary Burgess, who was born near Smithfield, Jefferson county, Ohio, November 21, 18 19, but from the age of eighteen years had made her home in Morgan county. Her parents were John and Margaret (Wood) Burgess. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born eleven children, six sons and five daughters, namely: Margaret A. and Maria, both deceased; Louisa, who was superintendent of schools for a period of four years and a most successful teacher for a good many years, is now the wife of Thomas Blackburn; Caroline, wife of Milton Haldeman, of Washington county, Kansas; Joshua P., a resident of Emporia, Kansas; Thomas E., who resides on the old home place in Prairie township, Keokuk county: Burgess, who died young; William D., also a resident of Kansas; Sarah, wife of Clinton Hampton, of Kansas; Marion, who is living in the same state; and Alva J., a surveyor of Lyon county, Kansas.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith began their married life in Athens county, Ohio, on a densely timbered tract of land, their nearest neighbor being nearly one mile distant. After residing there for about three years they returned to Morgan county, and later took up their residence in Washington county. Ohio, whence they came to Iowa in 1860. At that time they settled on the farm in Prairie township, Keokuk county, which was their home for twenty-seven years; to the cultivation and improvement of his farm Mr. Smith devoted his energies, but is now practically living a retired life. He still owns some property, but has sold much of his farming land.

For the long period of sixty-one years Mr. and Mrs. Smith have traveled life's journey together and are to-day the oldest couple in the county. By birthright both are members of the Society of Friends and have ever taken a very prominent and active part in church work. In the fall of 1861 they assisted in organizing a meeting of that denomination in their home, which was a branch of the Pennsville monthlymeeting of Ohio until the spring of 1864, when they were granted a monthly meeting which was attended by a committee from the rennsville monthly and quarterly meetings. In 1885 the membership numbered about two hundred, although they began here with only twenty-three members. Mr. Smith was one of four men who borrowed the money to erect the first meeting house, which still stands in Coalcreek. At that time many of the little congregation were just getting a start in life in their new homes and were unable to subscribe the required amount and were therefore forced to borrow the sum needed. To get the money four of the number had to sign a note, and Mr. Smith is the only one of the four living, the others having passed to their reward in the other world. Jeremiah Stanley, one of the leaders in this work, only lived to attend one meeting in their new meeting house. Most of the lumber for this structure was hauled from Washington, Iowa, a distance of forty-three miles. When erected the meeting house was thought to be sufficiently large to accommodate the congregation for many years, but in the course of three years it was found to be too small, and so in that the present building is now fifty-eight by thirty feet in dimensions. 1868 an addition twenty-eight feet in length was built to the east end. S( 1

Mr. Smith is still one of the leading members of this congregation and is a man highly respected and esteemed by all who know him.

Mr. Smith has kindly furnished some of his recollections of the thirty-eight years which he has spent in the county and township, and these will certainly be of interest to the many old residents. He is able to pick out pieces of land in various parts of the county which he, with the help of his sons, first turned with the plow and made fruitful; these tracts contain mostly from five to ten acres each. As supervisor of the public roads he placed the first bridge across South English creek north of Thornburg, which served its purpose well and although under water several times always reappeared unharmed. He was one of those who selected the site and procured the title to the land on which schoolhouse No. 1 6 stands, and he also made the first wagon track on a part of the public road running east and west through Prairie township. At one time it seemed desirable that the boundaries of section [6 should be better known, and Mr. Smith devised the means of finding these. He knew of one corner that had been marked by the government surveyor in the customary way, a pit with the earth thrown up in a found shape. After measuring the exact circumference of the wheel of his wagon and calculating the revolutions it would make in going a half-mile, he started from this mark and drove in as direct a line as possible for a half a mile; here another boundary found was easily found, and this process was repeated until the whole section was practically re-surveyed.

As printed in A genealogical and biographical history of Keokuk County, Iowa .. (1903). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.