Harlie E. Smith

As printed in 1907

HARLIE E. SMITH.

Harhe E. Smith, assistant cashier and one of the directors of the Abram Rutt National Bank, was born in Perrin, Clinton county, Missouri, June 20, 1878, and is one of the five children of William C. and Julia P. (Phillips) Smith. The father was born near Grand Haven, Michigan, on the 3d of June, 1849, his parents were Volney and Margaret (Stearn) Smith, who were natives of Pennsylvania and were of Dutch descent. The family removed to Ohio when William C Smith was only about a year old and when he was a youth of six became residents of Minnesota, where he remained until his twentieth year. He then came to iowa, where he has since resided. He has been variously employed in different parts of the state. For twenty-seven years he has made his home in Casey and for several years during the winter seasons has been engaged in dealing in hides and furs, while for three years past he has worked intermittently in the grocery store of W. C. Betts & Company. He is recognized as one of the local leaders in the ranks of the republican party and has served as street commissioner, while for five years he filled the office of city marshal.

In the year 1874 William C. Smith was married to Miss Julia Phillips, of Illinois, who is still living, and they became the parents of five children, of whom four survive, namely: Harlie E.; Bertha, the wife of Milton Allen, a farmer of Adair county, Iowa; Mabel, the wife of Ellis Betts, who is engaged in the grocery business in Casey: and Frank, at home. The second child, Lucy, is deceased.

Harlie E. Smith spent his boyhood and youth in his parents' home and the public schools afforded him his educational privileges. He passed through successive grades until he had completed a course in the Casey high school by graduation in the spring of 1894. In the vinter of 1897-8 he was employed as a clerk in the Citizens' Bank at Casey and then to further equip himself for responsible and onerous duties of a business career he entered the Omaha Commercial College in the spring of 1898, completing the full course the same year. He afterward accepted a position as guard at the Trans- Mississippi Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska, where he sei'ved during the continuance of the fair. In the fall of that year he secured a position with the wholesale candy house of Kopp, Dreibus & Company, at Omaha, in the capacity of assistant bookkeeper and there remained for a year. He afterward became a bill clerk in the wholesale grocery house of McCord, Brady & Company, with whom he continued for six months, when he returned to Casey. He spent the following summer in canvassing through the state of Iowa,and on the loth of September, 1900, he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the private banking house of Abram Rutt. About three years later he was made assistant cashier and upon the reorganization of the bank in 1906 he acquired an interest in the institution and was made one of its directors as well as assistant cashier, being thus officially connected with the enterprise at the present time.

In addition to his banking interests Mr. Smith is also a stockholder and the secretary of the Casey Creamery Company, serving in this official capacity for the past three years. In politics he is a republican and that he is one of the representative residents of the city is indicated by the fact that he is now serving as a member of the council. He is, moreover, interested in the religious development of the community, holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and has been very active in the Sunday-school for a number of years, serving at the present time as one of its teachers.

On the JOth of June. 1902, Mr. Smith was joined in wedlock to Miss Anna Maude Ives, a daughter of John A. Ives, now Hving retired in Casey. He was a veteran of the Civil war and is a worthy citizen here. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born three children: Julia Theodosia, now deceased; Harmon Landis, and Velma Alaude.

Mr. Smith is a young man of recognized business capacity and ability. Moreover, he has displayed the sterling purpose and strong determination which have enabled him to overcome difficulties and obstacles, and with laudable ambition he has worked his way upward until he is recognized as a strong moving force in the business life of the community.

As printed in Past and present of Guthrie County, Iowa : together with biographical sketches of many of its prominent and leading citizens and illustrious dead (1907). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.