In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1866, Erie county Ohio
From A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio .. (1902)
HIRAM I-. SMITH.
Hiram E. Smith, the subject of this sketch, was born in Erie county Ohio, on the 21st day of February. 1866. His parents were Welding e' Smith and Charlotte ( Ashton) Smith. On the paternal side we find his ancestors on one side expelled from north France on account of religious differences among the people at that time, and emigrating to America in the year 1743 and settling in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. On the other side" his father's ancestors were English. They settled in and around Norwalk and Derby, Connecticut, early in the country's history. Here we find them fighting Indians and later doing good service against the British during the war for independence. On the material side his ancestors were all English. His grandparents, Thomas Ashton and Mary (Edgar) Ashton, emigrated to this country as children from England with their parents early in the nineteenth century and settled in Huron county, Ohio. On both sides his ancestors were prosperous and enterprising people.
In the spring of 1866 his parents removed to Monroeville, Ohio, where his father engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements. At the age of six he entered the public school at Monroeville, graduating from that institution in the spring of 1885. After teaching school for two years he decided to try his fortune in the west, and on the 4th of July, 1887, landed at Oberlin, Decatur County, Kansas. During the following September he settled on a quarter section of government land, when there was no house within sight of his. The wolves and coyotes were plentiful and made the nights hideous around his sod house. Antelopes were seen occasionally, and jack rabbits were common. Here he lived alone, boarded himself and taught school, riding from fifteen to twenty miles daily to and from school. During that winter the thermometer registered lower than twenty-seven degrees below zero, Fahr., for six straight weeks. During the following March he proved up on his claim, and by paying one dollar and a quarter per acre received a government patent for one hundred and sixty acres of land.
In October, 1889, he returned to Ohio and went into business with his brother at Monroeville, Ohio, manufacturing bent wood and hardwood lumber. Here he remained until May, 1893, when he came to Gabon, Crawford county, Ohio, bought out the stockholders of the Weaver Bending Company, manufacturers of bent felloes, spokes and hardwood lumber, and has successfully carried 011 the above business for the past eight years.
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Episcopal church, a thirty-second degree Mason and an upright, honorable and respected citizen.
As printed in A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio .. (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1902. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.