Michael E. Smith

As printed in 1905

MICHAEL E. SMITH.

Most of the successful men of America have been the architects of their own fortunes, and it is one of the glories of our great Republic that this is true. It shows that here are afforded adequate opportunities and that our citizens have possessed the courage, determination and strength of purpose to make proper utilization of the advantages offered. The subject of this sketch is one who deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, for he has been dependent upon his own exertions from his early youth and has built the ladder upon which he has risen to the plane of definite success, while it has been his to retain at all times the uniform confidence and esteem of those with whom he has come in contact in the varied relations of life. He is a native son of Butler county, and a representative of one of its sterling and honored families, while he is known as a man of fine intellectuality and marked business acumen. He is today one of the influential farmers and stock growers of Lemon township and is devoting special attention to the dairy department of his enterprise.

Mr. Smith was born in Liberty township. near Woodsdale, this county, on the ist of September, i86t, and is the youngest of the four children of James and Margaret (Fitzpatrick) Smith, the three older children having been born prior to the immigration of the family to the United States. The parents of our subject were born and reared in Ireland, where their marriage was solemnized and where the father followed the vocation of farming until 1859, when they came with their three children to the United States, landing at Castle Garden, and forthwith continuing their westward journey to Ohio, making Butler county their destination. They located near Woodsdale, where the subject was born, and the father here devoted his attention to farming until his death, which occurred in 1861, the subject of this review being a child of two weeks at the time. The family were left in somewhat straitened circumstances, but by strenuous effort the devoted mother, with the aid of the older children, succeeded in keeping the family together and in preserving and improving the little property which her husband had purchased. She has continued to make her home in Butler county to the present time. She is a devoted member of the Catholic church, as was also her husband.

Michael Smith, to whom this sketch is dedicated, passed his youthful years in Butler county, devoting himself to farm work during the summer seasons while during the winter terms he prosecuted his studies in the public schools of Woodsdale, thus continuing until he had attained the age of twenty years, and having in the meanwhile completed the curriculum of the normal school. He then went to Kansas, where he attended the State Normal School in 1881-2. At the expiration of his year of study in that institution he returned to Ohio, and during the winter of 1883-4 was a student in the Normal School at Ada. He had thus qualified himself for effective pedagogic work, and he thereafter engaged in teaching during the winter months and in farming during the summers for a period of seventeen years, save for an interim of two years, during which he was employed as clerk in & hardware establishment in the city of Hamilton. In 1890 he was married, and in 1898 he purchased a portion of the old homestead farm upon which his wife was born, while she inherited a further share of the same, and this constitutes their present place of above. From August, 1900, to December, 1902, Mr. Smith was employed as bookkeeper for the Otto Coke Company, of Hamilton, and he then removed to his farm, where he has since resided. The farm comprises one hundred and eight acres, is improved with excellent buildings, including an attractive two-story frame dwelling, and is one of the valuable places of this section of the county. To the farm the subject now gives his undivided attention, raising the cereals and other products best adapted to the soil and climate. He is a man of marked executive and business ability, and his success is certain to be cumulative, since he is familiar with all details of the industry under whose discipline he was reared, and is unflagging in energy and fertile in expedients. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, with which he has been affiliated from the time of attaining his majority. Though never animated with ambition for official preferment he has ever lent his aid in furthering the party cause, and is well fortified in his political convictions, while he is essentially public spirited and progressive.

On the 2d of July. 1890. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Minnie Long, who was born on the farm on which they now reside, the date of her nativity having been February 15, 1871. She is a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Mulford) Long, who are now. deceased, both having been born in Butler county. Her mother was a daughter of John and Mary Mulford, who were born and reared in New Jersey, where they continued to reside for some time after their marriage, finally coming to Ohio and numbering themselves among the pioneers of Butler county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have four children, namely: Harry, who was born on the 20th of March, 1891; Cecil, who was born on the 5th of June, 1895; Mary, who was born on the 4th of February, 1898, and Charles, who was born on the 1 8th of March, 1900.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.