Smith D. Tifft.

SMITH D. TIFFT..senior member of the firm of Tifft and Vogan, dealers in carriages and agricultural implements, at Cuyahoga J'alls, is a leading citizen and representative Inisiness man of this section of Summit County. He was born in Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, March 16, 1840, a,nd is a.son of John D. and Anna (Bangs) Tifft.

John D. Tifft, father of Smith D., was born in the State of New York, and died at Cuyahoga Falls, in 1876, aged seventy years. He remained on the home farm until he reached maturity and then came to Ohio, securing work at Cleveland, where he a.assisted in clearing the virgin forest from the present sites of the beautiful Wilson and Euclid avenues of that city. After-two years at Cleveland, about 1840, he settled at Johnson's Corners, near the present site of Barberton, and in the fall following the birth of his son. Smith D., he came to Cuyahoga Falls. Here he kept a livery stable and also engaged in a meat business. The year 1847 he spent in Chicago, but returned to Cuyahoga Falls, where he became one of the substantial citizens, during the following seven or eight years. An unlucky speculation in hogs caused his business failure and from then to the close of his life, he engaged in the manufacture of immerous patents and machines, of which he was the inventor. He first patented a farming mill, for cleaning grain, his rights to which he subsequently sold. Later he patented and sold his rights to a certain kind of fence and still later, he patented an invalid's spring bed, also selling his rights in this valuable invention. All of his inventions were of such recognized utility that they came into general use, and before his death he had become again a man of ample means. Early in life he was a Whig, but after 1852 he was identified with the Republican party. He was a man of Sterling character and at the time of his death was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

The mother of Smith D. Tilft was lion in Vermont and died in 1884. She was the youngest of a family of seven children, all of whom were remarkably long-lived, only two dying before the age of eighty-eight years, and.several living to be over ninety. The four children of John D. Tifft and wife lo reach maturity were: Smith D.; Eliza L (deceased), who married W. A. Allen, of Akron; Horace, residing in ihe Soldier's Home at Dayton, who is a veteran of the Civil War, and Alice, who married Charles Hawn, of CuyaJioga Falls. The mother of this family was a consi.spent member of the Methodist Epi.coal Church through life.

Smith D. Tifft was educated in the common and High Schools at Cuyahoga Falls, and entered into business on his own account in the

GEORCIE T. BISHOP meat and cattle industry, in which he continued for eleven years. From 1867 until 1869, Mr. Tifft was in partnership with W. A. Taylor, speculating in cattle, after which he became the "Co." of the then well-known carriage and wagon shop of A. Allen & Co. He continued with this firm for nine years and then sold out to his partner and resumed speculating in cattle. Some six months later he started a meat market and continued in the meat business until 1885, when he traded it for a farm, which he operated for one year. He left farming in order to go out on the road as the traveling representative for the milling concern of Howe & Company. Mr. Tifft remained with the above firm until 1891, when he engaged in an agricultural implement business beginning in a modest way and conducting it alone until January 26, 1896. Then he entered into partnership with F. D. Vogan. The firm of Tifft & Vogan has prospered from the first and has deserved the name of being the first business house at this place, to handle "everything for the farmer." The business has increased to such proportions that it won the prize, a check for $100, which was offered by the International Harvester Company, of Cleveland, for handling the largest volume of business of that company's products, through a certain area. This could not have come about without excellent business management and a fine quality of goods. Mr. Tifft is interested in other enterprises which contribute to the prosperity and good name of Cuyahoga Falls. He was one of the organizers of the Falls Savings and Loan Association and has been its president for the past eighteen months. He is also a director of the Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank. On January 29, 1863, Mr. Tifft was married to Julia E. Allen, a daughter of George Allen, of Cuyahoga Falls. For forty years Mrs. Tifft has been a devoted member of the Episcopal Church, and Mr. Tifft is a liberal contributor to its various beneficent enterprises. Politically, Mr. Tifft is a Republican, and he served as village clerk for six years. In 1863, he united with the Masons and is a member of Star Lodge, No. 187, at Cuyahoga Falls.

As printed in Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens (1908). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.