USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. II > Part 75
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Enoch H. Smith has not faltered in his appreciative allegiance to his native township and county and has not only been a representative farmer and business man of Pleasant township, but has shown his loyalty by effective service in the office of township trustee, of which he is the able and popular incumbent at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1917. He maintains his residence in the alert little village of Sheldon. where he is manager of the Farmers' Elevator, which is now owned and operated by the Standard Milling Company, of Clarksville, West Vir- ginia. C. F. Davis and John Starber were the builders of this well- equipped grain elevator, which was established in 1911, by the Farmers' Grain Company, of which Mr. Smith was one of the organizers, in June of that year, and of which he was made president, George Springer having been vice-president and Harley Somers secretary and treasurer. The company was incorporated with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, and it continued the operation of the elevator until August 1, 1916, when the interested principals made an advantageous disposition of the business, which then passed into the control of the Standard Milling Company of Clarksville, West Virginia, and the title was changed to the present form, the Farmers' Elevator. Mrs. B. E. Madix is secre- tary in executive charge of the office of the elevator and Mr. Smith is retained as the efficient general manager of the business. The elevator has a capacity of ten thousand bushels, and in connection with the gen- eral grain operations the concern handles also hay, coal, binder twine, etc. Enoch H. Smith was born in Pleasant township, of which the village of Sheldon is the principal trade center, and the date of his nativity was April 11, 1869. He is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this part of Allen county, his grandfather, Jacob Smith, having come with his family from Ohio and settled in Pleasant township, in 1847, and having done well his part in furthering the social and industrial development of the township, within whose borders he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. He whose name introduces this article is a son of Finley and Elmira (Clark) Smith, botlı of whom were born in Ohio. Finley Smith was a lad of eight years at the time of his parents' removal to Allen county and was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm in Pleasant township. He made good use of the advantages of the local schools, as demonstrated by the fact that as a young man he de- voted himself for a time to successful service as a teacher in the district schools. He became one of the prominent farmers and influential citizens of the township, was a Democrat in politics, and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Church of God. Mrs. Smith entered into eternal rest, in 1900, and the honored husband and father passed to his reward in 1909. Of the ten children the eldest is Orson C., who is a successful farmer in St. Joseph township; Emma is the wife of Daniel Prough, of Wells county; Jacob A. is one of the substantial farmers of Pleasant township; Enoch H., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Elizabeth is the wife of Isaac Johnson, of Pleasant township; Zaccheus still resides in Pleasant township; Martha A. and Wilmetta are deceased; Frank W. resides in Lake township; Nora is thic wife of Floyd Prough, of Kalkaska, Michigan. Enoch H. Smith is indebted to the public schools of his native township for his youthful education and in the meanwhile gained a full quota of practical experience in connection with the work of the home farm. For some time he was employed at farm work for others and finally purchased a farm of one
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hundred and sixty acres, in Section 30, Pleasant township. There he continued his activities as an agriculturalist and stock-grower until 1915 and in the interim had become concerned with the establishing of the grain elevator at Sheldon, as has been duly noted at an earlier point in this context. He has maintained his residence at Sheldon since 1915 and gives his attention to the elevator business and to zealous and cir- cumspect service in the office of township trustee of Pleasant township, which position he assumed in January, 1914. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, he is secretary of the lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Zanesville, and at Ossian he is affili- ated with the lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons and the tent of the Modern Maccabees. Both he and his wife are active members of the Church of God. June 17, 1890, recorded the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Elizabeth Woods, daughter of James and Margaret (Herman) Woods, of Pleasant township, and of the fine family of ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith all remain at the parental home except two. Howard C., the eldest of the children, now resides in the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin; and Celia B., the third child, is in the city of Toledo, Ohio. The names of the children still remaining members of the home circle are as follows: Chauncey A., Gladys E., Gerald HI., Emma Mae, Frona M., Raymond Carl, Freda and Amanda A. L.
Dr. Joseph L. Smith was born in Dayton, Ohio, February 7, 1852, a son of Joseph H. and Carolina (Frick) Smith, natives of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively. They were farming people, and came to Ohio in 1835, locating on a farm and later moving to a farm in Mereer county, Indiana, where their remaining years were passed in the quiet of country life. Seven children came to them, four of the number now living. Joseph L. Smith had his early education in the common schools of Dayton, Ohio, and in 1872 turned his attention to the study of med- icine. He was graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cinein- nati, Ohio, in 1878, and soon after established himself in practice in Hoagland, Indiana, where he has been occupied with the exception of a four-year period when he was serving as auditor of Allen county. During that period he made his home in Fort Wayne and at the expir- ation of his term returned to Hoagland and resumed his practice. He is a Democrat, and has held other minor offices in his community from time to time. In addition to his home in Hoagland, Doctor Smith owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty-eight acres in Allen county, and has some Fort Wayne property as well. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and with his family has membership in the Lutheran church. Doctor Smith was married, in 1875, to Miss Allie Emenhiser, who was born in Ohio, and ten children have been born to them. Addie, the eldest, is the wife of Doctor Morris. Willard O. is a practicing physi- cian in the county; Estelle is the wife of John Colter, of Memphis, Ten- nessee ; Grover A. is a doctor, located at Bryant, Indiana ; Pearl is married to Marion Shookman, of Urbana, Illinois, the cashier of a bank at that point ; and five are deceased.
Mrs. Lena Smith is one of the estimable and prominent women of her community, in which she was born on January 10, 1854, daughter of John Harber, who came to Allen county from Germany in his young manhood and settled in Marion township on a farm of eighty acres, there spending the rest of his life. John Harber was a well-known man in Marion township and reared a family that has reflected credit on the
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name and added not a little to the development of the county. Gerhard Harber, the eldest son, is deceased. Catherine is a resident of Fort Wayne; Lena is the subject of this review; Frederick is a Pleasant township farmer; Gertrude, John and Anthony are the names of the other children. Lena Harber married Joseph Smith on January 21, 1872. He was a son of John Smith, who came from Germany and settled in Allen county. Joseph Smith was born in Hesse Cassel, in 1848, and was for years identified with his father in farming activities. He bought eighty acres of land from his father when he married Lena Harber and made his home on that land to the end of his days, death coming on September 26, 1890. To him and his wife were born nine children. Alice married Henry Gibson. Josephine is the wife of Wil- liam Minich, of Marion township. Francis is at home with his widowed mother. Albert and Elia are located in Fort Wayne. Agnes married Andrew Rubb. Gertrude is deceased. Otto and Romer are at home. There are twenty-two grandchildren in the family at this time.
Marion Smith has diversified farming activities with educational exercises, so that his career has been probably a more interesting one to contemplate than might be that of a man who gave his whole atten- tion to the cultivation of his land. Mr. Smith was born in Allen county, December 1, 1852, son of William Wilson and Christina Catherine (Glock) Smith, who came from Ohio, in 1845, and bought land in Allen county. They first owned a place of one hundred and twenty acres, but in later years came to own other tracts in the county and were prosperous for their time. The elder Smith taught the first public school in Marion township, being a man of more than average education, and was engaged in school work up to 1862, after which time he turned his entire atten- tion to farming. He was a prominent man in his locality and was county commissioner of Allen county for two years. A lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he served its best interests faithfully, and was for years a trustce in the church of which he was a member. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were the parents of ten children. Louisa married Solomon Snyder and is deceased. Their second child was Marion, the immediate subject of this family review. Elizabethi married Simon Somers. Romanza is deceased. Eva is the wife of N. Snyder. William is no longer living. Henry is an attorney of Fort Wayne. Charles died in infancy. John is a resident of Wells county, Indiana. Mina married William Dalman. Marion Smith, with his brothers and sisters, had his early education in the public schools of his community. He later attended the Methodist College at Fort Wayne and the Academy at Ossian, so that his education was fairly well looked out for. He pre- pared himself for the teaching profession and for fifteen years gave his attention to teaching in the country schools during the winter months. He gave his summers to farm work, having bought a fine farm, in 1872, and while he began his farming operations with a forty-acre place, he later added to it until he had a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, well improved and in first-class condition. In 1888-9 Mr. Smith was engaged in teaching music in the schools of Allen county and is distin- guished throughout the county for his work as the conductor of a singing school in various communities through many years. A Democrat, Mr. Smith has been active in local politics, but has never aspired to public office. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is vice- president of the Hoagland State Bank, and a member of its board of
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directors. Mr. Smith was married on September 6, 1874, to Miss Mary Kansas Linden, daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Snyder) Linden. Mr. Linden came from Virginia, in 1845, and it is a notable fact that he walked the entire distance from his native village to Allen county. He bought land and built himself a log cabin, there settling down to the arduous labors of making a home in the wilderness, and conducting what is popularly known in many circles as "bachelor's hall." When he felt himself sufficiently prosperous to warrant the taking on of family responsibilities, he walked back to Virginia, bought a team and built a wagon, and returned, bringing his two sisters. The trip was a long and difficult one, covering a space of three weeks, and they camped out nights along the wilderness roads, cooked their meals by camp-fires and experienced all the pleasures and privations peculiar to that mode of travel. Mr. Linden married, in 1852, and was to the end of his days one of the estimable and dependable men of his community, where he served his neighbors in various public offices during his lifetime. He and his good wife were the parents of a family of seven children. The first born died in infancy. Delilah married John W. Fanner and they live in Clare, Michigan. Their third child, Mary Kansas, became the wife of the subject of this sketch. Preston is living in Marion town- ship. Emily is the wife of Horace E. Smithey, of Roanoke, Indiana. Minnie married J. J. Bollinger and they live in Arkansas. Charles B. is a resident of Fort Wayne. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have five sons and daughters. Stella May, who is deceased, married H. H. Roberts and was the mother of Glenn S. and Marion H. Roberts. Francis M. is living in Ossian, Indiana. Oscar Clement is still under the parental roof, as is also Roscoe Wayne. Oscar, however, married Maud Hiser, the daugh- ter of David F. Hiser, of Marion township, the marriage taking place on April 19, 1909, and they have a son named Brice. The third child of Mr. and Mrs. Smith died in infancy.
Orson C. Smith .- Fifty-five years of continuous residence in one locality will give to any man the distinction of an old settler and when he has the added distinction of being a native son of that locality, he is properly entitled to the position that has long been accorded to Orson C. Smith, who has spent his life thus far as a farmer in Pleasant and St. Joseph townships, in the former of which he was born on March 22, 1861. Mr. Smith is a son of Finley and Almira (Clark) Smith, both of them native Ohioans, and they were wed in Wells county, Indiana, where she had settled with her parents. Mr. Smith came to live in Pleasant township with his family when he was a lad of ten years, so that the residence of the Smith family in this community has endured for upwards of a century and the connection of these worthy people with the township has been an influence tending to the development and growth of their immediate locality through the years. Orson Smith was one of eleven children born to his parents. Named in the order of their birth they were Jonas (deceased), Orson, Emma, Jacob, Eliza- beth, Enoch, Martha, Zaccheus, Wilmetta, Frank W. and Nora B. The first, seventh and ninth born are deceased, but the others came to years of maturity and are today filling places of usefulness in their various communities. The parents of this goodly family are no longer living. The mother, who was born in 1839, passed away in 1899, and the father, also born in 1839, lived till 1907. Orson C. Smith had his education in the schools of Pleasant township. He grew up in the knowledge of
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farm life and gained an experience in his home that added much to his chances for material success in his independent life. He farmed on his own responsibility in Pleasant township until 1899, when he moved to St. Joseph township and has since carried on a successful farming enterprise on his well-developed farm of eighty acres in Section 18. He has devoted himself to general farming and dairying and has a fine herd of Jersey cattle of which he is justly proud. A family man, Mr. Smith was married on December 22, 1881, to Miss Martha Logan, daughter of James S. and Mary Logan, who were among the very early settlers of Allen county. Two children were born of this union-Arthur J. and Florence A. The wife and mother died in 1892 and Mr. Smith was married a second time, in 1894, when Miss Mary A. Robinson became his bride. She was a daughter of Horney and Amanda (Orn) Robinson, another of the old-established and highly esteemed families of Allen county. Of this second marriage there are six children-Albert N .; Clarence and Clara, twins; Edna G .; F. Rollin and Alma. The twnis are deceased. Mr. Smith has long taken an active part in the public life of his community, and is at present serving as trustee of St. Joseph township. He was township assessor for six years. He is a Democrat in politics, and with his family has membership in the Methodist Epis- copal church of his community.
R. Parker Smith is one of the vigorous and and progressive repre- sentatives of the real estate business in his native county and in his independent operations is showing the discrimination, resourcefulness and energy that, coupled with fair and honorable transactions, have conspired to make him definitely successful and influential as an expo- nent of this important phase of business enterprise, his well-equipped offices in the city of Fort Wayne being in suite 422-425 Shoaff building. He is a reliable and enterprising young business man and is consistently accorded recognition in this history of his native county. Mr. Smith was born at Monroeville, Monroe township, Allen county, on January 4, 1889, a son of Willard P. and Lydia (Parker) Smith, who now main- tain their home in Fort Wayne, where the father is successfully engaged in the lumber business. R. Parker Smith was two years of age at the time of the family removal to Fort Wayne and here acquired his early education in the public schools, including the high school. In connection with his father's operations he early gained practical experience in the lumber business, and when about eighteen years of age became a trav- eling lumber salesman for George W. Myers, of St. Louis, Missouri. Eight months later he severed this allegiance to accept a similar position in the employ of W. F. Furguson, of St. Louis, for whom he continued his effective services until September, 1909. From that time he was in the employ of John Vesey, of Fort Wayne, until June 21, 1910. when he established his present real estate business, in which his success has been unequivocal. He handles both city and farm property and has made numerous important transfers of realty in his home county, besides which he gives special attention to rentals and collections. He and his wife hold membership in the Wayne Street Methodist Episcopal church. On August 1, 1911, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Charlotte B. Chase, of Fort Wayne, and their one child is a daughter, Charlotte P., who was born June 7, 1912.
William Smith, one of the well-to-do men of Monroeville, where he has lived since he retired from active business pursuits, in 1902, was
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born in Erie county, Ohio, July 30, 1852, son of Anthony and Anna Maria (Cordat) Smith, concerning whom more extended mention will be found elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Smith was reared and educated in his native community and came to Allen county, Indiana, as a young man, ambitious for material success, and energetic enough to win it in the face of long odds. He settled on a tract of timbered land in Jackson township, and in company with a brother, established a saw and hoop mill. The business was a successful one from the first, and their own land and surrounding county furnished the raw material for the mill for many years. Prosperity rewarded their efforts and, in 1902, the brothers retired and settled down to quiet life. William Smith located in Monroeville and his modern and very comfortable residence is admirably situated on a plot of land equal in size to eleven lots. In addition to this property, he owns a fine farm of four hundred acres of improved land which yields to him a comfortable income as well as a good deal of pleasure in its operation. Mr. Smith is a lifelong Demo- crat and has rendered worthy service as a member of the county board. He was married, in 1882, to Miss Sophia C. Hagy, born August 3, 1857, a woman of German birth and parentage, who came to America with her mother as a child of seven years. Her father, Anthony Hagy, died when she was a small child, and the mother, some little time after her arrival in America, married again and with her husband located in Sandusky, Ohio. There they spent the remaining years of their lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born two children. Louisa, the eldest, is the wife of Dwight Castleman, a resident of Allen county, and Jay William is a resident of Jackson township, also in Allen county. He, too, is married, and the elder Smiths are the grandparents of eleven children. The family are Roman Catholic in their religious faith.
Zaccheus A. Smith .- Successful farming is a talent quite as much as is successful selling, or financing, or teaching, or any other of the many fields in which talent makes for success, and Zaccheus A. Smith has manifested the same talent for progressive agriculture that made his father one of the successful men of his community. Mr. Smith was born in Pleasant township on March 2, 1872, son of Findlay and Elmira (Clark) Smith, both of them Ohioans. They came to Indiana with their parents, also farming people, when Findlay Smith was a lad of nine years and the girl who came to be his wife in later years was about six years old. Findlay Smith grew up on a farm and when he started out to make his own way in the world naturally chose to follow the line for which he was best fitted by training and inclination. He was said during his lifetime to be one of the most capable and far- sighted farmers in Allen county. In addition to his prowess in that line, he was a successful school teacher and gave some time to that work in his carly life, when the schools were not so well organized as they came to be in later years. He was ever the friend of education and fostered the spirit of child-training in his community all his days. He spent his last years in practical retirement from farm life, though he never gave up his enthusiasm for the affairs of communal life, and was a good citizen to the end of his life. He passed away on December 8, 1907, when he was in the sixty-eighth year of his life, his wife having preceded him on January 28, 1900, when she was sixty-one years old. They were worthy people, highly esteemed in their community and wherever they were known, and a host of friends mourned their
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passing. They were members of the Church of God, and Mr. Smith was a Democrat in politics. Eleven children blessed their home. They favored the good, old-fashioned names and their children were named as follows: Jonah, who died in infancy; Orson, living in the vicinity of Fort Wayne; Emma, a resident of Wells county, Indiana; Jacob, of Pleasant township; Elizabeth and Enoch also live in Pleasant town- ship; Martha died May 6, 1902; Zaccheus is the eighth born; Wila- metta died in 1915; Frank lives in Wayne township; and Nora has her home in Kalkaska, Indiana. Zaccheus Smith had his education in the common schools of Allen county, in common with his brothers and sisters, and when he was twenty-one years old took possession of a farm of his own, consisting of forty acres in Pleasant township. He bought and sold farms on numerous occasions, and his last move was in 1903, when he settled on his present place of sixty acres, to which he has since added a forty, making his holdings one hundred acres in all. He has specialized in hog breeding and his spotted Poland hogs are his pride, and the source of a good deal of revenue as well. He usually has about two hundred "porkers" on his place at a time, and holds two sales a year. He finds a ready market for his thoroughbreds, and is widely known in and about Allen county for his success in this enterprise. Mr. Smith is a Democrat in politics and with his family has membership in the Church of God. He was married on November 23, 1893, to Miss Nellie Denney, daughter of Roland and Jane (Bell) Den- ney, Lafayette township people and well-known in the county. They were early comers to Allen county, the father a native Virginian and the mother born in Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith nine children came. Flossie May, the eldest, is the wife of Floyd Green; Vila Marie lives at home; the third child died in infancy; Gale Rolands it at home ; Clarence Findlay died in April, 1901, and the sixth child died in infancy ; Leota Annie, Howard Clayton and Dorothy Irena are all at home with the parents.
Benjamin Snider has passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, has been a resident of Allen county from the time of his birth and is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families that was here founded three-fourths of a century ago, the name having been closely and honorably linked with the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of the county and he himself having long been a substantial exponent of agricultural enterprise in the township in which he was born and reared and in which he still maintains his residence on his fine homestead farm of eighty acres. A man who has marked the passing years with constructive industry and whose life has been guided and governed by high principles, Mr. Snider is one of the venerable and honored citizens of Jefferson township and is specially entitled to recog- nition in this history of his native county. Benjamin Snider was born in Jefferson township on September 10, 1846, a son of George and Eliza- beth (Platt) Snider, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, their marriage having been solemnized in Carroll county, Ohio. He to whom this review is dedicated was the fourth in a family of nine children and his sister Martha, youngest of the number, is the only other survivor. The names of the deceased children are here noted : John Anderson, Rebecca, Anna Elizabeth, Adolphus, Amanda Maria, James P. (died in infancy), and David B. The parents came to Allen county in the year 1842 and established their home in Jefferson township,
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