USA > Ohio > Fulton County > The County of Fulton: A History of Fulton County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on Various Subjects, Including Each of the Different Townships; Also a Biographical Department. > Part 67
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ABRAM HOLMES SMITH, senior member of the Delta Milling company, is one of the early settlers of Fulton county, and during his residence of fifty-seven years has witnessed the phenomenal growth and prosperity of his adopted county with feelings of pride. He was born in Reed township, Seneca county, O., February 2, 1832, and is a son of Elijah and Delano (Holmes) Smith,. the former being a native of New York and the latter of Maine. The parents were married in Scipio township, Seneca county, in 1829, the wife dying at the age of nineteen, when Abram was an infant three days old. Elijah Smith remained a resident of Seneca county until 1838, when he removed to Crawford county, and coming to Lucas county in 1847, he located on a farm four miles southwest of Delta. Here he resided until 1870, when he removed to Wauseon and there died two years later, aged sixty-five years. Two children were born to father's first marriage, Abram being the only surviving one. Elijah Smith and second wife were the parents of two children: E, J. Smith, a farmer living on the old homestead, and Mrs. Mary E. McComb, of Ogden Center, Mich. Abram Holmes Smith attended the district school until 1849, after which he spent one school-year at the Re- public Academy, Seneca county, an institution under the management of Professor Harvey, subsequently Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion for the State of Ohio. Farming in season and teaching during the winter months constituted the work of Mr. Smith until 1869, when he removed to Wauseon and there engaged in the manufacture of carriages, operating a plant employing from eight to ten mechanics. As this business venture did not prove profitable he abandoned it and served as an employee of Lyon, Clement & Greenleaf in the milling business for seven years. In November, 1889, he formed a business partnership with W. H. Lambert, a sketch of whose life appears else- where in this work, and together they purchased the Delta mill of Charles Cullin. In 1900 this plant was destroyed by fire. Since that time a new mill has been erected and incorporated, the capitalization being twenty thousand dollars, of which Smith and Lambert own ninety per cent. The mill has a capacity of seventy-five barrels per day and employs nine persons. In political views Mr. Smith has been a Republican since the organization of the party and he cast his first vote for president for Gen. John C. Fremont. He has held the offices of clerk, trustee and treasurer of York township, clerk of Clinton township and of the school-board while a resident of Wauseon. For . twenty-one years he served as one of the school examiners of Fulton county. With his wife he is a member of the Congregational church, but as this denomination is not represented at Delta, he worships with the Presbyterian church, being one of the ruling elders. In 1855 he was wedded to Miss Clotilda I. Tremain, a native of Seneca county, who was born in 1835 and came to this locality when one year old. Her father, Warren Tremain, was the first justice of the peace of York township, many years before the organization of Fulton county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had four children. They are: Eva A., now Mrs. Bates of Bellview, O; W. L., a merchant of Delta; Delana and Adda having died in infancy.
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IRA SMEDES is the owner of one of the fine farm-estates of Amboy township, and is a business man of energy and pro- gressive ideas, liberal in his views and commanding the regard of all who know him. He was born in what is West Camp, Greene county, N. Y., on the 10th of February, 1850, a son of Benjamin I. and Susan (Buckman) . Smedes, both natives of the old Empire State and representa- tives of pioneer families of that common- wealth. The lineage on the paternal side traces back to the sturdy Holland-Dutch stock, and the original American pro- IRA SMEDES. genitor was Peter Smedes, grandfather of our subject. This worthy ancestor was a native of the city of Am- sterdam, Holland, and was a man of advanced intellectual attainments, having long followed the vocation of school-teaching and having been 'resident of Greene county, N. Y., for many years, his death there occurring. The maternal grandfather, Ira Buckman, lived for a long period of years near Lockport, N. Y., a carder of wool by vocation. Benjamin I. Smedes came with his family to Fulton county in 1854, purchasing eighty acres of land in Section 15, Amboy township, and developing the same into a rich and productive farm, the property being a portion of the present estate of his son Ira. He was a man of sterling char- acter and much ability, ever commanding the confidence and esteem of the com- munity in which he lived and labored for so many years. He died on the old home- stead, November 4, 1904, in his eighty-fifth year, his wife having passed away April 9, 1886, at the age of sixty-three years. They became the parents of three children, one LOUISE SMEDES, of whom died in early childhood, and Ira is now the sole survivor. His sister, Priscilla, became the wife of Abram H. Van Vlierden, and her death occurred in 1901. Ira Smedes was reared to maturity on the present homestead, and while his early educational advantages were only such as were offered in the common schools of the locality, he has ever been a close student of good literature and an intelligent observer of men and affairs, and he is known as one of the best- informed men in the county, having a fine library of 300 volumes and finding his greatest pleasure in the companionship of his home and his books. In 1871, when twenty-one years of age, he left the pa- rental roof and went to Missouri, where he was employed in railroad
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work until the spring of 1872, when he returned home. In 1873, how- ever, he again went to Missouri and re-entered railroad work, in the capacity of brakeman, and in January, 1874, he went to Texas, as brakeman on the line of the International and Great Northern railroad. In June of the same year he was promoted to the position of con- ductor, serving as such until the spring of 1876, passing the ensuing year at his old home, in Fulton county. In the spring of 1877 he went to Montana, which was still considered on the frontier of civili- zation, and there he took up a ranch of 160 acres on the Yellowstone river, within a day's ride of the famous battle-field where the gallant Custer and his men were practically massacred by the Indians. Mr. Smedes remained in Montana five years, within which period he de- voted a considerable portion of his time to hunting big game, living a free and untrammeled life and encountering his quota of hardships and dangers. In 1881, in company with T. A. Clark, formerly of Bucyrus, Ohio, he killed 940 buffaloes, forty antelope and twelve deer in one hundred days, the two men skinning the entire number of animals and hauling the hides forty miles to market. In 1882 Mr. Smedes returned once more to Fulton county, where he has since been engaged in farming, having had his full quota of more adven- turous experiences. He owns his father's old homestead of eighty acres and an adjoining tract of the same area, nearly all being under cultivation and being of superior quality, and the improvements are of excellent type throughout. In politics he is a Republican, taking a deep interest in matters of public import and keeping in close touch with the issues of the hour. He is affiliated with the following Ma- sonic bodies : Swanton Lodge, No. 555, F. & A. M .; Lyons Chapter, No. 175, R. A. M .; Wauseon Council, No. 68, R. & S. M .; Toledo Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; and with Tyenobia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the same city. He is also a member of Metamora Lodge, No. 874, I. O. O. F .; Landers Tent, No. 421, Knights of the Mac- cabees of the World; and Berry Grange, No. 1111, Patrons of Hus- b'andry. He is also a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 588, K. of P. September 30, 1883, Mr. Smedes was united in marriage to Miss Louise Ottgen, daughter of Christian and Barbara (Ries) Ottgen, of Amboy township. They have no children. An incident occurred in Mr. Smede's life, in 1874, while a brakeman on the International and Great Northern R. R., which caused his promotion to conductor. At a siding two oven-topped cars of Texas cattle were ordered by the conductor to be taken into the train. Mr. Smedes objected, claim- ing they were unsafe. However, his objection was overruled and the cars taken. Soon after starting with them, the train running down grade 50 miles an hour, the cattle broke down one of the doors and before Mr. Smedes could prevent it two steers jumped out. He then fought the cattle back until the next stop and was completely ex- hausted when relieved. It was a piece of "dare-devil" work that he would not pass through again for all the money you could place before him. Mr. Smedes, at the outbreak of the Cuban war, believing that Colonel Roosevelt's regiment would certainly go to the front, wrote to
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Colonel Roosevelt, setting forth the fact that he had put in five years in the saddle on the frontier, and earnestly desired to enlist in his regi- ment. Colonel Roosevelt immediately replied, saying he could not accept his services, as the quota for his regiment was already filled. Mr. Smedes prizes the reply solely because he is the only person in the locality who has a communication signed by the president personally.
ALBERT H. SMITH, a well-known and highly-esteemed member of the agricultural community of Fulton township, was born on the old homestead, where he now resides, on the 27th of February, 1857, and is a son of Frederick and Margaret (Nort) Smith. The former was born in Germany in 1821, and was a son of Frederick Smith, Sn, who with his family emigrated to America in 1831, when his son, Frederick Smith, Jr., was a lad, ten years of age. Frederick Smith, Sr., on coming to Ohio, first settled in Tuscarawas county, but later came as a pioneer to Fulton county, where he engaged in farming and where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at an advanced age on the old homestead, now owned by his grandson, Albert H. Smith. Frederick Smith, Sr.'s wife was also a native of Germany and was about eighty years of age at the time of her death. Here Fred- erick Smith, Jr., grew to manhood on the farm in Fulton township and followed farming until 1882, when he and his wife removed to Swanton, where both are happily spending their declining years. They became the parents of five children, namely: George, who is a retired farmer, residing in Holland, Lucas county; Albert H., who is the immediate subject of this review; Edward, who is a prosperous farmer of Fulton township; Charles, who is engaged in the drug business in Swanton, as a member of the firm of Price & Smith; Mar- garet, the wife of Edward Ott, of Toledo; and Louis, who died in infancy. Albert H. Smith has passed his entire life on the old home- stead farm, and his educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of the locality. He has won success in connection with the great farming industry, and his place is one of the model farms of the county. He devoted considerable attention to the raising of live-stock of superior grades, and also to dairying, and he is held in high esteem in the community which has represented his home from the time of his birth. He is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party; and Mrs. Smith and their children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. April 13, 1882, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Delilah Snyder, daughter of Jonas and Susanna (Hostetter) Snyder, both of whom were born in Pennsyl- vania; where they were married. Shortly afterward they came to Ohio and located in Fulton township, this county, where both died at the age of sixty-two years, Mr. Snyder having been a representative farmer of the township. Mr. Snyder and wife became the parents of seven daughters, namely: Minerva, who became the wife of Albert Stillwell, both being now deceased; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Hiram Toland, of Forest, Hardin county; . Emma, who married Albert Robinson and is now deceased; Alice, who is the wife of Watson Gardanier, of Fulton township; Isabel, who is the wife of
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Peter Shaffer, of Amboy township; Delilah, who is the wife of Mr. Smith, of this sketch; and Cora, who is the wife of Manasses Sipe, residing near Manchester, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of four children, of whom three are living. Frederick G., born September 1, 1884, is now a teacher in the public schools of Swanton. He was graduated in the high school of that place and later attended the normal schools at Ada, Ohio, and Angola, Ind. He still remains at the parental home when not engaged in the work of his profession. Leo C., born April 18, 1885, left the Swanton high school at the be- ginning of his senior year and then entered the Davis Business Col- lege, in Toledo, where he took a commercial course. He passed the winter of 1904-5 in the far West and is now assisting in the work of the home farm. Hope Isabel, born September 13, 1892, died at the age of ten years, and Edna Susanna, the youngest of the children, was born March 17, 1894.
GEORGE W. SMITH, proprietor of the leading meat-market of Metamora, and also a buyer and shipper of live-stock, is an able and popular business man and has passed his entire life in Fulton county, with the exception of about one year. He was born in Pike township, October 28, 1867, and is a son of Rufus and Elizabeth (Slocum) Smith. The father was born in Northampton, Mass., in 1822, and was for many years engaged in the hotel business in his native State, where his marriage was solemnized, his wife being a native of Wash- ington Co., N. Y. In 1862 they came to Fulton county and located in Pike township, where the father developed a fine farm of fifty acres, upon which he still resides, being held in unqualified esteem in the community. His devoted wife passed away on December 23, 1897. Their children are: Allister, Alice (wife of Henry Gifford), Alfred, Albert, Frank, Charles, Edward, George W. and Sumner. George W. Smith was reared to manhood on the home farm, and to the public schools of his native township he is indebted for his early educational advantages. He remained identified with the work and management of the home farm until 1892, when he located in Amboy township, where he was successfully engaged in farming and stock- growing until the autumn of 1903, when he removed to Toledo. In June, 1904, he came to Metamora and purchased the meat-market which he has since successfully conducted, catering to a large and representative trade, and he also does a profitable business in the buy- ing and shipping of stock, especially cattle. In politics his proclivities are indicated by the stanch adherence he accords to the Republican party, and, fraternally, he is affiliated with Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. October 27, 1892, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Blain, daughter of Marion and Eleanor (Moore) Blain, of Amboy township, and a grand- daughter of Charles and Rachel (Bartholomew) Blain, natives re- spectively of Onondaga and Montgomery counties, N. Y. They came to Fulton county prior to 1845, and the grandfather died in 1902, aged eighty-four years. He reared six sons and three daughters, and four of his sons and two of his sons-in-law were Union soldiers in the
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Civil war. The father of Mrs. Smith enlisted in the regular army in 1865, serving three years on the western frontier. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons-Dallas, born August 17, 1893, and Florence, born November 10, 1897, both attending school.
GILBERT SMITH, a retired farmer and highly respected citizen of Swanton, is a native of Seneca county, N. Y., where he was born on July 7, 1846. He is a son of Colwell and Jane (Waldern) Smith, both natives of Seneca county. Colwell Smith was a farmer by oc- cupation, having. followed that calling with unusual success for many years. In 1866 he removed from New York State to Lenawee county, Mich., where he and his wife continued to reside until his death in April, 1905. He was eighty-six years of age at the time of his death, and his widow is now eighty-three years old, and resides in Senica, Mich. Of the eight children that were born to this ven- erable couple all are still living-certainly a happy as well as a re- markable state of affairs. They are: George W., the eldest, ex- press agent at Sterling, Ill., who served three years during the Civil war in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York infantry, was wounded at Petersburg, Va., June 16, 1864, and discharged from the service because of that disability; Gilbert, the subject of this sketch; Jones, a laborer, residing near Adrian, Mich .; Thomas, a farmer of Lenawee, Mich .; Howard, of Seneca, Mich .; Coe, a resi- dent of Morenci, Mich .; Jennie, the widow of Frank Van Dorn, a resident of Adrian, Mich., and Irvin, who resides at Seneca, Mich. All are married and have families. Gilbert grew to manhood in his native county and received his education by attending the public schools. On December 26, 1863, at the age of a little past seven- teen, he enlisted as a private in Company C of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York infantry (the same regiment in which his brother served), and was assigned to duty with the. Second Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac, sharing the honors of that grand old army in the suppression of the Rebellion. He participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Poe River, Nye River, Spottsylvania, North Ann and Cold Harbor. In the last named engagement he received a wound which not only disabled him from further active service in the army, but has practically unfitted him for the arduous duties of life. The wound was received while making a charge to dislodge the Confederate sharp-shooters, who were concealed in the trees and elsewhere and were harassing the command on the firing- line. While the charge was successful, it was made at a fearful cost to the forty brave volunteers who participated in it. A minie-ball entered on the right side of Mr. Smith's body and, striking the fourth rib, passed out on the right side of the spinal column, just "grazing it." The wound was identical with that which cost the life of President Garfield. After being in Stanton Hospital at Washing- ton, D. C., until the fall of 1864, Mr. Smith had recovered sufficiently to enable him to perform light duty, and he was detailed as an or- derly in the hospital, in which capacity he served until the close of the war. On June 8, 1865, he received his final discharge. After
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his return to his parental home in Seneca county, N. Y., he accom- panied his parents to Lenawee county, Mich., the following year. After his marriage he came to Swanton and located on a farm half a mile south of the village, where he made his home for twenty-four years. Since December, 1904, he has been a resident of Swanton. Owing to the severity of his wound, he receives a liberal pension from the National government. In politics he is an uncompromising Re- publican. . The only public office that he has filled is that of assessor of Swan Creek township. He is actively identified with Quiggle Post, No. 289, Grand Army of the Republic, and is an earnest mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. On February 19, 1870, he was united in the bonds of matrimony with Miss Fannie M. Hinkley of Lenawee county, Mich., daughter of Samuel and Sarah Hinkley, natives of Massachusetts. To this union there were born the follow- ing children: Herbert L., Floyd D., George W. and Stella. All are married, Stella being the wife of Lloyd Mizer, of Swanton. Mrs. Smith died on September 19, 1901. On December 13, 1902, Mr. Smith was married a second time, the lady of his choice being Miss Myrtle A. Jackson, the daughter of William H. and Harriet R. (Geer) Jackson, formerly of Swan Creek township, but now of Colton, O. William H. Jackson enlisted as an officer in the Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry and served throughout the Civil war. To William H. Jackson and wife the following children were born: James E., Myrtle A., Moses W., Chester D., and Susan E. Of these James E. and Susan E. are deceased. Chester D. served in the Spanish-Ameri- can war, being a member of Company C of the Sixth Ohio volunteer infantry.
HIRAM B. SMITH, a successful farmer and stock-raiser of Swan Creek township, is a native of Milan, Huron county, O., born Febru- ary 16, 1862. He is the son of John and Bertha Jane (Barber) Smith, both natives of the State of New York. Their family consisted of three sons and one daughter, deceased, as follows: William, a resi- dent of Swanton; Alfred, who is on the farm with his brother Hiram; Hiram B., and Susan, who was the wife of Theodore Little of Swan- ton, where she died, leaving two daughters. Hiram B. Smith ac- companied his parents to Fulton county when he was a child of four years. Here he grew to manhood, was educated and has since re- sided. He began his life career as a farmer, in which he has been more than usually successful. His home farm is one of the best- improved farms in Fulton county. The buildings are new and mod- ern, including a large double-barn, built in 1901, and capable of hold- ing thirty-five head of stock and sixty tons of hay. It is a handsome structure and modern in all of its appliances. In addition to the home estate and adjoining it Mr. Smith owns a tract of eighty acres of well improved and valuable land. In political views he is a Re- publican, but in religious matters he is not identified with any re- ligious body. The maiden name of the lady whom he married, on July 24, 1881, was Miss Evlyn Kyper, a daughter of Cyrus and Cynthia M. (Spaulding) Kyper, the former a native of Pennsylvania
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and the latter of Fulton county. Cyrus Kyper removed to Ohio and located in Fulton county in pioneer days. Here, in sight of his daughter's present home, he owned a large tract of land and was quite prosperous in agricultural pursuits. He died at the age of forty-two years, and is survived by his widow who still resides on the old homestead. The family comprises a son and a daughter, the former, William by name, being a teacher at Angola, Ind. To Hiram B. Smith and wife four children have been born. They are: Clarence C., principal of the Lyons, O., public schools, who was educated at Delta high-school, Oberlin college and the Angola, Ind., Normal, and married Miss Chloe Putnam of Fulton township; Hazel Grace, a young lady at home; Eva Maude, a student of the public schools, and Fred Dana, an infant six months old, the pet of the family. The grand-parents of Mrs. Smith were natives of Maine. Mr. Smith is a genial, companionable gentleman, whose hospitality is unbounded, in which he is joined by his amiable wife. Their beautiful modern home is the central attraction in the community, where it far excels all rivals and evinces the public spirit and progressiveness of the own- ers.
WALTER SMITH .- The fair land of hills and heather claims this venerable and honored citizen as a native son, and he is a represen- tative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Fulton county and is to-day numbered among the prominent farmers and influential citizens of Royalton township. He was born in Roxburghshire, Scot- land,, on the 26th of May, 1826, and is a son of John and Margaret (Scott) Smith, who immigrated to America in 1842 and who took up their residence in what is now Royalton township, Fulton county, Ohio, in the same year. The old homestead farm is now owned by Adner Frantz and wife. John Smith cleared a portion of his farm and became one of the influential and popular citizens of the county. He died in 1859, at the age of forty-eight years, and his wife passed away some years later. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom accompanied them to America: Betsey became the wife of James Cuthbert, Jane married Alvin Hamlin, James was the next in order of birth, Margaret became the wife of A. M. Williams, and the other children were Catherine, Walter and William S. The sub- ject of this review is now the only survivor. Mr. Smith secured his educational training principally in his native land, and was about sixteen years of age at the time when he came with his parents to Fulton township, and during the long intervening years he has con- tinued to be a resident of Royalton township, honored as a citizen of liberal views and marked public-spirit and as a man of the highest integrity in all the relations of life. He grew to manhood on the home farm and during his entire independent career has continued to be associated with the agricultural interests of the county in whose development and progress he has materially assisted. In 1855 Mr. Smith located on his present farm, which has thus been his home for a half-century, and he has developed the same into one of the finest places in this section. His landed estate comprises two hun-
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