USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Cambria County pioneers; a collection of brief biographical and other sketches relating to the early history of Cambria County, Pennsylvania > Part 7
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But this act of generosity emptied Captain Smith's al- ways lean purse. Abandoning his companions he shipped as a deck hand on a steamboat that was going to New Or- leans, at which place he safely arrived. Here he renewed his acquaintance with Mr. Lovell, who gave him a letter of introduction to David G. Burnet, one of the leaders of the struggling Texan Republic, Captain Smith's adventurous spirit and his manly sympathies combining to direct his steps toward the Lone Star State. Arriving in Texas he enlisted as a soldier in the Texan army, and at the battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, he had the pleasure of contributing to the defeat of the Mexican army and of par- ticipating in the capture of Santa Anna himself. For his services in the Texan Revolution he was afterwards granted a large tract of land in Texas, but he did not derive any
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benefit from this donation, owing to the undeveloped con- dition of the country.
Leaving Texas in 1836 or 1837 Captain Smith was in- duced by friends to locate in Kentucky and he became a contractor in the building of the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike. While thus engaged he married Miss Rebecca G. Mudd, of Green county, Kentucky. This was in 1839. Soon afterwards he concluded to return to Pennsylvania, and in 1840, through the kind offices of one of his early friends, Captain Samuel D. Karns, he was appointed to a clerkship in the office of the collector of tolls on the Penn- sylvania Canal at Johnstown, the collector, Major James Potts, being a brother-in-law of Captain Karns. Captain Smith was at this time a good penman and a good ac- ·countant, although he had received a very imperfect edu- cation when a boy. Thenceforward until 1861 he was an active and influential citizen of Johnstown. It was not born in him to be quiet anywhere, or to be a laggard in matters of public interest. He was a born leader of men and not a follower.
After Major Potts retired from the position of collector of tolls in 1842, if not, indeed, before this event, Captain Smith's old love of the water returned, and he successively became the owner and captain of two portable boats on the main line of the Pennsylvania Canal and its railroad con- nections, named the Excelsior and the San Jacinto. Dr. Campbell Sheridan can tell some interesting stories about the Excelsior. But, like all of Captain Smith's business en- terprises, he made but little money out of his boating ven- tures, and in 1846, when the Mexican war broke out, we find him attached as a sutler's clerk to the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Samuel W. Black, Captain Samuel D. Karns being the sutler. We may be sure that it was through no fear of personal harm that Captain Smith did not occupy a different position in the regiment. He remained in Mexico with General Scott's army until the war closed, often exposed to danger and often participating in movements against the enemy. In a skirmishing expedition he was wounded in the left leg, and thereafter he walked with a slight limp.
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After returning to Johnstown late in 1847 or early in 1848 Captain Smith was for a time the manager of Ben's: Creek furnace, near Johnstown, immediately preceding, we think, that accomplished gentleman, William C. McCormick. This position he held for only a short time. Our recollection. is that he next embarked on an active political career by assuming the editorship and the publication of the Demo- cratic paper at Johnstown which had previously been pub- lished by Henry C. Devine and was called The Cambria Transcript. It was late in 1849 when Captain Smith took charge of this paper, the name of which he changed to The Mountain Echo. In the spring of 1853, after encountering some vicissitudes, a "new series" of the Echo appeared, the number of columns being enlarged and the name being also enlarged to The Allegheny Mountain Echo and Johnstown Com- mercial Advertiser and Intelligencer. In the meantime Cap- tain Smith had been appointed cargo inspector at Johns- town and had become a Democratic leader and a man of mark among Democrats throughout the State. He could write a good editorial article on almost any subject ; he could make a very fair speech on almost any question ; he was a good vocalist and delighted to sing political and pa- triotic songs; he was the author of at least one notable. patriotic song; he was a good fiddler; he could tell a story; he was good company anywhere; and he was a man of fine appearance. His physical and moral courage were. well known, and his generous and chivalrous nature was just as well known.
After awhile, in October, 1856, while still editing the Echo, Captain Smith was elected by the Democrats to the lower house of the Pennsylvania Legislature and was con- secutively elected a second and third time to the same body. In the winter of 1856 and 1857 he joined with other Democrats in refusing to vote for John W. Forney, the Democratic caucus nominee for United States Senator, and this action defeated that gentleman and resulted eventually in the election of Simon Cameron. Captain Smith and his. associates, seven in all, voted for Henry D. Foster. They refused to go into the caucus because President-elect Bu- chanan had written a letter virtually dictating Colonel For-
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ney's nomination. During his last term in the Legislature Captain Smith's popularity with his fellow-Democrats was shown in his election as Speaker pro tem., to fill a vacancy caused by the ill-health of the regular Speaker. At the close of the session he was presented with a silver tea-set. Engraved upon the pitcher there was the following inscrip- tion : " George N. Smith, of Cambria County, elected unani- mously Speaker pro tem., House of Representatives of Penn- sylvania, Session of 1858."
In 1860 Captain Smith, who was still editing the Echo, was selected as a delegate to the Charleston Convention of that year. He went to Charleston as a friend of John C. Breckinridge and supported his nomination for the Presi- dency until he became satisfied that the friends of Breckin- ridge were bent upon disunion, when he joined the forces of Stephen A. Douglas. It will be remembered that the convention broke in two at Charleston and that the two wings afterwards met separately at Baltimore, each wing nominating its favorite. Captain Smith attended the Doug- las Convention as a delegate and voted for him. The an- nexed correspondence will be read with interest.
BARNUM'S HOTEL, Baltimore, June 26, 1860.
HON. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. My Dear Friend : I trust in God you will not suffer the evil advice of designing men to cause you to pursue a course that will destroy the party and ruin yourself. Should you ac- cept the nomination of the Seceders' Convention it will be fatal to the party and ruinous to you. I beseech you to consider well the step you are about to take. Evil must assuredly follow acceptance. Your Sincere Friend, G. NELSON SMITH. WASHINGTON CITY, June 28, 1860.
G. NELSON SMITH, EsQ., Johnstown, Pa. My Dear Sir : I have your letter and appreciate the motives that dictated it. My course has been surrounded by difficulties for which I was wholly blameless. We must each pursue what seems to be the path of duty. Let it not disturb the personal friendship I am happy to cherish for you. With good wishes, I remain Your Friend, JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE.
The break-up at Charleston extended to the Democratic party of the whole country, and the Cambria county Demo- crats at once took sides with either Breckinridge or Doug- las. In the fall of 1860 there were four candidates for the General Assembly, the Republicans nominating Alexander C. Mullin, the Breckinridge Democrats Michael Dan Mage-
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han, the Douglas Democrats Captain Smith, and the New County party Major James Potts. Mullin was elected.
The split in the Democratic party did not extend to the State politics of Pennsylvania. Henry D. Foster was the Democratic nominee for Governor but was defeated by Andrew G. Curtin. Captain Smith presided over the conven- tion which nominated his old friend, General Foster. This was his last appearance in the Democratic politics of Penn- sylvania. The war came soon afterwards, justifying his judgment of the purposes of the Southern Democrats at Charleston. It brought changes in the political as well as personal relations of Captain Smith and other Democrats.
Soon after the close of the political campaign of 1860 Captain Smith's old friend, Samuel D. Karns, invited him to engage with him in an oil speculation in West Virginia. In April, 1861, after the firing on Fort Sumter, the West Virginia Confederates drove them out of the State.
Returning to Johnstown Captain Smith closed the Echo office and sought a position with the Union army. He was an intense lover of his country and its flag and his patri- otic ardor would not permit him to remain in quiet Johns- town when that flag was insulted. His lameness prevented him from enlisting as a soldier in its defense, but he was appointed quartermaster of the second brigade of Fitz John Porter's division, serving in this capacity, with the rank of captain, until 1862, when he was appointed an assistant pay- master in the army with the rank of major, in which posi- tion he served until the close of the war in 1865, being all the time attached to the Army of the Potomac. His two oldest sons, Robert Emmet and Montgomery Pike, were pri- vate soldiers in the same army. Montgomery was wounded in the last day's fighting in front of Petersburg, dying in 1870, his wound contributing to his death.
If Major Smith had now gone back to Johnstown among his old friends he would have done wisely, but he had part- ed with the Echo at the breaking out of the Rebellion and moved his family to Baltimore in 1864 while still in the Government service, and when the war closed he felt that there was nothing to take him to Johnstown. This mistake he often regretted afterwards. In the spring of 1866 he
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tried farming in Virginia, in the neighborhood of Wash- ington, but this experiment failing he sought and secured a clerkship in the custom house at Philadelphia, where he remained until 1869, removing his family to that city soon after his appointment, where he ever afterwards resided until his death. From 1869 forward Major Smith experienced nothing but bad luck. He tried many honorable ways of making a living, including several visits to Texas in the interest of various mining enterprises. For a number of years before his death he lived a life of retirement and al- most of seclusion, but still using his pen in many ways and never for one moment losing his interest in public affairs. In 1878 his wife died.
Major Smith's mother was a devout Methodist and his father was a non-professor of religion. The major himself never, until about the time of his wife's death, appeared to take any interest in religious matters. Mrs. Smith was all her life a Roman Catholic and she reared her children in that faith. A short time before her death the major united with the same church, and ever afterwards he was one of its most faithful adherents and a regular attendant upon its services. Major Smith and his wife were the parents of eight children, all born at Johnstown, two of whom we have mentioned.
The remains of our old friend were taken on Friday morning from his residence to the church of St. Charles Borromeo, at Twentieth and Christian streets, and thence to Georgetown, D. C., where they will find a last resting-place in Holy Rood cemetery. The remains of his wife will be taken to Georgetown and laid beside those of her husband.
We have in the foregoing lines traced the career of a really remarkable man. Courage and generosity were the traits by which he was best known to the generation to which he belonged, but he had many other noble qualities. No truer friend ever lived and no more manly opponent. He was kind to those who most needed kindness, the poor and the lowly, and he spurned and contemned alike the insolence of power and the arrogance of wealth. He was an intense lover of his country. He was public spirited. He was a good friend to Johnstown in the days when his
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voice and vote could influence its destiny. He passed through the Legislature the bill incorporating the Johns- town Water and Gas Company and the bill dividing Johns- town into four wards. He was a charter member of the Johnstown Division of Sons of Temperance.
Of his generous and chivalrous nature we could give many illustrations in addition to those already mentioned. While president of the select council of Johnstown in 1858 he was called upon one day to act as burgess and to im- pose fines upon two men for fighting. One man promptly paid his fine but the other man being impecunious Captain Smith paid his fine for him rather than send him to the lock-up. We personally know of two cases in Johnstown in which he saved the lives of drowning men by plung- ing into the water and risking his own life, once into the canal upon a night of pitchy darkness. One day, when the Pennsylvania Canal was in all its glory, some heart- less boatmen took from a boat which had just arrived at Johnstown a sick woman and her helpless children and placed the mother on a bench at one of the wharves. This poor woman was sick with Asiatic cholera. Captain Smith heard of what had been done, and after vainly en- deavoring to secure a lodging place for the sick woman he took her and her children to his own house, where she soon afterwards died. That other noble-hearted gentleman, William Orr, the undertaker, and two good women properly cared for her remains and she was decently buried. The children were restored to their father.
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DR. WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH.
DR. WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH.
FROM THE JOHNSTOWN DAILY TRIBUNE OF TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1887.
DR. WILLIAM A. SMITH died at his residence in Phila- delphia on Sunday morning, October 30, 1887.
Dr. Smith came of honored and even distinguished line- age. His great-grandfather, William Smith, D.D., a native of Aberdeen, in Scotland, was a clergyman of the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia before the Revolution and for many years afterwards. His prominence in the church and among the learned men of Philadelphia was such that he was ap- pointed the first provost of the University of Pennsylvania, a position which he filled most acceptably for many years. He married a Miss Moore, of the vicinity of Philadelphia, whose family was one of the most aristocratic and worthy in the Province of Pennsylvania. Their oldest son was William Moore Smith, who became distinguished as a Philadelphia lawyer and diplomat, having been sent by Washington on a protracted mission to England, the duties of which he discharged with tact and good judgment. His wife was a Miss Rudolph, a descendant of one of the early Swedish settlers on the Delaware. Their oldest son was General William Rudolph Smith, who married a Miss Anthony, of Philadelphia. These were the parents of Dr. William Anthony Smith.
Provost William Smith was not only an eminent divine and a successful instructor of young men but he was also a shrewd man of affairs. He early foresaw the possibilities of Central and Western Pennsylvania, and patented many tracts of land in the Juniata valley and as far west as the territory now embraced in Cambria county. Among his acquisitions was the site of the town of Huntingdon, in Huntingdon county, which he surveyed into town lots in 1767, naming the town after Lady Huntingdon, of Eng-
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land, who had been a liberal patron of the University of Pennsylvania. To the town of Huntingdon General Wil- liam R. Smith came from Philadelphia early in the nine- teenth century to practice his profession as a lawyer, and here, on the 13th of November, 1809, was born his oldest. child, William A. Smith. If William A. Smith had lived just two weeks longer he would have been 78 years old.
When still a boy William A. Smith lost his mother by death and the Huntingdon home was temporarily broken up. He was sent to live with his grandmother in the vi- cinity of Philadelphia, and in the schools of that city and its neighborhood he received a good elementary education, which was subsequently completed at Huntingdon, after his father's second marriage and the re-establishment of his home at that place. About the time William's literary and classical studies were completed his father removed to a. farm in the vicinity of Bedford but continued to practice his profession in the courts of Huntingdon, Bedford, and Cambria counties until his removal to Wisconsin in 1838: William went with his father to the farm and for a short. time helped to manage it. Before he was twenty years old, however, we find his love of books asserting itself and he became a medical student at the office of Dr. Watson, of Bedford. His medical studies were subsequently completed at the University of Pennsylvania, which conferred upon him the degree of doctor of medicine in 1832.
Dr. Smith commenced the practice of his profession at. Bedford, where he remained only a short time, thence going to Somerset, where he opened an office and remained until after the town was devastated by a great fire in the fall of 1833, his own office being burned. From Somerset he re- moved to Ebensburg, Cambria county, where he at once en- tered upon an extensive practice, which he retained until his removal to Philadelphia in 1858, subject to occasional interruptions, which will presently be explained. At Somerset. Dr. Smith formed the acquaintance of Jeremiah S. Black, and a strong intimacy existed between the two men until the death of Judge Black a few years ago. The two young men roomed together at Somerset.
In 1841 Dr. Smith was married to Miss Rebecca C. Bel-
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las, of Milton, Pa., a cousin of Mrs. Dr. Rodrigue, of Ebens- burg. Four sons were born to this union. In 1858 Dr. Smith removed with his family to Philadelphia, the home of his immediate ancestors, that he might give his children the advantages of a liberal education. To do this he tem- porarily abandoned the practice of his profession and be- came an inspector in the Philadelphia custom house. In 1861 his wife died, and in 1862 he entered the Government service as an army surgeon, continuing in this position un- til 1866, when he was mustered out. Soon after entering the army he was captured at Savage Station, while serving under Mcclellan, but was soon afterwards released. His oldest son, William Bellas Smith, born in 1842, was employ- ed in the medical service during the war. He died and was buried at sea in 1866 while returning home from the Southwest, where he had for some time been stationed. He was a young man of particularly winning ways and of very bright promise. His father never recovered from this blow.
Soon after retiring from the army Dr. Smith was ap- pointed to a responsible position in the office of the pro- thonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for the eastern district, which position he filled most creditably for about twenty years until attacked by his last illness.
General William R. Smith was very prominent in the military affairs of the Juniata valley, and his son, the doctor, inherited his military tastes. Soon after he settled in Ebens- burg he was chosen captain of the Cambria Guards. This office he held for ten years. Many old residents of Ebens- burg still refer to him as Captain Smith. He took great interest in the welfare of his company, and it was largely owing to his zeal and popularity as its commanding officer that it was ready with full ranks to go to Mexico in the spring of 1847. The doctor was himself, however, prevented from going with his men, but his interest in military mat- ters never suffered any abatement to the last year of his life. When his company returned to Ebensburg in 1848 with broken ranks he delivered an address of welcome. He was a sincere and ardent lover of his country, and her his- tory and achievements were to him a constant delight.
If Dr. Smith was a born soldier he was also a born pol-
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itician of the better class. He was an ardent Democrat when he cast his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson in 1832, and he remained a Democrat all his days. He and his father were warm friends of Governor David R. Porter, who was their fellow citizen at Huntingdon, and soon after the Governor's first election in 1838 he appointed Dr. Smith to be prothonotary of Cambria county, succeeding Dr. David T. Storm. Dr. Smith held this office for several years. He was an elegant penman, and he made a capable and oblig- ing court officer.
In 1848 John Fenlon, a Whig, was elected to the lower branch of the State Legislature, defeating Colonel John Kane, a Democrat. In 1849 the Whigs again ran Mr. Fen- lon for the same office, but he was defeated by Dr. Smith, who accordingly served in the Legislature of 1850. In the fall of that year Dr. Smith was again the nominee of his party for the same office, but this time he was himself de- feated by John Linton, Whig. In 1854 the doctor was the Democratic candidate for the lower house of the Legislature, but was defeated by George S. King, the Whig candidate.
During his residence in Ebensburg Dr. Smith was fre- quently chosen a delegate to State conventions and was otherwise honored by his party. He was, in fact, one of the leaders of the party as long as he remained a citizen of Cambria county. It was largely through his personal influ- ence that the new-county scheme was defeated at Harris- burg while Mr. King, its champion, was in the Legislature. He was always ready with a forcible speech in defense of the regular Democratic ticket. After his removal to Phila- delphia he maintained to the last his intimate personal re- lations with party leaders, who always respected his judg- ment and were often warmed by his enthusiasm.
The foregoing are the leading facts in the long and useful life of one of the worthiest citizens Cambria county has ever had. They leave his character undescribed, and a man's character is, after all, the principal part of the man. He was always willing to extend any favor or courtesy that was in his power to grant. As a physician he answered many calls without hope of reward, and this often at much personal sacrifice in the bitter winters of Northern Cambria.
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His fidelity to his friends was a marked trait, and his at- tachment to Huntingdon, the home of his childhood, and to Ebensburg was pathetic in its tenderness.
Among Dr. Smith's varied attainments was a cultivat- ed literary taste. He was a great reader and a vigorous writer. The newspapers of Bedford and Cambria counties contained many well-written contributions from his ready pen in the days before the civil war. While residing in Ebensburg he was universally accepted as an authority in all literary matters, and upon historical subjects particularly he was a veritable cyclopædia. His literary style was for- cible, direct, and elegant. While residing in Philadelphia he became an active member of St. Andrew's Society, and after he was 65 years old he prepared and published elabo- rate historical sketches of its first two presiding officers, Dr. Thomas Graeme and Lieutenant Governor James Hamilton, both ante-Revolutionary characters. These two literary pro- ductions are so well written and so perfect in all literary essentials that they alone entitle their author to an honor- able place among Pennsylvania's historical writers.
The remains of our old friend were buried in St. Peter's churchyard, at the corner of Third and Pine streets, Phila- delphia, on Tuesday afternoon, the 1st of November, 1887.
Dr. Smith's father, William Rudolph Smith, was born at La Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 1787, and died at Quincy, Illinois, on August 22, 1868. In 1803 he accompanied his father to England as his private secretary, studied law in the Middle Temple, and on his return home in 1808 was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia. He removed to Huntingdon county in the following year and in 1811 he became deputy attorney gen- eral of Cambria county. He subsequently removed to Bed- ford county. Removing to Wisconsin in 1838 he took an active part in its affairs until his death.
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JUDGE JAMES POTTS.
WRITTEN IN 1891 AND PRINTED IN PAMPHLET FORM FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
ON August 8, 1891, the old citizens of Johnstown and more than forty members of the bar of Cambria county laid to rest in Grand View cemetery the remains of Hon. James Potts, who died at Oil City, Venango county, on Thursday, August 6, 1891. He was born at Butler, Penn- sylvania, on August 31, 1809, and was consequently at the time of his death almost 82 years old.
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