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One Smith Family of Grant County, Indiana

Smith

John and Lucy Smith of Monroe Township, Grant County, Indiana

Click here for a portrait of John and Lucy Smith.

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MR. JOHN SMITH
Mr John Smith was born in Ohio and came to Grant County with his parents in 1845. His father had entered 160 acres of land 3 miles northeast of Upland at a dollar an acre two or three years before they came to live on it. When they came to the farm, of course none of it was cleared and the cabin had to be built. While his father was putting up the cabin and getting things in shape so that they could live there, the family stayed at the court house at Hartford City. He attended school at a log school house, but as there was no law compelling anyone to go, and also because his father needed him to help clear the land, he did not attend all of the time, which was usually about three months or less. The seats at the school house were made of planks without backs. There was a long writing desk at one side of the school house with a window above it and this served to light the room because the door was made of wood and there was only the one window in the building. Mr. Smith volunteered for the army in February, 1865, and was discharged in September of the same year. He said he could remember when there were only about twelve families living within a circle of one or two miles around their farm. There were very few roads at this time and most all of them were very poor, having stumps in them, and winding in and out through the woods in order to keep out of the swamps. There was one road that ran from Hartford to Marion. Their nearest railroad was at Muncie or Huntington because the Pennsylvania was not built until 1866 or 1867 Mr. Smith said he could remember well of driving the oxen to Muncie. Their nearest towns were Hartford, Jonesboro and Marion. Upland is now the nearest town to Mr. Smith's farm but there wasn't any town there at that time. Mr. Smith's father kept the post-office and a little country store. After he came back from the army he carried the mail some of the time. He had to make one trip to Marion and one to Bramen, Ohio once a week. The trip to Marion took him a good day and the trip to Bramen, Ohio took four days. He went by way of Portland, staying all night there and then on to Bramen to stay that night. The hotel where he stayed in Bramen was kept by Dutch people and he said that their language and the clattering of their wooden shoes sounded something alike to him. He said they didn't have to go to town very often because they raised flax out of which they made their summer clothes and wool was spun for their winter clothes. They didn't raise many cattle at that time, but everybody raised a number of hogs which were branded and turned out in the woods together. All the brands were recorded at the court house so that everyone knew just how many he had and that none of them would get lost. They usually killed about one or two hogs in the winter, but as there was plenty of deer, wild turkey and other game they didn't need to kill many. He said that he remembered of his father saying one day to his mother: "While you are getting dinner ready I will go out and kill a deer." It was only a little while until he came back and said he had the deer and needed her to help him drag it to the house. The wild turkeys were plentiful but as they were very shy one had to be quick in shooting them. When Mr. Smith got married he went five miles to borrow a buggy, because that was the nearest one and only a few people owned a buggy at that time. Some of the amusements that they enjoyed were spelling schools and singing schools. He said it was nothing for the girls to walk three or four miles and the boy's walk five or six to the spelling schools. The best time for these was in the winter when a big snow was on and twenty or thirty could go in a bob-sled. Mr. Smith is a fine old gentleman and is well respected throughout the county. He cheerfully answered all questions asked and seemed very anxious that we succeed in the work that we are doing on the Early History of Grant County.
-Ada Hawkins.

JOHN SMITH
For many years one of the most prosperous farming men in the county, John Smith, with the organization of the Upland State Bank, stepped into the office of president of that young financial institution, and he has since continued in his dual capacity of farmer and banker, with equal success in both enterprises. As a well-to-do agricultural man, he is widely known in the county, and his land holdings aggregate something like 525 acres, designated much as follows: The home farm of 210 acres located in section 25 and section 26; forty acres adjoining the home place on the north; forty acres in section 24; and one hundred acres in section 36, making about four hundred acres in Monroe township. He also owns one hundred and twenty acres in Blackford county. The bulk of the land he rents for a yearly cash rental, but the home place of two hundred and ten acres he operates himself. He is also a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted February 1, 1865, in Company B, 153d Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until September 4, 1865, when he was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky. Did detached duty during the most of his service. John Smith was born in the northeast part of Mahoning county, Ohio, on November 15, 1843, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Leonard) Smith, who reared a family of seven children, as follows: Wesley, of Huntington county; John, of this review; Jane, who is deceased; Emily and Lavina, also deceased; Mrs. Maria Smith, a resident of Milford Center, Ohio; and Hiram, of Hartford City. The father of this family, Thomas Smith, moved to Grant county in the spring of 1845 and here entered a tract of government land, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, and the home of John Smith is built upon one forty of this original acreage. The land was a dense wood at that time, and before he was able to build the rude log cabin that sheltered his little family in those early days, he was obliged to cut a road from the nearest settlement through his place. He gradually cleared up the place, and in later years to be the owner of one hundred and twenty acres in Blackford county together with another forty adjoining, but he was swindled out land through his investment in a railroad line that was projected through those parts. Thomas Smith died July 23, 1876, and his wife passed away January 7, 1901. Mr. John Smith's progress has been fairly rapid, and at all times certain. No element of chance has entered into his operations, and when bought a new piece of land, he did so secure in the knowledge that he was getting it at a fair price, and that the top of the market had not yet been reached. When he married in 1873 he was the owner of a 100 acre tract. He soon bought another forty from his father and engaged in potato growing, sometimes having as high as forty acres planted to that indispensable tuber. He has raised as high as four hundred bushels to the acre, but would average about three hundred bushels, which at market of twenty-five to thirty cents, made money for him every year. He was dubbed the "Potato King" of his locality, and was well entitled to the name. For twenty-five years he devoted himself to the cultivation of this crop, his shipments running well into the carloads each season. He continued to buy land until he had a large acreage to his credit, and as has already been stated, much of the land he rents, confining himself to the cultivation of the home place alone. An example of his thrift in the he matter of buying land may be cited in the instance of his purchase, with his brother, of a forty lying on a creek. The price paid was $100 and the consideration was offered in a colt and $50 in cash. This forty, then considered worth little or nothing, is today well drained and worth $100 an acre. Mr. Smith has paid high prices for some of his land, however, much of it coming at $25 and $30, while some of it cost him high as $50 an acre. Mr. Smith's home farm is one of the finest in the county, and is likewise one of the best improved and kept up. In 1889 a fine eleven-room house was built on the place, modern in many ways, and decidedly ornamental to the landscape. A beautiful sloping lawn adds to the beauty of the place, and numerous barns and other buildings contribute to the general attractiveness of the ensemble. On February 12, 1874, Mr. Smith was married to Lucy Bocock, the daughter of James and Hester Ann (Shannon) Bocock, of Clark county, Ohio, and Brown county, Ohio, respectively. They were married in Indiana and lived many years in Grant and Blackford counties, this state. They have reared a family of eight children Raleigh, principal of the Jonesboro schools, is now assistant cashier of the Upland State Bank; Pluma is at home; Arthur is a furniture dealer in Hartford City; Thana is deceased; Ira, also deceased; Harry A. is a practicing dentist in Seattle, Washington; Charles is a farmer in Monroe township; Lelah is at the Lewis Institute, Chicago, Ill., studying domestic science. Concerning Raleigh O. Smith, who is assistant cashier of the Upland State Bank, it may be stated that he was born on November 22,1874, in Monroe township, and received his education in the district in Fairmount Academy and Marion Normal College, finishing his training in the State Normal College at Terra Haute, Indiana, in 1906. He began teaching at the age of nineteen in 1894, and taught seven terms in Marion at different times; two terms were taught in Franklin township, and he served as teacher of the Mississinewa schools, finishing his pedagogic service with three years as principal of the Jonesboro High School. In May, 1912, he became assistant cashier of the bank, of which his father is president, and which was organized in 1909. John Smith is a Republican and is a member of the Friends church, his son Raleigh sharing in his politics and his religion. The parents of Mr. Smith were Methodists, but he embraced the faith of the Friends some years ago, and has ordered his life largely in accordance with the demands of that sect. He is especially enthusiastic on the subject temperance, and is one of the stanch and true citizens of the community, where he has done his full share in the good work of development upbuilding.
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