BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.


Page 558.


THOMAS J. SMITH, one of the leading business men of Pease township,
Belmont county, was born in that county in 1824, the son of Col.
James M. Smith, one of the early settlers. Col. Smith was born in
Loudon county, Va., in 1790, the son of Thomas Smith, of English
descent, who served in the war of the revolution. Col. Smith was
a farmer and a cooper by occupation. He served one year in the war
of 1812, and then, in 1813, came to Belmont county, settling within
a mile of Burlington, where he lived upon a farm until his death in
1873. He held the rank of colonel in the state militia of Ohio. He
was married in 1809, to Mary Berry, who died in 1875, and by this
union had eleven children, four of whom are now living. The subject
of this mention was reared upon the farm of his parents, and became
engaged as a farmer, raising with his brothers, large quantities
of grain, which they disposed of by trading along the river. In
1854 he turned his attention to gardening, which he followed until
1879, when he purchased the stock of goods at Burlington, then
owned by Goodhue Bros. This he added to, and has since conducted
business on a larger scale than before known in the place, meeting
with considerable success, and acquiring a reputation as a skillful
business man. Burlington is one of the oldest trading points on the
river, a store having been established here over sixty years ago.
In 1881 a postoffice was established, known as Don, of which John
J. Smith was postmaster until July, 1888, since when the subject
of this mention has held the office. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, of the Masonic order, and of the democratic party.
He was married May 23, 1854, to Lucinda Jump, a representative of
one of the pioneer families, and they have had eight children:
Mary E., John J., Emery L., deceased; Amanda J., deceased; Louisa,
Kate E., Theresa L., deceased, and James W.