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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 217-218
HENRY SMITH, who is numbered among the leading business men of Stitzer, town of Liberty, Grant county, is a good representative of the German-American element in the country.
Mr. SMITH was born in 1837, a son of Adam SMITH, also a native of Germany. In 1855 the latter immigrated to America with his family, and the same year located in Grant county, Wis., on a farm in the town of Little Grant, where they resided for nine years; they then removed to the town of Liberty, and settled on a small farm near the present village of Stitzer. Here Adam SMITH died, in 1873, his wife surviving him for five years, when she too passed away. The subject of this sketch was one of a family of three children, two sons and one daughter. Of these, Henry is the eldest. John died several years ago. The daughter, Elizabeth, is the wife of Ferdinand HINTZE.
Henry SMITH was about eighteen when he first came to Grant county, where he has since made his home, a period of over forty-five years. Reared to the occupation of farming, he has devoted a number of his years to that pursuit, and borne his part in the development and improvement of Liberty. Always interested in agricultural pursuits, Mr. SMITH still owns a fine farm and pleasant home. Soon after the arrival of the railroad here, in 1880, realizing the opportunity offered by this improvement, Mr. SMITH engaged in mercantile business, and now also owns and successfully operates a meat market. At first he was associated with Herman BERGHEGER, but later dissolved that partnership, and now conducts the business alone.
Henry SMITH married Miss Mary Ann GARNER, daughter of Daniel GARNER, of Pennsylvania, and four sons and five daughters have been born of this union.
One reason why Mr. SMITH is so deeply interested in the railroad at Liberty is on account of his association with it, for in 1856-57 be assisted in the construction, near Bridgeport, of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, the first that entered Grant county. During the time of his association therewith Mr. SMITH worked under Joseph NATHAN, one of Grant county's well-known citizens. In political affiliations Mr. SMITH is a Republican, and has held several local offices, serving most acceptably. Although he never enjoyed any educational advantages outside his native country, he is well informed and capable, and, by his industry, honesty and thrift, has firmly established himself among the prominent merchants and representative men of his locality.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck