Gunnison County CO Archives Biographies.....Smith, George J.  October 30, 1843 - ?
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Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 24, 2006, 8:33 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     George J. Smith, of Gunnison county, is in more than one sense a pioneer in

Colorado and comes of a family of pioneers.  He was an early settler in the

state, coming here in 1880, and he was the first man in the neighborhood of his

present home, or, indeed, in this part of the state, to demonstrate that

vegetables could be successfully raised at the altitude of his present home,

carrying on there for fifteen years a prosperous vegetable garden industry.  Mr.

Smith was born in Green county, Ohio, on October 30, 1843, and reared in the

adjoining county of Clark.  He is the son of Levi and Emily (Johnson) Smith, the

former born near Winchester, Virginia, and the latter in Clark county, Ohio. 

The families of both were early pioneers in Ohio, and the father died there in

1845, the mother surviving him many years.  In the fall of 1856 she, with her

son George and two daughters, moved to Iowa, locating in Louisa county, where

they were pioneers.  The son was then about thirteen years old.  He received a

common-school education, and in 1865 became a pioneer of Madison county in the

same state.  Later he was among the early residents of other counties in the

state, helping to build the first store at Kellogg in Jasper county, and renting

the first postoffice box after the office was established at Dexter in Dallas

county.  He farmed in that vicinity for a number of years, improving and selling

farms to good advantage.  In 1878 he moved to Nebraska, and after working at his

trade as a carpenter about two years, he came to Colorado in March, 1880, and

the following year crossed the range to the Western slope in a wagon accompanied

by his family.  He lived two years in the vicinity of Tincup and put up the

first frame store building at that place.  In 1883 he took up the ranch on which

he now lives on the Gunnison river, seven miles northeast of Gunnison, securing

it through a pre-emption claim.  It comprises one hundred and sixty acres and

when he took possession of it it was all raw land, virgin to the plow and

without the suggestion of a human habitation. He has improved it with good

buildings and other structures needed for its purposes and brought it to an

advanced stage of cultivation and productiveness.  For fifteen years after

getting a start here he carried on market gardening on a large scale, being the

first man in the region to raise vegetables, it having been previously supposed

that the altitude was too great for vegetables.  The ranch is now devoted

principally to raising hay and stock in which he is extensively engaged.  He has

been a leading man in the section and is highly esteemed as a far-seeing and

enterprising citizen. In political faith he is a pronounced Republican in

national affairs, but is bound strictly by party ties in local matters,

considering always the best interests of the county rather than the behest of

any political organization.  In 1870 he was married to Miss Sarah A. Shuck, a

native of Ohio.  They have had seven children.  Three died in infancy and Emma

H., wife of Jasper Tidd, of Shelton, Washington, Elbert E., May, wife of Lee

Lehman, of Gunnison county, and Glenn G. are living. 

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/gunnison/bios/smith412gbs.txt

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