Ada County ID Archives Biographies.....Smith, Madison C. 1839 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 23, 2012, 12:13 am Source: See below Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher MADISON C. SMITH, of Boise, numbered among the pioneers of the northwest, has passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey. His career has been fraught with many hardships and privations incident to the settlement of the frontier but has also been brightened by the opportunities of a new country awaiting the developing hand of the progressive citizen. These opportunities Mr. Smith has fully utilized and in the course of years has won a fair measure of success. He was born in the old town of Richmond, in Ray county, Missouri, March 15, 1839, a son of Daniel and Emily (Ringo) Smith, who were natives of Tennessee and Kentucky respectively. Of their four children, two sons and two daughters, three of whom are yet living, Madison was the second in order of birth. He had reached the age of twelve years when in 1851 the family bade adieu to their old Missouri home and started over the Oregon trail for the Willamette valley. The trip entailed the usual difficulties and hardships while en route, but eventually the family established their home upon a ranch and began the development of the fields in preparation for a life of agricultural activity there. The father, however, fell a victim to Indian hostility in the Indian war of 1855 and 1856 and thus the children had to take up the burden of family affairs and responsibilities, Madison C. Smith being at that time a youth of seventeen years. Upon him devolved the care of his mother and the younger children of the family and he manfully met the responsibilities until his mother was again married. Mr. Smith's identification with Boise dates from 1864, in which year he came to Idaho, traveling with a pack train. For some time he was in the employ of others and during the early years when every settlement in the northwest sold liquors, which were regarded as much a staple commodity as groceries, he engaged in the liquor business but after a few years retired from that field of business. He has lived to witness great changes in Boise and the state. The capital city was a little village at the time of his arrival, its population numbering only a few hundred. As the years have passed he has watched the replacement of the pioneer cabins with beautiful and substantial homes, while the surrounding country has been converted from a tract of sagebrush into highly cultivated fields and orchards. Something of the development is indicated in the fact that land which was regarded as almost worthless at the time of his arrival now sells for fifteen hundred dollars or more per acre. Mr. Smith has met with a fair measure of prosperity through the conduct of business affairs and wise investments and is pleasantly situated in life. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party but he has never been an office seeker, preferring that his public service should be done as a private citizen. He has, however, always been an interested witness of the leading events of the times — those which have left their impress upon the history of city and state. He knows every phase of pioneer hardship and of modern-day comfort and prosperity and he remains one of the valued and honored pioneer settlers of the city in which for fifty-five years he has made his home. Additional Comments: Extracted from: IDAHO DELUXE SUPPLEMENT CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1920 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/ada/photos/bios/smith58gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/ada/bios/smith58gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/idfiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb