324                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY


    JOSEPH M. SMITH.—A practical and enterprising agriculturist of
Van Buren township, Joseph M. Smith exercises great skill and excellent
judgment in his chosen vocation, and during his many years of toil and
labor has accumulated a competency. He is distinguished as a native-
born citizen, his birth having occurred in this township January 19, 1857.
His grandfather Smith was an early settler of Indiana, and but little is
known of his history, excepting that he spent his last years in Rush
county, where, it is thought, his son Perry, father of Joseph M., was
born.
    Left an orphan in childhood, Perry Smith was early thrown upon
his own resources and he successfully paddled his own canoe, working at
any honest occupation. He was employed in different places, for awhile
being in Madison county. Coming from there to Clay county, he traded
property for land in section three, Van Buren township, and at once
began its improvement, his first work being to cut down enough timber
to make room for a small log cabin, it being the one in which his son
Joseph was born. This cabin he afterwards replaced by a more commo-
dious one made of hewn logs, and it is still in excellent condition, By
dint of hard pioneer labor he cleared quite a tract, and was here engaged
in tilling the soil until his death in 1872. He was twice married. The
maiden name of his second wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch,
was Mary Harmless. She was born in Ohio, but came with her parents
to Indiana when a girl, and here lived and died.
    Joseph M. Smith received his early education in the district schools,
and during his long vacations assisted his father on the farm, thus becom-
ing early acquainted with agricultural labors. After the death of his
father he continued to reside with his mother, and now, having pur-
chased the interest of the remaining heirs, owns the old homestead.
Possessing excellent business and executive ability, sound in judgment
and a wise manager, Mr. Smith has met with eminent success in his
operations, and in addition to owning the home farm of one hundred and
fifteen acres has also title to eighty acres in Parke county.
    In 1879 he married Laura E. Coleman. She was born in Mansfield,
Parke county, Indiana, a daughter of Zopher and Tabitha Coleman.
For a number of years Mrs. Smith has been an invalid, unable to fully
enjoy the comforts of life. Fraternally Mr. Smith is a member of Carbon
Lodge, No. 145, Knights of Pythias, and of Carbon Lodge, No. 693,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

    JAMES K. Moss, M. D.—The medical profession of Clay county
numbers among its leading members Dr. James K. Moss, of Ashboro,
a representative of one of the county’s earliest pioneer residents. In the
early and formative period, in 1827, there came to reside within its bor-
ders one George Moss, the grandfather of Dr. Moss. He settled near
where Center Point is now located, and in 1832 he came to Ashboro and
became the proprietor of one of the, old historic inns of Clay county, and
there the stage coach on the road between Terre Haute and Bloomington
used to stop for a change of horses. He also laid out the Ashboro ceme-
tery and deeded the same to Clay county on the 9th of July, 1845. He
was one of the most prominent factors in the early history of this
vicinity. Both he and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Lydia
Bilderback, were born in Virginia.
    Among the children of George and Lydia (Bilderback) Moss was a