Johnson-Miami County KS Archives Biographies.....Smith, E. L. 1866 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 22, 2008, 12:18 am Author: Ed Blair (1915) E. L. Smith, manager of the Olathe Gas Company, is a representative of that type of men who are doing things in the industrial world of today. Mr. Smith is a native of Illinois, born near Litchfield, July 18, 1866, and is a son of Allen G. and Martha (Kinder) Smith, the former a native of the Old Dominion and the latter of Illinois, born of pioneer Illinois parents, who settled in that State when it was one broad expanse of unbroken prairie. The mother remembered, distinctly, when game was abundant in Illinois and saw deer by the hundreds, roaming over the plains. Allen G. Smith removed from his Virginia home to Kentucky with his parents when a mere boy, and while yet in his teens hired out to drive cattle from Kentucky to Indiana and made a similar trip from the latter State to Alton Landing, Ill., about 1830, and made his home in Illinois after that. He located in Macoupin county, near Litchfield. He broke the prairie where the city of Litchfield now stands, and for a time in the early da3^s was engaged in freighting, before there was scarcely more than trails across the plains. In 1880 he removed to Cass county, Missouri, where he died two years later, aged sixty-seven years. He was a strong anti-slavery advocate and a man of positive convictions. He was a Republican and member of the Baptist church and a very religious man. His wife died in 1892, aged sixty-two years. They were the parents of five children, namely: H. T., Harrisonville, Mo.; Martha M., married William T. Wilson; S. P., died at the age of forty-three, in 1903; E. L., the subject of this sketch, and Allie, married M. L. Dollar, Paola, Kan. E. L. Smith attended the public schools in Illinois until the age of fourteen, when he came to Cass county, Missouri, with his parents. He was engaged in farming in that section for eight years, and in 1888 came to Kansas as an employ of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company at Osawatomie, Kan., and remained with that company until 1897 when he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Oil, Gas and Mining Company., at Osawatomie. He was in the operating department of that company in connection with their Miami county development until 1898 when they came to Johnson county and drilled the first well in Johnson county, which was at Old City Park, Spring Hill, where they struck a good flow of gas at a depth of 610 feet. That was the beginning of the gas development of Johnson county. Mr. Smith began at the bottom in the oil business and has had experience in drilling, pipe line construction and everything in connection with the business. lie remained with that company until 1904, when he engaged in drilling as an independent contractor and followed that vocation in Miami county until 1910, when he came to Olathe as manager of the Olathe Gas Company and still holds that position. Mr. Smith was married July 3, 1888, to Miss Mattie Naylor, a native of Jefferson City, Mo., but resided in Cass county at the time of her marriage. She is a daughter of Benjamin Robert and Margaret Elizabeth (Hall) Naylor, both now deceased, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Kentucky. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born two children: Benjamin Earl, operating a drilling rig for his father in Johnson county, and Euphemia, died at the age of three years, October 30, 1897. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masonic lodge. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. No. 19, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. No. 11, Paola, The Fraternal Order of Eagles. Aerie No. 400, Olathe; Ancient Order of United Workmen, Homestead No. 1000, and the Yoeman, Paola, Kan. He is a Republican and a member of the Christian church. Mrs. Smith is also a member of the Christian church and the Order of the Eastern Star and Rebekahs. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas BY ED BLAIR AUTHOR OF Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY LAWRENCE, KANSAS 1915 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/johnson/bios/smith146bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 4.6 Kb