Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Smith, G. P. 1836 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 5, 2009, 6:19 am

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  G. P. Smith, a Civil war veteran and now living retired after a successful
career of activity, resides at Spring Hill. He was born in Washington county,
Ohio, April 3, 1836, and is a son of C. C. and Orilla (Davis) Smith, natives of
Ohio. The father was a son of Stephen and Matilda (Stone) Smith, natives of
Massachusetts, the latter being a daughter of Benjamin Franklin Stone, a pioneer
surveyor in Illinois, who was an early day horticulturist and was the first man
to develop the modern tomato, by a series of experiments. It was generally
thought at that time that the tomato was poisonous, but through his efforts it
was introduced as a useful article of food. Benjamin Franklin Stone came from
Rutland, Mass., to Ohio at an early day with his family and settled near
Marietta and was the first county surveyor of Washington county, Ohio, and held
that position until he was over eighty years of age. He died at the age of
ninety-two, a prominent and highly respected citizen of Washington county.
Orilla Davis, the mother of G. P. Smith, was the daughter of F. L. and Lucy
Davis, pioneers of Ohio. C. C. Smith, father of G. P., the subject of this
sketch, was born in Ohio in 1811 and died in Washington county, that State, in
1888. G. P. Smith, whose name introduces this sketch, was the oldest of a family
of seven children. He grew to manhood in Washington county, Ohio, and attended
the public schools. He was engaged in the peaceful occupation of farming until
August 11, 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-sixth regiment, Ohio
infantry, and during his term of service participated in some of the hardest
fought battles of the war, including South Mountain, Antietam, Fort Donelson,
Missionary Ridge, Murfreesboro, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Rossville,
Chattanooga, Brown's Ferry, Lookout Mountain, Salt Pond Mountain and Ceder
Creek, where Sheridan turned defeat into victory. At the close of the war he was
mustered out of service at Cumberland, Md., June 27, 1865. He returned to his
Washington county home and on April 3, 1867, was united in marriage to Miss A.
H. Wolcott, a daughter of Elias and Lorena (Stacey) Wolcott, both natives of
Massachusetts, of English descent, and early settlers in Ohio. In 1880, G. P.
Smith and family removed to Kansas and located in Miami county and now resides
at Spring Hill. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born five children, all born in
Ohio; Orril, a graduate of the Eclectic School of Medicine, Lincoln, Neb., and
the osteopathic school of Wichita, Kan. She is also a talented musician and an
artist. She is now practising medicine at Wichita; Grant resides in the State of
Washington; Wilbur, Oklahoma; Mary married Will Haeberle, Rosedale, Kan.; and
Lucy married Dean Marks, Morse, Kan. Politically Mr. Smith is a Republican and
cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. He is a member of the Masonic
lodge and the Grand Army of the Republic.

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


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