Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Smith, Robert W. 1838 - living in 1917 ************************************************ 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 sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 4:32 pm Author: B. F. Bowen ROBERT W. SMITH. Robert W. Smith, one of the real pioneers of Marshall county, now living comfortably retired at his pleasant home in Frankfort, has been a witness to the development of things in this part of Kansas from the days of the very beginning of a social order hereabout and there are few men in the northern part of the state who have a more vivid recollection of the days of the. plainsmen and of the old Overland trail than has he. Coming to Kansas in 1858 he was a participant in affairs here during the stirring days of the Civil War period and as a freighter on the old Overland trail was a witness to many a stirring scene that marked the traffic along that historic highway in the days before the railroad brought a new order and robbed the plains of the picturesque quality that has so entertainingly been embodied in story and song by the observers of a generation now past. Beginning his career in Marshall county as a merchant at the stage and milling station of Barrett, Mr. Smith has remained all the years since pretty closely identified with the affairs of that part of the county, in which he early became an extensive landowner and cattleman, and now, in the pleasant "evening time" of his life, with his affairs well ordered, he is in a position, while still preserving in a remarkable degree his vigor and zest in living, to take things easily and to enjoy the ample rewards of a long and busy life. Robert W. Smith was born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, December 30, 1838, second in order of birth of the children born to his parents, Robert and Sarah (Ray) Smith, also natives of the Keystone state, his paternal grandfather of Irish birth and his maternal grandfather of Scotch-Irish stock. The elder Robert Smith was a substantial farmer and the owner of a store at Elders Ridge. In the academy at Elders Ridge Robert W. Smith completed his schooling and as a young man engaged in the mercantile business there on his own account, but after being thus engaged for about six months came to the conclusion that wider opportunities awaited him out on the plains of Kansas, and in 1858, he then being hardly twenty years of age, he came out here, bringing with him a stock of goods, which he transported by steamer down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and thence up the Missouri to Atchison and then by wagon on over into Marshall county, his point of destination being the stage station and saw-mill settlement at Barrett, on the old Overland trail. There Mr. Smith established his store, but in 1861, finding that the outlook for a merchant there was not as promising as it had seemed, sold his store and engaged on his own account in general freighting, his route being from Kansas City to Leavenworth, Atchison and Omaha and from Barrett to Denver and the Rocky mountains, keeping from five to fifteen teams going. In the meantime he began investing in land and in the spring of 1865 located on a farm he had bought in Clear Fork township, this county, and after his marriage in 1866 established his home there, soon becoming recognized as one of the leading farmers and stockmen in that part of the county. From the very beginning of his residence in this county, Mr. Smith took an active and thoughtful interest in local civic affairs. The first school district in Marshall county was that organized in the Barrett neighborhood, old district No. 1, and Mr. Smith for years was the director in the district. That was in the days when the money for the maintenance of the schools had to be raised by popular subscription, there being no law to raise money by taxes for schools at that time, and the teacher was paid but forty dollars for a term of five months, in 1860. After a brief residence on his first farm in Clear Fork township, Robert W. Smith determined that a better location would be over on another bit of land he had bought in section 16 of what is now Bigelow township and there he definitely settled, making that place his home until his retirement in 1915 and removal to Frankfort, where he and his wife are now living. In addition to his fine and well-improved farm of four hundred acres in Bigelow township. Mr. Smith is the owner of considerable land elsewhere, including land in Oklahoma, on which, in the summer of 1916, just to show the boys that, despite his years, he still could make a hand, Mr. Smith took part in the wheat harvest. His home farm that season produced more than four thousand bushels of corn. Mr. Smith is a Republican and has ever taken a good citizen's part in local politics. In addition to the school office above mentioned, he has held other local offices and was also postmaster of Barrett, in 1860, but he has never been a seeker after public office, preferring to give his undivided attention to the development of his farming properties. On September 20, 1866, Robert W. Smith was united in marriage to Henrietta Edgar, who was born in Knox county, Illinois, in 1841, and who came with her parents, Thomas and Martha Edgar, to Kansas in March, 1860, the family settling in Marshall county. Thomas Edgar and his wife both were born in Kentucky, but became residents of Illinois, from which latter state they came as pioneers to this county, locating on a farm in Clear Fork township, where they spent the rest of their lives, the former dying in 1885. His widow survived him for some years, her death occurring about 1900. They were the parents of seven children and the family became one of the well-established families of Marshall county. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith six children have been born, namely: Harry T., now living at Bristol, Oklahoma; William F., of Wetmore, this state; Sarah, wife of Edward Blainey, of Marshall, Oklahoma; James, who is living on a farm adjoining Frankfort on the south; Edgar M., who died in 1910, and Robert E., who is living on the old home farm in Bigelow township. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions by Emma E. Forter Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/smith33bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb