OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - BIOS: SMITH Surname (published 1925) *************************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gina M. Reasoner AUPQ38A@prodigy.com January 31, 1999 *************************************************************************** HISTORY OF OHIO - The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume I, page 440 (In the section COUNTIES OF OHIO, under UNION COUNTY, is the following paragraph.) WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, born in New York, 1833, was brought to Union County at the age of three years and here he grew up to young manhood. He was journalist, private secretary to Governor Brough, Secretary of State of Ohio, editor of the St. Clair Papers and an intimate friend of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Volume II, page 560 (under the heading FIFTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY - Regular Session, January 4 to April 12, 1858; Adjourned Session, January 2 to April 6, 1859 the following paragraph appears.) Another name which in after years became noted throughout the United States appeared in the journals of this Fifty-third General Assembly. William Henry Smith, then a young man of twenty-five years, representing the Cincinnati Commercial as legislative correspondent, is shown by the records to have been expelled from the privileges of the floors of the houses because of some comments he had made upon the debates. During the war Smith took an active part in the raising of troops, was largely instrumental in bringing John Brough to the front for governor, and was his private secretary after election to the office - the first of a long line of newspaper men to hold that position. Later Mr. Smith was collector of the port of Chicago, appointed by President Hayes in 1877. His greatest title to distinction, however, was in the field of news organization. In 1883 he effected a consolidation of the New York Press and the Western Associated Press, and served as manager of the great consolidated association continuously until his death in 1896. He edited "The St. Clair Papers" and was author of "A Political History of the United States," and he made many important contributions to American history through his researches among original documents in the British Museum. Volume III, page 161 WILLIAM H. SMITH, of the Canton bar, of which he has been a member for a third of a century, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, November 30, 1864, and grew up on a farm there. When he was sixteen years of age his parents moved to Wellsville, Ohio where he completed his high school education. In 1888 he graduated from Wooster University, and in 1890 was graduated from the Cincinnati Law School and admitted to the bar by the Ohio Supreme Court. In June, 1890, he came to Canton, where he has practiced his profession ever since. He handles an important general practice, and has a number of business interests, being a director in and attorney for the Citizens Building & Loan Company. He was elected mayor of Canton in 1904, serving one term, and is a member of the Stark County Bar Association and the Masonic Order. He is a republican and belongs to the Brookside and Congress Lake Country clubs. Mr. Smith married Miss Elizabeth Frease, a daughter of Judge Joseph Frease, one of the most distinguished jurists in the early history of Stark County. When Judge Frease was elected to the common please bench in 1867 he was succeeded in the law firm of Belden & Frease by a young attorney, William McKinley, who for a number of years practiced law in the courts presided over by Judge Frease. Judge Frease was a member of the Ohio bar from 1851 until his death in 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three children, Elizabeth F., Joseph F. and Eleanor R. Volume V, page 172 WILLIAM A. SMITH is one of the active citizens and business men of the town of Frankfort in Ross County. For a number of years he has been in the automobile business, being representative of the Ford Motor Company in his locality. He was born in Morgan County, Ohio, January 10, 1882, son of William Penn and Margaret Jane (Adams) Smith. The Smith family came from Pennsylvania and the Adams from old Virginia. His paternal grandparents were John and Mary (Bush) Smith and the maternal grandparents were Joseph and Violet (Breese) Adams. William Penn Smith has devoted his active career to farming. He served thirty years on the school board, has been mayor of Philo in Muskingum County, and was also a candidate for the State Legislature. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died March 17, 1905. Of their seven children William A. is the oldest. Arthur M. married Blanch Conway. Luke B. married Edna Chappelear. Mary J. is the wife of Oscar Hale. Clarence E. married Wilda Reinhart. Emmett K. married Bonnie Williams. Everett, who is married and living in Oklahoma, was a solider in the late war in the Thirty-fifth Division, enlisting from Oklahoma, and going overseas in August, 1917. William A. Smith finished his district and grammar school education at the age of nineteen, and took up as a vocation that of stationary engineer. For ten years he followed the work of an engineer and for two years was in charge of the light and water plant at Frankfort. While thus engaged he also took up the automobile repair business, opening a garage, and finally resigned his work with the city. In 1913 he became a sub agent under the Chillicothe Ford agent, and in the following year was appointed an agent with full responsibility in his own territory direct from the Ford Motor Company. Mr. Smith has a fine garage and has proved one of the very capable Ford representatives in Ross County. During the World war he was in the fourth class. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Methodist Episcopal Church. On June 27, 1906, he married Anna May Weller, third child of Albert and Mary (Axline) Weller. Her parents are farmers. The other children in the Weller family were: Homer, who married Eva French; Samuel, who married Nora Daringer; Fred, who is married; Nora, wife of Joseph Pletcher; Roy, who married Miss Miller; Mabel, wife of Thomas Mauler, and William, who was a soldier in the World war. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith are: Ellen T.; Russell, now deceased; and Mary Gladys. ==== OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ====