Cambria County Pioneers, 1910, by James L. Swank, Cambria County, PA - Dr. William Anthony Smith Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ________________________________________________ CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS HON. CYRUS L. PERSHING A Collection of Brief Biographical and other Sketches Relating to the Early History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. by JAMES M. SWANK PHILADELPHIA: No. 261 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, 1910. DR. WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH. 85 DR. WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH. FROM THE JOHNSTOWN DAILY TRIBUNE OF TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1887. DR. WILLIAM A. SMITH died at his residence in Philadelphia on Sunday morning, October 30, 1887. Dr. Smith came of honored and even distinguished lineage. His great- grandfather, William Smith, D.D., a native of Aberdeen, in Scotland, was a clergyman of the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia before the Revolution and for many years afterwards. His prominence in the church and among the learned men of Philadelphia was such that he was appointed the first provost of the University of Pennsylvania, a position which he filled most acceptably for many years. He married a Miss Moore, of the vicinity of Philadelphia, whose family was one of the most aristocratic and worthy in the Province of Pennsylvania. Their oldest son was William Moore Smith, who became distinguished as a Philadelphia lawyer and diplomat, having been sent by Washington on a protracted mission to England, the duties of which he discharged with tact and good judgment. His wife was a Miss Rudolph, a descendant of one of the early Swedish settlers on the Delaware. Their oldest son was General William Rudolph Smith, who married a Miss Anthony, of Philadelphia. These were the parents of Dr. William Anthony Smith. Provost William Smith was not only an eminent divine and a successful instructor of young men but he was also a shrewd man of affairs. He early foresaw the possibilities of Central and Western Pennsylvania, and patented many tracts of land in the Juniata valley and as far west as the territory now embraced in Cambria county. Among his acquisitions was the site of the town of Huntingdon, in Huntingdon county, which he surveyed into town lots in 1767, naming the town after Lady Huntingdon, of Eng- 86 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. land, who had been a liberal patron of the University of Pennsylvania. To the town of Huntingdon General William R. Smith came from Philadelphia early in the nineteenth century to practice his profession as a lawyer, and here, on the 13th of November, 1809, was born his oldest child, William A. Smith. If William A. Smith had lived just two weeks longer he would have been 78 years old. When still a boy William A. Smith lost his mother by death and the Huntingdon home was temporarily broken up. He was sent to live with his grandmother in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and in the schools of that city and its neighborhood he received a good elementary education, which was subsequently completed at Huntingdon, after his father's second marriage and the re-establishment of his home at that place. About the time William's literary and classical studies were completed his father removed to a farm in the vicinity of Bedford but continued to practice his profession in the courts of Huntingdon, Bedford, and Cambria counties until his removal to Wisconsin in 1838. William went with his father to the farm and for a short time helped to manage it. Before he was twenty years old, however, we find his love of books asserting itself and he became a medical student at the office of Dr. Watson, of Bedford. His medical studies were subsequently completed at the University of Pennsylvania, which conferred upon him the degree of doctor of medicine in 1832. Dr. Smith commenced the practice of his profession at Bedford, where he remained only a short time, thence going to Somerset, where he opened an office and remained until after the town was devastated by a great fire in the fall of 1833, his own office being burned. From Somerset he removed to Ebensburg, Cambria county, where he at once entered upon an extensive practice, which he retained until his removal to Philadelphia in 1858, subject to occasional interruptions, which will presently be explained. At Somerset. Dr. Smith formed the acquaintance of Jeremiah S. Black, and a strong intimacy existed between the two men until the death of Judge Black a few years ago. The two young men roomed together at Somerset. In 1841 Dr. Smith was married to Miss Rebecca C. Bel- DR. WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH. 87 las, of Milton, Pa., a cousin of Mrs. Dr. Rodrigue, of Ebensburg. Four sons were born to this union. In 1858 Dr. Smith removed with his family to Philadelphia, the home of his immediate ancestors, that he might give his children the advantages of a liberal education. To do this he temporarily abandoned the practice of his profession and became an inspector in the Philadelphia custom house. In 1861 his wife died, and in 1862 he entered the Government service as an army surgeon, continuing in this position until 1866, when he was mustered out. Soon after entering the army he was captured at Savage Station, while serving under McClellan, but was soon afterwards released. His oldest son, William Bellas Smith, born in 1842, was employed in the medical service during the war. He died and was buried at sea in 1866 while returning home from the Southwest, where he had for some time been stationed. He was a young man of particularly winning ways and of very bright promise. His father never recovered from this blow. Soon after retiring from the army Dr. Smith was appointed to a responsible position in the office of the prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for the eastern district, which position he filled most creditably for about twenty years until attacked by his last illness. General William R. Smith was very prominent in the military affairs of the Juniata valley, and his son, the doctor, inherited his military tastes. Soon after he settled in Ebensburg he was chosen captain of the Cambria Guards. This office he held for ten years. Many old residents of Ebensburg still refer to him as Captain Smith. He took great interest in the welfare of his company, and it was largely owing to his zeal and popularity as its commanding officer that it was ready with full ranks to go to Mexico in the spring of 1847. The doctor was himself, however, prevented from going with his men, but his interest in military matters never suffered any abatement to the last year of his life. When his company returned to Ebensburg in 1848 with broken ranks he delivered an address of welcome. He was a sincere and ardent lover of his country, and her history and achievements were to him a constant delight. If Dr. Smith was a born soldier he was also a born pol- 88 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. itician of the better class. He was an ardent Democrat when he cast his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson in 1832, and he remained a Democrat all his days. He and his father were warm friends of Governor David R. Porter, who was their fellow citizen at Huntingdon, and soon after the Governor's first election in 1838 he appointed Dr. Smith to be prothonotary of Cambria county, succeeding Dr. David. T. Storm. Dr. Smith held this office for several years. He was an elegant penman, and he made a capable and obliging court officer. In 1848 John Fenlon, a Whig, was elected to the lower branch of the State Legislature, defeating Colonel John Kane, a Democrat. In 1849 the Whigs again ran Mr. Fenlon for the same office, but he was defeated by Dr. Smith, who accordingly served in the Legislature of 1850. In the fall of that year Dr. Smith was again the nominee of his party for the same office, but this time he was himself defeated by John Linton, Whig. In 1854 the doctor was the Democratic candidate for the lower house of the Legislature, but was defeated by George S. King, the Whig candidate. During his residence in Ebensburg Dr. Smith was frequently chosen a delegate to State conventions and was otherwise honored by his party. He was, in fact, one of the leaders of the party as long as he remained a citizen of Cambria county. It was largely through his personal influence that the new county scheme was defeated at Harrisburg while Mr. King, its champion, was in the Legislature. He was always ready with a forcible speech in defense of the regular Democratic ticket. After his removal to Philadelphia he maintained to the last his intimate personal relations with party leaders, who always respected his judgment and were often warmed by his enthusiasm. The foregoing are the leading facts in the long and useful life of one of the worthiest citizens Cambria county has ever had. They leave his character undescribed, and a man's character is, after all, the principal part of the man. He was always willing to extend any favor or courtesy that was in his power to grant. As a physician he answered many calls without hope of reward, and this often at much personal sacrifice in the bitter winters of Northern Cambria. DR. WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH. 89 His fidelity to his friends was a marked trait, and his attachment to Huntingdon, the home of his childhood, and to Ebensburg was pathetic in its tenderness. Among Dr. Smith's varied attainments was a cultivated literary taste. He was a great reader and a vigorous writer. The newspapers of Bedford and Cambria counties contained many well-written contributions from his ready pen in the days before the civil war. While residing in Ebensburg he was universally accepted as an authority in all literary matters, and upon historical subjects particularly he was a veritable cyclopaedia. His literary style was forcible, direct, and elegant. While residing in Philadelphia he became an active member of St. Andrew's Society, and after he was 65 years old he prepared and published elaborate historical sketches of its first two presiding officers, Dr. Thomas Graeme and Lieutenant Governor James Hamilton, both ante-Revolutionary characters. These two literary productions are so well written and so perfect in all literary essentials that they alone entitle their author to an honorable place among Pennsylvania's historical writers. The remains of our old friend were buried in St. Peter's churchyard, at the corner of Third and Pine streets, Philadelphia, on Tuesday afternoon, the 1st of November, 1887. Dr. Smith's father, William Rudolph Smith, was born at La Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 1787, and died at Quincy, Illinois, on August 22, 1868. In 1803 he accompanied his father to England as his private secretary, studied law in the Middle Temple, and on his return home in 1808 was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia. He removed to Huntingdon county in the following year and in 1811 he became deputy attorney general of Cambria county. He subsequently removed to Bedford county. Removing to Wisconsin in 1838 he took an active part in its affairs until his death.