BIO:  William F. Smith, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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Part II, Biographical Sketches, Lower Chanceford Township, Pg 126

DR. WILLIAM F. SMITH, physician and surgeon, of Airville, son of Dr. William F. 
and Maria L. (Clarkson) Smith, whose ancestors were among the first settlers in 
this section of York County, was born here January 13, 1836.  He lived with his 
parents until the age of twenty years, when he began the study of medicine with 
Dr. John Atlee, of Lancaster City.  He graduated with the degree of M. D., in the 
medicine department of the University of Pennsylvania, March 14, 1861.  During 
the civil war he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and 
Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which position he resigned October 5, 
1862.  In the spring of 1863, he joined the Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania 
troops, and was promoted to the position of surgeon of the Seventy-third 
Pennsylvania Regiment, and remained in the service until the close of the war in 
1865.  In this capacity he had rare advantages for gaining a thorough and 
practical knowledge of the science of surgery.  During the campaign on the 
peninsula in Virginia, he had charge of the Division Hospitals of Gens. Kearney 
and Geary, of the Second Division of the Twentieth Army Corps.  He was married 
October 31, 1865, to Hannah M. Murphy, daughter of George S. and Rebecca Murphy.  
They have three children:  Rebecca M., Mamie L. and William C.  Since his return 
from the army, he has practiced in Airville and the surrounding country with 
abundant success.  Dr. Smith is a gentleman of more than ordinary degree of 
educational training and intellectual culture.  He is a public-spirited citizen, 
and much honored and respected in his community.  In 1872 he was nominated on the 
Republican ticket for State senator, a position which he would have filled with 
eminent ability.  Dr. Smith and family are members of the Chanceford Presbyterian 
Church.