O. H. Smith Biography


	This biography appears on pages 701-702 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				O. H. SMITH.

	O. H. Smith is one of the most prominent and influential 
residents of Dell Rapids- a man whose citizenship has made for the 
town's success and the state's upbuilding. He was born in Norway in 
1846 and remained in his native land until 1869, when he came to 
America, going first to Minnesota, where for several months he was 
employed on a farm in Fillmore county. He afterward turned his 
attention to clerking in a general store at Rushford, Minnesota, where 
he continued for two years. He next engaged in merchandising on his own 
account, having carefully saved his earnings during his clerkship, and 
for about four years he was thus identified with commercial interests 
in Rushford. He then disposed of his store in that place and in 1876 
removed to Dell Rapids, where he conducted a general store until 1885. 
Again his labors were crowned with a fair measure of prosperity, for 
his business interests were capably conducted and wisely managed. 
Throughout his entire business career he has readily discriminated 
between the essential and the nonessential and has utilized such forces 
as are most effective factors in the upbuilding of business interests.  

	In 1885 Mr. Smith turned his attention to the real-estate 
business and again he prospered, his activities lending zest and 
encouragement to the upbuilders of the little city. He negotiated 
various important realty transfers and so directed his transactions as 
to benefit his town as well as promote his individual fortune. Still he 
extended the scope of his activities, joining with others in founding 
the Granite City Bank of Dell Rapids, of which he has since served as 
president.  

	Mr. Smith has by no means confined his attention solely to the 
management of his business affairs, but has cooperated in many projects 
looking to the civic betterment of the community. In 1894 he was 
elected mayor of Dell Rapids and was reelected to that position in 1896 
and 1897, giving to the city a businesslike and progressive 
administration characterized by needed reforms and improvements. He has 
also served as a member of the city council and as a member of the 
school board. He has ever shown an interest in polities, especially in 
all matters relating to his city and county. He is conceded to be a 
business man whose reputation is above reproach and whose success has 
been most worthily won. He stands high in the esteem of all who know 
him and is recognized as a citizen of enterprise and sound judgment. 
His wife, whom he wedded in 1896, was Miss Anna Strom of Sioux Falls, 
and is a woman of liberal culture and refinement. One child, a 
daughter, has been born to them. The family is one of the foremost in 
the state. One of Mr. Smith's strongest characteristics has been his 
loyalty to South Dakota. He comes of a sturdy ancestry, characterized 
by many sterling qualities which have descended to him, and throughout 
the period of his residence in Dell Rapids he has measured up to the 
highest standards of manhood and citizenship. His has been an active 
career, in which he has accomplished important and far-reaching 
results, contributing in no small degree to the expansion and material 
growth of city and state, and from which he himself has also derived 
substantial benefits.