Frank L. Smith Biography


	This biography appears on pages 769-770 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				FRANK L. SMITH. 

	One of the progressive business men of Avon is Frank L. Smith, 
who is engaged in the grain business and has been a resident of South 
Dakota for a third of a century. He was born at Byron, Illinois, 
September 3, 1866, a son of Nelson and Maria (Roach) Smith. The birth 
of the father occurred near Jamestown, New York, in 1833, his parents 
being Lawrence and Hannah (Saxbury) Smith, who were born near Toronto, 
Canada, Early in the nineteenth century they removed to New York and 
were living in that city during the War of 1812, in which Lawrence 
Smith participated as a member of a New York regiment. Nelson Smith 
removed to Michigan after his marriage and resided there for a time but 
subsequently lived successively in Indiana and Illinois. He resided on 
a farm near Rockford, Illinois, for several years but in the spring of 
1884 came with his family to a claim in Bon Homme county, this state. 
He had made a trip to that county in the fall of 1882 and filed on the 
southeast quarter of section 17, Avon township, three miles northwest 
of the present site of Avon. He continued to operate the farm from 1884 
until his death and endured all of the hardships incident to frontier 
life. In that early day provisions were hauled by ox team from Yankton 
or Springfield and at times there was no fuel save hay, corn and 
prairie chips either for cooking or heating purposes. He lived to the 
age of seventy-three years, dying in March, 1906, and his last years 
were spent in leisure and in the enjoyment of the comforts of life. He 
married Miss Maria Roach, who was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, 
near Cattaraugus Station, in 1844. Her father, Patrick Roach, was a 
native of Cork, Ireland, anti lived to be nearly one hundred years old. 
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ann Bine, reached the century 
mark. She was born in the north of Ireland, near Dublin, and 
accompanied her husband to America in 1837. They encountered such 
severe storms and dangerous winds that the sailing vessel on which they 
were passengers was nearly six months in making the voyage. All of the 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Smith are living, the record being as 
follows: Walter H., a resident of Oregon; Frank L., of this review; 
Anna, the wife of Jacob Sidel, of Mitchell, South Dakota; William, who 
is engaged in business in Rockford, Illinois; and George, who is living 
with his mother upon the homestead. 

	Frank L. Smith remained with his parents until he was twenty 
years of age and in 1886 went to the Black Hills and mined in the 
vicinity of Keystone and Hill City for about five years. At the end of 
that time he secured a position on the Elkhorn Valley Railroad and for 
five or six years was employed by that corporation, working between 
Fremont and Hastings. Upon returning to Dakota he engaged in the grain 
business at Armour and purchased an elevator in that town. He has since 
engaged in the buying of grain and in the sale of agricultural 
implements and both lines of his business have proved profitable. He is 
a man of business acumen, energy and progressive ideas which insure the 
continued growth of his trade. 

	Mr. Smith was married October 4, 1900, on a farm eight miles 
south of Avon, to Miss Amanda Minow, a native of Ackley, Iowa. Her 
father, William Minow, removed with his family to Bon Homme county in 
1879 or 1880 and is now one of its well-to-do farmers. His wife, who 
was in her maidenhood Miss Dora Meyers, passed away on the home farm 
July 3, 1910. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 
Dorothy, born June 30, 1902; and Franklin, born August 14, 1909. 

	Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Presbyterian church and he 
is also affiliated with the Masonic order, belonging to the blue lodge 
at Armour. He has attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish 
Rite, belonging to the consistory at Yankton. His political adherence 
is given to the republican party. He was eighteen years old when he 
accompanied his parents to this state in 1884 and remembers vividly the 
terrible blizzard of January 12, 1888. He spent the night with an old 
schoolmate, Johnnie McConnell, and did not realize that one of the 
worst storms in the history of South Dakota was raging. His younger 
brothels and sisters were compelled to spend the night at the 
schoolhouse.