John J. Smith Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 472-473

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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JOHN J. SMITH, a farmer living on section 8, and possessing 320 acres 
of farm land, most of which is under the plow, is one of Edgerton 
township's "rustling" citizens, and one of Hanson county's oldest 
settlers. He is of German descent, his parents, John and Mina (Rossman) 
Smith, being both natives of Darmstadt, Germany. They came to America 
in 1834 with a family of two children and settled in Hancock county, 
Ohio, and spent the remaining years of their lives there. The father, 
by trade, was a baker, but worked exclusively at farming in this 
country. Their entire family consisted of eight children and our 
subject, being the fourth in the order of birth, was born in Hancock 
county, Ohio, the date of his nativity being June 10, 1837. 

Our subject spent his boyhood under the parental roof, helping his 
father with the farm work. In August, 1863, he enlisted in Company H, 
Eleventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of 
the war, the most of the time in Alabama and Tennessee. The most of 
this service was that of parole duty and he participated in very few of 
the active engagements. He was mustered out of service at Fort 
Snelling, in 1865. After the close of hostilities, Mr. Smith began work 
at the carpenter's trade, and also did some farming until 1878, when he 
filed a claim to a farm near Bridgewater, South Dakota, but this 
property was lost. In the spring of the following year, he secured the 
farm he has since made his home, and upon which he immediately settled. 
The frame house that he then immediately erected, although it now 
stands a rude and forlorn structure, as well as a small and comfortless 
shanty in comparison with his new and modernly constructed residence, 
was for years the pride of the township, being the largest and most 
attractive. The new house is 14 x 28 feet, with a wing 14 x 16 feet and 
one and a half stories high, and to this is built an addition 12 x 20 
feet. Politically, Mr. Smith is a Populist and voices equal suffrage. 
In local affairs, he has served on the township board of supervisors 
for three successive terms, during two terms of which he was chairman 
of that body. He is a member of the German Lutheran church. We take 
pleasure in here briefly noting one of Mr. Smith's experiences as a 
pioneer of South Dakota. In March, 1881, he, in company with two other 
men, walked to Alexandria for the mail, and as they were returning in 
the afternoon, and leading an ox which our subject had purchased they 
were overtaken by a blizzard. They finally succeeded in reaching a 
shanty, and upon breaking in, they found a stove, bedding and 
provisions. With these they made themselves comfortable, but the ox was 
getting cold, so he was also brought into the shanty. There the little 
company stayed two nights and a day before the storm allowed them to 
venture home. 

In 1857, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Susanna Lampert, also 
a native of Germany, born in the year 1839, and came to America when 
eleven years of age. To this union have been born five children, of 
whom we have the following record: Elizabeth, wife of J. Rodenbaugh; 
Mary; George, wheat buyer at the village of Farmer, Hanson county; 
Susanna, now Mrs. Gehrig; and Catherine, deceased.