John P. 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 985-986

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

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JOHN P. SMITH, a worthy representative of the agricultural interests of 
Beotia township, Spink county, and one of its honored pioneers, was 
born in Illinois, in 1859, and is the third in order of birth in a 
family of five children, whose parents were Miles and Elizabeth Smith. 
They were married in 1854 and made their home on a farm in Bureau 
county, Illinois, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits 
until after the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company 
B, Ninety third Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was killed at the 
battle of Missionary Ridge. Our subject's maternal grandfather, H. F. 
Corey, was a native of Maine and followed the occupation of farming as 
a life work. 

During his boyhood, John P. Smith had the advantages of the country 
schools, and as soon as old enough to be of any assistance he and his 
brothers began to aid in the operation of the home farm in Illinois, 
which was a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres with a stream 
running through it, and improved with a little orchard and some small 
fruit. Finally four of the family, including the mother, came to 
Dakota. On the 27th of January, 1881, our subject married Miss Sarah V. 
Lewis, also a native of Illinois and a daughter of Carlton Lewis, a 
carpenter and farmer by occupation, who had ten children. Her ancestors 
were of Dutch descent with the exception of her paternal grandmother, 
who was a native of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a family of seven 
children: Lee, Rollie, Maria, Earl, Mary, Edna and Johnnie. 

It was in 1882 that Mr. Smith came to Spink county, South Dakota, and 
took up a homestead on section 33, Beotia township, upon which he 
erected a shanty, 14 x 16 feet. At the time most of the buildings in 
the neighborhood were sod houses, and one half mile west of his place 
was a large sod house, 26 x 40 feet, owned by J. E. Barnes and I. F. 
Haley, in which the first religious services of the locality were 
conducted, while a Sunday-school and literary society were also held 
there for two years. John Blumhall was the first and only minister who 
preached there. 

In the spring of 1883, Mr. Smith was joined by his family, who moved 
into the house he had prepared for them, while his stock were sheltered 
in a barn, 16x 32 feet. At that time his property consisted principally 
of a team of mules, one horse, a plow and drag, and during the first 
year spent here he broke land for other parties in order to provide his 
family with the necessaries of life. For two years he and a brother 
engaged in farming together and their first crop was corn and pumpkins, 
but since then his principal crop has been wheat, and he gives some 
attention to the raising of cattle, sheep and hogs. He now owns three 
hundred and twenty acres, one half of which is under cultivation, while 
the rest is pasture and meadow land. He operates, however, eight 
hundred acres, of which five hundred and fifty acres are under the 
plow. 

As a Republican, Mr. Smith takes an active part in local politics, and 
with the exception of one year has most capably served as a member of 
the township board since the township was organized. He has also been a 
member of the school board four years, and his public as well as his 
private duties have always been discharged with promptness and 
fidelity. Socially he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and 
religiously, he, with his wife and one daughter, hold membership in the 
Methodist Episcopal church.