John S. 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 992-993

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

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JOHN S. SMITH, one of the pioneer settlers of Beadle county, residing 
on section 13, in Bonilla township, is a descendant of John Smith, of 
Virginia history. His parents, John B. and Vashtie (Stratton) Smith, 
were natives of Massachusetts. Our subject was born in Worcester 
county, of that state, March 31, 1845. When he was but five years of 
age his parents and their six children moved to Green county, 
Wisconsin, and there the father engaged in farming. His mother died 
when our subject was eight years of age, and his father remarried, and 
to the second wife were born three children. 

A desire to serve his country caused our subject to enlist on September 
20, 1862 in Company G, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and 
he at once joined the main army at Columbus, Kentucky, where he served 
in the skirmish line. In the fall of 1863 he joined Sherman, and about 
that time he was consigned to the general hospital at New Albany, and 
soon afterward was given a furlough home for thirty days, after which 
he was transferred to the general hospital at Madison, Wisconsin. He 
was discharged from the service in the spring of 1864. 

He engaged in farming and soon afterward went to the pineries, where he 
remained five years, working in the woods in the winter and in the 
sawmills in the summer. His health improved, but in quest of more 
perfect health he went to Dakota in 1883 and took a homestead claim, on 
which he erected a frame house 14 x 22 feet. He now possesses a well-
improved half-section of land and is meeting with success. He crops two 
hundred and fifty acres, winters thirty head of horses and cattle and 
has a small herd of dairy cows. They settled there during the pioneer 
days, when hardships were the common lot of all, and the family of our 
subject did not escape them, but they have bravely overcome these 
difficulties and now live in ease and comfort, but their experiences of 
the former days are deserving of mention, among them the experience of 
our subject's son, William, during the blizzard of 1887. He drove to 
the schoolhouse, a mile and a half distant from his home, and with his 
two sisters and a neighbor's two children he started to return home and 
became hopelessly lost in the storm. Rather than tax his team beyond 
their strength in a fruitless search for shelter he stopped at a stack 
of unthreshed grain and dug into the stack to make room for the 
children, and then with great effort kept them awake all night. In the 
morning they found themselves to be but a quarter of a mile from the 
schoolhouse, and they went to it for shelter and warmth. They again 
attempted the drive home, but the storm had thickened, and the horses, 
weakened by the long exposure, could scarcely move, and finally got 
stuck in a snowdrift, and William was forced to leave them. Leading and 
carrying the children, he succeeded in again reaching the schoolhouse, 
where he was forced to remain until help arrived. 

Mr. Smith was married in 1871, to Miss Mary Hoh, who was born in 
Wisconsin, February 28, 1851. Seven children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith, and are named as follows: Irwin, a student of Sioux Falls 
Business College; Kittie I., deceased; William D., who assists his 
father on a farm; Pearl; Nellie D.; Mamie and Lelia. Mr. Smith is a 
Republican, favors high license and equal suffrage, and is prominent in 
political circles, having. served as a delegate to different 
conventions, and is a central figure in all public gatherings. He is 
popular in his community, and enjoys the respect of his large circle of 
acquaintances. He is active in educational matters, is clerk of the 
school board, and has served as chairman of the board.