Windham County VT Archives Biographies.....Smith, Harley F. September 28, 1808 - 0000 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/vt/vtfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jan Jordan jnrose@webtv.net November 9, 2006, 9:20 pm Author: see below from HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY WISCONSIN by BUTTERFIELD 1882 Western Historical Company - Chicago Pages 515. & 516. HARLEY FLAVEL SMITH, oldest son of RICHARD and SARAH (WHITE) SMITH; was born in Townshend, Vt., Sept 28, 1808; he received his primary education in the common schools; was next a student in several classical and select schools; he prepared to enter Middlebury College in an advanced grade in the Junior year at the Chester Academy, Chester, Windsor Co., Vt.; from Chester, he removed to Saratoga Springs, N. Y., where, Sept. 1, 1830, he entered the office of THOMAS J. MARVIN, attorney at law, as a student and clerk; at the close of 1831, he changed to the office of WILLIAM L. F. WARREN, of the same place. MR. W. was at that time District Attorney of the state county of Saratoga, and Master and Examiner in Chancery, and had a wider range of practice than any other lawyer in the county.   He remained in the office of WARREN until June, 1833, when he removed to the village of Wyoming, then in the county of Genesee, where he entered upon the duties of teacher of the Latin and Gre! ek languages and mathematics, in a school in which the REV. JOSEPH ELLIOTT was Principal. In the spring of 1835, he removed to the village of Pike, then in Allegany Co., N. Y., where he was engaged in a select school as a teacher, in the same branches as at Wyoming; at the same time, he was pursuing his studies and serving a clerkship in the law office of the HON. LUTHER C. PECK, then one of the leading lawyers of Western New York. He continued thus engaged until May, 1838, when he was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, at the May term of that court, held in the city of New York. In August, 1838, he removed to Castile, then in the county of Genesee, where he practiced his profession until the close of 1848. At that time, in hope of regaining his impaired health, he came West; he remained in Chicago and vicinty for several months, and finally came to Wisconsin and located at Elkhorn May 13, 1850; he formed a law partnership with H. S.!     WINDSOR, of that place. This connection was continued over a period of eighteen years, during which time the firm had a very respectable practice and was classed among the leading law firms of the county. MR. S. was admitted to practice in the Walworth Circuit Court May 20, 1850, and in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin June 1851. At this writing he has practiced over thirty years in the Supreme Court of the State.   MR. SMITH, during his extensive practice in that court, has argued many important cases successfully, and commands the respect and confidence of the court and bar. He is still in practice in Elkhorn, where his well-known ability and long experience in his profession have established his reputation as one of the leading lawyers of his section of the State. On the 15th day of September, 1833, he was married to LYDIA ANN NOURSE, of Rockingham, Windham County, Vt., daughter of DANIEL and NANCY NOURSE.   She was a young lady of estimable character, good education , and was born in Rockingham, Dec. 4, 1809, and died at Elkhorn, Wis., May 7, 1881; they had one daughter, NETTIE SMITH, their only child, born in Pike, Alleghany Co., N.Y., Sept 19, 1835, who since her mother's death, has directed her father's household affairs. MR. SMITH's father, RICHARD SMITH, was born in Townshend, Vt., May 26, 1782; was in early life a teacher, and possessed a high order of intellectual power. His father, DAVID S., was born in Providence, R. I., in 1761, and was a soldier of the Revolution under WASHINGTON at Valley Forge. SARAH WHITE SMITH, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Townshend, Vt., Dec. 9, 1786; was a daughter of EDWARD WHITE, of Attleboro, Mass., a descendant of the family of that name who came to America in the Mayflower. Her mother, SARAH TOURTELOTT WHITE, was a descendant of a French Huguenot, named TOURTELOTT, who emigrated from Paris to Rhode Island in the early settlement of that state. Additional Comments: transcribed by JSR File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/vt/windham/bios/smith54gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vtfiles/ File size: 4.6 Kb