BIOGRAPHIES:  Eli Arthur SMITH, Washington Township, Eau Claire Co., WI 

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** Posted for informational purposes only - poster is not related to the 
subject of this biography and has no further information.

Eli Arthur Smith, who ranks among the prosperous farmers of
Washington township, is the son of the late William E. and Priscilla
(Crandall) Smith, and was born in Pepin county, Wisconsin, October
27, 1870.

William Eli Smith, father of Eli A., was born in Trumbull county,
O., July 17, 1844.  His father, William Smith, was born in Herkimer
county, New York, February 25, 1812, and married February 25, 1834,
Cornelia Gilbert, who was born in Fairfiled, Conn., November 25,
1814.  In 1849 the family moved to Wisconsin and settled at
Hanchettsville, Dane county, where they lived until 1853, thence
moved to Oxford, Marquette county.  In the summer of 1859 William E.
Smith came to Eau Claire and when the civil war broke out he enlisted
in Company G, Forty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, and served with
distinction until his discharge on New Year's Day, 1865.  He then
returned to this home in Eau Claire, where he remained until 1867, at
which time he purchased an 80-acre farm in Albany, Pepin county, and
there followed farming until 1874, when he sold his farm and returned
to Eau Claire county and bought another 80-acre tract in section 8,
Washington township, to which he subsequently added until he owned
327 acres and where he lived until his death, January 24, 1894, his
remains being laid to rest in Forest Hill Cemetery, Eau Claire.

In 1867 he married Priscilla Crandall, daughter of Gardiner and
Bridget (Crandall) Crandall, natives of New York State.  They were
the parents of six children, viz.:  Ella, who died when young; Carrie
C. married Ira Schwartz and resides in Eau Claire; Eli A., the
subject of this sketch; Anna M. was married first to Stephan
Springate and second to P. Thomson and resided in Chicago, Ill.;
Charles H., who lives at Barton, N. D., engaged in the coal and wood
business, and Edith, who died while young.  The mother of these
children died April 12, 1876, and on December 30 of the same year Mr.
Smith married Louisa Riley, daughter of William O. and Catherine (Van
Horn) Riley, who now resides in Eau Claire.

Eli A. was raised on the farm, receiving his education in the
district schools of Washington township and the city of Eau Claire. 
He worked for his father on the farm and then for a time was employed
by the Arbana Rolling Stock Company at Decatur, Ala., after which he
purchased a team and for nine winters engaged in teaming for various
lumber companies.  He then for two seasons ran a threshing machine,
and in 1898 purchased the old Fleming farm of 160 acres in Washington
township and since that time has carried on general farming and stock
raising, making a specialty of Percheron horses, Polled Durham cattle
and Poland-China hogs.  In addition to his general farming operations
he does quite an extensive dairy business.

Mr. Smith has always taken an active interest in the affairs of his
town and for sixteen years was school treasurer and six years
treasurer of the town and three years as road commissioner.  He is a
member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Yeomen and the Percheron
Society of America.  In 1899 he married Dora May Frank, daughter of
Nicholas and Dellah (Blair) Frank, both old settlers of northern
Wisconsin.  To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born six children: 
Howard E., Frank E., Mable Isabel, Floyd Norman, Ruth Marie and
William Wallace Smith.

-Transcribed from the "History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin,
1914," pages 864-866.

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