BIOGRAPHIES:  Orin SMITH, Union 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.

Orin Smith, a representative and progressive farmer of Union
township, was born in Lincoln, Sunbury Parish, New Brunswick, April
26, 1845, and is the eldest of a family of six children born to
Captain Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Foss) Smith.  Of the others, Leonard,
born September 18, 1846, is deceased; David, born April 25, 1850,
resides with our subject; Louisa, born November 3, 1852, married
Thomas Till, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Absalom,
born February 10, 1854, and Emeline, born September 6, 1855.  The
father, who was born and raised in New Brunswick, was a well known
lumberman, having been engaged in that business for many years.  He
lived to see many miles of timber land cleared and converted into
fine farms.  The latter part of his life was spent in farming.  He
died and was buried at Lincoln, New Brunswick.  After the death of
her husband, the widow, mother of our subject, moved to Eau Claire
county and made her home with her sons in Union township, where she
died at the age of nearly 80 years, and her remains were laid to rest
in Lake View Cemetery.

Jeremiah Smith, grandfather of Orin, was born near Farmingham,
England, and after serving as Captain in the British army, came to
North America when about thirty years of age, locating in New
Brunswick, where he also served as captain in the army located there.
He was a pioneer of that country, which at the time of his locating
there, was but a wilderness.  He cleared the land and followed
farming as well as lumbering, and was instrumental in having Great
Britain make many colonizing settlements, and at the time of his
death, he was considered one of the leading citizens of that section.
Captain Jeremiah Smith, father of Orin, was born in Lincoln, N. B.,
February 19, 1823.  He served as captain in the British army then
located there, and married Elizabeth Foss, who was born July 24, 1815.

Orin Smith, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common
schools of his home town and lived at home with his parents, engaged
in farming and lumbering until 1872, when he came to Wisconsin,
locating at Eau Claire.  Soon after his arrival here, he entered the
employ of the Eau Claire Lumber Company, remaining with that firm six
years.  He spent eleven winters in the employ of the Valley Lumber
Company, and since 1882 he has followed farming in Union township,
devoting the winter months to lumbering up until 1898, since which
time, his whole attention has been given up to farming and dairying. 
His fine farm of 220 acres is well improved with modern buildings,
and the place is well equipped with many up-to-date labor-saving
devices, and although he is now, 1914, 69 years old, he is active and
can do a day's work with the best of men.  He keeps a good herd of
milch cows in his dairy, and the cream is sold to the Eau Claire
Creamery Company.

Mr. Smith has been twice married; his first wife, Elizabeth Grass,
whom he married in New Brunswick, died in the town of Union in 1892
and was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Eau Claire.  He married for
his second wife, Barbara Alma Smith, daughter of George Smith, of
Union township, but of no relation.  Mr. Smith is one of the
prosperous men of his town and takes pride in making his one of the
model homes in the county.  He is a stockholder and director of the
Union Threshing Machine Company in the town of Union, while in
politics he is an independent Democrat.

-Transcribed from the "History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin,
1914," pages 868-869.

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