Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of C. Harrison SMITH ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 169 C. HARRISON SMITH, Ever since 1914 one of the lead- ing contributors to the upbuilding and development of the City of Huntington has been C. Harrison Smith, a promi- nent building contractor. A man of long and comprehen- sive experience in his line, Mr. Smith has brought to his labors an enthusiasm and care for detail that have materi- ally contributed to the architectural improvement of the city, while as a practical business man he has worked his way to the forefront among the progressive men of his time and locality. Mr. Smith was born at Shrewsbury, York County, Penn- sylvania, November 3, 1873, and is a son of Henry N. and Mary A. (Hildebrand) Smith. His grandfather. Henry Smith, was born in 1820, in "Westphalia, Germany, and im- migrated to the United States at the age of thirty-four years, shortly after his marriage. He settled in York County, Pennsylvania, where he became a successful farmer, and died at York, in that county, in 1893. Mr. Smith mar- ried a Miss Nieman, who was also a native of Germany, and who died in York County. Henry N. Smith was born in 1844, in Westphalia, Ger- many, and was ten years of age when brought by his par- ents to the United States, his boyhood home being York County, Pennsylvania, where he was reared and secured his education in the public schools. He was married there and took up his residence at Shrewsbury, where he succeeded in the building and contracting business, and in 1892 came to Ceredo, Wayne County, West Virginia, where be fol- lowed the same line of business. In 1899 he went to New- port News, Virginia, where he remained two years, and then returned to West Virginia and settled at Morgantown, where he died in the following year. He was a republican, was fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his religious connection was with the Lutheran Church. Mr. Smith married Miss Mary A. Hilde- brand, who was born in 1846, in York County, Pennsyl- vania, and died at Ceredo, West Virginia, in 1914, and they became the parents of the following children: Milton A., who is proprietor of a furniture establishment at Johns- town, Pennsylvania; .Edward E., the proprietor of a motion picture theatre at Ceredo, West Virginia; Cora, deceased; C. Harrison, of this notice; Charlotte, the wife of B. E. Morse, an electrical engineer of Detroit, Michigan; William W., an attorney of Huntington; Jesse B., a railroad em- ploye of Roanoke, Virginia; August, who conducts a con- servatory of music at Washington, D. C., and Charles J., who died at the age of twenty-one years at Morgantown, West Virginia. C. Harrison Smith attended the public schools of York County, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Marshall College, Huntington, West Virginia, as a member of the class of 1897. This was supplemented by a business course at the same institution in 1898, following which he secured em- ployment as bookkeeper and stenographer with the Emmons- Hawkins Hardware Company of Huntington, a concern with which he was identified until 1902. At that time his father died, and Mr. Smith resigned his position to take charge of the elder man's business, which he conducted at Mor- gantown until 1914, when he came to Huntington and en- gaged in the same line. He has a very extensive business as a building contractor, and among the large contracts which he has handled successfully may be mentioned two business blocks for Dr. I. C. White on Main Street, Mor- gantown; the Lutheran Church at Charleroi, Pennsylvania; the college building for the Colored Institute near Charles- ton, West Virginia; the Children's Home at Athens, Ohio; the Simms School, Huntington; the dormitory building for the Huntington State Hospital; the South Junior High School, Huntington, one of the finest school houses in the state, completed in 1922, and many other business buildings and private residences not only at Huntington, but in other cities in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. His offices are situated at No. 608 Robson-Pritchard Build- ing, Huntington. Mr. Smith owns a modern home at No. 631 Eleventh Avenue, where his many friends always find a sincere and hearty welcome. He is a republican' and takes a good citizen's interest in politics, as well as in civic affairs. His fraternal affiliation is with Eeese Camp No. 66, Woodmen of the World, Huntington, and with his family he belongs to the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington. On December 26, 1906, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Helen B. Smith, of Charleston, a graduate of the West Virginia State University, Morgantown, and a daughter of Charles B. and Mary (McConihay) Smith. Mrs. Smith's mother resides with her daughter and son-in-law. Charles B. Smith, now deceased, was formerly a prominent attorney of Charleston, and at one time served as prose- cuting attorney of Kanawha County, West Virginia. Two children have come to the union of Mr. and Mrs. C. Harri- son Smith: Helen Virginia, who was born May 7, 1909; and C. Harrison, Jr., born July 31, 1912.