Mingo County, West Virginia Biography of James Madison 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, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 70 JAMES MADISON SMITH. The special business of writ- ing insurance has grown to enormous proportions, and this has come about not entirely because the people have come to a realization of the necessity for proper protection, but in a large degree because of the efforts of the men engaged in this line of endeavor, who are educating the masses to an appreciation of the benefits accruing from insurance. This line of business demands many characteristics not demanded in other avenues. The successful insurance man must not only know his own business thoroughly, but be a competent judge of human nature, be possessed in marked degree of that faculty which enables him to speak clearly and con- vincingly to his possible client, and to bo able to place the insurance with a reliable company which will conserve the interests of the insured. Of the able insurance brokers of Mingo County one who is also known as a successful oper- ator in real estate and a man of prominence and influ- ence in his city is James Madison Smith of Williamson, sen- ior member of the Smith-Pool Agency. Mr. Smith was born February 5, 1878, in Pike County, Kentucky, a son of Andrew J. and Mary (Staten) Smith, natives of Kentucky, and a descendant of an old Virginia family of Irish origin. Andrew J. Smith was identified with the timber business, in getting out logs, or -what would be known today as a logger. While he was not in the Civil war, he had an uncle, for whom he was named, who met his death in the battle of Turkey Creek. Andrew J. Smith was active in the work of the Baptist Church and a man of in- tegrity and sound principles. The country schools of Pike County, Kentucky, furnished James Madison Smith with his educational training, and when he was eighteen years of age he went to work hauling logs with a team from a mill on Pigeon Creek to Warn Cliff, a railroad point, whence they were shipped. He fol- lowed this kind of work for six months, and when A. B. Crumb failed he lost his employment and one of his horses. With the proceeds of the sale of his remaining horse he went to school, and was able to secure a teacher's certifi- cate, which he utilized in educational work in Pike County for six years. He then embarked in the grocery business, but after a short experience disposed of his holdings to ad- vantage, as he thought, only to be painfully enlightened to the contrary when the purchaser failed to pay. To make a new start Mr. Smith came to Williamson and secured a position as clerk in the grocery of W. E. Cranshaw, with whom he remained from May 1 to July 4, when he was taken down with typhus fever and it was not until Decem- ber 29 that he was again able to resume work. Undiscour- aged by this series of misfortunes, he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the laundry at Williamson, which failed at the end of his fourth month of employment. Mr. Smith, however, had always been provident and saving, and at this time had accumulated the sum of $115, with which he pur- chased a small grocery business. Through good manage- ment and untiring industry he built up a good business, which he sold at the end of three years to W. L. French and went to Nolan, where for four months he was associated with W. M. Thompson. Later, at the same place, he was identified with G. R. Blackburn, but a short time later re- turned to Williamson, where he again entered the grocery business and continued therein until July, 1908. Selling out, he went to Nelson County, Virginia, where he pur- chased a farm and carried on agricultural operations, but at the end of his third year disposed of his land and again came back to Williamson, where in 1912 he purchased a furniture store. After conducting it for two years he sold this enterprise and embarked in the real estate business, in which he has been engaged to the present. In 1916 he took in Mr. Pool as a partner, under the style of the Smith- Pool Agency, and since then insurance has been a big fea- ture of the business. Mr. Smith has made his name synony- mous with integrity and upright principles, and has gath- ered about him a large clientele, who have the utmost con fidence in his judgment and reliability. In July, 1907, Mr. Smith was united in marriage at Will iamson with Miss Laura Leslie, daughter of Amos and Bettie (Millard) Leslie, natives of Kentucky, and to this union there have been born three children: Mary Eliza- beth, Robert Harrison and James R. By a former marriage Mrs. Smith is the mother of one son, William R. Hendricks. Mr. and Mrs. Smith attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He holds membership in the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Kiwanis Club and the Coal City Club, in all of which he is popular.