Benjamin H. Smith
One of the most straightforward, energenic and successful agriculturists of Wayne county is Benjamin H. Smith. He is public-spirited and thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his locality, and for many years he has been numbered among its most valued and honored citizens.
Benjamin H. Smith was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of September, 1857, and is a son of Harry L. and Sarah A. Beisel. On the paternal side the subject is descended from English ancestory and on the maternal side the line is traced to German antecedents. Both families were early and prominent pioneers of Lehigh county, the subject's paternal grandparents having emigrated from England, while his maternal grandparents were former residents of New York state. Henry and Sarah Smith were married in Pennsylvania and about two years after the birth of the subject of this sketch they came to Ohio, locating in Wayne county. The father was a millwright and machinist by profession and he has worked at these lines practically all his life. Both of these parents are still living, though the father is now retired from active labor. In politics he is a Democrat, though he has never been an office-holder, nor has he had any desire for public preferment of any nature.!
During the Civil war Henry L. Smith enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and sixty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served about five months. This regiment was sent to Washington to assist in the defense of the nation's capital, but was not sent to the front. Mr. Smith has long occupied an enviable position in the estimation of his fellow citizens, his sterling Qualities of charicter winning for him the sincere respect of all who know him.
Benjamin H. Smith received his education in the district schools, suplementing this by attendance at the Northwestern Normal University, at Ada, where he took a full business course. He learned the trade of a carpenter and machinist and was steadily employed along these lines until 1897, when he purchased the splended farm which he now occupies and which he has since engaged in operating. The farm comprises one hundred and twenty acres and is eligibly located in Congress and Chester townships. On this place Mr. Smith has made many valuable and permanent improvements, including the erection of commodious and well-arranged buildings and the laying of about five miles of tiling, besides many minor improvements, all of whice have tended to appreciate the value of the place, which is today considered one of the best farms in the locality. Here Mr. Smith conducts general farming, raising all the crops common to the section of the country in which he lives, and in connection therewith he gives considerable attention to the breeding and raising of live-stock, in which he has been very successful. he is progressive and enterprising in his methods and has achieved a distinctive success in his undertaking. He is now taking life a little easier than during his younger years, leaving most of the active labor of the farm to younger men, but he still maintains a personal supervision over the general operations conducted on the place.
In matters political, Mr. Smith has always given his support to the Democratic party and has taken a deep interest in local public affairs, having held several township offices in Congress and Chester townships, including those of constable, school superintendent and assessor. in all these positions he discharged his official duties to the full satisfaction of his fellow citizens. Mr and Mrs. Smith are earnest and faithful members of the Presbyterian church, in the workings of which they take a deep interest and to which they give a generous support, being numbered among the leading members of the society.
On the 8th of January, 1880, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Sarah L. Howey, a native of Wayne county and a daughter of John and Nancy Howey, early settlers of Wayne county. Mrs. Smith's paternal grandfather, George Howey, was one of the pioneers of this township and was a man prominent in the public affairs of the township in its formation period. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith has been born one son, George, who is now married, his wife's maiden name having been Ida Billheimer. That Mr. Smith has lived and labored to goodly ends is clearly indicated in the position which he holds in the confidence and regard of his fellow men and in the success which has crowned his efforts in the great basic art of agriculture. He is a business man of much more than ordinary ability, and his unremitting toil and close attention to business throughout his active careerhave been the means of winning for him the comfortable competence which today is his. He is a man of genial disposition and kindly manners, and these qualities, together with his well-recognized sterling worth have won for him the friendship of all who know him.
From The History of Wayne County, Ohio, B. E. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1910