John Mitchell Smith
Among those who were continuous residents of the village of West Union for the greater number of years was Judge John Mitchell Smith, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, June 29, 1819. He was of Scotch-Irish extraction, his ancestors having emigrated from Argylshire, Scotland, to the north of Ireland, and thence to the New Hampshire Colony, America, in 1719. His grandfather, John Smith, was a non-commissioned officer in the Revolutionary War, and was wounded in the service of his country.
His father, Judge David Campbell Smith, a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1813, came to Ohio from Francestown, New Hampshire, where he was born October 2, 1785, and settled in Franklintown, now a part of the city of Columbus, in the year 1815. He was the first lawyer to locate permanently in Columbus, and was one of the first associate judges of the common pleas court for Franklin County. having been elected as "David Smith" in 1817. Almost invariably afterwards, he dropped his middle name. He was a member of the House in the Twenty-first General Assembly and also in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly of the State. From 1816 to 1836 he was editor and proprietor of the Ohio Monitor (afterwards in the Ohio Statesmen), the third newspaper established in the county. He was State Printer in 1820 and again in 1822. From 1836 to 1845 he was chief clerk in the "Dead Letter" office in the Postoffice Department. On August 17, 1814, David Smith was married to Miss Rhoda S. Mitchell, of Haverhill, Mass., and John M. was their third child. His mother died when he was only six weeks old, and on June 5, 1820, his father again married-a sister of the fist wife, Miss Harriet Mitchell (born in Haverhill), December 23, 1802. By this latter marriage, there were also three childen. Mrs. Harriet Smith died of cholera, August 11, 1833. Judge David Smith remained a citizen of Columbus until 1836, when he went to Manchester, Adams County, Ohio, to reside with his daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth McCormick. He died at her home February 4, 1865. His remains, as also those of his wife, repose in Greenlawn Cemetery, at Columbus.
Until seventeen years of age, John Mitchell Smith continued to live with his father in Columbus, receiving such education as the public schools and the severe training of his father's printing office afforded. He then took three years' course of study in Blendon College. In the spring of 1840 he removed to West Union. Here he studied law for two years in the office of Joseph McCormick-afterwards attorney general of the State, and was licensed to practice law by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1843. In the meanwhile he had served as deputy sheriff under Samuel Foster, and from 1841 to 1846 was recorder of Adams County. In 1850, greatly to his surprise and against his wishes, he was nominated and elected representative of Adams and Pike Counties in the Fifty-ninth General Assembly, serving but one term. In 1846 he was clerk of the courts for a short time to succeed General Darlinton, whose term had expired. In December, 1846, he purchased and for the next twelve years, successfully and ably edited and published the Adams County Democrat. Though a vigorous organ of the Democratic party, the paper was popular with all patrons, and is yet frequently mentioned as one of the ablest journals ever published in the county.
In 1851, upon the adoption of the present constitution of the State, he was elected probate judge. In 1854, the year of the famous "Know Nothing" campaign, Judge Smith was defeated, along with the remainder of the Democratic ticket, as a candidate for re-election. In 1856 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Cincinnati, and was a firm supporter of Lewis Cass, from first to last, as against James Buchanan and Stephen A. Douglas. In 1857 he was again nominated and elected probate judge, and, in 1860, was for the fourth time nominated and the third time elected to that office. Owing to the declination of Judge Henry Oursler, in 1865, he continued to perform the duties of the position for a year longer-serving practically for ten years.
In 1866 he was appointed United States deputy internal revenue collector for Adams County, and served for a number of months under Gen. Benjamin F. Coates, of Portsmouth, the collector for the district. Afterwards, he served as deputy sheriff under Messrs. John Taylor, John K. Pollard, James M. Long, and Greenleaf N. McManis, and at the time of his death was deputy county clerk under Wm. R. Mahaffey.
As school director, he actively assisted in establishing the union school in West Union, shortly before the Civil War, and for twenty years prior to his death he was almost constantly clerk of the incor porated village of West Union (generally by unanimous election), and clerk of the school board of the special district, ever taking pride in every movement for the advancement and progress of the people, and especially of the youth of the village. In 1880 he was United States census enumerator for Tiffin Township, by appointment of Henry A. Towne, of Portsmouth. For years he was county school examiner, and for a long time was the secretary of the old agricultural society of the county. From the time of the adoption of the Australian ballot system in Ohio, until his death, he was president of the county board of elections, and his last official act was in connection with that office.
On the breaking out of the Rebellion, Judge Smith was what was known as a "War Democrat," but, during or about the close of the war, he became a Republican, and was as ardent in support of that party as he was in earlier years of the Democratic party. However, he was always fair and conservative in his political opinions, and independent and conscientious in support of party candidates.
On November 30, 1842, John M. Smith was married to Miss Matilda A. Patterson, third child and oldest daughter of John and Mary Finley Patterson, who were among the early settlers of Adams County. The acquaintance of the families began in Columbus, where their fathers served together in the Legislature. They were married in the house on Main street (built by Mr. Patterson), in which they lived from 1848 to 1892, and in which eight of their eleven children were born. Two of their children (John David and Thomas Edwin) died in infancy; Elizabeth, married to Rev. William Coleman on May 18, 1864, died April 26, 1873, at Pleasant Hill, Mo.; Joseph P. died at Miami, Florida, February 5, 1898. Those surviving (in the spring of 1899) are Mary Celia (Mrs. Chandler J. Moulton), Lucasville, O.; Virginia Gill (widow of Luther Thompson), West Union; Clarence Mitchell, Columbus; Clifton Campbell, Columbus; Frederick Lewis, Cincinnati; Herbert Clark, Hyattsville, Md; Sarah Lodwick (Mrs. Charles E. Frame), West Union.
John M. Smith was never a church member, but he respected the beliefs of others, and encourgaged his children to imitate their mother's example as a humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. His religious convictions were in accord with those entertained by those persons who are affiliated with the Universalist Church of the present day. In his last days he said to his wife: "I have always considered religion a matter of personal belief and concern. I have tried to lead an honor able and useful life, and am content to leave my future in the hands of a merciful God." He died on November 17, 1892, after a sickness of about a month.
In the "inner circle"—the home life, the wife and children of John M. Smith knew him as an affectionate husband and loving father; generous and thoughtful, tender and compassionate, indulgent and self-sacrificing. What some others saw in his life is expressed in their own language, as follows:—Judge Henry Collings said in part—
"The modesty of his disposition and the great antipathy to any thing like display, probably prevented his taking the rank he other wise might have done at the bar, and certainly obscured his ability, to an extent, among the common people. But lawyers and courts knew and often attested that we had no profounder legal mind, no man of sounder judgment, no one whose opinion of the law was more deferred to than Judge Smith."
Judge Frank Davis, of Batavia, said:
"I learned to respect and honor him as a just, honest, true, in telligent man; one whom, had he desired to actively engage in the practice of law, had rare ability and thorough knowledge, and, with it all, an intimate insight into the motives of men."
Col. John A. Cockerill wrote from New York that "He was the first man, outside of my own father, whom I learned to esteem and honor * * * * * Judge Smith was indeed a very able man, and I think in a wider field than Adams County afforded, would have achieved marked distinction."
Matilda A. Smith, wife of Judge John M. Smith, was born in the house in which she was afterwards married, in which she made her home for so many years, and in which she died. Her birthday was October 4, 1823. Her mother died February 6, 1831, and as the eldest daughter, three younger children were left for her to care for. Her father married Miss Celia Prather on the ninth of the following November. Five children were born to this union, previous to the death of the mother at Columbus, O., February 22, 1840. Never freed from the care of her own brothers and sisters, during the illness and after the death of her step-mother, the additional care of her half-brothers devolved upon Matilda. She also assisted in caring for the children of her second step-mother. (Mary Catherine McCrea,) married to John Patterson at Columbus, November 12, 1840, until after her marriage in 1842.
These family cares deprived Matilda A. Smith to a great extent of the educational facilities of her young days, and early privations had their influence on her health. But while frail of body, she was strong of mind and energetic will. Her younger brothers and sisters looked up to her as a second mother. She had a great, loving, sympathetic heart. In addition to caring for those mentioned, and for her own eleven chlidren, she also took into her family and her affections, treating him all his life as one of her own, John M. Chipps, a distant relative.
In the retrospect of the life of our mother, we the children, stand amazed at the duties assumed and wonder how it was possible for her to accomplish so much. And yet, despite her own cares, she found time to minister to the sorrowing and afflicted among her neighbors. Her whole life was a continuous round of unselfish usefulness. Her highest ambition was the success and happiness of her children; and her greatest earthly joy, as she reached the twilight hours of her life's journey, was that the members of her family were living in comfortable circumstances. After the death of her husband, she resided for a time with one of her sons in Columbus, but wanted to return to end her days in the old homestead. For more than fifty years, she was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church at West Union and died on August 21, 1895, with the blessed hope of a blissful eternity. Together the remains of Judge John M. and Matilda A. Smith are reposing in the old cemetery south of West Union. Their children bless God for such a father and such a mother. The world is better for their having lived in it.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900