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John Campbell Smith
Born October 9, 1874 |
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John Campbell Smith, one of the leading farmers of Lovell township and a representative of one of the oldest families of Jones county, was born on the farm which is now his home, October 9, 1874, his parents being Douglass Henry and Martha Sophia (Hutchins) Smith. For three generations back the Smith family has been prominent in this county, for the paternal great-grandfather, Captain George K. Smith, who had followed the sea for about forty years, passed the last years of his life on Bowen's Prairie, and was widely known for his piety. His son, the late Henry D. Smith, who was well and favorably known in this section of the state, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and died near Monticello, Iowa, May 10, 1897, at the age of seventy-eight years. Of his union with Miss Harriet L. Campbell was born Douglass Henry Smith, the father of the subject of this sketch. A native of Oneida county, New York, his birth occurred February 17, 1843, at Litchfield. During his early life he removed to Utica, that state, where he received his primary education, and then, in the winter of 1856-7, when he was less than fourteen years of age, he drove with his father in an open buggy from New York to Iowa. They took up their residence in that New England colony of this county, at Bowen's Prairie, where Douglass H. Smith lived until his marriage, in 1870. Then he removed to the farm in Lovell township on which his son, the subject of this sketch, lives today, and where the last years of his life were spent as an agriculturist. He did much for the upbuilding of this county, for he was industrious and progressive, and his business ability and honesty were recognized by all who came in contact with him. He was one of the first to advocate the establishment of cooperative creameries in this county and at the time of his death was one of the directors of the Klondike Creamery. But it was as a friend, kind, loyal and genial, that he was most deeply mourned when, on the 2d of December, 1906, he was called from this world, being fatally injured by being thrown from his wagon as the result of a runaway.
On the 14th of April, 1870, Douglass H. Smith wedded Miss Martha S. Hutchins, a native of Keene, New Hampshire, who had come to Jones county as a child with her mother, her father having died previously. Of their union six children were born: William Douglass, who died in infancy; Mary Helen, who is a teacher in the public schools of Loraine, Ohio; John Campbell, of this sketch; Stuart Hutchins and Douglass Henry, who are farmers residing in Canada; and Harriet Louisa, who married A. J. H. McNeill and resides in Monticello, Iowa.
John Campbell Smith was reared at home, acquiring his education from the public schools, and after completing the high school course in Monticello, attending for three terms the university at Ames, where his two brothers also received their training for life, while the two daughters were students in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls. Like the other members of his family, John C. Smith engaged in teaching after he reached manhood, devoting five or six winters to instructing the young pupils of the country schools. In 1902 he bought a farm of eighty acres in Castle Grove township, but lived on it only one year, selling it in 1904. Then he returned to the home farm identifying himself with his father's interests until the latter's death, when he assumed the responsibility of its operation. On the 1st of March, 1909, he purchased the place, to which he hopes to devote himself so that his success will equal that of his father before him. Progressive, faithful in the exercise of his duties, and unsparing of hard labor when necessary, there is every reason to believe that a bright future is in store for him.
Mr. Smith has not married. Since he has been of an age to enjoy the franchise right of a citizen of this republic he has given his support to the republican party,. but while interested in all questions before the people he has played no part in public affairs. His adherence in religious matters is given to the Congregational church, of which he is a devout and consistent member.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 295. |
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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
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