Smith, Jacob

SMITH

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 17:46:25

JACOB SMITH
born 1837, Ohio

Jacob Smith, one of the pioneers of Iowa, dates his arrival in Warren county in the year 1856 and is familiar with every phase of life in this section from its early settlement on up to the present time. His long identification with the county entitles him to representation in a work of this character, and by many will a sketch of his life be read with interest. Jacob Smith was born in Darke county, Ohio, in 1837, seventh in the family of fourteen children of James and Savilla (Bixler) Smith, their names in order of birth being as follows: Hester, Ezra, Abraham and Isaac (twins), Philip and Jeremiah (twins), Jacob, one that died in infancy, William R., James M., Henry D., Perry A., and the last two died in infancy. James Smith, the father, was born on a Virginia farm, and when a boy followed his parents to the Western Reserve, their location being in Darke county, where he received the greater part of his education, and where he was united in marriage to Savilla Bixler, a native of Ohio. Some years later he moved to Warren county, Indiana, and in 1856 came by “prairie schooner” to Iowa, crossing the “father of waters” at Burlington, and the Des Moines at Red Rock. Coming on to White Breast township, Warren county, he purchased 110 acres of land on section 20, and here engaged in agricultural pursuits, which vocation he followed through life. He died at the home of his son, Abraham, and soon after his good wife followed him to the grave. A monument in Cochran cemetery marks their last resting place. She was a member of the United Brethren Church and was a devoted Christian woman. Jacob Smith was reared chiefly in Indiana and was educated there, and at the time the family removed to Iowa he was in his twentieth year. He was employed in work on his father's farm in this State at the opening of the Civil war, and in the second year of the war, October 13th, he enlisted for service in the Union ranks, and from Indianola went out as a member of Company D, Thirty fourth Iowa Infantry. In March of the following year his term of enlistment having expired, he was honorably discharged at St Louis, Missouri, and returned to his home on the farm. Previous to his entering the service he had purchased sixty acres of land on section 8, White Breast township, and this land he owned for about six years, after which he sold out and went to Lincoln county, Kansas. In the latter locality he purchased 240 acres, settled down to farming there, and continued his residence in Lincoln county until 1880, when he came back to Iowa and located at Lacona, which has since been his home. His business for the past fourteen years has been that of filling the water tanks for the C. B. & Q. Railroad Company at Lacona and South River, the contracts for this work having been successively awarded him.
Mr. Smith married Miss Sarah Wise, a stepdaughter of Chesley Rodgers, and their union has been blessed in the birth of nine children, whose names are as follows: Perry A.; Frances Olive, wife of Henry Miller, a farmer of Belmont township, Warren county, Iowa; James M.; Rosella, wife of Jacob Shupe, of Lacona; William H.; Ada Myrtle; Mary Isabel; Charles R., and Lillie Belle, who died in infancy. Like most of the veterans of the Civil war, Mr. Smith is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, his membership being with Lacona Post, No. 309. He is a Republican. Source: A Memorial and Biographical Record of Iowa, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1896, vol.1, p.289