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A Centennial Biographical History of Crawford County, Ohio (The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, 1902)
pages 802-4:
Many years have passed since Alexander Smith came to Crawford county to cast in his lot with its pioneers. People of the present day can scarcely realize the struggles and dangers which attended the early settlers, the heroism and self-sacrifice of lives passed upon the borders of civilization, the hardships endured, the difficulties overcome. To the pioneer of the early days, far removed from the privileges and conveniences of city or town, the struggle for existence was a stern and hard one, and of these men and women must possessed indomitable energies and sterling worth of character, as well as marked physical courage, when they thus voluntarily selected such a life and successfully fought its battles under such circumstances as prevailed in this new and undeveloped country.
Mr. Smith was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 2d of June, 1821, a son of Joseph S. and Jane (Hogan) Smith. The father was also born in Washington county of the Keystone state, his birth occurring in 1797. He was a son of Alexander and Jane (Snodgrass) Smith, both natives of the Emerald Isle. After coming to the United States the grandfather became a well-known and prominent farmer of Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he spent his remaining days. He was a veteran of the war of 1812, and was a man highly respected and esteemed for his many estimable traits of character. His son, Joseph S., was reared and educated in the county of his nativity, and was early inured to the work of field and meadow. After his marriage he located on a portion of his father's farm, where he remained until 1825, and in the fall of that year he came with his wife and two children by wagon to Crawford county, Ohio. During a portion of the journey it was necessary for him to go ahead and clear a road ere the wagon could proceed, and on his arrival here he located on the farm on which he still resides, he having entered the land from the government in 1821 while on a prospecting tour through Ohio. The place consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, and was then covered with a dense growth of native timber, and while he erected a cabin the family were obliged to live in the wagon. Mr. Smith cleared and improved this place, and in later years erected a more modern and commodious hewed-log house, in which he spent his remaining days, passing away in 1843, in early life. He was an active church worker and a member of the Presbyterian church in Crawford county. Our subject, who was then a lad of thirteen years, drove an ox-team in hauling the timber used in its construction. In his political affiliations Mr. Smith was a Democrat. He was also active in military affairs, and for a number of years served as captain of a company. The mother of our subject was born in Maryland, in 1797, was a daughter of William Hogan, who removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, from Maryland, his native state, and was of Irish extraction. Mrs. Smith survived her husband about ten years, dying in 1855, and was accidentally killed by being thrown from a buggy. They were the parents of seven children, three of whom still survive--Alexander, the subject of this review; William W., a resident of Woodson county, Kansas; and Tabitha J., the widow of James Majors.
Alexander Smith, whose name introduces this review, was reared to the quiet pursuits of the farm and received his educational advantages in the old pioneer log school house, with its puncheon floor, slab benches and greased paper windows. In 1843, after his marriage, he erected a log cabin on a portion of his father's farm, which he operated on the shares, thus continuing for about five years. In the meantime, however, the farm had been divided, and on the expiration of the five years our subject purchased the interests of the other heirs and thus became the possessor of the entire homestead. In 1857 he erected his present substantial farm residence, and his farm, which consists of one hundred and fifty-two acres, is one of the valuable places of Crawford county. For the past twenty years, however, he has lived retired, in the enjoyment of a well-earned rest, the result of unfaltering energy, wise judgment, and business ability. The management of the farm is now left to his sons. In the days of the horse-power thresher Mr. Smith also devoted a part of his time to threshing, but his principal occupation has been farming, and in that vocation his efforts were attended with a high and well-merited degree of success.
The year 1843 witnessed the marriage of Mr. Smith and Miss Nancy J. Dix, a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, and a daughter of Joseph Dix. This union was blessed with seven children, four of whom still survive, namely: Joseph M., a resident of Crawford county; Porter W., of Oklahoma; Alexander, who operates the home farm; and Martha J., the wife of Oliver McKeehen, also of Sandusky township, Crawford county. The wife and mother passed away in death on the 14th of August, 1887, at the age of sixty-five years. For the past fifty-seven years Mr. Smith has been an active and zealous member of the Presbyterian church, and during all of that time has served as an elder therein, much of the time also acting as a trustee. In political matters he is a staunch supporter of the Democracy. He has been the choice of his party for a number of local offices, having served for two terms as township trustee, two terms as clerk of his township, two terms as township assessor, and for more than twenty years has held the office of township treasurer. In all of these positions he discharged his duties with the utmost fidelity and honesty, and in all relations of life he has ever been true to principle and the right.
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