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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
1798
PIONEER and GENERAL HISTORY of
GEAUGA COUNTY
with
SKETCHES OF
some of the Pioneers and Prominent Men.
Published by
The Historical Society of Geauga County,
1880
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HON. HENRY K. SMITH. This
gentleman was the eldest son, and the third child, of Marsh Smith,
and was born at Parkman, Geauga county, Aug. 10, 1832. There his
childhood and boyhood were passed, under the care of this parents, and
he received such opportunities for education as the schools of that
neighborhood afforded him. His father and mother were persons of
unusual intelligence and refinement, and he grew up in the atmosphere of
a home well calculated to develop the finer traits and higher
excellencies of nature and character. He became a resident of
Chardon at nineteen, and was noted as an intelligent, gentlemanly youth,
rather shy, to whom most people at once took a liking and gave him their
confidence. The ensuing two years he spent in his father's office,
in acquiring general information, ripening, and preparing himself for a
life of usefulness.
At the age of twenty-one he entered the law office of
Messrs. Riddle & Thrasher, at Chadon, and devoted himself,
with docile industry, to the mastery of the law. He soon became
known to his instructors for his real worth, and gained their confidence
and friendship. After a novitiate of three years he was admitted
to the bar, in 1856. Soon after he received the appointment of
deputy sheriff, the duties of which he discharged with care and
fidelity. He also was intrusted with the responsible duties of the
treasurer of the county.
In the spring of 1857, on the decease of the then clerk
of the court, A. H. Gotham, esq., he was appointed his successor.
In the autumn of the same year he was elected prosecuting attorney of
the county by the people.
Thus, in the space of a year or two, he familiarized
himself with the duties of several of the most important offices of the
county, and entered another of much responsibility. Here he
acquitted himself so well that he was elected a second term. Soon
after his first election, he formed a law partnership with W. O.
Forrist, and in 1861, after the termination of the partnership of
Canfield & French, by the death of John French, he entered into
partnership with D. W. Canfield, which continued until his
election to the office of probate judge, in the fall of 1866. He
has held that office ever since, having been nominated in 1878 for the
fifth time, and each time by acclamation. While in company with
D. W. Canfield, he was twice elected justice of the peace of
Chardon. Feb. 22, 1854, he married Miss Harmony Stocking,
daughter of D. W. Stocking. They have had three children,
one dying in infancy. The eldest, Stuart S., aged
twenty-one, is book-keeper of the Geauga Savings and Loan association.
The youngest, Halbert Dennis, is twelve years old.
Judge Smith was among the most active and
efficient in rebuilding Chardon. He has largely invested in real
estate and its improvement, and the block in which is the opera house is
mainly owing to the enterprise of himself and brother, Theron.
The sterling integrity of the Smiths, father and son, doubtless
has been the leading cause of their personal popularity in Geauga
county. Perhaps no man has ever exercised a wider influence in it
than Judge Smith, who is happily found to win and retain the
esteem of all classes, and no man was ever so utterly devoid of the arts
by which the mere demagogue seeks to make his way. The confidence
which he enjoys is the deserved tribute of worth and excellence.
Mrs. Smith, by her fine womanly qualities, contributes much to
strengthen the position of her husband, and their home is one of the
pleasantest in Chardon.
Of the brothers and sisters of Judge Smith, it
may be mentioned that M_ Peter Bates resides in Iowa; Mrs. J.
G. Durfee, in Troy, Geauga county; M_ John Brooks, in
Chardon; his brothers, Theron and Marsh H., in Chardon as
also Newell R., and his father, Marsh Smith, mentioned
elsewhere.
Theron is a man of much intelligence, and shares
Judge Smith's spirit of enterprise, and, like the rest of the
family, is much esteemed.
Source:
1798 Pioneer and General History of Geauga County with Sketches
of
some of the Pioneers and Prominent Men. -
Published by
The Historical Society of Geauga County, 1880 - Page
348 |
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MARSH SMITH
the
sixth auditor of Geauga county, was born in Manchester, Vermont,
Aug. 18, 1799. Both his father and mother were of English
descent. His great-grandfather on the paternal side, who
settled in the colony of Connecticut in 17__, belonged to an old
English family of rare intelligence and sterling virtues.
His mother, whose maiden name was Polly Marsh, was of the
Marsh family of which Hon. George P. Marsh, of
Vermont, is the most distinguished representative.
The subject of this sketch was one of eight children,
viz: Ransom, Newell R., Orrin, Norman, Sanford, Franklin,
Marrilla, and Marsh Two besides himself are now
living, viz: Sanford, who resides in Parkman, and
Franklin, who resides in Nelson, Portage county.
When a boy, Marsh removed with his parents to
Georgetown, Madison county, New York, and thence, in 1818,
preceding them one year to Ohio, settling in Parkman. He
there purchased and cleared up a farm, working as a carpenter
portion of the time.
In October, 1823, he was married to Miss Eliza
Cotton, of Nelson. The Cottons were from Connecticut,
a family of great intelligence, culture and refinement, whose
virtues are strongly exmplified in their living
representatives.
Mr. Smith held many positions of honor and trust
in the township of Parkman. For twenty years he was
justice of the peace, during which time he became familiar with
the laws of Ohio. His large experience, thus acquired
combined with a high sense of honor and right, for which he has
always been distinguished, gave special value to his opinions,
causing them to be much sought after by his neighbors and
friends, as well as by justices of less experience. In
1850 he was elected county auditor, which office he held for
three consecutive terms, discharging its duties faithfully,
efficiently, and to the acceptance of all. He was
subsequently county commissioner and, in 1860, was an assessor
of real estate.
In politics he was a Whig until the organization of the
Free-soil party, with which he at once identified himself,
continuing to act with that party until it was merged into the
Republican party, to which he has ever since belonged. He
was one of the earliest and most active of anti-slavery workers,
and it is not too much to say of him, that by nature he could be
nothing less than an earnest and consistent friend of freedom,
and an uncompromising enemy of every form of injustice and
wrong.
In religion he is a firm believer in the
authenticity of the Scriptures, which, to his mind, teach the
final salvation of all men. After a residence in Geauga
county of over sixty years, it may be truly said of him, that no
man ever enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens, more
fully, or proved himself more worthy of it, by the singular
purity and uprightness of his character. Possessing a life
partner of a most pure and amiable character, peculiarly adapted
to his own, and sons and daughters who exemplify their virtues
truly, his long and eventful life in its calm and peaceful
evening is crowned with blessings.
The living children are seven in number, viz: Mrs.
Hannah Bates, of Iowa, Mrs. Elizabeth Durfee, of
Troy; Judge H. K. Smith; T. C. Smith (cashier of
the Geauga savings and loan association); Marsh H. Smith
and Mrs. Eliza Brooks, of Chardon, and Newell R. Smith,
of Nelson, Portage County, Ohio.
Mr. Smith, who is now over eighty years of age,
resides among his children, most of the time in Chardon.
Source:
1798 Pioneer and General History of Geauga County with
Sketches of
some of the Pioneers and Prominent Men. -
Published by
The Historical Society of Geauga County, 1880 - Page
350 |
NOTES:
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