John Hamilton Smith

SMITH, SMIDT, SCHMIDT

Posted By: William Baker <scotsman_2001@yahoo.com>
Date: 2/12/2002 at 00:04:35

Biography of John Hamilton Smith,
By William Baker

HISTORY OF JOHN HAMILTON SMITH -- Our ancestor John was born in Ross County, Ohio on March 29, 1833. John's father was Solomon Smith (originally Schmidt) who served as an officer of Jasper Township, in the capacity of a Constable in Fayette County, Ohio and also as a school teacher. Solomon was the first school teacher in that township. John’s mother was Mary Magdalene Lichliter. Both John's mother and father were of German ancestry. John's father Solomon was a soldier in the War of 1812, and both of John's grandfathers were Revolutionary War soldiers.

John married his first wife, Louisa Rupert, on July 17, 1861 in Fayette County, Ohio. In 1863, married and with a young child, John and Louisa moved to Iowa from Ohio. John settled on a farm in Harrison County, Missouri near the Decatur County, Iowa border, 3 to 4 miles southwest of the town of Pleasanton, Iowa. The move was made around 1863 to get the children away from so much of the Civil War fighting in Ohio, and also to avoid conscription. According to the book, "The History of Harrison County, Missouri", 1888, he owned 300 acres of well cultivated and improved land and was classed among the enterprising and successful citizens. John was listed as a Republican in politics. The book actually has a short bio of him.

John was a farmer all his life. After Louisa died in 1887, he moved from the farm in Harrison County, Missouri to the nearby town of Pleasanton, Decatur County, Iowa, eventually selling the farm. He is thought to have lived near Princeton, Missouri for a short time, before he moved to Pleasanton, in Decatur County, Iowa. His son Charles ran a store in Pleasanton.

John married his second wife, Mary Ann, in 1898 while living in Pleasanton, Iowa. He died in Pleasanton, Iowa. Pleasanton now has only a population of about 50, but then had several hundred, a hotel and many stores and was a central trading center for farmers in the region. Mary Ann survived John. John is buried with Mary Ann in Hamilton Cemetery, near Pleasanton, Iowa. They both share a large tombstone. John is also listed on the tombstone with his first wife, Akron Cemetery, south of Cainsville (south of Pleasanton, Iowa), Harrison County, Missouri. but is buried with the second wife. John was always a bearded man, wearing a "halo beard", clean shaven above the lip.

John was a Baptist and went to the Riverview Baptist Church, just west of Pleasanton, Iowa/Missouri. He never learned to drive a car, always riding a horse.

Sources:
1. Descendants of Solomon and John Smith.
2. The book, "Dill’s History of Fayette County, Ohio".
3. Picture of John Hamilton Smith and Louisa Rupert.
4. The book, "The History of Harrison County, Missouri", 1888, pp. 629.
5. Tombstones of John Hamilton Smith, Akron and Hamilton Cemeteries.

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