Benjamin T. Smith

SMITH, THOMAS, CUBE, DIERKS, BETTINGER, WEED

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 11/17/2011 at 14:59:46

BENJAMIN T. SMITH devotes his time and attention to agricultural pursuits and makes his home on section 29, Lincoln Township, Grundy County. The state of New York is the place of his birth, and the year is 1851. The family is of English origin. His father, William W. Smith, was born in England, and in that country was reared to manhood upon a farm. His parents were well-to-do and owned a good property. He acquired a fair education in the public schools, and after he arrived at mature years he was united in marriage with Miss Sophia Thomas, a native of Wales, and a daughter of William Thomas, who was also born in Wales.

At length William Smith decided to seek a home in the New World, and, crossing the Atlantic, located in the Empire State. He brought with him some capital and purchased a small farm near Utica, but this he sold before his removal to Clinton County, Iowa, in the year 1855. There he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, carrying on agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1884, at the age of seventy-two years. In his political views he was an ardent Republican and was honored with a number of local offices in the township, such as Justice of the Peace, Road Supervisor, etc. He was a member of the Church of England, and his wife belonged to the Baptist Church.

Mr. Smith whose name heads this record spent his boyhood in aiding in the labors of the home farm and in acquiring an education in the district schools of the neighborhood in which the family resided. At the age of twenty-one he left the parental roof and began farming on his own account. In connection with his brother, he for eight years engaged in the cultivation of a rented farm of two hundred and twenty acres. He then came to Grundy County and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, but its boundaries he has since extended until it now comprises two hundred and eighty acres of rich land. The farm is well improved with all modern accessories, and his large barn is one of the finest in the county. He gives his attention mainly to stock-raising and shipping, and in this line of business has met with an excellent degree of success.

Mr. Smith is one of a family of ten children, but three of the number died in childhood. Those living are: John; Elizabeth, wife of William Thomas; James, Benjamin T.; Mary, wife of Charles Cube; Isaac; and Anna, wife of John Dierks. Our subject was married in Clinton County to Miss Lena Bettinger, a native of that county, and a daughter of Leonard and Maria (Weed) Bettinger, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Illinois. Five children grace the union of our subject and his wife, viz.: Benjamin, Maud, Earl, Wilber and Arva.

Mrs. Smith holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican, and has held some local offices. His time, however, is largely given to his business interests, and by good management and fair and honest dealing he has acquired a handsome competence, which numbers him among the substantial citizens of the community.

Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record
of Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, Iowa
1894