Smith, Jesse M.

SMITH

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 9/10/2008 at 13:41:51

Jesse M. Smith

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.148, Lewis Twp.)
Jesse M. Smith, farmer, P. O. Council Bluffs, was born in Pennsylvania in 1827, and remained there till he was sixteen years old, and then went to Indiana, in the vicinity of Indianapolis, and remained there till 1863, when he moved to Iowa, settling in Harrison County, where he remained two years, and then came to Pottawattamie County, and has been here since in different places, and has been on his present farm for about eight years. When buying his home place, he had to pay $10 per acre, there being no improvements whatever. He has since been ditching - making over two miles of ditches on his place, and in that way has reclaimed all of his land. His other improvements are also good, having a fine residence and barns. Mr. Smith's farm now consists of 400 acres, all under fence and part in cultivation, the remainder in pasture and meadow. His farming is corn and stock-raising. He was educated in Pennsylvania in the common schools. He was married in Indiana, about 1854, to Miss Hannah Ballard. The second time he was married to Miss Nancy Wright, also in Indiana, in Indianapolis, in March, 1862. He has one son by first wife. He is a Republican in politics. Belongs to Church of God.