Smith, Joseph P.

SMITH

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 7/2/2021 at 20:51:24

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.738

JOSEPH P. SMITH
In the history of the farming interests of Warren County, it is imperative that mention should be made of Joseph P. Smith who lives on section 27, Lincoln Township, for he has long been closely associated with the farming interests of the community and the methods which he employs, shows that he is in touch with the most advanced ideas concerning progressive agriculture. His home farm comprises one hundred and eighty-eight acres of rich land that responds readily to the care and labor bestowed upon it and in another place he owns eighty acres. He has lived in Warren County since 1873, or for a period of thirty-five years, so that he is well known here and has an intimate knowledge of the history of the county and its development.
Mr. Smith started on life's journey June 6, 1845, in Morgan County, Ohio. His father, Henry Smith, was a native of Mindus, Prussia, and in that country he was reared and educated. He began work in Germany at three cents per day and was thus employed for four years. It was in 1838 that he came to the United States and he drove across the country from Baltimore to Ohio. He was a self-made man, having no capital with which to embark in business on his emigration to the new world.
Joseph P. Smith was reared to manhood in his native county, early becoming familiar with the life and experiences of the farmer. His educational privileges were those afforded by the public schools and from early boyhood he aided in the farm work, taking his place in the fields almost as soon as old enough to reach the plow handles. He remained with his father until twenty-three years of age, after which he started in life on his own account, cleared a small tract of land and raised a crop. He then went to Lewis County, Missouri, where for a year he rented land and also worked to some extent in a sawmill. During the two succeeding years he rented land in connection with his brother Fred, who afterward came to Iowa, settling on section 12, Belmont Township, Warren County, where he secured eighty acres of raw land. This he broke, turning the sod for the first time, clearing away the brush, fencing the fields and carrying forward the work of farming along all lines of modern progress. He later erected a good frame dwelling and substantial out­buildings. His labors have always been of a practical nature and have been attended with a measure of success that is well merited.
On the 29th of April, 1875, Mr. Smith was married in Warren County to Miss Malima Owen, who was born in Indiana, but was reared in Warren County, Iowa, and was a daughter of Samuel and Ruth Owen, who came to this county from the Hoosier state. The father bought a land warrant, the first sold in the county, and he east in his lot with the early settlers who were reclaiming the wild region for the purposes of civilization. Mrs. Smith spent her girlhood days under the parental roof, was well educated and for some years engaged in teaching. After their marriage Mr. Smith engaged in farming for several years and about 1884 he purchased his present property, upon which he now resides. He became owner of eighty acres here and at once took up the task of developing and cultivating this. As he prospered in his undertakings he bought more land, becoming owner of a part of the old Owen's farm and he today owns two hundred and sixty-eight acres of this tract, all of which is well improved, bringing forth rich and abundant harvests, while the annual sale of his crops return to him a gratifying income. With his other work he raises and feeds stock, making a specialty of high grade cattle, fattening a number each year for the market. He also raises some fine horses and the excellent stock which he keeps upon this place is indicative of his progressive spirit. There is no better indication of the character of a farmer than the stock which he has about him. He and his wife have by their united efforts accumulated a large body of land, becoming owners of a good home, and have made for themselves an enviable place in the community.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born three daughters: Edith E., who was well educated, attending the district schools and afterward becoming a student at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She also pursued a course at the Quaker college in Oskaloosa and later engaged in teaching for a number of years. She was at one time a teacher in Warren County and for three years was principal of Hesper Academy in Kansas. Luda E., the second member of the family, is the wife of Professor J. Emery Hollingsworth. She completed a course in Penn College at Oskaloosa, engaged in teaching for a few years and then married. She now has one son, Joseph Keith Hollingsworth. Ethel L., was educated at Penn College, won the Master's degree at the State University and has taught in the high school at Stockton. Kansas, but is now at home. Mr. and Mrs. Smith also reared an orphan child, George Lee Powell, who is now a young man.
In politics Mr. Smith was a Republican for some years, but has always been a staunch advocate of the temperance cause and now votes with the Prohibition Party. He cast his first ballot for General U. S. Grant in 1868. He held several local offices, was identified with the schools for a number of years and was president of the school board at Ackworth for several years. He and his wife and daughters are members of the Friends Church at Ackworth and his entire life has been in harmony with the teaching of that society, which inculcates a kindly spirit and a generous recognition of the rights of others. He served a great many years on the board of the Ackworth academy and he and his wife did much to assist in its maintenance. They have taken a deep and active interest in the work of the Friends at Waveland, now Motor, and at Ackworth. They were married at the latter place according to the Friend's custom, Mrs. Smith having been a member of that society since childhood.
As a business man Mr. Smith has been persistent and energetic, always straightforward and honorable, and his success is due to the fact that he has worked persistently and untiringly along well defined lines of labor.