A long record in the county is that presented by  Mr. Joe Smith, the present wide-awake and progressive county supervisor of Johnson county. This gentleman is a true representative man of the varied interests of this county. With a well balanced and cultivated intellect; a genial temperament and a buoyant energy he has walked up the pathway of life to manhood replete with a noble influence for the great responsibilities of the present eventful period, and full of golden promise for honorable duty in the battlefield of the coming future. Nothing affords the writer more pleasure than to notice the success of honest perseverance effort, directed by intelligence and persistence, which knows no such word as fail, and such has characterized the efforts of the gentleman underneath. Mr. Smith is a native of England and was born in 1860. In 1880 he came to America, locating in Johnson County, near Oxford where he has since resided. Mr. Smith has followed farming and stock raising all of his life and is largely interested in that pursuit at present, owning a large farm. He is of a progressive nature and is conceded to be a man of good sound business judgment. He was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Johnson County in 1895, since which time he has continuously held that position being re-elected in 1895. Mr. Smith has all times been a hard worker in that body for anything that tended to build up the city and county, and has rendered the county much valuable service. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masons and I.O.O.F. Lodges of Oxford in which he takes great interest.

Source: Iowa City Press-Citizen, Iowa City, IA., Wed, May 31, 1899, pg. 8)