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         JAMES R. SMITH, an early settler of Louisa County and a farmer by occupation, now residing at Columbus Junction, is a native of Jamestown, Russell Co., Ky., and was born Feb. 8, 1840. His parents were Jeremiah and Sarah Ann (Morris) Smith. The father was born in Virginia in 1812, was of Scotch descent, and moved to Kentucky in early life. He is now a resident of Columbus Junction. The mother was born in Adair County, Ky., of an old and highly respected family of that State. Her death occurred in 1878.

When eight years of age, in the fall of 1848, our subject came with his parents to Iowa, and settled near Toolsboro, Louisa County. He was reared on his father’s farm, and was educated in the common schools and at Grand View Academy. On the 1st of July, in the year 1861, he enlisted for the late war as a private of Company C, 5th Iowa Infantry. At the battle of Iuka he was wounded by a buckshot in the right knee, and has never yet had the ball extracted. At the same battle he was captured, made his escape, but was very soon afterward recaptured. On the 25th of November, 1863, while participating in the battle of Mission ridge, he was seriously wounded, receiving a gunshot in the right arm, and also in the left shoulder. He was captured by the enemy, and held a prisoner for one year and five days, receiving his liberty on parol Nov. 30, 1864. He was confined in the loathsome prison at Andersonville for seven months, and while there resorted to various expedients by which to preserve his life. He was then taken to Charleston, where he was held one month, after which he was removed to Florence, S. C., where he remained until paroled. On reaching home the reaction from the long nervous strain prostrated him, and for weeks his life was despaired of. On recovering his health he purchased a farm in Grand View Township, where he made his home after his marriage.

On the 25th of December, 1866, the union of Mr. Smith and Miss Alice V. Ross was celebrated. Mrs. Smith was a daughter of Alexander Ross, one of the very early settlers of Louisa County, whose family was originally from Ohio, though she was born in Grand View Township. One child, a son, graced their union, James Darwin, born Oct. 2, 1885. The mother survived the birth of her child but a few weeks, dying October 21 following. Mr. Smith was again united in marriage, Sept. 15, 1886, to Miss Emma Kern, daughter of G. F. Kern, of Columbus Junction. Mrs. Smith was born in Grand View Township, Louisa Co., Iowa, her parents being early settlers of that region. One child was born of the latter marriage, a daughter, Verba.

In 1872 Mr. Smith removed to Columbus Junction, about the time that this city began to be a town, here opening a grange store, which he carried on one year. He then resumed farming east . . .

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. . . of the Iowa River, in Concord Township, and continued that vocation four years, at the expiration of which time he returned to Columbus Junction, engaging in the mercantile business in company with O. P. Wilcox, which they carried on during the years 1884 and 1885. Then resuming farming, he has continued that business to the present time, and now is the owner of 185 acres of land, 150 of which lie in Concord Township, and thirty-five acres in Columbus City Township near the city.

Mr. Smith has made his home in the city continuously since 1878, and has lately erected a fine residence. In political sentiment he is a Republican, and has served one term as Mayor of Columbus Junction, from March, 1887, to March, 1888. In his religious opinions he is an original thinker, and takes broad views in favor of the theory of evolution. He has been a close student of the best writers on that subject, and entertains advanced ideas, based on the results of close and careful investigation of the subject. Mr. Smith is a good off-hand speaker, and has frequently been invited to address the public. Socially, a member of the I. O. O. F., he belongs to Columbus Junction Lodge No. 365. Notwithstanding the unpopularity of his views on the subject of religion, Mr. Smith is held in high esteem as a man of sterling worth by those who know him best.