Iowa. It was natural, perhaps, that Mr. Smith should choose agricultural pursuits as his occupation through life, for his ancestors have for many generations followed that calling. He is a native of Franklin County, Ohio, his birth occurring October 18, 1848, and is the son of Aaron and Sarah (Paddock) Smith, and the grandson of Daniel and Elizabeth Smith, who were natives of Holland. The father, in connection with agricultural pursuits, was a molder by trade, having learned that in his early manhood, and this he carried on for many years. In 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-third Ohio Infantry, and served until the close of the war. After this he moved to Lee County, Ill., where he remained until 1869. His children were named as follows: Lee H., Winfield Scott, Eugene E. and Daniel P. In the fall of 1869 the family sought Iowa as their home, and located in Story County, where the subject of this sketch received a good college education in the Iowa State Agricultural College, finishing in 1871. He then went to Napa County, Cal., remained there two years, and afterward returned to Story County, Iowa. He was married in 1875 to Miss Mattie G. Evans, daughter of Walter and Susan J. Evans, and the fruits of this union have been six children: Sadie (deceased), Mabel, Winnie, Clifford, Nathan R. and Susie. Mr. Smith remained in Story County, Iowa, until 1882, being there for nearly seven years, and then went to Colorado, where he was successfully engaged in mining. In the fall of 1887 he returned to Story County, and has since remained on his farm, located nearly four miles northeast of Ames, on Section 32. Mr. Smith is a Republican, and at all times has voted the Republican ticket. Socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Smith's father died in July, 1885.
James S. Smith is a lineal descendant of Jacob Smith, who, during the persecution of Presbyterianism in Scotland by King James I., left that country with many others and settled in the North of Ireland., From this and other similar immigrations are descended that people known to history as the Scotch-Irish. As a race they have retained the characteristic firmness . of the Scotch, while acquiring much of the generosity, wit and vivacity of the Irish. Six generations of the descendants of Jacob Smith lived and died in the same county ( Antrim), and Samuel of the sixth (1774--1854) was as strongly attached to the tenets of Presbyterianism as his early ancestors, who may have gathered inspiration from the voice of Knox. Mathew Smith was born October 12, 1812; was married, in 1836, to Miss Mary Hewitt, who died in 1843, leaving a son (Jonathan) and a daughter (Mary). Mathew was married again, in 1846, to Miss Margaret A. McElhose, a grand-daughter of Richard Smith, of Carncullough, by whom he had seven sons: Samuel S., William M., James S., Hugh B., Robert H., John (died 1861), and John M. (died in Rome, Ga., in 1889). In 1866 Mathew Smith bade a final adieu to his native country, and with his family arrived in Chicago on the 30th of April, of the same year, in search of land for his boys in a country where industry is honorable and labor not branded with the stamp of serfdom. He located in Osco, Henry County, Ill., the following August. In 1875 he came to Story County, Iowa, where he died in Warren Township September 3, 1877, and his wife August 26, 1880. James S. Smith was born in Finvoy, Ireland, January 17, 1853; came to Osco, Ill., with his parents in 1866; commenced teaching in the public schools in 1871; studied law at the Iowa State University. On account of his father's death, he gave up law and returned to the farm, which he had charge of for a time. From 1880 till 1885 he devoted