ALPHEOUS SMITH
Among the family names which have been honored and
respected ones in Wayne county since pioneer times is that of
Smith, whose present representative, Alpheous Smith, recently
retired from active life, is an exponent of all the rugged,
sturdy and upright characteristics which have been family
traditions for over half a century. The older generation has passed away,
having left an enduring monument to their lives and activities
in the fine farm which they evolved out of the wilderness and
in the standards of integrity and sincerity of purpose which
they left to their children.
Their son, our subject, also a pioneer, enduring in his
earlier years all the trials and hardships incident to life in
a new country. Today
he is one of the honored and respected citizens of Wayne
county and has earned rest and retirement by a long life of
valuable and well directed labor.
Alpheous Smith was born in Mason county, West Virginia,
August 12, 1849, and is a son of V. B. and Louvisa (Hart)
Smith, natives of that state, the father’s birth having
occurred on the 30th of November, 1820, and the
mother’s on the 20th of January, 1818. They left West
Virginia in 1853 and came down the Ohio river to the
Mississippi and thence to Keokuk, Iowa, where they secured a
team and came overland to Benton township, Wayne county. Here the father
purchased two hundred and eight acres of land which has been
in possession of the family since that time. Like all pioneers,
the elder Mr. Smith was a man of action and he spent many long
hours of labor battling with the pioneer conditions which
prevailed here at the time of his settlement. Prairies stretched
for many miles in all directions from his farm, broken only by
a few sparse settlements.
Life was hard and the work heavy, but Mr. Smith bent
his determination and resolution to overcoming the obstacles
in his path and before his death, which occurred December 19,
1900, had made his farm a valuable and productive property. His wife has also
passed away, dying in Benton township, June 15, 1880. In their family
were nine children: Elizabeth,
who was born April 21, 1841, and died in Virginia at the age
of five; Martha Ann, who was born April 16, 1842, and who is
now deceased; Louis, whose birth occurred April 1, 1844, and
who died before Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the siege of
that place; Mrs. Sarah Jane Slocum, who was born January 11,
1846, ad who died in Clay township; Reverdy, who was born
November 19, 1847, and passed away in infancy; Alpheous, of
this review; Edgar K., who was born November 8, 1851, and
whose death occurred in Wayne county, July 8, 1870; Miranda,
who was born February 14, 1856, and who passed away in Benton
township; and Nancy, whose birth occurred on the 14th
of March, 1857, and who also died in Benton township. All of the children
in this family were natives of West Virginia with the
exception of the two youngest, who were born in Wayne county,
and all were reared and educated in Iowa.
Alpheous Smith was four years of age when he came with
his parents to Wayne county and from his early childhood was
familiar with the hard conditions of pioneer life. He attended the
old-fashioned school of that time, which was supported by
subscriptions from the parents of the children and conducted
in the homes of the patrons.
His hours outside of the schoolroom were filled with
hard labor, for the new farm had to be cleared, the sod
broken, buildings and fences erected and other improvements
made. As a
result, when Mr. Smith grew to manhood he was a skilled and
practical agriculturist and when the time came for him to
begin his active career he was well equipped for its duties. By that time the
family homestead has been increased to five hundred and eighty
acres, upon which Mr. Smith steadily carried forward the work
of development and improvement through the years, making it
one of the finest and best equipped properties in the county. The land lies in
Benton, Clay and Washington townships and upon it there are
three excellent sets of improvements. Mr. Smith remained
upon his farm until 1909, when he gave up active work and
purchased a comfortable and modern home in Humeston, where he
and his worthy wife are spending their declining years in rest
and comfort, the just reward of their earnest, upright and
honorable lives. They
are people of exemplary character, of the rugged whole-souled
type which has been largely instrumental in the upbuilding of
the state and in placing it in the front ranks of American
commonwealths.
On the 3d of April, 1870, Mr. Smith was united in
marriage to Miss Mary E. Dollarhide, who was born in Cass
county, Indiana, April 20, 1850. She is a daughter of Allen and Martha A.
(Fitzer) Dollarhide, natives of Ohio, who went to Indiana,
then came to Wayne county in 1854 and removed to Indiana in
1859, both passing away in that state. In their family
were four children: Mary
E., now Mrs. Alpheous Smith; George, who was born April 14,
1851, and who died in Indiana at the age of eighteen; Bruce,
who passed away in Wayne county, Iowa, at the age of four; and
Alva, whose death occurred in Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
became the parents of six children, all of whom were born in
Clay township: Jesse
V., who was born November 17, 1872, and who died August 3,
1910; Edward, who was born in August, 1874, and who died on
the same day; Blanche, who was born April 13, 1876, and passed
away April 11th of the following year; Mrs. Ethel
Coffee, who was born June 2, 1878, and who is now residing in
Richman township; Opal, who was born September , 1880, and who
died November 24, 1881; and Harry A., who was born in October,
1888, and died May 8, 1895.
Mrs. Coffee is the sole surviving member of this family
of six. She was
married in Clay township, September 25, 1896, to Cressy C.
Coffee, a native of Indiana.
To their union were born the following children: Lloyd L., born June
11, 1897; Alonzo A., born March 2, 1899; Nettie Lois, born
January 15, 1905; Selma Irene, born October 11, 1906; and
Laverna, born September 14, 1909. The three eldest children in this family
were born in Clay township, while the younger ones were born
in Richman township.
Mr. Smith gives his allegiance to the republican party and has been trustee of Clay township. During the entire period of his residence in this section he has been known as a man of most admirable principles, loyal to all his duties and obligations, a liberal supporter of all worthy objects and a patriotic and broad-minded citizen who since pioneer times has assisted in numberless ways in advancing the permanent welfare of the community. Indeed, no record of Wayne county would be complete without a review of the honorable and useful career of Alpheous Smith, recognized throughout the section as one of its most respected and estimable citizens.