Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 587
WILLIAM ANDERSON SMITH

Probably the best known stock raiser of Harrison county, Iowa, is William A. SMITH, who has been a resident of this county since 1888. As a breeder of horses, hogs and mules he has a reputation which extends throughout the state and, in fact, some of his best stock is shipped to all parts of the United States. He has those qualities of perseverance and industry which always command success and the necessary will power to carry forward to successful complexion anything to which he turns his attention.

William Anderson SMITH, the son of William H. and Artimissa (VAN DYLE) SMITH, was born December 1, 1861, in Hancock county, Illinois. His parents were natives of Illinois and both of them lived in that state all of their days. The paternal grandfather of Mr. SMITH was Caleb SMITH, a native of Kentucky, who lived to be ninety-two years of age.

William A. SMITH was one of eight children born to his parents. His father died in 1875 and thus he was early thrown upon his own resources. He received a common-school education and has since supplemented this with wide reading and observation, so that he is today one of the best-informed men of his community. In 1885 Mr. SMITH located in Dawes county, Nebraska, and entered a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres. He remained there only three years and then came to Harrison county, Iowa, and in the same year rented a farm in Soldier valley for three years. In 1904 he bought one hundred and seventy acres in section 1 of Boyer township and lived there until 1913. He then disposed of this farm and bought his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres in section 24 of Lincoln township. He engages in general farming and stock raising, but gives most of his attention to the latter phase of farming. He handles standard-bred trotting horses, having been an extensive breeder of horses for more than twenty years. He has Percheron stallions and was the owner of the famous stallion, �King L,� and has named his farm after this horse. His Percherons are imported from abroad and rank among the best horses bred in the state. He has shown his best horses at the fairs and has won many prizes. He does not develop his own colts, but raises them until they are a year or two old and then sells them to men who develop them. He sells and ships horses to all parts of the United States. He raised one horse which was considered the best animal ever shipped out of the state of Iowa. He also raises jacks and in 1914 sold a three-year-old jack for eight hundred dollars, the record price for this county. In addition to his horses and mules, Mr. SMITH keeps registered Poland China hogs.

Mr. SMITH was married February 16, 1888, to Laura MCWILLIAMS, a daughter of Thomas B. and Julia (COLE) MCWILLIAMS. The parents of Mrs. SMITH were born in Ohio and Indiana, respectively, and both came to Harrison county in 1856 with their respective parents, settling in Soldier valley and Boyer valley. Mr. and Mrs. SMITH are the parents of four children, two of whom are living, Wilma Alice, born April 1, 1889, and Mable E., born January 6, 1896. Both daughters received a good education in the common schools and later in the Woodbine Normal School. The other two children died at the ages of two weeks and five years, respectively.

Mr. SMITH and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics, he gives his support to the Democratic party and has been the treasurer of his township for many years. He has also served on the school board and in both offices gave careful and painstaking service to his fellow citizens. Mr. SMITH is a man of excellent business ability and is rightly classed as one of the representative men of his township and county.

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