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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Alexander
Smith Mr.
Alexander Smith was born in the village of Forres, Scotland, on September 26,
1830, and he is the son of Robert and Jeannette (Lysle) Smith, both born in
Scotland. The paternal grandfather was Alexander Smith, a farmer, and
the maternal grandmother was of noble blood, being a sister of the Duke of
Southerland in England. Robert
Smith came to America with his family in 1834 and located in Delaware County,
New York, and there established a good home, and in that vicinity the son,
Alexander Smith of this review, grew to manhood and he received his education at
Roxbury, New York, having the honor of being a schoolmate of the famous
financier, Jay Gould, and the scarcely less noted author and naturalist, John
Burroughs, the former having sat on the left of the subject for a year and the
latter just in front of him for three years. After leaving school at the age of
eighteen years, Mr. Smith engaged in teaching for eight or ten years, during
which time he met with great success and his services were in demand wherever he
was known. He also clerked
for some time in a general merchandise store. In 1865 he moved to Pella, Iowa,
and rented a farm that fall in Jasper County.
The country was wild and improvements had been made here and there, but
he had the foresight to see a great future for so rich a region and in due
course of time he had become of the leading farmers here.
Not long after his arrival he bought two hundred and forty acres, partly
in Lynn Grove Township and partly in Elk Creek Township.
Prospering through close application and good management, he added to his
original holdings until he now owns eight hundred acres of as choice land as the
county affords. He also owns four
hundred acres in Lake County, Iowa, and two sections of land in North Dakota,
all valuable and well-located land. While
general farming has been Mr. Smith's principal life work, no small part of his
large competency has been derived from the livestock business; he has fed cattle
annually for forty years, and he has met with a larger degree of success in this
line than the average person. He
has kept his land under excellent improvements and has a modern, convenient and
well furnished home, in the midst of pleasant surroundings. Politically,
Mr. Smith is a Republican and while he has never sought leadership he has always
stood ready to serve the public when necessary.
He was treasurer of the school board of his district for a period of
fifteen years. Mr.
Smith was married on June 12, 1864, to Sarah Voss, who was born in New Jersey,
the daughter of John Voss and wife, and to this union seven children have been
born, of whom three are deceased, the living being named as follows: Mrs. Amy Jeanette Sherman, who lives in Pasadena, California;
Mrs. Emily Francisco, who is living in Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs. Mamie Nicholson,
who lives in New Sharon, Iowa; Alexander Lyle. The
last named son was born on the farm he now operates in Lynn Grove Township,
Jasper County, on October 6, 1876. There
he grew to maturity and assisted with the general work on the place during the
crop seasons, attending the public schools during the winter months near his
home, later the high school at Lynnville, and the Iowa State College at Ames,
spending two years in the agricultural course there; he also attended the Gem
City Business College at Quincy, Illinois.
Thus well equipped for his life work from a standpoint of text-book
training, he returned home to assist his father man age some of his farms and he
has met with a large degree of success; being regarded as one of the most modern
and scientific farmers in the county. He
took charge of about six hundred acres two miles south of the town of Sully
where he has carried on general farming and cattle raising on an extensive
scale, preparing for market and shipping from two to four car loads of cattle
and two hundred hogs annually. Although
he rents some of the land, he has general supervision over it all.
Politically, he is a Republican and he and his wife are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church at Sully. Alexander
L. Smith was united in marriage with Elizabeth Jean Vaughn on May 27, 1903. She
was born in Pennsylvania, but was living at Burlingame,
Kansas, at the time of her marriage. She
is the daughter of W. J. and Emily K. (Brown) Vaughn, who moved with their
daughter to Kansas when she was two years old, and the parents still reside in
the Sunflower State. Three
children have graced the union of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander L. Smith: Donald Lyle,
born December 29, 1907; Vernon Eugene, born July 27, 1909; Robert Vaughn, born
November 4, 1911. No family in the county is better or more favorably known. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 732. |
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