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Below is a family biography included in Biographical Record of Oakland County, Michigan published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1903.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Edward C. Smith, steward of the Eastern Michigan Asylum, and a most highly esteemed citizen of Pontiac, Michigan, whose portrait appears as the frontispiece of this work, was born October 1, 1846, in Livingston County, New York, and is the only son of Edward C. and Julia (Talbot) Smith, the former of Hadley, Massachusetts, and the latter of Livingston County, New York.

Mr. Smith comes of an old and honorable ancestral line whose record is most interesting. From a history of the town of Hadley, Massachusetts, it is learned that his line may be traced as far back as the 15th century, when the earldom of Shrewsbury was bestowed upon his ancestor, John Talbot, for his “prowess and skill in war.” One of his ancestors was the antagonist of the Maid of Orleans, and another was the custodian of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. An unbroken lineage may be traced through many valiant knights of olden time to our subject, who has presided over nearly 5,000 Templars of Michigan, one whose knighthood has lost nothing of its dignity and true manhood because the Damascus blade has been subjugated to the harmless weapons of moral force.

Sergeant Joseph Smith of Cromwell’s army fled from England with the regicides at the time of the Restoration, and settled at Hartford, Connecticut. Joseph, his eldest son, was one of the founders of Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1660. There he and his descendants continued to reside through six generations, honored and respected, filling many official positions, until 1844. In that year Edward C. Smith, father of our subject, removed to Livingston County, New York, and on November 26, 1845, was there married to Julia Talbot. Our subject was the only child of this marriage, the father dying when his son was but six months old. Soon after this event, the mother removed to Pontiac, Michigan, where she resided until her death. She was a granddaughter on both paternal and maternal sides of naval celebrities, — Commodore Silas Talbot, and Commodore Thomas Truxtun.

Edward C. Smith attended the public schools of Pontiac until he had attained his 15th year, when, by appointment of Congressman R. E. Trowbridge, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he received his warrant of appointment as a midshipman, April 15, 1862. He remained in the service as a student at the Naval Academy, and took the practice cruises along the American coast and into European waters until June, 1865, when he resigned from the service. He then entered upon the study of civil engineering under Dr. Gillespie, at Union College, and was graduated as a civil engineer in 1867. In the same year he crossed the plains in a stage coach as far as Salt Lake City, where his uncle, Hon. Thomas J. Drake, then presided with ability as associate judge of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Smith secured employment as a civil engineer upon the Union Pacific Railroad, from 1867 until its completion in 1869. He was then occupied on other Western roads and was also engaged in government surveying until 1871, when he returned to his home and friends at Pontiac. In September of the following year he went to Peru, South America, where Henry Meiggs had stupendous contracts in the Andes Mountains. Mr. Smith was engaged there in professional work on the Chimbote, Huaraz and Requay Trans-Andean railways, work which kept him in South America until December, 1874. While occupied in the far South, Mr. Smith found time on various occasions to remember his friends in Pontiac with letters of so interesting a nature that they were given to the press and enjoyed by all who had the opportunity of reading them.

Mr. Smith is a man of varied interests and is one of the well known members of the Oakland County bar, his knowledge of the law having been acquired during his leisure moments. Of literary tastes and fine mental equipment, many of Mr. Smith’s happiest hours are spent in his fine private library. His comfortable and attractive residence is located at No. 148 Lawrence street, which has been his home ever since he was four months old. This house was erected in 1839 and has been the family home of four generations.

During the erection of the Eastern Michigan Asylum, Mr. Smith assisted the superintendent of construction, and when the institution was opened he became accountant, a position he filled for 11 years. In December, 1889, he was appointed steward, an office which involves the management of a business of about $200,000 per year.

In June, 1875, Mr. Smith was married to Ada L. Leggett, who is a daughter of the late Dr. S. M. Leggett, of Pontiac. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one daughter and four sons, whose ages run from 28 to 15 years; their names are as follows: Edward C., the able editor of the Vassar (Michigan) Times; Mrs. Louise Hildner, wife of Rev. E. G. Hildner, pastor of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, of Detroit; Tracy S., traveling representative of the Sales & Broad Company, of Detroit, dealers in plumbing supplies; Alfred L., who is engaged in preparing for the profession of mining engineer, being a student at the Michigan College of Mines at Houghton, Michigan; and Talbot T., a pupil of the Pontiac High School. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been blessed with a family of more than usual intellectual vigor. The religious views of the family make them Episcopalians.

While Mr. Smith has been prominent professionally, he has also for years been one of the most conspicuous Masons in the State. His record is as follows: He was made a Master Mason July 29, 1872; exalted January 29, 1875; received the Order of Mechizedek, January 17, 1882; made a Select Master, December 14, 1875; made a Knight Templar and a Knight of Malta, July 6, 1875; the degrees and grades of the A. A. Scottish Rite up to and including the 32nd degree were conferred upon him in Michigan Sovereign Consistory, S. P. R. S., in January, 1884. He is also a member of the Moslem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Detroit, and has held the following official positions: secretary of the corporate body (now Masonic Temple Association) 1880 and 1895; worshipful master of Pontiac Lodge, F. & A. M., 1883; high priest of Pontiac Chapter, R. A. M., 1882-83; illustrious master, Pontiac Chapter, R. A. M., 1885-86-87; eminent commander of the Pontiac Commandery, K. T., 1882-83-84; and grand warden in the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Michigan, 1884, filling successively all the stations in the Grand Commandery up to and including that of right eminent grand commander, which he held in 1891-92.

In summing up the character of this prominent citizen of Pontiac, we use the fitting words of another: “His leading characteristics are fidelity, candor, and a keen sense of justice. He is always dependable and loyal. His sensibilities are lively, his devotion to the truth unvarying, his integrity and honesty unswerving and constant. He is a discriminating reader, has literary tastes of a high order, and possesses an excellent fund of general information. While devoted to his work, he has never been so thoroughly immersed in business and warped by it as to become estranged from his family. He is an unexceptional husband and an indulgent father. He is a good neighbor, a good friend and a zealous public official. He possesses in high degree the knightly attributes, — fairness, frankness and faithfulness, — and any meritorious cause in which he is interested will receive his hearty support and co-operation.”

Mr. Smith is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, tracing lineage to three ancestors who served as officers in the Revolutionary War. He is also a valued member of Dick Richardson Post, G. A. R., of Pontiac.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Record of Oakland County, Michigan published in 1903. 

View additional Oakland County, Michigan family biographies here: Oakland County, Michigan Biographies

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