My Genealogy Hound

NELSON M. SMITH. The acts of some men tell more than volumes of eulogy or biography. The subject of this sketch impresses us as one of those men whom Homer describes a strong and sturdy Ajax, able to cope with any foe or brave any danger. Born in Luzerne county, N. Y., in the town of Warren, Oct. 30, 1816, he spent his early life in his native state. His father, Horace Smith, was for many years a prosperous farmer in the Old Empire State, but spent the evening of life with his son, Nelson M. Smith, in Carthage, Mo., where he died in July, 1871. Nelson M. Smith was united in the holy bonds of matrimony, February 18, 1841, with Liza Lewis, who was born in Otsego county, N. Y., but married in Ohio. The children are Ulrick M., Lorinda G., and three not living. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masonic order. Was one of the pioneers of three states, immigrating to Illinois in 1843, and soon to Iowa, and to Jasper county, Mo., in 1866. During the war he held the responsible position of provost marshal, it being attended with many dangers; was county sheriff of Bremer county, Iowa, for a series of years, an office which he filled with great credit both to himself and the county. His farm, joining the corporation of Carthage, in sections 18 and 1, township 31, range 28, comprises a tract of 140 acres, and is therefore both desirable and profitable. Mr. Smith spent some four years in Texas, where he laid out a town, besides traveling extensively in Oregon, California, and other states. Mr. Smith has been a hard-working man in his younger days, and although upwards of seventy has the vigor and sinew of forty years ago. He takes his annual hunting tour in the fall of the year, a sport in which he greatly delights. His genial, frank, and hale manner must render him a boon companion.