My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM R. SMITH, Secretary and Superintendent of the Springfield Water Works, may be properly classed among the representative men of this thriving city, and one whose modesty is commensurate with the excellence of his character. He comes of one of the best nationalities on the face of the globe, being a native of Lanarkshire, Scotland, and was born near the city of Glasgow, December 29, 1829. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Robertson) Smith, who are both deceased.

Our subject attended the common schools of his native place until a lad of fifteen, then emigrated to America, via Quebec and Montreal, Canada, locating first at Brockville, Canada. Thence he emigrated to Sandusky, Ohio, where he attended school during the years 1848-49. Upon leaving school, he joined a surveying expedition and assisted in the preliminary survey through the northern portions of New York and Pennsylvania of the Buffalo & State Line Railroad. The country was then a wild, uninhabited district, mostly in hemlock timber. He suffered much hardship and exposure, and this, in addition to the cholera epidemic, from which many others suffered, caused the expedition to be abandoned, and young Smith returned to Sandusky, Ohio.

Entering now the employ of the old Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Company (now the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland Railroad), Mr. Smith operated in the construction department until October, 1851. Then, going to Springfield, he became connected with the Springfield and Delaware branch and the Springfield & London branch of the same road, in the capacity of foreman for the firm of Barnard & DeGraff, contractors, who were recognized as the railroad kings of that day, and he was thus occupied until October, 1854.

Desirous now of visiting the scenes of his boyhood, Mr. Smith returned to Scotland on a visit to his parents and friends, where he spent three months very pleasantly — this was in the summer of 1854. Upon returning to the United States, he sought his old haunts, and still working his way upward, became ticket agent and check clerk of the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company, making his headquarters at Springfield. In 1858 he took the agency of the Springfield & Delaware Railroad, at Springfield, continuing in the employ of this company until the road changed hands and remained with the new administration until 1869. In the spring of 1870 he accepted a position with the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad Company, with which he remained until 1881.

In the above-mentioned year Mr. Smith entered the employ of the Springfield Water Works Company, and in due time, by strict attention to his duties, was promoted by the Board to the post of Secretary and Superintendent, the duties of which he is discharging in a manner creditable to himself and satisfactory to all concerned.

William R. Smith was joined in wedlock with Mary B. Ege at the bride’s home, in Springfield, July 24, 1860. Mrs. Smith was born on the 31st of October, 1836, at Laurel Forge, near Carlisle, Pa., and is the daughter of Michael P. and Jane Louisa (McKinney) Ege, who were natives of Pennsylvania and now deceased. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith are recorded as follows: Arthur E. is employed in the gas office and makes his home with his parents; Belle W. is the wife of E. C. Gwyn, a prominent young business man of Springfield; Mary W. remains at home with her parents. The family residence, a neat and tastily-appointed structure, is pleasantly located at No. 251, South Limestone Street, and is the frequent resort of the many friends whom Mr. and Mrs. Smith have gathered about them since their residence. Mr. Smith, politically, is identified with the Republican party, and socially, he belongs to the order known as Iron Hall.