My Genealogy Hound
Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company; Elwood Roberts, Editor. 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.
* * * *
REV. O. P. SMITH, D. D., pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Transfiguration, Pottstown, was born in New Tripoli township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1848. He is the son of Frederick and Mary Margaret (Schwab) Smith, natives of Bavaria, Germany. They had six children, four sons and two daughters, four now living, as follows: Louisa, widow of Robert L. Roberts, of Bangor, Pennsylvania; Henry S., of Bethlehem; Theodore S., of Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Rev. O. P. Smith. The first named is a mechanical engineer connected with the Bethlehem Steel Company, and Theodore S. is a music dealer and a musician of considerable note. He is an organist and chorister of Tripoli and is prominently connected with music circles in his part of the state. His daughter, Ida Minerva Smith, has attained considerable fame as a violinist. She was educated in the Conservatory of Music at Boston and at her graduation the faculty presented her with a special seal in addition to her diploma, in recognition of her superior merit and skill as a violinist.
Frederick Smith (father) was a parochial school teacher and organist in New Tripoli township for forty-five years. He came to America in 1830 when a young man, living in Philadelphia one year. He was a teacher and organist there. He then removed to New Tripoli where he engaged in teaching music for forty-five years. He also served as church organist, was a parochial school teacher and was a scrivener, who executed many deeds, wrote wills and prepared other papers of like character for the people of his community. He was recognized in his locality as a man of strong character and sterling worth. He died in Tripoli in 1875, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife died two weeks before his death, at the age of seventy-two years.
Frederick Smith (grandfather) was a teacher and an organist in Germany and died in that country.
The maternal grandfather of Rev. O. P. Smith was born in Bavaria, Germany. He conducted a distillery in that country and died of apoplexy at the age of forty-five years.
Dr. O. P. Smith was reared at New Tripoli and received his elementary education in the district schools of the neighborhood. He then attended Muhlenberg College at Allentown, graduating in June, 1871. He spent three years at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and was ordained a minister in the city of Lancaster, June 3, 1874.
His first pastorate was at Trappe in Montgomery county, and while living at Trappe he also served the St. James congregation at Limerick and the Jerusalem congregation at Schwenksville. He continued with these three congregations for fifteen years. In May, 1889, he removed to Pottstown and took charge of the Church of the Transfiguration there, of which he is at present the pastor. The membership of his congregation is about four hundred and fifty.
June 24, 1874, he married Laura A. Barnes, daughter of Ezra and Caroline (Starr) Barnes. Mrs. Laura Smith died in 1884, aged thirty-six years.
October 21, 1887, Dr. Smith married Mary M. Hobson, daughter of Frank M. and Elizabeth (Gotwals) Hobson. They had two sons, Francis H. and Oliver H.
Politically Rev. Smith is a Democrat. He is connected with the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Mount Airy, Philadelphia, and has been secretary of the board for fourteen years. He is a member of the English home mission board of North America and has been for eighteen years. He has served as president of the Philadelphia and Norristown conferences and on a number of important committees in church work.
When a young man he taught three terms in the public schools and during his college course gave instruction in the German language in connection with the public schools of the city of Allentown. He also taught in the Washington Hall Institute at Trappe. For a number of years he preached in both the German and English languages but of late confines himself entirely to the English language. He has done much effective work in behalf of the church and has promoted its material as well as spiritual growth. Through his instrumentality the church at Trappe was re-modeled at a cost of seven thousand dollars; the St. James church was erected, costing nine thousand; a new church was built at Schwenksville, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars; the parsonage at Pottstown was built for ten thousand dollars; and the Pottstown Church of the Transfiguration was remodeled at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. During the summer of 1903 Dr. Smith made an extended tour through England, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Holland, and was greatly benefited by the trip, gaining in health as well as in knowledge of the old world and its peoples.
Mrs. Mary M. Smith’s parents were natives of Montgomery county, her father of Limerick and her mother of Lower Providence township. They had two children: Freeland G. Hobson and Mary M. Frank M. Hobson was a general merchant at Collegeville for twenty-six years. The history of the Hobson family may be found in connection with the sketch of Freeland G. Hobson in this book.
* * * *
This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company. For the complete description, click here: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
View additional Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Biographies
Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.