Ashbel Grattan Smith (1829 - 1928)

Born 25 Jul 1829 in Winsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Alma Jane (Huntoon) Smith — married 1 Feb 1855 in Lake County, Ohio, USA

Descendants

Died 25 Jan 1928 at age 98 in Painesville, Lake County, Ohio, USA

Biography

Lived 98y 6m 2d. Arrived with his parents in the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio at one year of age. Buried on Lot 14, Division 23.

In 1855, Ashbel with his bride, Alma, and "a couple of brothers" moved to Warren County, IL driving horses and transporting their own household goods. They built the first house out on the prairie (seven miles from Monmouth and ontheChicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad), thinking it would some day become the start of a town. He named the spot Young America and it is now known as Kirkwood.

September 6, 1861 in Warren Co., IL. Call for People's convention of all who are in favor of preserving the Union and who are willing to die when all is lost for which it is worthwhile to live: included signatures of A.G. Smith and his father S.C. Smith

Patent 109,461 issued November 22, 1870 to Ashbel Grattan Smith and William Pettingell, assignors to themselves and William H. Fowler.

Page 1365: ASHBEL G. Smith. - A man of fine literary appreciation, of comprehensive reading and study, and of distinctive intellectual force, he has pursued the even tenor of his way without ostentation or desire for publicity, but those privileged to know the man as he is can not but have respect and reverence for his worthy thoughts and worthy deeds, his kindly and generous attributes of character, and the fine intellectual attainments that represent the long years of study and of association with men and affairs. The province of this publication is necessarily circumscribed, but it is a matter of gratification to be able to present a brief review of the career of the venerable citizen whose name initiates this paragraph.

Ashbel Grattan Smith was born at Winsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut, on the 25th of July 1829, and is a scion of a family that was founded in New England in the early colonial epoch of our national history.

Moses Smith, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, and was "an active, resolute man of sterling worth." He became the father of four sons and one daughter, namely: Solomon Curtis, Ashbel, Henry Grattan, George Alfred, and Caroline. The maiden name of his first wife was Adams, a relative of the distinguished Massachusetts family of that name. The second wife of Moses Smith was a collateral descendant of the Seymour family of England.

Solomon Curtis Smith, son of Moses and - (Adams) Smith, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in which state he was reared and educated, and there was solemnized his marriage to Sarah R. Hayden, of Litchfield county. In 1830 he came with his family to the Western Reserve and settled in that part of Geauga County that is now Lake County. Here he became a successful farmer and mechanic. Of his seven children the eldest is he to whom this article is dedicated.Ann Caroline was born in 1831; Sarah Margaret, in 1833; Samuel Hayden, in 1836; Henry Hubert, in 1838; Cassius M., born 1840, died in 1872; and Mirabeau L. is the youngest of the children. All are living except Cassius M., but Ashbel G. Smith is now (1910) the only representative of the immediate family in the Western Reserve, the others residing at various points in the west.

Colonel Ashbel Smith, the second of the children of Moses Smith remained a bachelor until his death. He was a graduate of Yale College and was a man of high intellectual attainments, and was a distinguished figure in connection with the early history of the state of Texas, his adopted state, and served as an administer to both England and France. He was long a prominent and influential factor in public life and was an intimate friend of the great Texan, General Sam Houston. He served as a member of the Texas legislature and was for many years president of the "Board of Regents of the University of Texas," at Austin, an incumbency that he retained until the time of his death. He supported the cause of the Confederacy during the Civil war and served as colonel in command at the siege and fall of Vicksburg, in 1863. One familiar with his career spoke of him at the time of his death as "the most learned man that Texas ever produced."

Henry Grattan Smith, third son of Moses Smith, was likewise graduated in Yale College, and he became one of the most prominent members of the bar of Memphis, Tennessee, in which state he wielded much influence in public affairs. He was atone time urged to accept nomination for the office of governor of that state, but declined the honor. He was a stanch supporter of the Union during the Civil War.

Dr. George A. Smith, youngest of the four sons of Moses Smith, was likewise afforded the advantages of Yale College, in which he was graduated, and he was also an able physician and surgeon. He was a resident of Memphis, Tennessee,at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war and was an extensive cotton planter in that section. He was an uncompromising and outspoken Union man and successfully defied an attempted conscription into the Confederate army. He died about a decade ago, September 29, 1900, at Galveston, Texas.

Caroline Smith, only daughter of Moses Smith, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, and was a woman of fine education and much culture. She became the wife of Dr. Kittridge, of Keene, New Hampshire, and they became the parents of two sons and one daughter.

Solomon Curtis Smith, father of the subject of this sketch, was afforded the advantages of the common schools of his native state, and, like his brothers, he was a man of strong mentality and independent views. He was influential in the affairs of his community after coming to what is now Lake County, Ohio (1830) and his name merits a place of honor on the roster of its sterling pioneers. He held various offices of public trust in Concord Township, including that of postmaster, and continued to reside in that township until I855 when he removed to the western part of Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life. He died at Kirkwood, that state, in 1896, at the venerable age of ninety-four years, and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest in 1886. Early in life he favored the Universalist belief but later became a Presbyterian, and when about fifty years of age he severed all church associations and followed the trend of broad and liberal religious views.

Ashbel G. Smith was an infant of about one year at the time of the family removal from Connecticut to the Western Reserve, and he was reared to maturity in Concord township, Lake County, where he was afforded the advantages of the pioneer schools, including the select or high school maintained in the "Little Red School House" at Wilson's Corners in Concord township. Thereafter he attended the preparatory academy, kept by Rev. Samuel Bissell, at Twinsburg-Summit county,for about two terms, leaving shortly before his graduation, his original intention having been to enter the Western Reserve College, at Hudson. Upon leaving school, however, he went to Galveston. Texas, in 1846, and he attended the first public school organized in that then frontier town, in which his uncle, Colonel Ashbel Smith, had established his home. In the school mentioned Mr. Smith "graduated out" at the expiration of three weeks, as his prior instruction had covered the same ground and he could not secure classical training under the teachers employed. In 1847 he returned to the north. On the 1st of February, 1855, at Cleveland, Ohio, was celebrated his marriage to Miss Alma J. Huntoon,daughter of Major Corbin Huntoon, a veteran of the war of 1812, and Jane (Gage) Huntoon. Soon after his marriage Mr. Smith removed to Warren County, Illinois, and in the summer of 1855 he there erected the second dwelling house in the prospective town of Linden, now known as Kirkwood. The town rapidly grew in population and business activities and became an important shipping point. Smith assisted in the organization of the village,and was elected a member of the first village council, besides which he was called upon to serve in other offices of local trust. He became one of the active businessmen of Linden, where for sometime he conducted a large and prosperous enterprise as a buyer and shipper of grain.

In 1866 Mr. Smith returned to Lake County, Ohio, and established his home in Painesville. In the following year he here purchased a half interest in a planing mill and sash and door factory, and the operation of the same proved profitable. In 1871 he disposed of his interest in the business, and in the financial panic of 1873 he sacrificed his entire capital, gained by close and earnest application in preceding years. After that time he gave his attention principally to minor contracting work, and since 1875 he has lived virtually retired from a stated business, yet is still active in lighter labors (1910). For several years he served as secretary of the "County Board of Visitors,"whose duty is to have a general survey of the various public institutions of the county and while in this position he was several times a delegate to the annual meetings of the "State Board of Charities and Corrections." In later years Mr.Smith has been occasional correspondent for various newspapers, and has made many interesting contributions on different subjects - news, local and general history, physics and philosophy. He has a well trained mind, has shown fine powers of observation and ratiocination, has covered a wide realm of literature in his reading and study, and from every source has gained something to place in his storehouse of knowledge. Liberal and progressive as a citizen, Mr. Smith has always shown the highest civic ideals and has ever stood ready to lend his influence and aid in support of all worthy measures advanced for the general good. He pronounces himself a "Lincoln Republican." He has served as a member of the city council of Painesville, was a United States census enumerator in 1890, and has held other minor offices of local order. Broad and tolerant in his religious views, Mr. Smith has a deep reverence for spiritual verities, but holds no sympathy with set creeds and dogmas. He has Vol. Ill- 7 epigrammatically stated his position in the following words: "I believe all that I know, but do not assume to know all that I may believe." For four years he had charge of the Sunday meetings of a society of Spiritualists and liberal thinkers, 1867-71 - an organization which had a membership of full one hundred persons. For many years he has been a zealous member of the Lake County Humane Society. Mrs. Alma J. (Huntoon) Smith passed away in 1896, at the age of sixty-four years. She was a woman of most gracious personality and of marked culture and refinement, and she was held in affectionate regard by all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence.

Ashbel G. and Alma J. (Huntoon) Smith became the parents of three children, concerning whom the following brief data are given: Estelle J., who was the first child born in the embryo town of Linden (now Kirkwood), Illinois, in 1856,is now the wife of Frank P. Pratt, of Painesville, and they have two sons and two daughters. Wynne S., who was born in 1860, is an up to date artist at Painesville, is married and has three sons, and Gertrude A., who was born in1867, became the wife of John C. Barto (1892), Clerk of Courts, Lake county. They have three sons.

The Smith family has long been known as one of fine musical ability and its reputation in this line has far transcended local limitations. Mrs. Alma J. Smith was possessed of an exceptionally fine contralto voice, and all three of the children have inherited the musical ability of the father and mother, especially Mrs. Pratt, who has been designated as the most effective mezzo-soprano in northern Ohio. She was offered a leading position in a fine opera company, but declined the overture. For many years the Smith family sang the songs of home and sentiment, as well as compositions of the most classical order, and have appeared before thousands. For a quarter of a century the three children and Mr.Pratt, the husband of the eldest daughter, have constituted a salaried and most effective quartet church choir. Mrs. Pratt has trained and led large choral bodies and has been especially successful in such ensemble work. Originally the family was known to the public as "The Smith Family of Singers," they touched the best in all departments of vocal music, including oratorio. It may be added that they have rendered their sympathetic and comforting harmonies on nearly one thousand recorded funeral and occasions, carrying hope and consolation to many an aching heart. The family, including Mr. Smith himself, have at various times enlivened, with appropriate songs,great camps and convocations of people, where Henry Ward Beecher, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll and other distinguished speakers, were the chief attractions.

In the city of Ashtabula, Ohio, on the first of February, 1901, Mr. Smith contracted a second marriage, having then been united to Mrs. Sarah E. Dwight, who was born in the state of Pennsylvania and who presides with gracious dignity over their pleasant home. She is a woman especially qualified for society work and is a member of the secret order of Rebekahs, and for years has held the dignified office of chaplain in that grand and humane organization,"The Woman's ReliefCorps," No. 84, auxiliary to the Grand Army Republic. Mr. Smith's descendants of the third and fourth generations, who have come into his life to bless the Indian summer of his declining years, are as follows:Children of Mr. And Mrs. F.P. Pratt: Donald Smith (Pratt), born 1887, now cashier of the Pullman dining service; Alma Louise (Pratt), wife of Samuel House, Jr., electrician of Colorado, born 1889, married October, 1908, and has one representative of the fourth generation, Victor Herbert House, born March 5, 1910; Francis Victor Pratt, born 1895, and Helen Antoinette Pratt, born 1898. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Wynne S. Smith: Harold Bunell Smith, born 1893;Sterling S. Smith, born 1896, andJulian Kerr Smith, born 1899. Children of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Barto: Philip Smith Barto and Robert Smith Barto (twins), born 1893, and John Ashbel Barto born 1904. Without a single exception the ten grandchildren above named have evinced a decided taste for music and six of the ten have been or still are members of the "boy choir" at St. James Episcopal church, of Painesville. (History of the Western Reserve by HarrietTaylor Upton, Harry Gardner Cutler, 1910) - History of the Western Reserve by Harriet Taylor Upton, Harry Gardner Cutler

DNA

Descendant of yDNA group NE18 brother Joseph Smith-1807 (c1629 ENG-1690 CT) m Lydia Huit-1. This is a list of Joseph’s YDNA descendants. See SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project, haplogroup Rb1 NE18 Christopher Smith-27264 (imm. from Stratford-Upon-Avon).

• History of the Western Reserve, Volume 3 by Harriet Taylor Upton, Harry Gardner Cutler. Pages 1365-1368
• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXQJ-X9R : 9 November 2014), Grattan Smith in household of Curtiss Smith, Concord, Lake, Ohio, United States; citing family 34, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States Census, 1860," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXH1-CCB : accessed 30 September 2015), A G Smith, Tompkins Township, Warren, Illinois, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing p. 231, household ID 1612, NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 803,234.

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M89X-H6Y : accessed 22 August 2015), Ashbel G Smith, Painesville, Lake, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district 87, sheet 414D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1038; FHL microfilm 1,255,038.
• FindAGrave.com memorial #21377361 in Evergreen Cem, Painesville, Lake, Ohio
• BillionGraves.com
• "Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X6HX-Y6T : 8 December 2014), Ashbel G Smith, 25 Jan 1928; citing Painesville, Lake, Ohio, reference fn 3708; FHL microfilm 1,991,143.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Kitty Smith for contributions to this profile. Cooper-1 22:31, 21 August 2015 (EDT)