My Genealogy Hound

WASHINGTON A. SMITH, a successful and representative horticulturist of Benton Township, Berrien County, Mich., has been a constant resident of his present locality for thirty years, and during this period of time has actively participated in all matters of local progress and enterprise in his home neighborhood. A thoroughly practical fruit-grower, he is considered an authority on the culture of peaches and has charge of the Town Board of “Yellow” Commissioners of Benton Township. Our subject was born in Bedford, Pa., in 1824, and passed the days of early childhood in his birthplace. His father and mother, Jacob and Elizabeth (Putnam) Smith, were born and reared in the sunny South, Maryland being their native State. Residing the first part of their married life in the Quaker State, they later removed to Ohio, and when their son Washington was but nine years old settled in Columbiana County. In the Buckeye State, Mr. Smith was mainly reared, and, attending the log cabin district schools of his home neighborhood, received such training as those schools afforded. When grown to manhood he attended a High School, read law and was admitted to the Bar in the old Indian Council House at Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

Married at a comparatively early age to the present companion of his life, Mr. Smith finally decided to settle permanently in the State of Michigan, and emigrated from Williams County, Ohio, to Benton Township, Berrien County, in 1862. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the oldest settlers of their location along the lake shore where they now reside. Four children, two sons and two daughters, have cheered the home by their merry presence. Edwin A., the eldest-born, is now a prominent resident of South Dakota; Mary is the wife of Frank Burdick, a leading citizen of Sodus, Mich.; Fanny B. and Karl A. are yet with the father and mother and are social favorites in the township. The homestead is one of the most attractive pieces of outside property in the vicinity, and is an abode of hospitality, a large circle of old-time friends and acquaintances meeting with a ready welcome within the spacious and substantial residence.

In the spring of 1862, immediately after our subject settled on the farm, he planted out an orchard of peach trees, covering several acres, and from his earliest arrival in the State he has been connected with the horticultural interests of Berrien County. Mr. Smith owns fifty acres of highly productive land, all devoted to the culture of fruit, which crop he has handled most profitably during more than a quarter of a century. The improvements, residence and barns, have been erected by our subject, who has steadily prospered in his present department of agricultural labor, and has demonstrated the value of practical experience and real adaptability to the business of horticulture. Politically, Mr. Smith is a Democrat and gives due attention to the conduct of local and national affairs, and, a man of intelligence, is well posted in the current events of the day. He is an ardent advocate of local improvements and educational advancement, and is ever ready to lend a helping hand in behalf of mutual welfare and the best interests of the community by whom he is surrounded. A man of superior business ability and a liberal-spirited citizen, Washington A. Smith justly enjoys the confidence of all his fellow-townsmen.