My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Brown County, Ohio published by W. H. Beers & Co. in 1883.  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.

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C. W. F. SMITH, cultivator of small fruits, grapes and tobacco, P. O. Augusta, Ky., was born June 17, 1822, in Mecklenburg, Germany, and is a son of John Jacob and Christiana Smith, who were both natives of that country, where she died in 1879. John was by occupation a turner, and turned many articles of great value from ivory, horn and fine metals. His military service was under Napoleon. He was the father of eleven children, five of whom are now living, one being a professor in a university. John came to the United States in 1838, and remained in Philadelphia until 1847, when he came to Augusta, Ky., where he followed his trade until his death, in 1852. He had almost reached the allotted time of man—threescore and ten years. Our subject is the seventh child, and he as well as his other brothers and sisters came to America subsequently to their father at different intervals. He brought his sister Philipine to the United States, in 1841, stopping in Philadelphia, where he, in 1842, enlisted in the United States Navy as a musician, and made a trip with Caleb Cushing to China, remaining in service three years, and making a trip around the globe. His sailing aggregated 67,000 miles. His discharge dates 1845, at Norfolk, Va. He then followed his profession (teaching music), until 1853, when he settled in Brown County and bought his present farm of twenty-five acres, in Lewis Township. He then began cultivating grapes, but finding it different to what he expected, and that it did not justify him to devote his entire time thus, he resumed the teaching of music a part of the time, and finally began the raising of tobacco and other small fruits, which receives his attention at present. In 1857, he married Johanna Cramer, a native of Germany, born in 1837, but since 1850, a resident of the United States. The issue of this union is nine children, eight of whom are still living, and under the parental roof.

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This family biography is one of 992 biographies included in The History of Brown County, Ohio published in 1883 by W. H. Beers & Co.  For the complete description, click here: Brown County, Ohio History and Genealogy

View additional Brown County, Ohio family biographies here: Brown County, Ohio Biographies

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