- JOHN BURGIN SMITH, a well-to-do farmer in the town of Bradford,
Rock county, was born
- May 6, 1842, on the place which he still owns, and adjoining
the one on which he resides, and comes of an English parentage.
- John SMITH, his father, was born in England, March 10, 1818,
and accompanied his parents to
- the United States when he was a lad of eleven years. They
settled in New York, and moved from there to Michigan, where
the elder SMITH, named Joseph (the grandfather of John B.), was
a contractor on government works in 1836. When that work was
completed he moved to Chicago, and engaged in the business of
hotel-keeper until 1845, in which year he moved to Wisconsin,
and purchased a farm near Madison, where he lived until his death,
in 1868. His wife, Mary YEATMAN, died about ten years earlier.
They were the parents of six children, John, Alexander, Henry,
Mary, Sarah and Caroline. All are deceased except the last named.
- John SMITH located at Bradford Center in 1839. He was a farmer.
The first school, church and
- town meetings were all held in his house, and continued to
be until suitable accommodations could be provided, which was
not so easily done in pioneer days. Their various buildings were
all erected later on property which he donated for sites. Mr.
SMITH was chairman of the town board of supervisors four years,
and held public office continuously throughout life. He died
in 1887, and his widow survived until 1896; their bodies are
interred in Smithton cemetery. On May 14, 1840, at Naperville,
Ill., Mr. SMITH married Louisa SARGENT, a daughter of John and
Nancy (BURGIN) SARGENT, of New Hampshire, and they had four children,
John B., Louisa A., Alfred C. and Edwin S. Louisa A. married
George WILCOX and lives at Clinton, Wis. Alfred C. enlisted in
Company E, 10th United States Infantry, and Lexington, Ky., and
died July 28, 1867, at Fort Wadsworth, Dakota Territory. His
body is buried at Smithton cemetery on the old homestead. Edwin
S. married Flora IRISH, of Clinton, Wis., and they are now living
in that place. This family was instrumental in the organization
of the Free Baptist Church of Bradford, and John SMITH was among
the most conspicuous of its founders. He was its main support
during his life, and left the name of a devout Christian and
a public-spirited and most benevolent character.
- John Burgin SMITH grew to manhood on the paternal acres,
and received an impulse in the way
- of right living from his father's example that was potent
in his formative days. He obtained his education in the public
schools and in the academy at Allen's Grove, Wis., and when he
became a young man was engaged in teaching with success. He did
service as a soldier in the Union army during the war of the
Rebellion, enlisting May 11, 1864, in Company A, 40th Wis., V.
I., under the command of Capt. Samuel T. LOCKWOOD. He responded
to the call for one-hundred-day-men, and spent the period of
his enlistment in doing picket duty around the city of Memphis
and helping repulse the Rebel Gen. Forrest's forces when they
raided that city. He was honorably mustered out of service at
Madison Sept. 21, 1864. Mr. SMITH then sought a fortune in the
gold mines of Montana, and spent five fairly successful years
in the mountains, entering Montana in 1865, and returning home
in 1871, to take the management of the old homestead farm; here
has been his residence to the present time.
- Mr. SMITH and Miss Bertha WRIGHT, daughter of William and
Jessie (TAYLOR) WRIGHT,
- of Janesville, Wis., were married Dec. 14, 1873. Mr. WRIGHT
was a harness maker, and had the reputation of being one of the
very best workmen in his line in the State. He was born in Scotland,
and came to this country in his early youth. Mr. SMITH took a
government contract for carrying the mails daily from Fairfield
to Janesville, Wis., for a period of four year ending July 1,
1899, thereby securing a postoffice at Bradford Center, which
he has kept in his house since, for the accommodation of the
public. Rufus L. ROLLINS made an excellent record as a prompt
and time-keeping carrier. Mr. and Mrs. SMITH are the parents
of the following children: Laura, born Jan. 14, 1875; Pearl,
July 23, 1877; John Wright, April 13, 1879; and Jessie L., March
11, 1885. Laura is the present postmistress at Smithton, and
was appointed by Postmaster-General Charles Emery SMITH Feb.
28, 1900, to succeed her sister Pearl, who had held the office
two years, and resigned to take up school teaching. Pearl is
a graduate of the Clinton high school, and is now a student at
the Whitewater (Wis.) Normal, preparing herself for her chosen
work with zeal and a wise perception of its difficulties as well
as advantages. Jessie is now a student at the Clinton high school,
and expects to graduate in 1901. John, the only son, is at home,
and is carrying on his father's farm, during the winter attending
the agricultural department of Wisconsin University.
- John B. SMITH is independent in politics and religion, and
is a man of sterling worth and
- character, highly regarded by his neighbors and very successful
in the management of his own affairs. He is a good neighbor and
a generous friend.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901, pp. 326-327.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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