Contributed to the Pierce County WIGenWeb Project by Nance Sampson nsampson@spacestar.net
@2000 by Nance Sampson

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IRA J. SMITH, farmer, P. O. Farmhill, Pierce county, Wis.  John Smith, the
father of our subject, was born in Massachusetts, and married Caroline
Taylor, who bore him three children, namely: Edwin T., who lives in Iola,
Waupaca county; George W., who lives at Tomahawk, and Ira J., who was born
April 19, 1838, at Rutland, Vt.  Their grandfather, Thomas, and great-
grandfather, Israel Smith, both served in the Revolutionary war, and the
latter was in the battle of Bunker Hill.  Ira J. spent the first ten years 
of his life in his native state, then came west with his parents and settled
in Dodge county, Wis., where he lived until twenty-nine years of age.  At
the age of twenty he started out in life for himself and bought a farm.  In
1861 he married Harriet A., daughter of Daniel and Mercy Lawrence, and they
came to Pierce county as pioneers in 1868.  Seven children have been born to 
them, namely:  Irene H., at home; Ira E., living at Eau Galle; George E., at
home; Charles F., living at St. Paul; Willis H., died aged thirteen; John L.
and Maud I., at home.

Mr. Smith now has a fine farm of 320 acres, well improved, and bids fair to
live to an old age, as he comes of a good old Puritan family, and is well
preserved.  His father is now seventy-nine years of age, and can read without
the use of glasses.  In politics Mr. Smith is a republican, and for the past
twenty years has almost continually held some town office.  He is one of the
substantial men of the county, his word being as good as his bond, and he
has the respect and confidence of the entire township.

--Taken from the "Historical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa Valley
Wisconsin Including A General Historical Sketch of the Chippewa Valley;
Ancestral Records fo Leading Families; Biographies of Representative Citizens,
Past and Present; and Portraits of Prominent Men.  Edited by George Forrester.
Published in Chicago, Illinois by A. Warner. Publisher. 1891-2. Pages 755-756