The following is transcribed from Ellis Baker Ushe, Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913, Volume 4, pp. 795-799:
JOHN MONTGOMERY SMITH. A scion of a family whose name has been one of the greatest and most benignant influences in connection with the history of Wisconsin, he to whom this memoir is dedicated was a man whose character and achievement were such as to lend new dignity and laurels to the name which he bore, and he was long numbered among the prominent lawyers and influential citizens of the state, within the limits of which he passed the major portion of his life, his death having occurred at Mineral Point, Iowa county, on the 14th of May, 1903. On other pages of this work is entered a tribute to his distinguished father, General William R. Smith, who came to Wisconsin in the territorial days and who became one of the foremost among the liberal and loyal men to whom was due the laying of firm foundations for this now great and prosperous commonwealth. In the review of the life of General Smith are given adequate data concerning the family history and thus there is no necessity for the repetition of the information in the sketch at hand.
John Montgomery Smith was born at Bedford Springs, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February, 1834. He was about four years old at the time when the family home was established in the territory of Wisconsin, and his earliest experiences were those gained under the conditions and influences of the pioneer era, as his father settled in Wisconsin more than a decade prior to the admission of the state to the union. He whose name initiates this article passed the major part of his life at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, which now thriving little city was the original county seat of Iowa county, and, like his honored father, he proved one of the vigorous, resourceful and influential citizens of the state. Reared in a home of distinctive culture and refinement, he was further afforded excellent educational advantages in the pioneer schools of Wisconsin, and he eventually acquired a most liberal academic education, even as he became known for his singularly high attainments as a representative of the legal profession. In 1852, at the age of fifteen years, he made the long and perilous overland trip to California and there he remained for four years, during which time he gained his full quota of experience in connection with the search for gold in that new Eldorado. Upon his return to the family home in Wisconsin, he began the study of law under the effective preceptorship of his father at Mineral Point, and he also availed himself of the preceptorial instruction of J. H. Clary and Judge Crawford, who likewise were leading members of the bar of the new state. For some time after his admission to the bar he was associated with Judge Crawford in practice, but during the major part of his long and successful professional career he conducted an individual practice, the same having long been one of broad scope and important order,—thus attesting to his fine legal talents and sterling character.
He appeared in connection with considerable litigation including a number of celebrated causes presented in the various courts of the state, and he was at all times appreciative of the dignity and responsibility of his chosen vocation, thus being an exemplar of the highest ethics of his profession. Upon the foundations of a native talent for advocacy, amounting to genius itself, he superimposed the structure of a varied and extensive culture, a copious diction, a splendid memory, a keen and incisive wit and a broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. Such men are they who merit and win success at the bar, and Mr. Smith not only honored and dignified the profession of his choice, but also wielded large and benignant influence in public affairs.
In politics Mr. Smith accorded unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party and he was an able and effective leader and exponent of its principles and policies. He was a leader in the councils of his party in Wisconsin and twice represented the same in its national conventions in 1880 and again in 1888. In 1890 he was presidential elector from his state and cast his vote for Grover Cleveland. In 1879 he was nominated for the office of attorney-general of Wisconsin on the ticket headed by Judge Jenkins of Milwaukee for governor, but he shared in the defeat that came to the party ticket, throughout the state in the campaign that year. He commanded inviolable vantage-place in the confidence and esteem of his community in which the major part of his life was passed, and this was attested by his being called upon to serve in various positions of public trust. Thus it may be noted that he served three terms as mayor of Mineral Point, two terms as superintendent of schools for Iowa county and two terms as district-attorney of the county. He also gave equally effective service as a member of the county board of supervisors, as court commissioner and as the valued incumbent of other offices of local order. In 1892 he represented his county in the assembly of the state legislature, in which connection he further exemplified his civic loyalty, his ability and his high sense of stewardship. During the first administration of President Cleveland Mr. Smith served as a member of the Southern Ute Indian Commission, and in the second term of Mr. Cleveland he was honored in his appointment to the chairmanship of the Chippewa Indian Commission, a préferment rendered the more noteworthy by reason of that fact that his father held virtually a similar position fully sixty years prior to that time.
The life of Mr. Smith was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor and when he was summoned to eternal rest, at his home in Mineral Point, on the 14th day of May, 1903, the entire community manifested a sense of personal loss and bereavement. The bar association of Iowa county attended the funeral in a body, and the bar associations of Grant and Lafayette counties also were represented on this occasion, the funeral being held at Trinity church, Protestant Episcopal, of which the deceased had been a zealous communicant. In the course of an appreciative address delivered by Dean March Chase, rector of Trinity church, the following statements were made: "He has gone, and in his death every citizen feels a personal loss. For years he has been identified with the life of the community as a citizen whom the people delighted to honor; for years his name has been on the register of this parish as a baptized and confirmed member; for years he has heen one of its vestrymen and its clerk; for years, when in town and when sickness did not prevent, he was always in his place on Sunday morning in this church, and his generous offerings flowed regularly into the parish treasury. Honored by the federal, state and local governments with high official trusts; welcomed by neighbors in social relations as a genial and pleasant companion; loved as a man in all family relations, which he filled so well—we mourn a very great loss, but bury him in the faith and hope of our creed, and pray the good Lord that perpetual light may shine upon him." The remains of Mr. Smith were laid to rest in beautiful Graceland cemetery, at Mineral Point, and his name and memory shall be long revered in the community which long represented his home and in which the most gracious attributes of his noble character found their apotheosis.
Twice was Mr. Smith married. His first wife was Miss Antonia Hilderbrand, and he married her on October 14, 1862. She was a daughter of Dr. Hilderbrand, who was at one time United States Consul to Bremen. To this marriage were born three children, of whom only one survives—Richard Montgomery Smith, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mrs. Smith died on August 17, 1867. In 1870 Mr. Smith married Mrs. Jennie M. Crawford, the widow of his former preceptor and partner, Judge Crawford, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and their only daughter is Etta M., who is the wife of Herbert Laflin, of Milwaukee, individually mentioned on other pages of this work. To Judge Samuel Crawford a specific memoir is dedicated in this publication, and reference may be made to the same for further mention of Mrs. Smith and her children by her first marriage. She was Jane Milton Sweet in her maiden days, but as the wife of J. M. Smith she invariably signed herself Jennie M. Smith.
Mrs. Smith, a noble and gracious gentlewoman, endeared herself to all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence and she is remembered with loving affection in Mineral Point, which had been her home for many years. From here she was summoned to eternal rest on the 9th day of August, 1893. Mrs. Jennie Milton (Sweet) Smith was born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, the summer home of her parents, on the 29th day of January, 1830, and her father was Dr. Richard Sweet. Mrs. Smith was long one of the most prominent and loved factors in the social activities of her home city and state and her distinctive culture and high ideals well fitted her for leadership in thought and action. She was appointed to represent Wisconsin as one of the board of lady managers at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1893, and her work in this connection undoubtedly shortened her life, especially in view of the fact that she received a terrible shock when she witnessed the death of the brave firemen who sacrificed their lives in the disastrous fire that destroyed the large refrigerating plant on the fair grounds. She saw the entrapped firemen jump from the burning tower of the building to their death, and on the 2nd of August, 1893, shortly after this deplorable event, she was taken suddenly and violently ill, having suffered a stroke of apoplexy, and her death occurred in the week following. Amid a large concourse of sorrowing friends, her funeral services were held at Trinity church in her home city, she having been for many years one of the most loved and valued communicants of that parish. The services were held in strict accord with her previously expressed wishes, with hymns of joy and peace and with the stately and simple ritual of the church, no sermon being delivered. Innumerable floral offerings and the large assemblage fittingly testified to the affectionate esteem in which she had been held in the community. Not more fully than exemplified by Mrs. Smith can the Christian faith be shown forth in thought, word and deed, for she went through life imbued with the fullest measure of faith, hope and charity. Concerning this noble and brilliant woman the following pertinent statements were made at the time of her death and the same are well worthy of preservation in this connection: "She had a fine intellect, a cultivated mind, a high sense of justice, and unfaltering persistence in what she deemed her duty. She was a liberal and cheerful giver to all worthy causes, and in her graciousness she may well be said to have remembered those who were forgotten and those who sat in darkness. Identified with the best interests of Trinity church for years, as a tireless worker and a devout communicant she also served for years as the parish organist, giving freely of her time, her talent and her means to the work of the church. All the moral and charitable orders, such as the Woman's Relief Corps, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and others, had her as a most worthy patron and member, and all who knew her considered it but a justified honor and preferment when she was appointed to represent her state at the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Besides the one daughter of her second marriage, Mrs. Smith is survived by two children of the first union—Minnie S. C., who is the wife of William S. Ross, of Mineral Point, and John W., who resides in Galena, Illinois.
JOHN MONTGOMERY SMITH. A scion of a family whose name has been one of the greatest and most benignant influences in connection with the history of Wisconsin, he to whom this memoir is dedicated was a man whose character and achievement were such as to lend new dignity and laurels to the name which he bore, and he was long numbered among the prominent lawyers and influential citizens of the state, within the limits of which he passed the major portion of his life, his death having occurred at Mineral Point, Iowa county, on the 14th of May, 1903. On other pages of this work is entered a tribute to his distinguished father, General William R. Smith, who came to Wisconsin in the territorial days and who became one of the foremost among the liberal and loyal men to whom was due the laying of firm foundations for this now great and prosperous commonwealth. In the review of the life of General Smith are given adequate data concerning the family history and thus there is no necessity for the repetition of the information in the sketch at hand.
John Montgomery Smith was born at Bedford Springs, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February, 1834. He was about four years old at the time when the family home was established in the territory of Wisconsin, and his earliest experiences were those gained under the conditions and influences of the pioneer era, as his father settled in Wisconsin more than a decade prior to the admission of the state to the union. He whose name initiates this article passed the major part of his life at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, which now thriving little city was the original county seat of Iowa county, and, like his honored father, he proved one of the vigorous, resourceful and influential citizens of the state. Reared in a home of distinctive culture and refinement, he was further afforded excellent educational advantages in the pioneer schools of Wisconsin, and he eventually acquired a most liberal academic education, even as he became known for his singularly high attainments as a representative of the legal profession. In 1852, at the age of fifteen years, he made the long and perilous overland trip to California and there he remained for four years, during which time he gained his full quota of experience in connection with the search for gold in that new Eldorado. Upon his return to the family home in Wisconsin, he began the study of law under the effective preceptorship of his father at Mineral Point, and he also availed himself of the preceptorial instruction of J. H. Clary and Judge Crawford, who likewise were leading members of the bar of the new state. For some time after his admission to the bar he was associated with Judge Crawford in practice, but during the major part of his long and successful professional career he conducted an individual practice, the same having long been one of broad scope and important order,—thus attesting to his fine legal talents and sterling character.
He appeared in connection with considerable litigation including a number of celebrated causes presented in the various courts of the state, and he was at all times appreciative of the dignity and responsibility of his chosen vocation, thus being an exemplar of the highest ethics of his profession. Upon the foundations of a native talent for advocacy, amounting to genius itself, he superimposed the structure of a varied and extensive culture, a copious diction, a splendid memory, a keen and incisive wit and a broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. Such men are they who merit and win success at the bar, and Mr. Smith not only honored and dignified the profession of his choice, but also wielded large and benignant influence in public affairs.
In politics Mr. Smith accorded unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party and he was an able and effective leader and exponent of its principles and policies. He was a leader in the councils of his party in Wisconsin and twice represented the same in its national conventions in 1880 and again in 1888. In 1890 he was presidential elector from his state and cast his vote for Grover Cleveland. In 1879 he was nominated for the office of attorney-general of Wisconsin on the ticket headed by Judge Jenkins of Milwaukee for governor, but he shared in the defeat that came to the party ticket, throughout the state in the campaign that year. He commanded inviolable vantage-place in the confidence and esteem of his community in which the major part of his life was passed, and this was attested by his being called upon to serve in various positions of public trust. Thus it may be noted that he served three terms as mayor of Mineral Point, two terms as superintendent of schools for Iowa county and two terms as district-attorney of the county. He also gave equally effective service as a member of the county board of supervisors, as court commissioner and as the valued incumbent of other offices of local order. In 1892 he represented his county in the assembly of the state legislature, in which connection he further exemplified his civic loyalty, his ability and his high sense of stewardship. During the first administration of President Cleveland Mr. Smith served as a member of the Southern Ute Indian Commission, and in the second term of Mr. Cleveland he was honored in his appointment to the chairmanship of the Chippewa Indian Commission, a préferment rendered the more noteworthy by reason of that fact that his father held virtually a similar position fully sixty years prior to that time.
The life of Mr. Smith was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor and when he was summoned to eternal rest, at his home in Mineral Point, on the 14th day of May, 1903, the entire community manifested a sense of personal loss and bereavement. The bar association of Iowa county attended the funeral in a body, and the bar associations of Grant and Lafayette counties also were represented on this occasion, the funeral being held at Trinity church, Protestant Episcopal, of which the deceased had been a zealous communicant. In the course of an appreciative address delivered by Dean March Chase, rector of Trinity church, the following statements were made: "He has gone, and in his death every citizen feels a personal loss. For years he has been identified with the life of the community as a citizen whom the people delighted to honor; for years his name has been on the register of this parish as a baptized and confirmed member; for years he has heen one of its vestrymen and its clerk; for years, when in town and when sickness did not prevent, he was always in his place on Sunday morning in this church, and his generous offerings flowed regularly into the parish treasury. Honored by the federal, state and local governments with high official trusts; welcomed by neighbors in social relations as a genial and pleasant companion; loved as a man in all family relations, which he filled so well—we mourn a very great loss, but bury him in the faith and hope of our creed, and pray the good Lord that perpetual light may shine upon him." The remains of Mr. Smith were laid to rest in beautiful Graceland cemetery, at Mineral Point, and his name and memory shall be long revered in the community which long represented his home and in which the most gracious attributes of his noble character found their apotheosis.
Twice was Mr. Smith married. His first wife was Miss Antonia Hilderbrand, and he married her on October 14, 1862. She was a daughter of Dr. Hilderbrand, who was at one time United States Consul to Bremen. To this marriage were born three children, of whom only one survives—Richard Montgomery Smith, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mrs. Smith died on August 17, 1867. In 1870 Mr. Smith married Mrs. Jennie M. Crawford, the widow of his former preceptor and partner, Judge Crawford, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and their only daughter is Etta M., who is the wife of Herbert Laflin, of Milwaukee, individually mentioned on other pages of this work. To Judge Samuel Crawford a specific memoir is dedicated in this publication, and reference may be made to the same for further mention of Mrs. Smith and her children by her first marriage. She was Jane Milton Sweet in her maiden days, but as the wife of J. M. Smith she invariably signed herself Jennie M. Smith.
Mrs. Smith, a noble and gracious gentlewoman, endeared herself to all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence and she is remembered with loving affection in Mineral Point, which had been her home for many years. From here she was summoned to eternal rest on the 9th day of August, 1893. Mrs. Jennie Milton (Sweet) Smith was born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, the summer home of her parents, on the 29th day of January, 1830, and her father was Dr. Richard Sweet. Mrs. Smith was long one of the most prominent and loved factors in the social activities of her home city and state and her distinctive culture and high ideals well fitted her for leadership in thought and action. She was appointed to represent Wisconsin as one of the board of lady managers at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1893, and her work in this connection undoubtedly shortened her life, especially in view of the fact that she received a terrible shock when she witnessed the death of the brave firemen who sacrificed their lives in the disastrous fire that destroyed the large refrigerating plant on the fair grounds. She saw the entrapped firemen jump from the burning tower of the building to their death, and on the 2nd of August, 1893, shortly after this deplorable event, she was taken suddenly and violently ill, having suffered a stroke of apoplexy, and her death occurred in the week following. Amid a large concourse of sorrowing friends, her funeral services were held at Trinity church in her home city, she having been for many years one of the most loved and valued communicants of that parish. The services were held in strict accord with her previously expressed wishes, with hymns of joy and peace and with the stately and simple ritual of the church, no sermon being delivered. Innumerable floral offerings and the large assemblage fittingly testified to the affectionate esteem in which she had been held in the community. Not more fully than exemplified by Mrs. Smith can the Christian faith be shown forth in thought, word and deed, for she went through life imbued with the fullest measure of faith, hope and charity. Concerning this noble and brilliant woman the following pertinent statements were made at the time of her death and the same are well worthy of preservation in this connection: "She had a fine intellect, a cultivated mind, a high sense of justice, and unfaltering persistence in what she deemed her duty. She was a liberal and cheerful giver to all worthy causes, and in her graciousness she may well be said to have remembered those who were forgotten and those who sat in darkness. Identified with the best interests of Trinity church for years, as a tireless worker and a devout communicant she also served for years as the parish organist, giving freely of her time, her talent and her means to the work of the church. All the moral and charitable orders, such as the Woman's Relief Corps, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and others, had her as a most worthy patron and member, and all who knew her considered it but a justified honor and preferment when she was appointed to represent her state at the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Besides the one daughter of her second marriage, Mrs. Smith is survived by two children of the first union—Minnie S. C., who is the wife of William S. Ross, of Mineral Point, and John W., who resides in Galena, Illinois.
The following is transcribed from Ellis Baker Ushe, Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913, Volume 4, pp. 795-799:
JOHN MONTGOMERY SMITH. A scion of a family whose name has been one of the greatest and most benignant influences in connection with the history of Wisconsin, he to whom this memoir is dedicated was a man whose character and achievement were such as to lend new dignity and laurels to the name which he bore, and he was long numbered among the prominent lawyers and influential citizens of the state, within the limits of which he passed the major portion of his life, his death having occurred at Mineral Point, Iowa county, on the 14th of May, 1903. On other pages of this work is entered a tribute to his distinguished father, General William R. Smith, who came to Wisconsin in the territorial days and who became one of the foremost among the liberal and loyal men to whom was due the laying of firm foundations for this now great and prosperous commonwealth. In the review of the life of General Smith are given adequate data concerning the family history and thus there is no necessity for the repetition of the information in the sketch at hand.
John Montgomery Smith was born at Bedford Springs, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February, 1834. He was about four years old at the time when the family home was established in the territory of Wisconsin, and his earliest experiences were those gained under the conditions and influences of the pioneer era, as his father settled in Wisconsin more than a decade prior to the admission of the state to the union. He whose name initiates this article passed the major part of his life at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, which now thriving little city was the original county seat of Iowa county, and, like his honored father, he proved one of the vigorous, resourceful and influential citizens of the state. Reared in a home of distinctive culture and refinement, he was further afforded excellent educational advantages in the pioneer schools of Wisconsin, and he eventually acquired a most liberal academic education, even as he became known for his singularly high attainments as a representative of the legal profession. In 1852, at the age of fifteen years, he made the long and perilous overland trip to California and there he remained for four years, during which time he gained his full quota of experience in connection with the search for gold in that new Eldorado. Upon his return to the family home in Wisconsin, he began the study of law under the effective preceptorship of his father at Mineral Point, and he also availed himself of the preceptorial instruction of J. H. Clary and Judge Crawford, who likewise were leading members of the bar of the new state. For some time after his admission to the bar he was associated with Judge Crawford in practice, but during the major part of his long and successful professional career he conducted an individual practice, the same having long been one of broad scope and important order,—thus attesting to his fine legal talents and sterling character.
He appeared in connection with considerable litigation including a number of celebrated causes presented in the various courts of the state, and he was at all times appreciative of the dignity and responsibility of his chosen vocation, thus being an exemplar of the highest ethics of his profession. Upon the foundations of a native talent for advocacy, amounting to genius itself, he superimposed the structure of a varied and extensive culture, a copious diction, a splendid memory, a keen and incisive wit and a broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. Such men are they who merit and win success at the bar, and Mr. Smith not only honored and dignified the profession of his choice, but also wielded large and benignant influence in public affairs.
In politics Mr. Smith accorded unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party and he was an able and effective leader and exponent of its principles and policies. He was a leader in the councils of his party in Wisconsin and twice represented the same in its national conventions in 1880 and again in 1888. In 1890 he was presidential elector from his state and cast his vote for Grover Cleveland. In 1879 he was nominated for the office of attorney-general of Wisconsin on the ticket headed by Judge Jenkins of Milwaukee for governor, but he shared in the defeat that came to the party ticket, throughout the state in the campaign that year. He commanded inviolable vantage-place in the confidence and esteem of his community in which the major part of his life was passed, and this was attested by his being called upon to serve in various positions of public trust. Thus it may be noted that he served three terms as mayor of Mineral Point, two terms as superintendent of schools for Iowa county and two terms as district-attorney of the county. He also gave equally effective service as a member of the county board of supervisors, as court commissioner and as the valued incumbent of other offices of local order. In 1892 he represented his county in the assembly of the state legislature, in which connection he further exemplified his civic loyalty, his ability and his high sense of stewardship. During the first administration of President Cleveland Mr. Smith served as a member of the Southern Ute Indian Commission, and in the second term of Mr. Cleveland he was honored in his appointment to the chairmanship of the Chippewa Indian Commission, a préferment rendered the more noteworthy by reason of that fact that his father held virtually a similar position fully sixty years prior to that time.
The life of Mr. Smith was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor and when he was summoned to eternal rest, at his home in Mineral Point, on the 14th day of May, 1903, the entire community manifested a sense of personal loss and bereavement. The bar association of Iowa county attended the funeral in a body, and the bar associations of Grant and Lafayette counties also were represented on this occasion, the funeral being held at Trinity church, Protestant Episcopal, of which the deceased had been a zealous communicant. In the course of an appreciative address delivered by Dean March Chase, rector of Trinity church, the following statements were made: "He has gone, and in his death every citizen feels a personal loss. For years he has been identified with the life of the community as a citizen whom the people delighted to honor; for years his name has been on the register of this parish as a baptized and confirmed member; for years he has heen one of its vestrymen and its clerk; for years, when in town and when sickness did not prevent, he was always in his place on Sunday morning in this church, and his generous offerings flowed regularly into the parish treasury. Honored by the federal, state and local governments with high official trusts; welcomed by neighbors in social relations as a genial and pleasant companion; loved as a man in all family relations, which he filled so well—we mourn a very great loss, but bury him in the faith and hope of our creed, and pray the good Lord that perpetual light may shine upon him." The remains of Mr. Smith were laid to rest in beautiful Graceland cemetery, at Mineral Point, and his name and memory shall be long revered in the community which long represented his home and in which the most gracious attributes of his noble character found their apotheosis.
Twice was Mr. Smith married. His first wife was Miss Antonia Hilderbrand, and he married her on October 14, 1862. She was a daughter of Dr. Hilderbrand, who was at one time United States Consul to Bremen. To this marriage were born three children, of whom only one survives—Richard Montgomery Smith, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mrs. Smith died on August 17, 1867. In 1870 Mr. Smith married Mrs. Jennie M. Crawford, the widow of his former preceptor and partner, Judge Crawford, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and their only daughter is Etta M., who is the wife of Herbert Laflin, of Milwaukee, individually mentioned on other pages of this work. To Judge Samuel Crawford a specific memoir is dedicated in this publication, and reference may be made to the same for further mention of Mrs. Smith and her children by her first marriage. She was Jane Milton Sweet in her maiden days, but as the wife of J. M. Smith she invariably signed herself Jennie M. Smith.
Mrs. Smith, a noble and gracious gentlewoman, endeared herself to all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence and she is remembered with loving affection in Mineral Point, which had been her home for many years. From here she was summoned to eternal rest on the 9th day of August, 1893. Mrs. Jennie Milton (Sweet) Smith was born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, the summer home of her parents, on the 29th day of January, 1830, and her father was Dr. Richard Sweet. Mrs. Smith was long one of the most prominent and loved factors in the social activities of her home city and state and her distinctive culture and high ideals well fitted her for leadership in thought and action. She was appointed to represent Wisconsin as one of the board of lady managers at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1893, and her work in this connection undoubtedly shortened her life, especially in view of the fact that she received a terrible shock when she witnessed the death of the brave firemen who sacrificed their lives in the disastrous fire that destroyed the large refrigerating plant on the fair grounds. She saw the entrapped firemen jump from the burning tower of the building to their death, and on the 2nd of August, 1893, shortly after this deplorable event, she was taken suddenly and violently ill, having suffered a stroke of apoplexy, and her death occurred in the week following. Amid a large concourse of sorrowing friends, her funeral services were held at Trinity church in her home city, she having been for many years one of the most loved and valued communicants of that parish. The services were held in strict accord with her previously expressed wishes, with hymns of joy and peace and with the stately and simple ritual of the church, no sermon being delivered. Innumerable floral offerings and the large assemblage fittingly testified to the affectionate esteem in which she had been held in the community. Not more fully than exemplified by Mrs. Smith can the Christian faith be shown forth in thought, word and deed, for she went through life imbued with the fullest measure of faith, hope and charity. Concerning this noble and brilliant woman the following pertinent statements were made at the time of her death and the same are well worthy of preservation in this connection: "She had a fine intellect, a cultivated mind, a high sense of justice, and unfaltering persistence in what she deemed her duty. She was a liberal and cheerful giver to all worthy causes, and in her graciousness she may well be said to have remembered those who were forgotten and those who sat in darkness. Identified with the best interests of Trinity church for years, as a tireless worker and a devout communicant she also served for years as the parish organist, giving freely of her time, her talent and her means to the work of the church. All the moral and charitable orders, such as the Woman's Relief Corps, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and others, had her as a most worthy patron and member, and all who knew her considered it but a justified honor and preferment when she was appointed to represent her state at the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Besides the one daughter of her second marriage, Mrs. Smith is survived by two children of the first union—Minnie S. C., who is the wife of William S. Ross, of Mineral Point, and John W., who resides in Galena, Illinois.
JOHN MONTGOMERY SMITH. A scion of a family whose name has been one of the greatest and most benignant influences in connection with the history of Wisconsin, he to whom this memoir is dedicated was a man whose character and achievement were such as to lend new dignity and laurels to the name which he bore, and he was long numbered among the prominent lawyers and influential citizens of the state, within the limits of which he passed the major portion of his life, his death having occurred at Mineral Point, Iowa county, on the 14th of May, 1903. On other pages of this work is entered a tribute to his distinguished father, General William R. Smith, who came to Wisconsin in the territorial days and who became one of the foremost among the liberal and loyal men to whom was due the laying of firm foundations for this now great and prosperous commonwealth. In the review of the life of General Smith are given adequate data concerning the family history and thus there is no necessity for the repetition of the information in the sketch at hand.
John Montgomery Smith was born at Bedford Springs, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February, 1834. He was about four years old at the time when the family home was established in the territory of Wisconsin, and his earliest experiences were those gained under the conditions and influences of the pioneer era, as his father settled in Wisconsin more than a decade prior to the admission of the state to the union. He whose name initiates this article passed the major part of his life at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, which now thriving little city was the original county seat of Iowa county, and, like his honored father, he proved one of the vigorous, resourceful and influential citizens of the state. Reared in a home of distinctive culture and refinement, he was further afforded excellent educational advantages in the pioneer schools of Wisconsin, and he eventually acquired a most liberal academic education, even as he became known for his singularly high attainments as a representative of the legal profession. In 1852, at the age of fifteen years, he made the long and perilous overland trip to California and there he remained for four years, during which time he gained his full quota of experience in connection with the search for gold in that new Eldorado. Upon his return to the family home in Wisconsin, he began the study of law under the effective preceptorship of his father at Mineral Point, and he also availed himself of the preceptorial instruction of J. H. Clary and Judge Crawford, who likewise were leading members of the bar of the new state. For some time after his admission to the bar he was associated with Judge Crawford in practice, but during the major part of his long and successful professional career he conducted an individual practice, the same having long been one of broad scope and important order,—thus attesting to his fine legal talents and sterling character.
He appeared in connection with considerable litigation including a number of celebrated causes presented in the various courts of the state, and he was at all times appreciative of the dignity and responsibility of his chosen vocation, thus being an exemplar of the highest ethics of his profession. Upon the foundations of a native talent for advocacy, amounting to genius itself, he superimposed the structure of a varied and extensive culture, a copious diction, a splendid memory, a keen and incisive wit and a broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence. Such men are they who merit and win success at the bar, and Mr. Smith not only honored and dignified the profession of his choice, but also wielded large and benignant influence in public affairs.
In politics Mr. Smith accorded unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party and he was an able and effective leader and exponent of its principles and policies. He was a leader in the councils of his party in Wisconsin and twice represented the same in its national conventions in 1880 and again in 1888. In 1890 he was presidential elector from his state and cast his vote for Grover Cleveland. In 1879 he was nominated for the office of attorney-general of Wisconsin on the ticket headed by Judge Jenkins of Milwaukee for governor, but he shared in the defeat that came to the party ticket, throughout the state in the campaign that year. He commanded inviolable vantage-place in the confidence and esteem of his community in which the major part of his life was passed, and this was attested by his being called upon to serve in various positions of public trust. Thus it may be noted that he served three terms as mayor of Mineral Point, two terms as superintendent of schools for Iowa county and two terms as district-attorney of the county. He also gave equally effective service as a member of the county board of supervisors, as court commissioner and as the valued incumbent of other offices of local order. In 1892 he represented his county in the assembly of the state legislature, in which connection he further exemplified his civic loyalty, his ability and his high sense of stewardship. During the first administration of President Cleveland Mr. Smith served as a member of the Southern Ute Indian Commission, and in the second term of Mr. Cleveland he was honored in his appointment to the chairmanship of the Chippewa Indian Commission, a préferment rendered the more noteworthy by reason of that fact that his father held virtually a similar position fully sixty years prior to that time.
The life of Mr. Smith was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor and when he was summoned to eternal rest, at his home in Mineral Point, on the 14th day of May, 1903, the entire community manifested a sense of personal loss and bereavement. The bar association of Iowa county attended the funeral in a body, and the bar associations of Grant and Lafayette counties also were represented on this occasion, the funeral being held at Trinity church, Protestant Episcopal, of which the deceased had been a zealous communicant. In the course of an appreciative address delivered by Dean March Chase, rector of Trinity church, the following statements were made: "He has gone, and in his death every citizen feels a personal loss. For years he has been identified with the life of the community as a citizen whom the people delighted to honor; for years his name has been on the register of this parish as a baptized and confirmed member; for years he has heen one of its vestrymen and its clerk; for years, when in town and when sickness did not prevent, he was always in his place on Sunday morning in this church, and his generous offerings flowed regularly into the parish treasury. Honored by the federal, state and local governments with high official trusts; welcomed by neighbors in social relations as a genial and pleasant companion; loved as a man in all family relations, which he filled so well—we mourn a very great loss, but bury him in the faith and hope of our creed, and pray the good Lord that perpetual light may shine upon him." The remains of Mr. Smith were laid to rest in beautiful Graceland cemetery, at Mineral Point, and his name and memory shall be long revered in the community which long represented his home and in which the most gracious attributes of his noble character found their apotheosis.
Twice was Mr. Smith married. His first wife was Miss Antonia Hilderbrand, and he married her on October 14, 1862. She was a daughter of Dr. Hilderbrand, who was at one time United States Consul to Bremen. To this marriage were born three children, of whom only one survives—Richard Montgomery Smith, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mrs. Smith died on August 17, 1867. In 1870 Mr. Smith married Mrs. Jennie M. Crawford, the widow of his former preceptor and partner, Judge Crawford, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and their only daughter is Etta M., who is the wife of Herbert Laflin, of Milwaukee, individually mentioned on other pages of this work. To Judge Samuel Crawford a specific memoir is dedicated in this publication, and reference may be made to the same for further mention of Mrs. Smith and her children by her first marriage. She was Jane Milton Sweet in her maiden days, but as the wife of J. M. Smith she invariably signed herself Jennie M. Smith.
Mrs. Smith, a noble and gracious gentlewoman, endeared herself to all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence and she is remembered with loving affection in Mineral Point, which had been her home for many years. From here she was summoned to eternal rest on the 9th day of August, 1893. Mrs. Jennie Milton (Sweet) Smith was born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, the summer home of her parents, on the 29th day of January, 1830, and her father was Dr. Richard Sweet. Mrs. Smith was long one of the most prominent and loved factors in the social activities of her home city and state and her distinctive culture and high ideals well fitted her for leadership in thought and action. She was appointed to represent Wisconsin as one of the board of lady managers at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1893, and her work in this connection undoubtedly shortened her life, especially in view of the fact that she received a terrible shock when she witnessed the death of the brave firemen who sacrificed their lives in the disastrous fire that destroyed the large refrigerating plant on the fair grounds. She saw the entrapped firemen jump from the burning tower of the building to their death, and on the 2nd of August, 1893, shortly after this deplorable event, she was taken suddenly and violently ill, having suffered a stroke of apoplexy, and her death occurred in the week following. Amid a large concourse of sorrowing friends, her funeral services were held at Trinity church in her home city, she having been for many years one of the most loved and valued communicants of that parish. The services were held in strict accord with her previously expressed wishes, with hymns of joy and peace and with the stately and simple ritual of the church, no sermon being delivered. Innumerable floral offerings and the large assemblage fittingly testified to the affectionate esteem in which she had been held in the community. Not more fully than exemplified by Mrs. Smith can the Christian faith be shown forth in thought, word and deed, for she went through life imbued with the fullest measure of faith, hope and charity. Concerning this noble and brilliant woman the following pertinent statements were made at the time of her death and the same are well worthy of preservation in this connection: "She had a fine intellect, a cultivated mind, a high sense of justice, and unfaltering persistence in what she deemed her duty. She was a liberal and cheerful giver to all worthy causes, and in her graciousness she may well be said to have remembered those who were forgotten and those who sat in darkness. Identified with the best interests of Trinity church for years, as a tireless worker and a devout communicant she also served for years as the parish organist, giving freely of her time, her talent and her means to the work of the church. All the moral and charitable orders, such as the Woman's Relief Corps, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and others, had her as a most worthy patron and member, and all who knew her considered it but a justified honor and preferment when she was appointed to represent her state at the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Besides the one daughter of her second marriage, Mrs. Smith is survived by two children of the first union—Minnie S. C., who is the wife of William S. Ross, of Mineral Point, and John W., who resides in Galena, Illinois.
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