BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
1795
History of
Clermont County, Ohio
with
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Prominent Men and Pioneers
Philadelphia:
Louis H. Everts
Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia
1880

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	JAMES B. SHAW.  The pioneers of Clermont were nearly all farmers, as were their immediate descendants, and did not consider it beneath the dignity of honorable men to swing the axe, the cradle, the seythe, or flail.  They were proud of being farmers and of being engaged in agriculture.  - the oldest profession of man; and arising from the commission of Heaven "to dress and to keep" the Garden of Eden, and to "till the ground," its origin alone should instill within us a respect for the tillers of the soil.  Among those who early endured the hardships and privations of the sparse settlements in Clermont were Thomas Shaw and his wife Martha, who in 1807 emigrated from Bucks Co., Pa., and settled in Miami township, on a farm at Union Cross Roads.  They were of Quaker ancestry, and descended from the noble stock that early in American history settled in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and who left the old country to escape persecutions and find in the New World that peace of mind and freedom of thought which religious intolerance and monarchical rule denied them in the Old.  Like his ancestors, Thomas Shaw was a quiet, honest, and law-abiding citizen, industrious and intelligent.  He first bought sixty-eight acres of land of Col. Thomas Paxton, and in 1808 he purchased sixty-three more of Gen. William Lytle, and began opening up the wilderness into beautiful fields.  He afterwards added to his possessions, and died in good circumstances.  His son, James Belford Shaw, born in 1798, was nine years old when his parents removed to Ohio, was brought up on the farm, and received the usual but limited education given to boys in those early times.  In 1836 he married Mary A. Banghart, by which union four children were born, viz., William, married Oct. 30, 1860, by Rev. George Gatch to Miss E. A. Smysor;  Martha H., married Dec. 10, 1862, by Rev. George Sapp to James Tice; Sarah J., married Oct 26, 1870, by Rev. R. E. Smith, to Zachariah T. Robinson; and James M., married to Miss Rosa Kearney, of Cincinnati.  He was a sound business man, of clear judgment and the sternest integrity, and possessed the full and unquestioned confidence of the community.  He was a systematic farmer and most careful in his management of soils, and had that taste which led him to have everything on his farm in a neat condition.  He was one of the projectors of the Milford, Edenton and Woodville turnpike, and from its organization in 1851 to his death was one of its directors.  He was greatly interested in public improvements for the benefit of the country, and was always ready to contribute his full quota in their aid.  Being of Quaker descent, he was a member of no church, but a man of the highest morals and purity of character, and was interested in all reforms for elevating mankind.  He was of the Democratic school of politics up to the Rebellion, when he espoused the Union cause, and was afterwards identified with the Republican party.  His lands including his homestead residence, were in McDowell's survey, partly in Miami and partly in Stonelick township, but his house was in the latter.  He died Feb. 12, 1873, and in his life of just three quarters of a century he demonstrated to the world the virtues of an upright life.  He came when a small boy to Clermont, at a period when there were but few improved farms or comfortable houses, but he lived to see the forests converted into cultivated fields, to witness the building up of pleasant villages, and behold the lands dotted over with spacious dwellings and the harvest-fields buzz with improved machinery.      James B. Shaw died esteemed by the public, leaving the heritage of a good name to his four children, who are worthy descendants of him. Source: 1795 History of Clermont County, Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts - Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia - 1880 - Page 546
Alex Smith	Franklin Twp. - ALEXANDER SMITH.  Capt. Alexander Smith was born in Perthshire, Scotland, Dec. 28, 1811.  When he was seven years old his father removed with his entire family to America, and settled in Belmont Co., Ohio. At the age of nineteen he became an apprentice in Wheeling, Va., "to be made as perfect in the art and mystery of a chair and ornamental painter as possible," according to the quaint old indenture.  He served his master faithfully, and exhibited talents for designing and painting which led him to excel in the trade, and proved him to be in after-years a connoisseur in the higher branches of art.  He united with the Presbyterian Church, and walked two miles on the Sabbath to superintend a Sunday-school.  He was active in assisting to nurse cholera patients when that scourge visited Wheeling, in 1832.  At the age of twenty-two he married Margaretta Alexander, of Belmont Co., Ohio, who only lived seven months after their marriage.  He kept for some time a paint-store in Wheeling, Va., and afterwards became a steamboatman, following this business for nine years.  He assisted his Brother, Capt. Joseph Smith, in building the steamers " Harrisburg" and" Mountaineer," which ran from Pittsburgh to Louisville and points below as far as New Orleans.  He was afterwards made superintendent of the Maysville and Big Sandy Packet Company, and a stockholder in the "Caledonia" and" Magnolia."  While actively engaged on the river he became acquainted with Capt. John McClain, of Neville, Ohio, and married his daughter, Rachel McClain, Oct. 18, 1842.  He then bought a farm on the Ohio River, near the mouth of Bullskin Creek, and later established the post-office and landing there known as "Smith's Landing."  After leaving the river he engaged in merchandising at Smith's Landing for several years with success.  He then turned his attention to grape culture, and at one time had thirty acres of vineyard, mostly of rare varieties.  He then speculated in Western lands, traded in leaf tobacco, and managed his several large farms in Franklin and Washington townships, on the Ohio River.  He was fond of traveling, and nearly every year took his family a long trip.  In the winter of 1874 he went to Florida, where he purchased a home on the seashore at the mouth of St. John's River, and also invested in a large plantation near by.  On this he planted an orange grove and intended to return every winter to it, merely to escape the rigors of the Northern climate.  In 1876, however, he removed to Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, where he resided for two years.  In the autumn of 1878 he was taken ill and suffered with an intensity and patience beyond description for sixteen months.  In the spring of 1879 he returned to the old homestead at "Smith's Landing," but his disease increasing, towards fall he thought the Florida climate was his only hope.  Accordingly his family acceded to his wishes and took him to his beloved Southern seaside home.  There he lived only four weeks, breathing his last on Dec. 9, 1879, at seven o'clock P.M.  His body was brought North and interred in Spring Grove Cemetery.  He died of Bright's disease, from which for years he was a terrible sufferer.  Capt. Smith was a staunch Republican and always an active worker, but never accepted a public office, although asked by President Lincoln and succeeding Presidents to do so for important services rendered the government in the dark hours of the Rebellion, in 1863 and 1864.  He was very liberal, and it is now known that his charity extended far and near, although he never permitted his name to be published when subscribing to public good or charities.  Of a large fortune, he was extremely generous, of unimpeachable honesty, and ever exercised a strong influence for the good of the community.  To Capt. Alexander Smith and his wife Rachel were born five children,  John McClain, drowned in 1862, and Alexander William, who died in infancy; and three yet living,-one son, Alexander Smith, Jr.; Rachel, the wife of Hon. N. P. Wheeler, of East Hickory, Forest Co., Pa., a member of the Legislature of that State, and a wealthy lumber merchant; and Miss Belle Smith, the celebrated printer, whose works of art have been the recipients of so much favorable criticism from the American press.  This lady spent several years in Europe, and part of the time in Rome, and in Dresden, Saxony, pursuing her studies.  Her specialties are in portraits, and the one of the great "War Secretary," Hon. E. M. Stanton, gave her a national reputation.  Among her works are "Christian Seibold," a pre-Raphaelite; a copy of Rubens; portrait of her father, Capt. Smith, and a crayon of her sister, Mrs. Hon. N. P. Wheeler; Roman Flower Girl, original; portrait of Gen. Grant's sister, Mary Grant Cramer, wife of Hon. M. J. Cramer, minister to Denmark; "Carlo Dolce;" "Correggio Magdalene," copied in Dresden, Saxony.  Mrs. Capt. Smith, with her daughter Belle and son Alexander, reside at the Smith mansion, at Smith's Landing, one of the finest country-seats in the Ohio Valley. Source: 1795 History of Clermont County, Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts - Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia - 1880 - Page 356
S. B. Smith	Tate Twp. - S. B. SMITH.  Samuel Brown Smith was born Feb. 10, 1811, on the banks of Bullskin Creek, near Feesburg, Brown Co., Ohio.  His mother's maiden name was Mary Richardson, born Oct. 16, 1789, and reared in Brown County, on Bullskin Creek.  She is still living in her ninety-first year, and often tells of the privations of the pioneer days, and the Indian outrages that preceded the victory of Wayne in 1794.  In her sixteenth year she was married to William Smith, a native of Ireland, who emigrated to America at an early day, and settled near Feesburg.  After their marriage they located on Cherry Fork of Brush Creek, in Adams Co., Ohio, where she yet lives. They had four girls, Sarah, Lucinda, Mary Ann, Nancy, and one son, Samuel Brown, the subject of this sketch.  William Smith served throughout the war of 1812, and died in 1817, leaving his wife with five small children to care for and but limited means at her command, only a piece of land lying in the woods.  In 1819 she married Nathan Plummer, who owned no property, but was a good worker and a kind stepfather, and with him the children lived until they married and settled down in life.  The country being sparsely settled, the schools were few and inferior, but Samuel B. obtained a good education, and. subsequently taught district school, singing-school, and writing-school, being an excellent penman, and highly proficient.  In 1839 he went to Indiana and taught at Walnut Grove, Montgomery Co., of that State, and in the spring of 1840 entered one hundred and twenty acres of land in Owen County of the same State.  In 1842 he returned to Ohio, and traded for the old Sarah Gray farm of one hundred acres, one-half mile southwest of Poe Town, intact and judgment until he had eight hundred and fifty acres in his different farms.  His five eldest children married, and he divided his lands, giving each of them a good place of from one hundred to one hundred and thirty-five acres, which with the other outfit he gave them made his donation to each at least five thousand dollars.  He still retains the homestead farm of two hundred and thirty-eight acres for himself, wife, and youngest child.  Thus from a poor boy he became a wealthy farmer, not by speculation but by careful management and investing his earnings from time to time in lands.  In 1858 he was elected justice of the peace of Tate township, and re-elected six times, making seven successive terms as magistrate, continuing in office twenty-one years.  In the many cases appealed from his docket to the Common Pleas Court his decision was never reversed.  In 1872 he was elected county commissioner over Robert Jeremiah, the Republican candidate, and in 1875 was re-elected over the Republican nominee, Mr. Weaver.  Mr. Smith's six years' administration as a county commissioner was characterized by inflexible honesty, the severest economy, and that cautiousmanagement displayed in his own private business.  His long experience as magistrate enabled him to save the taxpayers large sums of money in cutting down justices' and mayors' transcripts where more fees had been taxed than allowed by law.  The county with its many valued and tried public servants never had one more honest and true to the public interests than Samuel B. Smith.  Affable in his manners, of sound judgment and unimpeachable integrity, his public career is a monument more enduring than marble or brass. Within five days of the expiration of his second term he was thrown from his vehicle near Felicity, and had both of his legs broken.  In the course of a year he recovered sufficiently to get about, but is a cripple for life.  A Democrat in politics, a leading farmer by avocation, and a man justly esteemed by the community, he has made a character and record worthy of recognition, and left the impress of an honorable and successful life, one highly useful to the day and generation in which he has been a most conspicuous actor. Source: 1795 History of Clermont County, Ohio, Publ. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts - Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia - 1880 - Page 334