JAMES M. SMITH, a worthy representative of the business and industrial interests of Northern Illinois, is at present connected with the lumber trade in company with D. A. McMillan of Freeport, near which city he also owns and cultivates a quarter section of finely located and fertile land. This latter is situated on section 6, Silver Creek Township, and is supplied with all the appurtenances of a first-class farm, including a commodious residence with a good barn and out-buildings.

Mr. Smith came to this county a single man, in 1844. He first turned his attention to agriculture and made his home with one of his boyhood friends, Capt. William Young, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work. The Captain afterward settled in Lancaster Township, where he became the owner of a fine estate. Our subject arrived in this locality poor in pocket, and made it his first buiness to secure employment. Those who try to help themselves usually succeed, and our subject was no exception to the rule. His industry and energy commended him to the people about him, and he in due time secured means by which to enter a quarter section of land, which he set about improving, and afterward in 1850, set up as a general merchant at Buena Vista, in Buckeye Township. He was thus engaged until 1865. After building up a good patronage, he sold out and established a shop for the manufacture of wagons and other road vehicles while he also carried on blacksmithing. In 1872 he returned to Freeport, and after building a house and putting up other necessary structures on his farm in Silver Creek Township, repaired to the latter, where he has since lived. In the fall of 1879, he engaged with Mr. McMillan in the lumber trade and they together have built up a large patronage, receiving orders from all parts of the county. They deal largely in cornices and other ornamental work, and realize each year a handsome income from their business. Besides his farm and his interest in lumber, Mr. Smith owns considerable property at Buena Vista, and at Freeport.

Our subject is native of Mifflinburg, Union Co., Pa., where he was born Dec. 4, 1819. His father, James Smith, was also a native of the Keystone State, and early in life engaged in the practice of medicine, which he followed continuously in his native State until summoned from life and its labors. He had married in early manhood, Miss Catherine Brobst, who was born and reared not far from the birthplace of her husband, and was of German extraction. Dr. Smith became a resident of Union County about 1797, and remained there the balance of his life, his death taking place in 1827. The mother survived twenty years, dying in 1847, in Union County.

Our subject was the youngest of a family containing five sons and five daughters, of which he is the only remaining member. He was a lad of but eight years when his father died, and he continued with his mother until coming to Illinois, in 1844. Through the efforts of this wise and judicious parent he received a good education, and early in life was admirably fitted for its responsibilities and duties. After reaching manhood, and laying his plans for the establishment of a future home, he was married, Feb. 20, 1850, to Miss Mary A. Miller, a resident of Lancaster Township. She was born in Northumber-land County, Pa., and came to Illinois with her parents when a young woman. Her father, John Miller, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, where he was bred to farming pursuits, which he followed after coming to this county. For some years he also engaged in mercantile pursuits. He became the owner of a large property in Lancaster Township, comprising 640 acres of land and built up a beautiful and valuable homestead, where he spent his declining years, and departed this life in the spring of 1870, after reaching the advanced age of seventy-two years. His wife before her marriage was Miss Elizabeth Ruth, of Pennsylvania, who died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Smith, Oct. 20, 1880, at the age of seventy-six.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of a son and daughter, twins, whom they named Charles A. and Mary C. Both are married, and the former is a resident of Lancaster Township. Mary is the wife of Benjamin Smith, a prosperous merchant of Northumberland County, Pa. The mother of those children departed this life at the homestead, March 20, 1852, and our subject afterward married her sister, Anna Hershey, in October, 1860. Of this union there is one daughter, Jennie C., born in 1862, who still remains at home with her parents. The parents and daughter are members in good standing of the Second Presbyterian Church at Freeport. Mr. Smith, politically, is a solid Republican, and was Postmaster at Buena Vista for a period of twenty-four years. He also represented Buckeye Township in the county Board of Supervisors, and has been collector of Buckeye Township, besides being prominently identified with the various enterprises set on foot for the general welfare of the community. He was Secretary of the Buckeye Township Insurance Company, the first company of the find started in the county.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888), p.430