JAMES F. SMITH, Section 12, Silver Creek Township, is one of the well-known and successful men of his community. He came here in 1882 from Mills County, Iowa, where he had resided since 1877. A brief sketch of Mr. Smith's life is as follows:

He was born in LaPorte County, Indiana, November 5, 1835, a son of James F. Smith, Sr. His father was a native of New York state and was a hotel keeper all his life. He built and kept the Checkered Tavern near Buffalo, New York, and subsequently removed to Indiana, where he was a popular and successful hotel manager, and where, in 1840, he was killed by a desperado at Hudson, LaPorte County. Mr. Smith's mother, India (Darby) Smith was born in New York state. She died when James F. was two or three years old, and he was only five when his father's death occurred. Left an orphan thus early in life he was reared by relatives in LaPorte County, Indiana, where he resided seven years.

He then sold the farm he had purchased at that place and came west to Mills County, Iowa. There he rented a farm of his brother-in-law, Josiah Wearing, one of the most prominent stockmen of that county. In 1882 he came to Pottawattamie County and purchased 160 acres of wild land at $12.50 per acre. He afterward bought 240 acres more. He is now the owner of 240 acres, having sold eighty acres to one of his sons, and the same amount to another. Mr. Smith has a good frame house, 22 x 28 feet, one and a half stories, and an addition, 20 x 16 feet, well situated, and surrounded with an orchard comprising two acres and a half. His granary is 20 x 20 feet, and he also has cribs, yards, feedlots, a windmill and everything to denote the thrifty and prosperous farmer. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising.

At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Smith was married in LaPorte County, Indiana to Sarah Jane Cooper, daughter of John and Mary (Walldruff) Cooper, both natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have four children, as follows: Olive, wife of E.B. Carley, Silver Creek Township; Nevada, wife of G.R. Cook of the same township; and George L. and Frank M. also of silver Creek Township. Politically Mr. Smith is a strong and radical Republican. He and his wife were formerly connected with the Christian Church. Mr. Smith is a man in the prime of life, is cordial in his manner toward his fellowmen and is honorable in all his business dealings. He is numbered among the solid men of the township.