Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 523-524.

BENJAMIN P. SMITH.

The present trustee of Harrison township, Wells county, Indiana, and one of the most popular and able of the township's officials is Benjamin P. Smith, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, October 25, 1839, and is a son of Simon B. and Martha A. (Hoskinson) Smith. Simon B. Smith was a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and came west with his mother and step-father, who located in Ohio. He then came to Wells county, Indiana, and purchased a tract of land in section 31, upon which he settled in 1844. This tract was covered with hard timber and comprised a quarter section, which he developed into a first class farm and resided upon until his death, which occurred in 1888, his wife surviving until 1891. In politics Mr. Smith was a Democrat and for many years served as a justice of the peace. He was a shrewd business man and by trade was a blacksmith, a vocation he followed in conjunction with farming, being well-to-do at the time of his death which took place in the faith of the United Brethren church, of which he was an ardent and active member. The children born to Simon B. and Martha A. Smith were ten in number and were named in order of birth as follows: Saran, deceased; Benjamin P., whose name opens this biographical notice; Michael, who is farming in Jennings county, Indiana; William, deceased; Phebe, wife of John McKim; Louisa, married to William Metty, an old soldier residing in Kane, Pennsylvania; Freddie, deceased; and Minerva, Elzina and Simon, also deceased.

Benjamin P. Smith was nearly five years of age when brought to Wells county, arriving here October 18, 1844. He was reared on his father's farm and was also employed considerably in lumbering, receiving in the meantime a district school education, which was augmented by an attendance at a subscription school. After attaining his majority, he rented his father's and his father-in-law's farms, having married, in 1870, Miss Eliza Davenport, a sister of Dr. E. P. Davenport and born in Wells county in 1851, of English and Dutch descent. Miss Davenport was a highly educated young lady and for four terms taught in graded school with eminent success in this township and at other places. To the happy union of Mr. and Mrs. B. P. Smith have been born two children, viz: William R. is married to Lizzie Huffman and rents the home farm, and Martha, who died at the age of five years. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Baptist church. In politics Mr. Smith is a Democrat and has been prominently identified with the party ever since he has been entitled to exercise his franchise. He is very popular with the party as well as with the public at large. In the spring of 1900 Mr. Smith was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for township trustee, and in the November following was elected by a handsome majority to fill that responsible office. He has filled the office with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the people. A cardinal principle of his is the maintenance of good roads and good schools and the imposition of light levies, and in the carrying out of this principle he is an unceasing worker.

Mr. Smith's farm comprises seventy-four acres, on which he conducts not only general farming, but makes a specialty of breeding Chester White hogs, of which he makes an annual exhibit and sale, which is patronized by many stockmen of northern Indiana. He has proved himself to be one of the most successful agriculturists and stock breeders in the county of Wells, and no family in the township and county is more respected than his.