Notes:
BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY, PA
CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLE
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PUBLISHERS: J. H. BEERS and CO. 1903
AUTHOR: begun BY JOHN F. MEGINNESS
page 262
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GIDEON H. SMITH, prison inspector for Lancaster county, general blacksmith, and carriage builder at Silver Spring, in West Hempfield township, was born in Rapho township, this county, March 20, 1846, a son of Gideon and Mary (Harthorn) Smith, natives, respectively, of West Hempfield and West Donegal townships.
Gideon Smith was a farmer, and was also agent for the Champion Agricultural Implement Co., and died in Springfield, Ohio, in 1880, when sixty years old, leaving his widow and only child, Gideon H., to mourn his loss, and who both continued their residence in Lancaster county, Pa. Mrs. Mary (Harthorn) Smith, who was born in 1821, subsequently married Henry Moore, a farmer, and now lives in Oreville, this county. She is a devoted member of the United Brethren Church. Six children blessed her second marriage, viz.: Henry, keeper of the county prison at Lancaster; John, a farmer on the homestead; Anna, wife of John Forrest, of West Hempfield township, and of whom more may be read on another page of this work; Mary and Sadie, unmarried and still at home; and Elizabeth, wife of Roland Greiner, toll-gatekeeper in Leacock township.
The paternal grandfather of Gideon H. Smith was John K. Smith, a farmer, whose first wife, a member of the Mumma family, became the mother of Gideon Smith. For his second wife John K. Smith married Magdalina Sterline.
Gideon H. Smith was reared on the home farm until fifteen years old, and then began at the blacksmith's trade under Emanuel Will, in Columbia, but that gentleman died a year later; young Gideon H. then drifted into the quartermaster's department in the volunteer army, in which he served from 1863 to 1865. He was next sent to the frontier in Kansas and Colorado, where he served five years. On his return home, he worked for Col. Kauffman in a smelting furnace for two years, and then began work at his trade on his own account.
On Dec. 7, 1871, Gideon H. Smith was married in Columbia, Pa., to Miss Catherine B. Kauffman, who has borne him five children, namely: Laura, wife of Charles Ditzler, a farmer at Silver Spring; and Alice, Jennie, Carrie and Mazy, all still at home. Mrs. Kate B. (Kauffman) Smith was born in West Hempfield township Aug. 29, 1846, a daughter of David and Susan (Bishop) Kauffman. David Kauffman was a teamster, and was employed in hauling ore from the banks in his township to Pittsburg. He and wife were parents of four children, viz.: Abraham, a farmer in West Hempfield township, and of whom a full life-sketch is given elsewhere; Harry; Martha: and Kate B. David Kauffman died Aug. 30, 1847, when forty-three years old, in the faith of the Mennonites, and, Mrs. Susan (Bishop) Kauffman died Nov. 14, 1873, at the age of fifty-five, a faithful follower of the teachings of the United Brethren denomination, and they were buried in the Columbia and Ironville cemeteries, respectively.
In politics, Gideon H. Smith is a Republican, and he was elected prison inspector in 1897, and was re-elected in 1900. Fraternally, he is a member of the I. O. O. F., the f. O. M. C., and the Jr. O. U. A. M. The family stand high in social circles, and Mr. Smith is classed among the "solid men" of West Hempfield township and Lancaster county, where, as well as in Rapho township, his integrity is well known, and where he has friends that are warm and true as well as innumerable.