THOMAS H. SMITH

THOMAS H. SMITH, of the law firm of Smith & Cullison, Harlan, Iowa, was born in Appanoose County, Iowa, September 30, 1854, and is a son of Paris S. and Nancy J. Smith, of Davis County, Iowa. Paris S. Smith was a native of Ohio, and a son of Noah and Elizabeth Smith, also natives of Ohio, who removed from that State and settled in Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1848. Nancy J. Smith, wife or Paris S. Smith, was a Virginian by birth, and a daughter of Joseph and Mary Jones, natives of Virginia. When she was quite small her father removed from Virginia, and settled in Ross County, Iowa, remaining there until she was sixteen years old; her father then came to Iowa and settled on a farm in Davis County, within one-half mile of the place where Mrs. Smith now resides. She was married to Paris S. Smith April 1, 1852, and they now reside upon the farm that has been their home for the last thirty years. They are the parents of thirteen children, ten of whom are living; all of the children received a liberal education, and with one exception were teachers.

Thomas H. Smith lived upon the farm with his parents until his eighteenth year, assisting with the farm work, and attended the district school. At the age of eighteen years he taught his first school, and continued to teach each winter thereafter, until his admission to the bar in the spring of 1818. All the education he received, aside from that obtained in the common schools, was in the Troy Academy and the Southern Iowa Normal, at Bloomfield, Ohio, in 1875-'76. His present partner, G. W. Cullison, was one of his instructors. In the spring of 1816 he began the study of law in the office of M. H. Jones, of Bloom field, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in 1818, in Bloomfield. Immediately thereafter he located in Harlan, and commenced the practice of his profession. In a few weeks after coming to Harlan he formed a partnership with P. C. Truman, under the firm name of Truman & Smith; this firm continued until January, 1881, when G. W. Oullison succeeded to the interests of P. C. Truman, under the present firm name. Smith & Cullison have an extensive and lucrative practice, and a large and well, selected library. Mr. Smith has a fine farm of 295 acres adjoining Irwin, Iowa, and owns one of the finest residences in Harlan. Mr. Smith was married June 3, 1880, to Miss Josephine Wonn, a daughter of Hon. H. A. Wonn of Davis County, Iowa. They have three children - Mabel, aged eight years; Orpha, aged six years; and Lois, aged eighteen months. Mr. Smith was elected county attorney of Shelby County, Iowa, in the fall of 1886, and filled this position with much credit for two years; he refused a re-nomination by acclamation at the expiration of his term. Mr. Smith is a close student, an untiring worker, and a self-made man in the true sense of the word. All that he is and has was acquired by his own efforts.

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 314-315. Transcribed by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs.