From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, page 438.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


JOHN SMITH

John Smith, a native of Germany, and for many years an honored 
citizen of Wheeling, was born near Alsfeld, Hesse-Darmstadt, 
September 2, 1830, the son of Henry Adam and Julia (Schoenhals) 
Smith.  At his native place he attended school until fourteen years 
of age, and was then employed at a hotel three years.  His parents, 
of whom he was the only child, came to America in 1847, and located 
at Wheeling, where they died a few years later, the father in 
November, 1851, and the mother in October, 1857.  In 1849 the subject 
of this sketch joined his parents at Wheeling, and in 1851 he made 
his home on the island, where he has since resided, with the 
exception of a portion of 1863-4 spent in Monroe county, Ohio.  Mr. 
Smith's first employment here was in a glass factory, and then as a 
gardener for two years for Daniel Zane.  For the son of the latter, 
E. E. Zane, he worked from  1853 to 1863, and two years further after 
his return from Ohio.  In 1866 he bought five acres of land in the 
southwestern part of the Island, where he has since resided and 
engaged in gardening, meeting with such success that he has increased 
his landed property to twenty-five acres, which has cost him, with 
improvements, not less than $15,000.  He and wife are active members 
of the German Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he is a 
republican, having cast his first presidential vote for John C. 
Fremont in 1856.  Mr. Smith was married October 13, 1853, to Caroline 
Schaub, who was born at Nordwiler, Rhine province of Bavaria, the 
daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Dauber) Schaub, with whom she came 
to America when not a year old.  Her family settled in Monroe county, 
Ohio, where the father died in April 1873, and the mother in October, 
1880.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had eleven children: John H., 
Frederick E., David D. (deceased), Louis A., David L. (deceased), 
Elizabeth C., Harry, Anna J., Emma M., Charles W. and George F. 


(Linda Fluharty)