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MILTON A. SMITH.
Among the able members of the Independence bar and one of the native sons of the city is Milton A. Smith, who was
born on the 19th of January, 1867, a son of Alexander and Electa (Young) Smith. The father was born at Langford,
Berkshire, England, on the 20th of February, 1820, and the mother's birth occurred at Fort Ann, Washington county,
New York, on the 25th of September, 1837. In early life the father engaged in business in connection with the overland
stage freight and passenger line antedating the period of railroad building. He had come to America with his parents
in the year 1830, the family home being established in New York, and later a removal was made to Michigan, where
his father died. When sixteen years of age Alexander Smith left home and was residing in Chicago at the time he
attained his majority. He removed from that city to Iowa, settling in Independence, and until the completion of
the railroad to this point was connected with a stage line. Subsequently he turned his attention to farming, although
he continued to reside in the city, where he made his home to the time of his death, which occurred on the 1st
of January, 1892. His widow resides in Independence in a house which he erected in 1857. They were indeed among
the pioneer residents of the city, taking up their abode here when Independence was a small town and when the county
was but sparsely settled. With its development and growth Mr. Smith was actively identified and at all times cooperated
heartily in movements for the general good.
Milton A. Smith is the only survivor in a family of four children, the other three having died in infancy. He attended
the public schools of Independence until graduated from the high school and afterward entered the Northwestern
University as a law student, completing his course in that institution with the class of 1899. His first step in
the business world, however, was not in the path of his present profession, for when eighteen years of age he was
employed in the engineering department of the railroad companies, spending thrHem or four years in that way. He
was with the Illinois Central for one season in western Iowa and for one year was with the Chicago, St. Louis &
Paducah Railroad, now the Southern Illinois & Kentucky. He afterward became associate editor of the American
Trotter, a paper which was owned by Mr. Williams, and after three years spent in that connection he went to Chicago,
where he attended law school for about three years or from 1896 until 1899. Following his graduation he returned
to Independence and entered upon active practice in October of the latter year. On the 1st of June, 1900, he entered
into partnership with L. F. Springer for the general practice of law. That relationship was maintained for about
twelve years or until physical disability caused Mr. Springer's retirement from the firm in 1912. Since that time
Mr. Smith has practiced alone and is accorded a liberal clientage that connects him with much important litigation
heard in the courts of the district. He is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Independence and
is also one of the landowners of Buchanan county.
On the 16th of April, 1895, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Ida Cooper, who was born near Slippery Rock,
Pennsylvania, a daughter of Sylvanus Cooper, who was a farmer owning a tract of land in Pennsylvania that has been
in possession of the family for one hundred and sixteen years, Mrs. Smith's grandfather having entered it from
the government in 1798. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith has been born one child, Marion H., whose birth occurred September
15, 1900, and who is now attending school.
In his political views Mr. Smith is a stalwart republican and for four years filled the office of county attorney.
He is now serving for the fifth year as a member of the school board and the cause of public education finds in
him a stalwart champion. He belongs to the blue lodge of Masons, to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and to the
Golf and Country Clubs. His has been a well spent life and in a profession where advancement depends entirely upon
individual merit and ability he has steadily worked his way upward until he now occupies an enviable position.
From:
History of Bachanan County, Iowa
And its People
By Harry Church and Katharyn J. Chappell
Vol II
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Chicago 1914
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