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SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY. - Born in Columbia county, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1833. Mr. Smith is descended from a mixture
of English, Scotch and Dutch. His father, William DeForest Smith, was of English origin; his ancestors emigrated
to America and located in the Connecticut valley about 1640. His mother came of a Dutch-Scotch family, who also
settled in Connecticut in the seventeenth century. Her ancestry is traced back to Daniel Gott. Her name was Almira
Gott, daughter of Story Gott, of Columbia county, N. Y. Story Gott was a lieutenant in the army of the Revolution,
and in later years was for several terms a member of the assembly of the state of New York. Mr. Smith's parents
moved to Ohio, where he had the best educational advantages the state afforded. He took up teaching and was a tutor
in a western college, and later became the assistant editor of a weekly newspaper in Cincinnati. At the age of
22 Mr. Smith had risen to the position of editor, and he also did work on the Litararty Review. At the beginning
of the civil war he was engaged on the Cincinnati Gazette, and took an active part in raising troops and forwarding
supplies, and, through the medium of the press, did much Political work in strengthening the government. William
Henry Smith was mainly instruniental in making John Bough governor of the state of Ohio. He afterward became Gov.
Brough's secretary, and later was elected secretary of state, and re-elected in 1866. Mr. Smith retired from office
and became the managing editor of the Evening Chronicle. He was obliged however, to desist from such exacting work
on account of ill health. In 1870 he became manager of the Western Associated Press, having his headquarters in
this city. Several years later, upon the personal request of President Hayes, he accepted the office of collector
of customs for this port. During his term of office he was instrumental in bringing about many needed reforms in
that governmental department. The year 1883 again found him actively engaged in Associated Press Work, and in January
of that year he effected a consolidation of the New York Associated Press and the Western Associated Press, and
became manager of the united systems. This association, in its united form, covered the entire continent and became
much more influential than had been the two organizations operating separately. During the term of ten years for
which the combination was formed and while Mr. Smith was the manager, he revolutionized the methods employed in
the news business. The service was imnproved in character, efficiency and reliability. For the first time since
the laying of the Atlantic cable, the papers all over the country were supplied with complete European reports
and at a moderate rate. Mr. Smith is a student of historical subjects, and is the author of "The St. Clair
Papers" (two vols., Cincinnati, 1882). He is also the author of the "Biography of Charles Hammond,"
has written several pamphlets and has contributed frequently to American perioAcals. While secretaryof state he
founded a department of archives, a matter which had been wholly overlooked since the admission of the state, and
he succeeded in recovering many valuable papers which are now on file in the state house of Ohio. By his investigations
in the British museum he brought to light many unpublished letters of Washington to Col, Henry Bouquet, and has
shown that those which were published by Jared Sparks were not given correctly. Mr. Smith has partly completed
a "Political History of the United States" and as the literary executor of the late President Haves will
write a history of his administration.
FROM:
The Handbook of Chicago Biography
Edited by John J Flinn.
The Standard Guide Company
Chicago 1893
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