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BIOS-Past & Present of Bureau Co. 1906 > Daniel H. Smith


13 Sep 2005

Source: Past and Present of Bureau County, Illinois
Originally published 1906, Chicago, IL

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

Page 378

Daniel H. Smith - The financial interests of Bureau county find one of their most prominent representatives in Daniel  H. Smith, presidnet of the First National Bank of Princeton. His business enterprise has long been demonstrated and the value of his experience and wisdom proven in the successful conduct of the institution of which he is now the head and which is regarded as one of the most sound and reliable moneyed concerns in this part of the state.

A native of Vermont, Mr. Smith was born in Orwell on the 2d of December 1835.  His parents were Joah and Mary (Horton) Smith, also natives of the Green Mountain state.  Reared upon a farm, Daniel H. Smith acquired his elementary education in the ommon schools and afterward attended the academies of Poultney and Johnson, Vermont. Completing his education he became a clerk at the age of seventeen years, in a store at Sheldon, Vermont. It was through the advice of relatives living in Bureau county, Illinois, that he came to Princeton in September, 1855, and at once secured a clerkship in the general store of A. & M. Carse. On the expiration of a period of two years he removed to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where for a year and half he was engaged in the real-0estate business. He accumulated some money there and, returning to Princeton, engaged in business on his own account as a grain merchant. In December, 1859, he returned to Vermont that he might be near his parents in their old age and locating at Sheldon was engaged in manufacturing, continueing as active factor in business life and properity of that town for some years.

In 1866 Mr. Smith again arrived in Princeton, poor in purse but richer in experience and since that time has had no wish to change his place of residence, but has sought and found in the business conditions of this city opportunity for advancement that has led him to the substantial position which he now occupies as a representative business man of the county seat. In 1876 he was elected circuit clerk and served for two terms, having been a deputy in that office for ten years previous to his election, and he proved an offical whose servce was entirely satisfactory to the general public. Followng his retirement from the office he was elected in 1882 president of the First National Bank, of which he has been a director since 1875. He entered upon the new duties with the same spirit of enterprise, determination and broad outlook that have always characterized everything that he has undertaken and under his skillful management the First National has become one of the strong financial institutions of Princeton and Bureau county. The bank was established in 1865 by Benjamin S., H. H. and W. W. Ferris. A safe, conservative policiy was inaugurated that has always  been maintained, and from the beginning  increaseing assets. The history of this institution is too well known to need further mention here and suffice it to say that it is the visible exemplifiction of the ability and executive force of him who stands at its head.

On the 27th of May, 1862, Daniel H. Smith was married to Miss Jane M. Hubbell, a daghter of Homer E. and Maria (Gove) Hubbell. A son, and only child of this marriage, Dr. Louis J. Smith, is now engaged in practice of dentistry in South Bend, Indiana.

Mr. Smith has long been a valued member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges and has been representative to the grand lodges of both organizations. He is not active in political circles, but as a matter of principle votes with the republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his attendance at the Methodist church. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Episcopal church and is a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. No citizen of Princeton is more thoroughly representative or more devoted to the promotion of her welfare that Daniel H. Smith, who though he has never sought to figure in public life has nevertheless taaken a prominent part in local affairs as one whose means and influence have been used unsparingly in advancing enterprise in this city, now one of the most flourishing towns of northern Illinois.

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