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Biography of THEODORE SMITH
Town of Ellicottville

Copied by Laura Greene, submitted by PHGS Member M. E. Bryant


FROM: "HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NY" by Franklin Ellis. Published 1879 by LH EVERTS. Pages 252A

THEODORE SMITH, the son of Pliny and Sarah Smith, was born at Orwell, Rutland Co., Vt., June 28, 1809. His father was a gentleman of high social and public position in the county of Rutland, and was repeatedly elected to the highest offices in the gift of his people, having been a member of the General Assembly, State Senator, and was Judge of Probate for many years.
The subject of our sketch received his education in the local district and grammar schools, and at the academy in Castleton, residing at his father's home until he was twentyone, when he was married to Lucy NICHOLS, daughter of Dr. ASHER NICHOLS, and Lucy, his wife, of Whiting, Vt. A short time thereafter, in August, 1831, he removed to Springville, Erie Co., N. Y., and began life as a merchant, and   successfully carried on his business there until 1838. His wife having died in June, 1834, he was again married, in August, 1835, at Ellicottville, to Sarah E., daughter of Hon. Staley N. CLARKE.

In November, 1838, Mr. Clarke tendered him a position in the Land-Office at Ellicottville, in which Mr. Clarke was then the agent for the " Farmers' Loan and Trust Company," who had succeeded to the " Holland Land Company" by the purchase of their estate in Western New York; and Mr. Smith, accepting the offer, removed with his wife to Ellicottville to reside. He continued in the Land-Office until the-year 1843, in the mean time pursuing the study of law, and was admitted to practice as an attorney, but never followed the profession, as in the latter year be entered into partnership with Truman R. COLMAN, Esq., in the agency of the lands of several gentlemen of Albany and New York, who had purchased immense tracts in Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Wyoming Counties from the Holland Land Company.

This agency they carried on, uniting with it the business of private banking, under the firm-name of Colman & Smith, until in the year 1847 they became purchasers of the lands owned by several of their principals, the purchase amounting altogether to some seventy-five thousand acres.

They continued their real estate and banking business in partnership for a number of years, until finally, about the year 1852, they divided the remaining property and the partnership ceased; and a year or two later Mr. Colman removed to Dunkirk. So amicable were their relations in the division of their property, that Mr. Smith and Mr. Colman made separate lists, numbered 1 and 2, of all their real and personal estate, dividing equally in value according to their best judgment. They placed two tickets, numbered 1 and 2, in a hat; a third party put his hand in the hat, taking one ticket in his band. Mr. Smith said to Mr. Colman, " It is your choice !" Mr. Colman accepted the first number drawn corresponding to the list of the same number. And the division and settlement thus quickly made was satisfactory to both gentlemen,-a good illustration of the fact that two honest men, each having entire confidence in the integrity of the other, neither desired nor required the slightest advantage.

At Mr. Smith' s request, we state that he desires to testify to his knowledge of the many great qualities of mind and heart possessed by Mr. Colman. Their business relations of many years were never marred by the slightest disagreement, and to this day the same kindliness of feeling and close friendship exists between them that did during all the time before their partnership was dissolved.

Mr. Clarke while having Mr. Smith in his office became much attached to him, and their intercourse grew into the most intimate personal friendship and regard; and when Mr. Clarke died, in his will it was found Mr. Smith was his executor, and the care and custody of the estate remained in his charge for some thirteen years before division. This feeling of Mr. Clarke's has also been shared in by the rest of his family; and Mr. Smith has, from time to time, been the custodian of other large estates in the family. Mr. Smith continued to reside in Ellicottville until November, 1863.

In the winter of 1861-62, Mr. Smith went to Washington, remaining some six weeks. During that time he visited the Union troops frequently in their camps, forts, and the hospitals, and became thoroughly conversant with the condition of the army. He studied the character of commanding generals, and wondered, as thinking men did, why our great army did not move against the rebel armies. The masterly inactivity of our generals surprised him. He was a visitor to both houses of Congress,-to the President and the Treasury Department,-making himself familiar with the finance measures then pending for the purposes of the war.

In 1862, on President Lincoln's call for five hundred thousand additional men for the army, he canvassed this county in person, and made many speeches of great power and eloquence, aiding enlistments, and urging a vigorous and unrelenting prosecution of the war. In the next year be removed to New York, where he resided some two years, when be went to Buffalo, and purchasing an elegant residence in the upper part of the city, has continued to live there, surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries which large wealth can command.
Mr. Smith is a man of great mental power, clear, incisive, and logical; an apt reasoner and forcible in debate or on the platform; a man of large charities, and one " who, letteth not his right hand know what his left hand doeth." His business capacity is beyond that of most men, and his probity unquestioned by even a suspicion. In his domestic relations he is a kind and indulgent husband and father, and his noble wife has been spared to cheer and solace his declining years. The sole grief of his later life has been the death of his only daughter, who died in the bloom and grace of her young womanhood, and left two homes desolate.

Theodore SMITH was born in Orwell, Vt., June 28, 1809; married Lucy, daughter of Asher Nichols, at Whiting, Vt., March 2, 1831; one daughter, Lucy Evelina, died March 6, 1835. He was married to Sarah E., daughter of Hon. Staley N. CLARKE, at Ellicottville, Aug, 16, 1835 ; two children:
1. Lucy Nichols, born in Ellicottville, June 9, 1842; married James C. BEECHER, in Buffalo, Jan. 10, 1867; she died in Buffalo, March -19, 1868; One son, Theodore Smith, born in Buffalo, Feb. 22, 1868.
2. Archibald Clarke, born in Ellicottville, March 17, 1848; married Emma CARVER, at Ellicottville, Sept. 7, 1871; one daughter, Lucy Nichols, born in Independence, Iowa, July 4, 1872.


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