History of Wexford County, MI. Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 173 - 174

ELIJAH SMITH

The war of the Rebellion left its impress deep and lasting upon the life of many a youth yet in his teens. The call to arms found tens of thousands only too ready to respond. For the first time in their lives they found themselves no longer restrained by parental control. Rigid military discipline held them in check to some extent, but it did not prevent many from contracting dissolute and profligate habits, of which some have not been able to divest themselves even unto this day. Few indeed were as fortunate in this as the subject of this review, Elijah Smith, of Colfax township, Wexford county, who when less than nineteen years of age became a soldier of the Union, and although filling two terms of enlistment, returned home with unimpaired morals. Elijah Smith is a native of New York, born in Tompkins county, June 12, 1842. He was reared and educated in his native county, the extent of his learning, however, being confined to the common school branches. He was still beneath the parental roof when Sumter was fired upon and the most sanguinary struggle in the history of the world was inaugurated. Of those who responded to the first call of President Lincoln, in April, 186I, Elijah Smith was among the number. He enlisted as a private in Company K, Twenty-sixth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, and served until August, 1862, when, greatly to his regret, he was discharged for disability. Returning home to Tompkins county, New York, he, after sufficiently recovering, his health, engaged in farming until August, 1864, when he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He was taken prisoner by the Confederates at Petersburg, Virginia, in February, 1865, and held till the close of the war. Returning to his home in New York after the close of the war, he remained there farming for some time, then came to Michigan. For two seasons he followed farming and carpentering in Ingham and Livingston counties, and then, in 1867, he came to Wexford county and settled on a tract of land in Colfax township, a part of section 28, where he has since continued to reside. In 1866 Elijah Smith was united in marriage to Miss Lovina Smith, a native of Ohio, who lived only long enough to bear for her husband a pledge of her love in the person of a little daughter, whom they named Blanche. Mrs. Smith died in July, 1875. The daughter grew to womanhood, became a refined, intellectual woman and is now the wife of Charles Rogers, a resident of Colfax township. December 25, 1878, Mr. Smith was again married, his bride on this occasion being Mrs. Jennie McClain, widow of George W. McClain and daughter of Enos C. and Cynthia (Whitmore) Dayhuff. Mrs. Smith is a native of St. Joseph county, Indiana, born July 22, 1850. She and her husband are the parents of five children, only one of whom, Clara B., the wife of John Roode, is now living. Another daughter, Grace E., lived to the age of twenty years and then died. The other three children died in childhood. Mrs. Cynthia (Whitmore) Dayhuff, mother of Mrs. Smith, is still living, now in the eighty-second year of her age. The farm upon which the subject and his family resides is fertile and well improved. In any direction a visitor may look he sees evidences of prosperity. The place is adorned with good, substantial buildings of all kinds and the condition in which they are kept bespeaks the thorough farmer. In connection with his conduct of the farm Mr. Smith has been engaged in the mercantile business at Meauwataka ever since he became a resident of the county. His farm comprises one hundred and forty acres, one hundred and twenty of which are clear and under cultivation. In all matters pertaining to the interests of the community in which he has lived Mr. Smith takes a deep and active interest. He has been elected a number of times to various local positions, such as highway commissioner, justice of the peace, etc., and has discharged the duties of the office to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He has been appointed a notary public and served for a number of years as postmaster of Meauwataka. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Cadillac, and of the Grand Army of the Republic, O. P. Morton Post of Manton. He is a prudent, sagacious man, possessed of excellent judgment and thoroughly alive to his individual interests, as he is also to those of the general public.