David W. Smith and Emily Black Porter

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Husband David W. Smith ^{1 2}

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           Born: 9 Feb 1848 - Liberty Twp, Mercer Co, PA 1
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         Father: Robert F. Smith (1811-1881) 3 4
         Mother: Sybil Craig (1813-1891/1897) 5

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       Marriage: 22 Dec 1870 6

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Wife Emily Black Porter ²

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            AKA: Emma Porter 6
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         Father: Thomas Porter (1808-1901) 6 7
         Mother: Frances Park (1815-1898) 8

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Children

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1 M Ross Porter Smith ⁶

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           Born: Cal 22 Feb 1872
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           Died: 1 Oct 1872 6
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         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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2 M Flemming S. Smith ⁶

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General Notes: Husband - David W. Smith

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He devoted his life to the cultivation and development of the old family homestead, which consisted of one hundred and twenty acres of land; to the faithful care of his household, and to the full performance of his outside duties, as a substantial and enterprising citizen. From the first, he was a liberal-minded promoter of railroad enterprises which promised well for his home community, and donated the land to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company upon which was erected the freight depot at Carmona. He was also well known as a contributor to the prose and poetry of the county press, and has served for some time as local representative of the Grove City Reporter.
He was a firm believer in Republican principles and, with his wife, was an active member of the Presbyterian church of North Liberty, in which he was also an elder.
Among the pictures engraven with special distinctness on Mr. Smith's mind is that connected with his grandmother Craig in his early boyhood. It seems that he and his brother, J. B. (who was ten years his senior), were sent with the farm wagon to bring the old lady to the Smith place for a few days' visit. This was in June, 1854, when David W. was in his seventh year, and was in the days when oxen took the place of horses. Wolf creek lay in the route of two miles and, although it had to be forded, everything went well until the boys arrived at the Craig farm. When they were ready to leave, an old arm chair was placed on the loose boards which formed the bottom of the wagon, and good old Grandmother Craig was seated therein for the return trip. Brother Baldwin then placed himself at the head of the oxen and little David got into the wagon for the purpose of holding the old chair and its occupant as steady as possible under the hard jolting of the springless vehicle. When the voyagers reached the swollen creek, Brother Baldwin decided that he too would ride across, instead of wade, but the oxen, with their usual stubbornness, instead of going straight ahead started down stream at a rapid gait, bumping over bowlders of all sizes and paying no attention to any other obstacles. The older brother, however, finally brought the animals to a stand-still against a high bank, on the opposite side of the creek, but not before the wagon boards had been generally loosened and some of them sent floating down stream. Grandmother Craig and David W. were landed on dry land, the oxen were forced back to the fording, everything and everybody were collected, and Baldwin, the leader of the expedition, again placed himself at the head of the oxen, and brought all in safety to the Smith ranch. But the end of poor Grandmother Craig's troubles was not yet. A dry armchair was brought into service for her, but, within ten minutes after she was seated with tolerable comfort, a huge house snake, four feet long, which had found lodgment under the cushion, crawled into sight, opened its mouth in regular reptile fashion and darted out a long forked tongue. Various implements were seized by the male members of the family and the snake was dispatched, but Grandmother Craig returned to her own home in a much shorter time than she had intended, and, in after years said she would always remember her last visit to the Smiths.

The following description by David W. Smith, shows the exciting work of breaking in an ox team in the early eighteen-fifties, when they had to be depended on as beasts of burden:
"It was left largely to the younger members of the tillers of the soil to engage in this sport. We can well remember a pair of fine two-year-olds, that had never known the yoke of tyranny, that were forced to submit to discipline, amid the barking of dogs and the gentle voice of the sturdy yeoman. After the yoke was properly adjusted and the tails securely tied, the word was given to let her go. The excitement was then at fever heat, amid the lowing of the cattle, the barking of the ever faithful dog, and the familiar 'Whoa, whoa, Buck,' we finally succeeded in rounding up in the middle of the big pond in one of the back fields. After a considerable amount of persuasion and threatened discipline they were induced to leave their coveted resort, and again sally forth to the near-by woods where they ran on both sides of a sapling and, snap, went the ox harness. They would then have been at liberty except for the tail-hold that was intended to keep them from turning the yoke (a custom that is familiar with all ox drivers). This indispensable article, 'especially in fly time,' was doomed to annihilation had the roots not been well set and of an upward growth; as it was, the branches of the lead ox were sacrificed, and the sport of the day was adjourned. But as soon as a new yoke was manufactured, which required the aid of an expert, the oxen were again tethered, but this time hitched to a wagon without a box or even a lock. With a strong cord around the horns of the lead ox the driver with two assistants found seats on a couple of boards on the wagon and the modern 'Aut to know better' was turned on the road and commanded to go forward. All went well until we came to a long, steep hill, and as they were not built for pulling backwards, they made an effort to outrun the wagon.
"When more than half way down the hill the situation became alarming to the passengers. After holding a consultation, it was decided to try and snare the oxen. So the driver adroitly threw the rope around the hub of the hind wheel and caused a sudden down break with oxen, wagon and passengers all in a promiscuous heap at the roadside. The ox team afterward became domesticated and very bidable and sold to a neighbor for $110."

1 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 420.

2 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 118.

3 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 420, 916.

4 Jeff McBride, Thomas Armstrong in Path Valley (Laurel, Md: Web-published, 2012).

5 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 916.

6 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 421.

7 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 81.

8 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 117.