"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 660.

ALFRED SMITH

     Though recollection cannot carry him back, oft repeated tales have made
very clear the long, long trip, comprising more than one third the distance
around the globe, which Alfred Smith had made before he reached the location
where he now makes his home.  Born in the city of Birmingham, Warwickshire,
England, May 21, 1836, he crossed the ocean a the age of four years, his father
also a native of this shire, emigrating to the United States in the hope of
bettering himself in regard to his worldly affairs, a hope that met with
fulfillment in the latter years of his life.  On their arrival in New York they
went at once to Racine county, Wis., locating on a farm, though previous to this
time he had been engaged in the prosecution of his trade, which was that of a
hatter.  He took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land and continued
in this location for twenty years, after which he moved to Juneau county, of the
same state, amply able to afford the life of retirement to which his
inclinations led him.  He lived to be eighty-four years old, becoming an
American citizen in the same sense of the word that he was once an English,
taking an active interest in the events of the day and lending himself to all
movements that contributed to the general welfare.  He was in entire sympathy
with the emancipation movement, being a strong Republican in his political
convictions.  In his religious views he found his church home with the
Congregational denomination.  He reared a large family and lived to see them all
well settled in life.  Samuel W., of Mauston, Wis.; Joseph, a farmer of the same
place; Alfred, the subject of this sketch; Philip, who gave his life in active
service in the Twenty-second Wisconsin, Company H, during the Civil war; Eliza
Fluno, of Juneau county, whose husband is a miller; and Mary Palmerton, who is
now a widow engaged in the millinery business in Chicago, Ill.
     After the days of his youth were passed -- days spent, during the summer
time upon the farm, in the winter in the primitive school of Racine county --
Alfred left home engaging in work for himself, turning naturally to the
cultivation of the soil.  Until 1864 he worked among the farmers of the
neighborhood, going in the last-named year to join an emigrant train bound for
the west.  After six months of tedious journeying the party arrived safely in
Boise City, Idaho, having been singularly fortunate in escaping the depredations
of the Indians while on the trip.  For twelve months after his arrival in Idaho,
Mr. Smith worked in the mines, going in the fall of 1865 to a farm near
Portland, Ore., which he worked for one year.  He then bought a farm in
Multnomah county, situated on the Columbia river, making this his home for
the next four years, his next venture being in Yamhill county, where he invested
in nine  hundred and ninety-six acres of land located in Moor's valley, about
four hundred of which are in active cultivation.  For the same number of years
that his father had spent on the place that gave him his competency -- twenty
years -- he remained here, engaged in general farming and stock-raising, in 1900
retiring from active life, giving over the duties to his sons.
     Mr. Smith was married in 1863 to Miss Sarah Miller, a native of New York,
and the children born to them are as follows:  Mary E., at home; Charles L., of
The Dalles; William B., of Carlton; Samuel P., a veterinary surgeon of North
Dakota; Alfred, on the home farm; Arthur C., of McMinnville; and Emma Alexander,
of Moore's valley.  In his political convictions Mr. Smith follows the example
of his father, upholding the principles of the Republican party, and serving in
the same as road supervisor and various school offices.
     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2006 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.