Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 1218.
 
STEPHEN SMITH

     Of Aurora, Marion county, Oregon, is one of the early settlers of the town.
He was born in Muscatine, Iowa, March 14, 1845, and is a son of George Smith, a
native of Baden, Germany, who came to the United States in 1839 and settled in
St. Louis, Missouri, later removing to Muscatine, Iowa, and joining a colony
there in 1845.  In 1847 his wife died, and at that time our subject was two and
one half years of age.  The father married a second time and reared a second
family.  He came to Aurora, Oregon, and was a member of the colony here, and
died in 1888 in his eighty-fourth year.
     Stephen Smith, the subject of this sketch, was the only child of the first
marriage, and was sent to the common schools and had the advantages offered him
by the instruction of Prof. Ruge.  He learned the trade of wagon maker, and this
business he has since followed, although he has also engaged in farming.  At the
present time he has 240 acres outside of the town, and sixteen acres adjoining
the town, and one-half block within the town, on which his residence stands.
Here his wagon shop and mill are also located.  His land seems capable of a
variety of crops, and he is now raising clover, timothy, hops and prunes.
     In 1872 our subject was married to Miss Hannah Kraus, a native of Missouri,
born in 1840, and two sons have been born, George S., now a clerk in the store
of Mr. Gusy, and Lorenzo S., who died in infancy two weeks after the death of
his mother, which occurred in 1874.
     During the existence of the Aurora colony, Mr. Smith was one of the seven
committeemen who, with Dr. Keel, managed the affairs of the colony.  They owned
in common 10,000 acres of land in Missouri and at Aurora, and the title to the
land in Oregon was in the name of President Keel.  Previous to his death, the
colonists obtained a deed of the land from Dr. Keel to the committee for the
colony, and when the colony broke up, the committee made a division, giving each
member his share.  There was also due the colony in Missouri $25,000, and Mr.
Smith was one of the committee to collect it and divide it among the members.
     In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican, and served a term as Justice of the
Peace, and has given his fellow-citizens service as Treasurer and Clerk of the
school district.  He is a very intelligent man and well acquainted with the
history of Aurora and Marion county.  He has never remarried.  His tastes are
quiet, and he enjoys his home, where he has some articles of great interest,
which it may be hoped will be placed in the collection of interesting articles
on exhibit for the coming World's Fair in Chicago.  These are a Lutheran Bible
that was printed in 1565.  It is fifteen inches long, twelve inches wide and six
inches thick, and when new it had heavy silver clasps, but these were taken away
by the Bonaparte army.  He has also a stone china pitcher that has been in the
family for years unknown, and bears the date 709.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2005 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.