Years of quiet
usefulness, and a life in which the old-fashioned virtues of sincerity,
industry and integrity are exemplified, have a simple beauty that no
words can portray. Youth has its charms, but an honorable and honored
old age, to which the lengthening years have added dignity and
sweetness, has a brighter radiance, as if some ray from the life beyond
already rested upon it. Among the old and honored citizens of Starrucca,
Wayne county, none stands higher in the esteem of his fellow men than
Angus Smith, who was for many years engaged in the chemical business at
that place, but is now living retired.
Mr. Smith was born in 1817, in North Knapdale, Scotland, in which
country his parents, Archibald and Sarah (McGugan) Smith, spent their
entire lives. Archibald Smith's father, Angus Smith, Sr., was a farmer,
but the son passed his life working in acid factories. He died in 1848,
and his wife three years later. In their family there were eight
children, besides our subject, namely: John, who died in childhood;
Christina, widow of John Patterson, of Binghamton, N. Y.; John, who
spent his entire life in Scotland; Mary, wife of Alexander McPherson, of
Scotland; Katie, who resides in Australia; Lizzie, who married and died
in Scotland; Malcolm, who is married and still lives in his native land;
and Jane, now deceased.
In his native land Angus Smith was married, May 29, 1851, to Miss
Margaret McAlpine, who was born there November 6, 1824, a daughter of
Archie and Margaret McAlpine, well-to-do people. The children born to
Mr. and Mrs. Smith are as follows: (1) Margaret resides with her
parents. (2) Archibald died in his fifteenth year. (3) Sarah, united in
marriage to Charles Getter, of Pennsylvania. They now live in Auburn, N.
Y., where he is serving as foreman in a chair factory. Four children
were born to them, Angus (who died at the age of six years), Archie (at
the age of three years), Harriet, and Charles. (4) Katie is the wife of
W. H. Brown, who is engaged in the real-estate and insurance business in
Forest City, Penn.. They had six children, Margaret (who died at the age
of twelve years), Jennie, Florence, Harry, Archie (deceased), and
Marion. (5) Christina P. married Rev. J. W. Young, of Clifford, Penn.,
and three children have brightened their home, Myra W., Archie S. and
Omar Kenneth. They now reside at Gilbertsville, N. Y., where Mr. Young
is pastor of a fine Presbyterian Church. (6) Mary E. is the wife of L. B.
Smith, of Starrucca, who is engaged in the bakery business in Dunmore,
Penn.. Their children are Angus D. and Isabelle J.. (7) Jean McAlpine
resides at home. (8) Isabelle A., a teacher, was educated in the schools
of Starrucca, and later graduated from the Mansfield State Normal, in
1890. She has served as principal of the graded schools of Brandt,
Penn., and is now teaching in the public schools of Starrucca.
Mr. Smith was educated in the schools of Scotland, but as he himself
confesses, it was hard to learn, yet to-day one finds him a well-read
man. When he landed in New York with wife and three children he had but
twenty-five dollars. At the age of fourteen Mr. Smith learned the acid
business in the chemical works of Messrs. Turnbull & Co., in Glasgow,
Scotland, of which establishment his father was foreman, and on coming
to America, in 1855, he assisted the firm in building the first acid
factory in the United States, it being located at Conklin, N. Y.. He is
therefore the pioneer in that line in America. After spending about
twelve years in Conklin, N. Y., he located at Brandt, Penn., where he
was engaged in the manufacture of acids and wood alcohol, under the firm
name of Smith & Co.. Coming to Starrucca in 1880, he also embarked in
the manufacture of charcoal in connection with those chemicals, this
time carrying on the business under the name of the Susquehanna Chemical
Co., and his partners being Messrs. Wright, Eisman and Falkenberry, of
Susquehanna. This connection proved mutually pleasant and profitable, as
is evidenced by the desire of the others that Mr. Smith should join them
in establishing large works of the same kind in the West, after carrying
on business for sixteen years in Starrucca. He is now living retired,
however, enjoying the rest which should always follow a long and useful
career.
In politics Mr. Smith was first a Whig, and is now a Republican. For
some time he served as councilman in Starrucca, and for about ten years
was treasurer of the school board. He is elder in Harmony Presbyterian
Church, of which his wife and family have been for many years prominent
and consistent members. In 1887 he and his daughter Margaret returned to
Scotland, where three enjoyable months were passed in visiting relatives
and places of beauty and historic interest. For almost half a century he
and his estimable wife have traveled life's journey together, and it is
safe to say that no couple in Wayne county are held in higher regard or
have more warm, true friends than Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
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