W. B. SMITH W. B. Smith, a man of enterprise and marked force of character who has been a resident of Fayetteville since August, 1910, has throughout his life made good use of his time and opportunities and is now engaged in selling state and United States lands. He is likewise active in the office of justice of the peace, to which office he was elected in 1912, and he is readily acknowledged a representative citizen. A native of Illinois, he was born in Chicago on the 30th of November, 1855, a son of John Gardner and Mary (Barker) Smith. On the paternal side Mr. Smith is descended from Scotch ancestors, the family having been members of the well-known House of Sutherland. His great-great-grandfather came to this country at an early day and participated in the Revolutionary war under the name of Smith. John Smith, the grandfather was a native of New Hampshire. On the maternal side our subject is of English descent, the family having originally come from London, England. It is said of the Barker family that in peace or in war they, like Chevalier Bayard, the French national here, have ever been "sans peur et sans reproche.” The maternal great-grandfather, John Barker, was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, in December, 1756, and died in New Hampshire, March 15, 1834. He served in the Revolutionary war as a private and orderly sergeant and participated in the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill and was at the surrender of Burgoyne and with Arnold at. Quebec. The grandfather, William Barker, was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, on the 18th of November, 1788, and in later life removed to Syracuse, where he married, reared a large family, and died on the 30th of April, 1854. The parents of W. B. Smith, John Gardner and Mary (Barker) Smith, are both deceased. The father was born in Manlius, New York, in July', 1828, and in 1875 came to Arkansas. For some time he was chief clerk in a large hotel in Little Rock and gained substantial success prior to his demise. Mrs. Smith was a native of New York, also, her birth having occurred in Syracuse on the 26th of November, 1830. Her marriage occurred in that city, October 10, 1853, and she died in Little Rock on the 5th of June, 1892. Three children were born to their union: W. B., whose name initiates this review; Mary Langdon, born November 18, 1864. at Bristol, Wisconsin, and now the wife of John M. Pemberton; and Robert Emmett, whose birth occurred on the 30th of November, 1857, and who died in Little Rock, September 13, 1920, after having been associated with the Rock Island Railway for forty years. Throughout their lives Mr. and Mrs. Smith were consistent members of the Presbyterian church and he was a Royal Arch Mason. His political allegiance was always given to the republican party. In the acquirement of an education W. B. Smith attended the common schools of Memphis, Tennessee, having located in that place with his father, who was then secretary and treasurer of the Street Railroad Company, an association he maintained for eleven years. Upon putting his textbooks aside Mr. Smith made his initial step into the business world as cash boy in the Southern palace Dry Goods Store and worked in that capacity eighteen months, when he resigned and became stock boy on the third floor of the Urquhart Company, Wholesalers. His ability and conscientious performance of every duty assigned him won him promotion to shipping clerk and subsequently he severed his relations with that concern to take a position in his father’s office. Sometime later he became a brakeman on the Memphis & Little Rock, now the Rock Island Railroad and was also active as switchman until 1879 when he came to Arkansas, locating in Fort Smith. He became associated with the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad at Cherokee, Indian Territory, and was later put in charge of the express department of the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad where he remained until he went into the general offices of the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad at Little Rock. He was connected with the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad Company until 1883, when he went to Camden, Arkansas, with the Cotton Belt Railway for about eight years and then became agent for that railroad at Pine Bluff. He remained in the service of that road until August 4, 1894, when he returned to Fort Smith and was engaged by D. J. Young as bookkeeper in the conduct of a brickyard and brewery business. For four years he was active along those lines, achieving substantial success for some time when hard luck attended his efforts, and disposing of his business interests he came to Fayetteville in August, 1910, financially crippled. Being a man of determination and pluck, however, he determined to let no obstacle remain in his path, and soon recovered from his misfortune. He indexed the probate records from the beginning down to date and then worked in the courthouse for some time. In 1912 he was appointed a justice of the peace, and he has held that office since. While in the courthouse he took note of the meager information that was at hand for homesteaders. So he platted and indexed government lands of the county and later the state lands, and became agent and attorney for the handling of these lands and the locating of settlers thereon. Mr. Smith has been married three times. His first marriage occurred in Fort Smith, on the 14th of April, 1879, to Miss Jane George Rutherford, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, and a member of the distinguished Butler family of that state. Six children were born to that union, all of whom are deceased, and Mrs. Smith died in 1900. For his second wife Mr. Smith chose Miss Alta M. Williamson, a native of Kankakee, Illinois, and to their union five children were born, three of whom are living: Dorothea Orton. who works in her father’s office; Marion W., attending high school; and Harold Ney, in school. Mrs. Smith was a prominent woman in the community and.in the Baptist church, of which she was a member. Her demise occurred in January, 1916. Mr. Smith was married the third time, Carrie Elizabeth Moores becoming his wife. She is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was born on the 18th of June, 1856. Since age conferred upon Mr. Smith the right of franchise he has been a stanch supporter of the democratic party, having firm belief in the principles of that party as factors in good government. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church, while his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. During a residence in Fayetteville which has covered a period of more than eleven years, Mr. Smith has made many close and stanch friends who admire him for his wonderful business ability and the enterprising and progressive spirit he at all times manifests in matters of citizenship, but most of all they esteem him because of his high sense of honor, fine personality and kind, generous nature.