Bedford County PA Archives Biographies.....Smith, Rufus E.
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Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com May 2003


RUFUS E. SMITH is a well-known and influential citizen of 
Hopewell township, Pa., where he is now serving as a member 
of the local school board.  He was born October 17, 1844, in 
Muskingum County, Ohio, a son of John P. and Maria (Eaches) 
Smith.  His father was the son of a pioneer of Bedford 
County, and was himself a resident of Hopewell township a 
large part of his active career, as he returned from Ohio in 
1847.
  Rufus E. Smith was but three years old when he came with 
his parents from his birthplace in Ohio to Hopewell.  Here 
he was bred and educated.  When twenty years of age, in 
1864, he enlisted in Company C, Two Hundred and Fifth 
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which became a part of the 
Ninth Corps of the Army of the Potomac.  He was at the front 
in the battle of Fort Steadman, on March 25, 1865, and 
afterward at the siege of Petersburg was in various 
skirmishes, besides which, on April 2 of that memorable 
year, he was one of the assailants who made the brave charge 
upon the Confederate forces before that city.  He likewise 
fought in the engagements at Weldon Railroad and Hatcher's 
Run.  Honorably discharged from the service in the summer of 
1865 at Alexandria, Va., he returned at once to Hopewell, 
where he has since been an esteemed resident.  During a part 
of Grant's second term and again during a part of the 
administration of President Arthur, making six years in all, 
he held the office of Storekeeper and Gauger of the 
Sixteenth Internal Revenue District.  He was also for a 
brief period a mail clerk on the route between Huntingdon 
and Cumberland, Pa.
  Mr. Smith has for several years been Auditor of Hopewell 
township, and is now serving his second term as a School 
Director.  Politically, he is a sound Republican and 
actively in favor of all enterprises conducive to the public 
welfare.  Fraternally, he is a member of the L. R. Piper 
Post, G.A.R., of Hopewell, which he served one year as 
Commander.  Of later years he has confined his attention to 
agricultural pursuits.  He has a fine farm of one hundred 
acres, which in regard to appointments and improvements 
ranks second to none in the vicinity, and he is carrying on 
general farming with eminent success.
  On May 6, 1875, Mr. Smith married Miss Margaret McCleary, 
of Hopewell township, Pa.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the 
parents of eleven children, namely: Lena, William H., James 
A., John P., Mary M., Franklin C.; Joseph M., Rufus E., Jr., 
Harriet A., Robert, and Clarence.


Source: Bedford Biographical Review, 1899, Bedford Co., Pa