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James Smith 
uring the course of writing these personal sketches, it's become obvious that a very large number of people moved to, lived in and finally died in Penn Yan, without necessarily leaving a noticeable trace behind, even for those of us who are interested in their lives. Even in a work such as this which is dedicated to ordinary people, it's not always easy to find out many details.
One such ordinary man was James Smith. He and his family moved in 1812 from Goshen in Orange County, N.Y., to a farm in Benton, about halfway between Penn Yan and Benton Center. One story they told of this move was that as their wagon crept along the unpaved road from Benton Center they saw so many peach trees that in some places they lined both sides of the road, and they were all in full bloom.
Smith was the owner of about 300 acres of good grain land -- in those early years and up until the time of the Civil War, grain was the cash crop; much of it was distilled into whiskey so it could be shipped more easily to market, and of course a fair amount was consumed more or less on the spot. Before these crops could be raised, though, the land had all to be cleared of trees, huge trees on the best land; generally they were girdled to kill them, so a thin crop of corn could be planted in between. The dead trees were burned where they stood (hardwood ashes were the very first cash crop, sent to Albany in the winter to provide the raw material for potash and pearl ash manufacture) or cut and shaped into timber for building purposes, or dragged into Penn Yan to be sawn into boards. It was unrelenting, back-breaking labor for every member of the family.
During the year 1812 there were several serious alarms, as war had been declared on Great Britain, and people on the frontier were always cognizant of the danger from the Indians forced off their own farms and then subsisting on handouts from the British and Canadians at Niagara. Smith was actually drafted to serve, but since he had a young family to support, he hired a substitute. Later, when news arrived that the British had landed at Sodus, Smith headed in that direction alone, gun in hand. He arrived at Sodus, finding the place burned to the ground, the British having left. He remained with other volunteers at Sodus for three days, and was then discharged to walk back to his farm in Benton. Perhaps this experience explains his later delight in raising good horses.
Smith's wife Ruth died in November, 1820. People who attended the funeral on the 15th of that month later remembered that there was 18 inches of snow on the ground. James Smith survived his wife more than 40 years, dying 17 June 1861 at the age of 80. Members of the family are buried in Penn Yan's Lake View Cemetery.
The couple had one son and five daughters; they married into some of Penn Yan's most prominent families:
- Job T. Smith married Olive Townsend; they lived for some time at 327 Main Street.
- Julia Ann married Edward J. Fowle, a newspaperman and merchant in the village.
- Mary married Nelson Tunnicliff, an early merchant at the foot of the street. He built the store still standing at 25 Main Street.
- Sophia H. Smith married Eli Sheldon, another merchant.
- Emily T. married Augustus Stewart, son of Tunnicliff's partner and an entrepreneur in his own right.
- Susan Smith died unmarried at the age of 19.
Smith and his family were associated with:Land plots:
Buildings:
327 Main Street
Sites:
History:
