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biography
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Smith, George, of Mesa county, one of the foremost and most successful bee-culturists in this portion of the state,
is a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1861, and the son of Michael and Sarah Smith. He parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born near Pittsburg and the latter in Bedford county. The father
was a baker in Pittsburg and died there about forty years ago. The mother soon afterward moved to her native county and is now living there, aged about sixty-five. Their son George remained at home until
he was about eight years old, and then the circumstances of the family obliged him to go out and do what he could to earn his own livelihood. He secured employment on farms in the neighborhood, and devoted
himself to farm labor and other odd jobs until he reached the age of twenty-two, in the meantime finding opportunity to attend the district schools near at hand in an irregular and fragmentary way at intervals,
thus scooping, as it were, here and there a handful of the invigorating waters of knowledge as they bubbled and sparkled across his hard and toilsome way. In 1887 he began his course westward, coming to
Nebraska where he was occupied on a ranch about eighteen months. He then came to Colorado and, locating in the South Park, became a valued helper on a cattle ranch, remaining at that post about two years.
He soon afterward moved to the ranch which is his present home, and on which he conducts a flourishing industry in bee-culture and the production of honey of the finest grade. He has made a study of the
business and has been eminently successful in the management and development of it. His apiary is equipped with every modern device approved in the industry, and his colonies are of the highest grade and
most healthy strains. His enterprise is one of the interesting and profitable product ivies of the community, and adds life to trade and wealth to the county. He is well esteemed as a leading business man
and a wholesome factory in public life. In 1885 he was married to Miss Amanda Metz.
Progressive Men of Western Colorado, Publ 1905.
Transcribed by Nancy Overlander.
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