Samuel F. Smith, born in Belfast, Ireland, arrived in the United States at the age of twelve, making his home in New York State, and working on the Erie Canal. Later, he married the bosses daughter, Mary Laughlin. To them were born six sons and one daughter; William, George, Charles, Jay, John, Hattie and Fred.
In 1882, Samuel Smith came to Valley City to visit his brother-in-law, William Laughlin. At this time he filed claims for his two oldest sons, William and George, in the Goose Lake district, twenty-five miles north of Valley City, before returning to New York.
The next Spring, in 1883, Will was married and the newly wed couple left for Valley City. They spent the next few years proving their claims. After one year they could buy this land outright for $1.25 an acre. At this time, Will and his wife, Lydia, were living in a tar paper claim shanty. To them were born two sons, Roy and Leland. Roy continued farming after his father retired. His other son, Leland, became a lawyer, practicing in Fargo.
George, a bachelor, lived a short distance from his brother, Will. In the fall of 1897, he married Mamie Northrup at Hope. They had three sons and one daughter.
Lots of building was going on, and another brother, Charles, came out and worked as a carpenter, and in 1889 he built a large nine room house for his brother, Will, and Lydia.
In 1900, another brother, John, came West and took up farming. With him were his wife and infant son. In 1905, his wife died, and the boy was raised by his wife's parents in Pennsylvania. In 1908, he married Ida Nolting, and they had two children, Marjorie and Willard. Marjorie lives on the home farm with her husband, Cordon Myer, and Willard is teaching in Ashland, Oregon.
In 1916, John had sunstroke and passed away, leaving his widow and two very small children. In 1910, Jay, his wife and two sons arrived from the East. He became a farmer, with his land just outside Pillsbury. One of the sons, Gordon, still lives there. The other son, Lester, is married to Velma McKay, a daughter of another early pioneer. They live on a farm near Pillsbury.
In 1911, Hattie, the only daughter of Samuel Smith, came to North Dakota. She was a teacher; first in a one-room school just west of Pillsbury, and then in the Pillsbury School after it was built. Around this time, Jay's wife died and Hattie took over the raising of his two small boys. She was also postmistress in Pillsbury for twenty years, and she never married. She passed away July, 1975, at the age of 98.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 226