Laertes Barnes Smith (1828-1896)

Portrait from the History of Ohio, Vol.3, by Charles B. Galbraith, 1925.

  For those of you who remember reading Shakespeare in high school, the name "Laertes" may sound familiar, as he was both the father of the title character in Hamlet as well as a figure in Greek mythology. Lorain County, Ohio jurist Laertes Barnes Smith lucked into getting "Laertes" as his given first name and was a practicing lawyer in Lorain County for over thirty years. Featured on this site's Facebook page back on July 23, 2014, Smith was a resident of Lorain County for nearly his entire life, and in 1871 was appointed as county Probate Judge, where he served for a decade.  Descended from a family with its roots in Lorain County extending back to the early 19th century, Laertes Barnes Smith was born in Amherst, Ohio on September 21, 1828, the son of David and Fannie (Barnes) Smith. 

  Smith's formative years were spent on his family's farm and attended the local district school. He left home at age twenty-one to learn the trade of harness-maker, and after a four-year stint removed to LaPorte, Indiana. Once settled, he worked as a clerk in a hardware store for five years, and in 1858 returned to Lorain County. He embarked upon law studies following his return, in the Elyria-based firm of Vincent and Sheldon, and in 1860 was admitted to the state bar. Smith's name was added to the firm following Vincent's retirement in 1861, and the firm continued until Smith's election to the judgeship.

  A Democrat prior to the Civil War, Laertes Smith switched political allegiance to the Republican party during wartime, and in June 1871 was appointed as Probate Judge of Lorain County. His appointment had been occasioned by the resignation of Judge John Steele, who had taken office in 1867. In the same year as his appointment, Smith married Margaret Smyth (1841-1936), to who he was wed until his death. The couple had seven children, Francis Marie (1873-1926), Roscoe (died in infancy in 1874), Clara Louise (1875-1965), Freddie Corliss (died in infancy in 1877), Frank Carlton (1878-1938), Gertrude Smith Horan (1880-1974), and Leroy Webber (1885-1907).

  Smith would win election to further terms as probate judge, the last in 1878. He left office in 1882, and his eleven-year tenure was later remarked by the Standard History of Lorain County as one of honor, noting that "the widow and orphan had a firm and just friend as long as Judge Smith was on the probate bench." He returned to private practice after leaving office and for a number of years afterward was a justice of the peace in Elyria. Smith died in that city on May 12, 1896, aged 67, and was survived by his wife and five children. Following her death at age 94 in 1936, Margaret Smith was interred alongside her husband at the Ridgelawn Cemetery in Elyria.

From the Elyria Recorder, May 16, 1896.