This record, so brief and yet so full, will suggest better than any words the general estimation of Mr. Clark among those who know him. Undemonstrative and quiet in his manner, cautious and prudent in action, simple and temperate in habit, he is, above all, a thoughtful and patriotic citizen, whose vote is given for the best measures, and whose example lends force to his words. Conservative by nature, he is yet not slow to place himself on the side of equal justice and truth.
HON. GEORGE W. NESMITH.
[FROM HISTORY OF ANTRIM, BY REV. W. R. COCHRANE.]
James Nesmith, one of the signers of the memorial to Gov. Shute, March 26, 1718, and one of the proprietors of Londonderry, was also one of the original sixteen that first struck for settlement on the soil of that ancient town. April 22, 1719. He was a strong man, worthy of respect, and honored by his associates. Was appointed elder of the West Parish Presbyterian church, at its formation in 1739. The date of his death was 1767, and his age seventy-five. He married, in Ireland, in 1714, Elisabeth, daughter of James McKeen and Janet Cochran. This Elisabeth McKeen was sister of Janet McKeen, Dea. Isaac Cochran's mother. She died in 1763, aged sixty-seven. The Nesmiths lived in the valley of the Bann in Ireland, and emigrated to that place from Scotland in 1690. Dea. James Nesmith had two children in Ireland, and seems to have buried the eldest child there. Seven children were born to them in America. The names of all were: Arthur, buried in infancy in Ireland; James, born in Ireland in 1718; Arthur, born in Londonderry April 3, 1721; Jean, born March 12, 1723; Mary, born Jan. 24, 1726; John, born Feb. 11, 1728; Elisabeth, born Jan. 8, 1730; Thomas, born March 26, 1732; Benjamin, born Sept. 14, 1734.
James Nesmith, Jr., the son born in Ireland, was born early in 1718, just before embarking for America, and was brought over in his mother's arms. He married Mary Dinsmore and settled in the northern part of Londonderry. Though an old man when the Revolutionary war broke out, he went with all his heart into the struggle against the British; marched among the minute-men at the first call, and was a participant in the battle of Bunker Hill. He had children, James, Jonathan, Robert, Elisabeth, Mary, and Sarah; and died where he settled, July 15, 1793. Of these six children, we will only say as follows: James, the oldest, was born in 1744; married Mary McClure (Parker's History is wrong in saying Martha); was elder in the West Parish church; left children,—William M., Robert, Isaac, James, Martha, Jane W., and Margaret,—of whom William M., the first named, married Harriet Willis, and was father of Hon. James W. Nesmith, long U. S. Senator from Oregon. Senator Nesmith was born in 1820, married Pauline Goffe in 1846, and now lives in wealth and honor at Dixie, Ore. The second child of James, Jr., was Jonathan of Antrim; Robert, the third child, married Jane Anderson; Elisabeth, the fourth child, married James Cochran of Windham; Mary, the fifth child, married James McClure of Acworth; and Sarah, the sixth, married Daniel Anderson of Londonderry.
Geo. W. Nesmith.