History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Roderick A. Smith
RODERICK A. SMITH, one of the early settlers of northwestern Iowa, was born in the State of New York, October 13, 1831, and came to Iowa in 1856. In 1857 he was a volunteer in the Spirit Lake Relief expedition under Major Williams which marched to the scene of the massacre by the Sioux Indians. He made his home at Spirit Lake soon after the massacre and in 1867 was elected to the House of the Twelfth General Assembly from the district composed of the counties of Dickinson, Emmet, Clay and Palo Alto. He has long been a member of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association of Iowa, and in 1898 read before the Association a valuable historical article on the “Iowa Frontier During the War of the Rebellion.” In 1894 he was appointed by the Governor a member of the State Commission to superintend the erection of a monument to the memory of the victims of the Spirit Lake massacre and the Relief Expedition under Major Williams. To Mr. Smith was assigned the duty of grading the ground, superintending the construction of the monument and reinterring the remains of the victims of the massacre. Mr. Smith is the author of a very complete “History of Dickinson County” which is a valuable contribution to the historical record of northwestern Iowa.