Arthur Harris Smythe

Arthur was a bookkeeper at the Randall bookstore, Columbus. Later he headed the bookkeeping dept at the A.H. Smyth Bookstore in Columbus. Arthur's notes on the family were use extensively by A. E. Linnell.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lfa1&id=I...

Taken from the TOLEDO BLADE, Toledo, Ohio, February 29, 1940: "PEOPLE SHAKE HIS HAND Because Lincoln Clasped It 79 Years Ago" Berkeley, Calif.-- The hobby of Arthur Harris Smythe of this city is to have people call on him and shake his hand because it was at one time grasped and shaken by Abraham Lincoln. Smythe is 89 years old and never tires of telling what to him was the greatest moment of his life. Attached to the entrance of his residence at 1334 Spruce Street of this city is a placard which reads: "Arthur Harris Smythe, born November 14, 1850, the man whose hand was grasped by the hand of Abraham Lincoln in the Senate Chamber of the Ohio State Capitol on Feb. 13,1861. He will be glad to have you come in and shake hands with him." _____________ "It was in Columbus, O., when I was 10 years old, he tells his callers. Even before I saw Lincoln I had heard a great deal about him during the campaign. I went with my father and younger brother to the reception for Lincoln at the state capitol. We had to stand in line for hours, but finally arrived before him. My little brother was in front of me and my father behind. Herbie was left-handed, and we all wished afterward that he had thought of this before. The first thing I knew, he was sticking out his left hand. Towering far above him, Mr. Lincoln was nowhere within gun shot of his small hand. He had to lean downward almost to the floor to get Herbie's ear and whisper: "Oh, you'll have to give me the other hand, my boy", and as Herbie put out his right hand, he said, "That's right, we've done it right now, haven't we?" I was so ashamed of Herbie's mistake that after Mr. Lincoln had taken my hand I hurried right on as fast as I ever could, but that one moment and handshake has never faded in my memory."

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