Notes for: John Walter Smith

News article, "West Union Herald," Thursday, Dec 8 1915, in its entirety:
SAVED PRESIDENT; IS DEAD
"Capt John W. Smith, 91 (sic), pioneer conductor of the West Virginia & Pittsburgh division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, who drove stage coaches before the road was built, is dead at his home at Weston. Capt. Smith rescued Zachary Taylor from Ohio River ice floes when the latter was enroute to Washington to take oath as President.
"The deceased was at one time a resident of this town and was connected with the stage coach line on the Northwestern Virginia Turnpike; many of our older people remember him; when the narrow gauge road was built from Clarksburg to Weston, he quit the stage coach line which he was running between these two towns, and became the first passenger conductor on the road, and retained in that position until after the B. & O. R. R. Co. bought it and widened it to a standard gauge, and until he was retired on account of old age."

(Note: Several minor punctuation and typographical errors in this article were corrected for ease of reading. President Zachary Taylor took office on Mar 4 1849 and died unexpectly of an undetermined digestive ailment on Jul 9 1850. There has been some question among researchers as to John W. Smith's date of birth, although it is certain that he much younger than the 91 in this article and much older than the 71 in his death record. Since his age was given and 16, 26 and 36 in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses, he was most likely born in or about the year 1834, which would make his age 81 at the time of death. The 1900 Census clarifies the issue by specifying his birth date as Oct 1833, age 66. Age 83y 1m 10d in his obituary would put his birth date at Oct 21 1832, apparently off by one year.)