Adirondack Pioneers by John H. TitusBorn: April 1826 (or April 4, 1828)
Died: October 27, 1895 (?)
Married: Liz
Children: Mrs. John Costlow, Lucy Orindo Smith Paye, Lonney Smith, another boy
William H. Smith, known as Bill the Hermit, lived in Vermontville. Although obituaries appeared in the Plattsburgh Sentinel, November 15, 1895 and in the New York Times on November 1, 1895, some local papers have him living eight years later, and dying in 1905 or even 1910.
Plattsburgh Sentinel, November 15, 1895Plattsburgh Sentinel, November 15, 1895
“Bill” Smith, who had lived alone with his dogs during the last forty years on the “Oregon road,” two miles from Bloomingdale, in the Adirondacks, was found dead in bed, Sunday, October 27. Smith, who was sixty-nine years old, was buried near the log cabin which he built thirty-eight years ago. He was a most remarkable character and was generally known as the “Hermit.“ He was over six feet in stature and his beard was so long that it trailed on the ground in front of him, so that it was necessary for him to keep it inside his vest. He made his living by hunting and trapping.
Smith was a remarkable man, and the story of his life was an interesting one. From his early manhood, covering a period of nearly half a century, he had lived alone in one of the wildest and most desolate sections of the Adirondack wilderness. In his earlier years Smith was a prepossessing fellow, madly devoted to his wife and children, and not afraid of work. But in later days he had become isolated from the world, was extremely careless in dress and habits, and for years looked more like a wild animal than a human being.
Smith's parents removed from Vermont to the North Woods when he was a little boy. He grew up without seeing a school-house or a church, and at twenty was married to the daughter of a guide who lived several miles distant. This girl Smith saw but a dozen times before he proposed to her, and she was taken to the home of Smith's parents. But the mother in-law made trouble and the newly wedded pair were invited to seek other quarters. Smith used to say, “Liz was a good girl and a noble wife, but just as soon as mother thought Liz wanted to run the whole Oregon plains there was trouble.”
With a dollar and a half Smith bought a piece of land further back in the woods, cut away some of the timber and erected a log cabin that sheltered him from the blasts of forty five Northern winters. He hunted, and trapped, and fished, and was happy. And he was still happier when a boy and two girls arrived to bring sunshine into the home. But the happiness did not last for within six years the young wife died, and the children were sent away to friends.
Then Bill Smith determined to spend the remainder of his days alone, except for the company of his dogs. “My dogs are the most faithful friends I have” he used to say in recent years; “they are always with me and never never have deserted me though my children have long since turned up their noses at the old man and don't care whether he is alive or dead.”
After his wife's death the hermit learned to read, and each day he spent several hours studying the bible. “Yes” he would say “I believe in God, but I don’t believe in all this church business, and all this loud talking to the Lord. I don't see any place in the Bible where it says you must holler because the Lord is deaf.”
Smith was a giant as well as a hermit, standing 6 feet 6 inches and weighing about 275 pounds. He was as straight as an arrow and a fine specimen of physical manhood. But his most remarkable features were his beard and hair, the former growing to a length of over eight feet and the latter reaching nearly to his waist. As he never devoted any time to arranging his toilet, his appearance may better be imagined than described.
He could not account for this extraordinary growth, but liked to attribute it to his splendid health. “For you see," he used to say, “Bill was never sick but once in his life, and that was nothin' more than a scare, and I guess maybe he's good till he reaches 100”.
Every one who saw Bill was interested in his great beard, and the question, “How did you come to let it grow?” was asked him many times. To this he would reply; “Oh you see one of the fellows of the road used to do my barberin'. He didn't charge me anything, but I used to return the favor one way or tother. But one day he said: 'Look here, Smith, cut your own whiskers or let 'em grow.' And so I just turned on my heel and did let 'em grow, and the Lord only knows how long they'd keep on."
For twenty years after the death of his wife Smith did not want to see a human face, and he was rarely troubled. But of late years he would talk for hours at a time with a visitor. He cooked his own meals, washed and mended his own clothes, and earned his livelihood by hunting in the dense woods that surround his cabin. On a little patch of cleared land near by he raised enough potatoes, corn and other vegetables to supply him the year around.
Smith was very fond of tobacco and attempted to raise it, but without success. He smoked almost constantly, and chewed a great deal, but he drank liquor only as an occasional visitor would offer it to him, and then very sparingly.
“Have I ever been to town? Oh, yes, but I don't like it, and never could make myself feel to home. Was at Bloomingdale twice and Vermontville half a dozen times, I guess, but there's too much noise and hurry to suit Bill.”
He did not want to be called “Billie” because, as he used to say, “My wife used that name, and now that she is gone I won't allow any one else to use it.” After such a speech the old hermit's eyes would fill with tears, and he would pat fondly one of the ugly dogs that clung to him.
Smith was buried in accordance with his well know[n] wish, on a little hill about a quarter of a mile from his cabin, and a wooden cross made by himself was placed to mark the grave. He owed no one at the time of his death, and there was not a cent due him from any source.
--N. Y. World
Malone Farmer, February 18, 1903
We recently printed an item regarding William Smith, the Adirondack hermit, who resides alone in a tumble down cabin two miles out of Bloomingdale, but some additional facts will be interesting. He has resided alone in the same cabin for over fifty years and when he first came into the wilderness the nearest store was at Malone or Ausable Forks. One of the most noted features of Mr. Smith's life is the care he takes of his long beard and hair. Mr. Smith is a very tall man being 6 foot 4 inches in height. His beard now reaches to and trails on the floor over two feet. He began to allow his beard to grow over 25 years ago and by keeping it carefully tied up it has reached its present immense length. He has been on three different occasions with George H. Huber's museum at 14th Street New York, but could not stand the strain of the exhibit and sighing for the quiet of his mountain home returned to live in solitude. While Mr. Smith is nearly 76 years of age he bears his age well and while his legs seem to be more feeble than of old he carries himself erect. Of a retiring disposition he is very modest in regard to the notoriety he has gained. Many people visit him to whom he sells his photograph which were taken [sic] while he was engaged at the museum. Mr. Smith has two daughters and one son, all well-advanced in life. One daughter lives near and with her he takes his meals this winter but loves to return to his cabin nights, where he can smoke and ponder with no one to molest him.
Malone Farmer, January 6, 1906
William Smith, the Adirondack hermit, is dead at the age of 78 years. He was a native of Vermont and entered the Adirondack region in 1850. He never left his favorite haunts and at the time of his death his beard was over 6 feet long.
From Adirondack Pioneers by John H. Titus
Adirondack Hermit is Dead; Famous Character Passed Away Last Saturday:
Brief Sketch of his life - some peculiar characteristics
Wm. Smith, the Adirondack hermit, died last Saturday [17 Dec 1905] at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John [Rhoda A. Smith] Costlow. He was 78 years of age. The funeral service was held Wednesday morning from the Methodist Church, Bloomingdale, of which church he had been a member for the past two years.
Wm. H. Smith, or as he is better known, “Bill Smith, the Adirondack Hermit,” and whose portrait appears in this sketch, was born in Irasburgh, Vt., in April 1826. At the age of sixteen years, he went to Lowell Mass., a distance of 250 miles, traveling on foot. He began work driving a truck wagon and remained there until 1850, when he went to Franklin, N.Y. and worked at lumbering for different parties. He hauled logs off the land where Paul Smith’s hotel now stands. After that he engaged with Pierce & Dickinson, of Bloomingdale, and laid the cellar wall for what is known as the Titus & Town store and which was the first cellar wall laid in Bloomingdale. At that time he owned a farm of 150 acres in the town of Franklin, about one and a half miles from Bloomingdale.
In 1862 he kept the hotel known as Hunter’s Home near Loon Lake, and which Paul Smith built and formerly kept before going to St. Regis Lake, [this turns out to have been a matter of confusing WH Smith with LL Smith according to the Malone Farmer, Jan. 17, 1906] and after that he moved back to his farm where he has lived since, and most of the time alone; until within about two years he has made his home with his daughter, Mrs. John Costlow and son, Lonney Smith.
Mr. Smith’s beard was about six feet long. He was six feet and four inches tall, and when his beard was properly combed, he could stand erect and step on it. In this portrait the lower end of his beard does not show off to good advantage as it had not been properly combed when the photograph from which it was copied, was taken. A stranger meeting Mr. Smith on the street would not have suspected that he had anything more than a common full beard, he had such a peculiar way of doing it up. His weight was 200 pounds.
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