Smiley Farm: ‘This Is All I Ever Wanted to Do’

In 1772, Alexander Smiley received a land grant for a 500-acre farm from King George III of England in what is now Adams County, Ohio. The current owner, John Smiley, 74, is Alexander’s great-great-great-great-great-grandson — and the farm is still in operation. For over 200 years, the Smileys harvested tobacco. In 2004, as a government program helped him and farmers across the country transition away from tobacco, John increased his focus on his other crops — wheat, corn, soybeans, hay and beef cattle, reflecting a new chapter for the farm and his family.

Despite all the challenges he’s seen through the years, John wouldn’t have chosen any other career: “This is all I ever wanted to do and … I feel really blessed that I’ve got to be that.”

The Smiley Farm covers roughly 500 acres in Adams County, Ohio, about 60 miles southeast of Cincinnati.

John recalls working on the farm with his father, James Smiley, learning alongside him bit by bit. “He was always kind of a cheerleader,” John says, adding that his father often told him, “If you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to do it, but I’m sure you can do this.”

By the time his father died in 1989, John had already taken over much of the farm’s day-to-day operations. Both he and his late wife, Debra, also worked on and off as school bus drivers while managing the farm. When they weren’t carting students around the county, Debra took care of their kids, and John tended to the fields and the animals.

John Smiley's home was built anew after a fire in 2004 destroyed the historic circa 1813 house where he grew up. After the fire, the community rallied around the Smileys to help them rebuild.

John recalls that it was a long, exhausting period in his life. “I lost those two years actually seeing the kids grow up,” he says. His bus route hours had him out the door before the kids woke, and he was often handling farm duties until well past their bedtimes.

   

John Smiley drives his farm vehicle up Smiley Hill.

The Smiley family has lent its name to many things in Adams County through the years, including this road near the farm.

In 1993, after years of missing quality time with family, John and Debra decided that he would work on the farm full-time while she continued to drive the school bus. This allowed him to pass along his agricultural knowledge to the next generation. As his children grew up, John’s son, Jim, learned farming alongside him, just as John had with his father. Now Jim and his children oversee many of the tasks around the farm — though John continues to drive the tractor.

John’s grandsons, John and Alexander, are the ninth generation in their farming lineage. Both were named according to a family tradition of alternating John and Jim for the men in the family. (Alexander was named after the founder of Smiley Farm.) Both enjoy feeding and caring for the animals.​