Person:Parker Smith (1)

Continued running the fish market. Buffalo Evening News article, "Family Business Ends After Five Generations," by Pete Simon, dated 12/1/71, about the 106 yr. old history of the Smith Fish Market. In the article, Parker talks about giving it up due to illness:

"A who family fish business, started here in 1865 by a German immigrant with a single push cart and a load of determination, has quietyly gone out of business after passing through the hands of five generations. Because of illness, Parker Smith, Sr., 71, recently gave up the Smith Fish Co., which operated out of the Baltimore Fish & Oyster Co., 792 Genesee St. Until six years ago, the fish company was located at 330 Washington Market where it began 106 years ago as Fassnacht's Fish Market, a modest, open-air stand. 'The business was started by my great-grandmother, Mrs. Johann Fassnacht,' Mr. Smith said. 'She and her husband eloped to this country from Altensteigh[sic], Germany , and were married by the captain of the boat on their way here.' [Subsequently proved false; marriage records were found at St. John's church in 1848.] Mr. Fassnacht made beer barrels, and after his death, his wife supported their four [!] children by 'buying fish on the foot of Commercial St. and selling them from a push cart on an empty lot on Washington St.,' Mr. Smith said. As the Washington market was built up, the push cart was replaced by a torchlight-heated stall. The business was run by Mr. Smith's grandmother and two great aunts before being taken over in 1905 by his father, Henry Smith, and renamed Smith Fish Co. 'My parents used to bring fish home on the street car in baskets for the people in our South Buffalo neighborhood, and my brothers and I would deliver it,' Mr. Smith recalls. 'I remember dragging the fish around on sleighs in the winter - a pound and a half for the famiy down the street adn two pounds for the woman next door...' Mr. Smith began working full time at the fish company at age 21. Under his direction the business-- one of about 400 at the market -- grew into one which served up to 500 persons daily. 'We handled every variety of fish and sea foods you could think of,' he said. In the late 1950s the Washington Market trade began to lage, but not the Smith Fish Co. 'We were doing business until the last day of the market, when they pulled the roof from over our head,' Mr. Smith said. By the time the business was moved to the Baltimore Fish and Oyster Co., Mr. Smith was being helped by his son, Parker Smith, Jr., representing the fifth and last generation. And when the business moved from its long-time location, the customers remained loyal. 'When i gate it up about a month ago we still had about 35 good accounts,' the elder Mr. Smith said. "if thi shealth thing didn't hit me, I'd still be in business-- you can be sure of that. It wasn't the nicest smelling business, but it did me right. It allowed me to deal with people, something I like to do. Some of the people I waited on 40 to 45 years ago still came out to Genesee St.,' he said. 'In fact, I had one old customer who called me Mr. Fassnacht.' "

From Obituary (Buffalo Evening News or Buffalo Times?): "Funeral services for Parker H. Smith, 71, operator and owner of Smith Fish Co., a family business which lasted in Buffalo for 106 years, will be Monday [14 August 1972] at 2p.m. in the Loomis, Offer and Loomise Memorial Chapel, 1820 Seneca St. Mr. Smith, of 89 Brookside Dr., West Seneca, died Saturday (Aug. 12, 1972). Originally called Fassnacht's Fish Market, the family business was started by Mr. Smith's great-grandmother as a push-cart operation. After hear death, the business was taken over by Mr. Smith's grandmother [Eliz. Fassnacht Schmidt] and aunts. [actually, I believe these would have been his great-aunts, Minnie and Emma?] In 1905, Mr. Smith's father, Henry Smith, took control of the business and renamed it Smith Fish Co. Mr. Smith took the reins of the business in 1921 and ran it until his retirement in 1971 because of ill health. The company, which sold fish on a retail and wholesale basis, also closed down with his retirement. Mr. Smith was a member of the Flying Senior Citizens. Burial will be in Ridge Lawn Cemetery, Cheektowaga. Mr. Smith is survived by his wife, Loretta [Degenfelter]; one son, John K. Smith; one daughter, Miss Susan A. Smith; a brother, Henry F. Smith and six grandchildren."

1. ↑ John Lincoln Smith.
2. ↑ Buffalo Times.

   Obituary: "Parker H. Smith..."

3. ↑ Rootsweb / Ancestry.Com. Social Security Death Index: United States. (ssdi.rootsweb.com).
4. ↑ Rootsweb / Ancestry.Com. Social Security Death Index: United States. (ssdi.rootsweb.com).
5. ↑ Buffalo Times.

   Obituary: "Mr. Smith, of 89 Brookside Dr., West Seneca, died Saturday (Aug. 12, 1972)"

6. ↑ Rootsweb / Ancestry.Com. Social Security Death Index: United States. (ssdi.rootsweb.com).

   ssdi.rootsweb.com

7. ↑ Buffalo Times.

   1972 Obituary for Parker H. Smith indicates he was living at 89 Brookside Dr., West Seneca. And a photograph submitted to this or another Buffalo newspaper indicates that his father, Henry P. Smith, lived at that address as early as 1906.