"Austin Smith was the son of Samuel and Hannah Smith and the husband of Sarah McMahan. Austin Smith was a native of Tompkins county, and came to Chautauqua county immediately after his graduation from Hamilton College in 1826 to become first principal of the Fredonia Academy (now Fredonia College), the first Academy established in the county. He studied law while teaching and was admitted to the bar in 1830 and practiced law the rest of his life. In 1828, two years after he came to Fredonia to teach, Austin Smith married Sarah A. McMahan, daughter of Col. James McMahan, the first white settler of Westfield. During his lifetime, Austin Smith served four years as surrogate judge of Chautauqua County, served two terms in the State Assembly and for several years, after 1853, was an agent of the U.S. Treasury Department for South Carolina and Tennessee. The Tennant House at 107 East Main Street and the small brick law office building next door at 105 East Main Street were built in 1830 by Austin Smith, Chautauqua County pioneer educator, lawyer and land agent. He lived in this house for 73 years and was 100 years and seven months old when he died here in 1903. "