Tattnall County, Ga Biographies  Sheldon P. Smith, Caleb W. Smith & M. A. Smith


Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: Sandria G Swope (Swobunny@msn.com)


Table of Contents page: 
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/tattnall.htm
Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm

SMITH, Sheldon P., retired merchant and fanner, Perry's Mills,
Tattnall Co., Ga., son of Nicholas and Urania T. (Aborn) Smith,
was born in Rhode Island June 27,1831. The family were among
the early settlers of Rhode Island. Mr. Smith's father was born
March 11,1787, and his mother July 23,1798. When Mr. Smith was
about a year old (1832) his parents migrated to Georgia and
settled in Tattnall county, where his father engaged in
merchandising. They had eight children, of whom Mr. Smith was
the fourth, five of whom are now living. Mr. Smith was given
the best education the schools of the county afforded, and then
was sent to Hinesville (Liberty county, Ga) high school, at
that time in charge of Prof. Bradwell, father of Hon. S. D.
Bradwell, the late able state school commissioner. He succeeded
his father in his mercantile business, and has also been
engaged in farming. About 1861 he was elected justice of the
peace and notary public in the district since. Just after the
war he was appointed postmaster at Perry's Mills, and has held
the office from that time until now. He was not in active
service during the war, but he represented Tattnall county
(1863-65) in the general assembly. He was married Dec. 5, 1853,
in Tattnall county, to Miss Frances Bell, born Aug. 15, 1833,
daughter of Joseph J. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Bell, of Tattnall
county. To them thirteen children have been born, eight of whom
are now living. Mr. Smith is spending his declining years at
his plantation home in the southwestern part of Tattnall
county, where he has lived since 1832.

SMITH, Caleb W., ordinary of Tattnall county, Ga., Reidsville,
son of John C. and Mary (Jones) Smith, was born in Tattnall
county March 8,1843. His great-grandfather, Simon, and his
grandfather, James Smith, were Georgia-born, and are buried on
the same spot in Tattnall county. His father, John C. Smith,
was a well-to-do, highly-respected farmer, born in Tattnall
county March 8,1812, died Oct. 26,1858, and was buried near his
father and grandfather. Mr. Smith's mother was a daughter of
Daniel E. Jones, of Lumpkin county, born July 28,1819, and died
in 1885. Of seven children they had born to them, Caleb W. was
the third born, and of them five are now living: Susan, wife of
A.C. Moore, Tattnall county; Dicey, widow of S.B. Rogers,
formerly of Tattnall county, deceased; M.A., farmer, and M.W.,
farmer, Tattnall county, and Caleb W., the subject of this
sketch. Mr. Smith's educational advantages were limited to the
country schools, and he was reared and entered upon active life
as a farmer. He enlisted in 1861 in Company B, Sixty-first
Georgia regiment, which formed a part of Stonewall Jackson's
famous corps, and was in active service until wounded in the
battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862. The wound
necessitated the amputation of his right leg above the knee on
the field; he was then carried to the hospital, where he
remained until May, 1863, when he returned home. He at once
engaged in farming, a pursuit he has since followed. He served
as tax collector two years by election, then by appointment
under military rule, and was United States census enumerator in
1870. September following he was appointed ordinary by Gov. R.
B. Bullock, and has continuously held the office since by
election. Mr. Smith was married Oct. 31,1871, to Miss Mary
Slater, born in 1852, daughter of John Slater, of Bulloch
county, by whom he has nine children: Clarence L., born Sept.
15,1872, student at Emory college, Oxford, Ga; Rosalie, born
Oct. 4,1874; Daisy, born Feb. 3,1877, and died Feb. 16, 1880;
John, born Dec. 7,1879; Mary, born April 11,1882; Mattie M.,
born Jan. 6,1885; Julia H., born Oct. 24, 1886; Fannie L., born
Aug. 4,1888; Ethel L., born June 30, 1891. Mr. Smith lives in
Reidsville, county seat of Tattnall, where he has a nice and
comfortable home, surrounded by his interesting family, and a
county full of appreciative friends.

SMITH, M.A., farmer and postmaster, Hagan, was born in Tattnall
county Nov. 10,1848, and was the son of John C. and Mary Smith,
life-long residents of Tattnall county, and respected citizens.
John C. Smith was a farmer and a strong Methodist in his
religious convictions. There were born to them the following
children, viz: C.W., ordinary of Tattnall county; J.D.; M.W.:
M.A. All reside in Tattnall county, except James D., who died
at Lynchburg. C.W. Smith lost a limb in the second battle of
Manassas. Both of them were in the Sixty-first Georgia
regiment, under Gen. John B. Gordon. Mr. M.A. Smith married
Susan Hagan, of Bulloch county, a daughter of James and Keziah
Hagan. Mrs. Smith's father is deceased, and her mother is still
living at the age of eighty-eight years. The mother is a sister
of Peter Cone, who represented Bulloch county in the
legislature for thirty-two years. The brother has been dead
about twenty years. To Mr. and Mrs. M.A. Smith have been born
several children, viz: Dr. J. C. Smith, a prominent dentist of
Tattnall county, and a graduate of the Atlanta Medical college
in the class of 1891; L.A., a farmer; Keziah; Frank, a
telegraph operator; Ada, and two children, deceased. Mrs. Smith
was married before her union with Mr. Smith. She was wedded the
first time to Simon Brewton, lieutenant in the Confederate
army, and killed while in service at a battle at Hanover
junction, near Richmond, Va. They had two sons-Milton, who is a
Methodist minister in Tattnall county, and L.B., who graduated
in 1892 from the state university, at Athens, and who is now
practicing law at Hinesville, in Liberty county. Mr. M.A. Smith
was engaged in the fertilizer trade for fifteen years, being
connected with the Baldwin Fertilizer company of Savannah. He
has been in the lumber trade for twenty years, and has been
farming all his life. He was appointed post-master at Hagan in
1890, which position he now fills. He owned all the real estate
in the town when it was laid out, and has devoted a great part
of his time recently to the improvement and the development of
the place. The town is only four years old, and yet it has a
population of 300, and is growing rapidly. Mr. Smith owns a
large sawmill in Hagan, has been manufacturing naval stores for
two years, is engaged in the buggy trade, handles improved
stock and is a general business man, dealing in everything that
is needed by the people of the town. Mr. Smith takes great
interest in Hagan, which was named after his wife. He helped to
lay off the place, which is one of the best on the S. & W.
railroad, and bound to develop into an important town.