Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Smith, Charles C 1818 - 
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Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

CHARLES C. SMITH. It is a pleasure to incorporate in this volume a sketch of 
the life and labors of C. C. Smith, of Channahon, and to present on the 
opposite page his portrait, together with that of his estimable wife. He is 
well and widely known as the possessor of a large landed estate, is considered 
one of the best business men in the county, and looked up to for his financial 
ability and the many pleasing traits of character which he possesses. So wide 
is his hospitality that he may be said to keep an open house, wherein cordial 
greeting and good entertainment for mind and body are met with. In his 
domestic relations Mr. Smith is exceptionally affectionate and liberal, and he 
is well repaid by the culture and noble characters of his offspring for the 
advantages which he has bestowed upon them. The birth place of Mr. Smith was 
Jefferson County, East Tenn., and his natal day May 2, 1818. His parents, 
Barton and Faithy (Moore) Smith, were the children of Revolutionary soldiers. 
The Smiths were of the old Tennessee and the Moores of the old Virginia stock, 
and both lines of English ancestry. Barton Smith was the youngest in a family 
of six boys and three girls. All his brothers were present at the battle of 
Horse Shoe Bend with Gen. Jackson, and he, himself, had started to join the 
forces, and was several hundred miles from home when taken back by his 
friends. Mr. and Mrs. Barton Smith removed from Tennessee to Fountain County, 
Ind., and early in June, 1835, settled in Joliet, Ill. Mr. Smith bought a lot, 
upon which a little log house stood, and here in due course of time he made a 
good home. He carried on a farm, but continued to reside in Joliet until his 
death, in 1862. He was Police Magistrate and Deputy County Collector, and in 
various ways served the county. His wife survived him about thirteen years. 
Their family consisted of four children, our subject being the eldest and the 
only one now surviving. Melinda became the wife of William Walters, and both 
she and her husband are now deceased, leaving a family; Lucinda married Thomas 
Hunter, and they died leaving two children; William J. made his home at 
Geneseo, and when called hence left a family of six children. Charles C. Smith 
was eight years of age when his parents removed to Indiana, and in Fountain 
County much of his boyhood and youth were spent. When the family removed to 
Joliet the young man started out as a peddler, making a regular trip through 
Cook, Iroquois, Vermilion and Will Counties with a wagon, and visiting the 
different localities every six weeks. In those days there was but little money 
in circulation, and barter and exchange was the rule. Young Smith traded his 
goods for everything on which he could place a value—cattle, horses, hides, 
tallow, butter, eggs, coon skins and ginseng root. These he would take to 
Chicago and trade for more goods. This occupation he followed for nine years, 
becoming well known and having his coming looked forward to by householders as 
an event of importance. The next business enterprise of Mr. Smith was to rent 
the tract of land upon which he now lives, and to collect all the stock which 
he owned along the route from Danville hither. He paid $5 per year for a tract 
of land upon which thirty-five acres had been broken and where a comfortable 
house had been built. Two years later, in 1850, he bought the one hundred and 
forty acres which he was cultivating, and to which he has since added largely. 
For many years he herded his cattle on the open prairie. He has now twenty-
nine hundred and fifty acres of land, all joining, but some lying within the 
boundary of Wilmington Township. For many years he was connected with the 
creamery, and he also had a State contract to furnish the State Prison with 
beef for eight years. During one year of this time the value of the meat 
furnished was $35,000. On July 24, 1850, that being the year in which he 
purchased his home, Mr. Smith was united in wedlock with Miss Corenza Burr. 
This estimable lady is a daughter of Warham and Nancy (Cummings) Burr, natives 
of New York and North Carolina respectively. Mr. Burr was a school teacher 
during his earlier life, but eventually became the occupant of a farm in 
Jackson's Grove, this county, where he died September 6, 1861, his wife 
following him to the tomb seven months later. Mrs. Burr was a daughter of 
William and Sarah (Hunt) Cummings, with whom she lived until her marriage, 
which took place in the Hoosier State. The Burrs afterward removed to Cook 
County, in 1833, first settling eight miles above Wilmington, now Will County, 
afterward removing to the village, and thence onto the farm. They were the 
parents of ten children, four of whom lived to maturity. These are: Mrs. 
Smith, of this sketch; Sarah, wife of Lemuel Short, of Grundy County; Ira, now 
a resident of Kansas; and Selina C., wife of Charles J. Longemire, of Kansas 
City, Mo. One member of the family was killed in the battle of Chickamauga, 
Tenn., during the first day's fight, his body being left on the field. He and 
Mr. Longemire belonged to the same regiment—the One Hundredth Illinois 
Infantry. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Smith is made up of ten sons and 
daughters, all living but one who died in infancy—Barton, the eldest, is a 
member of the law firm of Baker, Smith & Baker, of Toledo, Ohio; he married 
Miss May Searles, and they have two children—Clifford Charles and Mildred; 
Emma J. is the wife of Herman Unland, of Hutchinson, Kan., and the mother of 
three children—Corintha C., Lloyd Barton and Bloss Chester; William T. is in 
the real-estate business in Minneapolis, Minn.; he is married and has four 
children—Winfred William, Ethel May, Ruth and an infant; the maiden name of 
his wife was Mary H. Fowler; Ella May is the wife of Wallace B. Douglas, a 
lawyer of Moorehead, Minn., and they have two children—Harold M. and Leila 
Louise; Charles W. now occupies one of his father's farms; he married Margaret 
A. Miller, and has one son—Charles Claibourne; Lucy M., wife of Frank A. 
Miller, of Joliet; Cora Ada is the wife of Dr. H. F. Hicks, a dentist of 
Joliet; Eva Sarah is yet at home; Floyd Herman is now attending school. All 
have collegiate educations except the younger members of the family, who will 
receive the same advantages in due time. Mr. Smith is a Democrat, and was 
elected on the party ticket for Supervisor of the town. He has also held as 
many minor offices as he would take, but his large business has precluded his 
holding them at all times. He is prominent in the lodges of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternity, having been connected with the 
former order for forty-seven years, and the latter for thirty years. He was 
the first member initiated in each of the lodges to which he belongs. They are 
Powhan Lodge, No. 29, I. O. O. F., and Channahon Lodge, No. 262, F. & A. M. He 
has helped to institute a number of other lodges.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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