History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, MO
Cedar County Biography Section

     Dr. Peter B. Smith, a prominent practicing physician and 
surgeon of Cedar Springs, was born within five miles of the 
spring in 1844, and is the son of Rev. Obediah and Lucinda 
(Hartman) Smith, natives of Kentucky and North Carolina, 
respectively; but early settlers of Howard County, Mo., whither 
they had emigrated with their parents.  They were married in 
that county about 1832, and came to what is now Cedar County,
then Rives County, shortly afterward, being among the first 
white families in the county.  Here they made a home in the 
wilderness, which at that day abounded in Indians and wild 
animals.  Mr. Smith began his theological studies soon after 
his first marriage, and was an able Baptist minister nearly 
all his life; he was a large land-owner and one of the county's
wealthiest citizens.  He was an officer in the Black Hawk War 
with Gens. Claiborne and Jackson, was also a prominent man 
officially, having represented Cedar County in the Legislature 
of 1862, and soon after his return from the session of 1862-63
he was called from his house by a company of armed men calling
themselves Quantrell's men, and was shot and killed in his own
yard while standing by the side of his wife.  His father, 
Andrew Smith, was one of the first settlers of Kentucky, and 
also one of the early settlers of Howard County, Mo., where he
passed the latter part of his life.  He was a soldier in the 
War of 1812, and was with Gen. Jackson at New Orleans.  He was
of Irish-German extraction.  Obediah Smith's first wife was a 
sister of his second, who became the mother of our subject.  
She died when he was but a little boy, and Mr. Smith afterward
married again.  Dr. Peter B. Smith was the third of six children
born to his father's second marriage, and, with the exception
of the time between 1877 and 1880, he has spent all his life 
in Cedar County.  He here received his education, and in 1861 
joined Company D, Eighth Missouri State Militia, and served 
thirteen months in Southern Missouri and Arkansas.  He was 
in the battle of Springfield, etc., was discharged on account
of disability, but soon after enlisted in the Enrolled Missouri
Militia, and served until the close of the war.  His father 
and five sons lost their lives in defense of the Union.  
Dr. Peter B. Smith was married in 1866 to Miss Mary E., 
daughter of John and Martha Eslinger, natives of Indiana and 
Kentucky, respectively, but early settlers of Cedar County, 
where Mr. Eslinger died before the war.  Mrs. Eslinger is 
still living.  Mrs. Smith was born in Cedar County, Mo., and, 
by her marriage to Dr. Smith, became the mother of nine children,
three sons and four daughters now living.  Dr. Smith farmed 
for a number of years, and in 1870 began his ministerial studies,
was ordained in 1871, and has preached more or less since.  
He is a deep reasoner, a fluent speaker and a number of his 
sermons have been published in various State papers, and have 
found a wide circulation. June 8, 1882, he graduated from the 
American Medical College, of St. Louis, after a two years' 
course, and since then he has become one of the leading 
practitioners of Cedar County.  He is a member of the State 
Medical Society.  He has a farm of 160 acres in Box Township, 
and has a good home in Cedar Springs.  Though reared a 
Democrat, he is now a Republican, and his first presidential 
vote was cast for Lincoln in 1864.  He is an active worker 
for his party, and made a thorough canvass of the county in 
1888.  June 5, 1889, he was appointed examining surgeon in 
the Pension Department with office at El Dorado Springs.  
He is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and is surgeon of 
Col. Leonard Post of the G. A. R.  Of the large family born 
to his parents, he is the only one now living.  For eight 
years the Doctor was in the drug business, four years of the
time in Texas, of the firm of Perry & Smith; was afterward in
business at Lebeck and Cedar Springs.  Mrs. Smith has been a 
member of the Baptist Church since 1867, and is an active 
worker in the same.  

History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties,
Missouri, published by Goodspeed, 1889--Pages 779, 780
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