Biographical Sketch of John Wesley Smith, Laclede County, Missouri

>From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, 
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing
Company, 1889.
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Judge John Wesley Smith, one of the leading citizens of Union township,
Laclede county, Mo., was born in Lincoln county, Tenn., August 2, 1812,
and is a son of John W. and Lucinda (Gibson) Smith, natives respective-
ly of Rutherford county, Tenn., and Davidson county, N. C.  The parents
were married in Tennessee, and lived in Lincoln county until 1837, when
they moved with their family to Greene county, Mo.  The father, who was
born in 1790, was a farmer all his life; he died in Greene county in
1878, having survived his wife eight years.  The latter was born in 
1791, and was the mother of eight children, three of whom are now 
living: Rev. R. D., who is a minister of the Christian Church, now 
preaching at Evansville, Ind.; Margaret Ann, the wife of Judge R. D.
Dillard, a farmer of Greene county; and John Wesley.  At the age of 
twenty-one years the latter married Matilda Clayton, a native of 
Lincoln county, Tenn., who was born in 1815, and was a daughter of 
Stephen Clayton.  Mrs. Smith died in Lincoln county in 1836, the mother
of one child, also deceased.  In 1838 Mr. Smith married Margaret Clark,
a native of North Carolina, born in 1817, and a daughter of Spencer
Clark.  She died in Pope county, Mo., in 1852, leaving five children,
all living, viz.: Sarah Jane (wife of W. S. McMenus, a farmer of Scott
county, Kas.), Nancy E. (wife of Alexander Wilhoit, a farmer of Laclede
county, Mo.), Rebecca F. (who married Joseph McMenus, also a farmer of
Laclede county), John W. (at home), and Margaret Ann (now the wife of 
R. H. Tucker, a farmer of Laclede county).  In 1853 Mr. Smith married
]Fidelia M. Wait, a daughter of Russell Wait; she was born at Hatfield,
Mass., February 24, 1827.  To this union have been born four sons, viz:
Finis E. (a farmer near Phillipsburg), Martin S. (also a farmer of 
Laclede county), Marcus B. (who died in infancy), and Albert R. (who 
was born April 3, 1855); the latter married Mary E. Cook, by whom he 
had one child, Albert R., Jr., and was one of the most enterprising 
farmers and best citizens of Laclede county at the time of his death,
which occurred March 25, 1888.  Soon after his marriage our subject 
engaged in farming, which he continued several years.  He moved to Polk
county, Mo., in 1851, where he lived until 1853, when he removed to 
Laclede county, where he has since lived.  In 1852 he engaged in merch-
andising, in which business he continued until 1869.  Soon after the
close of the war he was appointed judge of the county court, which
office he held with credit to himself for seven years.  He has also
served fourteen years as notary public since coming to Missouri, and 
has been commissioned justice of the peace seven times.  He has now 
retired from the active duties of public office.  In 1832 he was elec-
ted an elder of the church, which title he has ever since retained with
honor.  He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in politics is a
stanch Prohibitionist, having cast the only Prohibition vote in 
Phillipsburg precinct.  Mrs. Smith is a highly educated woman, and has 
spent forty-two years of her life teaching.  She was a pupil in the
North Amherst Academy, and also in the Gothic Seminary at Northampton,
Mass., a school of high reputation, and now holds a certificate signed
by Drs. Pearson and Brooks, with Dr. Roswell C. Hawks, president of the
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, South Hadley, Mass.  From these insti-
tutions of learning she has received valuable documents.

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