Ray County, Missouri Biographies - Joseph Addison Smith (b. 1822)

Source: History of Ray County, Missouri 1881; p.683-684


JOSEPH A. SMITH

Joseph Addison Smith was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, September 23, 1822.
His parents removed to Ray county, Missouri, in 1838, settling within two miles of
where Mr. Smith now resides. Here our subject lived, occupied with duties on his
father’s farm, until 1846, when he enlisted in company C, 1st Missouri cavalry, under
Col. A. W. Doniphan, for the war with Mexico. From Leavenworth, Kansas, the 1st
Missouri marched to Santa Fe, and thence across the Rio Grande river into Mexico.
Mr. Smith served twelve months, and was discharged at the old Mexican town of
Monterey. He participated in the battles of Brazito (near El Paso, New Mexico),
Sacramento, marched to Chihuahua, and thence to Monterrey, where he was detailed to
the care of the sick, and remained while his regiment marched on, to be discharged at
New Orleans. After the war, Mr. Smith returned to this county, and commenced improving
a farm on the open prairie, which at that time was not settled and hardly thought to
be habitable, building a small log cabin where his residence now stands. His friends
wondered at his going so far away on the prairie, and ridiculed the idea of improving
a farm in that wild and untried region. But he was not dissuaded from his purpose, and
in time made those lands, that were regarded with so much disfavor then, to ‘blossom
as the rose.’ But this was not a speedy transformation. There wer long years of labor
and cultivation before the place assumed it present prosperous and thrifty appearance
and condition. For years his lone cabin, standing in bold relief on a high ridge,
served as a guide and a landmark for travelers crossing the prairies. Mr. Smith was
married in Grundy county, Missouri, December 18, 1949, to Miss Catherine Miller, by
Reverend William McCameron. Mrs. Smith is the daughter of Judge Jesse and Mercy Ann
Miller. She was born in Franklin county, Ohio, January 12, 1832, and came to Missouri,
with her parents, at the age of eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have eleven children,
viz: Joseph C., born October 2, 1851; William W., born November 1, 1853; Nora J., born
October 23, 1855; James A., born November 15, 1857; Victoria, born January 8, 1860;
Maggie S., born March 16, 1862; Clement L. V., born August 4, 1864; Stephen D., born
January 1, 1867; Angie S., born March 20, 1869; David C., born August 24, 1871; 
Mary M., born October 16, 1874. Mr. Smith owns 955 acres of excellent land, 700 acres
of prairie land, enclosed by good, substantial fences, and in a high state of 
cultivation, with a large, thrifty orchard, bearing abundantly many of the best
varieties of fruit. His residence, a large, handsome brick structure, is situated upon
a high, rolling plateau, commanding a view of the towns of Lawson and Vibbard, with the 
surrounding country for miles away. He also has good, roomy, well-arranged convenient
barns, sheds, and granaries, for the shelter of stock, feed, grain, and farming
implements. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Old School Presbyterian Church, at
Lawson. He has been an elder and an active, leading member of that church for eighteen
years. When Mr. Smith first came to this county there was an abundance of deer and other
game here, and in his youth he was a great hunter, and had many interesting experience
in the chase. Joseph A. Smith is one of the most highly respected and prominent citizens
of the county.

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