Ray County, Missouri Biographies - William W. Smith (b. 1827)

Source: History of Ray County, Missouri 1881; p.688-689


W. W. SMITH

William W. Smith was born May 5, 1827, in Guilford county, North Carolina. In
1838 William, in company with his parents, removed to Ray county, Missouri, and
settled near where he now resides. In 1845 our subject returned to Tennessee,
and finished his education at Mount Pleasant College, Murray county, after which
he came back to this county, and in 1850, went, with a party of neighboring
young men, to California. They made the trip with mule teams, and were on the
road from the 10th of April until the 6th day of July, following. They mined
awhile, and kept a provision store for a time, and withal made it pay pretty
well. After staying in California one year, Mr. Smith sailed from San Francisco
by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New Orleans, for home, which he reached in
the spring of 1851, and has lived here ever since, engaged in trading, farming
and stock raising. He owns two thousand acres of excellent land, the greater
part of which is in cultivation. He has one thousand acres in the home place,
which is handsomely improved by a fine, large dwelling house of fourteen rooms,
well furnished and comfortably and conveniently arranged. He also has good barns
and other buildings, for the accommodation of stock and the shelter of the
products of his broad and fertile acres. His is one of the largest, best
appointed and valuable farms in Ray county. Mr. Smith was married in this
county, May 5, 1857, to Miss Sallie E. Miles, daughter of John N. and Margaret
Miles, natives of Kentucky. She was born in Lawrenceburg, Anderson county,
Kentucky, October 3, 1839. They became the parents of nine children, viz.:
Thomas C., born April 17, 1858; Emma A., born November 24, 1859; Margaret J.,
born April 13, 1862; Robert A. L., born January 24, 1864; Miles W., born
March 18, 1866; Susan K., born March 30, 1868; Annie J., born March 24, 1870;
Sarah E., born in August 17, 1872; Ella, born January 16, 1875. Mr. Smith and
his wife are leading members of the Old School Presbyterian Church, and he
also belongs to the Masonic fraternity, (Bee-Hive Lodge No. 393.) He has always
been the friend of education and religion, an active supporter of schools and
churches, a public spirited and valuable citizen, and his dealing and
intercourse with his fellow men have always been characterized by just and
honorable deportment, and he enjoys the confidence, respect and esteem of all.

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