Biographical Sketch of James C. Smith, Washington County, Missouri >From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888. ********************************************************************** James C. Smith was born in the Washington fraction of Iron County in 1850, of English, Scotch and German descent, and when seven years of age was taken to Kentucky, where he was reared. His father, Edmond F., was born in Garrard County, Ky., being of Virginia ancestry. The mother, Mary E. Myers, was a native of Kentucky, where she was reared and married. After living in Kentucky until about 1847 they came to Missouri and settled in the southern part of the Bellevue Valley. Both are interred in the graveyard north of Caledonia. The father was a farmer, a Democrat, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also his wife. The youngest of the four children born to this marriage was James C., who received his early education in Kentucky, and when about seventeen years of age came to Washington County, and attended the Bellevue Collegiate Institute. Returning to Kentucky he married Miss Glendora Sandusky, in 1872. She was born in Kentucky, as also were her parents. Her grandparents and great-grandparents came from Virginia and settled in Kentucky, ten miles southwest of Lexing- ton, when that country was full of Indians. Upon one occasion the Indians made a high brush heap, in the shape of a horseshoe, across the path of Jacob Sodowski (the great-grandfather of Mrs. Smith), to catch him, but failed; as they gave the yell he ran over the brush; they never bothered him any more. Mrs. Smith, wife of the subject of this sketch, is a great-granddaughter of Jacob Sodowski. Mrs. Smith, her father and grandfather, were born and raised near where Jacob ran over the brush horsehoe. She was of Polish descent. The Sandusky's used to spell their name Sodowski. The following seven children were born to Mr. Smith's marriage: Ora G., Glennie J., Edmond E. and Will- ard S., now living; Laura I., Minnie Lu and J. C., interred in the graveyard near the grandparents. In 1877 Mr. Smith and family came to this county, and located on the place known as the Caledonia stock farm, where they now reside, which consists of 300 acres. Mr. Smith is a No. 1 farmer, and has done more to improve the breed of horses, sheep and cattle here than any other man in the county. He has a herd of thirty registered short-horn cattle, a standard bred trotter, "Forrest Time," 8,923 which made his third mile on a St. Louis track in 2.35, after making a large season. Mr. Smith is a Democrat in politics, is a member of the A. O. U. W., and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================