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William Smith

1st Lieutenant, Co. D

8th Missouri Infantry, C. S. A.

12 Aug 1829 - 7 Sep 1911

By Mary Charles Dodd Hull

13949 Briarwood Rd.

Azle, Texas 76020-5825

William Smith was the fourth child born to John and Telitha Sanders Smith, on 12 August 1829 in Hendericks County Indiana. He married Margaret Elizabeth Brown on 31 Dec 1854 in Phelps County Missouri. Margaret was the daughter of Squire Brown and his second wife Mary Eliza William.

William and Margaret had four sons:

1. John Smith, born Oct 9 1855, married Martha Ann Grayson;

2. James Smith, born March 30 1857, married Naomie Brown;

3. William A. Smith, born Feb 23 1859, married Martha Jane Reagan (my great grandparents);

4. Thomas Jefferson Smith, born Sept 13, 1861, married Almira N. Huskey.

William and his brother in law, Edmond William Brown enlisted in Captain E. A. Pinnell's Company, Mitchell's Battalion, Missouri Volunteers, Price's Division of the Confederate Army at Eleven Points Mill, Missouri on August 5, 1862. The physical description given on the roster and company muster roll states he was 33/34 years of age, born in Indiana and was 5 ft. 7 in. with black eyes and fair complexion and light brown hair.

On August 7, 1862 William Smith was elected/appointed or commissioned a 1st Lieutenant. On June 7 1865 at Alexandria, La., William Smith, 1st Lt., Co. D, 8th Missouri Infantry, C. S. A., signed his parole as approved by Provence, Col., 16th Inf., C. S. A. and William Ry, Lt. Col., 1st ----, U. S. A.

Mary Eliza died 27 April 1866 in Phelps County Missouri and on 3 Oct 1867 William married Roseanne Havens. They had 6 children:

5. Mary Elizabeth, born July 22 1868, married Edward W. Hooker;

6. Nancy Telitha, born Feb 7 1870, married James Clyde Turner;

7. Elias, born November 13 1871, married Martha Jane Downing;

8. Prudy, born December 28 1873, married John Lee Coble;

9. Martha, born Sept. 17 1877, married William Preston Bass;

10. Susan, born July 27 1881, married James Bass.

William and Roseanne moved their family from Missouri sometime after 1881 to Lamar County, Texas where they lived until Roseanna's death in 1898. William continued to live in the Paris area until his death on 7 Sep 1911 at age 82. He is buried with Roseanne at Forest Chapel Cemetery.

A photograph taken before his death shows that he was a member of the United Confederate Veterans Camp in the Paris area. Roseanne Haven Smith was a member of the Lamar Chapter #258 United Daughters of the Confederacy in Paris, Texas. She joined by William Smith's service as 1st Lt., Co. D, 8th Regiment, Missouri Infantry.

THE PARIS MORNING NEWS, Saturday, September 9, 1912, page 1: "Uncle Billy Smith, an old resident of Lamar county, who was about eighty years old, and who had lived at Harrellton for many years, died at a hospital in this city last Wednesday. He had been in feeble health a long time. The remains were taken to Forest Chapel, near Chicota, and were buried there. The deceased owned a little farm at Harrellton on which he lived all alone. His wife died several years ago and he is survived by one son, Tom Smith, about fifty years old, who is blind. Tom Smith lives with his son-in-law, Ralph Payne, at Powderly. Mr. Payne's father is also blind and the two blind men gained a livelihood for awhile by making brooms."

Sources: Missouri State Archives, War Department, Jefferson City Missouri; Federal Archives, Washington D. C.; Confederate Museum, Hillsboro, Texas; THE PARIS MORNING NEWS, Paris, TX; Family records.


©Ron Brothers and Mary Charles Dodd Hull, All Rights Reserved, 1999.

October 7, 1999

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