My Genealogy Hound

Capt. John T. Smith, farmer and stock raiser, Oil Trough, Ark. Like so many of the representative citizens of this county and township, Mr. Smith is a native Tennessean, born in Williamson County of that State, June 14, 1841, and is the son of Daniel Smith, who was also a native of that State. When a young man the latter was united in marriage to Miss Martha Ragsdale, a native of Tennessee, and whose father was a colonel in the War of 1812, and participated in the battle of New Orleans, and died in 1862 at the age of eighty-seven years. The paternal grandfather was also a soldier in the War of 1812, and died in Tennessee, in 1849, of Asiatic cholera. Capt. John T. Smith was but eight years old when he moved with his parents to Humphreys County, Tenn., and there attended the private schools of the county. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and assisted his father on the farm until the breaking out of the late war, when he enlisted in the Forty-second Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, Confederate Army, as a private. Upon the organization of the company he was elected to the position of orderly sergeant, serving in that capacity until 1862. He was captured, with his regiment, at Fort Donelson, and afterward, when the regiment was reorganized at Port Hudson, La., Mr. Smith was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, in which capacity he served until May, 1863, when he received his commission as captain and commissary, serving as regimental commissary until the battle of Franklin, Tenn. He then received a furlough to go home, which was the close of his military career. In 1886, in partnership with Mr. M. Reeves, he bought a stock of general merchandise, and carried on the business of a merchant at Buffalo post office, on Buffalo River, Tenn. Mr. Reeves died that year, and Mr. Smith there upon closed out and engaged in farming, purchasing a tract of land on Buffalo River, Humphrey County, Tenn., the tract comprising 200 acres. In 1866, he was married to Miss Margaret Owens, a native of Tennessee. One child, Mollie A., was born to this union. Mrs. Smith died, in 1867, of cholera, and was buried in the cemetery at Buffalo. In 1868 Mr. Smith took for his second wife Miss Lou Gray, of Perry County, Tenn., and to this union were born five children, all living: Cordelia C., born December 15, 1869; Dorsey Thomas, born November 9, 1870; Margaret L., born March 21, 1872; William Martin, born March 10, 1874, and Lou Jennie, born November 20, 1875. The mother of these children died July 8, 1876, and is interred in Perry County, Tenn. May 20, 1877, Capt. Smith married Miss Eliza S. Teas, a native of Humphreys County, Tenn., and the fruits of this union were four children: Florence Agnes, born in February, 1879; Amanda R., born April 1, 1880; Robert Ernest, born October 3, 1883, and Lillian, born August 2, 1885. Capt. Smith moved to Arkansas January 30, 1879, purchased 160 acres of land in Section 11, Christian Township, the principal part of it being timber land, with about thirty acres cleared, and on this were several log-cabins. The Captain has cleared sixty-five acres since he became the owner, and now has ninety-five acres under cultivation. He has added by purchase 120 acres, but, selling eighty acres of this, has now 200 acres left. He has good buildings on his farm, and has an excellent orchard. Capt. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Christian Church, and Cordelia is also a member of that church. Capt. Smith is a member of McGuire Lodge No. 208, A. F. & A. M., is also a member of Oil Trough Chapter No. 84, R. A. M. In politics he affiliates with the Republican party, and is an ardent supporter of all enterprises for the good of the county.