My Genealogy Hound

Hiram A. Smith, black-smith at Ritchey, Mo., is the son of Douglas Smith, who was born in Kentucky and there married Polly A. Nichols. She was the daughter of George Nichols (who belonged to an old pioneer family, an account of which is given below) and Rebecca (Davis) Nicholas. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born eight children: John, George W., A. R., Nancy, Drucilla, Thornton, Hiram Abiff and Marion F. Mr. Smith moved to Missouri in 1829, settled in Callaway County on a farm, and engaged in the mule trade. On one of his trips down the Missouri River to St. Louis with mules, the boat sank, but Mr. Smith succeeded in swimming ashore, soon after dying, however, from the effects of the exposure. He was a prosperous man, and the owner of ten slaves. His widow lived until 1863, and died in Adrian County, Mo. Their son, Hiram Abiff Smith, was born on his father’s farm in Callaway County, Mo. in 1835, and received a commonschool education, but this he has greatly improved. He learned the black-smith trade at the age of seventeen, and married at the age of twenty-six, Miss Mary E. Burress, daughter of Richard and Mary (Henderson) Burress, of Kentucky, but now living in Jasper County, Mo. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born three children: Winston A., John T. and Mary Inez. Mr. Smith moved to Sarcoxie, Mo., in 1861, and enlisted in the State militia for six months under Gen. Price, Gen. Rains’ brigade, and acted as black-smith. He was in the battle of Wilson’s Creek in that capacity, and was also at the battle of Pea Ridge and Kane Hill. He then enlisted in Capt. Waters’ company of Cherokee Indians, and followed black-smithing. At the close of the war he was in Indian Territory, but returned to Sarcoxie and lived there until 1873, when he went to Hollister, San Benito Co., Cal., and worked at his trade for thirteen months, after which he returned to Jasper County, Mo., in the spring of 1880, where he now resides. Both he and Mrs. Smith are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in political opinions he is Democratic. He is a Mason of the third degree, and was one of the charter members of Ritchey Lodge. He is a hard working, industrious man, and is well known in the county. The mother of Mr. Smith was a Nichols. Her grandfather came from Pennsylvania and was of German descent. He removed from there to Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Thomas, and afterward removed to Kentucky, settled in Clark County near Bryons Station, and there died at the age of ninety-eight years. His widow died many years afterward at the age of one hundred and fifteen years. Their children were George, William, Robert, Frederick, James, Catherine, Francis and Elizabeth, five of whom lived and died in Missouri, and three in Kentucky. George was born in Loudoun County, Va., and was there married to Miss Rebecca Davis, who bore him eleven children: James, William, George, Jr., Garret, Felix G., Frederick, Elizabeth, Polly, Eveline, Nancy and Sally. Mr. Nichols removed with his family to Callaway County, Mo., in 1824, and entered land near where Fulton is now situated. The town was laid off in 1825, and he donated fifty acres of his land to the county. Mr. Nichols built the first cabin in Fulton, and had to go miles to get men to help him raise it. They came before sunrise on the appointed day, had the cabin completed before the sun went down, and danced in it the same night. An interesting account of the pioneer life of this family is to be found in a volume entitled “Pioneer Families of Missouri.”