My Genealogy Hound

P. R. Smith needs no introduction to the people of Newton County, Mo., for perhaps no man is better known than he. He has occupied a prominent official position for the past thirteen years, and has done credit to those whose suffrage placed him in this position. He was born in Dinwiddie County, Va., October 23, 1831, and is a son of Nicholas and Harriet (Goodwyn) Smith, also natives of that State. The paternal grandfather was born in the “Emerald Isle,” came to America when eighteen years of age, and became a soldier in the Revolutionary War, being with Washington at Yorktown. Nicholas H. Smith and wife became the parents of six children, P. R. being the eldest of the family. He came with his parents to Springfield, Mo., in 1836, and in this State was reared and educated. In 1844 his father was appointed receiver of the land office at Springfield, at that time one of the most important offices in the county, and our subject’s first experience in the active duties of life was in his father’s office. In 1850 he went to California, where he remained two and a half years engaged in mining and trading, meeting with good success. In the latter part of 1852 he returned to Springfield, and a year later located in Neosho, where he engaged in merchandising in 1856, continuing with good success until the breaking out of the war. He then enlisted in the State Guards, was commissioned lieutenant and participated in the battles of Wilson’s Creek and Lexington. After the latter battle he enlisted in the Confederate States Army service, and was appointed adjutant of Coffee’s regiment, Shelby’s command. After the close of the war he lived for two years in Paris, Tex., and in the fall of 1866 returned to Neosho, where he engaged in the insurance business, which calling he pursued until his election to his present office in 1875. Mr. Smith has been thrice married, first in August, 1853, to Susan E., who died three years later, leaving one son, William N. In 1862 he married Harriet Chenoweth, of Ohio, who died in 1874, and following named are her children: Henry, Robert, Allison and Emma. Mr. Smith’s third marriage took place in 1875, with Mrs. Lavenia Mason, whose maiden name was Townsend, a daughter of W. G. Townsend. Her last marriage resulted in the birth of a daughter, Lavenia.