George W. Smith Bollinger Co
Mo Biography
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George W. Smith, a prominent citizen of Bollinger County, Mo.,
was born
in Cape Girardeau County, in 1829.
He is a son of
Reuben and Catherine
(Slinkard) Smith.
Reuben Smith was born in North
Carolina in 1802, and
came to Cape Girardeau County, Mo., with his parents in 1820.
He
received a fair education by studying at home after his day's
work was
done. In 1824 he located on a farm in what is now Union
Township,
Bollinger County.
For eight years he served as judge of
Cape Girardeau
County, and represented Bollinger County in the Legislature in
1854 and
1866.
From 1856 to 1860 he served as judge of Bollinger
County. During
the Civil War he was not in either army, but, in 1861, was
arrested by
the Confederates and taken to Bloomfield.
However, he
soon made his
escape, and returned home, where he was allowed to remain, but
was
robbed a number of times by bushwhackers.
He died in
1870. His wife
was born in Cape Girardeau County in 1806, and was the mother of
ten
children, four of whom are living.
The subject of this
sketch was
reared on a farm, and received a common school education.
He remained
with his parents until 1851, when he was united in marriage with
Isabella Bess, after which he located on the farm on which he
now lives
in Union Township, Bollinger Co., Mo.
In 1862 he was
enrolled in the
State militia, and entered the regular Federal service in 1864,
joining
Company C, Forty-seventh Missouri Infantry, and served as duty
sergeant.
He served as first lieutenant of the militia
company.
Receiving his discharge in 1865, he returned to his farm, and
has since
made a good home for himself and family.
He is
considered one of the
most enterprising farmers of the county.
For about
fifteen years after
the war he was engaged in the stock business in partnership with
two
other men.
His wife, who is of German extraction, was
born in Perry
County, Mo., in 1832.
She is the mother of eight
children Albert J.,
Charlotte P. (Mrs. Isaac Doggott), John B., James H., Levi A.,
Emily J.
(Mrs. Peter Welker), George W. and Mary I.
But two
children are at
home; the others are all comfortably situated on farms given to
them by
their father.
In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican, as
are all his
sons. [p. 846-847]
Goodspeed's History of
Southeast Missouri, [p. 846-847]
Contributed by
Joe Crim
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