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Below is a family biography included in The History of Dent County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Erasmus B. and William F. Smith, blacksmiths and wagon manufacturers of Salem, Mo. E. B. Smith was born in Washington County, Mo., May 19, 1847, and is a son of Benjamin F. and Emily (Wells) Smith, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Kentucky, born in 1813 and 1817, respectively. They were married in Kentucky in 1833, and removed from there to Washington County, Mo., in 1840, where the father was killed by falling in machinery in the saw-mill in 1860. He was a blacksmith, a farmer also, and ran a saw-mill, and was postmaster at Rock Springs at the time of his death. He owned a good farm, and was an industrious, honest man. He was a member and an active supporter of the Christian Church, as was also his wife. Erasmus B. was one of fourteen children, ten of whom lived to be grown. He was reared in Washington County, educated in the common schools, and was but thirteen years of age when his father died. He was then the eldest son at home, and the main support of the family devolved upon him, which deprived him of further schooling until about grown, when he spent a few months in school at his own expense. At the age of about eighteen he began for himself working on a farm, and in 1868 he went to New York, where he took passage for California, being twenty-four days in making the trip. He there learned his trade, and returned home in 1869, where the next year he married Miss Margaret Ann Griffith, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Griffith, both natives of Wales, but who came to the United States when young, living in Cincinnati, Ohio, for a while, and then moved to Washington County, Mo., where they are both now living. Mrs. Smith was born in Cincinnati, and by her union to Mr. Smith became the mother of two children, both sons. The same year of his marriage, Mr. Smith returned by rail to California, where he worked at his trade until 1875, when he went to Nevada. From there he went to Washington County, Mo., in 1876, and ran a shop at Palmer until 1878, when he moved to Dent County, and farmed until 1884, when he sold his farm and moved to Salem. He here established his present business, in company with John Gunnett, and in 1885 Mr. Gunnett sold to Mr. Smith’s nephew, William F. Smith, who is his present partner, and they have since had a successful business, with a capital of about $1,500. In the year 1887 they sold thirty-eight wagons, all their own work. Mr. Smith has a good home in Salem, all the result of his hard work and good management. He also has one-third interest in the house of Smith, Tennyson & Ramsey, at Salem, with a stock of about $3,000. Politically a Democrat, his first presidential vote was for Seymour in 1868. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Lodge No. 225, took degrees in 1869, and he and wife are consistent members of the Christian Church. William F. Smith is the son of William S. Smith, who is the eldest brother of Erasmus B. Smith. William S. Smith was born in Kentucky in 1834, and came with his parents to Washington County when a boy. There he married, and with the exception of a few years before the war, when he was engaged in saw-milling in Dent County, has lived there all his life. He is a farmer, a blacksmith, and has been justice of the peace for many years. William F. Smith was born in Washington County, January 21, 1860; was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He learned his trade at the age of seventeen, which he has since followed principally. He is a Democrat in politics, and his first presidential vote was cast for Grover Cleveland in 1884. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the I. O. O. F. lodge. His mother, Emily (Simpson) Smith, is the daughter of Joseph Simpson, a native of Kentucky. William F. is one of four sons and five daughters born to his parents. His father is a member of the Christian Church, and his mother of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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This family biography is one of 82 biographies included in The History of Dent County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Dent County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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