My Genealogy Hound

Joseph Smith, one of the substantial farmers and stock raisers of Carroll County, Ark., is a native of North Carolina, and was born in Orange County, that State, March 19, 1831. He is a son of Joseph and Susan (Compton) Smith, both also natives of the “Old North State.” In the fall of 1850 Joseph Smith, Sr., removed his family to Tennessee, and the following year to Carroll County, Ark. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His death occurred in Carroll County in January, 1856. Joseph Smith, Jr., was reared in his native State to the age of thirteen years, when he went to Tennessee and remained six years. Returning to his father’s home in 1850, he remained until fall, when and his father’s family removed to Tennessee. In 1851 he came Arkansas and settled on the Osage River, in Carroll County, but the second year, in the expedition with Capt. Meadows, he crossed the plains to California, reaching there after five months. Engaging in mining, he continued until 1855, when he returned home by way of Panama, Aspinwall and New Orleans. The venture proved successful, and after returning he purchased a farm adjoining some land he owned in Osage Township. Here he located and resided until 1886, when he removed to his present home in Liberty Township. He owns two good farms, comprising 320 acres of good land, of which 240 acres are improved and under cultivation. He has also given one farm of 160 acres to his daughter. Mr. Smith was first married, August 14, 1855, to Rachel Phillips, a native of Overton County, Tenn., who was reared in Carroll County, Ark. She died four weeks after their marriage, and on May 11, 1856, Mr. Smith married Ingober B. Poteet, a daughter of James Poteet, deceased. Mrs. Smith was born and reared in Overton County, Tenn. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They have three children living: Mary Ellen (Mrs. James Fancher), Ingober B. (Mrs. John Boughtright), and William B., and three dead: Thomas J., who died in December, 1871, in his fourteenth year; Nancy Sue, who died August 30, 1880, in her eighteenth year, and Rachel Jane (Mrs. S. J. Morris), who died March 24, 1887, in her thirtieth year. In September, 1861, Mr. Smith enlisted in the Confederate army, and was assigned to the Third Arkansas Infantry, and was elected first lieutenant of Company C. Col. Peel, the present Congressman from Mr. Smith’s district, also served in the same company until the Prairie Grove engagement, when the regiment was entirely broken up. It was afterward reorganized, with Major Herrell in command, and did good service until the close of the war. Mr. Smith is a charter member of Osage Lodge No. 219, A. F. & A. M., and is a Master Mason.