My Genealogy Hound

NEWTON J. SMILEY, trustee of Marshall County, is a son of H. B. and Sarah (Lowry) Smiley, natives of Kentucky and South Carolina, respectively. The father’s chief occupation was farming, though in early life he worked at the carpenter’s trade. He was a soldier under Jackson in the war of 1812, and having lived to see the return of seventy-five winters was called from the trials and tribulations of earth. The mother was in her ninety-third year when she died. Our subject was born August 9, 1833, in the Bedford fraction of Marshall County, and was of Irish-Scotch descent. He was educated in the country schools, and having farmed until 1861, he volunteered in Company G, Thirty-second Tennessee Infantry as a private, and was one of the brave boys who defended Fort Donelson. After his capture and imprisonment at Indianapolis, Ind., he was exchanged at Vicksburg and re-entering the service was promoted to first lieutenant. After nearly four years of faithful service he returned home and soon after engaged in the mercantile business in which he was successful, though twice burned out. Previous to the war, in 1857, he wedded Catherine E. Hall, by whom he had seven children, all living. Both he and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Like his father before him he is a warm Democrat. In 1884 he was elected to the responsible position that he is now occupying. In connection with his office he is engaged in tilling the soil.