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Submitted: 2/23/14 • Approved: 2/24/14 • Last Updated: 4/21/18 • R748103-G0-S3
Jul. 15, 1817
May 4, 1879
Aged 61ys 9ms 19 ds
Eli was born in Washington Co.,Plymouth (bart),OH, son of James Ward Smith and Esther Alderman Smith on 15 July 1817. Eli married Sarah B. Stuart on July 14,1842 in Perry,OH and they had a son, Arthur G, born in 1844 and died 1879. Sarah died 23 May 1846. Eli married his second wife, Julia Ann Skinner on February 21,1847 in Bartlett,OH; and they had 4 children, Esther Mary, Sarah Leanna, Julia Amanda and James Jefferson. Julia Ann died on 2 May 1853. Eli married his third wife, Phebe Skinner on January 31,1855 in Perry,OH.
Eli Smith and family came to Worth Co.,MO from Ohio in 1857. He had been a merchant in New Lexington, Ohio, for some 20 years before coming to Missouri. He chose a place to settle near the center of what was later to become Middlefork Township in Worth County. Smith purchased some land from one Christopher Shinkle who had built a log cabin on the land. Smith first built a two-story building, 24 x 40 feet. He used the first floor for a store, and the upper floor was a hall where the county court met when Smithton was the county seat. Smith also erected and operated a saw mill where he sawed out the lumber for his new home as well as lumber for other homes and buildings in the area. In 1864 the county seat was moved to Grant City and the town of Smithton began to fade into history. A postoffice was established in Smithton with Eli Smith as the first postmaster. During the Civil War, Eli joined the Gentry Co. Home Guard,MO in the Union and was a Quartmaster Sgt. Later, after the war he was an assembly member which drafted the new Constitution of Missouri. In 1863 Eli and family moved to Lexington, MO. In 1870, he was operating a grocery store in Independence, Jackson Co.,MO. Eli died on 4 May 1879 and was buried in Smithton Cemetery, Worth Co.,MO.
Contributed on 2/23/14 by robertll
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Record #: 748103