James C. Smith was born near Zanesville, Muskingum Co., Ohio, March 3, 1828. His father, William Smith, was born in Virginia, August 15, 1793. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Brown, was born in the State of New York June 12, 1793. His parents were united in marriage January 27, 1816. The ancestry of William Smith were of English and Irish extraction. His wife’s ancestry were of German and Irish lineage; her mother was born on the ocean. Leaving Ohio the family moved to this county, and settled in Burlington Township in 1832, and in addition to farming kept a little stock of groceries and dry goods, and built up quite a little trade with the whites and Indians. At the time the fur trade was quite extensive, and William smith acted as purchasing agent for the firm of Ewing & Walker, of Logansport. His family was a large on consisting of ten children, seven girls and three boys. Two only a son and a daughter survive. One son, Richard Smith, was killed in the battle at Shiloh Church in 1862. The mother of our subject died in Grundy County, Mo., September 27, 1860; the father, in Carroll County, Ind., January 21, 1869. When the family came to Carroll County, there were but few white families in Burlington Township, but plenty of Indians – principally Pattawatomies and Miamis. Indeed the Indians were quite as numerous then as the whites are now.
James C. Smith, then a lad, remembers that frequently he took a yoke of oxen and a sled and went through the wilderness, a distance of eleven miles to the nearest mill. His chances for obtaining even the rudiments of an education were very limited. Subscription schools were the only kind of a school taught, and were but for a short time during the winter months. When the war with Mexico broke out, he enlisted at Delphi June 5, 1846, in Company C, First Regiment Indiana Infantry. He was, at the time of his enlistment, eighteen years of age. The regiment was organized at New Albany, Ind., about the 10th of June, and a few days after the organization the regiment started for Mexico, via New Orleans and across the Gulf. After campaigning through Mexico the regiment returned, and was mustered out of service at New Orleans June 20, 1847. Mr. Smith returned to his home and resumed farming. In 1862, this country again needed his assistance, and September 16th of that year he enlisted, and November 29th was appointed First Sergeant in the Twenty-fourth Indiana Artillery. March 26, 1863, the battery was ordered into service at Lebanon, Ky.; thence to Columbus, Ky., whence the command started in pursuit of the rebel General Morgan, and had several skirmishes with him until he crossed the Ohio River. Thence the battery was ordered to Knoxville, and participated in the military operations in Tennessee and Georgia, and was engaged in the skirmishes and battles at Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Campbleton and Macon. St the latter place, Mr. Smith, then Second Lieutenant of the battery, was made a prisoner of war, July 31, 1864. He was confined in rebel prisons at Macon, Charleston, Columbia and Raleigh. After suffering all the hardships inflicted upon the Federal prisoners by rebels he was exchanged with other officers, and passed through the lines at Fisher’s Bridge, March 1, 1865. Thence via Wilmington, N. C., to Annapolis, Md., thence to his home. April 24, 1865, he rejoined his command at Louisville, Ky. From the latter place, the battery moved to Indianapolis, and was mustered out August 3, 1865. Mr. Smith received his commission as Second Lieutenant May 2, 1863. After thus honorably terminating his service, he resumed the peaceful pursuit of his farm-work, and has continued the same to the present.
Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Ashby, December 2, 1847. Mrs. Smith was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, June 4, 1832. Her paternal ancestry were of Scotch-Irish extraction, and her maternal of English and German. Her father was born in Virginia, January 23, 1794, and her mother in Ross County, Ohio in 1803. She came to Carroll County with her parents in 1832. One daughter, Margaret, is the only fruit of this marriage. She was born June 19, 1851. She was married June 19, 1869, to William T. Hindman. As the fruits of this marriage Mr. Smith has two grandsons, Ambrose C. Hindman born December 23, 1870, and Everett E., born December 27, 1873.
Mr. Smith, his wife , daughter and son-in-law are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. As has already been stated, Mr. Smith’s early education was limited, but much general reading has largely remedied this early deficiency. He has traveled over twenty States of this Union, through Mexico and Canada, and in 1876 visited the great Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. His observations incident to this travel very largely compensate for disadvantages of his youth. Mr. Smith is regarded as one of the solid men of Carroll County.
County Coordinator: Suzy Sprague suzyq.wa@worldnet.att.net