William P. Smith

WILLIAM P. SMITH, former assessor of Jackson township and an honored veteran of the Civil war, who died at his home in Jackson township in the spring of 1915, was born in that township1 on March 1, 1842, but at the age of four years was taken by his parents to Iowa, the family locating in the vicinity of Keokuk, where he grew to manhood. When the Civil war broke out Mr. Smith enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and went to the front as a member of E Company, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Upon the expiration of this term of enlistment he re-enlisted and returned to service as a member of H Company, One Hundred and Sixteenth Iowa [sic] Volunteer Infantry, with which command he remained until mustered out at the close of the war, his total service covering a period of more than four years. Among the notable engagements of the war in which Mr. Smith participated were the battles of Lookout Mountain and Shiloh. In the latter engagement he was severely wounded by being shot in the left leg. The ball was not extracted and he carried it with him to his grave. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Smith returned to the place of his birth and became permanently located in Rush county, becoming engaged in the sawmill business in Jackson township, a vocation which he continued during the remainder of his active life. Mr. Smith was a Republican and served two terms as assessor of Jackson township. He was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Though not a member of any church he was reared a Baptist and his support was given to the local church of that faith. He died on March 20, 1915. On February 20, 1870, not long after his return to Rush county, William P. Smith married Frances Elizabeth Porter, who was born in this county on January 2, 1848, daughter of John and Sarah (Hilkert) Porter, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Pennsylvania, who had been residents of this county since the days of their youth, their respective parents having been pioneers of the county. John Porter was but six years of age when he came to Rush county with his parents from Virginia and he spent the rest of his life here, a substantial member of the community in which he lived. To William P. and Frances Elizabeth (Porter) Smith were born seven children, Lulu P., Laura E., Mila A., Charles L., Anna (deceased), Hazel M. and Cassius Smith, the latter of whom served as a soldier during the period of America's participation in the World war, going overseas on June 10, 1918, as a member of A Company, Sixty-first Engineers, and returning on September 20, 1919.

SOURCE:  Abraham Lincoln Gary & Ernest B. Thomas, Editors, Centennial History Of Rush County, Indiana, Volume 2, p. 184-5